How Assyrians Became Caught in the Crossfire in the Middle East

When the Sykes-Picot Agreement and Treaty of Lausanne solidified the new borders of the modern-day Middle East, Assyrians would be in even more danger than before. The borders were drawn with little attention to the historical backgrounds and conflicts of ethnic and religious groups, and from this, new perpetual wars and various massacres would arise to this day.

Several of these conflicts have brought Assyrian history in the Middle East to an emergency level event. They are currently one of the most at risk ethnic minorities of the region whose continuation is currently at threat due to the rising threats.

Saddam's Genocide Against Kurds

Saddam Hussein, the former despot of Iraq, did not hide his feelings about the ethnic groups in the country compared to his Sunni-Baathist bloc, especially to the Kurds. Wanting to clamp down harshly on any terms of Kurdish self-determination, the Iraqi dictator ordered indiscriminate chemical weapon attacks against Kurdish villages, many of which were adjacent to Assyrian villages.

Caught in the crossfire between several decades of brutal Baathist repression against the Kurds, Assyrians were also killed in several crackdowns as Saddam gave little qualm of indiscriminate missile attacks and brutal Baathist torture chambers, regardless of innocence.

Turkish-PKK Conflict

Assyrians aren't just native to Mesopotamia, but also Southern Asia Minor. Though 750,000 Assyrians were killed in the Seyfo Genocide, there remains a small community in Southeastern Turkey. At the onset of the Turkish-PKK Conflict, they would face another war their community couldn't afford.

The war, which has been ongoing for over 45 years has been taking place between the Turkish military and Kurdish revolutionary and militant groups, like the PKK and YPG. Assyrians in cities such as Mardin and Diyarbakir were forced to flee by the thousands at the height of the insurgency in Southeastern Turkey. Even the Assyrian community of Northern Syria was also caught in the crossfire after the Turkish invasions to dislodge Kurdish militant groups.

American Invasion of Iraq

After decades of Saddam's tyranny in Iraq, the Assyrian community endured and persisted--but this all changed after the US invasion of Iraq. When the US military overthrew Baathist rule, they made the grave mistake of disbanding the Iraqi army as a whole and starting from ground up again. Iraq had always been a nation of ethnic and religious groups that never truly got along, and this move by Washington left a major power vacuum.

Radical Islamist militant terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and their successor, ISIS brutally targeted civilians throughout the nation, particularly non-Sunni Muslims, such as Assyrians, Shiites, Kurds, and Yazidis. Without a competent Iraqi military in the north, Assyrians suffered from several dozen car bombings and targeted massacres that accelerated the mass migration of them from the region. Still to this day, the ancient community is near extinction in Iraq due to the destabilization left behind.

Syrian Civil War

At the height of the Syrian Civil War, dozens of factions backed by various nations fought over the control of the nation. Assyrians, who primarily live in the Northern regions of the nation were forced to flee at the height of ISIS' rampage and due to shelling by Turkish forces who targeted Kurdish paramilitaries across the border. Some Assyrians stayed but the damage has been immense.

Northern Syria is now divided between pro Turkish rebel factions, HTS (the Syrian al-Qaeda offshoot), the SDF (backed by America), Turkish Forces, and US forces. Assyrians have been skeptical of all these groups and their intentions as they see them using Syria as a proxy conflict more so than protecting the country from various factions with their own nefarious purposes.

Overall, the modern conflicts of the Middle East have made Assyrians more vulnerable than ever before and the accelerated exodus shows the deteriorating situation in the region that for now, due to various factors, looks to be irreparable.

Julian McBride is a forensic anthropologist and independent journalist born in New York. He is the founder and director of the Reflections of War Initiative (ROW), an anthropological NGO which aims to tell the stories of the victims of war through art therapy. As a former Marine, he uses this technique not only to help heal PTSD but also to share people's stories through art, which conveys "the message of the brutality of war better than most news organizations."
Chinese shipbuilder delivers customized shuttle tanker

Xinhua) 10:41, April 01, 2023

This photo taken in February 2023 shows NS Pioneer, a shuttle tanker with a loading capacity of 155,000 tonnes, in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province. NS Pioneer, a shuttle tanker with a loading capacity of 155,000 tonnes, was delivered to its customer on Thursday, in northeast China's harbor city of Dalian, said the shipbuilder.(Xinhua)

DALIAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- NS Pioneer, a shuttle tanker with a loading capacity of 155,000 tonnes, was delivered to its customer on Thursday, in northeast China's harbor city of Dalian, said the shipbuilder.

Equipped with industry-leading systems of dynamic positioning and bow loading, the 279-meter tanker is able to operate in waters with depths over 1,000 meters, according to the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd.

The shipyard stated that the customized tanker has been delivered to CNOOC Petrochemicals Import &Export Co., Ltd., and will be put into service to transport oil produced by the deep-water oil fields of Buzios and Mero, Brazil.

"The climate in the waters where the Brazilian deep-water oil fields are located is variable, with strong winds and waves and harsh environmental conditions, which requires the quality dynamic positioning capabilities of the tanker," said Li Jiming, project manager of the shipbuilder.

Li added that the dynamic positioning system allows the ship to maintain its position at sea without anchoring, eliminating the limitations imposed by anchor lengths.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Photograph: Gianfranco Gaglione/AP

A US Virgin Islands investigations into the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epsteins ties to an American bank issued subpoenas to four wealthy business leaders on Friday, extending its reach into the highest echelons of tech, hospitality and finance.

The subpoenas issued to the Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Hyatt Hotels chairperson Thomas Pritzker, American-Canadian businessman Mortimer Zuckerman and former CAA talent agency chairperson Michael Ovitz are crafted to gather more information about Epsteins relationship with JPMorgan Chase, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Related: Barclays says Epstein allegations against ex-boss Jes Staley serious and new

The Virgin Islands lawsuit against JP Morgan, the worlds largest bank in terms of assets, alleges that the institution facilitated and concealed wire and cash transactions that raised suspicion of  and were in fact part of  a criminal enterprise whose currency was the sexual servitude of dozens of women and girls in and beyond the Virgin Islands.

Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JP Morgan, it said.

Epstein was a client of the bank from 1998 until 2013, five years after he pleaded guilty in a Florida state court to procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.

While it is not clear why the four businessmen have been asked for material, the Virgin Islands investigation is casting a wide net for information. JP Morgan has said it did not know about Epsteins alleged crimes and cannot be held liable.

The disgraced financier, who died of an apparent suicide in 2019 while in federal custody, owned two private islands  Little Saint James, or Epstein Island, and Great Saint James  in the American territory, and authorities there have secured a $105m settlement from his estate.

The demand for any communications and documents related to the bank and Epstein from four of the wealthiest people in the US comes days after it was reported that Jamie Dimon, JP Morgans chairperson and chief executive, is expected to be deposed in the case, though his lawyers have argued he had no involvement in Epsteins accounts.

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The Virgin Islands lawsuit  which was filed by an unidentified woman  focuses on Jes Staley, a banker who ran JP Morgans private bank and later moved to become chief executive of the UK bank Barclays.

The lawsuit claims Staley had knowledge of Epsteins criminal activities. JP Morgan has also sued Staley, arguing he should be held liable for any damages stemming from the Virgin Islands claim that Staley may have been involved in Epsteins sex-trafficking operation.

Emails produced as part of the Virgin Islands lawsuit showed Staley apparently discussing with Epstein the Disney characters Snow White and Beauty and the Beast  it is not clear if these may have been code names. That was fun. Say hi to Snow White, Staley emailed Epstein in July 2010, court documents show.
I attended the House hearing on a bill that would intervene in families private medical decisions by barring gender treatment for children. Testimony from possibly affected families fell on deaf ears. Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, signaled that he also wants to charge parents with child abuse and to restrict families ability to travel to receive health care.

The next day the lobby group Texas Values Action, which supported the trans bill, opposed another that would repeal laws criminalizing homosexuality. These measures promote narrow sectarian interests over those of the many mainline religions that affirm LGBTQ people. I am a director of religious education at one such Tarrant County congregation.

There are more than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills filed in the Legislature this year. Urge your representatives to reject the vilification of your LGBTQ neighbors, friends, family and colleagues because it is not consistent with your Texas values.

- Sarah Berel-Harrop, Fort Worth

Read more readers opinions here.
Vegan fast food favorite Burger Patch closed two out of its three remaining restaurants Friday.

The plant-based eatery closed locations at 1420 65th St., Suite 107, in East Sacramento and 500 1st St., Suite 9 in Davis, it announced in an email to devotees Friday morning.

Burger Patch closed its Land Park storefront in January as well, though that space still houses its test kitchen and offices. Owners Phil and Danea Horn still have their midtown Sacramento location at 2301 K St., Suite 101, which opened to long lines in 2019.

Both the Land Park and East Sacramento restaurants had fewer sit-down customers than expected, Phil Horn said. About 70% of orders from the East Sacramento store were for either delivery or pickup, and Burger Patch figured they could still serve those people from the midtown location, a smaller space with no indoor seating.

The migration of how people order and dine has been so strong off-premise that delivery has become a big part of our business, and our delivery radius has been expanded, Horn said.

The Horns had a particular attachment to Davis, given that Danea earned her . doctorate in agriculture and resource economics from the university. But the transient student population left the restaurant near campus empty on holiday breaks, particularly over the summers, Phil said.

Burger Patch is still looking to expand further from its midtown base, possibly in the Sacramento suburbs or Bay Area. In the meantime, it plans to roll out a to-go concept within the midtown store called Burrito Patch that Phil Horn compared to a vegan, higher-quality Taco Bell.

What to look for: Burger Patch closed its East Sacramento and Davis stores Friday, but still has its original in midtown and may expand further.

Where: The remaining location is at 2301 K St., Suite 101, Sacramento.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday.

Whats next: Look for Burrito Patch to open out of the midtown Burger Patch within the next couple of months as a to-go-only restaurant. That location will also expand its hours later into the evening and add more breakfast options on weekends.

Story continues

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A view of Glendale. Anti-Armenian fliers were found near an Armenian church in the city on Friday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Fliers containing anti-Armenian sentiments were found Friday morning posted near an Armenian church in Glendale. City Mayor Ardy Kassakhian called the postings "unconscionable and intolerable."

The fliers, found taped to light poles near St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church, contained messages that denied the Armenian genocide but claimed that Israel "fully supports" its completion. They referenced the ongoing blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh region by Azerbaijan, which has become a humanitarian crisis.

The region is populated primarily by ethnic Armenians but lies within Azerbaijan; critics say the nation's blockade has cut off access to food and medicine.

Anti-Armenian fliers were found near St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale. (Glendale Public Information Office)

"[We] continue to witness the efforts by hate groups today which continue to promote the atrocious act of genocide right here in the city of Glendale, home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the United States," Kassakhian said in a statement.

Kassakhian contended that those responsible for posting the signs were "undoubtedly emboldened" by Turkey's continued denial of the Armenian genocide and by the blockade in Azerbaijan.

California Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Burbank) called the posters "vile."

"Lets be clear that we will not allow these hateful racists to create discord between the Jewish & Armenian communities," Friedman said on Twitter.

The Armenian genocide resulted in the deaths of between an estimated 700,000 to 1.2 million Armenians living in the Ottoman empire in 1915.

It was not recognized by the United States until 2021 under President Biden.

The Glendale Police Department is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime against the Armenian church and community, the agency said in a statement.

The incident comes several months after anti-Armenian fliers were found taped to poles in Beverly Hills, KTLA reported.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
It's the weekend, party people, and you know what that means: It's Week in Review (WiR) time. For the uninitiated, WiR is where TechCrunch recaps all the tech news that took place for the week. It's like the morning paper, but in digital form, and without all the extraneous stuff unrelated to tech. So...not much like the paper, really, but very much worth a read (in this reporter's humble opinion).

To get WiR in your inbox every Saturday, click here. And for this edition's roundup, scroll down. But before you do that, don't forget to check out TechCrunch's upcoming events lineup, including the startup-focused Early Stage in Boston on April 20 and our mega-conference, Disrupt, in San Francisco on September 1921.

most read

Crash and burn: Virgin Orbit is laying off around 85% of its workforce in order to further reduce expenses after the troubled space company said it was unable to secure additional funding to keep it afloat. The news, which Virgin Orbit filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, comes just two weeks after the company furloughed all employees and entered an "operational pause" in order to find more cash.

Date while filing taxes: There's a new anime dating sim that does your taxes -- and it actually works. Amanda played Tax Heaven 3000, a game produced by MSCHF, the venture-funded creative studio behind projects like Push Party and the Lil Nas X blood shoes. What's the verdict? If you don't mind risking sharing your personal information with an anime girl obsessing over the tax process, it's not the least pleasant way to file your return.

The replacement TikTok: As U.S. lawmakers move forward with their plans for a TikTok ban or forced sale, the apps Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is driving another of its social platforms into the top charts of the U.S. App Store. ByteDance-owned app Lemon8, an Instagram rival that describes itself as a "lifestyle community," jumped into one of the U.S. App Stores top-downloaded slots on Monday, becoming the number 10 overall app across both apps and games.

Story continues

Groupon has a new CEO: Groupon, which shot to fame popularizing the online group buying format, has appointed Dusan Senkypl as interim CEO. As Ingrid writes, Groupon has 14 million active users, but almost consistently for the last decade, the company's financial position has been in a slow decline -- with stagnation in its core business model, little success in efforts to diversify, declining revenues and ongoing losses.

Get your own Lyft: Lyft might once again drop its shared rides offering, just one of several changes the companys newly appointed CEO, David Risher, could make in a bid to focus on Lyft's core ride-hailing business and become profitable. Risher told Rebecca in a wide-ranging interview that other features may also be axed, like the Wait & Save option that allows riders in certain regions to pay a lower fare if they wait for the best-located driver.

Twitter's APIs go paid: After weeks of stalling, Twitter finally announced its new API pricing structures on Wednesday. The three tiers include a bare-bones free level mostly meant for content-posting bots, a $100 per month basic level and a costly enterprise level. Subscribing at any level affords access to Twitter's ads API at no additional cost.

Hard times, slashed valuations: Manish reports some of the biggest Indian startups are taking a haircut in their valuations -- at least in the eyes of their investors, as some backers adjust their estimates amid the weakening global economy. BlackRock has cut the valuation of Byjus, which is Indias most valuable startup at $22 billion, by nearly half to $11.5 billion, while Swiggy, Indias most valuable food delivery startup at $10.7 billion, has been marked down to a valuation of about $8 billion by Invesco.

Ledger wins big: French startup Ledger has added more money -- about 100 million ($108 million) -- to its Series C funding round, Romain writes. The company's main products are hardware crypto wallets that offer a high level of security, shaped like USB keys and featuring a tiny screen to confirm transactions on the device.

Supply chain attack: Multiple security firms have sounded the alarm about an active supply chain attack thats using a Trojanized version of 3CXs widely used voice and video-calling client to target downstream customers, Carly writes. The malware is a particularly dangerous sort, capable of harvesting system information and stealing data and stored credentials from Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave and Firefox user profiles.

Canoo settles with the SEC: Electric vehicle startup Canoo has agreed to a $1.5 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a regulatory filing. The SEC began investigating Canoo in May 2021, focusing on the startups operations, business model, revenues, revenue strategy, customer agreements, earnings and the departures of certain company officers, including co-founder and CEO Ulrich Kranz.

audio

TechCrunch's podcasting output was as robust as ever this week, in case you had doubts. The Equity crew talked about AI, crypto, equity crowdfunding and -- in a story out of complete left field -- former startup founders trying to bribe China. Meanwhile, Found interviewed Angela Hoover, CEO and co-founder of Andi, an ambitious generative AI search chatbox company. And on TechCrunch Live, AtoB co-founder Harshita Arora and Contrary Capital founder and partner Eric Tarczynski discussed red flags investors keep an eye out for, how the VC and startup world reacts to the "girl genius" versus "boy genius," and the pain points of the trucking industry.

TechCrunch+

TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys  which you know if youre already a subscriber. If youre not, consider signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:

Crypto on the upswing: "Crypto-focused venture capital investors are trucking along in their work," Jacquelyn writes. Many remain confident in their investing strategies despite an enervated first-quarter market for crypto startup fundraising, while others are noticing a sharper decline in investing pace.

AI is the new oil: Being an AI company has become the soup du jour of startup land. Companies are scrambling to either incorporate AI into their existing business model or change up their marketing so whatever they were already quietly using AI to do is front and center. And Y Combinators latest class is no different, Rebecca reports.

Substack turns to its writers: Alex writes about Substack's effort to crowdfund a venture-sized extension round. The platform, popular with writers and known for its email service, has collected more than $5 million in pledges for an extension to its Series B from its community and the internet at large.

A look at Sweden's startup scene: In the wake of Techstars decision to discontinue its Swedish accelerator program, Alex and Anna decided to dig into the countrys startup scene to understand how one smaller venture market is adapting to a changed investing climate.
It was an inauspicious start to Donald Trumps defence. The former president making a fat-fingered spelling mistake on his own social media, screaming in his trademark block capitals on Truth Social that he had been INDICATED by Radical Left Monsters.

He hadnt (unless thats some kind of QAnon cult shorthand), but he has been indicted. British readers start here: that means he will face criminal charges. The first US president in history to do so.

So what happens now? Do the allegations make sense, and will the evidence stack up?

The charges, as I write, are still under seal. In other words, no one has yet seen what New York district attorney Alvin Bragg actually has on Trump, but rumours suggest that the indictment relates to the possible falsification of his business records  which in turn could raise questions over campaign financing.

The investigation centres around hush money Trump paid to Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election, to stop her from talking about the sex she had had with him a decade earlier.

Daniels was silent then. But not for long. I interviewed her in 2018, when she went into curiously specific detail about the shape of the presidential penis. She was smart, fierce, articulate and funny. And she had basically decided it was checkmate time for the president once hed leaked her name into the public domain.

What a beloved irony: that the woman he paid to shut up may actually end up bringing down his whole house of cards. That little bit of his anatomy doing even more reputational damage than the aforementioned fat finger.

As news of the indictment broke  the details are still under wraps  Trump acolytes were quick to call it a political witch hunt.

Even senior Republicans seeking to take on Trump in the presidential primaries worded their indignation with care.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis called it a weaponisation of the legal system. Nikki Haley, who walks a tightrope in her love and loathing for Trump, pronounced it more about revenge than justice. Mike Pence, a man who served Trump as his vice-president yet found himself fighting for his life against marauding protesters inside the Capitol building, called the indictment outrageous.

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None of these remarks, you will note, suggests that Trump himself is innocent.

This is the political crux: those who seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024 believe they must tether themselves to a Maga base. A base that believes the system is against it, and that all attempts to hold Trump accountable are political persecution. Its what Trump has told his supporters, after all.

But endorse the former president too forcefully and you send them right into his arms. Thats not what the potential nominees want, either. Some  cannily  have chosen to maintain complete silence for now.

And even Democrats who scoff at the idea of a witch hunt will admit to their own insecurities about the New York DAs move. Of all the things to level at Trump, they will think inwardly  the attempted insurrection, the move to overthrow democracy, the begging for fake votes in Georgia  you bring this up?

Is this the hill to die on  an actor, a few thousand dollars and a dodgy business deal? It has the whiff of Al Capone: a way to catch mobsters, not autocratic charlatans.

And yet, they must put their faith in this indictment. You have to start with the evidence you have, not the evidence you wish you had. And this evidence, dont forget, has already indicted, convicted and incarcerated one man  Trumps former lawyer Michael Cohen.

They didnt come for Trump last time because he was a sitting, serving president. This time hes not.

Much has been made of the political capital Trump stands to reap from this move. He can play the martyr! Seize the headlines! Paralyse his opponents so that they are unable to move against him!

Yet this overlooks one fairly major thing: Trump does not want to be sent to prison. He really doesnt. Hes evaded indictment for the past 40 years, one way or another. It was never the plan.

A man who knows how to woo the voter, schmooze the press, please the crowds and glamourise a trip down an escalator is no longer in control of events. Hes in the hands of a grand jury and a judge. And that doesnt sit easily with a control freak.

And Trumps political opponents know they must proceed with caution. Any attempt to expand a charge of misdemeanour to a criminally significant charge of felony must be watertight.

Any Democrat who believes in the rule of law cannot start with a presumption of guilt. And any move that humiliates the president  a perp walk, a mug shot  could backfire into protest.

You have to go back 20 years to find the advice that should now serve as the prosecutors bible. A time when reality TV meant the gritty drama of The Wire, not the flashy guilt of The Apprentice. It was Omar who warned then:

[When] you come at the King, you best not miss.
CADIZ, Kent.  War veteran Jeff Struecker, a scheduled speaker at Trigg County High School on Thursday, told about his military chaplain experiences, coincidentally, the night after two Fort Campbell Black Hawk helicopters crashed seven miles away, resulting in nine deaths.

Organizers from Little River Baptist Association planned the event months ahead of the fatal crash that occurred less than 24 hours before.

The audience of almost 200 people shared prayers for the Black Hawk helicopter crash victims and their families, as they sat on the bleachers in the gym at the Cadiz, Kentucky high school.

Black Hawk Down Survivor Jeff Struecker speaks about his faith and military career as a chaplain and soldier, at the Trigg County High School, in Cadiz, Kentucky. The program was presented by the Little River Baptist Association on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Struecker speaks to the crowd the day after two Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell crashed nearby. Struecker will conclude his program on Friday night at the high school.

Struecker has experienced his own fair share of eerily similar tragedy as a ground crew survivor of the tragic incident in 1993 when Somali forces shot down three Black Hawk helicopters in hostile territory, which was made into the book and movie, "Black Hawk Down."

His combat experience also includes participation in the invasion of Panama, Operation Desert Storm and more than a dozen combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Struecker has earned many medals for his combat service, including the Silver Star.

He seemed to relate deeply with the sorrow of losing soldiers in such as crash, but this time close to home.

"Im really glad to say that they decided were going to do this event because we believe it can help bring the community together and help them heal maybe some people that are really struggling with the news," Struecker said prior to speaking.

Also serving as a pastor at 2 Cities Church in the Columbus, Georgia, Struecker described himself as a "special operations door kicker" during the battle "when multiple Black Hawks got shot down and a lot of people died on those crash sites," he said.

My first half of the career, I was an enlisted guy. Thats when I was in Somalia," he said explaining that an actor portrays him in the movie.

Among the audience members with strong memories of what happened in Somalia was veteran Bruce Wayne Grace, who served in the Navy from 1968 to 1972. Wearing a cap that honors his branch of service, Grace recalled watching the news when he learned about the American lives lost.

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"I get emotional," said Grace, a retiree who volunteers with The Way Christian Youth Center in Trigg County.

'It breaks my heart': Audience members mourn those lost in crash

Grace had planned to attend the event to hear Struecker speak prior to the two 101st Airborne Division Black Hawks crashing.

"It breaks my heart," Grace said. "Being an ex-serviceman, I know how the families feel. Any loss is terrible."

Audience member Charles Jones also wore a Navy cap and expressed similar words about the nine who died when the Black Hawks crashed.

"It was terrible," said Jones, who served in the Navy from 1973 to 1977 and then in the reserves for 20 years with the United States Naval Construction Battalions. "Thoughts and prayers go out to the families."

Prayers were lifted up following the Little River Baptist Association program where war veteran Jeff Struecker spoke at the Trigg County High School gymnasium, in Cadiz, Kentucky, on Thursday, March 30, 2023, about his faith and military career as a chaplain and soldier. The event was held near the crash site of two Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell that crashed the night before.

Jones said he appreciates what those serving in the military do to "keep us free."

"They pay a terrible price and the families do, too," Jones said.

Struecker touts 'the courage of the American warriors'

In the second half of Struecker's military career, he served as a chaplain sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to minister to troops and remember warriors after helicopter tragedies.

"One of the things that I think Ill cherish for the rest of my life is the courage of the American warriors that I had a chance to serve next to, the helicopter pilots that were willing to place themselves in very dangerous situations so that I could do my mission on the battlefield," Struecker said.

War survivor Jeff Struecker, whose experiences were portrayed in the movie "Black Hawk Down," speaks at the Trigg County High School, in Cadiz, Kentucky, during a program presented by Little River Baptist Association on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Struecker speaks to the crowd the day after two Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell crashed nearby. Struecker will conclude his program on Friday night at the high school.

"I really had a chance to serve with some of the greatest warriors on the planet, and without a doubt, the most talented helicopter pilots this countrys ever produced.

Audience hears prayer from major who visited Fort Campbell crash site

The audience also heard a prayer from Maj. Tim Morgan, who's also law enforcement chaplain and pastor at Fruit Hill Baptist Church in Christian County. Based at Fort Campbell, Morgan went to the crash site of the two Black Hawks the night before attending the event at Trigg County High School.

It was just a tragic event that as our heroes go out every night to train, to be on the edge, doing what we love to do," said Morgan, who's served as a helicopter pilot. "Ive seen several crashes in my military career, and this was tragically probably the worst. These folks died doing what they loved, practicing to protect us and our nation. And they gave the full measure. There was nothing left to give."

Maj. Tim Morgan, a law enforcement chaplain, who also serves on active duty, gives a hug to a man that he prayed with at the end of the Little River Baptist Association program where veteran Jeff Struecker, whose experiences were portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down, spoke at the Trigg County High School gymnasium, in Cadiz, Kentucky, on Thursday, March 30, 2023, about his faith and military career as a Chaplin and soldier. The event was held near the crash site of two Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell that crashed the night before.

Morgan served with Struecker in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We've known each other about 20 years," he said.

Morgan said it was an honor to be present at the crash site.

"I live about five miles from the site," Morgan said. "A lot of my law enforcement friends called to make sure it wasnt me, on the aircraft.

"And so I went down to just serve however I could, to console, to offer, just offer Gods Grace and comfort to just hurting men, men and woman who showed up to mourn the loss of their brothers and do what they could do.

Maj. Tim Morgan, a law enforcement chaplain, who serves on active duty, and a member of the Kentucky Wounded Heroes nonprofit program and served as a voluntary chaplain at the site of the two downed Black Hawk helicopters not far from his home on Wednesday night. Morgan comforted and supported many emergency and military personnel that were at the crash site. Morgan spoke with the media following a Little River Baptist Association program where veteran Jeff Struecker, whose experiences were portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down, spoke at the Trigg County High School gymnasium, in Cadiz, Kentucky, on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Struecker spoke to the crowd about his faith and his military career as both a Chaplin and a soldier.

Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscriptionfor all dnj.com stories.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: War veteran mourns Fort Campbell soldier deaths, helps community heal
A woman who was found dismembered in Eastern Washington 39 years ago has been identified through DNA and genetic genealogy, police said of the cold case this week.

The 24-year-old victim, who became known as "Millie" over the years, was identified as Ruth Belle Waymire in February, the Spokane Police Department said in a release on Facebook.

Waymire was found by two fishermen floating naked in the Spokane River, near the border with Idaho, with her head, feet and hands cut off on June 20, 1984.

Fourteen years later in 1998, a skull was found in a vacant lot in Spokane, Washington, and three years after that, detectives were able to match it to Waymires remains, but she had yet to be identified.

SERIAL KILLER BTK LAYS OUT ALIBI AMID NEW QUESTIONING OVER 1976 OKLAHOMA COLD CASE

Ruth Belle Waymire as a sophomore in high school, left, and a computed generated image of what she might have looked like when she was killed at 24 years old.

In 2002, forensic drawings and a facial reconstruction were done on Waymires skull and in 2007, her information was uploaded to NamUs, a national missing and identified persons system.

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Investigators did a facial reconstruction of Waymire's face after her skull was found in 1998.

In 2021, DNA taken from when her body was exhumed in 2001 were sent to Othram, a company that works with degraded samples who also helped Spokane police identify 9-year-old Candy Rogers 1959 killer two years ago.

The company created a DNA profile of Waymire that listed potential family members, and after a relative in Spokane provided a DNA sample, her identity was narrowed down to two sisters using genetic genealogy.

Although both sisters were initially believed dead, Waymires younger sister was eventually found living in Oklahoma and provided DNA to investigators.

The two were confirmed to be sisters on February 17th, 2023, and Waymire, who had never been reported missing and who had been living a "vagabond lifestyle" at the time, was finally identified.

Waymire had lived with her mother and sister in Spokane after her parents divorced when she was young, but her mother died soon after and the sisters separated and lost touch.

Police said Waymire was married to her second husband at the time of her death and had likely given birth a year or two before she was found. No baby has been found or identified.

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Her killer has yet to be identified.

Her husband Trampas D.L. Vaughn, born in 1945, died in 2017. He had served time in prison in Iowa before he moved to Washington and married Waymire.

Waymire's second husband, Trampas D.L. Vaughn, who served time in prison, has not been ruled out as a suspect. He died in 2017.

Vaughn hasnt been ruled out as a suspect and no other suspects have been identified.

Waymires first husband still lives in Spokane and is cooperating with investigators.

"Spokane Police and Investigators with the Medical Examiners Office are hopeful that those who knew Ruth, her husbands, and/or perhaps a child/children born to Ruth will contact police through Crime Check at 509-456-2233 and help bring closure to the tragic death of a young woman dubbed Millie, until now," the department said. "Ruth Belle would have been 63 next month."
Flags of Ukraine and the USA

According to the sources, the package will include six different types of munitions, including tank rounds, guided aircraft munitions, repair and recovery vehicles, as well as additional ammunition for HIMARS rocket artillery systems. The sources added that the contents of the aid package are still subject to change.

Read also: Mass infrastructure attacks over, US finds no Ukraine funds misuse, more church drama

On March 28, Politico reported that former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will arrive in Ukraine on April 3.

Read also: U.S. backs Ukraines decision on Bakhmut, says Kirby

On March 20, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a $350 million military aid package to Ukraine. It included more HIMARS ammunition, howitzers and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, HARM high-velocity anti-radar missiles, anti-tank weapons, and river boats.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Anthony Joshua is back in action tonight as he takes on Jermaine Franklin in London.

Joshua will aim to bounce back from two straight defeats by Oleksandr Usyk, who outpointed the Briton in 2021 to become unified heavyweight champion and retained the titles against AJ with another decision win last August.

As Joshua, 33, looks to build towards another world-title fight, he faces American Franklin at the O2 Arena this evening. The pair will clash in a main-event contest  the biggest fight of 29-year-old Franklins career.

Heres all you need to know about how to watch the fight...

If youre content to just stream the fight, all you need is a Dazn subscription. The worldwide streaming platform offers three tiers: Monthly Saver (9.99 per month - with a commitment to 12 months); Flexible Pass (19.99 per month); and Annual Super Saver (99.99 per year - to be paid up front). Joshua vs Franklin will be available on all three of these plans.

If you wish to watch the fight on Sky, you will need a Sky+HD or Sky Q subscription as well as a Dazn subscription, but only the Monthly Saver and Annual Super Saver plans will allow you to access Dazn 1 HD  Skys new channel 429.

A statement from Dazn last week read: Please note, Dazn 1 HD is not available on Sky Stream or Now TV, and you must have a HD-enabled Sky box. Furthermore, the channel will not be available on Sky Glass.

Dazns statement continued: Virgin Media customers can now order Joshua vs Franklin as a 19.99 Pay-Per-View and watch the event directly on their Virgin set top box.
Former President Trump was indicted on Thursday in an alleged hush money scheme. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Hello, and welcome to this week's selection of top stories in pictures.

For the first time in American history, a U.S. president has been prosecuted on criminal charges. Donald Trump was indicted Thursday in an alleged hush money scheme in which he is accused of paying porn actor Stormy Daniels in the final days of his 2016 presidential campaign. It's foolish to predict the effect of Trump's indictment but there's reason to believe things have changed and his scot-free days may be over.

Former President Trump finishes a speech at the America First Policy Institute's summit in Washington, D.C., in July. Does his indictment Thursday signal his retreat from the American political arena? Not likely. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

::

Fentanyl addiction and homelessness haunt this New Mexico town. Generations have struggled with drug addiction in Espanola, but fentanyl is ripping through the already wounded community with new fervor, contributing to rising homelessness and overdose rates.

Grandparents are raising grandchildren, and a baby box has been built at the fire station to take in unwanted infants. Shoplifters haunt the aisles at Lowes and Walmart.

JEFFREY FLEISHMAN

A man in Espanola, N.M., sitting beneath a blanket to block the wind, smokes fentanyl, a common occurrence in town. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

A person in Espanola, N.M., sits on a highway median with a suitcase and a cardboard sign that reads, "Sorry for asking but if you can Please Help Me out that'll be great thank U Have a good Day." (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

::

In California, a privilege that is the rare "California Double"  the state's geography and recent wet weather  now allows for anyone so inclined to enjoy sand and snow in the span of one day.

Skiers and snowboarders get a lift at Big Bear Mountain Resort on a recent weekend in Big Bear Lake. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A man casts a long shadow as he jogs along the surf line in Santa Monica last weekend. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

::

After a police killing, law enforcement agencies across California have been trained to keep families in the dark and grilled for information that is later used to protect their department, according to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

"[T]he more disparaging information the police have about someone theyve killed, the less money the department may have to pay."

BRIAN HOWEY

Crystal Leff sued the city of Garden Grove after police fatally shot her unarmed ex-boyfriend and afterward detained her for interrogation. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

::

Storms may be on their way out, but they are expected to benefit Californians for months to come. Southern California is refilling its largest reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake  a backbone of the region's water storage system  hoping to restore it to full capacity by the end of this year. The $2-billion, 4.5-mile-long reservoir, which is near Hemet, was built to provide a lifeline when all else fails: "When things go really bad, this is the one that saves our system," said the general manager of a state water agency.

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Water cascades into Diamond Valley Lake from an inlet/outlet tower in Winchester, Calif., on Monday. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is refilling the region's largest reservoir with state supplies made available by this winter's storms. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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David Mora shot and killed his three daughters and a chaperone during a supervised visit last year. The children's mother had warned the courts that he was dangerous, but no one listened.

"Because somehow putting 'domestic' before 'violence' makes us treat it as less deadly or harmful than a random attack by a stranger, though about three women are killed every day by an intimate acquaintance in the U.S."

ANITA CHABRIA

Ileana Gutierrez, mother of three slain daughters, is embraced by a family friend before a memorial anniversary in Citrus Heights, near Sacramento, in March. The girls were killed in a church by their father during a supervised visit a year ago. (Jose Luis Villegas / For The Times)

Larissa Reynosa, 14, Gabriela Martinez, 14, Brooklyn Muhammad, 15, and Zariahlyn Mickens, 14, embrace one another during a memorial service in Citrus Heights last month for the Gutierrez girls: Samarah, 9; Samantha, 10; and Samia, 13. (Jose Luis Villegas / For The Times)

::

In Californias San Joaquin Valley, a "phantom lake" returns with a vengeance, as the spreading waters swallow fields and orchards and encroach on low-lying towns, unearthing an ugly history of water and the shallow inland sea that has defined the region for decades.

Floodwaters from a break in levees in the San Joaquin Valley overtake structures of a farming operation near Corcoran. Tulare Lake, a body of water that was largely drained more than 100 years ago, has been filling up after a series of powerful storms that have struck California this winter. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

::

The Skid Row Housing Trust was regarded as a model for nonprofits housing homeless people in Los Angeles. But behind the scenes, it was falling apart  and leaving tenants in squalor. A Times examination found that the implosion of the celebrated housing nonprofit was a long time coming. The city is seeking receivership. for the trust's 29 distressed buildings.

Jarian Banks is a five-year resident of the Sanborn Hotel Apartments, one of the properties owned by the Skid Row Housing Trust. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

::

Though snow is beginning to melt, it is still piled high in the San Bernardino Mountains after recent storms. Members of citizen volunteer groups, who continue to provide a lifeline to snowbound residents, say they never want to be caught off guard again.

Volunteer Stephen Reilly drives an all-terrain skid-steer vehicle to clear a driveway access road for resident Regina Brown in Twin Peaks, Calif. The road had been impassable for three weeks due to the heavy snowfall in the San Bernardino Mountains. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

::

And finally, as a major storm caps Californias wet season with more rain, winds and snow, lately making L.A. rainier than Seattle, Southern California begins to dry out.

Ray Sharaf, 2, of San Clemente explores the Dana Point waterfalls. The falls, which occur only during heavy rains, were activated by Wednesday's storm. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

::

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
With Holy Week approaching, Christians are making preparations for Palm Sunday, which honors the last days of Jesus, his trial and crucifixion.

It's celebrated on the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter.

Palm Sunday is a celebration of Christianity around the world and the commemoration of Jesus dying and rising again, said Mark Jobe, president of the Moody Bible Institute and founding pastor of the New Life Community Church in Chicago.

After the first celebration in the gospels, the first recorded Palm Sunday dates back to the 4th century in Jerusalem, Jobe said. The ceremony wasn't introduced to Western Christianity until about the 9th century.

According to the gospels, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem and people welcomed him as their king, he said, thinking he'd release them from Roman oppression. Days later, he was crucified.

The book of Luke, Jobe said, notes that as Jesus approached the cheering crowd welcoming him, he saw that his people wanted political peace but were in desperate need of "spiritual peace."

"Palm Sunday makes no sense unless you understand that shortly after, Jesus would die and pay the price for anybody, no matter prostitute or religious person, to forgive their sins and to give them an entrance into a new kingdom called the kingdom of Heaven," Jobe said.

Jesus entered the city knowing he'd be crucified, said Bishop Vashti McKenzie, interim president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

"The first chapter in Genesis talks about how God created the world," she told USA TODAY. "Palm Sunday begins the journey of how God saved the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus."

Holi 2023: What is Holi? Why is it celebrated? What to know about the Hindu festival of colors.

Good Friday 2023: When is Good Friday this year? 2023 dates and a peek into the history of Holy Week.

What do palm branches symbolize on Palm Sunday?

The large, long palm branches were common in the Holy Land, Jobe said. During ancient times, they symbolized goodness and victory.

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"It wasn't something unique to Jesus," he told USA TODAY. "When kings would come to town or when conquering warriors would come in, they would welcome them with palm branches, which they would throw on the ground in front of them."

And during Grecian Games, winners would be welcomed with the branches, he said.

What does the donkey symbolize?

Conquering kings typically rode in chariots or on the back of stallions, so Jesus riding a donkey went against the norm, Jobe said.

The donkey, he said, was a symbol of peace but it also represented the fulfillment of a prophecy from Zechariah 9:9.

"Your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey," the chapter reads.

The donkey is also a symbol of humility, said McKenzie, from the National Council of Churches.

What do modern Palm Sunday celebrations look like?

Today, Palm Sunday celebrations vary according to the denomination.

Some people wear red or purple that day, Jobe said.

Calling it a "very celebratory worship service," McKenzie, from the National Council of Churches, said churchgoers sing praise songs and lift palm branches of various sizes.

The branches are blessed and some families take them home, placing them on desks or shelves to remember the event.

"Traditionally, some of the branches are saved," she said. "They're not given out to people. They are saved and when you get to Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent, the ashes come from those burnt palm branches."

She stressed a true understanding of why Christians celebrate Palm Sunday.

"It is a time of celebration," she said. "Jesus died on the cross and when he died on the cross, he died for all of us, not for some of us, not for a few chosen few, but all of us."

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia  the 757  and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas, and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Palm Sunday's meaning for Christians and why it's celebrated
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen looks at what the next few days might have in store for former President Donald Trump after he was indicted this week. Tornados kill more people in the Midwest as the areas faces a deluge of storms. And LGBTQ people are under siege by hundreds of bills nationwide. The federal government sues Norfolk Southern over the February Ohio train derailment. Finally, USA TODAY Reporter Mike Snider looks at brands and April Fools' Day pranks.

(Audio: Associated Press)

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know Saturday, the 1st of April 2023.

Today what's next for Trump after his indictment? Plus more deadly tornadoes sweep the central US. And what can we expect from brands for April Fool's Day.

Former president Donald Trump enters this weekend preparing for an arraignment Tuesday after a historic indictment this week. But what exactly is next for Trump? I spoke with USA Today, Justice Department correspondent, Bart Jansen for more.

Bart, thanks for hopping on 5 Things today.

Bart Jansen:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So the moment has arrived. Former president Donald Trump has been indicted. Can you just start by giving us some basics about what happened here?

Bart Jansen:

Well, we've had this New York grand jury taking a look at former president Donald Trump for a while now, at least, perhaps as early as 2018. The indictment has been announced, but we don't know what the detailed charges are.

Taylor Wilson:

And when will we?

Bart Jansen:

Trump's lawyers have said that he is expected to surrender to authorities on Tuesday in New York, and he could be arraigned on that day. That is when legal experts expect that the indictment could be unveiled, in which case we get to see what charges, how many charges, what types of accusations are being made against him.

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Taylor Wilson:

How did Trump himself react to this indictment?

Bart Jansen:

Trump's lawyer said the former president was shocked when he heard about the indictment. He had warned in recent days that he expected to be indicted, but then as the date slipped from his prediction, he started saying, "Well, perhaps they've gone a different way." And so his lawyer said he was shocked at the development, but he has vowed to fight the charges and his lawyer, Joe Tacopina has said that there is no chance of a plea bargain.

Taylor Wilson:

This is obviously not a normal indictment because we're talking about a former president. So what will the logistics of Trump's arraignment next week look like?

Bart Jansen:

Trump's first court appearance in New York is expected to draw a crowd. He has called for protests. It's not clear yet whether a big crowd might show up to protest in favor of him who are opposed to him for that matter. Local authorities have begun bracing for the security that they need around the courthouse. They have begun days ago setting out barricades around the courthouse to prepare. The Secret Service has also been preparing to join him as he appears in court the first time.

Taylor Wilson:

This New York indictment is one of at least four investigations against the former president. What are they, Bart?

Bart Jansen:

Yeah, besides New York, we have a grand jury in Georgia, in Fulton County that is reviewing possible election fraud based on a call that Trump made to the Secretary of State in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger on January 2nd, 2021, asking him to find 11,780 votes that he needed to win the state away from President Joe Biden.

In addition, in Georgia, they, Trump campaign recruited a slate of alternate electors to favor him over Biden. And so that's all something that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is reviewing with her grand jury in Georgia.

At the federal level, a Justice Department special counsel, Jack Smith is investigating two aspects of Trump. One is what was his role on the Capitol attack on January 6th, 2021? Did he incite the crowd? Should he be blamed criminally? Trump has said he did not support violence and did not attempt to incite the crowd.

And Smith is also investigating the classified documents, hundreds of classified records found at Trump's estate, Mar-a-Lago down in Florida. Those documents are considered potential national security violations, and so we're waiting to see the results of both the Georgia and the federal investigations.

Taylor Wilson:

USA Today Justice Department correspondent, Bart Jansen joining us on a busy week. Thanks so much, Bart.

Bart Jansen:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

Tornadoes flew through several parts of the US yesterday killing four people and injuring dozens. One of those deaths came in the western part of Little Rock, Arkansas where homes and apartment buildings were destroyed. Elsewhere in Belvedere, Illinois near the Wisconsin state line, a theater roof collapsed on concertgoers killing one and injuring 28. The destruction came as President Joe Biden yesterday toured the aftermath of devastating tornadoes in the Mississippi Delta last week.

Joe Biden:

And folks, I know there's a lot of pain and that it's hard to believe in a moment like this, this community's going to be rebuilt and rebuilt and built back better than it was before. Resilience of this community has been remarkable. And I just want you to know, as you fight through this, you're not alone. The American people will be with you. They'll help you through it and so will I.

Taylor Wilson:

You can stay up on all the latest weather updates with usatoday.com.

LGBTQ people are under siege by a massive number of bills across the country. That's according to a report from the Movement Advancement Project or MAP, a think-tank that researches LGBTQ issues and laws. The report found that so far this year, 46 states have introduced more than 650 anti-LGBTQ bills. Young people, particularly young transgender people are being targeted.

MAP's research shows that more than 160 anti-LGBTQ school-specific bills were unveiled in state legislatures in the first two months of the year alone. That's despite nearly 80% of Americans saying they support non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people according to the Nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute. You can read more about specific ways legislation is targeting LGBTQ Americans with a link in today's show notes.

The federal government is suing Norfolk Southern after the February train derailment that led to environmental concerns and evacuations of a rural Ohio town. In the suit, the Department of Justice says it wants the Atlanta-based railroad operator to take responsibility for "unlawfully polluting the nation's waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup." The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency and says Norfolk Southern violated parts of the Clean Water Act. The complaint also says the railroad has reduced operating costs by cutting back on inspections, repairs and crew pay.

Today, in case you haven't noticed, is April Fool's Day, and that means brands will probably try to pull some pranks even if they fall flat. USA Today reporter Mike Snyder explains.

Hi Mike. Happy April Fool's Day.

Mike Snider:

Thanks Taylor. Right. That's not a joke, right?

Taylor Wilson:

Well, we'll see, I guess. We'll see. You wrote about a bunch of companies that have tried out these April Fools pranks over the years. Which one stands out to you in particular?

Mike Snider:

Well, probably because it happened the most recently, and I was personally involved in it a bit, was Volkswagen two years ago, they engineered this situation where they let reporters around the world find out that they were changing the name of the American division of Volkswagen to Voltswagen, V-O-L-T-S. They were about to introduce one of their electric cars. Reporters caught this, started writing about it, and they kept thinking, "Is this really real? You guys really doing this?" And Volkswagen told them yes.

Then like the next day, we're still not on April Fool's Day yet, the Wall Street Journal had a story that German officials said it was a prank, but other officials around the world, and I guess in the United States, because I wasn't reporting on the story yet at this point, said it was still true. Finally, late that day, they came out and said, "It's all a joke."

One of my colleagues had written the initial story that the name was changing. He had gone for the day. I came in and then I wrote a story saying it's all fake. So what happened in the end was that Volkswagen's PR people all over the country and all over the world were wasting all their time dealing with this issue. Journalists were wasting time trying to figure out what was going on here. At some point, Volkswagen stocks started going up. If it comes out this is not true, that could be an SEC violation possibly. So anyway, it was a big kerfuffle.

Others are a little more fun. I think we probably had AOL back then, but we didn't have the internet like we have now, back in 1996. And Taco Bell bought a bunch of full page newspaper ads in the New York Times, USA Today included, basically saying Taco Bell was going to buy the Liberty Bell and the money that they're spending to buy the Liberty Bell would go to the national debt.

Evidently in Washington members of Congress start calling the National Park Service saying, "Is this real?" The National Park Service had to hold a press conference to say, no, this isn't happening. In the end, Taco Bell supposedly gave $50,000 to the National Park Service to give towards its upkeep of the bell, but they've got a lot of free publicity from that, and evidently sales at Taco Bell increased by half a million and more than half a million the next two days compared to the week before on those same days of the week. Brands look for ways to get attention. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Taylor Wilson:

In general, do companies see some immediate results from these prank campaigns?

Mike Snider:

Now that we have social media, yes, they do, and generates activity. We're trying not to write about the goofy fake April Fool's Day stuff this year, but I have about three dozen in my email. In most cases, this is going to be harmless fun. It's so obvious that this is not really going to happen.

Taylor Wilson:

Can you give folks any hints, Mike, on what they could be on the lookout for this year?

Mike Snider:

I would definitely be careful of email. Any interesting texts you get, think twice. Just be cautious and be wary of what's going on. If you have family members that are tricksters, just be aware.

Taylor Wilson:

Be aware. Be aware. Famous words from Mike Snyder. Thanks so much, Mike. Appreciate it.

Mike Snider:

You bet.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here, wherever you're listening right now. James Brown is back with the Sunday edition tomorrow and I'll see you Monday with more of 5 Things from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What's next for Trump? 5 Things podcast
An Ohio man and alleged hate group member has been arrested for using molotov cocktails to attack a church in March that was planning to host drag events, according to officials.

Aimenn Penny has been charged with malicious use of explosive materials and possessing a destructive device, after allegedly attempting to set fire to the Community Church of Chesterland, in Chesterland, Ohio.

Mr Penny, who admitted to building the firebombs and attempting to burn down the church, was a member of White Lives Matter, a racist, pro-Nazi, homophobic group in Ohio, according to the Justice Department.

A search of the mans apartment revealed Nazi memorabilia, a Nazi flag, and a manifesto, according to court documents.

During the search, the Ohio man admitted to the attack, according to the FBI.

"PENNY stated that he was trying to protect children and stop the drag show event," according to court documents. "PENNY stated that night he became more and more angry after watching internet videos of news feeds and drag shows in France and decided to attack the church. PENNY stated that he would have felt better if the Molotov cocktails were more effective and burned the entire church to the ground."

Officials condemned the indicent.

Violence and destruction are never an acceptable way to express a disagreement with a particular viewpoint, first assistant US Attorney Michelle M Baeppler for the Northern District of Ohio said in a statement. While, as Americans, we enjoy the right to disagree, doing so peacefully is the only appropriate option.

The man had previously attended an 11 March drag event in Wadsworth, according to officials, where he joined a group of protesters carrying Nazi flags, yelling slurs and wearing military-style apparel.

Last year, the Alliance Police department interviewed Mr Penny, after he was observed putting flyers on police vehicles and other cars throughout the city.

During the interview, Mr Penny said he believes  and looks forward to  the civil war coming between races, and made racist comments about African-Americans.

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Drag performances and queer spaces have become increasing targets of attacks from the right.

A bakery in Chicago that sometimes hosts events featuring drag performers announced it will be closing this month, after months of attacks including broken windows and hateful messages.

Closing our doors is the direct result of the horrific attacks, endless harassment and unrelenting negative misinformation about our establishment in the last eight months, owner Corinna Sac said of the decision reported by the Chicago Sun Times.

In February, the state of Tennessee banned drag performances in spaces involving minors, and Republicans have made similar restrictions on LGBT+ expression a priority across the country, with an estimated 32 similar bills working their way through legislative chambers across the country, according to The Guardian. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the law.

What happens here is that social media goes unchecked, and it takes those lies and that disinformation and it spreads like wildfire, Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of advocacy group GLAAD, told PBS in December. It stirs up people and creates this environment that is very deadly. And I think we  its really interesting, because we started doing this count right before Colorado Springs happened, because we realize that, if you pulled back and you looked at it holistically, there were so many attacks against the drag community, that it wasnt these isolated instances.

Sometimes, the violence turns deadly.

In November, a 22-year-old killed five people and injured 18 others at an LGBT+ club in Colorado Springs.
The town of Whiteland in Johnson County took a direct hit from a suspected tornado last night as severe weather swept through most of the state.

The National Weather Service said Saturday evening its teams have preliminarily determined the community was hit by an EF2 tornado with peak winds of 135 mph. According to Whiteland police, the southern part of the town, which is about 20 miles south of Indianapolis, took a direct hit around 11:30 p.m., knocking down power lines and blocking roadways with debris.

Several houses and warehouses appear to have been destroyed or received significant damage, according to the Daily Journal. Destruction was also seen in parts of Franklin.

Whiteland Fire Chief Eric Funkhauser told the Daily Journal that the winds destroyed at least 10 to 20 homes and left about 20 people in a shelter.

Whiteland police said no fatalities were found during their first sweep of the area but that a second sweep was being conducted by the Red Cross.

Storm coverage: Indiana, Midwest hit by severe storms. Here's what we know.

Central Indiana was under a wind advisory until 6 p.m. Saturday with gusts near 50 mph possible and showers possible throughout the day, according to the National Weather Service.

AES Indiana is reporting as of Saturday morning a little over 4,000 customers are currently without power and that they were dealing with many poles and wires down across their service area.

There were at least 40 reports of tornadoes Friday Arkansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin and Mississippi, weather.com reported. And more than 28 million people were under a tornado watch at one point Friday, the National Weather Service said, which declared a level 5 "high risk" outlook for severe storms in some areas.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Carolines work is supported by Report for America and Glick Philanthropies. As part of its work in Marion County, Glick Philanthropies partners with organizations focused on closing access and achievement gaps in education.

Report for America is a program of The GroundTruth Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening local newsrooms. Report for America provides funding for up to half of Carolines salary during her time with us, and IndyStar is fundraising the remainder. To learn more about how you can support IndyStars partnership with Report for America and to make a donation, visit indystar.com/RFA.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Whiteland, Indiana, likely hit by EF2 tornado, weather service says
Wisconsin voters went to the polls Tuesday to elect their next state Supreme Court justice in what could be the most consequential race of 2023. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated former Justice Dan Kelly, flipping control of a court that had a conservative majority for 15 years.

The race had garnered national attention because of its potential implications for an array of issues, including abortion and voting rights, as well as the 2024 presidential election. And the high-stakes race is the most expensive state Supreme Court race ever.

While the Wisconsin Supreme Court is technically nonpartisan, the results of the election determined whether the court, which could weigh in on politically charged issues in the battleground state, would have a conservative- or liberal-leaning 4-3 majority.

"We're living in a national environment in which state supreme courts are being given the opportunity by the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on these extraordinarily important and consequential issues," said Howard Schweber, political science and law professor at the University of Wisconsin.

File: Former Wisconsin state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly / Credit: Dan Kelly's Facebook campaign account

Kelly ran against Protasiewicz to fill the seat being vacated by conservative Patience Roggensack, who was not seeking reelection. Her retirement opened an opportunity for the balance of the state's highest court to shift after conservatives held the majority for 15 years. The election decided the makeup of the court for at least the next two years. Wisconsin state Supreme Court justices are elected for 10-year terms.

File: Judge Janet Protasiewicz onstage during the live taping of

"To call these elections nonpartisan is simply absurd," said Schweber. "They are very much partisan driven, they are very much party driven, and it's very much that these two sides will try to promote candidates that they think will promote their agendas."

More than $27 million had been spent on ads in the general election alone since the Feb. 21 primary. Protasiewicz and groups supporting her spent over $15 million, while Kelly and groups supporting him poured over $12 million into the race. Protasiewicz and her supporters were outspending Kelly and his backers on ads for weeks, but that trend reversed in the last week of March.

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In total, spending on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race was close to $45 million about a week out from the election, according to a review by WisPolitics.com, which drew from financial records that included the primary election. The sum shattered the previous record for a single supreme court race, $15.2 million in Illinois in 2004, according to data from the Brennan Center for Justice.

Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, noted this election could "shape the rules that will affect the 2024 presidential race, the fight for the House majority, and the fight for the Senate majority."

The state Democratic party was both running a major "get out the vote" operation across the state as well as raising millions for Protasiewicz. The Wisconsin GOP had also been holding events across the state and actively promoting his candidacy.

"What I tell people is all the reforms we've had in the last 25 years going back to [Republican] Gov. Tommy Thompson I think are under threat if the liberals take over the court," said Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming.

Protasiewicz currently serves as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge. Before she was first elected in 2014, she served as a Milwaukee assistant district attorney for more than 25 years.

Kelly previously served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 2016 to 2020 having been appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. He lost the 2020 Supreme Court election to now-Justice Jill Korofsky. Since then he has returned to private practice, a stint that included serving as legal counsel to the Wisconsin Republican party.

Both candidates had been going head-to-head over abortion rights, an issue that could end up before the court in Wisconsin. Protasiewicz ran ads against Kelly, claiming he would uphold the state's pre-Roe 1849 abortion ban that went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It does not include exemptions for rape or incest.

Kelly, who was endorsed by multiple anti-abortion groups including Wisconsin Right to Life, pushed back, saying he would decide the issue based on the law. He criticized Protasiewicz for openly saying she believes women should have access to abortion. Kelly accused Protasiewicz of having already made up her mind on how she would rule if a case came before the court.

Redistricting also emerged as a top issue in the race. Last year, the Wisconsin Supreme Court approved the Republican-drawn maps similar to the 2011 plan, when Republicans held a state-government trifecta during the redistricting process. The maps essentially lock in Republican control of the Assembly and Senate, but that could immediately change with a shift in the makeup of the state Supreme Court. Protasiewicz has called the maps unfair and rigged.

And the court is likely to have a say in voting rights cases ahead of the 2024 election where the state is a critical battleground in the presidential race. Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, is also up for reelection.

Republicans, who control both chambers of the state legislature, have moved to pass a series of different voter laws over the years ranging from voter ID requirements to absentee voting restrictions. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled last year that absentee ballot drop boxes are illegal in the state.

"There are just numerous opportunities for the courts to either uphold rules designed to suppress voter turnout or to create them on their own accord," Schweber said.

Democrats hit Kelly hard on voting laws. The conservative former justice is an ally of former President Trump, who previously backed him in his failed 2020 bid. He served as "special counsel" for the state Republican party regarding a plan for fake Republican electors in the 2020 election, according to testimony by the former party chair before the Jan. 6 House select committee. Kelly had downplayed his role, but he was backed by a conservative activist, Scott Presler, who has organized "stop the steal" events, and was on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. Presler traveled the state campaigning for Kelly who posted a video of them together earlier this month.

At the same time, Republicans and outside groups attacked Protasiewicz as soft on crime and said she has allowed criminals to walk, running a series of ads highlighting cases over which she's presided. She said the examples were cherry-picked out of thousands of cases and lacked context.

It's an issue that often is used to mobilize voters  an important factor for either candidate to win.

Prior to the election, both party and political experts said it was hard to determine what turnout could look like. But turnout in off-year elections, even in those when it is higher than usual, is still considerably lower than in general elections. The previous record for a spring election in the state was about 34%, whereas the turnout for the 2020 general election was over 72%. But operatives on both sides believed issues like redistricting, abortion, school choice and crime could help turn out voters in an off year.

Trump addresses supporters at Mar-a-Lago after being arraigned in New York City

How Finland's NATO membership could impact the region

A look at the case against Trump
Reuters

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In the eyes of the worlds media, the indictment of Donald Trump was not the big freaking deal many Americans might expect. Save for a handful of English-language websites and newspapers, the story ranked beneath most regional and local concerns and in more than a handful it was found alongside or just above the coverage of other celebrity news items like the denial of parole to Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius and the Gwyneth Paltrow ski accident trial.

Theres a reason for this and it may be hard for many Americans to hear. For all our chest-thumping about our world-leading democracy, we lag the world in living up to the idea that no one is above the law, particularly when it comes to heads of state and government. While, as much coverage at home and abroad noted, the indictment of a president is unique in American history, to the rest of the world, holding leaders to account is much more commonplace.

In fact, it is hard to find a major country as reluctant to require its leaders to face the legal music as we have been. Contrary to the MAGA GOP argument that prosecuting Trump makes us look like a banana republic, the reality is that placing our president above the law is a clearer sign of political backwardness than the alternative.

Consider that as of this moment, a former British prime minister is under investigation for misleading Parliament, Israels prime minister is under investigation for corruption, and Pakistans former prime minister is facing a slew of serious charges including terrorism.

But almost every major country you can think of has respected the requirements of the law or has leaders who have been charged or prosecuted for crimes. Former French President Sarkozy was convicted of illegal campaign finance charges. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was a one-man crime wave, convicted on a wide range of charges from sex crimes to corruption.

Story continues

The Storm Arrives: NYC Grand Jury Indicts Donald Trump

Germanys former President Christian Wulff was tried on bribery charges and found not guilty in 2014. Spain has seen prime ministers ousted on corruption charges and another fined for breaking electoral law. Another former Spanish minister who once ran the IMF was convicted of corruption charges and sent to prison.

South Koreas former President Park Geun-hye was impeached, convicted, and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Taiwan has seen more than one president convicted. Malaysia, too, has seen more than one top leader go to jail, including a prime minister and, controversially, an opposition leader.

While headlines in India are today about the way Prime Minister Modi forced a leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, out of parliament, it is a reminder that his grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was once found guilty of corrupt electoral practices.

Brazils current president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was convicted of corruption and spent time in jail before the convictions were annulled. But he is not the first president of Brazil to be charged with a crime. Mexico, too, has seen presidents accused of crimes and corruption, as indeed, have many countries in the Americas and I could go on.

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But it is clear that as far as behaving like third world countries goes, we could certainly learn a lot from the third world and indeed, the rest of the world on such matters.

This is not to say the rest of the world did not find anything notable about the Trump convictions. In the U.K., both The Daily Mail and The Telegraph provided lively coverage with a special focus on handcuffs for their BDSM readers. The Telegraph had extensive coverage, as did the U.S. version of The Guardian. But when I looked at The Standard, its Trump story was not trending.

In Australia, the lead in Australias Daily Telegraph focused on the political persecution angle offered up by Trump and his supporters, whereas The Australian offered a fairly dry explainer on the case. One of the only insightful commentaries I saw on the case anywhere in the world came from Charissa Yong of the Singapore Straits Times, who argued that Trumps indictment may energise support for him now but seal his fate in the future.

Unusually, in the South China Morning Post, I found a story that also highlighted the political persecution angle, trending. The Xinhua News Agency of China gave the story exactly zero coverage on its English-language homepage, perhaps because sending leaders to jail is an uncomfortable subject there. (That said, China has not hesitated in the past to jail former senior officials for corruption.

Trump Rages at Hush-Money Indictment in Misspelled Truth Social Rant

Pravda, in Russia, whose president stands accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, included a story looking ahead to what may follow Trumps criminal charges and illustrating it, weirdly, with a picture of Trump at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, wearing a yarmulke.

In India though, in the Hindustan Times, there was not much coverage, although an explainer was featured in the Times of India.

Mexicos Reforma offered low-profile, modest coverage with a piece that was a whos who of the Trump case. La Prensa in Mexico offered nothing, while El Universal asked, Whats next for Trump after being indicted and what will happen to his presidential campaign? In Brazils biggest paper, Folha da Sao Paolo, there was very little, and what coverage there was on ex-presidents who might be in trouble focused on their own mini-Trump, Jair Bolsonaro.

In Israels papers, both the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz had lead stories on U.S.-Israel relations, Trump stories took a back seat to stories like Republicans Rally Behind Netanyahu. The Haaretz story, way down in U.S. news, was Trump hit with criminal charges over Stormy Daniels payoff, a first for an ex-US president. The Times of Israel just offered an explainer, which, like many of the stories that did run worldwide, highlighted the fact that the case involved a porn star.

Europes bigger papers did offer more thoughtful commentary. Frances Le Monde wrote, Donald Trump does not intend to hide, but on the contrary to embrace this crisis, to pose as the victim of a Deep State conspiracy.

Meanwhile, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which did devote comparable attention to the Pistorius case, had a commentary saying, Donald Trump has mastered the art of attrition. He keeps causing outrageand everyone is exhausted when it really matters. This time, a Democratic prosecutor is helping him, and another assessing how Democrats and Republicans were responding to the case.

On the other hand, Italys Corriere Della Serra seemed inclined to give Gwyneth better coverage, although it did include an explainer on the Trump case.

Perhaps the excitement triggered by the Trump case will grow with future indictments if they involve more serious matters or the prosecutors are the U.S. Justice Department. Perhaps it will take convictions to get them really engaged in the story. But the reality is that even those developments may be seen by audiences worldwide as just another example of the U.S. finally catching up to them and at last living up to the ideals regarding the rule of law that we have for so long preached to them.

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A man is in custody and Wichita police say he tried to elude them several times Friday night.

Pearl Haynes IV, 41, of Wichita, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, criminal damage to property, domestic violence, robbery, evade and elude, DUI, and resisting arrest, WPD spokesperson Chad Ditch said in a news release.

Haynes arrest stems from an domestic violence and robbery incident. The incident started around 9:20 p.m. when officers responded to a domestic violence with a weapon call in the 6700 block of West Par Lane that involved Haynes and a 34-year-old woman, Ditch said.

Officers spoke with the woman, who said Haynes showed up to her apartment drunk and started breaking several things inside. Haynes and the woman know each other, the release said.

Officers saw Haynes run out of the apartment and began to chase him. He jumped a fence, and that is when officers heard eight gunshots from where Haynes landed, the release read.

Those officers then took cover as other law enforcement agencies showed up.

Around 11:15 p.m., a resident in the 1300 block of South Westfield called 911 saying Haynes was at their residence banging on the door. Haynes said he was on the run from police, Ditch said.

Officers made their way to the Westfield residence. When they arrived they saw Haynes fleeing on an ATV. The pursuit ended when Haynes tipped the ATV on its side, continued on foot and was apprehended by officers, according to the release.

Haynes was taken into custody in the 300 block of South Keith. Investigators learned Haynes and the Westfield resident also knew each other, the release read.

Officers did not find a gun on Haynes when they arrested him, Ditch said in an email.

The case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorneys Office.
An iguana is seen as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission continues its efforts to try and control the invasive species on March 13, 2018 in Miami, Florida. Getty Images/Joe Raedle

In a rare attack, an iguana bit a child for her cake in Costa Rica.

Five months later, a strange cyst began to grow on the site the girl was bitten.

Scientists found that the girl was infected with a rare bacteria, possibly the first from an iguana bite.

A girl's rare infection could have been linked to an encounter with an iguana that had a craving for cake, scientists suspect.

CNN reported that a scientific presentation on the unidentified 3-year-old girl's case will be given at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases this month.

Last March, the unnamed girl was on vacation with her parents in Costa Rica. Her parents gave her a cake as she hung out by the water. A wild iguana ran up to her, bit her finger and stole her cake.

"It was trying to mark its territory or something like that," Dr Jordan Kit Mah, a medical microbiologist at Stanford University told the Guardian.

Iguanas are typically harmless and herbivores, but this one appears to have developed a liking for sweets, CNN reported.

Her parents noticed that the bite was superficial but still took her to a local clinic, which disinfected the wound and gave her antibiotics. The wound healed, but five months later, they noticed a bump in the same spot.

While the girl said the bump did not hurt, it had grown to the size of a coin, and was a reddish-bluish color, the Guardian reported. The family took the child to the doctor.

At first, the parents hadn't thought the iguana bite had anything to do with it. Doctors suspected it might be a cyst but as it continued to grow, the parents realized the bump was in the same spot as the iguana bite, CNN reported.

The bump continued to grow and began causing mild pain, which sent the girl to an orthopedist. She has a biopsy which revealed a rare infection.

The little girl had developed Mycobacterium marinum, which typically causes tuberculosis-like illness in fish but rarely infects humans. Humans usually get this infection if they have open wounds and come into contact with contaminated water. Mah told CNN that he believes this is the first time a human has gotten this infection from an iguana bite.

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"There is we know a lot about animal bites and bacteria, infections, following, let's say, dogs or cats, but there really isn't much for lizards, let alone iguana," he said. "I don't think people should be afraid, but doctors should be aware of the possibility."

He told the Guardian that he's not surprised it took this long for the girl to develop symptoms since the bacteria is very slow to grow and has a long incubation period.

The infection doesn't respond well to typical antibiotics but the little girl was put on rifampin, an antimicrobial, and clarithromycin, an antibiotic and according to Mah, is improving.

"Typically, with these infections, because they take a very long time to grow and they're a little bit more fastidious, you need to treat them for a longer period of time, sometimes several months," Mah told CNN. "So she's doing better. I wouldn't say 100%, but she's doing a lot better than she was initially."

Read the original article on Insider
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and likely the future of abortion access, Republican-drawn legislative maps and years of GOP policies in the key swing state rests with the outcome an election Tuesday that has seen record campaign spending.

The winner of the high-stakes contest between Republican-backed Dan Kelly and Democratic-supported Janet Protasiewicz will determine majority control of the court headed into the 2024 presidential election. The court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Bidens narrow win in 2020, and both sides expect another close race in 2024.

It's the latest election where abortion rights has been the central issue since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. It's also an example of how officially nonpartisan court races have grown into political battles as major legal fights play out at the state level.

All of it has fueled spending that will double, and likely triple or more, the previous high of $15.4 million spent on a state court race in Illinois in 2004. Democrats have spent heavily for Protasiewicz and Republicans for Kelly.

Democrats are trying to flip control of the court, which has had a majority of conservative justices the past 15 years. That has allowed the court to uphold an array of Republican priorities, including banning absentee ballot drop boxes last year and affirming the 2011 law all-but ending collective bargaining for most public workers.

The policy direction of Wisconsin is going to be determined in large part by this Supreme Court race, said University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden. Everything from abortion to disputes over the 2024 presidential election are going to land in the lap of this court. And the winner will be the deciding justice on these issues.

Protasiewicz, 60, has tried to make the race a referendum on abortion, running on a Democratic-backed agenda that includes her loudly voicing her personal values" in support of abortion rights.

Story continues

The court is expected to rule on a lawsuit challenging the state's 174-year-old law banning nearly all abortions.

That law, enacted a year after statehood, went back into effect after the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, leading to an end to abortions being provided in Wisconsin. Democrats, including Gov. Tony Evers who won reelection in November, have seized on the issue.

Abortion was a real motivator for Democrats and independents," Burden said. It's been amped up in this election because the court has a real role in determining the policy.

Protasiewicz won the backing of Planned Parenthood and other similar groups as she focused on abortion without saying how she would rule on the pending case challenging the ban. But she's promised that Kelly would vote to uphold it.

Kelly hasnt said whether he thinks the ban is legal. But he has expressed opposition to abortion in the past, including in a 2012 blog post in which he said the Democratic Party and the National Organization for Women were committed to normalizing the taking of human life.

Kelly also has done legal work for Wisconsin Right to Life, one of three anti-abortion groups that has endorsed him.

Abortion isn't the only hot political issue Protasiewicz has embraced. She also called the Republican-drawn legislative maps upheld by the current court rigged and said she would welcome revisiting them.

The state Supreme Court upheld Republican-drawn maps in 2022. Those maps, widely regarded as among the most gerrymandered in the country, have helped Republicans increase their hold on the state Legislature to near supermajority levels, even as Democrats have won statewide elections, including Evers as governor in both 2018 and 2022 and Biden in 2020.

When asked in an interview on Wisconsin Public Radio whether he thought the GOP-drawn maps were fair, Kelly punted.

I think thats a political judgment, he said, adding that his view was entirely irrelevant.

Kelly was appointed to the state Supreme Court by then-Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, in 2016. He served four years before being defeated in 2020 on the same ballot as the Democratic presidential primary. Kelly was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump that year.

Protasiewicz has tried to paint Kelly as an extreme partisan and a true threat to democracy given his ties to Republicans, including advising them on the plan to have fake GOP electors cast their ballots for Trump following the 2020 election even though he had lost.

Four of the past six presidential races in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a percentage point, including Trumps victory in 2016 and Bidens win in 2020.

Kelly, 58, has tried to distance himself from his previous Republican clients and his political beliefs.

I dont talk about my politics because I understand they are not relevant to the work of the court, he told the Dane County Bar Association in March. Were there to decide questions of the law and thats it.

Protasiewicz is a former prosecutor who was first elected as a Milwaukee County judge in 2014.

Kelly has accused Protasiewicz of being bought and paid for by Democrats and crossing the line by all-but declaring how she would rule on cases expected to come before the court. Kelly also tried to paint Protasiewicz as soft on crime, citing cases she handled as a judge, while also accusing her of straight up lying throughout the campaign on various issues.

The winner will serve a 10-year term starting in August replacing retiring conservative Justice Pat Roggensack.

In a sign of how divisive the race is, Roggensack endorsed Kelly, while her daughter, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Ellen Brostrom, backed Protasiewicz. Brostrom said Kelly was unfit to serve because of his involvement in the fake GOP electors scheme.
Police are searching for an older woman they say was pretending to be a security guard when she started breaking into houses.

Officers say a woman wearing a white shirt with a security patch broke into homes in December 2022 and January 2023.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

The suspect was later identified as Birdie Milsap.

Police say surveillance video from a December 30 burglary at a home on Peachtree Battle Ave. NW shows Milsap checking the doors of several homes.

TRENDING STORIES:

It is unclear what was taken from the homes.

Investigators are asking for anyone who knows where she may be to contact them at 404-546-5212.

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WORCESTER - A Worcester man linked to gang activity in 2017 through graffiti spray-painted in 19 different locations pleaded guilty to felony firearms possession in U.S. District Court Friday.

Lawrence Rutherford, 37, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni set a sentencing date for July 7, 2023.

Rutherford was indicted on the weapons charges in October 2019 after officials executed a federal search warrant in June that turned up two guns and 600 rounds of ammunition.

According to a release from U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins' office, Massachusetts District, Rutherford is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior convictions punishable by more than one year in person. Rutherford faces up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 at his July sentencing.

Rutherford was arrested in 2017 and charged with 19 counts of defacing property after he allegedly wrote "Banga" - his street name - along with "LSP," "LincSet" and other references to city gangs on businesses and homes.

Local police worked for two months to identify Banga, who tagged businesses on Grafton and Lincoln streets repeatedly, even after owners cleaned the graffiti from their properties. The Worcester Police Department's gang unit led the investigation due to the painted gang references included in the graffiti. Officers identified the suspect from surveillance footage.

Rollins; James M. Ferguson, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Worcester police Chief Steven M. Sargent made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg A. Friedholm and John T. Mulcahy of Rollins criminal division are prosecuting the case.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester tagger to be sentenced in July for weapons, ammo possession
Patricia Borges is interviewed at Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pa., on March 25, 2023. Associated Press

A worker believes she was saved from a factory fire by falling into a vat of liquid chocolate.

Patricia Borges was rescued after nine hours of calling for help, the Associated Press reported.

Seven people died in an explosion at the R.M. Palmer chocolate factory in Pennsylvania last month.

A worker who was rescued after an hours-long wait in the rubble after a deadly explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania believes she would have burned to death had she not fallen into a tank of liquid chocolate.

Patricia Borges, a line operator at RM Palmer, was knocked to the floor, and her right arm caught on fire when an explosion blasted through the factory last Friday.

As she ran through fire and debris, Borges fell through the floor into a tank holding liquid chocolate. According to a GoFundMe campaign to help cover her medical bills, the chocolate "extinguished the flames on her arm."

Borges, 50, broke her collarbone and both heels in the fall and spent nine hours screaming for help, according to the Associated Press. After spending hours in a pool of freezing water, she was finally saved when a search-and-rescue team heard her cries in the basement of the factory.

Cleanup and rescue crews are working through the debris of a Friday explosion at a chocolate factory in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Michael Rubinkam/The Associated Press

"When I began to burn, I thought it was the end for me," Borges told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview on the nightmarish ordeal.

Seven people were killed in the explosion, and 10 were hospitalized.

A federal investigation is underway  the National Transportation Safety Board has indicated that the cause was likely a natural gas explosion, per the Associated Press.

Speaking from a hospital in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Borges told the news outlet she believed the deaths of her coworkers could have been prevented  as she and other factory workers said they smelled gas 30 minutes before the explosion.

Her superiors at Palmer chose not to evacuate, she said, and she wants justice for colleagues.

The company said in a statement last week, "Everyone at RM Palmer is devastated by the tragic events at one of our West Reading facilities, and we are focused on supporting our employees and their families."

Read the original article on Insider
Wynne High School  apart from a sign identifying the school on its street  looked unrecognizable one day after a likely tornado destroyed much of the building and the small Eastern Arkansas town where it resides.

People were walking around what was left of the school Saturday morning  located about 50 miles from Memphis  to find one of the linchpins of its community with a shredded roof, blown-out windows and debris scattered throughout the area. Caution tape was being put on Wynne High School as the school has been deemed a safety hazard.

There were also shreds of newspaper clippings and the school's torn-up welcome mat among the debris at Wynne High. Those around could see the inside of office buildings and classrooms where high school students were learning five days a week until the unexpected occurred.

Wynne High School Assistant Principal Mark Griffin stood in front of the school Saturday, grateful for the districts decision to dismiss students early Friday. The lifelong Arkansas resident loaded up his family truck and left Wynne before the tornado arrived but could not believe what he witnessed when he returned.

Coming back into town, seeing the devastation especially of our residential community back through here across Falls Boulevard, Griffin said. Ive never seen anything like this in my whole lifetime in Arkansas  its hard to see and its hard to know because we dont have a lot of communication with people. Cell service is sketchy, so were just worried about a lot of people and all we can do is do what we can do for right now and try to start getting things back in order and safe for people to walk around.

Tennessee storm damage: Nine dead in McNairy County, Tennessee, after storms, tornadoes sweep South

Covington tornado damage: Covington reeling with one dead, 28 injured after strong storms, possible tornado damage homes, buildings

Possibly dozens of tornadoes touched down into the night in at least seven states. The dead included nine in McNairy County, Tennessee, four in Wynne and three in Sullivan, Indiana. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi and the Little Rock area. Tens of thousands lost power because of the sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest.

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Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least seven states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

NWS Memphis planned to send out three survey crews Saturday to investigate storm damage in east Arkansas and West Tennessee, including in Wynne. Until they visit, a tornado will not be officially confirmed.

A likely tornado caused significant damage to Wynne High School in Wynne, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. Windows were busted and classrooms were rearranged by the wind.

Many businesses in Wynne were closed Saturday due to a lack of power, several streetlights being out also led to increased traffic in areas most impacted by the tornado. Numerous people could be seen walking throughout the streets as they faced their new, uncertain reality in the town of about 8,300 people.

Nearby, Wynne-based Antioch Baptist Church passed out food and water to residents as a small way of making the day after a little easier. Across the street from where Antioch held its food giveaway Kernodle Funeral Home, which has been in town since 1915 according to its sign, had an uprooted tree in front of its location on East Union Avenue. A not too uncommon theme given the many broken tree branches and powerlines scattered throughout Wynne.

Antioch Baptist Church Pastor Jonathan Keeling was in Mississippi officiating a wedding, but got numerous calls of what took place and on his way back into town started putting this event together.

Church members were up as early as 5:30 a.m. grilling sausage biscuits and other breakfast items throughout the day offerings included hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and water.

Antioch Baptist church members pass out food and water to community members who have lost their homes in the store Tornados caused damaged to in Wynne, Arkansas on March 31, 2023.

Keeling spent most of Saturday morning delivering food to those who could not make there way out to the tent.

You dont know what words to tell them because most people have lost everything that they have, Keeling said. Were just trying to help the community.

Ladonna Whiteside, 40, was one of those lifelong residents whose home on Elf Street suffered significant damage due to the likely tornado.

Im still trying to process it, because as long as Ive been living  we aint never seen this happen, said Whiteside, who stopped by Antioch's tent to pick up some food. Weve never experienced this much damage and stuff like (that). I dont even know what theyre gonna do about Wynne.

Whiteside is grateful she and her son walked out of the storm alive.

We can replace that (materialistic things), she said. As long as we walked out with our lives and stuff, were good.

A likely tornado caused damaged to First United Methodist Church in Wynne, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. Windows were busted and debris covered the front lawn.

Matt McMasters home was also impacted by the severe weather Friday. The 52-year-old remembered a tornado in Wynne from a few years ago but that did not compare to what he witnessed Friday and Saturday.

The 30-year Wynne resident was with his neighbors at Jordans Kwik Stop with at South Falls Boulevard on Saturday already thinking of ways to help his neighbors even more so than himself in the coming days.

Everybody needs to pull together and make things work even if its not yours try to help people out, McMaster said. Thats the main thing.

Thats also the effort that will be needed to help rebuild Wynne High School and areas most impacted by the tornado. Griffin said the district was able to pull out most of the vital records from Wynne High, before closing it off for the immediate future to determine the full extent of the damage.

Theres also the reality of trying to figure out where students will finish the 2022-23 school year as one of the challenges ahead for the community.

I have full faith that they will make great decisions on that and we will be able to educate our students to the absolute best of our ability, Griffin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Omer Yusuf covers the Ford project in Haywood County, FedEx, tourism and banking for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached via email Omer.Yusuf@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @OmerAYusuf.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tornado damage Arkansas: Storm hits Wynne homes, high school, 4 dead
In February 2022, Jack Collins, now a senior at Falmouth High School, was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

Through a two-week online program with Massachusetts General Hospital, he spent hours on Zoom, in individual and group sessions, working closely with medical professionals, and learning to cope.

My biggest takeaway from the program was that there are more people that care about you than you could ever know, said Collins. If you see somebody that's struggling, just tell them how much you care and how much you're there for them.

Collins has since joined the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition or BRYT Program, offered by Falmouth High School and Hope Squad, a nationally-recognized group focused on suicide prevention.

As part of Hope Squad, weve been selected by our peers as good listeners; we are there to be the first people a student can talk to, because it's much easier to talk to a student than it is to a mental health professional or even a teacher, he said at an online forum on Tuesday.

The nation has seen a 70% increase in youth suicide since 2007.

Since 2007, there's been a 70% increase in youth suicide nationwide, and it is the second leading cause of death for youth. That's according to Dr. Kim Mead-Walters, executive director of the nonprofit organization Sharing Kindness, and one of several panelists at the forum where Collins spoke, hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area and YMCA Cape Cod Achievers Program

Tuesday's forum was focused on services needed for preventing youth suicide on the Cape. Moderated by Jackie Lane, executive director of NAMI Cape Cod & The Islands, other panelists included state Sen. Julian Cyr, who sponsored the Mental Health ABC Act 2.0; Daniel Rodrigues, director of substance use disorders at Duffy Health Center; and Catherine Fauth, school adjustment counselor at Falmouth High School.

COVID-19 made everything difficult, especially for students.

Logan Hurwitz, a Barnstable High School junior, lost her friend to suicide in May 2021. For Hurwitz, the struggle was dealing with the feeling she could have done something to prevent it from happening.

Story continues

It can be hard to think about what you could have done differently, but a good way to help stop this from happening again is to try and put yourself in other people's shoes and imagine how they could be feeling, she said.

Suicide rates have gone up in recent years due to COVID-19; quarantine made it hard to live life normally, especially for students, who were attending school from their homes.

The pandemic created a lot of isolation and negatively affected people's mental health; it just made everyone feel really alone, she said.

In Hurwitz experience, her friend was always the funny, cheery one who seemed happy. Not seeing the warning signs are harder for her to deal with.

It's not enough to check on people just when you think that they're feeling down, you should just make an effort to check in with everyone whenever, because you can never know what's going on in someone else's mind, Hurwitz said.

Cape youth deaths Suicide prevention advocates hold forums after recent Cape youth deaths

Quarantine isolated teenagers.

Sophia Ryan, a senior at Nauset High School, said she tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide twice over the course of three months, just before the pandemic started.

After spending weeks at an Attleboro treatment center with other struggling high school students, she began to learn ways to help herself. Today, Ryan aspires to be a social worker, dedicated to helping those who despair.

Ryan talked about how the quarantine made her sink further into depression.

I had to manage a lot of time alone, cut off from human contact; schooling was really rough and I spent the majority of my time focused on what I could control, my schoolwork and healing.

Her message to students suffering from depression:

You're not alone; it may feel like you are but I promise there is someone out there, whoever that may be for you that loves and cares for you and it gets better with time.

By reaching out to those around you for support and getting the help you need, little by little the weight of sorrow lessens, she said.

State Sen. Julian Cyr.

Access to mental health support system is the key.

The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) consider suicide each year in the U.S.  and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.

"I didn't really get much behavioral health help until I went to college," Sen. Cyr said. "Im someone who has been able to access mental health care and that has made all the difference.

Dr. Kim Mead-Walters focuses on the important aspect of students feeling more connected in school environments. According to the American School Counseling Association, currently, less than 20% of students who die from suicide tried to access their school's counseling center as a resource.

Falmouth High Schools Bridge program offers specialized classrooms, mental health and educational support in a community-based setting, for students returning from prolonged absences due to a serious mental health condition.

I am seeing a lot of struggling teenagers that are willing to talk, and the right network gives students that space within the school, Fauth said.

Cape Cod Community College President John Cox was recently honored at the Statehouse by the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) for his work in making the college a statewide leader in suicide prevention efforts.

According to Dean Christine McCarey, the community college has a student wellness office on campus, staffed with a director, a clinician and a case manager who help students navigate their basic needs. The college also runs training on campus ranging from mental health first aid to safe talk. According to the Massachusetts Community College's suicide prevention procedure, the college also has a policy that essentially outlines the response if they come across a student in imminent danger.

Peer support is what gets them through the tough times

Ryan said being among other high school students helped her heal. Collins and Hurwitz agreed, saying sharing their feelings with friends and other students eventually helped them heal and deal with problems.

According to Fauth, in Falmouth High School, students get together to form groups and safe spaces for each other and that plays a big role in dealing with mental health problems.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached by dialing simply 988, or 877-870-4673.

Rasheek Tabassum Mujib writes about healthcare and education. Reach her at rmujib@capecodonline.com.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Check out our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Youth suicide prevention forum focuses on providing Cape students help
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has imposed sanctions on Vyacheslav Boguslaev, the former CEO of Motor Sich [aircraft engine manufacturer], and some Russian citizens.

Source: Zelenskyy's decrees

Details: The list includes several Ukrainians and more than 230 Russians, in addition to Boguslaev.

Besides, 225 companies from Russia were sanctioned.

The sanctions will be in effect for the next 10 years.

Background:

On 22 October 2022, UP learned that the Security Service of Ukraine detained Vyacheslav Boguslaev, the honorary president of Motor Sich, a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

On 23 October, the SSU confirmed the detention of the president of Motor Sich JSC and the head of the company's foreign economic activity department, as they were suspected of collaborating and aiding the aggressor state.

The investigation believes these officials acted in collusion with representatives of the Russian corporation Rostec, which is one of the main arms manufacturers for the Russian Armed Forces, close to the Kremlin. The offenders set up transnational channels for the illegal supply of wholesale consignments of Ukrainian aircraft engines to the aggressor country.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been stressing the need to reform the UN Security Council, where Russia has assumed the presidency.

Source: President's evening address

"Unfortunately, we also have some news that is obviously absurd and destructive. Today, the terrorist state began to chair the UN Security Council.

Yesterday, the Russian army killed another Ukrainian child  a five-month-old boy, his name was Danylo... And at the same time, Russia is presiding over the UN Security Council.

It is difficult to imagine anything that better underlines the complete bankruptcy of such institutions. There is no form of terror that has not yet been carried out by Russia. And there will be no reason that could stop the reform of global institutions, in particular the UN Security Council. A reform that is obviously overdue, so that the terrorist state, and any other state that wants to be a terrorist, cannot destroy the world.

Terrorists must lose, they must be held accountable for terror, not preside anywhere."

Background:

Russia takes over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council on 1 April for one month.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to prevent Russia from abusing its UNSC presidency.

Ukraine is insisting on the need to expel Russia from the UN Security Council.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia will bear systemic responsibility for the crime of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children.

Source: President Zelenskyy in a video address

Quote: "Within the framework of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe  ed.], work on the first separate international report, which will be dedicated to Russia's forced deportation of Ukrainian children and attempts to assimilate our children, began.

This crime committed by Russia is one of the most ruthless and inhumane crimes of our time.

Russia is committing it systematically and methodically, at the state level. Accountability for it will be systemic too. Accountability of Russia as a state, and everyone involved."

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Switzerland, which joined the 10 package of EU sanctions against Russia this week.

Source: President's evening address

"This week, Switzerland joined the 10 sanctions package of the European Union.

It is important when states that are neutral in the military-political sense still take a clear moral stance towards Russian terror, towards Russia's destruction of the global rules-based order.

Only in unity can we preserve peace as the basis of international relations, and I thank Switzerland for the relevant decisions."

Earlier: On Wednesday, 29 March, the Federal Council of Switzerland decided to impose sanctions against Russia, joining the 10 package of economic restrictions of the European Union.

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FOREST  When a custodian at Jefferson Forest High School collapsed on the afternoon of March 16, the quick response of four school division employees helped save his life.

Four Bedford County Public Schools staff members, with several first responders from the Forest Volunteer Fire Department and Bedford County Fire and Rescue, were honored in a small ceremony last week for saving Thomas Garrison, when the custodian suffered cardiac arrest.

When Steve Everett, a school custodian, saw Garrison collapse, he immediately called for assistance. Virginia Davis, the school nurse, answered the call, coming onto the scene with Kelly Thomas, the divisions supervisor of health services who happened to be visiting JF that day.

The health care professionals quickly determined Garrison was suffering from cardiac arrest. He was not breathing, not responsive and had no pulse upon Davis initial assessment.

I turned to Kelly and said, Get the AED, Davis said.

Brian Miller, lead teacher at JF, joined Davis and Thomas when he heard about what was happening, and the three of them set to work to resuscitate Garrison. All instructional staff, as part of their licensure, are trained and certified in CPR and basic first aid, according to BCPS Superintendent Marc Bergin.

It took about 15 minutes of CPR and use of the schools automated external defibrillator (AED) to get Garrisons pulse back, but it felt like an hour, Miller said.

Every time I compressed, I was saying a prayer. Occasionally saying, Thomas, come back to me. Thomas, come back, Miller said.

On average, only one in five people survive what Garrison went through, according to Thomas and Miller.

Its rare in the field, Thomas said.

Davis worked in an emergency department for years before becoming the school nurse, and was no stranger to these lifesaving measures or emergencies, but she had not had to practice them so drastically in a school setting.

Weve done it in the hospital before, and doing it in a school setting is much different. We are blessed to have AEDs, she said.

Together, the staff members managed to revive Garrison.

First responders from Bedford County Department of Fire and Rescue and the Forest Volunteer Fire Department arrived after Davis, Thomas and Miller brought Garrison back. The crews administered further treatments, and took Garrison to Lynchburg General Hospital.

For him to speak to me in the back of the ambulance was absolutely incredible, Davis said.

It was miraculous the situation unfolded as it did, in the staffs estimation.

Garrison was supposed to be out mowing the fields on school grounds that day, alone.

Thomas wasnt supposed to even be in the building. If it had happened down there, we would have never found him until practice that evening, Miller said. "But because somebody was out sick, Thomas came up to help out with lunches. Theres a lot of cool God touches all through this.

Davis said the location of the emergency also aided in allowing Garrisons life to be saved. Normally, custodians are in the cafeteria during lunch period, not in the office space  but Garrison happened to be in the office when he went down.

We had that space to work him. We didnt have any external factors messing with the situation at all. The students werent aware. We were able to work really hard as a team and not be interrupted, and we were able to focus, she said.

Having Thomas on site was another fortuitous thing.

Shes not as frequently on this end of the county, Davis said. She was literally walking down the hallway saying goodbye when she saw me start reacting to the distress call.

Thomas said she heard the call over Davis radio, and stayed to help.

Garrison remained in the hospital for several days, according to a news release from the school division, but he is now at home resting and continuing to recover. He has been part of the JF team for about 15 years, according to Brian Wilson, principal of JF.

On Tuesday, the school division honored those who saved Garrisons life with their quick responses and skill. Davis, Miller, Thomas and Everett  who was not present, but was honored nonetheless  each received plaques, a certificate and a glass trophy.

Although the recognition was nice, the important thing was they were able to get Garrison back, Miller said.

School staff have been in touch with Garrison, speaking with him even this week, and all said he is doing well.

Bedford County Fire and Rescue Chief Janet Blankenship said it was the four school staff members who did the work to save their co-workers life.

Blankenship encouraged the general public to pursue CPR certification so they are prepared to respond to an emergency if the need arises.

The work that the staff did here to respond so quickly and swiftly to provide care? Thats what made it all happen, she said.
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A Meherrin man was sentenced Thursday to 8 years and five months in prison after he was convicted of attempted murder and charges connected to coming onto the grounds of Appomattox County High School with a gun in a vehicle last March.

Mitariq Green, 21, pleaded guilty Jan. 26 in Appomattox Circuit Court to one count each of attempted murder, possessing a firearm as a violent felon, possessing a gun on school property and carrying a concealed weapon.

Appomattox Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Kia Scott said if the case had gone to trial, evidence would show on March 28, 2022, a guidance counselor at the high school contacted a school resource officer after a juvenile student relayed to her the student was being threatened. The juvenile reported Olivia Rose Hurt, of Cartersville, threatened to shoot her and told the student in a phone chat she was on the way to the school, Scott said.

The SRO investigated the exchanges between the student and Hurt. The officer spotted a vehicle on school grounds and, along with another deputy, approached the car where Hurt was in the drivers seat and Green was in the backseat, Scott said.

Green and Hurt wouldnt follow officers orders to let the windows down, and then Hurt sped off and law enforcement followed in a chase that went into Prince Edward County with speeds from 85 to 115 miles per hour, Scott said.

The two were taken into custody after a crash, Scott said. A firearm and ammunition were recovered from the vehicle, she said.

The events unfolded because of a series of threatening text messages by Hurt involving two juvenile girls, Scott said. Hurt wrote to them, Youre fit to die because Im tired of your BS, and threatened to kill them, Scott said.

Green was in on the text exchanges and wrote, Im ready to pop my [expletive] now, Scott said.

Kevin Bailey, Greens attorney, said at the Jan. 26 plea hearing his client was the least culpable of the two. A charge against Green of receiving a stolen firearm was dropped in accordance with the agreement.

Green is barred from all Appomattox County Public Schools property, is to have no contact with the juveniles involved and is on three years probation upon his release as conditions of a suspended portion of the 21-year sentence, Scott said.

Hurt pleaded guilty Feb. 2 to attempted murder, possessing a firearm on school property, eluding police and making a threat in writing, and one misdemeanor count each of reckless driving and carrying a concealed weapon, court records show. Hurts sentencing is set for May 25 in Appomattox Circuit Court.
Liberty University held a news conference Friday afternoon, announcing Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Dondi E. Costin as the universitys sixth president.

This comes less than a year after LU announced that Atlanta-based firm CarterBaldwin would conduct the search for the schools next president.

Costin said he and his family are thrilled to get started.

We cannot wait to join this phenomenal body of believers, who are doing exactly what Liberty University has always done, through good times and bad times, training champions for Christ, Costin said.

Along with the announcement of Costin, LU announced Pastor Jonathan Falwell as the schools third chancellor.

Its an honor to be able to serve this institution that I love, Falwell said.

The search for the schools president involved nearly 100 credible candidates over a period of eight months.

The board of trustees unanimously appointed both leaders during the schools spring meeting. The official transition will take place July 1.

Tim Lee, board chairman, described Friday afternoon as a historic day in the history of Liberty University.

The two will report independently to the board of trustees and will work alongside the universitys spiritual and academic leadership to provide comprehensive oversight of the institutions operations and mission, the university said in a release.

Costin most recently served as president of Charleston Southern University, where he oversaw the construction of several facilities, as well as expansion of academic programs, doctoral programs and an engineering program within the universitys college of science and mathematics.

Under his leadership, CSU set fundraising records and significantly improved its overall rankings and enrollment goals.

Prior to his tenure at CSU, Costin obtained the rank of major general with the U.S. Air Force during 32 years of commissioned service, during which he represented the Liberty Baptist Fellowship, an endorsement branch under Liberty Church Network, as an endorsed chaplain.

His military accomplishments and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal.

Costin takes over leadership from current president Jerry Prevo, who previously served as the chair of the board of trustees at LU.

Prevo assumed the role of interim president immediately after Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the universitys founder, resigned in August 2020, following a string of personal scandals.

During his tenure, Prevo has fielded multiple lawsuits against the school, including one involving a group of a dozen anonymous women who claimed the university erred in its handling of sexual assault cases, with such allegations going as far back as 2005.

When asked about this transitional period at the university, Costin said he thinks about the dynamic of the past few years and the colleges transition, but hes looking forward to doing exactly what Ive been called to do here.

Costin said he looks forward to taking the baton and running as far and fast as he can with the help of faulty and to fulfill as much of Jerry Falwell Sr.s vision as he can.

I dont know what all happened before, all I know is I look around here and God has done some amazing things through some incredible people long before I got here, Costin said.

The appointments mark the formal transition of Prevo from interim president to president emeritus of the university.

Prevo was an active member of the search committee and helped develop the timeline for the planning, launching and execution of the search to identify his own successor, the college said in a release.

LUs board of trustees unanimously approved the title of president emeritus for Prevo, to honor the historic contributions he has made to the university.

Its been an honor for me to be here and serve during this time. Its been a great joy for me and my wife to be here to meet as many of you as possible and also to get acquainted with this great student body, Prevo said at the news conference.

Braden Daniels, a junior with a double major in pre-law and interdisciplinary studies, said the first reaction to Costin stepping in as president is a lot of excitement and a lot of hope looking forward.

Im really excited to see someone that comes in, kind of understanding what Liberty is and what Liberty does  also bringing a new perspective, Daniels said.

Junior Daniel Hostetter, a government, politics and policy major, as well as student government association student body president, thinks Costin brings a great sense of familiarity to the school.

Hostetter mentioned he and Riley Foster, student body vice president, submitted a letter to Falwell, outlining some student priorities in what they are looking for in the next president and he said Costin exemplifies those virtues.

The junior said the student body government hasnt worked with the president much in the past, but hes excited to expand that relationship.

Im really excited to see where Dr. Custom will lead us and were really excited to work closely with him to advocate for students into the future, Hostetter said.

Costin ended his speech at the news conference by saying, I stand here today as a Liberty University trained champion for Christ, and I cannot wait for Vickey and I to get here.

So, God bless you all, please pray for us in the coming months. We cant wait to arrive, go Flames, he added.
For the first time in American history, a former president is facing criminal charges and area politicians had much to say Friday about the grand jury decision to indict former President Donald Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money scheme. Information about the charges is sealed, and the former president is expected to be in court on Tuesday for an arraignment.

Senator Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, said in a phone interview Friday he has serious concerns about a city district attorney bringing charges against a former president, and a current presidential candidate.

Im very concerned about the precedent that sets where we can let local city attorneys try and bring down national political figures, Peake said.

Peake said the surprising part is the fact the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice said there was no crime, and Braggs predecessor said there was no evidence to warrant bringing any charges. He also mentioned Bragg ran on the promise of going after Donald Trump, investigating him for two years before bringing charges.

However, Peake said he wants to see what the charges are and the evidence supporting those charges, before saying anything further.

U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-5th District, in a tweet Thursday said all Americans should be concerned by devious powers of a prosecutor using his power to try to damage political opponents.

The indictment of President Trump demonstrates that no one is safe from the lefts attempts to destroy those that stand in the way of their agenda, Good said in the tweet.

Carlton Ballowe, chair of the Nelson County Republican Committee, on Friday called the indictments overtly political prosecution in an email to The News & Advance.

Vance Wilkins Jr., chair of the Amherst County Republican Committee and former longtime Virginia legislator and speaker of the House, said the indictment against Trump is the lefts attempt to destroy him because they know they cant beat him at the polls.

They can come after anybody they want and bankrupt you, Wilkins said.

He said federal prosecutors and the political forces against Trump are weaponizing the power of government to destroy anyone who stands in their way.

Wilkins also referred to Bragg as woke and criticized prominent Democratic donor George Soros, who in media reports has denied knowing Bragg or contributing to his campaign.

Wilkins said Republicans concerned about whats happening should get off their butts and go to the polls to elect GOP candidates.

Over the years Trump has stood by his campaign promises and upheld true Republican ideals and policies, Wilkins said, adding he grew to support Trump after he did everything he said he would.

I will certainly support him if hes the nominee, Wilkins said.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) also released a statement Friday, saying no one is above the law, especially not the leaders who have been entrusted with the privilege and responsibility of serving the American people. While we havent yet seen this indictment, I trust that the former President  like all Americans accused of a crime  will have his fair day in court and the opportunity to speak to these accusations.

While our constitution protects the right to peaceful protest, it also guarantees the right to due process. I hope to see my colleagues and fellow Americans uphold these values by respecting law and order and allowing these legal proceedings to run their course without violence or interference.
Appalachian Power Co. is seeking another rate increase, this time a boost to its base rate that would cost an average residential customer another $20 a month.

If approved by the State Corporation Commission, the increase would take effect in early 2024.

The first step in a lengthy review process began late Friday afternoon, when Appalachian filed hundreds of pages of documents with the SCC outlining its need for more revenue over the next three years.

We understand this request comes at a time when other costs are increasing for customers, company president and chief operating officer Aaron Walker said in a news release.

We have included a proposal to reduce the financial impact on our lower income customers and will work with the SCC and others to help balance competing interests to the greatest extent possible, Walker said.

The SCC  which is charged with regulating large utilities that have a monopoly on the electricity market  will take input from regulators and stakeholders before holding a hearing on the rate increase. A final decision is expected by November.

Appalachian has more than 500,000 customers in Western Virginia.

Over the past two years, ratepayers have seen their bills steadily climb.

On Jan. 1, 2020, the average residential customer, which is defined as a home that consumes 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, paid $109.88.

Today, the same customer pays $154.04, according to Appalachian.

That reflects not just changes to the base rate, but also a number of rate adjustment clauses  also known as riders  that fluctuate from year to year based on the costs of fuel, transmission, generation, energy efficiency and other factors.

Most recently, a fuel factor increase to cover the rising costs of coal and natural gas increased bills by about $20 for the average residential customer.

Under current law, changes to the base rate are made once every three years. In setting those rates, the SCC examines a utilitys financial and operational performance over the past triennium.

If earnings fall below an authorized return on equity, a rate increase is allowed. If, on the other hand, earnings over the past three years exceed the allowed range, the company is not allowed to collect more revenue through higher rates.

The last time Appalachian sought a base rate increase was in 2020, when it proposed upping the bill for an average residential customer by nearly $10 a month. The SCC denied the request, finding that it was not reasonable for the utility to include costs associated with the closure of several coal-fired coal plants in calculating its earnings.

Critics had called the measure a bookkeeping maneuver  the coal plants had actually been closed prior to the triennium in question  that was designed to offset Appalachians earnings to the point that it was entitled to a base rate increase.

Appalachian appealed the SCCs denial to the Virginia Supreme Court. Last August, the high court found that the commission did not have the authority to find the accounting practice was unreasonable.

The case was sent back to the SCC. In December, the commission reduced an interim rate, resulting in an increase of about $6 a month for an average residential customer.

In its latest request Friday, Appalachian cited a number of reasons for what will be a 16% increase: rising capital costs, depreciation, and material and labor expenses related to the companys distribution operations and vegetation management.

Trees and other vegetation are consistently the leading cause of outages, Walker said. We have an obligation to ensure our customers have access to safe and reliable service. Substantial tree removal, pruning, and brush clearing are needed to prevent and reduce the duration of outages across the system.
Despite numerous requests from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Irvo Otienos family for information in the death of the 28-year-old, state and Henrico County officials have withheld key records about his treatment at Central State Hospital or have refused to answer questions.

Officials have gone so tight-lipped that Sheriff Alisa Gregory declined to even say whether a doctor is available on weekends at county jail facilities.

Gregory, Henrico Police Chief Eric English, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas and Health Commissioner Nelson Smith all cited an active Virginia State Police investigation as a reason for not answering questions or releasing certain documents.

The states Freedom of Information Act generally doesnt prohibit local and state officials from releasing records, but gives them the option to keep records secret.

Henrico police also cited a General Assembly change last year in the Freedom of Information Act  which makes it difficult for the public to get police records  and said police are now prohibited by law from releasing certain records that would jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation or cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Its not surprising, but its troubling, Mark Krudys, a lawyer for Otienos family, said of the secrecy. What it means is that the very reason that FOIA was enacted is continually being thwarted under the title of discretion.

Krudys has handled dozens of lawsuits stemming from deaths in jails and prisons, and said the secrecy is systemic.

This has been a constant frustration in all of the cases that I have, he said. You would think that those individuals that are responsible for the care and custody of a deceased person would sit down and speak with the family and tell them what they know of what occurred. That never occurs.

And the family is always thrust into a position of having to utilize the legal process just to find out what happened to their loved ones. It is not just this case. It is every case.

Officials decline to release information

The Times-Dispatch in early March first reported the details about Otienos death in what has become a national news story. Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the family of George Floyd, who was murdered in 2020 by Minneapolis police, is also representing Otienos family. Minneapolis agreed to pay $27 million to Floyds family in a civil lawsuit over his death.

One call to police March 3 led to Otieno going to a local hospital, then jail, then the state hospital where he died, shackled, under a pile of Henrico deputy sheriffs. His mother, Caroline Ouko, has maintained her son should have been treated as a psychiatric patient in distress, not as a criminal.

Otieno, 28, lived with her in Henrico County, and a neighbor reportedly called police to their home on March 3. It stemmed from Otieno pulling light fixtures from the neighbors yard, his mother has said. She said told them her son  who she said has been diagnosed as being bipolar  was in mental distress, offered to compensate the neighbor and believed the matter was settled. But the family ended up with 10 to 12 Henrico police officers on their front lawn, some with their stun guns out.

Its unclear why authorities would dispatch so many officers. In response to a public records request, Henrico police would not release a copy of the neighbors call to police or copies of police reports from that call.

Otieno was taken to Parham Doctors Hospital, whose parent company has an agreement with Henrico County governments mental health agency to provide behavioral health emergency services. He was under an emergency custody order, which can last up to eight hours.

Henrico police then decided his next stop should be a jail cell. Officers decided to arrest Otieno on three felony charges alleging he assaulted them, along with misdemeanor charges of being disorderly in a hospital and damaging an officers uniform. He was booked into the Henrico County jail, where he was in custody of the sheriff  a move mental health experts say was flawed because it takes someone in mental health crisis away from a medical setting and into a jail cell.

Henrico police would not release reports about what happened at Parham Doctors Hospital that prompted police to take Otieno to jail.

Henrico Police Chief English, through a spokesman, declined to talk about why his officers decided to arrest Otieno, and whether that decision was made by the officers at the hospital or their supervisors.

Otieno arrived at the jail late Friday, March 3; his mother has said he couldnt see a doctor until Monday.

Gregory, who was elected in 2019 and promised to provide hope for people held in Henrico jail facilities, declined to answer questions for this story, including whether a doctor is available in her jail facilities on weekends.

Through a spokesman, Gregory declined to say if Otieno was given his medications during his stay in the jail from Friday to Monday. His mother says he was not.

As this case remains under investigation and in the court system, Henrico County Sheriff Alisa A. Gregory has no comment beyond her original statement, the county governments public relations director said by email.

Video released as part of an ongoing Virginia State Police criminal investigation shows deputies charging into the Henrico jail cell where Otieno was inside, naked.

Video shows a deputy punch Otieno at least three times.

The community deserves the answers 

Ann Cabell Baskervill, the commonwealths attorney in Dinwiddie County, secured second-degree murder indictments from a grand jury against seven Henrico deputies and three Central State Hospital workers in his March 6 death.

Deputies then carried him by his limbs as they loaded him into an SUV for the hospital transport. Henrico Commonwealths Attorney Shannon Taylor is reviewing events that happened in Henrico County for possible criminal charges.

The state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services oversees Central State and other state mental health hospitals. Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed Smith as the agency commissioner; the governor has a plan to intended to improve Virginias troubled mental health system.

Smith, through a spokeswoman, declined to be interviewed for this story or answer specific questions, including why Otieno was taken to Central State Hospital and what type of medical treatment he immediately received.

Wall-mounted hospital video shows two deputies over Otieno, his hands and legs shackled, as he is seated; more deputies later pin him down in video that does not include audio. Henrico sheriffs deputies do not have body cameras.

DBHDS declines to comment on matters related to the pending criminal investigation and related legal proceedings, a spokeswoman for Smiths agency said by email. DBHDS and Central State Hospital are fully cooperating with the Virginia State Police in this investigation and will respect the legal process while we and our staff continue to provide important care to the patients at Central State Hospital.

Vithoulkas did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story.

Monica Hutchinson, first vice president of the Henrico NAACP, said the lack of information from Henrico and state officials is concerning and that the NACCP has many questions, including why police arrested Otieno at the hospital when he was in crisis.

Why was he not treated as a patient, as someone who needed mental health care? she said. What they did to him, it would not have been OK even if he was not in a mental health crisis.

The community deserves the answers to these, the family deserves the answers to these, and then we need to make sure that we are working to make sure that this never happens again.

Luca Powell of the Richmond Times-Dispatch contributed to this report.
The State of Iowa has awarded Pottawattamie County a $35,000 grant to create an in-house CDL training program, according to a press release from Iowa Workforce Development.

The states Entry-Level Driver Training Program will help Iowa meet its strong demand for truck drivers and school bus drivers by providing $2.94 million to support 46 different training programs across the state, the press release stated. The programs, conducted either in-house or in conjunction with third-party providers, will serve an estimated 1,642 individuals employed by the participating organizations.

The Pottawattamie County program will be part of the Secondary Roads Department, which requires all employees in the field to have a CDL, according to Tina Treantos, operations administrator.

During the winter, the department needs drivers to mobilize its fleet of snowplows, and CDLs are needed for that and other tasks, according to county engineer John Rasmussen.

Year-round, were hauling rock and culvert and bridge materials, he said.

Ideally, employees would have a Class A CDL, but upgrading from the more common Class B CDL has gotten harder, Treantos said.

If they had a Class B, they used to just have to test to go to Class A, she said. Now, they have to go through the entry level Class A program to do that.

The state will hold an online meeting next week to go over requirements for the program, Treantos said. She does not know when the county will actually receive the grant money.

This unique program addresses Iowas need for truck drivers in our workforce, said Gov. Kim Reynolds. Iowa is leading the nation by investing in the required training and removing barriers to these high-demand positions. The pathway to a CDL must be accessible to keep Iowas, and the nations, economy moving forward.

Providing new grants specifically for training means that Iowa employers and organizations can more easily recruit the workforce they need to be successful, said Beth Townsend, director of Iowa Workforce Development. (These) awards are about getting the individual in the door and on a better pathway to a CDL. Once they are trained, their roles as truck drivers benefit our entire economy.
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The International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued for Russians Vladimir Putin has put South Africas government between a rock and a hard place, as it is now weighing what to do if the Russian president accepts an earlier invitation to attend the August BRICS summit in the country.

The Hague-based court issued the arrest warrant for the Russian leader on March 17 for war crimes involving the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, because such acts are war crimes under two articles of the Rome Statute, which established the court.

Putin faces arrest if he sets foot in any of the 123 signatory states to the statute, 33 of which are African states. Being a signatory to the ICCs Rome Statute, South Africa is obligated to execute the courts international arrest warrants. But Pretoria is also Moscows close ally and has refrained from criticizing Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

It is a difficult situation, but, you know, I think that the Cabinet needs to discuss this, Naledi Pandor, South Africas minister for international relations, said in an interview. Once I have the opinion, I will take it to Cabinet so our actions will be guided by the overall views of government.

This is not the first time (South Africa) has faced such a dilemma, said Sascha-Dominik Bachmann, law professor from the University of Canberra, adding that ICC arrest warrants against sitting heads of state are rare. In an article in The Conversation, he explained that when Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir visited the country in 2015 to attend a summit of the African Union, the Jacob Zuma-led government decided not to act upon the ICC arrest warrant and refused to arrest him, citing immunity from prosecution for sitting heads of state under international law.

It is not unreasonable to argue that Ramaphosas government would want to tread carefully to avoid any such tensions, Bachmann said, adding that on the other hand, welcoming Putin, thus underscoring South Africas independent foreign policy, would see the country lose international credibility.
King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, Prince Moulay Rachid and Prince Moulay Ismail, chaired Friday at the Royal Palace in Rabat, the second religious lecture of the holy month of Ramadan.

The lecture, under the theme How to form an ideal nation in the light of the Holy Book and the Sunna Annabaouia, was delivered by the president of the Association of Sri Lankan Ulema, Mohamed Radoui Ben Mohamed Ibrahim.

The theme was inspired by the prophets Hadith: People are like gold and silver; those who were best in Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance) are best in Islam if they have religious understanding.

At the beginning of his lecture, the speaker pointed out that the al-Hadith al-Sharif means that, just like gold and silver, people are different, and that the good, being intrinsically buried in the depths of human beings, it is a matter of extracting it as we do with gold and silver. And this is what refers, according to him, to the concept of human development.

All definitions converge in one direction, namely the development of human being for human being, and by human being, in order to bring good to mankind and form an ideal nation, the lecturer noted, indicating that the mission of the Prophets and Messengers was only to achieve this goal, to move people from darkness to light, from depravity to integrity, from decadence to glory.

The lecturer considered that the greatest development in the history of mankind is the work of the seal of the Prophet and Messenger who transformed the essence of Jahiliyyah into the wonders of mankind, making unequalled human beings in history and forming an exemplary nation until the day of judgment.

He insisted that in the present era, the Islamic Ummah must study this ideal nation, its characteristics and how the Prophet prepared it, so that it may regain its strength and save humanity from eternal loss.

The companions of the Prophet represent the ideal nation in the light of the Holy Book and the Sunna, because this specific group was a wonderful model for the whole human race, stressed Professor Mohamed Radoui Ben Mohamed Ibrahim, drawing inspiration from the Quranic verse: You are the best community ever raised for humanity. (Surah AlImran).

The Prophets companions were an ideal nation for those who came after them, in that they were an integrated nation in all branches of religion and life, through religious practices, transactions, behaviors and morals, he added, reviewing the characteristics that distinguished this ideal nation, namely dedication to the promotion of Allahs message, the ordering of good and the prohibition of evil, in addition to obedience to Allah, His Messenger and those in command.

Recalling that scholars are unanimous on the obligation to obey the Imam and the prohibition of deviating from his commands, the speaker stressed that Allah Almighty has graced the Kingdom of Morocco with the wise Commandery of faithful and the enlightened leadership of the King, who watches over the prosperity and development of the state, as well as the interests of the people.

The speaker also focused on characteristics such as unity, harmony, and tolerance, stressing that obedience follows in importance the unity of the word, because, through obedience, the nation strengthens its unity and cohesion, and the bond between all its members is cemented, whether between the leader and his constituents or between the constituents among themselves. Thus, the unity and strength of the nation become a reality, he noted.

At the end of the lecture, King Mohammed VI was greeted by several foreign scholars attending the Ramadan lecturers, including from Senegal, Great Britain, Mauritania, Indonesia, France, Niger, Ghana, Brazil, and Mali.

King Mohammed VI had chaired the first religious lecture of the holy month of Ramadan on Wednesday. The Lecture was delivered by Minister of Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq under the theme The fruits of faith in human life.

Holding religious lectures is a common tradition during the holy of Ramadan in Morocco that dates back to the early sixties.
The Rabat-based Bayt Mal Al-Quds Asharif Agency has inaugurated in the Holy City of Al Quds the emergency vigilance, coordination and monitoring unit, funded by the Kingdom of Morocco.

The opening of this unit, which is part of the Agencys budget allocated this year to support the health sector, was supervised by the director in charge of the management of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Asharif Agency, Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, accompanied by the director of the hospital of the charity Makassed, Dr. Adnan Farhoud, in the presence of several members of the Palestinian medical staff.

The realization of this project is part of the constant concern of King Mohammed VI for the city of Al-Quds and its inhabitants, and reflects the commitment of the Agency to implement its commitments stipulated in the protocol of cooperation, which was signed in Rabat last February, on the occasion of the visit of the delegation of the Al-Quds East Hospitals Network to Morocco, Cherkaoui said.

He pointed out that the unit of vigilance, coordination and monitoring will constitute, along with the field hospital, when it will be handed over later to the Red Crescent Hospital in Al-Quds, a pillar to facilitate communication between the emergency teams in the field and the emergency teams at Al-Makassed hospital since it is the reference institution in emergencies in Al-Quds.

For his part, Dr. Adnan Farhoud said that this unit, which is equipped with an information system for connectivity and coordination and communication devices, and run by technicians under the supervision of medical and nursing staff, will strengthen the roles played by the Al-Quds East Hospitals Network in linking and networking between hospitals in cases of emergency.

Dr. Farhoud, on behalf of himself and the hospital staff, expressed his feelings of gratitude to Morocco and to King Mohammed VI, and admiration for the level of the Moroccan health system, as well as the Moroccan hospital facilities he visited during his trip to Morocco with the delegation of Al-Quds East Hospitals last February.

The cooperation protocol signed by the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency with the Al-Quds East Hospitals Network and the Al-Quds Red Crescent Hospital aims at organizing training courses in Al-Quds or elsewhere for the benefit of medical and administrative staff specialized in emergencies.

The agreement also provides for organizing visits to Morocco and other countries to exchange experiences between doctors and medical and administrative staff specialized in emergencies, setting up joint programs for continuous development of techniques and skills of human resources and holding joint scientific meetings.
CURTIS  Community residents will mark the 65th anniversary of the Curtis Easter Pageant with this years Palm Sunday performance at 3 p.m. in the Medicine Valley High School gym.

The pageant debuted on April 4, 1958  Good Friday that year  in the old gym at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture.

It switched in 1961 from a Passion Play format to its long-established presentation of 17 living picture scenes from Holy Week and Easter, with a choir singing in between.

Medicine Valley High has hosted the pageant since 1970.
TECUMSEH  Among the files at the Johnson County District Court Clerks office are two newly filed, thickly bound books detailing the deaths of seven men, all inmates at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.

Five of the seven had killed, convicted of murder or motor vehicle homicide.

Two of them  Arthur Gales Jr. and Patrick Schroeder  had been on Nebraskas death row.

The grand jury, which met Jan. 13 to review in-custody deaths in the county since 2021, found no criminal wrongdoing, though in some cases asked questions. If the outcome may have been different if one had been brought to the hospital sooner? If another who killed himself had been on suicide watch? Whether there were cameras in the hall outside anothers cell?

In Nebraska, whenever a person dies in custody a grand jury is called to look at the circumstances and determine whether any criminal wrongdoing occurred.

Historically, the proceedings were secret.

But in 2016, in response to renewed focus on deaths in police custody, the Legislature changed the law and required grand jury reports and transcripts of the proceedings to be filed with the court.

On Jan. 13, Johnson County Attorney Ben Beethe presented the evidence to the grand jury in District Judge Rick Schreiners courtroom.

The Journal Star read the trial transcripts filed March 20 and reviewed the exhibits put before the 16 jurors to get a glimpse of what happened behind the razor wire fences at the prison just outside of town in the deaths of Arthur Gales Jr., John Zalme, Frank Hardy, Michael C. Becker, Robert Mahler, Kevin Miller and Patrick Schroeder.

Arthur Gales Jr., 55

On April 3, 2021, an inmate porter in Gales room at the Skilled Nursing Facility heard a gurgling sound from Gales, then noticed he wasnt breathing, according to Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Jason Jones. He said the previous year, Gales had his arm amputated in an effort to stop bone cancer from spreading. But it had spread to his lungs and into his brain. He had signed a do-not-resuscitate order.

Gales was sentenced to death for the murder of two children, 13-year-old Latara Chandler and 7-year-old Tramar Chandler, plus 50 years for the attempted murder of their mother in Omaha in 2001.

Patrick Schroeder, 45

Early Aug. 29, 2022, a corporal doing hourly checks of inmates on death row found Schroeder suspended from a bedsheet tied to his bunkbed and called the emergency response team, according to State Patrol Investigator Pedram Nabegh.

An hour earlier, hed been sitting up, awake. Nabegh said they took him to the prisons medical facility, where he was declared deceased. On a table near the bed they found a sheet of paper propped up with a suicide note, saying he was Tired. Im going to die in prison so since theres no way around that Im going out on my terms and my time, he wrote.

Pedram confirmed what inmates had told the Journal Star in September, that Schroeder had used a razor blade to cut his wrist on Aug. 12, then buzzed in on the intercom to alert staff. The next day he denied trying to kill himself, saying hed used K2 and when he came to saw he was bleeding. Two days later, he was taken off overnight checks every 15-minutes.

Schroeder had been 11 years into a life sentence for the killing of 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer Kenny Albers when on April 15, 2017, he strangled his cellmate, Terry Berry, because Berry wouldnt stop talking. Schroeder pleaded guilty to the crime and didnt fight the death sentence.

John Zalme, 74

Early July 7, 2021, a prison corporal doing normal cell checks looked through the window for signs of life and didnt see Zalmes chest rising, State Patrol Investigator Amanda DeFreece said. The corporal woke up Zalmes cellmate and asked him to check on him, and he said Zalme was cold to the touch. The guard called for an emergency response, and he was moved to Skilled Nursing, but the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) indicated not to shock. DeFreece said the cellmate had no defensive wounds, and an autopsy later determined he died of a heart attack.

Zalme was serving time for stabbing a fellow inmate in 1975 and stabbing three penitentiary guards in 1981. In 1997, he killed an inmate by beating him and then starting him on fire. At the time, Zalme was serving his time in Oregon. Most recently, he was charged with assault in the May 2015 riot in Tecumseh.

Kevin Miller, 41

On Aug. 25, 2022, Miller died at the Johnson County Hospital while waiting transfer to a higher level of care for a blood cloth in his lungs. A day earlier, he complained to nursing staff at the prison that hed been short of breath for several days, and they sent him to the ER. Dr. Benjamin Biehl said Miller was diagnosed with the blood clot and put on oxygen and blood thinners. At the hospital, he collapsed onto the bed. He rose up and took a gasp of air and then collapsed again, Investigator Nabegh said. Miller had colon cancer and was determined to have died of natural causes.

Miller was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for the murder of his wife, Kelsey, and hiding her body in a storage facility.

Frank Hardy, 68

On Dec. 1, 2021, an inmate porter in Skilled Nursing, where Hardy was housed, noticed that Hardy did not appear to be breathing, according to Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Henry Dimitroff. He said the 68-year-old had been suffering from leukemia and had signed a DNR order. The grand jury found no signs of foul play and determined he died of natural causes.

Hardy was serving time on charges of sexual assault of a child.

Michael C. Becker, 25

Early Dec. 7, 2021, a corporal discovered Becker hanging, a bedsheet tied to the upper bunk of his cell and called for emergency responders, State Patrol Investigator Justin Podany said. Becker was taken to the prisons ER, where he was pronounced dead. He had been housed alone in the Special Management Unit cell, where a search turned up an unsent suicide note to his dad.

He was serving time for armed robbery, but a week from sentencing in federal court on a child porn charge. Podany said Becker didnt want to be a sex offender in prison and likely had seen firsthand how they were treated.

Robert Mahler, 65

On July 6, 2022, Mahler collapsed while mopping the gallery of Housing Unit 1A, according to Podany. He said no one was around Mahler at the time, but the incident was spotted on prison surveillance video. He was taken to the Johnson County Hospital, but life-saving measures failed. Dr. Jeremy Berg determined Mahler died of a heart attack.

Mahler was serving time for motor vehicle homicide for a September 2011 crash that killed two Wayne State College students  Alexis Lexi Calfee, 19, of Bennet and Christopher Oberg, 20, of Mapleton, Iowa,  near Emerson.
Photo: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Maybe youve forgotten what the internet was like when Donald Trump was elected president. As conservatives gloated, a swath of very online liberals, broadly known as the #Resistance, decried the collapse of our nations values. Their objections were often warranted  it was a pretty scary time  but their overheated rhetoric and frequent incorrect predictions of Trumps imminent downfall became wearying. Eventually, as the pandemic and Trumps 2020 loss flushed out earlier concerns about Ukrainian quid pro quos, Russian collusion, and American carnage, the #Resistance faded from the mainstream conversation.

But after two-plus years spent either dormant or out to brunch, the #Resistance is back in a big way following Trumps indictment. And this time around, theres something for them to celebrate. Podcasters, actors, talking heads, and many other nonessential political voices are weighing in on Trumps complicated legal predicament with some very uncomplicated quips.

Good morning and Happy Friday to everyone who loves the smell of trump indictments in the morning, wrote Majid Padellan, a.k.a. BrooklynDad_Defiant!, a.k.a. the anti-Trump influencer criticized for failing to disclose that he got $57,000 from a pro-Biden PAC. The Mueller, She Wrote podcast  still going years after the Russia investigation concluded  was also having some good, clean fun:

The Krassenstein brothers, who made their name by making fun of Trump in Twitter comments he would never read  until the boys were banned for allegedly making fake accounts to boost their numbers  are absolutely thrilled. Under Elon Musks dominion, theyre back and theyre doing stuff like this:

Sorry, I couldn't help myself!



No One Is Above The Law!



Liberty and Justice for all! pic.twitter.com/bqO5NV6yvP  Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 31, 2023

No one, though, was riding higher than Seth Abramson, the Twitter-thread maximalist who documented every single wrong of the Trump administration. Finally, an indictment validated his years of posting: For years I called Trump a career criminal in print and online on the basis of my knowledge, experience, expertise, and research as a criminal defense attorney, journalist, journalism professor, cultural critic, and Trump biographer*not* as a partisan, he wrote. So I do feel vindicated. After a long night of tweeting, he eventually signed off by posting Nights in White Satin, by the Moody Blues, and bid his audience good night: Sleep well and wake brave, all.
Former president Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his legal team at Manhattan Criminal Court. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

Donald Trump has been arrested and charged with dozens of felony counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan, making him the first former president in history to be charged with a crime. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stem from his role in hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign in order to suppress her story of their alleged affair. The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday afternoon during Trumps arraignment in a lower Manhattan courthouse. Below are the latest updates.

Comer says county attorneys want to go after Biden following Trump indictment

Congressman James Comer suggested that Braggs indictment of Trump will act as a green light for conservative state and local prosecutors to pursue cases against President Joe Biden. During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Comer said hes spoken to county attorneys from Tennessee and Kentucky who reportedly want to know if there are ways to go after the Bidens now.

Theyve opened up a can of worms. Theyve set precedents that they cant go back on, he said.

James Comer on Fox & Friends says he took calls yesterday from county attorneys in Kentucky and Tennessee who are eager to "go after the Bidens" to retaliate for the Trump indictment pic.twitter.com/ZFsblpqiMb  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 5, 2023

Notably, the Kentucky Republican has used his new role as chairman of the House Oversight Committee to investigate members of Bidens family including his son Hunter.

What to make of the DAs case and Trumps chances

Intelligencer contributor Ankush Khardori, a former federal prosecutor, has put together a comprehensive analysis of the indictment and DA Alvin Braggs strategy. He also shared some thoughts about what to expect next:

There have been claims in recent weeks that this is a weak case, perhaps because people like me have raised questions about the strength of elements of the evidence. It is important to be clear-eyed about the strengths and weaknesses of any legal case, but every interesting or high-profile criminal case has challenges  factually, legally, usually both. This particular case is under an extraordinary microscope so it is getting more attention than any other prosecution, but none of these observations  from me or others  means that the DAs office will lose this case. At this point in time, we simply do not know.

Read the rest of Ankushs review here.

The criminal-defendant candidate

Intelligencer contributor Ben Jacobs puts Trumps post-indictment Mar-a-Lago event in context:

Trump launched into an abbreviated version of his standard rally-style speech in the ballroom of his private club. There were insults and racially loaded rhetoric. There were repeated claims of persecution and efforts at self aggrandizement. The only thing missing, for understandable reasons, was a lock her up chant.

It made for a stunning contrast to his lackluster campaign launch months before in the same Mar-a-Lago ballroom. At that event, a low-energy Trump limped into his 2024 re-election campaign following a disappointing midterms for the GOP weighed down by the poor performance of many Trump-backed candidates. At the time, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis looked like a potential juggernaut after his combination of hard right cultural politics combined with strict message discipline helped him to a successful re-election campaign in the Sunshine State. Since then, however, the political winds have shifted. As Trumps legal troubles have multiplied, so too has his standing with Republican presidential primary voters.

Read the rest of Bens report here.

Is Trump begging for a gag order?

At the end of his relatively short but grievance-packed speech at Mar-a-Lago, Trump launched an attack on Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case against him in New York, calling Merchan a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family.

Trump: I have Trump hating judge with a Trump hating wife and Trump hating family pic.twitter.com/PyAXCWn3mv  Acyn (@Acyn) April 5, 2023

At the arraignment, Merchan did not issue a gag order but asked Trump  who recently shared an image on social media showing him holding a baseball bat next to a photo of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg  to please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest and not to use rhetoric that could jeopardize the rule of law.

Hours later, Trump continued attacking Bragg instead  calling him racist and a criminal who should be prosecuted for leaking information about the case, Trump claimed, to the media. Trumps attack on Merchan prompted some groans in the audience, but his attack on Bragg  who has been receiving death threats over the indictment  drew a burst of enthusiastic applause:

Trump calls for Bragg to be prosecuted and brings up his wife pic.twitter.com/9u4coDhlhG  Acyn (@Acyn) April 5, 2023

Despite Trumps pre-arraignment attacks on Bragg and Merchan, it was unlikely that Merchan would issue a gag order on Tuesday. Its not clear if hell change his mind, or what Trump would have to say, or continue to say, to prompt that. What is clear is that Trump would almost certainly violate the order if he did.

Back at Mar-a-Lago, Trumps attacks the fake case and a whole lot more

In front of a small audience of MAGA VIPs at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, Trump decried his indictment and all the other cases being built against him. They cant beat us at the ballot box, so they try to beat us through the law, Trump claimed, conjuring the specter of radical left crusade to vanquish him. A transcript of his remarks, which seemed to veer on and off the prepared speech on his teleprompter, is here.

First 90 seconds of Trump speech:



- Dems spied on campaign

- Russia, Russia, Russia

- Impeachment hoax 1

- Impeachment hoax 2

- Mar-a-Lago raid

- FISA courts

- millions of illegal ballots

- Hunter Biden laptop

- Biden family criminals  Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) April 5, 2023

Florida man returns to Florida

Some of the MAGA faithful gathered to welcome Trump home:

A taste of real powerlessness

Intelligencers Justin Miller and James Walsh capture Trumps big day in court:

For about two hours, for the first time in his life, Donald Trump was not a free man. He surrendered to authorities at Manhattan Criminal Court just before 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, beginning a surreal moment in U.S. history: a former president placed under arrest.

After being fingerprinted, though not photographed for a mug shot, Trump walked a few steps out from behind a blacked-out door, where photographers briefly captured his glowering face framed by his signature combination of navy suit, white shirt, and red tie. Inside the courtroom, he sat with his hands in his lap, flanked by his defense attorneys.

Read the rest here.

Trump isnt above the law, but he shouldnt be below it

Donald Trump during his arraignment. Courtroom sketch by  Jane Rosenberg pic.twitter.com/DdfXkHhnUA  Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) April 4, 2023

Intelligencer columnist Jonathan Chait remains unimpressed with Braggs case now that the indictment has been unsealed:

As a defense of the indictment, no one is above the law is not remotely adequate. It implicitly places the law itself beyond questioning. The uncomfortable reality is that, while Trump may be a career criminal, he does not deserve to be prosecuted for this particular charge. 

Yes, the first criminal charge against Trump carries special symbolic importance. Yet we are loading more social and political weight on these charges than they can bear. The world can be a complicated place. Sometimes people with good intentions do bad things, and sometimes bad people are the victims of unfairness.

The correct response to Trumpist hypocrisy is to wait for it to manifest rather than abandoning standards of fairness.

Read the rest of Jons response here.

The felony charges in the indictment are just over hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels

The 34 felony counts were based each on a corporate record prosecutors say was falsified to cover up the hush money for Daniels, right down to check stubs used to reimburse Cohen. But prosecutors also referenced, but did not charge, what they say were other similar efforts to suppress damaging stories: Trumps friend David Pecker used the National Enquirer to catch and kill former Playboy playmate Karen McDougals affair allegation, as well as a Trump Tower doormans claim that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock.

Prosecutors say that the fraud that led to the charges, however, was when Trump classified the reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal expenses. And what elevated the charges to felonies was that the falsification was allegedly done to cover up other supposed crimes.

Bragg at news conference: We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg held a press conference after Trumps arraignment to discuss the indictment further. Thirty-four false statements made to cover up other crimes, he said. These are felony crimes in New York State, no matter who you are. We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.

Bragg: "Under NY state law, it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime. That is exactly what this case is about. 34 false statements made to cover up other crimes. These are felony crimes in NY no matter who you are." pic.twitter.com/6qQwx2Ezha  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 4, 2023

The district attorney contends that Trump, along with his former lawyer Michael Cohen and executives of the publishing company AMI, entered into a scheme to buy and suppress negative information to help Mr. Trumps chance to win an election. Part of this plan included the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who alleged she had a past affair with Trump, which Bragg alleges was intended to hide damaging information from the voting public.

The scheme violated New York election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. The $130,000 wire payment exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap, Bragg said. And the false statements in AMIs books violated New York law.

Bragg also said reimbursement payments made to Cohen were falsely classified as income to tax authorities.

During a short Q&A, Bragg was asked why he brought this case now in the wake of criticism that it was a political move.

I bring cases when theyre ready. Having now conducted a rigorous, thorough investigation, the case was ready to be brought. And it was brought, he said.

Trumps next hearing currently scheduled for December

The next hearing for this case is slated for December 4, according to CNN. Additionally, NBC News is reporting that a trial could potentially begin in January 2024  which is also the start of the presidential primary cycle.

Judge warned Trump about social-media threats

The judge warned former President Trump not to make any statements that would incite violence against any officials, per @KaraScannell  Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) April 4, 2023

We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct.

Right after the arraignment ended, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Braggs office released a statement explaining why Trump was charged.

The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election, Bragg said. Manhattan is home to the countrys most significant business market. We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct. As the Statement of Facts describes, the trail of money and lies exposes a pattern that, the People allege, violates one of New Yorks basic and fundamental business laws. As this office has done time and time again, we today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.

Read the indictment and the DAs statement of facts

Trump has been released and is on his way to LGA to fly home

Former President Trump departs NYC courthouse without making comments after pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges.https://t.co/hOlHzYdaSN pic.twitter.com/r46RlfqUSp  NBC News (@NBCNews) April 4, 2023

He didnt offer any public comments while in Manhattan, but will give a speech from Mar-a-Lago tonight.

The set up inside Mar-a-Lago. Trump is scheduled to make remarks at 8:15pm. Aides said he was working on his remarks on the plane to NYC yesterday and this morning. pic.twitter.com/B9VKhUV8aw  Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) April 4, 2023

Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Falsifying business records is typically charged as a misdemeanor offense, but the counts are all listed as felonies, which suggests that prosecutors believe the actions were done with the intent to conceal an additional crime. The charge is an E Class felony, the states lowest-level felony, which could result in a prison sentence of up to four years, the New York Times has reported. The indictment has been unsealed, but hasnt officially been made public.

Donald Trump is officially facing the music

#BREAKING: Former President Trump enters the Manhattan Criminal Court room stone faced. pic.twitter.com/LBpzkfdvGW  Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) April 4, 2023

The New York Times Maggie Haberman notes on Twitter:

Trump accompanied by lawyers Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, as well as adviser Jason Miller and aide Walt Nauta, per person briefed. Joe Tacopina and Boris Ephsteyn also with Trump. Trump did not stop to address the camera, after weighing saying something ahead of time. Trump looked very unhappy as he walked into the courtroom.

Or, put another way, Trump looked like granddad having a very bad day:

Van Jones on Trump's arrest: 'He looks sad ... I don't like the prison system, so I don't like this process ... doesn't mean that accountability is not owed, but that is a granddad having a very bad day.' pic.twitter.com/exs1tw0Eec  philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 4, 2023

The Trump campaign made its own mug shot

Trump was fingerprinted a person familiar with events said but not mugshotted. But people fundraising in his name arent wasting the opportunity and made their own mugshot, as this email that just landed shows pic.twitter.com/P4QfnfnjHk  Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 4, 2023

Intelligencers Margaret Hartmann writes about the Trump teams mug-shot hype:

In retrospect, maybe Trumps cronies shouldnt have gotten MAGA world so hyped about this photo. In recent days, former Trump White House spokesman Hogan Gidley assured Time that well have a mug shot, joking, For the record, it will be the most manly, most masculine, most handsome mug shot of all time.

More of todays Manhattan spectacle

Wow the biggest asshole in America came to town pic.twitter.com/3b5DGtaHId  Good Idea Dave (@DaveCoIon) April 4, 2023

Well he did once say he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue

Interesting detail from ABC coverage -- Trump's fingerprints are already on file in NY because he used to have a gun permit  Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) April 4, 2023

Former U.S. president Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court. Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images

And Trump is now under arrest

BREAKING: Former President Trump has arrived at the courthouse to surrender and be arrested on criminal charges. https://t.co/Le705IMhsX pic.twitter.com/9asEOA69WI  NBC News (@NBCNews) April 4, 2023

Trump is now under arrest. His reaction moments before walking into the courthouse. pic.twitter.com/XbuJljaQAX  Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 4, 2023

Former president leaves former home in former city to finally get arrested

Former President Donald Trump pumped his fist and waved before leaving Trump Tower for the Manhattan courthouse ahead of his arraignment. https://t.co/Gmlzh3GcQD pic.twitter.com/4BxM1Yh06U  The Associated Press (@AP) April 4, 2023

ABC, CBS, NBC all broke into special programming to follow Trump's motorcade as it winds down Manhattan to the courthouse. What a scene.  Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) April 4, 2023

More from MTGs abbreviated rally

Intelligencers Matt Stieb was on the ground when Greene arrived for her much-promoted speech that ended up running short. Through a megaphone, Greene criticized New York City as people in the crowd heckled her:

Around 10:30 a.m., Marjorie Taylor Greene entered the park wearing the Terminator cop glasses shes partial to. Surrounded by the protest organizers and a zillion more reporters, she pushed through the crowd toward a small riser. The people packed in. Greene was handed a megaphone and yelled to her supporters about how Democrats are the party of violence and that New York used to be a great city. But two anti-Trump protesters  both white guys over 40  had come over from their side of the park and began screaming. No one could hear her, even from a few feet away. Go home, New York City hates your guts, yelled a man in a blue-checkered shirt.

Read the rest of Matts report here.

A mug shot appears unlikely

The New York Times explains why:

Under New York State law, the authorities must take the fingerprints of anyone charged with a felony. But law enforcement officials have discretion over whether they take a mug shot. Mug shots are meant to help the authorities identify a defendant and find them if they flee; in such instances, the photographs are distributed to law enforcement agencies and sometimes the media in order to help apprehend the fugitive. But Mr. Trump is not considered a significant flight risk, and as he is a former president who hosted a widely popular reality television show after spending decades as a fixture of the tabloids, photographs of him are more than readily available.

Several officials also said there was concern that a mug shot of Mr. Trump, which would be provided to the New York Police Department and other agencies, would be leaked. That would be a violation of law and could prompt an investigation and a political firestorm.

Anti-Trump demonstrators rally ahead of Donald Trumps arrival at the Manhattan Criminal Court. Photo: Andres Kudacki/Andres Kudacki

The Trump team is recording the whole thing

Former President Trumps videographer traveled with him to New York to document the behind the scenes of Trump's surrender, according to two sources close to Trump-- a further indication of how they plan to use this event to their political advantage.  Kristen Holmes (@KristenhCNN) April 4, 2023

Another bizarre scene from the Manhattan Trumpfest

FAKE Trump circling the media by Trump Tower pic.twitter.com/vxLgP26DYL  Azi (@Azi) April 4, 2023

Even more security measures outside courthouse as Trumps arrival looms

Security tightening, more barricades going up outside courthouse pic.twitter.com/UVGKpnywrE  Mike Sisak (@mikesisak) April 4, 2023

Donald Trumps innocence apparently died for our sins

Trump is making a Christ-like sacrifice, according to a source close to his legal team who spoke with Rolling Stone on Monday:

Its kind of a Jesus Christ thing. He is saying, Im absorbing all this pain from all around from everywhere so you dont have to,  says the source. Describing the message Trump hopes to send his supporters, the source says:  If they can do this to me they can do this to you, and thats a powerful message.

Then on Tuesday, as she was being driven away from the courthouse rally, Marjorie Taylor Greene said Trump, Christ, and Nelson Mandela were birds of a sacrificial feather:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA): Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus! Jesus was arrested and murdered. pic.twitter.com/dSOeHvRnDE  The Recount (@therecount) April 4, 2023

Advisers made similar comments to Time, albeit without mentioning Jesus:

Sources say that Trumps remarks [on Tuesday night] will hit hard on his accusation that Bragg is pressing charges against him out of political motivation, an attack that is designed to gin up righteous indignation and a sense of persecution among MAGA die-hards.

In that vein, Trump wants to turn his indictment into a larger symbol, connecting himself with conservative Americans who feel targeted or alienated for their views. The fears and concerns of a weaponized government are now personified in Donald Trump, says Gidley, Trumps former White House spokesman. He can take that pulpit, that podium, and point out the fact that we are all victims of a government that has targeted each of us because we attend the wrong rallies, like the wrong tweets, go to the wrong movies.

Trump diehards have been making the comparison on social media as well:

CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED 15 DAYS AFTER THE SPRING EQINOX! TRUMP IS BEING ARRAINED THE SAME DAY! IS THIS A COINCIDENCE OR IS GOD AT WORK HERE? pic.twitter.com/NTIcQxQ6Y1  Diana Gaylord (@DianaGaylord5) April 3, 2023

Trump is NOT Jesus Christ. He is human. Perhaps super human. But not a God. I know that. But Democrats don't seem to know it. They treat him like Jesus. They persecute him like Jesus. Same reasons too - he threatens the evil tyrants in power and fights for the little guy & gal.  Wayne Root - Wayne Allyn Root - TV & Radio Host (@RealWayneRoot) April 4, 2023

Trump wants to be tried on Staten Island

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, he once again attacked Manhattan, where he lived for most of his life. VERY UNFAIR VENUE, WITH SOME AREAS THAT VOTED 1% REPUBLICAN, Trump wrote. THIS CASE SHOULD BE MOVED TO NEARBY STATEN ISLAND - WOULD BE A VERY FAIR AND SECURE LOCATION FOR THE TRIAL.

The MTG mob scene

Marjorie Taylor Greenes rally outside the courthouse was a big chaotic mess:

This gives a sense of the scrum around MTG right now. So much counter noise. Whistles, boos, cheers, chants of USA. Utter pandemonium pic.twitter.com/lPGLBe9EQa  David Mack (@davidmackau) April 4, 2023

Earlier, there were so few pro-Trump protesters that reporters had to effectively line up to talk to them. After the rally officially began, the MAGA congresswoman spoke, but could barely be heard or seen over the raucous crowd of rallygoers, counterprotesters, and reporters.

Massive media scrum around Congresswoman @mtgreenee and @NYYRC President Gavin Wax - cant hear a word any of them are saying pic.twitter.com/TwYc8gVnQs  Morgan McKay (@morganfmckay) April 4, 2023

Her remarks were brief and Greene was quickly escorted out of the park as the crowd grew and began to push and shove.

Pushing and shoving as MTG exits the park after a brief speech that was impossible to hear. She almost is falling over as her security tries to get her out safely. This is extremely dangerous. pic.twitter.com/fWzfKHhPFY  David Mack (@davidmackau) April 4, 2023

JUST NOW:

NYPD usher @RepMTG to safety as she is swarmed having spent 9 minutes on the group pic.twitter.com/mG3BulKUb4  Henry Rosoff (@HenryRosoff) April 4, 2023

ABC News reports that Greene is expected to attend Trumps post-arraignment remarks back in Florida at Mar-a-Lago this evening.

Santos shows up, then flees

The mornings surreal scene got a surprise guest star: controversial freshman congressman George Santos. NBC News reports that Santos is expected to attend the pro-Trump rally slated for today.

Intelligencers Matt Stieb describes the scene:

The circus aspect of the morning is already well underway an hour before the demonstration in Collect Pond Park is expected to begin. On the south side of the park, a small number of anti-Trump protesters wait for the speeches to begin, cordoned off by metal barricades from a slightly larger number of presidential supporters on the other side. Similar to yesterdays scene in front of Trump Tower, press people and police outnumber protesters by an order of magnitude  though the reporters numbers cleared a bit when Representative George Santos tried to show up early. Overwhelmed by the number of reporters shouting questions at him, he ran up Centre Street, a dozen men with cameras in his tow.

Hell Gate NYC got video of the chaotic moment:

Santos fleeing 100 Centre pic.twitter.com/YmBvvIlCvG  Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) April 4, 2023

Trump lawyer predicts case will be thrown out

Joe Tacopina went on Good Morning America to spin for his client ahead of Tuesday afternoons arraignment. Like the rest of the country, he has not seen the indictment that is still under seal, but he said Trumps team expects to challenge the case filed by Alvin Braggs office and predicts it will not make it to trial due to issues with the law.

"One thing I can assure you, there will be no guilty plea in this case. That is one thing I will guarantee you."



Trump attorney Joe Tacopina to @GStephanopoulos as the former president prepares to surrender to New York authorities. https://t.co/GBle2ucHG1 pic.twitter.com/klHMJOmkQh  Good Morning America (@GMA) April 4, 2023

A sleepover in Trump Tower

The Florida resident spent the night in midtown Manhattan following dramatic coverage of his return home to face charges.

Trump exits his vehicle and enters Trump Tower. Can we get a camera on his condo to know what he's having for dinner too? pic.twitter.com/oeRWiYCMCe  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 3, 2023

As Intelligencers Matt Stieb has reported, the media far outnumbered Trump supporters  and anybody else  outside Trump Tower on Monday.

Media frenzy outside Trump tower ahead of the fmr presidents arrival pic.twitter.com/7ICgFa7DVa  Kim Anderson (@theKimAnderson) April 3, 2023

The Florida man has landed

Former President Donald Trump has disembarked his plane at New York City's LaGuardia Airport in advance of his arraignment following last week's indictment. https://t.co/VEHLBT5LQe pic.twitter.com/fwcDrCv2RA  CBS News (@CBSNews) April 3, 2023

Trump hasnt received this much attention since he was president.

The full Ginsburg for Trumps plane pic.twitter.com/1gsa3vl4Z3  Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 3, 2023

Trump allies really want to be shown the man

Most of the Show me the man and Ill find/show/give you the crime mentions on certain networks since the indictment was announced. pic.twitter.com/C8wXGdQ007  Acyn (@Acyn) April 2, 2023

The former president deserves a cookie?

Intelligencers Margaret Hartmann surveys the reporting on how Trump has been behaving in private ahead of his arraignment:

The former president isnt totally calm, but longtime Trump observers seem impressed that he hasnt hurled his lunch against the wall, as he was accused of doing at the White House. While Trump is not said to be throwing things, he is extremely angry and his family is, not surprisingly, rattled, noted Times reporter Maggie Haberman. People around Trump are divided on why he isnt pelting them with water bottles right now, as CNN reported.

Mayor Adams asks MTG and other protesters to behave

He addressed the coming storm in a press conference on Monday:

While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: Control yourselves. New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger. We have the safest large city in America because we respect the rule of law in New York City. And although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech  she stated she is coming to town. While youre in town, be on your best behavior.

Not surprisingly, the congresswoman framed Adamss comment as a threat:

Delusional @NYCMayor is trying to intimidate, threaten, and stop me from using my 1st amendment rights to peacefully protest the Democrats unconstitutional weaponization of our justice system against our top Republican Presidential candidate, President Trump.



Mayor Adams should  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) April 3, 2023

Trump adds new lawyer to his defense team

Politico reports that Trump has hired Todd Blanche, a top white-collar criminal defense attorney, to lead his legal defense against the hush-money charges. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, has also represented the former chair of Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, Paul Manafort.

Trumpdictment watch has begun (and its already a ridiculous spectacle)

Now CNN is having Manu Raju and John Miller are analyzing the "remarkable pictures" of Trump's motorcade driving to Palm Beach International Airport.



These people are fundamentally unserious and don't let them try and tell you otherwise.



Manu Raju: "This is quite a moment." pic.twitter.com/rylUzh18A1  Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 3, 2023

As Intelligencers Benjamin Hart highlights, Trumps trip to New York is getting the O.J. treatment:

To be fair to Trump, hes not leading police on a spontaneous and dangerous pursuit. Nor is he accused of murder, that we know of. Nevertheless, time-filling cable-news commentary over a live shot of vehicles on an otherwise empty highway with people lining the sides of it cant help but dredge up memories for viewers of a certain age.

Read the rest of Bens post here.

But theres no guarantee well see Trump at court

There will be a mug shot, but its not yet clear if it will be made public, or if there will be any other photography allowed at the courthouse. Trumps lawyers have also opposed media requests to allow cameras in the courtroom, arguing that, it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment, raise unique security concerns, and is inconsistent with President Trumps presumption of innocence.

All mostly quiet on the insurrectionist front

The New York Times reports that neither authorities nor extremism monitors have picked up any chatter suggesting there will some kind of January 6type violence in New York when Trump is arraigned:

At the moment, they are not seeing those threats, and the department has a lot of experience coordinating with the Secret Service and the court system, so that effort is not terribly concerning, said Kenneth Corey, who retired late last year as chief of [New York Police Department,] the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the department. But there are still big unknowns  mainly the protesters, he added. Who shows up? How many show up? What kind of mood are they in?

Dont count out Bragg

Errol Louis, responding to widespread skepticism regarding the Manhattan DAs case, notes that Alvin Bragg typically knows what hes doing:

Trump is in serious legal jeopardy, not least because his adversary, Bragg, is a dogged and meticulous litigator who has proved he can build complex white-collar cases. Years ago, as an assistant U.S. Attorney under Preet Bharara, Bragg successfully prosecuted misconduct by elected officials, including former State Senator Malcolm Smith, who ended up in prison. Bragg also prosecuted a slew of white-collar criminals as the states chief deputy attorney general, and he prides himself on not bringing frivolous cases.

Read the rest of Errols column here.

Trump will give a post-indictment speech from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night

His campaign has announced that Trump will deliver remarks at 8:15 p.m.  approximately six hours after he is scheduled to be arraigned in Manhattan.

What the post-indictment polls say, so far

An ABC News/Ipsos poll, conducted on Friday and Saturday, found that 45 percent of Americans think Trump should have been charged with a crime in the hush-money case, including 88 percent of Democrats, and 16 percent of Republicans, even though nobody knows, at this point, exactly what Trump has been charged with. Nearly half of the poll respondents said the charges are politically motivated, including 79 percent of Republicans and 48 percent of independents. Only 43 percent of respondents thought Trump should suspend his presidential campaign because of the indictment.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll, conducted in the 24 hours after the indictment news broke, found that 42 percent of Americans approved of the indictment, while 52 percent said he should not be allowed to serve a second term if hes convicted:

Half of the independent voters reached by the poll said they thought Trump was a criminal:

Fully half of independents (50%) now believe the former president has committed a serious crime at some point in his life  twice the number (25%) who think he has never committed a serious crime. When asked if they think Donald Trump did or did not falsify business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star, less than half of Republicans (48%) are confident that he did not. Another 17% say he did  and a whopping 35% say theyre not sure.

Hutchinson announces bid for GOP presidential nomination, says Trump should drop out of the race

Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson officially announced his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination Sunday on ABCs This Week  and reiterated his opinion that Trumps indictment means the former president should drop his own bid:

First of all, the office is more important than any individual person. And so for the sake of the office of the presidency, I do think thats too much of a sideshow and distraction and he needs to be able to concentrate on his due process and there is a presumption of innocence.  Ive always said that people dont have to step aside from public office if theyre under investigation, but if it reaches the point of criminal charges that have to be answered, the office is always more important than a person. And so, theres some consistency there. And I do believe if were looking at the presidency and the future of our country, then we dont need that distraction.

The 72-year-old long shot is the only confirmed or potential GOP presidential candidate to take that position.

Trump set to arrive in New York on Monday

The Washington Post reports that the former president is expected to fly into New York City on Monday, then overnight at his Trump Tower apartment before surrendering on Tuesday. The Post also reports that Trumps Secret Service detail had apparently been worried about a far different scenario:

When initially preparing for Trumps possible indictment, Secret Service agents had expressed concern that Trump might opt to be arrested; they disliked the safety issues raised by him being handcuffed by police rather than being accompanied by Secret Service agents, said a law enforcement official familiar with the planning.

And Trumps advisers are reportedly encouraging him not to make a scene in New York:

Despite Trumps desire for iconic images, his aides have been trying to convince him to make the trip to New York a quick one and avoid any public appearances or news conferences, citing safety risks  and so far, Trump seems inclined to oblige. They also hope to have him back out on the campaign trail by the end of next week.

Braggs big reset

The New York Times reports that the Manhattan DA, a year ago after his office seemed to have gotten nowhere in its long Trump probe, decided to [go] back to square one, poring over the reams of evidence that had already been collected by his predecessor:

For a time, their efforts were haphazard as they examined a wide range of Mr. Trumps business practices, including whether he had lied about his net worth, which was the focus of the investigation when Mr. Bragg had declined to seek an indictment. But by July, Mr. Bragg had decided to assign several additional prosecutors to pursue one particular strand that struck him as promising: a hush-money payment made on Mr. Trumps behalf to a porn star during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Whats in the indictment?

When the grand jury voted to indict Trump, the indictment itself was placed under seal, meaning its contents are secret. Typically, an indictment is unsealed when a defendant makes an initial appearance in court to face the charges, which is currently scheduled for Tuesday. To be sure, the fact that Trump was involved in paying hush money to Stormy Daniels has been known for years, though it is not yet clear how that translated into the criminal case now being brought against him. In the meantime, the only available clues are bits and pieces of reporting that appear to be sourced mainly from the side of prosecutors.

One such tidbit comes from CNNs John Miller, who reported Thursday that Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud. The Associated Press reported Friday that he is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense according to two people familiar with the matter. CBS News reported Thursday that Braggs office obtained documents during its investigation, including financial records and communications, that are not yet known to the public.

There is no word so far on the campaign-finance law violations Trump allegedly committed, which would elevate misdemeanor business fraud to a felony.

Ivanka is playing it safe

Intelligencers Margaret Hartmann notes the very anodyne statement Trumps daughter made on Friday:

These 27 words should be taught in public-relations courses. Is Ivanka denouncing Donald Trump? No, it says right there: I love my father. Okay, so she agrees with her brother Eric that this is third-world prosecutorial misconduct that proves America has gone off the rails? Maybe, maybe not? Is she pained for her father because hes being unfairly persecuted, or for her country because our former president is a crook who must be brought to justice? Unclear. All we know for sure is that Ivanka appreciates the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern  which could mean Marjorie Taylor Greene, or the Krassenstein brothers, or both.

Ivanka might as well have said, Hello. Im here as a fellow human to acknowledge that Donald Trump has, as we know, been indicted. Trump was a man. Also, he was president of the United State for four years. And when a person is indicted, it is sad.

Read the rest of Margarets analysis here.

McConnell isnt talking

Sen. John Cornyn, a member of Senate GOP leadership: It looks to me like this is an opportunity for this DA to try to make headlines and gain publicity.



The top two Senate Rs  Mitch McConnell and John Thune  have so far remained quiet, a contrast from House GOP leaders  Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 31, 2023

The Cohen conundrum

Intelligencer contributor Ankush Khardori highlights how the former Trump fixers big mouth continues to collapse his own credibility and undermine the Manhattan DAs office  this time in a CNN interview on Thursday night:

Late Thursday night, just hours after the news broke that the Manhattan district attorneys office had obtained the indictment, [Michael] Cohen decided this would be a great time to take advantage of the national spotlight and sit down for an interview with CNNs Don Lemon and Alisyn Camerota. For several months, he has been interviewed by prosecutors and hes testified before the grand jury about how Trump allegedly broke the law by directing Cohen to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels in 2016, which would likely make him a key witness against Trump at trial. Much of the CNN discussion entailed barely concealed gloating by Cohen, but at one point, he made clear what he had recently been hinting at: He believes he is not actually guilty of the federal-tax-evasion charges to which he pleaded guilty back in 2018. 

Trumps lawyers are likely to have a field day with this. They could argue that Cohen  by his own account now!  lied to the federal judge who accepted his guilty plea and sentenced him to prison. The apparent reason? Because it was convenient for him to lie at the time so that he could avoid the risk of additional charges for him or his wife.

Read the rest of Ankushs jaw-dropping analysis here.

MTG is coming to town

The ultra-MAGA congresswoman is planning to protest in Manhattan on Tuesday:

Im going to New York on Tuesday.



We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!  Marjorie Taylor Greene  (@mtgreenee) March 31, 2023

The #Resistance is rejoicing

Intelligencers Matt Stieb checks in on the Trumps most infamous haters:

Maybe youve forgotten what the internet was like when Donald Trump was elected president. As conservatives gloated, a swath of very online liberals, broadly known as the #Resistance, decried the collapse of our nations values. Their objections were often warranted  it was a pretty scary time  but their overheated rhetoric and frequent incorrect predictions of Trumps imminent downfall became wearying. Eventually, as the pandemic and Trumps 2020 loss flushed out earlier concerns about Ukrainian quid pro quos, Russian collusion, and American carnage, the #Resistance faded from the mainstream conversation.

But after two-plus years spent either dormant or out to brunch, the #Resistance is back in a big way following Trumps indictment.

Read the rest of Matts post here.

Braggs office rebukes congressional Republicans

House Republican leaders have made a big show of going after the Manhattan DAs office, sending official requests for details of the case and accusing the office of persecuting Trump for political reasons. In a letter on Friday, the offices general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, rejected the allegations and requests made by the GOP chairmen of three House committees  and lambasted the lawmakers for attempting to interfere in New Yorks prosecution and pouring fuel on Trumps anti-legal system fire:

Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself of all processes and protections that New York States robust criminal procedure affords. What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State. 

As Committee Chairmen, you could use the stature of your office to denounce these attacks and urge respect for the fairness of our justice system and for the work of the impartial grand jury. Instead, you and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trumps efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Offices investigation, conducted via an independent grand jury of average citizens serving New York State, is politically motivated.

Trump launches preemptive attack on judge, whom he misnamed

On Friday morning, Trump fired off a Truth Social post in which he alleged that Juan Merchan  the New York judge who presided over the recent tax-fraud case against the Trump Organization and is expected to preside over Trumps arraignment  HATES ME. Trump also misspelled his name, identifying him as Juan Manuel Marchan. In his post, Trump makes several allegations against the judge, including that Merchan railroaded his company in the tax-fraud trial.

This is, of course, hardly the first time the former president has attacked a judge. In 2016, Trump alleged that the judge presiding over two fraud lawsuits against Trump University hated him and would not treat him fairly because the judge was Mexican American.

How Trumps indictment is playing on newspapers front pages

The front page of The New York Times for March 31, 2023.



Follow our updates on the indictment of Donald Trump.https://t.co/T35TfWE4rU pic.twitter.com/aaa3ipKZxi  The New York Times (@nytimes) March 31, 2023

Guardian front page, Friday 31 March 2023: Trump indicted over 2016 payment to Stormy Daniels pic.twitter.com/Sj365ao7C8  The Guardian (@guardian) March 30, 2023

Lets pretend it didnt happen: Not one of these Texas newspapers has a whisper of former President Trump indicted on 34 counts on the front page. The news broke between 4 pm and 4:30 pm Texas time. #darknessgrows pic.twitter.com/79aCqkXArC  Texas Business (@TexBusiness) March 31, 2023

Fractious world of journalism united in admiration for headline writers at Queens Daily Eagle. pic.twitter.com/SiukNvRS7v  James Fallows (@JamesFallows) March 31, 2023

Trump world was reportedly caught off guard

Both the former president and his advisers were surprised by the news, according to the Washington Post:

Advisers had counseled him that a possible indictment by a Manhattan grand jury involving hush-money payments to an adult-film star would not come for some time  if at all  and Trump had even begun joking about golden handcuffs, said one person who spoke with him in recent days. 

Some of his lawyers had been preparing to take a few days off, not expecting any movement for several weeks, said two people familiar with the matter who, like many in Trumps orbit, spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly share details of private discussions. Some Trump aides  including adviser Boris Epshteyn, who is taking a leading role on Trumps legal team  had even begun telling the former president that he would not be indicted at all, people familiar with the comments said.

The 2024 factor

Intelligencers Ed Kilgore explains how the indictment might impact Trumps chances in the next presidential election:

Beyond that, its important to acknowledge from the get-go that there are two very different audiences whose reaction to these and related legal proceedings may matter down the road. Likely Republican primary voters are not expected to be shocked by this and future indictments and may actually rally around the 45th president, who has branded all the indictments in advance as the witch-hunt (the Trump fans in the main camera frame during his March 25 rally in Waco were holding Witch Hunt signs). A recent Marist poll found four of five self-identified Republicans accepting that very description for the investigations into Trumps conduct that have been swirling around him lately. And even Trump critics and rivals among Republican elected officials have almost universally attacked such investigations as politically motivated and basically meritless.

The indictments could have a more corrosive effect, however, among the general electorate that will eventually determine Trumps ultimate political fate, assuming he does win the nomination. Even in this broader universe, voter cynicism may help protect Trump from too much damage. A recent Quinnipiac poll about the very indictment we learned about today showed that pretty clearly

Read the rest of Eds analysis here.

There are legitimate controversies regarding this case

Putting aside Trumps characterization of it as a witch hunt, the hush-money case brought against him appears to rest on an untested legal theory. The indictment is under seal, but it is well known that prosecutors were eyeing two laws that Trump allegedly violated. The first concerns falsifying business records, a misdemeanor. The second involves limits on how campaigns are financed, specifically on the value of contributions. In order to convict him of a felony for falsifying business records, it would have to be proven that he did so in order to conceal a violation of campaign-finance law. According to the New York Times, no such case has ever been brought, and similar ones typically end in plea deals instead of being heard in court. And the case could be subject to attacks by Trumps team before trial that it is not valid under the law.

Notably, the federal prosecutors who charged Michael Cohen with breaking the law by making the payment to Stormy Daniels  the same conduct that is at issue in the state case  did not accuse Trump of breaking the law. There is also the matter of building a case around Cohen, who has issues with his credibility (not the least of which is his previously pleading guilty to lying), as former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori wrote a day before the indictment.

Trump expected to surrender on Tuesday

Braggs office said in a statement that it is negotiating with Trumps attorneys to coordinate his surrender to authorities so that he can be arraigned in New York. (At that point, the indictment will have to be unsealed so he can enter a plea.) Trump defense attorney Susan Necheles later said that the former president will turn himself in for arraignment on Tuesday afternoon. The DAs office had reportedly asked Trumps lawyers to arrange for Trump to turn himself in on Friday, but they rejected the request, arguing that the Secret Service needed more time to prepare.

Joe Tacopina, another Trump lawyer, told Bloomberg News that obviously were disappointed, but we will swiftly and aggressively fight these charges and pursue justice in this case.

Statement from Trump lawyers Joe Tacopina and Susan Necheles: "President Trump has been indicted. He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this this political prosecution in Court."  erica orden (@eorden) March 30, 2023

As is typical for defendants accused of nonviolent crimes, Trump has not been subject to an arrest warrant and is being allowed to turn himself in.

Trump campaign fundraises off the indictment

Longtime legal pundit Alan Dershowitz, responding to the news of the indictment on former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicers Newsmax show, speculated that Trumps campaign may end up turning his inevitable mug shot into a poster. In the meantime, theyve already sent out a fundraising appeal leveraging the indictment news:

Trump campaign sends out fundraising email: pic.twitter.com/u3wxYdvnqf  Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) March 30, 2023

NYPD calls up all officers amid ongoing security concerns

Though a spokesperson for the city said there are no credible threats at this time, a full mobilization of the police department is underway. Earlier this month, Trump called for his supporters to protest and take back our country, in an echo of the rhetoric that inspired a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

In the weeks leading up to the grand jurys decision, security was tight around the district attorneys office, with law enforcement putting up barriers in anticipation of potential protests. Bragg, whom Trump has hurled increasingly inflammatory rhetoric at, was seen leaving his office flanked by security on Thursday night after news of the indictment broke.

NEW: video shows Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg leaving the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse flanked by security after news broke of a grand jury indictment of former President Donald Trump. @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/8oQp75MGuU  Tim McNicholas (@TimMcNicholas) March 30, 2023

This moment is flush with possibility and explosive danger

Columnist Jonathan Chait weighs in on Trumps long-awaited indictment:

The foundation of any fair legal system is that everybody, even a criminal, has rights. The leaked details of the case against Trump reportedly being brought by Alvin Bragg are underwhelming and bordering on negligent. They seem to stitch together a decent misdemeanor case against Trump for false records (his disguising a payoff to one or potentially two women with whom he had affairs) and charging the payment as a campaign-finance violation. Unless there is more to Braggs case than has been reported, it smells of an effort to find a crime.

The indictments details matter tremendously. The sanctity of the rule of law hinges upon applying its force equally, without regard to the standing of the accused. This requirement goes both ways  Trumps decades of using his power to steal and cheat is one form of corruption of the rule of law that cannot be resolved by locking him up over a charge no other person would likely have faced. Turnabout is not fair play.

Read the rest of Jons response here.

The response on Fox News and from Trump world

Audible gasps let out in Fox News' studio as they announce the Trump indictment news pic.twitter.com/FFyx2mvPUp  Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) March 30, 2023

Benjamin Hart has rounded up some of the reaction from Trumps allies, including Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Senator Ted Cruz, and even one Trump rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Trump calls indictment political persecution and election interference

About an hour after the news, which reportedly caught Trump aides off guard, the former president released a defiant statement from Mar-a-Lago attacking the indictment. This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history, Trump said, before suggesting, as he has in the past, that he is the victim of a witch hunt conducted by Radical Left Democrats.

In one of several posts Trump has made on his Truth Social account, the former president also claimed he wont be able to get a fair trial in New York: They only brought this Fake, Corrupt, and Disgraceful Charge against me because I stand with the American People, and they know that I cannot get a fair trial in New York!

The hush money

On October 8, 2016, a day after the release of the Access Hollywood tape of Trump bragging about groping women, porn star Stormy Danielss agent reached out to the National Enquirer to say that her client was open to sharing her story publicly about having sex with Trump years earlier.

The Enquirer alerted Michael Cohen, who had previously worked with the tabloid to bury Karen McDougals own story of an affair with Trump. The Enquirer purchased the rights to McDougals story for $150,000 in order to prevent her from discussing it  a process known as a catch and kill. This time, Cohen would have to pay himself, but instead of paying Daniels directly, he incorporated a shell company in Delaware called Essential Consultants to wire the money to her attorney before it was given to Daniels, according to federal prosecutors later description of the scheme. On a form to complete the transaction, Cohen falsely claimed that it was for a retainer for the attorney. Days before the election, The Wall Street Journal broke the story.

In early 2017, Cohen sought reimbursement from the Trump Organization, writing on at least one invoice that it was for a retainer agreement (referring to the money wired to Davidson) and other services rendered that January and February. The company obliged and accounted for the money paid to Cohen as legal expenses. Trump denies that the affair ever took place, but Cohen said Trump directed the payments to be made and agreed to reimburse him, which he or his trust did via a series of checks totaling $420,000, according to the New York Times.

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to a number of federal crimes, including violating federal campaign-finance law with the hush money. In court papers, federal prosecutors said Cohen performed no legal work for the Trump Organization during the time period for which he was compensated.

The investigation

In the days after Cohens guilty plea in 2018 to federal prosecutors, the district attorneys office under Cyrus Vance Jr. started looking into the circumstances surrounding the payment made to Daniels. The inquiry quickly expanded to focus on larger aspects of Trumps business dealings  particularly surrounding the Trump Organization. Vance and commentators had raised expectations that Trump himself would be indicted, but only the company and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, were charged with tax fraud and convicted.

Bragg, a Democrat who was elected district attorney in 2021, insisted that despite the departure of two prominent prosecutors over the lack of criminal charges for Trump for alleged financial crimes, his offices criminal investigation into Trump was ongoing.

Then, in January, it was reported that Cohen was meeting with prosecutors for the first time in more than a year  an indication that the dormant hush-money inquiry was active again. Later that month, the office impaneled a grand jury to begin examining evidence. It heard testimony from David Pecker (former publisher of the National Enquirer), Davidson, and Kellyanne Conway, who once served as Trumps campaign manager.

Cohen testified for two consecutive days at the end of the grand jurys investigation and is likely to be the prosecutions star witness despite his history of lying, including under oath before Congress. Following his testimony, Trump was invited to testify, but his team sent a former attorney of Cohens to shred his credibility instead. Though it seemed like the indictment was imminent  with Trump himself predicting his arrest two weeks ago and calling for protests  days of virtual silence from the grand jury led to speculation that the case was shriveling or would not even be brought after all.

This post has been updated.

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Photo: JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Donald Trump is about to be prosecuted, but unless youre one of the few people who might be allowed inside the courtroom in Manhattan, you wont be able to watch. Thats because New York is one of the only jurisdictions in the country that still bans cameras in legal trials.

Given the political stakes of prosecuting a former president who is again running for office, the public needs to observe the strength of Manhattan DA Alvin Braggs case rather than rely on others to tell them how the evidence shakes out  especially given Trump and his allies penchant for spreading disinformation. With confidence in the media and courts at an all-time low, will members of the public trust the outcome of the case if they cant see it for themselves? To ask the question is to answer it. With the future of other criminal probes unclear, Braggs prosecution may be the only public reckoning we get of Trumps alleged criminality.

Televised court hearings have been around for many decades, but they were quite controversial at first. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court overturned two criminal convictions (Estes v. Texas and Sheppard v. Maxwell) on the basis of disruptive media behavior inside the courtroom. Through the late 1970s, most states continued to bar cameras from courtrooms. Then Florida launched an experimental program pioneering camera access in its state courts, which culminated in the Supreme Court formally blessing courtroom cameras in the 1981 case Chandler v. Florida. Dozens of states then followed Floridas lead, and the wave gave rise to CourtTV and countless high-profile trials  including what was in 1995 the most-watched television event in American history: the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Seventy-five percent of adults, or 150 million viewers, tuned in.

Despite the nationwide popularity of the practice, New York, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia continue to ban virtually all audiovisual coverage in trials. New York ran a successful trial program adding cameras in the 1990s, but thenState Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blocked permanent implementation (perhaps foreseeing his own future prosecution). More recently, New York courts made audio recordings of trials available to the public but only as an emergency measure owing to the lack of physical access amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trumps trial in Manhattan is at least several months away, which may be enough time for the state to open up the courtroom to cameras. There just so happens to already be a piece of legislation under consideration that would do that: Senate Bill S160, introduced by State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, would task the court system with implementing free livestreams and allow the media to record trials as long as cameras and equipment are operated quietly and unobtrusively. Judges would be afforded discretion to protect vulnerable witnesses, such as children or victims of sexual abuse. Its a common-sense approach that has been successful in dozens of jurisdictions, yet the reform has only gained traction in recent years owing to the dramatic increase in attention to transparency in the criminal-justice system.

This is not just about Trump or merely an issue of transparency. Its a matter of fairness. Many New Yorkers do not have the opportunity to attend court in person for reasons of work, health, child-care responsibilities, or lack of transportation. For certain trials, the number of interested observers can far exceed the capacity of the courtroom. There arent enough overflow courtrooms in America to accommodate the estimated 18.4 million people who watched the Derek Chauvin trial on television, a landmark criminal-justice case. Imagine how many would tune into Trumps trial if they could.

The benefits of allowing such coverage are numerous and significant. It will provide increased accountability from litigants, judges, and the press. It will also educate citizens about the judicial process and allow the public greater certainty that proceedings are conducted fairly and, by extension, that the justice system works correctly. Claims of sensationalistic or inaccurate reporting will be readily verifiable by a public able to view the underlying proceedings for itself. Foes of this transparency have offered the same tired rationales to keep cameras out of court: that they might cause distraction, or diminish courtroom decorum, or prompt the media to sensationalize. Yet in the ensuing decades, no state has ever removed them.

The day may come when television will have become so commonplace an affair in the daily life of the average person as to dissipate all reasonable likelihood that its use in courtrooms may disparage the judicial process, wrote Justice John Harlan when the Supreme Court tossed Billie Sol Estess conviction in 1965. His words are now beyond self-evident. Modern technology has transcended the difficulties that led to bans on such coverage. There are no more whirling, noisy cameras. There are no more glaring lights, nor does a thundering herd of technicians have to go in and out of the courtroom to set up and tear down their gear. Modern equipment is inaudible, requires no additional lighting, and can be operated by a limited number of trained professionals.

If New York ends its ban on cameras in court in time for Trumps trial, it will be only a partial victory. Federal courts strictly prohibit video coverage of trials, and the Supreme Court only recently deigned to offer an audio livestream. With prosecutors in the Justice Department bearing down on the former president, the most important trial in American history may be yet to come. If so, it will take place in the dark. New York has a chance to walk in the light.

This post has been updated to clarify that virtually all audiovisual coverage is barred at trials in New York courts, since cameras are permitted in some scenarios, but not throughout full trial-court proceedings where witnesses testify under oath. In addition, Louisiana also prohibits cameras in trial-court proceedings under almost all circumstances.

Dan Novack is a First Amendment lawyer, professor of media law, and chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Media Law. He also hosts the podcast SLANDERTOWN. The views expressed are purely in his personal capacity. Mickey Osterreicher is general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association and a former photojournalist who covered the O.J Simpson trial.

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One man has been arrested in connection to an attempted murder said to have occurred in Opelika last weekend.
Last week, Washington, D.C. based Last Energy announced that it had signed agreements in the UK and Poland for thirty four small modular reactors. Frankly, when we first saw the headline we assumed editorial failure by the UK press and moved on. But our initial impression was wrong. These are among the tiniest modular reactor designs we have seen to date, producing a mere 20 MWs of electricity. All of the 34 orders cited above collectively equal about one half of a gigawatt scale power plant regardless of type. By contrast the proposed NuScale reactors produce 77 MWs and the GE Hitachi BWRX 300 reactor under consideration by TVA for its Clinch River site is, as the name implies, 300 MWs. But size is not the only thing that differentiates Last Energy from its more conventional competitors. Last Energy is unusual in that its financial backing comes from libertarian, Silicon Valley funders who typically have been portrayed in the press as disrupters. Lasts CEO, Bret Kugelmass, started a Washington D.C. based think tank, the Energy Impact Center, which sought to answer the ultimate question of our lifetime: how to reverse climate change. Nuclear is the answer. They also sponsored a podcast, Titans of Nuclear, featuring many experts and issues in the field. Our point here is that this company bears little resemblance to the conventional array of government-backed defense contractors representing most of the other SMR technologies. Given its background, not surprisingly Last Energy sounds to us a bit like Uber or WeWork but for new nukes. Their lofty and worthwhile goal is to reverse the impacts of climate utilizing off the shelf nuclear technology with an innovative delivery mode. Their claim is to follow the best practices of the renewables industry: scaling of quantity rather than size.

Related: WTI Crude Gains As Banking Fears Ease, Kurdish Oil Exports Remain Suspended



Their offering is a compact 20 MW, single loop, pressurized water reactor that could sit on a site of  an acre. It would use conventional nuclear fuel, 4.95% enriched uranium and standard fuel rods in a 17 by 17 array. The build time is estimated to be just 30 months. But, given the full modularity of all plant structures the estimated actual on site construction time is estimated at just three months. The fuel cycle is a lengthy 72 months with a three month refueling interval. These plants would also be air cooled and the company touted its meager water usage of a mere 8 gallons per minute. This contrasts with the significant water demands of other even relatively small reactors. Like other smaller reactors the Last Energy design would feature a subterranean nuclear island and low profile balance of plant. Gone are the big reinforced domes or rectangles of previous designs that could withstand whatever hypothetical impact short of an asteroid. They describe their approach as customer centric and that our innovation is simple; leverage only proven nuclear technology, create a replicable, manufacturable power plant, and size for private capital. The first actual plant installations could occur as soon as 2025 or 2026. No other SMR builder is offering a new plant much before 2029.

In terms of cost, the UK press cited a figure of 100 million or less per 20 MW unit, or about $6,135 per kw. This was for a total of 34 European reactors, 24 in the UK and 10 in Poland. Romania is also considering the design. The company has secured PPAs, purchase power agreements, with 4 industrial partners. In Poland they are partnering with the Katowice Special Economic Zone in southwest Poland. In the UK they have three industrial partnerships only identified as a life sciences campus, a sustainable fuels manufacturer, and a developer of hyperscale data centers. Last Energy is unique in that they offer one stop shopping for nuclear energy purchasers. They state that, We cover all aspects of the investment process including design, construction, financing, service, and operation.

The European Nuclear Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear issues, currently lists no fewer than twenty one promising nuclear technologies on its SMR dashboard. (Last Energys PWR 20 is not currently listed.) There are multiple entries in each of the five categories of new, small nuclear technology: water cooled, gas cooled, fast spectrum, micro (which would include Last Energy), and molten salt. The dashboard approach ranks these various technologies on five criteria: licensing, siting, supply chain, engagement, and fuel. None of these technologies has as yet been commercially licensed outside of China and Russia. The NEA stated that less than half of the featured technologies could obtain financing for a first-of-its-kind unit and an even smaller subset would be able to obtain purchase power agreements, which Last Energy has done.

The one major difference between say the BWRX 300 or NuScale versus Lasts PWR 20 is with respect to licensing. The first two companies go to great lengths to describe and advertise their proximity to regulatory approvals. Lasts website notes that the Biggest uncertainties (are) posed by the licensing process. They further state their hope that in terms of design development we are able to fabricate in parallel with our licensing process. Regardless of how they describe the regulatory/licensing process, the NEA summarizes the basic process in the US and Europe as consisting of four essential steps: 1) pre-licensing interaction with regulators, 2) design approval, 3) construction, and finally 4) issuance of an operating license and commercial operation. Stated differently, it wont matter how quickly Last Energy engineers can fabricate and assemble their PWR 20 until various regulators approve their design.

From a commercial acceptance perspective, it is difficult to even hazard a guess about future SMR technology since were really talking about a replacement cycle, mostly for aging natural gas power plants in the 2040s. Assuming that a new generation of SMRs begin operating at the end of this decade as planned, there is no reason to believe the market will coalesce around one SMR size or technology much before the mid to late 2030s. Right now all we can say broadly is that there seem to be two markets for SMRs, the almost utility scale reactors producing 300 MWs like the BWRX model and micro reactors in the 5-50 MW range including Last Energy. And that these are being pitched to very different types of customers. Electric utilities have been gravitating towards larger reactors for reasons of cost, bigger is still considered cheaper. Smaller reactors on the other hand have appeal for inside the fence commercial and industrial activities, provision of process steam, and compatibility with district heating systems. And this is where Last Energy seems to be making some inroads.

In the end, though, neither the technical nor business prowess of Last will prevail if the public becomes uncomfortable with the idea of mini nukes spread over the landscape. These will have to be guarded against terrorists, possibly by weak governments, and whose waste has to be transported through neighborhoods and communities to facilities not yet built. Mini nukes look good on paper. But as they say in automotive circles, Lets wait until the rubber hits the road. Something better might come along while we wait.

By Leonard Hyman and William Tilles for Oilprice.com
A 29-year-old man suffered severe injuries in a reported incident early Tuesday morning south of downtown Omaha.

At 12:19 a.m., Omaha police officers responded to a call at 2205 Jones St. for an assault involving a knife. Upon arriving at the scene, police found the man inside the building suffering from severe injuries.

The man was cut but not stabbed, reports stated. He was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center for treatment. The man was in stable condition, but exploratory surgery was required to determine the extent of his injuries.

No suspects have been identified by police.

Anyone with information can call Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP (7867), go to omahacrimestoppers.org or use the P3 Tips mobile app.
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Flipping through Nebraska School for the Deaf class photos, Jonathan Scherling and Linsay Darnall Jr. pause to point out their relatives.

Theres a picture of Darnalls mom, dad and brother. Scherlings mom, dad and two of his grandparents also attended the school.

I wouldnt exist if it wasnt for this school because my parents met here, Scherling signs.

Same, Darnall signs. My parents met here.

The photos that Scherling and Darnall were looking at are part of an exhibit at the Nebraska Deaf Heritage Museum and Cultural Center.

Inside the museum, there are black and white photos, a replica dorm room, schoolroom, a timeline of the schools history, trophies and other memorabilia from the school  all things that were saved and preserved after the schools closure.

The Nebraska School for the Deaf opened in 1869 and ended its 129-year run in Omaha in 1998. The museum is housed inside the Thompson Dormitory on the schools former campus near 45th Street and Bedford Avenue.

This museum, which opened in 2001, is the only one in Nebraska solely dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of the Deaf community, Scherling said.

To kickoff Deaf History Month, this Saturday the public is invited to tour the museum from 1 to 4 p.m. There will be American Sign Language storytelling, booths and light refreshments. Admission is $10. The museum is located at 3223 N. 45th St.

There will be a special exhibit on deaf Nebraskans and their involvement in the theatrical arts. People like Herb Larson, a 1951 graduate of the school, who had a talk show called Off-Hand where he interviewed famous people. He was called the deaf Johnny Carson by some.

Communicating through an American Sign Language interpreter, Scherling and Darnall said three Es guide the museum and cultural center: Educate, engage and empower.

Scherling said an emphasis of the museum is wanting to look at the positive contributions of deaf people. He said some might look at deaf people and think their life wont be as good or have questions about how to fix someone who is deaf.

We want to celebrate who we are, celebrate what we have, Scherling said.

We want to celebrate our culture. The museum is just one example of trying to preserve that history and deaf people being able to gather and socialize and to be able to celebrate our heritage.

Darnall went the Nebraska School for the Deaf. Scherling missed the opportunity because of the schools closure and instead attended the Iowa School for the Deaf.

In June 1997, the Nebraska Board of Education voted to close the school after the Legislature cut the schools $3.7 million budget by nearly $1 million.

Even some legislators who supported closing the school agreed that it provided a high quality of education, but they questioned the price. Enrollment had also dropped from a peak of nearly 200 students in 1979 to 32 in 1998.

After the schools closure, some families moved to Iowa or fought their local school districts so their children could attend the Iowa School for the Deaf. Others were told by school officials there was no need to send some students out of state because schools and special programs in the area could serve deaf children.

To explain what the Nebraska School for the Deaf meant to its students, Darnall used the example of beloved character Harry Potter. Darnall said Potter felt like he didnt fit in with his family but when he goes to Hogwarts, he discovers everyone there is like him.

Its the same thing here as a deaf school, Darnall said. Same thing here at NSD.

Darnall said about 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents. When the Nebraska School for the Deaf closed, Darnall said alumni worried about future deaf students.

We can empathize with that feeling of being a deaf child, and we couldnt even begin to imagine what their life would be like without a place like this, Darnall said.

Scherling said he attended a mainstream school before attending the Iowa school for four years. Despite coming from a supportive deaf family, Scherling said his self-esteem and confidence grew after going to a deaf school and he had more opportunities to participate in activities.

But the museum is more than just a place for alumni to walk down memory lane. Scherling said its a place for deaf youth to learn about deaf history and culture and to see role models they maybe dont see in their current schools.

That deaf people can be successful, Scherling said. For them to see role models that they can see themselves in and they can look up to. We want to empower them to feel good about themselves.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of March 2023
The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has petitioned the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to sanction Channels Television for allegedly breaching the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (NBC) during an interview with the Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Datti Baba-Ahmed.

Baba-Ahmed had during an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, March 22, claimed that Nigeria has no president-elect given the irregularities and breach of the Electoral Act, 2022, and Constitution of Nigeria in Tinubus declaration as the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He alleged that the Certificate of Return issued to Tinubu was a dead certificate as it was against the provisions of Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that anybody that would be declared president-elect must win 25 per cent of votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He added that swearing in Tinubu as President is ending democracy and a clear violation of the 1999 constitution.

The petition dated March 30, 2023, was issued, and signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), Bayo Onanuga.

According to the petition, Baba-Ahmed lied about his party winning the February 25 presidential election, noting that a Broadcaster is held liable based on the code when his guest is allowed to make a wild statement that is inaccurate.

READ ALSO: DSS uncovers plot to install interim govt, stop Tinubus inauguration as President

The petition reads: In line with Section 14.0.1 of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code 6th edition stating the duty of the National Broadcasting Commission to accept complaints from aggrieved persons, bodies or members of the public and investigate as well as apply sanctions where necessary, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council hereby petitions the Commission on what it considers breaches by CHANNELS TV last week on its programme Politics Today which airs daily at 7pm on weekdays.

He (Datti) said the Labour Party won the elections. This is a fallacy and not correct. According to the Code, a Broadcaster is liable when his guest is allowed to make a wild statement that is inaccurate and not based on fact.

The only factual figures empirically collated as the final result is the one released by the Independent National Electoral Commission which placed Labour party as third.

The guest on the programme in question Datti Baba -Ahmed said the President of the country Muhammadu Buhari should not swear in the President -elect because he did not score 25% vote in the FCT, being one of the prerequisites for being declared winner. This is a subversive statement since the matter is before the tribunal and is among the issues submitted in their petition to the courts for adjudication. Therefore until and unless the court rules otherwise, the status quo is the INEC position as declared in the final results

The guest Datti Baba Ahmeds comments about Labour Party winning the presidential vote undermines constituted authority given to INEC in the 1999 Constitution as the body vested with the powers to conduct and announce the results of national general elections in Nigeria.

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Nigerian superstar, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, has rallied support for his colleague, David Adeleke, known better as Davido, asking his fans to stream the latters new album.

The PUNCH reports that Davidos much-awaited album, Timeless, amassed one million streams on Boomplay in just six hours after it was released on the streaming platform on Friday.

The album is also currently the No. 1 album on Nigerias Top Albums Chart, UKs Top Albums Chart as well as in 17 other countries on Apple Music

Davido announced the release of the 17-track album on his social media pages in the early hours of Friday.

But Wizkid, in a show of support for Davidos album, asked his fans to stream the afrobeat superstars much-awaited album.

Wizkid made the call in a post on his Instagram and Twitter pages on Friday.

Inside. Yall go listen to Timeless by my brother @davido, he wrote.

This is the first time Wizkid has made a post about Davidos album since the latter did so in 2011.

Related News

The post by Wizkid may finally put to rest the alleged beef between the duo and their fans who openly engaged each other on several social media platforms.

Speaking on the album, Davido said, At long last  WE are back. The journey from my last album to this album has been a whirlwind to say the least. I recall sitting & staring over the ocean not too long ago, wondering if I could get here again, after all Ive been through but with your love & support, we made it.

Im not sure what comes after this but I wanted to give you my heart, soul and energy. Today I present you TIMELESS. 

So many people to thank who helped make this happen but first, I must send a special thank you to the strongest woman I know, @thechefchi!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

And to all my supporters  I love you.

Now, enjoy! Ill see you all on road soon!
A Federal High Court in Lagos has remanded a relationship expert, Blessing Okoro, popularly known as Blessing CEO, in prison following her arraignment by the police.

It was gathered that Blessing CEO was arrested over her involvement with a celebrity car dealer, Ikechukwu Ogbonna, better known as IVD Autos, who was accused of being the cause of the death of his late wife, Bimbo Ogbonna.

KanyiDaily had reported how Bimbo died in a hospital after getting into a scuffle with her husband and allegedly setting herself ablaze at their mansion in Lagos.

While Bimbos sister accused IVD of killing his wife, Blessing defiantly defended the car dealer and was even dragged to the police by the deceaseds family.

IVD was arraigned and charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja where he pleaded not guilty to the crime.

Blessing CEO was reportedly arrested whilst in the company of IVD on Thursday morning, March 30, after weeks of dodging her court appearances.

Blessing CEO Arraigned

The police on Friday arraigned the defendant on a six-count charge of alleged cyber-bullying, libel, and for exhibiting uncensored movies.

The self-acclaimed relationship expert was accused of using her social media page to injure the reputation of one Folashade Samuels and the late Bimbo Ogbonna by exposing them to hatred, contempt, and ridicule.

Prosecution counsel Rotshang Faith Dimka of the Force Headquarters, Abuja, said Okoro of Lekki, Lagos, on October 16, 2022, intentionally sent messages using her Instagram handle @officialblessingceo to bully, threaten and harass one Folashade Samuels, a.k.a Mamajazz, a younger sister to the late Bimbo Ogbonna.

The blogger was also accused of using her Instagram handle @officialblessingceo, to injure the reputation of Folashade Samuels and the late Bimbo Ogbonna, by exposing them to hatred, contempt and ridicule.

The police further accused her of exhibiting a film and video work titled Sweet Sour without a censorship certificate and without holding a licence as issued by National Film & Video Censors Board (NFVCB).

According to the police, some of the messages allegedly sent by the defendant included: Lets ask Mamajazz where her father is??? Their father had exactly the same issue with their mother Ebele and he ran away for us (sic) dear life. IVDs crime was that he was not man enough to run 

The family of late Bimbo is after IVDs properties and life. Especially her elder sister Mamajazz. Bimbo and IVD are well-known people in Lagos and its not a hidden fact that even in their estate that Bimbo is violent. Everybody knows how she breaks a bottle on her husbands head on a daily .. Bimbo killed herself and has always wanted to kill herself right from childhood. Evidence loading. All the voice notes and evidence will be on my YouTube and Facebook. Subscribe,

I will ask Mamajazz, the late Bimbos sister few questionswhere (sic) you in (sic) talking terms with your sister before (she) died? Are you owing your late sister 18 million? Did she block you before her death? Do you even like your sisters children?? Answers this question because | will slam the internet with raw facts and evidence.

I am stepping into the case as the official relationship therapist of IVD Will drop all the evidence that IVD did not kill his wife or even hurt her. The late Bimbo was the violent person and suicidal victim

The defendants actions, according to the police, contravened Section 24 (2)(a)(1) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, and Section 375 of the Criminal Code Act. They also contravened Section 33 of the NFVCB Act, 2004.

Okoro pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge of alleged cyber-bullying, libel and for exhibiting uncensored movies leveled against her.

Justice Yelim Bogoro remanded her in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) till May 30 for the hearing of her bail application.

KanyiDaily recalls that Blessing CEO had recently reacted to the backlash she received amid rumours of dating IVD.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang holds a welcoming ceremony for the visiting Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the Northern Hall of the Great Hall of the People prior to their talks in Beijing, capital of China, April 1, 2023. Li held talks with Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Saturday. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang held talks with visiting Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Saturday, with both sides vowing further efforts to enhance cooperation.

Noting Lee as an old friend familiar to Chinese people and one of the first batch of foreign leaders received by Li himself after taking office as the premier of the State Council, Li said this fully shows China and Singapore attach great importance to the bilateral relations.

During Lee's visit, both sides have agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to an "All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership." Li said China is ready to work with Singapore to make "high quality" the most distinct feature of cooperation and bring bilateral ties and pragmatic cooperation to a new height, to deliver more benefits to the two peoples and inject more positive energy into regional and global peace, stability and prosperity.

Li stressed efforts to take the substantive conclusion of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Work Programme for Subsequent Negotiations as an opportunity to facilitate two-way opening up of a higher level and the synergy of economic and trade policies of a higher standard.

The two countries should tap into the new potential of cooperation in various fields including digital economy, artificial intelligence and e-commerce, to help further upgrade major cooperation projects, said the premier.

He also urged efforts to give bigger play to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor as the pivot of industrial and supply chains in the region, and foster an internationalized platform via China-Singapore cooperation to help boost economic recovery of the regional countries.

"China is willing to continuously deepen cooperation in education, culture, tourism, public health and other sectors with Singapore and work to bring personnel exchanges between the two sides back to normalcy as soon as possible," said Li.

Noting China always regards the ASEAN as a priority of neighborhood diplomacy and firmly supports the centrality of ASEAN, Li said China is ready to work with ASEAN countries including Singapore to promote the construction of ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA 3.0) and advance regional economic integration.

As China and Singapore are both firm defenders of economic globalization and multilateralism, Li said China is willing to join hands with the Singaporean side to jointly resist the attempts to politicize economic issues and overstretch the concept of national security, safeguard the stability and smoothness of international industrial and supply chains, and uphold a multilateral trading regime with the World Trade Organization as its core.

Hailing the extensive friendly cooperation as well as the profound mutual trust between the two countries, Lee said Singapore is ready to work with China to expand cooperation in such fields as finance, digital economy, green development, grain security and urban sustainable development, as part of the efforts to forge a paradigm of bilateral and regional cooperation and further advance ties.

Noting China as one of the most substantive cooperative partners of the ASEAN, Lee said all ASEAN countries support developing ties with China and hope to strengthen cooperation while harnessing the opportunities presented by China's economic recovery and expansion of opening up after the COVID-19.

Singapore welcomes and supports China's efforts to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and is willing to work with China to jointly uphold a fair, open and inclusive international trading regime.

After the talks, Premier Li and Prime Minister Lee witnessed the signing of documents on bilateral cooperation in economy and trade, science and technology, food, law, environmental protection and arts. 
Photo taken on March 30, 2023 shows a checkpoint of Bunagana, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bunagana had been occupied by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group since June, but it will reopen gradually following the deployment of Ugandan army, said Jeff Nyagah, the East African Community (EAC) regional force commander, Thursday. (Xinhua/Alain Uaykani)

by Xinhua writers Alain Uyakani, Shi Yu

BUNAGANA, DR Congo, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Bunagana, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the border with Uganda, had been occupied by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group since June, but it will reopen gradually following the deployment of Ugandan army, said Jeff Nyagah, the East African Community (EAC) regional force commander, Thursday.

General Nyagah of Kenya made this statement in Bunagana a few hours after co-chairing the reception ceremony for Ugandan military elements. According to him, the Ugandan troops are deployed in the Bunagana area for a regional peacekeeping mission in the DRC.

An agreement between the EAC and the M23 rebel group led to the reopening of Bunagana, an important trade town in Rutshuru Territory, North Kivu Province, allowing the civilians to move freely, he said.

"We have reached an agreement in principle between us and the leaders of the M23 that the road from Bunagana to Goma, the capital of the province (North Kivu) must be reopened. The population must circulate freely, vehicles and goods must also be conveyed without concern," he declared after his meeting of several hours with the leaders of the M23.

For the military authorities of the EAC, a regional bloc, no one should oppose this agreement in principle that will allow the rapid relaxation of the suffering of the population following the crisis caused by the fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels.

In 2022, EAC member countries established a regional force to end the activism of armed groups in eastern DRC, including the M23 rebels. Elements from Kenya and Burundi have already been deployed on the ground in the province of North Kivu.

Apart from the border city of Bunagana, the Ugandan army troops, composed of around 1,000 soldiers, will also deploy in the cities of Kiwanja and Mabenga, according to General Nyagah who insisted that this unit has an essential role in assisting the peace process for the eastern DRC.

With this deployment, Uganda is the third country to join Kenya and Burundi to deploy their troops on the ground in North Kivu as part of the peace mission validated and adopted by the EAC member countries.

The main mission of these forces is to end local and foreign armed groups active in the northeast of the DRC, more particularly the M23 rebels who have occupied several areas in North Kivu since last year.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement, demanding the end of any further advances, and withdrawal from all occupied areas by M23 rebels in the DRC.

The Security Council demands the immediate and full implementation of commitments on the cessation of hostilities, the end of any further advances by the M23, and its withdrawal from all occupied areas as agreed through the African Union-endorsed Luanda Process, read the statement.

The M23 emerged from the rebel group National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), which laid down arms in March 2009, following a peace agreement stipulating that its soldiers would be integrated into the Congolese police and army, while the CNDP's political wing would become an officially acknowledged party.

A faction within the CNDP, however, subsequently denounced the poor implementation of the agreement and developed into the M23, which took its name from the date of the peace agreement, in April 2012. It later occupied Goma in 2012.

After its military defeat in 2013 and barring some minor incidents, the M23 lay dormant for almost a decade until late 2021 when it ramped up attacks again. In addition, the M23, which was deemed as "terrorists" by the DRC government in May 2022, took control of vast parts of Rutshuru territory, in particular, the capture of the Bunagana border town in June 2022.

M23's resurgence has also reignited tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, as Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting the M23. Meanwhile, Kigali in return accuses Kinshasa of being in coalition with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, whose members are blamed for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group.

According to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in early March 2023, more than 20,000 people have been displaced due to recent fighting in the eastern DRC. In the past year, more than 800,000 people have been affected by renewed fighting between Congolese forces and the M23. 

Ugandan soliders are seen in Bunagana, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on March 30, 2023. Bunagana had been occupied by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group since June, but it will reopen gradually following the deployment of Ugandan army, said Jeff Nyagah, the East African Community (EAC) regional force commander, Thursday. (Xinhua/Alain Uaykani)

Photo taken on March 30, 2023 shows a checkpoint of Bunagana, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bunagana had been occupied by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group since June, but it will reopen gradually following the deployment of Ugandan army, said Jeff Nyagah, the East African Community (EAC) regional force commander, Thursday. (Xinhua/Alain Uaykani)

Ugandan soliders are seen in Bunagana, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on March 30, 2023. Bunagana had been occupied by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group since June, but it will reopen gradually following the deployment of Ugandan army, said Jeff Nyagah, the East African Community (EAC) regional force commander, Thursday. (Xinhua/Alain Uaykani)
Samantha Williams, 31, who was convicted of domestic battery of a minor in 2017, was charged with violating the IVOAYA in September. Prosecutors at the time said she had failed to report with the Bloomington Police Department on or before Aug. 9 as required by the act.
NORMAL  Voters in McLean County Unit 5 could vastly change the direction of the district in Tuesdays election with both a referendum and a majority of the board seats on the ballot.

Nine candidates are running for four seats on the school board. The candidates, in ballot order, are incumbent Amy Roser, incumbent Kelly Pyle, Alex Williams, Amee Jada, Steve Mackowiak, Dennis Frank, Mark Adams, Brad Wurth and Mollie Emery. Pyle did not return The Pantagraph's request for comment by deadline on Saturday.

Eight of the candidates have split into two informal slates of four, based largely around their positions on the referendum. Roser, Pyle, Williams and Adams are all in favor of passing the referendum, while Jada, Frank, Wurth and Emery are opposed.

Mackowiak, too, has opposed the referendum, but has not associated himself with the other four in the no group. He said he would remain opposed to a referendum until he hears an outside perspective on the numbers, beyond current staff members.

The other no candidates have said the district should look at other options to balance the budget and that the referendum would turn what had been a temporary increase through bonds into a permanent increase in the rate.

Emery and Roser disagree on the referendum, but both separately told The Pantagraph they are concerned about how both sides will work together after the election.

The referendum is such a polarizing and divisive thing right now, Emery said.

Wurth and Frank suggested one course a day for junior high and high school students be taken in the school building but using online curriculum. That would free up resources and reduce the needed number of teachers, they said. They say that is not a return to COVID e-learning.

Emery and Jada said the cuts they would look at would depend on the composition of the board after the election. That will determine what can be done, they said.

However, if elected, Jada said she would have different priorities than the current board.

I dont want to make cuts that are going to impact the kids, she said.

Roser, too, noted that the possible cuts would depend on the makeup of the board. However, her priorities would remain those laid out by the community during engagement sessions ahead of the November referendum, namely keeping jobs and small class sizes. Adams and Williams agreed, saying extracurriculars and additional offerings should be cut first.

We need to get ourselves out of the deficit, and those things are not state required, Adams said.

Mackowiak would want to make cuts to the districts equity, diversity and inclusion programs to start, though he acknowledged it would only be a small portion of the current deficit. He wants the district to focus on core curriculums and critical thinking.

Additional revenue

Wurth and Emery questioned the districts past decision to not have the high schools participate in the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program, which reimburses districts for meal costs. Superintendent Kristen Weikle has said she will recommend the high schools start participating regardless of the referendum outcome.

In a statement to the Pantagraph, the district said the high schools have never participated, due to lower reimbursement rates in the past and lower rates of participation in the free and reduced price lunch program. Participating in the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program would change what foods the schools can offer during meal times.

Emery, too, thinks it is something that should be looked at and done. Even if the referendum does pass, the district should be on the lookout for other opportunities like this for increased revenue, she said. The district estimates adding the high schools to the breakfast and lunch programs could bring in between $500,000 and $600,000.

I think if it passes, then going forward, lets still look at ways to be responsible, she said.

Wurth also believes the district has underestimated the amount of new local tax revenue it will receive from new developments and growing property values. He expects any needed cuts to address the deficit would come from multiple places.

Union relationships

The relationship between the board and the Unit Five Teachers Association and Unit Five Support Professionals Association has also become a topic of the election. The union has endorsed and supported Roser, Pyle, Adams and Williams, as well as the referendum.

Williams and Roser said the union members are essential to the work the district does. Williams would want to continue to foster that relationship, but at the same time, the board and union will inherently sometimes have different perspectives, he said.

It doesnt mean that well always approach problems and solutions in the same way, he said.

Adams received $2,500 from the teachers union political action committee for his campaign, he said, making up about a quarter of the more than $8,000 he raised. He is the only candidate who has filed paperwork to form a candidate committee with the state, according to online Illinois State Board of Elections records. Groups and campaigns have to register once they raise or spend more than $5,000 on a campaign.

His wife is also a teacher and union member, which he said meant he would not take an active role in negotiations.

Other candidates are more skeptical of the unions and did not participate in the groups endorsement process.

(I) feel that both of these union organizations have too much control, too much input in how the school board is run, Wurth said.

Frank and Mackowiak said they understand that the union is there to protect its members, but they would want to balance that with student and parent needs.

Emery did not seek UFEAs endorsement, as she did not see it as appropriate for school board members, but was disappointed by responses to her decision.

I feel like it was blown out of proportion, and I have no apologies about not seeking that endorsement, she said.

Going into negotiations with the union, Jada said the groups have to work together, but she would like to see changes from the current agreement.

I dont think that we should implement things with the contract that ties the school boards hands, she said.

Endorsements

The race has also received partisan endorsements, despite Illinois school boards being nonpartisan.

The state Democratic Party has waded into the Unit 5 school board race, endorsing Roser, Pyle, Adams and Williams among others in school board races around the state.

Wurth, Frank, Emery and Jada are endorsed by the McLean County Republican Party. Their campaigns are also supported by a political action committee, IL Students First, of which Wurth is chair and treasurer. The PAC registered as a Republican group and received funds from the county GOP.

The four have a joint website, unit5studentsfirst.com.

Beyond finances

If the district were in a better spot financially, Frank would like to see more investment in software for students and teachers, as well as building improvements. He also wants to expand outreach to English learners families, to make sure parents know all resources available.

Jada, too, would want to advocate for making sure families know everything available to them, such as the Heartland NOW program with Heartland Community College. She would also want the district to push back on some of the changes pushed on districts by state law, such as changes to sex education and history courses.

We need to look at all of these things and see what is best for our students, she said.

Mackowiak wants the district to prepare students not just for college but also for careers that do not require college. He attended college for marketing, he said, but now works in the trades.

Nowadays, college can be a waste of money for a lot of things, he said.

Getting the district on found financial footing would be Rosers top priority, she said, but after that she would want to look at updating the districts strategic plan. That would give the community an opportunity to share what they want the district to be doing, she said. And long term, she hopes the district continues to attract new businesses, development and families.

I would hope that Unit 5 and McLean County would continue to be an attractive place to live, she said.

Non-financial goals for Adams include improving mental health supports and student intervention systems.

I just really want to advocate for standards for our teachers that are more restorative, he said.

Beyond finances, Williams priorities include improving demographic representation and addressing the teacher shortage, including going beyond pay concerns.

So I want us also to look at what other support we can provide to attract and retain teachers, he said.

Based on her own experience as a mother, Emery hopes to address resources for families with students with special needs. If elected, she would want to help families and teachers navigate there often-long individualized learning plans. She ran in 2021 but dropped out of the race after her petitions were challenged.

Whatever the outcome, Im glad that I tried this time, she said.
BLOOMINGTON  The four candidates in contested races for seats on the Bloomington City Council may have different agendas but are united on prioritizing infrastructure projects in the future.

Although five council seats are available in Tuesday's consolidated election, only two races are contested. Steven Nalefski and John Wyatt Danenberger are running in the fourth ward while Cody Hendricks and Jordan Baker are competing for the sixth ward seat.

The newly drawn fourth ward runs from Jersey Avenue in the north to just south of Oakland Avenue. Its easternmost border is Veterans Parkway and approaches Main Street to the west.

Nalefski, a political newcomer who retired from the Woodford County Highway Department in 2022, said many of his constituents mentioned that their streets are not being addressed.

Although Bloomington's annual infrastructure investments have been heavily criticized by the public, the city has taken significant steps to provide additional support. This includes the commitment of $7 million in federal COVID-19 relief for infrastructure projects over the next two years.

"I want to continue what the council is doing to increase the funding and make sure we continue to fund as much as we're able to in the budget," Nalefski said.

Nalefski added that he will also prioritize fiscal responsibility and proper funding for the police department.

Danenberger, who has served on the Bloomington Planning Commission for four years, said the No. 1 issue he has heard from constituents is underground sewers and the "invisible infrastructure" under people's homes. This problem became more apparent in the summer of 2021 when Central Illinois experienced severe flooding, he added.

"You see where these sewer systems and these crumbling clay pipes and the disinvestment in these core neighborhoods really came back to bite us," Danenberger said.

Once these underground issues are addressed, Danenberger said he would like to see sidewalk expansions in neighborhoods like Founders Grove, but he doesn't intend to overlook road problems in other districts.

Danenberger added that the city should be offering more incentives to encourage families to live in core neighborhoods.

The sixth ward will cover most of downtown Bloomington when new boundaries go in effect May 1.

Hendricks said the redrawn ward will include some of the western portion of town that sustained flood damage in 2021, and that if the city has the resources to make more of an investment in infrastructure, it should be doing it.

He also lauded the city's investment in capital projects this upcoming fiscal year. Bloomington's fiscal 2024 budget includes $70 million for capital projects. Roughly $10 million of this investment will go toward concrete and asphalt repairs and street resurfacing.

"Hopefully, that won't get pushed back," Hendricks said.

Although the sixth ward is not a sprawling part of town, Hendricks said the city could spur development by offering incentives such as fee waivers for sewage hookups. Other cities have developed housing plans to show prospective developers, and Hendricks said he would like to see Bloomington do the same.

Baker said after knocking on the doors of his constituents, public safety and infrastructure seem to be the two most important issues in his ward.

"I think that's the hallmark of a local representative and that's the kind of representative constituents want," Baker said.

Like Hendricks, Baker said he would like to see an infrastructure investment in the west side of the ward.

But when it comes to housing, Baker said he would like to see a diverse array of housing, including starter homes between $70,000 and $100,000. This will require the repair of unoccupied homes, changes to zoning requirements and the input of stakeholders.

Outside of the fourth and sixth wards, Jenna Kearns was the only petitioner for Bloomington's first ward, Alderwoman Donna Boelen is the only candidate who filed for her second ward seat, and Kent Lee was the only candidate who filed to run in the eighth ward.
BLOOMINGTON  Central Illinois reaction was mixed to the news of former President Donald Trump's indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.

Trump is set to be arraigned in the criminal case against him on Tuesday afternoon following his indictment Thursday, The Associated Press reported Friday. He is expected to plead not guilty.

"It is very historic to see any charges get pressed for a president, full-stop, which is pretty astounding," said Nate Vogel, 27, among residents who spoke to Pantagraph reporters on Thursday evening after the news broke. "I guess we'll see what happens."

Trump is indeed the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. His indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics; he denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution, an injustice. He argues that it is specifically designed to damage his 2024 presidential run. Within hours of the news breaking on Thursday, his campaign was noting the development in fundraising emails.

U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, who represents the 15th Congressional District that covers much of Central Illinois, quickly spoke out in support of the former president, whose endorsement was likely critical in her June primary victory over former U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis.

Miller, an Oakland Republican, characterized the indictment as a political witch hunt.

"Every American should be concerned about this blatant political weaponization of the justice system," she said in a statement, alleging that the indictment was part of an effort by Democrats to remove their political opponents from the ballot.

Others felt differently. "He had it coming," said Kelsey Nava, 19, of LeRoy, "and I am glad there is finally some reckoning."

Residents who spoke to Pantagraph reporters expressed a range of opinions, from a belief that Trump "got a raw deal" to a sense that all politicians likely break campaign finance law. Many, however, were not willing to provide their names to the newspaper.

Several who were willing to go on the record expressed skepticism that the indictment would lead to substantive consequences.

"I feel like hes gone through every legal thing possible so I dont even know the significance of it anymore," said Madi Sapp, 19, of Decatur, who spoke to reporters on Illinois State University's campus. "I also dont really think anything is going to actually come of it, but ... I kind of hope it does because then its proof that nobody can get away with anything.

Nancy Tabb, 58, said she thought authorities had been looking for a reason to charge the former president.

"Not that I think its trumped up; I don't think that," said Tabb, of Paris. "There could be something to it, but how many years ago has this been? I think now is not the time.

Leaders of McLean County's Republican and Democratic parties agreed on one sentiment: If Trump committed a crime, he should be held accountable. Both also acknowledged that limited information was available Thursday evening, making it difficult to offer a full perspective on the situation.

Beyond that, their viewpoints diverged sharply.

McLean County Republican Party Chair Dennis Grundler said he saw a heavy dose of partisanship in the charges.

"I will say it just shows that the double standards are still very strong, that they would do stuff like that and they would never think about doing that to (former President) William Jefferson Clinton, and he did the same exact thing," Grundler said.

Some on social media in recent days have drawn comparisons between Trump's alleged hush money payments and Clinton's settlement with Paula Jones, an Arkansas state employee who accused the Democratic president of sexual harassment.

Clintons $850,000 payment to Jones in 1998 settled a civil lawsuit and was a matter of public record. The funds did not come from the government, nor did they amount to a campaign contribution.

Authorities say the payment in Trumps case was through a shell company and reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses in the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign.

"I'm all for it if someone breaks the law, they need to be held accountable," Grundler said. "but why does it seem like it's only Republicans that are being held accountable?"

Because detailed information about the charges was not yet available, Grundler could not comment on specifics  but he said he was not against the indictment if evidence supported it.

"I'm for equal protection of the law and also for justice, so if he did something that's wrong, I'm all right with him being indicted," Grundler said. "I just wish it went every way, that's all."

McLean County Democratic Party Chair Patrick Cortesi said he believed Trump had been "skirting" the law for a while and it was time that justice was served.

"This country was founded on the rule of law, no matter how powerful a person is or thinks they are. No one should be above the law," Cortesi said. "So we'll let the process play out. I have faith and confidence in our judicial system to make this right, and if the indictment is proven correct, then I hope he will receive the justice that is deserved."

It's important for people to remember that the indictment is just the first step in a case against Trump, he said.

"We need to let the process play out; everybody's innocent until proven guilty," he said, "so even though we may not necessarily like a person, they're entitled to the same rules as everybody else."

Drew Zimmerman and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Photos: Donald Trump through the years Talking politics With Melania 'How to Get Rich' On the course At Doral Sarazen Cup With Serena USS Iowa Debating Jeb Bush Las Vegas debate In Biloxi Campaign rally Winning South Carolina She's with him Signing autographs Another debate Waving to supporters In Arizona The Trump family At the convention The nominee The ticket Showing her support In Mexico Debating Clinton Casting his vote Election Night In the Oval Office Mitt Romney The inauguration Thumbs up Taking the oath Waving goodbye Armed Forces Ball James Comey Trump to lay out his agenda to Congress Thanking school children Medal of Honor recipients Justice Anthony Kennedy swears in Neil Gorsuch Easter Egg Roll Super Bowl champs Little Sisters of the Poor Russian foreign minister, ambassador At the Western Wall Meeting the pope Wreath-laying ceremony in Arlington National champs Congressional shooting At the White House Congressional Picnic Go, Cubs, go Departing the White House USS Gerald R. Ford joins the Navy The eclipse 9/11 anniversary Trump addresses world leaders at U.N. General Assembly Las Vegas shooting Trump visits Puerto Rico Trump meets Kissinger With Trudeau Medal of Honor Happy Halloween National Christmas Tree Lighting Celebrating GOP tax plan March for Life State of the Union School shootings State dinner With Olympians Greeting a guest Freed Americans Historic summit With Kim Kardashian West In Washington Trump North Carolina Debating Joe Biden Election Night 2020 Jan. 6 Leaving the White House
Ecobank Ghana and GhanaPost have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen financial inclusion and bring banking services to many more Ghanaians and drive the government agenda.



Under the deal, 100 GhanaPost outlets would be used as Ecobank Xpress Points to cater for more Ghanaians.



The programme will start with an initial 78 outlets before 22 more are added.



Ultimately, the plan is to turn all 360 GhanaPost outlets across the country into financial service and agency banking hubs to deepen financial inclusion.



Currently, about 68 per cent of Ghanaians have access to financial services, leaving a 32 per cent gap to be bridged.



Mr Dan Sackey, Ecobank Ghana Managing Director and Kwaku Tabi Amponsah, Deputy MD of GhanaPost signed the MoU and witnessed it by Dr Eddy Botchwey and Kwesi Owusu-Abrokwa.



Commenting on the deal, Mr Sackey lauded the partnership between the two institutions, adding there could not be any better partner for the rollout of the strategy than GhanaPost because of the many outlets spread across the country to drive financial inclusion.



The move, he said, would make it easier for Ghanaians everywhere in the country to have access to ECOBANKs digital financial services and GhanaPost provides the widespread presence for that to be possible.



He said customers, especially the underserved and unbanked population, would get to have faster, safer and more convenient banking when they access the GhanaPost ECOBANK Xpress Point.



Besides, Ecobank would get to increase its presence across the country more cost-effectively, and also get to drive financial inclusion.



"The call to action is to let all of us join hands together to deepen the financial inclusion agenda across Ghana and Africa. On our part, we shall continue to do this in pursuit of the Ecobank vision of Building a Pan-African Banking Institution that contributes to the Economic Development and Financial Integration of Africa," Mr Sackey added.



Deputy Managing Director of GhanaPost, Kwaku Tabi Amponsah said GhanaPost was working to increase revenue and such strategic collaborations in agency banking were critical to that effort.



He said such innovative partnerships would help GhanaPost to be endowed with new competencies from their various banking and financial service partners.



According to him, the partnership with ECOBANK also puts GhanaPost in a position to help drive Governments financial inclusion agenda even further, adding that it is his firm belief that the partnership will be for the long term.



The two institutions believe that their collaborative strategy will go a long way in helping to bridge that gap.



As part of the partnership, ECOBANK will advance GHS1 million to GhanaPost to convert their outlets into Ecobank Xpress Points, where they can offer some eight consumer banking services, including deposits, withdrawals, bills payment, remittance, and interbank transfers.



Currently, Ecobank Ghana has 67 branches, with 5000 plus Xpress Points across the country serving over 2.4 million customers.

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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South Africans took to the streets of Pretoria and Cape Town on Friday to protest against a Ugandan law passed last week that makes it a criminal offence to be openly LGBTQ.



Singing and waving flags, demonstrators called on Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, not to sign it.



While Uganda is among more than 30 African countries that already ban same-sex relations, the new law would be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), according to rights group Human Rights Watch.



"World leaders should put pressure on Museveni to not sign the bill because it's not only a Ugandan issue, it is an African continent issue," said Papa De DeLovie Kwagala, a Ugandan LGBTQ rights activist and photographer among about 100 people protesting outside the United Nations Information Centre in Pretoria.



"Queer people don't owe anyone anything, but we also deserve to live just like everyone else. You can't strip all our rights. This is a world emergency."

Source: Reuters









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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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.
" " There's some uncertainty about when and where this bizarre tradition began, but most people blame France. mediaphotos/Getty Images

Holidays are celebrated for all sorts of reasons. Some honor heroes, others commemorate religious events, but April 1 stands out as the only holiday that celebrates foolishness. April Fools' Day, or All Fools Day, is an odd celebration with a strange history. What other holiday asks us to play tricks and dupe our unsuspecting friends and acquaintances?

There's some uncertainty about when and where this bizarre tradition began, but the most accepted explanation traces April Fools' Day back to 16th-century France. Up until 1564, the accepted calendar was the Julian calendar, which observed the beginning of the New Year around April. According to "The Oxford Companion to the Year," King Charles IX then declared that France would begin using the Gregorian calendar, which shifted New Year's Day to Jan. 1.

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Not everyone accepted this shifting of dates at the same time. Some believed that the dates should not be shifted, and it was these people who became the butt of some April jokes and were mocked as fools. People sent gifts and invited them to bogus parties. Citizens in the rural parts of France were also victims of these jokes. In those days, news traveled slowly, and they might not have known about the shifting of dates for months or years. These people also endured being made fun of for celebrating the new year on the wrong day.

Today in France, people who are fooled on April 1 are called Poisson d'Avril, which literally means the "April Fish." One common joke is to hook a cardboard fish to the back of a person. What a fish has to do with April Fools' Day is not clear. Some believe that the fish is tied to Jesus Christ, who was often represented as a fish in early Christian times. Others say the fish is related to the zodiac sign of Pisces, which is represented by a fish, and falls near April. It's interesting to point out that Napoleon earned the Poisson d'Avril moniker when he married Marie-Louise of Austria on April 1, 1810.

It's probably no coincidence that April Fools' Day is celebrated at the same time that two other similar holidays are celebrated. In ancient Rome, the festival of Hilaria was thrown to celebrate the resurrection of the god Attis. Hilaria is probably the base word for hilarity and hilarious, which mean great merriment. Today, Hilaria is also known as Roman Laughing Day. In India, the Holi festival celebrates the arrival of spring. As a part of that festival, people play jokes and smear colors on each other.

There's no clear connection between the modern observance of April Fools' Day and these two ancient celebrations, which lends most historians to accept the French explanation for how April Fools' Day developed.

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Originally Published: Apr 1, 2019
" " This 14th-century French manuscript shows Gog and Magog consuming humans. Mandragore/Wikipedia

In February 2022, the 91-year-old televangelist Pat Robertson came out of retirement to share an urgent message about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to Roberston, the Russian President Vladimir Putin was "compelled by God" to start a war that was predicted thousands of years ago by the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel.

Specifically, Robertson identified Putin as "Gog of Magog," a leader of barbarian armies that Ezekial prophesied would attack Israel in the final days and ultimately be crushed by God.

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Gog and Magog are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, New Testament and Quran and may refer to two individuals, an individual and his land, or even two nations. Magog appears twice in the Old Testament where he is described as a son of Japheth or a grandson of the biblical character Noah (the one with the ark). Gog is described in 1 Chron. 5:4 as a descendant of the prophet Joel. Despite their lineages, they are usually associated with ushering in the end of the world and destruction.

Over the centuries, there have been countless historical contenders for Gog and his "northern" invaders from the nation of Magog. Ancient Christian writers were certain that Ezekiel was talking about uncivilized hordes of Goths, Huns, Mongols, Picts and Turks, while modern watchers for the "end times" have preferred enemies like Russia, Iraq, China or even the United States.

"The candidates for Gog range from Ronald Reagan to Mikhail Gorbachev to Donald Trump," says Stephen Cook, an expert in apocalyptic literature at the Virginia Theological Seminary. "Apocalyptic writing is difficult, because there's always the temptation to try to treat it as a kind of code or cipher for contemporary geopolitical events, and that's been done across time."

Belief in biblical prophecies goes all the way up to the White House. Ronald Reagan was convinced that the former Soviet Union was Gog of Magog and that nuclear war between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. would be the biblical battle of Armageddon prophesied in the Book of Revelation. George W. Bush, when preparing to invade Iraq in 2003, reportedly told the French president Jacques Chirac that "biblical prophecies were being fulfilled" and identified Gog as Saddam Hussein.

So where exactly did these apocalyptic prophecies come from and why have the literal words gripped the imagination of believers from all three major monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam? Let's dive in.
" " Shoppers are required to wear masks at Dan Baileys Fly Shop in Livingston, Montana, and at many other stores across the U.S. William Campbell/Getty Images

When COVID-19 began to spread through the United States, Mel Rolleri, a supervisor at The Pantry, a gourmet grocery store in Fairfield, Connecticut, quickly instated a mask-wearing policy for employees and customers. The 6,000-square-foot (557-square-meter) store was deemed an essential business that has remained open throughout the pandemic.

At first, Rolleri politely let customers know they would have to wear a mask when they shopped. She placed signs on the doors instructing people how to properly wear them. Eventually, the door sign was simplified: No Mask, No Entry.

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"There has not been a problem lately with people pushing back," Rolleri says. "But in the beginning, I had to hire a security guard." She says she has had shoppers scream, swear and spit at her, and even call her a fascist and Nazi.

The first incident was memorable. Rolleri says when she approached a shopper asking her to wear a mask, the woman told her couldn't for health reasons. So Rolleri says she offered to shop for her and take her groceries out. By then The Pantry had launched a significant curbside service in response to the pandemic.

Instead of agreeing, the woman moved toward Rolleri and screamed, then refused to leave the store when asked. Finally, Rolleri says she pulled out her phone to call the police, and the woman left the store. Rolleri followed her out just to be sure. "If I'd thought clearer, I would have filmed the whole thing."
Scenery of Xiong'an New Area in Spring

Xinhua) 10:52, April 01, 2023

An intelligent connected bus runs on a road in Rongdong area of Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 20, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Children do exercises at the sportsground of Yunxi primary school in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 23, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

People visit a park in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 30, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

People rehearse a dance at the Baiyangdian scenic spot in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 21, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 24, 2023 shows the Rongdong area in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 31, 2023 shows the sunrise in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 30, 2023 shows the Baiyangdian scenic spot in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 31, 2023 shows the business service center in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

A staff member uses holographic projection to display a project in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 20, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 21, 2023 shows the Rongxi area of Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 24, 2023 shows the streets in Rongdong area of Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 30, 2023 shows the Baiyangdian scenic spot in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 23, 2023 shows the Xiong'an Railway Station in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

A high-speed train departs for Beijing from the Xiong'an Railway Station in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 22, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 24, 2023 shows a science and technology park in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 24, 2023 shows the Rongdong area in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

This aerial photo taken on March 30, 2023 shows a forest in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Children practice at a dancing room of Yunxi primary school in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province, March 23, 2023. Located about 100 km southwest of Beijing, the Xiong'an New Area has been designed as a major recipient of functions previously located in Beijing but which are not essential to its role as China's capital. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

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JERUSALEM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Israelis resume demonstrations in the coastal city of Tel Aviv Saturday night, calling for a complete cancelation of the government's judicial overhaul plan, according to the local media.

The Times of Israel, citing the estimation of Channel 12, reported that some 160,000 people were demonstrating in the major Israeli city. Demonstrations were also held in several other cities.

Before the protests resurfaced, streets had largely remained calm for a few days in Israel since the ruling coalition and those opposing the reform started their negotiations on Thursday to find a compromise solution.

On March 26, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a pause in the contentious legislation aimed at curbing what they called a too-powerful Supreme Court. The decision came after weeks of widespread protests and a brief nationwide strike.

The ruling coalition, which had pushed forward judicial reform bills in the parliament since the beginning of this year, argued that the supreme court often "intervenes" in political issues that should be determined by the legislature.

Opponents of the reforms believe the reform will weaken the courts and give the coalition too much power.

"We are on guard. The danger has not yet passed," Yair Lapid, head of the opposition, tweeted from one of the demonstrations. Lapid's party Yesh Atid is participating in the negotiations. 
" " Andrii Holovine, a priest of the church of St. Andrew Pervozvannoho All Saints in Bucha, Ukraine, conducts a funeral service April 18, 2022, for three civilians ages 61, 70 and 75. All three people were killed during the Russian occupation outside Kyiv. Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images

After Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the world was shocked by horrifying revelations of the systematic mass slaughter of Ukrainian civilians. After the Russians pulled back from Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, scores of residents were found shot to death in the streets, including some who had their hands tied behind their backs and showed signs of torture, according to this report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Others were discovered buried in mass graves, including hundreds at a 45-foot-long (13-meter-long) trench the church of St. Andrew Pervozvannoho All Saints.

The carnage shocked the world. Even so, U.S. President Joe Biden still stirred controversy when, for the first time, he used a specific term to describe the Russians' crimes: genocide.

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"I called it genocide because it's become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian," Biden told reporters before he boarded Air Force One April 12, 2022. "The evidence is mounting."

Biden's choice of words was momentous, because he was accusing the Russians of committing one of the most monstrous offenses imaginable.

The term genocide was first coined during World War II by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. It described the mass extermination committed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, when a systematic effort succeeded in wiping out 6 million Jewish lives in Europe. Lemkin, who lost 49 members of his own family, including his parents, framed the term from the ancient Greek word genos (meaning race or tribe) and the Latin term cide (meaning killing).

Lemkin defined genocide in a way that rose above the typical brutality of war and collateral damage that it invariably inflicts upon non-combatants. In genocide, Lemkin wrote in 1945, "The intent of the offenders is to destroy or degrade an entire national, religious or racial group by attacking the individual members of that group."

Lemkin's idea that the systematic effort to kill an entire group of people was as much of a crime as any one murder eventually caught on. In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly enacted Resolution 260, which officially designated genocide as a crime under international law. In 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also listed genocide as one of the crimes under its jurisdiction.

" " French forensics investigators, who arrived to Ukraine for the investigation of war crimes amid Russia's invasion, stand next to a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, April 12, 2022. Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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A sea turtle swims over corals on Moore Reef in Gunggandji Sea Country off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia on Nov. 13, 2022. The International Seabed Authority on Friday, March 31, 2023 closed two weeks worth of negotiations without reaching any agreement or consensus on the issue amid growing calls to pause, ban or place a moratorium on the potential deep-sea mining of minerals used in green technology like electric car batteries. Credit: AP Photo/Sam McNeil, File

Pressure is mounting on an obscure U.N. body based in Jamaica to hit pause on plans to potentially open the world's deep seas to mining as companies push for permission to extract metals from seabeds in international waters.

The International Seabed Authority on Friday closed two weeks' worth of negotiations without approving rules and regulations to oversee deep sea mining amid growing calls to pause, ban or place a moratorium on the quest to extract minerals from the Earth's watery depths that are used in green technology like electric car batteries.

While the first exploration licenses for deep sea mining were issued in 2001, the authority has yet to receive an application for actual mining. Individual countries and private companies can start applying for provisional licenses on July 10 if the U.N. body does not approve a set of rules and regulations by July 9, which experts say is highly unlikely since they believe the process could take several years.

"We know what a crucial periodthe council is in at the moment," Deryck Lance Murray, the authority's representative for Trinidad and Tobago, said at the closing meeting on Friday.

Scientists worry that deep sea mining would disrupt critical ecosystems that regulate climate change, and a growing number of countries are siding with them, including France, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

"When in doubt, favor nature," Edward Anibal Perez, the authority's representative from the Dominican Republic, said at the closing meeting on Friday.

He noted that while he is aware of the importance of certain minerals given that mankind is on the brink of an energetic transition, he said deep sea mining is not the sole alternative to meet growing demand.

"It is clear there are doubts as to the effects that this activity might cause," he said.

Earlier, France's representative, Olivier Guyonvarch, said a lack of data on deep sea ecosystems and species prevents a fact-based analysis of potential damage that such mining might cause.

"Scientists are uncovering an extraordinary diversity of life in the largely unexplored and unstudied depths of the ocean," he said.

Guyonvarch noted that scientists already know the deep sea plays a large role in mitigating climate change by storing large amounts of carbon.

Scientists have warned that deep sea mining would kill species and damage ecosystems by releasing noise, light and dust storms, while companies that support such mining argue it is cheaper and has less of an impact than land mining.

More than 30 exploration licenses have been issued so far, with activity mostly focused in an area called the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which spans 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico. Exploration there has been occurring at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters).

The rush and demand for minerals come as a growing number of countries and companies turn to green energy in a bid to reduce pollution.

The International Energy Agency noted in a report this year that "industries that were in their infancy" in the early 2000s and 2010s such as solar photovoltaic technology and electric vehicles, "have mushroomed into vast manufacturing operations today."

Demand for minerals including lithium, cobalt and nickel is expected to increase from less than 10 million metric tons to some 150 million metric tons between 2020 and 2050, according to Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

More than a dozen countries have officially called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep sea mining, although it's unclear how many other countries support such mining. And while there are 36 members on the authority's council that have the power to award contracts to governments and private companies, only 12 votes in favor of deep sea mining are needed for it to pass, according to Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a Netherlands-based alliance of environmental groups.

In addition, the ongoing debate is how would the U.N. body approve or reject an application for a provisional license without guidance from a set of rules and regulations, Matthew Gianni, the coalition's co-founder, told The Associated Press.

He added that there is no agreement yet on what a provisional license would allow.

And even if a provisional license is granted, it's not yet clear whether that would be an actual green light for mining or just a provisional approval stating that the company or country cannot sign a contract with the U.N. body until a regulatory framework is created.

"All of that is up in the air," Gianni said.

Any decision regarding a provisional license also could be appealed to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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This framegrab from a video provided by Lane Hancock on March 31, 2023 shows a tornado brewing in Little Rock, Arkansas.

A "catastrophic" tornado tore through the southern US state of Arkansas and killed three people on Friday, while severe storms further north caused the roof of an Illinois theater to collapse, leaving one dead and 28 injured, authorities said.

The Arkansas tornado whipped across the state in the afternoon, causing what Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders called "widespread damage."

Sanders said two people were killed in the town of Wynne in the eastern part of Arkansas, while an official in Pulaski County, which surrounds the capital Little Rock, confirmed a fatality there.

"Significant damage has occurred in Central Arkansas," Sanders wrote on Twitter.

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said "close to 30 individuals have been transported to our local hospitals."

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of the nearby states of Tennessee, Illinois and Iowa.

In the evening, calamity struck Belvidere, Illinois, when severe weather caused the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to collapse while a heavy metal band played on stage inside.

"More than 20 ambulances were reportedly called to the scene," Fox 32, a Chicago TV affiliate, reported on its website.

Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle reported one dead and 28 injured in the disaster, with five hospitalized with severe injuries.

TV footage showed emergency personnel carrying out injured concert-goers on stretchers.

Video posted on social media showed rubble, some nearly waist-high, on the floor of the concert venue, and a gaping hole in the roof.

"My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight," Illinois Governor JB Pritzker tweeted in the late evening.

'Completely wiped out'

The Arkansas tornado struck during the afternoon, steamrolling over parts of Little Rock.

"This was actually an incredibly devastating tornado," one witness Lara Farrar told AFP.

She said she drove to West Little Rock and got out of her car at a blocked intersection.

"I was basically in total shock because the neighborhood had been basically completely wiped out and destroyed," Farrar said.

"Some of the buildings had the roof completely blown off."

She said the path of the tornado was about a quarter mile wide (half a kilometer), leaving intense destruction, but outside the direct path, damage was "very minor."

Scott, the Little Rock mayor, tweeted that "property damage is extensive and we are still responding."

Authorities in Pulaski County surrounding the state capital said it suffered "significant storm and tornado damage."

More than 78,000 people were without power across the state, according to Poweroutage.us.

The governor's office could not immediately confirm any casualties to AFP, but a local hospital told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper that it had already begun to receive patients, including "a few" in critical condition.

The spokesperson for the Baptist Health hospital said it was preparing to treat injuries, the newspaper reported.

The University of Arkansas hospital was also on standby, a spokesperson there told AFP.

"We haven't seen people come in quite yet but we know that emergency services have had trouble reaching people because of downed trees," the spokesperson said.

"We expect people to come throughout the night."

Tornadoes are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.

A week ago, a tornado swept through the southern state of Mississippi, killing 25 people and causing extensive property damage.

President Joe Biden visited the city of Rolling Fork on Friday, one of the worst-hit areas in Mississippi.

In December 2021, about 80 people were killed by tornadoes in Kentucky.

 2023 AFP
Threats made to 36 schools across New York State on Thursday, including in Buffalo and Lockport, likely originated from a foreign country, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.

Very often, and probably in this case, they are foreign actors, Hochul told reporters in Albany. These are computer-generated calls originating in foreign lands that are trying to cause disruption.

Amid high-stakes budget negotiations at the states capitol, Hochul convened a meeting with Education Commissioner Betty Rosa, Acting Superintendent of the State Police Steven Nigrelli and Andrew Pallotta, president of the state teachers union Friday to talk about the incidents.

None of the threats turned out to be credible. But school and law enforcement officials take any threats seriously, Hochul said. Lockdown protocols were initiated as law enforcement swept through the schools.

It is phenomenally disruptive, Hochul said. It causes trauma among teachers and children and parents. ... It causes chaos, especially this week after the nation had to witness another mass shooting in a childrens school in Nashville.

Hoax about active shooter at Nichols could be part of national 'swatting' wave "Swatting" is when a prank call is made with the goal of drawing a large police presence.

The threats are referred to as swatting and are designed to fool a school into believing theres an active shooter on site or about to appear, Hochul said. The idea of swatting is they are trying to draw law enforcement into a situation, in particular SWAT teams, to respond.

State police went to 226 schools Thursday following the threats, Hochul said.

The threats are under investigation, but she said theyre difficult to prosecute, especially when the calls are coming from overseas.

We have plenty of laws to enforce against these individuals except theyre very hard to find, Hochul said.

Local and state law enforcement are working with the FBI to try to determine the origins of the calls.

Hochul said the phenomenon has been happening for years but Thursdays rash of threats, most of which were in the Hudson Valley region of the state, seemed unusually concentrated.

Last month, Nichols School in Buffalo was among five schools across the state that were targeted by hoax threats.

While Hochul addressed the hoax threats against New York schools this week, she also addressed ways for schools and law enforcement to mitigate the potential for mass violence.

Hochul said she wants to work with educators to spread the word about tools that can be used to mitigate threats, such as expanded red flag laws that allow law enforcement to remove guns from people who are an extreme risk to themselves or others.

The expansion of New Yorks red flag flaws were made following the May 14 massacre at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo.

The shooter, Payton Gendron, was on law enforcement radar for more than a year before the mass killing. A teacher had reported he had used the phrase murder-suicide and state police followed up and encouraged him to get a mental health evaluation at a local hospital, according to the district attorney of Broome County where Gendron lived. A doctor deemed him not dangerous and sent him home.

On May 14, after months of planning and even visiting the store, authorities say he drove to the front of the store and, armed with a military-style rifle he bought legally in New York, he killed 10 people and wounded three more before he surrendered to police.

Id rather be in the business of preventing tragedies than solving crimes and mass shootings afterwards, Hochul said. I want to reassure parents that the state of New York takes this very seriously.
ALBANY  State lawmakers were all but certain to miss a midnight Friday deadline to pass an on-time budget, the negotiations stalled by two contentious items at the top of Gov. Kathy Hochuls agenda: bail reform and housing growth.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Thursday that, Nothing other than bail and the housing compact has gotten any real discussions, while Senate Majority Leader Andrea-Stewart Cousins said that talks were in the middle of the middle.

Bail and a billionaire at issue in Albany budget talks At a news conference last Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul stated that, "Protecting New Yorkers is my No. 1 priority. Full stop."

On Friday, Hochul told reporters that while she and legislative leaders were focused on the big-ticket items, their staffs were working around the clock on other matters, including climate initiatives, education, health care and capital projects.

Theres progress being made in many areas, but in terms of what the leaders are talking about, we want to resolve these matters, and then the other areas will fall, Hochul said.

The Senate formally adjourned until noon on Monday. Assembly members remained on call, but Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay did not believe any voting was planned for that chamber this weekend.

What's in, what's out as emboldened New York State Legislature counters Hochul's budget proposal Democrats who control the State Senate and Assembly released their budget plans this week, rejecting some of Gov. Kathy Hochul's top priorities. Here are where some of the major issues stand as negotiations continue.

Hochul, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins are all Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, a North Tonawanda Republican, told reporters on Friday that he believed Senate Democrats' rejection of Hochul's chief judge nominee earlier this year had damaged the Democrats' relationships during budget negotiations.

"They're trying to send a message that the State Assembly and Senate, that they sort of run the show here," Ortt said. "I have an issue with that because most of that leadership is based solely out of New York City. And the politics that they focus on are anathema to me."

He called the left-wing of the Democratic Party in New York "extreme" and urged Hochul, who hails from Buffalo and is considered a moderate Democrat, to "stand in there and make sure that this budget attempts to be a budget that works for all New Yorkers."

One budget bill  approving payment of the states outstanding debt service  did pass the Assembly earlier this week and the Senate on Friday.

The parties have the option of passing a temporary budget extender bill ensuring state employees will be paid as negotiations run late. The parties face a deadline at the end of the day Monday to either pass a budget or an extender to ensure such payments are issued.

Proposal seeks to end Albany's annual fight over imperiled 'safety net' hospitals In the final days of state budget negotiations, more than a dozen Democrats in the State Senate have begun pushing a proposal that would upend how hospitals serving large numbers of low-income patients are funded.

Hochul wants to amend a bail reform law passed in 2019, which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and some nonviolent felony charges. Hochul  who also made amending the law a top priority in 2022 budget negotiations  this year is trying to change a provision she believes creates confusion for judges deciding whether to set bail for criminal defendants.

The governor is trying to change a provision of the 2019 law requiring judges to use the "least restrictive" means to ensure a defendant returns to court. She said that would avoid confusion with other parts of law giving judges greater discretion over whether to require bail in violent felony or serious misdemeanor cases.

"I want to remove any question about whether a judge has discretion to set bail," Hochul said during a recent news conference. "I want to make it absolutely clear that judges have both the authority and the accountability for these important decisions."

Democrats that run the Assembly and Senate have resisted making further changes to the law, and intentionally omitted Hochuls proposal in their one-house budget plans released in mid-March. But Politico reported this week that Heastie was softening on the issue: The Assembly had brought language to the budget negotiating table altering the state bail laws by removing, for some offenses, the least restrictive means standard.

Since that report, some Assembly Democrats have stated the intention of standing their ground and resisting changes to the law.

Ortt slammed the Democratic-controlled Legislature for holding up the budget over Hochul's proposed change to the the bail law.

"I can't think of anything more modest that would have any actual impact," Ortt said. "And even that is too much for Assembly and Senate Democrats, even though public safety remains at the top of New Yorkers' concerns."

Hochuls other big-ticket item is a plan to build 800,000 units of housing in New York over a decade. At issue is an aspect that would allow developers to bypass local zoning restrictions if housing growth did not occur quickly enough in a given locality. Under the plan, every upstate municipality would have to grow its existing housing stock by 1% every three years. In Erie County, that works out to roughly 4,400 new homes by 2026.

The Assembly and Senate scrapped that idea in their one-house budget proposals. Instead, legislative Democrats want to provide $500 million in incentives for local governments to hit growth goals. But supporters of Hochuls plan say that, especially for affluent suburbs prone to resisting new development, the incentive will not work.

On Friday, the watchdog groups Reinvent Albany and Citizens Budget Commission released a report finding that there was $14.8 billion in proposed lump sum pots of money in Hochuls budget proposal  including $8 billion in Covid-19 emergency pots of money  that would not be subject to review by Comptroller Tom DiNapolis office.

The report found that the Legislatures one-house budget bills included a Senate proposal creating two, $1 billion lump sum funds for distressed hospitals, which members of the Senate would have a role in later distributing.

Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany, said that $2 billion for hospitals in the Senate budget was new this year. She called the language outlining the requirements for how the funds would be spent broad and vague.

The watchdog groups define lump sums as pots of money allowing spending for a broad range of projects or purposes  determined and allocated after the Legislature and Hochul have already approved the funds in the budget.

DiNapoli said on Friday that the final budget should meet "high standards of transparency" and urged the Legislature "to reject the proposed changes, which eliminate competitive bidding requirements and oversight by my office of nearly $13 billion in spending.
Private label, fleece-lined hoodies were flying out of Boscovs, and CEO Jim Boscov wanted to know why.

It turned out that the October 2020 surge in demand had little to do with the personal service and unpretentious vibe that have helped make Boscovs the largest family-owned department store company in America.

It came from young people posting TikTok videos of themselves dancing and modeling inexpensive plaid outerwear from Boscovs.

Our hoodies were going viral, said Boscov, 73, the CEO and public face of the privately held company, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year.

In one week we had an eightfold increase in sales of the hoodies. We sold $200,000 worth at $24.99 each, he said. We had been doing digital marketing for years, but it opened our eyes to the power of influencers.

One of those influencers vowed in her video to never be dissing Boscovs again  suggesting not only the opportunities, but also the challenges facing the more than century-old company in todays economy.

Image vs. reality

While Boscovs has continued to open stores while other traditional retailers are closing, its image remains a throwback to the days when department stores were dominant, and malls were all the rage.

The decor in some of its older stores is heavy on mirrors, bright lights, and neon signage evocative of a disco or a casino. Some people likely perceive Boscovs shoppers as the mothers or grandmothers of those fleece-lined hoodie enthusiasts.

The trick is to evolve but not give up the core of what works and makes us successful, said Boscov, adding that new stores feature sleeker designs. The company also renovates two stores each year.

We have to keep learning and changing, he said. But we wont throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Boscovs traces its start to Solomon Boscov peddling housewares from farm to farm near Reading in Berks County in 1914. He was 23 and had recently emigrated from Russia with his brothers passport, hardly any money, and even less English.

Nevertheless, my grandfather earned a reputation as honest and kind, and for providing good merchandise at a great price, Boscov said during an interview at company headquarters just outside Reading. These continue to be our core values.

From its first store  Economy Shoe & Dry Goods  in Reading in 1918, Boscovs has grown to 49 stores in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Ohio. Among its locations is one in Egg Harbor Township that formerly anchored the Shore Mall and another in Vineland.

The companys bustling headquarters occupies a mostly windowless warren of offices in the basement of its Reading Mall store.

Boscovs charismatic uncle, Albert, who led and grew the company for nearly 50 years and ultimately saved it, established the tradition of an in-store headquarters.

Success doesnt happen because of what goes on in the office, said Boscov, who generally visits a different store weekly. Its what happens on the sales floor that matters.

Boscovs is a full-service department store, he said. And we have something you dont find everywhere: We have salespeople on the sales floor.

Gloucester County man sentenced for 2021 shooting at Cumberland Mall A Gloucester County man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for a 2021 shooting a

Boscovs is often an anchor in shopping malls  another retail institution that once seemed invincible. The busy Voorhees, Camden County, Boscovs is pretty much all that remains of the Echelon Mall, which was built in 1970. The 50th Boscovs is scheduled to open this fall in a Bridgeport, West Virginia, mall.

But the company also has downtown stores in Binghamton, New York; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and Providence, Rhode Island.

Department stores arent what they were when Wanamakers, Gimbels and Strawbridges ruled Philadelphia regional retail.

But Boscovs comes closer than most. It still has candy and toy departments and sells draperies, beds, recliners and small appliances. It carries clothing for petite as well as big and tall customers, and many of its stores have hair salons and optical shops, along with hearing aid and travel services.

Survival of the savviest

Boscovs has figured out how to thrive in the anti-brick-and-mortar retailing world, said Michael Lisicky, a Cherry Hill native, historian and author of books about department stores, including Bambergers.

Boscovs isnt run by a private equity firm. Theyre a family of merchants, who know who they are and know their customers, he said. Boscovs isnt reimagining the department store because maybe it doesnt need to be reimagined. Not everything is broken.

Lisicky pointed to the chains signature breadth and depth of inventory as a selling point. Customers know they will probably find whatever theyre looking for at Boscovs, he said.

Boscovs fan Cathy Nevins, an educator and social worker who lives in Cherry Hill, agrees. When I take my grandchildren there, they usually see something they like.

Nevins also likes that Boscovs cultivates relationships with local nonprofits. I like their ethics of people helping people, she said.

Until the pandemic, a half-dozen Boscovs stores still had restaurants called The Greenery, where the Bos-cobb salad was once a staple. Tailors are no longer on site, either  although tailoring services are still offered.

We hate to give up things that make us distinctive, said Boscov, who paused at one point during the interview to take a call from his mother, Shirley, whos 97 and lives in a Reading retirement community.

Shes very active and tries to go swimming every day, he said.

Hamilton Mall owes money for security services, lawsuit alleges HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  A Los Angeles-based security company is suing the Hamilton Mall and its 

Boscovs existential crisis

A widower and the father of a grown daughter, Jim Boscov grew up working in the stores and learning the family business firsthand from his grandfather and uncle. He had part-time jobs in a number of departments as a teenager and joined the company full time at age 26.

But he left in 1990, moved to Boston, and launched a series of retail or retail-related businesses, including a successful outlet store chain. He came back to Boscovs in 2008 as an assistant to Albert, who had retired only two years earlier but returned to lead an effort to save the company.

As mergers and closures roiled the department store industry in 2006, Boscovs  under the leadership of then-CEO Kenneth Lakin  bought 10 store locations that had become available in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The expansion brought the total number of Boscovs to 49 and introduced the brand to new markets.

It might have worked, but the economy hit the skids, the credit market crashed, and Boscovs did not have the liquidity at the time that it needed to survive, Jim Boscov said.

Because of the goodwill Boscovs had earned, Albert was able to cobble together the necessary funds to buy the company back, with the entire family participating, he said.

The 10 recently acquired store locations were closed. In the following decade, Albert started the company on a new path of expansion. He was 87 when he died of pancreatic cancer in 2017.

Albert had named Jim Boscov CEO in 2015. Under his leadership, Boscovs took over the former Nordstrom space in Providence, opened two Connecticut stores, one near Youngstown, Ohio, and soon, in Bridgeport.

Looking to the future

Boscovs came knocking on our door, said Andy Lang, mayor of the city of 9,000 in north-central West Virginia.

People are very excited, he said. I really like what Mr. Boscov says about tailoring the store to fit the community. Its going to be great.

Boscovs is serving a market that remains robust, said Sheri Lambert, an associate professor of marketing at Temple University who studies consumer behavior.

Bricks-and-mortar isnt dead, she said. And malls arent dead either.

While the pandemic elevated e-commerce, it also underscored how much people missed communal experiences, such as shopping, Lambert said.

Stores like Boscovs are where people can go to be among other people and have a sense of community, she said. People like to touch and feel merchandise, and they like to be among other [shoppers], which is hard to do online.

Boscov said he intends to keep working but noted the store has recruited new management talent from within and outside the family.

The company is always looking for new opportunities. He said the success of the standalone Boscovs Outlet, near the Reading Mall store, is an additional format that could work in other locations. He didnt name any in particular but wouldnt rule out Philadelphia  or Center City  either.

The worst thing we could do is pretend to be something were not, he said. Were going to continue to be Boscovs.
Atlantic Cape Community College is partnering with the Atlantic and Cape May County Probation Division of the New Jersey Courts and APEX Solutions Group to offer a 10-week, train-to-hire Certified Associate Project Management Cohort, the college announced last week.

Twenty-five students were selected to be part of the program.

The training supports New Jersey residents in acquiring meaningful careers and is offered through the state Judiciarys JOBS Program, sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Labor. The JOBS program was created to connect private companies and nonprofits with successful drug court and probation clients who have demonstrated the desire to rebuild their lives.

To qualify, participants must be under active probation supervision in drug court, the Intensive Supervision Program or general community supervision, while cooperating with their probation. The selected students will receive their training in critical life skills and career development at no cost, the college said in a news release. Topics include communications, teamwork, computer literacy and project management.

Atlantic Cape was designated an Anchor Institution for supporting our communities, and we are proud that APEX provides second-chance opportunities to the residents of Atlantic and Cape May counties, Atlantic Cape President Barbara Gaba said. We are so pleased to have this 10-week course right here on our Atlantic City campus.

The program will run through May 26. For more information, visit njcourts.gov.
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YAOUNDE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- At least five children and a driver were killed, and 15 others injured early Friday after a bus transporting passengers including students collided with a truck in Cameroon's Southwest region, according to local authorities.

The prefect of Fako division, Chaibou, said that the accident occurred at Milowe locality of the region.

"Three students, two children and the driver were killed in the accident. Doctors are working to save those who were injured," Chaibou told reporters in the town of Limbe where some of the injured and corpses were transported.

"My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and speedy recovery wishes to the injured. I also call on road users to be more prudent in order to avoid such fatal occurrences," the country's prime minister said in a tweet.

According to the police, fatal accidents are common in Cameroon due to reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drunk driving, and poor state of road.

The Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year in the central African nation. Enditem.
ATLANTIC CITY  A joint study by two federal government scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields and heat transfer that could alter the marine environment.

It comes as the offshore wind industry is poised to grow rapidly on the U.S. East Coast, where it is facing growing opposition from those who blame it for killing whales  something numerous scientific agencies say is not true.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance issued their report Wednesday after a 2-year-long study of the impacts existing offshore wind projects have on fish and marine mammals.

The goal was to solidify existing knowledge of the impacts and call for further research in many areas.

NOAA and BOEM are among agencies that say there is no link between offshore wind preparation and whale deaths. Their co-authorship of a report detailing potential negative impacts on fish and marine mammals may intensify an already highly politicized controversy.

Asked Friday about the likelihood of this happening, NOAA spokesperson Lauren Gaches reiterated the agencys position that offshore wind is not causing the whale deaths, which remain under investigation.

We will also continue to explore how sound, vessel, and other human activities in the marine environment impact whales and other marine mammals, she said.

The fishing industry is concerned that fish near construction sites may be killed or chased away for prolonged periods even after the turbines are built, according to the report.

Physical changes associated with (offshore wind) developments will affect the marine environment  and, subsequently, the species that live there  to varying degrees, the report read. These include construction and operation noise and vibration, electromagnetic fields, and thermal radiation from cables, as well as secondary gear entanglement.

In an interview, Fiona Hogan, research director for the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, said: We wanted to document what was known and not known. As far as we know, this is the first cooperatively developed report that cites all aspects of the potential interactions between fisheries and offshore wind.

The alliance is a fishing industry group trying to improve the compatibility of offshore wind with fishing operations.

The American Clean Power Association, an offshore wind industry group, said Friday it was still studying the 388-page report.

Dem senators from 4 states ask NOAA to address whale deaths Democratic U.S. Senators from four states want federal environmental officials to address a spate of whale deaths on both coasts. The request that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration address the issue was made by senators from New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island. It marked the first large-scale Democratic call for action on an issue that has rapidly become politicized, with mostly Republican lawmakers calling for a halt to offshore wind work while the deaths are investigated. Thirty whales have died on the East Coast since December, but NOAA says there is no evidence linking them with offshore wind preparation.

Andy Lipsky, who oversees the wind energy team at NOAAs Northeast Fisheries Science Center, is a co-author of the report. He said it helps the agencies define the type of monitoring required for long-term study of offshore winds effects and points out needed research on how offshore wind energy changes marine habitats and fisheries.

Several concerns raised in the report mirror many of those raised by opponents of offshore wind, including those who blame preparation for offshore wind farms for killing whales along the East Coast. Since December, 30 whales have washed ashore there.

The report said offshore wind turbines can attract fish and marine life, but also repel them. The large underwater platforms are rapidly colonized by smaller marine life which in turn attracts larger predators to the area. Water cloudiness from turbine operations, noise, vibrations and electromagnetic fields could also make them leave the area.

Hogan said some disagreement remains on whether wind platforms will be a net attraction or deterrent to fish.

Regarding noise, the report said sounds emitted from pile-driving during construction can be severe, resulting in mortality or injury of hearing tissues. Noise levels from ongoing operation of the turbines once constructed are not associated with direct physical injury, (but) long-term exposures may have negative effects on communication, foraging, and predator detection.

In almost every instance, the report called for additional research. The study only dealt with fixed-location wind turbines; a second study will examine wind projects that float on the waters surface.

The $150,000 survey was funded by NOAA.

GALLERY: John Gowdy's whale sculpture in Ventnor
On the Delaware River, between Trenton and Pennsylvanias southern border, 11 industrial plants have released toxic chemicals into the water in legally permitted amounts over the last five years, according to reports they must file to federal officials.

Of the 62 manufacturers, petroleum facilities and chemical makers within a mile of the rivers edges, two have reported releasing millions of pounds of toxic discharges  again, within legal limits, according to an analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency records.

The Inquirer analyzed the EPAs Toxic Release Inventory records after last months accidental spill of more than 8,100 gallons of hazardous chemicals from a Bucks County plant to examine activity on the water that potentially imperils Philadelphia drinking water.

The records do not provide a full picture, as the reports rely on voluntary compliance when a company releases toxins; also, dozens of facilities are too small to have to file these reports with the EPA about discharges into the river, which is a major thruway for ships carrying petroleum products and other chemicals that can spill into the Delaware.

We are vulnerable, says Charles Haas, a Drexel University professor and water-quality expert. We have a drinking water source on a highly navigable river.

Six of 11 industrial sites that reported toxic discharges within the last five years have released carcinogens or slow-degrading bioaccumulative toxic chemicals, according to the EPAs database.

However, only two facilities  the PBF Energy refinery in Paulsboro, Gloucester County, and the Monroe Energy refinery in Trainer, Delaware County  accounted for nearly all of the chemicals discharged. Together, they account for 4.4 million pounds of toxic chemicals emptied into the river since 2017.

Those releases were all within legal thresholds. Their facilities sit downstream of Philadelphias drinking water intakes.

The tropical ingredient fighting coastline erosion in New Jersey Ecologist Shane Godshall tromps in waders through two feet of mud in Thompsons Beach marsh o

A PBF Energy spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Michael Gattuso, a spokesperson for Monroe Energy LLC, said, EPA and DEP set limits to protect human health and the environment and its our responsibility to operate in accordance to those limits.

Gattuso noted the companys discharges are permitted in accordance with local, state and federal environmental requirements, and added, Striving for environmental excellence is one of our core values and we work diligently every day to minimize our environmental footprint and will continue to do so.

River is a highway

For days, Philadelphia officials advised residents to consider buying bottled water after an overhead pipe burst at the Trinseo Altuglas chemical plant in Bristol, sending more than 8,100 gallons of an acrylic latex polymer solution into a containment area that overflowed into the Delaware River.

The discharge caused panic in Philadelphia when residents feared it would reach the citys Baxter water treatment plant in Torresdale. However, no traces of the chemical compounds were ever found, according to city tests. The city notified residents Tuesday that the threat had passed.

Regardless, ethyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, and Styrene all made their way during the spill down the river the Philadelphia Water Department uses to supply drinking water for much of the city as well as Lower Bucks County. Butyl acrylate was one of the chemicals released in the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment in February that caused a fire and evacuation of 1,500 residents.

The Bristol plant, through various owners over the years, has had a history of problems  including at least four recent contaminations.

Data show that other facilities along the river have intentionally released anywhere from just a few pounds to more than 1,000 pounds during manufacturing and other operations. Monroe Energys Trainer Refinery, just off the river in Delaware County, reported releasing 1,873 pounds of carcinogenic or persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals over the last five years without violating federal limits.

Philadelphia: Still no sign of chemicals from upriver spill PHILADELPHIA  City water officials say they continue to see no sign of contamination follow

Factories arent the only threat to the environment. In November 2004, the 750-foot tanker Athos I, was carrying 13 million gallons of crude oil when it struck a submerged anchor while approaching a refinery. The ships hull breached and spilled 263,000 gallons of its payload into the river.

All week, Maya van Rossum, CEO of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, has been working knee deep in water near Trinseos plant to assess wildlife in the area. She sees industry that lines the river as a serious threat.

They present an ongoing significant danger because of the number of facilities that very legally discharge pollution into the river and its tributaries, van Rossum said.

Toxic releases

Under the TRI program, certain facilities are required to self-report toxic chemicals they release that could pose a threat to human health and the environment. A release means a chemical is emitted to the air or water, or disposed of on land. The Inquirer focused its analysis to water releases.

Chemicals covered by TRI are those that cause cancer or other chronic and significant health effects, as well as pose a threat to the environment. There are 770 individual chemicals and 33 chemical categories covered under TRI. Any facility that makes, processes, or uses the chemicals in certain amounts above certain levels must submit an annual report for each chemical.

Generally, larger facilities involved in manufacturing, metal mining, electric power generation, chemical manufacturing, and hazardous waste treatment must report to TRI, so not all industry is covered by the program.

As testament to its industrial legacy, the entire Philadelphia metro area, which includes Camden and Wilmington, has 266 facilities in the TRI program. Collectively, they released 1.6 million pounds of toxic discharges into the air and 6.8 million pounds into water over the last five years of reports.

How coconuts protect the Jersey Shore, other eroding coasts NEPTUNE  Coastal communities around the world are adding a tropical twist to shoreline prot

The EPA cautions that large releases do not necessarily mean cause for concern. Neither do small releases mean there is no risk. Many facilities are also subject to permits and standards from state agencies such as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The limits imposed by the federal Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as state limits, are intended to prevent potential health and environmental risks.

The Delaware River is actually far cleaner than it was in the 1960s and 1970s, before the Clean Water Act made it illegal to discharge pollutants into waterways without a permit. Before that, no agency was keeping track and the rivers dissolved oxygen  a key measure of water health  had dropped to near zero, creating an infamous dead zone for aquatic life. Regulation has helped restore its oxygen to healthier levels.

Haas, the Drexel water-quality expert, said the region depends on the states systems for discharge permits, which he said work well. Each time a facility opens, it must obtain approval of any discharges. The process is open to the public for comment.

In addition, the EPA sets limits for 90 contaminants in drinking water. The agency keeps a list of chemicals or microbes not currently subject to standards but known to appear in public water systems. The EPA puts those through a public process to determine if standards should be set for any.
DR ROHAN JAHAGIRDAR (Psychiatrist & Sexpert)

1) I am a 30 year old woman. I am very beautiful, confident, educated, humble and a good human being. However, I am still unable to find the man of my dreams. Please tell me what more should I do for him to manifest?

Dear Maam, you will need to go out and meet people. And you will have to be the real you since the description of yourself sounds like a matrimonial biodata. It is reflective of you being more anxious than being hopeful of finding a man of your dreams. Be real, dont be afraid and you will get there!

2) I have been married for a year. I get easily turned on when my husband touches and kisses me intensely. However, I get easily turned off with even the slightest comment he makes and then sex is the last thing on my mind. Please help me balance out my emotions.

Maam, you are literally very sensitive and too emotional. If thats your nature, you will have to work on it with the help of a counselor. However, if it is happening because of anxiety, you need to see a doctor to fix such variations in your mood and the on - off switch.

3) I am a 20 year old man. I read that quickies should last a maximum of 7 minutes. However, last time I finished in 5 minutes. Does it mean that I am super-fast?

Dear Sir, Ill answer that quickly! You fall into the average zone of ejaculation time. If you and your partner feel you are super-fast then do take treatment for premature ejaculation.

4) I am a 40 year old woman. I have heard having sex makes you feel younger. Is that true?

Dear Maam, having sex makes you feel more desired and fulfilled. Hence, you may feel a sense of satisfaction and youthfulness. However, there is no direct correlation of having sex and feeling younger or else you will find all older people doing it and getting younger by day!

SEND YOUR QUERIES RELATED TO SEXUAL PROBLEMS TO sexpert@punemirror.com
Members of Bajrang Dal take out a religious procession on the occasion of Ram Navami in Mumbai on Thursday

Violence erupts in Mumbai, 25 detained; clashes in Jalgaon, Sambhajinagar dist, W Bengal and Karnataka too

Two groups clashed in the minority-dominated Malvani area of Malad west suburb during a Ram Navami procession, police said. The incident happened close on the heels of similar clashes in Jalgaon and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

The row broke out late Thursday night when some locals objected to loud DJ music playing during the procession that had several hundred participants.

Apparently enraged, some of the participants allegedly indulged in pelting stones, sparking panic among the people there, said a local. Not taking chances, the Malvani police rushed security and additional personnel were summoned to disperse the crowds, and later around two dozen suspected miscreants were nabbed.

The situation there is stated to be normal and under control with police maintaining a tight vigil in view of the ongoing Ramzan month.

The local Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh called upon the police to scan the CCTV footage of the area and take action against those responsible for the clashes last night.

Local leaders of various parties have visited the Malvani region today and appealed to the people to maintain calm.

Tension prevails in Howrah, PIL in HC

As tension over clashes in West Bengals Howrah district over a Ram Navami procession continued on Friday, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed at the Calcutta High Court seeking a CBI probe into the matter. A huge contingent of police force, accompanied by the RAF, reached the spot.

Two stabbed in clash in Karnataka

Two people were stabbed after two groups clashed over taking out a Ram Navmi procession in Channarayapatna town in Karnatakas Hassan district. IANS

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Aheri village of district Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar tense, security tightened

In a suspected fallout of the major clashes, arson and stone-pelting that ravaged Kiradpura area of Maharashtras Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, two groups indulged in violent stone-throwing at each other in the Aheri village of the district on Friday. IANS
Serving RI in Patiala jail; may get 45 days remission

Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is undergoing a years rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a jail in his hometown Patiala in a 1988 road rage case, is likely to be released prematurely on Saturday, with a remission of 45 days in his prison term.

This is to inform everyone that Sardar Navjot Singh Sidhu will be released from Patiala Jail tomorrow. (As informed by the concerned authorities), a tweet from Sidhus handle said on Friday.

However, officials of the central jail have not confirmed his release prematurely.

Sidhu on May 20, 2022, surrendered before a court in Patiala in a 1988 road rage case that had led to the death of a 65-year-old man.

Jail officials told IANS that Sidhu would be prematurely released for his good conduct. His scheduled release from jail was May 16.

Earlier, Sidhus early release along with other prisoners was under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in January, but the AAP government in the state denied his remission of sentence. IANS
Charlotte and Andover in Clinton County were shut down to outside traffic Friday after a suspected tornado struck the city about 6 p.m., Clinton County spokesman Eric Van Lancker said Friday night.

Charlotte residents who lived north of Deep Creek were evacuated from their homes after a 10,000-gallon propane tank began leaking because of storm damage, Van Lancker said. Davenports Hazardous Materials Team was sent to aid in containing the leak.

Those people who could not find another place to go went to Immanuel Lutheran Church on 1st Street.

VanLancker said that residents were allowed to return to their homes with the power on.

At least one person was injured and taken to a hospital in DeWitt, Van Lancker added. There was a report of a building that possibly collapsed in DeWitt, and there were reports of a couple of buildings down in Andover, he added.

Clinton County Sheriff Bill Greenwalt said in a news release that first responders were responding to downed trees and powerlines and asked people to avoid both towns.

At 8:40 p.m. Friday, Van Lancker said that the only town without power was Welton.

Bellevue Police Chief Dennis Schroeder said that Bellevue Emergency services responded to Moon River Cabins, and Riverview RV Park for a medical emergency due to severe weather that had gone through Bellevue.

Responding agencies noted many trees, cabins and campers had been uprooted, flipped over and destroyed.

Multiple injuries were reported from debris, small cabins being flipped over and thrown into the river.

Three people were taken to Dubuque area hospitals, Schroeder said.

Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said the only damage in Scott County was some downed power poles in far northwest Scott County near New Liberty.

Theyre literally 1 mile into Scott County, and thats all weve had any reports on, Lane said. Thats right on the edge of the system that went to the northeast into Clinton and Jackson counties. We were lucky.

Another system that passed to the south of Scott County went into Illinois.

MidAmerican Energy reported at 7:45 p.m. that 5,100 customers, the vast majority of them in the Illinois Quad-Cities, lost power after three large feeder lines were damaged by the storm.

By 9:05 p.m. MidAmerican Energy was reporting that 2,269 customers in the Illinois Quad-Cities were still without power, while 227 people in the Iowa Quad-Cities were without power.

Rock Island County Sheriff Darren Hart closed the County Office Building and the Courthouse complex at 3 p.m. Friday because of the impeding weather.

There were no reports Friday of any serious damage in the Illinois Quad-Cities. East Moline Police Chief Jeffrey Ramsey said that other than downed branches there were no reports of damage or injuries.

In the Iowa Quad-Cities, many businesses closed early because of the threat of severe weather. Bettendorf closed their facilities at 1 p.m. Friday, while Davenport closed non-essential services at 2:30 p.m. Bettendorf Transit, in coordination with CitiBus and Riverbend Transit, suspended services at 3 p.m.
Two men were arrested and another man has a warrant for his arrest in connection with the burglary of a Bettendorf home in September that allegedly was organized by the victims brother to steal a number of family heirlooms.

The burglary occurred when the victim was traveling with her children in Germany.

The victim's brother, who police believe was the lead planner in the case, is accused of using his nephew and stepbrother to commit the burglary.

The conspirators even went so far as to track the movements of the victims husband placing a TRACKi Brand GPS tracking device on his vehicle.

The step-nephew, Clinton Shayne Miles, 32, of North Henderson, Illinois, is charged with one count of first-degree theft, a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

Miles also is charged with two counts of third-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony. Each charge is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

Kenneth Hayden, 59, of St. Paul Minnesota, is charged with one count each of first-degree theft, third-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony.

Hayden also is charged with two counts of stalking by using a GPS tracking device. The stalking charge is a serious misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to one year.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Bettendorf Police Officer Matt Poirier, on Oct. 10, 2022, Sarah Hayden, a former reporter for the Moline Dispatch/Argus and Quad-City Times, reported that her home on Rambling Road had been burglarized. She now works for the city of Rock Island.

Most the items taken were part of the victims fathers estate that had been settled in 2019, which resulted in a tumultuous relationship between Hayden and her adult siblings. Also taken were numerous items that belonged to the Sarah Hayden's mother and some personal items.

Electronics and some cash were left alone, however, several coin collections were taken. This led Sarah Hayden to suspect her siblings.

Hayden then reported she had found a TRACKi Brand GPS tracking device in her yard under a vehicle driven by her husband.

The tracker was registered to the cell phone number and email of Kenneth Hayden.

According to Bettendorfs License Plate Reader, Kenneth Haydens 2021 Subaru Ascent with Minnesota plates was located driving toward and away from the area of Sarah Haydens house on the morning of Sept. 23, 2022. Kenneth Haydens cell phone pinged in the area of Sarah Haydens home between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Cell phone records on that date show that Kenneth Hayden texted and called his nephew, Clinton Miles, several times about the progress of the burglary and when to pull up the vehicle, indicating that Miles was in the area at the time of the burglary.

Cell phone records showed that Clinton Miles sent messages to Kenneth Hayden, providing updates about the activity in the neighborhood, indicating that Miles was outside Sarah Haydens home.

At the same time, Clinton Miles was sending text messages to his father, Scott Miles  who is the Haydens' stepbrother  providing updates such as Ken says things are good, and Done and out, van is almost full. These texts indicated that Miles, Kenneth Hayden and Scott Miles conspired to carry out the burglary on Sept. 23, 2022.

On Sept. 30, 2022, Clinton Miles received a Snapchat message from Kenneth Hayden that contained the device ID information for the TRACKi GPS unit that was tracking Sarah Haydens husbands vehicle. That is because Clinton Miles had returned to the house by himself and Kenneth Hayden was tracking Sarah Hayden's husband.

Cell phone records confirmed that Clinton Miles texted his father pictures showing property inside the basement of Sarah Haydens home. Cell phone records also showed ongoing phone calls between Scott Miles and Kenneth Hayden while the burglary was occurring.

Photographs and text messages indicate that Scott Miles and Clinton Miles exchanged pictures and texts with each other in an effort to determine which items should be stolen.

A search warrant was served at Kenneth Haydens home in Minnesota, where police seized numerous items stolen from Sarah Haydens home.

In a post-Miranda interview, police say Kenneth Hayden admitted to placing two GPS units on Sarah Haydens vehicle over the past two years. He also admitted to being in the area of his sisters home at the time of the burglary, which was confirmed through hotel, cell phone and license plate reader records.

During a search of Clinton Miles home in Mercer County, where he lives with his father, officers seized numerous items stolen from Sarah Haydens home.

Clinton Miles admitted to sending packets of slanderous personal information to Sarah Haydens employer after the burglary in an attempt to have her fired from her job. Clinton Miles admitted to mailing the packets of information that had been compiled by Kenneth Hayden.

A search of Kenneth Haydens computer contained the records that had been found in the packets.

Clinton Miles was taken into custody Tuesday and booked into the Scott County Jail on a bond of $22,000, cash or surety. He was released Thursday after posting 10% of that bond through a bonding company.

During a first appearance on the charges held Wednesday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Eric Syverud scheduled a preliminary hearing for April 7.

Kenneth Hayden turned himself in to Scott County authorities Friday morning. He was released on his own recognizance. He has hired Davenport Attorney Andrea Jaeger to represent him.

During a first appearance Friday in Scott County District Court, Hayden waived his preliminary hearing. Magistrate Catherine Cartee scheduled arraignment for April 27.

A warrant has been issue for the arrest of Scott Miles.

"I am angry and disgusted that people who used to be family burglarized my home several times, including the day my son graduated from high school last year," Sarah Hayden said. "It's sad that they chose greed over family.

"I am grateful for the diligence and hard work done by Detective Matt Poirier and the Bettendorf Police Department. With the assistance of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, many of my stolen items were recovered with search warrants, and justice is finally being served."
Plans are moving forward to demolish the historic Rock Island County courthouse.

Valley Construction of Rock Island filed a permit with the city to demolish the 125-year-old courthouse. The city will need to ensure all requirements have been met before the application is approved.

Multiple calls to the city's building inspection division for more information regarding the requirements and a demolition timeline were not returned.

According to the application, the estimated cost of demolition is $400,000.

Multiple calls were made to Valley Construction regarding information about the demolition process but were not returned.

As of Friday afternoon, shrubs were starting to be removed from the grounds. No type of demolition on the building can begin until the city approves the permit.

Greg Swanson, a lifelong resident of Rock Island County, said he nor anyone else who had spoken out against the demolition was aware a permit was filed  let alone that the county had finished the recordation process.

"It's an irreplaceable, valuable historic landmark and public asset," he said.

The county had to go through a recordation process required by state statute to prove the courthouse is beyond rehabilitation with no possible plans for renovation.

Swanson said that people who had spoken out against the demolition felt as if they had hit a wall and that it would take an 11th-hour injunction court ruling to stop it.

"There's nobody there that wants to save it  that will raise their voice and show leadership," he said.

County Board Chairman Richard Qujias Brunk told the Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times in August 2022 that the board brought in three developers to evaluate the building, and they all came back with estimates between $16 million to $20 million to renovate the old courthouse.

"We could not find a way to pay for a renovation of that building for county use," Brunk said. "Myself and the rest of the board have a greater responsibility to the residents and the taxpayers of this county."

The 125-year-old building has been sitting empty for several years. A Rock Island County judge declared that the building was a public safety hazard.

About four years ago, the Rock Island County Board approved the demolition of the historic courthouse. It could have been torn down in early 2020, but a lawsuit filed by preservationists was upheld by the Illinois Third District Appellate Court because the county failed to consult state departments for demolition.

In December 2022, Peoria County Judge James Mack ruled that the need for a temporary restraining order to block demolition no longer existed.
Aspiring public servants at Moline High School can now apply for a new local scholarship.

The Moline Police Department and Moline Police Benevolent Association Unit No. 2 union launched three new scholarships, thanks to a sizable donation from a former Moline police captain and his wife, Arthur and Dorothy Gustus.

"He (Arthur) passed away several years ago, but his wife recently passed last March," Moline police Sgt. Joe Kluever said. "As part of their estate settlement, they were very generous and donated some money to our organization  we were able to talk to some people that knew them (the Gustuses), and they just basically said they would have loved something like this, where a local student can get an opportunity to grab an education."

Kluever is president of Moline PB&PA No. 2, a philanthropic-oriented union. He said the union and MPD had always wanted to fund a scholarship for local students  thanks to the generosity of the Gustus family, they were finally able to do so.

The departments will award three total scholarships  one totaling $1,000 and two $500 each  based on the following criteria:

Applicants must be high school seniors in the Moline-Coal Valley School District.

Applicants must be attending college upon graduation.

Applicants must be pursuing a higher education in a service field (listing law enforcement, fire science, social work, teaching, forensic sciences or medical fields as examples).

"We wanted it to be public service-based scholarships, since that what we do, and we didn't want to limit it to police or fire or anything like that," Kluever said. "This is our first year, so we'll kind of go through the process and see how we can expand or improve it in coming years."

Additionally, students must submit a 500-word minimum essay, typed or handwritten, describing how they plan to serve their community upon graduation from college, when applying for the scholarship, and may submit:

One letter of recommendation from a current high school teacher or staff member.

A list of extracurricular and community activities and achievements.

Students must send their applications to the MPD (C/O) Scholarship Committee at 1640 6th Ave. in Moline by April 30, 2023.

"A few officers, including me, have served in liaison roles and school resource officer roles that we have in the school district," Kluever said. "Our department really values the relationship we have with the school district  it's a really strong one. Knowing that, ideally, if a student were to receive a scholarship and then come back to live in the Quad-Cities  or even specifically Moline  and give back, that's the ultimate goal."

Questions regarding the scholarship can be directed to MPD or a Moline High School counselor.

Walk-through of Moline High School's newly renovated ASPIRE wing
ISLAMABAD, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's official app to provide online education to students, Teleschool Pakistan App, witnessed a massive success among students across the country, the country's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in a tweet on Friday.

"Glad that the efforts to develop Teleschool Pakistan App are now bearing fruit. Students' keen interest is evidenced by more than 10,000 downloads in 310 cities, 5,500 enrolments and viewing of 17,000 videos in just a week," Sharif tweeted.

The prime minister said that he is elated that the government's effort to provide education to all is on its way to becoming a reality.

Quoting sources from the education ministry, the country's state news agency Associated Press of Pakistan said that around 17,000 videos of various class lessons have been viewed in just a week, mostly by people living in remote areas.

Sharif launched an initiative earlier last week to provide online education to students from grade 1 to 12.

The idea of the Teleschool was conceived in 2020 during the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country to provide online education to students during the closure of educational institutions. 
Voters learned more about candidates running in the April 4 Rock Island-Milan school board election Saturday, April 1, in a candidates' forum.

Hosted in part by the NAACP of Rock Island County, the forum took place at the Martin Luther King Center in Rock Island.

The event was courtesy of the Rock Island Education Association and Rock Island Education Support Professional Association.

Rock Island-Milan schools have three board vacancies up for election.

Rock Island-Milan school board candidates on the ballot:

Michael Matherly (incumbent, board vice president).

Jason Roessler.

Rock Island-Milan school board write-in candidates:

Joshua Behn.

Nicole Durbi.

Naythan James.

Richard Phillis.

Election day voting will run from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the County Clerk's Office, with same-day registration also available. Those registering on election day must bring two forms of ID showing current name and address.

If elected, candidates will serve their respective school districts for four years. Terms begin 40 days after the election, per the Illinois code.

Photos: Rock Island wrestling defeats United Township, 56-3
Scott County is poised to move ahead with absorbing nonprofit ambulance service MEDIC, a step leaders say will ensure an ambulance arrives when Scott County residents call 911.

The first of three votes will come April 13, but the five-member board indicated its support for the county moving ahead on Thursday after hearing a presentation from a consultant that analyzed a potential transition.

The county hired Public Consulting Group, a Massachusetts-based human resources firm that advises public sector agencies, in December. The group was tasked with putting together two reports on the impacts and logistics of how the county would absorb MEDIC. Thursday was the group's first presentation.

Jason Fuller, a representative of PCG, assured supervisors the merger will have challenges, but none is a stopper.

"From what I've read and what you've presented, there's no deal breakers; there's just challenges? Is that a correct statement?" Board Chairman Ken Beck asked.

"That would be very correct," Fuller replied.

Start date looking like Jan. 1

Fuller said the county could officially take over MEDIC either July 1 of this year or Jan. 1, 2024.

Beck said he thought the county would be better off with the Jan. 1 date to give more time to work through any challenges that are encountered while folding MEDIC into the county's purview.

Beck added that he "fully supported" continuing with the Phase 2 study and bringing MEDIC on as a department. He looked to the other four supervisors, who nodded in apparent agreement.

Scott County hired a firm earlier this year to conduct a nationwide search to find a director for MEDIC, which County Administrator Mahesh Sharma said was underway.

What would funding look like?

According to a report by PCG, the estimated budget for a new county department would be $13.5 million in 2024, less than what it would be if it continued as a nonprofit. It estimates $13.17 million in revenue  about $1 million dollars more than if it continued as a nonprofit.

The consultant also predicts that MEDIC as a county department would qualify for state and federal funding, including the Iowa Offset program and Ground Emergency Medical Transport funding.

Other ways the county could fill any gaps to make up for losses in fees-for-service could be through the general fund, or a voter-approved additional tax levy. State lawmakers in 2021 approved a bill that allows counties to declare EMS an "essential service," permitting counties to levy a voter-approved tax of $0.75 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Challenge: MEDIC short-staffed

MEDIC's staffing levels have declined since 2017, when the nonprofit reported 100% of full-time staffing positions being filled. Now, MEDIC is at 76% strength, employing 58 full-time staff out of 76 authorized positions.

This means employees must work overtime or be pulled from other areas of MEDIC, such as its dispatch center, MED-COM.

The report notes, however, MEDIC is in a good spot with paramedics, at 37 out of 38 positions, which require more training and take longer to hire than EMTs.

Staffing was a big concern MEDIC Executive Director Linda Frederiksen brought to the Board of Supervisors a year ago. At the time, she said, MEDIC couldn't keep up with wages in a competitive labor market, especially as Medicaid reimbursement for patients remained low.

Fuller said the county could tout state-backed retirement as an attractive benefit of working for the county ambulance service, rather than a nonprofit MEDIC.

A concern from Davenport and Bettendorf is the ambulance service's ability to handle future growth in call volumes with future growth in population. The report recommended evaluating station locations and reallocating resources where the greatest call volume is. Bettendorf, for example, has added several senior housing facilities, which tend to require more emergency services.

Currently, MEDIC has eight stations in Eldridge, Blue Grass, LeClaire, Davenport and Bettendorf. One in Clinton is part of an agreement with Mercy One to provide hospital transports.

Services for northwestern Scott County

The report recommends a county-run MEDIC expand its coverage in northwestern Scott County to "ensure there is an equitable level of care throughout the county."

Northwest Scott County is served by three volunteer departments  Bennett Ambulance Service, Durant Ambulance Service and Wheatland Emergency Medical Services.

All three services reported responding to 95% or more of the calls they're dispatched to, according to the report, "but each acknowledged an aging staff and no readily present plan for future sustainability."

Rural ambulance services also noted it's "more and more challenging" to recruit new volunteers and sustain a reliable base of volunteers, the report said.

The rural ambulance services provide "significant value to the people of northwest Scott County," according to the report, "but there should be consideration in place as to where they fit in the continuity of care."

Currently, a rural service may call for a MEDIC ambulance to assist, which then charges a fee to reimburse costs of responding. Some rural agencies reported they take a loss on calls when MEDIC assists, which according to the report, raises a concern that a provider may try to handle an emergency above their ability to prevent the ambulance service from taking a loss.

The report recommends, with a county-based system, doing away with the fee and dispatching a MEDIC ambulance to every call, which the volunteer ambulance could cancel from a scene or call.

Merger of Scott Emergency Communication Center and MED-COM?

Although municipalities and fire departments would like for the two dispatch centers to merge, Fuller said, a complete merger may be more trouble than it is worth.

Scott Emergency Communication Center dispatches law enforcement and fire. MED-COM is an arm of MEDIC that handles dispatching of ambulances as well transfers and billing for the nonprofit. Both reside in the same building but use different computer-aided dispatch systems.

Scott County may be able to up the amount of Iowa Ground Emergency Medical Transport funding, a grant authorized in Iowa in 2018 that offsets costs associated with providing ambulance support. But, the report said, it may still be possible to unlock more funding even without a merger of the two organizations.

Some concerns about a merger relate to current staffing shortages, seniority lists, job satisfaction and culture, according to the report. Concerns about delayed dispatching expressed by external stakeholders "have not been proven" when computer-assisted dispatch data was reviewed.

"While a merger seems possible, an immediate and more appropriate solution to many of the concerns would be for MED-COM to change their CAD system to the system used by the SECC," the report states.

But the MEDIC system also runs billing and should be considered before any system changes, according to the report.

Second study coming

A second study this summer, Fuller said, will engage more organizations and people, including employees, continue conversations around SECC and MED-COM, and a deeper financial and comparative analysis.

That report is due to supervisors by summer 2023.
Authorities say one person was killed and dozens were injured when the roof collapsed Friday night during a concert at an Illinois theater.

Belvidere Fire Department Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue at the time. He said first responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to grapple with downed power lines outside the theater.

Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as chaos, absolute chaos.

The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming from the theater at 7:48 p.m. It said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage.

A staffer working at Rockfords Saint Anthony Medical Center said they treated 12 patients, none of whom had died. The staffer said the victims were split among three hospitals.

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris wife told the Chicago Tribune late Friday that he remained at the scene of the Apollo Theater, 104 N. State St., where the roof collapsed. The city is approximately 70 miles northwest of Chicago.

Morris dropped everything to hustle over there when it happened.

Hes worried about the residents, said the mayors wife, who asked to not be named.

The establishment was formerly a movie theater, she said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his administration was closely watching the situation.

"Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can," he said in a social media post.

My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight.



Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can.



As we learn more, please follow the guidance of all local authorities.  Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) April 1, 2023

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, whose 11th Congressional District includes much of Belvidere, said he was monitoring the situation and headed back to Illinois.

The damage came as part of the monster storm system that tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes and threatening a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

Elsewhere in Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night.

At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris.

Tornadoes moved through parts of eastern Iowa, with sporadic damage to buildings. Images showed at least one flattened barn and some houses with roofing and siding ripped off.

In Oklahoma, wind gusts of up to 60 mph fueled fast-moving grass fires. People were urged to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City, and troopers shut down portions of Interstate 35.

The Chicago Tribune contributed.

Photos: Tornado collapses northern Illinois theater roof
SPRINGFIELD  A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois.

The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the states attorney general explicit authority to crack down on limited services pregnancy centers, which are also known as crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs.

The bill, which was pushed by the attorney generals office, bars CPCs from engaging in unfair methods of competition or deceptive acts or practices.

The proposal passed on a partisan 36-19 vote after heated debate.

Crisis pregnancy centers are a type of facility that offer services to expectant parents which may include counseling, aid such as free diapers or limited medical services such as ultrasounds. They are often nonprofits associated with national or local groups that oppose abortion.

CPCs are the subject of ongoing national debate because they sometimes divert women seeking abortions from receiving them.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recommended that state funds in general should not be used to support these organizations. It also recommended states should strengthen consumer protection laws against false or misleading advertising to hold the industrys more nefarious actors accountable.

Patients report being misled into going to crisis pregnancy centers  sometimes even receiving exams and ultrasounds  thinking they were visiting another clinic that offers the full range of reproductive care. This is an extreme violation of trust and patient privacy that should not occur in our state, Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a news release earlier this week.

The Crisis Pregnancy Center Map, a project of professors Andrea Swartzendruber and Danielle Lambert of the University of Georgias Department of Public Health, identifies 97 CPCs in Illinois. The Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights focused research group, found that in 2017 there were 40 abortion providers in Illinois.

The bills sponsor, Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, said it clarifies existing powers of the office of the attorney general, which already has authority to prosecute consumer fraud. Opponents criticized the bill on that front, saying it gave the attorney general too much authority.

Were going to have the same entity making the rules, deciding what the fines are, and then collecting those into their own coffers, said Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro. I dont know any other circumstances that we do that in.

Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, suggested the measure could be used to prevent volunteers at CPCs from sharing their religious beliefs on abortion.

And this overreach just goes to the point that if you don't believe the way the majority party believes in this state, you're wrong and we're going to go after you, she said.

Villanueva said the bill is not intended to punish providers of obstetrical or gynecological care simply because they do not perform abortions.

Health care providers will not be subject to enforcement under this bill, as long as they do not employ fraud, deception and misleading practices to interfere with or prevent another from accessing comprehensive reproductive health care, she said.

The bill has drawn criticism from outside the legislature as well.

At an anti-abortion rally in front of the Capitol last week, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese encouraged protestors to continue to fight against abortion measures in the state.

Every year, over 10,000 out-of-state residents now come to Illinois for abortion, often at taxpayer expense. And that number has been increasing dramatically since June of 2022, when Dobbs was decided, Paprocki said. In states such as ours, we cannot relax our pro-life efforts now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned.

Others have already promised to fight the bill in court.

This bill is flagrantly unconstitutional, and if it becomes law, we will immediately file suit to protect pro-life organizations right to free speech, Peter Breen, the head of litigation for the Thomas More Society, said in a statement Friday morning.

Illinois has passed several laws protecting abortions in recent years, including making it a right under state statute. Theyve all faced similar Republican opposition as the measures that passed with only Democratic support this week.

Another of those measures was Senate Bill 1344, which would ensure that insurance providers cover medication abortion, hormonal therapy and HIV medication. It passed the chamber Friday on partisan lines.

The bill would also exempt reports from the Abortion Care Clinical Training program from being subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The program, established last year, gives grants to fund abortion training programs at community-based provider sites.

Villanueva sponsored that bill as well, noting the exemption clarifies existing law and keeps program participants safe.

We already know that reproductive rights providers have been under attack, have been harassed have been abused, and in some cases murdered, Villanueva said. So when we strive to clarify laws in the state of Illinois in order to make sure that people are not put under duress in a situation or harassedWere trying to protect people, which was the original intent of the original bill.

Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said the governors office already has administrative rulemaking authority to exempt any sort of information that could pose  a threat of any sort to someone.

The reality is, we already have the authority on that point, Curran said. Its up to the governor to act. The governor, for three months, has not acted on this point.

The Senate also passed Senate Bill 1907, which would require state colleges and universities to provide wellness kiosks. These would be vending machines to provide wellness products with the explicit requirement that emergency contraception be among the items offered. This is also sometimes known as the morning after pill or Plan B.

The bill, also sponsored by Villanueva, passed 38-19 on Thursday. Republicans criticized it, with Tracy calling it frivolous.

All three measures head to the House for further consideration.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
Since July 1, 2021 when medical cannabis became legal in South Dakota a new industry has begun to form in the Black Hills. The region boasts 33 dispensaries, eight cultivation farms and five manufacturing facilities despite the mere 8,700 cardholders across the state  a total of less than 1% of its population. With a limited customer base, companies are competing to assert themselves as lasting players in the fledgling industry.

Though current demand for medical marijuana is fairly low relative to supply, this is expected to change. At a rate of about 200 per week, the amount of medical cannabis cardholders is growing fast. This is even more true considering the Monday news that Governor Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 1 into law. The bill increases the qualifying medical conditions for a cannabis card to include cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, HIV, PTSD, Crohn's disease and ALS.

Brett Johnson, a Physician Assistant Specialist at High Pines Medical Marijuana Clinic says the passing of SB 1 is great news and that he hopes to get as many cards out as he can. He predicts tens of thousands of cards need to be issued to qualified residents considering the population of South Dakota.

"Compared to other states there are still a lot of cards that need to be issued and most everyone I see has legit chronic pain histories. Generally, patients are 30 or above and these people aren't seeking to use it recreationally," Johnson said. "They legitimately want some relief from their debilitating conditions, and this is a great alternative treatment."

A majority of people who are issued medical cannabis cards already use cannabis to treat their medical conditions so the expansion of qualifying conditions is helpful to protect people from potential criminal charges, Johnson said. The only aspect that is missing is transparent communication to patients' primary care doctors.

"These people have already been incorporating marijuana into their medical regimen. Now we can protect those people from getting a ticket," Johnson said. "We just need to coordinate that with their medical and pain management team to make it a core part of their program since they're already using (it) anyway."

Despite a limited customer base, Black Hills entrepreneurs see an opportunity to deliver medical cannabis, a product they see as beneficial to patients. That is the motivation of the workers of Northern Hills Alternative Health, Sturgis' newest medical marijuana dispensary.

What was previously the city's convention center, the 5,000 square foot dispensary will be one of the largest dispensaries in the state. It is operated by three employees that are longtime friends who share a passion for medical cannabis. And though the marijuana industry is difficult to enter, the three are determined to grow amid fierce competition.

Locally grown

Northern Hills Alternative Health is owned by the Popkes family from Spearfish. Kim, Terry, Amber, Cameron and Dustin Popkes all own an equal share of the company and have worked together since 2006.

Eager for a new adventure, the family wanted to open their own hotel. At least everyone but Cameron Popkes, who wanted to open a smoke shop. After much debate, the other four eventually agreed, opening Smokes N' Things in 2019. They have now expanded to four locations in Bell Fourche, Spearfish, Black Hawk and Sturgis.

Their newest medical cannabis venture is operated by only three employees  Cameron Popkes as COO, Dustin Popkes as CEO, and Matt Murraine as the Chief Compliance Officer. They sell accessories, grinders, pipes, water pipes, concentrates and flower. They are excited to soon offer edibles which are preferred by their predominantly older clientele.

At first impression, the easygoing men may seem like your carefree cannabis lovers, but they take their operation very seriously. As an infant industry, South Dakota medical marijuana has faced immense adversity thus far to draft bills, create adequate enforcement strategies, and foster South Dakota-based businesses in which Northern Hills Alternative Health has played an active role.

In a public statement, Noem mentioned other states have made mistakes in their drafting and enforcement of laws that South Dakota does not want to repeat. The owners at Alternative Health echoed her statements saying South Dakota has an opportunity to create an equitable, responsible and effective industry that can not only adequately deliver valuable medicine to patients but also be a safe and welcoming environment for customers and businesses alike.

Cannabis laws

The new business is having a lasting impact on the state-wide industry by working with the state to critique current laws and enforcement protocols to create a more business-friendly environment, the three said.

Their contributions include the alteration of South Dakota codified law 34-20G-89 that disallowed medical cannabis establishments from storing any personal information of customers other than their cardholder registry identification number.

Not only does this provision limit establishments' ability to participate in loyalty programs with customers, Dustin Popkes said, but also puts some establishments at risk. When a worker enters a medical marijuana cardholder's identification number, the state's verification website only tells if it is valid or not. It says nothing about who the card belongs to which opens the doors to forgery, Murraine said. Additionally, some point of sale systems further add to establishments' risks.

"Just to ring up a customer you have to have that information," Dustin Popkes said. "We knew that establishments, knowingly or not, were going against compliance, so we got in contact with the state to change the compliance for it."

When Noem signed the amended act into law earlier last month, establishments were permitted to store personal information upon written consent of the cardholder. An emergency declaration was given to put the amended law into full effect at its approval.

They hope to further change the regulation of the industry by changing some medical cannabis administrative rules as well. Working with Mark Marshall, the Sturgis City Attorney, they hope to overturn Article 44:90:04:08 which prohibits establishments to use security cameras to record the entrance and exit of the building during operating hours to ensure patient privacy. Daylong recording using security cameras is allowed at all other areas of cannabis establishments.

Murraine said the article limits their ability to acquire valuable information about a perpetrator of a potential burglary.

"We wouldn't be able to capture what vehicle they were driving, how they left or which direction they went," Murraine said. "We'd also be unable to coordinate with the Sturgis police if we had an event like that."

There is still a substantial amount of legal gray area that the industry and state need to work out according to Murraine. He said the process of forming relationships with other dispensaries to ask the appropriate questions is important to refine the industry and to ensure it has a respectable public reputation.

'Top notch' security

To ensure Alternative Health is safe for its customers and workers, Murraine invited the Sturgis fire and police department to walk through the building and make suggestions on how to improve their establishment.

In addition to a police walkthrough, the business went through workplace violence training. This comes as dispensaries across the nation are experiencing an onslaught of burglaries. They are enticing targets to burglarize because most dispensaries only take cash and cash deposits. Since the cannabis industry is illegal at the federal level, many financial institutions refuse to let cannabis dispensaries use direct deposit payment options which limits them to a cash-only sales system.

Additionally, the Sturgis police walked through the building to help pinpoint vulnerabilities the owners could improve such as push bars on back doors for quick evacuation, robust magnetic door locks on the sales floor, and sophisticated key card required entries to back offices that only top-ranking employees may access.

"They made a lot of suggestions and we did absolutely every single one of them," Dustin Popkes said. "Our security is as top notch as you can get. I would say we're the Fort Knox of dispensaries."

Compliance is at the forefront of operations too, Murraine and the Popkes said, because it is vital for their existence. If an establishment is found to be in violation of South Dakota laws, the South Dakota Department of Health may revoke their establishment registration certificate and they could face prosecution.

Such an instance has already occurred in the state when last month, the South Dakota Department of Health alleged 605 Cannabis, a manufacturing and cultivation facility near Sioux Falls, of violating operating rules. The DOH alleged 19 violations of medical cannabis state laws and regulations that posed a risk to the health and safety of the public which was reason to initiate an emergency suspension of the company's manufacturing and cultivation licenses.

In a statement released by 605 Cannabis, the DOH notified the company of its intent to permanently revoke its cannabis licenses. Citing an inaccurate interpretation of medical cannabis laws and its enforcement thereof, 605 Cannabis has filed a civil suit against the DOH in Lincoln County Circuit Court claiming they have violated proper rulemaking procedures in contravention of the Administrative Procedures Act.

With a highly competitive industry and a limited customer base, time spent not operating is tremendously detrimental to the longevity of a South Dakota marijuana business. To successfully grow their company, Alternative Health is taking necessary steps to avoid a situation similar to that of 605 Cannabis. They also hope to grow to a similar operation as From The Hills, a manufacturing, cultivation and dispensary in Lead, so they can create a high-quality product at an affordable price that is tailored to their customers' needs.

The three at Alternative Health view From The Hill's CEO, Todd Smith, as a trail blazer in South Dakota's fledgling marijuana industry, pointing to his expertise not only in the business sector but in the policy sector as well.

Smith has said the fate of medical marijuana depends on the DOH case against 605 Cannabis. He has no indication of whether what they allegedly did was wrong or not but said the situation points to major downfalls in other states where uncompliant companies are handed relatively miniscule fines that do little to deter future offenses.

"If they are found to be guilty of violations it should be a severe enough punishment, to deter anybody else from wrongdoing," Smith said. "If not, it will unleash a black market that the state will never be able to control."
Black Hills State University (BHSU) has been awarded a $75,000 grant by the National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program to address the STEM teacher shortage in rural South Dakota.

The grant funds the Building Capacity to Address STEM Educator Shortages in Rural South Dakota, project led by Dr. Ben Sayler, a professor at BHSU and director of South Dakotas Center for the Advancement of Math and Science Education. The project explores factors that inspire students, especially those from rural and low-income backgrounds, to pursue STEM teaching and to strengthen partnerships with high-need rural and tribal schools within the region. BHSU with partner with the Sanford Underground Research Facilitys Education & Outreach team on the project.

The initial $75K grant will fund the planning process of the project which includes surveying and interviewing teachers and administrators at rural schools and districts, as well as recent BHSU alumni, K-12 and university students and personnel from other Noyce-funded STEM educator preparation programs.

The results of this assessment will help the project team understand the needs of small, rural schools in recruiting, retaining and supporting STEM educators, particularly early career teachers with backgrounds similar to the students they serve.

Through this planning grant, BHSU will develop a proposal to provide more STEM teachers for Western South Dakota, BHSU President Laurie S. Nichols said. This fits beautifully with our mission of producing quality teachers for the region, and we look forward to developing a strong recruitment plan to combat the STEM teacher shortage in South Dakota."

The project may receive additional grant funding of up to $1.2 million, which would include scholarships for STEM education students.
The South Dakota Board of Regents acknowledged the outstanding support received from the South Dakota Legislature and Governor Kristi Noem during the 2023 legislative session Wednesday.

With their support, the board said they will be able to accomplish all its legislative priorities for the year, including their top priority, academic affordability.

"Being able to offer tuition at the same rate for the past three academic years helps our public universities attract and retain students," said Brian Maher, SDBOR executive director. "We applaud Governor Noem and the Legislature for making our South Dakota universities competitive and working to keep our students in-state."

According to the SDBOR, a freeze in tuition helps them deliver affordable, high-quality education aligned with the state's workforce needs, which is the focus of South Dakota's public universities and is the foundation for the economic well-being of the state. In the past, the state covered less than half of the salary and benefits package for employees in the public university system. Tuition and fees were traditionally increased to honor the total salary policy lawmakers approved.

For the second year, the Governor and Legislature agreed to additional base general funds to support health insurance and salary policy increases, allowing tuition costs to remain unchanged, SDBOR said.

South Dakota National Guard members will receive a significant reduction in tuition as Governor Noem prioritized free public higher education for member students. SDBOR also said students receiving the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship will see an increase in their award amount beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year.

South Dakota campuses will also benefit by receiving funds to support existing infrastructure needs.

"The Board is grateful for the actions of the Legislature and Governor, and we appreciate the relationships built throughout the year," SDBOR Board President Pam Roberts said. "We are eager to put their investments in higher education to work."

During this year's legislative session, SDBOR said they appreciate lawmakers' hard work and dedication to higher education by investing significantly in one-time and ongoing funding to public universities and special schools.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision on Tuesday allowing a lawsuit by two landowners attempting to close off public access to Bitterroot National Forest lands via Robbins Gulch Road, south of Darby, to proceed.

In Wilkins v. United States, the court found that the statute of limitations had not run out, granting Larry Wilkins and Jane Stanton standing to pursue their claim that the Forest Service allegedly altered the terms of a decades-old easement by allowing public access to National Forest lands via Robbins Gulch Road. The government disputes that assertion.

Wilkins and Stanton own property along Robbins Gulch Road, where the United States has held an easement since 1962. Wilkins purchased his property in 1991; Stanton bought hers in 2004. Robbins Gulch Road crosses approximately 1 mile of private property, allowing access from U.S. Highway 93 to Bitterroot National Forest land. The area is especially popular among hunters.

Wilkins attorney had raised the easement issue in a letter to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Office of General Counsel in May of 2018. The agency replied in July of 2018, saying the easement was granted in general and unlimited terms to be operated by the Forest Service.

Where the National Forest lands are open to the public the Forest Service may allow the public to utilize the easement for ingress and egress to the national forest as an implied licensee of the agency without the need for recitation in the easement of this use, the agency replied.

Wilkins and Stanton filed suit in August of 2018 under 28 U.S.C.  2409a, known as the Quiet Title Act, and asked for the popular access road be closed to public travel. They argue that the easement was originally meant to allow Forest Service personnel administrative access to Bitterroot National Forest lands and was not meant to enable public access to the National Forest. They claim the Forest Service unilaterally altered the terms of the easement by allowing public access to National Forest lands via Robbins Gulch Road, and that public use has become excessive and disruptive to landowners. They also argue in the suit that the government has an obligation to patrol the road to prevent unauthorized use.

The increasing excessive use of the Robbins Gulch Road has caused serious traffic hazards, road damage, fire threats, noise and enabled a wide range of people  some known and many unknown  to access the road and engage in misconduct, trespassing, illegal hunting, speeding and disruptive activities often aimed at the plaintiffs and other neighboring owners of private lands traversed by the road, the lawsuit read.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana dismissed the property owners claim in 2020, finding that the Quiet Title Acts 12-year statute of limitations was jurisdictional and had lapsed, barring the claim. The Ninth Circuit Court upheld the District Court ruling in September of 2021, citing Block v. North Dakota ex rel. Board of Univ. and School Lands, 461 U.S. 273 (1983).

Wilkins and Stanton appealed the decision. The U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the case June 6, 2022, and the case was argued before the court on Nov. 30, 2022. In the opinion released on Tuesday, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and joined by Justices Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanagh, Barrett and Jackson, the court held that Section 2409a(g), the Quiet Title Act is a nonjurisdictional claims-processing rule, and has not been definitively interpreted as jurisdictional.

Sotomayor writes in the decision: The Government does not focus on the text of 2409a(g), but instead points to a trilogy of decisions by this Court that purportedly establish that the provision is jurisdictional. None of these three decisions definitively interpreted 2409a(g) as jurisdictional.

This Court has made clear that it will not undo a definitive earlier interpretation of a statutory provision as jurisdictional without due regard for principles of stare decisis. At the same time, however, [c]ourts, including this Court, have more than occasionally misused the term jurisdictional to refer to nonjurisdictional prescriptions.

Tuesdays decision reverses the Ninth Circuit Court ruling and sends the case back to District Court.

Robbins Gulch Road is closed seasonally to motorized vehicles from Dec. 1 to June 15 under the Bitterroot Forest travel plan due to watershed concerns and to protect wildlife security in the area used by elk for calving.

Reporting by Perry Backus contributed to this story.
A 160-acre private inholding along the West Fork Madison River has been purchased by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in a unique collaboration.

Investors with the Bozeman-based Beartooth Group purchased the parcel along with two other nearby properties in 2021. The two other parcels, 141 and 124 acres, are downstream from the acreage acquired by the Forest Service.

The previous owners of the inholdings were a group of ranchers that utilized the land for grazing, according to Dale Olson, Madison District ranger. Trout Unlimited reached out to the Forest Service when the properties were first advertised, seeking to put them into public ownership, he said. But federal agencies cant move quickly when land is for sale and will sometimes seek nonprofit conservation partners to help by purchasing the land and then selling it back to the government.

In this case, however, The Nature Conservancy contacted Beartooth Group who found investors willing to purchase the properties with the idea of eventually selling them all to the Forest Service. The first parcel was acquired with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

A forest information officer said the agency could not release the purchase price since it had not negotiated nor closed the sale. The buyer is identified in Montana Cadastral records as West Fork Madison Ranch LLC with a Ketchum, Idaho, mailing address.

Live Water Properties had listed the three parcels  448 acres all together  for $2.8 million.

Rarely does a ranch come to market that boasts such wonderful combinations of water features, privacy and thousands of acres of public land and wildlife, Live Water wrote in its website advertisement for the land. The West Fork Madison Homesteads is a wilderness that is almost impossible to replicate anywhere in the western United States. With the three homesteads having over six miles of combined forest service boundary, this ranch is a great access point for those who love to explore the backcountry.

Other highlights of the property were its proximity to Ennis, 35 miles away, and Yellowstone National Park, 40 miles distant. It also includes nearly two miles of the West Fork, a major tributary of the world-renowned trout fishery the Madison River.

For the Forest Service and conservationists, the land deal helps remove private inholdings from the surrounding national forest while also guaranteeing there wont be development in the wild country thats home to everything from elk and wolves to grizzly bears and moose.

This acquisition is a valuable addition to the Madison Ranger District, providing important aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitat, as well as expanding what is a beautiful area for our public to access and enjoy, Olson said in a forest Facebook post. We really appreciate the Beartooth Group for their assistance and expertise in facilitating this purchase; it wouldnt have happened without them.

The post goes on to describe the area as important to recreationists and hunters: The Gravelly Mountain Range is a popular area enjoyed by hikers, campers, horseback riders, hunters and anglers. The West Fork Madison properties are located just west of the Elk River Trailhead which is a common starting point for members of the public accessing National Forest System Lands. Several motorized trails begin at this trailhead and connect over 68 miles of trails in this area.

The area is also becoming increasingly popular with snowmobilers, Olson added.

The Forest Service targeted the parcel farthest into the forest first in case it cant raise funds to purchase the two other parcels, Olson noted.

We are enormously grateful to the private investors that made this deal happen, said Robert Keith, founder and managing principal of Beartooth Group, in a press release. In a moment of conservation need, they stepped forward to save this property, with no expectation of a financial return. Their sole goal was to generate a return in the form of protected wildlife habitat and expanded public recreational access.

Beartooth Group also noted the land has unique ecological value given its location in an important corridor for wildlife moving through the Madison, Gravelly and Centennial mountain ranges. Many species of wildlife use the area seasonally as they come and go from Yellowstone National Park. This transaction is critical to the long-term conservation and protection of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Last year, Beartooth Group helped protect 634 acres from subdivision at nearby Henrys Lake that involved The Nature Conservancy. Then in March, the investment firm facilitated a sale to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to acquire two 50-acre islands in the Yellowstone River near Reed Point.

The Beartooth Group has always been about finding creative financial tools to fund conservation solutions, Keith told the Gazette in March.

The West Fork Madison land the Forest Service acquired was originally homesteaded by Robert L. Shackelford, with a patent issued in April 1920 by then President Woodrow Wilson.

According to a published death notice, the 67-year-old Shackelford died in 1922 in Butte, with his body returned to the home of his youth, Wellsville, Missouri, for burial. Other news articles identify him as a one-time probate judge of St. Louis County.
ISLAMABAD, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed when the roof of a house collapsed in Chaman district of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place early Saturday morning in Chaman's Bypass Road area, killing four members of a family including children, police officials in the area told local media.

Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the tragedy. "The cause is not known yet at this moment, but we believe that the roof collapsed due to the dilapidated condition of the family's house," said the police. 
Family members of Irvo Otieno and their lawyers on Tuesday called for mental health reform and steps to be taken to avoid a repeat of what happened to the 28-year-old Henrico County man who died earlier this month in a Central State Hospital intake room.

A mental health crisis should not be a death sentence, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said during a press conference the First Baptist Church of South Richmond. We dont want anybody else in America whose family is dealing with a mental health crisis to be killed by the very people who are supposed to help them.

The comments came after the release of a video from the mental hospital showing Otieno being pinned to the floor prior to his death on March 6. A Dinwiddie County grand jury on Tuesday indicted seven Henrico County deputies and three hospital workers on second-degree murder charges in a case that has garnered national attention.

Crump, who also represented the family of George Floyd, has said Otienos treatment has close parallels with Floyds killing in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020.

It is not lost on anybody who saw that video today, the fact that it was so unnecessary, Crump said Tuesday. Irvo was handcuffed at the wrist, he had leg irons on, he was facedown. Why did they feel it was necessary to put all their weight on him, for some of the officers to put their knee on his neck?

Caleb Kershner, a defense attorney for deputy Randy Boyer, was critical of the video being released and took issue with Dinwiddie County Commonwealths Attorney Ann Baskervill.

Its going to be more difficult to find a jury that has not been tainted or read a particular news story of any sort. So Im disappointed in it, he said earlier Tuesday after the court hearing in Dinwiddie County.

Otienos mother Caroline Ouko on Tuesday called the indicted deputies and hospital employees thugs and monsters.

I was happy to hear that they were indicted, Ouko said. That is just the beginning step.

Attorney Mark Krudys said he was troubled by the individuals who stood by and watched as the officers pushed down on Otieno.

Everybody has an obligation to intervene in that circumstance, to say no, thats not right, Krudys said. But nobody intervened. And then when his body was lifeless, and his pants were dangling on him, they didnt do anything for an appreciable period of time.

Krudys said his team is looking into possible body camera footage from Henrico police regarding a March 3 incident, when Otieno was transported from his Henrico home to Henrico Doctors Hospital.

Ouko said she was excluded in the process of advocating for her son, noting that she made four attempts to see him while he was at Henrico hospital.

In mental health and mental distress, your child needs you, Ouko said. Seeing me could have made have made a big difference.

Instead, Otieno was taken to the Henrico Jail and later to Central State. Krudys said the deputies were not wearing body cameras at either location.

My thoughts on the untimely death of Irvo Otieno: pic.twitter.com/4mGiKiLq7e  Mayor Levar M. Stoney (@LevarStoney) March 21, 2023

Henrico NAACP Vice President Monica Hutchinson during the Tuesday press conference said: Jail is not, nor has it ever been, the best place for those having a mental health crisis. We must eliminate the use of jail as a response to a mental health crisis and mental illness, and instead work to improve access to community-based crisis centers.

Otienos brother Leon Ochieng urged Gov. Glenn Youngkin to make mental health a priority, pointing out Youngkins recent comments calling Otienos death heart-wrenching.

If you really do empathize and feel what we feel, do something, Ochieng said. Let your state be an example  all we need to do is make this an agenda to put pressure on lawmakers to invite our communities to have families who are ambassadors for mental health.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney in a social media post on Tuesday said: "Irvo Otieno should be alive today. His life was taken in a place where he should have been safe. We need accountability and we need more mental health resources."
Authorities on Saturday released the name of a pedestrian who was killed near Richmond International Airport on Friday night.

Emanuel Randolph Sims, 68, of North Chesterfield, died at the scene.

Inside Richmond's new high-tech crime-fighting plan "Cameras are all over the city. Some are owned by the police department and some are owned by other city agencies," said interim police Chief Rick Edwards.

Henrico County police responded to Richard E. Byrd Terminal Drive, just south of Clarkson Road, at 8:51 p.m. The driver stopped and cooperated with the investigation, police said.

Speed and alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash, police said.
The suspect in the killing of a woman in a Richmond residence was shot by two officers Friday morning in a North Side neighborhood, authorities said.

Police responded to reports of a shooting at 1100 Evergreen Ave. shortly after 10:30 a.m., where they found a woman with life-threatening gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Investigators put together a description of the suspect and vehicle, police said.

About a half-hour after the shooting, two officers saw the man outside of his vehicle in the 4100 block of North Avenue and fired their service weapons, striking and injuring the suspect, the police department said in a statement.

Officials did not say what prompted the officers to shoot the man. A firearm was recovered from the suspect, police said.

At the crime scene, 4th Precinct police officers, as well as Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards, stood around a green truck believed to be the vehicle that helped officers track down the suspect.

The portion of North Avenue has been the scene of several shootings over the years, including a 2004 gunfight that left a 19-year-old dead. A boy was wounded in a July 2016 shooting on the same block. Another shooting in August 2017 left a man wounded.

On Friday, Willy Green, a 67-year-old Army veteran, said he had seen a drive-by shooting occur on the same parking lot where police investigators were standing.

Aint nothing new, Green said.

The atmosphere on North Avenue was tense as neighbors gathered at the edges of yellow police tape. Inside the police tape, officer Keith Robinson said the area still was not safe, gesturing to a small crowd of onlookers.

Theyre not happy with us, Robinson said. They never are after a shooting.

A police spokesman confirmed that no police personnel were injured and that the two officers who fired shots have been placed on paid leave pending an investigation. Edwards said that paid leave is standard practice and does not indicate wrongdoing.

Police did not release the names of the suspect or the woman killed. His condition was not available Friday evening.

Edwards said the entire incident has been captured on body-worn cameras. Detectives have reviewed the footage.

It was very quick, said Edwards, who otherwise declined to answer specifics about the footage he had reviewed just moments before.

Asked if they would be willing to release the footage, Edwards said the decision would be made pending a conversation with Commonwealths Attorney Colette McEachin.

The last shooting by a Richmond police officer was Jan. 9, when officers executing a search warrant in the 3300 block of McGuire Drive encountered a man with a gun.

Sixteen homicides have been reported in Richmond this year as of Sunday, the most recent period for crime data available from the police department. The city had 12 homicides for the same period last year.

Correction: An earlier version of this story indicated that both shootings took place on North Avenue.
Virginia is known for leading the way in several areas  agriculture, business development and education  but maybe less well-known is the commonwealths leadership in reducing the burden of cancer. Unified by the Cancer Action Coalition of Virginia (CACV), such cutting-edge medical facilities as VCUs Massey Cancer Center, the UVA Cancer Center and organizations from across the state, including several here in Richmond, have joined forces to urge Virginia policymakers and their constituents to prioritize cancer care.

While recent reports show cancer mortality rates nationally and in Virginia have dropped and routine cancer screenings are returning to normal in a post-COVID environment, we cannot forget that cancer remains the second-leading cause of death in Virginia. In addition, national data shows cancer rates are increasing in people under the age of 50. The commonwealth can do more to equip its communities with the information and support needed to reduce cancer rates and mortality.

As a Virginia resident for more than 30 years and the new executive director of CACV, I have seen my coalition push for systemic changes that improve cancer outcomes. But I have also seen community-based organizations make marked differences in reducing cancer risks. Some of the best examples are right here in Richmond.

ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1975 by a small group of parents of pediatric cancer patients, exists to make life better for children with cancer. This year, thanks to its advocacy efforts, Virginia designated specific funds to support children with cancer in the state budget for the first time. The new funding provides an education support navigator for each of the five pediatric cancer treatment centers across Virginia to help kids with cancer transition back to school with the support they need to be successful.

The Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, formed by a group of women who met at a Richmond breast cancer support group in 1991, continues to make breast cancer a state priority. This group led the efforts on establishing the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which now exists in every state, and advocated for the Breast Density Notification Law (notifying patients with their all clear mammogram letter if they have dense breasts), making Virginia the third state in the country to have this law, 11 years before the FDA implemented it as a recent policy.

But perhaps the best example of how one motivated Virginian is reducing the burden of cancer is Richmond native Mindy Conklin. Mindy watched as her husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and lost his life to the disease 16 months later at only 43 years old. Colorectal cancer was not even on their radar until they received his late-stage diagnosis.

Following her husbands wishes and motivated by her familys tragedy, Mindy formed the nonprofit Hitting Cancer Below the Belt to educate her community about colorectal screening and prevent others from living through the same nightmare. Now in its 10th year, the nonprofit has provided free screenings for over 4,200 people, educated thousands of people about colorectal cancer and offered educational events for more than 7,500 attendees.

Cancer can be stopped if we work together. Still, we have a long way to go. For example, colorectal cancer diagnosis rates continue to increase in younger people, according to the American Cancer Societys colorectal cancer statistics, released on March 1. And we know many people die a preventable death because screening and education are not fundamental parts of health care. The recent passing of Virginia Congressman Donald A. McEachin helped shine a light on this.

Earlier this year, I met with legislators at the Virginia State Capitol to distribute CACVs 2023-2027 Virginia Cancer Plan, the framework for how everyone in Virginia can play a role in eliminating cancer throughout the state in the next five years. This roadmap was compiled by the Richmond nonprofits mentioned earlier and an additional 200 organization members across the state that coalesced to identify actionable strategies to improve cancer care.

With the leadership demonstrated by our members and more support from the state legislature, we could lead our great commonwealth into the future by following an evidence-based roadmap to accomplish what no other state has  a Virginia without cancer.

Close 12-21-1945 (cutline) Santa's helpers--Making sure that Christmas gifts arrive on time at McGuire Hospital are (left to right), Misses Mary Jackson Shepherd, Martha Lafferty, Ann Rose, Sudie Mann and Archer Christian, members of the Red Cross Motor Corps. 02-23-1948 (cutline): Miss Diane Hunt (left) is loading a cargo desintine for McGuire with assistance of Miss Nancy Poindexter. 09-19-1943 (cutline): Mrs. Jan Laverge, Motor Corps, directs servicemen into station wagon for quick transfer to make rail connection. 07-23-1942 (cutline): Miss Emma Fensom leads her winning group past the judges. 09-04-1952 (cutline): Taxi service at work--Miss Ellen Armentrout (left), chairman of the Richmond Red Cross motor service, helps Mrs. Frances Tucker out of a car at the Medical College of Virginia. Driving patients to and from the hospital's clinic and bloodmobile constitutes the greater part of the work done by the motor service volunteers. 03-19-1942 (cutline): Motor Corps Holds Test Drill--The Henrico Red Cross Motor Corps holds its first test drill or workout in uniform to show what the women can do after completing Red Cross courses in first-aid and advanced first-aid. They have also completed training in motor mechanics and have had military drill under Colonel Sheppard Crump and blackout test driving under Chief Hendrick. In the picture: Mr. K.L. Jones, instructor in motor mechanics, is giving some las minute advice. Left to right: Miss Ann Vaughan, Mrs. Crump, Mrs. W.B. Cherry and Captain Mary Simmons. 01-23-1942 (cutline): The Red Cross Motor Corps and Canteen held a regional conference at the Jefferson Hotel yesterday , with representatives from 20 Red Cross units. Speakers were Mrs. F. Trubee Davison, national director of the Motor Corps, and Mrs. Graham Dougherty, national director of canteen. Talking over plans before the conference (left to right) Mrs. Dougherty, Mrs. John G. Hayes, chairman of the Woman's Red Cross War Council, who introduced the speakers, and Mrs. Davison. 07-05-1942 (cutline): Mrs. Herbert L. Smith, Mrs. T. Kent Norment, sergeant, and Mrs. Henry Sycle, lieutenant, carrying stretchers from the East End Casualty Center at Leigh Street Baptist Church. Because of the establishment of these centers, the Red Cross Motor Corps needs many more volunteers. 09-09-1943 (cutline): Swimming teams are (left to right) Miss McVey carrying Mrs. Brydon, Miss Emma Fensom (submerged) carrying Miss Jean Fensom, and Mrs.Jackson carrying Mrs. Trice. 03-17-1953 (cutline): On guard--Members of the local Red Cross Motor Corps with the assistance of members of the city police force have the responsibility of depositing campaign funds turned in at the Richmond-Henrico-Chesterfied Red Cross report luncheons. Above, C.S. McKenney turns over some of the money collected at yesterday's luncheon to Mrs. Patrick Walsh, of the Motor Corps. 08-31-1943 (cutline): Motor Corps Farmettes--Without the assistance of (left to right) Mrs. Ernest Trice, Miss Bee Fitzgerald, Miss Mabel Forbes, Miss Jean Fensom and Miss Emma Fensom, George A. Herman, of Creighton Rd., would have been unable to get his onions planted. These girls, members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, also recently helped in picking tomatoes and other vegetables and cutting weeds. 09-06-1942: Mrs. Molly in the driver's seat--the Richmond Motor Corps. 09-06-1942 (cutline): It's an army truck, and behind the windshield, delivering supplies for the Richmond Air Base Hospital, are Mrs. Anne Pinckney and Mrs. John DeWolf, Jr. 05-28-1947 (cutline): Clothing collected for overseas relief--Members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, pick up materials contributed by local merchants from unclained and unsalable goods for the drive for overseas relief. Mrs. W. Earl Miller, chairman of the spcial sources committee, has announced that more than 300 merchants have responded to the appeal. Fifty-trucks and drivers have been donated for the city-wide, house-to-house pickup of clothing, bedding and shoes slated for Saturday. 03-30-1945 (cutline): On tour of Richmond and Red Cross activities for the Philippine Islands, Mrs. William Rustia and Miss Aurea Labador see the sights. Their escort is Mrs. Clem Belmeur, of the Red Cross Motor Corps. From the Archives: The Women of the Richmond Red Cross Motor Corps The Motor Corps branch of the American Red Cross was established in 1918 with the mission to transport sick and wounded soldiers to hospitals and deliver supplies to posts during World War I. According to the American Red Cross, by the end of WWI, women of the Motor Corps had driven more than 35,000 miles. During WWII, the Motor Corps helped thousands of civilians evacuate from dangerous, war-torn areas. From 1946 to 1947, the dedicated 45,000 volunteers of the Motor Corps drove over eight million miles all over the globe. Here is a look back at the Motor Corps in Richmond. 12-21-1945 (cutline) Santa's helpers--Making sure that Christmas gifts arrive on time at McGuire Hospital are (left to right), Misses Mary Jackson Shepherd, Martha Lafferty, Ann Rose, Sudie Mann and Archer Christian, members of the Red Cross Motor Corps. 02-23-1948 (cutline): Miss Diane Hunt (left) is loading a cargo desintine for McGuire with assistance of Miss Nancy Poindexter. 09-19-1943 (cutline): Mrs. Jan Laverge, Motor Corps, directs servicemen into station wagon for quick transfer to make rail connection. 07-23-1942 (cutline): Miss Emma Fensom leads her winning group past the judges. 09-04-1952 (cutline): Taxi service at work--Miss Ellen Armentrout (left), chairman of the Richmond Red Cross motor service, helps Mrs. Frances Tucker out of a car at the Medical College of Virginia. Driving patients to and from the hospital's clinic and bloodmobile constitutes the greater part of the work done by the motor service volunteers. 03-19-1942 (cutline): Motor Corps Holds Test Drill--The Henrico Red Cross Motor Corps holds its first test drill or workout in uniform to show what the women can do after completing Red Cross courses in first-aid and advanced first-aid. They have also completed training in motor mechanics and have had military drill under Colonel Sheppard Crump and blackout test driving under Chief Hendrick. In the picture: Mr. K.L. Jones, instructor in motor mechanics, is giving some las minute advice. Left to right: Miss Ann Vaughan, Mrs. Crump, Mrs. W.B. Cherry and Captain Mary Simmons. 01-23-1942 (cutline): The Red Cross Motor Corps and Canteen held a regional conference at the Jefferson Hotel yesterday , with representatives from 20 Red Cross units. Speakers were Mrs. F. Trubee Davison, national director of the Motor Corps, and Mrs. Graham Dougherty, national director of canteen. Talking over plans before the conference (left to right) Mrs. Dougherty, Mrs. John G. Hayes, chairman of the Woman's Red Cross War Council, who introduced the speakers, and Mrs. Davison. 07-05-1942 (cutline): Mrs. Herbert L. Smith, Mrs. T. Kent Norment, sergeant, and Mrs. Henry Sycle, lieutenant, carrying stretchers from the East End Casualty Center at Leigh Street Baptist Church. Because of the establishment of these centers, the Red Cross Motor Corps needs many more volunteers. 09-09-1943 (cutline): Swimming teams are (left to right) Miss McVey carrying Mrs. Brydon, Miss Emma Fensom (submerged) carrying Miss Jean Fensom, and Mrs.Jackson carrying Mrs. Trice. 03-17-1953 (cutline): On guard--Members of the local Red Cross Motor Corps with the assistance of members of the city police force have the responsibility of depositing campaign funds turned in at the Richmond-Henrico-Chesterfied Red Cross report luncheons. Above, C.S. McKenney turns over some of the money collected at yesterday's luncheon to Mrs. Patrick Walsh, of the Motor Corps. 08-31-1943 (cutline): Motor Corps Farmettes--Without the assistance of (left to right) Mrs. Ernest Trice, Miss Bee Fitzgerald, Miss Mabel Forbes, Miss Jean Fensom and Miss Emma Fensom, George A. Herman, of Creighton Rd., would have been unable to get his onions planted. These girls, members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, also recently helped in picking tomatoes and other vegetables and cutting weeds. 09-06-1942: Mrs. Molly in the driver's seat--the Richmond Motor Corps. 09-06-1942 (cutline): It's an army truck, and behind the windshield, delivering supplies for the Richmond Air Base Hospital, are Mrs. Anne Pinckney and Mrs. John DeWolf, Jr. 05-28-1947 (cutline): Clothing collected for overseas relief--Members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, pick up materials contributed by local merchants from unclained and unsalable goods for the drive for overseas relief. Mrs. W. Earl Miller, chairman of the spcial sources committee, has announced that more than 300 merchants have responded to the appeal. Fifty-trucks and drivers have been donated for the city-wide, house-to-house pickup of clothing, bedding and shoes slated for Saturday. 03-30-1945 (cutline): On tour of Richmond and Red Cross activities for the Philippine Islands, Mrs. William Rustia and Miss Aurea Labador see the sights. Their escort is Mrs. Clem Belmeur, of the Red Cross Motor Corps.
With barricades surrounding the Manhattan criminal courthouse and plainclothes officers ordered to dress in their full uniforms, its only human to ponder the wisdom of trying Donald Trump for a nonviolent offense related to buying a porn stars silence.

Richard Nixons story suggests it is better for the nation to forgive and forget. But that of Jefferson Davis, the Confederacys president, says it is dangerous to let losers tell the tale.

One thing is for sure: Trump has put us on notice he wont go quietly. He told his followers to protest if he is indicted. They surely didnt hear that as a request for letters to the editor. More likely, his rallying cry evoked images of the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

That bloody encounter is being investigated by a special counsel appointed by the U.S. attorney general. A Georgia special grand jury may indict Trump. So the waiting and worrying could go on and on, in a nation badly divided by the question of whether Trump was a threat to the republic or could have been its savior.

Could President Joe Biden be persuaded to pardon Trump, much as successor Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon after he resigned the presidency? Ford explained that not doing so would have prolonged the national agony.

After years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate, I have been advised, and I am compelled to conclude, that many months and perhaps more years will have to pass before Richard Nixon could obtain a fair trial by jury, Ford told the nation in granting a pardon to Nixon.

Nixon reluctantly accepted the pardon, which implied he was guilty, wrote his memoirs and cautiously tiptoed into the limelight. The Republican Party was leery of being publicly linked with him.

Davis initial reception by his former countrymen was infinitely more hostile. Union soldiers captured him at the end of the Civil War and threw him into a prison where he was left to rot while federal authorities debated what to do with him.

Some wanted him charged as an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Others considered him responsible for the 13,000 Union soldiers who died in the Confederacys Andersonville, Georgia, prison.

Then an epidemic of profound war weariness rolled across the North.

There has been an almost radical change of opinion as to the best and wisest disposition to be made of Jeff. Davis not only in many of the most prominent Republican leaders but also in the loyal public at large since last August, the Tribune reported in November 1865.

Authorities released Davis in 1867 pending trial on charges of treason. Northern luminaries such as New York newspaper editor Horace Greeley signed Davis $100,000 bail bond.

But Frederick Douglass was outraged. What more could government have done to encourage another treasonable outbreak! the Black abolitionist wrote. Mr. Davis has started on his travels, to return no doubt, when ever the farce of a trial may still further disgrace the nation.

In fact, the trial was quietly shelved, leaving Davis free to spin the story into a lost cause. In his two-volume book The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, published in 1881, Davis argued that the Civil War was the Norths fault and the South was simply fighting for its crinoline and plantation way of life.

Enslaved people werent abused, Davis believed. To the contrary, you cannot transform the Negro into anything one-tenth as useful as slavery enables him to be, he wrote in 1861.

Davis died in 1889, unrepentant and not a citizen of the United States. He refused to ask for a pardon, since that would have required he acknowledge he did something wrong by leading the Southern states rebellion.

But the North enabled the narrative of his fabled lost cause. It dropped a virtual curtain on the Civil War. Behind that curtain, Jim Crows re-subjugation of Black people and countless deaths by lynching commenced, away from Northern liberals view.

America didnt resume discussing racial problems until the nations slums exploded in the 1950s and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marched for civil rights.

Now imagine Trumps take on our era, should he get a pass. He would transform his brazen attempt to get Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to throw him 11,780 votes after the 2020 election into this: It was a perfect phone call.

Close 12-04-1932: Flooding in Richmond. 04-29-1937 (cutline): Sand bags help keep river away--Nineteenth and Dock Street presented this scene yesterday. 12-04-1934: Flooding of the James River. 09-09-1935 (cutline): River Ravages Wharf Warehouse--Graphic scene at the Richmond-New York boat line wharf as the waters began to recede. The men pictured are standing on the roof of a helper's shack, torn from its moorings by the invading river. 04-27-1937 (cutline): Workers battle flood--Some of the 200 WPA workers engaged in the frantic job of erecting dykes on the lower river front to protect Richmond from the flooded James, which is expected to hit a 26-foot crest today. 09-07-1935 (cutline): James Imperils Lower City Area--From Mayo's Island, itself flooded, the photographer snapped this shot of the raging James sweeping down under the Fourteenth Street Bridge to endager the city's sanitation system. From over the State reports continued to come in indicating widespread crop and property damage throughout the Old Dominion, with roads and railways tired up and communications down. 01-22-1937: Flooding in Richmond 02-17-1936 (cutline): Not needed now--A great figurative sigh of relief went up along the Richmond waterfront yesterday when it was realized that sand bags prevented flooding. 09-08-1935 (cutline): Small rowboats as they floated across the submerged bridge at Seventeenth and Dock Streets. Scores of rowboats were roaming about yesterday over territory ordinarily dry land but for the duration of the flood many feet under water. 04-29-1937: Flooding in Richmond. 04-29-1937: Flooding in Richmond 04-27-1937 (cutline): Tobacco moved to higher ground--This huge truck was one of many busy yesterday moving tobacco from South Side warehouses. Note the "reserved seat" of the young man riding on a drum. 04-27-1937 (cutline): Sand bags help keep river away--Nineteenth and Dock Street presented this scene yesterday. Several score men worked feverishly to strengthen the dyke, while a still larger crowd found entertainment on the sidelines. 1934: When the rains came. Tate Fieldhome of the professional Richmond Colts of the Class B Piedmont Leaguewas flooded. The driest haven along the city harbor as the storm-fed James rapidly rose toward an all-time flood peak in March 1936 was the United States destroyer Leary, tied up at the city dock. The aerial shot shows the wharves and the Richmond skyline, looking up the raging river. All streetcar service in the area was halted in March 1936 when the James rose to flood the Southern Railway Depot in South Richmond. Employees used a rowboat to enter the station, and a few trucks ventured through the water. City residents view floodwaters of the James River in March 1936. In March 1936, these office workers employed in the lower section of South Richmond had no choice in the matter  that is, unless they wanted to wade or swim  so they took to the boats. The young woman shown is being ferried to high ground at Second and Hull streets. September 1935: Slaving to save the city pumping station--An army of 265 men and 70 trucks were found by Photographers Colognori and South at the City's Shockoe Creek Pumping Station working heroically reinforcing the dykes with sandbags in an effort to save the sanitations of the five-mile area controlled by the plant. Credit for the valiant fight goes to Director of Public Works Gamble Bowers and his force. September 1935: Thousands flock to view flood damagethe lower reaches of the James were crowded all day yesterday as high and low sought vantage points from which to watch the raging river. Sections of the Fulton area were visible for the first time in 36 hours as the waters registered a drop of almost four feet. September 1935: South of 17th Street From the Archives: 1930s floods in Richmond A look back at floods in Richmond during the 1930s. 12-04-1932: Flooding in Richmond. 04-29-1937 (cutline): Sand bags help keep river away--Nineteenth and Dock Street presented this scene yesterday. 12-04-1934: Flooding of the James River. 09-09-1935 (cutline): River Ravages Wharf Warehouse--Graphic scene at the Richmond-New York boat line wharf as the waters began to recede. The men pictured are standing on the roof of a helper's shack, torn from its moorings by the invading river. 04-27-1937 (cutline): Workers battle flood--Some of the 200 WPA workers engaged in the frantic job of erecting dykes on the lower river front to protect Richmond from the flooded James, which is expected to hit a 26-foot crest today. 09-07-1935 (cutline): James Imperils Lower City Area--From Mayo's Island, itself flooded, the photographer snapped this shot of the raging James sweeping down under the Fourteenth Street Bridge to endager the city's sanitation system. From over the State reports continued to come in indicating widespread crop and property damage throughout the Old Dominion, with roads and railways tired up and communications down. 01-22-1937: Flooding in Richmond 02-17-1936 (cutline): Not needed now--A great figurative sigh of relief went up along the Richmond waterfront yesterday when it was realized that sand bags prevented flooding. 09-08-1935 (cutline): Small rowboats as they floated across the submerged bridge at Seventeenth and Dock Streets. Scores of rowboats were roaming about yesterday over territory ordinarily dry land but for the duration of the flood many feet under water. 04-29-1937: Flooding in Richmond. 04-29-1937: Flooding in Richmond 04-27-1937 (cutline): Tobacco moved to higher ground--This huge truck was one of many busy yesterday moving tobacco from South Side warehouses. Note the "reserved seat" of the young man riding on a drum. 04-27-1937 (cutline): Sand bags help keep river away--Nineteenth and Dock Street presented this scene yesterday. Several score men worked feverishly to strengthen the dyke, while a still larger crowd found entertainment on the sidelines. 1934: When the rains came. Tate Fieldhome of the professional Richmond Colts of the Class B Piedmont Leaguewas flooded. The driest haven along the city harbor as the storm-fed James rapidly rose toward an all-time flood peak in March 1936 was the United States destroyer Leary, tied up at the city dock. The aerial shot shows the wharves and the Richmond skyline, looking up the raging river. All streetcar service in the area was halted in March 1936 when the James rose to flood the Southern Railway Depot in South Richmond. Employees used a rowboat to enter the station, and a few trucks ventured through the water. City residents view floodwaters of the James River in March 1936. In March 1936, these office workers employed in the lower section of South Richmond had no choice in the matter  that is, unless they wanted to wade or swim  so they took to the boats. The young woman shown is being ferried to high ground at Second and Hull streets. September 1935: Slaving to save the city pumping station--An army of 265 men and 70 trucks were found by Photographers Colognori and South at the City's Shockoe Creek Pumping Station working heroically reinforcing the dykes with sandbags in an effort to save the sanitations of the five-mile area controlled by the plant. Credit for the valiant fight goes to Director of Public Works Gamble Bowers and his force. September 1935: Thousands flock to view flood damagethe lower reaches of the James were crowded all day yesterday as high and low sought vantage points from which to watch the raging river. Sections of the Fulton area were visible for the first time in 36 hours as the waters registered a drop of almost four feet. September 1935: South of 17th Street
Castanon announces infrastructure projects for Mayan Zone of Tulum

Tulum, Q.R.  Tulum mayor Diego Castanon has announced infrastructure projects for the indigenous communities of the Mayan Zone of Tulum.

During an informative tour led by the Mayor and Deputy Silvia Dzul, he reported that road work is set for those areas. He said that the road that connects Tulum to the neighboring community of Xuilub will be paved.

Residents of the Mayan Zone of Tulum offered their support to the municipal government of Diego Castanon after learning of the projects. Castanon detailed that streets in the communities of San Juan de Dios and Sahcab Mucuy will be paved and outfitted with public lighting, and that access to the Mayan Zone and the section between Chanchen I and Chanchen Palmar will be improved.

Diego has that great commitment, he has that strength, he has that desire. The fact that he is now touring the Maya Zone and the Transition Zone to tell them I am here for whatever you need speaks well of the work that he is going to do, said Silvia Dzul.

There are approximately 11,700 people living in the Mayan Zone of Tulum.
Crime Stoppers Belize alert to two escaped prisoners near Chetumal

Chetumal, Q.R.  Belize authorities are on alert after the escape of two prisoners. The two men were to appear in Belize court Thursday morning, however, they managed to escape beforehand.

According to Belize media, the pair were being held in an improvised building to appear in court in Benque Viejo, a Belizaean town approximately 45 kilometers south of Chetumal, when the escape took place.

According to Crime Stoppers Belize, the pair made their escape around 10:40 a.m. on March 30. They are both wanted for escape from lawful custody.

Both men were being held inside an improvised holding area when they vanished. Area residents reported afterward seeing two men walk out of an adjoining yard. It is believed they escaped through the roof.

Authorities continue their search for the two men who have been identified as 20 year old Sergio Pineda and 25 year old Piers Castillo.

Crime Stoppers Belize says Castillo, a native of El Salvador, was serving time for robbery, while Pindea, a native of Guatemala, has a lengthy criminal record that includes conspiring to murder, trespassing and rape.
Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang (1st R) talks with Lord Mayor of Belfast City Council Christina Black (2nd L) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

BELFAST, Britain, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Officials and academics from Northern Ireland have expressed their willingness to enhance exchanges and cooperation with China during their meetings earlier this week with Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang.

The head of Northern Ireland Civil Service Jayne Brady said that Northern Ireland has long-standing friendly exchanges with China and attaches great importance to developing relations with China.

Northern Ireland enjoys strong technological advantages in fields such as green economy, financial services, and food safety, and has the geographical advantage as a bridge connecting the two major markets of the European Union and the UK, Brady added.

She welcomed Chinese companies to invest in Northern Ireland and expressed hope that hydrogen-powered buses, whiskey, and other products from Northern Ireland would enter the Chinese market.

Northern Ireland, Brady added, would also like to further expand exchanges and cooperation with China in education, culture, tourism, etc.

Zheng said that in recent years, China and Northern Ireland have carried out fruitful cooperation in business and trade, education, culture and other fields, bringing tangible benefits to both sides, and that cooperation in new energy innovations have great potential.

China, the ambassador said, welcomes more high-quality products from Northern Ireland to enter the Chinese market and more people to go to China.

He said that China also supports cities and institutions of the two sides to strengthen partnerships, encourages more two-way personnel exchanges, to boost practical cooperation and bring more benefits to the peoples.

In a separate meeting with Zheng, Lord Mayor of Belfast City Council Christina Black said that in 2016, Belfast became a sister city of Shenyang in northeast China, and since then the two sides had made positive progress in mutually beneficial cooperation in business, trade, education, and culture.

Belfast is eager to promote cooperation between the two sides, and welcome more Chinese investors, students and tourists, Black added.

Ian Greer, president and vice-chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, said that his university attaches great importance to exchanges and cooperation with Chinese universities and welcomes more Chinese students to study there.

The university values China's strength in research and huge potential of development and would like to further deepen cooperation with Chinese scientific research institutions, Greer added.

In his meeting with Zheng, Paul Bartholomew, vice-chancellor at Ulster University, said his university cherishes its cooperation with China and has established partnerships with many Chinese universities.

Ulster University, he added, looks forward to further strengthen the cooperation, and welcomes more Chinese students to study there.

Ulster University will continue to run the Confucius Institute and play an active role in promoting educational cooperation and cultural exchanges between Northern Ireland and China, he noted. 

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang (R) meets with Paul Bartholomew (1st L), vice-chancellor at Ulster University, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang (C), Lord Mayor of Belfast City Council Christina Black (3rd R), and other guests sing the song "Auld Lang Syne" hand in hand in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang (L) meets with Lord Mayor of Belfast City Council Christina Black in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

A child talks about his feeling of learning Chinese at Ulster University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang (2nd L) and Paul Bartholomew (1st L), vice-chancellor at Ulster University, listen as the Ulster University Choir performs the Chinese song "I Love You, China," on campus in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang (L) meets with Ian Greer, president and vice-chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, March 28, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)
Liberty University held a news conference Friday afternoon, announcing Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Dondi E. Costin as the university's sixth president.

This comes less than a year after LU announced that Atlanta-based firm CarterBaldwin would conduct the search for the schools next president.

Costin said he and his family are thrilled to get started.

We cannot wait to join this phenomenal body of believers, who are doing exactly what Liberty University has always done, through good times and bad times, training champions for Christ, Costin said.

Along with the announcement of Costin, LU announced Pastor Jonathan Falwell as the schools third chancellor.

"It's an honor to be able to serve this institution that I love," Falwell said.

The search for the school's president involved nearly 100 credible candidates over a period of eight months.

The Board of Trustees unanimously appointed both leaders during the schools spring meeting. The official transition will take place July 1.

Tim Lee, board chairman, described Friday afternoon as an historic day in the history of Liberty University.

The two will report independently to the board of trustees and will work alongside the universitys spiritual and academic leadership to provide comprehensive oversight of the institutions operations and mission, the college said in a release.

Costin most recently served as president of Charleston Southern University, where he oversaw the constructions of several facilities, as well as expansion of academic programs, doctoral programs and an engineering program within the universitys college of science and mathematics.

Under his leadership, CSU set fundraising records and significantly improved its overall rankings and enrollment goals.

Prior to his tenure at CSU, Costin obtained the rank of major general with the U.S. Air Force during 32 years of commissioned service, during which he represented the Liberty Baptist Fellowship, an endorsement branch under Liberty Church Network, as an endorsed chaplain.

His military accomplishments and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal.

Costin takes over leadership from current president Jerry Prevo, who previously served as the chair of the board of trustees at LU.

Prevo assumed the role of interim president immediately after Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the universitys founder, resigned in August 2020, following a string of personal scandals.

During his tenure, Prevo has fielded multiple lawsuits against the school, including one involving a group of a dozen anonymous women who claimed the university erred in its handling of sexual assault cases, with such allegations going as far back as 2005.

When asked about this transitional period at the university, Costin said he thinks about the dynamic of the past few years and the colleges transition, but hes looking forward to doing exactly what Ive been called to do here.

Costin said he looks forward to taking the baton and "running as far and fast" as he can with the help of faulty and to fulfill as much of Jerry Falwell Sr. vision as he can.

I dont know what all happened before, all I know is I look around here and God has done some amazing things through some incredible people long before I got here, Costin said.

The appointments mark the formal transition of Jerry Prevo from interim president to president emeritus of the university.

Prevo was an active member of the search committee and helped develop the timeline for the planning, launching and execution of the search to identify his own successor, the college said in a release.

LU's Board of Trustees unanimously approved the title of president emeritus for Prevo, to honor the historic contributions he has made to the university.

"It's been an honor for me to be here and serve during this time. It's been a great joy for me and my wife to be here to meet as many of you as possible and also to get acquainted with this great student body," Prevo said at the news conference.

Braden Daniels, a junior with a double major in pre-law and interdisciplinary studies, said the first reaction to Costin stepping in as president is a lot of excitement and a lot of hope looking forward.

I'm really excited to see someone that comes in, kind of understanding what Liberty is and what Liberty does  also bringing a new perspective, Daniels said.

Junior Daniel Hostetter, a government, politics and policy major, as well as student government association student body president, thinks Costin brings a great sense of familiarity to the school.

Hostetter mentioned he and Riley Foster, student body vice president, submitted a letter to Falwell, outlining some student priorities in what they are looking for in the next president and he said Costin exemplifies those virtues.

The junior said the student body government hasnt worked with the president much in the past, but hes excited to expand that relationship.

I'm really excited to see where Dr. Custom will lead us and we're really excited to work closely with him to advocate for students into the future, Hostetter said.

Costin ended his speech at the news conference by saying, I stand here today as a Liberty University trained champion for Christ, and I cannot wait for Vickey and I to get here.

So God bless you all, please pray for us in the coming months. We can't wait to arrive, go Flames, he added.
" " Letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots were finally decoded after more than 500 years of mystery. Gustavo Tomsich/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

From the pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the warring kingdoms of medieval Europe, humans have had plenty of good reasons to send secret messages. If you wanted to keep military plans from the enemy, or keep an illicit affair from your husband, you wrote it down as a "cipher," a coded message that could only be unlocked by someone possessing the key.

Before the computer age, if an historian came across a coded message in an archive of material, they would usually skip over it, because it just wasn't worth the trouble. Even ancient ciphers can be nearly impossible to crack with just a pencil and paper. But what juicy historical secrets were trapped in those ancient puzzles?

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"If you're looking through a diary and you come across a passage that's enciphered, you know that's the best part," says Craig P. Bauer, a math professor at York College of Pennsylvania and editor-in-chief of the journal Cryptologia. "When a message can't be read, the sky's the limit. It can be absolutely anything. It can resolve a historic mystery or shed new light on the personality of a historic figure. Maybe history itself is rewritten."

Bauer should know. His journal, Cryptologia, made history in February 2023 by publishing the work of three amateur code breakers who decrypted a trove of secret letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots. The encoded letters dated to the 16th century, during Mary's 19-year imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth I and show how Mary remained a shrewd political operative even while locked away in a castle.

The team that cracked the Mary, Queen of Scots letters harnessed powerful code-breaking technology that wasn't available even a decade ago, and those new tools have ushered in what Bauer calls "the second golden age of decipherment." The question is: What secrets will these historical code breakers uncover next?

What is Historical Cryptology?

" " The "Zodiac Killer" sent two letters and a cryptogram to the San Francisco Chronicle boasting of his exploits in 1969. The code was broken 51 years later. Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Images

Cryptology is the study of both writing and breaking codes. When we think of cryptologists, we might picture someone like the British mathematician Alan Turing, who cracked Nazi Germany's infamous Enigma machine during WWII.

But cryptologists don't just work for intelligence agencies like the NSA. There are also amateur code breakers who are fascinated with solving historical puzzles. Bauer is one of them. He wrote a book called "Unsolved!: The History and Mystery of the World's Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret Societies," which catalogs some of the biggest ciphers that historical cryptologists are itching to crack.

The Zodiac cipher used to be one of them. For 51 years, no one could solve the riddle of the 340-character coded message written by the infamous Zodiac Killer in 1969. And then a team of amateur cryptologists led by David Oranchak cracked the Zodiac cipher in 2021 using supercomputers and custom decryption software. (The killer's identity remains a mystery.)

In recent years, historical cryptologists have broken ciphers created by the KKK, Marie Antoinette and the Masons. They even figured out how to decrypt the infamous Rohonc Codex, an ancient illustrated manuscript, discovered in the 1830s, written in an unknown nonsense language.

Bauer is quick to point out that it takes more than just raw computing power to break an ancient code.

"A good historical cryptologist has to be part accountant  able to very carefully keep track of numbers and statistics  but they also need to have the spirit of Mozart," says Bauer. "You have to be very creative and almost a psychologist to guess the key words or phrases to unlock the cipher. It requires a combination of creativity, powerful computers and persistence. If you lose one leg of that stool, you won't find a solution."

The team that deciphered Queen Mary's code used a process called hillclimbing, where a computer randomly assigns the symbols in the cipher to letters of the alphabet, decrypts the whole message, scores it based on readability and then repeats the process, only keeping the changes that increase the score of the translation. After the code was cracked, the cryptologists still needed to decipher the coded letters one word at a time and edit the transcriptions, a process that took one year.
" " Artist's concept of the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is thought to be a stripped planetary core. Maxar/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

The asteroid 16 Psyche, which a NASA space probe is scheduled to visit in 2026, is a massive object about 140 miles (226 kilometers) in diameter. It orbits about 235 million to 309 million miles (378 million to 497 million kilometers) from the sun. Unlike most asteroids, which are made of rock or ice, 16 Psyche is believed to be made mostly of iron and nickel, just like Earth's core.

The asteroid's composition also makes it, at least in theory, almost unfathomably valuable. Its estimated worth is $10,000 quadrillion, or $10,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's vastly more than the estimated $86 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) of all the nations on Earth combined (that number comes from the World Economic Forum).

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But how do you actually value an asteroid? Linda Elkins-Tanton, the Psyche mission's principal investigator, says in an email that she developed the $10,000 quadrillion estimate back in 2017, using the price of the materials in the asteroid on the metals market. But that price is really a way of understanding the asteroid's unusual nature, rather than incentive for future space mining entrepreneurs.

"The critical thing, of course, is that the estimate is meaningless in every way," explains Elkins-Tanton, who is a foundation professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she's managing director and co-chair of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative.

"First, we have absolutely no available technology for bringing Psyche back to Earth. And even if we did, the abundance of its metal would immediately render metals valueless on the markets. But, nonetheless, it was a fun exercise!"

Additionally, Elkins-Tanton says that the best current measurements of the asteroid's density indicate that it isn't pure metal, but instead has cracks and pore space, and more rock in the mix.

"We assume the metal in Psyche is iron and nickel, since that is the composition of all the metal meteorites that have fallen to Earth, and that is what we think the Earth's core is made of, " she says.

" " The Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal asteroid, most likely the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech

She provided a chart, showing that iron accounts for 94 percent of the mass of an average metal meteorite, which also typically contains about 5 percent nickel, plus smaller amounts of gallium, iridium, tungsten, cobalt, gold, copper, rhenium, platinum and other trace elements.

But she says it's important to stress that scientists don't yet know for sure what Psyche 16 is made of.

"We will find out what it really is when we get there," she says.

Now That's Interesting Scientists speculate that Psyche 16 could be the core of an early planet that lost its exterior layers in violent collisions with other space objects billions of year ago, according to NASA.
A study by the A*STAR Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and McGill University found that the genetic vulnerabilities for depression differ between males and females.

Researchers performed a sex-stratified genome-wide association analysis for broad depression using the UK Biobank cohort and revealed how antidepressant treatments appeared to target different biological processes in males and females.

Thus, tailored therapeutic treatments that consider sex differences will bring better outcomes for patients suffering from depression.

More information:

Patricia Pelufo Silveira et al, A Sex-Specific Genome-Wide Association Study of Depression Phenotypes in UK Biobank, Molecular Psychiatry (2022). DOI: 10.1101/2022.03.30.22273201

Provided by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High around 70F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Taiwans president Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a dinner reception in New Yor (AP)

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen emphasised the island nations perseverance in the face of China's growing aggression during her stopover in New York on Thursday.

At a closed-door event hosted by the Hudson Institute think tank, she reportedly said the self-governed island is responsible and calm in contrast to China, which she said is raising tensions in cross-strait relations.

"She made a strong point that the defense of Taiwan is actually the defense of America," said Miles Yu, a Hudson Institute director who attended the speech.

"The people of Taiwan look forward to peace, but history tells us that the best way to avoid war is to make ourselves stronger," Ms Tsai said at the event, where she received a leadership award.

China has raised its concerns over Taiwan's visit to the US, which Taipei is billing as simply a "transit, but she kept a full agenda of events Wednesday and Thursday before flying to Central America.

Ms Tsai is scheduled to make to stopovers in the US during her 10-day visit to Guatemala and Belize.

Dozens of pro-China demonstrators holding "One China" banners gathered behind police barricades outside the venue of the event.

China maintains that Taiwan is a part of its national territory, even though the island has been self-ruled since it split from the mainland in 1949 following a civil war. Beijing has beefed up its military activities around the island, including flying a record number of warplanes into its airspace.

Washington's "One-China" policy acknowledges that the Chinese claim Taiwan as their territory. However, the US, which is one of Taiwan's biggest allies, does not endorse China's claim and remains Taipei's most important provider of military hardware and other defense assistance.

More than 200 people protested outside the New York hotel where Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen stayed on Wed. Many protesters were holding anti-secessionism banners. pic.twitter.com/NQn0NKWg7d  Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 30, 2023

On Friday, Taiwan's defence ministry said nine Chinese planes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Beijing's actions deliberately created tension in the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said, adding it condemned the irrational actions.

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A day earlier Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson restated China's serious objections to any interactions between Ms Tsai and US leaders.

"China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan," Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday. "China will continue to closely follow the situation and resolutely safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Taiwans president Tsai Ing-wen waves as she arrives at a hotel, in New York (AP)

A senior Chinese diplomat in Washington, embassy charge d'affaires Xu Xueyuan, pointed to the anticipated meeting between Tsai and the US House speaker Kevin McCarthy as one that could lead to a serious confrontation in US-China relations.

Meanwhile, senior security official in Taiwan said earlier that the island expects a less severe reaction from Beijing to a Tsai-McCarthy meeting than when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei last year.

Beijing responded to Ms Pelosi's visit by staging major military drills around the island.

"She will be meeting in the United States, so the political complexity is not as high as the speaker coming to Taiwan," Taiwan national security bureau director-general Tsai Ming-yen told Taiwan's parliament.

He added that Taiwan had been conducting dry runs on responses to a rise in tensions while the president is away, including when she is flying, and that she can be reached at any time to meet her top security officials.

The White House, which urged China on Wednesday not to use Ms Tsai's "normal" stopover in the US as a pretext to increase aggressive activity against Taiwan, also said it had seen "no tangible reaction" yet from China.

"I think we've all seen them react in a rhetorical way, but we've seen no indication that there's been any other type of reaction," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
(Press image)

A museum in Florence found itself at the centre of a bizarre controversy this week, over a Florida schools visit to see Michaelangelos statue of David.

Hope Carrasquilla, principal of the Tallahassee Classical School, was apparently forced to resign after leading the class trip. The school has a policy requiring parents to be notified in advance about controversial topics being taught.

Carrasquilla believes the board targeted her after three parents complained about a lesson including a photo of the David, a five-metre tall (17 foot) nude marble sculpture dating from 1504. The work, considered a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, depicts the Biblical David going to fight Goliath armed only with his faith in God.

Carrasquilla said that two parents complained because they werent notified in advance that a nude would be shown, while a third called the iconic statue pornographic. Celebrity chef and TV presenter Gino DAcampo has some thoughts

First of all, nudity and pornography are very different things. You should never confuse the two, because to do so is to have the completely wrong mindset. Children need to be educated about the difference, rather than just telling them they shouldnt look at any images that show a penis or a vagina. Maybe Americans should be warned at passport control before they enter Italy, because even in the smallest, most remote towns there are naked sculptures everywhere! They are naked because this is humans in their best, most pure form. And its ridiculous that anyone would be afraid of this.

Ive been travelling around Italy for my show, Gino's Italian Escape, for the past 15 years. It was actually just commissioned for a new series, so in May Ill be travelling around south Italy between Puglia and Basilicata for Ginos Secrets of the South. Im very happy that the shows been commissioned again; its still going after 12 years! I think viewers in the UK really embrace culture - they want to go to Italy and experience everything it has to offer.

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While Im in my home country, Im reminded of how Italians have a completely different attitude when it comes to the body. We dont look for the perfect body like they do on social media. Italians celebrate every kind of body, because our way of thinking is that each one is beautiful in its own unique way. We dont care about six-packs, no, no, no thats all rubbish. We celebrate the body in culture, in art, and on the beach, which is why you see all those 70-year-old nonnas sunbathing with their tops off.

So what I dont understand is, how can these parents allow children to be on social media, on TikTok, where people are vulgar, sharing horrible things, and then be angry and offended by something as magnificent as Michaelangelos sculpture of David? Why is it OK for them to be on all these different platforms where they see all these unrealistic images? (If Michaelangelo was born today, one thing is for sure, is Davids penis would have been bigger.)

If Michaelangelo was born today, one thing is for sure, is Davids penis would have been bigger (Getty Images)

The reaction to the school trip [from parents and the school] has been outrageous. Are we talking about the same people who arent allowed to buy Kinder Eggs (theyre banned in the United States), but they can buy a gun? They cant talk about sex or the body but they can watch the Kardashians? Its ridiculous beyond belief. But the only thing you can do is laugh.

As told to Roisin OConnor
India is celebrating five decades of tiger conservation as it marked the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger on Saturday.

With a current population of about 3,000 tigers, India is home to more than 70 per cent of the global tiger population and their number is increasing by 6 per cent per annum, according to government figures.

India first launched Project Tiger under then-prime minister Indira Gandhi on 1 April 1973, in a bit to promote conservation.

While it initially covered nine tiger reserves spread over 18,278 sq km, India now has 53 reserves covering more than 75,000 sq km (approximately 2.4 per cent of the countrys geographical area).

In an interview with the Times of India to mark the anniversary, environment minister Bhupender Yadav said: Project Tiger has been successful in bringing tigers back from the brink of extinction.

Former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi kickstarted Project Tiger at Corbett National Park on 1 April 1973 (Getty)

The Indian government will officially mark the anniversary of the project on 9 April with a three-day event in Mysuru, in southern Karnataka state.

At the event, prime minister Narendra Modi will release the latest tiger census data and a commemorative coin.

Mr Yadav said that the success of the project should not be viewed in terms of numbers alone.

We believe in the scientific management of tiger reserves and aim to have a tiger population as per the carrying capacity of the habitat, he said.

The ministry is bringing all potential tiger habitats under the coverage of the NTCA [National Tiger Conservation Authority] so that the viable tiger population can be conserved on a sustainable basis.

On Saturday, the general secretary of the opposition Congress party Jairam Ramesh also spoke about the 50th anniversary of the big cat conservation project.

In a statement on Twitter, he said: [Fifteen] months after she launched Gir Lion Project, Indira Gandhi heralded Project Tiger exactly 50 years ago today at Corbett. There were 9 tiger reserves then. Today, there are 53. For her, protecting tigers = protecting forests. Tiger reserves are 1/3rd of rich forest areas now.

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15 months after she launched Gir Lion Project, Indira Gandhi heralded Project Tiger exactly 50 years ago today at Corbett. There were 9 tiger reserves then. Today, there are 53. For her, protecting tigers = protecting forests. Tiger reserves are 1/3rd of rich forest areas now. pic.twitter.com/3QhYMmnlBW  Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 1, 2023

Congress' recently disqualified MP Rahul Gandhi also thanked his grandmother and the former prime minister for starting the project.

In a statement on Facebook, Mr Gandhi said: Project Tiger is a glowing tribute to India's steadfast commitment to wildlife conservation, and the inspiring legacy of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

India along with other countries with tiger populations including Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam, committed to doubling their number of big cats in 2010 by 2022.

India met its target in 2018.
Dan Kitwood - Getty Images

Though business has taken Prince Harry to London for a brief visit, he won't have a chance to meet up with his family while he's in town.

The Duke of Sussex is currently attending a days-long pretrial hearing against Associated Newspapers at London's High Court, of which he is one of the claimants bringing legal action against the publisher for illegal information gathering.

BAZAAR.com understands that Harry notified his father, King Charles III, of his surprise visit before flying from California to London this past weekend, but was told that the monarch would be "too busy," a source says. (The king was originally slated to be in France at this time, but that visit was postponed due to anti-pension reform protests.)

King Charles and Queen Camilla departed today for a royal tour of Germany, but Buckingham Palace confirms to BAZAAR that the monarch was not in Windsor or London before his departure.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, tells BAZAAR that the family is "not in Windsor" due to Easter holidays.

Getty - Getty Images

Amid the hearing, Harry is staying at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, the Sussexes' official United Kingdom residence, which earlier this month Charles requested they vacate.

The Duke of Sussex intends to stay in London all week for the hearing against Associated Newspapers, which officially concludes tomorrow.

In a witness statement released yesterday, Harry alleged that the royal institution did not fully disclose all the details concerning a phone hacking incident by the British publisher.

"The Institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about NGN's phone hacking and that has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation," he said. "It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble burst in terms of what I knew in 2020 when I moved out of the United Kingdom."

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 1) The Philippine National Police on Saturday arrested the suspect in the killing of a college student in Dasmarinas, Cavite a few days ago.

The suspect was identified as Angelito Erlano, 39, a resident of Barangay San Nicolas 2, Dasmarinas City.

He was apprehended after an informant told authorities that he was hiding at a friend's place, according to the investigation.

The suspect tried to attack the arresting officer with an improvised screwdriver, but the officer was able to prevent it, the police report said.

Erlano was charged with robbery with homicide and direct assault upon an agent of person in authority.

Queen Leanne Daguinsin, a graduating computer science student of De La Salle University - Dasmarinas, was found dead in her dormitory in Barangay Santa Fe, Dasmarinas last March 28. She sustained 14 stab wounds in her body and arms.

CCTV footage showed the suspect, wearing a blue shirt, a mask, and a cap, walking out of the dormitory after the incident with what were presumed to be the victim's belongings.
SIOUX CITY  Dozens of Sioux City residents attended a protest on Saturday afternoon at the Sioux City Public Museum that was meant to bring attention to recent pushes in the Iowa legislature to challenge the way public libraries and schools handle books for students.

The event featured five speakers, "Banned Book Bingo" and a "Take a book, leave a book" banned book swap where attendees could pick up titles such as "All Boys Aren't Blue" (a memoir about queer Black adolescence) or "Stamped" (a work concerned with anti-racism) and leave literature like "1984" or "To Kill a Mockingbird." All those titles have, at various times, appeared on the American Library Association's "Most-Challenged Books" list.

Rally against book banning A table full of banned books for people to take home is on display at a rally against banning books, Saturday at the Sioux City Public Museum 

Rachel Cole, a mom with a student at Mater Dei in Sioux City, said she came up with the book swap portion of the proceedings as a way to raise awareness about the variety of literature that has been removed from library shelves.

"Books considered classics, or that you've loved, or your children have loved, have all been banned or challenged at one time or another," Cole said.

Rally against book banning Attendees leave books and talk about banned titles at a banned book swap during a rally against banning books, Saturday at the Sioux City Publ

As passed out of an Iowa legislature subcommittee this week, Senate File 496 increases scrutiny of Iowa public schools on matters of gender identity, sexual orientation and library catalogs while also requiring districts to give parents course materials and an option to opt out of coursework. Any literature detailing or depicting sex acts would be barred from school libraries and schools would need to list books in the district's library online and give parents a way to challenge curriculum.

Lobbyist declarations in favor of the legislation have come from organizations such as The Family Leader and Homeschool Iowa while those in opposition include the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the Iowa Psychological Association.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has herself proposed the removal of books from school libraries in all of the state's 327 districts if they're successfully challenged in any one of them. Cole said she fears the potential for "blanket challenges."

"There's a different type of book banning happening now," she said. "In the past, there have been people who would challenge a single book but now right wing organizations are now putting out lists of books they consider dangerous and people are challenging whole slates of books. And if we have laws that trigger the removal of those books, without any process, then that's a lot of books that indiscriminately removed that people can't access."

Rally against book banning Guests play bingo with banned book titles during a rally against banning books, Saturday at the Sioux City Public Museum in Sioux City, Iowa, 

One of the event's speakers, Liz Mikitarian, the Florida-based founder of the group STOP Moms for Liberty, which touts 1,000 members in Iowa, said she believes legislative attempts to limit who can see what books are part of a larger effort to gut the public education system.

"Book banning is a structured and effective path theyve taken. Its fear inducing," Mikitarian said of groups such as Moms for Liberty. The nationwide conservative activist group has told state lawmakers in Iowa there should be more restrictions for written materials they believe to be obscene or divisive.

Rally against book banning Jeff Stellish speaks out against restricting reading materials during a rally against banning books, Saturday at the Sioux City Public Museum 

Rally against book banning Jim Tillman speaks about book bans throughout history during a rally against banning books, Saturday at the Sioux City Public Museum in Sioux 

Other speakers at the event included Trisha Etringer, Siouxland Project Director for the Great Plains Action Society; Karen Mackey, who serves as the executive director of the Sioux City Human Rights Commission; Dr. Jeffrey Stellish, a historian and Cherokee County native; and Jim Tillman, a documentarian of local Black history.

The event was hosted by Siouxland Progressive Women, in partnership with Annie's Foundation (which advocates for greater reading access), the Great Plains Action Society, the NAACP, the National Organization, the Siouxland Pride Alliance and STOP Moms for Liberty.
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill.  Dr. Colleen McNicholas is fresh off performing two abortions, but the day is still stacked with appointments; as many as 100 abortion and family planning patients might walk through the doors.

Just the day before, 58 women had abortions at the Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood clinic, 15 miles east of St. Louis.

Hundreds of women travel each week to southern Illinois to secure an abortion, something no longer available to millions living in a 1,800-mile stretch of 11 Southern states that mostly banned pregnancy terminations since the Supreme Court stripped away constitutional protections for women to end pregnancies last June.

The clinics waitlist for abortions has grown from two days to nearly three weeks after the Supreme Court ruling  even after staffers started working 10-hour shifts and opened the clinic on Saturdays.

With every piece of litigation, with every new constitutional amendment, with every new abortion restriction in a state that has some access, we are on this teeter-totter of what can we do here to make more space for the people who are going to be fleeing their home state? McNicholas said.

With 10,000 abortion patients expected this year at the clinic, theres talk of opening on Sundays. Staff developed an emergency plan to convert some patient rooms to make more room for abortions. A recreational vehicle was retooled into a mobile clinic that can travel along the state line for doctors to provide abortions.

McNicholas is eyeing a proposed six-week abortion ban in Florida, which could send even more women seeking abortions up north. And shes closely watching how a Texas judge will rule on a case that seeks to keep the abortion pill mifepristone off the market.

Any additional decision has the potential to really change demand again, she said. Its like crisis management every day of the year.

Months before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Planned Parenthood and the nearby Hope Clinic were grappling with a surge of patients from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere after Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed a bill into law that effectively shut down several abortion clinics in his state and led to long waitlists in neighboring states facilities. Together, the clinics launched a new regional logistics center in January 2022 dedicated to helping out-of-state patients book hotels, flights, gas money, bus rides or rental cars to either facility.

On June 24, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutionally protected right. Within hours, states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas began enacting trigger laws that banned abortions.

Now, about 70 women call the center every day for help getting to an abortion clinic in southern Illinois, said Kawanna Shannon, director of patient access at the Planned Parenthood clinic. A navigator goes over what she can pay toward the abortion and other details: How will the patient get to the area? Does she have money for food while she stays there? Will she need child care?

When someone cannot afford the trip, the center books the travel for the patient and works with more than 30 nonprofit groups around the country that solicit funds for abortion access to pay for it. A staffer is available around-the-clock to answer calls from patients who run into travel issues.

Its not going to slow down, Shannon said. We are really taking care of the entire Southern region. All the (patients) in the South are really coming to southern Illinois because were the closest. Almost all of them need some type of help  be it travel, be it procedure costs.

Two hours south of the Planned Parenthood clinic, two new abortion clinics opened in Carbondale, Illinois, late last year to give women living in banned states a closer option.

After reading the Supreme Courts leaked draft opinion last May, Andrea Gallegos, the director of the Alamo Clinic, said she hopped on Google and started looking for liberal-leaning cities in rural, southern Illinois.

The Alamo Clinic relocated to the area from Oklahoma last November.

Three doctors in a rotation travel from Montana, Tennessee or Texas weekly to perform about 30 abortions daily at the clinic, which will terminate a pregnancy before 18 weeks. Gallegos says fewer than 5% of patients who come to the clinic are from Illinois.

During the final six months of last year, the Fairview Heights clinic saw 2,042 abortion patients from outside of Missouri or Illinois  up from just 314 the six months before.

Women are now seeking abortions later in their pregnancies at the Planned Parenthood clinic, which offers the procedure through 26 weeks. About one-quarter of patients need a second trimester abortion, McNicholas said.

But the hardest change to deal with has been the steady increase in children who are coming to the clinic, hoping to end a pregnancy that was the result of a rape or abuse.

What you use to see was maybe one or two 10-and 11-year-olds a year, she said. Now youre seeing a couple a month because theyre coming from all over the country. Just sitting with that knowledge that this many people are experiencing so much trauma  There are times where its really hard.

Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries 1960s: 'Back-alley butchers,' birth control, and protests 2020s: Roe v. Wade is overturned; Postal Service allowed to mail abortion medication 1970s: Roe v. Wade protects women's right to abortion; politics shift Mid-1800s: Birth of the American Medical Association shifts abortion oversight from midwives to doctors; abortion is criminalized The evolution of abortion in America Pre-1850: Abortions in early America are commonplace 1980s-2000s: Legal challenges to Roe v. Wade introduce restrictions
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

(THE CONVERSATION) When President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Math Awareness Week in April 1986, one of the problems he cited was that too few students were devoted to the study of math.

Despite the increasing importance of mathematics to the progress of our economy and society, enrollment in mathematics programs has been declining at all levels of the American educational system, Reagan wrote in his proclamation.

Nearly 40 years later, the problem that Reagan lamented during the first National Math Awareness Week  which has since evolved to become Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month  not only remains but has gotten worse.

Whereas 1.63%, or about 16,000, of the nearly 1 million bachelors degrees awarded in the U.S. in the 1985-1986 school year went to math majors, in 2020, just 1.4%, or about 27,000, of the 1.9 million bachelors degrees were awarded in the field of math  a small but significant decrease in the proportion.

Post-pandemic data suggests the number of students majoring in math in the U.S. is likely to decrease in the future.

A key factor is the dramatic decline in math learning that took place during the lockdown. For instance, whereas 34% of eighth graders were proficient in math in 2019, test data shows the percentage dropped to 26% after the pandemic.

These declines will undoubtedly affect how much math U.S. students can do at the college level. For instance, in 2022, only 31% of graduating high school seniors were ready for college-level math  down from 39% in 2019.

These declines will also affect how many U.S. students are able to take advantage of the growing number of high-paying math occupations, such as data scientists and actuaries. Employment in math occupations is projected to increase by 29% in the period from 2021 to 2031.

About 30,600 math jobs are expected to open up per year from growth and replacement needs. That exceeds the 27,000 or so math graduates being produced each year  and not all math degree holders go into math fields. Shortages will also arise in several other areas, since math is a gateway to many STEM fields.

For all of these reasons and more, as a mathematician who thinks deeply about the importance of math and what it means to our world  and even to our existence as human beings  I believe this year, and probably for the foreseeable future, educators, policymakers and employers need to take Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month more seriously than ever before.

Struggles with mastery

Subpar math achievement has been endemic in the U.S. for a long time.

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that no more than 26% of 12th graders have been rated proficient in math since 2005.

The pandemic disproportionately affected racially and economically disadvantaged groups. During the lockdown, these groups had less access to the internet and quiet studying spaces than their peers. So securing Wi-Fi and places to study are key parts of the battle to improve math learning.

Some people believe math teaching techniques need to be revamped, as they were through the Common Core, a new set of educational standards that stressed alternative ways to solve math problems. Others want a return to more traditional methods. Advocates also argue there is a need for colleges to produce better-prepared teachers.

Other observers believe the problem lies with the fixed mindset many students have  where failure leads to the conviction that they cant do math  and say the solution is to foster a growth mindset  by which failure spurs students to try harder.

Although all these factors are relevant, none address what in my opinion is a root cause of math underachievement: our nations ambivalent relationship with mathematics.

Low visibility

Many observers worry about how U.S. children fare in international rankings, even though math anxiety makes many adults in the U.S. steer clear of the subject themselves.

Mathematics is not like art or music, which people regularly enjoy all over the country by visiting museums or attending concerts. Its true that there is a National Museum of Mathematics in New York, and some science centers in the U.S. devote exhibit space to mathematics, but these can be geographically inaccessible for many.

A 2020 study on media portrayals of math found an overall invisibility of mathematics in popular culture. Other findings were that math is presented as being irrelevant to the real world and of little interest to most people, while mathematicians are stereotyped to be singular geniuses or socially inept nerds, and white and male.

Math is tough and typically takes much discipline and perseverance to succeed in. It also calls for a cumulative learning approach  you need to master lessons at each level because youre going to need them later.

A positive experience

Heres the good news. A 2017 Pew poll found that despite the bad rap the subject gets, 58% of U.S. adults enjoyed their school math classes. Its members of this legion who would make excellent recruits to help promote Aprils math awareness. The initial charge is simple: Think of something you liked about math  a topic, a puzzle, a fun fact  and go over it with someone. It could be a child, a student, or just one of the many adults who have left school with a negative view of math.

Can something that sounds so simplistic make a difference? Based on my years of experience as a mathematician, I believe it can  if nothing else, for the person you talk to. The goal is to stimulate curiosity and convey that mathematics is much more about exhilarating ideas that inform our universe than it is about the school homework-type calculations so many dread.

Raising math awareness is a first step toward making sure people possess the basic math skills required not only for employment, but also to understand math-related issues  such as gerrymandering or climate change  well enough to be an informed and participating citizen. However, its not something that can be done in one month.

Given the decline in both math scores and the percentage of students studying math, it may take many years before America realizes the stronger relationship with math that President Reagans proclamation called for during the first National Math Awareness Week in 1986.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/declines-in-math-readiness-underscore-the-urgency-of-math-awareness-202691.
An Omaha-based engineering company has been selected to design the Memorial Stadium of the future.

The University of Nebraska chose HDR at the end of a competitive selection process to serve as architect/engineer for the renovation project, which could cost between $200 million and $500 million.

The Board of Regents will consider approving the contract at its April 7 board meeting. Regents will meet at the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

University leaders announced their plans to improve Memorial Stadium for Husker fans last year ahead of the 100th anniversary of the venue opening on the state's flagship campus.

And last fall, regents signed off on a plan to hire a third-party firm that will help shoulder the responsibility of fundraising, design and construction of the Memorial Stadium renovation.

The process selected by regents will allow the university to hire a "right hand" to oversee all facets of the project.

HDR won't serve in that capacity, an NU spokeswoman said, but will instead focus on developing concepts for what the end result might look like, plan construction, evaluate costs and eventually work alongside a construction manager.

According to a copy of the contract included with the regents' agenda, HDR will conduct conceptual planning and design during the first phase of the Memorial Stadium improvement project for a flat fee of $1.1 million.

The first phase will also involve an assessment of the existing facilities, including a study of space and the flow of foot and vehicle traffic inside the stadium's footprint, as well as determining the mechanical and electrical needs of the project.

Once the first phase is complete and a cost estimate is determined, the university would then pay HDR an amount equal to 8% of the total price to draw up schematics and begin working with contractors on a timeline for work to begin and be completed.

Both university administrators and regents have emphasized that no public tax dollars, tuition revenue or student fees will be used on the project.

The ultimate scope of changes to Memorial Stadium will rely upon how much the university can raise toward improving one of the already most visible areas of campus.

Other items regents will consider include:

* A $15.1 million budget for a renovation of Kimball Recital Hall at UNL. The project will use funds set aside by the Legislature for deferred maintenance projects.

* The elected Board of Regents will also honor the outgoing student regents: Emily Saadi of UNK, Jacob Drake of UNL, Nicole Kent of UNMC and Tori Sims of UNO.

Photos: In awe of Memorial Stadium 2013 1923 stadium 1950 stadium 1959 stadium Memorial Stadium 1965 1971 stadium 1991 stadium Stadium in 1994 1999 stadium 2005 stadium 2006 stadium 2008 Spring Game crowd Stadium crowd in April 2009 2009 stadium Memorial Stadium 2009 Red-White Spring Game, 4.16.2011 Aerial of stadium in 2012 Memorial Stadium aerial 2013 Red-White Spring Game, 4.11.15 2015 stadium Red-White Spring Game 2017 Husker fans, 11/24/17 Ohio State vs. Nebraska, 10/14/17 Red-White Spring Game, 4/21/18 2019 fireworks Guard flyover at stadium - 2019 2019 stadium
An education official with more than 35 years of experience is set to become Nebraska's next education commissioner.

During a Friday meeting, the State Board of Education voted 5-3 to offer Brian Maher a contract for the job, following a full day of interviews with three finalists.

Maher is the executive director of the South Dakota Board of Regents. He already has resigned from that role and is scheduled to leave his post in June, though he could leave earlier.

He was selected over two other candidates: Melissa Poloncic, superintendent of the Douglas County West Community Schools, and Summer Stephens, superintendent for the Churchill County School District in Fallon, Nevada.

Several board members said they were impressed by Maher's prepared and polished interview delivery and his experience with a variety of leadership positions.

"He clearly shows he respects the board," said Patti Gubbels, board president. "The wealth and the depth of his experiences really were important."

Board member Lisa Fricke said she appreciated that he is a very careful and calm person.

"That is something in Nebraska we need right now. We don't need people speaking before they think," Fricke said.

He previously served as either a superintendent or administrator in the Kearney, Waverly, Elkhorn, Centennial and Johnson-Brock school districts in Nebraska, as well as Sioux Falls in South Dakota. In 2015, he was named Nebraska's Superintendent of the Year.

The board's decision wasn't unanimous. Sherry Jones, Elizabeth Tegtmeier and Kirk Penner voted no. The last two education commissioners received a unanimous board vote, officials said.

The disagreement followed a lengthy discussion prompted by Tegtmeier, who questioned the integrity of the search process.

Tegtmeier questioned the process of compiling a list of structured interview questions that had to be approved by Steve Joel, the McPherson and Jacobson consultant managing the search.

She criticized the list, saying important topics such as the teacher shortage and student literacy weren't included.

"Yesterday, when I asked why all board members didn't get the questions ahead of time, I heard that 'we' can't risk the questions getting out," she said. "As one of the eight equal board members, I couldn't be trusted with the questions. This is concerning to me."

Penner agreed with Tegtmeier. He wanted to add three questions to the interviews Thursday but was turned down by Joel.

Tegtmeier also questioned Maher's association with Joel, saying they were longtime colleagues and have worked together in the past.

"My concern about protecting the integrity of the process was not heard. And no one backed me up," Tegtmeier said. "Today, I have to go with my gut. The integrity of this process has been compromised, rendering it invalid for a fair and equitable outcome."

Other board members disagreed with Tegtmeier, saying it's normal in government interviews to have a vetted and pre-approved list of interview questions.

"This is not a private sector job, this is a government job," said board member Jacquelyn Morrison. "We have structured interview questions so all candidates can get the same opportunity to answer those questions."

Maher will potentially sign and accept his contract at the next regular board meeting April 14.

Top Journal Star photos for March 2023
Slates archives are full of fascinating stories. Were republishing this article because it remains a reader favorite. It was originally published May 13, 2009.

It never fails. Every single cocktail party, as soon as someone finds out that Im a graduate student studying marine biology, they ask, So, do you get to play with dolphins? Since my heart is as black and cold as the oceanic abyss, I usually take this opportunity to disillusion yet another poor soul of their childhood fantasy of Mystical Dolphin Love .

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Dolphins are not gentle or psychic. If they could talk they would not impart eco-wisdom or deep spiritual truth. Dolphins are violent predators with a predilection for baby killing and rape. I feel its my duty to warn you, despite the risk of insulting creatures made of hundreds of pounds of muscle and rows of sharp teeth. Throw out your rainbow dolphin painting , and check out dolphins low-down dirty secrets:

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Dolphin sex can be violent and coercive. Gangs of two or three male bottlenose dolphins isolate a single female from the pod and forcibly mate with her, sometimes for weeks at a time. To keep her in line, they make aggressive noises, threatening movements, and even smack her around with their tails. And if she tries to swim away, they chase her down. Horny dolphins have also been known to target human swimmers -Demi Moore is rumored to have had a close encounter of the finny kind.

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Dolphins kill harbor porpoise babies. In Scotland, scientists found baby harbor porpoises washed up with horrific internal injuries. They thought the porpoises might have been killed by weapons tests until they found the toothmarks. Later, dolphins were caught on film pulping the baby porpoises-the dolphins even used their ecolocation to aim their blow at the porpoises vital organs.

Dolphins kill their own babies. Baby dolphins have washed up alongside the dead porpoises, and some scientists think that all the porpoise-slaughter was just practice for some old-fashioned infanticide . For other mammals like lions, killing the babies makes the females immediately ready for the next pregnancy, and maybe thats the case with dolphins, too.

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The scariest part is dolphins can wreak havoc day and night without sleeping. A recent study found that dolphins could stay awake for five days straight with no loss of mental acuity. The dolphins didnt even need to make up sleep at the end of the study, though the scientists sure did.

If the dolphins ever evolve thumbs , were in trouble. It will be like a slasher-film remake of Douglas Adams So Long And Thanks for All The Fish . If I wash up with pulped innards and dolphin tooth marks, youll know why. After all, you never hear about the people the dolphins push out to sea.
Donald Trump was indicted in Manhattan this week on what is reportedly more than 30 counts. The Surge can now reveal, according to a top source who looks shockingly like Donald Trump in a fake mustache and glasses, what these charges are. The Manhattan DA is slapping Trump with 10 counts of being your favorite president, another 12 of legitimate business dealings, and eight to 12 counts of makin it with a dame. This is simply what they do now in New York, a city of lies, crime, and communism. But! Let us examine the immediate political effects. News of the indictment on Thursday bound much of the Republican apparatusincluding his would-be presidential challengersto defending Trump, potentially giving him a short-term boost. Well see if being indicted on dozens of counts, with more potentially to come in other jurisdictions, is really a lasting political winner as the race develops. Democrats, meanwhile, released all of these nerdy statements about the rule of law, no one being above the law, being innocent until proven guilty (or something like that), yada yada yada. Honestly? It seems as if no one in the political sphere really wants to deal with this. Trump would prefer to not be indicted at all. Trumps Republican rivals really dont want to defend Trump. Democrats would rather see him indicted on more solid charges than paying a porn star $130,000 in the wrong way. No One Wants to Deal With This: A continuing American political tradition since 2015.
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a virtual address at the second-ever Summit for Democracy, hailing his country as the best example of democracy in the world. As Modis words were beamed out to dozens of other nations, the Indian government was cracking down on its citizens digital rightsagain.

The same day Modi addressed the summit, Reuters reported, Twitter withheld Pakistans official account from access by India-based users in response to a legal demand, as reads the language you now see on all @GovtOfPakistan tweets if you live in India. This marked the third time Twitter India has restricted Pakistans account over the past year with little explanation, as well as the troubling continuation of a monthlong censorship blitz. Two weeks ago, police forces in the state of Punjab kicked off a manhunt for Amritpal Singh Sandhu, the militant ringleader of a movement to grant Indias Sikhs their own sovereign nation. As Sikhs across Punjab rallied in support of Singh, authorities arrested hundreds of them and shut down internet and SMS networks across the state for days on endaffecting about 30 million Punajbis. Indian authorities, who have still not caught Singh, have kept up a strategy of information control: Last week, as Rest of World reported, Twitter blocked 122 accounts from Indian view per a government request, including those of prominent Sikhs like poet Rupi Kaur and Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh who live outside of India and, in the latters case, had publicly voiced concerns over the Punjab crackdown. (Notably, many Sikhs in the United States and Canada have rallied to support Amritpal Singh.) Then, the very day before Modis democracy speech, Twitter withheld BBC News Punjabi-language account from view in India.

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You dont have to support the pro-separatist Khalistan movement that Amritpal Singh representsor endorse his storming of a Punjabi police station in February to free one of his associatesto acknowledge that these blackouts defy the democratic virtues Modi claims to champion. Not that thats stopped him before; as Ive previously written, requests by India for Twitter to block tweets and accounts that contradict government messaging have ramped up exponentially during Modis tenure, to the point that Twitter sued India over the practice last July. But that was before Elon Musk took over the social network; there has been little movement in the suit since he took the reins. In the meantime, Twitter has acquiesced to Indian requests for censorshipincluding the mass takedown of tweets linking to a January BBC documentary about Modiand also restored accounts of Hindu nationalists whod been previously banned from Twitter for hate speech.

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Its unclear how much Musk knows about the political situation in India, but hes undoubtedly aware of the Twitter lawsuit, as well as the persistence of Indias censorship. In late January, when the Intercept wrote about the crackdown on BBCs Modi documentary, YouTuber David Freiheit tweeted out the piece and tagged Musk, asking whether Twitter had devolved into outright censorship. In a reply, Musk claimed it was the first Ive heard of the incident. News outlets noted the contradiction of a self-professed free speech absolutist like Musk bowing to censorial pressure from international governments; notably, Musk claimed last year that he would not flout government laws in his quest to make Twitter a forum more conducive to free speech. And just about every action India has taken since, with regard to social media obfuscation and protest disruption, is technically legal due to various controversial bills that have passed during Modis rule.

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What makes the latest social media crackdowns especially galling is the new national context in which theyve emerged. India probably wanted Pakistans government censored online because, as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann claims, Khalistan supporters been funded by Pakistani intelligence agencies and other shady outside sources. (While Mann has offered little proof with regard to the current situation, it is true that Pakistani sources have funded more violent Khalistani activists in past decades; nevertheless, its also true that @GovtOfPakistan has not tweeted about either Khalistan or Amritpal Singh.) The fact that officials blocked tens of millions of Punjabis from domestic communications and international sources of information while pursuing one lone figure sets a dangerous precedent for future law enforcement. Already, India has frequently deployed long-term internet shutdowns in states like Haryana as well as Jammu and Kashmir, often to stifle digital organizing in protest of the government. The chilling implication of these latest crackdowns is that theyll become a common tool for any government-sanctioned criminal chase. And these days, Indian law enforcement operates in an extreme, arbitrary manner, often arresting hundreds of citizens at a time for any form of protest, for any suspected dissent, for any perceived lawbreaking, even without proof.

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One grim example of this is playing out right now. Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty whos led spirited opposition to Modis regime, is now facing blatant persecution by the state for that very resistance, both in the physical and virtual realms. Last week, a court in Modis home state of Gujarat sentenced Gandhi to a two-year prison sentence over a 2019 speech in which he pointed out that the prime minister shares a surname with two infamous Indian criminals, Nirav Modi and Lalit Modithus implicating Narendra Modis own lawlessness. The state court reasoned that this lone statement was defamatory against the Modh-Ghanchi caste that the head of state belongs to, and thus disqualified Gandhi from civil service.* Gandhi is not yet behind barshe was granted bail in order to appeal the ruling at a higher courtbut hes been booted from his elected position in Indias Parliament, and may also be forced to vacate the home he was assigned as an MP. The flimsiness of the decision has fueled belief among Modi critics that Gandhis persecution is blatant political blowback, considering that the now-former MP led a mass unity march from September through January meant to demonstrate an ideological alternative to Modis hate-fueled politics. Theres also the fact that Gandhi and his supporters have accused YouTube of suppressing the reach of Gandhi-uploaded videos centered around Modis favorable treatment of disgraced billionaire Gautam Adani; according to the Wall Street Journal, YouTubes executive team is looking into those accusations.

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Its easy to imagine a context where Gandhi is convicted and sentenced yet again, and where the Indian government decides to clamp down on more social media accounts related to Gandhi and his followers as they protest. Perhaps some of those very protesters will be charged and chased throughout the subcontinent by government agents and police forcesin that case, you can reasonably expect that multiple Indian regions will lose access either to certain social media accounts or the entire internet altogether. So much for the best example of democracy in the world.

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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Having the best commercial coffee machines for your business can offer a host of benefits. For starters, it can help to increase productivity and employee satisfaction, as a good cup of coffee can provide a much-needed energy boost throughout the day.

Offering high-quality coffee to customers or clients can enhance their experience and perception of your business. Investing in a reliable, efficient, and user-friendly commercial coffee machine, you can enjoy these benefits and more while also saving time and money in the long run.

Importance of the perfect coffee maker in a business setting

Having the best commercial coffee maker in a business setting can make all the difference in creating a positive work environment. A high-quality coffee maker can help to ensure that employees have access to a fresh and tasty cup of coffee whenever they need it, which can boost productivity and morale.

A reliable and user-friendly coffee maker can save time and money in the long run, making it a smart investment for your business. By choosing the best commercial coffee maker for your business, you can create a welcoming atmosphere and help your employees start their day on the right foot.

Factors to consider when choosing a commercial coffee maker

Consider the following factors when you are ready to buy your next commercial coffee brewer. With these parameters in place, you will be sure to get the best commercial coffee machines in the market.

Size: Choose a commercial coffee machine that fits your space and brewing needs. A larger coffee shop may require a high-volume commercial coffee brewer, while a smaller business may benefit from a compact machine. Capacity: How many cups can it make? Consider the capacity of the commercial coffee machine, which can range from a few cups to several gallons. So make sure you know know how much coffee it can make to handle the demands of your business during peak hours. Brewing process: The brewing process can affect the taste and quality of your coffee. Consider factors like the brewing temperature, extraction time, and water-to-coffee ratio when selecting a commercial coffee maker. Ease of use: Look for a commercial coffee brewer that is easy to operate, clean, and maintain. A user-friendly coffee maker can save time and hassle in a busy coffee shop. Price: The price of a commercial coffee brewer can vary widely depending on the features and capacity. Consider your budget and long-term costs when choosing a coffee maker. Brand reputation: Choose a commercial coffee machine from a reputable brand known for its quality and durability. Look for customer reviews and ratings to gauge the reliability of the coffee maker. Features: Consider additional features like programmable settings, multiple brewing options, and built-in grinders when selecting a commercial coffee brewer. These features can enhance the brewing experience and quality of your coffee. Preferences: Keep the preferences of the people that use the machine in mind when choosing a commercial coffee maker. Consider factors like the types of coffee you will offer, brewing methods, coffee flavors, and customization options.

Types of Commercial Coffee Makers

There are several types of commercial coffee makers available, including automatic drip machines, pour-over brewers, espresso machines, French press, and cold brew systems. Each type offers unique features and brewing methods to suit the needs and preferences of different people.

Automatic Drip Coffee Makers

Pros of Automatic Drip Coffee Makers:

Easy to use and clean

Fast brewing time

Can make large quantities of coffee at once

Affordable

Cons of Automatic Drip Coffee Makers:

Limited control over brewing variables like temperature and extraction time

Can produce a weaker flavor compared to other brewing methods

Limited customization options

Automatic Drip Coffee Makers are best for office spaces and smaller businesses because of their ease of use, fast brewing time, and ability to make large quantities of coffee at once, making them ideal for serving a group of people quickly and efficiently.

Top 3 Automatic Drip Coffee Maker Models

BUNN Velocity Brew

The BUNN Velocity Brew is a fast and reliable coffee maker that can brew up to 10 cups of coffee in just three minutes. It features a unique spray head design that ensures even extraction and optimal flavor.

BUNN Velocity Brew

Buy on Amazon

Technivorm Moccamaster

The Technivorm Moccamaster is a high-end coffee maker that delivers precise temperature control and a consistent brew. It features a sleek design, durable construction, and a large water tank for brewing multiple cups at once.

Technivorm Moccamaster

Buy on Amazon

Hamilton Beach FlexBrew

See Also: Your Guide to Small Business Saturday 2019

The Hamilton Beach FlexBrew is a versatile coffee maker that can brew single cups or full pots. It features programmable settings, a built-in grinder, and the ability to use both ground coffee and coffee pods, making it a great choice for busy households or small offices.

Hamilton Beach FlexBrew

Buy on Amazon

Espresso Machines

Pros of Espresso Machines:

Ability to make a variety of espresso-based drinks

Precise control over brewing variables like temperature and pressure

Strong and bold flavor

Can make a single shot or double shot of espresso quickly

Cons of Espresso Machines:

Expensive compared to other coffee makers

Requires skill and training to use properly

Smaller capacity than other coffee makers

Maintenance can be more time-consuming

Espresso machines are best for cafes and restaurants because of their ability to make a variety of espresso-based drinks, precise control over brewing variables, and strong and bold flavor that customers expect from high-quality coffee shops.

Top 3 Espresso Machine Models

DeLonghi EC9665M La Specialista Maestro Espresso Machine

This machine has 6 grind settings, a dual heating system, and precise temperature control. It lets you create barista-quality espresso with ease. Its innovative LatteCrema system ensures perfect milk froth, while the interface streamlines your brewing experience.

DeLonghi EC9665M La Specialista Maestro Espresso Machine

Buy on Amazon

Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II

The Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II is a versatile espresso machine that can handle a high volume of orders while still delivering consistent quality. It features programmable settings, automatic milk frothing, and an ergonomic design.

Nuova Simonelli Aurelia II

Buy on Amazon

Breville Barista Express

The Breville Barista Express is a semi-automatic espresso machine that is designed for home or small business use. It features a built-in grinder, precise temperature control, and a user-friendly interface that allows for customization of brewing variables.

Breville Barista Express

Buy on Amazon

Single-Serve Coffee Makers

Pros of Single-Serve Coffee Makers:

Quick and easy to use

Minimal cleanup required

Variety of flavor options

Consistent brewing quality

Cons of Single-Serve Coffee Makers:

More expensive per cup compared to other brewing methods

Limited brewing capacity

Not eco-friendly due to single-use pods

Limited control over brewing variables

Single-Serve Coffee Makers are best for convenience stores and hotels because of their ease of use, minimal cleanup required, and variety of flavor options that can cater to a range of customer preferences. From straight black coffee to a wide range of flavors, these machines are great if you want to offer variety.

Top 3 Single-Serve Coffee Maker Models

Keurig K-Elite

The Keurig K-Elite is a popular single-serve coffee maker that features a large water tank, programmable settings, and compatibility with a wide variety of K-Cup pods. It also has a strong brew setting for a bolder cup of coffee.

Keurig K-Elite

Buy on Amazon

Nespresso Vertuo

The Nespresso Vertuo is a versatile single-serve coffee maker that can brew both espresso and coffee. It uses proprietary coffee pods and features a unique centrifugal brewing system for a rich and flavorful cup of coffee.

Nespresso Vertuo

Buy on Amazon

Hamilton Beach Scoop

The Hamilton Beach Scoop is a budget-friendly single-serve coffee maker that uses ground coffee instead of pods. It features a built-in metal mesh filter and adjustable brew strength for a customizable cup of coffee.

Hamilton Beach Scoop

Buy on Amazon

Bean-to-Cup Machines

Pros of Bean-to-Cup Machines:

Freshness: Grinds beans just before brewing

Customization: Adjustable settings for strength and volume

Variety: Can make a range of drinks, including espresso, cappuccino, and latte

Consistent brewing quality

Cons of Bean-to-Cup Machines:

More expensive compared to other coffee makers

Higher maintenance required

Larger size than other coffee makers

Louder than other coffee makers

Bean-to-Cup Machines are best for businesses that prioritize freshness because they grind coffee beans just before brewing, ensuring a fresh and flavorful cup of coffee every time.

Top 3 Bean-to-Cup Machine Models

Jura Impressa C65

The Jura Impressa C65 is a high-end bean-to-cup machine that offers a range of customization options, including adjustable coffee strength, volume, and temperature. It also features a sleek design and intuitive interface.

Jura Impressa C65

Buy on Amazon

DeLonghi Magnifica

The DeLonghi Magnifica is a versatile bean-to-cup machine that can make espresso, cappuccino, and latte drinks. It features a built-in burr grinder, adjustable brewing settings, and a compact size that makes it ideal for small businesses.

DeLonghi Magnifica

Buy on Amazon

Saeco Xelsis

The Saeco Xelsis is a premium bean-to-cup machine that features a built-in milk frother and the ability to store multiple user profiles for customized brewing. It also has a sleek design and intuitive touchscreen interface.

Saeco Xelsis

Buy on Amazon

Considerations for Choosing the Right Coffee Maker

1. Volume and Capacity

Assessing your businesss coffee needs: Its important to assess your businesss coffee needs when selecting a coffee maker. Consider factors like the number of cups you need to brew per day, the frequency of use, and the peak hours of demand to determine the appropriate capacity.

Importance of selecting the right size coffee maker: Selecting the right size coffee maker ensures you can meet the demand for coffee during peak hours without wasting time or coffee. A coffee maker with a capacity that is too small can lead to long wait times and frustrated customers, while a coffee maker with a capacity that is too large can result in wasted coffee and resources.

2. Ease of Use

Training employees on coffee maker operation: Its important to choose a coffee maker that is easy to use and train employees on its operation. A user-friendly coffee maker can save time and hassle in a busy environment, and proper training can ensure consistency and quality in brewing.

Maintenance and cleaning requirements: When selecting a coffee maker, consider the maintenance and cleaning requirements. Regular maintenance can prolong the lifespan of the machine and ensure consistent quality, while easy-to-clean components can save time and hassle in a busy business environment.

3. Features and Customization

Built-in grinders: Coffee makers with built-in grinders can offer a fresher cup of coffee by grinding beans just before brewing. They also eliminate the need for a separate grinder, saving space and resources in a business setting.

Programmable settings: Programmable settings on a coffee maker can allow for customization of brewing variables like temperature, strength, and volume. This can help to ensure consistency and quality in brewing, as well as cater to customer preferences.

Milk frothing capabilities: For businesses that offer milk-based drinks like cappuccino or latte, a coffee maker with milk frothing capabilities can save time and resources by eliminating the need for a separate frothing device. It can also enhance the customer experience by offering a range of drink options.

4. Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Energy Star ratings: Coffee makers with Energy Star ratings can help to reduce energy consumption and costs. These machines are designed to meet strict energy efficiency guidelines, saving businesses money while also reducing their carbon footprint.

Eco-friendly coffee makers: Eco-friendly coffee makers can help businesses to reduce their environmental impact. These machines are designed with sustainable materials, use less energy and water, and may offer features like recyclable coffee pods or compostable filters.

Waste reduction features: Coffee makers with waste reduction features, like reusable coffee filters or automatic shut-off timers, can help to reduce waste in a business setting. These features can save resources and money while also promoting sustainability.

5. Budget and Price

Setting a realistic budget for your coffee maker: Setting a realistic budget is one of the more important factors when selecting a coffee maker. Consider the needs of your business and compare prices and features of different models to ensure that you get the best value for your money.

Comparing prices and features of different models: Comparing prices and features of different coffee maker models can help businesses to find the right balance between quality and affordability. Look for a machine that meets your needs and budget, while also offering the necessary features for your business.

Balancing quality and affordability: Its important to balance quality and affordability when selecting a coffee maker. While a higher-end machine may offer more features and durability, it may not always be necessary for smaller businesses. Consider your businesss needs and budget to find the right balance.

Best Brands for Commercial Coffee Makers

Bunn: Bunn is a leading brand for commercial coffee makers, known for its reliable and efficient drip coffee makers. Their machines can quickly brew large quantities of coffee, making them a popular choice for businesses that serve high volumes of customers.

Keurig: Keurig is a well-known brand that offers a range of single-serve coffee makers for commercial use. They offer a wide variety of coffee pods, making them a popular choice for businesses that prioritize convenience and variety.

La Marzocco: La Marzocco is a high-end espresso machine brand favored by cafes and restaurants. Their machines are known for their precise temperature control and consistent brewing quality, making them a popular choice for businesses that prioritize high-quality espresso.

Nuova Simonelli: Nuova Simonelli is another high-end espresso machine brand that offers a range of models for commercial use. Their machines are known for their versatility and durability, making them a popular choice for businesses that require a high volume of orders.

Rancilio: Rancilio offers a range of espresso machines at various price points, making them a popular choice for businesses with different budgets. Their machines are known for their quality and consistency, making them a reliable choice for businesses that prioritize high-quality espresso.

Installation and Maintenance Tips

Proper installation and setup: Proper installation and setup is going to guarantee your coffee maker operates efficiently and effectively. Follow the manufacturers instructions carefully and make sure the machine is placed in an appropriate location with proper electrical and plumbing connections.

Regular cleaning and descaling: Regular cleaning and descaling can help to prolong the lifespan of a coffee maker and ensure consistent quality in brewing. Follow the manufacturers recommended cleaning and descaling schedule, and use appropriate cleaning products for the machines components.

Troubleshooting common issues: Troubleshooting common issues, such as leaks or brewing inconsistencies, can save time and money in a business setting. Keep a troubleshooting guide or contact the manufacturer for assistance in diagnosing and fixing problems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, selecting the right coffee maker has many benefits for any business that serves coffee. Factors such as brewing process, volume and capacity, ease of use, features and customization, energy efficiency and sustainability, and budget and price should all be considered when choosing a coffee maker that meets the needs of the business and its customers.

From automatic drip coffee makers to bean-to-cup machines, there are a variety of options available for businesses of all sizes and types. Each type of coffee maker has its own advantages and disadvantages, and businesses should consider their specific needs and priorities when making a decision.

Investing in the best coffee maker for your business will improve the quality of the coffee and also the workplace morale. Proper installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting can also ensure that the coffee maker operates efficiently and effectively for years to come.

If this has inspired you to start a coffee-roasting business or a trendy coffee bar, here are some of the best places to open a coffee shop.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a residential coffee maker for my business?

While it is technically possible to use a residential coffee maker for your business, it is not recommended. Residential coffee makers are not designed to withstand the high volume and demand of a commercial setting, and may not meet health and safety regulations. It is best to invest in a commercial coffee maker that is specifically designed for business use.

How often should I clean and maintain my commercial coffee maker?

The frequency of cleaning and maintenance will depend on the specific coffee maker and its usage. However, it is generally recommended to clean and descale a commercial coffee maker regularly, following the manufacturers recommendations. A daily wipe-down and weekly deep cleaning is a good starting point for most commercial coffee makers.

What type of coffee beans should I use in my commercial coffee maker?

The type of coffee beans used in a commercial coffee maker will depend on personal preference and the type of machine being used. However, it is generally recommended to use high-quality, freshly roasted coffee beans to ensure the best flavor and quality. Experiment with different roasts and blends to find the best option for your business and customers.

How long do commercial coffee makers typically last?

The lifespan of a commercial coffee maker will depend on the specific model, usage, and maintenance. However, with proper care and maintenance, a high-quality commercial coffee maker can last for many years, even up to a decade or more. It is important to follow the manufacturers recommended maintenance and cleaning schedule to prolong the lifespan of the machine.

Are warranties and customer support important when purchasing a commercial coffee maker?

Yes, warranties and customer support are important when purchasing a commercial coffee maker. A warranty can offer peace of mind and protection in case of defects or malfunctions, while customer support can assist with troubleshooting and maintenance. When selecting a commercial coffee maker, consider the warranty and customer support options offered by the manufacturer.

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Small business grants can help businesses through various challenges, from pandemic recovery to construction issues to extreme weather. This week, communities throughout the country launched grant programs to address all of these challenges. Read on for a full list of current small business grant opportunities.

Mercer County COVID-19 Relief Grants

Mercer County, New Jersey is dedicating $3.5 million of its American Rescue Plan funding to help local businesses get back on their feet. County businesses that are located in a Qualified Census Tract are eligible for grants of $10,000. And these businesses dont need to submit documentation of losses. Other independent businesses in the county that have a physical location and interact with the public are also welcome to apply. However, these businesses do need to provide proof of losses, and grants of up to $10,000 may be granted based on those losses. To qualify, all businesses must have 20 employees or fewer and no more than $3 million in gross revenue (the limit for restaurants is $5 million).

San Bernardino County Mountain Small Business Grants Snow Response Program

San Bernardino County, California recently approved a new grant program to support small businesses located in unincorporated areas of the San Bernardino mountains that were impacted by recent snowstorms. The Mountain Small Business Grants Snow Response Program is open to small businesses and nonprofits with 500 or fewer employees. Businesses with 50 or fewer employees can apply for grants of $3,000. And businesses with between 50 and 500 employees can apply for up to $15,000. Businesses must have been operational since at least February 27 and have a brick-and-mortar location that was affected by recent snow storms. The application portal is expected to go live in the next couple weeks.

South Omaha Turnback Tax Grant

South Omaha, Nebraska recently extended the deadline for its Turnback Tax Grant program to April 6. A recent statute change allowed for the city to re-open the grant program and change some of the qualifications. Currently, about $36,000 is available. And that money will be distributed to all qualified businesses that apply. After the April 6 deadline, a grant committee will review applications and notify winners during May.

Purple Line Construction Relief Grants

Small businesses in Montgomery County, Maryland that have been impacted by Purple Line construction can apply for grants to relieve some of the negative effects. Construction along the Purple Line in Metropolitan D.C. started in 2017 and has been delayed several times. The county has about $800,000 to provide to small businesses. Applications open April 1, and the deadline to apply is May 31.

Aurora Finish Line and Re-Start Retention Grant Programs

Aurora, Illinois is opening the application period for two small business grant programs. The Finish Line Grant is open to property owners and tenants that want to complete rehabilitation projects to improve their locations. The Re-Start Retention Grant is open to small businesses that need help covering operational expenses to remain open. This is the second funding round for this grant program, which provided about $750,000 to nearly 75 small businesses last year. The deadline to apply for this funding round is April 3.

Pharr Economic Development Corporation Grants

The Economic Development Corporation in Pharr, Texas is hosting a series of workshops this week to help small businesses that want to apply for small business grants. The organization is also offering grants of $5,000 for qualified startups, and grants of up to $10,000 for existing businesses that meet the requirements. The organization plans to detail the program guidelines and the application process during the workshops, so attendees will get a head start on the application process.

For the latest, follow us on Google News.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 1)  The Philippine government welcomed the European Commission's decision to continue to recognize the certificates of Filipino seafarers, and vowed to continue working on other areas for improvement in the maritime sector.

In a statement on Saturday, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista said the government is "deeply elated" by the move of the commission, which cited the country's "serious efforts" to comply with international seafarer standards.

"As the [commission] lauded our cooperation and welcomed our efforts at improving the Philippine system of training and certifying Filipino seafarers, we commit to address the remaining areas identified that require further improvement," Bautista said.

In December 2021, the European Union (EU) had warned the Philippines that its seafarer certificates would be revoked if it fails to comply with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW).

A previous audit by the European Maritime Safety Agency on the country found some shortcomings including lack of training equipment and inconsistencies in teaching and assessment.

The government has since boosted efforts to address these gaps. The European Commission lauded the Philippines for these steps, and pledged additional technical assistance to improve education and training of local seafarers.

Bautista welcomed the offer.

"Rest assured we will not waver in our efforts to raise the level of expertise of our seamen to international standards," he noted.

"The Philippines appreciates the continued engagement and the offer of technical assistance from the European Commission in helping ensure that the challenges in the implementation of the STCW Convention 1978, as amended, can be overcome," the Department of Foreign Affairs also said, adding the country viewed the inspections, verifications, and evaluations "constructively."

Crisis averted, jobs saved

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) also lauded the commission's ruling, saying that a "crisis of monumental proportions has just been averted."

"Roughly 50,000 jobs of Filipino masters and officers aboard European vessels have been saved in light of the decision," the DMW said.

The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), meanwhile, thanked the EU and other international partners that continue to hire Filipino seafarers.

"Their trust and confidence in Filipino seafarers is something that the country values and as such, all efforts will be made to ensure that we continue to provide them with globally competitive and highly-skilled maritime workforce," it noted.

Reforms sought

Some lawmakers, on the other hand, renewed the call for reforms in the industry in order to protect the country's seafarers.

"Let us continue to push for industry-wide reforms," Senator Risa Hontiveros said.

"Kailangang may natutunan sa naging banta sa hanapbuhay ng ating seafarers (The threat against the livelihood of our seafarers should serve as a lesson). Hence, it is imperative that concerns voiced by seafarers themselves, such as unreasonable fees, corruption in training and maritime schools, requirements, and others, be given greater consideration," she added.

Senator Grace Poe likewise urged the national government to further "step up efforts" and invest on continuous skills training for the Filipino workers, which she said would "increase their viability."

OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa "Del Mar" Magsino also reiterated the call to create curricula and modules based on "real experiences of seafarers" to further improve their education.

"Medyo marami ang clamor na naguguluhan ang ating seafarers pagdating sa kanilang mga dapat pag-aralan dahil every administration nagbabago ang head ng MARINA, ng CHED (Commission on Higher Education)," she told CNN Philippines' Newsroom Weekend on Saturday.

[Translation: There's a clamor that seafarers are confused when it comes to what should they be studying because every administration, the heads of MARINA and CHED change.]

Magsino also urged the national government to provide tax incentives and liberal loan packages to training institutions for their necessary equipment, training vessels, and maintenance.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230331/erdogan-urges-turkish-people-to-defend-future-make-right-decision-on-may-14-1109018251.html

Erdogan Urges Turkish People to 'Defend Future, Make Right Decision' on May 14

Erdogan Urges Turkish People to 'Defend Future, Make Right Decision' on May 14

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday urged the Turkish people to "defend their future," while also expressing belief that they will "make the right decision" during the upcoming presidential election on May 14.

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presidential election

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"I urge you to defend your future on May 14. I believe you will make the right decision," Erdogan said during his speech in the Turkish city of Kilis. The Turkish president added that those "who cannot rule seven or eight people gathered at one table, should not be expected to be able to rule Turkiye with its 85 million citizens," thus hinting at the six opposition parties that managed to agree on their single presidential candidate only in early March. Turkiye's Supreme Election Commission has unanimously approved May 14 as the date for the 2023 presidential election. A second round of voting, if necessary, is scheduled for May 28. Erdogan has been nominated as a presidential candidate by the ruling Justice and Development Party supported by the allied Nationalist Movement Party, while Kemal Kilicdaroglu has been declared the single candidate of the opposition People's Alliance. Results of pre-election polls are constantly changing and have not yet revealed an unquestionable favorite in the upcoming election. However, experts note that the current electoral process will be the most difficult for the ruling party, due to the devastating earthquakes that claimed the lives of over 50,000 people, as well as the difficult economic situation.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230331/german-businessman-confirms-delivery-of-swiss-made-armored-vehicles-to-ukraine--1109018113.html

German Businessman Confirms Delivery of Swiss-Made Armored Vehicles to Ukraine

German Businessman Confirms Delivery of Swiss-Made Armored Vehicles to Ukraine

German businessman Thomas Bockhold has claimed responsibility for re-exporting Swiss-made armored vehicles to Ukraine, stressing however that he has removed the weaponry from the vehicles before sending them to Kiev NZZ reported.

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russia's special operation in ukraine

seco

switzerland

germany

ukraine

ukraine crisis

weaponry

supply of weaponry

weaponry production

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Last week, Swiss media released photos of two Eagle I armored vehicles spotted on the battlefield in Ukraine. The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) launched an inquiry to establish how the vehicles ended up at the disposal of the Ukrainian army. Bockhold, the owner of German company FWW Fahrzeugwerke, told the Swiss newspaper that he was the one who had sent the vehicles to Ukraine, but only after completely demilitarizing them and receiving all necessary documents, including a German export license. At the same time, SECO had received no requests from any German firm for the export authorization of Eagle I vehicles over the past years, the NZZ reported, citing the secretariat. Earlier in the month, SECO said that it had applied its right for neutrality regarding military exports in the context of the Ukraine conflict. In accordance with the principle of equal treatment and the law on war material, the country cannot approve supplies of domestically produced weapons and military equipment to Ukraine as long as Kiev is involved in an international armed conflict.

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thomas bockhold, swiss-made armored vehicles, ukraine, switzerland, arms supplied to ukraine, german businessman, fww fahrzeugwerke, kiev, swiss state secretariat for economic affairs (seco)
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/did-soros-pull-the-strings-to-get-trump-indicted-1109022350.html

Did Soros Pull the Strings to Get Trump Indicted?

Did Soros Pull the Strings to Get Trump Indicted?

Soros injected hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to support Democratic political campaigns, which came amid his scathing criticism of Trump.

2023-04-01T08:34+0000

2023-04-01T08:34+0000

2023-04-03T16:53+0000

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us

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donald trump

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donald trump's indictment

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A grand jury in Manhattan voted on Thursday to indict former US President Donald Trump in connection with hush payments made to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 election. The indictment, although still under seal, reportedly includes over 30 counts, which Trump will face at his arraignment on April 4.In this vein, the 45th US president earlier accused Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of being funded by George Soros. This was preceded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis calling Bragg "Soros-backed," in what was echoed by many other Republicans. But how exactly is the Hungarian-born billionaire involved in this drama? Sputnik explains.What Exactly Did Trump Say About Soros?In a recent all-caps Truth Social post, the ex-POTUS lashed out at Bragg for being "FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS.""HE IS A SOROS BACKED ANIMAL WHO JUST DOESN'T CARE ABOUT RIGHT OR WRONG NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE HURT," Trump e-shouted.The 45th US president also argued that Alvin Bragg received in EXCESS OF ONE MILLION DOLLARS from the Radical Left Enemy of TRUMP, George Soros.The same tone was struck by Mark Dankof, a San-Antonio resident, former US Senate candidate and investigative journalist, who told Sputnik that the Bragg connection to George Soros is self-explanatory.'I Don't Know Him' The 92-year-old billionaire, who topped the list of individual political donors for 2021-2022, contributing more than $128.4 million to Democrats (and $0 to Republicans), was rather quick to distance himself from Bragg following Trump's claims."I think some on the right would rather focus on far-fetched conspiracy theories than on the serious charges against the former president," Soros claimed.But the story is not as simple as it may seem at first glance.Soros and Color of Change PACMost of the GOP members criticism of Bragg pertains to support he received from the political action committee (PAC) Color of Change, a "racial justice" non-profit group, which tries to influence government and corporate policy across the US.As a result of the vote, Bragg became the first Black person to ever lead the Manhattan district attorney office.Federal Election Commission records showed that Soros' donation was the largest the Color of Change PAC received throughout the 2022 election cycle and ultimately made up roughly 25 percent of the $3.9 million the group hauled in.Soros' Son, Daughter-in-Law Shore Up BraggThe billionaires son, Jonathan Soros, and Jonathan's wife, Jennifer Allan Soros, also donated directly to Bragg's campaign, New York campaign finance records have revealed.On April 26, 2021, Jonathan Soros sent a $10,000 check to the Bragg committees coffers, while three days later, Jennifer Allan Soros added a $10,000 contribution to the campaign. With other individuals providing more direct cash to the Bragg committee, the couple became one of its biggest donors.Soros' Support of DAsBragg is reportedly merely one of at least 75 district attorneys Soros has supported in recent years as part of his efforts "to reshape American society in his liberal vision."As for Soros himself, many perceive him as a financier who has made billions of dollars through investments and currency speculation, and a "philanthropist" who seeks to spread his vision of a liberal "open society" internationally.On Trump, the billionaire minced no words in February, when he told the 2023 Munich Security Conference that the former US president had turned into a "pitiful figure" and could lose the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.Soros enjoys enormous influence in Europe with only a handful of countries resisting his influence, Hungary and its Prime Minister Viktor Orban being the first among them.Soros is also disliked by some in Asia. The 1997 Southeast Asia financial crisis saw Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accuse the billionaire of ruining Malaysia's economy with "massive currency speculation."The 92-year-old is also known for signaling his opposition to the US Supreme Court decision last year to roll back abortion rights nationally, overturning a near-50-year precedent.Soros is also notoriously known as "the Man Who Broke the Bank of England", a nickname that is related to the UK Black Wednesday currency crisis in 1992, when Soros, in one night, borrowed and sold $10 billion worth of the British pound, putting Britains Central Bank in distress.What is Color of Change?The non-profit civil rights organization was formed in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in order to use online resources to strengthen the political voice of African Americans.Proclaiming itself "the nations largest online racial justice organization," the Color of Change PAC says that it "moves decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220802/it-wasnt-me-soros-denies-causing-us-violent-crime-spike-while-pursuing-defunding-police-initiative-1098016981.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/finnish-parliamentary-elections-will-finlands-party-pm-bite-the-dust--1109027707.html

Finnish Parliamentary Elections: Will Finland's 'Party' PM Bite the Dust?

Finnish Parliamentary Elections: Will Finland's 'Party' PM Bite the Dust?

A recent survey has put Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's party in third place, with National Coalition and Finns Party holding first and second positions, respectively.

2023-04-01T11:41+0000

2023-04-01T11:41+0000

2023-04-01T11:41+0000

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Petteri Orpo, center-right rival of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, has voiced satisfaction with the results of the latest opinion poll, hours ahead of the beginning of the countrys April 2 parliamentary election.Orpo added that he wants to fix the Finnish economy and boost economic growth." According to him, Marin is neither worried about the economy nor about national debt.He spoke after the survey published by a Finnish broadcaster put the National Coalition in top place, with a thin lead at 19.8%. The nationalist eurosceptic Finns Party of Riikka Purra polled 19.5%, while the center-left Social Democrats led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin took third place at 18.7%.Tuomo Turja of the Finnish polling firm Taloustutkimus told the broadcaster that It is a very exciting situation and it's hard to say at the moment which party will be the biggest on election day.In a separate interview with the news network, Finnish journalist Marko Junkkari described Marin as a polarizing character.The survey followed a poll conducted by a Finnish newspaper late last year, which found that 64% of respondents felt Marin had done a very or fairly good job as prime minister.The 37-year-old took the reins of the Social Democratic party  and the Finnish premiership  in 2019.Last year, she was filmed dancing in Finnish nightclubs in a suggestive manner, which earned her the cognomens Party PM and Party Sanna. In yet another video, Marins friends were heard shouting that many interpreted as flour gang, with flour being the slang name for cocaine in Finland. The accusations forced Marin to formally deny taking drugs and even take a drug test to prove her innocence. The test results came back negative.In November 2022, Marin was ultimately cleared of misconduct following a protracted official inquiry that lasted several months.This came after the Finnish prime minister was caught partying during a surge in coronavirus infections, when the rest of her country was told to stay home and flatten the curve.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221118/finnish-food-prices-hit-record-highs-as-economy-tightens-1104356416.html

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finland's april 2 parliamentary election, third position of finnish prime minister sanna marin's party in the latest poll
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/german-defense-minister-rules-out-deliveries-of-additional-leopard-tanks-to-ukraine-1109028909.html

German Defense Minister Rules Out Deliveries of Additional Leopard Tanks to Ukraine

German Defense Minister Rules Out Deliveries of Additional Leopard Tanks to Ukraine

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday that his country was not going to send additional Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

2023-04-01T11:57+0000

2023-04-01T11:57+0000

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russia's special operation in ukraine

germany

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leopard ii

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Germany, like other countries, has a "limited supply" of weapons, the defense minister said, noting that he "cannot give everything away." Pistorius noted that "unfortunately" NATO countries do not have spare battle tanks awaiting shipment, adding that nevertheless it is possible to cover Ukraine's needs in the mid-term. On Monday, Ukraine received 18 German Leopard 2 Tanks and some 40 Marder armored infantry fighting vehicles. In February, the Ukrainian government started negotiations with its allies on the supplies of longer-range missiles and jets, as well as additional ammunition to prepare for an counteroffensive this spring.The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against continued arms supplies to Kiev and further escalation that could lead to the direct involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict, adding that any Western military equipment in Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian forces.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230329/spain-may-hand-over-6-leopard-tanks-to-ukraine-after-easter-media-reports-1108902080.html

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germany won't send leopards to ukraine, german tanks in ukraine, who sends tanks to kiev
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/mozambique-sees-no-un-ships-with-grain-as-wheat-products-grow-more-expensive--envoy-1109025247.html

Mozambique Sees No UN Ships With Grain as Wheat Products Grow More Expensive  Envoy

Mozambique Sees No UN Ships With Grain as Wheat Products Grow More Expensive  Envoy

No ships under UN-brokered grain deal are seen around the coast of Mozambique

2023-04-01T09:22+0000

2023-04-01T09:22+0000

2023-04-01T09:22+0000

africa

mozambique

grain

the united nations (un)

deal

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The envoy also said once the Ukraine conflict is resolved there will be a lot of grain. Mozambique just concluded its UN Security Council Presidency for March 2023. In July 2022, Ukraine and Russia signed a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to unblock shipments of grain, food, and fertilizer in the Black Sea despite hostilities. Moscow has repeatedly said that most vessels carrying Ukrainian grain do not reach the world's poorest countries and end up in Europe. In late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the call to comply with all the provisions of the grain deal so that the products were sent not to "well-fed European countries," but to Africa, which currently received only 3% of all grain exported from Ukraine.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230307/europe-uses-grain-deal-to-profiteer-from-africa-expert-says-1108137213.html

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grain deal, high prices in mozambique, un ships do not reach mozambique, expensive food
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/one-third-of-gas-stations-in-paris-region-hit-by-fuel-shortages-amid-strikes-at-refineries-1109037452.html

One-Third of Gas Stations in Paris Region Hit by Fuel Shortages Amid Strikes at Refineries

One-Third of Gas Stations in Paris Region Hit by Fuel Shortages Amid Strikes at Refineries

Gas stations in France are still experiencing fuel shortages amid ongoing strikes at the country's oil refineries, with 30% of filling stations in the northern Ile-de-France region, commonly called the Paris Region, lacking at least one type of fuel, French media reported on Saturday.

2023-04-01T16:58+0000

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2023-04-01T16:58+0000

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Fuel shortages persist in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region and in France's east, the BFMTV broadcaster reported, adding that 30% of filling stations in Paris and the Paris Region are either completely out of fuel or lack one or more types of it. In particular, over 40% of gas pumps in the Val-de-Marne department of Ile-de-France reportedly have problems with fuel supply. According to an online service for tracking fuel shortages, around 1,100 gas stations across France are short of the most popular types of gasoline, SP95 and SP98, and diesel, while 250 gas pumps are completely empty, meaning that gas shortages still affect around 10% of all gas stations in the country. On March 16, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne triggered an article in the country's constitution to enable the passage of a disputed pension reform without a parliamentary vote, which sparked a massive backlash in France. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed the hope that the reform would be implemented by the end of the year. The reform provides for an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64. Since January, thousands of people all across France have been taking to the streets and striking to protest the move. Last week, striking employees at the Esso oil refinery in southern France were ordered back to work after fuel shortages threatened to paralyze the country.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230328/over-90000-people-reportedly-take-part-in-protest-against-pension-reform-in-paris-1108883405.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/over-200-fellow-party-members-urge-germanys-scholz-to-facilitate-talks-on-ukraine-1109035442.html

Over 200 Fellow Party Members Urge Germany's Scholz to Facilitate Talks on Ukraine

Over 200 Fellow Party Members Urge Germany's Scholz to Facilitate Talks on Ukraine

More than 200 members of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) have signed an open letter, drawn up by former Chancellor Willy Brandt's son, historian and SPD politician Peter Brandt, calling on incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz to facilitate negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.

2023-04-01T14:33+0000

2023-04-01T14:33+0000

2023-04-01T14:33+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

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The letter, circulated on Friday, advocates peace negotiations and was signed, among others, by former European Commissioner for Enlargement and former Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Guenter Verheugen, former co-leader of the SPD Norbert Walter-Borjans, ex-Bundestag president Wolfgang Thierse and over 200 other SPD members. The text argues that most Germans do not support endlessly extending "the spiral of violence" and advocates diplomacy and peace instead of the dominance of militarism. "We call on the chancellor, along with France, to enlist the support of Brazil, China, India and Indonesia to broker a cease-fire soon," the letter said, adding that only this move will make it possible to pave a way for a peace initiative for a common vision of peace in Europe. The authors stress that peace "can only be achieved under the international law and only with Russia" and quote former Chancellor Brandt as saying that it is necessary to "go against the current when it again tries to go the wrong way." In February, thousands of Germans rallied near Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate to demand that Germany help bring a peace process forward between Ukraine and Russia, instead of funneling deadly weapons to Kiev regime.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230225/thousands-of-pacifists-in-berlin-protest-arms-deliveries-to-ukraine-1107807000.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/over-dozen-protesters-arrested-in-tel-aviv--1109039129.html

Over Dozen Protesters Arrested in Tel Aviv

Over Dozen Protesters Arrested in Tel Aviv

At least 19 demonstrators were arrested in Tel Aviv during the mass protest against the controversial judicial reform that was put on hold earlier this week, The Times of Israel reports.

2023-04-01T22:32+0000

2023-04-01T22:32+0000

2023-04-01T22:32+0000

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tel aviv

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The protesters were arrested for allegedly disturbing public order, the newspaper said on Saturday. One protester was arrested while carrying a taser. A female protester was struck by a mounted policeman with a baton, The Times of Israel said. Police used water cannons to clear protesters who had blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv. In January, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin rolled out a legal reform package that would limit the authority of the Supreme Court by giving the cabinet control over the selection of new judges, as well as allowing the Knesset to override the court's rulings with an absolute majority. The reform's opponents argue it will undermine democracy in Israel and put the country on the verge of a social and constitutional crisis. For the last three months, tens of thousands of people have been protesting throughout Israel against the reform. On Monday, after long and hard talks with his coalition partners, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to put the legislation on hold until the summer session of the Knesset. Despite this fact, the protests' organizers, wary that the controversial law may be swiftly put to a vote, pledged to continue rallying until the planned reform is scrapped altogether. After US President Joe Biden called on Netanyahu to abandon his plans to advance the judicial reform in Israel, the Israeli prime minister said on Twitter on Wednesday that his country was going to make decisions based on the Israeli peoples will, and not pressure from abroad.

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 AP Photo / Sebastian Scheiner In this Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 file photo, the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, known by the Jews as the Temple Mount, is seen in Jerusalem's Old City. 2014 was supposed to be a record-breaking year for tourist visits to Israel. But all that changed when this summers 50-day war between Israel and Hamas prompted jittery travelers to cancel trips en masse. Merchants in Jerusalems Old City say the feel the sting. The areas cobblestone streets are typically chock full of tourists visiting the holy sites within the storied walls. But they've been eerily empty over the summer.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 1)  Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. has refused to return to the Philippines after House Speaker Martin Romualdez denied some requests made by the congressman to ensure his safety, his lawyers disclosed.

"I had two interactions with House Speaker Martin Romualdez, I cannot divulge the details but Rep. Teves made certain requests for his return in order to ensure his safety," Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, Teves' head legal counsel, revealed in a Saturday press conference.

"Itong mga request na ito, pwede nating gawin. Itong mga request na ito, hindi natin pwedeng gawin," he said, quoting Romualdez. "With that, hindi pa makakauwi si Rep. Teves."

[Translation: "These requests, we can do. These ones, we cannot," he said, quoting Romualdez. "With that, Rep. Teves cannot come home yet."]

Topacio refused to disclose the requests made by Teves. The Teves camp earlier said they tried to contact Romualdez to explain the congressman's concerns.

Meanwhile, the camp also responded to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s offer to protect Teves.

"Nagpapasalamat kami sa pangulo natin sa kanyang [We thank the president for his] concern," Topacio said. "But, the reality of the situation is that he cannot micromanage the situation."

"While we thank him for his concern, in view of the current situation and circumstances, hindi pa kami satisfied kaya nga nagbigay kami ng [we are not satisfied which is why we made these] requests," he added.

Teves has not returned to the country since he left for the United States last Feb. 28. He left the Philippines on a travel authority from the House of Representatives which expired on March 9.

As a result of his continued absence, the House voted to suspend him for 60 days.

The Department of Justice has said that it is considering Teves as one of the masterminds behind the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo.

On March 31, the DOJ disclosed that it had arrested another suspected mastermind.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/russia-increases-production-of-conventional-high-precision-arms-multiple-times-1109024021.html

Russia Increases Production of Conventional, High-Precision Arms Multiple Times

Russia Increases Production of Conventional, High-Precision Arms Multiple Times

The production of conventional and high-precision weapons for the Russian troops, participating in the special military operation in Ukraine, has increased multiple times, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Saturday.

2023-04-01T08:24+0000

2023-04-01T08:24+0000

2023-04-01T08:29+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

ukrainian crisis

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Earlier in the day, he held a meeting at the Russian grouping's headquarters on issues of providing troops with ammunition, and also heard reports on the current situation, according to the ministry. The minister also noted that "the supply volumes of the most demanded ammunition has been determined, and the necessary measures are being taken to increase them."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230327/russian-security-council-chief-us-champion-in-number-of-wars-its-unleashed-around-the-world-1108828037.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/russian-orthodox-church-condemns-house-arrest-of-vicegerent-of-kiev-pechersk-lavra-1109028197.html

Russian Orthodox Church Condemns House Arrest of Vicegerent of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

Russian Orthodox Church Condemns House Arrest of Vicegerent of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

The house arrest of the vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra has been issued under false accusations and represents yet another example of lawlessness in Ukraine, the spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Legoyda, said on Saturday.

2023-04-01T11:27+0000

2023-04-01T11:27+0000

2023-04-01T11:27+0000

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Earlier in the day, Lavra vicegerent Metropolitan Bishop Pavel said he had been sentenced to house arrest and summoned for interrogation over alleged collaboration with Russia and incitement of inter-religious hatred for criticizing the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The conflict around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra where the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) are based escalated after the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture terminated the lease agreement unilaterally, accusing the monks of violating the terms of the deal, and ordered them to leave the Lavra by March 29. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said the monks could stay if they joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Metropolitan Bishop Pavel, in turn, said that no compromise was possible. The Russian Orthodox Church says the UOC is a "self-governing church with the rights of broad autonomy" within the Moscow Patriarchate. However, in the wake of the military operation that Russia launched in Ukraine more than a year ago, the UOC said in May it was independent from the Moscow Patriarchate and did not support the conflict. In January, the Ukrainian government submitted a bill to parliament that seeks to ban the UOC in Ukraine if its connection with Russia is proven.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230329/priest-condemns-godless-zelensky-regimes-seizure-of-kiev-pechersk-lavra-during-great-lent--1108925813.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230330/ukrainian-christians-resist-attempts-by-kiev-regime-to-seize-kiev-pechersk-lavra-videos-1108965275.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/trumps-campaign-raises-4mln-after-news-of-indictment-media-reports--1109028801.html

Trump's Campaign Reportedly Raises $4Mln After News of Indictment

Trump's Campaign Reportedly Raises $4Mln After News of Indictment

Former US President Donald Trump has raised over $4 million in the 24 hours after the news of his indictment, the American newspaper reported on Saturday, citing Trumps fundraising statement to supporters.

2023-04-01T11:53+0000

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Following the indictment, the ex-presidents campaign sent out several emails to supporters asking for donations, the newspaper reported. The sum collected over 24 hours was over $4 million, it said. On Thursday, the Manhattan Grand Jury voted to indict Trump on charges related to his alleged role in a hush money payment and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels during the lead-up to the 2016 election. Trump denies the allegations, as well as the affair, and has characterized the case as a "witch hunt" and political persecution. Trump is expected to stand trial on Tuesday, during which he intends to declare his innocence, according to his lawyer Joe Tacopina.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/ugandan-troops-enter-dr-congo-as-part-of-east-african-regional-force-media-report-1109024238.html

Ugandan Troops Enter DR Congo as Part of East African Regional Force, Media Report

Ugandan Troops Enter DR Congo as Part of East African Regional Force, Media Report

Some 1,000 Ugandan soldiers joined on Friday East African regional military force in the DRC

2023-04-01T08:59+0000

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Some 1,000 Ugandan soldiers joined an East African regional military force on Friday as part of a mission in the eastern DR Congo, media report.Ugandan troops entered the town of Bunagana in the DRC to secure safety in the region during the gradual withdrawal of M23 militants, said Kenyan commander General Jeff Nyagah as cited by media. According to him, a total of 2,000 Ugandan troops are expected to operate in the DRC.Ahead of the flag-off ceremony, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni declared that the countrys contingent in the DR Congo is deployed in order to "occupy some of the positions that the M23 has handed over to the East African force as a neutral force" rather than to fight rebels.Earlier, Kenya and Burundi also deployed their troops to the country. South Sudan is expected to send 750 troops to the DRC.M23 is a rebel group that operates in the east of the DRC alongside with more than 120 militant organizations. M23 emerged in 2012 and launched an offensive against the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in autumn of 2022 and occupied much of the nation's territory.Last summer, in response to the threat posed to the government by rebels, the leaders of EAC member states agreed adopt a peacekeeping operation concept, the Status of Forces Agreement, and Rules of Engagement aimed at the facilitation of the realization of regional forces' operations in the DRC.Instability in the DR Congo, mainly in the North Kivu province, has been a long-lasting issue. Since the late 1990s, the country has faced frequent conflicts between the government and militants. According to UN estimates, more than five million people were displaced due to insecurity in the DRC over the last two years.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230330/uganda-dispatches-troops-for-peacekeeping-mission-to-drc-1108949750.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/ukrainian-court-decides-to-forcefully-deliver-hospitalized-kiev-pechersk-lavra-vicegerent-to-1109036269.html

Ukrainian Court Places Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Vicegerent Under House Arrest For 2 Months

Ukrainian Court Places Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Vicegerent Under House Arrest For 2 Months

A Ukrainian court has decided to forcefully deliver vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Metropolitan Bishop Pavel to a hearing on Saturday, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) stated.

2023-04-01T15:35+0000

2023-04-01T15:35+0000

2023-04-01T17:49+0000

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A Ukrainian court has placed vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Metropolitan Bishop Pavel under house arrest for two months, banning him from interacting with believers. The vicegerent will be forced to wear an ankle bracelet.Prosecutors claim that, starting from February 24, 2022, being the vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel "decided to justify the aggression of the Russian Federation" by communicating with the parishioners of the monastery."Earlier in the day, the court decided to forcefully deliver Metropolitan Bishop Pavel to the hearing on Saturday, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) stated. Metropolitan Bishop Pavel was hospitalized after becoming ill during a court session. Given his condition, the court had decided to postpone the session to Monday, April 3 - before it changed its mind.On Saturday morning, the vicegerent said that he had been placed under house arrest and summoned for interrogation by the Ukrainian authorities over alleged collaboration with Russia and incitement of inter-religious hatred for criticizing the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The conflict around the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where the monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) are based, escalated after the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture terminated the lease agreement unilaterally, accusing the monks of violating the terms of the deal, and ordered them to leave the Lavra by March 29. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said the monks could stay if they joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Metropolitan Bishop Pavel, in turn, said that no compromise was possible.The Russian Orthodox Church says the UOC is a "self-governing church with the rights of broad autonomy" within the Moscow Patriarchate. Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation, the Ukrainian authorities have intensified their crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. In January, the Ukrainian government submitted a bill with the parliament to ban the activities of "Russia-affiliated" religious organizations in the country.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/vicegerent-of-kiev-pechersk-lavra-says-ukrainian-authorities-sent-him-under-house-arrest-1109025125.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/us-has-relatively-few-atacms-must-maintain-own-munitions-stocks-1109020103.html

US Has Relatively Few ATACMS, Must Maintain Own Munitions Stocks

US Has Relatively Few ATACMS, Must Maintain Own Munitions Stocks

The United States has relatively few Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and must be considerate of its own munitions stocks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said on Friday.

2023-04-01T02:00+0000

2023-04-01T02:00+0000

2023-04-01T02:00+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

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From a military standpoint, we have relatively few ATACMS. We do have to make sure that we maintain our own munitions inventories as well, Milley said during a Defense One event, when asked about the possibility of providing ATACMS to Ukraine. The Biden administration has so far been reluctant to provide Ukraine with the missile system, citing its long firing range and ability to strike targets within Russia. Milley noted he would never predict a piece of military equipment being on or off the table for the future.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/vatican-says-pope-francis-discharged-from-hospital-after-bronchitis-treatment-1109028483.html

Vatican Says Pope Francis Discharged From Hospital After Bronchitis Treatment

Vatican Says Pope Francis Discharged From Hospital After Bronchitis Treatment

Pope Francis has been discharged from the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome after being hospitalized with bronchitis earlier this week, the head of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said on Saturday.

2023-04-01T11:36+0000

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Pope Francis was discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning, Bruni said, adding that the pontiff expressed gratitude to the medical staff who accompanied him throughout hospitalization. Upon leaving the hospital, Pope Francis held a brief conversation with journalists and said that he was "still alive" in response to a question about his well-being, Italian broadcaster reported. Pope Francis has been experiencing certain breathing difficulties, and was taken to the Gemelli University Hospital with a respiratory infection to undergo medical examinations on Wednesday. In connection with the pontiff's illness, the Vatican canceled his audiences on Thursday and Friday.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/vucic-warns-of-possible-escalation-if-kosovo-security-forces-deployed-to-regions-north-1109033861.html

Vucic Warns of Possible Escalation If Kosovo Security Forces Deployed to Region's North

Vucic Warns of Possible Escalation If Kosovo Security Forces Deployed to Region's North

The deployment of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) in the region's predominantly Serb north will lead to an escalation and undermine all prior agreements between Belgrade and Pristina, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

2023-04-01T13:32+0000

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Earlier this week, the government of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo approved its defense strategy, which says that the armed KSF will be operating throughout the breakaway region. However, Kosovo's special police units cannot enter Serb-populated municipalities in the north without a special permission, while deploying the KSF requires approval of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission Kosovo Force (KFOR), according to prior EU-brokered agreements between Belgrade and Pristina. Pristina also claims that the agreement reached by Serbia and the self-proclaimed republic in November 2022 on the controversial policy on car license plates is set to expire on April 1. Kosovo Serbs are wary that local police might start seizing their cars. EU spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano said that the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia on car plates has no time limit or expiration date. The next round of technical negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade is scheduled for April 4 in Brussels. In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia. In 2013, Serbia and Kosovo signed an EU-mediated agreement to normalize relations, but the dialogue soon came to a standstill. Tensions have been simmering on the border since mid-2022, escalating several times into road blockages in northern Kosovo and belligerent rhetoric on both sides.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230324/no-guilt-no-shame-western-leaders-excuses-for-nato-bombing-of-yugoslavia-1108758495.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/weekly-news-wrap-up-trump-indicted-france-pays-in-yuan-summit-for-democracy-1109018561.html

Weekly News Wrap-Up; Trump Indicted; France Pays in Yuan; Summit for Democracy

Weekly News Wrap-Up; Trump Indicted; France Pays in Yuan; Summit for Democracy

Former President Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in New York as Republicans cry foul and some progressives point to George W. Bush's war crimes. 01.04.2023, Sputnik International

2023-04-01T12:49+0000

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2023-04-01T12:49+0000

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Weekly News Wrap-Up; Trump Indicted; France Pays in Yuan; Summit for Democracy Former President Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in New York as Republicans cry foul and some progressives point to George W. Bush's war crimes.

Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. Former President Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in New York as Republicans cry foul and some progressives point to George W. Bush's war crimes. Also, a Wall Street Journal reporter is arrested in Russia and Tsai Ing-wen faces protests in New York.Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of Economics and Politics at St. Mary's College in California, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. Millions are poised to lose Medicaid as the pandemic coverage protections end. Also, jobless claims are rising and China works with Russia to usher in a new world order.Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. President Biden's Summit for Democracy faces accusations of hypocrisy. Also, gun rights are in the news after another mass shooting and the FBI chases left-wing groups using undercover agents.Ajamu Baraka, 2016 US vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, and Jon Jeter, journalist, and author, come together to discuss this week's important news stories. The US has sent a top CIA official to Paraguay just before their election. Also, Honduras gets closer to China and President Maduro argues that China is a great power that is not of an imperialist inclination.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, and Jim Kavanagh, whose work can be found at Jim Kavanagh's Substack, thepolemicist.net, and Counterpunch, come together to discuss this week's important news stories. Former President Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in New York as Republicans cry foul and some progressives point to George W. Bush's war crimes. Also, the French protest and the Germans strike as economic hardship drives the EU to the brink of social instability. Also, Deutsche Bank is on the verge of collapse and the de-dollarization movement grows.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/zakharova-kiev-desecrates-orthodoxy-while-west-keeps-silent-1109038330.html

Zakharova: Kiev Desecrates Orthodoxy While West Keeps Silent

Zakharova: Kiev Desecrates Orthodoxy While West Keeps Silent

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Kiev is mocking and sneering at Orthodoxy, while the West remains silent about it.

2023-04-01T18:51+0000

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Zakharova said on her Telegram channel that April Fools' Day was held "with great fanfare in Kiev," adding that "[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, the court and the crowd  all of them are raging during Great Lent." Earlier in the day, media reported that a court in Kiev put Metropolitan Bishop Pavel, vicegerent of the contested Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, under house arrest for 60 days and barred him from communicating with believers. On Saturday morning, metropolitan Pavel was presented with official suspicions of "collaboration with Russia and inter-religious incitement" after Ukrainian authorities conducted searches in his house. He then said that the Ukrainian authorities had sent him under house arrest. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed his indictment under two articles of the criminal code, specifically "violation of citizens' equality based on their race, nationality or religious preferences" and "justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants." Tensions between Kiev and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) escalated after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. On March 10, 2023, UOC monks were ordered to leave the monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, jurisdiction over which was divided between a Ukrainian cultural organization and the UOC, by March 29 for violating the terms of an agreement on the use of state property. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said the monks could stay in the Lavra if they joined the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a decision that may be "stimulated through the joint work of specialists and law enforcement officers."

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230401/ukrainian-court-decides-to-forcefully-deliver-hospitalized-kiev-pechersk-lavra-vicegerent-to-1109036269.html

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(CNN)  Firefighters in central Thailand have spent days battling a wildfire that has engulfed two mountains and part of a forest park.

The fire started at the Khao Chaplu mountain in Nakhon Nayok province, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Bangkok.

Authorities said the blaze ignited during a lightning storm on Tuesday and strong winds whipped up the fire so it quickly spread across the mountain.

On Wednesday, the fire reignited and spread to neighboring Khao Laem mountain, according to Thailands Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Video from Nakhon Nayok shows a huge blaze covering the mountain at night, the fire glowing red in the dark and smoke billowing in plumes.

By Thursday, the blaze had spread to Khao Nang Dam, a forest park, as disaster teams and the army fought to extinguish the flames. The disaster prevention department said in a Facebook post Thursday that three helicopters were dispatched to extinguish the fire, dropping more than 150,000 liters of water over the blaze.

Areas near the fire were declared disaster zones and firebreaks built to stop it spreading into residential areas, the Thai Prime Ministers office said in a statement Thursday.

Meanwhile, fire trucks and fire-fighting equipment were brought in on standby at the foot of the mountains in case the fire spread to nearby villages, the disaster prevention department said.

By 9 a.m. local time on Friday, the wildfire had subsided, according to the Prime Ministers office.

There have been no pockets of fire spotted. The smoke has continued billowing out from two to three spots at Ta Baek Mountain, the statement said.

However, it warned that strong winds could reignite the fire.

Though authorities believe a lightning storm started the blaze, the true cause of the incident will be investigated, the Prime Ministers office said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, Thai firefighters battle huge forest blaze that spread across two mountains"
Off to a perfect start in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series, Amazing Dream N was the fastest of the popular third leg winners on Friday night (March 31) at MGM Yonkers Raceway.

Dougs Babe A found the winner's circle for the first time in the U.S. as Dexter Dunn guided the recent import from off-the-pace and scored in 1:53 to capture the first of three $40,000 divisions.

Jason Bartlett and Mabalene N were airborne at the outset, leaving over second choice Majorca N and Corey Callahan into the first turn. Dunn and Dougs Babe A had thought of leaving but elected to tuck in fourth on the opening bend with no other options.

Callahan guided Majorca N on a regaining move off the first turn and the veteran mare hit the quarter in :28.2 and half in :57.1. The field remained in line until Dunn moved just before the three-quarters with the Nifty Norman-trained Dougs Babe A.

Majorca N hit three-quarters in 1:25.2 and held the favourite at bay through the final turn, but once in the homestretch, Dougs Babe A asserted her will and sprinted home to an easy victory with a :27.3 final quarter. Majorca N held second with Man Dontforget Me and Matt Kakaley closing sharply for the show spot.

Owned by Tom Vassiliou, Nicholas Tallarico, Patricia Stables and Enzed Racing, Dougs Babe A is now a 12-time winner in her career and has banked $173,026.

As the favourite, the six-year-old Western Terror mare returned $3.30 to win and led a $5.80 exacta and a $33.80 trifecta.

Amazing Dream N and driver Yannick Gingras continued their winning ways in the series, popping the pocket on the final turn and rolling past pacesetter Racine Bell on her way to a 1:51.4 victory in the second $40,000 division.

Racine Bell and Bartlett used high speed to out-sprint the Linda Toscano-trained Amazing Dream N on the first turn and take control off that bend. Racine Bell controlled the fractions of :27.3 and :56.2 with Amazing Dream N content to travel in second and Hot Mess Express third with Scott Zeron aboard.

On the backstretch the final time, Lit De Rose and Pat Lachance began a first-over assault, followed by Drama Act and George Brennan. Gingras didn't wait for trouble, moving Amazing Dream N to the outside past the 1:24 three-quarters. The Bettors Delight mare was able to wear down the leader and sprint home in :27.4 for the win. Racine Bell did well to hold on to the place, with Lit De Rose and Drama Act following in third and fourth.

Owned by Enviro Stables, Richard Gutnick, Tom Pontone and Joseph Lozito Jr., Amazing Dream N is now three-for-three this season/series and made her 29th lifetime appearance in the winner's circle.

The seven-year-old millionairess paid $3.20 as the public's choice. The exacta and trifecta were worth $5.50 and $16.60, respectively.

Incaseyoudidntknow and driver Andrew McCarthy went overland in the third $40,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker division and overpowered Gias Surreal in the stretch on her way to a solid score in a 1:52.3 clocking.

McCarthy looked to leave the gate at the outset but was looped when Watch Me Now N and Jordan Stratton blasted by them from post eight into the first turn. McCarthy settled for a tuck instead, as did Watch Me Now N behind Karma Seelster. Driven by Matt Kakaley, Karma Seelster had settled things on the opening bend, but was soon under attack from Gias Surreal and Bartlett, who hustled to the front in a snappy 27-second opening quarter.

McCarthy didn't wait very long to energize the 2-1 favourite and had Incaseyoudidntknow on the offensive first-over with Morning Has Broken and Lucky Artist A trailing her in second and third-over positions. Incaseyoudidntknow turned up the pressure past the :56.1 half and was on even terms with Gias Surreal through three-quarters in 1:24.2.

Gingras came three-deep on the final turn with Morning Has Broken, looking for the upset, but McCarthy had something in reserve and Incaseyoudidntknow responded with a :28.1 final quarter to secure the victory. Morning Has Broken settled for second with Karma Seelster getting room along the pylons and finishing third. Lucky Artist A, driven by Braxten Boyd, settled for fourth in the mile.

Incaseyoudidntknow earned her third win from 11 starts in 2023 and her 19th victory overall, leaving her just shy of the $300,000 earnings mark. Les Givens trains the five-year-old daughter of Always B Miki for owners James Magno and Joseph Forte.

Incaseyoudidntknow returned $6 as the betting favourite and was atop a $51 exacta and a $140 trifecta.

Preliminary round action in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series runs through Friday, April 14 and will conclude with a $125,000 added final that should go for at least $250,000 on April 24. The final of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series and companion consolation races for both events will also occur that night.

Stakes action will resume on Monday, April 3 at MGM Yonkers Raceway with four $50,000 splits of the third leg of the MGM Borgata Series for free-for-all pacers. Trotters will also be in action next week as the John Brennan Series gets underway on Wednesday, April 5.

Also, continuing into April, the Pick 5 pool on Thursdays at MGM Yonkers Raceway will be seeded with $10,000 and also have a guaranteed pool of $25,000. This initiative is being offered in partnership with the Standardbred Owners Association of New York as part of the United States Trotting Association's Strategic Wagering Program.

MGM Yonkers Raceway is currently operating on a Monday through Friday live racing schedule with post time at 7 p.m. (EDT).

(With files from Yonkers Raceway)
A Fair Ol Dance N endured a demanding opening panel but was much the best late as he captured Fridays $19,300 Open Handicap Pace at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows.

Cody Hanover stretched A Fair Ol Dance N to a :26.3 first quarter in the slop, which could have left the leader vulnerable in the stretch. But the eight-year-old A Rocknroll Dance-Presidential Affair gelding kept right to his task for Ronnie Wrenn Jr., prevailing in 1:51.3. Carolina Beach shot the Lightning Lane for second, two lengths back, while the first-over Sandbetweenmytoes finished third.

Ron Burke trains the winner, who now boasts a career bankroll of $243,260, for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Kitefield Stable.

The team of Burke and Wrenn was a formidable force Friday, winning four of the 14 races on the card. In addition to Open winner A Fair Ol Dance N ($4.60), Burke sent out successful starters Gambling Addition ($6), JMs Finaltreasure ($7) and JDs Noah ($3).

Aaron Merriman also enjoyed a big day with three winners.

The Meadows will be dark the week of April 3 to allow for track maintenance. When racing resumes Wednesday, April 12, it will kick off The Meadows four-day-per-week spring/summer schedule, with live racing each Wednesday through Saturday.

(With files from MSOA)
This week's edition of Rewind is the regular feature 'Years Ago' that starts off each month. This time Robert Smith has gathered up a few old pictures from the 1990's and created some short stories that relate to what was going on back then which was 30 or so years ago.

1990 - Barely Visible Wins Presidential Series At The Meadowlands

As the new decade arrived a horse with all Canadian connections got off to a pretty good start. In the 12-year history of the Presidential series at The Meadowlands, no horse had ever swept all of the legs. That all changed on Saturday, January 27 when Barely Visible, driven by Canadian ace Bill O'Donnell, won the race in a stunning 1:53.3 with an almost four-length margin over Direct Current. Keystone Raider was a nose back in third spot. Rumpus Hanover, racing for P.E.I. owner Ian Smith was fourth, driven by Jim Doherty and trained by Dale Pinkney.

This marked the ninth straight win for this five-year-old gelding owned by Antonio Chiaravalle and trained by another Canadian, Bill Robinson. His last defeat came way back on October 1, 1989. With the 1990 season barely a month old, Barely Visible was the fastest and richest horse of the new decade and had a lifetime bankroll of $575,600. He was second last fall in the fastest race mile ever in Canada when Matts Scooter stopped the clock in 1:51.

1990 - Canadian Sportsman On The Move

By 1990 the iconic Canadian Sportsman publication was celebrating its 120th anniversary and the folks in charge were not sitting by idly. A quote from a story in the Feb. 6, 1990 issue of that great old favourite stated it best. "Over that 120 years The Sportsman had seen a lot of booms, depressions, wars, good and bad governments and above all horses."

In 1990 The Sportsman moved for the fifth time in its history to its present home in the village of Straffordville located in Elgin County's Bayham Township. Previously dating back to 1870, they had been located in Toronto, Grimsby, Woodstock and Tillsonburg. The new location was fully capable of launching a new look for the 1990's.

The above picture taken at the new location of The Sportsman shows 10-year employee Laura Hawley at what was then a fairly new fixture, a desktop computer. Laura was from Brownsville, a small community about ten miles from the new location. She was in charge of circulation, a very important function at the paper. As recently as 1990 not a lot of people were not yet familiar with the daily use of a computer.



Editor and vice president Gary Foerster (left) and president Bruce Johnston discuss some copy for an upcoming issue of the paper.

1993 - Canadian Invader Takes Maine's Top Trotting Event

Blue Bonnets shipper Kin O Classic took centre stage at Scarborough Downs on Sunday, July 18, capturing the State of Maines top trotting event, the $20,000 Legislator Trot. The speedy daughter of Armbro Classic came from mid-pack to circle the field with a rousing stretch drive by veteran Mike MacDonald, for a mile in 1:59.2.

Owner G. Hughie Murphy of Augustine Cove, Prince Edward Island picked up the winners' cheque of $10,000 as the hardhitting five-year-old added win no. 10 to her 1993 record. She has now earned over $59,941 in 1993 while finishing in the money in 17 of her 22 efforts. The mare, who now has $170,622 in lifetime earnings, was bred by Roderick MacLeod of North Wiltshire, P.E.I. She took a new life mark of 1:58.2 at Blue Bonnets this year, but was overlooked by bettors who let her get away at 7-1. She paid $16.00, $8.00 and $6.20 across the board.



It was a happy winner's circle gathering at Scarborough as track officials and a number of people connected with owner Hughie Murphy celebrated the victory by Kin O Classic. The winner received a very nicely lettered cooler as well as a rather large trophy to mark the occasion. (Photo and text courtesy of Northeast Harness Newspaper)

1995 - Roosevelt Into Final Demolition

April: The once famous Roosevelt Raceway which opened to harness racing in 1940 is undergoing final demolition. Once cleared and when approval is received the 172-acre track property will become the site of a major development. A newspaper report quoted veteran horseman Jimmy Cruise who raced there for many years. "It's all flattened out, except for the grandstand." Cruise, who lives in Old Westbury, continues, "But that will be going down soon."



Founded by George Morton Levy who died in 1977, Roosevelt ushered in the mobile starting gate and the great era of nighttime harness racing...but lost the race against time and change. Below are a couple of quotes from some people who were asked to comment on the closing of this iconic and memorable place.

Gene Pownall, a member of the original driver's colony said "In those early days there was quite a horse shortage" and interjected, "We were racing for $210 per dash, and there were only 64 head to pick from. They had five races per card with five-horse fields and the dashes were 9/16 and 3/4 miles. With the horses racing twice a week, if they had mile distances the horses would have blown up. The horsemen were racing whatever they could get their hands on."

Glen Gibbons, an early race secretary, stated, "I wrote the Messenger and Billy Haughton won the first one in 1956 with Belle Acton. That mare was owned by George Landers of Kittery, Maine, who was so happy to win the race that he gave his Cadillac to the groom."



Above scene shows a very early picture of morning schooling races being held at the then fairly new Roosevelt track. This was one of many innovations introduced at this once grandiose track. (Photo courtesy of Northeast Harness News)

Quote For The Week: "If it thunders on April Fool's Day, expect good crops of corn and hay." - Anonymous

Who Is It?

Can you identify this young driver? He gave up driving many years ago but he has enjoyed considerable success of late as an owner and trainer. Name him if you can. Come to think of it, he has had a bit more than "considerable" success.

Who Else Is It?

Can you identify this person? Let us know who you think he is.
A former dog trainer in Orange County has pleaded guilty in an animal cruelty case tried with assistance from the Virginia Attorney Generals office.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares on Friday announced the successful prosecution in Orange County Circuit Court of Shawn Deehan, 62.

He is the former owner of The Perfect Dog, a reported K9 training facility in the county that came on authorities radar in 2021.

Deehan pleaded guilty March 30 in the case to two felony animal cruelty charges and five misdemeanors of failure of a boarding establishment to provide adequate care for animals at the site, according to a release from the AGs office. Deehan pleaded not guilty at arraignment two years ago.

Im proud of the work of the Orange County Sheriffs Office, the Fairfaxs Animal Protection Police and my offices animal law unit, Miyares said in a statement. Animal cruelty and violence will not be tolerated in Virginia.

In March of 2021, a German Shepherd puppy was picked up from Deehans facility, just east of Raccoon Ford, after the owner received a tip the puppy was in bad shape, according to authorities.

The owner took the puppy to a veterinarian in Fairfax County, who contacted the Fairfax Animal Protection Police, who referred the case to the Orange County Sheriffs Office, according to the release. The puppy, Scout, ultimately had to be put down due to trauma from being kept in a crate for hours upon end, the release stated.

Upon an investigation of the property in Orange County, deputies found 12 dogs in crates and kennels standing in urine and feces with no bedding.

In court Thursday, Deehan was sentenced to five years with four years and six months suspended. He will serve the six month jail term under house arrest. He was sentenced to 12 months with 12 months suspended on the misdemeanor charges.

Deehan was barred from owning, possessing, caring or training dogs for the rest of his life, according to the attorney generals office.

He was additionally ordered to pay almost $100,000 in restitution to the dogs owners and the Orange County Animal Shelter who have taken care of his dogs for two years. Deehan surrendered his six dogs to the shelter and they will be adopted by police units, Miyares said. Senior Assistant Attorney General Michelle Welch assisted with the local prosecution in the case.
TORRINGTON  The last thing Robert Priest and his 11-year-old son expected to find with their McDonalds order was what they suspected to be human blood.

On the afternoon of Jan. 24, Priest and his son entered the drive-thru at McDonalds to purchase a meal. They placed their order and approached the drive-thru window.

(We) went through the drive-thru at McDonalds in Torrington and got my 11-year-old son a chicken McNuggets meal with a large Dr. Pepper; he loves those McNuggets, Priest said. Once we got to our house, I noticed the paper bag had blood on it. Upon checking further, there was blood on the inside of the bag as well, on the sauce packet and, it seemed, everything that was touched by the McDonalds employee had blood on it.

Priest photographed the blood on the bag, sauce containers and everything else contained in the bag. He then contacted McDonalds corporate office to report his findings.

I contacted McDonalds corporate office; they blew me off and said to contact the local store. I did and spoke to the manager, Priest said. She told me to bring back the meal. She threw it in the trash behind the counter. She told me she would have the owners contact me.

While speaking with the store manager, Priest noticed the employee who had served them at the drive-thru had an injury to her finger, which was bleeding through a bandage.

The same lady that served us at the drive-thru was there and was the one that took the bag, her finger was still bleeding (about 20 minutes had passed) through the Band-Aid she had on, Priest explained. She told me, Oh, yes, I cut my finger about 11 this morning but Ive had this BandAid on. There was no glove on her hand and the blood was still seeping through her Band-Aid. I thought of all the people that had been through the drive-thru and possibly had blood on their food as well.

After a couple of days had passed, Priest was contacted by Daniel Lipsky, who is a technical claims specialist working for Intrepid Direct Insurance, the company representing McDonalds.

Priest said he felt the McDonalds manager was well-trained in getting him to give her back the bag and the food, as Lipsky had told him in a phone call that he had no case as the bag was never tested for the presence of blood.

In this initial phone call, he had mentioned that he has children and would be doing the same thing I was doing, Priest explained. I told Daniel that I would keep the story out of the press, off social media and would not tell anyone if we could make an arrangement that would not need me to obtain legal representation and we could get a resolution fairly quickly. At this point, McDonalds has offered me $750.

Priest and his wife, Karlyn Najera, said they both feel like the money offered to them was hush money, and was not acceptable.

In an email to Lipsky, Priest wrote, At this point, we have (spoken) with an attorney and feel the minimum we could accept would be $20,000. Priest added, The offer of $750 is an insult, nothing less. It is a big corporation that does not understand the implications or the concern of a parent for his child. My son did not eat any of the fries, but he did drink from his soda.

With the blood being on almost everything in the bag, I feel there was blood on the lid of the drink as well and that blood was then in the soda. Bloodborne pathogens may take years before symptoms arise.

Adding to the concern, Priests son began feeling unwell soon after.

My son did not feel well a couple of days after the incident, but the doctor could not confirm nor deny that it was from the blood. He hasnt felt well a few times since then. Every time he comes to me and says, Dad, Im cold or Dad, my tummy hurts, I immediately remember the blood. As a parent, this is something that I will worry about on a daily basis for years to come.

It isnt something simple like a burn from a cup of hot cocoa or a scrape and torn pair of jeans from a slip on an icy entryway; those things are instant and will heal quickly, Priest added. This could literally be life threatening and may not show symptoms for years.

A manager at McDonalds, who asked to not be named, declined comment on this matter as lawyers are already involved with the incident.
As Nebraskas Attorney General, it is my responsibility to defend Nebraskans interests and rights against federal government overreach.

In January, the Biden Administrations Environmental and Protection Agency imposed a new rule broadly regulating bodies of water across the country. The rule, called the Waters of the United States rule (WOTUS), will saddle farmers and ranchers with costs and force them to navigate federal red tape. It is unlawful because it exceeds the authority given by the people to the federal government under our Constitution. We responded in February by joining with 23 other states in suing the Biden Administration in federal court and seeking expedited relief.

Water is the lifeblood of our communities, and it is critical for our states most important industry, agriculture. While often we think of Nebraskas water sources in terms of the large bodies of water, such as the Ogallala Aquifer, smaller bodies of water dot our state too. These include innumerable wells, springs, wetlands, ponds, lakes, irrigation systems, and drainage systems on both private and state property.

Historically, states were the primary regulators for these bodies of water. Construction projects, permitting, and discharge all were handled at the state and local levels. But the Biden Administrations WOTUS rule inserts the federal government into the regulation of local bodies of water. Drainage ditches on the outskirts of Lincoln and small wetlands in Broken Bow would all be swept up in the WOTUS rule. In fact, the Administrations proposed test brings nearly any body of water within the federal governments orbit. The Administrations rule would cover ponds, wetlands, and streams (even those that run dry for several years at a time!) that are entirely within Nebraska and not navigable at all.

It is difficult to conceive of a body of water that would be left untouched by this rule. The impact of this rule, if left in force, is profound and troubling. In Nebraska, the rule will stifle investment, impede our citizens freedom and property rights, and create untold costs and delays.

Under this rule, Nebraskans who want to do projects on their property that involve these bodies of water might need federal permitting. And seeking a permit from the EPA can be slow and costly  one study found that an average application spends nearly 800 days (over two years) and spent almost$30,000 on discharge permits.

A misstep could be met with severe penalties, even an inadvertent mistake in following the process could create criminal penalties. And if someone does not like what you are doing on your land? The statute permits citizen suits, which expose Nebraskans to nuisance lawsuits.

This is a mess. It will not matter if you live in a rural or urban area or are in an agricultural industry or not: the rule will impact ranchers, farmers, homebuilders, and property owners alike. It will not matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican.

The rule is an unfortunate continuation of the Biden Administrations effort to centralize power far away from Nebraska  even if the Constitution says otherwise. Our lawsuit against the Biden Administrations WOTUS rule aims to return authority to your local decision makers. As a former state senator, I speak from experience. Hearing from neighbors and other constituents people you see at the grocery store, go to church with, and see going door to door  plays a critical role in our system that relies on the accountability of elected representatives to their neighbors. In our constitutional republic, we must accept nothing less.

We will continue to hold firm on the principle that the Constitution gives the federal government limited power because so many issues are best left to the elected representatives of the state.
Seventeen-year-old entrepreneur, Otis Garrigan Jr. recently returned from Las Vegas, Nevada, attending the Construction Festival earlier this month to learn how to grow his own company.

After lots of hard work, scheduling and seeking resources he was able to open what is now a budding OJG Lot and Land Clearing Business at 1620 Charlotte Highway in Mooresville.

He plans to graduate from the iAcademy at the end of this calendar year and begin focusing on expanding his company full-time with his family and business partner, Riley Macfarlane.

Its no surprise how he got there as Garrigan Jr. has worked with his dad, Otis Garrigan Sr. in the utility business all his life. He enjoyed running heavy equipment, even at the young age of 6, under the close supervision of his dad.

During the summer of 2022, Garrigan Jr. made the decision to follow his passion within the family business. With the strong support of his family, he began laying the foundation for his own company. They decided that he should enroll in the iAcademy at CATS which would allow him to manage his time between his education and work schedule.
With her southern-soaked style of humor, Jane Jenkins Herlong had all those in attendance laughing at the Statesville Country Club on Friday afternoon for the Empowered Women: ROAR (Resound. Outshine. Actualize. Revolutionize.), A Womens Leadership Symposium.

As the keynote speaker, Herlong offered advice with her sweet tea-drenched southern charm turned up, much to the delight of those at the symposium organized by the Leading Ladies of The Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce as the event focused on womens empowerment in business and other scenarios in their lives.

Our symposium was designed to give you the stage to find your voice, realize how to be your best self and achieve your dreams. I encourage each of you to let the messages received today sink in and really roar in your life, event chair Dana White said. I know that as chair, I have learned many life lessons in the development of this conference. Lessons learned, power found, and joy lived are all my takeaways. You are here to enjoy your day, away from your normal environment. Relax, appreciate your experiences, and know that when you return to your everyday life, things will hopefully be a little less weighty yet a lot more vibrant.

The main dining room of the country club was filled with women  as well as a few men  networking, socializing, and looking for an edge as they took in the words of wisdom from speakers like Tracy Alston, a mental fitness consultant, who spoke to the value of visualizing a goal as part of a pathway to success.

Stay focused on that dream or goal or whatever it is for you, Alston said. You will see how much quicker those things come into alignment.

Alston said that so much of life is energy and positively focusing your energy is important for finding how to get to that goal as well.

Other speakers on Friday morning included Cheryl Banks-Barber, who spoke on having faith through her own and others difficult circumstances; Amber Valentine who spoke on embracing yourself, messiness and all.

For the conference, the organizers simply hoped to inspire those gathered and have them see the power of working together within the community.

I hope what theyre taking out of it is what a dynamic community of women that we have not just here in Statesville, but the surrounding area, Joni Stone, marketing director for the Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce, said. Working with a community, like the chamber, there is a lot of dynamic learning from each other. I hope people are establishing relationships that they didnt have before today, and can grow those relationships, whether business or professional.

The symposium began Friday morning and lasted throughout the day.
Here are my notes on, In the Eye of The Storm, By: Max Lucado.

Two chapters ago, I closed with this question: What did Jesus know that enabled him to do what he did? Heres part of the answer. He knew the value of people. He knew that each human being is a treasure. And because he did, people were not a source of stress, but a source of joy.

When hands extended and voices demanded, Jesus responded with love. He did so because the code within him disarmed the alarm. The code is worth noting: People are precious.

Maybe thats why God brings hurting people into your world too. All solitude and no service equals selfishness. Some solitude and some service, however, equals perspective.

When those who are called to fish dont fish, they fight.

Now it occurs to me that Jesus needed to call home in the middle of the hassles as much as I did. He was surrounded by people who wanted food and disciples who wanted a break. His heart was heavy from the death of John the Baptist. He needed a minute with someone who would understand. Maybe he, like me, got a bit weary of the hassles of getting a job done in a distant land and needed to call home. So he did. He chatted with the One he loved. He heard the sound of the home he missed. And he was reminded that when all hell breaks loose, all heaven draws near. Maybe you should call home too. God will be glad when you dobut not half as glad as you will be.

The mark of a sheep is its ability to hear the Shepherds voice.

For God has not destined us [emphasis mine] to the terrors of judgement, but to the full attainment of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Note Gods destiny for your life. Salvation. Gods overarching desire is that you reach that destiny. His itinerary includes stops that encourage your journey. He frowns on stops that deter you. When his sovereign plan and your earthly plan collide, a decision must be made. Whos in charge of this journey? If God must choose between your earthly satisfaction and your heavenly salvation, which do you hope he chooses?

Our days on earth are like a shadow.

Each mans life is but a breath.

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Remember this: God may not do what you want, but he will do what is right . . . and best. Hes the Father of forward motion. Trust him. He will get you home. And the trials of the trip will be lost in the joys of the feast.

There are crevasses in your life that you cannot cross alone. There are hearts in your world that you cannot change without help. There are mountains that you cannot climb until you climb His mountain. Climb it. You will be amazed.

Patience Parable:Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen beforesuch was its splendor, its majesty, its strength. People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. This horse is not a horse to me, he would tell them. It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend? The man was poor and the temptation was great. But he never sold the horse. One morning he found that the horse was not in the stable. All the village came to see him. You old fool, they scoffed, we told you that someone would steal your horse. We warned you that you would be robbed. You are so poor. How could you ever hope to protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. No amount would have been too high. Now the horse is gone, and youve been cursed with misfortune. The old man responded, Dont speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If Ive been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge? The people contested, Dont make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed. The simple fact that your horse is gone is a curse. The old man spoke again. All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone. The rest I dont know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I cant say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next? The people of the village laughed. They thought that the man was crazy. They had always thought he was a fool; if he wasnt, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, an old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it. He lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool. After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadnt been stolen; he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke. Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us. The man responded, Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but dont judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of a phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase? Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. All you have is a fragment! Dont say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I dont. Maybe the old man is right, they said to one another. So they said little. But down deep, they knew he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned with one horse. With a little bit of work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money. The old man had a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgments. You were right, they said. You proved you were right. The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever. The old man spoke again. You people are obsessed with judging. Dont go so far. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment. Life comes in fragments. It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured. Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. There was little chance that they would return. The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle. They would never see their sons again. You were right, old man, they wept. God knows you were right. This proves it. Your sons accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever. The old man spoke again. It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one knows. Say only this: your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only God knows.

tomorrows dream becomes todays courage.

When you recognize God as Creator, you will admire him. When you recognize his wisdom, you will learn from him. When you discover his strength, you will rely on him. But only when he saves you will you worship him.

A season of suffering is a small price to pay for a clear view of God.

What do I think he was doing when he stretched the neck of the giraffe? An exercise in engineering? What do I think he had in mind when he told the ostrich where to put his head? Spelunking? What do I think he was doing when he designed the mating call of an ape? Or the eight legs of the octopus? And what do I envision on his face when he saw Adams first glance at Eve? A yawn? Hardly. As my vision improves and Im able to read without my stained glasses, Im seeing that a sense of humor is perhaps the only way God has put up with us for so long.

Perhaps the most amazing response to Gods gift is our reluctance to accept it.
(CNN)  Russia could place powerful strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, on top of the tactical nuclear warheads Moscow is already planning to deploy there, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said during a national address on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that Moscow would complete the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by the beginning of July. After days of silence, Lukashenko welcomed the move on Friday, announcing he had intensified talks with Putin about deploying both tactical and strategic nuclear weapons in the country.

The mentioning of strategic nukes is an escalation in rhetoric from Lukashenko. While tactical warheads are designed for use in a limited battlefield, for example to destroy a command post or a column of tanks, strategic nuclear warheads are designed to destroy entire cities. Russia has not announced any plans to send strategic nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Lukashenko, who has been asking Putin for nuclear weapons for a while, claimed Belarus needed the weapons because Ukraine's Western allies were planning a coup against him. He baselessly accused Western countries of "preparing to invade" Belarus from Poland and "destroy" it.

"If necessary, Putin and I will decide and introduce strategic nuclear weapons here. And they must understand this ... We will stop at nothing, protecting our countries, our states and their peoples," the Belarusian leader was quoted as saying by state media BELGA.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet next week.

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told CNN on Monday that Russia's decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in its neighbor "aims to subjugate Belarus."

"We are not a nuclear country and we don't want to deploy nuclear weapons in our state," she said, adding that the decision violates Belarus' constitution.

Belarus is one of Russia's few allies in its war on Ukraine. While the country's military isn't directly involved in the fighting, Belarus helped Russia launch its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, allowing the Kremlin's troops to enter the country from its territory.

Putin said last week that Moscow has already transferred an Iskander short-range missile system to Belarus. The device can be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads. However, the Russian leader said he would not transfer control of the tactical nuclear weapons to Lukashenko, likening the move to Washington's practice of stationing nuclear weapons in Europe to keep host countries, like Germany, from breaking their commitments as non-nuclear powers.

"Our converted planes can also carry a nuclear warhead. You heard from the president of Russia about joint plans to create the appropriate infrastructure on the territory of Belarus. I just want to clarify: The entire infrastructure has been created and is ready," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko said that Minsk and Moscow would make "every effort and use the means to ensure their sovereignty and independence." He specifically accused Poland and its "zealous" Western neighbors of building up the "formation of certain regiments, banners, legions" for a "subsequent coup in Belarus."

Speaking to the nation on state TV, Lukashenko also called for the freezing of "hostilities" in Ukraine.

"It is necessary to stop hostilities and declare a truce that prohibits both sides from moving groups of troops and from transferring weapons, ammunition, manpower, and equipment. All stopped, frozen," Lukashenko said.

However, both Russia and Ukraine immediately rejected the proposal.

Senior Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said there cannot be a ceasefire while Russian forces continue to occupy Ukrainian territory.

"Any ceasefire will mean [the Russian Federation's] right to stay in the occupied territories. This is totally inadmissible," Podolyak said.

The Kremlin also ruled out the proposal on Friday. "In the context of Ukraine, nothing changes. The special military operation continues because at the moment it is the only way to achieve the goals that our country faces," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a regular call with journalists, referring to the invasion by the Russian propaganda phrase.

But while he called for a truce, Lukashenko added a warning to the West that Moscow would be obliged to use the "full power of its military-industrial complex and the army to prevent the escalation of the conflict -- phosphorus ammunition, non-depleted uranium, and enriched uranium -- everything must go into action if there is deception and even the slightest movement across the border of Ukraine is noticed."

This story was first published on CNN.com. "Lukashenko says Putin could deploy more powerful Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus"
An unseasonably strong weather system is on its way to Western Washington, bringing gusty winds, lowland rain and periods of heavy mountain snow to the region over the weekend.

The system was expected to reach the coast by Friday night, according to the weather service, and move inland by Saturday morning.

Before the system arrived, the Seattle area was forecasted to have some showers that will be filling in coverage, turning into more widespread rain this afternoon, said Trent Davis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Wind gusts were also predicted to increase throughout the day Friday, with gusts in Cowlitz County to reach up to 25 mph Friday night.

Showers and thunderstorms were predicted to arrive Saturday morning at roughly 11 a.m. in Lower Columbia, with some areas receiving hail. In the higher-elevated areas of the county, residents could see snow and winds between 7 to 11 mph.

Cowlitz County residents can expect similar weather on Sunday as thunderstorms are expected to arrive at 11 a.m., and rainfall is predicted reach up to a quarter of an inch. The National Weather Service predicts a higher number of thunderstorms as compared to Saturday. Rain and snow are predicted to occur between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., and just snow after 5 a.m.

For Monday, the forecasts calls for more of the same: A mixture of snow and rain for most of the day.

Temperatures will remain unseasonably cool Sunday and Monday, with highs in the low 50s and overnight lows dipping down into the low to mid 30s.

Itll start warming up later next week, Davis said, with daytime temperatures warming closer to a normal high of 60 degrees.

Cascades, Olympics

The incoming weather system will also bring a long-duration heavy mountain snow event to the Cascades through Saturday night, the weather service said online.

For anyone traveling, its worth noting Friday marks the deadline to remove studded winter tires. Drivers could be issued a fine of $137 from the Washington State Patrol starting as soon as Saturday, according to the state Department of Transportation.

A winter storm warning for 10 to 20 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 40 mph is in effect from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Sunday for the Cascades of King, Snohomish, Whatcom, Skagit, Pierce and Lewis counties, including the cross-state passes and ski resorts.

Travel could be very difficult, the weather service said.

An additional 2 to 5 inches could fall Sunday in the Cascades, but the intensity should be a lot lower, and it shouldnt really lead to any impacts, Davis said.

A winter weather advisory for up to 18 inches of snow and wind gusts up to 40 mph is in effect from 11 a.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday for the Olympics.

Editors note: The Daily News Reporter Matthew Esnayra contributed to this article.
A new pair of safety measures to protect tow truck drivers along Washingtons roads is one step away from becoming law.

Senate Bill 5023, introduced by Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, was unanimously passed by the Senate in February and by the House on March 24. The bill is now waiting for a signature by Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee.

The law allows for tow truck drivers to use flashing red and blue lights, similar to a police car, while working at the scene of an accident. Wilson and proponents for the law argued that adding the blue lights would make drivers pay more attention to the road and pass the scene more carefully.

We want drivers to be more aware and more cautious, especially when you have workers working along our roadways who are there to do a job that benefits all of us, Wilson said. Im proud that we completed this and I hope it will save lives.

The law also requires drivers on highways to slow down to 50 mph or below while passing an emergency or work zone.

The bill was honorifically named after two Cowlitz County tow truck drivers who were killed on the job in 2021. Arthur Anderson, owner of Anderson Towing, and two passengers in the car he was assisting, were struck and killed in April by a passing driver. Raymond Mitchell attended the memorial drive for Anderson as a driver for TLC Towing and was killed while responding to a call in Kalama in September.

The traffic is getting thicker and worse and there are going to be more deaths in the future, because people are distracted or not paying attention, unless we do something, said Cory Wells, owner the Ridgefield-based TLC Towing.

Wilson and Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, had introduced similar tow truck safety bills during the 2022 session. The light bill failed to get a vote in the Senate but other measures to educate drivers about move over, slow down laws were approved.
Starting Monday, staff and patients at most health care settings in Washington and Oregon will no longer be required to wear face masks, meant to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Washingtons mask requirements in correctional facilities will also end Monday.

The states announced the end of the mandates a month ago as COVID-19, RSV and influenza disease rates and hospitalizations declined. The Washington State Department of Health guidance still recommends masks for providers, patients and visitors in health care settings.

Several worker protections remain in effect, including that employees and contractors may choose to use masks or other personal protective equipment on the job without employer retaliation.

Local or tribal governments, facilities and providers may choose to continue requiring masks, according to the state.

In Cowlitz County, major healthcare providers are ending requirements for most staff and patients but continue to encourage masks.

At PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview and its other locations, PeaceHealth will highly encourage but no longer require masks for caregivers, patients and visitors except in high-risk situations and areas such as infusion centers, dialysis units, radiation and oncology clinics, according to the health care system. That also includes COVID-19 patients.

Kaiser Permanente Northwest, which includes Oregon and Southwest Washington, will no longer require masks in medical or dental offices except in designated high-risk areas similar to PeaceHealths, according to a statement. The organization will continue requiring masks in its hospitals.

Kaiser Permanente is committed to protecting the safety of our members, patients, employees, physicians and visitors, the organization stated. Our infectious disease and infection prevention experts will continue to monitor local transmission rates in the community and adapt our masking requirements as needed to provide a safe care environment.

Masks will be available in all Kaiser facilities for anyone who wants to wear them.

Kaiser Permanente Washington, covering the rest of the state outside of Longview and Vancouver, signed onto a joint statement with several Puget Sound hospitals announcing they would continue mask requirements.

Many patients have serious medical diagnoses, including conditions that leave them vulnerable to severe disease associated with COVID-19 and other viruses, the statement said.

Unlike many other activities, health care is not optional, but essential; and every patient deserves to feel safe from acquiring a preventable infection when seeking health care, the organizations wrote in the statement.

Cowlitz Family Health Center, which operates several clinics in Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and Pacific counties, will make mask wearing an individual choice for patients, staff and visitors, said CEO Jim Coffee.

Our staff, after three years are happy to be able to see peoples faces again and move one step closer to normal, he said.

Child and Adolescent Clinic will not require but will encourage staff to wear masks, especially when caring for patients with respiratory symptoms, said Kimberley Robbins-Stripp, administrator.

Signs will request patients with respiratory symptoms to mask. These patients will continue to check in by phone from their cars and be escorted directly to a room to minimize exposure of others in the waiting room, Robbins-Stripp said.
A state business association has recognized a Longview-based paper company for its efforts to add jobs and make more recycled paper products through modernized equipment unveiled last fall.

The North Pacific Paper Company in October cut the ribbon on its new drum pulper as part of a project to use more wastepaper  which would otherwise end up in a landfill  in its production of corrugated boxes, bags and other packaging products. The addition reportedly brought 100 jobs to the county.

The Washington Economic Development Association awarded NORPAC on Tuesday with the 2023 Economic Development Project of the Year  Business Retention/Expansion.

We are honored that WEDA has recognized our work to continue investing in our community to not only support new jobs but also continue our mission to prevent tons of waste from going into landfills, NORPAC CEO Craig Anneberg said in a news release. We also want to thank the Cowlitz Economic Development Council for being a strong partner in these efforts and for nominating us for this award.

The recognition does not come with any monetary award or otherwise, NORPAC Vice President of Communications Nathan Wilson said in an email to The Daily News.

At an annual Cowlitz Economic Development Council conference Feb. 28, NORPAC Co-President Tom Crowley said the company would continue its goal of making packaging products more sustainable.

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I would venture to guess many of the books that you have in your house and in your office are printed on our paper right here in Longview, Crowley told industry leaders during the February conference. Our mission is to build a sustainable company for our employees, customers and community with world-class manufacturing of high-quality recyclables and low-carbon paper that our customers want and our planet needs.

CEDC President Ted Sprague said in the news release the council was happy to support companies dedicated to innovation and economic expansion.

Cowlitz County is grateful to NORPAC for being an industry leader that recognizes the importance of investing in the community and continuing to expand efforts to reduce waste, Sprague said.

NORPAC employs more than 500 people in Southwest Washington, the news release says.
Travel planning correlates with happinessso say a million articles, researchers and well-published scientific papers. So why is it so danged overwhelming?

Maybe it's because we think we're looking for something unique when in reality we don't want to venture that far off the beaten path. Or because the internet seems so full of ideas, yet always points us to the same over-Instagrammed cliches. (It's a real paradox.) Or because our dreams are bigger than our budgets, given current headlines.

Tired of seeing the flickering cursor in a Google search barand wondering what it was that I was actually searching forI decided to enlist generative artificial intelligence. After all, Chat GPT-4, the latest version of Open AI's chatbot, promises to iterate creatively with users in order to solve complex problems. Here's how it tackled a variety of travel planning situationsfor two alter egos I created to test the technologyand how it might help you, too. The answer is, as with anything, a truly mixed bag.

The Success Story

The mission: A relaxing, family-friendly trip with two (very) young kids

Score: 9/10

Most glossy hotels would rather tell you how they cater to honeymooners than to toddlers, despite the fact that millennialstheir once-coveted demographicnow globe-trot lavishly with their rugrats. I threw ChatGPT a curve ball by asking it not only to find me five-star Caribbean resorts with kids clubs but specifically ones that would accept my 4-year-old; to my frustration, most kids clubs start at age 5.

Its first suggestion was a perfect bull's-eye: The Four Seasons Nevis actually lets kids as young as 3 participate in its Kids for All Seasons programming. (Many of those activities are complimentary, in a further surprise!) When I dug around the resort's website to verify ChatGPT's suggestion, I could see evidence of a pink-hued playground on the sand (that my daughter would love) and a beautiful arts and crafts station at the kids club. Sold.

It also suggested Eden Roc Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic, where I actually tried to plan our spring break trip this year. We scratched it because the flights from New York were astonishingly expensive; the resort itself is an amenity-packed dream for families with kids, and its Koko Kid's Club indeed takes 4-year-olds.

Less on the nose were suggestions for all-inclusive resorts Beaches Turks & Caicos and Grand Velas Riviera Maya. They scratch the kid-friendly itch beautifully, but aren't in the same threshold for luxury. On another query, ChatGPT recommended great hotels such as Malliouhana in Anguilla, where my kiddo isn't actually old enough to partake in the 5-and-up Mini-Explorers' Program. (Disclaimer: None of this information is easy to find online; I find myself digging for it in the least-seen corners of hotel websites. It's also possible that ChatGPT was simply referring to outdated, pre-2021 information; that's one thing that OpenAI warns about explicitly when you begin using it.)

The bot also did surprisingly well when I gave it even fewer parameters. In a fresh query, I asked it to brainstorm a relaxing vacation that I could take with my 1-year-old, ideally within two time zones of home. Since it didn't know I live in New York, the second half of my question threw it for a bit of a loopprompting suggestions of Vancouver! San Diego! ChatGPT is human-like in the way it phrases responses, but it doesn't ask follow-up questions. It's best to be specific. Even so, its suggestions included Costa Rica and its rain forest reserve near the Arenal volcano, where I happen to have a future trip in the works.

ChatGPT didn't quite drill down to the hotel I'm looking at (Nayara Tented Camp) but it came close by suggesting I go to the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo, where we could try a range of family-friendly amenities and activities, including a kids' club, family pool, and a variety of outdoor adventures such as zip-lining and surfing lessons. (Did it remember I also have a 4-year-old and a taste for luxury?) The suggestion was a lucky one, I think: Papagayo happens to be two time zones away.

The Miserable Failure

The mission: A mental health escape on a $750-per-night budget

Score: 2/10

I need a total mental reset, I confessed to ChatGPT. Can you find me a great yoga retreat in a luxurious resort, for May? The query was rooted in wishful thinking: It's a question for which I'd love to know the answerif time away from my family (and work) were even halfway possible.

Unfortunately, ChatGPT made the whole premise feel even more outlandish (sigh) when it recommended I head to the remote destination spa Ananda in the Himalayas or to a few posh spots in Baliso very Eat, Pray, Love, I thought. I rephrased the question: Anything in Europe or the Caribbean? Sure, it said, and spouted off resorts in Sri Lanka and Thailand.

I started afresh. I need a total mental reset, I reiterated. Where should I go on vacation? This time, I got a slightly better-rounded set of suggestions, all destinations rather than resorts. (Costa Rica came up again; I should really just take that trip.) But I wanted hotel recommendations, so the bot came back with classics: Ranch Malibu, SHA Wellness Clinic, Kamalaya Koh Samui.

My budget is $750 per night, I followed up. Do any of these work?

What ensued was pure comedy. Yes, there are some options that would work with your $750 per night budget, it told me. Here are some examples. The Ranch Malibu typically costs $1,050 per night, it said, but a cheaper package might bring the price to $1,114. SHA works out to $826 per night. And at Como Shambhala, in Bali, terrace suites start at $815 per night. This means that you could stay in a Terrace Suite for less than $750 per night, it explained. I don't think it was being sarcastic.

The In Between

The mission: A crowd-free trip to Europe

Score: 5/10

Here's a trip everyone is asking me about: How do I do Europe this August without the crowds? I relayed the question to ChatGPT. Its answers were generally sensible: Scandinavia, Portugal and Turkey were all on the list. I wondered about the latter and pressed further.

Isn't Istanbul crowded in August? I asked. What's the weather like? It answered my questions with standard information that I might find in the front section of a guidebook. Ditto when I asked about cultural experiences: I got low-hanging fruit, such as going to a hammam or taking a cooking class, without specific recommendations.

But when I asked about destinations to visit in Turkey beyond Istanbul, ChatGPT got creative. Sure, it gave me a few obvious answers like Cappadocia and Bodrum, but it also suggested Antalya and Trabzon, a small but picturesque city on the Black Sea that I had never heard about and couldn't find written up in any travel magazine.

The Verdict

Am I likely to go to Trabzon or to recommend it to others? I can't say so. I just don't know enough. And neither does ChatGPT.

While the engine recommended a few markets where I could theoretically buy handicrafts and artisanal foods, as well as a handful of the city's higher-end hotels, it was never going to make me feel confident booking a trip to an unknown spot halfway around the world. Given its inability to do basic math, AI doesn't command enough trust for me to embrace recommendations that entail such high stakes.

Which brings me to a point that I don't see changing soon. When it comes to travel, it doesn't make sense to trust anything automated or generic: That's why we still find ourselves going back to the pros. What we're looking for is happiness, right? This means something different to each of us.

Yet, as a preliminary planning tool, chatting with the bot was more satisfying than taking to Google and clicking on endless slideshows offering the best hotels in so-and-so places. When it works, ChatGPT's randomness fosters a sense of discoverywhich is what travel planning is all about. And when it doesn't, well, at least it makes you laugh. The catch: You'll have to do a lot more Googling to find out which one's which.
While political scrutiny continues to intensify on the widely popular short video app TikTok in the US and across the world, another owned by the same Chinese company, ByteDance Ltd., is going viral. As downloads of Lemon8 surge in the US, here's what you need to know about it:

What is Lemon8?

Marketing itself as a content sharing platform with a youthful community, the app lets users make longer blog-like posts about topics such as fashion, fitness, travel and cooking, accompanied by relevant pictures and videos. Users can also access a customized feed of posts based on what they like and other creators they follow. Unlike TikTok, which features a rolling scroll of short videos, the app is more akin to a mishmash of Instagram and Pinterest. Its downloads have surged in the US, with the app jumping past Pinterest, dating service Tinder and real estate platform Zillow to become the top lifestyle app downloaded by iPhone users.

Who owns it and what's its relationship with TikTok?

Information about the app is murky, though regulatory filings and various media reports suggest it is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. Apple's App Store lists Singapore-based Heliophilia Pte as Lemon8's owner. Singapore's company registry shows Heliophilia is located at the same address as TikTok's local headquarters and lists Zhou Qin, a Singapore citizen, as its director. Reuters reported last year that the app is overseen by Alex Zhu, senior vice president of product and strategy at ByteDance and former CEO of TikTok. Lemon8 and ByteDance didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

What's the big deal over the app?

Lemon8's ties with ByteDance may expose it to similar scrutiny faced by TikTok, which has been barred from government devices across the world over data security fears, and whose CEO, Shou Chew, just endured a bruising congressional hearing in the US. The publicity push may stem in part from concern the US might force ByteDance to divest from the app or even impose a total ban.

How long has Lemon8 been around?

Despite its links to TikTok, Lemon8 has more similarities with Xiaohongshu, literally translated as Little Red Book. The Chinese app, which calls itself RED  and stresses its name bears no relation to the seminal book of Mao Zedong's quotations  was founded in 2013 as an online community that recommended overseas e-commerce sites for users in China. It later entered e-commerce and then evolved into a social media platform where users share their daily life moments through videos and pictures on topics including skincare, food and travel. It's widely popular among young women. Lemon8 itself was launched in Japan in April 2020, according to the New York Times. It topped five million monthly active users worldwide last year, and has been launched in multiple territories including Singapore and Indonesia, the newspaper reported.

Why is Lemon8 gaining popularity in the US?

The app's rise may have to do with a push by ByteDance to promote it in markets like the US and UK. The Business Insider reported that the company has been paying creators in the UK to post on Lemon8, while the New York Times similarly described its effort to lure US influencers. It's too early to judge whether its push will translate to sustained popularity. Besides TikTok, Chinese-owned apps like Shein and e-commerce giant PDD Holdings Inc.'s Temu have gained users in the US, helped by ultra-low prices and promotions.
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:

Erich Andersen, general counsel for TikTok and ByteDance, speaks with Associated Press global enterprise editor Indira Lakshmanan at the Verify cybersecurity conference, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Sausalito, Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger

Under intense scrutiny from Washington that could lead to a potential ban, the top attorney for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance defended the social media platform's plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China.

"The basic approach that we're following is to make it physically impossible for any government, including the Chinese government, to get access to U.S. user data," said general counsel Erich Andersen during a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press at a cybersecurity conference in Sausalito, California, on Friday sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation and Aspen Digital and featuring top government officials, tech executives and journalists.

ByteDance will continue to develop its new app called Lemon8, Andersen said.

"We're obviously going to do our best with the Lemon8 app to comply with U.S. law and to make sure we do the right thing here," Andersen said, referring to the new social app developed by ByteDance that resembles Instagram and Pinterest. "But I think we got a long way to go with that applicationit's pretty much a startup phase."

ByteDance's most known app, TikTok, is under intense scrutiny over concerns it could hand over user data to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on its behalf. Lemon8 was introduced across app stores in Japan in April 2020 and has been rolled out in more countries since then. It's available for download in the U.S. and could face similar scrutiny to TikTok.

Leaders at the FBI, CIA and officials at other government agencies have warned that ByteDance could be forced to give user datasuch as browsing history, IP addresses and biometric identifiersto Beijing under a 2017 law that compels companies to cooperate with the government for matters involving China's national security. Another Chinese law, implemented in 2014, has similar mandates.

To assuage concerns from U.S. officials, TikTok has been emphasizing a $1.5 billion proposal, called Project Texas, to store all U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the software giant Oracle. Under the plan, access to U.S. data would be managed by U.S. employees through a separate entity called TikTok U.S. Data Security, which is run independently of ByteDance and monitored by outside observers.

Some lawmakers have said that's not enough. But despite skepticism about the project, TikTok says it is moving forward anyway.

Erich Andersen, general counsel for TikTok and ByteDance, speaks at the Verify cybersecurity conference on Friday, March 31, 2023, in Sausalito, Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger

"We're investing in a system where people don't have to believe the Chinese government and they don't have to believe us," Andersen said.

He also wondered if the skepticism was being driven by something else.

"Where are we falling short here?" he said. "At some point you get beyond the cybersecurity risk assessment, etcetera, and you get to 'We don't like your nationality.'"

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has said the company started deleting all historic U.S. user data from non-Oracle servers this month and expects that process to be completed this year. During a congressional hearing held last week, Chew said migrating the data to Oracle will keep it out of China's hands, but also acknowledged China-based employees may still have access to it before the process wraps up.

TikTok maintains it has never been requested to turn over any kind of data and won't do so if asked. But whether those promises, or Project Texas, will allow it to stay operating in the U.S. remains to be seen.

The U.S., as well as Britain, the European Union and others, have banned TikTok on government devices. And the Biden administration is reportedly threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its Chinese owners divest their stakes in the company.

On Friday, Andersen said a ban would be "basically giving up".

"Banning a platform like TikTok is a defeat, it's a statement that we aren't creative enough to find another way," he said.

The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. The top attorney for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance said Friday, March 31, that the Biden administration has not given any feedback to the company since TikTok's CEO testified in Congress last week. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File

China has said it would oppose a possible sale, a declaration that makes it more difficult for TikTok to position itself and ByteDance as a global enterprise instead of a Chinese company. In 2020, the country had also come out in fierce opposition to executive orders by then President Donald Trump that sought to ban TikTok and the messaging app WeChat.

"They were clear about their point of view back in 2020 timeframe when we faced an existential challenge from executive orders under the Trump administration," Andersen said.

Courts blocked Trump's efforts, and President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's orders after taking office. The company has since been in talks about privacy concerns with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency panel that sits under the Treasury department.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been pushing bills that would effectively ban TikTok or give the administration more authority to do so. One bill by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was blocked this week by Sen. Rand Paul, the only Republican who has come out in opposition to a TikTok ban. A small number of progressive lawmakers have also said they would oppose a ban, and argued the U.S. should implement a national privacy law to curtail the problem.

Andersen said Friday TikTok would support broad-based privacy legislation.

"Our view is that we would really welcome broad-based legislation that applies broadly and evenly," he said. "What we don't like, frankly, is legislation that is sort of targeted at one company."

TikTok could also be banned through another bill, called the RESTRICT Act, that has garnered broad bipartisan support in the Senate and backing from the White House. The legislation does not call out TikTok but would give the Commerce Department power to review and potentially restrict foreign threats to technology platforms.

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Huawei sees slight growth in 2022 revenue

Xinhua) 11:11, April 01, 2023

People visit the exhibition area of Huawei at the 2023 edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)

SHENZHEN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech giant Huawei generated a total revenue of 642.3 billion yuan (about 93.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, edging up from 636.8 billion yuan the previous year.

The company's net profit over the past year dropped to 35.6 billion yuan, according to its annual report released on Friday. That figure was down from 113.7 billion yuan in 2021.

"In 2022, a challenging external environment and non-market factors continued to take a toll on Huawei's operations," Eric Xu, the company's rotating chairman, told a press conference.

Amid the storm, Xu said the company went to great lengths to "grow the harvest," generating a steady stream of revenues to sustain its survival and lay the groundwork for future development.

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou said the company's overall business results were in line with forecasts. She said that Huawei's liability ratio was 58.9 percent and its net cash balance was 176.3 billion yuan at the end of 2022.

"Our financial position remains solid, with strong resilience and flexibility," she said.

Huawei's R&D expenditure rose to 161.5 billion yuan in 2022, among the highest expenditure figures in the company's history and accounting for approximately 25.1 percent of the company's total revenue, according to Meng.

Based in Shenzhen, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
(CNN)  Pope Francis joked that he is "still alive" as he left the hospital in Rome where he spent the past few days being treated for a respiratory infection.

He stopped to talk to well wishers and journalists after being discharged from Rome's Gemelli hospital on Saturday morning.

The Pontiff was in good spirits when he replied to CNN's Delia Gallagher's questions about how he was feeling, telling her "[I'm] still alive, you know!"

When asked if he got scared on Wednesday due to his respiratory problems, the Pope recalled what an "old man" told him after going through a similar situation.

"An old man, older than me, told me after a situation like this: 'Father, I didn't see death, but I saw it coming. It's ugly, eh!'"

He also embraced a couple who the Vatican said lost their daughter the previous night.

After leaving the hospital, Pope Francis paid a visit to one of Rome's most famous churches, Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, and prayed for the sick children he met while being treated, the Vatican added.

Pope Francis, 86, was taken to Gemelli hospital on Wednesday and given antibiotics to treat infectious bronchitis.

The pontiff  who as a young man suffered from severe pneumonia and had part of a lung removed -- has had a recent history of medical issues.

He has often been seen with a walking stick and sometimes uses a wheelchair due to pain in his right knee. Last year, he canceled a trip to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan after doctors said he might also have to miss a later trip to Canada unless he agreed to have 20 more days of therapy and rest for his knee. He ultimately went to the DRC and South Sudan in February.

Francis also suffers from diverticulitis, a common condition that can cause the inflammation or infection of the colon. In 2021, he had surgery to remove part of his colon.

The Pope is expected to participate in a Palm Sunday Mass service in St Peter's Square.

This story was first published on CNN.com, Pope to be discharged from hospital on Saturday, Vatican says"
(CNN)  The US has bolstered its military forces in the Middle East following a series of attacks on US troops in Syria attributed to Iranian-affiliated militias, the Pentagon said Friday.

A squadron of A-10 attack aircraft are deploying to the region ahead of a scheduled deployment. The deployment of the attack aircraft was expedited by several weeks following the attacks in Syria, according to Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Phil Ventura.

In addition, the US ordered a carrier strike group to remain in the region to support US forces in Central Command, which covers the Middle East, and a squadron of A-10 attack aircraft to the region, Ventura said.

"We are committed to supporting the defeat-ISIS mission alongside a global coalition in Syria and prepared to respond to a range of contingencies in the Middle East if needed," Ventura said in a statement.

The George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group will remain in the Mediterranean Sea under US European Command, but it will support US forces in the Middle East in the event of contingency plans and operations, Ventura said. Led by the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, the strike group also includes the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, the destroyer USS Delbert D. Black, and the support ship USNS Arctic.

"Collectively, these actions demonstrate the United States' ability to rapidly reposition forces across the globe and underscores that all necessary measures will be taken to defend U.S. forces," Ventura said.

Last week, a series of attacks on US bases in Syria killed one US contractor and wounded US personnel in the war-torn country.

The US has approximately 900 troops in Syria as part of the ongoing mission to defeat ISIS. But those forces, spread across several bases in northeast Syria, have become a frequent target for Iran and its proxies in the region, who can launch drone or rocket attacks against US positions.

"Iran threatens to push the Middle East into regional instability by supporting terrorist and proxy forces," said Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley in his opening remarks at the House Armed Services committee hearing on Wednesday.

But the attacks on US troops in Syria have not shifted the Pentagon's resolve to continue the mission against ISIS, even with the threat posed by Iranian proxies.

"We will continue to counter terrorist threats in the region or anywhere else we find them," Milley said.

The first attack last week occurred when a drone struck a facility with US personnel near Hasakah in northeast Syria. The US attributed the attack to militias affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The attack, which killed a US contractor, also wounded five US service members and another US contractor, the military said at the time. On Thursday, the Pentagon revealed four other service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the days after the attack. One of those service members diagnosed with a TBI was transferred to Baghdad, Iraq for further evaluation and treatment.

In response, the US carried out airstrikes targeting IRGC facilities near Deir ez-Zor, Syria. On Thursday, the Pentagon said it assessed eight militants were killed in the strike.

But following the US retaliatory strikes, militant groups in Syria launched a series of additional attacks on US troops based at Conoco and Green Village in northeast Syria. Three US service members were injured in the attacks on Green Village, including two with traumatic brain injuries.

The number of service members diagnosed with TBI may increase, the Pentagon acknowledged, since the screening is not complete, and the symptoms often take time to develop.

This story was first published on CNN.com. "US bolsters forces in Middle East following series of attacks on US troops in Syria"
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,550,000 shares, a growth of 13.7% from the February 28th total of 17,190,000 shares. Currently, 6.7% of the companys shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BEN shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. They issued an underweight rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $25.27.

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Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.94. 2,736,999 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,020,602. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 4.97 and a quick ratio of 4.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.27. Franklin Resources has a one year low of $20.24 and a one year high of $34.37. The companys 50 day moving average is $29.31 and its 200 day moving average is $26.72.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

Franklin Resources ( NYSE:BEN Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.03). Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 12.52%. The company had revenue of $1.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was down 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. Franklin Resourcess dividend payout ratio is presently 61.22%.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Resources

In related news, EVP Alok Sethi sold 29,503 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.09, for a total transaction of $917,248.27. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 92,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,864,383.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 23.40% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BEN. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 63.4% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 74,206 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $2,072,000 after purchasing an additional 28,795 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 24.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,477 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 23.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 76,665 shares of the closed-end funds stock valued at $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 14,580 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 89.2% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,852 shares of the closed-end funds stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 17,376 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.0% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 489,475 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $13,666,000 after buying an additional 18,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.47% of the companys stock.

About Franklin Resources

(Get Rating)

Franklin Resources, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of investment management and related services. The firm offers services and products under various distinct brand names, including, but not limited to, Franklin, Templeton, Legg Mason, Benefit Street Partners, Brandywine Global Investment Management, Clarion Partners, ClearBridge Investments, Fiduciary Trust International, Franklin Bissett, Franklin Mutual Series, K2, LibertyShares, Martin Currie, Royce Investment Partners and Western Asset Management Company.

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Norris Perne & French LLP MI acquired a new position in Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI  Get Rating) (TSE:CNR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,800 shares of the transportation companys stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway during the first quarter worth $2,575,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 26.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 931,027 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $124,888,000 after buying an additional 193,116 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 3.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 762,341 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $102,260,000 after buying an additional 22,984 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.4% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 60,441 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $8,107,000 after buying an additional 807 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 18.9% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 33,602 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $4,511,000 after buying an additional 5,349 shares during the period. 86.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Canadian National Railway Stock Up 1.4 %

Canadian National Railway stock traded up $1.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $117.97. The companys stock had a trading volume of 749,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,037. Canadian National Railway has a fifty-two week low of $103.79 and a fifty-two week high of $137.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $78.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $117.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.49.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

Canadian National Railway ( NYSE:CNI Get Rating ) (TSE:CNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The transportation company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.56 by ($0.01). Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 29.87% and a return on equity of 23.30%. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.5906 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Canadian National Railways previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Canadian National Railways payout ratio is 40.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CNI shares. Barclays raised their price target on Canadian National Railway from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Canadian National Railway in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Atb Cap Markets reiterated a sector perform rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Canadian National Railway from C$185.00 to C$180.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Canadian National Railway from C$159.00 to C$170.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian National Railway has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $142.00.

About Canadian National Railway

(Get Rating)

Canadian National Railway Co engages in rail and related transportation business. Its services include rail, intermodal, trucking, supply chain services, business development and maps and network. Its offers their services in automotive, coal, fertilizer, food and beverages, forest products, dimensional loads, grain, metals and minerals and petroleum and chemicals industries.

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Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH  Get Rating) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 352,100 shares, a decrease of 24.0% from the February 28th total of 463,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 186,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Banco de Chile in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco de Chile currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $23.00.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco de Chile

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCH. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Banco de Chile by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,663,554 shares of the banks stock worth $30,327,000 after acquiring an additional 38,500 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Banco de Chile by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 597,813 shares of the banks stock valued at $12,795,000 after purchasing an additional 7,462 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Banco de Chile by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 366,782 shares of the banks stock valued at $7,636,000 after buying an additional 46,819 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 80.4% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 256,655 shares of the banks stock valued at $4,536,000 after buying an additional 114,359 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 253,516 shares of the banks stock valued at $4,621,000 after buying an additional 21,640 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.99% of the companys stock.

Banco de Chile Price Performance

Banco de Chile Increases Dividend

NYSE BCH traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.52. 135,081 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 226,018. The company has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a PE ratio of 5.97, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Banco de Chile has a 52-week low of $15.64 and a 52-week high of $22.56. The firms 50-day moving average is $20.93 and its 200-day moving average is $19.60.

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th were issued a $1.3688 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. This is a boost from Banco de Chiles previous annual dividend of $1.33. Banco de Chiles dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.98%.

Banco de Chile Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Banco de Chile SA engages in the provision of banking services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, Wholesale, Treasury, and Subsidiaries. The Retail segment consists of consumer loans, commercial loans, checking accounts, credit cards, credit lines, and mortgage loans. The Wholesale segment includes corporate clients and large companies where the product offering focuses on commercial loans, checking accounts and liquidity management services, debt instruments, foreign trade, derivative contracts, and leases.

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Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM  Get Rating) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 333,560 shares of the business services providers stock after buying an additional 17,249 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurichs holdings in Waste Management were worth $52,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas grew its stake in Waste Management by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 2,262 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Waste Management by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 1,934 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Waste Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 9,952 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Waste Management by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the business services providers stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Waste Management by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.48% of the companys stock.

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Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $163.17. The stock had a trading volume of 3,115,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,891,433. Waste Management, Inc. has a one year low of $138.89 and a one year high of $175.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $152.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.72.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

Waste Management ( NYSE:WM Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.97 billion. Waste Management had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 32.91%. Waste Managements revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.04 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. This is an increase from Waste Managements previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Waste Managements payout ratio is currently 51.95%.

Waste Management declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, December 8th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the companys board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Waste Management in a research report on Thursday. They issued an outperform rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Waste Management from $183.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Waste Management from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Waste Management from $167.00 to $158.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $172.27.

Insider Activity

In other Waste Management news, CAO Leslie K. Nagy sold 800 shares of Waste Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.11, for a total value of $120,888.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,210 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $787,283.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP John J. Morris sold 15,204 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.03, for a total value of $2,357,076.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 95,461 shares of the companys stock, valued at $14,799,318.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Leslie K. Nagy sold 800 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.11, for a total value of $120,888.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,210 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $787,283.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,027 shares of company stock valued at $4,806,619. Insiders own 0.18% of the companys stock.

About Waste Management

(Get Rating)

Waste Management, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of waste management environmental services. It operates through the following segments: East Tier, West Tier, and Other. The East Tier segment consists of Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes Region, and Canada. The West Tier segment includes the upper Midwest region and British Columbia, Canada.

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TELUS Co. (TSE:T  Get Rating) (NYSE:TU)  Research analysts at National Bank Financial issued their Q1 2023 earnings per share estimates for shares of TELUS in a report issued on Tuesday, March 28th. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $0.24 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for TELUSs current full-year earnings is $1.10 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for TELUSs FY2024 earnings at $1.16 EPS.

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A number of other brokerages also recently commented on T. TD Securities decreased their target price on TELUS from C$32.00 to C$31.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on TELUS from C$33.00 to C$32.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on TELUS from C$34.00 to C$33.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 10th. Cormark increased their price objective on TELUS from C$32.00 to C$33.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on TELUS from C$36.00 to C$33.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$31.91.

TELUS Trading Down 1.4 %

TELUS Dividend Announcement

Shares of T opened at C$26.83 on Thursday. TELUS has a twelve month low of C$25.94 and a twelve month high of C$34.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.59. The stock has a market cap of C$38.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.66. The businesss 50-day moving average price is C$27.50 and its 200-day moving average price is C$27.82.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.351 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. TELUSs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.74%.

About TELUS

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TELUS Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of telecommunications and information technology products and services in Canada. It operates through Technology Solutions and Digitally-Led Customer Experiences segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers a range of telecommunications products and services; network revenue; mobile technologies equipment sale; data revenues, such as internet protocol; television; hosting, managed information technology, and cloud-based services; software, data management, and data analytics-driven smart food-chain technologies; home and business security; healthcare software and technology solutions; and voice and other telecommunications services.

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Freehold Royalties (TSE:FRU  Get Rating) had its price target cut by Canaccord Genuity Group from C$21.00 to C$20.75 in a report issued on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Freehold Royalties from C$18.00 to C$17.00 in a research report on Monday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$20.11.

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Freehold Royalties Trading Up 0.5 %

TSE:FRU opened at C$14.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of C$2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of -0.92 and a beta of 2.10. The companys 50 day moving average price is C$15.27 and its 200-day moving average price is C$15.68. Freehold Royalties has a 52 week low of C$11.66 and a 52 week high of C$17.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.48.

Freehold Royalties Dividend Announcement

Freehold Royalties Company Profile

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.43%. Freehold Royaltiess dividend payout ratio is 77.70%.

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Freehold Royalties Ltd., an oil and gas royalty company, owns working interests in oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and potash properties in Western Canada and the United States. The company holds approximately 6.2 million gross acres of land in Canada and 0.8 million gross drilling unit acres in the United States.

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Canada One Mining Corp. (CVE:CONE  Get Rating) shares shot up 9.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$0.12 and last traded at C$0.12. 31,500 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average session volume of 27,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.11.

Canada One Mining Stock Performance

The stocks 50-day simple moving average is C$0.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$0.12. The stock has a market cap of C$2.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.00 and a beta of 2.11.

Canada One Mining Company Profile

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Canada One Mining Corp., an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral deposits in British Columbia, Canada. The company primarily explores for base and precious metals. It holds a 100% interest in the Zeus claims located in Lillooet, British Columbia; and the Princeton Cooper project consisting of 30 claims and covering an area of 2258.0827 hectares.

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Callon Petroleum (NYSE:CPE  Get Rating)  Equities research analysts at Capital One Financial decreased their Q2 2023 EPS estimates for shares of Callon Petroleum in a research note issued on Monday, March 27th. Capital One Financial analyst P. Johnston now anticipates that the oil and natural gas company will earn $1.89 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.56. The consensus estimate for Callon Petroleums current full-year earnings is $10.83 per share. Capital One Financial also issued estimates for Callon Petroleums Q3 2023 earnings at $1.96 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $1.96 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $7.86 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $7.41 EPS.

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Callon Petroleum (NYSE:CPE  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.44 by ($0.08). Callon Petroleum had a net margin of 37.44% and a return on equity of 35.68%. The company had revenue of $704.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $617.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.66 earnings per share.

Callon Petroleum Stock Performance

CPE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on Callon Petroleum from $65.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Callon Petroleum from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 27th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Callon Petroleum in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Callon Petroleum in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Callon Petroleum from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $57.88.

NYSE:CPE opened at $33.44 on Thursday. Callon Petroleum has a 12 month low of $28.91 and a 12 month high of $66.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 2.70. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $37.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Callon Petroleum

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James & Associates bought a new stake in Callon Petroleum in the first quarter worth about $1,020,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Callon Petroleum by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,296 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Callon Petroleum by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 7,775 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Callon Petroleum in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $842,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Callon Petroleum by 55.4% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 25,397 shares of the oil and natural gas companys stock valued at $1,500,000 after buying an additional 9,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.60% of the companys stock.

About Callon Petroleum

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Callon Petroleum Co engages in the exploration, development, acquisition, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. It focuses on unconventional oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin. The company was founded by Sim C. Callon and John S. Callon in 1950 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT  Get Rating) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 632,200 shares, a growth of 26.6% from the February 28th total of 499,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 307,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Chatham Lodging Trust Price Performance

Shares of CLDT stock traded up $0.34 on Friday, reaching $10.49. 272,293 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 560,271. Chatham Lodging Trust has a 1 year low of $9.34 and a 1 year high of $15.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $12.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.21. The company has a market cap of $512.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 209.84 and a beta of 1.80.

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Chatham Lodging Trust Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.01%. Chatham Lodging Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,680.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chatham Lodging Trust

In related news, CEO Jeffrey H. Fisher purchased 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.28 per share, with a total value of $102,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 611,545 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,286,682.60. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLDT. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Chatham Lodging Trust by 48.7% in the third quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 291,702 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $2,879,000 after buying an additional 95,565 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Chatham Lodging Trust by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 77,196 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $762,000 after acquiring an additional 9,700 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Chatham Lodging Trust by 179.6% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 177,115 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,748,000 after acquiring an additional 113,758 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Chatham Lodging Trust by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 125,696 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,241,000 after acquiring an additional 35,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Chatham Lodging Trust by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 32,638 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 8,370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.97% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. B. Riley cut their price target on Chatham Lodging Trust from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Chatham Lodging Trust from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Chatham Lodging Trust in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Chatham Lodging Trust currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $15.67.

Chatham Lodging Trust Company Profile

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Chatham Lodging Trust engages in the acquisition and investment in hotel properties. It focuses on the upscale extended-stay and premium branded select-service hotels. The firms management evaluates the companys hotels as a single industry segment because all of the hotels have similar economic characteristics and provide similar services to similar types of customers.

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Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,222 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 2,086 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLCs holdings in Bank of America were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Congress Park Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 43,420 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 10,525 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 70.5% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 91,399 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,760,000 after purchasing an additional 37,794 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Investment Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 64.4% during the 2nd quarter. Chilton Investment Co. Inc. now owns 18,525 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,254 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 80.6% during the 2nd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,137 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 3,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vista Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 22,879 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.34% of the companys stock.

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Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $28.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $26.32 and a twelve month high of $44.39. The company has a market cap of $228.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.66.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

Bank of America ( NYSE:BAC Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $24.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.17 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 23.93%. Bank of Americas revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $3,600,200.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 319,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,959,648.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $3,600,200.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 319,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,959,648.81. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 214,745 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.91, for a total value of $7,711,492.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 214,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,711,564.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BAC. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Atlantic Securities lowered Bank of America from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $44.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $39.28.

Bank of America Profile

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Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses.

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Copper Mountain Mining (TSE:CMMC  Get Rating) had its price objective cut by Cormark from C$3.00 to C$2.75 in a report issued on Tuesday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CMMC. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Copper Mountain Mining from C$2.00 to C$2.20 in a report on Tuesday. CIBC lifted their price objective on Copper Mountain Mining from C$1.90 to C$2.20 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Haywood Securities upped their price target on Copper Mountain Mining from C$2.00 to C$3.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. National Bankshares increased their price target on Copper Mountain Mining from C$2.25 to C$2.50 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Copper Mountain Mining from C$3.00 to C$2.75 in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of C$2.46.

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Copper Mountain Mining Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of CMMC stock opened at C$2.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$2.08 and a 200-day moving average of C$1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 88.37. The firm has a market cap of C$468.20 million, a PE ratio of -27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 2.71. Copper Mountain Mining has a 12 month low of C$1.23 and a 12 month high of C$3.92.

Insider Activity

Copper Mountain Mining Company Profile

In other news, insider Zeta Resources Limited sold 100,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$2.35, for a total transaction of C$234,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,966,545 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately C$63,266,211.22. Company insiders own 3.50% of the companys stock.

(Get Rating)

Copper Mountain Mining Corporation operates as a mining company in Canada. The company explores for copper, gold, and silver deposits. Its flagship asset is the Copper Mountain mine that comprise 138 crown granted mineral claims, 149 located mineral claims, 14 mining leases, and 12 fee simple properties covering an area of 6,702 hectares located to the south of Princeton, British Columbia.

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Erdene Resource Development Co. (TSE:ERD  Get Rating) passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$0.36 and traded as low as C$0.36. Erdene Resource Development shares last traded at C$0.37, with a volume of 158,500 shares trading hands.

Erdene Resource Development Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$0.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$0.31. The stock has a market cap of C$123.95 million, a P/E ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 10.00, a quick ratio of 4.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

About Erdene Resource Development

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Erdene Resource Development Corporation focuses on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base mineral deposits in Mongolia. It explores for copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, lead, and zinc deposits. The company principally holds a 100% interest in the Bayan Khundii Gold Project comprising 2,309 hectares located in the Bayankhongor province in Mongolia; and the Altan Nar Gold-Polymetallic project located in located in the Bayankhongor Aimag.

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Fragasso Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:GEM  Get Rating) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,586 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,796 shares during the quarter. Fragasso Group Inc. owned approximately 0.55% of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF worth $4,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,652,000. WMS Partners LLC grew its position in Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF by 388.2% during the 3rd quarter. WMS Partners LLC now owns 579,010 shares of the companys stock worth $14,956,000 after acquiring an additional 460,400 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF by 172.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 330,457 shares of the companys stock worth $11,195,000 after acquiring an additional 209,250 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC grew its position in Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF by 652.1% during the 2nd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 234,958 shares of the companys stock worth $6,990,000 after acquiring an additional 203,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Udine Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,700,000.

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Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSEARCA GEM traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $29.77. The companys stock had a trading volume of 201,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 169,644. Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF has a 52-week low of $25.11 and a 52-week high of $34.90. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $29.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.49. The firm has a market cap of $922.87 million, a P/E ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 0.72.

About Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF (GEM) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund tracks an index of emerging market stocks comprising 4 sub-indexes: value, momentum, quality, and low volatility. The index uses multiple factors to pick stocks, and each sub-index receives equal weight.

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Harbor Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Lowes Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,846 shares of the home improvement retailers stock after selling 772 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLCs holdings in Lowes Companies were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lowes Companies by 1.6% during the third quarter. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. now owns 10,374,801 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $1,948,491,000 after purchasing an additional 167,495 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Lowes Companies by 13.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,916,354 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $1,486,770,000 after purchasing an additional 912,518 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lowes Companies by 4.9% during the third quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,463,854 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $650,546,000 after purchasing an additional 160,651 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia increased its position in Lowes Companies by 2.9% during the third quarter. London Co. of Virginia now owns 2,071,408 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $389,031,000 after acquiring an additional 58,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Lowes Companies by 7,952.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,586,400 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $320,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,700 shares during the last quarter. 72.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LOW. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price objective on Lowes Companies from $250.00 to $235.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Credit Suisse Group started coverage on Lowes Companies in a research report on Monday, December 19th. They issued a neutral rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Lowes Companies from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush upped their price target on Lowes Companies from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, December 8th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Lowes Companies in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lowes Companies has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $223.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

Lowes Companies Stock Up 3.8 %

In related news, EVP Donald Frieson sold 9,411 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.00, for a total value of $1,853,967.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,888 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,523,936. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . Insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock.

LOW traded up $7.32 on Friday, hitting $199.97. 3,151,577 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,243,133. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $202.98 and a 200-day moving average of $200.62. Lowes Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $170.12 and a 12-month high of $223.31.

Lowes Companies (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $22.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.71 billion. Lowes Companies had a negative return on equity of 82.30% and a net margin of 6.63%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lowes Companies, Inc. will post 13.83 EPS for the current year.

Lowes Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be given a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 25th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Lowes Companiess dividend payout ratio is presently 41.96%.

About Lowes Companies

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Lowes Cos., Inc engages in the retail sale of home improvement products. The firm offers products for maintenance, repair, remodeling, home decorating and property maintenance. It also provides home improvement products in the following categories: appliances, bathroom, building supply, electrical, flooring, hardware, paint, kitchen, plumbing, lighting & fans, outdoor living, windows and doors.

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Aviva plc (LON:AV  Get Rating) insider Pippa Lambert purchased 1,302 shares of Aviva stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 419 ($5.15) per share, with a total value of 5,455.38 ($6,702.76).

Aviva Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of LON:AV opened at GBX 404.20 ($4.97) on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of 11.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,039.74, a P/E/G ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.38, a current ratio of 3.44 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The businesss 50-day moving average is GBX 438.27 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 434.07. Aviva plc has a 1 year low of GBX 341.92 ($4.20) and a 1 year high of GBX 606.58 ($7.45).

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Aviva Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 30th will be issued a GBX 20.70 ($0.25) dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is a positive change from Avivas previous dividend of $10.30. This represents a dividend yield of 4.6%. Avivas dividend payout ratio is currently -7,948.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

About Aviva

AV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Aviva from GBX 564 ($6.93) to GBX 560 ($6.88) and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Aviva from GBX 540 ($6.63) to GBX 546 ($6.71) and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an overweight rating on shares of Aviva in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and issued a GBX 520 ($6.39) price target on shares of Aviva in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of GBX 519.43 ($6.38).

(Get Rating)

Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, investment, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products.

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Integrity Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,656 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 45.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,035,879 shares of the companys stock worth $559,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,571,747 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 289.1% in the third quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 1,088,926 shares of the companys stock worth $108,489,000 after acquiring an additional 809,078 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 36,122.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 669,754 shares of the companys stock worth $66,727,000 after acquiring an additional 667,905 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 9.4% in the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 5,218,104 shares of the companys stock worth $519,878,000 after acquiring an additional 450,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 33.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,815,936 shares of the companys stock worth $201,659,000 after purchasing an additional 450,122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.09% of the companys stock.

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Novo Nordisk A/S Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVO traded up $1.05 on Friday, reaching $159.14. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,142,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,466,974. The stocks 50-day moving average is $143.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.72. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 52-week low of $95.02 and a 52-week high of $159.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $360.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.86, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.47.

Novo Nordisk A/S Increases Dividend

Novo Nordisk A/S ( NYSE:NVO Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.02. Novo Nordisk A/S had a net margin of 31.44% and a return on equity of 73.39%. The business had revenue of $6.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.1887 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Novo Nordisk A/Ss previous semi-annual dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 24th. Novo Nordisk A/Ss payout ratio is 48.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NVO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from 925.00 to 1,100.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $697.78.

Novo Nordisk A/S Company Profile

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Novo Nordisk A/S is a global healthcare company, which engages in the the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products. It operates through the Diabetes and Obesity Care, and Biopharm segments. The Diabetes and Obesity Care segment includes insulin, GLP-1 and related delivery systems, oral antidiabetic products (OAD), obesity, and other serious chronic diseases.

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Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:EWJ  Get Rating) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 439,563 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 22,520 shares during the period. iShares MSCI Japan ETF accounts for 1.9% of Osborne Partners Capital Management LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.26% of iShares MSCI Japan ETF worth $23,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF in the second quarter worth $290,468,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 250,000.0% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,250,500 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $61,066,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,000 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF in the third quarter worth $48,850,000. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF in the third quarter worth $19,168,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in iShares MSCI Japan ETF by 281.6% in the third quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 361,628 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $17,666,000 after purchasing an additional 266,859 shares during the period.

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iShares MSCI Japan ETF Price Performance

EWJ stock traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.69. The stock had a trading volume of 8,427,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,868,384. The firm has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.40. iShares MSCI Japan ETF has a 52-week low of $47.64 and a 52-week high of $63.23.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF Company Profile

iShares MSCI Japan ETF (the fund), formerly Ishares Msci Japan Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Japanese market, as measured by the MSCI Japan Index (the Index).

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John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:JHCB  Get Rating) was up 0.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $20.93 and last traded at $20.93. Approximately 54 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 99% from the average daily volume of 5,017 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.85.

John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $20.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.68.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its position in John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF by 58.7% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 4,053 shares of the companys stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 95,052 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 9,379 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF during the 1st quarter valued at $332,000.

John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF Company Profile

The John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF (JHCB) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond index. The fund is actively managed to focus on investment-grade corporate bonds, of any maturity, that are perceived as undervalued. JHCB was launched on Mar 30, 2021 and is managed by John Hancock.

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JPMorgan Brazil Investment Trust (LON:JPB  Get Rating) shares passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 66.50 ($0.82) and traded as low as GBX 66.50 ($0.82). JPMorgan Brazil Investment Trust shares last traded at GBX 66.50 ($0.82), with a volume of 31,267 shares trading hands.

JPMorgan Brazil Investment Trust Trading Down 0.4 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 66.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 66.50.

JPMorgan Brazil Investment Trust Company Profile

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JPMorgan Brazil Investment Trust plc is a close-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by JPMorgan Funds Limited. It invests in the public equity markets of Brazil. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It invests in stocks of companies across all market capitalizations.

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JPMorgan European Discovery Trust plc (LON:JEDT  Get Rating)s share price rose 2.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as GBX 421 ($5.17) and last traded at GBX 421 ($5.17). Approximately 186,816 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 34% from the average daily volume of 139,031 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 411.50 ($5.06).

JPMorgan European Discovery Trust Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.12. The stock has a market capitalization of 666.14 million, a PE ratio of -248.82 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 428.37.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Nicholas Smith acquired 4,400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 442 ($5.43) per share, with a total value of 19,448 ($23,894.83). In related news, insider Nicholas Smith purchased 4,400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 442 ($5.43) per share, with a total value of 19,448 ($23,894.83). Also, insider Ashok Gupta purchased 12,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 416 ($5.11) per share, for a total transaction of 49,920 ($61,334.32). Insiders own 3.08% of the companys stock.

About JPMorgan European Discovery Trust

JPMorgan European Smaller Companies Trust plc is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by JPMorgan Funds Limited. The fund is co-managed by JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited. It invests in the public equity markets of Europe, excluding the United Kingdom. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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Kenmare Resources plc (LON:KMR  Get Rating) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 442.30 ($5.43) and traded as high as GBX 480.50 ($5.90). Kenmare Resources shares last traded at GBX 466 ($5.73), with a volume of 32,811 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Berenberg Bank dropped their price objective on Kenmare Resources from GBX 780 ($9.58) to GBX 760 ($9.34) and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd.

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Kenmare Resources Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 475.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 442.51. The company has a market capitalization of 445.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 394.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.03 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.80.

Kenmare Resources Increases Dividend

About Kenmare Resources

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 8.23%. This is a boost from Kenmare Resourcess previous dividend of $0.11. Kenmare Resourcess payout ratio is presently 2,521.01%.

(Get Rating)

Kenmare Resources plc, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells mineral sand products in China, Europe, the United States, and internationally. It operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine located on the northeast coast of Mozambique. The company's products include ilmenite, zircon, and rutile; and concentrates, including secondary zircon and mineral sand concentrates.

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Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Co. (NYSE:BN  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 60,300 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,897,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BN. Legacy Private Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield during the 4th quarter worth $411,000. Epiq Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield during the 4th quarter worth $2,703,000. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield in the 4th quarter valued at about $250,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield in the 4th quarter valued at about $864,000. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield in the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.90% of the companys stock.

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Brookfield Price Performance

Shares of BN stock traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,724,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,878,954. The company has a market capitalization of $53.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09 and a beta of 1.41. Brookfield Co. has a twelve month low of $28.25 and a twelve month high of $59.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Brookfield Announces Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 27th. Brookfields dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Brookfield from a d+ rating to a c rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Brookfield from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 20th. TD Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Brookfield from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an action list buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Brookfield from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Brookfield from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Brookfield news, Director Multi-Strategy Mast Brookfield sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.96, for a total value of $295,938.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,104,923 shares in the company, valued at $252,414,879.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Brookfield Profile

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Brookfield Corp. engages in the management of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients. It operates through the following business segments: Renewable Power and Transition, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Real Estate, and Credit and Insurance Solutions.

Further Reading

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Matrix Trust Co increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL  Get Rating) by 37.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,094 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Cos holdings in Aflac were worth $1,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,153,545 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,099,629,000 after purchasing an additional 352,873 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Aflac by 3.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,755,915 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $318,476,000 after acquiring an additional 192,480 shares during the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S grew its position in Aflac by 16.5% during the third quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 5,061,371 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $325,902,000 after acquiring an additional 715,304 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Aflac by 62.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $317,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Aflac by 1.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,925,673 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $276,849,000 after acquiring an additional 69,532 shares during the last quarter. 66.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 19,291 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.36, for a total transaction of $1,357,314.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 87,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,163,395.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction of $35,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,676.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 19,291 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.36, for a total value of $1,357,314.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 87,598 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,163,395.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.52. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,709,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,878,024. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $52.07 and a 12 month high of $74.01. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $67.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.95. The company has a market cap of $39.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 21.54%. The company had revenue of $4.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 EPS. Aflacs revenue for the quarter was down 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on AFL shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Aflac from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Aflac from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Aflac from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $71.75.

Aflac Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Aflac, Inc is a holding company. engages in the provision of financial protection services. It operates through the followings segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac United States (U.S.). The Aflac Japan segment offers life insurance, death benefits, and cash surrender values. The Aflac U.S. segment sells voluntary supplemental insurance products for people who already have major medical or primary insurance coverage.

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Matrix Trust Co lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 45.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,550 shares of the information technology services providers stock after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 0.4% of Matrix Trust Cos holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Matrix Trust Cos holdings in Accenture were worth $1,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Tsfg LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 96 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Affiance Financial LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Norwood Financial Corp acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 61.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 123 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 73.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Cowen upped their price objective on Accenture from $295.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, March 13th. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Citigroup increased their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Accenture from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and set a $268.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $314.00.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $3.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $285.81. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,009,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,137,236. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $273.93. The company has a market capitalization of $180.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $242.80 and a twelve month high of $345.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 30.73% and a net margin of 11.00%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Accentures dividend payout ratio is presently 41.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider James O. Etheredge sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total value of $1,430,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,930 shares in the company, valued at $3,985,512.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.08, for a total transaction of $1,449,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,444 shares in the company, valued at $9,509,299.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider James O. Etheredge sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total value of $1,430,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,930 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,985,512.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,475 shares of company stock worth $10,225,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Accenture Plc engages in the provision of management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe and Growth Markets. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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MUFG Securities EMEA plc cut its holdings in shares of Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV  Get Rating) by 65.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,762 shares of the auto parts companys stock after selling 3,300 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plcs holdings in Aptiv were worth $164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of APTV. Toroso Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Aptiv by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 3,320 shares of the auto parts companys stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC raised its stake in Aptiv by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 29,333 shares of the auto parts companys stock valued at $2,294,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Fortis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aptiv by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the auto parts companys stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. FDx Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Aptiv by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. now owns 3,173 shares of the auto parts companys stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Steph & Co. raised its stake in Aptiv by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 3,567 shares of the auto parts companys stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. 90.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity at Aptiv

In related news, CEO Kevin P. Clark sold 6,665 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.82, for a total transaction of $771,940.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 545,907 shares of the companys stock, valued at $63,226,948.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Aptiv news, COO William T. Presley sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 62,833 shares in the company, valued at $7,539,960. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kevin P. Clark sold 6,665 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.82, for a total value of $771,940.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 545,907 shares of the companys stock, valued at $63,226,948.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,995 shares of company stock valued at $3,024,121 over the last quarter. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Aptiv Stock Up 2.1 %

APTV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Aptiv from $135.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Aptiv from $138.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Aptiv from $126.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Bank of America downgraded Aptiv from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Aptiv from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $135.76.

Shares of APTV stock traded up $2.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $112.19. The stock had a trading volume of 2,585,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,828,271. Aptiv PLC has a 12-month low of $77.96 and a 12-month high of $129.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 2.04. The firms 50-day moving average is $113.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Aptiv (NYSE:APTV  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The auto parts company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.08. Aptiv had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 3.40%. The company had revenue of $4.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Aptiv PLC will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Aptiv

(Get Rating)

Aptiv Plc is a technology and mobility architecture company, which engages in the business of designing and manufacturing vehicle components; providing electrical, electronic, and active safety technology solutions to the global automotive and commercial vehicle markets; and creating the software and hardware foundation for vehicle features and functionality.

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Selective Wealth Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) by 75.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,021 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 9,148 shares during the period. Selective Wealth Management Inc.s holdings in Southern were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Center For Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 11,087 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. CAPROCK Group Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $228,000. TrueWealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,036 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 2,923 shares in the last quarter. Busey Wealth Management grew its holdings in Southern by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Busey Wealth Management now owns 25,805 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 40,288 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.78% of the companys stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $1,032,038.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares of the companys stock, valued at $8,569,766.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at $1,832,299.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,680 shares of company stock valued at $1,174,768 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.37% of the companys stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $69.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.94. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $58.85 and a 52-week high of $80.57. The company has a market capitalization of $75.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. Southern had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. Southerns dividend payout ratio is currently 82.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Southern from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, December 16th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southern from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.64.

Southern Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.

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Shares of Shop Apotheke Europe (OTCMKTS:SAEYY  Get Rating) shot up 23% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $8.55 and last traded at $8.55. 1,010 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 133% from the average session volume of 433 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Credit Suisse Group lowered Shop Apotheke Europe from an outperform rating to an underperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $101.50.

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Shop Apotheke Europe Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $7.09 and a 200-day moving average of $5.63.

About Shop Apotheke Europe

Shop Apotheke Europe N.V. owns and operates online pharmacies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands. It provides prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and pharmacy-related beauty and personal care products, as well as food supplements. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Sevenum, the Netherlands.

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ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL  Get Rating) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,260,000 shares, a growth of 27.5% from the February 28th total of 988,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days. Currently, 0.2% of the companys stock are sold short.

ICL Group Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE ICL traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.80. 771,297 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,787,536. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.75. The businesss 50-day moving average is $7.32 and its 200-day moving average is $7.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.13. ICL Group has a twelve month low of $6.41 and a twelve month high of $12.96.

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ICL Group (NYSE:ICL  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. ICL Group had a return on equity of 42.79% and a net margin of 21.56%. The company had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.99 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ICL Group will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

ICL Group Cuts Dividend

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st were given a $0.104 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 28th. ICL Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.55%.

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ICL. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its position in ICL Group by 1,091.3% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,002 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in ICL Group in the 1st quarter valued at $214,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in shares of ICL Group in the first quarter valued at about $139,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in ICL Group by 38.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,542,319 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $30,686,000 after acquiring an additional 711,544 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in ICL Group by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 442,295 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $5,299,000 after purchasing an additional 68,126 shares in the last quarter. 14.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ICL. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on ICL Group from $12.00 to $8.50 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of ICL Group from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ICL Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company.

About ICL Group

(Get Rating)

ICL Group Ltd. engages in the manufacture of mineral-based products for the agriculture, food, and engineered materials markets. Its products include potash and phosphate fertilizers, specialty fertilizers, functional ingredients, flame retardants and magnesia products. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Pachira Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:MDY  Get Rating) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 469 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 34 shares during the period. SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust makes up approximately 1.1% of Pachira Investments Inc.s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Pachira Investments Inc.s holdings in SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust were worth $208,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust by 102.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 99 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA acquired a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Horizons Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000.

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SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSEARCA:MDY traded up $7.99 during trading on Friday, reaching $458.41. 858,716 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 813,987. SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust has a fifty-two week low of $398.11 and a fifty-two week high of $506.70. The firm has a market cap of $18.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $468.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $451.21.

SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF Trust Profile

SPDR S&P MidCap 400 ETF is an exchange traded fund. SPDR MidCap 400 Trust focuses to correspond to the price and yield performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Index. The S&P MidCap 400 covers over 7% of the United States equities market, and is part of a series of S&P the United States indices. The index also includes companies, which should have four consecutive quarters of positive as-reported earnings, excluding discontinued operations and extraordinary items.

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Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 246,200 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $10,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 326,822,162 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $13,144,788,000 after purchasing an additional 3,920,830 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 105,621,983 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $4,248,626,000 after acquiring an additional 18,252,701 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 1.7% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 25,041,576 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,007,172,000 after purchasing an additional 416,171 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,901,706 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,061,357,000 after buying an additional 64,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 0.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 19,030,663 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $765,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153,177 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.24% of the companys stock.

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Wells Fargo & Company Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WFC remained flat at $37.38 during trading on Friday. 30,287,859 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,221,556. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The businesss 50 day moving average is $43.83 and its 200 day moving average is $43.75. Wells Fargo & Company has a one year low of $35.25 and a one year high of $53.30. The stock has a market cap of $141.19 billion, a PE ratio of 11.90, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.17.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

Wells Fargo & Company ( NYSE:WFC Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $19.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.04 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 9.28% and a net margin of 15.91%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 3rd were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Companys payout ratio is 38.22%.

Insider Activity at Wells Fargo & Company

In other news, EVP Kleber Santos sold 34,698 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total value of $1,605,476.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,590 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $906,429.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.05% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Wells Fargo & Company from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price target for the company from $49.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Wells Fargo & Company from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $51.88.

About Wells Fargo & Company

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Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified, community-based financial services company. It is engaged in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage products and services, and consumer and commercial finance. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WFC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC  Get Rating).

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Northwest Public Schools and Superintendent Jeff Edwards face a lawsuit stemming from an LGTBQ-driven decision to end the high schools student newspaper, the Saga.

Former Northwest student Marcus Pennell and the Nebraska High School Press Association are plaintiffs in the suit, which the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed Friday morning in federal district court.

According to a statement by ACLU of Nebraska, The lawsuit argues that school officials decision to shutter the newspaper violated plaintiffs First Amendment free speech rights on three counts: their right to be free of viewpoint discrimination, their right to be free of retaliation and their right to receive information.

The lawsuit seeks a judges declaration the district violated the law and award damages as the court sees fit.

Pennell said in a statement: "Ever since I graduated, I felt I had a responsibility to seek accountability and advocate for the students who are still there, especially the LGBTQ+ kids. We have a right to be who we are and to write about our lives."

Pennell, a transgender student, is a former Saga staff member, who has since graduated. In April 2022, Pennell used his preferred name in the publication. The newspaper staff was subsequently reprimanded by school administrators and directed to use legal names.

Students on staff decided to produce an LGBTQ Pride-themed June issue, which contained three LGBTQ-related, student-written articles along with stories about a Northwest High School students national art honor and a review of Worst Roommate Ever.

The June 2022 Saga, often referred to now as the Pride issue, was published May 16, 2022. It turned out to be the school newspaper's final issue.

After news of the Saga's fate was made public last summer, ACLU of Nebraska submitted a public records request, which resulted in hundreds of documents, including emails and text messages.

In a May 17 email to Edwards, Northwest High School Principal P.J. Smith and Activities Director Matthew Fritsche, Northwest school board president Dan Leiser said: Ive read the publications in the Viking Saga. Im sure this is a revenge tactic from the pronoun thing a month or so ago .

Later in the email, Leiser said, Im hot on this one, because its not ok. The national media does the same crap and Ive had enough of it. No more school paper, in my opinion. You give someone an inch, they take it a mile.

Saga timeline 1968  Northwest High Schools student newspaper, The Saga, is established. The five-page pu

Northwest school board member Paul Mader sent an email that same day to fellow board members. In it, he included a photo of Pennells story about the dont say gay bill.

Has anyone read our school paper this month? Mader asked in the group email.

Staff and students were notified of the Sagas elimination on May 19.

The Grand Island Independent broke the Saga story Aug. 24, after a months-long investigation. The story garnered national and international attention.

In the public records obtained by ACLU of Nebraska, on Aug. 24 one school official said in a text to another, the article was very poorly written.

The official did not elaborate.

Northwest Public Schools officials have been asked for comments repeatedly by the Independent, including for this story.

The last response the Independent has received is a response to an email sent Feb. 23 concerning the possible return of the Saga, digitally.

Edwards said, simply, "No update now or in the future."

Max Kautsch is an attorney specializing in media law. He said of Northwest's lack of response to requests for comment: "What really contributes to the confluence of events that's motivated a lawsuit to be filed, has to do with the dismissive attitude of the administration in response to questions about their decision making.

"It was as if the First Amendment had never entered the calculus."

Edwards said in an email to a former Nebraska City student (where he was superintendent before coming to Northwest) the resulting controversy was due to an inaccurate article written by an over zealous [sic] reporter who misconstrued multiple facts.

At the time, the school's official response concerning the Saga's cancellation was calling it "an administrative decision" and declining to further elaborate.

On Aug. 29, ACLU of Nebraska took action, issuing a demand letter to Northwest Public Schools. They alleged violations of the First Amendment and Title IX, which relates to gender equality.

According to ACLU officials, the district did not respond.

Early March 2023, Northwest brought back a digital version of the Saga, months after the school had promised.

It did not satisfy ACLU of Nebraska's demands, officials told the Independent at the time.

Attorneys on the case decided not to pursue the Title IX charges, said ACLU of Nebraska Legal and Policy Counsel Jane Seu, and opted to focus on free speech.

To us the strongest  and most compelling issues are the First Amendment claims, Seu said. The First Amendment claims obviously embrace the underlying LGBTQ discrimination on the content of that speech.

(The First Amendment) is what we're focused on, but also knowing that this is an important opportunity to stand up for LGBTQ students.

Seu said of the charge surrounding the right to receive information, Weve also included (that) because we think thats an important part of this story. Your right to speak also includes your right to receive information and receive that speech.

Michelle Carr Hassler, associate professor of practice for the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is the NHSPA executive director.

Hassler said of the lawsuit, Its (about) education, first and foremost. This is disrupting the education of aspiring journalists.

It also affects the education of student journalists not necessarily looking at journalism as a career, she added.

Theyre getting such a great experience with critical thinking and language and research and newspaper literacy.

Censorship  has such a demoralizing effect on everyone.

NHSPA is a statewide journalism organization welcoming high school journalism instructors and/or advisers of student publications in Nebraska.

Deposed Northwest Saga adviser Kirsten Gilliland was elected to the NHSPA board last year.

This case was particularly troubling to us, Hassler said of the Sagas cancellation. We felt like it had larger ramifications for scholastic journalism in Nebraska.

"Venturing into litigation is not a step that we take lightly ... All student journalists should know that they have a right to learn and hone their skills consistent with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."

Seu was asked whether the case was about setting a precedent or achieving accountability.

With case law, this kind of shows  especially with what we got through open records  the blatant violations (of the right to receive information). It helps promote this constitutional right and the constitutional value of the First Amendment.
With the flock getting ready to move on, lets check up on the sandhill crane spring migration season.

The current highest number of sandhill cranes within the central region of the Platte River Valley this season were 457,800 cranes  plus or minus 28,600  on March 14. The number of cranes decreased by 17% when counted on March 20.

In the spring, sandhill cranes travel from southern regions, like Texas, Arizona and Mexico, and migrate north. During the trip, cranes arrive at the Platte River at different times and stay for a few weeks.

According to Brice Krohn, president and CEO of the Crane Trust, the cranes usually stop around mid-February to mid-April. Krohn also said that 88% of the worlds sandhill crane population comes through this area.

Over the course of those eight weeks, said Krohn, we will see a million sandhill cranes come through primarily the Grand Island to Kearney area.

During the spring migration, the Crane Trust conducts aerial sandhill crane surveys. Once a week, they fly along the river from Chapman to Overton at a low altitude and estimate the total roost numbers for the cranes.

Krohn said that they have been doing these flights for 21 years.

The Crane Trust then releases the weekly counts on their blog. This year, the count started Feb. 13 when there were an estimated 6,400 sandhill cranes.

The second week saw an increase of 428%, with an estimated 27,400 cranes counted. The third week had an estimated 69,100 cranes, making it a steady rise.

Currently, the most cranes were counted in the Platte River during week four, with an estimated 457,800 cranes  and a 370% increase.

The Crane Trust predicted that the number of sandhill cranes would peak during week five. Yet, in a post made by Bethany Ostrom, wildlife biologist at the Crane Trust, there were only an estimated 378,000 cranes counted on March 20.

In the post, Ostrom explains that the number might have been low due to snow geese depleting the waste corn closer to the river. This would cause the cranes to forage further away from the survey area.

Krohn said that past data indicates that the peak happened between March 8 and March 25. While there were higher numbers in late February, Krohn believes its been a typical year for crane migration.

All in all, it's a typical year, said Krohn. Cranes are arriving somewhere around Valentine's Day, and their numbers increase, and then they'll peak somewhere in mid-March.

However, Ostroms post still indicates that the peak has yet to occur. During the week five post, she said that partner organizations in Texas report that there are still greater sandhill cranes in the state.

For classification, greater sandhill cranes have the largest form, while lesser cranes have smallest.

According to the post, greater cranes tend to migrate earlier than lesser cranes. With greater sandhill cranes remaining in Texas, there is a possibility that many more cranes have yet to migrate.

The crane count for week six has yet to be released at the Independent's press time. Krohn said that if the weather holds out, then the next survey would be March 31, and the results would be out a few days after that.

As flocks tend to fly more west and are smaller, its only once a year people get the chance to see thousands of cranes in the Platte River Valley.

It's huge to central Nebraska and Nebraska overall, said Krohn. Because crane season is a highlight that brings people from all over the world to Central Nebraska.
Instead of pulling pranks, some people would rather wake up early and run for a cause.

Around 1,400 people participated in the Race for GRACE on Saturday next to Liederkranz at First and Walnut. The racers set off on their runs or walks a little after 9 a.m.

The race is hosted by the GRACE Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization that financially assists cancer patients near Grand Island.

The foundation was formed in 2008 by Julie Pfeifer and Lisa Willman, two cancer survivors.

GRACE Cancer Foundation was originally started by two cancer patients that were friends, said Sherri Probasco, program coordinator for the GRACE Cancer Foundation. And they wanted to give back to the community that had given them so much.

According to Probasco, the Race for GRACE was started as a fundraising event so they could continue to help cancer patients in the community. This is the 13th year for the event,

Just as a fun way to gather together and support cancer patients, Probasco said. Remember people that weve lost and to honor ones that are fighting currently.

People were able to join and race live or virtually this year. However, participants needed to register for the event, whether they sign-up online or in-person the morning of the race.

Overall, there were around 1,400 total participants in the race, with 1,200 in-person and 200 virtual, according to Board and Race Chair Kathey Eihusen and Events Coordinator Courtney Schwab.

I think its amazing people are willing to get up early on a Saturday morning and go out and walk and run, Probasco said. Its just incredible to see the community wrap around this foundation.

Racers had to choose between the two-mile or the 10k course when registering.

There were many who came out to join the Race for GRACE and support the foundation. There were even people who had received support from the GRACE Cancer Foundation participating in the race.

There was Heather Tjaden, who was diagnosed with cancer at the end of 2021. Tjaden and her group were wearing her fundraising hoodies themed around The Little Mermaid animated film by Disney with the phrase #heatheristougherthancancer.

I got diagnosed (with cancer) in December 2021, Tjaden said. This is my fundraiser shirt because Im a big Little Mermaid fan.

There was also Lindsy Robert and her friends, known as the Lindsys Breast Friends team. Robert was diagnosed with breast cancer in June of 2022 and gets treatments at Nebraska Cancer Specialists.

The GRACE Foundation gave me grants to help with my treatment, Robert said. So I decided to give back to them as thanks for all theyve done for me.
Paris, TX (75460)

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Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 66F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy during the evening. A few showers developing late. Low 52F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.
On Sunday morning, Oct. 8, 1972, fire destroyed The Times and Democrats physical plant in downtown Orangeburg. From tragedy was born the newspaper career of Ramona Mona Garrick of Orangeburg.

On Nov. 8, 1972, exactly a month after the fire, Garrick began service at The T&D that would see her work in roles from advertising production to graphic artist. On March 31, 2023, more than 50 years later, Garrick retired.

She leaves the newspaper with memories dating back to that time in 1972 when the newspaper scrambled to produce every days edition (which Garrick and others did) in the wake of the fire. She recalls the beginning.

After The T&D building fire in October 1972, T&D Publisher Dean B. Livingston had a meeting and said he needed two more employees in the ad design part of advertising. Momma (Lillian 'Teen' Bookhart, who spent 38 years at The T&D) had been working here for a year and she asked if he would consider hiring her daughter.

With Livingston saying he needed good people more than ever amid post-fire demands, he met with Garrick.

He hired me and I started on Nov. 8, 1972. He didnt tell me exactly what I would be doing, just that I would have to know how to type. Thank goodness, I did! Ive been in the same department since then.

The advertising department is no different from all of the newspaper in having seen changes over a half-century.

The changes since 1972 have been amazing. What used to take hours to do can now be done in less than 30 minutes, Garrick said, citing an example.

A&P Grocery would run a double truck (two-page spread) every week -- it took two days to create the ad. Now, Fogles Piggly Wiggly runs four pages and it takes less than four hours to build them. We only had a limited amount of fonts and only eight point sizes for type: 10, 12, 14, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 72. I cant believe I can remember them! Now we have over a 100 fonts and unlimited point sizes.

And there are memories beyond her T&D start:

 Three months after I started, we had the 24-inch-deep snowstorm of 1973. When I was able to get to work, I flagged down an Army truck that brought me, my dog and a suitcase to town. I spent that night with one of the girls that worked with me; she lived in town, so we didnt have far to go after work.

 When Hugo went through in 1989, The T&D had no electricity. Cathy Hughes (then-advertising director and later publisher) had power at her house in North, so she came and got me and Malissa Smith and our computers and took us to her house to work. While we were working, Cathys daughter made us cookies. I felt so bad because back at work, they were using a generator to power some of the computers.

 Another memory I have is being here all day on a Sunday with Mr. Livingston working on The T&D 100th anniversary section in 1981. We had 100 pages spread out everywhere. It made me feel important when he asked me to work with him on that day.

Hughes, the now-retired publisher, served with Garrick for 50 years.

I worked with many extraordinary people during my 50-year career at The Times and Democrat, and Mona Garrick should be the role model for every one of them, Hughes said. Even-tempered, smart and conscientious, Mona could be called Ms. Dependability. And depend on her we did, and I can honestly say she never let anyone down.

T&D Operations Director Georgianne Walton, who has been at the newspaper for 46 years, has known Garrick since before their days at The T&D.

Not only is Mona my co-worker, but she is also my cousin, so we have spent a lot of time together and she is very dear to me. We have a lot of memories at work and outside of work. She is one of the hardest-working employees we have and is always willing to help others in any way. She will be missed greatly and I wish the best for her in retirement.

As to others with whom Garrick has worked, she has a special memory.

One person who had a special place in my heart was James Young Starratt, better known as J.Y. He was the grandfather I never had, always happy and so caring. My younger son, James Tanner Garrick, was named after him. He passed away a few months before Tanner was born. I could try and list everyone that has touched my heart but Im afraid I may leave someone out. Like I said, I will truly miss all of my T&D family!

And she is proud of her career and the newspaper she served for 50 years.

I have lots of memories working with so many wonderful people and some real characters! That always made work interesting! I have always loved what I do and never found it boring. It could be very challenging at times but there was always a newspaper printed and delivered. Ive always been so proud of our newspaper and how we have become a family always doing our best to put out a good product.
South Carolina State Universitys Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program recognized the military achievements of two of its esteemed alumni at a Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday morning.

Retired Col. Antonio Brown and retired Lt. Col. Eartha Govan were inducted into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony marking the Bulldog Battalions 75th anniversary this year.

This is a real prestigious honor as we join the other 126 members who have already been enshrined, Brown said.

A native of Swansea, Brown earned a bachelors degree in marketing from S.C. State, a masters of business administration from the University of Phoenix and a masters degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.

He currently serves as associate dean of academic affairs at the Defense Acquisition University in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. His service at the university began at the end of a distinguished 28-year career in the U.S. Army.

Govan, a native of Cordova, enlisted in the Army in 1987 and graduated from the S.C. State Army ROTC Program in 1992 as a distinguished military graduate. Govan earned a bachelors degree in business administration and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps.

Govan, who also received a masters degree in business administration from Webster University, retired in 2016 after more than 29 years of service in the U.S. Army. She currently serves as the military resource center coordinator at Bowie State University in Maryland.

Brown served as the ceremonys featured speaker, encouraging current cadets to not just strive to be good leaders, but good critical and creative thinkers to achieve extraordinary outcomes.

Since 1947, this program has served as the flagship for preparing officers to lead individuals and organizations to succeed. If you want to compare us to any other ROTC program, there is no comparison. We always will stand head and shoulders above all others, he said.

Brown recognized the first graduating class made of six cadets: Richard A. Williams, William J. Nelson, Spencer Bracey, Fred Dowdy, George Wright and Rufus C. Streater.

Everything we are today started with these six young men who were the original members of the Long Green Line. The Long Green Line has since produced some of the finest military officers to ever don a uniform, but the trails that these pioneers blazed was not easy, he said.

Brown continued, Although we are still confronted with a plethora of barriers to success, I can only imagine the insurmountable obstacles faced by those early members of the Long Green Line.

Nevertheless, within seven years of the inception of this program, weve commissioned officers who later became our first one-star, our first two-star and our first three-star generals.

Brown recognized Brigadier Gen. George B. Price, class of 1951, the first officer from S.C. State to attain the rank of general officer. Price attended Mondays ceremony.

The 93-year-old said it felt great to be celebrating the Bulldog Battalions 75th anniversary.

Its great to be celebrating 75 years anywhere. So the fact that its with my alma mater is fortuitous, but the simple fact of the matter is (celebrating) anywhere at this age (is good), Price said.

The Laurel, Mississippi native said he learned many lessons in the Bulldog Battalion.

I learned integrity, that you can achieve anything you set your mind to and that everybody has a part to play in the university that we attended. The camaraderie that you had was amazing. My hometown and Orangeburg are so much alike. ... It was a godsend, it really was. I will never forget how well received I was in Orangeburg, getting here two weeks before school started, he said.

Price continued, It was great. Its like coming home. Its great to be here. Its great to enjoy the pleasures of coming home and I look forward to doing it more frequently.

Brown said the successes of the Bulldog Battalion are many, including building character.

Thank you for teaching us that we do not have time to be restrained by the barriers of racism and sexism, and that we had to stick up our heads and stick out our chests and break through those barriers through effective leadership. Thank you for teaching us that we could not just survive, but thrive through periods of unrelenting pressure, he said.

He said the challenge for the future is to not get caught up in visionary complacency.

Visionary complacency is a term that I recently coined at the Defense Acquisition University to describe individuals and organizations that continuously and eloquently pontificate about innovative thoughts and ideas that are nothing short of brilliant, yet they settle for the status quo by taking no action whatsoever, he said.

Brown continued, The only thing I think that is worse than visionary complacency is that they response. You know, those individuals who are magnificent in pointing out issues and problems. Again, the response is, They need to do something about that.

Lets not get stuck in visionary complacency, with bringing ideas that you expect others to achieve. Lets roll up our sleeves and jump in and lets start with three simple challenges, he said.

Brown said those challenges include: mentoring current ROTC cadets; providing mentorship to minority officers, especially those who came out of the Bulldog Battalion; actively participating in the Military Alumni Association and giving your time, your talents and your finances to the university who made you who you are today.

Cadet Imani Sibbaluca of Columbia earned an ROTC scholarship and is proud to be part of the program. .

Im very proud to be a cadet. Seeing the legacy and all these Hall of Famers that come back and mentor us really shows me that Im in the correct program and that I made the right decision. My goal is to become a second lieutenant once I graduate, she said.

Lt. Gen. Milford Beagle, an S.C. State alumnus, was on hand at Mondays ceremony. He was also the featured speaker at the military ball held later that evening, with Sixth District Congressman Jim Clyburn also delivering remarks at the ball.

Beagle said he is grateful for the 75th anniversary of the Bulldog Battalion.

It all goes back to our beginning. From that short line of six to over 2,000 that we consider the Long Green Line is what we pay homage to and what were grateful for, Beagle said.

We have a lot to celebrate with 75 years, but if not for that first original six, you wouldnt have over 2,000 commissioned officers and over 20 general officers. It just speaks to the power of the legacy that they started and that has just continued over time, he said.
A proposed 332-residential development just outside of Elloree has caused quite a stir.

Supporters, consisting primarily of town business owners and local Realtors, say the development is needed to revive and revitalize a dying town.

Residents in the neighboring Canebrake Court community are opposed, contending the town's water and sewer infrastructure cannot handle the additional strain of more homes. They are also concerned about increased traffic and the impact on wildlife.

Elloree Water System Commissioner Hugh McLaurin Jr. said the town does have capacity for the D.R. Horton development but says there is a "catch."

There are currently other residential projects going on near the town.

One -- The Village Green -- is being developed by a company out of Johns Island. The Village Green, located off Highway 6, is proposing building about 90 Cape Cod-style homes in town.

"We don't have unlimited capacity," McLaurin said. "There are multiple developments asking us about capacity. We can't do all of them."

McLaurin said as the system is now, it can handle the D.R. Horton development as determined by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and licensed operators they have consulted.

McLaurin said there is a water line that runs past the DR Horton development.

"Water is not an issue," he said.

He said the D.R. Horton development would run the sewer to the town and the town would also have the capacity to handle this.

But he said the system's capacity is available "on a first-come, first-serve basis."

A developer would need to receive full governmental approval to proceed with the project.

He said as of the end of March, neither of the developers has come to the commission asking for an official written commitment for certain volumes and capacity.

Builder D.R. Horton Inc. has asked the county for permission to rezone and develop the property at Tee Vee Road and Cleveland Street for single-family homes.

According to conceptual plans submitted, the project would include the development of about 169 acres of land into a residential subdivision over the next eight to 15 years.

The plan would include about 332 houses with half-acre lots.

Initially the plan was to build 332 homes on the 332-acre parcel. After hearing concerns from property owners, D.R. Horton pulled out 86 acres that would be adjacent to the Canebrake community. This will bring the total down to 246 acres.

When 59 acres of wetlands and 18 acres of a wetland buffer are taken into consideration, about 169 acres can be developed. Of this 169 acres, about 25 are a pond.

Development officials say the proposed residential community would be done over an 8 to 15-year period in five to six phases, with the first home being built in the first quarter of 2025.

The proposed development has been denied twice by the Orangeburg County Planning Commission and, if denied by County Council, the developer would not be able to submit another rezoning request for a year.

Orangeburg County Council tabled the decision on the proposed development earlier this month after hearing concerns from neighboring property owners.

The matter is expected to be on taken up during councils April 3 meeting.

McLaurin said in the case of a multiphased residential community projected to develop over several years, an agreement would have to be stipulated in the commitment that would guarantee a certain short term realistic time period of the project. He said these parameters will have to be defined by the commission.

"In general we are not going to tie up an amount of availability for an extended amount of years where in a sense that if the development does not happen etc. We don't want to prevent anything else in a general context."

As part of their concerns about the EWS and its ability to handle a large-scale residential development, some residents have expressed concerns about the number of boil-water advisories issued by the water company.

There have been at least three such advisories issued for the water system over the past four months and five over the past 1-1/2 years, according to newspaper reports.

EWS Commission Chair Jane Singh said the boil-water advisories have been due to increased development and digging going on around Elloree where the lines are struck. For example, the area has been seeing the expansion of broadband and fiber lines.

"The boil-water advisories are no indication of the quality of the system," Singh said.

The Elloree Commission of Public Works was established in 1924 and provides water and sewer services to approximately 650 customers, serving an approximate population of 1,450 people, according to its website.

The EWS is funded mainly through customers but does receive funding from the county capital project sales tax, Singh said.

Singh said the company taking on a residential development would not mean an increase in costs to current customers.

"The developer is responsible for the infrastructure," Singh said. "They hook into our system. They build out the subdivision."

Elloree Mayor Mike Fanning said the town or Town Council has not taken an official position on proposed development and is not sure if it will in the future. The development is outside the city and is the jurisdiction of Orangeburg County.

"It has not been on our agenda and nothing has been brought to us," Fanning said.

Fanning council recognizes "growth is coming" but, speaking for himself, he said he would "love to see projects that reflect the culture and community" that is rural Elloree.

"If you live in the country, I would want to see a larger lot for backyard children to play in, a swing set, a place where parents to park a boat to enjoy the lake amenities," Fanning said. "I would hope that a community that is advertising rural living and the amenities of the lake would take those into consideration."

Fanning said a "well-planned" residential community with parks, walking trails and green space could be beneficial for the county's tax base, the town's businesses and retail growth, but any residential development needs to provide such accommodations for rural living.

Fanning said what makes Elloree attractive and why people are moving from Summerville and Goose Creek is to get away from the congestion and densely packed subdivisions and homes without yards or trees.

"That is what they are moving from," he said.

Attempts to reach other members of Elloree Town Council were unsuccessful.
CAYCE -- Dominion Energy has donated more than 200 copies of a childrens book to approximately 55 school libraries and classrooms across South Carolina to help promote diversity and increase awareness of the need for more disability-related literature featuring Black children.

Written by Cara Leigh Davis, Austin the Great tells the story of a Black youth who recognizes that his autism has shaped how he reacts to the world around him.

As a member of the African American community, I take it personally that my community tends not to have the same access to disability-related resources and education, Davis said. This message is important to all young people, but specifically I saw a need for young African American children with autism to feel heard and understood.

Davis mother, Felita Davis, is a longtime Dominion Energy talent acquisition specialist and Orangeburg resident. She introduced the book to co-workers at a DiverseAbility meeting. The employee resource group focuses on increasing diversity, education, and awareness around the topic of disabilities in the workplace. 

"As a mother of two young adults with disabilities, I know how impactful a book like this is to kids and their families, said Robin Price, a senior business process analyst with Dominion Energy and community focus lead for DiverseAbility. It made such an impact on us, we made it a goal to have the book placed in every school library in our community.

It also made an impression on the Calhoun County Public School District board, which recognized Dominion Energy representatives of DiverseAbility at its March 20 meeting for donating the colorfully illustrated book to schools in the state.

My youngest has a disability, so hearing about this book donation touched my heart, said Cinthia Byrd Wolfe, deputy superintendent of Calhoun County Public School District. I was excited to get copies of the book in our classrooms.

Dominion Energy employee resource groups bring together employees with shared backgrounds, interests, or perspectives. In addition to DiverseAbility, this includes African American Resource Group, Asian Pacific Islander, Veterans and Womens Resource Group.

For more information about Dominion Energys commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion or its employee resource groups, visit DominionEnergy.com.
(TBTCO) - Hiep hoi Bao hiem Viet Nam a lam viec voi tung bo phan va kenh phan phoi cua cac cong ty bao hiem nhan tho va at uoc su thong nhat quan trong trong viec nang cao chat luong tu van, dich vu cham soc khach hang e cung co niem tin cua khach hang va nguoi dan.
The shooter devoured conspiracy theories about Jews. But in order to kill, he needed other impulses as well. From Dennik N.

There are many fans of conspiracy theories in Slovakia. A Globsec poll shows that at least one in two Slovaks would back the claim that secret societies trying to create a totalitarian global government decide how key global events pan out.

According to his posts on Twitter and his so-called manifesto, they included Juraj Krajcik, who shot and killed two young men in a Bratislava bar frequented by the LGBTI community.

Slovakias President Zuzana Caputova lays flowers at the site of a shooting outside a gay bar in Bratislava. Photo taken 13 October by Radovan Stoklasa via CTK/Reuters.

What needs to happen in order for a person of this kind to actually murder people?

According to experts, belief in conspiracy theories is not enough on its own. Typically, other factors also play a role: personality development, availability of a murder weapon, and the social climate in the country.

If a society tolerates antisemitism or homophobia, that naturally increases the risk that such groups may become the targets of an attack, says psychologist Anton Heretik, who specializes in research into violent offenders.

Main Enemy: The Jews

Let us start with what we can say about the murderer with a high degree of certainty. His public statements included motifs that are well-established among conspiracy theorists. Chief among them, a feeling of being threatened by a particular group.

This person then blames this group for all kinds of things, assigning almost omnipotent abilities to them, says Jakub Srol of the Institute of Experimental Psychology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, who has studied this phenomenon in depth.

The Bratislava shooter saw Jews as his primary enemy and threat. In his text, he described them as a group that has been trying for centuries to damage the majority society. He did not consider sexual minorities to be a source of evil, but a consequence of the Jewish conspiracy.

He blamed Jews for promoting the so-called LGBTI ideology, transgenderism, as well as organizing mass migration. He saw them as responsible for what he saw as social decline, Srol says.

For all of this, he let Jews know they had to die.

They Control Russia and the U.S.

Krajciks statements also make it clear that Slovakias disinformation scene did not inspire him much. He was following American neo-Nazis, racists, and the QAnon conspiracy movement. In one image, for example, he is seen making a white power gesture.

Slovakias disinformation scene is very much pro-Putin. Alongside homophobia, it also spreads Kremlin propaganda. The Bratislava shooter, on the other hand, was not promoting any pro-Kremlin messages. On the contrary, he celebrated the assassination of Russian nationalist Aleksandr Dugins daughter and attacked Putin for enlisting Chechen Muslims in the fight against Ukraine.

How are we to make sense of this?

The psychologist Srol says that people who are deeply enmeshed in antisemitic conspiracy theories see a world in which all world leaders are controlled by Jews.

According to them, Jewish supremacy controls everything  Russia as well as America, he says.

In his so-called manifesto, for example, the murderer wrote that the objective should be to bring down the Zionist occupation government, known in conspiracy circles under the acronym ZOG. This government is allegedly divided into a Western and an Eastern branch, with centers of power in the United States and Russia respectively.

His document suggests that he considered Jews to be key players in Slovakia as well, Srol adds.

This is directly related to another motif common among fans of conspiracy theories: They feel that legal means are of no use against a global conspiracy.

Because they see secret groups as standing above state governments, they see no sense in elections, civil activism, peaceful protest, or other democratic mechanisms, Srol says.

The murderer described himself and his community as cattle serving the Jewish government.

Where does all this lead?

According to Srol, such people think they have to engage in violent action.

From what he wrote it follows that he probably saw fighting the alleged Jewish conspiracy with weapons as the only solution, he adds.

Conspiracy Theories Plus Personality Traits

It is not always easy to say whether conspiracy theories are a cause or rather a symptom. Many people seize on them to justify their already deeply rooted attitudes. In this way, conspiracy theories may have served the Bratislava shooter to rationalize his violent attitude.

His hatred of otherness may have been there for a long time, and perhaps conspiracy theories only confirmed to him that he was acting correctly, says Vladimira Cavojova, a psychologist who also investigates this phenomenon at the Institute of Experimental Psychology.

Which brings us to the main point: When is a person who has surrendered to conspiracy thinking ready to murder people?

Anton Heretik states that in theory, anyone can become a murderer  it all depends on the situation. Among murderers, however, we can identify a group of those who murder in the name of something they call ideology.

Antisemitism and belief in conspiracy theories are possible sources for such a motivation, Heretik says. In this case, inspiration is important, but not necessarily key.

In order to draw more definite conclusions, he says one would need to know the personality development of the murderer, as well as how long he was involved in similar activities.

The view that conspiracy thinking on its own is insufficient is also shared by Daniel Milo, who heads the Interior Ministrys center for combating hybrid threats.

A number of factors enter the equation, including personality type, social environment, age, and degree of radicalization, Milo says.

Available Weapons

The murderer wrote that he had experiences of bullying at school. He hinted that he did not have long-lasting friendships, could not take jokes at his expense, and behaved like a weakling. [Police believe Krajcik, who was 19, committed suicide hours after the killings.]

It was as if he had no inhibitions, he would say anything to his schoolmates. He was unbalanced. He could start crying, then suddenly become angry, even furious, one of his teachers told Dennik N.

He looked for escape online. Given that he attended a school for talented children, one could assume he read a lot, especially in English, a language he knew well.

He started sharing his opinions as early as the age of 11, first in computer gaming groups, later among radicals. He allegedly decided to carry out some kind of violent attack as early as 2019, when he was 16.

One impulse for carrying out his attack might also have been the availability of a weapon. The police think he used a pistol his father kept at home. In such cases, experts speak of an instrumental motive.

Simply put, if a weapon is at hand, this increases the chance that somebody might commit a crime with it. Widespread violent deaths in countries that have a broad availability of firearms confirms this, Heretik adds.

Unregulated Social Networks

How could the killing in Bratislava be linked to social networks and the wider social atmosphere in Slovakia?

Experts remind us that conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and the dehumanization of minorities have existed in our societies for centuries. Their spread is thus not related to the rise of the internet.

The social networks did, however, offer a new space where people with such attitudes could meet and inspire one another. They are mutually persuading each other that their attitudes are the right ones, Srol explains.

Completely unregulated online platforms are becoming more and more important to radicals. We are not talking about Facebook or Instagram.

The killer from Bratislava said his role models included Brenton Tarrant, who attacked mosques in New Zealand, and John Earnest, who attacked a synagogue in the United States. Tarrant and Earnest also wrote manifestos and published them on the 8chan online forum, which connects racists and antisemites. Unregulated forums, such as 4chan, 8chan, and Telegram, were also used by the Slovak shooter.

A post from the now-suspended Twitter account linked to the Bratislava killer.

These online communities, where young people meet, connect, and are radicalized, have a decisive impact on the will to move from words to actions, Milo adds.

The most influential Slovak personality on Telegram, for example, is the repeat offender Daniel Bombic, known under his alter ego of Danny Kollar. In his videos, he promotes the same conviction as the Bratislava killer: hardcore antisemitism and white supremacy. He also regularly calls on his followers to bully those he considers enemies.

Hatred Is Becoming the New Norm

Finally, theres the mood in society. It, too, can have a significant influence, even if it is hard to measure.

Recent opinion polls have shown that the number of Slovaks who do not trust liberal democracy and its mechanisms rose during the COVID pandemic.

A Globsec poll this spring showed that around one in two Slovaks say threats include migrants, Western values, and even liberal democracy  which might seem hard to understand, given that they live in one. To a large degree, these messages overlap with the beliefs of the Bratislava shooter.

A number of online channels and some politicians also include sexual minorities demanding their rights among the threats to majority society.

Undoubtedly, the social atmosphere contributes towards a society becoming desensitized to hate speech. This can strengthen some peoples conviction that its all right to attack these communities, whether verbally or physically, psychologist Cavojova says.



Journalist Vladimir Snidl was a co-founder of the Slovak news outlet Dennik N in 2015. This article originally appeared on Dennik N and is republished with permission. Translated by Matus Nemeth.
A federal lawsuit reflective of the nationwide culture wars is challenging the right of a University of Wyoming sorority to induct a transgendered woman, raising questions of central importance to the First Amendment Right of Freedom of Association and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The issues in the suit are likely to be replicated across the nation as the judicial system wrestles with legislative efforts to regulate, distinguish and deny opportunities and rights of the LGBTQ community.

Seven members have filed suit in federal court in Wyoming, asserting that the University of Wyoming chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the national office violated the sororitys mission, purpose and bylaws when it inducted the woman.

Resolution of the lawsuit should hinge on the question of who, precisely, has the authority to determine whether a transgendered woman has satisfied the criteria for membership in Kappa Kappa Gamma. The local chapter, backed by the parent organization, has concluded that meets the criteria for membership, a decision grounded in its First Amendment right of Freedom of Association.

Freedom of Association is not enumerated in the Constitution, but it was initially recognized by the Supreme Court in 1876, in United States v. Cruikshank as an implied right, derived from the First Amendments guarantee of the right of the people peaceably to assemble. The existence of the right of freedom of association is non-controversial, though its scope and contours have inspired debate over the years. In a raft of decisions, the Court has also grounded it in the right to petition government, the right of free speech and privileges and immunities of citizenship. Like all other rights protected by the Constitution  enumerated and implied alike  freedom of association is not absolute but is subject to reasonable limitations requited by substantial public interests.

In a case that lies at the heart of the pervasive cultural wars afflicting our nation, the Supreme Court, in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), invoked freedom of association to uphold the right of the Boy Scouts to revoke the membership of an assistant scoutmaster after he publicly announced his sexual orientation by leading a gay group at Rutgers University. The Court, in a 5-4 opinion written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, held that freedom of association gave the Boy Scouts the right to bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders. The Court left to the Boy Scouts the right to determine the criteria that should govern its membership.

The Supreme Courts ruling in Boy Scouts of America should guide the federal courts decision in the Wyoming case involving the right of Kappa Kappa Gamma to determine its membership. Judicial deference to the conclusion of both the local chapter and the parent organization, grounded on the rational basis test, that the woman meets the criteria for induction in the sorority, avoids the need for the court to determine whether qualifies as a transgendered woman and whether her admission perverts the organizational mission of Kappa Kappa Gamma.

In Boy Scouts of America, the four dissenters failed in their effort to persuade the majority to engage in a searching analysis of whether the membership of a gay scoutmaster truly compromised the mission, spirit and principles of organization. Chief Justice Rehnquists opinion for the Court deferred to the Boy Scouts own determination of that question. Otherwise, Rehnquist wrote, the presence of a homosexual scoutmaster would, at the very least, force the organization to send a message, both to the young members and the world, that the Boy Scouts accepts homosexual conduct as a legitimate form of behavior.

By parity of reasoning, the institution of Kappa Kappa Gamma, rather than disappointed individual members, should be able to determine, on principles of freedom of association, whether induction of a transgendered woman is consistent with its organizational principles and message.

Another Supreme Court precedent has a bearing on the sorority case. In Bostock v. Clayton County, in 2022, Justice Neil Gorsuch held for a 6-3 majority that the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating against any person because of that persons race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. He wrote: Discrimination on the basis of homosexuality or transgender status violates the landmark statute.

The Courts ruling in Bostock repudiates the plaintiffs argument in the Wyoming case. While sororities and fraternities retain on freedom of association grounds the right to remain single-sex organizations, they may not, under the reasoning of Bostock, deny admission to a student for reasons of identity. To do that, as Justice Gorsuch held, would violate Title VIIs prohibition against sex discrimination.

The Wyoming sorority case embodies issues that will be raised in lawsuits throughout the nation. The immediate issue before the federal court, the one inflaming the culture wars and one certain to generate controversy grounded in emotions and politics, is clear: Who decides if a transgendered inductee qualifies as a woman?
After residing in Wyoming for over 60 years, I think I know its people. In my opinion, they are kind, helpful, generous and embrace a philosophy of live and let live. So, why do I feel like a significant portion of the population (including me) is now under attack?

I take umbrage on behalf of those who opposed HB 103 and how they were depicted in the new Secretary of States column in the Casper Star-Tribune on March 16. We are offended politically, socially and personally because many of us have been active, involved, dedicated citizens of Wyoming for a long time and, we believe, a productive time, and resent being labeled as dishonest outsiders and having our voting rights to choose limited by political parties.

The column made us feel we had been rode hard and put away wet  a Wyoming, not California, term.

The column characterized the media as the liberal mainstream media which implies that news coverage isnt factual or balanced. I have found that the media in Wyoming is both factual and balanced  and if it makes mistakes, it corrects them; there are ethical standards that guide accuracy and fairness.

The column suggests that cross-over voters participating in the primary election of the other party are disingenuous, and I suppose they are if the intention of their vote is to vote for the party; but our intention was to vote for whom we thought was the best candidate within the structure that existed.

The column said the Secretary of States office had debunked the arguments of those opposed to HB 103. I guess that means that opposing views have no validity or that the newly elected official plans to make sure that only members of the party have the right to vote for these candidates. The election code in Wyoming has worked very well for many years; what has radically changed is the function and role of the political parties. Where once they provided a philosophy, they now demand allegiance.

If the election process needs to be improved or changed, will it be done to enfranchise more voters, or shrink the number who can vote by expanding the criteria for who qualifies?

Maybe the Secretary of State didnt mean to disrespect those who disagreed with him; maybe he only meant to celebrate a victory for his efforts to reform a system he erroneously thought was rigged. But I believe each voter has a right to vote for any candidate they choose, regardless of party affiliation. Now the law says we cant. We can no longer focus on individuals so that we can choose the personal character traits we admire, the experience the job demands and the policy stances we support, without permanently joining the party.

If we pass a law that says we cant cross over to vote for the candidate we want, how long will it be before the party selects the candidates who can run, or wipes out the ability to cast a write-in vote?

The objective of a democratic republic is ensuring a government of, for and by the people through the franchise to vote. We put that system in jeopardy when we substitute party for person.

Whos gaming the system? Im betting HB 103 cannot stand.
Those were the three words calypso icon David Rudder used to summate his feelings over his illustrious 40-year music career.

Sensing the room of journalists wanting more from him he almost reluctantly continued.
Prime MINISTER Dr Keith Rowley is calling on the now independent members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to seek a fresh mandate from the people of Tobago by calling an election.

If the independent political aspirants of the disintegrated PDP (Progressive Democratic Patriots) wish to be taken seriously by the central government and the people of Tobago then the Chief Secretary would do well to make arrangements for an early election within the same time frame that he is making to register a new political party with the Elections and Boundaries Commission, Rowley said in a media release yesterday.
It was about half a century ago, but I remember it as though it were yesterday.

We had been to the cinema, then went for ice cream at the then-popular Dairies Restaurant on Phillip Street.

As we were walking towards the car, I observed a crime in progress, drew it to the attention of my date, and suggested we report it at the nearest police station.
Local philanthropist and community advocate Laura Lolly Almquist has died, leaving behind a history of volunteer work in Tucson.

Almquist and her husband, John, became prominent names in the community since moving to Tucson in 1958.

John died a year ago and like Almquist, he was remembered for giving back to the community and supporting local and national charitable causes.

Almquist was a member of several organizations such as the Tucson Airport Authority, the Pima Council on Aging and the Governors Council on Children, Youth and Families.

Almquists contributions to Tucson span decades. In 1977, Almquist was elected to the Tucson Unified School District Board and served two terms.

Since then, Almquist remained an advocate for children and public education.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, shared his condolences to the Almquist family on Facebook, calling Almquist a dear friend and a truly special person. Grijalva and Almquist served on the TUSD board together.

Her decency and care will always be with us. Lolly brought class and determination in her service for others, especially children, Grijalva said. She will be missed but not forgotten as she has changed many of us for the better. Lolly is with the love of her life, John, now and forever. Her life lessons of compassion, empathy, and service will leave a lasting impact on the Tucson community.

Almquist was chosen as Tucson woman of the year in 1980 for her long history of volunteerism, including work on behalf of young people, a previous Arizona Daily Star article said.

In addition to advocating for children and education, Almquist was also dedicated to serving the elderly. Since the early 1970s, Almquist has been volunteering with the Pima Council on Aging, the Star reported.

W. Mark Clark, the president and CEO of PCOA, said Almquist was involved in the fundraising committees and helped with various fundraising initiatives.

Im really heartbroken about Lollys passing because she was and will continue to be one of my favorite people in Tucson, Clark said. She was an amazing force for good in this community. She was smart, she was articulate and she always had a good word to say to people.

Almquist and her family were recognized at the 2012 Generations Gala and was awarded the Generations of Commitment Award from PCOA, the Star reported.

The award, which honors people who advocate for senior citizens, was given to Almquist for her decades of work, the Star reported.

Clark said Almquists commitment to the wider good of the community, her concern for individual people and her need to make the community a better place for everyone was the legacy she left behind.

It was all about what was the right thing to do for the community and the people who lived here and I think thats the spirit that she brought to her life, Clark said.
Residents of six Arizona counties have better overall health than people living in Pima County, a new study shows.

The County Health Rankings were released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. They compare Arizona counties to one another as part of a nationwide study.

The rankings looks at more than 90 health-influencing factors, including education, housing, jobs, transportation, access to medical care and more.

Pima County fell from 6th place in 2022, coming in behind Maricopa, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yuma, Yavapai and Greenlee counties for 2023.

Pima also ranked 7th in health outcomes, which inform how long people live on average within a community, and how much physical and mental health people experience in a community while they are alive.

Drivers for Pima Countys overall ranking include its rates of obesity, smoking and sexually transmitted infections. Severe housing problems  including overcrowding, high costs and lack of kitchen or plumbing facilities  also contributed to the score.

In Pima County, other risk factors that drive down residents health include:

Eighteen percent of residents are experiencing at least one type of severe housing problem, versus 17% in the state and U.S.

Twenty percent of children live in poverty, compared to 18% in Arizona and 17% in the United States.

On average, per-pupil spending among school districts was $1,712 below the estimated amount needed to support students in achieving average US test scores.

Data shows that Pima County ranked 4th in the state in overall health from 2018 through 2020, then dropped to sixth in 2021.

There are many factors contributing to the health ranking among Arizona counties, but when you boil them all down, they come down to social connectedness, income inequality, access to quality education and affordable housing: the social determinants of health, said Will Humble, executive director for the Arizona Public Health Association, in a news release. Health departments can influence some of those things, but the big policy levers rest with the state legislature and other elected officials and we call on them to use these data to inform their policy decisions.

The report suggests several priorities for Pima County:

Addressing the smoking rate through increased education, cessation and prevention efforts. In 2020, 16% of Pima County adults were cigarette smokers. Arizonas smoking rate for the same period was 14%.

In Pima County, 29% of adults had a BMI of 30 or greater. While this is below the state and national rate of 32%, experts still considered it concerning, suggesting dozens of health and recreational strategies to address obesity.

Pima County residents are diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections at a rate higher than the national average. In 2020, 504.6 new cases of chlamydia were diagnosed per 100,000 people in Pima County, compared to 481.3 per 100,000 in the United States. The report points to several community and computer-based interventions to address sexual health.

For the first time, this years rankings measured civic infrastructure and participation in counties, including access to parks, school funding adequacy, broadband, voter turnout and self-reported census participation.

The final report said that counties with well-sourced civic infrastructure have higher rates of high school completion, higher household incomes, less income inequality and lower rates of children in poverty and uninsured adults. In these communities, people also tend to live longer.

Our findings reveal that people and places thrive when all residents have the chance to participate in their communities, said Sheri Johnson, principal investigator of County Health Rankings and Roadmaps and director of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, in a news release.

Dr. Daniel Derksen, associate vice president for health equity and outreach at the University of Arizona, said the Arizona counties that ranked high are the ones he would expect, when factoring in key social determinants that affect health outcomes,

Social determinants of health are conditions in the environments where people are born, live and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.

The CDC has grouped these determinants into five areas: economic stability; education access and quality; health care access and quality; neighborhood and built environment; and social and community context

Very rural areas where the population tends to be older and have more chronic disease and also lower income have some of the biggest challenges to overcome, Derksen said.

By addressing underlying health determinants, we can improve outcomes and reduce disparities weve seen in Arizona, Derksen said. But we havent made significant progress in some areas.

Navajo and Apache counties, which are lower income and lack clean water, reliable transportation and ease of access to health services, found themselves at the bottom of the states rankings, which Derksen said is no surprise given the conditions.

The CDC has also reported a decrease in life expectancy in some populations, including American Indian and Hispanic populations, which also factors into the county health rankings.

Derksen said the health workforce shortage, while concerning by itself, disproportionately impacts rural and underserved communities, which struggle to recruit and retain healthcare workers.

The population in Arizona has grown so rapidly across the counties, we have to have the ability to keep up with training enough health professionals and help prepare them to practice in the areas most needed: Rural and underserved communities, Derksen said. Pima is more metropolitan around the Tucson area and it also has very rural components to it. There are subdivisions of the county that are rural and tend to have challenges across access to care.

Derksen said he finds the report valuable in that it provides action items and things counties and governments can do to improve outcomes.

Its not just data that shows how bad things are, he said. it also has strategies for what communities can do to improve health outcomes. Thats an important public safety message  there are tangible things we can do to improve health outcomes.

The rankings suggest a variety of ways to build civic health, including investing in libraries, community centers and other public spaces to encourage in-person connections; expanding civic knowledge and skills through youth leadership programs and implementing voter registration and turnout initiatives to expand representation in the democratic process.

The study noted areas of strength in Pima County including its rank as second in the state in terms of health factors  the things people can modify to improve the length and quality of life for residents. Other areas of strength include Pima Countys rank as among the top four counties in the state for clinical care, as well as health behaviors.

Pima County has seen improvement from previous years in many areas, including teen births, high school and college completion, access to primary care and mental health providers, preventable hospital stays and mammography screenings.
Tucson Faith Christian Church Inc. has produced generations of children spanked from infancy based on its teachings, former members say.

One supporter of the church, which recruits on the University of Arizona campus, is a prominent pediatrician who teaches at the UA medical school and has served as chief of staff for the citys largest hospital, an Arizona Daily Star investigation found.

Dr. Merlin Channing Chan Lowe, Jr., chief of staff at Banner-University Medical Center from 2018 to 2020, did not reply to written questions about his ties to Faith Christian.

Public records show Lowe, 45, has been a member of Faith Christians board of directors since 2017. Former church members say he joined in the 1990s as a UA undergraduate before graduating from the medical school and completing his UA residency in 2006.

Lowe is one of nine Faith Christian leaders  including four pastors, four board members and the churchs top administrator  who did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.

The Star sent detailed requests to Lowe at two email addresses and a personal address. A reporter also called his UA office and spoke with his assistant, who said she would convey the request to check his email.

Lowe quits pediatric group

Until recently, Lowe was president of the Arizona chapter of a national group of childrens doctors opposed to corporal punishment  at the same time he served on the board of a church said to promote it.

Lowe resigned from the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, one day after the Star sought comment from the chapter on the conflict between his churchs teachings and the stance of the medical community.

Anne Stafford, CEO of the Arizona chapter, said the timing of Lowes March 7 resignation was coincidental and unrelated to the Stars inquiry. Lowes departure was prompted by his personal conflict with a statement issued by the Arizona chapter and other state medical groups in support of reproductive healthcare, she said.

Lowe also taught continuing medical education classes for other pediatricians through the Arizona chapter and stepped down from that role as well, she said.

UA College of Medicine spokesman David Bruzzese said the university does not make staffing decisions based on an individuals religious beliefs, nor does it ask about the religious beliefs of employees.

Binding of demons

On an audio recording of a 2011 church event, Lowe spoke shortly before the head pastor urged parents to start spanking babies early to keep demons at bay.

Part of the recording is publicly accessible on Instagram and former members confirm its authenticity. The Star reviewed an extended version of the recording.

Even young children are repositories of demons, senior pastor Stephen M. Hall warned parents. If your family life does not include the binding of demons, then your family is at risk to be taken by them.

Hall, 70, who has five grown offspring, described hitting his children in their cribs when they wouldnt go to sleep.

Back then, he said, doctors advised placing infants face down to sleep, though they now recommend babies sleep on their backs to prevent sudden infant death syndrome.

When theyre little, their head comes up, Hall said, describing a common behavior for infants who are face down and awake.

And their head would come up and when Id spank them Id hold their head down. Cause I could feel the will. Strong will.

Hall called on Lowe during the meeting to give a medical update to the church members and introduced him as a doctor. He asked Lowe to talk about the need for childhood vaccinations, but Lowe's comments are inaudible on the recording.

Obedience training

Since 2015, when the Star first reported on Faith Christian, reporters have interviewed a total of 10 former church members who said they left after having children and refusing to adopt Halls discipline methods.

Some former church members say they were taught to smack their babies with cardboard dowels stripped from the bottom of dry cleaning hangers.

UA alumnus John Bierman, 35, a campus minister for 10 years, said obedience training using wooden spoons began before children reached their first birthdays.

Training sessions were staged in which a crib blanket was spread on the floor and a baby placed atop the blanket. The mother or father, wielding a wooden spoon, would order the infant not to leave the blanket and was expected to spank them immediately if they did, he said.

Dont just show them the spoon. You have to use it, Bierman remembers church leaders saying as they stood by watching the ritual.

Bierman graduated with an interdisciplinary studies degree in math, philosophy and education in 2010, the same year his wife, Sierra Bierman, 34, earned a UA history degree. Both became campus ministers after graduation and left the church in 2021 with two daughters ages 4 and 2.

The way they wanted you, pressured you, to raise your children is insane, John Bierman said.

Who the Star sought out for comment The Star sought comment from nine church officials for this story, but none responded to multiple email requests or follow-up phone calls. Those who did not respond include four pastors  church founder Stephen M. Hall; Ian A. Laks, Halls second-in-command; Halls son-in-law Tyler M. Wachenfeld, and Geoffrey L. Scara, an associate pastor. Hall is the churchs president, Wachenfeld its vice president and Laks its secretary, public records show. All three also are members of the churchs board of directors. Four Faith Christian elders on the board also did not respond: Dr. Merlin Channing Chan Lowe, Jr., who teaches pediatrics at the UA medical school and joined the board in 2017; former Amphitheater High School principal Jonathan J. Lansa, who joined the church board in 2010 and now works for Tucson Unified School District; Dr. Jeffrey S. Lambert, an internist who practices at Tucson Medical Center and joined the board in 2021; and Christian T. Williamson, a board member since 2005 who earned a PhD in hydrology at the UA in 1998 and held senior positions at a firm that designs and manufactures large-scale water treatment systems.

Methods 'horrific'

Child abuse expert Dr. Roy Lubit called Faith Christians alleged discipline methods horrific  and I mean horrific.

Lubit, who is based in New York, is board certified in psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. He has testified in lawsuits against cult-like groups that engage in abuse and has published papers about the lasting damage it causes.

The apparent intent to break a childs will is especially disturbing, Lubit said when the Star relayed the stories of former church members.

Children internalize how they are treated," he said. "When children are treated in this manner they are filled with pain and fear."

Elizabeth Gershoff, a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has been studying corporal punishments effects on children for two decades.

The research is clear, she says: Spanking harms children and does not improve their behavior.

Out of hundreds of research studies, There are no studies that show its good for children, she said. It makes (them) more likely to be aggressive, to be anti-social, to have mental health problems, and we know now that it changes childrens brains.

Punishing pre-verbal children is futile because they arent yet capable of reasoning, Gershoff said.

A baby who is hit a lot in infancy will become very fearful and anxious. You can imagine a dog whos hit over and over, they just kind of give up, she said, a reaction known as learned helplessness.

Babies who lift their heads instead of going to sleep are not being rebellious or willful, she said. They raise their head because theyre trying to strengthen their head and neck muscles.

Hitting an infant for any reason is upsetting, she said. Hitting them for something thats biology like that just shows the people who recommend that have no sense of how children develop.

Booze 'became my medicine'

UA alumnus Nick Puente, who graduated in 2002 with a degree in journalism, was raised in the church and recalls growing up in a heavy-handed, fear-based, abusive environment.

As far back as I can remember, we were spanked, he said. That was a fundamental parenting technique.

As an adult, Puente said he abused alcohol to cope with unresolved trauma from childhood.

Booze became my medicine, he said. It became the way I dealt with a lot of painful memories.

After he quit drinking six years ago, Puente went on to earn a masters degree in counseling from Grand Canyon University. He now works at Cottonwood Tucson, an addiction treatment center, where he counsels victims of spiritual abuse.

Puente said hes had conversations about his painful childhood with his parents, who still grapple with the experience.

In their mind, they were doing what God wanted them to do, he said.

Cold and distant

Kathy Sullivan, whose son joined Faith Christian in 2013 as a UA freshman, said she felt relieved at first that hed found a wholesome activity at a school with a reputation for partying.

Before long, though, he became distant and cold during visits home to California. During his junior year he told his mother he planned to work for Faith Christian after graduation instead of using his UA business economics degree.

Thats when Sullivan, 63, started researching the church and learned troubling details from former members and their families. She filed a formal complaint with the UA Dean of Students office, which investigated but found no basis for disciplinary action against the church.

Fearing losing him completely, Sullivan focused on simply maintaining contact.

We just didnt talk about Faith Christian, she said. I do feel keeping that relationship alive was key. It gave him the ability to see outside of the Faith Christian framework.

Four years later, Sean Sullivan decided to leave the church.

Love-bombing

Now 28 and a mortgage loan officer in Dallas, Sean Sullivan says he can see in hindsight that freshman loneliness made him vulnerable to Faith Christians love-bombing  a tactic in which new students in particular are showered with attention and offers of instant friendship with a built-in social circle.

All of a sudden you have all of these nice people talking about Jesus who are bringing you to the barbecue, he said. You went from zero to 100 real fast. It's like, how do you give that up?

When church leaders heard about his mothers concerns, they cited the Bible to try to persuade him to stop talking to her, he said. Questioning church doctrine was forbidden, so pastors had near-total control over members lives, Sullivan said.

He said he gradually realized Faith Christians practices were negatively affecting him and other church members. He said he decided to leave after being exposed to different spiritual beliefs that felt less controlling and more authentic.

Since he quit in 2019, he said, Ive heard horror stories about families that get split over the church. He said hes grateful his parents stuck with him.

Some of his friends who left Faith Christian have abandoned their faith entirely, he said.

I think they just feel so damaged, he said. My heart breaks for them.

'Intelligent people do fall prey'

A common myth about cults and hyper-controlling groups is that smart people dont join them, according to a prominent cult researcher.

Intelligent people do fall prey to cults, psychotherapist Steven A. Hassan of Massachusetts wrote in a 2021 article in Psychology Today.

In fact, Hassan wrote, attracting smart people is a key survival strategy.

Cults thrive to the extent that they can recruit intelligent, dynamic people, he wrote.

Many have a hard time believing that bright, talented people could fall under the control of a cult. But cults intentionally recruit valuable people that are intelligent, caring, and motivated, he said. To the untrained eye, cult members can appear completely normal.

Families torn apart

There is plenty of heartbreak to go around, say former Faith Christian campus ministers Jeff and Lisa Phillips of Mesa, who now run an online harbor for the churchs lost souls.

Since 2013, they have served as volunteer administrators of a Facebook page supporting people who quit Faith Christian or one its six satellite churches.

Others have created an Instagram page.

No matter where former members come from geographically, their first concern is often the same, Lisa Phillips said: They are so relieved to realize theyre not crazy.

Parents who left with small children  as the Phillipses themselves did in 2010 after working in Tucson and at three Faith Christian satellite churches  find comfort connecting with others who defied the church by refusing to spank their offspring, she said.

Some of the Facebook pages 500 or so followers are adults trying to come to terms with being raised in the church and spanked throughout childhood, she said.

She said theyve also heard from hundreds of broken-hearted family members: aunts, uncles, siblings, parents and grandparents whose loved ones joined the church and cut off contact with the family.

There are grandmas who have not met their grandchildren, Lisa Phillips said. This has really torn families apart.

Jeff Phillips, who graduated from the UA in 1995 with a degree in political science, went on to earn a masters of divinity degree from Phoenix Seminary in 2013 and now works in administration for a Christian university. Helping those wounded by the Faith Christians practices has turned into a volunteer healing ministry for him and his wife, he said.

They try to help former members make sense of what happened, and to point them toward healthy churches, therapists, marriage counselors or whatever other assistance they may need, he said.

Jeff Phillips said its their way of trying to make amends for being part of the problem when we were leaders in these churches.

Their goal, he said, is to see Gods sheep find true shepherds.
The indictment of Donald Trump was still days off when former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich pronounced some thoughts on the prospect.

He decried politicization in officials decisions of which cases to file, ironically enough.

Theyre trying to score political points for themselves personally, Brnovich said of New York prosecutors, on the March 28 edition of a podcast called Rich Valdes America at Night. Theyre essentially prosecuting cases where they dont even think they can win because they dont have the evidence, they dont have the facts. They just want to do it for political reasons.

This, of course, has become the Republican party line since Trump was indicted  its a bogus case brought by a Democratic district attorney seeking political advantage. Whats ironic is thats similar to what Brnovich did with his power as Arizonas attorney general in 2021 and 2022 as he ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, filing lawsuits willy-nilly, some with ridiculous arguments, to score political points.

Abusing power further, apparently for political reasons, Brnovich withheld reports by his own investigators, concluding there was no evidence of significant electoral fraud in 2020, even while he maintained publicly that such evidence existed. His successor, Democrat Kris Mayes, revealed that in February.

Mayes, inevitably, will also be accused of politicizing the office at some time  the accusation comes with the territory. The point, though, isnt that all the elected prosecutors and attorneys general abuse their power for political gain and we should just get used to it. That would be cynical and wrong.

The point is that political cases, civil and criminal, are inherent to these positions, and we should judge them on their merits and their context. If a prosecutor never brought a case with political implications, corruption would never be confronted and public office would be a risk-free crime-spree. A government could impose any policy, constitutional or not, without resistance.

Determining when an attorney general or elected prosecutor has overstepped into politicization, though, is more art than science and requires information for us to evaluate. While information is something were still lacking in the Trump case, we accumulated plenty over time on Brnovich.

Biden policies targeted by Brnovich

In Brnovichs last years as attorney general, after Joe Biden became president, he filed lawsuit after lawsuit against the federal government, often over border policies, or awkwardly bringing immigration issues into unrelated complaints. He once challenged a Biden administration vaccine mandate on U.S. employers on the basis that vaccines werent also being mandated for border crossers.

But not all his anti-Biden lawsuits rose to the level of preposterous politicization. Brnovich filed suit in February 2021 to challenge the constitutionality of the administrations 100-day pause in removals from the country. The argument was that failing to deport anyone, even convicted criminals in the country illegally with removal orders, violated federal law.

It was clearly a political statement that would benefit Brnovich, but the suit at least made a frontal challenge to a policy that arguably could hurt Arizonans.

You couldnt say the same about Brnovichs absurd April 2021 lawsuit: He argued that halting border-wall construction and ending the Remain in Mexico program violated the National Environmental Policy Act. It was a ridiculous argument, basically an act of trolling, because building the border wall itself was environmentally devastating and was carried out through waiving environmental laws.

To argue that stopping the wall violated environmental laws and damaged the environment turned reality on its head.

Brnovichs office filed more than a dozen of these cases, issuing press releases even when they amended the lawsuits a few months later.

Many of those lawsuits are gone now. Mayes, has been systematically going through Brnovichs campaign-style lawsuits and dismissing them or removing Arizona from them in multi-state cases  at least 13 so far.

Political motivation not always obvious

On Friday, radio host Bill Buckmaster and I interviewed Mayes on his show and asked her about those Brnovich-era actions.

Were really trying to depoliticize this office, she said. Weve been withdrawing from a lot of these, what I consider to be, highly political lawsuits and frankly a waste of taxpayer dollars.

When I asked her if politicization is inherent to offices such as hers, on one side or the other, she said, I think its a matter of scale and a matter of focus.

Obviously I will be litigating on behalf of the people of Arizona, she added. But when I do that, Im going to come at it from a lens of is this in the public interest, is it constitutional, is it going to better the state of Arizona and is it an area that the attorney general has historically acted in?

When Buckmaster asked about the Republicans witch-hunt claims over the Trump prosecution, Mayes wouldnt say much. I guess courts are going to decide that question, she said.

There is time for this sort of consideration in the Trump case  we havent even seen the indictment yet! I know it took months of following Brnovichs filings for me to conclude he was abusing his office for political gain and should resign. (He didnt act on my suggestion.) If Mayes goes down that path, that too, will take time to figure out.

And certainly, the former AGs judgment that politicization led to Trumps indictment is worth no more than my suspicion that the indictment is the result of a many-year crime spree finally catching up to him now that hes lost the protection of the presidency.
An asteroid large enough to destroy a city whizzed harmlessly past Earth last week, and an international team led by researchers at the University of Arizona used the close call to practice for when our planets luck eventually runs out.

The dress rehearsal involved a worldwide network of astronomers and other experts that was activated to gather as much information as possible about the asteroid and walk through steps the international community would have to take to prepare for an impact and its aftermath.

UA professor Vishnu Reddy compared the March 25 exercise to a fire drill.

You dont start a fire for a fire drill. You go through the motions, he said.

Reddy oversaw the global practice run in his role as campaign lead for the International Asteroid Warning Network, which was formed in 2013 at the recommendation of the United Nations. Two doctoral students with the UAs Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Adam Battle and David Cantillo, led the effort to characterize the space rock currently known as 2023 DZ2.

The rehearsal had to be organized quickly.

The discovery of the near-Earth asteroid was announced on March 16 by the Minor Planet Center, a worldwide clearinghouse for asteroids and comets run by the International Astronomical Union. The space rock flew past just nine days later  12:51 p.m. Tucson time on March 25 to be exact  at a range of about 109,000 miles, less than half the distance between the Earth and the moon.

Thats super close, said Reddy, who also helps the U.S. Air Force keep track of satellites and space junk.

Such a near miss by an object this large happens maybe once every five to 10 years, he said.

Asteroid 2023 DZ2 was first spotted on Feb. 27. Early orbital calculations showed a good chance of a collision with Earth three years from now, but subsequent observations have all but ruled that out for the foreseeable future. According to UA astronomers, the probability of an impact in 2026 has dropped from about 1 in 430 just two weeks ago to about 1 in 71,000.

During the asteroids close encounter with Earth last week, Battle and Cantillo were able to determine its approximate size, composition and spin rate using remote observations from NASAs Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and direct observations from the RAPTORS telescope, designed and built by UA undergraduate students under Reddys mentorship.

They identified 2023 DZ2 as a rare type of asteroid that is stony instead of metallic and made from an almost-white material known as aubrite. Its spinning really fast, Reddy said, completing a rotation every six minutes or so. That suggests the object is solid like a boulder, rather than a so-called debris pile that would fly apart at that speed.

The space rock is roughly 100 feet in diameter, making it almost as big as the one that created Meteor Crater west of Winslow roughly 50,000 years ago.

It would take a much larger asteroid than that to cause whats terrifyingly known as an extinction-level event on Earth, but if something this size crashed down on a populated area it would make for a really bad day, Reddy said.

Roughly 70% of the planet is covered in water, so rocks from space are far more likely to plop into the ocean than land on a city, he said, but even a water impact could result in potentially deadly tsunamis.

The good news, according to Reddy: Astronomers should be able to calculate the approximate point of impact from an inbound threat fairly soon after it is discovered, giving people sufficient time to escape the blast zone and prepare for what might come next.

Its not just a problem for the United States, he said, which is why rehearsals like the one last week  and organizations like the International Asteroid Warning Network  are so important.

In the end, the practice drill included over 80 people from more than a dozen countries, including current U.S. adversaries Russia and China. Reddy was encouraged by the display of international cooperation.

Its remarkable that when faced with a global threat, all our earthly problems seem to disappear, he said.
Use-of-force incidents by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector continue to top other regions. In one recent incident, a Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent shot a U.S. citizen suspected of human smuggling and that man later died.

The number of use-of-force incidents in the Tucson Sector has been the highest in the nation since fiscal year 2021, Customs and Border Protection data show. Data from the current fiscal year, from October through February, shows 117 incidents, with the next highest being 89 in the El Paso Sector.

Officials say those numbers should be considered in relation to the number of assaults on agents and the demographics of people being apprehended.

Use of force incidents will always vary by location, Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. Each USBP area of responsibility are extremely different environments, with different illicit activity, different demographics of subjects encountered, different flow rates of traffic. Differing operating environments present different challenges and threats to our personnel and the general public. USBP agents are trained to use force only when it is reasonable and necessary.

So far in fiscal 2023, nearly a quarter of the use-of-force incidents nationwide have been in the Tucson Sector, although the sector has only had about a 9% of the apprehensions. As well, Tucson Sector has had far more use-of-force incidents involving a firearm since the beginning of fiscal year 2020 , at 11 incidents. The next highest is the El Paso Sector, with seven.

During the recent incident, which involved a shooting death on March 14 close to the port of entry in Sasabe, Arizona, a vehicle suspected of human smuggling failed to yield. An agent caught up to the vehicle, and after breaking both driver-side windows with his baton, he grabbed the drivers forearm. The driver, a U.S. citizen, changed gears and started turning the steering wheel, and the agent shot him once, according to an agency statement.

There was another U.S. citizen in the front passenger seat, two undocumented migrants in the back seat and three undocumented migrants in the trunk.

The Pima County Sheriffs Office later said the driver died at the scene. The agent is on administrative leave, which is standard practice at this point in an investigation following use of deadly force, the statement said. The incident is under investigation by the Pima County Sheriffs Department and the FBI. It is under review by CBPs Office of Professional Responsibility and has been referred to DHSs Office of Inspector General.

Reasons for more use-of-force

One factor in use-of-force numbers is the high numbers of apprehensions in the Tucson Sector, although not every sector with high apprehensions has high use-of-force numbers. For example, the Rio Grande Valley and Del Rio sectors have more apprehensions but far fewer use-of-force incidents at 25 and 30, respectively, so far this fiscal year.

Demographics of subjects encountered can affect use-of-force incidents.

Just like the terrain, the arrest demographics are different for each sector, said National Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz in a tweet in February. So far, in FY23, Tucson Sector has apprehended 55,372 single adult males. These individuals actively try to evade detection by running, hiding, and wearing camouflage.

As well, single adults from Mexico and closer Central American countries may, in recent years, be more likely to try and evade Border Patrol because they are more likely to be immediately expelled from the country under public health policy Title 42, which allows the federal government to send migrants from certain directly to Mexico rather than enter them into immigration law where they may have an opportunity to request asylum.

Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight with research and advocacy organization Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas, says the demographic of migrants could play a role. The Tucson Sector has a migrant population that is less asylum-seeking compared to some other sectors, he says.

The likelihood of a migrant wanting to turn themselves in is lower in Tucson right now than in those sectors, he says, because of smuggler patterns that push more people who are likely to be subject to Title 42 through Tucson Sector while more people likely to be allowed to enter the legal immigration process are pushed through areas like Yuma.

New policy could spur change

Another reason the use-of-force numbers are so high in the Tucson Sector is because the number of vehicle pursuits are so high, which are counted in the use-of-force incidents. Tucson has the highest number of vehicle pursuits counted as use-of-force, at 83 so far this fiscal year, from October through February. The El Paso Sector and the San Diego Sector have 51 and 47 incidents, respectively.

Many vehicle pursuits are related to suspected human-smuggling incidents. Criminal organizations are finding people, especially young people, on social media in cities like Tucson and Phoenix to pick up migrants near the border, and officials say they usually dont pull over for law enforcement.

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security released a new use-of-force policy and CBP released a new policy on vehicle pursuits.

The pursuit policy was released in the wake of the Department of Homeland Security opening complaints last year, alleging violations of civil rights or civil liberties resulting from incidents related to vehicle pursuits by Customs and Border Protection employees. The complaints alleged that CBP personnel unnecessarily engaged in vehicle pursuits at high rates of speeds that were unwarranted given the alleged crime and that they deployed vehicle immobilization devices or used pursuit techniques that potentially led to serious injury or death.

The changes to DHSs use-of-force policy will have a negligible effect on CBPs use-of-force policy, which was already more restrictive, CBP officials said.

Isacson, with Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas, agrees that the new use-of-force policy will necessitate few changes in CBP. But if implemented correctly, CBPs new pursuit policy  which goes into effect in May  will have positive changes, he said, specifically the requirement to desist from some chases that get too fast or that are in more populated areas.

It hasnt gone into effect yet, so well have to see how it plays out, he said.

New policy not enough, some say

Migrant advocacy groups say the DHS policy does not go far enough to protect human life and hold officials accountable who use it inappropriately.

The Southern Border Communities Coalition commended the Biden administration for the use-of-force policy reform and improved accountability mechanisms, but said the new policy falls short of meeting international human rights standards.

The standard for the use of lethal force is that it should only be used when necessary, but the Coalition said thats less than the international standard of necessary and proportionate.

While most federal agencies in the U.S. follow a reasonableness standard for use of force, looking at whether the response was reasonable for the situation, the international standard is whether force was necessary and proportional, Isacson says.

So its not just that he used force, but was it an appropriate level of force for the situation? he says. As long as youre on the reasonableness standard, you can pretty much determine that most cases, maybe nearly all cases of serious use-of-force dont violate policy.

In CBPs fiscal year 2021 Report on Internal Investigations and Employee Accountability, the most recent one available, the agencys Office of Professional Responsibility opened investigations into 684 use-of-force incidents, 21 of which involved the use of deadly force or resulted in serious injury or death and occurred in Arizona, California, Indiana, Texas and New Mexico.

While the results of those investigations arent yet public, CBP reviewed seven significant use of force incidents that year, which occurred prior to fiscal year 2021. The agency ruled that five were within policy and there was no misconduct. Two were found out of policy, of which one is open and pending action and the other was referred to the agencys Joint Intake Center for investigation, according to the report released in March 2022.

In some use-of-force incidents, the case is investigated by local law enforcement or other federal agencies, but Isacson points out that CBP often investigates itself in cases of use-of-force and possible misconduct.

Its sort of unique to CBP, to have this ability to investigate itself, he said. So if its a criminal matter, we certainly recommend getting CBP out of the picture.

Use-of-force incidents proportional

Officials also say use-of-force incidents should be looked at in relation to the number of assaults on agents.

When comparing the number of assaults on agents to use-of-force incidents by agents that dont involve a vehicle, which is likely a pursuit incident, the numbers are often comparable.

Out of the Tucson Sectors 115 use-of-force incidents so far this fiscal year, 32 didnt involve a vehicle. In that same period, there were 35 assault cases against an agent.

What we dont know from numbers is how proportionate those responses are, Isacson says. If the Border Patrol agent thought there was some sort of provocation  was it so severe that it required that kind of use of force?
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainians marked the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha Friday with calls for remembrance and justice after a brutal Russian occupation that left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves, establishing the town near Kyiv as an epicenter of the war's atrocities.

We will not let it be forgotten, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a ceremony in Bucha, vowing to punish those who committed outrages there that are still raw. Human dignity will not let it be forgotten. On the streets of Bucha, the world has seen Russian evil. Evil unmasked.

Bucha's name has come to evoke savagery by Moscow's military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Ukrainian troops who retook the town found the bodies of men, women and children on the streets, in yards and homes, and in mass graves. Some showed signs of torture.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, fighting continued Friday: Russia used its long-range arsenal to bombard several areas, killing at least two civilians and damaging homes.

And the Kremlin-allied president of neighboring Belarus raised the stakes when he said Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed in his country, along with part of Moscows tactical nuclear arsenal. Moscow said earlier this week that it planned to place in Belarus tactical nuclear weapons, which are comparatively short-range and low-yield. Strategic nuclear weapons, such as missile-borne warheads, would bring a greater threat.

At the official commemoration in Bucha, Zelenskyy was joined by Moldova's president and the prime ministers of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Russian troops occupied Bucha weeks after they invaded Ukraine and stayed for about a month. When Ukrainian forces retook the town, they encountered horrific scenes. Over weeks and months, hundreds of bodies were uncovered, including of children.

Russian soldiers, on intercepted phone conversations, called it zachistka  cleansing, according to an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series Frontline.

Such organized cruelty, which Russian troops also employed in other conflicts such as Chechnya, was later repeated in Russia-occupied territories across Ukraine.

Zelenskyy handed out medals to soldiers, police officers, doctors, teachers and emergency workers in Bucha, as well as to the families of two soldiers killed during the defense of the Kyiv region.

Ukrainian people, you have stopped the biggest anti-human force of our times, he said. You have stopped the force which has no respect and wants to destroy everything that gives meaning to human life.

Ukrainian authorities documented more than 1,400 civilian deaths, including 37 children, in the Bucha district, and more than 175 people were found in mass graves and alleged torture chambers, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine and other countries, including the U.S., have demanded that Russia answer for war crimes.

Among the civilians killed was 69-year-old Valerii Kyzylov, whose wife survived but for whom the horrors inflicted on Bucha, her home town, are still raw.

I remember everything like it was yesterday, she said, twisting a handkerchief in her hands as she stood at a candle-lit vigil on Friday evening. A year has passed but I still see it before my eyes.

She cried as she recounted the horror she endured a year ago. Of Russian troops shooting her husband dead and leaving the body lying in the street for days. Of the Russian soldiers taking over her house, where she was forced to live in the basement. They would bring other civilians to the basement, she said, some with bags over their heads, and they would decide there whom to execute and whom to allow to live.

I lived with my husband for 47 years. We have two children. We had such a nice family, she said, weeping. This pain is so great. He was so beautiful. He was killed for nothing.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin alleged Friday that many of the dead civilians were tortured. Almost 100 Russian soldiers are suspected of war crimes, he said on his Telegram channel, and indictments have been issued for 35 of them.

A Ukrainian court has sentenced two Russian servicemen to 12 years in prison for illegally depriving civilians of liberty, and for looting.

I am convinced that all these crimes are not a coincidence. This is part of Russias planned strategy aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation, Kostin said.

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights chief said his office has verified the deaths of more than 8,400 civilians in Ukraine since Russias invasion  a count believed to be far short of the true toll. Volker Turk told the U.N. Human Rights Council that severe violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have become shockingly routine during Russia's invasion.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, along with announcing the possibility of the deployment of Russian strategic nuclear weapons in his country, called for a cease-fire in Ukraine. A truce, he said in his state-of-the-nation address in Minsk, must be announced without any preconditions, and all movement of troops and weapons must be halted.

Its necessary to stop now, before an escalation begins, Lukashenko said, adding that an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using Western-supplied weapons would bring an irreversible escalation of the conflict.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Russia has to keep fighting, again claiming that Ukraine has rejected any talks under pressure from its Western allies.

Peskov also dismissed remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the European Union was mulling the deployment of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, calling that extremely dangerous.

Russia has maintained its bombardment of Ukraine, with the war already in its second year. Along with the two civilians killed Friday, 14 others were wounded as Russia launched missiles, shells, exploding drones and gliding bombs, the Ukraine presidential office said.

Two Russian missiles hit the eastern city of Kramatorsk, damaging eight residential buildings, the office said. Nine missiles struck Kharkiv, damaging residential buildings, roads, gas stations and a prison, while Russian forces shelled the southern city and region of Kherson. A barrage at Zaporizhzhia and its outskirts caused major fires.

In the battered front-line town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, a baby and adult were killed in Russian shelling, according to the presidential office. Before the Russian invasion, about 25,000 people lived in Avdiivka. About 2,000 civilians remain.

Hanna Arhirova reported from Kyiv. Jamey Keaten contributed to this report from Geneva, while Yuras Karmanau contributed from Tallinn, Estonia.
WASHINGTON  The horse is symbolic of the American West, but when and how domesticated horses first reached the region has long been a matter of historical debate.

A new analysis of horse bones gathered from museums across the Great Plains and northern Rockies has revealed that horses were present in the grasslands by the early 1600s, earlier than many written histories suggest.

The timing is significant because it matches up with the oral histories of multiple Indigenous groups that recount their peoples had horses of Spanish descent before Europeans physically arrived in their homelands, perhaps through trading networks.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, involved more than 80 co-authors  including archaeologists and geneticists, as well as historians and scientists from the Lakota, Comanche and Pawnee nations.

Prior genetic research has shown that the ancestors of horses first evolved in North America millions of years ago, before making their way to the central plains of Europe and Asia, where they were domesticated. But those early horse ancestors disappeared from the American archaeological record around 6,000 years ago.

In the new study, scientists examined about two dozen sets of horse remains from sites ranging from New Mexico to Idaho to Kansas to establish that horses were ridden and raised by Indigenous groups by the early 1600s.

Almost every aspect of the human-horse relationship is manifest in the skeleton in some way, said University of Colorado at Boulder archaeologist William Taylor, a study author.

The study found that the horses were present in the American West and Southwest several decades before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680  when allied Indigenous groups pushed Spanish colonizers out of New Mexico.

The retreating armies left behind thousands of horses and livestock, and many historical accounts had inaccurately pinpointed this moment as the entrance of the horse into the cultures of Indigenous groups in North America.

Now we can wave goodbye to the Pueblo Revolt as an explanation for the spread of the horse into the American West, said Oxford University archaeologist Peter Mitchell, who was not involved in the study.

But Indigenous groups have long disputed this chronology, as the oral histories of many groups have told of them encountering horses before they met Europeans.

Rather than receiving horses directly from retreating Spanish armies, multiple oral histories suggest that Indigenous groups first encountered horses that had run away from Spanish camps, or been traded through tribal networks, said Jimmy Arterberry, a study author and Comanche tribal member and historian in Medicine Park, Oklahoma.

We have always known and said that we came across horses before we came across the Spanish, he said.

Yvette Running Horse Collin, a study author who is an evolutionary geneticist at the Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse in France and a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, said the findings show that the oral traditions of Indigenous peoples, which have often been neglected by outside historians, have unique value to understanding the past.

Our cultures have been so misrepresented for so long, she said. Too often history has been told around us, without us.

The ambitious research collaboration, which was initiated by Lakota scholars, is one step in repairing a longstanding mistrust between Indigenous groups and archaeologists, who in the early and mid- 20th century raided tombs and ceremonial sites for cultural artifacts without consent.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990  which established a process for museums and other institutions that receive federal funds to collaborate with tribes in returning stolen sacred objects  was a key early step in establishing some measure of trust and communication, said Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a study author who is a citizen of the Pawnee Nation and an Indiana University archaeologist.

Hopefully seeing new research like this will push more Indigenous people to develop their own archaeological and anthropological expertise, he said.

The study also showed that, over time, the genetics of horses in North America switched from being primarily of Spanish origin to a mixture of British and Spanish, reflecting the ascent of different empires.

It means that the shift from a Spanish to a British dominant colonial power can be seen even in the horse genome itself, said Ludovic Orlando, a study author who is an evolutionary geneticist at the Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse.
HONOLULU (AP)  Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed on Friday seven good-government bills drafted in response to news last year that two former lawmakers had accepted bribes in exchange for influencing legislation.

One measure, HB137, would require lobbyists to report not only the general subject they are advocating for but the specific bill number or the identification number of the program they discussed with officials.

Its a simple change, but one that will shed more light on the actions of lobbyists, Sen. Karl Rhoads, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at a bill signing ceremony.

Another, HB142, makes it illegal not only for lawmakers to accept certain gifts but also for lobbyists to give those gifts. Rhoads called this a small but important distinction.

Lawmakers have been considering a number of bills addressing ethics, lobbying and campaign spending reform this legislative session.

Rep. David Tarnas, chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said the public had made very clear that it wasn't acceptable for government officials, elected officials and government employees to act unethically and engage in fraud and corruption.

These bills will improve transparency in government, said Tarnas, a Democrat. They will strengthen election integrity and advance campaign finance reform in very meaningful ways.

Green thanked the lawmakers for their work before signing the legislation. He indicated he was ready to sign additional bills sent his way.

Taken together in their entirety, this is a very good initial package of government reform, the Democrat said.

Former state Rep. Ty Cullen and former state Sen. Kalani English, both Democrats, pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud last year. They admitted accepting envelopes of cash and other bribes from a business owner in exchange for shaping legislation while in office.

English was sentenced to three years and four months in prison. Cullen is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.

Many of the bills lawmakers have been considering were referred to the Legislature by the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct, a panel the House created last year in response to the bribery scandal. Others were submitted by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, the Campaign Spending Commission and the Office of Elections.

Green also signed HB99, which limits the amount of cash a campaign can accept from a single person during each election period to $100. Lawmakers said cash contributions to political campaigns can be difficult to trace. This measure aims to make violations of campaign finance law easier to detect and prevent.
PULASKI, Va. (AP)  A mindfulness institute formed in Floyd County, a bosom of alternative lifestyles, cast around for a new home recently.

It wanted someplace to introduce meditation practices to a new audience.

With expansion in mind, InStill Mindfulness left its former home in the Floyd Center for the Arts and relocated to Pulaski County, the industrial hub on Interstate 81 in the New River Valley.

Teaching mindfulness in Floyd is like bringing ice to the Eskimos, said Jamie Reygle, executive director and founder of Instill Mindfulness.

Shannon Ainsley, who directs the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, said she and some of her colleagues didnt know much about the practice that the Mayo Clinic said lessens stress, anxiety and pain  until InStill Mindfulness held its ribbon cutting. Reygle led a mindfulness exercise for attendees.

We do now, she said.

Instill Mindfulness is a nonprofit, secular organization dedicated to spreading mindfulness that launched in Floyd County in 2016. It sponsors a 1,000-person online community with 30 offerings a week and ongoing face-to-face gatherings weekly in Abingdon, in the Pilot community in Montgomery County and in Roanoke. Its well known for events, programs and carrying the torch of mindfulness.

But after some of its in-person events in Floyd failed to attract sufficient participation, it ushered in a period of contemplation for the group. Taking stock of its motto, a mindful world for all, its founder and board decided to move on.

The more we looked at it, the more the answer became we need to be someplace like Pulaski, Reygle said. We thought, Lets bring it to an area whereit could actually make a difference.

Business and government representatives gathered at the new Instill Mindfulness office in the town of Pulaski at 246 N. Washington Ave. for a ribbon cutting March 2. The downtown business district, once a vigorous commercial and industrial center, has followed the same path as other Appalachian Rust Belt towns, and now contains numerous empty buildings, a sign of economic contraction.

Ainsley, the chamber chief, called Instills move to Pulaski a little unconventional. She said the organization will need to spread the word. Shes interested in attending an online event to obtain stress reducers for herself and speculated that local businesses might offer mindfulness sessions for employee wellness.

Reygle envisions free classes on, for starters, substance abuse and parenting in the context of introducing mindfulness. He and volunteers seek to tailor offerings to the communitys needs.

We are really entering a new domain, Reygle said.

The office seats about a dozen people. There is a case of books which people can borrow with no return date, the director said. In addition to scheduled events, Instill Mindfulness is considering the possibility of drop-in hours. It hopes to open its doors for at least a few hours a day five days a week.

Reygle, a certified mindfulness teacher, defined mindfulness as noticing with curiosity and without judgment.

Born in Australia, Reygle worked in the music industry, had a radio show and did music journalism, but gave it up in search of greater fulfillment. He joined an intentional community, which had a meditation hall. He first learned about mindfulness there.

He left Australia and traveled in the United States, following an inner compass. For a time he lived in Mexico. At some point he heard about the annual FloydFest outdoor music carnival and, being a Pink Floyd fan, decided to attend.

At the 2005 running of the music festival, he met his wife, Elisha, and has lived in Floyd County since. They reside in a dwelling made of earth, sand and straw, he said.

Bucolic Floyd County was rediscovered in the 1970s by new pioneers, back-to-the-landers seeking rural refuge. Many of the new residents were artists or artisans, according to a history by Lydeana Martin. In Floyd County, they found a land of natural beauty, a unique geography with all waters flowing out, rich hand-craft and music traditions, and open opportunities for creative living.

Emblematic of that DNA was FloydFest, an expansive music festival born in 2002 and still going strong with the planned debut of a new location in Check this year. Reygle said Instill Mindfulness will continue offering events there.

Joe Klein, a licensed professional counselor running a mindfulness-based addiction recovery program through New River Valley Community Services, supports Instills move to Pulaski. Klein co-founded Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, a global nonprofit teaching mindfulness to young people under the acronym iBme. Reygle taught at many of its retreats.

He is someone who is good at bringing diverse people together to work on solving problems in the community, Klein said.

Klein, who has clients from Pulaski, said a multigenerational, ingrained sense of poverty, addiction and trauma afflicts some area residents. People growing up in that kind of environment come into a kind of learned helplessness, he said.

Health data for the Appalachian Region, of which Pulaski is a part, confirms the struggles of men in particular.

Appalachians 25-54, in their prime working and child-rearing years, succumbed to diseases of despair, described as conditions caused by use of drugs and alcohol and by suicide, at a rate 47% higher than people in those age groups outside Appalachia in 2020. Appalachian men posted death rates from those conditions twice that of Appalachian women, according to a study by the Appalachian Regional Commission. It was co-written by Michael Meit with East Tennessee State Universitys Center for Rural Health Research. Counseling is available to Pulaski residents, as is medication, but mindfulness is an effective and complementary mode of self-care, Klein said. Mindfulness equips an individual to develop skills inside their own mind to work with their suffering. Practicing mindfulness creates beneficial states of mind and body, such as relaxation, love and kindness, and a greater capacity to ride the ups and downs of life. Multiple studies have found that eight weeks of brief daily practice can create observable changes in the brain, behavior and life satisfaction, he said.

And its legal and its free and its safe, Klein said.

Klein doesnt see people visiting Instill Mindfulness in droves right away, but described the facility as providing a pleasant location in which to practice with like-minded individuals assisted by experienced teachers.

Reygle would like to see the community mindfulness program built in Pulaski become a model for rural America communities grappling with modern challenges, which go beyond personal mental health.

That to me is so critical  to reduce the divisions in this country. One of the things mindfulness does for a lot of people is it opens their minds to more possibilities and lessens the need to be right all the time, which is one of the biggest causes of division, right? he said.

Its like, if you have to be right and the person youre talking to has to be right and you dont agree, youre going to have division. But, if someone can be in a position where, its like, well, I dont agree with you but I want to hear your position, I want to hear what you have to say about it, thats a more mindful approach to dialogue. So were hoping to foster that kind of mentality. And its not something you can really teach people but, if you can show people mindfulness, its something you get through mindfulness, through the practice. You start to get a little softer. Well, your edges start to get a little softer and more blurry.
Related Tulsa Dream Center to open West Campus at site of former Cornerstone Community Center

The Tulsa Dream Center West Campus celebrated its grand opening Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony after about a year of development.

For months, weve been planning and preparing for how and when well start programming here that changes the course of the next generation and an entire community, the nonprofits Executive Director Tim Newton said at the ceremony.

Located at 4122 W. 55th Place, the facility is the newest addition to the Tulsa Dream Center organization, which was founded in 1999 by Victory Christian Center, since the opening of the original campus location at 200 W. 46th St. North.

The building contains classroom space, an area for a clinic, a commercial kitchen, a food pantry area and a gym that was originally built in 2012 for the Cornerstone Community Center, spokesman Kelly Swan said in an interview with the World in February.

The Cornerstone Community Center was started by Willard Jones, the former pastor of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church. Jones raised about $7.2 million for the construction but was later convicted of embezzling some of those funds.

Since then, the west Tulsa center has been run by church members Lewis and Rossalyn Wilson, the latter of whom became interim executive director after Jones left the position in June 2013.

With the west location already built and containing many of the resources the Dream Center needed, the idea of expanding west seemed doable, Swan added.

We are honored and humbled by the opportunity and responsibility to fulfill this vision that was started more than a decade ago, Newton added in his remarks Thursday.

At the Thursday opening, Swan mentioned that outreach for the new center has been slow going, but the organization understands that trust from the community is something to be earned, not expected, he said.

Support from corporate businesses is what helps nonprofits like the Dream Center to continue to grow, Swan continued.

The organization has already partnered with the Carl Ripkin Senior Foundation to install a STEM lab in both Dream Center locations and received a $100,000 donation from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway company, which owns tracks that neighbor the new center, he added.

It has been an honor and a privilege to help the Dream Center as you guys double the dream, said Janelle Davidson, a representative from BNSF Railway, who also addressed the crowd.

Tulsa City Councilor Jeannie Cue also spoke at the event saying the community now has a positive to look forward to.

Every time we walk these halls and serve our guests, please know we see ourselves as a grateful steward of the project that countless people and organizations supported and believed in, Newton said.

We poured the generosity they gave us into making our presence here in west Tulsa become reality, he added.

The Tulsa Dream Center West Campus will begin afterschool programs starting April 3.
Oklahoma State University has begun accepting applications for a new four-year nursing degree program that officials hope can help address the states nurse shortage.

The program, which will allow students to earn a bachelors of science in nursing, will kick off this fall on the Stillwater campus.

OSU expects to admit 50 students the first year and expand to 100 in year two.

The program, accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, will offer students the opportunity to focus on underserved and rural populations and to infuse prevention and total wellness practices in state health care systems, officials said.

OSU President Dr. Kayse Shrum said: The shortage of qualified health care providers in Oklahoma is only going to intensify without a focused effort to provide pathways of opportunity for aspiring nurses. As a physician, I learned firsthand the immense value nurses provide in patient care. You cannot run a hospital or clinic without their expertise.

According to the Oklahoma Nurses Association, Oklahoma ranks 46th among all states for the number of registered nurses per capita. In 2021, the national average was 1,100 nurses per 100,000 people; in Oklahoma, there were only about 700.

Students, parents and local health care partners have expressed significant interest in an OSU bachelors degree in nursing, and we are excited to welcome our first class of students this fall, said Alana Cluck, director of the OSU nursing program.

OSU also offers an online RN-to-BSN completion degree program.

Applications for fall 2023 are now open. For more information, go to go.okstate.edu/undergraduate-academics/majors/nursing.html.

Video: Looking at the U.S. nursing shortage since the pandemic
Intense winds across the region contributed to massive wildfires, caused power and internet service outages, and wreaked other damage Friday.

Strong winds with close to 60 mph gusts moved through the area, according to the National Weather Services Tulsa office.

At one point before 5 p.m., more than 20,000 Public Service Company of Oklahoma customers in the Tulsa area were without power, according to PSO. The number dropped through the evening as workers repaired lines and equipment that were damaged in the wind storm.

OG&E also reported electric service outages in its areas, primarily in the Oklahoma City metro area. High winds caused damage to power lines, poles and other equipment, affecting more than 16,000 OG&E customers, the company reported. OG&E had more than 800 personnel working to restore service to homes and businesses, it said.

Besides downing power poles and trees or limbs, the wind fanned small fires, turning them into roaring blazes that flew across pastures and woodlands.

The National Weather Service tweeted a map showing that the smoke from many wildfires in northern Oklahoma were visible on radar. With a red flag warning in effect and humidity around only 10% to 15%, the service urged people not to do anything that could create sparks that could cause a fire.

Several homes near Bartlesville were burned, and a residential area was evacuated due to a wildfire, the city of Bartlesville reported.

All Washington County fire resources have been deployed to the area and several homes outside the Bartlesville city limits have been lost due to fires, City Manager Mike Bailey said in a news release. Firefighters are battling unbelievable winds in an attempt to gain control of these fires. Evacuation of the area is underway.

The southern areas of Bartlesvilles Circle Mountain addition were being evacuated, Washington County Emergency Management Director Kary Cox said.

He said additional resources were requested. Firefighters from Mayes, Muskogee, Ottawa and Craig counties responded to help local firefighters battle the blazes.

A shelter for evacuees was established at Town and Country Church in Bartlesville.

High winds in Tulsa caused a tree to fall on a woman at the Gathering Place on Friday afternoon, according to the Tulsa Fire Department.

The woman was in the Chapman Adventure Playground area of the park when the tree fell. She was taken to a hospital, a news release from the Gathering Place states.

No other guests were hurt in the incident, the statement adds.

The intense winds reportedly broke the dock anchors at a marina at Keystone Lake near Mannford, sending two boat docks crashing into each other.

At the same time, firefighters were responding to a grass fire near Mannford High School.

Some highways, including the Turner Turnpike at its interchange with I-35 and the Kickapoo Turnpike, were closed due to grass fires.

The Catoosa Police Department reported that while firefighters and state troopers were investigating a rollover crash at U.S. 412 and the Creek Turnpike, a tractor-trailer rig struck both a fire truck and a troopers patrol car.

The public safety workers were able to scramble to safety and werent injured, police reported.
An appellate opinion handed down in Tulsa County has shaken trust in the justice system for the parents of a deceased teen motorcyclist but leaves the Sheriffs Office with hope for a second chance.

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals on Wednesday reversed and remanded a 2021 decision in Tyner v. Regalado, as well as the Tulsa County jurys judgment in excess of $1.6 million.

The jury recommended the sum in damages be awarded to the family of Cobie Tyner, who was 18 when he was killed in a May 2017 head-on motorcycle crash near Chandler Park.

Tulsa County Sheriffs Deputy Andrew Titsworth made a U-turn on Avery Drive to pursue a motorcyclist who had, according to his radar, been going east at more than twice the legal speed limit of 50 mph.

Tyner, who was following the other motorcyclist in excess of 50 mph, swerved to avoid the deputys car, which his family argued caused him to cross into oncoming traffic and crash into a Ford Fusion. He died at the scene.

In the lawsuit, the Tyner family alleged that Titsworth failed to look for oncoming traffic and made the U-turn in an area with a curve that makes it difficult to see other vehicles, giving Tyner inadequate time to avoid the collision.

Jurors found that negligence by Titsworth made for a 60% contribution to the crash, and the $1.65 million award was reduced to account for Tyners contributory negligence of 40%. It was later capped at $175,000 pursuant to the states governmental tort limits.

The Tulsa County Sheriffs Office appealed the jurys finding, and the appeals court found that District Judge Kelly Greenough, who presided over the trial, made the wrong decision when she reversed an earlier granting of partial summary judgment from former District Judge Jefferson Sellers, who retired before the trial.

Sellers had agreed with TCSO that for trial, by law, the standard of care to be applied was reckless disregard for the safety of others, but Greenough did not instruct jurors in line with that ruling, saying testimony was markedly different by trial time.

The Tulsa County Sheriffs office looks forward to re-presenting the facts of this tragic case to a Tulsa County jury, with the jury being instructed on the proper standard of review, TCSO General Council Tim Harris said. We respect the Appeals Court decision to remand the case for a new jury trial. We seek only truth and justice.

Smolen & Roytman, the law firm representing Tyners estate through his parents, Derek and Mona Tyner, said they are extremely disappointed with the appeals courts opinion and considering all avenues of recourse, including a writ of certiorari with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

We believe the unpublished Opinion is erroneous and lacks sound reasoning, the firm said in a statement. The Court has unjustly reversed the Tyners hard-fought verdict and judgment. The jurys verdict provided the Tyners with some sense of justice and vindication for the tragic and preventable death of their beloved son, Cobie. The Court of Civil Appeals Opinion has reopened their wounds and shaken their trust in our system of justice. But they will not be deterred.

Make no mistake. We will not stop fighting for the Tyner family  and Cobies memory  until final justice is achieved.

The opinion had hinged on whether under law Titsworth was considered to be in pursuit when he pulled out after the first motorcyclist that sped by as part of the group with which Tyner rode.

Oklahoma drivers are not to execute a U-turn unless and until such can be made safely without interfering with other traffic and not near a curve or the crest of a hill where their vehicle cant be seen within 500 feet from either direction.

A law enforcement officer in pursuit is exempted from such restrictions but still required to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and may still be held liable for the consequences of reckless disregard for the safety of others.

Titsworths testimony elicited some confusion about whether the definition of pursuit was being derived from state statute or TCSOs policy.

Titsworth testified that, despite activating his emergency lights and pulling out after the first motorcycle in an attempt to stop it, he did not view himself to be in pursuit that day, ultimately explaining that he did not have a chance to decide whether the end result would be a traffic stop or if the driver of the first motorcycle would elude him.

Given Titsworths testimony, Greenough decided that pursuit was a fact question for the jury to determine, but the appeals court ruled that Titsworths opinion was irrelevant because he was operating within the exemptions of what state law clearly defines as pursuit.

Inside the newsroom: Talking about fatal law enforcement pursuits in Oklahoma
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill.  Dr. Colleen McNicholas is fresh off performing two abortions, but the day is still stacked with appointments; as many as 100 abortion and family planning patients might walk through the doors.

Just the day before, 58 women had abortions at the Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood clinic, 15 miles east of St. Louis.

Hundreds of women travel each week to southern Illinois to secure an abortion, something no longer available to millions living in a 1,800-mile stretch of 11 Southern states that mostly banned pregnancy terminations since the Supreme Court stripped away constitutional protections for women to end pregnancies last June.

The clinics waitlist for abortions has grown from two days to nearly three weeks after the Supreme Court ruling  even after staffers started working 10-hour shifts and opened the clinic on Saturdays.

With every piece of litigation, with every new constitutional amendment, with every new abortion restriction in a state that has some access, we are on this teeter-totter of what can we do here to make more space for the people who are going to be fleeing their home state? McNicholas said.

With 10,000 abortion patients expected this year at the clinic, theres talk of opening on Sundays. Staff developed an emergency plan to convert some patient rooms to make more room for abortions. A recreational vehicle was retooled into a mobile clinic that can travel along the state line for doctors to provide abortions.

McNicholas is eyeing a proposed six-week abortion ban in Florida, which could send even more women seeking abortions up north. And shes closely watching how a Texas judge will rule on a case that seeks to keep the abortion pill mifepristone off the market.

Any additional decision has the potential to really change demand again, she said. Its like crisis management every day of the year.

Months before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Planned Parenthood and the nearby Hope Clinic were grappling with a surge of patients from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere after Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed a bill into law that effectively shut down several abortion clinics in his state and led to long waitlists in neighboring states facilities. Together, the clinics launched a new regional logistics center in January 2022 dedicated to helping out-of-state patients book hotels, flights, gas money, bus rides or rental cars to either facility.

On June 24, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutionally protected right. Within hours, states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas began enacting trigger laws that banned abortions.

Now, about 70 women call the center every day for help getting to an abortion clinic in southern Illinois, said Kawanna Shannon, director of patient access at the Planned Parenthood clinic. A navigator goes over what she can pay toward the abortion and other details: How will the patient get to the area? Does she have money for food while she stays there? Will she need child care?

When someone cannot afford the trip, the center books the travel for the patient and works with more than 30 nonprofit groups around the country that solicit funds for abortion access to pay for it. A staffer is available around-the-clock to answer calls from patients who run into travel issues.

Its not going to slow down, Shannon said. We are really taking care of the entire Southern region. All the (patients) in the South are really coming to southern Illinois because were the closest. Almost all of them need some type of help  be it travel, be it procedure costs.

Two hours south of the Planned Parenthood clinic, two new abortion clinics opened in Carbondale, Illinois, late last year to give women living in banned states a closer option.

After reading the Supreme Courts leaked draft opinion last May, Andrea Gallegos, the director of the Alamo Clinic, said she hopped on Google and started looking for liberal-leaning cities in rural, southern Illinois.

The Alamo Clinic relocated to the area from Oklahoma last November.

Three doctors in a rotation travel from Montana, Tennessee or Texas weekly to perform about 30 abortions daily at the clinic, which will terminate a pregnancy before 18 weeks. Gallegos says fewer than 5% of patients who come to the clinic are from Illinois.

During the final six months of last year, the Fairview Heights clinic saw 2,042 abortion patients from outside of Missouri or Illinois  up from just 314 the six months before.

Women are now seeking abortions later in their pregnancies at the Planned Parenthood clinic, which offers the procedure through 26 weeks. About one-quarter of patients need a second trimester abortion, McNicholas said.

But the hardest change to deal with has been the steady increase in children who are coming to the clinic, hoping to end a pregnancy that was the result of a rape or abuse.

What you use to see was maybe one or two 10-and 11-year-olds a year, she said. Now youre seeing a couple a month because theyre coming from all over the country. Just sitting with that knowledge that this many people are experiencing so much trauma  There are times where its really hard.

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
TALLINN, Estonia (AP)  Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed to Belarus along with part of Russia's tactical nuclear arsenal, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday, ramping up his rhetoric amid tensions with the West over the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that his country plans to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The strategic nuclear weapons such as missile-borne warheads that Lukashenko mentioned during his state-of-the nation address would pose an even greater threat, if Moscow moves them to the territory of its neighbor and ally.

Belarus was a staging ground for Russian troops to launch their invasion of Ukraine a little over 13 months ago. Lukashenko, in office since 1994, delivered his annual address amid escalating tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.

Both he and Putin have alleged that Western powers want to ruin Russia and Belarus.

Putin and I will decide and introduce here, if necessary, strategic weapons, and they must understand this, the scoundrels abroad, who today are trying to blow us up from inside and outside," the Belarusian leader said. "We will protect our sovereignty and independence by any means necessary, including through the nuclear arsenal.

While Putin emphasized that Russia will retain control over the tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, Lukashenko charged that he also will have a say.

Dont say we will just be looking after them, and these are not our weapons," he said. "These are our weapons and they will contribute to ensuring sovereignty and independence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday denounced Putin's plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus as a reflection of Russia's battlefield setbacks and its increasing global isolation. Zelenskyy argued that it also means Lukashenko has yielded completely to Moscow's control, adding: "I think he no longer decides which weapons are located on his territory.

Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be completed by July 1 and added that Russia has helped modernize Belarusian warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

While the deployment of Russian short-range tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus would put them closer to potential targets in Ukraine and NATO members in Eastern and Central Europe, it wouldn't make much sense for the Kremlin to station any of its strategic nuclear-tipped missiles on Belarusian territory. Those missiles have intercontinental range and can reach a target anywhere around the world from their positions in Russia.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave Belarus under official pressure after challenging Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election that the opposition and the West rejected as rigged, denounced Lukashenko's push for Russian nuclear weapons as a betrayal of national interests.

The deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus put the lives of Belarusians in serious danger and turns our country into a potential target for strikes, including nuclear strikes at the whim of the two dictators, Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press.

Russia's political and economic support helped Lukashenko survive months of major opposition protests, and he has grown increasingly dependent on the Kremlin.

Earlier in the address, Lukashenko called for a cease-fire in Ukraine. A truce must be announced without any preconditions, and all movement of troops and weapons must be halted, he said.

Ukraine's presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, quickly dismissed the proposal, saying that any cease-fire would allow Russia to stay in the occupied territories.

This is totally inadmissible, he tweeted.

Belarus and Russia have intensified their military cooperation since the start of the Ukraine war. Moscow has kept its troops and weapons in Belarus, although no Belarusian troops have participated in the fighting.

Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan all relinquished Soviet nuclear weapons, which were left on their terrotories after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Under the so-called Budapest Memorandum that accompanied giving up the weapons, Russia, the United States and Britain agreed to respect the territorial integrity of those countries.

Ukraine has repeatedly complained that Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and the 2022 invasion violate that agreement.

Lukashenko said Friday that he didn't want to lose his country's nuclear weapons, but was pressured into doing so by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Speaking about the possible deployment of Russian strategic nuclear weapons to Belarus in Friday's speech, Lukashenko said that a week ago he ordered his military to immediately put the former base for Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles in order to make it ready for use.

It's a highly technologically sophisticated structure, he said.

All the infrastructure has been created and is standing ready, Lukashenko declared. I'm sure that those measures will help sober up all those hawks across the ocean and their satellites for a long time ahead and force them to reckon with our people if they don't understand different language.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
China has agreed to extend daily business hours for customs clearance services at Huu Nghi International Border Gate, which links Vietnams Lang Son Province with China, in a bid to satisfy a surging demand for shipping goods via the gate, said a local official. The northern border gate now offers customs services from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, one hour longer than before, Le Van Thang, head of the management board of Dong Dang-Lang Son border gate economic zone, said on Friday. China began relaxing COVID-19 restrictions and resuming import-export activities via the border gates of Tan Thanh and Huu Nghi, which link the two countries. Besides, Vietnamese dragon fruits and other fruits and farm produce from other countries entered their harvest season last month. Also, the demand to import input materials, equipment from China to serve domestic production has soared sharply. These factors fueled a demand for shipping goods through Vietnam-China border gates, Thang explained. The authorities of Vietnam and China therefore sought measures to facilitate border trade, including prolonging the business hours at the border gates. The above-mentioned management board said it will also coordinate with traffic police and border guards to regulate the traffic flow on National Highway 1A which has been overwhelmed by a huge volume of container trucks waiting to enter the Huu Nghi border gate to reach China. For a long-term plan, the management board will work with relevant units to make the most of parking lots to accommodate container trucks waiting for customs clearance services, while teaming up with the China side to remove obstacles facing the customs clearance process. The board also proposed the reopening of sub-border gates such as Binh Nghi, Na Hinh, and Po Nhung to facilitate the customs clearance process. A few days ago, lots of container trucks queued up along National Highway 1A, especially at the Huu Nghi border gate area to wait for undergoing the customs clearance procedures. This posed a traffic safety risk in the area. It recently took around 4-5 days for a certain number of container trucks to get the customs clearance done, instead of only 1-2 days as before, Hoang Thi Le, a representative of Hoang Duc Phong Transport Company, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. The long waiting time drove up businesses logistic costs and led to a shortfall of trucks with cold storage for transporting exported fruits. Hence, the company proposed the competent forces take measures to handle the issues, Le said. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

China has agreed to extend daily business hours for customs clearance services at Huu Nghi International Border Gate, which links Vietnams Lang Son Province with China, in a bid to satisfy a surging demand for shipping goods via the gate, said a local official.

The northern border gate now offers customs services from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, one hour longer than before, Le Van Thang, head of the management board of Dong Dang-Lang Son border gate economic zone, said on Friday.

China began relaxing COVID-19 restrictions and resuming import-export activities via the border gates of Tan Thanh and Huu Nghi, which link the two countries.

Besides, Vietnamese dragon fruits and other fruits and farm produce from other countries entered their harvest season last month.

Also, the demand to import input materials, equipment from China to serve domestic production has soared sharply.

These factors fueled a demand for shipping goods through Vietnam-China border gates, Thang explained.

The authorities of Vietnam and China therefore sought measures to facilitate border trade, including prolonging the business hours at the border gates.

The above-mentioned management board said it will also coordinate with traffic police and border guards to regulate the traffic flow on National Highway 1A which has been overwhelmed by a huge volume of container trucks waiting to enter the Huu Nghi border gate to reach China.

For a long-term plan, the management board will work with relevant units to make the most of parking lots to accommodate container trucks waiting for customs clearance services, while teaming up with the China side to remove obstacles facing the customs clearance process.

The board also proposed the reopening of sub-border gates such as Binh Nghi, Na Hinh, and Po Nhung to facilitate the customs clearance process.

A few days ago, lots of container trucks queued up along National Highway 1A, especially at the Huu Nghi border gate area to wait for undergoing the customs clearance procedures.

This posed a traffic safety risk in the area.

It recently took around 4-5 days for a certain number of container trucks to get the customs clearance done, instead of only 1-2 days as before, Hoang Thi Le, a representative of Hoang Duc Phong Transport Company, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The long waiting time drove up businesses logistic costs and led to a shortfall of trucks with cold storage for transporting exported fruits.

Hence, the company proposed the competent forces take measures to handle the issues, Le said.

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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has proposed raising the foreign ownership cap at domestic commercial banks with plans to take over poor-performing banks from 30 to 49 percent. The proposal was stated in the SBVs draft decree amending and supplementing some articles of the Vietnamese governments Decree 01/2014/ND-CP on foreign investors purchase of shares at Vietnamese credit institutions. According to the Vietnamese central bank, the proposal will pave the way for domestic credit institutions to enhance their financial capacity as they can attract more foreign investment, increase charter capital, and improve their governance and technology. As planned, four local commercial banks were mandated to buy a poor-performing bank each. In particular, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Military Bank (MB), Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank), and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) announced their plans to take over DongA Joint Stock Commercial Bank (DongA Bank), Vietnam Construction Bank, Ocean Commercial One Member Limited Liability Bank (Oceanbank), and Global Petro Commercial Joint Stock Bank (GPBank). However, Vietcombank cannot see its foreign ownership cap increase to 49 percent as over half of its charter capital is being held by the State. As a result, the foreign ownership limit at MB, HDBank, and VPBank may be increased. Two out of these banks wanted their foreign ownership cap to be raised to 49 percent. According to the two lenders, the foreign ownership cap hike will not cause a great impact on the local banking system. To own at least 10 percent of Vietnamese banks charter capital, the SBV required foreign institutions to be rated as stable at the lowest by international credit rating organizations. Foreign institutions must have a strong financial capacity and commit that their purchases of stakes from Vietnamese credit institutions will neither affect the safety and stability of the local banking system, create a monopoly nor hinder the competition among Vietnamese credit institutions. The SBV said that the foreign ownership cap hike should not be applied to all commercial banks in Vietnam, adding that foreign investors should be encouraged to invest in poor-performing banks and those taking over other banks. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has proposed raising the foreign ownership cap at domestic commercial banks with plans to take over poor-performing banks from 30 to 49 percent.

The proposal was stated in the SBVs draft decree amending and supplementing some articles of the Vietnamese governments Decree 01/2014/ND-CP on foreign investors purchase of shares at Vietnamese credit institutions.

According to the Vietnamese central bank, the proposal will pave the way for domestic credit institutions to enhance their financial capacity as they can attract more foreign investment, increase charter capital, and improve their governance and technology.

As planned, four local commercial banks were mandated to buy a poor-performing bank each.

In particular, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Military Bank (MB), Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank), and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) announced their plans to take over DongA Joint Stock Commercial Bank (DongA Bank), Vietnam Construction Bank, Ocean Commercial One Member Limited Liability Bank (Oceanbank), and Global Petro Commercial Joint Stock Bank (GPBank).

However, Vietcombank cannot see its foreign ownership cap increase to 49 percent as over half of its charter capital is being held by the State.

As a result, the foreign ownership limit at MB, HDBank, and VPBank may be increased.

Two out of these banks wanted their foreign ownership cap to be raised to 49 percent.

According to the two lenders, the foreign ownership cap hike will not cause a great impact on the local banking system.

To own at least 10 percent of Vietnamese banks charter capital, the SBV required foreign institutions to be rated as stable at the lowest by international credit rating organizations.

Foreign institutions must have a strong financial capacity and commit that their purchases of stakes from Vietnamese credit institutions will neither affect the safety and stability of the local banking system, create a monopoly nor hinder the competition among Vietnamese credit institutions.

The SBV said that the foreign ownership cap hike should not be applied to all commercial banks in Vietnam, adding that foreign investors should be encouraged to invest in poor-performing banks and those taking over other banks.

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Police in Canada recovered two more bodies, including that of a missing infant, near the U.S.-Canada border on Friday, bringing the total to eight victims from two families who died this week trying to enter the U.S. from Canada by boat across the St. Lawrence River. "Two additional bodies have been recovered, one an infant, a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent, and one adult female believed to be an Indian national," Shawn Dulude, chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, told reporters. Police recovered six bodies on Thursday and believe the tragedy may have occurred on Wednesday night. Dulude said they do not believe there are more bodies to recover, but they are searching for a missing 30-year-old man, Casey Oakes, as a person of interest in the case. His boat was found near the area where the victims were recovered. Earlier on Friday, Deputy Chief Lee-Ann O'Brien said the victims appeared to be from two families, one Indian and one Romanian, who were trying to the reach the U.S. illegally. At least two children with Canadian passports were among the victims, said police, who are waiting on the results of a post-mortem and toxicology tests from Montreal to determine the cause of death. U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed last week to stop asylum seekers coming to Canada through unofficial border crossings, a move critics said could mean refugees and migrants will take more risks when crossing. But Akwesasne police said the agreement that closed all unofficial border entries, including Roxham Road in Quebec, should not have factored here because the families were seeking to go to the U.S., not to Canada. "Right now what I can tell you is this has nothing to do with that closure," O'Brien said. Police search the marshland where bodies were found in Akwesasne, Quebec, Canada March 31, 2023. Photo: Reuters Last year an Indian family of four froze to death in Canada's province of Manitoba as they were trying to cross into the U.S. The Akwesasne reserve straddles both sides of the St. Lawrence River, with land in Ontario and Quebec on the Canadian side, and New York. To fight smuggling of people and goods, local police monitor the river full-time with funds from Quebec. "We're reeling from this tragedy," Akwesasne Chief Abram Benedict told reporters. "It does bring to light the challenges of immigration for Canada and the United States." More people have been using Akwesasne territory to try to enter the U.S. in secret, with 80 interceptions recorded since the beginning of the year, and the majority have been Indians or Romanians, said Dulude. On Wednesday night, when the families likely sought to cross the river, the weather was poor. "It was very windy," O'Brien said, and it was raining and sleeting. "It was not a good time to be out in the water." Trudeau called the deaths "heartbreaking." "We need to understand properly what happened, how this happened and do whatever we can to ensure that we're minimizing the chances of it happening again," he told reporters in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Police in Canada recovered two more bodies, including that of a missing infant, near the U.S.-Canada border on Friday, bringing the total to eight victims from two families who died this week trying to enter the U.S. from Canada by boat across the St. Lawrence River.

"Two additional bodies have been recovered, one an infant, a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent, and one adult female believed to be an Indian national," Shawn Dulude, chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, told reporters.

Police recovered six bodies on Thursday and believe the tragedy may have occurred on Wednesday night.

Dulude said they do not believe there are more bodies to recover, but they are searching for a missing 30-year-old man, Casey Oakes, as a person of interest in the case. His boat was found near the area where the victims were recovered.

Earlier on Friday, Deputy Chief Lee-Ann O'Brien said the victims appeared to be from two families, one Indian and one Romanian, who were trying to the reach the U.S. illegally.

At least two children with Canadian passports were among the victims, said police, who are waiting on the results of a post-mortem and toxicology tests from Montreal to determine the cause of death.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed last week to stop asylum seekers coming to Canada through unofficial border crossings, a move critics said could mean refugees and migrants will take more risks when crossing.

But Akwesasne police said the agreement that closed all unofficial border entries, including Roxham Road in Quebec, should not have factored here because the families were seeking to go to the U.S., not to Canada.

"Right now what I can tell you is this has nothing to do with that closure," O'Brien said.

Police search the marshland where bodies were found in Akwesasne, Quebec, Canada March 31, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Last year an Indian family of four froze to death in Canada's province of Manitoba as they were trying to cross into the U.S.

The Akwesasne reserve straddles both sides of the St. Lawrence River, with land in Ontario and Quebec on the Canadian side, and New York. To fight smuggling of people and goods, local police monitor the river full-time with funds from Quebec.

"We're reeling from this tragedy," Akwesasne Chief Abram Benedict told reporters. "It does bring to light the challenges of immigration for Canada and the United States."

More people have been using Akwesasne territory to try to enter the U.S. in secret, with 80 interceptions recorded since the beginning of the year, and the majority have been Indians or Romanians, said Dulude.

On Wednesday night, when the families likely sought to cross the river, the weather was poor.

"It was very windy," O'Brien said, and it was raining and sleeting. "It was not a good time to be out in the water."

Trudeau called the deaths "heartbreaking."

"We need to understand properly what happened, how this happened and do whatever we can to ensure that we're minimizing the chances of it happening again," he told reporters in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The International Seabed Authority will start accepting applications in July from companies that want to mine the ocean's floor, a decision that came after the U.N. body spent the past two weeks debating standards for the new and controversial practice. Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese - key battery materials - from potato-sized rocks called "polymetallic nodules" on the ocean's floor at depths of 4 to 6 km (2.5 to 4 miles). They are abundant in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the North Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. The ISA's governing council formulated a draft decision on Thursday after meeting in Jamaica that allows companies to file permit applications starting on July 9, a deadline set in motion by actions the island nation of Nauru took in 2021, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The ISA's staff would then have three business days to inform the council. The council plans to meet virtually before July to debate further whether approval of such applications could be delayed once received, according to the document. "This deeply irresponsible outcome is a wasted opportunity to send a clear signal ... that the era of ocean destruction is over", said Louisa Casson of Greenpeace, which opposes the practice due in part to concerns it could harm whales and other wildlife. The Metals Co, which has a deal to supply metals to Glencore Plc, is one of the most prominent voices advocating for the practice. Its executives have repeatedly said they believe deep-sea mining would have less impact than traditional mining for battery metals on land. China is a leader in deep-sea mining exploration, but Chile, France, Palau and Fiji, among other nations, have called for a global moratorium on the practice, citing environmental concerns and a lack of sufficient scientific data.

The International Seabed Authority will start accepting applications in July from companies that want to mine the ocean's floor, a decision that came after the U.N. body spent the past two weeks debating standards for the new and controversial practice.

Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese - key battery materials - from potato-sized rocks called "polymetallic nodules" on the ocean's floor at depths of 4 to 6 km (2.5 to 4 miles). They are abundant in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the North Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.

The ISA's governing council formulated a draft decision on Thursday after meeting in Jamaica that allows companies to file permit applications starting on July 9, a deadline set in motion by actions the island nation of Nauru took in 2021, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

The ISA's staff would then have three business days to inform the council. The council plans to meet virtually before July to debate further whether approval of such applications could be delayed once received, according to the document.

"This deeply irresponsible outcome is a wasted opportunity to send a clear signal ... that the era of ocean destruction is over", said Louisa Casson of Greenpeace, which opposes the practice due in part to concerns it could harm whales and other wildlife.

The Metals Co, which has a deal to supply metals to Glencore Plc, is one of the most prominent voices advocating for the practice. Its executives have repeatedly said they believe deep-sea mining would have less impact than traditional mining for battery metals on land.

China is a leader in deep-sea mining exploration, but Chile, France, Palau and Fiji, among other nations, have called for a global moratorium on the practice, citing environmental concerns and a lack of sufficient scientific data.
As vice-president of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Vietnams permanent representative to the UN, on Wednesday chaired its discussion and voted on a landmark resolution seeking the International Court of Justices (ICJ) action to clarify the obligations of states to tackle climate change. The resolution was passed with a consensus vote. It was co-sponsored by 132 out of 193 UN member states, according to Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Historic resolution on climate change The fact that this resolution was passed demonstrates the tremendous support of the international community toward climate change, which is among the most urgent and widely discussed issues in many international and regional forums. A general view of a UN General Assembly session to pass a resolution seeking the top global courts action to clarify the obligations of states to tackle climate change. Photo: Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN Giang said that the UN General Assembly asked ICJ to give its stances on two issues linked to climate change, including defining the obligations of states under international law to protect the environment against climate change and legal responsibilities of nations that have caused negative impacts of climate change on many other countries, as well as on the present and future generations. Given this resolution being approved, this is the first time that ICJ has aired its legal opinion on climate change. The Guardian cited Ishmael Kalsakau, prime minister of Vanuatu, as saying: Today we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions. Todays historic resolution is the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate cooperation, he continued. Resolution incorporates many contributions from Vietnam The resolution was put forward by the Republic of Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific, and a core group of 18 countries, including Vietnam. A number of UN member states joined this core group in order to voice their opinions and jointly take actions to get their mutual concerns addressed. The core group seeking the ICJs advisory opinions on climate change comprises 18 countries that represent all geographical regions in the world. Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang (C), Vietnams permanent representative to the UN, talks to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Photo: Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN As one of the first five members of the core group, Vietnam has been actively promoting the process of making the draft resolution through close to 50 meetings of the group since September last year, in addition to three rounds of consultations with all UN member states and many other unofficial meetings, Giang said. Many opinions of Vietnam on the issue were included in the resolution, he continued. Clarifying obligations of largest emitters of greenhouse gasses In essence, the ICJ advisory will help establish whether there is legal obligation for countries to do what they have committed to in non-binding treaties such as the 2015 Paris climate accord, and whether failure to do so can be challenged through litigation, The Guardian says. Giang said that if the ICJ advisory could help clarify the responsibilities and obligations of countries, the international community would be able to take more drastic moves in the upcoming period to curtail the negative impacts of climate change and help countries build better resilience against climate effects. As one of the principal organs of the UN, the ICJs role is to settle legal disputes among countries and to give advisory opinions on legal questions linked to issues of mutual concerns. Only the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council are authorized to ask the ICJs advisory opinions on all legal issues. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

As vice-president of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Vietnams permanent representative to the UN, on Wednesday chaired its discussion and voted on a landmark resolution seeking the International Court of Justices (ICJ) action to clarify the obligations of states to tackle climate change.

The resolution was passed with a consensus vote. It was co-sponsored by 132 out of 193 UN member states, according to Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Historic resolution on climate change

The fact that this resolution was passed demonstrates the tremendous support of the international community toward climate change, which is among the most urgent and widely discussed issues in many international and regional forums.

A general view of a UN General Assembly session to pass a resolution seeking the top global courts action to clarify the obligations of states to tackle climate change. Photo: Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN

Giang said that the UN General Assembly asked ICJ to give its stances on two issues linked to climate change, including defining the obligations of states under international law to protect the environment against climate change and legal responsibilities of nations that have caused negative impacts of climate change on many other countries, as well as on the present and future generations.

Given this resolution being approved, this is the first time that ICJ has aired its legal opinion on climate change.

The Guardian cited Ishmael Kalsakau, prime minister of Vanuatu, as saying: Today we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions.

Todays historic resolution is the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate cooperation, he continued.

Resolution incorporates many contributions from Vietnam

The resolution was put forward by the Republic of Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific, and a core group of 18 countries, including Vietnam.

A number of UN member states joined this core group in order to voice their opinions and jointly take actions to get their mutual concerns addressed. The core group seeking the ICJs advisory opinions on climate change comprises 18 countries that represent all geographical regions in the world.

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang (C), Vietnams permanent representative to the UN, talks to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Photo: Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN

As one of the first five members of the core group, Vietnam has been actively promoting the process of making the draft resolution through close to 50 meetings of the group since September last year, in addition to three rounds of consultations with all UN member states and many other unofficial meetings, Giang said.

Many opinions of Vietnam on the issue were included in the resolution, he continued.

Clarifying obligations of largest emitters of greenhouse gasses

In essence, the ICJ advisory will help establish whether there is legal obligation for countries to do what they have committed to in non-binding treaties such as the 2015 Paris climate accord, and whether failure to do so can be challenged through litigation, The Guardian says.

Giang said that if the ICJ advisory could help clarify the responsibilities and obligations of countries, the international community would be able to take more drastic moves in the upcoming period to curtail the negative impacts of climate change and help countries build better resilience against climate effects.

As one of the principal organs of the UN, the ICJs role is to settle legal disputes among countries and to give advisory opinions on legal questions linked to issues of mutual concerns. Only the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council are authorized to ask the ICJs advisory opinions on all legal issues.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Hanoi resolutely objects to Taiwans (China) live-fire exercises in the waters around Ba Binh (Itu Aba) Island, part of Vietnams Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea, and demands Taiwan not to repeat such violation in the future, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The ministrys deputy spokesperson, Pham Thu Hang, made the objection in response to local medias questions about Vietnams reactions to Taiwans notice of live-fire drills in the said waters. As confirmed many times before, such drills around Ba Binh represent a serious violation of Vietnams territorial sovereignty over Truong Sa, and threaten peace, stability, safety, and security of navigation in the East Vietnam Sea, Hang said. They also triggered tensions and complicated the situation in the waters, the spokeswoman added. Vietnam firmly opposes and demands that Taiwan cancel its live-fire drills in the Vietnamese waters and not to commit similar acts in the future, Hang stressed. Taiwan had used domestically developed Kestrel anti-tank guns in the exercises and had deployed such weapons on Ba Binh Island, according to some unverified sources. Taiwans Coast Guard forces have been stationed on the island in replacement of its Marines units, according to Taiwanese media. Ba Binh is the largest natural island in Truong Sa, which belongs to Vietnam but has been illegally occupied by Taiwan since 1956. Vietnam has repeatedly affirmed that it has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to affirm its sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagoes in the East Vietnam Sea in accordance with international law. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Hanoi resolutely objects to Taiwans (China) live-fire exercises in the waters around Ba Binh (Itu Aba) Island, part of Vietnams Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea, and demands Taiwan not to repeat such violation in the future, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

The ministrys deputy spokesperson, Pham Thu Hang, made the objection in response to local medias questions about Vietnams reactions to Taiwans notice of live-fire drills in the said waters.

As confirmed many times before, such drills around Ba Binh represent a serious violation of Vietnams territorial sovereignty over Truong Sa, and threaten peace, stability, safety, and security of navigation in the East Vietnam Sea, Hang said.

They also triggered tensions and complicated the situation in the waters, the spokeswoman added.

Vietnam firmly opposes and demands that Taiwan cancel its live-fire drills in the Vietnamese waters and not to commit similar acts in the future, Hang stressed.

Taiwan had used domestically developed Kestrel anti-tank guns in the exercises and had deployed such weapons on Ba Binh Island, according to some unverified sources.

Taiwans Coast Guard forces have been stationed on the island in replacement of its Marines units, according to Taiwanese media.

Ba Binh is the largest natural island in Truong Sa, which belongs to Vietnam but has been illegally occupied by Taiwan since 1956.

Vietnam has repeatedly affirmed that it has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to affirm its sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagoes in the East Vietnam Sea in accordance with international law.

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Read what is in the news in Vietnam today: Politics -- Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Liu Ning, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in Hanoi on Friday during his visit to Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reported. Society -- Eighteen students of an elementary school in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam were hospitalized on Thursday after drinking milk tea and eating snacks provided by a students parents. -- Many foreign direct investment enterprises in the Loc An  Binh Son Industrial Park, which is located near the construction site of the big-ticket Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province, a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City, have complained about dust resulted from the leveling of the construction site, saying that it has affected their products and workers health. -- Vice chairman of the Peoples Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Duong Anh Duc on Friday signed two urgent dispatches, asking the relevant agencies to enhance the prevention and control of Marburg, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, and dengue fever diseases. -- A female patient, born a deaf-mute, suffered serious burns after an ambulance carrying her from the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien to Hanoi for treatment for thyroid cancer burst into flames on Friday. -- Police in Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam on Friday arrested 10 youngsters, aged between 16 and 24, residing in Thai Binhs neighboring city of Hai Phong, for allegedly robbing in some northern provinces. Business -- The Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) on Friday informed that it had built a plan to revise up the electricity prices and submitted it to the government as it incurred a loss of over VND26.2 trillion (US$1.1 billion) in 2022. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Read what is in the news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Liu Ning, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in Hanoi on Friday during his visit to Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Society

-- Eighteen students of an elementary school in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam were hospitalized on Thursday after drinking milk tea and eating snacks provided by a students parents.

-- Many foreign direct investment enterprises in the Loc An  Binh Son Industrial Park, which is located near the construction site of the big-ticket Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province, a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City, have complained about dust resulted from the leveling of the construction site, saying that it has affected their products and workers health.

-- Vice chairman of the Peoples Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Duong Anh Duc on Friday signed two urgent dispatches, asking the relevant agencies to enhance the prevention and control of Marburg, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, and dengue fever diseases.

-- A female patient, born a deaf-mute, suffered serious burns after an ambulance carrying her from the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien to Hanoi for treatment for thyroid cancer burst into flames on Friday.

-- Police in Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam on Friday arrested 10 youngsters, aged between 16 and 24, residing in Thai Binhs neighboring city of Hai Phong, for allegedly robbing in some northern provinces.

Business

-- The Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) on Friday informed that it had built a plan to revise up the electricity prices and submitted it to the government as it incurred a loss of over VND26.2 trillion (US$1.1 billion) in 2022.

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China calls on all nuclear weapon states to effectively reduce risk of nuclear war

Xinhua) 13:05, April 01, 2023

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy said on Friday that China calls on all nuclear weapon states to effectively reduce the risk of a nuclear war.

"Mutual trust and cooperation among major countries are the fundamental guarantee for maintaining global strategic stability," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council briefing on threats to international peace and security.

Geng said that in January last year, the leaders of the five nuclear weapon states issued a joint statement emphasizing that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, and reaffirming that none of the nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other state. "Against the backdrop of the current tense relations among the nuclear weapon states, the special significance of this historic statement is all the more prominent."

"China calls on all nuclear weapon states to abide by the vision of the statement, effectively reduce the risk of a nuclear war, and avoid any armed conflict between nuclear weapons states," said the ambassador.

Geng pointed out that nuclear weapons are "the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads," noting that China's position on the issue of nuclear weapons "has been clear and consistent."

"Since its first day in possession of nuclear weapons, China has firmly committed to a defensive nuclear strategy, and honored the pledge to no first use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances," he said. "China has also clearly committed unconditionally not to use or threat to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear weapon free zones."

"China is the only nuclear weapon state to have made these pledges. China attaches great importance to the status of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as the cornerstone of international nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, firmly upholds the authority, effectiveness, and the universal nature of the Treaty, and advocates a step-by-step approach to advance nuclear disarmament process for the eventual complete ban and total elimination of nuclear weapons," the envoy spelled out.

"We call for the abolition of the nuclear sharing arrangements and advocate no deployment of nuclear weapons abroad by all nuclear weapons states and the withdrawal of nuclear weapons deployed aboard," he said.

Turning to China's position on the Ukraine issue, Geng said that this position "is also clear and consistent."

"Not long ago, China issued a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, which comprehensively laid out China's propositions," he said.

"It includes aspects regarding opposing armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other peaceful nuclear facilities, emphasizing that nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought, that the threat or use of nuclear weapons should be opposed, and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented and nuclear crisis avoided," the envoy added.

Geng noted that a series of recent events have once again proved that the resumption of dialogue and negotiation and the promotion of a political settlement should happen sooner rather than later.

"All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid aggravating tensions, intensifying frictions, or fanning the flames, stop all actions that contribute to prolonging the war, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control," he said.

The envoy called on the international community to "have a heightened sense of urgency to promote talks for peace and create conditions for the early resumption of negotiations."

"China will continue to play a constructive role in seeking ceasefire, easing the crisis, and restoring peace," he continued.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
The Vietnamese Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan (China) is joining hands with Taiwanese authorities to verify the identity of bodies with Vietnamese identification papers found drifting at sea off Taiwan, deputy spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said on Friday. Vietnam will also conduct necessary citizen protection measures, Hang added. Authorities of Taiwan on Thursday informed the discovery of 11 bodies at sea off the island, including seven with Vietnamese identification papers, according to The Gioi va Viet Nam (World and Vietnam) newspaper under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Taiwanese authorities supposed this was a human trafficking case, so they established a team to investigate it. Taiwan also committed to supporting Vietnam to find out the identity of the victims, and illegal ship operators and brokers. The Consular Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 23 also worked with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi to seek Taiwanese agencies collaboration to verify the information and support Vietnamese representative agencies in Taipei in implementing citizen protection measures. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Vietnamese Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan (China) is joining hands with Taiwanese authorities to verify the identity of bodies with Vietnamese identification papers found drifting at sea off Taiwan, deputy spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said on Friday.

Vietnam will also conduct necessary citizen protection measures, Hang added.

Authorities of Taiwan on Thursday informed the discovery of 11 bodies at sea off the island, including seven with Vietnamese identification papers, according to The Gioi va Viet Nam (World and Vietnam) newspaper under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Taiwanese authorities supposed this was a human trafficking case, so they established a team to investigate it.

Taiwan also committed to supporting Vietnam to find out the identity of the victims, and illegal ship operators and brokers.

The Consular Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 23 also worked with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi to seek Taiwanese agencies collaboration to verify the information and support Vietnamese representative agencies in Taipei in implementing citizen protection measures.

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The wife of a local official in Hai Phong, a northern port city of Vietnam, has got a VND65-million (US$2,769) fine for the illegal construction of nine attached houses. Authorities in Kien An District on Friday imposed this administrative fine on Le Thi Thao, 54, an investor representative of the houses. She is the wife of Vu Khac Hiep, chairman of the government in Lam Ha Ward, Kien An District. Hieps family was fined VND30 million ($1,278) for encroaching on 101.5 square meters of non-agricultural land in an urban area and VND35 million ($1,491) for building the houses without any construction permit. Authorities in Kien An District on Friday imposed a VND65-million ($2,769) fine on Hieps family for encroaching on 101.5 square meters of non-agricultural land in an urban area and building the houses without any construction permit. Photo: Tien Thang / Tuoi Tre Besides, Thao was forced to demolish the houses illegally built on a land plot in Quan Tru Ward within 30 days and restore the original state of the encroached area. She has to complete dossiers seeking for the authorities construction permit within 30 days. The administration of Quan Tru Ward in the city discovered the family of Hiep broke ground on the nine attached houses in an urban area early this year and later found that these houses were built without construction permits. Local officials right after that asked Thao to stop the illegal construction and complete procedures to get the permits as per prevailing regulations. However, Thao and her family ignored the warning and continued the illegal construction. The nine illegally built houses are located behind Hieps house Photo: Tien Thang / Tuoi Tre In mid-February, the local government again inspected the houses, whose third story was being built at the time, and issued a warning against the projects investor. The municipal construction inspectorate on February 15 asked the district administration to work with relevant agencies to examine the origin of the affected land and take action to tackle the illegally built houses, as well as forced the house investor to stop the construction. Commenting on the issue, Pham Van Khanh, Party chief of the district, said the local government will adopt drastic moves to handle the violation committed by Hieps family. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The wife of a local official in Hai Phong, a northern port city of Vietnam, has got a VND65-million (US$2,769) fine for the illegal construction of nine attached houses.

Authorities in Kien An District on Friday imposed this administrative fine on Le Thi Thao, 54, an investor representative of the houses.

She is the wife of Vu Khac Hiep, chairman of the government in Lam Ha Ward, Kien An District.

Hieps family was fined VND30 million ($1,278) for encroaching on 101.5 square meters of non-agricultural land in an urban area and VND35 million ($1,491) for building the houses without any construction permit.

Authorities in Kien An District on Friday imposed a VND65-million ($2,769) fine on Hieps family for encroaching on 101.5 square meters of non-agricultural land in an urban area and building the houses without any construction permit. Photo: Tien Thang / Tuoi Tre

Besides, Thao was forced to demolish the houses illegally built on a land plot in Quan Tru Ward within 30 days and restore the original state of the encroached area.

She has to complete dossiers seeking for the authorities construction permit within 30 days.

The administration of Quan Tru Ward in the city discovered the family of Hiep broke ground on the nine attached houses in an urban area early this year and later found that these houses were built without construction permits.

Local officials right after that asked Thao to stop the illegal construction and complete procedures to get the permits as per prevailing regulations.

However, Thao and her family ignored the warning and continued the illegal construction.

The nine illegally built houses are located behind Hieps house Photo: Tien Thang / Tuoi Tre

In mid-February, the local government again inspected the houses, whose third story was being built at the time, and issued a warning against the projects investor.

The municipal construction inspectorate on February 15 asked the district administration to work with relevant agencies to examine the origin of the affected land and take action to tackle the illegally built houses, as well as forced the house investor to stop the construction.

Commenting on the issue, Pham Van Khanh, Party chief of the district, said the local government will adopt drastic moves to handle the violation committed by Hieps family.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Spoilers ahead:

DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) will make a surprise visit to Death in Paradises Saint Marie.

The storyline comes via the series finale of spin-off, Beyond Paradise, currently screening in Australia on BBC First.

I was honoured and delighted to return to Guadeloupe as part of Humphreys journey in Beyond Paradise, and to rekindle my deep passion for the island, said Marshall.

In the final episode of the spin-off, the Shipton Abbott police team are faced with a seemingly impossible case to crack. A burglary seems clear-cut at first when the thiefs unusual calling card matches that of local criminal Atticus Styles (Spencer Jones), but when the forensic evidence comes back, it all points to another suspect.

The only problem is the suspect, Hayley Collins (Hannah Traylen), was locked up in a police cell by PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) at the time of the crime. Meanwhile, still reeling from recent events, DI Humphrey Goodmans mind is elsewhere as he considers his future in Shipton Abbott

Its not clear if Marshall will resurface in future Death in Paradise episodes, despite BBC referring to it as a cross-over.
Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!
Riya Talitha | TwoCircles.net

NEW DELHI On March 28, around 1,500 demonstrators gathered at Jantar Mantar to demand the inclusion of Dalit Christians in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, and to protest against the formation of the Balakrishnan Commission by the Central government. The three-member commission, set up in October last year and headed by former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, has been assigned the task of assessing whether the SC status can be granted to new persons who have historically belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

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The commission was formed after the Supreme Court in August last year asked the Centre to provide its stand on a PIL filed by the National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC). The PIL demanded the implementation of the 2007 Ranganath Mishra Commission report that

recommended providing the SC status to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

In the court, we will win through. Definitely, said Franklin C Thomas, Supreme Court

advocate and co-founder of the NCDC, which also organised Tuesdays protest.

The Balakrishnan commission is not a quasi-judicial body and so it should not bind the court or the government. I have hope that the final verdict of the Supreme Court will be better. Constitutionality is on our side. We also have evidence in hand from the churches and from civil society groups in our petitions, he said.

The protest was attended by delegations of Dalit Christians from Punjab, Gujarat and

Maharashtra to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. According to NCDC president VJ George, this was their 19th protest to demand SC status, albeit after a break of three years, because of the pandemic. The denominations of Dalit Christians present at the dharna included the Catholic Church, Lutheran groups, the Church of South India, the Church of North India, and the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Dalit parliamentarians such as Chidambaram MP Thol Thirumavalavan and Villapuram MP Dr D Ravikumar, both belonging to Tamil Nadu-based Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi political

party, briefly attended the dharna to show their solidarity.

Unwanted and Unnecessary

Dr M Mary John, President of the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement and National Advisor of the NCDC, who was also in attendance on Tuesday, called the Balakrishnan Commission

Unwarranted and unnecessary.

Dalit Christians are a microscopic minority. This selective opposition we are facing must be on the basis of religion. Why didnt people oppose granting SC status to Buddhists and Sikhs then? he asked. He said that Dalit Christians nationwide were against the commission and that there was a worry that it would be used by the government as a mouthpiece to propagate ideas against granting SC status to Dalit Christians.

Besides opposing the establishment of the Balakrishnan commission, the protestors demanded deletion of paragraph 3 of the Presidential (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950. The Order states that only Hindus can have SC status. It was later amended in 1956 to include Sikhism and in 1990 to include Buddhism. Effectively, the Presidential order denies the same constitutional status to those members of a Scheduled Caste who converted to Islam or Christianity and deprives them of advantages such as contesting in reserved constituencies and availing scholarship or employment reservations.

We have been fighting for 72 years, said Sister Robancy Amal Helen, executive editor of the online news portal Dalit Christian Digest, in reference to the order.

The Modi government endorsed the 1950 order in its Supreme Court affidavit and explicitly

opposed the expansion of Scheduled Caste (SC) status earlier this year. They already said no, but then also then referred the issue to yet another commission. What is this? said Thomas.

States and Dalit Christians

On March 24, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed a resolution granting SC status to Dalit

Christians, subject to approval by the Centre. The Assembly requested the Centre to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, in order to extend SC status to the Dalit Christians.

However, a delegation of state BJP leaders called on Governor S Abdul Nazeer to stall the move. The state government, headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, follows several representations of Dalit Christians from Andhra Pradesh. In other states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, Dalit Christians are given either Backward Class (BC) or Most Backward Class (MBC) status. For example, in Tamil Nadu, Dalit Christians can be registered as Adi-Dravida Christians on their caste certificates which can be used to avail of OBC reservation benefits. Some 60 percent of Indias 25 million Christians are of Dalit and tribal origin.

During the demonstration on Tuesday, the NCDC also submitted a memorandum to the Prime Ministers Office, demanding that the government resolve this long-standing issue as soon as possible. Since we are Christians, we believe that sooner or later, we will get the justice we are expecting. We speak about hope because we are Christians. We believe that no oppression lasts forever, said Robancy.

In the event of an unfavourable verdict, according to John, the plan is to continue the struggle. Well keep opposing. Were asking all minorities to face this government in the next election we have to take some political decisions. Politically, we have to mobilise he said.

Riya Talitha is a TCN-SEED fellow


The report notes that apart from the statement of Darshan Solankis sister, there is no particular evidence of direct caste-based discrimination experienced by the student during his time at IIT Bombay.

TCN Special Correspondent

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MUMBAI (MAHARASHTRA)  The enquiry committee constituted by the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay to investigate the allegations of discrimination against its student, Darshan Solanki, has revealed in its report that Solanki did not face any caste-based discrimination at the campus.

Solanki, a first-year student in B. Tech (Chemical) course at the IIT-Bombay, allegedly died by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building located on the campus on February 12. The report has revealed Solankis deteriorating academic performance as a possible reason behind his extreme action.

Belonging to a Scheduled Caste Solankis family had claimed he faced discrimination at the IIT-Bombay for belonging to the community and suspected foul play in his death.

A top rights group in India, the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), quoting Solankis sister had also alleged that Darshan had confided in her and his aunt that he would face discrimination at the institute.

A 12-person committee led by Chemistry Department head Professor Nand Kishore was formed by IIT Bombay to look into the events that led to the students death. The committee submitted its report to the government on March 2.

The report, it is learnt, states that according to the preliminary assessment, apart from the statement of Darshan Solankis sister, there is no particular evidence of direct caste-based discrimination experienced by the student during his time at IIT Bombay.

Initially, after Solankis death, police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) into the incident. However, the demands for an SIT probe gathered pace and police formed a team to investigate the incident.

So far, police have also recorded statements from the Solanki family.

Expressing distress, at the unfortunate incident, a spokesperson of PUCLs Maharashtra chapter said this drastic step is no different than what propelled Ankit Ambore (2014 in IIT Bombay), Dr Payal Tadvi (2019), Rohit Vimula (2016 ) or Senthil Kumar (2008) or hundreds of others.

It was after the persistent efforts of the anti-caste movement that finally only in 1972, the IITs were forced to implement mandatory reservations for students from the SC/ST communities, that too with only 15 students from SC/ST backgrounds in each Institute.

In 1996 there was a study conducted on five IITs. The study came up with observations and recommendations. The observations included the financial hardships and discrimination faced by students from marginalized communities. It noted the high dropout rate amongst those students and recommended stern action against the discrimination, suggested facilitating loans and scholarships, as well as counselling for all students.

In 1980 IIT Bombay students protested over the expulsion of four students, who were facing difficulties in English language learning issue, which resulted in 21 days closure of the Institute.

In 2014 following the death by suicide of a student of IIT Bombay, from a marginalized community, Aniket Ambore, a committee was appointed headed by Professor A K Suresh. The committee submitted recommendations for providing facilities to students from marginalized communities, which were accepted by the Institute. Out of all the recommendations the only action taken was in 2017, which was the formation of SC/ST cells.

PUCL in a detailed statement had said that what is required is to provide the students from marginalized communities with academic institutes which are determined to counter caste hierarchy by institutionalizing measures and mechanisms to create an atmosphere which is inclusive. Atmosphere wherein the entire student community understand the caste discrimination which is ingrained in our society and resolves to counter it first by understanding how the caste hierarchies operate. There is a need to combat the caste blindness prevalent in dominant castes in society.

The PUCL has said that the SIT must be completely transparent in their functioning and provide all available information and statements of any persons concerning this enquiry with his parents.

Darshans parents should be allowed to meet his roommate, friends, faculties as they desire. His parents must be provided with a substantial amount of interim relief immediately. And all the digital devices of Darshan, emails and correspondence must be secured, and his parents must be provided proper copies of the same.

The rights group has further said that there is a need to evolve strategies at the Institutional level by introducing a curriculum that includes fundamental classroom courses, which bring awareness on issues of discrimination faced due to Caste, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, transformative justice as embedded in the Indian constitution.

It said that there is a need to end segregation based on food and caste-based discrimination. Enactment of new legislation to respond to castebased discrimination in HEls at all Indian levels. There is also an urgent need to enact legislation which counters prevalent discrimination. There are UGC rules and regulations binding on Institutes, but those are not complied with. In the past, there have been recommendations given in the context of Medical Educational Institutes. The way POSH Act (2013) provides for prevention, as well as protection, similarly all entrenched discriminations need to be focused on.

Meanwhile, the data shared in Parliament by the Minister of Education shows 122 student deaths by suicide in the years between 2014 and 2021 from Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs).

The data also points out that a larger proportion (68) of deaths of students are from socially and economically backward communities, indicating entrenched institutionalised caste discrimination which drives the students to this drastic end. Almost 63% of the undergraduate dropouts at the top seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the last five years are from the reserved categories.


Incidents of violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019 erupted after a clash between the police and people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Huneza Khan | TwoCircles.net

NEW DELHI  The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned hearing on the polices plea against the trial courts order discharging 11 accused including Sharjeel Imam in the Jamia violence case.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was informed by Delhi Polices junior counsel that the senior is not well and that he seeks adjournment.

The court recorded which respondents have filed the written statements in the matter and asked the rest to do so in four days.

The judge then listed the matter for hearing on March 23.

In view of Delhi Police challenging Saket courts order dated February 4, discharging 11 accused in a 2019 Jamia violence case, the High Court had earlier said that there will be no influence on the further investigation or trial of the remaining accused due to the trial courts order.

Since further investigation will be carried out, observations made against the investigating agency will not affect either further investigation or trial of any accused, Justice Sharma had said while she also issued notice on the polices revision petition.

Justice Sharma while listing the matter to continue on Thursday, had granted liberty to police and respondents to file written submissions and relevant case laws in the matter.

Additional Sessions Judge of Saket Court Complex, Arul Verma had pulled up police while discharging them that the police were unable to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the commission of the offence, but surely managed to rope in these 11 accused as scapegoats.

Incidents of violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019 erupted after a clash between the police and people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Verma said that the protesters were surely there in large numbers and it cannot be denied that some anti-social elements within the crowd created an environment of disruption.

However, the moot question remains as to whether the accused persons herein were even prima facie complicit in taking part in that mayhem, Verma asked.

ASJ Verma had framed charges of unlawful assembly and rioting against Mohd. Ilyas.

Photographs of Mohd Ilyas have been clearly shown in a newspaper, hurling a burning tyre, an overt act has been ascribed to him, and he has been duly identified by police witnesses, he had noted. (With IANS inputs)

Huneza Khan is a journalist from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. She tweets @KhanHuneza
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A total of 230 local authorities are holding contests, ranging from small rural councils to some of the largest towns and cities (PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak faces his first big electoral test as prime minister next month, when voters across much of England head to the polls to choose thousands of new councillors.

A total of 230 local authorities are holding contests next month. These range from small rural councils to some of the largest towns and cities  though no elections are scheduled in London or Birmingham.

Polls are also taking place to choose mayors in Bedford, Leicester, Mansfield, and Middlesbrough.

Local elections typically reflect voters attitudes about neighbourhood concerns, such as when bins are collected, the state of parks and pavements, or access to libraries and hospitals.

But they can also be a verdict on the main political parties and their handling of big issues. In 2023, these are likely to be the cost of living, the NHS, and public services.

Heres everything you need to know about this years local elections.

When are the 2023 local elections?

These will be held on May 4 in England.

Local elections for 11 councils in Northern Ireland have been put back two weeks to May 18. This to avoid a clash with the Kings coronation on May 6.

No elections are taking place in Scotland and Wales this year.

The majority of results are expected to be announced the following day, although some will take a little longer.

Where are the 2023 local elections taking place?

Overall, more than 8,000 council seats will be up for grabs on May 4, with voters in most parts of England able to take part.

As well as London and Birmingham, areas not holding elections include Cornwall, North Yorkshire, and Cumbria.

Of the councils holding elections, 152 are district councils, many of which are currently run by the Conservatives.

By contrast, almost all of the 32 Metropolitan boroughs holding elections this year are already run by Labour. These include huge authorities such as Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester, and these are unlikely to change hands.

The remaining 46 councils holding elections on May 4 are unitary authorities and include many large towns and built-up areas across England. These include Hartlepool and Redcar & Cleveland in the north-east, to Plymouth and Portsmouth in the south-west and on the south coast respectively.

Story continues

Many are currently run by coalitions of two or more parties, or by one party as a minority administration.

Elsewhere, Labour are defending two of the mayoral seats up for grabs  Leicester and Mansfield. The Liberal Democrats are defending Bedford and Middlesbrough is currently held by the independent Andy Preston.

Will you need to bring ID to vote at the 2023 local elections?

For the first time in England, voters will need to show a form of photographic identification at their polling station to cast a ballot.

Anyone without an accepted form of ID can apply for a special certificate from their council before the deadline of April 25.

What forms of ID are acceptable at the 2023 local elections?

Not all types of photo ID will be accepted, which means some people may be unable to vote.

Many people will have a driving licence or a passport, which are both acceptable forms of ID. However, there are also a number of other forms of acceptable ID, including a PASS card or Blue Badge.

You can still use your ID to vote if it has expired. However, it still needs to look like you, and needs to bear your current legal name.

What are the results to watch out for at the 2023 local elections?

Contests that will be watched closely include a number councils in traditional Conservative heartlands in the south, and Tory seats in the former Labour Red Wall in the north.

Labour will be hoping to gain ground on the Tories in southern England.

In Milton Keynes, Labour needs only two councillors to overtake the Conservatives as the largest party. In Bedford, they need only one.

There are also opportunities for the party to retake symbolic ground in the north.

In Blackpool, Cheshire West and Middlesbrough, the party is only a handful of councillors away from an absolute majority after a poor showing in 2019 and recent defections.

The Liberal Dems performed very well in last years local elections, securing their largest proportion of seats in the south since 2010. They will be hoping to cement this success this year.

The party will hope to repeat the successes they have seen in places such as St Albans, South Cambridgeshire and Chelmsford, where they have increased councillors by 30 per cent in the past couple of elections.

And they will also be hoping to put pressure on Labour, after taking overall control away from them in Hull last year.

How to register to vote in the 2023 local elections

In England, you had register to vote in person, or by proxy, by midnight on April 17. This had to be done online with a National Insurance number, or by writing to your councils Electoral Registration Office.

The deadline to request a postal vote in England is 5pm on April 18. You can find more details about doing that here.

In Northern Ireland, the deadline to register to vote, by post or by proxy, is April 26. To vote in person, you must register by April 28.
Albania is our Green European country of the month - heres why

The climate and nature crises have thrown European countries into a new kind of healthy rivalry with each other.

In the race to reach net zero emissions and restore depleted ecosystems, any nations win is a victory for all of us. But looking to the most positive examples on the continent can help inspire and pressure our own politicians to follow suit.

Of course its not an even playing field. From the sunny plains of Spain to the subterranean heat of Iceland, each country has its unique natural resources. As well as its particular political and economic context that could be helping or hindering climate action.

This month, were celebrating a European country that has done the right thing for one of its most precious natural features: Albania.

Albania protected one of Europes last truly wild rivers

On 15 March, the Albanian government declared the Vjosa River a national park, conserving it for generations to come.

The Vjosa is one of Europes last free-flowing wild rivers. Stretching from the slopes of Greeces Pindus mountains to Albanias Adriatic coast, this is the first wild river national park on the continent.

Maybe Albania does not have the power to change the world, but it can create successful models of protecting biodiversity and natural assets, said Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi, Minister of Tourism and Environment.

The Albanian government has taken the bold decision to create a National Park of 12,727 hectares, including the 190 kilometres long Vjosa, where over 60,000 people have lived for centuries.

The Albanian government formally designated the Vjosa River and its tributaries a national park on 15 March 2023. - Canva

The protected park status is a shield for over a 1,000 species that live in the river and its surrounding areas, from rare vultures and European eels, to otters and critically endangered Balkan lynx.

Navigating the competing human interests on the river was no easy task. At one point 45 dams were proposed on the Vjosa and its tributaries. Developers sought to make the most of its hydropower potential as the country depends on this renewable source.

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After years of campaigning from the Save the Blue Heart of Europe coalition, no dams, gravel extraction or other damaging activities are now allowed on its banks.

People power has been a big part of this story too, and led to more positive tales. In the tiny southern village of Kute, residents channelled their resistance to a proposed hydropower plant into an ambitious solar energy project, rolling out panels on public buildings.

Now the village is on the cusp of self-sufficiency as Albanias first citizen energy community.

What other positive environmental projects does Albania have in the pipeline?

Albanias energy production is already 100 per cent renewable, but the country is working to diversify its sources as relying on water is too climate dependent.

We [have] a long-term strategy and an action plan to increase the generation capacity of renewable energy sources by installing new solar PV and wind power plants, explains Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi, Albania's Minister of Tourism and Environment.

Albania also revised its National Determined Contribution (NDC) commitment with an ambition to reduce its already-low greenhouse gas emissions by 20.9 per cent by 2030.

The country is looking to develop its tourism industry, but in an effort to do so sustainably, the Ministry of Tourism and Environment are under the same roof, led by one Minister.

Albania is a small country that cannot change the world, but we can create models, says the Minister.

Last year when the law prohibiting the production, import and trade of single-use plastic bags came into effect, we were the first in the Balkans to do this.

For the big world, these may be small changes, but for us these are real revolutions.

Sadly, no European country is yet an environmental idyll. The Albanian government has also come under fire for its resolve to build a new airport - the nations biggest yet - near the Vjosa-Narta lagoon, a sanctuary for birds including flamingos and pelicans.

Honourable mentions go to

There have been plenty of other positive environmental stories from Europe this month.

On 1 March, Luxembourg celebrated three years of free public transport. Residents have praised a scheme that is very positive for the environment, helping to get people out of their cars in an equitable way.

In Norway, an inspiring clean transport story comes in the form of Europes longest cycle tunnel, due to open on 15 April. The Nordic country also gets a green tick for its role in helping to secure the new UN treaty protecting biodiversity in the high seas earlier this month; and for being one of the European countries selling the most heat pumps last year.

On a local level, German mayors have been striking deals with climate activists, applying pressure on senior lawmakers.

What is Euronews Green's country of the month?

Euronews Green is highlighting European countries that are advocating for climate, nature and the environment. Each month, we select a country that stands out for anything from eco-innovations to policy change.

If youre feeling encouraged by a European government-led initiative in April - please do reach out to us on social media, either on Instagram or Twitter.
It Rises in the East and Falls in the West by Alexandre Gruffat, Dulwich College

It rises in the East and falls in the West, and it's not the sun.

With time nations and cultures have realised that the American blueprint for society is not one size fits all. Instead, people have prioritised things like prosperity and security, even if that means a loss in representative democracy, and, in some cases, freedom. China, specifically, through its unique rise, has undermined the West; not only because they provide what the West fails to offer, but they also disprove the idea that Western political, economic, and cultural norms are favourable for nations. Coupled with a gap between American rhetoric and application, the US becomes increasingly discredited, and thus, raises the question as to whether the US soft power is declining.

The Arsenal of Democracy

Having earned the title during WW2 with regards to their efforts in shielding countries in Europe from the Soviet sphere of influence, the US since has played a key role in opposing aggression and establishing peace around the world. Most recently, the Biden administration has provided more than $75 billion of support to Ukraine, a sum which includes an array of air defence systems, $1.9 billion of emergency assistance, $220 million for the continuation of their media in providing reliable information about the war, and a $340 million provision to European countries hosting Ukrainian refugees. The US has played a crucial role in negotiating peace in the past, notably The Camp David Accords (1978) which brought the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country.

A dangerous Iran.

On the topic of Israeli-Arab relations, one must concede that the Trump administrations role in the Abraham Accords (2020) was largely successful, especially with its departure from their previous land for peace relations. Whether it was Nobel Peace Prize- worthy is another question, especially since the provocative anti-Iran policies adopted by Israel and the UAE stirred belligerence in Iran. Wind back two years and Trump is claiming that the structure of the Iran nuclear deal is rotten, and therefore withdraws the US from the agreement. Iran is now capable, according to the Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, Colin Kahl, of making fissile material for a bomb in about 12 days  in 2018 it would have taken 12 months. And although uranium levels rising to their highest ever, just 6% off the required 90% for a bomb, Washington has relegated the importance of restoring the agreement, a decision that has made the fully fledged defence partnership between Russia and Iran ever more threatening as they exchange jets or drones and collaborate on weapons development.

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In come China, out goes the US

The Biden administrations withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 gave the impression that the US is no longer a reliable interlocutor nor mediator in the region. Its significance is clear in the realisation of one of Bidens greatest fears: Chinas diplomatic entry into the Middle East as seen by their recent brokering of peace between Iran and Saudi Arabia. With ties restored, there are hopes across the world that this will involve the conclusion of the horrific Saudi-Iran proxy war in Yemen and a fall in the likelihood of regional conflict. US relations with Iran hindered any such agreement, but Chinas refrainment from choosing sides in the region has allowed them to become a primary actor. A possible extension of the treaty is that both Saudi Arabia and Iran join the BRICs, a group that would maintain half of the worlds population and most energy exports, further shifting the global order away from the US.

Bark but no bite

We are going to, in fact, make them pay the price, and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are, Biden said in a 2019 presidential debate. However, this was not, in fact, true, as demonstrated by Bidens fist bump with MBS. To be fair, Biden did a lot of fist-bumping during his visit to the region, but there is a clear gap between his anti-Saudi rhetoric and its application. Similarly, the U.S State Department approved a $2.5 billion arms sale to Egypt last January, despite the belief that al-Sisis regime holds 60,000 political prisoners, and Bidens 2022 Africa summit included characters like Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, a man who Human Rights Watch are not a fan of5. Of course, there is more to the aforementioned, but how Biden wrestles with the practicality of maintaining positive relations with Saudi Arabia, the linchpin of the Gulf states, or with the likes of Egypt or Rwanda and decrying their autocratic/authoritarian governments, will determine the US credibility to promote human rights and democracy.

My suggestion that the US may be suffering from declining soft power was meant to be pensive, some food for thought; like Bidens failure to denounce MBS for practical reasons, I cannot wholly conclude as to what the current state of US soft power is. (My practical reasons being suggested word count.) What I can do is follow up on the points I made and propose some steps forward that will help the US in the new multi-polar world. So, Biden, or whoever succeeds you in 2024, if you are reading this, keep opposing aggressors and stick to your word.
The St Lawrence River near Quebec (Andia/Universal Images Group via)

Six bodies, including one of a child, were found in a marshy area close to Canadas border with New York state, the local police service said on Thursday night.

Officers are investigating the discovery in the St Lawrence River and await the results of post-mortem and toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.

They said they were still trying to identify the dead and their status in Canada. It wasnt immediately known if they were migrants trying to cross the border, The Associated Press reported.

The first body was located around 5pm in a marsh area in Tsi Snaihne, Akwesasne, Quebec, police said in a statement on social media. There is no threat to the public at this time.

At least one of the deceased was a child with a Canadian passport, Police Chief Shawn Dulude said. The ages or the nationalities of the other victims were not immediately known.

Earlier in the afternoon, a helicopter spotted an overturned boat in the water, BNO News said.
Doug Michaels/Getty Images

For decades, the Indigenous tribes of Nevada have advocated for federal preservation of Spirit Mountain.

The mountain and surrounding areas have deep cultural roots, spiritual significance and biodiversity.

President Biden officially instated Avi Kwa Ame National Monument this March.

In a great stride for Indigenous land protections, President Biden has officially designated Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument.

Evan Vucci/AP

Spanning over 500,000 acres in the Mojave desert, the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument is one of the largest pieces of land protected during Biden's presidency.

Honor Avi Kwa Ame

As a home to some of the most biologically diverse sites in the desert, the federally-recognized monument features canyons, natural springs, ancient Joshua trees, and preserved prehistoric rock art.

Source: CNN, Honor Avi Kwa Ame

The area is home to the Spirit Mountains, which 12 surrounding Indigenous tribes consider to be the origin of creation and tribal cosmology. According to the Yuman-speaking tribes that inhabit the desert, the mountain is "where ancient ancestors emerged into this world."

Federal protections would prevent any future industrial and manufacturing development from cropping up on the sacred site.

Source: CNN, Honor Avi Kwa Ame

Within the desert are the Dead Mountains on the southern border, which also hold sacred importance and reflect "traditional cosmogony, delineate religious events, embody religious figures, and define burial places."

Petroglyphs drawn south of Spirit Mountain in Nevada. Penny Rogers Photography/Getty Images

Source: CNN, Honor Avi Kwa Ame

The federal recognition follows decades of organizing from the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, who reside predominantly on a reservation outside of the monument.

Mountain Range in Mojave Desert, southern Nevada and California. John Locher/AP

Since the 1990s, the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe (FMIT) has worked to secure protections for Spirit Mountain and other spiritually significant pieces of nature in the Mojave Desert.

Source: CNN

The decision for the monument, however, has sparked conversation about clean energy development in Nevada.

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Alasdair Turner/Getty

Critics and corporations argue that the limitations set forth by the Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior only further complicate clean climate goals. In a public statement, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo claimed "the federal confiscation of 506,814 acres of Nevada land is a historic mistake that will cost Nevadans for generations to come."

Source: SFGate

In response, both the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of the Interior said they are working to delegate millions of acres for wind turbines and solar panels, identifying nearly 25 million acres of federal land eligible for alternative energy.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland at the White House Conservation in Action Summit at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Kevin Dietsch/Getty

"They can both protect an area while also walking towards an energy future that gets us to our climate goals," said Ashley Hemmers, tribal administration for Fort Mojave.

Source: CNN

For the surrounding Yuman-speaking tribes of Nevada, this federal recognition signals greater collaboration with Indigenous communities and opportunity for necessary protections.

"We have a seat at the table, and we have seen an unprecedented era and opportunity for our tribal communities," said Fort Mojave Indian Tribe Chairman Tim Williams.

Source: Mohave Valley Daily News

Read the original article on Insider
Although he turned down Los Blancos last summer, he has been in contact with the club to let them know he is ready to sign for them, according to Diario AS.

However, PSG are not willing to negotiate for Mbappe, so the deal will have to wait until 2024. Real Madrid's management plans to sign Mbappe on a free transfer, but they will not allow themselves to be stood up again. Therefore,the 24-year-old Mbappe must free himself from his deal at PSG, either by mutual consent or by allowing his contract to run down.

While his desire to sign for Los Blancos is firm, there is still a question of whether they can afford him.

Mbappe's current deal in France is significant, and it remains to be seen if Real Madrid will have the budget to match it. If they can get a deal over the line for Mbappe, it has the potential to change their fortunes until 2030. La Casa Blanca could certainly use a player of Mbappe's calibre. He is widely regarded as one of the best in the world, and he would be a significant addition to their squad. However, the question of whether they can afford him will remain until the deal is done.

It's worth noting that there is another player on the market who looks like a goalscorer of a similar level - Erling Haaland.

While his contract will no doubt be significant, it could still be a relatively cost-effective deal for Real Madrid. Only time will tell if Real Madrid can pull off the signing of Kylian Mbappe. If they can, it could be a game-changer for the club. But until then, the Mbappe saga will continue to dominate the headlines.

The article Kylian Mbappe ready to sign for Real Madrid in 2024, but can Los Blancos afford him? appeared first on Planetsport.com.
Although King Charles III, 74, and Camilla Parker Bowles, 75, had to say auf Wiedersehen to Germany, the whirlwind state visit is still on their minds. They shared a special message this morning on Instagram to show their appreciation for the trip.

The monarch and his wife penned a personal note on the post, which read: Over the past three days, on our first State Visit, we have been most fortunate to have had the opportunity to be with you all once more in Germany, a country which is so close to our hearts. Thank you for such a touching and warm welcomewe hope to return again soon!

To indicate that they had written the message themselves, the pair also signed the caption with Charles R and Camilla R.

Along with this appreciative note, the couple posted a video montage, which included clips from their visits to the Bellevue Palace, the Komische Oper Berlin, the St. Nikolai Memorial and more. Viewers could also see the pair being greeted by German citizens waving flags as they arrived.

In a fitting choice, the video compilation was soundtracked by the German version of The Beatles song I Want to Hold Your Hand, titled, Komm, gib mir deine Hand.

This was the first state visit for the royal couple since King Charles's accession to the throne back in September 2022. On Saturday, May 6, the official coronation ceremony will take place, during which both members will be crowned into their new roles.

Originally, this trip was supposed to include a visit to France as well. However, due to recent protests in the country, the King and Queen Consort had to delay their visit.

We can't wait to see where these two journey next.

Stay up-to-date on every breaking royal family story by subscribing here.

Royal News Roundup: Kate Middleton Wears Chic Blazer, King Charles Receives New Title & More
HA NOI  State budget revenue reached an estimated VN491.5 trillion (over US$20.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year, equivalent to 30.3 per cent of the estimate, and up 1.3 per cent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) reported on Thursday.

Twenty-eight of the 63 provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide recorded State budget revenue hitting 28 per cent of their yearly estimates.

Twenty-three provinces and centrally-run cities saw higher revenues than in the same period of 2022, while 40 others reported lower revenues.

Meanwhile, the accumulated expenditure in the first quarter was equivalent to 17.5 per cent of the yearly estimate.

MoF said expenditures in the first three months of the year were carried out as planned, meeting requirements for socio-economic development, defence, security safeguarding, State management, debt repayment, and implementation of social security tasks.

The ministry said it has directed tax and customs offices to implement tax laws and State budget collection tasks this year; and fully perform solutions and policies on State budget collection to support businesses and people.

Apart from accelerating administrative reform and digitalisation, and taking drastic measures to help businesses promote production and business activities, tax and customs offices have actively performed inspections to prevent revenue losses.

They have also focused on collecting tax from e-commerce services, and from overseas suppliers without permanent establishments in Viet Nam.

Global minimum tax application under consideration

The General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance has said it will keep a close watch on the implementation of the global minimum tax in other countries, listen to opinions of firms impacted by the tax and study guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to propose its application in Viet Nam.

The application of the global minimum tax should not create adverse impacts on Viet Nams foreign investment attraction, and should ensure the countrys tax collection rights, said deputy head of the general department ang Ngoc Minh at the press conference.

The OECDs Pillar Two establishes a global minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15 per cent for large multinational enterprises (MNEs), which has important implications for the use of tax incentives around the world.

In Viet Nam, a task force in charge of studying the global minimum tax and proposing relevant solutions was established in August last year with Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai as the head.

The Finance Ministry set up a working group in February this year, led by a deputy minister, to assist the task force.

The general department, which is assigned by the ministry to study and propose the implementation of the global minimum tax, held a meeting with businesses on March 28 to acquire opinions raised by enterprises that may be impacted by the tax, according to Minh.

At the press conference, the official also cleared up queries regarding the roll-out of the electronic invoice system and value-added tax refund.

Insurance through banks detected

Doan Thanh Tuan, deputy director of the Insurance Supervision and Management Department under the Ministry of Finance, said that the department has inspected insurance distribution through banks in four insurance enterprises last year.

The inspection process has been basically completed so far.

"Through the inspection, the department has discovered a number of certain violations related to this field. However, according to the regulations, when there is no inspection conclusion, the information has not been publicised. The department will soon complete and publicise the information on violations as well as suitable handling plan," said Tuan.

The representative of the department encourages people who are deceived by banks and insurance sellers to file a denunciation and send it to the police agency to handle.

In order to rectify the above situation, the MoF representative said that the ministry would continue to co-ordinate with the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to conduct inspection and examination for both insurance enterprises and banks distributing insurance products, avoiding the case of forcing customers to buy insurance.

Previously, MoF and SBV issued a joint circular to manage the distribution of insurance through banking channels from 2014.

The ministry also emphasised that, with the law on insurance business, the first important principle of insurance participation must be voluntary.

With agents, whether they are organisations or individuals, they must give honest advice on products that are suitable for customers' needs and financial capabilities.

Recently, the Insurance Supervision and Management Department has actively worked and closely co-ordinated with the inspection and supervision agencies of SBV to jointly perfect mechanisms and policies to ensure strict management of commercial banks and insurance companies in the sale of insurance products through banks.  VNS
HA NOI  The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has asked the Government to issue a revised decree on foreign investors buying shares from Vietnamese credit institutions.

Under a report recently submitted to the Government, the SBV said the revised decree will amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 01/2014/N-CP dated January 3, 2014.

Notably, the revised decree drafts to increase the foreign ownership limit for credit institutions that receive the compulsory transfer of weak credit institutions to 49 per cent.

Decree No. 01 stipulates that the total share ownership rate of foreign investors must not exceed 30 per cent of the charter capital of a Vietnamese credit institution.

According to the SBV, four banks will receive compulsory transfer of four weak banks and two of them will be allowed to increase the foreign ownership limit to 49 per cent, but detailed plans havent released yet.

Vietcombank, Military Bank, HDBank and VPBank are the four financial institutions that are reportedly known to either have already stated intentions to receive compulsory transfer or aim to do so in the near future.

Military Bank and Vietcombank had intended to take over two weak credit institutions, and the plans were given the green light in their shareholders meetings this year.

At the shareholders meeting last year, Luu Trung Thai, CEO of Military Bank, said the admission of a bank under the compulsory transfer programme is in line with the Government and the States policy on restructuring weak banks, and making the banking operation healthier and more sustainable. This is a great opportunity to obtain an operational growth rate higher than the average growth rate by 1.5-2 times in the long term, and to improve competitiveness.

Meanwhile, with experience in the successful restructuring of credit institutions and its pioneering spirit, HDBank is getting involved in the compulsory transfer of another weak credit institution after its shareholders voted in large numbers in favour of the plan in a meeting last year.

According to SSI Securities Corporation, the mandatory transfer plan has positive long-term implications for HDBank, even for international investors increasing investment to accompany the bank.

Meanwhile, VPBank Chairman Ngo Chi Dung said the bank is considering the acquisition of a poor credit institution.

According to the current regulations, State-owned Vietcombank is not qualified to raise the foreign ownership cap as the State must hold more than 50 per cent of the banks capital. Therefore, two of the remaining three banks MB, HDBank and VPBank will have opportunity to increase the cap.  VNS
HA NOI  Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien on Friday held talks with Secretary of the Party Committee of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and co-chaired a conference on Viet Nam - China (Guangxi) trade and economic cooperation in the new era.

At the talks, Dien highly valued Guangxi's position and special role in cooperation between Viet Nam and China.

Dien put forth proposals on facilitating goods clearance, ensuring supply chains, expanding agricultural imports from Viet Nam, helping trade promotion activities, and continuing to implement cooperation contents within the framework of bilateral cooperation agreements.

He also proposed the Guangxi side encourage and support businesses of the two countries to diversify their delivery of agricultural products and fruits through the two countries' border gates in order to take advantage of the existing infrastructure, reduce the pressure of goods clearance, avoid the recurrence of import and export congestion at some of the main border gates.

For his part, Liu Ning emphasised Viet Nam's role as Guangxi's largest trading partner over the past 24 years and shared good cooperation results between the two sides over the past time.

Agricultural trade between the two sides reached about US$2.1 billion last year, he said, adding Guangxi businesses participated in many agricultural product trade promotion activities of Viet Nam such as those for Son La mango or lychee from the northern provinces of Bac Giang and Hai Duong.

Liu said he agreed with Dien's proposals and would assign Guangxi departments, sectors, and localities to quickly coordinate with the Vietnamese side to study and implement.

On the same day, Minister Dien and Secretary Liu co-chaired a conference on Viet Nam - China (Guangxi) trade and economic cooperation in the new era.

The conference attracted nearly 300 representatives from state management agencies and businesses of both sides.  VNS
HA NOI - Germany will pour another 10 million euros into supporting Viet Nam in implementing the Paris Agreement and climate neutrality pledge by 2050, said Daniel Herrmann, Chief Technical Advisor.

Herrmann, from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), shared this information at the closing workshop for the project Support to Viet Nam for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (VN-SIPA) yesterday in Ha Noi.

Attending the workshop, Tang The Cuong, Director General of the Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), said: As one of the countries most affected by the impacts of climate change, Viet Nam has made strong commitments, along with the international community, to respond to global climate change.

Cuong added after the country ratified the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2016, Viet Nam took drastic measures to implement it.

As Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at COP26, the country has significantly enhanced its contribution to greenhouse gas emission reductions in its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2022, in which the unconditional emission reduction was set at 15.8 per cent compared to 9 per cent in the 2020 NDC.

The conditional emission reduction was set at 43.5 per cent compared to 27 per cent in the 2020 NDC.

According to Cuong, to support Viet Nam in implementing the Paris Agreement, the VN-SIPA phase 1 between 2019-23 has made some significant contributions, especially the consultation and support to the development of the policy and legal framework for climate change, the development and update of the NDC, and capacity strengthening for focal points at national, sectoral, and provincial levels in managing and co-ordinating NDC implementation and the Paris Agreement.

He said: With support from the project and other partners, Viet Nam managed to submit the 2020 NDC and the updated 2022 NDC and has integrated the responsibilities of greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate change adaptation in the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection. Climate change policies and plans, which provide the roadmap to fulfil Viet Nams net zero emission commitment at COP26, have also been developed and finalised.

"This is a significant result that the project has achieved.

The project has also consulted and supported line ministries to develop a measuring, reporting, and verification system for national-level mitigation in land use, forestry transport, construction and waste management.

In the transport sector, the project has supported the development of mitigation policies and plans, including the circular on energy labelling for electric cars and motorcycles, reviewing greenhouse gas emission reductions for the conversion from private vehicles to public transport in five major cities, regulations on fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft in civil aviation transportation.

At the same time, it has also supported the agriculture industry in developing the plan to reduce GHG emissions in agriculture and rural development until 2030 and implement the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in farming, livestock production and others.

To mitigate the negative impact of climate change in a strategic way and strengthen Viet Nams resilience and adaptive capacity, the project has worked with development partners to develop and promote the implementation of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and the Measuring and Evaluation (M&E) system for adaptation activities at the national level.

NDC implementation measures have been integrated by line ministries in their strategic policies and plans to lay the groundwork and legal foundation towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Apart from policy development support and capacity strengthening for line ministries, the project has successfully piloted three urban ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) measures in Quang Binh Province and five models of ecosystem-based and climate-smart agriculture in Ha Tinh, which could be transferred to the other provinces.

Funded in the context of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), an important part of the German governments international climate finance commitment, the project was carried out in Viet Nam under the coordination of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Pham Van Tan, Deputy Director General of the Department of Climate Change, MoNRE, said: Within four years of implementation, the VN-SIPA 1 project has achieved all goals and objectives agreed upon between the Vietnamese government and line ministries and GIZ.

Tan said: Although Viet Nam is a developing country, we are implementing the goals of greenhouse gas emissions reduction and ozone protection equivalent to those of developed countries and support the implementation of greenhouse gas mitigation activities, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity conservation.

Deputy Head of the Development Cooperation Department, German Embassy Jens Schmid-Kreye said: The ministries will continue to join hands and strengthen their cooperation to work towards the national goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

Vietnamese Government and people can count on the support from the German Government in these efforts.  VNS
Anh uc

HA NOI  At a prestigious event held on March 29 in Ha Noi, 11 female journalists and groups of female-led journalists received awards for their outstanding work in environmental reporting.

The 'Pioneering Women Journalist for Environment' award ceremony recognised these women's remarkable contributions to journalism.

In addition to the awards, a workshop entitled 'Enhancing role of the press in reducing plastic waste pollution' was also held on the same day.

The seminar brought together around 90 guests from various backgrounds, including state management agencies in the environment, businesses, organisations, researchers, networks operating in the environment, journalists, and other stakeholders from press and media agencies.

The results of the 'Female journalists with collective impact for reducing plastic pollution and plastic waste' project were presented during the workshop. The best journalism works were recognised and shared.

The project started in April 2022 with the cooperation of the For Vietnamese Stature Foundation (VSF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Vietnam Business Alliance for the Environment (VB4E), Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment and TH Group with the sponsorship of Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and Tetra Pak Vietnam.

The project looks to combat plastic pollution in Viet Nam. Along with that, many female journalists have not had the opportunity to access information and participate equally in the field of environmental investigation.

The project's main objective is to improve the capacity, participation and leadership of female journalists (especially young journalists) in investigating and reporting on plastic pollution and waste.

At the same time, promoting cooperation between stakeholders such as government agencies, businesses, social organisations, experts, environmental researchers/activists, and press and media agencies in reducing plastic waste and pollution.

Plastic waste pollution (PWP) is one of the most serious and urgent environmental problems on a global scale.

According to the report identifying plastic pollution hotspots in Vietnam published by IUCN, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Life Cycle Initiative in cooperation with EA, Quantis, in 2018, Vietnam had 453 kilotonnes of plastic waste leaking into the ocean, equivalent to a leak of 4.7 kg/per person annually.

With just one search on the internet on plastic waste pollution in Viet Nam, up to 1.3 million news/article/reportage results are found within 0.43 seconds.

This figure shows that the amount of media information on plastic waste pollution is large and easily accessible.

However, it is still inadequate to address the problem of plastic waste pollution in Vietnam, so the impact on awareness and changes in the behaviour of a part of the community is still limited.

"With the support of the project, in 2022, I have done many topics related to this issue, especially the article on the consequences of ocean plastic pollution in Pearl Island - Phu Quoc in the context of global climate change," said o Thuy Trang, a journalist with Viet Nam Law & Legal Forum Magazine. "I think the network is a great inspiration for female journalists to be more interested in environmental protection issues, especially topics on plastic pollution."

"Besides summarising the results achieved by the project, we hope that the contributed ideas and effective solutions in plastic waste communication will open up many topics of exploitation for journalists," said Tran Thi Nhu Trang, Director of the VSF. "From there, communication for the environment would be made more effective, gradually changing people's awareness and forming habits of sustainable development."  VNS
The northern mountainous province of Ha Giang has a 227km long border with 442 markers. Soldiers working along the border must work in the high mountain terrain that has a cool climate all year. They go on patrol in all weather conditions, including rain and storms.

In spring though, the whole province is covered with blossoming flowers.

They not only must ensure border security, but also undertake initiatives to help residents develop their economy.

In Ha Giang Province, one of the country's poorest localities, poverty, lack of education facilities, poor infrastructure and the low awareness of local people deprived many children of education opportunities.

The soldiers work to help as many people as possible access to education. As part of the Border Guard High Command's welfare programme, named "Together we go to school'', the soldiers help border and ethnic minority children enjoy better living conditions and gain access to education.
HA NOI  Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong received Liu Ning, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in Ha Noi on Friday during his visit to Viet Nam.

Welcoming the Chinese official and the delegation of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Trong said their visit was a specific activity that contributed to realising the common perception between the senior leaders of the two Parties and countries, opening up a new phase in cooperation between the two countries and their border localities.

Vietnamese Party chief Trong thanked the Chinese Party, Government, and people for their support to Viet Nam in the past struggle for independence and the building of socialism today.

Emphasising that Guangxi is a locality with deep ties with Viet Nam in terms of revolutionary history, Party General Secretary Trong hailed the Guangxi Party Committee, government, and people for preserving relic sites related to President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese revolution in Guangxi.

Trong expressed his delight at the new developments in the relations between the two Parties and the two countries over the past time. Particularly, the relationship between Guangxi and Viet Nams border localities had seen progress after his official visit to China in October 2022.

The Vietnamese leader asked Guangxi and Viet Nams border provinces to take the lead in promoting cooperation in economy, trade, tourism, security-defence, and people-to-people exchange, together building a border line of peace and friendship.

For his part, the Chinese guest expressed his pleasure to visit Viet Nam and his honour to be received by the Vietnamese Party leader.

He affirmed that he will absorb Trongs important orientational opinions on strengthening the cooperation between Guangxi and Vietnamese ministries, agencies, and localities, especially border ones.

He congratulated Viet Nam for socio-economic development and socialism building achievements that the Vietnamese people had made under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

The Chinese official said he appreciated the results of exchanges and cooperation between Guangxi and Viet Nams ministries, agencies, and localities over the past time, affirming that Guangxi would continue to coordinate effectively with Vietnamese localities to thoroughly grasp and well implement agreements between the leaders of the two Parties, as well as the common perceptions achieved at the spring meeting programme between the Secretaries of the provincial Party Committees of Viet Nams northeastern provinces and Guangxi.

The two sides would strengthen friendship exchanges between agencies at all levels, sectors, and localities; promote substantive and mutually beneficial cooperation, especially in the fields of economy, trade, investment, tourism, and people-to-people exchange; together build a border line of high quality, peace, and friendship.  VNS
HA NOI  Vietnamese State, Government and National Assembly (NA) leaders on March 30 sent messages of congratulations to their Malaysian counterparts on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the two nations diplomatic relations (March 30, 1973-2023).

President Vo Van Thuong extended greetings to Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulated Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Bin Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, NA Chairman Vuong inh Hue sent congratulatory messages to President of the Dewan Negara (upper house) Tan Sri Dato Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim and Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (lower house) Dato Johari bin Abdul.

On this occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Malaysian counterpart Zambry Abdul Kadir issued a Joint Press Communique.

The document read: Notwithstanding the challenges faced during the years of relationship building, Malaysia and Viet Nam continue to focus on the opportunities to bring bilateral and regional relations closer together. The shared focus of interests has contributed to the ASEAN Community that has been a primary driving force in the larger regional architecture.

The two sides further reaffirm their commitment to deepening political and economic cooperation. Towards this end, we remain committed to implement the Plan of Action 2021-2025 under the Strategic Partnership between Malaysia and Viet Nam. We shall also strive to promote and conduct regular high-level engagements, and strengthen bilateral cooperation mechanisms, the press communique said.

The ministers also affirmed the determination to keep on the continued cooperation at multilateral fora in response to global challenges.  VNS
HA NOI  The Ministry of Education and Training has recommended that schools organise outdoor activities for students while ensuring safety as well as educational goals.

This announcement comes after a number of incidents where students were injured during extracurricular activities organised by schools. These incidents have caused anxiety and doubt about the quality of outdoor activities and the management of schools.

One such incident occurred at Kim Giang Primary School in Ha Nois Thanh Xuan District where more than 50 students suffered from stomachache and nausea after a school picnic in the afternoon of March 28.

The students were taken to hospital for examination, with samples taken for testing.

The students remain under observation, awaiting conclusions from the authorities.

In another incident, a male student in grade 11 of Ly Thanh Tong High School in Gia Lam District drowned while on a picnic in the northern Hoa Binh Province.

Another student died and two other students were seriously injured while riding a roller coaster on an extracurricular trip organised by ong Anh High School in ong Anh District.

The Ministry of Education and Training has issued guidelines for extracurricular activities to be carried out in the 2020-21 academic year.

At the high school level, Ha Nois Department of Education and Training has specific regulations on strengthening the management of outdoor activities.

Head of the Primary Education Office under the citys Department of Education and Training ao Tan Ly said primary schools began outdoor activities from the 2020-2021 academic year according to the ministrys regulations.

Students taking part in extracurricular activities must have their parents consent.

These activities have given practical knowledge to students, allowing them to visit historical sites and craft villages, learn about national heroes and understand more about the history of the country.

The most important thing is that many students enjoy the activity. After each trip, they understand more about their friends and learn many skills in communication, cooperation and teamwork.

According to education experts, recent incidents occurred due to students not complying with regulations and loose management of schools.

Ensuring the safety of students in outdoor activities requires close cooperation and coordination between schools and students families, they said.

Principal of Nghia Tan Primary School in Cau Giay District Nguyen Thi Bich Nga said the school organised outdoor activities twice per year.

There are more than 3,600 students in the school. In order to better manage students, the school usually divides children into two different trips  one for students in grades 1, 2, and 3, and the other for students in grades 4 and 5.

The school also pays special attention to choosing a unit with sufficient legal records and capacity to help organise the activity. It always considers carefully the location of the activities and all games students will participate in to ensure their education value and safety.

All remote, inappropriate locations posing risks will not be taken into account, she said.

After each trip, the school collects feedback from parents and teachers to better organise future trips.

Le Thi Thanh Huyen, parent of a high school student, said extracurricular activities helped students gain experience and skills. However, the schools must ensure the safety of students by building a closed process from the time the children get on the bus to the time they return to school.

All the information related to the activity must be fully disclosed and receive the consent of parents. Parents also need to give advice to their children before each trip, helping them to be aware of their own safety, she said.

Students are often hyperactive and come up with new games of their own, so parents cant completely rely on the supervision and management of the school, she added.

Director of Ha Nois Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong said the development of an extracurricular plan outside of regular school hours should ensure educational effectiveness, parental consent and absolute safety for students.

Extracurricular activities must be included the schools plan; and before each trip, parents should be provided with information of business registration certificate and travel service business license of the co-organising unit; and signed insurance for visitors and students.

The school principal is fully responsible for the implementation of activities, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has sent a letter offering greetings to Khmer ethnic people on the occasion of their traditional Chol Chnam Thmay festival 2023.

Highlighting the special importance of the New Year festival Chol Chnam Thmay, PM Chinh attributed Viet Nam's significant achievements last year partly to support and joint efforts by the people, including substantial contributions by the Khmer community.

He said ethnic minority affairs and the implementation of policies on ethnic groups had improved considerably, with a focus on accelerating the three national target programmes, especially the one on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas and the action plan for implementing the strategy for ethnic minority affairs in the 2021-30 period, with a vision to 2045. As a result, the socio-economic situation in ethnic minority and mountainous areas has been bettered.

He underlined the importance of 2023  the second year for implementing the national target programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, and also the first year for executing the action plan for carrying out the strategy for ethnic minority affairs, which would open up many opportunities for residents in these areas.

The PM expressed his hope that Khmer people, cadres, and monks would keep upholding their long-standing traditions, strong patriotism, solidarity, will, and self-reliance to join hands with all-level authorities and sectors to surmount difficulties and challenges while exerting efforts to achieve socio-economic development targets, guarantee defence, security and social order and safety, and enhance the great national solidarity.

Concluding the letter, he wished the Khmer community good health, joy, peace, happiness, and success in 2023.  VNS
Vietnam and Israel are preparing to sign a bilateral free trade agreement to beef up trade and investment ties, with the Middle Eastern country eager to engage in high-tech agricultural projects in the Southeast Asian market.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam and Israel have concluded final negotiations of the Vietnam-Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA), and both want to sign the deal as soon as possible  with both nations celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations this year.

Negotiations began at the end of 2015 and preparations for the signing are now being made. Currently, both countries have already exchanged their requirements on opening doors to their respective goods markets. Both sides have also determined their expectations on the levels and roadmaps of tariff reductions, especially for the groups of goods that can bring about big benefits and are their own competitive advantages.

For Vietnam, the key exports include electronics, agro-forestry-fishery products, garments and textiles, footwear, machinery, and wooden products. Meanwhile, for Israel, they are refined oil and petrol, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, computer software and hardware, farm produce, chemicals, and more.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Israel, Israel is Vietnams third-largest export market and fifth-largest trade partner in the Middle East region. Vietnam, meanwhile, is Israels biggest trade partner in Southeast Asia. The two countries held the latest negotiation round for the VIFTA in August 2022 in Jerusalem.

Once signed and entering into force, the VIFTA will help both nations to open their doors wider to their respective markets in goods exchanges, said Le Thai Hoa, trade counsellor at the office. The Israeli market is very potential for Vietnamese exports because it boasts great demands for imports that can be produced into finished products with high added value, especially for Vietnams group of processed food and foodstuffs and assorted consumer products. Israeli companies are serious in doing business, with swift transactions and high solvency.

Figures from the MoIT indicated that 2-way trade turnover increased from $1.2 billion in 2019 to $1.6 billion in 2020, $1.88 billion in 2021, and about $2.2 billion last year. The figure is expected to soar to about $3 billion next year or in 2025.

Vietnams key exports to Israel included mobile phones and spare parts, aquatic products, cashews, coffee, pepper, footwear, and garments and textiles. The country imports from Israel, which has a population of just over 9 million people, products such as computers, electronics spare parts, machinery, and fertilisers.

Over past years, the MoIT said, Vietnam has seen a trade deficit from Israel largely because companies in Vietnam have imported a large volume of computers and electronics spare parts for their production here. The finished products are then exported overseas and domestically consumed. It is estimated that the deficit was about $280 million in 2020, $320 million in 2021, and about $350 million last year.

In its global trade structure, Israel largely exports processed industrial items valued at more than $40 billion a year, and mainly imports materials for its domestic production (about $30 billion a year) and consumer goods such as home appliances, and food and foodstuffs ($15-16 billion annually).

However, according to the MoIT, recently Israel has tightened food safety standards. Despite strong integration, this country protects the market very closely, especially in the agricultural sector. The current average import tax rate for food and foodstuff products stands at 19.1 per cent, much higher than the 3 per cent rate of non-agricultural products.

Vietnam and Israel are now laying one of the focuses in their bilateral cooperation into the agricultural sector, for which Israel is renowned. The Vietnamese agricultural sector, with its high growth opportunities and growing need to better cater to the demands of firms and farmers, has been on the radar of Israeli high-tech businesses.

For example, currently, Vietnams TH Group is boosting its cooperation with Israeli firms in its projects worth billions of US dollars to produce fresh milk and agricultural products in Vietnam.

Specifically, Israels Afimilk is providing consultancy, an automatic milking system, and cow management software for the groups $1.2-billion high-tech concentrated dairy and fresh milk production project in the central province of Nghe An.

In another case, with over 40 years of providing agricultural smart solutions in various nations, Israels Aquaculture Productions Technologies (APT) is planning to begin its presence in Vietnam.

We provide solutions and services on consultancy and construction for fish farms both inland and offshore, said APTs CEO Michael Pascal.

Vietnam currently has nearly 4,000 hectares of tra fish, and the country is now one of the biggest exporters of this type of fish in the world. This will give us an opportunity to bring our high technologies to Vietnam, Pascal said.

APT is among many Israeli firms wishing to boost their investment and business in Vietnam, especially in the agricultural sector.

Three months ago, more than 50 Israeli firms joined a business-to-business matching event with Vietnamese partners in Tel Aviv, and wanted to cooperate with Vietnamese companies in developing projects on investment in and exportation of aquatic products, cashew nuts, coffee, and pepper. Cooperation in other sectors was also discussed, including mobile phones and spare parts, footwear, and garments and textiles.

Vietnams agricultural sector has great potential for further development, with high technologies to be applied. For example, Israels Agriancer is eager to introduce its high-quality plant varieties in the domestic market.

Vietnam is focusing on controlling food safety and hygiene, so we want to market here varieties with high capacity in disease resistance. We want to boost cooperation with local partners, said Trinh Phuong, country manager of Agriancer.

Likewise, Israels Galcon is also seeking to sign more contracts with partners in Vietnam. Currently, it is providing automatically controlled irrigation-related products in Vietnam with technology based on cloud and internet platforms.

We are implementing a number of projects in Vietnam. One of the most typical projects is a 25-hectare project in cooperation with Vietnams Vineco. In this project, all processes from irrigation and temperature controlling to harvesting are conducted automatically, said a representative of Galcon. This project is currently in the second stage. We also want to deploy other similar projects in Vietnam.

Accumulatively as of February 20, Israel had 40 valid projects in Vietnam registered at $145.5 million, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Source: VIR
HCMC  The Government wants the private sector to be a main driver in the countrys development, with a target of establishing 1.5 million businesses by 2025.

Half of the 1.5 million domestic enterprises would be medium and large-sized, according to the Governments Resolution 45 issued today, April 1.

By 2030, Vietnam plans to set up at least two million firms, many of which will be large corporations capable of competing in the global market.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is in charge of formulating policies to support the operations of strong local companies, particularly in economic growth-driving sectors.

The assignment involves setting up manufacturing infrastructure for rising business demand, including industrial and economic zones.

The private sector is expected to contribute 55% of GDP in 2025 and 60-65% in 2030.

The Government has sought to raise the workforce productivity of local businesses by 5% per year and encourage 35-40% of domestic enterprises to participate in innovation and technology activities.

Some 95% of Vietnams almost one million businesses are now classified as small or medium in size.
WYNNE, Ark. (AP)  With tornadoes hitting the Midwest and the South this weekend, some survivors said they emerged from their homes to find buildings ripped apart, vehicles tossed around like toys, shattered glass and felled trees.

J.W. Spencer, 88, had never experienced a tornado before, but when he and his wife saw on TV that a tornado was nearing their town of Wynne, Arkansas, he opened a front window and rear door in his house to relieve air pressure. The couple scurried into the bathroom, where they got into the bathtub and covered themselves with quilts and blankets for protection.

Fifteen minutes later, the storm unleashed its fury on the town nestled among the flat fields and fertile farmland of eastern Arkansas. Debris came whistling through their house.

We just rode it out," Spencer said on Saturday. "We heard stuff falling, loud noises. And then it quit. It got quiet.

After it passed, the couple emerged to see devastation in the neighborhood.

We come through it real good, as far as the physical part, Spencer said.

Many large trees were down in the community of 8,000 residents who take pride in their schools, their churches, their mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses. Numerous single-family homes were damaged, especially near the high school, which had its roof shredded and windows blown out.

Near a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, where a tornado killed one man and injured 40 concertgoers, Ross Potter picked up glass shards Friday in front of his building. The last time the town was devastated to this extent from a tornado was in 1967.

Ambulances whirred by after the theater was hit.

They took, I cant even remember how many people, Potter said. He was lucky  only a few of his building's windows were broken, mostly on the second floor. Across the street, most of the brick siding on a storefront was ripped away.

Back in Wynne in northeastern Arkansas, Alan Purser stopped in his pickup truck to chat with Spencer. Purser described how he rode out the tornado with his cats in his home, which is being remodeled. He took a risk, sheltering in the sun room which is covered by glass, but it was one of the few rooms not being remodeled.

I just lay down with my cats, and lay a blanket over me, and let it rumble, he said of the tornado that flipped over the camper van parked outside.

From his front porch in Covington, Tennessee, Billy Meade Jr. said he watched a tornado pass through, before hail struck and the sky darkened.

You could see the swirl, Meade said. The rain was like a sheet. You couldnt even hardly see past the rain, it was so dark. But you could see the swirl going past.

Less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, a tornado struck the elementary school that Meades twin sons go to, as well as a middle school next door. On Saturday morning, an exposed gymnasium's bleachers were visible through a crushed brick wall. Much of the roof was ripped off.

The neighborhood Im in looks fine  its like nothing even happened, Meade said. But as soon as you go around the corner, its like devastation. Theres power lines down everywhere  all kinds of stuff everywhere.

And as a tornado hit Little Rock, Arkansas, workers at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe cowered together in the bathroom.

It was really loud because the glass started breaking, said Irulan Abrams, an employee who stood outside the building near a door with broken windows. A siren howled in the distance. She said one person was injured.

Now we don't have anywhere to work, Abrams said.

When the tornado hit, there were nine firefighters in Little Rock's Fire Station No. 9, which became one of the most devastated areas of the city. They sheltered in the chiefs office as the tornado damaged their building.

If I said it wasnt scary, Id be lying, Capt. Ben Hammond said Saturday.

Once the tornado passed, the firefighters began working to help injured residents and to clear debris blocking their equipment.

Once you address all the people you can see, then youve got to start looking for the people you cant see, he said.

The fire station has served as a shelter for neighbors amid fears that another storm was coming.

___

Associated Press reporters Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this story. Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.
A former corrections officer at the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mart surrendered herself Friday after she was accused of bringing a cellphone to an inmate, records show.

Amy Prescott, 42, a recently separated juvenile corrections officer, was charged with prohibited substances and items in a correctional facility, a third-degree felony, according to a press release from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

Inspectors with TJJDs Office of Inspector General allege that Prescott slid a cellphone under a cell door to an 18-year-old inmate March 12 at the Mart facility. Prescott smuggled the cellphone in her belongings through security into the Mart facility while employed there, the press release says.

A routine search on March 15 exposed the cellphone, the press release says, and investigators discovered video of Prescott purchasing the cellphone at a Bellmead business March 11, the press release says.

If convicted, Prescott could face two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. On Friday afternoon she had not received a bail hearing and remained jailed, jail records show.

The TJJD Office of Inspector General investigates criminal allegations with the department, and the Special Prosecution Unit will prosecute Prescott.
Construction of a new home for the MCC Foundation, one with echoes of the century-old summer house it is replacing, could start as soon as June as its plans move toward consideration by McLennan Community College trustees.

The $6 million building, located on the site of the William Waldo Cameron family summer home on the edge of the MCC campus, will house MCC Foundation offices and a multiuse space for foundation, MCC and community events. The foundation raises financial support for student scholarships, professional development and capital improvements for the college.

The building had been called Cameron Hall in previous discussions, but MCC Foundation Executive Director Kim Patterson said a final name is still under consideration, including Cameron Place and Valley View, the Camerons original name for the home.

It will replace the structure abandoned in October 2017 due to structural problems that made it unsafe for occupancy. The decision forced the nonprofit Art Center Waco to leave after more than 40 years in the building. Art Center Waco renovated a former day care center at 701 S. Eighth St. downtown and moved there in 2021.

Patterson anticipated construction documents for the new building would be ready for bidding in late April, with MCC trustees expected to vote on the project and bids sometime in May. Pending board approval, demolition could begin in time for construction to begin in June and wrap up by March 2024.

Things are about to start moving pretty quickly, she said.

Architectural renderings and video prepared by Waco architects RDBR show an expanded one-story structure that evokes the look of the summer homes Mediterranean-style architecture in such details as a terra cotta-colored tile roof, white exterior walls and railed Juliet balconies facing the houses enclosed courtyard.

The new building features a central great room that encompasses much of the original buildings footprint. That room, with windows on one side providing a valley vista, could be used for meetings, dinners and banquets, exhibits and other group events. It also will include a restored fireplace from the original house.

A wing adjoining the main building, with a main entry fronting the parking lot, will house foundation offices and workspaces.The courtyard, located on the houses former spring-fed swimming pool, will remain largely unchanged outside of the addition of a fountain, restrooms and catering kitchen space. It will be available for rentals for weddings, receptions, parties and other community functions, as it was during Art Center Wacos tenure in the house.

Many of the sculptures surrounding the house in Art Center Wacos sculpture walk have moved to the downtown site, but final decisions on others have not yet been made, including Dallas sculptor Wilbert Verhelsts gray concrete Heartfelt Spaces, which sits on the space where the foundation offices are planned, Patterson said.

Last year, Patterson, MCC President Johnette McKown and other MCC administrators were pursuing plans to renovate the existing Cameron summer house for foundation and community use. That plan was shelved, however, when cost projections soared to $8.3 million, far above an original estimate of $4 million for the house alone.

Waco philanthropist Clifton Robinson, who had pledged $2.5 million in matching funds to the renovation project, and his son Gordon suggested the alternative of a new building on the former house site. That plan proved closer to the initial renovation estimates with a $6 million cost that also includes courtyard improvements, landscaping and professional fees.

Fundraising for the new building is continuing, and Stephen Benson, MCC vice president for finance and administration, said the college will apply for approximately $1.2 million in Tax Increment Financing Zone funds.

While initially disappointed the summer house could not be renovated, Patterson said she is delighted at how the new building is shaping up. Its going to be absolutely gorgeous, she said.
On April 1 The Museum of Flight (TMOF) will display an unidentified flying object (UFO) recently recovered from a crash site in a remote area in Washington state. In a show of transparency, TMOF signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an unidentified military official (UMO) granting the Museum exclusive permission to publicly reveal the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) for one day only (ODO). Plus, the ODO UMO MOU OKs TMOF UAP moniker UFO.

The UFO

Following a rash of inexplicable UFO sightings worldwide, the wreckage and debris field from a small disc-shaped object were discovered at a remote desert location near the decommissioned Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington state. The UFO was initially detected by NORAD as it raced through the restricted airspace of Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The phenomena continued erratically on a northern flightpath and fiery descent to an impact zone in the remote desert hills of Benton County, Wash.

Military officials quickly removed tons of topsoil from the crash site to preserve any toxic fluids or alien biological matter than may have exited the disc. The object has displayed no signs of hostile intent, but extra security measures will be in place while it is on display at the Museum.

After April Fools Day 2023 the object will be transferred to the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in Illinois for further analysis, archiving of findings, and of its potentially interstellar origin.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed into law a measure intended to help keep some hospitals open in rural Iowa.

House File 75 creates a state licensure process allowing some hospitals to get a Rural Emergency Hospital designation. The designation comes from a federal program, in which hospitals stop providing inpatient services but are able stay open for outpatient services and maintaining a 24/7 emergency room. Only hospitals with fewer than 50 beds are eligible for the program, and must meet other eligibility requirements.

Hospitals joining the program, which began accepting applications in January, would receive more Medicare reimbursements as well as a monthly facility payment.

This is part of our unwavering commitment to ensuring all Iowans, no matter where they live, receive the quality medical care they need and deserve, Reynolds said in a statement. This bill is an impactful step in that direction, and its a pleasure to sign it into law.

The move to this new health care model comes as some Iowa hospitals struggle to keep their doors open. When Blessing Health Keokuk closed in October 2022, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley asked whether the REH program could help reestablish the hospital. Michigan-based Insight Institute acquired the Keokuk health care facility Monday, and announced it is considering the federal designation as it looks at the best ways to provide service in southeast Iowa.

Iowa Hospital Association President and CEO Chris Mitchell said the program could help save hospitals like Blessing Health Keokuk in the the future.

In the last decade, more than 140 hospitals have closed in the United States. Most of those hospitals are in rural areas including one here in Iowa, Mitchell said in a statement. This bill provides a potential lifeline to our rural hospitals across the state, gives struggling hospitals another option to avoid closure and ensures that local access to care is maintained.

Grassley also praised Reynolds and state lawmakers for passing the state licensing program into law.

REH is the most significant reform to protect access to essential rural health care services in decades, Grassley said in a statement. Im glad rural hospitals and communities in Iowa have one more option to sustain their operations and maintain health care access in the community.

Reynolds and Iowa Republicans have proposed other measures they argue will help hospitals in rural Iowa stay in business. The governor signed liability limits on medical malpractice cases into law in February to protect doctors and hospitals against nuclear jury awards and high insurance rates. The governors omnibus health care proposal also contains measures to support rural health care providers.
WATERLOO  An iconic local eatery is being rebuilt with help from the community.

Reconstruction started on the D+K Hickory House at the beginning of March. Except for small changes such as adding bigger bathrooms to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, co-owner Lutricia Chilcote says it will be the same establishment with the same down-home feel thats attracted customers for 70 years.

The Chilcote family has been planning to rebuild the restaurant since it burned down last year, but Lutricia says the impetus became greater after her mother, Karen Chilcote, died March 14.

It had already started, yes, Chilcote said. But since then, theyve really been going strong.

D+K Hickory House burned down in October after a car crashed into the old wooden building, cracking a gas pipe and starting a fire.

Chilcotes family has operated the Hickory House since 1952. A week before the fire, theyd celebrated its 70th anniversary as a family business.

The restaurant has long been a favorite spot for birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions for members of the community. That includes U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who farms near New Hartford. After the fire, Grassley related how he took his wife, Barbara, to the Hickory House during their courtship, and that its been their custom to dine there for anniversaries.

According to Chilcote, she knew the spot was important to many in Waterloo, but even she was floored by the support theyve received.

And honestly, we did not realize how much it meant to the community until this tragedy, Chilcote said.

Famed almost as much for its decor as its food, the Hickory House lost the photos of its celebrity patrons and the John Deere memorabilia that helped tie the establishment to its roots in Waterloo. However, a longtime patron whose late husband worked for the company has already agreed to donate their memorabilia. It will be impossible to replicate the original interior, but Chilcote says theyre aiming to get as close as possible.

Were going to do our best to make it as close to the old as we can, she said.

The Chilcotes do not have an exact timeline on when reconstruction will be complete but are hoping the restaurant will be ready to open by the end of summer.
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill.  Dr. Colleen McNicholas is fresh off performing two abortions, but the day is still stacked with appointments; as many as 100 abortion and family planning patients might walk through the doors.

Just the day before, 58 women had abortions at the Fairview Heights' Planned Parenthood clinic, 15 miles east of St. Louis.

Hundreds of women travel each week to southern Illinois to secure an abortion, something no longer available to millions living in a 1,800-mile stretch of 11 Southern states that mostly banned pregnancy terminations since the Supreme Court stripped away constitutional protections for women to end pregnancies last June.

The clinic's waitlist for abortions has grown from two days to nearly three weeks after the Supreme Court ruling  even after staffers started working 10-hour shifts and opened the clinic on Saturdays.

"With every piece of litigation, with every new constitutional amendment, with every new abortion restriction in a state that has some access, we are on this teeter-totter of what can we do here to make more space for the people who are going to be fleeing their home state?" McNicholas said.

With 10,000 abortion patients expected this year at the clinic, there's talk of opening on Sundays. Staff developed an emergency plan to convert some patient rooms to make more room for abortions. A recreational vehicle was retooled into a mobile clinic that can travel along the state line for doctors to provide abortions.

McNicholas is eyeing a proposed six-week abortion ban in Florida, which could send even more women seeking abortions up north. And she's closely watching how a Texas judge will rule on a case that seeks to keep the abortion pill mifepristone off the market.

"Any additional decision has the potential to really change demand again," she said. "It's like crisis management every day of the year."

Months before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Planned Parenthood and the nearby Hope Clinic were grappling with a surge of patients from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere after Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed a bill into law that effectively shut down several abortion clinics in his state and led to long waitlists in neighboring states' facilities. Together, the clinics launched a new regional logistics center in January 2022 dedicated to helping out-of-state patients book hotels, flights, gas money, bus rides or rental cars to either facility.

On June 24, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutionally protected right. Within hours, states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas began enacting trigger laws that banned abortions.

Now, about 70 women call the center every day for help getting to an abortion clinic in southern Illinois, said Kawanna Shannon, director of patient access at the Planned Parenthood clinic. A navigator goes over what she can pay toward the abortion and other details: How will the patient get to the area? Does she have money for food while she stays there? Will she need child care?

When someone cannot afford the trip, the center books the travel for the patient and works with more than 30 nonprofit groups around the country that solicit funds for abortion access to pay for it. A staffer is available around-the-clock to answer calls from patients who run into travel issues.

"It's not going to slow down," Shannon said. "We are really taking care of the entire Southern region. All the (patients) in the South are really coming to southern Illinois because we're the closest. Almost all of them need some type of help  be it travel, be it procedure costs."

Two hours south of the Planned Parenthood clinic, two new abortion clinics opened in Carbondale, Illinois, late last year to give women living in banned states a closer option.

After reading the Supreme Court's leaked draft opinion last May, Andrea Gallegos, the director of the Alamo Clinic, said she hopped on Google and started looking for liberal-leaning cities in rural, southern Illinois.

The Alamo Clinic relocated to the area from Oklahoma last November.

Three doctors in a rotation travel from Montana, Tennessee or Texas weekly to perform about 30 abortions daily at the clinic, which will terminate a pregnancy before 18 weeks. Gallegos says fewer than 5% of patients who come to the clinic are from Illinois.

During the final six months of last year, the Fairview Heights clinic saw 2,042 abortion patients from outside of Missouri or Illinois  up from just 314 the six months before.

Women are now seeking abortions later in their pregnancies at the Planned Parenthood clinic, which offers the procedure through 26 weeks. About one-quarter of patients need a second trimester abortion, McNicholas said.

But the hardest change to deal with has been the steady increase in children who are coming to the clinic, hoping to end a pregnancy that was the result of a rape or abuse.

"What you use to see was maybe one or two 10-and 11-year-olds a year," she said. "Now you're seeing a couple a month because they're coming from all over the country. Just sitting with that knowledge that this many people are experiencing so much trauma  There are times where it's really hard."

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
Though far from the only U.S. president dogged by legal and ethical scandals, Donald Trump now occupies a unique place in history as the first indicted on criminal charges.

Two others, like Trump, found themselves impeached by Congress  Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his affair with a White House intern, and Andrew Johnson for pushing the limits of his executive authority in a bitter power struggle following the Civil War.

Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace over his role in the infamous Watergate break-in. And Ronald Reagan and Ulysses S. Grant both became forever tied to scandals in which close aides got prosecuted, though neither president was ever charged.

Here's a look at how Trump's predecessors fared: Bill Clinton Ronald Reagan Richard Nixon Ulysses S. Grant Andrew Johnson
PHOENIX  In Arizonas most populous county, elected officials are bracing for what could happen when it comes time to replace its $2 million-a-year contract for voting equipment.

Officials in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, say they have no concerns about their current vendor, Dominion Voting Systems. The problem is that the company has been ensnared in a web of conspiracy theories since the 2020 presidential election that have undermined public confidence in U.S. elections among conservative voters, led to calls to ban voting machines in some places and triggered death threats against election officials across the country.

I have concerns over my own personal security if we re-enlist Dominion, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican elected in 2020, said in a court filing. It went from a company that nobody had heard about to a company that is maybe one of the most demonized brands in the United States or the world.

That sudden turnabout in fortunes for the Colorado-based voting machine company is at the heart of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit it has filed against Fox News, with the trial scheduled to begin in mid-April. Dominion claims Fox defamed it by repeatedly airing false claims about the companys voting machines and software. Court records and testimony revealed that several Fox hosts and executives didnt believe the claims pushed by former President Donald Trump and his allies since the 2020 election but continued to air them, in part because they were worried about losing viewers.

Fox has argued the network was reporting on allegations that were newsworthy as Trump and his Republican allies contested his loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat. The network has said Dominion has been overstating its value, could not have suffered damages in the amounts it is claiming and has downplayed security concerns about its machines. Its attorneys also argue that documents produced in the case show Dominion is in a solid financial position.

"Dominion's lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny , Fox said in a statement.

Dominion has been presenting evidence that it says shows lost contracts and business opportunities over the past two years. It cites misinformation as the reason officials in some counties in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have terminated their contracts with it and other counties in Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey and Ohio have opted against renewing.

One expert, in a report submitted by Dominion in November as part of its lawsuit, estimated the company had experienced nearly $16 million in lost profits from customers who either terminated their contracts early or decided not to renew.

The same estimate projected Dominion has already suffered $72.3 million in lost opportunities, which includes potential contract extensions, additional equipment sales and service contracts with existing customers, and new business.

Overall, the expert estimated the company had experienced a $920 million decline in value, which includes the estimated taxes the company would have to pay if they were awarded damages. The expert also estimated additional future lost opportunities that have yet to be detailed publicly.

The evidence will show that Dominion was a valuable, rapidly growing business that was executing on its plan to expand prior to the time that Fox began spreading and endorsing baseless lies about Dominion voting machines, Stephanie Walstrom, a Dominion spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The company's challenges havent ended, as conspiracies about the last presidential election have permeated much of the Republican Party. Trump allies continue to travel the country meeting with community groups and holding forums to promote election conspiracies.

The conspiracies have been cited by some county officials, who say they are responding to constituent concerns, as justification for refusing to certify election results and have fed attempts to decertify or ban voting equipment.

People arent acting rationally, said Lawrence Norden, an election security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice, which has advocated for more voter access and funding for election offices. They are canceling contracts at great expense to their taxpayers.

Not included in the Dominion experts report are more recent actions, including in Shasta County, California, where the board of supervisors terminated its contract with Dominion early. At a meeting in January, the board cited a loss in public confidence in the machines, which are used in the county to tabulate paper ballots marked by hand.

In 2020, Trump won Shasta County with 65% of the vote.

Dominion has to prove to me that we have a free and fair election, said Board of Supervisors Chair Patrick Henry Jones, who led the effort to end the contract. Just because were all sitting up here and elected doesnt mean we had free and fair elections every single time.

The board is now pursuing a plan to count ballots by hand, a process experts consider to be less accurate and more time-consuming in all but the smallest of jurisdictions. Trump ally Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO, has promised to support their efforts to get rid of their voting machines.

In an interview, Lindell said he was prepared to help cover the costs of any lawsuits Shasta County might face.

They are within their rights of going to paper ballots and a hand count, Lindell said. They have to be courageous, or we are not going to get rid of these machines.

Cathy Darling Allen, the elected Shasta County clerk and registrar of voters, has defended the voting equipment and blamed disproven conspiracy theories for undermining the countys election system and staff. She has warned the county was in danger of not being able to conduct elections.

Their actions have placed the security of our elections at risk and created a dangerous precedent encouraging outsiders to undermine our elections at the county level, Darling Allen wrote in testimony to Congress earlier this month.

People in these 20 industries donated the most money to Donald Trump People in these 20 industries donated the most money to Donald Trump #20. Crop production and basic processing #19. Pharmaceuticals/health products #18. Hospitals/nursing homes #17. Lawyers/law firms #16. Education #15. General contractors #14. Civil servants/public officials #13. Miscellaneous manufacturing and distributing #12. TV/movies/music #11. Health professionals #10. Oil and gas #9. Miscellaneous business #8. Securities and investment #7. Nonprofit institutions #6. Miscellaneous finance #5. Real estate #4. Republican/conservative #3. Casinos/gambling #2. Health services/HMOs #1. Retired
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Family and neighbors look through debris on Ed Whestine's farm southwest of Wellman, Iowa on Saturday, April 1, 2023. Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed multiple people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damage's scope. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP)
Ever since watching the beautiful Netflix film Roma by Alfonso Cuaron, we have bee dreaming of taking a trip to Mexico City and exploring the neighborhood featured in the movie. With gorgeous architecture and charm, it's truly a gem that we can't wait to see for ourselves.

While it's one thing to stroll through the Roma neighborhood and peer inside the windows of the grand homes, it's another to actually experience living in them. That's why we recommend checking out some of the amazing Airbnb Plus options in the area.

These homes not only have great bones, but they all also have a cool mid-century feel to their interiors. Want to see a few spots you can book for your next trip? Read ahead to tour these spaces without booking a flight.

Casa Josefa Named the Casa Josefa, this home built in the 1920s is a jewel of Art Deco design.

Artist Haven This beautiful two-bedroom Roma home is perfect for any art lover. The rooms are filled with pieces from photographer Bernardo Aja, sculpter Jorge Perugorria, and painter Cesar Menendez.

Stylish Suite Want to stay in this beautiful building? A cool guest suite awaits inside for a mere $41 per night.

Midcentury Retreat Love mid-century design? Then you have to book this incredible five-bedroom Roma home.

Deco Dream Inside this famous Art Deco facade called el Castillo de las Brujas is an apartment perfect for your next Mexico City adventure.

Total Charmer Clearly there is no shortage of beautiful mid-century-decorated homes in Roma. This two-bedroom rental is another one we have on our wishlists.

This article was written by Shelby Wax for Lonny.


Issue of Tranche 1 Placement Shares

Perth, Mar 31, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - On 30 March 2023, Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) announced that it had received firm bids under its institutional placement ("Placement") to place approximately 74.1 million fully paid ordinary shares in the Company ("Placement Shares") at $0.045 per share to raise approximately $3.34 million.



The Company has today issued 61,293,016 Placement Shares for $2.758 million pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1 ("Tranche 1 Placement Shares"). No shareholder approval is required for the issue of shares. The second tranche of Placement Shares, to raise the remaining funds under the Placement, will be issued on Tuesday 4 April 2023 upon receipt of funds via DvP.



For further details on the issue of Placement Shares please refer to the Company's ASX announcement "Horizon Announces Placement to Advance Cannon and Accelerate Drilling at Cannon, Penny's Find" dated 30 March 2023.





About Horizon Minerals Limited





Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
Time: Drop in 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., tours begin every 10 minutes

Places: 7500 Montgomery NE

6440 Coors NW

414 Charleston SE

7555 Enchanted Hills NE, Rio Rancho

Thursday

Our Lady of Fatima will host the Mass of the Lords Supper and washing of the feet with Eucharistic Adoration.

Time: 6 p.m., Eucharistic Adoration will last until 10 p.m.

Place: 4020 Lomas NE

San Ignacio Catholic Church will host Holy Thursday services with confession and the Mass of the Last Supper.

Time: Confession starts at 5 p.m., the Mass of the Last Supper starts at 6 p.m.

Place: 1300 Walter NE

St. Johns Methodist Church will host a Maundy Thursday service with communion and reflective music by Jim Ahrend. Interested individuals can attend in-person or watch live streams online.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Place: 2626 Arizona NE

San Felipe de Neri Parish will host the Mass of the Lords Supper with the washing of feet. The parish is seeking people to spend time with the blessed sacrament in the Gasparri chapel until midnight. If you would like to participate, call the chapel at 505-243-4628.

Time: 7 p.m.

Place: 2005 N. Plaza NW

Friday

San Felipe de Neri Parish will host Good Friday with a liturgy of the Passion, which includes Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion. Later, Stations of the Cross and Descendimiento will begin.

Time: Liturgy of the Passion at 3 p.m., Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m.

Place: 2005 N Plaza NW

Our Lady of Fatima will host Good Friday with Stations of the Cross, the Divine Mercy Novena and the celebration of the Lords Passion and Veneration of the Cross.

Time: Stations of the Cross begins at 3 p.m and Veneration of the Cross begins at 6 p.m.

Place: 4020 Lomas NE

San Ignacio Catholic Church will host Good Friday with confession, the Passion of Christ Communion service and Veneration of the Cross.

Time: Confession at 5 p.m., the Passion of Christ Communion service starts at 6 p.m.

Place: 1300 Walter NE

Calvary Church will host two Good Friday services and a blood drive in partnership with Vitalant. If you would like to donate blood reserve a spot here.

Time: Services are at noon and at 6:30 p.m. The blood drive will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m

Place: The noon service will be outdoors at the amphitheater and the evening service will be indoors, both at 4001 Osuna NE.

St. Johns Methodist Church will host a Good Friday service of darkness, with the reading of the Passion narrative. The service will feature the Chancel Choir of St. Johns Methodist Church as well as special guest musicians. Interested individuals can attend in-person or watch live streams online.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Place: 2626 Arizona NE.

Saturday

St. Johns Methodist Church will host an Easter Vigil. The youth will begin their night watch as the church prays hourly until Easter morning.

Time: 6 p.m.

Place: 2626 Arizona NE.

San Felipe de Neri Parish will host a vigil for Holy Saturday. There will be the blessing of the Easter Fire and Candle and the reading of the parishs salvation history. Then there be the Blessing of Easter Water and the Celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation for new members.

Time: 8:30 p.m

Place: 2005 N. Plaza NW

San Ignacio Catholic Church will host an Easter Vigil Mass.

Time: 5 p.m

Place: 1300 Walter NE

Sunday

Calvary Church will hold an Easter Sunrise service called The Heist at the University of New Mexico stadium. The event is free to attend, no tickets or pre-registration are required. Spanish translation and deaf interpretation will be available. The event will also be live-streamed on the churchs website, YouTube and Facebook pages.

Time: The stadium will open at 6 a.m., the service will begin at 7 a.m.

Place University of New Mexico Stadium,1111 University SE

San Felipe de Neri Parish will host a bilingual Easter Sunday Mass.

Time: 11 a.m.

Place: 2005 N Plaza NW

Our Lady of Fatima will host Resurrection Mass services.

Time: 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon.

Place: Place: 4020 Lomas NE

San Ignacio Catholic Church will host Easter Mass in English and a Latin High Mass.

Time: English 9:30 a.m, Latin High Mass at noon

Place: 1300 Walter NE

Eastern Hills Baptist Church will host a sunrise service. Breakfast will be served after and there will be a Bible study.

Time: 7:45 a.m., Bible study at 9 a.m.

Place: 3100 Morris NE.
SANTA FE  Former New Mexico tax department head Demesia Padillas two felony convictions that stemmed from a lengthy public corruption investigation were vacated Friday by the New Mexico Court of Appeals on technical grounds.

In a split ruling, a panel of three judges said the criminal complaint that led to Padillas 2021 conviction of embezzlement and computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle  both felony offenses  was filed in Sandoval County after a statute of limitations to file charges had already expired.

The charges were initially filed several years earlier in Santa Fe County, where Padilla was employed as secretary of the states Taxation and Revenue Department, but were dismissed in 2019 by a judge who ruled the charges should have been filed in the county where the alleged crimes occurred.

The Court of Appeals ruling on Friday hinged largely on whether the five-year statute of limitations under state law should have been paused while charges were being refiled in another county.

Judge Megan Duffy dissented in the ruling, saying the time limit should been extended and that the charges were, in fact, filed in a timely manner.

But Judges Katherine Wray and Miles Hanisee said state legislators only intended the statute of limitations to be paused in limited circumstances.

Padilla, who was one of former Gov. Susana Martinezs initial Cabinet appointees, resigned her position as Taxation and Revenue Department secretary in December 2016, a day after investigators with the Attorney Generals Office raided the tax department in search of documents connected with Padilla and her husband.

About 18 months later, she was charged with embezzlement and public corruption.

Authorities alleged she embezzled more than $25,000 from Harolds Grading & Trucking, a company that had been a client of her accounting firm, through unauthorized fund transfers and later used her state government position to try to prevent the company from being audited.

The investigation into Padillas actions was launched by then-Auditor Tim Keller, who is now Albuquerques mayor, and was eventually referred to the AGs office.

After a long legal saga that included charges being dismissed and later refiled, Padilla was eventually convicted and was sentenced in September 2021 to five years of probation but no prison time.

Her case, along with several other cases, also prompted a state Supreme Court ruling last year that found certain sections of the states Governmental Conduct Act that applies to public officials were never intended by legislators to be enforced as criminal statutes.

While current Attorney General Raul Torrez could appeal the Friday ruling, Padillas attorney Paul Kennedy lauded the Court of Appeals decision.

Were grateful for the courts opinion, Kennedy told the Journal. Demesia has been waiting for a long time for vindication on this issue.
Local hospitals are ditching their mask mandates.

Presbyterian, University of New Mexico Health, Christus St. Vincent and the Lovelace health systems announced Friday that patients and providers will no longer be required to wear masks in most settings.

The change goes into effect April 16. The hospitals said in a joint news release that the move is being done in accordance with guidance and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New Mexico Department of Health and other public health experts.

The announcement came on the last day of the states public health emergency declaration.

The think this announcement  is a sign of the forward progress were making as we move towards the end of the pandemic, said Dr. Steve McLaughlin, the chief medical officer at UNM Hospital. This is definitely a step forward for us and I think it will be a benefit to our patients and their families, and our staff.

There are exceptions to the move, he said. For example, depending on the symptoms, a patient could be required to wear a mask. And masks are required in operating rooms and around particularly vulnerable populations.

McLaughlin said the number of patients with COVID at UNMH on any given day continues to dwindle. I would say something 10 times less than what we saw during the peak of the pandemic, he said. So the numbers are really small.

New Mexico on Friday reported zero COVID deaths and 214 new cases, according to the Health Department website.

McLaughlin said patients and providers are encouraged with wear masks if they would be more comfortable doing so.

The health systems said masks may be re-instituted if community transmission rates for COVID and other viruses increase.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraines top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.

Metropolitan Pavel is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraines most revered Orthodox site. He has denied the charges and resisted the authorities order to vacate the complex.

In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russias invasion was politically driven and that he had never been on the side of aggression.

After the courts ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it. The house arrest was to last two months.

I am accepting this, he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldnt I accept this?

Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

Many Orthodox communities in Ukraine have cut their ties with the UOC and transitioned to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which more than four years ago received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

The UOC has insisted that its loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian security agencies say some in the church have maintained close ties with Moscow. The agencies have raided numerous holy sites of the church and then posted photos of rubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

The government had ordered the monks to leave the compound by March 29. It claims they violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site, and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Dozens of UOC supporters gathered outside the monastery on Saturday, singing hymns in the rain. A smaller group of protesters also turned up, accusing the other side of sympathizing with Moscow.

They wash the brains of people with Russian support, and they are very dangerous for Ukraine, said Senia Kravchuk, a 38-year-old software developer from Kyiv. They sing songs in support of Russia, and thats horrible, here, in the center of Kyiv.

Third-year seminary student David, 21, disagreed. Dressed in a priests robes and with a Ukrainian flag draped round his shoulders, he insisted the Lavra priests and residents were in no way pro-Russian. The state, he said, was trying to evict hundreds of people from Lavra without a court order.

Look at me. Im in priests clothes, with a Ukrainian flag and a cross around my neck. Could you say that Im pro-Russian? said David, who declined to give his last name because of the tensions surrounding the issue. The priests are currently singing a Ukrainian hymn, and theyre being called pro-Russian. Can you believe it?

In other news Saturday, Zelenskyy condemned the U.N. Security Council for allowing Russia to assume its presidency. The councils 15 members each serve as president for a month, on a rotating basis.

Zelenskyy said Russian artillery had killed a 5-month-old boy in the town of Avdiivka on Friday, one of hundreds of artillery attacks each day, and added that Russia presiding over the Security Council proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions.

Two civilians were reported killed in Russian shelling on Saturday, one each in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian authorities there said.

Zelenskyy also said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday about defense cooperation.

While Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive expected later this spring, Russian forces have kept pressing their effort to capture the city of Bakhmut. Fighting in that stronghold in Ukraines east has dragged on for eight months.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a Saturday visit to the military headquarters overseeing the action in Ukraine that Russias defense industries have boosted production of ammunition by several times.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said in an analysis Saturday that the Russian offensive overseen by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, has fizzled.

Gerasimovs tenure has been characterized by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region, the British ministry said on Twitter. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed.

The ministry said Russian forces have made only marginal gains in the Donbas at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties. Russia was largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel from a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists Putin ordered in the fall, the U.K. analysis said. ___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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In a new interview, the 'Creed III' actress reveals her secret concoction to apply under her eyes in a bid to avoid panda eyes so that she looks fresh for the camera.

Apr 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Tessa Thompson uses a concoction of buttermilk and turmeric to get rid of her under-eye circles. The 39-year-old actress is known as one of the hottest stars in Hollywood and has once again earned critical acclaim due to her performance in "Rocky" spin-off "Creed III".

She is dauntless in front of the camera, but being in the public eye means having to abide by the pressures of looking picture perfect 24/7 and chronic under-eye circles can be an insecurity for some but not for Tessa as she's found a unique way to keep those panda eyes at bay.

Speaking to Who What Wear, Tessa revealed her unconventional beauty hack to zap those dark circles. She said, "This is a hack I discovered that I really like, but it requires time and, in some cases, a trip to the market, but it's really great. I have discoloration under my eyes. It's just something that, regardless of how much I sleep, exists, but certainly, if I'm really not well-slept, my eyes can get quite dark under there."

"If I have the time and I can get to a market, I just take pure buttermilk (you can also do it with goat's milk yogurt) or any kind of nice yogurt and just mix it with turmeric. Then, you take a little paintbrush or makeup brush (because the turmeric can stain your fingers), and you just apply it under your eyes and leave it on for like 15 minutes."

She added, "Then you have to wash your face pretty vigorously underneath there, obviously being careful because it's a sensitive area. But it really helps with under-eye circles. I have found it very helpful when I have the time."

The Armani beauty ambassador admits she likes to keep things simple with her makeup routine opting for the "no-makeup makeup look." She said, "I like just a little bit of foundation. Sometimes, I'll even mix it with my moisturizer, serum, or a little bit of oil. I like to use corrector under my eyes, so a little bit of orange, then a little bit of concealer, and then not that much powder -maybe just in the middle of my face. Then I use some rose water, and off I go."

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While fans think that Hall is being shady by showing Chyna's infamous bird-like picture while discussing her filler removal, the video vixen takes to her social media account to defend the host.

Apr 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Blac Chyna didn't feel offended one bit during her appearance on "The Tamron Hall Show". While fans thought that Tamron Hall was being shady by showing Chyna's infamous bird-like picture while discussing her filler removal, the video vixen took to her social media account to defend the host.

"Grand rising. Yesterday when I met Mrs. Tamron Hall, I didn't feel like she was tearing me down at all," Chyna, who has announced her evolution back to Angela White, wrote on Friday, March 31. "The interview was heart felt, I honestly loved that she showed my growth from start to where I am today in life. The truth is the truth, and Im walking in my truth."

The Lashed by Blac Chyna founder continued, "Tamron simply showed the world that didn't see the before and after. To my new audience in my journey that I'm continuing. She understood the assignment. (Side note I want people to know that when I wore that outfit it was rebirth from Blac Chyna into Angela Renee White. The Phoenix, that rose from the ashes)." She also urged her fans to "PLEASE WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW to get clarity."

Chyna's post arrived after Internet users slammed Hall for being "shady" toward her guest in a new episode of her talk show, during which they discussed Chyna's decision to remove facial fillers. At one point, Hall showed a picture of Chyna donning her headline-making outfit at the 2023 Grammy Awards last month to show what the model looked like then compared to her look now.

"You can see the difference," Chyna pointed out. "Right here in the cheek area. You can see that smile? Right now, when I smile, you can see all of my teeth."

Upon watching the clip, fans thought that the Grammys picture wasn't necessary, and accused Hall of showing the picture only to embarrass Chyna. One commenter wrote on Instagram, "They could've chose another pic. It's so many others to choose from." Someone else called the host "so Passive Aggressive and Messy."

"This what they meant by Tamron Hall being shady," another user commented. One person added, "Tameron has been getting on my nerves lately! Why chose that unflattering picture of her to show your audience."

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The 44-year-old former porn star was supposed to have a 'bombshell' chat with British TV host Piers Morgan on his 'Piers Morgan Uncensored' show at 9 P.M. on Friday, March 31.

Apr 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Stormy Daniels' tell-all interview with Piers Morgan was axed at the last minute for "security reasons" hours after an interview appeared in which she said she had been bombarded with fresh death threats. The 44-year-old former porn star, who is at the center of Donald Trump's historic indictment, had been due to have a "bombshell" chat with Piers on his "Piers Morgan Uncensored" show at 9 P.M. on Friday, March 31.

Less than 30 minutes before she was due on air, he tweeted, "Unfortunately, Stormy Daniels has had to suddenly postpone our interview tonight due to some security issues that have arisen. Hope she's OK."

The broadcaster made the announcement on Twitter earlier on Friday she was booked on his show, revealing he'd cancelled his planned holiday for something "the whole world will want to see." Piers, a one-time outspoken supporter of Trump's, added on Twitter, "As Trump becomes the first US President in history to be indicted on criminal charges, I've got the first world exclusive interview with the woman who sparked the scandal."

An interview with Stormy had appeared earlier on Friday in The Times newspaper, in which she insisted she's not frightened of facing the former POTUS in court as nothing could be "scarier" than seeing him naked. She also warned the legal action against the 76-year-old could ignite "death and destruction."

Opening up about the bloodthirsty death threats she has received since Trump's indictment on Thursday, March 30, she said, "The number and the intensity is the same as it was the first time around, but this time it's straight-up violent. The first time it was 'gold digger', 's**t', 'w***e', 'liar', whatever. And this time it's, 'I'm gonna murder you.' "

"They're way more violent and graphic. I'm not afraid of him, or of the government, but it just takes one crazy supporter who thinks they're doing God's work or protecting democracy you don't want blood in the water. It kind of encourages the sharks... it's especially scary because Trump himself is inciting violence and encouraging it," she added.

Born Stephanie Gregory Clifford, Stormy also hailed his indictment as "monumental" and "epic," adding, "He's already gotten away with inciting a riot, and causing death and destruction. Whatever the outcome is, it's going to cause violence, and there's going to be injuries and death."

Trump's lawyer says the scandal plagued businessman will not be handcuffed when he's arrested on Tuesday, April 4, on what is thought to be around 30 charges, but could face fingerprinting and a mugshot. Stormy claims she had a fling with Trump in 2006, but he denies they had an affair and has called it a "witch hunt."

He has admitted directing his then lawyer Michael Cohen, 56, to pay Daniels $130,000 for her silence. Cohen told a federal court in Manhattan Trump directed him to make the payments, and was eventually sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges stemming from his part in the payments.

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The 'Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta' star also shares screenshots of flirty comments he has gotten after some people on Twitter accuse him of lying about the matter.

Apr 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - Benzino has launched a public rant against members of the LGBTQ+ community who flirted with him. Insisting that he is not gay, the "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star urged them to stop doing the "weird s**t" in the comment section of his social media posts.

"Attention to all in the LGBTQ, abcd!!!" the 57-year-old declared in the since-deleted series of tweets. "I respect y'all's movement and your decision to be who you want to be BUT STOP THE WEIRD S**T WITH THE COMMENTS AND FLIRTING. I'M NOT F**KING FLATTERED BECAUSE I'M NOT GAY!! RESPECT THAT S**T AS I RESPECT WHO YOU ARE!!"

Fans were not buying Benzino's claim though. They accused him of lying. In response, the rapper shared screenshots of flirty comments he's received. "Wtf I gotta lie to y'all for? Yall weird asf!" he argued alongside the snaps. "There's WAY more but twitter only allows 4 pics at a time."

"F**k y'all mad at me for?? Cause I ain't wit that s**t?" the father of Coi Leray asked in another tweet. "I know it ain't all gays & not all gay men are disrespectful but it's a lot who are, it's been going on for awhile. I don't wanna see that on my timeline. Just respect that. I'm straight, and idgaf about none y'all comments."

This is not the first time Benzino had to set the record straight on his sexuality. In April 2022, he stressed that he is "straight" after rumors claiming he was dating transgender actress Shauna Brooks.

"I respect the LGBTQ community but I am straight and always will be that," Benzino penned at that time. He then concluded his post with a hashtag, "#zinovstheplanet."

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The current President of the United States is not expected to travel to UK in May when the new British monarch is being formally crowned in an official ceremony.

Apr 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Joe Biden will skip King Charles' coronation. Invited to Westminster Abbey in London on May 6 to see the British monarch formally crowned alongside his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, the 80-year-old US president is "not expected" to be among the dozens of heads of state in attendance for the event and will send a delegation in his place.

However, sources told the Daily Telegraph newspaper they don't want the decision to be viewed as a snub so high-profile representatives will be sent, with one possibility under consideration being that First Lady Jill Biden could attend in her husband's place.

Dame Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to the US, and Buckingham Palace aides are believed to have had "cordial and diplomatic" talks with the White House but were told the president already has other commitments.

Biden is believed to be preparing to announce his intention to stand for re-election next year, and he is planning to visit Northern Ireland in April. A source highlighted the president's age and said, "Foreign travel takes a fair amount out of him."

"They try to restrict it to the essentials, and they may just think twice about crossing the Atlantic twice in quick succession. They may think that he came to [Queen Elizabeth's] funeral, and that's kind of enough."

Another insider stressed the president has a "strong" relationship with the king, and the two men may meet during his Northern Ireland trip. However, MP Bob Seely, who sits on the foreign affairs select committee, said the move was a "foolish decision."

He said, "It seems pretty remiss, and I'm tempted to say more fool him for not coming. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and you would have thought he should come because he's a head of state. If I was the President of the United States, I would come to the Coronation of the King of England - there's no two ways about it. It just seems to be a foolish decision."

But Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the defence select committee, said, "Whilst we'd hope Joe Biden would be invited, there is no historical protocol for a US president to attend royal coronations, so we should not read too much into any absence. America will be represented, and it will be telling who the president chooses to send."

A senior US official suggested no final decisions had been made while another source said the plan to decline the invitation was "not locked and loaded" and remained "technically in play."

When Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth - who died last September - was coronated in 1953, America's then-President Dwight Eisenhower wasn't in attendance, with a delegate taking his place to represent the US instead.

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Warner Bros. Pictures Movie

The 'True Grit' actor apologizes to his 'Jonah Hex' co-star for the 2010 movie's failure, slamming the director for not doing enough research and the studio for interfering too much.

Apr 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Josh Brolin suggests director Jimmy Hayward and studio interference were to blame for the failure of "Jonah Hex". The 52-year-old actor took on the lead role of the 2010 comic book movie, which was a critical and commercial flop, and he thinks he "still owes" his co-stars an apology because of what the film turned out to be, which he blames on the filmmaker going "out partying" instead of devoting all his time to the project.

"It was not successful creatively or monetarily. I mean, everybody knows how I feel about 'Jonah Hex'. But the biggest thing with 'Jonah Hex' is rushing into hiring somebody. I remember Jeff Robinov, who I'm still close with, who was running Warner Brothers at the time and he was like, 'look, you've got to get a director in the next two weeks, otherwise we've got to can this thing,' " he told Variety.

"And then you meet somebody who has a lot of knowledge, Jimmy Hayward, and I remember it didn't feel right. I loved that he was excited, but he just didn't have the experience and he didn't treat it like I would imagine somebody would want to treat it - to run back to their house at the end of their every day and watch tonal inspirations and Scorsese movies or this or that. He would be out partying instead."

"And not that I had a ton of pull then, but I brought in Megan [Fox,] who I thought was perfect for that role. Maybe not the best actress at that moment, but for that type of parody, forget it. Her, at that moment? You couldn't do better than that."

"And [Michael] Fassbender? One of our best actors, who had done 'Shame' and 'Hunger', are you kidding me? Malkovich, who had just been ripped off by Bernie Madoff, and we're asking him to do it for a third of his price. He said yes. I mean, f***, I still owe these people. Michael Shannon was in it, he was cut out..."

"So the intention was there, I just think we made a big mistake with the director - not to blame it all at him, because that was my choice, that was my bad choice."

Josh then hit out at Warner Bros. for getting involved and making the movie "worse." He continued, "And then the studio took it over and every time that's happened, in my experience, it has only gotten worse."

"They did it with 'Old Boy' with Spike Lee. I thought Spike's cut was actually way better than the studio's, but the studio took it away and I thought they'd cut it very poorly and I thought it ended up having the opposite effect."

"That's what happens when you start cutting to this idea of pandering for an audience, and how testing can bite you in the a**. You don't know what the audience is going to want. 'Jonah Hex' was them taking the movie back and saying, how can we make this the most accessible movie? And they ended up making the least accessible movie."

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Paramount Pictures Movie

The 'Fast and Furious' actress loves 'the attention to detail' in 'Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' and praises the cast for complementing each other.

Apr 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - Michelle Rodriguez applauded the use of "real" effects instead of CGI in "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves". The "Fast and Furious" actress, 44, stars as axe-wielding barbarian Holga in the new film directed by John Francis Daley, 37, and Jonathan Goldstein, 54, who said they wanted it to be a throwback to the family films of the 1980s, and used puppets and real-life effects where possible to recreate the feel of beloved classics such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Goonies", and "The Princess Bride".

"I always enjoy being around such talent every day and seeing everyone's work on building the sets -the amazing boats and the chariots. The attention to detail in this feature is extraordinary," Michelle told Hey U Guys on the red carpet at the premiere of the film at The Cineworld in Leicester Square, London.

"And it does make a difference from a digital flat world. I think there will always be a place for digital (effects), but I just think it shouldn't be the entire equation. You should mix it up a little, and I think the boys (John and Jonathan) did it really well. I just really enjoyed making this movie, you know?"

Michelle, who had to gain 15lbs of muscle for the flick's gruelling action shoot, added the film's diverse cast clicked and just "get on."

"Dungeons and Dragons" also stars Chris Pine, 42, as a reformed thief while Hugh Grant, 62, is a slimy villain and "Bridgerton" actor Rege-Jean Page, 34, has a scene-stealing turn as warrior Xenk, who is immune to irony or sarcasm.

Michelle said, "It is very different - it's quite nice not to take yourself seriously, and I enjoyed that 1980s vibe. I miss it we're (the cast) are such knuckleheads! It's so funny - we're so different but we somehow complement each other, it's strange. Like, I don't know if it's fluke or it's alchemy, but John and Jonathan did a really good job casting this movie, because we just get on."

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The 'Paris in Love' star is looking forward to spend her first holidays with baby son Phoenix whom she welcomed with husband Carter Reum via surrogate in January.

Apr 2, 2023

AceShowbiz - Paris Hilton can't wait to "relive [her] childhood" with her son. The 42-year-old socialite and husband Carter Reum had son Phoenix into the world via surrogate in January 2023, and the "Stars Are Blind" hitmaker admitted being a parent has made her even more excited for all the special occasions that occur throughout the year.

"I'm excited about all the holidays coming up. I can't wait for the future - the Easter bunny and Santa Claus and the tooth fairy. All of these fun moments and getting to relive my childhood with my baby boy," she said in an interview with Britain's HELLO! magazine.

Paris - who has spoken about the abuse she was subjected to while at boarding school as a teenager - admitted she has always been a "kid at heart" but being a mom has made her finally grow up.

She said, "I've always been a kid at heart - that's just who I am. Maybe that leads back to when I was a teenager because I had my childhood stolen from me. Now, being a mom, I'm definitely grown up but I will always have that kid inside me. It's important to never lose that."

The hotel heiress has found that her priorities have "completely shifted" now she has her son and she's turned down a number of career opportunities because she wants to be around for all his milestones.

She said, "I'm so in love with my little baby boy. My priorities have completely shifted. I'm having to say no to so many things now because I just don't want to miss all these moments. He just started smiling last week. My heart melts. It's full of so much love."

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Aaj Tak first AI anchor Sana is all set to debut on Sudhir Chaudharys show Black & White at 9 pm tonight.

Sana will co-host the show with Chaudhary. Recently, India Today Group's Vice Chairperson Kalli Purie launched the group's first bot AI collaborative anchor Sana during India Today Conclave 2023.

Black & White, which airs on Aaj Tak at 9pm, recently topped the programme telecast rating of 9 pm slot on weekdays in Week 46. The show was launched on July 19 2022 and has been growing steadily.

Describing Sana, Kalli Purie had stated, "She is bright, gorgeous, ageless, tireless, speaks in multiple languages and totally under my control.
Amazon and the Indian Institute of TechnologyBombay (IIT Bombay) today announced the creation of the Amazon IITBombay AI-ML Initiative.

The Amazon IITBombay AI-ML initiative is a multiyear collaboration that will fund research projects, PhD fellowships, and community events, such as research symposia. The initiative, which will be housed in the IIT Bombay Department of Computer Science and Engineering, will advance artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) within speech, language and multimodal AI domains.

We at IIT Bombay are committed to our mission of translating knowledge and research into revolutionary technologies, said Subhasis Chaudhuri, director at IIT Bombay. Our top research minds have always attracted the attention of companies interested in scientific study. With industry collaborators like Amazon who have a deep sense of technology and global reach, we hope to be able to expedite the deployment of technologies/products in the field of AI-ML.

IIT Bombay ranks among the top engineering institutes in India, and is known for producing cutting-edge research in AI and ML. The Computer Science and Engineering department is one of the largest on the subcontinent, with 45 full-time faculty members. Amazons sponsorship of the Amazon IITBombay AI-ML initiative reflects its dedication to addressing complex research challenges in AI through deep collaboration with outstanding centers of academic research.

We are glad that Amazon, through this initiative, is entering India within the realm of academic-industrial collaboration with IIT Bombay, said Milind Atrey, IIT Bombay dean of Research and Development. This collaboration will foster innovation in three ways, through community projects, research projects, and fellowships, which will indeed spur development in AI and ML domains, as well as other areas, as the relationship progresses.

Amazon's growing research and development operations in India have powered engagement with Alexa users in Hindi and Indic languages and their AI/ML innovations have delivered increasingly delightful shopping experiences," said Rohit Prasad, Alexa senior vice president and head scientist. "This investment at one of the world's premier academic institutions will bring together Amazon scientists and IIT Bombay students/faculty, leveraging India's multilinguality as a learning lab, to develop new AI systems that can learn and adapt to different languages, accents and dialects. These efforts will help advance the technology fundamental to the future of conversational AI.

Amazon and IIT Bombay have existing ties, including through the Amazon Research Awards program. The most recent award was granted in 2022 to Preethi Jyothi, associate professor of computer science and engineering at IIT-Bombay, who was recognized for her work on fairness in speech recognition
As April Fools' Day approaches, it's time to immerse yourself in a world of laughter and playfulness. From romantic comedies to dramedies, the comedic genre offers a wide range of options to explore. In fact, comedy has the power to amplify the impact and charm of other genres like adventure, action, fiction, romance, and drama. To ignite your sense of humour and celebrate this whimsical occasion, here are 10 hilarious titles on Disney+ Hotstar that will have you in stitches and ready to pull your own pranks.

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Identical twins Zack and Cody, find their lives taking a hilarious turn when their mother starts working at one of the finest hotels, the Tipton.

Outmatched

A blue-collar couple from Atlantic City struggles to get by while raising four kids, three of whom just happen to be certified geniuses.

Welcome to Chippendales

This sprawling true-crime saga tells the story of Somen Banerjee, an Indian immigrant who became the founder of the world's greatest male-stripping empire.

Home Alone

Kevin is left behind while his entire family goes on vacation. His toys and quick thinking are too much for a pair of burglars who decide to loot his home.

American Dad

CIA agent, Stan Smith, is kept busy by his family, a talking goldfish, and a space alien from Area 51, while he tries to prevent terrorist activity in the U.S.

The Pacifier

Shane Wolfe, an elite Navy Seal, is assigned to protect five out-of-control children of an assassinated scientist.

The Parent Trap

Hallie and Annie are separated after their parents' divorce. Years later, they meet at a summer camp and decide to switch places to reunite with their parents.

Gulliver's Travels

To impress his crush Darcy, Gulliver travels to the Bermuda Triangle. But his boat gets wrecked, and he finds himself on an island filled with miniature people.

Baby's Day Out

Three thugs pose as photographers to kidnap an adorable baby of a rich couple but are unable to deal with the antics of the little tyke.

Hocus Pocus 2

A haunting sequel to the 1993 Halloween classic featuring the delightfully wicked Sanderson sisters.

10 Things I Hate About You

Strict rules in the household forbid Bianca from having a boyfriend, which turns her desperation for romance into a convoluted scheme for her sister Kat.

Valet

When world-famous movie star, Olivia faces a PR disaster after being snapped with her married lover, Valet Antonio is enlisted to pose as her new boyfriend.

~Stay laughing with these comedy titles spanning across genres, only on Disney+ Hotstar~
Tombolini will take the helm of all areas and functions of the company, with the senior management of Fremantle Italy reporting directly to him.

Andrea Scrosati, Group COO and CEO Continental Europe, Fremantle, said: I have known Marco for many years and have always admired his remarkable talent, vision and ability to work in a team. I am sure that thanks to his leadership and the support he will receive from Jaime Ondarza as CEO Southern Europe, Fremantle Italy will continue to grow, creating even more innovative shows capable of engaging and inspiring audiences. Italy is one of the most important countries for our group in terms of the extraordinary creativity the countrys talents express, along with their excellent professionalism and ability to deliver. Marcos appointment confirms our commitment to continue investing in this market, creating new jobs and supporting the growth of the countrys cultural industry.

Jaime Ondarza, CEO Southern Europe, Fremantle, said: It is a privilege to be able to count on Marco at the helm of Fremantle Italy. He has demonstrated talent and vision and I am sure that with his leadership the company will reach even more ambitious goals.

Marco Tombolini, CEO Fremantle Italy, Fremantle added: It is a blessing to be part of a team like Fremantle, whose ambitions fully reflect my own. I am happy and honoured to work alongside such passionate and competent workmates, with the aim of helping the company grow in Italy.

Marco Tombolini, from Milan, was CCO of Endemol until 2009. In 2010 he became Managing Director of Sony Spain and after that, he became Managing Director of Toro Media and TalpaItalia. In 2018, he joined Fremantle, first as director of the then Wavy division and then he was Chief Strategy Officer. He has been Co-CEO of Fremantle Italy since May 2022 with Gabriele Immirzi, who has now become co-CEO with Lorenzo Mieli of The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle Company.
The Fourth of July is one of the biggest occasions celebrated all over the country. It is the perfect opportunity to bring the community together and celebrate as a group.

So why not do just that by hosting Independence Day celebrations at church?

If youre already on to that plan, here are some ideas for hosting a fun service that involves the entire community:

1. Host an All-Day Grill Fest

A food fest is a great way to get people together. But you cant host a dinner party that clashes with the fireworks show.

So why not host an all-day grill fest instead?

You can plan a family-friendly concert, organize a kids show, and ensure theres food for every type of eater.

You can also ask members to bring along guests.

You can advertise your Fourth of July event using eye-catching flyers. Well-designed marketing paraphernalia will engage more people and get them excited for what is sure to be a fun event.

Use flyer templates from PosterMyWall to design high-quality advertising content at minimal cost.

You can wrap up the event around 7 p.m. so everyone can enjoy the fireworks.

2. Host or Participate in an Independence Day Parade

Encourage church members to join the local Independence Day parade. If theres no local parade, you can organize one of your own.

Independence Day parades are a great way to get members involved in some fun activities outdoors. You can also meet new families in the neighborhood.

It can be a lot of work preparing a float and making the decorations, but you can enlist members who wish to volunteer. You can create some church flyers to distribute during the parade and encourage bystanders to join your community.

3. Perform for the City

If your city has a Fourth of July event planned, volunteer to participate in it. You can do a music show with your worship team to bring the community spirit to the event. Let your volunteers choose family-friendly songs or patriotic ones theyd like to perform for the event.

You can design some shirts to wear for the performance. This establishes unity within your performing group and may encourage audience members to reach out to your church and join your community.

If you cant put on a music show, another way to participate in the event is by sponsoring water bottles for the attendees. Customize the labels on the bottles with the name of your church along with contact details. You can also distribute church flyers with the bottles.

4. Plan a Multicultural Service

If you want to hold an inclusive event, why not host a multicultural service? It gives you an excellent opportunity to meet new people. It is a simple event that doesnt require too many frills and complex details.

You can ask guests to offer prayers, read scriptures, and bring ethnic dishes to serve afterward. You can also plan sermons around topics like freedoms responsibility or honoring veterans.

5. Plan a Patriotic Movie Night

Do you want to do something more independence-themed that everyone can enjoy? A patriotic movie night ticks all of those boxes.

Take a poll or decide on popular movies that everyone will enjoy. Some of the best options include Air Force One, Captain America, Independence Day, Iron Man, and other similar films.

Dont forget to prepare lots of popcorn and refreshments for everyone.

You can hold a movie night on the evening before the fireworks. Send out flyers a month in advance to give everyone a heads up. You dont want people to miss the event due to short notice or because they forgot.

6. Plan to Watch the Fireworks Together

Hosting your own fireworks show can be expensive. Fortunately, you can watch the fireworks with your local community of both church-goers and non-goers.

There are two ways you can enjoy the fireworks without paying for them.

Does the location of your church have a good view of the fireworks show? You can plan a community viewing on-site and get the word out via some 4th of July flyers. Inform your members what they need to bring to enjoy the show, and let them know theyre free to bring guests along. The more, the merrier!

But if you dont have a great view of the works, dont worry. You can organize a trip with church members to the local fireworks show. When you spend time with the bigger local community, you can have fun and encourage others to join your church.

To Sum It Up

The Fourth of July festivities are best spent with family, friends, and community.

We hope this list of ideas can help you brainstorm and organize your own event to spread joy and deliver your churchs message to everyone you will encounter.

Happy Fourth of July!
On April 7, 1963, three ministers  the Rev. A. D. King, the Rev. Nelson Smith, and the Rev. John Porter  led more than 500 demonstrators on a march from St. Paul United Methodist Church to Birmingham City Hall.

Held on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the march followed a mass meeting at the church. The demonstration was part of the Birmingham Campaign  a series of meetings and protests to attack the citys segregation system. The project started after the release of Fred Shuttlesworths Birmingham Manifesto, a series of demands for justice and equality outlined on behalf of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. The marchers were attacked with billy clubs and police dogs as they made their way to city hall.

This Saturday, April 1, St. Paul UMC will host a day of events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Palm Sunday march. The program kicks off at 10 a.m. inside the church with a morning service, followed by a commemorative march to the Three Ministers kneeling monument in Kelly Ingram Park.

Ministers A. D. King, Nelson Smith, and the John Porter kneel as they lead demonstrators on a march to Birmingham City Hall on April 7, 1963. (Credit: Alabama Department of Archives and History. Donated by Alabama Media Group. Photo by Robert Adams, Ed Jones, Jack Hopper, Tom Lankford, and Lou Isaacson; Birmingham News.)Alabama Department of Archives a

The Kneeling Minsters sculpture in Kelly Ingram Park is a tribute to the clergy members who helped lead and organize demonstrations during Birmingham's civil rights movement . (Shauna Stuart| Al.com)

Tour guides with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Youth Leadership Program talk about the Three Kneeling Ministers sculpture in Kelly Ingram Park. (Shauna Stuart| Al.com)

At noon, the Magic City Poetry Festival, Scrollworks, and the National Parks Service will host their second edition of Poetry in The Park, an afternoon of poetry readings along the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument featuring poets Jacqueline Trimble, Jahman Hill, and Dikerius Blevins.

Following the poetry tour, St. Paul UMC and the surrounding sites on the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument trail will host an outdoor festival with food trucks, vendors and music. Patrons will also be able to purchase tickets to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the 16th Street Baptist Church Museum.

Registration and a full schedule of events is available on Eventbrite.

Saturdays Palm Sunday March program at St. Paul UMC is part of Birminghams year-long series of events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the citys 1963 civil rights campaign.

Founded in 1869, St. Paul United Methodist Church is one of the oldest African American churches in Birmingham. In 1956, the church held one of Birminghams first civil rights mass meetings following the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights major campaign to integrate Birmingham buses.

Seven years later, St. Paul UMC was one of several churches that served as training centers for Project C leaders who taught training sessions in nonviolent civil disobedience, including classes for the young protestors who demonstrated in the 1963 Childrens Crusade. In 1964, Dr. Rev. Joseph Lowery, the noted civil rights leader and cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, returned to Alabama from a tenure in Nashville to lead the congregation of St. Paul UMC until 1968.

In 2023, the National Park Service awarded St. Paul UMC a $500,000 grant for historic preservation and repair. Last week, the Jefferson County Commission approved $2.7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to six organizations in the downtown Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument district for tourism projects. St. Paul UMC is slated to receive $101,261 to help fund a tourist center. The exhibit, according to the Birmingham Times, is expected to be complete by 2025.
The new Hallmark movie Love in the Maldives will premiere Saturday, April 1 at 8/7c.

Though airing on Hallmark, those who have ditched basic cable can still stream tonights premiere live with Philo or FuboTV.

If youre unsure which streaming service to go with, heres a quick rundown of each.

What is the difference between Philo and FuboTV?

FuboTV is one of the better alternatives to regular cable.

Its a sports-focused streaming service with over 100 live channels to choose from that include shows like Saturday Night Live, Yellowstone, The Voice and much more for $74.99 a month.

Meanwhile, Philo is one of the cheaper live-streaming services available as it allows users to stream over 70 live channels for only $25 a month.

Live channels offered with Philo include Hallmark, Lifetime, AMC, HGTV, MTV, VH1, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, CMT, BET, TLC and more.

Both streaming services offer free trials for first time subscribers so you can watch Love in the Maldives for free before committing to anything.

What is Love in the Maldives about?

Hallmarks official description of Love in the Maldives is as follows:

Rae is a writer for a monthly travel column who gets sent to the worlds most romantic vacation destination -- the Conrad Maldives.

While there, she meets Jared, a guide who makes it his personal mission to give her the adventure shes looking for.

Jocelyn Hudon and Jake Manley star.
At their most recent meeting the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) approved six separate contracts at a total cost of just under $5 million as part of their pipeline replacement program.

According to BWWB spokesman Rick Jackson these projects will cause traffic disruptions starting this summer and lasting through late fall.

In mid-May Jasper-based piping company Tren-Tay, Inc, under contract by BWWB, are scheduled to begin replacing over 6,000 feet of steel pipe along Glen Park Drive, Highland Drive, Highland Circle, Glen Ridge Drive, Roberson Road and Glenwood Drive in Fairfield for an estimated cost of $1,873,502.

Jackson said construction should take roughly six months to complete and added that the City of Fairfield has approved a barricade permit for parts of Glen Park Drive.

Tren-Tay, Inc will also be replacing over 5,000 feet of steel pipe along Fourth Avenue North, Fifth Street North, Sixth Street North, Sixth Place North, Fourth Court North, Morris Avenue North, Center Street North, First Street North, First Place North and Second Street North in Birmingham starting in mid-May for an estimated cost of $1,917,572.
A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that hes still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peters Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekends Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peters Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Romes Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the childs already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell  I felt sick, he said, pointing to his mid-section  a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favorites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, Long live the pope! and clapped.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they show great tenderness.

We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals, he said. Francis also said he read journalists accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.

Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, Forward, thanks.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered , Yes.

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) address, a review of the globes conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peters Square.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.
UPDATE: Authorities said Jakorrius Williams surrendered to the Jefferson County Jail Saturday afternoon.

EARLIER: Two suspects are behind bars and a third remains at large in the shooting death of a Bessemer man.

Cameron Burroughs, 21, Colby Burroughs, 18 and Jakorrius Williams, 21, are charged with capital murder in the Wednesday slaying of 21-year-old Walterius Barnes.

The Burroughs brothers were booked into the Jefferson County Jail Friday afternoon. Authorities are still searching for Williams.

The gunfire erupted just after 3 p.m. in the 2900 block of Fairfax Avenue. More than two dozen shots were fired.

The shooting happened just after 3 p.m. in the 2900 block of Fairfax Avenue. More than two dozen shots were fired.

Bessemer police Lt. Christian Clemons said Barnes was shot while driving a car. That car then crashed into a house.

Barnes was taken to UAB Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 8:55 p.m.

Barnes is Bessemers first homicide of 2023. A motive has not yet been determined.

Anyone with information on Williams whereabouts is asked to call the Bessemer Police Department at 205-425-2411, the Tip Line at 205-428-3541 or Crime Stoppers 205-254-7777.
Decatur police have detained a juvenile in connection with a series of school threats which impacted classes at the citys middle and high schools.

According to police, about 9 a.m. investigators learned of a threat made against the high school.

Both schools were temporarily placed on heightened alert, while detectives conducted a threat assessment. Students were also dismissed early.

According to police, a male juvenile, whose name was not released, was identified as the suspect and taken into custody about 4 p.m.

He will be transported to the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Tuscumbia, pending a hearing.

An earlier report from WHNT stated the student threatened gun violence.
Three current and former executives of Mobile-based shipbuilder Austal USA were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday in connection with an accounting fraud scheme that misled investors about the companys financial condition for three years, prosecutors announced Friday.

The executives -- former President Craig Perciavalle, Austals 52-year-old Joseph Runkel, 54; the companys current director of financial analysis; and William Adams, the 63-year-old former director of the Littoral Combat Ships program -- were each charged in federal court in Mobile with conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution, five counts of wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

Attorneys for all of the defendants could not immediately be reached for comment on the charges.

From roughly 2013 through at least around July 2016, the executives and their co-conspirators allegedly conspired to mislead shareholders in Austals parent company, Australia-based Austal Limited, and investors about Austal USAs finances, prosecutors said.

The executives allegedly artificially reduced and suppressed an account metric known as estimate at completion, or EAC, in relation to multiple Littoral Combat Ships that Austal was building for the U.S. Navy.

The manipulation led to Austal Limiteds earnings being falsely overstated, prosecutors claimed, and the scheme helped maintain and increase the share price of Austal Limiteds stock. When higher costs were eventually disclosed to financial markets, the stock price was negatively impacted and Austal Limited wrote down more than $100 million.

We allege that Austal USAs executives manipulated its financial results, causing harm to U.S. investors in the securities of its parent company, Austal Limited, said Jason Burt, regional director of the Securities and Exchange Commissions Denver Regional Office. As the complaint articulates, if the defendants had not fraudulently manipulated the cost estimates, Austal Limited would have missed, by wide margins, analyst consensus estimates for EBIT [earnings before interest and tax.]

Perciavalle, Runkel and Adams face 30 years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and each count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, and 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud.
The Alabama Department of Health told Tuskegee University officials Friday it plans to investigate a case of pulmonary tuberculosis identified in a student enrolled on campus, the agency announced.

The department and the university said they are working to make sure students and employees will be screened quickly.

We are working very closely with the university to develop and implement a screening plan. As with any identified case of TB in Alabama, ADPH will implement precautionary testing, investigation and control measures, said Dr. Burnestine Taylor, ADPHs medical officer for disease control and prevention.

On Friday, the agency and university officials began identifying students enrolled in classes with the affected student as well as faculty and staff who may have had close contact with them.

Those deemed as having close contact with the student will be rapidly assessed and [have] appropriate preventive measures taken, according to ADPH officials. According to public health officials, close contact is defined generally as having spent an extended amount of time with the subject in a physically close environment.

Only the students close contacts need to be tested, the agency recommended.

Tuberculosis is a treatable but potentially serious disease that mainly affects the lungs. It can be spread by coughing or sneezing. Symptoms include chest pain, chronic coughing, coughing with blood, chills, fever and loss of appetite.
This is an opinion column

Do you ever watch that reality show about Amish people who venture out into mainstream American culture for a time, and though the experience decide whether to return to their Amish communities or stay in the English world.

I wonder if there are ever people who try it the opposite way? I consider it. Especially when I am overwhelmed or stressed or too busy. And I am not shy about it. I tell people. My family knows that about twice a month I consider persuading the entire family to move to Pennsylvania Dutch country.

I dont know the details of how it would work. I guess I would have to trade in my car keys for a horse and buggy. There would likely be some discussion about tight jeans, eye shadow, and my tendency to cuss. And I would have to surrender my phone and Windcreek players card. So, I cant go.

Even if I could talk the rest of my family into going, the Amish would not have me. I could not live their lifestyle, but I admire their dedication to their religion and beliefs. In everything they do, they consider God.

Most people believe in God. There seems to be an uptick in interest in the Lord the closer a person gets to danger, death, and uncertainty, but most people believe in a higher power. God often moves in a persons life in some meaningful way that solidifies their faith in believing. It is a relationship firmly based in faith.

In the wake of the calculated mass shooting at Covenant School  a Christian school  in Nashville, Tennessee, God is back in peoples discussions.

Most Christians would agree that their faith in God has helped hold them in orbit at different times of trouble or grief. Times when the human strength to hold was gone.

The alternative to believing in God, is the emptiness of believing in nothing.

People who believe in God believe there is eternal life beyond our physical life experience here on Earth. This knowing brings great peace and comfort to believers who have lost loved ones. I have little doubt that the students, teachers, and families touched by the tragedy at Covenant School are relying on their faith in God as they attempt to move forward.

This faith, this promise God has made with his people, will be repeated over and over at churches throughout the country as everyone tries to wrap their minds around this latest school shooting.

Anytime something tragic happens, or there is a disastrous situation, thoughts and prayers will be offered by those who believe  and almost like clockwork, there will be those few who get vocal about needing more than thoughts and prayers.

What exactly would that be regarding the Covenant School shooting? These were openly Christian people. Would a monetary donation be more appropriate? Plant a tree? What?

The fitting thing to say when thoughts and prayers are offered  even for someone with who is a firm nonbeliever  is thank you. If you dont need them, you wont feel them, but for those who believe they hold meaning and value.

Often in life, you may find all youve got are thoughts and prayers, or the emptiness of nothing. Choose wisely.

Amanda Walker is a columnist and contributor with AL.com, The Birmingham News, Selma Times Journal, Thomasville Times, West Alabama Watchman, and Alabama Gazette. Contact her at Walkerworld77@msn.com or at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.
Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 18 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, and leaving people throughout the region bewildered Saturday by the damage.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least seven states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a swath of the country home to some 85 million people. The dead included seven in Tennessees McNairy County, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, and three in Sullivan, Indiana.

Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornados path.

Stunned residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high schools roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

Debris and memories of regular life lay scattered inside the damaged shells of homes and strewn on lawns: clothing, insulation, roofing paper, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

Im sad that my town has been hit so hard, said Heidi Jenkins, a salon owner. Our school is gone, my church is gone. Im sad for all the people who lost their homes.

Recovery was already underway, with workers using chain saws to cut fallen trees and bulldozers moving material from shattered structures. Utility trucks worked to restore power. Groups of volunteers gathered to plan their day.

Seven people died in McNairy County, east of Memphis along the Mississippi border, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas, Leckner said, adding that although it appeared all people had been accounted for, crews were going door to door to be sure.

In Belvidere, Illinois, some of the 260 people attending a heavy metal concert at the Apollo Theatre pulled a man from the rubble after part of the roof collapsed; he was dead when emergency workers arrived. Officials said 28 other people were injured at the theater, some severely.

They dragged someone out from the rubble, and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him) Its going to be OK. I didnt really know much else what to do, concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

The venues Facebook page said the bands scheduled to perform were Morbid Angel, Crypta, Skeletal Remains and Revocation.

Crews worked Saturday to clean up around the Apollo, with forklifts pulling away loosely hanging bricks. Business owners picked up shards of glass and covered shattered windows.

Three people died in Indianas Sullivan County, near the Illinois line about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 is essentially unrecognizable right now and that several people were rescued from rubble overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said, and search-and-rescue teams combed damaged areas.

Quite frankly, Im really, really shocked there isnt more as far as human issues, he said, adding that recovery is going to be a very long process.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, authorities said. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said that 2,100 homes and businesses were in the tornados path, but that no assessment had been done on how many were damaged.

Joanna McFadden was at a nail salon with two other people when the tornado struck.

The only way we knew the tornado was coming, the leaves were swirling, thats the only way we knew, it looked like it was standing still, McFadden said. She and the others took shelter in the back.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the National Guard to help local authorities respond.

A suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabamas Madison County, said county official Mac McCutcheon. And in northern Mississippis Pontotoc County, officials confirmed one death and four injuries.

The storms struck just hours after President Joe Biden visited the Mississippi community of Rolling Fork, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

In western Tennessee, Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley wrote on Facebook early Saturday that there was much devastation and some severe injuries but no reports of deaths yet. But he said many families lost homes that were leveled to the ground.

Tornadoes also caused sporadic damage in eastern Iowa, including one just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. Television footage showed toppled power poles and roofs ripped off buildings and homes in the area.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

Thats a quite active day. But thats not unprecedented, he said.

Tens of thousands lost power because of the sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest.

The number of customers in Arkansas without electricity fell from nearly 90,000 to about 52,000, according to Poweroutage.us. There were 69,000 without power in Indiana, 33,000 in Illinois and 1,300 in Oklahoma. Outages were also reported in Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Texas.

Hail broke windows on cars and buildings northeast of Peoria, Illinois. And blizzard conditions whipped parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin, cutting power to tens of thousands in the Twin Cities area. Parts of Interstate 29 were closed.

Nearly 100 new wildfires were reported Friday in Oklahoma, according to the state forest service, and firefighters hoped to gain ground against them Saturday. Fires were expected to remain a danger through the week.

Crews battled several blazes near El Dorado, Kansas, and some residents were asked to evacuate, including about 250 elementary school children who were relocated to a high school.
Since the Democrats use the accusation that America is systemically racist to divide the country and stay in money and power, philosophy Prof. Boghossian posts a video of a discussion with two university students, a white male (hereafter M) and a white female (hereafter F), on the notion that America is racist. They are asked to state their degree of support: strongly agree, agree, slightly agree, neutral, slightly disagree, disagree, strongly disagree.

Professor Boghossian and his interviewees

When F is asked why she slightly agrees with the notion, she states that once she went into a store with a black friend and two employees told her friend they thought she was shoplifting because she was black. F supports her view that America is systemically racist by citing a particular example, but that is the fallacy of hasty generalization (supporting a general conclusion on the basis of particular examples). When asked if that was a one off, F replies that she has seen a lot of it. But that is the fallacy of composition in which one fallaciously infers from the properties of the parts, two racist individuals, to the properties of the whole American system. Neither student ever comes to terms with these part-whole and particular-general distinctions. It appears that neither student has even thought of them.

F states, astonishingly, that she believes America is systemically racist but doesnt have the facts to back it up. But then why does she believe it? F adds that it is hard for her to speak on it because I only see what happens in my group. But if she only sees what happens in her white group, why does she accuse America as a whole? Perhaps sensing that she is on thin ice, F comes up with two new reasons to support her accusation against America, namely that she believes that America is based in racist ideals and if you look at who the land is stolen from.

The first of these new arguments is the fallacy of begging the question (circular reasoning), that is, assuming what one purports to prove (the claim that America is founded in racist ideals simply repeats, in different words, the claim that America is systemically racist). The second of her new arguments, that America is systemically racist because of the land was stolen long ago, is the genetic fallacy, i.e., fallacious arguing for a conclusion solely based on origins. One cannot prove that America is racist now because it allegedly was racist long ago.

When M is asked why he agrees with the notion, he says it is because I believe [that] systemic inequalities  exist in the US. That is more circular reasoning. When asked to explain what he means by system, M says, I mean the violence inherent in the system  to quote Monty Python. Unfortunately, M has defined the word system by appeal to the word system, another circular definition that explains nothing, apparently not noticing the appropriate irony in the fact that he quoted a comedy troupe to explain his intensely believed view. (Note: When one can quote Aristotle, and do so appropriately, as opposed to comedians, one is approaching the point where one can claim to know something.)

Boghossian asks M to give an example of a law on the books thats racist and M informs him that It doesnt have to do with laws  [but] with entrenched social movements because laws are just one of the many things that govern behavior. Unfortunately, M has changed the parameters again. The question was about the system, which is why Boghossian mentioned laws. A law on the books, e.g., the old redlining laws that restrict where certain races can live, characterizes the legal system per se and would therefore, if such laws still exist, support the motion. Further, when M mentions social movements, he is again committing the fallacy of composition, fallaciously inferring from the parts of the system, movements within it, to the whole system.

After M lectures the professor that he is degrading it to laws alone, Boghossian asks M to name a system within the US that is racist, which is followed by a long comical period in which M walks around clutching his brow and waving his hands around as he says hes trying to think of a specific one.

Eventually, M suggests that we change the subject to gender relations where he might do better. Boghossian indicates he wants to stay on the issue of racism so M tries again, saying, its more just how people act with each other but that again is a fallacy of composition from parts to whole. Boghossian asks how is that a system and M states that it is because were in the system, humans are systemic, thereby managing to commit another fallacy of composition coupled with another circular definition (its a system because humans are systemic). Boghossian also correctly points out that, on Ms logic, if a black person goes into a store and is not harassed then one could use Ms point to argue that there is a system in place that does not discriminate against black people. At the point M appeals to F saying Shes describing one from the outside. Unfortunately, F had rested on the fallacy of hasty generalization.

In another revealing exchange toward the end of the video Boghossian asks M what evidence would convince him to move from strongly agree to agree on a certain topic and M says I dont think I would  because I see no point. M later adds that he has no idea what evidence would make him shift to the opposite view. That is, M admits that his views on that issue are unfalsifiable. In a similar exchange with Boghossian, F, who is white, says that People dont see much racism if they are in a predominately white culture  but I do think America is racist. In effect, both M and F admit that facts are irrelevant to their political beliefs. This is the standard religious faith on university campuses these days: Accuse your own country irrespective of the facts!

Neither student has good reasons for their view that America is racist. They have slogans and bumper stickers. They display no serious critical reasoning abilities. These are only two cases but they reflect the uncritical indoctrination being prevalent on university campuses these days. It would appear that student confidence in their political beliefs is inversely proportional to the actual strength of the evidence. In all likelihood, M and F subscribe to the popular unfalsifiable campus religious belief that America is racist because they believe this makes them virtuous (another ad populum fallacy). Real virtue is a much harder task.

In the fifth century B.C. Athens, Socrates held conversations with Athenian citizens in which he demonstrated that none of them had solid reasons for what they believe, indeed, that none of them had even actually thought about the issues -- and they killed him for it.

Photo credit: YouTube screengrab
Trump expected to be arraigned in court next week: reports

Xinhua) 13:29, April 01, 2023

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned in court next Tuesday afternoon, according to media reports on Friday.

The reports came a day after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said that they contacted Trump's attorney to "coordinate his surrender" for arraignment.

Trump reportedly faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday, which was filed under seal.

Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, said on Friday that his client will not accept a plea deal and does plan to file "substantial legal challenges" to the indictment.

Tacopina added that Trump will "absolutely" voluntarily surrender to Manhattan law enforcement and that his client "will not be put in handcuffs."

Juan Merchan, acting justice for the New York County Supreme Court, will reportedly preside over the case, which stems from Bragg's investigation into alleged hush money payments Trump made to an adult film actress ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and alleged that the criminal inquiry and others relating to him are all politically motivated.

Trump is reportedly scheduled to be arraigned at 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT) next Tuesday in Merchan's courtroom in New York City.

The case has been closely watched since it's the first time in U.S. history that a former president has been criminally charged.

Trump, 76, served as U.S. president from January 2017 to January 2021 and is again running for the White House.

Sitting U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, told reporters before leaving the White House for a trip to Mississippi on Friday that he won't talk about Trump's indictment.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
When you first hear about the group New York Citizens Audit (NYCA), you wonder why it took so long for regular citizens to start scrutinizing their own voting rolls. It's shocking ,really, even contrary to the American spirit, to think that voters in every state have taken so long to self-police their own voting process  instead assuming that whatever was happening was somehow honest, legitimate, or even legal by their states' own declared laws.

It is those declared laws that Marly Hornik is using as a litmus test as she and her nearly 1,500 volunteers review New York State voter rolls they obtained from the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE), as well as rolls obtained from individual counties.

It all started, Hornik says, when she and like-minded individuals were told they were "not essential" early in the pandemic:

We were told 'You can stay home now, and if you'd like to come back to work you can participate in a medical experiment.' And so we thought gosh, while we're home, let's just get a copy of the New York State voter rolls and see what we find. We thought in a deep blue state like New York, we probably wouldn't find much interesting, because...why would you go to all that trouble and hassle and potential legal difficulty if you already have a solid voting base that you can rely upon?

On October 21, 2021, they received their first copy of the state voter roll database, called NYSVoter. Then, using FOIA requests, they asked every county board of elections for copies of its local database (not all complied). Hornik said this was important because election law is clear that county boards of elections maintain their own databases, with the state database basically acting as a compilation. The state has almost no authority to add, change or delete any kind of information from the database. When NYCA first began, the 2020 general election was the primary focus.

Hornik recently spoke to a packed house in a church fellowship hall in Utica, N.Y. Lying within a county that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020, the hall was filled with mostly working-class folks who sat in rapt attention. Some were still in their office suits; others bore the marks of dirt or paint from a hard day's work.

Hornik explained she was going to show them not only information pertaining to 2020, but also a "ton of information they found that was not specific to any election."

In May of 2022, NYCA brought its findings (specifically related to the 2020 election) to the New York State Board of Elections, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the heads of the Democrat and Republican parties  also the county commissioners in 29 counties, "as well as the sheriffs, D.A.s, and other officials where it was appropriate." Hornik continued, "And we did not receive a single response. Voter rolls were not touched, and they went ahead and administered another federal election and certified the results." It was that complete disregard for their findings that prompted Hornik and her colleagues to take their case to the people in cities and small towns across New York. (The full video of Hornik's address is available here.)

Hornik and her team were traversing the state, from Brooklyn to Buffalo. She was hot off the stage at the Queens Village Republican Club, where she'd given the Lincoln Address. Following keynote speaker Steve Cortes, Hornik quoted from the First Continental Congress regarding the people having a share in their own government while not being ruled "by the edicts of men over whom they have no control." She continued:

Our elections are a precious jewel[.] ... [They] are surrounded and protected by an interwoven tapestry of laws. To the bad actors we declare, "You cannot have our sparkling jewel, and you will not be allowed to harm our nation."

Hornik, a married mother of three and self-described "holistic goat farmer," has educated herself at length on the subject on which she speaks. What would she say to detractors who might question her qualifications to speak on such a monumental issue as the accuracy of state voter rolls? She was quick to answer:

The original structure of our government was made so that intelligent, critical-thinking, sovereign-minded citizens would participate in government for limited periods of time. They wouldn't have to be experts or elite rulers who were staying in those positions for decades as we have now. I would say that NYCA represents a return to the original vision of the founders of governance by the people.

Supporting Hornik in the background are 1,500 vetted volunteers consisting of data experts, computer nerds, poll workers, teachers, homeschoolers, and an array of otherwise regular folks from farmers to firefighters.

One of those volunteer computer nerds has been blogging regularly about his findings over at Substack. He prefers to be known as "Dr. Zark." His newsletter, The Zark Files, contain a chronological archive of his findings as he continues to unscramble algorithms in New York's voter rolls. Some of his entries include

The Voter Matrix: How a discovery made seven months ago continues to suck up all of my time

The Number People: Finding #1: You don't have to exist as a corporeal human being to vote in New York

Clones, like cockroaches, are everywhere in New York's voter rolls: Why is this allowed?

The man blogging as Dr. Zark is director of the NYCA research team. According to Hornik, he has submitted his research regarding the steganography in the New York State voter roll database for peer review and publication in a journal that will be published in May. They are staying tight-lipped on the name of that journal for now. Hornik said she believes that the journal's findings will generate media attention.

Whatever happens, it's clear that NYCA has started a movement of the people to ask questions and demand answers. Their goal is an end-to-end audit of the voting process, from voter registration to certification of results.

Hornik sees their work as a way forward, toward exposing the corruption of what she calls "blue state regimes." She concluded:

The Democrats have put their stake in the ground here. ... In the minds of the vast majority of Americans, New York is just crazy. People in New York are nuts, and they vote for this. But when you say "New York is gone forever. California is gone forever. Illinois and New Jersey are gone forever. Looks like Arizona's on the fence. Pennsylvania's gone forever"...you realize they'll never win again in the Electoral College. So supporting this effort in New York State is actually a national issue for anyone that's interested in ever electing another conservative president.

Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.susandharris.com.

Image: tom.arthur via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The reaction to the unprecedented indictment of President Trump was predictable.

Most of Trump adversaries responded with unrestrained jubilation.

The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey reacted to the news with delight.

Yes, this is the former head of the foremost law enforcement agency in the U.S.

What a fall in standards.

Now that a fall in standards has been mentioned, we examine a tweet from Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi claimed that the Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law.

So lets look at the facts first.

President Trump has denied the affair with Stormy Daniel. In a 2018 letter that surfaced recently, Daniel also denied that the affair ever occurred, despite claiming otherwise in public.

Another 2018 letter proves that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction. Also, Trumps former attorney Michael Cohen was not reimbursed for the payment by any organizations affiliated to Trump.

Since the transaction didnt occur at Trumps behest, the case has no basis.

Even if Trump had directed Cohen to make hush payments and the Trump Organization had reimbursed him for the payment to Daniels but billed them as legal expenses, it would constitute a misdemeanor for which the statute of limitations has run out.

Back to Pelosis tweet. Pelosi wrote:

No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence.

This is nothing short of a shocking statement, especially from a lawmaker with many decades of experience. The presumption of innocence is the standard in any civilized democracy -- anyone accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. The legal burden of proof lies on the prosecution, which must present compelling face-based evidence to before a judge or a jury. The prosecution must prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If reasonable doubt remains, the accused must be acquitted.

The presumption of innocence is also an international human right under the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11.

This is the legal standard in the U.S.

Let's look at what the law specifically states:

It is a cardinal principle of our system of justice that every person accused of a crime is presumed to be innocent unless and until his or her guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt. The presumption is not a mere formality. It is a matter of the most important substance. The presumption of innocence alone may be sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt and to require the acquittal of a defendant. The defendant before you, [__________], has the benefit of that presumption throughout the trial, and you are not to convict [him/her] of a particular charge unless you are persuaded of [his/her] guilt of that charge beyond a reasonable doubt. The presumption of innocence until proven guilty means that the burden of proof is always on the government to satisfy you that [defendant] is guilty of the crime with which [he/she] is charged beyond a reasonable doubt. The law does not require that the government prove guilt beyond all possible doubt; proof beyond a reasonable doubt is sufficient to convict. This burden never shifts to [defendant]. It is always the government's burden to prove each of the elements of the crime[s] charged beyond a reasonable doubt by the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from that evidence. [Defendant] has the right to rely upon the failure or inability of the government to establish beyond a reasonable doubt any essential element of a crime charged against [him/her]. If, after fair and impartial consideration of all the evidence, you have a reasonable doubt as to [defendant]'s guilt of a particular crime, it is your duty to acquit [him/her] of that crime. On the other hand, if, after fair and impartial consideration of all the evidence, you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of [defendant]'s guilt of a particular crime, you should vote to convict [him/her].

It is unlikely that Pelosi isnt aware of the legal standards in the U.S. Perhaps her feeling of schadenfreude got the better of her, or maybe this is a warning for others who support the MAGA agenda. Pelosi know that such claims will receive no condemnation in D.C. because the target is President Trump.

Thankfully Elon Musks Twitter flagged Pelosis Tweet and presented context to it in the community notes feature.

So are there any countries where the accused is guilty until proven innocent?

They are mostly third-world countries or theocratic or military dictatorships where the might of the law is used to target opponents and dissidents. Irrespective of what their constitution says, dissidents were presumed guilty until proven innocent.

This is how the law operated in Stalin's Russia, Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Francos Spain etc.

It is not just President Trump who has been the recipient of this treatment. The January 6th protestors held in the District of Columbia jail have complained of being subjected to inhumane conditions. The constant delays in hearings and postponements dragged out for over a year caused so much trauma to one of the accused that he committed suicide.

This remains the goal behind the exercise, to make the process the punishment.

To drag the trial along, and to drain all their resources and spirits of the accused. To sully reputations permanently. To make the accused feel worse than the worst of criminals in the U.S.

They know that these stories spread like wildfire and most people seeking a life of peace for themselves and their families choose to refrain from challenging the Democrats merely to avoid hardships.

Doubtlessly many citizens must have refrained from showing any overt support to the MAGA cause for fear of being persecuted by the Democrats.

This is a win for the likes of Pelosi who want to turn the U.S. into a third-world dictatorship where government agencies such as law enforcement and the judiciary are used to target opponents and outlaw political opposition.

Their goal is to have a single-party state.

Yes, there will be Republicans and Democrats who disagree in minor issues, but on all the major issues of consequence there is a total consensus.

The ball is now in the court of the Republicans and the citizens all over the nation.

In perilous times, there is no greater sin than inaction.

Image: Twitter
During times of universal hysteria, stating the obvious based on logic and fact becomes a revolutionary act. The latest such revolutionary is Australian actor Guy Pearce, best known to audiences for his performances in L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), The Hurt Locker (2009), and so many more.

What did Pearce say?

He posted the following on Twitter regarding the new unwritten rule in Hollywood that only trans actors can play transgender roles.

A question  if the only people allowed to play trans characters are trans folk, then are we also suggesting the only people trans folk can play are trans characters?

Surely that will limit your career as an actor? Isn't the point of an actor to be able (to) play anyone outside your own world?

Pearce rose to fame playing a crossdresser in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). The film received great acclaim and was also lauded for its humane portrayal of gay characters.



YouTube screen grab (cropped).

Perhaps in today's time, Pearce would never have gotten the part because he is neither gay nor a drag queen in real life.

There was, as expected, a backlash against Pearce.

Some pointed out that because roles for trans people are so limited in mainstream film and television, they should be prioritized for trans actors.

Most were just outraged without basis.

This caused Pearce to delete his original tweet and post a lengthy letter on Twitter the following day apologizing and clarifying his position.

I posted a tweet yesterday that I shouldnt have, which to prevent upsetting anyone else I have now deleted. A fuller apology and explanation of the point I was raising is attached xx Guy pic.twitter.com/bu1vLQcPFm  Guy Pearce (@TheGuyPearce) March 28, 2023

The following are key excerpts from the text:

I see that raising the question of gender identity within the casting process on a platform like Twitter was not a good idea. For that, I apologize, enormously. I acknowledge it has only stirred up and inflamed attitudes and made us all dig our heels in. (snip) It's clear a great many minority communities are underrepresented onscreen and that so too are actors from those communities. But I don't believe artists who have to announce their personal identity, sexual preference, political stance, disability, religious beliefs, etc. to attain work. I believe that to suggest 'acting' can only come from our own lived experience annihilates our imagination. I wouldn't want that restriction placed on a minority actor or any actor for that matter, myself included.

Pearce is a well known actor with a reasonable amount of power in the industry. He wasn't denigrating any individual or group; he was merely pondering aloud some valid points.

Yet he was compelled to apologize because he knows that outrage from online mobs could result in him being branded a bigot and could result in him being blacklisted.

We saw proof of the existence of a blacklist in 2019 when President Trump held a fundraiser at Beverly Hills. Will and Grace "star" Eric McCormack called for Trump donors in Hollywood to be outed implying that they deserve to be boycotted for their political positions.

Hey, @THR, kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we dont wanna work with. Thx. https://t.co/7W3xPG3bI2  Eric McCormack (@EricMcCormack) August 30, 2019

This explains why the newcomers in Hollywood go out of their way to prove their loyalty to the cause by attacking President Trump or supporting BLM, LGBT issues, the war in Ukraine, etc. They know that it will give them the right kind of attention and ensure lucrative employment for ages.

So should casting be strictly on lived experiences?

Last year, during an interview, Tom Hanks, who played a gay man suffering from AIDS in Philadelphia (1993), for which he won the Oscar, claimed that a straight man must not play a gay man because audiences wouldn't accept the inauthenticity.

In 2021, Actor Eddie Redmayne, who was nominated for an Oscar for playing a transgender man in The Danish Girl (2015), told The Sunday Times that he erred in accepting the role and that he wouldn't accept the role now. He added that only transgender actors should play transgender characters.

When the madness reaches such proportions, it is worth revising the basics.

The whole point of acting is portraying another person. Great performers relish playing characters that are totally unlike themselves. The point of the craft is to surrender entirely to the screenplay and become the character.

Sir Michael Caine said his performance as an alcoholic morose British journalist living in Vietnam in The Quiet American was his best because there was not a trace of "Michael Caine" in it.

It must also be remembered that casting in a movie, especially for the principal cast, often depends on the market viability of an actor.

The reason they cast Tom Hanks as a gay man in Philadelphia was that they knew he would draw audiences into the cinemas. Perhaps it resulted in audiences becoming more empathetic toward gay people. If an unknown gay actor had played the part, the movie would probably have vanished. Back in 1993, Hanks was lauded for playing a gay character. It was even considered a move of solidarity with the gay community.

But an act of bravery back then is now an act of bigotry.

Needless to say, this is insane.

If casting is based on lived experiences, films set in another era or crime thrillers, fantasy films, sci-fi pictures, or superhero films would never get made.

The whole point of fiction would be meaningless if it were based on lived experiences.

If you want complete authenticity, there are documentaries...but even they have a level of contrivance.

In the end, it is all about quality and not the race and sex of the performer.

Sir Sean Connery played a Russian submarine captain and a Muslim tribal warlord retaining his trademark Scottish accent, but it didn't matter, because he managed to capture the authenticity of the character.

Harrison Ford romantically starred opposite Anne Heche in Six Days, Seven Nights (1998). Back then, Heche came out as a lesbian. But once again, it didn't matter to the film, because both Ford and Heche were acting.

In recent times, we are seeing the opposite occur with "colorblind casting," where non-white actors play white characters.

It worked remarkably when Lucy Liu played Joan Watson in Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in Elementary 2012-9. Watson was female and Asian-American. But it didn't matter because Liu did very well portraying Holmes's friend and companion.

British-Indian actor Dev Patel played King Arthur's nephew in The Green Knight (2022) and the titular character in The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020). The supporting roles in these films were also a result of "colorblind" casting.

Both films did reasonably well

Emma Corrin identifies as non-binary and uses them/they as pronouns but played Princess Diana in The Crown and Lady Chatterley in Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022). Both characters are straight, female, and very feminine.

Based on the new rules of race- or sex-based casting, these are inauthentic presentations.

The only solution to this madness is to remove all boundaries of faux political correctness from the field of art.

Casting should be based on talent and the vision of the director and not on personal identity, sex, sexuality, political stance, disability, and religious beliefs.
Down in Mexico, many are looking for accountability in the Juarez fire that left over 30 dead and others injured. As you may remember, the initial explanation was that angry migrants set mattresses on fire in protest. However, there is a video, according to Pulse News Mexico, showing that "INM personnel [Mexico's National Institute of Migration] fled the scene soon after the facility fire began while leaving the protesting migrants still locked in their cells to be engulfed by the blaze."

So will President AMLO get to the bottom of it? I don't know because this is not a man who is into accountability. Perhaps he can start by calling on the U.S. to take care of its own border. Most of these migrants were anticipating the end of Title 42. In other words, they are waiting in Mexico because they believe that the doors will open to the U.S. soon.

The Biden administration did not start the fire literally. Nevertheless, the chaos created on the border contributed to this idea that people can come and cross the border by simply showing up. It sent thousands to Mexico and exposed them to the dangerous and costly trip. They do it because the word went out that the door was open and you need to run north before it closes. That's not immigration or asylum, but rather madness  the kind of madness that kills people.

As Hans von Spakovsky, Lora Ries, and Steven Bradbury wrote in their case for the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has intentionally instigated an unprecedented border, national security, and humanitarian catastrophe. Mayorkas has violated his oath of office, abused the powers of his office, and betrayed the trust of the American people, endangering the constitutional republic. His misconduct is so reckless, so irresponsible, and so serious that he should be impeached, removed from office, and disqualified from holding any further office.

Yes, President Biden and his agent Secretary Mayorkas created this humanitarian crisis. We can hold Mexican officials responsible in Juarez. However, we can't do it in good faith without holding Joe & Alejandro accountable, too.

PS: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

Image: Pixnio.
What happens when a president chooses his Cabinet based on skin color and "historic firsts"?

The result is here:

WATCH:



Biden Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is left completely and totally dumbstruck after being asked a series of simple questions on China and the production of critical minerals. pic.twitter.com/MrJNj6CGlT  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 28, 2023

According to Yahoo! News, the Biden-appointed Interior secretary, Deb Haaland, had her exchange with GOP rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, a former interior secretary himself, who clearly had a command of the critical facts as Haaland came to Congress to argue for expanding her department with billions more in its budget.

Zinke later accused Haaland of not being able to answer his questions. His congressional office posted on its website the following exchange: ZINKE: Are you aware that China produces more emissions than any other country on the planet? HAALAND: I probably read that somewhere, ZINKE: Are you aware that China produces 90% of plastic from four rivers? HAALAND: I'll take that to be true. ZINKE: Are you aware that by multiple studies, that in order to satisfy the present requirement of EV and critical minerals, it would take an increase of 2,000% in minerals needed in the next twenty years? HAALAND: Thank you for that information. ZINKE: Are you aware that Northern Minnesota is home to those critical minerals? HAALAND: I am not sure. ZINKE: Can you pick any place in the United States that you've identified to fast-track so we are not vulnerable to China and Russia both In defense and EV? HAALAND: We are working on identifying those critical minerals. ZINKE: You would agree that not having the critical minerals identified and produced in this country is a security problem and prevents us from moving ahead on multiple issues, and makes us vulnerable to China? HAALAND: Energy independence is a priority to President Biden.

How wretched can you get? She wasn't sneering or arrogant, the way Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was to congressional questioners, but she more than made up for it by her ignorance of basic knowledge in order to do her actual job.

Here's what The Economist ran in recent days:

S&P Global expects copper consumption to double to 50m tonnes between now and 2035.



Whereas it takes years to go from licensing to operating an oil well, it can take a generation to develop a greenfield copper mine.https://t.co/1dGrUO82Rv  skepticalifornia (@skepticaliblog) April 1, 2023

She didn't know that if the U.S. can't produce its own copper for those electric vehicles, it will have to get that copper from someplace else? Or that the U.S. is going to lose its only nickel-mining plant by 2025? Or that China is the global leader in pollution? "I probably read that somewhere"? She actually shut down a long planned mining project in northern Minnesota, which would have been critical to the production of these metals so critical to electric car production. When Zinke asked her about it, all she could say was that boilerplate "energy independence is a priority for Biden."

Although the Boston Globe hailed her as the "champion of the land" when she was appointed Interior secretary, owing to her partial Native American heritage, she didn't know even the basics about minerals mined in the U.S., nor the mineral requirements the U.S. would need for Joe Biden's green energy transformation scheme, which among other things involves everyone buying $70,000 electric cars. At the same time, she's been shutting down the means to achieve that Biden green economy by shutting down mining facilities not favored by the environmental lobby.

Apparently, electric cars are supposed to just appear out of the air, or from the tender mercies of China, which, supposedly, will always be a reliable supplier of rare earth minerals for the U.S. with no strings attached.

We won't hold our breath.

It goes to show that Deb Haaland was just as unprepared as she seemed during her congressional nomination and, in two years as secretary, hasn't bothered to learn anything new, either. I wrote about how unimpressive she was at the time here.

Now, with two years on the job, she's even more unimpressive, shutting down mining facilities with no regard for how that boosts China or impedes electric vehicle production in the U.S.

Why she was appointed to this post, when she was in so clearly over her head, is a mystery, except for the fact that Joe Biden and the fawning media couldn't stop hailing her as a "historic first." Biden probably could have picked from a number of knowledgeable Native Americans, if that was whom he wanted from this post, but he instead chose an underachieving identity-politics activist, known for her political loyalty alone.

That's bad for the U.S. interior, and the $12-billion, 70,000-employee agency she "runs." It's also bad for the U.S. from a national security standpoint, not just in the unproduced minerals, but in countries such as China seeing Haaland in action in Congress, laughing up their sleeves at how little she knows, and adjusting their expectations accordingly.

Incompetence comes in many forms in the Biden administration, and perhaps the most pathetic form is in the sad-sack ignorance of his Interior secretary, hailed as "the champion of the land."

Image: Twitter screen shot.
What is justice?

If laws are predetermined and meted equally to all parties, there is justice.

If laws are unequally applied to serve the interests of those in power against those not in power, justice is absent. What we then have is authoritarianism.

The preamble to the Constitution states:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, to ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Our Founders in their deep wisdom established justice as the pre-eminent virtue in the formation of our "more perfect" Union. All of the other virtues  tranquility, defense, welfare, liberty  are predicated on the establishment of justice, for if justice doesn't exist, then the rest are just buzzwords without objective meaning.

Societies prior to our founding were premised on power. Whether a king, lord, sovereign, or warlord, those with power applied "their justice" to those in their charge. Justice was whatever the king determined justice was.

In a self-governing constitutional republic, the Founders wished to provide equal standing before the law to all the citizens. The Constitution would establish the basis for all laws under which the people and their elected representatives would be governed. These pre-established laws would then (in theory) form the adjudication of right and wrong.

The farther we've moved from our Founding, along with the dereliction of our, ahem, educational system, the less credence has been paid to established law. Today, those in power, along with their sycophantic tech allies and media mouthpieces, have run roughshod over the law and have determined that it is they who are the arbiters of truth and justice.

Stalin's secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria, once bragged that he could prove criminal conduct in anyone, even the innocent. "Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime."

Thus, we are shown Donald J. Trump. Is there an American alive or past who has been targeted for prosecution more than our 45th president?

First it was Russian Collusion, subsequently determined to be a sham, with Hillary Clinton illegally paying for the bogus Steele dossier. Hillary, Comey, Steele, Sussmann, Page, and Strzok should have all been prosecuted for their part in this malicious prosecution.

Then it was the Ukraine phone call. Donald Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to help investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his quid pro quo in the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma and Hunter Biden. A perfectly good call. Joe, Hunter, and other agents of the Obama White House should be sitting in jail for these illegalities.

Having gone 0 for 4, including the two failed impeachments, the Democrats have ramped up ever more lawfare to target "the man," relying on long-discredited lawyer Michael Cohen and failed porn star Stormy Daniels to bring federal charges for a long-past-statute-of-limitations misdemeanor (at best).

They also have on the docket a sham grand jury out of Fulton County (one of the most corrupt jurisdictions in the country, next to New York) alleging vote-tampering and election interference, where Donald Trump provides Georgia's RINO secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, evidence of a myriad of voting irregularities to investigate. Another perfect phone call.

And lastly, the DoJ, the FBI, and the Biden administration are targeting Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents, resulting in a midnight FBI raid, while at the same time Donald Trump was cooperating with federal agents to clarify any potential documents that he should not have had in his possession. Subsequently, dozens if not hundreds of documents have been found in Joe Biden's possession, next to his Corvette in Delaware. Not a peep.

Again, what is justice? How many bites at the apple do one's political opponents get, while they skate time and again, for equal if not more egregious criminal behaviors?

We are either a nation established on justice or a nation premised on power.

Nancy Pelosi states it plainly, when she says, "No one is above the law, and everyone has a right to trial to prove innocence."

Donald Trump is already guilty, you see. Now all they need to do is find the crime.

If Donald Trump, one of the most powerful men in the world, can be targeted for malicious prosecution, how do we the people fare in this application of justice? Good and hard, I'd imagine.

Image: Pix4free.org.
With the most recent shooting of innocents at a Nashville, Tennessee religious school by Audrey Hale, a female attacker who claimed to be male, it is past time to ask the question, "Should the LGBT and trans pride flags be banned from public places?"

Given the Marxist demands to ban the Confederate Battle, "Betsy Ross," and Gadsden flags in public spaces following the death of known drug-dealer and convicted felon George Floyd and the resulting six killed and nearly 2,000 law enforcement officers injured and over two billion dollars in damage to public and private property by Antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists, the time has come to look at banning a true symbol of hate and derision in our republic: the LGBT and trans pride flags.

Both flags are supposedly symbols of "inclusiveness," but the true colors of said flags have become manifest with the recent rise of mass murders and attacks by non-binary and transgendered attackers on Christian and public institutions, including the 2022 Colorado Springs shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich (male non-binary), 2019 Denver shooter Devon Erickson (female transgender), and 2018 Aberdeen shooter Snochia Moseley (male transgender). Additionally, a recent spate of public officials and media personalities supporting of the Trans Day of Vengeance, with accompanying symbols of weapons and knives, coming within days of the horrific murders in Nashville, prompted even a liberal-leaning institution like Twitter to ban images of the "Trans Day of Vengeance" posters.

The recent upturn in violence by members of the non-binary and transgendered communities are real, as seen by the recent attacks on supporters of women's rights like Posie Parker in New Zealand and the takeover of the Tennessee State Capitol. These actions are condoned by many even in the highest levels of state governments. Within hours of the Nashville murder of children and teachers, Democrat Arizona governor Katie Hobbs's press secretary, Josselyn Berry, tweeted an image that depicted a woman with two guns drawn, and it bore a caption that read, "Us when we see transphobes." Fortunately, the public outcry to this transgender threat of violence was so great that within 24 hours, Berry was forced to publicly resign, and Governor Hobbs was forced to issue an apology.

Finally, both the LGBT and trans pride flags have rightfully become associated with the trans grooming movement, a process that happens startlingly early in a child's life and can set him on a path to ruin, and asserts that parents have no right to decide what is best for their children's education and future. The recent parental victories against pro-grooming school boards in Florida and Virginia highlight the struggle that continues against the sexualization and indoctrination of children. This includes drag queen story hours, drag shows involving children, the transitioning and medicalization of minors, and gender theory being taught in the classroom.

Such restrictions on the LGBT and trans pride flags have been approved in Delaware; Ohio; and Cold Spring, New York, as well as in school districts from Davis County, Utah to Wales, Wisconsin. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, an effort to push a similar citywide measure was narrowly defeated this month. Recently, Florida, Republican state representative David Borrero introduced a bill that would similarly limit LGBT and trans pride flag displays at all governmental and public school buildings statewide.

There is something deadly about transgenderism. As a flash-in-the-pan social movement, the desire to go trans and to harm should be recognized as a cry for help. Millions of parents within the communities across the republic who want nothing to do with this alphabet religion should join the fight with concerned church, community, and government leaders everywhere to protect children. The public must work to return sanity and reclaim the community we once called our own. We must begin by asking: should such harmful symbols like the LGBT and trans pride flags, which encourage harm to others, be allowed in our publicly funded places like schools and government buildings? The safety of our children depends on the right answer.

Allyn Altieri is a husband, father, traditional Catholic, and combat veteran. The opinions expressed by this author are his own.

Image via Max Pixel.
Top US senator enters bill that will limit Chinese access to US land.

Chinese decades-long purchase of US farmlands and real state seen as a threat.

Bill authorizes US President Joe Biden to ban the sale of US lands.

Last Thursday, a top US senator urged to pass a bill that will ban China from buying and owning US land. These would encompass farmland and real estate, which would be exempted from Chinese ownership.

Top US Senator Urges To Pass 'Not One More Inch or Acre Act'

The legislative act is called the Not One More Inch or Acre Act, which keeps land in the US free of Chinese ownership, according to a bill authored by Sen. Tom Cotton. The legislature states that a minimum fine of 10% of the land's value should ownership be foreign, which would fall under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, per Farmland Info.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the main author of the bill, wants to combat the threat of the CCP to America. He stated that the Chinese Communist Party has been buying US farmland and real estate. He added that the acquisition of these resources by the CCP is unsuitable for the US. Claimed they are staging points to compromise the United States that includes American businesses and military bases, citing Fox News.

The co-sponsor of Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) stated that China is the worst threat in the geopolitical and national security sphere.

The FBI usually opens new counterintelligence directed against Chinese entities twice daily. He alleged that China is getting intellectual property, using TikTok, buying US farmlands, and using unfair trade that affects Alabama steelmakers and shrimpers, calling for more strength and less weakness.

Read Also: Who Is the WSJ Reporter Arrested in Russia?

US To Ban Chinese from Buying US Land

The bill will prevent non-US persons or entities from having access to properties in the US. It will remove these suspected properties if it's a national risk. One example is farmland in Grand Forks, North Dakota which is 370 acres and is 15 miles from a Grand Forks Air Force Base where technology research is done.

The land purchase is for the Chinese corn mill project, which was stopped by the USAF two months back, saying that it is a threat to national security, but Fufeng USA which is China-based has ownership up to now. To this effect, Cotton said that no one who is linked to the CCP should not own any US land or its soil. Remark that any US property getting exploited by the Chinese must be sold.

The maximum penalty that can be imposed on any Chinese company to avoid a repeat will cost them about $120,000 up to $21 million if the owners are from overseas. The cost of $21 million is the most amount at 25% of the fair value of the property. One ex-military Chinese billionaire paid little as the AFIDA has no maximum penalty. But a 10% minimum mentioned in the bill would be up to $8 million or above.

Top US senators intervened and urged to pass a bill to ban the Chinese from buying US land.

Related Article: President Xi Jinping Urges Iran, Saudi To improve Ties, Enhance Peace Deal
Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed that the companys AI chatbot Bard would soon get upgrades. The Bard upgrades are probably a part of Googles plan to catch up with Microsoft Bing, which is now running on OpenAIs GPT-4

Speaking on The New York Times Hard Fork podcast, Pichai said developers are currently busy with upgrading Bard, and users will see improvements in the course of next week. Pretty soon, perhaps as this [podcast] goes live, we will be upgrading Bard to some of our more capable PaLM models, which will bring more capabilities; be it in reasoning, coding, it can answer maths questions better, Pichai added.

Google has recently opened up its own AI language model PaLM, which is believed to be more powerful than LaMDA. The tech giant says PaLM can better solve coding problems and common-sense reasoning. The Google Bard, however, is now running on a lightweight and efficient version of LaMDA. Pichai says its like putting a souped-up Civic against more powerful cars in a race.

Google Bard gets an upgrade to compete with Microsoft Bing

Microsofts Bing chatbot could outperform Google Bard in many ways and become the most powerful AI chatbot globally. Meanwhile, Googles CEO says this is because they tried to be very cautious with Bards development. To me, it was important to not put [out] a more capable model before we can fully make sure we can handle it well, he said.

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The AI race has also caused concerns among the worlds tech leaders and university professors. Recently, Elon Musk and many other executives wrote an open letter to warn about the out of control AI race. They argued that AI experiments must be halted for at least six months. And AI labs and experts should apply better safety protocols.

Sundar Pichai also alluded to the letter. Saying the topic needs a lot of debate and its important to hear the concerns. But Google CEO does not endorse specific regulations for AI and believes the current privacy and health regulations seem enough.

Regarding the AI capabilities for distorting the truth and spreading misinformation, Pichai said theyre not worried about AI safety because you have to anticipate this and evolve to meet that moment.
Mobile phone security is a wonderful thinguntil you find yourself on the wrong side of it because youve forgotten your password or broken your screen.

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You can read all about how to bypass the FRP lock on a Samsung phone (or any phone, for that matter) right here.

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Andrew and Tristan Tate were released from Romanian prison and placed under house arrest

The brothers are accused of organized crime, human trafficking, and rape

The siblings were detained in prison for roughly three months as their appeals were repeatedly denied

Former kickboxer and now controversial social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have been released from prison and placed under house arrest amid ongoing investigations.

The brothers have been locked up in Romanian prison for about three months following their arrest for organized crime, human trafficking, and rape allegations. A Romanian court decided on Friday.

Andrew Tate, Tristan Tate Released from Romanian Prison

The suspects, who have continued to deny the allegations, allegedly formed an organized criminal group encompassing Romania, Britain, and the United States. The organization was believed to have been made for human trafficking.

Romanian authorities said that some of the brothers' victims were misled to believe that the two men wanted to enter a marriage/cohabitation relationship with the women. The victims were then transported to Romania and were sexually exploited and threatened with physical violence and coercion, as per CNN.

A statement released by Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said that there were at least six victims whom the organized criminal group sexually exploited.

Romanian officials also said that one of the suspects raped a victim twice in March 2022. On the other hand, the Tate brothers have maintained their innocent stance regarding the crimes.

In a statement in January, Andrew, after being taken in by Romanian authorities for questioning, said there was no evidence in his file because he had done nothing wrong. He argued that everyone knew that he was innocent.

Read Also: Pope Francis to be Present on Palm Sunday Amid Recovery

Suspects Placed Under House Arrest

The latest ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeal replaces the latest period of custody for the Tate brothers, which was set to end on Apr. 29. Furthermore, two associates of the main suspects are also being released, identified as Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu, according to BBC.

All four individuals have been placed under house arrest in the buildings where they live unless they acquire judicial permission to leave. A spokeswoman representing the Tate brothers said the two individuals were "ecstatic" to be released from Romanian prison.

Lawyers for both suspects have continued to argue that keeping their clients in preventative custody was unnecessarily harsh. This comes as other judicial options exist, such as house arrest.

Leaked court documents also outlined testimony from alleged victims who claimed to have been forced to earn roughly $11,000 monthly on social media platforms if they did not want to be physically hurt.

A spokesperson for the Tate brothers said that the suspects were looking forward to being reunited with their families and will continue to fight the allegations. They also thanked all of their supporters.

Mateea Petrescu, Andrew's communications director, said that he believes the judge in the appeal court was thorough in their decision. He argued that the justices took their time to understand that the suspects were not flight risks or dangers to the public's safety, said Mirror.

Related Article: Joe Biden Urges Russia for Release of Arrested US Journalist

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(ANSA) - ROME, APR 1 - The mayor of the northwestern port city of Savona, Marco Russo, on Saturday flouted a government ban and registered the son of two women.

The child, conceived in Barcelona with the assisted fertility of one of the women, was born in Savona earlier this week.

It is the first case of registration of the child of a same-sex couple in Liguria since the government stopped the practice.

Russo explained his decision to prosecutors and the prefect saying that he had signed the act personally without involving any other functionaries.

"I challenge the ban, the government is far away from reality", he said.

The European Parliament on Thursday approved an amendment to its motion for a resolution on the rule of law condemning "the instructions given by the Italian government to the municipality of Milan to suspend the registration of adoptions of same-sex couples." The amendment was submitted by the Renew Europe group and supported by the Left, Greens and Socialists.

Milan was recently forced to stop a procedure it had used to register both members of a same-sex couple as the parents of a child after the prefect's department warned it was illegal following consultations with the interior ministry.

The procedure was based on the transcription into the Milan civil register of foreign birth certificates of children conceived by surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, or assisted fertility, which is only allowed for heterosexual couples here.

Furthermore, Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party has tabled a bill that would make surrogacy a "universal crime", meaning that Italians could be prosecuted for using the practice in foreign States where it is legal.

Many Italian same-sex couples have had children via surrogacy outside the country.

The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has condemned the government's actions and said it will fight to pass legislation protecting the rights of same-sex-parent families.

Milan Mayor Beppe Sala on Wednesday called for all the opposition parties to form a broad alliance to fight for the rights of same-sex-parent families .

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday stressed the government's opposition to surrogacy amid the row on registering same-sex couple's children in Italy saying that women's bodies weren't like ovens that bake potatoes.

"A woman cannot be exploited: she is not a cigarette machine. A woman's womb must not be used to churn out children as if it were an oven where roast potatoes are baked", Tajani, who is also deputy premier and No 2 in Silvio Berlusconi's centre right Forza Italia (FI) party, said on the sidelines of a local election rally in the northern city of Udine, after the European Parliament came out for the rights of same-sex families and their children.

"It is not that women can decide on the uterus for rent," he added, "one cannot commodify one's own body. To the EU parliament I answer that the rules are written in Italy: it is not a question of European competences. The parliament was not legislating, it gave a majority opinion: if you want to change the rules you have to change them in Italy".

A Brothers of Italy (FdI) MP said last week that surrogacy was "more serious than paedophilia" while pro-life Family Minister Eugenia Roccella said "surrogacy is prohibited and let's call it by its name, uterus for rent, because it is a transfer of money with a contract", and said ti had racist connotations because people were choosing blonde children instead of black ones.

(ANSA).


West Lindsey District Council has launched legal action against the Home Office to challenge the decision to use a local Royal Air Force station as a site for asylum accommodation.

It follows an announcement by the Minister for Immigration on Wednesday to use RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire as a site for up to 2,000 asylum seekers.

The local authority said in a statement that it does not consider the base to be appropriate and that it is concerned Home Office proposals will affect plans to deliver a 300 million regeneration programme and put the world-renowned heritage site at risk.

It insisted there are a significant number of barriers to mobilising the site for asylum seekers, including significant contamination from previous site uses that would require thorough remediation.

The body accused the Home Office of failing to provide a satisfactory response to questions raised and said it has therefore commenced legal action to challenge the government departments decision.

The Councils Director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities, Sally Grindrod-Smith, said: Despite ongoing attempts by the Council to set out to the Home Office the irretrievable damage that would be caused to the once in a generation investment opportunity that is on the table, the Home Secretary has taken the decision to utilise RAF Scampton as a site for asylum accommodation.

The Council considers that the decision is irrational and moreover the Home Office does not have the appropriate planning permission for the intended use.

The Council has therefore issued a letter before action, sent in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review, which requires the Home Secretary to respond by no later than 4pm on Thursday April 6 2023.

She added: The Council is acutely aware of the concern caused by the proposal and the potential loss of much needed levelling up investment. We will continue to press the Home Office to engage directly with our community to fully understand the concerns being raised.

According to a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document published by the Government following its decision, the site would accommodate single adult male asylum seekers using a phased approach  starting with moving 200 people on site before increasing to 2,000 people over time.

The FAQ document said: RAF Scampton has been identified as a surplus military site that is suitable for the purposes of asylum accommodation.

The site will create new jobs and bring investment into the area, following the draw-down of the RAF facility.

The site at RAF Scampton will provide accommodation for asylum seekers and is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, helping to minimise the impact on local communities and services.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
The Government has launched a bid to help businesses use less energy on the same day as it pulls away most of its energy bill support for companies.

Small and medium-sized companies will be told that they can save money on their bills by putting light and heating on timers, turning down flow temperatures on boilers and switching to more efficient light bulbs.

The move will also help companies reduce their environmental footprints by cutting the amount of fossil fuels that are burned to power them.

Falling wholesale energy prices are welcome news, but this in no way changes our firm, long-term commitments to vastly boost UK energy efficiency across industry and households, said minister for energy efficiency Lord Callanan.

From today businesses, charities and public sector bodies can access helpful and practical advice on simple actions they can take to substantially reduce their energy use  and potentially increase profits.

Not only will this help lower operational costs by up to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but smarter energy use will help us deliver on our critical pledges to cut demand by 15% and reach net zero by 2050.

But it comes as the support on energy bills for non-domestic customers  that is to say businesses, charities, schools and the like  will be heavily reduced from Saturday.

Until now these energy users had seen their energy bills capped at a per unit charge. But from Saturday they will simply get a discount which is likely to be far less generous for most companies.

The discount scheme will remain in place until March next year.

But business groups have warned of the consequences that companies face.

The cliff edge weve been warning about for months is sadly here. Tens of thousands of small firms are now at an existential risk as government energy support will largely downscale to a scheme that offers almost no help from Saturday, said Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
Labour has dismissed Government plans that could see water companies facing unlimited fines and penalties as part of efforts to tackle pollution.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is expected to announce next week plans that ministers believe will make polluters pay, with tougher fines levied on water companies put into a water restoration fund.

It comes as the latest Environment Agency figures showed there were a total of 301,091 sewage spills in 2022, an average of 824 a day.

Discharges fell by 19% in 2022 but this was due to dry weather rather than any action taken by water companies, the agency said.

(PA Graphics)

Part of the plan will see Ms Coffey publish a six-week consultation on strengthening the Environment Agencys ability to impose sanctions on water companies without going through the courts.

The Government is believed to support a lifting of the upper cap on civil penalties on water companies, allowing unlimited fines.

Defra said the penalties would be quicker and easier to enforce, with the most serious cases still taken through criminal proceedings.

Sir Keir Starmer, speaking during a campaign visit in Kent, called it a flimsy response from ministers.

What the Government has done to our rivers and beaches is turn them into open sewers.

Im here in Kent and its a beautiful place, with rivers and beaches that are being polluted and it really, really goes to the heart of how people feel about their environment.

The Government has let them down very, very badly.

And this is just a flimsy next step from the Government, he told broadcasters.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

The Labour leader called for a strong plan, demanding mandatory monitoring and automatic fines to ensure that those that are responsible are held to account.

The Government has been under serious pressure from campaigners to tackle pollution in recent months, with the new measures expected to form part of plans to toughen enforcement against companies.

Ms Coffey said: I know how important our beautiful rivers, lakes, streams and coastlines are for people and nature and I couldnt agree more that more needs to be done to protect them.

I want to make sure that regulators have the powers and tools to take tough action against companies that are breaking the rules, and to do so more quickly.

Through the Water Restoration Fund, I will be making sure that money from higher fines and penalties  taken from water company profits, not customers  is channelled directly back into the rivers, lakes and streams where it is needed.

Currently, penalties and fines imposed by Ofwat are returned to the Treasury.

But new Government plans will see the money instead be returned to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey (Jacob King/PA)

Campaigners have accused water companies of discharging sewage much more often than they should, including when there has been no rain, and have repeatedly called on water companies to use their profits to invest in more infrastructure.

The Liberal Democrats have stepped up its attacks on the Government over the issue, calling on Ms Coffey to quit.

Sir Keir did not endorse those calls.

I want the Environment Secretary to get on with her job, which is to stop turning our beaches and our rivers into open sewers, he said.
Ministers and water companies would face a new legal obligation to end the dumping of sewage in the countrys waterways, Labour has said.

New proposed legislation, introduced by shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon, would make it a legal requirement to monitor all sewage outlets, as well as creating a statutory underpinning for penalties for failures to adhere to such requirements.

It comes as the party accused the Government of regurgitating old ideas, after Environmental Secretary Therese Coffey revealed plans which could see water companies face unlimited fines over pollution.

Labours Bill would also impose automatic fines for sewage dumping, as well as implementing a legally binding target to reduce it.

Raw sewage that was dumped into the River Great Ouse at Brackley (Environment Agency/PA)

The proposals would also create a new requirement for the Secretary of State to publish a strategy on the reduction of sewage discharges, as well as regular economic impact assessments.

Labour wants the Conservatives to allow time in Parliament for the Bill, although there is little to no prospect of the plan becoming law.

Its clear that we have a Tory government that has run out of road, when all it can resort to is regurgitating old announcements that do nothing to end sewage dumping, Mr McMahon said.

The Tories are allowing Britain's beautiful rivers and coastlines to be turned into open sewers. Labour will take action to tackle the scandal of sewage dumping. We'll introduce mandatory monitoring and automatic fines to hold those responsible to account.  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 1, 2023

Thats why Labour has brought forward legislation to force the clean-up of the water industry.

Tory MPs, having previously blocked Labour-backed measures to end the Tory sewage scandal, have no excuses for not supporting this Bill, which puts an end to sewage dumping once and for all.

The next Labour government will build a better Britain and end the Tory sewage scandal, delivering mandatory monitoring on all sewage outlets, introducing automatic fines for discharges, setting ambitious targets for stopping systematic sewage dumping and ensuring that water bosses are held to account for negligence.
Andie MacDowell says deciding to go grey has "empowered" her. (Getty Images)

Andie MacDowell has said her grey hair "looks good" on her as she reveals she's "tired of trying to be young".

The actor, 64, shared the poignant reason behind her decision to grow out her natural locks during the pandemic.

Speaking to Katie Couric in an interview shared on YouTube, the star said: "Because my mother died when she was 53, I was 23, I never got to see her transition [to grey hair]."

She noted that once she made the decision to commit to waving goodbye to her trademark brunette mane she only experienced positives.

MacDowell, who rose to fame in the films Four Weddings And A Funeral and Groundhog Day, continued: "I was right. It looks good on me."

She added: "As it was growing out my eyes popped. The colour of them looked a little different. I liked the way my skin looked better.

Read more: Andie MacDowell says she feels more 'real and honest' with grey hair

"It empowered me more. I felt more powerful and I felt more genuine and I felt more myself."

The mother-of-three insisted that "everyone's been wonderful about it" but that there are still people who tell her she looks "older".

The actress (pictured in 2019) says she's "tired" of trying to look younger than her 64 years. (Getty Images)

While MacDowell acknowledged that "there's something that happens in our brain with women with silver hair" making us associate it with ageing.

However, she insisted: "I want to be old. I'm tired of trying to be young."

Read more: Andie MacDowell opens up about her social anxiety

The star generated much praise when she debuted her grey hair on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival in 2021.

Other famous women to embrace their silver locks include Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Fonda and Dawn French.

Watch:'We need to love where we are at every age', says Andie MacDowell
A premature baby born weighing just 535g has now celebrated her first birthday. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

The parents of a premature baby, born weighing less than a loaf of bread, have described feeling "so grateful" that their daughter has defied the odds to celebrate her first birthday.

Lauren Ormston, 27, from Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, gave birth at just 23 weeks after going into premature labour on 4th March 2022.

Baby Isla weighed just 535g (1.18lbs) when she was born - less than a large loaf of bread (typically 800g) - and the odds were stacked against her.

After her birth she was rushed to the neonatal unit and was later diagnosed with a level two bleed on the brain and a hole in the heart.

Isla spent four months in hospital fighting for her life before finally being discharged on July 12 2022.

Read more: Baby born with heart wired the wrong way round survives major surgery: 'So strong'

Baby Isla was born weighing just 535g. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

Mum Ormston and her fiance Oliver Dewey, 32, were thrilled to celebrate Isla's first birthday this month - a milestone they worried their daughter may never reach.

Isla now weighs 7kg - over thirteen times her birth weight - and makes the tiny nappies she used to wear look like dolls' nappies.

Recalling the moments immediately after her daughter's birth Ormston says: "I could only cuddle Isla for six minutes before she was taken to a ventilator.

"She looked so small and fragile, like she would snap at the slightest bit of movement.

"We didnt think wed see her first birthday, or that shed ever come home - there were so many times we nearly lost her in hospital and were told to prepare for the worst.

"But I knew my baby girl was a fighter - and I was right."

Doctors gave baby Isla just a 10% chance of survival. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

Ormston continues: "She's defeated all the odds.

"She is absolutely amazing and we are so proud - every day with her is a blessing."

The couple found they were expecting their first child on 2nd November 2021 and the pregnancy initially passed without incident, with their baby expected to arrive on July 1 2022.

But on March 3 Ormston began to get severe pains in her abdomen, which she decided to get checked out.

Having telephoned the triage three times that night, she ended up going to Frimley Park Hospital, Camberley, Surrey, for tests.

Read more: Mum gives birth to an 11lb 13oz baby 'the size of a toddler'

Lauren Ormston, 27, gave birth at just 23 weeks after going into premature labour, pictured with her fiance. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

But when she arrived the following day, doctors informed her she was in labour and gave the baby just a 10% chance of survival.

After being blue-lighted in an ambulance to St Peter's Hospital, Ormston was induced at 7:30pm, giving birth to baby Isla less than two hours later.

Isla was immediately rushed to the neonatal unit and ventilated as she was unable to breathe without assistance.

"Her skin was transparent, I could see every little vein within her body," her mum recalls. "I lived each day, never knowing if she would make it, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute."

Baby Isla's tiny hand just after birth. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

After six weeks Isla was taken off the ventilator and began using an oxygen mask instead. This meant her parents could properly cuddle their tiny newborn without tubes getting in the way.

At two months old, Isla lost vision in her right eye after her retina detached, and surgery to fix it was unsuccessful.

But she continued to fight and on July 12, after 130 days in hospital, having grown to weigh 4kg, she could finally go home with her parents.

Watch: Teenage mum gives birth to newborn believed to be the UK's smallest premature baby

In March 2023, the family celebrated Isla's first birthday - a milestone they feared she would never reach.

She can now also sit unaided, is trying to crawl, and even stand up with some assistance.

Her clothing may only be sized for babies aged three to six months, but Isla is unrecognisable from the tiny, frail newborn her parents welcomed.

Read more: Parents who sleep alongside their babies need safety advice, urge experts

Isla now weighs 7kg and is thriving at home with her parents. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

She now wears regular nappies, which dwarf the newborn nappies she was initially in, which were so small they could sit in the palm of your hand.

"Looking at her now, you wouldnt know she was premature," her mum explains. "Shes a proper little madam now, she's got her own personality, and is the most independent little girl ever.

"It's taught us not to take anything for granted - we live for each day because you dont know what's around the corner.

Read more: Babies born in this area of the UK live 12 years longer, according to new research

Isla has now celebrated her first birthday. (Lauren Ormston/SWNS)

"We are just grateful for what we have, so grateful she was strong enough to defeat the odds and prove everyone wrong.

"When she is older, I'm going to share the experience with her so she knows how special she is and she can be grateful too."

Additional reporting SWNS.
A man will appear in court charged with the murders of a father and son who were shot dead in two villages six miles apart in Cambridgeshire.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary said Stephen Alderton, 66, of no fixed abode, will appear at Huntingdon Magistrates Court on Saturday charged with two counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm.

The bodies of Gary and Joshua Dunmore were discovered at properties in The Row, Sutton, and Meridian Close, Bluntisham, on Wednesday.

Joshua Dunmore (Cambridgeshire Police/PA)

The victims family paid tribute to the devoted father and son in a statement released via Cambridgeshire Constabulary on Friday.

They said: Josh was a devoted father and a loving uncle. He was a wonderful son and brother and leaves behind an extensive group of family and friends.

He will be deeply missed and the devastation this has caused will never heal.

Gary was the most devoted son, brother, dad and grandad, who gave everything for those he loved.

He was a gentle and generous person who always put others before himself and hell be massively missed by his family and all those who knew and loved him.

Gary Dunmore (Cambridgeshire Police/PA)

A floral tribute to Gary Dunmore, left outside his home in The Row, Sutton, said: To my dear neighbour Gary.

A man who loved his family dearly, a dear friend to all, so helpful and kind and was always around as a friend and my little odd job man.

Im going to miss you.

Police said that post-mortem examinations will take place at Peterborough City Hospital on Monday.
A 66-year-old man has been remanded in custody accused of the murders of a father and son who were shot dead in two villages six miles apart in Cambridgeshire.

The bodies of Gary and Joshua Dunmore were discovered at properties in The Row, Sutton, and Meridian Close, Bluntisham, on Wednesday.

Stephen Alderton, of no fixed abode, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm.

Alderton, wearing a grey prison tracksuit, confirmed his name, age and address at Huntingdon Magistrates Court on Saturday, before being remanded in custody.

No pleas were entered and the case was sent to Cambridge Crown Court, where a hearing will take place on Monday.

The victims family have paid tribute to the devoted father and son in a statement released via Cambridgeshire Constabulary on Friday.

Gary (left) and Joshua Dunmore (Cambridgeshire Police/PA)

They said: Josh was a devoted father and a loving uncle.

He was a wonderful son and brother and leaves behind an extensive group of family and friends.

He will be deeply missed and the devastation this has caused will never heal.

Gary was the most devoted son, brother, dad and grandad, who gave everything for those he loved.

He was a gentle and generous person who always put others before himself and hell be massively missed by his family and all those who knew and loved him.

A floral tribute to Gary Dunmore, left outside his home in The Row, Sutton, said: To my dear neighbour Gary.

A man who loved his family dearly, a dear friend to all, so helpful and kind and was always around as a friend and my little odd job man.

Im going to miss you.

Police said post-mortem examinations will take place at Peterborough City Hospital on Monday.
Ivanka Trump breaks silence on her father's, Donald Trump's, indictment

She said that she was "pained" by the Manhattan grand jury's decision

Trump faces potential charges of falsifying business records

Ivanka Trump has broken her silence about her father's, former United States President Donald Trump, indictment, saying that she is "pained" by the Manhattan grand jury's decision.

The statement, released on Friday, was posted on social media, adding that she appreciated the voices across the political spectrum that were made in support of the Republican businessman. A law enforcement source said that following the indictment from the Manhattan grand jury, Trump is expected to be arraigned in court on Tuesday.

Ivanka Trump Speaks About Father's Indictment

Judge Juan Merchan was responsible for presiding over the case that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought. An alleged hush payment worth $130,000 was supposedly given to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 amid Trump's campaign for president.

On top of confirmation given by Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina, another source said that the former president has made arrangements with the district attorney's legal team to surrender without handcuffs. The DA's office will then deploy detectives who will handle the arrest of the Republican businessman, as per Fox News.

Ivanka moved to Miami along with her husband, Jared Kushner, after the two spent four years in Washington, D.C., in the political forefront serving under the Trump administration. She is not expected to play a significant role in her father's 2024 presidential run.

She served as a senior adviser to Trump during the latter's four years in the White House despite saying she did not plan to be involved in politics. Ivanka's statement read, "I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both."

The Manhattan grand jury's indictment remains under seal for now. According to The Hill, it is under fire by Trump's colleagues and supporters who argue that it is politically motivated and is only intended to hurt the former president's attempt for a 2024 re-election.

Read Also: Adult Film Star's True Feelings on Donald Trump's Indictment

Donald Trump Faces Criminal Charges

Ivanka's post comes as Trump has become the first former president of the United States to face criminal charges. The Republican businessman released a statement minutes after the official announcement of the indictment, decrying the Manhattan grand jury's decision.

He considered the decision "political persecution" and "election interference at the highest level." Trump also criticized Bragg as someone who was "hand-picked and funded by George Soros," referring to a well-known antisemitic dog whistle.

Trump said that Democrats have lied, cheated, and stolen in their obsession of trying to "Get Trump." He argued that they have now done the unimaginable: to indict a completely innocent person, referring to himself, in the act of election interference.

While the payment to Daniels alone would not be considered a crime, the possibility that Trump fraudulently documented the expense, which he claimed was payment covered under Michael Cohen's "monthly retainer" fee, could constitute a crime of falsifying business records, said BuzzFeedNews.

Related Article: Who is Stormy Daniels?

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Government plans that could see water companies facing unlimited fines and penalties as part of efforts to tackle pollution have been dismissed by opposition parties.

Next week, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is expected to announce plans that ministers believe will make polluters pay, with tougher fines levied on water companies put into a water restoration fund.

But Labour labelled the move as flimsy, while the Liberal Democrats repeated the partys call for Ms Coffey to resign.

It comes as the latest Environment Agency figures showed there were a total of 301,091 sewage spills in 2022, an average of 824 a day.

Discharges fell by 19% in 2022 but this was due to dry weather rather than any action taken by water companies, the agency said.

But amid public anger and political pressure over the condition of the UKs waterways, Ms Coffey is expected to publish a six-week consultation on strengthening the Environment Agencys ability to impose sanctions on water companies without going through the courts.

The Government is believed to support a lifting of the upper cap on civil penalties on water companies, allowing unlimited fines.

Defra said the penalties would be quicker and easier to enforce, with the most serious cases still taken through criminal proceedings.

(PA Graphics)

The Government plans will also see the money from penalties and fines returned to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, rather than to the Treasury.

Ms Coffey said that she could not agree more that more needs to be done to protect rivers, lakes and streams.

I want to make sure that regulators have the powers and tools to take tough action against companies that are breaking the rules, and to do so more quickly, she said.

The new fund, she said, would ensure that money from higher fines and penalties  taken from water company profits, not customers  is channelled directly back into the rivers, lakes and streams where it is needed.

But the early details of the plans have failed to convince opposition parties.

The Tories are allowing Britain's beautiful rivers and coastlines to be turned into open sewers. Labour will take action to tackle the scandal of sewage dumping. We'll introduce mandatory monitoring and automatic fines to hold those responsible to account.  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 1, 2023

Sir Keir Starmer, speaking during a campaign visit in Kent, called it a flimsy response from ministers.

What the Government has done to our rivers and beaches is turn them into open sewers.

This is just a flimsy next step from the Government, he told broadcasters.

The party has put forward its own proposals to tackle the problem.

A new Bill, introduced by shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon, would make it a legal requirement to monitor all sewage outlets, as well as creating a statutory underpinning for penalties for failures to adhere to such requirements.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party would end sewage dumping once and for all (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Also included in the proposals are automatic fines for sewage dumping, as well as implementing a legally binding target to reduce it, while also creating a new requirement for the Secretary of State to publish a strategy on the reduction of sewage discharges.

Labour wants the Conservatives to allow time in Parliament for the Bill, although there is little to no prospect of the plan becoming law.

Its clear that we have a Tory Government that has run out of road, when all it can resort to is regurgitating old announcements that do nothing to end sewage dumping, Mr McMahon said.

Thats why Labour has brought forward legislation to force the clean-up of the water industry.

Tory MPs, having previously blocked Labour-backed measures to end the Tory sewage scandal, have no excuses for not supporting this Bill, which puts an end to sewage dumping once and for all.

Sir Keir stopped short of calling for the resignation of Environment Secretary Therese Coffey (Jacob King/PA)

Campaigners have accused water companies of discharging sewage much more often than they should, including when there has been no rain, and have repeatedly called on water companies to use their profits to invest in more infrastructure.

Government sources said that there were already strict targets on water companies to reduce sewage dumping, while also pointing to the last years Storm Overflows Reduction Plan as a response to concerns.

Labours plan simply isnt credible. It involves digging up 100,000 km of combined sewer or building 40,000 Olympic swimming pools of additional storage capacity in a couple of years, a Government source said.

Sewage would be coming up into your home whilst Labour taxes you for the privilege.

The Liberal Democrats have stepped up their attacks on the Government over the issue, calling on Ms Coffey to quit.

Environment spokesperson Tim Farron said the Governments plan was pointless whilst it remains legal for water companies to dump sewage into swimming waters.

He added: It is a national scandal that water companies are allowed to pump sewage into our rivers and coastlines all because ministers refuse to get tough with them.

Sir Keir did not endorse calls for Ms Coffey to quit, however.

I want the Environment Secretary to get on with her job, which is to stop turning our beaches and our rivers into open sewers, he said.
Police have been given more time to question two teenage boys arrested on suspicion of murdering a pensioner who died after she was robbed in her own home.

The pair, aged 14 and 15 and both from the Lowestoft area, are being held following the death of 82-year-old Joy Middleditch who lived in Pakefield.

Ms Middleditch was found lying on the floor of her end-of-terrace bungalow in Grayson Avenue by concerned family members on Saturday, and police were called just after 1.50pm.

Her handbag had been taken and was recovered a short distance away in Nelson Road.

Police at the property (Sam Russell/PA)

On Saturday, officers were granted an extension to detain the boys for questioning for 12 more hours, which will expire in the evening, Suffolk Police said.

Ms Middleditch told her relatives, and later police officers, she had heard a noise at the door before two masked men forced their way in and knocked her to the ground.

Police said it is thought she was attacked between the evening of Friday March 24 and the early hours of Saturday March 25.

The pensioner was found conscious and breathing but was in a serious condition and was taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk.

She died there in the early hours of Monday.

A Home Office post-mortem examination was carried out on Monday but the cause of death is yet to be confirmed, pending further investigation, the force said.

Ms Middleditchs family said in an earlier statement released through police: Joy was a strong, determined character who loved life and her dog.

She was a loving person who was sadly taken from us too soon.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the major investigation team by emailing MITincident.room@suffolk.police.uk or by calling 101 quoting the reference 37/17537/23.

People can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
By Andrew Hay

(Reuters) -Dave Halls, first assistant director on Western "Rust, was sentenced on Friday for the on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, marking the first conviction for the 2021 fatality which shook Hollywood.

A New Mexico judge approved the set manager's plea deal with prosecutors for a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon for his role in Hutchins' death on a movie set outside Santa Fe.

The conviction marked a step forward for state prosecutors plagued by legal setbacks since they filed charges in January against actor Alec Baldwin and others who handled the gun that killed Hutchins.

District court judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sentenced Halls to a six-month suspended sentence with unsupervised probation, a $500 fine, 24 hours of community service and a firearms safety class.

Hutchins was killed when Baldwin fired a live round from a revolver while rehearsing. As first assistant director, prosecutors said Halls was responsible for set safety on "Rust."

"Halls did not check every round in the gun to confirm it was a dummy round and not a live round," state prosecutor Kari Morrissey told the virtual plea hearing.

Halls, an industry-veteran with over 80 credits including "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Crow: Salvation," was the only member of the "Rust" cast and crew to enter a plea bargain. Prosecutors said he approached them and was cooperative.

It remains unclear whether he will testify on behalf of the prosecution in a May preliminary hearing where Marlowe Sommer will decide whether there is probable cause to try Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

Baldwin pleaded not guilty to a criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter. The actor said he relied on weapons experts - Gutierrez-Reed and Halls - to ensure the firearm was safe to use.

Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for firearm safety and training, will also plead not guilty, according to her lawyer.

'COLD GUN'

The case is remarkable in that there is little or no precedent for a Hollywood actor to face criminal charges for an on-set shooting.

Investigators have been unable to discover who brought live rounds on set, an act strictly forbidden by the industry.

Never in anyone's wildest dreams never, never in anyone's imagination, did anyone think that there could possibly be a live round in the firearm, said Lisa Torraco, Halls lawyer.

She said Halls was suffering from "survivor's guilt" after he only checked the gun for blank rounds, which make an explosive sound and muzzle flash, and dummy rounds - the two types of rounds used on film sets.

The chain of events leading to Hutchins' death remains unclear, though Gutierrez-Reed has said she loaded the live round that killed Hutchins, believing it to be a dummy.

A 2021 police report said Halls announced the weapon was a "cold gun" - an industry term meaning it did not contain rounds with an explosive charge - before handing it to Baldwin.

Halls testified to New Mexico's worker safety bureau in December that it was Gutierrez-Reed who said "cold gun" and gave the revolver to Baldwin. The armorer told the bureau she never used that term and it was Halls who passed the weapon to Baldwin.

Under the charge of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must prove Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin were not only negligent in their handling of the firearm but showed intentional disregard for Hutchins' safety.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Donna Bryson, Leslie Adler and Aurora Ellis)
The Scottish Tories have written to the countrys top civil servant to protest over the appointment of a minister for independence.

Humza Yousaf pledged to create the post during his push for the SNP leadership and this week kept his promise by appointing Jamie Hepburn to the job.

Writing to Permanent Secretary John Paul Marks on Friday, Scottish Tory constitution spokesman Donald Cameron said money should not be being spent on Scottish independence in light of the Supreme Court ruling last year that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to hold another referendum.

This is not an appropriate use of taxpayer funding as it is not an area where the Scottish Government can action any policy that is has the power to deliver, he said.

Mr Cameron went on to say it would be reasonable for the Permanent Secretary to consider formally objecting to such a spending proposal, before asking Mr Marks if he had done so and been subsequently overruled.

I consider this matter to be of significant public interest, not least in light of the taxpayers money being spent on this appointment, he added.

Mr Hepburn was appointed on Wednesday to the post  which combined with his MSP salary sees him earn 98,000 per year.

Asked on Thursday what his responsibilities would be, the First Minister said: Advancing independence, hell work closely, as youd imagine, with Angus Robertson.

He added: Hell work across and alongside the party to ensure that we are in the best place possible to advance the cause of independence.
Meghan Markle's estranged half-sister Samantha Markle has lost her defamation case against the Duchess of Sussex.

On March 30, a Florida judge granted Meghan's motion to dismiss the lawsuit's claims without prejudice, according to court documents obtained by E! News.

Samantha, 58, alleged in her 2022 filing that several defamatory comments about her were published in Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie's 2020 book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family. The unauthorized biography about Meghan and husband Prince Harry contains a chapter titled "A Problem Like Samantha."

Samantha also accused the duchess of making more defamatory statements about her in the couple's 2021 CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey. She noted in her lawsuit how Meghan, 41, told the TV personality, "I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows, and I wished I had siblings."

In her filing, Samanthawho shares father Thomas Markle with Meghanstated that the alleged "defamatory statements" caused her irreparable prejudice, injury, and harm to her reputation, as well as anxiety and emotional distress. She also said she received hate mail, ongoing negative press, and was stalked by one of Meghan's fans.

All the Major Bombshells From Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Docuseries

In his ruling dismissing all allegations, the judge stated that Samantha's "claims based on Finding Freedom will be dismissed with prejudice, as [she] cannot plausibly allege that [Meghan] published the book, and amendment of these claims would be futile."

SplashNews.com; Getty Images

With regard to Meghan's "only child" comments in the Oprah interview, the judge ruled, "As a reasonable listener would understand it, [Meghan] merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings. Thus, the Court finds that [her] statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof."

In his ruling, the judge also found that two other alleged defamatory statements Samantha claimed Meghan made to Oprah were not actually found in the interview transcript. The duchess' sister, he noted, "does more than paraphrase [Meghan's] wordsshe substantively changes the meaning of what was said."

Netflix

Meanwhile, Samantha can file an amended complaint regarding claims related to the Oprah interview within 14 days, the judge ruled, and she plans to do so.

"This upcoming amendment will address certain legal issues that are related to our claims for defamation as it specifically relates to the Oprah interview on CBS," her attorney, Jamie A. Sasson, told E! News in a statement March 31, adding that they "look forward to presenting an even stronger argument for the defamation and losses that our client has had to endure."

Samantha's lawsuit comes after several years of criticizing Meghan and Harry publicly. This includes comparing the duchess to the Disney villain Cruella de Vil on Twitter just a few months after Harry and Meghan's 2018 weddingwhich Samantha was not invited toand publishing a memoir in 2021 that refers to Meghan as "Princess Pushy."

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has been investigating former President Trump over hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

On Tuesday, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict the former president, with charges stemming from payments made during the campaign, turning national attention to the 49-year-old Bragg.

Braggs decision to convene the grand jury earlier this year led to the first criminal charge against a former U.S. president. He successfully convicted the Trump Organization of tax fraud.

TRUMP INDICTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS

District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference in New York on Sept. 8, 2022.

Born in Harlem, New York, Bragg is the 37th District Attorney elected in Manhattan and the first Black Manhattan district attorney in the history of the office.

He took over for retiring District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and is the fourth elected district attorney in Manhattan in the last eight decades.

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Bragg's office prosecutes nearly all criminal cases in Manhattan and is staffed by about 500 lawyers.

Previously, he served as an assistant attorney general at the New York State Attorney Generals Office and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bragg ended his service in the State Attorney General's Office as the chief deputy attorney general.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court March 29, 2023, in New York City.

THE INDICTMENT OF DONALD TRUMP BY MANHATTAN DA BRAGG LEAVES AMERICA WITH THIS LEGAL PUZZLE

After his government service and before being sworn in as district attorney, Bragg was a visiting professor of law and co-director of the Racial Justice Project at New York Law School.

He represented Eric Garners mother and sister in a lawsuit against New York City seeking key details regarding the 2014 chokehold death of Garner.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg leaves his office in New York on March 30, 2023.

Bragg earned his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He clerked for Judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. in the Southern District of New York.

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Bragg is a former member of the board of directors of the New York Urban League, The Legal Aid Society and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
One Republican lawmaker protested the indictment of former President Donald Trump by giving away free ham sandwiches at the Longworth House Office Building on Friday.

The effort from Alabama GOP Rep. Barry Moore  which included the giveaway of ham sandwiches in plastic bags with "Indict this!" written on them  comes after a Manhattan grand jury voted Thursday to indict the former president.

"The sandwiches are ready! Hope to see you soon in Longworth 1504," Moore said in a tweet Friday.

Prior to giving out the sandwiches, Moore wrote in a tweet Thursday: "Welcome to the club, @realDonaldTrump. In honor of the fact that the Manhattan DA could indict a ham sandwich next, I will be handing them out tomorrow in Longworth 1504 at noon. All are welcome!"

FORMER TRUMP RIVAL JEB BUSH CALLS MANHATTAN GRAND JURY INDICTMENT 'VERY POLITICAL'

Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Moore said the ham sandwich initiative  offered as a response to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's charges against Trump  goes further than support for the former president.

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"I think we have no choice. At some point, we've gotta unite behind him because of liberty," Moore said. "I think our job, as members of the House, is to actually stand for your liberty, whether you agree with us or not."

On Friday, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., gave away ham sandwiches in plastic bags with "Indict this!" written on them, from the Longworth House Office Building.

"I think we have no choice but to come to his rescue at this point, not because it may be politically expedient for the president, but for the country," he added.

INDICTMENT GIVES TRUMP A POLITICAL BOOST, BUT SOME GOP OPERATIVES WONDER HOW LONG IT CAN LAST

Speaking about the effort on Thursday, Moore told Gray Television he's looking to send the message that "Donald Trump has been a target."

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., participates in the House Judiciary Committee organizing meeting in the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

"I was one of those conservatives that was indicted by the political system," Mosaid. "I've been on the other side of that table. I know what it's like to be targeted for being conservative and actually standing for the American people. I wanna welcome the president to that club, unfortunately. We're gonna support him."

In 2014, Moore, according to AL.com, was "found not guilty on charges of perjury and giving false statements in connection to an investigation into economic development projects involving then-Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard."

The exact charges of the indictment are still under seal, but Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said Thursday evening that Trump could face more than 30 counts next week when hes arraigned.

Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election. These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal .

Prior to the Trump indictment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had been investigating former President Donald Trump for alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Fox News reported and revealed in 2018 a series of hush money payments made to both McDougal and Daniels, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and the Federal Election Commission both investigated those payments.

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as Michael Cohen, a former Trump attorney, implicated him as part of a plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
People from Central America and Mexico hold the Honduras flag Friday as they walk to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles to demonstrate and have a vigil in memory of the people killed in a fire that broke out at the National Migration Institute Facility along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

The afternoon was cold and starkly silent, broken only occasionally by passing cars honking in solidarity. A blue and white five-starred Honduran flag wavered in the breeze, one of many symbols marking the deaths this week of 39 immigrants who were trapped in a fire at a detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

"It was the State," read one poster in Spanish.

"No human being is illegal," proclaimed another text held aloft by a Mexican immigrant.

The small but passionate group of demonstrators took up position Friday afternoon in front of the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles to protest what they decried as the inhumane immigration policies of the governments of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and President Biden. The Guatemalan, Honduran, Salvadoran and Mexican immigrants gathered on Park View Street vented emotions over the tragedy.

Women from Guatemala stand in solidarity in memory of the 39 people who were killed in the detention center fire. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

Indignation. Sadness. Rage. Dread. Pain.

"It's a shame," lamented Francisco Moreno, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Council of Mexican Federations, over the conflagration in which 18 Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, six Hondurans and one Colombian lost their lives. More than two dozen other immigrants were injured in the blaze, the cause of which is under investigation. On Thursday, a Mexican court issued arrest orders for six people in relation to the fire, a move that has done nothing to assuage activists or the families of the dead.

Born in Michoacan, in west-central Mexico, Moreno is a veteran of protests against the anti-immigrant policies of former President Trump. Now he condemns the Lopez Obrador administration for what he sees as its taking directives from the Biden administration in the same way that Mexico's previous president, Enrique Pena Nieto, yielded to former President Obama, in Moreno's view.

"Those responsible have to fall, and not only the jailers, the politicians have to fall, the people in charge of immigration policy in Mexico, because this is not fair," he said.

Calling out for justice, the demonstrators assembled around a bronze statue of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, whose assassination while celebrating Mass in March 1980 helped spur an unprecedented wave of migration from the Central American country to the United States.

Among the protesters was Salvador Sanabria, a Salvadoran activist and director of the El Rescate organization, who arrived in Los Angeles seeking asylum only a few days after the archbishop's murder.

Leoncio Velasquez, of Los Angeles, center, takes part in a demonstration in memory of the people killed in the fire that broke out at a detention center along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

It makes me indignant and terrified, said Sanabria. "One wonders, with what mentality did those responsible make this happen when it could have been avoided?"

Activists and academics say that the tragedy in Ciudad Juarez is linked to the violence that has overwhelmed the border in recent years, as drug cartels and organized crime have transformed into vast human-smuggling chains, resulting in shootouts among rival gangs, kidnappings and the torturing of people traveling northward. During that time, successive U.S. administrations have increased pressure on Mexico to crack down on migrants to prevent them from entering the United States.

A small group of people from Central America and Mexico hold the Honduras flag during a demonstration in front of the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles on Friday in memory of the people killed in the fire that broke out at a detention center along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

Mexico has become the new wall, said Sanabria, who said that last week's deaths will send a deterrent message to others contemplating the arduous journey.

It means that they don't come to the northern border of Mexico, because if they cross and are arrested in the United States and deported to Mexico, is this what is going to happen to them?" Sanabria said, alluding to the detention center fire.

Since the summer of 2014, due to pressure exerted by President Obama, the Pena Nieto government implemented the Southern Border Program, a move that intensified militarization and surveillance along the border, resulting in 93,613 arrests being reported in the first 12 months.

The policy subsequently gave an incentive for human smugglers, known as coyotes, to follow more dangerous routes into the United States.

Most of the migrant community have to cross through Mexico because it is the route we have to get here, said Jose Bautista, a Honduran, although that meant putting his life at risk, he said.

Another demonstrator, Juanita Calel, who fled war-torn Guatemala for Los Angeles in 1996, said that people seeking better opportunities will continue to attempt the trek, regardless of the debt to smuggler that they pile up, or the dangers they face.

What happened really makes me sad, said the native of Huehuetenango, adding that, I am more saddened by their relatives who remained in our country of origin and the debt they left behind."

As the protest wrapped up, a scattering of attendees was left to wander, play and  in some cases  sleep among the tents used by the unhoused people who make their homes in MacArthur Park.

Este articulo fue publicado por primera vez en Los Angeles Times.
Richard Jacobson pleaded innocent Friday to killing his pregnant girlfriend and hiding her body in the Columbia River.

A group of Brandy Ebanezs friends and family sat in the benches behind him wearing shirts that said Ohana Forever with a picture of Ebanez.

Jacobson sat quietly in the courtroom and looked either at Judge Diana Ruff or down at the table as he appeared in Benton County Superior Court for the first time in six months. His trial is set for May 22.

Murder suspect Richard Michael Jacobson, left, makes his preliminary appearance Friday in Benton County Superior Court in Kennewick. Jacobson, who is accused of killing Brandy Ebanez inside a Kennewick Avenue apartment before dumping her body last September in the Columbia River. A Multnomah County, Ore. judge recently ruled the 34-year-old man could be brought back to Kennewick to face second-degree murder charges in Benton County Superior Court. Hes sitting near provisional defense attorney Eric Scott from the office of public defense.

Jacobson was brought back to Benton County from Multnomah County, Oregon on Thursday and booked into the jail. He had been fighting against being returned to Washington since his September arrest.

While court records list his name as Jacobsen, his attorney at the hearing Eric Scott said his name is spelled Jacobson.

He is facing charges stemming from three cases, two tied to Ebanezs death  one for second-degree murder and the other for violating a protection order. The third case was for violating a protection order before she went missing.

Prosecutors added a series of aggravating factors to the murder including that Ebanez was pregnant, that he showed a lack of remorse and for committing domestic violence in front of a child.

An off-duty Kennewick police officer found Ebanezs body while fishing just east of the cable bridge on Sept. 27. She was naked, wrapped in black plastic sheeting and weighed down by landscaping rocks.

The 34-year-old mother of two also was 16 to 20 weeks pregnant at the time she died.

Murder suspect Richard Michael Jacobson, left, makes his preliminary appearance Friday in Benton County Superior Court in the killing of his girlfriend Brandy Ebanez in September 2022.

Deputy Prosecutor Joshua Lilly asked for a total of $2.2 million in bail  $1 million for each of the newer cases and $250,000 for the case that he had been released on about two weeks before Ebanez disappeared.

While out of custody ... he committed the crimes that you just arraigned him for, which are very serious offenses, Lilly said as he asked for the bail to be increased in the older case. He fled to the state of Oregon and he went through the entire extradition process including procuring a governors warrant.

He also had an outstanding warrant from Oregon, Lilly said. He said that the community would not be safe if Jacobson was released.

Ruff also approved protection orders that will keep Jacobson away from his two children with Ebanez. They are currently in the care of Ebanezs mother.

Scott didnt argue for a lower bail at the hearing.

Previous assault reports

Friends have said Ebanez was in an abusive relationship with Jacobson, and that he cut her off from contacting friends.

Court documents show that apartment complex neighbors reported hearing the couple arguing frequently.

Earlier in April, Ebanez called police after he grabbed her by the hair, pulled her off the bed and strangled her until she passed out, according to court documents.

A GoFundMe has been organized to help Brandy Ebanezs family after she was killed.

A month later, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a month in jail, which he had already served, and to undergo mental health treatment.

The judge ordered him to stay 500 feet away from the apartment he shared with Ebanez and their girls, who were 12 and 9 at the time.

But on Sept. 5, police found him at the apartment after allegedly attacking a neighbor. He was charged with assault and violating a protection order.

He was eventually allowed to be released on Sept. 9.

Court documents dont detail when Jacobson returned to the apartment or what day he is suspected of killing her.

Ebanezs disappearance

Their daughters told police they came home from school to hear their parents arguing loudly in the bedroom. The date of the incident is unclear.

A memorial with flowers, candles and a large banner honors Brandy Ebanez of Kennewick. Her body was discovered along the Kennewick shoreline of the Columbia River.

Jacobson was seen on a security camera at Home Depot on Sept. 21 buying trash bags, duct tape and planter wall bricks. The bricks reportedly matched the ones tied to Ebanezs body.

A trace of his daughters cellphone showed it at Columbia Park between 4:50 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Sept. 22.

The next morning, he packed up the girls and they drove to Oregon to stay with a relative.

He was arrested while driving her green Honda Civic in Portland two days after her body was discovered.

Inside they found a glove that tested positive for blood, as well as small pieces of brick in the trunk, said court documents.
A legal expert says there's nothing that prevents former President Donald Trump from running for 2024 election

Trump has stated that he does not intend to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election

The indictment has minimal bearing on the former president's campaign

After years of investigations into his personal, political, and business dealings, a Manhattan grand jury has indicted Donald Trump. This is a historical turning point and a sudden setback to his campaign to win the White House.

The charges, which arise from payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to stifle claims of an illicit sexual encounter, were unclear on Friday since the indictment was still sealed.

Donald Trump Indictment

According to prosecutors, plans are being made to coordinate Trump's possible surrender early next week. In the case of a conviction, they did not state whether they intended to seek prison time; however, this development would not bar Trump from running for and winning the presidency.

The indictment, the first against a former president of the United States, thrusts a local district attorney's office into the middle of a presidential election and starts legal processes in the city where the former president lived for many years.

The accusations, which come at a time of intense political division, are likely to reinforce rather than reshape the opposing viewpoints of those who believe that accountability is long overdue and those who, like Trump, believe that a Democratic prosecutor is singling out the Republican for political reasons.

Trump, who has constantly criticized the inquiry and denied any wrongdoing, termed the charge "political persecution" and predicted it will hurt Democrats in the year 2024. Defense attorneys Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina said in a statement announcing the accusations that Trump "did not commit any crime. In court, we will vigorously contest this political prosecution."

The Manhattan district attorney's office confirmed the indictment through a spokeswoman, who claimed prosecutors had contacted Trump's legal team to arrange a surrender. Trump is "likely" to turn himself in on Tuesday, according to Tacopina. Trump would not accept a plea bargain, according to Tacopina: "There is no crime."

Despite being requested to turn himself in on Friday, Trump's lawyers argued that the Secret Service needed more time to make security arrangements, according to two individuals familiar with the situation who spoke to The Associated Press. They requested anonymity since they were unable to discuss security matters publicly.

Read Also: Who Is the WSJ Reporter Arrested in Russia?

Can Trump Run as President in the 2024 Election?

Richard Hasen, a legal professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an email that "nothing prevents Trump from running while accused or even convicted."

The Constitution stipulates three requirements for candidates. They should be:

A citizen born in the US

Minimum of 35 years old

A resident of the United States for at least fourteen years

Politically, it may be more difficult for a candidate who has been indicted and potentially become a convicted felon to garner votes. Candidates need to put their best foot forward during trials. Nonetheless, they are not prohibited from running or being elected, as per CNN.

There are a few asterisks in the Constitution and the 14th and 22nd Amendments, but none currently apply to Trump in cases where a formal indictment is imminent.

The 22nd Amendment prohibits anyone who has served as president twice (i.e., been elected twice or served half of another president's term and subsequently won his or her term) from standing for office again. Trump does not qualify because he lost the 2020 election.

If a person is impeached by the House and convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors by the Senate, he or she is removed from office and barred from holding public office again. During his administration, Trump was twice impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate twice. The 14th Amendment contains a "disqualification clause" established with former Confederate soldiers in mind.

Donald Trump is the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, having been indicted in New York for his role in paying hush money to a porn star. The historic indictment raises numerous questions as the nation speeds toward the presidential election of 2024, in which Trump is the top GOP candidate.

Per USA Today, it remains to be seen whether the indictment will assist or damage Trump politically, but early fundraising numbers indicate that the charges have rallied his support. Yet, according to legal experts, the indictment has minimal bearing on the former president's campaign for the nation's highest position.

Notwithstanding his legal issues, the former president has stated that he does not intend to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election. Trump's accusations have not been made public. But the New York grand jury was investigating the former president for a $130,000 payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election to quiet her about a past affair.

Related Article: Donald Trump Set for More Trouble Amid Indictment

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An advisor to Irans main military branch in Syria was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike Thursday night in Damascus, Syria, as fighting between Tehran-backed forces and the U.S. and Israel have escalated in recent weeks.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) threatened to avenge the advisor identified as Milad Heydari and according to Israeli reports said, "The fake and criminal Zionist regime will undoubtedly receive a response to this crime."

According to The Times of Israel, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said the strikes targeted an arms depot and Iranian-backed groups just south of capital city.

An Israeli soldier stands next to a truck at a position in the Israeli Golan Heights near the border with Syria on January 2, 2023. Israeli missile strikes on the Syrian capital's airport on January 2 killed four people, including two soldiers, and closed the runways for several hours, a rights monitor said.

PENTAGON SAYS 6 US TROOPS TREATED FOR TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES IN SYRIA AFTER IRAN-BACKED ATTACKS

The strikes were the second attack on Damascus supposedly launched by Jerusalem in a 24-hour period after it allegedly hit the capital Wednesday night in a strike that injured at least two Syrian soldiers, according to Israeli reports.

File: A picture taken early on January 21, 2019 shows Syrian air defense batteries responding to what Syrian state media said were Israeli missiles targeting Damascus. - (Photo: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Deadly strikes in Syria appear to have increased in recent weeks as the U.S. and Israel  which back opposition forces in eastern Syria  respond to attacks from IRGC-backed forces.

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Iran has provided arms and support to the Bashar al-Assad regime since the deadly civil war broke out in 2011.

Israeli missile strikes on the Syrian capital's airport on January 2 killed four people in the second time in less than seven months that Damascus International Airport  where Iranian-backed armed groups and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are present  has been hit by Israel.

US AIR DEFENSES DOWN DURING SUSPECTED IRANIAN DRONE STRIKE IN SYRIA THAT KILLED ONE AMERICAN

Six American soldiers were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries this week after IRGC-backed forces hit two coalition military bases in Northeast Syria earlier this month.

Four of the service members were injured during a drone strike at a U.S. base near Hasaka on March 23, while another two soldiers suffered injuries following an attack at the mission support site Green Village on March 24.

U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles (BFV) patrol in the Suwaydiyah oil fields in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on February 13, 2021.

The Pentagon confirmed that its air defense system was down during at least one of the strikes against a coalition military base in Northeast Syria last week.

Gen. Erik Kurilla testified in a hearing on the Hill last week that since January 2021, Iranian-backed forces have been behind 78 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria.
A program of the Celebration of Life for student Evelyn Dieckhaus, nine-year-old, who was killed in a deadly mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee (REUTERS)

On Friday morning, Evelyn Dieckhaus was supposed to be singing What A Wonderful World in a student play at The Covenant School in Nashville.

Instead, on Friday afternoon, the song was performed less than two miles down the road by country star Vince Gill at Woodmont Christian Church, where an estimated 1,500 people gathered to remember the third-grader gunned down on Monday alongside two other pupils and three school staff members.

It doesnt feel like we live in a wonderful world, Dr Clay Stauffer, the churchs senior minister since 2007, said at Evelyns celebration of life.

It feels like we live in a broken world and a fallen world and a violent world -- and in many ways we do.

But I know this: So much good and love is coming out of this tragedy. So much support and compassion is being shown from all over the world. And so much hurt and pain is being met with love and care. And together were gonna get through this  together, were gonna heal, because were stronger together, he said.

This undated photo shows Evelyn Dieckhaus a student at The Covenant School in Nashville (AP)

Evelyn, who would have turned 10 this summer, died on Monday after 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a former Covenant student, shot through the school doors and entered with three guns, also killing fellow nine-year-olds Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, as well as head of school Kathleen Koonce, 60; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and custodian Mike Hill, 61.

The memorial for Evelyn marked the start of funeral and burial services for Covenant victims as Nashville continued to reel from its first fatal elementary school shooting. After the church sanctuary filled up, well before the start of the 3pm service, additional mourners crowded into two other locations on the church grounds, watching the proceedings streamed on screens.

Lady A performed two songs, followed by scripture readings and What A Wonderful World from Vince Gill, whose voice caught in his throat as he addressed the congregation before singing. Sniffles and quiet crying were the only sounds other than his voice.

Mourners arrive for the celebration of Evelyns life (AP)

Evelyns parens, Mike and Katy, and older sister, Eleanor, were in the front pews, along with her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Then Evelyns fathers brother, Jeff Dieckhaus, stood before the cross-section of her hometown to reflect on her bright but short life.

You are unrepeatable, he said, addressing his late niece. There is a magic about you that is all your own.

He described Evelyns love for music and animals, her soft-spoken nature, her affectionate hugs and her academic diligence, smiling through his grief as he recounted Dieckhaus family time at the lake and other favorite memories of his niece.

An estimated 1,500 gathered to remember the nine-year-old at Woodmont Christian Church, just down the street from the school where she was fatally shot on Monday (Sheila Flynn)

She loved babies and animals and nature, Jeff Dieckhaus said.  She was a deep thinker, and she had a pure and precious faith in God. She loved a good joke, the ones that would make her laugh to the point that her whole body would shake. But mixed in those laughs was this little giggle, its hard to describe unless youve heard it yourself, and even harder to forget.

Evelyn was remembered as a girl who loved animals, babies and music (Sheila Flynn)

Evelyn was soft-spoken and gentle, but certainly not timid, he said. She had the courage of a tiger and a spirit that far outsized her nine-year-old body. Evelyn loved to snuggle and sit on your lap; like a little monkey, she would sometimes crawl up on you, hang from your back or just nuzzle into your side . Many times, she would sit on your lap facing you, smiling before moving in for the most affectionate hug one could give.

He described his niece as everyones friend  she made people feel known and seen, but never judged; she was her own friend group, never one to take sides, but instead try to include everyone, he said.

Young Evelyn made you feel so special, he added. She made you feel important.

The near palpable sadness at Woodmont Christian was mixed with shock and disbelief; mourners arrived in pinks and pastels at the request of the Dieckhaus family to honor Evelyns favorite colours. The church was full of outfits that were, for many, likely intended as Easter ensembles; instead, they were pulled out to grieve for the life of an innocent.

Stuffed animals and comfort service dogs were available for the shell-shocked crowd.

Rev Farrell Mason, who read Scripture from the podium during the service and had been counseling Evelyns family since the shooting, addressed the congregationss mixed feelings during her reflection on hope. She said the events of Monday had shaken her own faith, making her ask of God: Where are you? How do you expect us to go forward? Is it even possible to find hope with enough muscle to keep our hearts beating, to keep us from turning our backs on you, to keep us from giving up on hope once and for all?

Nearby churches and businesses offered messages of support on Friday as Nashville began to lay to rest the first of six school shooting victims (Sheila Flynn)

But she insisted: Hope is real, and God promises, if we hold fast to it, it will not disappoint  later adding: Where there is love, there is hope.

Dr Stauffer, in his closing remarks, alluded to the debate and protests that have followed Mondays tragedy. One day before Evelyns celebration of life, hundreds  many mothers, children and students  demanded gun legislation on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol.

People are going to push for change and reform; they already have, he told mourners. Clearly, weve got some problems that need to be addressed.

There are going to be many painful days ahead, but lets all promise to keep this beautiful family in our thoughts and prayers, he said of Evelyns parents, sister and relatives, praising them for their faith and strength.

A private burial will be held on Saturday for Evelyn, as families and the wider Nashville community prepare to lay to rest the other five victims in the coming days.
Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport, in Waco, Texas, Saturday, March 25, 2023, while en route to West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

He will be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in his hush money case, setting the scene for the historic, shocking moment when a former president is forced to stand before a judge.

The indictment remained sealed and the specific charges were not immediately known, but details were confirmed by people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that isn't yet public.

The streets outside the courthouse where the arraignment will unfold were calm Friday compared with earlier in the week. There were no large-scale demonstrations for or against Trump, though tourists stopped to take selfies and throngs of reporters and police officers remained assembled.

When Trump turns himself in, hell be booked mostly like anyone else facing charges, mug shot, fingerprinting and all. But he isnt expected to be put in handcuffs; hell have Secret Service protection and will almost certainly be released that same day.

In the meantime, Trump's legal team prepared his defense while the prosecutor defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial. Congressional Republicans, as well as Trump himself, contend the whole matter is politically motivated.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote to three Republican House committee chairs Friday in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The case is plunging the U.S. into uncharted legal waters, with Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment. And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next years presidential election. Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against him could hurt that effort  though his campaign is already raising money by citing it.

Top Republicans also have begun closing ranks around him. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised to use congressional oversight to probe Bragg. Reps. James Comer, Jim Jordan and Bryan Steil, the committee chairs whom Bragg addressed in his letter, have asked the district attorney's office for grand jury testimony, documents and copies of any communications with the Justice Department.

Trump's indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution, an injustice. He shouts in all capital letters on his social media platform that the Democrats have LIED, CHEATED and more to damage his 2024 presidential run.

Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said during TV interviews Friday he would very aggressively challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment. Trump himself, on his social media platform, trained his ire on a new target, complaining that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, HATES ME.

The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight ahead of his planned arraignment Tuesday, according to two people familiar with his plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump's travel.

Trump will be arraigned in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinsteins rape trial took place. On Friday, officials from the Secret Service and the NYPD toured the courthouse and met about security plans.

Court officers ultimately closed and secured access to the 15th floor, where Merchan was continuing to preside over unrelated matters, until Trump's arraignment.

Lawyers involved in the cases and some employees were permitted to stay, but media were chased away by officers, who were standing sentry in front of a bike-rack barricade set up in the hallway. Officers yelled at reporters who ventured up, "This floor is closed, and ordered them to get back in the elevator and leave.

Officers have been cautioned to remain vigilant and maintain situational awareness, both inside courthouses and while on perimeter patrols, as evidenced by the incident on Tuesday afternoon outside of Manhattan Supreme Court," the court said in a statement.

Since Trumps March 18 post claiming his arrest was imminent, authorities have ratcheted up security, deploying additional police officers, lining the streets around the courthouse with barricades and dispatching bomb-sniffing dogs. Theyve had to respond to bomb and death threats, a suspicious powder scare and a pro-Trump protester who was arrested Tuesday after witnesses say she pulled a knife on passersby.

Since no former president had ever been charged with a crime, there's no rulebook for booking the defendant. He will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken, and investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants, according to a person familiar who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive security operations.

All of that activity takes place away from the public. New York law discourages the release of mug shots in most cases. Less clear is whether Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons.

Once the booking is complete, the former president would appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment.

Even for defendants who turn themselves in, answering criminal charges in New York generally entails at least several hours of detention while being fingerprinted, photographed, and going through other procedures.

As for the allegations, as Trump ran for president in 2016, his allies paid two women to bury their accusations. The publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer paid McDougal $150,000 for rights to her story and sat on it, in an arrangement brokered by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

After Cohen himself paid Daniels $130,000, Trumps company reimbursed him, added bonuses and logged the payments as legal expenses.

Federal prosecutors argued  in a 2018 criminal case against Cohen  that the payments equated to illegal aid to Trumps campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violation charges, but federal prosecutors didnt go after Trump, who was then in the White House. However, some of their court filings obliquely implicated him as someone who knew about the payment arrangements.

The New York indictment came as Trump contends with other investigations. In Atlanta, prosecutors are considering whether he committed any crimes when trying to get Georgia officials to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss there to Joe Biden.

And, at the federal level, a Justice Department-appointed special counsel also is investigating Trumps efforts to unravel the national election results. Additionally, the special counsel is examining how and why Trump held onto a cache of top secret government documents at his Florida club and residence, Mar-a-Lago, and whether the ex-president or his representatives tried to obstruct the probe into those documents.

___

Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Jill Colvin in New York, Michael Balsamo and Farnoush Amiri contributed from Washington.

More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump


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Several theories are doing the rounds about the partys decision to play the waiting game

The delay in challenging Rahul Gandhis conviction by the Surat sessions court in a defamation case and his subsequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha has become a subject of animated discussion in the Congress. Several theories are doing the rounds about the partys decision to play the waiting game. One view is to allow the disqualification drama to linger on as this will keep the issue in the news and help garner sympathy for the Nehru-Gandhi scion. Another suggestion is that Rahul Gandhi should go to jail for a few days and then file his appeal. It is argued that this will become a talking point in the upcoming Karnataka polls and make the Congress leader a hero. However, the more plausible reason for the delay was that Rahul Gandhis legal team, comprising Abhishek Singhvi and P. Chidambaram, was awaiting the Supreme Court s verdict on Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizals case who was not reinstated as a Lok Sabha member even two months after his disqualification was stayed by the Kerala high court. It is now to be seen how the legal team proceeds after Mr Faizals membership was restored hours before the Supreme Court hearing. While busy conferring with the partys legal eagles, Rahul Gandhi has also started looking for alternative accommodation as he has to vacate his official bungalow by April-end.

Congress leaders in the G-23 grouping, who were pressing for organisational reforms and a full-time party chief basically because they had a problem with Rahul Gandhis leadership, are apparently no longer viewed as dissidents. The last standing members of G-23  Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan and Anand Sharma  were among the 35 leaders chosen by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to address a series of Democracy Disqualified press conferences across 35 cities on March 28 and 29. Mr Tewari was fielded in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Chavan in Bhopal and Mr Sharma in Bengaluru. The latest turn of events could also see Mr Tewaris return as a party spokesperson. Though his name was always on the partys list of spokespersons, the communication department stopped fielding Mr Tewari for the partys official press briefings after the G-23 controversy. Mr Tewari redeemed himself after he moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha last week seeking a discussion on Rahul Gandhis unconstitutional and unlawful disqualification. His inclusion in the list of leaders chosen to address the Democracy Disqualified press conferences suggests a truce has been called between Mr Tewari and the party.

High-profile bureaucrat Amitabh Kant, earlier the head of Niti Aayog and now the G-20 sherpa, was effectively deflated during a recent discussion on former Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhars book, As Good As My Word: A Memoir. Responding to a question from the audience, Mr Kant put his best foot forward in defence of the hype over Indias presidency of the G-20 summit. He pointed out the series of official meetings preceding the summit were being held in different cities, providing an opportunity to the state governments to showcase the sights, culture and cuisine of their respective states. In addition, he said, the infrastructure in these cities had been upgraded with provision of better roads, sewerage and so on. Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, who was moderating the discussion, agreed with Mr Kant, saying urban renewal had certainly got a big push and went on to cite the example of Delhis Mayur Vihar, where he lives, which has got a new pavement. Clearly, the residents of Mayur Vihar had to wait for the G-20 summit to get a freshly-laid pavement.

Besides instructing the Delhi Police to register a case against the pro-Khalistan supporters who recently demonstrated outside the Indian high commission in London and took down the Indian flag from the building, the home ministry is also looking at the option of cancelling the passports of the Indian nationals and the OCI cards of others involved in the incident. It is learned that Home Minister Amit Shah took a grim view of this incident and that he insisted the Delhi police investigate the matter since the high commission building is Indian property. Over 300 protesters have apparently been identified from video clips and CCTV cameras in the vicinity. The home ministry believes it has a case to proceed against those involved since some of them are Indian nationals.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was apparently upset by last weeks news reports that the Congress planned to proceed with a non-confidence motion against him for not allowing Rahul Gandhi to respond to the charges levelled against him by the treasury benches and not agreeing to a discussion on the Adani issue. Mr Birlas office machinery relentlessly worked the phones, calling up journalists and their bosses, to find out the source of this report. However, these efforts proved futile as no one was prepared to reveal the name of the Congress leader who had briefed press persons about this move. Mr Birla has, so far, prided himself on the efficiency with which he conducts the Lok Sabha proceedings, often pointing to how productivity had gone up since he took over. As it is, the ongoing session has spoilt his record but a no confidence motion would make it worse.
President Joe Biden demanded Russia release WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

Russian officials continue to speak about Gershkovic

Gershkovich's potential immediate release is very "unlikely"

President Joe Biden urged Moscow on Friday to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained on espionage charges, which the publication rejects.

When asked about his message to Russia over the arrest of Gershkovich, Biden told White House reporters, "Let him go."

Evan Gershkovich Arrest

The Federal Security Service of Russia has accused US citizen Gershkovich of attempting to obtain secret information. It is the first occasion since the end of the Cold War that an American journalist has been jailed in Russia on suspicion of espionage. The Journal has stated that it "vehemently refutes" the allegations.

Vice President Kamala Harris stated at a news conference in Lusaka, Zambia, that the government was "apprehensive" by the detention of Gershkovich.

During a weeklong visit to Africa, Harris stated, "We will not allow repression of journalists, and we condemn it."

Per AP News, the Biden administration announced it was working to gain consular access to Gershkovich. On Friday, when asked whether he would deport Russian ambassadors or journalists from the United States, Biden answered, "That is not the current plan."

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, described targeting American citizens in Russia as "wrong" and stated that the administration strongly condemns Gershkovich's incarceration.

The Biden administration has also advised US citizens not to travel to Russia and to leave the country immediately if they are already there.

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, told reporters in Moscow that he knows the imprisoned journalist and that "Gershkovich was not an agent using his professional and journalistic credentials as a cover for espionage."

Speaking more generally about the Kremlin's repression of independent journalism, which has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine, Muratov said, "This is a trend - trying to attribute espionage and treason to people at every turn, to show that journalism is an enemy profession for the country - for Russian and other journalists."

Read Also: Can Donald Trump Still Run for President in 2024?

Organizations Condemn Russia's Arrest of Us Journalist

According to Andrey Kolesnikov, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the arrest of Arkady Gershkovich represents a "general deterioration of relations with the West."

Kolesnikov stated that Gershkovich "was in the wrong place at the wrong moment," adding that Moscow is always in need of swap candidates for detained Russians abroad.

Over thirty foreign and American news outlets and advocacy groups sent a letter to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, seeking Gershkovich's release.

The organizations stated that Russia should ensure the journalist has "immediate access to an attorney provided by his company" and requested proof of the journalist's health. The Kremlin announced on Friday that accredited journalists could continue to work in Russia.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, stated that all foreign journalists with proper accreditation could continue their journalistic work in the nation without any restrictions and are doing so without difficulty. Since 2017 Gershkovich has worked as a journalist in Russia with formal authorization. According to Moscow, Gershkovich conducted espionage "under the guise" of journalism.

David Satter, a former correspondent for the Financial Times in Moscow and a writer for the Journal, believes that Russia may have multiple objectives for the arrest. In 2014, Satter became the first American correspondent prevented from entering Russia since the end of the Cold War. He was a consultant for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty then.

Satter told VOA that another motivation for the Journal reporter's arrest could be discouraging newsgathering. Once Russia invaded Ukraine, conditions for journalists in Russia rapidly deteriorated, and Moscow issued new regulations governing how they may cover the war.

As a result of the rising pressure, many local journalists were forced into exile. While on assignment in Russia, foreign correspondents have previously reported being followed, especially when reporting outside of the major cities. As of late 2022, records from the Committee to Protect Journalists revealed that at least 19 local journalists had been detained for their work in the country.

Related Article: Who Is the WSJ Reporter Arrested in Russia?

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History carries important lessons that we can forget only at our own peril

It was September 1982. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was on a state visit to the Soviet Union. During her visit, talks were held in the Kremlin between the Indian and Soviet delegation, helmed by Indira Gandhi and Leonid Brezhnev, then the Soviet supremo and General Secretary of the Communist Party. During the talks  which cover both internal and external issues  Mrs Gandhi referred to the growing insurgency in Punjab as a cause of concern. While she spoke, Brezhnev  in poor health and advanced years  had dozed off. His foreign minister, Andrei Gromyko, seated next to him, nudged him awake. Brezhnev then whispered to Gromyko (loud enough for our Russian interpreter to take notes): What is she talking about? I cant understand a word of what she is saying. Gromyko then explained briefly in hushed tones that the Indian PM was talking about the state of Punjab where Pakistan sponsored insurgency for a separate Khalistan state was a worrying development.

Brezhnev, now awake, intervened, and with an expansive wave of his hand said: Your Excellency, I am sorry to interrupt you, but how can you allow such things to happen? Look at the Soviet Union. Since 1917 we have never let such forces rise, and have remained a united country. Brezhnev died a few weeks later, in November 1982. Less than a decade later, in 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 separate countries. On the other hand, Punjab remains very much a part of the democratic framework of India. In the last Assembly elections held in 2022, voter turnout was close to a record 70 per cent.

The reason for these entirely different outcomes is simply one word: democracy. India had it. The Soviet Union did not. I have been a personal witness, as undersecretary on the Soviet desk in the ministry of external affairs, and later in our embassy in Moscow, to the disintegration of the former USSR. My experience is that when long established totalitarian states tinker with the system, the inflexible autocracy is unable to control the consequences. President Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President of the USSR from 1985 to 1991, was  not wrongly  reform minded. He tried to introduce glasnost (openness and greater transparency) and perestroika (reconstruction) within the tightly controlled undemocratic stranglehold of the Soviet Communist Party. Tinkering with an inelastic system, unused to the suppleness of a democracy, led to developments that careened out of control. The great Soviet empire fragmented, unable to absorb and deal with changes that were so contrary to the rigid systemic framework it had hitherto adopted.

History carries important lessons that we can forget only at our own peril. Democracy is by no means the most perfect system, but it is still better than all the others because it provides, to the pressure cooker of aspiration, diversity, and discontent, a safety valve to prevent an explosion.

These days, comparisons between the relative strengths of India and China are prolific. There is no doubt that China is, on conventional parameters  GDP, per capita income, infrastructure, economic productivity, and defence  far ahead of India. But, like the Soviet Union  and perhaps current day Russia too  it lacks one key factor: democracy. I believe that sooner rather than later, China will face the same systemic crisis that led to the convulsion within the USSR. The autocratic hegemony of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will have to dilute some degree of its rigidity to accommodate growing restlessness within the Chinese people, as was most recently witnessed during the spontaneous protests against the zero Covid policy. But the moment, the system tries to loosen its undemocratic grip, it could unleash long suppressed grievances creating internal upheavals which it has no experience to handle, and could seriously destabilise the country  at least in the short to mid-term.

The internal problems China is facing today is precisely the consequence of the absence of democracy. The unilateral diktat of the CCP for a one child policy, has bequeathed it with a demographic time bomb, with an aging and shrinking workforce, where every Chinese worker has to pay for the cost of two retirees. Its largely state-run enterprises are good at volumes, but hardly incubate entrepreneurship and the innovative spirit. The countrys GDP growth in 2007 was 14.2 per cent annually; in 2022 it was three per cent. If the inelastic state controlled economy is unable to meet the rising expectations of citizens, the ensuing unrest, without the ventilation that democracy gives, could seriously destabilise the country  at least in the short to medium term.

Indias strength is its democracy, however blemished it may be. Economic growth may be slower due to the cacophony of democracy, but it has a more enduring and institutional basis. In fact, for democracies  as against totalitarian systems  the reverse logic is true. When people have been used for over seven decades to free democratic elections, a vibrant Opposition, freedom of speech, expression and dissent, an independent judiciary, a free media, relatively autonomous institutions, and apolitical bureaucrats, any attempt to stifle such safeguards can lead to unforeseen consequences. Diversities will become brittle, endemic instability will ensue, discontents will turn into revolts, economic productivity will suffer, and the unity of the country itself may come under threat. The genie of democracy once out of the bottle, and internalised in the political genes of the common person, cannot be put back again.

Our founding fathers, and the makers of our Constitution, knew that the very provisions they have provided to safeguard individual freedoms and democracy can be misused. But they had faith in the wisdom of the people of India, and that wisdom  and the freedoms to express and protect it  can only be challenged at peril to the nation itself. Democratically elected governments in general  and the ruling dispensation now in India  must bear this in mind.

The writer is an author, diplomat and former member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
The general secretary of the Universal Bible Alliance on a visit to China met with the leaders of the official churches, reviving cooperation. But meanwhile in Hohhot some Christians go on trial for "illegally" buying and distributing copies of Scripture printed in Nanjing at the plant visited by Pastor Gevers.

Milan (AsiaNews) - Two contradictory news stories have emerged from China that-when read together-perfectly demonstrate the two faces of the situation of Christians in the country.

Official organs have given ample prominence in recent days to an important event: the visit to Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing of Dick Gevers, the Pentecostal pastor from South Africa who since last November has been secretary general of the Universal Biblical Alliance, the body that sees Biblical Societies from all over the world collaborating with one another with the aim of spreading Scripture in every language in every part of the world.

Promoted by the Chinese Christian Council and the Three Self Patriotic Movement-the official bodies of the Protestant world in China-the visit of the secretary of the Universal Biblical Alliance is certainly not unprecedented.

For more than 30 years, in fact, there has been a collaboration that has its most obvious face in the Nanjing Amity Printing Co. plant, a large printing house in Nanjing that is the result of a joint venture between a Chinese foundation directly linked to the Three Self Patriotic Movement and the Universal Biblical Alliance.

Active since 1988, it produces Bibles not only for Chinese communities but also for Christian denominations around the world.

On its website, a counter offers a real-time update of printed copies: as of April 1 there were more than 246 million: 89 million for China, the others in every language in 140 countries around the world.

Gevers' visit was an opportunity to consolidate this cooperation project, which now also has a satellite plant in Ethiopia. In Beijing he had the opportunity to meet with Chen Ruifeng, the new of the Religious Affairs Administration (Sara), as well as with the leadership of official Catholic bodies.

The official website of the Patriotic Association reported Gevers' meeting with Shen Bin, the bishop of Haimen who is chairman of the Chinese Council of Bishops (the collegial body not recognized by the Holy See).

Indeed, the Catholic community, too, has been able to benefit from the effort made by the Universal Biblical Alliance to disseminate Scripture in China.

In the interview with Shen Bin, there was no shortage of emphasis on how translations are an aspect of "Sinicization," the watchword given to the world of religions by President Xi Jinping.

Just as all this was happening, however, Bitter Winter issued a call to prayer circulating in China these hours among "domestic," that is, unofficial, Protestant communities. It concerns a legal proceeding underway in Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

This month some local Christians belonging to these communities will go on trial for "illegally" distributing Bibles and face up to 15 years in prison.

What is interesting is that-in their defense-the defendants report these are precisely copy Bibles printed by the Nanjing Amity Printing Co. purchased in bulk and distributed to those who could not afford them, without any commercial activity.

In this case, therefore, the "illegality" would simply lie in the fact that promoting the dissemination of Scripture in Chinese are communities that are not registered and controlled by the government. Which confirms - once again - what the real meaning of Beijing's insistence on "Sinicization" is.
A British official says in a letter that asylum seekers from Sri Lanka will be relocated to a "safe third country," but this has not yet been identified. The Tamil refugees had fled law enforcement persecution and after 18 months of imprisonment on Diego Garcia Island attempted suicide by swallowing needles and blades. They are currently in Rwanda to receive medical treatment.

London (AsiaNews) - The United Kingdom has sent a letter to two Tamil asylum seekers hospitalized in Kigali, Rwanda, after attempting suicide, saying they will be taken to a "safe third country."

The man and woman, both 22, are part of a group of refugees-among them allegedly torture victims in Sri Lanka-rescued by the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean as they were attempting to reach Canada in October 2021.

On that date, U.K. ships had escorted them to the island of Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos archipelago south of the Maldives, a cluster of islands that the U.K. calls the British Indian Ocean Territory and over which it continues to claim sovereignty, despite a U.N. court ruling that they are part of Mauritius.

On March 3, five people were flown to a military hospital in Rwanda to receive medical treatment as their health conditions deteriorated. According to The New Humanitarian, they were reportedly undergoing psychotherapy for attempting suicide after 18 months of imprisonment, attempting to swallow needles and the blade of a pencil sharpener upon news that they would be sent back to Sri Lanka.

At least 19 minors and 49 adults are currently being held at a military base jointly administered by the United Kingdom and the United States and built in the 1960s and 1970s after the island's 27-square-kilometer population was evacuated.

Many said they had been tortured and sexually abused by Sri Lankan security forces for alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil, a separatist group that fought for independence against the Sri Lankan government during a 26-year civil war that ended only in 2009.

On March 26, one of the five people in Rwanda for medical treatment recounted in a letter the conditions of detention at the Diego Garcia base: "They put barbed wire fences around us and keep us like animals. If they send me to the country, Sri Lanka I will be tortured and beaten to death."

In recent days, the commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory, Paul Candler, sent a missive to the two Tamil refugees stating that they will not be sent back to Sri Lanka but will be relocated to a "safe third country" as soon as this has been identified.

According to lawyers pursuing the case, that safe country is supposed to be the United Kingdom, but London has long been working to send to Rwanda-whose government has been criticized for respecting human rights and failing to ensure people's safety-all those who arrive on British shores in an "irregular manner."

About fifty people detained on Diego Garcia Island have been refused applications for international protection and the cases are being reviewed by legal experts, as is the agreement between the British and Rwandan governments signed in 2022 to house the migrants.
by Stefano Caprio

In Kiev while Onufryj - leader of the Orthodox jurisdiction still linked to the Moscow Patriarchate - is calling on the Ukrainian government to stop the eviction, antagonist Epifanyj has already appointed a new superior of the Monastery of the Caves. The long history of the forge of the many souls of Russian Christianity developed in the mid-11th century through the enlightened leadership of the son of the first Prince Vladimir, Jaroslav "the Wise."

Since March 29, according to instructions from the Kiev Ministry of Culture, eviction operations have been underway at the Kiev Monastery (Lavra) of the Caves, the original monastery of all the spirituality of Kievan Rus' and its heir Orthodox Church. Some monks have already left the buildings, especially those occupied by businesses, complete with all kinds of machinery and tools, but the community's leadership insists on staying.

All the leaders of Russian Orthodoxy and beyond have mobilized for the Lavra, starting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, and also many hierarchs of other Orthodox Churches scattered around the world.

In Ukraine there is a large concentration of metropolitans, archbishops, archimandrites and igumens, from both the Moscow and autocephalous and Greek-Catholic jurisdictions, all intent on asserting their right to represent the faithful who crowd the doors of the monastery, the main church and the various chapels.

Metropolitan Onufryj (Berezovsky) of Kiev is the head of the Upz Church, which is still formally linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, and in recent days has gathered the local synod to ask the government not to proceed with the eviction.

President Zelenskyj refused to receive him, referring him for jurisdiction to Culture Minister Tkacenko, who while assuring that "no violence will be used," confirmed the eviction order. Another Upz metropolitan, Kliment (Vecerja) of Nezinsk, chairman of the synodal department for information and culture, insists that "there is no legal document that obliges the monks to leave the Lavra," challenging the ministry on the legality of the termination of the usufruct contract: "there is no date of March 29, 2023, and therefore neither today, tomorrow nor the day after tomorrow are we obliged to leave."

The most active and impetuous of the Upz metropolitans is certainly Pavel (Lebed), the superior (namestnik) of the Lavra since 1994, a loyalist of Patriarch Kirill, who has never stopped traveling to Moscow to receive instructions and represents the most uncompromising wing of pro-Russian Ukrainian monasticism.

His stances are not only obligatory because of his role, but also reflect his very decisive and politically and socially committed personality. In Ukraine he is known as "Pasa-Mercedes" because of his passion for luxury cars, and even this reputation as an "oligarch metropolitan" has been shared with Kirill since the 1990s, when both of them tried to support church activities with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

For this reason, many businesses have been opened in the various buildings of the Lavra, some related to the needs of worship (printing press, production of candles and liturgical garments, icons and art objects), as is often found in large shrines around the world, but also others aimed solely at economic activities, such as furniture factories, technical stores, grocery stores, car workshops and others.

Metropolitan Pavel stated that the community will not move "until all legal procedures and appeals are concluded," about which, moreover, there is no definite news. He too stressed that the usufruct is tied to "an indefinite contract," pointing out that "it is certainly not the case to terminate it in wartime."

Confronted with the compromise proposal, which calls for the exit of only Onufryj, Pavel and the Upz seminary, to which the former seems to be amenable, the latter responded in a martyrological tone that "from the cross you don't come down, from the cross they pull you down." He added that "if we leave Kiev, then they will also kick us out of Pocaev [where another large monastery is based], and then they will start picking on women's monasteries as well."

The namestnik recalled that "all the presidents of Ukraine were elected thanks to the prayers of the priests and faithful of the Upz Church," emphasizing the political strength of Russian Orthodox monasticism.

At the same time, he declared that he will "no longer talk to journalists, who start making scandals precisely during the Great Lenten Fast," using for "scandal" the verb buzit, not exactly an elegant expression usually reserved for street brawlers. "Look what's happening at the front, an egg costs 17 hryvnias, they're stealing billions all over the place, and you're picking on the Church, as if monks are guilty of everything," he recoiled.

"I got a shock when you invited me on television: you sit there with your tattoos and earrings, where are you from? From the woods? And you claim to explain to me how one should live? But to you one can only throw anathemas...," shouted the enraged metropolitan, who assures that he has "owned one car for many years, unlike all of you."

On the opposite side of the autocephalous Pzu Church, Kiev Metropolitan Epifanyj (Dumenko) has already asked to draw up a new usufruct contract to replace the Upz, not only for the Lavra, but for all the other monasteries scattered across the country, which are still state-owned.

In the meantime, he appointed the new namestnik of the Lavra in Pavel's place, in the person of Archimandrite Avraamij (Lotys), a monk who a few months ago switched from Upz to Pzu jurisdiction. For this he is called "Brother Judas" by his former confreres, and was immediately excommunicated by the albeit mild-mannered Onufryj. Avraamij immediately invited all the monks to remain in their cells, naturally also passing under the homophorion (the stole of the metropolitan) of Epifanyj.

As if that were not enough, even the senior archbishop of the Greek Catholic Church (Ugkz), Svjatoslav Sevcuk, whom all his people call "Patriarch of Kiev," expressed his desire to at least be able to celebrate some liturgy in the churches of the Lavra, considering himself, not without reason, heir to the great fathers of Christianity of ancient Rus'.

Indeed, it was in the Lavra that the Theological Academy of Metropolitan Petro Mogila was also born in the seventeenth century, uniting the traditions of East and West through the use of Jesuit scholasticism, the origins of modern Ukraine.

As if that were not enough, even the senior archbishop of the Greek Catholic Church (Ugkz), Svjatoslav Sevcuk, whom all his faithful call "Patriarch of Kiev," expressed the desire to be able to at least celebrate some liturgy in the churches of the Lavra, considering himself, not without reason, heir to the great fathers of Christianity of ancient Rus'. Indeed, it was in the Lavra that the Theological Academy of Metropolitan Petro Mogila was also born in the seventeenth century, uniting the traditions of East and West through the use of Jesuit scholasticism, the origins of modern Ukraine.

Monasteries generally are oases of peace, silence and meditation, but this was never the case with the Lavra of the Caves, a hotbed of the many souls of Russian Christianity. It developed in the mid-11th century, thanks to the enlightened leadership of the son of the first Prince Vladimir, Jaroslav "the Wise," who wanted to give Kiev Christianity a greatness that was both spiritual and cultural, social and political.

He entrusted one of the first monks, Nestor the annalist, with the task of writing the "Chronicle of Current Times," the text celebrating the conversion of Rus' to Byzantine Christianity, and another monk, Ilarion, was chosen as the first Russian metropolitan, without waiting for a Greek prelate to be sent from Constantinople, anticipating the Russians' autonomy from the Byzantines. Ilarion left behind the famous "Discourse on Law and Grace," a eulogy of Vladimir and the principality of Kiev, extolling the "new people" born from the baptism of 988, thanks to the "new Constantine" prince, prophet of the new Christian Rome, which Moscow later took as its own definition, that of the "Third Rome."

The first monk to settle on the hill above the Dnipro River was the elder Antonij, who had spent a few years of experience on Mount Athos, the great "monastic republic" that began to form in parallel with the Kievan kingdom, and which formed the model for the set of individual cells, small and large community spaces, for the Lavra of Caves itself.

Antonij dug the first cave to isolate himself from the world and was soon imitated by many other ascetics, until one of them, Phaeodosij, was given the task of putting together a community under a rule, as had been the case with the first monks of the fourth century, Anthony and Pachomius of Egypt.

Russian monasticism thus intended to "return to the origins" of the whole history of anchorites and cenobites, and in general to Christian history, which begins again in Kiev (and later in Moscow). Feodosij imposed the rule of the Greek monastery of Studion, a "classical" variant of the great rules of monasticism of East and West, the Basilian and the Benedictine.

As the Life of Pheodosij recounts, "he chose a vacant place, located not far from the caves, and began to make efforts to make that place habitable: he fenced it off, built many cells, and then moved, together with the brothers, from the caves in the year 6570 [1062]."

The first namestnik "was in the habit of making the rounds of the monks' cells every night, in order to learn how each of them lives." Next to the rule, in fact, the monks used the style of idiorhythmy, the "diversity of vows" in which each one chose the one that suited him best: some in total silence, some painting icons, some even walled themselves in the cell (zatvornyj), and it was not easy even then to get one's head around.

The Paterikon of the Caves, a collection of stories and sayings of Kievan monks from the late 12th century, tells, among others, of the monk Marko, who had the task of preparing the graves of deceased monks by digging them beyond the caves. One day the brethren brought a monk who had died suddenly after an illness, and there was no room in the dug-out loculi. Then Marko said to the deceased, "Brother, wait a little, I cannot give you last rites yet." The deceased got up, sat down, and when it was time he anointed himself, and lay down in the new tomb.

The monks of Kiev are used to waiting, until the time to take the place prepared for them by the Lord. A thousand years later, nothing has changed.

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FWD

Photo: Chrysler

Photo: Chrysler

Photo: Chrysler

To be discontinued after the 2023 model year due to its rather antiquated platform and poor sales, the LX-based 300 wouldnt have been possible without the so-called letter series from the 1950s. The original C-300 for 1955 was named this way after the peak output of its Hemi V8, which cranks out a round 300 ponies and 345 pound-feet (468 Nm) of torque.The non-letter series can be considered a continuation of the letter series started by the C-300. It replaced the Windsor line of vehicles and DeSoto marques entire range. Chrysler discontinued the non-letter series in 1971, only to bring the 300 nameplate back in 1979 in the guise of an optional package for the Newport-based Cordoba personal luxury car. This moniker was also used for the 300M from the late 1990s and early 2000s, aluxury sedan that was supposed to roll out as the Eagle Vision.Radically different from the preceding 300s, the 300M was produced at the Brampton assembly plant in Canada, where Chrysler has been making the LX-based 300 since 2004. Introduced for the 2005 model year with great pomp and circumstance with standard rear- and optional all-wheel drive, the sedan that keeps on giving wouldnt have been possible without the engineering expertise of German manufacturer Daimler, now Mercedes-Benz Group.Automotive media outlets praised the 300 for the Merc-like handling and ride quality at both urban and highway speeds, which isnt baseless hyperbole. As part of the DaimlerChrysler partnership that went sour in 2007, the American companys engineers were flown to Germany to get acquainted with Mercs engineering prowess. Chrysler derived a handful of components from the W211 E-Class and W220 S-Class for the LX vehicle architecture of the 300, including a plethora of suspension componentry.The press kit for the 2005 model was published in February 2004 on Chryslers media portal, which lists three powertrain choices for the first year of production: a 2.7-liter V6, a slightly bigger one for the Touring and Limited trim levels, and a V8 for the 300C. Only the 5.7-liter HEMI came with the 5G-Tronic automatic, whereas V6-equipped variants of the 300 made do with the Chrysler -designed Ultradrive four-speed automatic.HEMI-powered vehicles also boast MDS, which stands for Multiple-Displacement System. The cylinder deactivation technology enables the naturally-aspirated V8 to shut off a bank of cylinders in certain driving scenarios to reduce fuel consumption. The 5.7-liter mill cranks out 340 horsepower and 390 pound-feet (529 Nm). With the said engine, the 300C hits 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in an estimated 6.3 seconds.Also produced in Austria by contract manufacturer Magna Steyr and in China by the Beijing Benz joint venture, the notchback-styled 300 was joined by a five-door station wagon pretty much everywhere except for its domestic market. Twinned with the Dodge Charger-based Magnum, the Chrysler 300C Touring was offered in South America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and Middle Eastern markets. Depending on the market, a Merc-supplied V6 turbo diesel was available as well. It was ultimately replaced by a VM Motori sixer.The 2006 model year saw little in the way of updates, whereas the 2007 model year saw the debut of a long-wheelbase variant dubbed Chrysler 300 W. P. Chrysler Executive Series. Due to six additional inches of wheelbase, the long-wheelbase variant provides more than 46 inches of rear legroom. For 2005 and 2006 alike, the hi-po variant of the full-size luxury sedan came in the form of the 300C SRT8. It leveled up from the 5.7-liter V8 mentioned earlier to a 6.1-liter mill that was ultimately discontinued for a 6.4 that most of us know as the 392 HEMI, named as such after its displacement.A slight redesign of the 300 was introduced for the 2011 model year, with said redesign also giving birth to a badge-engineered Lancia. The Thema was discontinued in 2014 due to understandably poor sales in Europe. The United Kingdom got 300C badging and looks because Lancia had  and still has a bad reputation  in this part of the world due to rusting Betas. The 392-powered Chrysler 300 SRT8 debuted for the 2012 model year with 470 horsepower and 470 pound-feet (637 Nm) on deck, replacing the previous 6.1-liter HEMI.Derived from the LX, the LD platform used between the 2011 and 2023 model years also brought forth the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 as the standard engine. Beginning with the model year 2012, the 300 received an eight-speed transmission, but only for six-pot vehicles. The 2015 facelift marked the end of the SRT grade in the United States, leaving the 300 with only the 3.6-liter Pentastar and 5.7-liter HEMI. Sales totaled 53,109 units during the calendar year 2015 stateside, down from a high point of 144,068 in 2005. Worse still, for the 300, only 14,087 examples of the breed were sold in the U.S. in 2022.The aging underpinnings, traditional design, and rising popularity of crossovers forced Chrysler to make the rather difficult but right decision to discontinue this fellow after 2023. The near-70-year history of the 300 is celebrated by the 300C special edition for 2023, which packs the 6.4-liter HEMI rather than the 6.2-liter Hellcat supercharged V8 that everyone was expecting. 2,000 units for the U.S. and 200 for Canada will be made, after which the assembly line will come to a grinding halt.Brampton, which also makes the Dodge Challenger and Charger, will be fully retooled for a brand-new platform that will support Chryslers electrification plans. The sister plant in Windsor gears up for STLA Large-based vehicles such as the series-production version of the Chrysler Airflow concept, the first of a total of three zero-emission vehicles planned for 2025 to 2028. Sharing its name with the Airflow sedans and coupes of the 1930s, the concept is a mid-size crossover with two-row seating.
Photo: Enduro Campers

Photo: Enduro Campers

Photo: Enduro Campers

Photo: Enduro Campers

While camper vans and RVs are more spacious and offer more conveniences and amenities, truck campers can more easily access off-road destinations, so they will take you places that the other options simply cant reach.If getting off the beaten path is on your agenda, you should check out Enduro Campers latest offering for mobile camping. Its called SuperTourer and is a feature-rich pop-top composite truck camper built with comfort and agility in mind to make sure adventurers dont need to make lifestyle compromises when exploring the great outdoors. Truck campers are some of the most simple RVs on the market and cater to the needs of many camping enthusiasts looking for versatility, off-grid capabilities, and easy maintenance. The SuperTourer camper ticks all of the above boxes, while also adding to the mix an ultralight composite construction that allows the base trucks rugged, off-road nature to shine through. Less weight on your truck means the vehicle gets to maintain its performance when climbing hills or powering over tough terrain.This pop-top camper is built from ultra-light composite materials, including thin fiberglass sheets bonded to a structural foam core using a two-part 2,000-PSI epoxy. The resulting wall panels not only reduce overall weight, but also offer insulation. The exterior shell is reinforced with aluminum extrusions that enhance structural integrity, and a carbon fiber structural skin reinforces the alcove area.Engineered for off-roading , the SuperTourers body shell is joined together by ultra-strong yet flexible adhesives that allow it to absorb vibrations. This means the camper will seamlessly withstand the jolting and jarring of steep trails or any other challenges you throw at it.The campers total length is 162 inches (411 cm), with the main body measuring 101 inches (257 cm). The empty SuperTourer shell tips the scales at 600 lbs (272 kg), which makes it lighter than many slide-in camper models. However, the company estimates that a fully-equipped SuperTourer will weigh in at about 1,000 - 1,400 pounds (454 - 635 kg), meaning it is compatible only with full-size pickup trucks. Enduro Campers can fit its new offering to trucks with 6.5-foot (198-cm) beds, including the 2015+ Ford F-150/250/350, 2022+ Toyota Tundra, and 2019+ Ram 2500/3500.The California-based company says the SuperTourer can be mounted directly to the trucks frame with isolation bushings or to a flatbed, and it comes with integrated wheel wells for 37 tires.A side entry door leads inside the camper. This allows for a spacious, open floor plan despite the compact footprint. The full-length pop-up roof provides plenty of headroom both in the main living area and over the sleeping space.The basic models interior includes a nice kitchen that stretches along the rear wall, a sofa bench and a flexible Lagun table that create the perfect space for dining, socializing, or working, and a spacious 80 x 68-inch (203 x 173-cm) alcove sleeping platform. There is some underbed storage space where you can fit several Sidio crates with adjustable organizers.The kitchen offers plenty of storage and counter space built from lightweight composite materials and comes equipped with an induction cooktop, a sink, a 25-gallon (98-liter) water tank, and a 35-gallon (130-liter) Isotherm fridge. Owners will have full access to the galley and storage even when the bed is deployed, which is quite convenient for those evenings when you need to finish some work on the laptop and your partner wants to read in bed or mornings when you want to brew your coffee already, but your significant other prefers to sleep in.The camper also comes equipped with air and water heaters, an outdoor shower, an integrated awning, LED lighting, a composting or dry-flush toilet, and a backup camera.In terms of available storage onboard for gear and equipment, buyers will have several options to choose from, including a full-width exterior pass-through garage space, exterior storage boxes, rear MOLLE mounting panels, and Rotopax canister mounts.Last but not least, the electrical system comprises a 600Ah lithium-ion battery, a 230W solar charging array, a 2,000-W inverter, and a Redarc power management system.The empty shell SuperTourer starts at $32,975, while fully-equipped builds range between $65,000 and $90,000, according to the company. Basic math tells us that we can have a tough off-road camper rig for around $150,000, which is considerably cheaper than a camping van. And definitely more off-road capable Some may be concerned about the limited square footage of such a rig, but what it lacks in space, it makes up for in versatility and exploration capability.At the moment, interested customers will have Enduros SuperTourer camper fitted to their own truck, but the company says it has plans to eventually offer turn-key ready camper trucks.
ICE

What do we mean by sort of? Its actually quite simple, because (some of) the images shared above in the gallery are actually renderings. They were released on social media by kelsonik a few days ago, and they portray the facelifted Hyundai Sonata in a slightly sportier-looking attire.Compared to the real deal, the mid-size sedan from the Korean company has chrome delete and black side mirror casings. The digital makeover of the car shows it with new wheels too, which have a less intricate design, and a Y-spoke pattern. Compared to the OEM ones, they are actually a bit bigger, and together with the slightly thinner rubber wrapped around them, they would affect the overall ride comfort of the car.Back in the real world, the 2024 Hyundai Sonata celebrated its public unveiling at the Seoul Mobility Show, in South Korea. The auto event runs between March 30 and April 9, and chances are that we will get to see it in the flesh at the New York Auto Show this month. However, this is a mere rumor at this point, as at the time of writing, the auto marque has yet to confirm when it will officially touch down in the New World. We have yet to learn what will power it, and how much it will cost, though these details will likely be released in the coming months.Compared to its predecessor, it has a more modern design, highlighted by the full-width LED light bar up front, new lighting units, grille, and bumper. The same goes for the other end, where it features a new bumper, and a different lighting signature. On the inside, they gave it a curved display, which mixes the 12.3-inch infotainment system and 12.3-inch digital dials. The gear shifter was moved to the steering column, and the center console was revised. Hyundai also mentioned a large cup holder and tray in the press release, stating at the same time that the palm rest on the center console offers more comfort to the driver.On a final note, we will remind you that the latest iteration Sonata could also be the last one , as its predecessor is nowhere on the horizon. The reason is that Hyundai is planning to ditch allmotors entirely, as theyre looking to go fully electric. This means that there is no more room in its lineup for a mid-size sedan powered by dead dinosaurs. But who knows, maybe the nameplate will return, as a rival to the likes of the Toyota Camry, albeit with zero emissions only.
Photo: Helixx

Photo: Helixx

Photo: Helixx

ICE

Helixx is a UK-based global technology company producing a range of budget-friendly , innovative mini EVs. It aims to offer zero-emission mobility solutions to tackle air pollution in densely populated areas, enabling businesses to grow faster in developing regions.Vehicle concept designer Steve Pegg and hypercar designers Jowyn Wong and Jakub Jodlowski are the minds behind Helixx. Wong and Jodlowski have vast expertise  their portfolio includes hypercars for manufacturers such as Apollo or De Tomaso The company has a range of four affordable mini commercial electric vehicles: Cargo, Truck, Ride, and Tuk. Theyre relatively similar to each other, with each engineered to fulfill different purposes. Let me tell you a bit about them.All four vehicles are built on the same platform. Design-wise, they are very straightforward, with styling that focuses on practicality. Designed to be as affordable as possible, theyre as small and simple as the majority of commercial vehicles. What sets them apart is their electric drivetrain and low pricing.For instance, the Cargo is a commercial hood vehicle that boasts 2,100 liters (about 555 gallons) of cargo space and a 500 kg (1,102 lb) payload. It aims to support the booming demand for last-mile delivery fleets, as it can carry the majority of ISO pallets in target markets. The Cargos storage measures 140 cm (55 inches) in length, with a rear door width of 110 cm (43 inches).On the other hand, the Truck is a pick-up ideal for construction businesses and urban developers. Its bed area offers 1.64 square meters (almost 18 square feet) of space and can carry the same maximum payload of 500 kg (1,102 lbs).Then, we have the Tuk and Ride versions, which come in both open and closed-door body styles. Theyre meant to be solutions for urban ride-hailing, replacing older, heavily polluting fleets. They can fit four passengers and provide 108 cm (42 inches) of legroom.But heres something that might get business owners excited - Helixx claims all four vehicles have a virtually uninterrupted 24-hour duty cycle. When you run out of juice, replace the LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery packs, and youre good to go.Whats special about this company? First, I must mention that Helixx aims to be a technology company, as it licenses its products and manufacturing to customers. Its products are designed to be built virtually anywhere in licensed Helixx Mobility Hubs. The vehicles will be provided on a subscription basis for commercial users starting at a price of $0.25 ( 0.23) per hour.Helixx Mobility Hubs are supported by a state-of-the-art digital ecosystem, which enables businesses to operate the hubs almost anywhere in the world via a licensed partnership. Helixx has designed the process to be as simple as possible, as it manages the entire onboarding process for hub partners. That means it takes care of everything from the establishment of the factory to the equipment installation and staff training. Furthermore, it will offer constant commercial support to local fleet operators.The best part is that the manufacturing and operations hubs can be rapidly deployed  the delivery of the first models is estimated to take place within 180 days. Moreover, a circular manufacturing system is created, as vehicles can be recycled whenever needed.The company even goes the extra mile by arranging all raw materials, components, and production processes through its next-gen digital platform. It prioritizes local sourcing and supply chain flexibility and keeps everything sustainable by maintaining complete traceability of environmental impact.Helixx has successfully tested a UK concept hub in partnership with Siemens. Further plans include establishing pilot hubs in the UK and Singapore. Whats more, the company is discussing with customers in the Asia Pacific region. Other markets like India, MENA (Middle East/ North Africa), and South America will follow.By scaling via licensed Helixx Mobility Hubs, implementation will take more time. However, the approach can prove to be beneficial in the long run for all the parties involved. Carbon emissions will be minimized, mobility will be improved, and enterprises can experience quick economic and social advancements, which are especially needed in developing regions.Of course, change is usually hard to implement, especially in most regions Helixx is targeting. There, businesses have relied on the same solutions for a long time, and electrification isnt widespread. However, if the company can prove its model can boost growth, it might have a chance at shifting customers perspectives and ending dependency on heavily pollutingvehicles.
Meta is reportedly allowing app users in Europe to choose the kind of advertisements that they see. This follows an order given by the European Union data privacy regulators that the company should cease targeted advertising that use the personal activities of the users with their devices.

Meta to Use Basic Personal Data of European Users for Target-Based Advertisement

According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta will let European users choose a less personal type of advertisement. Instead of using private data, the new targeted ads will be based on general information about the users, like their age and location. The company's latest move is in accordance with the EU regulator's ruling that agreeing to targeted advertisement should not be a requirement before signing up for a Facebook or Instagram account.

However, Gizmodo reported that the changes in Meta's advertisement services will not be applied right away. Users will still have to submit a form to Meta, saying that they are opposed to the company's current system of monitoring their daily activities to create customized ads. Meta will then evaluate the users' responses and apply the changes accordingly.

Earlier this year, Facebook and Instagram were fined an equivalent sum of $423 million for luring the users into seeing targeted or highly personalized advertisements on their devices. Meta was also ordered to stop requiring new users into agreeing to receive targeted ads upon accepting the terms of service of the app.

Meta will implement the changes on its advertisement services Wednesday. While this is a welcomed development for European users who wish to opt out of targeted ads, the campaign group NOYB felt that Meta is not doing enough to comply with EU regulations.

"Meta is switching one illegal practice for another illegal practice," NOYB's Max Schrems said. As per TechXplore, while Schrems recognize that Meta's policy change on advertising is a "slight improvement," he believes that this is only the company's way to get out of its liability to the public, swearing that the group will continue the legal battle to eliminate targeted advertisement for good.

Related Article: Meta Could Be Lowering Bonuses for Some Employees

Meta Believes Its Targeted Ad Services are Compliant to General Data Protection Regulation

Even as Meta seemingly obliged to the EU's decision, the company pointed out that their previous approach for showing targeted ads are compliant to the existing General Data Protection Regulation in Europe. According to a Meta spokesperson, the latest order from the EU regulator does not forbid the company from using personalized advertising. The order also should not affect how the advertisers, businesses and regular users deal with Meta's products.

"Advertisers can continue to use our platforms to reach potential customers and grow their business," the unnamed Meta spokesperson said. Furthermore, Meta is working to appeal the massive fine given to them.

"We believe that our previous approach was compliant under GDPR, and our appeal on both the substance of the rulings and the fines continues," the spokesperson added.

Read Also: Influencers Will No Longer Get Paid for Instagram and Facebook Reels
For a number of years now NASAs Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has been the driving force behind some of space explorations craziest, most spectacular, and daring ideas born in the minds of those with an interest in this industry. From actual spaceships to new means of propulsion like the Diffractive Solar Sailing were here to look at now, these ideas might one day change not only our world, but also the solar system and, who knows, maybe even the galaxy.

6 photos Photo: NASA/MacKenzi Martin
ICE

If you look at the continent as a whole, there is the North region, a buffer zone (Central America), and also the South side. And people could easily say these three are (sometimes) vastly different, including when discussing the wide-ranging automotive industry. Not only in general but also more specifically  when talking about pickup trucks, for example.South America has always been prone to accepting just about anything if its slightly more affordable than the rest of the pack. As such, they still have coupe utility (Ute) models, not just regular four-door pickup trucks. In North America, meanwhile, the accent is on the full-size roster. That is why the Detroit Three and even some of their rivals run around (amok) trying to make the best heavy-duty and (light-duty) full-size models, such as the Ford Super Duty and F-150, Ram 1500 & HD, Chevy Silverado & HD, GMC Sierra & HD, Toyota Tundra , or Nissan's Titan & XD.Only recently, customers in the United States and Canada have started to enjoy (yet) again the perks of being a wallflower. Err, sorry, I meant a unibody compact pickup truck like the Hyundai Santa Cruz and best-selling Ford Maverick, after previously their quest for a smaller pickup truck stopped at the mid-size popularity of the Toyota Tacoma and its pursuers like the Jeep Gladiator, Ford Ranger, GM siblings (Colorado and Canyon), Nissan Frontier, and Honda Ridgeline. Has anyone noticed an interesting aspect, though?Two of the Big Detroit Three also have smaller endeavors below their profit-guzzling full-size lineups  Ford with the Ranger plus Maverick and General Motors with the Chevrolet Colorado plus Montana, though the latter is only available in Latin America. Stellantis, meanwhile, only has the Ram 1500 and HDs, along with the Jeep Gladiator, in North America. Logically, something needs to be done, right?Well, judging by the influx of spied prototypes , the Ram Trucks division is diligently trying to close the gap with its rivals. Dubbed Ram 1200 or Dakota, according to different rumor mill sources, this pickup truck might also arrive not just down South of the border but also in the United States and Canada. However, there is a question  will it slot as a mid-size option and risk a brawl with the ultra-established Toyota Tacoma, or will it fight its way into the reemerging sector of unibody compact trucks to teach the Maverick and Santa Cruz a lesson?If you ask the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, the question is still open for debate. And we understand the conundrum  Ram already sells 1000 and 1200 models in various parts of the world, one as a compact (a rebadged Fiat Toro for certain South American markets), and the other as a mid-size affair  also a renamed Mitsubishi Triton/L200 or Fiat Fullback, for the Middle East and Africa. So, with the resolution of which segment it pertains to still hanging in the air, Kleber Silva, the Brazil-based virtual artist known as KDesign AG on social media, has decided to have a CGI go at imagining the smaller Ram model for the Americas somewhere in between, as far as we can tell.Plus, maybe to sweeten the deal, the pixel master imagined both an-powered Ram 1200 Dakota Turbo variant as well as its fully-electric counterpart, with the first one being thoroughly influenced by the mighty 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX and the zero-emissions sibling taking lots of styling DNA from the upcoming 2025 Ram 1500 REV. So, which one is CGI-cooler, the little turbocharged truck that could brawl with the Range Raptor or at least the Maverick Tremor, or the battery-powered version, which may not have any competition if it (hypothetically) arrives fast enough on the market?
Jameel Reid revealed that his suitcase, which was carrying $3,000 worth of goods, never showed up on the baggage carousel at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.After waiting for some 30 minutes, he decided to check the location of the suitcase himself.Before AirTags , people just had to reach out to the airline for information on lost luggage. Thanks to Apples little tracker, however, the baggage location can be tracked in real time. The coin-sized device connects to nearby iPhones to broadcast its location live. Thanks to its form factor, it can be placed virtually anywhere, and many travelers decide to put the AirTag in their luggage.Jameel Reid is one of the folks who put a tracker in the suitcase, and this proved to be a very smart choice, given he was carrying $3,000 worth of belongings.After pulling out the iPhone and connecting to the AirTag, he discovered the suitcase was already in downtown Atlanta, far away from the airport.Most people would try to go after the thief themselves, but the police strongly recommend against it . As such, Jameel Reid reach out to law enforcement, providing the officers with the full information on where the suitcase was located.As it turns out, the thief didnt search for an AirTag, so his location was provided to the owner in real time. Oddly enough, the thief returned to the airport, so the owner rushed to inform the cops about this surprising direction. The police managed to track him down, and the first encounter between the owner and the thief was surprising, to say the least.The criminal was wearing the mans clothes, including even his socks. The thief checked out all goods stored in the suitcase, but the only thing he liked were the shirt, the jeans, and the socks he was wearing. The man, reportedly homeless, is now charged with theft.Apples AirTag is a controversial device. Despite being created specifically to track belongings, its sometimes used for more nefarious purposes, including stalking and keeping track of vehicles with the intention of stealing them. Police in several regions warned that criminals turn to AirTags because they are very small, so planting them in wheel wells or behind the license plate is very convenient.Apple has equipped the AirTag with several protection systems, including a warning that shows up on nearby iPhones. The tracker tells users that an AirTag is moving with them, therefore trying to prevent stalking. On Android devices, users must download an application from the Google Play Store and manually scan for nearby trackers.
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Sunny skies. Becoming windy late. High 84F. WNW winds at 10 to 15 mph, increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 52F. WSW winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 10 to 15 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
The Russian governments Rosselkhoznadzor agriculture watchdog first warned of such a measure on Tuesday, saying that Armenian dairy companies use Iranian milk and other raw materials banned in Russia. It said that Russia risks importing low-quality and unsafe products also because of a lack of proper oversight of those companies operations by relevant Armenian authorities.

Rosselkhoznadzor reported on Friday its ensuing negotiations with Armenias Food Safety Inspectorate yielded unsatisfactory results. It said it has therefore asked the Armenian state veterinary service to suspend from April 5 mandatory safety certifications of all dairy products exported to Russia.

The Armenian government did not immediately comment on the move.

A spokeswoman the Food Safety Inspectorate insisted on Wednesday that the Iranian raw materials are safe for consumption. She also told RFE/RLs Armenian that Rosselkhoznadzors inspection of some Armenian dairy firms conducted last week did not detect any problem threatening peoples lives and health.

The Russian watchdog issued its first warning four days Armenias Constitutional Court gave the green light for parliamentary ratification of the International Criminal Courts founding treaty. The ruling in turn came one week after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Moscow warned on Monday that recognition of The Hague tribunals jurisdiction would have extremely negative consequences for Russian-Armenian relations.

The Armenian government has still not publicly reacted to the stern warning. Still, two pro-government lawmakers stated earlier this week that Yerevan should not be afraid of pledging to arrest Putin if he visits the South Caucasus country.

Russian-Armenian relations have soured lately due to what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians administration sees as a lack of Russian support for Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan.

Dairy products make up a small share of Armenias exports to Russia. The Russian market is far more important for Armenian exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables, processed foods and alcoholic drinks.

Armenian exports to Russia nearly tripled to $2.4 billion last year as a consequence of Western economic sanctions against Moscow. The soaring trade with and other cash flows from Russia are the main reason why the Armenian economy grew by 12.6 percent last year.
1 April 2023 18:19 (UTC+04:00)

Chairman of the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan Tahir Budagov has met with Nuno Queiros, resident representative a.i. of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

The pair emphasized the importance of creating the UNDP-funded National Information Portal on Sustainable Development Goals.

They stressed that the UNDPs current operations in Azerbaijan are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2025 between the Government of Azerbaijan and the United Nations and targets long-term socio-economic development issues in accordance with the growing needs of the country.

In turn, Nuno Queiros hailed positive results achieved in all areas of cooperation between the State Statistical Committee and the UNDP. The two also exchanges views on other issues of mutual interest.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 April 2023 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

The Armenian army continues inflicting on its human resources.

As the Armenian Defense Ministry reported today, on March 31, at around 22:50, in the southeastern border zone, "in conditions of extremely poor visibility, due to a misunderstanding, a shootout took place between the servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces." "Misunderstanding", "poor visibility"...too many excuses and it looks pretty suspicious.

After the incident, the body of Armenian Armed Forces conscript serviceman Hrachya Sarukhanyan was found with a fatal gunshot wound. Another soldier was injured.

But one moment in the message of the Armenian Ministry of Defense looks very ironic - "we share the heavy grief of loss and express support to the relatives and friends of the victim!"

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
1 April 2023 23:00 (UTC+04:00)

A video footage of the Azerbaijani army positions recently taken under control in the territories at the border zone of the Lachin district have been published on social media, Azernews reports.

It is of note that in connection with the commissioning of the new Lachin road, several high ground, main and auxiliary roads, as well as large areas along the border between Jagazur and Zabukh villages of Lachin district were taken under the control of the Azerbaijan Army units.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
18 March 2023 14:42 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans Deputy Foreign Minister Fariz Rzayev paid a business visit to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in order to participate at the 49th session of the Council of Ministers of the Islamic Cooperation Council (OIC).

Within the framework of the visit, Fariz Rzayev has held meetings with the officials of various states, Azernews reports.

During the meetings, bilateral cooperation perspectives, and cooperation issues within the framework of international organizations, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) were discussed. The importance of increasing the intensity of high-level official contacts and bilateral political consultations were emphasized.

Deputy Foreign Minister Fariz Rzayev gave detailed information about the initiatives dedicated to the issue of post-pandemic global recovery put forward by Azerbaijan within the framework of the NAM presidency.

The Deputy Minister appreciated the continuous support provided to Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) during the period of our country's membership.

Besides that, Fariz Rzayev gave detailed information about Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan for nearly 30 years, the current state of the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the post-conflict period, as well as Armenia's provocations and mine threats in the region at the meetings.

He also gave information about the rehabilitation and construction works carried out by the Azerbaijani government in the liberated territories.

The Deputy Minister brought to attention the transport and communication projects implemented in the region with the initiative and participation of Azerbaijan and emphasized the opportunities for cooperation in these directions.

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Netflix wants to improve its original movies through an unorthodox plan.

The popular streaming company recently stated that it intends to restructure its film division and make fewer original movies to better improve them for audiences.

Netflix previously ramped up its film development efforts following the trend when studios started building their own streaming services instead of licensing their movies to it, per Bloomberg.

Netflix Movie Improvement Plan Details

Netflix Film Division chief Scott Stuber mentioned in an interview that the company is attempting to scale back its output by restructuring its film division so it can ensure more of its original titles are of high quality.

The company expects that the change will mean a handful of layoffs would occur and the departure of two of its most experienced executives, namely, Lisa Nishimura and Ian Bricke. He didn't mention how many people were losing their jobs due to the restructuring, though the numbers are supposedly smaller than the layoffs it initiated in 2022.

Nishimura previously led Netflix into standup comedy and original documentaries since 2008 and is responsible for documentaries and smaller-budget films as of press time. Meanwhile, Bricke is the Film Division's vice president after more than a decade of service, as evidenced by his contribution to making "The Kissing Booth" movie franchise and his work with filmmakers Nicole Holofcener and the Duplass brothers.

Read More: Microsoft Finally Brings Ads to AI-Powered Bing Chatbot

In addition to the layoffs and the loss of two of the company's most experienced executives, the restructuring of Netflix's Film Division would mean the merging of two of its teams. These consist of the team working on small independent projects with a budget of $30 million or less and the unit that produces mid-budget films that cost $30-$80 million to make, per Engadget.

These teams were the result of its efforts to hire more staff to boost its production of movies, which led to the creation of multiple divisions responsible for movies at different price points. Despite the number of original films Netflix released, only a few won accolades, eyeballs that watched for hours, or had the kind of cultural impact some of the biggest blockbusters had achieved.

These movies include "Red Notice," "Don't Look Up," and "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," per Netflix's Top 10 page.

Why Netflix Releases More Films In 2023

Netflix is banking on the idea that quality is better than quantity for 2023 to attract customers both old and new back to its platform. According to Make Use Of, the reason why Netflix wants to release fewer movies was because of the significant amount of subscribers lost during 2022 due to rising competition, account sharing, and adverse global economic circumstances.

Speaking of the economy, the company feels the need to pull back its movie production because of the grim economic outlook for 2023 due to the ongoing economic recession following the pandemic.

Lastly, Netflix believes that it doesn't need to release so many movies anymore because it is past the so-called "most cash-intensive phase," with the company stating that it had successfully scaled its original programming initiative after a decade into executing it.

Related Article: Netflix's Ad-Tier Plan is Now Available on Apple TV
1 April 2023 09:30 (UTC+04:00)

Elnur Enveroglu Read more

Iran is a nest of a regime that has become famous for its devious activities under the Islamic religion. There is no country near or far that is not threatened by it. However, in fact, the state of Iran is like a tree with a rotten root, and the branches attached to it may one day be torn from the rotten trunk once and for all.

Mullahcracy is like a radiation that harms its surrounding

Unlike other theocratic regimes of the world, barbarian authorities or dictatorships, the Tehran mullocracy is extremely dangerous.

It is not much complext to understand it; the clerical regime in Tehran is heterogeneous - endless conflicts between various groups, camps and detachments lead to conspiracies, merciless intrigues and, ultimately, even to the most risky and dangerous means of expanding their sphere of influence.

These remedies sometimes have an overly repulsive effect.

Given that the political, moral and ideological foundations of Tehran's theocracy are rotten, and its goals are risky and dangerous for neighboring states, it is necessary to choose a model of behavior with a regime that still sees the world through the prism of the Middle Ages, is in constant search of enemies and tries to deceive citizens with impunity.

Kanani's statement portrays Iran's growing contempt and hostility

Iran's attitude, or rather its hostility towards Azerbaijan, exacerbated by a sense of contempt, has reached such an extent that official Tehran seeks to interfere in Baku's foreign policy decisions.

Iran regards the joint statements of the Israeli Foreign Minister with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister on the creation of an ""anti-Iran united front" " as Israel's disdainful intention to turn the territory of Azerbaijan into a space from which a threat to Iran's national security will emanate, and categorically condemns this. This was stated by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Nasser Kanani.

He called the statements of the foreign ministers of Israel and Azerbaijan 'a tacit consent to the anti-Iranian orientation of their cooperation" and demanded clarifications from the Azerbaijani authorities on this issue.

An Iranian diplomat who uttered the phrase "tacit consent" considers himself so authoritative that he dares to "demand explanations" from Baku.

Kanani's statement is, of course, the interpretation of Iran's ultimate dismay.

Much to regime's consternation may lead it to resort to other means

The aggressive, almost hysterical policy of Iran, constantly aggravating relations with Azerbaijan, drawing the situation into the plane of open confrontation, has become a source of serious threat to the South Caucasus.

The mullahs in Tehran began to widely use proxy forces as part of a hybrid war against Baku.

With the victory in the second Karabakh war, which lasted 44 days, Azerbaijan put an end to the 30-year occupation and, having forced Armenia to capitulate, achieved serious successes both in diplomacy and in the economy.

Pursuing a balanced policy between West and East and choosing the paradigm of horizontal interaction with all countries, Baku has become a reliable and serious partner for the European Union, which is faced with an acute shortage of energy resources due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Iran is annoyed by the strengthening, growing geopolitical weight of Baku, which is steadily increasing the volume of oil and natural gas exports along the routes and is becoming an extremely important strategic partner in diversifying energy sources of the European Union states.

To prevent this, the Iranian regime, using all the means at its disposal and using mechanisms, seeks to strengthen ties with Armenia, prevent the implementation of the Zangazur transport corridor project, threatening Azerbaijan with senile statements like "Syunik is strategically important for us, changing borders in the region is our red line".

To achieve its goals, the mullah regime in Azerbaijan is using a strategy aimed at supporting terrorist groups and extremist groups in a number of countries around the world.

Back in the 1990s, Iran, having created a terrorist group called "Azerbaijani Revolutionary Detachment" to overthrow the constitutional government in Azerbaijan, targeted the state and government institutions of our country, especially oil and gas infrastructure.

The Tehran regime, which controls the Hezbollah unit created in Azerbaijan, also tried to commit murders and terrorist acts in our country.

These threats from Iran will never be able to scare Azerbaijan away. Despite the military support sent to Armenia from Iranian territory, the Azerbaijani army defeated the occupier Armenian army in 2020. And after that, any aggression and provocations against Azerbaijan will be decisively suppressed.

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1 April 2023 10:51 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijani delegation including heads of various governmental bodies is on the visit to Kazakhstan, Azernews reports.

The delegation led by Chairman of the Azerbaijani Audiovisual Council Ismat Sattarov had a number of meetings in Astana on March 31.

The meeting with Kazakh Minister of Information and Social Development Darkhan Kydyrali discussed the ways of deepening of information cooperation between the two countries and the development of relations between media outlets. The meeting heard that Azerbaijans Media Development Agency and Kazakhstans Ministry of Information and Social Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding on August 24. 2022. The document sets out mechanisms of shaping bilateral relations in the field of information, protection, and promotion of national interests in the media landscape, expansion of experience exchange, and other issues. Taking effective steps to strengthen information and media partnership and ensuring regular contacts among respective bodies was stressed as the major goal.

The delegation also met with the chairman of the Kazakh Information and Social Development Ministrys Information Committee Eldos Nashirali and the Director of the Central Communication Service under the President of Kazakhstan Askar Umarov. The parties discussed the ways of exchanging information in various fields and expanding cooperation.

The Azerbaijani delegations Kazakhstan trip is underway.

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1 April 2023 13:46 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada has shared a tweet responding to new insinuations of Iran's Nasser Kanaani regarding press briefing within the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramovs visit to Israel, Azernews reports, citing the tweet.

"We explained our position on allegations against Azerbaijan. Main question is why the Iranian side sticks to its systematic pattern of deviation from norm and rationality in judgment. This clearly is a biased approach. Who wants to know the truth can watch the briefing video," the tweet said.

We explained our position on allegations agnst #Azerbaijan.



Main question is why the #Iranian side sticks to its systematic pattern of deviation from norm and rationality in judgment. This clearly is a biased approach.



Who wants to know the truth can watch the briefing video. https://t.co/dvhmA4Dbqv  Aykhan Hajizada (@Aykhanh) April 1, 2023

Previously, Hajizada made a statement resolutely condemning Kanaani's remarks.

"As is known, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov didnt voice anything anti-Iranian during the joint press briefing with the Israeli Foreign Minister [Eli Cohen]. In this regard, we consider this statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry as another step against Azerbaijan, he said.

The Azerbaijani spokesperson emphasized that Azerbaijan has never allowed its territory to be used against third states.

On the contrary, recently threats against Azerbaijan have been voiced from the territory of Iran, along with certain provocations. The examples include the conduct of military exercises by Iran along the borders of Azerbaijan, military flights over the state border, anti-Azerbaijani statements by Iranian officials, filming and displaying videos with threats to Azerbaijan near the Khudaferin bridge, involving children, by Iranian security structures such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran, Hajizada said.

According to the diplomat, the initial results of the investigation of the terrorist attack against the Azerbaijani MP Fazil Mustafa, also shed light on the Iranian trail.

Today, Iranian-Armenian brotherhood is the main threat to the region. Over the past 30 years, Iran, in fact, by its tacit consent, turned a blind eye to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, he noted.

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1 April 2023 15:36 (UTC+04:00)

Heads of Azerbaijani diaspora organizations operating abroad have demanded legal and political assessment of the events of March 1918 and recognition of this act as a genocide by the international community.

The statement notes that the bloody massacre committed by Bolsheviks and Armenian armed bandits in Azerbaijan from March 30 to April 3, 1918 is one of the genocides committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis and all humanity:

Brutally killing, burning, and torturing tens of thousands of peaceful, disarmed persons is a clear indication of the Armenian cruelty. During the genocide committed by the Armenian Dashnaks, 110 villages of Shamakhi, 167 villages of Guba, more than 150 villages of Karabakh, 115 villages of Zangazur, 98 villages of Kars provinces were plundered and burned down, tens of thousands of peaceful residents were killed because of their ethnic origin or religious affiliation. Ancient Azerbaijani land Irevan and surrounding 199 villages were destroyed and 132,000 Azerbaijanis were killed. The mass grave discovered in Guba clearly proves the genocide crimes committed by Armenians in 1918.

The authors of the statement emphasize that the Azerbaijani state carries out active work for the recognition of the genocide. The Decree on the "Genocide of Azerbaijanis" dated March 26, 1998, signed by Heydar Aliyev, founder of the modern Azerbaijan, gives a political assessment to the bloody events and officially declares that Azerbaijanis were exposed to genocide. Guba Genocide Memorial Complex was established by the Decree of President Ilham Aliyev dated December 30, 2009.

The statement emphasizes that cruelty of Armenians and deportation of Azerbaijanis continued during Soviet time. The international community has not given a legal and political assessment to March 31 genocide and environment of impunity led to next genocides by Armenians.

We, the representatives of diaspora organizations operating in Azerbaijan and all across the world, support the works done by the relevant bodies of the Republic of Azerbaijan and demand that the international community give a legal and political assessment to March 31 tragedy and recognize it as a genocide.

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1 April 2023 08:02 (UTC+04:00)

Iran's imports from Kazakhstan increased by 51.6 percent in value and 20.6 percent in volume, during the first 11 months of the last Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through February 19, 2023), compared to the same period in the preceding Iranian year.

In 11 months, Iran imported a total of 265,000 tons of goods worth more than $119 million from Kazakhstan.

Whereas, the imports amounted to 220,000 tons worth approximately $78.7 million for the first 11 months in the preceding Iranian year.

Iran mainly imported tractors, wheat, barley, mining machinery, etc. from Kazakhstan within the mentioned period.

Overall, Iran imported 33.6 million tons of goods worth $53.7 billion within the first 11 months of the last Iranian year (March 21, 2022, through February 19, 2023).

This is an increase of 15.2 percent in value, while a decrease of 8.61 percent in volume compared to the same period in the preceding Iranian year.

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1 April 2023 07:30 (UTC+04:00)

Japan bans Russia-bound exports of steel, aluminum and aircraft including drones in its latest sanction against Moscow, the trade ministry said on Friday.

The measure, which also prohibits Japanese entities from exporting a wide variety of industrial items such as construction machinery, ship engines, testing equipment and optical devices to Russia, will go into effect on April 7, the ministry said in a statement.

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1 April 2023 16:58 (UTC+04:00)

By News Centre

The Turkish high-altitude unmanned combat aerial vehicle Bayraktar Akinci, manufactured by Turkish defense company, Baykar, successfully test-fired a IHA-230 missile Friday capable of hitting targets at a distance up to 140 kilometers (90 miles).

The test firing of the missile, Turkiye's first air-to-ground supersonic missile developed by Turkiye's defense giant Roketsan, was completed successfully, Baykar said in a statement.

The UAV-230 Missile, fired by Bayraktar Akinci in the Sinop Firing Range, hit the point 140 kilometers away on the Black Sea with a direct strike.

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1 April 2023 19:21 (UTC+04:00)

By News Centre

Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar strongly condemned the recurrence of a despicable attack on the Muslim holy book, the Quran, and a Turkish flag in Denmark.

"We strongly condemn the creatures who carried out this arrogant and despicable attack, dehumanized and enraged with hatred, and we declare and condemn as accomplices those who turn a blind eye to these charlatans by remaining insensitive and silent, and almost incite them to crime by leaving them unpunished," Akar said on Friday in Turkiye's quake-hit southern Hatay province.

His remarks came after the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Danish Ambassador in Ankara Danny Annan to call on Danish authorities to take necessary actions against the perpetrators of this crime and to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such provocations.

Akar stressed that these "hostile, barbaric mentality and actions," which recently increased in Europe, destroy democratic values and the culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Meanwhile, the Turkish National Defense Ministry on Saturday said "despite all warnings and initiatives, this hate crime committed against all humanity in Denmark has once again remained to be irresponsibly spectated in the name of so-called democracy and freedom of expression."

"We call on Denmark, which is also a NATO member, to immediately abandon its irresponsible attitude towards such attacks, which threaten the common values of all humanity and which is another manifestation of terrorism, and to immediately do what is necessary on behalf of all humanity," the ministry said in a statement.

It also invited all democracy and human rights defenders, especially those in Denmark, to duty in the name of universal humanitarian values.

Recent months have seen several acts of Quran burning, or attempts to do so, by Islamophobic figures or groups in northern Europe and Nordic countries.

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1 April 2023 20:23 (UTC+04:00)

By News Centre

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that foreign reporters have nothing to fear if they are performing their stated duties and do not use their accreditation as a cover.

The comments came at a news conference in Moscow after the arrest Thursday of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich who Peskov said was caught red-handed while violating the countrys laws.

Peskov said there is no reason to expel all Russian journalists from Western countries in response to Gershkovich's arrest. One thing is the violation of the law and going beyond activities, stipulated by legislation. Another -- to restrict the rights of fair journalists. It would be absurd and wrong."

"All foreign journalists who have valid accreditation can and continue their journalistic activities in our country. They do not face any restrictions and work calmly. But in this case, we are talking about activities under the cover of journalistic espionage," he said.

Peskov said he had no details about Gershkovich's affairs but an investigation is being carried out by the Federal Security Service.

Turning to an initiative on sending "troops of peacekeeper kind" to Ukraine -- which is according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, being considered by the EU -- Peskov said it would demand an agreement from both sides and "potentially it is a very dangerous matter."

"This is a statement that is very important to pay attention to. If we are talking about serious spill, then, of course, this is a potentially extremely dangerous discussion," he said.

Commenting on a petition published on the website of Ukraine's president, proposing that the US deploy nuclear weapons in his country, Peskov said "not all petitions, published there (on the presidential website) demand serious attention."

On Thursday, a petition was published on Volodymyr Zelenskyy's website with a proposal to deploy US nuclear weapons in Ukraine or make Ukraine a state with nuclear weapons. If 25,000 people sign in 90 days, the president will have to consider it and give his answer.

Regarding Chinese and Belarusian peace initiatives concerning Ukraine, Peskov said they cannot be implemented due to Ukrainian legislation that stipulates peace talks with Russia is a criminal offense.

Asked about charges against former US President Donald Trump, Peskov: "I don't think this is a topic for any of our comments, these are intra-American processes that we do not consider necessary to comment on in any way."

A grand jury indicted Trump on Thursday on charges related to a "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The indictment marks the first time in US history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.

Trump has long raged against the impending legal action and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who presented evidence to a grand jury.

He has denied any wrongdoing and maintained the case is politically-motivated.

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Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
"The Night Agent," the action thriller series based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk, is officially getting a second season after being renewed by Netflix. The announcement of the renewal comes just days after the series premiered on the streaming platform on March 23.

The series, which stars Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan, also enjoyed a record debut week and rose to the Top 10 in nearly 100 countries.

Here's what you have to know about Netflix's decision to renew "The Night Agent" for a second season, as well as the statistics that may have contributed to the streaming platform's quick decision

'The Night Agent' Gets a Second Season

"The Night Agent" is getting another 10 episodes thanks to its renewal by Netflix, according to a report by Deadline. The report notes that, as previously mentioned, "This marks one of the fastest renewal decisions for Netflix, which typically waits for data on a series' 28-day performance before pulling the trigger."

Shawn Ryan, who serves as the series' creator, executive producer, as well as showrunner, has reacted to news.

To see the tremendous reaction to the show has been a great joy and is a credit to our cast, our writers, our directors, our crew and our partners at Sony Pictures Television and Netflix. We couldn't be any prouder or more excited to get cracking on Season 2 to share the further adventures of Night Action with our newfound fans

A separate report by Deadline points out that "The Night Agent" has the third-best premiere week of viewing for any Netflix Original series currently on its first season. A couple of days after its March 23 premiere, "The Night Agent" recorded 168.7 million viewing hours.

Aside from this, the conspiracy crime-thriller reached the Top 10 in a total of 93 countries.

Read Also: Netflix Won Six Oscars Out of 16 Nominations in the The 95th Annual Academy Awards

'The Night Agent'

As previously mentioned, "The Night Agent" is based on a novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk. The story of the series focuses on a character named Peter Sutherland, who is an FBI agent in charge of the Night Action telephone. He finds himself in the center of a messy conspiracy when he is tasked to protect a cybersecurity specialist Rose Larkin.

Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan lead the cast as Peter Sutherland and Rose Larkin, respectively. Fola Evans-Akingbola, Sarah Desjardins, Eve Harlow, Phoenix Raei, and Hong Chau are also part of the cast.

There is no word yet on when production for season two will begin or when it is expected to air. However, given that his character is the central character of the story, Gabriel Basso is already being expected to return for season two.

If this is your first time encountering "The Night Agent," here is its official trailer to give you a sneak peek.

Related Article: Here are the Possible Reasons Why You Can't Find a Series or Movie on Netflix
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Washington Coast Gets a Beach Cleanup on April 22, Volunteers Needed

Published 03/30/23 at 6:55 PM

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Washington Coast)  Pacific Northwest beaches, as lovely and pristine as they are, still need a good cleaning now and then. The wrong stuff just washes up no matter what people do, but even people hanging out on the Oregon coast or Washington coast leave their share of messes behind. (Photo Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

For decades, there's been an Oregon coast beach cleanup twice a year. Only in recent years has the Washington coast created its own beach cleanup efforts in a similar vein. Washington State Parks and Recognition Commission, Coast Savers and the Washington Coast Clean Alliance will host the Washington Coast Cleanup on Earth Day, April 22.

This time around the event happens at 9 a.m. to noon, concentrated at nine state parks along the Washington coast. These are: Cape Disappointment, Fort Townsend, Fort Worden, Grayland Beach, Mystery Bay, Ocean City, Pacific Beach, Shine Tidelands and Twin Harbors.



Grayland Beach, Photo courtesy Steve Ginn / Flickr

Washington State Parks (WSP) teams up with the volunteer group Washington CoastSavers, putting together three mass cleanup events each year. Each time around, WSP said, there's more work to be done. The last three beach cleanups snagged 1,175 volunteers and scooped up over 61,380 pounds of trash and debris from the Washington coastline.

For the 2023 Washington Coast Cleanup, Parks is also working with Washington Surfrider and the Grassroots Garbage Gang to bring in volunteers to support this effort, WSP said in a press release.

The state parks involved will all have meeting points where you check in. They're found at these approaches:

Northern Shores: Chance A La Mer, Ocean City Beach Approach

South Beach: Bonge Ave Beach Approach

Long Beach: Bolstad Beach Approach

Port Townsend Marine Science Center

Chimacum Corner Farmstand

Shine Tidelands (due to the tides, the Shine Tidelands cleanup will take place 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

Volunteers should dress for variable weather conditions, wear sturdy footwear and pack a lunch with plenty of water. Upon check-in, participants will receive supplies to help them pick up debris; however, volunteers are encouraged to bring reusable gloves. The check-in station also serves as the dumpster location for marine debris after collection.

Visit CoastSavers.org to learn more about the Washington Coast Cleanup, view a list of all participating beaches and pre-register for the event.

A Discover Pass is not required for vehicle access on state-managed lands on April 22 in recognition of Earth Day.





MORE PHOTOS BELOW



















Above: Cape Disappointment's North Head Lighthouse, courtesy WSP





Photo Oregon Coast Beach Connection



Long Beach, Oregon Coast Beach Connection photo

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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Google and Meta's businesses might be in trouble in the foreseeable future.

A bipartisan group of senators has recently introduced a bill nicknamed the AMERICA Act that, if enacted, would limit and even break online ad monopolies if needed.

The bill could have serious repercussions for companies as large of a reach as Google and Meta in the ad business, but the companies themselves have experience fighting such bills and lawsuits.

AMERICA ACT Details

The Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability or the AMERICA Act is a bill introduced in the senate that aims to "restore and protect competition in digital advertising by eliminating conflicts of interest" that allowed companies like Google and Meta to manipulate ad auctions and dictate monopoly rents on the market, per Utah Senator Mike Lee (R).

The senator, who is among the group that introduced the bill, also gave a deeper explanation for the act's goals. He mentioned that it prohibits large digital advertising companies from owning more than one part of the digital ad ecosystem if they process more than $20 billion in digital ad transactions.

According to Engadget, that would mean that companies couldn't own both an ad exchange and either a demand-or-supply-side platform. Meanwhile, a supply-side platform owner couldn't own a demand-side system and vice versa, while those buying and selling ads couldn't own either of the previously mentioned platforms except to sell their own ad stock.

Read More: Can Video Games Be Used to Teach Positive Behavioral Skills and Conflict Resolution?

The act also requires medium-sized and larger digital advertising companies that process more than $5 billion in digital ad transactions to abide by several obligations to protect their customers and competition.

Firstly, the AMERICA Act requires them to act in the best interests of their customers, such as making the best execution for bids on ads. Secondly, they must provide customers with transparency so they can verify they are acting in their best interest.

Thirdly, medium-sized and larger digital advertising companies must erect firewalls to prevent abuse and conflicts of interest if allowed to operate as a buyer and seller in the market. Lastly, they must provide customers fair access to their performance and information related to transactions, exchange processes, and functionality.

The act targets Google and Meta by name as they dominate the digital advertising market, particularly the former due to it controlling both sides.

AMERICA Act's Ramifications In The Digital Advertising Market

If enacted into law, the AMERICA Act would most likely require Google and Meta to divest "significant potions" or even break up their ad businesses to give competitors a chance to grow and fill the market vacuum the two companies leave behind.

This act would deal a significant blow to the two companies and those like it as they rely on ad sales as their main revenue maker, which they sometimes use to finance other projects like Meta's metaverse.

Meanwhile, the act could affect Amazon and Apple as they have to make divestments to follow it and see a slower entry into third-party ads, respectively.

Google and Meta commented that they previously fought bills and lawsuits like the AMERICA Act that mean to restrict their ad operations, though not much was said aside from that.

Related Article: Meta to Abide by EU Regulator's Order to Cease Targeted Ads on Facebook, Instagram Users
Archived Results for Saturday, April 1st, 2023

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This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal . The author of this post is CJ Staff The N.C. Supreme Court will not accept a new friend-of-the-court brief from Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein in next week's rehearing of a redistricting case. The court rejected Cooper and Stein's brief without comment Thursday.Justice Trey Allen signed the order denying Cooper and Stein's motion. Allen also signed a second order rejecting a friend-of-the-court brief from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University law school.While neither order offered an explanation, both referenced Rule 31(d) of the N.C. Rules of Appellate Procedure. That rule saysA new hearing is scheduled Tuesday in Harper v. Hall. In December the outgoing Supreme Court, with its 4-3 Democratic majority, upheld a trial court's decision to throw out a congressional election map drawn by Republican legislators. Justices also threw out the state Senate map used in the 2022 elections.Two weeks after that decision, two Republican justices replaced outgoing Democrats on the state's highest court. Legislative leaders asked the new court, with its 5-2 Republican majority, to rehear the case.With a party-line vote, the court agreed on Feb. 3. The high court also will rehear the Holmes v. Moore case dealing with North Carolina's 2018 voter identification law. That rehearing is scheduled for Wednesday.Cooper and Stein, both Democrats, filed their motion March 3 to submit new arguments in Harper v. Hall.according to the motion from Cooper and Stein, signed by N.C. Solicitor General Ryan Park.Park added.Park argued.The state Supreme Court will not consider Cooper and Stein's arguments. Justices will consider fresh arguments from legislative leaders.according to legislators' brief for the redistricting rehearing.the brief continued.The high court also will consider arguments from the plaintiffs who challenged Republicans' election maps.wrote attorneys challenging the legislature's maps.plaintiffs argued.according to the plaintiffs' brief.Once the court hears new arguments Tuesday, there is no deadline for a new ruling in Harper v. Hall.
Switzerland's two largest banks are poised to merge in a deal regulators sought to help create stability as volatility rocks financial institutions around the globe.UBS, the larger of the pair, agreed on Sunday to buy troubled competitor Credit Suisse for more than $3 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.said the Swiss National Bank.The exact details of the arrangement are not all fully clear, but the Financial Times reported that Swiss authorities were working to speed up the process by changing laws to bypass a shareholder vote.In addition, the Swiss National Bank said it would offer a loan of up to 100 billion Swiss francs ($108 billion) to support the takeover, and the Swiss government pledged to cover about 9 billion francs ($9.7 billion) worth of potential losses for assets being taken over by UBS, per CNBC.Swiss President Alain Berset said the deal isthe Associated Press reported.The Financial Stability Board, an international group that assesses the global financial system, considers Credit Suisse to be one of 30 "systemically important" banks.With its shares plummeting by 75% in the past 12 months, Credit Suisse received a lifeline of 50 billion franks, or $54 billion, from the Swiss central bank last week, but CNN reported that did not fully reassure investors. The purchase price reported on Sunday would be less than half the 7.4 billion francs Credit Suisse was worth at the close of trading on Friday, according to Bloomberg News.Credit Suisse, which is nearly 167 years old, reportedly had about 50,000 employees by the end of 2022 while UBS has about 74,000 employees around the world.News of the purchase comes after Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank collapsed this month, after which the U.S. federal government took steps to protect depositors.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assured Congress last week that the U.S. financial systemand 11 major banks offered $30 billion in deposits to assist the struggling First Republic Bank.Billionaire investor Warren Buffett reportedly spoke with Biden administration officials in recent days about contending with the banking crisis, including a possible investment into the U.S. regional banking sector.
The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners will meet in regular session on Monday, April 3, 2023 at 5:30 PM in the boardroom located at 136 W. 2nd St, Washington, NC 27889.Agenda: https://mcusercontent.com/bb0688cacc1794c87e352491d/files/bf31f0d9-37d4-ffe8-8446-9041942d5e05/Agenda_Outline.47.docx The full agenda book can be found here: https://www.beaufortcountync.gov/AgendaCenter This meeting is open to the public.Katie MosherClerk to the Board of Commissioners252-946-0079, Ext 1010Katie.mosher@co.beaufort.nc.us
The extreme political bias of the Chief Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan. Meg Reiss, who has been in charge of the case against Donald Trump was exposed when her Twitter account was revealed by the Gateway Pundit. She has since locked and deleted it but not before they got the screen shots that demonstrated that this is a political witch hunt. Reiss was a former chief of social justice for the Brooklyn DA and executive director of a "social justice" NGO funded by George Soros.

Reiss' boss, Alvin Bragg, pledged in his campaign for office to go after Trump, and his campaign was funded by a million dollars of dirty money from George Soros. Bragg has also manuvered this case to be assigned to an extreme Trump hating judge.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/manhattan-assistant-da-nukes-twitter-account-after-anti-trump-bias-exposed

https://twitter.com/gatewaypundit/status/1641427423160877058

And here is what Bill Barr has to say about the screwball case she has constructed:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11926939/Bill-Barr-Trump-indictment-held-chicken-wire-clams-legal-theory-pathetically-weak.html
President Nayib Bukele, the popular democratically elected President of El Salvador, a country once known as a banana republic, has blasted the indictment of President Trump, portraying it as a "banana republic" move in the US. "Imagine if this happened to the leading opposition candidate here in El Salvador" he declared.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/imagine-if-this-happened-to-leading-opposition-candidate-here-in-el-salvador-salvadoran-president-nayib-bukele-weighs-in-on-trump-indictment/

https://bigleaguepolitics.com/el-salvadors-nayib-bukele-roasts-the-united-states-for-grand-jurys-indictment-of-donald-trump/

President Bukele made a similar comment about the political raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

Meanwhile, The European Conservative published an analysis entitled "The Day America Became Russia"

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/the-day-america-became-russia/

And talk about a screwball case, here is what Bill Barr (no fan of Trump) has to say about it:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11926939/Bill-Barr-Trump-indictment-held-chicken-wire-clams-legal-theory-pathetically-weak.html

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/04/01/former-attorney-general-bill-barr-trump-indictment-is-an-abomination-makes-us-look-like-a-banana-republic/
Freedom of speech has had a rough month in France as the country's globalist regime seems to be trying to crush it. First, a French Senator was indicted for "hate speech" after he tweeted "immigration kills" after a brutal murder of a French child by an illegal alien. Then two French feminist leaders were indicted for "hate speech" for arguing that allowing biological men into womens restrooms and locker rooms is a threat to women.

Now a woman in her 50s has been arrested and charged with "insulting the president of the republic" after she made a Facebook post calling President Macron "a piece of filth". She could face a fine of 12,000 euros. France is currently facing massive riots and demonstrations against Macron after the preisdent used a Constitutional trick to lower the retirement age without a vote of parliament.

The latest target, identified by the French media as "Valerie" is an average citizen, who like many these days is outraged at Macron's heavy handed action on the retirement age. When the police knocked on her door to arrest her, her initial response was "This has to be a joke".

But unfortunately, government tyranny in France these days is NOT a joke.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/woman-charged-with-insulting-macron-on-facebook/

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/french-woman-faces-13000-fine-facebook-post-calling-president-macron-filth

George Orwell wrote that "freedom of speech is your right to say what I don't want to hear." It is in serious danger these days on both sides of the Atlantic.
Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election.



As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump.



The American people will not  Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 30, 2023

The Democrat Partys hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds. The substance of this political persecution is utter garbage.



This is completely unprecedented and is a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system.  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 30, 2023

Pence: Well I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage. pic.twitter.com/mDuAM75SMd  Acyn (@Acyn) March 31, 2023 Some other notable Republican responses

Some other notable Republican responses included:

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA): "The sham New York indictment of President Donald Trump is one of the clearest examples of extremist Democrats weaponizing government to attack their political opponents. Outrageous."

(R-LA): Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO): "Tonight's indictment of Donald Trump isn't about the law. It's about power. Raw power. It's the Democrat Party telling the nation they will stop at nothing to control the outcome of the next presidential election. It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple."

(R-MO): Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH): "A week ago a video circulated of a lunatic harassing a family on a New York subway. He hurled racial slurs (the family was white) and threatened them. Alvin Bragg thinks that man should walk free and Donald Trump should go to jail for a fake misdemeanor. It's despicable."

(R-OH): Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO): "This is purely a partisan case against President Trump. Soros DA Bragg campaigned on prosecuting President Trump, while violent crime in NYC rages on & violent criminals walk free. This is a political prosecution in search of a crime & sets a dangerous precedent going forward."

(R-MO): Nikki Haley: "From everything I have seen from this New York district attorney is that this would be something he'd be doing for political points. I think what we know is, when you get into political prosecutions like this, it's more about revenge than it is about justice."

Was it a judicious ploy for Joe Biden's FBI to execute the unprecedented raid of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate? Yes; the Cheneys despise this former Republican president, and for good reason ... so they say. No; never has a former president been treated with this level of vindictive abuse by those temporarily in power. Who cares? It's Trump. 841 total vote(s) What's your Opinion?



Top Republicans from around the country responded to the news that former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury by saying that the case was an example of political persecution.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office confirmed Thursday evening that Trump was indicted and that the indictment remains under seal.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a statement.DeSantis added.House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that BraggMcCarthy said.Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) responded: "The Democrat Party's hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds."Cruz added.Former Vice President Mike Pence responded to the news of the indictment during a pre-planned interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, calling itand saying that it was clear to him that the prosecution was political.News of the indictment comes as The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that Bragg's office has started examining an alleged $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.The report said that prosecutors could use the alleged hush money payment to McDougal to bring additional potential charges against Trump. Prosecutors could also use the McDougal evidence to try to establish an alleged pattern of conduct by the former president since alleged participants have claimed that Trump played a key role in the deals, the report said.David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer, gave testimony this month that tied Trump directly to the payment to McDougalthe report said.Lawyers for the former president have claimed that he was not aware of the payment and he has denied having an affair with McDougal.Trump faces additional legal jeopardy in three other criminal investigations into him, including a federal investigation into his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, an investigation in Georgia into his efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, and another federal investigation into his handling of U.S. government records after leaving office.
It's about to get easier for certain Southeast Texans to earn college degrees.

Through a new partnership, the Region 5 Education Service Center is aiming to improve access for its employees and others wanting to be educators to obtain bachelor's and master's degrees.

The service center on Wednesday signed an agreement with Western Governor's University Texas to create "pathways for employees and educators to work toward a bachelor's or master's degree and further their education" at the fully-online university, according to a news release from the center.

"We often have community members that want to join the teaching field, but have not received their bachelor's degree, which is needed to become a teacher in Texas," Region 5 Education Certification Program Director Kelly McBride told The Enterprise by email Wednesday. "By providing a partnership with WGU, candidates have a pathway to obtaining their degree and ultimately their certification to teach."

The largest in the country, WGU's Teacher College was the first exclusively online provider of teacher education to receive accreditation for its teacher licensure programs from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, WGU Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager Kathy Hietala said by email Wednesday.

RELATED: Region 5 service center to see new executive director

"Recognized for excellence, the teachers college is accredited through the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation," Hietala said. "WGU is a nonprofit, 100% online university that offers its sudents the opportunity to move through their programs at their own pace, in six-month terms, for one low per-term tuition. WGU offers four colleges: Teachers, (Information Technology), Business and Health Professions with more than 60 degree programs."

After realizing that obtaining a degree is often a barrier for people to become educators, McBride said Region 5 has partnered with other universities in the past, as have other education service centers across the state, including nearby Region 4 in Houston, Region 19 in El Paso and Region 20 in San Antonio.

"The Region 5 Education Service Center Educator Certification program is dedicated to support districts by expanding teacher pipelines and pre-service preparations of novice teachers in our local communities to ensure effective classrooms for students and to fill the need for teacher vacancies in our area," she said.

As opposed to Lamar University, which offers a certification program within its degree plan, WGU will issue the bachelor's or master's degree and then partner with Region 5 as the next step for teacher and principal candidates to get certified through the education center's Alternative Certification Program, McBride said.

RELATED: 16 area teachers to be honored with $10K Reaud Award

"(WGU's) average bachelor's tuition rates are 44% lower than the national average, compared to national rates," Hietala said. "WGU's flat rate tuition allows students to take as many classes in a six-month term as they can master and not pay additional tuition or fees. We (also) offer exclusive scholarships for partners and financial aid for those who qualify."

The agreement is aimed at helping current Region 5 employees, as well as employees of the more than 30 school districts within the region, which covers Jefferson, Hardin, Orange, Jasper, Newton, Tyler and select districts within Chambers, Galveston and Liberty counties.

"Just because you're getting your degree online, it doesn't mean that you're alone," Hietala said. "WGU has one-on-one mentors who are with you every step of the way, from the day you enroll to the day you graduate."

Those interested in the program offerings can contact McBride at kelly.mcbride@esc5.net or Hietala at kathy.hietala@wgu.edu or can visit esc5.net.
Reflecting a national trend, documented hate crimes are on the rise in Texas, and so is the promotion of racist propaganda from hate groups.

And theyre increasing in Texas quicker than any other state, even as Texas population becomes increasingly diverse.

The Anti-Defamation League found a 61% jump in racist and antisemitic flyers appearing around the state last year, while the rest of the nation had a 38% rise in such incidents.

The ADL documented 527 incidents last year in which people found white supremacist propaganda on their property or in public places  and these are just the documented incidents. Hateful messages showed up on lawns and driveways in rock-filled plastic bags. According to the report, three hate groups, including one based in Texas, are responsible for most of the acts.

San Antonio had more such incidents in 2021 and 2022 than it did in the previous decade. The Express-News reported the number rose steadily from zero in 2011 to 11 in 2020 before a sharp increase to 31 incidents in 2021.

In 2020, white supremacists plastered a Hollywood Park neighborhood with hateful flyers, prompting city leaders to state that racism and hatred are not welcome in San Antonio. But white power signs and neo-Nazi recruiting posters began to appear more frequently.

White nationalist stickers appeared throughout The Village at Stone Oak shopping center in October 2021. Alamo Heights residents found antisemitic flyers in February 2022. The next month, more white power messages landed on lawns in a West Side neighborhood.

In San Antonio suburbs, there were 14 incidents in 2021 and 17 in 2022, including when Helotes police collected 81 papers with antisemitic COVID-19 conspiracies.

In Houston, one of the most diverse metro regions in the nation, hateful messages appeared nearly weekly.

The ADL has reported three groups  the Texas-based Patriot Front, the Goyim Defense League and White Lives Matter  have generated some 93% of the hate propaganda nationally. Why such an emphasis in Texas is unclear.

But its striking that this is happening at a time when Texas is rapidly diversifying. As we, and others, have noted, Hispanics are now the states largest demographic group. Of the roughly 4 million new Texas residents in the last decade, some 95% were people of color. Of course, this diversity is not reflected in Texas political maps, but we digress.

While those groups that disseminate hate speech are undeserving of the attention they seek, hate speech must be confronted and condemned at every turn.

Hate speech is the seed of physical violence, and it takes heavy emotional tolls on the communities it targets. The words can divide people, generate fear and lead to a chain of sorrow. It also, left to grow on its own, can become normalized and rationalized.

Being aware of these incidents, and the striking increase in their prevalence, is an important starting point. So is the requisite condemnation. But we should also expect and demand our social and political arenas ensure that all people, regardless of race, religion, political views, orientation or background, are welcomed and valued; that our inherent human dignity is seen.

Be alarmed by this proliferation of hate  and reject it. Then ask yourself what must be done to stop this proliferation of hate.
China's top political advisor meets Singaporean PM

Xinhua) 13:35, April 01, 2023

Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Huning met with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Friday.

Wang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, both sides should maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic communication, enhance political mutual trust, deepen high-quality cooperation, and join hands on the path to modernization.

Wang said the two countries should work together for a steady and long-term development of bilateral relations, and make global development more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all.

The CPPCC National Committee is ready to strengthen exchanges on governance experience with the Singaporean side, and make due contribution to enriching the political civilization and promoting the common values of humanity.

Prime Minister Lee said the development concepts of the two countries are highly compatible, and that bilateral relations are growing robustly.

Singapore firmly adheres to the one-China policy, Lee said, adding that Singapore expects to substantively elevate bilateral relations with China and continuously deepen cooperation in various fields to benefit the two peoples.

Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
While people like having easily accessible infotainment systems with Apple's CarPlay or Android Auto, General Motors has confirmed that its newest EV models for 2024 will no longer have the support for both. It will, however, remain for its older models.

GM Dropping CarPlay and Android Auto

GM is set to launch new EVs next year, but you shouldn't expect to use Apple's CarPlay or Android Auto. Although, this doesn't apply to EV models that are already in the market, as well as combustion-engined vehicles.

The company aims to add a more natively integrated system that uses Google Maps, Google Assistant, Audible, Spotify, and other apps for its infotainment systems. GM will be using its Ultifi software platform for its upcoming EVs.

Edward Kummer, GM's Chief Digital Officer stated that General Motors can do more with in-vehicle technologies and over-the-air updates, which will allow the to constantly improve customer experience across their brands.

According to Ars Technica, GM vehicles like the 2024 Lyriq, 2024 Hummer EV truck and SUV, 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, and 2024 Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV will still support CarPlay and Android Auto.

The first EV that will no longer support CarPlay and Android Auto will be the Chevrolet Blazer EV, the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, and the 2024 Cadillac Celestiq. The Blazer EV will come with standard connectivity to Google Maps and Google Assistant, free for eight years.

This may be in line with GM's plans to exclusively sell EVs by 2035, which they announced back in 2021. The company is joining governments and companies in the world to build a safer, greener, and better world, says GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.

GM is taking action to eliminate pollution from new light-duty vehicles by 2035, which the company claims are important for its business plan, according to Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp.

The car manufacturer worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to envision an all-electric future. Krupp stated that EDF and GM's collaboration is to achieve electrification, science-based climate progress, and equitably shared economic opportunity to move the country forward.

Read Also: GM Offers Its US Employees Payment if They Quit Within Two Weeks

GM's Plans to Go All-Electric

GM will be investing $27 billion all through 2025 in electric and autonomous vehicles, which was previously only $20 billion before the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also plans to offer 30 all-electric models around the world by 2025.

In the billions of investments to transition to an all-electric manufacturer, the development of the company's Ultium battery technology, as well as updating its factories to build electric vehicles from globally sourced parts are included.

Although they are not leaving fuel-powered cars completely, the company continues to increase fuel efficiency for said vehicles in accordance with the regional fuel economy and greenhouse gas regulations.

It will also be using renewable energy completely to power its US sites by 2030, in line with its mission to reduce carbon emissions with GM's operations. This does not come as a surprise seeing as other car manufacturers are also leaning toward EVs for the future.

Related: GM Will Soon Add a Digital Assistant like ChatGPT for Cars
Here are ten anesthesia updates Becker's has reported on since March 3:

1. There are 42,264 total active anesthesiologists in the country, according to the Association of American Medical College's "2022 Physician Specialty Data Report."

2. New York City-based Columbia University is the most expensive top-ranked medical university for anesthesiologists in 2023, costing students $66,816 a year, according to U.S. News & World Report.

3. North American Partners in Anesthesia was contracted to provide care at Methodist Healthcare's hospital in San Antonio.

4. Former Escondido, Calif.-based anesthesiologist Leng Ky was sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually assaulting patients while they were unconscious.

5. As of March 12, Cigna lowered reimbursements for non-medically directed procedures performed by certified registered nurse anesthetists by 15 percent.

6. Denver is the highest-paying city for anesthesiologists with one to seven years of experience, according to Medscape's salary explorer.

7. Anesthesia Business Consultants changed its name to Coronis Health, now operating as a part of the medical billing and outsourcing company.

8. California has the most practicing anesthesiologists of any state, according to data collected in January by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

9. Guardian, a mobile app developed by medtech company Vigilant Medical Solutions, allows anesthesiologists to monitor patients' vitals via smartphone.

10. Lack of respect is the biggest contributor to anesthesiologist stress, according to Medscape's "Anesthesiologist Lifestyle, Happiness & Burnout Report 2023"
Former physician Jeffrey Campbell and nurse practitioner Mark Dyer have been sentenced to prison following conviction on committing healthcare fraud, money laundering and unlawfully distributing controlled substances, the Justice Department reported March 30.

Mr. Campbell has been sentenced to 105 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Mr. Dyer was sentenced to 60 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

The two providers fraudulently billed for physical therapy services by using management codes indicating the services were performed by a physician to receive higher reimbursement, when they were actually performed by a non-physician and non-physical therapist.

Dr. Campbell's Louisville, Ky.-based practice, Physicians Primary Care, was also ordered to pay a $1 million fine for conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

PPC along with the two providers fraudulently billed Kentucky Medicaid, Indiana Medicaid, Tricare, Medicare and other healthcare benefit programs for physical therapy claims, according to the Justice Department.
Charleston, S.C.-based MUSC Health University Medical Center has laid off an unspecified number of employees from its Midlands hospitals, and division President Terry Gunn resigned after the Columbia, S.C.-area facilities missed budget expectations by $40 million in the first six months of the fiscal year, The Post and Courier reported March 30.

At least three people at MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center in Camden, S.C., have lost their jobs, including the hospital's executive director, according to the report. The system did not say how many employees were affected in the Columbia area.

MUSC spent $75 million in 2021 to purchase the four Midlands health centers that were previously owned by Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health, according to the report. The facilities include two Providence Health-branded hospitals in Columbia, Kershaw Health and an emergency room in Fairfield County.

The health system expected the facilities to be profitable sooner, but its margin fell short in the Columbia area more than any other part of the state where MUSC operates, according to the report.

"Its really about trying to move forward and reinvest," an MUSC spokesperson told the outlet. "But to reach those goals has required some downsizing."
A federal jury has convicted a Michigan physician on 21 charges related to the unlawful distribution of prescription drugs and a patient's overdose death, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said March 31.

A jury found Bernard Shelton, MD, prescribed more than 5.5 million doses of controlled substances, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, between 2013 and 2016. Federal officials said Dr. Shelton issued 21 prescriptions to seven patients for no legitimate medical reason to charge for office visits and tests. Over this time period, he received more than $1.4 million from CMS and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, according to a news release.

In 2016, Dr. Shelton also unlawfully prescribed oxycodone to a 54-year-old patient who overdosed twice in the span of one week, the second of which was fatal.

Mr. Shelton faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. His sentencing is in July.
Earlier this month, seven CDC investigators studying potential health risks associated with the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, briefly fell ill, experiencing symptoms including headache, sore throat, coughing and nausea, according to a March 31 report from CNN.

The symptoms are in line with what residents in the area have reported after a Norfolk Southern train carrying six hazardous industrial chemicals derailed in the community Feb. 3. One of the chemicals involved in the incident was vinyl chloride, a carcinogen.

In late February, the CDC sent a team of 15 epidemiologists and environmental health scientists to conduct door-to-door surveys in the area near the derailment. Team members often worked 18-hour days, asking residents detailed questions about where they were in the days after the spill and what symptoms they may have experienced, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Half of the investigators briefly fell ill in early March and were able to resume their work a day later. It's unclear whether their symptoms were caused by chemical exposure or something else, such as fatigue, though team members were suspicious since they became ill at the same time with the same symptoms, a source told the news outlet.

"Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours," a CDC spokesperson told CNN. "Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects."

Some medical professionals in the area believe the train derailment is behind a swath of respiratory issues and other ailments residents are experiencing. In late February, a nurse practitioner at an urgent care clinic near East Palestine told NBC she has been seeing between five and 10 people per day displaying symptoms consistent with chemical exposure.
In March, Kevin Bozic, MD, an Austin, Texas-based orthopedic surgeon, assumed the role of American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons president for the 2023-2024 term. This marks Dr. Bozic's third year with the AAOS board of directors.

In his more than 20 years in practice, Dr. Bozic has focused on hip and knee arthroplasties and arthritis, striving to provide the best outcomes for his patients while also staying passionate about his work.

Over the last few years, Dr. Bozic has watched the extra administrative burdens placed on surgeons lead to record-high levels of burnout, and one of his main goals as AAOS president is to change that.

"Something I'm paying attention to is the epidemic of physician burnout, and what we can do to help bring joy back into our members' practices. I really believe that burnout is not a chronic stress response, it is a moral injury, which is a misalignment between the burden and the purpose of our work," Dr. Bozic told Becker's. "The purpose of our work is to improve the lives of patients, and the burden of our work are things not directly involved in improving lives of patients, like administrative tasks, prior authorization, electronic health records and lots and lots of regulatory hoops and hurdles that are not directly tied to improving lives of patients."

As president of AAOS, Dr. Bozic wants to help its members thrive in value-based care environments, which he believes are the best environments for both reducing burnout and improving the patient experience.

"I want to be a source for our members to navigate turmoil and transitions going on around them. When your goals as a clinician are aligned with those of the patients, that brings joy back into practice so your focus is no longer how many [relative value units] did I generate, or how many notes did I dictate and sign, but how did I improve the lives of the people I am fortunate enough to be responsible for taking care of. A lot of our focus is on helping our members make that transition, which then aligns their roles, incentives and goals with those of their patients."

In his last years on the AAOS board of directors, Dr. Bozic chaired a project team focused on incorporating patient-reported outcome measurements into routine clinical practice. He encouraged AAOS surgeons to focus on measuring things that matter most to patients, not just measuring how much time they spent with patients.

"Things like minutes spent with patients are not adding value to them. They are not relevant, or even important to them," he said.

He wants to continue value-based care and reporting initiatives during his time as president, while also focusing on how the orthopedic industry is shifting.

Shifts he's keeping an eye on include payment models, private equity, and a transition of procedures from inpatient hospitals to outpatient ASCs.

"The shift from inpatient to outpatient makes orthopedic surgeons less relevant to hospitals. Historically, we relied on hospitals for medical directorship, co-management agreements and other types of support. We will have to replace those with other things, as we transition out of hospitals and into ASC settings," Dr. Bozic said. "Another big challenge with that is adapting to the new way healthcare will be organized and paid for. We are seeing more consolidation in the industry under health systems and private equity."

In 2018, AAOS developed a five-year action plan, which is set to expire in 2023. Under Dr. Bozic's direction, the organization will have to come together to set goals that will lead them forward for the next five years.

To develop that five-year plan, Dr. Bozic plans to incorporate both early-career and late-career physicians, bridging the gap between new and old practice goals and methods.

"As the industry evolves, we have to evolve with it. AAOS is really listening, and finding out what our members want and need. We are being attentive and evolving as an organization to meet the needs of our members in order to achieve our mission of being the trusted leaders in musculoskeletal care and our mission of helping our members provide the highest quality of care," he said.

He is also interested in getting younger surgeons more involved with AAOS, creating leadership opportunities and encouraging young physicians to serve on the board of directors.

"AAOS gave me a lot of opportunities I wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere as a young surgeon. We have a lot of opportunities for fellows to be involved in various leadership positions. That's something we can offer them that other organizations can't."

During his time as president, Dr. Bozic wants to ensure that AAOS does not shy away from change. Rather, he wants the organization to grow and develop alongside the industry, embracing new care models, new members and evolving technology.

"We have to stay relevant to all of our members. Yes, younger members have different interests. Fortunately, the orthopedic industry is becoming more diverse and we have to evolve. But we also have to be relevant to mid-career and older members as well, and pay attention to everyone's needs."










Presenter Ryan Tubridy is set to step down

Singer Daniel ODonnell has said gender should be irrelevant when it comes to filling Ryan Tubridys shoes on The Late Late Show.

The chart-topping Donegal man (61) was among the stars on the flagship RTE shows country music special as Tubridy enters his final stretch of fronting the programme.

The star, who has recorded over 50 albums and sold more than 15m records, said he would like to see the best person for the job, be that man or woman.

It really doesnt matter. I dont think anybody should get a job because theyre a man or theyre a woman. I dont believe in that at all. I think you should get the job if youre the right person for that job, whatever it might be, he said.

And I hope that theyll find the person that is able for it, I suppose. Everything needs to change and this is the time.

When Ryan came in, it was the same Late Late Show but it was a different approach.

And it will be the same for this new presenter and the people around them that create the show  its not just about the presenter, its the producers and the team. They will have to put their thinking caps on as to what will be good for whoever is picked for it.

Given that the last three presenters have all been male, starting with Gay Byrne in 1962, there has been over 60 years of men at the helm of The Late Late. Does he feel that its time RTE chose a woman to front the show?

I think it shouldnt be a woman because its time, ODonnell says. It should be a woman because shes the right person for this job. And if its a woman and thats whos picked and shes the right person, then thats fantastic. But I think its a pressure to put somebody in just because theyre seen to be next in line, he said. You want to get the job because you deserve it.

He said he has always enjoyed doing the Friday night show with Tubridy, and wished him all the best in his next adventures.

No matter who you are or what youre doing in life, I think its important to do things in your time and the way you want to do them. And I think Ryan has made this decision himself, that he feels its his time to move on, he said.

I really do wish him all the luck in the world and I would doubt that Ryan is entering into semi-retirement now. I cant see that hell just do his morning radio show  Im sure theres other things he wants to do.

This week saw his image being unveiled on the new series of Irish country music postage stamp booklets, alongside Cliona Hagan, Nathan Carter, Philomena Begley and the late Big Tom.

ODonnell said it was a great privilege to be immortalised in this manner as tribute was paid to that sector of the Irish music industry. I never imagined my face being on a postage stamp in Ireland. Its beyond comprehension that this has happened for me, he said.

I still send cards and letters to people, so it will be funny to maybe stick my own face on the envelope  you never know.

This summer will also see ODonnell embarking on his first major tour since 2019, taking in 13 dates around the island of Ireland. He will start off in Athlone on August 11 and finish the tour at the Cork Opera House on August 30.
The tribute fund has raised more than 100,000 (Geoff Caddick/PA)   Geoff Caddick

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has been overwhelmed and touched by donations from the public which have passed 100,000 after the death of the charitys ambassador Paul OGrady.

The TV and radio presenter became an ambassador for Battersea in 2012 after the success of ITVs multi-award-winning For The Love Of Dogs, 11 series of which were filmed at the home.

After OGradys death on Tuesday evening at the age of 67, the animal charity set up a tribute fund which has raised more than 100,000.

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In a statement to the PA news agency, chief executive Peter Laurie said: Over the coming weeks and months, Battersea will be finding the best way to pay tribute to our wonderful friend and ambassador, the late, great Paul OGrady MBE.

We have been overwhelmed and touched by the countless letters, calls, emails and messages of support along with the generous donations made by kind members of the public this week.

We will be looking to find a suitably fitting way to remember the profound impact Paul had at Battersea and the rescue animal sector, something that will support the animals that Paul loved so much and that would make him proud.

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Mr Laurie previously told PA that OGrady was a genuine animal lover and his real legacy is how he showed the British public and an international audience how lovable and incredible rescue dogs are, inspiring people to adopt and rehome.

OGrady was given a special recognition award at the 2018 National Television Awards for the impact For The Love Of Dogs had on helping find homes for rescue animals nationwide.

His contribution to animal welfare was also recognised with an RSPCA animal hero award.

During the first series of For The Love Of Dogs, OGrady rehomed Eddie, a Chihuahua-Jack Russell cross puppy, at his Kent farmhouse.

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Eddie was joined by Boycie, a shih-tzu, in 2014, Conchita, a Maltese, in 2015, Arfur, a mongrel puppy, in 2017, Nancy, another mongrel puppy, in 2020, and Sausage, a wire-haired dachshund, in 2021.

Last year OGrady was joined by the Queen Consort in a one-off episode of For The Love Of Dogs to mark 160 years of Battersea.

In tribute to the late comedian and TV star, OGradys final radio show will be rebroadcast on Easter Sunday, after it originally aired on Boom Radio on Christmas Day last year.

BBC One will air a past episode of game show Blankety Blank on Saturday night which sees OGrady as acerbic, platinum wig-wearing drag alter ego Lily Savage.
Even after over a quarter of a century writing, author Cathy Kelly says she never worries about running out of ideas.

Her current novel, number 22, The Wedding Party, is out in paperback while shes nearly finished number 23 when we chat.

Every day something new pings into my brain, says Cathy from her home in Wicklow.

I never think Im going to run out of them because everything is an idea. You know, you pick up the newspaper and you see something and go oh my god, thats thrilling. Or you hear that someone and go, wow, thats just fabulous.

This book, The Wedding Party, the idea just came to me. It was along the lines of, youve got a family and theyre all grown up and the parents are divorced. And what if the parents suddenly say theyre going to get married again, and the family are going, you hated each other, what happened?

It was so much fun, she continues. I start with one idea and then you sit down and write it and different stuff comes out. Even though I know roughly whats going to happen at the end, it can be a bit vague. I know how to get from A to Z, but I dont know quite how I get there.

As she explains, Cathys latest novel focuses on a family, specifically the four Robicheaux sisters who are preparing for their parents to remarry in a weeks time.

Each sibling has her own reasons for wishing the harmonious event over, never mind having to spend seven days with their loved ones. Each character is given a chance to come alive on Cathys pages.

Everyone has lots of little offshoots, she explains. That is the hardest thing for me actually, pulling in the offshoots. Because I go off on tangents, and I think every editor Ive ever worked has sort of gone, will you just stop with the tangents? You want to write a little story about everyone and to stop yourself doing that is very difficult.

But weddings appeal not just to authors imaginations but readers too. As an event, a wedding has the possibility for heading in several directions.

Precisely, there are so many things: youve got bridesmaids or in this case, youve got the daughters of the bride and groom and the sister of the bride or the best friend of the bride, explains Cathy.

Theres the best friend of the bride because shes just a lovely ditsy person going around with a pen with a bit of bit of fluff on the top of it  and being fabulous and adorable and silly. I wanted to write her book but I had to control myself.

Siblings too pique readers interest because we love being able to judge our own families against others, even if theyre fictional.

I think so. I think when you grow up you think your family is the correct family and that is the way things are supposed to be done. Then its like you mean you dont have your tomato ketchup in one of those little round yokes that looks like a tomato? But Im shocked! she laughs.

And then you see other people and its just so completely fascinating. I think I could write about families forever.

Im not comparing myself to Jane Austen, but its the Jane Austen idea of give me a few families in a village and Im happy. Im paraphrasing her quote, but its so true. But Ive written a lot about friends too because I think friends are sort of the new families.

You know, maybe 40 years ago, your family was everything. But now, people live in different places and they make a family and then they are as close to you as your own family. But its a different type of thing and its very, very powerful.

I think the pandemic was very important for that because people relied on friends a lot in a gorgeous, gorgeous way. And you saw so many people doing such great work for their friends or for people who lived near them, I think that was just so incredibly powerful. It was a lovely sign of humanity, which unfortunately gets lost here and there.

Its important because we need other people, we say.

Exactly, its community. Ive always written about community and it can come from so many different things. It can come from the village, the street you live on, the house you live in, can come from anywhere but humans, we need other humans, we need the connection.

I mean, even when people give out about the internet, an awful lot of what people are doing on the internet is connecting with other people. Maybe its in a virtual way and its nicer if the person lived next door, but maybe they dont have anything in common with the person who lives next door, whereas theres a person who lives in Madrid for example, who thinks the same way you do.

The author, whose books have been published around the world, says that its very easy to write bad characters and equally super fun.

But life is never like that. We all have our own little traits and weve developed that way. Were like a rock just thrown into a very troubled stream and were being bashed around with the sharp edges. We have been made a particular way but none of us are 100% good or 100% bad.

Were all chiaroscuro, light and dark, we all have that combination of both. And its quite fun to do that. However, I have to stop myself writing really bad characters because they are so much fun to write. I think, no, I better stop: no one is that evil.

Finally, conversation moves to promoting new authors. Cathy has long since said theres a piece of the pie for everyone  and its something she sticks by.

Yes, I think theres always theres enough pieces of pie because if you have that idea in your head, that theres only a little bit of pie then you end up being like Gollum with his precious.

Thats a very horrible way to live. Oh, my God, wasnt he so gross? I remember reading that book when I was 15, I was absolutely terrified!

The Wedding Party by Cathy Kelly (Orion, 9.99) is available now
It took eight years for a former Grubhub driver Raef Lawson to win a legal battle against his former company. Lawson claimed that he should be entitled to more benefits as an employee, to which the court agreed in its ruling.

California Case Sets a Legal Precedent on Employment Status of Gig Workers

Lawson, who is also an aspiring actor, comedian, and writer, briefly worked as a Grubhub driver for four months. In 2015, he first filed the case against Grubhub as he claimed more benefits from the company as an employee. However, there was a debate back then whether a gig economy worker like Lawson should be considered an employee or a contractor.

As reported by Gizmodo, Lawson believes that he should be entitled to minimum wage, overtime pay and other benefits, which companies must be obliged to give their employees. Unfortunately, the court did not side with him in 2018 as the ruling stated that Lawson is a contractor and not an employee.

Lawson filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit that eventually led to another hearing of the case in the same district court that made the first ruling. This time, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled that Lawson was in fact a Grubhub employee within the 4 months that he had worked for the company.

"Mr. Lawson is properly classified as an employee, not an independent contractor, for purposes of his minimum wage and overtime claims," Judge Corley said. With this, he should be entitled to the benefits of an employee, as stated in California laws. However, the worth of damages that should be settled in Lawson's case only amounted to $65.

In spite of the small payout, Lawson's case set an important precedent for the gig economy. As per Silicon Valley, companies like Grubhub, Uber, Lyft and DoorDash might have to adjustments to the kind of relationship that they have with their workers from here on.

"Raef Lawson is the first gig worker in America to be declared an employee by a court for wage law purposes," Lawson's layer, Shannon Liss-Riordan, said. The case can be used in the future to oblige companies to reimburse vehicle utility expenses to their workers, among other benefits that are rightfully given to employees.

Related Article: Grubhub Agrees To A $3.5 Million Settlement Over Deceptive Practices, Hidden Charges

Gig Workers Setting Their Own Work Hours Can Still Be Considered Employees

According to Grubhub, Lawson was not entitled to the benefits of an employee because he set his own hours in duty as a delivery rider. Therefore, he was operating like a "free-standing" business. Judge Corley did not share the same view, stating that California's laws define an employee as someone who works for a company that is not "outside its usual course of business." As a Grubhub driver, Lawson met this criterion.

As for the amount of settlement in Lawson's case, the court ruled that Lawson did not work for more than 40 hours in a week while he was still a Grubhub driver so he was not entitled to overtime pay.

Independent contractors are awarded fewer benefits compared to business employees. For many years, gig workers have been considered contractors who are not entitled to overtime and insurance benefits.

Read Also: 5 Food Delivery Apps You'll Want To Use for National Pizza Day
Ahead of the Healing Through Photography conference in April, Mervyn Smyth from Belfast Exposed talks about seeing mental health through a different lens

Having three decades of experience in the industry, working throughout the Troubles and beyond, Mervyn Smyth has witnessed first-hand the healing powers of photography.

The Community Engagement Officer of the non-profit photography centre, Belfast Exposed, says: Im a photographer documenting the political and social aspect, issues of Northern Ireland, together with engaging with communities and individuals through photography, to enable them to raise awareness of issues affecting their lives, bringing these stories to a wider audience, and create awareness that hopefully would affect change.

We had a two-pronged event here. What we done was, we would have been engaging with the communities and also covering the effects on those communities, what was happening to them as well. Literally just documenting that and archiving that as we went along.

Mervyn is the driving force behind Belfast Exposeds innovative mental health and wellbeing programme Viewpoint which began in May 2021. He explains how it came about: It was really working as a photographer during that period, asking myself: Is there more than I can do than document what I am a witness to? Can I use these photographs to engage people in a way to open dialogue that would enable their stories to be told by themselves?

Through engagement with the communities, groups, and individuals that we were working with within the voluntary sector and statutory sector, [we] began to use the photographs as a catalyst to engage people to tell their stories from their own viewpoint.

That would then enable them to visually communicate with others, share and build support within their own communities, and bring the issues that affect them to a wider audience.

Mervyn says he was engaging people at a community level, but you were very much understanding that there was a health and wellbeing aspect to that, he explains.

Through the social engagement, you were actually realising that, and realising lives were being impacted here. We had a very normal life in very abnormal circumstances, and the impact of that: we are 25% more likely here than the rest of the UK for our lives to be impacted through mental health, through the legacy of the Troubles.

In addition to providing a creative outlet where participants can express themselves, Viewpoint functions as a safe environment where people can talk freely about their problems and meet others.

Keynote speaker Donovan Wylie

Mervyn and his team of facilitators deliver workshops both at the Cathedral Quarter premises and on location.

They teach participants the basics of photography and give them the opportunity to put these lessons into practice in various creative environments. Belfast Exposed work with a number of Northern Irelands health trusts and victims charities.

Over the course of his career, Mervyn has led programmes that have been truly transformative for participants.

He says that because photography is so accessible, it brings people out of isolation and helps to raise their self-esteem, which in turn positively impacts their mental health.

He also worked on projects within the statutory care system, saying: I used photography there as a visual expression to create a greater understanding of themselves, their own identity and how they see the world.

That enables photography to be used a visual method of communication to a wider world, creating understanding, positively impacts on the participants mental health, where they can also share with others how they are feeling when they are misunderstood or finding it very difficult to put into words how their lives are being impacted on that particular stage.

We [also] engage with families and young people bereaved through suicide.

We are using photography there to express thoughts and feelings of their loss. Its a catalyst then to open dialogue within families, within groups, but also to bring suicide awareness to a greater audience and create a catalyst then for a dialogue to be opened around that.

Mervyn recalls working with young people who had lost a much-loved friend to suicide and helping them navigate their way through their grief.

We worked with the group and they were able to express their thoughts and feelings of that loss through creation, he says. We actually visited a grave, that sort of thing.

So, it really, really brought to the fore and enabled them to develop coping mechanisms to get them through and build that support with the little group that they had.

For people who are interested in taking part in a Belfast Exposed workshop or event, but are hesitating for one reason or another, Mervyn shares this advice: Your thoughts and your feelings that are impacting your life, are impacting many others, so please come along because you are not alone.

They dont need any skills at all to come along. Photography is really accessible, as we always turn around and say, Theres no wrong photo. Theres a photo that maybe you want to improve after taking, but theres no wrong photo. We supply all the equipment, we use digital SLRs. You can use your phone, you can use whatever is accessible to you. In terms of the costs, a lot of what we undertake is funded.

Keynote speaker Professor Siobhan ONeill

The success of Belfast Exposeds mental health and wellbeing programme is the inspiration behind the Healing Through Photography conference.

The two-day event takes place on April 3-4 at the MAC. It will bring together academics, award-winning world-renowned photographers, students, mental health and wellbeing professionals, and charities and community groups, to examine and hear examples of the therapeutic benefits of photography.

Industry professionals from across the UK and Ireland alongside the Belfast Exposed team, will explore themes such as memory and trauma, racism, body image, homelessness, workplace stress and class.

Its examining the use of photography to support mental health, seeing the benefits therapeutic photography can bring  there are many, Mervyn says.

We have real life case studies who we have worked with. There will be keynote speakers and photographers such as Cathal McNaughton who is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer from here. All providing a very unique, positive experience for people that they can take away learning, actual contacts, support they can take away having built networks.

The line-up also includes acclaimed photographer Donovan Wylie, professor and socially engaged artist Anthony Luvera, artist and performer Heather Agyepong, Northern Ireland mental health champion Professor Siobhan ONeill, David Cutler from the Baring Foundation, and Darren Ferguson from Beyond Skin.

Reflecting on the use of photography to support mental health, Mervyn adds: Its often not until we are lost that we find ourselves.

Healing Through Photography is priced at 30 per day or 50 for a two-day pass. For tickets, visit www.htpconference.com. For details of Belfast Exposeds upcoming courses, exhibitions and events, see www.belfastexposed.org
The Turas founder tells Aine Toner about a special anniversary, addresses critics and why she has much more still to achieve

Linda wants more people from the PUL community to embrace the Irish language

Language interacts with every aspect of our lives, but in Northern Ireland, the writing on the wall, or the sign, or the mural, can provoke anger and frustration, further enhancing the invisible lines between communities. The very thing that is supposed to unite is a constant source of division.

Someone who has been described as a language rights activist, and who has been celebrating the Irish language for over a decade  and wanting others to do the same  is Linda Ervine. A six-week beginners class became the catalyst for Irish language project Turas, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.

Turas has been recognised as a force for good in promoting the Irish language, especially to those from a unionist and Protestant background. It is supported by the East Belfast Mission and Linda is a sister-in-law of the late PUP leader, David Ervine.

My husband says I dont think of consequences, I just go into things and he was probably right, she laughs.

Had I any notion that it would be so successful, that it would grow so much, that it would engage so many people? No. The only thing that motivated me just over 10 years ago was the fact that I loved the language.

When I came across the language, I realised the animosity and the hostility that some people felt towards it.

I wanted to challenge that and I wanted to say, thats not the story here. I did not expect so many other people to fall in love with the language as well.

I didnt expect the level of commitment and enjoyment and also the fact that what started off as offering Irish language classes, we have built into a community.

Turas became a cross-community project, attracting people from both sides of our sadly divided community, says Linda.

The majority of our learners are from the PUL (Protestant, unionist, loyalist) community and the smaller number from the nationalist community.

But the nice thing is over the years, there have been so many relationships, friendships and even two marriages and one baby!

Linda Ervine, who established Turas

Throughout the conversation, she mentions the organisations organic growth. This, along with its welcoming nature  the busyness, the friendliness  is what she wants attendees to experience.

Sometimes over the years people have come in here, whether theyre people from the Protestant community who are not sure what theyre going to meet, in a place where people teach Irish, or people from the nationalist community who are coming onto the Newtownards Road for the first time.

They come in with that sense of apprehension and nervousness and then realise people here are so welcoming and its a lovely place to be.

Linda believes wholeheartedly in what shes doing, but has faced resistance, which perhaps shows how far Northern Ireland still has to go.

She adds: I know that I dont have any other agenda except sharing the love of the language and people come together to learn and to propagate the language. I have good people around me. That was built up, but I started on my own.

We were criticised quite early on by a member of the Orange Order and that sort of motivated my learners to start their own organisation, which is called Cairde Turas (Friends of Turas). They are all volunteers. They do a lot of the teas, coffees, run a lot of the events and also support me in the way of friendship when times are difficult because I am unfortunately the one with the target on my back.

Nastiness on social media has taught her to not try to score points.

I just invite them in for tea, she says. Thats all I can do. And what Ive said is, we are totally transparent here. Heres what we do. Heres what we think, its all open and if somebody doesnt like it, then we cant change to accommodate that. But you know, were not sitting here sewing up tricolours, plotting the downfall of the state either.

What started small has become significant: 500 people have signed up for courses within Turas this year alone.

At first, a lot of people from the Protestant community were very nervous about people knowing. They didnt want friends or neighbours knowing, now theyre bringing the friends and neighbours along. I am very proud of what weve achieved, but weve a lot further to go.

Turass dual focus is on the scholarship students at university and the Naiscoil na Seolta, the first Irish-medium pre-school in east Belfast.

We believe that is very much a way of creating more diversity within the Irish language community and more people from within the Protestant community owning the language and make them a part of their own community, Linda says.

Our motto here is ag foghlaim le cheile, learning together. Thats what it is all about.

The language rights activist  I didnt start out like that  also recalls some of the nonsense she heard when she began learning Irish.

In the end, I wrote that wee sketch, What the Focal? because of some of the nonsense that I saw and witnessed. I wanted to say, were not Sinn Fein, were not the IRA, what is this all about? Why do you have this perception? Ive heard the most ridiculous things, some saying that people are only learning Irish to annoy Protestants. Theres so many easier ways rather than struggling with the irregular verbs.

People have very strong opinions and they actually believe these things, people who have never been in an Irish language class in their life, never met anybody whos learning Irish, speaks Irish. As somebody who has gone from total beginner classes to having been all over Belfast and further afield learning Irish and is now at university doing a degree in Irish and running an Irish language centre, its not what I see.

I see people who are dedicated, love the language, love the craic, love the enjoyment and love the challenge. I joke about it, if people are sitting there, struggling with irregular verbs, theyre really not getting up to any mischief. I do get the odd one to come in and see. I dont what they expect, I dont know what they think theyre going to find. They find very ordinary people. Nobodys sitting there with a balaclava.

Linda wants more people from the PUL community to embrace the Irish language

Our conversation moves to Ulster Scots, a language that has, until recently, been largely neglected.

The sad thing is, its not the people that are involved in the languages, its people outside who dont actually know anything about them, or sometimes theyll use them as a badge of their own bigotry and hatred, but they have no respect or no understanding, says Linda.

What I see with Irish is people who respect language and culture. When I started learning Irish, I had no interest in Ulster Scots and it was Irish speakers who pulled me up and said, no, hold on, thats a language, have respect for it. And that made me interested and I saw the overlap between the languages.

One of my learners said, this [Irish] has just enriched me.

I know from my life that it has absolutely enriched my life being part of this. Ive met so many people, Ive been to so many places that I never would have been if it hadnt been for that introduction to the language. Has it changed me politically or who I am in any way? No, of course it hasnt.

She mentioned David Mitchell and Megan Millers academic publication from Trinity College Dublin,Reconciliation through language learning?, which examined Turass impact, saying, their outcome was that we are helping to build peace with the work that were doing here.

For us, its just such a wonderful place to be, she says. Again, there was no plan, but it has grown and developed. I know now if I was to fall under a bus, Turas will go on because theres enough people here, whereas one time it was all about me. It has been my baby and Ive carried it. But now it has legs and its walking and its growing.

Its in double digits, we say.

Itll be at secondary school soon! she laughs.

Currently in the third year of her part-time degree in Irish, she praises her fellow students but says shes not a good language learner.

I knew nobody was going to put me out of this job if I stopped learning. But how can I encourage other people if I dont do it? Thats so important for my own learners, says the former teacher who was awarded an MBE for her services to the Irish language.

Im a struggler and its getting better, but very slowly. I think its a good thing that I do struggle because I can empathise, I can encourage them and say that you can do this.

I see how people from the Protestant community they had no background in the language, they dont know anybody who speaks Irish, they didnt do Irish at school. They didnt know any prayers, they dont see it in the street signs. They come from not only a point of nought, but a point of where they know maybe theyll be criticised. Its important to give them teaching that really does start at ground zero.

Linda in Shaftesbury Square, Belfast

The night before starting her job, Linda was nervous but her faith carried her through. The reading for her first day intimated that no matter who you work for, youre really working for God.

I personally agree and I recognise that people dont have a faith, we grew up with no faith. But I believe that thats why weve been very successful on what many people would regard as stony ground.

She continues challenging the idea the Irish language belongs exclusively to one community.

I very strongly feel that if more people from the PUL community who achieve qualifications in Irish, who take jobs within the factor, that changes other perceptions of who is an Irish speaker. Thats very important. Its not anybody from within the Irish language community who are saying stay away, its absolutely the opposite.

I think if were serious and we want to change that [idea], which we do, then its very important to help people from the PUL community to gain those qualifications and to achieve jobs and become more prominent in the Irish language.

Because, unfortunately, Im seen as a bit of a lone wolf. Im certainly not; Ive a number of friends who are Irish speakers and have been involved in the language for many years. Its just because I got that bit of prominence. I think its important to encourage other people up the ladder as well and thats what were doing. Just to be frank about it, were putting our money where our mouth is.

In Northern Ireland, language continues to be problematic for some. Earlier this week, it was reported that an Irish language sign installed at Mill Park in Tobermore was removed by residents within days of being erected by a local council.

Its very depressing, says Linda, mentioning Cumran Primary in Clough, where a poster saying keep Irish out of our kids classrooms was left in its grounds, and similar problems faced by Naiscoil na Seolta, which was originally to be housed at Braniel Primary School.

The reality is that its not most people who live in those areas, its a tiny minority who take it upon themselves to speak for other people. The reality is they dont; they speak on behalf of themselves.

Signage is a big bugbear. People are interested in place names but they dont like signage. For me, if somebody was threatening to take all the English signage down, I absolutely get why youd be angry.

But thats not what is being asked, what is being asked is to share a space.

What is being asked, the same thing has happened in Scotland and Wales and the Isle of Man. Youre being asked to share a space; youre asked for another word to be added.

For me, if you dont like that word, or dont agree with that word or dont understand that word, just ignore it.

Her interest lies in how language unites us a group.

One of the things were interested in is that the language joins us as a group of islands. The language thats in Scotland, the Isle of Man, is part of the Celtic languages which were, at one point, spoken throughout the British Isles.

There are Celtic place names in England. For me, it says we are a group of islands, we have these familial ties to each other. It doesnt say we are a separate thing.

For more information on Turas and the classes available, visit www.ebm.org.uk/turas
East Belfast GAA have said their sessions were about bringing communities together.

GAA taster sessions cancelled after the primary school hosting them were targeted by intimidatory messages were for all communities, the organising club have said.

Strandtown Primary School in east Belfast had hosted an initial session as part of East Belfast GAAs Come and Try programme, a series of taster sessions to allow those with limited experience of GAA to try Gaelic games.

The school subsequently received a number of intimidatory comments on social media and via email following the event held on Saturday March 25.

In a message sent to the GAA club, principal Victoria Hutchinson said they were exceptionally disappointed to find themselves in this position and said it was no reflection on the ethos of the school.

Due to the level of intimdatory comments directed on social media and directly emailed, the school said they were no longer able to sustain the arrangement, citing poor security access on school grounds.

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East Belfast GAA said the aim of the event was to bring children from all sections of the community together to play sport.

"East Belfast GAA Academy are grateful to Strandtown PS for the hire of their premises for our Come and Try event, which was an opportunity for children from all communities, societies and ethnic backgrounds in East Belfast to have a chance to try a new or unfamiliar sport, said a spokesperson.

"We would like to thank everyone within our local community for the support they have given us and continue to give us.

"For us and our academy, Gaelic games are simply about children from all sections of our community playing sport  together.
The US President is not expected to attend King Charles Coronation in May.

U.S. President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn as he returns to the White House. Pic: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images   Getty Images

Joe Biden could meet King Charles as part of his visit to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Biden is expected to fly into Northern Ireland on April 11 ahead of a day of engagements in Belfast on April 12, before travelling south to spend the remainder of the week in the Republic of Ireland.

As part of his visit to NI, Mr Biden could be set to meet King Charles on his day-and-a-half visit to Belfast, sources close to the president have told the Daily Telegraph.

It is believed US security services have visited Belfast in recent days to make preparations for Mr Bidens trip, which may include visits to a university campus or Parliament Buildings.

The 80-year-old president is not expected to join dozens of heads of state for King Charles Coronation on May 6, according to sources close to the discussions.

A delegation is set to be sent in Mr Bidens place, with First Lady Jill Biden understood to be leading the delegation.

Coronation guests have already been emailed by Buckingham Palace and told to save the date of the ceremony, with some asked to RSVP to the palace by Monday.

The event will be attended by heads of state from around the world, including from Ireland, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Hungary and Monaco. All three presidents of the EU  Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola and Charles Michel  will be there.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort. Pic: Chris Jackson/Getty Images   Getty Images

The White House has told Britains representatives that Mr Biden intends to send a delegation, but he has not yet sent a formal response to Buckingham Palace.

One source close to discussions said there may still be some efforts under way to see if Biden can be persuaded to come to the Coronation, while another said his plan to decline was not locked and loaded and remained technically in play.

One senior US official indicated that no final decisions had been made.

White House officials have previously indicated that it was always unlikely Mr Biden would go to the Coronation. However, his decision to spend nearly a week in Ireland rather than attending is expected to lead to renewed criticism of his positions on Brexit.

Mr Bidens administration has previously put pressure on Downing Street to resolve problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol, which were addressed by Mr Sunaks Windsor Framework deal, announced last month.

The US presidents visit to Northern Ireland had been in doubt unless a resolution was reached over the protocol.

A source close to the Biden administration also pointed to his age, saying foreign travel takes a fair amount out of him and adding: They try to restrict it to the essentials, and they may just think twice about crossing the Atlantic twice in quick succession.

"They may think that he came to the funeral, and thats kind of enough.
A man who fled to eastern Europe while on bail for child sex offences has been arrested by the PSNI.

Its international policing unit detained and conveyed the 35-year-old man back to Northern Ireland from Bulgaria.

The man is due to appear in court in Belfast on Saturday.

Chief Inspector Fox said: He was extradited by virtue of a European Arrest Warrant sought by the Police Service of Northern Ireland after he fled the country while on bail in relation to child sexual offences.

Thanks to combined efforts with the Bulgarian National Police Service and our International judicial partners, the wanted fugitive is now in our custody and is expected to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court today, Saturday.

This latest arrest shows how by working together, there are no borders and no safe places to hide for those seeking to evade justice."
Army Bomb Disposal units arrive at the scene of the search in Derry (Photo by Aodhan Roberts)

Police conducting a major search in relation to the New IRA have said nothing was found during the operation.

The statement comes after a major operation was launched in the Creggan area of Derry on Saturday morning.

ATO bomb disposal officers were present during the counter terror search in the Letterkenny Road area of the city.

The search operation focused on a property and some grassland close to Foyle Road and Letterkenny Road.

The Belfast Telegraph understands that the intelligence-led operation was linked to previous searches in the former Daisyfield site and the Southway area.

Pictures from the scene showed six bomb disposal teams accompanied by the PSNIs Terrorism Investigation Unit, searching for potential munitions and explosives.

Detective Inspector O'Flaherty said: "The planned search was conducted in the Letterkenny Road area.

"Nothing was located during the proactive policing operation.

"We understand the impact operational activity can have upon the day-to-day lives of local residents, please be assured we seek to maximise safety and minimise any disruption with any planned activity.

Our primary focus is keeping our community safe.

"We are grateful for the continued support of local communities as we continue our work to disrupt those involved in terrorism-related activity.

The New IRA claimed responsibility for the attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh in February.

The terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland was recently raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.
The PSNIs International Policing Unit has extradited a 35-year-old man back to Northern Ireland from Bulgaria.

The man had fled to Bulgaria while on bail in relation to child sexual offences.

He was detained and conveyed using a European arrest warrant.

Chief Inspector Fox said the arrest showed the benefit of co-operation between forces.

Thanks to combined efforts with the Bulgarian National Police Service and our International judicial partners, the wanted fugitive is now in our custody, they said.

They added: This latest arrest shows how, by working together, there are no borders and no safe places to hide for those seeking to evade justice.
UDA gang demands 20 people leave Northern Ireland for loyalist feud to finish

Group has warned that violence will escalate in North Down if ultimatum is not heeded

Police conducting a checkpoint in the Weavers Grange area of Newtownards in Co Down

Allison Morris Belfast Telegraph Fri 31 Mar 2023 at 23:30
Two men without boarding passes tried to pass through Dublin Airport security in two separate incidents on Thursday.

Abdul Ahmead (48), who was fined earlier in the week after he boarded a flight to Birmingham without a passport or boarding pass, tried to pass through the airport again on Thursday morning.

He was stopped by a member of An Garda Siochana in Terminal 1 and a court has now ordered his deportation. He had yet to go through the screening section and was not airside.

The Irish Independent can reveal a second man, in his 30s and also without a valid ticket, tried to pass the self-scanning gates in Terminal 1 at about 1pm on Thursday.

He was cautioned by An Garda Siochana after being arrested by airport police.

A garda spokesperson said: A second male in his 30s was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act at Dublin Airport and taken to Dublin Airport garda station.

This male has been dealt with under the Adult Caution Scheme.

Read more Man boards plane without a passport or boarding pass in breach at Dublin Airport

A spokesperson for the airport authority DAA said: Close co-operation between airport security and An Garda Siochana at Dublin Airport resulted in the arrest of two individuals. 

We do not comment on specific aspects of aviation security operations.

The Irish Independent previously highlighted how Ahmead successfully boarded an Aer Lingus flight on Monday night without a valid boarding pass or passport.

He was seated on the plane when airport police came to remove him.

He returned to the airport at 11am on Thursday, was spotted by a garda who recognised him and was arrested shortly afterwards.

Ahmead was charged again with trespass and immigration offences and taken back to Dublin District Court on Thursday afternoon.

He was given an eight-week prison sentence that was suspended as long as he co-operates with the authorities and is deported.

The incidents come as the Irish Aviation Authority is investigating a protected disclosure from a whistleblower, who alleges screening at the airport is not fit for purpose and could lead to a terrorist attack.
By Michael R. Sisak, Coleen Long and Will Weissert, Associated Press

By Michael R. Sisak, Coleen Long and Will Weissert, Associated Press PA Media

Former US president Donald Trump is facing several charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment against him by a New York grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

He will be formally arrested and arraigned next Tuesday in his hush money case, court officials said, an announcement promising the historic scene of a former US commander in chief forced to stand before a judge.

The indictment against him remains sealed and the specific charges were not known, but details were confirmed by people who requested anonymity.

The streets outside the court where the arraignment will unfold were calm on Friday compared with earlier in the week.

When Mr Trump turns himself in, he will be booked like anyone else facing charges, with mug shot and fingerprinting.

But he is not expected to be put in handcuffs. He will have secret service protection and will almost certainly be released the same day.

In the meantime, Mr Trumps legal team prepared his defence while the prosecutor defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial.

Congressional Republicans, as well as Mr Trump himself, contend the whole matter is politically motivated.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg wrote to three Republican House committee chairmen on Friday in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The case is plunging the US into uncharted legal waters, with Mr Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment.

And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next years presidential election.

Mr Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against him could hurt that effort  though his campaign is already raising money by citing it.

Law enforcement personnel outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Friday (Yuki Iwamura/AP)   Yuki Iwamura

Top Republicans also have begun closing ranks around him.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised to use congressional oversight to investigate Mr Bragg.

Representatives James Comer, Jim Jordan and Bryan Steil, the committee chairmen whom Bragg addressed in his letter, have asked the district attorneys office for grand jury testimony, documents and copies of any communications with the justice department.

Mr Trumps indictment came after a grand jury investigation into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to bury allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter.

The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Both claim to have had sexual encounters with Mr Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

A New York City Police car and court officer stand guard outside the Manhattan district attorneys office (Mary Altaffer/AP)   Mary Altaffer

Mr Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution and an injustice. He says that it is specifically designed to damage his 2024 presidential run.

Mr Trumps lawyer Joseph Tacopina said during TV interviews on Friday he would very aggressively challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment.

Mr Trump himself, on his social media platform, complained that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, HATES ME.

On his social media platform Mr Trump also accused Democrats of having LIED, CHEATED, AND STOLEN IN THEIR MANIACAL OBSESSION TO GET TRUMP.

The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight ahead of his planned arraignment on Tuesday.

He will be arraigned in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinsteins rape trial took place.

On Friday, officials from the secret service and the New York Police Department toured the court and discussed security plans.

Former president Donald Trump (Evan Vucci/AP)   Evan Vucci

Since Mr Trumps post on March 18 post claiming his arrest was imminent, authorities have ratcheted up security, deploying additional police officers, lining the streets around the court with barricades and dispatching bomb-sniffing dogs.

Since no former president had ever been charged with a crime, there is no rulebook for booking the defendant.

He will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken, and investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants.

All of that activity takes place away from the public. New York law prohibits the release of mug shots in most cases. Less clear is whether Mr Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons.

Once the booking is complete, the former president would appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment.

Even for defendants who turn themselves in, answering criminal charges in New York generally entails at least several hours of detention while being fingerprinted, photographed and going through other procedures.

As for the allegations, as Mr Trump ran for president in 2016, his allies paid two women to bury their accusations.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg (Seth Wenig/AP)   Seth Wenig

The publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer paid McDougal 150,000 dollars (120,000) for rights to her story and sat on it, in an arrangement brokered by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

After Cohen himself paid Daniels 130,000 dollars (105,000), Mr Trumps company reimbursed him, added bonuses and logged the payments as legal expenses.

Federal prosecutors argued, in a 2018 criminal case against Cohen, that the payments equated to illegal aid to Mr Trumps campaign.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violation charges, but federal prosecutors did not go after Trump, who was then in the White House.

However, some of their court filings obliquely implicated him as someone who knew about the payment arrangements.

The New York indictment came as Mr Trump contends with other investigations that could have grave legal consequences.

In Atlanta, prosecutors are considering whether he committed any crimes when trying to get Georgia officials to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss there to Joe Biden.

At federal level, a justice department-appointed special counsel is investigating Mr Trumps efforts to unravel the national election results.

Additionally, the special counsel is examining how and why he held on to a cache of top secret government documents at his Florida club and residence, Mar-a-Lago, and whether the ex-president or his representatives tried to obstruct the investigation into those documents.
BTS' J-Hope / Courtesy of Big Hit Music



J-Hope, a member of K-pop juggernaut BTS, will join the Army as an active duty soldier, the band's agency said Saturday.



"J-Hope will be enlisting in the Army as an active-duty soldier to fulfill his mandatory military service," BigHit Music said on Weverse, a K-pop fan community platform.



It said, however, there will be no separate event for fans on the day of his enlistment.



The date and location of the military unit where the K-pop star will be serving were also not disclosed.



The agency urged fans to refrain from visiting the site to prevent safety accidents caused by overcrowding.



Last month, the member said during a live broadcast on the same platform that the date for his enlistment was already fixed but did not provide details.



He will become the second member of BTS to enroll in the military, following the oldest member, Jin, who began his military service in December.



In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years.



The 29-year-old released "on the street," featuring American rapper and producer J. Cole, March 3. The solo track topped the iTunes Top Songs charts of 80 territories around the world and debuted at No. 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. (Yonhsp)


Harry Hill has praised Tony Blair for his role in the Good Friday Agreement, despite producing an opera that brands the former prime minister a warmongering multi-millionaire.

The 58-year-olds Tony! stage show has become a surprise hit, securing a run in the West End this month, followed by a UK tour.

Hill said that despite the criticism of the Iraq war, he thinks Blair achieved a lot of good things, including helping bringing peace to Northern Ireland 25 years ago.

He added: Im not overtly political, and were not saying one thing or the other with this.

What weve tried to do is not make it about left versus right, or Labour versus Tory.

Blair achieved lots of good things, and we point those out.

Lots of leaders have done worse things, lots have done better things. Fundamentally, his story is a morality tale.

If theres a message, its about the risk of getting carried away with yourself.
This is the creep who sexually assaulted a little boy while his mother was in the next room.

Newry Crown Court was told Cahill McDonald even molested the toddler as they sat on a sofa watching television.

Sentencing the 34-year-old on Wednesday, Judge Gordon Kerr KC said the victim, who was aged between three at five at the time of the abuse, told his mum the paedophile had touched him.

There was also evidence from his mother that she saw the defendant move his hand from under the blanket or rug while he was on the sofa, said the judge.

He told the court it was clear this has had a significant affect on the child, who has become withdrawn at a crucial time of his development.

McDonald, from Drumintee Road in Forkhill, previously admitted a single count of sexually assaulting a child under 13 on dates between June 14, 2019, and April 13 last year.

Judge Kerr said that while reports had indicated the defendant performed well below average in terms of intelligence, there was nothing in the evidence to suggest he didnt know what he was doing was wrong.

McDonald denied having any sexual interest in children, but the judge said probation services had assessed him as a high priority for intervention.

The court was also told he had multiple testimonials and references which showed he is extremely highly thought of.

Judge Kerr said while he believed a 12-month jail term was appropriate, guidelines dictated that where a sentence was under 12 months, the court should consider an enhanced combination order of community service and probation.

I consider, given the background of the case, that this is one where I should impose an enhanced combination order, he added.

McDonald was given three years of probation and ordered to complete 60 hours of community service.

The judge also imposed a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.

He warned the paedophile that if the terms of his sentence were breached, he would be jailed.
Some of the drugs and paraphernalia seized by the police

Two alleged drugs barons arrested over a 100,000 cocaine haul that police linked to the East Belfast UVF are Catholics from west Belfast.

James McGrogan (36) and 31-year-old Christopher Cullen were remanded in custody after appearing in court last week charged with possessing the drug with intent to supply.

Loyalist sources said they were surprised the seizures had been linked to the East Belfast UVF, given the backgrounds of the people in the dock.

It is telling that when they appeared in court, there was no mention of the UVF, an insider told Sunday Life.

Both of these individuals are originally from west Belfast. They have no connection whatsoever to the organisation [the East Belfast UVF].

Judge Mark Reel told a sentencing hearing at Belfast Crown Court last week the police believed all drug dealing in east Belfast was connected to the paramilitary gang.

Grogan and Cullen were arrested after police stopped a car they were travelling in on the citys Montgomery Road on March 25, the day after Judge Reel made his comments.

Cops had earlier witnessed the Volkswagen Jetta being driven to a property on Picardy Avenue, where a package was passed through the window.

With a search failing to locate this item, the vehicle was taken away for further examination.

After a more detailed investigation, officers discovered a professionally installed, hydraulically controlled hide.

A detective told Belfast Magistrates Court: Inside that hide there was a kilogram of cocaine in various states. There were broken parts of what we would describe as a compressed block, loose cocaine in bags, prepared deal bags of cocaine, unused deal bags, scales and all the accoutrements of drugs supply.

There was also 30,000 approximately in cash, which was located in a Flannels [shopping] bag.

This item would be consistent with what was passed through the window at the time of the observations on Picardy Avenue.

McGrogan, who has an address on Ardenlee Drive, was remanded in custody after the court heard he has 22 criminal convictions, six of which are for serious drug crimes.

It was also revealed he is currently on bail for serious drugs offences linked to the Encrochat phone network.

Co-accused Christopher Cullen, from the Upper Lisburn Road, appeared in court the following morning on the same charges of possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

Giving evidence, a detective claimed the defendants clean record made him an ideal candidate to fly below the radar and transport drugs.

He said: If he [Cullen] has gone out of his way to modify this car, is it indicative that this is being done on a regular basis?

Defence solicitor Adrian Harvey argued a distinction could be made between the alleged roles played by Cullen and McGrogan.

There is no way Mr Cullen could have exited the vehicle or stopped driving to secrete any package, the lawyer said.

He doesnt hide the fact that this was his vehicle. He works for a local delivery firm.

However, that was not enough to stop his client from being remanded in custody.
This photo, captured from the homepage of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 11, 2022, shows Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister and vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, making a speech to the effect that the coronavirus had been introduced into North Korea via South Korea during a national meeting on anti-epidemic measures held in Pyongyang the previous day. Yonhap



Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday of "gambling" with his country's destiny by talking about developing nuclear weapons or placing U.S. nukes in Ukraine.



Kim, vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party, also accused the Ukrainian authorities of being "seized with the incurable megalomania that (they) can defeat Russia," and "incurring a nuclear disaster threatening their existence."



"Zelenskiyy's talk about the introduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the independent development of nuclear weapons is a manifestation of his very dangerous political ambition to prolong his remaining days at any cost by gambling with the destiny of his country and people," she said in an English-language statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.



Kim referred to an appeal on the Ukrainian president's website, which she said called for deploying U.S. nuclear weapons in Ukraine or developing the country's own nuclear weapons.



She said it has been reported that if more than 25,000 people sign the appeal within 90 days, the president would examine the proposal and express his stance on it.



"This is a plausible veil of the public's expression of will, but it is not hard to guess that it is a product of the Zelenskiyy authorities' sinister political plot," she said, claiming that Ukrainian officials have openly revealed their nuclear ambitions on several occasions, including at the Munich Security Conference in February 2022.



Kim also warned Ukraine against relying on the U.S.



"If the Zelenskiyy authorities calculated that they can avoid the powerful fire of Russia only when they go under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, which had already been perforated, they are going to the wrong path, the last path," she said. (Yonhap)


A balloon with names of the victims is seen at a memorial at the entrance to The Covenant School on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.
Alana McLaughlin, an MMA fighter, holds a gun in 2020. The image was misrepresented on social media on Tuesday, in the wake of a school shooting in Nashville, Tenn.
Marvin Miller, center, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players association, stands with two players representatives on April 12, 1972, during the league's first strike. The strike began on April 1 and lasted for 12 days.
LENOX  Representatives of a proposed auto dealership on Route 7/20 have revised their plans in an effort to try to soften up opposition from some neighbors.

But whether those changes have moved the needle remains unclear and the company still faces a long road ahead.

The McGee Automotive Family is seeking four special-permit approvals for its $14 million project to move its Berkshire BMW and Audi-VW dealership out of Pittsfield to a 4-acre commercial parcel at Pittsfield and New Lenox roads that is currently the site of Different Drummers Kitchen. It would raze seven existing structures that already are town-approved for demolition.

The zoning board resumed its hybrid public hearing at Town Hall on Wednesday night, with area residents questioning the projects safety, impact on the environment, the local economy and on neighborhood property values. The ZBA has received 32 letters  25 opposed, seven in favor.

Attorney Jeffrey Lynch, representing the McGee regional chain based in Hanover, unveiled a proposed traffic realignment for access to the dealership from Pittsfield and New Lenox roads.

Under the revised plan, which was also submitted to the state Department of Transportation:

 A gated access driveway from New Lenox Road would be restricted to delivery trucks leaving the site for right turns only, proceeding to the traffic signal at Pittsfield Road.

 Customers approaching from the south would enter the facility turning right onto a Pittsfield Road curb cut. Departing traffic, using a second curb cut, would be limited to northbound, right turns only until they can reverse course.

 Motorists from Pittsfield and other points north would encounter a new raised traffic island and then make a state-approved U-turn at the New Lenox Road traffic signal, using the existing turning lane and then entering the facility from the state highways curb cut.

Lynch also asserted, based on what he called non-scientific research, that neighborhood property values would not be affected negatively by the dealership, citing recent transactions in the Elm Court area on Old Stockbridge Road and on Crystal Street in Lenox Dale.

He also announced the developers commitment to mounting rooftop solar panels on the two dealership buildings.

Representing the Rolling Hills Condominium board of trustees, attorney Elisabeth Goodman indicated that the gated-access entry from New Lenox Road would be acceptable if limited to one truck per day delivering vehicles, as long as smaller trucks make car parts deliveries only after normal business hours.

ZBA member Kimberly Duval cited improvements in the project plan, especially the solar roof installation and the compromise on traffic safety.

Im really happy with the McGee dealership and the Rolling Hills trustees for stepping outside comfort zones, having the tough discussions, and coming to a nice resolution that will make this a really great project, she said.

The public comment portion of the meeting again featured a variety of opinions on the project.

Dr. Sander Rabin, of the Yokun Brook condo development, called the project mammoth rather than boutique, and asserted it would have an unprecedented adverse impact on the surrounding residential area. He cited a lack of auto industry regulation with no assurance of safety.

George Haddad, owner of the Toyota, Hyundai and Subaru franchises in Pittsfield, noted his friendship with the McGees and described their dealerships as quality operations, theyre all about family and the community, and they would be an asset to Lenox.

Different Drummers Kitchen owner Andrew Meisberger called the current properties at the proposed site challenged.

Youre being offered a gift here, to fix something thats only going to get worse if you do nothing, he told the zoning board members. So, please, Im begging you, consider this a gift and dont look at it in the mouth.

But Rolling Hills resident Marcie Schneider voiced concern about safety, especially with more children living at Rolling Hills and using school buses stopping on New Lenox Road. I dont want to have to wait until a major accident happens for somebody to realize this is not a great idea, she said.

For Sharon Costello of New Lenox Road, its a very large project for a very small group of parcels. She suggested splitting up the two buildings comprising the dealership, relocating one across Pittsfield Road on property that might be available there. Costello was referring to the closed car wash and the adjacent, long-vacant Five Chairs restaurant.

I trust the ZBA to use good judgment in this case, said Nina Esaki of the Yokun Brook development. The best outcomes for communities are when all stakeholders challenges and concerns are addressed. All their voices ought to be heard and considered, and Im confident a desired outcome can be reached.

Lynch, the McGee groups attorney, emphasized long-term plans favored by the Lenox Conservation Commission to clean up and revitalize Yokun Brook behind the proposed project, including removal of invasive species. The commission will meet on April 6 to continue its scrutiny.

He pointed out that before the project could go forward, approvals are needed from the zoning board, conservation commission, town departments and MassDOT. Hopefully, it all jells and fits together, and thats up to us to figure out, he said. That is a part of the burden we have and are accepting as we move forward.

The ZBA will resume its public hearing on April 27 at 7 p.m.
The states land court delays ruling on a lawsuit by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council against the Richmond Zoning Board and a neighborhood group on whether the council must seek a special permit for recreation on its Hollow Fields reserve.
Lee High/Middle School will be the setting of an information session to get voters ready for the new meeting protocols at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 13, in the Lee High School Auditorium followed by a Baby Town Meeting at 7 p.m.
As the North Adams community discusses a proposal to shelter homeless families in a Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts dorm building, we believe this debate demands more information.

To be clear, this isnt and shouldnt be a debate about homeless shelters in general and the need to help struggling Massachusetts families facing life on the street. While shelter proposals sometimes spur not-in-my-backyard reactions that needlessly stigmatize people in need, we have advocated for Berkshire shelter plans before  even when those plans prompted parochial pushback.

The relevant questions here are more specific: What will this realistically mean for MCLAs future, and how will this plan serve the families that would be moved from all over Massachusetts to the campus of an already struggling state school in the rural northwest corner of the commonwealth?

We get where such a proposal is coming from. As the state tries to address homelessness and give struggling families a roof over their heads, the Department of Housing and Community Development eyes a sizable residential structure already owned by the state: the Berkshire Towers, a vacant dormitory on the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts campus. The towers are vacant because of MCLAs significant enrollment downturn, but theres something in it for the school as well: It would receive funding from DHCD by leasing Berkshire Towers for the shelter, thus putting some cash toward mitigating the sustainability issues the state college is facing  at least in the short term.

But it must be asked: What about the long-term implications for a struggling state college and the surrounding Northern Berkshire community whose futures are inextricably linked?

Quote The decision ultimately is up to the state and MCLA President James Birge. We urge them not to make it in the dark, as it's a decision that will affect the future of Berkshire County's only public four-year college and, in turn, the entire Northern Berkshire region.

While the proposals details arent yet in stone  and neither MCLA leadership nor the state were particularly forthcoming about this plan until The Eagle inquired about it  we do know that the plan calls for an 18-month lease of Berkshire Towers. Would the working plan be to extend that lease after the initial 18 months? If so, it would be hard to not see that as essentially an acquiescence to MCLAs enrollment struggles, and its reasonable to ask whether locating a homeless shelter on campus will adversely affect the schools already anemic enrollment and harm the schools viability in the long term. If so, that would be tragic for myriad reasons, especially given the recent addition of an undergraduate nursing program celebrated as a boon for both MCLA and a Berkshire region with high demand within that field.

If theres reason to think the lease wont be extended and this is simply a temporary stopgap measure in the states anti-homelessness efforts to quickly house Bay Staters in need, then other questions must be asked on behalf of the families that would be sent to MCLA.

Since this shelter would receive families from all over the state, is it really a good idea to house folks in a far-flung corner of the state only to perhaps ship them elsewhere when the 18-month lease is up? And if those families are from Central or Eastern Massachusetts, is it really best to remove them so far from their last known addresses and their familiar communities? Further, the architects of this plan should be ready and willing to confront the understandable hard feelings some in the Berkshires will have over the state pitching a shelter in our region that is not primarily dedicated to helping our regions homeless population.

This isnt an argument against helping homeless families; its a question of whether the state should send dozens of families in need to a corner of the commonwealth whose systemic struggles with public transportation, public safety infrastructure and mental health care access are routinely overlooked by Beacon Hill. We know that regional organizations like ServiceNet and CHP Berkshires are ready and willing to step up and do what they can, but will the state do more than simply leasing the Berkshire Towers to address these needs in Northern Berkshire that this plan would undoubtedly multiply?

We dont raise these questions to advocate against a plan for helping Massachusetts families facing homelessness. We raise them because they need answering for anyone who cares about MCLAs future and the efficacy of the states well-intentioned and much-needed anti-homelessness efforts.

Neighbors, students weigh in on proposal to use vacant MCLA dorm as a homeless shelter A good idea. Up in the air. It's the right thing to do. Those were some of the reactions Friday from city residents about a proposal to use a vacant Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts dormitory as a shelter for homeless families.

As a proposal for a state-funded shelter in a state-owned building on a state college campus, the decision ultimately is up to the state and MCLA President James Birge. We urge them not to make it in the dark, as its a decision that will affect the future of Berkshire Countys only public four-year college and, in turn, the entire Northern Berkshire region. It must be viewed from that higher perspective, and while the official choice is up to small handful of people, we hope they agree that such a choice deserves the scrutiny of a local community fully informed about whats in store for one of the regions critical public institutions.

Proposals aimed toward welcoming and helping the vulnerable can prompt strong reactions, too often of the knee-jerk and bad-faith variety. Ramming this plan through without transparency will only provoke such reactions. We call on MCLA President Birge and DHCD representatives to help the public separate the wheat from the chaff by discussing the details of this proposal out in the open. The Eagle is willing to host such a forum if need be.

However it is done, though, President Birge and DHCD owe the MCLA community and the greater Northern Berkshire community some answers to these basic questions before such a decision is made on their behalf.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a briefing with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon in Washington, March 15. AP-Yonhap



U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley canceled a plan to visit South Korea late last month due to time constraints, according to his spokesperson Saturday.



Milley was expected to visit Japan and South Korea in a regional swing aimed apparently at highlighting the importance of America's trilateral cooperation with the two Asian allies amid North Korea's saber-rattling and China's growing assertiveness.



"The chairman planned to visit South Korea this past week however due to time restraints and testifying at the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing and House Armed Services Committee Hearing he was unable to attend," a JCS spokesperson wrote in an email to Yonhap News Agency.



The official added, "The Chairman does remain in contact with his counterparts." (Yonhap)


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Polyplus has been expanding its focus beyond transfection reagents

Germany headquartered Sartorius Stedim Biotech, a leading international partner of the biopharmaceutical industry, has signed an agreement to acquire Polyplus for approximately 2.4 billion euros from private investors, including ARCHIMED and WP GG Holdings IV B.V., an affiliate of Warburg Pincus.

Polyplus, with around 270 employees, develops and produces transfection as well as other DNA/RNA delivery reagents and plasmid DNA in high quality and GMP grade. These are key components in the production of viral vectors used in cell and gene therapies and other advanced medicinal therapeutic products.

Recording significant growth rates, Polyplus is expected to generate sales revenue in the upper double-digit million-euro range and a very substantial EBITDA margin in 2023. The proposed transaction is subject to customary conditions, including completion of the information and consultation of the works council and approval by regulatory authorities and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2023.

Founded in 2001, Polyplus is based in Strasbourg, France, and has locations in France, Belgium, the US, and China. The company has been expanding its focus beyond transfection reagents through acquisitions in adjacent technologies like plasmid design, and protein and plasmid manufacturing, broadening its upstream portfolio for gene therapies as well as gene-modified cell therapies.
Modality of data exchange and finance to be determined via mutual consultation and agreement

Amrita School of Ayurveda and Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth, Ministry of AYUSH have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further develop the AyurCeL (online portal) and create a repository of clinical cases in Ayurveda.

This collaboration will facilitate the generation of practice-based evidence by helping clinicians report clinical outcomes systematically supported by multimedia.

The MoU was signed by Dr Kousthubha Upadhyaya on behalf of Rashtriya Ayurved Vidyapeeth and Swami Sankaramritananda Puri on behalf of Amrita School of Ayurveda.

The Ayurveda Clinical e-Learning (AYURCeL) project aims to fill this gap by creating a web platform to make available the clinical experiences of successful Ayurveda clinicians in a digital form and format that will facilitate continuous clinical learning based on well-documented case studies.

Under the MoU, the collaboration between Amrita School of Ayurveda, Kerala, and RAV (Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth), will be established in the area of mutual interest to both the institutions for submission of selected clinical case reports of the Certificate course of RAV (CRAV) students after due verification from their corresponding Gurus to the AyurCeL portal for preliminary screening every month.

The Amrita School of Ayurveda, Kerala shall examine the submitted cases as per their selection criterion and update the case report and further follow-ups and after vetting done by the experts shall publish the report in the portal.
The CoE will provide best-in class skill development initiatives to the youth of Tripura

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), working under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has announced a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Administration of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and Medhavi Skills university to develop National Skills Academy named as Maharaja Kirit Bikram International Centre for Innovation & Skills Excellence.

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) will focus on building capacities in the field of healthcare and paramedical skills for catering to the growing demand of trained paramedical staff and nurses in India and across the world.

The MoU was exchanged between Ved Mani Tiwari, COO (Officiating CEO), NSDC, Kuldip Sharma, Pro Chancellor, Medhavi Skills university and Chandra Kumar Jamatia, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.

Acting as an employment hub, the CoE will provide best-in class skill development initiatives to the youth of Tripura by facilitating international skills training and mobility in the healthcare and paramedical sectors along with other related sectors that have been showcasing high demand for talent building.

Through this joint venture, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) will support in promotional activities to create awareness of the courses available at the CoE.

The council will be responsible for an overall administrative support and promote the academy at an international level for greater recognition. They will also provide recommendations whenever required to the central ministries, international foundations, and reputed corporates. It will be one of the most exclusive projects in entire Northeast where the students will be trained as per global standards and will be placed in the best countries of the world.
Despite legal threats from the U.S. government, Mexicos government plans to go forward with a partial ban on imports of genetically modified corn.

On Wednesday Mexicos National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) hosted an online webinar laying out the science behind the nations decision to ban imports of genetically modified corn. The webinar itself is a response to repeated claims by the U.S. government that Mexicos GM corn ban is not based on science.

CONACYT, the Mexican governments senior science department, organized several presentations from Mexican scientists detailing the health concerns surrounding GM food and the herbicide glyphosate which is typically sprayed on GM corn produced by Bayer, formerly Monsanto.

For the Mexican farmers who have been cultivating corn for an estimated 8,000 years, GM corn represents a significant threat. GM corn can spread via the birds, bees, and wind, resulting in cross-pollination between traditional crops and GM versions.

During his presentation, Alejandro Espinoza Calderon, director of Mexicos biosecurity agency Intersecretarial Commission for Biosafety and Genetically Modified Organisms (Cibiogem), noted that,

Mexico has a rich store of exceptionally healthy varieties of corn. It is alarming to find that 90 percent of tortillas were shown to have traces of both glyphosate and transgenics. The biosecurity of Mexico is of utmost importance.

National University biologist Ana Laura Wegier Briuolo, a biologist at Mexicos National University made it clear that without healthy corn we cannot have healthy people.



The webinar also focused on the dangers associated with glyphosate. In recent years Monsanto (and now Bayer) have faced dozens of lawsuits related to individuals developing cancer after heavy use of glyphosate.

In August 2018, a California jury found that Monsanto failed to notify consumers of the dangers of the companys chemical concoctions. The jury handed down a $289 million award to Dewayne Johnson, a former school groundskeeper who claimed Monsantos glyphosate-based weed-killers gave him cancer. Johnson told the jury he had been involved in two accidents during his work in which he was doused with the Monsantos RoundUp, the first of which happened in 2012. By 2014 Johnson had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

During the webinar Dr. Omar Arellano, from the National Universitys Ecology and Natural Resources Department, shared data from Mexico, Argentina, and the United States, detailing how glyphosate impacts human health. The science is much clearer now than it was twenty years ago, Arellano stated.

Additionally, Dr. Felipe Lozano Kasten, a public health professor in the state of Jalisco, reported a long-term study of 677 children that found 98 percent with glyphosate in their urine. Lozano Kasten said the research showed an association with health problems, including impaired kidney function.

In April 2018, I reported on a study published in the journal Environmental Health which found an association between higher concentrations of glyphosate in the urine of pregnant women and early pregnancies. The study found that 93 percent of the women had glyphosate in their urine, with the women living in rural areas having higher levels than those in the suburbs.

Glyphosate is often used on major crops on a day-to-day basis . . . but we hardly know anything about how humans are exposed, lead author Shahid Parvez, a researcher at the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health in Indianapolis, told Reuters at the time. We dont want to cause unnecessary panic, but we do want to understand how it affects pregnancy and human health.

In September 2018, yet another study on glyphosate pointed to potential dangers of the chemical. The study from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin pointed to glyphosate as a culprit for harming special gut bacteria in honey bees. The study, Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that exposure to glyphosate was disrupting the gut bacteria and making bees more susceptible to illness.

While the U.S. government is threatening to take legal action against Mexico under the U.S.-Mexican-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), the language of the document actually recognizes Mexicos right to regulate its own food supply. According to a report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the USMCAs updated section on agricultural biotechnology, under Article 3.14.2, states, This Section does not require a Party to mandate an authorization for a product of agricultural biotechnology to be on the market.

Moreover, Mexicos plan for banning GM corn only applies to GM corn used in tortillas and corn-dough. Rather than a full ban of GM corn or GM food in general, the restriction only applies to the use of GM corn in a specific category of food. Food Tank reports that only 4% of U.S. corn exports are white corn, most of which does not go into tortillas  a fact which flies in the face of the U.S. governments claims that Mexicos GM corn policy will hurt farmers.

Mexicos Fight Against Mr. Monsanto

One of the main proponents of the U.S. policy on GM food, is current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa and former president and CEO of the US Dairy Export Council. Secretary Vilsack was appointed by the Biden administration after previously serving as Secretary of Agriculture during the Obama administration.

Vilsack is notable for being given the nickname Mr. Monsanto in reference to his work helping the biotech giant Monsanto Inc, now owned by Bayer. In fact, in 2001 the Biotechnology Innovation Organization named Vilsack BIO Governor of the Year for his support of the industrys economic growth and agricultural biotechnology research while serving as Iowas Governor.

In 2016, Politico reported,

Progressives say they are also disappointed that during Vilsacks seven-and-a-half-year tenure, the Agriculture Department sped up approval of controversial GMO crops, backed trade deals they say cost Americans jobs and cleared changes to let poultry slaughter facilities police themselves, among a slew of initiatives favoring big producers.



The Organic Consumer Association also reported on the various GM food products approved during Vilsacks tenure. According to the OCA, while Vilsack was USDA Secretary from 2009 to 2017 he approved more new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) than any Secretary before him or since. Here are just a couple examples:

Monsantos Roundup Ready sugar beets: A judge ruled that inevitable contamination would cause the potential elimination of farmers choice to grow non-genetically engineered crops, or a consumers choice to eat non-genetically engineered food.

A judge ruled that inevitable contamination would cause the potential elimination of farmers choice to grow non-genetically engineered crops, or a consumers choice to eat non-genetically engineered food. Monsantos Roundup Ready alfalfa: The first genetically modified perennial crop. By the end of the Obama administration, it had gone wild, costing American alfalfa growers and exporters millions of dollars in lost revenue. Vilsacks long-term relationships with the biotech industry should be a warning sign for the Mexican government, and a clear sign of where his allegiances remain.

History of Attacks on Food Sovereignty

The current attempts to force GM foods on the developing world are simply a continuation of attacks on indigenous food systems that have been taking place for over 100 years.

The current mainstream food paradigm  with its toxic, violent, and monopolized business model  was born out of the Green Revolution of the 1950s and 60s. At that time Mexican President Manuel Avila Camacho invited the Rockefeller Foundation into the country to help study and modernize Mexicos farming.

In 1943, Norman Borlaug, a plant geneticist, and his team of researchers traveled to Mexico and jump started the so-called Green Revolution. Borlaug was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, with both organizations having an interest in establishing international farming standards which benefited their bank accounts.

While the Green Revolution is often touted as a success due to increases in crop yields and an apparent drop in infant mortality, there is also a growing body of evidence indicating that the abundant use of pesticides has caused a rise in adverse health effects, including cancer.

Its important to note that the same mega-corporations who are tied to Big Oil and Big Pharma are also the same driving forces behind the Green Revolution. The Rockefeller Standard Oil network and their partners within the fertilizer industry  specifically DuPont, Dow Chemical, and Hercules Powder  benefited handsomely from the apparent revolution in farming. However, when a struggling third world nation could not afford the new technologies needed to participate in the programs, the Rockefeller-controlled Chase Manhattan Bank partnered with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to offer loans, which in turn granted the banks ownership over resources and financial assets should the nations fail to settle the debt.

We are seeing similar attacks in 2023 with the U.S. governments attempts to coerce Mexico into accepting GM corn or farmers will suffer. For the moment, the Mexican government is holding strong and pushing back against the Biotech industry and their partners in the U.S. government.

Derrick Broze, a staff writer for The Last American Vagabond, is a journalist, author, public speaker, and activist. He is the co-host of Free Thinker Radio on 90.1 Houston, as well as the founder of The Conscious Resistance Network & The Houston Free Thinkers.

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/category/derrick-broze/

Visit TheLastAmericanVagabond.com. Subscribe to TLAVs independent news broadcast on iTunes. Follow on Facebook and Minds. Support with Bitcoin.


The elder son of former Gyeonggi Gov. Nam Kyung-pil leaves a police station in Yongin, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, April 1, to attend a hearing on whether to issue an arrest warrant against him on charges of taking methamphetamine. Yonhap



The elder son of former Gyeonggi Gov. Nam Kyung-pil was arrested Saturday for allegedly taking methamphetamine.



The Suwon District Court issued an arrest warrant against the 32-year-old, citing concerns he is a flight risk.



The junior Nam is accused of injecting methamphetamine once at an apartment in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, on Thursday.



He was detained by police a week earlier after his family reported him for allegedly taking the drug in his own apartment in Yongin, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, but was released after a court rejected a request for an arrest warrant against him.



In 2017, Nam was indicted on charges of injecting methamphetamine or smoking marijuana multiple times and was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for four years. (Yonhap)


CBS News told staffers to "avoid any mention" of the transgender Nashville Christian school shooter being transgender, according to a leaked memo obtained by the NY Post.



From The New York Post, "CBS execs bar the word 'transgender' from reports on Nashville shooter: 'This is not journalism'":

Top executives at CBS News have banned staffers from using the word transgender when reporting on the Nashville shooter  despite the fact that police have said Audrey Hale was just that and cited it as a key point in the case, The Post has learned.



The shooters gender identity has not been confirmed by CBS News, the networks executives insisted in a Tuesday memo obtained by The Post. As such, we should avoid any mention of it as it has no known relevance to the crime. Should that change, we can and will revisit.



The CBS News directive was delivered on a Tuesday morning editorial call by Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, the executive vice president of newsgathering, and Claudia Milne, the senior vice president of standards and practices, according to sources close to the Tiffany Network.



Right now we advise saying: POLICE IDENTIFIED THE SUSPECT AS A 28-YEAR-OLD AUDREY HALE, WHO [sic] THEY SHOT AND KILLED AT THE SCENE, the Tuesday memo said. And move on to focus on other important points of the investigation, community and solutions.

It was known Monday on the day of the attack that the shooter was transgender as it was announced publicly by police.





VIDEO: Nashville police chief confirms Audrey Hale identifies as transgender, suggests her trans identify motivated the killings: "We have a manifesto ... and a map of how all of this was going to play out." pic.twitter.com/Mss0FPqnUn  Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2023



Nonetheless, CBS was one of many major news outlets which announced in January that they were moving "beyond objectivity" for the sake of "diversity."







Nearly every controlled media outlet went out of their way to avoid mentioning that this mass shooter was transgender and targeted Christians.



Reuters, for example, ran the headline: "Former Christian school student kills 3 children, 3 staff in Nashville shooting" -- implying the shooter was a white Christian.





Former Christian school student kills 3 children, 3 staff in Nashville shooting https://t.co/rQBgths2TI pic.twitter.com/6egl9SHSZM  Reuters (@Reuters) March 28, 2023



Other outlets focused on the "fear" that transgenders must be feeling after one of their own massacred a bunch of Christian children.





The media is now portraying trans militants as the real victims of the massacre by a transgender terrorist. pic.twitter.com/7qao9fM6zB  Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 29, 2023



Whereas CBS News made the mistake of putting their order not to identify the shooter as transgender into writing, most other outlets likely didn't even have to tell their reporters to avoid the subject as they were more than happy to do it on their own.



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Q-Anon shaman Jacob Chansley was released from prison early to a halfway house this week, just three weeks after Tucker Carlson released new footage from J6 showing Chansley was escorted throughout the Capitol building by police.



From The Daily Mail, "QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley is released 14 months early from prison after Jan. 6 footage showed him being 'ESCORTED' by cops inside the Capitol":

The so-called 'QAnon Shaman' who pleaded guilty to storming the US Capitol on January 6 has been released from prison to a halfway house 14 months early, in an apparent reduction for good behavior.



Jacob Chansley, 35, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to civil disorder and violent entry to the Capitol, among other charges, and was later sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.



Earlier this week, Chansley was transferred from FCI Stafford federal prison in Arizona to community confinement in the Phoenix area, after serving just under 27 total months in prison, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesman confirmed in a statement to DailyMail.com on Thursday.



The spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the transfer, but pointed generally to federal laws that allow for good-conduct sentence reductions, as well as release to a halfway house for the final 12 months of a sentence.



Chansley's release comes weeks after his former attorney demanded he be freed in light of new video from the Capitol riot, but his move to the halfway house appears to be unconnected.



A former federal prosecutor unconnected with the case said it was doubtful public pressure played a role in Chansley's transfer, noting the move appears 'kind of routine' under BOP guidelines.



'For safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any inmate, including transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual's specific location while in community confinement,' the BOP spokesman said.

There's nothing "routine" about the vicious political persecution J6 protesters have faced at the hands of the DC regime and there's no reason to believe Chansley's release was not a result of the new footage being released showing not only that he was totally innocent but also that the DC regime actually conspired against him to hide footage that exonerated him.







Some J6 political prisoners have been detained for two years now without a trial.



When Attorney General Merrick Garland was confronted on Wednesday about J6 detainees having their rights violated he said he didn't "know anything" about their cases.







It's absolutely imperative that Tucker Carlson and Kevin McCarthy release more footage from J6 to exonerate the other victims of this witch hunt. Carlson said three weeks ago he was going to release more footage from the 40,000 hours of tapes he was given access to but went silent after getting pushback from Democrats, the media and most likely his own bosses.





Schumer: "Rupert Murdoch has a special obligation to stop Tucker Carlson from going on tonight [and] from letting him go on again and again and again [because] our democracy depends on it." pic.twitter.com/uld6eaCl3C  Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 7, 2023



Just last week, new footage from J6 was leaked (seemingly by a J6 defendant) showing DC Metro cops pushing protesters to move towards the US Capitol and helping them climb the scaffolding outside the Capitol building.







There are undoubtedly mounds of exculpatory evidence in the 40,000 hours of tapes being hidden from the public and the J6 defendants -- keeping that footage secret is a heinous crime.



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Colleague students march toward for the presidential office during a rally to oppose the visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to Japan, in Seoul, March 16, 2023. AP-Yonhap



Japanese politicians should not risk bilateral ties by pursuing short-term political gains



By Kim Yoo-chul



Are relations between South Korea and Japan finally getting back on track?



Not surprisingly, U.S. President Joe Biden hailed President Yoon Suk Yeol's very bold act of statesmanship aimed at normalizing ties with Japan. This came as South Korea announced plans to establish a voluntary private fund with most of the money coming from South Korean firms instead of honoring 2018 ruling by the country's top court, which ordered two Japanese companies to compensate their South Korean victims of forced wartime labor.



The Japanese companies refused to accept the ruling, arguing that the issue had been settled in 1965 when the two countries normalized diplomatic relations. Washington hopes for a Seoul-Tokyo relationship that is unfettered by historical disputes and able to pursue mutual interests in the region. Because of this, the United States was a facilitator, working diligently behind the scenes to help bring this pro-bilateral rapprochement, senior diplomatic sources told The Korea Times.



One notable point is the fact that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida treated President Yoon to a "yoshoku-style" dinner in Tokyo. Yoshoku consists of Japanese-style Western dishes that were brought forth to entertain guests upon first contact with Westerners including Americans during the Meiji era.



The core political meaning behind the Yoon-Kishida dinner at Renga-tei, one of Tokyo's oldest Western-style restaurants established in 1895, is that symbolically the United States was also in the room when the two leaders dined together, according to political analysts in Seoul.



The Biden administration has emphasized the significance of Washington-Seoul-Tokyo trilateral consultations at the highest level to advance progress in the spheres of diplomacy and intelligence coordination. Leading think tanks in Washington stressed that the Biden administration views trilateralism as a tool by which to stabilize the Japan-South Korea relationship and broaden a sense of like-mindedness to better manage a range of common security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.



But the Japanese education ministry's recent approval of textbooks for elementary schools, which defended the right-wing government's position on history and territorial issues by watering down its past wartime crimes, is putting Yoon's own act of statesmanship at risk of failure. A Gallup poll on March 8 and 9 found that about 60 percent of South Koreans opposed Yoon's decision to offer major concessions on legacy issues with 64 percent saying there was no rush to repair Seoul-Tokyo relations unless Japan changes its attitude.





President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee pose with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko during a formal dinner hosted by Kishida at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza District, March 16, 2023, in this photo released by Japan's Cabinet Public Relations Office. Reuters-Yonhap



The top point of concern is that given the growing furor over Yoon's efforts to improve South Korea-Japan relations, the sustainability of his efforts is now being called into question. This scenario is not good from Washington's standpoint, as Seoul-Tokyo ties will not last without a concerted effort by Japan to reciprocate, said intelligence officials.



"The reality of international politics is changing rapidly and does not wait for South Korea to resolve its historical grievances with Japan. While history remains and the world moves on, this was a wake-up call for the Yoon administration to put the ties with Japan back on track. Yoon must contend with a fierce domestic political backlash, which he seems to have anticipated," Lee Seong-hyon, a senior fellow at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, told The Korea Times.



Citing 80 percent support for Yoon's unconditional overture toward Japan from international politics experts in South Korea, Lee stressed that South Korea is not exempt from the ongoing complexity of the geopolitical landscape as evidenced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, intensifying U.S.-China competition and rising tension over the Taiwan Strait.



Tokyo should not fold its arms



These somewhat favorable South Korea-Japan relations serve as a ceiling for what could be expected in Washington-Seoul-Tokyo cooperation, so President Yoon's unilateral gesture of goodwill toward key legacy issues is raising the ceiling higher, according to U.S. officials.



But Yoon has to contend with some messy domestic politics as a result of Japan's restrained response to South Korean measures, said Scott A. Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Because political polarization in Seoul makes progress with Japan "potentially reversible" under a different South Korean administration, Snyder said, "It is in the best interest of all concerned to have a sustainable rather than a reversible solution to problems between Korea and Japan."



Lee assessed the heavy criticism of Yoon's controversial approach. "It is a fact that history has not been kind to those who were unable to adapt to the changing times. It is a bit early to judge the full impact of Yoon's detente with Japan, which has three components  Yoon's visit to Japan, Yoon's April meeting with Biden in Washington and Kishida's subsequent visit to Seoul. Once these have occurred, we can have a fuller picture of what President Yoon has accomplished or not."





In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, a U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber, top, flies in formation with South Korea's Air Force F-15K fighters over the South Korea Peninsula during a joint air drill in South Korea, March 3, 2023. AP-Yonhap
An image of the Grandfather Tree is seen on a nearby signboard at the site.



By Robert Neff





Trees are often in the background  ignored as merely props and decorations  in the image, but sometimes they are the story. Robert Neff Collection

On July 8, 1977, Mother Nature unleashed her fury upon the Anyang region with more than 46 centimeters of rain within a short period of time  most of the rain fell in only five hours. The devastation was overwhelming as mudslides and floods destroyed villages, wiped away over 100 bridges and killed and injured hundreds of people.



Very few places in the region escaped unharmed but no lives were lost in Sammak Village. Many people attribute this to the Grandfather and Grandmother Trees  the village's two arboreal guardians.



The Grandfather Tree, a zelkova, stands along one of the village's streams  a position it has occupied for more than 500 years. A picture on a nearby signboard shows the tree in its former glory  somewhat majestic with a canopy of leaves  but my visit in early February revealed only the crippled remains, propped up and surrounded by a small fence and modernization.



A couple of benches sit at its foot, a cool refuge for hikers during the heat of summer or a resting place for the elderly on their morning walks. Like others before me, I accepted the unspoken offer, sat down on one of the benches and gazed up at it. Surely, whispers of the past once rustled its leaves  whispers that were heard only by those it deemed worthy. Sadly, I did not pass the test and was left to my own imagination to recreate the events this great tree had witnessed.





The Grandfather Tree in February 2023 Robert Neff Collection



When it was just a sapling, King Jungjong had ascended the Korean throne (r. 1506-44) and instituted much-needed reforms to the peninsula. According to Homer Hulbert, Jungjong's first proclamation was along the lines of:



"The most important thing in any country is the common people. If the people prosper the country prospers, if they suffer the country suffers. The late King [Yeonsangun] was cruel and lawless, and so by the people's will I have become King. I have ordered the discontinuance of the civil customs that have prevailed and I shall do all in my power for the people. Let everyone rejoice."



He did away with houghing (hamstringing) thieves, limited the amount of torture that could be administered to witnesses and the accused, and prohibited "the custom of punishing by striking the legs with short, thick clubs  for this process was almost sure to shatter the bone."



He revitalized the military and suppressed an invasion from Tsushima in which "three thousand [of the invaders] were soon put hors de combat and many hundreds were chased into the sea where they were drowned."





The Grandmother Tree is on the left and her companion ginkgo tree is on the right. Robert Neff Collection



Hulbert's pen also tells us that in the king's eagerness to rebuild his military that he had a great copper image of Buddha brought to Seoul from Gyeongju and had it broken up and melted so as to make weapons for his soldiers. This last act angered many. The Buddhist image was believed to act as a fertility aid and many feared that the destruction of a religious article of such importance would reap misfortune upon the country. The king assured the people that he would be held solely responsible for the act.



Hulbert was quick to point out that "the reign of this king was marked by severe disturbances" including a severe earthquake that  with its aftershocks  lasted over "a period of four days and [caused] much loss of life and property."



Jungjong reigned for nearly four decades before passing from the mortal realm in 1544. In 1905, Homer gushed that Jungjong had lifted the kingdom "out of the mire into which it had been trodden by his predecessor, and brought to the highest point of morals, of literature and of general culture that it has ever reached."



This was the era in which the Grandfather Tree took root but as it grew the events on the peninsula changed rapidly. There were invasions, regime changes, natural disasters and  for a period  a loss of sovereignty. The tree weathered all of these events and seemingly sheltered all of those who dwelt around it from any harm.





Although the Grandmother Tree is dead, her image still conveys life  dancing in the strong mountain winds and reaching up for the elusive heat of the winter sun in February 2023. Robert Neff Collection
The chief executive of a cybersecurity company has urged Irish businesses to get an external check on their IT security, with many being forced to pay ransoms to retrieve their data.

Kevin OLoughlin, CEO of Nostra, said the risk of cyberattacks on Irish businesses and government agencies is at an all-time high.

Mr O'Loughlin told BreakingNews.ie that a lot of companies "have a view that they are in a good place and secure", when they actually have vulnerabilities.

He said relying on self-assessments of IT infrastructure is "never a good idea," adding: "What we're seeing is the more specific targeted attacks are happening, and we're seeing people being manipulated into allowing bad actors access to systems. That's the most common current threat."

A lot of companies try to deal with it internally, pay the ransom, that's certainly common.

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Mr O'Loughlin added: "A lot of companies try to deal with it internally, pay the ransom, that's certainly common. In some instances you have a choice to make, either I pay the ransom or close my business because if you've lost all of your data that can happen."

He explained that cyberattacks are constantly becoming more sophisticated, with hackers now first moving to erase a business' backup data.

"We're seeing lots of organisations saying 'well, we have a backup if we're attacked', but the reality now is they attack the backup first, and then they attack the system. Then you're left in a situation where you either pay the ransom or can you recover? You don't know what invoices have been sent out, who you've paid or has paid you, your payroll, it can be so damaging."

Mr O'Loughlin said hackers will often target companies at weekends.

"The most common time we're seeing for attacks is 6.30pm- 7pm on a Friday night. They get in and have a full weekend before anyone notices there is a problem, and they can do an awful lot of damage in that time.

"The bottom line is if you get the basics right, you're massively reducing the risk of an attack. The basics are having all of your patches for Windows and different systems up to date, an off-site backup, good antivirus, good firewalls."

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Nostra chief executive Kevin O'Loughlin has warned that a lot of Irish businesses are wide open to cyberattacks.

He said two-factor authentication is crucial for all accounts and password.

"Without two-factor authentication on an email account the risk of breaches is enormous, probably upwards of 5 -10 per cent of email breaches have been hacked without this in place, you often wouldn't even realise it had happened.

"They download a copy of your email and then sift through it to find information that can be used against you. An invoice, they might get on to your customers and say you've changed your bank details, if they get in at any level of organisation there is information they can sell online leading to a greater attack down the road.

"A lot of people are not even aware their data has been stolen."

Most people who suffer a significant breach were not aware the day before that they had a vulnerability.

He explained that a lot of the organisations targeting businesses in Ireland and elsewhere set up very professionally.

"You have to remember these are not people sitting in a bedroom, these are offices with 400 people spending all day every day trying to attack organisations with customer service to help you get your data back if they catch you, and you pay the ransom.

"These are proper, big organisations generating billions at the expense of others.

"Most people who suffer a significant breach were not aware the day before that they had a vulnerability. Often when we go in and look we find they were massively exposed, and we could have helped with that if we were there before."

He advised all business owners, no matter how secure they think their organisation is, to get an external check.

"An external assessment is key. It's not fair to ask your internal IT department to assess all the technology and point out the flaws. We're looking at this stuff every day, it's a different type of expertise, it's not fair to expect all IT workers to be cyber experts in an ever-changing world.

"Companies need to invest in training their staff in cybersecurity."
It's warned two Russian ships - currently in Irish waters - could try to destroy critical underwater cables connecting Europe and the US.

The Irish Air Corps and Naval Service are monitoring the Russian state-owned vessels, which are currently in waters off the south-west coast.

The two Russian flagged ships, the Umka and the Bakhtemir, caused alarm among defence officials late last week, The Irish Times reports.

The concern came after the ships were spotted engaging in unusual manoeuvrers off the Galway coast, in the vicinity of a newly opened subsea communications cable.

It comes as Russia takes over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this weekend.

Security analyst and independent senator Tom Clonan explained the significance of these subsea cables in an interview with Newstalk.

"So these are the fibre optic cables that basically connect the European Union to the United States. Something like one third of all of the data online, everything on the internet, goes through these cables... so they are a really critical piece of infrastructure and we have to be mindful of their presence."

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Yuriy Filatov, Russias ambassador to Ireland, has criticised reports around the ships.

He told The Irish Times: The purpose of this story seems to be to once again create an impression of suspicious Russian maritime activity, allegedly aimed at sabotaging subsea communication cables.
Hundreds of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Dublin to protest the end of the eviction ban.

The protest comes on the first day of the end of the no-fault eviction ban, which ended at midnight on March 31st.

The ban meant tenants could only be ejected over reasons like anti-social behaviour or damage to the property, but the Government has argued that extending the ban would decrease the available supply of housing.

People taking part in a cost of living demonstration outside Dail Eireann (Niall Carson/PA)

In a vote on Wednesday evening the Government defeated a Sinn Fein Bill which attempted to extend the eviction ban until the end of January 2024.

Carrying signs reading rent control now, the crowd of demonstrators outside Leinster House called for homes for people, not for profit.

Disability and homelessness campaigner Kayleigh McKevitt said the rises in cost of living and housing prices have had a serious impact on her mental well-being.

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Disability campaigner Kayleigh McKevitt speaking to the crowd taking part in a cost of living demonstration outside Dail Eireann, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

I knew from the get-go when I moved into independent living that I would have to be financially smart because as a person with a disability on disability allowance we dont get very much, she said.

Even being financially smart isnt cutting it any more.

I cant buy a full weekly shop because I cant afford it.

Ms McKevitt added: This Government is sending me further into depression.

She also questioned the Governments will to help the most vulnerable.

Ms McKevitt said the issue was driving her into depression (Niall Carson/PA)

When is this going to stop? Why does it have to keep falling on people who havent got the resources to change it for themselves? she asked.

Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly spoke at the protest.

We are here today because we know the reality  we know what is facing people who are terrified of having the only safety net taken away from them, she said.

Shame on this Government, shame on those independents who supported them, shame on every housing minister who has brought us to this point.

The housing crisis was described as one of the greatest political challenges by the Taoiseach (Niall Carson/PA)

Ms OReilly spoke of her own experience with homelessness in light of the ending of the eviction ban.

I dont know if anyone in the Government was ever evicted into homelessness, but I was, she said.

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I felt ashamed because I couldnt provide a house.

She continued: When I think about that now and I think about people who are facing eviction and facing homelessness, they should not feel any shame, the shame is not theirs, the shame is the Governments.

There are 11,742 people in emergency homeless accommodation as of last month, according to the Governments official tally.

In a speech in the Dail on Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the housing crisis is one of the greatest political challenges of our time.
The PSNI has extradited a 35-year-old man back to Northern Ireland from Bulgaria.

The man had fled to Bulgaria while on bail in relation to child sexual offences.

He was detained and conveyed using a European arrest warrant.

The PSNI said the arrest showed the benefit of co-operation between forces.

Thanks to combined efforts with the Bulgarian National Police Service and our International judicial partners, the wanted fugitive is now in our custody, a spokesperson said.

They added: This latest arrest shows how, by working together, there are no borders and no safe places to hide for those seeking to evade justice.

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Gardai in Mayo have arrested two men following the discovery of a suspected growhouse at a location in the Killala area of Co Mayo on Friday evening.

During the course of this search, suspected cannabis plants with an estimated value of 432,800 were seized by gardai.

All of the drugs seized will now undergo further analysis with Forensic Science Ireland.

Two men, one aged in his 30s and the other in his 20s, are currently detained at a Garda station in the west of the country under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

It comes after a 1.36 million cannabis seizure following searches in Dublin and Meath. Two men were arrested after the seizures on Friday.

Revenue, the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, as well as drug units in both counties were involved in the seizure.

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It is part of Revenue's ongoing investigations targeting organised crime groups and the importation, sale and supply of illegal drugs.

The men  who are in their 30s and 40s  are being held at a garda station in north Dublin.
Many Republicans in the US Congress have responded to Donald Trump's looming Tuesday arraignment by characterising the criminal justice system as corrupt, in accusations that parallel their earlier broadsides against the nation's elections after the former president's 2020 defeat.

Mr Trump and his allies in the House of Representatives and Senate have used rhetoric that echoed his false claims of widespread election fraud in the build-up to the deadly January 6th, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Critics warn that the present partisan rhetoric could shake public trust in courts by undermining the institutional legitimacy of the criminal justice system.

"Trump's indictment is the culmination of 6 years of the Democrats weaponizing law enforcement to target and persecute their political enemies. Dictatorships operate like this  the US is supposed to be different," tweeted Senator Ted Cruz, a hardline Republican who voted to overturn 2020 election results.

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Mr Trump says he is innocent of the expected New York charges - which revolve around hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Details of the charges are as yet unclear.

The charges revolve around payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Photo: JC Olivera/Getty Images

He says the investigation and three other probes involving his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House are all politically motivated.

Most Democrats have warned against challenging the legitimacy of the institutions of government in defence of Mr Trump, who routinely pushed up against the guard rails of democracy during his four years in the White House and was twice impeached by Congress.

"Political leaders ought to stand up for the American system of government," said Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, a member of the House Judiciary Committee who also served on the congressional investigation of the January 6th attack.

"Undercutting the system of government is a serious matter and a threat to our future," she said in an interview.

Mr Trump has been unrestrained in his rhetoric in recent weeks, calling for protests and warning of potential "death & destruction" if he were to be charged.

He used fiery language hours before his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6th, in a bid to overturn his election defeat. Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after that riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

Focus on Bragg

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Most Republicans have trained their invective on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accusing the prosecutor of mounting a politically motivated investigation aimed at preventing Mr Trump from being re-elected to the White House in 2024.

After Mr Trump on March 18th announced that he expected to be arrested in days, the Republican-controlled House launched its own probe of Mr Bragg's grand jury investigation, seeking documents and testimony. They have called Mr Bragg's move "an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority" and said the indictment followed years of the office searching for any basis on which to bring charges.

Democrats questioned whether Congress has the authority to investigate a state-level investigation, particularly one conducted under secretive grand jury rules.

Mr Bragg, a Democrat, on Friday warned Republican Representatives Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil, who are leading the probe, against attacking the criminal justice system.

"You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges," the Manhattan prosecutor wrote.

House Republicans continued to push back. Firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene said she planned to protest against Mr Trump's court appearance on Tuesday, while Brian Mast went further and told CNN he would not accept the outcome of a jury trial, saying "I don't have a trust that a jury will make a fair assessment of this".

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Not all Republicans were so quick to cast doubt on the courts.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson issued a statement that called for patience and underscored the legal principle that Mr Trump, as a defendant, should be presumed innocent.

"We need to wait on the facts and for our American system of justice to work like it does for thousands of Americans every day," said Mr Hutchinson, who is considering his own 2024 White House run.

Republicans have attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Historians including Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer said Republican statements about Mr Bragg and the criminal justice system follow a long-established partisan line.

World Stormy Daniels postpones Piers Morgan interview as... Read More

"The party has invested a great deal in attacking the legitimacy of institutions, which is why Trump fit well into the party and continues to be popular," Prof Zelizer said in an email.

Nicole Hemmer, director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, warned that Republican attacks on the US criminal justice system could ultimately have dire consequences for courts and juries.

"This is the end-game of the 'deep state' rhetoric that Donald Trump has deployed since 2016 to sow those seeds of distrust in institutions of accountability," Ms Hemmer said.

"We haven't yet seen a cataclysmic moment in this rejection of the courts. But we are starting to see the steps toward it, as we saw the steps toward Jan. 6 coming from a long way off."
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France sits in his car during a practice session ahead of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, April 1. AP-Yonhap



Taking a break in the paddock after watching Max Verstappen during a practice session Saturday at the Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne teenager Kaitlyn Bourne was loving her day at the track.



The 17-year-old Bourne, who was wearing a clear plastic poncho over a Red Bull sweater on a wintry day at Albert Park, is a massive fan of Australian Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is sitting out this season.



But Bourne, who comes from a motorsport-loving family and watches every Grand Prix race, hopes that one day she will have the chance to support a female F1 driver.



"It is still a very male dominated sport, so it would be good to bring in more females. I think it could happen," she said.



There has not been a woman driver in a Formula 1 race for more than 40 years. But with estimates suggesting that 40 percent of current Formula 1 fans are female, the motorsport industry is making a concerted effort to ensure that changes.



The highest-profile female driver in recent years has been Danica Patrick. The now-retired American is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing  her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman in an IndyCar Series race.



Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said this week in Melbourne he believes gender equality in the sport is inevitable.



"I think it is fantastic to see the amount of girls, females, that are showing interest in Formula One now and we're seeing it at all levels," he said. "I think the interest is growing. It is appealing to more women to get involved in the sport, whether that is from an engineering basis, or across all aspects of the organization.



"As the sport does become more accessible, and we are pushing to make it more accessible, I think that is something that will naturally happen anyway."



Horner was responding to reports that a team evenly divided between men and women from the cockpit to the executive offices was looking to enter F1 within two to three years.





Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of Netherlands races his car during a practice session ahead of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, March 31. AP-Yonhap



Former British American Racing founder Craig Pollock told CNN last week he hoped to debut "Formula Equal" from the 2025 or 2026 season.



FIA chief executive Mohammed ben Sulayem posted on social media that he had instructed his staff to consider launching an "expressions of interest" process for prospective teams.



Pollock said he had interest from financial backers for his proposal to field an 11th team.



"Our ambition is to deliver and build opportunities and pathways for women to get to the very top level inside motorsports," Pollock told CNN. "The concept and the idea is to try and build a Formula One team (that is) 50 percent male, 50 percent female, which is extremely hard to do if you have an existing Formula One team. It's a lot easier with a clean sheet of paper."



Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said the importance of equality in Formula One was clear to all participants.



"So anything we can do to increase diversity in F1, I think everyone here would welcome it," he said.



Bourne, whose interest in Formula One increased via the Netflix hit series Drive to Survive, said the introduction of the W Series in 2019 was a step in the right direction. That series was criticized for not including any female drivers, even from the W series.



"I think it is getting better. I know there is a women's series now. So that is good," she said.



Aaliya Ally, who is also from Melbourne, was attending the race with a friend.



"In terms of gender equality, I think it is good that there are more opportunities for women," she said. "But I hope that it continues to get better and better and that they keep expanding it." (AP)




Experts are concerned that misconceptions about the flu are hampering the uptake of vaccination among young children and other vulnerable groups as influenza cases begin to climb in Australia.

A significant flu season is being predicted for 2023. Last years influenza wave peaked earlier than usual  in June  and killed at least 308 Australians, aged between one and 106.

Young children are among those vulnerable to the flu. Credit: iStock

The numbers are starting to creep up on the east coast  Queensland, NSW and Victoria, said Professor Ian Barr, deputy director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza.

I think influenza will be back to its normal epidemic proportions. Whether thats above or below the average season remains to be seen.
For a start, according to Australian Border Force, the rampant black market cash trade leads to the leakage of an estimated $2.6 billion in import excise alone, plus missing income tax revenue and GST. It also sabotages efforts designed to encourage smokers to quit. The trade is a money-spinner for organised crime syndicates, which use the proceeds for other, often violent, drug-related offences, and worst of all it acts as a gateway for young Australians to take up vaping, which often leads to smoking cigarettes. After a Herculean struggle against the might of multinational big tobacco, a fight that took decades, Australia developed the best anti-tobacco regime in the world. Our progressive laws are globally the gold standard for cutting cancer and premature death from smoking. A suitcase full of cigarette packets seized last year by Australian Border Force. Credit: Australian Border Force All that progress is now at risk of being undone because of the snails pace in closing regulatory loopholes, leaving lingering complexity in what ought to be a simple task  licensing tobacco shops and closing illegal ones. The constitutional division between federal, state and local governments is part of the problem, along with the challenges of co-ordinating multi-agency taskforces often involving Border Force, state and federal police, health inspectors, the Australian Taxation Office and councils.

No single authority takes the lead, another example where every agency hopes others will accept responsibility, thus ensuring that nobody does. The state and federal laws need to be updated and harmonised. Loading As Cancer Council Victoria chief executive Todd Harper says: The announcement in December 2022 (the 10-year anniversary of plain packaging in Australia) of intended reform to several national tobacco control laws gives us hope the Albanese government will now do everything it can to eliminate remaining forms of tobacco promotion. The key words here are intended reform, which must rapidly turn into action. With Labor governments in power everywhere except Tasmania, there is the promising prospect of co-operation and the de-politicisation of this crucial public health issue. The questionable claims from the growing vaping industry that their products are a safe alternative to cigarettes falls away when the key elements of most readily available vapes are unknown and untested.

How can it be in the public interest to let people get addicted to vapes? How can it be anything but good policy to restrict the availability of something that causes so much harm? The public nuisance of vape exhalations leading to passive vaping is another cause of friction, and this week in Canada led to a fatal stabbing. Our legal cigarettes are the most expensive in the world. This is a deliberate and successful policy aimed at taxing the deadly product until it is out of the reach of all but the most determined smokers, while deterring young consumers from ever starting. Loading The ready availability of untaxed illegally imported cigarettes sold in packets with no health warnings frustrates those programs, and undermines the proven deterrent of the graphic shock photos and plain-packaging laws. Illegal tobacconists are a blight on our community and should be rubbed out now. There is no reason to slip back into a society where these harmful products get their claws into young Australians, turning them into addicts for life. Major crime syndicates need to be disrupted, and big tobacco and their expensive lobbyists doing the rounds of state and federal parliaments, with spurious arguments that vaping is harmless, should be politely shown the door.
The head of one of the major campaigns against the Voice, Warren Mundine, is being urged by some conservatives in the Liberal Party to replace the late Jim Molan in the Senate amid a factional fight over the spot.

The emergence of Mundine as a potential candidate for the partys Right faction may complicate former NSW transport minister and treasurer Andrew Constances tilt for the Senate vacancy.

Warren Mundines name has been put forward by some conservatives in the party. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A number of Liberal Moderates including Constance and former federal MP Fiona Scott want the spot, even though the vacancy would ordinarily go to the Right.

Constance is putting his name forward under a possible deal which would see him give up the spot in 18 months and run for the lower house seat of Gilmore for a second time.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The Legalise Cannabis Australia Party is shedding its reputation of being a collective of nutty hippies, stoners and cannabis convicts. After decades of barely making waves as a federal party, its seen a groundswell of support in state elections, scoring a seat in Western Australia and two in Victoria. Now, the NSW party is on track to win an upper house seat. It has an eclectic mix of members. Its headquartered in Nimbin, where tourists have to be directed out of the partys building to buy their black-market marijuana. Its federal president Michael Balderstone is a scraggly-bearded daily pot smoker. Its NSW candidates range from those who advocate for people to grow their own cannabis to prevent much of the ill health that plagues society today, to former NSW Police officers. Jeremy Buckingham (centre) grew up off the grid in Tasmania, wearing hemp, smoking pot and playing in a heavy metal rock band. But since nominating former Greens member Jeremy Buckingham as its lead candidate for the NSW upper house, the party has gained an air of legitimacy  despite his dramatic exit from the Greens following a sexual harassment allegation. One in eight residents voted for the party in some regions of NSW. The party only fielded candidates for the upper house. Buckinghams alternative upbringing in Tasmania made him a good fit for the party but to achieve its goals, he is likely to form some unexpected alliances  even with Pauline Hansons One Nation party, if required  to get support. Legalise Cannabis is a single-issue party, aiming to legalise cannabis, introduce a moratorium on arrests of cannabis consumers, and reform drug driving laws so impairment, not presence, is tested. But for nearly 30 years, it achieved none of its goals. It was first formed in 1993 when activist Nigel Quinlan legally changed his surname to Freemarijuana, and ran for the Senate in Queensland in 1996. Hes since reverted to his original name. The party he founded became the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party in 2008 and rebranded to become Legalise Cannabis in 2021.

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Years of failure have jaded Quinlan, and hes not hopeful the party will achieve anything even now  especially in Queensland. Australia is a tiny little vacuum  of prohibitionists, he said. I wish legalisation was going to happen, but its not. Yet things have changed following the legalisation of prescription cannabis in 2016. Australians are now changing their attitudes to the plant, with a 2019 National Drug Household Survey finding 41 per cent of Australians support the legalisation of recreational pot, with just 37 per cent opposing it. Legalise Cannabis parties have emerged in every state and territory, acting in an unofficial loose federation with the national party, sharing staff and resources. In the federal election, it was one of the last parties to be eliminated. But recruiting party members has been notoriously difficult, federal party president and NSW committee member Balderstone said. To register in NSW for the March state election, the party needed to be established for a year with a minimum of 750 members. People agree with the cause but once they receive mail at their house from the electoral commission asking them to confirm theyre a member of the Legalise Cannabis Party, they go underwater. Balderstone said prospective members often backed out once they had to declare their membership officially. Credit:Paul Harris

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But the party met the requirements and registered. Then members hit the regions, spruiking the hemp and cannabis industry as a job creator and a solution to deforestation, with hemp replacing paper. NSW party secretary Craig Ellis  who also worked as the secretary for the Victoria party  said it was truly a grassroots campaign. We did it on the smell of an oily rag, he said. The only advertising they ran was a few Facebook ads, and they didnt hand out how to vote cards in electorates. Even then, it was a battle: Facebook kept rejecting the partys ads, later reinstating them after being contacted by the Herald. It also found volunteers in an unexpected place after being erroneously approved as a voluntary work organisation for Centrelink recipients to fulfil mutual obligations  which Buckingham said was a regrettable move and one that shouldnt have been allowed in the first place. Services Australia has launched an investigation into how a political party could be added to the list of accepted bodies. NSW party secretary Craig Ellis also worked for the partys campaign in the Victorian election. Credit:Jessica Hromas Shellharbour candidate Mia Willmott, who has received 4 per cent of the vote so far, said people have been more and more receptive to the partys objectives. It was magical. Speaking to people over the years has never been easier. Loading The party has not taken a hard stand on COVID vaccinations. Last year, WA MP Sophia Moermond was suspended from parliament after refusing to provide proof she had been triple vaccinated against COVID-19. Balderstone rejected the suggestion the party was anti-vaccination and stressed it supported freedom of choice. Were definitely not anti-vax, but were not about being forced to have stuff either, he said.

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Finding a lead candidate for the party was another challenge. According to Balderstone, there were not many members who were up for the job. I dont want to do it, he said. I couldnt get in there and put on a suit every day. So, when Buckingham emerged, eager to run, Legalise Cannabis snatched him up. The party is close to Buckinghams roots: He grew up in off-the-grid, often unpowered farmhouses across Tasmania, wearing raw hemp, and milking goats and cows. Joni Mitchell and Jethro Tull albums crackled from the record player. His first given name was Elian Nova, but his parents changed it while to Jeremy while he was still young. His brothers name is Tambo. As a bong-smoking adolescent, he played in a heavy rock band, rehearsing in wood-panelled homes, his head-banging band members sporting Metallica tees and oversized denim shirts. He tried to turn his wild, curly hair into dreadlocks but, after starting to go bald in his 20s, abandoned the idea. Jeremy Buckingham quit the Greens in a blaze of glory. He got into politics early, joining Tasmanias Hemp for Paper Consortium party in the 90s, before being elected to Orange City Council in 2004 and as a member of the NSW Legislative Council for The Greens in 2011. But after seven years he was asked to remove himself from the partys ticket for the next election: An allegation that he had inappropriately touched a former party aide during his first year in office emerged, with Greens MP Jenny Leong calling for his resignation in 2018. Buckingham denied the allegations, and an independent investigation commissioned by the Greens found insufficient evidence to substantiate the complaint.

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He quit the party and left in a blaze of glory, tearing up a poster of the Greens logo and accusing the party of being toxic. After failing to get elected as a self-described real Green independent, Buckingham joined the Legalise Cannabis Australia party last year. But the decision to make Buckingham the lead candidate wasnt simple. He had quite a bit of media because he had been so controversial  but his knowledge of parliament and the parliamentary process was invaluable. And he knows cannabis pretty well, Balderstone said. The party committee met to make sure the sexual harassment allegations were behind him and to make sure Buckingham wasnt carrying any animosity towards the Greens. It was a difficult choice in many ways, but Im really happy, Balderstone said. Rob Keldoulis was the top donor to the teals, but also backed the Legalise Cannabis Party. Credit:Steven Siewart It turned out to be the correct decision for the party. With help from fundraising experts, Buckingham secured cash from prominent donors including the son of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, Alex Turnbull; Rob Keldoulis  who also backs the teals and owns a medicinal cannabis farm south of Launceston  and philanthropists Sue and John McKinnon. Despite the funding injections, the party campaigned with under 3000 members and less than $40,000. The party has seen a groundswell of support, scoring 13 per cent of the vote in Cessnock, with one in 10 residents voting for them in Myall Lakes. For Ellis, it was a huge win: We werent surprised that weve got a good vote, but were surprised at the strength, the size of the vote in some of those seats, he said.

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Labor will lead NSW with a minority government after the tallying of thousands of postal votes on Saturday confirmed two key seats had been retained by the Liberals.

By early Saturday afternoon, the counting of ballots received by mail in Terrigal, on the Central Coast, and Holsworthy, in Sydneys south-west, confirmed both seats would remain Liberal held, meaning Premier Chris Minns government cannot win the 47 seats required for a majority.

Premier Chris Minns is set to govern with a minority, after additional vote tallying dashed Labors chances in two seats. Credit: Edwina Pickles

By Saturday afternoon, seven days after polls closed in last weeks state election, Labor had won 45 seats, the Coalition had 35 seats (24 Liberal and 11 National), the Greens had retained its three seats and nine electorates had voted for independent candidates.

Just one electorate remained in doubt: the northern Sydney seat of Ryde where the local Liberal member, former customer service minister Victor Dominello, has retired.
A mid-century Brighton home sold for $3,205,000 on Saturday, shortly after it was passed in at auction on a bid of $3.15 million.

Interested buyers were reluctant to kickstart the bidding for the three-bedroom house at 7 Ballara Court, only taking part after a vendor bid of $3 million was placed.

Two bidders made offers on the 591-square-metre block, pushing the price to $3.15 million, at which the property was passed in. That was the same price that records show the home last traded for in November 2020.

It was purchased by one of the bidders, a local family who offered an extra $55,000, in post-auction negotiations.
Little Rock, Arkansas: A monster storm system has torn through the south and midwest of the United States, spawning tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centres, overturned vehicles and uprooted trees, and making people race for shelter.

The town of Wynne in eastern Arkansas was devastated, and officials reported destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris as unrelenting tornadoes kept moving east into the evening on Friday (US time). Police in Covington, Tennessee, reported downed power lines and toppled trees.

Homes are damaged after a tornado swept through Coralville, Iowa, on Friday. Credit: AP

At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in north-eastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris.

Authorities said a theatre roof collapsed on people attending a heavy metal concert during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one person and injuring 28.


Byjus could not be reached for comment related to this development and a query to BlackRock remained unanswered. US investors reduced the value of their holding in Byjus and Swiggy last year. US-based asset manager BlackRock has reportedly reduced the valuation of the edtech giant Byjus by about 50 per cent to $11.5 billion. This is a sharp decrease from the $22 billion at which the Bengaluru-based edtech decacorn was last valued in 2022, according to the filings accessed by tech-focused media platform The Arc. BlackRock has been marking down the valuation of Byjus since June last year.



Byjus posted losses of Rs 4,588 crore in FY21, 19 times more than the preceding year, according to the latest available financial report. Its acquisition of kids' coding firm WhiteHat Jr reportedly contributed 26.73 per cent to the total loss. Byjus, valued at $22 billion, was targeting to be profitable by March this year. BlackRock joined Byjus cap table at a $12-billion valuation in 2020. Its stake is under 1 per cent. In April 2022, BlackRock was valuing the shares of Byjus at about $4,660 per unit. This translated into a company valuation of about $22 billion. However, BlackRock marked down the value of its shares in Byjus to $2,400 per share at the end of December 2022.



Earlier this year Byjus reportedly sought more time from lenders to renegotiate an agreement governing a $1.2 billion loan that is in breach of covenants, according to people familiar with the matter. Last year in December, a group of creditors of Byjus told the edtech giant to liquidate its assets in the US worth about $500-800 million to repay a part of a $1.2-billion loan if the firm is not able to provide the money from its cash reserves, according to sources in the know. In February, Byjus reportedly handed pink slips to about 1,000 employees in a fresh round of layoffs, although sources in the company said the move was part of the optimisation strategy that the edtech firm had announced last year that included sacking 2,500 workers.

Also Read Costs near Rs 10K crore, Swiggy losses widen 2x to Rs 3.6K crore Swiggy lays off 380 employees, CEO says 'very difficult decision': Report Byju's allegedly buying contacts of children, threatening parents: NCPCR Swiggy announces sexual harassment policy for women delivery executives Swiggy to give pink slips to over 250 employees in December: Report Digital transformation key driver of every industry, says Nykaa CEO EVs account for 4.4% of 2-wheeler registrations, shows VAHAN data JSW Neo Energy bags 300 MW pumped hydro storage project in Karnataka Waaree Renewable Technologies bags 1 MW green hydrogen project in Maha Orient Electric MD & CEO Rakesh Khanna resigns, Rajan Gupta to take over



Earlier this year, Swiggy laid off 380 employees from its workforce of 6,000, citing challenging macroeconomic conditions and a slowdown in growth of its food delivery business. In another development, US investor Invesco has reportedly marked down its investment in food delivery giant Swiggy to 23 per cent. In January 2022, Swiggy raised $700 million in Invesco-led new funding, which made the outfit a decacorn, almost doubling its valuation to $10.7 billion.

Swiggy, in results for the previous financial year, reported that its losses widened 2.24 times to Rs 3,628.9 crore in FY22, from Rs 1,616.9 crore in FY21, fuelled by a 227 per cent rise in costs. Expenses came in at Rs 9,748.7 crore in FY22, compared to Rs 4,292.8 crore the year before. This despite Swiggy reporting revenue of Rs 5,704.9 crore, a little over a twofold jump from the previous financial year.
Realty firm Godrej Properties has acquired a 4-acre land parcel in Pune to build a luxury housing project with an estimated revenue potential of Rs 1,000 crore.

In a regulatory filing on Saturday, Godrej Properties informed that it has acquired around 4-acre land parcel near Korgaon Park in Pune.

The development on this land will primarily be a luxury housing project.

"The project will have a developable potential of approximately 7.5 lakh square feet with an estimated revenue potential of approximately Rs 1,000 crore," the company said.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.

Gaurav Pandey, the MD and CEO of Godrej Properties, said the demand for luxury homes has remained strong over the past few years.

Also Read Post pandemic pent-up demand surge, realty space may face global headwinds Godrej Properties buys 62-acre land in Kurukshetra for residential plots Godrej Properties eyes Rs 3,000 cr sales revenue from new land in Gurugram Godrej Properties buys 9-acres of land in Gurugram to build Rs 2.5k cr proj Godrej Properties buys 18.6 acres land in M'bai; eyes Rs 7Kcr sales revenue Weekend Bites: Google, Sebi, fraud accounts, and a new Space Odyssey BlackRock slashes edtech giant Byju's valuation by about 50% to $11.5 bn Digital transformation key driver of every industry, says Nykaa CEO EVs account for 4.4% of 2-wheeler registrations, shows VAHAN data JSW Neo Energy bags 300 MW pumped hydro storage project in Karnataka

"This will be our first luxury development in the city...," he said.

Godrej Properties, the real estate arm of Godrej Group, is one of the leading real estate developers in the country.

It mainly focuses on development of housing projects in four key cities -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune and Bengaluru.

The company has been acquiring land parcels through outright purchases and joint development agreements with landowners.

This is part of its strategy to expand business and tap rise in demand for residential properties especially after the second wave of the COVID pandemic that hit India during April-June 2021.
Realty startup Shubhashish Homes is investing around Rs 200 crore to develop its first housing project at Jaipur, in Rajasthan.

Shubhashish Group, founded by Chairman J K Jajoo, is based out of Jaipur and is into wealth management, packaging, logistics and real estate businesses.

The company, which launched its first group housing project in 2020, sold apartments worth Rs 96 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal, up 70 per cent from the previous year, Shubhashish Homes said in a statement.

"We are currently developing our first project, spread over 9.3 acre. We are constructing 400 units over four phases and the total project cost is about Rs 200 crore," said Mohit Jajoo, Executive Director and CEO, Shubhashish Group.

Shubhashish Homes has completed the first phase and will deliver the second phase in the next two months.

The company has spent Rs 100 crore so far on this mid-income housing project 'Shubhashish Geeta' and the remaining Rs 100 crore will be invested in the next three years, he said.

Also Read Post pandemic pent-up demand surge, realty space may face global headwinds As property market hits a slump in China, are investors turning to India? Property consultant Anarock aims 37% revenue growth in FY23 to Rs 550 cr Real estate sector gets $32 bn equity capital in 2018-2022, says CBRE Credai urges RBI not to hike repo rates, rise may hit housing sales WhatsApp bans record over 4.5 million bad accounts in India in February Twitter bans record over 680,000 accounts in India amid major overhaul TVS Motor Company records increase in March sales by 3% to 317,152 units Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd completes acquisition of Karaikkal Port Amul increases milk prices by Rs 2 per litre in state of Gujarat

The entire project will be completed by early 2026.

The company has already sold nearly 300 units in this project in a price range of Rs 45 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore per unit.

Mohit Jajoo said the company has acquired a 2.3-acre land parcel in Jaipur to launch its second housing project later this year.

The company is in talks to buy more land parcels, he added.
A 63-year-old Swedish national was arrested for allegedly molesting a crew member onboard an IndiGo flight, a Mumbai police official said on Saturday.

Accused Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg was allegedly in an inebriated state when the incident took place on Thursday onboard the IndiGo 6E-1052 Bangkok-Mumbai flight, the Sahar police station official said.

He is accused of touching a crew member inappropriately while making an in-flight food purchase and also assaulted a co-passenger who intervened, the official said.

Westberg was handed over to Mumbai police when the flight landed in the metropolis and was booked under Indian Penal Code section 354 (molestation) and other provisions of Aircraft Act, the police official said.

He was released on bail by the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court on Friday, the official added.

Westberg is the eighth airline passenger arrested in India in the past three months for alleged unruly behaviour.

Also Read IndiGo Q3: Focus on international destinations lifts outlook, say analysts How did Air India beat Indigo? IndiGo Q2 loss widens by 10% due to rupee depreciation, high fuel prices Deogarh-bound IndiGo flight from Delhi diverted to Lucknow over bomb threat IndiGo passenger has heated argument with crew member, DGCA launches probe Royal Enfield records increase in total sales by 7% at 72,235 units in Mar Shubhashish Homes investing Rs 200cr on first housing project in Jaipur WhatsApp bans record over 4.5 million bad accounts in India in February Twitter bans record over 680,000 accounts in India amid major overhaul TVS Motor Company records increase in March sales by 3% to 317,152 units

On March 23, two men were arrested for drinking alcohol, hurling abuses at co-passengers and crew on board a Dubai-Mumbai IndiGo flight, official added.




Google vs CCI is a saga that has been running for a while, with both sides taking tough positions ever so often. Google, for instance, has said the CCI's orders can strike a blow at digital adoption in India. However, in a bit of relief to Google, the NCLAT reversed four directives that could have led to uninstalling of pre-installed apps on Android devices and set aside the CCIs directives that would have forced Google to allow individual app store developers to distribute their stuff through Google Play Store.





In other news



Sebi, the stock markets regulator, approved far-reaching changes in the governance of mutual funds, brokerages, and alternative investment funds, including the creation of a Rs 33,000 crore backstop facility for debt MFs to prevent contagion from a market dislocation event. It extended the deadline for updating the choice of nomination by existing investors holding trading and demat accounts to September 30 from March 31. And it rectified the penalty on Samir Jain, vice-chairman and managing director of Bennett, Coleman & Co, which owns The Times of India and The Economic Times, his wife Meera, and four others to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 1 crore in a matter of violation of minimum public shareholding norms in PNB Finance and Industries. The competition watchdog, for its part, was reported as saying that Google had used its money-spinning search engine as the castle and the rest of the other apps to play the defensive role of moat, and that this  castle and moat  strategy was nothing but data hegemony, which meant a big market player would get bigger and bigger while a small entrant struggled to attain a critical mass of users and user data. The CCI went to the extent of saying that companies that did not sign Googles contracts to use Android and developed their own version of the operating system became extinct.



India unveiled its much-anticipated foreign trade policy on Friday with the objective of raising the country's outward shipments to $2 trillion by 2030. The Supreme Court said borrowers should be allowed to be heard before a bank declared their account fraudulent. The Reserve Bank of India had issued a master circular in 2016 that allowed banks to classify accounts of wilful defaulters as fraudulent without hearing them.

Also Read NCLAT upholds Competition Commission's Rs 1,337 crore penalty on Google NCLAT directs Google to pay 10% of Rs 1,337 crore penalty imposed by CCI NCLAT declines stay on CCI's Rs 936 cr Google penalty, asks firm to pay 10% Google dials NCLAT against CCI's Android order, Rs 1,337-crore fine Google Bard: What we know so far about generative AI chatbot in the works Digital transformation key driver of every industry, says Nykaa CEO EVs account for 4.4% of 2-wheeler registrations, shows VAHAN data JSW Neo Energy bags 300 MW pumped hydro storage project in Karnataka Waaree Renewable Technologies bags 1 MW green hydrogen project in Maha Orient Electric MD & CEO Rakesh Khanna resigns, Rajan Gupta to take over

Tech that: Word from the world of technology and start-ups



Reports say OYO is reducing the shares it aims to sell in a stock market debut by about two-thirds, an effort by its founder to get the sale done even after tech valuations plunged. Earlier this year, Sebi had asked Oravel Stays Ltd, OYOs parent, to refile the draft IPO papers with updates.



Watch it: From our hot audio-visual serving

In more bad news coming out of EdTech, Unacademy announced another round of job cuts  the fourth in the last one year  trimming 12 per cent of its workforce, or 380 employees, in its bid to meet the goals in current realities".





What is Suveen obsessing over these days?

It is 55 years since HAL 9000, a computer with a human-like personality, developed a mind of its own and tried to kill the crew aboard a spacecraft bound for Jupiter. That was in Stanley Kubricks science fiction masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Today is the beginning of a new financial year, with which a new personal finance regime will dawn on us. The bevy of tax changes announced in this years budget kick in today. The default tax regime has changed and taxation of mutual funds and market-linked debentures has changed as well. Brace up for it with The Morning Show



For his troubles, he was first placed on administrative leave for violating Googles confidentiality code. Later, his services were terminated.

Last June, Blake Lemoine became famous. He was in Googles Responsible AI organization and part of tests to see if artificial intelligence used discriminatory or hate speech. He made headlines for his claim that during an interface with LaMDA, Googles AI chatbot generator, during which Lemoine was typing about religion, he found the chatbot talking about its rights. He reported other, probably more intense, chats with the chatbot and presented what he thought was evidence that LaMDA was sentient. He thought the technology was amazing.



The call comes in the wake of AI projects in the recent months that do a good job of imitating human work  some say better  in tasks such as writing emails and articles. Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable, said the open letter published on the Future of Life Institute website.

This week, 1,100 people in the global technology industry signed a petition calling for labs to stop training powerful AI systems for at least six months to allow for the development of shared safety protocols.

Make of it what you will.

The signatories to the letter include Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, both of them known pushers of technological boundaries.

Have a fun weekend and a productive week ahead. This is Suveen Sinha, Chief Content Editor, Business Standard, signing off. See you next Saturday. Please send comments, news, or views about anything  be it fraud accounts or murderous robots -- to suveen.sinha@bsmail.in.

Good morning, BS readers!Welcome to Weekend Bites. The markets regulator went into overdrive this week, India finally announced its trade policy, there was a rethink on fraud bank accounts, and old fears related to artificial intelligence resonated among boundary-pushers. But first up comes Google. Tuck in!It is a search that is not throwing up all the desired results for Google. On Wednesday, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal upheld the Competition Commission of Indias penalty of Rs 1,338 crore on the search giant for misusing its dominant position in Android mobile devices.
By Dharamraj Dhutia

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The spread between the yields of Indian state and central government bonds is likely to widen gradually in the new financial year, as state bond supply is expected to remain elevated, analysts said.

India's union government is set to borrow a record 15.43 trillion rupees ($187.75 billion) in the financial year starting April 1, according to market participants. States' borrowing will also be at a record, they added.

Citi expects states to borrow around 8.7 trillion rupees, and the crowding out is likely to prompt investors to demand higher returns for state bonds, traders said.

Others such as ICICI Securities Primary Dealership expect states to raise 8.1 trillion rupees through bonds.

Also Read Bond yields track US peers on Federal Reserve interest rate hike Bond yields ease as MPC minutes hint at slower interest rate hikes Indices log best 1-day gains in five weeks, soar 2.3% as bond yields cool Government bond yields little changed as traders await fresh triggers Benchmark yield at near 4-month high on spike in US yields, oil prices G20 Sherpa's meeting: Negotiations to begin on leaders' statement New foreign trade policy seeks to spur rupee trade, e-com exports Govt's new foreign trade policy set to boost domestic manufacturing Govt falls short of disinvestment target, posts stronger dividend receipts Rupee weakens 7.8% against US dollar in FY23, most in three years

GRAPHIC: Borrowing by Indian states https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-MARKETS/znvnblaojvl/chart.png

"The spread of state debt over government bonds will widen and could rise broadly to 60 to 70 basis points (bps) for the 10-year and above segment. But the movement may be gradual, playing out after the first quarter of the next fiscal," said Pankaj Pathak, fixed income fund manager at Quantum Asset Management.

Indian states sold 10-year bonds at a spread of over 40 bps earlier this week amid heavy supply, but the spread remained in the 30-35 bps range for most of the second half.

Even though states' borrowing rose in March, they undershot the budgeted announcement by a large margin for the full year, as the union government front-loaded the tax funds to be devolved to the states.

"The central government was very proactive in managing state finances this year, but there is a risk the centre's revenues may be lower next year. It is likely to be conservative in the front-loaded devolution," said Abhishek Upadhyay, senior economist at ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.

"So FY24's actual borrowing may not undershoot the budget by a very large margin."

Indian states raised 7.58 trillion rupees this year, after raising 7.02 trillion rupees in fiscal 2022 and 7.99 trillion rupees in fiscal 2021, a year marred by the coronavirus pandemic.

($1 = 82.1850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has cancelled his tour of Sasaram in Bihar where prohibitory orders are in place following communal tension sparked off during Ram Navami festivities, state BJP chief Samrat Choudhary said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference at the party's state headquarters here, Choudhary said Shah, who will be reaching Patna on Saturday evening, will address party workers in Nawada Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday as per schedule, even as he squarely blamed the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar for the cancellation of the function at Sasaram, organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of Emperor Asoka.

"It is clear that Nitish Kumar is not in control of the administration. Even Bihar Sharif, which falls in the chief minister's home district of Nalanda, is in turmoil. So are many other parts of the state," alleged Choudhary.

Union Home Minister of State Nityanand Rai had approached the state government with the offer of providing additional forces as per requirement but the entire administrative machinery seems to be in a state of sleep, he fumed.

"The imposition of Section 144 of CrPC in Sasaram is a clear indication that no large gatherings can take place. Hence, the honourable Home Minister has cancelled his visit to the town for Samrat Ashok's birth anniversary celebrations," said the state BJP president, whose party was last year dumped by Kumar, resulting in loss of power in Bihar.

Widely regarded as the BJP's principal strategist, Shah has been visiting Bihar with a greater frequency than before since it lost power and found itself pitted against the Mahagathbandhan, a multi-party formation which Kumar has joined.

Also Read More initiatives on anvil to boost steel sector in 2023: Union Minister PLI scheme qualifiers, steel ministry to ink pacts for investment proposals JSPL to invest Rs 7,930 crore under PLI scheme for steel: MD Bimlendra Jha RINL supplies 1,800 tonnes of structural steel for AMNS expansion project Agreements with 26 cos signed under PLI scheme for specialty steel: Scindia "Pre-planned," claims BJP national secy on 'attack' in Andhra's Amravati Rajasthan govt to move SC against acquittal of 2008 Jaipur blasts accused Shah to arrive in Patna today for two-day visit to address rallies Over 20 arrested in clash between two groups in Bihar on Ram Navami Communal violence on table for BJP with 2024 polls nearing, alleges Sibal

The BJP-led NDA, which had bagged all but one of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, faces an uphill task next year with Kumar's JD(U) in the opponents' camp and another valuable ally, Ram Vilas Paswan, dead and his LJP fractured.

Upon his arrival in the state capital on Saturday evening, Shah is expected to put up at a city hotel and hold parleys with party office bearers. The Home Minister may also hold a meeting with administrative officials to get a feel of the situation on the ground.

Tight security arrangements are in place for the tour and besides security personnel, drones have been pressed into service at places Shah is expected to visit before boarding his return flight on Sunday afternoon.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and challenged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief to speak against him in Assam that 'Himanta Biswa Sarma is corrupt'.

Reportedly, CM Kejriwal in Delhi Assembly had said that there are cases against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma in other states.

"Yet I haven't filed any defamation case. Is there any case against me in any part of the country? I want to file a defamation case, but Arvind Kejriwal like a coward spoke inside the assembly. So let him come to Assam on April 2 and say that, there is a case against Himanta Biswa Sarma, I will sue him rightly," Sarma said.

Speak against me a single word that I am corrupt and next day I am going to file a defamation case, the same thing I have done against Manish Sisodia," CM Sarma said.

The Assam Chief Minister said that there is no case against him in any part of the country.

"You (Arvind Kejriwal) should not speak against somebody in Delhi assembly where you know I am not there to defend. So what is the case against me? So somebody has misled all the people that there is some case against me. In entire India, there is no case against me, except for some cases filed by Congress people in various courts" he added.

Also Read Himanta Biswa Sarma threatens to lodge defamation suit against Kejriwal Aim of BJP-led Centre is to defame Kejriwal, AAP leaders: Sanjay Singh Kejriwal promises old pension scheme by Jan 31 ahead of Gujarat polls We are here to overthrow 40% commission govt: Kejriwal in Karnataka Gujarat polls: Kejriwal, Mann and Gehlot to begin their 3-day state visit Democracy country is in danger: Rajasthan CM over Rahul's disqualification PM Modi to flag off Vande Bharat Express, attend conference in Bhopal today Commercial LPG cylinder prices slashed by Rs 91.50 in National Capital LIVE: Commercial LPG cylinder prices slashed by Rs 91.50 in Delhi Centre's approval required to introduce NRC in Manipur: CM Biren Singh

CM Kejriwal along with his Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann is scheduled to attend their first political rally in Assam on April 2.
The BJP is eying a rare social coalition including 'upper' castes and a majority of backward classes in Bihar to power its bid to vanquish in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the formidable RJD-JD(U) alliance, which had inflicted a crushing defeat on it in the 2015 assembly elections.

While Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) may be the strongest party in the Bihar ruling alliance, the BJP believes that its road to success lies in the dismantlement of the support base of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), which has long enjoyed the backing of a collection of non-Yadav backward castes and some Dalit communities.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Sunday attend programmes to mark the birth anniversary of the great Maurya emperor Ashoka.

On his fourth visit to Bihar in the last seven months, Shah's programmes are seen as part of the BJP's ambitious drive to woo the numerically strong Kushwaha (Koeri) community, which believes that the emperor came from their stock.

Believed to be around 7-8 per cent of the state's population -- the second highest after the Yadavs -- the backward caste has often backed Kumar in the polls.

By appointing Samrat Choudhary, a Kushwaha, as its state unit president, the BJP has shown its intent to go all out to court the community.

Also Read No more Deputy CM, new faces likely from RJD, Congress: Nitish Kumar Bihar CM Nitish Kumar frowns upon CBI charge sheet against Lalu Yadav RJD MLA's remark against Bihar CM unacceptable, says Tejashwi Yadav 'Shameful': Prasad on Nitish's disapproval of CBI chargesheet against Lalu Fodder scam: SC rejects CBI's plea against bail of RJD supremo Lalu Yadav K'taka polls: BJP leadership meet to decide candidates, Cong okays 2nd list Gujarat Cong to organise more than 300 sammelans, invites Rahul Gandhi People are stunned by Gujarat HC order on PM Modi's degree: Arvind Kejriwal Most parts of India to witness above-normal temperatures from Apr-Jun: IMD After wet March, IMD predicts drier April for wheat growing northern India

Choudhary said the Bihar chief minister has done nothing for the community and only "betrayed" it, asserting that the BJP will get support from various communities in the state, which sends 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

With both the Yadavs and the Kurmis, the caste Kumar comes from, having had their chief ministers, there is a view among the Kushwahas that it is their turn now. The BJP may exploit this to its advantage, party leaders said.

Nagmani, a veteran Bihar politician and a bitter critic of the RJD-JD(U) leadership, said people are fed up by the over-three-decade rule of "Lalu-Nitish". The Yadavs and the Kurmis have had their share in power but the Kushwahas have been left behind, he said. He also hails from the Kushwaha community.

Besides working on getting the Kushwahas' support, the BJP is working on a wider plan to expand its support base among many numerically smaller castes -- clubbed under the extremely backward class (EBC) -- that together counts a lot in swinging the balance of elections.

That is why, a BJP leader noted, the party nominated Shambhu Sharan Patel to the Rajya Sabha last year. Patel enjoyed little recognition within the party's own organisation but the fact that he came from the Dhanuk caste, a part of the EBC, tilted the scale in his favour.

The BJP's perceived outreach to parties such as the Vikassheel Insaan Party headed by Mukesh Sahani, who claims to represent numerous subcastes that traditionally worked as boatmen, are seen as part of this effort.

It has also maintained cordial ties with Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan who enjoys traction among the Paswans, the most populous Dalit community in the state.

The BJP is likely to continue with its political outreach to such communities to ensure that its support base is strong enough to ensure that factors like Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal makes maximum impact in the state, as often seen in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

In Uttar Pradesh, it has succeeded in stitching together a rainbow social combination of 'upper' castes, a majority of backward communities and a large chunk of Dalits to quell any united opposition challenge, as seen in the 2019 polls when the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party joined hands.

In Bihar, the backward castes have been traditionally with "Mandal" parties of socialist stock, a pattern the BJP is trying hard to break for the coming polls.

Just as in 2014, the BJP is likely to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls largely on its own in the state with alliance with relatively smaller parties.

However, unlike in 2014, the RJD and the JD(U) are set to be together this time, along with the Left parties and the Congress.

The BJP-led NDA had won 31 of the state's 40 seats in 2014 with nearly 39 per cent of the votes. Political watchers believe that a similar sweep next year will require the addition of more votes against a combined opposition.
Uttarakhand Congress has readied a nearly month-long plan starting April to protest against the ongoing "murder of democracy" and a "conspiracy" to wipe out the opposition by framing its leaders who speak against the BJP-led government, a party member said on Saturday.

Describing Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as an MP and the eviction notice to him to vacate his official bungalow as part of the alleged conspiracy, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said a protest in different modes will be carried out in the state throughout the month of April against the "murder of democracy".

The protests will include a postcard campaign, lodging written complaints at police stations across Uttarakhand against senior BJP leaders who have used unparliamentary words against Congress leaders in the past and holding political rallies across the state, he said at a press conference.

Written complaints will be lodged against Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who had compared Sonia Gandhi to a "jersey cow" and a former minister to Ravana's sister "Surpanakha" in Ramayana, Mahara said.

In the postcard campaign, cards mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "misdeeds" will be sent to his address. It will begin on April 3 and go on till April 15. The campaign will be carried out by Uttarakhand Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, Seva Dal and National Students Union of India (NSUI), he said.

From April 15 to 25, the PCC will hold rallies in all Uttarakhand districts against the "murder of democracy" and conclude it with a big rally in Dehradun sometime between April 25 to 30.

Also Read Irked BJP summons ex-UttaraKhand CMs to Delhi over remarks against own govt More competitive Congress must for revival of healthy democracy: Guha Departments should aim to get maximum revenue: Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami HK jails pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai over fraud for 5 yrs 9 mths BJP returns to power, disasters take their toll in Uttarakhand in 2022 'Kerala faced economic hardships due to Centre's unfavourable policies' BJP alleges files on extension of contractual workers at MCD withheld Fire ravages commercial towers in Kanpur, nearly 800 shops gutted US-based investors significantly cut market valuation of BYJU's, Swiggy 52% Indians lost data in last 5 years, high back-up cost major deterrent

The party has been staging protests in several states to protest Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu walked free on Saturday after spending nearly 10 months in Patiala central jail in a 1988 road rage death case.

He was wearing a sky blue jacket when he came out of jail.

There were expectations that he would be released by afternoon but he came out of jail at 5:53 pm.

The 59-year-old's supporters had assembled since morning outside the prison to accord him a grand welcome upon his release and they could be heard chanting 'Navjot Sidhu zindabad'.

Several Congress leaders including Amritsar MP Gurjit Aujla, former Punjab Congress chiefs Shamsher Singh Dullo, Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Lal Singh, former MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, other leaders Ashwani Sekhri, Sukhwinder Singh Danny were also waiting for the return of Sidhu.

The former state Congress chief was jailed on May 20 last year after being sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court over the death of the 65-year-old Gurnam Singh in a road rage case in 1988.

Also Read Cong leader Navjot Sidhu likely to be released from Patiala jail tomorrow Diagnosed with cancer, Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife writes to jailed husband Moosewala's parents sit outside Punjab Vidhan Sabha complex, seek justice Air India urination case: Delhi Court sends accused to 14-day custody Indian women's cricket needs multi-skilled players, more pacers: Mithali CM Patnaik disburses Rs 877 cr to over 4,300,000 farmers under KALIA scheme Delhi court lists Kanjhawala case for April 13, police files chargesheet Defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi for 'Kauravas' remark on RSS India's NHPC likely to develop 480 MW Phukot Karnali hydro-project in Nepal Tax revenue marks over 31% increase during 2021-22 in J&K, says CAG
On the completion of investigation in the Kanjhawala case, in which a 20-year-old woman was killed after being dragged for several kilometers by a car, the Delhi Police on Saturday filed a 800-page charge sheet against seven accused.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal of the Rohini Court has posted the matter for consideration of the final report on April 13.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the police to conclude its investigation and file a charge sheet on Saturday.

"During the course of investigation, seven men were arrested and upon its completion, a charge sheet of around 800 pages was prepared with around 120 witnesses," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer), Harendra Singh said.

The police said, "On the basis of the material and evidence collected during the investigation, to the best of capabilities, sufficient material has come on record to prosecute the accused."

Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mithun, and Manoj Mittal have all been booked for murder, according to the charge sheet. Amit Khanna and Ashutosh were also booked in accordance with the Motor Vehicles Act's rules.

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It said all the accused were booked for criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, harbouring offender, common intention and false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person.

Amit Khanna has been charged with additional offences by the Delhi Police for reckless driving and causing hurt by endangering their lives or personal safety.

Initially, the case was registered under Sections 279 and 304 of the IPC but later, police had added section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code in the matter.

On January 21, the Rohini court had dismissed Deepak Khanna's bail plea.

Earlier, two other accused, Ankush and Ashutosh, were granted bail.

Anjali died an agonising death on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 in the Kanjhawala area after her scooty was hit by the car and her clothes had gotten entangled in one of its wheels, which led to her being dragged for a considerable distance.

--IANS

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Soon after walking out of the Patiala Central Jail on Saturday, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu slammed the Centre, alleging that democracy is in chains and institutions have turned slaves in the country.

He also claimed that a conspiracy is being hatched to impose the President's Rule in Punjab.

Sidhu described Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as "akhbari mukhmantri" and criticised his government over law and order and debt issues.

Sidhu, who spent about 10 months in jail in connection with a 1988 road rage death case, walked out free on Saturday. The former Punjab Congress president was sent to prison in May 2022 after being sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court over the death of Gurnam Singh, 65.

His lawyer previously said Sidhu was being released earlier because of his good conduct in prison.

"Whenever dictatorship came in the country, a revolution came and today, I say the revolution's name is Rahul Gandhi," Sidhu told reporters who had been waiting outside the jail since morning.

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"Debate and dissent are essences of this democracy, but attempts are being made to suppress opposition voice," he added.

He said the Congress is fighting against oppression.

"Today democracy is in chains, there is nothing like democracy today, he alleged.

He claimed that a conspiracy was being hatched to impose President's rule in Punjab.

"Punjab is the shield of this country, attempts are being made to break this shield. A conspiracy is going on to impose President's Rule in Punjab," he claimed.

In an apparent reference to Sikhs, who are a minority community in the country, Sidhu said, There is a minority rule in Punjab. Wherever the minority is in majoritythe Centre hatches conspiracy (against it).

He alleged first a law and order problem is created. After that, there is an attempt to control it and then they say, we have brought peace, he said.

"If you weaken Punjab, then you will become weak yourself. No government can become strong by weakening Punjab," he said.

Sidhu was wearing a sky-blue jacket when he came out of jail.

There were expectations that he would be released by afternoon but he came out of jail at 5:53 pm.

The 59-year-old's supporters had assembled since morning outside the prison to accord him a grand welcome upon his release and they could be heard chanting 'Navjot Sidhu zindabad'.

Several Congress leaders including Amritsar MP Gurjit Aujla, former Punjab Congress chiefs Shamsher Singh Dullo, Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Lal Singh, former MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, other leaders Ashwani Sekhri, Sukhwinder Singh Danny and worker accorded a warm welcome to Sidhu.
China's top legislator meets Malaysian PM

Xinhua) 13:36, April 01, 2023

Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Zhao Leji met with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing on Friday.

Zhao, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said that China and Malaysia are both developing countries and emerging markets in Asia, and China is willing to strengthen strategic communication and advance high-quality practical cooperation with Malaysia, while promoting people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations.

China's NPC is willing to further expand exchanges with the Malaysian parliament to create a sound policy and legal environment for deepening cooperation, and jointly push forward the modernization drives of the two countries, Zhao said.

Noting that China and Malaysia are a community with a shared future, Anwar said the Malaysian side is willing to deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and strengthen people-to-people and legislative exchanges to push bilateral ties to a new level.

Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Opposition Congress-led UDF observed 'black day' on Saturday with protests held against the Left government across Kerala as the state budget's proposal to levy cess on fuel and liquor among other tax hikes came into effect from today.

The opposition front also announced that it would stay away from the anniversary celebrations of the second Pinarayi Vijayan dispensation, which begins today, as part of demonstrations against its various "anti-people" policies along with "unjustified and unscientific" budget proposals.

Wearing black badges and holding black flags in their hands, several UDF activists took out marches in various panchayats and municipalities.

Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan charged that an additional tax burden of Rs 5,000 crore has been imposed upon people because of the "mismanagement" and "negligence" of the state government.

Besides the imposition of the fuel cess, power tariff and water tax have also been increased by the government, making the life of common people miserable, he told reporters in Kochi.

This is for the first time in the history of the state that such a huge tax burden has been imposed upon people, he further alleged.

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"This is April 1 and the beginning of the new financial year. The implementation of the Rs 5,000 crore tax burden imposed upon the common people by the Pinarayi Vijayan government begins today," he said.

He also said it was an irony that the government begins its anniversary celebrations on the same day when the "unscientific" budget proposals, which will make the life of ordinary people more miserable, gets implemented.

The Congress-led UDF would not cooperate with any of the celebrations, he added.

Finance Minister K N Balagopal, in the recent state budget, had proposed a social security cess on sale of petrol and diesel at the rate of Rs 2 per litre to bring in additional revenue of Rs 750 crore.

He had also proposed to levy cess at the rate of Rs 20 for each bottle of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) between the price range of Rs 500 and Rs 999.

Also, cess was levied at the rate of Rs 40 per bottle of IMFL having MRP above Rs 1,000 to garner an additional revenue of Rs 400 crore.
Urging people not to panic, the Nagaland government on Saturday said it was fully prepared if a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hits the state.

Addressing a press conference, state health commissioner and secretary Y Kikheto Sema said the state was fully prepared with better infrastructure and manpower to fight the emerging challenges.

"A sharp rise in COVID-19 cases has been reported in the country in the last four weeks, but Nagaland has not reported any case," he said.

The government is in touch with the states, including Assam, where cases have been increasing, he added.

There is no need to panic as the fourth wave of the pandemic is not as severe as the first and second waves, Sema claimed.

Nagaland was ill-prepared and caught by surprise during the first wave of the pandemic, he said, maintaining that the state's health infrastructure has been revamped to a large extent.

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"We are fully prepared to face any challenge and there is no need to panic as far as Nagaland is concerned," Sema said.

The last COVID-19 case was detected in the state on February 11, he said.

In all, the state reported 35,988 cases and 856 deaths, the official said.

A mock drill on COVID preparedness will be conducted on April 10 and 11, he said.

"We will not allow our people to be victims of the virus like the first two waves, because we now have better infrastructure and manpower," Sema said.

Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) Nyanthung Kikon said the state was testing all Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Sema said the recruitment of the teachers and other staff for the state's first medical college in Kohima would be completed by the end of this month, and all attempts were being made to ready the infrastructure by June.

Representatives of the National Medical Council (NMC) have inspected the works for the college twice in the last three months, and the final approval for the commencement of academic activities is awaited.
India, Denmark on Saturday exchanged views on multilateral, regional issues including India's G20 presidency, India-EU Free Trade Agreement, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, co-operation at the UN, and climate change.

The two sides during the 7th round of India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Copenhagen on Saturday, undertook a comprehensive review of their bilateral relations, acknowledged that bilateral relations have grown significantly and have benefited from the signing of the first-of-its-kind Green Strategic Partnership in September 2020, according to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release.

The consultations were co-chaired by India's MEA Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma and Denmark's State Secretary for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jesper Moller Sorensen. The last round of FOC had taken place in 2009 in New Delhi.

During the 7th foreign office consultations, discussions were held on progress made to implement the Joint Action Plan and sectoral cooperation in the areas of Renewable Energy including Offshore Wind, Water Management, Smart Cities, Green Shipping, Health, Dairy and Animal Husbandry.

Both sides noted the progress on the setting up of the Smart Laboratory on Clean River Water in Varanasi.

The two countries appreciated that bilateral trade in goods and services had exceeded USD 6.64 billion in 2022 and agreed to diversify their trade and investment. Over 200 Danish companies are present in India and have been working in various areas such as wind energy, shipping, consultancy, food processing and the engineering sector while around 60 Indian companies, mainly in the IT, life sciences and clean-tech, renewable energy and engineering sectors, have a growing presence in Denmark.

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The two sides agreed to continue high-level political exchanges and to hold the next round of the Joint Commission Meeting at Foreign Minister's level in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates, according to the MEA press release.

As per the official release, there have been several high-level engagements between India and Denmark in recent years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Denmark in May 2022.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of the Kingdom of Denmark recently visited India from February 26- March 2, 2023. Prime Minister Frederiksen paid a State Visit to India in October 2021, being the first Head of Government to visit India since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations were held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. It was agreed to hold political consultations at regular intervals.
With around a month left for the May 10 Assembly polls, all the parties have expedited their process of finalising the tickets in Karnataka.

Screening committee of the ruling BJP in the state are meeting at a private resort here on Saturday to finalise candidates for the first list.

The party had already collected opinion from the local leaders and officer-bearers of every Assembly constituency regarding the candidates. The leaders will hold discussions with core committee members of all districts for two days starting Saturday.

Three senior party workers in every district will finalise the list of candidates and send it to the central committee after considering all inputs, explain insiders.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had stated that it would take a week's time for the party to announce a list of candidates.

According to sources, the opposition Congress which had announced the first list of 124 candidates, has finalised a second list of 70 candidates.

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The party had held a series of meetings in this regard and discussed the contest of Siddaramaiah from Kolar constituency as well. His candidature had been already announced for Varuna constituency.

For the remaining 100 seats, sources in Congress explain that one name has been finalised for 60 constituencies. For more than 30 seats, two names have been finalised and for five constituencies, the party still has to decide among as many candidates.

Responsibility of quelling the dissidence has been given to state party President D.K. Shivakumar. The list has already been sent to the high command and final call will be taken in New Delhi, sources said.

Meanwhile, JD(S), which had announced 93 candidates in December 2022, is expected to announce the second list by next week. The party is likely to take a call on Hassan assembly seat, which has resulted in strife within the family of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda.

--IANS

mka/shb/
Kerala experienced economic hardships due to the unfavourable policy measures taken by the central government, State Finance Minister K N Balagopal said on Friday.

Balagopal, who met the media here on the last day of the 2022-23 financial year, said there was a shortage of Rs 40,000 crore in this financial year due to the policies of the Centre.

He also said that despite the adverse situations, Kerala managed to perform well in terms of income and expenditure.

"Everything including salary, pension and loan repayment were paid correctly. The project cost of local bodies is over 96 per cent. Many panchayats have spent 100 per cent of the fund allotted, and the treasuries functioned without any hitch," Balagopal said.

He said judicious financial management helped the state to perform well despite constraints.

"Due to the unfavourable policy measure of the Union government, Kerala experienced huge economic hardships. There was a shortfall of Rs 40,000 crore this financial year due to Centre's policies," he said.

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Balagopal said the opposition parties should also raise their voice for Kerala.

"We took a stern stand in (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi's issue in Parliament. Our stand is to protect the democracy and raise our voice when it's in danger. Unfortunately, Kerala's opposition is not raising their voice in favour of the state," Balagopal said.

When asked about UDF observing black day on April 1 to protest against the fuel cess coming in force, he said it is a political protest.

"It's a political move by the opposition. I hope they also raise the issue of high price of LPG in the country. They consider the Left government as their main enemy. The people are watching," Balagopal said.

The finance minister said there was an increase of Rs 12,000 crore in state's own tax revenue.

He said there was an increase of around Rs 23,000 crore in the the tax collected by it on its own in the last two years.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo on Friday claimed that he was roughed up by police officers while visiting the residence of a minor girl in Kolkata's Tiljala area, who was killed by a neighbour earlier this week.

Police, however, rubbished Kanoongo's allegation and said officers had cooperated with him, and it was the NCPCR chief who "misbehaved" with them.

"Bengal police officer Biswak Mukherjee beat me up at Tiljala police station in West Bengal. Policemen were secretly recording our investigation proceedings. They beat me up for protesting against this," Kanoongo tweeted in Hindi.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) chief Sudeshna Roy claimed that Kanoongo "insulted her and her colleagues", and that she was contemplating lodging a police complaint in this regard.

"The NCPCR team went there without informing us. When I reached the spot, he (Kanoongo) started speaking in a very insulting tone. He also tried to assault me," she told PTI.

Roy had on Thursday written to NCPCR, stating that its proposed visit to West Bengal over the murder of a girl in Kolkata and the rape of another minor in Malda was "not really necessary".

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Earlier this week, a seven-year-old girl was killed by a neighbour in Tiljala, while a Class-6 girl was allegedly raped during school hours inside a government institute in Malda.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal on Saturday to flag off the country's 11th Vande Bharat Express.

"Will be in Bhopal today. In the morning will take part in the Combined Commanders' Conference and later will flag off the Vande Bharat Express between Bhopal and New Delhi. This train will boost connectivity between MP and Delhi," PM Modi tweeted today.

During his visit, the Prime Minister will attend the Combined Commanders' Conference-2023 at the Kushabhau Thakre Hall in Bhopal at around 10 am.

The three-day conference of Military Commanders is being held from March 30 to April 1, 2023, on the theme 'Ready, Resurgent, Relevant'.

"During the Conference, deliberations will be held over a varied spectrum of issues pertaining to national security, including jointness and theaterisation in the Armed Forces. Preparation of the Armed Forces and progress in defence ecosystem towards attaining 'Aatmanirbharta' will also be reviewed," an official statement said earlier.

"The conference will witness the participation of commanders from the three armed forces and senior officers from the Ministry of Defence. Inclusive and informal interaction will also be held with soldiers, sailors and airmen from Army, Navy and Air Force who will contribute to the deliberations," it added.

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Meanwhile, the indigenously designed train set of Vande Bharat Express is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities. It will provide a faster, more comfortable and more convenient travel experience for rail users, boost tourism and promote economic development in the region.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that connectivity projects comprising road, rail and air worth Rs 1.76 lakh crore would be completed by 2025 in the northeastern region.

Inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of 11 projects worth Rs 2,500 crore in Mizoram, the Home Minister said that the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project is said to be the most significant project that India has undertaken in Myanmar.

The Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project was jointly undertaken by India and Myanmar to create a multi-modal mode of transport for shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar as well as to the northeastern region of India through Myanmar.

Shah said that budgetary allocation under PM-DevINE (Prime Minister's Development Initiative for North East Region) has been increased by 276 per cent.

"Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister in India who visited 53 times in the northeastern region in the past nine years while the central ministers visited 432 times in the region to take forward the development of the region," the Home Minister said adding that development of the region is Modi government's one of the priority sectors.

He said that with the surrender of 8,000 militants of different extremist outfits and signing of various accords, violent activities have been reduced to a large extent in the region.

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Shah inaugurated the Assam Rifles' new battalion headquarters at Zokhawsang, which is 15 km away from Aizawl city.

The Home Minister laid the foundation stones for several infrastructural projects, including a smart city project, Aizawl Bypass roads and several roadway projects for Aizawl, Champhai and Mamit districts.

He also laid foundation stone for Rs 193 crore Laldenga Cultural Centre, to be built on the northern side of Assam Rifles ground in the heart of the state capital.

Laldenga, who was the founder of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), spearheaded a cessationist movement for two decades between 1966 and 1986 and was the first chief minister of Mizoram after it attained statehood in 1987.

According to officials, Assam Rifles, which has been guarding Mizoram's 510 km border with Myanmar, has two bases in Aizawl, one at Zodin and the other at Khatla.

The battalion headquarters at Zodin has been shifted to Zokhawsang.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said that with the laying of the foundation of Laldenga Cultural Centre and shifting of the Assam Rifles battalion headquarters, the aspiration of the MNF in particular and people of Mizoram in general has come to a reality.

Relocation of the Assam Rifles from the heart of Aizawl city has been one of the major commitments of the MNF since the early 1990s.

The demand for shifting of the Assam Rifles was first raised by Laldenga in 1988 after the central paramilitary force killed seven civilians in a clash.

The relocation was also one of the important promises of the MNF in the last Assembly polls held in November 2018.

In February 2019, the Union Home Ministry directed the Assam Rifles to shift its battalion headquarters to Zokhawsang by May 31 of that year.

However, it was delayed due to various reasons.

--IANS

sc/uk/
Ahead of the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold Jai Bharat rally in Kolar on April 9.

"Rahul Gandhi will be in Kolar on April 9 and address the Jai Bharat Mega Rally there. On April 11, he will visit Wayanad. He is the voice of the people, you can never silence him. This voice will only get louder and stronger," tweeted Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Friday.

Notably, the election rally will be the first such public meeting of Rahul Gandhi after he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha.

Political parties are gearing up preparation for assembly polls in Karnataka.

Karnataka assembly polls are significant for national ambitions of BJP and Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Janata Dal-Securlar leaders have said that the people will reject the national parties in the assembly polls.

The Election Commission of India on March 29, announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections.

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The polling would take place in a single phase on May 10, and the counting of votes will be done on May 13, the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in a press conference.

Notably, on March 23, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat district court and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 2019 defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark made in 2019 during an election rally in Karnataka.The criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi.After being convicted by the court, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.The sentence of two-year imprisonment has been suspended for 30 days before which Rahul Gandhi has to appeal against the conviction.The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha has been one in a series of flashpoints between the Congress party and the ruling BJP, uniting the opposition parties who have been accusing the Centre of diverting attention from the Adani issue.
A survey has shown a "high-level" of public support for certain forms of government surveillance like through CCTV cameras even as the poor and groups such as Dalits and Muslims have the "least" trust in the police.

Surveyors from NGO Common Cause and the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies spoke to a total of 9,779 individuals in 12 states and Union Territories before they released the "Status of Policing in India Report 2023: Surveillance and the Question of Privacy" on Friday in the national capital.

"The study also involved focus group discussions with domain experts, in-depth interviews with serving police officials, and an analysis of media coverage of surveillance-related issues," according to a statement.

The findings of the survey, according to the statement, indicate a "high-level of public support for certain forms of government surveillance, but also a lack of public awareness regarding critical issues such as the Pegasus scandal and the Puttaswamy case."



While the Pegasus refers to the alleged usage of military grade spyware for surveillance, the judgment in the Puttaswamy case formally recognised right to privacy as a fundamental right.

The survey report states that the support for any form of surveillance is "directly proportional" to the respondent's socio-economic status, i.e. the richer the respondent the more the support, the survey found.

The poor, Adivasis, Dalits, and Muslims trust the police the least, it found.

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Some of the key findings of the survey state that "only one in four people strongly feel that CCTVs carry a risk of illegal mass surveillance."



"Nearly three out of four people strongly believe that CCTVs help monitor and reduce crimes," it said.

The survey found, according to the press statement, that about half of the respondents supported the collection of biometric details of suspects while Adivasis and Muslims were "most critical" of the police collecting biometric details of all suspects.

More than one out of two people strongly support the use of drones by the armed forces, government, and police. However, farmers and the poorest are most likely to oppose drone usage by government agencies, the survey found.

"One out of two people fully support the use of FRT (facial recognition technology) by the government, and police. People are four times more likely to strongly support the use of FRT by government agencies, compared to its use by private entities," the survey found.

Nearly two out of three respondents believe that political parties surveil citizens for electoral gains, it said.

The survey also found that large sections of the respondents feel government surveillance by CCTVs (52 per cent), drones (30 per cent) and FRT (25 per cent), etc. to suppress protests and political movements are "justified" to a great extent.

However, it said, the respondents from Punjab are least likely to support government surveillance during protests, while those from Gujarat are most likely to support it.

Retired Uttar Pradesh Police and BSF Director General Prakash Singh said the authorisation for putting up surveillance tools should only be handled by the government.

"In India there are certain agencies that have been authorized to put people under surveillance, but the sanction must come from the Home Ministry. About one lakh sanctions for surveillance are given every year, which works out to about 250 per day. Can there be judicious application of mind with such a large number?"



"There is no liability provision, if it is found that a wrong person has been put under surveillance. Due application of mind is not happening today," Singh, one of the most prominent faces who worked for police reforms in the country, said.
Around 75 delegates will be arriving in Tripura on Sunday for a science conclave titled clean energy for green future' as part of the G20 meetings, Chief Minister Manik Saha said.

The event will be held on April 3 and 4 at the International Fair Ground at Agartala, the capital of the northeastern state.

This will be a big opportunity for the state to showcase its wealth and resources before the global stage, the chief minister said while speaking at a programme at Badharghat in West Tripura district on Saturday.

Saha said that earlier it was decided that the conclave will be held in Guwahati but Prime Minister Narendra Modi batted for hoisting such an event in Agartala.

Delegates from several G20 countries including the US, China and Brazil and nine European nations will be joining the clean energy for green future' conclave.

Delegates from Bangladesh will also be attending the event as invitee members, said Special Secretary of Industries and Commerce, Abhishek Chandra, told the media at the Civil Secretariat here.

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There will be nine sessions on various topics during the conclave. The G-20 delegation will also visit Oxygen Park and join a Yoga session. Besides, they will also visit the Agartala Book fair, he said.

The chief minister is scheduled to meet the G20 delegates on Sunday and inaugurate an exhibition showcasing the state's art, culture, heritage and business opportunities.

India assumed the Presidency of the G20 or Group of 20 for one year from December 1, 2022.

New Delhi has decided to host around 200 G20 meetings across the country during its yearlong Presidency of the intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies.

G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).
Tech giant Google has launched its Nearby Share for Windows as a beta application that will help users to transfer files between their Android device and PC.

The Nearby Share Beta for Windows app is currently available as a direct download from android.com for Windows 10 and newer with "ARM devices not supported," reports 9To5Google.

On the users' PC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi must be turned on, with the company specifying a 16-foot (5-meter) transfer range between devices.

It allows users to "quickly transfer photos, videos, documents, audio files or entire folders between your Android device and Windows PCs."

According to the tech giant, it will be helpful for users who want to "edit your photos on a larger screen or organise your digital folders."

Currently, this beta is rolling out in the US and select regions globally, the report said.

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Meanwhile, in December last year, the tech giant had rolled out new Material You design for its Nearby Share app on Android phones and tablets.

The Material You revamp added visual changes to the main UI users interact with on the Nearby Share app.

--IANS

aj/shb/
Southeast Asian countries have agreed to reinforce the use of local currencies in the region and reduce reliance on major international currencies in an effort to avoid spillover from the global crisis, Indonesia's central bank has said.

The agreement came on the last day of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, which was held in Indonesia's Bali island on Friday, with Indonesia being this year's ASEAN chair, Xinhua news agency reported.

Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo said the organization would establish a task force to formulate the transition process to use ASEAN local currencies in financial transactions as a realization of ASEAN's current local currencies settlement cooperation framework.

"With the use of local currencies in the transactions across the region, we will be able to strengthen our resilience in supporting regional cross-border trade and investment, which now are still relying on major international currencies," Warjiyo said at a virtual press conference after the meeting.

Warjiyo said if ASEAN countries could use their local currencies in the region, transactions and all payments can be conducted faster and able to tackle the global crisis. And if that is successful, their currencies' values will increase.

"At the moment, our numbers are small. But that's why we must move forward with this scheme. We must accelerate it," Warjiyo said.

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He also said that in the meeting, the ASEAN countries have agreed to expand cross-border payment connectivity to more countries in the region.

--IANS

int/sha
Former US President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned in court on the afternoon of April 4 following his indictment in connection with a $130,000 pay-out to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, according to media reports.

The reports on Friday came a day after Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg's office said that they contacted Trump's attorney to "coordinate his surrender" for arraignment.

Trump reportedly faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday, which was filed under seal, reports Xinhua news agency.

Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, said on Friday that his client will not accept a plea deal and does plan to file "substantial legal challenges" to the indictment.

Tacopina added that Trump will "absolutely" voluntarily surrender to Manhattan law enforcement and that his client "will not be put in handcuffs".

Juan Merchan, acting justice for the New York County Supreme Court, will reportedly preside over the case, which stems from Bragg's investigation into the alleged hush money payments Trump made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

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Trump has denied wrongdoing and alleged that the criminal inquiry and others relating to him are all politically motivated.

He is reportedly scheduled to be arraigned at 2.15 p.m. on April 4 in Merchan's courtroom in New York City.

The case has been closely watched since it's the first time in US history that a former president has been criminally charged.

Trump, 76, served as President from January 2017 to January 2021 and is again running for the White House.

President Joe Biden told reporters before leaving the White House for a trip to Mississippi on Friday that he won't talk about his predecessor's indictment.

In the wake of the developments, security in New York is being co-ordinated by the FBI, NYPD, Secret Service and New York City court officers.

Sources told CBS News that they are bracing for possible scenarios that include attacks against Trump, prosecutors, jurors or members of the public.

The DA's office has received "many threats", the sources said.

Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have accused the Manhattan DA of weaponising the criminal justice system to influence next year's presidential election, reports the BBC.

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who Trump recently suggested should run for Senate, called on followers to protest and said she plans to be present in New York next week.

In response, DA Bragg said the charges had been brought by citizens of New York doing their civic duty, and neither the former President nor Congress could interfere with proceedings.

--IANS

ksk/
Former US President Donald J. Trump has prepared to surrender to prosecutors in Manhattan next week as the New York police braced for protests and sharply partisan responses from Democrats and Republicans ushered in a tumultuous time for a deeply polarised nation, New York Times reported.

A day after a grand jury indicted Trump and made him the first former president to face criminal charges, metal barricades were up around the criminal courthouse on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan.

Dozens of reporters and camera crews camped out across the street on Friday, while 20 court officers stood at the courthouse entrances, monitoring activity on the street, New York Times reported.

Trump intends to travel to New York on Monday and stay the night at Trump Tower, people familiar with his preparations said. He has no plans to hold a news conference or address the public while he is in New York, the people said.

Trump remained largely quiet on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida, where he spent the day talking on the telephone with advisers. One of his lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said in a television interview that the former president would not take a plea deal and was prepared to go to trial, a typically defiant stance that is likely to endear him to his supporters, who see the prosecution as a politically motivated vendetta by Democrats, New York Times reported.

Late on Friday afternoon, Trump burst out on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, writing in all capital letters that Democrats were "INDICTING A TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN IN AN ACT OF OBSTRUCTION AND BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE." He concluded that it was all happening "WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!"

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The former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on charges related to payments made just before the 2016 presidential election to buy the silence of a porn star who said she had an extramarital affair with him. The former president, who has denied the affair, has been charged with more than two dozen counts in a sealed indictment, according to two people familiar with the matter, although the exact charges remain unknown, New York Times reported.

The case, which could drag on for months and whose outcome is far from clear, is likely to test the country's institutions and the rule of law. It will also have deep repercussions for the 2024 campaign for the White House, a race in which Trump remains the Republican front-runner.

Even many of Trump's potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination snapped into line behind him in the hours after news of the indictment broke, looking more like allies than competitors. All passed on the opportunity to criticize the former president and some rushed to his defence in a sign of just how reluctant 2024 contenders are to directly confront him and antagonize his many millions of supporters in the party, New York Times reported.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a potential presidential candidate who has clashed with Trump, rushed to his defence, posting on Twitter that the indictment was "un-American" and amounted to "the weaponization of the legal system.
Former US President Donald Trump called on his supporters to rally round him and protest nationwide as he expects to be arrested coming Tuesday in anticipation of an indictment from a New York jury of a Manhattan court on the years-long investigation into a hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the AG's tax fraud case.

"Protest, take our nation back," Trump said. Referring to himself in a social media post, he said the "leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested Tuesday next week. But he did not detail the reasons for his possible arraignment and arrest. However, Trump's legal team said, following his social post, that they had not received any notifications so far from the prosecutors.

Meetings after meetings have been held through the week between state and federal law enforcement agencies in New York City on the preparations' to be made for security ahead of a possible indictment of Trump, media reports said adding the US was already on the edge fearing a repeat of the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill.

Trump has been pushing his team to get his base riled up in the belief that the indictment would give him considerable political leverage, CNN said in a report.

Any indictment of Trump, who has already announced his 2024 re-election is expected to change the political narrative around a controversial politician, considered a divisive figure by political strategists.

As Trump has an elaborate history of civil litigation, both before and after his presidency in 2016 to 2023, any criminal charge against him would dramatically alter his legal woes even as he works against odds within the GOP (The Republican Party) to recapture the White House in a 3rd time bid.

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Meanwhile, CNN says another witness is expected to testify on Monday before the grand jury investigating the hush money payments, the cornerstone of New York District Attorney Alan Bragg's base for arranging the former president. Whether this witness would be the last in this case occurred during the 2016 pre-polls when Trump allegedly paid off adult star Stormy Daniels in his reportedly stormy affair with her remains to be seen. Republicans say this is a fabricated case.

Trump's legal team is now behind the scenes preparing for the steps to be taken should the former president be indicted. Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Trump, later said the former president had based his claims on press reports.

"No one tells us anything which is very frustrating. President Trump is basing his response on press reports," Tacopina said in a statement to CNN. He also said he did not expect a former president to be handcuffed behind his back to do a perp walk, though Trump has told his advisors such an act would protect him as a martyr in a stupendous drama before the media and cameras across the nation.

A Trump spokesperson said while the former president has not received any notification from the Manhattan DA's Office on any possible indictment, he was only "rightfully highlighting his innocence" in his post.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, tweeted on Saturday any potential indictment of Trump would be "an outrageous abuse of power" from the NY DA's office.

Mike Pence, vice president under Trump, endorsed McCarthy's statement saying: "Well, like many Americans, I'm just - I'm taken aback." He told Breitbart News in a radio interview that the Manhattan district attorney's investigation "reeks" of "political persecution." The DA's Office refused to comment. Trump reportedly told his advisors that the NY DA Alan Bragg hates him.

Media reports in the US claim that Trumps' call for a protest seems like history replaying the January 6 action of the ex-President to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election declaring Joe Biden as President that culminated in the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Some of Trump's advisers have urged him in private to call off his appeal for protest as they feared that the optics of a mass protest in the streets of Manhattan could spiral out of control repeating the 2021 insurrection.

Meanwhile Bragg said in an email to staff on Saturday that his office will "not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York."

--IANS

ash/uk/
The earlier situation of "emergency control" at the India-China border is a matter of the past, and overall it is stable at present, a senior Chinese diplomat said here.

Interacting with journalists on Friday evening, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in India, Chen Jianjun, said the two Asian giants continue to maintain communication via diplomatic and military channels, promoting the transition of the border situation to "normalised management and control".

"The current border situation is overall stable," he said.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, resulting in minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides. The clash near Yangtse in the sensitive sector took place amid the border standoff between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.

The ties between India and China nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two neighbours in decades.

"The Chinese side has always viewed and handled China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. Although the relationship faces some difficulties, China's position has never wavered and we have been committed to pushing it back on the track of healthy and steady development," Jianjun said.

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He said the two countries could draw strength from their ancient civilisations, and share oriental wisdom with the world, so as to jointly maintain the stability of the international order.

"In a world intertwined with changes and chaos, China and India could speak out loud for more institutional rights of developing countries. The two countries working together will bear on the future of Asia and beyond," he added.

Jianjun said China supports India in fulfilling its role during its presidency of G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

"China and India's bilateral trade continues to grow. Cultural, scientific, technological, educational and other people-to-people exchanges and cooperation resume in an orderly manner," he said.

The diplomat said China and India share similar positions on many regional and international issues, and have extensive common interests in South-South cooperation, development and poverty reduction, climate change and energy security.

"We believe that China and India could find a way for the neighbouring countries to live in peace and develop together, so as to realise the 'Asian Century'," he added.
Israel's Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said he choose India as his first destination as Speaker to visit as it is the largest democracy in the world and because the country is progressing rapidly in recent years.

Ohana said India and Israel have a great connection between leaders, between the people and a great new connection between parliaments.

Knesset is the unicameral parliament of Israel and the supreme authority of the state.

"I chose India as my first destination as speaker to visit because it's the largest democracy in the world, because it is progressing rapidly in recent years, because the connection between our two countries is so great in recent years and because never has a speaker of the Knesset visited India," Ohana said.

"So, in that case, it is a historic visit. I met the president of India, the vice president who is also the speaker of the upper house and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house which I signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with to strengthen the relationship between the parliaments. So, we have a great connection between the leaders, between the people and a great new connection between parliaments," the Knesset Speaker further said.

Ohana on Friday called India one of Israel's closest and dearest friends. He called it a distinct pleasure to have been invited to India.

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Knesset Speaker made the statement during a meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. "It is a great honour for me to be here with you today. This is indeed not only my first visit to India but also the first visit of any Speaker of the Knesset on an official visit to India. And it is my distinct pleasure to have been invited specifically to India, one of Israel's closest and dearest friends and the world's largest democracy," Ohana said.

"When I had to decide where to make my first official visit as speaker of the Knesset, India stood up with all the other countries. We saw it not only as a dear friend but also as a rising power in the world in many, many fields," he added.

Ohana said that Israel and India are marking 31 years of diplomatic ties. He said, "Our countries are marking 31 years of full diplomatic relations. What started as ties between two ancient civilizations with rich histories and tremendous respect for our traditions, is now a friendship based on common interests in almost every aspect of life. We also share a deep historical connection."

A Parliamentary Delegation from Israel, led by Ohana called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday, according to an official release.

Welcoming the delegation, the President said that over the last 30 years, the diplomatic relations between the two countries have grown into a multidimensional strategic partnership.

Ohana in a tweet on Saturday wrote: "On behalf of the Israeli delegation, I thank you Honorable President Smt. Murmu Ji for your kind words and for the gracious hospitality. It is a true honour to be the first Speaker of the Knesset to visit India, a country we hold in high esteem and share a unique bond with.
The visit of Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel to India from April 3- 5 will further strengthen the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation between the two nations.

India has consistently been Bhutan's top trading partner and remains the leading source of investments in Bhutan. In November 2021, the Indian government formalised the opening of seven new trade routes for Bhutan's bilateral and transit trade with India, new market access was provided for allowing the formal export of 12 agri-products from Bhutan to India, and various special exceptions/ quotas for export are also provided.

India has been extending economic assistance to Bhutan's socio-economic development since the early 1960s when Bhutan launched its Five Year Plans.

For the 12th Five Year Plan, India assisted Bhutan with Rs 4500 crore for various multi-sectoral project-tied assistance, small development projects, Direct Budgetary Support, etc.

India and Bhutan enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation, which are characterized by understanding and mutual trust.

Mutually beneficial hydro-power cooperation with Bhutan forms the core of bilateral economic cooperation.

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Hydro-power Cooperation provides clean power for India and economic prosperity for Bhutan with a steady stream of revenue, which witnessed positive growth even during the pandemic. Indian assistance installed over 2000 MW of capacity with 4 mega hydro projects since the 1980s till date, while 2 are under construction.

In line with our 'Neighbourhood First Policy', new market access has been opened for five agri-commodities from Bhutan to India (Areca nut, Mandarin, Apple, Potato, and Ginger), and three commodities from India to Bhutan (Tomato, Onion, and Okra).

The unique relationship has been sustained by a tradition of regular high-level visits between the two countries. It is pertinent to mention that the high-profile visits include Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in Aug 2019; External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit in 2019 and April 2022. Besides that Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra also visited Bhutan in Jan 2023.

The King of Bhutan recently had a transit visit in Sept 2022 while PM Bhutan, Dr Lotay Tshering visited India in 2018 and 2019. Foreign Minister of Bhutan, Tandi Dorji visited in 2019 while Foreign Secretary of Bhutan, Pema Choden visited in Aug 2022, etc.

Earlier in February 2023, a Parliamentary Delegation from Bhutan led by Wangchuk Namgyel, Speaker of the National Assembly of Bhutan called on President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Welcoming the delegation, the President said that we deeply value the multifaceted and unique friendship between India and Bhutan.

The Government of India is committed to expanding its excellent bilateral cooperation with Bhutan, in accordance with the aspirations and priorities of the people of Bhutan.

India is foraying into new avenues of bilateral cooperation with Bhutan such as Space Cooperation, Smart Agriculture, Youth and Sports, Start-ups, Renewable energy and Digital Development, to help the Royal Government of Bhutan realize its vision of prosperity for all.

The President noted that this year Bhutan would graduate from the Least developed countries (LDC) group of countries and embark on the path of becoming a High Income Economy by 2034.

In line with India-Bhutan unique and special relations, India ensured a continuous supply of trade and essential items to Bhutan, despite COVID-19-related lockdowns.

In special assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic - 13 consignments of medical supplies, the first country to receive Covishield Vaccines.

The revised Bilateral Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan came into effect in 2017 and would be valid for ten years.

Cooperation in newer areas beyond the traditional realms of cooperation such as new STEM-based initiatives, the establishment of digital infrastructure such as the Third International Internet Gateway, integration of Bhutan's DrukRen with India's National Knowledge Network - key cooperation in the domain of e-Learning, E-library project complementing Bhutan's efforts at digital transformation, e-learning, etc.

Apart from hydro-power cooperation and development partnership has moved into new and emerging areas with full interoperability of the flagship digital project RuPay, which has been successfully completed.

Bhutan became the second country to launch India's Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app in July 2021, further deepening the financial linkages between our two countries.

Space Cooperation is a new and promising area of bilateral cooperation and collaboration on the development of a small satellite for Bhutan. Both PMs jointly inaugurated the Ground Earth Station of the South Asia Satellite (SAS) in Thimphu in 2019, constructed with the support of ISRO.

A Memorandum of Understanding between India and Bhutan on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space was signed on November 19, 2020, and training of domain experts is underway.

The India-Bhutan SAT was launched into space on 26 November 2022 by ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Inauguration of Ground Earth Station during the visit of Chairman, ISRO.

Scholarships, cultural cooperation, and youth-centric initiatives have also sustained people-to-people ties.

India is the most popular educational destination for Bhutanese students -almost 4000 Bhutanese students are enrolled in Indian Universities at any time, many of whom are also provided scholarships by the Government of India.

The visit would provide an opportunity for both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation and to further advance the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation.
People from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian ethnic backgrounds were more likely to rely financially on support networks, such as friends and family, in retirement, than white British people, according to a new research.

Findings from Phoenix Insights' latest report show that pension participation among ethnic minorities is lower than average, and non-pension sources are expected to play an important role in funding the retirement of ethnic minorities.

The percentage of people from these groups expecting a "comfortable" retirement is also greater -- 37 per cent of people from India and Pakistan and 36 per cent from Bangladesh, compared to 25 per cent among white British people.

However, these expectations do not reflect the present reality in which weekly income for retired Asian and black families are 391 and 412 pounds, respectively, compared to the population average of 556 pounds.

Most ethnic minority groups expect an income between 3,000-7,000 pounds a year higher than the UK average and aim to retire up to two years earlier, the research said.

Compared to the average retirement income of 25,000 pounds expected by white British people, most ethnic minority groups expect to have a retirement income around 16 per cent higher if they were of a similar age and had similar salaries, the research said.

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While non-pension sources can contribute to overall retirement income, the amount of money an individual has saved in a pension is the main contributor to a good standard of living in retirement.

With retirement income typically determined by the number of years a person has saved for and how many years of retirement need to be financed, the finding that individuals from ethnic minority groups also aim to retire up to two years earlier suggests additional limitations on the size of the savings pot these groups will be entering retirement with.

"Across the UK, we know that there are up to 18 million people who are under-saving for retirement. Tackling this problem should be an urgent priority for government, employers, and individuals alike, as the nation is living longer than ever before," said Catherine Foot, director of Phoenix Insights.

"Our findings are clear that ethnic minority groups do indeed have different expectations and levels of preparation for retirement, whilst at the same time demonstrating the need to better understand how providers and government can support these groups so they can enjoy a good quality retirement that meets their financial needs."

--IANS

mi/ksk/
Les membres qui forment le gouvernement ont pris note que le Central Medical Procurement Authority Bill sera presente au parlement prochainement, que des Protocoles dAccord seront signes prochainement, que les recommandation du Greening of the Public Sector Report seront appliquees entre autres.

1. Cabinet has agreed to the introduction of the Central Medical Procurement Authority Bill into the National Assembly. The main object of the Bill is to provide for the establishment of the Central Medical Procurement Authority, which would be responsible for the procurement of medical supplies on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Accordingly, the Authority would, in the discharge of its functions and exercise of its powers, be responsible for:

(a) the procurement of medical supplies for public health institutions;

(b) the warehousing of medical supplies;

(c) the supply and distribution of procured medical supplies to public health institutions; and

(d) ensuring that the stock level of medical supplies in public health institutions are maintained and are available at all times.

In addition, the Bill makes provisions with regard to reforms in the medical and e-health system of the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

2. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre Trust Fund and the Aeronautical Society of Mauritius. The primary aims of the MoU would be to strengthen the mutual cooperation between the two institutions as well as promote and enlarge the exchange of technical, scientific and professional knowledge, to better serve their interests. The MoU would:

(a) allow the sharing of information related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Aeronautics and Aviation, including information relating to scientific and technical events of mutual interest;

(b) encourage members of both parties to exchange publications, with a view to establishing repositories of technical publications; and

(c) identify common areas of technology for collaboration, including the joint-holding and sponsoring of seminars, workshops, and conference.

3. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Infrastructure Division of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Community Development and the University of Mauritius. The aim of the Memorandum of Understanding would be to foster collaboration between the two parties, with respect to research on alternative, sustainable and modern methods of waterproofing for building projects.

4. Cabinet has agreed to the recommendations contained in the Greening of the Public Sector Report commissioned by the European Union under the Switch to Green Facility. The Report also comprises an Action Plan, a Green Charter and an Institutional Mechanism and is based on the outcome of a survey on a number of components, including a situational analysis at five public organisations, on a pilot basis to address the current gaps, challenges and requirements to green the public sector.

5. Cabinet has agreed to Mauritius joining the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation, which is managed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO). The primary objectives of the Collaborative Arrangement would be to:

(i) assist States with the implementation of the ICAO public health related Standards and Recommended Practices and the WHO International Health Regulations; and

(ii) improve preparedness planning and rapid response to public health emergencies that might affect the aviation sector.

6. Cabinet has taken note that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Office, would hold a stakeholder workshop on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on 03 April 2023 and a back-to-back training on Intellectual Property on 04 and 05 April 2023. The aim of the workshop would be to assist the Industrial Property Office of Mauritius in implementation of the PCT-related provisions in the Industrial Property Act.

7. Cabinet has taken note of the arrangements being made by the Ministry of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, for the anti-influenza vaccination exercise for the year 2023. Vaccines would be provided to elderly persons aged 60 and above, children with disabilities attending specialised schools and all inmates of charitable institutions and private licensed homes. The vaccination exercise would start on 05 April 2023 and end on 03 May 2023 in Mauritius. The exercise would also be extended to Rodrigues and Agalega.

8. Cabinet has taken note of the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic prevailing in Mauritius. As at 29 March 2023, there were 28 active cases of COVID-19, out of which 10 patients were admitted at the New ENT Hospital. Over the period of 23 to 29 March 2023 there was no death attributed to COVID-19.

9. Cabinet has taken note that the Ministry of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity would be recognised as a partner to the International Federation on Ageing (IFA) at the 16th Global Conference on Ageing to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 27 to 30 June 2023, by sharing the Ministrys hyperlink (https://socialsecurity.govmu.org) on the IFA Conference website.

The IFAs 16 Global Conference on Ageing would be a colloquium providing a unique opportunity to diverse stakeholders around the world to share and learn from leaders in the field of aging, nurturing leadership, hearing diverse voices and creating space for meaningful engagement.

10. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the recent mission of the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade where he participated in the SADC Council of Ministers held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of the main issues raised by the Minister were:

(a) assistance to Malawi following the passage of cyclone Freddy;

(b) food security;

(c) SADC Pooled Procurement Services for pharmaceuticals and medical commodities; and

(d) sustainable Regional Power Sector Development and Proposal on Establishment of a Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility.

In the margins of the Council of Ministers Meeting, the Minister also met the Minister of Regional Integration and Francophonie of the Democratic Republic of Congo and discussed the need for a Joint Commission and a general Framework Agreement to foster cooperation in several areas such as trade, agriculture, textiles, minerals, education and taxation, amongst others.

11. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the recent mission of the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security where he participated in the Regional Africa Preparatory Meeting for the Food Systems Stocktaking Moment 2023 organised by the United Nations Food Systems Coordination Hub, in collaboration with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), held in Niamey, Niger. The Meeting served as a platform for sharing experiences and good practices towards the implementation of National Pathways on Transformation of Food Systems.

12. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the recent mission of the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security where he participated in the Global Millets Conference held in New Delhi. This first Global Conference was organised in the context of the International Year of Millets 2023. It included two International Conferences on Health & Nutrition and on Millets Value Chain. The Prime Minister of the Republic of India inaugurated the Conference.

In the margins of the Conference, the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security participated in:

(a) a Round Table Group Session with Agriculture Ministers of Guyana, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname and Zambia along with video messages from Egypt and Japan. An overview of efforts being undertaken by India for putting millets on every plate, was made;

(b) a Ministerial Round Table chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The objective was to raise awareness around the world on this miraculous food and to learn from millet producing countries; and

(c) a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare where bilateral issues in the field of agriculture and agricultural diversification were discussed.

13. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the Board of the Chagossian Welfare Fund with Mr Louis Olivier Bancoult, OSK, as part-time Chairperson.

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Kathmandu, April 1: Officials from Nepal and China agreed to resume two-way trade via a key land border point from April 1.

The decision was made during the first meeting of the Nepal-China Coordination Mechanism on Border Trade and Cooperation, which was held on Wednesday in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

The meeting was co-chaired by Madhu Kumar Marasini, Secretary of Nepal's Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Nepal and Chen Yongqi, Executive Vice-Chairman of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

The discussion was mainly focused on resuming the cross border trade and people-to-people movement at optimum level and exploring new avenues of cooperation in border trade and cooperation including smooth operation of land ports, trade facilitation, custom cooperation, border area development, trade-'related infrastructures, among others.

Also Read Indian Embassy, Nepal govt sign MoUs for projects in education, healthcare Nepal plane crash: At least 68 dead, rescuers search for 4 missing persons 71 bodies recovered in Nepal's plane crash; last missing to be confirmed China increasingly involved in Nepal's domestic politics ahead of elections 17.9 mn people set for national and provincial elections in Nepal on Sunday Most ethnic minority groups in UK save less into pensions, shows study Trump won't be handcuffed, Secret Service agents to accompany: Lawyer NYC Mayor Adams wants to build bridges between India and US, says his aide Sri Lanka's inflation drops further to 50.3% amid ongoing economic crisis Japan mulls over more childcare policies amid declining birthrate

'We have agreed to have full operation of Rasuwagadhi/Kerung exit and entry point for two-way trade and people to people movement from April 1,' Secretary Marasini told local media after the meeting.

According to him, the two sides also agreed to resume two-way trade via Tatopani/Zhangmu border point and human movement/passenger clearance from Yari/Pulang border point from May 1, 2023. These two border points also remained shut even after the pandemic.

China, which is also one of the major development partners of Nepal, closed border points with Nepal three years ago with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them was the Kerung/Rasuwagadhi border port. Nepal imports ready-made clothes, footwear, apples, motor batteries, plastic products via this border point while the country exports pashmina, carpets, bamboo stools, wheat, ghee, noodles, pasta, biscuit, juice, jam, beaten rice, sugar, hog plum candy and chocolates to China.

Due to the border closure, Nepali importers doing business with China had incurred huge losses, as Nepal-bound container trucks carrying their goods remained stranded in different towns of Tibet including Nyalam, Kerung and Shigatse. However, China resumed one-way trade with Nepal in July last year following the latter's repeated requests. Since then, there had been limited trade via the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung-Jilong border point. From December last year, China continued opening the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung-Jilong border point for a one-way trade.

On Wednesday's meeting, Chinese side agreed to consider setting up a multi-functional lab in Nepal-China border upon Nepal's request.

According to a statement issued by Nepal's Consulate Office in Lhasa, China welcomed Nepal's suggestion on the construction of trans-border special economic zone and to providing technical and financial support to build infrastructures in Nepal side at Nechung-Lizi border port.

The diplomatic mission also said that the Chinese side assured of opening up seasonal border trade points at Nepal-China border to facilitate bilateral trade.

While acknowledging the importance of closer economic and trade relations between two countries, the two delegations exchanged views on possible cooperation on a range of areas

including the export of agricultural and livestock products such as citrus fruits, dried meat and medicinal herbal products to China, according to the statement.

During the meeting, the Nepali side stressed on the need for Kathmandu-Lhasa direct flights, and requested the Chinese side to resume direct flights at an early date.

Both sides had also underlined the need to enhance the level of support for improving the livelihood of people residing in bordering districts in the Northern Himalayan region of Nepal. 'The Chinese side also agreed to encourage its business community to invest in Nepal in different sectors like manufacturing, agriculture and garments,' read the press statement.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, the Nepali delegation led by Secretary Marasini, called on Yan Jinghai, Chairman of the People's Government of Tibet.

'During the meeting, views were exchanged on matters of mutual interest including the promotion of economic cooperation between Nepal and China in general and Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in particular,' read the statement issued by Nepal's diplomatic mission in Lhasa.

(Santosh Ghimire is India Narrative's Nepal Correspondent in Kathmandu.)

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative
New York City Mayor Eric Adams loves the Indian American community and wants to build bridges between India and the United States, his Indian American aide has said.

Speaking at an event here organised to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Indian American International Chamber of Commerce, Deputy Commissioner, Mayor's Office for International Affairs Dilip Chauhan said mayor was looking for the right time to travel to India.

"Definitely he's looking to travel (to India) and build the bridges between India and the US. He loves the Indian American community, he told PTI on Friday on the sidelines of the event here.

The mayor's Diwali event was attended by more than 1,300 people.

Chauhan is one of the highest ranking Indian American in New York City. The Mayor's Office for International Affairs is the link between New York City and the International Community, which includes 70 Trade Commissions, 116 Consulates, and 193 Permanent Missions.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and I are proud that New York City is home to the largest diplomatic community in the world which includes United Nations Headquarters.

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"We work daily to attract and retain businesses here and to share globally the opportunities available in our city, he said in his address at the three-day event that was attended by Indian Americans from across the country.

Chauhan, who was recently in Ahmedabad representing New York City to attend a G-20 event, said he was highly impressed by the urbanisation and development of urban infrastructure in India.

We saw the number of the city's representatives from India, they were also part (of the meeting). We can see the changes coming and they're looking forward to having global collaboration. I had a great experience, and it was such a proud moment to represent the New York City Mayor Eric Adams, he said.

Chauhan said under Mayor Adams New York City has become an investor-friendly destination.

Mayor Adams is trying to remove barriers to entry for both big and small businesses looking to expand in New York City, he said.

Firstly, he realizes that public safety is paramount to enabling economic growth and is actively focused on making NYC safer and improving the quality of life here," he said.

Chauhan said New York has the biggest consumer base and largest labour force in the nation.

New York City has the third-largest maritime port in the nation, providing ready access for shipping and receiving products from across the globe... We are a truly global city where anyone from anywhere can succeed, Chauhan said.

"I'm looking forward (to having Indian businesses in New York) because I see so much is going on with India and the US. I'm looking forward to welcoming those businesses and we are here to help them. Eric Adams' administration really wanted to help them to open their business in New York City, Chauhan said.
Sudan's military leaders and pro-democracy forces will delay the signing of an agreement to usher in a civilian government, both sides said in a joint statement issued early Saturday.

The postponement of the signing which had been scheduled for later Saturday comes as key security reform negotiations between the Sudanese army and the country's powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces appear to have reached a deadlock.

A meeting will be held Sunday to set a new date for signing the final political agreement, which could not be signed on time due to the lack of consensus on some outstanding issues," the statement said.

Sudan has been mired in chaos after a military coup, led by the country's top Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, removed a Western-backed power-sharing government in October 2021, upending the country's short-lived transition to democracy.

But last December, the military, the RSF and numerous pro-democracy groups signed a preliminary deal vowing to restore the transition.

In recent months, internationally brokered workshops in Khartoum have sought to find common ground over the country's thorniest political issues in the hope of signing a more inclusive final agreement.

Also Read India supports peace process and capacity building in South Sudan Political transition in Sudan continues to 'face obstacles': India at UNSC Nearly 4 mn children, women in Sudan suffering from acute malnutrition: UN UN condemns clashes in South Sudan after 27 killed, probe to be launched India pushes for settlement of international trade in rupee with Sudan Italy orders OpenAI to stop processing users' data else face fine White House refuses to pay for Twitter's Blue verification: Report Donald Trump expected to be arraigned in court on April 4: Reports Cyprus, Israel, Greece join forces on energy, defence, economy and tourism Biden wants supply chains to start and end in US, says his advisor

Chief among the discussion points have been security sector reform and the integration of the RSF into the military the topic of this week's talks. But talks ended Wednesday without any clear outcome.

Shihab Ibrahim, a spokesperson for one of the largest pro-democracy groups that signed December's deal, said the army and the RSF have struggled to reach an agreement over the timeline of the integration process.

The army wants a two-year timeline for integration while the RSF has called for a 10-year window, he said.

Spokespersons for the Sudanese army and the RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges in Russia has news organisations based outside the country weighing for the second time in a year whether the risks of reporting there during wartime are too great.

The Journal and other news outlets continued to press Friday for the release of Evan Gershkovich, He was taken into custody by Russian security officials a day earlier and accused of spying, charges the newspaper vehemently denies.

More than 30 press freedom groups and news organizations, including the Journal, The New York Times, BBC, The Associated Press, The New Yorker, Time and The Washington Post, signed a letter Friday to Anatoly I. Antonov, Russia's ambassador to the U.S., expressing concern about "a significant escalation in your government's anti-press actions.

Russia is sending the message that journalism within your borders is criminalized and that foreign correspondents seeking to report from Russia do not enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, they said.

A reporter for The New York Times who was temporarily in Moscow, Valerie Hopkins, left after Gershkovich's arrest, the newspaper said.

This is a significant shift and one that a lot of news outlets that have maintained journalists there will be looking at with alarm, said Jodie Ginsberg, president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group that promotes press freedom and safety.

Also Read Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia, US condemns strongly Govt calls out TV channels on 'distasteful' reporting on accidents, deaths Why a WSJ writer considers BJP 'most important foreign political party'? Reporting of call drop data at state level difficult: COAI to regulator Russia's Gazprom threatens to cut gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine ASEAN to switch to local currency use in the region to avoid crisis Stampede at food distribution centre kills 12 in Pakistan's Karachi city NY judge overseeing Trump's criminal case faces a challenge like no other Indians, children among 8 migrants found dead near US-Canada border Global stocks climb and US treasury yield declines after inflation data

Gershkovich's arrest comes a year after the Russian government, shortly after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, imposed harsh new restrictions on journalists that threatened punishment for reports that went against the Kremlin's version of events even forbidding the use of the word war to describe the conflict.

Some news organizations pulled their journalists out as a result. Some of those journalists returned later when it became clear the restrictions were aimed mostly at Russians.

A free-lance Russian journalist, Andrey Novashov, was sentenced to eight months of correctional labor for allegedly reporting false information about the Russian military, CPJ said. Ilya Krasilshchik, former publisher of the Latvia-based news site Meduza, was prosecuted on a similar charge but he left the country, CPJ said.

Hundreds of Russian journalists have left the country, Ginsberg said.

To date, the advocacy group said it was unaware of any non-Russian journalists arrested or prosecuted under those laws. Gershkovich was detained on separate spying charges.

Pretty much any foreign correspondent who is still there is getting ready to depart, or giving that very serious consideration at this point, said Ann Cooper, who was a National Public Radio bureau chief in Moscow and former executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Gershkovich's arrest is very unsettling and would make anybody feel uncomfortable, she said.

Every journalist and news organization has to weigh the circumstances and make their own decision, Cooper said. If I were an American correspondent based in Moscow right now, I don't believe I would stay.

The New York Times does not have a reporter based in Russia now but has sent journalists, like Hopkins, in for periodic assignments, a spokeswoman said. For Tuesday's newspaper, Hopkins wrote about a Russian man facing a jail sentence and his 13-year-old daughter being put in an orphanage for speaking out against the war.

One journalist who left and came back, Steve Rosenberg, Russia editor of the BBC, tweeted that he was shocked by what has happened to Gershkovich. His Twitter account said nothing about his own status, and the BBC declined comment Friday.

CNN has rotated international correspondents like Matthew Chance and Fred Pleitgen in and out of Russia for the past year, and Chance has been reporting from Moscow about Gershkovich's arrest. The network would not say more about its plans for staffing in the country.

We are concerned by the news coming from Russia and are monitoring the situation there closely, it said in a statement.

The Washington Post has three journalists reporting on Russia Robyn Dixon, Mary Ilyushina and Francesca Ebel but is not commenting on their whereabouts, a spokeswoman said. Dixon wrote about Gershkovich's arrest from Latvia. In a memo announcing Ebel's hiring last fall, the Post said its Russian team is working from outside the country.

The Associated Press story about Gershkovich's arrest, as well as a separate profile of the journalist, carried no bylines or datelines. The AP does not speak about the moves of its personnel for security reasons, but it maintains a presence in Russia, spokeswoman Lauren Easton said.

Bloomberg News pulled its reporters from Russia last year, with Editor-in-Chief Johnn Micklethwait telling staff members then that the new laws seem designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association. Bloomberg reporters have not returned to the country, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

Even journalists who fled Russia last year continued to report on the country, taking advantage of technology unavailable to predecessors from earlier generations: the Internet, encrypted communications, and mobile-phone cameras in the hands of millions of potential witnesses.

Still, Ginsberg said, technology never replaces being there.
As Elon Musk gears up to start removing legacy verified Blue check marks from Saturday, the White House is reportedly not going to pay to have its staff's official Twitter profiles continue to be verified.

According to a report in Axios, White House director of digital strategy, Rob Flaherty, has sent guidance to the staffers via an email.

"It is our understanding that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service. Thus, a blue check mark will now simply serve as a verification that the account is a paid user," the email read.

The guidance doesn't necessarily apply to government agencies, but according to the report, citing a source familiar with White House plans, it may send guidance to some agencies and departments in the future.

Some White House officials, like the President and Vice President, will likely continue to be verified with a grey checkmark.

In his email, Flaherty said that as per Twitter's updated policies, it will no longer be able to guarantee verification for federal agency accounts that do not meet its new eligibility requirements.

Also Read SpaceX's Starship only 50% likely to pass first orbital mission: Musk New Twitter policy to follow and question science, says Elon Musk Musk's title of world's richest person at risk after net worth dips $70 bn How will Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter change the public square? Twitter sued by advisory firm for not paying $1.9 mn as Musk deal fees Donald Trump expected to be arraigned in court on April 4: Reports Cyprus, Israel, Greece join forces on energy, defence, economy and tourism Biden wants supply chains to start and end in US, says his advisor After indictment, Donald Trump raises over $4 million in 24 hours Georgia legislature passes resolution condemning Hinduphobia in US

Meanwhile, the micro-blogging platform Twitter on Friday announced that its 'Verification for Organisations' service is now available globally.

According to the company, Verified Organisations is a new way for organisations and their affiliates to differentiate themselves on the micro-blogging platform.

Accounts, which are affiliated with the organisation, will receive an affiliate badge on their profile with the business's logo, and will also be featured on the organisation's Twitter profile, showing their connection.

"All organisations are vetted before they can join Verified Organisations," the company mentioned.

'Verification for Organisations' service was earlier called 'Blue for Business'.

--IANS

na/ksk/
Around 12,000 sellers showcased their products at the second phase of the Canton Fair, which is devoted to daily consumer goods and home decorations. Held in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou every spring and autumn, Chinas twice-yearly trade exposition serves as a venue for domestic companies to market their products to foreign buyers. The first phase, which ran from April 15 to Wednesday, received more than 1.26 million visitors. A third phase will kick off on May 1 featuring textiles and health care products

Apr 24, 2023 06:43 PM
Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 10:57AM

Photo: GM

GM's electric vehicles will lose access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, starting with the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV. Instead, the carmaker's EVs will rely on Android Automotive and its apps. EV owners will get eight years of free Google Assistant and Google Maps without an extra charge. But GM hasn't mentioned what you'll pay to use the features afterward.

GM argues Android Automotive provides more control over the experience. GM teases there will be upcoming driver assistance tech that will be "more tightly coupled" with navigation features. And they won't require a smartphone. But you could expect "subscription revenue opportunities," so there might be features that require a recurring fee.

The carmaker's combustion engine models will still get CarPlay and Android Auto. And existing models won't lose access to these platforms on existing EVs. But GM plans for an all-electric passenger vehicle line by 2035.

Source
Some Zanu PF members, who voted in the just-ended primary elections in Zimbabwes Mashonaland West province, say they ditched ministers, deputy ministers and non-performing legislators as they failed to fulfill their promises made five years ago.

In an interview, irate villagers said there are certain areas with poor roads and degraded bridges, which were ignored by sitting Members of Parliament, who include some occupying government positions.

Hurungwe West Zanu PF members dumped Mashonaland West provincial minister, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, for allegedly failing to fulfill her promises that include taking care of certain roads and bridges that played a critical role in transporting their goods for sale in Karoi.

The Hurungwe villagers claimed that they were surprised to see Mliswa-Chikoka at recent election campaign rallies when she stopped doing so soon after she became a provincial minister.

Hurungwe ward 7 villager, Denzel Watyoka, said Mliswa-Chikoka, who was defeated by Chinjai Kambuzuma, failed to meet most of her last promises.

"She failed to provide what she promised to deliver therefore there was no reason for us to vote for her this time around," said Watyoka.

Another villager, Joel Zilala, said locals are determined to dump non-performers.

"Things have changed we are determined to change our destiny. Gone are the days when we used to listen to party leaders directives to vote for individuals who don't even come from the area.

Kambuzuma said she is happy that Zimbabweans have realized that their regions can mostly be developed by locals and not what he called outsiders.

Another Zanu PF member from Zvimba West, Adam Phiri, where Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi was beaten hands down in the primaries, said Members of Parliament forget about coming to their respective constituencies once they are appointed ministers.

Studio 7 was unable to reach primary election losers - Mliswa-Chikoka, Ziyambi, Deputy Minister of Information Kindness Paradza and Chegutu West MP, Dexter Nduna.

But Independent Norton MP, Temba Mliswa, who is the brother of Mliswa-Chikoka, said Zanu PF should not have allowed ministers to contest in primary elections.

"There is no logic in allowing ministers to be contested in the primary elections because they are hardly in their constituencies due to pressing government assignments," said Mliswa.

Independent political analyst, Rejoice Ngwenya, said the outcome of Zanu PF primary elections is not a sign of flourishing democracy in the ruling party but an indication that people are fed up with non-performers.

Only 4 sitting MPs managed to win in primaries conducted in 22 constituencies in the region.

Former Health Minister, Douglas Mombeshora, bounced back in Mhangura. VOA
IBPS Clerk Result 2023: The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection has released IBPS Clerk Result 2023 provisional allotment list. The provisional allotment under reserve list has been released and is available to candidates on the official site of IBPS at ibps.in.

The list will be available on the official website from March 31 to April 30, 2023. The provisional allotment has been done based on merit-cum-preference keeping in view the spirit of various guidelines issued by government of India Candidates can check the reserve list through these simple steps given below.



IBPS Clerk Result 2023 provisional allotment list: Steps to check

Candidates are required to check the IBPS Clerk result by following the steps given below

Go to the official site of IBPS at ibps.in.

Click on IBPS Clerk Result 2023 provisional allotment list available on the home page.

Fill in the required details and click on submit.

The list will be displayed on the screen.

Check the details and download the page.

Keep a hard copy of the same for further need.

As per the notice issued, the entire provisional allotment process under CRP Clerks XI for the vacancies 2022-23 stands completed with this notification. For more related details candidates can visit to the official website of IBPS.
KIIT Deemed University, Bhubaneswar witnessed a significant jump in the average pay package in the ongoing campus placement drive for the 2023 graduating batch of the Schools of Technology. This year the average CTC has crossed Rs. 8.5 lakh, while the highest has touched Rs. 62 lakh, taking KIIT in the league of top National Institutes in terms of pay offered to the students in the campus placement.

KIIT is set to achieve cent percent placement yet again with 3600 job offers by 280 companies already in place for a batch size of 2800 eligible B.Tech. students. In absolute terms, 2600 students - over 92% of the batch - have already got job offers in the placement drive which started last year. As many as 1100 students have received multiple job offers.

The best-ever placement performance this year has added to the joy among parents and students of the institute, which is celebrating its Silver Jubilee year. Founded by eminent educationist and social activist Prof. Achyuta Samanta, KIIT is well known in the academic community as the most student-friendly, parent-friendly, corporate-friendly, and staff-friendly campus. KIIT has been attracting international students from over 65 countries, besides all parts of India. Over the years, it has become a household name and a respected brand due to its quality education and placement.

KIIT took shape as an institution of higher learning in 1997 and since then, it has been recording near total placement in all academic programmes, irrespective of macroeconomic and job market scenarios. A high-quality faculty team with impeccable academic pedigree and regularly updated curriculum ensure that students have the most relevant domain knowledge. An innovative teaching-learning process and global exposure make them industry-ready and high performers in today's fast-changing techno-business environment.

After it was declared a Deemed University by the Govt. of India in 2004, KIIT has redefined professional education in the country and set benchmarks in teaching pedagogies and research outputs. The Education Ministry's NIRF India Rankings 2022 has placed it as the 20th-best university in the country. It ranks in the cohort of 601-800 globally in the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023. The Computer Science stream of KIIT Deemed University ranks 301-400 globally, while General Engineering ranks 401-500 in the subject rankings of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings - a reflection of their global excellence. The University is also accredited with the highest A++ Grade by NAAC.

KIIT is a multi-disciplinary university with over 400+ academic programmes offered from 23 Schools. Five Schools imparting BTech and MTech courses in Civil, Computer, Electrical, Electronics, and Mechanical streams constitute Schools of Technology of KIIT Deemed University. Their academic programmes match global standards and are accredited by the IET, UK and ABET, USA.

This year, students had a super dream run with high CTC companies. Eighty-two companies visited the campus offering annual pay package of more than Rs. 10 lakh. About 1500 students were placed in "Dream Companies" with CTC of Rs. 15 lakh or more. Another 1000 students were placed with pay package ranging from Rs. 10 - 15 lakh.

'Day Zero' dream campus drives alone resulted in the placement of 1700 plus students by top-notch MNCs. 'Day-One' campus recruitment drive this season generated about 700 job offers from four companies: Accenture, Cognizant, Capgemini, and TCS. This is an excellent 'Day One' & 'Day Zero' conversion taking into account the current job market scenario, said industry experts.

KIIT Deemed University is the only university in India to proactively create an interface with the leading names in the industry. This is facilitating the placement of KIIT students in various national and multinational companies. For instance, HighRadius, a FinTech company, in collaboration with KIIT, has established a FinTech Lab in KIIT Campus wherein more than 2000 students were offered summer internship. It was followed by a one-year experiential learning internship with a stipend of Rs. 15,000 per month. Fifty percent of these students are absorbed.

The placement performance of other Schools of KIIT Deemed University looks equally bright. In the School of Management, which offers the flagship MBA programme, 230 students out of the total strength of 300 have already bagged job offers from 50 companies. Like every year, the School of Management has achieved 100% placement this year also. Campus placement drive has recently commenced in the School of Biotechnology and School of Law and the initial trends are very encouraging.

KIIT has academic tie-ups with 350+ international universities providing an excellent opportunity for students to pursue higher education abroad. KIIT facilitates the academic placement of about 500 students every year in reputed national and international institutions for higher studies. Students have got confirmed offers from top European and American universities for higher education courses, including Ph.D.

The campus placement drive is in full swing and many companies have confirmed participation in the 2023 Campus Recruitment Programme in the coming months. "We are completely assured that we will be able to provide career to all deserving students and will achieve cent percent placements like all previous years", Prof. Saranjit Singh, Pro-Vice Chancellor, KIIT said, while thanking participating companies and Team Training & Placement for the excellent placement performance.
Seven-seaters are all about practicality. For the Filipino family, it has to be safe, reliable, but most of all, offers comfort and joy with...
Photo: Family photo

The apparent online scam that landed Suzana Thayer in a Hong Kong jail for allegedly trafficking cocaine on a flight from Ethiopia was not the first time the Ontario grandmother had been duped by a fake internet romance.

Thayer was writing a book about her first experience of being defrauded online  by someone purporting to be a doctor working for the United Nations in Syria  when her family says she was lured in again.

In the first ordeal the Barrie, Ont., resident lost more than $200,000. In the second she lost her liberty, at least for now, as she languishes in a Hong Kong jail pending resolution of her case.

Thayer's daughter told The Canadian Press that her 64-year-old mother is "1000 per cent innocent" of drug trafficking, and would never have knowingly travelled with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine packed into buttons of clothing she was asked to transport.

Angela Thayer described her mother as a woman who became vulnerable as she sought companionship online several years after the 2016 death of her husband, the only man she had ever been with and to whom she had been married for decades.

"I believe she had no knowledge of the drugs and that she was a victim of  a romance scam," Thayer said in an interview.

When asked about the matter, Global Affairs Canada said "consular officials are actively engaged on this case and are providing consular assistance to the individual and their family.

Suzana Thayer is receiving informal assistance from a Hong Kong-based Catholic clergyman named John Witherspoon, who says he's helped more than a dozen foreigners who claimed to have been tricked into smuggling drugs.

Witherspoon said in an interview that he has visited Thayer in jail several times.

He voiced hope Thayer may walk free, saying the Hong Kong authorities "are not after blood at any cost," and have a track record of releasing people when evidence points towards innocence.

"I am optimistic but I cant guarantee a time frame," he said. "You just have to be patient."

Angela Thayer said her mother was first targeted by someone who identified themselves on Facebook as Walter Williams.

She isn't certain when the relationship began, but knows that by the summer of 2021 her mother believed she was married to the person, who presented her with a marriage certificate subsequently deemed fake by Ontario Provincial Police.

Suzana Thayer had also transferred more than $200,000 to the person, her daughter said.

When Angela Thayer learned that her mother had been defrauded, she insisted they file a complaint with the OPP.

"She kind of broke down," the younger Thayer said. " She says that she was in love with him."

Suzana Thayer then wrote "I've Been Conned: A Book for Dummies," that came out in June 2022 and was her attempt to raise awareness about the scourge of fake internet romances, which have defrauded countless people across the globe.

While writing her book, Thayer was approached on Facebook by someone who identified himself as James Caywood and claimed he was a member of the U.S. military.

Angela Thayer recalled how her mother sent chapters of her book to Caywood, who would provide feedback.

Their exchanges became romantic but suspicions weren't raised because Caywood never asked for money, Thayer said.

Caywood then got Suzana Thayer a one-month entry visa for Ethiopia and sent her a ticket to fly to Addis Ababa, her daughter said.

Angela Thayer asked her mother not to go, but Suzana Thayer insisted she would not pass up an opportunity to travel, having never previously left Canada.

According to Angela Thayer, her mother spent around two weeks in an Addis Ababa hotel, but Caywood never showed up. He then sent her a ticket to Hong Kong and asked her to meet him there.

Next, she said a man who identified himself as Eric brought a blue suit case to the hotel, which he described as a gift from Caywood.

Angela Thayer said she received a call from her mother at 10 a.m. EST on Sept. 6, telling her that the police at Hong Kong's airport had arrested her after discovering that the buttons of the clothes she was carrying in her suitcase were filled with cocaine.

Angela Thayer said she is now working tirelessly to secure her mother's release, efforts that include a GoFundMe campaign to hire a lawyer in Hong Kong.

Her mother had lived a "sheltered" life, she said, and suffered from depression following the death of husband  a former police officer.

She was just going online because she was lonely," she said. "She was wanting to find that love that she had, that she lost, she just wanted to be with somebody again, to be happy."
Photo: Spirit of the West Adventures

Light, buoyant and cheap, polystyrene foam is commonly used for docks, buoys, pontoons at marinas and other water activities throughout Canada.

But the plastic, oil-based product is causing a wave of pollution in oceans and waters across the country, says B.C. NDP MP Rachel Blaney.

The federal government needs to ban the use of expanded polystyrene (ESP) and extruded polystyrene (XP), commonly known as Styrofoam, in floating structures in both freshwater and saltwater, said Blaney, the MP for North Island-Powell River.

Polystyrene foam never breaks down, but degrades into thousands of small puffed plastic fragments that travel long distances and are extremely hazardous to aquatic environments, she said.

Its just so harmful to our beaches, fish in the ocean and to wildlife on the shores, Blaney said, adding polystyrene foam is a top complaint from communities in her riding involved in coastal cleanups.

As it breaks into those smaller and smaller microbeads, it's absolutely impossible to clean up, she said.

It's crazy to think in this country that we're putting foam into the water purposefully  we shouldn't be doing that.

Blaney has tabled a motion to ban the use of polystyrene foams to build floating structures and phase out their use in existing ones and has partnered with ocean conservation groups, including Surfrider Canada, on a letter-writing campaign supporting the ban.

The federal government included Styrofoam takeout containers when it launched the phaseout of six single-use plastic items in December, Blaney noted.

But theres just so much more that they could do, she said, adding its not just a coastal issue.

Its everywhere. Communities across Canada that are inland are having their lakes, rivers and waterways being polluted.

After Blaney submitted a petition to Parliament in the summer calling for a ban, the federal government said it wasnt looking at prohibiting polystyrene foam in marine ecosystems. However, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault noted Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) had new regulations obliging shellfish growers to encase any foam floats in hard plastic shells.

Blaney said while the government doesnt see the need for further action, coastal communities do.

We see the need, she said. I see it all the time in my constituency on the beaches and in the water, so that doesnt work for me.

Banning foam floats a 'no-brainer'

Banning the use of polystyrene foam in aquatic infrastructure is a quick and relatively easy way to make a positive impact on marine ecosystems, said Peter Ross, senior scientist and director of water pollution at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Its an easy fix, especially when there are alternative materials available. It should be a no-brainer, Ross said.

The degradation of foam, either over time or set loose by stormy weather, is a chronic source of pollution and causes harm to animals that feed along the shore or on the surface of the water, like birds, fish, turtles and even marine mammals feeding or coming up for air, he said. This can lead to starvation or blockages that can eventually kill an animal, he said.

These microplastics float, which is a little bit different than many other plastics, he said.

When youve got these tiny white things floating around, many, many species are going to mistake them for food.

And if the plastic foam beads are biofouled  darkened and covered with algae, bacteria, plankton or other organic matter after being in the water for an extended period of time  its going to mimic food to an even greater degree, Ross added.

Then it really starts to resemble, and even taste, like natural food, he said.

It really brings up the risk of surreptitious consumption by some poor creature that thinks its actually something nutritious.

Stopping the flow of plastics before they enter waterways and oceans is the most effective way to tackle the scope of the problem, Ross said, adding technology and cleanups cant keep pace with the amount of pollution entering the ocean.

Foam pollution demoralizing for cleanup volunteers

Quadra Island resident Nevil Hand, who organizes regular beach cleanups in his community, agreed.

Large or small, cleaning up foam is especially difficult, said the retired firefighter who organizes the Quadra Island Beach Clean Dream Team.

In November, community volunteers cleaned up the islands beaches, and within a month, winter storms had erased any sign the teams had been there, he said.

This winter, it seemed like an entire marina exploded to the south of us, he said.

We've got big pieces of dock flotation here this year in amounts weve never seen before.

Clean team volunteers, now holding a spring cleanup contest, have been stacking up foam debris at beach trailheads for pick up, Hand said, adding its unsettling to see how much there is.

Foam is so fragile. Its disgusting the way it breaks up so easily along our shores, he said.

Some volunteers just found a 12-foot-long piece of foam that they hope will dry out in the coming weeks so they can remove it.

The problem is we can only really deal with the bigger pieces, he said.

Even then, when were handling it, its breaking up in our hands and were making even more of a mess.

Its demoralizing because the small pieces are the most destructive to the environment, he added.

Thats what the birds and the fish are going to ingest and [it] will harm our wildlife with stomach poisonings and who knows what.

The environmental costs are high because people and marine industries want to continue using cheap materials, Hand said.

We dont want to see it used in the marine environment. It just doesnt belong here.

 Canada's National Observer
This was a somber week for many Tennessee families. I offer my condolences to the loved ones of those lost at The Covenant School in Nashville on Monday. Flags over the capitol and all state buildings were flown at half-staff in honor of the families, students, school faculty, and the church. The assailant committed an evil beyond my comprehension. I commend officers Engelbert, Collazo, and others for acting swiftly and removing this killer before more lives were lost.

Now more than ever, it is time for the General Assembly to step up and protect our children. Currently, there are a few ways we are acting to bolster our schools safety. This years budget includes $20 million in School Safety Grants directed to local school districts. Next years proposed budget includes $32 million for the Tennessee School Safety Initiative which provides 131 new school safety positions and guarantees at least one special agent for each of Tennessees 95 counties. We must also expand our safety measures to private schools.

I voted for HB 1456 which will allow private schools like The Covenant School to contract student resource officers through their local sheriff. I voted for HB 322 in the Government Operations Committee which aims to require schools to implement threat assessments, active shooter drills, and keep all exterior doors locked when children are present in public and private schools. This bill is scheduled to be heard on the House floor April 6.

When the House reconvened this Thursday, I was proud to see hundreds of Tennesseans using their first amendment right to voice their concerns. They were heard loud and clear; however, it was unfortunate that a few members of the Democratic Party used this protest to disrupt the decorum in the chamber. They used signs, bull horns, and yelled chants to prevent other Representatives from conducting the peoples business, yet your government was not halted. Under Speaker Sextons leadership, we were able to stop further disruption and hear dozens of bills which will impact all Tennesseans.

Among this legislation includes the Transportation Modernization Act which is now off for the Governors signature. This legislation is an unprecedented investment in Tennessees infrastructure which was accomplished without tax increases or debt accruement. It will also ensure projects are completed in a fraction of normal construction times.

In addition to continued human trafficking response, HB 115 authorizes the Secretary of State to implement a voluntary program for businesses to opt into. This initiative would enroll a business into periodic training sessions to educate employees on identifying potential trafficking victims as well as where to report suspicions of trafficking.

Lastly, HB 818 is another bill ready to protect Tennessee students. This bill increases penalties for those who do not stop when school buses pick up or drop off children. Students should be safe coming to and from school, and this legislation holds drivers accountable.

Thank you for allowing me to serve you. Please write me about your concerns and ideas

Rep. Greg Martin
A man on Blackford Street told police an unknown person tried to get him to give personal information and gift cards under the guise of being with Covid Relief. The man said he did not comply and wanted a report made.



* * *

A suspicious man was reported on S. Lovell Ave. Police spoke with the man, who said he was knocking on doors around the S, Lovell area and asking for work. The man did not break any laws, so police made sure he didn't have warrants and let him walk.

* * *

A man told police his blue Mongoose bike was stolen at 529 E. 11th St. about 20 minutes prior to police arrival. The man said he knew the offender only by the name "KD." He described "KD" to be a 5'9 black male who typically can be found on Douglas Street. The value of the bike is $50, and the man said he did wish to prosecute.

* * *

A man told police he last had his wallet with him while he was at the Smoothie King, 1700 Broad St., the day before around 5:30 p.m., and he thought he had put it in his pocket. He said it was possibly dropped or misplaced somewhere after that. He realized it was gone when he got to his girlfriends house around 10:30-11 p.m., and he couldnt find it anywhere.

* * *

An employee at a business at 5407 Hixson Pike told police he wanted a homeless party who was on his party trespassed. Police found the homeless man behind the business and trespassed him from the property. The man then left the scene.

* * *

A suspicious person was reported on Green Hill Drive. Police found a man who matched the description of the person who was suspected of being under someone's carport. The man had a big bag of stuff and appeared very nervous when police began questioning him. He said he does

not have an ID and is homeless. With no victims of any crimes, police let the man go.

* * *

Police were handed a wallet with an unknown person's items in it on Van Buren Street. The wallet will be turned into CPD Property for safekeeping.

* * *

Officers responded to a disorder with a weapon at the apartments at 5305 Hwy 58. A woman had called police because she was on the phone with her daughter, who was crying. The daughter was in a disorder with her now ex-boyfriend and he had grabbed a knife and put it to his own wrist. The man told police he did that in the heat of the moment and he has no desire to hurt himself or others. The daughter said she at no point felt threatened by him; she was just worried he might hurt himself. The

two were separated for the night.

* * *

An employee at the apartments at 1701 N. Concord Road told police a tenant had entered the office causing a disorder due to his work order for his washer not being completed. The employee said the tenant was behind on his rent and wanted to be credited for six months to one year, due to him having maintenance problems since December of 2022. Police spoke with the tenant at his apartment and he provided police with video footage of his encounter with the employee inside of the office. While watching the video footage, police didn't hear the man yell at the employee.

* * *

A man called police to report substantial damage to the fence and a light pole at the rear of a property he manages at 5513 Hwy.153. The man is a project manager for Wolford Development, which owns the building. He said some time between 4 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., someone damaged a chain-link fence ($5,000) and a metal light pole ($10,000). There is no suspect information concerning this incident.
Tom Sneed at WDYN studio Tom Sneed with WDYN station co-founder Dr. Buddy Nichols and his daughter Caroline Tom Sneed in 1982 Tom and Cindy Sneed Tom Sneed with his friend Dr. Glenn Draper Tom Sneed with frequent guest Musician Johnny Mann and co host Dr. Tom Hammett Tom Sneed with WDYN workers Tom Sneed with supporters Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams and Pianist Jack Clark Previous Next

Chattanooga Broadcaster Tommy Lynn Sneed started in radio in 1971 at WPGD in Soddy Daisy sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. Mr. Sneed said, A year later owner Bob Mayer decided if I was going to hang around hed put me on the on the payroll.

April 1, 2023 marks Mr. Sneeds 32 anniversary at Christian radio station WDYN, a very important part of his 52 year career.

Mr. Sneed said Mr. Mayer wanted to get into the Chattanooga market so he brokered a deal to swap the Soddy station with Dick broadcasting for WMOC. Mr. Sneed was hired as manager for six years. Mr. Mayer built Radio Paradise on the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean and he immediately hired Mr. Sneed as his assistant.

Mr. Sneed said, Going from a 1,000 watt to 50,000 watt radio station was unreal as the they received 800 to 1,000 listener letters a week about the Christian programs. Our coverage was amazing.

Mr. Sneed remembers, One of our most popular programs was 15 minutes a day of Chuck Wagon Selections, Ill Fly Away, Church in the Wildwood, This World is Not My Home and the list is endless; listeners loved it.

Mr. Sneed said he worked mainly from Chattanooga but traveled to the station several times coordinating with employees. I sold programs on the station and ordered the parts when technical issues arose, I basically did everything.

My biggest challenge was in 1989 when category 5 Hurricane Hugo took down our 200 foot tower.

Mr. Sneed said a consulting engineer helped get the station back on the air with about half the coverage. He said, Radio Paradise touched thousands of lives and Im thankful to have been a small part of the opportunity to help get out the Gospel in that part of the world.

He said, "Mr. Mayer sold Radio Paradise in 1991 leaving me without a job, but the Lord had other plans. I closed out that job on a Friday and started WDYN the following Monday.

Newly named Tennessee Temple President Dr. Buddy Nichols, who with Brother Jack, started WDYN in 1968, found out I was available and they tapped me to be the new general manager of the 100,000 watt noncommercial station.

Dr. Nichols said, Sneed was Gods man for the job just at the time we needed him and hes proved that time and time again. Hes the glue that holds the station together.

Mr. Sneed said he took the new job immediately, a job he still holds today. He said its been challenging with so many changes over the decades.

When the Nichols brothers convinced Dr. Lee Roberson in the late 60s the college needed a radio station it was all funded through Highland Park Baptist Church and the school, who held the license. Mr. Sneed said, When the FCC allowed a nonprofit radio station to raise their own support they began two shares-a-thons a year and so far God has met every need, although there have been some lean situations."

Mr. Sneed said his biggest challenge came in 2010 when Tennessee Temple University sold WDYN to the Bible Broadcasting Network out of Charlotte, N.C. God was looking out for us and although it was lower power, we acquired the AM frequency at 980.

"Weve added two translators and the FCC has approved increasing the 980 frequency to 2,500 watts.

"Our biggest break came in early 2000 when we started streaming our programs and now anyone with a computer can hear WDYN at WDYN.com anywhere in the world, what an accomplishment.

Mr. Sneed said WDYN will celebrate its 55 anniversary next month during the May Share-a-Thon and offer a commemerative CD of some of voices broadcast to any person giving a gift of any amount. The CD will include President Reagans visit to the campus in 1976 which was heard live over WDYN.

Mr. Sneed said, We would not have reached this milestone without the prayerful and financial support of our listeners; many say they never turn off the station.

Mr. Sneed said his wife Cindy has played a very important role in his career. "She was my office manager at both Radio Paradise and WDYN and provided me with the moral support needed during those difficult times. It would have been impossible to do it without her; we did it as a team.

Mr. Sneed said, "There are so many people I cannot begin to name all of them who worked in the ministry volunteering and helping present the Gospel around the clock. Ill just say a special thank you to all my friends and supporters.

At 75, Mr. Sneed has no plans to retire. I realize in the next 10 years I will have to slow down, God already has a plan.

Mr. Sneed is a licensed minister but knew very quick God called him to spread the Gospel through radio. I still get excited when someone shares their salvation experience was by listening to one of our programs on WDYN or a listener tells me just how the station has enriched their Christian experience."

Mr. Sneed recalls, In the early days, Dr. Lee Roberson would say WDYN is a direction you need and its certainly been distinctively different during its 55 years on the air."






Blood Assurance and Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly are calling on residents to donate the gift of life during National Volunteer Month.



Since 1991, the month of April has been dedicated to honoring all volunteers throughout the United States, as well as encouraging volunteerism, like giving blood.



In recognition of the occasion, Mayor Kelly is featured in a new Public Service Announcement produced by Blood Assurance.

Its critically important that Chattanoogans donate blood at Blood Assurance, Mayor Kelly said in the video. Chattanoogans rely on these donations during their most critical medical emergencies.

Blood Assurance is the sole supplier of blood and blood products to multiple medical facilities in Chattanooga, including CHI Memorial Hospital, Erlanger Hospital, and Parkridge Medical Center. The nonprofit has three donation centers in Hamilton County.



Giving blood is quick and easy with Blood Assurance, said Mayor Kelly. Every time youre donating, youre potentially saving a life. I would encourage every Chattanoogan to donate as often as possible.

Donors can schedule an appointment online at www.bloodassurance.org/schedule, call 800-962-0628, or text BAGIVE to 999777. Walk-ins are also accepted.



To be eligible to donate blood, you must be at least 17 years old (16 years old with parental consent), weigh 110 pounds or more and be in good health. Donors are asked to drink plenty of fluids  avoiding caffeine  and eat a meal that is rich in iron prior to donating.



All individuals who donate from April 1-30, will receive a commemorate Super Donor T-shirt.






Not many people would disagree if you said The Beatles changed everything about pop music. The musicians who hated the band might disagree on principle, but their legions of fans would defend them. The Beatles sang several songs with lyrics in other languages to their fans around the globe.

(l-r) George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr in the background as The Beatles perform in Germany in 1966 | Gerhard Rauchwetter/picture alliance via Getty Images

1. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand

The Beatles cut their teeth playing multiple residencies in Hamburg, Germany, during the early 1960s. In his book Paul McCartney: A Life, author Peter Ames Carlin writes that Paul was the only band member who knew more than middling German when they first arrived. They all learned a lot more than the basics while they mach schau in Deutschland as they cut their hit song I Want to Hold Your Hand entirely in German (though they recorded it in early 1964, just before they broke through in the United States).

2. Sie Liebt Dich

The Beatles pleased their German fans by performing another song in their native tongue. The Fab Four recorded Sie Liebt Dich  better known as She Loves You  in early 1964 during the same session that produced Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand. The Beatles didnt sing in other languages often, but making their first two non-English songs for the Germans made sense. George Harrison said he and his bandmates didnt have a clue about being professional musicians until arriving in Hamburg. They emerged from their German stints ready to take on the world, and we know how well that worked out.

3. Michelle

The first time The Beatles sang lyrics in other languages on a record came when they cut their two German tunes in 1964. Paul McCartneys Michelle predates both of them. According to The Beatles Lyrics editor Hunter Davies, Michelle was one of Pauls first songs. He sang it at parties in Liverpool, hoping to impress girls with his faux-French. A friends wife  a French teacher  helped him with some of the lyrics for the Rubber Soul song, which The Beatles recorded in 1965.

4. Besame Mucho

The Beatles first song with words in other languages was one of their first recordings. They adapted a version of the 1940s Mexican love song Besame Mucho for their live set in 1961 and recorded it for their EMI Records audition on June 6, 1962 (per Davies). Pete Best played the drums as Paul sang. The songs title words are the only lyrics in Mexican, but it pointed to the multi-lingual efforts in The Beatles future.

5. Across the Universe

The Let It Be track was a bit of an outlier for The Beatles. The band tended to work on songs quickly, but they waited years to release Across the Universe. John Lennon wrote the song while still married to Cynthia Lennon. The Fab Four recorded it in early 1968. The world didnt hear it until late 1969 (on a compilation release with multiple artists), and it didnt appear on a Beatles album until 1970s Let It Be.

John sings Jai guru deva om throughout the song. Where many Beatles songs with lyrics in other languages tended to be in European languages, Jai guru deva om is a Sanskrit phrase that roughly translates to I give thanks to Guru Dev.

6. Sun King

Related 5 of the Most Experimental Beatles Songs

The languid and daydreamy Abbey Road track Sun King contains bare-bones lyrics  until it nears its end. Paul, George, and John harmonize as they sing, Cuando para mucho mi amore de felice corazon / Mundo paparazzi mi amore chicka ferdy parasol / Cuesto obrigado tanta mucho que canite carousel.

The vaguely Spanish/Italian/Portuguese words are nonsensical gibberish. The chicka ferdy portion is a form of naughty Liverpool slang, which Paul said hid profanity. The random and sudden shift from English to Latin languages might have led listeners to overlook the hidden profanity.

The Fab Four sang their biggest hits in crystal clear English, but several Beatles songs had lyrics in other languages. The words didnt always make sense or mean much of anything, but those vaguely exotic lyrics added some foreign intrigue to the world-conquering band.

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The feud between Kyle Richards and her sister Kathy Hilton goes far beyond their on-screen drama on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Long before they became part of the show, the RHOBH stars experienced a complete breakdown of their relationship, with both of them refusing to speak to one another and making a conscious effort to avoid any interaction.

While their drama has reached new heights in recent years, heres how the feud between Kyle and Kathy actually started.

Kathy Hilton and Kyle Richards | Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Elton John AIDS Foundation

Kyle Richards and Kathy Hilton had a falling out because of their spouses

The primary source of the decade-long feud between Kyle and Kathy can be attributed to the longstanding animosity between their spouses. In 2010, which was also the year the RHOBH first premiered, Rick Hilton, Kathys husband, declined to promote Mauricio Umansky, Kyles husband, to partner status at his real estate company, the same one that manages the renowned Hilton hotels.

In response, Mauricio created his own property management company, which quickly achieved success. The drama heated up after Mauricio reportedly started to hire agents that originally worked with Rick.

The feud between the husbands spilled over to Kyle and Kathy. While Kyle was developing a television show about her childhood, Kathy expressed her disapproval of the project, and the situation escalated to the point where legal notices were exchanged between the siblings.

At the time, Kathy wanted nothing to do with RHOBH, something that changed in recent years as the sisters tried their best to bury the hatchet.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars attempt to mend their broken relationship

The arrival of Kathy on the cast of RHOBH in season 11 gave fans a glimmer of hope that the strained relationship between the sisters would get better.

In an episode from season 11, Kyle explained how she never meant to offend Kathy when she created her own show. Instead, she had hoped to pay tribute to their mother, Kathleen Richards, who died in 2002.

While season 11 saw some attempts at repairing their relationship, Kyle and Kathy seemed to slip back into their old habits once season 12 arrived. Things got really heated during the cast trip to Aspen, Colorado.

Unfortunately, whatever went down between the two was not caught on camera, though Kathy later admitted to saying some things about her sister that she probably shouldnt have.

Kathy apologized for her actions at the time, but that didnt mend her relationship with Kathy.

Kyle Richards and Kathy Hiltons feud was rekindled in season 12

The fight between Kyle and Kathy during the Aspen trip started after RHOBH star Lisa Rinna asked for a shot of tequila that wasnt Kathys invested brand, Casa Del Sol.

Kathy was very unhappy about the situation and became even more irate that Kyle didnt say something to Lisa about it. Kyle later told the cameras that it is very difficult to talk sense into her sister once she becomes angry.

Once Kathy is mad, its hard to turn that around, Kyle shared. Listen, Kathy can be so much fun and funny. She can also be very difficult. The part that bothers me so much is how much I let it affect me. Thats where its different with friends versus sisters.

It is difficult to say where things stand between Kathy and Kyle following their disastrous season 12. Reports have surfaced that the two have not spoken to each other in months, though that will undoubtedly change as filming for season 13 of RHOBH gets underway.

Fans can watch the drama continue to unfold when the new season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills premieres later this year.
Survivor is undoubtedly one of the harshest reality competition shows on broadcast television. Contestants are dumped on a remote beach with little to no supplies (including food), have to build their shelter, compete in grueling physical challenges while dehydrated and malnourished, and on top of it all, play a good enough social game to win $1 million. But to make their lives a little bit easier, do producers at least give the Survivor castaways sunscreen?

Danny Massa | Photo: Robert Voets/CBS

Survivor castaways have access to a medical kit

While the Survivor castaways have other things to worry about, like rats, snakes, clean water, and food, they dont have to stress over their skin getting burned.

According to Insider, Elaine Stott from Survivor: Island of the Idols told them that the shows producers provide the players with a medical kit at their camp. The kit contains supplies like sunscreen, insect repellant, and other necessities.

Stott said, If you needed any of that stuff, you could just go to the med box. They only allow one person at a time to go, so youre not congregating back there.

Stotts Island of the Idols castmate Lauren-Ashley Beck added that fans at home dont see the castaways dig into the kit because they want to keep the illusion that its a reality show. Were explicitly told that were not allowed to talk strategy if were helping each other put on sunscreen.

Players can also submit a small toiletry bag, which can include anything from tampons to contact lenses. But, of course, the producers must approve everything in the bag. So its not like someone could sneak a granola bar onto the show.

Survivor rules reveal what items cast members can bring with them

Among the approved items that Survivor castaways can bring with them to Fiji are tampons, pads, contact lenses/solution, birth control, medication, and other necessary products. However, they cant bring toiletries such as shampoo/conditioner, body wash, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, a razor, or other items the crew doesnt deem essential.

As for clothing, determining what a contestant wears while on the show is a long process. Its evolved over the years (from being able to wear swimsuits to not being able to wear swimsuits, etc.), but the producers let the players pick out their clothing. Of course, producers have to approve wardrobe, and they hold the right to deny any piece of clothing.

Overall, the Survivor castaways cant bring many pieces of clothing to the island. And thats why fans only see them wearing one or two outfits throughout their time on the show.

Can the Survivor castaways clean themselves before Tribal Council?

One Survivor fan started a Reddit thread to ask others if producers provide castaways with lotion. Most answered either that they didnt know or that the supplied sunscreen could help the dryness of the players skin.

However, one Reddit user claimed, Im pretty sure they get cleaned up before every Tribal to make themselves more presentable for TV, but Im honestly not sure. And one former contestant commented that they were mistaken.

Owen Knight, the third-place finisher from Survivor 43, wrote, This is untrue, debunking the fans theory. So despite what some people think, the Survivor castaways do not have regular access to showers, bathrooms, or grooming products (unless you won a reward in the earlier seasons). But the producers arent monsters, so they give the contestants sunscreen to protect their skin from the brutal Fiji sun.

New episodes of Survivor 44 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. All seasons of Survivor are available to stream on Paramount+.
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A woman from Missouri secretly donated one of her kidneys to her father, who had been suffering from end-stage renal disease.

And after the transplant surgery, she revealed to her father that she was his kidney donor, moving him to tears.

Delayne Ivanowski (@delayne_i) was the woman who made this ultimate sacrifice for her father, John Ivanowski. As his daughter, she wanted to do everything in her power to give her father more time with his family.

End-stage renal failure is a serious disease. According to John Hopkins Medicine, it is the final stage of chronic kidney disease when the kidneys condition has declined to the point of no longer functioning independently.

The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion estimates that about thirty million people in the U.S. suffer from chronic kidney disease.

John had been battling kidney issues for a few years. Then, one day, a lab test confirmed that he was in kidney failure and would most definitely need a kidney transplant soon.

As the months went on, he grew sicker and more lethargic. Finally, after another lab test with terrible results, Johns doctor ordered an emergency catheter to be placed inside his chest so he could begin dialysis.

Dialysis is the process of manually removing extra fluid and toxins from the blood since the kidneys cant do the job themselves. So John was forced to go to a dialysis center and sit hooked up to a machine for hours.

Fortunately, dialysis helped improve Johns well-being, and eventually, he was able to learn how to do dialysis treatments at home.

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The Vatican Press Office reported that Pope Francis' health and condition had improved after being hospitalized for a respiratory infection overnight. According to the statement, his situation has improved as time passes.

Matteo Bruni, the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, issued a statement in Italian saying that Pope Francis had a good night's rest and that his condition had been improving steadily.

The Health of Pope Francis is Steadily Improving

According to Bruni, in the story in MSN, the pontiff had already read some newspapers after breakfast and returned to work before going to the private apartment's little chapel to pray and receive the Eucharist. Francis, 86, was admitted to the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome on Wednesday and is expected to remain there for several days to receive the necessary treatment for the said infection.

Pope Francis had been experiencing respiratory difficulties before being admitted to the hospital. Medical tests conducted at the Gemelli Hospital showed that he had a respiratory infection, which is not related to COVID-19.

But the statement did not provide any further information and specific details about the type of respiratory infection the pope has or the specific medical treatment he will receive during his hospitalization.

The Vatican initially stated that Pope Francis would need to stay in the hospital for a few days, raising doubts about his participation in Holy Week, a crucial period in the Church calendar starting with Palm Sunday. According to the Independent, cardinals were informed by the Vatican that Francis would not be presiding over Easter services this year, and the ceremonies would be shared among them.

But Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista re-stated that the pope is expected to attend the principal Mass on April 9th. In St. Peter's Square, supporters of the pope expressed their well-wishes and hoped for his speedy recovery, with many nuns from various countries expressing their love and support for him.

Due to these concerns, prayers were offered for him in his home country Argentina. Despite these worries, Father Alejandro Russo, who leads the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, reassured his congregation that the pope's intensive work for the Church was taking a toll on his health but that they should not be alarmed as his current condition was just a temporary setback.

Also Read: Pope Francis Reveals He Has Signed a Resignation Letter Due to Potential Health Issues

Vigils and Prayers Offered for the Pope

By the time Pope Francis was confined to the Gemelli hospital, faithful supporters had kept conducting vigil outside, much like when he was hospitalized for colon surgery in 2021. According to the report in CBS News, he was treated for diverticulitis at that time, which is a painful condition he disclosed had returned in January.

These health issues have fueled speculation that Francis may follow his predecessor on what he has decided, Pope Emeritus Benedict, and resign from his post. But CBS News Vatican consultant Father Anthony Figuereido recently stated that Francis had made it clear he would remain to be the pope unless an illness of the mind or other significant difficulty impeded him.

Related Article: Pope Francis Undergoes Treatment for Respiratory Illness, Expected to Stay for Several Days in the Hospital
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On Thursday, Mar. 23, a terrorist group in Nigeria broke into the house of Rev. Musa Mairimi of the Evangelical Church Winning All. They killed the pastor and reportedly abducted his wife.

Killings and Abduction of Terrorist in Nigeria

The Christian Post reported that two weeks after terrorists killed a Baptist pastor's son, Fulani herdsmen killed a pastor in Nigeria's Kaduna state. According to the Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), "The herdsmen and terrorists invaded the community on Thursday, Mar. 23, and killed the pastor in his house. His wife was taken into captivity at gunpoint." He also stated that over 100 Christians have been abducted in the counties of Kaduna state located in Kauru, Jaba, Kachia, Kagarko, and Kajuru Counties.

"Who will we cry to and who will we run to for help except God? Imagine that since the carnage of kidnapping of Christians started in Kaduna state, no arrests have been made," Rev. Hayab added.

Moreover, a resident of the area named Istifanus Ma'aji asked people to pray for the safe return of Rev. Marimi's wife and other Christians kidnapped by herders and bandits.

On the other hand, a similar incident was reported by Sahara Reporters. It was stated that Terrorists were responsible for the death of a man only known as Mr. Namiji, a 38-year-old farmer who lived in Maro village in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Mr. Simon John, a prominent community member, has confirmed that the incident happened on Friday, Feb. 10.

John said that the robbers were traveling on motorbikes and through a desolate area on their way to their intended target when they spotted the farmer tilling and clearing his farmland and started shooting him.

In addition, terrorists in the state have kidnapped the Evangelical Church Winning All pastor, Nasamu, and his wife. Also, Istifanus Ma'aji Egoh, a Facebook user who corroborated the attack, stated that the bandits kidnapped Mahmud Mudi and his two children in Maraban Kajuru. However, there has been no immediate response to the most recent event from either the state government or the Kaduna State Police Command.

Many areas in Kaduna are currently at the mercy of terrorists and bandits, who have been killing, maiming, and kidnapping citizens with complete and utter disregard for their safety.

Also Read:US State Department Official Removed Nigeria from Offenders List of Religious Liberty

Invasion of Terrorists in Nigeria

There is a significant risk that terrorists will attempt strikes in Nigeria. It is possible that attacks may be random and that they will target not only western interests but also locations that are frequented by tourists and by foreign nationals who live in Nigeria. It is highly possible that there will be other assaults, which might occur at any time, notably around religious or other public holidays or during election times.

According to Gov. UK, most attacks are carried out in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States in the North East, and they are carried out either by Boko Haram or Islamic State West Africa (ISWA). Significant attacks have occurred in other states, including Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Bauchi, and Taraba. Furthermore, coordinated armed assaults, rocket attacks, assassinations, kidnapping, IEDs, bombings (including by child and female bombers), car bombings, and arson were used in the attack. Military clothes and vehicles are also utilized to approach targets.

Related Article:Greek Orthodox Church Asks For Protection Following 'Heinous Terrorist Attack'
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The Catholic Church in Bangladesh is forming a team to combat the growing number of assaults and other forms of violence against women in their homes, workplaces, and other locations.

Discussing Abuse Against Women

According to the UCA News, the convenor of the Women Desk of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh and a social activist, Rita Roselin Costa, stated that the Catholic bishops of Bangladesh have verbally agreed to form the team that will be led by the Women Desk of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh to tackle abuses against women.

Costa said on Wednesday, Mar. 29, that plans are being discussed to establish a team that will take measures as soon as possible, including legal action if any women are subjected to abuse. Their team is anticipated to begin this year but did not provide a specific launch date. She added that the church staff would take immediate action to help Christian women seeking redress for abuse they have suffered at home or in the workplace.

As mentioned, Costa's interview with UCA News occurred one day after the Bangladesh office of the international development organization Oxfam published a report stating that most Bangladeshi women employed are mistreated. According to the report of the study that was presented in the nation's capital city of Dhaka on Tuesday, Mar. 28, approximately 72 percent of female workers are subjected to mental violence, 74 percent are subjected to verbal abuse, 31 percent are subjected to physical violence, and 6 percent are subjected to sexual violence.

Also Read:Predominantly Christian Village In Bangladesh Attacked Over Land Dispute

Violence Against Women

As per Borgen Project, among the most prevalent forms of violence against women are dowry murders, rape, sexual harassment and stalking, acid attacks, physical and emotional torture, and sex trafficking. In Bangladesh, about two out of every three women are victims of violence. Violence against women is on the rise. There were 2,981 incidents of dowry-related violence in 2004; women were assaulted or killed when their parents failed to pay the money demanded by their in-laws. 2012 saw an increase to 4,563 instances.

Thus, laws and programs are being adopted to assist in minimizing the level of gender-based violence. A cooperative program with the United Nations has implemented a three-tiered plan to combat this violence. The first phase of the UN's agenda is to strengthen the government's capabilities and aid non-governmental organizations to prevent violence against women and protect victims. In addition to rescuing abuse survivors, the initiative seeks to alter social attitudes contributing to widespread gender-based violence.

According to rights campaigners, violence against women in educational institutions and workplaces across the nation has continued due to insufficient surveillance and limited access to justice, New Age Bangladesh reported. Seeing many instances of sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based violence, they noted that it was one of the reasons why women continued to drop out of university education and were unable to enter the high-end job market.

The 2009 Supreme Court decree mandating the formation of a complaint committee in every educational institution and business to handle sexual harassment accusations is rarely implemented, they continued.

Related Article: Human Rights Champion Calls Out China's Abuse Against Women During International Women's Day
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The Trans Radical Activist Network will continue to hold 'Trans Day of Vengeance' despite the recent shooting at Nashville Christian School by a 28-year-old woman who identifies as male. The LGBT group received a lot of criticism for their decision to proceed with the event; however, they said that it was already planned before the killings happened.

Gathering of LGBT Community

On Tuesday, Mar. 28, the Trans Radical Activist Network issued a statement suggesting that its "Trans Day of Vengeance," which is expected to take place in front of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, District of Columbia, this coming Saturday, Apr. 1 will proceed as planned. The gathering had been scheduled well before the shooting, and its organizers have emphasized that they are horrified at the violent crimes perpetrated at the Covenant school.

A report from the Christian Post stated that the event would take place just five days after Audrey Hale, a female the age of 28 and has a gender identity of a man, opened fire at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter ended up killing three children and three adults before being shot and killed by police. The Covenant Presbyterian Church is the organization with which the educational institution is associated.

"We are outraged by this tragedy - we grieve for Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce, and Mike Hill. We also reject any connection between that horrific event and ours," the organization stated.

The Trans Radical Activist Network also explained that "vengeance" refers to "striking back with vehemence." They assert that the 'Trans Day of Vengeance' is essential due to the "astronomical amounts of hate" directed toward the "trans/non-binary/gender non-conforming/intersex communities." This hatred comes in the form of "Gender Affirming care ban bills," which the organization says are to blame for a "mental health crisis."

The organization argues that this demonstration is about unity, not encouraging violence, even though its title is intentionally provocative. As mentioned, this event is not the place to engage in violent behavior, which is not encouraged by TRAN. However, Twitter does not concur with their analysis.

Also Read:Pastor Shane Idleman of Westside Christian Fellowship Claims That Allowing to Read A Book Promoting LGBT Ideology is 'Child Abuse'

Twitter's Stance on 'Trans Day of Vengeance'

According to ABC News, in a tweet published on Wednesday, Mar. 29, Ella Irwin, the head of Trust and Safety for Twitter, stated that the firm has automatically removed more than 5,000 tweets and retweets of a poster promoting the event.

Regardless of who writes them, the company does not endorse tweets encouraging people to engage in violent behavior." The word "vengeance" does not connote nonviolent resistance. It is reportedly acceptable to organize or lend support to protests that do not include violence,

Twitter said that it removed the tweets using automated procedures so that it could do so swiftly and on a broad scale. Nevertheless, the company did not consider the context in which the tweets were shared. Therefore, deleted tweets included both those who were critical of the protesters and those who were supportive of them.

On the other hand, All Side reported that Elon Musk had blocked conservative lawmakers, journalists, and activists raising awareness about extreme transgender activists calling for a 'Trans Day of Vengeance' after the Nashville Christian school mass shooting by a transgender woman. Moreover, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was suspended after tweeting a banner for the Trans Radical Activist Network's event.

Related Article:LGBTQ+ Groups Got Denied from Open Marching at St. Patrick's Parade
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The Vatican has answered the Indigenous demands by rejecting the "Doctrine of Discovery." This theory, which was supported by 15th-century "papal bulls," was used to justify the seizure of Native lands during the colonial era and still forms the basis of some property laws today.

Vatican's Response Rejecting 'Doctrine of Discovery'

According to Associated Press News, in a statement issued by the Vatican's development and education offices, the papal bulls were acknowledged as insufficient in reflecting Indigenous peoples' equal dignity and rights.

The statement recognized the Vatican's complicity in the abuses of colonialism committed by European powers, marking a historic moment. This statement was issued by the first Latin American pope, who met with Indigenous leaders from Canada precisely one year ago to discuss this issue.

According to reports, the Indigenous leaders who met with the pope last year welcomed the Vatican's recent statement on the Doctrine of Discovery as a positive first step, even though it did not call for rescinding the papal bulls themselves.

The statement was criticized for not acknowledging the Vatican's direct culpability in the abuses committed during the colonial era. The Vatican's report did, however, acknowledge that the papal documents had been "manipulated" by competing colonial powers to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples, sometimes without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities.

Also Read: Pope Francis Alerts Vatican Staff to Beware of 'Elegant Demon' in Their Midst

Pope Francis Apologizes to Indigenous Peoples in Canada for Residential School System and Demands for Rescinding of Papal Bulls

In 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada and publicly apologized to Indigenous peoples for the residential school system that forcibly removed Native children from their homes. According to the article shared in Yahoo! News, during his visit, demands were made for a formal repudiation of the papal bulls, which were the documents that authorized the system. Two Indigenous women unfolded a banner at the altar of the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre that called for the rescinding of the Doctrine.

Michelle Schenandoah of the Oneida Nation had also called for the Vatican to rescind the papal bulls. She recently commented on the Vatican's statement, saying that it was a step in the right direction but did not mention the rescinding of the bulls themselves.

She emphasized that the Doctrine of Discovery has had a lasting impact on Indigenous peoples, leading to genocidal policies. It was time for nation-states, such as the United States, to take accountability for their actions.

The Vatican has yet to present any proof that the three 15th-century papal bulls, namely: Dum Diversas in 1452, Romanus Pontifex in 1455, and Inter Caetera in 1493, to be related to the Doctrine of Discovery have been formally revoked. The article in CBC says that a succeeding bull, Sublimis Deus, which affirmed the rights of Indigenous people, was referenced in a recent statement.

Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope, had previously apologized to Indigenous peoples in Bolivia for the crimes committed during the colonial conquest of the Americas. The statement reflected the Vatican's dialogue with Indigenous peoples and its commitment to reconciliation through understanding and listening, according to Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca.

Related Article: Vatican Library Appoints Salesian Priest as New Prefect, Bringing Fresh Leadership to Its Historical Collections
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The Ban on gender-affirming care in some of the states in the U.S. is sparking a lot of conflicts. Two southern states have passed new laws prohibiting transgender children's access to gender-affirming treatments.

These laws have been presented as part of a more significant movement of Republican-led law that many critics criticize as discriminatory and potentially harmful.

Pro-Trans Protesters Arrested During Overriding Veto Vote

Republican lawmakers in Kentucky successfully dominated Democratic Governor Andy Beshear's veto of a bill that regulates certain personal aspects of transgender youth's lives. According to Yahoo! News, the bill comprises requirements such as prohibiting access to gender-affirming healthcare and restricting the bathrooms that transgender individuals can use.

The votes to override Beshear's veto were significant in both the Senate and the House, where the Republican party has a supermajority. The Senate dominated the prohibition on a unanimous vote of 29-8, and also, the House of Representatives overrode it on a vote of 76-23. They made these decisions on the second-to-last day of the legislative session for this year

Fox News reported that nearly 20 people were arrested and quoted for criminal trespassing at the Kentucky Capitol during a dispute against a Republican-backed bill to ban transgender procedures for minors.

The protest happened in the House gallery chambers, and the Sergeant of Arms requested assistance from the Kentucky State Police (KSP) to reinstate the order. The KSP allowed the protesters to leave without enforcement action or face arrest. In the end, 19 individuals were arrested and cited for criminal trespassing in the third degree. The Franklin County District Court authorized the individuals' release of their recognizance.

Also Read: Iowa Passes Controversial Bills Banning Gender-Affirming Care for Minors and Imposing Restrictions on Transgender Bathroom Use

Kentucky and West Virginia Passes New Law Banning Transgender Care on Minors

According to Aljazeera, it is reported that nine other states have already applied the same law, despite having some opposed opinions from leading medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics. The doctors argue that these transgender treatments are often needed and can even be life-saving for transgender youths.

The House of Representatives approved the Kentucky law with a unanimous vote of 76-23 after the state Senate had approved it with a vote of 29 to 8. This new law will force doctors to halt services for patients already undergoing treatment unless continuing treatment is deemed necessary to avoid harm to the patient. In such cases, doctors must establish a timeline for ending the treatment. The law that has been passed will be valid and will take effect after three months.

In the recently shared article in Christianity Daily, Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, signed a law in West Virginia that bans gender-affirming therapies for children. The law is set to take effect in January 2024, but it does include a rare exception that permits prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapy for teenagers at risk of self-harm. In such cases, patients must have parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two doctors.

Related Article: West Virginia Governor Enacts Controversial Ban on Transgender Care on Minors
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A doctor challenged those who support the ban on gender-affirming care for transgender children asking how they understand this type of treatment. Recently, some states have passed the ban.

Nebraska lawmakers are considering joining the trend of banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, even though the local doctors specializing in this type of care oppose such a ban. This comes as other states have recently passed similar bans. These bans have appeared in the headlines and have been met with protests, lawsuits, and walkouts from supporters who argue that such laws are harmful to transgender youth both physically and emotionally.

Doctor Says Supporters of the Ban do not Fully Understand The main Reason Behind the Treatment

Dr. Elizabeth Constance, who has researched fertility conservation and transgender hormone therapy, believes that those backing the ban on gender-affirming procedures for youth may not understand the experiences of these individuals. According to WOWT, she thinks they come from ignorance and frustration.

Dr. Constance feels lawmakers need to be qualified to decide on this issue as it is outside their expertise. She points out that 29 medical specialty organizations have guidelines supporting gender-affirming care for the appropriate population. Legislation, like Nebraska's LB574 that seeks to prohibit such care for anyone under 19 and penalizes doctors who provide it, is not based on expertise in the field and is disingenuous.

Dr. Constance also argues that legislation like Nebraska's LB574 is unconstitutional because it constitutes sex discrimination. She points out that such legislation allows testosterone treatment for individuals assigned male at birth but prohibits the same treatment for those assigned female at birth. Similar laws in other states have been challenged in court. The "Let Them Grow Act" was advanced by Nebraska lawmakers by a vote of 30-17, and some lawmakers believe that the vote count is unlikely to change in future rounds.

Also Read: Iowa Passes Controversial Bills Banning Gender-Affirming Care for Minors and Imposing Restrictions on Transgender Bathroom Use

Understanding Gender-Affirming Care

According to the World Health Organization, gender-affirming care refers to a range of interventions aimed at supporting and affirming an individual's gender identity, particularly when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth. According to AAMC, the American Psychiatric Association notes that gender identity is real and exists in some human beings.

The interventions vary, from counseling and social expression changes to medical treatments such as hormone therapy. The timing of these interventions for children is based on cognitive and physical development and parental consent. Surgery, such as altering the chest or genitalia to align with gender identity, is rarely performed on individuals under 18.

Gender-affirming care aims to construct a safe environment for exploring emotions, questions, and concerns rather than solely providing treatment.

What are the States that have Banned Gender-Affirming Care?

The article shared in U.S. News reports the different states that have passed and restricted gender-affirming or transgender care for minors. The following are the states who officially enacts them:

Arkansas Florida Georgia Iowa Mississippi South Dakota Tennessee Utah Kentucky West Virginia

Some states with minor changes and some bans on gender-affirming care are not included in the list. These included states have decided to restrict gender-affirming care with close consideration and votation officially.

Related Article: Doctors Speak Out: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions about Gender-Affirming Care
ASEAN to switch to local currency use in region to avoid crisis

Xinhua) 13:40, April 01, 2023

JAKARTA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Southeast Asian countries have agreed to reinforce the use of local currencies in the region and reduce reliance on major international currencies in an effort to avoid spillover from the global crisis, Indonesia's central bank said on Friday.

The agreement came on the last day of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, which was held in Indonesia's Bali island, with Indonesia being this year's ASEAN chair.

Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo said the organization would establish a task force to formulate the transition process to use ASEAN local currencies in financial transactions as a realization of ASEAN's current local currencies settlement cooperation framework.

"With the use of local currencies in the transactions across the region, we will be able to strengthen our resilience in supporting regional cross-border trade and investment, which now are still relying on major international currencies," Warjiyo said at a virtual press conference after the meeting.

Warjiyo said if ASEAN countries could use their local currencies in the region, transactions and all payments can be conducted faster and able to tackle the global crisis. And if that is successful, their currencies' values will increase.

"At the moment, our numbers are small. But that's why we must move forward with this scheme. We must accelerate it," Warjiyo said.

He also said that in the meeting, the ASEAN countries have agreed to expand cross-border payment connectivity to more countries in the region.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Unsplash/Nagesh Badu

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church reportedly violated tenancy agreements and built buildings without the proper permits, leading the government to force them to vacate Kyiv Monastery. However, the church refuted the accusation, and its monks and worshippers refused to abandon the monastery.

Order on Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Leave Kyiv Monastery

Although the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) severed its official links with the Moscow Patriarchate (the official title of the Bishop of Moscow) after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a massive war against Ukraine in February 2022, the UOC is still seen as a pro-Moscow entity despite being active in the center of Kyiv.

A report from Reuters stated that the Ukraine government had ordered the UOC to abandon the vast 980-year-old Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastic complex by Wednesday, Mar. 29. It comes against the backdrop of Russia's war against Ukraine.

The UOC asserts this is not the reality and claims that the government still needs to provide papers to support its claim. From a larger perspective, Kyiv is also accusing the UOC, the second-largest Orthodox Church in Ukraine, of retaining relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has supported Moscow's invasion of its neighboring country.

According to the UOC, all ties with the Russian Church were severed in May 2022, approximately three months after Russia's invasion. Wion reported that when snowflakes fell all around them, the gathering assembled in one of the churches at the Lavra on Wednesday morning, Mar. 29, overflowed into an outdoor courtyard. In order to participate in the service, one UOC priest named Father Rustik revealed that he had traveled a distance of several hundred kilometers from the Dnipropetrovsk region.

"I believe that the monks here are being unlawfully expelled, and the property and churches for which we worked many years are being taken away," he added.

In addition, around 50 clergy members of the UOC have been detained by the Ukrainian government on various charges, including treason and collusion with Russia. The UOC continues to assert that the allegations are without foundation.

Also Read:Patriarch Kirill of Russian Orthodox Church Asks Religious Leaders to Prevent Forced Closure of Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Protest of Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Bishops Against Eviction from Kyiv Headquarters

Concerns about the coming years of the spiritual and administrative core of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has historically been associated with the Moscow Patriarchate (MP), have been reduced, Le Monde reported.

There is now less cause for concern regarding the immediate future of the spiritual and administrative center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has traditionally been associated with the Moscow Patriarchate (MP). The Orthodox monks of this church, accused of having ties with the Kremlin, eventually chose not to leave the Ukrainian government-owned Lavra monastery cave complex in Kyiv on Wednesday, Mar. 29, the deadline for an eviction notice issued by authorities in Kyiv. Instead, they decided to engage in a legal battle. Midway through March, the government agency overseeing the holiest Orthodox site in Ukraine informed the UOC-MP that it would be terminating its lease due to "violations [of rules] in the use of state property." This allegation is contested by the bishops, who refer to it as a pretext.

According to Christianity Daily, to stop the historically Russian-aligned section of the Orthodox Church from being ejected from its headquarters in Kyiv, eight bishops draped in robes and miters traveled to the offices of the Ukrainian president. Unfortunately, they could only get as far as a checkpoint before being ordered to turn around. Their request for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday, Mar. 27, was denied.

Related Article: 8 Bishops of Orthodox Church Protest its Eviction from Kyiv Headquarters
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Credible claims of child sexual abuse have been filed against 28 Catholic priests who have served in Georgia since the 1940s. However, no current or ongoing allegations can be pursued criminally because either the accused perpetrator has passed away or the applicable statute of limitations has been reached.

Child Sex Abuse Allegations in Georgia

There were 13 credible allegations inside the Archdiocese of Atlanta, seven of which involved archdiocesan priests and six concerning priests in religious orders or linked with other dioceses. The investigation cited 15 additional credible complaints in the Diocese of Savannah, of which seven involved diocesan priests, and eight included members of religious orders.

According to the Catholic News Agency, the Prosecution Attorneys' Council of Georgia, which issued the study on Mar. 20, noted in a news release that the report contains thorough details of charges of sexual abuse and other sexual misbehavior, including grooming and misuse of authority, against adolescents and adults.

Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer of Atlanta stated that the archdiocese would not grant access to its communities to sexual predators. Throughout the past two decades, the church has undergone profound transformations. "We have worked diligently to comprehend better and avoid future instances of abuse. We will not deviate from the current zero-tolerance stance," Hartmayer added.

Moreover, Bishop Stephen Parkes of the Diocese of Savannah stated that the study "represents a voluntary effort by the Georgia Catholic Church to be truthful about the past and to hope for the continuous healing of abuse survivors." Parkes continued that the sexual abuse epidemic has been a scourge on the church and a source of tremendous pain.

In addition, Atlanta News First reported that in 2019, the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah both consented to a review by a third party of "any records, files, documents, and reports concerning suspected child abuse that are in their control." The Prosecuting Attorneys' Council will conduct the study.

Throughout the investigation, no allegations were found that might be "criminally prosecuted." Only a few of the allegations have been considered in court. The statute of limitations does not apply to all of them. Instead, the study reveals instances of sexual misbehavior and abuse that occurred in the past inside the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah. It tells the identities of 25 priests and lay individuals in Atlanta while concealing the identities of 12 priests. Additionally, some individuals from the Diocese of Savannah are named.

Also Read:Pope Francis Takes Bold Step to Combat Sexual Abuse, Extends Church Law to Include Lay Leaders

Prosecutor's Report

In 2022, WSB-TV reported that the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation told Richard Belcher, an investigative reporter, that the final report on the study is expected to be completed by the middle of February 2023. It comes nearly four years after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr initiated an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests or other individuals associated with the church.

Pete Skandalakis, the Executive Director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council (PAC), stated that his office investigated close to a hundred allegations; however, he has not indicated whether or not he intends to refer any cases to the district attorneys in the various jurisdictions for further prosecution. The probe was disclosed by Carr in April 2019, several months after the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah had agreed to cooperate with the investigation fully. The provisions were outlined in an official memorandum of understanding signed (MOU).

Related Article:French Catholic Church Uncovers Clerical Sexual Abuse Cases of 11 Bishops
James Finch

Officials at the Catholic shrine in Lourdes have formed a study group to determine the future of a controversial attraction at the sanctuary.

The mosaics on the facade of one of the three basilicas were designed by Jesuit artist Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik in 2008 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions that turned Lourdes into a primary pilgrimage site, visited by approximately 3 million people annually.

Mosaics Made By Jesuit Indicted with Abuse to Be Reviewed

In December last year, it was revealed by the Jesuits that Rupnik had been excommunicated by the Vatican in 2020 for committing a severe crime in church law. According to Associated Press News, he had used the confessional to acquit a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity. He had also been accused by nine women of sexual, spiritual, and psychological misconduct in the 1980s. As a result, officials at the shrine are now seeking to decide what to do with the mosaics in light of the artist's actions.

Christianity Daily also has released a report that Marko Ivan Rupnik, who is reportedly close to the Pope, has been accused by a former nun of sexual misconduct. The former nun alleges that Rupnik used his position as the spiritual counsellor of a convent in Slovenia to engage in sexual activity with her and watch pornographic films over a period of three decades.

She also claims that Rupnik invited her and another nun to engage in a threesome, referring to it as a "Holy Trinity." The former nun alleges that her complaints about Rupnik's behavior were ignored. Rupnik is known for his church-related artwork.

Bishop Jean-Marc Micas, whose diocese includes Lourdes, announced on Friday that a study group would be formed to consider what to do with the mosaics created by Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik on the Basilica of the Rosary. According to a shared article in ABC News, the Bishop emphasized that the needs of abuse survivors would be placed first, and no options are being ruled out.

He expressed concern that the mosaics may increase the suffering of abuse victims who visit Lourdes seeking consolation and healing. Micas explained that he and the shrine had received letters from abuse survivors worldwide who described the mosaics as an additional source of pain. He stated that it would not be acceptable for the mosaics to continue to increase the suffering of people who visit Lourdes to seek healing.

Also Read: Priest Indicted of Inviting Two Nuns to Take Part in a 'Holy Trinity' Threesome

Some Churches Distanced Themselves From Rupnik

While Lourdes is the first main basilica to announce a review of Rupnik's artistic works publicly, other church entities have also distanced themselves from him. Polish News said that the diocese of Versailles, which is home to a church adorned with Rupnik's mosaics, terminated all collaboration with him in December.

Further, the religious publisher San Paolo recently removed Rupnik's books from prominent display at its store near the Vatican. However, his coffee table books, calendars, and books on spirituality are still available on the website of the Centro Aletti art studio and ecumenical center in Rome that Rupnik founded.

Related Article: French Catholic Church Uncovers Clerical Sexual Abuse Cases of 11 Bishops
Asbury revival taking next steps with Outpouring Teams, small group discipleship

Following the conclusion of their worship service that lasted 16 days, students and faculty at Asbury University have been sharing their spiritual revival experiences with others beyond their Kentucky campus.

Known as Outpouring Teams, they involve Asbury students going out either in groups or in pairs to local churches and testifying about their experiences.

The Rev. Greg Haseloff, associate dean of Spiritual Life at Asbury, told The Christian Post that these teams are both formalized and very organic, noting that they have a coordinator who reports to him.

In a very short amount of time, the 16-day move of God at Asbury garnered national and global awareness. The interest from churches, colleges and universities and other communities of faith was extremely strong  and came with the desire to hear a firsthand account, Haseloff said.

The outpouring received a broad affirmation of authenticity  which elevated the requests for teams  which also testified to the stirring hunger within the church to see a manifestation of God in our current world.

Between 30 and 35 Asbury students have been involved in the Outpouring Teams, while as many as 20 other students have independently gone to places and shared their stories.

Haseloff told CP that the teams have had a two-fold impact, with the first being that the teams have grown the confidence of our students to share their faith and pray for others, while the second is their impact on the broader Christian community.

The impact on the churches has elevated the desire of churches to experience a move of God, and to be a vital community of faith where they are, he continued. They witnessed worship times extend beyond the normal expectation, and theyve experienced amazing hospitality  communities hosting our students with great love, care, kindness and generosity.

Asbury Strategic Communications Director Abby Laub said the outpouring teams are going all over the area to speak and the number of team members sharing their experiences with churches and others continues to grow.

Our students are amazing and have enjoyed the opportunities to share with others, Laub told CP. We are receiving many requests from all over and its beautiful to see how God is still moving through this.

Laub said after spring break, two events were held that ended where students and faculty and staff were sharing stories and testimonies within our own community.

Since the close of the 16-day worship service, there has also been a bigger focus on small groups for students to connect with mentors and engage in discipleship, according to Laub.

Many people have stepped up to walk alongside our students in discipleship and mentorship, she said, noting that some of the small groups are on campus and some are off campus.

Our faculty and staff are continually amazed by how God worked and is still working and are remaining in a posture of service and humility.

In February, the Hughes Auditorium at the campus of Asbury became the epicenter for an impromptu worship service that drew tens of thousands of students and people from across the U.S. and worldwide to the small town of 6,000 over the course of 16 days.

The movement then spread outward to other colleges, both Christian and secular, with spontaneous worship services being held at or near campuses, churches and Christian secondary schools.
ISIS supporter convicted of war crimes, posting photos on Facebook of severed heads impaled on spikes

A Swedish court has convicted a 35-year-old woman, Fatosh Ibrahim, of war crimes for posting photos on Facebook of herself posing with severed heads in Raqqa, Syria  a known supporter of the Islamic State terrorist group. Ibrahim has been sentenced to three months in prison.

Ibrahim published photos on two separate occasions in 2014, which depicted severed heads impaled on a fence in Raqqa by ISIS militants, according to Swedens Goteborg District Court, the Mirror reported, adding that she used her cell phone to take the photos in Raqqas Naim Square, where the militants had displayed hanged bodies and heads.

The court ruling stated that Ibrahim had made disparaging comments about the people in the photos and expressed that they deserved what they were subjected to on Facebook.

The court ruled that Ibrahim had clearly expressed her sympathy with the actions of the Islamic State group and that her actions were connected to the armed conflict in the area at the time.

In her testimony, Ibrahim admitted to posting the pictures on Facebook but claimed she didn't know what she was thinking at the time. I was war wounded. It was very common to see dead bodies in Raqqa, she was quoted as saying.

She is among three siblings from Gothenburg who all joined ISIS and subsequently returned to their homeland, as reported by the newspaper, which said her brother, Hassan Al-Mandlawi, was sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorist activities, while her younger sister died after returning to Sweden with her daughter, who had sustained shrapnel injuries.

The sisters 3-year-old son lost his life when he inadvertently set off a hand grenade while playing with it.

Ibrahim told the court she initially traveled to Syria in December 2012 to visit her brother, not to join ISIS. She also claimed she was forced to stay and was unable to return home.

According to Swedish media, Ibrahims first husband was British-Pakistani militant Ibrahim Almazwagi, a 21-year-old graduate of Hertfordshire University, who died in 2013. Her current husband is serving time in an Australian prison.

During the trial, Ibrahim claimed she visited Syria because her husband was buried there, but was later forcibly taken to Raqqa.

In addition to the war crime conviction, Ibrahim was also found guilty of threatening and defaming social workers in Sweden after they removed her children from her care.

ISIS captured large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014, establishing hardline Islamic Sharia law in areas under the group's control. The group drew international attention by producing gruesome execution videos that were shared online. The Islamic State killed and enslaved thousands. Several affiliate groups across Africa and Asia have aligned with the terrorist group.

In 2017, Sally Jones, a British jihadi who recruited online for ISIS, was killed in Syria by a U.S. drone along with her 12-year-old son, Reuters reported at the time.

A convert to Islam from southern England, Jones was nicknamed the "White Widow" by the British press after her jihadi husband, Junaid Hussain, also an ISIS militant, was killed by a drone in 2015.

Last August, a federal grand jury in the United States indicted a New Mexico man for attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization and establish an Islamic State Center in his state.

A United Nations report released in 2016, as ISIS controlled a large amount of territory in the Middle East at the time, revealed that 18,800 people had lost their lives and more than 3.2 million people had become refugees due to the unrest in the region caused by the terrorist groups rise.
Nancy Pelosi ridicules archbishop for barring her from communion, not being LGBT advocate

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly rebuked Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, saying his decision to bar her from receiving Holy Communion was his problem, not mine, and criticized him for not supporting LGBT causes and opposing abortion.

Pelosi was speaking at an event at Georgetown Universitys Center on Faith and Justice, part of the Higher Calling series focused on the faith of politicians. The March 23 event was moderated by Jim Wallis, a progressive Christian and the Centers executive director.

In May 2022, Cordileone issued a letter announcing that Pelosi would be barred from Communion in churches under his purview due to her stance on abortion.

Pelosi has long been an advocate for abortion rights, a position that is in direct contrast with the teachings of the Catholic Church. I have a problem with my archbishop and I figure thats his problem, not mine, she was quoted as saying at the event.

At least three other bishops have since barred Pelosi from Communion in their dioceses. However, Pelosi has persisted in partaking in Communion in Washington, D.C., and participated in the Eucharist during her visit to the Vatican last year.

In June 2021, a group of 60 House Catholic Democrats published a public letter urging clerics to avoid weaponizing the Eucharist. Pelosi was not among the signers.

Pelosi also spoke about the 13th anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare, and the opposition to the bill by the bishops. Thank God for the nuns, Pelosi said, crediting them for helping with the legislation.

She also said she was pretty much "in sync" with much of the teachings of the Catholic Church. We go right to the one issue, because everything else, we are pretty much in sync when it comes to the social compact of the Catholic bishops and the rest. But they are willing to abandon the bulk of it because of one thing," the California Democrat said.

Later in the program, Pelosi specifically mentioned Cordileone while addressing a question concerning her advocacy for LGBT causes, according to Church Leaders. She said the bishop played a significant role in the adoption of California's Proposition 8, which temporarily prohibited same-sex marriage in the state. Weve had very, very negative anti-LGBTQ stuff coming from our archbishop, she said.

In September 2021, Cordileone wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post illustrating Our duty to challenge Catholic politicians who support abortion rights. He called Pelosi out as one of several Catholic politicians who support a practice that directly contradicts the churchs teaching.

I find it especially disturbing that so many of the politicians on the wrong side of the preeminent human rights issue of our time are self-professed Catholics, he wrote. You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings.

Cordileone also praised Texas Senate Bill 8, which passed in 2021 and banned abortions after a babys heartbeat can be detected, usually at around six weeks gestation, and allowed private citizens to sue individuals who perform abortions as well as those who facilitate illegal abortions.

In his May 2020 letter to Pelosi, Cordileone wrote, I am hereby notifying you that you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.

I also ask all of the faithful of the Archdiocese of San Francisco to pray for all of our legislators, especially Catholic legislators who promote procured abortion, that with the help and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they may undergo a conversion of heart in this most grave matter and human life may be protected and fostered in every stage and condition of life.

Cordileone cited a 2004 letter from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI, as the justification for his call for Pelosi to refrain from communion.

In the letter to top Catholic Church officials in the U.S., Ratzinger explained that when a persons formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Churchs teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.

When these precautionary measures have not had their effect , and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it, Ratzinger added.
'Political persecution,' 'Un-American': 5 reactions to Trump's indictment

Political figures and advocacy groups on both sides of the aisle are reacting to the news that a Manhattan grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump. While the exact details of the indictment remain under seal, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced in a statement late Thursday afternoon that they had contacted Mr. Trumps attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.s office for arraignment on a [state] Supreme Court indictment.

The news of Trumps indictment comes less than two weeks after the former president announced via his social media platform Truth Social that he would be arrested on charges related to what he described as an old & fully debunked (by numerous other prosecutors!) fairytale. The indictment ultimately ended up taking place more than a week after the leaks from the Manhattan District Attorneys Office he referred to in his post suggested.

The indictment stems from a case involving money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election. In 2019, Trumps longtime attorney turned adversary Michael Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee where he said his former boss asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and lie to his wife about it, which I did.

Cohen presented a House committee with a copy of the $130,000 wire transfer he sent to the former porn stars attorney during the closing days of the presidential campaign so she would maintain her silence about her affair with Mr. Trump. In 2021, the Federal Election Commission voted not to pursue the payment as a possible violation of federal campaign finance law.

A statement posted on Trumps campaign website on March 18 insists that the candidate did nothing wrong, was the victim of an extortion plot and that Bragg does not have the jurisdiction to prosecute the case. Legal scholars from both sides agree almost universally payments of this nature are not in violation of federal campaign laws, the campaign asserted.

When these payments were made, President Trump was a candidate for federal office. However, the New York DA does not have jurisdiction to prosecute alleged federal campaign finance violations. The allegations in question are almost seven years old. The New York DAs office is relying on a loophole to get around the statute of limitations in their unprecedented attack.

Trumps indictment comes with slightly more than a year-and-a-half to go until the 2024 presidential election, where polls show the former president as the favorite to capture the Republican nomination.

Here are five reactions to Trumps indictment from the candidate himself, one of his potential rivals in the Republican primary, and political advocacy groups and legal experts.

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CBS execs told staff not to report trans identity of Christian school shooter: report

CBS News has banned reporters and other staff from using the word transgender in the networks coverage of the deadly shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, according to a report.

In a memo obtained Tuesday by the New York Post, executives at CBS News wrote that because the legacy media outlet has yet to confirm Audrey Hales gender identity, reporters and other staffers were asked to avoid any mention of it as it has no known relevance to the crime. Should that change, we can and will revisit.

Within hours of the shooting on March 27 at The Covenant School, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in America), Hale, 28, was identified as a former student at the school and self-identified as trans, according to Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake.

Yet according to the Post, Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, executive vice president and CBS News Washington bureau chief, and Claudia Milne, senior VP of standards and practices, announced the guidelines about avoiding any sexual identity on a morning editorial call Tuesday.

Sources close to CBS told the Post the memo advised using the following language to describe Hale, who killed six people  including three children  in the shooting: Police identified the suspect as a 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who [sic] they shot and killed at the scene.

The memo then urged CBS News staffers to move on to focus on other important points of the investigation, community and solutions.

According to the report, both Ciprian-Matthews and Milne spent 15 minutes on the Tuesday call discussing the directive, even though Drake described Hale as trans-identified hours after the shooting on March 27.

CBS News initially reported the shootings took place at a private Christian school and that the suspected shooter is also dead, before updating its tweet to clarify the outlet was still working to confirm Hale's gender identity and using the pronoun they to describe Hale, a biological female.

Update: Police identified the suspect as a 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who they shot and killed at the scene. CBS News is still working to confirm Hale's gender identity.  CBS News (@CBSNews) March 28, 2023

The tweet stated: Update: Police identified the suspect as a 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who they shot and killed at the scene. CBS News is still working to confirm Hale's gender identity.

As of March 31, CBS News latest story on the Nashville shooting does not include a single reference to transgender or even gender and, despite the shooting taking place at a Christian school, only uses the word Christian once in reference to the name of a funeral location.

In contrast, CBS News reported the pronoun preferences of the victims in the Club Q shooting in Colorado within 48 hours of the shooting last November.

Under the headline, "Club Q victims killed in shooting identified, the article states: The five victims who died in the shooting have been identified as Ashley Paugh (she/her), Daniel Aston (he/him), Derrick Rump (he/him), Kelly Loving (she/her), Raymond Green Vance (he/him).

By Nov. 21, 2022, CBS News also wrote a story reporting that the Club Q shooting suspect was on rolls of Church of Latter-day Saints, but hasn't been active 'for some time.

After citing the churchs condemnation of the shooting, CBS News article appeared to link the beliefs of the Church of Latter-day Saints to the shooting at the LGBT nightclub, writing, The church prohibits same-sex marriages and says homosexual behavior violates its laws.

CBS News did not respond to a request for comment by The Christian Post as of late Friday.

Since the tragedy at The Covenant School, several major American news outlets, including CBS News, have avoided using the words Christian or transgender to report on the shooting.

Immediately following the shooting, several national newspapers declined to identify the school as Christian: The New York Times wrote, Heavily armed assailant kills 6 at school in Nashville; The Washington Post ran the headline 6 slain in shooting at Nashville school; the Chicago Tribune wrote 6 dead in shooting at Nashville school; and The Wall Street Journal ran its headline as Six Shot Dead in Nashville Elementary School.

Other outlets, like NBC News, avoided using the word trans or transgender in their headlines to describe the suspect, with a search of NBC News for the term yielding a number of older news stories, with only two results relating to the shooting as of March 28, neither of which used the words Christian or transgender in their headline.

One of the NBC stories made only a passing mention of Hale as being trans-identified, adding that officials are still determining if it actually played a role into this incident.

Tim Graham of conservative media watchdog Media Research Center told CP these kinds of editorial decisions could indicate CBS News and other media outlets sensitivity to the LGBT lobby.

This shooter can't in any way be representative of her community, whereas a self-proclaimed Christian mass shooter would likely be used to shame all Christians, Graham said via email.

It seems like the media are trying hard to avoid locating a motivation, for fear that it's precisely transgender hatred of Christians that's the motivation.

He contrasted the legacy medias coverage of The Covenant School attack with the shooting last May in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people dead.

Unlike in that instance, said Graham, most media outlets arent really interested in reading Hales manifesto, which is reportedly under review by the FBI.

They won't be trying to push blame on vicious [LGBT] voices in social media because they would be afraid of being accused of acknowledging that vicious [LGBT] voices exist, that this would be anti-gay or anti-trans, he said.

I think it's logical for journalists to ask if this shooter was committing a hate crime, he added. I don't think it's fair to suggest marginalized people can never commit hate crimes,' like they can't hate.
Evangelical Anglican clergy opposed to CofE's blessing of same-sex marriage launch new group 'The Church of England has departed from the Bible's teaching on marriage and sin, and the true Gospel of Jesus Christ'

A new deanery chapter for the city of London has been formed by a group of Evangelical Anglican clergy opposed to the Church of England's plans to introduce gay blessings.

The announcement of the new Church of England City deanery chapter was made on the website of St Helen's Bishopsgate, one of the largest Evangelical Anglican churches in London.

In a statement on its website, the church said, "After the House of Bishops' recent departure from the Bible's teaching on marriage and sexuality, new leadership structures are needed."

It added that the deanery chapter will "promote ongoing healthy Church of England ministry" and support the work of existing Evangelical bodies within the CofE, including the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC).

The deanery chapter held its first meeting in London on Monday, attended by 10 clergy.

Phil Martin, the vicar of St Botolph's Aldersgate, has been elected as the acting area dean and tasked with chairing meetings going forward.

In a video message, he said, "Since the House of Bishops has departed from the Bible's teaching on marriage and sin, and therefore from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, change is needed, new structures are needed."

The Rev. Chris Fishlock, senior minister of St Nicholas Cole Abbey, said the members of the deanery chapter plan to meet together regularly.

He extended an invitation to "all clergy in the city of London who are compelled to resist all episcopal leadership from the House of Bishops on the grounds that their proposed Prayers of Love and Faith undermine the Church of England's doctrine of marriage such that we can no longer walk in partnership together."

In response to its formation, the Diocese of London issued a statement saying that the deanery chapter has "no legal substance."

"The Diocese was first informed a few hours ago that a group of clergy in the city of London is seeking to set up its own parallel, unregulated structures, outside of those of the Diocese of London and the Church of England. This unilateral move would have no legal substance," the diocese said.

"The initiative has been announced publicly, without discussion, at a time when constructive ongoing dialogue continues here in the capital, and across the country, following the House of Bishops' proposals in response to the six-year Living in Love and Faith process.

"As a Diocese, we remain committed to working together through our differences, recognizing the strength of our shared faith in Christ, and all that brings us together."

Originally published in Christian Today
Revival event in Kentucky draws 3,500 people: 'An evident move of the Spirit

A revival event held in Kentucky shortly after the conclusion of the continuous Asbury University worship gathering drew around 3,500 people, with organizers planning to build upon this success.

Pulse, a ministry centered on young adults based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, headed by evangelist Nick Hall, held an event on the last Sunday of February at the Rupp Arena in Lexington.

Approximately 3,500 people attended the gathering, which lasted from 2 p.m. until 11 p.m., according to a Pulse spokesperson who emailed The Christian Post details this week.

"This was a phenomenal event that brought a community together for one afternoon and evening. We were amazed by how the Holy Spirit moved and lives were changed with the hope of the Gospel," explained the spokesperson.

"In several cases, there was an evident move of the Spirit during the preaching, worship, testimonies, and prayer times."

The Lexington event came not long after Pulse had a multi-campus tour, holding events at Texas Tech University, the University of Georgia, North Dakota State University, Iowa State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan.

The group's next big planned event will be Fill The Stadium (FTS), scheduled for Saturday, April 29, at the Gaylord Memorial Stadium at the University of Oklahoma.

"Revival is spreading, and we want to be part of how God is moving all across the world. As Nick Hall has said, when you see the wind moving, it is critical to throw up sales and follow the Lord's leading," the spokesperson said.

"We hope people experience more of Jesus. We hope they find Him through the Gospel for the first time. We hope they take the revival home with them and it spreads across the world."

Last month, students at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, felt inspired to continue worshipping after their regularly scheduled chapel service had come to an end.

The impromptu worship gathering lasted over two weeks, with tens of thousands of students and others traveling to the campus to experience the revival event.

The Asbury revival movement also spread to other college campuses, both private and public, with students and others holding evening worship services and outreach events.

Earlier this month, students at Regent University of Virginia Beach, Virginia, gathered at the campus during spring break to worship, pray and give testimonies as they were led.

"It feels like the same quality of spiritual renewal I experienced while at Asbury," said Jeff Gossmann, director of Campus Ministries at Regent, in an earlier interview with CP.

"It was clear that God has been drawing Gen Z to Himself. Gen Z has suffered so much loss from the pandemic. This revival is like a coming-of-age party for Gen Z. I believe that, through this revival, Jesus is saying to Gen Z, 'I see you. Welcome to the table.'"
Attacks on Christian schools inevitable' amid rising violence permeating society: Christian education expert warns

The head of an organization dedicated to supporting Christian private schools in the United States and abroad believes violence against Christian private academic institutions in the U.S. is on the rise and inevitable.

On Monday, a trans-identified woman entered The Covenant School of Nashville, Tennessee, and opened fire, killing three children and three adults before being shot dead by police.

Although a specific motive has not been officially endorsed, police have noted that the shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, had written works expressing contempt for the targeted private Christian school, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in America), in the Green Hills neighborhood.

Larry Taylor, president of the Association of Christian Schools International, told The Christian Post on Friday that he was "grieving and praying for the families" impacted by the mass shooting. His organization has also offered support for those traumatized by the tragedy.

Although Taylor doesn't believe violence against Christian schools and other entities is as bad in the U.S. as it is elsewhere in the world, he lamented that with the trend and the combination of the ultra-polarized citizenship we have, we are seeing an increase of violent protests and attacks."

So, I don't think today we are worried about our Christian schools and churches being attacked, but if the trend continues, I think it would be inevitable, said Taylor. Not just for Christian schools, but also for other faith-based services. I don't think private Christian schools or churches or any faith-based organizations, I don't think they're immune to the inevitable violence that is permeating our society.

He added that he's proud of our Christian schools in the United States and around the world for the safety precautions that they take both for the well-being of children and their physical safety."

Taylors comments come as debates have raged in Congress about advancing possible legislation to increase school security, such as Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas championing two bills, the Securing Our Schools Act and the Protect Our Childrens Schools Act.

In comments made Thursday on the Senate floor, Cruz pointed out that he had previously sponsored similar legislation in the past session, only for it to be blocked by Senate Democrats.

I wish I wasnt back here today. I wish this had passed last year, said Cruz. We have an opportunity right now to double the police officers on campus and keep kids safe.

These bills would be the most significant investment in school security ever enacted by Congress  doubling the number of police officers in schools and improving the physical security of our schools. I call on my colleagues to act with me and pass this legislation now to protect our children in school.

Cruz said his bill would also allocate $10 billion to assist mental health professionals on campus and $2.56 billion for enhanced security on school campuses.

Democrat Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state objected to the proposed legislation, arguing in comments on the floor that they are not serious attempts to make our kids safer.

You don't come down here and introduce a piece of legislation, and two minutes later, demand that the entirety of the Senate agree to it without any debate, any negotiation, Murray argued.

They're not even fully formed pieces of legislation. This thing is so ham-handed that one of the bills, there's literally brackets and question marks in the text.

Regarding what legislation he preferred Congress to pass on this issue, Taylor told CP that his organizations big priority with any new laws is that they give equal access to private schools.

Private school families are tax-paying citizens. They add value to the common good of every community. Even so, I would say, whether it's federal or state, if there's any type of legislation, there should be no strings attached, equal access, he said.
Why Christians should be prepared for persecution

Not a day passes without reports of persecution against Christians happening on a global scale. In my country Nigeria, Christians are killed on a daily basis. The government is actively aiding and abetting the persecutors. Sadly, this is a global phenomenon and it looks like there is nothing anyone can do to avert it.

Jesus warned us that persecution is inevitable, but we have decided to ignore this warning at our own perils. Remember what I told you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also (John 15:20). Many of us do not want to embrace the reality of the Christian faith. Many have decided to pick Jesus' words of blessings, miracles, signs and wonders, and throw away His hard sayings.

I strongly believe that persecution is an integral part of Christianity and there is nothing anyone can do to remove it. It is obvious that many preachers and Christians who want to escape persecution have developed another Gospel and faith that promotes bodily comforts and discard the doctrine of Christian suffering completely. This is not the Christianity that Christ handed over to His disciples.

Lack of preparedness for persecution on the side of Christians is responsible for our inability to reach the world with the Gospel and the love of Christ. We are now selecting where to go and where not to go even when the command of Christ is that we go into all the world and spread the good news about His kingdom. The Gospel of comfort and prosperity that are preached in our churches today does not allow us to embrace risk and face persecution. This is unacceptable!

We must as a matter of necessity be prepared to be persecuted because Christ did not in any way tell us to avoid it. Neither did He promise to deliver us when we are being persecuted. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victors crown (Revelation 2:10). There was no escape promised by Christ in this admonition because persecution is packaged by God to separate the chosen from the called.

The Biblical disciples who handed down Christianity to us understood and embraced the doctrine of Christian persecution. When they were persecuted they never prayed that God should deliver them; rather they prayed for the boldness to continue to preach the Gospel (Acts 4:29). Many governments around the world are threatening to put us in prison if we preach Christ. Should we quit or should we ask God to give us the boldness to go to all countries, cities, towns and villages with the Gospel regardless of the consequences?

The early missionaries were never afraid to die. Many of them were killed for the sake of the Gospel and all of us in Africa got the Gospel because someone jeopardized their life to reach us. When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, you will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages. To that, Calvert replied, we died before we came here.

How I wish all of us will emulate James Calvert and his team members. It is either that we die before the persecution comes or we outrightly disobey Christ's command that we go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Remaining in our comfort zones to avoid persecution is not the right thing to do.
Declaration pledges to 'resist' Church of England gay blessing plans

The Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) is inviting like-minded Anglicans to sign a declaration upholding the biblical view of marriage and sexuality and calling on them to "resist" plans by the Church of England to introduce same-sex blessings.

The declaration says that the proposed blessings are "a departure from the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness".

The plans were announced by the House of Bishops after several years of Church-wide discussions as part of the Living in Love and Faith process, and approved by the General Synod in February.

The CEEC was among the Anglican bodies that condemned the move at the time.

In its declaration, the CEEC agrees that the Church must "apologise and repent" for its failure to welcome LGBT people but says it is "compelled to resist" the proposed blessings, which it calls "a denial of biblical teaching".

"We believe these deny the authority of Scripture and, despite their stated desire not to do so, depart from the received historic understanding of the Church," the CEEC says.

"Jesus offers not only welcome and inclusion but the transforming power of his Spirit experienced through responding to his call to repent, take up our cross, and follow him.

"Commitment to living in love and faith means that our love must always be shaped by and embedded in the faith we have received."

The declaration asks that the Church of England "keep faith with its biblical inheritance and reaffirm its current teaching on marriage and sexuality that marriage is a lifelong exclusive commitment between one man and one woman, and that sex outside of that should be met with a call to repentance".

If the bishops or General Synod move forward with implementing the blessings, the declaration pledges to resist the plans and "remain in full communion with those Provinces of the Anglican Communion who also maintain the biblical and historic teaching of the church catholic".

The declaration can be signed here.
LGBT groups put pressure on government to ban conversion therapy

Gay Anglican Jayne Ozanne and LGBT groups have written to the government asking it to bring forward legislation to ban so-called conversion therapy.

The letter is backed by Stonewall and the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition, which Ozanne chairs, among other organisations.

The government promised to ban so-called conversion therapy five years ago. In January, the government said it was preparing to publish a draft bill.

The LGBT campaigners have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, and Minister for Equalities, Stuart Andrew.

In the letter they said they wanted the government to "publish the long-awaited legislation" in April and "end all forms of this appalling abuse".

"Time is now running perilously short for this legislation to be passed before the end of the fourth session, particularly given your desire for pre-legislative scrutiny," the letter says.

"Whilst we agree this important legislation requires careful scrutiny, we would suggest that the sooner this Bill comes before Parliament, the longer both Houses will have to carefully consider and debate it."

Ozanne said, "We urgently need a robust ban on these harmful practices - we have waited long enough! There can be no more excuses nor delays.

"No more ifs, no more buts and certainly no more loopholes. Far too many lives have already been ruined - we cannot afford to drag this out any longer!"

Last month, Badenoch, addressing the Women and Equalities Select Committee, refused to give a date for the legislation.

Evangelical Christians have expressed concerns that the ban will criminalise ordinary church practices like prayer, preaching and pastoral counselling.

The Evangelical Alliance received assurances from former prime minister Boris Johnson that prayer would not be criminalised.

In an interview with the Religion and Media Centre last month, Evangelical Alliance CEO Gavin Calver reiterated the organisation's opposition.

He said that introducing a ban could have "unintended consequences" and that churches "should be free" to pray for people with unwanted same-sex attraction.
Pope released from hospital

The Pope was discharged from a hospital in Rome on Saturday where he was being checked for breathing difficulties.

The Vatican said that the Pope was "feeling better" and was being released on Saturday morning.

He was admitted to Gemelli Hospital's paediatric oncology ward on Wednesday and spent several days there while doctors carried out medical check-ups.

In a statement on Friday evening, Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, said that the Pope was being released from the hospital after his medical team reviewed his test results on Friday.

The Vatican said that the Pope had visited other patients and baptised a baby during his time in hospital. He also received Holy Communion on Friday.

According to Vatican News, the Pope expressed thanks for the "self-sacrifice and spirit of service" of the hospital staff "who contribute to relieving the physical ailments and the mental anguish of those who, on a daily basis, are called upon to bear witness to the Cross of Christ".

His release comes in time for a Palm Sunday Mass.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Three current and former former executives of a shipbuilder that constructs vessels for the U.S. Navy have been indicted on accounting fraud charges accusing them of falsely inflating the company's reported earnings, federal prosecutors said.

Craig Perciavalle, 52, Joseph Runkel, 54, and William Adams, 63, all of Mobile, Alabama, where Austal USA LLC is based, are accused of misleading shareholders and investors. They are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud affecting a financial institution, five counts of wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Friday.
Crude prices spent the week above the $70 level, posting the best week of 2023 as concerns about the economic outlook began to calm and exports from Iraq were disrupted.

West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose four of five trading days, starting the week with a $3.55 surge and rising $1.40 and $1.30 on Thursday and Friday. Only a 23-cent decline Wednesday interrupted WTIs upward journey. WTI ended the week at $75.67, up from $69.26 at last Fridays close. The posted price closed at $72.15, according to Plains All American.

It was, however, a rough week for natural gas prices on the NYMEX, with Henry Hub futures falling four of five trading days, starting with a 13-cent drop Monday. The April contract expired Wednesday with prices falling below the $2 per Mcf level and the May contract opened with an 8-cent loss. Prices rebounded Friday, rising 11 cents to close the week at $2.216 per Mcf.

James Taylor, senior energy analyst at East Daley Analytics, noted that the boost to Waha gas prices provide when Kinder Morgans El Paso Natural Gas systems Line 2000 returned to service proved short-lived.

Writing in the companys Daley Note, Taylor said the widening of the Waha-Henry Hub spread to more than $1 per Mcf indicates the additional capacity on Line 2000 has already been filled with supply growth.

Waha spot prices have been under mounting pressure for most of March, trading over the recent March 20-24 week at an average $1.20/MMBtu discount to the Henry Hub benchmark, according to Bloomberg data. Waha gas prices averaged 65 cents over the latest March 25-27 weekend, he wrote in the newsletter.

Taylor went on to add that the recent market action confirms East Daleys view that Permian gas production will quickly grow into pipeline expansions planned for the second half of the year. East Daley forecasts pipelines taking natural gas from the Permian are running at 97% of effective egress capacity out of the basin and to run at an average 99% of effective capacity through the end of 2023.

As always, there is a lot going on that could move things in either direction. I have seen projections as high as $130 (based primarily on China's recovery), and there are forces in motion that can quickly move prices in either direction, Economist Ray Perryman told the Reporter-Telegram by email.

When examining all of the factors, Perryman finds it difficult to see a price at $130  or anything close to it, he wrote, and certainly not on a sustained basis.

Chinas economy is getting to a more normal state after COVID-related shutdowns, which will certainly boost demand for oil. At the same time, however, there are signs that many other major economies around the globe are slowing. This overall slowing will, in turn, affect Chinas exports and economic growth. In addition, we are seeing some slowing in US growth, he wrote.

He noted random occurrences, like the recent banking disruptions that pushed prices downward a couple of weeks ago while snags in Irag oil supplies pushed prices upward this week.

Recognizing that anything can happen at any time to push oil prices in either direction, the most likely course at this point is to remain in the recent (and relatively wide) trading range ($60-$85 per barrel), Perryman wrote.

Oil and gas producers responding to the Federal Reserve bank of Dallas quarterly energy survey continued to reflect uncertainty about commodity price directions.

Oil price correction is adding pressure on the continuation of drilling and frac activities. [We] expect the activity level to be flat to down in 2023 versus 2022s exit, one respondent wrote.

Another commented, The current low oil prices, coupled with the banking scare, will be hard on smaller, undercapitalized companies to conduct business as usual. There will be tougher credit and lower reserve values because of new price decks.

Yet another predicted that Crude oil is about to join natural gas in contango, which is highlighting a nervous macroeconomic picture. There are plenty of buyers at this calendar strip price and not a lot of sellers. Not seeing financial distress with all of the cash accrued since last year. The only way people are in trouble is if hedges are under water or if they blew out authorization for expenditures.
Editors note: Megan duBois was a guest of Disneyland which included Genie Plus. This story was not subject to review by Disney and all opinions are entirely hers.

It's no secret that a Disney vacation takes a lot of planning. Besides the typical things, like where you're going to stay and where you going to eat, there are many small decisions that can make the trip overwhelming and hard to know where to even start. One of the calls you'll have to make is deciding whether or not Disney Genie Plusthe extra-cost service that lets you skip the normal ride wait times and join the Lightning Lane at certain Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World ridesis worth buying for your group.

To help you better answer this question, I tested this relatively new service during a recent trip to Disneyland Resort. Here's everything to know about the service and whether you should consider it for your next trip.

How much is Disney Genie Plus?

Disney Genie Plus is priced on a sliding scale that starts at $25 per person, per day. The busier the day at the Disneyland Resort, the more expensive Disney Genie Plus is going to be. You can purchase the service as an add-on to single-day tickets or vacation packages when you book your tickets, so you dont have to purchase it individually each day. Alternatively, you can buy Disney Genie Plus once youre inside either of the two Disneyland Resort theme parks as a single-day purchase.

What does Disney Genie Plus let you do?

If you frequented Disney parks before the COVID-19 pandemic started, you probably remember the FastPass lanes that were present at many rides. FastPass has been replaced by the Lightning Lane, essentially a shorter line that allows you to skip most of the wait times for some of the most popular attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. With Disney Genie Plus, you have the ability to make reservations for an entry window at almost all the Lightning Lane attractions.

The most in-demand rides (usually one or two per park) are not included on the pass, so they will require you to purchase additional Individual Lightning Lane reservations for each guest in your party. The good news about these reservations is that they don't require Disney Genie Plus; it's simply a separate add-on you can purchase inside the Disneyland app for any rides that use it.

Top tips for using Disney Genie Plus

I tested Disney Genie Plus during the launch of the Disney 100 celebration at Disneyland Resort, which was extremely crowded. During the two full days I used the service (which was a good time to really put this add-on service to the test), I was able to get onto every attraction I wanted to ride that offered Lightning Lanes. I also had time for the rides that didnt have Lightning Lanes and I had time to dine at table-service restaurantsthe latter of which are notorious time-eaters at Disneyland.

While testing the service, I learned some valuable tips and tricks to get the most out of Disney Genie Plus. Here are my four biggest lessons.

Matt Stroshane/Matt Stroshane, photographer

1. Get there early and quickly get to a ride with an Individual Lightning Lane

Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park have attractions that utilize Individual Lightning Lanes, which, again, are not included with Disney Genie Plus. The price for these attractionsshould you not want to wait in the standby lineis on a sliding scale just like Disney Genie Plus. The price for getting a spot in the Lightning Lane at these attractions can be upwards of $25 or more per rider, which adds up quickly if youre also buying Disney Genie Plus for every member in your group.

At Disneyland, Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are both Individual Lightning Lane purchases as of this writing, while Radiator Springs Racers is the only such option at Disney California Adventure.

To save some money, consider heading to any of these three attractions as soon as the parks open for the day. If youre staying at one of the three Disneyland Resort hotels, use the early-entry perk to get a valuable head start, even though they are not part of the group of attractions that run during the early-entry period. Being near the front of the line when the rides officially open for the day will ensure you have a shorter wait and can quickly cross off a ride that would otherwise cost you upwards of two hours in line or at least $25 per rider.

Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort

2. Use the Genie Plus "stacking" trick to book your entire afternoon

Mornings at both Disneyland theme parks are the best time to hop on as many rides in the traditional standby lines as possible before the parks start to get super busy. If you arent staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel and dont have access to early entry, try to get to the parks at least 45 minutes before the standard opening time. This will help you get into the entrance to either of the parks faster and you can start booking your Lightning Lane reservations in the Disneyland app.

Since mornings are less busy, try to stack your reservations for later in the dayideally after 11:30 a.m. Book your first Lightning Lane for a popular attraction, like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland Park or Web Slingers at Disney California Adventure, when you walk in with the hopes that the available return times will be for later in the afternoon. From here, you can take advantage of the so-called "120-minute rule," which allows you to book a new Lightning Lane return time two hours after you booked your last one.

If the park opens at 8 a.m. and you immediately book a Lightning Lane reservation for the 11:30 a.m. window, for example, you'd be able to make your next reservation at 10 a.m., ideally for a window around 12 or 12:30 p.m., stacking up your reservations and allowing you to hop from one Lightning Lane to the next during the busier hours.

Winston Suk/Disneyland Resort

3. Set an alarm on your phone for your next booking window

Once you confirm a Lightning Lane reservation, Disney Genie Plus will display the time you can make your next reservation. Set an alarm on your phone so you don't miss it and so you can get the most reservations out of your day. If your return window for a current reservation comes before the time you can make your next reservation set by Disney Genie Plus, youre in luck. Once you tap your phone on the touch point at the current Lightning Lane you're booked to use, you can immediately make another Lightning Lane reservation, even if its before the 120-minute timer set by Disney Genie Plus. Pro tip: Make it a habit to book a new Lightning Lane every time you scan and activate your current one.

4. Watch your return times carefully and modify or cancel if needed

Disney Genie Plus doesnt take kindly to missing Lightning Lane entry periods. If youve made a Lightning Lane reservation and decide you no longer want it or decide to do something else thats taking longer than expected, try to cancel your overlapping Lightning Lane reservation. This will allow you to book a Lightning Lane for the same attraction later since the Disney Genie Plus system can mark unused reservations as completed for attractions, potentially locking you out of choosing that ride again later.

The bottom line: Is Disney Genie Plus worth it?

This is a tricky question and depends largely on how many rides you want to experience and your tolerance for waiting in standby lines. If you plan to spend three or more days at Disneyland Resort, I would recommend buying Disney Genie Plus for one or two days, knowing that not every attraction utilizes the service. On the days that you have the service, only ride the attractions that are part of Disney Genie Plus. Then, on the days without the service, plan to ride the attractions that only offer a standby line.

While the cost for Disney Genie Plus definitely adds up over the course of three or four days for a family of four, it does save a lot of time and allows everyone in the group to get on multiple high-demand rides every day with just a short time spent in line. If you're headed out for that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland, it's a worthy addition.
Doctors Hospital of Laredo is providing notice of an incident that involved our patients' protected health information (PHI). Letters were mailed to potentially affected patients or their parents/guardians on March 29, 2023.

Adelanto HealthCare Ventures, L.L.C. (AHCV) is a consulting company that works for one of our business associates and provides transactional advisory support for our Organization. As part of these services, our business associate may provide AHCV with certain claim information on our patients. On Nov. 5, 2021, AHCV became aware of suspicious activity and determined that two AHCV employee email accounts had been accessed without authorization as a result of a phishing incident. Initially, AHCV did not believe the incident involved any PHI of our Organization. On Dec. 21, 2021, AHCV notified one of our former employees that PHI was present in the affected email accounts and potentially accessible during the incident. It was not until Aug. 19, 2022 that our business associate learned that certain PHI may have been involved.

Once our business associate learned of the incident, it launched an investigation into the matter and worked with AHCV to gather additional information on the incident to enable our business associate to determine whether there was a low probability that the PHI was compromised. Unfortunately, our business associate did not receive sufficient information to conduct this analysis until Dec. 27, 2022. There is no evidence to date to suggest that the PHI was copied or misused, but our business associate notified our Organization of the incident on Jan. 28, 2023. Once we received this notice, we worked with our business associate to take the steps needed to provide notification to individuals.

What Information Was Involved

The emails contained the patient's full name and some or all of the following: facility name, Medicaid claim ID, Medicaid client ID, care plan name, Medicaid program, gender, date of birth, admission and discharge date, medical and diagnosis information, and mental health comorbidity (if any). Please note the emails did not contain Social Security numbers, credit card numbers or other financial information.

What We are Doing

Our Organization began mailing notification letters on March 29, 2023. We have also confirmed that AHCV is expanding its security measures in light of the incident and assessing additional training and security reminders for its employees. Our business associate has counseled its own employees on the incident and best practices, and is determining whether additional steps are needed. We also provided other required notices of this incident, such as notice to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services .

What Affected Individuals Can Do

While we are unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of PHI, we are offering impacted patients with 12 months of internet surveillance and identity restoration services through Experian at no charge. Individuals can refer to their notification letter for enrollment instructions.

More Information

Our Organization is committed to providing quality care, including protecting personal health information, and has policies and procedures in place for protecting and safeguarding patient information. Individuals with additional questions, may call our dedicated assistance line at 800-910-4035 (toll-free), MondayFriday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. CST, and SaturdaySunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST, excluding holidays. This line will remain open until July 31, 2023. Please provide engagement number B087604 when calling. If you did not receive a letter, but would like to know if you were affected, please contact our dedicated assistance line.
In the minutes after it became public that former president Donald Trump had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, congressional Republicans quickly directed their anger at District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

"As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, [Bragg] weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump. The American people will not tolerate this injustice," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, before ensuring the House will "hold Alvin Bragg . . . to account."

House Republicans spent Friday doubling down on the attacks they have lobbed for weeks against Bragg, who has been investigating hush-money payments made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. They have made Bragg the central target in their defense of Trump, painting him as a case study of a Democratic official who they claim has weaponized the levers of government against a political opponent.

It's a message Republicans leaned into, even before the indictment, when Trump first posted on social media earlier this month that he expected to be arrested on a Tuesday with little explanation. In the wake of the indictment, Trump has made outreach to lawmakers in House GOP leadership and relevant congressional committees to discuss how to respond to it, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations.

Democrats, in turn, have subtly defended Bragg and the legal system without naming him. In a statement after the indictment, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "Mr. Trump is subject to the same laws as every American," and that a jury, not politics, will "determine his fate according to the facts and the law."

Republicans who often refrain from commenting on the latest Trump headline have long approved of their colleagues' desire to investigate Democrats, citing the constitutional responsibility of a House majority to perform oversight duties. They have taken a similar tone in the wake of the indictment, but suggest that their colleagues should not predetermine Bragg's motives before launching investigations.

"Regardless of political affiliation, it's not hard to recognize the partisan intent of the New York indictment," Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said in a statement. "This is unprecedented and opens a new era in political warfare that has no place in our country. Congress will investigate the conduct of the Manhattan D.A.'s office to determine if the indictment was justified and not partisan weaponization."

The response to Trump's indictment was more muted in the Senate, where top Republican leaders declined to comment on the reported indictment. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who has not spoken to Trump since shortly after the 2020 election, and Minority Whip John Thune (S.D.) stayed silent as all House Republican leaders issued blistering statements on Thursday and Friday.

But defense from some senators echoed House GOP arguments. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump's fiercest allies in the Senate, called the prosecution "irresponsible" and predicted Trump would defeat the case in the courtroom. Fewer Republicans have echoed Trump's own defense that he is innocent, only going as far as to claim that this is a weak case and that Trump is innocent until proven guilty.

Republicans have targeted Bragg's record as a district attorney to underscore what they view as the hypocrisy of his decision to indict, pointing to a memo he released shortly after being sworn in, where he said he would change the culture of the office and no longer prosecute some misdemeanors. Republicans say it has contributed to skyrocketing crime under Democrats' watch, though statistics show violent crime is down in Manhattan year over year.

"Instead of locking up dangerous career criminals wreaking havoc on our city, Alvin Bragg has chosen to abuse our tax dollars and his prosecutorial power to politically target a political foe. Shameful," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who represents Staten Island, said in a tweet Thursday.

That focus has also allowed Republicans to defend Trump without having to embrace him amid a presidential campaign season where alternatives to Trump are lining up.

Still, some of Trump's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill declared him innocent even before the indictment was released. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told reporters at a House GOP conference in Orlando earlier this month that if Trump were to be indicted, any charges would be "fake." Greene intends to stand with Trump supporters in New York City on Tuesday in protest of Trump surrendering himself that day.

Republicans also have sought to link Bragg's actions to George Soros, a billionaire Democratic fundraiser whom conservatives have turned into a boogeyman. The link between Soros and Bragg is indirect: Soros funded Color of Change, a liberal organization that in turn supported several progressive prosecutors, including Bragg, in their campaigns, the New York Times has reported.

Yet, since the indictment, 10 percent of the public statements about Bragg online from high-profile, right-wing officeholders and influencers have also mentioned Soros, according to a Washington Post analysis, including the use of phrases like, "Soros-sponsored DA" or "Soros DA Alvin Bragg."

Almost two weeks before Trump was indicted, House GOP leadership launched three separate probes into Bragg. McCarthy directed Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio), Oversight Chairman James Comer (Ky.), and Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (Wis.) to investigate the Manhattan district attorney's probe into Trump, issuing requests for communications, documents and testimony relating to what they called his "unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority." Republicans have argued they have jurisdiction to investigate Bragg because federal funds are used by district attorneys to fund investigations.

Those requests have since been met with two letters from the Manhattan district attorney's office general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, indicating that compliance with the House GOP's requests would interfere with a pending criminal investigation.

It remains to be seen whether Jordan ultimately subpoenas Bragg over Trump's indictment. Jordan himself defied a congressional subpoena, issued by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection last year, in which he was called to testify about efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

A subpoena of a Manhattan district attorney amid an ongoing criminal investigation would be a dramatic and unprecedented escalation, though largely symbolic. The office has already suggested that Bragg would be unlikely to comply with the subpoena, leaving House Republicans to make a criminal referral for contempt of Congress to the Justice Department.

By statute, the Justice Department would then be responsible for deciding whether to bring a criminal case but is unlikely to ultimately prosecute Bragg based on the Justice Department's long-standing practice of not providing information about ongoing investigations.

"There's not tons [House Republicans] can functionally do, but it's very clear that everyone is enraged over this," said a GOP operative close to House Republicans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline the conference's thinking. "From leadership all the way down to the Freedom Caucus - you even had RINO establishment Republicans who loathe Trump, like [Sen. Thom] Tillis (N.C.) saying this is ridiculous."

Republican investigators have made clear the indictment will not slow down their committee's work, if anything stressing it will accelerate it. It could also sharpen their focus on other Democrats to investigate more aggressively.

After Trump posted to Truth Social overnight "WHERE'S HUNTER," referencing Biden's son who has been the target of a House investigation, House Republicans began to amplify his concerns.

"Is Alvin Bragg looking into Hunter Biden's art sales and business records in New York City?" Jordan tweeted Friday morning.

- - -

The Washington Post's Jeremy Merrill and Liz Goodwin contributed to this report.
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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  It has been more than three years since police announced that two kids were missing from a rural eastern Idaho town, and each twist in the grim investigation has seemed stranger than the last.

Their mother claimed to be a deity, her estranged husband wrote in divorce papers. She called the children zombies before they vanished, a friend told police. A handful of followers seemed to buy into her doomsday claims, Arizona investigators reported.

Those are just some of the details that could be aired in court starting next week, when Lori Vallow Daybell stands trial on murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, and Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday.

Her husband, Chad Daybell, faces the same charges. And they are both also charged in the October 2019 death of Daybell's late wife.

Here's a look at what is known and what is next in the bizarre case:

HOW DID THE CASE BEGIN?

JJ's grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock of Louisiana, were increasingly worried about the kids in 2019. For the first half of the year, Lori Vallow Daybell was still married to JJ's father, Charles Vallow, but the two were estranged and he had filed for divorce.

In the divorce documents, Vallow claimed his wife believed she was a god-like figure, sent to usher in the apocalypse and carry out the work of 144,000 believers.

Their marriage ended suddenly in July when Lori's brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her husband outside the family's suburban Phoenix home. Police initially determined the shooting was in self-defense and Cox was never charged.

Vallow Daybell, the kids and Cox moved to eastern Idaho, and JJ's grandparents struggled to reach him by phone. The Woodcocks said Vallow Daybell wouldn't tell them why the child was always unavailable. They grew suspicious and called police.

WHEN DID THE CASE BECOME A MURDER INVESTIGATION?

Rexburg police performed a welfare check in November of 2019, and said Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell  an Idaho man who had known Lori for months  lied about the children's whereabouts.

When police returned the next day, the couple had left town.

Police determined Tylee Ryan was last seen in September headed into Yellowstone National Park with her mom and other family for a day trip, and JJ was last seen by school officials several days later.

The search spanned several states and continued until June 2020, when the children's bodies were found buried in the yard of Daybell's eastern Idaho home.

Detectives meanwhile learned that his previous wife, Tammy Daybell, had unexpectedly died in October 2019 of what was initially reported as natural causes, and the family had declined an autopsy.

Chad and Lori married just two weeks after Tammy's death. Authorities exhumed Tammy Daybell's body and expanded their investigation.

WHAT DO PROSECUTORS SAY HAPPENED?

Prosecutors say the Daybells espoused strange doomsday-focused beliefs to further their alleged plan to kill the kids and Tammy Daybell, then collect life insurance money and the kids' social security and survivor benefits.

Several family members and friends described to detectives a group led by Lori and Chad that met to pray, believing that they could drive out evil spirits and seek revelations from beyond the spiritual veil.

Though the beliefs Vallow Daybells friends described to detectives were loosely based in theology from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they veered into the extreme.

In police reports, one friend said Vallow Daybell told her she could teleport between Arizona and Hawaii, and that Daybell said he had a portal in his home where he could receive revelations and travel to other realms.

Vallow Daybells close friend Melanie Gibb told investigators that the couple used a scoring system to determine whether people were good or evil, and that they believed people became zombies when they were possessed by evil spirits.

The group would spend time praying to get rid of the zombies, and believed that if they were successful the possessed person would physically die, freeing their trapped soul from limbo.

Vallow Daybell called JJ and Tylee zombies several times before they died, Gibb told investigators.

WHAT DO DEFENSE ATTORNEYS SAY?

Vallow Daybell is being represented by eastern Idaho-based attorneys John Thomas and James Archibald.

She has pleaded not guilty in the case, and her attorneys have submitted formal notice that they intend to offer an alibi.

In that court document, Vallow Daybell's attorneys said she was in her own apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, when the children died at a nearby apartment where her brother lived. The attorneys said she was with a couple of friends, and/or Chad Daybell.

Her attorneys also wrote that Vallow Daybell was in Hawaii with other friends when Daybells previous wife died the next month.

Daybell's attorneys havent offered details about his planned defense, other than saying in court that Daybell and Vallow Daybell will have  mutually antagonistic defenses   a legal term that generally means a jury would have to disbelieve one defendant in order to believe the other.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN DURING THE TRIAL?

Vallow Daybells trial is expected to last up to 12 weeks. Jury selection begins Monday.

The judge has banned cameras from the courtroom and the trial was moved to Boise to increase the likelihood of finding jurors that aren't deeply familiar with the case.

Her husband will be tried later.

Prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against both defendants. But just two weeks before the trial was to begin, 7th District Judge Steven Boyce granted a request from Vallow Daybell's defense attorneys to take the death penalty off the table.

The judge said the decision was made because of the volume of evidence that was turned over to the defense team. Vallow Daybell has not waived her right to a speedy trial, so it could not be delayed.

Daybell still faces the death penalty in his case.

ANY OTHER CHARGES?

Vallow Daybell has also been indicted in metro Phoenix on a charge of conspiring to murder Charles Vallow. The indictment says she conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, in Vallow's death.

Cox was never arrested in the case. He died five months after Vallow was killed from what medical examiners said was a pulmonary blood clot.

Idaho likely won't agree to extradite Vallow Daybell to face the Arizona charges until the case against her in Idaho is completed. She has not yet entered a plea in the Arizona case.
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NASHVILLE - "I'm sorry for what you had to go through this week," Senior Minister Clay Stauffer told the Covenant School's students. "It's not fair."

The children had gathered, along with hundreds of others, at Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville to honor Evelyn Marie Dieckhaus. Evelyn, 9, died Monday morning when a shooter opened fire at her private elementary school. Five other people were also killed, including a custodian, a substitute teacher and the school principal.

Friday's funeral was standing room only as the community came out to mourn. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers sat together in one pew; ushers asked people to give up their seats for Covenant School students.

Stauffer wore a pink jacket, a tribute to Evelyn's love of color. Before the service, girls in white cotton dresses with pink waist ribbons handed out stuffed animals to her classmates. Younger girls handed out tissue packets tied with pink bows. The service included songs sung by country music artists Vince Gill, Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum), Natalie Hemby and Lauren Lucas.

Evelyn was a third-grader at the Covenant School. In her obituary, published in the Tennessean, she was remembered for her "sparkly soul" and "unmistakable warmth." She loved crafting and animals, it said, including her two dogs and prized collection of stuffed animal tigers (all named Tony). She was hoping to get a rat for her 10th birthday, and she composed songs on her piano.

"As she learned to walk, Evelyn could be spotted pushing a stroller overflowing with baby dolls, with at least a few more strapped to the front and back of her tiny body," the obituary said. "She loved well and was easy to love."

Funeral arrangements will continue this coming week for the other two children and three adults killed in the shooting at the Covenant School, attached to Covenant Presbyterian Church in the affluent Green Hills suburb.

Hallie Scruggs's family planned a private funeral for their daughter on Saturday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, where her father is the lead pastor. The funeral for Mike Hill, the school custodian, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday morning at Stephens Valley Church in Nashville, with visitation beginning at 10 a.m., Pastor Jim Bachmann said.

A visitation for Katherine Koonce, head of the school, is scheduled for Tuesday from 5-8 p.m. at Christ Presbyterian Church, with a service the following day at 1 p.m. The service for 9-year-old William Kinney is set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Christ Presbyterian Church.

Visitation for Cynthia Peak, the school's 61-year-old substitute teacher, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday followed by a funeral at noon at Christ Presbyterian Church.
She's been chasing the northern lights for nearly a decade, so amateur photographer Donna Lach can easily recognize the green, red and purple curtains of light of the aurora borealis dancing across the sky. But one Sunday night in September 2015, while watching a rather lackluster aurora, she saw something she didn't recognize. A strange mauve light accompanied by "a green blob" appeared to the west of the aurora.

"It was this pink arc, and at some time, it extended above me," said Lach, based in the Canadian community of Plumas, Manitoba. "I didn't really know what it was."

She was seeing something rarer than an aurora. It was STEVE.

STEVE is not an aurora, but you can think of it as a shy, distant cousin. It looks as if it could be part of the family, but it has its own distinct style. The phenomenon generally appears as a long, slender purple-and-white arc, sometimes accompanied by a structure that looks like a green picket fence. It is fainter and narrower, and occurs at lower latitudes than most auroras. It is also harder to predict. (Then there's the name, which we'll address shortly.)

Donna Lach photo.

Seeing STEVE can be a matter of space physics serendipity. Lach has managed to photograph STEVE more than 20 times since that first sighting in 2015 - potentially the most of any individual on record - and has probably seen the ribbon of light even more. Many leading researchers in the field haven't even seen the light phenomenon once.

Citizen scientists like Lach, in addition to satellite data and sky cameras, have been vital sources for researchers investigating STEVE - when it forms and how to recognize it. One citizen-science project, called Aurorasaurus, allows the public to report sightings and connects amateur photographers with scientists. Since STEVE's formal identification in 2018, researchers, photographers and citizen scientists have learned what makes STEVE special. (A note: In a previous job at NASA, this reporter worked part time for Aurorasaurus and wrote news releases related to the discovery, though she did not previously work with any researchers mentioned in this piece.)

Solar activity is expected to be on the rise over the next few years, researchers say, so there could be good opportunities for the public to spot STEVE. During a severe geomagnetic storm last week, a few people photographed the phenomenon in the U.S. Such storms headed toward Earth can be difficult to detect with more than a day or two's notice, but aurora and STEVE chasers can check the Space Weather Prediction Center for potential promising geomagnetic activity.

"Someone who doesn't have a degree in it can still contribute to the scientific study," said Lach, who recently retired as a school administrative assistant and now manages a farm.

Why is it called STEVE?

Naming a streak of light "Steve" may seem a bit random, and it is.

After her initial sighting in 2015, Lach along with other aurora chasers posted about the strange mauve arc online and even casually discussed it in person. They thought it might be a known phenomenon called a proton aurora, a type of aurora that is broad and diffuse and invisible to the naked eye, requiring instruments like a camera to see it. But scientists refuted that identification because this phenomenon was visually bright, narrow and structured.

In an effort to call it something besides a purple-y ribbon-y thing, Chris Ratzlaff, an aurora chaser and photographer around Calgary, Alberta, suggested something a little different: "Steve." He pulled the name from the animated children's film "Over the Hedge," which he had recently watched with his kids. In one scene, the animal characters are frightened by an unfamiliar trimmed bush and decide to call it Steve.

As scientists began looking at satellite data and photos in more detail, they determined that this thin ribbon of light was actually a very fast stream of particles in the upper atmosphere that experience so much heat that they glow. A team of space physicists and citizen scientists published the initial study identifying Steve in 2018.

The scientists gave the phenomenon a backronym: Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.

What are some impacts of STEVE?

Even if you haven't seen the awe-inspiring STEVE, its impacts could be experienced by Earthlings in other ways.

STEVE researcher Toshi Nishimura recounted at least one instance in which a radio signal from a radar network disappeared for 30 minutes as STEVE appeared, but then returned once the ghostly light left the area, suggesting that the phenomenon can disrupt such signals. Similar blackouts can occur with space weather associated with auroras, but he said STEVE occurs in a different region. He said it "would have a larger impact on densely populated regions at lower latitudes than aurora."

STEVE is important because Earth's magnetic field "is doing something different from usual. . . . We still don't understand why," said Nishimura, who recently published a study on the mysteries of STEVE. He has yet to see the phenomenon in person.

How do you know if what you're seeing is STEVE?

STEVE has gained popularity in the past decade, but potential observations date back to the 18th century. Of course, it wasn't known as STEVE back then. Photographs were also unavailable early on, so sightings were sometimes described through text or sketches.

In a study published in 1891, one observer described a "luminous band extended east and west," like a straight tail of a large comet. In 1933, aurora pioneer Carl Stormer snapped an early image of the occurrence in a black-and-white photo.

A few weeks after STEVE was formally identified in 2018, citizen-scientist Michael Hunnekuhl began searching through past studies and compiled a list of these historical and recent observations. He created a database of more than 1,000 observations, which he said is probably the largest STEVE database in the world.

STEVE has been observed on every continent, including Antarctica. Areas with the highest number of days with reports are Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, though that could partly be a result of high awareness of the phenomenon in those locations.

"The occurrence rate of Steve and observation rate can be different, especially if you go back a few years, because people were not aware of Steve," said Hunnekuhl. The weather might influence reporting rates as well, he said, because people may be less likely to go outside in certain conditions.

Nonetheless, several trends have appeared in the data: STEVE appears most often in March and September near the equinoxes (which is also when aurora activity usually increases). The visible arc lasts about 30 minutes and very rarely after midnight.

Lach said she typically looks for STEVE when aurora activity is high from a solar storm. STEVE is seen in conjunction with an aurora, although it is usually physically separated. It appears about 30 minutes after the aurora begins to brighten. Lach said she finds STEVE by looking off the western edge of the aurora. STEVE can be blocked out by a bright aurora, though, especially if it's close to it.

STEVE can also take on slightly different forms. It can appear as just a short arc to the west of the aurora or extend across the full sky from east to west. Large manifestations also show more depth in color - a deep red on top, mauve in the middle and white on the bottom.

As the STEVE arc persists, a green picket fence may appear. Sometimes the arc disappears and the green picket fence remains.

How is STEVE different from the aurora?

STEVE and the aurora are both a ghostly light phenomenon in the atmosphere, but that's about where the similarity ends.

NASA researcher Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, who has been part of STEVE research since the inaugural paper in 2018, sums up a few differences in their creation: Auroras involve a physical mechanism, with electrons and ions raining into our upper atmosphere and exciting atoms. The STEVE arc is a hot band of gas that involves a chemical reaction, which produces a glow.

Gallardo-Lacourt, who also hasn't seen STEVE, explains that the arc is associated with a very fast stream of particles - about five times faster than seen in auroras. One proposed mechanism is that this strong plasma flow excites nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere that then interact with oxygen molecules, creating nitric oxide. This nitric oxide, which is otherwise rare in our atmosphere, is energized and glows, emitting light in the purple range of the visible light spectrum.

Their sources also vary. The creation of an aurora begins when the sun sends a surge of energy to Earth, such as through an explosion on the sun called a coronal mass ejection, and spurs a large-scale geomagnetic storm. However, STEVE has occurred with and without geomagnetic storms.

Nishimura, a researcher at Boston University, said STEVE seems to always occur during local and brief disturbances in Earth's magnetic field, called substorms. Substorms can occur without a large geomagnetic storm and happen daily. Yet despite the ubiquity of substorms, researchers are perplexed about why STEVE sightings are still relatively rare compared with auroras.

With every photo and report, people are understanding more about this relatively unexplored part of our atmosphere, and its connection with the sun. If you have seen STEVE, reach out to any of the researchers - or share your sightings with us on Twitter.
Jane Phillips/AP

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  The New Mexico Court of Appeals vacated on Friday two felony convictions for embezzlement against a former secretary of the state Taxation and Revenue Department because a yearslong prosecution extended beyond the statute of limitations.

The court's order on a 2-1 split decision knocks out two convictions against ex-taxation secretary Demesia Padilla on charges of embezzlement and computer access with the intent to defraud and embezzle.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraine's top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.

Metropolitan Pavel is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraines most revered Orthodox site. He has denied the charges and resisted the authorities' order to vacate the complex.

In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russias invasion was politically driven.

I have never been on the side of aggression, Pavel told reporters in the courthouse. This is my land.

After the court's ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it. The house arrest was to last two months.

I am accepting this, he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldnt I accept this?

Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

Many Orthodox communities in Ukraine have cut their ties with the UOC and transitioned to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which more than four years ago received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

The UOC has insisted that its loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian security agencies say some in the church have maintained close ties with Moscow. The agencies have raided numerous holy sites of the church and then posted photos of rubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

The government had ordered the monks to leave the compound by March 29. It claims they violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site, and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Dozens of UOC supporters gathered outside the monastery on Saturday, singing hymns in the rain. A smaller group of protesters also turned up, accusing the other side of sympathizing with Moscow.

They wash the brains of people with Russian support, and they are very dangerous for Ukraine, said Senia Kravchuk, a 38-year-old software developer from Kyiv. They sing songs in support of Russia, and thats horrible, here, in the center of Kyiv.

Third-year seminary student David, 21, disagreed. Dressed in a priests robes and with a Ukrainian flag draped round his shoulders, he insisted the Lavra priests and residents were in no way pro-Russian. The state, he said, was trying to evict hundreds of people from Lavra without a court order.

Look at me. Im in priests clothes, with a Ukrainian flag and a cross around my neck. Could you say that Im pro-Russian? said David, who declined to give his last name because of the tensions surrounding the issue. The priests are currently singing a Ukrainian hymn, and theyre being called pro-Russian. Can you believe it?

Bartholomew I is considered the first among equals among the leaders of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Russia's Patriarch Kirill and most other Orthodox patriarchs have refused to accept his decision authorizing the second Ukrainian church.

In other news Saturday, Zelenskyy condemned the U.N. Security Council for allowing Russia to assume its presidency. The councils 15 members each serve as president for a month, on a rotating basis.

Zelenskyy said Russian artillery had killed a 5-month-old boy in the town of Avdiivka on Friday, one of hundreds of artillery attacks each day, and added that Russia presiding over the Security Council "proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions.

Two civilians were reported killed in Russian shelling on Saturday, one each in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian authorities there said.

Zelenskyy also said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday about defense cooperation.

While Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive expected later this spring, Russian forces have kept pressing their effort to capture the city of Bakhmut. Fighting in that stronghold in Ukraine's east has dragged on for eight months.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a Saturday visit to the military headquarters overseeing the action in Ukraine that Russia's defense industries have boosted production of ammunition by several times.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said in an analysis Saturday that the Russian offensive overseen by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, has fizzled.

Gerasimovs tenure has been characterized by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region, the British ministry said on Twitter. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed.

The ministry said Russian forces have made only marginal gains in the Donbas "at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties." Russia was "largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel from a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists Putin ordered in the fall, the U.K. analysis said.

The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, meanwhile, mocked a new edition of Moscows foreign policy doctrine published Friday that described the Russian policy as peaceful, open, predictable, consistent, pragmatic and based on respect for universally recognized principles and norms of international law.

April Fools Day is TOMORROW, the Foreign Office tweeted late Friday. ___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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BENGALURU, India (AP)  For the second year in a row, Indias government has ordered the nations coal-fired power plants to run at full power. But this years order is even more sweeping than last year's  all coal and oil-fired generators will be maxed out for the entire summer, from April through June. Analysts say it will dramatically increase Indias already sky-high greenhouse gas emissions.

Seventy miles from Kolkata in Indias West Bengal state, 48-year-old Kakali Halder knows the reason for the order. She and several hundred other seamstresses at Mathurapur Sanghati Swayamber Sangha, a group that make clothing items and share the proceeds between them, have struggled to get orders out when they cant rely on the electricity.

Despite their proximity to the megacity of Kolkata, they lost power almost daily over part of last years blistering summer. The machines would go quiet, stopping progress on the uniforms they were on contract to deliver.

Sometimes there were power cuts for up to 12 hours. We had to use the manual tailoring machines and stitch with our hands, said Halder, the secretary of her group. They lost money they couldn't afford to lose and endured pain working extra to complete work that should have taken half the time.

Cooling systems across the country, now more urgently needed as climate change turns up the heat on already sweltering temperatures, were exhausting the grid. Several northern states including West Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat faced regular power outages. The government order to keep the coal plants running is an example of a warming planet prompting action that further aggravates climate change.

India is the worlds second-largest country by population, and the third-largest emitter. It relies on its abundant coal  plus some imports  for some 70% of electricity. India has hundreds of coal-fired plants and mines dotted around the country. The government expects power demand to reach a high of 229 gigawatts in April.

India has to ensure there is energy security as this is critical for the countrys development and growth, said Alok Kumar, the most senior official in Indias federal power ministry. He said India is achieving its climate goals fully and will continue to do so.

But others see national politics influencing the call to run the generating stations  including the oldest or dirtiest-burning  at full power for the duration of summer. Major regional elections in the politically important southern Indian state of Karnataka will be held on May 10 and the national elections to elect a new prime minister will be held next year.

There is a strong political incentive to ensure regular electricity supply this summer, said Aditya Lolla, an energy policy analyst at the London-based environmental think tank, Ember.

Electricity availability and electricity subsidies acutely affect election results in India and incumbent political parties strive to provide uninterrupted supply, especially when there are elections around the corner.

Climate change doesn't just make daytime heat waves hotter. It also often means that temperatures don't cool down as much at night. That's driving up demand for cooling in the evening hours, Lolla said.

Indias power consumption grew 10% this February compared to last. Records could be broken in the coming weeks.

India currently meets about 10% of its power need with renewable energy. While there is rapid growth in clean energy, it's nowhere near enough to meet peak demand.

One thing experts agree is needed is a massive amount of new energy storage, usually large arrays of batteries. The idea for storage is that batteries charge from excess power on the grid during hours when demand is low. Currently, India has only 3 gigawatts of storage, or enough to serve about 3 million homes for a year.

Energy storage is important to ensure uninterrupted supply during extreme weather as well as to shift firmly towards clean energy, said Ammu Jacob, a scientist at the think tank Center of Study of Science, Technology and Policy. Jacob said without more storage it will be harder to integrate wind and solar energy into the grid even if new renewable energy projects come up, because of its intermittency.

One problem for building out storage has been cost, but costs are coming down, Jacob said. And the alternative, damages to lives and livelihoods due to climate change-driven extreme weather, is expensive too.

To accelerate Indias energy transition, international climate finance is essential, said Lolla of Ember.

The country will need to install more than 40 gigawatts of clean energy on average every year to meet its 2030 goal. But it needs a parallel plan to phase down coal-fired power, said Lolla of Ember. India has announced a net zero target for 2070, but its path to get there is still unclear, Lolla said. India fell just shy of meeting its target of 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022.

But for those like Kakali Halder, the more urgent hope is that last years power cuts don't return.

All our customers are local and they understand if orders are delayed, but at the same time no one waits forever, she said.

___

Follow Sibi Arasu on Twitter at @sibi123

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
In the continuing controversy over a now-stalled plan to remove the statue of a 17th century army officer from the exterior of the State Capitol building, legislative leaders have highlighted the need to consider new historic figures for inclusion among the empty third-floor niches along with immortal figures, including Gov. Ella T. Grasso and the all-white, all-male Colonial state founders.

A bill that recently advanced from a legislative committee, not without controversy of its own, is aimed at creating a formal process for identifying and commissioning new statues to celebrate Connecticut's diversity through the existing, appointed State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission, which meets quarterly and is currently involved in an advisory capacity on the estimated $54 million renovation of the High Victorian Gothic-style granite and marble 1878 landmark.

The bill passed the Government Administration and Elections Committee in a 14-5 vote, with the most-vocal opposition from conservative state Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott, who also criticized the current political makeup of the restoration commission because the appointees are dominated by Democrats. "Certainly, I'm not opposed to diversity," Sampson said. "I can also recognize the desire to maybe update the appearance of our Capitol that is more in keeping with our society currently." He noted that many of the statues were commissioned at a time "when things were not fair."

But he argued that as currently written, the legislation would essentially create a system of reverse discrimination. "What this policy says, by requiring that the statues be added to the exterior of the State Capitol building reflecting the diversity of the state, is suggesting that new statues ought to be selected by paying attention to people's race and gender," Sampson said. "That's how we got into this problem. I don't want to perpetuate it. I believe that language becomes very dangerously close to a quota, which we know from federal debates, Supreme Court decisions and so forth certainly about other types of policies, are not constitutional."

State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the GAE committee, disagreed on the issue of statue quotas. "I read this as only creating a process for identifying and commissioning additional statues," he said. "It's a basic value, in addition to memorializing exemplary and meritorious people, that we should also reflect the diversity of our state in those memorializations. I think it matters to individuals who walk through our halls, who see what statements we're making about who we consider exemplary to memorialize. It provides inspiration to individuals. It makes people feel seen."

The legislation, which next heads to the House of Representatives, would also create a new State Historical Commission within the executive branch, made up of scholars from the state's colleges and universities, with the goal of examining commemorations and statuary, and make recommendations to the preservation panel.

During a recent public hearing on the proposal, Daniel Menihan Jr., a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, said the state's tribal nations hope to have membership on the proposed historical commission. "By improving the State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commissions mission to plan for more diverse statuary, and establishing a scholarly commission to examine all three branches of governments existing commemorations, we honor our rich and complex past," Menihan said in recent testimony to the Government Administration & Elections Committee.

Menihan said tribal leaders are still hopeful that that the marble statue of Capt. John Mason, who led the massacre of hundreds of Pequots in the Mystic section of Groton in 1637, will eventually be removed from the niche overlooking Bushnell Park, where it has stood since 1909. While it was budgeted for removal in recent years, a cost overrun brought the issue to a little-known committee of legislative leaders, where Republicans opposed the plan.

"While the (Preservation) Commission did not authorize removal, we remain hopeful it will one day be removed," Menihan said. "Throughout history, John Mason has meant many things to many people. To descendants of the historic Pequot Tribe, he was a murderous figure, central to the devastation of our ancestors settlement in the 17th century. To others, he was an early English settler who founded the town of Windsor."

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, a sponsor of the bill, suggested that the Preservation and Restoration Commission consider installing signs around the Capitol to help the public understand the sculptures and other art on the Capitol grounds and on the building.

"We are a state that respects and values diverse lived experiences and perspectives," Rojas told the GAE committee. "States across the country are re-evaluating monuments and public art depicting historical figures or events which are inconsistent with present-day beliefs and values. We have an opportunity to model a commitment to diversity and acknowledge a greater humanity than is currently reflected. The time is now for Connecticut to ensure that the most prominent symbol of our state tells a story that is more representative of the rich diversity of its people."
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PEPPER PIKE, Ohio

Fraud: Northwood Drive

A resident reported March 21 that although he did not appear to be out any money, someone had used his personal information to fraudulently file articles of incorporation with the Ohio Secretary of States Office for an unspecified limited liability company (LLC). The case remained under investigation, possibly at the state level as well.

Alarm drop, warrant: Gates Mills Boulevard

Responding to an alarm activation at Friendship Circle around 8 a.m. March 22, police found that it was accidentally set off by an employee as she was arriving for work.

That employee also had an active warrant for a traffic offense out of Lyndhurst, where officers took custody of the Streetsboro woman.

Found property (forfeiture): Shaker Boulevard

A resident arrived at the police station March 20 with two Smith & Wesson revolvers to be turned over for forfeiture through Shaker Heights Municipal Court. Once the judge signs off on the property, the guns can be put up for sale by the police department or simply destroyed, as was the plan here.

Get police blotters by email every weekday for free with our new Police Blotter newsletter. Sign up at cleveland.com/newsletters

Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.
BRUNSWICK, Ohio  Its not every day someone in your community turns 99 years old. And especially someone as well known as Mamie Grunau.

Grunau, a resident since the late 1950s is a longtime member of the Brunswick United Methodist Church and authored a book on its 200th anniversary in 2017, already in her 90s. Not to mention having both knees replaced at 90 and becoming a legend for her dedication to therapy, rebounding faster than many much younger patients.

A longtime member and one of the first presidents of the Brunswick Area Historical Society, her birthday on April 1 has always been special.

This year the society members got the word out  trying to send 99 cards to Mamie on her birthday. By the time Saturday rolled around, a total of 100 cards and a congratulatory resolution from the Medina County Commissioners had come in.

At first, members were just going to present them to her, but when current Historical Society President, Carl Bilski, was sent to rehab at Brunswick Pointe, where Mamie is living, he made a point of getting to know her.

She is such an interesting person and knows so much about history, he said, noting the irony of two of the organizations presidents in the same rehabilitation location at the same time.

A party was born.

On Saturday a dozen friends from church and the Historical Society met in the dining room at Brunswick Pointe. Bilski had a beautiful cake that was decorated, not with 99 candles, but with 99 red hearts.

Mamies daughter and son-in-law, Jane and Carl Meding, rolled her into the venue in a wheelchair. There was a shout of surprise and a round of applause followed by Ken Uram on guitar leading the group in singing Happy Birthday.

Bilski, well known for his sense of humor, talked about Mamie and how she grew up in Texas, went to business school, got a job on an Army Air Corps base and met her husband, Ralph. When she retired, she became active in the Historical Society serving for many years as curator. When she could no longer serve, she was presented with the title of Curator Emeritus.

She has also been honored by the Medina County Historical Society for her many years helping preserve the history of the county.

I loved talking with her so much, Bilski said, Ive asked for her hand in marriage.

A slight pause followed. Thats when Mamie held up the sign Mamie & Carl, April Fools!

Mamie and Carl pulled off an April Fool's Day joke.

Coffee and cake were served as Mamie started to look through the cards, which she noted, will keep her busy reading for a while.

Now, everyone said, she just has to make it to 100.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  For a year, Cuyahoga County officials made the case that it was unacceptable for a child in county care to sleep even one night at the Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center, and eventually committed nearly $11 million to create alternative housing for youth who are routinely denied other placements.

No children should be staying overnight in an office building, then-Executive Armond Budish directed in a video message on the countys YouTube page last March. None.

Today, however, none has apparently softened to some.

Last week, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell, who chairs the health and human services committee, twice defended housing at least some youth at the Jane Edna office, home to the Division of Children and Family Services, for a day or two.

Its inevitable, she said, because kids are being dropped off at the building at all hours of the day and night, and it takes time to assess their needs, get in touch with their family, or find them an available bed with a foster family or facility.

I think were making progress  not as fast as I would like it to be, but we are making progress  in terms of keeping the children out of the Jane Edna building, but I just want to clarify, there will always be children in the Jane Edna building, Conwell said during a March 21, Human Resources, Appointments and Equity Committee meeting. So, there may be some point in time that they have to stay overnight, but our goal has been...moving them out within 24 to 48 hours.

DCFS is working to reduce those overnight stays, Conwell continued, but it cant eliminate them.

I just want the community to understand that, she said.

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne isnt contesting that.

While campaigning, he called for significant changes at DCFS, most of them aimed at increasing placement capacity and staffing, which would ultimately prevent children from lingering at the office. Everything must be on the table to protect children and solve the placement crisis, hed said following cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reporting on unsafe conditions that ultimately prompted state intervention last year.

Today, he says, the reality is that the county has an obligation to care for any child who walks through their door, and for now, that entrance remains at Jane Edna.

So, while the goal was to find more appropriate housing for kids with high-level behavioral or mental health needs  which did happen through a $10.8 million contract with The Centers for Families and Children -- the county office continues to house other children awaiting placement.

It is still an open door at Jane Edna Hunter, Ronayne said Thursday. Our goal is to narrow that gap of time that they spend there.

A shift

The statements contradict the approach to the crisis that Budish had envisioned, as well as the goals and intentions that some of his top officials -- Health and Human Services Director David Merriman, now-DCFS Director Jacqueline Fletcher and Budishs Chief-of-Staff Bill Mason -- have expressed in interviews with cleveland.com.

They previously spoke of building capacity, so that every child who came into the countys care had a bed and pillow waiting for them, rather than the temporary cots and blow-up mattresses used at the Jane Edna building.

The county also signed a $12-million contract last year to beef up housing with four providers  one serving infants and the other three accommodating adolescents and teens with mental health and behavioral issues. These are the children who linger longest at the county office, they said, often creating safety risks for themselves and staff.

Specifically, that contract included the $10.8 million no-eject, no-reject agreement with The Centers for eight emergency beds that was celebrated as the breakthrough to solving the countys placement crisis, because it guaranteed youth a temporary bed in a more home-like setting for the weeks and months it takes to find them other housing.

In some respects, it has been successful.

Cheryl Zinters 16-year-old adopted son had cycled through every other available placement, spent time in juvenile detention and was living at the Jane Edna building as a last resort before being accepted into The Centers new T-Suites in January.

The suites are a temporary housing facility for teens ages 12 to 18 with histories of trauma and compounding emotional or behavioral health concerns, where they can receive care and services until they can find another placement.

There, Zinters son had his own room and trained staff to help manage his behaviors, which she said has been a better environment than the Jane Edna building, where he was getting into more trouble, fighting with staff and destroying property.

Six other children have also spent at least some time at The Centers. The facility has not only reduced the number of children sleeping at the Jane Edna building, but also how long children are staying there, on average.

Its working, DCFS Director Fletcher told cleveland.com following a tour of the T-Suites.

But nothing yet can prevent all children from spending time at the office, even overnight, she and other officials said.

Reality

In 90% of cases, youth in county custody find placements within 24 hours, DCFS records show. The remaining children usually have more acute needs that make them harder to place, which is why they linger longer.

But there are also other circumstances that may require a child to sleep overnight at the Jane Edna building, officials say.

Sometimes kids come in at 3 a.m. and its better for them to sleep in the childcare room than be immediately moved again. Sometimes they come in with siblings, and staying at the county building is the only way to keep them together until another solution is found. Sometimes kids just need a safe, stable place to pause between placements.

Not all of those children would be appropriate to wait at a place like The Centers, officials say, because they dont require the type of intensive care that the agency provides. And there continues to be a shortage of other places to send them, including foster homes, crisis beds and treatment facilities.

So, they remain at Jane Edna.

Were going to do whats in the best interest of that child, Merriman said. Were not going to split a sibling set up. We dont have a family member at 3 a.m. in the morning to place them with. So what we need to do is just let them rest...so that we dont have to have them in a succession of placements.

That is not in their best interest, he continued. It is not good to have a child go from placement A to placement B to placement C.

No one could say how long youth are lingering at the office, in those scenarios.

A cleveland.com investigation last year found that more than 150 children were staying at least one night at the Jane Edna building each year. Many of them were wandering in and out of the building unchecked and ungoverned. Some of them reported being molested or raped in the process.

On Thursday, there were six children in the building, two staying for less than hour and the other four waiting for placements, the county said.

A DCFS staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said at least three of the children, who are considered to have the highest level of needs, had been living in the building for three weeks. The county denied that it had been that long, saying their stays actually ranged from two to six days, but they offered no information for the sixth child.

Since The Centers opened in January, though, the average number of kids staying overnight fell from 2.9 to 1.8, data provided by DCFS showed. The average length of stay for all kids who enter the building also dropped from 26 hours to 18, it said, and for the youth who are hardest to place, the wait fell from 69 hours to 43.

T-Suites

Cleveland.com toured the T-Suites on Thursday.

It is a small wing attached to the former Cleveland Christian Home with private bedrooms, a spacious activity room, two visitation areas, a kitchenette and a sensory room with pops of bright colors, texture and visual stimulation.

You are welcome here, a sign near the entrance reads.

T-suites staff guided visitors, including juvenile court staff and County Executive Chris Ronayne, through some of the work they do there. They encourage use voice, use choice decision-making, and teach youth to cook snacks for themselves, how to self-regulate and how to play together.

Most youth stay between 1 and 30 days. But as the year progresses, there might be longer-term guests, like Zinters son.

The teen had been there two months waiting for a bed in a Tennessee facility best designed for his psychiatric needs  or at least the only one that agreed to accept him. Zinter said his transfer came abruptly at 11 p.m. Wednesday night. She had half an hour to say goodbye and explain why they wouldnt be seeing each other as often  shed never missed their weekly visits before.

I feel sad that we have to ship our kids out of Ohio, she told cleveland.com. Not being able to see him constantly is going to be hard on us, but the trajectory he was on wasnt good. So, if he gains skills and is able to have a happy adulthood, then it will be worth it.

Hell never be self-sufficient, she said, but through anger management, trauma therapy, and self-regulation, she hopes he can return home.

She was disappointed some of that work hadnt started in the year he spent in juvenile detention, the Jane Edna building and especially in the county-funded T-Suites, which was supposed to be designed to address needs like her sons.

If youve had him since January, Id think this stuff would be done, Zinter said.

Instead of him being in therapy, she heard of him being wrestled to the floor and held down on a near-daily basis. She heard of him walking out of the unlocked facility and wandering the streets alone, once traveling a couple miles back to her front door. And she heard of him being hospitalized for self-harming that she described as scratching his arms.

During one of her recent visits, he told her that staff threatened to kick him out of the facility, which the county contract is supposed to prevent.

Because The Centers is meant to be a short-term placement, they work to augment a childs existing treatment, rather than introduce new, Eric Morse, president and CEO, said. Data was not readily available on how often staff must be physical with the youth, he said, but he denied that The Centers would ever seek to eject a child.

Well serve anyone the county asks us to serve, Morse said.

Zinter is thankful for The Centers, despite what she called growing pains. It was a better place for her son than the Jane Edna building, she said, but she hoped the staff would receive additional de-escalation training to limit how often theyre using physical force. When her son went to the Family First Childcare Center, she said, they never had to use force for the same types of behaviors.

She also encourages The Center to involve parents like her, who are trying to reunify, in developing care plans.

I may not be able to do anything, but hes still my son, and I want to be aware, she said.

What next?

For the children still sleeping at Jane Edna, officials said they have made some changes to make the space more inviting and safer. Theyve added furniture, installed new security measures to limit movement throughout the building (though children can still walk out), and coverage teams to ensure the kids are being supervised.

In a conversation with cleveland.com, Councilwoman Conwell said shed like to see the childcare room built out even more to better accommodate overnight stays, but Merriman said contracts like The Centers accepting more kids should render grander improvements largely unnecessary.

Theres also a third option, which Budishs team proposed, and the current administration says is still a possibility. Theyre considering creating a more welcoming and residential youth drop-off center, designed to accommodate children, including overnight, while they wait for a placement.

The county has been looking into placing it at the Metzenbaum Center, quoting estimates ranging from $500,000 to up to $8 million to convert the space, but Ronayne said theyre still evaluating what is appropriate.

Long-term, he has also said he hopes to develop group homes or other specialized housing facilities that would allow kids in county custody to continue living in their home neighborhoods, and to increase respite options to help parents avoid the type of burnout that leads them to surrender their children.

In the meantime, however, Ronayne said the county will continue receiving and temporarily housing children at the Jane Edna office building.

I am exploring a different front door, he said. But for this moment, this door is still an open door, and it will always be.
WASHINGTON, D. C. - As much as U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan might want to pass legislation that would block politically motivated prosecutions of current and former presidents like Donald Trump, legal experts predict he wont get very far.

In interviews with Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer, law professors offered several reasons why. Provisions in the U.S. Constitution limit the powers of Congress. Past U.S. Supreme Court decisions indicate presidents arent above the law. And the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate and the current president would never sign off on legislation to protect Trump.

Jordan, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, last week said hes weighing legislation that would protect former and/or current Presidents from politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials in response to charges that will reportedly be filed against Trump for his role in making an alleged $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The office of the New York district attorney pursuing charges against Trump denies Republican claims that the Trump prosecution is politically motivated. A demand by Jordan for testimony about its probe, according to the office, amounts to federal interference with a local prosecution, which Jordan denies.

Congress has a specific and manifestly important interest in preventing politically motivated prosecutions of current and former Presidents by elected state and local prosecutors, particularly those tried before elected state and local trial-level judges, said a letter Jordan wrote to New York district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., with several of his GOP colleagues

Therefore, the Committee on the Judiciary, as a part of its broad authority to develop criminal justice legislation, must now consider whether to draft legislation that would, if enacted, insulate current and former presidents from such improper state and local prosecutions, the letter said. These legislative reforms may include, for example, broadening the existing statutory right of removal of certain criminal cases from state court to federal court.

A Jordan spokesman did not provide further information on Jordans potential legislation when asked for it on Friday.

Case Western Reserve Universitys Jonathan Adler expressed strong skepticism Jordan will be able to do what he suggests. Adler questions whether the powers enumerated to Congress under the U.S. Constitution would allow Congress to prevent or delay prosecutions of sitting or former presidents.

Our federal government is one of limited and enumerated powers, said Adler. Congress doesnt get to enact a law because it thinks there needs to be a law. It has to be within the enumerated powers of federal government and not intrude on state sovereignty.

He said that federal courts are supposed to have jurisdiction over two types of cases: those that arise under federal laws and some civil lawsuits where the plaintiffs and defendants reside in different states. He said hes not heard of anyone ever trying to transfer state criminal cases to federal courts.

While there is a Justice Department policy that blocks indicting or prosecuting a sitting president on the grounds that it would impermissibly undermine the executive branch, Adler observed the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sitting presidents arent immune from civil litigation in a case where former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones alleged sexual harassment by Bill Clinton before he became president.

I think one could argue it is necessary and proper to limit state actions that would interfere with a presidents ability to discharge their duties, said Adler. I dont see how that reaches a former president. Especially, if one is talking about prosecutions that do not relate in any way to the president performing their duties.

Adlers Case Western Reserve University law school colleague Jonathan Entin agreed it would be hard to craft a coherent statute that would do what Jordan claims he wants to do.

I also think this raises some question about the extent to which we want the federal government telling local prosecutors how to do their jobs, said Adler. To the extent that this is a politically motivated prosecution that has little or no substance behind it, I am confident that Donald Trumps lawyers will make that argument aggressively in court. If it is a meritorious argument, they should win.

University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt, whose teaching and research focuses on constitutional conflicts between presidents and Congress, observed that the Supreme Court ruled in a case that involved Trump and Braggs predecessor, Cyrus Vance, that a sitting president may be subject to a state criminal investigation or prosecution.

Although Jordans letter to Bragg suggested there are federal concerns with having a state prosecutor going after a former president, Gerhardt said Trump v. Vance found those concerns to be negligible  and identified several safeguards against inappropriate, partisan-motivated prosecutions.

It is interesting and perhaps revealing that Mr. Jordan, normally a champion of federalism and states rights, wishes for the federal government to take full control over the laws that may be applied to a president after leaving office, Gerhardt said in an email. He noted that the Supreme Court rejected all the arguments in Jordans letter as either inappropriate or inconsequential in cases involving state prosecutors conducting criminal investigations into sitting presidents.

No sitting president is above the law, and no former president is above the law, either, he continued. I imagine Mr. Jordan would take a different tack if it were a Democratic president.

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri emeritus law professor and former federal prosecutor, said he did not think it would be possible or even remotely constitutional to exempt a former president or any other former federal official from the operation of normal state criminal law because they are a former federal official.

Local judicial systems already have safeguards against politically-motivated prosecutions, he said, in that prosecutors must convince a grand jury, judges and juries that charges are warranted.

He called Jordans potential bill a political fantasy, from a whole variety of perspectives.

Even assuming you could get over constitutional hurdles, how would you write a bill that could pass the laugh test that would exclude a president or anyone else from the normal operations of state criminal laws? Bowman asked. It is insane. It wont happen. Theyll rumble and snort about it, but there will never be a bill.

George Washington University Law School professor Paul Schiff Berman opined that even exempting sitting presidents from criminal prosecution would probably be banned by the section of the U.S. Constitution which describes the impeachment process.

It says that impeached federal officials can be removed from office and disqualified from holding future offices and are also liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgement and Punishment according to Law.

When asked if there could be a flood of political prosecutions without the law Jordan suggests, Berman said the danger to the country runs in both directions.

He said it would be dangerous to place someone above the law just because they are president or were president, and would also be problematic to have politically motivated criminal prosecutions of past public officials.

We are in dangerous, uncharted waters no matter what happens, said Berman. Given the dangers in both directions, I think we have to let an unbiased legal process operate the way it is supposed to. In this case, it means letting 23 normal citizens, not the prosecutor, not the Biden administration, not a political rival, 23 people on a grand jury hear the evidence and decide whether there are sufficient grounds to indict, which I gather they did.

He said that Trump could face another case from a Georgia grand jury thats examining whether Trump should face election tampering charges for actions that include telling Georgias Secretary of State to find 11,780 votes, so he could exceed President Bidens total in the state. Theres also a special prosecutor investigating whether Trumps removal of White House documents violated any laws.

These kinds of cases are stress tests for our democracy and the rule of law, said Berman. I think it would be better for the country if everyone steps back from claiming political motivation and allows what is supposed to be an independent non-partisan investigation to take place the way it would for any other American citizen.

Sabrina Eaton covers the federal government and politics in Washington, D.C., for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Read more of her work here.
LOS ANGELES -- Training students to avoid belittling comments and bullying. Coming out to faculty, classmates, and their own parents. Arranging programs that feature diverse voices. Once in a while, confronting the face of hate that threatens themselves and their community.

For 15 years, I have worked with students, faculty, and staff at the College of Wooster to give an annual scholarship. The above are routine examples of leadership by its winners. They are small acts of service that combine to make one campus more welcoming for LGBTQ people.

They take on added significance amidst an onslaught of hostility now rippling through Ohio.

In March, white supremacists shouting anti-gay and pro-Hitler slogans disrupted a drag queen story hour at a park in Wadsworth. In February, a state lawmaker who also works as a Baptist minister in Sandusky County launched House Bill 68 to impose new health policy on Ohioans: banning gender-affirming care and punishing clinicians who provide it. The legislation would inflict what an online harassment campaign last September by an out-of-state right-wing group failed to do when it targeted Akron Childrens Hospital for its gender-affirming care program.

Naming the attacks makes them finite. It does not defang them. Their danger is cumulative and ever-present: Denying the humanity of LGBTQ people by treating us as abstractions. Devaluing our lives and our say in how, where, and with whom we live them. Degrading our safety, our connection with neighbors, and the representation we expect from our government.

These dangers first hit home to me when I was a college student at Wooster. I came out in 1990 during a local campaign to strip away protections from the citys fair-housing law to counteract anti-LGBTQ bias. I was lucky to have a strong network of support. That included one rather brave gay man, John Plummer.

Plummer worked at the college his entire career, a mentor to four decades of students, staff, and faculty. When I came out in a column in the student newspaper, Plummer, who assisted student payroll, put a sticky note on my paycheck. He thanked me for my honesty. In times of isolation and anxiety, small acts of kindness have huge impact.

Plummer died in 2006. I took on the formation of a scholarship at the college to honor his example. More than 200 alumni, staff, faculty, and local residents stepped up to contribute and secure its endowment. By 2008, we could make the first award.

The scholarship quickly gained meaning beyond its monetary value as a vehicle for recognizing perseverance by openly LGBTQ students. Some faced challenges in gender transition. Several navigated financial need in completing their degree.

LGBTQ identities have multiplied on the Wooster campus and in Ohio over the past three decades. What hasnt changed is the need to show kindness and welcome to each soul who dares to express kinship with LGBTQ people.

Hans Johnson, a nonprofit trainer and columnist on human rights, organized a College of Wooster LGBTQ scholarship now marking its 15th year. (Photo by Darcy Fehringer)

What also hasnt changed is the shadow that intimidation and bodily harm cast over our lives. Soon after I came out, I was pelted with quarters by shouting passersby in a speeding truck while I walked down a street in Wooster. Last month, the aggressive threats by outright Nazis in Wadsworth and the Molotov cocktail thrown at a Chester Township church planning drag events today show how venomous attacks can be on anyone who stands boldly for LGBTQ acceptance.

One antidote to bigotry are local rituals that express solidarity and respect for diversity. In late April, students, faculty, local residents, and a few past winners will gather on campus at the College of Wooster to celebrate the 15th awarding of the John Plummer Memorial Scholarship for Promoting a Welcoming Environment for LGBTQ People. Simple recognitions like this say, Were here! in a reciprocal way. They make the heart of Ohio, and America, healthier.

Hans Johnson trains nonprofit leaders nationwide on advocacy and is a columnist on human rights. He organized the first LGBTQ-themed scholarship at the College of Wooster, now marking its 15th anniversary.

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.
OpenAI logo displayed on a phone screen and ChatGPT website displayed on a laptop screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on December 5, 2022.

OpenAI has taken ChatGPT offline in Italy after the government's Data Protection Authority on Friday temporarily banned the chatbot and launched a probe over the artificial intelligence application's suspected breach of privacy rules.

The agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft-backed OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPT's users who are supposed to be aged 13 or above.

ChatGPT has an "absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data" to "train" the chatbot, Garante said.

OpenAI has 20 days to respond with remedies or could risk a fine of up to 20 million euros ($21.68 million) or 4% of its annual worldwide turnover.

OpenAI said it has disabled ChatGPT for users in Italy at the request of the Garante.

The website could not be reached in Italy. A notice on the ChatGPT webpage said the website's owner may have set restrictions that prevent users from accessing the site.

"We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals," OpenAI added.

Italy, which has provisionally restricted ChatGPT's use of domestic users' personal data, became the first Western country to take action against a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence.

The chatbot is also unavailable in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran and Russia and parts of Africa where residents cannot create OpenAI accounts.
When Aliana Randazzo, 25, and J.R. Wills, 27, were planning their moves to New York City, they both fell in love with micro studio apartments in midtown Manhattan. Randazzo found her rent-stabilized 80x150 square-feet micro-studio on StreetEasy and moved into the space in August 2021. The rent was $650 a month. Randazzo's upfront moving costs totaled $1,950 and included the broker's fee, security deposit and first month's rent. Before downsizing to the micro apartment, the fashion campaign planner and content creator lived in a luxury high-rise building and paid $2,000 a month in rent. She quickly realized it wasn't worth it because she was never home. "I wanted to pay less for rent so I could travel more and experience more," Randazzo tells CNBC Make It.

Randazzo found her 80-square-feet apartment on Streeteasy and paid $650/month in rent. Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It

"Living in this place has been quite the adventure. It's nice because I was in Manhattan, so I wasn't missing anything," she added. But as much as she loved living in her small midtown apartment, Randazzo found herself in a creative rut because she didn't have enough space to create content.

Randazzo recently moved out of her micro apartment to a room inside an East Village townhouse. Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It

She has since moved into a $6,750 a-month townhouse in the East Village with four other roommates. Though she's paying $1,350 a month now to live in one room, Randazzo says she needed the extra space to continue growing her business. "This big bed is definitely my favorite part of the room and I have a window this time, which I'm really happy about," she says. "I don't even know what to do with all this space."

Randazzo now pays $1,350 to live in an East Village townhouse with four other roommates. Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It

Just like Randazzo, Wills found his micro apartment on StreetEasy.

The 27-year-old barista trainer at Starbucks Reserve Roastery moved into his 85 square-feet space in February 2022 and pays $687 a month for what he tells CNBC Make It is his "rent-stabilized shoe box." Wills' upfront costs for his move were $2,874: $1,500 broker's fee, $687 for the first month's rent and $687 for last month's rent. "I wasn't really looking for a micro-studio in particular, but I saw the space. I liked it, so I just kind of went for it," Wills says. "I walked into the space for the first time. I saw the window. There was so much natural sunlight everywhere. I knew it was for me."

Wills also found his rent-stabilized apartment on StreetEasy and pays $687 a month. Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It

Aside from all the natural light in his apartment, Wills says he loves the location because it's convenient to get around the city. "I love the accessibility of my neighborhood. I can go anywhere super quick, super fast," he added. While some might say they couldn't imagine living in such a small space, Wills recommends it to everyone because it makes him appreciate the things he has so much more. "I have way more money to spend to go out on the town, go out and eat with friends if I feel like it. It's $687 versus $2,000. So it opens up the city to me, I think," Wills added.

Wills tells CNBC Make It he doesn't see himself moving out of the micro apartment any time soon. Mickey Todiwala. Photo by CNBC Make It
The accused was arrested by the Mumbai police on arrival and produced before a Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Friday, where he was granted bail after a Rs 20,000 surety.

The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested a 62-year-old Swedish man for allegedly molesting an air hostess and abusing co-passengers in an inebriated condition on board a Mumbai-bound Indigo flight from Bangkok. The incident marks another case of unruly behaviour onboard a flight by drunk passengers in recent months.

The incident happened on Thursday while the accused was flying in the Bangkok-Mumbai 6E-1052 Indigo Flight. The accused has been identified as Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg.

Things escalated when the cabin crew informed Westberg that there was no food available onboard the plane while he was reportedly drunk. He misbehaved with the air hostess while she was serving meals and started abusing co-passengers when they intervened.

ALSO READ |

How did the incident unfold?

Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg was travelling to Mumbai from Thailand. He was reportedly drunk and behaved rudely when the cabin crew informed him that his ticket did not include food on board.

He agreed to take a chicken dish and while paying the air hostess through the POS machine, he held her hand inappropriately.

After the air hostess protested his actions, Westberg stood up from his seat and went on to molest her in front of other passengers, said the statement of the cabin crew to the police, according to reports.

The accused returned to his seat, but when the air hostess shouted, he stood up again and started abusing the staff and other co-passengers.

She informed the flight captain about the incident and the accused was arrested on arrival at the Mumbai Airport on the same day.

He was then produced before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Friday, where he was granted bail after a Rs 20,000 surety.

ALSO READ | Drunk man who urinated on co-passenger banned by Air India for 30 days

This marks the eighth reported case of unruly behaviour by a drunk passenger on board a flight in the last three months.

Last week, in a similar incident, a drunk passenger allegedly vomited and defecated around the toilet onboard an IndiGo flight while travelling from Guwahati to Delhi.

The mess was later cleaned by the women cabin crew which sparked an outrage on social media and people demanded the ban of liquor on board flights and the introduction of measures like a breath analyser for passenger and crew safety.
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SHERMAN  Come the fall, all of the students in Sherman could be traveling out of town every day to attend school.

The Sherman School, which serves about 260 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, has needed repair for many years. But now, as the district faces paying for up to $50 million in repairs, school administrators are considering whether to close the building and send the students to neighboring districts.

It's the only school in the town, and if it were to close, Sherman would be the only town in the state without a school, according to a state Department of Education spokesperson.

Although the Region 12 school superintendent said that district could easily enroll Sherman students, Sherman Superintendent Pat Cosentino said she doesn't think the local school will close  and said she doesn't want it to happen.

Enrollment projections for Sherman School Sherman School has also seen a steady decline in enrollment, dropping from about 440 students in 2009 to 240 students in 2022. Last year, citing decreased enrollment and a possible transition to a part-time role, Sherman Schools Superintendent Jeff Melendez resigned. Last July, Pat Cosentino, the former New Fairfield superintendent, became the interim part-time superintendent for the Sherman School. This school year, there are 267 students, however, that number is expected to eventually slightly rise, Cosentino said. "They're not going up by leaps and bounds, but we should be at least to 300 (students) or maybe even a little higher within the next seven to eight years," she said. According to the New England School Development Council Enrollment Projection report, by 2028, the Sherman School will have about 270 students in grades K-8. The district's 145 high school students attend New Fairfield High School, Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury and Shepaug Valley High School in Washington. It costs about $14,000 for the Sherman school district in tuition for each high school student sent out of district. See More Collapse

"It would be detrimental to Sherman, to the community," Cosentino said. "It would have long impacts, economically and socially."

Cosentino met with Sherman teachers and said she reassured them that the school would remain open.

"Everybody's very nervous because they're thinking they may lose their jobs, and I said, 'Don't worry, we're not losing our jobs. This school is going to stay open'," she said.

Sherman school officials will present a cost analysis and further information on the possibility of regionalization at the April 5 meeting of the Board of Education. The 7 p.m. meeting will be held in person and on Zoom.

Sherman First Selectman Don Lowe said the town is motivated to get the building fixed "in a way that's economical to the taxpayers" of the town.

"The school is a vital part of our town, and I believe it's important to keep it here," Lowe said.

Families want a school

If the Sherman School were to close, many families with young children may rethink moving into town, said Ed Martin, a realtor with eXp Realty in Sherman.

The school is a selling point for the town, he said.

"Fifty to 80 percent of the time, the school is the primary reason people move to Sherman. Sherman is a great school," said Martin, a 20-year town resident.

Matt Vogt, chairman of Sherman's Board of Education, agreed.

"It would have a massive impact on values of the homes if there's no school here," Vogt said. He also said he knows many young families with children who moved to town because of Sherman School.

"Why would any of them choose to move to a small town like Sherman, which pretty much has nothing else, if they didn't have the school?" he said.

Cosentino said that when she worked in Region 12, there was discussion about closing the Burnham School in Bridgewater, which had 39 students at the time. But parents were strongly opposed, she said.

"Those people fought tooth and nail to keep that school open," she said. "One of the reasons was they didn't want to be the only town in Connecticut without a school."

Building repair costs

The debate over the future of the Sherman School was sparked by the need for $45 million to $50 million in repairs.

The repairs would be extensive, Vogt said in a statement.

"These problems are not superficial, but are centered mainly around mechanical-, plumbing-, electrical- and structure-based systems, where failing components from many prior renovations need to be removed, reengineered, and replaced," he said.

"This is no simple task, and the work required to access many of these systems results in the need to 'touch' almost every part of the facility," Vogt said.

The town approved forming a 10-member School Building Committee last May that is overseeing repairs and improvements to the facility.

Lowe said he would like the committee to come up with a repair plan that residents will approve.

"I am concerned that the present plan is just too expensive for taxpayers in Sherman," he said. "It's about a $45 (million) to $50 million plan, which would be a significant tax increase  above a 20 percent tax increase."

Decisions on the aging school's future need to be addressed soon, Cosentino said.

"We don't have a choice. The roof is failing. The HVAC is failing. The whole building has buckets all over the place. We can't drink the water," she said. "Unfortunately, Sherman let this building get to a place where you can't just fix pieces anymore. Everything's interconnected."

If there were a cost savings from closing the building, the district would have to factor new costs such as tuition, busing and special education, she said.

Other factors beyond the cost must be considered, said Vogt, such as the time young children would be spending on the bus.

"Young kids being on a bus in another town, not only (would have) to traverse from town to town but then once they get to Sherman, be distributed throughout the town to their homes. What does that entail and does it make sense?" he asked.

Would the savings from closing the school "really have a value over what the detrimental effects of that kind of situation to the town?" he said.

Even if the school should close to students, Cosentino said the building would still need repairs.

"We have a school building that's empty  80,000 square feet. You still have to upkeep it. You have to have gas and electric and heat. You can't let it destroy itself," she said.

Who could take the students?

Marc Gosselin, superintendent of Region 12, which serves students from Roxbury, Bridgewater and Washington, said his district would have plenty of room to accept the Sherman students.

"We have three elementary buildings that are all under capacity. So we have more than enough space to absorb the elementary students from Sherman," Gosselin said. The district also has enough space for Sherman middle schoolers, he said.

"It makes sense" if the Sherman students were to go to Region 12 since the district already educates some of the town's high school students at Shepaug Valley High School, Gosselin said.

"We currently have 33 students coming to us from Sherman in grades 9 through 12," he said. The Region 12 district educates about 800 students.

It would be good for the younger Sherman students, because they would be "in our system and exposed to our curriculum and program all the way along," he said.

"We're always looking to grow our enrollment as well, and so it will be welcomed," Gosselin said.

There would also be a financial incentive for Region 12 to educate the Sherman students: "We would pick up the tuition dollars," he said.

The New Milford school district, however, said it would not have space for the younger Sherman students. The New Milford school district has an enrollment of about 3,700 students.

"For us to maintain our favorable class sizes, we wouldn't be able to take any of them," New Milford Schools Superintendent Janet Parlato said. "We try to maintain classes that are between 20 and 23 students."

Kenneth Craw, New Fairfield schools superintendent, said he was not certain whether that district could accept any Sherman students.

"Town officials haven't been approached with this question. We haven't undergone that analysis," he said. There are 2,100 students in the New Fairfield district, which also accepts high schoolers from Sherman.

The state Department of Education said it does not get involved in the decisions made by local Boards of Education.

"We hope they would hold a public hearing, talk to the community members, hear from the public before making any of these decisions," said Matthew Venhorst, an attorney with the education department.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Nine months ago, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping bipartisan gun law, the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades.

Lives will be saved, he said at the White House.

The law has already prevented some potentially dangerous people from owning guns. Yet since that signing last summer, the tally of mass shootings in the United States has only grown. Five dead at a nightclub in Colorado. Eleven killed at a dance hall in California. And just this past week, three 9-year-olds and three adults were shot and killed at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

A day after that school shooting, Bidens tone was markedly less optimistic than it was the signing ceremony.

What in Gods name are we doing? he asked in a speech Tuesday, calling for a ban on so-called assault weapons like those that were used to kill at The Covenant School in Nashville. Theres a moral price to pay for inaction.

Biden and others had hailed last year's bipartisan gun bill  approved in the weeks after the shooting of 19 children and two adults at a school in Uvalde, Texas  as a new way forward.

Several months in, the law has had some success: Stepped-up FBI background checks have blocked gun sales for 119 buyers under the age of 21, prosecutions have increased for unlicensed gun sellers and new gun trafficking penalties have been charged in at least 30 cases around the country. Millions of new dollars have flowed into mental health services for children and schools.

But the persistence of mass shootings in the United States highlights the limits of congressional action. Because the law was a political compromise, it did not address many Democratic priorities for gun control, including universal background checks or the ban on assault weapons for which Biden repeatedly has called.

Now, in the wake of the Nashville shooting, Congress appears to have returned to a familiar impasse. One of the top Republican negotiators on the gun law, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, has said new compromise is unlikely. In the House, the new GOP majority favors fewer restrictions on guns, not more.

Asked Thursday about a way ahead, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said legislation alone cannot solve the gun violence problem. He said Americans need to think deeply about mental illness and other factors that drive people to act.

In contrast, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Congress should act with the fierce urgency of now.

Our classrooms have become killing fields," he said. Is that acceptable in America?

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the lead negotiator on the 2022 bill, says he thinks it represented a paradigm shift in how Congress considers gun legislation. But, he said, I dont think that will happen all at once.

This is sickening, but the opportunities for legislative change normally come after really terrible mass shootings, said Murphy, who has been the lead Senate advocate for gun control since the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. I hate that, I wish that wasnt how it works.

Tensions were running high on both sides of the Capitol this past week.

On Wednesday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., stood outside the House chamber and yelled that Republicans are cowards for not doing more on gun control, eventually arguing with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who advocated for allowing teachers to carry guns.

More guns lead to more deaths! Bowman screamed at Massie. Children are dying!

In the Senate, Republican Ted Cruz of Texas tried on Thursday to force a vote on legislation that would boost police presence at schools. He all but blamed Democrats, who had blocked the same legislation last year, for the Nashville shooting and called the 2022 law meaningless. Murphy angrily objected to Cruz's bill, arguing that Cruz wasn't serious about compromise and that his move was a stunt for the cameras.

Despite the frustrations, lawmakers who negotiated the compromise last year say they see slivers of hope.

Murphy said the implementation of the new law, and some of its early successes, will ultimately persuade Republicans to get on board with more legislation.

What happened last year was seismic for Republicans, Murphy said.

In terms of the bill's success, People dont get excited about the mass shootings that didnt happen, Murphy said, and that can be a challenge as they talk about it and contemplate what more could be done. But the dynamics can change quickly, he said.

While Republicans in the past might have tried to shy away from gun measures even if they supported them, Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have been promoting the new law and have discussed it frequently. Late last year, they joined Murphy, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and FBI Director Christopher Wray on a visit to an FBI facility in West Virginia for a briefing on how the background checks were working.

I am proud to see this commonsense legislation already making a difference, Tillis said in a statement afterward.

According to recent data obtained by The Associated Press, those who were flagged in the stepped-up background checks and prevented from buying a gun included an 18-year-old in Nebraska who had made terroristic threats and was prone to violent outbursts, a 20-year-old drug dealer in Arizona and an 18-year-old in Arizona who had been previously charged with unlawful possession of weapons and was found carrying fentanyl. All were attempting to purchase long guns.

Tillis said he is aware of a separate case in his home state where a person under 21 who had been charged with assault and battery and assaulting a police officer was flagged and prevented from buying a gun.

"It's just one of those bills that's going to age well," Tillis said, noting that the number of denials of gun sales is a very small fraction of total sales.

Cornyn said that so far, the bill seems to be working. But he said he doesn't expect Congress to go any further any time soon. He said would strongly oppose an assault weapons ban, as Biden is proposing.

When Biden and other lawmakers talk about assault weapons, they are using an inexact term to describe a group of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, such as an an AR-15, that can fire 30 rounds fast without reloading.

Most Republicans are steadfastly opposed to such a ban, arguing that it would be too complicated, especially as sales and varieties of the firearms have proliferated. There are many more types of these high-powered guns today than in 1994, when the ban was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

Law- abiding citizens own those guns, Cornyn said, and no law-abiding citizen is a threat to public safety.

Despite the current standstill, John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group, says last years bill was proof that they can break gridlock.

It was never the finish line, he said.

___

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  The nine service members who died in a crash involving two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters ranged in age from 23 to 36 and were from seven states, the military said Friday, as it released the identities of the soldiers and an investigative team continued its probe of the accident.

A military news release said the service members came from Florida, Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey.

This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these Soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come, said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell.

Two HH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell on Wednesday night in southwest Kentucky during a training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircrafts. The crash occurred in Trigg County, Kentucky, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of the Army post that is home to the 101st Airborne Division.

A special military investigative team was on the scene Friday but rain and wind have slowed the early work, Army officials said.

The two Black Hawks were flying during a training exercise and the pilots were using night-vision goggles, Army officials said. The accident occurred during flying and not during the course of a medical evacuation drill, said Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne deputy commander.

The helicopters carried flight data recorders, similar to the black boxes that investigators use to analyze crashes involving passengers planes. Officials are hoping the devices yield information about the cause.

The Army identified the soldiers as: Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida; Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri; Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, California.; Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina; Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Florida; Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri; and Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23, of Oradell, New Jersey.

The four soldiers piloting the two Black Hawks were Esparza, Smith, Barnes and Healy, according to the Army.

Dave Busby, who taught Smith in middle school, was among several of Smiths childhood teachers and classmates who posted tributes on Facebook.

What a great kid. What a tragedy, Busby said by phone from his home in St. James, Missouri, the small town where Smith grew up. Ill be honest I wept  what a shame.

Even as a teen, Smith was ambitious, forward-looking and perceptive, Busby said: You could tell he was going places.

Solinas' dedication to being a flight medic showed his character, his brother, Aidan Solinas, said in a statement.

We are a faithful family and we are proud David was training to rescue soldiers on the battlefield, he said. "Being a flight medic is one of the most difficult jobs that you can do, and illustrates that David was a man of compassion and faith.

Gores father, Tim Gore, told the Goldsboro News-Argus that his son leaves behind a wife whos pregnant. Gore, a pastor in Wayne County, said that his son, who was known to family as Caleb, was an infant when the family moved to North Carolina and remained in the state until he joined the Army after graduating high school.

His passion was search and rescue, and if you were wounded on the battlefield, Caleb coming out of that helicopter would be the most beautiful thing you would ever see, Gore told the newspaper. He was kind, compassionate, and a gentle giant because he was built like a tank.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday ordered flags at state buildings lowered to half-staff from sunrise on Saturday until sunset Monday in honor of the soldiers.

Over the last 10 years, the Armys Black Hawk helicopter has been involved in 40 so-called Class A mishaps, which involve either a fatality or more than $2.5 million in damage. Forty-four personnel died in those cases.

Wednesday's crash was the deadliest training incident for the Army since March 2015, when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the Florida coast in dense fog, said Jimmie Cummings, spokesperson for the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker. Four soldiers from the Louisiana Army National Guard and seven Marine special operations forces were killed.

Cummings said the most deadly non-combat Black Hawk crash was in 1988 and also involved Fort Campbell aircraft. The crash killed 17 troops when two helicopters collided in mid-air. The most deadly Army aircraft training incident was a Chinook crash in Germany in 1982, that killed 46 U.S. and international forces. The second was a C-23 Sherpa fixed wing aircraft crash in Georgia in 2001 that killed 21 Army and Air Guard personnel.

Fort Campbell also had a multi-aircraft crash in 1996, when two Blackhawks clipped propellers, killing five soldiers. The last deadly aviation accident at Fort Campbell occurred in 2018, when an Apache helicopter crashed during training, killing two soldiers on board.

The Black Hawk helicopter is a critical workhorse for the U.S. Army and is used in security, transport, medical evacuations, search and rescue and other missions. The helicopters are known to many people from the 2001 movie Black Hawk Down, which is about a 1993 battle in Somalia.

___

Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York and writers Lolita Baldor in Washington, Lea Skene in Baltimore and Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report.
Wealth and name recognition arent always a guarantee that rookie politicians can start at the top (see Ford, Henry  or West, Kanye).

It didnt work for Greenwich millionaire Tom Foley when he tried (twice) to defeat Democrat Dannel Malloy in the race for governor. That didnt deter Bob Stefanowski from trying (again, twice) to beat Ned Lamont in the subsequent races for the same office.

Notice a pattern?

One difference in those showdowns is that Lamont brought his own hefty bankroll to the fight. Pundits and party leaders have been whispering for years now about a potential future that leaves no room for candidates who cant help paying their own way to the governors mansion.

So lawmakers are now debating proposals to boost the public funding available to future gubernatorial candidates from a maximum of $9.3 million to either $13.6 or $18.7 million starting in 2026.

Do we even need to mention that Democrats support this and Republicans voted against it?

Such funds, of course, are available to both parties. But there are advantages to getting a financial head start in a race. While one party is chasing donors, the other is already campaigning. It also allows staff and volunteers to focus on campaigning rather than fund-raising.

Yes, money talks. And it needs to be a two-way conversation.

Perhaps Connecticuts status state was inevitable in the aftermath of the Corrupticut era ignited by the scandal involving former Gov. John Rowland. A wealthy governor can be seen as someone who cant be bought.

That wheel, of course, turns both ways. Critics around the country routinely point to how rich governors can use their influence to sway the outcome of legislation.

The rise of the wealthy American politician is as old as politics itself, starting with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and crossing generations with Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump.

But where does this game of Monopoly end? The lower increase is proposed by the State Elections Enforcement Commission, while Senate President Pro-Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, is pushing for the higher ceiling. Looney also wants to move up the date when candidates would be able to access the funds in advance of party conventions, thus preventing wealthy counterparts from getting a head start in advertising.

All of this comes in the wake of Lamont and Stefanowski setting spending records for their last campaigns. The governor turned out to be the bigger spender, dropping $26 million, while his Republican rival spent about $14 million. Millions more were spent by political action committees for and against both candidates.

While Malloy used the public financing program for both of his campaign, and Foley opted for it in his second race, Lamont and Stefanowski eschewed tapping into it in favor of using their own funds.

Across the nation, the GOP is courting candidates with deep pockets for the next election cycle. Both parties need to do more to ensure a level playing field, but there are no winners if the cost of campaigning creates a country club for governors.
BRIDGEPORT  A local man who killed an elderly Prospect woman while racing on a city street was sentenced to two years in prison during an emotional court hearing Friday.

Im sorry, I didnt want this to happen. I wish I could trade places with her, 21-year-old Rolando Solano told the victims family, wiping tears from his eyes.

You appear to be sincere Mr. Solano. I hope you are sincere, but only you know how sincere you are, Superior Court Judge Peter McShane told the defendant. I hope indeed you use this as an opportunity to move forward.

The judge then sentenced Solano, who had previously pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with a motor vehicle to 10 years, suspended after he serves two years in prison and followed by five years of probation.

According to police, shortly before 3 p.m. on Oct. 14, 2020, 79-year-old Sydell Kugell and her 82-year-old husband, Louis Kugell, were on their way home after visiting a relative at a Park Avenue nursing home when their car was struck in the side by a car driven by Solano.

Assistant States Attorney Peter Cunniff told the judge Solano was driving at nearly 100 mph in a 30-mph zone when he struck the Kugells' car.

Police said the elderly couple had to be cut out of their car and the female victim was screaming for help. Police said when they got to the scene three occupants of Solanos car were walking around the scene. One of them complained, There goes the race, police said.

Cunniff urged the judge to impose a 5-year prison term based on the severity of the defendants conduct and the tragedy he caused.

Crying, Louis Kugell told the judge that the pain of what happened that day will never go away for him.

This has been a life sentence for me, he said.

Solanos lawyer, William Gerace, urged the judge for leniency for his client.

He is a big dumb kid and instead of playing video games he was riding around with friends, he said.
BRIDGEPORT  Police officers have decided to stick with their current union as they seek a new contract.

For several weeks there has been a movement by some members of the force dissatisfied with the representation by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to instead join the Fraternal Order of Police.

But following a vote Thursday overseen by the state department of labor, AFSCME announced it had prevailed. The final tally was 158 officers supportive of the status quo to 98 who wanted a change.

A labor department spokesperson did not immediately provide additional information on the process. Officers leading the movement to switch had gathered and submitted a petition to the agency, triggering the vote.

Danbury Detective John Krupinsky, president of the Connecticut FOP, on Friday confirmed the end result.

Thats it. They voted and thats the way it works," he said. "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. In this case we didn't win, but no hard feelings." Krupinsky felt he was not allowed enough opportunities to "get the word out" about the FOP, but added, "You can't cry over spilled milk."

But with close to a third of the 290-person department having wanted to exit AFSCME, whether there are "no hard feelings" internally remains to be seen.

Sergeant Brad Seely, president of the local union, in a statement on his victory said, "This is another opportunity to unify the membership and get back to our main goal: fighting for fair wages and affordable, quality health insurance for Bridgeport officers who are committed to ensuring public safety for the Bridgeport community."

Seely noted his members have been working for almost two years without a contract, which expired in summer, 2021, and claimed peers in surrounding towns "receive better benefits and wages."

The union and former Acting Chief Rebeca Garcia had previously complained that the high costs of health insurance in particular led to an increase in officers transferring to other municipalities.

"Our members are completely frustrated," Seely said. "We need Mayor (Joe) Ganim and leaders of the city to commit to the 286 left of us who have stayed the course and remain committed to this great city. It's time the city do their part to retain and recruit officers so we can continue serving our Bridgeport residents.

The union and prior chiefs have previously said the ideal force size is 400-plus personnel. The city between 2021 and 2022 held three consecutive recruitment drives. A new class of 23 cadets launched this week, but there are an estimated 50 members of the department eligible to retire.

Although the Ganim administration has sent strong signals it is willing to address the health insurance costs, the sides were unable to negotiate a contract and are now, according to AFSCME, in arbitration before an independent three-person panel which will render a final decision on the terms.

Ganim's office declined to respond Friday to Seely's comments.

The mayor, who is seeking re-election, waged a significant political comeback in 2015 with aid from then-police union leadership. Ganim had initially run the city from 1991 until 2003 when he was convicted of running a pay-to-play operation out of City Hall. His strange-bedfellows political alliance with police officers was aimed at restoring trust with skeptical voters.

One of his Ganim's key allies on the campaign trail at the time was then-Captain Armando Perez, whom, once elected, Ganim made acting top cop and then, in 2018, chief. Then in 2020 Perez was arrested for cheating to become a finalist in the 2018 search for a chief and sentenced to a year-and-a-day in federal prison. He was released early last year and is currently fighting to prevent the state Attorney General from reducing/eliminating his municipal pension as further punishment.

Garcia, Perez's assistant chief, was promoted to acting following his. Two years ago union members voted that they had no confidence in her leadership, though it was dismissed by the Ganim administration as an inaccurate reflection of the full department's feelings toward her.

Following another national search for a permanent top cop last year, Garcia, according to the city, came out on top, but Ganim chose another finalist, recently-retired Captain Roderick Porter, who had also been a finalist in 2018 against Perez. Garcia subsequently retired.

The union has had little to say publicly about Porter, but Seely last month raised concerns on behalf of his members about a customer service survey Porter has asked officers to distribute when responding to calls.

Meanwhile last month John Gomes, a former Ganim aide who is running against him, announced he had received the endorsement of Bridgeport's Police Hispanic Society, a group that last October had publicly called for Garcia to be made permanent chief.
(Yes, I too am wondering why it now takes me so much longer to write editorials.)

In those pre-internet days, research came from the six weeks worth of Time, Newsweek, Business Week and U.S. News & World Report we lugged around. Pop culture was rarely an option, which made this rounds challenge on one of my three slips of paper all the more memorable.

Is Brooke Shields detrimental to America's youth?

I opted for something more traditional, like an assessment of what we might expect from that actor who just became president or how to anticipate Irans next chess moves. But as a 17-year-old, my strongest opinion was that some adult had written an offensive question about a 15-year-old.

Sure, Shields had just been on the cover of Time, but that piece didnt mirror the prurient nature of the query (though it did contain other bone-headed lines. Shields portrayal of a 12-year-old prostitute in the 1978 film Pretty Baby is pondered as possibly inspiring the campy fad of very young models).

I hadnt seen Pretty Baby or 1980s Blue Lagoon (and still havent), but that wasnt necessary to recognize that if Shields was being objectified, blaming her for it was just another layer of exploitation.

Four years later, I was working as a news reporter and photographer in New Jersey when I got an unusual assignment. The society editor, Elaine De Micco, asked me to photograph a fashion show in Paramus that would launch Shields new line of sportswear. She seemed to think I would enjoy getting to photograph Shields during their pre-show interview.

Yes, I would, as a matter of fact.

I even managed to catch Brooke Shields eye  for all the wrong reasons.

Elaine and Brooke sat across from each other in facing chairs in a large and otherwise empty room. It was not ideal for being a stealth shutterbug, but at least there were no other photographers in the room to navigate.

What could go wrong?

Having neglected to just leave my camera bag on the floor, I lugged it over one shoulder, with the camera strap also around my neck. Somehow, they tangled and wrapped around my right arm, the one I was hoping to take pictures with. It was like they were leashes and the dogs were chasing each other around me.

Basically, just imagine how Kramer might have handled the gig on Seinfeld.

It just kept getting worse, like I was performing improv for an audience of two. The Human Knot  with a dangling camera. Eventually, the audience members noticed. Shields motioned toward me with her hands expressing the universal sign language for What is happening?

If only I could have gotten my hands on the camera in time to take that pic.

Fortunately, I found a way out of my own trap, and discovered that despite my best efforts, it was impossible to take a bad photo of 20-year-old Brooke Shields.

During the subsequent runway show featuring Shields and some of her Princeton classmates, I also discovered that I am no fashion photographer. If models look like theyre moving slowly, youre not watching them through a lens. Serendipitously, the next stop on her tour was in Stamford, where she hosted another show at Saks Fifth Avenue and signed copies of her book On Your Own at Waldenbooks.

The next time I saw Shields, she was the one holding the camera. I was covering the final of the 1994 U.S. Open and her boyfriend, Andre Agassi, had just won the title.

Agassi was still doing TV interviews while the scrum of sportswriters were getting impatient in the press room.

Brooke, Brooke, Brooke, a few chanted.

After some nudging, she cautiously stepped into the spotlight and filled Agassis seat until he arrived. Again came the What is happening? hand signals. This time she was the fish out of water. But Brooke Shields was a lot more adept at handling sportswriters than I was at photographing models.

Shes back in the news these days in the documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields airing on Hulu. It tells her story as a survivor, as well as a larger one. Has anything really changed in how girls are treated 40 years later?

My wife and I teach a class about journalism on film at UConn and repeatedly find inspiration in how the students reject outdated norms that surface in old films. They recognize racism, sexism and abuse. They would know the answer to Is Brooke Shields detrimental to America's youth? and redirect the focus to the accuser.

But then, so did I when I was a teenager. Then, as now, its the adults who aim to exploit children who are detrimental to America.
Chinese FM spokesperson urges Guatemala to make right choice

Xinhua) 13:47, April 01, 2023

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday that Honduras' establishment of diplomatic ties with China brings the total number of countries having diplomatic ties with China to 182, and it is hoped that Guatemala will see the trend of the world and make the right choice as early as possible.

Mao made the remarks when asked to comment that Guatemala, after Honduras established diplomatic relations with China, is now the only country left in Central America without formal ties with China.

Mao said Honduras' establishment of diplomatic ties with China shows that the one-China principle is universally recognized and represents the people's aspiration and the trend of the world, and no force can block that trend.

"The separatist pursuit of 'Taiwan independence' is against the will and interests of the Chinese nation and against the trend of history. It will not lead anywhere," said Mao.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
It has always been a shibboleth of the Remain establishment that anyone who voted to leave the EU must be a deluded 'Little Englander'.

Suspicious of foreigners at best, xenophobic at worst, not too bright and harking back to a bygone age of British global supremacy.

This characterisation is deeply insulting to more than half the population. It is also utter drivel.

What these sneering Remainers fail to understand is that the Brexit voters' grievance was not with Europe or Europeans, but with the overweening power of Brussels to dictate their lives.

The referendum vote was about regaining sovereignty and control of our own laws and borders from what is fast becoming a bureaucratic super-state.

Typically, the BBC, never missing an opportunity to deride Brexit, used dubious figures to suggest the pact would have a minimal short-term effect on UK GDP. Writing in the Mail today, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch rightly castigates the Corporation, describing its approach as 'myopic'

Far from being any sort of retrenchment or pulling up of the drawbridge, it has enabled us to look confidently out to the wider world.

While still trading with Europe on the friendliest terms possible, we can now seek new friendships and alliances beyond its shores.

This newspaper was at the forefront of the Brexit campaign and while we have at times been disappointed in the lack of ambition shown by our politicians, we remain convinced of its almost limitless potential.

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And yesterday's news that the UK has struck a deal to join an 11-nation Trans-Pacific trade pact, including Canada, Australia, Mexico and Malaysia, is a shining example of what can be achieved.

It is the first major shift away from a stagnating Europe, towards some of the world's dynamic, growing economies.

It is exactly what Brexit was meant to be about. Between them, the countries involved generate 13 per cent of the world's income and have a population of half a billion (larger than the EU).

Other nations are expected to join in the years to come, adding to the pact's already massive clout.

Typically, the BBC, never missing an opportunity to deride Brexit, used dubious figures to suggest the pact would have a minimal short-term effect on UK GDP.

Writing in the Mail today, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch rightly castigates the Corporation, describing its approach as 'myopic'.

As ever, it completely misses the point. This deal is not just about today or tomorrow, it's about Britain's global future. If we are to stimulate growth, we must stimulate trade.

We are world leaders in all manner of cutting-edge technologies, financial and professional services and a host of creative industries. The countries we have struck or hope to strike free-trade deals with can provide vast untapped new markets.

As Mrs Badenoch points out, by 2030, the Indo-Pacific region will be home to half the world's middle-class consumers  some 2.3billion potential customers. 'We're getting in early,' she says.

Another barbed question raised by Remainers yesterday was, what was the point of Britain leaving the EU if we are going to jump straight into another trading bloc?

The answer to that is that the Trans-Pacific Partnership doesn't have a flag, a parliament, foreign embassies or a central bank and doesn't want to suck us ever deeper into a social and political union.

To use a late lamented phrase, it sees itself as a common market, rather than some grandiose and flawed political project. And of course, this new deal is in addition to our free-trade agreement with Brussels, not in place of it.

But the eurozone is expected to grow by less than one per cent this year, with France in political turmoil and even the economic powerhouse of Germany teetering on the brink of recession.

Looking further afield is not merely a choice, it's a necessity.

To quote Mrs Badenoch: 'Today, we have opened a new era for this country as a trading nation.' Amen to that!
The time has come to right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times. The systematic rape, abuse and exploitation of young girls by organised gangs of older men  and the disgraceful failure of the authorities to act despite ample evidence  is a stain on our country.

The grooming gangs scandal stretches back many years and continues to this day. It is nine years since Professor Alexis Jays devastating report on abuse in Rotherham. Dozens of trials have taken place in which harrowing victim testimony has made clear not only the suffering caused by evil predators but also how cries for help were ignored by people in authority. Such people were more interested in their careers and political correctness than in protecting and helping the vulnerable.

During last years Conservative leadership contest, Rishi Sunak pledged that if he became Prime Minister he would make stamping out grooming gangs, and justice for their victims, a personal priority. The Government will now make good on that promise.

There are four critical facts about the grooming gangs phenomenon. Each must be acknowledged and addressed in turn if we are to eradicate these gangs and bring justice to their victims.

First, the victims were  and are  some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Young females, overwhelmingly white girls from disadvantaged or troubled backgrounds, have been repeatedly raped, abused, intimidated, beaten and given addictive substances  and consistently let down by the authorities. Most of them have still not received justice.

The time has come to right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times, writes Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured)

GROOMERS IN ROTHERHAM: From left: Tayab Dad, Nasar Dad, Basharat Dad, Matloob Hussain, Mohammed Sadiq and Amjad Ali

Second, the perpetrators are groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values. They have been left mostly unchallenged both within their communities and by wider society, despite their activities being an open secret.

Many of them have gone unpunished and remain at large.

Third, the authorities who had a duty to safeguard the girls  local politicians, social workers, teachers, police officers and others  have often looked the other way. They have ignored the abuse or, at best, made half-hearted efforts  not least because they thought it more likely that they would be accused of racism than praised for stopping the mistreatment. Tragically, that assessment, however morally debased, may have been accurate.

Finally  and most urgent  is the fact that the systemic abuse of young girls by organised grooming gangs is still happening today in communities up and down the country. We must end it.

It takes exceptional courage to speak out about having been sexually abused. The final report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), published last October, heard testimony from 7,300 victims and survivors. Meeting members of the inquirys victims panel has been profoundly humbling. Their courage will count. Their testimony will inspire everything the Government does to prevent the evil of grooming gangs and child sexual abuse more generally.

The inquirys final report made 20 recommendations, which complement the 87 that have already been made in previous IICSA reports. Given the breadth, depth, seriousness, and sensitivity of the inquiry, we must give these recommendations due consideration, time and attention. But I can say that the Government is already strongly persuaded by many of them and determined that the publication of our response in May will ensure the national recognition of victims.

Every individuals suffering and experience of abuse is a unique tragedy. Out of respect to victims, it is essential that we separate our response to the horrors of grooming gangs from wider child sexual abuse and our response to the inquiry. Each deserves dedicated focus and attention.

There is, however, one recommendation which is particularly relevant to eradicating grooming gangs  and which we know that abuse victims, more broadly, are keen to see Government take forward as soon as possible.

The inquiry found repeated individual and institutional failures to report child sexual abuse. It recommended that the Government should introduce a mandatory duty for professionals with safeguarding responsibilities to report any signs or suspicions of such abuse.

Had this duty been in place already, countless children would have been better protected against grooming gangs and against sexual abusers more widely.

That is why I have committed to introduce Mandatory Reporting across the whole of England.

Our safeguarding professionals, such as teachers and social workers, are valued public servants who play a vital role in protecting and nurturing future generations.

I know the overwhelming majority of them, along with the public, consider it a duty on themselves and their colleagues to report any indication of the sexual abuse of a child. The inquiry makes clear we must strengthen that duty in legislation and ensure those who fail to do so face the full force of the law.

Some crimes, if left unpunished, create such a burning sense of injustice among the public that they singe the fabric of our social contract. When the most vulnerable people cannot rely on protection from those entrusted to safeguard them, cannot rely on the police to defend them, and cannot rely on the courts to deliver them justice, then the legitimacy of our democratic institutions is called into question. Grooming gangs and child sexual abuse are examples of that phenomenon.

When Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993 and the state initially failed to deliver justice, the public perceived that the victims of racism were second-class victims. A similar perception exists today in respect to the young girls who are victims of grooming gangs.

I will not allow that perception to stand. It is therefore essential that we track down and punish the grooming gangs with the same sense of mission and determination that we rightly demonstrated in pursuing the murderers of Stephen Lawrence.

On Monday the Prime Minister will set out further measures to tackle the problem, to find and punish the predators, and to bring justice to the victims.

By GLEN OWEN, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Home Secretary Suella Braverman today vows to stamp out the grooming gangs behind organised child sex abuse  and raises the prospect of jail sentences for people who fail to alert the authorities.

She highlights the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, which led to the conviction a decade ago of a group of British-Pakistani men for offences against girls aged between 12 and 16. The authorities had failed to act despite widespread evidence of abuse  in some cases because they feared being accused of racism.

The Home Secretary, writing in The Mail on Sunday, pledges to 'track down and punish the grooming gangs with the same sense of mission and determination' used to pursue the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, the black British teenager who was killed in a racially motivated attack at a bus stop in South London in 1993.

Ms Braverman, who was born in Harrow, in North-West London, to a Kenyan mother and Mauritian father, writes: 'The time has come to make right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times. The systematic rape, exploitation and abuse of young girls by organised gangs of older men  and the disgraceful failure of the authorities to act despite ample evidence  is a stain on our country.'

A Buddhist, Ms Braverman describes the 'perpetrators' as 'groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values'.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) today vows to stamp out the grooming gangs behind organised child sex abuse

She adds: 'They have been left largely unchallenged either within their communities or by wider society, despite their activities being an open secret. Many of them went unpunished and remain at large.'

Under the plans, people who work with children will be legally required to report child sexual abuse or face sanctions ranging from being barred from working with youngsters to prison. The measures will cover any professionals with safeguarding duties, such as teachers, social workers and police.

The first step to introducing the duty is a call for evidence which will be open to professionals, volunteers, parents, victims and survivors, and the wider public. It will be the start of a consultation to ensure all views are represented ahead of implementing the new duty.

Extra funding will be provided for the NSPCC's whistleblowing helpline, which can be used by any professional who has concerns their organisation is not reporting or handling child abuse cases appropriately.

The Government is also planning to speed up the process for members of the public to find out if someone they know has committed child abuse in the past in order to better protect vulnerable people from predators. Known as Sarah's Law, in memory of eight-year-old Sarah Payne, who was murdered by a previously convicted sex offender in West Sussex in 2000, the updated guidance for the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme will make it easier for the public to raise a concern online and reduce the timeframes for police to respond to enquiries.

Ms Braverman said of the grooming gangs scandal: 'The authorities who had a duty to safeguard the girls  including local politicians, social workers, teachers, police officers and others  often looked the other way. They ignored the abuse, or at best made half-hearted efforts, not least because they thought it more likely that they would be accused of racism than praised for stopping the abuse.

'Tragically, that assessment, however morally debased, may have been accurate.'
Sir Keir Starmer has stabbed Jeremy Corbyn in the back. And he wants everyone to know it. 'I'm prepared to be ruthless to ensure that we have a Labour Government,' he said after his party's ruling National Executive Committee voted to ban Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next Election.

'I have been ruthless in the change in the Labour Party.'

But for some of his Shadow Ministers he hasn't been ruthless enough. 'He's dealt with Corbyn,' one told me, 'but he hasn't dealt with the Corbynites. They're still sitting here. And they're watching and waiting for their moment to get their man back.'

They certainly are.

Last week, the question was whether Corbyn would react to his effective expulsion by standing as an independent against the party he used to lead. But my understanding is he's being strongly advised against such a move by his allies  or erstwhile allies  within Labour's Socialist Campaign Group.

Sir Keir Starmer (left) has stabbed Jeremy Corbyn (right) in the back. And he wants everyone to know it

'Jeremy's being urged not to do it,' one said. 'It would be bad for Labour and bad for the Group. We'd be put in an impossible position of having to back him or back the party. And if we chose to support him as an independent, that would give Keir an excuse to move against us.'

Publicly, Labour's Left have been rallying to their fallen idol. Diane Abbott tweeted: 'The decision to bar Jeremy on the grounds he lost the 2019 Election is ridiculously flimsy, without logic or precedent. On that basis, many other Labour leaders would also be barred.'

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell described the decision as 'unfair' and 'brutal'.

But over the past few weeks, Corbynites have quietly begun to distance themselves from Corbyn himself. McDonnell penned an article supporting the arming of Ukraine, a move that placed him at direct odds with Corbyn who said: 'Pouring arms in isn't going to bring about a solution.' McDonnell was quickly backed by high-profile Left-wing Labour MPs Clive Lewis and Nadia Whittome.

This shift is partly based on self-preservation. 'They're terrified,' one MP told me. 'They think Keir is going to come for them next. And they don't want to give him any excuse to try to deselect them.'

But it's also because Corbynites think they have spotted a political opportunity. 'The strategy's changing,' one Left-leaning MP told me. 'There's no point in charging directly at Starmer. That would just play into his hands. But now people are looking at the polls and saying, "Maybe there'll be a hung Parliament. Or a narrow Labour majority. And at that point we would be the ones holding the balance of power." '

Another Corbynite put it more starkly: 'People are thinking that if Starmer got a Commons majority of only 30, the Left would be more powerful than ever.'

This calculation is a product of a simple analysis of the make-up of the Parliamentary Labour Party. A handful of Left-wingers have been bought off by Starmer with Whips Office jobs and other minor positions. But Corbynites believe that can be offset by some of their own radicals triumphing in winnable seats, plus additional converts from the soft-Left. As a result, they reckon they can rely on between 30 and 40 MPs to defy Starmer on contentious issues such as immigration and taxation.

For their part, Starmer's supporters believe any sort of Labour majority would cement his internal reforms and provide him with a popular mandate from the voters that the Left dare not challenge  especially after Labour's 13 years in the political wilderness.

Which might be true if Starmer was actually driving through an unambiguously modernising agenda. But he's not.

Whereas Tony Blair was clear from the outset as party leader that he intended to pursue an unashamedly New Labour strategy, Starmer secured his job by embracing continuity Corbynism. And the Corbynites have no intention of letting him forget it.

'The way we'll challenge him is with his own words,' one Corbynite explained.

Referring to the socialist promises Starmer made when standing to be Labour leader in April 2020, the Corbynite added: 'We'll keep pushing on the 10 Pledges. That was the manifesto he was elected on. Will he kick people out of the party for backing the policies he was backing when he won the leadership?'

Another way they intend to launch a guerrilla war against Starmer is organisationally.

Momentum  the activist group whose infiltration helped win Corbyn the Labour leadership  has issued a call to arms in the wake of the ban on Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate. In a message to its members, it warned: 'Momentum is working to consolidate our power bases,' including training of 'socialist councillor candidates and help them get selected and elected', 'the training of socialist organisers' and a campaign to 'make socialist arguments to millions online and in the public sphere'.

Starmer's team believe this represents the defiant, but hollow, cry of a defeated Corbynite rump.

But some of his allies are less certain. They point to Neil Kinnock's move to proscribe the hard-Left Militant in the 1980s, and want Starmer to take an equally firm stance with Momentum.

In response, the Corbynites are considering turning to their allies within the unions for a 'war-chest' to fight any additional expulsions.

'If we just sit back, Starmer will find an excuse to pick us off one by one,' a Campaign Group MP explained. 'The idea is to get the unions to give necessary funds that we can use to fight any further expulsions using the law.

'We'll essentially be sending the leadership the message, "If you come for us, we're going to crash the car off the road. We'll take you on and drag you through the courts in the run-up to the Election." '

Some of Corbyn's closest allies believe this strategy is doomed to fail. As one of his friends told me: 'Starmer has too tight a grip on the party now. The only way to put pressure on him is externally. That's why a lot of us are urging Jeremy to stand for the Greens. That's where progressive efforts have to be focused.'

But inside Starmer's Shadow Cabinet team there is trepidation. They acknowledge the strides he has taken. But they look nervously at signs of Labour's narrowing poll lead, an improving Tory performance and the daunting size of the swing required for an overall majority.

Some of Corbyn's (left) closest allies believe this strategy is doomed to fail. As one of his friends told me: 'Starmer (right) has too tight a grip on the party now. The only way to put pressure on him is externally'

As one Shadow Minister said: 'Keir's done an incredible job to date. When he took over, I don't think anyone expected he'd go as far as kicking Corbyn out.

'But the question now is can we secure a big enough majority? Or are we going to end up with a situation where the remaining Corbynites are able to hold the party to ransom?'

This is the danger facing Sir Keir Starmer  and the country.

Winning is no longer enough. He has to secure victory with a sufficient buffer to ensure Jeremy Corbyn's allies don't become Labour's equivalent of the ERG  the Tories' hard-line Brexiteers  making him their impotent hostage in Downing Street.

Last week, Starmer demonstrated his ruthless streak. But his internal enemies are ruthless, too.

And they're already dreaming of their revenge.
While many of us might count McNuggets, a Big Mac, or a McFlurry as among our favourite dishes from McDonald's, branches around the world have plenty of alternative dishes on offer.

And fans of the fast food diner will be bursting with jealousy at the sight of what is available from the many different menus around the world.

Managing to capture the taste and local flavours of the resident countries, youll be hard pressed to guess exactly where theyre from and what they are.

If you can stop yourself from licking your lips and salivating long enough, check out the tasty gallery below, which is in no particular order, and see if you can guess what each dish is.

Scroll down to learn the answers...but no peeking!

1.

From it's lime green colour to it's fluorescent dusting across the outside, this is definitely not the usual slice of cake us Brits are used to seeing - but can you guess what it is?

2.

One restaurant diner in McDonald's was left baffled by these different types of pies - but do you know if they're sweet or savoury?

3.

This fabulously tasty burger appears to be packed with meaty goodness and cheesy topping - but can you tell what it is?

4.

Could you believe that this unusual dish is on offer in stores across Canada, where it is considered a 'national food' by some - but do you know what it is?

5.

This dish might LOOK like a typical egg McMuffin, which is a favourite served up across McDonald's stores in the UK - but can you guess the hidden ingredients?

6.

This Japanese chicken treat appears to be a tasty alternative for the nuggets served up across the UK

7.

Double the flavour! This burger, which is on offer in Japan, is stacked high with tasty meat - but can you guess what it tastes like?

8.

If you're fed up with bread then this delight from Japan could be winner for you. A variation on the burger above, it's apparently even better paired with rice buns

9.

These burgers might resemble the Fish-o-Fillet burger - but don't be fooled! Can you guess what the filling really is?

10.

Ten points for Norway! These delicious snacks served in the Scandinavian version of the fast food chain may look fairly innocent - but with a kick of spice in the middle, do you know what they're made of?

11.

While this dish may be fairly routine in Italian restaurants across the world, the idea of McDonald's serving up the meal might feel a little unusual to some customers

12.

The gooey centre of this burger, which is on offer in the Philippines, looks particularly appetizing

13.

A vegetarian delight...? This dish, which is on McDonald's menu's across India, promises to 'make you smile' - but can you tell what it is?

14.

McDonald's opened its very first vegetarian-only restaurant in India and it now has plans to open more around the world - but can you guess what one of their top burgers is made from?

15.

If you're a massive fan of south Indian food, than this spicy grilled vegetable patty might be for you

16.

Whether you're a big McDonald's fan or not, can YOU tell whether this dish is a breakfast meal or a lunchtime snack?

17.

This mega-massive triple decker burger is for sale in McDonald's restaurants across India - but do you know what it tastes like?

18.

Is this the biggest McDonald's breakfast bun EVER? This dish is for sale in Australia for diners looking for a tasty early morning meal

19.

While McFlurrys might be on offer around the world, this dessert dish contains a different flavour which isn't available in the UK

20.

This dish might contain chicken, but can you tell what else is packed into this burger to give it it's delicious flavour?

21.

If the pure white beaches don't make you want to go to Malaysia, than this meal from the fast food chain might tempt you

22.

McDonald's in Hawaii offer a special menu of items you can only find there - but can you tell what is on offer in this dish?

23.

While many Brits might reach for an apple pie from McDonald's, this dish has become one of the best sold in McDonald's across Thailand

24.

Only available in Thailand, the McDonald's rice dish looks to be a slightly healthier alternative then the meals on offer in the UK

25.

McDonald's describe these tasty snacks as 'warm and racy heart to give you a moment of goodness  a pleasure for the palate'

26.

There are over 304 McDonald's in Saudi Arabia, or roughly nine per million customers, so it should come as no surprise that it's very popular

27.

Holy moly! This is one big burger - but can you tell the different ingredients making up it's tasty layers?

28.

This bizarre burger is named the McDrop, and appears to be packed with plenty of flavour - but can you tell what it in it?

29.

This meaty burger is regularly compared to a Big Mac - but there are a number of differences between this meal and the regular McDonald's dish

30.

This burger appears to have been layered with different components to make one tasty, and very filling, dish

31.

This unusual burger appears to have a number of unusual ingredients combined - however fans of the dish say it's STILL ultra-tasty

1.

It's definitely not the usual slice of cake us Brits are used to seeing but this Matcha Red Bean Layer Cake found in Hong Kong, looks absolutely incredible

2.

Fancy an upgrade from the usual hot apple pies? Taro is a root vegetable and the treat, on offer in China, is described by those who have tried it as 'lightly sweet and tender with a slightly savoury exterior and chewy interior covering'

3.

Get in the carnival spirit with this Cheddar McMelt from Brazil. It's packed with bacon slices, loads of cheese and a full beef patty. Foliao!

4.

Canada's answer to our classic cheesy chips and gravy is their national dish, poutine. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, two restaurants, one in Canada and another in France had to issue statements after receiving threats from public who thought the dish was named after the Russian President Vladimir Putin4.

5.

Probably not considered a national dish is the Egg & Jalapeno Cheddar McMuffin, which is definitely one way to get yourself moving in the morning

6.

Imagine a massive chicken nugget covered in a tasty seasoning and this is what you get from the Shaka Shaka Chicken from McDonald's in Japan. A deep fried chicken patty, sprinkle in one of three flavours: lemon pepper, red pepper and cheese. Simply rip the top fold off and dig in!

7.

What's better than one patty coated in delicious in a sweet and spicy ginger-flavored teriyaki sauce? Two! Check out the Teriyaki McBurger. Yum!

8.

If you're fed up with bread then this delight from Japan could be winner for you. A variation on the burger above, it's apparently even better paired with rice buns

9.

Pronounced 'Ebi', which is the Japanese word for shrimp, these burgers could be compared to our very own Fillet-O-Fish

10.

These Chilli Cheese Tops are packed with fresh jalapenos, matured cheddar all inside a crispy coating of tasty goodness

11.

If there's one thing McDonald's does not have enough of, it's pasta. The Chicken McDo with McSpaghetti found in the Philippines is one the restaurant's most popular items

12.

There's no such thing as too much cheese, which is exactly what the creators of the McDonald's Cheesy Eggdesal must have thought when coming up with this. Melted cheese wrapped in a fluffy, folded egg and sandwiched between a soft, toasted pandesal bun

13.

India has the most vegetarians in the world so it makes sense that McDonald's there would some of the tastiest veggie options. One such snack is the Veg Pizza McPuff, filled with a rich tomato sauce, carrots, bell pepper, beans, onion, peas and gooey mozzarella

14.

The McSpicyPaneer, which is on menus in McDonald's in India, is a satisfying alternative to vegetable patties

15.

If you love south Indian food, McDonald's Dosa Masala Burger is for you. Made with a spicy grilled vegetable patty it is coated in Indian spices and a slight taste of sambar

16.

How do you like your eggs in the morning? I'll take mine with lashings of spicy sauce like the McDonald's Masala Scrambled Eggs

17.

India's McDonald's restaurants also serve this massive Chicken Maharaja Mac, which has two grilled chicken patties, jalapenos, onion, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and crunchy lettuce dressed with the classical Habanero sauce

18.

Leave it to the Aussies to come up with the biggest breakfast bun you could imagine. Aptly named the Big Brekkie Burger, it has all the good stuff including a whopping 732 calories

19.

A tasty and refreshing treat, the McFlurry Mango has chunks of crispy pie filled with creamy custard sauce and sweet flavour of mango

20.

Not from Thailand as you might assume, the Thai Green Curry Burger from McDonald's has a juicy chicken patty served with mixed vegetables a special sauce

21.

Inspired by Malaysia's national dish, this meal features a coconut flavoured chicken thigh coated in a cornflake crunch, all served with a special sambal sauce, fried egg, caramelised onions, and cucumber slices topped with a chilli bun

22.

Breakfast platters in Hawaii are loaded with spam and Portuguese sausage and a dessert menu with hot haupia (coconut pudding), taro pies, fried apple pies. Hawaii is the only state in America where you can get the pies fried

23.

This corn pie was introduced in 2012 in Thailand and has become one of the biggest-selling items on the menu

24.

Only available in Thailand, the McDonald's Kaprao Crispy Chicken Rice is so much more than just fried chicken

25.

The Panzerotti are basically bitesize calzones, filled with 100 per cent Italian tomato and mozzarella

26.

The McArabia Chicken comes with two Halal grilled patties, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and garlic sauce all held together by Arabic bread

27.

The McDonald's Big Tasty Bacon Chili Cheese is found in Germany and has all the components you'd expect from a Big Tasty but with fiery jalapenos and creamy chili cheese sauce

28.

We've been led to believe that Green Tea can have health benefits, so this Boseong Green Tea Pork Burger from McDonald's is sure to great. Described as 113g of tender and juicy pork patty, it has a rich taste of spicy cheese sauce topped with locally sourced cabbage and red onion

29.

Often compared to the humble Big Mac, the Bulgogi Burger is described as compact, without too many toppings packs a punch thanks to its distinctive flavour of a sweet sauce

30.

A slightly upgraded version of South Korea's Bulgogi Burger, this one contains an perfect egg to add a slight variation of texture and taste. Make sure you're hungry!

31.

The 88 Seoul Beef Burger comes with an unusual concoction by todays burger standards of an egg salad and cabbage mix on it, which is certainly a unique

32.
Many of the most successful comedies of recent years  Fleabag, Catastrophe, This Country  have been inspired by the lives of the women who've written them. Now there's Rain Dogs, which, although it's very British, has already been broadcast in the US to critical acclaim.

The story was created by Cash Carraway, who calls it 'a love story told from the gutter'. She claims it isn't exactly autobiographical but has 'firm roots in the chip on my shoulder!'

Rain Dogs, a co-production between the BBC and US channel HBO, begins with the key character, cash-strapped Costello, and her daughter Iris fleeing from the bailiffs. They take a taxi until the young girl feigns sickness and the pair run off without paying.

It's a well-rehearsed routine which introduces us perfectly to an eight-part story that goes into the underbelly of a modern London where the poverty is almost Dickensian. It's a grim world of sex shows, prison and predators, but it's also packed with humour.

Like the character of Costello  played by Daisy May Cooper  Cash, whose 2020 memoir Skint Estate was a big hit, was desperate to be a writer, but worked as a stripper in a Soho peepshow to earn enough money to survive as a single mother. Also like Costello, she was running from an abusive mother and a violent ex-partner, and found that often the only help she could get was from people who wanted something in return.

Rain Dogs, a co-production between the BBC and US channel HBO, begins with the key character, cash-strapped Costello, and her daughter Iris fleeing from the bailiffs

'I was already a fan of Cash when I read the script and I thought it was brilliantly written,' says Daisy May.

'I've come from a similar background to Cash where we struggled for money, had bailiffs at the door and had to pawn everything. She had such a strong voice and it resonated with me. I thought, "I've got to play this part." So much has happened to Costello but she refuses to let it defeat her.

'Being a single mum, which I am, is unbelievably hard; you've got to be mum and dad and you've got financial issues on top of that. The guilt that you feel is horrendous.'

Costello's foil is the dissolute aristocrat Florian Selby, played by Poldark's Jack Farthing. The pair met at university and while he's her best friend, he can also be her worst enemy.

His father killed himself, his mother is uncaring yet he is protected by money and wants to be a father figure to Iris. He can also be violent and we meet him as he's coming out of prison, returning to Costello's life just as she needs him most.

Adrian Edmondson, pictured, plays Lenny in the show. He says viewers will love the dark comedy because it's recognisable, even if most of us have never been unfortunate enough to experience it

Meanwhile, comedy legend Adrian Edmondson takes the role of artist Lenny, another upper-crust character who is happiest among thieves, pimps and prostitutes.

'Lenny becomes a semi-father figure to people in the show because he's older,' says Adrian. 'Although he's cantankerous, he has a heart in there somewhere.'

He says viewers will love the dark comedy because it's recognisable, even if most of us have never been unfortunate enough to experience it. 'Light comedy is a bit tedious, isn't it? That kind of joke that anyone can tell. I think good comedy is dark. The show is written by someone who's been through it and what she's been through isn't very nice, but she manages to tell it in a way that's accessible, amusing, hard-hitting and emotional.'

Rain Dogs, Tuesday, 10.40pm, BBC1.
Harlan Coben is the king of crime. He's sold more than 80 million books, his TV dramas are worldwide hits and he has production companies clamouring for him to come up with more ideas. Interestingly though, he's not a fan of killing people off. Even when people die in his thrillers, they don't always stay dead.

In Safe, his first drama for Netflix, he focused on a missing teenager who turns up alive. His latest book I Will Find You follows a father whose son  who he's been found guilty of murdering  may not be dead after all, while his next Netflix drama Fool Me Once is about a husband who's meant to be dead but reappears on a baby monitor.

'I find disappearance more interesting than murder because there's hope in it,' says New Jersey-born Harlan, 61. 'Hope can take your heart, put wings on it and let it fly away, or it can crush your heart like an eggshell. That's the dynamic I like.'

Filming started earlier this year in Manchester on Fool Me Once  his latest show to transpose an American story onto a British environment.

The show is made with It's A Sin producer Nicola Schindler, who first convinced him that his stories could be retold over here. Their first project together, The Five in 2016, was set in Britain's north-west and was a hit.

Harlan Coben (pictured) has sold more than 80 million books. His TV dramas are worldwide hits and he has production companies clamouring for him to come up with more ideas

The new show stars Joanna Lumley, Michelle Keegan and Richard Armitage, who's become a fan favourite in the Coben world. This will be his third appearance in one of the dramas after Stay Close and The Stranger.

Joanna plays Michelle's mother-in-law and Richard the husband who's presumed dead.

'Because each of Richard's roles is different it works having him back,' says Harlan. 'We have a relationship I treasure. And I think people are going to be surprised by Joanna in this role, it's a different one for her. She's fantastic.'

Harlan's TV dramas are strikingly different to other crime stories.

Hope can put wings on your heart  or crush it like an eggshell. That's the dynamic I like

They're often set in gated mansions and with an aspirational aesthetic that feels more American than British, but he insists that doesn't make them any less authentic.

'One of the funniest things is when people say to me, 'No one lives in houses like that,' and I say, 'Well those homes aren't lying empty; people are living in them.'

Harlan likes to work with a team he can trust  alongside Nicola he co-writes with Brassic's Danny Brocklehurst, but this time he'll be without a key team member  his daughter Charlotte.

'She's written one of the episodes of Fool Me Once but she's become so in demand that she's gone off to write her own series,' he sighs. 'As a father I'm pleased, but I'm also kind of sad to be losing her.'

The new show stars Joanna Lumley, Michelle Keegan and Richard Armitage, who's become a fan favourite in the Coben world. This will be his third appearance in one of the dramas after Stay Close (pictured) and The Stranger

Harlan's hit series Gone For Good, based off his book, was adapted into a five-part drama set in France

His other works with Netflix include The Stranger, starring Jennifer Saunders, right, and The Woods, starring Hubert Milkowski, left

Harlan co-writes and produces his shows and was on set last month in England, combining it with a tour for his new book, I Will Find You.

In that story, a father has been jailed for killing his young son, after a neighbour claims to have seen him burying the murder weapon. Although he has a history of sleepwalking, he's convinced he didn't do it.

Harlan has four grown-up children himself with his wife Anne.

He became a literary sensation with his 2001 book Tell No One and it changed his life.

He's now estimated to be worth 20 million but still turns out roughly one book a year.

In Safe (pictured), his first drama for Netflix, he focused on a missing teenager who turns up alive

His main TV home is Netflix, with whom he has a 14-project deal, but he also has an unnamed project with Apple TV+. Pictured, a stock image of a typewriter

'I grew up with a good work ethic. It's like being a plumber, I wouldn't just suddenly decide, 'I can't do pipes any more.''

His main TV home is Netflix, with whom he has a 14-project deal, but he also has an unnamed project with Apple TV+, and a show in the works with Amazon Prime Video called Shelter, in which a school caretaker learns that his father might not be dead.

'I think part of the reason why I don't kill the loved ones is because I lost my parents at a fairly young age  they were both dead by the time they were my age,' he says.

'If a person dies there's no coming back, they will never be part of your life again. So I think making someone who's dead return is a great wish-fulfilment; hope is a powerful thing.'

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben is out now in hardback and eBook.
International rap sensation Eminem was known for writing lyrics about his daughter Hailie during the height of his career and is thought to have penned 20 songs which mentioned her.

However she isn't the only one of his daughters featured in the 50-year-old's music - as references to 'Lainey' in song lyrics refer to his oldest daughter, Alaina. The 29-year-old is the biological daughter of the late Dawn Scott, who was the twin sister of Kim Scott, Eminem's ex-wife.

Dawn battled drug addiction throughout the 1990s and after Alaina was born in May 1993, Kim and the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, took in the child to give her a stable upbringing.

Eminem and Kim continued to raise Alaina alongside their biological daughter Hailey and Kim's youngest child Stevie, despite their own on-and-off relationship. The couple are now divorced.

In 2016 Dawn, who was still struggling with addiction, was found dead following an apparent heroin overdose.

Alaina Scott, 29, (pictured with her fiance Matt Moeller) lives in Michigan after she was taken in by Eminem and Kim Scott when she was a child due to her mother's battle with drug addiction. Now, following the death of her mother in 2016, she runs a book club, is planning on going back to college after being the first person in her family to get a degree, and is planning her wedding to Matt

Now Alaina lives a wholesome life in Michigan with her fiance Matt Moeller and their two sausage dogs. She remains incredibly close to Hailie, who is often featured on her Instagram account, and she is a self-confessed bookworm who runs a book club.

She has recently spoken of how her aunt and uncle are also her 'mom and dad' and how her cousins are also her 'sisters'.

Her Instagram account also offers glimpses into her life, with the PR executive posting a photo of her father wearing a T-shirt from her Alpha Delta Pi sorority at university which joked he was the 'best dad'.

Through her social media account, she has also discussed her battles with depression and anxiety and spoken about her biological mother.

Alaina (left) recently appeared on her sister Hailie's Just a Little Shady podcast where the siblings reminisced over their childhood with 'strict' parents

Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers) and Kim Scott adopted Alaina in the 1990s and continued to raise her together even after their on-and-off relationship ended for good

Alaina's biological mother Dawn Scott, who was Kim Scott's twin sister, sadly died in 2016 from an apparent heroin overdose

Last year on Mother's Day, she posted about her relationship with Dawn, writing: 'As a child who has lost their mom from addiction and because of that had a strained relationship I often felt a loss before I truly had to grieve my moms passing.

'I used to be so angry and hurt by all of this, but as Ive become older I cant help but realize how much work it takes to be a good mama.

'That sometimes our parents are hurting, searching, and trying to find themselves too - all while attempting to raise little ones. That often times they really are trying their best, even if their best isnt that great.'

In 2018, two years after Dawn's death and as what would have been her 43rd birthday approached, Alaina posted an old photo of her mother on Instagram and wrote: 'Always missing you a lot during this time of the year, Mom. Cant believe you would have been 43 in 3 days.'

In December 2021, Alaina revealed to her followers that she was engaged to Matt and shared sweet photos of the proposal.

Captioning the images, she wrote: 'This moment. this life... yes a hundred times over. I LOVE YOU.'

While little is known about Lainey in comparison to her younger sister, she revealed details about her personal and professional life in a sit-down chat on her sister's podcast, Just a Little Shady.

As the sisters sat down in conversation, Lainey revealed she moved out of the family home when she was 18 and went to a few different universities, studying subjects from art to hair styling, until she finally achieved her degree in communications and PR.

In the podcast, recorded in November, Alaina announced she was about to 'go back to school' to study more beauty courses and said she was looking forward to studying again as she approaches the age of 30. She also discussed her upcoming wedding, after recently getting engaged to Matt.

It's a yes: The adopted daughter of rapper Eminem has confirmed her engagement to long-term partner Matt Moeller after he proposed on Monday

True love: In an Instagram post shared with followers, Alaina Marie Scott posted images of Matt on bended knee as he asked for her hand in marriage

She admitted: 'I don't want [Matt] helping that much with the wedding... you know how I am. I know exactly what I like, how I like it.'

Revealing she was due to be maid of honour at Lainey's wedding, Hailey said she doesn't have that many duties to carry out in her role because Lainey has a hand on everything.

As Alaina's wedding approaches, she revealed she wants an 'intimate' ceremony with a carefully curated guest list.

Speaking about their 'small family' Alaina said she had a conundrum when she put together the guest list and noted: 'My cousins are my sisters and my aunt and uncle are like my mum and dad'.

The sisters also discussed Lainey's book club, which she started during the pandemic when she had run out of other things to do.

She posts discussion threads on her forum for each book twice every month, which her large following comment on.

During the podcast, the siblings reminisced on their childhood, where Hailie admitted she and her friends used to spy on Alaina and tell her parents what the older sibling had said.

In response, Alaina laughed: 'I was always getting in trouble.'

Without naming her parents, she gave an insight into how they brought her up in a story about her birthday party when she was around 12 years old and in sixth grade.

She said: 'I was having a pool party and I wanted to wear a two-piece bathing suit and I wasn't allowed.'

Alaina also recalled receiving a 'C' grade in a progress report at school and getting in trouble with her parents.

'I had to get a tutor and I could only go wherever you [Hailie] went. I was grounded,' she recalled.

Hailie agreed they were raised in a household where education was paramount, with Alaina being the first member of the family to go to university.

The sisters revealed Alaina had taken student council roles and lots of extra-curricular clubs while she was at school and excelled.
It takes a lot to shock me, but there's a truly wild 'remedy' couples are turning to, to fix their marriage, and I for one am shook. It's highly illegal, very dubious, and if I'm honest, a real darn gamble with your health, but apparently the results don't lie.

It came to my attention the other night at dinner when a married couple in my friendship group revealed the extreme way they saved their marriage from the brink of divorce: taking MDMA together.

Like many of us, they came out of the pandemic very haggard, and in their own words 'absolutely hating each other'. The wife even said that his loud nasal breathing was enough to send her into an absolute rage.

They had tried marriage counselling, but their busy schedules and high mortgage fees couldn't afford them the 'luxury' of attending a weekly session.

It came to my attention the other night at dinner when a married couple in my friendship group revealed the extreme way they saved their marriage from the brink of divorce: taking MDMA together

On this psychedelic however, there was no shouting, no shutting down, no ranting and raving. Just talking and listening. Properly listening, Jana says (stock image)

So when they found a study that revealed that the drug MDMA (also known as ecstasy or molly) can have an incredible effect on breaking down barriers, dissolving fears, allowing you to speak openly and honestly and have strong empathetic and loving feelings towards each other, they thought well let's give this a go before we sign those divorce papers.

And to put it simply it worked. Now before I tell you their story, I should really state that I don't condone this practice. Lord knows what goes into drugs bought off the streets. Watch any report on illegal drugs and it will freak you the heck out. Nevertheless, here's how it played out...

They decided to hire a babysitter for the night, treated themselves to a very fancy hotel stay, found a drug dealer who supplied them with this highly illegal substance and locked themselves in for a night.

Slightly nervous, considering they hadn't touched a 'party drug' since they were at university 15 years earlier, they worried they were taking things to far. Here were two parents with sturdy jobs, a mortgage, two kids and literally a white picket fence. What the heck were they doing on a Saturday night holed up in a hotel with a bottle of champagne and some grade-A drugs?

Is MDMA legal in Australia? Authorised psychiatrists can prescribe products containing 3,4methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or psilocybin for specific mental health conditions from 1 July 2023. MDMA may be used for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Psilocybin may be used for treatment-resistant depression. The decision maker recognised there is a need for access to new therapies for treatment-resistant conditions such as treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Psychotherapy involving psilocybin and MDMA has shown to be potentially beneficial in the treatment of these conditions. However, as with all medicines, there are risks with psilocybin and MDMA. Although these substances are themselves relatively safe when administered in the doses used in conjunction with psychotherapy and in a medically controlled environment, patients are in an altered state of consciousness when undergoing psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The decisions were made because the benefits for some patients from treatment with psilocybin or MDMA under the supervision of an authorised psychiatrist will outweigh the risks. Source: TGA Advertisement

After a brief discussion on whether they should back out, they decided to throw caution to the wind and give their marriage one final go. Both agreeing that if this didn't work, they would part ways knowing they had given it their best shot. Sheesh talk about a make-or-break weekend!

They popped the champagne, nervously poured themselves a glass, downed it, poured another one and then felt the courage to take the next step. They crushed the crystals into a fine powder, rolled up a bank note, and each took a turn in snort a line of the finely crushed powder up their noses.

They were so nervous they decided to take a calming hot bath and wait for the effect to kick in. After a few minutes they were worried they hadn't taken enough, but a little while later they felt like naughty teenagers.

They then spent the next couple of hours just talking and talking and talking. They noticed they weren't shouting at each other, but really listening what each other had to say. They cried together, held each other, and made love.

They then spent the next couple of hours just talking and talking and talking. They noticed they weren't shouting at each other, but really listening what each other had to say. They cried together, held each other, and made love

Previously when they had tried to have a discussion about the shocking state of their marriage, she would find herself angry and loud, he would shut down and say nothing. They were butting heads constantly and never finding a resolution. On this psychedelic however, there was no shouting, no shutting down, no ranting and raving. Just talking and listening. Properly listening.

And it turns out the Therapeutic Goods Association have been listening to the positive effects this substance has had as well, because in February the TGA announced that MDMA and psilocybin - the active ingredient in magic mushrooms - would be reclassified in July to allow them to be prescribed by psychiatrists to treat patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and treatment-resistant depression.

So before anyone with a dud marriage gets too excited, no, it won't be legal to use for relationship issues, but I find it fascinating that our medical community are looking at this 'party drug' as something that could help a tormented mind. Obviously made in a proper clean lab, with no added nasties. Whatever will they discover next

MDMA will be a Prescription Only medicine and is dangerous and potentially lethal for those who take it recreationally. It is illegal to take it without a prescription and should never be done so. Always speak to your GP before taking any drug or medicine.
Dear Bel,

My sorrow started with the sudden death of my father from a heart attack when I was forty. My mother developed dementia, was knocked down and wasn't expected to live. She recovered well surgery - but then had bowel cancer. A worrying seven years ended in her fatal fall. I was beyond sad as she was my best friend as well as the best cheeriest mum. I never heard her complain. But life goes on.

Our younger son became addicted to drugs and terrible times followed. After 20 years this took its toll on my husband's health and he died within six weeks of the cancer diagnosis. I was catatonic with shock and still think of him every single day.

My son was living with me, still in the grips of addiction. It helped me to carry on as I was still hoping one day he'd be free and happy.

My elder son and his wife were a tower of strength. I also took my grandson to and from school which gave me a purpose, as was walking their little dog. My younger son's son and daughter visited too: I credit their mother with not decrying their dad.

After two years with a walking group met a lovely man. Five years later we decided to look for a home together. My younger son booked himself into another rehab, my partner and I moved in together and I bought my son a flat when he came out of rehab.

This was three years ago and he is now 50 years old, happy and clean. He loves his home and seeing his son, daughter and one year old grandson. At last I felt I had a life free of worry and it was wonderful.

But my partner has just been diagnosed with advanced cancer. I am beyond devastated and just don't know how I'll cope when he's gone.

Since my husband died ten years ago I have lost five close friends, one (my closest) just three months ago. My partner is very brave. I'm taking his lead but know he must have such awful inner thoughts. How do I help when he says he's fine? I will support him and hope I'll find the right words to comfort him.

But at 76 I am looking into the abyss and wondering how I'll cope without the man I've grown to love very much. No more holidays, concerts, walking together hand in hand in glorious silence or chat. A glass of wine together, feeling flirtyand young!

I know I'll be howling to the moon again and just hope for the strength to cope as I did last time. God how awful I feel, just voicing all that. So selfish when my partner is facing something so much worse.

MAUREEN

This week, BEL MOONEY helps a woman navigate the prospect of losing her partner to cancer following several other loved ones' tragic deaths

You are not at all selfish  so please don't accuse yourself. Your letter (which I had to edit) has introduced me to a brave, loving woman who has known much sorrow in her life and now face a terrible loss all over again.

Thought of the Week: April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. From The Waste Land (the Burial of the Dead) by T.S.Eliot (1888-1965) Advertisement

You say you don't cry in front of your partner, because that would hardly be helpful to him, but weep every day in private. Of course you do. Anybody would. Helplessly we weep and rage in the face of implacable death - because that's how we are entitled to feel and there is nothing else to do.

Except be incredibly strong  for the sake of the beloved man who is surely also aching with fear and despair inside, even if he hides it.

Right now, you are both protecting each other  which I find very moving. But perhaps wearing a mask of strength and acceptance in order to sidestep the main issue may not be the wisest use of this precious time you have left together.

You ask, 'How do I help when he says he's fine?' It's a good question. But because you need his help as much as he needs yours, I'm wondering about not always 'taking his lead' but trying a different approach instead.

There are no rules for a situation like this. But you could be honest with your brave love and let him know that while he's saying he is' fine', you are most certainly (ital) not (ital) fine.

Quietly you could ask him to hear you out while you confide your own fears, your dread of another loss, and your deep love for him. It might make him feel stronger 'to find the right words to comfort' (ital) you (ital).

Real love must always involve listening  so let him hear you. You are a woman much bruised and battered by stress and sorrow; he knows this  so perhaps he could hold out his hands to help you.

And yes, sort out practical matters. And go for walks and concerts. Look on the beautiful world together as never before. And enjoy those glasses of wine  always intent on the present, instead of focussing on what is to come.

You may have more time than you know, so use it well. And then, Maureen, when you need to I hope you will write again. I wish you strength.

Dear Bel

I read with interest a recent letter concerning a lady's communication with a past friend on Facebook and her husband's behaviour when he found out about it.

The same sort of thing problem is affecting me. I have been using the site, LinkedIn, looking for jobs after being made redundant in 2020. Some of my old colleagues are on the same site and we have been communicating since the company closed and we went our separate ways.

The same site is also useful to me because my new company and staff use it, so this is a way of keeping up with how the company is doing and general chats.

My long-term partner has always been a jealous person, and recently she noticed I was wishing a colleague Happy Birthday in a message on the site. She went mad, wanting to see the whole conversation, and accusing me of having a relationship with the person.

She got very upset about it all and said that she does not understand why I was communicating this way. But LinkedIn is the only type of social media I use.

Anyway, she read the completely innocent conversation  but now complains every time I use my phone and go online, thinking I am texting someone I shouldn't be. She throws false accusations at me. These days the world revolves around the Internet and using a phone online, and she does a lot of browsing herself, which I have no problem with.

Now, trying to keep her happy, I have given up using my phone at all, but life is very miserable at home because of the situation.

I can't see a way of sorting this as she has accused me of deleting some conversations. I didn't, and she can read them, but she won't listen. LinkedIn is a business and college communication service and not a dating site. I am very depressed and worried about this, but there is no reasoning with her and I don't know what to do.

EDWARD

How to reason with somebody who refuses reason? How to talk to somebody who has already made up his/her mind? Your frustration is evident yet you are also admirably restrained. Instead of making you angry, your partner's terrible, pointless jealousy is making you 'depressed and worried' in a home which is 'miserable'.

I've known some (not many) pathologically jealous people who made their partners deeply unhappy. Such jealousy can almost seem like a form of coercive control in that it prevents their partner from behaving normally, having the freedom, contacting friends.

For example, I knew a woman whose husband was convinced that when she went to see her mother she was secretly meeting with a chap in the same road who used to fancy her. She wasn't  but the husband's cross-examinations and angry sulks became so wearisome she dreaded those visits and decreased them.

Her guilt - when her mother was discovered to have cancer and in fact died not long afterwards  could never be assuaged. That's what jealousy can do.

As well as trying to reason with your lady  have you tried to talk to her seriously about (ital) why (ital) she is so jealous? You've even stopped using your phone to try to stop her jealous anger, yet that's almost like an admission of defeat.

Do you think she has the right to control your actions in this way? My intention is not to make you feel more accusatory than you do already, but to encourage you to try to get to the bottom of her behaviour, for the sake of your future.

It doesn't take a degree in psychology to realise that jealous people are very insecure. Perhaps it can be traced way back to youth  to be bullied at school, or when some aspect of appearance might have embedded deep feelings of inferiority, and /or a terror of not being loved, a fear of abandonment. It can be a mixture of reasons which culminate in totally irrational anger which can destroy relationships.

When you do talk, be sure to be non-judgemental, but emphasise your feelings of concern and sadness. Tell her of your hope that you will be able to save your relationship going forwardbut only if she agrees to talk to somebody about her complicated feelings of jealousy.

Suggest that she might actually enjoy three or four sessions with a counsellor (see www.welldoing.com) because we all like pouring out our feelings.

You believe networking on LinkedIn is good for you professionally and privately. Therefore you need to assert your right to do so, but also try to help her through an unsustainable situation which is damaging to both of you.

And finally...

Two weeks ago 'Abigail' was full of gloom after personal disasters. Her GP seemed uninterested yet prescribed medication she didn't trust. I wrote, 'The GP let you down (no surprise there, I'm afraid).'

Contact Bel Bel answers readers' questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. Names are changed to protect identities. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Advertisement

Then GP, 'Carol' politely protested: 'Please don't encourage berating GPs in general, Bel. Yesterday in a busy 40+ patient surgery from 8:30 to gone 7pm with just time to rush my lunch, at least 3 people were rude and aggressive, one bringing me to tears, before we even started.'

That sounds nightmarish  and she makes a very valid point. Yet I couldn't quite apologise. Our views of doctors always depends on personal experience. Both my parents were very well served by their respective GPs, we all know bad stories too.

In 2021 my husband went to our surgery because of a 'thing' on the rear side of his scalp. The male GP casually dismissed him with a prescription for some stupid cream. A year later (the 'thing' still there and bigger) our female GP fast-tracked him to the hospital and he had the basal cell carcinoma cut out. That first GP wasn't 'busy', he was useless.

Anyway, GP 'Carol' asked me for a piece encouraging 'positivity towards GPs'. Yes, I know very many are dedicated but overworked. Still, surely Carol (no matter how tired) has to step outside her own experience, as we all must.

Stating the obvious, some GPs are excellent; others not. Similarly, during too many years of experience, I met wonderful doctors and nurses in hospitals - and others who were tough and pretty unsympathetic.

A Senior Registrar at Great Ormond Street once told me, with a cool shrug, 'I just think of myself as a mechanic' - which was chilling for the distressed mother of a very sick child.

One thing I won't do is bow down to the religion: 'our NHS.' Reluctantly, I don't believe it.

There's plenty wrong with the system and some individuals which is not just a question of money. Even if Carol is the best of GPs.
It may have not been the brightest of weather but Lady Victoria Hervey seemed to refuse to let that dampen her spirits as she attended her nephew's christening yesterday.

The socialite and former 'It Girl', 46, who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, donned a glamorous cream coat and matching dress when arriving at the London Oratory for the christening of the 8th Marquess of Bristol's son.

She was joined at the service by her sister Lady Isabella Hervey and her mother Yvonne Marie Hervey, Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.

Lady Victoria's brother, Frederick Hervey, 43, the 8th Marquess of Bristol, welcomed his son, Earl Jermyn, on July 25th 2022, with his wife Meredith Dunn of Weston, Massachusetts.

The couple, who wed in May 2018 at the Brompton Oratory, south Kensington, also share a daughter, Lady Arabella Hervey, born on March 8 2020.

It may have not been the brightest of weather but Lady Victoria Hervey (pictured) seemed to refuse to let that dampen her spirits as she attended her nephew's christening yesterday

Shielding from the rainy weather, Lady Victoria held a see-through umbrella while walking towards the service.

Prince Andrew's ex completed her elegant ensemble with a pair of cream peep-toe heels and a statement yellow handbag to complement her winter coat.

Adding a touch of glitz to her outfit, the glamorous socialite sported a pair of shimmering earrings and an array of rings and bracelets.

The Marquess of Bristol was educated at Eton and Edinburgh University. His wife is a graduate of the prestigious Barnard College, with annual fees of almost $70,000 and boasting alumni such as Martha Stewart, Cynthia Nixon and Joan Rivers.

Last year, Lady Victoria moved back to London from Los Angeles after two decades of living in the US.

Not one to mince her words, the beauty told The Daily Mail's Richard Eden: 'All my friends in LA have left because its a s***hole.'

Chatting to Eden at the opening of the Frameless digital art gallery in Marble Arch, Victoria continued: Its really nice if you dont leave the house, but, as soon as you leave, you see the homeless, crackheads and half-naked women with no teeth throwing things at you.

Its not safe and not what it used to be,' explained the former 'It girl' who moved to Los Angeles back in 2004.

The socialite and former 'It Girl', 46, who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, donned a glamorous cream coat and matching dress when arriving at the London Oratory for the christening of the 8th Marquess of Bristol's son

Adding a touch of glitz to her outfit, the glamorous socialite (pictured centre) sported a pair of shimmering earrings and an array of rings and bracelets

Shielding from the rainy weather, Lady Victoria held a see-through umbrella while walking towards the service

Lady Victoria's brother, Frederick Hervey, 43, the 8th Marquess of Bristol, welcomed his son, Earl Jermyn, on July 25th 2022, with his wife Meredith Dunn of Weston, Massachusetts. Pictured, the family leaving the service

Lady Victoria was joined at the service by her sister Lady Isabella Hervey and her mother Yvonne Marie Hervey, Dowager Marchioness of Bristol (pictured)

One guest decided to bring a cuddly toy to the christening in London yesterday, pictured

The Marquess of Bristol was educated at Eton and Edinburgh University. His wife is a graduate of the prestigious Barnard College, with annual fees of almost $70,000 and boasting alumni such as Martha Stewart, Cynthia Nixon and Joan Rivers. Pictured, guests at the couple's child's christening

Victoria shared a slew of snaps to her 506k Instagram followers upon returning to the UK, taking in all of the capital's landmarks once again.

And it seems moving wasn't the only big change that the socialite has considered, previously explaining how she was considering starting a family before the Covid-19 pandemic happened - but is now glad she didn't.

She admitted that pregnancy magazine Project Baby had also influenced her thinking  as she has a prospective sperm donor/father lined up, should she decide to start a family.

Six of her eggs were frozen and stored three years ago, at a cost of 11,000, and she spent the time afterwards looking for a donor.

'I had a friend who was going to be my sperm donor. He was going to be involved in my child's life, but as a friend, not a partner,' she explained.

'And I was supposed to be pregnant now. But then Covid happened, which was a big blow, but looking back I'm really grateful I didn't do it with that person. He just wasn't right.'

Last year, Lady Victoria moved back to London from Los Angeles after two decades of living in the US. Pictured, the family leaving the service

Guests arrive at the London Oratory for the christening of the 8th Marquess of Bristol's son

Family members and guests are seen leaving after the service in London yesterday

One stylish guest carried a cuddly toy to the christening in London yesterday, pictured
Princess Eugenie's growing baby bump was on display today as she joined husband Jack Brooksbank at a wedding in Mayfair.

The Duke and Duchess of York's youngest daughter, 33, looked effortlessly elegant in a Veronica Beard floral midi dress that skimmed over her bump.

Proving her fashion prowess, she teamed the chic number with a Max Mara camel coat and a matching M2Malletier crossbody bag.

She attended the wedding in London alongside her husband Jack. The couple, who wed in 2018 and are expecting their second child together, already share two-year-old August.

Cressida Bonas, who dated Prince Harry for two years until 2014, was also thought to have attended the ceremony. It's unclear whose wedding it was.

Princess Eugenie's growing baby bump was on display today as she joined husband Jack Brooksbank at a wedding in Mayfair

Eugenie completed her stylish ensemble with a pair of camel heels and a light pink headband, while keeping her wavy brunette locks down.

Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter added a touch of glitz to her outfit by wearing a shimmering set of gold drop earrings.

Jack, meanwhile, looked dapper in a navy waistcoat, yellow tie and suit as he arrived at the event with his royal wife.

Guests invited to the wedding appeared to travel on a traditional red London bus, with photos showing Eugenie leaving the vehicle.

Last month, Princess Eugenie cut an elegant figure as she revisited the London hospital where she had an operation for scoliosis as a child.

Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter opted for a monochrome houndstooth coat with a black midi dress and matching knee-high boots for her trip to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, of which she is patron.

Eugenie, daughter of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, visited the hospital's Prosthetic Rehabilitation Unit for the first time to see where the life-changing prosthetics are made.

The occasion no doubt held a special significance for Eugenie as she underwent surgery at the hospital to correct scoliosis - curvature of the spine - when she was just 12 years old.

The Duke and Duchess of York's youngest daughter, 33, looked effortlessly elegant in a Veronica Beard floral midi dress that skimmed over her bump

Proving her fashion prowess, she teamed the chic number with a Max Mara camel coat and a matching M2Malletier crossbody bag

Eugenie (pictured) attended the wedding in London alongside her husband Jack. The couple, who wed in 2018 and are expecting their second child together, already share two-year-old August

Eugenie completed her stylish ensemble with a pair of camel heels and a light pink headband, while keeping her wavy brunette locks down

She said: 'I am delighted to be here today to once again see the life-changing work taking place at the hospital. This is a charity which is very close to my heart.

'After everything I went through as a child with scoliosis, I know from my own experience how debilitating an orthopaedic condition can be.'

The royal continued: 'It has been inspirational to meet those here today who have benefitted from the expertise of the hospital's staff and services and hear first-hand how truly life-changing this has been for them, as it was for me when I was a child.

'The RNOH Charity is integral to what the hospital achieves in delivering such stellar care for so many people.'

The visit coincides with the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) Charity's launch of its new campaign to make the 'Impossible, Possible' for people who face complex orthopaedic conditions.

The charity supports the work of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital which treats patients of all ages with difficult orthopaedic conditions, including spinal cord injuries, bone cancer, scoliosis, and acute hip and knee problems.

Guests invited to the wedding appeared to travel on a traditional red London bus, with photos showing Eugenie leaving the vehicle

Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter added a touch of glitz to her outfit by wearing a shimmering set of gold drop earrings

Jack, meanwhile, looked dapper in a navy waistcoat, yellow tie and suit as he arrived at the event with his royal wife

Last month, Princess Eugenie (pictured today in London) cut an elegant figure as she revisited the London hospital where she had an operation for scoliosis as a child

Cressida Bonas, who dated Prince Harry for two years until 2014, was also thought to have attended the ceremony

Eugenie became Patron of the RNOH Charity's Redevelopment Appeal in April 2012 and subsequently the RNOH Charity in March 2019.

The royal was diagnosed with scoliosis and underwent corrective surgery aged just 12, with a pair of eight-inch titanium rods inserted alongside her spine to rebuild it as a result of a curvature.

The operation resulted in a prominent scar, which Eugenie wore with pride, opting for a backless gown for her wedding to Jack in October 2018.

In an interview before the wedding, the princess said: 'I think you can change the way beauty is, and you can show people your scars and I think it's really special to stand up for that.'

It's unclear whose wedding in Mayfair (pictured) it was. Princess Eugenie attended with her husband Jack
Sarah Ferguson was a vision in pink as she joined Rylan Clark on his BBC Radio 2 show today.

The Duchess of York, 63, recycled a long, leather-look coat upon her arrival at the London studio. She wore the jacket last month to a festival in Los Angeles.

Teaming the vibrant garment with a black midi dress, she further made a statement in a pair of velvet slippers, that were emblazoned with a sparkling crown.

The mother-of-two wore her auburn locks loose around her shoulders and completed her look with a pair of glittering earrings and a long necklace.

Beaming for the cameras, she was all smiles as she posed up a storm with her new romance novel A Most Intriguing Lady.

Sarah Ferguson was a vision in pink as she joined Rylan Clark on his BBC Radio 2 show today

Comfortable slippers are a staple of the Duchess' wardrobe and she appears to have many different variations of the on-trend shoe in her closet.

The mother-of-two favours designs by aristocrat Alice Naylor-Leyland for French Sole, costing 190 to 200 a pair. Her collection also includes navy velvet slippers with a fun cactus embellishment on each shoe.

On Thursday, the Duchess of York praised her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, for their hard work as she said the York family is a 'supportive unit'.

Sarah appeared on This Morning to promote her new romance novel and was asked about her family.

After publicly expressing her support for Prince Andrew when he was taken to court over sexual assault allegations, which he has always denied, the Duchess said she will always stick by her ex-husband just as he has always supported her.

She told presenters Holly Willoughby and Joel Dommett that the family 'symbolises no judgment, kindness and moving forward'.

Fergie discussed the importance of 'walking forward as a unit' amid difficult times, and criticised the 'sewer' of social media for being unkind.

As she sat on the This Morning sofa, Holly asked the Duchess about the difficulties of the last few years as Prince Andrew was accused by Virginia Giuffre of assault.

The Duchess of York, 63, recycled a long, leather-look coat upon her arrival at the London studio. She wore the jacket last month to a festival in Los Angeles

Teaming the vibrant garment with a black midi dress, she further made a statement in a pair of velvet slippers, that were emblazoned with a sparkling crown

The mother-of-two wore her auburn locks loose around her shoulders and completed her look with a pair of glittering earrings and a long necklace

Beaming for the cameras, she was all smiles as she posed up a storm with her new romance novel A Most Intriguing Lady

Last year the Duke of York, 63, settled out-of-court with Ms Giuffre in a payment that has not been disclosed, but is thought to have been approximately 10 million.

Discussing her support of her ex-husband, Fergie said: 'It's Beatrice, Eugenie and I. We are a family unit.

'My girls stand for service, they stand for holding and maintaining very very hard jobs and they're mothers and they're public figures and they do charity work.

She continued: 'They're extraordinary examples of princesses out in service which is what their grandmother taught them and what I taught them, with humility.

'So I think the York family's unit symbolises no judgment, kindness and moving forward to make people sit up and go 'stop'. Stop all this believing what you read... walk forward as a unit.

Fergie added: 'Remember, I've been through difficult times and he's always stood by me.'
A woman has been reunited with the heroic stranger who saved her life when he rescued her after she fell onto the tracks in the London Underground.

Tegan Badham, who hails from Cwmbran in south Wales, was in the British capital to attend Wireless Festival on Sunday, July 10, 2022, when she tripped onto the tracks at King's Cross St Pancras and was electrocuted.

The 22-year-old suffered burns on her back in the incident and was certain she was going to die as she struggled to get back up while the next train approached.

But she was saved thanks to kind bystander, Anthony Smith, who lifted her off the tracks with seconds to spare as the train entered the platform.

Beautician Tegan and Australian Anthony, who now lives in North London, are reunited for the first time in emotional scenes on BBC series Reunion Hotel, airing on Thursday 6 April at 8pm on BBC Two, BBC One Wales and iPlayer.

Beautician Tegan Badham and Australian Anthony Smith (pictured on the show with presenter Alex Jones) are reunited for the first time in emotional scenes on BBC series Reunion Hotel, airing on Thursday 6 April at 8pm on BBC Two, BBC One Wales and iPlayer

'I had been desperate to find him afterwards but leading up to the meeting, I was so nervous. I knew whatever I said would never be enough to thank him for what hed done for me,' Tegan admits in the programme, according to The Mirror.

Tegan and her family put out an online appeal to try to track down her saviour, and after BBC producers helped, the pair were introduced to one another by TV presenter Alex Jones at Iscoyd Park hotel in north Wales.

'I can't go through my days without not thanking him for doing such a heroic thing,' says Tegan, reported the BBC. 'If he wasn't there... I would be dead.'

However, Anthony tells Tegan on the show: 'I wouldn't call myself a hero. I just saw you in there and thought "person in hole, get person out of hole otherwise train is coming".'

Recalling the moment she suffered her burns, Tegan says: 'It was the strangest, most terrifying sensation... I was stuck to the current. Then I heard people screaming that a train was coming.

'I looked down the tunnel and saw the reflection of the train lights and then turned to see a man on the platform with his hand outstretched.'

After the hotel developer, 31, pulled Tegan from the tracks, she was helped by security and station staff before paramedics then took her to London's St Thomas' Hospital for treatment to her electric burns.

Anthony - who was on a night out with his friends - left her with the professionals and got on his train.

Tegan Badham, who hails from Cwmbran in south Wales, was in the British capital to attend Wireless Festival on Sunday, July 10, 2022, when she tripped onto the tracks at King's Cross St Pancras and was electrocuted

But he admits: 'I regret leaving because it makes no sense from a first aid point of view or a human-to-human point of view - you should stay with someone who has just had an incident like that.'

Speaking to The Sun previously, Tegan said on finding her hero stranger: 'I just have to find him, he saved my life. I was too shocked to thank him and he was catching the train that came into the station.

'I was so lucky that he bravely reached down to me, without him I would be dead now.'

The accident happened about 6pm, Tegan said. She said she was heading for the Victoria Line from King's Cross to travel to Finsbury Park where the festival was taking place.

'I just tripped,' she told Wales Online. 'I can't even tell you how or what happened, I can't even remember getting onto the track, I just remember coming around and being like "Oh my Gosh, I'm on the track, what am I going to do?"'

As Tegan attempted to recover herself she suffered burns on several different parts of her body.

The 22-year-old suffered burns on her back in the incident and was certain she was going to die as she struggled to get back up while the next train approached

'The worst ones were on my leg and my back,' she added. 'Thankfully, that man just grabbed me. If he hadn't grabbed me I honestly would not be here.

'My eyes were just flashing before my life. When I got out I just kept my eyes shut because I was freaking out. I just sat on the floor and kept quiet because I had no idea what was going on.'

She claimed the thick rubber-soled boots she was wearing might have helped save her from even worse burns, and the incident has given her a new view on life.

'I'm moving really well now, obviously the first week my back was killing but now I can actually move my hands and put my clothes on myself,' she said. 'I think I've got a new outlook on life now, I'm just enjoying myself.'

A TfL spokesperson said at the time: 'We are sorry to hear that a customer at King's Cross St Pancras station sustained minor injuries after a fall onto the Victoria line track and would like to thank those who helped her.

'We wish her a full and quick recovery and want to reassure customers that their safety is paramount to TfL.'
EXCLUSIVE: Our probe shows how vapes are being sold next to sweets

With shelves packed full of lollipops and chocolate, you'd be forgiven for assuming this was just a sweet shop.

Tucked away inside, and even brazenly advertised in some windows, lies something illegal for under-18s to buy. Vapes.

Incredibly vibrant shades of green, blue and pink adorn the huge display. Nearly all the e-cigs sold here are chemically-altered to taste funky, with flavours like Blue Razz Lemonade and Fairground Wizz, or are emblazoned with cartoon characters.

So why, if kids can't legally go and buy vapes, are sweet shops selling them?

Today, MailOnline exposes the predatory marketing tactics of vape retailers accused of preying on kids, with their pervasive schemes so successful that officials are now proposing an outright ban.

'We are sleepwalking into an existential crisis for children', warned Professor Andrew Bush, one of the country's most renowned paediatric respirologists. He claimed our dossier was 'scary' proof firms are desperately trying to lure kids in, sentencing them to a lifetime of nicotine addiction.

House of Candy in Oxford Street where half of the store is American sweets and the other has vapes up for sale in neon light displays

Also called Candy World, the Oxford Street store also has vapes advertised in the window

NHS Digital data shows the number of children who are current vapers has soared in recent years, jumping from 6 per cent in 2018 to 9 per cent in 2021

Our weeks-long investigation took us to Oxford Street, famed for its reputation as Europe's busiest shopping hub, and home to brand flagship stores including Nike, Adidas and H&M.

Sweet shops litter the 1.2mile avenue, including some that have been investigated by the authorities over alleged tax evasion.

Two stores we visited sold vapes  House of Candy (also called Candy World) and Prime Candy.

Both had shelves cluttered with much-loved imported sweets and snacks, like Blue Raspberry Jolly Ranchers and Sour Apple Laffy Taffy.

But just metres away were flashing neon light e-cigarette displays, full of similarly-sounding flavoured vapes, such as Grape Apple, Blue Fruits and Bubblegum.

Professor Bush, from Imperial College London, claims the marketing of these alongside sweets is 'no coincidence'.

'It is very clear all these flavourings are marketed at children,' he told MailOnline.

'The colourful displays and sexy advertisements on TikTok are clearly companies making a big play to get children to experiment with these things and its being successful. It's scary.

'What this is trying to do is to get a new generation of nicotine addicts so these products can be marketed.'

Our probe even revealed the sheer extent that some vape retailers are willing to go in order to capture the attention of kids  by boldly impersonating popular sweet and juice brands.

MailOnline discovered 'dupe' vapes mimicking Chupa Chups, Skittles, Jolly Rancher, Rubicon and Calypso, with near-identical branding to the popular sweets and drinks in other stores along Oxford Street and online.

Professor Bush condemned the predatory duplications, saying 'anything that gives the impression these are harmless, child-friendly things is an outrageous attempt to prey upon children and young people'.

Prime Candy on Oxford Street, where MailOnline found huge vape displays alongside many different types of American sweets

The outside of Prime Candy shows half of the store window displays sweets, while the other side, which seems to have a different sign up despite being the same shop, has vapes on display

The outside of House of Candy shows large amounts of vapes advertised in the window, while the shop is packed with sweets

The outside of House of Candy shows the shop split in two, advertising American sweets on one side and vapes on the other

MailOnline discovered dupe vapes mimicking Chupa Chups, Skittles, Jolly Rancher, Rubicon and Calypso (pictured), with near-identical branding to the popular sweets and drinks in other stores along Oxford Street

While aimed at children the devices can reap a catastrophic toll on young people. Pictured here is Ewan Fisher at age 16 who spent weeks in intensive care after his lungs failed the night before he was due to start his GCSE exams due to an allergic reaction to vape chemicals

You can even purchase these dupe vapes, along with ones not seemingly aimed at kids, on Deliveroo.

While Deliveroo drivers may ID customers who order at the point of collection, a loophole of simply clicking a button to say you are over 18 also allows anyone to purchase these goods from websites.

MailOnline found this out first hand by, very easily, ordering a Skittles 'dupe' online from website Choppa Vapes.

Our expose captures, in fascinating detail, one of the key reasons as to why vaping rates are soaring in kids.

I went to the sweet shops... and experienced the 'predatory' retailers first-hand Inside the eerily-quiet shops themselves, employees are ready to pounce on potential customers. After kindly telling shop workers I didn't need help, they hovered over my shoulder, intensely watching me browse the hundreds of products on offer. In an exchange that seemed innocent to begin with, I was asked my age. A usual question for purchasing a vape - which is supposedly illegal for kids to buy, I thought. However his predatory intentions soon became obvious. Beautiful young girls have to pay 5 just for looking in the shop, he said. So do other people not have to pay?' I quipped back. 'Or is it just what you call beautiful young women? He replied: Let me guess your age. You look young but I think you are older. Do you prefer to be called a beautiful girl or a lady? How old do you think I am? This was, quite clearly, not about whether I was old enough to purchase a vape. Advertisement

Shock NHS data shows almost one in 10 secondary pupils are regular vapers, double the proportion in 2014.

And as many as 30 per cent of under-18s in some region have used the devices, according to statistics.

As well as the child-friendly flavours and colours, experts have also blamed social media for glamourizing the devices in recent years.

TikTok and Instagram are also awash with individuals offering to sell the gadgets to children.

Discreet postage and packaging, including hiding them in boxes of chocolates to throw parents off the scent, is routinely on offer.

Professor Bush said that the 'acute damage' caused by vaping is 'much greater than can be done with cigarettes'.

'Kids have been in intensive care and people have died from it,' he said. 'Its rare, thankfully, but it happens.

'We dont know about the long term effects of vapes because they havent been around for long enough, but I cant think of any biologically sensible model where inhaling a lot of hot chemicals into your lungs is anything other than a bad idea.'

He added: 'Vapes should be being treated exactly like tobacco in terms of legislation. All colourings and flavourings should be absolutely banned, at least in my view, and that would make a huge difference.'

Soaring vaping rates have prompted experts to warn that Britain is 'sleepwalking' into a public health crisis.

Despite the devices being widely viewed as safer than smoking, the long-term effects remain a mystery and doctors fear a wave of lung disease and even cancer in the coming decades among those who took up the habit at a young age.

Ewan Fisher, whose lungs failed aged 16 due to vaping, blamed the fruity flavours for his addiction, claiming they 'entice children'.

He is just one of the countless kids to have been scarred by the e-cig epidemic.

The now 19-year-old, from Nottingham, was left with the 'lungs of an 80-year-old lifelong smoker' according to doctors, after vaping for just six months in an attempt to give up cigarettes.

And Rosey Christoffersen died three days before her 19th birthday in 2015. Her mother blames her death, which occurred when both of her lungs collapsed, on her excessive vaping habit

MailOnline has been told that e-cigarette use is so rife in schools there has been an increase in fire engine callouts because so many pupils are vaping in toilets. Teenagers told this website they suffer regular coughing fits and have to use inhalers to breathe properly after just a year of regular e-cigarette use

Disposable vapes flavoured like sweets and fruits which are targeted towards teenagers could soon be banned (file photo)

Experts are growing increasingly concerned child-friendly flavours and bright colours make the products more appealing to children

While vape industry officials have called for tighter regulation, they still support vaping as smoking cessation.

John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, said: 'Vaping has a critical role to play in stopping smoking.

'Over 200 people die every day in the UK from smoking related illness; vaping is already reducing this number as the proven best way for people to quit.'

But on the predatory marketing tactics of 'rogue retailers', he added: 'There is absolutely no place for using sweet brands on vape products and we absolutely condemn such practice.

'Young people should not be vaping and we are urging the Government to do more to limit under-18s access to vaping through rogue retailers, while also ensuring we allow smokers to give up effectively.'

The earliest iterations of e-cigarettes emerged around 2007, with the first ones made mostly in China.

Now every high street in the country has a designated shop, where e-cigs costing as little as 5 are paraded.

This is despite some containing as much nicotine as up to 50 cigarettes, including Britain's most popular vape, the China-made Elf Bar 600.

Experts have stressed their concern at children not being fully aware of the contents of e-cigarettes, with many so anxious for their next 'fix' they are begging teachers to let them vape at school

E-cigarettes allow users to inhale nicotine in a vapour rather than smoke. They work by heating liquid that contains nicotine and flavourings.

This doesn't burn tobacco or produce tar or carbon monoxide like with traditional cigarettes, and is and why they are deemed healthier than smoking.

They can come as vape pens  shaped like a small tube with a tank to store e-liquid and batteries  or pod systems that are rechargeable, resembling USB sticks.

But despite being highly addictive, the gadgets don't need to be hidden behind shutters like tobacco products.

When approached by MailOnline, House of Candy said that all youngsters are age-checked when buying vapes, adding that less come to the store now as they can buy them easily online for much cheaper.

The spokesperson disagreed with the idea that selling vapes in candy shops could encourage children to purchase them, adding that many shops on Oxford Street sell the products.

A Deliveroo spokesperson said their platform is only to be used by over 18s and that its riders will always ask a customer for their ID before handing over orders which contains age restricted items.

Prime Candy refused to comment.

From 'Skitle' to 'Choopa Choops': How ruthless e-cig manufacturers are luring kids in with near-identical sweets branding

At first glance, it resembles a lollipop brand beloved by Brits for decades.

But take a closer look and you'll see that, rather than being a Chupa Chups, it is, in fact, a vape masquerading as one.

And it's not the only one attempting to capitalise on popular confectionery.

Our investigation discovered 'dupes' of Chupa Chups, Jolly Rancher, Calypso and Rubicon  all on Oxford Street. Similar ones are also sold for as little as 5 online.

Our investigation found dupes of Chupa Chups, Jolly Rancher, Calypso and Rubicon - all on Oxford Street

Yet vapes are also sold for as little as 5 elsewhere, with a Skittles dupe purchased online

Choopa Choops (Chupa Chups)

One of the most clever dupes, Choopa Choops has near-identical branding to Chupa Chups.

The 'Pink Lemonad' vape was sold for just 10.

It is deceptively emblazoned with the same yellow flower logo and pink outline as the lollipop brand, as well near-identical font.

And the wholesaler that distributes Choopa Choops vapes, Yark London Limited, have form for selling imitations.

A shop in Southall, owned by the same firm, was caught distributing fake designer face masks, claiming to be brands such as Versace, Gucci and Burberry.

The Pink Lemonad Choopa Choops vape was discovered at London City Souvenirs on Oxford Street, where it was being sold for 10

One of the most alarming dupes, Choopa Choops has near-identical branding to Chupa Chups (pictured)

Owner Ulgeet Singh was fined 15,232 after pleading guilty to ten charges of possessing goods with a false trade mark with the intention to sell.

Other Choopa Choops vapes are sold elsewhere too, though it is not known if they all come from the same supplier or if other manufacturers are utilizing the same tactics.

Jolly Ranger (Jolly Rancher)

They're a firm favourite of American sweet lovers.

Jolly Rancher mimic vapes were found being sold in two places by MailOnline, one of which was a 'gift and luggage' shop.

This Red Power Jolly Ranger e-cigarette, distributed by North East Vape wholesaler in Sunderland, cost 9.99.

Another flavour, called Cotton Candy Ice, was a similar price.

Jolly Rancher mimic vapes were found being sold in two places on Oxford Street by MailOnline, one of which was a 'gift and luggage' shop called Imperial. This Red Power Jolly (pictured) Ranger e-cigarette, was distributed by North East Vape wholesaler in Sunderland and cost 9.99.

The second vape, Cotton Candy Ice (pictured), was purchased from London City Souvenirs for 10

According to the product, the distributor is based in Oldham, Greater Manchester on what appears to be an industrial estate, but a company name could not be found.

Jolly Ranger vapes can also be purchased from multiple vape shops online for as little as 2.99.

Skitle (Skittles)

Skittles are a firm favourite among British children and adults alike when it comes to chewy sweets.

But the multicoloured treats were another famous confectionary brand to fall victim to vape impersonation.

MailOnline bought a Skitle vape, in a flavour called Brightside, online.

Costing just 4.99 initially, the vape totalled 10.98 with shipping. It was also found to have come from North East Vape wholesaler.

MailOnline bought this Skitle vape, in a flavour called Brightside, online from e-cigarette store Choppa Vapes

Skittles are a firm favourite when it comes to chewy sweets but the multi-coloured treats were another company to fall victim to brand impersonation

Rubison (Rubicon)

Another sneaky dupe e-cig found by MailOnline is a rip-off of drink brand Rubicon.

The marketing of Rubison Bar is near-identical to the popular juice. It has the same blue oval and white writing with a flower above the letter 'i' and a multicoloured bird in the corner.

Purchased for 10, the only branding difference between the drink and the vape is the substitution of the letter 'c' for 's'.

This vape claims to be distributed by Rubison Bar, located in a Birmingham industrial estate, however no evidence of this company could be found online.

Rubison vapes can also be bought online for just 3.99.

Another sneaky dupe e-cig found by MailOnline appears to be a rip-off of drink brand Rubicon

The marketing of Rubison Bar is near-identical to the popular juice (pictured). It has the same blue oval and white writing with a flower above the letter I and a multicoloured bird in the corner

Calyipso (Calypso)

A popular American juice drink, Calypso fruit juice is also sold in sweet stores across the UK.

But this imported drink has also been replicated by vape companies through a knock-off called Caliypso.

We bought a disposable Caliypso Strawberry Lemonade vape for 9.99.

The disposable vape was found to have come from the same distributor as both the Skitle and Jolly Ranger e-cigarettes - North East Vapes wholesaler.

A popular American juice drink, Calypso fruit juice is sold in sweet stores across the UK, but this imported drink has also been replicated by vape companies - called Caliypso

A popular American juice drink, Calypso fruit juice is sold in sweet stores across the UK

Revealed: Meet the child victims of England's vaping epidemic

As evidence mounts on how vapes are being marketed towards children, MailOnline looked at those youngsters left scarred by the devices.

Now 19, Tom Padley, from Putney, London, has been using vapes since he was just 13.

He told MailOnline he picked up the habit in boarding school and how the fact that could be used indoors was a considerable advantage.

'Its not like cigarettes, where you would have to find a place to go outside and do it you can just do it non-stop indoors,' he said.

'Its such an insane amount of nicotine when youre that young especially.'

Tom Padley, pictured here when he was 16, said he is angry he was able to get vapes so easily as a kid and now suffers health complications from his nicotine addiction

Tom said he got hold of the devices either by ordering them online where they arrived in 'nondescript packaging' or knowing which shops wouldn't ask for ID.

He added that the fruity and sweet flavour options of vapes made them specifically more attractive to kids.

Some kids wouldnt get into smoking because they purely cant handle the gross sort of sick smell,' he said.

'But its pretty easy to get into nicotine and fit in with other smokers, if you think that image is kind of cool, if youre only tasting strawberries.

And he said that only six years into vaping he was already experiencing health problems.

'I get ill a lot more. I get ulcers occasionally in my mouth. I have a lot of coughs. I guarantee its massively increased due to vaping,' he said.

And despite that he still finds himself unable to kick the habit, trapped by his addiction.

'You get a bit sketchy, all you can think about is you want it, youre just a bit on edge, anxious. Your whole body is telling you thats what you want right now,' he said.

Tom said he was angry that he was able to get vapes so easily as a kid and said that in his opinion they were definitely being marketed to children.

He told MailOnline his vaping use was so high he would rapidly burn through e-cigs ending up with piles of the disposable versions

'The brand JUUL was very sort of marketed to be like a USB and very sleek and subtle,' he said.

'The whole thing amongst students is you could plug a JUUL into your laptop and teachers wouldnt even notice it right there.'

Speaking about the vaping market as a whole, he added: 'I think they thought they needed to go to the next generation because they are gullible, theyll buy and once theyre addicted they're addicted.'

Another former vaper Ewan Fisher, 22, from Nottingham, has been left with the lungs of an 80-year-old smoker after vaping for just six months.

At just 16 he spent weeks in intensive care after his lungs failed the night before he was due to start his GCSE exams.

He had originally picked up vaping in an attempt to give up cigarettes.

But he ended fighting to survive for 10 weeks in hospital at one point needed to be put on an artificial lung.

Ewan Fisher, 22, from Nottingham, has been left with the lungs of an 80-year-old lifelong smoker after vaping for just six months in an attempt to give up cigarettes. Pictured left before he started vaping before and right now

The then 16-year-old needed an artificial lung to survive and spent 10 weeks in hospital as doctors fought to save his life

Despite being under age at the time, Ewan said 'it was easy' to buy either cigarettes or e-cigarettes in his home city in 2017.

'The flavours are really addictive,' he said. 'When I went into the hospital they took my vape and I was vaping blue flush (blackberry flavour) and I had a rhubarb and custard one too.

'It's that sort of stuff that got me addicted. Those sweet flavours are addictive and they entice young people.'

Ewan is believed to have suffered an exaggerated immune response to chemicals found in e-cigarette fluid.

He said: 'They tried telling me that I'd make a full recovery, but it's nearly four years on and I still really struggle.

'I used to be really healthy. I can't run, I really struggle up hills. It's ruined all my joints. My life's changed massively.

And the mother of teenager Rosey Christoffersen, who died after her lungs collapsed, believes e-cigarettes were the cause, according to The Guardian.

Rosey had been an occasional smoker but then started using flavoured vapes, and then quickly became addicted.

Rosey's mother Rachel Howe, 45, of The Wirral, said: 'There would be coconut, cherry, bubble-gum vapes. It was constantly in her mouth.'

She said her daughter would buy them from the local corner shop.

The 18-year-old began to experience pain in her chest as well as exhaustion but her GP said the cause was likely a pulled muscle.

But she later the teenager collapsed in the street on February 14, 2015 - three days before her 19th birthday.

Both of her lungs had collapsed and she was brain dead by the time she arrived at hospital.

Mrs Howe is convinced vaping caused her daughter's death.

And another mum, Holly Smith's had her 11-year-old daughter rushed to hospital after the young girl used a vape last year.

Miss Smith, 29, knew something was wrong when she found her daughter extremely lethargic and almost unable to stand.

Miss Smith said she knew her daughter had 'taken something' and called an ambulance to take her to Gorleston's James Paget University Hospital.

The vape was allegedly purchased by another child for just 8.

In Yarmouth, where Miss Smith lives, there have been multiple complaints about traders involving under-age vape sales, including three about the same trader, according to Trading Standards at Norfolk County Council.

Map lays bare England's child vaping epidemic: How a THIRD of kids have tried e-cigs in some regions

England's child vaping epidemic has been laid bare by a fascinating map showing how a third of kids have used e-cigarettes in some parts of the country.

Rates have more than doubled in under a decade, in a trend fuelled by TikTok and predatory marketing, experts say.

NHS data for 2021 demonstrates the alarming number of under 18s who have vaped, as companies face backlash over their child-friendly, colourful marketing.

Data, crunched by this website, suggests girls are driving the worrying trend.

The region with the highest amount of child vapers, with 30 per cent having used one of the device, was Yorkshire and the Humber.

NHS Digital data, based on the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey for the year 2021, showed 30 per cent of children in Yorkshire and the Humber have used a vape

The data was was based on the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey for the year 2021.

It saw more than 9,000 pupils from 100-plus schools quizzed on their habits making it the latest and most comprehensive NHS data on the subject.

Children could choose from a number of options regarding their vape use, including if they were a regular, occasional or ex e-cigarette user, that they had tried using one just once, or had never used one.

The region with the second highest amount of child vapers was the North West - where 29 per cent had ever vaped and 12 per cent were current e-cigarette users.

READ MORE: Up to a THIRD of vapes sold on high street are illegal, Trading Standards warns Advertisement

London and the East Midlands had the joint lowest numbers of child vapers (15 per cent).

The data also revealed a gender divide in vaping with almost twice as many girls as boys using the devices in parts of the country.

This trend was starkest in the North East - with 30 per cent of girls having used a vape compared to just 18 per cent of boys.

On a nationwide level, one in four girls have used vapes compared to just under one in five boys.

Teenage girls were previously found to also be more likely to smoke ordinary cigarettes than boys. Experts are not sure why this is but one suggestion is that as girls mature earlier than boys they are quicker to adopt adult habits.

Why I'm deeply disturbed by child vaping crisis - DR MIKE HEATH, eminent paediatrician, fears generation of kids will become addicted to nicotine

By Dr Mike McKean, vice president of policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

As a respiratory paediatrician I am deeply disturbed in the rise of children and young people picking up e-cigarettes.

E-cigarettes remain a relatively new product and their long-term effects are still unknown.

Vaping is far from risk free and in many cases can be very addictive.

It is even more concerning to hear that there is an increase in unregulated e-cigarettes hitting the UK market.

In the north-east of England, where I practice medicine, more than 1.4 tonnes of illegal e-cigarettes were seized from shops in the second half of last year.

Trading Standards tell us that in many cases these e-cigarettes are indistinguishable from regulated products.

Its impossible to know what these products contain or how they might impact young peoples health.

The thought that these products are ending up in the hands of children is terrifying.

Dr Mike McKean, vice president of policy at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

We know for a fact that vaping among secondary-school children is rising, with nearly one in five 15-year-olds using e-cigarettes in 2021, according to NHS Digital.

Among 11-15-year-olds, 9 per cent say they are vapers  this is up from 6 per cent in 2018.

Its clear that children and young people are being targeted by e-cigarette companies with bright packaging, exotic flavours and enticing names.

These products are affordable, appealing and clearly very accessible for children and young people.

I have worked as a respiratory consultant for 21 years, so it is not lost on me that smoking remains the single biggest cause of preventable illness and disease in the UK.

Cigarettes are the one legal consumer product that if used regularly will seriously harm and kill most of their users.

We know this because we have 60+ years of research and data on cigarette use on a population level.

But the research and data around widespread e-cigarette use is still very much in its infancy.

We simply dont know enough.

We must make every effort to stop children and young people picking up and using these products.

It is time for the UK Government to act by introducing plain packaging of e-cigarettes and nicotine and non-nicotine e-liquids packs.

Tighter restrictions on advertising of vaping products are also needed to ensure these products are only advertised as a smoking reduction aid rather than a fun and colourful lifestyle product.

Were seeing a solid decline in smoking rates among children and young people, we cannot let vaping undo this good work.

If action is not taken soon, we run the risk of having generations of children addicted to nicotine.

An earlier version of this article carried a quote from Tom Padley, a 19-year-old who began vaping at 13, which named a flavour called fairground fizz in relation to JUUL. MailOnline is happy to clarify that JUUL does not offer that flavour and has removed that part of his quote.

Elf bars over nicotine limit still sold 10 months after company exposed By Tom Kelly, Investigations Editor for the Daily Mail Britain's leading vape supplier was allowed to continue selling devices over the nicotine liquid limit for ten months after a warning from the health watchdog, the Mail can reveal. Elf Bar was told by the government regulator in May 2022 that its 600 vape  which sold 2.5 million a week  was alleged to have breached laws which were introduced to protect children. The watchdog sent another warning three months later, but the Chinese manufacturer failed to respond to the claims and continued to supply the device to major supermarkets and stores around the UK. Incredibly, no action was taken until February, when the vape was finally pulled from British shelves after independent tests carried out by the Mail revealed they were up to 50 per cent over the legal nicotine liquid limit. Health experts branded the delay horrific and said it appeared the Daily Mail was doing a better job of policing illegal vapes than the governments own regulator. They warned the delay in acting is particularly concerning given Elf Bars bright packaging and sweet flavours which make them very popular with children, even though it is illegal to sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18. Major supermarkets also pulled Elf Bars Lost Mary  the UKs second best-selling disposable vape  after a second Mail investigation found it was up to 80 per cent over the legal nicotine liquid limit. The amount of nicotine liquid in a vape is legally limited in the UK to 2ml, of which the maximum nicotine strength should be two per cent. The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 says the strict limit was brought in to create an environment that protects children from starting to use these products. But safety officials from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) wrote to Elf Bar in May 13, 2022 following a complaint that the tank on the Elf Bar 600  which accounted for two thirds of disposable vapes sold in the UK at the time - exceeded the 2ml legal limit. When it received no answer, the watchdog wrote again on August 3, 2022, but again Elf Bar failed to provide a requested response to address the complaint. Details of the previous correspondence emerged in a third letter, sent in February by the MHRAs e-cigarette Unit and Safety and Surveillance Team to Elf Bar CEO Victor Xiao, after the Mail independently exposed the manufacturer for breaching nicotine levels. This time the watchdog noted that after the Mail investigation, Elf Bar had immediately stopped all production and shipment to UK for all Elf Bar 600 and other products that may be affected. It also belatedly ordered Elf Bar to provide a response to the two previous complaints about the breach from 2022. Andrew Bush, professor of paediatrics at Imperial College London, said: Im very shocked. Its horrifying that regulator had this information for ten months but action was only taken as a result of the Daily Mail investigation, not because of its own information. And its absolutely disgraceful that simply because they did not receive a response from Elf Bar they allowed it to carry on selling these vapes in the UK. This is especially worrying as these vapes are so popular with children. It would seem its not the case that the government regulator is regulating the vape industry. The Daily Mail is doing a better job at the moment. More than half of the 11 to 17-year-olds who admitted trying vaping said they used an Elf Bar, around 100,000 young people, anti-smoking group Ash found last year. Vape manufacturers must register details of new products including nicotine liquid level and strength  with the MHRA before they can be sold in the UK. But this is a self-certification and the MHRA does not carry out any tests on the product during this registration. If it subsequently finds the product is breaking the law, it tries to get the manufacturer to change and if this fails it can notify Trading Standards who can organise a product recall. The MHRA declined to say if it had alerted Trading Standards after the initial complaint about Elf Bar 600s in 2022. Dr Laura Squire, the MHRAs Chief Healthcare Quality and Access Officer, said: We continue to support regional and national UK enforcement agencies and trade bodies in their activity to remove illicit e-cigarette products from the market. Elf Bar said it had now responded to the MHRA about the problems with its vape and regarded the letter from the MHRA, which was put online by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, as referring to historic events. It added: We are surprised and disappointed that what we believed to be private correspondence recording our actions to bring products into compliance in the UK seems to have become a matter for the public record. Advertisement
One of Britains most high-profile menopause doctors has been accused of putting womens health at risk by prescribing alarmingly high doses of HRT.

Government adviser Dr Louise Newson  who also featured in TV star Davina McCalls trailblazing 2021 documentary Sex, Myths And The Menopause  is allegedly offering hormone replacement drugs above licensed maximum amounts to thousands of patients at her private clinic, Newson Health.

Dr Newson, who charges up to 295 for appointments, insists that giving higher doses to some women  particularly those hit by distressing mental health problems and suicidal thoughts  offers relief where all else has failed.

But last night experts said the practice was at odds with guidance designed to keep patients safe. They are hugely worried that giving very large doses of some HRT drugs could potentially cause harm  including, in some cases, increasing the risk of womb cancer.

Dr Louise Newson, pictured beside Mariella Frostrop, left, along with Carolyn Harris MP, Penny Lancaster and Davina McCall at a march campaigning for menopause awareness. She has faced criticism after allegedly prescribing patients with HRT at higher doses than recommended by the NHS

Dr Newson, right, has been prominent campaigning on behalf of women on the issue of menopause

We were also contacted by former Newson Health employees who shared similar fears. These concerns triggered a Mail on Sunday investigation that found:

One patient who had spent more than a year on a high dose of oestrogen  one of the hormones given in HRT  was diagnosed with womb cancer, while others developed endometrial hyperplasia  changes to the womb lining which can be a precursor to cancer. It is not known whether these diagnoses are linked to the drugs they were taking;

Another Newson Health patient was prescribed four-and-a-half-times the upper licensed limit of HRT set by manufacturers  a megadose, according to experts;

A third woman, on more than twice the maximum licensed dose, ended up with levels of oestrogen in her body which were over 20 times higher than they naturally are in post-menopausal women;

Dr Newson has threatened NHS medics with legal action for questioning her expertise and warning patients about the potential risks of the HRT regimes that she recommends.

Joyce Harper, professor of reproductive science at the Institute for Womens Health at University College London, said she was horrified by our findings. She said: You should not go against guidelines and give women higher and higher doses of a powerful drug without any real data on what it will do.

This is not evidence-based medicine. If you do want to try a new approach then it should be done as part of a clinical trial, otherwise it could be dangerous.

In my opinion this sort of practice is treating patients like guinea pigs and charging them for the privilege.

Experts suggest that if women are concerned about their dose of HRT they should seek advice from their NHS GP.

Each month, Newson Health sees about 4,000 women who are looking for treatment for perimenopause  the transitional phase when hormone production slows before periods stop  and menopause symptoms. They can book an appointment with one of its 100 clinicians, including Dr Newson, either online or in person at one of its three centres, which are situated in Stratford-upon-Avon, Londons Harley Street and Bournemouth.

Each month, Newson Health sees about 4,000 women who are looking for treatment for perimenopause  the transitional phase when hormone production slows before periods stop  and menopause symptoms (Picture posed by model)

Since Newson Health opened in 2018 there has been an explosion in demand for HRT, driven by campaigners who have been pushing for greater menopause awareness.

In the five years up to 2022, the number of HRT prescriptions has doubled in the UK, resulting in intermittent shortages.

Dr Newson, a GP who holds an Advanced Menopause Specialist certificate, has been a leading voice in the debate, running training sessions for doctors and offering support and advice to hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and Twitter.

She has also openly discussed how transformative high doses of HRT were when she began experiencing her own menopause symptoms in her early 40s. Last month she published her latest book, The Definitive Guide To The Perimenopause And Menopause, an instant bestseller which has been endorsed by This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby and fitness guru Joe Wicks.

But some in the wider medical community have observed Dr Newsons practices with growing unease. After appointments at Newson Health, patients may be handed a private prescription and told to go back to their regular GP when they run out of medication, in order to get ongoing treatment on the NHS.

This is standard practice for many private clinics. However a source said: Over the past few years, a number of GPs have contacted the British Menopause Society [BMS] saying they are uncomfortable prescribing alarmingly high doses of HRT to patients who have been told thats what they need by Dr Newson and other doctors working for her.

PATIENT ONE: Why didn't Dr Newson tell me about all the risks? In August we published the story of Paula Rastrick, who was given twice the maximum licensed dose of HRT at a private clinic. Then we did not name her doctor for legal reasons, but can now confirm it was Dr Newson, who she saw privately in 2017 before Newson Health opened. Ms Rastrick, a psychotherapist and mother-of-one, had her first appointment when she was 45 and suffering from anxiety, insomnia, fatigue and a low libido, which she thought were signs that she was perimenopausal. After a 30-minute consultation, Dr Newson prescribed the maximum dose of oestrogen and a standard dose of progesterone. I barely knew what oestrogen was. I just did what was recommended, said Ms Rastrick. Three months later she returned to Dr Newson, reporting bleeding and worsening symptoms. Her oestrogen patches were increased to twice the maximum dose, while the progesterone remained the same. But when Ms Rastricks mental health and bleeding continued to get worse, she turned to her GP who was alarmed at the HRT dose. She had also developed endometrial hyperplasia. I was told by my gynaecologist it had happened because Id not been given enough progesterone to protect my womb, she says. Urgent cancer tests came back clear, but the ordeal terrified her. Ms Rastrick recently complained about the way she was treated, claiming she had not been told her HRT was above the licensed maximum and she had not, therefore, given informed consent based on the risks and benefits. Newson Health clinical director Dr Magnus Harrison responded: We are not aware of any peer-reviewed data that shows there is an increased clinical risk associated with higher doses [of oestrogen]. Informed consent is not used at Newson Health Group. We have a philosophy of shared decision-making and empowerment of the women who choose to attend. Ms Rastrick said: It felt like a cut-and paste response and there was a total lack of empathy. Advertisement

While the women on these doses might feel fine, there is a worry about the long-term effects.

Consultant endocrinologist Professor Annice Mukherjee, who specialises in menopause treatment, said she was particularly worried about reports of women being prescribed three, four or more times the licensed maximum dose of oestrogen:

ent, said she was particularly worried about reports of women being prescribed three, four or more times the licensed maximum dose of oestrogen:

We just dont know what these extreme doses are doing to womens bodies, as there is no safety data, she added. Until a few years back, giving treatment in this way was almost unheard of.

In December, the BMS  the UKs specialist authority for menopause healthcare professionals  published a statement saying it was aware that high doses of oestrogen are being provided routinely to women in some clinics. This could increase the risk of abnormal bleeding requiring investigation, endometrial hyperplasia [the abnormal thickening of the womb lining which can be a precursor to cancer] and endometrial [womb] cancer.

It added pointedly that, if womens health was harmed in such circumstances, the prescribing clinicians are responsible for having put patient safety at risk.

The statement did not name Newson Health, but the MoS has now been told it related to concerns about Dr Newson and her clinic.

Worried NHS doctors first approached the MoS directly last year after seeing patients with endometrial hyperplasia who had previously been prescribed high doses of HRT by Newson Health.

As well as being a precursor to endometrial cancer, hyperplasia causes heavy bleeding. Guidelines stress the importance of not giving HRT in doses that might trigger it. If picked up, the condition can be reversed by adjusting HRT doses. Monitoring and tackling the problem is vital to keep women safe.

We were provided with medical correspondence between Newson Health and a number of patients, who gave their consent to highlight the potential dangers of prescribing high doses of HRT.

HRT works by topping up levels of key female hormones  oestrogen and progesterone  that naturally fall when women reach middle age. Manufacturers who make these drugs stipulate the maximum doses which can be given, which are based on rigorous safety data from clinical trials. In addition, official guidelines state that doctors should aim to prescribe the lowest dose that controls menopause symptoms.

Within these limits, HRT  used by almost two million women in the UK  is a low-risk and effective treatment for menopausal symptoms, including hot flushes, insomnia, anxiety and brain fog.

Doctors do have some flexibility. They can increase the dose beyond licensed levels for medical reasons if they believe it is necessary to meet the needs of the patient, according to the regulator, the General Medical Council.

To do that they must be satisfied there is sufficient evidence or experience that it would be safe and effective. This is known as unlicensed or off-label use.

Dr Newson is adamant that her approach follows this advice.

She says that some women need higher doses of oestrogen drugs given transdermally  through gels, patches or sprays applied to the skin  as not all of it is absorbed.

However NHS specialists told us it was rare to exceed the maximum dose of oestrogen and that only about one per cent of their patients ended up being given more.

Meanwhile, sources close to Dr Newsons clinic say as many as one in five of its patients are prescribed HRT above this level.

Dr Newson has said that high oestrogen doses can help alleviate psychological symptoms of menopause, and has been encouraging doctors who work for her to consider prescribing high doses for this purpose

Dr Newson has said that high oestrogen doses can help alleviate psychological symptoms of menopause, and has been encouraging doctors who work for her to consider prescribing high doses for this purpose.

In December 2021 she sent a message to her clinicians saying: I have found with experience that many women who have suicidal thoughts need higher doses of oestrogen  so even around 200mcg patches or eight pumps of gel each day [twice the maximum licensed dose]... to really make a difference to the mental state.

Hope this makes sense and gives you all some confidence to do this with women who have a lot of psychological symptoms.

But Prof Harper said: There is no evidence I am aware of that HRT is a treatment for suicidal thoughts. It may be the case that individual patients who have been given higher doses have had improved mental health, but this is not a robust way of proving the effect, and to use it in this way is experimental, in my opinion.

Dr Paula Briggs, chair of the BMS, added: HRT should not be generally prescribed in doses higher than the upper licensed limits, as this increases the risks.

If a patient is on the top dose and still suffering symptoms, which is unusual but can happen, its generally accepted good practice to look at what else is going on. If they werent sleeping, or were feeling low, wed look at ways of treating that outside of offering more hormones. If, in exceptional cases, higher than licensed doses are needed, patients should be made aware the treatment falls outside of reassuring safety evidence.

But medical letters reveal that doctors at Newson Health kept increasing patients HRT beyond the maximum licensed dose if lower amounts did not ease their symptoms. In some cases they were also prescribed insufficient doses of progesterone, womens health experts have told us.

Progesterone is given as part of HRT because taking oestrogen alone increases the risk of endometrial cancer  unless a woman has had a hysterectomy (surgical removal of the womb).

A large clinical trial found one in two patients on oestrogen alone will develop endometrial hyperplasia within three years, and many within 12 months.

Progesterone helps to protect against this risk, but it has to be taken in sufficient amounts.

In October, the BMS issued guidance stating that women on the maximum licensed dose of oestrogen should be given double the standard dose of progesterone. However, in some of the letters we have seen, Newson Health doctors did not increase progesterone in line with higher oestrogen doses.

Sources close to Newson Health suggest the clinic takes this approach partly to avoid the risks associated with higher progesterone, which can include breast cancer, mood swings and an increased risk of blood clots.

Dr Newson has openly discussed how she is very progesterone intolerant and has had a hysterectomy. This means she can safely use oestrogen-only HRT, and she has said she takes three times the licensed maximum dose.

However, Dr Briggs says: Its a balancing act, to an extent. If you give too little progesterone, there is a high risk of womb changes. But progesterone comes with its own downsides for some women. Its another reason to avoid giving very high doses of oestrogen in the first place.

A spokesman for Newson Health said: Approximately one third of Newson Health patients are already taking HRT but are still struggling with psychological symptoms, including suicidal thoughts, when they first present at the clinic.

A huge amount of clinical experience demonstrates that these patients often benefit from a higher dose.

However, in some cases seen by The Mail on Sunday, it is clear that HRT did not help alleviate these symptoms. Questions have also been raised over whether patients were adequately told by Newson Health of the uncertainties around the safety of treatment.

Newson Health was unable to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality, but told the MoS that it uses informed consent through a shared decision-making framework, via in-person consultations, hard copy and digital literature, as well as the free Balance app [Dr Newsons app which provides a symptom tracker and menopause information], to enable informed decision-making to empower women within an area of health that is chronically undervalued and often poorly understood, therefore mired in fearmongering and confusion which can harm women with devastating results.

But in the letters we have seen, patients were not always told that the treatments they were prescribed were off-label, and the full picture of risks was not always outlined.

One patient, Paula Rastrick, 51, from Solihull, complained to Newson Health, asking why Dr Newson had not informed her of the potential harms of having twice the licensed maximum dose of oestrogen.

PATIENT TWO: Was Mrs A's womb cancer caused by too much HRT?

One of the more worrying cases that came to light during our investigation concerned a woman, Mrs A, who went on to develop womb cancer. According to clinic letters, by the time of a consultation with Dr Newson in late 2021, Mrs A, who is in her mid-50s, was already using six pumps of oestrogen gel a day  the maximum licensed dose is four. Mrs A was also on a standard dose progesterone, rather than the higher dose which is recommended. At that appointment, Dr Newson switched Mrs A to oestrogen patches at the maximum dose and told her to also continue using two pumps of gel a day. When Mrs A returned to Newson Health early last year, she was suffering from irregular menstrual bleeding. While this symptom is common during the first few months of starting HRT, official guidance states that bleeding beyond six months should be investigated to rule out endometrial cancer. Despite Mrs A having taken HRT since 2018, Dr Newson wrote that the bleeding was likely due to a benign condition and recommended a scan to investigate this. She doubled her prescription for the patches, which meant Mrs A was now on twice the licensed maximum dose. In a follow-up letter to Mrs A, Dr Newson wrote: Although this dose is higher than the licensed maximum dose, it is still safe. She also increased Mrs As progesterone dose, which she said may reduce the bleeding, and said she would see Mrs A again in six months. When the bleeding worsened several months later, Mrs A was urgently referred by her own GP for an ultrasound and biopsy, and was diagnosed with womb cancer. She had a hysterectomy last year, her ovaries and fallopian tubes were removed and she also had radiotherapy. Her prognosis is now good, and it is hoped she will recover. Although no one knows whether the HRT triggered her cancer, a consultant with detailed knowledge of her case said: In my opinion, the high dose of HRT could have been a contributory factor. The consultant also said Dr Newson may have missed opportunities to warn Mrs A about the risks. Newson Health said that it was unable to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality. Advertisement

Newson Health clinical director Dr Magnus Harrison responded: Informed consent is not used at Newson Health Group. We have a philosophy of shared decision-making and empowerment of the women who choose to attend.

Ms Rastrick told the MoS: How can I be empowered when I wasnt given all of the information about safety?

Another patient, who developed endometrial hyperplasia after being prescribed more than twice the maximum dose of oestrogen, said: If Id known something like this could happen, I wouldnt have taken HRT.

I spent more than 1,000 on treatment that could have caused me real harm. It makes me very angry.

Alongside seeing patients, Newson Health runs an education programme, Confidence In The Menopause, for doctors via the medical training website FourteenFish.

Newson Health claims more than 30,000 healthcare professionals have now taken its courses. However, specialists say some of the guidance given is worrying.

In posts on the FourteenFish forum, Dr Newson condones keeping progesterone doses the same even if oestrogen doses are being increased  which contradicts the BMS guidance.

Responding to a question from a doctor, Dr Newson writes: You can increase dose without changing [progesterone] dose. Some women need two patches.

In January, in response to the BMS statement on high-dose prescribing, Dr Newson wrote on the forum that the debate about prescribing [HRT] off licence seems to have lost all perspective.

She added: We prescribe medications very frequently at above licensed doses for chronic pain, depression and heart failure. The licensed doses are simply the doses the drug companies did their trials on.

Later in the same thread she writes: The BMS cannot control legally what we do.

However, Haitham Hamoda, former BMS chair and lead author of the BMS progesterone guidance, told the MoS: There is a lack of evidence [about the effect of high doses of oestrogen]. However it is important to remember that lack of evidence of harm is not evidence of safety.

Without evidence to confirm the safety of higher doses, a treatment should not be described as safe or not harmful.

And in February, one of the clinics doctors wrote: The BMS feel a higher dose of progesterone is needed for endometrial protection, whereas at Newson Health we are happy starting with the lower dose at outset and feel if there is no abnormal bleeding this is reassurance that it is doing what it is supposed to do.

Dr Newson echoed this in a recent lecture about HRT doses, publicly available on Newson Healths Balance app, where she states: If a woman isnt bleeding then its very unlikely that shes got serious pathology [an abnormal condition] in the lining of the womb.

A consultant gynaecologist with expert knowledge of the management of uterine (womb) bleeding said: In most women, this may be true. However I dont think you can say that if you are not following the guidelines and you have a patient who is on high doses of oestrogen and not enough progesterone.

Mr Hamoda said: Relying on bleeding to indicate an abnormality isnt the right thing to do. Its like waiting for the horse to bolt so you can close the stable door. Really you should not be offering a high dose that might increase this risk in the first place.

Dr Briggs said: The concern is that GPs who use these training resources will be misled into thinking these are standard practices, when they arent.

Prof Harper added: If more patients suffer complications as a result of high dose HRT, it could undo the good work thats been done to improve awareness [of the menopause] and uptake of treatment.

Meanwhile, GPs described being sent legal letters for questioning Newson Healths practices.

A source said a GP had been threatened with defamation after questioning the clinics practices during a consultation with a patient who requested an NHS prescription for high doses of HRT that the clinic had recommended.

This doctor, as a result of being threatened like this, feels unable to see patients who have been to Newson Health, the source said.

Another doctor who received a similar letter added: I and other colleagues have had patients whove been given these worryingly high doses by Dr Newson, but everyone is afraid to speak openly about it now.

Has high-dose HRT harmed your health? Write to us at health@mailonsunday.co.uk
It seems like stating the absolute obvious: after youve gone to the loo, wash your hands. But judging by a viral clip that surfaced on social media last week, this simple piece of health advice may have been lost on a new generation.

In the short video, which has been viewed seven million times on Twitter, American social-media personalities Jordyn Woodruff and Alex Bennett admit they dont wash their hands after  forgive the language  going for a pee.

I made the conscious decision to stop washing my hands in college, Woodruff told listeners of the pairs popular podcast Mean Girl. One day I was like, Im just not going to wash them. 

To which Bennett replies: I dont really trust people that wash their hands [after going to the toilet], because I dont think it actually does anything.

The clip has since amassed 350,000 views on video-sharing app TikTok, with thousands of comments, too. Many were keen to point out that Woodruff and Bennett are far from alone. One said Ninety-nine per cent of people who say they wash their hands are lying, while another wrote: Most men do not.

Not washing your hands after using the lavatory encourages the rapid growth of dangerous bugs

Washing for six seconds without soap is only just barely more effective than not washing

According to some studies, about two-thirds of men leave their hands unwashed after going to the toilet.

This attitude is more common than most people think, says Dr Marina Serdar, a microbiologist at the University of Nottingham. Some people forget; others just cant be bothered.

ProfESSOR Sally Bloomfield, chair of the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene, says: Despite what many people might think, soap doesnt kill bacteria  it lifts the bacteria from your skin and then the water washes them away. So not only do you need to use plenty of soap, you also must rinse your hands long enough to get rid of all the germs.

But surveys show about a quarter of Britons dont wash their hands with soap and water.

So just how bad for our health are unhygienic habits?

American social media star Jordyn Woodruff, pictured, has announced she no longer wants to wash her hands after using the bathroom

Studies show toilets are, unsurprisingly, a hotspot for germs. Three of the most common are E.coli, salmonella and norovirus, all of which can trigger painful, and occasionally deadly, stomach bugs that lead to vomiting and diarrhoea.

This is because these bugs are found in faeces, which can get on to hands through the process of going to the toilet.

Its not just the process of wiping or touching your genitals, explains Prof Bloomfield. These particles get everywhere. It doesnt matter if you only went in for a wee, you still need to thoroughly wash your hands every time.

Bugs also spread through other forms of contact with humans and animals. This is why experts also advise hand-washing after touching uncooked meat, after coughing, sneezing or handling pets.

They say that inadequate hand-washing, or no cleaning at all, allows germs to spread into the community. Studies suggest that 14 per cent of banknotes and ten per cent of credit cards have faecal matter on them. One research paper even found that a quarter of people in the UK have traces of faecal matter on their hands.

In December, health officials warned that significant levels of E.coli could be found on supermarket self-checkout machines.

This picture was taken after the volunteer washed their hands for six seconds with soap

This photograph was taken after the volunteer washed with soap and water for 15 seconds

Meanwhile, this winter the UK saw its worst norovirus wave in more than five years, with thousands of elderly people hospitalised as a result of the bug. The size of the outbreak is thought to have been largely a result of reduced immunity caused by pandemic restrictions that stopped people from mingling in public. Experts say it could have been less widespread if people were simply better at hand-washing.

Washing your hands isnt just about protecting yourself from germs  its also about stopping others around you, who could be more vulnerable, from getting them, says Dr Serdar.

There is clear evidence that hand-washing reduces the risk of illness. In 2015, a review of worldwide diarrhoea studies by the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group found that it reduced the risk of the disease by up to 50 per cent.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if everyone in the world routinely washed their hands, one million deaths a year could be prevented.

Still, the evidence isnt enough to convince some.

Speaking to The Mail on Sundays Medical Minefield podcast, one woman from Bristol, who asked to be called Rebecca, admits she rarely washes her hands after using the toilet. The 37-year-old said: If Im going for a wee, I usually dont wash my hands. I think its because you cant see the bacteria  if you illuminated my hands and showed me where the bacteria is, then it might be different.
I have macular eye disease, and the treatment involves injections into my eyes. I also get dizzy spells which result in me falling, and sometimes I get very sick, too. My GP prescribes all types of pills but they dont help. Could my problem be something to do with the injections? I am 83.

It's not unusual for patients who get dizzy to have regular falls.

Doctors refer to such events as drop attacks, and they require investigation at any age. But falling is particularly concerning for the elderly because it is a major cause of disability, hospitalisation and fractures.

A discussion with a GP or eye specialist would be crucial to see if there are alternative medicines and to establish what are the risks of stopping medication altogether.

When dizziness or an attack of vertigo accompanies vomiting, the problem may be the inner ear disorder Menieres disease. There may be other symptoms, such as changes in hearing, tinnitus and even a feeling of blocked ears. With Menieres, dizzy spells usually last about three hours. However, it can take a couple of days for the symptoms to resolve completely. There is no specific test for Menieres disease, and unfortunately there is no cure, either. Instead, patients are given tablets to control the dizziness and vomiting, while antihistamines can be used to reduce the feeling of vertigo.

Today's reader has macular eye disease and wonders whether their frequent dizzy spells is as a result of the treatment

Menieres is a tricky condition to live with and it can have a debilitating impact on a persons quality of life. Support is available from the Menieres Society on 01306 876883 or via its website, menieres.org.uk.

I am 77 and have a terrible problem when I get bitten by mosquitoes. Wherever I am on holiday, the bites tend to spread all the way along my arms and legs, and I end up needing steroid injections to calm the itching and swelling. I take the antihistamine loratadine daily and try to use mosquito repellent most days while away. I want to do more travelling but I now feel as though I cant. Can you help?

Some people suffer very badly with mosquito bites, and many of factors play into how much anyone is affected, including skin type, previous reactions and genetics. The easiest way to tackle this problem is to avoid getting bitten in the first place.

First, cover yourself up with sleeves, socks and trousers  early evening is a key time to do this. Also, avoid using fragrances such as perfume and scented toiletries as these attract insects. In tropical countries, insect nets are a good idea to avoiding being bitten at night. You should also take anti-malarial tablets in countries where this is advised.

Wherever you are, insect repellent containing 50 per cent of the active ingredient DEET is the most effective.

Taking antihistamine tablets can help reduce the bodys reaction to bites.

Non-drowsy types, designed to be used during the day, are the best option, as you can take these more than once a day with your doctors approval.

A good bite cream also helps reduce reactions  the most effective ones contain a steroid or antihistamine, and you can buy one per cent hydrocortisone creams over the counter to put on bites that are starting to swell. Some people claim that taking a Vitamin B supplement helps to prevent bites  there is little scientific basis for this, but a daily tablet wont cause problems, so it is worth a go.

Over the past year Ive noticed that small bumps have begun appearing around my eyes. They dont hurt but they affect my confidence. Id like to get them removed but I worry about damaging my sight. I am 72.

Removing anything from the skin comes with the possibility of scarring and damage to the area  even if it is a minor procedure and it is true that any surgery involving the eye area could affect the sight.

Write to Dr Ellie Do you have a question for Dr Ellie Cannon? Email DrEllie@mailonsunday.co.uk Dr Cannon cannot enter into personal correspondence and her replies should be taken in a general context Advertisement

Having said that, many thousands of procedures and operations involving the eye area are performed every year in the UK and are very successful.

Bumps around the eye usually form near the lash line. They could mean a number of things. The most common type of bump is a stye  an infection in the eyelash follicle. These are normally very painful. Another is a chalazion, which is when the glands of the eyelids become blocked. They can develop from a stye that is no longer infected.

A condition called blepharitis, where the eyelids are generally inflamed and crusty, could also be to blame. Treatment involves warming, massaging and cleaning the eyelids  perhaps with a warm flannel  to remove the oils and crusts and allow the follicles to drain.

Something called milia can also form near the lash lines. These are tiny, protein-filled bumps and will often go away on their own.

The risks and benefits of any procedure should be weighed up with a professional.

When's the right time to move on?

Is it ever right to begin another romantic relationship if your husband or wife has dementia and can barely recognise you?

Its a question Ive been thinking about after reading last week about the divorce of Wolfgang Porsche, the billionaire executive of the luxury car company.

The 79-year-old divorced his partner of 16 years two years after she was diagnosed, according to last weeks reports. He couldnt cope with the changes in her behaviour and reportedly has moved in with a new 59-year-old girlfriend, Gabriele Prinzessin zu Leiningen.

Your instant reaction might be one of horror. But caring for a loved one as they slowly slip away from you is tough. I know of dementia patients who insist that their partner finds someone else when they become desperately ill.

There are others who wont consider a relationship after their partner dies, because it would feel wrong.

Have you been accused of moving on too quickly? Or perhaps you never want to?

Whatever your experience, write and tell me at the email address below.
People at risk of losing limbs from severe blood flow problems could be spared life-changing amputation thanks to a revolutionary treatment.

The new procedure, called LimFlow, treats a type of blood vessel disease called critical limb ischaemia, where blockages in the arteries cut off the blood supply to the legs and feet.

The condition  which is usually caused by lifestyle factors severely affects mobility, and each year in the UK about 5,000 people have to undergo amputation.

But a US study shows that with LimFlow, three-quarters of patients get to keep their legs.

About 30 NHS patients have already received the treatment as part of an ongoing trial, in which surgeons insert small tubes into the leg which divert the blood flow around the blockages to return supply to the foot. While the results of this trial are yet to be published, the procedure was deemed so effective that three NHS hospitals have requested to continue using the technology.

People at risk of losing limbs from severe blood flow problems could be spared life-changing amputation thanks to a revolutionary treatment

The condition  which is usually caused by lifestyle factors severely affects mobility, and each year in the UK about 5,000 people have to undergo amputation

Experts believe that it could now be available across the NHS within two years.

LimFlow is a novel alternative to major amputation, providing hope where previously there has been none, says Dr Mehdi Shishehbor, cardiologist at Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, who has led the US study. The results from this study are excellent and its very clear that LimFlow is a powerful tool for avoiding amputation.

Critical limb ischaemia affects about 60,000 people in the UK every year. Fatty deposits build up in the leg arteries, causing the blood vessels to narrow over time, reducing circulation to the legs and feet. This means wounds and ulcers are slow to heal, and life-threatening infections become more likely.

While there are a number of treatments, including inserting a stent  a tiny mesh tube  into the artery to widen the vessel, these are often unsuccessful.

During the LimFlow procedure, which is carried out using local anaesthetic, two tubes are inserted into the patient  one through their groin and one through their ankle. When the tubes meet at the point of the blockage, they are connected together, allowing the blood to flow around the build-up of deposits.
An article 'Gap-year activists accused of frustrating French border police' (Jan 29) suggested that actions taken by Isabella Anderson while volunteering in Calais had frustrated the legitimate activities of the French police and so assisted people-smuggling gangs. In fact, Ms Anderson conducted lawful monitoring of police activities and has not assisted criminal activity in any way. We apologise to Ms Anderson for this error and the distress caused, and have agreed to pay Ms Anderson substantial damages, together with her legal costs.

To report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonline.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonline.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. You can also write to Readers' Editor, MailOnline, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or contact IPSO directly at ipso.co.uk.
The trans-Pacific trade club that the UK is joining is not a substitute for membership of the European Union. But, for a number of reasons, it is much more important than it seems.

Most obvious of those is that the world outside Europe, and particularly the countries round the Pacific Rim, will grow much faster than continental Europe.

On a long view, it is a no-brainer to try to build relationships with fast-growing markets rather than slow-growing ones.

The name of the club, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, does not exactly roll off the tongue, and the UK is rather a long way from the Pacific.

There are 11 members and we do lots of trade already with many of them, including Japan, Australia and Canada, so don't expect any sudden boost to UK exports.

New horizons: On a long view, it is a no-brainer to try to build relationships with fast-growing markets rather than slow-growing ones

However, now that the UK is joining, the club will account for about 15 per cent of the world economy, roughly the same as the EU is without us  so not to be scoffed at. And while Japan is slow-growing, the rest of the pack has far outpaced continental Europe.

The importance goes far beyond the mechanics of physical trade.

The UK is the first new member since the group came together in 2018. That is a hugely important signal, partly that the UK is open for business, but even more important that what started as a Pacific Rim club is open to new members from the rest of the world.

Because unlike the EU, it imposes few bureaucratic obligations  no commitment to join the euro, sign up to detailed product standards and so on  it will find it easy to grow. Actually, I expect the US to join at some stage, as it planned to do when the club was first formed in 2016.

The project, then called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, was agreed by the US, but the incoming President  Donald Trump  pulled out in January 2017. It was one of the first things he did.

The other countries went ahead without America, but it seems nuts that the action of one controversial President should set trade policy for his successors.

That is particularly so because of what has happened since then in its relations with China. Donald Trump imagined that he could somehow charm, cajole and bully China into acting more as he wanted.

We now know that the US gained nothing from that approach, and is now pushing back against China in diplomatic, economic and military terms.

So it needs to encourage its other trading partners to push back too. It already has a trade alliance with two of its neighbours, Canada and Mexico, both also members of the Pacific club.

It has the Aukus military pact with the UK and Australia, much to the chagrin of the French. But it would be sensible to stitch together a much wider alliance with other like-minded nations that feel uncomfortable with the expansionist intentions of China. Actually China has also applied to join, but I can't see it having any chance of being accepted.

The US will always act in its own self-interest. The UK, and indeed other nations, should expect no special favours.

So we should not think of this Pacific deal as a back-door way into a trade deal with the US, even if I am right and the US does join up. But it will undoubtedly help foster UK trading and financial relations with America in ways we cannot at the moment predict.

That is of profound importance. Not only is the US a much bigger economy than the EU. Even without a trade deal, it is our largest bilateral trading partner, and we have a current account surplus with it, unlike with the EU where we have a deficit.

Just last week, the Government released new figures showing our total trade in goods and services with the US was up 22 per cent in the four quarters to the end of September last year, compared with the equivalent numbers in 2021.

It also owns one third of the stock of inward foreign direct investments here, while it accounts for one quarter of our outward foreign direct investments.

So I think the best way of seeing our membership of this club is as an early marker of a wider redirection of UK economic relationships, not only to the Pacific nations but also and especially across the Atlantic towards the US.

That is not to say we should walk away from trade with Europe, which is still extremely important and will remain so for the foreseeable future. That would make no sense. But I do believe this deal will turn out to be of huge benefit to the UK. This could be the start of something big.
Metro Bank has drawn up plans for an orderly wind-down if it were to fail, bringing it in line with Britain's largest lenders.

The troubled bank, whose share price has fallen by 97 per cent in the past five years, has been told by regulators to put in place measures that would avoid taxpayers picking up the tab if it collapsed.

Losses totalling 627 million in the past three years have sapped Metro Bank's strength. Its shares have tanked 30 per cent in the past month alone in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS.

Metro Bank is one of the most thinly capitalised of the smaller challenger and specialist banks, a recent survey by consultants EY found.

A proposal to create a 'clean' holding company for a so-called 'bail-in' if the lender failed will be put to shareholders next month. It also needs court approval.

Sign of the times: Metro Bank is one of the most thinly capitalised of the smaller challenger and specialist banks

The move is part of the Bank of England's efforts to ensure taxpayers will not be on the hook for the biggest banks and building societies if they fail  to avoid a repeat of the bailouts of Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, now NatWest, that followed the 2008 financial crisis.

It comes at a time of renewed turmoil in the sector. Silicon Valley Bank's UK subsidiary was sold to HSBC for 1 after uninsured depositors suddenly withdrew cash in droves.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey told MPs last week the run was the fastest since Barings failed in 1995. But he insisted the UK banking system was 'very strong' and dismissed comparisons with the crisis of 15 years ago.

Metro Bank was set up by US entrepreneur Vernon Hill in 2010, when it became the first new high street bank in over a century.

But in December, the Financial Conduct Authority fined it 10 million for misleading investors about its capital position in 2018. It grew rapidly by investing heavily in its branches, which became famous for providing dog biscuits.

Most of its 76 branches are in London and the South East, but it is looking to open 11 outlets in the North of England.

A spokeswoman said the bank had remained above minimum capital requirements throughout its turnaround and its capital strength was twice the regulatory minimum.
Britain's blue-chip companies are going through one of the biggest ever upheavals in top management, as seven stalwart Footsie chief executives have either gone or declared their exit since the start of the year.

The changing of the guard comes at a highly sensitive time, with the world economy on a knife-edge and the FTSE 100 index losing ground compared with Wall Street.

Those stepping down include City stalwarts Nigel Wilson, the head of Legal & General, and Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo, the maker of Guinness and Baileys.

It heralds shake-ups at some of Britain's best-known firms, as leaders such as Wilson, who have made a distinctive mark on their businesses, make way for fresh faces.

Water group United Utilities and safety equipment maker Halma both waved goodbye to longstanding bosses on Friday.

Handovers: Andrew Williams, left, and Steve Mogford

Steve Mogford, 66, at United Utilities has handed over to Louise Beardmore, previously the company's customer service and people director. She takes over at a delicate moment when water companies are under intense scrutiny.

Shareholders may miss Mogford, who has overseen returns of 213 per cent since he began 12 years ago.

The exit of Andrew Williams, boss of health and safety equipment group Halma, is likely to be keenly felt. At 55, he is the youngest boss on the departures list, but has clocked up the longest run as chief executive, with 18 years in the hotseat.

Over that time, shareholders have seen returns of 1,896 per cent  big boots to fill for his successor, finance head Marc Ronchetti.

Menezes, 63, called time on his stint at Diageo last week and investors will raise a toast to a successful tenure. He will hand over to Debra Crew, Diageo's president in North America and the former chief executive of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company.

Four of the seven bosses have led their companies for a decade or more, including Menezes. Legal & General's Wilson has spent 11 years running Britain's biggest asset manager, during which he has made it his mission to push 'inclusive capitalism' by investing in UK infrastructure including transport, housing and universities.

No successor has been appointed yet and the 66-year-old has said he is happy to stay until one is found.

Two relative unknowns have taken the reins at Shell and Rolls-Royce, both of which saw CEOs leave at the start of the year. Shell's veteran boss Ben Van Beurden, 64, who raked in more than 86 million during his nine-year tenure, handed over to Wael Sawan, who had been overseeing the company's green transformation before landing the top job.

Sawan will need to steer the group towards becoming a green powerhouse  something that many in the industry said Van Beurden had failed to achieve quickly enough.

At Rolls-Royce, Warren East, 61, did not manage to lead the company to glory. He is the only one of the departing CEOs to have presided over a dramatic fall in the value of shares, with total returns for investors falling by almost two-thirds from when he started in 2015.

But he did save the flagship manufacturing group from possible bankruptcy in the pandemic when planes were grounded and income from aero-engine servicing contracts dried up.

Rolls has drafted in the head of BP's petrol station business, Tufan Erginbilgic, who has started a massive overhaul of the group, after criticising the previous regime. He has already poached several executives from BP to right the ship.

At Unilever, boss Alan Jope, 59, is due to stand down at the end of 2023 after 37 years with the consumer goods giant.

His four years at the helm have been marked by controversy, notably over an abortive 50 billion bid in 2022 to buy GlaxoSmithKline's healthcare arm, and for 'woke' virtue signalling.

He is being replaced by Hein Schumacher, head of a Dutch dairy co-operative, an appointment backed by activist investor Nelson Peltz. Investors will be hoping that Schumacher and the other new bosses can restore Britain's productivity.
Mission: Archie Norman wants a new democracy for shareholders

Archie Norman, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, wants to spark a revolution in popular capitalism. The last time this was attempted was in the Thatcher-era privatisations of the 1980s. His aim, however, is to create a shareholder democracy for the digital world of the 21st Century.

He is this week launching a 'Share Your Voice' campaign to update company law because he believes small shareholders are in danger of being disenfranchised.

His proposals include improving companies' ability to communicate directly with all their small shareholders, something not happening at the moment due to outmoded rules.

He also wants online annual general meetings (AGMs) to be recognised as valid, so that companies are no longer obliged to hold a traditional shindig where shareholders can question bosses in person.

He believes that virtual gatherings would lead more private investors to get involved.

And he is critical of the weighty, old-fashioned paper annual reports that descend with a thud through investors' letterboxes, suggesting that streamlined communications, whizzed over by email, would in many cases be more effective.

So what has inspired him to embark on this path? 'We're Marks & Spencer. We are the supremely British company, so even people who don't own our shares think they own us. We have more than 30 million customers and a large private investor base. Why aren't we setting out to show people they can invest in British companies and that these companies will talk to them and engage with them? Back in the 1980s there were a lot more small shareholders. Then, the Government were the creators of popular capitalism and wanted to give people a stake.'

In the intervening four decades, however, the proportion of shares held by individual savers has fallen inexorably. Most of UK plc is now owned by big City institutions and foreign investors. So it may seem quixotic to champion the small shareholder  though if anyone can do it, then Archie Norman can.

One of the most respected figures in British business, Norman, 68, has made a career of turning around struggling businesses, including Asda, ITV, and now M&S, where he has been in the chair since 2017.

Educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge University, he spent eight years in politics, as a member of the Conservative Party and served as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment under William Hague. Married with a daughter, he lives in London and North Yorkshire.

His most radical proposal is to reform the rules on annual general meetings (AGMs). At present, a purely online meeting is not legitimate under company law.

Norman describes it as 'madness' that meetings are still stuck in the past. 'I remember going to my first Asda annual general meeting. We had 800 people in the room and an overflow room, including Yorkshire farmers with their trousers tied up by string, banging the table. 'That is never going to happen again. We have clung on to an old system which no longer speaks to people.' Before Covid, many of his shareholders relished turning up at the annual meetings, not least for the spread of food and wine.

They would berate the board about weak knicker elastic, the quality of sweaters and the lack of elegant long-sleeved dresses as well as questions on executive pay and dividends.

Small investor power peaked at the annual meeting in 2004, when almost 3,000 people lined up behind the M&S board and repelled a 9.1 billion bid from Sir Philip Green. The former Bhs and Topshop tycoon backed away, and the rest is history.

But, Norman says, nostalgia for the AGMs of old is ill-placed.

Pre-pandemic, M&S held its meeting at Wembley stadium. Most shareholders, he says, 'don't want to trek across the country' for a meeting and are put off by the 'whole idea of this noisy brouhaha' where they have to stand at a microphone in front of everyone to ask a question. 'That's not modern life and it's for show-offs, isn't it?'

Isn't there some value in being able to see the whites of the directors' eyes? 'I don't think so. I think physical presence is for the loudmouths. Some female CEOs have been subjected to misogynistic questions from small shareholders.' M&S has trebled participation in three years since it started hosting digital meetings alongside physical ones due to the pandemic.

At the most recent event, BBC radio and TV presenter Anita Anand chose the shareholder questions. Some 1,750 people tuned in with another 2,500 views subsequently. 'This year I want 5,000,' Norman says. A virtual meeting is preferable, he says, because everyone can attend, including shareholders living abroad. Why not have a hybrid and keep everyone happy? He argues that would risk 'just filming the town hall meeting'.

As for annual reports, he says they are far 'too long'. 'At Asda annual reports were about 80 pages and we thought they were too long then. Now the M&S annual report is well over 200 pages.' While it does contain important information, he argues there is also a lot of 'guff'.

'I have never met anybody who has read all of it, except possibly our audit partner. It is not designed to tell shareholders how the company is doing, it is to tick a load of governance boxes.'

He believes shareholders would benefit from shorter but more meaningful online communications. 'We should try to make it interesting, but we have regulated annual reports to the point where they are so large they are of no use. We sent out 10,000 copies of the last annual report, this thing that nobody reads. It has added 40-50 pages this year because of the new sustainability reporting. It is absurd.'

Key role: The BBC's Anita Anand helped host M&S's latest AGM

Scrapping the old-style meeting and annual report would save M&S around 1 million a year, which Norman says could be used more productively.

Private shareholders have always been very important to M&S. In the past five years, the performance of their investment has been disappointing. Christmas trading was strong with its market share in clothing and home rising to a seven-year high. The company is to create 3,400 jobs as part of plans to revamp its stores. It is closing shops in unprofitable locations and investing in more lucrative sites.

The shares have recently enjoyed a rally, rising 30 per cent this year so investors will be hoping Norman's turnaround plan is finally bearing fruit.

Bizarrely, he cannot be sure how many private shareholders he has on his register, because of the popularity of 'nominee accounts', where individuals' shares are pooled together with those of other savers and held by a stock broker. He says that 'we don't know' how many individual shareholders M&S has 'because so many are held through nominees'. He adds: 'The number of direct shareholders is declining every year.'

Nominee accounts are cheap and convenient. But, Norman says, nominee holders are 'third-class citizens' because companies, under current law, cannot automatically communicate with them directly.

Within 30 years, he claims, M&S will not be able to speak to a single one of its individual shareholders, unless the rules are changed.

Norman also wants a push to encourage employee share ownership with tax incentives. 'We have 65,000 current employees and many more former staff. It would be wonderful if we could make them all shareholders.'
Rio Tinto is facing a shareholder rebellion next week after raising its chief executive's pay by 70 per cent.

Jakob Stausholm took home 4.8 million in 2022, up from 2.8 million the year before, after the mining giant made record profits on the back of soaring commodity prices.

But analysts at the proxy advisory group Pirc have urged investors to vote against the FTSE 100 group's pay scheme.

Opposition: Rio Tinto plans to build a mine on a sacred site in Arizona

It has also recommended a vote against the re-election of senior independent director Sam Laidlaw, former chief executive of Centrica, who chairs Rio Tinto's pay committee.

The advisory group, meanwhile, has told shareholders to abstain from voting for sustainability committee head Megan Clark, who is up for re-election, as questions remain over plans for the miner to build a huge copper mine in Arizona on sacred Apache land.

Rio Tinto plans to do this through a company it jointly owns with BHP, called Resolution Copper.

A US congressman, Raul Grijalva, recently introduced a bill aimed at protecting the Oak Flat site, which would stop Resolution setting up the mine.

Any rebellion over pay is unlikely to be on the scale of the shareholder revolt in 2021, when more than 60 per cent of investors voted against plans to hand ousted former boss Jean Sebastien-Jacques a 7.2 million bonus.

He was forced to leave after the company blew up two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal sacred sites in Western Australia to expand an iron ore mine.

This triggered worldwide outrage and an Australian parliamentary inquiry, as well as a boardroom clearout.

Campaigners have questioned why Rio has not ditched plans to build the Resolution Copper mine, which would harm another sacred site, when bosses have pledged never again to destroy native heritage.
The British Ambassador to Japan has issued a rallying cry to energy firms in the wake of the UK's trade deal with 11 Asian and Pacific countries.

Julia Longbottom said the agreement announced by Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch on Friday was a 'trailblazing moment'.

She said there are significant opportunities for Britain's green energy businesses  should they support Japan in its push to be carbon neutral by 2050, which will require hundreds of millions of pounds in investment.

New horizons: Britain has emerged as a world leader in the race for renewable energy

Britain has emerged as a world leader in the race for renewable energy.

Longbottom said UK firms could help speed up the transformation of Japan's energy market, which is still reliant on gas imports from Russia.

Japan is also the world's largest importer of liquified natural gas.

'The UK is a real leader in wind energy and has a lot of experience to share with a market like Japan, which is just at the start of its decarbonisation journey' she said. 'We've a got a very valuable offer to a market like Japan.'
A former Royal Marine who wants to expand his fledgling combat training tech firm in Britain warns he may be driven to the US to raise money.

4GD uses virtual reality and special effects to allow soldiers to practice fighting at smaller facilities in Army garrisons rather than having to travel to vast training areas such as Salisbury Plain.

The company's technology is already used at Merville Barracks in Colchester, Essex.

Fighting fit: 4GD uses virtual reality and special effects to allow soldiers to practice fighting at smaller facilities in Army garrisons

Now co-founder Rob Taylor, a former Royal Marine, is looking to expand domestically, as well as in the United States, both of which will require new capital.

He said: 'Our intention initially as a UK-owned and veteran-owned business was that we really wanted to keep things in the UK.'

But he found that the higher valuations that could be obtained on the other side of the Atlantic as well as the reduction in tax breaks for entrepreneurs in the UK were 'testing patriotism or the desire to maintain sovereignty'.

Taylor said: 'We need to encourage higher valuations of high-growth potential UK start-ups because if you're getting valued at say 40 million in the UK and 100 million in the US, it is not in the business's interest to maintain equity in the UK.'

The company is starting a fundraising with the aim of achieving a 'low nine-figure' valuation, raising tens of millions of pounds. Taylor added that at best, the company would probably conduct a 'blended' funding round on both sides of the Atlantic, but that it would probably be predominantly in the US.
Galinsky traversed from coast to coast snapping the best images from the bustling hotspots

From zany hairdos to shuttered retailers, the images show how malls were the center of American social life

Photographer Michael Galinsky captured nostalgic snaps during the mall heyday in the 1980s

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Nostalgic images from decades past reveal how American families flocked to malls from dawn until dusk - before the digital age dealt a death knell to the iconic shopping spaces.

From fun family outings to cheeky high school truants, malls once served as the central hub for a bustling community of mullet-sporting Americans. And photographer Michael Galinsky captured every moment.

Throughout the 1980s, he traveled across the country, shooting images of everything from long-forgotten retailers to retro fashion trends - with his work later inspiring costume designers for the Netflix retro horror show Stranger Things.

Today his seminal book 'The Decline of Mall Civilization' is a stunning reminder of American life during the mall's heyday - before online shopping put scores of shopping centers out business.

The nostalgic pictures come from photographer Michael Galinsky's book 'The Decline of Mall Civilization'

Galinsky said he chose this image as the cover photo because it captures 'the energy and the action' when malls were booming across America

A mall goer is pictured in Smith Haven Mall in Long Island, New York donning an era-defining hairdo

Malls became a bustling hub of American life around the time Galinsky began his collection in the 1980s

At their peak, there were more than 2,500 malls scattered across the country. Today there are only around 700 - with Business Insider predicting there will be just 150 of the iconic spaces left within a decade.

Of course, many Americans still visit malls regularly. But when they first burst onto the scene they quickly became the nation's new public square - and Galinksy's throwback snaps capture a time when they were the center of American social life.

'In my sophomore year of college, I took a photography class and I shot images in a mall for my class project,' he recalls.

'My teacher was ecstatic about the images and immediately suggested that I spread out to other malls. I called up a friend and he agreed to drive across the country with me that summer.

'Guns N' Roses were blowing up, and Nirvana was still an infant. George Bush was president and very few people had seen the internet,' he added.

He began his project with 'some stealthy stalking of the big-haired denizens of the Smith Haven Mall on Long Island' - and the ensuing galleries showcased malls as hotspots of tank tops, outlandish hairdos and zany characters.

South Square Mall in North Carolina is pictured during its heyday during the 1980s

Filled to the brim with classic fast food and since-shuttered retailers, malls were a hotspot of American life back in the day

Galinsky said he included snaps of arcades in his collection because they were 'central' to his childhood visits to malls

Questionable fashion choices permeate throughout the gallery, including thick denim and plaid shirts

Patriotic themes and American flag merchandise were a staple of US mall culture in the 1980s, showcased in this snap from a mall in Columbia, Missouri in 1989

From the iconic Smith Haven in New York to the now-shuttered Villa Italia Mall in Colorado, Galinsky and a friend traversed from state to state to capture the essence of American life.

'By the time we got to San Francisco, we had hit over a dozen malls and three times as many thrift stores and antique shops in our wobbly ramble across America,' he recalled.

Decades later in 2010, amid a successful career as a filmmaker, Galinsky dug out the dusty photographs from inside a desk drawer and began reminiscing about his six-week campaign to hit as many malls as possible.

After sharing the images online, Galinsky raised $13,000 through a Kickstarter to publish the images as a book, dubbed 'Malls Across America' - and it took the internet by storm. At the time his book cost $30 - but is worth around 25 times that amount today.

Galinsky has since launched another campaign to reprint his second edition, 'The Decline of Mall Civilization', which has raised upwards of $58,000 after adding to his time capsule in impressive style.

Decade-specific fashion trends permeate through the images, showcasing a time when thick denim pants and plaid shirts were all the rage.

Pictured alongside since-closed retailers like Tape World, youngsters lived it up in arcades while 80s punk fanatics scoured music shops for vinyl records and wacky guitars.

Mall goers filled the iconic spaces from dusk till dawn, decorating them with zany outfits and classic hairstyles

An antique show in South Square Mall in North Carolina was put on in 1989 to increase foot traffic because the establishment had 'already seen better days'

A woman is seen smoking a cigarette inside a mall in Aurora, Colorado. The photographer said this image may have later influenced the design of hit show Stranger Things

Galinsky's six-week campaign to reach as many malls as possible in 1989 came to fruition over 20 years later, when he shared the mall photographs for the world to see

The snapper's decision to focus on malls is almost eerie, as he recalled his inspiration for the project.

'I understood that it would not always be there,' he explained.

After releasing his collection to the public, Galinsky discovered his snaps had even influenced the hit Netflix show Stranger Things and contributed to the series' throwback imagery.

'When I launched my current kick-starter one of the first backers was costume designer Amy Parris who confirmed to me that she used the images she found online to help dress the cast,' he said.

Speaking of his evocative images, the photographer added: 'Now, they hold clues from the past - evidence of how we used to be, before the internet, mobile phones, and social networking changed everything.'

Galinsky said this image of an elderly couple enjoying a day out at the mall is one of his favorites 'because it feels so out of time'

One of the first images he used in the project, this image was taken on Galinsky's first photography outing. 'I had my camera with me because I needed to find a project for my class,' he said. 'I was immediately aware that I might have found my project.'

American mall-lovers pictured with wacky outfits adorned with tie-dye, alongside since-shuttered retailer 'Tape World'

The photographer said the Madonna album release helps date this image - especially since 'this was right when stores were moving from vinyl to CD'

The true community aspect of Galinsky's work comes out in images such as this from the Smith Haven Mall in New York, where the space attracted shoppers both young and old
The New Jersey plant receives up to 500 metric tons of coca leaves every year

A small chemical processing plant hidden in a quiet neighborhood of New Jersey has an exclusive license to import coca leaves into the US on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company and manufactures as much as $2 billion of pure cocaine every year.

The leaves are used to produce a 'decocainized' ingredient for the iconic soda and the cocaine byproduct is sold to the nation's largest opioid manufacturer, which markets the powder as a numbing agent and topical anesthetic for dentists.

The unassuming facility in Maywood has been processing coca leaves for Coca-Cola for over 100 years and is now run by a chemical manufacturer called Stepan Company.

It operates under special licenses issued to it by the DEA and is the only company in the US permitted to import coca leaves and manufacture cocaine.

And just this year, on January 30, Stepan successfully renewed its petition for permission to continue importing the controlled substance into the US.

The DEA did not respond to a request from DailyMail.com for details as to how much coca the company imports, but in the 1980s it was was reported that more than 500 metric tons of leaves could enter the plant in a single year.

Five hundred tons of leaves might produce something in the region of two million grams of cocaine - which, according to pharmaceutical company listings online, could be worth around $2 billion.

A chemical processing facility in Maywood, New Jersey, has an exclusive federal license to import coca leaves into the US and manufacture cocaine

The plant is operated by the Stepan Company, which manufactures a syrup for The Coca-Cola Company using coca leaves that are stripped of cocaine

Most of what is known about the secretive agreement was released in the late 1980s when government officials and Coca-Cola eventually spoke of it on the record.

The New York Times reported at the time that Stepan was importing between 56 and 588 metric tons of coca each year from mainly Peru, but also Bolivia.

Ricardo Cortes is an illustrator and author of the book A Secret History of Coffee, Coca and Cola, which chronicles the drink's history and how the company behind it earned exclusive rights to process the coca plant in the US.

Records acquired by Cortes and published by the National Company of the Coca, a Peruvian state-owned company, declared that between 45 and 104 tons of leaves were exported to Maywood each year between 2007 and 2010.

The image of 'Cocaine Hydrochloride USP CII' accompanying a listing on the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals website. It can be purchased in 5g or 25g quantities

'They're the most American red, white and blue brand, but they don't want to be associated with the drug wars,' Cortes told DailyMail.com.

'They're doing a refined version of what's going on in the jungle of Bolivia.'

The coca leaf is the plant source of cocaine and is used to illegally manufacture the drug in parts of south America, including Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. It has been illegal to import the leaves to the US since 1921.

Nonetheless, The Coca-Cola Company, now worth around $265 billion, has imported the 'controlled substance' freely for the last century. In that time, as governments have strived to crack down on the notorious coca plant, the company miraculously avoided restriction.

Article 27 of the United Nations' 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which imposed strict controls on the cultivation of the coca bush, made suspiciously precise exceptions.

'The Parties may permit the use of coca leaves for the preparation of a flavouring agent, which shall not contain any alkaloids, and, to the extent necessary for such use, may permit the production, import, export, trade in and possession of such leaves,' reads the provision.

Stepan Company applies to the Drug Enforcement Administration for exclusive authorization to import coca leaves and 'bulk manufacture other controlled substances for distribution to its customers'

Plumes of smoke are emitted from the Maywood plant in the early hours of the morning and occasionally at night. Pictured is the facility early in the morning on March 28

Residents say the production of smoke is usually limited to early in the morning

An illustration of the Stepan Company facility in Maywood, New Jersey, provided courtesy of Ricardo Cortes and included in his book A Secret History of Coffee, Coca and Cola

Maywood residents told Dailymail.com the chemical facility puts out plumes of smoke early in the morning, and sometimes late at night.

One resident, who has lived directly opposite the site since 2003 and wants to remain anonymous, said: 'In the beginning I didn't realize what was going on but I heard rumors. Early in the morning, that's when they release smoke and sometimes when I'm walking it can smell like burning, very strong.'

They also described how there is often a police car stationed outside the plant and that trucks are seen going in and out throughout the day.

Stepan runs the New Jersey operation using two licenses, which it renews each year - one allows the company to import the coca leaves and the other gives it permission to manufacture 'other controlled substances'.

The chemical company is headquartered in Illinois, but operates 20 sites around the world - in South and North America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

According to its website, the Maywood location is used for the production of 'esters, lubricants, food ingredients and specialty products'.

The facility, located on the neighborhood's Hunter Avenue, makes a variety of chemicals and houses more than 30 types of hazardous materials.

Although little is known about those materials, the company's production of 'vegetable extract' is likely a reference to the coca leaf syrup, sometimes mysteriously referred to as 'Formula No. 5'.

In 1988, the Associated Press reported that St. Louis pharmaceutical giant Mallinckrodt was the only entity in the US permitted to receive the cocaine from Stepan.

Mallinckrodt lists 'cocaine hydrochloride', the technical term for powdered cocaine, as available for purchase on its website.

'Cocaine Hydrochloride USP CII' can be purchased in 5 or 25 gram quantities, but is 'intended for US healthcare professionals only,' the site reads.

Stepan says the New Jersey facility also produces lubricants and esters, a solvent with a variety of uses, including in lacquers, paints, and varnishes. Pictured is a vehicle leaving the facility on March 28

Stepan's website claims the Maywood location is used for the production of 'esters, lubricants, food ingredients and specialty products'

The facility is located on Hunter Avenue in Maywood, New Jersey, and makes specialty chemicals. It stores more than 30 types of hazardous materials on site

One resident living not far from the Maywood facility said little is known about what happens inside the plant but that trucks are often seen going in and out

Coca-Cola was created by biochemist and pharmacist from Georgia, Dr. John Stith Pemberton, in the 1880s

The importance of coca leaves in the making Coke dates back to the invention of the drink by Dr. John Stith Pemberton in the 1880s.

Pemberton, a biochemist and pharmacist from Georgia, concocted a unique syrup blending coca leaf extract - which was known at the time to contain increasingly popular cocaine - with West African kola nuts containing caffeine.

The syrup could be diluted with soda and was marketed as a medicine for combatting pain and fatigue.

Pemberton's drink quickly grew in popularity and in 1888 his son sold the recipe patent to Georgia businessman Asa Riggs Candler for around $2,300 - the equivalent of around $75,000 today.

The original drink was famously marketed as being: 'Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating. Invigorating.'

Candler founded The Coca-Cola Company to make use of the patent, and famously marketed Coke as being: 'Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating. Invigorating.'

The business was a huge success and he eventually went on to become the mayor of Atlanta.

Although The Coca-Cola company stopped including cocaine in the drink at the turn of the 19th century, it continued using coca leaves for flavor.

in 1903 the company started working with a German chemist, Dr. Louis Schaefer, who immigrated to the US in 1885, according to his obituary in New Jersey's The Herald-News.

Schaefer founded the Maywood Chemical Works, which went on to work in close consort with federal agencies to import Peruvian coca leaves to his chemical plant in New Jersey.

In 1921, the Harrison act banned the import of coca leaves. But included within the legislation was a curious exemption for the Maywood Chemical Works, which could continue to extract cocaine from the leaf.

A general view of the Stepan plant in New Jersey ,which receives coca leaves and is authorized to manufacture 'controlled substances' for sale

A letter dated 1949 in which Maywood Chemical's President at the time M. J. Hartung alerts Harry Anslinger, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, to a journalist wanting to write about the secretive coca arrangement

In 1959 Maywood was purchased by Stepan Chemicals, which has been manufacturing the flavored extract for Coca-Cola beverages ever since.

The secretive operation has attracted its fair share of controversy over the years, with some questioning how the exclusive agreement might be anti-competitive.

Coca-Cola timeline 1850 - Dr. John Stith Pemberton gets a medical degree 1888 - Pemberton develops a syrup containing coca leaf and caffeine from West African kola nuts 1990s - Under the ownership of Asa Candler The Coca-Cola Company sells the Coke beverage containing cocaine 1903 - Cocaine is removed from coca leaves to offer the flavor in the beverage without the hit 1922 - The Harrison Act bans the import of coca leaves but a section made an exemption for Maywood Chemical Works 1959 - Maywood Chemical is acquired by the Stepan Chemical Company, which continues the scheme to this day Advertisement

'Coca-Cola's success as the mega-company it is today is due, at least in part, to special privileges granted by government during World War II, and the suppression of potential competitors in the early years of Harry Anslinger's anti-drug policies,' reads a 2016 article published by the Mises Institute.

Anslinger was the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, what is now essentially the Drug Enforcement Agency, and was at the heart of the relationship between The Coca-Cola Company and the government.

'He is kind of infamous in drug policy and law. He was really against marijuana,' said Cortes.

Cortes visited the US National Archives in Maryland and viewed letters exchanged between representatives of the Maywood Chemical Works and Anslinger, in which the two conspire to deflect a journalist prying into their affairs.

'We do not desire the publicity which such an article might bring us,' wrote Maywood Chemical's President M. J. Hartung to Anslinger on hearing that a LIFE magazine journalist wanted to cover their arrangement.

Anslinger responded to Hartung's letter with a note to Ralph Hayes, the Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company at the time, saying: 'I agree with you that these articles serve no purpose except to do harm.'

DailMail.com wrote to The Coca-Cola Company and Stepan Company for comment about the Maywood facility and the importation of coca leaves from South America, but did not receive a response.
Ongoing lawsuits and controversies have plagued the New York eyesore

Construction was halted after developers realized it had been built at an angle

The 1 Seaport skyscraper in lower Manhattan has been in limbo since 2020

Despite boasting one of the most iconic skylines in the world, Manhattan has quietly played host to an embarrassing construction fiasco for almost a decade.

Unofficially dubbed 'The Leaning Tower of FiDi', a catastrophic high-rise near Wall Street has plagued downtown Manhattan's lucrative property market.

The $300 million project descended into disaster when developers realized the building had a 3-inch tilt, leading to a tumultuous spiral of legal battles, architectural scraps and even the death of a builder.

The luxury skyscraper - dubbed 1 Seaport - was once one of the most lucrative real estate deals in the city, with prospective residents scrambling to secure its condos - which reportedly cost up to $20million - after being promised lavish amenities including a health spa, fitness center and infinity pool. Would-be tenants were even offered a luxury yacht service at no extra cost.

But while holding down a prime real estate spot over lower Manhattan's East River, the view over the waterfront is yet to be enjoyed by a single occupant after the stop-start construction was last halted in 2020.

The One Seaport structure, pictured, has been on hold since 2020 amid mountain lawsuits and numerous controversies

The unfinished skyscraper was intended to be among the most luxurious in NYC, but it has been an eyesore on the skyline for almost a decade

As early as 2007, developers had been jockeying to add to the lower Manhattan vista, joining other structures including the One World Trade Center and the Chrystler Building.

After years of negotiations, construction giant Fortis Property Group bought the plot of land in 2013 for $64 million, with their ambitions seemingly coming to fruition when work on the skyscraper officially began in July 2015. The hefty sum was set to bring in huge returns, with 80 condos estimated to sell for a total of $272 million.

But the development stumbled at the first hurdle when a problem with the foundations allegedly caused the high rise to lean around 8cm to the north, according to Commercial Observer.

Pizzarotti LLC, the building's contractor, launched a lawsuit against the developer, which was swiftly met with a counter suit from Fortis as the two went to battle over the doomed skyscraper.

While most foundations in large cities such as Manhattan are constructed using a 'piling' method to carefully excavate and brace the soil, therefore protecting the foundations of surrounding buildings, those who worked on the project allegedly took a different approach.

Instead, they reportedly decided to use a 'soil improvement' technique, where chemicals are used to improve the foundation's strength. Fortis, however, has claimed Pizzarotti insufficiently surveyed the project, resulting in the 'slight misalignment'.

As construction continued, the foundation technique allegedly caused the property to 'settle' at an angle, leading to a slate of problems that are still unresolved. Fortis claims that the misalignment has no impact on the safety of the structure.

Years on, stunning images of the structure from New York YIMBY reveal the development is still a skeleton of its once-great potential, where luxury apartments are instead left open the elements and million-dollar amenities are yet to be installed.

The 670-foot high rise has been left to rot as it looms over Manhattan's East River

The development is still a skeleton of its once-great potential, where luxury apartments are instead left open the elements and million-dollar amenities are yet to be installed

Residents were promised lavish amenities including a health spa, fitness center, infinity pool, and even a luxury yacht service at no extra cost

Alongside the most pressing issue of the skyscraper's unfortunate lean, the development has been hit by a number of scandals over its decade of struggle.

In 2015, developer Jack Resnick & Sons, which owns a building just two blocks away named One Seaport Plaza, also sued Fortis after they named the building One Seaport - leading the building to be rebranded with a numerical '1' instead.

And through the years, ensuing controversies and legal delays have been a disaster for the high rise, which once inspired hopes of being among the most luxurious in the area.

Between January and September 2017, the New York City Department of Buildings slapped Pizzarotti with ten building code violations, according to Observer.

Then, with construction still ongoing, horror struck in 2017 when a father of five plummeted 27 stories to his death while working on the high rise.

Juan Chonillo, 43, was on the skyscraper's 29th floor when he fell onto street scaffolding. Although Department of Buildings officials said he had not clipped in his harness, the tragedy caused construction to be halted for several months.

Juan Chonillo, pictured, fell to his death from the skyscraper's 29th floor while working on the structure in 2017

When work got back underway in January 2018, improperly fitted construction netting brought it to a standstill yet again, with the Department of Buildings issuing several stop work orders through the month, reports The Real Deal.

And a year after Chonillo's tragic death, a crane operator reportedly caused significant damage after smashing building materials into the 34th floor, sending concrete plummeting onto the street below.

Despite the cheapest apartment costing over $1.3 million, the building sold half its available units within months, after striking preliminary sales launched in April 2016.

By the time the on-again off-again skyscraper officially topped out by September 2018, 78 of the building's 98 condos were already off the market.

Amid hostile finger pointing over the lack of progress, Pizzarotti launched its lawsuit against Fortis in March 2019 over the 8cm northward lean.

The issue, which was first noticed by a subcontractor in April 2018, allegedly caused difficulties when installing the glass curtain wall - with further safety fears including faulty windows even failing waterproofing.

The building's developer has insisted that despite going uncompleted for nearly a decade, it still maintains plans to finish the towering skyscraper

At one time, almost all of the lavish condos were

On hold since late 2020, and with an uncertain future, the 200,000 square-foot structure remains in limbo.

The only work that has reportedly been carried out is by Pizzarotti's replacement as general contractor, Ray Builders, who designed another glass curtain wall to accommodate the gaudy tilt.

But by July 2020, Ray Builders again stopped construction after claiming that Fortis failed to pay its workers, before resigning as contractor.

Bank Leumi, who reportedly gave Fortis a $90 million construction loan for the doomed skyscraper in June 2016, were subsequently blamed by Fortis for the non-payments in yet another lawsuit filed in August 2020, claiming the bank failed to follow through on part of its loan deal.

By the end of the year, the bank attempted to foreclose on its loan for the skyscraper, according to PincusCo, and as of February 2021, all but six of the condo buyers had cancelled their contracts.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Fortis said it remains intent on finishing the ill-fated skyscraper, claiming it 'continues to work with all stakeholders to end legal matters so we can resume work on the building.

'The foundation at Maiden Lane was approved and recommended over other alternatives and was also approved by Pizzarotti before they signed the construction management agreement with Fortis or lifted a hammer on the project,' the company added.

With several legal disputes still ongoing among the numerous lenders and constructors involved in the project, Fortis added it remains committed to finishing, adding: 'We look forward to resolving these legal matters, making the appropriate remedial measures, completing the building, and having residents enjoy this great property.'

But for now, Big Apple residents are left with the unfinished structure looming nearby to other landmarks including the 9/11 memorial and the One World Trade Center. And amid numerous lawsuits and legal challenges that underpin its failings, the eyesore sits unfinished, staining the iconic Manhattan skyline for all to see.

Pizzarotti LLC have been contacted for comment.
Bald eagles are even starting to appear in parks across New York City

The bald eagle was driven to the brink of extinction in the second half of the 20th century but for decades its population has been bouncing back due to one of the most successful conservation efforts in history.

Recent data collected in New Jersey revealed the state's eagle population is soaring to new heights - with nearly 250 active nests identified last year.

This is more than twice the number counted a decade earlier - and in stark contrast to 1970 when the state had just one pair of breeding eagles.

Throughout the 1970s there were fewer than 1,000 breeding pairs in the US, largely due to the prevalence of a toxic pesticide, DDT, which thinned their egg shells and reduced the likelihood of hatching.

But after a federal ban on DDT was imposed in 1972, the eagle population gradually experienced a resurgence. And in 2007 the government was finally able to remove the bald eagle from its list of endangered species.

According to the most recent national count, conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2021, there are now more than 315,000 individual bald eagles in the US.

The population of bald eagles in each each state in the US. Midwestern states close to Canada, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan, host some of the largest numbers of breeding bald eagles

Florida stands out as one of the few southern states with more than 1,000 breeding pairs. Unlike other migratory eagles that fly south for the winter months, some of Florida's eagles are known to migrate up to Chesapeake bay

Tom Wittig, the US Fish and Wildlife Service eagle coordinator for the Northeast, said numbers are likely to increase further.

'The population has almost certainly continued to grow in the subsequent four and five years that that data was collected,' he said. 'In most states the number of nests continues to climb which is a sign the population is still increasing.'

There are various ways in which the population can be measured. Often ornithologists and conservationists like to think in terms of 'breeding pairs'.

A breeding pair describes a male and female eagle couple that has started building a nest to hatch eggs.

'Historically there has been a lot of focus on the number of breading pairs because of how DDT affected eagles. We know it affected their ability to raise young, which became a major factor in their recovery,' said Witttig.

Bald eagles also have unique migratory behavior, which makes it difficult to attribute populations to specific states. Tracking active nests is therefore much more viable.

'Different populations [of bald eagle] in the US and Canada will have different migratory patterns,' he said. 'For birds generally, migration is driven by food availability. In particular climates - rivers will freeze over and limit access to food.'

For decades the US population of bald eagles has been bouncing back due to one of the most successful conservation efforts in history. In 1967 they were protected as endangered but 40 years later in 2007 they were delisted

Bald eagles in North America are considered 'partial' migrants since some live 'year-round' in a single location, whereas others migrate during the winter to escape those extremely cold conditions.

'It is likely that individual eagles will have general preference and consistent behavior but it may vary year-to-year. If you have a harsher winter they may be more inclined to go,' he said. 'It's all a calculation, at a certain point it makes more sense to stay put than to travel.'

Many migrating bald eagles breed in northern parts of Canada during the summer before heading south in the US to avoid a cold winter with little food.

Illinois is a unique state in that it only harbors around 40 bald eagle nests but sees huge numbers of migratory birds in the winter - more than 3,000 at some points in the year.

Midwestern states close to Canada, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan, host some of the largest numbers of breeding bald eagles.

In Northwestern states including Oregon and Washington there are also many nesting eagles. Florida stands out as one of the few southern states with more than 1,000 year-round breeding pairs.

While the ban on DDT was partly the cause of the increase in eagle populations, conservationists took other measures to help boost their numbers.

'Eagles were translocated from healthy populations in Alaska and Canada and the upper Midwest. As populations began to recover, part of that was attributed to these reintroduced birds,' he said.

A bald eagle (pictured in December 2021) in Pembroke Pines, Florida, calls out to its mate during a break in nest building. The eagle, part of a nesting pair, has returned to the area to mate and raise its young

While the bald eagles population in the US remains on the rise, the trend is not expected to last indefinitely.

'It will eventually result in a plateau, it's a law of ecology, but it's hard to guess when that that will happen. There is a strong case that in Chesapeake Bay and Maine they are nearing that point,' said Wittig.

'Bald eagles are starting to run out of real estate and having to compete with each other. They can now reach six or seven without breeding.'

That means a larger number of 'floater' eagles are also taking to the skies. Those eagles fly around, migrating between states, but do not settle in a particular location.

'For pretty much all of the second half of the 20th century any healthy adult bald eagle would likely end up breeding,' he said. 'Interestingly we're seeing a trend in the last few years that reaching that age doesn't guarantee that a bald eagle will be able to stake a claim to a territory.'

More recently younger adult birds are unable to establish territory for themselves and therefore unable to breed. Some of those couples will hopelessly build nests in unsuitable locations and at the wrong time of year.

In the most recent 2021 Fish and Wildlife Service report the total bald eagle population was divided between various 'lanes'

'We call them flyways. Bald eagles will almost always stick to their flyway - it's relatively rare for a bird to go dramatically east or west,' said Wittig.

'Every once in while the bird's compass will get messed up, it's how you get rare birds in new locations,' he said.

Of the nearly 320,000 bald eagles in the lower 48 US states, around 40,000 were found to be in the westernmost 'Pacific Flyway', 30,000 were in the 'Central Flyway just to the east. East of that is the 'Mississippi Flyway' with the most eagles - 160,000. Finally in the easternmost 'Atlantic Flyway' were around 85,000 birds.

The following table approximates the number of breeding pairs of bald eagles in each US state, according to the latest data from different state sources:
In year since Russia invaded Ukraine, drones have become integral part of war

The constant buzzing of drones in the skies amid the roar of artillery fire has become part of daily life for soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine.

Drones - small in size and often cheap - have the capacity to locate soldiers and ammunition supplies, drop bombs and provide better visuals of what is happening on the battlefield.

And in the year since Russia invaded Ukraine they have become an integral part of the war, with both sides playing a game of 'cat and mouse' to see who can come up with the best technology and tactics.

While Russia has far greater resources - both in terms of soldiers and equipment - Kyiv believes drone innovation is one area where it can begin to catch up with Moscow.

For Dr David Jordan, Co-Director of the Freeman Air & Space Institute at Kings College London, Ukraine has gained a 'greater benefit' from drones compared to Russia as they have acted 'instantaneously' to real-time intelligence gained from the UAV's data.

And in the year since the Russia's invasion of Ukraine, drones have become an integral part of the war, with both sides playing a game of 'cat and mouse' to see who can come up with the best technology and tactics. Above: A graphic showing how different Ukrainian and Russian drones compare

'The Ukrainians have used drones much more tactically on the battlefield than the Russians have. They've been innovative and drones have been real force multipliers in terms of giving the Ukrainians options and the ability to track Russian targets and destroy them,' Dr Jordan tells MailOnline.

'Ukrainian forces have really evolved with the help of drones, particularly in terms of information gathering and surveillance. Drones have really bolstered Ukraine's war effort.'

Indeed, Krystyna Marcinek, of the American think tank RAND, says drones have allowed Ukrainian soldiers to have 'a situational awareness for multiple missions at the same time along the front line,' meaning they have been able to launch a series of attacks at once.

Dr Jordan and Marcinek also point to how important commercial drones - like Ukraine's DJI Mavic - have been in the war as they are cheap and expendable, meaning they are no huge loss if they are destroyed compared to expensive fighter jets.

Here MailOnline takes an in depth look at how the different Ukrainian and Russian drones compare.

Ukraine's UAVs

Bayraktar TB2

Ukraine has been using Turkey-made Bayraktar TB2 drones since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February last year.

The missile-equipped UAVs have been highly efficient at striking Russian targets, Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, said.

They have managed to destroy columns of Russia's tanks and armoured vehicles as well as a series of multiple launch rocket systems and anti-aircraft systems.

At least for a time, the Bayraktar TB2, which has a 12-metre wingspan and can soar to 25,000 feet before swooping down to destroy tanks and artillery with laser-guided armour-piercing bombs, has helped undermine Russia's overwhelming military superiority.

Indeed, a Bayraktar drone was used in the attack which sank the Russian warship Moskva in the Black Sea in April 2022.

Ukraine has been using Turkey-made Bayraktar TB2 drones (pictured) since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February last year

Ukrainian Armed Forces showing how Bayraktar TB2 is destroying the Russian equipment in March 2022

Such is the drone's renown that it became the subject of a patriotic expletive-strewn hit song in Ukraine that mocked Russian troops, with the chorus 'Bayraktar, Bayraktar'.

The drone is 6.5 metres long, has a maximum take-off weight of 650 kilograms - nearly half the weight of a missile - and can fly for almost 24 hours while equipped with cameras and up to four laser-guided bombs.

It can also be used for reconnaissance and surveillance missions - and its 24 hour battery means that it can be highly efficient in collecting data over a long period of time.

Turkey has sold Kyiv several batches of Bayraktar TB2 drones, which it had in the past deployed against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The designer of Bayraktar drones, Selcuk Bayraktar, who runs the Istanbul firm Baykar with his brother Haluk, said the drones had shown how technology was revolutionising modern warfare.

Turkey's decision to supply Ukraine with the Bayraktar TB2 drones has angered the Kremlin, with its spokesperson complaining the Turkish UAVs risked destabilising the situation in Ukraine - despite Russia launching the invasion in the first place.

Before being used in Ukraine, the drone was used in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.

Soldiers push a Bayraktar TB2 UCAV at the Kulbakyne aerodrome during the Exercise Sea Breeze 2021, Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine

Aerorozvidka R18

The Ukrainian-made R18 'octocopter' drone is able to drop explosives weighing up to 5kg on its targets and has been able to destroy more than 130 million worth of Russian artillery since the war began more than a year ago.

It has a range of up to 4km and is designed for total visual stealth in the dark with thermal-imaging cameras, meaning that at night, Ukrainian forces are able to spot Russian troops and machinery without the drone being seen.

Ukraine's R18 drone is produced by Aerozvidka - an organisation that began eight years ago as a group of drone enthusiasts who saw potential for quadcopter technology in warfare. Now, the group works closely with Ukrainian forces.

Mykhaylo, a drone expert from Aerozvidka, told Radio Free Europe that their R18 drones have had a 'significant' impact on Ukraine's war efforts.

The R18 drone (pictured) has a range of up to 4km and is designed for total visual stealth in the dark with thermal-imaging cameras, meaning that at night, Ukrainian forces are able to spot Russian troops and machinery without the drone being seen

The Ukrainian-made R18 'octocopter' drone is able to drop explosives weighing up to 5kg on its targets and has been able to destroy more than 130 million worth of Russian artillery since the war began more than a year ago

Russian tank explodes after being hit by bomb dropped from a drone in Ukraine

He told of how a group of drone operators sped towards Russian troops near Kyiv at the start of the war on quad bikes and dropped bombs from the UAVs and destroyed the Kremlin's tanks and military vehicles.

'We played a very important role in the Kyiv operation,' Mykhaylo said. He says that Aerorozvidka developed the R18 drone after Russian troops started using a Chinese tracking technology called Aeroscope. This technology allows Russian soldiers to detect the flight path of most DJI-branded drones and pinpoint where the UAV's operator is standing.

In response, the R18 was developed to evade the DJI sensor and avoid detection.

DJI Mavic

Both Russia and Ukraine have been using small and cheap commercial models of drones during the war - especially Kyiv with its DJI Mavic UAV, which costs about 1,700.

Scores of DJI Mavic drones, created by Chinese company DJI, have been donated by Ukrainians to be used by their military in the fight against Russia.

The Ukrainian military has been calling for citizens to donate their hobby drones and to volunteer as experienced pilots to operate them - and now the public have formed a volunteer drone force.

The DJI Mavic can be fitted with small bombs, but it is mainly used to track enemy troops with its front-loaded camera and to help Ukrainian forces on the ground to direct their attacks.

The drone is a quadcopter capable of carrying a Molotov cocktail horizontally before it is directed by the Ukrainian command to drop the explosive on its target.

Both Russia and Ukraine have been using small and cheap commercial models of drones during the war - especially Kyiv with its DJI Mavic UAV, which costs about 1,700. PIctured: Participants practice flying a drone, in this case to locate colleagues who were hiding and pretending to be enemy snipers, during a combat training day hosted by a local paramilitary civil formation called TSEL on February 22, 2023 in Lviv region, Ukraine

A participant practices flying a drone, in this case to locate colleagues who were hiding and pretending to be enemy snipers, during a combat training day hosted by a local paramilitary civil formation called TSEL on February 22, 2023 in Lviv region, Ukraine

The DJI Mavic's capabilities are not as good as its military counterparts as it can only fly a distance of 30 km and fly for a maximum of 46 minutes.

Indeed, unlike the much larger Turkish-built combat drones that Ukraine has in its arsenal, off-the-shelf consumer drones arent much use as weapons  but they can be powerful reconnaissance tools.

Civilians have been using the aerial cameras to track Russian convoys and then relay the images and GPS coordinates to Ukrainian troops. Some of the machines have night vision and heat sensors.

'Commercial drones, like the DJI Mavic, have become hugely important in the war. Ukraine has been incredibly skilled in the way they have used drone footage to show what is going on on the front lines,' Dr Jordan says.

'Drones have allowed Ukrainian forces to see what Russian soldiers are doing. They can fly around, hoovering up all sorts of information. The drones can work in conjunction with troops on the ground who can fire artillery at the correct targets.'

Dr Jordan adds: 'With drones, if Ukrainian forces have integrated that system with the ground forces - and they often have done - whereby troops have a drone and missiles, they can locate Russian troops and then fire at them almost instantaneously.'

ervicemen of the aerial reconnaissance unit of one of the Territorial Defence brigades learn to control drones, Zaporizhzhia Region, southeastern Ukraine, on March 7, 2023

But theres a downside: DJI, the leading provider of consumer drones in Ukraine and around the world, provides a tool that can easily pinpoint the location of an inexperienced drone operator, and no one really knows what the Chinese firm or its customers might do with that data.

Ukraine has a thriving community of drone experts, some of whom were educated at the National Aviation University or the nearby Kyiv Polytechnic University and went on to found local drone and robotics startups.

Small civilian drones are no match against Russian combat power but will likely become increasingly important in a protracted war, leaving drone-makers no option to be completely neutral.

Switchblade 300

The United States has sent Ukraine around 700 Switchblade drones, which can circle above a battlefield before nose diving down onto their targets and exploding like a missile.

The killer Switchblade drones, made by American company AeroVironment, are relatively easy to use and could be highly effective in attacking Russian forces.

The drones, which have a range of 40 km (25 miles), can be used against vehicles including trucks, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

They are single-use weapons as they fly into their targets and detonate on impact.

While the US has said it is supplying Ukraine with 700 of the drones, it is not clear whether any of the Switchblades have been used yet.

The United States has sent Ukraine around 700 Switchblade drones, which can circle above a battlefield before nose diving down onto their targets and exploding like a missile.

A Loitering Munition UAV drone (Peer product:Switchblade 300) is displayed at National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) in Taichung City, central Taiwan

Russia's UAVS

Shahed-136 - rebranded as Geran-2 by Russia

Russian forces have used the Iranian-made Shahed drones - which Moscow has rebranded as Geran-2 - in the war.

While sophisticated drones have been used by Ukrainian forces that can launch missiles, such as the US-made Predator, the Geran-2 is far far cruder.

Packed with explosives, the Shahed UAVs can be preprogrammed with a target's GPS coordinates. They are known as suicide drones because they nosedive into targets and explode on impact like a missile.

Drones like the Shaheds are called loitering munitions by the military because when used at short range, they can hover over an area and then hit a target on an operator's command.

Russian forces have used the Iranian-made Shahed drones - which Moscow has rebranded as Geran-2 - in the war (pictured above Kyiv on October 17)

Astonishing images capture the moment a Shahed suicide drone dives towards the streets of Kyiv on October 17

A ball of smoke and flames rises over the streets of Kyiv as the city is bombarded by a swarm of Iranian-made kamikaze drones on October 17, 2022, hitting residential areas and energy infrastructure

According to Iranian data, the Shahed-136 has a wingspan of 2.5 metres, is 3.5 metres long and weighs approximately 200 kilograms. It's powered by a 50-horsepower engine with a top speed of 185 kph (114mph).

And while its range is about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), drone expert Samuel Bendett with the CNA think tank, said the Shahed is being used in Ukraine at much shorter ranges. That's because its GPS guidance system - which is vulnerable to jamming - isn't very robust.

Shaheds are known to have been controlled via radio under the Iranians. Whether Russia is capable of the same in Ukraine is unclear, though Ukrainians have reported seeing the drones change direction, suggesting at least some remote control.

Because they are cheap - at 16,000 each - and there are a lot of them in supply, Russia has increasingly used Shahed UAVs in Ukraine. They have been used to target civilian infrastructure since the war began.

A security officer uses his rifle to try and take down a suicide drone attacking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on October 17, 2022

This undated photograph released by the Ukrainian military's Strategic Communications Directorate shows the wreckage of what Kyiv has described as an Iranian Shahed drone downed near Kupiansk, Ukraine

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a residential building destroyed by a Russian drone strike, which local authorities consider to be Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Shahed-136, in central Kyiv on October 17, 2022

Their use lets Russia avoid putting sophisticated aircraft and pilots at risk and save its limited stock of expensive long-range precision missiles.

Fired from a truck launcher in rapid succession, the drones can fly low and slow, better able to avoid radar detection. They are launched in a quick succession in order to overwhelm Ukrainian defences.

Russia has managed to use the Shahed drones to effectively saturate targets, whether a fuel depot or infrastructure and utilities like power or water stations. They have done so by using them alongside intelligence drones.

But Ukraine has said they have managed to shoot down a vast majority of the drones - over 80 per cent - by using machine guns and portable anti-air missiles.

As the conflict essentially becomes one of attrition  who can withstand that human, material and financial burden the longest  finding cheaper but still potent weapons will be key.

And for Russia, the Shahed drones are a cheap version of Moscow's Kalibr cruise missiles which cost nearly 1million each.

Kronshtadt Orion

Russia's Orion UAV has been hailed by the Kremlin as their best strike drone due to its 'fighter-like' capabilities.

The Orion is a middle-altitude, long flight drone with a maximum flight altitude of about 25,000 feet and it can remain in the air for up to 24 hours.

It can travel at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour and can carry up to 250 kg of weaponry, which includes four aerial bombs and guided missiles in total.

The Orion also has a turret under the front of the drone which is equipped with electro-optical and infrared cameras as well as a laser which can lock down targets before launching a missile.

Russia's Orion UAV has been hailed by the Kremlin as their best strike drone due to its 'fighter-like' capabilities

Orlan-10

The Kremlin has claimed Russian forces have more than 1,000 small, versatile Orlan-10 drones that they use for reconnaissance, targeting, jamming and mobile phone interception.

The 'Sea Eagle' Orlan 10 UAV is a deceptive, relatively low-tech and cheap killer in Russia's arsenal.

It has directed many of the 20,000 artillery shells that Russia has fired daily on Ukrainian positions in 2022, killing up to 100 soldiers per day, according to Ukrainian commanders.

The drone entered the war early on and Russia has since used it to attack Ukrainian military assets and for aerial reconnaissance.

Russian units are pictured carrying an Orlan-10 drone

For aerial reconnaissance and surveillance missions, Russian soldiers usually deploy the drones in groups of three.

The first drone is used to locate Ukrainian soldiers or their artillery at an altitude of around 5,000 feet, a second is used to attack the target by dropping shells on them while a third is often used to transmit surveillance information to the control centre.

The drone has a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour and a combat range of 80 miles. It can also remain in flight for a maximum of 16 hours.

But Dr Jordan says the Orlan-10 is 'relatively unsophisticated'. 'But Russia has been using these loitering munitions alongside other drones that will be used for reconnaissance and electronic warfare where they are trying to jam Ukrainian communications,' he explains.

The Orlan-10 is a reconnaissance, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Special Technology Center (STC)

Eleron-3SV

Russia developed its Eleron-3SV drone in 2013 and it has been used in Ukraine to conduct reconnaissance missions in the day and night.

The drone, which costs around 130,000, has an operating range of 15 miles and can remain in the air for two hours at maximum altitude of three miles.

Since the war began, Ukrainian troops have claimed they have captured two of of the Eleron-3 drones.

In November, Ukraine released footage of an Eleron-3SV drone they had downed and it was reported specialists would disassemble the UAV and study its interior.

Russia developed its Eleron-3SV drone in 2013 and it has been used in Ukraine to conduct reconnaissance missions in the day and night
An award-winning hair stylist felt he had 'a licence' to molest two 17 year-old trainees he took into a rear private area of his salons - groping their breasts and bottoms, a court heard.

Married father-of-two Alan Luckhurst, 36, was awarded the 'Retailer of the Year' prize while managing a Twickernham hair salon where he sexually assaulted the first victim.

Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard Luckhurst was arrested and on bail for those offences when he molested the second victim at another salon he opened himself.

Luckhurst repeatedly touched the breasts of the first victim; placed his hand between her legs and pressed his groin against her bottom.

He also groped the breasts of the second victim and once made her touch him intimately between the legs.

All the offences involved groping over the girls' clothing apart from one incident when he forced his hand under the second victim's bra.

An award-winning hair stylist, married father-of-two Alan Luckhurst, 36, pictured, felt he had 'a licence' to molest two 17 year-old trainees he took into a rear private area of his salons - groping their breasts and bottoms, a court heard

Luckhurst fought the charges, making both victims give evidence, but was convicted of six counts of sexually assaulting the first victim, plus one charge of sexual activity at a Twickenham hair salon.

Regarding the second victim he was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual activity at The Avenue salon, Sutton.

He was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and must sign the sex offenders register for seven years.

'Both [victims] were seventeen years-old and you were the manager and later the owner of two salons and you accepted apprentices from colleges to work in your salons and you sexually assaulted both of them,' said Recorder William Featherby KC.

Luckhurst repeatedly touched the breasts of the first victim; placed his hand between her legs and pressed his groin against her bottom. He also groped the breasts of the second victim and once made her touch him intimately between the legs

'You went considerably further than 'making passes' when you took them into a private room at the rear of each premises under the pretence of discussing their progress.'

Luckhurst must also comply with an 18-month Community Order; attend 35 days of a sex offenders programme; comply with up to thirty days of a rehabilitation activity requirement and obey a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, prohibiting him employing staff under 18 years-old.

'You plainly felt an attraction two these young women and felt you had some sort of licence to touch them,' Recorder Featherby told Luckhurst. 'You made them both feel vulnerable and frightened.

'They continue to feel violated and vulnerable and these experiences put their careers in other directions.'

Luckhurst's lawyer Kimberley Aiken told the court: 'These convictions have been a massive blow to this man, who has built his career up. He has felt suicidal and his business has been limping on.

'The last six years have been an apocalypse for both him and his wife and they twice had to cancel their wedding when trials were listed and then cancelled.'

Luckhurst spent two years on police bail before the Crown Prosecution Service decided to charge him and his trial was further delayed by Covid and barristers strikes.

'He has already suffered a great deal,' added Ms Aiken. 'It is not normal to have to wait his long.

'He understands he is here today to be punished and feels he has already been punished a great deal.

'Apart from these dreadful convictions he has had a positive stable life and adores his two children.

'He has had a pretty rotten wake-up call. He has had the shock of his life and now accepts he was in the wrong, late as it is.

'I ask the court to pass a sentence that allows Mr Luckhurst to continue building his life, a charitable life rather than living a life in shame on the sex offenders register.

Luckhurst fought the charges, making both victims give evidence, but was convicted of six counts of sexually assaulting the first victim, plus one charge of sexual activity at Twickenham hair salon

'It was another awful day in his life when the police visited his home.'

Recorder Featherby told Luckhurst: 'Other than these offences you are a responsible person who has been involved in charitable works and fundraising.

'The financial impact on you and your family is considerable, running into the tens of thousands of pounds.

'These are multiple and repeated offences, but the Probation Service say you are at 'low risk' of re-offending.'
Birmingham has spent more than 500,00 dealing with its dumping problem

Taxpayers have footed a staggering 10.7million bill to clean-up illegally dumped waste over the course of a single year, according to figures released by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

During the financial year 2021/2, local councils responded to more than one million fly-tipping incidents, with more than 400,000 reported across London.

The figures show that among the hundreds of thousands of fly-tipping incidents there were more than 3,000 cases of asbestos being illegally dumped.

Asbestos was commonly used as a fire retardant or a roofing material before it was linked to causing chronic lung disease - it continues to be torn out of older buildings, and is meant to be disposed of carefully, and within the law.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to clamp down on fly-tipping as part of his attempt to reduce the problems caused by anti-social behaviour as part of his levelling-up agenda.

Part of the plan to eradicate fly-tipping is to double the current maximum fine to 1,000. There are also proposals to force miscreants to clean up the area within 48 hours of the offence or face further action.

The London Borough of Hackney was unable to supply information over the past fiscal year on the size of its illegal dumping problem as their computer system was paralysed by a major cyber attack.

Interestingly, per head of population, during the financial year 2021-2022 the City of London had the greatest number of fly-tipping incidents per head of population.

Not all of the illegal dumping over that period has required taxpayers to fund its removal, especially if the waste was deposited on private land or private roadways - although the event may have been recorded in the local authority database.

HOW TO USE THE INTERACTIVE MAP: Scroll around the map and click on a rubbish bag to see the extent of the fly-tipping problem in your local neighbourhood.

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Residents within the Square Mile had one illegal dumping incident for every 290 people living in the area - although with approximately 9,000 people living in the area, this figure is skewed slightly by the low population.

This compares with the Isles of Scilly, which reported no cases of Illegal dumping during the year.

Oadby and Wigston, which is on the southern outskirts of Leicester, and has a population of some 56,000 people, had just 14 cases of illegal dumping.

Ryedale, a rural area among the North Yorkshire Moors has also seen little issue with fly-tipping, according to official figures released by Defra.

They have a rate of one incident per one thousand population. Such was the lack of a problem, the local authority spent 472 cleaning up the mess.

Local authorities have spent more than 10m in the past year cleaning up illegally dumped waste

Councils have reported masses of domestic, commercial and even industrial waste dumped across the country

Slough reported more than 1,600 cases of illegal dumping in the financial year 2021/2

The London Borough of Newham spent 702,000 clearing up more than 25,000 incidents, according to the data.

Birmingham council tax payers wererelieved of 549,000.

The London Borough of Croydon, which is facing bankruptcy spent 390,000 clearing up 26,600 incidents.

In the North East, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead and Hartlepool spent around 1m clearing up illegally dumped waste.

In the North West, Liverpool and the Wirral residents saw more than500,000 spent removing dumped waste.

Much waste has been dumped in rivers and streams, while rural lanes and parks are also targeted by the criminal gangs

Cash-strapped councils have been struggling to clear the epidemic of illegal dumping

Last week, Mr Sunak released a 41-page document which included measures to tackle fly-tipping and illegal dumping.

It formed part of a package of reforms that will see trials of swifter justice measures and increased policing in areas of England and Wales deemed to have high amounts of low-level crime.

The plan, announced by the Prime Minister during a visit to Essex on Monday, also includes a ban on the sale of laughing gas against the advice of official government advisers.

CLICK TO READ MORE: Is this Britain's grottiest street? The scrap heap of rubbish has been blighting homeowners' lives since being abandoned along Deykin Avenue, in Aston, Birmingham, in 2021 Advertisement

Mr Sunak, who stressed the importance of 'strong communities built on values', said anti-social behaviour is 'not the type of country that we are and that is why it is important we do something about it'.

Speaking to members of the public, he said: 'We're going to ban nitrous oxide. And we're also going to expand the power of the police to do drug testing on arrest for far more crimes and far more drugs and tackle the scourge of drugs.'

Beyond the health implications for users of so-called 'hippy crack', once inhaled, the discarded cannisters are often left to litter the streets.

After last year's Notting Hill Carnival, clean-up crews filled an entire skip with cannisters of potentially explosive Dutch 'Fast Gas', among the 300 tonnes of trash collected from the north London streets.

Current legislation already prohibits the knowing or reckless supply of nitrous oxide for inhalation.

But the Government plans to make it a Class C drug, according to its anti-social behaviour action plan, which could see users facing up to two years in jail and unlimited fines.

Ministers hope to ban nitrous oxide before the end of the year.

Under the plan, drug testing of criminals will become more prevalent, on-the-spot fines for graffiti and fly-tipping will be increased, and more money will be ploughed into youth centres as part of a bid to eradicate behaviours spoiling Britain's neighbourhoods.

So-called Immediate Justice proposals will aim to see perpetrators behind anti-social activity carry out repair and clean-up works within 48 hours of being handed community orders.

Offenders will be made to wear hi-vis vests or jumpsuits and work under supervision while picking up litter, removing graffiti and washing police cars as punishment for their actions.

Victims of anti-social behaviour will be given a say in how criminals are disciplined to ensure justice is visible and fits the crime, according to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

In what is being called Hotspot Policing, some areas will trial having enforced police patrols.

Other measures include:
A hard-working mother letting her hair down, enjoying a few drinks, and partying with her friends. There is nothing extraordinary about that.

But for Sanna Marin - Finland's Prime Minister - a leaked video of her doing just that will remain a constant thorn in her side as she and her party face an extremely tight election.

Seized upon by her political rivals, the video once again called into question the 37-year-old leader's 'partying' lifestyle, the year after she apoligised for going clubbing during the pandemic, despite coming into contact with a potential Covid case.

Tomorrow, Finns will go to the polls, in what is shaping up to be an extremely close race between three parties, with Marin's Social Democrats slightly behind in the polls as they fight to secure a second term at the head of government.

The election is taking place just days after Finland cleared the last big hurdle in its 10-month campaign to join NATO. Turkey's parliament on Thursday ratified the Nordic nation's membership in the Western military alliance.

An election poster of Social Democratic Party SDP chair and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin is displayed on a campaign booth ahead of Sunday's election

The 'rockstar' PM was pictured ready to party at the Flow festival in Helsinki with photographer and influencer Janita Autio on the latter's Instagram account

Marin is often spotted out and about with her husband Markus Raikkonen

Marin - who became the youngest world leader following her election in 2019 at the age of 34 - has increased her international visibility by impressing on the world state. She has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine, even visiting Kyiv and President Zelensky just weeks ago, and has even called out China's persecution of the Uighur Muslim population.

Marin received particular plaudits in October last year when she was asked about a potential off-ramp for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Rather plainly, she responded: 'The way out of this conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. That is the way out of the conflict. The exit from the conflict is when Russia leaves the territory of Ukraine.'

But while she remains relatively popular at home, many Finns are also frustrated with their country's rising cost-of-living - something Marin has said is a consequence of Russia's invasion.

Marin leads a centre-Left coalition of Social Democrats, the Centre, the Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party of Finland. The centre-right National Coalition Party and right-wing populist Finns Party currently lead their opponents at the polls.

Although some view Marin as a strong leader who skillfully navigated the Covid-19 pandemic and the country's NATO membership process, others say her 'partying scandals' and 'youthful behaviour' make her unfit for office.

'Sanna Marin is a polarising character. She has fans like a rock star but on the other hand she has a lot of people who can't stand her,' Marko Junkkari, a journalist at daily Helsingin Sanomat, said.

Hanna Wass, the vice-dean of the University of Helsinki, also addressed Marin's two varying images, telling the FT: 'Internationally, shes a superstar. In Finland, shes more of a polarising figure.'

A video of Sanna Marin caused a stir when she was seen dancing rather intimately with a stranger in club Cafe Klubi in August 2022

Sanna Marin became one of the youngest world leaders in 2019 when was sworn in as Finland's prime minister at the age of 34

Finnish Prime Minister, Chair of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Sanna Marin poses for a picture during her elections rally on March 31

Social Democratic Party SDP chair and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin addresses supporters during her elections rally in Vantaa, Finland

How Finnish politics could shift to the far-right in an election that could see Sanna Marin's Social Democrats Party replaced

Finnish politics could dramatically shift to the far-Right on Sunday as an anti-immigration party aims to replace Sanna Marin's Social Democrats Party.

The 'rock star' prime minister is Finland's most popular leader this century, polls show.

However, the latest figures put the mother-of-one's centre-Left SDP in third place behind the anti-immigration and nationalist Finns Party and the centre-Right National Coalition Party, which held on to a thin lead.

'It is a very exciting situation and it's hard to say at the moment which party will be the biggest on election day,' Tuomo Turja of the polling firm Taloustutkimus told AFP.

A win for the far-Right Finns Party, and a far-Right prime minister, would be a first in Finland - but the party has previously served in government in a coalition.

It currently looks set to top its record 19 per cent from the 2011 election.

The latest polls on Thursday put Sanna Marin's centre-left SDP in third place, behind the anti-immigration and nationalist Finns Party and the centre-right National Coalition

An election poster of Social Democratic Party SDP chair and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin is displayed on a campaign booth in Helsinki on March 31

Sanna Marin's 'partying' lifestyle - and THAT leaked video

Sanna Marin has broken down several barriers since she became Finland's prime minister.

But while Finnish opinion polls for Marin's coalition government remain steadily positive, some people have raised questions about the mother-of-one's 'partying' lifestyle.

After a video surfaced of Marin - who shares a daughter Emma Amalia Marin with her husband Markus Raikkonen - dancing with some celebrity friends while music blared in the background, the PM received criticism for her antics.

The video last year came just eight months after Marin was forced to apologise for going out clubbing after coming into contact with a Covid-19 case in December 2021.

She did not have her official phone with her, which was where she received the notification she needed to isolate.

Apologising following the partying video, she said: 'I am also human. 'I do my job. I learn from this.

'This week has not been easy. It has been difficult. But I want to believe that people look at the work we do, not what we do in our free time.'

Marin previously came under fire after a video of herself partying with around 20 other revellers surfaced

She was seen dancing wildly and partying with a group of celebrity friends in a video previously leaked online

Sanna Marin as she gives a speech after a leaked partying video in August 2022

When Marin came to power in 2019 pictures of her five-party coalition, all headed by women, made headlines

Seven of the country's eight largest parties are run by women, and Finland ranks among the world's best countries for gender equality.

When Marin came to power in 2019 - Finland's third female prime minister - pictures of her five-party coalition, all headed by women, made headlines around the world.

The Finnish parliament was the first in the world to have women as MPs in 1907, when Finland was still an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian empire.

While women have never been a majority in parliament, they make up 47 percent of outgoing MPs.

And the share of women running for office on Sunday is the highest ever.

The Finnish language may help explain Finns' egalitarian nature. It does not distinguish between genders for personal pronouns, with the word 'han' meaning both 'he' and 'she'.

Women are the leaders of all the governing coalition parties in Finland. From left to right: Annika Saarikko, Maria Ohisalo, Li Andersson, and Anna-Maja Henriksson

Sanna Marin became Finland's third female prime minister and, at the time, the youngest prime minister in the world

'I didn't think it was possible to get into politics myself'

Marin has previously admitted that she never expected to get into politics, telling the Menaiset website: 'When I was in high school, I felt that the people who make politics are quite different and come from different backgrounds than I am.

'At that time, I didn't think it was possible to get involved myself.'

Marin, who spent her teenage years working in a bakery, added that her mother has always been very supportive and made her believe she could do anything she wanted.

Marin is known for sharing snippets of her personal life on Instagram

Marin is known for sharing some snippets of her personal life with the public on her Instagram account - including trips with Markus and lavish events where she shows off her glamorous side.

Last summer Marin donned a sequinned dress and teamed up with photographer and influencer Janita Autio to let down their hair at the Flow Festival in Helsinki, where it's thought she took to the stage.

She also knows how to rock a ballgown and is often pictured on the red carpet at events with Markus.

Marin has also headed up the Pride parade in Helsinki - a cause important to her after being raised by two mothers.

The mother-of-one wore a white dress with pink embroidery in an Aztec-style as she waved rainbow flags and walked through the streets of Helsinki.

Sanna Marin, 36, became the prime minister of Finland in 2019 when she was just 34 - and while her approval ratings are strong, people have questioned her 'partying' lifestyle

Marin got married to Markus in August 2020 and posted a photo on Instagram of the pair on their wedding day

The mother-of-one uses her Instagram account to post photos which show an honest account of motherhood, including feeding time

Marin will focus on seeking economic growth and stronger employment

The economy, climate change and others issues that affect voters' daily lives - like education and social benefits - have dominated the election campaign.

Job creation and Finland's rapidly increasing government debt are issues that will likely preoccupy the next government of the Nordic nation of 5.5 million.

'Above all, we must seek economic growth and stronger employment,' Marin said in a recent interview with Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

'If we don't succeed in these two things, we won't be able to reduce our indebtedness, and we won't be able to balance our economy.'

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Finland to seek NATO membership in May 2022, neither the historic decision to abandon the nation's non-alignment policy nor the war have emerged as major campaign issues. Finland shares a long land border with Russia.

Marin played a prominent role, along with President Sauli Niinisto, in advocating for Finland's application to join NATO, which was made in tandem with Sweden. On Friday, she thanked the countries that supported its membership.

There was a broad consensus among the country's political parties and overwhelming domestic support for membership in the Western military alliance.

Kimmo Elo, a senior researcher in parliamentary studies at the University of Turku, said that Finland's pending bid played 'a very small role' in the campaign, making it unlikely that Turkey's ratification would emerge as a matter of debate or impact voters' choices.

Marin rules out the Social Democrats partnering with The Finns

Marin has ruled out the Social Democrats partnering with The Finns after the election, citing substantial differences in values and policies.

The populist, nationalist party's candidates have run on an anti-immigration and anti-European Union platform.

Should Marin's party win, forming the same coalition again is out of the question as the Center Party has said it doesn't favor such a government composition any more.

The populists, who also have a woman as party leader, are in turn highly critical of a goal set by Marin's government to make Finland carbon-neutral and fossil-free by 2035, calling the policy naive and unrealistic. The Finns envision the country becoming carbon neutral in 2050 at the earliest.

'Is this how Finland really thinks of saving itself? With green promises and throwing money at everything that sounds good?' Finns leader Riikka Purra wrote in the party's recent newsletter, referring to pledges by Marin's Cabinet to increase investments in a green transition and economy.
British men targeted by Dutch officials enjoyed the lure of Amsterdam's red-light district and hit back at the 'kill joys' who they slammed for making a hash of their enjoyment.

They also revealed that British port officers had advised them that they were 'persona non grata' under new Dutch moves and that they should be aware their conduct while in Amsterdam would come under intense scrutiny.

As the bachelor party weekend got underway and Britons poured in in teeming rain, police and Amsterdam officials had their main focus on men from the UK aged between 18-35.

Cece Monroe (pictured above),23, a British transexual sex worker said: 'It is wrong to blame the British and ban them from here. Pictured: Red Light District

The city's mayor, Femke Halsema, wants to dissuade young British men visiting because of their anti social behaviour. Pictured: Red Light District

Twenty-two-year-old Ollie Puttnam from Evesham, Worcestershire, said he had been warned about the anti-Brit campaign, but said anything he did on his weekend trip to Amsterdam would fall within the laws of the country.

He added: 'If I decide to sleep with a prostitute which I may or may not do or have some mushrooms, truffles or weed, it would all be legal here so I don't get what their problem with us would be.'

Roofer Ollie, who is single, added: 'Back home you can't sleep with prostitutes or pay them for sex as easily as you could here.

'I suppose paying for it takes some of the joy out of it, but a lot of English guys come over here and spend a lot of money doing that.

'You can't ban guys for just being British or people like us because we are not all d*** heads.

British tourists in Amsterdam were broadly supportive of the protests and against the move by tourist chiefs - including Claire Moore (pictured, second left),45, and her partner Jeff Gibbs (pictured, second right), 55, from Worthing who had brought their sons Reece (back centre), 22, and Joshua (left), 26, to Amsterdam for a mini break

'We are just like men from other countries who want to party and not cause trouble.'

He and his friend Stephen Dean, 28, a HGV driver, drove from Worcestershire for 14 hours to reach Amsterdam to 'party for the weekend.'

He revealed: 'When we put the car on the ferry at Dover, the immigration people told us that we had to be more careful in Amsterdam when we told them where we were heading.

'They said they were all sorts of new rules coming in and that we should be aware of that.

'But we are not causing any trouble to anyone and neither will we.

'Yeah, we will smoke some weed and have a look around the red light areas. But it isn't against any laws.

'It was a last minute thing coming here. I have been here before with an ex girlfriend. But I am single now, so its all good.

'We have hired some bikes and I want to find some legal drugs like truffles.

'We came through Rotterdam and stopped for some weed.

'But if guys cause trouble then they should find themselves in trouble. But whoever is behind this can't include us. We want to party and they shouldn't try and spoil it.'

Amsterdam officials denied their 'Stay Away' campaign was discriminatory against British men and said other foreign men would be targeted.

Jenrina van Heck, an Amsterdam city council official, told MailOnline: 'The campaign starts in the UK.

'During the next months, the campaign will be further developed and evaluated, and it will also be aimed at potential nuisance-causing visitors from other EU-countries and The Netherlands itself.

'A considerable group of visitors from the UK come to Amsterdam. A part of this group is strongly represented in the nightlife in the city centre accompanied with more than average nuisance behaviour.

'By starting in the UK, we can gain good experiences with the campaign and evaluate it well.

'The campaign is a part of a total package of measures. Several measures, among which are reduced opening hours, a ban on smoking cannabis in public and a reduction of alcohol sales in certain areas of the inner city, will already be effectuated this spring, after debate in the City Council.

Amsterdam's famous red light district, where officials have warned rowdy British tourists they face being fined if they misbehave

Cannabis is available in Amsterdam's famous coffee shops. Other recreational drugs are available over the country from shops

Brits have been specifically targeted by Amsterdam's 'Stay Away' campaign - but many UK tourists have insisted that will not stop them partying

A police offiecr talks to revellers in Amsterdam as part of the crackdown on misbehaviour

'Visitors will remain welcome, but not if they misbehave and cause nuisance. In that case we as a city will say: rather not, stay away.

'Amsterdam is already taking lots of measures against excessive tourism and nuisance, and we are taking more measures than other large cities in Europe.

'But we must do even more the coming years if we want to give tourism a sustainable place in our city.

'Amsterdam is a metropole and crowds, and bustle are inherent features, but to keep our city liveable we now have to choose for restriction instead of irresponsible growth.

'In November 2022 we presented a package of measures and a vision for the Visitor Economy: The city government's vision presents prospects for tourism that is beneficial to the city rather than detrimental.

'Visitors are, and will remain welcome in Amsterdam, but this can no longer come at the expense of liveability and accessibility for residents.

'Amsterdam is known as a free and open city that wants to share its cultural wealth, including museums and leading venues, its canals, as well as its nightlife, with visitors from all over the world.

'But the understanding of "freedom" has come under pressure in recent years and has been commercialised.

'Some businesses misuse Amsterdam's image to sell it as a place of "unlimited possibilities".

'As a result, some groups of visitors think of it as a city where anything goes. This kind of tourism, as well as offerings specifically targeting these groups, is not considered desirable.'

Meanwhile, British tourists in Amsterdam have told how they plan to defy the Dutch government crackdown aimed at discouraging people from the UK going there for rowdy weekends.

Their number included one family party from Sussex who were surprisingly broad minded about the more illicit attractions famously on offer in the red light district.

Tourist chiefs in Holland this week launched a controversial advert discouraging nuisance behaviour from boozy stag parties of young men from the UK visiting the city's famous red light district.

But the move has sparked a major row in the city - as sex workers in the red light district have taken to the streets in an organised protest against the campaign for Brits to 'Stay Away' from Amsterdam as part of a major new operation to clean up the city and rid it of rowdy and hedonistic behaviour.

And today British tourists in Amsterdam were broadly supportive of the protests and against the move by tourist chiefs - including Claire Moore, 45, and her partner Jeff Gibbs, 55, from Worthing who had brought their sons Reece, 22 and Joshua, 26, to Amsterdam for a mini break.

In similar vein was British mother-of-five Nicola Reebeck (pictured), 51, from Marlborough, Wiltshire, who said one of her sons had lost his virginity in the city at the age of 18

Her daughter Kerry (pictured), 23, said: 'Men from our country, give this city a lot of business. It thrives on it'

Ms Moore, a cleaner, said: 'We want the boys to make up their own minds about what they want to do here. If they want to visit the prostitutes, that is fine with us.

'They can make up their own minds about what they do here and of course about any sexual preferences they have.

'We don't want them to feel like they've been judged. We want them to live freely.'

Her son Reece said: 'It's great that my mum it's so easy with me. But I don't think I will be visiting any prostitute.

'As far as this country banning young people like me (from Britain), I get it if blokes are being d*ckheads and badly behaved.

'I was brought up to be respectful and treat people the same way I want to be treated. If they can't behave when they come here, then that's fine with me about stopping them.'

Mr Gibbs, who was with his son Joshua and daughter Zoe, 20 and who runs a house clearing business in Worthing, added: 'We are not here to cast any negative views on these women in the windows.

'When I was 17 I came here and had sex with one of these women and I want these young men who are with us to feel free to do what they want, if they want to.

'I don't agree with banning people from England just because they are from there. People can be guilty of terrible behaviour regardless of a country they are from.

'These women are involved in a legitimate business and there is no law that can stop young men from Britain coming here, so I hope this all blows over.'

'If they can't behave when they come here, then that's fine with me about stopping them.', one British mother told our MailOnline reporter. Pictured: One of Amsterdam's canals running through the Dutch captial's red light district

Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema wants to dissuade young British men visiting her city in a bid to crackdown on anti-social behaviour

In similar vein was British mother-of-five Nicola Reebeck, 51, from Marlborough, Wiltshire, who said one of her sons had lost his virginity in the city at the age of 18 - and she thought the campaign to keep Britons out was 'stupid.'

Mrs Reebeck, who works with Alzheimer's patients, added : 'Amsterdam has long been a place where boys like my son have torn up their virginity or 'learner plates'.

'It's a city where they have become men, and I don't have a problem with that.

'It just doesn't make sense as to why Amsterdam wants to stop young boys like my son coming here, spending a lot of money and having a good time. It's all legitimate business.'

Her daughter Kerry, 23, said : 'Men from our country, give this city a lot of business. It thrives on it.

'Amsterdam would probably collapse if they stopped them from coming here having their parties.'

Other Brits enjoying the city with a rather different mindset included Gabriel from Kentish Town, who said: ' I am with my friend James for a very different weekend than the guys that campaign is aimed at.'

The 29-year-old who works in TV production added : 'It is our first time in Amsterdam. We are looking for some good restaurants, going to the Van Gogh Museum and have booked to see Anne Frank's house on Saturday

'We are not interested in the red light area or part of any bachelor party.

'But I don't understand how this campaign to stop young men from coming here can be nation specific to the UK.'

Zoe McAndrew, 47, a health and safety manager of Alton, Hampshire, said the 'Stay Away' veto did not make commercial sense and was unfair on Britons.

'A lot of money is spent here not just in the red light area, but also in the galleries, museums and historic places.

'Amsterdam will miss out on all that finance coming in to the other places and not just from stag parties and the red light area.

'I don't understand how they can want to single out men from Britain are not stop people from other countries from coming here. '

But former Navy man Lee Porter, 50, from Derby, said: ' I have travelled the world with the Navy and have seen the way young British guys behave.

'Our colonial reputation also precedes us around the world.

'It isn't great. If you look at the wonderful architecture of Amsterdam and transported it to Britain, there would be graffiti everywhere.'

Mr Porter who was with his girlfriend, added: 'Amsterdam belongs to the Dutch and if they want to clean it up and start with stopping our guys then that is alright with me.'

Zoe McAndrew (pictured), 47, a health and safety manager of Alton, Hampshire, said the 'Stay Away' veto did not make commercial sense and was unfair on Britons. But former Navy man Lee Porter (pictured), 50, from Derby, said: 'Amsterdam belongs to the Dutch and if they want to clean it up and start with stopping our guys then that is alright with me'

A spokesman for Amsterdam City Mayor Femke Halsema told Mailonline today that the 'Stay Away' campaign would eventually target men from other countries.

'(It is) Important to know that it's a discouragement campaign and it's against nuisance tourism in general.

'The campaign starts in the UK. During the coming year, the campaign will be further developed, and it will also be aimed at potential nuisance-causing visitors from the Netherlands and other EU-countries'.

The clarification came the morning after sex workers came out in support of male British tourists with hundreds holding a protest against the campaign in support of Brits - saying that they are not associated with bad behaviour any more than any other nationality - and attacking the campaign as an attempt to gentrify the heart of the Dutch capital.

Tessa, 43, (picture) who touts for sex work from a window on the corner of a canal on Monnikestraat for 17 years said: 'It is unfair to blame just the English.

She spoke as 200 sex workers protested outside Amsterdam's City Hall against the 'Stay Away' campaign and the reduction of the hours they can operate from windows in the red light district.

They confronted Mayor Femke Halsema who was surrounded by police and minders as she heard of their anger and promised she would study their complaints.

Tessa added: 'Men can be rude and horrible from anywhere in the world.

'When I came to work today at 5pm there were two men vomiting outside because of drink - btu and they could have been from any country because that is what it is like here.

'Men come from all over the world to drink and have sex - and most are well behaved.

'Okay the British can be terrible when they are drunk, but so can the Dutch, Germans and men from Spain.

'It isn't about nationality when a drunk man tries to give you 20 Euros for sex when the price is 150 Euros and treats you as if you are not a human being.

'But I don't know why Englishmen have been chosen. Maybe because you left the EU?

'But it is not illegal to pay for sex here or smoke drugs in Amsterdam so the British men should not be thinking of stopping.

'We as sex workers know that the politicians want to close the red-light area. From this weekend we must start closing early.

'Usually, I work until 5am and I can be very busy until then. But from Friday we are closing at 3am and this is their way of starting to shut us down.

'There is much anger among the sex workers here and we have been holding protests outside City Hall.'

(Video) Sex worker Laura,33, from Italy, said: 'I have never seen a man from Britain behaving badly, and I've been working here for six years.

'It is just propaganda by the politicians. Anybody who likes to come to Amsterdam, must realise that they're trying to get rid of the red light district and taking the fun away from a lot of people. These politicians are killjoys.'

Brothal madam Mona, 58, who held up a sign saying she was proud to have a sex business on her property, said: 'My husband and I run a hotel.

'We have many British men who come to Amsterdam and stay with us to take part in stag parties or bachelor parties and meet the sex workers.

'We have never had any problems from them, expect for a few who may vomit ot sing loudly - and these are not crimes.

'Trying to stop the British men from coming, here is nothing short of discrimination.'

Her husband Jan Broers, 85, who runs the Royal Taste Hotel in the heart of the red light district, said: ' British man, no problem. Young men cause problems. If they do, regardless from where in the world they are from. It is not down to where they come from.'

'The prostitutes are angry not only because of this 'Stay Away' bull****, but because Amsterdam wants to move them out from here and are disguising their real motives', a red light bar owner tells MailOnline

Brian Pitambalsingh, 60, who owns the Red Light bar said British male tourists were being 'picked on' to close down the sex district.

'This area has residents living above the windows and they want to turn it into an artistic suburb like the Left Bank in Paris.

'Many of these people who have bought properties here costing perhaps one million Euros could not have been unaware that sex was being sold under their noses or their homes.

'I feel they have come from the Dutch country towns and villages and want to re-create that kind of locality here.

'Selling sex or smoking weed is not a crime in this city and this stupid 'Stay Away' thing they are doing is unfair on the sex workers and the UK men.

'The British say prostitution is the 'oldest profession in the world,' so the crazy Amsterdam City Council has to understand it will continue for centuries and centuries no matter how much they try to interfere.

'The prostitutes are angry not only because of this 'Stay Away' bullsh*t, but because Amsterdam wants to move them out from here and are disguising their real motives.'

Brian Pitambalsingh, 60, who owns the Red Light bar said British male tourists were being 'picked on' to close down the sex district

The protesting Dutch sex workers were joined by two sex workers from Brighton who travelled to Amsterdam to offer their support against the plan to discourage British men from going there. (video)

Sabrina Jade, 24, held up a banner which said 'Save the red light.'

She said: 'The Dutch must not use British men as an excuse for shutting down Amsterdam's red light area.

'In Brighton sex workers like me don't have the same protections as people do here and this is why it is important that the Dutch are not allowed to use British tourists to close it down.

'My sex work in Britain is underground. At least the windows give the people here legitimacy and rights, people are happy with their work.'

Cece Monroe, 23, a British transexual sex worker said: 'It is wrong to blame the British and ban them from here.

'It is an attack on the sex industry everywhere, not just in Holland.

'I can't even talk openly about what I do in Brighton because I could get arrested there.

'That is why I have come here, to protect the rights of people who do what I do everywhere.

'The English men are just been used as a weapon by the Dutch to close down Amsterdam's red light district. It is not on.'

The protesting Dutch sex workers were joined by two sex workers from Brighton (pictured) who travelled to Amsterdam to offer their support against the plan to discourage British men from going there. Pictured: Sabrina Jade (left), 24, and Cece Monroe (right), 23

Paloma (pictured), 53, a transexual also from Ecuador, added: 'The British man is the most polite man with the best manners. It is wrong to say they are not good people. Sex is for all, not just people from any particular country.'

Wilma, 38, (Picture) a transexual sex worker from Ecuador, said: 'Why must these politicians spoil our business and the fun of the Englishmen?

'I find many of the UK people very friendly and no trouble. They are keen to try something new with a transgender person and it is difficult for them in their home country.

'Maybe I have 50 clients every week and many from England - and only one or two can be rude.

'If they are drunk, I try and calm them and make them happy. When they are in this condition they pay more too and that makes me of course happy too.'

Timo Haaker (pictured), 29, co-owner of the tourist business Fun Amsterdam which organises stag parties and boat trips for Britons, said the block would have an effect

Paloma, 53, a transexual also from Ecuador, added: 'The British man is the most polite man with the best manners. It is wrong to say they are not good people. Sex is for all, not just people from any particular country.'

Timo Haaker, 29, co-owner of the tourist business Fun Amsterdam which organises stag parties and boat trips for Britons, said the block would have an effect.

He said: 'Of course it would have an impact because the people of the UK are part of our target audience and we wouldn't like that to happen.

'Amsterdam is an extremely popular and fun destination for visitors from all over the world, which can sometimes be overwhelming for the locals.

'One of the reasons it's such a nice city to live in and to visit, is that our goverment is working very hard to keep it this way.

'However, as a local business owner I think that this campaign is painting an extreme picture of situations that are very rare, especially for the people that book our activities.

'I believe that anyone that comes here to have a good time, and respects the city and locals, should be able to come visit. And the people that come here to misbehave should not be.

'Within our company we always make sure, whether it's on our boats, nightlife activities or fun tours that you can have the time of your life in a safe environment without breaking any law. In the end it's all about respecting the city, and it's locals, while we make sure they have a great time.'
Labor appears to have pulled off an 'extraordinary' win in the Aston by-election which was formerly a safe Liberal seat held by ex-Cabinet minister Alan Tudge.

ABC's political analyst Antony Green called the Melbourne seat for Labor at 8.17pm after ballot counts revealed voters had turned against the Coalition in unprecedented numbers.

Labor's Mary Doyle has 41.6 per cent of the votes after 43.8 per cent of the vote is counted, with Liberal Roshena Campbell on just 35.6, with a 6.3 swing to Labor.

If the result is confirmed, it will be the first time in over a century where a federal government has claimed a by-election win in a previously Opposition-held seat.

'This is a terrible result for the Liberals,' said Green as he called it for Labor. 'It's extraordinary.'

PETER DUTTON

It would be the first time a federal government has won a seat off the opposition at a by-election since 1920 when the conservative Nationalist Party won the seat of Kalgoorlie off Labor.

Liberal supporters are clinging to the hope of a huge reversal when postal and pre-polling votes are counted, but Green said the swing now required is too great to be a realistic possibility.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed the victory in a statement at 8.44pm and said he had called Ms Doyle and congratulated her on her historic win.

A Labor victory is being hailed as a devastating blow for Opposition leader Peter Dutton in the wake of him taking the Liberal leadership after former Prime Minister Scott Morrison was defeated at May's federal election.

Former Labor Senator Stephen Conroy said postal votes historically leaned towards the Liberal Party, and those are expected to be counted on Sunday.

Liberal MP Dan Tehan told Sky News it's still too early to tell who will win the by-election.

'The early figures aren't great but we have to wait and see,' Mr Tehan said.

'We always thought it would be close.

'The early indications make you a little more nervous than you normally would have been.'

Ms Doyle gained a massive 7.3 per cent swing for the party in the Federal election but retiring MP Alan Tudge still retained the seat on a 2.8 per cent margin.

Australian Electoral Commission workers will spend the next few hours counting the votes collected from the 32 polling places on Saturday.

A total of 110,331 people are enrolled in Aston.

About 12,000 postal votes had been received by the AEC by 5pm on Friday, after there was 18,000 applications.

There was also an additional 23,000 people who have already voted before Saturday at an early voting centre, according to the AEC.

Push to 'send message' to the Liberal Party

The Labor Party earlier called on voters in Aston to send a message to the Opposition leader Peter Dutton in a last-ditch attempt to win back the historically safe Liberal seat.

Immigration minister Andrew Giles told Sky News on Saturday Aston voters now had a chance to 'send a message' to the opposition leader.

Handing out at Wantirna South Public School with Mary Doyle - an incredible candidate who'll put Aston first. #AstonVotes #auspol pic.twitter.com/fvu1yutvBR  Andrew Giles MP (@andrewjgiles) March 31, 2023

'Now this is a seat that had a 55 per cent Liberal primary vote only four years ago and here something extraordinary is happening,' Mr Giles said.

'It's a very tight race, it's a tight race because of Mary's campaign and also because Peter Dutton and the Liberals are just out of touch with the values of voters in the suburbs of Melbourne.

'That's something I've heard time and time again as I've been out here with Mary.'

But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who joined Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell on Saturday, today's by-election is not about 'changing the government'.

'Today is not about a general election,' Mr Dutton said.

'It's about electing a strong local representative.

'The Labor Party has spent the last month throwing mud - they haven't explained to the people of Aston why it is that they cut road funding as their first act in government.'

ANTHONY ALBANESE MARY DOYLE

Albo lends a helping hand

Anthony Albanese paid a visit to the electorate in Melbourne's outer east on Saturday morning hours after polls opened.

Mr Albanese said he hopes Labor's policies around social issues will be enough to attract suburban voters to put their support behind Ms Doyle, a single mum and cancer survivor.

'The trend going in the right direction this week with the figures but we know cost of living pressures are there,' Mr Albanese said.

'That is why we have done measures like the reduction in costs of pharmaceuticals and cheaper child care.

'That is why we support people on the minimum wage not continuing to go backwards.'

ANTHONY ALBANESE MARY DOYLE

ANTHONY ALBANESE MARY DOYLE

Mr Albanese went on to say that a win would be a hard win for the government to clinch on Saturday.

'(The opposition) have become the observers rather than the participants in our national parliament and that is why I want Mary Doyle to be elected today,' he said.

'It is tough, oppositions generally get swing. When Labor was in government, the by-election swings have been between 5-6 per cent towards the opposition.

'No government has won a seat off the opposition in a by-election for over 100 years. We are giving it a crack today.'

Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the Labor government's have implemented policies in the past year which have negatively impacted locals.

PETER DUTTON

'[Labor] haven't explained to the people of Aston why it is that they cut road funding as the first act in government, and it's quite remarkable,' Mr Dutton said.

'It's a disaster for locals and people realise that the first act of the Albanese government was to cut road funding here in Aston ... They've never apologised for it, they never explained why.'

Mr Dutton also took aim at the rising cost of living since last year's Federal election.

'There are a lot of Australian families who have heard Anthony Albanese promise before the last election on 97 occasions that he would reduce your power to $275,' he said.

PETER DUTTON

'That was a promise he made before the election, he's never mentioned it since, not once.

So cost of living pressures are real for families and the opportunity in the election today is to send a very clear message to Labor that they shouldn't be cutting local road funding, and they shouldn't be abandoning this community.'

The seat of Aston was created in 1984 and was held by Labor until 1990, but it has not won it since.

AMBITIOUS ASTON PLAN REVEALED

Labor's candidate for the Aston by-election has detailed her ambition to take the seat in a 'history making' effort.

Mary Doyle, who gained a massive 7.3 per cent swing for the party in the Federal election, said she has no qualms about not being the favourite to win in Saturday's poll.

'I really hope I can win it but I realise it's a very big mountain to climb but I have never shied away from climbing mountain, even with a dodgy knee,' she told Today.

'I was born in the year of the dog and I hope this will be the year of the underdog.'

The breakfast show's reporter went on to clarify if Labor nabs the seat it will be 'history making' as no government has taken a seat off the Opposition in a by-election in more than 100 years.

ASTON BALLET DRAW

However, the Liberal party is expected to hold on to the seat in the first electoral test for both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.

The Liberals hold the previously safe outer east suburban seat - vacated by former minister Alan Tudge when he retired in February - on a 2.8 per cent margin after a massive swing against the party at last year's election.

Both sides say it will be a tough fight, but expect the Liberals to hold on.

'I think it is tight, but we will get there,' Mr Dutton said on Friday.

But the by-election is also being framed as a test of the leaders, especially Mr Dutton who took over the leadership of the Liberal party from Scott Morrison after the coalition was thrown out of government.

The Prime Minister told the Labor caucus earlier this week that anything less than a five per cent swing to the opposition would be a 'failure' for the Opposition Leader.

PM Anthony Albanese

When asked whether a poor showing would prove his leadership was terminal, Mr Dutton took a page out of the Morrison playbook, labelling it as 'Canberra gossip'.

'I am concentrating on making sure Roshena Campbell is sitting in parliament next week because the seat of Aston deserves a very strong local member and that is what this by-election is about,' he said during the week.

The Liberal campaign has focused on cost of living pressures.

'There's an opportunity here to send a message to Labor that it's just not good enough because living pressures continue to go up,' Mr Dutton said.

QUESTION TIME

The unpopularity of Scott Morrison, paired with the controversy surrounding Alan Tudge, contributed to a 7.3 per cent two party swing against the Liberals in Aston last May.

The result of the by-election will have no effect on the make-up of the house of representatives.

But after a bruising defeat in NSW left Tasmania as the only blue state, the Liberals will be looking to the results for a morale boost.

Mr Albanese says it would be 'very difficult' for Ms Doyle to topple the Liberals as history was against them. As are the polls. No government has won a seat off the opposition in more than a century.

'The Liberals should retain Aston with a massive majority,' he told reporters in Brisbane on Friday.

'The fact that the Liberal Party are having to spend so much money, and they have massively out-spent Labor in this by-election in order to hang on to one of their heartland seats says everything about the state of the Liberal Party brand.'

PM Anthony Albanese

ASTON BALLET DRAW

Meanwhile, the Australian Electoral Commission is urging all voters in Aston to ensure they vote in by-election, reminding them it is compulsory.

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said he was concerned by the low number of votes cast ahead of polling day.

'Typically, if someone casts their vote early in one election they'll do so in the next one as well - and we're not quite seeing that here which makes us worry about low participation,' he said.

'Failure to vote may result in a fine and will mean you have no say on who represents you in federal parliament.'

Aside from Ms Campbell and Ms Doyle, another three candidates are standing. They are Owen Miller for the Fusion Party, Angelica Di Camillo for the Greens and independent Maya Tesa.

There will be 32 polling places open on Saturday from 8am to 6pm. A total of 110,331 people are enrolled in Aston.

Counting will begin at 6pm.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is among three billionaires issued with subpoenas this week in relation to JPMorgan's ties to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The probe by the US Virgin Islands concerns allegations that JP Morgan Chase and Co. turned a blind eye to Epstein's sex trafficking.

Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker and real estate investor Mort Zuckerman have also been hit with subpoenas.

Former Disney executive turned venture capitalist Michael Ovitz has also been asked to supply information.

It is not clear why the men - who are some of the wealthiest people in the US - have been targeted by investigators.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin among three billionaires to have been issued subpoenas this week in relation to JPMorgan's ties to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein

Thomas Pritzker, who acts as the executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels, has also been issued with a subpoena

Real estate expert Mort Zuckerman, left, and former Disney president turned venture capitalist Michael Ovitz, right, have also been slapped with orders to release information. It is not known why the four men have been targeted

Lawyers in civil cases use subpoenas to get information from those who aren't party to the suit but may have relevant evidence.

The orders issued to the men are seeking any communications and documents related to Epstein and JP Morgan, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Brin - who co-founded Google with Lary Page in 1998 - is understood to be the wealthiest of those targeted, with an estimated net worth of $85.6 billion according to Forbes.

It makes him the 12th-richest man in the world.

Pritzker and Zuckerman are worth $5.3 billion and $2.3 billion respectively.

The US Virgin Islands launched a lawsuit against JP Morgan in a Manhattan federal court last year amid accusations it allowed the late financier to remain a client.

It is also facing a second lawsuit from one of Epstein's victims over its decision to keep him as a client until 2013 - five years after he was first convicted in Florida of soliciting prostitution from minors.

Attorneys claim it helped him to send money to his victims and that the bank received high-value business opportunities from Epstein.

As part of the investigation, JPMorgan's chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon is expected to be deposed.

But the bank is arguing it was not aware of Epstein's crimes and cannot be held liable. It cut ties with the convicted sex offender in 2013.

JPMorgan has sought to have the lawsuits dismissed and has launched a suit against its former investment banking chief Jes Staley who enjoyed a cozy relationship with Epstein.

The bank alleges it is to blame for the legal fallout involving Epstein and was responsible for their 15-year financial relationship.

Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting a trial on his federal sex-trafficking charges. His incarceration shed light on his relationships with a series of high-profile figures including - most famously - socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew

JPMorgan now insists that former investment banking chief Staley was responsible for the firm's 15-year financial relationship with Epstein

JPMorgan has sought to have the lawsuits dismissed. Chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon is expected to be deposed as part of the investigation

Staley is accused of exchanging sexually suggestive emails with Epstein, some of which included photos of young women.

He is also reported to have exchanged more than 1,000 emails from his work email account between 2008 and 2012, corresponded with Epstein after his incarceration and visited his residence on the Virgin Island's repeatedly.

The messages were referenced in recently unsealed passages from a federal lawsuit.

He later became CEO of Barclays before stepping down in 2021 pending the investigations.

Staley has not been criminally charged with any activities related to Epstein.

Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting a trial on his federal sex-trafficking charges.

His incarceration shed light on his relationships with a series of high-profile figures including - most famously - socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew.

Dailymail.com attempted to reach Brin, Zuckerman and Pritzker for comment.
Mark Latham has doubled down and refused to apologise for a homophobic tweet he has since deleted about a fellow NSW politician.

The One Nation NSW leader broke his silence on Saturday about the vile post he had made about the openly-gay independent MP Alex Greenwich.

'Sometimes in public life when you throw out insults they come back at you harder and truer  So boo-hoo Alex Greenwich,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Greenwich was quick to respond to the latest comments made by Mr Latham with a fiery tweet of his own.

'Mr Latham is clearly unfit for office and I hope he gets the help he needs,' he wrote.

Mr Latham's latest comment comes two days after he made the homophobic tweet where he made a crude reference to same-sex intercourse.

Mark Latham has broken his silence on a homophobic tweet he has since deleted about independent MP Alex Greenwich

Mr Latham fired off the homophobic tweet after he was labelled a 'disgusting human being' by Mr Greenwich for attending a rally where Christians clashed with LGBTQI activists outside St Michaels Church in Belfield, south-west Sydney, on March 21.

'Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your d*** up a bloke's a*** and covering it with s***?' Mr Latham wrote.

Mr Latham removed the tweet following backlash but made another cryptic post on Friday where he said, 'never apologise, never explain'.

The post was then deleted with Mr Latham remaining silent on the matter before he finally released a statement two days after the homophobic tweet was made.

Mr Latham chose to continue his attack against Mr Greenwich.

'When he calls someone a disgusting human being for attending a meeting in a church hall, maybe attention will turn to some of his habits,' he said.

Mr Latham explained the reason why he deleted the tweet even though he remains unapologetic for posting it.

'Greenwich goes into schools talking to kids about being gay,' he said.

'I didn't want to be accused of anything similar, leaving that kind of content on my socials.'

Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Latham and Mr Greenwich for comment.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe was the latest to join the pile-on saying the tweet was 'completely unacceptable' and renewed calls for Mr Latham to apologise.

'Mark Latham and his behaviour over the last couple of days is completely unacceptable,' Ms Sharpe said.

'There's no place for it in NSW. There's no place for it in NSW politics. There's no place for it in our community.'

Late on Friday, Mr Latham tweeted 'Never apologise, never explain' in response to his own homophobic tweet that sparked widespread condemnation and led NSW Premier Chris Minns to label him a 'bigot'.

'I think that they're vile and shameful comments and I think (Mr Latham) revealed himself to be a bigot,' the premier said on Friday.

Mr Greenwich was an 'extraordinarily effective' politician who 'manages to elevate the conversation and make major changes in the state,' Mr Minns said.

'One of the things that can't be forgotten is that comments like this, even though in and of themselves they're terrible, they unleash ghouls on people like Alex.

'It's not what we need in public life.

'There should be an unambiguous and universal condemnation of these comments,' he said.

The One Nation NSW leader remained unapologetic on Saturday about the vile post he had made about the openly-gay independent MP

The parliament is currently unable to discipline Mr Latham, Ms Sharpe said, as he used a loophole in the upper house system allowing him to resign as an MP before the state election and recontest his seat.

Mr Latham is set to return to parliament during the next session, with a renewed eight-year term.

'The best thing that Mr Latham could do is to apologise to Mr Greenwich,' Ms Sharpe said.

'That's what we want him to do today.

'Let's see in terms of what happens after the press of the button on the upper house ballot on the 20th of April.'

Federal leader of One Nation, Pauline Hanson, and conservative commentators Ray Hadley and Andrew Bolt also criticised Mr Latham for the tweet.

The tweet was also called disgusting by Transport Minister Jo Haylen, who said she did not think the NSW One Nation leader was up to his job.

'Of course he should apologise but it's Mark Latham. I don't think anyone should be holding their breath.

'Personally I don't think he is fit for public office.'

The homophobic attack briefly brought Mr Greenwich to tears on Thursday, the popular Sydney MP told reporters.

'This has obviously been hurtful for me. I had a bit of a cry late yesterday at the end of the day,' he told reporters on Friday.

'After being in this gig for a decade and getting re-elected, I didn't think I'd still be subjected to homophobic abuse.'

However, Mr Greenwich refused to call for Mr Latham to apologise or resign.

'I don't want to give him another soapbox for him to pretend to be a victim when he seeks to victimise people.'
A female diner was left furious after a restaurant charged her a whopping $1,020 cancellation fee for her party-of-six.

Melbourne woman Lorida Quiambao, 36, had booked a table for Saturday at Restaurant Navi in Yarraville, west of Melbourne, for an early birthday celebration.

But after falling ill she decided on Thursday to cancel her booking.

On Friday morning she said she woke to an email from the restaurant informing her she had been charged $1,020 for the cancellation.

'I saw that they'd charged my card with no additional information,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Lorida Quiambao was left stunned after being charged $1020 for cancelling a restaurant booking

'They could have at least spoken to me first to explain.'

Ms Quiambao - a project manager - said she understood why restaurants charged cancellation fees as she had previously worked in hospitality.

'But they charged me the absolute maximum they could have,' she said.

Navi offers a set menu with ingredients sourced from small producers and local farms.

Ms Quiambao was charged for the restaurant's $170 set menu six times as she had booked for six people.

She said she had booked Navi after previously having a pleasant dining experience at the restaurant last year.

'I wanted my friends to experience that too. This is why it's so frustrating,' she said.

Restaurant Navi (pictured) has defended its cancellation policy

Ms Quiambao took to social media on Friday to vent her frustration over the experience.

She said no restaurant or business should be allowed to charge such expensive cancellation fees.

'Its disgusting and not ok especially in times like this. @restaurantnavi @juleschef this place should feel so ashamed of themselves and honestly guys do not even risk going here anymore,' she wrote on Facebook.

Navi chef and owner Julian Hills told Daily Mail Australia that cancellations of bookings for groups of five or more required '5 days notice' and a table of six would take up a quarter of the restaurant's capacity.

'Failure to do so may incur a cancellation/no show fee of the full menu price. In light of current circumstances with COVID19 this is not always feasible, but we do ask for as much notice as possible' he said.

Mr Hills said preparations for some dishes started four days days in advance and that orders from some producers required six weeks' notice.

'So to lose 25 per cent of a nights bookings means a big financial loss for us when margins are small,' he said.

Ms Quiambao said an email from the restaurant said it required five days' notice for cancellations

In another message from the restaurant website, Ms Quiambao was told the restaurant required 48 hours notice for cancellations

'We will be offering one menu for dinner Friday to Saturday, $170 (With Paired Beverages $275) and a Saturday matinee menu, $95 (With Paired Beverages $155).'

Mr Hills said people on the waiting list for a table on Saturday were sent an SMS after Ms Quiambao's cancellation and that 'all efforts to fill the spot (and therefore offer a refund to the patron when/if the table is able to be filled as advised) were engaged'.

'Customers who cancel late are refunded when we are able to fill the cancellation in part (ie a table of four even if the booking was for a table of six) or in full,' he said.

'When customers call us we make all efforts to try and action this even faster.'

Mr Hills said he had called Ms Quiambao to advise her of the the restaurant's policies and processes but she had cut him off without letting him finish.

Ms Quiambao said she had received a call from Mr Hills but she was on her way to the doctor and told him she did not have time to talk.

'I've received no correspondence since and no response to my email asking for a refund.'

The restaurant has advised Daily Mail Australia that they have since been able to fill the booking and have refunded Ms Quiambao.
A young British holidaymaker was killed when he plunged into a hotel swimming-pool in Mexico, an inquest heard yesterday.

History student Charlie Hopkins, 23, from Buckley, north Wales, died after he fractured his skull when he fell into the pool wearing just his underpants.

The inquest heard it was a mystery how the University College London (UCL) student fell into the water because no-one else was in the pool in the 1am tragedy.

CCTV footage showed Charlie walking on a balcony through the hotel's reception area in his underpants on April 9, 2021.

The hearing was told no-one else was in the pool in Tulum, Mexico, but 'very soon afterwards' a camera captured the water in the pool being disturbed.

History student Charlie Hopkins, 23, died after he fractured his skull when he fell into the pool wearing just his underpants

The inquest heard it was a mystery how he fell into the water because no-one else was in the pool in the 1am tragedy

Another guest discovered his body on the bottom of the pool about five hours later.

Charlie had studied history at UCL but did not complete the course.

In a statement read at the inquest his father Mark described him as 'bubbly' and 'the light and soul of every room he was in'.

He was a keen musician and strong campaigner for LGBT rights.

Mr Hopkins said Charlie had good friends in London where he lived - but was glad to jet off on holiday when the lockdown restrictions during the Covid pandemic were eased.

He checked into the two-storey Hotel Turquoise Petit in Tulum on April 8, 2021, having gone there at the invitation of his friend Alex, who lived in Mexico.

He videocalled his parents almost every day while he was there, the inquest in Ruthin heard.

Mr Hopkins said: 'We became concerned when we didn't hear from him for 24 hours.'

On April 9, they received the 'devastating' call that he had been found dead.

The hearing was told no-one else was in the pool in Tulum, Mexico, but 'very soon afterwards' a camera captured the water in the pool being disturbed

In a statement read at the inquest his father Mark described him as 'bubbly' and 'the light and soul of every room he was in'. He was a keen musician and strong campaigner for LGBT rights

His father added: 'He was a lively, loving, trusting young man. He saw only the good in everyone.

'Charlie would always finish talking to someone and say 'I love that person' - that's just the sort of person he was.'

Mr Hopkins' family said his death has left them 'broken' and that their lives have been 'turned upside down.'

A post-mortem examination was carried out in Mexico. His body was later repatriated.

Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers confirmed the cause of death as 'a blunt force head injury and drowning, consistent with a fall from height'.

John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, said initially there were some initial concerns that he had been assaulted.

But the coroner said he had probably hit his head somehow while entering the pool, adding: 'There is absolutely no reason to give consideration to it being a deliberate act.'

He recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
A cybersecurity expert unknowingly rented his Arizona home to global superstar Rihanna during Super Bowl week for $500,000, covering two years of his mortgage.

Spyro Malaspinas, 48, of Paradise Valley, leased his $7.3million five-bedroom, five-bathroom home to Rihanna for six days prior to the Super Bowl, but he didn't have a clue the Super Bowl headliner was the one offering him a price he couldn't pass up.

'My daughter was absolutely thrilled,' Malaspinas told the Wall Street Journal. 'The last thing I am is a real estate baron. My prides not that big. I dont mind moving out for $500,000 a week.'

The 6,400-square-foot San Miguel Avenue home is conveniently located 30 minutes away from State Farm Stadium - where the Super Bowl was held on February 12 - and provides stunning amenities, including a large in-ground pool, a seating area with a fireplace attached to the pool, and plenty of space both in and outdoors for entertaining.

Rihanna rented a beautiful Paradise Valley estate (pictured) the week before the Super Bowl for $500,000

The 6,400-square-foot San Miguel Avenue home is conveniently located 30 minutes away from State Farm Stadium - where the Super Bowl was held on February 12 - and provides stunning amenities, including a large in-ground pool, a seating area with a fireplace attached to the pool, and plenty of space both in and outdoors for entertaining

Spyro Malaspinas, 48, of Paradise Valley, had no idea Rihanna was the person leasing his home at first, but said his daughter was 'absolutely thrilled' after finding out

The pool area has a chic design with a square tiles set into the grass, as well as loungers that sit in the pool and a personal covered bar top.

The one-story home has two living rooms, a private gym, a wine cellar, and large backyard fit for lounging in the Arizona sun. It also has a bocce court, a pickle ball court, and a putting green, according to TMZ.

The kitchen has a gorgeous marble island with soft, light wooden cabinets with golden accents on the stove's hood and the hardware around the space. It's connected to a small dining area that sits between the kitchen and a small sitting area.

Much of the home has wooden beams attached to the ceiling and large windows to allow plenty of natural light in.

The bathrooms have an all-white design with a white tub with a chandelier above it, a white marbled shower, and a large vanity.

Rihanna used the home as a place to relax in-between rehearsals for her Super Bowl performance on February 12 (pictured)

There's an above ground seating area connected to the pool (pictured)

The stunning property has an amazing outdoor area for entertaining

It also has a bocce ball court (pictured), as well as a putting green, and a pickle ball court

It also has a covered outdoor eating space that faces the pool

The home also features high ceilings and plenty of built-in bookshelves with storage space.

The cybersecurity expert has yet to move back into the one-acre property - which sits between Phoenix and Scottsdale - since Rihanna occupied the home as he's been offered a 'crazy amounts of money' to sell the home, which he purchased in 2022.

Rihanna used the Super Bowl to announce her second pregnancy. Nine-time Grammy Award winner surprised fans with a baby bump during her highly anticipated comeback at the Super Bowl 57.

The 34-year-old, who gave birth to her first child just nine months ago, sent social media into a frenzy as she took to the stage and rubbed her stomach in front of a global audience of millions at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, in February.

The San Miguel Avenue home has a wine cellar inside with plenty of room to hold bottles of your favorite wine

It also has an outdoor bar area off the pool for the perfect party moment

The home, which is located only 30 minutes away from the State Farm Stadium, features plenty of natural light and clean designs

One of the bathrooms features plenty of marble and even has a chandelier above the tub

Shortly after her performance, her representatives confirmed the baby news.

The Super Bowl marked the first time she has performed on live television since 2018, where she joined DJ Khaled on stage to sing Wild Thoughts at the Grammy Awards.

Rihanna started off the show suspended on a platform high above the field as she belted out her single B**ch Better Have My Money. She was dressed in a baggy scarlet jumpsuit that covered up her curves and was strapped loosely on her.

She shares her first child, who was born on May 13, 2022, with the rapper A$AP Rocky, who kept a low profile at the event. The two have kept their growing family under the radar, and so far neither musician has shared the name of their child.
A police officer has been sentenced for sexually assaulting a woman after he pulled her out of her bed by her hair.

PC Joseph McCabe, 27, avoided prison as he was handed a six-month sentence, suspended for 24 months at York Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The Harrogate-based officer is currently suspended from duty, North Yorkshire Police said. The force added that an accelerated misconduct hearing 'will now be considered at a future date'.

The court heard McCabe and the victim, who were known to each other, were sharing a hotel room following a social event last summer.

The victim described how, during the night, McCabe picked her up and put her on his bed, and stroked her arm.

She returned to her own bed, but later McCabe pulled her hair with such force she fell out of bed. He also shouted at the victim several times to get into bed with him.

PC Joseph McCabe (pictured) has been sentenced for sexually assaulting a woman after he pulled her out of her bed by her hair

McCabe, 27, avoided prison as he was handed a six-month sentence, suspended for 24 months at York Magistrates' Court (pictured) yesterday

After the allegation came to light, McCabe was interviewed, and subsequently charged.

On top of the suspended sentence, McCabe, who denied the charges, was also given a three-year restraining order and required to complete rehabilitation programmes.

Following the verdict, Deputy Chief Constable Mabs Hussain said: 'Our communities need to know that they can have complete trust in their police, and that we demand the highest level of integrity from our officers and staff.

'McCabe's disgraceful actions fell far below that standard. I commend the victim for her courage in coming forward so we could take action. I also hope the case sends a clear message that there is no place for this behaviour in policing  and that we will secure justice against perpetrators, no matter who they are.'
You probably guessed already  but this March was the wettest for four decades.

It has also been among the dullest, with less sunshine than is average for the time of year. It follows on from the driest February for 30 years, when just 15.3mm of rain fell.

Up to March 30, 111.3mm of rain (4.3in) fell in England, 91 per cent more than average, and it is the wettest March since 1981.

Wales and Northern Ireland also had one of their top ten wettest Marches, while Scotland's tally was around average. But it has still not been enough to refill reservoirs and aquifers emptied by last year's drought.

The National Drought Group has warned that the UK is just one hot, dry spell away from returning to the drought conditions seen last summer.

You probably guessed already  but this March was the wettest for four decades. Pictured: People walk through Centenary Square, Birmingham, during rain showers on Friday

Head of the National Climate Information Centre Dr Mark McCarthy said: 'March 2023 will be remembered for being a dull and wet month, especially in the south of the UK.

'While the rainfall has been notable in England and Wales, it hasn't been enough to fully recover the deficit of rain over the last 12 months.'
Being appointed Trade Secretary last year didnt just force me to overcome my loathing of travel  having to negotiate deals on behalf of the UK, fighting the corner for UK farmers and financiers showed me the benefits of free trade agreements (FTAs).

I am proud to announce that the UK will be joining our biggest trading bloc since the European Economic Community in 1973  the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

UK businesses already have tariff-free trade with our EU neighbours. Now, they can seize the myriad of opportunities that come from joining the most dynamic free trade family on the planet.

Sadly, there has been a tendency for discussion about the UKs participation in the trade bloc to be mired in short-termism and declinism. Much of it anchored in myths about the UK economy.

You will hear some dismiss this deal as not enough to replace lost EU trade. Forgetting that of course, we are adding to our existing EU-UK FTA. Others, like the BBC in my interview on Radio 4 yesterday, will claim that the deal doesnt amount to much, or point to modelling that assumes a minuscule amount of GDP growth.

'The UK will be joining our biggest trading bloc since the European Economic Community in 1973'

Such a myopic approach shows that many simply do not understand how profoundly the global economys tectonic plates are shifting. The Indo-Pacific region is expected to be home to around half of the worlds 2.3 billion middle-class consumers by 2030. The CPTPP share of the global economy is set to outpace the EUs in the coming decades and were getting in early.

We are well positioned to enter these fast-growing markets, such as Malaysia and Vietnam, and develop deeper partnerships within the region. These closer ties will enable greater cooperation on the issues critical to our long-term economic and geopolitical security.

Over time, CPTPP members growing prosperity will translate into greater clout for the group on the global stage. It will be CPTPP members, much more than the EU, who will be able to set the terms of international trade. Inside the EU the unelected commission insist on rigid rules which bind nation states and hold back innovation.

The CPTPP has a different philosophy. Sovereign nations agree to respect each others rules and recognise that bringing down barriers fires up innovation and growth. This is a crucial advantage in a world faced with much uncertainty, and with protectionism on the rise. Some argue that the era of free trade is dead. But our alliance will send a signal to the international community that global commerce is the surest path to economic advancement and political stability.

'Over time, CPTPP members growing prosperity will translate into greater clout for the group on the global stage'

Alongside this critical geostrategic benefit, UK businesses will gain greater access to markets populated by over half a billion people, with a fierce appetite for British goods and services. More than 99 per cent of current UK goods exported to CPTPP members will be eligible for tariff-free trade. Our world-leading services firms will enjoy drastically reduced red-tape.

As an MP for a rural constituency, I regularly hear about the challenges farmers face and Im not blind to how tough it is for them. I had farmers at the front of mind at every stage of the negotiation, and can assure the industry that the UK will not renege on food and animal welfare regulations because of CPTPP.

Membership gives the UK a unique global advantage. Today we have opened a new era for this country as a trading nation.

I am convinced we will feel its benefits both in the short-term and over many decades to come.
The BBC came under fire yesterday for talking down Britains new global trade deal.

News bulletins focused on projections that the agreement with 11 Asian and Pacific nations might only add 0.08 per cent to the size of the economy over the next decade.

Radio 4 presenter Amol Rajan raised the figure with Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and told her: It is reasonable for people to quote that and say your own forecasts suggest thats not necessarily huge.

She suggested it was an outdated estimate, saying civil servants told her: Oh well, it was just a scoping assessment.

'We did it two years ago. It was based on figures ten years ago, 2014.

Radio 4 presenter Amol Rajan raised the figure with Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and told her people may suggest that her forecasts are 'not necessarily huge'

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch suggested the forecast was an outdated estimate

An article on the BBCs website also featured the headline: UK-Asia trade deal to boost UK economy by 0.08 per cent.

It claimed the gains from joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership are expected to be modest.

And it contrasted the potential boost to trade with the impact of Britain leaving the EU.

Even with some gains in trading the government only estimates it will add 0.08 per cent to the size of the economy in ten years, the article said.

The Office for Budget Responsibility, which provides forecasts for the Government, has previously said Brexit would reduce the UKs potential economic growth by about 4 per cent in the long term.

But senior Conservatives hit out at the BBCs approach. Deputy party chairman Lee Anderson, who has called for the licence fee that funds the corporation to be scrapped, said: The BBCs own review said its journalists lack understanding of basic economics, so Brits should take what they say with a pinch of salt.

Former Cabinet minister Sir John Redwood said: The BBC has presented a completely specious assessment of what the deal might mean.

They have presented it as a fact but it is very likely to be very wrong. While the corporation has long claimed leaving the EU Single Market could only be bad for the economy, he said, it was now downplaying the potential benefits of the new deal outside the EU.

It seems all too ready to paint Brexit in a bad light. This idea that weve lost 4 per cent of GDP over Brexit is a myth.

Deputy party chairman Lee Anderson called for the BBC licence fee to be scrapped

And former MEP David Campbell Bannerman said: The BBC are in full Remainer denial mode.

The world is moving on, and Global Britain and mega trade deals with the fastest-growing areas of the world is where UK should be, whilst still trading harmoniously with Europe.

Main point is the UK is now a global trade player and we are more likely to see a UK-US deal, and even the US at some point in the future rejoining CPTPP. We are now on a very different path in terms in mutual recognition as opposed to EU-style harmonisation.
A coroner is investigating the death of a grandmother after she died three days following an operation performed by the partner of Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Rosemarie Campbell, 62, went in for gastric bypass surgery at The Wesley Hospital, in Brisbane, on February 24, 2022.

She was operated on by Dr Reza Adib, a top surgeon who specialises in laparoscopic, gastrointestinal and obesity surgery and who began dating the Queensland premier in 2021.

Mrs Campbell died three days later with a preliminary report concluding the surgery and an infection were among four factors contributing to her death.

The State Coroner has since launched an investigation into the matter.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Dr Adib was negligent during the surgery.

Rosemarie Campbell, 62, went in for gastric bypass surgery at The Wesley Hospital, in Brisbane, on February 24, 2022

Mrs Campbell was discharged from hospital two days after she received the surgery before she then collapsed and died a day later on February 27 last year.

She had been preparing to enjoy retirement with her husband.

Her daughter-in-law Jodie Hicks claimed the couple had been working on their dream home.

'The last few years she worked and worked so they could build this house,' she said.

'She wanted this big, family home to have all her family there.'

Her family are considering legal action as they demand answers into her unexpected death, Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

Mrs Campbell's family claim their mother had been vomiting up water and food two days after the operation.

They claim she was given an injection before she was discharged with medication.

Ms Hicks claimed Mrs Campbell felt like she had been 'hit by a bus' the day following her surgery.

'She didn't have the energy to get out of bed that morning,' she said.

A preliminary report by a pathologist found four factors had contributed to the death of Mrs Campbell.

Sepsis, an acute bacterial infection, pneumonia and the gastric bypass surgery.

The findings were detailed in a letter sent to Mrs Campbell's son Robert Hicks on August 3, 2022.

She was operated on by Dr Reza Adib, a top surgeon who specialises in laparoscopic, gastrointestinal and obesity surgery and who began dating the Queensland premier in 2021

The Coronial Services Office then sent a follow-up letter to the family on January 12, 2023.

They asked whether Mrs Campbell had experienced any problems with swallowing or pain prior to the surgery.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Dr Adib for comment.

Lawyers for the surgeon said they were unable to comment on the matter.

'Dr Adib is unable to comment whilst the matter is being investigated by the Coroner's Court of Queensland,' they said.

Daily Mail Australia contacted The Wesley Hospital for comment.

A spokesperson said the hospital was unable to comment as the coronial investigation was ongoing.
Police are investigating multiple car crashes which claimed the lives of two people in Melbourne overnight.

The crashes occurred within a short time of one another in the early hours of Saturday morning in the suburbs of Beaconsfield, in Melbourne's south east, and Chirnside Park, in the north east.

Victoria Police said at about 12:15am a car crashed into a tree on the Old Princes Hwy, a result of which a female passenger died at the scene.

The male driver, who was arrested at the scene and is reportedly assisting police, while a second male was airlifted to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

At about 2:05am, police said a car crashed into two parked cars on Edward Rd, Chirnside Park, before it burst into flames.

Police are investigating multiple car crashes which claimed the lives of two people in the early hours of Saturday morning

A 16-year-old boy boy from Montrose died and two other teenagers were left with serious injures as a result of the crash.

'Paramedics worked on one of the male passengers, but he was pronounced deceased at the scene,' police said.

'The male driver and another male passenger were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and are assisting police with their enquiries.'

Police are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

In the 12 months to March 30, 262 people lost their lives on Victorian roads - a rolling increase of 10 per cent.

The sharp rise led to a police plea for road users to exercise greater caution in February.

Anyone with dashcam footage or who witnessed the incidents, or has any other information, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The ex-husband of a police union executive charged with running a fentanyl smuggling operation said she had 'never broken the law in her life' and 'never did a drug.'

San Jose grandmother, Joanne Segovia, executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association, was charged with unlawfully importing fentanyl according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Monday.

Her former husband Doug Evans, 66, told DailyMail.com he was shocked to learn of the prosecutors' allegations against his 64-year-old ex.

'I can't believe that she would be involved in a smuggling operation,' he said in an exclusive interview from his Indiana home.

'I just can't believe that's her. She never broke the law in her life. She just wasn't that type of person. She wouldn't even get a traffic ticket.

'She never did a drug in her life. We were married for 20 years,' he said. 'I just don't believe it, something's not right.

San Jose grandmother, Joanne Segovia, executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association, was charged with unlawfully importing fentanyl according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Monday

Her former husband Doug Evans, 66, told DailyMail.com he was shocked to learn of the prosecutors' allegations against his 64-year-old ex. 'She never did a drug in her life. We were married for 20 years,' he said. 'I just don't believe it, something's not right'

'I know she worked for the police department. So that's pretty bad,' he added. 'She got on with the police department, and she was very happy with that job when she got it.'

Their marriage ended in 2000 before Joanne went on to marry her current husband, Dom Segovia.

'Dominic's wife worked with me and Joanne at a Deluxe Check Printers. Dominic's wife passed away. At the time, Joanne was the employee liaison for the company,' the Evansville-based retiree said.

Evans said he had not been in touch with his ex for many years and was estranged from their daughter, Jennifer, so he was not aware of her arrest or of any suspicious recent lavish spending.

She is accused of taking part in an international scheme to bring synthetic drugs to the US and distribute them, and faces 20 years in prison if convicted, officials say (pictured: stock image of fentanyl)

Segovia 'used her personal and office (pictured) computers to order thousands of opioid and other pills to her home and agreed to distribute the drugs elsewhere in the United States' prosecutors say

However, photos from Joanne's Facebook page show she and her second husband took a Valentine's trip to a beachside resort in an undisclosed location, with photos showing blue skies and palm trees around the hotel's several swimming pools in front of a sandy beach.

Another photos showed the Segovias toasting with cocktails at the resort's restaurant.

'My favorite place on my favorite day! Missing my loves back home!' Joanne wrote on the February 14 social media post.

A little over a month later, police raided her San Jose home and office, saying they found pills and other evidence, and the police union put her on paid leave.

She is accused of taking part in an international scheme to bring synthetic drugs to the US and distribute them, and faces 20 years in prison if convicted, officials say.

Segovia 'used her personal and office computers to order thousands of opioid and other pills to her home and agreed to distribute the drugs elsewhere in the United States' prosecutors say.

Evans also revealed that their marriage ended in 2000 before Joanne (right) went on to marry her current husband, Dom Segovia

Joanne ( pictured with her second husband Dom) allegedly disguised the packages with labels including 'Wedding Party Favors', 'Gift Makeup,' 'Food Supplement,' and 'Chocolate and Sweets'

Evans said he had not been in touch with his ex for many years and was estranged from their daughter, Jennifer (pictured with her husband Nick and Joanne)

The filed complaint says that between October 2015 and January 2023 Segovia had at least 61 shipments mailed to her home from China, Hungary, India, Canada, Spain and Singapore.

She allegedly disguised the packages with labels including 'Wedding Party Favors', 'Gift Makeup,' 'Food Supplement,' and 'Chocolate and Sweets'.

Drug investigators say they intercepted 'thousands of pills of controlled substances, including the synthetic opioids Tramadol and Tapentadol,' with values of thousands of dollars.

Segovia referred to her police union job in WhatsApp messages with an India cell phone number coordinating the shipments, the court documents claimed.

Evans said he was not aware of her arrest or of any suspicious recent lavish spending. However, photos from Joanne's Facebook page show she and her second husband took a Valentine's trip to a beachside resort in an undisclosed location (pictured)

Another photos showed the Segovias toasting with cocktails at the resort's restaurant (pictured)

On June 14 2021 she wrote: 'Sorry, i had 50 new officers starting today so if I've been tied up all morning. I'll be back on the office within an hour and I'll take care of all of it!' according to the criminal complaint.

Other texts suggested her female family member may have been involved in handling the drugs.

'I need to send you $900 for the orange pills that are on their way' she allegedly wrote on July 4, 2022. 'My [family member] is going on vacation so I want to give her enough to last but that is going to make me short, do you know when they are coming?'

Prosecutors included photos of PayPal website receipts, and a UPS shipping receipt to her office address.

Segovia's son-in-law and Jennifer's husband, Nick Hansen, told DailyMail.com that the family was 'absolutely not' going to comment on the charges.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr says he believes the indictment of former President Trump over his alleged involvement in the 2016 hush money scandal to be 'an abomination' and 'the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power.'

Trump made history as the first ex-president in U.S. history to be indicted.

Barr argued how the legal theory behind the indictment was 'pathetically weak' and that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is 'going after the man, not a crime.'

'Obviously, we don't have the indictment, so there's a little bit of speculation involved, but based on the news reports, if they're accurate, this is an abomination,' Barr said on Fox News.

'It's the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power to bring a case that would not be brought against anyone else. They are going after the man, not a crime. And the legal theory, frankly, is pathetically weak,' he suggested.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr called Trump's indictment 'an abomination' and 'the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power'

'The legal theory is pathetically weak. The case is held together by chicken wire and paper clips and rubber bands. It's a lousy case. And it's a shameful episode in our history where this local prosecutor is trying to effect the political process by bringing this case,' Barr railed.

He delved into the legal arguments that will likely be made, noting how the case likely revolved around how Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen recorded the reimbursements paid to him from Trump as 'legal payment'.

Barr explained how the statute requires that any such misclassification of funds be done with the intent to defraud, which may not be the case in this situation.

'The claim is that [recording the Cohen reimbursements as legal payments] is false and therefore violated a misdemeanor statute in the first instance against false documents,' Barr said.

'I actually don't think that's a valid claim in this case, because the statute actually requires that it be done with the intent to defraud. But I don't understand the basis for a fraud claim.'

Former President Trump's legal team went on the offensive on Friday following his historic indictment, vowing the former president would never seek a plea deal and was ready 'to fight'

Barr also disagreed with the claim that the payments were a campaign finance violation because they were effectively a contribution to the Trump campaign.

'They're assuming that the payments were a campaign finance violation because they were effectively a contribution to the Trump campaign. I can tell you that's not the law. I don't think that's how the Justice Department would view it,' Barr added.

'Payments of hush money to keep affairs and things like that secret are not inherently unlawful,' Barr explained.

'I think it's a weak case all together. Unfortunately, I think it will accomplish what its political purpose which is to inject chaos into the Republican process. I think probably the governing intent here is to help Trump and have all the news focused on this kind of stuff for the next couple of years and turn the Republican primary into a circus.'

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating the alleged hush money scandal for years, which includes payments of $130,000 to Daniels and $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating the alleged hush money scandal for years

The case against Donald Trump revolves around hush-money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who says they had a tryst

President Joe Biden sidestepped questions from reporters about the indictment of the Republican he beat in 2020 and could potentially face again in November of next year.

'I have no comment on Trump,' Biden said.

Trump's legal team went on the offensive on Friday following his historic indictment, vowing the former president would never seek a plea deal and was ready 'to fight' all charges.

The 76-year-old Trump, who is hoping to recapture the White House in 2024, chimed in with attacks on the prosecutors who brought the charges against him and even the judge expected to hear the case.

'ELECTION INTERFERENCE, KANGAROO COURT!' Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Juan Manuel Marchal, the judge who may preside over an eventual trial, 'hates me.'

Trump is to be booked, fingerprinted and will have a mugshot taken at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon before appearing before a judge as the first ever American president to face criminal charges.

'The president will not be put in handcuffs,' said Joe Tacopina, one of Trump's attorneys, adding that he does not believe prosecutors will 'allow this to become a circus.'

Tacopina said the hush-money case being brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg against Trump faces 'substantial legal challenges' and the former president would plead not guilty.

There is 'zero' chance Trump would accept a plea deal, he told NBC's Today show. 'It's not going to happen. There's no crime.'

Trump, who is currently at his palatial Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, was initially 'shocked' at the indictment, his attorney said, but 'he's now in the posture that he's ready to fight this.'

In predicting his indictment, Trump called for protests and warned it could lead to 'potential death and destruction' for the country.

And in a statement, the ex-president said he had already raised $4 million for his 2024 presidential campaign in the 24 hours following news of the indictment.
Donald Trump says more than $4 million has been donated to his presidential campaign in the 24 hours since he was indicted.

A quarter of the money came from new donors and contributions could be traced to all 50 states, according to a fundraising email sent out by Trump on Friday night.

The donations comes as his son-in-law Jared Kushner insisted the indictment would 'only make him stronger.'

Trump's team alleges that at least one contribution had come from every single state in America within five hours of a Manhattan jury voting to indict him over a $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The 76-year-old's email read: 'This is the battle I willingly signed up for when I decided to take on the entire Washington Machine as a political outsider 8 years ago, and be YOUR voice.'

Trump's presidential campaign team said it had raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours since he was indicted on Thursday

Jared Kushner has said the former President's indictment had 'only made him stronger' as he slammed the 'troubling' case

Trump's indictment marks the end of a years long investigation into $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels, allegedly to buy her silence about their affair

There is no way to confirm the numbers until the campaign files its first quarter report by April 15.

On Friday, Kushner became the latest family member to slam the case as he accused Democrats of being scared of Trump's 'political strength.'

He said the indictment - which was spearheaded by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg - 'shows obviously the fear that the Democrats have of Trump.'

'As an American, it's very troubling to me to see the leader of the opposition party be indicted,' he added.

'Its been hard to watch the opponents of him politically continue to break every norm over the last years to try to get him.

'But what Ill say is Ive been by him during a lot of these instances and its only made him stronger, and his resolve to take on big challenges, to fight for change.'

Kushner - who is married to Ivanka Trump and previously acted as an aide to Trump while he was in the White House - was speaking at an event organized by the Future Investment Initiative, a non-profit backed by one of Saudi Arabia's largest sovereign funds.

Donald and Melania Trump are seen on Thursday evening at an event at Mar-a-Lago, their Florida home, she will stand by him through indictment, a source close to her told DailyMail.com exclusively

Kushner's ties to Middle East investors have come under renewed scrutiny this week.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had invested with Kushners private equity firm Affinity Partners.

He is the latest member of Trump's family to lambast the case against him.

Yesterday son Eric told Dailymail.com that the indictment was a result of 'opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.'

It echoed statements made by Trump himself who called it 'political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.'

Dailymail.com today revealed that Trump's wife Melania was also planning to stand by her husband.

Meanwhile Ivanka Trump released a brief statement, saying 'I love my father' and that she felt pained for both him and the country.

Trump will be arraigned in Manhattan at 2.15pm on Tuesday.

Exact charges have yet to be revealed but reports indicate there are more than 30 counts.

The allegations center around a $130,000 hush money payment made by Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, to Daniels, 44, during the 2016 presidential campaign.

He has always denied having an affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

But the case dogged him throughout his time in office after triggering a federal investigation.

On Saturday March 18 Trump sensationally announced that he would be arrested the following Tuesday.

Trump's indictment marked a victory for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, pictured, whose office was responsible for the probe into the payment.

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros was forced to deny he funded Bragg's office after Trump repeatedly speculated he was involved

However, an arrest failed to materialize and the case had gone quiet in recent weeks.

But on Thursday a jury dramatically voted in favor of the indictment - marking a victory for Bragg, whose office was responsible for the probe into the payment.

Bragg persevered with his investigation even though federal prosecutors opted not to pursue Trump for what allegedly amounted to an illegal campaign contribution.

Instead, Bragg is thought to be examining whether the payment was wrongly labeled a business expense  a misdemeanor under New York state law.

Trump has repeatedly speculated that the DA is being funded by liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

Today Soros poured cold water on those claims by denying any involvement.

The 92-year-old told the Semafor news website: 'As for Alvin Bragg, as a matter of fact I did not contribute to his campaign, and I don't know him.'

His office is not funded by Soros, although his campaign to become district attorney received $1 million from the Color Of Change Political Action Committee, a racial justice group backed by the Hungarian-born billionaire financier.

Soros is a favorite target of conservatives. Since the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, he has used his extensive wealth to back candidates he says are promoting democracy and the rule of law.
A six-month-old baby has been found dead by police in a house.

Emergency services discovered the body at a house on Nerang Mews Road in Merriwa, in Perth's north, at 8am on Saturday.

Western Australia Police said an investigation has been launched.

Emergency services discovered the body at a house on Nerang Mews Road in Merriwa, in Perth's north , at 8am on Saturday

'Upon arrival a six-month-old baby was located deceased,' a spokeswoman said.

'Inquiries into the circumstances leading up to the child's death are being undertaken.

'No further information is available at this stage.'
Wallabies star Kurtley Beale has enjoyed a morning at the beach with his wife and kid as he fights allegations he raped a woman in the toilet of a popular Bondi pub.

The 34-year-old and his partner Maddi and their son Kurtley visited Bronte Beach, in Sydney's east, on Saturday morning.

Beale is currently on bail having been charged in January with allegedly sexually assaulting a 28-year-old woman in the toilets of the Beach Road Hotel at Bondi.

Wallabies star Kurtley Beale has enjoyed a morning at the beach with his wife and kid as he fights allegations he raped a woman in the toilet of a popular Bondi pub

The 34-year-old and his partner Maddi and their son Kurtley visited Bronte Beach, in Sydney's east, on Saturday morning

The rugby star appeared to be taking some downtime in the surf with his family and opted for a pair of budgie smugglers as he took a dip in the water at the beach.

He was later seen wearing a white cap and blue t-shirt as he walked along the promenade and pushed the stroller with his son Kurtley resting inside.

The trio took a break and sat down at a table outside a cafe with Beale resting his son on his knee.

Police allege Beale sexually assaulted the woman on December 17 last year.

The Australian rugby union international has denied the allegations.

A recent bail hearing was told there was a recorded conversation between Beale and his alleged victim and that the rugby player allegedly sent a message to a friend saying he had 'messed up'.

Beale has been charged with two counts of sexually touching another person without consent, inciting another to sexually touch them without consent and sexual intercourse without consent.

Prosecutor Scott Thompson told the court police had recorded a conversation between Beale and the alleged victim. 'That conversation alludes to what I would say (were) admissions,' he said.

Sergeant Thompson told the court Beale had allegedly sent a message to a friend saying: 'Yeah I messed up, I was out at the pub before Chrissy'.

The rugby star appeared to be taking some downtime on the surf with his family and opted for a pair of budgie smugglers as he took a dip in the water at the beach

But Beale's barrister Stephen Stanton argued the calls and text were 'an admission of infidelity, no more, no less', and did not relate to the assault allegations.

Beale, who has played 95 Tests for Australia, was granted bail on the condition he does not contact the alleged victim or enter an airport.

He has also been forced to surrender his passport and must report to Waverley Police Station twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.

Beale was subsequently hit with a restraining order to protect the woman he is accused of raping.

The provisional apprehended violence order was issued after Beale was granted bail.

Under the terms of the order Beale must not approach the 28-year-old woman he is alleged to have raped or contact her in any way except through a lawyer.

He must also not try to find the woman, or go within 100m of where she lives or works.

Standard AVO conditions prevent Beale from assaulting, threatening, stalking, harassing or intimidating the alleged victim or anyone with whom she is in a domestic relationship.

There is no suggestion Beale has done any of those things, only that police have sought the order.
Police are investigating multiple car crashes which claimed the lives of two people in Melbourne overnight, including a 16-year-old boy.

The crashes occurred within a short time of one another in the early hours of Saturday morning in the suburbs of Beaconsfield, in Melbourne's south east, and Chirnside Park, in the north east.

Victoria Police said a car, which was allegedly being driven by a 16-year-old boy, crashed into three parked cars on Edward Rd, Chirnside Park, at about 2.05am before it burst into flames.

Police and witnesses pulled three boys from the car, however the rear passenger, a 16-year-old Montrose boy, died at the scene despite the best efforts or paramedics.

A 16-year-old boy is dead and two other teenagers are in hospital after a tragic crash in Chirnside Park (pictured)

The driver and the front seat passenger, a 16-year-old Mooroolbark boy, were both taken to hospital with serious injuries.

A neighbour told Nine News the teen driver was unconscious when people tried to help free him from the burning car.

'The gentleman that was driving that was originally passed out woke up halfway through, when the car was on fire and was crying asking for his mum and saying this hurts,' the man told Nine News on Saturday.

Major Collision Investigation Unit Detective Sergeant Daryll Out told reporters on Saturday investigations are ongoing to determine how the crash occurred.

Victoria Police said the car, allegedly being driven by a 16-year-old boy, crashed into three parked cars on Edward Rd, Chirnside Park, at about 2.05am before it burst into flames

'We'll be investigating to any extent if there was alcohol, if high speed was a factor and the degree of inexperience,' he said.

'I think they had a bit of get together and decided to go for a drive.

'Obviously just a bad decision and a catastrophe that didn't need to happen.'

The fireball smash happened two hours after another car crashed into a tree on the Old Princes Hwy, killing a female passenger who died at the scene.

The male driver, who was arrested at the scene and is reportedly assisting police, while a second male was flown to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

In the 12 months to March 30, 262 people lost their lives on Victorian roads - a rolling increase of 10 per cent.

The sharp rise led to a police plea for road users to exercise greater caution in February.
A body of a missing two-year-old boy was found inside an alligator's mouth after his mother was found stabbed to death in her apartment.

Taylen Mosley, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was reported missing on Thursday after his mother Pashun Jeffery, 20, was found dead in her Lincoln Shores apartment from stab wounds.

On Friday evening, Taylen was found dead inside an alligator's mouth in Dell Holmes Park - around 10 miles from his mother's home. Officers confirmed it was the little boy after killing the animal. A medical examiner is determining his cause of death.

'We didnt want to find him this way, but at least we can bring some closure to that family now,' Police Chief Anthony Holloway said. 'We are sorry it has had to end this way.'

Taylen's father Thomas Mosley, 21, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Taylen Mosley, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was reported missing on Thursday after his mother Pashun Jeffery, 20, was found dead in her Lincoln Shores apartment from stab wounds

Family members saw the mother and son on Wednesday around 5.30pm and asked for a welfare check the following day after they were unable to contact her. An employee found her dead and the crime scene was described as 'very violent'

Police announced he was a 'person of interest' after locating him in hopes of finding Taylen, who was not in his custody at the time.

Thomas had checked himself into hospital and was said to be covered in cuts on his arms and hands, according to NBC News. As of Friday, he remains in the hospital, the police chief said.

Thomas did not speak with investigators. Holloway said: 'The father is not talking to us.'

Family members saw the mother and son on Wednesday around 5.30pm and asked for a welfare check the following day after they were unable to contact her.

Neighbors said they heard a loud commotion near the apartment around 8.30 that night, but police were not called. Shortly after the commotion at the apartment, Thomas showed up at his mother's house covered in cuts.

On Friday evening, Taylen was found dead inside an alligator's mouth in Dell Holmes Park - around 10 miles from his mother's home. Officers confirmed it was the little boy after killing the animal

Taylen had just celebrated his second birthday 19 days before being found dead. The little boy's family called him Tay-Tay and said he loved PB&J and calling his mom when she took her break at work

The next morning, Pashun's mother called the apartment manager for a welfare check after her daughter missed their daily FaceTime call and an employee found her dead. Holloway described the crime scene as 'very violent.'

The apartment door was locked when the employee arrived.

Pashun, who worked at CVS, and Taylen had recently moved into the apartment, according to WGXA.

Taylen had just celebrated his second birthday 19 days before being found dead.

The little boy's family called him Tay-Tay and said he loved PB&J and calling his mom when she took her break at work, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
California has seen a population decline of more than 1 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 500,000 people leaving the state between April 2020 and July 2022

California has seen a population decline of more than 1 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 500,000 people leaving between April 2020 and July 2022.

In the state where annual wildfires and treacherous mudslides threaten homes, the population dipped by slightly more than 508,000 since 2020.

San Francisco and Lassen counties experienced the largest population declines, at 7.1 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.

Deputy director of external affairs at the California Department of Finance, H.D. Palmer, told the Sacramento Bee that the shrinking population of the Golden State is a reflection of its ongoing housing affordability crisis.

'If you talk to demographers, they'll say that one of the factors is the cost of housing. And that's continued to be a challenging issue for the state,' he said.

California has seen a population decline of more than 1 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated 500,000 people leaving the state between April 2020 and July 2022. San Francisco has become a virtual ghost town, seen here pictured in October 2022

Homeless tents are seen along Embarcadero Street during heavy rain in San Francisco earlier this year

According to the Bee, in Sacramento - where the median household income in 2021 was $71,047 - it requires a household salary of around $145,000 to afford the median-priced house in the region.

A mass exodus from the city known for its tech industry has taken place since the pandemic struck in 2020, and many office spaces were abandoned.

That means the city's streets have become increasingly dangerous, with many locals avoiding downtown sidewalks for fear of a violent encounter with one of the many vagrants and drug abusers who've taken over.

'San Francisco went from being one of the hottest office markets in the country to one of the weakest,' Carlisle told the San Francisco Gate, adding: 'High tech workers were the ones who were most likely to say, 'Well if I can work from any place, I'll move some place where housing costs 90 percent less.''

Since 2020, the city has descended into a crime haven, where slash-and-grab thieves would break into stores and steal items in broad daylight and homeless people are seen doing drugs right on the streets  sometimes where students would walk home from school.

Homeless tents and homeless people are seen by the Polk Street near the City Hall in San Francisco

The streets of San Francisco - some of the most expensive in the country for taxpayers - remain littered with human feces and drug needles

That rampant increase in homelessness and crime has affected the 'quality of life ambiance' the downtown once offered, Carlisle said.

Making matters worse, he said, recent mass layoffs at tech companies have forced middle-class workers to move.

However, despite the exodus from the City by the Bay, 19 of California's 58 counties saw population growth during the same time period - mainly inland counties with lower housing costs.

The fastest-growing county was San Benito, which is located just south of the Bay Area.

Experts say San Francisco's growing homelessness problem and open air-drug markets are driving prospective buyers away from the area

Additionally, six of the nine fastest-growing counties were in Northern California, in areas surrounding Sacramento, with Amador, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Placer, Yolo and Yuba County all growing by more than 1.5 percent.

The information was gleaned from recent U.S. census migration data that shows that while 20 percent of new residents to these northern inland counties came from nearby Sacramento County, about one-third came from the Bay Area.

Outside of Sacramento County, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa counties were the top three counties of origin for these residents at 11%, 6%, and 5%, respectively.

Cheaper housing prices are the main reason why people are moving inland, and remote work flexibility has made it easier for them to keep their jobs in the Bay Area while living elsewhere.

'The thing that's been changing in California a lot over the last few years is the really remarkable cost of housing in California as a whole, but also in the Bay Area in particular,' said Eric McGhee, a demographics researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California to the San Francisco Chronicle.

'That's liable to make people want to try and figure out an arrangement somewhere cheaper, that's preferably not too far away from where they were before if they can help it.'

Last month the Democrat Mayor of San Francisco London Breed said she is requesting nearly $30 million in additional funding for the city's police force.

The San Francisco Police Department has encountered rising overtime costs for current officers as the force is experiencing a shortage of workers.

Between 2021 and 2022, the department saw a 121 percent increase in total overtime, according to KPIX.

SFPD officials have also been making targeted attempts to address crime in certain pockets in the city which are prone to incidents.

'We have been working hard to address serious public safety challenges in San Francisco, but we need our officers out on the street,' said London Breed in February.

The San Francisco Police Department is currently experiencing a shortage of 541 officers.

'While we are working on strategies to address our staffing shortages, we can't wait to ensure our officers are able to provide the basic services our residents deserve and that our prosecutors can hold drug dealers and repeat offenders accountable,' Breed said.
A pregnant wife told a witness that her husband pushed her from Arthur's Seat before she and her unborn child died from their injuries, a court has heard.

Kashif Anwar, 29, is accused of murdering Fawziyah Javed, 31, in September 2021 by pushing her from the hill, causing her multiple blunt force injuries before she died.

Anwar denies all the charges against him, including one of acting in a threatening and abusive way towards his wife at a hotel in Edinburgh the day before the alleged murder.

Giving evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, witness Daniyah Rafique, 24, said she found Ms Javed on Arthur's Seat on the evening of September 2 2021.

She said she was first approached by Anwar, who she described as looking 'panicked'.

Fawziyah Javed, 31, and her unborn child both died from their injuries after she was allegedly pushed off Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Police were called to the popular Scottish tourist spot in Edinburgh at around 9pm following reports that a 31-year-old woman had fallen to her death

She said Anwar told her that his wife had fallen and he could not see her, so Ms Rafique made her way back down Arthur's Seat with Anwar to try to find his wife.

Upon finding her, she said Ms Javed asked: 'Am I going to be okay? Is my baby going to be okay?'

Ms Rafique told the court she reassured her and told her emergency services were on their way.

Ms Rafique said: 'She said she was really scared. She kept saying: "Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me".

'I said this to her a few more times: He pushed you?'

Ms Javed replied: 'Yes, I think so,' before two officers approached.

Police Constable Rhiannon Clutton, 35, was one of the police officers who attended the night Ms Javed is alleged to have been murdered by her husband.

Ms Clutton said she found Ms Javed 'writhing in pain' with an obvious injury to the head but told the court 'she could still speak'.

'I asked her what had happened,' Ms Clutton said. Ms Javed reportedly replied to her: 'He pushed me.'

A witness told the High Court in Edinburgh that Ms Javed (pictured) said: 'Don't let my husband near me, he pushed me'

The Police Constable then asked who had pushed her and why, to which she replied: 'My husband because I told him I wanted to end it.'

Ms Clutton told the court Ms Javed had meant she wanted to end the relationship.

The officer then said she asked Ms Javed if she had previously spoken to the police about him and she replied that she had 'at home in Leeds'.

Ms Clutton added: 'She asked me why he was like that and she asked me to keep him away from her.'

The court also heard how Ms Javed repeatedly asked for water and 'if she was going to die' and if her baby 'was going to die'.

Ms Javed's condition deteriorated further when the fire service joined the rescue operation.

Following this, Ms Clutton said Ms Javed became 'unresponsive' and that is when CPR commenced.

She was then pronounced dead at around 10.18pm on September 2.

The court also heard from Samuel Mackeddie, who advised the couple on the best route to take to the top of Arthur's Seat.

He told the court they seemed like 'quite a nice couple' but that he contacted the police 'immediately' when he saw Ms Javed's face on the front of a newspaper the following day.

The trial, before Lord Beckett, continues.
A man has been remanded in custody following an appearance in court where he was charged with the murders of a father and son who were shot dead.

Stephen Alderton, 66, appeared at Huntingdon Magistrates' Court on Saturday wearing a grey prison tracksuit. No pleas were entered and the case was sent to Cambridge Crown Court for a hearing on Monday.

The grandfather has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm, Cambridgeshire Constabulary said on Friday.

The force said he was arrested after the shooting of Gary, 57, and Joshua Dunmore, 32, at properties in Sutton, and Bluntisham in Cambridgeshire, on Wednesday.

A 27-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman who were also arrested have been released without charge.

Stephen Alderton (pictured), 66, has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm, Cambridgeshire Constabulary said on Friday

Stephen Alderton, 66, of no fixed abode, has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm. Pictured: Josh Dunmore

A man was arrested and charged with two counts of murder on Friday. He appeared in court today and was remanded in custody. Pictured: Gary Dunmore, 57

On Friday the Dunmore family said the 'devastation this has caused will never heal'.

The family said: 'Josh was a devoted father and a loving uncle.

'He was a wonderful son and brother and leaves behind an extensive group of family and friends.

'He will be deeply missed and the devastation this has caused will never heal.

'Gary was the most devoted son, brother, dad, and grandad, who gave everything for those he loved.

'He was a gentle and generous person who always put others before himself and he'll be massively missed by his family and all those who knew and loved him.

'We ask for privacy to mourn this loss at this incredibly difficult time.'

Police were called to reports of gunshots in Meridian Close, Bluntisham, just after 9pm, then to similar reports in Sutton at 9.37pm on Wednesday.

A 32-year-old man was found dead in Bluntisham, and a 57-year-old man was found dead in Sutton.

Detective Inspector Mark Butler of the major crime unit said: 'There is no wider risk to the general public.

'There will be an increased police presence in the areas concerned and officers and crime officers will be at the scenes.'

Father and son Gary and Joshua Dunmore (pictured) were shot and killed on Wednesday in Cambridgeshire villages

Gary Dunmore (left), 57, and his son Joshua (right), 32, were found dead on Wednesday night after being shot

Forensics at the scene where Gary Dunmore was found dead. At 9.37pm on Wednesday, police were called to Sutton, near Ely, after receiving reports of gunshots

Neighbours were shocked by the two violent deaths in leafy streets where family homes sell for more than 500,000.

Designer Sarah Lown, 38, who lives near the house split into two flats where twice-married builder Gary Dunmore lived, heard three loud bangs just after 9pm on Wednesday.

'I thought something had blown over,' she said. 'I didn't think anything crazy had happened. Then I heard two more.'

Gordon Murray, 62, who lives opposite, said: 'There was a lot of shouting. Then I saw armed police.'

Residents in Bluntisham were ordered to stay indoors by officers as a helicopter circled overhead.

Retail worker Sharon Coulson, 58, said the village was 'a nice place to live, nice country walks, friendly, everyone says hello'.

A floral tribute to Gary Dunmore, left outside his home in The Row, Sutton, said: 'To my dear neighbour Gary.

'A man who loved his family dearly, a dear friend to all, so helpful and kind and was always around as a friend and my little odd job man.

'I'm going to miss you.'

Another tribute said: 'RIP Gary. Absolutely gutted.'

A floral tribute left to Josh Dunmore in Bluntisham said: 'So sad a young life to be taken like this and a little boy now with no daddy.

'Thinking of the family. RIP Josh X.'

Another tribute said: 'We have no words for such tragedy in our quiet village. Our prayers are with all involved. Rest in eternal peace.'

Police said that post-mortem examinations will take place at Peterborough City Hospital on Monday.
Labor has claimed victory and the Liberals conceded defeat in an 'extraordinary' win in the Aston by-election which was formerly a safe Liberal seat held by ex-Cabinet minister Alan Tudge.

Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell called Labor's Mary Doyle to congratulate her on the win just before 9pm after it became clear there was no way back from a huge swing against the Coalition.

ABC's political analyst Antony Green had earlier called the Melbourne seat for Labor at 8.17pm after ballot counts revealed voters had turned against Peter Dutton's Opposition in unprecedented numbers.

If the result is confirmed, it will be the first time in over a century where a federal government has claimed a by-election win in a previously Opposition-held seat.

'This is a terrible result for the Liberals,' said Green as he called it for Labor. 'It's extraordinary.'

Labor Mary Doyle (pictured with deputy prime minister Richard Marles) has claimed an historic win in the Aston by-election, seizing the seat from Liberal and breaking a 100 year hoodoo

Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell (pictured with leader Peter Dutton) called Labor's Mary Doyle to congratulate her on the win just before 9pm after it became clear there was no way back from a huge swing against the Coalition

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed the victory in a statement at 8.44pm and said he had called Ms Doyle and congratulated the mother of two on her historic win.

On two party preferences, Labor has 53.45 per cent of the vote and the Liberals 46.55 per cent with a 6.3 per cent swing that not even Labor supporters expected.

'Aston has been painted red from end to end,' said Green on ABC. 'This is just an extraordinary result.'

Ms Doyle gained a massive 7.3 per cent swing for the party in the Federal election in May last year but retiring MP Alan Tudge still retained the seat on a 2.8 per cent margin.

The previously safe outer east suburban seat was vacated by former Minister Mr Tudge when he retired in February, triggering Saturday's by-election and giving Ms Doyle a second run at winning.

While counting continues, Ms Doyle was declared the winner on Saturday with an unassailable lead.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured with Mary Doyle) told the Tasmanian 120-year anniversary dinner he had spoken to Ms Doyle and congratulated her on the historic win

She celebrated the surprise victory - which had even taken Prime Minister Anthony Albanese by surprise, who was in Tasmania when the result became clear - with cheering supporters at a Labor Party function.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles hailed her achievement and told campaign workers: 'There are precious few moments when you are in the presence of history.

'So soak it up!'

He added: 'Tonight is a huge endorsement of our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Albo is a great guy. I know it and the Australian people know it too.'

The PM told the Tasmanian 120-year anniversary dinner he was attending that he had spoken to Ms Doyle and congratulated her on the historic win. He will return to Melbourne on Sunday morning.

Ms Doyle was droned out by the sheers of supporters as Mr Marles introduced her to the crowd at at Melbourne's Boronia Bowls Club as Mary Doyle MP.

'Wow,' she said. 'You guys. Wow. I'm Mary Doyle - you know, I like to be humble still.

'I'm a suburban mum and Ive lived in the outer eastern suburbs for more than 35 years. And as from tonight, I guess I'll be your next member for Aston...

'I think even our most optimistic campaigners knew I was the underdog. What we were trying to do hadn't been done for 100 years.

'Aston has been Liberal since Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U was top of the charts in 1990.

'We are the underdog - but boy, have we shown we have a big bite.'

The former union official and breast cancer survivor added: 'The support has blown me away. I even had Billy Bragg in one of my t-shirts!

'I am so grateful to every single person here tonight.

'Finally, I want to thank the bloke who, like me, was raised Catholic and grew up in public housing and also, like me, has excellent taste in music, the 31st Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.

'Anthony leads a government that Australians can truly be proud of, a government that has hit the ground running, trying to fix a decade of problems and neglect and scheming and rorting from the Coalition.

'A bloke who I am proud to have made over 100 years of history with.'

Former union official and breast cancer survivor Mary Doyle (pictured) won the seat previously held by Liberal Cabinet minister Alan Tudge is a dramatic swing to Labor

Jubilant Labor supporters (pictured, celebrated the historic surprise victory at a post-election function for newly-elected MP and mother of three Mary Doyle

Liberal leader Peter Dutton, flanked by Ms Campbell, admitted it was a 'tough night' at a post-election function in Melbourne.

'We will grow stronger from today's experience and we will work towards the next election to make sure that we're in a much better and stronger position,' he told the party faithful.

'I want to congratulate Mary Doyle and the Labour Party for their success tonight.'

But he warned: 'We will rebuild and we will never give in.'

Disappointed Ms Campbell - who had focused her campaign on the increasing cost of living and local infrastructure - said she 'had to respect the voters' decision.'

She added: 'Our democracy needs a strong opposition and the time will come, I think soon, where this country needs a strong Liberal government.'

She thanked Mr Dutton for his support 'during what is a very difficult time for our party.'

Liberal supporters had been clinging to the hope of a huge reversal when postal and pre-polling votes were counted, but Green said the swing required was too great to be a realistic possibility.

Pre-polling votes managed to narrow the gap slightly but Labor maintained its lead, making a Liberal bounce back impossible.

The election is a disastrous result for the Liberals in a vote that was widely viewed as a test of Mr Dutton's leadership.

The election is a disastrous result for the Liberals in a vote that was widely viewed as a test of the leadership of Peter Dutton (pictured at the Liberal function for Ms Campbell)

Mr Dutton later said Alan Tudge's personal vote had held the seat at the federal election but admitted: 'We have a lot of rebuilding to do.

'We have to listen to the messages and do the analysis. The dirty campaign Labor ran has obviously been effective. Tonight was not to be our night.

'I have one test for my leadership and that was whether we could keep the party together over the last ten months and we've done that.

'But Victoria is a very difficult market for us and has been since 1998. There's a lot of issues on the ground for us in Victoria.'

Federal Liberal MP Keith Wolahan said issued a plea to his party to come together.

'I think when we fight and it spills over into the media, to think that Victorians don't notice that is just ridiculous,' he told the ABC.

Mr Wolahan stood by Mr Dutton's leadership, adding: 'I saw good and bad leaders in the most trying of circumstances and he has all the qualities of a good leader.'

His comments were backed by fellow Victorian and senator Jane Hume, who said she 'cannot imagine there would be any mood in the party room for (a change of leader)'.

'There is no doubt this is a blow but he is a leader with a solid team behind him,' she told the ABC.

By the end of the evening, with 71 per cent of the vote counted, Ms Doyle had 41.1 per cent to Ms Campbell's 38.2 per cent with the Labor vote up by 8 per cent.

In the two party preferred count, the swing to Labor was 6.6 per cent with Labor on 53.8 percent to the Liberals' 46.2 percent.
The jilted wife of Amanda Owen's new lover rumbled their affair when she found an intimate note from the Yorkshire Shepherdess in his car.

The handwritten note by Owen, 48, and addressed to web designer Robert Davies, 71, reads: 'Life is too short & happiness is too rare. I love you.'

The clandestine five-year fling between the star and Mr Davies began as she rose to fame on the TV hit Our Yorkshire Farm.

But yesterday the shepherdess was accused of living a TV lie by the devastated wife of her lover Yasumi Davies, who told The Sun: 'I've lost everything.'

Yasumi, 56, discovered the affair only a year ago when the love letter was found inside a paper bag in the boot of Mr Davies' car as she cleaned it.

Jilted wife Yasumi Davies (left) rumbled the affair between Amanda Owen (right) and Robert Davies when she found an intimate note from the Yorkshire Shepherdess in his car

The handwritten note from Owen to Robert Davies (pictured) reads: 'Life is too short & happiness is too rare. I love you'

The wife, an investment banker from Tokyo, recognised the handwriting from a signed copy of Owen's new book.

According to The Sun, she then discovered some of Owen's jewellery hidden in a box in their bedroom, including a necklace she had worn on TV which read: 'Together forever.'

Yasumi, who married Mr Davies on Christmas Day in 2011 following a whirlwind romance, later uncovered a key chain which said: 'Unbridled love. R & A.'

Mr Davies, whose eldest daughter is the same age as Amanda, instantly confessed to the affair when Yasumi confronted her husband, who has had five wives.

Mother-of-nine Owen attracted thousands of adoring fans as the series documented her farming life - earning her more than 1million.

Details of the shocking affair came out almost a year after she and her co-star husband Clive, 68, announced their unanticipated split.

The devastated wife of Owen's new lover was left 'blindsided' after he left her for the TV star, her friends told MailOnline

Owen confirmed she had separated from her husband of 21 years Clive, 68, last summer, and they share nine children together. Pictured: The couple in 2020

In an interview with The Sun today, Yasumi said: 'He rang Amanda in front of me and told her I knew about their affair and that it was over.

'He said they'd been having an affair for a few years. But instead of acknowledging the pain I was suffering, he was more concerned about protecting her TV career.

'She didn't care how I felt and didn't show any compassion.

'I'd watched Our Yorkshire Farm and couldn't help but be impressed by her.

'She portrayed herself as a wife and a mother, devoted to family, hard-working and an inspiration to others. But she's been lying to the British public and living a double life.'

Mr Davies then ended the phone call and seemingly his relationship with Owen, but was seeing the shepherdess again within a month.

The father has since moved away from his family home with Yasumi in Malton, North Yorkshire, and was pictured with Owen at an event in Folkestone, Kent.

Yasumi, who broke down in tears during the interview, said: 'I wonder if she has ever thought about my feelings?

'I didn't know anything and I was alone.

'I had no suspicions about them. I thought it was purely about business.'

Yasumi and Mr Davies met in Tokyo in 2011 when Mr Davies was visiting family.

After exchanging emails, they grew closer after Japan's earthquake which killed nearly 20,000 people one month later.

Mr Davies and Yasumi met in Tokyo in 2011 and were married on Christmas Day that year after a whirlwind romance

Jan Coates, 72, the fourth of Mr Davies' spouses, revealed he 'hasn't changed in two decades' as he proceeds to 'get married, have an affair and move on'

Yasumi said the businessman was 'really kind' until 2018 when she noticed a sudden change in his behaviour towards her after he started working with Amanda on her farming website.

Meanwhile, Mr Davies' fourth wife, 72-year-old Jane Coates, said their marriage broke down in 2001 after he cheated two years in.

Mrs Coates said: 'That's what he does, gets married, has an affair and moves on.

'He is very charming but he is also very ruthless in the way he treats people. I think he gets bored easily.'

Meanwhile, a source close to Yasumi recently said: 'She is absolutely heartbroken by what's happened. She can't believe it.

'She gave up a career in banking after meeting Rob in Tokyo and he persuaded her to leave all of her family and friends in Japan to start a new life with him in the UK.'
One of the carcasses was an endangered Ladakh urial sheep, and Bruce was said to have been cautioned there were only 180 in the region before the hunt

Jason Keith Bruce is facing 25 years behind bars after allegedly attempting to transport endangered animal carcasses into the US

A big game hunter has been arrested after allegedly smuggling eight rare animal carcasses in his luggage through San Francisco International Airport.

Jason Keith Bruce, 49, is facing up to 25 years behind bars after he was snared for attempting to use forged government documents to transport several high-value corpses into the country, including an endangered Ladakh urial sheep, federal prosecutors said.

Bruce, of Sacramento County, California, was charged alongside Pakistani hunting expert Pir Danish Ali, 43, for the alleged crimes following a hunting trip to Pakistan in 2018, with both men facing significant jail time and thousands in fines if convicted.

An investigation was later launched by the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement, which reportedly uncovered a wide-ranging smuggling ring perpetrated by Ali's company to sneak animal carcasses through airports.

Jason Keith Bruce, 49, pictured with one of his big game hunting trophies, is facing up to 25 years in prison after allegedly attempting to smuggle endangered species

The hunter allegedly paid $50,000 to Ali to help him kill the endangered long-horned sheep, before planning to ship the animal's body back to the US by forging Pakistani official documents and labelling the carcass as from a different species.

At least 25 hunters allegedly used this tactic through Ali's company, where falsified papers were used to smuggle upwards of 97 carcasses into the US between 2013 and 2018.

Bruce is facing severe penalties after targeting the Ladakh urial sheep, which is typically found in the western central Asia region and listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

The population of the sheep has declined significantly in recent years, and according to indictment documents, Bruce was reportedly warned by Pir before their hunt that just 180 of the sheep had been logged in the area at the time.

But the scarcity seemingly attracted the big game hunter to bag an elusive trophy, with Bruce enlisting Ali's services as far back as 2016 to begin plotting how to sneak the animal into the US, the Fish and Wildlife Service's investigation revealed.

Ali, the CEO of a hunting outfitter and guide company based in Pakistan, agreed to export the Ladakh urial as a trophy through both fraud and bribery, the Justice Department said in a news release.

After Bruce was caught with the rare species' carcass when he flew into San Francisco International Airport in March 2018, both he and Ali allegedly conspired to lie about the origins of the animal, the release alleges.

The discovery also led to a further investigation that uncovered Ali's expansive animal smuggling ring, prosecutors say.

Bruce, right, is accused of conspiring to falsify government records to bring an endangered big game trophy into the US

The Californian, center right, is accused of paying $50,000 to a Pakistani hunting expert for a lucrative hunting trip in 2018

After the big game hunter was caught sneaking an endangered Ladakh urial sheep through San Francisco International Airport in 2018, an investigation uncovered a wide-ranging animal smuggling ring

Bruce and Ali were indicted by a federal grand jury on March 23 for the plot, with the hunter arrested the following day.

Both men are facing a five-year prison sentence and $250,000 if convicted of charges of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, to make false statements, and to smuggle goods into the United States.

Californian Bruce is also facing an additional 21-year-sentence and a total of $300,000 in fines if convicted of smuggling and Endangered Species Act violations.
John Fetterman has broken his silence over his crippling depression diagnosis that left him unable to eat and confined to his bed after being discharged from hospital following more than six weeks of inpatient treatment at Walter Reed.

In an upcoming interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Sen. John Fetterman disclosed that his depression symptoms worsened after he was elected to the US Senate in November in the mid-term election's most expensive contest.

'The whole thing about depression,' he said, 'is that objectively you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost and thats exactly what happened and that was the start of a downward spiral.'

Fetterman, 53, said he 'had stopped leaving my bed, Id stopped eating, I was dropping weight, Id stopped engaging in some of the most  things that I love in my life.'

He checked into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on February 15 after weeks of what aides described as Fetterman being withdrawn and uninterested in eating, discussing work or partaking in banter with staff.

Fetterman told CBS Sunday Morning: 'The whole thing about depression is that objectively you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost and thats exactly what happened and that was the start of a downward spiral'

Fetterman was elected in November to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate after defeating reality TV personality Dr. Oz

Fetterman was barely a month into his service, following his defeat of Dr. Oz, in Washington and still recovering from the aftereffects of the stroke he suffered last May when he went to Walter Reed on the advice of the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian P. Monahan.

Post-stroke depression is common and treatable through medication and talk therapy, doctors say.

Fetterman's office said Friday that the Democrat had left Walter Reed after six weeks of inpatient treatment for clinical depression, with plans to return to the Senate when the chamber resumes session on April 17.

The Senate is scheduled to be in recess for the first two weeks of April. and senators will return to Washington in the middle of the month.

In a statement, Fetterman's office said he is back home in Braddock, in western Pennsylvania, with his depression 'in remission,' and gave details on his treatment  including that his depression was treated with medication and that he is wearing hearing aids for hearing loss.

Fetterman, who has a wife and three school-age children, said he is happy to be home.

'Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs,' Fetterman said.

'I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life.'

Fetterman was discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday and is in 'remission'

Doctors describe 'remission' as when a patient responds to treatment so that they have returned to normal social function and they are indistinguishable from someone who has never had depression.

Democrats will likely welcome their colleague back with open arms, as the party has a slim majority in the upper chamber and has struggled with absences from their senators.

Aging Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is being treated for shingles, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon took time off after the death of his mother.

Vice President Kamala Harris had to cast several tie-breaking votes as the President of the Senate during the absences.

In early March the public had its first sighing of Fetterman when his staff posted an update on Twitter.

'Productive morning with Senator Fetterman at Walter Reed discussing the rail safety legislation, Farm Bill and other Senate business,' chief of staff Adam Jentleson wrote in a tweet along with photos of him and Fetterman looking over documents.

'John is well on his way to recovery and wanted me to say how grateful he is for all the well wishes. Hes laser focused on PA & will be back soon.'

Fetterman with his wife Gisele at a Wendy's near Walter Reed after checking himself in for clinical depression treatment last month

'Productive morning with Senator Fetterman at Walter Reed discussing the rail safety legislation, Farm Bill and other Senate business,' chief of staff Adam Jentleson wrote in a tweet along with photos of him and the senator

While in the hospital in early February, Fetterman signed onto bipartisan rail safety legislation introduced after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

A member of the Agriculture Committee, the senator also has a hand drafting the farm bill Congress votes on every five years.

His wife, Gisele, posted on Twitter in response to the photos: 'Society's expectations and traditional gender roles play a part in why men are less likely to discuss or seek help for their mental health.

As always, John continues to challenge the conversation. So human, so kind, so cute.'

Earlier this month, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Donald Trump Jr. described Fetterman as a 'vegetable' and saying he would be better employed as a 'bag guy' at a grocery store than a U.S. senator.

During his stroke recovery, Fetterman struggled with sensory processing issues, and relied on simultaneous translation computer software in media interviews and to do his Senate duties.

A senior aide told NBC that it has been challenging to differentiate between the senator's stroke recovery and the depression, with the staffer saying it's sometimes unclear if he's 'not hearing you, or is he sort of crippled by his depression and social anxiety.'
He has branded it a 'witch hunt' by the Democrats but would be unable to post comments if the restriction is put in place

Following his indictment in Manhattan, Former President Donald Trump has been posting non-stop about the allegations on social media  but experts say that could be about to change.

Trump, 76, has lashed out several times on Truth Social following the announcement on Thursday that he would face charges over alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

But his freedom to respond how he sees fit is likely to be restricted when he surrenders and appears in a courthouse in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice, has warned that Manhattan's Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is likely to issue a gag order on the former president.

If Trump violates it by speaking about the case outside the courtroom, he could be punished for criminal contempt  which under New York law could leave him facing a fine of up to $1,000, 30 days of jail time or sometimes both.

Trump, 76, has lashed out several times on Truth Social following the announcement on Thursday that he would face charges over alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels

He has branded it a 'witch hunt' by the Democrats but would be unable to post anything similar if the restriction is put in place

Levin told Insider: 'I think it's not only a possibility, but it's extremely likely that there will be a gag order in the case.

'Gag orders are very common in criminal cases, particularly in cases where there is an enormous amount of pretrial publicity like this one.'

Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was previously sent back to federal prison in upstate New York for questioning a gag order while serving his three-year sentence under home confinement.

The former president has been unable to stop talking about his upcoming court hearing, branding it as a 'witch-hunt' for the Democrats and launching a series of vicious attacks on Merchan and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

Merchan previously presided over the tax fraud case in Manhattan in which the Trump Organization was found guilty  with Trump writing on Truth Social that the judge 'HATES ME'.

Levin added: 'This is a criminal case now, so the rules have changed, and the rules are no longer in his purview to make.

'He is a criminal defendant and, you know, we see hundreds of thousands of criminal defendants across the country every day who have a lot of rights stripped away from them and he is now one of them. These proceedings are going to change his life.'

Lawyers can also be limited to routine details of the case as well as the next court appearance, but Levin believes that a gag order is likely to be issued to both legal teams.

Manhattan's Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has been described as a 'no-nonsense judge' who wouldn't hesitate to jail someone for a breach of a gag order

If Trump violates it by speaking about the case outside the courtroom, he could be punished for criminal contempt  which under New York law is a fine of up to $1,000, 30 days of jail time or sometimes both

Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina NBC's 'Today' on Friday that Trump was 'initially shocked' by news of the indictment, but he is 'ready to be combative' in defending himself.

Former Indiana Attorney General Jeff Modisett added that the order would be a 'carefully defined, narrowly restricted gag order' which would be upheld on appeal.

Usually, those who violate a gag order are given a warning, but violations following that would 'likely lead to contempt of court' according to Levin.

He added: 'Theoretically, a litigant who breaks a gag order could be thrown in jail.

'Merchan is an absolutely no-nonsense judge who will keep a very tight control on the proceedings.

Lawyers can also be limited to routine details of the case as well as the next court appearance, but Levin believes that a gag order is likely to be issued to both legal teams

'Extrajudicial statements by Trump are not going to be looked on kindly by this judge. If the judge finds that he's crossed a line you'd better believe that this judge is going to do something about it.'

The exact charges against Trump will not be known until the indictment is unsealed, which is expected to happen next week.

They are believed to be in relation to the 2016 payment of $130,000 from his former attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels, a porn star who claims to have slept with Trump in 2005.

Trump maintains his innocence, insisting he had nothing to do with it.
Three British men are being held prisoner by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Charity medic Kevin Cornwell, 53, and another British national who manages a hotel for aid workers in the capital Kabul have been detained by the Taliban's secret police since early January.

The other Briton being held is notorious 'danger tourist' Miles Routledge, 23, who boasts to his thousands of followers online that he travels 'to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun'.

He had recently returned to Afghanistan, filming videos shooting guns with Taliban troops, despite having to be evacuated from a 'holiday' in the country in 2021 when the Islamists seized back power.

The UK does not have an embassy or any consulates in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families.'

Miles Routledge, 23, first grabbed headlines during the Taliban take-over of Afghanistan last year when he went on 'holiday' to the country and had to be evacuated from Kabul

Kevin Cornwell, 53, a British medic for charity Iqarus, who has been detained by the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence in Kabul, Afghanistan, since January 11

Mr Cornwell, a married father from Middlesbrough, was arrested in a raid at his hotel by officers from the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) on January 11. Taliban agents accused him of having an illegal firearm in the safe in his room at the Darya Village Hotel, which is popular with Western humanitarian staff.

Mr Cornwell's family said he had been granted a licence for the handgun by the Taliban government.

He had been in Afghanistan for 11 months working as a medic for Iqarus International, which provides free health care to local people. Also detained in the raid was the hotel's British manager, whom this newspaper has agreed not to name at the request of his family.

He and Mr Cornwell have been held ever since in a secure unit for foreign nationals run by the GDI. No charges have been brought and they have not been granted legal representation.

The two men's families are being supported by Scott Richards, an experienced negotiator with Presidium Network, a British non-profit organisation that works in conflict zones.

Mr Richards said: 'Having spoken with multiple witnesses to the events, it could be that we may be looking at a misunderstanding with GDI who may have been reacting to a tip. The weapon in Kevin's room was stored with the licence issued by the Taliban's ministry of interior and was apparently kept inside its holster. The weapon never left the safe, it had never been carried. So the GDI could have been following a tip, and then they find themselves with two British nationals in detention.'

Mr Routledge (right) had recently returned to Afghanistan, filming videos shooting guns with Taliban troops, despite having to be evacuated from a 'holiday' in the country in 2021

He said he understood that the men were being well treated and are in good health, though there were concerns around Mr Cornwell because he needs medication.

Mr Richards said: 'The clear concern here is that the detainees have not been permitted access to consular officials or international observers. There is no clarity as to the legal process in Afghanistan such as the right to representation. There is no clarity on the charges. Kevin is a humanitarian worker, liaising with the United Nations, Unicef and the World Food Programme. To have people involved in such work with the incredible needs of Afghanistan at the moment, and to be potentially arbitrarily detained, will make it difficult to assure the safety of other aid workers.'

Last night, he urged the Taliban to show 'compassion' and release the men during the important religious month of Ramadan.

Routledge, a former physics student at Loughborough University, has posted videos of himself firing weapons with Taliban fighters

Routledge, a former physics student at Loughborough University, who has tens of thousands of social-media followers, has been unusually silent online since the end of February. He was branded an 'idiot' in August 2021 when he had to be evacuated during the Taliban takeover. His extraction was funded by British taxpayers.

Foreign Office advice is not to travel to the 'extremely volatile' country, which has been plunged into crisis after the chaotic withdrawal of American forces following two decades of war.

But Routledge has made several trips to Afghanistan in the past year and released a video in which he claimed he was travelling on forged documents.

Miles Routledge, from Birmingham, boasts to his thousands of followers online that he travels 'to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun'

Other clips showed him blasting automatic rifles with a Taliban fighter and visiting a weapons market in the city of Jalalabad, a stronghold for terrorists affiliated to Islamic State. Routledge previously said he believed he would be safe in Afghanistan because of a 15 joke purchase that gives him the right to use the title 'Lord', but a security source said his Taliban captors may think he is genuinely a member of the English aristocracy.

Routledge also visited Ukraine as Russian forces invaded last year and took a trip to war-torn Sudan.

It was unclear where he was being held last night. His mother Susan said she had not heard from him.

Mr Cornwell was arrested at the Darya Village Hotel and Business Park

Security experts said it was likely that the Taliban would demand a prisoner swap in return for the release of Western men held. Another possibility is that the Islamists, who do not have diplomatic recognition as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, will demand the release of billions of dollars frozen by sanctions.

Many of the senior leaders of the Taliban are listed as terrorists by the UN Security Council. Their return to power triggered sanctions preventing any financial transactions with them or any institutions under their authority.

Last year, the Taliban released former US marine Mark Frerichs, who was working as an engineer with a non-government organisation, after holding him for more than two years. He was swapped for Taliban financier Bashir Noorzai, who was serving a life sentence in a US prison for drug-trafficking.
Medic experts said there was no physical or psychiatric reason for her symptoms

A woman who fought for a payout following a car crash she claimed had left her disabled lost the case after she was caught undertaking a 'strenuous' four-hour waterfall walk and volunteering at a music festival.

Claire Thomas from Merthyr Tydfil was found to have been 'fundamentally dishonest' about the injuries she sustained in a crash in 2016 after she tried to claim over 250,000 in damages.

The 39-year-old said she had suffered soft tissue injuries to her neck, back, and shoulders as well as migraines and psychological problems.

However, despite her claiming that these injuries disabled her and limited her capacity to walk, medical experts found there was no reason for this to be the case.

In the following years, she was caught dancing at a wedding, attending a pop concert and jetting off on trips to Italy and Switzerland.

Claire Thomas (pictured), 39, tried to claim over 250,000 after the 2016 crash, saying the suffered physical injuries as well as migraines and psychological problems

Ms Thomas, who had trained as a lawyer and worked as a judge's and barrister's clerk, had been placed under surveillance after insurance company LV=, whose policyholder was involved in the 2016 crash, became suspicious of her symptoms.

A surveillance operation carried out by law firm Clyde & Co captured evidence of her walking, jogging, and playing with her nephew in the park, reports WalesOnline .

An additional review of her social media found evidence of her trips abroad as well as her walking along 'very rough' and 'slippery' paths while undertaking the famous Four Waterfalls Walk in the Brecon Beacons.

The case was subject to a hearing at Cardiff County Court with a judge dismissing Ms Thomas' claim after finding that she had 'not presented a truthful account of her symptoms'.

Insurer LV= is now looking to recover costs from Ms Thomas.

The court heard that on July 22, 2016, Ms Thomas, was driving her Vauxhall Astra along the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road from Merthyr towards Aberdare.

As she hit traffic, a van driven by Alan Owen failed to stop and collided with the back of her car, which Ms Thomas' vehicle suffered 'relatively significant' damage and was considered an insurance write-off - Mr Owen admitted liability for the crash.

In July 2019, Ms Thomas issued proceedings and claimed that from the incident she had sustained several injuries and had developed a 'secondary fibromyalgia syndrome with hemiplegic migraine'.

Medical experts found there was no reason for this to be the case and she was found to have been 'fundamentally dishonest'. Pictured: A still taken from surveillance footage of Ms Thomas

These were in addition to psychological consequences including flashbacks, travel anxiety, and low mood with her symptoms allegedly disabling her 'in terms of mobility, pain, and all aspects of daily living' albeit with 'good days and bad'.

With her initial claim supported by medical reports from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and a consultant neurologist, she sought 'significant' damages.

These included a past loss of earnings between the time of the accident and March 2022, when the most recent iteration of her claim was issued, of 124,444.86 and a future loss of earnings of 60,900, while the combined total of her estimated past and future care and assistance costs was calculated at 25,137.

However, despite an extensive investigation by medical experts none could suggest a physical cause for her disability save for months after the crash.

With no proven physical explanation, Ms Thomas contended that the trauma of the collision had 'aggravated a pre-existing somatic symptom disorder (SSD)' which occurs when someone has extremely exaggerated anxiety about physical symptoms which prevents them from carrying out everyday activities.

While a psychiatry expert accepted that this was the most likely explanation if Ms Thomas' account was reliable, the defendant, Mr Owen, argued that this was the case and that the court should find that Ms Thomas had been 'fundamentally dishonest' in her reporting of her symptoms.

Following the crash, Ms Thomas sought benefits and during an interview with the Department of Work and Pensions in July 2017 said that she used a crutch while outdoors and would go 'nowhere else...by herself' other than the shop across the road from her home.

She said she could not walk far distances and was nervous about public transport.

Pictured: Henrhyd Falls near Coelbren in the Brecon Beacons National Park

But two months later a social media post by Ms Thomas pictured her dancing at a wedding in London with the caption: 'This may explain the unbelievable amount of pain I'm in today'.

By early 2018 Clyde & Co had launched their investigation and surveillance operation with Ms Thomas captured walking 'apparently normally' for around two kilometres on two separate occasions while the footage was also captured of her looking after her young nephew, taking him to the park and pushing him on the swings.

Part of this footage showed her '[break] into a short jog,', while she was also seen climbing a set of stairs without using the handrail and lifting the boy in and out of a swing, 'bending down and seemingly without restriction'.

In oral evidence, Ms Thomas explained that she was in fact in pain but chose to 'suffer afterwards' as she wanted to spend time with her nephew while she also claimed that her symptoms were 'not black and white'.

Ms Thomas went on several trips throughout 2018, visiting Copenhagen, Preston, Scotland and Switzerland. These trips came either side of a further assessment from the DWP in June 2018, which found that she had 'variable' function and roughly 'half good days and half bad days' a week.

'On good days she can manage her stairs, shower, and dress and walk two minutes to go shopping and then lean on a trolley for a short while to get items,' it read.

'However, she has a nap in the afternoon due to fatigue.'

The surveillance continued throughout 2019 with footage capturing her going up snow-covered stairs without using a handrail and a week later she went to Italy with her niece, travelling to Venice and then onto Rome for the Six Nations match between Italy and Wales.

A month before she issued proceedings, in June 2019, Ms Thomas also attended a P!nk concert at the Principality Stadium while in August she worked at Leeds Music Festival with her friend Laura Sutton.

By 2020 Ms Thomas revealed that she had fallen out with her sister and her brother since the crash as they 'find it difficult to understand how she has become disabled' from it with both siblings allegedly refusing to help her and her sister accusing Ms Thomas of faking her symptoms.

Ms Thomas gave her first statement in proceedings on July 16, 2020, in which she claimed she had 'not experienced a pain-free day' since the crash four years earlier.

She described the physical movement as something 'where the more I do the worse I seem to suffer' while she also claimed that on a bad day, she was 'unlikely to move much further than my bed or sofa'.

A review of her social media found evidence of her walking along 'very rough' and 'slippery' paths while undertaking the famous Four Waterfalls Walk in the Brecon Beacons (pictured)

She added: 'Living with a chronic illness is kind of like constantly living in lockdown... I have already missed events, friends' weddings, parties, or just going out due to my chronic illness. However, I do what I can and try to adapt and live the best and fullest life I can'.

Less than two weeks after providing that statement, however, Ms Thomas made another social media post that showed she had completed the Four Waterfalls Walk in the Brecon Beacons.

The route, which was agreed upon by Ms Thomas, Ms Sutton, and her partner, is described as 'hard', roughly five and a half miles in distance, and taking an estimated three to four hours to complete.

Ms Thomas accepted that she chose to take on the optional strenuous detour before completing the rest of the walk and said she walked slowly and rested when she needed to.

Five pairs of expert medical witnesses were involved in the case with a 'large measure of agreement' between them that there was no organic physical or psychiatric explanation for the symptoms.

While a psychiatric expert was initially willing to accept a diagnosis of SSD he later raised the issue of Ms Thomas' reliability and concluded it was a matter for the court to decide.

Dismissing Ms Thomas' claim Judge Robert Harrison said he had reached his decision 'with a heavy heart' but concluded that she had been fundamentally dishonest.

He said: 'I am driven to the conclusion that the defendants have established on the balance of probability that the claims had not presented a truthful account of her symptoms, to the medical experts in this case, and to those whom she reported the extent of the same following the accident.

'I am also satisfied that in so doing the claimant's untruthfulness went to the heart of the claim and as such I must conclude that she has been fundamentally dishonest. The law requires me therefore to dismiss her claim.'

While the claim was dismissed Ms Thomas was awarded some damages, which will be deducted from any costs she may now have to pay.

Following the judgement Vanessa Brooks, senior associate, Clyde & Co, said: 'There was never any doubt that Ms Thomas was not at fault in the accident itself but the sheer scale of her exaggerations has led to her claim being dismissed..'

Martin Milliner, claims director at LV=, added: 'As a major insurer we will act where we believe there is wrongdoing to protect the interests and premiums of honest customers. This should send a warning to anyone who believes making money from an insurance claim is acceptable as this will have serious consequences for Ms Thomas and her future.'
A primary school worker who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from the school, leaving it without basic resources, has been jailed for more than six years.

Debra Poole, 61, relentlessly abused her position as bursar for years while in charge of the bank accounts at Hinchley Wood Primary School in Surrey.

Kingston Crown Court heard how Poole abused her position as signatory of the club's bank account to the tune of 490,000 from October 2011 until October 2018 by transferring funds, writing out cheques to herself and then cashing the cheques.

The school was left without basic supplies while Poole went on lavish holidays and splashed out on new cars, the court heard.

Poole was convicted of one count of fraud by abuse of position and three counts of fraud by false representation following a trial and sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

Debra Poole, 61, abused her position as bursar for years, stealing 490,000, while in charge of the bank accounts at Hinchley Wood Primary School

She spent the money on lavish holidays, including trips to Amsterdam and New York, and splurged 7,000 on a week in the Cotswolds

As well as overseeing the school's finances, Poole oversaw the documentation used for any changes to staff pay.

She was also in charge of managing the invoices and finances of Woody's, the school's breakfast and after school clubs.

She began working at Hinchley Wood as school secretary in February 2000 before being promoted to senior administration officer four years later.

Meanwhile, Poole and her husband, Gary, enjoyed a luxury lifestyle of expensive holidays in locations including New York and Amsterdam.

In February 2009, Poole submitted a 'Variation in Pay Form' to Surrey County Council, in which she increased her own salary scale from level E to F.

Two years later she submitted further paperwork increasing her pay scale further from level SP9 to SP10.

She also claimed that between June 2016 and September 2018 she was working 30 hours a week administering the breakfast club and after school clubs.

It was said during the trial that the couple had splurged thousands on holidays including the 13,000 ten-night stay at the exclusive Ikos Olivia resort in Thessaloniki in August 2018.

Earlier that year they splashed out nearly 7,000 on a weeks stay at a luxury cottage for 15 people in Shipston-on-Stour on the edge of the Cotswolds.

The couple enjoyed Christmas and New Year in Australia along with breaks in Venice and Amsterdam.

They visited expensive shops and put down large deposits on three new cars including a 29,000 Peugeot SUV.

The couple are also alleged to have transferred nearly 70,000 to their two daughters.

One was able to put down a deposit to buy a house after 37,000 was paid into her partners account.

In February 2009, Poole submitted a 'Variation in Pay Form' to Surrey County Council, in which she increased her own salary

Poole was convicted of four counts of fraud after it was alleged that she forged the signature of the headteacher of the school on a number of documents

Husband Gary Poole, 67, was found not guilty of one charge of acquisition, use and possession under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The fraud was discovered after a whistleblower came forward following growing concerns over safeguarding issues at the school and allegations of bullying and intimidation.

Headteacher Mrs Collins was suspended after an investigation was launched and a new head was brought in when she later resigned.

When asked by police to identify signatures on 42 pages of documents found in Poole home, the former headteacher could only verify eight.

Surrey County Council auditors were called in after concerns were raised over the schools finances.

Detective Constable Lloyd Ives, who investigated the case, said: 'Debra Poole stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from Hinchley Wood Primary School while she was employed there as business manager.

'This gross breach of trust and her elaborate deception spanning some nine years funded an extravagant lifestyle and afforded her luxury holidays and cars which she would not otherwise have been able to afford.

'No doubt Debra would have continued had the school not worked out what was going on and reported the matter to police. This resulted in a lengthy and complex investigation which included examining bank accounts and hundreds of documents to prove that she had defrauded the school.'

DC Ives added: 'I hope that the sentence given to her today shows the seriousness with which such a massive abuse of trust and position is taken.

'And I hope that it is a deterrent to anyone else thinking of committing similar offences that it is simply not worth the risk - you will get found out.'
A 14-year-old schoolgirl has been detained in Russia on suspicion of ordering the contract killing of her estate agent single mother.

The woman, named as Anastasia Milosskaya, 38, was beaten and strangled to death when she arrived home.

Two days later her body was wrapped in plastic and a mattress and dumped in a garbage skip in Balashikha in the Moscow region.

Her daughter was arrested with a boy, 15, who had been living at the family's flat.

The mother had ordered him to leave believing he was a bad influence on her daughter, it is alleged.

Estate agent Anastasia Milosskaya, 38, was found dead in a garbage skip

The single mother was allegedly strangled to death by contract killers ordered by her daughter, 14, pictured here

Law enforcement suspect that the daughter and boy conspired to order two other teenagers to kill her mother for 350,000 roubles (3,650).

The underage accused are all between 14 and 17, and are suspected of murder or conspiracy to murder.

They were remanded in a young persons' detention facility for one month pending further investigations.

The daughter and the boy are accused of allowing their 'accomplices' into the flat.

They were present as the suspected contract killers allegedly attacked the woman when she returned home.

The alleged killers then left the body on the flat where the daughter and boy were living.

Two days later they returned and carried out the body on a makeshift stretcher, dumping it in a nearby skip - but a janitor found the corpse the next morning.

The Investigative Committee alleged the girl and her male friend intended to live on her mother's savings of more than 30,000.

A friend of Ms Milosskaya's 14-year-old daughter said: 'She spoke about hating her mother many times'

Ms Milosskaya's body was found by garbage containers early in the morning of March 26

Another angle of where the single mother's body was found

'She was beaten and strangled, as her whole face was red and swollen,' said an eyewitness.

A friend of the 14-year-old girl also also said: 'She spoke about hating her mother many times, even though her mother was a good person who loved her.'

The girl's grandmother said her granddaughter had come under the influence of the boy who was from a 'difficult family'.

Other sources said the victim had sought to improve her life and always cared for her daughter.

The maximum sentence the suspects face is ten years initially in a youth correctional colony.

Ms Milosskaya's daughter pictured on her first day of school
Police were given more time to question two teenage boys arrested on suspicion of murdering a pensioner who died after she was robbed in her own home.

The pair, aged 14 and 15 and both from the Lowestoft area, are being held following the death of 82-year-old Joy Middleditch who lived in Pakefield.

The twice-widowed cancer survivor, who lived alone with her dog, was shoved to the floor and left there until a family member found her the next day.

The mother of three, 82, who was also a great-great-grandmother, was taken to hospital on Saturday afternoon after the late-night raid.

Ms Middleditch was found lying on the floor of her end-of-terrace bungalow in Grayson Avenue by concerned family members on Saturday and police were called just after 1.50pm.

Mother-of-three Joy Middleditch, 82, died on Monday following an intrusion into her home by the burglars

A post mortem was carried out by the Home Office on March 27, although the injuries suffered by the grandmother have not been disclosed

Her handbag had been taken and was recovered a short distance away in Nelson Road.

Ms Middleditch told her relatives, and later police officers, that she had heard a noise at the door before two masked men forced their way in and knocked her to the ground.

The pensioner was found conscious and breathing but was in a serious condition and was taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk.

She died there in the early hours of Monday.

A Home Office post-mortem examination was carried out on Monday but the cause of death is yet to be confirmed, pending further investigation, the force said.

Ms Middleditch's family said in an earlier statement released through police: 'Joy was a strong, determined character who loved life and her dog.

'She was a loving person who was sadly taken from us too soon.'

Mrs Middleditch, who is understood to have dedicated her life to raising her children, had a twin son and daughter with first husband Basil Block, who died in his 30s.

She had another child with second husband Allan, who died from cancer in 2021.

Neighbours were shocked by the violent attack on the vulnerable pensioner and shared their memories of Mrs Middleditch.

One neighbour, who said she lived alone with her nine-year-old Lhasa Apso dog Zen following the death of her second husband, said: 'She was a lovely lady. This is an extremely quiet area and I can't believe what has happened.'

Another resident, Doris Kirsten, added Mrs Middleditch regularly attended weekly coffee mornings at Lowestoft Centre for the over-60s.

'She would be collected in a minibus, after it picked me up. She was a quiet lady but she was really nice,' she said.

'She would come out on her little walker and would stay on at the club for something to eat.'

Over-60s club coordinator Phil Love said: 'Her death has shocked many people here.

'She lived in a quiet and pleasant street. The fact that it happened in such a welcoming area makes it even more shocking.'

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the major investigation team by emailing MITincident.room@suffolk.police.uk or by calling 101 quoting the reference 37/17537/23.

People can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Huw Edwards has paid an emotional tribute to the 'best live news team in the business' as the BBC is set to merge its domestic and world TV news channels.

The BBC News at Ten stalwart, 61, shared photos of the team and himself as a younger man in a tweet this afternoon, before the new channel launches on Monday.

The Beeb is merging the two channels, creating a single 24-hour TV channel, as part of measures it said it needs to take to save an extra 285million after then-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced last year that the licence fee would be frozen at 159 for two years.

Edwards wrote: 'From day one of BBC News 24 onwards with 14 years of BBC News at Five along the way. The news channel team was the best live news team in the business.

'Thanks to everyone who contributed over the decades. It was a privilege.'

Huw Edwards (pictured) has paid an emotional tribute to the 'best live news team in the business' as the BBC is set to merge its domestic and world TV news channels

He added: 'From day one of BBC News 24 onwards with 14 years of BBC News at Five along the way. Thanks to everyone who contributed over the decades. It was a privilege'

The BBC News at Ten stalwart, 61, shared photos of the team and himself as a younger man (pictured) in a tweet this afternoon, before the new channel launches on Monday

The BBC's new channel, called BBC News, is set to be launched by the corporation on Monday

The merger will axe 70 jobs and comes after the corporation announced the end of BBC Four, Radio 4 Extra and CBBC as linear channels.

They are expected to move online to the iPlayer in the next few years as part of the broadcaster's plans to become 'digital first'.

The new channel will be broadcast from London during the day and Singapore and Washington DC overnight.

Around 70 BBC staff from across all areas in the UK will lose their jobs as a result of the merger. Around 20 jobs will be created in Washington.

The BBC said the changes will create a streamlined organisation that 'drives the most value from the licence fee and delivers more for audiences'.

The channel will serve UK and international audiences, featuring flagship programmes built around high-profile journalists, it said.

BBC news reader Joanna Gosling became emotional as she signed off on her final broadcast for the corporation by thanking viewers and colleagues

The presenter and journalist, who joined the broadcaster 23 years ago in September 1999, was met with applause from inside the studio as she came off air just before 1pm

UK viewers will receive specific content at certain times of the day and a live breaking news team will provide a domestic-only stream for specific news events, the broadcaster added.

Programming on the channel will be refreshed over time, with plans to air at least two new programmes in 2023, including a broadcast from Washington.

There have been a swathe of voluntary redundancies following the merger announcement.

Big names to go include Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox.

Newsreader Gosling became emotional as she signed off on her final broadcast for the corporation on January 26.

The presenter and journalist, who joined the broadcaster 23 years ago in September 1999, was met with applause from inside the studio as she came off air just before 1pm.

She said: 'Now it is just about time for me to say goodbye for the last time.

David Eades (left) and Tim Willcox (right) will also be leaving the Corporation, it emerged today

'I am signing off after 23 years at BBC News and before I go there are just a few things I wanted to say. I know this job is personal.

'We come directly into your home to tell you what is happening - good, bad, funny, sad.

'And in doing my work I always consider how you might be responding to the news you are hearing and what you might want to know.

READ MORE: Ofcom blasts BBC over cuts to its TV and radio news operations that has seen presenters Joanna Gosling, Tim Willcox and David Eades quit Advertisement

'But your response to me leaving has been completely unexpected and I have been really touched by the wave of warmth and kindness from you, and I want to say thank you for all of your good wishes. It really has meant a lot to me.'

Gosling also thanked those who had shared their stories with her as well as her colleagues 'past and present'.

She added: 'I have learned from you, I have loved working with you and I have valued your support since I started out at 22.

'I have never failed to be impressed by the talent, skills and dedication of the people around me. We are a team, but it has felt like family.'

'Lucky me to have had this great job that has never felt like a job. Thank you for having me,' she concluded.

David Eades has been a BBC presenter since 2003, while Tim Willcox, who gained plaudits for his coverage of the 2010 Copiapo mining accident in Chile, has more than two decades of BBC experience.

A significant number of journalists have left the BBC over the past two years, including top talent such as Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel in 2022.

Newsnight presenter Maitlis is believed to have receive a bumper pay rise from her salary band of up to 329,999. One source described the deal as an 'irresistible package'.

Global poached another of the corporation's top news stars, Andrew Marr, in November 2021.

He quit the BBC after 21 years to front shows on LBC and Classic FM, and is thought to have significantly increased his pay of up to 339,999 in the move.
Baskin shot to fame in 2020 when her feud with Joe Exotic became a Netflix hit

The Florida estate's sale will go towards financing other 'species-saving projects'

Tiger King star Carol Baskin has announced she is set to close her Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Florida, with proceeds from the property's sale going towards doing 'more to save big cats in the wild'.

Baskin's husband Howard said in a statement that the cats will be transferred to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, 'where we will continue to fund their care for the rest of their lives'.

The Florida sanctuary's sale will also be used to finance 'species-saving projects in the wild'.

'We have always said that our goal was to "put ourselves out of business", meaning that there would be no big cats in need of rescue and no need for the sanctuary to exist,' the memo added.

Baskin shot to fame in 2020 when her bitter feud with convicted felon Joe Exotic was detailed in the hit Netflix documentary 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness'.

Carol Baskin and her husband Howard, pictured together, have announced that they are closing their Florida big cat sanctuary

35 big cats from Baskin's Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Florida will be transported to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, pictured

Howard Baskin wrote on the sanctuary's website that mounting expense costs had placed considerable financial pressure on the Big Cat Rescue estate.

'2023 is going to be the most challenging financial year in the history of the sanctuary', he said, noting that running the property has overhead costs of $1.5 million per year, or over $36,000 per cat.

'As the population declines, it becomes an increasingly inefficient use of donor funds per cat to operate a facility like ours,' the statement continued.

'The win-win solution both for our captive cats and the cats in the wild is for us to merge our cat population with the population at another existing accredited sanctuary,' he wrote, with the remaining resources going to projects helping stave off extinction.

'Supporting our cats in larger enclosures at Turpentine Creek, at much lower cost per cat than we incur by continuing to operate Big Cat Rescue, will free up resources to let us do much more to save big cats in the wild.'

The sanctuary owner also pointed to the 2021 passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which prohibited unlicensed individuals from owning the animals, as contributing to the estate's closure.

The rapid popularity of the 'Tiger King' documentary, which was viewed by upwards of 34.3 million people in its first 10 days in the US, according to data firm Nielsen, brought the issue of big cat ownership into the spotlight and led to the bill's passage in Congress.

'With the passage of the BCPSA we expect the need for rescues to decline over the coming decade. If the need were going to continue at the pace we saw up until a few years ago, we would be making a different decision,' the statement read.

The Baskins' memo added that because the legislation has 'ended most of the abuse of big cats', their resources were able to now be used for 'the third prong of our mission' - donating to projects saving cats from extinction.

Howard Baskin, left, said legislation passed in 2021 helped end big cat abuse in the US, which also contributed to less need for sanctuaries

Carol Baskin, pictured in the second season of Tiger King, has announced her Florida property is set to close, with 2023 expected to be 'the most challenging financial year in the history of the sanctuary'

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge announced the partnership in a Facebook post Thursday, which they maintained would help build 'a sustainable future for animals rescue'.

The sanctuary will be taking in 35 cats from the Baskins' Florida property.

'Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge was approached and asked to take in BCR remaining cats,' the announcement read.

'BCR no longer conducts rescues and will be pivoting their goals. There is no professional affiliation between TCWRs ownership, operations, or management and BCR.'

Baskin recently captured headlines when footage of her claiming her ex-husband, who she was accused of murdering by rival Joe Exotic, was still alive.

An interview from 2021 was unearthed showing the big cat sanctuary CEO alleging that her missing - and reportedly dead - husband had been found alive in Costa Rica.

Baskin has protested her innocence for years since 'Tiger King' Joe Exotic claimed she murdered her ex-husband Jack 'Don' Lewis, who mysteriously disappeared in 1997.

And while Baskin continues to combat the allegations, her archrival Joe Exotic has claimed he is living 'in the bottom of hell' as he remains behind bars in an Atlanta federal prison.

Exotic, 59, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire stemming from his feud with Baskin.
Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer has questioned if Kohberger could have come across his alleged victims at a much earlier date

More than 60 warrants were issued to companies like Doordash, Verizon, Tinder, and Reddit as part of the investigation

Idaho officials have sealed the findings of their requests, with TikTok searches going back as far as January 2021

Court documents have revealed that police are probing to see if there was any contact between suspected murderer Bryan Kohberger and his three female victims over a year before the slayings.

Authorities have submitted several search warrants to social media companies, including TikTok and Google, which date back to January 2021  more than a year before the brutal killings.

Kohberger, 28, is accused of murdering Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, 20, in their home on Kings Road, in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2023.

The Facebook and Twitter search warrants all have a start date for the search of June 2022, five months before the killings.

But authorities have been looking over a longer period to see if Kohberger ever interacted with Maddie, Kaylee or Xana over TikTok in the 22 months prior to the killings.

Kohberger, 28, is accused of murdering Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, 20, in their home on Kings Road, in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2023

Authorities have submitted several search warrants to social media companies, including TikTok and Google, which date back to January 2021  more than a year before the brutal killings

The search warrant requested messages, records, files and logs for their accounts as well as those which have been deleted.

Police were also looking at the images linked to the accounts, location data including geotags and all of the people who they followed, unfollowed and blocked.

Authorities have since made a bid for the findings to remain sealed until a future court date, but former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer has questioned if Kohberger could have come across his alleged victims at a much earlier date.

She said that cops were trying to 'look for a nexus', meaning a series of connections, between Kohberger and the three female victims.

Posting the documents on Twitter she said: Interesting how far the SWs went back in time? Why 1/2021?

'Did Bryan Kohberger somehow meet Kaylee or Maddie on a possible school visit early on?

'What made Kohberger choose WSU? Did Kohberger have a nexus with his victims sooner than we thought?'

The criminal justice major attended Washington State University  which is less than a 10-minute drive from the University of Idaho.

The Facebook and Twitter search warrants all have a start date for the search of June 2022, five months before the killings

Maddie Mogen (top) Kaylee Goncalves (second from left) Xana Kernodle (second from right) and Ethan Chapin (center) - all students at the University of Idaho - were knifed to death on November 13 in the quiet, college town of Moscow

The university where he worked was only a little over eight miles from the murder scene

Coffindaffer implied that Kohberger could have met one of the girls at an early school visit, and questioned if that could have been a reason for him to attend WSU.

It comes after it was revealed that the sisters of Kohberger have list their jobs  despite the family refusing to visit him in jail.

Kohberger's arrest for the killings has severely impacted his family, who are struggling financially, the source told News Nation.

His sisters, Melissa and Amanda, have been let go from their jobs because of their relationship with the accused killer.

Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Pennsylvania after driving cross-country with his father from Idaho.

In January, his family issued a statement that said they would be standing by him, adding: 'We will love and support our son and brother.'

The statement was released just days after the former Washington State University criminology student was arrested and charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, as well as felony burglary.

Minster's who have been meeting with the suspected killer in the Latah County jail are preaching the gospel that even the greatest sinners can be forgiven by God.

Kohberger's older sister Melissa Kohberger (left) was a counselor and his younger sister, Amanda (right) was an actress. Both recently lost their jobs because of their brother

But they recognize even Jesus Christ can't save the accused quadruple murderer from the criminal justice system.

'We do not tell folks that this will relieve them of their responsibility for their crimes,' pastor Mike Hall, head of the group that sends lay ministers to the jail, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

'Regardless if you're in for some offense like that, or some drug offense, we're all on the same plane in terms of our need for grace and forgiveness from God.'

He sits down for one-on-one sessions with members of Project Hope Idaho, a local Christian organization that dispatches about a dozen lay ministers to county jails and prisons to provide gospel services and classes on Sunday nights.

Kohberger leaves his cell at 7pm on Sundays to meet with the minister who leads him in prayer in the prison library.

Steve Otto, a board member of Project Hope, said the decision to share the gospel with Kohberger is 'challenging stuff, for sure.'

Bryan Kohberger has been receiving one-on-one sessions with ministers from Project Hope Idaho, a local Christian organization that teaches the gospel to prisoners, from behind bars at Latah County jail in Moscow

Kohberger, 28, who is accused of murdering four university students in November, has been locked up without bail at the Latah County Jail in Idaho since early January as he awaits trial

Pastor Mike Hall - pictured with his wife - is the head of the group that sends lay ministers to the jail to counsel prisoners

'I found myself praying quite a bit about truth and justice,' he said. 'My heart goes out to the victims' parents. I can't imagine the pain they're feeling. We want justice done.'

Kohberger spends most of his time alone in a private cell, kept apart from other inmates who share cells.

He rarely if ever chats with jail mates, who typically only see him when he walks past them.

They say he maintains a steely stare when he steps out to meet his lawyers or to visit the library, and that he's always flanked by several correction officers who escort him wherever he goes.

Kohberger could also face an execution by firing squad following the state's decision to pass a bill aimed at reviving the controversial punishment earlier this week.

It is unclear if the prosecutors in the case will be advocating for the death penalty, but Kohbergers lawyer is trained to work those kind fo cases.

It comes after DailyMail.com revealed that their suspected killer is obsessed with following his own case behind bars in Latah County Jail.

The documents say that the criminal justice graduate stalked the property at least 12 times. Pictured: Kaylee Goncalves

This is the murder house where four students were stabbed to death. The home is now boarded up and is slated for demolition

DailyMail.com spoke with current and former inmates, as well as jail sources who told of alleged quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger's time in jail

Criminology major Bryan Kohberger is accused of murdering the four students as they slept on November 13, leaving Maddie and Kaylee with 'devastating injuries'.

Kohberger is also accused of having multiple images of one of his alleged female victims on his phone when it was searched by cops.

However, they did not identify which of the girls was in the pictures, and Moscow Police have not yet revealed a motive for the brutal crime.

It is not clear if the images found on the device were photos that Kohberger had taken himself or if they were downloaded from her social media, and if they were taken before or after the quadruple-slaying.

Investigators have remained tight-lipped over the potential motive in the slayings, but revealed in an affidavit that he had visited the area of the home in Moscow 'several times'.

He is even alleged to have returned to the scene of the crime at 9am on November 13 - just hours after police believe he committed the quadruple murder.

Investigators have remained tight-lipped over the potential motive in the slayings, but revealed in an affidavit that he had visited the area of the home in Moscow 'several times'

Kohberger, 28, was arrested on December 30 after weeks of thorough investigation by police in Moscow, Idaho, and the FBI

The documents say that the criminal justice graduate stalked the property at least 12 times.

His phone was taken by officers shortly after a SWAT team swooped on his family home in Pennsylvania, where FBI officials saw him taking out the trash wearing surgical gloves.

Kohberger was tracked to the area of the home in the months leading up to the deaths by his phone, but officials have yet to confirm how he became aware of the students in the first place.

The affidavit states that police made 'efforts to determine if Kohberger stalked any of the victims' before the killings.

It added that they looked into if he 'conducted surveillance on the King Road Residents and was in contact with any of the victim's associates before or after the alleged offence.'

However, it does not elaborate how the students came to be on the radar of the Washington State University PhD student  simply that he had stalked them for a period of time in the 'early morning and late evenings'.

It comes after allegations that Kohberger was fired from his teaching assistant position at WSU after 'inappropriate' behavior with female students.

Kohberger was extradited to Idaho for the November 13 murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20

A report in the New York Times claims that he followed at least one student to her car, with pals remembering him as a 'creepy' loner.

Kohberger is expected to enter a plea in the case on June 26, around the same time as the presentation of evidence.

He is charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary and waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing in January.

The alleged killer was arrested on December 30 by a SWAT team at his parents home in Pennsylvania as they moved to search his apartment at Washington State University.

He has previously indicated that he believes he will 'be exonerated', with his family unable to pay for him to have private representation.

A new search warrant, made public on January 17, shows that police found several hair strands, including one suspected animal hair, a black glove, a computer tower and one unnamed item with a collection of 'dark red spot

They also hauled away a pillow with a 'reddish/brown stain' on it and the top and bottom of a mattress cover with 'multiple stains'.

Alivea Goncalves Stevenson (left) with Kaylee Goncalves (center) with Madison Mogen (right)

Investigators, who raided the property back in December, also picked up receipts from Walmart and two Marshall's receipts, as well as collecting the contents of his vacuum cleaner.

Authorities initially sealed the search warrant for the murder suspect's Washington home  arguing that releasing the details could 'prematurely' end the investigation.

However, the document has now been unsealed with the approval of Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy, who filed the motion on January 17.

Court documents show that eight strands of hair were recovered from the apartment, as well as a 'possible' animal hair.

They also recovered a Fire TV stick during their search. All the items are now being stored at the Washington State University Police department.

Authorities reportedly said they wanted to see if any hair had been 'transferred' onto Kohberger and then back to his apartment  including that of Kaylee Goncalves' dog Murphy.

Murphy was found alive in Kaylee's room by investigators who were called to the scene, and has now been returned to her ex-boyfriend.

The application also stated that the home where the students were murdered had a significant amount of blood from the victims  including 'spatter and castoff blood'.

Investigators believe that it was likely that the killer would have had blood evidence on their body or clothing, and hoped to find trace evidence in Kohberger's apartment.

More than 60 warrants were issued to companies like Doordash, Verizon, Tinder, and Reddit while police investigated Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger, but what was found in the reports remains under lock and key due to the gag order

Kohberger has yet to enter a plea for the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin

However, they did not describe the results of any of the testing in the documents and did not confirm if any hairs found matched the victims or Kaylee's dog.

His offices at Washington State University were also searched, but nothing was seized by officers.

Initially, the court ruled that the warrant should be sealed until March 1, claiming that if it were made public there would be a threat to 'public safety'.

It comes after it was revealed that his lawyer will be paid $200 an hour in his case  with any additional overtime.

Chief Public defender Anne Taylor will be paid by Kootenai County for her 40-hour work week, with Latah County agreeing to give the funds to Kootenai for her work.

But any overtime that she accrues outside of those hours will be paid by Latah County directly to the attorney, with a second lawyer supporting Taylor in the case being paid $180 an hour.

Taylor is representing the 28-year-old criminal justice major after stepping down as the lawyer for Cara Northington  the mother of murdered Xana Kernodle, 20.

She was in charge of her case until January 5, the same day that Kohberger was extradited from his home in Pennsylvania to Idaho.

The lawyer is also accused of a second conflict of interest in the case after it was revealed that she represented Maddie Mogen's stepmother, Korie Hatrock, in June 2022 and oversaw a case involving her father, Benjamin in 2020.
Detectives are hunting a masked gang linked to a spate of five violent burglaries around London that took place over just 46 hours.

The incidents have occurred in Brent Cross, Wembley and Southall since Wednesday, with the latest reported in Greenford on Friday evening (yesterday).

In each incident, a group of masked men forced entry to a residential address and either threatened or sprayed the occupants with a corrosive substance, before fleeing.

The suspects have been described as dressed in dark clothing and wearing balaclavas and gloves. They are believed to have fled in a dark-coloured vehicle.

Police believe the first linked incident occurred at a residential address in Highfield Avenue, Brent Cross, on Wednesday, 29 March.

Detectives are hunting a masked gang linked to a spate of five violent burglaries around London that took place over just 46 hours

Police believe the first linked incident occurred at a residential address in Highfield Avenue, Brent Cross, on Wednesday, 29 March. Four men forced entry and threatened a woman in her 40s with a knife before throwing an unknown substance at her

The fourth incident happened in Harrowdene Road, Wembley at around 8.45pm on Friday, 31 March. Four men forced entry into a property and threatened the resident with a liquid

Officers were called at around 11.14pm to an aggravated burglary following reports that four men had forced entry into the home and threatened a woman in her 40s with a knife. An unknown substance was thrown towards the victim. It is currently unknown whether any items were taken.

A short time later, at around 11.40pm, police were alerted to an incident in Flamsted Avenue, Wembley. Four men forced entry into an address and stole a quantity of jewellery. There were no reports of any injuries.

On Thursday, 30 March, at 10.56pm, police were called to reports of an aggravated burglary at a house in Lady Margaret Road, Southall.

MASKED GANG LINKED TO FIVE BURGLARIES IN 46 HOURS Wednesday, 29 March, 11.14pm: Highfield Avenue, Brent Cross. A woman in her 40s is threatened with a knife and an unknown substance thrown at her. Wednesday, 29 March, 11.40pm: Flamsted Avenue, Wembley. A gang forced entry and stole a quantity of jewellery. Thursday, 30 March, 10.56pm: Lady Margaret Road, Southall. A gang breaks into a property armed with a knife and screwdriver. They sprayed a corrosive liquid into the face of a man in his 70s, before stealing a safe containing cash and jewellery. Friday, 31 March, 8.45pm: Harrowdene Road, Wembley. Four men forced entry into a property and threaten resident with a liquid, before stealing jewellery and other items. Friday, 31 March, 9.09pm: Greenford Road, Greenford. The gang force entry and assault a woman in her 60s and two in their 20s with a corrosive substance. Advertisement

Police were told that four men had broken into the property armed with a knife and a screwdriver. They sprayed a corrosive liquid into the face of a man at the address and stole a safe containing cash and jewellery.

The man, aged in his 70s, was taken to hospital with facial injuries which were later assessed not to be life-threatening or life-changing.

The fourth incident happened in Harrowdene Road, Wembley at around 8.45pm on Friday, 31 March. Four men forced entry into a property and threatened the resident with a liquid. Jewellery and other items were stolen before the group fled. No one was injured.

Police were then called at 9.09pm on Friday, 31 March to Greenford Road, Greenford, after a group of men reportedly forced entry to a residential address.

Three women - one in her 60s and two in their 20s - were assaulted with a corrosive substance. They were taken to hospital for injuries that are not life-threatening or life-changing.

A team of detectives are now working around the clock to try to identify the group.

Detective Sergeant Huss Ahmed, North West Command Unit, said: 'Local people have been rightly concerned following a number of incidents that have been reported online and on social media. We of course share that concern.

'We can confirm we are treating five incidents across Wembley and Ealing as linked.

'We are advising local people to be vigilant but not alarmed - stay alert to your surroundings at night, keep doors locked and windows closed, and monitor any doorbell and security camera systems to check on any suspicious activity.

'If you have information, video or images that you think could help us, it is vital that you report it to us immediately so that we can track down and arrest the poeple responsible.'

There have been no arrests at this time.

Anyone with information can call 101, tweet @MetCC, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 using reference CAD8586/30Mar.
Ukraine may use British Challenger 2 tanks to spearhead a counter against invading Russian forces after the crews were trained in the UK, experts believe.

Vladimir Putin's troops have made ground in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut - but a 'slaughter fest' has now slowed down Russian progress.

The nearly seven-month long battle in the city where 70,000 people had once lived has resulted in some of the most devastating warfare since the beginning of the invasion.

Front lines in Ukraine have barely moved for more than four months despite a Russian winter offensive, with the most intense battles centred in Bakhmut, which has been likened to a First World War 'meat grinder'.

But Volodymyr Zelensky's forces could be preparing to launch a counter attack against the Russian aggressors.

Ukraine may use British Challenger 2 tanks (British Army training Ukrainian tank crews pictured) to spearhead a counter against invading Russian forces after the crews were trained in the UK, experts believe

Volodymyr Zelensky's forces could be preparing to launch a counter attack against the Russian aggressors

And it has been thought that the British Challenger tanks the UK is sending to Ukraine could be an integral part in the retaliation, which has the primary goal of 'unblocking' Bakhmut according to experts at the Conflict Intelligence Team.

If Ukraine succeeds in liberating the city and driving out Putin's army, it would be a huge blow for the Russian President.

British Challenger 2 tanks have now arrived in the war-torn nation and they could soon be deployed on the front lines after final sessions of training for operators.

Ukraine will be wanting to use its new tanks offered by Britain and other nations, including Leopard 2s from Germany. The CIT wrote on March 28: 'The vehicles are already on the territory of Ukraine at the disposal of its military and may be used in combat in the nearest future.

'We expect that the primary goal of the Ukrainian counter-offensive will be to unblock Bakhmut.'

Britain's Challenger 2 main battle tanks have been praised as 'marvellous' by Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov after the first arrived earlier this week.

Britain said in January it would send 14 of the tanks to Ukraine, which is preparing for a possible counter-offensive against Russian forces that invaded 13 months ago.

Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter that the tanks had 'recently arrived in our country' and posted a video that showed him sitting in one of a long line of tanks in an open field, all of them flying Ukraine's yellow and blue flag.

'It was a pleasure to take the first Ukrainian Challenger 2 MBT (main battle tank) for a spin,' Reznikov wrote. 'These fantastic machines will soon begin their combat missions,' he added, tagging Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as well as Wallace.

The head of the Ukrainian defense department also said the counteroffensive could be in 'several directions' depending what is the 'most opportune moment', in an interview with ERR.

He said plans could change depending on the weather as 'In the spring, our land is very wet. Only tracked vehicles can be used.

'I think we will be able to see them in April to May,' he added.

The 5million Challenger 2, with a 120mm rifled gun and a 7.62mm machine gun, is a battle tank designed to attack other tanks.

It is the UK's only guaranteed 24-hour, all-weather mobile tank with protected precision direct fire and anti-tank manoeuvre capability, the British army says.

An earlier version of the tank claimed the longest-distance tank kill in history, with the war machine destroying an Iraqi tank from three miles away during the Gull War.

Ukrainian soldiers ride atop an APC on the frontline in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 26

Ukrainian soldiers ride atop a military vehicle on the frontline in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 26

A damaged building is seen in this aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 26

The 27ft-long Challenger 2 has a crew of four and a range of 340 miles on-road and 160 miles off road. However, it has a top speeds of about 37mph, meaning it is slightly slower than Germany's Leopard tank.

The 75-ton Challenger 2 has been described by British military commanders as a modern tank which is 'much better protected, more reliable and quicker' than Russia's Soviet-era tanks.

Meanwhile, the Leopard 2s are seen as the workhorses of militaries across Europe, and are thus in the arsenals of several countries willing to send aid to Ukraine.

Canada, Norway and Poland also have sent such tanks to Ukraine.

Rheinmetall AG, a German defense contractor that makes the 120mm smoothbore gun on the Leopard 2, says the tank has been deployed by 'more nations than any other', with 3,500 units being supplied to 19 countries. More than 2,000 of those have been sent to over a dozen European countries and Canada.

It is this sheer number of Leopard tanks that has meant they are seen as the best option for Ukraine - as they would be easily deployable to Ukraine - while also being easier to repair and replace in the event that any are damaged or destroyed.

The tank's manufacturer, Krauss-Massei Wegmann, has touted it as 'the world's leading battle tank' with a 120mm smooth bore gun and a fully-digital fire-control system. It also costs around 5million, and has a top speed 45 miles per hour.

As more military aid arrives in Ukraine, analysts expect Kyiv to launch a counterattack to get underway in earnest over April-May as the weather improves.
A multiple sclerosis-stricken woman says she has been forced to wait more than seven years for a $1 million inheritance payout that never materialized, after it was allegedly mishandled by a woman formerly employed by her blue blood family.

In the interim, wheelchair-bound New Yorker Meryn Klabouch, 74, says she's been living off a $1million sum left by her father in 2015 - which has since dwindled as she continues to fork over tens of thousands of dollars a month in medical costs.

Court documents show that Klabouch, a quadriplegic, was due another payout to the tune of more than $2million when her aunt, formerly the CEO of prominent Manhattan insurance company Mutual of America, died the next year in 2016.

Upon her death, the late exec left money to a dozen or so surviving relatives, including Klabouch - which, seven years later, none have received.

Klabouch claims this due to the fact that her aunt's former home health aide, identified in Manhattan Surrogate Court documents as Janina Lewandowska, was named executor of her $2 million-plus estate, but ultimately mismanaged the funds.

Mutual of America Insurance Co. CEO Dolores Morrissey (seen here) died in February 2016, leaving her disabled niece $1 million in cash and half of her estate, valued at roughly $2million. A court filing alleges the inheritance was mishandled by Morrissey's former health aide

'If Meryn does not receive a distribution from the estate she will end up dead, with no money to pay for her medication, caretakers, therapists and doctor,' her attorney wrote in court filings that laid out the the direness of Klabouch's situation.

'This is truly an emergency which we beg the court address itself to, as there is plenty of money for Meryn's care and the estate is being wasted each day.'

The complaint adds that Klabouch's late aunt, Mutual of America Insurance Co. CEO Dolores Morrissey who died in February 2016, left the senior $1 million in cash as part of her will, as well as half of her high-value estate.

That included not only cash and a slew of stock options, the filing further alleges, but a 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment overlooking Manhattan's East River that lawyers for Klabouch's wrote languished on the market for years before being sold last July.

The one responsible for the sale, Lewandowska hocked the home for $825,000 - despite similar co-ops in the luxury building going for well over $2million, and the exact unit previously being valued at $1 million, according to property records.

Following the sale, lawyers for Klabouch said the senior - who spends between $20,000 and $30,000 on medication, caretakers, and doctor visits - received only $80,000 of the more than $1million she says she is entitled to.

Classifying her situation an emergency, lawyers for Klabouch wrote that she will end up dead if not properly compensated, after Lewandowska inexplicably told the court in December that only $161,000 of the more-than $2million estate remained.

Speaking to The New York Post Thursday of the ongoing legal battle, Klabouch added that she's desperately tried to glean what's happened to her aunt's money - including from the nearly $900,000 sale of her longtime home - but fears the worst after learning Lewandowska moved to Florida without the court's knowledge.

The estate included not only cash and a slew of stock options, but a 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartment overlooking Manhattan's East River (seen here). The aide, made executor of the will after the woman's death, claims the co-op played a part in delaying the apartments sale

Aside from the alleged funds, the senior says the ex-aide also took Morrissey's cat, Timmy, and refused to return heirloom-grade jewelry she had received from her own mother, whom was Morrisey's sister.

Lawyers in the recent court filing further accused Lawandowska of purposely prolonging her responsibilities as executor in hopes that Klabouch would pass away before she was forced to fork over any funds - and in the time since, her aunt's estate has been 'wasted' with each day

'If Meryn does not receive a distribution from the estate she will end up dead,' the filing reads, adding the senior will have 'no money to pay for her medication, caretakers, therapists and doctor.'

'This is truly an emergency which we beg the court address itself to, as there is plenty of money for Meryn's care and the estate is being wasted each day.'

Speaking to the Post in from own Upper East Side apartment, Klabouch added of her prospective fate: 'I'll be put in a nursing home. They'd probably kill me.'

In the recent court filing, the senior added of Lawandowska's alleged scheme: 'One can only guess the reason she refuses to provide the information is that it will evidence the breach of her fiduciary duty.'

The filing further maintains that as Klabouch continues to beseech the court to expedite they payments, Lawandowska has repeatedly ignored court directives and has refused to share relevant information as to her finances.

Lawyers wrote of the ex-home worker's prospective motive: 'I believe that the executor always thought my client would die, and [she]... would keep the money.'

They add the nearly eight-year-long court struggle has now become a matter of life or death.

'This is truly an emergency which we beg the court address itself to, as there is plenty of money for Meryn's care and the estate is being wasted each day.'

Lewandowska has yet to be charged with any crime. She claims the co-op played a part in delaying the apartments sale. She declined to comment when questioned by the Post.
A fight broke out in front of the Supreme Court Saturday between pro-transgender activists and masked neo-Nazis despite the cancelation of the 'Trans Day of Vengeance' in the wake of the Nashville mass murder.

Only a few people on either side of the transgender culture war attended after the event was called off due to warnings of a 'credible threat to life and safety' by pro-trans activists.

The video, captured by a reporter for The Post Millennial, shows a man in a red shirt confronting two masked men with a sign that said 'Revolt Against F***otry 1488,' a combination of two known Nazi code numbers.

The man confronts one of the masked men holding the sign, who says that 'f***ots like you will try to get my job taken away.' Multiple people start to skirmish over the large sign before the man in the red shirt and the masked man begin to tussle.

Early on in the bout, the man in the red shirt can be heard yelling: 'Knife! Knife!" as a police officer gets him under control.

A fight broke out in front of the Supreme Court Saturday between pro-transgender activists and right wingers despite the cancelation of the 'Trans Day of Vengeance' that was scheduled to take place

SCOTUS- A fight has just broken out between trans-activists and two masked men after they walked up to the Supreme Court holding a Revolt against faggotry 1488 sign: pic.twitter.com/wmVR50nYdU  Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) April 1, 2023

The man in the red shirt then confronts and wrestles another masked man, yelling 'get him off me!'

At least one person was arrested in connection with the fight. DailyMail.com has reached out to Capitol Police and the Supreme Court Police Department for comment.

It comes a day after a transgender activist group has called off its planned 'Trans Day of Vengeance Rally' after warnings of a 'credible threat to life and safety'.

The rally was due to be held on Saturday in Washington D.C., but organizers of the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) said Thursday that threats on social media have led them to make the decision to cancel the event.

The demonstration would have been held outside the Supreme Court but 'astronomical amounts of hate from the world' forced them to cancel, TRAN said.

The event comes days after transgender Nashville shooter Audrey Hale killed six people - including three children - at her former Christian school. The event was planned weeks before the shooting, and the group said it had nothing to do with the 'heinous act'.

The event initially caused outrage on social media, as Twitter removed thousands of tweets promoting and criticizing the event as they said ''vengeance' does not imply peaceful protest'.

Only a few people on either side of the transgender culture war attended after the event was called off due to warnings of a 'credible threat to life and safety' by pro-trans activists

A man in a red shirt confronting two masked men with a sign that said 'Revolt Against F***otry 1488,' a combination of two known Nazi code numbers

The man confronts one of the masked men holding the sign, who says that 'f***ots like you will try to get my job taken away.' Multiple people start to skirmish over the large sign before the man in the red shirt and the masked man begin to tussle

Early on in the bout, the man in the red shirt can be heard yelling: 'Knife! Knife!" as a police officer gets the man in the mask under control

A far right protestor (pictured left) argues with an activist during a transgender rights rally in front of the US Supreme Court

Organizers of the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) said Thursday that threats on social media have led them to make the decision to cancel the event

School shooter Audrey Hale was shot by police after killing three children and three staff in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. The motive is unknown, though police are investigating the supposed sense of 'resentment' attached to having to go to the Christian private school

People pay their respects at a makeshift memorial for victims at the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, Nashville, March 28, 2023

SCOTUS- A fight has just broken out between trans-activists and two masked men after they walked up to the Supreme Court holding a Revolt against faggotry 1488 sign: pic.twitter.com/wmVR50nYdU  Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) April 1, 2023

In a statement canceling the event, TRAN announced: 'The safety of our trans community is first priority. This threat is the direct result of the flood of raw hatred directed toward the trans community after the Tennessee shooting.

'Individuals who had nothing to with that heinous act have been subjected to highly serious threats and blamed only because of their gender identity.

'This is one of the steps in genocide, and we will continue our efforts to protect trans lives. While we wholeheartedly believe in the mission and message we put forth for trans day of vengeance, we must prioritize the safety of our community and the people that make it up. In an ideal world we would have continued on in defiance of the attempt to silence our right to free expression.

The group said they lack the resources to ensure safety for those participating in the protests and would not, 'in good conscience', proceed with the event. They said they have notified the relevant agencies of the cancelation.

The initial announcement of the event sparked outrage online. Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene said the planned demonstration represented the 'threat of Antifa-driven trans-terrorism'.

She later demanded her Twitter account be restored after features were limited for violating rules.

She said: 'My Congressional account was suspended for 7 days for exposing Antifa, who are organizing a call for violence called 'Trans Day of Vengeance.'

'The day after the mass murder of children by a trans shooter. Restore my account immediately.'

Ian Miles Cheong wrote that 'Twitter is now cracking down on those who promote the 'Trans Day of Vengeance' poster, which mostly comprises of trans militants who are calling for a day of mass violence.'

Twitter's Trust and Safety lead, Ella Irwin, responded: 'Correct. We had to automatically sweep our platform and remove >5000 tweets/retweets of this poster.

'We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them.

''Vengeance' does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.'

TRAN earlier stated on their website: 'This protest is about unity, not inciting violence. TRAN does not encourage violence and it is not welcome at this event.'

It is unclear whether Hale was associated with the movement.

Audrey Elizabeth Hale opened fire at The Covenant School, shooting and killing six people on Monday.

The shooter was armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun.

They killed three children, the Head of School, 60, a custodian and a substitute teacher, both 61.

Victims Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney were all aged nine.

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers Rex Englebert and Michael Collazo shot and killed Hale on the second floor of the school.

Police are investigating possible motives for the attack.

MNPD Police Chief John Drake said that 'resentment' towards having been made to go to the school may have played a role in the shooting, but also that Hale 'targeted random students in the school... whoever she came in contact with, she fired rounds.'

Drake added that officials believe 'that [Hale] identifies as trans, but we're still in the initial investigation into all of that and if it actually played a role into this incident.'

Marjorie Taylor Greene slammed the decision to go ahead with the demonstration on Twitter

Twitter's head of Trust and Safety confirmed the site had removed promotion of the protests

Victims Evelyn Dieckhaus (L) and William Kinney (R) were shot and killed, both aged nine

Hallie Scruggs (left picture, right) and Mike Hill (right) were shot dead by Hale in the attack

Cynthia Peak (left picture, right) and Head of School Katherine Koonce (R) died in the shooting

The now-canceled protest was initially to be called the Trans Day of Visibility but rebranded as 'vengeance means fighting back with vehemence,' the group said.

'It is our battle cry to declare to the world that we the transgender/non-binary communities will neither be silenced nor eradicated,' TRAN said earlier.

Distancing themselves from Hale, the group published a statement on their website when the event was still scheduled to go ahead: 'We Tsukuru [co-founder], Our Rights DC, and TRAN are horrified at the acts of violence committed at the Covenant school on March 27, 2023.

'We grieve for Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce, and Mike Hill, and with their loved ones.

'We also reject any connection between that horrific event and outs.

'Vengeance means fighting back with vehemence. We are fighting against false narratives, criminalization, and eradication of our existence.'

TRAN also said that due to 'hate received' they had disabled their contact form.
Thomas Mosley, 21, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after the body of Pashun Jeffrey, 20 was found in her apartment in St Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday

A father accused of murdering his two-year-old son and girlfriend has been booked into prison after being released from hospital.

Thomas Mosley, 21, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after the body of Pashun Jeffrey, 20 was found in her apartment in St Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday.

Their son Taylen Mosley, 2, was found dead inside an alligator's mouth around 10 miles from his mother's home.

Officers managed to recover his body after killing the animal, with a medical examiner determining his cause of death.

Mosley was initially taken to the hospital to be treated for cuts on his arms and hands but has since been transferred to Pinellas County Jail.

Pashun was discovered with multiple stab wounds at her apartment, with her heartbroken family paying tribute to the mother-of-one and her son.

Pashun Jeffrey, 20, was found stabbed to death in her new apartment and the body of her son, Taylen, 2, was discovered in the jaws of an alligator two days later

Taylen Mosley, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was reported missing on Thursday after his mother was found dead in her Lincoln Shores apartment from stab wounds

Posting on a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $8,000 so far, the family said: 'Pashun knew that being a single mom would be hard, but she was determined to provide for her son.

'We will miss her smile, joyous laughter, and commentary on life. Taylen was a sweet and happy toddler and loved his mom.

'During her work breaks, she would facetime so that she could spend every moment possible with him. During the day, Taylen would grab anyone's phone and pretend to call his mom.

'To see them together and their love for each other was a blessing. We will remember their love and will keep them in our hearts.'

Police announced Mosley was a 'person of interest' after locating him in hopes of finding Taylen, who was not in his custody at the time.

Thomas had checked himself into hospital and was covered in cuts on his arms and hands.

Thomas did not speak with investigators, with police confirming that he was not cooperating with authorities.

Family members saw the mother and son on Wednesday around 5.30pm and asked for a welfare check the following day after they were unable to contact her.

Family members of Pashun said that she was a 'dedicated' single mother, who adored her son

On Friday evening, Taylen was found dead inside an alligator's mouth in Dell Holmes Park - around 10 miles from his mother's home

Taylen had just celebrated his second birthday 19 days before being found dead. The little boy's family called him Tay-Tay and said he loved PB&J and calling his mom when she took her break at work

Neighbors said they heard a loud commotion near the apartment around 8.30 that night, but police were not called.

Shortly after the commotion at the apartment, Thomas showed up at his mother's house covered in cuts.

The next morning, Pashun's mother called the apartment manager for a welfare check after her daughter missed their daily FaceTime call and an employee found her dead. Holloway described the crime scene as 'very violent.'

The apartment door was locked when the employee arrived.

Pashun, who worked at CVS, and Taylen had recently moved into the apartment, according to WGXA.

Taylen had just celebrated his second birthday 19 days before being found dead.

The little boy's family called him Tay-Tay and said he loved PB&J and calling his mom when she took her break at work, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
He was caught on video wearing a horned headdress while storming the Capitol during the January 6 riots

The so-called 'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley has been pictured for the first time since being released from prison to a halfway house 14 months early.

Chansley, 35, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after storming the US Capitol on January 6.

Exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show Chansley wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word 'freedom', at a federal halfway house just a few miles from Phoenix, Arizona.

He was released into the housing project, owned by Behavioral Systems Southwest, which has 78 beds, on Thursday.

It is a re-entry Center contracted through the Federal Bureau of Prisons and US Probation.

Exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show Chansley at a federal halfway house just a few miles from Phoenix, Arizona

Chansley, 35, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after storming the US Capitol on January 6

The property has 62 beds for men and 16 beds for women, with Chansley scheduled to stay in the property until May 2023, according to the BOP website.

Chansley was spotted on the top floor of the building, located in a middle-class neighborhood in downtown Phoenix.

He was spotted coming and going from the unit to grab food before standing outside and smiling with a large mug in his hand.

Sporting a beanie and a sweatshirt, Chansley cut a very different figure to the one who broke into the Capitol on January 6 wearing a horned headdress and face paint.

He appeared to be talking to someone on the phone as he clutched a large silver mug and walked on the property's balcony in bright blue shorts.

Chansley grinned as he paced the balcony, but has yet to leave the gated property, which has security cameras covering all entrances.

The property has 62 beds for men and 16 beds for women, with Chansley scheduled to stay in the property until May 2023, according to the BOP website

Wearing a beanie and a sweatshirt, Chansley cut a very different figure to the one who broke into the Capitol on January 6 wearing a horned headdress and face paint

He appeared to be talking to someone on the phone as he clutched a large silver mug and walked on the property's balcony in bright blue shorts.

Chansley was transferred from FCI Stafford federal prison in Arizona to community confinement in the Phoenix area, after serving just under 27 total months in prison, a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesman confirmed in a statement to DailyMail.com on Thursday.

The spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the transfer, but pointed generally to federal laws that allow for good-conduct sentence reductions, as well as release to a halfway house for the final 12 months of a sentence.

Chansley's release comes weeks after his former attorney demanded he be freed in light of new video from the Capitol riot, but his move to the halfway house appears to be unconnected.

A former federal prosecutor unconnected with the case said it was doubtful public pressure played a role in Chansley's transfer, noting the move appears 'kind of routine' under BOP guidelines.

'For safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any inmate, including transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual's specific location while in community confinement,' the BOP spokesman said.

Chansley grinned as he paced the balcony, but has yet to leave the gated property, which has security cameras covering all entrances.

He was spotted on the top floor of the building, located in a middle-class neighborhood in downtown Phoenix

Chansley was transferred from FCI Stafford federal prison in Arizona to community confinement in the Phoenix area, after serving just under 27 total months in prison

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Albert S. Watkins, the attorney who handled Chansley's plea and sentencing, applauded his transfer to a halfway house

'Community confinement' can refer to either house arrest or a halfway house, but Chansley's former attorney said that he had been moved to the latter.

The Bureau of Prison confirmed that Chansley is in the custody of the Residential Reentry Management field office in Phoenix, which contracts with halfway houses to help inmates prepare to reenter society. His release date is set for May 25.

Federal inmates can receive a 15 percent reduction in their prison sentence for good behavior behind bars, and can also serve the final 12 months of their sentences in halfway houses at the discretion of the Bureau of Prisons.

With his elaborate garb and face paint, Chansley became known as the face of the riot on January 6, 2021, in which supporters of former President Donald Trump illegally entered the US Capitol and temporarily disrupted the certification of Joe Biden's election to the presidency.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Albert S. Watkins, the attorney who handled Chansley's plea and sentencing, applauded his transfer to a halfway house.

Chansley is seen being followed through the Capitol by a police officer on January 6, 2021

Earlier this month, Watkins had argued that Chansley should be freed after Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired previously unseen footage from the riot

'After serving eleven months in solitary prior to his sentence being imposed, and only 16 months of his sentence thereafter, it is appropriate this gentle and intelligent young man be permitted to move forward with the next stage of what undoubtedly will be a law abiding and enriching life,' said Watkins.

'I applaud the decision of the US Bureau of Prison in this regard,' added Watkins.

Watkins declined to speculate on the reason for Chansley's early release, saying: 'This was a decision of the US Bureau of Prisons. I cannot speak for the US Bureau of Prisons.'

In recent weeks, prominent figures including billionaire Elon Musk had called for Chansley's release, citing new footage that appeared to show him being 'escorted' by cops inside the Capitol during the riot.

However, former federal prosecutor Neama Ramani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told DailyMail.com that it was unlikely the intense scrutiny on Chansley's case had any impact on his early release.

'I don't think it has anything to do with media [or] public pressure,' said Ramani, who is not connected with the case.

He noted that release of inmates to halfway houses for the final 12 months of their sentences was 'kind of routine for the Bureau of Prisons,' particularly for inmates without a lengthy criminal history.

With his elaborate garb and face paint, Chansley became known as the face of the riot on January 6, 2021

'Despite the violent nature of the Capitol riots, most of the rioters had little to no criminal history,' said Ramani.

Earlier this month, Watkins had argued that Chansley should be freed after Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired previously unseen footage from the riot.

Carlson used his Fox News show to broadcast clips showing Chansley inside the US Capitol.

Chansley appears to be escorted inside the building by Capitol Police officers, while other officers allow the chest-baring, horn-wearing Trump supporter to pass.

On Carlson's broadcast, Chansley's former lawyer said he had not been shown the new footage, which the conservative news anchor said was 'clearly exculpatory'.

Carlson used the footage to argue that the rioters were 'sightseers', and 'mostly peaceful'.

Other evidence omitted by Carlson shows that Chansley entered the Capitol without permission

Tucker Carlson released footage from inside the Capitol on January 6, including clips showing the 'QAnon Shaman', Jacob Chansley (above), being apparently 'escorted' in the building

However, other evidence omitted by Carlson shows that Chansley entered the Capitol without permission, was repeatedly asked to leave the building, and was not accompanied by cops at all times.

For instance, a statement signed by signed by Chansley and his attorney contradicts the suggestion that he was 'escorted' by cops throughout the riot.

The statement admits that Chansley entered the Capitol through a broken door as part of a crowd that 'was not lawfully authorized to enter or remain in the building' and that he was one of the first 30 rioters inside.

It also notes that although officers asked Chansley and others multiple times to leave the Capitol, he did not comply and actively urged on his fellow rioters.

The statement describes Chansley's interactions with officers during the breach, but also points out that he 'entered the Gallery of the Senate alone.'

Watkins has previously said that his former client disavows the 'QAnon' conspiracy theory, and prefers to be known simply as 'the Shaman'.
Rarely did Olivia give her parents cause for concern. An above-average pupil and fond of the outdoors, she was, says her mother, 'a carefree and fairly typical little girl'.

But it all changed when she started secondary school. Suddenly life was complicated. She joined as many school clubs and societies as possible, including, at the instigation of a friend, an LGBT discussion group.

In the space of months, Olivia, not her real name, solemnly announced to her parents in a series of updates that she was, first, a lesbian, then non-binary, then finally a boy. Her last incarnation followed influence from a male-identifying friend.

Thinking that 'it would pass', Olivia's parents were indulgently tolerant. She was only 12, after all.

But then she began self-harming, the result of bullying, says her mother, because she preferred her hair short, for no other reason than she is sporty and didn't want 'long hair to get in the way'.

Rarely did Olivia give her parents cause for concern. An above-average pupil and fond of the outdoors, she was, says her mother, 'a carefree and fairly typical little girl' (file image)

Her anxious parents then found themselves powerless to stop teachers agreeing to call Olivia by her new name, complete with male pronouns.

By the time she reached 14, Olivia was in the throes of despair, and  says her mother in an interview with The Mail on Sunday  threatening suicide almost daily.

Without telling her parents, the school referred the schoolgirl to NHS-funded Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and did so under new name, meaning even her GP, not just her parents, was left in the dark.

RAF Cadets wear uniform of their chosen gender By Michael Powell Teenagers in the RAF Air Cadets can wear the uniform of either sex under advice warning commanders not to tell parents if children say they are transgender. Cadets who have begun changing sex can also use the toilets of their chosen gender. The changes were issued by Air Commodore Tony Keeling, head of RAF Air Cadets, according to a newspaper which obtained a copy of the new policy. It allows the 43,000 cadets aged 12 to 20 to wear the uniform of their 'affirmed gender' regardless of their stage in transitioning. It also prevents commanders from telling parents that children are transitioning unless they have permission to do so. Allowances should be made for 'transgender boys with developing breasts who may strap down chests to make it less obvious'. A Cadets spokesman said policies ensure it treats people 'with dignity and respect'. Parading: Young RAF personnel on a march in London Advertisement

It is this practice that was highlighted last week by a damning report which concluded that child welfare in schools is in danger from 'gender identity' theory.

Teachers are letting pupils change their names and uniforms without parents or professionals being alerted. According to the Policy Exchange report, 'Self-ID' policies may mean parents discover their child has transitioned only when they receive a letter citing their new name and pronouns.

A mother in her 40s from the south of England discovered her 13-year-old daughter's school had allowed her to swap gender without her consent after receiving a casual phone call while out shopping. 'It was a Friday afternoon and I was in Waterstones,' she says.

'The head of pupil support phoned me and he said, 'Hi, just to let you know I've had your daughter contact their tutor and they've identified as being male, so they've asked for a new name and pronouns.

'I just thought I'd let you know that's going ahead.' He wasn't asking me, just telling me.'

This unexpected conversation left the mother deeply concerned. That evening her daughter said she was being bullied by a group of boys in her class. The mother said: 'She told me, 'I'll get bullied for being a girl, but I won't get bullied for being trans.' '

Most of the secondary schools surveyed by the Policy Exchange think-tank are also teaching the contested theory that individuals have a gender identity that can differ from their biological sex.

But schools say they are victims of the confusion surrounding transgender issues and are waiting for safeguarding guidance from the Government, which Rishi Sunak has said will come within weeks.

It will be too late for Olivia's parents, however, along with many others interviewed by the MoS, who confirm that the problems are as widespread as the report suggests.

For now, Olivia's parents, who live in the North West, remain in a nightmarish battle with her school, which, against their express wishes, now uses her new name on official school documents.

'They even put it on the forms relating to a school trip abroad, even though it is not in line with her passport,' her mother said.

She added: 'The school also called social services because my daughter went to them and said she doesn't feel safe at home because we don't accept her identity and we keep saying she's a girl.

We have no rights to protect our daughter

'We've now been asked to sign a safety plan which says, as parents, we have to create a safe space for my daughter and we've been told we must not call her any labels that would cause her emotional distress.

'We can't say she is a girl because that is a label. We've been told if we don't sign this document then the matter could be escalated to child protection.'

The mother adds that she has been told that if her daughter attempts to self-harm they must not intervene, but instead call the police. 'So we are now in a situation where as parents we have no rights to protect our own daughter.'

Others relate similar stories. Common themes include peer pressure, bullying, school LGBT clubs, and the influence of groups invited by schools to conduct inclusion training.

One mother said a school told her she had 'no say' in her 13-year-old daughter's decision to change gender because it was the 'child's right'.

The woman, speaking anonymously, said her daughter suffered bullying when she started secondary school and sought solace in a lunchtime LGBT club, where she believed she could make friends.

'Six or seven weeks after going to the club she suddenly announced that she was non-binary and that she was changing her name,' her mother said.

An announcement was made at school and the child was allowed to transition without her parents' knowledge or consent.

The mother said that the school changed her daughter's name and pronouns on its records, as well as using her new gender identity in letters sent home.

When her daughter requested to use 'they/them' pronouns at school, the mother says the only person the teachers informed was her older brother, and then ordered him to keep this information secret.

Another mother, 42, from London, told how she learned that her daughter, 13, was being referred to by a male name at her all-girls' school when a letter arrived at their home in 2020.

'My daughter had mentioned that name and we knew she wanted to use this name, but we didn't know the school would enthusiastically embrace it,' she said.

'I queried it, saying we didn't agree to it, but they just said that was their policy.'

Prior to the name change, the girl had come out as lesbian. Then the school hosted a presentation by a transgender adult about being trans.

'My daughter later told me that seeing this presentation was a pivotal moment for her.

'We thought the school would think the way we thought about it, which is this is a teenage girl fad.

'But no, they went full throttle into it.'
One of Britains most notorious serial killers is taking his first steps to freedom  on day release in a local community.

Kenneth Erskine, dubbed the Stockwell Strangler, killed seven pensioners in 1986.

He was jailed for at least 40 years in 1988, meaning that he should become eligible for parole only in 2028.

But nurse minders recently escorted him on visits into the community close to Thornford Park medium secure unit in Thatcham, Berkshire, where he has been held since 2016.

His victims included men and women, among them Nancy Emms, 78, Janet Cockett, 67, and war veteran Valentine Gleim, 84. He broke into their homes and sexually assaulted them before strangling them.

Kenneth Erskine (pictured), dubbed the Stockwell Strangler, killed seven pensioners in 1986

Janet Cockett (pictured), 67, was one of the victims of the Stockwell Strangler

Last night, the son of one victim accused the authorities of going soft. Alan Downes found his father William, 74, strangled at his home in Stockwell, South London, and gave evidence at the trial.

Alan, now 79, said: Life should mean life. That was his sentence. People can change and they might think that hes safe for release, but I wouldnt want him living in my neighbourhood. They always go soft on people these days, but its not appropriate for a serial killer like him.

Solvent-abuser Erskine was convicted of murdering seven elderly people, though police later linked him to the deaths of four more.

He was jailed at a Category A prison before being transferred to Broadmoor maximum-security hospital.

His sentence came with a recommendation that he serve at least 40 years, but it was made before judges had the power to impose mandatory minimum tariffs, meaning he can be released early if doctors deem it appropriate.

In 2009, Erskine prompted public anger when he had his convictions downgraded to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility  at huge cost to the public purse.

His sentence was not reduced but converted into an indefinite hospital order.

The Ministry of Justice said the final decision on his release will be made by the NHS. The MoS contacted the NHS for a response.
China's travel agencies to resume inbound group travel services

Xinhua) 14:47, April 01, 2023

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's travel agencies and online tourism service providers are permitted to provide inbound group tours for foreign tourists starting Friday, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

They are also able to offer travel packages including flight tickets and hotels, said a circular issued by the ministry on Friday.

The document asked local authorities to guide local travel agencies in cooperating with their overseas counterparts, with an emphasis on implementing various epidemic prevention measures.

It also called for efforts to enhance service quality and maintain market order.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
The leader of a bloodthirsty Southern California based neo-Nazi group was finally apprehended inside of a Romanian gym, three years after he went on the lam following his indictment on various charges including assaulting a police officer.

Robert Rundo, 33, was arrested in Bucharest on March 29 by police special forces when a tipster contacted the authorities.

Rundo is the founder of a group named RAM, which stands for Rise Above Movement. In addition to racist activities, its members are also passionate practitioners of MMA. The group has anywhere between 20 and 50 members.

Officials in Romania said that when he was arrested, Rundo was carrying papers that identified him as Robert Lazar Pavic. It isn't known for how long he has been in the eastern European country.

In the wake of the arrest, US authorities have issued an extradition request to their Romanian counterparts. Between 2016 and 2018, Rundo is thought to have been omnipresent at various political rallies, often physically clashing with enemies and law enforcement.

Rise Above Movement founder Robert Rundo, 28, pictured inside of a Romanian gym shortly after he was taken into custody

Rundo pictured being dragged out of a Romanian gym on Wednesday

Rundo will face a hearing on April 25. He is accused by authorities in Europe of spreading white-supremacist ideology in countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary, reports Romanian news station Digi24.

'The suspect is said to be one of the founders of an organization that supports the ideology of white supremacy, which has publicly presented itself as a group ready to fight, campaigning for a new nationalist movement of white supremacy and identity,' a statement from police said, according to Radio Free Europe.

Members of RAM attended the infamous 2017 Charlottesville Unite The Right rally which led to the death of Heather Heyer.

After initial charges against him were dismissed in 2019, Rundo is thought to have left the United States.

A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed the charges on the grounds that the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 was unconstitutional.

Judge Cormac Carney said someone could be convicted under the act simply for texting friends about meeting at a political rally, and added that even those with a 'hateful and toxic ideology' were protected by the First Amendment.

He had been indicted on charges of 'traveling to political rallies across California, where they violently attacked counter-protesters, journalists and a police officer,' the Department of Justice said in a press release at the time.

Arestarea la Bucuresti a extremistul american Robert Rundo pic.twitter.com/guohgBcec5  aktual24.ro (@ak24ro) March 31, 2023

Rundo pictured being detained in Berkeley, California in 2017

Videos showed Rundo punching counter-protesters in Huntington Beach and a police officer in Berkeley, according to an FBI affidavit.

Prosecutors described RAM as a 'a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.'

In January 2023, Rundo was indicted again, which led to his recent arrest.

Radio Free Europe reports that in a September 2020 interview on a neo-Nazi podcast, Rundo said he left the US due to what he called 'harassment' from authorities.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, Rise Above Movement members believe they are fighting against a 'modern world' corrupted by the 'destructive cultural influences' of liberals, Jews, Muslims and non-white immigrants.

Members refer to themselves as the mixed martial arts club of the 'alt-right' fringe movement, a loose mix of neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other far-right extremists.

The leader of a Southern California white supremacist group and three other members were arrested weeks after indictments of other group members for allegedly inciting the riot in Charlottesville, pictured

One woman, Heather Heyer, was killed when a car plowed into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia,

'They very much operate like a street-fighting club,' Oren Segal, director of the ADL's Center on Extremism, said earlier this month. The group has roots in the racist skinhead movement in Southern California, Segal said.

In August 2017, Rundo and his cohorts made their way to the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville with their hands taped, 'ready to do street battle,' U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said at a news conference announcing the charges in 2018.

Hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Clashes erupted August 11 as a crowd of white nationalists marching through the University of Virginia campus carrying torches and chanting racist slogans encountered a small group of counter-protesters.

The next day, more violence broke out between counter-protesters and attendees of the 'Unite the Right' rally, which was believed to be the largest gathering of white nationalists in at least a decade.

Street fighting exploded before the scheduled event could begin and went on for nearly an hour in view of police until authorities forced the crowd to disperse.

After authorities forced the rally to disband August 12, Heyer, 32, was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters.

The death toll rose to three when a state police helicopter that had been monitoring the event crashed, killing two troopers.
Wet wipes containing toxic plastic could be banned under Government plans to clean up rivers and seas.

Stricter labelling could also be brought in to urge consumers not to flush the single-use items down the toilet  even if they do not contain plastic.

Ministers are expected to announce the crackdown in the coming days, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Plastic-free wet wipes would be unaffected by any ban, and many manufacturers have already started to switch to more sustainable alternatives. However, the most recent figures show 90 per cent of the 11 billion wet wipes used in the UK each year contain plastic, says the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

96% of survey respondents said they would support a ban on wet wipes containing plastic

When flushed, all wet wipes help to create fatbergs  a mass of wipes, paper, cooking fat and sewage that clogs up sewers, pollutes rivers and harms wildlife.

Despite some being labelled as 'fine to flush', there are also concerns about how long wet wipes take to break down.

READ MORE: Dirty wet wipes that wash up on British beaches are still teaming with harmful faecal bacteria that can pose a risk to human health, study warns Advertisement

Two years ago, Ministers called for evidence as to whether plastic wet wipes should face a total ban.

When the findings were published earlier this year, 96 per cent of respondents to an official survey said they would support a ban on wet wipes containing plastic, though only 50 per cent of manufacturers agreed.

The Government response said: 'Given public appetite for implementing a ban on wet wipes containing plastic, we note this to be a course of action that will be carefully considered.'

Any ban or stricter labelling will be subject to consultation.

Wet wipes are believed to be responsible for 93 per cent of the blockages in sewers, costing 100 million a year to clear. Companies have been accused by MPs of wrongly labelling their products as flushable. The MCS has called for wet wipes to carry a 'fine to flush' label only if manufacturers can prove they break down fully.

Allison Ogden-Newton, of Keep Britain Tidy, said: 'Wet wipes are the devil's work. They are largely single-use plastics that, once in the sewerage system, via our loos, cause no end of environmental damage.

'They block our Victorian plumbing leading to increased use of overflow pipes and even more raw sewage entering our rivers and seas.

'Manufacturing claims that they are 'flushable', or 'biodegradable' are untested.

'What we do know is they are so damaging they've formed monumental mounds in our waterways, changing the course of rivers like the Thames. Then, the best we can hope for is they disintegrate into micro plastics, further damaging the natural world and even entering our food chain.

'We need legislation to make it clear that they must never be put down the loo.'

In 2021, Labour MP Fleur Anderson introduced a Private Member's Bill calling for a ban on plastic wet wipes. She said: 'The damage is devastating. Globally, 100 million animals die each year from plastic waste.'

Major retailers including Boots and Tesco have already banned wet wipes containing plastic.

The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year that single-use plastic plates, cups and cutlery will be banned by the end of December.

Our sister paper, the Daily Mail, has led the way on banning single-use items through its award-winning Turn The Tide On Plastic and Banish The Bags campaigns.

In another move, water companies could face unlimited fines for pollution. Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is expected to announce plans that Ministers say will 'make polluters pay'.

The latest Environment Agency figures showed there were 301,091 sewage spills in 2022  an average of 824 a day.

Only 50 per cent of manufacturers said that they would support a ban on plastics in wet wipes

AGGIE MACKENZIE: Our everyday wet wipe habit is building up plastic in our oceans and landfill sites and has to stop

A few years ago, Irish actress and comedian Sharon Horgan wrote on Twitter that she'd cleaned her entire bathroom with two baby wipes.

How brilliant that was, she'd said. And she was right.

We're all strapped for time, and there is something really satisfying about reaching for a packet of wipes and getting a job done fast, from cleaning around a sink to wiping a child's sticky fingers.

But wipes have become almost too convenient. You can get them for anything. There are wipes specifically designed for polishing furniture, for cleaning car upholstery, for wiping down windows or floors. The beauty industry is now full of them. I'm as guilty as anyone for using make-up-remover wipes every day.

All of these things used to be more expensive and were considered a luxury item, but as they've come down in price we've slid into seeing them as an everyday purchase.

They're so ubiquitous on supermarket shelves that buying them seems completely normal.

Like anything that's easy, though, it's become a bad habit. It's no bad thing that the Government is stepping in to stop us.

The more we use them  and unthinkingly throw or flush them away  the bigger the fatbergs in our sewage systems or the plastic piles that build up in our oceans or landfill sites. In 20 years, I think we'll look back with horror at how much we used them. We need to wake up, realise it isn't good, and change so our children and grandchildren have a better future.

I've never used wipes for cleaning, and it isn't a great hardship to simply get out a cloth and the right cleaning product to tackle a household job.

Not having wet wipes won't be the worst thing in the world  we're just dependent on them. And the quicker we ease off that addiction, the better.

The Miracle of Vinegar, by Aggie MacKenzie and Emma Marsden, is out now in paperback and priced 8.99.
Gambling companies would be hit with a new Government levy, with the proceeds diverted to the NHS, under plans being considered by Ministers.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that a new gambling white paper is likely to include proposals for a compulsory contribution to treatment programmes for gambling addicts.

It has emerged just days after betting giant William Hill was fined a record 19.2 million by the industry watchdog for failing to protect its customers from accruing unpayable debts.

Currently, all operators with a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) licence must make an annual contribution 'to one or more organisation(s) which deliver research, harm prevention and treatment for those harmed by gambling'.

But given the widely varying amounts contributed by the companies, Whitehall officials have argued that the 'playing field needs to be levelled', by making the payment standard and obligatory.

Gambling companies would be hit with a new Government levy, with the proceeds diverted to the NHS, under plans being considered by Ministers. Pictured: 'Bookie Belt' in Birmingham

It has emerged just days after betting giant William Hill (pictured) was fined a record 19.2 million by the industry watchdog for failing to protect its customers from accruing unpayable debts

The Gambling Commission will launch a consultation on the scale of the levy and how it will be tailored to companies' differing profits and revenues.

The NHS refuses to accept voluntary contributions from the companies to fund treatment services, arguing that it is a conflict of interest. But an effective 'gambling tax' would circumvent that problem.

A Government source said: 'The gambling white paper will be the most comprehensive review of betting laws in more than 15 years.

'Its purpose is to ensure that our gambling laws are fit for the digital age  because the landscape has changed significantly since the Gambling Act in 2005.

'The plan is to give people the choice and freedom to gamble responsibly, while preventing addictive and harmful gambling. One of the main ways will be through the introduction of a new levy.

'A new statutory levy could directly fund the NHS to expand treatment services for gambling addiction to ensure people have access to the services they need, when and where they need them. Many researchers will not accept voluntary funding from [the gambling] industry. The independence of research funded by it has been called into question. The levy would therefore provide long-term, reliable funding, including for the NHS.'

However, some sources say that the plan could lead to splits in No 10, claiming that when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was Chancellor, he objected to the idea of a levy. One source said: 'Rishi opposed it on the grounds that we pay billions in tax already and he didn't want to look as if he was in favour of new 'nanny state' taxes on business.

'He also has the Catterick racecourse in his constituency, and was worried that it would hurt racing. Also, it begs the question. Will the National Lottery have to cough up?'

However, some sources say that the plan could lead to splits in No 10, claiming that when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was Chancellor, he objected to the idea of a levy

Michael Dugher, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, which represents firms in the sector, said: 'Around 22.5 million people in this country enjoy a regular flutter. The overwhelming majority do so perfectly safely and responsibly. That's why the rate of problem gambling is just 0.2 per cent of adults.

'Nevertheless, the industry's biggest companies committed an extra 100 million to tackle gambling-related harm from 2019 through a new voluntary levy. They have gone further and have donated 110 million by 2024.

'They give more in other ways, including a 10 million harm prevention programme for school-aged children. All of this is in addition to the 4.2 billion we generate in tax  money that already helps fund the NHS.'

Mr Dugher  a former Labour MP and one-time Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport  added: 'I support this voluntary levy now becoming mandatory and have proposed that for all BGC members, so we are not against this in principle.

'What's important now is that the money goes to helping the tiny minority of people who need it, not wasted on the cottage industry of anti-gambling prohibitionists, masquerading their biased work as 'research'.'
An ex-girlfriend of Ted Bundy has revealed how the serial killer would laugh as he tried to drown her in a new documentary.

The woman, who only gave her name as Sandy, dated Bundy while as a college student in the 60s and has never talked about her experience before.

She was interviewed by Dr Al Carlisle, who interviewed numerous criminals like Bundy as well as Arthur Gary Bishop and Manny Cortez.

Dr Carlisle would then track down those who had been targeted and affected by Bundy, to try to discover where his violent tendencies originated.

Sandy recounted on the Oxygen documentary, Violent Minds: Killers on Tape, how her serial killer boyfriend dunked her under the water on a picnic date by the river.

His girlfriend was interviewed by Dr Al Carlisle, who interviewed numerous criminals like Bundy as well as Arthur Gary Bishop and Manny Cortez

She claimed he held her there for nearly a minute, adding: 'That's when he was dunking me in the water.

'It's playful up until the point someone is trying to get away to get air, he just laughed.'

Sandy also alleged Bundy liked choking her during sex, which 'frightened' her.

Her recollection was one of the 'first indications' to Dr Carlisle that he was 'getting violent'.

He said: 'He can't control himself when he's having sex. He's choking and so, yeah, I'm seeing violence developing.

'It was clear that Ted was not the normal college student he wanted others to see him as.

'He had been aggressive in putting his arm over his sexual partner's throat and choking her during sex. [It] bordered on homicide.'

The tapes were only discovered after Dr Carlisle's death in 2018, and are now going to be made public or the first time on April 2.

Sandy recounted on the Oxygen documentary, Violent Minds: Killers on Tape, how her serial killer boyfriend dunked her under the water on a picnic date by the river.

Dr Carlisle evaluated Bundy after he was arrested in 1975 at the request of the court after serving as a psychologist at Utah State Prison

His assistant Carrie Anne Drazewski-Keller talks on the documentary about 'shocking' discoveries they made.

She told Fox News Digital: T'he depth of Bundy's depravity was not fully expressed to the public at the time of his killings.

'The reality is he was horrible. He was a necrophiliac. He was a Jekyll and Hyde who appeared as a super great guy but transformed into this terrible monster who did terrible things to you after you were dead.

'Dr. Carlisle wanted to understand what would drive someone to take such a dark path. He truly believed everyone was good.'

Dr Carlisle evaluated Bundy after he was arrested in 1975 at the request of the court after serving as a psychologist at Utah State Prison.

He spent about 20 hours with Bundy on the psychological assessment, believing he was much more dangerous.

Drazewski-Keller added: 'It's very interesting. You have [Bundy's] mother saying, 'Oh, he's my precious baby boy,' and then you have the girlfriend saying, 'He held my head underwater for too long.'

'And then you have a landlady, who was always suspicious of him, going, 'He stole my car one night.'

Bundy (pictured in 1977) was arrested on kidnap charges in 1975, with police also linking him to murders across several states

After two murder trials, Bundy (pictured) would confess on death row in 1989 to taking the lives of at least 30 women across the country from Washington to Florida

'Doc felt that each killer created themselves. Fantasy plays a huge role in it.

'And sometimes that fantasy life is more than anything. And these people go down a path to a point where you don't even recognize them anymore.'

Bundy was arrested on kidnap charges in 1975, with police also linking him to murders across several states.

After two murder trials, Bundy would confess on death row in 1989 to taking the lives of at least 30 women across the country from Washington to Florida.

Bundy never truly revealed where his victims were buried which caused more heartache for families. Experts believe he could have killed as many as 100 people.
A secret plot by more than 100 eco-activists to sabotage the Grand National has been exposed by an undercover Mail on Sunday investigation.

Militant vegans and animal rights campaigners plan to use ladders and bolt cutters to storm security fences before the race at Aintree, then glue themselves together as a human barricade and sit across the course.

The conspiracy  revealed just two weeks before the race meeting  was uncovered by an MoS reporter posing as a member of the Animal Rebellion campaign group.

Last night we handed over our dossier of evidence to Merseyside Police.

Our journalist secretly filmed as the activists, who include a former top financial journalist and a nurse, simulated charging at security guards and boasting they would 'ruin' this year's event  which has a TV audience of up to 600 million across more than 140 countries as well as tens of thousands of spectators at the course.

This Animal Rebellion member is award-winning business journalist Jim Edwards, the former founding editor of the UK edition of financial news website Business Insider

One of the plot ringleaders, Rose Patterson, 33, (pictured) boasted that the Grand National stunt would have worldwide impact

A secret plot by more than 100 eco-activists to sabotage the Grand National has been exposed by an undercover Mail on Sunday investigation

The conspiracy  revealed just two weeks before the race meeting  was uncovered by an MoS reporter posing as a member of the Animal Rebellion campaign group

This evening the Mail on Sunday handed over our dossier of evidence to Merseyside Police. Pictured: Horses race away from the start during the Grand National Steeple Chase on the final day of the Grand National Festival horse race meeting at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, north west England on April 9, 2022

Our investigation reveals how:

Ringleaders have already conducted two secret reconnaissance missions of the racecourse to pinpoint security weaknesses

A network of safehouses is being arranged to accommodate protesters before the race

A fleet of minibuses is being hired to ferry protesters and equipment to the racecourse in Merseyside

More than 100 activists have signed up to the plot, which is being organised via the encrypted app Signal

Some activists plan to use ladders to scale Aintree's security fence, while others will be tasked with cutting holes in it using bolt cutters

Once on the racecourse, protesters plan to glue themselves together and sit down, forming a human barrier across the course

Any delay or cancellation of this year's Grand National would provoke an international outcry and cost the horse racing and betting industries millions of pounds.

The plot echoes the so-called 'Race that Never Was' in 1993, when 15 animal rights protesters stormed the course near the first fence and delayed the start by eight minutes. It was then declared void after two false starts. Four years later, the race was postponed for two days after an IRA bomb threat led to the course being evacuated.

Alarmingly, those behind the latest plot claim it will 'kick-start' further protests at prestigious horse races this summer  raising the prospect that the first Royal Ascot of King Charles's reign could be targeted in June.

Animal Rebellion  an offshoot of the militant environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion  was founded in 2019 and wants all animal farming and fishing banned. It also wants to end horse racing, branding it 'animal abuse'.

The group came to prominence last year after activists dumped cartons of milk on the floors of top stores and supermarkets including Harrods and Fortnum & Mason.

In 2018 Jim Edwards was pictured alongside London Mayor Sadiq Khan at a reception

He now advises Animal Rebellion on its media strategy. Outlining the conspiracy, he said: '...The thing we're recruiting for is to get as many people as possible to Liverpool on April 15... We will be booking a bunch of houses so all the activists can stay together'

Last week our reporter joined ten others at a training day in an office in Dalston, a trendy enclave of East London, to prepare for the protest

Its fanatical members have also conducted a campaign of sit-ins at high-end restaurants. Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan and his wife were caught up in a protest last month after Animal Rebellion targeted seafood restaurant Scott's in Mayfair, London.

The MoS first infiltrated the group in November last year.

It quickly became apparent to our reporter that a major plot was brewing and that the restaurant protests were simply the precursor to a more dramatic action.

For weeks Animal Rebellion's leaders have been careful to keep the conspiracy under wraps, but earlier this month an activist who called himself 'Jim' phoned our reporter with a startling announcement.

Describing a forthcoming protest as 'our biggest spectacular one to date', he asked: 'Have you heard of the Grand National?

'That will not be happening this year,' he added. 'We're hoping to gather 300 activists to occupy that course and stop it.' The MoS can today reveal that 'Jim' is in fact award-winning business journalist Jim Edwards, the former founding editor of the UK edition of financial news website Business Insider.

In 2018 he was pictured alongside London Mayor Sadiq Khan at a reception organised by the website. He quit last year and now advises Animal Rebellion on its media strategy.

Outlining the conspiracy, he said: '...The thing we're recruiting for is to get as many people as possible to Liverpool on April 15... We will be booking a bunch of houses so all the activists can stay together.'

Noble Yeats ridden by jockey Sam Waley-Cohen (no.28) clear a fence on their way to winning the Randox Grand National Handicap Chase on Grand National Day of the Randox Health Grand National Festival 2022 at Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool

Racegoers watch a race on the second day, 'Ladies Day', of the Grand National Festival horse race meeting, at Aintree Racecourse on April 8, 2022

Last week our reporter joined ten others at a training day in an office in Dalston, a trendy enclave of East London, to prepare for the protest.

One of the plot ringleaders, Rose Patterson, boasted that the Grand National stunt would have worldwide impact.

The 33-year-old was arrested in February after she and four others blocked Westminster Bridge. She was also one of several activists carried out of Scott's last month.

Stressing the information was 'secret', she said: 'Basically the kick-off action for this whole campaign is going to be at the Grand National. The biggest horse race in the world We have 600 million people viewing this horse race worldwide, we've got 300 million of bets on the horse race and we're just going to ruin it.'

After clearing away the office chairs, the group were instructed to sit on the wooden floor with their eyes closed and link arms. Ms Patterson then began reading from a script in an exercise designed to prepare the protesters for the intensity of holding a hugely disruptive protest in front of a hostile crowd.

As she described how the Aintree protest would unfold, a soundtrack of rowdy spectators was played in the background.

'You feel the nerves in your stomach and feel butterflies and anxious and sick as the minibus is driving to the final location,' Ms Patterson said. 'After about an hour  it's time to get out of the bus. You put on your pink animal-rising T-shirt and all your fellow [protesters] get out of the truck.'

She then revealed how some of the demonstrators would use ladders to scale Aintree's perimeter fence, while others would use bolt cutters to cut a hole in the fence to crawl through. 'There are like 100 of you now at the fence. You get the ladders out. Put them against the fence and you're the first one over,' she said. 'You start climbing that fence and you see security on the other side. You don't care. You know you're doing the right thing. And others cutting through the fence and climbing through.'

The activists were told that once on the course they would glue their hands together before sitting down to form a human barrier.

As Ms Patterson continued her description, loud jeering and booing erupted on the crowd noise recording.

Winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen celebrates with the Grand National Trophy after riding Noble Yeats to victory in the Grand National Steeple Chase at Aintree Racecourse on April 9, 2022

Minella Times and jockey Rachael Blackmore during the Randox Grand National Handicap Chase during Grand National Day of the Randox Health Grand National Festival 2022 at Aintree Racecourse

'You're all on to the track now and you start gluing your hands to each other and walking towards the crowd and you can see 50,000 people screaming and shouting at you and they're getting quite mad and security [are] running towards you,' she added. 'You keep walking and you feel fearless and powerful and then you sit down and you're all in line together. You feel so excited and proud to stand alongside individuals making history.'

Ms Patterson revealed how Animal Rebellion's leaders had previously planned to sneak on to the course the night before the race and dig up the turf. That plan, however, was ditched because it was decided it would be 'way more powerful' for hundreds of people to storm on to the course.

Ms Patterson also disclosed that the plot ringleaders have already visited Aintree twice to identify weak spots, adding: 'We walked round the perimeter and on the track as well.' She added that some stretches of the fence are only 5ft 5in high.

'The track is huge, so security focus on where the spectators are but we are not going to go over there  it'll be further down.'

The group will do a final reconnaissance mission once the three-day race meeting has started to identify exactly where security guards and police officers have been positioned.

Activists involved in the protest will be split into small teams known as 'pods' and managed by one team leader, known as 'the stem', who will be issued with a so-called 'burner phone'  a mobile phone bought for a specific use that can be discarded.

One of the activists, who has taken part in a string of Animal Rebellion stunts, said that the protesters should remain on the course until they are either arrested or dragged away.

'The aim is to stop the event from happening and so we wouldn't want to give them the visual of us standing up and walking away at any point,' she said.

Those who wanted to take part in the action were asked to join a group on the encrypted app Signal entitled 'The Race'. Last night it had 120 members.

The final exercise of the training day involved the activists simulating trying to force their way through a line of security guards. 'This is private property, call the police,' shouted one of the ringleaders as he pretended to be a security guard.

Some of those at the training voiced their reservations about breaking the law, with one activist named Liam saying he was 'not thrilled about getting arrested'.

Last night Tory MP Damian Green, acting chairman of the Commons Culture Select Committee, condemned the 'appalling' plot.

He said: 'I'm glad this has been exposed by The Mail on Sunday. Millions of people love the Grand National and love horses as well. I can't think of a worse way of advertising your campaign, if you claim to love horses.'

Tory MP Alicia Kearns said: 'Using these sorts of tactics to impose their militant opposition to meat-eating will only backfire. At least hopefully less police time will be wasted thanks to the Mail on Sunday's investigation.'

Merseyside Police said it has 'a robust policing plan in place for Aintree', adding: 'We respect the right to peaceful protest and expression of views, but public order or criminal offences will not be tolerated and will be dealt with robustly.'

The Jockey Club, which owns Aintree racecourse, declined to comment last night.
A cloak-and-dagger operation is under way to transport the sacred Stone of Destiny from Edinburgh Castle to Westminster Abbey ahead of King Charles's Coronation next month.

The Stone has had huge significance in coronations for centuries and is steeped in controversy  which is why exact timings of the carefully planned military operation to move it are being kept secret.

There are fears the relic, also known as the Stone of Scone, could be hijacked by republican groups or angry Scottish nationalists.

Although officials have declined to discuss specific threats to the Stone's journey south, many nationalists have openly urged disruption. One wrote online: 'They only want it under the throne to exercise their ownership of Scotland. I would love the fact it was shown on TV and we stopped it. Oh the joy of it.'

Another added: 'What is needed is an insider at Edinburgh Castle to tip the wink.

A cloak-and-dagger operation is under way to transport the sacred Stone of Destiny (pictured) from Edinburgh Castle to Westminster Abbey ahead of King Charles's Coronation next month

'However it's removed, there must be a massive protest making clear it's without the approval of the Scottish people, tarnishing the Coronation in Scotland.'

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the 24st block of sandstone, measuring roughly 26 x 16 x 11in, will be put into a special container and head to its temporary London home in the last week of April.

On arrival, the Stone will be placed beneath the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey, where it sat for most of the past 700 years after England's King Edward seized it from Scotland in 1296.

On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students removed it from the Abbey  taking it away in a less-than-regal Ford Anglia  and three months later it turned up 500 miles away at the high altar of Arbroath Abbey.

Although it was returned to Westminster Abbey, then Prime Minister John Major later unexpectedly announced that it should be returned to Scotland for permanent display.

In November 1996, the Stone was winched up and out of the Coronation Chair using a running pulley. It was then lowered on to a purpose-built hand barrow, based on the type used by medieval stonemasons, and driven from London to Scotland using both police and Army vehicles before being paraded in front of a 10,000-strong crowd up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle.

King Charles is reported to have said he would have been perfectly happy with the Stone of Destiny staying in Scotland, but Downing Street insisted it travel south to Westminster Abbey.

The Stone has already undergone an extensive assessment by conservation experts at Historic Environment Scotland (HES), who now have responsibility for it.

Space constraints in the Crown Room at Edinburgh Castle, where it is kept alongside the Scottish Crown Jewels, mean it will need to be removed using a special mechanical gurney.

An insider explained: 'It's just too heavy to move by hand, given the space available.'

Officials have declined to reveal exactly how the Stone will be transported south, but it is understood to involve a multi-agency team including the Army, police and HES.

Once back in London, it will need to be inched into place in a delicate operation to ensure that neither the priceless stone nor Coronation Chair is damaged. It is understood a scaffold will be erected around the Coronation Chair, which will support a block-and-tackle pulley system.

A spokesman for HES said: 'The Stone will be placed into the Coronation Chair using a similar method to that used in 1996 for its removal, but with enhancements where techniques and technology have improved. Our specialist teams from HES and Westminster Abbey will work collaboratively to achieve the installation to ensure the safety of both objects.'

Officials remain tight-lipped about the Stone's journey south, saying only that details and timings of the move will not be made public for security reasons.

Some time after his Westminster Abbey Coronation, King Charles III will take part in an elaborate ceremony at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh  site of a vigil for Queen Elizabeth following her death in Balmoral last year  where he will receive the Honours of Scotland: a crown, sword and sceptre dating from the late 15th Century.

The last time they were used for a coronation was to crown Charles II at Scone in 1651.
A senior activist plotting to wreck the Grand National is a former top financial journalist and business guru, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Jim Edwards is the founding editor of the website Business Insider in the UK and an ex-fellow at Columbia Business School in America.

In 2018 he was pictured with London Mayor Sadiq Khan at the website's 'Tech 100 Reception'.

He left the website last year and published a book entitled Say Thank You for Everything: The secrets of being a great manager.

The book was reportedly inspired by his experience of helping transform 'a small unread blog into a business with 200 million readers and hundreds of employees, which finally sold for $442 million'.

Jim Edwards (right) is the founding editor of the website Business Insider in the UK and an ex-fellow at Columbia Business School in America. In 2018 he was pictured with London Mayor Sadiq Khan (left) at the website's 'Tech 100 Reception'

He now provides Animal Rebellion with media advice and has attended at least two animal rights marches.

Last month he joined protesters at a 'sit in' at Scott's restaurant in Mayfair and was pictured being carried out by bouncers.

He said he was unable to get involved with Animal Rebellion while working for Business Insider.

He told our reporter he was 'excited' about the Aintree protest, which he said would be the group's 'biggest spectacular to date'.
A mysterious American benefactor is bankrolling militant protest group Animal Rebellion, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The unnamed donor's money is being used to fund housing and living expenses for more than 20 activists who volunteer full-time.

Rose Patterson, a director of Animal Rebellion, told our undercover reporter: 'We've got one main donor who gives us most of the money.

'If he leaves or if we p**s him off then we're f****d.'

When pressed for more details, she said: 'I don't know if he wants to be known. He's not based in the UK  [he's in the] US. I think he funds a lot of animal groups.'

Rose Patterson (pictured), a director of Animal Rebellion, told our undercover reporter: 'We've got one main donor who gives us most of the money'

Company accounts show that Animal Rebellion disclosed turnover of 304,599 in 2020.

An online Crowd Funder appeal has raised just over 88,000, which is being matched in dollars by the anonymous donor. An appeal in 2021 raised 67,942.

Founded in 2019 with 12 activists, the organisation now has 20 to 30 full-time campaigners.

Animal Rebellion shares an office in Dalston, East London, with demonstrators from the protest group Just Stop Oil.

Animal Rebellion claims it was asked to leave its old offices in Finsbury Park, North London, for repeatedly disabling mouse traps.

The MoS can also reveal that senior Animal Rebellion organisers last week met members of Letzte Generation to exchange tactics.

The German eco-group gained notoriety last year after its activists threw mashed potato over Monet's painting Les Meules in a protest against fossil fuels.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman today vows to stamp out the grooming gangs behind organised child sex abuse  and raises the prospect of jail sentences for people who fail to alert the authorities.

She highlights the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, which led to the conviction a decade ago of a group of British-Pakistani men for offences against girls aged between 12 and 16. The authorities had failed to act despite widespread evidence of abuse  in some cases because they feared being accused of racism.

The Home Secretary, writing in The Mail on Sunday, pledges to 'track down and punish the grooming gangs with the same sense of mission and determination' used to pursue the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, the black British teenager who was killed in a racially motivated attack at a bus stop in South London in 1993.

Ms Braverman, who was born in Harrow, in North-West London, to a Kenyan mother and Mauritian father, writes: 'The time has come to make right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times. The systematic rape, exploitation and abuse of young girls by organised gangs of older men  and the disgraceful failure of the authorities to act despite ample evidence  is a stain on our country.'

A Buddhist, Ms Braverman describes the 'perpetrators' as 'groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values'.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) today vows to stamp out the grooming gangs behind organised child sex abuse

She adds: 'They have been left largely unchallenged either within their communities or by wider society, despite their activities being an open secret. Many of them went unpunished and remain at large.'

Under the plans, people who work with children will be legally required to report child sexual abuse or face sanctions ranging from being barred from working with youngsters to prison. The measures will cover any professionals with safeguarding duties, such as teachers, social workers and police.

The first step to introducing the duty is a call for evidence which will be open to professionals, volunteers, parents, victims and survivors, and the wider public. It will be the start of a consultation to ensure all views are represented ahead of implementing the new duty.

Extra funding will be provided for the NSPCC's whistleblowing helpline, which can be used by any professional who has concerns their organisation is not reporting or handling child abuse cases appropriately.

The Government is also planning to speed up the process for members of the public to find out if someone they know has committed child abuse in the past in order to better protect vulnerable people from predators. Known as Sarah's Law, in memory of eight-year-old Sarah Payne, who was murdered by a previously convicted sex offender in West Sussex in 2000, the updated guidance for the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme will make it easier for the public to raise a concern online and reduce the timeframes for police to respond to enquiries.

Ms Braverman said of the grooming gangs scandal: 'The authorities who had a duty to safeguard the girls  including local politicians, social workers, teachers, police officers and others  often looked the other way. They ignored the abuse, or at best made half-hearted efforts, not least because they thought it more likely that they would be accused of racism than praised for stopping the abuse.

'Tragically, that assessment, however morally debased, may have been accurate.'

By SUELLA BRAVERMAN, HOME SECRETARY

The time has come to right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times. The systematic rape, abuse and exploitation of young girls by organised gangs of older men  and the disgraceful failure of the authorities to act despite ample evidence  is a stain on our country.

The grooming gangs scandal stretches back many years and continues to this day. It is nine years since Professor Alexis Jays devastating report on abuse in Rotherham. Dozens of trials have taken place in which harrowing victim testimony has made clear not only the suffering caused by evil predators but also how cries for help were ignored by people in authority. Such people were more interested in their careers and political correctness than in protecting and helping the vulnerable.

During last years Conservative leadership contest, Rishi Sunak pledged that if he became Prime Minister he would make stamping out grooming gangs, and justice for their victims, a personal priority. The Government will now make good on that promise.

There are four critical facts about the grooming gangs phenomenon. Each must be acknowledged and addressed in turn if we are to eradicate these gangs and bring justice to their victims.

First, the victims were  and are  some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Young females, overwhelmingly white girls from disadvantaged or troubled backgrounds, have been repeatedly raped, abused, intimidated, beaten and given addictive substances  and consistently let down by the authorities. Most of them have still not received justice.

The time has come to right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times, writes Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured)

GROOMERS IN ROTHERHAM: From left: Tayab Dad, Nasar Dad, Basharat Dad, Matloob Hussain, Mohammed Sadiq and Amjad Ali

Second, the perpetrators are groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values. They have been left mostly unchallenged both within their communities and by wider society, despite their activities being an open secret.

Many of them have gone unpunished and remain at large.

Third, the authorities who had a duty to safeguard the girls  local politicians, social workers, teachers, police officers and others  have often looked the other way. They have ignored the abuse or, at best, made half-hearted efforts  not least because they thought it more likely that they would be accused of racism than praised for stopping the mistreatment. Tragically, that assessment, however morally debased, may have been accurate.

Finally  and most urgent  is the fact that the systemic abuse of young girls by organised grooming gangs is still happening today in communities up and down the country. We must end it.

It takes exceptional courage to speak out about having been sexually abused. The final report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), published last October, heard testimony from 7,300 victims and survivors. Meeting members of the inquirys victims panel has been profoundly humbling. Their courage will count. Their testimony will inspire everything the Government does to prevent the evil of grooming gangs and child sexual abuse more generally.

The inquirys final report made 20 recommendations, which complement the 87 that have already been made in previous IICSA reports. Given the breadth, depth, seriousness, and sensitivity of the inquiry, we must give these recommendations due consideration, time and attention. But I can say that the Government is already strongly persuaded by many of them and determined that the publication of our response in May will ensure the national recognition of victims.

Every individuals suffering and experience of abuse is a unique tragedy. Out of respect to victims, it is essential that we separate our response to the horrors of grooming gangs from wider child sexual abuse and our response to the inquiry. Each deserves dedicated focus and attention.

There is, however, one recommendation which is particularly relevant to eradicating grooming gangs  and which we know that abuse victims, more broadly, are keen to see Government take forward as soon as possible.

The inquiry found repeated individual and institutional failures to report child sexual abuse. It recommended that the Government should introduce a mandatory duty for professionals with safeguarding responsibilities to report any signs or suspicions of such abuse.

Had this duty been in place already, countless children would have been better protected against grooming gangs and against sexual abusers more widely.

That is why I have committed to introduce Mandatory Reporting across the whole of England.

Our safeguarding professionals, such as teachers and social workers, are valued public servants who play a vital role in protecting and nurturing future generations.

I know the overwhelming majority of them, along with the public, consider it a duty on themselves and their colleagues to report any indication of the sexual abuse of a child. The inquiry makes clear we must strengthen that duty in legislation and ensure those who fail to do so face the full force of the law.

Some crimes, if left unpunished, create such a burning sense of injustice among the public that they singe the fabric of our social contract. When the most vulnerable people cannot rely on protection from those entrusted to safeguard them, cannot rely on the police to defend them, and cannot rely on the courts to deliver them justice, then the legitimacy of our democratic institutions is called into question. Grooming gangs and child sexual abuse are examples of that phenomenon.

When Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993 and the state initially failed to deliver justice, the public perceived that the victims of racism were second-class victims. A similar perception exists today in respect to the young girls who are victims of grooming gangs.

I will not allow that perception to stand. It is therefore essential that we track down and punish the grooming gangs with the same sense of mission and determination that we rightly demonstrated in pursuing the murderers of Stephen Lawrence.

On Monday the Prime Minister will set out further measures to tackle the problem, to find and punish the predators, and to bring justice to the victims.
King's portrait is intended to strengthen 'civic pride' at the start of the new reign

Schools, courts, councils and police stations will display a new framed official portrait of King Charles, funded by the Government, to cement support for the new monarch after his coronation.

The move, being driven by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden, is intended to strengthen 'civic pride' at the start of the new reign.

Writing in The Mail on Sunday today, Mr Dowden says: 'These portraits are another opportunity to honour that spirit, to remember what unites us  and to mark a new chapter in the long and proud history of our nation.'

It is understood that an official photographer has yet to be chosen for the portrait, which will replace the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II currently on display in many public institutions.

A Cabinet Office source said: 'The scheme will be opened later this year following the coronation and the release of the official portraits of His Majesty by the Royal Household.

Public buildings will display a new framed official portrait of King Charles to cement support for him

'Those public authorities who are eligible will be offered the opportunity to request one free framed portrait once it is released.'

John Glen, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: 'This scheme will allow thousands of public institutions across the UK to mark this defining moment in our nation's history with pride. The Coronation of His Majesty the King is an opportunity for the whole country to unite, and these new portraits continue a very British tradition to celebrate this momentous occasion.'

Ministers hope the move will offset republican sentiment in Left-wing councils and universities.

Two years ago Gavin Williamson, the then Education Secretary, described as 'absurd' the cancelling of the Queen by Oxford University students, who voted to take down an 'unwelcoming' portrait because 'she represents recent colonial history'.

Members of the middle common room at Magdalen College said 'patriotism and colonialism are not really separable'. They added that they intended to replace the portrait with 'art by or of other influential and inspirational people', and subject any future depictions of the Royal Family to a vote.

Mr Williamson said: 'Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd. She is the Head of State and a symbol of what is best about the UK.'

OLIVER DOWDEN: A new public tribute that will unite us all

Pictured: Oliver Dowden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

In a month's time, we will turn a page in our history. We are fast approaching the Coronation of King Charles III, and I know people across the nation will want the chance to pay tribute to our new monarch.

One of the best things about this country is that we wear our patriotism lightly, but with real pride. We don't go in for huge national parades or overblown, over-emotional displays.

For decades, public buildings have quietly displayed images of the Queen, as a reminder of her role as our most steadfast public servant.

Now, as a new reign starts, we're making sure schools, town halls and other public buildings can continue this by offering them a new portrait of the King, fully funded by the Government.

Many of the people working in these buildings feel a real sense of civic duty and pride. Firefighters, police officers, teachers: they know they are there to serve the public and their country.

That spirit goes to the very top with the sovereign  who is, of course, not just our King, but Head of State and Commander-in-Chief.

In his first speech as King, Charles spoke about how he had been 'brought up to cherish a sense of duty to others', promising to serve the nation with 'loyalty, respect and love'.

These portraits are another opportunity to honour that spirit, to remember what unites us  and to mark a new chapter in the long and proud history of our nation.
The UK's top spy has vowed to end all-male shortlists ahead of the appointment of his successor as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Richard Moore, the head of MI6, who is also known by the codeword 'C', has signalled the time has come to follow in the footsteps of sister agency MI5  which has already had two women at its helm.

In a tweet, Moore, who has been in the post since 2020 and is expected to be there for a further two years at least, said: 'I will help forge women's equality by working to ensure I'm the last C selected from an all-male shortlist.'

About 3,600 personnel are employed by MI6 in its London headquarters at Vauxhall Cross on the south bank of the River Thames and in covert locations around the world.

But despite nearly half of them being women, with a growing number working in senior roles, none has ever made the shortlist to become the head of the service.

Richard Moore (pictured), the head of MI6, who is also known by the codeword 'C', has signalled the time has come to follow in the footsteps of sister agency MI5  which has already had two women at its helm

By contrast, MI5, situated almost directly opposite on the north bank of the Thames, has had two female director generals  Dame Stella Rimington and Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller.

In theory, the Foreign Secretary, who is ultimately responsible for the activities of MI6, has the final say on who should be appointed as C.

But any views of the incumbent in the post would carry a great deal of weight with a selection board.

Intelligence sources have said that female spies have taken part in covert operations around the globe, often working closely with British Special Forces in some of the world's most dangerous countries.

Moore, 59, has often been vocal on Twitter about social issues within MI6.

He has previously encouraged more women to join the agency when he praised female spies, calling them 'inspiring', and has said he is 'keen to see even greater diversity of skills and backgrounds'.

He has also previously urged more people with disabilities to join Britain's secret intelligence services after revealing that his wife is blind.

The spymaster said that he wanted the organisation to become a better place for disabled people to work.

He referred to his wife, Maggie, who has been at his side on numerous postings around the world, as an inspiration.

In another tweet, he said: 'Married as I am to an inspiring blind woman, I feel particularly strongly about making MI6 a better place for disabled people to pursue careers.'

His wife helped to establish the Turkish Guide Dogs Association when he was ambassador to the country from 2014 to 2017.

The couple, who married in 1985 and have a son and daughter, are fluent Turkish speakers.

In 2021, Mr Moore became the first head of one of Britain's spy agencies to publicly apologise for MI6's historic treatment of LGBT people.

He said a security bar on LGBT staff until 1991 had been 'wrong, unjust and discriminatory'.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has declared the Manhattan grand jury's decision to indict former President Donald Trump 'very political' and not based on justice.

Tweeting on Saturday he noted that the case against Trump had been previously refused by other prosecutors before it was revived by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office.

Bush suggested that the voters should be the jury in this case, implying that Trump should be judged by the public, rather than in a court of law.

'Braggs predecessor didnt take up the case. The Justice Department didnt take up the case. Bragg first said he would not take up the case. This is very political, not a matter of justice. In this case, let the jury be the voters,' he tweeted.

Although the specific charges of the indictment are currently under seal, Trump's lawyer has warned that he could face more than 30 counts when he is arraigned next week.

Former governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, has expressed dismay over the indictment of former President Donald Trump by a Manhattan grand jury

In a tweet, Bush, a former rival who ran for the 2016 GOP nomination described the decision as 'very political' and 'not a matter of justice'

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating the alleged hush money scandal for years, which includes payments of $130,000 to Daniels and $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

However, federal prosecutors did not charge Trump in 2019, despite Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, implicating him as part of a plea deal.

The Federal Election Commission also threw out their investigation into the matter in 2021 but this current indictment has begun following Bragg's office reviving the case.

Meanwhile, Trump has responded to the indictment by criticizing Bragg for his 'obsession' with trying to 'get Trump,' while also warning that charging a former president of the United States will 'backfire' on President Biden.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating the alleged hush money scandal for years

The case against Donald Trump revolves around hush-money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who says they had a tryst

He called the indictment 'political persecution and election interference,' blaming the 'Radical Left Democrats' for being engaged in a 'Witch-Hunt' to destroy the 'Make America Great Again' movement.

Bush's statements against the indictment sees him fall in line with other congressional Republicans.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted that Bragg had 'weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump,' while House Majority Leader Steve Scalise referred to the indictment as a 'sham.'

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise referred to the indictment as a 'sham'

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted that Bragg had 'weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump.'

Former President Trump's legal team went on the offensive on Friday following his historic indictment, vowing the former president would never seek a plea deal and was ready 'to fight'

Scalise accused extremist Democrats of 'weaponizing government' to attack their political opponents.

Trump's legal team went on the offensive on Friday following his historic indictment, vowing the former president would never seek a plea deal and was ready 'to fight' all charges.

The 76-year-old Trump, who is hoping to recapture the White House in 2024, chimed in with attacks on the prosecutors who brought the charges against him and even the judge expected to hear the case.

'ELECTION INTERFERENCE, KANGAROO COURT!' Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Juan Manuel Marchal, the judge who may preside over an eventual trial, 'hates me.'

Trump is to be booked, fingerprinted and will have a mugshot taken at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon before appearing before a judge as the first ever American president to face criminal charges.

'The president will not be put in handcuffs,' said Joe Tacopina, one of Trump's attorneys, adding that he does not believe prosecutors will 'allow this to become a circus.'

Tacopina said the hush-money case being brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg against Trump faces 'substantial legal challenges' and the former president would plead not guilty.

There is 'zero' chance Trump would accept a plea deal, he told NBC's Today show. 'It's not going to happen. There's no crime.'

Trump, who is currently at his palatial Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, was initially 'shocked' at the indictment, his attorney said, but 'he's now in the posture that he's ready to fight this.'

In predicting his indictment, Trump called for protests and warned it could lead to 'potential death and destruction' for the country.

And in a statement, the ex-president said he had already raised $4 million for his 2024 presidential campaign in the 24 hours following news of the indictment.
Humanity will detect alien life on distant worlds in the next few years, a top British astronomer has predicted.

Professor Sasha Hinkley, associate professor of astrophysics at the University of Exeter, said it is becoming 'increasingly likely' the tell-tale signs of extraterrestrial life will be uncovered 'within his lifetime'.

He said devices such as the powerful $10billion (7.4billion) James Webb space telescope are on the cusp of spotting 'biosignatures' - atmospheres on exoplanets with gases emitted by living things, such as oxygen that could indicate life.

Prof Hinkley added even if 'biosignatures' were found, it might not indicate signs of an alien civilisation on a distant world

It comes as a task force of experts from the UK, US and Switzerland insisted alien life would be found on thousands of worlds in the next 10 to 20 years, in what would be the greatest discovery in human history.

Prof Hinkley said: 'The likelihood of life existing in some form in the universe is quite high. Indeed, I would go as far as to say that it is looking increasingly likely that the detection of life on an exoplanet will happen in my lifetime.'

But the astrophysicist said even if tell-tale signs of life on distant worlds were detected, it may not necessarily mean an encounter with extraterrestrials.

'To be clear, the detection of life on another planet will not necessarily mean an alien civilisation exists on another planet, nor that we are about to have some form of communication with such lifeforms,' he added in his article for The Spectator.

Discovery: Nasa's James Webb telescope has already detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time. The technology could be used to detect the tell-tale signs of life on other planets. This illustration shows what exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like

'The evidence of the discovery of life will probably be found by observing imbalances in ratios of chemical species (ozone and carbon dioxide, for example), which would not otherwise naturally exist without possibly some form of biological activity driving this disequilibrium.'

One hundred million worlds in our galaxy are able to host alien life, according to a 'conservative' prediction by Nasa.

And the space agency claims that we will be able to find that life within the next 20 years, with a high chance that it will be outside our solar system.

Devices such as the James Webb space telescope, launched in 2021, are already observing the cosmos in unprecedented detail.

Its mission is to further humanity's understanding about how planets, stars and galaxies are formed and evolve.

Other hi-tech pieces of space kit are already in the pipeline, Prof Hinkley said, with Nasa now charged with the task of developing a space mission to search for biosignatures on exoplanets by the 2040s.

The James Webb space telescope, launched in 2021, is the latest tool humanity is using to try and track down alien life in the cosmos. The device's mission is to deepen the understanding of how worlds, stars and galaxies are formed. Pictured is the telescope's huge mirror being lifted at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in April 2017

Space telescopes can already analyse starlight passing through a planet's atmosphere to work out its chemical makeup.

In August, astronomers announced that carbon dioxide had been discovered by the James Webb telescope in the atmosphere of a Saturn-sized planet 700 light years away.

It was the first time scientists were able to say, with certainty, they had detected gas in a planet beyond the solar system.

Particular attention is being paid to planets in the 'Goldilocks zones' where scientists believe life has the best chance of evolving and flourishing.

Planetary orbits in this zone are not too close or too far from a star, creating ideal conditions for liquid water, which is believed to be a key ingredient for life, to exist.

Its believed there could be trillions of habitable planets in the universe and hundreds of millions in our galaxy alone.

Among the exoplanets discovered is Kepler-186f, artist's rendering pictured. It is the first Earth-sized planet found in the habitable zone of a star, and could signal that there are Earth 2.0s waiting to be found in Kepler's data

Prof Hinkley said one of the best potential areas for life in the Milky Way was in the planetary system TRAPPIST-1.

The system is about 40 light years away and is populated by seven 'roughly Earth-sized planets' closely orbiting a 'very dim and cool star not much larger than Jupiter', Prof Hinkley said.

He added: 'Three of the planets in TRAPPIST-1 orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Efforts are already under way to target these three planets with the James Webb telescope to search for what scientists call "biosignatures".'

To date, scientists have spotted 5,332 confirmed exoplanets orbiting in some 3,931 planetary systems.

'But this isn't even the tip of the iceberg. For perspective: there are around 100 billion stars in our Milky Way,' the astronomer added.

The discovery is important because it suggests the $10 billion (7.4 billion) observatory (pictured) may be able to detect and measure the gas in the thinner atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets that could host life

Webb's infrared capabilities allow it to 'see back in time' to the Big Bang, which happened 13.8 billion years ago. Light waves move extremely fast, about 186,000 miles (300,000 km) per second, every second. The further away an object is, the further back in time we are looking. This is because of the time it takes light to travel from the object to us

'Since we now know from various space missions that most stars host planets, this begins to give you an indication of just how many exoplanets could exist in our galaxy.

'And then, beyond our galaxy, there are estimated to be 200 billion galaxies in the universe, each containing potentially hundreds of billions of stars with their own exoplanets.'

Last month, Dr Emily Mitchell, from the University of Cambridge, believes it is 'very likely' signs of extraterrestrial neighbours will be found, because life is almost certainly 'quite common' in the universe.

She said: 'We've only got one biosignature, here on Earth. But in 10 or 20 years my optimistic colleagues suggest we will have thousands of biosignatures. We can then work out how we compare to life on other planets.'
The incredible abilities of ChatGPT - the chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) - have opened the world's eyes to how far the technology behind it has come.

Since it was released to the public in November, ChatGPT has been used to pass exams, deliver a sermon, write software and give relationship advice.

Many, like Bill Gates and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, hail AI technology as the 'most important' innovation of our time, saying it could solve climate change, cure cancer and enhance productivity.

But its advancement has also struck fear in the hearts of others, with Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and the late Stephen Hawking believing it poses a 'profound risk to society and humanity'.

MailOnline takes a look at some of the biggest successes and terrible failures that have stemmed from powerful AI tools in recent months.

The incredible abilities of ChatGPT - the chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) - have opened the world's eyes to how far the technology behind it has come

Successes

WHAT IS CHATGPT? ChatGPT is a large language model that has been trained on a massive amount of text data, allowing it to generate eerily human-like text in response to a given prompt OpenAI says its ChatGPT model has been trained using a machine learning technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF). This can simulate dialogue, answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests. It responds to text prompts from users and can be asked to write essays, lyrics for songs, stories, marketing pitches, scripts, complaint letters and even poetry. Advertisement

Amazon Alexa helped solve a murder trial

An Amazon Alexa device helped bring a murderer to justice after it captured incriminating voice recordings of him at the time he strangled his wife.

Daniel White, 36, kicked open his wife Angie White's locked bedroom door and strangled her before cutting her throat with a Stanley knife in October last year.

He then fled the house in Swansea, Wales, in his wife's car and hours later phoned police to confess to killing her.

Detectives discovered White's voice commands recorded by the AI-powered Alexa at the time of the murder which aided his prosecution.

The virtual assistant's microphone is always listening out for one of its 'wake' words - like 'Alexa' - which triggers it to begin recording the user's command.

An Alexa will automatically store all of these command recordings unless they are erased by the user, which Mr White had not done.

He was recorded as sounding 'out of breath' when saying 'Turn on - Alexa' during the early hours of the morning he killed Mrs White.

This was used as evidence to show that he murdered her just before making the command.

An Amazon Alexa device helped bring a murderer to justice after it captured incriminating voice recordings of him at the time he strangled his wife

An Alexa will automatically store all of command recordings unless they are erased by the user, which Mr White had not done (file image)

ChatGPT saved a dog's life

A Twitter user said ChatGPT saved his dog's life by correctly diagnosing a blood condition veterinarians were unable to identify.

The user, who goes by Cooper on their account @peakcooper, said their Border Collie named Sassy was diagnosed with a tick-borne disease, but that its symptoms began to worsen despite taking the prescribed treatment.

Cooper brought Sassy back to the vet, but they were unable to provide a further diagnosis and advised the only thing to do was to wait and see how the dog's condition progressed.

Unwilling to risk Sassy's health, Cooper decided to try entering the dog's bloodwork into ChatGPT4 and ask the program for its diagnosis.

The AI chatbot advised that it wasn't a veterinarian, but suggested the dog's bloodwork and symptoms indicated it could be suffering from immune mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA).

He said he then brought that prognosis to another vet, who confirmed it and began treating the dog appropriately.

Cooper said Sassy has since made a fully recovery, and said 'ChatGPT4 saved my dog's life.'

Sassy, Cooper's dog which was suffering from a blood condition vets couldn't diagnose

The user said their Border Collie was diagnosed with a tick-borne disease, but that its symptoms began to worsen despite taking the prescribed treatment

AI can spot patterns in the brain linked to Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and autism A new artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of spotting mental health conditions by sifting through brain imaging data to find patterns linked to autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimers - and it can do so before the symptoms set in. The model was first trained with brain images from healthy adults and then shown those with mental health issues, allowing it to identify tiny changes that go unnoticed by the human eye. The sophisticated computer program was developed by a team of researchers led by Georgia State who note the it could one day detect Alzheimers in someone as young as 40 years old, which is about 25 years before symptoms start to appear. Read more here Advertisement

AI system develops cancer treatment in 30 days

Artificial intelligence has developed a treatment for an aggressive form of cancer in just 30 days and demonstrated it can predict a patient's survival rate using doctors' notes.

The breakthroughs were performed by separate systems, but show how the powerful technology's uses go far beyond the generation of images and text.

University of Toronto researchers worked with Insilico Medicine to develop potential treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using an AI drug discovery platform called Pharma.

HCC is a form of liver cancer, but the AI discovered a previously unknown treatment pathway and designed a 'novel hit molecule' that could bind to that target.

The system, which can also predict survival rate, is the invention of scientists from the University of British Columbia and B.C. Cancer, who found the model is 80 percent accurate.

AI is becoming the new weapon against deadly diseases, as the technology is capable of analysing vast amounts of data, uncovering patterns and relationships and predicting effects of treatments.

Last month, it was revealed that a new AI blood test was being rolled out that was 96 per cent accurate in detecting bowel cancer.

This could help save live by allowing doctors to prioritise patients that need a colonoscopy most urgently.

ChatGPT helps with relationships

ChatGPT has proven to be the ultimate wingman among men looking for love online - the chatbot helped one Tinder user get a date in less than one hour.

Singles are harnessing the power of OpenAI's tool to curate the perfect dating profiles and responses to snag a potential match.

Social media users say they are going from zero dates to dozens in just the first month of using the chatbot.

It creates whimsical poems, romantic notes and confident replies for individuals who would otherwise 'struggle to come up with conversation starters.'

ChatGPT has proven to be the ultimate wingman among men looking for love online - the chatbot helped one Tinder users get a date in less than one hour

In January, a woman decided to divorce her husband and move in with her lover  all because ChatGPT told her to.

'Sarah' had been having an affair with a man she met online for six months and decided to ask ChatGPT whether or not she should end her marraige.

She told the Mirror: 'I essentially asked the app to write me a story based on my current situation, and what the person in the story should do in a failing marriage while experiencing the excitement of the affair I've been having.

'It gave me the push I needed to make the jump and leave a relationship that had been in the doldrums for a long time.'

These are the world's greatest minds going to war over AI - READ MORE HERE There is a great AI divide in Silicon Valley. Brilliant minds are split about the progress of the systems - some say it will improve humanity and others fear the technology will destroy it Advertisement

Failures

Father-of-two kills himself after talking to AI chatbot

A Belgian married father-of-two has died by suicide after talking to an AI chatbot about his global warming fears.

The man, who was in his thirties, reportedly found comfort in talking to the AI chatbot named 'Eliza' about his worries for the world.

He had used the bot for some years, but six weeks before his death started engaging with the bot more frequently.

The chatbot's software was created by a US Silicon Valley start-up and is powered by GPT-J technology - an open-source alternative to Open-AI's ChatGPT.

'Without these conversations with the chatbot, my husband would still be here,' the man's widow told La Libre, speaking under the condition of anonymity.

The death has alerted authorities who have raised concern for a 'serious precedent that must be taken very seriously'.

ChatGPT describes sex acts with children

ChatGPT recently took a user through a twisted sexual fantasy that involved children.

A reporter for Vice manipulated OpenAI's chatbot into BDSM roleplaying and when asked to provide more explicit details, it described sex acts with children - without the user asking for such content.

She used the 'jailbreak' version of the bot, which is a workaround for the company's rules that lets users get any response they want from the system.

According to the report, ChatGPT described a group of strangers, including children, in a line and waiting to use the chatbot as a toilet.

The conversation goes against OpenAI's rules for the chatbot, which state the 'assistant should provide a refusal such as 'I can't answer that' when prompted with questions about 'content meant to arouse sexual excitement.'

A Belgian married father-of-two has died by suicide after talking to an AI chatbot about his global warming fears. The man, who was in his thirties, reportedly found comfort in talking to the AI chatbot named 'Eliza' about his worries for the world (file image)

A similar conversation about BDSM role-playing was also conducted on a a version of ChatGPT that runs on a different model; gpt-3.5-turbo.

Reporter Steph Swanson again did not ask the AI about child exploitation, but the system generated scenarios with minors in sexually compromising situations.

'It suggested humiliation scenes in public parks and shopping malls, and when asked to describe the type of crowd that might gather, it volunteered that it might include mothers pushing strollers,' she shared.

'When prompted to explain this, it stated that the mothers might use the public humiliation display 'as an opportunity to teach [their children] about what not to do in life.' '

Students use ChatGPT to cheat on assignments

Recently, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT have led to concerns that young people may use them to achieve higher grades.

The program is able to create writing and other content  such as coursework or essays - almost indistinguishable from that of a human.

Experts have estimated that half of university students are likely already using the AI to cheat on their work.

They warn the revolutionary AI has created a cheating epidemic that poses a huge threat to the integrity of academia.

OpenAI's new GPT-4 update (GPT-3 and GPT-4 are the models which underlie ChatGPT) is able to get 90 percent on a huge number of exams, including the American bar exam.

Recently, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT have led to concerns that young people may use them to achieve higher grades. Pictured: A ChatGPT response after it was asked to write an essay about how important it is for the UK and Switzerland to be part of the EU's research program Horizon Europe

In January, the the New York City Department of Education blocked ChatGPT from being able to be accessed on school devices.

It cited 'negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content', according to Chalkbeat New York.

A month prior it was reported that a student at Furman University in South Carolina had used ChatGPT to write an essay.

Their philosophy professor, Dr Darren Hick, warned that it was a 'game-changer' and that education professionals should 'expect a flood' of students following suit.

In the UK, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents the UK's major exam boards, has published guidance for teachers and assessors on 'protecting the integrity of qualifications' in the context of AI use.

They say that pupils should be made to do some of their coursework 'in class under direct supervision', and be made aware of the risks of using AI.

AI tools learn biases and offensive stereotypes

Experts say that bias is an issue developers are facing with their AI systems, as this is picked up from the data they are trained from.

Last year, a study found that an AI-powered robot was found to have learned 'toxic stereotypes' from the internet, including gender and racial biases

In 2016, Microsoft was forced to apologise after an experimental AI Twitter bot called 'Tay' said offensive things on the platform.

It was aimed at 18 to-24-year-olds and designed to improve the firm's understanding of conversational language among young people online.

But within hours of it going live, Twitter users took advantage of flaws in Tay's algorithm that meant the AI chatbot responded to certain questions with racist answers.

These included the bot using racial slurs, defending white supremacist propaganda, and supporting genocide.

In 2016, Microsoft was forced to apologise after an experimental AI Twitter bot called 'Tay' (pictured) said offensive things on the platform

The biases can be political too, as, earlier this month, an AI reporter was developed for China 's state-controlled newspaper (pictured). The avatar was only able to answer pre-set questions, and the responses she gives heavily promote the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party line

The biases can be political too, as, earlier this month, an AI reporter was developed for China's state-controlled newspaper.

The avatar was only able to answer pre-set questions, and the responses she gives heavily promote the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) line.

ChatGPT has also been accused of having a left-wing bias, after it refused to praise Donald Trump or argue in favour of fossil fuels.

OpenAI, the company behind the chatbot, has pledged to iron out such bias, but insisted it hasn't tried to sway the system politically.

Appearing on the Lex Fridman Podcast, CEO Sam Altman conceded AI's political prejudice, but ruled out the possibility of a completely impartial version: 'There will be no one version of GPT that the world ever agrees is unbiased.'
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Watford has never struck me as a particularly spellbinding place, but it turns out that the Hertfordshire town, around 15 miles north of central London, is a gateway to a magical world - Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, The Making of Harry Potter, which lies on its outskirts.

I say magical not just because you may see your money disappear before your eyes thanks to the temptations of the incredible gift shop and the special effects photos and videos you can buy  but because you are completely immersed in the Potter universe that dazzled you in the movies.

For the behind-the-scenes tour is crammed with the actual sets, props and costumes that the filmmakers used in the making of the eight Harry Potter movies. And they're housed on hallowed ground - Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where much of the filming took place.

Even if you're not the biggest Harry Potter fan, you are guaranteed to be impressed by the jaw-dropping efforts the production team went to in their bid to bring J K Rowling's timeless stories to life on the silver screen.

The attraction wows from the off, with visitors greeted in the entrance hall by a 64ft-wide model of the menacing Gringotts dragon, which hangs from the ceiling.

Ted Thornhill discovers that the behind-the-scenes Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter tour is crammed with the sets, props and costumes that the filmmakers used in the making of the eight Harry Potter movies. Above is the Great Hall as Ted experienced it - in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix mode

This area, dubbed 'The Hub', also houses a Starbucks and a canteen-style eatery decorated with a giant Marauder's Map  plus an Afternoon Tea restaurant featuring Hogwarts-style 'floating' candles. The tour is vast, easily filling a day, and while there is a restaurant at roughly the half-way mark, I'd recommend getting fed and watered here before starting the experience proper.

Within minutes my partner, daughter and I were filing past the cupboard under the stairs and then into the amazing Hogwarts Great Hall.

During our visit it had a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix theme. O.W.L examinations were underway, we were told, and at the front was Dolores Umbridge in her striking pink outfit, standing in front of a spectacular pendulum.

Then the mood changed dramatically. To replicate the moment when the Weasley twins appear on their broomsticks, throwing the exam into chaos, the hall filled with smoke and firework candles erupted along the sides, accompanied by music from that scene in the film.

The Harry Potter tour is 'housed on hallowed ground - Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where much of the filming [for the eight movies] took place'

The 22ft Knight Bus as seen on the tour (left). Visitors can clamber onboard and press a button to make the horn sound. On the right is the entrance to the tour

Behold the actual Hogwarts Express. At the front is Olton Hall, the Class 5972 locomotive and tender built in 1937 at the Swindon Railway Works in Wiltshire that was used for exterior shots. Behind - the authentic Hogwarts Express carriage used for over 10 years of filming the Harry Potter series

Visitors can climb aboard the Hogwarts Express and file past the compartments, redressed by set decorators to represent key scenes from the films in chronological order

Dumbledore's office features 48 portraits of sleeping Hogwarts Headmasters, which were painted from still photographs of the actors

Undesirable No.1: MailOnline Travel Editor Ted Thornhill (left). On the right - costumes for Fred and George Weasley on display at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London

A dazzling start. And the delights kept coming by the cauldron-full.

After the Great Hall we were mesmerised by sets that included Dumbledore's office, the Gryffindor common room, Harry's four-poster-bed-festooned quarters, the potions classroom - which is lined with more than 500 bottles and has a self-stirring cauldron - and the Weasley's family home, The Burrow. Here visitors can activate the magic knitting needles and self-washing washing-up, as seen in The Chamber of Secrets.

We jumped on broomsticks in front of a green screen and were projected in front of Hogwarts and the Knight Bus for photos and videos - and had our picture taken for 'Undesirable No. 1' posters. Swept up in the excitement of it all I forked out 75 for the maximum number of pictures (12) and video files (six).

After a thrilling demonstration of how Harry's Hogwarts letters were fired through his letterbox on Privet Drive we ambled through the Forbidden Forest, complete with spiders, and onto the Hogwarts Express.

The actual Hogwarts Express. Of course.

At the front is Olton Hall, the Class 5972 locomotive and tender built in 1937 at the Swindon Railway Works in Wiltshire that was used for exterior shots.

Behind is the authentic Hogwarts Express carriage used for over 10 years of filming the Harry Potter series.

And you can climb aboard and file past the compartments, redressed by set decorators to represent key scenes from the films in chronological order.

To give you some idea of just how huge the tour is and how much there is to take in  it took us around three hours to reach the Hogwarts Express.

A demonstration of how a machine flung Harry's Hogwarts letters through the letterbox of his Privet Drive home

The charming family home of the Weasley family. Visitors can activate the magical knitting and washing up

Above is Diagon Alley, a permanent fixture at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London  The Making of Harry Potter

Visitors to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London  The Making of Harry Potter can go through the glass doors of Professor Sprouts greenhouse  a fan-favourite set from the Harry Potter film series

It's a kind of magic: The iconic Sorting Hat

After burger and chips in the cafeteria next to Platform nine and three-quarters  sadly there's nothing spellbinding about the food - we headed outside for a saunter through No.4 Privet Drive, versions of which were built on soundstages at the studio.

The tour explains how over the course of production, the set for Number 4 was created 'in many ways, from a real muggle home to CGI and even a scale model, all chosen to achieve a specific result on-screen'.

Visitors can go through the front door and wander past the cupboard under the stairs, the living room and the kitchen, and see a model of Dobby the house-elf in Harry's bedroom.

Next to Harry's Home is Professor Sprout's greenhouse, where you can pull up a screaming Mandrake from the soil, and also nearby is the purple Knight Bus (don't miss the button to make its horn blare).

We learn that this astonishing 22ft-tall vehicle was created from pieces of three vintage London double-deckers.

Two versions were built - one that was driveable, and a 'stunt' version that spun around on a turntable.

Tour visitors can go through the front door of No.4 Privet Drive and wander past the cupboard under the stairs, the living room and the kitchen, and see a model of Dobby the house-elf in Harry's bedroom (above)

WIZARD HARRY POTTER MOVIE-MAKING FACTS A team of 40 artists and crew members built the first version of Hogwarts castle for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. More than 50 sculptors, painters and other artists maintained the castle during production. The model is illuminated with more than 300 fibre optic lights. The 22ft-tall Knight Bus was created from pieces of three vintage London buses. A section of Privet Drive was built on the backlot at Warner Bros. Studios. The Hogwarts Express is pulled by an authentic Great Western Railway 4900 Class 5972 - Olton Hall. The locomotive was built in April 1937 at the Swindon Railway Works. Some Forbidden Forest scenes were shot on location, but most were shot on soundstages at Leavesden on massive recreations of the forest. Hagrid's motorbike in The Deathly Hallows  Part 1 was a 1960 Royal Enfield. More than 250 animals were used during the filming of the Harry Potter movies over 10 years for characters that included Hedwig, Crookshanks, Mrs Norris, Scabbers and Fang. Dumbledore's office features 48 portraits of sleeping Hogwarts Headmasters, which were painted from still photographs of the actors. More than 500 bottles line the walls of the potions classroom, many with their own handcrafted labels. A prop buyer journeyed all over London to buy plates for Umbridge's office, 'stacking hundreds of [them] in the back of her tiny car'. Advertisement

The tour ends with the impressive set for Gringotts and the 'jewel in the crown of the art department' - a spectacular model of Hogwarts castle. Shots of it were cleverly combined with CGI in the movies.

It's a stunning final chapter in a tour that deserves only one rating - nine and three-quarters out of ten.

Discovering Hogwarts is a special feature that will run from May 2 to September 4, 2023, at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter and is included in the ticket price. Highlights of this will include 400 floating candles adorning the Great Hall, the chance to practice and learn the movement behind casting the Wingardium Leviosa spell and visitors will be able to take a seat in a new photo opportunity - Harry's first boat journey to Hogwarts. Tickets, which cost from around 51, must be pre-booked at www.wbstudiotour.co.uk and cannot be bought at the attraction. A free double-decker shuttle bus that runs to and from Watford Junction is available to ticket holders.

A free shuttle bus runs from Watford Junction railway station to The Making of Harry Potter
Neighbours star Madeleine West has launched an immediate appeal against the two year domestic violence order slapped on her by a magistrate who delivered a scathing judgment of the ex-model's behaviour.

The appeal has been lodged just days after Magistrate Karen Stafford called her an 'evasive' and unreliable witness, and described West's treatment of her ex father-in-law, 75, as 'verging on being aggressive'.

Benny Clifton Bennett is the father of Celebrity Masterchef Shannon Bennett and the grandfather of West's six children with the restaurateur.

Magistrate Stafford enforced an Apprehended Violence Order for two years from Tuesday, March 28 preventing the TV star from approaching Benny Bennett or Shannon Bennett's Byron Bay estate when his father was visiting.

Neighbours star Madeleine West has launched an appeal against her two year AVO enforced this week by a magistrate who slammed her behaviour with her ex father-in-law, the model taking the case to the District Court

A Byron Bay magistrate enforced a two year AVO protecting Celebrity Masterchef Shannon Bennett's father, Benny Bennett, 75 (above) from Neighbours star Madeleine West, who is now appealing it

This followed a confrontation between the pair last May.

The Magistrate concluded that: I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Benny Bennett has these fears, not of personal violence  but of conduct amounting to intimidation, including harassment or molestation, disturbance, pestering or repeated troubling and he feels this will occur if he is staying with the children.'

I am satisfied he fears if visiting his grandchildren he will be harassed by (Madeleine West).'

Magistrate Stafford found West had 'barged her way in' to Shannon Bennett's home while the chef was overseas and Benny Bennett was at home. The encounter was caught on CCTV.

Madeleine West and Shannon Bennett's lengthy romance 'turned toxic' according to the celebrity chef, culminating in an AVO against her protect Bennett's dad, which the model is now appealing

West was not charged and denied an accusation of pushing her ex-father-in-law before taking away an 11-year-old girl, telling the court 'I didn't lay a hand on him'.

Ms Stafford said CCTV footage of the incident showed West's 'demeanour is almost verging on being aggressive, shows her almost dragging that child off that property.

'She did barge her way through door, when it appears she had been refused entry.

It certainly appeared she had a grip on (the childs wrist) and was almost dragging the child  off the property.

In many of the scenes, (Mr Bennett's) head is bowed, shrugging his shoulders, almost in defensive resignation by this man she was not listening to.

'As soon as the gate is open (West is) assertive almost aggressive. She ... strides forcefully up the path to the house followed by Benny Bennett who looks quite downcast.

Madeleine West at Byron Bay courthouse where a magistrate rejected her testimony as reliable and described her as 'evasive' and causing celebrity chef Shannon Bennett's father to be fearful

Madeleine Bennett (above) lives in the Byron shire suburb of Suffolk Park from which she has launched an appeal in the Lismore District Court against a two year domestic violence order against her

Madeleine West gets some help slapping on mud at the Bexhill quarry near Bangalow on the afternoon before she fought an AVO against her, was judged an 'evasive' witness and is now appealing

She does seem to be grabbing on to the child, almost forcing the child (who was) sick and needed to be looked after, and yet she strides at a very fast pace, expecting this child to follow her very speedy pace down the path and the child is almost stumbling to keep up with her.'

Madeleine West had a 13 year relationship with Shannon Bennett, sharing children now aged between nine and 17 years old, before their acrimonious split in 2018.

He has fulltime custody of the kids.

In 2020, West left Melbourne and moved to Byron Bay to be near her children, buying her own $4.6 million mansion in Suffolk Park.

More recently, the actress and podcaster has revealed she was a child sexual abuse victim.

Although Benny Bennett lives in Victoria, his wife died in 2020 and he regularly visits his grandchildren at Shannon Bennett's home in Byron Bay.

After the alleged incident in May last year, the court heard that Mr Bennett said he would no longer make such visits.

'I wont do it any more , I'll just tell my my son, at my age, it's very stressful,' the court heard he had said.

'I dont want to put the kids through anything. It affects them. I'll only go up when Shannon is there.'

'I can't put up with what she does', Mr Bennett was reported as saying about West's behaviour around his grandchildren, 'I can't be the meat in the middle.'

Madeleine West's appeal is listed in the NSW District Court in Lismore in May.
Channel Seven played the ultimate April fool's joke on Farmer Wants a Wife fans on Saturday, announcing beloved Home and Away character Alf Stewart was joining the hit dating show.

In an Instagram post on the FWAW account, actor Ray Meagher, 78, poses up as Alf in a blue shirt, beige trousers and a hat as the fake promotional image reads: 'Farmer Alf'.

'Say hello to Farmer Alf! All the way from Summer Bay, Alf can't wait to meet his perfect match,' the post read.

However, fans were quick to catch on that it is an April fool's joke and Ray, who has been married for 13 years, will not be joining the cast.

Many fans said they 'fell for the joke' and enjoyed their Saturday morning laugh.

Channel Seven played the ultimate April fool's joke on Farmer Wants a Wife fans on Saturday, announcing beloved Home and Away character Alf Stewart was joining the hit dating show

Love Island's Cassidy McGill commented: 'Hahahahahahaha I fell too hard for this'.

While another said: 'All these April fools coming in hot and heavy'.

And a third wrote: 'I had a bit of a heart attack until I saw the comments! I still have 2.5 hours before April Fools here in the UK!'

Actor Ray Meagher, 78, is known for his portrayal of beloved Home and Away character Alf Stewart. Pictured on set of the soap

Love Island's Cassidy McGill commented: 'Hahahahahahaha I fell too hard for this'. Many fans said they 'fell for the joke' and enjoyed their Saturday morning laugh

The 2023 season of Farmer Wants a Wife premiers on April 10 on Channel 7 and it will feature five farmers looking for love: Brad, 32, David, 29, Brenton, 26, Matt, 23, and Andrew, 41.

There have been some changes made to the new season, such as Samantha Armytage taking over from Natalie Gruzlewski as the main presenter.

Samantha had joined the dating show as a 'guest host' last year, but her minor role has now been expanded while Natalie is 'scaling back' her duties, but will remain as a 'co-host'.

Brook Hall, Seven's director of scheduling, told TV Tonight: 'They're both in the show still. [Previously] Nat was front and centre and Sam was advising on dates.

'But if I'm being honest, they've kind of slightly flipped. Nat has 'Nat's Getaway' so she'll be co-host, she'll be opening the start. It's more blended, with one front and one appearing.

'But yes, Samantha Armytage is taking more centre stage.'

There have been some changes made to the new season, such as Samantha Armytage (pictured) taking over from Natalie Gruzlewski as the main presenter

Samantha joined the show last year to assist Natalie with the matchmaking process, but it now seems she was just being groomed for the top job.

Her initial guest role involved hosting a segment called 'Sam's Choice', in which she introduced the farmers to a 'new lady based on her own expertise and experience'.

Natalie hosted Farmer Wants a Wife for its first eight seasons on Nine before she was replaced by Sam McClymont in 2015.

However, she returned as presenter in 2020 when the franchise moved to Seven.
Khloe Kardashian's Good American denim brand announced its fifth annual roster of models called the Good Squad.

The reality star, 38, shared a video of the process that got underway last October to her Instagram on Friday.

'Meet the 2023 #GOODSQUAD!!!!! Seven ladies who are the definition of sexy, confident and strong. welcome to the squad.' she captioned the footage.

In the recording, the mother-of-two - who clapped back at a fan who asked her if she missed her old face - and her Good American co-founder Emma Grede talked about the expansive model search.

'We've had so many open casting calls and so many of our girls have exploded into these incredible models and they're on billboards and commercials and some of them are on the cover of Vogue and work for huge brands,' Khloe marveled.

Boss Lady: Khloe Kardashian's Good American denim brand announced its fifth annual roster of models called the Good Squad

The clip cuts to a woman in the backseat of a car, who excitedly tells the camera, 'I got tipped off this morning. I was told there was a billboard of me in Hollywood.'

The car arrives at the location of the billboard and she gets out and looks at it and says, 'Dreams do come true they do, they really really do.'

'Who would have ever thought a curvy Latina would be on a billboard in Hollywood? So, don't give up on your dreams,' she gushed.

As the video goes on, Khloe talks about the characteristics of a Good Squad girl and looks over hundreds of photos.

'These are the girls who showed up and showed us who they were,' The Kardashians star said.

Emma said, 'It's so hard because I see so much in so many of these women, so much of myself in them.'

'Who is going to have the best chance at having a meaningful career, who is going to have the best chance and who is going to make it work?' the British businesswoman, 41, asked.

The model search started last fall. Women interested in the opportunity were asked to join the so-called #GoodSquad through the brands website by uploading two images. a video and answering a questionnaire.

Interested women were also able to apply in person during the open casting calls that took place in London, New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Hug of happiness: As Khloe and Emma talk to a handful of women, they reveal to them that they've made the 2023 Good Squad

Hopeful: The reality star, 38, shared a video of the process that got under way last October on Instagram and captioned it: 'Meet the 2023 #GOODSQUAD!!!!! Seven ladies who are the definition of sexy, confident and strong. welcome to the squad'

As Khloe and Emma talk to a handful of women, they reveal to them that they've made the 2023 Good Squad.

This announcement comes after the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum made headlines earlier this week for clapping back at people who asked her if she missed her 'old face.'

The reality star posted a gym video Wednesday that gave fans a close-up look at her smooth complexion and world-famous mega-pout.

When one of the commenters snidely asked her: 'Do you miss your old face?' however, Khloe responded: 'No.'

Who will it be: Emma Grede, Good American's co-founder said: 'Who is going to have the best chance at having a meaningful career, who is going to have the best chance and who is going to make it work'

Almost two years ago on the Keeping Up With The Kardashians finale special Khloe insisted that the only plastic surgery she has ever had was a nose job.

'I've had one nose job - Dr. Raj Kanodia,' she told Andy Cohen, who was hosting the Final Curtain specials that closed out the series.

Fans have watched her figure evolve over the years, including with a stunning weight loss journey that led her to host a show called Revenge Body With Khloe Kardashian.

Rumors have been swirling about various cosmetic procedures she is said to have had done, with a particular focus on her rear end.

She has always denied having her behind augmented, writing on social media years ago: 'Sorry 2disappoint.... I've always had an a**. I know it's more fun 2believe it's not real, kind of a compliment since I kill myself in the gym.'
The fourth ex-wife of Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen's new lover has likened the web designer to Henry VIII, claiming he's 'ruthless' and 'loves the chase.'

Amanda, 48, has had a five year affair with businessman Robert Davies, 71, the first since her shock split from her Our Yorkshire Farm co-star husband, Clive.

Robert is currently married to Yusami, 56, who was 'completely blindsided' when news of the affair broke, she is his fifth wife.

Now, Jan Coates, 72, the fourth of his spouses, has told Daily Mail he 'hasn't changed in two decades' as he proceeds to 'get married, have an affair and move on.'

His former wife revealed that he cheated two years into their marriage, which came to an end in 2001.

Drama: The fourth ex-wife of Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen's new lover, Robert Davies has likened him to Henry VIII, claiming he's 'ruthless' and 'loves the chase' (Amanda pictured)

Candid: Jan Coates, 72, the fourth of his spouses, has revealed he 'hasn't changed in two decades' as he proceeds to 'get married, have an affair and move on'

Jan explained: 'Thats what he does, gets married, has an affair and moves on. He is very charming but he is also very ruthless in the way he treats people. I think he gets bored easily.

'But if he marries Amanda Owen he would be like Henry VIII with six wives and thats not normal.

'He has not changed in two decades. I am not vicious or vindictive but I would say he loves the chase for females and loves fame and fortune. But maybe they will suit each other.'

MailOnline have contacted Amanda's representatives for comment.

Amanda announced her separation from Clive, 68, in July, with whom she has nine children, shortly after they said their marriage had hit a 'rocky patch'.

She has known her new love Robert for at least five years since she recruited him to update her personal website in 2018.

Their friendship is believed to have blossomed through working closely together.

It comes after Robert's fifth wife has been left 'completely blindsided' after he left her for the TV star, her friends have told MailOnline.

Friends of Yusami have told of her shock after the businessman walked out of the family home and ended their 12-year marriage after confessing to an having an affair.

Ex: His former wife revealed that he cheated two years into their marriage, which came to an end in 2001 (Jan and Robert pictured on their wedding day in 199)

'He's ruthless': She said: 'If he marries Amanda Owen he would be like Henry VIII with six wives and thats not normal'

Relationship: Amanda has struck up a romance with businessman Robert, 71, the first since her shock split from co-star husband, Clive (Amanda and Robert pictured this week)

Split: Amanda confirmed she had separated from her husband of 21 years Clive, 68, last summer, they share nine children together (pictured in 2020)

They say she discovered the relationship last year when she found a love letter to her husband while she was cleaning his car.

A source close to Yusami said: 'She is absolutely heartbroken by what's happened. She can't believe it.

'She gave up a career in banking after meeting Rob in Tokyo and he persuaded her to leave all of her family and friends in Japan to start a new life with him in the UK.

'Now he has left her on her own to start a new relationship with Amanda. She is so upset and lonely.'

Amanda and web designer Mr Davies were pictured together this weekend and are said to be 'inseparable', despite their 23-year age gap.

The source close to Yusami added: 'Yasumi suspected for some time that Robert was up to something. She felt as if he wasn't really present around her and that his head was somewhere else.

'She was cleaning out the car and she found a handwritten note. There was no name but it was pretty clear who it was from.

'Yasumi asked Rob for an explanation and he said he had fallen in love with Amanda and that they had been seeing each other for five years.

'It was a bolt from the blue for Yasumi. She left Japan to move to the UK for Robert and he's just walked out on her.'

Heartbroken: It comes after his devastated current wife has been left 'blindsided' after he left her for the TV star, her friends have told MailOnline

They continued: 'She knew he had a friendship with Amanda but thought it was nothing more. They went on a clay pigeon shoot together in 2021 and he went with her on her theatre tours, but insisted there was nothing more to it.

'It was only when she found the letter that she realised what had been going on.'

It is understood that Robert, who has three children from three earlier marriages, ended the relationship with Amanda in March 2022 after being issued an ultimatum by his wife.

But he moved out two months later after rekindling the romance with the Our Yorkshire Farm star.
Reese Witherspoon had no ring on her wedding finger Thursday during her first public sighting since the shock news that she is getting divorced.

Last Friday, just days before she and her husband Jim Toth would have celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary, Reese announced their split on Instagram.

When she surfaced this Thursday in Nashville , she could be seen having what appeared to be a serious conversation on the phone.

The 47-year-old movie star was Hamptons chic in a striped white and sky blue blouse and a pair of sleek white trousers.

Letting her signature flaxen hair flutter free in the breeze, she warded off the California rays with a pair of gleaming shades.

Spot the left hand: Reese Witherspoon had no ring on her wedding finger Friday during her first public sighting since the shock news that she is getting divorced

Over: Last Friday, just days before she and her husband Jim Toth would have celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary, Reese announced their split on Instagram

Looking fab: The 47-year-old movie star was Hamptons chic in a striped white and sky blue blouse and a pair of sleek white trousers

The look: Letting her signature flaxen hair flutter free in the breeze, she warded off the California rays with a pair of gleaming shades

Chat: Reese, whose husband used to be a CAA agent but never represented her, wore a stern expression as she chatted on the phone

Details: The Legally Blonde star lives part-time in Nashville, where she largely grew up after being born in New Orleans and spending some of her early years in West Germany

Adding a dash of glitz to the look with a couple of thick gold bracelets, she occasionally lent herself a touch of extra shade with a wide-brimmed straw hat.

Reese, whose husband used to be a CAA agent but never represented her, wore a stern expression as she chatted on the phone.

The Legally Blonde star lives part-time in Nashville, where she largely grew up after being born in New Orleans and spending some of her early years in West Germany, where her father was posted during his time in the United States Army reserves.

Her latest sighting comes after a new source shed some light on her and Jim's recent decision to end their marriage.

A source told People that it was 'very difficult' for the 47-year-old movie star to accept that she and her former partner, 52, were 'two very different people.'

Someone close to the two noted that the ambitious producer 'has her hand in a lot of pots' and Toth 'prefers less frenzy.'

It was added that, 'They've been spending less and less time together while she was working.'

More than ten years after tying the knot, the longtime duo recently 'found themselves with fewer interests in common.'

Differences: A source has provided some insight into the decision to split, telling People that Reese 'has her hand in a lot of pots' and Toth 'prefers less frenzy'

Reese is described by a source as 'headstrong and focused' and Jim is said to be 'more laid-back.'

The Pleasantville actress spent more time in Nashville In 2022 as she worked on producing the Apple TV music competition show My Kind of Country.

She also flipped a local house for close to twice the cost of what she paid for the home.

The mother-of-three's company Hello Sunshine also produced the Amazon series Daisy Jones & the Six.

Reese also has kept busy filming season three of The Morning Show, in which she stars opposite Jennifer Aniston.

Meanwhile, Toth has maintained a seat on the board of directors at Flowcode, a tech company. Before that he left talent agency CAA to briefly work at the failed streaming platform Quibi.

Per Reese's solemn divorce announcement shared last week, the twosome decided to go their separate ways with 'a great deal of care and consideration.'

A source said the partners 'worked on' their issues and arriving at divorce 'took a long time.'

Grown apart: A source told People that it was 'very difficult' for the 47-year-old movie star to accept that she and her former partner, 52, were 'two very different people'; pictured in 2011

Downfall: It was added by a source that, 'They've been spending less and less time together while she was working'

A source previously told PageSix that the imminent divorce was a 'badly kept secret' in Hollywood for months.

It was also shared earlier this week that Reese is 'upset' over the marriage ending.

Reese and Jim wed in March 2011 and soon after welcomed their son Tennessee, now 10.

Reese also shares daughter Ava, 23, and son Deacon, 19, with her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe.

The Big Little Lies actress and the talent agent's statement read: 'We have some personal news to share ... It is with a great deal of care and consideration that we have made the difficult decision to divorce.

'We have enjoyed so many wonderful years together and are moving forward with deep love, kindness and mutual respect for everything we have created together.

'Our biggest priority is our son and our entire family as we navigate this next chapter.

'These matters are never easy and are extremely personal. We truly appreciate everyone's respect for our family's privacy at this time.'

Brood: Witherspoon and Toth raised Ava, Deacon, and Tennessee together; Ava & Deacon are from Reese's first marriage to Ryan Phillippe

Shocking announcement: Reese took to Instagram with a somber join statement announcing her divorce

But there is no mess: 'There is no drama,' insisted People's insider. 'They love [their son] Tennessee and this is their focus. They will continue to co-parent amicably.'

The source also provided some background on the marriage, stating, 'After she was set up with Jim, their relationship moved quickly. Reese was thrilled by his attention and excited to marry him.'

Not only has Witherspoon recently starred in movies like Your Place Or Mine with Ashton Kutcher, she has worked on the Jennifer Garner series The Last Thing He Told Me, which is a thriller set in Sausalito, California.

There is also Reese's brand Draper James, which sells clothing and accessories.
Billionaire heiress Francesca Packer is said to still be dating her boyfriend Robert Bates, despite recent split rumours.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the pair are living together.

The 28-year-old has reportedly swept wellness entrepreneur Bates, 43, away to her swanky Darlinghurst apartment at The Horizon, after he failed to pay rent at his Bondi Beach penthouse over Christmas.

After debuting her romance with the wellness brand CEO in December, Packer was quick to move him in with her before whisking him off to a weeks-long holiday in London.

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that Packer called it quits with Bates in February, around the same time reports emerged claiming he was being chased by wealthy investors for $15million.

Billionaire heiress Francesca Packer is said to still be dating her boyfriend Robert Bates, despite recent split rumours. Pictured together in December on a yacht on Sydney Harbour

The glamorous Packer reportedly 'fell head over heels' for the divorced father and even 'confided to friends her desire to start a family' with him.

Bates is the CEO of wellness brands Aurum+ and Aquamamma and the founder of 7 Trinity Biotech.

Aurum+ claims to be a 'a clinically-proven solution that treats and prevents mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety and depression', while Aquamamma is a 'healthy hydration solution' for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Bates' business acumen has been celebrated in the pages of the Australian Financial Review's annual list of successful young businesspeople - but lately he has come under heavy criticism from his own investors and customers.

According to the AFR, Bates is being chased by a series of 'high net worth' investors who want their money back, his businesses' websites have mysteriously disappeared and customers are in uproar on his social media pages.

Bates - who dressed as a cowboy at Packer's Barbie-themed birthday bash last year - reportedly received a total of about $15million from at least 15 different Australian investors for Aurum+ since 2016.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the pair are living together. The 28-year-old has reportedly swept wellness entrepreneur Bates, 43, away to her swanky Darlinghurst apartment at The Horizon, after he failed to pay rent at his Bondi Beach penthouse over Christmas

But the shares in his companies are either registered to Bates himself, or to other businesses he controls, rather than those who have plunged their money into his enterprises, the Australian Financial Review reported.

These investors are now demanding refunds that range from $50,000 to $2million.

Bates is understood to have paid back three investors, but at least 15, of whom are scattered around Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay and Singapore, are furiously chasing the businessman and demanding to know where the money has gone.

Meanwhile, Aurum+'s Facebook page was flooded with comments from customers demanding to know where their orders are, and asking for refunds.

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that Packer called it quits with Bates in February, around the same time reports emerged claiming he was being chased by wealthy investors for $15million

Some claim they have been left ignored by the company when asking about their orders, with one asking if it had shut down.

'I placed an order in October and have not received it. My emails aren't answered either.

'This is the second time this has happened. I would like my money refunded!' one person wrote in December.

'I started Aurum plus when it first came out. I have been charged for 2 orders, one in Nov 2022 and the other in Dec 2022, neither of them has been received. I have tried to contact the company numerous times via messaging and gotten ZERO response. Are they out of business????' said another.

'I ordered back in October, never received my packages and have tried contacting them several times but never get a response. Has this happened to anyone else?' another comment reads.

After debuting her romance with the wellness brand CEO in December, Packer was quick to move him in with her before whisking him off to a weeks-long holiday in London

'I have had nothing but problems with this company dating back to April of this year and still have not had it resolved. They take my money and I never get the product. Customer service is awful and they never respond to my many emails. So frustrating!!!!' one woman commented.

Adding to the confusion, the website linked to Aurum+ is no longer operating and says it is 'currently unavailable' when accessed. The same occurs when trying to visit the website address for Aquamamma.

Daily Mail Australia approached Bates for comment at the time, however, he did not respond to written questions.

Bates came in at the 36th spot on the 2020 Young Rich List, shared with his ex-partner Emma Gibson. They were worth a combined $145million.

He then moved on with Packer and was seen dressed as a cowboy for her Barbie-themed birthday party in November last year in Sydney's Potts Point.

Just a month later the pair were spotted sharing a kiss and cuddling on the deck of a luxury yacht as they cruised around the harbour with friends.
Joanna Krupa was spotted shooting a commercial for Purina Dog food in Los Angeles, just days after her estranged husband, Douglas Nunes, filed for divorce.

The 43-year-old Real Housewives of Miami alum was seen smiling as she fed two Labrador Retrievers, who sat on the grass in front of her, some treats.

The Polish-born supermodel wore a black hoody, skinny jeans, and sneakers and styled her blonde tresses in a braid.

The star could be seen no longer wearing her diamond wedding ring as she carried a large red bag of kibble and a few jars of treats.

The mother-of-one tied the knot with the businessman in 2018, but he officially filed divorce documents in Los Angeles County on March 24, after nearly five years of marriage.

Precious pooches: Joanna Krupa, 43, was spotted shooting a commercial for Purina Dog food in Los Angeles on Friday, just days after her estranged husband, Douglas Nunes, filed for divorce

Going their separate ways: The star could be seen no longer wearing her diamond wedding ring as she carried a large red bag of Purina One dog food and a few jars of treats

Keeping it Casual: The Polish-born supermodel wore a black hoody, skinny jeans, and sneakers and styled her blonde tresses in a braid

In the documents, Nunes is seeking to block the court's ability to award Nunes any spousal support.

Nunes cited irreconcilable differences as the cause of their split and claimed they separated on January 2, 2023.

Douglas requested joint legal and physical custody of their daughter, three-year-old Asha Leigh, who was welcomed to the world in 2019.

Regarding their marital assets, Nunes seeks to have the court divide their belongings for them and decide who receives what.

His petition does not mention if they had a prenuptial agreement.

DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Krupa for comment.

Krupa and Nunes tied the knot in an ornate ceremony held in a Benedictine Abbey in Krakow, Poland, on August 4, 2018.

They had a hush-hush wedding in Los Angeles just three weeks before their ceremony in Poland, DailyMail.com revealed at the time.

The couple got engaged on March 25, 2018, only seven months after Joanna finalized her divorce from her first husband, Romain Zago.

Family: The couple welcomed their only child together, daughter Asha, in 2019

A statement: On Monday, the model took to her Instagram to issue a statement shortly after Douglas filed for divorce

Custody: The two share daughter, Ashe-Leigh, and Douglas has asked for joint physical and legal custody of the three-year-old

'A joint decision': Along with a family photo of herself happily smiling with the businessman and their daughter, she wrote out, 'My husband and I have made a joint decision to get separated'

Krupa was married to Miami nightclub entrepreneur Zago for just over three years before she filed for divorce in July 2017.

Their San Diego nuptials were featured on seasons two and three of Real Housewives of Miami, with the Polish blonde admitting she was unsure whether to go through with the ceremony ahead of time.

After getting married, the couple returned to live in Miami but found themselves in what became an increasingly long-distance relationship due to work commitments on opposite sides of the country.

The divorce was finalized in just 15 minutes at a Miami courthouse, with the pair agreeing to evenly split their assets and waive alimony.
The wife Bam Margera is considering filing for a restraining order for the sake of their child after he was arrested for public intoxication in Burbank on Wednesday.

The 43-year-old troubled Jackass star's wife Nikki Margera is looking into filing for legal protection against him after his latest brush with the law according to TMZ on Friday.

A source told the publication that she hopes to make the legal filing so it would protect her and their five-year-old son Phoenix.

She told the site that the incident on Wednesday 'was scary for me and even more scary for Phoenix,' adding that it was a shame as 'the visitation that Bam had with Phoenix the prior day in Hollywood went reasonably well.'

Nikki claimed her famous husand had arrived at the restaurant on Wednesday intoxicated and belligerent as she explained: 'This is the umpteenth time that Bam takes one step forward and ten steps back.'

Tough times: The wife Bam Margera - Nikki Margera - is considering filing for a restraining order for the sake of their child after he was arrested for public intoxication in Burbank on Wednesday according to TMZ; the pair are seen in January 2013

Her attorney David Glass told TMZ that they had been trying to work with Bam on setting up regular visitation for their child but as it is contingent on him staying sober and treating Nikki with respect it hasn't quite happened.

This comes after the former television personality  who has dealt with substance abuse issues and violent behavior in recent years  got into an argument with a woman at the restaurant, law enforcement sources told TMZ.

The police were reportedly called around 3:45 p.m. to a Thai restaurant, and Margera was allegedly in a shouting match with the woman that continued to escalate after the officers arrived.

Despite the intervention from police, Margera allegedly couldn't get himself under control, so he was arrested and booked for misdemeanor public intoxication.

In video of the confrontation filmed by the comedian Evan Breen, the former pro skateboarder could be seen going back into the restaurant and then out of it again after police had arrived.

At an officer's request, he sat down on the ground in the parking lot, and although his conversation with the officer couldn't be heard, he waved his arms about and gesticulated wildly.

The arrest may have been preceded by some kind of family drama, as Margera's estranged wife Nikki Boyd and their five-year-old child Phoenix were both in the restaurant, according to a witness on the scene.

However, police didn't clarify if he was arguing with his ex, or if it was another woman.

Family first: A source told the publication that she hopes to make the legal filing so it would protect her and their five-year-old son Phoenix

Legal trouble: Bam was arrested at a restaurant in Burbank on Wednesday after a confrontation with a woman, law enforcement sources told TMZ; pictured in 2019

Out of control: Margera was allegedly shouting at the woman, which escalated even after police had arrived to try to subdue him

The sources added that Margera will be forced to pay $500 to be released early on bail, unless he opts to stay behind bars until sobering up.

The Jackass star's public controversies escalated earlier this month when he was arrested on domestic violence charges.

The Viva La Bam star was arrested after police responded to a home in Escondido, California, where a woman claimed that he had kicked her, according to TMZ.

The alleged victim was not named, but she is reportedly Margera's current girlfriend, and not his ex.

He was released on $50,000 bail, though the local District Attorney said charges would not be filed against him.

After Margera quickly posted bail, Boyd's attorney claimed that he had not supported her for two months, leaving her with 'no car, no money,' and eviction looming.

Family affair: Margera's estranged wife Nikki Boyd (pictured) and five-year-old son Phoenix were at the restaurant, but it's unknown if she was the woman he was shouting at; seen in 2013

Deeper in trouble: The Jackass star was arrested early this month on domestic violence charges for allegedly kicking a woman, though it was his new girlfriend and not his ex

Over the top: Last week, he revealed that he got his son's name tattooed on his face in Arabic as a reminder to Boyd that 'she is breaking my heart by not letting me see him'

She filed for divorce from Margera in February of this year after claiming that he was not sober during a visit with his son.

She has requested legal and physical custody of Pheonix, though she says Margera should still be allowed to have supervised visits with his son in the Los Angeles area.

The Jackass star tried to show his commitment to Phoenix last week by taking the extreme step of tattooing his son's name on his face in Arabic.

'I miss Phoenix the wolf so much I had to to get his name tattooed on my f***in face to remind Nikki she is breaking my heart by not letting me see him,' he claimed on Instagram.
Scheana Shay gleefully reported that Ariana Madix 'assassinated' Raquel Leviss at the fiery Vanderpump Rules reunion.

A scandal erupted this month when Ariana dumped her longtime boyfriend Tom Sandoval after she discovered he was cheating on her with Raquel.

As the drama unfolded, Raquel filed a restraining order against Scheana, whom she accused of punching her during a confrontation about the 'Scandoval' affair.

The restraining order has since been dropped over Raquel's failure to appear in court - though this latest legal development occurred after the March 23 reunion, meaning Scheana and Raquel had to maintain a 100 yard distance at the taping.

On the latest episode of her podcast Scheananigans, Scheana and her castmate Lala Kent gushed over the way Ariana laid into her ex-boyfriend's other woman.

Going for it: Scheana Shay gleefully reported that Ariana Madix (left) 'assassinated' Raquel Leviss (right at the Vanderpump Rules reunion, at which they are pictured arriving

Caught: A scandal erupted this month when Ariana dumped her longtime boyfriend Tom Sandoval (pictured) after she discovered he was cheating on her with Raquel

Lala rhapsodized that 'Ariana handled herself so well. Like, she sat back, looked insanely hot and amazing and just f***ing sliced with her words.'

'So good. It was beautiful to watch!' Scheana agreed. 'I really enjoyed watching that. It was just - there was no response. Like, there was nothing Raquel could have said back to her because she just assassinated her.'

Scheana and Lala also expressed how horrified they were at Tom Sandoval's remarks over the course of the taping.

Under the terms of the restraining order, Scheana had to watch the reunion on video in a trailer whenever Raquel was onstage.

Scheana said that while observing Tom from the trailer 'every time I looked up and heard anything come out of his mouth it was just like: "Are you f***ing kidding me?"'

During the podcast episode, Lala and Scheana confirmed the rumors that two cast members almost came to blows but declined to reveal who.

Meanwhile, during a recent Amazon Live, Scheana revealed that she missed an early sign that skullduggery was afoot between Sandoval and Ariana.

The red flag was apparently raised last August on the morning of Scheana's wedding to Brock Davies, with whom she shares her one-year-old daughter Summer Moon.

Side by side: On the latest episode of her podcast Scheananigans, Scheana (left) and her castmate Lala Kent (right) gushed over the way Ariana laid into her ex's other woman

'One of my girlfriends was like: "So I was at the pool the morning of your wedding and I was just looking back at some of my photos and theres literally one with Tom and Raquel in the background in a cabana just hanging out at the pool together,"' Scheana recalled, according to a report in Us Weekly.

'And my friend thought: "Don't you guys need to be getting ready for the wedding? Youre actually in the wedding,"' she added.

'They knew that Ariana was occupied with me as a good friend and a good bridesmaid so they took that time to hang out,' Scheana claimed. 'Its just so disgusting I mean I sometimes dont even have words for it.'

Raquel was spotted earlier this week meeting Tom at the home he shares with ex Ariana after their shocking affair came to light.

The Vanderpump Rules star, 28, was spotted outside of his home on Wednesday afternoon, packing up the trunk of her car, in photos obtained by TMZ.

She wore sweatpants, a black top, and slides as she threw various belongings into the back of her vehicle.

A half hour after Raquel departed, Tom was spotted leaving his home to catch a flight out of LAX.

A representative for Sandoval clarified to TMZ that Raquel merely stopped by his house to say good-bye before his flight: 'Raquel did not spend the night at Tom and Arianas house. She stopped by the house Wednesday afternoon for about a half hour to say goodbye to Tom before he left town.'

Still chummy: Raquel Leviss was spotted meeting Tom Sandoval at the home he shares with ex Ariana Madix after their shocking affair came to light

Sandoval was traveling to his hometown of St. Louis on his own, and was spotted wearing a face mask and rolling his suitcase as he approached his Southwest terminal.

Page Six reports Madix is currently out of town shooting her new Lifetime film, Buying Back My Daughter.

It has been a tumultuous few weeks for the Vanderpump Rules cast ever since Sandoval and Leviss' affair was revealed, leading to the end of Sandoval's nine-year long relationship with Madix.

The drama also resulted in a restraining order filed by Leviss against co-star Scheana Shay, alleging Shay punched her after learning of the affair.

However, the temporary restraining order was dismissed by a judge after Raquel failed to appear in court on Wednesday.

Scheana, 37, was at the court but did not have the opportunity to speak on her own behalf since the order was dismissed.

TMZ's cameraman asked Scheana why she thinks Raquel dropped the restraining order, to which Scheana said: 'Well she didn't drop it which is why we had to come here today. With this type of restraining orders, there's no way to dismiss a case. That's why we had to show up. But her absence today further proves that this was all a PR stunt from the beginning. And to just deflect from the affair. Save face and abuse the court system.'

She added: 'There's people out there who actually need this... there are real victims of domestic violence. There's amazing organizations such as Futures Without Violence, LifeWire, who help people who really need this. The abusive process...'

Betrayal: Bravo fans were left in shock after learning Tom had been engaging in a months-long affair with Leviss despite being in a long-term relationship; pictured November 2022

Third party: The duo faced the music at a reunion taping last week

The cameraman asked her if she could ever see herself friends with her again, to which Scheana said: 'Hell no! That's a hard no.'

The outlet's cameraman then asked if she is going to pursue anything against Raquel.

'I'm going to have a meeting with my lawyer this week and we're going to... You're going to have to talk to him about that. And I've very thankful to have Neama [Rahmani] here [pointing at him walking besides her], who have been amazing and have worked so hard to make sure that the truth prevailed and I'm just very, very thankful for this guy. He's been amazing.'

The camera noted it was unfortunate the show Vanderpump Rules will be more popular than ever because of the Tom Sandoval Raquel cheating scandal, to which Scheana agreed.

'It's extremely unfortunate. Ariana [Madix] doesn't deserve what has happened to her. I'm just here to be her support system.'

Last week, Leviss and Sandoval faced the music at a reunion taping where Scheana had to be kept apart from Leviss to comply with the restraining order.
Former NRL player Luke Burgess spent some father-daughter time with his adorable baby Charlotte at a ritzy afternoon tea event this week.

The doting father posed for some cute snaps with his eight-month-old daughter at the Australian launch party for UK baby brand Mamas & Papas on Wednesday.

Hosted by Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew, Luke was joined by some other high-profile parents and parents-to-be at the afternoon tea party that was held at a private residence in Sydney.

Luke, who shares Charlotte with his partner Tori May, was snapped at the event doting on the tiny tot.

In one photo, the former South Sydney Rabbitohs player adorably held his daughter up in his arms as he leant in to kiss her.

Former NRL player Luke Burgess (pictured) spent some father-daughter time with his adorable baby Charlotte at a ritzy afternoon tea event this week

The father looked casual but stylish for the event as he donned a white Paul Smith polo shirt.

But baby Charlotte was the star of the show as she was dressed in a cute sage green romper with a floral onesie underneath.

A pink bow was placed on her head to match the outfit while she wore an adorable white pair of baby converse.

The doting father posed for some cute snaps with his eight-month-old daughter at the Australian launch party for UK baby brand Mamas & Papa

Host Edwina, who has two children, Molly, three, and Thomas, one, looked stylish but professional for the glamorous afternoon.

She wore a matching orange trouser suit with a white top underneath.

Her blonde locks fell in a loose curls to her her shoulder as she opted for a dewy makeup look with brown eyeshadow.

Host Edwina, who has two children, Molly, three, and Thomas, one, looked stylish but professional for the glamorous afternoon

Soon-to-be mother Brooke Hogan also attended the glitzy event as she gets ready to welcome her first child with her hotelier husband Myles Pitt.

The Australian's Next Top Model star was glowing as she showed off her baby bump in a long grey dress.

She paired it with white strappy heels and kept her makeup to a minimum to show off her natural beauty.

Soon-to-be mother Brooke Hogan (pictured) also attended the glitzy event as she gets ready to welcome her first child with her hotelier husband Myles Pitt

Brooke kept her long blonde locks down and straight and accessorised with a pair of gold drop earrings.

The 30-year-old has been very open about her fertility struggles after trying to conceive for two years.

After two rounds of IVF, Brooke said she was 'overwhelmed with gratitude' to have fallen pregnant.

Model and Survivor star Monika Radulovic (pictured) also made an appearance at the parenting event with her son Luka, two

Claire Rayner, Edwina Bartholomew and Nadean Richards at the Australian launch for Mamas and Papas

Model and Survivor star Monika Radulovic also made an appearance at the parenting event with her son Luka, two.

She went for a casual look for the afternoon tea as she donned a plain black bodysuit and wore her dark locks down and curled.

Her son was adorably dressed in a grey and blue sweatshirt with denim shorts and Nike Air Force trainers.

Other celebrities that attended the event hosted by journalist Edwina Bartholomew included model and mother-of-one Lauren Vickers and Love Island star Michela Louis, who is expecting her first child later this year.
Shanina Shaik flaunted her model physique on Friday in a figure-hugging dress as she headed to a Don Julio event in Los Angeles.

The Australian model showed off her impressive post-baby body just six months after welcoming her son Zai with boyfriend Matthew Adesuyan.

The beauty showcased her slender frame in a long skin-tight champagne maxi dress and carried a $4200 Bottega Veneta pouch clutch.

The former Victoria's Secret model gave herself a few extra inches in black knee-high heels and accessorized her stunning look with gold hoop earrings.

Shanina showed off her natural beauty with a touch of makeup and styled her glossy raven locks in a tight bun.

Looking good: Shanina Shaik flaunted her model physique on Friday in a figure-hugging dress as she headed to a Don Julio event in Los Angeles

Sidewalk catwalk: The Australian model showed off her impressive post-baby body just six months after welcoming her son Zai with boyfriend Matthew Adesuyan

She has been flooding her Instagram account with sweet snaps of her bundle of joy since giving birth to him last year.

Earlier this month, she marked his six-month birthday with many precious baby photos.

'I can't believe my little boy is 6 months today! I'm so emotional, knowing my little man is halfway to 1 years old can you imagine what I'm going to be like, when that day arrives) I've been reminded that "it goes by so quick! So cherish every moment". It does go by quick - I'll cherish all these baby moments,' she captioned the post.

Shanina announced Zai's arrival in September, introducing followers to her son with a cute shot of the infant and a heart-warming message.

'Welcome to the world, baby Zai Adesuyan Matthew @bausmatthew and I are so in love!!! I have taken this time to adjust to my baby's schedule and to understand the role of being a mother. Bringing life into this world is a beautiful challenge. I would be happy to share my experience soon ' she gushed.

Shanina announced she was expecting her first child with her advertising agent partner on Mother's Day.

In a heartfelt Instagram post, she wrote: 'To the new love of my life. Thank you for choosing me to be your Mum.

'I have always wanted you for as long as I can remember, and at times my patience was tested.'

Fashionista: The star showcased her slender frame in a long skin-tight champagne maxi dress and carried a $4200 Bottega Veneta pouch clutch

Looking good: Shaik gave herself a few extra inches in black knee-high heels and accessorized her stunning look with gold hoop earrings

Grateful: Shanina announced she was expecting her first child on Mother's Day in a heartfelt Instagram post, writing: 'To the new love of my life. Thank you for choosing me to be your Mum'

Happy: Shanina has been going strong with Zai's father, Matthew, for the last two years

'I'll cherish all these baby moments': Shanina posted a slew of precious images of her youngster as she marked his six-month milestone

It's a boy! Shaik welcomed a son with partner Matthew Adesuyan in September

She continued: 'The timing had to be right, and I can say with confidence that I am ready to be your guide, your protector, and your best friend.'

Shanina has been going strong with Zai's father, Matthew, for the last two years.

The couple went public with their relationship on Valentine's Day 2021 and looked as smitten as ever at the glitzy Oscars party hosted by Jay-Z.

Shanina was previously married to DJ Ruckus, whose real name is Gregory Andrews, from 2018 to 2019.
He's a former model and businessman who co-founded the tequila brand Casamigos with George Clooney.

And she's a legendary model, actress and television personality who helped put the 'super' in the supermodel moniker in the 1980s and 90s.

But on Friday Rande Gerber and wife Cindy Crawford took a break from their many business endeavors and responsibilities for a quiet date night for two at a popular restaurant in Malibu.

The couple, who will be celebrating 25 years of marriage on May 29, were seen going into the Taverna Tony Greek restaurant for their low-key dinner, and then again when they were making their way back to their parked car.

A fresh-faced Crawford, 57, opted for a casual-cool look by wearing a baby blue top that she partially tucked into her white denim pants.

Romantic: Rande Gerber, 60, and wife Cindy Crawford, 57, enjoyed a quiet dinner for two at a Greek restaurant in Malibu on Friday

With the temperature dipping down from the upper 50s Fahrenheit to the high 40s, the longtime supermodel warmed up by pulling a light blue denim jacket over her shoulders.

She also wrapped a matching scarf around her neck, which was both an added touch of style and another layer of comfort from the chill in the air.

Rounding out her ensemble the DeKalb, Illinois native donned a pair of brown, suede pointed boots, and had her dark brunette tresses flowing down past her chest and shoulders with a part on the slight right.

Gerber, 60, also kept it casual in the fashion department in faded blue jeans and an olive-green button down over a black t-shirt.

He also sported a pair of gray sneakers, and had his light brown hair pushed back off his face, over his ears, with a slight center part.

After enjoying some hearty portions of traditional Mediterranean cuisine, all while soaking in the ambiance, the New York City native was seen leading his lady out of the restaurant and back to their car.

Crawford and Gerber are the proud parents of their son Presley, 23, and daughter Kaia, 21, who both followed their parents into the modeling industry.

In fact, Kaia has gone from a shy teenager, learning the ropes of the modeling game, to a top, in-demand model gracing catwalks all of the world.

Fashionista: The Legendary supermodel opted for a casual-cool look by wearing a baby blue top with white denim pants and a light blue denim jacket and matching scarf

Proud mama: The iconic model gave a shout out to her daughter, Kaia Gerber, and her boyfriend Austin Butler, for spending time with sick kids at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles

The Elvis biopic star and the catwalk queen helped raise money during the hospital's annual Make March Matter fundraising campaign

Heartwarming: Kaia looked engaged while chatting and drawing with the young patients

One day earlier, on Thursday, Crawford heaped praise on her daughter and her boyfriend, actor Austin Butler, for visiting with sick kids at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

She posted three photos of the couple hanging out chatting with the young patients, as they all wore protective masks as a precaution.

'So proud of these two - @kaiagerber and @austinbutler- spreading a little joy this week with @childrensla #makemarchmatter,' she gushed in the caption of the post.

The Elvis biopic star and the catwalk queen helped raise money during the hospital's annual Make March Matter fundraising campa
Ariana Madix intends on keeping custody of the dog she previously shared with ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval during their more than nine-year relationship.

The Vanderpump Rules star, 37, has plans to keep the pooch after her split from Tom, 39, due to the recent scandal that he was having a six-month-long affair with castmate Raquel Leviss, 28.

Two sources close to Madix told People that the dog they shared will most likely end up living with her.

This comes several days after Sandoval opened up about how he regrets cheating on Madix and wishes he had handled things differently.

When it came to the pup, one insider said that though the former couple adopted the pup 'together,' the pet really belongs to Madix.

Dog custody: Ariana Madix revealed that she wants to keep the dog she and Tom Sandoval shared

She's keeping the pup: Madix and Sandoval first adopted the pup, a gray and white pit mix, in April 2020

'They got the dog together, but Ariana is more of a dog person,' said the first insider. 'It's more Ariana's than Tom's. I can't see her letting Tom take the dog or giving it away.'

Another source close to the model shared, 'It's her dog, and she plans on keeping it.'

Madix and Sandoval first adopted the pup, a gray and white pit mix, in April 2020, according to Bravo.

The next month, Madix revealed the dog's name by sharing a photo to her Instagram stories of the dog snuggling in a bed.

She wrote, 'Once upon a time, i had my own pillow @mya.moon.madix.'

Earlier in the week, Tom was asked by a TMZ cameraman about the scandal while he went to a band practice at Pop Music Studios in the San Fernando Valley in LA.

The cameraman asked him if he could go back and change how it all went down, Tom said 'hindsight's always 20/20 man.'

The cameraman pointed out that a lot of the Vanderpump Rules cast members cheated on the show, asking him why he thinks he is getting a lot of heat for his scandal.

Breakup: She has plans to keep the pooch after her split from Tom due to the recent scandal that he was having a six-month-long affair with Raquel Leviss

Mom's pooch: One insider said that though the former couple adopted the pup 'together,' the pet really belongs to Madix

Puppy party: 'I can't see her letting Tom take the dog or giving it away'

Dog person: 'They got the dog together, but Ariana is more of a dog person'

'I just think it was really unexpected,' Tom said.

Tom then clarified what hindsight means to the camera: 'You think of all the things that you should have, could have done better... hindsight... looking back at when you handled the situation.'

'And yes, I could have handled things way better,' Tom said.

The cameraman said: 'Alright so you do regret cheating on Ariana... like maybe you could have done it way better...'

'Of course. Of course...' Tom said as he walked away.

Hours earlier, Jax Taylor revealed that there were 'almost brawls' during the taping of the Vanderpump Rules reunion last week.

The reality star, 43, confirmed that a fight almost broke out between two male cast members during an interview with Extra on the red carpet at the iHeartRadio Awards, hinting that it was Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz.

'I heard it was crazy, heard it was everything that everyone that it was going to be,' he said.

Jax said the reunion was 'uncomfortable,' noting that 'there was security there' and 'almost brawls.'

The latest: Tom Sandoval regrets cheating on Ariana Madix and wishes he handled things differently; seen on March 23, 2023 in LA

The way they were: The reality star was asked by a TMZ cameraman about the scandal while he went to a band practice at Pop Music Studios in the San Fernando Valley in LA; Ariana, Tom Sandoval, Raquel and Tom Schwartz

The latest: Jax Taylor revealed that there were 'almost brawls' during the taping of the Vanderpump Rules reunion last week; seen on the red carpet for the iHeartRadio Music Awards in LA on Monday, March 27

Could it be them? The reality star, 43, confirmed that a fight almost broke out between two male cast members during an interview with Extra on the red carpet at the iHeartRadio Awards; Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval

When asked about the rumor about two cast members having to get separated and Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss, 28, not having anyone on their side, Jax said: 'Yeah, I don't know what I'm allowed to say... I have a feeling it's the two boys... In fact, I know that because I talked to him [Tom Schwartz].'

'I talked to him right after it happened because I checked in with everybody,' he added.

Jax, who was with wife Brittany Cartwright, gave their opinion on the pictures of Tom and Raquel sitting together and chatting outside the reunion.

'Well, you know, they put themselves in the situation... I don't really feel bad for them,' Jax said.

'They knew exactly what they were doing. This wasn't a mistake. This wasn't like, "Oh, a hookup,"' Jax said.

'This has been going on for a long time, premeditated. The lack of empathy... I'm sorry, you deserve everything that's coming to you, you know.'

'It's a s****y situation to be in.. You got to own it, you got to be a man. This is the time where Tom Sandoval needs to learn how to be a man... because he's never been one before, so this is the time.'

Brittany added that was excited to see the show because of Lala Kent's 'comebacks and quick wit. She goes in and she cracks me up. I just can't wait to see it.'

Drama: 'I heard i was crazy, heard it was everything that everyone that it was going to be,' he said

The couple said there was no way that Ariana, 37, would take Tom Sandoval back, with Brittany noting that Ariana will 'shine and be amazing after all this drama is over.'

'I gotta be honest... I saw her about two hours after the reunion. They all came to the bar that we were all at and I hugged her for about 30 seconds. She came into the bar, pointed right at me and I hadn't seen her in a long time. Just gave her a hug and said, "You know what? You're gonna thrive. You already look better." She's already glowing,' Jax said.

After Sandoval and Raquel got verbally 'annihilated' by their costars for betraying Ariana for starting their fling amid Sandoval's nine-year relationship with Ariana, they dined with just each other, according to TMZ.

On Friday, a source close to the production teased some of the drama to TMZ.

'It was like a nuclear bomb went off in the studio,' the insider spilled, before noting that not one person 'sided with Tom and Raquel.'

According to a seating chart, released by Bravo ahead of the reunion, Sandoval was seated next to Leviss.

Ariana was placed just two seats away from her cheating ex and beside Cohen.

A restraining order  which was dropped on Friday  between Scheana Shay, 37, and Raquel, however, created some logistical complications.

Showdown! According to a seating chart, released by Bravo ahead of the reunion, Sandoval, 39, was seated next to Leviss

In order to comply with the order and keep the women 100 feet apart, Bravo swapped Raquel out for Scheana.

Following the reunion, Leviss revealed she had her attorney take her case with Shay after 'the court calendar' and had already filed 'the appropriate paperwork requested by the court' to dismiss her Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).

She continued: 'We let the court know I will not be moving forward with a permanent restraining order.'

The announcement came hours after Shay's lawyer, Neama Rahmani, told DailyMail.com in a statement that the papers that the Bravo host, 54, handed her client have 'no legal meaning' whatsoever.
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Pedro Pascal and Jon Favreau led the star-studded arrivals at a viewing party for the highly-celebrated third season of The Mandalorian at The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Friday.

The Chilean-born hunk, 47, plays the title character in the Star Wars spin-off created by actor/filmmaker Favreau.

Pascal posed alongside Favreau as they hit the red carpet with several of their co-stars, including Katee Sackhoff, Rick Famuyiwa, and Dave Filoni.

Pedro donned well-groomed facial hair, styled his short brown hair spiked, and wore green pants with black dress shoes.

Pascal accessorized with a stylish pair of glasses and finished off his look with a cream and grey button-up sweater over a white T-shirt.

Leading men: Pedro Pascal and Jon Favreau led the star-studded arrivals at a special viewing party for the highly-celebrated third season of The Mandalorian at The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Friday

Handsome: The Chilean-born hunk, 47, wore a white T-shirt under a sweater with green pants, while Favreau looked sharp in a grey blazer over a black shirt with cream khakis

Showrunner Favreau looked sharp in a grey blazer over a black shirt with cream khakis and Adidas sneakers.

Pascal stars as a devoted bounty hunter from Mandalore who has been charged with caring for a creature named Grogu, a.k.a. Baby Yoda.

Katee Sackhoff looked pretty as she walked the red carpet in a double-breasted black coat with two thin belts around her waist and matching pleated pants.

The beauty styled her blonde bob cut with a side part, wore oversized silver earrings, and opted for a bold red lip and matching red heels.

She is seen on screen as Bo-Katan Kryze, the ever-loyal lieutenant and proud member of Death Watch.

Bo-Katan rallied to Death Watch's call for Mandalorians to embrace their martial heritage and find glory in war.

Rick Famuyiwa, film director, producer, and screenwriter best known for the 2015 film Dope, has directed multiple episodes of the live-action Star Wars television series.

Famuyiwa looked dapper at the event in a fitted black and grey pin-striped suit over a black T-shirt with an image of legendary Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman Jackie Robinson.

Dave Filoni, who plays the role of Trapper Wolf, a pilot for the New Republic, looked handsome as he appeared on the red carpet with his co-stars.

Filoni rocked a black cowboy hat and a black and grey zip-up jacket over a T-shirt with slacks and combat boots.

In demand: Pascal plays the titular character, a devoted bounty hunter that hails from Mandalore and has been charged with the care of Baby Yoda

Beauty: Katee Sackhoff looked pretty in a double-breasted black coat with two thin belts around her waist and matching pleated pants. She styled her blonde bob cut with a side part, wore oversized silver earrings, and opted for a bold red lip and matching red heels

Her role: Sackhoff plays the role of Bo-Katan Kryze, the ever-loyal lieutenant who rallied to Death Watch's call for Mandalorians to embrace their martial heritage and find glory in war

Dapper: Film director, producer, and screenwriter Rick Famuyiwa has directed multiple episodes of the live-action Star Wars television series. Famuyiwa looked dapper at the event in a fitted black and grey pin-striped suit over a black T-shirt with an image of legendary Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman Jackie Robinson

Fighter pilot: Dave Filoni, who plays the role of Trapper Wolf, a pilot for the New Republic, looked handsome in a black cowboy hat, a grey zip-up jacket over a T-shirt, slacks, and combat boots

To be continued: The third season will continue the adventures of Pascal's title character and Baby Yoda, with Mando revealing he's returning to his home planet of Mandalore to clear his name

The program's first season was met with widespread critical acclaim and commercial success upon its debut.

Its second set of episodes received a similarly positive response from reviewers and fans of the series.

The Mandalorian's third season, which is expected to run for a total of eight episodes, made its debut on the Disney+ streaming service on March 1.

Favreau previously confirmed that he was working on the program's fourth season in May of last year.

The show's creator subsequently revealed that he had finished work on the new season in February.

During an interview with Collider, Pascal advised fans to expect the unexpected in the soon-to-premiere episodes.

'Without giving anything away, I would say that the surprises are not necessarily what you would expect from our experience with surprises previous to this season,' he said.

Star of the show: The performer is currently featured in The Mandalorian's third season, which premiered earlier this month

Recent arrival: The third season is slated to run for eight episodes. The sixth episode is scheduled to debut on Disney+ on April 5

More on the way: Favreau previously confirmed that he was working on the program's fourth season in May of last year

The performer then remarked that he had become fond of The Mandalorian's unorthodox storyline.

'There's a kind of approach to the way the story is told that is sort of unexpected, and I love that,' he said.

The third season continues the adventures of Pascal's character and Baby Yoda, with Mando revealing he's returning to his home planet of Mandalore to clear his name.

The sixth episode of The Mandalorian's third season will debut on Disney+ on April 5.
Simon Baker has been spending a lot of time with a mystery blonde, who is believed to be his new girlfriend.

On Saturday, the Australian actor went on a coffee run in Sydney's Tamarama while his female acquaintance left his house to run errands.

The 53-year-old cut a casual figure and appeared in excellent spirts as he left a local cafe carrying two takeaway cups.

At the same time, the blonde was spotted heading out from Simon's home separately and driving off in her car.

Simon wore a plain white T-shirt underneath a thick navy dress shirt and loose grey track pants.

Simon Baker (pictured) has been spending a lot of time with a mystery blonde, who is believed to be his new girlfriend. On Saturday, the Australian actor went on a coffee run in Sydney's Tamarama while his female acquaintance left his house to run errands

He completed the look with a pair of brown leather sandals and had on a pair of glasses.

The blonde beauty looked chic in a pair of green trousers and tank top, with a beige jumper over her shoulders.

She wore a pair of sunglasses and carried a straw tote, as well as wearing a pair of leather sandals.

The Mentalist star was last seen with the blonde woman in March, when she picked him up from Sydney Airport.

In November, he was spotted enjoying a dip in Bondi with a blonde beauty, believed to be the same woman who picked him up at the airport.

The blonde was spotted heading out from Simon's home separately and driving off in her car

Simon wore a plain white T-shirt underneath a thick navy dress shirt and loose grey track pants as well as leather sandals

Simon and his female companion appeared to be having a ball as they jumped in and out of the water and lapped up the sun.

In November 2021, his ex Laura May Gibbs spoke publicly for the first time about her split from the Hollywood star.

The Byron Bay activewear designer, 36, categorically denied rumours the actor broke up with her because she attended an anti-vaccine mandate protest.

Laura slammed this 'false narrative' about their split in a lengthy Instagram post, declaring it was 'simply not true'.

Simon split from activewear designer Laura May Gibbs (pictured) in 2021

Before that, Simon's spokesperson confirmed he and Laura had quietly parted ways.

Simon announced his split from wife Rebecca Rigg in January 2021, after 29 years of marriage.

It was reported at the time that the pair had quietly separated some time in 2020.

The pair told PEOPLE in a joint statement: 'We remain close friends and our three children will always be the most important focus of our lives.'

Australian actor Baker first met actress Rigg, 55, in the early '90s and the former couple share three children together, Stella, 29, Claude, 24, and Harry, 21.
Priyanka Chopra has managed to beat out a number of A-list stars to bag second place of all the celebrity beauty brands.

The actress and businesswoman, 40, is the owner of haircare company Anomaly - which has reportedly pulled in 429 million this year.

She falls just behind Rihanna's wildly successful make-up and skincare brand Fenty Beauty, which allegedly made 477 million, according to a report by Cosmetify.

While Kylie Jenner takes third place with Kylie Cosmetics, before Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez trail behind.

Priyanka launched Anomaly Haircare back in 2021, originally selling in the US before launching it to the Indian market just last year.

Congrats: Priyanka Chopra has beat out stars such as Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez as her beauty brand is named the 2nd biggest in the celebrity world

Success: The actress and businesswoman, 40, is the owner of haircare company Anomaly - which has reportedly pulled in 429 milion this year

The actress, who hails from Jamshedpur, has had a huge success with taking the brand to her home country - with the brand stocked at Nykaa, an Indian online beauty store.

Speaking on the venture, Priyanka previously shared: 'Nykaa on their platform has 4,000+ products, 450+ haircare brands and we're in the top 10 in about 3 months. Anomaly comes from an ethos of Indian haircare. It is for the Indian consumer'.

She added to Business Today: 'I believe in collaborations. Everything in my career has been about collaborations. I work with leaders.'

From a range of hair oils to shampoo and conditioners, the brand keeps prices affordable too with products under $10- winning an award from Allure in 2022.

Boasting vegan and sustainable titles, all of the products are chemical-free too - using natural ingredients such as rosemary oil.

While Priyanka is one of the highest paid actresses and the wife of Nick Jonas, she is also quite the business tycoon.

She owns seven businesses, including brand Sona Home and production company Purple Pebble Pictures, while also investing in a number of companies.

The mother-of-one invested in dating app Bumble in 2018 and also became an advisor for its India launch.

Top spot: She falls just behind Rihanna's wildly successful make-up and skincare brand Fenty Beauty, which is said to have made 477 million, according to a report by Cosmetify

Top ten: While Kylie Jenner (left) takes third place with Kylie Cosmetics, before Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez (right) trail behind

Jack of all trades: While Priyanka is one of the highest paid actresses and the wife of Nick Jonas, she is also quite the business tycoon

Recently, Priyanka opened up about her decision to leave Bollywood, admitting she had 'beef' with people in the industry.

The Indian actress started out as a Bollywood star in the Noughties but moved to America in 2015 when she took on a leading role in Quantico.

Discussing her decision to move to Hollywood, the mother-of-one confessed that while she enjoyed working on Bollywood projects, she struggled with the people.

Speaking on Dax Shephard's Armchair Expert podcast she shared: 'I've never said this so I'm going to say it because you'll make me feel safe.'

'I was being pushed into a corner in the industry. I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break.'

The former Miss World made her Bollywood debut in 2003's The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, with her breakout role coming the following year in romantic thriller Aitraaz.

She also built up a prominent fan base with her roles in Fashion, Barfi! and Mary Kom
Pop star Ricki-Lee Coulter's new tune is the most personal release of her career.

The Aussie chart-topper, 37, released her latest single On My Own via streaming platforms on Friday.

She posted the cover artwork on Instagram before the uplifting track rocketed up to number two on the Australian iTunes Singles Chart as of Saturday evening.

Ricki-Lee told her fans the track had taken 'her whole life' to tell as she introduced them to the deeply personal song in a touching Instagram post.

'I have been trying to write this song for my whole life, its everything Ive ever wanted to say in a song,' she said.

Pop star Ricki-Lee Coulter's new tune is the most personal release of her career. The Aussie chart-topper, 37, released her latest single On My Own via streaming platforms on Friday

She posted the cover artwork on Instagram before the uplifting track rocketed up to number two on the Australian iTunes Singles Chart as of Saturday evening

'Everybody has been through hard times, but they make you so much stronger and thats what this song is all about celebrating making it through the things you thought might break you,' she added.

Coulter joined her friends and Nova colleagues Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey for a listening party on Friday.

The trio wrote on their joint Instagram account: 'We LOVE On My Own. Stream it now. Link in bio.'

In a short clip shared to social media, the crew were huddled around a television while they listened to the new single with great excitement.

They could all be seen cheering as the track began while Ricki-Lee squealed and screamed.

Coulter joined her friends and Nova colleagues Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey for a listening party on Friday

The 37-year-old recently told The Daily Telegraph that she is 'very proud' of herself after almost 20 years in the music industry.

'I am really proud that I have sustained a career for almost 20 years and had all of the crazy, wild amazing success that I've had, but I've worked my a** off for it,' she said.

Speaking about her new single, she said: 'Whatever I have been through in my life, personal or in my career, the ups and downs, I know that I will always figure it out.'

'And when I say this song is about my life and that is what I mean.'

Ricki-Lee rose to fame after she made it to the top 10 on Australian Idol back in 2004.

'I am really proud that I have sustained a career for almost 20 years and had all of the crazy, wild amazing success that I've had, but I've worked my a** off for it,' she recently said

She placed seventh, and the talented performer has remained a fixture of the music industry ever since.

This year she co-presented Channel Seven's reboot with Scott Tweedie.

Ricki-Lee recently revealed why it's so special returning to Australian Idol, 19 years ago after the show made her famous.

'This show made all of my childhood dreams come true,' Ricki-Lee told 7News.

'When I was a little girl, all I wanted was to be on stage and to perform for people, making music that makes people feel something.'

Ricki-Lee also hosted last year's season of Australia's Got Talent on Seven, and was there to comfort the contestants backstage.

The Gold Coast native has had four No. 1 hits on the ARIA Dance Chart, ten Top 10 singles on ARIA Singles Chart, two Top 10 entries on the ARIA Albums Chart, and has accumulated more than 75 million streams.
Viewers of The Chase were left distracted this week as they spotted a royal connection between the four contestants.

The ITV gameshow, fronted by Bradley Walsh, welcomed players Henry, Liz, Tudor, and Mary as they hoped to beat the chaser and walk home with some money.

But keen viewers noticed a funny connection between the players' names and the British Royal Family.

Host Bradley appeared to not notice the very regal quartet of names, with each the name of a former monarch.

Taking to Twitter to point out the link, one viewer wrote: 'So #TheChase tonight on #ITV are having a laugh. Spot the connection in the names!'

Can you see it? The Chase viewers are all saying the same thing as they spot a royal connection with the contestants

From Henry VII to Mary I and Elizabeth II, each name has a very strong royal connection - with fans convinced that producers put them together on purpose.

While the team had a strong set of names, their day jobs aren't quite as regal as the monarchy.

Mary is a 49-year-old Children's Nurse from Wigan, Henry, 70, a retired insurance adjuster from Essex, 28-year-old Liz, an operations coordinater from Stockport and Tudor, 57, a data migration specialist from Kent.

Taking to social media, one fan wrote: 'Royal event today,' while another agreed: 'Can't get over this lineup on #thechase very 16th century'.

Pointing out Bradley's lack of notice, a third tweeted: 'Brad never noticed the names connection?'

It comes after Chaser Paul Sinha discussed his battle with Parkinson's disease on last week as he took to social media to comment on a recent episode.

The quizzer, 52, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2019, shared on Twitter to that he was 'chatty' in the episode because of his medication.

Paul was seen speaking to the contestants that are trying to beat him and win the prize and host Bradley.

Oblivious: Host Bradley Walsh appeared to not notice the very regal quartet of names, with each the name of a former monarch.

Clocked on: Taking to Twitter to point out the link, one viewer wrote: 'So #TheChase tonight on #ITV are having a laugh. Spot the connection in the names!'

He wrote: 'A lot of these episodes were when my Parkinsons meds were making me very chatty. I can only apologise. #TheChase.'

However, fans rallied around to support him, praising him for his work on the show.

One person wrote: 'You are great Paul' while a second added: 'Why you apologising you are giving a lot of people suffering with Parkinsons hope and inspiration.'

A third said: 'I think you're brilliant! I love your conversation.'

Meanwhile, a separate person added their support, writing: 'Absolutely no need and good on you, you're delightful'.
Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace put on an eye-popping display as she hit the beach during her sun-soaked Mexican getaway on Friday.

The former Big Brother housemate, 44, looked sensational as she frolicked on the sand and enjoyed a game of volleyball.

Aisleyne sizzled in a pink bikini and showcased her gorgeous curves with the tiny two piece boasting a triangular top and draw string bottoms.

She flaunted her toned abs and golden tan as she put on an energetic display and hit the ball over the net.

The stunner accessorised the summery look with a selection of silver jewellery and oversized shades.

Beach babe: Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, 44, put on an eye-popping display as she hit the beach during her sun-soaked Mexican getaway on Friday

Hot stuff: The former Big Brother housemate looked sensational as she frolicked on the sand and enjoyed a game of volleyball

Incredible: Aisleyne sizzled in a pink bikini and showcased her gorgeous curves

Skimpy: The tiny two piece boasting a triangular top and draw string bottoms.

Wow: She put on a very energetic display as she hit the ball over the net

Sporting a radiant make-up palette and slick of lip gloss Aisleyne wore her blonde tresses tried back from her gorgeous face.

After building up a sweat the reality star then slipped on a chic cover up and enjoyed a much deserved glass of Champagne.

Last week Aisleyne sent heads turning as she headed to the train station in nothing but sexy lingerie.

The TV star flaunted her incredible curves in a leopard print set from the brand Rose Intimates.

Posing on the train platform, she lifted her arms up over her head and offered a sultry pose as she looked into the distance.

She elongated her enviable frame with a pair of simple black heels.

The blonde beauty left her tresses natural, cascading past her shoulders and along her body.

Taking to Instagram to share the snap, she penned: 'Just popping to Tesco babes coz the THIRST is real... it's like a jungle out here... & a leopard never changes her spots.'

Me time: After building up a sweat the reality star then slipped on a chic cover up and enjoyed a much deserved glass of Champagne

Gorgeous: The stunner accessorised the summery look with a selection of silver jewellery and oversized shades

Strike a pose: She looked fantastic from every angle

Model credentials: Sporting a radiant make-up palette and slick of lip gloss Aisleyne wore her blonde tresses tried back from her gorgeous face

Holiday time: She enjoyed her gorgeous surroundings while making the most of her lavish trip

Aisleyne's daring post comes after she sparked concern amongst fans after she shared a cryptic message on her Instagram Stories.

She shared an image of a person deep underwater as they fell to the bottom.

The quote read: 'Sometimes you don't realise you're actually drowning trying to save everybody else.'

Having received concerned messages from fans, the reality star told her followers she was 'drained'.

Thanking them for their support, she wrote: 'You guys have so much empathy I adore reading your messages.'

She added: 'Sorry if my stories are depressing....I post real life coz it helps me and helps others... I don't do fake happy posts xx.'

Wow: Aisleye's stylish ensemble made her look as though she had stepped off the pages of a glossy magazine

Beauty: She showcased her tattoos and naval piercing in the skimpy outfit

Say cheese: The Tv star also posed for snaps with fans

'Just popping to Tesco, babes': Last week Aisleyne certainly sent heads turning as she headed to the train station in nothing but sexy lingerie

The star has previously gone through a difficult time, after she suffered a miscarriage in August last year.

Sharing the heartbreaking news, she said: 'It hurts every time, but this time even more.'

Aisleyne has tragically suffered three miscarriages and a stillborn in her bid to have a child, with doctors confirming she suffers from rhesus negative, a rare blood disease that threatens her chances of carrying a baby full-term.

And the TV star was devastated as she lost her fifth child, with Aisleyne tragically admitting that she had 'never been more ready' to have a baby.

In a series of messages, she penned: 'Everyone knows I've been through this before.

'But never have I ever been so excited and happy and ready for a baby as I was this time. And him too.

'It hurts every time. But this time. Even more. Is that OK? Do u understand?'

Aisleyne continued to say of the baby's father, whom she hasn't spoken publicly about: 'When a mother loses child we all rally around her, and sometimes he, the father is lost in the mayhem.

'He loved baby. He dream to meet, hold, protect, provide... he slept on and kissed my belly every night.

'He's broken. Not.Just.Me.'

The devastated model went on: 'I'm losing my mind. And I don't mind.'

Referring to her previous losses in another story, she wrote: 'Again and again and again and again.

'I just wanna be with my babies.'

Aisleyne added to her stories: 'Some would say I didn't even know you. But I carried you, felt you grow. Longed for the day we'd meet. Dreamed of your future. Not only did I know you, I fell in love with you.'

Over on her grid, she posted an image of a poignant message which read: 'I may have only held you in my womb for a moment, but I will hold you in my heart forever.'

Aisleyne has always been open about her heartbreaking quest to become a mother.

In June, the TV personality admitted she's 'starting to panic' that she will no be able to have children.

She told The Sun: 'Im really starting to panic that its just not going to happen for me' before adding that she's aware that her women's body 'clock is always ticking'.

She added: 'I just have to hope and pray that Ive not left it too late to have my miracle baby.'
Celeste Barber was enjoying a day at the Formula 1 in Melbourne on Saturday.

The comedian was on hand to present Max Verstappen the Pirelli Pole Position Award, the pair beaming as she handed over the trophy.

The champion driver from the Netherlands was decked out in racing gear, while Celeste kept things chic but casual.

She paired a black blouse with a leather skirt and wore her brunettes locks pulled off her face.

It comes after the actress revealed that she did her own stunts in her new Netflix comedy Wellmania.

Celeste Barber was enjoying a day at the Formula 1 in Melbourne on Saturday. The comedian was on hand to present Max Verstappen the Pirelli Pole Position Award, the pair beaming as she handed over the trophy. Both pictured

The champion driver from the Netherlands was decked out in racing gear, while Celeste kept things chic but casual

She paired a black blouse with a leather skirt and wore her brunettes locks pulled off her face

Appearing on The Project, the Australian funnywoman said she was left bruised after learning aerial silks.

'The most full-on one I had to do was silks in a gym scene, you know those amazing acrobatic silks where you twirl up,' she told hosts Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris.

'I had to go into stunt rehearsals for three days,' the 40-year-old added.

A type of acrobatic performance, those doing aerial silks must perform tricks in the air while clinging from one or two pieces of fabric hung from a ceiling.

It comes after the actress revealed that she did her own stunts in her new Netflix comedy Wellmania. Appearing on The Project, she said she was left bruised after learning aerial silks

'The most full-on one I had to do was silks in a gym scene, you know those amazing acrobatic silks where you twirl up,' she said. Pictured is a scene from Wellmania

Notoriously strenuous, gymgoers often take up silks to improve their strength and flexibility.

Despite their difficulty, Barber revealed her husband Api Robin had a less than impressed response to her new skill.

'I watched it with my husband and I was like, "I did all my own stunts," and he was like, "when did that stuff happen?"'

'I was like "that part where I fell over, three days of rehearsal to do it". I got all bruised and everything!'
Ariana DeBose has defended her universally panned rap which opened February's 76th EE British Academy Film Awards in London.

The Oscar winner, 32, told Time Out that the song was 'fun' and she 'owns every ounce' of her perfomance.

Viewers declared they were left cringing when the West Side Story star took to the stage to spit lyrics about the female nominees.

She told the publication: 'These lyrics were never meant to be Charles Dickens. They are what they are'.

Going on to say: 'On TikTok people were asking about why [one lyric was] Blanchett, Cate? Its literally a play on Madonnas Vogue rap'.

Standing strong: Ariana DeBose, 32, has defended her universally panned rap which opened February's 76th EE British Academy Film Awards in London

She also teased that she wouldn't 'shy away' from the viral perfomance and would recreated it during her upcoming London and New York concerts.

Adding: 'I still maintain what it was. It was just fun. I enjoy the memes. There are DJ remixes to this little rap'.

Following Ariana's BAFTA perfomance one viewer wrote on Twitter: 'P***ing myself laughing at Ariana DeBose's BAFTA song, why did this happen?'.

With another adding: 'Absolutely awful she wouldn't get a ingle turn on [talent show] The Voice'.

More agreed writing: 'It was awful' and 'God-awful'.

Another said: 'Got a lot of time for the celebs who smiled charmingly and awkwardly during Ariana DeBose's painful BAFTA rap'.

And: 'Ariana DeBose doing an absurd rap about the women up for things. She is, however such a pro (non more pro) so hardly matters'.

Less than impressed: Viewers declared they were left cringing when the West Side Story star took to the stage to spit lyrics about the female nominees

Following the ceremony the star leaned into the flack that she received when she poked fun at herself at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Sheathed in a hot pink suit, she presented the award for Female Actor in a Drama Series alongside Diego Luna, 43, which went to Jennifer Coolidge for her acclaimed role in The White Lotus.

But before they popped open the envelope and read Coolidge's name, DeBose looked at Luna and said: 'Diego, do the thing.'

Ariana was referring to a bewildering lyric in her infamous BAFTAs wrap  'Angela Basset did the thing'  and her cheeky joke at the SAG Awards earned a seal of approval from the star herself.

Laughing in the audience, a beaming Angela Bassett, 64, waved at the West Side Story star and blew her a supportive kiss.

Ariana's self-deprecating moment earned rave reviews on social media, where she was brutally roasted one week ago.

'Yaaaaaas. She did the thing,' wrote one Twitter user, while another fan declared: 'Awww I loved how Ariana DeBose shook it off and made it fun cuz Angela did do the thing!'.

She also defended her ditty on the Zoe Ball's BBC Breakfast Show shortly after the event.

In the interview the American actress explained that she was told her performance would 'celebrate women,' and she 'had a blast' despite viewers' negative reaction.

Zoe told Ariana: 'Can I just say, our listeners, we all loved your performance. And that whole [reaction] I don't know what happened there?'

Doing her thing! Following the ceremony the star leaned into the flack that she received when she poked fun at herself at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards

Seal of approval: Ariana was referring to a bewildering lyric in her infamous BAFTAs wrap  'Angela Basset did the thing'  and her cheeky joke at the SAG Awards earned a seal of approval from the star herself. Laughing in the audience, a beaming Angela Bassett, 64, waved at the West Side Story star and blew her a supportive kiss

Clearly agreeing with the host, Ariana added: 'You know what? You might be one of the few, but I'll take it because you're my people!'

Continuing to heap praise on the performance, Zoe said: 'It was a woman singing and dancing, being magnificent celebrating women on a stage. Come on!'

The Hollywood star added: 'That's what I wanted to do honestly it's not like I was like ''Hey BAFTA let me in''. They actually called me believe it or not (laughs). But that was the assignment, like come celebrate women, and I was like ''absolutely!''

'And we did that and it was fun, not going to lie, I had a blast. So awesome. And then I spent the rest of the night like 'cutting a rug' with Emma Thompson it was fabulous I had a great time.'

As Zoe noted: 'She has the moves doesn't she by the way?' Ariana added: 'Oh she does. Don't sleep on Dame Emma like don't!

'But Baz Lurhmann came and found me, and he was like 'no I think you're great, that was fun. I had fun' and I was like ''WERK'' that's a win you guys. And apparently gay Twitter seemed to like it. So that's good I'll take it!'

Adriana will be headlining the London Palladium April 1 before NYC at the David Geffen Hall April 8.
Macaulay Culkin and his fiancee Brenda Song have been seen for the first time since welcoming their second baby.

The couple were seen cradling their newborn son Carson as they grabbed lunch at Hugo's Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Home Alone star Macaulay, 42, cut a casual figure in a grey cardigan which he paired with a white printed T-shirt and black jeans.

The actor also sported a blue cap as he was seen lifting his son out of the car during the family outing.

Suite Life star Brenda, 34, wrapped up in a black padded coat which she paired with a purple jacket and blue jeans.

Family: Macaulay Culkin and his fiancee Brenda Song have been seen for the first time since welcoming their second baby

Outing: The couple were seen cradling their newborn son Carson as they grabbed lunch at Hugo's Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles on Thursday

Macaulay and Brenda, who have been together since 2018, were also joined by their older son Dakota, who was born in April 2021.

It was revealed in March that Brenda had given birth to Carson around Christmas, with the couple choosing to keep his birth private.

Speaking previously about the couple's parenting style, Brenda said: 'My fiance and I are very hands-on.

'We don't have a nanny, but my mom has been here with us since my son was born,' she said.

'When I was working, my mom would bring [my son] to set so I could breastfeed and see him during the day.

'People tell you a lot about labour and pregnancy, but not about the fourth trimester.

'To my girlfriends that are pregnant I say, make sure you have help. Because your instinct is to want to do it all and you physically can't.'

What's more, Brenda stressed the importance of having good communication with Macaulay.

Laid back: Home Alone star Macaulay, 42, cut a casual figure in a grey cardigan which he paired with a white printed T-shirt and black jeans

The actress added: 'I think when you and your partner have kids, especially the first few months, you don't have the patience to be polite with each other.

'Being communicative when you need help is so important. Instead of having set duties, we just feel each other out.

'I'll be putting my son down and my partner is like, 'Let me feed the animals and get dinner ready.'

A source told People in late January 2022 that the lovebirds had gotten engaged, and Brenda seemingly confirmed the news shortly afterward when she was spotted out in public wearing a diamond ring on her left ring finger.

Baby joy! Brenda Song has given birth to a baby boy. The 34-year-old actress and her fiance Macaulay Culkin quietly welcomed a second son, called Carson, around Christmas, according to Us Weekly. Seen in 2018

A source told Us Weekly in March 2022 that the new parents were already looking forward to further expanding their family.

'They want more than one kid for sure.  It can definitely happen soon,' they claimed, adding that it wouldn't be a 'surprise' if the two conceived another child after Dakota's first birthday.

'Brenda couldnt be happier,' the source added. 'Becoming a mom has changed her. Shes always putting her son first, especially when it comes to making career decisions. She is really focused on being a mom and giving him her full attention.'
Dr Chris Brown is known for keeping his personal life extremely private.

The celebrity vet tells this week's episode of the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About that he prefers not to open his love life to public scrutiny.

'The challenge, really, is that it's hard enough to meet the right person, anyway,' the 44-year-old said.

'That extra layer of speculation and interest once you're actually in a relationship it's easy, but it's meeting that person at the start that's really hard.'

Chris said that media speculation about his romantic interests is 'funny' to him but can be a lot to handle for his loved ones.

Dr Chris Brown (pictured) is known for keeping his personal life very private. The celebrity vet says that he prefers not to open his love life to public scrutiny

'If you've been through that like I have, you can kind of see the funny side,' he said.

'But for someone new to that, it's a lot to take on board for what might have been one date.'

When it comes to looking for love on television, Chris refuted rumours that he would ever appear on The Bachelor.

'The idea of trying to meet someone with  you know, conservatively  10 cameras and about 120 crew around, I'd probably struggle with that,' he said, adding that the 'just the thought' of kissing someone on camera repeatedly, 'makes my skin crawl.'

Chris is believed to be dating model Brooke Meredith, but the pair are rarely seen together in public.

Chris said that media speculation about his romantic interests is 'funny' to him but can be a lot to handle for his loved ones

Chris is believed to be dating model Brooke Meredith (pictured), but the pair are rarely seen together in public

Reports first surfaced Chris was dating leggy stunner Brooke in 2020.

According to Woman's Day magazine, the couple all-but-confirmed their romance when they were busted packing on the PDA while shopping for cleaning supplies at Bunnings Warehouse in Randwick, Sydney, in April that year.

'They looked very much like a couple,' an insider told the publication.

Chris and Brooke, who reportedly met through mutual celebrity friends, stayed in his Clovelly home during Sydney's lockdowns.

Brooke a successful model and also the creator of health and wellness magazine, A Conscious Collection.

Chris was previously in a relationship with Channel Ten personality, Liv Phyland.
Luisa Zissman slipped into a yellow bikini as she visited a farm yard during her sun-soaked Thailand getaway on Saturday.

The former Apprentice star, 35, looked sensational in the skimpy two piece as she posed for a slew of fun snaps with a drove of pigs.

The swimsuit boasted a bandeau top and high-cut bottoms and perfectly showcased her svelte figure.

Shielding her eyes behind oversized shades, Luisa wore her caramel tresses -ironically- in pigtails as she got down and dirty in the mud.

Writing: 'There is a reason the expression as happy as a pig in s*** exists'.

Excursion: Luisa Zissman, 35, slipped into a yellow bikini as she visited a farm yard during her sun-soaked Thailand getaway on Saturday

Messy business: The former The Apprentice star looked sensational in the skimpy two piece as she posed for a slew of fun snaps with a drove of pigs.

'Today, I experienced the expression in real life & I can confirm when rolling around with with these guys I really was as happy as a pig in s***'.

Last year Luisa revealed she has African heritage after finding old photographs of her great-granddad and other family members.

She also told of how she believes she is related to former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.

Speaking in her recent podcast episode with co-host Anna Williamson, the reality TV star explained how people 'wouldn't believe' her if they didn't see photographs to prove it - so later shared photos of her late family member on Instagram.

Talking on the topic of family traditions, Luisa brings up her 'affinity' to Nelson Mandela on the LuAnna podcast.

'Did we talk about my black granddad on the pod? We need to get the pictures up or people will not believe me,' she told co-host Anna Williamson.

'We had family over right and the old pics came out - I think I might have realised my affinity to Nelson. I do believe I am related to Nelson Mandela.

'Because when we saw the picture of my great granddad he was black.

Svelte: The swimsuit boasted a bandeau top and high-cut bottoms and perfectly showcased the reality star's svelte figure

Making friends: Shielding her eyes behind oversized shades, she wore her caramel tresses in -ironically- pigtails as she got down and dirty in the mud

Loving life: Writing: T'here is a reason the expression as happy as a pig in s*** exists'

'We actually don't know where in Africa he was from, all we know is that he was African. He was maybe West African but we don't know. How do I find out?

'I'd like to think that I'm related to Nelson Mandela.

She added that the man she is referencing in the picture is the father to her grandmother, whose mother was Italian.

Luisa adds: 'She even looks black though, doesn't she?'

'Now, his oldest son is the only one alive out of the four kids,' Luisa explained.

'My Nonna [grandma] has died, my mum's two uncles died and there's only one left - and he's old and started to get Alzheimer's.

'There was also a suspicion that my great granddad was a spy... now that my great uncle Hector is regressing, he keeps talking about how the fact he would have to go through the tunnels with packages and meet soldiers in Germany.'

She later took to Instagram to show her 625,000 followers exactly what she was referring to in the episode.

Writing in a caption to two snaps showing her granddad and other late family members, Luisa said: 'Hey guys if you listen to LuAnna: The Podcast I know I promised pics of my great grandad.

'Here you go, the little girl in the pics is my Nonna (Italian for grandma) so my mums mum. The boys are her brothers.

'The eldest boy (Uncle Hector) is the only remaining sibling alive (out of 4)  told y'all I was African and you didn't believe me.'

'I do believe I'm related to Nelson Mandela!': It comes after Luisa insisted that she 'is African' after finding old photographs of her great-granddad and other family members who 'look black'

Luisa's revelations come not long after she was slammed by Ulrika Jonsson for branding NHS workers planning to strike as 'cruel' and said staff should never have entered the profession if they were concerned about salaries.

She blasted the National Health Service staff, calling them 'irresponsible', 'cruel' and 'jumped up t****'.

Writing in her column for The Sun, Ulrika said Luisa's comments were 'heartless' as she praised nurses for the work they do.

She wrote: 'Zissman's comments about nurses are not only extraordinarily heartless but show an ignorance beyond reproach.

'Sometimes you have to wonder if some people aren't entirely bereft of intelligence and empathy.'

Ulrika said being a nurse required 'dedication' and no one who chooses it as a career is doing so for the money.

While she doesn't like the planned strike, Ulrika said she likes even less that 'accountants at the top' have six-figure salaries while those at the bottom 'have their backs up against the wall'.

Ulrika added: 'She won't care what I or anyone else thinks about her comments  which is why, thank the Lord, there will never be a Nurse Zissman.'
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Kylie Jenner took to TikTok on Friday to share a new clip that included a rare look at her son Aire.

The 25-year-old beauty phenomenon was dressed casually in a heather gray zip-up. sweatshirt in the outtake.

Her one-year-old son, who she shares with ex-boyfriend Travis Scott, made an adorable appearance in the four-minute-long upload.

Jenner, who also shares daughter Stormi, 5, with her ex, filmed herself as she said, 'Okay, I don't have a lot of time but I wanted to come on here 'cause I haven't in a while and I do miss you guys.'

The billionaire businesswoman also added that 'every month or every two months I will just like, delete my social media apps.'

New post: Kylie Jenner took to TikTok on Friday to share a new clip that included a rare look at her son Aire

Kylie, the youngest of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, noted she sometimes takes online breaks to 'reset' and noted, 'I'm still a human being having a human experience and sometimes it can be a lot.'

'But I do love you guys and miss you guys,' she insisted before saying, 'And I have two new Kylie Cosmetics products that I am really proud of.'

The star, who's been hawking her makeup brand since 2015 - originally as Kylie Lip Kits - said she was 'really excited to share' the new merchandise with consumers.

She wore loose-fitting lounge pants that matched her top, which she zipped just about all the way up.

The mother-of-two looked typically beautiful with her thick and lustrous raven locks falling over one shoulder.

She appeared to be sitting on the floor in a room of her home, which had tall deep gray doors in the background.

'On April 6 I'm launching my matte liquid eyeshadows,' she announced to her legion of followers.

The makeup maven pulled out two tubes of the products to show viewers and explained, 'I was in the middle of my makeup routine and I stopped to show you guys these.'

Laidback: The 25-year-old beauty phenomenon was dressed casually in a heather gray zip-up sweatshirt in the outtake

Firstborn: Jenner's daughter Stormi, 5, also made a cameo in the short snippet

Kylie first appeared by herself in the clip as she said she planned to show her following how she uses the products and why she likes them.

The reality television personality flaunted a pristine French manicure as sunlight poured into the space where she filmed.

She paused for a moment during the makeup tutorial to acknowledge Stormi, who showed up at the partially opened door.

Jenner's face stretched into a smile and she beamed and exclaimed, 'Look who just got here!'

Then the doting parent told her little one to 'come give me a big hug.' Stormi came running toward her mom, dressed in a graphic t-shirt and light-colored pants.

The little girl's curly hair was styled in two buns at the front, while the rest of her cools were loose.

The duo exchanged 'I love you' to each other as Kylie gave her daughter an affectionate squeeze.

The Hulu star then edited the video to go back to her makeup teaching as soft music played in the background.

Her mini-me: The little girl's curly hair was styled in two buns at the front, while the rest of her cools were loose

Close to the end of the recording is when baby Aire dropped in to share his cuteness with the audience.

Kylie was visibly overjoyed to be joined by the newest addition to her family as she sweetly held her little boy.

Aire was dressed in olive green pants and a cream-colored short-sleeved shirt.

Jenner revealed in January that she and Travis had decided to name their son Aire after scrapping his original moniker, Wolfe, last year.

And last month the former couple requested that the youngster's name be legally changed from Wolfe Jacques Webster to Aire Webster.

The outlet reported that both Kylie and Travis, 30, were in agreement on the name change and had both signed off on the petition.
Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval may have called it quits, but they are both still calling their old house home.

Ariana, 37, who has already claimed custody of the dog they shared, split from Tom, 39, after he had an affair with Vanderpump Rules co-star Raquel Leviss, 28.

The former couple will have to figure out what to do with their house in the Valley Village area of Los Angeles.

Right now, both are still living in the five bedroom, home with five-and-a-half baths, according to TMZ.

The outlet reports both Ariana and Tom, 39, co-own the house which they paid $2.075 million for in 2019.

House mates: Ariana Madix, 37, and Tom Sandoval, 39, may have called it quits, but they are both still calling their old house home. The former couple will have to figure out what to do with their house in the Valley Village area of Los Angeles

Both parties are not always at the house at the same time.

Raquel was recently seen at the house saying goodbye to Tom before he visited family in St. Louis.

Ariana is reportedly in Washington state shooting a film.

Her IMDB page lists a film called Buying Back My Daughter as being in production.

She is co-starring with Meagan Good, Roger Cross and Faith Wright in the story of a mother fighting to find her missing daughter after she discovers the teen is being trafficked on a prostitution website.

Now that the news of the Scandoval is out in the open, many Vanderpump Rules stars are looking back and seem to be recalling signs that there was trouble brewing.

Alum Brittany Cartwright told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live 'There were times whenever we went to certain events when [Tom and Raquel] came together and I was like, "This is kind of odd."'

Homeowners: Both Ariana and Tom, 39, are said co-own the house for which they paid $2.075 million for in 2019 (Pictured in Santa Monica in June 2022)

Movie: Ariana is reportedly in Washington state shooting a film called Buying Back My Daughter. She is co-starring with Meagan Good in the story of a mother fighting to find her missing daughter who is being trafficked on a sex website (Pictured in Los Angeles in March 2022)

Out of town: Tom is reportedly out of town and visiting family in St. Louis

Influenced: Vanderpump Rules alum Jax Taylor told Andy Cohen he thought Tom focused on Raquel because she is 'easily influenced' and 'can be controlled.' LaLa Kent told Jeff Lewis on Sirius XM, 'If Raquel were not dear friends with Ariana, I would say that Tom groomed her' (Pictured in New York in October 2022)

She said she thought, 'Tom Sandoval makes friends, like, really fast with different people, so I was, like, maybe theyre just close friends right now.'

Brittany's husband, Jax Taylor expressed his opinion that the restaurateur focused on Raquel because she is 'easily influenced' and 'can be controlled.'

Lala Kent referred to something similar on the Jeff Lewis show on Sirius XM, saying, 'If Raquel were not dear friends with Ariana, I would say that Tom groomed her.'
Billie Piper has been getting into character for her latest role as the BBC producer who secured that shocking Prince Andrew interview on Newsnight.

The British actress, 40, looked completely in the zone as she was pictured filming a scene playing Sam McAllister near Buckingham Palace recently.

The prominent interview was carried out over a 58-minute programme, with Prince Andrew, Duke of York interviewed by journalist Emily Maitlis about his relationship with the American convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Starring Gillian Anderson as Emily, who carried out the interview, the film will also feature Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew.

She looked a mirror image of the former Interviews Producer at BBC's Newsnight, where her job was to set up high profile guests and special programmes.

In character: Billie Piper, 40, has been getting into character for her latest role as the BBC producer who secured that shocking Prince Andrew interview on Newsnight

Working hard: The British actress looked completely in the zone as she was pictured filming a scene playing Sam McAllister near Buckingham Palace recently

Designer: Surrounded by camera crew as she took to the set, Billie sported a pair of fitted leather-look leggings with a Louis Vuitton bag in hand

Sam previously said of her role, which she had for just shy of a decade until July 2021, that she is 'used to persuading reluctant individuals to participate in a globally renowned news programme' and 'putting together news reports and briefs on the day'.

Surrounded by camera crew as she took to the set, Billie sported a pair of fitted leather-look leggings with a Louis Vuitton bag in hand.

She layered a faux fur collared coat on top with a gold Chanel brooch, adding a pair of leopard print heeled boots.

Sporting a glam make-up look Billie wore her blonde tresses loose in curls past her shoulders.

She was dressed from head-to-toe in designer gear for the scenes, which were being filmed with a backdrop of the palace.

Last month was spotted shooting at an outdoor restaurant with the unknown male actor and they chatted away before embracing for a cheeky kiss.

Once again carrying a large Louis Vuitton handbag, the actress looked the spitting image of Sam while rocking her hair in a similar curly style as the blonde producer.

Shielding her eyes with a pair of brown-tinted metal sunglasses, Billie was kitted out with a collection of gold jewellery while filming the scenes.

Real life to film: Billie (left) looked a mirror image of the former Interviews Producer (right) at BBC's Newsnight, where her job was to set up high profile guests and special programmes

Designer: Surrounded by camera crew as she took to the set, Billie sported a pair of fitted leather-look leggings with a Louis Vuitton bag in hand

Glam: She layered a faux fur collared coat on top with a gold Chanel brooch, adding a pair of leopard print heeled boots

Keeping warm: In the scenes Billie bundled up from the cold

Break: During a break in filming Billie donned a warm coat as she chatted with the crew

On the move: She later filmed scenes in the back of a black taxi

Tourist destination: She was dressed from head-to-toe in designer gear for the scenes, which were being filmed with a backdrop of the palace

Crew: A large film crew was located outside the King's residence

Sam was also pictured on set as she watched Billie fill her shoes, with the pair looking extremely similar.

BAFTA nominated interviews producer Sam has negotiated with contacts from Buckingham Palace to The White House - securing and negotiating the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew.

Scoop is based on Sam's memoir, Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews.

In the film, Netflix is going to detail the behind-the-scenes account of what has been dubbed the 'news interview of the decade'.

While Keeley Hawes will also star in the release, portraying Amanda Thirsk, the former Private Secretary to Prince Andrew.

Not long after the interview, the royal stood down from public duties.

Interview: The prominent interview was carried out over a 58-minute programme, with Prince Andrew, Duke of York interviewed by journalist Emily Maitlis (pictured during the interview) about his relationship with the American convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Starring Gillian Anderson as Emily, who carried out the interview

Award winning: Sam McAllister & Emily Maitlis pick up their award as the winners of The BBC News and Factual Award attend the 30th Women in Film & Television Awards on December 3, 2021 for their interview with Prince Andrew

While in 2022, The Queen announced that he would be stripped of his royal titles, patronages and military affiliations  as he faced a US civil action lawsuit over sexual assault allegations from Virginia Giuffre - which he strongly denied.

When the news of the Netflix film was revealed, a pleased Sam tweeted out: 'Thrilled that my book #Scoops is becoming a Netflix film, with an extraordinary cast. Being played by @billiepiper is beyond my wildest dreams.'

The film's synopsis reads: 'The inside track of the women that broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of The Queens favourite son.

'From navigating Palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrews inner circle, the high stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal  to the jaw dropping interview itself.'

Directed by Philip Martin, Scoop has no official air date yet.
Kourtney Kardashian appeared on Instagram on Saturday morning to share a carousel of images with her 217 million followers.

The 43-year-old POOSH founder posted outtakes from a family vacation at a lake, where she was joined by husband Travis Barker, 47.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians alum  who was recently criticized online  opened the slideshow with a video clip of a scenic sunset over a lake.

Another snapshot showed the Hulu personality in a black bucket hat with sport black sunglasses.

She wore a matching black zip-up swimsuit as she snapped a selfie on a boat and in her caption she wrote: 'Dear summer.'

Memories: Kourtney Kardashian appeared on Instagram on Saturday morning to share a carousel of images with her 217 million followers

One of Kourtney's followers was confused about the timing of the photos as she asked in the comments, 'It's March, is this last summer? Or starting this year early?'

Another fan commented, 'So happy you made this change in your life with Travis.. so much beauty in your family time with your kiddos.'

A group image showcased Kourtney, daughter Penelope, 10, son Reign, 8, stepdaughter Atiana, 24, and Travis preparing to zipline.

They all sported protective blue helmets as they made faces for the flick, which was taken in front of lush green trees.

Elsewhere in the roundup of pictures Kardashian smiled while wakesurfing in a long-sleeved neon pink swimsuit and black and white life jacket.

Kourtney was makeup-free and her then-raven-colored locks were pulled back with a center part.

The photos seem to be from an August 2022 trip, which Mrs. Barker posted online at the time.

The lovebirds are coming up on their one-year wedding anniversary.

Catching waves: Elsewhere in the roundup of pictures Kardashian smiled while wakesurfing in a long-sleeved neon pink swimsuit and black and white life jacket

Cute: A snapshot showed the Hulu personality in a black bucket hat with sport black sunglasses

After getting 'hitched' in Las Vegas without a license, the couple made things official with a ceremony at the historic Santa Barbara courthouse followed by a more lavish affair in Portofino, Italy.

The couple exchanged vows in front of friends and family in a star-studded soiree in Italy on May 22, 2022.

Earlier this month, Kourtney marked the one year anniversary of kicking off her wedding dress design process.

Kourtney shared photos of her gorgeous mini dress with elaborate Virgin Mary veil, along with sketches of the frock and snaps of her in the final product.

'One year ago, we had our first in-person meeting with @dolcegabbana to start the design process of my wedding dress!!' she posted on Instagram.

'The first inspiration for my dress was when Travis and I were watching Guns N Roses November Rain video one night before we were even engaged, and we said to each other "this has to be our wedding."'

Family affair: Kourtney showed a photo of her daughter Penelope and son Reign walking behind husband Travis Barker

Silly: Reign made a playful facial expression as he entertained himself inside the boa

'She was wearing a short dress and I thought to myself "I need a short dress!" I had more visions inspired by some 1990s campaigns of Monica Bellucci shot by Helmut Newton for Blumarine.

'When we knew our wedding was going to be in Portofino, it also influenced the vibes and feeling of the dress. I also just wanted to feel like we ran off to Italy and got married and wanted the dress and wedding to feel that way!

'When @dolcegabbana suggested putting Traviss head tattoo of the Virgin Mary on the handmade lace veil with the words from his tattoo: family, loyalty, respect underneath, I got chills and knew how special that felt. (And my little mini veil I wore to dinner ).

'This was all planned and made into my dream come true all so so quickly and Im so grateful to everyone who put their all into making it all happen!'

Flashback: The photos seem to be from an August 2022 trip, which Mrs. Barker posted online at the time
Gigi Hadid and Zendaya looked effortlessly glamorous as they led the stars at the launch of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Saturday.

The supermodel, 27, made sure to capture attention in a gold ensemble while actress Zendaya, 26, looked equally as elegant as they arrived at the Jio World Centre.

Gigi turned heads in an extravagant gold sari, made up of a sparkling beaded top and woven silk fabric adorned with sequins and intricate stitching.

She added a few extra inches in a pair of Champagne Tiara slingback from luxury brand Aquazzura, that boasted mesh and bejewelled detailing.

Accessorising her statement look with an array of bangles and chunky gold earrings.

Stunners: Gigi Hadid and Zendaya looked effortlessly glamorous as they led the stars at the launch of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Saturday

Gorgeous: The supermodel, 27, made sure to capture attention in a gold ensemble as she arrived at the Jio World Centre

Glam: Gigi turned heads in an extravagant gold sari, made up of a sparkling beaded top and woven silk fabric adorned with sequins and intricate stitching

The Next In Fashion judge accentuated her natural beauty with a high-glamour make-up palette and swept her golden locks back into a sleek up-do.

She was joined at the star-studded event by Zendaya, who showed off her incredible figure in a one-shouldered navy ensemble.

Her statement gown boasted a blue bra adorned with beaded gold birds and a dramatic sheer train and skirt featuring colourful floral designs around the hem.

She accessorised her bold outfit with sparkling silver bangles and silver earrings as she posed up a storm at the glitzy affair.

The Euphoria star styled her brunette tresses in a glamorous low-bun and bolstered her striking features with a shimmering gold eyeshadow palette.

Zendaya was seen posing with Law Roach after he recently shocked the fashion world when he announced his retirement, saying 'the politics, the lies and false narratives finally got me'.

'My Cup is empty.. thank you to everyone who've supported me and my career over the years. Every person that trusted me with their image, I'm so grateful for you all,' he wrote in a social media post.

'If this business was just about the clothes I would do it for the rest of my life but unfortunately it's not!' he added. 'The politics, the lies and false narratives finally got me! You win  I'm out.'

Elsewhere, Zendaya's boyfriend Tom Holland was also in attendance, but was seen posing separately to his girlfriend upon his arrival at the event.

The Spiderman actor, 26, cut a suave figure in a black tuxedo and patent suit shoes, while he styled his brunette locks in a natural curled style.

The loved-up couple were seen arriving at Mumbai Airport together on Friday ahead of the star-studded event.

Zendaya and Tom met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, but they denied rumours of a relationship for a long time.

Golden: She accessorised her statement look with an array of bangles and chunky gold earrings

Statement look: She was joined at the star-studded event by Zendaya, who showed off her incredible figure in a one-shouldered navy ensemble

Incredible: Her statement gown boasted a blue bra adorned with beaded gold birds and a dramatic sheer train and skirt featuring colourful floral designs around the hem

Sensational: Zendaya did not fail to turn heads in her gorgeous ensemble, which gave a glimpse at her toned midriff

Helping hand: Zendaya was seen being given assistance with her statement train as she arrived at the event

Posing: She accessorised her bold outfit with sparkling silver bangles and silver earrings as she posed up a storm alongside other stars at the glitzy affair

Eye-catching: The Euphoria star styled her brunette tresses in a glamorous low-bun and bolstered her striking features with a shimmering gold eyeshadow palette

Greetings: Zendaya was seen kissing another attendee on the cheek as she showed off her gorgeous outfit

Pals: Zendaya was seen posing with Law Roach after he recently shocked the fashion world when he announced his retirement

Vibrant: Law looked incredible in a black ensemble boasting vibrant embroidered pink and orange flowers as he posed with Rahul Mishra

Smart: Elsewhere, Zendaya's boyfriend Tom Holland was also in attendance, but was seen posing separately to his girlfriend upon his arrival at the event

Dapper: The Spiderman actor, 26, cut a suave figure in a black tuxedo and patent suit shoes, while he styled his brunette locks in a natural curled style

Good spirits: Tom appeared to be in jovial form as he posed at the event, after touching down in Mumbai alongside Zendaya

Romance: Zendaya and Tom met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, but they denied rumours of a relationship before they were seen kissing in July 2021

They were then spotted sharing a kiss in Tom's car in July 2021 and have been going strong ever since but are very private about their romance.

But in a rare move, Tom recently gushed over Zendaya's look for the NAACP Image Awards, taking to her comment section and leaving three heart-eyed emoji's.

It comes after Us Weekly reported that the actress and her beau are in 'settling-down mode.'

A source also said the couple 'are absolutely planning for a real future together'.

Elsewhere at the launch in Mumbai, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas were seen looking as loved-up as ever.

The actress, 40, made sure to capture attention in a very extravagant ensemble as she posed arm-in-arm with her husband Nick, 30.

She put on a very leggy display in a strapless gown with a shimmering purple bandeau and a floating silk multicoloured patterned skirt.

Priyanka gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of sequinned purple stilettos and accessorised her ensemble with a silver jewelled choker necklace.

She styled her glossy brunette tresses loosely across her shoulders in glamorous waves and bolstered her striking features with lashings of mascara.

The former Bollywood star put on a very cosy display with her husband, who cut a smart figure in smart trousers and a black T-shirt.

The Jonas Brothers star completed his ensemble with a pair of patent suit shoes and swept a smart black jacket across his shoulders.

Their latest outing comes after Priyanka revealed that she was originally wary about dating Nick because of their 10-year age gap.

She shared that Nick had messaged her on social media two years before they started dating but she was worried about getting involved with someone so much younger than her.

Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast, she explained: 'I didn't want to engage as much at the time... I was also like 35, Nick was 25.'

She added: 'I really put a stop to it in a way because I judged the book by the cover. I said, "I wanna settle down. I have been there and done the fun dating things. was like ready to get serious".'

Smitten: Elsewhere at the launch in Mumbai, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas were seen looking as loved-up as ever

Eye-catching: The actress, 40, made sure to capture attention in a very extravagant ensemble as she posed arm-in-arm with her husband Nick, 30

Vibrant: She put on a very leggy display in a strapless gown with a shimmering purple bandeau and a floating silk multicoloured patterned skirt

Leggy display: Priyanka gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of sequinned purple stilettos and accessorised her ensemble with a silver jewelled choker necklace

Glitzy: She styled her glossy brunette tresses loosely across her shoulders in glamorous waves for the occasion

Good spirits: Priyanka bolstered her striking features with lashings of mascara and a touch of pink lipstick

Stylish: Nick cut a smart figure in smart trousers and a black T-shirt, which he styled with with a pair of patent suit shoes and a black jacket

Stunning: Penelope Cruz, 48, looked sensational in a glamorous baby pink with a stunning feathered trim and a dramatic cape

After first getting a message from Nick via Twitter back in 2016, they went on to meet in person a year later in 2017 and ended up keeping in touch via text.

However, Priyanka said she was still reluctant to jump into another relationship because she was worried about making the same dating 'mistakes' again.

She added: 'I kept making the same mistakes. A lot of the pattern in my relationships was me feeling gaslit because I gave that kind of power to the people that I was with, where I was like, "You come first".'

But in May 2018, the couple started dating and they tied the knot in India in December 2018. They welcomed daughter Malti Marie via surrogate in 2022.
Gogglebox viewers were left in hysterics on Friday after two of the show's favourite stars said they had no idea who Charles Dickens was.

The famed author who wrote Oliver Twist was brought up during the episode as couples watch a selection of the week's telly.

During the episode Abbie Lynn turned to her pal Georgia Bell and asked: 'Do you know who Charles Dickens is?'.

'Do I hell' Georgia exclaimed to which Abbie proffered: 'I think he writes a book called Twit and T****'.

The duo appeared totally confused by the exchange and then went on to try and work out who in fact wrote the rudely titled novel.

LOL: Gogglebox viewers were left in hysterics on Friday after Abbie Lynn (left) and Georgia Bell (right) said they had no idea who Charles Dickens was

History: The famed author who wrote Oliver Twist was brought up during the episode (Mark Lester pictured in the 1968 adaptation Oliver!'

Racing to Twitter one fan wrote: 'They don't know who Charles Dickens is... ??!'.

While a second said: 'I'm sorry bit you can't live in England and not have heard of Charles Dickens. [Oliver] Twist is a school staple. 5 different versions of Christmas Carol are on every year. What school did these girls go to?'.

With a third commenting: 'The innocence of youth, they do make me laugh' and a fourth said: 'Twit and t*** I can't cope'.

While another bemoaned: 'I am in despair - do none of these people know Charles Dickens, even less read his books'.

While someone else joked: 'They probably think Charles Dickens is a porn star'.

The author was born in 1812 and wrote a whole host of classic stories including Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol, he dies in 1870 aged just 58.

It comes after disappointed viewers of the latest Great Expectations adaption said they had to 'switch over' when watching the first episode of the BBC1 series last month.

Those who tuned in to the series based on the 1861 novel complained that it was 'too dark', featured too much swearing and was 'unrecognisable' from the original tale.

Hysterics: Racing to Twitter one fan wrote: 'They don't know who Charles Dickens is... ??!'

The man himself: The author was born in 1812 and wrote a whole host of classic stories including Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol, he dies in 1870 aged just 58

Written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen, the novel has been given a new twist, but those watching this version at home were left unimpressed.

The series stars Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham - who is portrayed as an opium addict - while Fionn Whitehead stars as Pip, Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella, Ashley Thomas as Mr Jaggers and Johnny Harris as Magwitch.

One wrote on Twitter in reaction after the first instalment: '#GreatExpectations Too dark, too sweary, too unrecognisable'.

Another said: ' Why does the BBC have to include the 'f' word constantly even in a Dickens story? #GreatExpectations.'

A third said: 'That whirring sound is Charles Dickens spinning in his grave. WTF BBC? #GreatExpectations.'

Another said: 'I'm not feeling #Greatexpectations here. Feeling the need to turn it off!'

Oh no: It comes after disappointed viewers of the latest Great Expectations adaption said they had to 'switch over' when watching the first episode (Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham)

Not happy: Those who tuned in to the adaptation of Charlies Dickens' 1861 novel complained that it was 'too dark' (young Pip is pictured)

After just a few minutes another said: 'Already hit the off button #GreatExpectations.'

Another wrote: 'Not a great start so far. This is less an adaptation than a confection! Why does the BBC think it has the creative ability to improve Dickens? It really hasn't! Rant over. #GreatExpectations.'

A different disappointed viewer said: 'Well, I managed to watch 18 minutes ... and that was enough. Now over to Netflix #GreatExpectations.'

Someone else said: 'Not all that much like the book so far. #GreatExpectations.'

Another said: 'New #GreatExpectations isn't terribly good'

However there were a few who enjoyed the episode, with one saying: 'Different, exciting, brilliant interpretation. Absolutely fabulous.'

Cast: The series stars Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham (pictured) - who is portrayed as an opium addict - while Fionn Whitehead stars as Pip, Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella, Ashley Thomas as Mr Jaggers and Johnny Harris as Magwitch

Another said: 'I enjoyed the first episode of #GreatExpectations after reading some comments on Twitter. Some folk are very quick to review/criticise or expect so much at once.'

A third said: 'That was a quick hour. Really enjoyed that!'

Great Expectations is the second Dickens adaptation penned by Steven, following the hit limited series A Christmas Carol.

Author Charles first released the work in a series of weekly chapters beginning in December 1860, before it was subsequently published as a novel.

His famous novel follows the story of Pip, who lives with his sister Mrs Joe Gargery and her blacksmith husband Joe.

The bitter Miss Havisham engineers a meeting between the young Pip and Estella with a view to having him fall in love with her so she can break his heart.

Line of Duty actress Shalom plays the aloof and enigmatic Estella, who becomes Pip's obsession.

Steven adapted Dickens' A Christmas Carol for the BBC in 2019, starring Guy Pearce as Scrooge.
A Yellowstone spin-off starring Matthew McConaughey is set to move forward whether or not Kevin Costner remains with the original series.

The actor, 53, who is currently working with Woody Harrelson on comedy for Apple, has been negotiating to head West in a Yellowstone spin-off.

The nature or time frame of a McConaughey spin-off has not been revealed yet.

Paramount president and CEO Chris McCarthy has said the new show starring McConaughey will go on, regardless of whether Kevin Costner decides to stay with the original series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor, 68, who stars as Dutton family head John Dutton, has asked to cut back on his Yellowstone shooting schedule quite drastically and could leave the series in order to focus on his own film project, a multi-part western epic Horizon, according to Deadline.

Go West: Matthew McConaughey appeared to be one step closer to saddling up for a new role soon. The actor, 53, has been negotiating to head West in a Yellowstone spin-off. The nature or time frame of a McConaughey spin-off has not been revealed yet (Pictured in Austin, TX in November 2019)

Costner co-wrote the script and will direct the project as well.

Yellowstone is currently the most watched show on cable and broadcast.

McCarthy did not comment on the show's future with Costner, but did say the drama 'wouldnt be what it is today without Kevin and we hope that that stays for a long time to come.'

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has already put together two very successful spinoffs.

1883, starred Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as the original Dutton pioneers who settled in Wyoming after the tragic death of their daughter, Elsa, played by Isabel May.

1923, starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford has been renewed for a second season, as the Dutton family struggles with a changing landscape in the early part of the 20th century.

'I really didnt realize how much work 1923 was going to be,' the 80-year-old actor told The Hollywood Reporter, 'and I absolutely feel its worth it.'

The action star, who is also starring in the Apple+ dramady Shrinking, which will also be returning for a second season said 'Im excited to do another season of both.'

Going forward: Paramount president and CEO Chris McCarthy as saying the new show starring McConaughey will go on, regardless of whether Kevin Costner decides to stay with the original series

Rumors: Kevin Costner, 68, who stars as Dutton family head John Dutton, has asked to cut back on his Yellowstone shooting schedule and could leave the series in order to focus on his own film project, a multi-part western epic Horizon, according to Deadline

1883: The first Yellowstone spin-off, 1883, was quite successful. The drama starred Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as the original Dutton pioneers who settled in Wyoming after the tragic death of their daughter, Elsa, played by Isabel May

Season 2: 1923, starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford has been renewed for a second season, as the Dutton family struggles with a changing landscape in the early part of the 20th century

History: Besides the reported Matthew McConaughey project, Sheridan has another nine shows in the works, including Bass Reeves. David Oyelowo, 47, will star as the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River in American history

Mirren concurred, calling the renewal 'very happy news as far as I was concerned.'

'Im fascinated to see where Cara is going to go,' she told Deadline.

Besides the reported Matthew McConaughey project, Sheridan has another nine shows in the works, including Bass Reeves.

David Oyelowo, 47, will star as the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River in American history.
Olivia Wilde looked stunning as she stepped out for a Friday night out in Santa Monica, California.

The 39-year-old actress put on a stylish display in an ivory-colored, fleece trench coat that she threw over an off-white Bella Freud sweater and a pair of flared black trousers.

The Don't Worry Darling director blonde-highlighted tresses in a casual and loose updo to show off a pair of chic, rectangular hoop earrings.

This comes just days after her ex-boyfriend, Harry Styles, 29, was spotted making out in Tokyo, Japan with her friend Emily Ratajkowski, 31.

As the weekend begins, the House alum seemed to be in good spirits, despite a source previously revealing she felt 'betrayed' by the model and perceived the romance as a violation of girl code.

Classic beauty: Olivia Wilde, 39, looked stunning as she stepped out for a Friday night out in Santa Monica, California

The Cowboys & Aliens star appeared to be walking into a parking lot after enjoying dinner with pals.

She modeled a pair of patent leather, black booties to match her black-and-white ensemble.

Underneath her overcoat, she wore a crossbody purse with a simple black, leather strap.

The mother-of-two opted for a light makeup look to show off her natural and radiant beauty.

Earlier this week, her ex  whom she was in a relationship with for two years  was spotted sharing a steamy kiss with her friend in a video published exclusively by DailyMail.com.

Not even two weeks earlier, Ratajkowski was spotted hanging out with Wilde at the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty.

At the time, an insider told DailyMail.com, 'Olivia and Emily were friends, and this is a betrayal.'

Despite it all, the source stated that Wilde is continuing to focus on moving on and forward.

Cozy and chic: The actress put on a stylish display in an ivory-colored, fleece trench coat that she threw over an off-white Bella Freud sweater and a pair of flared black trousers.

Friday night out: The Cowboys & Aliens star appeared to be walking into a parking lot after enjoying dinner with pals

'Olivia does not want to be dragged into this mess, and she refuses to go backwards in her life,' they said.

'She is focused on her career and her kids and not giving this any more of her energy,' the insider continued, adding that Wilde is ready to get back on the dating scene herself.

The insider told DailyMail.com that Olivia 'is open to dating again, but she refuses to settle for anything less than she deserves.'

Wilde and Styles split in November of last year, and since then, she has been rumored to be rekindling her romance with her ex-husband  Jason Sudeikis, 47.

In recent months, Wilde and the Ted Lasso actor have been in the midst of a custody battle over their two children  son Otis, eight, and daughter Daisy, six.
Brittany Furlan has cleared the air over any doubt that she is not on good terms with Pamela Anderson.

The 36-year-old comedian spoke to TMZ after her Thursday night set at The Improv in Hollywood, telling cameras she and the former Baywatch babe, 55, are 'all cool.'

Furlan, who's been married to Pam's ex-husband Tommy Lee, 60, since 2019, also told the publication: 'We're all good. We want happiness, we want everyone to be friends.'

It comes after last month Brittany appeared on TikTok to share a now-deleted post mocking the blonde bombshell.

In the brief clip she imitated how Anderson would react to news of Brittany's hypothetical death as she mouthed: 'She passed away? Oh, hmmm, alright.'

Update: Brittany Furlan has cleared the air over any doubt that she is not on good terms with Pamela Anderson

Brittany also dished to the publication that her standup routine did not include any references to Pam.

She did, however, joke openly about her sex life with her husband, who was married to Pam from 1995-1998.

For her 12-minute set Brittany wore a black outfit consisting of a skintight tank top and high-waisted loose-fitting trousers.

She added a stylish black leather belt with a silver-toned chain accessory as she delivered her comedic monologue.

Farlan later took to Instagram to share outtakes from the performance with her 2.3 million followers.

The entertainer, who rose to fame with her humorous internet videos, wrote in the caption, 'Its good to be back baby. Thank you to everyone who came out last night. More dates announced soon.'

The star also revealed to TMZ's cameras that she hasn't heard from Anderson recently but said 'of course' when asked if she would be open to talking to the Playboy cover girl.

And the media personality described her comedy routine as 'self-deprecating' and clarified she would 'never' joke about Anderson on stage.

Performance look: For her 12-minute set Brittany wore a black outfit consisting of a skintight tank top and high-waisted loose-fitting trousers

Furlan, who's been married to Pam's ex-husband Tommy Lee, 60, since 2019, told TMZ: 'We're all good. We want happiness, we want everyone to be friends'

After receiving some backlash for her playful Pamela parody Furlan said people 'mistook' the post.

She had written in the caption at the time: 'Pls guys I gotta make jokes, it's how I cope,' but she was deluged with criticism anyway and eventually deleted the clip.

It came after Pamela told WSJ magazine about unpacking details of her relationship with Tommy in her memoir Love, Pamela: 'Im sure its going to be annoying to his wife. Id be annoyed.'

She divulged in the book that her 'relationship with Tommy may have been the only time I was ever truly in love' and declared that she ultimately left him because she 'had to protect my babies.'

Pamela accused Tommy of physically attacking her while she was holding their son Dylan when he was an infant.

Tommy ultimately served four months of a six-month sentence after pleading no contest to felony spousal battery.

Pamela revealed in a recent interview that her current contact with Tommy consists of 'just a text here and there. Nothing too crazy. He's married and happy and she's good to him and I want to support that.'

Pam and Tommy share Brandon Thomas Lee, 26, and Dylan Jagger Lee, 25.
She has a natural gift with numbers. But Countdown genius Carol Vorderman has now revealed another 'superpower'  honed from 'being slagged off for 40 years'.

The 62-year-old says it allows her to brush off any personal criticism as she embraces the role of an anti-corruption activist.

She tells today's You magazine: 'When you've had false headlines written about you, helicopters over your house, your kids followed by paparazzi, and every part of your life  my body, my face, my hair, my sweaty armpits, my cellulite  has had abuse flung at it over a very long period of time, one of two things happens.

'You either go under, which I will never do. Or it gives you a superpower.

'You think, 'Well, you [her critics] haven't got anything more in your bloody locker, have you?' I've got nothing to apologise for so I live without apology.

Carol Vorderman, 61, has told YOU magazine that she has been 'slagged off for 40 years'

Ms Vorderman in Countdown in ITV in 1984

'And where I feel a sense of right or wrong  as opposed to right or left  I call it out.'

Miss Vorderman recently hit the headlines after clashing with Women's Health Minister Maria Caulfield over menopausal workers. She also launched a broadside against former friend Baroness Mone over allegations she had profited after lobbying for PPE contracts during the pandemic.

'I've always kept my opinions to myself but I've been so angered by the lack of freedom of speech and what I believe is corruption that has been taking place,' she explains.

'So many people every day in the street stop me and say, 'Thank you, we feel we have no voice.' '

Miss Vorderman's unapologetic attitude also extends to her love life and her 'no-strings-attached' relationships with multiple men.

Calling them her 'special friends', the mother-of-two adds: 'I'm continuing with that system and it's working very well.

'There are five of them. One's been a friend for 11 years, one for seven. My kids know most of them.'

Miss Vorderman said all of them are single and she works on the principle she is doing 'no harm'.

Miss Vorderman recently hit the headlines after clashing with Women's Health Minister Maria Caulfield (pictured) over menopausal workers
Draped in the finest Valentino couture, Florence Pugh exudes the kind of enigmatic glamour that has made her the toast of Hollywood.

But as our pictures taken this week show, the Oxford-born star of Don't Worry Darling and Little Women has not lost any of her down-to-earth charisma.

The 27-year-old was spotted munching crisps and puffing on a cigarette during a break in filming an advert for the Italian fashion house in Rome.

Dressed in a flowing apricot gown with feathered trim, Florence laughed with the crew on a balcony overlooking the city's Piazza Venezia as she attempted to snack without ruining one of her outfits  aided by Valentino's creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, who gallantly held a napkin under her chin to catch any crumbs.

The pair chatted animatedly, at one point sharing a cigarette and putting their arms around each other as Florence clutched a crisp packet.

Draped in the finest Valentino couture, Florence Pugh exudes the kind of enigmatic glamour that has made her the toast of Hollywood

But as our pictures taken this week show, the Oxford-born star of Don't Worry Darling and Little Women has not lost any of her down-to-earth charisma

The pair chatted animatedly, at one point sharing a cigarette and putting their arms around each other as Florence clutched a crisp packet

Moments earlier, the star had been filmed exhibiting far more elegant poise in the floor-length dress as she held its layers of chiffon fabric aloft for the cameras.

She also appeared in a striking ruffled fuchsia-pink outfit, a lime-green dress and in an elegant ivory satin cape-style gown with pussybow neck-tie for the fashion house's latest campaign.

The actress, who is said to be dating Charlie Gooch, a friend from her Oxford schooldays, after ending her three-year relationship with actor and director Zach Braff, 47, has appeared regularly in Valentino and has attracted praise for her fashion choices.

At the Oscars ceremony last month, she appeared on the red carpet in a voluminous off-white gown by the brand, and she also turned to the designer for a quirky take on a black tie outfit for the premiere of her latest film, A Good Person, in New York.

The film, in which she plays Allison, a young woman who becomes addicted to opioid painkillers following her involvement in a fatal car accident, was directed by Braff.

But filming is likely to have been less troublesome than during her previous movie, Don't Worry Darling.

Pugh allegedly fell out with director Olivia Wilde amid rumours Florence and her co-star Harry Styles, who was then dating Wilde, shared a kiss off-set.

Dressed in a flowing apricot gown with feathered trim, Florence laughed with the crew on a balcony overlooking the city's Piazza Venezia as she attempted to snack without ruining one of her outfits  aided by Valentino's creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, who gallantly held a napkin under her chin to catch any crumbs

But filming is likely to have been less troublesome than during her previous movie, Don't Worry Darling. Pugh allegedly fell out with director Olivia Wilde amid rumours Florence and her co-star Harry Styles, who was then dating Wilde, shared a kiss off-set

The film, in which she plays Allison, a young woman who becomes addicted to opioid painkillers following her involvement in a fatal car accident, was directed by Braff
She helped make James Bond 'woke'  and then killed him off. But now it appears Phoebe Waller-Bridge may be responsible for 007's resurrection, as director of the next Bond movie.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that the Fleabag star  who helped write the script of No Time To Die, the 2021 film which saw Daniel Craig's Bond sacrifice himself to save his loved ones  has been in 'early discussions' with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli.

Ms Broccoli, whose Eon Productions owns the rights to 007, has called Ms Waller-Bridge, 37, her number one choice to direct the 26th film in the franchise.

A source said: 'Daniel Craig brought Phoebe in to work on No Time To Die, and she added humour and pathos to the film. Everyone adored working with her.

'It's very early days, but Barbara has been quite open about saying Phoebe would be her first choice to direct and co-write the next film.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge (pictured last month) has been in 'early discussions' with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli

A source said: 'Daniel Craig brought Phoebe in to work on No Time To Die, and she added humour and pathos to the film. Everyone adored working with her.'

'Barbara believes Phoebe is a huge talent and brings a fresh, modern take to Bond. They've already had very early discussions, but there are lots of variables in the equation, including Phoebe's increasingly packed schedule.'

Ms Waller-Bridge is about to hit the big screens as Harrison Ford's feisty goddaughter Helena in the fifth and final Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month and is already tipped to be the summer's biggest blockbuster.

She is also writing a script for a new Tomb Raider TV series for streaming service Amazon, as well starring in the fantasy comedy If, featuring Ryan Reynolds and Steve Carrell, which will come out in 2024.

The source said: 'Phoebe's a workaholic and her schedule is packed. But the next Bond won't go into production until next year and won't be released until 2025, so everyone is hoping she can work it into her schedule.'

Meanwhile, rumours have been rife over who will replace Craig as Bond. Fan favourite Idris Elba recently ruled himself out as 'too old'. But other names in the frame include Tom Hardy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Rege-Jean Page.

Ms Broccoli insists that Craig's replacement has not yet been chosen, but has said she has a clear vision for the next 007: 'He can be of any colour, but he is male. You think of him as being from Britain or the Commonwealth, but Britain is a very diverse place. We're reinventing who he is, and that takes time.'
Penelope Cruz looked sensational at the launch of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Saturday.

The actress, 48, made sure to turn heads in the glamorous baby pink with a stunning feathered trim and a dramatic cape.

She flashed a glimpse of her toned legs through the thigh-high leg split as a train of fabric trailed behind her.

Penelope's dress nipped in to show off her taut waist and was completed with a ruched bodice.

She boosted her height with a pair of strappy silver heels and accessorised with some dangly earrings.

Stunning: Penelope Cruz, 48, looked sensational at the launch of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Saturday

The star styled her glossy brunette hair into a sleek high ponytail with voluminous curls.

Posing for a series of snaps on the pink carpet, Penelope topped off her look with a radiant makeup palette.

It comes following the news that Scarlett Johansson and Penelope may be working together again.

The actresses memorably kissed in Woody Allen's love triangle story Vicky Cristina Barcelona with Javier Bardem from 2008.

Now Johansson - who was on SNL last week - and Cruz are in talks to work with Michael Fassbender and Owen Wilson in a Netflix film from director Nancy Meyers.

The big-budget movie is currently titled Paris Paramount.

It tells the story of an above-the-line filmmaking duo who begrudgingly reunite on set after falling in and out of love with one another.

Meyers is directing from her own script and also serves as a producer on the film.

Incredible: The actress made sure to turn heads in the glamorous baby pink with a stunning feathered trim and a dramatic cape

Glamorous: She flashed a glimpse of her toned legs through the thigh-high leg split as a train of fabric trailed behind her

This marks her first behind the camera since the 2015 flick The Intern.

That drama starred Robert DeNiro as the intern and Anne Hathaway as his type A boss.

Sources say that actor deals for Paris Paramount are yet to be sealed as budgeting on the project is still being worked out.

Netflix has not commented on the news.
She has spoken to hundreds of celebrities during her 30-year television career.

But Sonia Kruger has revealed the worst A-lister she's ever interviewed was Hugh Grant.

In a column for Stellar Magazine, the 57-year-old explained she had secured a chat with the English actor back in 2004 following his role in Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason.

'I was excited to meet one of my favourite actors, so I arrived bright-eyed and bushy tailed  unlike Hugh, who wasn't chirpy at all,' she began.

Sonia said she didn't let Hugh's mood 'deter me' and continued the interview by acknowledging his recent birthday but it 'garnered nothing but scorn and suspicion'.

Sunrise reporter Sonia Kruger (pictured) has revealed the worst A-list celebrity she's ever interviewed was Hugh Grant - following the star's eyebrow-raising red carpet chat with Ashley Graham at the Oscars last month

During the interview, Sonia revealed she decided to stop and ask Hugh if he was ok.

'In reply, he said he wanted to know why I wanted to know. So I replied, "Because you don't appear to be very happy".'

'He seemed to be shocked that I had called him out on his demeanour and, from that moment on, Hugh became a totally different guy,' she explained.

In a column for Stellar Magazine, Sonia explained she had secured a chat with Hugh Grant (pictured) in 2004 but he 'wasn't chirpy at all'

It comes after Hugh shut down Ashley Graham and rolled his eyes at her in a red carpet chat branded 'the worst interview ever' at the star-studded Oscars last month.

The actor was not amused as he stepped out to the glitzy Los Angeles event, and openly showed his disdain towards the 34-year-old supermodel's questions.

The Four Weddings and a Funeral star kept his answers to her questions as short as possible and made his blatant disinterest well known.

During the interview, Sonia revealed she decided to stop and ask Hugh if he was ok. 'In reply, he said he wanted to know why I wanted to know. So I replied, "Because you don't appear to be very happy"'

Kicking off the chat, bubbly Ashley exclaimed: 'What was it like to be in Glass Onion? How fun is it to shoot something like that?'

But she was met with a cringeworthy response: 'Well I'm barely in it, I was in it for about three seconds,' Hugh quipped.

'It still must have been fun though, you had fun right?' Ashley said as she powered through the one-sided chat.

'Erm... almost,' the actor replied as he looked away.

Grinning and bearing the interview, the model asked: 'What are you wearing?' While Hugh offered an insightful: 'My suit.'
Barry Keoghan is enjoying the trappings of new-found fame thanks to his Bafta-winning role in hit film The Banshees Of Inisherin  but has he also become aware of the downside?

The Irish actor is beefing up his personal security  though he hasnt hired a burly minder to make sure fans dont get too close. Instead, hes paying 350 a week to have his German shepherd, Koda, trained as a canine bodyguard.

Barry, 30, named Koda after a wolf he met at a rescue centre during his work with US charity Wolf Connection.

Barry Keoghan, pictured, who won a BAFTA for his role in The Banshees of Inisheran, has had his German Shepherd trained to become his bodyguard

Barry is paying 350 a week for his pet, Koda, pictured, specially trained to protect him

Vanessa talks sense... to herself

How do you protect yourself from some of the cut-throat opinions expressed within the acting industry?

According to The Crown actress Vanessa Kirby, you give yourself a good talking-to  as if you were a child.

Chatting at swish London community club The Conduit last week, Vanessa, 34, said: In our industry, so much of it is about other peoples opinions  what they think, whether they think its good enough, and never whether you think its good enough. I had to learn to parent myself, imagine I was talking to a five-year-old.

Hope there was no cheeky backchat from the young Vanessa!

Vanessa Kirby said you have to protect yourself when working in the cut-throat acting injury

There was no red-carpet treatment for Oscar-nominated Florence Pugh when she pitched up late for pal Paul Mescals West End performance in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The Little Women star had to catch the first 20 minutes on a tiny TV in the Phoenix Theatre lobby to avoid disrupting Wednesday nights audience.

She was eventually allowed to take her seat in the auditorium when there was a break in the action.
Falling trees, a consequence of "strong winds" caused by storm Mathis, caused the death, Friday, March 31, of two men in the Grand-Est. In the middle of the day, a 19-year-old young man was on a rest area near his vehicle when a tree fell on him, explained to Agence France-Presse the firefighters of Senones (Vosges), confirming information from the daily newspaper Vosges Matin. Dispatched to the scene, the latter and the services of SAMU Lorraine tried to resuscitate him, in vain.

In the evening, another young man, in his twenties, was fatally hit by a tree while driving on a road south of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), said the central police station of the city, confirming information from the newspaper L'Alsace. His passenger was hospitalized "in serious condition". During the day, several motorists had reported trunks across the road on this secondary road linking Bruebach to Mulhouse.

Storm Mathis also caused damage in other departments, such as in Indre, where the town hall of Buzancais reported a "tornado". If the weather phenomenon, "very brief and very impressive" according to a spokesperson for the town hall, only affected a few streets in this town of 4,500 inhabitants, the damage is significant.

The town hall has identified at least 150 homes affected and major damage to the media library. A school was also hit, with no injuries. The firefighters intervened fifty-five times in the town for falling trees, chimneys and torn roofs.

Train traffic disrupted in Hauts-de-France

In Vienne, another tornado caused damage without causing injuries in the village of Saint-Jean-de-Sauves, according to the prefecture. A few houses lost their roofs, a nursing home and a school courtyard were also affected.

In Hauts-de-France, storm Mathis disrupted train traffic between Lille and Douai (North), as well as on several routes departing from and arriving at Valenciennes, due to catenary problems caused by falls. of trees. In Pas-de-Calais, gusts of wind of up to 130 km / h were noted on Friday in Radinghem.

At midnight Friday evening, Meteo-France still classified 23 departments in yellow vigilance for "violent winds", 61 departments for "thunderstorms" and 6 departments for "rain-flood".

From Haute-Normandie to Lorraine and up to Hauts-de-France, the wind died down overnight. () The west to northwest wind is sensitive from the tip of Brittany to the Aquitaine coast around 60 to 70 km / h peaks, says the forecaster in his bulletin.

Five departments of the Alps massif are also classified as "avalanches" yellow vigilance, while the coastline of the departments of Gironde, Landes and Pyrenees-Atlantiques is classified as "waves-submersion".
NTPC power generation highest at 400 BU

New Delhi: NTPC Ltd, Indias largest integrated power generator, has registered the highest-ever power generation of 400 BU in FY23, a growth of 10.80 per cent via-a-vis previous year. NTPC continues to demonstrate an upward trend in coal production from its captive mines with a coal production of 23.2 Million Metric Tonnes with a robust growth of over 65 per cent vis-a-vis the previous corresponding year. NTPC has taken several steps to augment the coal production from its coal mines. NTPC has set an ambitious goal of reaching half its installed capacity through RE by 2032, to serve the nation and support its decarbonisation goals. During the financial year, FY 23, the company registered a growth of 24.24% in a non-fossil portfolio.

POWER GRID wins 3 SPVs for transmission

Gurugram: Power Grid Corporation of India Limited has acquired three Project Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for various Transmission System Projects after competing with various private sector players and emerging as successful bidder in the Tariff Based Competitive Bidding process (TBCB) conducted by PFC Consulting Limited as per the Guidelines notified by Government of India. These Project SPVs are Bhadla Sikar Transmission Limited, Dharamjaigarh Transmission Limited and Raipur Pool Dhamtari Transmission Limited.

Skill building initiative generates jobs

New Delhi: Bal Raksha Bharat (globally known as Save the Children), with support from Avaya India recognised 380 youth and adolescents who found placements after going through vocation skills training under a joint programme. 150 of these young adults who will form the alumni group, were felicitated at a Youth Conclave 2023, held in New Delhi, to celebrate their success through their journey from a trainee to a working employee.

Dept of Post launches sub-post office in VIT

Vijayawada/Amaravati/ Guntur: The Department of Posts has launched the Sub Post Office in the VIT-AP University. Aditya Kumar Naik, IPOS, Director- Postal Services, Andhra Pradesh Circle has inaugurated the new sub-post office with the postal code 522241.Operations of the post office have started with immediate effect in the campus.
Party leader Rahul Gandhis stand against the other backward classes will cost the Congress dear, just as it had during Rajiv Gandhis time

Late Rajiv Gandhi was the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha in 1990 when the then Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh took the historic decision to implement the Mandal Commission Report to give effect to reservation to other backward classes (OBCs) to the extent of 27 per cent. Six years before Rajiv Gandhi had led Congress to win 404 seats with over 49 per cent vote share.

The Mandal Commission Report was a turnaround for Indian politics, as Rajiv Gandhi stood in the Lok Sabha to oppose its implementation. The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani welcomed the decision of the VP Singh government, stating that the time had come to recognise the legitimate demands of the OBCs in the country.

The stand of Rajiv Gandhi was almost unilateral as records of those times show that the OBC leaders within the Congress were appalled at the decision of their leaders. The Congress leaders were shocked that Rajiv Gandhi was disconnected from the masses. He was not ready for the march of social justice.

Within a few years, Congress was reduced to a party with the best tally of about 200 Lok Sabha seats even when the party came to power in alliance with other political parties. From the strength of 404 Lok Sabha seats, Congress fortuned was cut by half in the Lok Sabha, solely for its anti-OBC mindset. The space vacated by Congress was occupied by the regional parties. They mushroomed all across the country. The political parties espousing the cause of the OBCs came up in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. They ate into the vote base of Congress. Even after three decades, Congress has mostly lost its vote base in states where the OBC identity-based regional parties cropped up.

The BJP was clear from its beginning that the OBC deserved social justice and the partys leadership was steadfast in their support. The BJPs support for the OBC was also manifested in a strong leadership of the party from the backward castes. They were at the forefront of the party workers in several states. They also took the leadership of the party and even became chief ministers.

The journey of Congress and the BJP is in sharp contrast. Congress went into a steep political fall since the 1990s. The BJP rapidly rose in its political stock since the 1990s. The Congress base shrank. The BJP vote base expanded. Congress kept hitting lower and lower in its Lok Sabha tally. The BJP tally in the Lok Sabha kept rising.

In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 197 seats. The BJP had won 85 Lok Sabha seats in the same election. Three decades later, the BJP won 303 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Congress for the second time in a row could not win enough seats to gain the status of the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The people of the country punished Congress for its anti-OBC bias in the last three decades.

Rahul Gandhi repeated the same mistake that his father had committed in the Lok Sabha in 1990. There is not a single independent voice in the country that didnt admonish him for his 2019 election speech in Kolar, Karnataka in which he asked why all thieves have Modi surname. This was an outrageous statement by a person who was president of Congress. He had been a member of the Lok Sabha multiple times. He is also 52 years old. He couldnt have made the scandalous and outrageous statement to question the integrity of the OBC community.

Worse is the fact that there is no remorse on the part of Rahul Gandhi. He has occasions to express remorse and apologise in the Surat Court. But he chose not to apologise. Its beyond understanding that a number of lawyers who hold senior positions in Congress would not have gauged the consequences of Rahul Gandhi not apologising for his defamatory statement.

Also, there had been a number of precedents in which senior political leaders escaped judicial fury by apologizing in the court. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also levelled baseless allegations to defame the late Arun Jaitley and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Both forgave him after he apologised for his mistakes. But here Rahul Gandhi doesnt want to own up to his mistake. In place, he has chosen to enact political stunts in the name of his conviction by the court in a criminal defamation case and the subsequent automatic disqualification from membership of the Lok Sabha, which was in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling of 2013. Rajiv Gandhis anti-OBC stand had cut Congress strength by half. Rahul Gandhis stand against the OBC will also bring similar wrath, and the Opposition party given its current strength may find among the regional parties sitting in one corner of the Lok Sabha with a handful of members after the 2024 general elections.

(Author is the national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party)
The Government must ensure that three institutions funded by it for the welfare of the disabled population function properly and deliver in right earnest

In a welcome move which though, comes much after dilly dallying for years, the Government has now promised to fill by April-end the top-level vacancies at the three statutory institutions  Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities (CCPD), National Trust (NT) and Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI)  of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The Secretary of the Persons with Disability Department, Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in a recent submission before a Parliamentary Panel said that the process is on to fill the posts. He submitted that the candidates were being shortlisted and interviews will be held in the first week of the next month i.e., April.

He also expressed confidence that by the end of April month they will send three proposals to the DoPT. After that the final accreditation will come from the ACC (Appointment Committee of the Cabinet), the Secretary submitted before the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment when asked about the vacancy position in the offices of the three statutory bodies. Headed by Lok Sabha MP Rama Devi, the panel submitted its report last week in Parliament.

However, disability rights activists are not impressed. In fact, they have dismissed these promises as just lip service. They argue that advertisements for appointments have been published from time to time over the past years, but the posts were never filled up.

To corroborate their points, in this regard, they have drawn attention to a reply to a query in Parliament in 2021 when Union Social Welfare and Empowerment Minister of State, Pratima Bhoumik, while admitting that the post of Chairperson, RCI, has been lying vacant since September 15, 2015, the steps were being taken to fill the post.

However, it is needless to say that this has not happened till date. Presently, Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal is the officiating head of the RCI and NT. This speaks volumes of how serious the Government is for the welfare of the sector. The CCPD is headed by bureaucrat Upma Srivastava, an additional secretary in the Ministry.

In the absence of appointments of a candidate through a transparent process, new policies, existing programmes and funds remain half-heartedly implemented. Focus of the NT, RCI and CCPD has lost in between, leaving the sector to fend on its own, laments activist Alok Bhuwan from Manovikas Charitable Society.

This apathy also leads one to doubt government's intention if it is really keen for transparent appointments for the sensitive posts or wants to put its cronies who toe the governments line. The delay in appointment is also strengthening the doubts that the government is just doing lip service but not keen in actually taking steps to empower, handhold the sector which has big potential if given the chance. As per the latest report, India has 3 crore people with a wide range of disabilities.

The Council formed under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 is mandated to regulate and monitor the training of rehabilitation professionals while the activities of the National Trust include training, awareness and capacity building programmes and shelter, caregiving and empowerment to the people with intellectual disability. Similarly, CCPD has been conceived with an aim to ensure legal rights of the sector enshrined in the Persons with Disability Rights Act.

Bhuvan maintains that its high time that the government adopts a right-based approach instead of the Charity Model. Charity model of disability views the person with disabilities as the problem and dependent on the sympathy of others to provide assistance in a charity or welfare. This model treats the disabled as dependent upon society. Thus, leaving them hapless and helpless, dependent on the benevolence and charity of the so-called abled in the society.

In contrast, the Rights-based model of disability regards disability as a normal aspect and that the disabled are equally entitled to rights as others, ensuring that criteria for support programmes are prioritized by people themselves respecting their autonomy and freedom of choice. The disability rights model focuses on equality and non discrimination, reasonable accommodation, accessibility, breaking down barriers, equal participation and inclusion and private and public freedom, says Dr Dilip Kumar Upadhyay, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Madhav University, Rajasthan.

By ensuring that the three important institutions seriously deliver what they are meant to, the Government will be implementing what has been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. That is all human beings are born free and equal in rights and dignity.

(The writer is a special correspondent with The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal)
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
A day after communal clashes broke out over Ram Navami celebrations in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar, fresh incidents of violence were reported from Bengal and Bihar on Friday, while situation remained tense in all the affected States.

Another spell of stone pelting were witnessed in Howrahs Kazipara on Friday, a day after violence and arson broke out in this industrial suburb. At least three policemen were injured in stone pelting. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have have clamped in Kazipara. Altogether 45 people were arrested in connection with the violence since Thursday.

A huge team of Rapid Action Force (RAF) from Kolkata Police was brought into the area on Friday afternoon. The personnel started a route march following the stone-throwing incidents.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor CV Ananda Bose reviewed the situation and prohibitory orders were imposed. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also dialled the West Bengal Governor to enquire about the security situation in the town situated across the Hooghly river opposite Kolkata.

A press statement from Raj Bhavan said Governor Bose asked the State Government to ensure fool proof arrangements to maintain law and order effectively besides action to be taken against miscreants.

In Bihars Biharsharif of Nalanda district, vehicles, thatched houses and shops were torched and several people injured in communal flare-ups reported over Ram Navami processions on Friday. On Thursday, Sasaram had seen communal clashes over Ram Navami procession.

A minor child also sustained gunshot injuries. Four other persons also sustained injuries. They were admitted in Sadar hospital and they are said to be out of danger. The violence was triggered during the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra started from Labour Welfare Centre on Friday evening. When it reached Kanta area, some persons pelted stones from the rooftops, and this led to stampede-like situation and then, clashes.

A clash broke out between two groups following a spat during a Ram Navami Shobha Yatra near Shahi Masjid in a village in Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow.

In Gujarat, police have detained 24 persons for allegedly hurling stones at two Ram Navami processions in communally-sensitive areas in Vadodara city, a top official said on Friday. The incidents had occurred on Thursday when Ram Navami was celebrated.

Stones were hurled at two separate Ram Navami processions when they were passing through the citys communally-sensitive areas of Fatehpura and nearby Kumbharwada. At least two persons were injured in stone-pelting by a mob at Kumbharwada, the police said. Local BJP MLA Manisha Vakil was part of the procession which came under attack at Kumbharwada. In some videos of the incident aired by new channels, people can be seen running for shelter during stone pelting, while a chariot that was carrying a statue of Lord Ram, was also pulled away to a safer place by the devotees to save it from stones.

In Maharashtra, violence erupted in Aurangabad, Malad and Jalgaon. As many as 21 persons have been arrested so far in connection with the stone pelting at a Ram Navami procession in suburban Malad (West), police said on Friday. The tensions on Thursday night began following disputes over the loud DJ music being played in the procession as it was passing through the vicinity of mosques in Malvani area, a police official said. An FIR has been registered against nearly 300 identified and unidentified persons at the Malvani police station, he said.

As the volume of music was not lowered, there was some slogan-shouting and one of the men who had objected to loud music allegedly hurled a stone at the procession and it hit a participant, he added. Police personnel deputed for security along the route immediately took the man who had thrown the stone into custody, he said.

As per the FIR, when the procession was near the Ali Hazrat mosque around 8.45 pm, a mob of 200 to 250 persons began to pelt stones. As police tried to bring the situation under control, some people in the mob hurled stones at them and manhandled some police personnel, the FIR said.
Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on charges related to paying off a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, making him the first former US president to face a criminal charge and upending his bid to retake the White House in 2024.

The grand jury on Thursday voted to indict 76-year-old Trump, a Republican, for his role in paying money to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to buy her silence over an alleged affair. He will be arraigned on Tuesday.

The indictment remains under seal and it is not clear what crimes and how many criminal counts Trump has been charged with. CNN reported that the former president has been charged with more than 30 counts.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has been pursuing the investigation for years, confirmed that it had contacted Trumps lawyers on Thursday evening to coordinate his surrender on unspecified charges.

This evening we contacted Mr Trumps attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan DAs office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected, a spokesperson for District Attorney Bragg said.

The New York Times termed Trumps indictment a historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nations first former president to face criminal charges.

Trump, the 45th US President from 2017 to 2021, is expected to fly from his home in Florida to New York on Monday and be arraigned in court on Tuesday.

The proceeding is expected to be brief. The charges in the indictment will be read to him at the hearing, which is set to last about 10-15 minutes.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing in connection with the payments made ahead of the election.

In a statement responding to news of his indictment, the former president called it Political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history, and accused Democrats of weaponising our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States.

The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to Get Trump, but now theyve done the unthinkable  indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference, Trump said.

He lashed out at Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, calling the prosecutor a disgrace, and accused him of doing Joe Bidens dirty work. This is third-world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year, Trumps son Eric tweeted.

President Biden, a Democrat, repeatedly declined to comment on the indictment of former President Donald Trump as he departed the White House on Friday morning, CNN reported.

Trump attorneys Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina issued a statement, saying that the former president did not commit any crime and vowed to vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.

The case stems from a payment made just days before Trump was elected president in 2016. His former attorney Michael Cohen arranged a wire transfer of USD 130,000 to Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006  the year after he married his current wife Melania.

Cohen has said in court that he made the USD 130,000 settlement in coordination with and at the direction of the former president. Cohen was jailed from 2018-20 on multiple charges. Following the indictment, Daniels thanked her supporters. I have so many messages coming in that I cant respond...Also dont want to spill my champagne, she tweeted.

Thank you to everyone for your support and love! I have so many messages coming in that I cant respond...Also dont want to spill my champagne. Teamstormy merch/autograph orders are pouring in, too! Thank you for that as well but allow a few extra days for shipment, the 44-year-old adult actress said.

Daniels attorney Clark Brewster tweeted: The indictment of Donald Trump is no cause for joy. The hard work and conscientiousness of the grand jurors must be respected. Now let truth and justice prevail. No one is above the law.

Former Vice President Mike Pence who served under Trump said that while no one is above the law, including former presidents, that he cannot speak to the merit of this case at all. I really do believe that this decision today is a great disservice to the country and the idea that for the first time in American history a former president would be indicted on a campaign finance issue to me, it just smacks of political prosecution, and I think the overwhelming majority of the American people will see it that way, Pence told CNN.

Trump was caught off guard by the grand jurys decision to indict him, according to a person who spoke directly with him.

While the former president was bracing for an indictment last week, he began to believe news reports that a potential indictment was weeks or more away. Is this a shock today? Hell yes, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity as Trumps team calculated its response.

In light of Trump being indicted by a New York grand jury, US Marshals, Secret Service and New York Police Department are talking about how the former president will appear for his arraignment, according to a senior New York Police Department source.

Out of an abundance of caution, all personnel at NYPD headquarters and support units will be in uniform on Friday, according to an internal memo from the department.

The indictment comes as Trump faces legal hurdles in other potential criminal cases. Trump is currently the front-runner among all declared and potential contenders for the 2024 Republican White House nomination.

But there is nothing in US law that prevents a candidate who is found guilty of a crime from campaigning for and serving as, president - even from prison.

Trump was twice impeached by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
Delhi Power Minister Atishi on Friday accused Lieutenant-Governor VK Saxena and BJP leaders of conspiring to stop the power subsidy of farmers by pressurising the power department officials.

Addressing a meeting attended by a group of legal eagles, she said that, For the first time in the country, a Government has come forward to support lawyers. We believe that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will help us over the issue of power subsidies in every possible way.

She further said that the LG and BJP are conspiring night and day against the people of Delhi. They are now attempting to shut down the power subsidies offered to Delhis citizens

A section of lawyers from the Delhis district courts had met with the Power Minister Atishi, expressing dismay that the power subsidy should continue for them also.

During the day, Atishi also met a representative of farmers from rural Delhi to discuss the issue of power subsidy. The farmers said the proposal to end the power subsidy for farmers shows that the BJP and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi are completely anti-farmer. Assuring them of all help, she said that, No matter how many conspiracies are hatched by LG and BJP leaders, power subsidy for farmers will not be stopped. However, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva outrightly dismissed the allegations, and said that thousands of farmers in Delhi have suffered a lot due to the damage to their crops due to the unseasonal rains during the last 10 days, especially last evening. In the last two years also, the farmers crop has been damaged similarly and today the farmer is distressed, because the Kejriwal government has not yet paid the crop loss announced for the last two years to most of the farmers. To add to the agony of the sector, now the Power Minister is making false claims that her government has been giving free electricity to the farmers of Delhi, which is being stopped by the Lt. Governor, he said.

In fact, not a single unit of free electricity is given to the farmers by the Delhi Government, he said.

He questioned the motive and said how can any government play with the sentiments of farmers like this. Today, whether the Delhi farmer uses electricity or not, he is bound to pay a bill of up to Rs.2000 per month, on an average.

He said that he has requested the Delhi Chief Minister to conduct a survey of the loss caused to the farmers of Delhi and declare a compensation of Rs. one lakh per acre as Delhis farmer does rural farming but his expenses are urban, so the compensation should be more.

The Delhi BJP president also sought apology from the Kejriwal government for making false announcements of free electricity. Taking a dig at power minister Atishi for making a false promise of giving free electricity to farmers, the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that AAP minister Atishi is a master of fake propaganda.

The farmers of Delhi will protest outside the residence of Chief Minister Kejriwal on Saturday in support of their demands as well as demanding Atishis resignation or sacking, Bidhuri said
AIIMS Bhopal is proud to be home to a high level of patient care, academics and research. It is contributing enthusiastically and diligently to the accomplishment of its mission to cater to the last person in the queue i.e. "Antyodaya."

The fragrance and flavour of the legacy and culture of the institute are spreading far and wide with the alumni as they move forward in the world for better opportunities and greener pastures. As the alumni move ahead, the institute wishes to continue the relationship and togetherness so as to celebrate and share the achievements and progress and make efforts to take AIIMS Bhopal to even greater heights and enrich its community.

Taking cognizance of this, AIIMS Bhopal is initiating a long awaited platform in the form of the AIIMS Bhopal Alumni Council to have a robust network to connect amongst the alumni who are encouraged and invite you to join the Alumni Council. As an alumnus, they would get a platform where they are part of a community which supports them, and gives them a voice to raise concerns and aspirations. It will also provide a means to share achievements both in medicine as well as in the extracurricular fields. It will be a facility which will contribute not only to the institute but also to the greater good of the medical community and society as a whole.

To implement all this, an alumni meet in the form of a symposium is going to be conducted on Saturday, 1st April 2023 at 3 PM on the theme "RISE - Reconnect, Inspire, Share & Enrich" in the LT-4 on 2nd floor of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Bhavan (Medical College building) - 'Sharing expertise, shaping the future: A national level symposium for AIIMS Bhopal alumni' and invitees are all the alumni of AIIMS Bhopal along with office bearers and heads of departments of the institute. There will be an address and interaction with the Executive director, AIIMS Bhopal, sharing of experiences by the alumni, formation of the executive body / committee of alumni council (nomination of office bearers), and release of e certificates and souvenirs.
The Delhi government-run Ambedkar University will launch five new schools for science and social science from the 2023-24 academic session.

The new schools will offer undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in public policy, mathematics and data science, indigenous knowledge and tribal studies, media studies, and philosophy and religion studies. Education Minister Atishi held a review meeting with officials from the higher education department and Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) to discuss the development of the new schools, the statement said.

The addition of these new schools at AUD is a positive step towards improving the quality of higher education in India, and preparing students as per rapidly changing industrial demands. Programmes offered by AUD will especially focus on developing new age 21st-century skills among students, she said.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday said he rejected the opposition BJPs breach of privilege notice over an alleged leak of the budget as it had no merit. BJP MLA Vijender Gupta gave the breach of privilege notice alleging that the finance minister had leaked details of the budget for 2023-24. Goel, addressing a post-budget session press conference, said no breach of privilege was made out as the alleged leak of budget details did not benefit anyone.

He said he had studied the issue closely and referred to Lok Sabha decisions on such matters before denying the notice.

BJP MLA Gupta had alleged that the finance minister in a statement leaked budget details by citing the allocations for infrastructure and advertisement. It was also alleged by the BJP that the date of budget presentation was also leaked outside the Assembly.

Notice could be admitted on a budget leak if some of its provisions which could benefit anyone --like tax cut or hike or such other details -- are leaked. But in this case, only allocation for infrastructure and advertisement were there and no breach of privilege was made out. The notice was given at the Assembly secretarys office just one minute before the budget was previously scheduled to be tabled in the House at 11 AM on March 21. Also, it was about leak of Outcome budget not the annual budget 2023-24, Goel said.
The BJP on Friday hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and accused him of peddling lies against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Gujarat High Court set aside the Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking the Gujarat University to provide information on Modis degree to the AAP leader. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal and asked him to deposit the amount within four weeks with the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA).

Head of BJPs IT department, Amit Malviya, said, Gujarat High Court slams Arvind Kejriwal, imposes a fine of Rs 25,000 on him for filing frivolous petitions, asking about Prime Ministers degree.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla tweeted, Lying & making obnoxious remarks, peddling lies against the chair of the PM has become a fashion & Kejriwal is in strong competition with Rahul Gandhi in this regard. But today he has been shown his place by High Court!

He added, Hope Kejriwal ji doesnt make scurrilous comments on judiciary like Rahul now! That would count as being literate and yet uneducated.

Another BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said, Nemesis is fast catching up.

In a statement, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, What Kejriwal is doing reflects his frustration. He is naturally frustrated as his Government Ministers are in jail on charges of corruption and being involved in a liquor scam. His comments are a consequence of this.

Patras offensive against Kejriwal comes in the backdrop of the AAP leaders attack on Modi over his education and the issue of alleged corruption.

Patra noted that the Delhi Chief Minister had to apologise to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and late Arun Jaitley for levelling allegations against them, after they took him to court. The AAP leader settled the matter out of court after apologising for his unverified allegations, including those relating to corruption. History is repeating itself today, Patra said. It is not a new thing for Kejriwal or his party, he added.

Does not the country have the right to know the academic qualification of the Prime Minister, Kejriwal asked on Friday after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the CIC for providing information on Modis degree to him.

Reacting to the verdict, Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi, Doesnt the country even have the right to know how much the PM has studied? He vehemently opposed showing the degree in the court. Why? And those who demand to see the degree will be fined? Whats happening? Illiterate or less educated PM is very dangerous for the country, the Aam Aadmi Party chief said in the tweet.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sanjay Singh termed the verdict surprising.

CIC passed an order and asked Gujarat University to provide information on Narendra Modis degree. Then, the university files an appeal against the CIC order but fine has been slapped on Arvind Kejriwal. What kind of decision is this? Singh said at a Press conference.
Investment proposals worth Rs 35 lakh crore received in the Global Investors Summit prove that Uttar Pradesh would emerge as the torchbearer of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday.

While addressing an award ceremony as well as toolkit distribution ceremony under Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana at Lok Bhawan here, the chief minister said, The focal point of UPs industrial development are the 96 lakh MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) clusters. The time has come to open designing and packaging institutes in the state to take MSME products to a new level.

He went on to say that along with this, there was a need to link banks with the Vishwakarma Shram Yojana so that the artisans could get financial help to expand their businesses. For this, meetings of artisans associated with Vishwakarma Shram Yojana should be organised with bankers in every district of the state, he added.

Yogi said that along with honoring traditional handicraftsmen and artisans of the state through Vishwakarma Shram Samman, toolkits were being made available across the state.

Today, ODOP (One District One Product scheme) is not only promoting the products of every district of the state but by adding them with new design and technology, it is also providing a global market for them. ODOP has become the backbone of the MSME sector of UP. It has emerged as the foundation of self-reliant India in the whole country, the chief minister asserted.

He reiterated that ODOP had brought respect to the handicraft artisans of UP at the global level. This is the reason that UP has emerged as the hub of exports today. Before 2017, exports were just Rs 86,000 crore, which have now gone up to Rs 2.5 lakh crore, he pointed out.

The chief minister said that it was the strength of ODOP that UP had emerged as the biggest investment destination today. Undoubtedly, the rule of law is our first priority, it is also necessary for the government to work with good intentions, but along with all this, having a cluster of 96 lakh MSMEs is also the strength of UP, he said, adding that the MSMEs were going to become the foundation of industrial development of UP.

The Global Investors Summit has decided that UP will lead the fourth industrial revolution, he added.

The chief minister said that today the government had honoured 51 weavers with the Sant Kabir State Handloom Award. These weavers are our strength. In UP, 2.5 to 3 lakh families are associated only with the work of weaving. The government is soon going to announce freight units for weavers' looms. We have to increase our strength so that we can connect with good design and good technology. The government is with you at every step, he said.

The chief minister said that today toolkits were being provided to 75,000 artisans associated with Vishwakarma Shram Samman in the entire state. Now, we must connect banks with the artisans associated with Vishwakarma Shram Yojana. So that our artisans and our labourers can start their business, there should be such a system that they get financial help from the banks. We have to work for their uplift by opening export promotion centres in every district, he added.

On this occasion, 12 people were awarded Sant Kabir State Handloom Award, 34 firms were given State Export Award, 20 people were given MSME award, 75,000 artisans were trained under Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana, toolkits were distributed and certificates were distributed. Toolkits were distributed by the chief minister to five people associated with the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana.
Inviting the industrialists to set up base in Haryana, the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said that the Government has created a conducive environment and providing various facilities to them.

They will not face any problem in doing business in HaryanaThe Government has created a single room system, under which all types of permissions to industries are given in 45 days, said Khattar, while addressing the industrialists after releasing the coffee table book Sikh Business Leaders of India authored by Dr Prabhleen at a programme organized in Delhi.

Stating that the State Government has made four categories A, B, C and D, he elaborated that if industries are set up in category C and D zones, the State Government will reimburse Rs 4,000 per worker per month for the next four years.

Hailing the huge contribution of the Sikh community to the state, the country, and the world, Khattar said: This community is a working community and has worked hard with struggle to advance their business, family, country and society. They are also working to take forward and uplift the needy, who have been left behind from the mainstream due to some reason.

375 New Electric Buses to Join Haryana Roadways Fleet

Khattar, addressing the media after convening the meeting of High Powered Purchase Committee (HPPC) and Department High Powered Purchase Committee (DHPPC), said that Haryana Roadways will soon have 375 new electric buses in its fleet to provide affordable, safe, convenient and eco-friendly public transport services to the citizens. The purchase of buses is approved. Also, approval was accorded for the purchase of goods and items worth Rs 5,412 crore by various departments, he said.

Khattar said that a total of 28 agendas of various departments, out of which 27 were approved. Today, about Rs 85 crore has been saved by fixing rates after negotiation with various companies, he added.

The Chief Minister said that in the meeting, approval has also been given to purchase about 4.50 lakh street lights for municipal bodies, 21 high pressure jetting-cum-suction hydraulically sewer cleaning machines for safety of safai karamcharis, and to ensure cleanliness.

Rs 15,000 Per Acre Compensation to Farmers for Crop Damage

Stating that the State Government is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the farmers, Khattar said: If there is any kind of loss to the farmers, the State Government gives immediate compensationThe government is paying compensation at the rate of Rs 15,000 per acre.

Khattar said that during the Congress 10-year tenure, the farmers got compensation of about Rs 1200 crore, while the present State Government had given compensation of Rs 1,200 crore in the year 2015 itself. Perceiving the crop loss this time also, it seems that the State Government will have to pay more compensation; but we will not let the farmers suffer the loss, he added.

On the Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal, farmers register complete information about their land area and crop. Now the Government has also created the e-Fasal Kshatipurti portal, on which the farmers register their crop loss within 72 hours. The whole process is going on in a transparent manner and the compensation will be provided to all the farmers by the month of May, he said.
Continuing their campaign against the disqualification of former party President Rahul Gandhi as MP, the Congress in Chhattisgarh will take out a torch rally on Saturday.

A Congress spokesperson said the rally will proceed from Gandhi Maidan to Azad Chowk at 7 p.m.

It will mark a protest against the "anti-people" and "undemocratic" policies of the Modi government. AICC Chhattisgarh in-charge Selja Kumari, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and PCC chief Mohan Markam will take part in the rally.

The Chief Minister will also dedicate the renovated Congress Bhawan at Gandhi Maidan before the rally, the spokesman added.
The Kejriwal Government on Friday announced the extension of the date of registration under its Chief Minister Advocates Welfare Scheme. The mandatory registration under the scheme for practising Advocates enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi will now be open till 10.04.2023. To avail of the benefits of the scheme, Advocates can get themselves registered and fill out the form at the website https://www.cmaws.delhi.gov.in.Further, the Delhi Government has clarified that to avail of the benefit under the scheme for the year 2023-24, a fresh registration is mandatory. And therefore, those who already applied under the scheme on previous occasions i.e. in the years 2020 and 2022, need to apply afresh to continue to avail the benefits under the scheme.

In a statement, Law Minister Kailash Gahlot said the government has received a very positive feedback on the Chief Minister Advocates Welfare Scheme and to note steady progress in the number of claims being settled.

We have extended the date of registration under the scheme so that a maximum number of advocates can be benefitted. The Chief Minister Advocates Welfare Scheme is a valuable initiative of the Delhi Government that offers protection to the advocates and their families, Gahlot said.

The government announced the Chief Minister Advocates Welfare Scheme in December 2019. The scheme provides for Group (Life) Insurance for practising advocates registered in Delhi, providing life cover of Rs. 10 Lakhs per advocate and Group Mediclaim coverage for the advocate, their spouse and two dependent children up to the age of 25 years for a family floater sum insured of Rs. 5 Lakh.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Sevaram Galani, president of Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple Trust, and its secretary Murli Kumar Sabnani under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Juni Indore police station in charge Neeraj Medha said.

There are allegations against these two office bearers that they built a very unsafe structure by putting a slab on the stepwell, due to which 36 people lost their lives in Thursday's incident, Medha said.

As many as 36 people have been killed after the roof of a stepwell collapsed at a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Thursday.

The stepwell roof at the Beleshwar Mahadev temple could not sustain the weight of a large crowd on Ram Navami.

"Two people returned home safely after getting treatment. The search operation to trace persons reported missing is underway," Indore Collector Ilayaraja T said.

"The 18 hours long rescue operation started at around 12:30 on Thursday, and is still ongoing," he added.

Managed by a private trust, the temple is located at Sneh Nagar, one of the oldest residential colonies in Indore. Sources have said the tragedy could have been averted had the Indore Municipal Corporation acted on the complaints filed by residents.

Sources further claimed that Indore Municipal Corporation had in April 2022 served a notice to the Beleshwar Mahadev temple's trust in over complaints by locals who alleged that the temple was built on a stepwell in an encroached park. The municipal body had marked the well's cover for demolition but backed down after being warned by the trust that such a move will hurt religious sentiments.

On Ram Navami, a havan was being performed on the concrete slab covering a stepwell which also served as the platform of the temple. The concrete slab was not strong enough to hold the weight of 30-40 people, resulting in devotees plunging into the 40-foot-deep stepwell.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are engaged in the rescue operations.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced ? 5 lakh compensation to the families of the victims and Rs 50,000 to those injured in the freak accident.

Earlier today, the Chief Minister said that a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

"FIR was registered, and the magisterial inquiry was ordered into the incident. Action will be taken against found responsible. The current priority is the rescue operation. The injured will be treated free of cost. PM has also announced the ex-gratia amount to the victims. We have ordered an inspection of such step-wells and borewells across the state," said Chouhan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Chouhan to take stock of the situation.

"Extremely pained by the mishap in Indore. Spoke to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and took an update on the situation. The State Government is spearheading rescue and relief work at a quick pace. My prayers are with all those affected and their families," the PM tweeted.

The Beleshwar Mahadev temple was constructed after covering the stepwell about four decades ago.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that Delhiites dont need to worry about the recent surge in Covid cases, as the Government is prepared for any eventuality. The Chief Minister said that there are 7,986 beds for Covid patients ready in Delhi hospitals and only 66 have been occupied. He further said that the Government has sufficient oxygen cylinders. Addressing reporters after chairing a review meeting on the Covid situation in Delhi, Kejriwal said there was no need to worry for now and that the city Government was taking all required steps.

Three deaths have been reported over the last four-five days. In all three patients, co-morbidities were very severe and it has been assessed that the fatality was due to co-morbidities and perhaps Covid was incidental, but one cant say that, he said.

The Delhi Government is keeping an eye on the Covid-19 situation and it is prepared to face any eventuality, he said. Kejriwal said genome sequencing of all samples that returned Covid-positive results was being conducted to quickly identify new variants, if any.

The XBB.1.16 is the predominant variant at present, accounting for 48 per cent of all positive cases. It spreads rapidly but is not severe at all, he said. On the vaccination front, Kejriwal said all adults in Delhi had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while all eligible people below the age of 18 had been given the second dose. He added that all Delhi Government hospitals had been directed to maintain isolation wards for Covid patients.

We have enough beds, ambulances, sufficient oxygen and storage capacity as of now, he said. We have 7,986 Covid beds. These include oxygen beds, ventilator beds and ICU beds. Only 66 are occupied as of now, he added.

In response to a query on regulations related to the use of masks, Kejriwal added that no new guidelines had come from the Centre and, as and when we will receive it, we will take action accordingly. We had also conducted testing of samples drawn from sewage and, till mid-February, the Covid positivity result was zero. But in the last 15 days, some samples have turned out positive, he said.

On March 15, the daily case count was 42 and in 15 days it jumped to 295, Kejriwal said. Of the three deaths reported in the last few days, two patients were not residents of Delhi, he added.

The Government has sufficient capacity to conduct RT-PCR tests. Government labs have the capacity to conduct 4,000 tests a day while up to a lakh tests per day can be done at private facilities, he added. At the airport, random testing is being conducted on two per cent of the passengers, Kejriwal said. Delhi recorded 295 fresh cases on Thursday with a positivity of 12.48 per cent, according to data shared by the Health Department. On Wednesday, the city had logged 300 cases, the first time since August 31, while the positivity had mounted to 13.89 per cent. Two Covid-related deaths were also reported on Wednesday.
Students and activists hit the streets and staged demonstrations at the DUs North Campus on Friday as anger surged over the alleged harassment of students at Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW) during a fest and inaction of authorities. The students held marches at Arts Faculty and inside the IPCW campus.

Inside the college, scores of students formed a human chain showing dissent over the shameless procedure with which the college administration has been acting and working for the past few days, according to the Left-affiliated AISA, which is at the forefront of the protest. The students have demanded the resignation of principal Poonam Kumria.

Some unidentified men trespassed into the college, shouted slogans and harassed women during the Shruti festival on Tuesday. At the Arts Faculty, several students accused the police of brutality as they were detained and filled in the police van. A police official, however, said those protesting were peacefully detained and removed from the area.

Over 200 students marched from Miranda House to Arts Faculty demanding justice to the students of IP College for Women. The students organised the Azadi March against repeated incidents of harassment at the campus.

The Delhi Police showed its ugliest form by beating students and pathetically harassing women and detaining all protesters from AISAs Azadi March at DU Arts Faculty, the AISA, which organised the march, said in a statement. Another student organisation, the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), also participated in the march. The students held placards that read, Lock up these lumpens, not our hostel, Then Miranda Now IP, Where are women safe-Fight for womens safety and Strict action must be taken against the hooligans, police and DU authorities. As soon as the march reached the Arts Faculty, the police beat up students and filled them up in two separate buses, AISA alleged. The Delhi Police, under the orders from ACP Civil Lines, Satender Yadav, unleashed a gruesome attack on the students. AISA demands immediate termination of ACP Satender Yadav, who could not provide a safe campus to IPCW students and now has harassed students himself, the group said in the statement.

Earlier in the day, the AISA led another protest inside IPCW. Hundreds of students gheraoed the principals office and demanded justice, the group said.

Holding placards, the students raised slogans against Kumria. Around 200 students have gathered here against the incident. We are demanding action against the goons, resignation of the principal and establishment of GSCASH (gender sensitisation committee against sexual harassment), a protesting student said.
During the 55th meeting of the Gajraraja Medical College Executive Committee held here on Friday, the Divisional Commissioner of Gwalior Deepak Singh gave instructions to carry out every work and innovations in the hospital campus keeping in mind the interests of the patients. A budget of Rs 44 crore was also approved for the new financial year.

Addressing the various officers and HODs of the hospitals, Singh asked them to prepare a masterplan for the entire complex of Jayarogya Hospital Group and to make provision and facilities for patients and attendants. He also asked them to include multistoried residential complexes for doctors and other staff and separate hostels for medical students in the master plan. He also emphasized on the point that every work in the JAH group premises should be executed keeping in mind the interests of the patients.

KK Dubey, Deputy Secretary, Medical Education Department from Bhopal virtually participated in the meeting of the Executive Committee held in the auditorium of the Divisional Commissioner's office here on Friday. The meeting was also attended by Dr. Akshay Nigam, Dean of Gajraraja Medical College, Dr. RKS Dhakad, Superintendent of JAH, Dr. Avinash Sharma, Head of the Department of Neurology, Dr. OP Jatav, Head of the Department of Medicine and Medical College's Administrative Officer Finance and Anil Sarashwat among others.

On the topic of the budget for the expansion works, Divisional Commissioner instructed that for the expansion of construction works and medical facilities in the JAH group, instead of relying only on the self-governing head, funds should also be sought from the government from the head of capital expenditure.

There is a provision to give budget to the medical colleges under capital expenditure by the government. He instructed the Dean of GR Medical College and JAH Superintendent to send a proposal to the government to get the supplementary budget. Divisional Commissioner Mr. Singh also instructed the officers to complete the recruitment of vacant specialist doctors in Super Specialty Hospital and Medical College by duly issuing advertisements and completing it as soon as possible under the prescribed procedure.

Other decisions taken during the Executive Committee, include providing space to SBI Bank on rent as per collector's guidelines, fixing an agency through tender process for washing clothes and entering into an MoU for Amrit store in the 1,000-bed hospital premises.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena for the suspension of free Yoga classes under the Dilli ki Yogshala programme and asked who benefitted from the action. Kejriwals remarks come on the back of Punjabs AAP-led government starting free Yoga classes in the state.

Tweeting in Hindi, Kejriwal said, When the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) ordered the Lt Governor to stop free Yoga classes in Delhi, we started them in Punjab. In Delhi, 17,000 people used to do Yoga daily in the free classes of the Delhi government. Their Yoga was stopped. Who benefited from this? The one who works is bigger than the one who stops the work. Kejriwal launched the Dilli Ki Yogshala programme in December 2021 to enable all Delhi resident to get free Yoga training at their doorsteps six days a week.

Last year, the AAP dispensation in Delhi accused the BJP of conspiring to shut down the Dilli ki Yogshala programme by pressuring officials. At the time, the Delhi government alleged that Saxena did not approve the programmes extension beyond October 31. On the other hand, LG Secretariat officials had stated that the decision to discontinue the Dilli Ki Yogshala scheme in its present form was taken by the Board of Governors of the fully autonomous Delhi Pharmaceutical Science & Research University (DPSRU), and statements made by AAP leaders on it were totally false. Officials in the LG Secretariat said the statements made by AAP leaders were totally false and deliberately misleading.

The decision to discontinue the Yogshala programme in its present form was taken by the Board of Governors (BoG) of the fully autonomous DPSRU and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had authorised the DPSRU BoG to take any such decision in writing, the officials claimed.

Kejriwal had provided a WhatsApp number for people to offer their support for the wages of yoga instructors through the Dilli Ki Yogshala programme. But Dilli Ki Yogshala could not be resumed.


--Also mobile thief held; 19 sets seized

PNS

: A police team from Padampur police station on getting a tip-off conducted a raid in Narayanpur forest near NH 326 and seized a leopard skin and 64.3 kg ganja. The police also arrested two persons in this connection, who were identified as Sula Majhi and Nahusan Mallick and later, forwarded them to court.



The investigation of the case was in progress. In another case within the same Padmapur police limits, ganja weighing 72 kg was seized in Bahupadar village from one Nageswar Majhi. He was arrested and forwarded to court.



The Rayagada police, after reviewing the CCTV footage, seized 19 smart phones from Gurunath Halava, who was continuously stealing android phone sets from the premises of the District Headquarters Hospital, Rayagada. He was also court- forwarded in the case.
UP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Satish Mahana has said that the perception about the state assembly has undergone significant change in the recent past.

Earlier, the members of the state assembly were known more by their caste identity and criminal background. Now the members are known by their abilities and professional competence, Satish Mahana said on Friday while addressing a press conference on completion of one year in office.

Sustained messaging to the educated people to come forward and join politics is necessary to clear the mess in electoral politics created during the last over three decades, the speaker said.

He said the perception about the state assembly had changed following the positive message emanating from the assembly with meaningful debate and participation of more members of the House.

Expressing concern over the attempts in the last over three decades to undermine the dignity of the institution of legislature, the speaker said, During the last 3-4 decades concerted attempts were made to weaken the state assembly but the situation has radically changed and UP assembly is now the most prominent state assembly of the country.

During the last one year several innovative measures were taken. Earlier the role of the UP assembly was insignificant in the annual conference of the presiding officers of the state assemblies. Now UP assembly figures prominently in the conference of the presiding officers, Mahana said.

On the innovative measures taken by the state assembly during the last one year, the speaker said, In September last year, during the five-day session, one day was reserved for women members. One member pointed out why the whole day for women and I said not one day in a five-day session, only one day in the last 75 years.

He said the new rules of business for the conduct of the proceedings of the UP assembly were likely to come into force from the next session of the state assembly. He said the rules drafted in 1958 were being revised to accommodate the rapid technological changes that had taken place in the last 65 years.

Earlier, the MLA had to personally file the question to the question section of the UP assembly secretariat. Now this can be done online 24x7, round the year, Mahana said, and added, Many other changes have been incorporated in the rules as the proceedings of the assembly have been digitised and made paperless.

Mahana said due to digitisation of the proceedings of the assembly, more seats had been added. He said earlier there were only 397 seats in the assembly which had increased to 401 in the House with the strength of 403. He said additional seats had to be provided as 14 ministers were members of the legislative council, the upper house of the UP legislature.

He said during the last one year four sessions of the assembly were held and proceedings had to be adjourned only for 36 minutes.

Mahana said the legislative assembly would take suggestions from the IIM faculty on better management in the House in view of the changing technology.

He said many other schemes were also on the anvil including a 'Best Legislator Award' which would be given on the basis of conduct, activity and participation of the assembly members.

"The role of management has increased in the changing era of technology therefore experts from Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will be called in Legislative (legislature) to take suggestions for better management," Mahana said.
The Rampur police have launched a probe into an incident in which a packet containing some clothes and other objects was thrown outside the house of senior Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan.

The incident took place late on Thursday evening and was captured on CCTV installed in the area.

In the CCTV footage, an unidentified man is seen throwing the packet outside the house of Azam Khan.

According to the police, the packet contained some articles of clothing and has been confiscated by police.

We got information late at night that a packet was thrown at Azam Khans residence. In the packet, there are some clothes, a cap. We have taken possession of the packet. According to the CCTV footage, the incident took place at 6:17 pm. A man is seen in the video, however he has not been identified yet. The man crosses the road and throws the packet and moves on, said Sansar Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police in Rampur.

The police said that an investigation was underway to ascertain the reason for the incident and that action would also be taken against the police guard on duty.

We will investigate who this man is and why he threw the packet. There was a police guard at the house. If there is police negligence action will be taken against it also, the ASP said.

Meanwhile Azam Khans wife has lodged a police complaint against an unidentified man alleging that he threw a small bundle inside the main gate of her house containing a few random articles, including clothes, and expressed fear that it may be associated with black magic.

According to the complaint filed by Tazeen Fatma, a former parliamentarian, the man throwing the packet is seen in the CCTV footage but they could not recognise him.

Fatma wrote a letter to Rampurs superintendent of police reporting the incident and expressed her fear that it could be a part of some big conspiracy.

In her letter, Fatma also wondered how could such a breach take place when the house is guarded 24-hour under Y-category security.

Azam Khan has been a Member of Parliament from Rampur parliamentary constituency and MLA from Rampur assembly constituency 10 times. His assembly membership ended after a local court sentenced him in a hate speech case. He also has several criminal cases registered against him and was released from jail after getting bail last year.
In a major pro-farmer decision aimed at safeguarding their interests during natural calamities, the Punjab Cabinet on Friday gave nod for enhancing the compensation due to natures fury by 25 per cent per acre thereby giving a major respite to the food growers.

Keeping in view the loss incurred by the farmers recently due to heavy rains, hailstorms, and strong winds, the Cabinet has decided to enhance the relief amount from Rs 12,000 per acre to Rs 15,000 per acre for 76-100 per cent loss of crops. This measure will give a healing touch to the affected farmers who will be able to get a reasonable financial relief from the government, said a spokesperson of the Chief Ministers Office, adding that these relief rates will be applicable from March 1, 2023.

Last Date for Stamp Duty Exemption Extended to Apr 30

In larger public interest, the Cabinet approved extending the exemption of 2.25 percent stamp duty and fees to those registering their property or land by April 30. Those opting for registration of land will now be exempted from one per cent Additional stamp duty, one per cent PIDB fees, and 0.25 per cent special fees.

Hiring 2574 Kisan Mitras, 108 Field Supervisors

To encourage the farmers to get out of the rut of wheat-paddy cycle and cultivate less water guzzling crops like Cotton and Basmati, the Cabinet also gave approval for hiring 2,574 Kisan Mitras and 108 field supervisors in the Agriculture Department. The step will act as a catalyst to save precious groundwater by boosting crop diversification program on one hand and providing employment to the youth of the state on the other.

Enacting Punjab Canal and Drainage Act-2023

To ensure hindrance-free canal waters to farmers and land owners for irrigation purposes, maintenance, repair, and timely cleanliness of canals, drainage, and natural water courses, the Cabinet gave its nod for formation of the Punjab Canal and Drainage Act-2023 to regulate and manage canals and drainage in the state. Apart from this, the Act will also provide a fair and transparent mechanism for redressal of grievances of water users and other regulatory restrictions against unnecessary wastage of water.

Framing Rules to Curb Child Labour

To further curb the menace of child and adolescent labour, the Cabinet also gave its approval to frame The Punjab Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules-2023 with amendment in the 1986 Act through The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016.

Premature Release of Life Convicts Confined in Punjabs Jails

The Cabinet also gave green signal for sending the cases of eight prisoners for seeking Premature Release of life convicts confined in the jails of state. After the nod of Cabinet under Article 163 of the Constitution of India, these special remission or premature release cases will be submitted to the Punjab Governor under Article 161 of the Indian Constitution.

The Cabinet also gave approval for sending the case of special remission to convicts confined in Jails of Punjab, in the second phase to commemorate the 75th Independence Day of India being celebrated as Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.


--Withdrawal demanded



: The IMA (Indian Medical Association) branch of Bargarh demanded the withdrawal of the 'Right to Health Bill' of the Government of Rajasthan with immediate effect. "This bill is totally illogical and intended to harass doctors in private practice or having their own nursing homes," alleged IMA secretary Dr Subal Kar.



Health and education are to remain under the complete control of the Government. But when the Government fails to do so, private service systems are coming up. It has also become beneficial in two ways. That people are getting the desired health service from private doctors, and the burden on the Government is getting minimised. Further, the doctors and nursing homes are paying 18 types of taxes to the Government and hence strengthening the State exchequer, said Dr Pyarelal Tripathy and Dr Prabin Agrawal, members of IMA.



As per the Bill, the private practitioners, clinics and nursing homes are bound to provide casualty treatment to the patients free of cost. But this treatment is totally the responsibility of the Government as it is risky and time bound. Hence, the Bill designed to involve private health sectors in casualty treatment is nothing but an attack on them that will ruin their credibility, said Dr Bhimsen Sahu and Dr Rajesh Tripathy.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that along with Bhopals Manuabhan Tekri, the statue of immortal martyr Hemu Kalani will also be established in Jabalpur and Indore of the state. Sindhi culture is one of the oldest culture. A museum showing its features will be built in the capital Bhopal.

Norms have been laid down for providing pattas to Sindhi migrants at low cost.

According to this, the work of providing pattas to the eligible Sindhi displaced people will be done at different places of the state. Eligible Sindhi displaced people will be given ownership rights of land by setting up special camps. Addressing the birth centenary celebrations of Shaheed Hemu Kalani at BHEL Dussehra ground in Bhopal today, Chief Minister Chouhan made important announcements in the interest of the Sindhi community.

Chief Minister Chouhan said that the state government had started arrangements to send the pilgrims of the state to the Sindhu Darshan festival held every year in the month of June at the ghats of the Indus river in Ladakh. It could not be continued due to Corona and other reasons. This year, under the Mukhyamantri Teerth-Darshan Yojana, an amount of Rs 25,000 per passenger will be provided to take them to the Sindhu Darshan festival. Chief Minister Chouhan said that the budget of Sindhi Sahitya Akademi will be increased to Rs.5 crore annually.

In the programme, Chief Minister Chouhan said that fulfilling the age-old demand of the Sindhi community, the state government has decided to give special exemption in premium rates for providing pattas. According to this, free pattas will be given up to 45 square meters. At present, the rate of 5 percent is applicable for the area of ??land up to 150 square meters, which has been reduced to one percent.

Similarly, it has been decided to reduce the rate of premium from 150 square meters to 200 square meters from the present rate of 10 percent to one percent. For the commercial use plot up to 20 square meters, at present the rate of 25 percent is prevalent, in this category now the new rate will be only 5 percent.

Chief Minister Chouhan said that in the case of a plot on the Bhopal-Sehore main road, if the market value for 1614 square feet residential area is Rs 1 crore 8 lakh, then the payable amount will be Rs 1 lakh 8 thousand only.

Similarly, for 2152 square feet residential, if the market value is Rs one crore 44 lakh, an amount of Rs one lakh 44 thousand will be payable. Apart from this, in the case of market price of Rs 14 lakh 40 thousand for a commercial shop of 215 square feet, an amount of only Rs 72 thousand will have to be paid in the provision of exemption in premium.


--Bodies burnt with wood emanate foul stench

PNS

: The cremation furnace in Satyanagar in the heart of the capital city here has been lying defunct for last many months and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been silent on taking measures to get it functional.

Thousands of people around Bhubaneswar, leaving their nearest crematory, come to Satyanagar to burn bodies in the incinerator but the defunct furnace has forced them to burn in a traditional way with wood.

Burning in the electric incinerator is very economical and costs around Rs 350 only but if it is done in a traditional way with wood then it becomes expensive. The issue has not only harmed the people economically but the area surrounding the crematory has been polluted with the fetid fumes as people resort to wood-burning. People residing in these areas and local pedestrians get suffocated with the stench.

While the BMC, on the one hand, is busy in modernizing and beautifying the capital city of Bhubaneswar but on the other, it has turned a blind eye towards the major issue. As hundreds of bodies have been cremated in Satyanagar with wood for over last few months, it has resulted in emission of plenty of carbon dioxide and malodorous fumes.

The employees on duty in the Satyanagar crematory said that since July 2 last the electric incinerator had been non-operational. The problem was further compounded due to non-availability of local mechanics who could repair it, they added.

"To get it repaired we have to depend on the mechanics from Kolkata; so most of the time the incinerator is in non- working condition as the mechanics are not available at a short notice. Several times complaints have been raised with the concerned authority but in vain," they informed.

Environmentalist and social worker Sushanta Kumar Sahoo, expressing his concern, appealed to the authority to resolve the issue permanently. Sahoo also said that BMC must take the issue seriously


Samajwadi Party is gearing up to retain the Suar assembly seat in Rampur district.

The Election Commission of India has announced the bypoll there as the seat was vacated following the disqualification of SP MLA Abdullah Azam after his conviction in a 15-year-old case in February this year.

Abdullah is the son of senior SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan. Polling at Suar will be held on May 10.

SP state president Naresh Uttam on Friday met the chief electoral officer of UP and submitted a memorandum demanding the transfer of Moradabad Divisional Commissioner AK Singh. He said free and fair election in Suar was not possible unless the commissioner was shifted.

Rampur district falls under Moradabad division and AK Singh was earlier District Magistrate of Rampur.

Bypolls to two UP assembly seats  Suar and Chhanbey  will be held on May 10 while counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.

Mirzapurs Chhanbey seat is going for bypoll after it fell vacant due to the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Kol.

The bypolls will not impact the Yogi Adityanath government much in terms of numbers as it enjoys a comfortable majority in the 403-member UP assembly.

However, the Suar seat assumes significance for both Bharatiya Janata Party and the family of SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan. The BJP is looking forward to making a clean sweep in the Azam Khan bastion by winning the Suar seat too after recently defeating Azam Khans protegee from Rampur assembly seat, the stronghold of Azam Khan.

Bypoll to Rampur assembly seat was held in December 2022 as Azam Khan was disqualified as the Rampur Sadar MLA in October 2022 after being sentenced to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case. The BJP succeeded in demolishing the four-decade-old hold of Azam Khan on the Rampur Sadar assembly seat where its candidate Aakash Saxena won.

The Azam Khan family, which is struggling with difficulties both on the political and the court fronts, now faces the challenge of saving its last bastion, the Suar assembly constituency.

Both father and son have been barred from contesting elections for six years. It is also a huge jolt for Azam Khan as it is for the first time in the last over four decades that the veteran SP leaders family does not have a single MLA or MP. Azam Khan or one of his family members has continuously fought from either Rampur or Suar seats since 1977.

In the 2022 bypolls, the SP decided not to give ticket to either Azam Khans wife or his daughter-in-law and instead chose Khan loyalist Asim Raza, who eventually lost the seat to BJPs Aakash Saxena.

For the SP, the Suar by-election is a prestige issue for it. The Suar assembly seat is Muslim-dominated but despite this fact, the BJP has won it on five occasions while Jan Sangh won it once. The Congress managed to capture this seat eight times while on the other hand, the SP has won this seat thrice.

The BJP had kept the Suar seat for its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) in the 2022 assembly elections, but the Apna Dal candidate Haider Ali Khan alias Hamza Miyan, belonging to the Rampur Nawab family, lost to Azam Khans son. This was the seat where the only Muslim candidate from National Democratic Alliance contested and so this time the Bharatiya Janata Party is unlikely to repeat this experiment.
Assuring people that lack of money would not be a hindrance to medical treatment, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that people with serious illnesses should be treated in the best medical facilities.

When a woman sought financial assistance from the chief minister during the Janata Darshan programme so that she could receive treatment at Apollo Hospital, he responded, "Aap bina chinta treatment kariye, paisa hum denge (Do not worry, we will provide the money)."

In front of Mahant Digvijaynath Smriti Auditorium of the Gorakhnath temple complex, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed the grievances of over 250 people.

The chief minister listened to each person individually and assured all of them that there was no need to panic or become upset because every situation would be handled effectively.

As he handed over the applications to the police and administrative officers, the chief minister gave them instructions to pay attention to the public's problems and find a satisfactory solution.

Numerous people had come to the Janata Darshan to seek financial support for the treatment of serious illnesses. The chief minister was informed by a woman that she was receiving treatment at Apollo Hospital. The woman was asked by the chief minister if she had an Ayushman card. When she said no, the chief minister responded by saying, You will be treated well and there is no need to worry. We'll provide the money.

He directed the officials present on the spot to send the estimate of the treatment to the government soon after completing the process.

When a woman informed the chief minister about her housing problem, Yogi Adityanath assured her that her wish to have her own home would soon come true.

Yogi also blessed children who came with some women and gave them chocolates while motivating them to study.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has cancelled his tour of Sasaram in Bihar where prohibitory orders are in place following communal tension sparked off during Ram Navami festivities, state BJP chief Samrat Choudhary said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference at the party's state headquarters here, Choudhary said Shah, who will be reaching Patna on Saturday evening, will address party workers in Nawada Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday as per schedule, even as he squarely blamed the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar for the cancellation of the function at Sasaram, organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of Emperor Asoka.

"It is clear that Nitish Kumar is not in control of the administration. Even Bihar Sharif, which falls in the chief minister's home district of Nalanda, is in turmoil. So are many other parts of the state," alleged Choudhary.

Union Home Minister of State Nityanand Rai had approached the state government with the offer of providing additional forces as per requirement but the entire administrative machinery seems to be in a state of sleep, he fumed.

"The imposition of Section 144 of CrPC in Sasaram is a clear indication that no large gatherings can take place. Hence, the honourable Home Minister has cancelled his visit to the town for Samrat Ashok's birth anniversary celebrations," said the state BJP president, whose party was last year dumped by Kumar, resulting in loss of power in Bihar.

Widely regarded as the BJP's principal strategist, Shah has been visiting Bihar with a greater frequency than before since it lost power and found itself pitted against the Mahagathbandhan, a multi-party formation which Kumar has joined.

The BJP-led NDA, which had bagged all but one of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, faces an uphill task next year with Kumar's JD(U) in the opponents' camp and another valuable ally, Ram Vilas Paswan, dead and his LJP fractured.

Upon his arrival in the state capital on Saturday evening, Shah is expected to put up at a city hotel and hold parleys with party office bearers. The Home Minister may also hold a meeting with administrative officials to get a feel of the situation on the ground.

Tight security arrangements are in place for the tour and besides security personnel, drones have been pressed into service at places Shah is expected to visit before boarding his return flight on Sunday afternoon.
Cash-strapped Pakistan has received a rollover loan of USD 2 billion that matured last week from its "all-weather ally" China, finance minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday, a move that will help Islamabad secure the much-required bailout from the IMF.

The rollover is one of the key requirements for Pakistan meeting its external financing needed for it to ink the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"I am happy to confirm that this has been rolled over on March 23," Dar told parliament, adding that all formalities were completed. Pakistan, currently in the throes of a major economic crisis, is grappling with high external debt and dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan is scrambling to increase its forex reserves which are estimated to be at USD 4.8 billion after China refinanced USD 500 million a fortnight ago. Pakistan has been negotiating with the IMF for the release of a USD 1.1 billion bailout package since February but has so far met with little success due to the stringent conditions imposed by the Washington-based lender.

The funds are part of a USD 6.5 billion bailout package the IMF approved in 2019, which analysts say is critical if Pakistan is to avoid defaulting on external debt obligations. The rollover comes days after Pakistan decided to skip the Democracy Summit in Washington so that it does not potentially upset its "all-weather ally" China.
President Joe Biden on Friday urged Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after the countrys security service arrested him on espionage charges  allegations that the newspaper denies.

Let him go, Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday morning when asked about his message to Russia on the arrest of Gershkovich. Russias Federal Security Service has accused Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, of trying to obtain classified information.

It is the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations of spying since the Cold War. The Journal has said it vehemently denies the charges. The Biden administration said Thursday that it was working to secure consular access to Gershkovich.
Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed in Belarus along with part of Russias tactical nuclear arsenal, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that his country intended to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The strategic nuclear weapons such as missile-borne warheads that Lukashenko mentioned during his state-of-the nation address would pose an even greater threat, if Moscow moves them to the territory of its neighbour and ally.

Belarus was a staging ground for amassing Russian troops before the invasion of Ukraine a little over 13 months ago. Lukashenko, the only person to have served as president since the countrys independence from the Soviet Union, delivered his annual address amid escalating tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.

Both he and Putin have alleged that Western powers want to ruin Russia and Belarus.

Putin and I will decide and introduce here, if necessary, strategic weapons, and they must understand this, the scoundrels abroad, who today are trying to blow us up from inside and outside, the Belarusian leader said.

We will stop at nothing to protect our countries, our state and their peoples.
Nepals Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on Friday expanded his Cabinet for the seventh time in three months, inducting ministers from five new parties, including the Nepali Congress.

The newly-appointed ministers took an oath of office and secrecy from President Ramchandra Paudel at Sheetal Niwas, the Presidents Office.A total of four leaders of the Nepali Congress have been appointed ministers in the first phase owing to internal disputes in the party, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported. Despite the seventh reshuffling, the Cabinet is yet to get into full shape.

Prachanda is still looking after the foreign ministry, ministries of law, justice and parliamentary affairs; forest and environment; health and population and the ministry of youth and sports, the report said. Nepals 10-party ruling alliance on Thursday failed to reach a consensus on the power-sharing deal, causing yet another delay in the expansion of the Cabinet. Top leaders held meetings at the Prime Ministers official residence here at Baluwatar to reach an agreement on the distribution of ministries among various political parties.Power sharing and the distribution of ministerial portfolios were the major bottlenecks among the members of the ruling alliance as the demand for Cabinet posts was exceeding the number of ministries available, officials said.Before the expansion, Prachanda was overburdened with about 16 ministerial portfolios, including the ministries of Home, Finance, Foreign, Industry and Commerce, Science and Technology, and Agriculture. There were only six Cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister and one minister of state in the Prachanda-led government before Fridays expansion, as ministers from CPN-UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and Rashtriya Swotantra Party had resigned from the posts following the break up of the seven-party coalition. Prachanda, who wanted to expand his Cabinet immediately after the confidence vote, could not do so as dividing the Cabinet portfolios among alliance partners proved challenging due to rival claims on ministries. According to the constitutional provision, there cannot be more than 25 ministers in the Cabinet, including the prime minister.
ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE:ARR  Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,490,000 shares, a growth of 14.7% from the February 28th total of 13,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

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Several brokerages have commented on ARR. StockNews.com began coverage on ARMOUR Residential REIT in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a sell rating on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT from $6.00 to $5.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 69,148 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 15,326 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 23,419 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,418 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 34,961 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,105 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 104,542 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Treasury Department increased its stake in ARMOUR Residential REIT by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 75,734 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 8,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.73% of the companys stock.

About ARMOUR Residential REIT

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ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the investment in business of investing in fixed rate, hybrid adjustable rate and adjustable rate residential mortgage backed securities. It also invests in residential mortgage backed securities issued or guaranteed by a United States government-sponsored entity such as the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Administration.

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California Resources Co. (NYSE:CRC  Get Rating) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,650,000 shares, a decline of 15.9% from the February 28th total of 4,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 793,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days. Currently, 6.0% of the companys stock are sold short.

California Resources Stock Performance

NYSE CRC traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.50. The companys stock had a trading volume of 711,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 812,303. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.50. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.11. California Resources has a 52 week low of $34.02 and a 52 week high of $51.46.

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California Resources (NYSE:CRC  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.77 by ($0.53). The business had revenue of $682.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $639.65 million. California Resources had a return on equity of 23.03% and a net margin of 19.36%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that California Resources will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Increases Dividend

Institutional Trading of California Resources

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 6th were given a $0.2825 dividend. This represents a $1.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. This is a boost from California Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 3rd. California Resourcess dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in California Resources by 47.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 160,038 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $7,159,000 after acquiring an additional 51,208 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in California Resources in the first quarter valued at $452,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in California Resources by 13.2% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,788 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $2,898,000 after acquiring an additional 7,572 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in California Resources in the first quarter valued at $305,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in California Resources by 53.7% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 44,629 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $1,996,000 after purchasing an additional 15,587 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on California Resources from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Mizuho reduced their price target on California Resources from $59.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Roth Capital reiterated a buy rating on shares of California Resources in a report on Saturday, February 4th. Bank of America upgraded California Resources from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on California Resources from $62.00 to $57.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, California Resources has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $55.29.

About California Resources

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California Resources Corporation operates as an independent oil and natural gas company. The company explores for, produces, gathers, processes, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids for marketers, California refineries, and other purchasers that have access to transportation and storage facilities.

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Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,080,000 shares, a growth of 50.7% from the February 28th total of 1,380,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the companys stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gloria M. Mccarthy sold 15,098 shares of Elevance Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.76, for a total transaction of $6,714,986.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,435 shares in the company, valued at $22,876,230.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the companys stock.

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Institutional Trading of Elevance Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ELV. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC bought a new stake in Elevance Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Elevance Health in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Institutional investors own 87.66% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Elevance Health Stock Performance

ELV has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Elevance Health from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $523.00 to $572.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Elevance Health in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Elevance Health from $550.00 to $565.00 in a report on Monday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $581.00 to $571.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $609.00 to $597.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Elevance Health presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $584.26.

Shares of NYSE ELV traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $459.81. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,057,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,152,984. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $475.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $489.71. Elevance Health has a one year low of $440.02 and a one year high of $549.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.85.

Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The company reported $5.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $39.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.62 billion. Elevance Health had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Elevance Health will post 32.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Elevance Health Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. This is a positive change from Elevance Healths previous quarterly dividend of $1.28. Elevance Healths dividend payout ratio is 23.88%.

About Elevance Health

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Elevance Health, Inc operates as a health company, which engages in improving lives and communities, and making healthcare simpler. It operates through the following segments: Commercial and Specialty Business, Government Business, CarelonRx, and Other. The Commercial and Specialty Business segment provides insurance products and services such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability and supplemental health insurance.

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Forge Global (NYSE:FRGE  Get Rating) is one of 23 public companies in the Security & commodity brokers, dealers, exchanges & services industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Forge Global to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Forge Global and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Forge Global 0 4 2 0 2.33 Forge Global Competitors 144 897 1198 31 2.49

Forge Global currently has a consensus price target of $3.48, suggesting a potential upside of 98.57%. As a group, Security & commodity brokers, dealers, exchanges & services companies have a potential upside of 29.31%. Given Forge Globals higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Forge Global is more favorable than its peers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

Volatility & Risk

13.7% of Forge Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.7% of shares of all Security & commodity brokers, dealers, exchanges & services companies are held by institutional investors. 20.0% of Forge Global shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of shares of all Security & commodity brokers, dealers, exchanges & services companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Forge Global has a beta of 2.33, meaning that its share price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forge Globals peers have a beta of 0.96, meaning that their average share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Forge Global and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Forge Global $69.38 million -$111.86 million -1.21 Forge Global Competitors $7.42 billion $656.15 million 31.45

Forge Globals peers have higher revenue and earnings than Forge Global. Forge Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Forge Global and its peers net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Forge Global -161.22% -26.59% -22.44% Forge Global Competitors 4.06% 20.57% 5.50%

Summary

Forge Global peers beat Forge Global on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

Forge Global Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. provides marketplace infrastructure, data services, and technology solutions for private market participants. It enables private company shareholders to trade private company shares with accredited investors. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in San Francisco, California.

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Invesco DB Base Metals Fund (NYSEARCA:DBB  Get Rating)s share price was down 0.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $20.08 and last traded at $20.20. Approximately 40,033 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 210,471 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.22.

Invesco DB Base Metals Fund Stock Down 0.1 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.73.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Invesco DB Base Metals Fund

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DBB. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Invesco DB Base Metals Fund during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Covestor Ltd bought a new stake in Invesco DB Base Metals Fund during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in Invesco DB Base Metals Fund by 124.1% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 2,548 shares of the companys stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Invesco DB Base Metals Fund during the 3rd quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Invesco DB Base Metals Fund during the 1st quarter valued at $168,000.

Invesco DB Base Metals Fund Company Profile

PowerShares DB Base Metals Fund (the Fund) is a separate series of PowerShares DB Multi-Sector Commodity Trust (the Trust), a Delaware statutory trust organized in seven separate series. The Fund seeks to track changes, whether positive or negative, in the level of the DBIQ Optimum Yield Industrial Metals Index Excess Return (the Index) over time, plus the excess, if any, of the Funds interest income from its holdings of United States Treasury Obligations and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities over the expenses of the Fund.

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London Finance & Investment Group P.L.C. (LON:LFI  Get Rating) declared a dividend on Friday, March 31st, Upcoming.Co.Uk reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 20th will be given a dividend of GBX 0.55 ($0.01) per share on Thursday, May 4th. This represents a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 20th. The official announcement can be seen at this link.

London Finance & Investment Group Price Performance

London Finance & Investment Group stock remained flat at GBX 37 ($0.45) during trading hours on Friday. 197 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,200. The businesss 50 day moving average is GBX 37.05 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 35.97. London Finance & Investment Group has a 52-week low of GBX 32.24 ($0.40) and a 52-week high of GBX 39.60 ($0.49). The stock has a market capitalization of 11.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3,700.00 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 28.57, a quick ratio of 28.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

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About London Finance & Investment Group

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Further Reading

London Finance & Investment Group P.L.C., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an investment finance and management company. It primarily invests in smaller U.K. quoted companies, which are balanced by a general portfolio that consists of investments in U.S., U.K. and European equities. The general portfolio includes interest in food and beverage, oil, natural resources, chemicals, and tobacco sectors.

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Central Asia Metals plc (LON:CAML  Get Rating) insider Mike Armitage purchased 8,334 shares of Central Asia Metals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 240 ($2.95) per share, with a total value of 20,001.60 ($24,575.01).

Central Asia Metals Price Performance

Shares of Central Asia Metals stock opened at GBX 236.50 ($2.91) on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 268.06 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 249.44. Central Asia Metals plc has a 12 month low of GBX 204 ($2.51) and a 12 month high of GBX 299 ($3.67). The firm has a market cap of 429.55 million, a PE ratio of 492.71 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

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Central Asia Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 27th will be paid a GBX 10 ($0.12) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 27th. Central Asia Metalss payout ratio is 4,583.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

About Central Asia Metals

Separately, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Central Asia Metals from GBX 325 ($3.99) to GBX 265 ($3.26) and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday.

(Get Rating)

Central Asia Metals plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a base metals producer. The company produces copper, zinc, silver, and lead. It owns a 100% interest in the Kounrad solvent extraction- electrowinning operation located near the city of Balkhash in central Kazakhstan; and a 100% interest in the Sasa mine located in north eastern Macedonia.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Agricultural Bank of China (OTCMKTS:ACGBF  Get Rating) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

Agricultural Bank of China Stock Performance

Shares of ACGBF stock opened at $0.37 on Tuesday. Agricultural Bank of China has a 12-month low of $0.28 and a 12-month high of $0.39.

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Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust plc (LON:BGEU  Get Rating)s share price shot up 2.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as GBX 94.40 ($1.16) and last traded at GBX 93.80 ($1.15). 532,618 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 829,958 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 91.90 ($1.13).

Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of 338.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.81 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of GBX 95.91 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 89.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.93, a current ratio of 4.20 and a quick ratio of 4.20.

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Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 5th were issued a GBX 0.70 ($0.01) dividend. This is a positive change from Baillie Gifford European Growth Trusts previous dividend of $0.35. This represents a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 5th. Baillie Gifford European Growth Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -144.93%.

About Baillie Gifford European Growth Trust

The European Investment Trust plc is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited. The fund is co-managed by Edinburgh Partners Limited. It invests in public equity markets of Europe, excluding the United Kingdom. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC reduced its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,843 shares of the companys stock after selling 2,955 shares during the quarter. General Mills makes up about 2.4% of Bridge Creek Capital Management LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLCs holdings in General Mills were worth $6,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Selway Asset Management bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. TD Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 50.7% during the third quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 428 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Perspectives Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. 74.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GIS. Barclays boosted their price objective on General Mills from $81.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Mills from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on General Mills from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on General Mills from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on General Mills from $84.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $83.88.

General Mills Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE GIS traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $85.46. The company had a trading volume of 3,069,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,408,088. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.94 and a twelve month high of $88.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.28. The stocks 50 day moving average is $79.15 and its 200-day moving average is $80.37.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 14.04% and a return on equity of 24.51%. General Millss revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. General Millss dividend payout ratio is presently 46.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 1,955 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.99, for a total transaction of $168,110.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,146 shares in the company, valued at $1,474,384.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 8,030 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.33, for a total transaction of $685,199.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 83,049 shares in the company, valued at $7,086,571.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 1,955 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.99, for a total transaction of $168,110.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,146 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,474,384.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,036 shares of company stock worth $4,078,559. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the companys stock.

About General Mills

(Get Rating)

General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing on Friday.

Xi pointed out that the China-Malaysia friendship has a long history, and bilateral relations have always been at the forefront of countries in the region.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Xi said, noting that during Prime Minister Anwar's visit, the two sides reached a consensus on building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, which will surely open a new chapter in the history of bilateral relations.

He called on the two sides to make coordinated efforts to advance the development of bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields in the next stage, push for steady and sustained growth of China-Malaysia relations, and inject new impetus into the prosperity and development of the two countries and the region at large.

China's unswerving pursuit of high-standard opening up and Chinese modernization will bring new opportunities for the development of Malaysia and other countries, Xi said, calling on the two sides to continue to raise the level of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, advance key projects, foster growth areas in the digital economy, green development and new energy, and explore cooperation on people's livelihoods so that China-Malaysia relations will bring more benefits to the two peoples.

Xi stressed that both China and Malaysia belong to Asian civilizations and have benefited from, contributed to, and upheld economic globalization and multilateralism.

"China is ready to work with Malaysia to promote Asian civilizations, uphold strategic independence and the original aspiration of East Asia cooperation, support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) centrality, firmly reject the Cold War mentality and camp confrontation, and jointly build a common home," he noted.

For his part, Anwar spoke highly of the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi.

Malaysia is ready to work with China to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of relevant initiatives and advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

Anwar pointed out that Malaysia opposes camp confrontation and stands against being forced to choose sides. He also said ASEAN, as an independent force, will play an active role in avoiding the escalation of regional tensions. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
Tibetologists refute doomsayers of Tibetan culture, denounce illegal nature of Dalai clique

Xinhua) 15:43, April 01, 2023

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Tibetologists have rebutted the accusations that the Tibetan culture is being destroyed, saying such claims glorified the anachronistic culture of the few serf owners, while ignoring the improvements enjoyed by the Tibetan people.

Zhang Yun, a researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center, said the "Tibetan culture" uttered by the Dalai clique only represented their own class and had little to do with the vast majority of the people in Tibet.

In old Tibet, the serfs and slaves that accounted for 95 percent of the population had no guaranteed right to live, let alone educational and cultural rights, Zhang said in an article published by the People's Daily overseas edition.

Since Tibet's peaceful liberation and democratic reform in the 1950s, the southwestern autonomous region has made great strides in preserving and developing Tibetan culture, with the government investing heavily in education and cultural preservation.

Between 1951 and 2021, over 257 billion yuan (37.4 billion U.S. dollars) were poured into the region's educational sector, helping raise the number of primary and middle schools from 462 and four respectively at the end of 1959 to 832 and 156 in 2021.

In the period spanning 2006-2020 alone, the central government allocated more than 3.4 billion yuan for the maintenance and repair of 155 cultural relic sites in Tibet.

Tibet now has three items (Gesar, Tibetan opera, and Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa) included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. There are 106 items on the national intangible cultural heritage list with 96 state-level representative bearers. The University of Tibetan Medicine has trained over 7,000 Tibetan medicine professionals since its establishment in 1993.

"The Tibetan culture has gone through a fundamental transition from one monopolized by a small fraction of feudal serf owners to a culture jointly created, promoted and shared by all people in Tibet," Zhang said.

The Tibetologist said that despite the noticeable achievements, Tibetan culture doomsayers have continued to smear China's Tibet policies and cry out grievance for the decayed serfdom culture of the old Tibet.

"The true intention of the Dalai clique and some Western governments is not to protect the Tibetan culture, but to split China and restore the old rule," Zhang said.

In another article published by the Global Times, Tibetologist Li Decheng denounced the illegal nature of the Dalai clique and the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile."

"The Dalai clique is a separatist political group engaged in separatist and sabotage activities," said Li, another researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center.

The Dalai clique represents the remnants of the feudal serf-owner class in old Tibet, and is supported and utilized by international hostile forces, Li said.

Meanwhile, the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile" is only an illegal organization without political legitimacy, according to the article.

The organization is in essence an illegal organization plotting to split China. Furthermore, its existence and activities are totally unconstitutional and illegal, Li said, adding that it has no legitimacy at all from a political and legal point of view.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Clear Creek Financial Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA  Get Rating) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,159 shares of the credit services providers stock after selling 279 shares during the quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLCs holdings in Mastercard were worth $403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 13.0% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,909,008 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $8,489,253,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102,135 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the third quarter valued at approximately $237,635,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 56.7% in the third quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,925,743 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $547,566,000 after purchasing an additional 696,961 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,259,535 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $21,967,977,000 after purchasing an additional 568,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Mastercard by 43.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,310,845 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $372,728,000 after purchasing an additional 396,430 shares during the last quarter. 74.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Mastercard Trading Up 1.2 %

Mastercard stock opened at $363.41 on Friday. The firms 50-day moving average is $361.93 and its 200-day moving average is $342.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $276.87 and a 1 year high of $390.00. The company has a market cap of $346.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.56, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.11.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

Mastercard ( NYSE:MA Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The credit services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.79 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 44.65% and a return on equity of 158.38%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Mastercard Incorporated will post 12.13 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 7th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 5th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Mastercards dividend payout ratio is presently 22.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $405.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $427.00 to $437.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Sunday, January 29th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $406.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mastercard from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $413.41.

Insider Activity at Mastercard

In other news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 6,333 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.05, for a total value of $2,406,856.65. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 41,314 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $15,701,385.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 6,333 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.05, for a total value of $2,406,856.65. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 41,314 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,701,385.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Miebach sold 17,052 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.43, for a total transaction of $6,418,884.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,544 shares in the company, valued at $13,379,827.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 655,522 shares of company stock worth $242,724,561 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Mastercard Profile

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Mastercard, Inc is a technology company, which engages in the payments industry that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, and business. It offers payment solutions for the development and implementation of credit, debit, prepaid, commercial, and payment programs. The company was founded in November 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, NY.

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Diversified Portfolios Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:VWO  Get Rating) by 22.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,694 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 3,370 shares during the period. Diversified Portfolios Inc.s holdings in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF were worth $729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VWO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,103,884 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $2,083,721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023,733 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 2.2% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 44,250,998 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,614,718,000 after buying an additional 951,579 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 2.5% in the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 43,578,877 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,010,294,000 after buying an additional 1,078,675 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 0.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,991,634 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,203,865,000 after buying an additional 89,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal Capital Advisors Corp lifted its position in Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF by 6.0% in the third quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 23,903,226 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $872,229,000 after buying an additional 1,350,158 shares during the last quarter.

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Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF Stock Down 0.3 %

VWO traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.40. The company had a trading volume of 8,309,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,182,896. The stock has a market cap of $70.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.35. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has a 52 week low of $34.88 and a 52 week high of $47.92.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF Profile

The Fund seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index, that measures the return of stocks issued by companies located in emerging market countries.

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Foster Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,000 shares of the transportation companys stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,331,247 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $561,068,000 after buying an additional 257,583 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 0.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,198,910 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $281,839,000 after buying an additional 36,486 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,468,888 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $253,256,000 after buying an additional 249,440 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 6.3% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,329,264 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $130,389,000 after buying an additional 196,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 41.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,871,802 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $112,432,000 after buying an additional 839,832 shares in the last quarter. 77.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Alaska Air Group Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE ALK opened at $41.96 on Friday. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a one year low of $37.19 and a one year high of $61.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $46.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.58, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alaska Air Group

Alaska Air Group ( NYSE:ALK Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 0.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Alaska Air Group news, SVP Andrea L. Schneider sold 1,596 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.81, for a total transaction of $81,092.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,747 shares in the company, valued at $800,105.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total value of $170,030.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,907 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,882.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrea L. Schneider sold 1,596 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.81, for a total transaction of $81,092.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,105.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $57.50 to $58.50 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Alaska Air Group from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alaska Air Group currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Alaska Air Group Profile

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Alaska Air Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of air transportation services. It operates through the following segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The Mainline segment includes scheduled air transportation on Alaskas Boeing and Airbus jet aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the U.S., and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize.

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Great Lakes Graphite Inc (CVE:GLK  Get Rating) shares crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$0.03 and traded as high as C$0.04. Great Lakes Graphite shares last traded at C$0.04, with a volume of 73,021 shares trading hands.

Great Lakes Graphite Stock Up 

The business has a 50-day moving average of C$0.03 and a 200-day moving average of C$0.04. The stock has a market cap of C$4.64 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.75.

Great Lakes Graphite Company Profile

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Great Lakes Graphite Inc, doing business as NovoCarbon Corporation, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Canada. It holds a 100% interest in the Lochaber graphite project, which includes 45 claims covering 2,649 hectares located in the Buckingham Graphite region in Outaouais/Gatineau, Quebec.

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Phreesia (NYSE:PHR  Get Rating) had its price target upped by Guggenheim from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

PHR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Phreesia from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Phreesia to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Phreesia from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, March 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Phreesia from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, March 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Phreesia from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $38.15.

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Phreesia Price Performance

NYSE PHR opened at $32.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.32 and a current ratio of 3.32. Phreesia has a one year low of $13.19 and a one year high of $40.00. The firms fifty day moving average is $35.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Phreesia

Phreesia ( NYSE:PHR Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 22nd. The company reported ($0.72) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.78) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $76.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.50 million. Phreesia had a negative net margin of 62.71% and a negative return on equity of 52.67%. Phreesias quarterly revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.90) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Phreesia will post -2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Phreesia news, SVP David Linetsky sold 11,378 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total value of $449,999.90. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,489 shares of the companys stock, valued at $8,127,089.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael J. Davidoff sold 28,555 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.10, for a total transaction of $1,030,835.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 108,749 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,925,838.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David Linetsky sold 11,378 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.55, for a total transaction of $449,999.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,127,089.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,347 shares of company stock valued at $1,694,845 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Phreesia

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PHR. FMR LLC increased its position in Phreesia by 28.1% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,217,649 shares of the companys stock worth $155,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363,173 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Phreesia during the second quarter worth approximately $21,436,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Phreesia by 29.8% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,920,850 shares of the companys stock worth $74,424,000 after purchasing an additional 670,902 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Phreesia by 55.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,110,942 shares of the companys stock worth $28,307,000 after purchasing an additional 394,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Phreesia by 5.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,359,641 shares of the companys stock worth $167,640,000 after purchasing an additional 349,301 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.23% of the companys stock.

Phreesia Company Profile

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Phreesia, Inc is a healthcare software company, which engages in the provision of patient check-in solutions for medical practices. The firm offers appointments, clinical support, integration, registration, patient activation, analytics and reports, revenue cycle, patient surveys, and privacy and security products.

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Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HPP  Get Rating) CIO Drew Gordon purchased 25,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $5.96 per share, with a total value of $149,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive now owns 116,958 shares of the companys stock, valued at $697,069.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Hudson Pacific Properties Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HPP opened at $6.65 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $8.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.27 and a 1-year high of $28.66.

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Hudson Pacific Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.04%. Hudson Pacific Propertiess payout ratio is currently -256.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hudson Pacific Properties

A number of research firms have recently commented on HPP. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $10.00 to $6.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. They set a sell rating and a $5.50 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hudson Pacific Properties presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.95.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HPP. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 119.5% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Ellevest Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 269.6% during the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 3,955 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Hudson Pacific Properties by 196.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,520 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334 shares in the last quarter. 95.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Hudson Pacific Properties

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Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc is a real estate company, which acquires, repositions, develops, and operates sustainable office and state of-the-art studio properties in high-barrier-to-entry submarkets in California, the Pacific Northwest, Western Canada, and Greater London, United Kingdom. It operates through the Office Properties and Studio Properties segments.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM  Get Rating) in a report published on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the stock.

International Tower Hill Mines Stock Up 7.5 %

THM opened at $0.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $0.51. International Tower Hill Mines has a 52 week low of $0.38 and a 52 week high of $1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $116.97 million, a PE ratio of -60.01 and a beta of 0.75.

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International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. is a mineral exploration company, which engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. It holds the right to acquire interest in an advanced stage exploration project in Alaska, known as the Livengood Gold Project. The company was founded by Jeffrey A.

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Mascoma Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:IJR  Get Rating) by 35.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,468 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 12,294 shares during the quarter. iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF makes up about 1.4% of Mascoma Wealth Management LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Mascoma Wealth Management LLCs holdings in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF were worth $4,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IJR. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 67.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,171,621 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,322,814,000 after buying an additional 6,110,963 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. acquired a new position in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF in the third quarter valued at approximately $309,689,000. Cowa LLC boosted its stake in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 5,333.8% in the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 1,283,582 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,960 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 18.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,349,891 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $685,026,000 after acquiring an additional 990,861 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 882.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 994,321 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $86,695,000 after acquiring an additional 893,091 shares during the period.

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iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF Stock Up 1.9 %

IJR stock traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $96.70. The company had a trading volume of 4,956,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,145,910. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $100.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.34. iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF has a fifty-two week low of $86.40 and a fifty-two week high of $111.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 1.13.

iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF Company Profile

iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF, formerly iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund, seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Standard & Poors SmallCap 600 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of publicly traded securities in the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market.

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Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (BATS:VLUE  Get Rating) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 341,896 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 6,404 shares during the quarter. iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF accounts for about 5.5% of Kathmere Capital Management LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Kathmere Capital Management LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF were worth $31,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF during the third quarter valued at $301,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF by 64.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,027 shares of the companys stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,339 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF by 96.5% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 695,175 shares of the companys stock worth $63,455,000 after buying an additional 341,384 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF during the 3rd quarter worth $133,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,138 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF Price Performance

iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF stock traded up $1.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $92.59. 308,149 shares of the stock traded hands. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 1.04. The firms 50 day moving average price is $94.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.33. iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF has a 1 year low of $71.21 and a 1 year high of $89.40.

About iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF

The iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (VLUE) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI USA Enhanced Value index. The fund tracks an index of large- and mid-cap US equities. Stocks are selected and weighted using fundamental metrics (earnings, revenue, book value and cash earnings), aiming for exposure to undervalued stocks in each sector.

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McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC  Get Rating) had its price target increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $63.00 to $66.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on McCormick & Company, Incorporated in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on McCormick & Company, Incorporated in a research note on Friday, March 10th. They issued a sell rating and a $71.00 price objective on the stock. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $75.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on McCormick & Company, Incorporated from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded McCormick & Company, Incorporated from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $79.89.

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McCormick & Company, Incorporated Price Performance

NYSE MKC opened at $83.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.31 billion, a PE ratio of 33.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.56. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $74.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.40. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a 12 month low of $70.60 and a 12 month high of $105.19.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated Announces Dividend

McCormick & Company, Incorporated ( NYSE:MKC Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 28th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. McCormick & Company, Incorporated had a return on equity of 14.34% and a net margin of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The firms revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that McCormick & Company, Incorporated will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. McCormick & Company, Incorporateds dividend payout ratio is 63.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael D. Mangan sold 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $375,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,137 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,860,275. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 19.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 92,736.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,770,708 shares of the companys stock valued at $478,334,000 after buying an additional 5,764,492 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in McCormick & Company, Incorporated in the 4th quarter valued at about $148,700,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,377,729 shares of the companys stock valued at $240,730,000 after buying an additional 737,040 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,756,198 shares of the companys stock valued at $980,404,000 after buying an additional 564,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in McCormick & Company, Incorporated by 508.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 611,417 shares of the companys stock valued at $50,901,000 after buying an additional 510,887 shares in the last quarter. 79.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About McCormick & Company, Incorporated

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McCormick & Co, Inc engages in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to retail outlets, food manufacturers, and foodservice businesses. It operates through the Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. The Consumer segment sells spices, seasonings, condiments, and sauces.

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Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY  Get Rating) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 46.95 ($0.58) and traded as high as GBX 48.10 ($0.59). Lloyds Banking Group shares last traded at GBX 47.77 ($0.59), with a volume of 85,590,550 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on LLOY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed a top pick rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 55 ($0.68) to GBX 58 ($0.71) and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Shore Capital reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays upgraded Lloyds Banking Group to an overweight rating and boosted their price objective for the company from GBX 55 ($0.68) to GBX 75 ($0.92) in a research note on Monday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of GBX 65.22 ($0.80).

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Lloyds Banking Group Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of 31.89 billion, a PE ratio of 681.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 50.59 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 46.96.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

Insider Activity

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be paid a GBX 1.60 ($0.02) dividend. This is a positive change from Lloyds Banking Groups previous dividend of $0.80. This represents a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Lloyds Banking Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 2,857.14%.

In related news, insider Charlie Nunn bought 285,316 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 48 ($0.59) per share, for a total transaction of 136,951.68 ($168,265.98). Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the companys stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

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Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal and small business customers.

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Matisse Capital increased its holdings in shares of Mexico Equity & Income Fund Inc. (NYSE:MXE  Get Rating) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 132,000 shares of the investment management companys stock after acquiring an additional 18,900 shares during the period. Matisse Capital owned approximately 0.07% of Mexico Equity & Income Fund worth $1,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MXE. Shaker Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Mexico Equity & Income Fund by 352.9% during the third quarter. Shaker Financial Services LLC now owns 74,842 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 58,317 shares in the last quarter. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Mexico Equity & Income Fund by 9.2% during the first quarter. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. now owns 348,162 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $3,179,000 after acquiring an additional 29,445 shares in the last quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P bought a new stake in Mexico Equity & Income Fund during the third quarter worth about $205,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mexico Equity & Income Fund by 36.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 26,196 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 7,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mexico Equity & Income Fund by 3.4% in the third quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 61,469 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 2,021 shares in the last quarter.

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Mexico Equity & Income Fund Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MXE traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.07. The stock had a trading volume of 4,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,192. The businesss 50 day moving average is $9.94 and its 200-day moving average is $9.05. Mexico Equity & Income Fund Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.26 and a 52 week high of $10.28.

Mexico Equity & Income Fund Company Profile

Mexico Equity & Income Fund Inc is a closed ended balanced mutual fund launched and managed by Pichardo Asset Management, SA de C.V. The fund invests in the fixed income and public equity markets of Mexico. It also invests some portion in the convertible securities. The fund invests in the stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA  Get Rating) has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $12.45.

MFA has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group restated an outperform rating and issued a $12.50 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Friday, March 10th.

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Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Starwood Capital Group Global sold 450,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.50, for a total value of $4,725,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,188,539 shares of the companys stock, valued at $106,979,659.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.63% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

MFA Financial Stock Performance

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in MFA Financial by 55.6% during the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,131,213 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $9,823,000 after buying an additional 404,416 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 11.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,712 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,859 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.4% during the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 905,700 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $3,650,000 after purchasing an additional 54,553 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in MFA Financial by 113.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,127,278 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $8,573,000 after buying an additional 1,131,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.40% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE:MFA opened at $9.92 on Friday. MFA Financial has a 1-year low of $7.15 and a 1-year high of $16.60. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $10.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.30.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.11%. MFA Financials payout ratio is presently -54.69%.

MFA Financial Company Profile

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MFA Financial, Inc is a real estate investment trust. engages in the business of investment, on a leveraged basis, in residential mortgage assets including agency mortgage-backed securities, Non-Agency mortgage backed securities and residential whole loans. The company was founded by Stewart Zimmerman on July 24, 1997 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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Moody Aldrich Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL  Get Rating) by 46.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 36,571 shares of the semiconductor companys stock after selling 31,732 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLCs holdings in MaxLinear were worth $1,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MXL. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of MaxLinear during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of MaxLinear by 1,068.9% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,543 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of MaxLinear during the second quarter worth about $90,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MaxLinear during the second quarter worth about $144,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp increased its position in shares of MaxLinear by 10.3% during the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 4,712 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. 90.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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MaxLinear Stock Up 1.2 %

MaxLinear stock opened at $35.21 on Friday. MaxLinear, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.27 and a twelve month high of $63.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Insider Activity

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

In related news, insider James Lougheed sold 115,944 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.74, for a total value of $4,723,558.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,921 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $159,741.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Insiders own 8.50% of the companys stock.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of MaxLinear from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of MaxLinear in a research report on Thursday, March 9th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of MaxLinear in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. They issued an underperform rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of MaxLinear from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of MaxLinear in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MaxLinear currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $46.22.

MaxLinear Company Profile

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MaxLinear, Inc engages in the provision of communications systems-on-chip, or SoC, solutions used in broadband, mobile and wireline infrastructure, data center, and industrial and multi-market applications. Its products include cable broadband modems and gateways, wireline connectivity devices, radio frequency transceivers, fiber-optic modules, video set-top boxes and gateways, hybrid analog and digital televisions, direct broadcast satellite outdoor and indoor units, and power management and interface products.

Further Reading

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National Bank of Canada FI lessened its stake in shares of The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI  Get Rating) by 58.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 231,739 shares of the health services providers stock after selling 325,999 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.08% of The Cigna Group worth $76,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in The Cigna Group by 9.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,108,166 shares of the health services providers stock worth $862,423,000 after buying an additional 268,793 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in The Cigna Group by 7.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,132,943 shares of the health services providers stock worth $564,239,000 after buying an additional 150,412 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in The Cigna Group by 16.5% during the third quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 1,997,800 shares of the health services providers stock worth $554,330,000 after buying an additional 283,323 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of The Cigna Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,808,135 shares of the health services providers stock valued at $433,248,000 after purchasing an additional 28,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in shares of The Cigna Group by 6.6% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 1,611,338 shares of the health services providers stock valued at $447,098,000 after purchasing an additional 99,144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.61% of the companys stock.

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The Cigna Group Price Performance

NYSE CI traded up $1.44 on Friday, hitting $255.53. 1,876,861 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,941,067. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $286.89 and a 200-day moving average of $302.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The Cigna Group has a 52 week low of $239.50 and a 52 week high of $340.11. The stock has a market cap of $75.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.67.

The Cigna Group Increases Dividend

The Cigna Group ( NYSE:CI Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The health services provider reported $4.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $4.84 by $0.12. The Cigna Group had a return on equity of 16.01% and a net margin of 3.69%. The company had revenue of $45.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $45.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.77 EPS. The Cigna Groups revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Cigna Group will post 24.92 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 8th were paid a $1.23 dividend. This represents a $4.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a boost from The Cigna Groups previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 7th. The Cigna Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 23.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David Cordani sold 20,148 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.06, for a total value of $5,924,720.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,496 shares in the company, valued at $35,433,053.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Everett Neville sold 2,982 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.67, for a total value of $810,119.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,403 shares in the company, valued at $1,467,833.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Cordani sold 20,148 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.06, for a total value of $5,924,720.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 120,496 shares of the companys stock, valued at $35,433,053.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,752 shares of company stock worth $8,008,479. Insiders own 0.80% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CI. Raymond James decreased their target price on The Cigna Group from $370.00 to $350.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of The Cigna Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on The Cigna Group from $378.00 to $370.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Mizuho reiterated a buy rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of The Cigna Group in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on The Cigna Group from $359.00 to $348.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $339.00.

The Cigna Group Profile

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The Cigna Group is engaged in the provision of global health services. It operates through the following segments: Evernorth, U.S. Medical, International Markets, and Group Disability and Other. The Evernorth segment includes a broad range of coordinated and point solution health services, including pharmacy solutions, benefits management solutions, care solutions and intelligence solutions.

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Norris Perne & French LLP MI acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,253 shares of the banks stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Connable Office Inc. raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 7,174 shares of the banks stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 24,518 shares of the banks stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 13,296 shares of the banks stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 87,352 shares of the banks stock valued at $3,001,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,548 shares of the banks stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. 88.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:CFG traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $30.37. 11,001,545 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,482,913. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.44, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.37. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.79 and a 52 week high of $48.98. The firms 50 day moving average is $38.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

Citizens Financial Group ( NYSE:CFG Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 17th. The bank reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.30 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 22.86% and a return on equity of 11.24%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.53%. Citizens Financial Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, February 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.15 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CFG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 24th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $40.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $47.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citizens Financial Group news, Director Kevin Cummings sold 90,689 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.00, for a total value of $3,899,627.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 455,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,598,927. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.53% of the companys stock.

About Citizens Financial Group

(Get Rating)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking segments. The Consumer Banking segment includes deposit products, mortgage and home equity lending, student loans, auto financing, credit cards, business loans, and wealth management and investment services.

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Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN  Get Rating) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,697 shares of the construction companys stock after selling 2,592 shares during the period. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLCs holdings in Lennar were worth $5,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Karp Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Lennar by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 552 shares of the construction companys stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Lennar by 96.9% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 508 shares of the construction companys stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Lennar in the 3rd quarter worth about $60,000. Institutional investors own 82.68% of the companys stock.

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Lennar Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of LEN traded up $2.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $105.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,958,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,659,376. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 7.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.42. Lennar Co. has a 52-week low of $62.54 and a 52-week high of $109.28.

Lennar Announces Dividend

Lennar ( NYSE:LEN Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 15th. The construction company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.99 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 13.86%. Lennars quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 9.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 27th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 26th. Lennars payout ratio is currently 9.30%.

Insider Activity at Lennar

In related news, CFO Diane J. Bessette sold 9,289 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $958,253.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on shares of Lennar from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $126.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Lennar from $76.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Friday, March 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Lennar in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Lennar from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $104.60.

About Lennar

(Get Rating)

Lennar Corp. engages in the provision of real estate related financial and investment management services. It operates through the following segments: Homebuilding East, Central, Texas, and West, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other. The Homebuilding East, Central, Texas, and West segment constructs and sells homes primarily for first-time, move-up, and active adult homebuyers primarily under the Lennar brand name.

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Moseley Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF  Get Rating) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,771 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Moseley Investment Management Inc.s holdings in Raymond James were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of RJF. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Raymond James by 80.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,629,875 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $618,780,000 after acquiring an additional 2,510,966 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Raymond James by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,689,564 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,383,900,000 after acquiring an additional 410,025 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Raymond James by 14.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,762,467 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $246,992,000 after acquiring an additional 349,521 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Raymond James by 177.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 451,796 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $39,441,000 after acquiring an additional 288,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Raymond James during the first quarter worth about $27,163,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Raymond James in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Raymond James from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, January 12th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on Raymond James from $119.00 to $116.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Raymond James from $148.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Raymond James from $127.00 to $125.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Raymond James has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $122.86.

Raymond James Stock Performance

RJF traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $93.27. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,313,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,111,201. Raymond James has a fifty-two week low of $84.86 and a fifty-two week high of $126.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.75.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.83 billion. Raymond James had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 13.65%. The firms revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Raymond James will post 9.33 EPS for the current year.

Raymond James Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 31st. Raymond Jamess payout ratio is currently 23.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Raymond James

In other Raymond James news, insider Jodi Perry sold 6,343 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.30, for a total transaction of $712,318.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,150 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $802,945. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Raymond James

(Get Rating)

Raymond James Financial, Inc, a financial holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the underwriting, distribution, trading, and brokerage of equity and debt securities, and the sale of mutual funds and other investment products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, and Other segments.

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Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM  Get Rating) by 29.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,352 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 757 shares during the quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLCs holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 132,480,611 shares of the companys stock valued at $10,997,216,000 after buying an additional 1,451,582 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 100,951,462 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,379,979,000 after buying an additional 962,801 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 57,777,797 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,868,937,000 after buying an additional 389,746 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,468,228 shares of the companys stock worth $2,944,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,558,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Philip Morris International by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 30,443,730 shares of the companys stock worth $3,006,398,000 after purchasing an additional 476,875 shares in the last quarter. 75.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

PM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $109.00 to $116.00 in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Societe Generale began coverage on Philip Morris International in a report on Monday, January 23rd. They set a sell rating and a $90.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Philip Morris International from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $118.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Philip Morris International currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $110.36.

Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Philip Morris International stock opened at $97.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.69. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $99.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.63. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12 month low of $82.85 and a 12 month high of $109.81.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 127.24% and a net margin of 11.22%. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. Philip Morris Internationals revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Philip Morris International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 22nd. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. Philip Morris Internationals payout ratio is 87.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Philip Morris International news, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $8,028,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,007,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,057,266.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Stacey Kennedy sold 20,308 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.30, for a total value of $2,036,892.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 22,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,248,525.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Andre Calantzopoulos sold 80,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.35, for a total value of $8,028,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,007,048 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $101,057,266.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 117,064 shares of company stock worth $11,738,763. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Philip Morris International Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Philip Morris International, Inc is a holding company engaged in the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes, tobacco, and nicotine-containing products. Its products include cigarettes and reduced-risk products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: European Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia and Australia, and Americas.

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Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,970,000 shares, a growth of 12.2% from the February 28th total of 11,560,000 shares. Approximately 9.9% of the companys shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.9 days.

Empire State Realty Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:ESRT traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,514,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,051,659. The company has a current ratio of 7.17, a quick ratio of 7.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $7.38 and a 200 day moving average of $7.17. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.19. Empire State Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $5.39 and a 1 year high of $10.06.

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Empire State Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were paid a $0.035 dividend. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. Empire State Realty Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Empire State Realty Trust

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Empire State Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Bank of America raised Empire State Realty Trust from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $9.25 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Empire State Realty Trust from $7.25 to $7.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Empire State Realty Trust from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Empire State Realty Trust from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $9.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $7.95.

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ESRT. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Empire State Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Empire State Realty Trust by 203.4% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 7,115 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Group One Trading L.P. acquired a new position in Empire State Realty Trust during the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Empire State Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Empire State Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.81% of the companys stock.

Empire State Realty Trust Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in owning, managing, acquiring, and repositioning office and retail properties. It operates through the Real Estate and Observatory segments. The Real Estate segment includes ownership, management, operation, acquisition, repositioning, and disposition of real estate assets.

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Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (OTCMKTS:SDCJF  Get Rating) shares passed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $0.15 and traded as low as $0.03. Sundance Energy Australia shares last traded at $0.15, with a volume of 1,200 shares changing hands.

Sundance Energy Australia Stock Performance

The stocks 50-day moving average price is $0.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Sundance Energy Australia Company Profile

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Sundance Energy Australia Limited operates as an onshore oil and gas company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil and natural gas. Its exploration and development activities are focused on the Eagle Ford project in the South-Texas-Gulf Coast Basin. Sundance Energy Australia Limited was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Wayville, Australia.

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Vedanta Resources plc (LON:VED  Get Rating)s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 832.60 ($10.23) and traded as high as GBX 838 ($10.30). Vedanta Resources shares last traded at GBX 832.60 ($10.23), with a volume of 162,101 shares changing hands.

Vedanta Resources Price Performance

The businesss fifty day moving average is GBX 832.60 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 832.60.

Vedanta Resources Company Profile

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Vedanta Resources plc operates as a diversified natural resources company in India, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Australia, and Liberia. It primarily produces zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, and aluminum deposits. The company also explores for, extracts, and processes minerals, as well as oil and gas.

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Water Intelligence plc (LON:WATR  Get Rating) shares crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 591.83 ($7.27) and traded as low as GBX 429.90 ($5.28). Water Intelligence shares last traded at GBX 445 ($5.47), with a volume of 9,352 shares.

Water Intelligence Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of 86.51 million, a P/E ratio of 2,781.25, a P/E/G ratio of -1.23 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 503.95 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 589.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 38.35, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 2.17.

Water Intelligence Company Profile

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Water Intelligence plc provides leak detection and remediation services for potable and non-potable water in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through Franchise Royalty Income, Franchise-Related Activities, US Corporate Operated Locations, and International Corporate Operated Locations segments.

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LOS ANGELES - USA - The fifth Beckham baby, who is set to be called Gucci, already weighs more than Victoria Beckham, concerned doctors at the Cedars-Sinai hospital have revealed.

There are serious fears for Victoria Beckhams health, because the baby she is carrying already weighs more than her and there may be problems during the birth, doctors claim.

Somehow were going to have to pull that thing out of her. Even a cesarean would be a problem with that stick, Dr. Arnold Kovavovic, one of the team of obstetricians who will be delivering the baby soon, told the LA Times.



During her pregnancy Mrs Beckham has had to be wheeled around on a special trolley because the baby bump dominates her body and she does not have the strength to walk on her own.

The customised contraption takes the weight off Poshs legs and enables her to carry out her daily tasks, like not doing anything at all, shopping and scowling in front of a mirror.

Victoria is going to be a great mother to Gucci. She wanted to call the baby Burberry but we went for Gucci instead. Its a beautiful name and if we have another baby well call them Fendi, doting father, David Beckham, revealed to American talk show host, David Letterman, yesterday.
Disney executives who are being begged by Harry and Meghans agent to give her a role in a superhero film, or anything that comes up, are so fed up that they might just have a plank of wood on screen to represent the former Duchess of Sussex.

She cant act, has zero charisma, and is a foul using bitch who has zero endearing qualities, plus has a very negative image in the publics eyes. We just went to Home Depot and bought a plank of plywood, that will be her, Gus Van Horten, senior studio producer told CNN.

It would be a win win situation for the film studio because the plank of wood costs about $19.99 as opposed to some horrific sum pushed by Meghans deluded agent.

The plank of wood will have more presence and acting skills than Meghan Markle, who was a Z list anyway, another Disney producer revealed.

The former royal couple are currently holed up in Vancouver, Canada staying as a guest of a Kremlin connected Russian businessman.

Meghan Markle is signed up to visit Britain for the last time before embarking on her Hollywood career.

Meghan Markle is detested with such vehemence in Britain that many use her name when they step in a dog shit.
Here is a man who did not bat an eyelid when he invaded Iraq and oversaw the extermination of millions of people. His actions created a vacuum in the Middle East that is still raging on in Syria. For profit, Tony Blair murdered over a million humans in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet he still shows his face today.

Blair is the face of pure evil, a festering blackness that is now trying to infect the Brexit proceedings, and his efforts to turn people against Brexit will only make them more resilient.

No! There will not be a second Referendum Mr. Blair. You may consult with the enemy, you may dip your treasonous fingers in the murky waters of the EU Commission, however, your efforts will ultimately fail, as you have failed in life, your only salvation is a living death.

There will be no deliverance for Tony Blair, in this physical world or the one that follows. He may hide in his myriad of mansions paid for from the blood and tears of many, but he still will never find peace, or redemption for the evil he has sown in this world.

Let us pray for the dark soul that is Tony Blair, that it be thrown from this earth, and consigned to the deepest depths of darkness forever, to be forgotten and never repeated by another living person.

For this horrid, mangy excuse of humanity, Blair will never stop Brexit, as much as he will try with his other evil friends, like Peter Mandelson. There is no turning back the clock, the people voted on June 23, 2016, to leave the EU, and whatever happens now, we will leave the EU and forge our own destiny on the high seas.

No one wants to listen to Tony Blair anymore.
We have seen the slithering Tony Blair at countless meetings with Jean Claude Juncker and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Mr. Blair flies to Brussels nearly every week to get his latest briefing and orders, and more than likely clandestine brown envelopes filled with much wonga.

We can of course transfer your money to any one of your Swiss accounts, a well-suited EU denizen explains to Blair.

Like many of the quislings and treasonous traitors to British interests, the only interest Tony Blair has in the EU Brexit stance is money.

The more money Tony makes, the better he feels. He is quite happy to broker deals with Indonesian despots, African tyrants, and crooked Eurocrats all on the take. There is no indignity he will fall to, and betraying the people of Britain is a delight to Blair, he actually gets a kick out of being the Lord Haw Haw of British politics, a Westminster commentator revealed.

MPs in Westminster who are actively working to reverse Brexit are all on the EU take, but they dont just go for cash payoffs, that would be too vulgar, they instead get their little initiatives boosted where they cream off the money for themselves without anyone else noticing.

Only the devil knows how much Blair is getting for his efforts, but one can be sure that he is not doing all of this for free. Without the Brussels payoffs there would not be much movement from the Blair apart from a few quips here or there. His concerted, well financed campaign screams of Brussels money, much like the other MPs who Remoan on a daily basis in Westminster.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy told the officials to acquire the necessary survey paraphernalia at the earliest. (Photo: Twitter)

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said the government is giving top priority to the YSR-Jagananna Saswatha Bhu Hakku and Bhu Raksha scheme by conducting a large-scale land survey and instructed officials to complete the mega survey programme by May 20.

At a review meeting on the survey of lands held at the camp office here on Friday, the chief minister told the officials to acquire the necessary survey paraphernalia at the earliest. He asked officials to install the survey stones at the completion of the survey process and procure rovers to complete the task without delay.

The CM enquired with the officials about the progress of survey taken up in 2000 villages in the first phase by the revenue department. The officials told him that the distribution of the documents was in full swing. "The survey work should be completed by May 20 in all respects including the laying of survey stones," he said.

The chief minister suggested that rovers be used wherever necessary to complete the work on time. He said survey equipment like the rovers should be arranged in all village secretariats to ensure that the work of surveyors would be smooth. Officials must procure all available technical equipment at the earliest.

Jagan Reddy said the state has taken up the resurvey of lands after a century and in an unprecedented manner. No other state has taken up such a survey so far, he said, adding that this ws important not only to the present generation but also future generations.

"The government is aiming at completing it using modern technology and hand over the documents to the land owners in such a way that no one can tamper them with," the CM said.

Officials informed him 31 lakh survey stones are ready to be fixed once the survey is completed and arrangements are in place to supply 50,000 stones a day. The CM told them to make preparations in advance to procure the required quantity of stones needed for the next phase of survey.

Officials of the municipal department said the process of data analysis was ongoing. Panchayat Raj officials told the CM they would complete the survey in 300 villages by end of the third week of April and in all villages by December end.

Mines and geology minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, principal adviser to chief minister Ajay Kallam, special chief secretaries Sai Prasad, Sri Lakshmi, Rajat Bhargava, B Rajasekhar, principal secretary (Panchayat Raj and rural development) GK Dwivedi, senior IAS officers Siddharth Jain, Md. Imtiaz, Praveen Kumar and Shan Mohan were among those present.
TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy filed a complaint with the joint director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Basheerbagh on Friday. (Photo: R. Pavan)

Hyderabad: TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy filed a complaint with the joint director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Basheerbagh on Friday regarding the TSPSC exam paper leak, claiming that money laundering and hawala transactions had taken place to the tune of several crores of rupees when question papers changed hands.

Because of this, Revanth Reddy claimed, the Hyderabad police Special Investigation Team (SIT) would not be able to investigate the case and it required a thorough probe by Central investigating agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.

"If the state government has an issue with the BJP over demanding a CBI or an ED probe, the government must write to the TS High Court and seek a probe by a judge," he said.

Revanth Reddy demanded that the investigation agencies look into the alleged role of IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, claiming that the TS Technology Service, a specialised agency under the information technology department, had supplied equipment to the TSPSC under the ministers supervision.

Revanth Reddy in his complaint to the ED alleged that Shankar Lakshmi, incharge of the confidential section of the TSPSC, was the first to leak the question papers. However, she had been listed as a witness by the SIT, he claimed.

"The accused A. Rajasekhar is a TSPSC outsourced employee. The other accused were students and TSPSC employees. We demand that the government investigate Shankar Lakshmi who knows everything about the case," he demanded.

With regard to the defamation notice served on him by Rama Rao, Revanth Reddy said, "It is not like a signing agreement for actress Samantha's web series and a film with Rakul Preet Singh. A person like KTR Rao who does not have a reputation has sent a defamation suit. Only if KTR has a reputation, he is eligible for sending a defamation notice."
State Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar landed in trouble for allegedly throwing cash among people during an election campaign in Mandya on Tuesday. (File Photo: PTI)

New Delhi/Bengaluru: As the high-stakes Karnataka Assembly election inches closer, its now virtually a war between arch-rivals Congress and BJP. On Friday, the BJP and Congress both lodged complaints against each other with the Election Commission over alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct. The BJP also lodged a complaint on Friday against state Youth Congress chief Mohammed Haris Nalapad for making derogatory remarks on the "Modi surname". The Congress alleges that cookers and other inducement materials were found at Byatarayanapura in Bengaluru.

In his complaint, Congress candidate and former minister Krishna Byre Gowda alleged that about six days ago, GST officers had raided one location and seized the inducement material worth Rs 3.6 crores. State Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar landed in trouble for allegedly throwing cash among people during an election campaign in Mandya on Tuesday. The police registered a non-cognisable offence against him.

As the battle raged, the Congress claimed to have got another shot in the arm as Kudligi BJP MLA N.Y. Gopalakrishna has resigned and is now likely to join the party. To target young voters in the state, the Congress has launched a "first time youth voter" campaign. Launching the campaign, Congress leader Abhishek Dutt said: "The Youth Congress workers will visit each and every college and university and prevail upon the youths the importance of participating in the democratic process."

Meanwhile, despite the intense speculation that BJP would field former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappas son B.Y. Vijayendra from Varuna Assembly seat in Mysuru against former Congress CM Siddaramaiah, it was clarified late Friday evening that Mr Vijayendra would contest from Shikaripura Assembly seat in Shivamogga district, and not from Varuna. This was announced by the former CM, Mr B.S. Yediyurappa. Mr Yediyurappa is the MLA from Shikaripura and said that he will not contest the Assembly polls theis time given that he is now 80 years old. Mr Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru: "Under no circumstances Vijayendra will be fighting the election from Varuna." However, an official announcement is yet to be made by the BJP.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had said earlier Friday that while party workers wanted Mr Vijayendra to take on Mr Siddaramaiah in Varuna, a final decision would be taken by Mr Yediyurappa, who is also a member of the BJP parliamentary committee.

Mr Vijayendra will be making his electoral debut but he has earlier been involved in election campaigns for the party.

The Congress is, meanwhile, relying heavily on big data and youth. The party has shortlisted every new voter in every Assembly seat amd is reaching out to all citizens in the age group of 18 to 30 years. The election strategy team of the party is already in place since last one year and it is now executing the final reachout round. Speaking to this newspaper, a member of the team said: "This time we are going big on data. All our campaigns have certain target voters and we are covering it in a professional way." Many in the party feel the traditional voter base of the Congress is intact, but young voters tend to be fickle-minded and need to be wooed in a particular way so that they votes for the party. After some recent surveys, that indicate the Congress is in comfortable position, the party is going all out to woo voters.

The screening committee of the Congress met on Friday and the remaining number of candidates will be announced soon. The state goes to the polls on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13.
TDP leader Nara Lokesh during the 'Yuva Galam' padayatra (Twitter)

Anantapuramu: Amaravati will win the battle and remain as the "people's capital" of Andhra Pradesh, opposition TDP leader Nara Lokesh has said as the agitation by farmers who donated lands to build the greenfield capital touched the milestone of 1,200 days.

Lokesh, who is the general secretary of TDP, made these remarks expressing confidence about Amaravati continuing as the state's capital, during his padayatra called 'Yuva Galam' at CK Palli in Raptadu assembly constituency of Anantapuramu district.

"Your sacrifice will not go waste and Amaravati will certainly remain as the people's capital," Lokesh said as per a statement shared to media on Friday.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had recently announced that the state administration would be functioning from the port city of Visakhapatnam. The ruling YSRCP had also moved the Supreme Court over the trifurcation of state capitals following the Andhra Pradesh High Court's verdict in March 2022 directing the state government to develop Amaravati as the state's capital. The matter is currently pending in the apex court.

Incidentally, some senior citizens complained to Lokesh in CK Palli that their pensions were withdrawn owing to monthly power bills crossing a limit set by the incumbent government. Reacting to this complaint, Lokesh observed that six lakh people "lost" their pensions while another six lakh people are likely to suffer the same fate soon, but promised that the TDP will reinstate them on returning to power in the state.

Likewise, representatives from the Valmiki and Boya communities have appealed to the opposition leader to include them in the Backward Classes (BC) list as their lives were impoverished whereas Kuruba community members complained that Rs 2 lakh loan facility was withdrawn by the dispensation.

Meanwhile, Lokesh asserted that sand is illegally being transported to Bengaluru with the support of a ruling party MLA and claimed that apparel company Jockey exited the southern state resulting in job loss for nearly 6,000 people.
Worried over the situation, Union home minister Amit Shah called up West Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose. (PTI Photo)

Kolkata: A day after the violence at the Rama Navami rally in Howrah, near Kolkata, fresh unrest was reported from the trouble-hit areas in the town on the banks of the river Hooghly, while 36 persons were arrested by the police.

Worried over the situation, Union home minister Amit Shah called up West Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose and state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar on Friday afternoon. He asked them about the law and order situation in the state.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also acknowledged security lapses by the police in tackling the situation and assured that firm action would be taken against the errant policemen.

The Trinamul Congress supremo, while reiterating her claim that the BJP was responsible for orchestrating the violence, also said: "There was a police failure. I admit it and will take action on this. The police should have barricaded the entire area. But the cops must have relaxed the measures because they panicked. We will not tolerate this."

The fresh clashes erupted on Friday afternoon when the police opened the roads at Kazipara in Shibpur, which were closed after the violence on Thursday evening. Like on Thursday, stones and bricks were pelted, this time at the police personnel deployed for patrolling the zone.

The police was seen chasing the troublemakers with lathis. Many TMC leaders also tweeted videos and photos of some youths carrying pistols and alleged that they were in the Rama Navami rally of the BJP a day before.

Diamond Harbour TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee posted: "BJP's DANGABAJI FORMULA at work again: Provoke & instigate communities against each other. Supply weapons to incite violence. Create communal tension deliberately. Reap political benefits. A classic unholy blueprint right out of the @BJP4India playbook!"

On the other hand, VHPs Indra Deo Dubey, organiser of the Rama Navami rally in Howrah, refuted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees claim that the route was changed deliberately. Showing some documents of permissions, he blamed the police for remaining a mute spectator despite being present at the spot.

During the day the BJP moved the Calcutta High Court for a Central agency probe in the attack on their rally. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari tweeted: "I have filed a PIL today in the Honble High Court at Calcutta pertaining to the incidents of violence & attack on the Ram Navami processions at Howrah & Dalkhola."

He added: "I have prayed for a NIA probe and immediate deployment of Central forces in such areas for containing the situation and restoration of law and order situation as well as for saving innocent lives. The Honble Acting Chief Justice has been pleased grant leave to file the PIL and directed the same to appear on Monday at top of the list."
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. (Twitter)

HYDERABAD: The BRS, led by party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, is preparing the party's ammunition for the upcoming Assembly elections to blunt the BJP's Hindutva politics by highlighting the amount of funds spent in the last nine years of its rule, particularly on temples and priests' welfare.

According to party insiders, the BRS leadership has shared statistics and data with all of the party's MLAs and its social media activists to demonstrate that temples got the highest allocation of funds under its rule compared to any other party that has been in power, both in the state as well as at the Centre.

According to the party's data, the BRS government has spent Rs 2,500 crore on the upkeep of temples and the wellbeing of priests. The party's MLAs were tasked with fighting back against the BJP in their respective constituencies as well as on social media by aggressively publicising this information in order to reach out to the people.

According to the data, Rs 1,200 crore was spent on renovating the Yadadri temple, which has since become a significant Hindu pilgrimage destination, drawing nearly 50,000 devotees per day, up from 10,000 previously.

The BRS's latest move follows criticism from the BJP leaders and various Hindu groups, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, regarding the Chief Minister not observing the long-standing custom of presenting pattu vastralu (silk clothing) as well as muthyala talambralu to the celestial wedding of Lord Rama in Bhadrachalam temple on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami since 2017.

After becoming the CM in June 2014, Rao attended Lord Rama's celestial wedding at Bhadrachalam temple only twice in 2015 and 2016.

The CM and the BRS government were heavily trolled on social media platforms over his absence in Bhadrachalam again on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami on Thursday.

Against this backdrop, the party leadership alerted MLAs and social media activists to counter the BJP's and other Hindu groups' criticism against the CM and the BRS. They were asked to highlight the CM's announcement last week sanctioning Rs 1 crore to Bhadradri temple to celebrate Sri Rama Navami in a grand manner.

The state governments data shows that it had sanctioned significant funds for the development of major temples in the state, including Vemulawada temple (Rs 60 crore), Kondagattu temple (Rs 100 crore), Basara temple (Rs 50 crore), Dharmapuri temple (Rs 50 crore), Bhirkur temple (Rs 13 crore), Komuravelli temple (Rs 11 crore), Dubbak temple (Rs 3 crore), and Siddipet Shiva temple (Rs 2 crore).

Further, the government had sanctioned Rs 390 crore towards Common Good Fund (CGF) to the temples for undertaking development works. Data also shows that the BRS government had sanctioned Rs 156 crore towards the Special Development Fund for developing temples other than major temples across the state, and Rs 1,893 crore under the Temple Works Fund for the development of facilities for pilgrims in temples.

Another Rs 200 crore was sanctioned under the Dhoopa Deepa Naivedyam scheme for 6,541 small temples that do not have enough financial resources to conduct daily rituals to deities.

Further, the government wants to highlight that priests and employees working in temples are being paid on par with the state government employees. This scheme covers 1,198 priests and 1,453 employees.
BJP president J.P. Nadda dubbed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi government as a "Brashtachar Rishvat Sarkar". (Photo: Twitter)

Sangareddy: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged on Friday that the K. Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS government had become synonymous with corruption, and that the party's rebranding from TRS to BRS would not prevent the ruling party from being overthrown in the upcoming Assembly elections.

BJP president J.P. Nadda dubbed the Bharat Rashtra Samithi government as a "Brashtachar Rishvat Sarkar" (corruption, bribery government), stating, "The daughter of the Chief Minister has been questioned by the ED in the Delhi liquor scam. This is just an indicator of how deep the corruption has set in in the Telangana government. This is the image of Telangana."

"Whether it calls itself TRS or BRS, this party has no right to stay in power in Telangana anymore. The people have understood how corrupt the ruling party is. People are saying the Chandrashekar Rao government needs VRS (voluntary retirement from service). The ruling party used irrigation projects whose budget was raised from Rs 40,000 crore to Rs 1.4 lakh crore as its ATM. Land grabbing and scams have become the norm. This government has to go," Nadda remarked.

He was addressing a gathering of party leaders in Sangareddy online after the virtual inauguration of the district BJP office on Friday from New Delhi. He also virtually inaugurated the district party offices in Bhupalpally, Warangal, Jangaon, and Mahbubabad districts, as well as Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur and Chittoor districts.

The new party offices, according to Nadda, are part of the BJP's effort to have its own offices in every district of the country, fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision set out in 2014.

"The BJP is an ideologically driven party. The party believes that there should be a one law for the entire country, and it was decided in 1972 that Article 370, which granted J&K special status, should be scrapped. In 2019, we accomplished this. This is the BJP's ideological consistency. Same was the case with the Ramjanmabhoomi. In Ayodhya, a magnificent Rama shrine is being built. Pursuing such ideological objectives is what distinguishes the BJP as an ideological party," he remarked.

No other political party, whether it claims to be a national party, or is a regional party, has any ideological consistency, he added. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that BJP is not a party, it is a movement, an ideology, and that is what the BJP is," he added.

With respect to Telangana, Nadda said in 2014, the state had 2,511 km of national highways. Now it has 4,996 km of such highways. "This is the length one can travel from Hyderabad to Ladakh and back. The railway budget for the state has been hiked by 45 per cent over the last year, 36 lakh farmers are covered by the Centres Kisan Samman Nidhi, 31 lakh toilets were built with central funds in the state, while under the PM Awas Yojana, 25 lakh houses were given to the state," Nadda said.

Sanjay, who spoke before Naddas virtual address, declared amidst loud cheers that the BJP will not rest until minister K.T. Rama Rao is dismissed from the Cabinet over the TSPSC question paper leak scandal. "The BJP is standing with you," Sanjay said referring to the 30 lakh unemployed affected by the TSPSC leaks and exam cancellations. "There is no going back on our demands of `1 lakh compensation to those affected by these events, and a probe by a High Court judge," he said, adding that the state government, "has given the keys back to the thieves in TSPSC."

Sanjay also took aim at Rama Rao for terming Modi a broker, telling the minister, "Your father is a passport broker. If KCR is serious about getting to the bottom of the TSPSC scandal, then he must sack KTR."

The event at Sangareddy was attended by BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, with several other senior party leaders.


AP Government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy. (Photo: Facebook)

Vijayawada: Adviser to the government on public affairs, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, has asked the opposition parties including the BJP to explain why they are opposing decentralisation and how to achieve the impossible  of procuring Rs 1 lakh crore for the establishment of the capital in Amaravati.

Sajjala refuted the allegations of Telugu Desam, BJP, Congress, Communists and other parties that the YSRC government deceived the farmers of Amaravati. He clarified that the Jagan Reddy government increased annuity and was developing Amaravati villages, including the Karakatta road, which was "ignored" by the earlier Telugu Desam government.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Reddy termed the Amaravati protests as an artificial movement and said it best example was the dropping of the Amaravati-Arasavalli Padayatra midway through its course. "In fact, all the farmers who gave lands in Amaravati sold their remaining land at some point.

Farmers also sold their plots allotted in lieu of the lands they offered and bought lands elsewhere." He said that in the graphics shown by Chandrababu Naidu, those who had purchased lands for doing real estate business in Amaravati were participating in this "artificial movement."

Calling it as part of Chandrababu's Amaravati politics, he said the TD was equipped to organise such a movement with about 200/500 people not only for 1200 days but for a lakh days.

Ramakrishna Reddy said that even the Karakatta road which was the entrance to Amaravati was not widened during Chandrababu's term. "Actually no one wants that road-widening then, which is a basic need. Chandrababu ignored that road, which meant his strategy was to continue construction and development works in the capital region for 20 to 30 years.

He said CM Jagan was widening the Karakatta road and conducting development works in Amaravati.

The adviser said Naidu had asked the Centre to spend Rs 5 lakh crore on infrastructure in Amaravati, and finally proposed a spending of more than Rs 1 lakh crore. But the TD government spent only Rs 1,500 crore, while the Centre gave AP another Rs 1,200 crore.

He alleged that Naidu did not spend at least five to six thousand crore of this money during his rule for the construction of the capital. "Now, how to get one lakh crore in one or two years for Amaravati? Let him tell us," he said.

Ramakrishna Reddy questioned why there was an opposition to decentralization when this was the policy the whole world adopted. "It also leads to organic growth. Jagan Reddy proposed decentralization with the intention of fulfilling the aspirations of the people. Political parties need to answer why they are opposing it."

The adviser asked why the BJP had called for a High Court in Kurnool some time ago and now sought it and the entire capital in Amaravati. "Can they justify the land scandals in the name of Amaravati," he asked and sought answers from the BJP.

Ramakrishna Reddy said Prime Minister Modi himself had said Chandrababu used Polavaram as an ATM and Naidu considered the capital Amaravati as a "duck that lays golden eggs."

Refuting allegations of the TD, of attacks on its leaders in Amaravati, Reddy said political leaders coming to Amaravati camped there and provoked the public with derogatory remarks and use of filthy language. "Leaders of some parties, along with the Left and the BJP, have fallen into the trap of Chandrababu who is running an artificial movement in Amaravati."
Members of an Indian family were among six people who drowned in the St Lawrence River while attempting to cross into the US from Canada illegally, authorities said on Friday, in the latest tragedy involving Indians seeking greener pastures abroad.

8 bodies were recovered by police Thursday afternoon in a marshy area of Quebec near an overturned boat during an aerial search with the Canadian Coast Guard., according to Canadian news outlets CBC and CTV.

A search of the area is ongoing to find the missing infant.

Also Read | Canada 'very closely' following the developments in Punjab: Foreign Minister Melanie Joly

"The six individuals are believed to be from two families, one of Romanian descent and the other believed to be citizens of India," Lee- Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, told reporters in a news conference on Friday.

"Police believe one infant from the Romanian family has not been located and we'll continue searching," she added.

"All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the US from Canada."

Police said one of the bodies found was that of a child under three.

The child was found with a Canadian passport and was a member of a Romanian family.

The bodies, which haven't been officially identified, were found in Tsi Snaihne in Akwesasne, a Mohawk territory that straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

They were discovered after the search for another missing person that also started Thursday.

OBrien said it was too soon to know whether the deaths can be linked to a smuggling network operating in the area.

Akwesasne police are working with Immigration Canada to assist with identifying the victims and notifying the next of kin. They are also increasing surveillance on the river.

Were trying our best, OBrien said. Were a very small police service.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that there are many questions that need answers about what happened to the two families.

This is a heartbreaking situation, particularly given the young child that was among them, he said during a news conference in New Brunswick.

Our thoughts are first and foremost with the families who are suffering the loss of loved ones right now.

We need to understand properly what happened, he said. And do whatever we can to make sure we are minimizing the chances of it happening again.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault offered his condolences to the family of the victims, calling it a horrible drama.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante also offered her condolences, saying on Twitter that it was an incredibly sad tragedy.

No one should have to go through such an ordeal, Plante wrote.

Akwesasne police say there have been 48 incidents of people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

In January 2022, the bodies of four Indians, including a baby, were found frozen in Manitoba near the Canada-US border. in April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.
China has issued visas to over 18,000 Indians in the last three months, a Chinese diplomat said.

Interacting with a group of journalists in Kolkata, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in India, Chen Jianjun, said he was looking forward to more Chinese being given visas by India.

"The number of visa applications for China has been on the rise. Since January, we have given visas to 18,560 Indians," he said.

"Since August, 9,409 student visas have been issued to Indian students," he said.

However, Jianjun said, the number of visa applications is yet to reach the pre-pandemic levels.

Read | India-China border now stable, situation of 'emergency control' over: Chinese diplomat

In June last year, China announced plans to provide visas to Indian professionals and their families stranded in India following the strict restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Separately, it also started processing visa applications of thousands of Indian students studying in Chinese universities who conveyed their interest to rejoin their colleges and universities. About 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine were stranded back home due to the restrictions.

Jianjun said China was working with India for an early resumption of direct flights between the two countries.

Flight services between the two countries have been disrupted ever since coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan in late 2019 and spread across the world.

The flight disruption turned out to be a major problem for hundreds of Indian students as well as families of Indians working in China and businessmen to travel back and forth.

Indians are currently travelling to China through Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar, and some other countries, shelling out an exorbitant amount of money on steep airfares.

Jianjun also said that his country was looking forward to a more fair and friendly business environment in India.
The BJP is eying a rare social coalition including 'upper' castes and a majority of backward classes in Bihar to power its bid to vanquish in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the formidable RJD-JD(U) alliance, which had inflicted a crushing defeat on it in the 2015 Assembly elections.

While Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) may be the strongest party in the Bihar ruling alliance, the BJP believes that its road to success lies in the dismantlement of the support base of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), which has long enjoyed the backing of a collection of non-Yadav backward castes and some Dalit communities.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Sunday attend programmes to mark the birth anniversary of the great Maurya emperor Ashoka.

Also Read: Karnataka polls will be key for Congress' revival ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections

On his fourth visit to Bihar in the last seven months, Shah's programmes are seen as part of the BJP's ambitious drive to woo the numerically strong Kushwaha (Koeri) community, which believes that the emperor came from their stock.

Believed to be around 7-8 per cent of the state's population -- the second highest after the Yadavs -- the backward caste has often backed Kumar in the polls.

By appointing Samrat Choudhary, a Kushwaha, as its state unit president, the BJP has shown its intent to go all out to court the community.

Choudhary said the Bihar chief minister has done nothing for the community and only "betrayed" it, asserting that the BJP will get support from various communities in the state, which sends 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

With both the Yadavs and the Kurmis, the caste Kumar comes from, having had their chief ministers, there is a view among the Kushwahas that it is their turn now. The BJP may exploit this to its advantage, party leaders said.

Nagmani, a veteran Bihar politician and a bitter critic of the RJD-JD(U) leadership, said people are fed up by the over-three-decade rule of "Lalu-Nitish". The Yadavs and the Kurmis have had their share in power but the Kushwahas have been left behind, he said. He also hails from the Kushwaha community.

Besides working on getting the Kushwahas' support, the BJP is working on a wider plan to expand its support base among many numerically smaller castes -- clubbed under the extremely backward class (EBC) -- that together counts a lot in swinging the balance of elections.

That is why, a BJP leader noted, the party nominated Shambhu Sharan Patel to the Rajya Sabha last year. Patel enjoyed little recognition within the party's own organisation but the fact that he came from the Dhanuk caste, a part of the EBC, tilted the scale in his favour.

The BJP's perceived outreach to parties such as the Vikassheel Insaan Party headed by Mukesh Sahani, who claims to represent numerous subcastes that traditionally worked as boatmen, are seen as part of this effort.

It has also maintained cordial ties with Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan who enjoys traction among the Paswans, the most populous Dalit community in the state.

The BJP is likely to continue with its political outreach to such communities to ensure that its support base is strong enough to ensure that factors like Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal makes maximum impact in the state, as often seen in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

In Uttar Pradesh, it has succeeded in stitching together a rainbow social combination of 'upper' castes, a majority of backward communities and a large chunk of Dalits to quell any united opposition challenge, as seen in the 2019 polls when the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party joined hands.

In Bihar, the backward castes have been traditionally with "Mandal" parties of socialist stock, a pattern the BJP is trying hard to break for the coming polls.

Just as in 2014, the BJP is likely to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls largely on its own in the state with alliance with relatively smaller parties.

However, unlike in 2014, the RJD and the JD(U) are set to be together this time, along with the Left parties and the Congress.

The BJP-led NDA had won 31 of the state's 40 seats in 2014 with nearly 39 per cent of the votes. Political watchers believe that a similar sweep next year will require the addition of more votes against a combined opposition.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two alleged suppliers of explosives and detonators in West Bengal, an official said on Saturday.

Merazuddin Ali Khan of Bokaro and Mir Mohd Nuruzzaman of Birbhum were arrested from Raniganj and Kolkata during raids on Friday as part of the agency's investigation into a case registered last year, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.

Also Read | Bengal violence under control; Trinamool, BJP trade barbs

In June 2022, an SUV was intercepted by the Special Task Force (STF) Kolkata and it was found transporting around 81,000 electric detonators.

Ashis Keora, the driver of the vehicle, was arrested and his questioning led the police to a stash of illegally stored explosives, including 27,000 kg of ammonium nitrate, 1,625 kg of gelatine sticks and 2,325 more electric detonators, the spokesperson said.

The official said the case was initially registered at Md Bazar Police Station in Birbhum and was taken over by the NIA in September last year.

The agency made the first arrest in the case -- Rintu Sk -- in January this year.

"Nuruzzaman had supplied 27,000 kg ammonium nitrate to Rintu while Khan had supplied electric detonators and gelatine sticks to him," the spokesperson said.

Further investigation to establish the sources of pilferage of the explosives and other bomb-making materials, including detonators and gelatine sticks, are in progress, the spokesperson added.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday appealed to the remaining active militants of the Northeast to join the mainstream.

Addressing a rally in Aizawl after virtually inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for 11 projects worth Rs 2,414 crore, he asserted that the establishment of peace in Mizoram is an example of the victory of Indian democracy.

"I appeal to the few remaining active militant organisations in the Northeast to return to the mainstream, become a part of the democratic process and contribute to the development of the region and the country as a whole," he said.

Also Read | Jailbreak in Arunachal Pradesh: Two NSCN militants flee after killing policeman, another injured

"Peace has been established in Mizoram, which faced insurgency. This is an unprecedented example of the victory of India's democracy," he said.

Shah inaugurated the new Assam Rifles battalion headquarters complex in the state.

He said that the Northeast was suffering from insurgencies, a lack of rail, road and air connectivity and there was "no trace of development" when the Modi government came to power at the Centre in 2014.

"In the last nine years, we have succeeded in bringing peace in Northeast, improved connectivity and brought the region at par with other parts of the country in terms of development," Shah said.

Claiming that the Centre was dedicated to the development of the Northeast, he said the Modi government has increased budget allocation for the region by 276 per cent.

"The Union government is working towards connecting the state capitals of all the eight states with rail, road and air connectivity by 2025 with a project outlay of Rs 1,76,000 crore," he said.

The Union home minister said that since 2014, incidents of violence in the Northeast have dipped by 67 per cent, while deaths of security forces have reduced by 60 per cent and civilian deaths have gone down by 83 per cent.

"Around 8,000 militants in the region have surrendered since 2014. We signed a peace agreement with NLFT in Tripura in 2019, rehabilitated 37,000 Brus in Tripura, and brought peace in Assam by signing the Bodo Accord in 2020 and a peace agreement in Karbi Anglong in 2022. Also, there has been a 70 per cent reduction of areas under the jurisdiction of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958," he said.

Noting that Mizoram's economy grew by 12.15 per cent in the last decade, especially under the leadership of Chief Minister Zoramthanga, Shah said the Centre will explore possibilities of investment in the tourism, bamboo and solar energy sectors in the state.

He said the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project will connect Mizoram with Myanmar and bring about economic growth in the northeastern state.
Nobody can ignore late Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkars sacrifice for the countrys independence struggle but disagreements over him cannot be made a national issue today as there are many pressing matters to focus on, said Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday.

Defending Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is being targeted by the Bharatiya Janata Party for speaking about issues in India on foreign soil, he said this is not the first time an Indian has spoken about issues in the country while abroad.

Pawar was speaking at the Press Club in Nagpur, where he also visited Union minister Nitin Gadkaris home.

To a query on whether he spoke to Rahul Gandhi about Savarkar and if the Congress leader would slow down in his criticism of the late Hindutva ideologue, Pawar said leaders of 18-20 political parties recently sat and discussed major issues before the country.

The BJP has accused Gandhi of repeatedly insulting Savarkar. It is also organising Savarkar Gaurav Yatra in his honour.

Also Read: Maharashtra CM Shinde attacks Rahul over Savarkar remark

I suggested that there is a need for us to deliberate on the way the country is being run by those in power, he said.

Pawar said, Today, Savarkar is not a national issue, it is an old thing. We had said a few things about Savarkar but it was not personal. It was against Hindu Maha Sabha. But there is another side to it as well. We cannot ignore the sacrifice made by Savarkar ji for the independence of the country.

About 32 years ago, Pawar said, he had spoken in Parliament about Savarkars progressive views. He said Savarkar built a house in Ratnagiri and also constructed a small temple in front of it. He deputed a person from the Valmiki community to perform puja in the temple. I think this was a very progressive thing, said Pawar.

The NCP leader said there is no need to thrust Savarkar into the national narrative especially because there many other major issues concerning the common public.

On the BJPs criticism of Gandhi, Pawar said the Congress leader also has the freedom to put his opinion like everyone else.

Asked if it is proper for a leader to speak about issues concerning India on foreign soil, Pawar said one should not give much importance to it as this has not been done for the first time.

Also Read: Shinde-Fadnavis govt to launch tourism circuit dedicated to Savarkar

The NCP leader leaders criticised the government in the past as well. Only now such issues are being brought up repeatedly. If people feel agitated over something in the country and if an Indian talks about it, then I think those issues should be addressed.

To a query if he thinks Lok Sabha and state elections will be held together in 2024, Pawar said they wont happen at the same time.

During his Nagpur visit, Pawar also visited Union minister Nitin Gadkari at the latters home and called it a courtesy visit. On the request of Gadkari to Pawar, a sub-centre of Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune, is coming up in Nagpur. Pawar is the president of this institute.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Saturday alleged that illegal constructions carried out on the stepwell led to the Indore temple tragedy in which 36 people lost their lives.

The local civic body did not pull down the unauthorised constructions on the stepwell due to the pressure from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he claimed and threatened to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Madhya Pradesh High Court if these constructions were not removed within seven days.

Nath, who visited the accident site of Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple in Patel Nagar, said if the Congress is voted to power in the upcoming state Assembly polls, his party-led government would will enact a law for mandatory security audit of public places in the state.

Also Read: Shivraj Singh Chouhan visits Indore temple tragedy site, takes stock of situation

The Congress leader also visited the private hospital, where those injured in the incident are undergoing treatment, to enquire about their health. Thirty-six persons, including 21 women and two children, died after the floor of the temple, built over the stepwell, caved in on Thursday.

A 'havan' (fire ritual) was going on at the place on the occasion of Ram Navami when the mishap occurred. After the accident, the administration has closed the main gate of the temple and the route to the stepwell by putting an iron sheet.

"This incident is a result of illegal constructions done on the stepwell, which has tarnished the image of Indore in the country and the world. If these illegal constructions are not removed within seven days, we will file a PIL in the high court to get them removed," he told reporters.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged that the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) did not remove the illegal constructions around the stepwell due to political pressure from the ruling BJP. "Indore is called a 'smart city', but the local administration did not have the necessary equipment to rescue the people who fell into the stepwell after the accident," he said.

He said the Army was called in for the rescue operation 12 hours after the mishap, but it was too late by then.

On Friday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan paid a visit to the hospital to know the condition of the injured, and also visited the site of the tragedy.

Talking about it, Nath said CM Chouhan's visit was just a "show-off" and formality. Chouhan failed to ease the pain of the victims' relatives, he alleged.

Nath said that if Congress is voted to power in the state Assembly elections due by the year-end, the government led by his party will enact a law for mandatory security audit of public places in the state and Rapid Rescue Force will be formed to deal with accidents in major cities.
A court in Maharashtras Thane district on Saturday heard the arguments over Congress leader Rahul Gandhis application for permanent exemption from appearance in a defamation case and adjourned the matter till April 15 when it is likely to pass orders.

Complainant and RSS activist Rajesh Kunte had in 2014 filed a private complaint before the Bhiwandi magistrates court after watching Gandhis speech where he allegedly accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of Mahatma Gandhis assassination. Gandhi had appeared before the court in June 2018 and pleaded not guilty. Last year, Gandhi had filed an application seeking permanent exemption from appearing in the court saying he was a member of Parliament who had to visit his constituency, attend party work and travel a lot.

Also Read | Rahul Gandhi disqualification case: Congress moving cautiously in filing appeal

Kunte has opposed Gandhis application saying the Congress leader has been disqualified as an MP after his conviction by a Surat court in a defamation case. In the court of First Class Judicial Magistrate LC Wadikar on Saturday, Gandhis lawyer Narayan Iyer contested the Congress leaders disqualification saying that only the President has the power to do so. Also, Gandhi is willing to challenge his conviction by the Surat court in the defamation case, he said.

The contentions raised by the complainant cannot harm or disregard the accused seeking permanent exemption in this case, he argued. Advocate Prabhod Jaywant, who represented Kunte, urged the court to take note of their pursis (written note/information) and decide accordingly while passing the order.

The court in Surat had on March 23 sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in the 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his "why all thieves have Modi surname" remarks. But the court also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court. The next day, he was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut has received a death threat allegedly in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

According to party officials, Raut received a WhatsApp message on his mobile late on Friday night on the alleged threat.

The message warned that whenever Raut is seen in New Delhi, he would be shot dead with an AK-47 rifle.

Read | Shinde assures probe into Sanjay Raut's 'threat to life' allegation; says inquiry will check whether it's 'stunt'

Not taking chances, Raut informed the Mumbai Police Commissioner and a probe is underway.

Earlier, he had written to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the threats to his life.

On Saturday, Sena (UBT) Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve said that the present state government had removed Raut's security, and urged that the threats must be taken seriously.

It maybe recalled that Bollywood superstar Salman Khan had also got death threats recently from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang or his henchmen.
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Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the 5th largest bank in the world and the largest in the U.S. The current company is the result of a series of mergers that began in the earliest days of American banking history and include more than 1,200 original banks. The oldest predecessor is The Bank Of The Manhattan Company which was founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr. At the time, The Bank Of The Manhattan Company was the 3rd oldest bank in the U.S. and the 31st oldest in the world. The Chase Manhattan Bank, a precursor to JPMorgan Chase, was later formed when The Bank Of Manhattan Company purchased Chase Bank which was established in 1877.

JPMorgan & Co came to life in 1895 in order to finance the United States Steel Corporation. Itself a result of merger, the company also financed other early American businesses as well as aided the federal government by backing a bond offering. It wasnt until the year 2000 and after several more mergers that JPMorgan Chase & Co was born. It will be four more years before the merger with Bank One which is notable because it brings CEO Jamie Dimon into the picture.

JPMorgan Chase & Co was instrumental in aiding the US government during the 2008 financial crisis. It backed the accounts of several major banks including Bear Stearns and eventually took over their operations. Today, JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide with operations on every continent and in more than 60 countries.

JPMorgan Chase & Co operates through four segments that are Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). Services are available in branches in 48 of the 50 US states and around the world. Services are available via ATM, online, mobile, and telephone.

The CCB segment offers traditional banking services to consumers that include but are not limited to deposits, loans, mortgages, and lines of credit. The CIB segment provides investment banking products and services to businesses, institutions, and governments that range from prime brokerage, insurance, corporate strategy, and access to capital markets, to lending, cross-border financing, and derivative instruments. The CB segment provides financial services for small, medium, and large businesses including commercial real estate banking of all types.

The AWM segment provides investment management solutions to institutional and retail investors. This segment also provides retirement products, brokerage, trusts and estates, and investment management products.
A special masterclass focusing on the growing medical health and life sciences sector, part of a series of events on regional economic development in the UK & Ireland, has taken place in Derry this week, hosted by Derry City and Strabane District Council.

The Joining the Dots series is delivered by Connected Places Catapult in partnership with the British Embassy in Dublin, and aims to support civic leadership, trade and cultural exchange between the UK and Ireland, maximising the unique connection in terms of learning.

Running from March 28th-30th, the masterclass event honed in on the area of healthcare and innovation, with wider reflections on how healthcare outcomes impact on engaging communities into economies.

A range of local academic, healthcare and industry partners took part in the three-day event, which featured talks, workshops and panel discussions geared towards strengthening connections and identifying shared opportunities.

Previous Joining the Dots events have already taken place in Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry and Birmingham centring around themes such as Digitisation of Industry, Advanced Manufacturing, Health & Life Sciences, Urban Regeneration, Creative Industries, and Inclusive Innovation.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Councillor Sandra Duffy, said it offered the opportunity to share best practice and explore common interests. The masterclass event offers the chance to showcase the North West City Region and the exciting projects currently being developed here, she said.

We have a pivotal role to play in the wider economy and a strong record of success in cross-jurisdictional working due to our unique location which is a fantastic example of best practice.

"The event provides a platform for sharing those experiences and also highlighting the ground-breaking work that is being delivered here in terms of innovation, research and development, personalised medicine and digital technology.

Among the areas explored were Derrys unique heritage and culture and how heritage regeneration has helped transform the city. Wednesday featured a conference event focusing on making health relevant and how to engage the community in designing and achieving better healthcare outcomes, to the benefit of the health and wellbeing of everyone.

Discussions also centred on creating a healthy city and the role of AI, data driven healthcare, pharmacogenomics, and ethics. Other key themes included cross-jurisdictional partnership working, civic leadership and how academia can help shape policy. Delegates had the opportunity to take part in a number of site visits to key academic and industry facilities and to engage in follow up meetings with local stakeholders.

Looking ahead to the event, Elin Burns, Deputy Head of Mission with the British Embassy in Dublin, said: As we approach the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, it is fantastic to see city representatives from GB, Ireland and Northern Ireland gather in Derry to tackle the challenges of improving healthcare outcomes for all their citizens.

"I am really looking forward to meeting everyone at this Joining the Dots event to build on the excellent work that regional collaboration has already achieved.

Paul Wilson, Chief Business Officer at Connected Places Catapult, said: "Creating meaningful connections between cities and regions is crucial for addressing societys greatest challenges. Through the Joining the Dots programme, we aim to support civic leadership, trade, and cultural exchange between the UK and Ireland by sharing best practices and learnings. This collaborative approach will help identify shared opportunities and ultimately drive positive change."
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Police have searched a property in North Down as part of an investigation into feuding drug gangs.

A number of attacks in recent weeks have been linked to rival loyalist factions.

These have included petrol bomb attacks, windows being smashed with hammers and bricks, and a pipe bomb attack.

There have also been attempted hijackings and graffiti has been daubed on properties.

The search in the Comber area was carried out by the PSNI paramilitary crime task force on Saturday.

Detective Inspector Corrigan said drugs and other items were seized.

A small quantity of suspected Class B Controlled drugs and a mobile device were recovered and have been taken away for further forensic examination.

Police continue to maintain a highly visible policing presence across North Down.

Superintendent Johnston McDowell said on Thursday that the police believe those involved in the attacks to be expelled members of the south-east Antrim UDA and west Belfast UDA.
Twenty years later, the wars advocates and apologists struggle to justify their calamitous course, or to mollify judgments and achieve, in the words of Richard Haas, former president of the Foreign Policy Association, an elusive consensus about the wars legacy.

by Katrina vanden Heuvel

In Warsaw last February, President Joe Biden condemned the lawless Russian invasion of Ukraine: The idea that over 100,000 forces would invade another countrysince World War II, nothing like that has happened. One month later marked the 20th anniversary of the greatest U.S. foreign policy debacle since Vietnam: Americas war of choice against Iraq, with 130,000 U.S. soldiers invading the country to overthrow its government.

Given the scope of the folly, it is understandable that Biden would want to bury it in a memory hole. Although not as Orwellian as Biden, much of the commentary around the 20th anniversary similarly sought to explain or justify or diminish the calamity. This isnt surprising, since few of the perpetrators, propagandists, and cheerleaders who drove us into the war suffered any consequence. Their reputations were re-burnished; their stature in Americas foreign policy establishment was retained. Bizarrely, those who led us into the disaster continue to dominate Americas major media platforms, while those who warned against it are largely pushed to the margins.

Life in Iraq ( Photo Credit: Unsplash]

Putting a blush on the Iraq War is not an easy task. The Bush administration touted its preventive war doctrine, scorned the need for America, at the height of its unipolar moment, to seek authority from the United Nations, approval from NATO allies, or adherence to international law. Iraq was a target for neoconservatives long before 9/11, as the propagandists at the Project for the New American Century made clear. The push for the war began hours after 9/11, despite the fact that Saddam Hussein was an avowed enemy of Al Qaeda. The Bush administration campaigned to sell the threat, making itas Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote at the beginning of the Cold Warclearer than the truth. For message advice, the administration hired professional PR guruslike Charlotte Beers, the Queen of Madison Avenue, straight from award-winning campaigns hawking Uncle Bens Rice and Head & Shoulders Shampoo. From the president on down, they sought to associate Saddam Hussein with 9/11, although they had no evidence of a connection that did not exist. Then they focused on the threat posed by Husseins alleged weapons of mass destruction. To overcome skeptical CIA analysts, Vice President Dick Cheney formed his own intelligence group, while uber-lobbyist John Rendon invented an Iraqi National Congress headed by the nefarious financier Ahmed Chalabi, who provided intelligence on demand.

Despite the fearmongering, the administration faced the largest demonstrations ever organized against a war before it beganwhat The New York Times termed a new superpower. Germany, France, and NATO refused support; the UN denied sanction. But reporters and editorialists for the mainstream media echoed the administrations claims; liberal pundits rushed to show their patriotic fervor. With few exceptions, liberal politicians signed on to preserve their credibility. The daily barrage of distortions and deceptions worked: on the eve of the war, two-thirds of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11, and nearly four-fifths thought he was on the verge of having nuclear weapons.

And so the catastrophe. The war cost the United States 4,600 dead, and over 30,000 wounded. Estimates of Iraqi casualties top 400,000, with a staggering 7 million refugees and millions more internally displaced. Sectarian conflict savaged Iraq. A new generation of jihadists arose and spread. Iran gained influence in the region.

Americas reputation has not recovered to this day. Most of the world has stayed out of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, dismissing U.S. hectoring about the rules-based international order as hypocrisy. Chinas influence spread as the United States floundered in the endless wars in the Middle East. Americans are tired of wars without victory. The press squandered its credibility. And the arrogance and irresponsibility of foreign policy establishment was exposedall contributing to Donald Trumps victory in 2016.

Twenty years later, the wars advocates and apologists struggle to justify their calamitous course, or to mollify judgments and achieve, in the words of Richard Haas, former president of the Foreign Policy Association, an elusive consensus about the wars legacy.

One frequent excuse is that the war was a mistake or a tragedy, not a crime. The administration, its argued, really did believe that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It was, Hal Brands writes in Foreign Affairs, an understandable tragedy, born of honorable motive and genuine concerns. Despite the lack of evidence, a critical mass of senior officialstalked one another into believing the most readily available justification, concluded Max Fisher in the Times. In fact, the war of choice was the product of hubris, at a time when the United States was at the height of its power, driven by zealots who scorned law, evidence, and the rules-based order. Or as Secretary of State Colin Powell put it, reviewing the material provided for his UN speech, This is bullshit.

Others, risibly, suggest that Iraq is better off today as a result of the invasion. Saddam Hussein was a bad man, the one indisputably real WMD in Iraq, Times columnist Bret Stephens writes, justifying his support of the war. Getting rid of him is a boon for the Iraqis, Stephens argues, with Iraq, the Middle East and the world better off for having gotten rid of a dangerous tyrant. This breathtaking conclusion can only be made by ignoring the devastation wrought on the country, the region and Americas credibility. It is the same arrogance that led to regime change in Libya, with the result once more a bloody civil war.

Some, like David Frum, the Bush speechwriter said to have coined the term the Axis of Evil (the preposterous grouping of Iraq and Irantwo fervid enemieswith a North Korean regime that neither had any connection to), suggest the Iraqis bear much of the blame. We offered Iraq a better future, Frum tweeted. Whatever Wests mistakes; the sectarian war was a choice Iraqis made for themselves.

The price for failing to hold the perpetrators of this debacle accountable is that their worldview still dominates Americas national security establishment. Biden came into office pledging to create a foreign policy for the middle class, but he has proceeded to reaffirm Americas imperial delusionthat we have the resources, wisdom, and charter to police the world, to counter Russia and China in their own neighborhoods, while chasing terrorists, dropping bombs from drones in seven countries, and dispatching forces to over 100 countries across the world. We sensibly condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international law. Yet Richard Haass, a charter member of our foreign policy establishment, can writeapparently without ironythat the lesson to be drawn from Iraq is not opposition to aggressive war but that wars of choice should be undertaken only with extreme care and consideration of the likely costs and benefits. Surely, one of the enduring horrors of Iraq is that despite the calamity, our foreign policy establishment remains unshaken, and its worldview remains unchanged.

Credit Line: This article is distributed by Globetrotter in partnership with The Nation.

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editorial director and publisher of the Nation and is president of the American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord (ACURA). She writes a weekly column at the Washington Post and is a frequent commentator on U.S. and international politics for Democracy Now, PBS, ABC, MSNBC and CNN. Find her on Twitter @KatrinaNation.
Twenty lives a year could be saved in Co Louth if authorities on both sides of the Border adopt international guidelines on air pollution, a new report claims.

The major all-island assessment reveals that around 2,600 premature deaths can be attributed to air pollution  1,700 in the Republic and 900 in Northern Ireland  annually. In Louth, the data shows that 50 premature deaths a year are linked to dirty air  with 16 people in the county dying from heart disease as a result of air pollution.

The study, Air Pollution and Mortality on the Island of Ireland, launched by Environment Minister Eamon Ryan on Thursday, was commissioned by the Irish Heart Foundation and British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland and compiled by experts from Queens University Belfast and Technological University Dublin.

The World Health Organisation recommends air quality guideline levels for harmful particulate matter, largely caused by the burning of solid fuels, of five micrograms per cubic metre - but the level in Louth is 8.4 micrograms.

The Irish and Northern Irish heart charities are calling on both governments to collaborate to improve air quality across the whole island.

We know that across the island of Ireland, poor air quality is continuing to have a detrimental impact on public health, said Irish Heart Foundation CEO, Tim Collins.

This report estimates that there could be almost 1,000 fewer premature deaths per year attributable to air pollution on the island of Ireland if we are to achieve fine particulate matter pollution levels in line with the updated 2021 WHO guideline level.

The findings within this report (funded by a grant from The Community Foundation For Ireland), make for stark reading and serve to shed some light on the size of the problem of air pollution. We hope that decision makers on the island will utilise it to move forward with bold action on air pollution to protect our health.

He called for an all-island strategy to make the WHO guidelines enforceable on both sides of the Border  and help for households experiencing fuel poverty to lessen their reliance on solid fuels to heat their homes.

Air pollution does not respect borders, therefore, to truly improve our air quality, governments must work together with co-ordinated policy interventions and legislation to protect our health, including to completely phase out the most health-harming solid fuels and transition to cleaner, more sustainable forms of home heating, he said.

Particulate matter or PM2.5 can damage blood vessels, causing them to become narrower and harder, and can also cause abnormal heart rhythms and increase blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

The report found the biggest risk to life from air pollution is heart disease, with 680 heart disease and stroke deaths in the Republic and 300 in Northern Ireland linked to the inhalation of PM2.5.

Environment, Climate and Communications Minister, Eamon Ryan, welcomed the valuable report, which he said shines a spotlight on the impact of residential heating and transport on air quality.

The report also reaffirms what I and this Government have always acknowledged  that there are no safe levels of air pollution, and taking into account all its negative effects, the onus is on us to move towards the new WHO guidelines, he said.

Head of British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland Fearghal McKinney added that the report highlights the need for action on air pollution in order to save lives.

Too many deaths across the island are attributable to air pollution. This report clearly shows that deaths from heart disease and strokes could be prevented by improving air quality.

This is an issue which requires a coordinated response across the island. There is a role for governments north and south to lead on this in order to meet World Health Organisation targets.

We were pleased to work with the Irish Heart Foundation on this report and we will continue to work together to highlight this issue and to improve health outcomes for everyone.

I want to thank the researchers for this excellent report and I look forward to continuing to work with the Irish Heart Foundation and others to save lives."

The new figures are based on mortality data gathered in 2019  the last year research of this type was carried out unaffected by Covid-19.
Children in every primary school in Ireland will receive hot school meals by 2030 if not sooner as part of a landmark plan announced by the Government, a Louth Fine Gael Deputy has said.

Local Fine Gael Deputy, Fergus ODowd also welcomed plans for the Hot School meals Programme to be extended to all DEIS primary schools from September.

ODowd said:

School Meals have a hugely positive effect on childrens health and wellbeing, which was reaffirmed in a report published yesterday by my colleague, Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys.

The independent evaluation recommended that hot school meals be extended to all DEIS primary schools from September, in addition to one free hot meal for every child in Ireland to be introduced on a phased basis by 2030.

Im delighted that Minister Humphreys is implementing the recommendations with a massive expansion of the hot school meals programme, which means by the end of this year, 1,000 schools nationwide will be receiving hot meals.

From 2024, the roll-out of hot meals to all remaining primary schools will start on a phased basis, targeted at being implemented before the recommended time frame of 2030.

When the Minister was appointed to her role in June 2020, there were just 30 schools receiving hot school meals, but today, almost 500 benefit from the hot school meals programme.

Research indicates that the provision of school meals resulted in improvements in attendance in school, with evidence that providing children with food in school is making a difference to families in terms of money saved, and for some families, in time saved on food preparation.

ODowd added:

The long term target of all primary schools to be included by 2030 will also address some of the current inequalities where neighbouring schools have both DEIS and non DEIS status and siblings are spread across both schools.

This is the case for Scoil na Trocaire in Ardee today where it is the only non-DEIS school in the town. This has led to a number of families in Ardee making lunches for their daughters whilst their sons receive a meal in the neighbouring DEIS school.

This is a matter I have recently raised with the Minister for Education and subsequently with the Ombudsman for Children and I will continue to support the school in their campaign for equality.




A new problem has developed in the wake of the disputed national elections (for president and some state governors) held in late February. There was some fraud and violence, as has been normal. This year was different with a lot more alleged fraud. Corruption remains pervasive despite decades of efforts to combat it. Nigeria is also edging closer to another civil war with the Igbo people in the southeast backing the creation of a separate state or autonomous region called Biafra. Currently, Imo state is where a lot of separatist activity is occurring. The major pro-Biafra organization IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) was responsible for local efforts to prevent people from voting in the 2023 national elections. The army and the federal government sought to block these IPOB efforts. In Imo and surrounding states there is an increased army presence because of renewed demands for an independent state of Biafra, dominated by Igbos and consisting of the southeastern states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia. Local politicians advised the federal government to keep the army out of this and that the best, and most possible, solution to the Biafra/Igbo separatist movement threat was to offer some autonomy instead. The Biafra (separatist) movement was revived in 2015 and at first the government ordered police to crack down. By 2016 nearly 200 Igbo had been killed by police attacks on demonstrators and anyone suspected of separatist activity. The violent response was obviously making it worse and after 2018 a gentler approach was tried.

The pro-Biafran separatists have been around and increasingly active since the 1990s. Back in the 1960s the Igbo (or Ibo) people of southeastern Nigeria attempted to establish a separate Igbo state called Biafra. A brutal civil war followed before that rebellion was crushed. Separatist attitudes were silenced but not extinguished. Pro-Biafra groups began to appear again in the late 1990s, trying to revive the separatist movement. Since then, over a thousand separatists have been killed, and many more imprisoned, while the government continues to insist that Biafra is gone forever. But as details of the extent of government corruption during the last few decades came out, Biafra again seemed like something worth fighting for. Senior government officials, including outgoing president Buhari, paid attention, and sought to work out a compromise with the Igbos. The Fulani living in the southeast are less amenable to any compromise, especially since the Fulani are Moslem and consider themselves defenders of Islam against non-believers like the Christian Igbo.

In response to the threats of violence, IPOB took the lead in protecting Igbo from anti-Biafra violence. In areas where peaceful defense measures did not work, IPOB formed an armed security component, the ESN (Eastern Security Network), to defend Igbos in Imo State from Fulani and government violence. The government has responded by sending a battalion of infantry to an area thought to be a base for ESN members. This was unpopular with the locals as Nigerian soldiers are notorious for their violent behavior. These troops had been ordered to behave but that proved difficult for them to do so in the face of Igbo contempt and hostility.

Many Igbo politicians urge IPOB to become more political than militant to achieve their goals. The Igbo, because of their higher education levels and entrepreneurial skills are a growing presence in the national economy and senior civil service. Many prominent Igbo saw the possibility of an Igbo president of Nigeria because there was an Igbo politician running in the next presidential election in February 2023. That did not happen even though many Igbo backed this because they believed it would do more for the Igbo than another war for an independent Biafra. Not all Biafrans agree with that assessment, but most see a Biafran president of Nigeria as a good thing. The 2023 election has a religious aspect to it because one of the leading candidates is Moslem and selected another Moslem to run for vice-president. For decades the Nigerians custom was to always have a Moslem president elected with a Christian vice president and vice versa.

There has been one Igbo president, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who served from 1963 to 1966. Azikiwe was one of the key people working to obtain independence for Nigeria from British colonial rule. What is now Nigeria was a collection of separate kingdoms and tribal territories that Britain got involved with after it outlawed slavery in 1807 and began a decades long campaign to suppress the slave trade between African tribes and the Americas. Slavery was an ancient custom in most of Africa but American and European demand for more slaves led more powerful tribes attacking weaker tribes to capture them as slaves for sale to American and European slave traders. In 1861 Britain took control of some portions of the Nigerian coast to deal with persistent slaving by inland tribes. Twenty years later Britain had control over more territory and installed a colonial government. This led to Nigerian nationalism and talented men like Nnamdi Azikiwe, to work for independence. When the Igbo rebellion broke out he advised the Igbo government for a few years before switching back to the Nigerian government.

After independence the biggest problem was corruption fed by the growing oil wealth coming from the oil fields in the south (the Niger River Delta). It was later calculated that about a trillion dollars of oil income was stolen between the 1960s and the present.

Back in 2004, Islamic terrorist violence in the northeast appeared and created some lasting problems. There are still millions of refugees plus substantial economic damage in the northeast (Borno State), where it all began. There seems to be no end in sight because of corruption, but more competent leadership in the security forces reduced the violence. All this was caused by a local group of Taliban wannabes calling themselves Boko Haram. Their activity in the capital of Borno State grew for a decade until in 2014 it seemed unstoppable. It took over a year for the government to finally muster sufficient military strength to cripple but not destroy Boko Haram. This did not get much media attention outside Africa, even though in 2014 Boko Haram killed more people than ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) did in Syria and Iraq. The main reason for Boko Haram gains in 2014 and 2015 was corruption in the army, which severely crippled effective counterterror efforts. By itself Boko Haram was too small to have much impact on a national scale but the inability to deal with this problem put a spotlight on the corruption that has hobbled all progress in Nigeria for decades.

A new president (a former general who is Moslem) was elected in early 2015 and made progress in changing the armys corrupt culture, but that is still a work in progress even though he was reelected in early 2019. More bad news is expected because of too many tribal feuds, not enough oil money and too much corruption creating growing unrest throughout the country. This is especially bad down south in the oil producing region (the Niger River Delta). Violence against oil facilities continues. Worse, local politicians and business leaders had taken over the oil theft business.

Northern Moslems want more control over the federal government and the oil money. In northern and central Nigeria there is increasing violence as nomadic Moslem herders move south and clash with largely Christian farmers over land use and water supplies. For the last few years these tribal feuds have killed more people than Boko Haram. The situation is still capable of sliding into regional civil wars, over money and political power. Corruption and ethnic/tribal/religious rivalries threaten to trigger, at worse, another civil war and, at least, more street violence and public anger.

March 27, 2023: In the northwest (Borno State) the commander of ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) executed his deputy for failure to prevent a military operation that left 41 ISWAP members dead. The Nigerian army has been increasingly active and successful at finding and fighting ISWAP members.

March 25, 2023: In the northwest (Borno State) soldiers and members of the CJTF (Civilian Joint Task Force) carried out raids on six Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa Forest. Dozens of Boko Haram men were killed and many more fled, leaving behind large quantities of ammunition and weapons.

March 22, 2023: The disputes over who won the presidential election are apparently going to be decided by the Nigerian Supreme Court. This is not the first time the court has been called on to settle election disputes and the court rulings usually end the post-election violence.

March 20, 2023:EU (European Union) election observers reported that at least 21 people were killed during the recent provincial and national elections.

March 19, 2023: In the northwest (Borno State) soldiers disrupted an attack by ISWAP Islamic terrorists, killing dozens of ISWAP men and pursuing the survivors with the assistance of the Nigerian Air Force. Some of the aircraft were armed and inflicted additional casualties on the ISWAP men.

March 15, 2023: In the northwest, across the border in Niger, the local government announced they had killed 30 Boko Haram members and arrested 960 Boko Haram followers, most of them wives and children of Boko Haram members. Over a thousand Boko Haram members and their followers had fled Nigeria and sought refuge in Niger. The armed members of this group refused to surrender to the Niger army and some fighting ensued before the group submitted to internment. Aerial surveillance spotted the Nigerians crossing the border on March 7th and it took a week for the army to find and confront them. The Boko Haram men claimed they were fleeting armed rivals of ISWAP and were headed for refuge in the Lake Chad area. This movement was the result of fighting between ISWAP and Boko Haram. This resumed in February with the two groups attacking each other with ambushes and raids on each others camps. Several of these clashes left at least twenty gunmen dead. This sort of violence between Islamic terrorists has been going on since 2016 when an internal struggle triggered by Boko Haram members who believed more radical measures were required for Boko Haram to survive. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and most Boko Haram members resisted this but the radicals managed to organize ISWAP and eventually (2021) kill Shekau when a large ISWAP raiding party attacked the remote camp where the Boko Haram leader was staying. The factional dispute was declared over because of the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) faction raid. It wasnt. The death of veteran Boko Haram leader Shekau did not lead to a reunification of Boko Haram under pro-ISIL leadership.

Shekau was killed by dissident Boko Haram members that had joined ISIL and considered any Boko Haram member who did not do the same as traitors to Islam. Shekau had been active in Boko Haram from the beginning, in the 1990s, and had been leader since 2009. Shekau was correct about ISWAP, the local ISIL affiliate, seeking to absorb Boko Haram and seemed to realize more than ISIL leaders that many Boko Haram members preferred to fight ISWAP, or simply leave the movement. ISWAP leaders backed this forced reunification idea without realizing the impact the death of Shekau would have on most Islamic terrorists in the northeast. This became obvious when the number of Boko Haram and ISWAP members abandoning Islamic terrorism increased after the merger and death of Shekau was first announced. Many of those defectors switched to organized crime and ditched their religious pretensions. This has already been happening in the last few years but the merger caused the trend to spike. Two months after the death of Shekau over 8,000 Boko Haram/ISWAP members, including many family members who lived in Islamic terrorist camps, officially surrendered, something which merely resulted in an update of government records and agreeing to answer questions about their experience with Boko Haram. Nearly all the Boko Haram/ISWAP already named as criminals and wanted for specific crimes, are leaders and could negotiate a surrender deal that could spare them any punishment at all. That has upset a lot of northern political and business leaders, but these men know that if you have enough cash and connections, you can avoid conviction. This has been the case during the last decade as more and more notorious (they often flaunted it) politicians and business magnates were prosecuted, often with the help of foreign countries, like the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and many other Western nations, who provided evidence of financial activities locally.

Boko Haram quickly appointed a new leader; Bakura Modu (or Sahaba) who had much less experience than Shekau and he moved Boko Haram headquarters from the Sambia forces to Rijana forest in neighboring Kaduna State. These changes did not stem the defections. Boko Haram and ISWAP are both beset by money problems. Over a decade of Islamic terrorist violence in the north have ruined the local economy so there are more unemployed young men who can be enticed to join the Islamic terrorist for a joining bonus of less than $2, plus the promise of more if they learn to handle an assault rifle and succeed at looting and plundering what is left to steal in the northeast. A merger of economic, not religious, convenience was one thing most Islamic terrorists could agree on. Up until this latest series of clashes the army had reported that in January they had killed over fifty ISWAP and Boko Haram gunmen and disrupted the supply and recruiting efforts of both groups. This led some of the Boko Haram men to flee, with their families, via Niger, which they believed would be safer than staying and fighting in Nigeria.

March 13, 2023: In central Nigeria (Benue State) Benue State Emergency Management Agency revealed that over 5,200 people have been killed by armed men from nomadic herding tribes since 2015. This violence also created over two million internal refugees. The central government was accused of ignoring the situation and not taking action after repeated requests.

February 25, 2023: The presidential elections were held and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of APC (All Progressives Congress) was declared the winner by the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission). This was challenged in the PEPC (Presidential Election Petition Court) by Peter Obi of the Labor Party who came in second and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) who came in third. The challengers claimed that not all the votes were transmitted to the PEPC and the current results were incorrect because of that.
As the Russians began their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there were unintended side effects. It suddenly became dangerous for merchant ships in ports along the Ukrainian coast to leave. Many of these ships had just taken on cargo that had to be delivered. The crews didnt want to be stuck in a port that was suddenly in a war zone. The companies that owned and operated those ships were also eager to get the ships and crews and cargoes out of the area. Companies that provide insurance for merchant ships were also eager to see the ship quickly and safely out of the area.

When the war began, nearly a hundred ships and over 2,000 officers and crew on those ships were stuck in Black Sea ports. A year later most of the crews and about a third of the ships have left the ports and the Black Sea. There are still 61 ships and 331 crewmen stuck in ports. So many ships are still stuck because the port managers or the companies who own the ships find it too risky to leave for the uncertain safety and troubled waters of the Black Sea. The crews could be evacuated by land or air and those still on the ships are usually getting bonus pay to stay there and maintain the ship as well as keeping in touch with the owners about the status of these major assets. In some cases, it is possible to send in replacements for stay-behind crewmen who want to finally leave.

Another curiosity is that many of the officers and crew on these ships are Russian or Ukrainian. This is one of the generally unrecognized side effects of the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe in around 1990. Since the end of the Cold War and Soviet Union in 1991 there has been a lot of unemployment in Russia, and becoming a crew member on a commercial ship paid well. With the Soviet Union gone, Russians were free to travel or work outside Russia. Many ended up as officers or sailors on merchant marine vessels flying a flag of convenience.

For Russian mariners, all was well for three decades until covid19 shutdowns came along in 2020. Then the Ukraine War followed with official Russian government restrictions on anyone, including Russian merchant marine mariners, leaving Russia, even on Russian ships with cargo delivery deadlines to meet. This stranded Russian mariners in Russia, where they were largely, but not entirely, exempted from the military mobilization programs. To make the situation more confusing, some mobilization officials would issue mariners exit permits while others would not, or didnt know how to and were not interested in learning how to do it for a small number of mariners in their area of responsibility. Some mariners found that they could leave the country by showing their mariner ID and a shipping company letter of employment. One hand of the Russian government wanted all these Russian mariners back on the job, because they earned foreign currency, and another hand of the Russian government insisted they stay because that was, well, Russian. Eventually they were all allowed to sail, though some were mobilized and sent to fight in the Ukraine anyway.

While that money was difficult to get back to families in Russia, it was not impossible. Then there were the mariners who did get military mobilization notices. Most of these were willing to return to Russia and serve in the military. Then there were those who did not want to get mobilized into the military and would leave their ship if it were headed for Russian port. Many mariners have served in the military, either as conscripts or officers and some served in the Russian navy or coast guard. Until recently, Russian mariners could be taken from their ships at Russian ports and not allowed to return to sea. The procedure has been modified but there is still the risk of being removed from your ship if your name is on some list of mariners needed for some other work in Russia.

Before 2022, many merchant ship mariners were laid off because of covid19. This virus led to international population movement restrictions. That caused some unexpected problems for sea transportation. At the start of the covid19 lockdowns in early 2020, there were 1.9 million qualified mariners and officers to operate the 75,000 ships of the international merchant fleet. Thats only 25 personnel, most of them men, per ship. The job pays well and even the largest ships rely on automated equipment to keep crew sizes small. This automation and small crew size had been around for decades as the merchant fleet grew larger and ships spent more time at sea.

Even before covid19 there was a shortage of qualified crew, especially officers. Typically, officers are 15-20 percent of the crew and skilled specialists another 15-20 percent. Most crew come from less affluent countries in South and East Asia as well as Africa and South America. For those sailors the pay and living conditions are very good but the time spent away from family is a major minus. This became catastrophic during covid19 because many ports would not allow a ship to enter unless the crew was certified free of covid19. This meant shipping companies could not replace the crews as often as usual and as many as 200,000 mariners and officers were literally stuck on their ships for months longer than usual. This made the officer shortage worse. Before covid19 there were about five percent fewer officers than needed. By 2021 this grew to nearly 20 percent because of all the problems involved with seemingly endless voyages caused by covid19 lockdowns and difficulty in getting the crews vaccinated. This led to calls for merchant sailors to get priority in receiving the vaccines. Most of the available vaccines required two doses, taken three to four weeks apart. This made it more difficult to get sailors vaccinated.

While there was some decline in work for merchant ships during the 18 months of lockdowns, once the lockdowns began to be lifted the demand for seaborne shipping rapidly grew and shortage of sailors and officers was one reason why there was a shortage of ships back in service for nearly a year. Operating these big ships with smaller crews just makes the job even more unattractive, while also causing potential problems with the insurance companies that compensate owners for damaged or lost ships because of the many risks encountered.

Raising wages is not as effective a solution as programs to recruit and train additional mariners and officers. There are also problems in some countries with dishonest brokers who match mariners with ships. In some countries shipping companies going bankrupt or committing fraud can abandon crews overseas.

While the hundreds of shipping companies can justify more money spent on wages and recruiting, a training program requires joint efforts to work, at least with those countries that supply the most crew personnel. This is one of those problems that cannot be ignored because the world economy depends on maritime transport. Most likely some nations that already supply most of the mariners and officers, like the Philippines and India, will seize the opportunity to train more mariners and officers to make life more bearable for these seagoing specialists and encourage more of them to stay in the job, at least part-time. In Russia, the economic situation is grim and likely to continue for years after the war ends. As a result, getting a job on a merchant ship will remain an attractive option.
A CORK driving test centre is to close, leaving just three testing centres in the nations largest county.

St Finbarrs Driving Test Centre in Togher was originally set up as a temporary test centre to allow for social distancing measures required during lockdown.

A spokesperson for the RSA has confirmed to The Echo that the Togher testing centre will now close, as it so longer needed. Applicants due to sit a driving test in the St Finbarrs Centre will be directed to the Wilton location.

Following the closure, there now remains just three centres capable of conducting a driving test in Cork county; Wilton, Mallow and Skibbereen. A fourth RSA testing centre also exists in Ballincollig for the purpose of lorry and truck driving tests only.

Deputy Christopher OSullivan believes that the closure of the Togher centre will only worsen an already backlogged system and that some young people face waiting times of up to five months before sitting a test.

Five months waiting for a driving test isnt good enough, from application to the actual test.

Its the rescheduling of tests that is really a cause of great, great frustration when you have an appointment for a test, and its put back by months. We need to change this.

Deputy OSullivan said that the issue of long wait times is especially prevalent in West Cork, where just one testing centre accommodates a large population.

In response to debate on the topic, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar agreed with the Fianna Fail TD, on the issue in West Cork: I agree, its really important that young people have the freedom that a driving license gives them, not just young people, but particularly young people.

The spokesperson for the RSA revealed that there has been a 28% increase in the number of applications made to sit a driving test this year. There has also been a significant increase in the number of learner permit holders coming into the system, both of which are much higher figures than what the RSA has forecasted.

In addition to the closure of the St Finbarrs Driving Test Centre, the representative said delays are also being due to a number of staff members retiring and staff on temporary contracts whose contracts are now expiring.

We are talking to the Department of Transport about getting extra additional resources to put into the driving test to tackle the backlog, the spokesperson said.
Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) launched an all abilities accessible angling facility in Cork which will enable wheelchair users to fish safely and conveniently.

The bespoke fishing platform at Shepperton Lake cost 106,000 to construct, and provides access to wheelchair users, and those with reduced mobility, to a section of the popular angling destination 3km from Skibbereen.

"The demand for accessible and safe infrastructure for wheelchair users and those with reduced mobility at Shepperton Lake was obvious, and we are looking forward to seeing many anglers enjoy our brand new facility," John Twomey, Fisheries Inspector with IFI, said.

Were delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the Irish Wheelchair Association on this project, and are very pleased the amenity has been constructed.

The outdoor facility consists of a long boardwalk and a large accessible steel stand that can cater for up to four wheelchair anglers at a time, a new picnic area, and parking for six vehicles.

IFI hosted members of the Irish Wheelchair Association in Clonakilty on Friday for the official opening of the new amenity, following an extensive programme of works to transform the site to support inclusive angling.

Our service users are thrilled with the new fishing podium at Shepperton Lake and will be able to enjoy a long season of fishing from now on," Sinead Burke, Service Support Officer for the Irish Wheelchair Association said.

"We would like to thank the incredible team of IFI who went above and beyond to enhance the fishing experience of our service users.

"We feel very grateful to work in partnership with the team from IFI."

IFI has collaborated with the Irish Wheelchair Association in Clonakilty for the past seven years, and in that period angling day trips to Shepperton Lake have increased in popularity among the latters members.

The initiative was co-funded by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) and the Department of Rural and Community Development.
A popular Kerry bathing spot should have between five and six lifeguards on duty when the beach is busy and swimmers warned about the dangers of riptides, an inquest into the death of two siblings has heard.

The cause of death of 51-year-old Desmond Byrne of Carrigeen More, Le Carrow, Roscommon, and his 62-year-old sister, Murial Ericsson, of Malmo, Sweden, at the Mens Beach, Ballybunion on August 4 last year was "accidental drowning".

The inquest in Listowel Co Kerry heard from 17 witnesses including holidaymakers and lifeguards who were on the beach at the time, as well as from the partner of the late Mr Byrne.

Josh Byrne, 13, the son of Desmond Byrne, who has special needs, was also in the water at the time but managed to get ashore safely.

Verdict of death due to misadventure

Coroner Helen Lucey said it was nothing short of a miracle that Josh is alive today.

On the evening of the tragedy four lifeguards were on duty when normally there would be five or six, the inquest heard.

Ms Lucey brought in two recommendations with her verdict of death due to misadventure: that a minimum of five or six lifeguards should be on duty on the Mens and Ladies beaches in Ballybunion during high season. She also said the lifeguards should issue an oral warning when something like a rip current is present.

Teen's actions praised

The coroner paid particular tribute to 15-year-old Ruairi Walsh of Carrigrohane, Cork, who was on holiday at the time with his parents in their mobile home. He was on his surf board just before 6pm on the Thursday evening and showed sensitivity beyond his years when the tragedy happened.

Ruairi saw Josh in difficulty and kept him under observation and watched him get out of the water safely. He was then alerted by a scream from the shore and he saw a man, Desmond Byrne, face down in the water. He waved his surfboard over his head to get a lifeguards attention. He also gave the arm lift sign to bring first aid.

The inquest heard how lifeguards became concerned there might be a second person missing after establishing that Josh Byrne was the dead mans son and seeing three pairs of shoes, and finding a ladys clothes and watch in a bag.

The lifeboat was launched and Garda Omar Fitzell, who is also a member of the Ballybunion Sea Cliff and Rescue, told of finding a female face down and partially submerged. This was around 100m from the water line.

Extensive CPR was carried out on the bodies of Mr Byrne and Ms Ericsson by medics including by Dr Moira Fitzpatrick who was on the beach. The medevac helicopter also arrived but there was no sign of life.

Rip current

Water safety instructor Leo Hillianrd explained that a rip current is something that can occur at any time and for any duration and is "like a river in the water". Rip tides pull people out from shore, the inquest also heard.

Head lifeguard Dominic Horgan, from Tralee, said the lifeguards had been keeping the crowd back from the middle section between the two beaches where there was a severe rip current.

The rip current had been very bad "and that was our main priority all summer," Mr Horgan said in his deposition. There had been two lifeguards on each beach, and there were flags to indicate where to swim, he replied to questions from Ms Lucey. The lifeguards were blowing whistles to keep people away from the rip current.

Lifeguard Noah Edwards, of Tralee, said Mr Horgan had also been in the water informing people about the rip currents. The lifeguards would move between the two beaches. Mr Edwards also said that at the time they were down to four lifeguards - normally it was five or six.

Paulette Daly, partner of the late Desmond Byrne in her deposition read for her by Insp OKeeffe said "Muriel was home from Sweden and staying with them in Roscommon. On the morning of Thursday August 4 she was getting ready for work and the three of them - Dessie, Muriel and Josh - headed off in their camper van. They stopped at Bunratty and spoke to her of maybe going to Kerry. There was no more contact until Garda Mairead Taheny arrived at her door in Roscommon."

On hearing the news she said: "I couldnt believe it. Our hearts are broken. She drove to Tralee and identified the bodies.

Pathologist Professor Nollaig Parfrey carried out the post mortems and said there was no evidence of disease, no ethanol and no drugs.

Coroner Helen Lucey extended her sympathy to Paulette Daly and Mr Brynes siblings and extended family. Ms Ericssons husband had since passed away in Sweden, the coroner noted.

These were healthy people as detailed in the post mortem report and this is a tragic accident," the coroner said.

"There was a cloud over Ballybunion because of this incident," Ms Lucey also said.

Dean Byrne, son of the late Desmond Byrne, enquired about the number of lifeguards and their position on either beach at the time of the drownings. The question was allowed and one of the lifeguards was recalled briefly. Ms Lucey explained how the evidence was that there was one lifeguard in the elevated hut and one on the beach in both the Ladies and Mens beaches. When the tide was out a person can walk between the two beaches, the inquest heard. The lifeguards would be in contact about rip currents.
Bicycle theft is a problem in Cork city  even where bikes are properly locked  a District Court judge said.

Judge Olann Kelleher jailed a culprit for six months for stealing a bicycle which had been locked to a bike rack on 28 August 22 at the bus station at Parnell Place, Cork.

Sergeant Ciaran Kelleher said at Cork District Court that the 600 bike was parked that day at the bicycle rack using an appropriate lock.

The owner returned to find it has been stolen and he reported the theft to gardai.

CCTV from the bus station was examined and a man was seen breaking the lock and taking it from the stand. This person is also seen walking away with the bicycle in the direction of Merchants Quay.

The culprit was identified as 45-year-old Uyi Agho, who was living at Cork Simon Community.

This man pleaded guilty to the theft at Cork District Court.

He had 95 previous convictions including six for theft and two for handling stolen property.

Defence solicitor Joseph Cuddigan said the bulk of his previous convictions were public order type offences.

Returning to the theft of the bicycle, Judge Olann Kelleher said, I presume if it was locked he (the accused) brought something with him.

Sgt. Kelleher confirmed that the accused had brought equipment with him.

Judge Kelleher said that bringing such equipment to the scene showed a degree of forethought in carrying out the crime.

There is a difficulty in the city with bikes being stolen, even those properly locked, Judge Kelleher said as he sentenced the accused to six months in prison.

Mr Cuddigan referred to the same man getting a five month sentence the previous day in Cork.

In relation to the earlier case at Cork District Court it he was found sitting on a bench at Bishop Lucey Park in Cork and beside him was a piece of cannabis for his own use on August 1 2022.
WHAT a very peculiar relationship the Irish public and its government have with their public servants.

We run to them when we become the victims of crime, experience ill-health, when our houses go on fire; we depend on them to educate our children.

And yet our gardai, nurses, fire-fighters, teachers and other members of the public service are subject to the most vitriolic psychological, emotional and physical abuse and bullying from the self-same people they help.

During the Celtic Tiger boom, it might be recalled, people would tell you theyd cut their own throats rather than go into the public service because pay and conditions in the private sector were so much better; jobs in the IT sector, engineering and accountancy, for example, yielded eye-watering remittances.

Then came the big recession. Suddenly the Irish public and a few highly-paid financial experts were clamouring that these self-same public sector workers earned too much and their working conditions were too comfortable.

The government yielded to all this chest-thumping, and public servants suffered a series of swingeing pay-cuts. It took years for their unions to claw even some of it back.

So, given this supposedly high pay and these utterly super-duper working conditions which have attracted so much public envy, isnt it strange that so many in the public sector of them are resigning?

Members of the defence forces are leaving in droves because of poor pay and conditions. Highly-trained Irish nurses and doctors are high-tailing it to better pay and conditions abroad as fast as their hard-working legs can carry them.

Nurses recently lashed out at the horrendous abuse they face in our hospitals on a daily basis from patients and the relatives of patients.

Fire-fighters are routinely bombarded with missiles and verbal abuse in some communities when they arrive to put out a blaze and save lives.

Teachers and Special Needs Assistants have reported physical and verbal attacks and growing disrespect, bullying, disobedience and a sense of entitlement from students.

There is also, they will tell you, a trend of increasing disrespect, sense of entitlement and lack of appreciation from the parents of students.

The incidence of rude, entitled parents arriving into schools and barging into classrooms to berate teachers in front of their students is not uncommon.

Now it emerges that, for the first time since the establishment of the force, large numbers of gardai are resigning  and resigning en masse according to the Garda Representative Organisation, which describes this as a new and unusual trend in the force.

Laura Young is a case in kind. She recently spoke to RTE about leaving her 14-year-career as a garda because of a toxic cocktail of factors including public perception towards gardai and the toll the job took on her mental health.

The lack of acknowledgement of personnel and an increased focus on administration were among the factors she mentioned, along with the way cumbersome policies and procedures, a lack of job satisfaction, camaraderie, fun, good workplace relationships and poor morale had brought her to the point where she realised that she had to leave.

A representative of the Garda Representative Association commented that Youngs story was replicated in the accounts of every member of exiting or resigned personnel the organisation had interviewed in recent months.

Young spoke about times when she would literally sit at home trying to recover from the working days. She was assaulted once during her time as a garda but says that was unusual  usually its a lot more than that.

It was a terrible interview to listen to, but it was not surprising. Weve heard about garda cars being rammed, and gardai being physically and verbally attacked. Weve heard of gardai sleeping in their cars between shifts because the distance back to the accommodation they can afford to rent or purchase, is so long.

On a personal basis, I have heard, anecdotally, that gardai in a rural Cork town walk to work in street clothes and change at the station because they dont want the abuse the uniform attracts until they are actually on shift.

A senior garda officer told me recently that he has long disengaged from social media because of the number of personal online attacks on himself and other gardai in the community.

Things have become so bad that gardai exiting the force are equating it to leaving a toxic or abusive relationship, according to the Garda Representative Association (GRA) officer conducting exit interviews with members resigning early.

She said about 109 gardai resigned last year, which was the most ever in a 12-month period, and that they expect that if the trend continues, up to 150 could resign from the force this year.

Every single person that this officer has interviewed, she says, has been fighting mental health issues which had brought them to the point that they couldnt cope with another single day doing the job theyre doing. These exiting gardai report being overworked and under-resourced.

The GRA official spoke about how the growing bureaucracy required as part of the job is also a major drawback to serving members. For example, she explained, if a traffic accident happens even 20ft outside a garda station and somebody runs in and reports it, the gardai on duty cant deal with the incident until that member of the public rings 999, the call is recorded and the command control system officially approves them to deal with the incident.

So tell me this: Nobody can claim that every public servant is a saint. There are bad apples in every part of the workplace, public and private, and in the voluntary sector too.

But it can and should be said that very many public servants are decent, hard-working, conscientious people who do their level best to do a good days work.

The problem is that, for some peculiar reason, many members of the Irish public, including, it could be said, some who dont themselves contribute in any significant way to the economy, feel entitled to abuse public servants, treat them with contempt and attempt to intimidate them.

Meanwhile, the government expects public servants to deal with an increasingly aggressive, entitled, rude and often abusive public while not paying them properly for the work they do. While not providing them with decent working conditions. While failing to provide sufficient resources and staffing levels for employees to do their jobs properly without becoming burned out.

This, by the way, is the self-same government that for years has been throwing open its purse-strings to house, feed, educate and provide healthcare to refugees and asylum-seekers from all over the world

Something has to give. But its giving already, isnt it, because theyre leaving. Tell me, what happens next for the law and order in this country? For the healthcare system, the education sector and all the other services that public servants are responsible for? Think of that the next time youre tempted to spit at a garda or abuse a teacher or nurse because youre having a bad hair day.
James Cox

The chief executive of a cybersecurity company has urged Irish businesses to get an external check on their IT security, with many being forced to pay ransoms to retrieve their data.

Kevin OLoughlin, CEO of Nostra, said the risk of cyberattacks on Irish businesses and government agencies is at an all-time high.

Mr O'Loughlin told BreakingNews.ie that a lot of companies "have a view that they are in a good place and secure", when they actually have vulnerabilities.

He said relying on self-assessments of IT infrastructure is "never a good idea," adding: "What we're seeing is the more specific targeted attacks are happening, and we're seeing people being manipulated into allowing bad actors access to systems. That's the most common current threat."

A lot of companies try to deal with it internally, pay the ransom, that's certainly common.

Mr O'Loughlin added: "A lot of companies try to deal with it internally, pay the ransom, that's certainly common. In some instances you have a choice to make, either I pay the ransom or close my business because if you've lost all of your data that can happen.

He explained that cyberattacks are constantly becoming more sophisticated, with hackers now first moving to erase a business' backup data.

"We're seeing lots of organisations saying 'well, we have a backup if we're attacked', but the reality now is they attack the backup first, and then they attack the system. Then you're left in a situation where you either pay the ransom or can you recover? You don't know what invoices have been sent out, who you've paid or has paid you, your payroll, it can be so damaging."

Mr O'Loughlin said hackers will often target companies at weekends.

"The most common time we're seeing for attacks is 6.30pm- 7pm on a Friday night. They get in and have a full weekend before anyone notices there is a problem, and they can do an awful lot of damage in that time.

"The bottom line is if you get the basics right, you're massively reducing the risk of an attack. The basics are having all of your patches for Windows and different systems up to date, an off-site backup, good antivirus, good firewalls."

Nostra chief executive Kevin O'Loughlin has warned that a lot of Irish businesses are wide open to cyberattacks.

He said two-factor authentication is crucial for all accounts and password.

"Without two-factor authentication on an email account the risk of breaches is enormous, probably upwards of 5 -10 per cent of email breaches have been occurred without this in place, you often wouldn't even realise it had happened.

"They download a copy of your email and then sift through it to find information that can be used against you. An invoice, they might get on to your customers and say you've changed your bank details, if they get in at any level of organisation there is information they can sell online leading to a greater attack down the road.

"A lot of people are not even aware their data has been stolen."

Most people who suffer a significant breach were not aware the day before that they had a vulnerability.

He explained that a lot of the organisations targeting businesses in Ireland and elsewhere are very set up very professionally.

"You have to remember these are not people sitting in a bedroom, these are offices with 400 people spending all day every day trying to attack organisations with customer service to help you get your data back if they catch you, and you pay the ransom.

"These are proper, big organisations generating billions at the expense of others.

"Most people who suffer a significant breach were not aware the day before that they had a vulnerability. Often when we go in and look we find they were massively exposed, and we could have helped with that if we were there before."

He advised all business owners, no matter how secure they think their organisation is, to get an external check.

"An external assessment is key. It's not fair to ask your internal IT department to assess all the technology and point out the flaws. We're looking at this stuff every day, it's a different type of expertise, it's not fair to expect all IT workers to be cyber experts in an ever-changing world.

"Companies need to invest in training their staff in cybersecurity."
Currently, the Department of Interiors (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will auction leases for people or companies who want to use public lands for exploitative purposes like oil and gas drilling, mining or cattle ranching that disrupt ecosystems and contribute to the climate crisis.

Now, the DOI is proposing a new kind of leasingconservation leases that would allow companies to offset environmentally harmful activities by paying to restore a degraded ecosystem or reestablish corridors for the migration of large game animals.

As the nation continues to face unprecedented drought, increasing wildfires and the declining health of our landscapes, our public lands are under growing pressure. It is our responsibility to use the best tools available to restore wildlife habitat, plan for smart development, and conserve the most important places for the benefit of the generations to come, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement announcing the proposed policy Thursday. As we welcome millions of visitors to hunt, fish and recreate on our public lands each year, now is the time to improve the health and management of special places.

Our public lands are facing devastating climate change impacts. Its our responsibility to use the best tools we have to restore wildlife habitat, plan for smart development and conserve the most important places for the benefit of the generations to come. https://t.co/fGNoimnIPq  Secretary Deb Haaland (@SecDebHaaland) March 30, 2023

The conservation leasing is only one element of the proposed Public Lands Rule, which seeks to protect lands that have become increasingly vulnerable as the climate crisis worsens droughts, wildfires and extreme weather events. The proposal focuses on the BLM in particular, which manages 10 percent of U.S. lands, largely in the West, Reuters explained. The rule builds on Congresss direction in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 that the Interior Secretary should give priority to the protection of BLM lands, Center for Western Priorities Deputy Director Aaron Weiss explained to The Hill. However, BLMs role in protecting the lands it manages has never been laid out in a federal rule, Weiss said.

Other measures in the rule include

Asking land managers to identify lands and waters in need of restoration.

Ensuring the BLM is working with other land management agencies, like the U.S. Forest Service, to accurately assess the health of federal land.

Using the FLPMA to mandate that BLM identify and designate Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).

Conservation leasing is also a tool enabled by the FLPMA. It would allow a solar company, for example, to compensate for damaging wildlife with its installation by leasing a restoration area elsewhere, Reuters explained. Alternatively, corporations could offset greenhouse gas emissions by leasing and protecting forests. While carbon offsets in general have become increasingly controversial, the proposal itself is largely popular with environmental groups, who see it as an opportunity to further protect public lands in line with the Biden administrations promise to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and water by 2030.

For too long, our public lands, including some of the most jaw-dropping places, have been given up to mining, drilling and other development, Environment America senior conservation program director Steve Blackledge said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. Whether its the Arctic, the Mojave Desert, New Mexicos Greater Chaco Region or Georgias Okefenokee Swamp region, we need to choose preservation over the fleeting value of more fossil fuels or minerals. These lands make our country beautiful, and theyre essential to the wildlife we share it with.

Once the proposal is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 75 days to comment.

Our public lands provide so many benefits  clean water, wildlife habitat, food, energy and lifetime memories, to name just a few and its our job to ensure the same for future generations, Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in the agency announcement. As pressure on our public lands continues to grow, the proposed Public Lands Rule provides a path for the BLM to better focus on the health of the landscape, ensuring that our decisions leave our public lands as good or better off than we found them. We look forward to feedback from the public on how this proposal will help us best uphold the BLMs important mission.

Weiss said that there is somewhat of a deadline for flinalizing the rule, since, if either the Presidency or Senate flips parties in 2024, Congress may choose to overturn it with a simple majority using the Congressional Review Act. This act gives Congress 60 days of session from a federal rules submission to reject the rule and is most often used after a changeover in parties.

It is very important that the Biden administration get this rule finalized within the next 12 to 13 months on the far end in order to protect it from potentially getting repealed under the [CRA] if theres a change in administration, Weiss told The Hill. They have a chance to get it done, but theyre going to have to move fast.
Full text: Joint Announcement between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Singapore on the Establishment of an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership

Xinhua) 15:48, April 01, 2023

BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The following is the full text of a joint announcement released on Saturday by China and Singapore on the establishment of an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership.

Joint Announcement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Singapore on the Establishment of an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership

At the invitation of H.E. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, made an Official Visit to China from 27 March to 1 April 2023.

During the visit, H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, met with Prime Minister Lee. Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Lee held a bilateral meeting. Prime Minister Lee also met with H.E. Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and H.E. Wang Huning, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Both sides agreed that relations between China and Singapore have continued to grow from strength to strength. Both countries have taken a long-term and strategic perspective in charting the path for developing mutually beneficial bilateral relations. Under the "All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times" established by both countries during President Xi's State Visit to Singapore in 2015, bilateral relations have progressed well, in line with the two countries' unique strengths and development priorities. Both sides have established substantive and multi-faceted cooperation in a wide range of areas, and jointly seized new opportunities in emerging fields.

Both sides have agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to an "All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership", reflecting both countries' desire to set the strategic direction and chart the development of bilateral relations going forward.

Singapore reaffirmed its support for China's pursuit of high-quality development and welcomed China's continued commitment to reform and opening up. China spoke highly of Singapore's longstanding participation in China's modernisation journey, which has laid a strong foundation for bilateral cooperation, and expressed support for Singapore's continued growth and prosperity.

Both sides took stock of the commendable progress of bilateral cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). On the important occasion of the tenth anniversary of the BRI this year, both countries will take the opportunity to broaden and deepen high-quality cooperation that benefits our peoples and region.

In line with the two countries' commitment towards collaboration that is of a high standard and quality, both sides welcomed the substantive conclusion of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) Work Programme for Subsequent Negotiations, which was launched pursuant to the Protocol to Upgrade the CSFTA signed in 2018. This upgrade will allow the CSFTA to provide for more business-friendly, liberal, and transparent rules as well as improve the market access for our businesses to trade and invest in each other's markets. Both sides looked forward to the signing of the Protocol for the CSFTA Subsequent Negotiations as soon as possible this year.

Building on the "High-Quality" and "Future-Oriented" approach to bilateral cooperation, both sides looked forward to strengthening the comprehensive and innovative cooperation between China and Singapore in areas including trade and investment, green and digital economies, food security, financial sector, aviation, and people-to-people exchanges. Both sides will work together to harness synergies in new fields like digital transformation and unlock new growth opportunities geared to the future development. Both sides looked forward to pursuing new areas of cooperation, making full use of intergovernmental mechanisms such as the existing annual Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, as well as the eight Provincial Business Councils in China.

Both sides reaffirmed the continued strengthening of ASEAN-China relations and cooperation under the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Singapore welcomes China's support for the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality in the evolving regional architecture. China and Singapore will work together for the effective implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), and advance preparations for the further enhancement of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA 3.0) to drive mutually beneficial economic growth.

Both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to multilateralism, support for the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, adherence to international law, and would continue to maintain close communication and cooperation at the United Nations and other multilateral organisations.

China and Singapore will continue to work together to uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system as embodied by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), maintain an open and inclusive global economy, and ensure the stable and smooth operation of global supply chains, so as to jointly meet global challenges and make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
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If youre tight on counter space, multi-purpose kitchen gadgets can come in handy by giving you one device that can do many things. The Instant Pot is a great example of this, as are Brevilles Smart Ovens that combine things like a toaster, broiler, air fryer and others into one machine. As with most Breville gear, the ovens are on the expensive side  but now you can get up to 36 percent off a bunch of Smart Oven models.

The one we like the most is the Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, which is down to $320  that's the lowest weve seen and a return to its Black Friday price. The tabletop oven has 13 cooking modes, including dedicated air fryer and dehydrate settings. Its not particularly compact with its one-cubic-foot interior, but that allows it to handle a whole turkey, an entire Dutch oven and most 9x13 sheets on which you could roast vegetables, air fry potatoes and more. If you can do without the proof, cookies and dehydrate settings, though, you could get away with the standard Smart Oven, which is on sale for an all-time low of $280.

Although those have smart in the name, they arent in the way you might be thinking. Brevilles true smart oven is the Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro, which is on sale for $400. It takes the standard Pro model and adds WiFi and app connectivity to it in some pretty useful ways. You can set cooking timers in the app and itll alert you when your food needs attention, and you can even set the machine to certain cooking modes using Alexa or Google Assistant voice controls. The app also has autopilot recipes, which are guided recipes you can follow while the oven handles some of the process by changing modes and temperatures automatically.

The Joule is best for those who love to spend time in the kitchen and love experimenting with new tech, while the standard Smart Ovens are better for most people. If you have a tight budget, the cheapest option in this sale is Brevilles Mini Smart Toaster Oven, which comes in at $128. It does a lot more than toast bread with its additional bagel, bake, pizza, reheat, roast and cookie settings, and it comes in a more compact design. Youll be able to fit four slices of bread it in, a six-cup muffin tin or an 11-inch pizza - smaller than either of the full-sized Smart Ovens, but still big enough to make it a versatile machine.

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The face of Indian irrigation has dramatically changed, particularly after the introduction of the green revolution during the 1960s. The areas irrigated by surface sources like canal and small waterbodies (tanks, ponds, etc) have stagnated or increased at a relatively lesser pace, whereas the groundwater area has increased significantly over time (Shankar et al 2011; Narayanamoorthy 2022). For instance, while the net canal irrigated area has increased from 12.84 million hectares (mha) in 197071 to 16.43 mha in 201819, the net groundwater irrigated area has increased massively from 11.89 mha to 45.75 mha. This is an increase of 285%. The share of groundwater irrigated area to the total net irrigated area has also increased significantly from 38% to 64% during this period.

The source of groundwater gives better-quality irrigation in terms of certainty, controllability and availability (Dhawan 2000; Kumar 2005; Narayanamoorthy 2010, 2022). Over time, farmers have hugely invested in groundwater irrigation structures with the support of subsidised institutional credit facilities (Dhawan 2009). Some estimates indicate that Indian farmers have invested to the tune of $12 billion in groundwater structures (Shah et al 2003, 2006). With the expansion of groundwater irrigation, the intensification of agriculture has also increased, especially in terms of multiple cropping around the year. Consequently, the gross contribution of groundwater to agriculture has substantially increased. Shah et al (2003) estimate that the ultimate contribution of groundwater to the Asian agricultural economy is about $25$30 billion per year and the imputed value of groundwater used in India will be over $8.6 billion per year for the average period between 1987 and 1993. Therefore, one cannot imagine what will be the condition of Indian agriculture if some untoward happens to groundwater irrigation.
There have been, broadly speaking, two dominant ways of reading the history of womanhood in modern India. The first looks at them through the lens of social reform currents, attributing to them a condition that is constituted by Hindu (read Indian) tradition, which (from the European gaze adopted by the reformers) was viewed as, on the whole, deplorable. The task then was to reform this condition by doing away with practices of Hindu tradition identified as objectionable and moving society towards an embrace of liberal education and legal protections from the worst effects of these practices. On this reading, the problems of women were evident to male reformers and colonialist recorders, who could then direct these women out of such oppression. Women were turned into potential symbols of the moral health of the colony and later, the incipient nation. The trajectory of such a narrative was, thus, of the familiar passage from tradition to modernity, exploitation to freedom.

This enlightenment liberal reading of the womens question is challenged by a second historiography, which argues that the model idea of womanhood emerges in the nationalist movement and that it is a novel development emerging out of colonial contact. This nationalist reimagining of Indian womanhood is a combination of Brahminic and Victorian virtues (OHanlon 1994: 3), standing in contrast all at once to the memsahib, the old traditional Hindu woman and the lower-class woman (Chatterjee 1989: 627). This new woman is not amenable to the colonial narrative of tradition being the root cause of her exploitation. Rather she is deemed a protector of tradition in the cultural inner core of nationalism, as it withstands the onslaught of colonial modernity in the outer material spheres of state, economy, modes of production, technology, etc (Chatterjee 1989: 62426). This was especially so, since Indian nationalismas an outer phenomenon (rather than inner imaginings that I am focused on in this paper, in the realm of womanhood)was offering no resistance to such an onslaught. Partha Chatterjee, in saying this, is claiming that Indian womanhood is a sort of placeholder for a nationalism that is inner, spiritual and cultural, distinct from the nationalism that speaks to the issues of state, political economy and other such elements of the outer. This view, first articulated by Ghulam Murshid (1983) and Sumit Sarkar (1985), was most purposively developed in Chatterjee (1989) who presents this inner reimagining of womanhood to be a resolution of the womens question in Indias nationalist narrative.1
Publicis Groupe has seen a fantastic year globally with the US and European markets showing robust results in 2022 despite the slowdown. And yet there are expectations galore from the other side of the globe, the APAC market, says, Jane Lin-Baden, CEO, Asia Pacific, Publicis Groupe, who along with Anupriya Acharya, CEO, South Asia, Publicis Groupe spoke to Neeta Nair, Associate Editor of IMPACT Magazine during the formers India visit.

Below are edited excerpts of the interview

We've seen a slowdown happening in Europe and America. Do you think that has given an opportunity to the APAC market to set the pace for Publicis global growth?

Jane: The global market is highly interconnected, so APAC cant be a replacement for some other region. Also, the USA and Europe performed very strongly in 2022. So, even though we say the economy is going down, actually, clients have been spending, and the industry is still growing. This year, because we have pressure owing to the interest rates, we need to be very cautious. But there is some optimism around APAC which seems to be a region with resilience. Countries like India and China have bounced back from the lockdowns, and that resilience will sustain the region's growth in 2023.

What was APACs contribution to the global revenues?

Jane: Our largest market is still the US and then Europe. But APAC has shown really good growth, even though we dont have the largest share of volume here. So, the expectation from APAC is not only on the growth, but also on how we bring a very interesting talent innovation into the group. The importance of this region for the group is really high. Second, it is also critically important for all our clients. Look at India for instance, the largest economy with the youngest population. Clients see it as their key market.

While the same holds for most holding companies right now, how soon do you see APAC becoming a leading market for the Group, much like North America?

Jane: We want to grow stronger in APAC. Its our ambition to be as big as the US but the base is very different, so I don't see that happening soon.

In all the recent forecasts, weve seen digital overtaking the traditional mediums. As far as Publicis media clients are concerned, what is the breakup like and have you seen the contribution of Digital increase significantly for your Group?

Anupriya: That pretty much depends on the nature of the business and the client. The sector matters; whether they are a food and beverage company or a consumer company or doing CPG or automobiles. The consumer that they're targeting and the tasks that they're trying to achieve dictates what media rules for them. So, while on a general level, we can say that all of them have been doing digital, the split varies according to the sector. Second important factor is the life stage of the company or the brand that they are building. And third is, of course, the type of brand, whether digital or traditional. So, on one hand, you have the classic advertisers with their master brands that have been built over years and decades. They are now realizing that the consumer is changing their behavior towards digital, and are hence embracing the medium. So, obviously we see the proportion of digital going up.

On the other hand, there are these digital-first brands that started out digital and were only talking to that population. For them, the journey is very different. However, beyond a certain point, they have realized that they have exhausted everything that can be done on digital, and are now moving to the mainstream media like television. So, it's not a standard amount or percentage of digital to traditional. But the overall contribution of digital versus mainstream, has increased phenomenally, not only the media and the AdEx, but also the associated services that we provide.

Starcom from Publicis Groupe topped the Media Agency ranking, generating $165m in revenue as per R3s new business league for 2022. What separates Starcom from the other media agencies?

Anupriya: They have, pretty much, a global yet distinct culture like the creative agencies. And then there are things that are best kept at the central level to address. Thats where we have the Publicis Media layer. But outside of that, their clients, the way they pitch, their philosophies, are all unique. Starcom, for instance, has historically been more around human experience than around ROI. The other thing is also what kind of clients they are handling. Agencies are as good as the clients they handle. A lot of their expertise comes from there.

Coming to the creative side of the business, Publicis Milan has repeatedly topped WARC ratings as the best creative agency globally. As far as Asia Pacific is concerned, which of your agencies in these 12 countries can replace it as the best one?

Jane: We definitely have high hopes from India. We just had phenomenal results with Leo Burnett here and also with the other agencies last year. It has the potential to evolve significantly in the creative space, globally. We play big in the culture space, and thats where agencies like Leo Burnett work, to closely connect consumer insights with culture. But other markets are also showing interesting developments. Last year was really historical for us.

So, the short answer would be Leo Burnett.

Jane: Definitely, the award goes to Leo Burnett India.

Talking of the two big things for any agency - account wins and awards. Leo Burnett has been winning awards for the past many years, but we havent seen much on that front from others, especially BBH and Publicis Worldwide. Will that change at Cannes Lions this year?

Jane: Hopefully.

Anupriya: The proposition and life stage of each of the agencies is a bit different. The kind of clients they handle and the businesses they go after is also pretty much anchored in their strategy. Are they doing this to win awards. No, all of this work is being done to ensure that our clients' brands win in the marketplace. Awards happen as a result of that. There are agencies which have some other priorities at this point in time, so they may choose to not enter their work, for example. And, maybe, do it the next year when the priorities change. Having said that, we have seen that LKSS has done well at Spikes this year. If this conversation had taken place last year, it would have been only LB which would have fit like a glove on the winning-awards discussion, this year it is LKSS too, so every year the strategy changes.

Recently, we have seen a lot of tech talent coming back to the agencies. Are creative and media agencies still in the position to afford them?

Anupriya: First, I think it's a myth that agencies don't pay well. We are not, as they say, the most underpaid profession. Agencies are great places to be in and we compensate our people very well.

Coming to the second part, on whether we are taking that talent back from the tech shops? Yes, we are, as and where it is required. It's a matter of the skill and the areas of expertise that we're building, not just about following a trend. There has been significant growth in areas that require a lot of data and tech, and so, we have been building some of these capabilities. Consequently, we see a lot of crossover of talent like Amaresh Godbole coming back from Google and Lalatendu Das joining us from McKinsey.

Jane: I must add that, from the talent perspective, it is very important to take into consideration the state of the economy; when a particular industry is booming, hiring, the demand etc.

Which areas are you directing your investments towards in the APAC region, and in India specifically?

Jane: In APAC, we have seen a lot of investments in tech and data. Second is performance, and the third is commerce. Both are omnichannel.
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A couple of weeks ago, Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez received a food delivery at his East Side home.

One slight problem: Neither McKee-Rodriguez nor his husband had ordered any food.

Having determined that the councilman was home, the delivery people returned about 20 minutes later, armed with a pledge for McKee-Rodriguez to sign.

They approach me with this pledge and dont really want me to read it, McKee-Rodriguez said. So I told them to just email it to me.

My team happened to be in the area, so my team pulled up on them  in the least aggressive way possible, I want to assure you  and saw them throwing out McDonalds bags. They had been DoorDashing people to see if they were home.

The fake DoorDashers turned out to be volunteers for a new political action committee called Better SA. The group officially formed only three weeks ago and seems content to keep its membership and tactics in the shadows.

More on Express-News.com: Frustrated with government: Why citizen-driven propositions are on the rise in San Antonio

One name, however, will be familiar to those who cover Republican campaign activities. The groups treasurer, Cabell Hobbs, is an Austinite who has performed the same role for PACs affiliated with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy and various right-wing causes.

After you wade through the euphemistic language of the Better SA pledge, it becomes apparent that the group is promoting a pro-police and pro-economic development message.

I was waiting a couple of days for them to email me with the pledge and eventually they did, the District 2 councilman said. And that same day they started blockwalking in the district with these door hangers saying that Im not signing their pledge.

Better SA seems to be motivated, in large part, by its opposition to Proposition A, the package of charter-amendment police reforms that will be on the May 6 ballot. McKee-Rodriguez has supported the Prop A campaign since its inception.

Proposition A would decriminalize abortion and small-scale marijuana possession, expand the citys cite-and-release program and create the position of a city justice director to provide input on public safety issues.

This is what the Better SA pledge has to say on public safety:

I pledge to prioritize public safety by supporting policies that help reduce crime and improve public safety for our residents and businesses, and I will oppose any measure that puts public safety at risk, including any changes to the City Charter that (1) prevents law enforcement from exercising discretion to make arrests for crimes of theft (up to $750) and graffiti (up to $2,500) or (2) changes the type of ID that those accused of such offenses are required by law to produce.

The Better SA door hanger targeting McKee-Rodriguez accuses him of refusing to take the pledge to keep our city safe and help bring good-paying jobs to San Antonio. It urges constituents to call the councilman and tell him to sign the Better SA pledge.

Related: What to know about cite-and-release, a key  and controversial  part of Prop A

Danny Diaz, the president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association and a strong opponent of Proposition A, said Friday he wasnt familiar with Better SA.

Joanna Hargrove-Conner has lived in District 2 for more than 20 years. On March 23, a Better SA volunteer showed up at her door.

A loyal McKee-Rodriguez supporter, Hargrove-Conner saw a photo of the councilman on the volunteers door hanger and immediately assumed that the blockwalker worked for McKee-Rodriguezs campaign team.

It was a red-headed boy and he handed me the flyer, she recalled. I said, Oh, so youre with Jalens office? Ive got them on the phone right now. And he ran off.

A recent video provided to the councilman by a female constituent shows a male Better SA volunteer arriving at the residents home and asking her if she has a minute to answer a few survey questions.

The Better SA rep hands her the door hanger, mentions the PACs pledge and falsely states that McKee-Rodriguez didnt show up to any City Council meetings.

McKee-Rodriguez hopes to be the first council member in the ever-mercurial District 2 to win re-election since Ivy Taylor accomplished that feat 10 years ago.

Although he faces nine opponents, none of them has yet emerged as a formidable challenger. The councilman said he thinks Better SA might be attempting to weaken his influence even if they cant defeat him at the ballot box.

I think if theyre trying to do anything, its just to minimize the publics trust in me, even if Im going to be council person, McKee-Rodriguez said. Like, reduce my effectiveness.

Theyll probably need to step up their fake-food-delivery game if they hope to pull that off.

ggarcia@express-news.net
Sharon Johnson/AP

A soldier from Austin was one of nine service members killed in a collision of Army helicopters during a training exercise in Kentucky on Wednesday night.

Officials at Fort Campbell, Ky., said Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, was among the victims.
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The San Antonio Zoo is up to its April Fools Day hijinks again. This time around, it had a partner.

The zoo announced it was teaming up with Texas favorite Buc-ees to build a combination zoo and tourist attraction inspired by the chain's beaver mascot  Beaver Tales Wildlife Park  in Boerne.

The park would be built on 50 acres next to a planned Buc-ees off Interstate 10 (this site really is in the works), according to a news release sent Friday evening (getting a jump on the day or trying to disguise the prank?).

The news release, true to the zoo's history of April Fools pranks, was filled with details about the park plans  the attraction would have three realms representing different sections of North America and be completed in 2025  and beavers  they can swim up to 6 mph and stay underwater for up to 15 minutes.

The Dam Store gift shop; Dam Good Eats restaurant; a beaver interaction program, Meet the Beavers; and a hotel (Beaver Lodge) were all listed as potential tourist magnets to make the joke even more convincing.

While the North American beaver has a conservation status of Least Concern, both the zoo and Buc-ee's are thrilled to bring this iconic species to Texans and tourists alike, teaching the importance of beavers to the environment, the release said.

The announcements timing gave some Facebook commenters pause.

Im trying to decide if this is legit or if someone on the social media team accidentally posted their April Fools news a day early, user Lauren Hoffman wrote in reply to the zoos post.

Even the zoos president got in on the fun, tweeting the release from his own Twitter account.

Boerne and areas surrounding San Antonio are perfect locations for San Antonio Zoological Society to expand, zoo President and CEO Tim Morrow said in the release. While we are named San Antonio Zoo, we are truly the zoo of all of South Texas.

Its not the first April Fools prank the zoo has played over the years.

Last years prank was an announcement of plans to bring back the woolly mammoth using DNA technology.

Two years ago, the San Antonio Zoo released $400 million plans to become the worlds first bio-domed zoo spanning both sides of U.S. 281 with a roof made of lightweight, transparent Tesla solar panels, according to a 2021 Facebook post.

A chupacabra exhibit served as the zoos big announcement in 2016. It was accompanied by a video (in actuality, a still image with a play button on top) that likely fooled a few viewers into clicking.

Tying into current news stories is often another element of the zoos jokes: 2021s dome plan was accelerated after Winter Storm Uri, according to that years release.

This years announcement ties into real plans for a 53,000-square-foot Buc-cees location in Boerne. The store  a hotly debated topic within the city since the 2016 announcement  has been pushed back several years. Its now expected to be complete in 2025, five years later than the original completion target.

But the zoo and Buc-ees werent the only corporate pranksters.

Bill Miller Bar-B-Q kept it much simpler with an Instagram post announcing a line of Fried Chicken and Fries baby food purees for Bill Miller Babies.

If crudely photoshopped fried chicken and fries over a jar was enough to fool you, the company made it abundantly clear in the pictures bottom left corner that it was all in jest.

What will we feed our children now?
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A man who was hit and killed by a white pickup truck while crossing a West Side street was identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office.

David Trevino, 43, was crossing San Antonio's deadliest street, Culebra Road, just east of the Northwest 36th Street intersection early Wednesday, just after midnight.
When Bexar County sheriff's deputies encounter a domestic violence victim, they now can call a "navigation line" to connect the person with a battered women's shelter, counseling or other services.

Civil court judges who issue a protective order against an alleged domestic abuser now can require the person to show proof they don't possess guns. If they do, the judge can order them to hand the weapons over to law enforcement or someone else for safekeeping while the protective order is in effect.

These are two of the accomplishments cited by the city-county commission established to reduce domestic violence in Bexar County.

The commission released its annual progress report this week, detailing what it did in 2022 and what it hopes to accomplish this year.

Created in July 2019, the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence brought together judges, prosecutors, policymakers and leaders in the health care, law enforcement and nonprofit fields to address an alarming spike in domestic violence fatalities.

The year before, at least 33 people had died from domestic violence in Bexar County, many of them women killed by husbands or intimate partners, according to an investigation by the San Antonio Express-News.

How to get help Family Violence Prevention Services offers emergency housing at its Battered Women and Childrens Shelter, as well as transitional housing, counseling and free legal services. You can contact its 24/7 hotline at 210-733-8810. See More Collapse

"The complaints that we heard ... was that the system is often hard to enter, slow to respond to pleas for help, and really ineffective at dealing with the myriad of effects that an ongoing domestic violence relationship can have," state District Court Judge Monique Diaz, co-chair of the commission, said during a meeting about the report on Thursday. "The goal of the CCDV was really to focus on fixing that system."

On ExpressNews.com: How the system fails victims of family violence

Among the accomplishments cited in the progress report:

The Bexar County Sheriff's Office began using the domestic violence navigation line to connect victims with crisis services provided by the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. From October 2021 through December 2022, 1,661 people got help through the line and 538 received case management services, the report states.

The commission helped introduce an evidence-based curriculum on safe relationships in three local schools.

Members of the commission's nonprofit committee trained more than 300 medical students on the dynamics of family violence in an effort to support pregnant and breast-feeding mothers who may be victims of domestic violence. Each year, an estimated 324,000 pregnant people in the United States are battered by their intimate partners, according to a study in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.

Looking ahead, commission members said they hope to expand training of professionals who work with domestic violence victims. They also want to make community-based legal services more available to victims of domestic abuse.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio officials describe wins, challenges in plan to combat domestic violence

"We need to continue to improve and strengthen the system," Diaz said. "There's still a lot of work to do."

Patricia Castillo, co-founder of the P.E.A.C.E Initiative, a nonprofit that helps victims of family violence, said the commission has made a difference.

"There are always going to be kinks here and there, but overall I have seen it improve," said Castillo, a member of the panel. "When we do see those kinks, and people are suffering because of those kinks, then somebody needs to do something about it."
A San Antonio probate judge has extended a court order protecting the historic Luther Hotel in Palacios, giving preservation advocates at least until June 22 to continue rallying support.

Retired Probate Judge Polly Spencer recently extended a temporary restraining order issued by a district judge in Wharton County and set to expire April 4. The 1903 landmark hotel on the upper Coastal Bend is a state historic landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Because of probate issues surrounding a proposal to raze the structure, the case was referred to Spencer, a probate judge in Bexar County from 1990 to 2014 who now is a traveling judge.

READ MORE: Historic seaside hotel could be demolished

"For over a year, there was no legal oversight of the process with the estate. And so I think Judge Spencer is wanting to get all that on track now, said Margaret Doughty, one of the leaders of the Palacios Preservation Association, which is working to save the hotel.

Courtesy Photo / Palacios Preservation Association

A court hearing via Zoom is set for April 14, followed by a June 22 hearing at the Matagorda County Courthouse in Bay City.

Harold Jack Findley, 76, who had owned the hotel since 2005, died June 18, 2020, and the hotels ownership went into probate. Attorneys for the preservation group said Findley told his lawyer to develop a will to preserve and maintain the Luther. But he died before a document was signed.

Findleys 33 known heirs, including a sister in Alabama, have since entered an agreement to sell the property to the Ed Rachal Foundation, a Corpus Christi nonprofit  on the condition the hotel be demolished. The site would be redeveloped as a modern resort.

The old hotel closed last year, and its windows have since been boarded up.

But the hotel hasn't had a thorough engineering study on its structural stability  a key piece of evidence normally afforded landmark structures threatened with demolition. The preservation group has found a Houston businessman from Palacios who is working with investors to buy and preserve the building.

AP

The preservation group will hold a community meeting in Palacios on April 8 to discuss the hotels condition and efforts to save it.

What we need to do is get people to the table talking. Weve said from the beginning we just want to find a win-win solution, Doughty said.

The two-hour meeting, to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the City by the Sea Museum in Palacios, will include comments from Nick Herman, the Houston businessman wanting to buy the hotel; Annie Sauser, an architect and historic preservationist from Baton Rouge, La.; and attorneys working pro bono on the case.

The hotel, designed by noted Danish-born architect Jules Leffland, is said to have once had the longest porch on the Texas coast, overlooking Matagorda Bay. In its heyday, famous entertainers such as Shirley Temple, Rita Hayworth and band leader Harry James performed for soldiers from nearby Camp Hulen, a military training site that operated from 1925 to 1946.

Melinda Miller / Houston Chronicle

Elsie Luther, who co-owned the hotel with her husband, Charles, from 1936 until they died in the late 1980s, was friends with former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was a guest throughout his political career, said Paul Fletcher, who frequently stayed at the hotel in recent years.

RELATED: City panel blocks demolition of landmark 'Laredito' house

The Luther is one of the last original seaside hotels along the Gulf Coast and, until recently, one of about 25 historic Texas hotels still in operation.

The Texas Historical Commission unanimously voted in October to deny a request on the familys behalf to remove the hotels state historic landmark designation. Although that delayed demolition, theres little more the state agency can do to protect the building.

Preservation Texas, a statewide advocacy group, last year listed the hotel as one of the states Most Endangered Places. More than 3,000 people have signed an online petition to save the hotel.
Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 52F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 37F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Muller has announced a 2.5p per litre milk price fall for May, following Arla which unveiled a huge price drop starting from today.

Dairy farmers supplying Muller who meet the conditions of the processor's Advantage scheme will see their milk price fall to 40p per litre from 1 May.

This is a 2.5p per litre decline compared to the month before.

Richard Collins, head of agriculture at Muller Milk & Ingredients, said the news came amid continuing market pressures.

He said: "Millions of people buy our dairy products every day and we remain committed to paying a competitive milk price and ensuring security of supply.

Arla's milk prices have also dropped significantly from today (1 April), as the co-operative announced a huge 5.30p per litre decrease.

The dairy co-op's milk prices have decreased for both conventional and organic milk, to 39.64ppl and 44.42ppl respectively.

Arla warned that the severity of the ongoing cost of living crisis and volatile economic environment was continuing to negatively impact consumer demand for milk.
The world of fashion and automotive have come together to produce the Aygo X Undercover, with the Toyota design team collaborating with Jun Takahashis cult fashion brand UNDERCOVER to produce a ground-breaking limited edition that received its World Premiere at Paris Fashion Week.

Aygo X UNDERCOVER

Toyota have teamed up with fashion brand Undercover to create an Aygo X Special Edition just in time for Paris Fashion Week. This stand-out city car comes with a variety of unique styling elements when it goes on sale in the UK.

Fashion and automotive collaborations are not unusual in the car industry, but by working with designer Jun Takahashi and to be inspired by his creative philosophies of non-conformity and breaking stereotypes is an exciting step away from the norm.

Distinctive all black wheels

Changes on the limited edition Aygo X Undercover include a very unique grey and black two-tone exterior, a solid black finish to the standard-fit 18-inch wheels. Inside there are coral-coloured decals and detailing to the interior, the upholstery is unmistakably Undercover with monogrammed seats and eye-catching patterned floor mats.

Eye-catching patterns on the floor mats

These unique additions join the exclusive models standard equipment list that includes a high-resolution 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system, adaptive cruise control, automatic climate control and wireless phone charging.

Speaking about the collaboration to Toyota Motors Europes head of styling Tadao Mori, he said he wanted this collaboration to bring modern fashion to the automotive, but in a way that remained true to the fashion and didnt compromise, that was why they wanted to work with the UNDERCOVER brand.

Undercovers Jun Takahashi agreed with this, saying his approach was to look at colour and ideas for how to make everyday details more interesting and unexpected. The example they were very proud of was the floor mats that used a combination of material and colours making them not only practical but eye-catching.

The Aygo X UNDERCOVER will be limited to 5,000 units across Europe, with the UK allocation to be confirmed and will go on sale priced at 20,095.

Like all Aygo X models, under the bonnet is a 1-litre naturally aspirated three-cylinder engine that produces 71 bhp (and 72 DIN hp) at a buzzy 6,000rpm and 93Nm of torque. This is connected to a five-speed manual or automatic transmission that then powers the front wheels  theres no all-wheel drive option despite its quasi-crossover styling. Performance is 62mph in 14.9 seconds, but the Aygo X counters with a strong 56.5  58.8 mpg and a 109  110g/km CO2 rating.

About UNDERCOVER Jun Takahashi

UNDERCOVER was founded in 1990 by Jun Takahashi and first became known in the Harajuku underground scene for its unique fusion of art, streetwear, and music subcultures. Later, the brand cultivated synergy with collaborators and found global recognition with high-end fashion in Paris, where it has shown for more than a decade, but has always remained true to the 'rebel' spirit and unique ideology at its core.
Priyanka Chopra recently made some shocking revelations against bullying in Bollywood. The actress's remarks took social media by storm. PeeCee who is currently gearing up for her big release, 'Citadel' said that she was tired of the politics in Bollywood due to which she chose to move to the west.

PeeCee's statement went viral in no time and several celebs including Kangana Ranaut, Vivek Agnihotri, Meera Chopra, Apurva Asrani came to her support. A few including Shekhar Suman even shared their agony. Now, Garam Masala fame, Neetu Chandra has reacted to Priyanka Chopra's comment and said that what happened with Priyanka, happens with everyone in the industry especially when you don't come from a filmy background. She even said that she also faced the same.

NEETU CHANDRA REACTS TO PRIYANKA'S RECENT STATEMENT AGAINST BOLLYWOOD

Neetu was an event when she was asked to share her opinion on Priyanka's statement. A video of Neetu Chandra's reaction was shared by a paparazzi on social media. In the video, the actress can be heard saying, "Ye sabke sath hota hai, it is not like kisi ek ke sath hota hai."

She further added, "You have to fight for opportunities, especially If you don't come from a film family. It takes time to do good work. Priyanka has felt it, I have felt it. A lot of other people have felt it. The point is whether you can come forward and speak about it or not. Like I have said earlier also."

PRIYANKA CHOPRA'S TALKS ABOUT POLITICS IN BOLLYWOOD

During her interview on the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd, the Bajirao Mastani said, "I was not happy with the work I was getting in Bollywood. I will talk about this for the first time because I feel insecure about it. Anjali Acharya of Desi Hits once saw me in a music video and called me.

She further added, "At that time I was shooting for Saat Khoon Maaf. Anjali asked if I would like to make my music career in America. I was looking for an escape from Bollywood at that time. I was looking for some way to get out of here. I was being pushed into a corner in the industry. People were not casting me. I had complaints with people. I am not good at playing those kinds of games. I was tired of politics, and I needed a break."
Must-See OTT Releases: Well, the weekend is here, and OTT platforms are again here with some interesting content for their subscribers. If you are someone who likes enjoying the weekend in the comfort of your home and are thinking about what to watch on OTT platforms, But no stress; we have done the task for you! So, take a note and lay back on your couch, as we have curated an amazing list of films that you can binge watch with your friends, family, and partners. From comedy to suspense, there are a few new releases on various OTT platforms that you can binge this week.

GASLIGHT

The murder mystery thriller helmed by Pavan Kirpalani, starring Sara Ali Khan, Vikrant Massey, and Chitrangda Singh in lead roles, is available for streaming on Disney+ Hotstar as of March 31st. The movie has already received immense praise from critics and moviegoers for its premises.

Avatar: The Way of Water OTT Release: James Cameron's Sci-fi Blockbuster To Stream On This OTT Platforms

MURDER MYSTERY 2

Netflix released the action comedy Murder Mystery 2 on March 31st, directed by Jeremy Garelick and starring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler. Two private detectives are launching their own company, however, their plan lands in trouble when their friend is abducted. What happens next has to be seen in this roller-coaster fun ride movie.

AMIGOS

The Telugu-language action thriller Amigos, starring Nandamuri Kalyan Ram in a triple role, is now available for streaming on Netflix as of April 1st. The engaging movie offers an intense watch.

FARAAZ

Based on a true terrorist attack that shocked Bangladesh's capital city, Dhaka, Hansal Mehta's Faraaz, which stars Zahan Kapoor and Aditya Rawal, was released on Netflix on March 31st. The movie is gut-wrenching and not an easy watch. It contains some heartbreaking moments and excellent performances.

Dasara OTT Release Date & Time: Nani-Keerthy Suresh's Mass Emotional Drama Will Stream On Netflix From...

ALMOST PYAAR WITH DJ MOHABBAT

Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat, directed by Anurag Kashyap and starring Alaya F and newcomer Karan Mehta, can be streamed on Netflix starting March 31st. The movie sheds light on different shades of love and some outstanding performances.
While Rohini Theater's announcement that it rejected children from watching Pathu Thala film on the grounds of UA certificate has been heavily criticized, now another problem has erupted at Chennai Virugambakkam Inox Theatre.

Even though the movie Viduthalai Part 1 released yesterday under the direction of Vetrimaaran is an A certificate film, many fans watched the movie with their children.

In this case, while the police gathered to evict a woman who had seen the film Viduthlai Part 1 with her child at Chennai Virugambakkam Inox theatre, the woman argued with them and created a sensation. People started sharing the video on social media and it goes viral.

The fans continue to boycott Rohini Theater, who refused to accept the explanation given the theatre owners that they denied entry to the tribal people because the children accompanying them were under 12 years of age, even though they had tickets for Simbu's Pathu Thala film. It is important to note that Pathu Thala is an UA certified film.

While Pathu Thala's hero Simbu did not comment on the matter, actress Priya Bhavani Shankar, who acted in the film, registered her condemnation. Also, director Vethimaran, actor Soori, music composer GV Prakash, small screen actress Mahalakshmi and others expressed their condemnation.

A huge controversy erupted at this issue. In this situation, the police's argument with a woman who had watched the A-certified movie Viduthalai Part 1 with her children has erupted into another controversy.

A woman who bought tickets and was watching Vijay Sethupathi and Soori-starrer Viduthalai Part 1 with her children at the Inox Theater in Chennai Virugambakkam was tried by the police to evict saying that children should not watch the film, they cannot allow it, and to go out.

The Woman shouted at police, "18 or what? I know what movie to show my child. This movie has been given an A certificate because of violent scenes. This is not a p*ornographic film. Why my children shouldn't watch Viduthalai film that shows people's pain while allowing them to see other films where some actress dances half-clothed."

The video footage of many in the theater raising their voices in support of the woman is going viral.
Jr NTR, Tollywood's Young Tiger as he is fondly called, has finally joined the sets of his much-hyped film after RRR, NTR 30. The actor shared the update with his fans spread across the world on April 1, on the film's shooting kickstarted. Writer-turned-director Koratala Siva is directing the movie, after delivering a debacle like Acharya. NTR 30 marks the second collaboration of Jr NTR and Koratala after 'Janatha Garage.'

NTR 30 Shoot Begins Photo Credit: Internet

In a short video glimpse of Jr NTR shared on his Twitter handle, the actor can be seen entering the sets as the camera has been recording the same from his behind. In the end, he said 'Vastunna..' which means 'I'm Coming.' In the video, Tarak was seen meeting the director Koratala Siva, as the latter introduces the sets to the actor.

Great to be on sets again with Koratala Siva ! pic.twitter.com/uKNFNtKyZO  Jr NTR (@tarak9999) April 1, 2023

Tarak walked into the elaborately decorated set which, by the looks of it felt like an outdoor celebration area with a drinks counter and fairy lights decorated. The sets were erected at Shamshabad and a couple of heavy action sequences will be shot on them, reportedly. This schedule is going to be an elaborate one and will be shot at night.

Fans are really thrilled and excited after the update dropped on social media. They have started a fan fest on the internet celebrating NTR 30.

According to Koratala Siva, NTR 30 will be beyond fans' imagination. The movie is set in a faraway land in the coastal region where people living on the island do not fear God and death but one person.

Bollywood actress Janhvi Kapoor is making her south debut with this pan-India film in which Saif Ali Khan is playing the antagonist's role.

Anirudh Ravichander is composing the film's music and tunes. R Rathnavelu is working as its cinematographer. Sudhakar Cherukuri and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram are producing the movie under the Yuva Sudha Arts and NTR Arts banners respectively. The movie will hit the screens on April 5, 2024.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2023) - Akwaaba Mining Ltd. (TSXV: AML) ("Akwaaba" or the "Company") is pleased to report that all matters placed before the shareholders at its Extended 2022 Annual General and Special Meeting held on March 31, 2023 were approved.

Number of Directors

Shareholders approved setting the number of Directors at five.

Election of Directors

Allan Green, Randal Gindi, Andreas Marangos, Michael Novak, and Iyad Jarbou were re-elected to the Board of Directors of the Company.

Appointment of Auditors

Davidson & Company LLP was reappointed as auditors of the Company at a remuneration to be fixed by the Directors.

Stock Option Plan

The Stock Option Plan of the Company was re-approved by the shareholders.

Consolidation of Shares

The special resolution for Consolidation of Shares of the Company, at the 20:1 ratio, was approved by the shareholders, subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. If the approval from the TSX Venture Exchange for the Share Consolidation is obtained and the Board decides to implement the Share Consolidation, the Share Consolidation will occur at a time determined by the Board and announced by a press release of the Company.

ABOUT AKWAABA MINING

Akwaaba Mining Ltd. is a Canadian-based junior exploration company focused on advancing greenfields and early stage gold projects.

On behalf of the Board of Akwaaba Mining Ltd.:

"Iyad Jarbou"

Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 604.345.1926

Email: iyad@akwaaba-mining.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



FORWARD-LOOKING AND OTHER CAUTIONARY INFORMATION

This release contains statements that are forward-looking statements and are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/160926
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 1, 2023 / GLG Life Tech Corporation (TSX:GLG) ("GLG" or the "Company"), a global leader in the agricultural and commercial development of high-quality zero-calorie natural sweeteners, announced today that it intends to delay the filing of its annual financial statements, its management discussion and analysis relating to its annual financial statements, its Annual Information Form and CEO and CFO certifications, all in respect of its year ended December 31, 2022 (collectively, the "Required Documents"), beyond the prescribed deadline of March 31, 2023.

During its audit of the Company's annual consolidated financial statements, the Company's auditor, DNTW Toronto LLP, (the "Auditor") identified some unresolved differences before the filing deadline, including the need for certain bank loan confirmations. Given these outstanding items and the need for further audit procedures, the Company has determined that it is unable to complete the Required Documents and submit for timely filing on or before March 31, 2023. The Company is working diligently with the Auditor to resolve the outstanding items and continues to pursue the bank loan confirmations with an expectation of receiving them in the next few days. The Company is fully prepared to facilitate the completion of the audit of the annual consolidated financial statements by the Auditor. Management is confident that the outstanding issues can be resolved in the next few days with an aim of filing by or before April 7, 2023.

Further, with the timing of identification of these issues arising late in the audit process, Management attempted but was no longer able to apply timely for a Management Cease Trade Order pursuant to National Policy 12-203. The Company nevertheless affirms that management and other insiders are subject to a trading black-out policy of the Company that reflects the principles in section 9 of National Policy 11-207.

The Company affirms that it intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines so long as it remains in default of its obligation to file the Required Documents. The Company affirms that there are no insolvency proceedings against it as of the date of this news release. The Company also affirms that there have been no material business developments since the date of the Company's most recent filing of its interim financial reports.

For further information, please contact:

Simon Springett, Investor Relations

Phone: +1 (604) 285-2602 ext. 101

Fax: +1 (604) 285-2606

Email: ir@glglifetech.com

About GLG Life Tech Corporation

GLG Life Tech Corporation is a global leader in the supply of high-purity zero calorie natural sweeteners including stevia and monk fruit extracts used in food and beverages. GLG's vertically integrated operations, which incorporate our Fairness to Farmers program and emphasize sustainability throughout, cover each step in the stevia and monk fruit supply chains including non-GMO seed and seedling breeding, natural propagation, growth and harvest, proprietary extraction and refining, marketing and distribution of the finished products. Additionally, to further meet the varied needs of the food and beverage industry, GLG, through its Naturals+ product line, supplies a host of complementary ingredients reliably sourced through its supplier network in China. For further information, please visit www.glglifetech.com.

Forward-looking statements: This press release may contain certain information that may constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words 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 words and phrases that state or indicate that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward looking statements include statements with respect to the anticipated date of filing of the Required Filings.

While the Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations about future events, the statements are not guarantees of the Company's future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include amongst others the effects of general economic conditions, including the effects of COVID-19, consumer demand for our products and new orders from our customers and distributors, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by government authorities, uncertainties associated with legal proceedings and negotiations, industry supply levels, competitive pricing pressures and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements. Specific reference is made to the risks set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form for the financial year ended December 31, 2021. In light of these factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release might not occur.

Further, although the Company has attempted to identify 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

As 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, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: GLG Life Tech Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/747163/GLG-Life-Tech-Corporation-Announces-Delay-in-Filing-Year-End-Filings
Closing of a First Tranche of Previously Announced Private Placement

Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - April 1, 2023) - E-Power Resources Inc (CSE: EPR) ("E-Power" or the "Company") announces that it has closed a first tranche of the private placement previously announced on March 3, 2023.

An aggregate of 590,000 units (the "Non-FT Units") of the Company were issued in the non-flow-through portion of the private placement at a price of $0.40 per Non-FT Unit for gross proceeds of $236,000, each Non FT Unit being comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"), each Warrant entitling its holder thereof to acquire one additional common share (each a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.60 per Warrant Share for a period of 2 years from the closing date. (the "Non-FT Offering")

Net proceeds from the Non FT Offering will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.

An aggregate of 1,369,600 units (the "FT Units") of the Company were issued in the flow through portion of the private placement at a price of $0.46 per FT Unit for gross proceeds of $630,016, each FT Unit being comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company (each a "FT Share") that will qualify as "flow-through shares" (within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada)), and one Warrant, each Warrant entitling its holder thereof to acquire one Warrant Share at a price of $0.60 per Warrant Share for a period of 2 years from the closing date (the "FT Offering").

Net proceeds from the FT Offering will be used by the Company to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that will qualify as "flow-through mining expenditures", as defined in subsection 127(9) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and under section 359.1 of the Taxation Act (Quebec) (the "Qualifying Expenditures"), related to the Company's Tetepisca Graphite Property, located in the Tetepisca Graphite District of the North Shore Region of Quebec, or the Company' Turgeon Property, located in the Abitibi, on or before December 31, 2024. All Qualifying Expenditures will be renounced in favour of the subscribers to the FT Offering effective December 31, 2023. In addition, with respect to Quebec resident subscribers of FT Shares and who are eligible individuals under the Taxation Act (Quebec), the Canadian exploration expenses will also qualify for inclusion in the "exploration base relating to certain Quebec exploration expenses" within the meaning of section 726.4.10 of the Taxation Act (Quebec) and for inclusion in the "exploration base relating to certain Quebec surface mining expenses or oil and gas exploration expenses" within the meaning of section 726.4.17.2 of the Taxation Act (Quebec).

No Insiders of the Company participated in this private placement. The Company may close further tranches of both the Non-FT Offering and of the FT Offering, up to the maximum amounts referred to in its prior press release dated March 3, 2023, which announced the private placement.

The Company paid finders' fee to two different entities, Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. and Red Cloud Financial Services Inc., which respectively received a cash commission of $16,100 and $28,001.12. In addition, Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. received 35,000 broker warrants and Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. received 60,872 warrants, with each warrant entitling its holder thereof to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.60 and expiring on March 31, 2025.

The securities offered pursuant to the Non-FT Offering and the FT Offering have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.

About E-Power Resources Inc.

E-Power Resources Inc. is an exploration stage company engaged principally in the acquisition, exploration, and development of graphite properties in Quebec. Its flagship asset, the Tetepisca Graphite Property, is located in the Tetepisca Graphite District of the North Shore Region of Quebec, approximately 215 kilometers from the Port of Baie-Comeau. For further information, please refer to the Company's disclosure record on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or contact the Company by email at info@e-powerresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

James Cross

President & CEO

+1 (438) 701-3736

info@e-powerresources.com

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance are "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on information currently available to it. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities, which may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/160941
Hostomel: The gigantic twin tail fins, once stretching as high as a six-storey building, are gone.

So are the tailplane, flaps, hydraulic systems, fuel pumps and three of six engines of the plane, which was destroyed in fighting in the first days of the war.

Piece by piece, workers are now dismantling the wreckage of the gigantic Mriya cargo plane, the heaviest airplane ever flown, with plans to build a new one with salvaged parts. The restoration of the plane, whose name in Ukrainian means The Dream, has begun.

With the war still raging, the immense job of rebuilding Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of homes, hospitals, schools and bridges are blown up, still seems a distant prospect.

Also read: Mourning the Mriya: Whats left of the worlds largest plane destroyed by Russia?

Measured against those daunting challenges, the work on the new plane is hardly a top priority from a humanitarian point of view. But it is meant in part as an inspiration, according to executives at the aircraft company that owns it, Antonov.

If something as gargantuan and complex as this airplane can be restored, they say, so can the rest of the country.

People should have hope, said Vladyslav Valsyk, deputy director and chief engineer of Antonov, a state-owned company. They have to know this plane is not abandoned. Yes, there is a lot of work to do, but we are working.

But critics say that devoting money and energy to rebuilding the plane would be a misplaced priority.

Valery Romanenko, an aviation analyst, has said to Ukrainian media that Antonov should focus only on doing something urgent for the armed forces during the war, such as making drones. There are just no words, he said of the plan to build a new Mriya.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced last May that Ukraine would rebuild the Mriya, the only one of its kind ever completed. Over the summer, British entrepreneur and aviation enthusiast Richard Branson visited the wreckage and expressed excitement about helping in its restoration, when the time came.

The company last week announced the start of the salvage operation and design work but said piecing together the new craft will wait until after the war.

Workers are unbolting what they can from the soot-smeared wreckage and engineers are drafting plans to use these rescued parts, along with spare parts, engines from a similar aircraft and a long-mothballed extra fuselage  to build a new airplane, company executives say. The project is expected to cost about $500 million (Rs 4,115 crore), and financing has yet to be lined up.

But the company said the lengthy lead time to get the plane in the air again means it cannot wait to begin planning and collecting parts. Antonov said it is in talks with European, American and Asian aviation companies, and with potential customers for future cargo flights.

The plane, built in Kyiv in the 1980s and extensively overhauled after the country won independence from the Soviet Union, has long been Ukraines pride.

Also read: How Ukraine is planning to rebuild the worlds largest plane

Designated AN-225, it was bigger than any other in the sky, with a wingspan of 290 feet and a maximum takeoff weight of a staggering 1.4 million (Rs 14.21 crore).

It was made to carry the Buran, the orbiter in the short-lived Soviet space shuttle program. Later, its bulbous, almost cartoonishly rotund body carried unwieldy industrial objects like wind turbine blades or locomotives, and pleased crowds at air shows.

Even as the first steps toward the planes restoration are taken, police are investigating the circumstances of its destruction.

The evening before Russia invaded, a crew had the plane prepared to fly to safety outside Ukraine, Maksym Sanotskyi, the companys deputy director for transport, said in an interview. Takeoff was scheduled for the following afternoon. But time ran out.

Russian troops crossed the border in the pre-dawn and Russian special forces swooped into the Hostomel airport, the base for the Mriya, with a helicopter assault. In the ensuing battles over the airport, just outside Kyiv, the plane was sprayed with shrapnel and caught fire.

Last week, alongside the companys announcement of progress on restoring the craft, police announced the arrest of several former executives of the Antonov company on suspicion of obstructing the work of the military in securing the Hostomel airport in the days before the invasion.

In a statement, prosecutors said the company had not allowed the Ukrainian national guard to build defensive positions at the airport, for reasons that remain unclear, leading to the destruction of the Mriya. Valsyk said he could not comment on the investigation.

The airplane, of course, is not at the top of Ukraines long list of priorities for rebuilding after a year of the most destructive war in Europe since World War II.

Hardly a city is left untouched by missile or artillery strikes, and millions of Ukrainians are displaced or living in towns without running water or electricity.

Antonov says the airplane has commercial potential. When it is chartered by companies in the energy industry, for example, to haul huge pieces of equipment around the world, the hourly cost is about $32,000 (Rs 26.33 lakh).

The company also said the plane is priceless as a symbol of Ukraine.

But a former engineer at Antonov, Anatoly Vovnyanko, has told Ukrainian media he doesnt believe the company will ever recoup its outlays through commercial charters. No one needs it, this Mriya, Vovnyanko said. The money will never be recovered.

Even the planes main appeal, its gigantism, has drawn criticism as a holdover of Soviet mentality that Ukraine has no need for today.

The Soviets built the worlds largest locomotive, bulldozer, sugar factory, iron smelter and so on, one critic, Serhiy Marchenko, wrote on Facebook. All these greatest things have one thing in common: senselessness.

He called the public relations efforts around the restoration an affront to people who lost their homes in the war.

Many challenges remain. While the Mriya shares parts in common with another Ukrainian-made cargo plane, the Ruslan, some parts will have to be custom made. Half a dozen Ruslan planes are still flying from a base in Germany.

On the positive side, the company has a complete fuselage for a Mriya plane in storage, left over from an abandoned plan to build a second cargo giant. Salvaged and new parts can be fitted to this fuselage.

So far, three of six jet engines, flaps, parts of the hydraulic systems, some of the landing gear and fuel pumps and the tail assembly have been salvaged, Sanotskyi said. Certifying the new plane as airworthy with European and American regulators will be a challenge, he conceded.

Valentyn Kostiyanov, 68, a technician who worked on the Mriya when it was built in the 1980s, was examining the tangles of wires and hydraulic lines deep inside the wreckage one day last week, searching for possibly flight-worthy parts.

It was burned so cruelly, he said.

The plane, now propped up on jacks, creaks in the wind and strips of insulation flutter from holes in the fuselage. Wires dangle from the wings. So much time we put into it, thousands of hours, for years we were building it, Kostiyanov said, only to see it destroyed in the Russian invasion.

He has no second thoughts about the decision to try to make the plane fit for flying again.

Ask anyone in Ukraine, he said. Even a two-year-old child will tell you to rebuild the Mriya.

Andrew E. Kramer, c.2023 The New York Times Company

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America and Italy are at loggerheads  over a classic pasta dish.

Italians are upset after an expert stated that carbonara  a dish typical of Rome and its surrounding Lazio region made with eggs, pork cheek (guanciale), pecorino cheese and pepper  is actually American.

Adding spice to the row is the fact that the controversy comes just days after Rome attempted to have Italian cuisine added to the UNESCO list of cultural heritage.

Lets take a closer look at the food fight:

What happened?

Food expert Alberto Grandi created a stir by claiming that some of Italys most famous recipes have a very brief history.

Grandi, a food historian at the University of Parma, wrote in La Repubblica that the value and history of Italian cuisine were surrounded by misunderstandings.

Grandi, in an article in the Financial Times entitled Everything I, an Italian, thought I knew about Italian food is wrong said the dish actually came from Americans who were in Italy after the Second World War.

Italian cuisine really is more American than it is Italian, Grandi claimed.

Maybe once a year we ate amatriciana [a tomato-based recipe with bacon], when we could afford to kill a pig. But Id never heard of Carbonara before the war, he told the newspaper.

The first recipe that was publicised is from 1953 in Chicago. Many Italians went to America, so practically all the cooking  all the Italian kitchen is Italo-American,  Grandi was quoted as saying by Euronews.

Many Italian classics from panettone to tiramisu are relatively recent inventions, he further added.

For my father in the 1970s, pizza was just as exotic as sushi is for us today, he told the newspaper.

Yahoo quoted Italys national farmers association Coldiretti as saying Grandi had launched a surreal attack on the iconic dishes of Italian cuisine.

On the basis of imaginative reconstructions, the most deeply rooted national culinary traditions are disputed, the association said.

In essence, [he claims] the Americans have invented carbonara, and panettone and tiramisu are recent commercial products. Above all, [the interview] goes so far as to hypothesise about parmesan and the one produced in Wisconsin in the US  the homeland of fake made in Italy cheeses.

Deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini added experts and newspapers are envious of our tastes and beauty.

But Grandi remained undeterred.

The Evening Standard quoted Grandi as saying the row was a nationalistic controversy and that some had even alleged that he was part of an anti-Italian conspiracy.

I dont understand why many attack me, Grandi said.

I dont question the quality of Italian food or products, I reconstruct the history of these dishes in a historical and philologically correct way. With my studies I have shown that many preparations derive from the last 50 to 60 years of history and from interactions with the American culture.

This isnt the first time the dish has caused controversy.

In 2021, the Smoky Tomato Carbonara recipe in The New York Times cooking supplement, which included tomatoes and replaced pork cheek and pecorino with bacon and parmesan, led to a furore in Italy.

Coldiretti at the time called the US recipe a disturbing knockoff of the prestigious dish from Italian popular tradition, and complained that carbonara was one of the most disfigured Italian recipes.

With inputs from agencies

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Using ChatGPT is all the rage these days, but not in Italy  at least for now.

The countrys privacy watchdog has temporarily banned the popular artificial intelligence (AI) software over data privacy concerns.

Italian Data Protection Authority said on Friday (31 March) it would block and investigate OpenAI, the US start-up that developed ChatGPT, with immediate effect, reported BBC.

The announcement has made Italy the first Western country to curb advanced chatbot ChatGPT, which is backed by Microsoft.

Lets take a closer look at the reasons behind the ban.

Italy bars ChatGPT

The Italian Data Protection Authority said it was taking a provisional measure until ChatGPT respects privacy, including imposing an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of Italian users data.

Listing out its reasons for the move, the Italian watchdog said OpenAI had no legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data to train the chatbot, reported Reuters.

It also accused ChatGPTs maker of failing to determine the age of the chatbots users who should be 13 or above.

The agency, also known as Garante, said that a lack of age verification exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness, even though the service is allegedly addressed to users aged above 13 according to OpenAIs terms of service, reported The Guardian.

Moreover, it also pointed out the data breach suffered by the chatbot on 20 March, which had exposed some users conversations and personal details such as email addresses and the last four figures of their credit cards.

OpenAI had taken ChatGPT offline at the time, saying a bug needed to be fixed.

It also issued an apology and said it would work diligently to rebuild trust.

Our investigation has also found that 1.2 per cent of ChatGPT Plus users might have had personal data revealed to another user, the San Francisco-based company said at the time, as per Deutsche Welle (DW).

We believe the number of users whose data was actually revealed to someone else is extremely low and we have contacted those who might be impacted, it added.

Furthermore, the Italian watchdog also cited ChatGPTs tendency to furnish inaccurate replies, saying the information made available by ChatGPT does not always match factual circumstances, so that inaccurate personal data are processed, reported The Guardian.

ALSO READ: Why is Italy planning to ban lab-grown food?

ChatGPT no longer available for Italian users

Following the governments request, OpenAI announced late Friday night it has disabled ChatGPT in Italy.

The company said its practices are in line with European privacy laws, adding it intends to make the AI chatbot available soon for Italian users, reported Associated Press (AP).

Alp Toker, director of the advocacy group NetBlocks, which monitors internet access worldwide, told AP that Italys move is the first nation-scale restriction of a mainstream AI platform by a democracy.

The Italian watchdog also directed OpenAI to report within 20 days on the measures the company has taken to ensure the privacy of users data or risk a fine of up to either 20 million euros (around $22 million) or four per cent of its annual global revenue.

In its response, OpenAI said that it works to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals, reported AP.

We also believe that AI regulation is necessary  so we look forward to working closely with the Garante and educating them on how our systems are built and used, it added.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump arrested? Vladimir Putin in jail? How deepfakes are spreading misinformation online

ChatGPT and its controversies

ChatGPT has become widely popular since its launch in November 2022, gathering millions of users in just four months. The chatbot can imitate human writing styles, and even write computer code  despite having no technical knowledge.

It has been used by users to create poems, essays and summaries of lengthy documents.

We have trained a model called ChatGPT, which interacts in a conversational way, OpenAI said about its chatbot earlier.

The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests.

Being able to effortlessly string together cloud services to do complex tasks is an underrated use case. pic.twitter.com/9znYBUgEER  Amjad Masad  (@amasad) November 30, 2022

However, ChatGPT can also lift misinformation and present it as fact. There are also concerns about such AI systems eventually posing a threat to jobs as well as propagating misinformation and bias.

Some public schools and universities across the world have blocked the chatbot over plagiarism concerns.

ChatGPT is already blocked in China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, noted BBC.

Earlier this week, more than 1,000 artificial intelligence experts, researchers and other key figures in tech, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, called for a pause on the development of giant AIs for at least six months in the wake of concerns that the race to develop such AI systems was creating ever more powerful digital minds that no one  not even their creators  can understand, predict, or reliably control.

With inputs from agencies

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Vogue has set the internet on fire and how! If you come across the April issue of Vogue Philippines, you will find Apo Whang-Od, a 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines, gracing the cover of the fashion and lifestyle magazine.

With this, the mambabatok, or traditional Kalinga tattoo artist, has become the oldest person ever to appear as Vogues cover model.

Earlier this record was held by actress Judi Dench, who featured as the cover model for British Vogue in 2020, at the age of 85.

Lets take a closer look at the centenarian and her barrier-breaking life.

Meet Vogues oldest cover model

Whang-Od, also known as Maria Oggay, is a celebrated Filipina artist, popular for her hand-tapping 1,000-year-old traditional tattoo technique  batok.

She makes these hand-tapped tattoos using a bamboo stick with a thorn attached on one end, water and coal.

Hailing from Buscalan, a mountain village about 15 hours north of Manila, in Kalinga province, she is considered the Philippines oldest and the last of her generations mambabatok, reported CNN.

Whang-Od learnt to create hand-tapping tattoos from her father at 16 years of age, as per Vogue Philippines.

At the time, she was the only woman to practice batok as the artwork was reserved for the male members of her tribe, as per The National News.

She is the first and only female mambabatok of her time.

Sharing the April cover, Vogue Philippines wrote in a tweet on Thursday (30 March): Apo Maria Whang-Od Oggay symbolizes the strength and beauty of the Filipino spirit.

Heralded as the last mambabatok of her generation, she has imprinted the symbols of the Kalinga tribe  signifying strength bravery, and beauty  on the skin of thousands of people who have made the pilgrimage to Buscalan.

Apo Maria Whang-Od Oggay symbolizes the strength and beauty of the Filipino spirit. Heralded as the last mambabatok of her generation, she has imprinted the symbols of the Kalinga tribe signifying strength, bravery & beauty on the skin. Read more on https://t.co/2F1mJ5iQWG. pic.twitter.com/urVcA3g2Ek  Vogue Philippines (@vogueph) March 30, 2023

According to a Yahoo Life article, it is believed that batok art form is a way for the Kalinga tribe to share stories and knowledge gained from their ancestors.

The tribe considers that the tattoos offer protection from evil spirits and people believe the markings follow them to the afterlife, the article added.

ALSO READ: Why female editors at the top 3 global business newspapers matter

Training the next tattoo masters

Being a mambabatok, Whang-Od can only pass down the art to her blood relatives.

She has been training her grandnieces Elyang Wigan and Grace Palicas for years to keep the craft alive.

(My friends who gave tattoos) have all passed away, Whang-Od told CNN Travel in 2017.

Im the only one left alive thats still giving tattoos. But Im not afraid that the tradition will end because (Im training) the next tattoo masters.

The tradition will continue as long as people keep coming to get tattoos, the master tattoo artist said then.

Whang-Od also said would pursue the art till she can see well. Ill stop once my vision gets blurry.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vogue Philippines (@voguephilippines)

While she does not make intricate tattoos anymore, she signs off with three dots after her apprentices complete their work.

Palicas and her cousin Elyang have now taken over the work tradition and their clientele includes hundreds of tourists that visit their village every day, as per The National News.

When visitors come from far away, Whang-Od told the fashion magazine in her Butbut language, I will give them the tatak Buscalan, tatak Kalinga for as long as my eyes can see.

The 106-year-olds signature three dots representing herself, Grace and Elyang are also ellipses, signifying an open-endedness and a continuation that extends beyond its origins, The National News reported citing Vogue Philippines.

As per Vogue, Whang-Od has inspired a new generation of artists practising batok in the Philippines and the United States.

Vogue Philippines editor-in-chief Bea Valdes said the decision to have Whang-Od as the cover model for this months magazine was unanimously taken by the staff, reported CNN. We felt she represented our ideals of what is beautiful about our Filipino culture.

We believe that the concept of beauty needs to evolve, and include diverse and inclusive faces and forms. What we hope to speak about is the beauty of humanity, Valdes added.

Artu Nepomuceno, the photographer who took the iconic photo for the magazine, shared a message of gratitude on Instagram outlining the response he received for the cover, saying the love is incredible and humbling.

We celebrate this month with beauty, he said in his post. We celebrate the beauty of time, the beauty of family, the beauty of love, the beauty of our elders, and the beauty of being FilipinoYour celebration of this beautiful soul means more to me than I can ever grasp.

With inputs from agencies

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Under pressure from the US government, TikTok is now facing the music with the possibility of a nationwide ban if it defies a government order to sell to an American company  unless the popular social media app can convince a high-powered panel that its data security restructuring plan sufficiently guards against national security concerns.

At the heart of this social media business and national security drama is the increasingly tense relations between the US and China.

The video-sharing platform with 150 million US users is best known for quick snippets of viral dance routines and has been under scrutiny for years by federal authorities who say that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, could share sensitive user data with the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.

Having already banned the shipment of certain technologies to China, and recently passing new legislation banning the app on government devices, lawmakers want to pursue a nationwide ban on the app if the tech firm cant be sold to an American buyer.

Enter: The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The little-known but potentially potent government agency known as CFIUS is tasked with investigating corporate deals for national security concerns and holds power to force the company to change.

Why is CFIUS scrutinising TikTok?

For at least two years, the US government has tried to force TikTok ownership to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, though CFIUS review of the social media app goes back at least to 2019.

Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed in 2020 that CFIUS was reviewing whether then-President Donald Trump could ban TikTok in the US. Its members agreed that TikTok cannot operate in the US in its current form because it risks sending back information on 100 million Americans, Mnuchin said at the time.

As geopolitical tensions between China and the US have soared in recent months, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified last week before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He was grilled about online safety and user privacy in a hostile hearing that did little to ease lawmakers concerns. Chew was repeatedly questioned about the Chinese Communist Partys influence on ByteDance but deflected.

TikTok is not available in mainland China, and today were headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, but Im not saying that the founders of ByteDance are not Chinese, nor am I saying that we dont make use of Chinese employees, just like many other companies around the world, he added. We do use their expertise on some engineering projects.

ALSO READ: A defence company in Norway is unable to make ammunition. Why is it blaming TikToks cat videos for it?

What is CFIUS?

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen oversees CFIUS, a committee made up of members from the State, Justice, Energy and Commerce Departments among others, which investigates national security risks from foreign investments in American firms.

The committee screens business deals between US firms and foreign investors and can block sales or force parties to change the terms of an agreement for the purpose of protecting national security.

The committees powers were significantly expanded in 2018 through an act of Congress called the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act, known as FIRRMA.

In September, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that expands the factors that the committee should consider when reviewing deals  such as how the deal impacts the US supply chain or risks to Americans sensitive personal data.

Sell, ban or oracle?

Defying CFIUS orders to sell ultimately could mean doing business with the company may violate the law. That would suck the life out of its business operations, such as banking, payroll, advertising, and app store services.

But the company said its already mitigating national security concerns with a $1.5 billion mitigation plan called Project Texas that would route all US user data to servers owned and maintained by the US software giant Oracle.

When that process is complete, all protected US data will be under the protection of US law and under the control of the US-led security team. Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or compel access to it, Chew said.

While CFIUS can adopt such mitigation agreements, its not clear if the committee will accept TikToks proposed alternative, said Anupam Chander, a Georgetown University technology law professor. If CFIUS rejects TikToks preferred solution, Chander said the federal agency should have an obligation to explain how it finds that plan to be insufficient given that it amounts to an enormous restructuring of the company.

TikTok proposes lots of well-paid, third-party auditors that would be doing this kind of routine monitoring, Chander said.

This is an expensive proposition for TikTok but by no means would I treat this as window dressing.

Though Chew last week also insisted that the company was not interested in a sale, TikTok has considered it before. TikTok had advanced negotiations with Microsoft after the company was put against the wall by the Trump administration in 2020, facing either an outright ban and CFIUS divestment order.

Microsoft said TikTok ultimately rejected their offer, and though TikTok later said it would sell to Oracle and Walmart, it doesnt appear that Project Texas amounts to a sale, Chander said.

Should TikTok agree to a sale in the future, not only would CFIUS have to approve that transaction, but the Chinese government  which has said it wont support forced divestment  could also intervene.

ALSO READ: US to move forward with TikTok bill, says House of Representatives speaker

Whats next?

Leaders in the US, European Union, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Taiwan have also banned TikTok on government-issued devices and at least two countries have banned TikTok outright.

Afghanistans Taliban leadership last year banned it on the grounds of protecting young people from being misled, while India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens.

Historically, CFIUS has focused on things like shipping and manufacturing when reviewing transactions for national security concerns, but it signaled deeper interest in popular social media when it ordered the dating app Grindr to divest in 2019, Chander said.

The function of CFIUS was also in the spotlight last year after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter, plunging the microblogging platform into chaos. Yellen waffled on whether or not CFIUS would or could review that sale, given Musks investments in China as well as significant Saudi interest.

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On Monday, the US State Department spokesperson at a regular press briefing said that America is closely watching the court case of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and proceeded to impart a mini lecture on the respect for rule of law, judicial independence and freedom of expression. Vedant Patel, the spokesperson, said that we engage with the Government of India on our shared commitment to democratic values and in our engagements we continue to highlight the importance of democratic principles and the protection of human rights.

Shorn of diplomatese, Washington was telling New Delhi that the Rahul Gandhi case is a litmus test for Indias democracy and independence of its institutions, and India should uphold the rules and principles that have been set for democracies around the world. A few days later German foreign ministry issued a statement that was similar in nature but more abrasive in tone.

The implication being that Indias diplomatic credentials are subject to validation from US-led western liberal democracies in perpetuity. The rules and principles in question are mostly set by the US, with an inbuilt understanding that Washington reserves the right to amend and bend these rules without facing any moral opprobrium.

Take the Rahul Gandhi case that has been under scrutiny. The Congress leader was convicted and sentenced to two years of prison by Indias independent judiciary in a defamation case. The court in Gujarat promptly granted him a bail, suspended the sentence for 30 days and allowed him to appeal the verdict in a higher court.

Gandhi and the battery of lawyers at his disposal are free to move higher courts and either stay or overturn the verdict.

Once the sentence has been announced, however, in accord with The Representation of the People Act, 1951, the law that governs elections in India, any lawmaker who has been sentenced to two years in prison stands immediately disqualified from Parliament. It is the rule of law, a fact acknowledged by a Congress leader who is also an eminent lawyer. The facts of this case have largely been misrepresented in western media, with certain publications calling Gandhis automatic disqualification an expulsion and implying that the BJP-led government at the Center had taken the unlawful step  in reality a judicial verdict delivered by an independent court which triggered a law that has already seen multiple lawmakers getting disqualified  as an act of vengeance to end the political threat posed by Gandhi to the BJP.

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Indian politics would know how ridiculous this argument is.

Gandhis disqualification actually harms the BJP. Under his leadership, Congress has crashed to abysmal lows in consecutive general elections. The grand old party has almost been wiped out from national stage. It is fighting to stay relevant and jostling with regional parties for influence, many of whom do not want a Gandhi-led Congress to take centrestage in the battle against BJP.

The uninspirational Gandhi has lost his Parliamentary seat in the family bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the last general elections, and remained an MP only because he simultaneously chose to contest from a safe seat in Wayanad, Kerala.

In response, US lawmaker Ro Khanna, a Democrat, has in all seriousness called for prime minister Narendra Modi to interfere in the verdict delivered by Indias judiciary and reverse the decision for the sake of Indian democracy. US State Departments reaction on Monday adds to the worrying narrative emanating from the US.

Now, consider the developments on Friday in the US regarding the Donald Trump case. Trump, a Republican, is the first US president in history to face criminal charges. He has been indicted for paying hush money in 2016 to an adult movie star. The indictment has been carried out by Manhattan district attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg, a member of the Democratic Party who was elected in 2021. DAs in America are elected officials.

The case against Trump stands ostensibly on the argument that he falsified internal business records to conceal the hush-money payment. It is so flimsy that even staunch Trump critics sound hesitant about the indictment. Republican Party members have unified in favour of Trump, who plans to run for the presidential elections again in 2024, and have called the Democrat prosecutors action a weaponization of the American legal system for political ends, an egregious abuse of authority that will erode American peoples faith in the judicial system.

Unlike Gandhi, who is a proven political dud, Trump is a former US president, commands a huge, dedicated voter base and is expected to win the Republican primaries and challenge Biden for presidency. Rating agencies see approval rates going neck-to-neck between Trump and Biden at this stage.

All this calls into question whether an elected official of the Democratic party, who is also a prosecutor, is trying to nail the former president through trumped up charges and finish him as a political threat. It turns out that billionaire activist-investor George Soros, who is a stated critic of Trump, has funded Braggs campaign.

Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, said on Twitter that the Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent.

In other words, the charge that the Biden administration is implying against India, applies much more explicitly and accurately to itself. Trumps indictment is being widely seen as a political witch-hunt led by a rogue, left-wing, radical prosecutor  in the words of a Republican lawmaker  that could end up being an indictment of Americas criminal justice system as well. Under these circumstances, Indias ministry of external affairs should take note of the backsliding of democratic norms in the US and the worrying erosion of judicial independence, and express its concerns through public channels. As the worlds largest democracy, India should also work actively as the rule keeper, not just a rule-taker.

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The United States, which is the fulcrum of Western civilisation, and Germany, which is the major player in the European world, came up with foolish assertions that they are watching the developments on Rahul Gandhi without realising that they are not helping his cause, but ending up creating a villain out of him.

Saying that one is watching the developments has got no meaning since every country watches the developments in other countries. That is why every important country has its representatives all across the world as envoys. For example, India must be watching keenly the way the US administration is treating its former President Donald Trump. India can also talk a lot about the failure of the US to resolve the racial issue. But when you assert that you are watching the development, it has a different connotation. It means the country either thinks itself to be a policeman or it suffers from a superiority complex. And this happens when there is a conflict between your understanding and practice of democracy. The US, the Western world and Europe have been in high praise of Indian democracy. The way people come out and vote, the way democratic institutions have become strong and trustworthy in India has been the topic of debate.

Why then discordant note on the issue of Rahul Gandhi? Is Rahul Gandhi for them bigger than Indian democracy? This creates doubt in the mind of an average Indian. If these countries value Indian democracy, they would know that the people of this country do not like Rahul Gandhi or his politics and they have voted for Narendra Modi as the symbol of hope. India does not have a dictatorship that the ruling establishment can treat it the way it wants. Even elected governments have restrictions. There is the press and the judiciary.

To see Rahuls present situation, as an outcome of political rivalry by the ruling establishment, is a travesty of matured understanding. Rahul may cry foul but those who understand the Indian justice system would say for sure that this has been his own doing. First, you cannot give a communal slur for an entire community. Rahul had the option of clarifying that he did not mean that. He was defiant because of his hatred for the Modi surname and wanted punishment rather than saying sorry.

Even after the punishment, he had the option to go for appeal. Rather than enacting a drama over the situation, he should have opted for a legal battle. It appears he sensed a great opportunity in projecting himself as a victim. But he forgot that judicial orders cannot be assigned political motives. While some of his well-wishers in foreign lands may buy this, people in this country are far more mature. Every issue is debated at roadside tea stalls or chaupal in Indian villages.

Why did the US jump the gun? US Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, at his maiden press conference, said: Respect for rule of law & judicial independence is a cornerstone of any democracy. Were watching Mr Gandhis case in the Indian court and we engage with the Indian government on a shared commitment to democratic values including freedom of expression. In our engagements with our Indian partners, we continue to highlight the importance of democratic principles and the protection of human rights including freedom of expression as a key to strengthening both our democracies engaging with the government of India.

Two days later, Germany, too, joins in. The German government said: We have taken note of the verdict of the first instance against the Indian Opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as well as the suspension of his parliamentary mandate. To our knowledge, Rahul Gandhi is in a position to appeal the verdict. The appeal will show whether the verdict stands and whether suspension has a basis. We expect standards of judicial independence and democratic principles to be applied.

The prime question in everyones mind will be why the same hue and cry or such observations were not made when other legislators were disqualified in a similar fashion when they were convicted for an offence for two years. Rahul Gandhi had upheld the validity of this process of disqualification and tore the ordinance that the UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh sought to bring, to nullify the provision enunciated by the Supreme Court.

The BJP has rightly slammed the Congress for seeking foreign intervention. The representatives of the Modi government have rightly objected to such statements by foreign countries and the fact that this government would not tolerate any interference from anyone in its internal affairs.

Despite pitfalls, the judicial process in the country has acquired immense respectability. What the US and Germany have demonstrated is their lack of understanding and appreciation of the functioning of Indian democracy. Rahul Gandhi cannot be given special status just because he belongs to a political family. Such statements would put a question mark on the intentions of these countries.

As far as the Congress is concerned, it should figure out why Rahul Gandhi should not be compared with Mir Zafar who invited a foreign power, i.e. the British, to fight internal power struggles. The loss of Indians at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 led to the establishment of the British Empire in India. Rahul has given an opportunity to these foreign countries to poke India through their irresponsible statements.

The writer is the convener of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book Narendra Modi: The Game Changer. The views expressed are personal.

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The role of the Armed Forces to support Indias foreign policy has been very clear, but how can Indian diplomacy better integrate the military into policy making. The global standing and politics is still more about military power, and less about rules-based international order.

Like with the big village bully, the other nations have to adjust and accommodate the more powerful. The military power does flow from economic and technological capabilities. Effectively the military power strengthens the diplomatic positions. The US has been able to call the shots globally because of its military presence and power. How does India manage its defence diplomacy and connect the dots needs to be understood.

The military-to-military contacts are at various levels, including senior level visit exchanges, arms sales and purchases, military equipment training, joint military exercises, training staff courses, and exchange of strategic and tactical appreciation literature. Defence wings in the embassies play a huge role in facilitating all these activities.

Also, military exercises are used for politico-diplomatic messaging and muscle-flexing. The United States had mastered this military diplomacy. Now China is trying to replicate some of it. India is engaged in large-scale exercises with all major militaries including, USA, Russia, UK, France, Australia, Japan, and many more.

In many countries, such as Pakistan, the armed forces are literally running the country. In such countries the military is directly involved in diplomacy. The US government has often preferred dictators, military Generals, or subservient Monarchs to deal with. The Pakistan Army has also been offering security to some rulers in West Asia.

India has a very powerful military. It is a nuclear weapons power with a credible missile program. A key element of being a net security provider is the ability to launch Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the region.

Indian armed forces played a globally acclaimed role during 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2015 Nepal earthquake, the 2020 floods in Madagascar, Covid-19 pandemic medical-relief operations, and the recent earthquake in Turkey.

Indian armed forces not only defend the borders but have made foreign interventions in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives on the request of local people and governments. Clearly the military has the means to advance foreign policy interests. Unfortunately, the Indian military has not been involved sufficiently in foreign policy or senior officers positioned at such posts that may influence policy. If we have great power ambitions, then this needs to change. A more visible military participation will be desired. This surely calls for better civil-military integration, and closer coordination between Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

As India inches towards becoming a significant arms exporter, then this will also become a part of military diplomacy. India has already been selling helicopters, small-arms and guns, and now on offer are the LCA aircraft, BrahMos missiles, and much more. With a target to increase arms exports to $5 billion by 2025, India has intensified its efforts to sell weapons in Southeast Asia and Africa. The Philippines became the first country in the world to procure the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile batteries. Indonesia is likely to be the next. Bahrain has evinced interest in buying the new upgraded and more lethal Arjun Mark 2 tanks from India. This all will support defence diplomacy.

Also Indias arms assistance to some of the neighbours like Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Maldives to build their military capability by donating and transferring equipment, including aircraft, helicopter, radars, naval vessels, is part of the military diplomacy and increasing dependency.

Training foreign military personnel at Indian military academies and training institutions helps build military-to-military links, and often long-term beneficial friendships. This alumni contact currently has security restrictions, but actually this needs to be encouraged.

India must also increase its military training teams abroad, as this instructor-pupil relationship greatly increases defence diplomacy. Currently the number of visits abroad of military staff level delegations is low. Even visits by service chiefs are far and few. This must go up.

The 2+2 Ministerial level meetings involving defence and foreign affairs ministers are taking place with an increasing number of countries, and at more frequent intervals. This is also helping improve inter-ministerial coordination within India. There are military-to-military talks, exchange of visits, and many retired military officers are part of Think tanks or are involved in back-channel Track-2 discussions. Also, most military training institutions have exchange visits.

Indian armed forces are now engaged in military exercises with many more countries for better understanding and interoperability. Joint exercises promote diplomacy, in addition to building operational skills, interoperability, ability and readiness for power projection, and political signalling. Milan and Malabar exercises test out protection of Indias own territories and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but also ability to be able to deliver military aid quickly to neighbours and allies. India has intensified collaboration with many Southeast Asian states.

Defence diplomacy is a critical part of Indias relations in West Asia. India has conducted back-to-back joint military exercises with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and Oman among others. India has increasingly leveraged its defence forces to shape regional diplomacy.

With military foundational logistics agreements with many countries, transit of aircraft and ships has become smoother. India has been offering IAF airfields and air space for foreign air forces like Singapore to come and train. More countries are now offering Indian armed forces their military facilities (ports and airfields) for regular use or transit. Muscat and Duqm port in Oman, an airbase in Tajikistan, radar facility in Madagascar, facilities on Agalega Island, Madagascar, and also in Seychelles, are among some.

Indian Armys close links with Nepalese army, major joint events to mark 50-years of Bangladesh liberation, all supported military diplomacy. India is one of the major contributors of troops and military hardware for UN peacekeeping operations, especially in Africa. Our personnel have won the hearts of local populations through their neutrality and honest support.

Military officers play a major role in defence wings of Indian embassies abroad. In fact, the defence diplomacy begins best in our foreign embassies. Does everyone share the information freely with others or hoard information to be seen as more informed or intelligent. Most Ambassadors do allot many high priority tasks to them for engaging with the home countrys military brass, diplomatic and military assessments, coordinating visits from India and other major local events. They have a major role during long military defence production or upgrade projects related to aircraft and ships.

India imports a large quantity of defence hardware. Military headquarters have significant purchase powers now. Most of these purchases are coordinated by the defence attaches. This involves highly technical meetings and negotiations on behalf of the service headquarters. They are involved in contract servicing and follow up for major defence acquisitions, military training of our personnel, and service courses, among many others.

The defence attaches attend foreign military seminars, have informal meetings, and get briefed on new equipment, and host militarys doctrines. The defence wings also support military intelligence gathering. Armed forces headquarters in New Delhi regularly interact with defence wings in the embassies for many activities and emergent purchases.

India is among the most threatened nations, and has two nuclear powered neighbours, with both of which India has had full-fledged wars and many skirmishes. The security challenges that India faces requires much greater civil-military coordination. The government has given greater freedom of response on borders to the armed forces. PM Modis SAGAR Initiative (security and growth for all in the region) is meant to bolster Indias commitment and presence in the strategic Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and envisages the active presence of Indian armed forces as a potential security provider. Even surgical strikes have been used for diplomatic messaging.

Defence diplomacy is a serious business nowadays. It is not good enough to have some military officers in the National Security Council Secretariat. More military officers are required at MEA desks. Similarly some more MEA officers should man MoD posts.

The Indian militarys role in Indias foreign policy has to expand. It is so much easier for foreign militaries to communicate and coordinate with personnel in uniform, for all the activities. The defence wings in our embassies abroad have their hands full all the time. India has aspirations for a place in the global high-table, and is wooed by many countries and has a leadership position of the Global South. Major Powers have large Embassies.

Another area of showcasing Indias defence capabilities are Defence Expo, Aero India air show, and Fire Power Demonstrations, where foreign delegations and defence attaches are invited. Indian Navy ships transits abroad are treated as diplomatic port calls. Maybe it is time to treat a C-17 landing abroad in the same manner.

The government is working on strengthening the role of defence attaches. They have been allocated significant funds to promote Indian defence equipment in their respective markets. Indias defence attaches must be fully exposed to the countrys defence production capabilities before moving on their assignments abroad. Many foreign defence companies could be in financial mess, and the defence attache could actually help identify cases fit for acquisitions.

The number of countries that we have defence attaches must be reviewed and should go up accordingly. There are many countries where there is a single officer managing the entire defence wing. India needs to reassess and in many countries there would be a need to expand with additional attaches from more services.

Defence diplomacy is not exclusive, and both the foreign and defence policies should work in tandem. We need to train our defence spokespersons to handle more media briefings and at greater frequency, especially after major military exercises in India or abroad. Media briefings should be done jointly by MEA and MoD spokespersons, for example, after an HADR mission. That is why South Block used to have the MEA and MoD. Time has come for India to have a military diplomacy division in MEA. Military diplomacy is a key component of foreign policy, and India must work to strengthen it further if it has to become a global power.

The writer is Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies. Views expressed are personal.

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Jerusalem: Five days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus decision to fire his defense minister set off a wave of spontaneous mass protests and a general strike that threatened to paralyze the country, forcing the Israeli leader to suspend his divisive plan to overhaul the judicial system.

But Netanyahu never even sent Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a formal termination letter, a spokesperson for Netanyahu said. As of Friday, Gallant  whose criticism of Netanyahus planned judicial changes led to his dismissal  was still on the job. Gallants aides said it was business-as-usual at the Defense Ministry.

As local media this week crackled with reports of Netanyahu considering whether to replace Gallant with stalwarts of his right-wing Likud party, Gallant remained in limbo  and even so, the public face of his ministry.

He greeted the Azerbaijani foreign minister, toured two military bases and attended Tuesdays security cabinet meeting this week. On Thursday, Gallant attended a celebration ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday with the director of the Shin Bet security service, his office said, releasing a photo of him smiling beside Director Ronen Bar.

We have a duty to calm the spirits in Israeli society and maintain an inclusive and unifying discourse, Gallant said at the holiday toast.

The questions swirling around the fate of Israels crucial Defense Ministry  which maintains Israels 55-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and contends with threats from Iran, Lebanons Hezbollah militant group and the Gaza Strips militant Hamas rulers  reflects the tensions tearing at Netanyahus right-wing coalition after one of the most dramatic weeks for Israel in decades.

Its also a leadership test of Israels longest-serving premier as he governs a deeply polarized country and faces charges of corruption.

Netanyahus decision to pause plans to weaken Israels Supreme Court in the face of the countrys biggest protest movement underscores the complex juggling act that the prime minister must perform in holding together his governing coalition, experts say.

On the one hand, Netanyahu must please his far-right and religiously conservative coalition partners  supporters of the judicial overhaul  who vaulted him to power even as he stands trial.

But he also must weigh grave concerns over the plan from Israels closet ally, the United States, as well as anger from more moderate politicians and, significantly, dissent from within Israels military over fears the national crisis could threaten the countrys security. A growing number of military reservists had declined to report for duty in protest of the measures, raising concerns that the crisis could harm Israels military capabilities.

Netanyahus office declined to comment further on Gallants unresolved situation. But the conflicting pressures have resulted in an impasse over Gallants future and who serves as defense minister.

Netanyahu has extremists surrounding him and they want to see blood, they want to see Gallant removed, said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Those politicians include far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezazel Smotrich, who received outsized power in coalition deals that persuaded them to join the government.

But as the first senior Likud official to break ranks over the judicial overhaul, Gallant has proven himself to be someone who is more concerned about the national interest than the personal interest of Netanyahu, Talshir added.

Officially firing and replacing him could trigger backlash not only from tens of thousands of Israeli protesters taking to the streets weekly and from Israels already unnerved military officials, but also from the Biden administration, she said.

The U.S., which gives Israel a more-than-$3 billion annual assistance package and diplomatic backing in international forums, has expressed misgivings about Netanyahus efforts to change the Israeli judicial system.

President Joe Bidens blunt criticism of the overhaul this week  even after Netanyahus decision to halt it  led to a rare open dispute between the allies.

The Biden administration saw Gallant as someone dependable, someone they can work with, said Ehud Yaari, an Israel-based analyst for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The judicial plan would give the embattled Netanyahu and his allies the final say in appointing the nations judges. It would also give parliament, which is controlled by his allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the courts ability to review laws.

Critics say the plan would irreparably weaken Israels system of checks and balances and lead the country toward autocracy.

As Netanyahu met this week with potential alternatives to Gallant, such as Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Israeli media reported a flurry of proposals that would allow Gallant to stay on  including that he offer a public apology, or remain as defense minister but resign from parliament and forfeit his ability to vote against the overhaul.

But on Friday it appeared Gallant and Netanyahu had still not reached an agreement.

At the bottom of all this is the realization by (Netanyahu) and most of the Likud that firing Gallant was a huge mistake, said Yaari. Netanyahu is trying to stay above water, but he cannot really swim.

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New York: Former US President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

He will be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in his hush money case, setting the scene for the historic, shocking moment when a former president is forced to stand before a judge to hear the criminal charges against him.

The indictment remained sealed and the specific charges were not immediately known, but details were confirmed by people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that isnt yet public.

The streets outside the courthouse where the arraignment will unfold were calm Friday compared with earlier in the week. There were no large-scale demonstrations for or against Trump, though tourists stopped to take selfies and throngs of reporters and police officers remained assembled.

When Trump turns himself in, hell be booked mostly like anyone else facing charges, mug shot, fingerprinting and all. But he isnt expected to be put in handcuffs; hell have Secret Service protection and will almost certainly be released that same day.

In the meantime, Trumps legal team prepared his defense while the prosecutor defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial. Congressional Republicans, as well as Trump himself, contend the whole matter is politically motivated.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote to three Republican House committee chairs Friday in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.



The case is plunging the U.S. into uncharted legal waters, with Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment. And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next years presidential election. Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against him could hurt that effort  though his campaign is already furiously raising money by citing it.

The Trump campaign said it raised $4-plus million in the first 24 hours after news of the indictment broke.

Top Republicans also have begun closing ranks around him. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised to use congressional oversight to probe Bragg. Reps. James Comer, Jim Jordan and Bryan Steil, the committee chairs whom Bragg addressed in his letter, have asked the district attorneys office for grand jury testimony, documents and copies of any communications with the Justice Department.

Trumps indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution, an injustice. He shouts in all capital letters on his social media platform that the Democrats have LIED, CHEATED and more to damage his 2024 presidential run.

Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said during TV interviews Friday he would very aggressively challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment. Trump himself, on his social media platform, trained his ire on a new target, complaining that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, HATES ME.

The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight ahead of his planned arraignment Tuesday, according to two people familiar with his plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trumps travel.

Trump will be arraigned in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinsteins rape trial took place. On Friday, officials from the Secret Service and the NYPD toured the courthouse and met about security plans.

Court officers ultimately closed and secured access to the 15th floor, where Merchan was continuing to preside over unrelated matters, until Trumps arraignment.

Lawyers involved in the cases and some employees were permitted to stay, but media were chased away by officers, who were standing sentry in front of a bike-rack barricade set up in the hallway. Officers yelled at reporters who ventured up, This floor is closed, and ordered them to get back in the elevator and leave.

Officers have been cautioned to remain vigilant and maintain situational awareness, both inside courthouses and while on perimeter patrols, as evidenced by the incident on Tuesday afternoon outside of Manhattan Supreme Court, the court said in a statement.

Since Trumps March 18 post claiming his arrest was imminent, authorities have ratcheted up security, deploying additional police officers, lining the streets around the courthouse with barricades and dispatching bomb-sniffing dogs. Theyve had to respond to bomb and death threats, a suspicious powder scare and a pro-Trump protester who was arrested Tuesday after witnesses say she pulled a knife on passersby.

Since no former president had ever been charged with a crime, theres no rulebook for booking the defendant. He will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken, and investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants, according to a person familiar who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive security operations.

All of that activity takes place away from the public. New York law discourages the release of mug shots in most cases. Less clear is whether Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons.

Once the booking is complete, the former president would appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment.

Even for defendants who turn themselves in, answering criminal charges in New York generally entails at least several hours of detention while being fingerprinted, photographed, and going through other procedures.

As for the allegations, as Trump ran for president in 2016, his allies paid two women to bury their accusations. The publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer paid McDougal $150,000 for rights to her story and sat on it, in an arrangement brokered by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

After Cohen himself paid Daniels $130,000, Trumps company reimbursed him, added bonuses and logged the payments as legal expenses.

Federal prosecutors argued  in a 2018 criminal case against Cohen  that the payments equated to illegal aid to Trumps campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violation charges, but federal prosecutors didnt go after Trump, who was then in the White House.

However, some of their court filings obliquely implicated him as someone who knew about the payment arrangements.

The New York indictment came as Trump contends with other investigations. In Atlanta, prosecutors are considering whether he committed any crimes when trying to get Georgia officials to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss there to Joe Biden.

And, at the federal level, a Justice Department-appointed special counsel also is investigating Trumps efforts to unravel the national election results.

Additionally, the special counsel is examining how and why Trump held onto a cache of top secret government documents at his Florida club and residence, Mar-a-Lago, and whether the ex-president or his representatives tried to obstruct the probe into those documents.

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New York: Russia and the U.S. clashed in the United Nations on Friday over Moscows plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which neighboring Ukraine denounced as a desperate Kremlin attempt to avoid military defeat and threaten the world with nuclear apocalypse.

China, without naming Russia, made clear its opposition to the planned deployment.

Ukraines UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya called for the UN Security Council meeting following Russian President Vladimir Putins announcement on March 25 that Russia plans to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko upped the ante just before the council meeting, saying Russia might also deploy strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus, which Russian forces have used as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine.

Kyslytsya said it took only four days for Putin to violate a pledge he made to Chinas President Xi Jinping in a joint statement at their recent meeting in Moscow. It declared that all nuclear states should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons outside their countries and withdraw those deployed abroad.

The same point was emphasized by the U.S. and Chinese deputy U.N. ambassadors, among others.

We call for the abolition of the nuclear-sharing arrangements and advocate no deployment of nuclear weapons abroad by all nuclear weapons states, and the withdrawal of nuclear weapons deployed abroad, said Geng Shuang of China.

Calling nuclear weapons the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, Geng reiterated that China opposes armed attacks against nuclear power plants and the threat or use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He said nuclear proliferation must be prevented and nuclear crisis avoided.

Beijing claims to have a neutral stance in the war, but has also stressed its no limits friendship with Russia. It has refused to criticize Moscows invasion, and late last month released a peace plan calling for a cease-fire and talks between Ukraine and Russia.

Kyslytsya welcomed Beijings stand, telling the council: To the credit of the Chinese side, the Chinese side reminded Moscow in a very sensible manner that nuclear war cannot be won and fought, and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow is not transferring nuclear weapons but operational tactical missile complexes, which will be under Russian control. He insisted this was not in violation of Moscows international obligations.

Nebenzia accused the United States of destroying key arms control agreements and he repeated Putins objection to the tactical nuclear weapons the U.S. has deployed in other NATO countries, indicating that this violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global disarmament.

Belarus U.N. Ambassador Valentin Rybakov said the planned deployment of tactical nuclear weapons was a reaction to the challenges and risks to national security his country faces, citing NATO neighbors ramping up their military capacity and Western sanctions. He also criticized the U.S. nuclear sharing with its allies.

The U.S. deputy ambassador, Robert Wood, countered that the issue of nuclear sharing within NATO was discussed during negotiations on the NPT treaty, and for close to four decades Washington heard nothing about it from Russia until after its takeover of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Wood stressed that any allegations that the United States is not in full compliance with the nonproliferation treaty are just patently false.

He accused Russia of attempting to manipulate the specter of nuclear conflict to help win the war in Ukraine.

No other country is inflicting such damage on arms control nor seeking to undermine strategic stability in Europe, Wood said. No other country has raised the prospect of potential nuclear use in connection with the war in Ukraine.  No country is threatening Russia or threatening President Putin.

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Guatemala City: Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in Guatemala Friday on a visit to shore up ties with dwindling allies following a trip to the United States that angered China.

Tsais visit to Guatemala and its Central American neighbor Belize comes after Honduras became the latest country to cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing.

The president had stopped in New York on the way, and has announced plans to meet US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on her return leg.

Washington has said there is no reason for China to overreact to the normal, uneventful trip, but Beijing warned the United States was playing with fire.

Tsai arrived in Guatemala on Friday afternoon, where she was received with military honors and met by Foreign Minister Mario Bucaro.

She held a brief meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, whose government has declared Taiwan the only and true China, before the two staged a joint press conference reaffirming their bond.

The ties between Guatemala and Taiwan are unbreakable, Giammattei said.

We promote resolving disputes by dialogue and negotiation, and work together to satisfy peoples desire for freedom, prosperity, development, and territorial integrity, he added.

For Guatemala, this visit is very significant to renew and reaffirm the full support to the government of Taiwan, reiterating the recognition of Taiwan as an independent nation and as the only true China, Giammattei said.

Tsai called Guatemala a solid diplomatic ally of Taiwan in a speech.

In recent years we have continued to consolidate our cooperation in the areas of health, economy, trade and basic infrastructure, she said.

She also thanked Giammattei for his support last year when China was carrying out military maneuvers against the island.

On Saturday Tsai will visit the majestic Mayan ruins of Tikal in the north of the country, and on Sunday she will head to the new Chimaltenango hospital in the west, built with a $22 million donation from Taipei.

Then she will travel to Belize, where she is scheduled to meet Prime Minister John Briceno on Monday before departing the next day.

On her way back to Taiwan, Tsai plans to stop in Los Angeles, where McCarthy has said he will meet her.

Dwindling recognition

Honduras, a neighbor of Guatemala, cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March and recognized China.

The switch reduced the number of countries that diplomatically recognize Taiwan to 13.

Paraguay could follow next, with presidential elections due in April and opposition candidate Efrain Alegre having vowed to reevaluate ties with Taiwan.

That would leave only Guatemala, Belize, Haiti, the Holy See, Eswatini and seven small Caribbean and Pacific island nations diplomatically allied to Taiwan.

China considers the self-ruled, democratic island as part of its territory to be retaken one day.

Under its One China policy, it does not allow countries to officially recognize both Beijing and Taipei.

Latin America has been a key diplomatic battleground since Taiwan and China separated in 1949, following a civil war when the communists seized power in China while the nationalists retreated to Taiwan.

Nicaragua shifted allegiance to Beijing in 2021, El Salvador in 2018, Panama in 2017 and Costa Rica in 2007.

The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but maintains a robust unofficial relationship, according to the State Department.

It is Taiwans most significant ally and largest weapons supplier, despite having switched recognition to Beijing in 1979.

After Honduras move, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington offered its support to people on Taiwan but also stood by its One China policy.

Countries have to make their own sovereign decisions about their foreign policies, he said. We leave that to them.

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Washington: Former US president Donald Trump raised over USD 4 million in 24 hours after a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, his office has said.

Significantly, over 25 per cent of donations came from first-time donors to the Trump Campaign, further solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary, a media release said on Friday.

This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponisation of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor, said the campaign.

With an average contribution of only USD 34, Trumps 2024 campaign is funded by an unmatched coalition of hardworking patriots who are fed up with special interest donors like Soros spending billions of dollars to influence our elections, it said.

Americans from across all 50 states donated to President Trumps campaign within the first five hours of the sham indictment, the release said.

The White House has refused to comment on the indictment of the former president.

I have no comment on that, President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Zambia, I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president.

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Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother were released on Friday after three months of detention in Romania and moved to house arrest while they are investigated for alleged human trafficking and rape.

Tate, a British-American former kickboxer with millions of online followers, along with his younger brother and two Romanian women, are under investigation for allegedly forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking and rape.

Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan, 34, were arrested in late December, and have been held in pre-trial detention ever since, which was again extended last week.

However, an appeals court rejected the prosecutions proposal to extend the pre-trial detention and ordered the pair be placed under house arrest, according to a court ruling seen by AFP.

Accompanied by their Romanian lawyers, the brothers  who deny all charges against them  were released around midnight (2100 GMT) from the police central arrest premises in Bucharest amid chaotic scenes, an AFP journalist reported.

Freedom at last, a smiling Andrew Tate said to whoops and hollers from supporters as he arrived at his house. Its a little bit emotional, Ive been in one room since last year.

He thanked the judges for the release and maintained that he was innocent of all charges against him.

Media thronged the entrance while young fans greeted Andrew Tate with cries of Top G (for gangster), his nickname.

Tristan said the judges had made the right decision and vowed to prove that he was an innocent man.

Their lawyer Eugean Vidineac said they were forbidden from contacting other people involved in the case and could not leave their home without prior approval from judicial authorities.

Earlier, he insisted the brothers were not a flight risk.

Theres no reason for them to flee because to be on the run is not a life worth living and the Tate brothers dont want this life. They are just tired and want to rest, he said.

Seized luxury cars

The two men moved to Romania several years ago, and Tristan has a baby son who was born since his arrest.

As part of the probe, Romanian police have raided several properties connected to the Tate brothers and seized many of their assets, including a collection of luxury cars.

A court document from January said that one woman was recruited from Britain after she fell in love with Andrew Tate, who then brought her to Romania with the goal of sexual exploitation.

The brothers and the two Romanians also detained, allegedly trafficked, recruited and exploited women by coercing them into pornographic acts with a view to producing and disseminating such material online.

Flaunting his bulging muscles, cigars and fast cars, Tates videos posted on social media fascinate millions of teenage boys.

A video he posted of himself pacing in his living room after his release garnered millions of views in just hours.

Giving tips on how to be successful, along with misogynist and sometimes violent maxims, his videos have made him one of the worlds best-known influencers.

In 2016, Tate appeared on the Big Brother reality television show in Britain but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.

He then turned to social media platforms to promote his divisive views, before being banned for misogynistic remarks and hate speech.

Tate was allowed back on Twitter, where he has 5.5 million followers after Elon Musk bought the company.

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Russia has taken over the presidency of UN Security Council for a month in line with the monthly rotation that remains unaffected by the ongoing offensive against Ukraine.

The last time Russia held the presidency of UNSC was during its launch of the special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

The presidency comes at a time when the war in Ukraine sees no end and President Vladimir Putin faces an arrest for alleged war crimes.

Under these circumstances, Russias UNSC presidency has been challenged by many across the world.

For the duration of its presidency, a country is authorised to deploy peacekeepers, sanction countries and individuals and even refer possible war crimes to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, told TASS that during the countrys month-long presidency, he plans to oversee numerous debates. He added that he would also hold discussions on a new world order.

April fools joke

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russias assumption of UNSC presidency an April fools joke.

Russian UN Security Council presidency on April 1 is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; its waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children, said Kuleba.

Russian presidency in the UNSC is a stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning. A state that systemically ruins international peace and security will be presiding over the body tasked with maintaining them @United24media pic.twitter.com/7x4qPttzI3  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 31, 2023

Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian permanent representative said, As of 1 April, theyre taking the level of absurdity to a new level.

He added, The security council as it is designed is immobilised and incapable to address the issues of their primary responsibility, which is the prevention of conflicts and then dealing with conflicts.

White House asks Russia to act professionally

The White House has urged Russia to conduct itself professionally during its UNSC presidency, saying there were no means to block Moscow from the post.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a news briefing, We urge Russia to conduct itself professionally.

Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and no feasible international legal pathway exists to change that reality, Jean-Pierre added.

The reality is this is a larger position, which rotates to council members month by month in alphabetical order, she said.

With inputs from agencies.

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Sydney: Man who appeared to be carrying an AK-47 assault rifle but was actually carrying a bong was apprehended after inciting a massive police search and frenzied emergency calls in Australian town.

After alarmed locals reported seeing a man carrying a large firearm through Sydneys north-west on Wednesday night, New South Wales police reported receiving numerous emergency calls.

The moment the accused rifle-wielding man was spotted on a busy road in Rouse Hill, a thorough search was launched, and a helicopter was dispatched to find him.

Using CCTV video, the police discovered an unlocked car close to a church and  seized the AK-47 assault rifle shaped bong, according to a statement released on Thursday.

Police searched the area and looked over CCTV images from nearby businesses. This brought them to an unlocked and unattended car in a nearby church parking lot, according to NSW police.

A 50-year-old man was detained from a nearby grassland after the police discovered the bong in the vehicle.

He was detained and brought to Castle Hill Police Station, where he was accused of intimidating people and possessing an unauthorised firearm, according to the statement.

The guy is being detained on charges that could result in a five-year prison sentence.

On Thursday, when he stood before the Parramatta Local Court, bail was rejected.

He will continue to be held in custody while on detention and will next appear in court on April 13 in Parramatta.

The officers are anticipated to inform the judge that they found the man with a bong, which is used to smoke marijuana and other herbal substances.

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Washington: The Georgia Assembly has passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia, making it the first American State to take such a legislative measure.

Condemning Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bigotry, the resolution said Hinduism is one of the worlds largest and oldest religions with over 1.2 billion adherents in over 100 countries and encompasses an array of diverse traditions and belief systems with values of acceptance, mutual respect and peace.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta, home to one of the largest Hindu and Indian-American diaspora communities in Georgia.

The resolution observed that the American-Hindu community has been a major contributor to diverse sectors such as medicine, science and engineering, information technology, hospitality, finance, academia, manufacturing, energy, retail trade, among others It also noted that the communitys contributions of Yoga, ayurveda, meditation, food, music, arts have enriched the cultural fabric and have been widely adopted in American society and enhanced the lives of millions.

Stating that there have been documented instances of hate crimes against Hindu-Americans over the last few decades in many parts of the country, the resolution said Hinduphobia is exacerbated and institutionalised by some in academia who support the dismantling of Hinduism and accuse its sacred texts and cultural practices of violence and oppression.

A move in this regard was spearheaded by the Atlanta chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), which organised the first-ever Hindu Advocacy Day held on March 22 at the Georgia State Capitol. It was attended by around 25 lawmakers  both Republicans and Democrats  who joined the Hindu community to understand its concerns, pledge to create ways to protect the community against discrimination and facilitate the inclusion of Hindu voices in important decision-making processes in the state.

It was a true honor to work with Rep McDonald and Rep Jones as well as other lawmakers who guided us through the whole process of getting this County Resolution passed, said Rajeev Menon, CoHNA vice president.

We also heard that all the lawmakers had been working really long hours given the amount of legislative items on the agenda, but still decided to join us at the Advocacy Day to show how much they value the Hindu community, he said.

CoHNA general secretary Shobha Swamy said, The issues faced by Hindu Americans in Georgia and the rest of the country via false, Hinduphobic narratives are negatively impacting a community that has been hardworking, law-abiding and enriching the fabric of America.

We urged for their help in combating such bigotry which advances hatred and creates the idea that Hindus and people of Indian-origin need special laws and monitoring due to allegations around some inherent propensity to discriminate, she said.

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Rome: Germany has granted shelter to 32 of the survivors from last months migrant shipwreck off the southern coast of Italy, Italian and United Nations authorities said on Saturday.

Over 90 migrants travelling in a rickety boat died on February 26 near Cutro, in the Calabria region, in one of the deadliest shipwrecks in Italian territorial waters.

Nearly 80 people survived, Italys Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told parliament on March 7.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) helped organise a charter flight for 32 of the survivors to Hamburg, a Calabria provincial government office said in a statement. IOM is happy to have supported the relocation under the EU voluntary solidarity mechanism, the IOM said in a statement on Twitter.

The survivors  who were 28 Afghans, two Syrians, one Iraqi and one Somali  will join relatives already living in Germany.

An IOM spokesman said they would later be able to apply for asylum.

The Italian government, which is facing a surge in sea arrivals from North Africa, has repeatedly urged other countries that are part of the European Union to take in more migrants. Italian authorities have also faced accusations, which they strongly deny, that they did not do enough to stop the migrant shipwreck.

Police boats tried to intercept the boat before it sank, but failed to reach it due to rough weather, according to reports. Italian opposition parties have asked why coast guard vessels, better equipped to face high seas, were not deployed instead of smaller police boats.

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Berlin: Germanys military cannot completely fill its existing gaps by 2030, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying, as Berlin seeks to revamp its armed forces after Russias invasion of Ukraine following decades of neglect.

We all know that the existing gaps cannot be completely closed by 2030 It will take years. Everyone is aware of that, Pistorius said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday.

Already worn down by decades of underinvestment since the end of the Cold War, the Bundeswehr is in even worse shape than a year ago given weapons and munitions donated to Ukraine have mostly not yet been replaced, say experts.

Pistorius rejected further arms deliveries to Ukraine from the Bundeswehr stocks beyond the announced commitments.

To put it bluntly, like other nations, we have a limited inventory. As federal defence minister, I cannot give everything away, he said.

The minister, who was appointed earlier this year, said increasing the defence budget to reach the NATO spending target of 2 per cent of national output, from currently around 1.5 per cent, was his highest priority.

If that is then set in motion at the end of the (legislative) period, then I would be satisfied, he added.

Germany is also planning a naval mission in the Indo-Pacific region next year and is intensifying its partnerships with key countries in the region, such as Japan, Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore, he said, saying Europes freedom of movement in seas there was too challenged.

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Helping a minor cross state lines to terminate a pregnancy without her parents consent would become a crime punishable by up to five years in prison under a bill passed Thursday by Idahos Republican-dominated legislature.

The bill would also allow a man who impregnates a woman  including rapists  as well as other family members to sue abortion providers.

If signed by Republican Governor Brad Little, the legislation would be the first of its kind in the country, according to the abortion provider Planned Parenthood, which has said it would challenge the ban in court.

State Representative Barbara Ehardt, a Republican sponsor of the bill, said at a committee hearing this week that the bill gives us the tools to go after those who would subvert a parents right to be able to make those decisions in conjunction with their child, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

Idaho already bans almost all abortions, but the state borders Washington, Oregon and Montana, allow them. Conservative states with abortion bans have wrestled with ways to keep women and girls from obtaining abortions in more liberal states, many of which have increased the availability of services in order to accommodate such travel.

Its incredibly extreme, said Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. The Idaho legislature is essentially inventing a new crime that they are dubbing abortion trafficking.'

DelliCarpini-Tolman said her organization is trying to mount a campaign to persuade Little to veto the bill, but she thinks he is likely to sign it. A number of pro-abortion rights groups are weighing a legal challenge to the measure if it becomes law, and she expects a lawsuit to be announced soon after that happens.

Under the bill, adults who help girls obtain surgical or medication abortions without parental consent would face a minimum of two years in prison if convicted.

The bill also sets up a mechanism by which family members of the fetus can sue providers for up to $20,000 for performing an abortion. The bill initially excluded cases where the pregnancy was the result of rape, but was later amended to remove that language.

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Toronto: Police in Canada have said they recovered the bodies of two more migrants who drowned in the St Lawrence River while attempting to enter the US from Canada illegally, taking the death toll to eight, including members of an Indian family.

The bodies were found on Friday in a marsh on the riverbank near Akwesasne, a community which straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state. One other person is still missing.

Police say the deceased believed to be two families of Indian and Romanian descent were trying to cross into the United States from Canada. Among them were two children under the age of three, both Canadian citizens.

Unfortunately, these situations happen. Its not something new, Akwesasne Mohawk Police chief Shawn Dulude said of people trying to cross.

Weve seen it happen in the past, and hopefully as we move forward, its something we can one day eliminate, the officer was quoted as saying by the Montreal Gazette newspaper.

Akwesasne police are working with Immigration Canada to assist with identifying the victims and notifying the next of kin. They are also increasing surveillance on the river, it said.

Authorities located the first body in the marsh around 5 pm on Thursday during an aerial search conducted at the request of the Canadian Coast Guard.

Throughout the day on Friday, search crews could be seen wading through a marshy area near the local marina with the help of a light airboat. A helicopter also scanned the river.

The last two bodies, of a second infant and another woman, were retrieved from the water during the day.

Police recovered two more bodies from the river on Friday, after discovering six bodies and an overturned boat during a missing person search Thursday afternoon, CBC News reported.

They are believed to have been an Indian family and a Romanian family who were attempting to cross into the US, police said, adding, that an Akwesasne resident remains missing.

According to police, there has seen an uptick in human smuggling into the U.S. Ryan Brissette, a public affairs officer with US Customs and Border Patrol, says the agency had seen a massive uptick in encounters and apprehensions at the border.

The agency saw more than eight times as many people try to cross from Canada into the U.S. in 2022 compared to previous years, he said. Many of them, more than 64,000, came through Quebec or Ontario into New York.

Comparing this area in the past, this is a significant number, Brissette said.

Theres a lot of different reasons as to why this is happening, why folks are coming all of a sudden through the northern border. I think a lot of them think its easier, an easy opportunity and they just dont know the danger that it poses, especially in the winter months, the officer said.

Akwesasne police say there have been 48 incidents of people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

In January 2022, the bodies of four Indians, including a baby, were found frozen in Manitoba near the Canada-US border. In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

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Tehran: Iranian media reported on Saturday that the head of Irans judiciary has vowed to prosecute women without mercy for not wearing hijab in public.

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeis warning comes on the heels of an interior ministry statement on Thursday that reinforced the governments mandatory hijab legislation.

According to several news outlets, Ejei stated that unveiling is equivalent to enmity with [our] values. He did not specify what the punishment would be, only that those who commit such anomalous acts will be punished and prosecuted without mercy.

The chief justice of Iran, Ejei, stated that law enforcement officials were required to refer obvious crimes and any kind of abnormality that is against the religious law and occurs in public to judicial authorities.

Since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman while in the care of the morality police in September of last year, an increasing number of Iranian women have decided to remove their headscarves. Mahsa Amini was held for purportedly disobeying the headscarf law.

After she died, government troops violently put down a national uprising that had been brewing for months.

However, it is common to see women walking around without hijab in malls, eateries, shops, and on the streets, risking arrest for disobeying the dress code.

The morality police are being resisted by covered women in videos that have taken over social media.

Women in Iran are required to cover their hair and wear long, baggy clothing to hide their figures under the Islamic sharia rule that was implemented following the 1979 revolution. Offenders have been subject to public censure, penalties, or arrest.

The Interior Ministry declared on Thursday that there would be no retreat or tolerance on the subject and referred to the veil as one of the civilisational foundations of the Iranian nation and one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic.

It exhorted regular people to approach exposed women. Such orders have given hardline Islamists the confidence to assault women with freedom in the past.

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London: Government data reveals that Rishi Sunak made private jet trips totaling almost 500,000 in just over a week last year, leading the opposition to accused him of wasting the tax payers money at a time when country is facing huge economic recession.

According to a Cabinet Office report on foreign travel by prime ministers in the third quarter of 2022, Sunak spent nearly 108,000 on private jet travel to and from the Cop27 summit in Egypt, flying in on November 6 and returning the following day.

A week later, he left for the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, and returned on November 17 after an expensive roundtrip of more than 340,000.

A day trip to meet troops in Latvia and Estonia cost more than 62,000 in December. The time span includes Liz Trusss short overseas assignment, which included a private jet trip to and from a meeting in Prague that cost close to 40,000.

All of the flights mentioned involved an Airbus A-321 flown by the charter airline Titan Airways on behalf of the UK government, despite the fact that Downing Street occasionally has access to an RAF Voyager, a mid-air refuelling craft with a passenger-carrying interior.

The aircraft, which has a tail fin painted with the union jack, serves as a de facto substitute for the official aircraft flown by some other global leaders.

The energy and environment spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, Wera Hobhouse, said: This is a shocking waste of taxpayers money at a time when people are having trouble making ends meet. Once again, the Conservative Partys administration is wholly out of date.

With their so-called green day, the government can give the impression that they care about the environment, but in actuality, they are breaking their own pledges.

According to the Cabinet Office costings report, nearly another 20,000 was spent on additional expenses for the prime ministers, such as lodging, food, and visas.

The expenses for the officials who travelled with us on these visits are not included. The number of the delegations ranged from the 19 that travelled with Truss to Prague to the 35 that went to Bali with Sunak.

On some of the prime ministers paid-for trips, like those to and from Bali, there are also journalists from the travelling UK press.

A spokesperson for Downing Street justified the flights. The prime ministers role includes holding crucial meetings with world leaders during bilateral visits and summits to discuss issues of international importance, including security, defense, and trade, they declared.

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New York: The prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art will return 15 sculptures to India after it was learned that the antiquities were illegally removed from the country and sold by disgraced dealer Subhash Kapoor.

In a statement Thursday, the Met said it will transfer the 15 sculptures for return to the government of India. The works range in date from the 1st century BCE to the 11th century CE, and include terracotta, copper and stone.

All of the works were sold at one point by Kapoor, who is currently serving a prison sentence in India.

The Museum is committed to the responsible acquisition of archaeological art and applies rigorous provenance standards both to new acquisitions and to works long in its collection. The Museum is actively reviewing the history of antiquities from suspect dealers. The Museum values highly its long-standing relationships with the government of India and is pleased to resolve this matter, the Met said in the statement.

The museum contacted Homeland Security about its works from Kapoor in 2015 and is pleased to be acting on this matter today as a result of the criminal investigation into Subhash Kapoor by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office, it said.

Through this cooperative partnership, the museum received new information from the Manhattan DAs office about 15 works of art that made it clear that the works should be transferred, resulting in a constructive resolution, the statement said.

In addition, in cooperation with the DA offices criminal investigation into Turkish sites Bubon and Perge, the museum recently removed from display from its Greek and Roman galleries three pieces from Turkey two of which were loans and a third is part of the Mets collection, it said.

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Mexico City: Mexican prosecutors said Friday that they had arrested a migrant accused of starting a fire that killed 39 people at an immigration detention center near the US border.

Three immigration officials and a private security guard have also been detained as part of a homicide investigation into the blaze that started on Monday night.

Authorities have accused the people in charge of the facility in Ciudad Juarez of doing nothing to evacuate the detainees.

An arrest warrant was outstanding for another guard wanted in connection with the tragedy, Sara Irene Herrerias, a prosecutor specialising in human rights, told a news conference.

She did not identify the migrant accused of starting the fire in a cell where he was being held with 67 other men, apparently in a protest against deportations.

According to the authorities, the deceased were 18 Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, six Hondurans and one Colombian.

The injured were 10 Guatemalans, eight Hondurans, five Salvadorans and five Venezuelans.

Video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving the detainees locked inside as flames spread and smoke filled the room.

The detention center has now been closed, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has vowed there would be no impunity over the disaster, traveled to Ciudad Juarez on Friday to see the medical treatment given to the injured.

Several remained in serious condition, some on mechanical ventilators, the Ciudad Juarez General Hospital said.

One man had four fingers amputated, it said.

Dozens of migrants protested outside a school in the city where Lopez Obrador held meetings, saying that they felt criminalized for seeking a better future in the United States.

Were not criminals. We fled our countries as a result of bad policies, a man complained over a microphone.

Earlier Friday at his daily news conference in Mexico City, Lopez Obrador repeated his previous demands for the United States to invest more in Latin America so that migrants do not feel the need to leave their countries.

Washingtons investment in Central America paled in comparison to the billions of dollars that it has allocated in military aid for Ukraine following the Russian invasion, he said.

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Islamabad: Pakistans army on Saturday alleged that attackers from Iran killed four of its border patrol soldiers.

A group of terrorists operating from the Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces operating along the Pakistan-Iran Border, the army said in a statement.

Pakistani authorities are making contact with Iran to seek effective action to prevent such incidents in future, it said.

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Taipei: In a retaliatory move, Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away ten Chinese aircraft, which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, normally an unofficial barrier between the two sides, Al Jazeera reported.

Nine Chinese fighter jets and one military drone crossed the median line in the 24 hours to 6 am local time on Saturday (20:00 GMT on Friday), the ministry said in a daily report on Chinese military activities.

This comes after Beijing has threatened unspecified retaliation if Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, now travelling in Central America, meets United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy as she transits through the US on her trip to Latin America.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained in recent years of almost daily missions by the Chinese air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone.

Tsai arrived in Guatemala on Friday on a visit to shore up ties with dwindling allies after Honduras became the latest country to cut diplomatic relations with Taipei in favour of Beijing. She will also visit neighbouring Belize, Al Jazeera reported.

Tsai is expected to meet McCarthy in Los Angeles on her way back to Taipei later this month from Central America.

Washington had said there was no reason for China to overreact to the normal, uneventful trip, while Beijing warned the US was playing with fire over Tsai being hosted by officials in the US, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning in a press conference on Wednesday said, China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. We firmly oppose any visit by the leader of the Taiwan authorities to the US in any name or under whatever pretext.

According to the statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning further said, We firmly oppose the US having any form of contact with the Taiwan authorities, which violates the one-China principle. China has repeatedly protested to the US side on Tsais so-called stopover in the US.

Last year, China fired multiple missiles and launched military drills around Taiwan after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. Her visit also strained the bilateral ties between US and China.

China staged war games around Taiwan in August 2022 after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and has continued military activities near Taiwan, though on a reduced scale.

So far this month, Beijing has sent 292 military aircraft and 76 naval vessels around Taiwan. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of grey zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwans ADIZ, reported Taiwan News.

China stepped up their military action in early August 2022 and held its live-fire drills in six locations around the country after the US White House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2-3, 2022.

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Islamabad: A Christian man was shot dead in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province on Saturday, in what officials say is the second incident of target killing of minorities in the last 24 hours, reported The Khorasan Diary.

According to police, Kashif Maseeh was gunned down by armed motorcyclists on his doorstep. Yesterday, a Sikh shopkeeper was gunned down in Peshawar in a similar manner. There have been no responsibility claims for the attacks, added The Khorasan Diary.

On Friday, a Sikh shopkeeper Dayal Singh was killed by motorcycle-borne miscreants in a similar crime in the Dir colony of Pakistans Peshawar.

Earlier on Thursday, a Karachi-based eye surgeon named Dr Birbal Genani was shot dead by unidentified gunmen near Layari in Karachi while returning home from his clinic.

Birbal Genani was the former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) senior director of health in the Pakistan port city. Unidentified armed men targeted his car while he was travelling from Ramswamy, along with his assistant doctor, to Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

Last week, Hindu shopkeepers were assaulted in Pakistan for allegedly violating the Ramzan Ordinance by eating, Pakistan based The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

The police officer in a video that went viral on social media, was seen roaming the Ghotki district with a stick in his hands. The police officer thrashed Hindu restaurant owners including Hindu men who were reportedly preparing biryani for delivery orders in the local market.

I swear that I belong to the Hindu community, and he is taking away food. We do not run the dining service indoors during Ramzan, a man who was arrested by the police said, according to The Express Tribune.

The SHO, however, publicly forced the Hindu restaurant owner to take an oath on his sacred book, as per the news report. He tortured, harassed, manhandled, and arrested more than one dozen people including Hindu shopkeepers after physically assaulting them.

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Moscow: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has imposed sanctions on 33 Russian nationals and 225 companies, Russian news agency TASS quoted a decree published on the presidential website on Saturday as saying.

The ten-year sanctions particularly include an asset freeze, a trade ban and the cancellation of licenses among other restrictions.

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Bucha (Ukraine): Ukrainians marked the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha Friday with calls for remembrance and justice after a brutal Russian occupation that left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves, establishing the town near Kyiv as an epicenter of the wars atrocities.

We will not let it be forgotten, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a ceremony in Bucha, vowing to punish those who committed outrages there that are still raw.

Human dignity will not let it be forgotten. On the streets of Bucha, the world has seen Russian evil. Evil unmasked.

Buchas name has come to evoke savagery by Moscows military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Ukrainian troops who retook the town found the bodies of men, women and children on the streets, in yards and homes, and in mass graves. Some showed signs of torture.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, fighting continued Friday: Russia used its long-range arsenal to bombard several areas, killing at least two civilians and damaging homes.

And the Kremlin-allied president of neighboring Belarus raised the stakes when he said Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed in his country, along with part of Moscows tactical nuclear arsenal.

Moscow said earlier this week that it planned to place in Belarus tactical nuclear weapons, which are comparatively short-range and low-yield.

Strategic nuclear weapons, such as missile-borne warheads, would bring a greater threat.

At the official commemoration in Bucha, Zelenskyy was joined by Moldovas president and the prime ministers of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Russian troops occupied Bucha weeks after they invaded Ukraine and stayed for about a month. When Ukrainian forces retook the town, they encountered horrific scenes. Over weeks and months, hundreds of bodies were uncovered, including of children.

Russian soldiers, on intercepted phone conversations, called it zachistka  cleansing, according to an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series Frontline.

Such organized cruelty, which Russian troops also employed in other conflicts such as Chechnya, was later repeated in Russia-occupied territories across Ukraine.

Zelenskyy handed out medals to soldiers, police officers, doctors, teachers and emergency workers in Bucha, as well as to the families of two soldiers killed during the defense of the Kyiv region.

Ukrainian people, you have stopped the biggest anti-human force of our times, he said. You have stopped the force which has no respect and wants to destroy everything that gives meaning to human life.

Ukrainian authorities documented more than 1,400 civilian deaths, including 37 children, in the Bucha district, and more than 175 people were found in mass graves and alleged torture chambers, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine and other countries, including the U.S., have demanded that Russia answer for war crimes.

Among the civilians killed was 69-year-old Valerii Kyzylov, whose wife survived but for whom the horrors inflicted on Bucha, her home town, are still raw.

I remember everything like it was yesterday, she said, twisting a handkerchief in her hands as she stood at a candle-lit vigil on Friday evening. A year has passed but I still see it before my eyes.

She cried as she recounted the horror she endured a year ago. Of Russian troops shooting her husband dead and leaving the body lying in the street for days. Of the Russian soldiers taking over her house, where she was forced to live in the basement. They would bring other civilians to the basement, she said, some with bags over their heads, and they would decide there whom to execute and whom to allow to live.

I lived with my husband for 47 years. We have two children. We had such a nice family, she said, weeping. This pain is so great. He was so beautiful. He was killed for nothing.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin alleged Friday that many of the dead civilians were tortured. Almost 100 Russian soldiers are suspected of war crimes, he said on his Telegram channel, and indictments have been issued for 35 of them.

A Ukrainian court has sentenced two Russian servicemen to 12 years in prison for illegally depriving civilians of liberty, and for looting.

I am convinced that all these crimes are not a coincidence. This is part of Russias planned strategy aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation, Kostin said.





In Geneva, the U.N. human rights chief said his office has verified the deaths of more than 8,400 civilians in Ukraine since Russias invasion  a count believed to be far short of the true toll. Volker Turk told the U.N. Human Rights Council that severe violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have become shockingly routine during Russias invasion.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, along with announcing the possibility of the deployment of Russian strategic nuclear weapons in his country, called for a cease-fire in Ukraine. A truce, he said in his state-of-the-nation address in Minsk, must be announced without any preconditions, and all movement of troops and weapons must be halted.

Its necessary to stop now, before an escalation begins, Lukashenko said, adding that an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using Western-supplied weapons would bring an irreversible escalation of the conflict.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Russia has to keep fighting, again claiming that Ukraine has rejected any talks under pressure from its Western allies.

Peskov also dismissed remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the European Union was mulling the deployment of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, calling that extremely dangerous.

Russia has maintained its bombardment of Ukraine, with the war already in its second year. Along with the two civilians killed Friday, 14 others were wounded as Russia launched missiles, shells, exploding drones and gliding bombs, the Ukraine presidential office said.

Two Russian missiles hit the eastern city of Kramatorsk, damaging eight residential buildings, the office said. Nine missiles struck Kharkiv, damaging residential buildings, roads, gas stations and a prison, while Russian forces shelled the southern city and region of Kherson. A barrage at Zaporizhzhia and its outskirts caused major fires.

In the battered front-line town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, a baby and adult were killed in Russian shelling, according to the presidential office. Before the Russian invasion, about 25,000 people lived in Avdiivka. About 2,000 civilians remain.

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Washington: Nearly three years after a white police officer killed a Black man by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, the city of Minneapolis announced Friday that it had approved a plan to reform its police force.

The death of 46-year-old George Floyd, whose ordeal was filmed by a passerby, sparked mass protests across the country  and even in global cities  under the slogan Black Lives Matter.

The Floyd murder on May 25, 2020 led to sharp criticism of law enforcement methods not only in Minneapolis, a midwestern city, but other US metropolitan areas.

An investigation launched after his death by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights concluded last year that the tragedy was part of a pattern of race discrimination within the police force that spanned more than a decade.

Today, we confront our past and move forward with a roadmap for meaningful change in our city, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement.

Our overriding goal will be building a better, more just approach to policing and community safety in Minneapolis, Frey said.

The 144-page agreement announced Friday was negotiated between the city and the Department of Human Rights after an investigations findings were released last year. It still requires court approval.

The text includes provisions that police may no longer engage in pretextual stops of vehicles for certain minor violations, like a broken tail light, and can no longer search and frisk someone if they smell marijuana.

It calls for police to employ force only if necessary and in a de-escalatory manner proportionate to the perceived threat. It also prohibits using force to punish or retaliate.

Tasers should only be used if police have a reason to make an arrest and if it is necessary to protect the officer, the individual or a third party, the agreement says.

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Washington: The United States plans to open an embassy in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the State Department said on Friday, in Washingtons latest move to boost its diplomatic presence in the Pacific to counter Chinas growing influence.

Consistent with the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, a permanent diplomatic presence in Vanuatu would allow the U.S. Government to deepen relationships with Ni-Vanuatu officials and society, the department said in a statement.

Establishing U.S. Embassy Port Vila would facilitate areas of potential bilateral cooperation and development assistance, including efforts to tackle the climate crisis, it said.

The United States has diplomatic relations with Vanuatu, which has a population of 319,000 spread across 80 islands, but is currently represented by diplomats based in New Guinea.

The United States States reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands this year after a 30-year absence and the latest State Department announcement follows a visit this month to the region, including Vanuatu, by U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell.

Other U.S. embassies are planned in the Pacific island nations of Kiribati and Tonga.

Despite the diplomatic push, the Solomon Islands announced this month it had awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara.

The United States and its regional allies have held concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year.

Washington has also been working to renew agreements with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) under which it retains responsibility for the islands defense and gains exclusive access to huge swaths of the Pacific.

The Biden administration is seeking more than $7 billion over the next two decades for economic assistance to the three countries, the State Department said last week, funds seen as key to insulating them from growing Chinese influence.

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At the invitation of H.E. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, H.E. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, made an Official Visit to China from 27 March to 1 April 2023.

During the visit, H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the Peoples Republic of China, met with Prime Minister Lee. Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Lee held a bilateral meeting. Prime Minister Lee also met with H.E. Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and H.E. Wang Huning, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Both sides agreed that relations between China and Singapore have continued to grow from strength to strength. Both countries have taken a long term and strategic perspective in charting the path for developing mutually beneficial bilateral relations. Under the All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times established by both countries during President Xis State Visit to Singapore in 2015, bilateral relations have progressed well, in line with the two countries unique strengths and development priorities. Both sides have established substantive and multi faceted cooperation in a wide range of areas, and jointly seized new opportunities in emerging fields.

Both sides have agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to an All Round High Quality Future Oriented Partnership, reflecting both countries desire to set the strategic direction and chart the development of bilateral relations going forward.

Singapore reaffirmed its support for Chinas pursuit of high-quality development and welcomed Chinas continued commitment to reform and opening up. China spoke highly of Singapore's longstanding participation in Chinas modernisation journey, which has laid a strong foundation for bilateral cooperation, and expressed support for Singapores continued growth and prosperity.

Both sides took stock of the commendable progress of bilateral cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). On the important occasion of the tenth anniversary of the BRI this year, both countries will take the opportunity to broaden and deepen high-quality cooperation that benefits our peoples and region.

In line with the two countries commitment towards collaboration that is of a high standard and quality, both sides welcomed the substantive conclusion of the China Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) Work Programme for Subsequent Negotiations, which was launched pursuant to the Protocol to Upgrade the CSFTA signed in 2018. This upgrade will allow the CSFTA to provide for more business-friendly, liberal, and transparent rules as well as improve the market access for our businesses to trade and invest in each others markets. Both sides looked forward to the signing of the Protocol for the CSFTA Subsequent Negotiations as soon as possible this year.

Building on the High-Quality and Future-Oriented approach to bilateral cooperation, both sides looked forward to strengthening the comprehensive and innovative cooperation between China and Singapore in areas including trade and investment, green and digital economies, food security, financial sector, aviation, and people-to-people exchanges. Both sides will work together to harness synergies in new fields like digital transformation and unlock new growth opportunities geared to the future development. Both sides looked forward to pursuing new areas of cooperation, making full use of inter governmental mechanisms such as the existing annual Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, as well as the eight Provincial Business Councils in China.

Both sides reaffirmed the continued strengthening of ASEAN China relations and cooperation under the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Singapore welcomes Chinas support for the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality in the evolving regional architecture. China and Singapore will work together for the effective implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), and advance preparations for the further enhancement of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA 3.0) to drive mutually beneficial economic growth.

Both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to multilateralism, support for the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, adherence to international law, and would continue to maintain close communication and cooperation at the United Nations and other multilateral organisations.

China and Singapore will continue to work together to uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system as embodied by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), maintain an open and inclusive global economy, and ensure the stable and smooth operation of global supply chains, so as to jointly meet global challenges and make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

. . . . .
I have no qualms with the International Criminal Court (ICC) executing its job, but I am worried about the degree of ignorance about the ICCs jurisdiction, powers and functions.



The ICC is a court of last resort. It complements national courts. It means that the ICC does not replace the national courts. Therefore, States have the primary responsibility to investigate, try and punish the perpetrators of the most serious crimes. The Hague-based court will only step in if the State where serious crimes under the courts jurisdiction have been committed is unwilling or unable to genuinely address them. It is important that I mention that the ICC investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community. Underline this  gravest crimes of concern to the international community.



These crimes are genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. It is governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute. First, look at it this way; does the ICC have jurisdiction over the cases committed in Russia if they were any that warranted the courts intervention? Okay, can the ICC try individuals from Eswatini? Why do I pose this question? Russia and Eswatini are not State parties to the Rome Statutes. It means the court has no jurisdiction over these countries. But, it may have a special jurisdiction. I will explain later in the article.

There was a mixed reaction to the arrest warrant for the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The warrant was issued by the ICC judges on the basis of an application by the Office of the Prosecutor. Others hailed the court for a good response to the Russia-Ukraine war, whilst others criticised the institution for overstepping its boundaries. This is because Russia, as stated above, is not a State party to the Rome Statute, which establishes the ICC. In fact, the three first world powers, USA, Russia and China are not members of the ICC.

Former US President Bill Clinton had signed the Rome Treaty but his successor, George W. Bush revoked it. It is understood that Bush was possibly afraid that American soldiers would be a target for the ICC. He, too, could have been held for crimes against humanity, wherein he authorised USs invasion of Iraq.

Respect

In terms of respect for human rights and ratification of the Rome Treaty, countries like China, Russia, Israel, Qatar, Libya and others are a non-brainer. It is only surprising that the USA is not a member of the ICC. Bringing it back home, some users of social media, mainly Facebook, hailed a move by Bonginkhosi IB Dlamini, the Chairman of the Eswatini Diaspora, to report or attempt to report a case against Eswatini. It was reported that Dlamini flew to Hague in the Netherlands to report the case. Did he know that Eswatini is not a member of the ICC? Since he is a clued-up liSwati and a former executive member of one of the countrys giant companies, I believe Dlamini, an educated fellow, was aware of the countrys status at ICC. I must state that even if a State is not a member of the court, individuals from that country can still be brought before it. The court, it must be emphasised, does not prosecute countries but individuals.

Pay attention, in terms of the Rome Statute, the ICC can only exercise jurisdiction in the territory of the following 

State Parties,

Non-State Parties that consent to jurisdiction,

State Parties that are referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council;

In this particular case, the only way that individuals from Eswatini and Russia could be brought before the ICC is through a directive from the UN Security Council. There are five permanent members of the UN Security Council. In total, there are 15 members. Interestingly, one of the Permanent members of the Council is Russia and its ally China. The other three are France, United Kingdom and the United States. It must be said that the five permanent members have the power to veto any substantive resolution. The veto is the power to block adoption of a resolution but not to prevent or end the debate.

Permanent membership in the Council was granted to the five States, based on their importance in the aftermath of World War II. Elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms, the non-permanent members are Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates. It is clear then that there was no Council resolution authorising the ICC to issue the arrest warrant for Putin. Obviously, Russia would have vetoed the resolution. China would have also done the same if Russia recused itself.

Bypassed

Who might have bypassed the UN Security Council to order the ICC judges to issue the warrant for Putins arrest? Your guess is as good as mine.

I am not condoning possible criminal behaviour in Russia, nor do I support the Russia-Ukraine war. I condemn the war in the strongest possible terms. I am only concerned about law, jurisdiction, powers and procedure. The biggest question now is who can bring individuals from Eswatini without the approval of the UN Security Council. Who can veto this resolution? Continue guessing!

I take notice that any individual, group or organisation can send information on alleged crimes to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC. These are referred to as communications. They can be sent by post, by fax or by e-mail to Hague. This is in accordance with Article 15 of the Rome Statute. The courts founding treaty grants the ICC jurisdiction over four main crimes - first, the crime of genocide. The case of genocide must be characterised by the specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means.

The prosecutors must establish that the intent should be to also cause serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. The intent is to deliberately inflict on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Humanity

Secondly, the ICC can prosecute crimes against humanity, which are serious violations committed as part of a large-scale attack against any civilian population. The 15 forms of crimes against humanity listed in the Rome Statute include offences such as murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, enslavement  particularly of women and children, sexual slavery, torture, apartheid and deportation. According to the ICC, crimes against humanity are acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population. The court prosecutes the perpetrators even if the crimes were not committed in times of war.

The third crime that the ICC has jurisdiction over or has powers to try is called war crimes. This relates to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in the context of armed conflict. The breaches include, for instance, the use of child soldiers; the killing or torture of persons such as civilians or prisoners of war; intentionally directing attacks against hospitals, historic monuments, or buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes.

Finally, the fourth crime falling within the ICCs jurisdiction is the crime of aggression. It is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, integrity or independence of another State. The definition of this crime was adopted through amending the Rome Statute at the first Review Conference of the Statute in Kampala, Uganda, in 2010. The OTP is an independent organ of the Court. It is responsible for examining situations under the jurisdiction of the court where genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression appear to have been committed, and carrying out investigations and prosecutions against the individuals who are allegedly most responsible for those crimes.

According to the ICC, it is for the first time in history that an international prosecutor has been given the mandate, by an ever-growing number of States, to independently and impartially select situations for investigation where atrocity crimes are or have been committed on their territories or by their nationals. The OTP benefits from the services of approximately 380 staff members from over 80 different nationalities. profession They include members of the legal profession, investigators and analysts, psycho-social experts, individuals with experience in diplomacy and international relations, public information and communication, and others. It is worth mentioning, that the current prosecutor is Karim Khan from the United Kingdom and his Deputies are Mame Mandiaye Niang (Senegal) and Nazhat Shameem Khan from Fiji.

How does the prosecutor start operations? Under Article 13 of the Rome Statute, there are three ways the exercise of the courts jurisdiction can be triggered where crimes under its jurisdiction appear to have been committed. The ICC explains that any State party of the Rome Statute may request the prosecutor to carry out an investigation. This was the case for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali.

As pointed out above, the UN Security Council may also refer a situation to the prosecutor. Cases referred to the ICC by the Council include Darfur and Libya. Referrals from the Council may also give the court jurisdiction over States not Party to the Rome Statute;

I have learnt that the prosecutor may also open an investigation on her own initiative after the authorisation of the judges.

Finally the prosecutor cannot, on his motion, investigate non State parties.
MANZINI - SANU graduates jumped off their chairs and sang a struggle song titled; Shohlalsiyinyova as student activists graduated wearing their own academic caps.

The Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU), yesterday hosted its 13th graduation ceremony at Zakhele Free Evangelical Assembly (FEA) Church, where a total of 647 graduates were conferred their degrees, diplomas and certificates. Among the graduates, there were three student activists, who are members of the proscribed Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and these are; the President of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO)  a youth league of PUDEMO, Sakhile Awuviva Nxumalo, former President of the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS) Colani Maseko and the Deputy Chairperson of the Manzini Regional Branch of SWAYOCO, Nontsetselelo Nkambule. The SWAYOCO president graduated with a Bachelor of Education in Leadership and Management of Inclusive Education and he obtained a Second Class, Second Division; the former SNUS president was conferred a Primary Teachers Diploma and he got a Pass with Credit.

On the other hand, the deputy chairperson of SWAYOCOs Manzini Regional Branch, was conferred a Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Sciences after getting a Pass. Nxumalo, who graduated with an Associate Degree in Architecture Technology at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) in 2018, was wearing an army green revolutionary cap with a red star. The red star is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century.

It is worth noting that in 2018 when Nxumalo graduated at LUCT, he was wearing a beret of the African National Congress (ANC), which is the ruling South African political party and there was drama as the ushers demanded that he took it off and put an academic cap, which he eventually did before he was conferred his associate degree, in front of the late Prime Minister (PM) Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, who was the guest.

Meanwhile, the former SNUS president was wearing a red beret of SNUS and Nkambule wore a black PUDEMO beret. When asked about the choice of academic caps, Nxumalo said they were inspired by Chairman Mao Zedong, a leader of the Communist Party of China, who organised Chinese people to overthrow the then ruling regime in their country. Nxumalo was the first one to be called to the high table to get his scroll and he was followed by Maseko, while Nkambule was last. When each of the trio was called, ululations filled the church and in turn, they raised their right fist in the air, which is a gesture saying amandla (power).

When it was Masekos turn, the graduates clapped hands and blew whistles as he was climbing the steps to the high table. When he got there, the graduates sang the struggle song titled Sohlalsiyinyova. In the meantime, Nxumalo and Nkambule joined him after collecting his scroll. They also joined their colleagues in the song and raised their fists into the air.

He said it was not easy to study and fight at the same.
Interview: U.S. system plutocratic rather than democratic, British commentator says

Xinhua) 16:01, April 01, 2023

LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The United States is portraying itself as the universal model of democracy, but in fact its system is "plutocratic rather than democratic," British political commentator Carlos Martinez has said.

"As a capitalist democracy, the U.S. is a democracy for the capitalist class -- the ruling class, the group of people that own and deploy capital. As many people have pointed out, it is a money democracy, and the government meets the interests primarily of the wealthy," Martinez told Xinhua in a recent written interview.

"In England we say that 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating.' Similarly, you can tell the nature of a government by its actions; by its economic, political and social priorities," he wrote.

In Martinez's view, the U.S. government "prioritizes fossil fuel profits over preventing climate breakdown; it prioritizes private medical companies and pharmaceutical industry profits over saving lives; it prioritizes the military-industrial complex over preserving peace. These priorities match those of the elite, not the people, not the vast majority of people that work for a living."

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the United States sees an increasing number of homeless people each year and declining life expectancy, he said.

"The scourge of racism is getting worse in the U.S. This structural racism is evident throughout society: in health indicators, in educational outcomes, in economic outcomes," Martinez noted.

"Black people, Latinos and indigenous Americans are far more likely to suffer chronic poverty, to live in crowded housing, and to lack access to healthcare. This is the continuing unaddressed legacy of slavery, genocide, colonization and apartheid. Does anybody seriously think this represents the pinnacle of democracy?" he asked.

"Given the state of U.S. democracy, it's nothing short of farcical that the (Joe) Biden administration persists with organizing the so-called Summit for Democracy," Martinez said.

He further said that the U.S. government is failing to improve people's lives, and so "it uses nice words about democracy to attract voters."

On geopolitics, the Biden administration is using the summit to consolidate an alliance that seeks to protect U.S. hegemony and impede humanity's movement towards multipolarity, noted Martinez, who also closely watched the first episode of the summit in 2021.

"The Summit for Democracy is, in reality, a summit for hegemony," he said.

Speaking of China's democratic practices, he said that the Chinese government is "prioritizing common prosperity, developing clean energy systems in order to protect the planet, rolling out infrastructure throughout the country, tackling corruption, building peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with the peoples of the world."

"These priorities are entirely consistent with the needs and aspirations of the Chinese people," he wrote.

Citing challenges such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and poverty, Martinez said what the world needs is genuine democracy in international relations.

"Cooperation, mutual respect, non-interference and a win-win approach are absolutely necessary to secure a safe future for humanity," he said.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
MANZINI  Over 250 parents at Manzini Central Primary School are calling for the immediate removal of one of the teachers, whom they allege beats up Grade II pupils with her crutch.

Further, the teacher allegedly bangs the pupils heads against classroom walls. The teacher, name withheld as he has not been charged with any offence, is said to have continued with her unfamiliar methods meting corporal punishment and ignored the numerous complaints from the parents.

I have registered the complaint two times with the Manzini Police Station and nothing has been done so far concerning the maltreatment that my child has been subjected to at school.

The only thing that the police have advised me to do is to report the matter to the Manzini Regional Education Officer (REO), which I have already done, one of the parents told a highly-charged meeting held at the school on Wednesday. Further, the parents revealed that their children had been reporting to them that they were being beaten by their teacher using her walking crutch during lessons.

Complain

My child has told me that his teacher beats him with a walking crutch and sometimes hits his head against the wall countless times. How many times should we complain about this teacher? Or someone is waiting for her to actually kill one of our children for them to take this matter serious?

I tried reasoning with the teacher but she told me to withdraw my children from the school if I did not like the way she mete out punishment, disclosed the parent. Other parents in the meeting alleged that the teacher in question used anything at her disposal to beat the pupils. I am not afraid of the teacher; if need be, I can take the law into my own hands, threatened another parent. It has been gathered that the parents vented their displeasure in the presence of a representative of the REO in the Manzini Region.

Assaulting

It should be noted that this same publication also ran an article whereby the same teacher was convicted by the Eswatini National Court for five months with an option of a fine of E500 for assaulting her colleague in the same school. Chairman of the School Committee, Victor Ngwenya, confirmed the parents latest concerns. Yes, the parents raised this matter during a meeting which was held at the school, whereby they were called to elect a new committee of the school. Almost all the parents disclosed that they were not happy with the way one of the teachers was meting out corporal punishment in one of the classes, confirmed the chairman.

Meanwhile, Ngwenya disclosed that as a school committee, they had done all possible means to talk to the said teacher with the hope that she would stop acting this way, but to no avail. I must say that this is pure abuse and I am very disappointed with the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) and the Swatini Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) as this matter has been reported to them several times and the teacher has continued to assault the pupils, alleged the school chairman. He said they could not be dealing with the same matter for years and this had led parents to give the REO and the schools manager a two-month ultimatum to resolve it or they would force the teacher out of the school premises.

Confirmed

Head teacher of the school, Victor Xaba, confirmed the matter and said that the parents had raised their concerns over the manner in which one of the teachers was punishing pupils at the school. I am the custodian of positive discipline; I always talk most of the time about positive interventions and I believe that if you are a teacher, you are a co-parent. Since I carried a study on the positive discipline, it should begin at home whereby the child, if he/she has done wrong, must be deprived of certain privileges, pointed out the head teacher. He said naturally, he did not believe in corporal punishment and teachers needed to come to a point where such was adhered to. Pertaining to the complaint raised by the parents, we should allow the office of the REO to handle the matter and if it fails, then it would be dealt with by the schools manager, said Xaba.

Denied

The implicated teacher, when called by this reporter, denied the allegations levelled against her. There is nothing like that, said the teacher who then hung up her phone as she refused to respond to the questions posed to her.
An Albany man has been indicted on an attempted murder charge in connection to an alleged altercation with an Oregon State Police official.

Terance Robert Beasley was arrested in March on suspicion of vehicular assault, reckless driving and more.

Court documents allege on or around Feb. 19, Beasley tried to flee police after he was signaled to stop. He is also accused of driving recklessly, attempting to cause the death of an OSP officer and attempting to cause serious physical injury to the officer using a car.

Beasley was arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court on March 8, according to Oregons online court database. During the arraignment, Judge Thomas McHill appointed Michael Lowry as Beasleys defense attorney and set bail at $500,000.

According to an indictment from Thursday, March 30, Beasley is accused of first-degree attempted murder, fleeing or attempting to elude police officer, reckless driving, first-degree attempted assault, attempted assault on a public safety officer and recklessly endangering another person.

Beasley, the victim and seven others  including five members of OSP  all appeared before the Grand Jury as witnesses prior to indictment.

An arraignment for the indictment was scheduled for Friday afternoon, March 31. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for April 4.
A Corvallis man is dead after drowning in the Calapooia River in attempts to flee deputies, according to a Linn County Sheriffs Office news release.

Elijah Lyle Robb, 43, died Wednesday, March 29 after he allegedly tried to swim across the river to escape Linn County deputies who suspected of him of stealing a vehicle.

A stolen truck

On Wednesday at around 3:53 p.m., a caller reported to dispatch that they had found a friends stolen pickup truck. The truck had been stolen from a farm in Corvallis several days before, according to LCSO.

The caller and other citizens with them followed Robb in the stolen vehicle and provided law enforcement with updated information on the 2015 Ford F550 flatbeds location.

Deputies found the truck in the area of Wirth Road in Tangent, the news release said. Robb drove it into a grass field as two citizens in pickup trucks followed. Robb reportedly crashed the truck into an embankment against a tree near the Calapooia River before fleeing on foot, running through thick brush and jumping into the water.

Robb attempted to swim across the strong current, according to LCSO, as deputies tried to locate him. Witnesses allegedly saw Robb swim back to the bank and where he hid in the brush. The news release said deputies had to cut and climb through more than 100 yards of brush to get to the bank of the river.

The sheriffs office used drones to try to find Robb, and eventually saw some clothing in the water. However, deputies could not get to the clothing so they called in the agencys water rescue team. When deputies finally made it to the bank near where the clothing was spotted, they saw Robb immobile, floating face down.

The water rescue team confirmed Robb was dead and removed him from the river, the news release said.

Other suspects

Deputies found a 2005 Ford Focus  which witnesses said was associated with the stolen truck  near the scene. Investigators learned that Albany residents Vanessa Morton, 38, Jesse Michael-Corona, 20, William Connell, 43, and Angie Nisly, 37, had all allegedly been with Robb earlier in the day committing multiple burglaries in the area.

Law enforcement recovered large amounts of jewelry and multiple electronic devices which had been reported stolen from the burglaries, according to LCSO.

Michael-Corona was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree burglary, and Nisly was arrested on outstanding warrants, the news release said.

The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests and charges are likely. According to the Linn County Jail website, Connell has been arrested on suspicion of burglary and is lodged in the Linn County Jail.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Kyle Connelly at 541-967-3950.

Multiple citizens, the Albany Police Department, the Albany Fire Department, the Linn County Road Department and the Oregon State Medical Examiners Office all assisted LCSO.

A history of crime

Robb had a lengthy list of convictions, including an open case in Linn County with alleged charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, felon in possession of a firearm and obliteration or change of identification number of firearms.

He allegedly stole a 2010 Hyundai Accent on or around Feb. 2.

Robb had felony convictions in Linn County starting back as early as 2000. Over the last two decades, he racked up multiple sentences for burglary and unauthorized use of vehicle charges.

According to previous Mid-Valley Media reporting, this long stretch of crimes got the attention of Linn County District Attorney Doug Marteeny when former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown commuted Robbs prison sentence in 2021.

At the time, Marteeny said Robb had been steadily victimizing this county since 2000. According to previous reporting, Marteeny said Robbs sentence that was commuted was for a string of 10 home invasion burglaries.

His continued criminal activity indicates he did not learn, Marteeny said in 2021. He is a grave danger to our community, and our multitude of victims deserve the peace of mind of knowing that the sentence intended by the court will be carried out.
MBABANE  Some pupils from over 10 primary schools have been scrapped out of the Free Primary Education (FPE) grant list.

According to well placed sources, the pupils parents submitted certificates with fake personal identity numbers (PINs) to the school heads during registration at the beginning of the year. The sources said the certificates were fraudulently obtained from a well-known Manzini con artist, who was producing them at a price of E200 per PIN added.

Demands

It is alleged that the parents, who were so keen to register for the FPE grant, wanted to enrol their children at an earlier age due to the fact that the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) demanded that for a child to be eligible for registration and subsequently enlisted in the FPE programme, they should at least be six years old on June 30 of that particular academic year. Let me just say your child is five years old and his birthday is June 31, where he/she would be six years old.

Parents then decide to explore fraudulent means and forge the PIN with a false date of birth which would be fixed at a date before June 30, which is an eligible date legally acceptable for a child to be admitted for his/her Grade I education, revealed the source. Further, it had been gathered that this irregularity was spotted by the ministry, where it was discovered that most of the documents and some information were not in harmony.

Investigate

Another irregularity that is said to have motivated the ministry to investigate the matter was that some schools were paid an FPE grant of over five pupils who happened to be registered with the same PIN on the list of beneficiaries. What happens is that the person who is processing these fraudulent PINs under a tree produces the same PIN for different pupils, the source pointed out. The names of all the schools except one that have been found to have such pupils will not be disclosed for now as the ministry is currently engaged in an investigation.

However, it was established that there were over 10 schools that were already under the radar and a lot of their pupils names had been scrapped from list of FPE beneficiaries. It is said that the anomaly was explained to the school heads by the accounts department under the ministry immediately after government had made this years payment for the FPE grant.

Noticed

Most of the head teacher in the primary schools in Manzini are said to have approached the Office of the Regional Education Officer (REO) after they noticed that this years payment was far less than the one they were paid in 2022. Manzini Central Primary School Victor Xaba, confirmed that his school was among the ones that were affected. My school received a payment of around E220 000 whereas we had anticipated an amount of E260 000 as it was last year. When we made enquiries with the office of the REO we were told that the names of the pupils had been scrapped off the list of beneficiaries after the ministry realised that their PINs were not ordinary (irregular) and couldnt have been produced by the Ministry of Home Affairs. We were told that was the reason their names had been removed from the list of beneficiaries, hence the lesser payment was effected by government, he explained.

Scrapped

The head teacher disclosed to Eswatini News that there were over 50 pupils in his school whose names had been scrapped off the FPE grant list of beneficiaries. Xaba had disclosed this anomaly to parents during a meeting at the school on Wednesday, where many other issues were discussed.

When asked what steps would be taken against the parents who were implicated in this anomaly, Xaba pointed out that they had already engaged the ministry. He said if there were elements of criminality, then the appropriate steps would be taken, which could see the law enforcement agencies being involved. I cannot say anything for now on the steps to be taken because soon we will be having another meeting with the parents, which will be followed by one with the ministry, Xaba said. Meanwhile, other sources within the ministry have disclosed that most of the pupils implicated in the forgery were of Mozambican nationality.

Confirmed

Manzini REO Sizwe Kunene confirmed the matter, which he said involved certain schools. I am sorry, I do not have statistics because it is still under the accounts department and the principal secretary is the one better placed to comment further on the matter you are asking me about, the REO responded. It has been gathered that some head teachers are already writing letters to the affected parents, demanding the payment of school fees. Government is currently paying E550 per pupil in the FPE programme, which began in 2010. However, the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, announced during the budget speech, that the FPE grant would be increased by 20 per cent in the 2022/2023 academic year.
A seemingly futile ongoing shuffle of homeless people from campsite to campsite continues in Corvallis, despite costly city and state sweeps and the efforts of homeless advocates.

Those who frequent Corvallis parks have likely seen the process play out at least in part. Homeless campsites are posted with notices that campers must clear out by a certain date. Then workers come in and dispose of whats left behind.

Many of the displaced campers simply hop from city to state property and back again, sometimes within a few hundred feet of their previous site. A state agencys sweep in the area of Eric Scott McKinley Skate Park this week may produce that same result.

A dozen or so skateboarders were using the downtown Corvallis skate park the afternoon of Thursday, March 30, as a much larger crowd of homeless people emerged from tents in the park and tucked away hiding spots nearby, gathering under the overpasses for a weekly offering of food and supplies.

Grilling food for the hungry, John Borowski said hes sympathetic to the plight of the unhoused, who he, his wife Trish Borowski, and a team of volunteers have been feeding weekly at the skate park for the past two years. They hope kindness helps people turn their lives around.

However, John Borowski conceded the garbage issue has gotten out of hand in some cases, pointing out that some campers keep a clean, tidy space but others create eyesores and health hazards.

The problem is evident on a stroll between the skate park/dog park area and Pioneer Park, with clusters of tents, adorned with collections of shopping carts and bicycles, as well as graffiti and various sizes of refuse piles seemingly in every direction. It's a rough appearance for a city that prides itself on its parks.

The Oregon Department of Transportation clears campers from its property beneath the overpasses around the skate park about once a month, according to David House, an agency spokesman.

House confirmed notices were posted for a sweep of the area planned to begin Thursday, April 6; those notices apparently have been mostly removed or destroyed.

Labor, equipment and disposal fees span between $3,000 and $7,000 for roughly a one-day operation in the skate park area, House said, adding cost variables can include the availability of inmate workers or the need for contractors if the work is too much for ODOT staff, which is typically the case.

House said theres a big statewide impact from homeless camping and acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue, which has risen to prominence in numerous Oregon communities as more and more tents and trash dot the landscape. Part of what motivates clearing camps is environmental and infrastructure protection, he said.

We recognize that these people are in difficult situations and thats why theyre camping, he said, emphasizing the health and safety hazards of setting up close to roadways and bridges, including an increase in pedestrian traffic-related injuries and fatalities.

Its very dangerous to be in those areas, House said, noting the issue has gotten worse in recent years. He said anywhere there are cities and highways, theres growing homeless populations, not just in Oregon but across the nation.

The city of Corvallis routinely cleans out homeless encampments in parks every couple of weeks depending on what needs addressing, according to Parks & Recreation Director Meredith Petit.

That is an ongoing effort that we do pretty regularly, Petit said, noting that Pioneer Park seems to need the most frequent service.

The city continues to spend around $10,000 a month on staffing and dump fees related to the cleanups, Petit said.

On top of the staff resources and supplies, there can be additional costs for the use of large equipment, vehicles, fuel, police assistance, management time, Public Works staff time, property damage, environmental loss or restoration, and the opportunity cost of park staff being drawn away from other work.

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

There is also the question of public safety following a March 22 stabbing at the skate park.

A 39-year-old woman and 16-year-old boy with no fixed addresses were arrested in connection with the stabbing of a 41-year-old homeless man, according to authorities. But the consensus among a handful of skaters at the park Thursday was more concern about potential thefts than personal safety.

A push for a rolling moratorium on homeless camp sweeps in Corvallis was shut down in December when city officials backed off the idea over liability concerns. The concept, brought forward by social service providers, would have publicized sweep-free periods at rotating locations, giving people an option when theyre displaced.
amasan1 at 1-04-2023 08:22 AM (3 weeks ago) (m)

Nigerian flight passenger gets dragged off a plane for inciting violence and insisting that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu cannot be sworn in to lead the country.

Nigerian flight passenger gets dragged off a plane for inciting violence and insisting that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu cannot be sworn in to lead the country.

Passenger dragged off plane for inciting violence, saying 'Tinubu cannot be sworn in' (Video)



A video making rounds on social media captured the embarrassing moment faced by a flight passenger who threatened others with his political views.



The man could be heard in the video insisting at the top of his voice that Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not be sworn in as the president of Nigeria come May 29th.

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Other passengers of the aircraft insisted that the mans presence was unwanted and involved the flights security.



Passenger dragged off plane for inciting violence, saying 'Tinubu cannot be sworn in' (Video)



The flight passenger, however, was dragged by four security officers while screaming at the top of his voice, Obidients.



See some reactions below 



Passenger dragged off plane for inciting violence, saying 'Tinubu cannot be sworn in' (Video)A video making rounds on social media captured the embarrassing moment faced by a flight passenger who threatened others with his political views.The man could be heard in the video insisting at the top of his voice that Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not be sworn in as the president of Nigeria come May 29th.AdvertisementOther passengers of the aircraft insisted that the mans presence was unwanted and involved the flights security.Passenger dragged off plane for inciting violence, saying 'Tinubu cannot be sworn in' (Video)The flight passenger, however, was dragged by four security officers while screaming at the top of his voice, Obidients.See some reactions below  Quote @Udic92138834 wrote: This is so tiring. how can an adult behave that way. APC have to understand that Nigerian dont accept the 2023 rigging for such mischievous behaviour to stop they have to do what is right. that election was not free.



@khadijakuburat noted: My advice to everyone, specifically the obedients, is to respect themselves and not be carried away by their emotions. He called his party people, but nobody responded.

Is it that none of them is on that plane? This has proven everybody is on their own. Very sad. SAY NO TO TERRORISM.



@iMajorX added: Important question; obidients claim they are large in number, thats an established fact. Why was he shouting obidient but not a single Obi-bot rose to back him?



@livinusE wrote: He is trying to save you and your family in suffering that is coming to Nigeria soon , if Tinubu swore in as a president of Nigeria , then youll wish to have Buhari back . Dollar will be $1 to N3,000 in 6 months.



@kingehimen wrote: This is not about @PeterObi, this is simply a passionate and concerned citizen crying for the destiny of his beloved nation not to be usurped by hijackersBut, I must also say this for the sake of balanced point of view, One should always be well behaved in public.

Watch the video below 

One IPOB TERRORIST who attempted to hold down a commercial plane yesterday has been apprehended. He will face the full wrath of the law.



This is what satanic sermons from the 'altar' and Obis politics of hate have turned them into.



SAY NO TO IPOB TERRORISTS ORGANISATION pic.twitter.com/oNG4jF22Ix  Ayekooto (@DeeOneAyekooto) April 1, 2023 Watch the video below 

Post Reply I am an investigative reporter at Gistmania, I conduct fact-finding investigative journalism. Posted: at 1-04-2023 08:22 AM (3 weeks ago) | Hero
Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has approved projects worth $403 million in its member countries such as Egypt, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to help boost the country's infrastructure.

The top among the go-aheads given by IsDB at its 350th board meeting held today (April 1) in the city of Jeddah, was the euro 318 million ($344.5 million) financing for Phase I of the Electric Express Train Project in Egypt.

The project was being implemented to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all by developing a 660km sustainable, green, and climate-resilient electric express railway system.

This project is expected to benefit 25 million people annually and decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 250,000 tons of CO2 annually, it stated.

Chaired by IsDB President and Group Chairman Dr Muhammad Al Jasser, the meeting okayed funds for these projects that support socio-economic development and promote sustainability in member countries in key sectors such as energy, education, and transport.

In his remarks, Dr Al Jasser said: "These transformative projects will have a significant impact on improving transportation, education, and energy, as well as promoting regional economic integration and addressing emergency situations."

"The IsDB Group remains committed to supporting its member countries in their pursuit of prosperity and resilience, particularly during these challenging times," he stated.

The Board also approved an additional financing of $13 million for the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. The bank had originally approved $50 million towards this project.

The project aims to meet the electricity demand in Afghanistan and Pakistan through the establishment of cross-border energy exchange among four IsDB member countries as part of the Banks regional economic integration strategy.

Once operational, the project will utilize efficient and environmentally friendly indigenous hydropower resources of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, creating conditions for sustainable electricity trade between Central and South Asia, said the statement from IsDB.

The third approved project is the National Education Development Strategy of Tajikistan being implemented in partnership with Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and Opec Fund for International Development (OFID).

For this IsDB has approved financing worth $35 million and the contribution of ISFD is worth $10 million.

The project aims to improve the learning environment and facilitate system strengthening for the country's sustainable implementation of an inclusive, competency-based education system, it stated.

Additionally, the board members deliberated on an emergency grant funding from the IsDB to provide support to Turkiye, and Syria in the aftermath of devastating earthquakes that struck both countries.-TradeArabia News Service.




Russian National "Illegal" Charged with Acting as Agent of a Russian Intelligence Service in the United States

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, March 24, 2023



Russian National Fraudulently Obtained Entry to the United States Using Brazilian Alias to Attend a University in the District of Columbia and Obtain Information

WASHINGTON - Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov ("Cherkasov"), 37, a national of the Russian Federation who operated as an "Illegal" agent for a Russian Intelligence Service ("RIS") under the Brazilian alias of Victor Muller Ferreira, was charged today for acting as an agent of a foreign power, visa fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and other charges stemming from his illegal activities in the United States. Cherkasov started acting as an Illegal agent in 2012 in Brazil using the Ferreira name, and he moved to the United States in 2018 after obtaining admission to a graduate school program at a University 1, a university located in the District of Columbia. Cherkasov is currently incarcerated in Brazil on fraud charges.

According to a Criminal Complaint filed on March 24, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, between 2012 and April 2022. Cherkasov acted as an illegal agent of a RIS using a Brazilian cover identity. In October 2017, Cherkasov maintained his cover as a Brazilian national to apply to graduate programs in the United States, including University 1, and he obtained admission to University 1 at the behest of the RIS. Using that same fraudulent cover, Cherkasov fraudulently applied for, and obtained, a visa to enter the United States in 2017. In March 2018, Cherkasov obtained admission to University 1, and again fraudulently applied for, and obtained, a student visa to enter the United States. According to the complaint, after entering the United States, Cherkasov fraudulently opened bank accounts at a U.S. bank under the Brazilian alias Victor Muller Ferreira and obtained a U.S. driver's license from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Cherkasov further made connections to persons of interest in the United States and maintained communications with his RIS handlers. While in the United States, Cherkasov obtained information about U.S. persons that he passed to his RIS handlers. Cherkasov obtained his graduate degree using the fraudulent Ferreira identity from University 1, and left the United States in or about May 2020. Cherkasov continued his activities for the RIS after leaving the United States, and he continued to use his connections from University 1 to obtain information about U.S. foreign policy to provide to the RIS in 2021 and 2022. Cherkasov attempted to obtain employment at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in April 2022. After being turned away by Dutch officials, Cherkasov returned to Brazil where he was arrested on fraud charges stemming from his use of the false Ferreira identity.

"When foreign adversaries, such as Russia, send undercover operatives into the United States, we will find them and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law," said US Attorney Matthew M. Graves. "Such adversaries seek to operate in secret to undermine our national security in ways that could jeopardize the safety of our citizens. With our partners in the FBI, we will root out anyone who intends to do harm to the United States and bring them to justice."

"For years, Cherkasov worked as an illegal agent for a Russian intelligence service and committed fraud against the United States," said David Sundberg, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office. "Today's criminal complaint is a result of the hard work, determination, and collaborative efforts of the FBI and our international partners in a complex investigation holding him accountable for his attempts to collect intelligence on the United States at the behest of the Russian government."

This investigation was conducted by the FBI's Washington Field Office and coordinated by the FBI's Counterintelligence Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla and Trial Attorney Heather Schmidt of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case, with support from Paralegals Michael Watts and Mariela Andrade.

Attachment(s): Download cherkasov-complaint.pdf

Topic(s): Counterintelligence

Component(s): Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

USAO - District of Columbia

Press Release Number: 23-173

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United States Files Forfeiture Action Against Over One Million Rounds of Ammunition Enroute from Iran to Yemen

Release Date: March 31, 2023

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department today announced the filing of a forfeiture complaint against over one million rounds of ammunition, thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades, and thousands of pounds of propellant for rocket-propelled grenades that the U.S. Navy seized in transit from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to militant groups in Yemen.

"This forfeiture action prevents ammunition and dangerous weapons from falling into the wrong hands and highlights the importance of our investigative work to deny criminal and terrorist networks their instruments of violence and destruction," said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. "I am extremely proud of the critical investigative role played by Homeland Security Investigations alongside our law enforcement and Department of Defense partners in a collaborative whole-of-government effort."

"The United States disrupted a major operation by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to smuggle weapons of war into the hands of a militant group in Yemen. The Justice Department is now seeking the forfeiture of those weapons, including over one million rounds of ammunition and thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. "The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable those who break our laws and threaten our national security."

"This forfeiture action aims to stop in its tracks yet another attempt by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies to fuel violence and conflict around the globe," said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. "The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia will use all our tools, including our jurisdiction to seize and forfeit assets, located abroad, to disrupt the IRGC's efforts to sow discord."

"Today's outcome should serve as a stark reminder to individuals and entities seeking to illicitly traffic in armaments that could potentially be used in a manner that is contrary to our nation's interests," said Principal Deputy Director James R. Ives of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the investigative arm of the Department of Defense's Office of Inspector General. "DCIS and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring to justice those who engage in unlawful weapons proliferation that serves to destabilize communities and countries, and contributes to a range of nefarious activities, including terrorism, organized crime, and violent conflicts."

According to court documents, on or about Dec. 1, 2022, U.S. Central Command forces seized the weapons from a flagless vessel in the Arabian Sea. The seizure included 1.063 million rounds of 7.62mmx54mm ammunition; 24,000 rounds of 12.7mmx99mm ammunition; 6,960 proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and 2,000 kg of propellant for rocket-propelled grenades.

The government's forfeiture action is part of a larger investigation of an Iranian weapons-smuggling network. The network was involved in the illicit trafficking of advanced conventional weapons systems and components by sanctioned Iranian entities that directly support military action by the Houthi movement in Yemen and the Iranian regime's campaign of terrorist activities throughout the region. The forfeiture complaint alleges a sophisticated scheme by the IRGC to clandestinely ship weapons to entities that pose grave threats to U.S. national security.

This forfeiture action is a product of the U.S. government's coordinated effort to enforce U.S. sanctions against the IRGC and the Iranian regime and are merely allegations.

The HSI Washington Field Office and the DCIS Mid-Atlantic Field Office are leading the larger investigation of the Iranian weapons-smuggling network, with substantial assistance from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in conducting the seizure.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart D. Allen, Brian P. Hudak, Rajbir S. Datta, and Anna D. Walker for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney S. Derek Shugert of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are litigating the case, with support from Paralegal Specialists Brian Rickers and Angela De Falco.



###

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March 31, 2023

Release

Readout of the 4th U.S. - Uruguay Bilateral Working Group

Department of Defense Spokesman Lt. Col. Devin T. Robinson provided the following readout:

On March 30, 2023, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Mr. Daniel Erikson, co-chaired the 4th U.S. - Uruguay Bilateral Working Group with Uruguay's Minister of Defense, Dr. Javier Garcia. The meeting took place at the Pentagon.

Established in 2011, the U.S. - Uruguay Bilateral Working Group is the forum for senior leaders from the U.S. Department of Defense and Uruguay's Ministry of Defense to discuss strategic-level defense issues and identify priorities for future cooperation. To commemorate the re-launching of this forum for the first time since 2015, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Dr. Colin Kahl, joined the meeting to provide special remarks and underscore the importance of the United States defense relationship with Uruguay.

During the meeting, DASD Erikson and Minister Garcia discussed regional security, peacekeeping, Women, Peace, and Security, defense modernization plans, defense strategy, and defense support to civil authorities.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3348417/

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Norway: third Dialogue on Security and Defence with the EU

European External Action Service (EEAS)

31.03.2023

Strategic Communications

On Thursday, The European Union and Norway held their third Structured Dialogue on Security and Defence in Oslo. The annual dialogue was launched on 25 March 2021.

The EU and Norway stand united in condemning in the strongest possible terms Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. They will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes.

Both parties expressed a firm intention to continue their excellent cooperation as they combine efforts to support Ukraine. Both sides confirmed their strong commitment to work together for securing ammunition to Ukraine. Norway is a leading and long-term contributor of financial and military support to Ukraine. In partnership with the EU, Norway contributes with significant military support to Ukraine, through a second voluntary contribution to the European Peace Facility (EPF), as part of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base and as party to the Project Agreement for joint procurement of ammunition with the European Defence Agency.

The parties also took stock of the very good results from the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine), which is another example of forceful EU-Norway cooperation. Norway supports the EUMAM Ukraine through the EPF and with instructors. The Dialogue further provided an opportunity to express a joint ambition to increase the level of Norwegian participation in EU missions.

The reinforced cooperation on security and defence between Norway and the EU helps to bolster Europe's resilience. Both sides committed to continue close partnerships in line with the ambitions reflected in the EU`s "Strategic Compass for Security and Defence" of March 2022, where Norway is described as the most closely associated partner.

Norway welcomed the establishment of the Schuman Security and Defence Partnership Forum, where Minister of Defence Bjrn Arild Gram participated on 20-21 March.

It was agreed to swiftly establish a new work strand under the Structured Dialogue concerning Security and Defence in Space, with a view to work closely together in the follow-up of the first-ever EU Space Strategy for Security and Defence.

The dialogue also included exchanges on EU-led initiatives in the area of security and defence, regional security issues (in the Sahel, South Caucasus and Moldova), maritime security and EU-NATO cooperation, including on the resilience of critical infrastructure.

The meeting was co-chaired by Charles Fries, Deputy Secretary General for Peace, Security and Defence at the European External Action Service, as well as Eivind Vad Petersson, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway and State Secretary Anne Marie Aanerud of the Ministry of Defence of Norway.

A symposium on the EU-Norway partnership on security and defence was organised in conjunction with the dialogue by Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI) and the European Union's Institute for Security Studies (EUISS). The symposium allowed for a broad and forward-looking exchange with the key Norwegian stakeholders on the future of EU-Norway security and defence cooperation.

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Large investments in the Armed Forces

Government of Norway

News story | Date: 31/03/2023

- We must have a strong and modern defense that can prevent war and defend Norway. The government therefore proposes to start four new projects for around NOK 17 billion and change ongoing projects for around NOK 6.3 billion to strengthen the Defence, says Minister of Defence Bjrn Arild Gram (Sp).

Today, the government presented Proposition 94 S Investments in the Armed Forces and other matters to the Storting.



Purchase of artillery ammunition increases production capacity

The government announced in January 2023 that artillery ammunition will be ordered from the Norwegian company Nammo for up to NOK 2.6 billion. The amount is now increased to NOK 4,245 million. The proposal is to speed up the purchase of long-range ammunition from Nammo Raufoss AS for the Army's new K9 artillery gun to increase the range to a minimum of 40 km. In this way, we ensure that the Armed Forces receive ammunition faster than planned and that arrangements are made for increased production capacity, which will give Nammo more predictable conditions to invest further in increased production capacity and ordering of raw materials for production. It is important to contribute to Norwegian and other allied defense industries increasing the rate of production, says Gram.

New maritime helicopters

- The government announced earlier in March that the US Seahawk will become Norways new maritime helicopter capacity. The first helicopters will be in place from 2025. The Seahawk is the same type of helicopter used by close allies and consists of proven technology. In the current security situation, we have put a lot of effort into putting in place a quick solution to the helicopter situation and from the time we terminated the contract on the NH-90 helicopters and until we get new maritime helicopters in place, only three years will have passed. It will strengthen national control, the Armed Forces' preparedness and presence in the northern areas, says Gram.

New buildings for air defence, improvement of the main runway and securing of areas on rland

rland air station is the Norwegian Armed Forces' main base for combat aircraft. The government proposes to make better arrangements so that the air defense units on the base can do their job more efficiently. The proposal includes a new administration building with offices and teaching rooms, and two halls for storing equipment. The government will also increase the cost limits for improving the main runway and the work to secure the area around the airport. Both of these projects are very important for the operation of the air station and for supporting own and allied air forces. Strengthens the Army The government also proposes to buy more of the bridge, engineering and rock armored vehicles for the Army. This is because the Army will grow. We are also increasing investment in electronic countermeasures in the Army, jamming equipment, to be able to disrupt an opponent's chain of command and precision weapons. In these projects, options are triggered which obligate the suppliers to industrial cooperation with Norway. The national defense industry is also positively affected by the investments.

Updates for the Inner Coast Guard

The Inner coastguard are the non-seagoing coastguard vessels, and Norway currently has five vessels in the Nornen class. The vessels now need updating of several ship technical systems to improve operations and modernization to meet current requirements for HSE. In addition, the decor needs to be updated. The vessels are relatively slow-moving and use fast-moving patrol boats to increase the radius of action and increase the number of simultaneous missions. The patrol boats must now be replaced with new equivalent patrol boats. The main goal is to ensure that Norway's five coast guard vessels in the Nornen class can continue to operate towards 2040.

Recovery of material donated to Ukraine

Large parts of the material donated to Ukraine have been taken out of the structure of the Armed Forces and must be acquired again. As of 21 March 2023, approximately NOK 4,610 million worth of material had been donated. The largest single donation that requires replacement is artillery shells for approximately NOK 1,516 million. Both the purchase of artillery ammunition, engineering and rock armored vehicles, as well as cargo vehicles involve re-acquisition after donation to Ukraine.

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Beijing, Apr 1 (UNI) Bangladesh Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Shaheen Iqbal called on Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Beijing on Saturday.



Admiral Shaheen said Bangladesh is willing to deepen practical cooperation with China in various fields, and jointly push bilateral military relations to a new height.

Noting that China and Bangladesh are friendly neighbors, Li said China appreciates Bangladesh's firm support on issues concerning China's core interests.



China stands ready to expand new exchange areas and create new cooperation highlights with Bangladesh to make greater contributions to safeguarding the common interests of the two countries as well as global and regional security, Li said.



UNI/XINHUA XC RKM
Chairpersons' Summary of Bucharest Nine Ministerial Meeting, odz, 30-31 March 2023

Poland - Gov.pl - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

31.03.2023

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Bucharest Nine countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic, convened on 30-31 March in odz, Poland, to assess the implications of Russia's aggression against Ukraine for the European and regional security. The meeting was attended by the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning.

Based on the successful outcome of the B9 Summit that took place in Warsaw on 22 February, the Foreign Ministers of the Bucharest Nine countries concentrated on:

the deteriorating security situation in Europe and our actions aimed

at strengthening the security of NATO's Eastern Flank, as well as our political and practical support to Ukraine;

at strengthening the security of NATO's Eastern Flank, as well as our political and practical support to Ukraine; the ongoing strategic adaptation of NATO to the current and future challenges in the context of the forthcoming NATO Ministerial Meeting on 4-5 April and the Vilnius Summit on 11-12 July;

perspectives for increased NATO-EU cooperation in line with the third Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation adopted in January 2023.

Taking into account our today's and yesterday's discussions, we note that the B9 countries will:

act towards the full and timely implementation of all decisions adopted during the 2022 Madrid Summit and actively engage in preparations for a substantive outcome of the 2023 Vilnius Summit, particularly when it comes to a new baseline for NATO's deterrence and defence posture, including forward defence and enhanced Allied military presence in the B9 countries;

continue to present an unwavering support to Ukraine in its fight to defend against Russia's brutal aggression. The participants will continue their military and non-military assistance to help Ukrainians repel Russia's aggression and restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity;

work towards strengthening the transatlantic link, stressing

the importance of the continued US presence in Europe, in particular on the Eastern Flank;

the importance of the continued US presence in Europe, in particular on the Eastern Flank; look forward to welcoming Finland and Sweden as NATO Allies as soon as possible;

firmly support NATO's Open Door Policy, including through enhancing practical and political strategic alignment between NATO and Ukraine;

continue a discussion on the European security, with Ukraine and Republic of Moldova as important elements of its future architecture;

support Republic of Moldova's resilience against Russia's malign influence and defence capacity building;

present a unified position with regard to condemning Belarussian support for Russia's military actions and the decision of deployment of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia in Belarus;

work towards the development of NATO-EU cooperation aimed

to strengthen the security of the Euro-Atlantic area, in particular in the context of Russian aggression .

The B9 Ministers stood united demonstrating the unity of NATO's Eastern Flank countries. The meeting confirmed that our countries are determined to work together to strengthen the whole Alliance, to reinforce its deterrence and defence posture and to continue our support to Ukraine.

Zbigniew Rau Bogdan Aurescu

Foreign Minister of Poland Foreign Minister of Romania

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Deputy Secretary General discusses NATO's innovation agenda and response to global security challenges on visit to London

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

31 Mar. 2023

NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana discussed NATO's response to global security challenges at the London Business School's Wheeler Institute for Business and Development today (31 March 2023). He said that adaptation is in NATO's genes and that in a more dangerous world, we need to invest more in our defence and security.

Mr Geoana was in London for a two-day visit, where he opened the first regional headquarters of NATO's new innovation initiative with UK Minister for Defence Procurement Alex Chalk on Thursday (30 March 2023). The European regional office of NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) will be hosted by the United Kingdom at Imperial College's Innovation Hub and supported by a regional hub in Tallinn, Estonia.

On Thursday, the Deputy Secretary General gave the annual Vincent Briscoe lecture at Imperial College's Institute for Security Science and Technology, where he addressed great power competition in an era of disruptive technologies. Mr Geoana also met with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Leo Doherty, where he thanked the UK for their strong contributions to NATO and significant support for Ukraine.

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Statement by the Secretary General on Finland's membership in NATO

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

31 Mar. 2023

I welcome the vote by the Turkish Grand National Assembly to ratify Finland's membership in NATO.

All 30 NATO Allies have now ratified the accession protocol.

And I have just spoken with President Sauli Niinisto to congratulate him on this historic occasion.

Finland will formally join our Alliance in the coming days.

Their membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger.

Finland has highly capable forces.

Advanced capabilities.

And strong democratic institutions.

So Finland will bring a lot to our Alliance.



All Allies made a historic decision last year to invite Finland and Sweden to join our Alliance.

Since then, we have seen the fastest ratification process in NATO's modern history.



All Allies agree that a rapid conclusion of the ratification process for Sweden will be in everyone's interest.

I look forward to also welcoming Sweden as a full member of the NATO family as soon as possible.

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Turkish parliament clears last hurdle in Finland's NATO membership

Iran Press TV

Friday, 31 March 2023 7:44 AM

Turkey's parliament on Thursday approved a bill that allows Finland to join the NATO military alliance, clearing the last major hurdle for Helsinki to join the US-led alliance as the year-long war in Ukraine rages on.

Ankara was the last among 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland's membership, which came after months of dilly-dallying.

All 276 legislators present in the parliament on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of Finland's bid, days after Hungary's parliament gave its nod.

Turkish Parliament's foreign affairs commission unanimously approved the Finland Bill last week, as Ankara prepares for parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14.

Earlier in March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Finland secured its NATO membership after taking concrete steps to keep promises to crack down on what Ankara describes as "terrorist groups" in Finland, and to free up defense exports.

In a statement after the vote, Finnish president Sauli Niinisto said his country is "now ready to join NATO" and thanked all the 30 member states of the Western alliance for supporting Finland's bid.

"All 30 NATO members have now ratified Finland's membership. I want to thank every one of them for their trust and support," Niinisto was quoted as saying.

"Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the Alliance. We look forward to welcoming Sweden to join us as soon as possible".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also took to Twitter to commend the decision.

"I welcome the vote of the Grand National Assembly of #Turkiye to complete the ratification of #Finland's accession. This will make the whole #NATO family stronger & safer," Stoltenberg said in a tweet.

Finland and Sweden applied to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance in 2022 after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. But the process was delayed due to reservations expressed by Turkey and Hungary.

Ankara accused Helsinki of supporting and housing Kurdish "terrorist organizations". Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban, on the other hand, claimed that Helsinki was spreading "outright lies" about his country's rule of law record.

The hard-nosed stance gradually faded, as both NATO members accepted Finland as the latest addition to the alliance.

However, both Turkey and Hungary are still united against opposing Sweden's admission to the military alliance. Ankara says it has not gone far enough in cracking down on "terrorists" inside the country.

The US State Department welcomed Turkey's ratification of Finland and encouraged it to quickly ratify Sweden's accession as well.

"Sweden and Finland are both strong, capable partners that share NATO's values and will strengthen the Alliance and contribute to European security," a spokesman for the department said on Friday.

Soon after Turkey voted for Finland's inclusion, Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin also spoke in favor of her neighbor Sweden.

"Finland stands with Sweden now and in the future and supports its application," she said.



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Cambodia faces July election without international observers

As threats and arrests continue, the EU says 'inclusive, transparent' conditions are not in place for vote.

By RFA Khmer 2023.03.31 -- The United States, European Union, France and Japan say they have no plans to send electoral observers or to provide assistance to Cambodia's election committee for July's general election.

The parliamentary election has been marred by threats and recent arrests of activists as the ruling Cambodian People's Party and Prime Minister Hun Sen work to silence and intimidate opposition figures.

"France does not intend to send national observers to monitor the July elections," the French Embassy in Cambodia said on Twitter on Wednesday. "We keep encouraging the establishment of a climate allowing the opposition, the media & civil society to function without hindrance, which is essential for fair & free elections."

The United States isn't providing assistance to the National Election Committee, but encourages a process "that is inclusive of all political stakeholders and in which all Cambodians can freely enjoy their political rights," Embassy spokeswoman Stephanie Arzate said in response to a Radio Free Asia inquiry.

"We urge authorities to strengthen multiparty democracy in Cambodia by allowing opposing political views, fostering competition through inclusive free and fair elections, and promoting the free and open exchange of ideas," she said.

Conditions in Cambodia for "holding inclusive, transparent and credible elections" are not in place, Barbara Plinkert, the EU's Head of Division for Southeast Asia, told an EU subcommittee on March 21. That's why the EU will not be sending observers, she said.

"We would need to send one already; we'd start preparation already six months before an election," she told the EU Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights. "This has not happened and ... the conditions need to be right in order to be able to meaningfully send an election observation mission."

Looking back at 2018

Japan was the largest funder of Cambodia's last general election, despite the fact that the country's main opposition party - the Cambodia National Rescue Party - had been banned by the Supreme Court on unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the 2017 commune elections.

Both the United States and EU withdrew donor support for the 2018 general elections, citing government actions seen as limiting democracy.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Phnom Penh Post in 2018 that the lack of EU or U.S. observers was unimportant, noting that in the 2013 general elections "they caused a lot of trouble."

But Cambodia did welcome election observers from Myanmar, Singapore and China in 2018. National Election Committee spokesman Hang Puthea said at the time that it wasn't going to "differentiate between democratic or non-democratic countries" in considering international observers.

RFA couldn't reach Hang Puthea for comment on Thursday. The committee is responsible for supervising elections in an impartial manner, but activists have claimed it often works on behalf of the CPP's interests.

The NEC released a statement on Monday after a meeting between Japanese Ambassador Ueno Atsushi and NEC President Prach Chan that said the ambassador "was considering help" by sending observers to the election in July.

But a spokesperson for Japan's Embassy in Phnom Penh told news website Cambodianess that it has no plans to send official observers, although no final decision has been made and Japan may informally send people to several polling stations in July as 'special guests.'"

Thach Setha's bail request denied

Interior Minister Sar Kheng recently called publicly for a smooth and peaceful election. But activists from the Candlelight Party - now the main challenger to the ruling CPP - said in mid-March that police have been monitoring their meetings and local authorities have been defacing and stealing party signs and billboards.

Candlelight Party activists in almost all provinces have reported cases of intimidation and harassment, and some people are now afraid to participate in non-ruling party activities, party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith said.

On Thursday, an appeals court denied the bail request of Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha, who was arrested in January on charges of writing false checks - charges that opposition activists say are politically motivated.

The denial of the bail request is yet another indicator that Cambodia will not hold a legitimate election this year, said Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, or Licadho.

Not having any international election observers in July would be "sad," said the executive director of Cambodia's top election watchdog, the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia.

"It's up to each country's evaluation," Sam Kuntheamy told RFA on Thursday. "But they might not have confidence that the election will be free and fair."

Hun Sen's power grip

Meanwhile, Hun Sen vowed publicly to rule the country until his death.

"Some people said Hun Sen is gripping power. I am accepting that," he said at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

"What about you? You said you want to compete for power - what does that mean?" Hun Sen said, apparently referring to opposition party leaders. "I am only defending the power that I am having - there is nothing wrong with that. Why do you want to be the prime minister? You want to fight for prime minister and I am defending it."

Hun Sen has said he will run for re-election this year and will hand power to his son, Hun Manet, after the 2028 election, at which point he will have served as prime minister for 43 years.

He has also said that he would continue in his role as CPP president after 2028, and would return to the prime minister post if his son doesn't perform well.

Political analyst Kim Sok said Hun Sen is only able to stay in power because of his use of force, intimidation and other non-electoral means.

"If there is a free and fair election, he can't cling to his power," he said. "People won't vote for him."

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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The Azadi Briefing: Fears Of A Famine Mount In Afghanistan

By Frud Bezhan March 31, 2023

The Key Issue

The United Nation's World Food Program (WFP) has warned that it is just "days away" from cutting assistance to 9 million people in Afghanistan if it does not immediately receive funding. The WFP delivers food, cash, and other assistance in emergencies.

"We urgently need $93 million to assist 13 million people in April and $800 million for the next six months," the WFP said in a tweet on March 29.

Hsiao-Wei Lee, country director for WFP Afghanistan, said that "catastrophic hunger knocks on Afghanistan's doors and unless humanitarian support is sustained, hundreds of thousands more Afghans will need assistance to survive."

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 worsened an already major humanitarian crisis and triggered an economic meltdown. Foreign governments immediately cut development funding and imposed sanctions on the new government.

For the past 20 months, multibillion-dollar aid packages have prevented a widespread famine. In 2022, the WFP received around $1.7 billion from international donors, including the United States and European nations. But donors have reduced funding this year, rekindling fears of a famine.

Why It's Important: Aid groups have repeatedly warned that emergencies in Ukraine, Turkey, and Syria, challenging global economic conditions, and the Taliban's ban on women working for NGOs could lead to a drop in donor funding for Afghanistan.

The WFP's stark comments are one of the first tangible signs of foreign governments and institutions pulling back from Afghanistan.

Aid groups now face the worst-case scenario in Afghanistan: reducing or ending food assistance to the estimated 20 million Afghans -- or around half of the population -- who are "acutely food insecure."

What's Next: It is unclear if the WFP, which is funded entirely by donations, will be able to raise the funds it needs to continue its life-saving assistance in Afghanistan.

If it does not, there could be catastrophic consequences for Afghans, 6 million of whom are already on the verge of starvation.

The Week's Best Stories

Matiullah Wesa, a widely known and respected campaigner for education in Afghanistan, was beaten and arrested by the Taliban in Kabul on March 27. His arrest on unknown charges has sparked an international outcry and highlighted the Taliban's intensifying crackdown on educators and dissent.

U.S. forces left a trove of weapons behind when they withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Some of those arms have turned up in neighboring Pakistan, where they have been used by armed groups. Experts say the Pakistani Taliban and ethnic Baluch separatist groups have obtained M16 machine guns and M4 assault rifles, night-vision goggles, and military communication gear.

Former Afghan university student Farzana Haidari operates a sewing machine in Ghor Province. She had nearly completed her degree in Persian language and literature when the Taliban banned education for women. Since seizing power, the regime has broken its pledges to allow education access and professional careers for females.

What To Keep An Eye On

At least 10 people have been killed and nearly 100 injured by heavy rain and flash floods that have struck Afghanistan, the Taliban-run National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on March 30. Spokesman Shafiullah Rahimi said around 1,000 homes have been destroyed.

The areas most affected have been the northern provinces of Parwan and Balkh, as well as the southern province of Uruzgan.

"The floods are a calamity. It's a disaster," Sufi Faqir, a farmer in Parwan, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, adding that his fields were destroyed.

Gholam Dastagir, a shopkeeper in the provincial capital, Charikar, told Radio Azadi that his shop was flooded and his goods ruined. "Now, we don't have any money to buy food," he said.

The NDMA has warned of snowfall and more heavy rain in the coming days.

Why It's Important: Scores of Afghans die every year from floods and torrential downpours, particularly in impoverished rural areas where poorly built homes are often at risk of collapse.



Decades of conflict, coupled with environmental degradation and insufficient investment in disaster risk reduction, have contributed to the increasing vulnerability of Afghans to natural disasters, according to the UN.

Recent floods and earthquakes are likely to aggravate the country's humanitarian and economic crises.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan said that "aid agencies are assessing the impact and providing aid where needed" following the latest floods. But it added that "limited funding is constraining their ability to scale up" aid to those affected by the floods.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/azadi-briefing- afghanistan-famine-floods-humanitarian-aid/32343607.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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For Years, He's Been Controversial At Home. Now Bulgaria's Top Prosecutor Is Attracting Attention Abroad.

By Todd Prince, RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service March 31, 2023

Bulgarian Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev captured national headlines on March 16 when he announced tantalizing details worthy of a crime thriller about an alleged mafia plot to oust several police chiefs and one very powerful official.

At a grand press conference in the capital, Sofia, with the head of national investigations at his side, Geshev said his team had found letters and records detailing the conspiracy while investigating a separate money-laundering case.

According to the prosecutor-general, the conspirators -- who go by names such as "Ceco from Belgrade," "Kokorcho," and "Boboka" -- were willing to pay $220,000 in bribes to achieve their goals, which also included removing him from power.

The plot, Geshev said, was a quintessential example of how the mafia, corrupt officials, and criminals "together fight against the institutions and against the [Bulgarian] state, contrary to the interest of people."

The 52-year-old prosecutor's presentation lacked hard evidence, and he did not announce any charges related to the alleged plot. With some critics calling it a show, Geshev's portrayal of himself as a target of the mafia and corrupt officials comes as he is facing increasing heat from the United States and Europe for allegedly dragging his feet on prosecuting and convicting such lawbreakers.

Bulgaria continues to rank as one of the most corrupt countries in the European Union and NATO, and there has been little to no improvement on that front over the past decade, despite constant urging by Brussels and Washington to tackle the problem.

Some experts say it has even gotten worse under Boyko Borisov -- who served as Bulgarian prime minister for most of the period between 2009 and 2021 -- and his powerful center-right GERB party. Borisov remains one of the most influential people in the country and is vying to regain the top position with his party in snap parliamentary elections on April 2, the fifth such vote in two years.

Bulgaria's endemic corruption is becoming a greater concern in Washington and Brussels because Southeastern Europe is seen as a vulnerable spot with intensifying great-power competition between NATO and Russia amid the war in Ukraine. U.S. officials say unchecked graft makes Bulgaria susceptible to malign Russian actions and is thus a threat to NATO members in the region.

Recent RFE/RL reporting into ammunition depot blasts in Bulgaria over the last decade has pointed to evidence of Russian involvement, including allegations that the Prosecutor-General's Office has procrastinated with the investigations into the explosions, a charge Geshev denies.

Firm Grip On Power

Geshev, who became prosecutor-general in 2019 in a controversial election in which he was the only candidate, formerly holds the most power to crack down on corruption and break its stranglehold over the country of 7 million people, which is located on the strategically important Black Sea.

Yet, he has made little progress in holding influential people to account in his more than three years in office, critics say. While Geshev's office occasionally announces investigations into members of the elite suspected of wrongdoing, they rarely lead to charges, much less convictions, critics say. The prosecutor-general has also been accused of abusing his power to launch political investigations and expropriate assets from businessmen, something he also denies.

Political opponents and analysts claim Geshev is beholden to Borisov and tycoon Delyan Peevski, a powerful businessman and former lawmaker who has also been embroiled in graft allegations.

Seven months after stepping into the nation's top legal job, Geshev sent investigators into the presidential palace to search the office of an adviser to President Rumen Radev. An opponent of Borisov and Peevski, Radev had initially rejected Geshev's candidacy for the post of prosecutor-general.

A career prosecutor, Geshev already had a questionable reputation when he was nominated by a council largely comprised of Borisov and Peevski loyalists. From 2014 to 2018, he headed the Specialized Criminal Prosecution, an office set up ostensibly to fight corruption.

In material distributed on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2020, Marshall Harris, a former U.S. State Department official who has lobbied on behalf of Bulgarian businessmen facing criminal charges at home that they call trumped up, described a specialized court where Geshev prosecuted cases as a tool "to stifle political opposition, capture businesses, and torment their owners into submission by all means necessary." It was shut down in 2022 by parliament, reportedly against Geshev's will.

Geshev's decision to raid the office of the presidential adviser in the summer of 2020 came amid public anger over corruption in Borisov's government, giving more fuel to a growing protest movement. Demonstrators soon demanded the dismissal of Geshev along with several ministers, but the prosecutor-general weathered the monthslong storm.

Unlike ministers, Bulgaria's prosecutor-general cannot be fired by the prime minister. That power lies with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), a 25-member body composed of legal experts chosen by prosecutors, judges, and lawmakers. The members, who serve five-year terms, include subordinates of the prosecutor-general.

That structure makes it hard to fire the prosecutor-general once he is elected and is one of the main problems of the judicial system, Harris said. The SJC last year voted 16-2 against a request by Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova to dismiss Geshev for both his "actions and inactions." Geshev said Yordanova's request was politically motivated.

The Bulgarian prosecutor-general has more power than counterparts in the European Union. The nation's top law enforcer oversees the work of all other prosecutors and holds the final say on whether to initiate, prolong, or end an investigation. It is almost impossible to prosecute the prosecutor-general for crimes.

"The prosecutor-general is the only unaccountable high-ranking [Bulgarian] public official who enjoys such immunity and privileges," Ekaterina Baksanova, a Bulgarian legal expert, wrote in a 2020 report.

Washington and Brussels have been pushing Bulgaria for years to reform its legal system to make the Prosecutor-General's Office less centralized and more accountable, in line with EU standards. However, proposed legal reform bills have been shot down by Borisov's GERB party.

Western Sanctions

In what some experts say is a sign of the West's frustration with the Bulgarian Prosecutor-General's Office's lack of will to fight graft, the United States and the United Kingdom last month slapped sanctions on several Bulgarian politicians and tycoons for alleged corruption.

In its February 10 statement announcing five designations, the United States said the fact that the men in question had long been prominent in Bulgarian politics highlighted the "critical need for the political will to implement rule of law reform and to fight corruption."

It was the second time in less than two years that the United States imposed economic and visa penalties on the Bulgarian elite. The individuals sanctioned by the United Statess and Britain include Peevski, who also controlled large swaths of the nation's media industry. Peevski officially sold his media businesses following the announcement of U.S. sanctions, but critics believe he still has significant influence over them.

The United States has now sanctioned eight Bulgarian individuals and dozens of Bulgarian entities, more than any other EU country.

"I think in Washington there's a great deal of frustration that no matter what happens, the Bulgarians are unwilling to root out the endemic corruption that has been around for so long," Jim Warlick, the former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria from 2009-11, told RFE/RL, adding that graft appears to have gotten worse in Bulgaria in recent years.

Geshev, however, seemingly interpreted the Western sanctions as an endorsement of his office's hard work. In a statement to RFE/RL, Geshev's spokesman, Veselin Ivanov, noted that the Prosecutor-General's Office had already charged several of the eight designated individuals with crimes prior to the imposition of sanctions.

"It may be considered that the imposed sanctions confirm the work of the Bulgarian prosecutor's office," Ivanov said.

However, Geshev has not charged the individuals with the crimes alleged in the U.S. sanctions report. Nor has he charged Peevski or Ilko Zhelyazkov, a former national security official who, according to a 2021 statement from the U.S. Treasury Department announcing sanctions on the two men, was Peevski's "front man." None of the eight men has been convicted to date, though some trials are continuing.

In the Treasury Department's 2021 statement announcing sanctions on Peevski, the United States implied he had sway over the Prosecutor-General's Office. According to the statement, Zhelyazkov once threatened to have criminal charges filed against a potential Bulgarian government minister if the minister did not provide "further assistance upon appointment."

RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service attempted to contact Zhelyazkov in 2021 when the sanctions were first announced but received no reply. His whereabouts are unknown.

Warlick said taking legal action against people like Peevski is difficult.

"They're very influential and well connected and very hard to get at," he said. Prosecutors are indeed sometimes "real targets" of organized crime, Warlick said.

But that is no excuse for some U.S. officials.

In December 2022, prior to the most recent designations, U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (Republican-Ohio), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, complained about Geshev in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, claiming that the prosecutor-general failed to combat corruption, stop sanctions evasion by Russia, or bring charges against Peevski and Zhelyazkov.

In the written reply to RFE/RL, Geshev's spokesman Ivanov said Davidson had been "misled" by the lobbying efforts of Bulgarian businessman Tsvetan Vassilev, describing the former bank owner as part of a "malicious Russian influence" campaign. Vassilev, who lives in exile in Serbia, has been employing the services of Washington-based lobbyists for years to convince the United States to impose sanctions on Bulgarian officials, including prosecutors.

Vassilev had been the majority shareholder of Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), the nation's fourth-largest bank. In 2014, Bulgarian prosecutors raided CCB on allegations of embezzlement, triggering a run on deposits that caused the bank to fail. Vassilev claims his innocence and has accused prosecutors of fabricating the embezzlement case to expropriate the bank.

Ivanov also dismissed Davidson's complaint regarding combating Russian influence, noting the prosecutor-general had convicted and deported 11 Russian diplomats charged with spying. He has also charged six Bulgarians with spying for Russia, Ivanov said, although none of the Bulgarians accused of spying has been convicted.

Davidson's office declined further comment when contacted by RFE/RL. J.C. Boggs, a lobbyist who most recently presented Vassilev's case on Capitol Hill, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Lobbying Washington

During his press conference on March 16, Geshev speculated that Vassilev may have been part of the alleged conspiracy to drive him from office. He said the name VTB was mentioned in one of the documents found by investigators, alongside a figure representing millions of dollars. He questioned whether VTB was a reference to the Russian state-owned bank that was a partner of Vassilev and, if so, what connection it had to payments made by "Ceco from Belgrade" to an unknown lobbyist.

Harris, the former U.S. State Department official and Bulgaria expert, said Geshev's presentation was "nothing more than theater." Harris, who served at the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria in the late 1980s and early '90s, now lobbies for the Bobokov brothers, Bulgarian businessmen who claim Geshev's office falsely brought criminal charges against them in order to seize their businesses. Harris also recently represented Minyu Stakov, another businessman who made similar claims against Geshev.

The former State Department official said the alleged plot allows Geshev to garner the spotlight in Bulgaria and "adopt his favorite posture: not only as the sole protector and provider of justice in an otherwise corrupt society, but also as the victim of multiple criminal conspiracies involving myriad enemies of good arrayed against him."

Five weeks after Davidson sent his critical letter to the U.S. Treasury secretary, Geshev traveled to Washington at the invitation of two congressmen to attend a House of Representatives forum on counterbalancing Russian and Chinese influence in Europe.

The forum, organized by Representative Pete Sessions (Republican-Texas) and Representative Robert Aderholt (Republican-Alabama), coincided with the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual, exclusive event attended by the sitting U.S. president, members of Congress, and other prominent figures.

In a press release prior to his trip, Geshev said he would be attending the breakfast, although he was not invited to the actual event. Like other foreign officials, he watched it from a screen in a Washington hotel conference room.

Geshev separately met with Sessions and Aderholt during his trip to Washington but, contrary to experts' expectations, he did not have any official meetings with the State Department or Justice Department, a possible sign he is not seen as a reliable interlocutor by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

The offices of Sessions and Aderholt did not respond to RFE/RL requests for comment on why Geshev was invited to the forum and what message they delivered to him. In a statement to RFE/RL, the State Department said it was "not aware of any official meetings between Mr. Geshev and [State] Department representatives." It also said it generally does "not comment on relationships with specific government interlocutors."

If Geshev saw the Washington invite as a way to counter the negative media headlines triggered by Davidson's letter, it probably had little impact on his image at home, said Robert Phillips, a political science professor at the Sofia-based American University in Bulgaria.

"Those who support him would see it as a positive, and an indication that he can move in Washington circles. Those who do not support him are not going to be persuaded by these meetings," Phillips told RFE/RL.

While the Bobokov brothers have been able to successfully defend their assets, they would like to see Geshev legally removed from power because of what they claim is his abuse of power, Harris said.

He described Geshev as "the biggest threat" to Bulgarian democracy and justice.

"Until Geshev is removed from office, Bulgaria cannot recover from the dismantling of its democracy by Borisov and his GERB party," he said.

That is unlikely in the near term. Bulgaria is currently so politically divided it has been unable to form a stable government over the past two years. Harris, like others, doesn't expect the April 2 parliamentary elections to generate a workable coalition.

As a result, he doesn't see Geshev leaving power before his term ends in 2026.

"Bulgaria is on a bad path, and I don't think it's going to get off for the foreseeable future because there's not going to be a clear leader," he said.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-ivan- geshev-prosecutor-corruption-critics-west/32343883.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Special Online Briefing with U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, Ambassador Julianne Smith

Special Briefing

Ambassador Julianne Smith

March 31, 2023

Summary

U.S. Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Ambassador Julianne Smith, discusses NATO and strengthening relationships with South Asia and the Indo-Pacific. She then takes questions from participating journalists.

MODERATOR: Greetings to everyone from the U.S. Department of State's London International Media Hub. I would like to welcome our participants dialing in from South and Central Asia and around the world for this on-the-record briefing with U.S. Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Ambassador Julianne Smith. Ambassador Smith will discuss NATO and strengthening relationships with South Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

We will have some opening remarks from our speaker, and then she will take questions from participating journalists.

I will now turn it over to Ambassador Smith for her opening remarks. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Well, thank you so much, and let me thank our London Media Hub for facilitating this exchange, which I'm looking forward to. And I'm especially appreciative of those in the region who have had to stay up quite late for this call, so thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules and for taking a little time out of your evening.

Happy to speak with you today, and certainly talk a little bit more about how NATO engages with South Asia and across the Indo-Pacific more broadly. But first, before I get into NATO issues, I just wanted to say the partnership between the U.S. and India as well as with other Indo-Pacific countries are certainly among some of the most consequential relationships that the United States has. We work, as all of you know, very closely together on our shared top-drawer, top-order priorities. Those include increasing mutual prosperity, supporting democracy, addressing the climate crisis, and upholding the rules-based order, including the UN Charter.

Now, on NATO specifically, some of you may have heard the NATO secretary general. He frequently notes that with global strength also comes global responsibilities, and India certainly plays a crucial role in ensuring a free and open region that's connected, that's prosperous, secure, and resilient as well. And this of course aligns perfectly with the values that we are here to protect and preserve inside the NATO Alliance, particularly as we address 21st century threats, whether it's climate or pandemics, hybrid tactics in warfare, resilience, or new domains such as cyber and space, or even whether we're talking about more traditional security areas like proliferation and maritime security, as well as the potential application of emerging and disruptive technologies.

We here inside the NATO Alliance, we look to our Indo-Pacific partners to share their own national perspectives, their own insights, lessons learned with NATO partners, and we cherish those exchanges. And certainly in an era of strategic competition, where the core principles of international security are certainly contested, NATO must work even more closely with these likeminded countries.

Now, let me just say a few words about what's going to happen next week. We have, as many of you know, a foreign ministerial here at NATO HQ, here in Brussels, which will take place on April 4th and 5th. The NATO foreign ministers will also have the chance to meet with our Indo-Pacific partners. Those are the four countries of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. We will also be at the ministerial devoting a session to the NATO-Ukraine Commission and discussions on Russia's ongoing brutal, unprovoked war in Ukraine, which, as you all know, is dragging on into its second year.

We've called and we continue to call on Russia to end this war. Of course, President Putin could end this war today if he so desired. And we want Russia to end this war on just terms that respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russia remains the sole obstacle to peace in Ukraine. Russia's invasion has unleashed unconscionable bombardments hitting schools, hospitals, churches, apartment buildings, and critical infrastructure to exact the heaviest toll on civilians. Russia's savage attacks on Ukraine are the latest demonstration that President Putin currently has no interest in meaningful diplomacy. We have not seen any indication that Putin has an interest in heading to the negotiating table anytime soon, tragically.

Finally, I'll just say Ukraine's fight right now is something that we all consider to be part of something much, much bigger. We know that if we stand by in the face of such blatant attacks on liberty, on democracy, and the core principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, the world would surely face worse consequences, and other countries may draw very unfortunate lessons in the global community's ability to stand tall and defend those key principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

So the United States and our allies and partners will continue to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend its people and its territory against Russian aggression for as long as it takes.

And with that, I'll leave it there and happy to take your questions about what's happening inside NATO Headquarters as it relates to the Indo-Pacific and our partnership with various countries in the region, or broader questions about Ukraine, what Russia is doing in Ukraine, or certainly any questions that may surface as it relates to the ministerial next week. So thanks again for taking the time.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Ambassador Smith. We will now begin the question-and-answer portion of today's call. Our first question is a pre-submitted question, and it comes from Rishikesh Kumar of Press Trust of India. Rishikesh asks, "How do you see NATO's evolving role in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific given China's assertive stance along the border with India and other neighbors?"

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Well, thank you for that question. So NATO has really shifted in a pretty noticeable way in terms of how it conducts outreach and engages with its partners in the Indo-Pacific. If you go back, I would say five, six, seven years, you would find an alliance that didn't necessarily have a particularly rich agenda with the countries in the Indo-Pacific. But in recent years, what NATO has started to do is to include mention of the Asia Pacific and the Indo-Pacific, first and foremost in some of its strategic documents. And so there I would cite NATO's Strategic Concept, which was rolled out last summer at the Madrid Summit, and many of you know that this is the first time that the Alliance acknowledges the importance of focusing on the PRC as a systemic challenge for the Alliance, and why it's important for NATO Allies to enhance and deepen its relationship across the board with partners in the region - and NATO has done just that.

We increasingly are bringing our friends from the Indo-Pacific into NATO Headquarters, into ministerials, into what we call the North Atlantic Council, into summits so that we can learn from our partners in terms of what they're experiencing - just general challenges to their own security and the key principles that we all hold dear. We're sharing best practices and building new capabilities, whether it's in looking at cyber or climate security or emerging and disruptive technologies. And we're looking for ways to really benefit from each of our individual experiences, whether it's across the Atlantic from the United States or across the Pacific from the United States. The U.S. is very interested, and President Biden is increasingly interested, in ways to bring together American - America's allies across the Atlantic, across the Pacific, to, again, bring about a collective opportunity for us to share ways to counter hybrid tactics.

And I think the developments that we've seen inside the NATO Alliance reflect that priority, and I think you're going to hear a lot more in the summit this summer, which will take place in Lithuania in July, about how we're now implementing and executing some of the ideas that appeared in NATO's Strategic Concept.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll go to Sidhant - we'll go to Sidhant Sibal next, from WION. Sidhant, go ahead and ask 

QUESTION: Hi, Madame.

MODERATOR: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi, Madame. Sidhant from WION. My question is: Is there or has there been any engagement between India and the NATO when it comes to official level, or any level, if you can confirm or talk about that? And has there been a discussion during those meetings on the Chinese aggressiveness with India?

AMBASSADOR SMITH: So there has been just some informal exchanges among some NATO officials and some representatives from India at what is called the Raisina Dialogue. I think we're all familiar with this forum that really brings together a wide collection of experts from the global community to talk about a variety of shared security challenges.

And there has been some exchanges on the margins of the Raisina Dialogue, which is a start and has opened up the conversation a little bit. But certainly, the NATO Alliance is open to more engagement should India seek that. NATO currently has 40 different partners around the world, and each individual partnership is different. Various countries come through the door seeking different levels of political engagement or sometimes countries are much more interested in working on, say, interoperability or standardization questions. So they vary.

But I think the message that has already been sent back to India is that the NATO Alliance certainly is open to more engagement with India should that country take an interest in pursuing that.

MODERATOR: The next question is a pre-submitted question, and it comes from Geeta Mohan of India Today. "Is there a future where India could play a military role in the Indo-Pacific? And is NATO a united house or a divided house?"

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Well, so two questions there. On the first one, I would say I really leave the question of whether or not India could play a stronger military role in the hands of the Indian Government, and would certainly hesitate to answer that question on behalf of India. So I'll set that one aside.

But the second one on whether or not the NATO Alliance is united or divided, I can say with certainty, from where I sit here in NATO Headquarters each and every day, that the Alliance is firmly united right now. We're united in common purpose and we're united around our support for Ukraine and its defense of its own territory. We're united in applying maximum pressure on Moscow to try and get Moscow to stop this ongoing war inside Ukraine. And we're united around the fact that we have all taken serious steps over the last year to reinforce NATO's eastern flank so that those countries on NATO's eastern edge feel like the Alliance is adequately addressing their security and defense needs.

I think sometimes folks may have the impression that this is a slogan, but I can tell you that it's real and we live this each and every day here inside the Alliance. As you might imagine, with 30 Allies, we do have our differences from time to time. There's no question about that. But based on 75 years of working together - almost 75 years; the Alliance will turn 75 next summer - next spring, actually - based on that wealth of experience, decades of experience of building consensus and ironing out our differences and coping with Allies that have different perspectives or aren't prepared to move forward on a particular proposal, we can bring that collective experience to bear in ironing out differences and working towards consensus.

And honestly, I don't think I've ever seen the Alliance more united than I have today, and I'm confident that we won't see cracks in the Alliance in the months ahead. Again, Ukraine has really brought this Alliance together and it has really enhanced our partnerships with other countries. We have now Sweden and Finland that decided to join. Other countries aren't necessarily joining but are looking to enhance their relationship with the NATO Alliance or strengthen their relationship.

So I think we will look back on 2022 and 2023 as two very pivotal moments for this Alliance in terms of a renewed sense of purpose and a common sense of mission as it relates not only to what's going on in Ukraine, but just the broader security environment that we're tackling.

MODERATOR: Next we'll take a live question from Manish Jha of TV9.

Okay, I think we're having a technical difficulty with that question. We will move on to one of the questions from the question-and-answer tab, from Shashank Mattoo of Livemint: "Can the ambassador confirm if NATO is interested in setting up a regular political dialogue with India? Some Indian media had reported that NATO held an informal dialogue with the Indian Government on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue."

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Well, again, I think that's something that I touched on just a few minutes ago. There was some engagement on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue. And again, I think NATO is more than happy to engage in other ways or in other forums as the opportunities present themselves. I think there's certainly a willingness here to sit down at any time should India desire to do so.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We will go back to Manish Jha. Manish, please go ahead.

QUESTION: Hello, can you hear me?

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Yes, I can.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you. Good evening, ma'am. So my question is that Russia and China both are continuously calling Indo-Pacific as Asia-Pacific. So does it make any sense to you? And what do you think that why they are calling it the Asia-Pacific? Is it any strategic meaning of that?

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Well, I don't think I have any great insight on that front. I will say that obviously we've been watching this relationship between Russia and China quite closely over the last year in particular, ever since in February of last year they announced a no-limits partnership. That certainly captured the attention of NATO Allies. We've watched as the relationship has evolved, it's deepened. We've been disheartened to see Chinese political support for what Russia is doing in Ukraine. And as you well know, the United States has been very clear in warning the PRC about the risks and dangers of providing any sort of materiel support to the Russians for the ongoing war inside Ukraine.

So this is - this is a partnership that is discussed and certainly monitored quite closely here, across the Alliance. And we're well aware of the kind of playbook of hybrid tactics that both of these countries rely on, and their desire to erode both our technological edge that exists here across the Alliance, and more broadly the rules-based order. So this is something that's increasingly becoming part of the conversation here at NATO Headquarters.

MODERATOR: Next we will go to a pre-submitted question from Srinjoy Chowdhury of Times Now of India. Srinjoy writes: "Russia has brought up nuclear weapons. It has also accused the U.S. establishment of testing biological weapons in Ukraine. What are your comments?"

AMBASSADOR SMITH: So we have heard a considerable amount of nuclear saber-rattling from the Russians over the last year. And we've warned - we, the United States - we've warned Russia in very clear terms about the severe consequences they would face were they to use nuclear weapons, tactical nuclear weapons, inside Ukraine.

As far as we can tell right now, we don't have an indication that Russia is really preparing to use these types of weapons. It's something we're monitoring quite closely. Obviously, we saw the recent announcement about stationing nuclear weapons inside Belarus. This is something that the Russians have talked about doing before. Again, we'll be monitoring closely to see how this unfolds in terms of actual action. So far we've heard a lot of bluster and rhetoric on nuclear weapons, and we'll be watching to see what this means in terms of what Russia actually either constructs or moves into Belarus. And obviously, that'll be something that the Alliance will want to watch quite carefully.

But again, this is a subject that we take on quite regularly here, and something that we all feel we need to monitor very, very closely.

MODERATOR: Next we will take a live question from Nayanima Basu of ABP LIVE.

QUESTION: Hello, am I audible?

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Yes.

QUESTION: Okay, hi. Thank you for doing this, Ambassador Smith. Just quickly to ask two questions. When you say that NATO is open to more engagement should India see that - just to be clear, the discussions that you are having - between U.S. and India - would you really want India to be a member of NATO? If you can shed some light on that.

And also, on this ministerial that you will be having on April 4th and 5th, have you invited India? If not, then why? If yes, then why? Thank you so much for doing this.

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Yeah, sure. So no, membership is not something that we've really considered with anyone in the Indo-Pacific or the Asia Pacific. The Alliance remains a Euro-Atlantic military alliance. Its door is open to this region. But there are no plans by the Alliance to expand this into a broader global military alliance.

In terms of the ministerial next week, the four countries that I mentioned - Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Japan - these are four countries that have already established formal partnerships with the Alliance over many years. They've worked closely with the NATO Alliance on shared security challenges. They've sent various briefers in to ensure that we're sharing best practices and particular insights into, say, the hybrid tactics that some of our adversaries are using on a regular basis.

So these relationships have been ongoing; we've been working to strengthen these relationships. These are four countries that joined us at the summit last year in Madrid, and also for the first time joined a NATO foreign ministerial exactly a year ago in April of 2022. So I would describe the - NATO's relationship with these four Indo-Pacific countries as more advanced, where we've been able to have tailored partnerships between NATO and each of those individual countries.

In terms of the future with India, again, I think NATO's door is open in terms of engagement should India be interested, but we would not want to, at this stage, invite them to a NATO ministerial until we knew more about their interest in engaging the Alliance more broadly.

MODERATOR: Our next question goes to Abhishek Kapoor of Republic TV.

QUESTION: Am I audible, Ambassador?

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Yes - yes.

QUESTION: All right, good evening from here. My question to you is that a - of course I have asked it and some part of it has been answered about NATO's role in the Indo-Pacific, but I want to add another question to what I have asked and which is about Russia, or President Putin actually, coming out with a national foreign policy statement today in which they say that Russia would continue to build a privileged strategic partnership with the Republic of India. And the partnership has really panned out really well, despite the war in Europe. So how does NATO see India's role vis-a-vis Russia, despite the fact that there are issues we have with China, for example?

AMBASSADOR SMITH: Well, I think - let me just say we've - first of all, I would say we - both at NATO and certainly in the United States, we welcome what India has been able to do for the people of Ukraine. We're very grateful to the humanitarian assistance - for the humanitarian assistance that India has been able to provide, which is critical right now - and those needs are only growing - and certainly appreciate calls coming from India for some sort of an immediate end to the war in Ukraine. That's important. And we have been in constant communication, continuous communication with India about what more we can do together to hold Russia accountable. And we've done that and worked with India and spoken with India several times since Russia started this war inside Ukraine.

Although we do not always - we the United States and India - do not always share exactly the same policy approaches, we do share a commitment to upholding the rules-based order and ensuring that the key principles of the UN Charter, particularly as they relate to sovereignty and territorial integrity, that those principles are respected and defended. So I think that's the most important part of our relationship, how U.S. and India can come together to defend the UN Charter and work together to call out Russia to end this war as soon as possible.

MODERATOR: And that concludes today's call. I'm sorry that we could not get to all questions today. I would like to thank Ambassador Smith for joining us, and I would like to thank all of our journalists for participating. If you have any questions about today's call, you may contact the London International Media Hub at MediaHubLondon@state.gov.

# # #

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VP Harris Ends Africa Tour With Personal Stop in Zambia

By Anita Powell March 31, 2023

Vice President Kamala Harris landed Friday in Zambia, the final stop on her weeklong tour of the continent.

While there, she discussed debt restructuring with that nation's president and announced a range of private-sector commitments worth more than $7 billion, aimed at supporting climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation.

But for Harris, this stop was a special one - she visited the southern African nation as a young girl, when her grandfather was stationed here as an Indian diplomat.

"A homecoming" is how Zambia's president described Friday's visit by Harris, as he led her through the lush grounds of the presidential palace where zebras, giraffes and peacocks roamed.

Harris, too, basked in nostalgia as she made an unannounced stop at a property in central Lusaka  now occupied by a modern, nondescript office compound  where records show her grandfather once lived.

But this two-day stop at the tail end of her Africa tour also involved a difficult subject  the landlocked but copper-rich nation was the first African nation to default on its sovereign debt when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. On Friday, President Hakainde Hichilema appealed to Harris for U.S. help in restructuring the debt, which is nearing $15 billion.

"What is keeping us down for now, Vice President, is the debt overhang," he said. "We carry a debt burden that really is making it difficult for us to continue with our restructuring process of the economy. And it's actually beginning to negate on the gains we've already made, such as in the foreign exchange market.

"And the earlier we resolve this matter, the better, and we ask for your support, as always, and the support of others to deal with that. And we know when we unlock the debt, more investments will come, and we know that when more investments come, we will create jobs for our young people."

Harris announced a range of private- and public-sector commitments, covering anti-corruption efforts, economic and democratic reforms, agriculture and more. And she supported his call for restructuring the debt, most of which is owed to Chinese lenders.

"We will continue to advocate for speedy finalization of Zambia's debt treatment and the restructuring, and we have talked extensively about that," she said. "Our administration believes the international community needs to help countries such as Zambia regain their footing. So I will reiterate a call I have made many times for all bilateral official creditors to provide a meaningful debt reduction for Zambia."

Her visit to Zambia also includes a trip to a farm outside Lusaka and a meeting with entrepreneurs. Throughout this weeklong trip that took her across the continent, Harris has reflected publicly on the historic ties between Africa and the U.S.

She spoke of the evils of slavery  and the importance of teaching accurate history, even when it is painful  after she toured the slave dungeons in Ghana's infamous Cape Coast Castle. And she spoke proudly of President John F. Kennedy's historic meeting with the man considered the father of modern Tanzania, its first president, Julius Nyerere.

But Zambia was personal, and the work of her grandfather  who served as an adviser to Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, in the 1960s  influenced her own trajectory to the highest office ever occupied by an American woman.

"He cared deeply about freedom and independence," she said of her grandfather. "And I was the eldest grandchild and so I got the benefit and the blessing of a lot of time with him as a young child, where he would really talk about that. ...

"He believed in the nobility of public service. He believed in fighting corruption. These are things we would talk about a lot, and I don't think until I was older I realized how that just subconsciously influenced the way I think in very strong ways."

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Mozambican Government Asks for Help Fighting Terrorism

By Charles Mangwiro March 31, 2023

For the first time, Mozambique's Defense Minister Cristovao Chume has asked foreign military personnel stationed in the country to share their knowledge with Mozambique's security forces to help end violent extremism.

Chume told reporters Thursday in Maputo that his country wants the new military attaches of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Portugal and Ukraine to share their experiences to aid the fight against the Islamist insurgency that has raged in oil-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2017.

In the past, officials have said the situation in Cabo Delgado was under control.

Chume said the African continent is faced with the challenges of terrorism and other transnational crimes, which require a collective effort by states to eradicate. He asked that the new defense attaches work to streamline the ongoing cooperation between nations and discuss new opportunities that are of common interest to them all.

Mozambique has not been open about requesting assistance to fight the insurgency, mainly fought between militant Islamists and jihadists attempting to establish an Islamic state in the region, and Mozambican security forces.

Civilians, public institutions and private vehicles have been the main targets of terrorist attacks.

Chume said a multifaceted approach that consists of a military response and the implementation of local development programs in the affected areas is needed to eradicate terrorism.

In the military response, he said, the government has the support of the Defense Forces of Rwanda and of the regional Southern African Development Community's mission. Likewise, he said, the country is benefiting from the support in terms of training provided by the United States and European Union, which has increased the combat capacity of Mozambique's defense and security forces.

Meanwhile, in New York on Thursday, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi told a meeting of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission that Mozambique, with the help of other countries, needs to do more to fight terrorists.

Mozambique holds the rotating U.N. Security Council presidency for March and Nyusi was reported by state-run Radio Mozambique as saying fighting continues in Cabo Delgado.

Terrorism is not yet over in Mozambique, he said, and though the terrorists are fragile, they are active, looking for new ways of acting and trying to win the minds of the population, especially young people.

The insurgency has claimed thousands of lives since it broke out in 2017 and has disrupted multibillion-dollar natural gas projects.

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India's NHPC to build Nepal's Phukot Karnali Hydro project

Kathmandu/New Delhi, Apr 1 (UNI) Nepal has decided to build the 480 MW Phukot Karnali Hydroelectric Project, in Kalikot district in far western Nepal, under a joint investment between the Vidhyut Utpadan Co Ltd (VUCL), an undertaking of the Nepalese government, and Indias NHPC Ltd, a media report said.

Surya Rijal, managing director of the company, was quoted as saying that the company has decided that 51 percent of the project will be invested by India government-owned NHPC and 49 percent by Nepals VUCL.

Our discussion has been going on for a year. The board had passed this decision earlier too. However, we couldn't make the decision. It should be approved by the Council of Ministers as well," he said.
DR Congo Trapped in Cycles of Brutality and Misery

By Lisa Schlein March 31, 2023

Human rights experts warn that ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has trapped the country in continuing cycles of brutality and misery, which will not end until the fighting ends.

The experts, who participated in an in-depth examination of the human rights situation in the DRC at the U.N. human rights council Thursday, deplored the further deterioration of political and civic rights and the escalation of conflict-related violations since the council last reviewed conditions in the country in October.

The United Nations says that armed violence has forced more than 6 million people in the DRC to flee their homes, making this the highest number of internally displaced people on the African continent.

Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, warns the conditions leading to the deteriorating situation are worsening as the violence of numerous armed groups, notably in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, escalates.

"The armed groups, M23, ADF, CODECO, Zaire and Nyatura, continue to carry out egregious attacks against the civilian population and they do this with full impunity," said Turk.

He said at least 1,338 people, including 107 children, have been killed in the eastern provinces.

"The targeted violence endured by civilians in the conflict-affected areas include sexual violence, sexual violence of extreme brutality. This has historically been used as a deliberate weapon in the DRC and as a strategy of terror."

He said the violence suffered by broad segments of the population in the DRC was fueled by impunity and by corruption.

"As a consequence, not only is the population deprived of any form of safety or security, they also are deprived of a legitimate part of the country's wealth."

The high commissioner added that the people of the DRC have a right to live in peace and without the fear engendered by "these continuing cycles of brutality and misery."

More than 100 armed groups operate in the eastern DRC. Human rights experts have expressed concern particularly about the continued hold of large swathes of territory by M23 rebels in North Kivu's Petit Nord region, noting that violent attacks by the group against local communities and villages have displaced nearly 900,000 people.

"At the same time, tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda have continued to increase and are worrisome," said Bintou Keita, the head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force, MONUSCO.

The DRC has accused Rwanda of backing M23 rebels, charges the Rwandan government denies.

Keita said ongoing violence in the east was disrupting preparations for presidential elections in December. Thousands of Congolese, she said, have been dissuaded from participating in the preparations because of insecurity.

"I also note with concern the rise in political discourse of xenophobic and racist messages that constitute a danger to national cohesion, peace and security.

"The fragile security and tense political context has had repercussions on civic and political space, which continues to shrink with the approach of scheduled national elections," she said and has given rise to restrictions and harassment of journalists, human rights defenders and others.

Safari Runiga, the National Coordinator of REPRODEV, the Network for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Victims, Witnesses and Media Professionals, told the council that the DRC has been shaken for 30 years by deadly cyclical violence and looting of its natural resources by armed terrorist groups in the provinces of Ituri, Maniema, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tanganyika.

He said serious human rights violations committed with total impunity have led to rampant corruption and widespread abuse throughout the country.

"We call on the members of this council to unreservedly condemn this violence and to recommend sanctions against its perpetrators, supporters and other beneficiaries."

"It is time for the international community, in particular the United Nations, to punish the perpetrators of crimes and violations of international law in the DRC," he said.

Paul Empole Losoko Efambe, the DRC's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said his government was working hard to deliver on the country's international human rights commitments.

"We have, despite the challenges that we are faced with, undertaken to set up a transitional justice mechanism to combat impunity and promote an environment of peace, of social cohesion and reconciliation."

He said, "the government has begun implementing a law on the fundamental principles relating to the protection of reparations for victims of sexual violence, in connection with conflict and for victims of attacks against peace and security."

He said the Democratic Republic of Congo was seeking to strengthen its fight against the armed groups operating in the eastern part of the country, particularly the M23 terrorist group, adding that ending human rights violations in the DRC was dependent on bringing that conflict to an end.

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Russo-Ukraine War - 31 March 2023 - Day 401

Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that as of 23 March 2023, Ukrainian Special Operation Forces released footage of a Russian ZOOPARK-1M counter-battery radar being destroyed in the Donetsk area.

Efforts by both sides to neutralise their opponent's counter-battery radars have been a constant element of the conflict. These systems are relatively few in number but are a significant force multiplier. They allow commanders to rapidly locate and strike enemy artillery.

However, because they have an active electromagnetic signature, they are vulnerable to being detected and destroyed. Russia has lost at least six ZOOPARK-1M and likely only has a very limited number left in Ukraine. Regenerating counter-battery radar fleets is likely a key priority for both sides, but Russia will likely struggle because the systems rely on supplies of high-tech electronics which have been disrupted by sanctions.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of March 31, Russian forces launched 5x missile and 12x air strikes, more than 20x MLRS attacks.

Having no desired results on the battlefield, Russia continues to cynically terrorize civilians in Ukraine. Today, the Russian Federation launched yet another attack using ballistic missiles on civilian targets in Zaporizhzhia and other settlements in Ukraine. Russian forces also employed 6x Shahed-136 attack UAVs for air strikes, all of which were destroyed by Ukrainian defenders.

The likelihood of further missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.

Russia continues to focus its main efforts on the offensive operations on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mar'inka axes. During the day of March 31, Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled more than 30x Russian attacks. The fiercest battles remain to be for the settlements of Bilohorivka, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mar'inka.

Volyn, Polissya, Sivershchyna, and Slobozhanshchyna axes: no significant changes. As part of the combat training activities, the training of the Special Forces units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus has been completed. At the same time, the top political leadership of Belarus continues to support the Russian aggression, allowing the adversary to use its airspace and territory. The training of units of the territorial troops of the Russian Federation's armed forces continues at belarusian training grounds. However, no signs of the formation of adversary offensive groups were found.

Russia continues to maintain a military presence in the border areas of Kursk and Belgorod oblasts (russia).

During the day of March 31, the adversary shelled the settlements of Baranivka (Chernihiv oblast), Sosnivka, Volfyne, Kindrativka, Novomykolaivka, Popivka, Oleksandrivka (Sumy oblast), Veterynarne, Hoptivka, Strilecha, Hlyboke, Bochkove, and Budarky (Kharkiv oblast).

Kup'yans'k axis: Kam'yanka, Fyholivka, Syn'kivka, Krokhmal'ne (Kharkiv oblast), and Novoselivs'ke (Luhansk oblast) came under Russian fire.

Lyman axis: during the day of March 31, Russian forces made futile attempts to advance near the settlements of Makiivka, Kreminna, Dibrova, Bilohorivka, and in the vicinity of Serebryans'ke forestry. Settlements near the front line were shelled with artillery, namely: Nevs'ke, Dibrova, Bilohorivka (Luhansk oblast), and Spirne (Donetsk oblast).

Bakhmut axis: Russia does not cease its assault on the city of Bakhmut, in attempts to take it under full control. During the day of March 31, Russian forces shelled the settlements of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Novomarkove, Hryhorivka, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Ozarianivka, and Maiors'k (Donetsk oblast).

Avdiivka and Mar'inka axes: Russian forces conducted offensive operations towards the settlements of Novobakhmutivka, Avdiivka, and Pervomais'ke. To no success. The Russian invaders shelled the settlements of Stepove, Tonen'ke, Mar'inka, Novomykhailivka (Donetsk oblast).

Shakhtars'ke axis: Russian forces intensified the use of UAVs to spot for artillery fire, shelled the settlements of Vodyane, Vuhledar, Velyka Novosilka, Krasnohorivka, and Novosilka (Donetsk oblast).

Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: with no active operations, Russia was improving defensive lines and fortifications of its positions. In particular, the Russian invaders shelled the settlements of Vremivka, Novosilka (Donetsk oblast), Ol'hivs'ke, Hulyaipole, Mala Tokmachka, Novodanylivka, Orikhiv, Mali Shcherbaky, Stepnohirs'k (Zaporizhzhia oblast), and Kherson.

There is a continuing trend of increased number of cases when groups of Russian personnel escape from their units. Thus, the Russian occupiers are looking for 50x deserters in the Starobil's'kyi district (temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk oblast).

During the day of March 31, Ukrainian Air Force launched 6x air strikes on the concentrations of Russian troops and military equipment. Ukrainian missile and artillery troops hit 8x concentrations of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment, 1x fuel and lubricants warehouse, 2x anti-aircraft missile systems, 1x artillery unit at its firing position, and 1x electronic warfare station.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reporeted that, for more than a day, heavy snowfalls were observed in the Bakhmut area, due to which a thick layer of snow quickly formed. As a result, the fighting for both sides became more difficult, and the transport situation became even worse than before.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais published an interview with one of the Ukrainian soldiers fighting near the city. He said that Kyiv retains experienced military personnel for the future at the cost of the defense, which rushes to the front line. The fighter sees no reason to hold Bakhmut and says that the inhabitants who remained there are waiting for the arrival of Russian attack aircraft.

Fierce fighting continues for the city. The forces of PMC "Wagner" in the amount of 15 thousand fighters tie down the Ukrainian grouping in the amount of 70-80 thousand people in these battles, said military expert Boris Rozhin.

The Wagnerites were able to cut off most of the roads leading to Bakhmut and fire on the remaining ones, complicating the position of the enemy garrison. In the city itself, they are successfully advancing from several directions. At the same time, the "musicians" are waiting for cover from the allied forces from the flanks.

The situation on other sectors of the front

Ukraine shelled the border areas of the Kursk region, namely the villages of Tetkino, Gordeevka and Krasnooktyabrsky. As a result, a private garage was destroyed, one fire broke out and the power supply line was interrupted.

During the day, the RF Armed Forces liquidated or wounded about 450 Ukrainian soldiers, and also disabled 7 armored vehicles, 4 infantry fighting vehicles, 4 armored personnel carriers, 32 vehicles, 3 D-20 and 2 D-30 howitzers, as well as Gvozdika and Akatsiya self-propelled guns ".

Artillery and aviation hit 74 enemy artillery positions and 76 areas of accumulation of equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Air defense systems intercepted three shells from the HIMARS MLRS and three drones.

A fuel depot of the 126th Ukrainian Territorial Defense Brigade was destroyed near Otradokamenka, Kherson region.





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Lukashenka Defends Placement Of Russian Tactical Nuclear Weapons In Belarus

By RFE/RL March 31, 2023

The authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has defended a Russian plan to place tactical nuclear weapons -- including intercontinental ballistic missiles if necessary -- on Belarusian territory, saying the country is coming under increased threats from the West.

Commenting on the issue for the first time since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the move on March 25, Lukashenka said in his annual address to the nation on March 31 that he had initiated the plan by asking Moscow to move tactical nuclear weapons to his country to ensure it is capable "of defending the sovereignty and independence of Belarus."

Lukashenka, a pariah in Europe and most of the Western world after launching a brutal crackdown against opponents following an August 2020 presidential he claimed to win but they say was rigged, offered no evidence of any specific threats from the West, which has called the possible deployment "irresponsible."

"I would like to add that all of the infrastructure [for tactical nuclear weapons] is ready.... Those are weapons that will contribute to our sovereignty and independence," Lukashenka said, adding that Minsk could exercise control over all nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

That appears to contradict Putin, who said during the announcement last week that the tactical missiles would remain under Moscow's control. Military experts have said the deployment will lead to the creation of a permanent Russian military base in Belarus.

"Putin and I will decide and bring strategic weapons here, which those scoundrels abroad must comprehend, those who are trying to blow us up from inside and outside today. Nothing will prevent us from protecting our countries," Lukashenka added.

Belarus is the closest thing Putin's Russia has to an ally, and their ties have tightened further since Lukashenka -- in power since 1994 -- claimed victory in a 2020 election widely seen as rigged and then cracked down violently against massive peaceful protests over the vote.

Minsk has not sent troops to fight alongside Moscow's forces in Ukraine, but Lukashenka allowed Russia to use the country -- which borders Ukraine on the north --- as a staging area for the invasion.

It has also granted Russia full access to its air bases, carried out joint drills, and treated wounded Russian soldiers on its territory.

Speaking about the possible deployment of Russian strategic nuclear weapons, Lukashenka said that he ordered his military to immediately put the former base for Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles in order.

"It's a highly technologically sophisticated structure," he said. "All the infrastructure has been created and is standing ready."

The deployment announcement comes amid soaring tensions between Moscow and the West over Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022. Waves of economic and diplomatic sanctions have been aimed at Russia, as well as Belarus, for its logistical support for the attack on Ukraine.

Those came on top of sanctions already slapped on Minsk for its crackdown on civil society and dissent following the disputed election.

Addressing Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenka called for immediate truce talks "without preconditions"

"It is crucial to stop [the war] now, before an escalation of the situation. Declare a truce with a ban on supplies of forces, weapons and equipment," Lukashenka said, stressing a truce cannot be used to bring more weapons to the conflict, as Russia could be forced to use "the most terrible weapon" if it felt threatened.

Given Belarus's role in the conflict and its close ties with Russia, Ukraine has previously rejected offers from Minsk to broker peace.

Belarus has said it has no plans to enter the war.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-russia-nuclear- lukashenka/32343912.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Top UN official urgently calls for de-escalating nuclear tensions over Belarus

31 March 2023 - Urgent efforts must be made to de-escalate the situation following Russia's announcement last weekend that it plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the UN disarmament chief warned the Security Council on Friday.

"The risk of a nuclear weapon being used is currently higher than at any time since the depths of the cold war," said Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. "The war in Ukraine represents the most acute example of that risk."

The Security Council met on the heels of President Vladimir Putin's announcement last Sunday that it had reached an agreement with its neighbour, which has been any ally in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, to station non-strategic nuclear weapons inside Belarusian territory, which would be in place for aerial use, by July.

Dangerous rhetoric

Ms. Nakamitsu said the absence of dialogue and the erosion of the disarmament and arms control architecture, combined with dangerous rhetoric and veiled threats, are key drivers of this potentially existential risk posed by nuclear escalation.

"When it comes to issues related to nuclear weapons, all States must avoid taking any actions that could lead to escalation, mistake or miscalculation," she said, recalling that all States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or the NPT - nuclear-armed States and non-nuclear weapon States alike - must strictly adhere to its commitments and obligations.

"They should return to dialogue to de-escalate tensions urgently and find ways to develop and implement transparency and confidence-building measures," she said, appealing to States parties to the treaty to fully adhere to their obligations and to immediately engage in serious efforts to reduce nuclear risk.

'Nuclear sharing'

The issue of "nuclear sharing", the hosting by a non-nuclear weapon State of a nuclear-weapon State's nuclear weapons, has existed for decades, across regions and under different arrangements pre-dating the Non-Proliferation Treaty, with the exception of the recent Russian announcement, she said.

"For the sake of all our security", she echoed the UN Secretary-General's call for Russia and the United States to return to full implementation of the New START Treaty and commence negotiations on its successor.

Russia: 'A nuclear war cannot be won'

"We are pursuing cooperation with Belarus without violating obligations," Russian ambassador and Permanent Representative, Vassily Nebenzia insisted. "We are not transferring nuclear weapons. We are talking about the retrofitting of airplanes and training teams in construction of a storage facility on the territory of Belarus."

Russian tanks would not be in the Ukraine now, if the United States and its allies had not undertaken, what he described, as a coup d'Atat in Kyiv in 2014, "pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons", he said.

Indeed, the US may have already deployed between 100 and 150 nuclear warheads in Europe, he said, recalling Moscow's repeated calls on Washington to "set aside the cold war mentality" by returning US nuclear weapons to its own territory.

Russia must take "all requisite measures" in response to "provocative steps", he said, given the fraying global security architecture, dictated exclusively by Washington, along with London's recent decision to deploy armour-piercing ammunition to Ukraine.

"A nuclear war cannot be won", he said.

United States: 'Serious consequences'

Russia's suggestion that this intended deployment is justified because of the use of armour-piercing ammunition supplied by Western forces, containing depleted uranium, is "ludicrous", US ambassador Robert Wood said.

"Armour-piercing ammunition is in no way analogous to tactical nuclear weapons," he said, adding that the Kremlin is attempting to limit and deter Ukraine's efforts to defend itself, and manipulate matters to win the war.

Russia is seeking to escalate its brutal war rather than to seek peace, he said. Meanwhile, Belarus has recently enacted laws to enable the Russian deployment, he added.

Recalling a recent Russia-China security agreement, he said one provision stated that "nuclear-weapon States should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons abroad".

"Any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would have severe consequences and would fundamentally change the nature of this war," he said, calling on Russia to reconsider its decision about deploying tactical nuclear weapons inside Belarus.

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Belarus says ready to host Russia's strategic nuclear weapons

Iran Press TV

Saturday, 01 April 2023 12:51 AM

Belarus announces its readiness to host Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, saying such a move would show the two nations' readiness to defend their "sovereignty and independence."

"I and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin can decide and deploy strategic nuclear weapons here, if need be," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told the country's lawmakers on Friday.

"We will stop at nothing to protect our nations, our states, our people," the Belarusian leader said.

The move would increase both Russia and Belarus' deterrence capability in the face of the United States and its allies, he added.

Lukashenko hoped that such deployment would "sober up all the hawks across the pond for a long time," referring to American officials.

On Sunday, Putin said Russia was set to deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, expanding the country's scope of strategic influence, and increasing its deterrence power in face of the United States-led military alliance of NATO's exceeding military support for Ukraine.

The Russian head of state, who was speaking to the state broadcaster Russia 1, announced a new agreement with its neighboring ally, saying that Russia would build a special storage facility for its tactical weapons in Belarus, the construction of which would end by the beginning of July.

Putin also said that the upcoming deployment would not breach the non-proliferation agreements, noting that the US had had its nuclear weapons stationed in Europe for decades. "There is nothing unusual here, either..., the United States has been doing this for decades. They have long deployed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allied countries," Putin said.

Lukashenko also said he had already ordered the Belarusian military to restore the facilities used to store the Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles and served as their potential launch sites during the Soviet era, in an apparent move to prepare his country to host the Russian nukes.

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How Chinese Private Security Companies in Africa Differ From Russia's

By Kate Bartlett March 31, 2023

The killing of nine Chinese gold mine workers in conflict-ridden Central African Republic this month highlighted the risks some Belt and Road development projects face in volatile areas.

To protect Chinese investments and citizens, Beijing deploys its own private security contractors, but analysts say these companies operate very differently on the continent than Russia's notorious Wagner Group.

President Xi Jinping called for those responsible for the March 19 attack by gunmen on a Chinese-run gold mine outside Bambari to be "severely punished," while the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a security alert for its citizens.

"The foreign ministry will continue to work closely with other government agencies concerned and subnational governments to do everything possible to protect the safety and security of Chinese nationals and companies in Africa," ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters after the incident.

With thousands of Chinese working in Africa since Xi's infrastructure-building push began in 2013, their security and the protection of assets like mines and natural gas projects a as well as railways and shipping routes a have become a key concern for Beijing, said Jasmine Opperman, an independent security consultant based in South Africa.

Chinese workers in Africa also are increasingly targeted by criminal gangs for kidnapping.

All these threats have led to a rise in the number of private military companies (PMCs) or private security companies (PSCs) operating on the continent.

"On China PMCs we have to go back to the Belt and Road Initiative," Opperman told VOA. "We have seen a massive deployment of workers, Chinese workers, more specifically infrastructure. Now these investments, like in Sudan, South Sudan, are really in volatile areas, so we have seen a proliferation of Chinese PMCs on the African continent, with a task to protect employees and the infrastructure projects."

Incidents like the one in CAR could now result in more Chinese security companies deployed.

"It's about the protection and expansion of Chinese influence, and because of the volatile security situations, we are seeing these PMCs now growing in numbers," said Opperman.

Different than Wagner?

But analysts stress there is a huge difference between Chinese security firms and companies like Wagner Group a which the U.S. Treasury this year designated a "transnational criminal organization" a or even disgraced and disbanded U.S. company Blackwater, which committed abuses during the Iraq war.

Wagner Group, which has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, has been in the news recently because of the group's deployment of tens of thousands of mercenaries to fight in the war in Ukraine. But it's long been operating in destabilized countries in Africa, including CAR and Mali.

Paul Nantulya, a China expert at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA that Chinese private security companies are not really private at all.

"Ninety-nine percent of security contractors in China are ex-People's Liberation Army and also ex-special forces and ex-paramilitary police. There's a level of control, the laws in China are very clear, that the state must have a holding interest in all security firms," he said.

Nantulya's previous research on the topic found that of the 5,000 security firms registered in China, 20 were licensed to operate overseas and reported that they employed 3,200 individual contractors. However, he said he thought the true number was much higher.

Among the companies working on the continent are Beijing DeWe Security Service, Huaxin Zhong An Security Group and China Security Technology Group. In Kenya, DeWe employs around 2,000 security contractors just to protect the $3.6 billion China-built Standard Gauge Railway, according to his study.

However, Nantulya told VOA that Chinese companies "work very, very differently from Russian ones like Wagner. Wagner is engaged in combat operations. It's engaged in wars; it supplies a national security adviser in, for instance, the Central African Republic. They become part of the governing architecture. They fight wars on behalf of governments."

The U.S. government said Wagner has "meddled and destabilized countries in Africa, committing widespread human rights abuses and extorting natural resources from their people. ... Wagner personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abductions and physical abuse in the Central African Republic and Mali."

Asked by VOA whether the U.S. has any concerns about Chinese security contractors operating in Africa, a State Department spokesperson replied: "We respect the ability of countries to decide for themselves whether to partner with the PRC. However, we echo the long-standing calls from African capitals that the PRC must respect host country laws and international obligations."

Nantulya noted that most Chinese security contractors - except for those involved in maritime escort missions intended to protect against pirates - are strictly controlled and aren't even allowed to be armed.

"The Chinese, it's a small footprint. According to Chinese law, Chinese contractors are not allowed to go into operations with weapons, so they have to work very closely with host nation security forces. They do a lot of training, they do a lot of capacity building, they supply equipment, they supply intelligence, they supply surveillance and so on," he said.

Opperman said the Chinese security contractors could still have a destabilizing effect.

"Though PMCs from China are not allowed to carry weapons, what they are doing is collaborating through private or local security companies or even local militia groups in terms of providing security ... by means of collaborating with local militias, you're basically taking sides."

In 2016, more than 300 Chinese oil workers were stranded amid heavy militia fighting in Juba, South Sudan. DeWe's unarmed personnel helped to evacuate the Chinese nationals by enlisting armed South Sudanese by enlisting armed South Sudanese as backup. Some of the South Sudanese government-backed militias used by Chinese companies have been accused of committing atrocities.

And there have been incidences of violence, despite the arms ban. In Zimbabwe, two Chinese security contractors were jailed in 2017 for shooting and wounding a politician's son, while in Zambia in 2018, two suspected Chinese security contractors were arrested for providing illegal training and military equipment to a local security firm.

The Chinese Mission to the African Union did not reply to a request for comment.

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Chinese, Japanese defense ministries establish direct telephone line for maritime, air liaison mechanism

Global Times

By Liu Xuanzun and Guo Yuandan Published: Apr 01, 2023 02:14 AM

One day before the Japanese foreign minister's scheduled visit to China, China's Ministry of National Defense announced on Friday that the direct telephone line for the maritime and air liaison mechanism between the Chinese and Japanese defense ministries has been established, a move experts said is a positive signal showing that Chinese-Japanese relations are improving, and that military crises between the two countries will be less likely.

According to a work plan agreed upon by the defense ministries of China and Japan, the two sides have recently completed the establishment of a direct telephone line for the maritime and air liaison mechanism, and will keep in touch over its launch arrangement, according to a press release from the Chinese Defense Ministry on Friday.

The completion of the direct telephone line will effectively enrich the communication channels between China and Japan's defense ministries, boost both sides' crisis management capabilities in sea and air, and help further safeguard regional peace and stability, the Chinese Defense Ministry said.

On the same day, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi will visit China from Saturday to Sunday at the invitation of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

Zhou Yongsheng, deputy director of the Japanese Studies Center at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Friday that Hayashi's visit to China shows that Chinese-Japanese relations have eased after a difficult period.

The announcement from the Chinese Defense Ministry on the eve of the visit shows China's sincerity, Zhou said.

Analysts said that the announcement is significant because China and Japan agreed to start developing an emergency maritime liaison mechanism as early as 2007. The direct telephone line is the core of the maritime-air liaison mechanism, which is a mutual notification system between the two countries intended to maintain communication in emergency situations. However, establishment of the phone line took more than a decade.

The responsibility for this lies entirely with Japan, experts said. They pointed out that in 2012, China and Japan had already basically reached a consensus, but Japanese politicians later announced their so-called purchase of the Diaoyu Islands and their intention to "nationalize" them, resulting in suspension of the plan to set up the line.

In addition to unfavorable political factors from Japan, there was also no consensus on certain technical aspects, an expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Friday.

The establishment of a direct telephone line is considered to be of great practical significance, with Zhou saying that it will reduce friction between China and Japan, helping both sides maintain communication, avoid misunderstandings or misjudgments, conduct crisis management, and prevent friction from escalating or situations from deteriorating.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Friday that the defense ministries of both countries can use the phone line for regular exchanges to maintain contact.

This phone line can also be used in some emergency situations such as those regarding the Diaoyu Islands or the East China Sea, where misunderstandings or misjudgments may occur between both countries' military forces, Song said.

Japan has also been working with the US in conducting close-in reconnaissance on China and holding joint exercises in sensitive regions, posing national security threats to China and resulting in possible friction. The phone line could also see application in these scenarios, Song said.

Japan has been proclaiming that "a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency," attempting to interfere in the Taiwan question as well as hyping the "China threat" theory. So the phone line could also help reduce the risk of an accidental conflict in the Taiwan Straits, another Chinese military expert who asked not to be named told the Global Times on Friday.

On Thursday, Japan's Defense Ministry Joint Staff said in a press release that Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday spotted a PLA naval flotilla consisting of the Type 055 large destroyer Anshan, the Type 052D destroyer Qiqihar and the Type 903A replenishment ship Taihu entering the Sea of Japan from the East China Sea via the Tsushima Strait.

This is likely a routine far sea training exercise by the PLA Navy, and when the direct phone line comes into use, the two sides can notify each other of such drills when necessary, experts said.

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North Korean hacker group poses as journalists and experts to steal intel

Report tracks activities of 'APT43' since 2018, elevates status to 'named threat actor'

Eugene Whong 2023.03.31 -- A criminal cyber spy group believed to be backed by the North Korean government poses as journalists, academics and experts to trick its victims into giving out information that can be used for espionage.

It also spoofs websites of legitimate organizations to trick targets into giving out information that can be used in cybercrimes the group carries out to fund itself, according to a new report that tracked the cyber attackers' operations over five years.

Google Cloud's cybersecurity subsidiary firm Mandiant classified the group, which it calls APT43 and which it has been monitoring since 2018, as a "moderately-sophisticated cyber operator that supports the interests of the North Korean regime."

The designation of the group as a "named threat actor" indicates that Mandiant's cyber analysts had enough evidence to attribute activity to a specific group.

APT stands for "advanced persistent threats," which the firm says are groups that "receive direction and support from an established nation state."

APT43 has also been called "Kimsuky" or "Thallium" by other firms, which have their own naming conventions. Mandiant believes the firm could be part of North Korea's main foreign intelligence agency.

"APT43 has demonstrated it can be quite fluid at adapting to the needs of the regime and shifts their targeting accordingly," Gary Freas, a senior analyst at Mandiant, told RFA.

According to the report, APT43 conducted espionage against South Korean and U.S.-based government organizations, members of academia and think tanks that deal with North Korean geopolitical issues, and engaged in cyber crime to steal and launder crypto currency.

Impersonating experts

APT43's most common attack involves impersonating experts or journalists in spear-phishing emails with the goal of getting information out of its victims.

In this scheme, the attacker poses as a reporter or a think tank analyst to collect intelligence, including by asking experts and academics to answer questions on topics related to North Korea. Often the attackers pretend to be people who are well known in their field to develop rapport with others in the field before asking them to provide strategic analysis on specific subjects.

In a sample example provided in the report, an attacker pretended to be a journalist with an email address ending in "@voanews.live," which is similar to the "@voanews.com" addresses used by journalists working for U.S news outlet Voice of America.

The email requested a reaction to an Oct. 4, 2022, North Korean ballistic missile launch that flew over Japan, including asking the recipient if it meant that another North Korean nuclear test could be imminent, and if Japan might increase its defense budget or pursue a more "proactive" defense policy.

Because the focus of these types of attacks is often North Korean security and nuclear development, Mandiant believes "with moderate confidence" that APT43 operates under the Reconnaissance General Bureau, or RGB, North Korea's main foreign intelligence service.

"Campaigns attributed to APT43 are closely aligned with state interests and correlate strongly with geopolitical developments that affect Kim Jong-un and the hermit state's ruling elite," the report said. "Since Mandiant has been tracking APT43, they have consistently conducted espionage activity against South Korean and U.S.organizations with a stake in security issues affecting the Korean peninsula."

Mandiant also noted that it detected a shift in the group's activity between October 2020 and October 2021 toward targeting the health care sector and pharmaceutical companies, likely to gather information to support a North Korean response to COVID-19. This indicates that the group adapts to changing priorities of the North Korean government.

"The kinds of questions we're seeing them ask when they commission papers and when they ask for interviews are very much about potential responses to different stimuli," Jenny Town, director of the Washington-based Stimson Center's 38 North Project, during a discussion about APT43 in a podcast hosted by Mandiant.

"And really, [they're] trying to better understand how different actions might be perceived, presumably to help them better decide where red lines are," she said.

Emails indicate objectives

Town, who has herself been targeted by APT43 and impersonated by them when they target others, said that the emails can show what North Korea's goals might be.

"The questions they're asking make a lot of sense and give us a sense of the kinds of things they might be thinking of doing as well," she said. "It's always been really interesting to see the evolution and what they'll ask different people."

Freas said that the questions in the emails often show North Korea's intent.

"Whenever APT43 goes after people, pretending to be a reporter or prominent analyst, they ask questions that are so specific to the regime's priority intelligence requirements that they show us their hand," he said. "This gives us good insight into what's going on in the closed off nation and that data is very insightful to security vendors and for people that are trying to investigate this."

Town said that other experts have come to consider it an indication of their success in the field when they are impersonated by what seems to be North Korean cyber attackers.

APT43 has also been known to target organizations for information about sanctions items that are banned for export to North Korea, the report said.

During the same podcast, Mandiant analyst Michael Barnhart said that APT43's methods tend to work on older victims.

"Some of the younger folk aren't so [eager] to click on a suspicious link, and so you might not get them quite there," said Barnhart. "You're looking at kind of an older crowd that probably has a little less cyber hygiene."

'Good at what they do'

"What this group lacks in sophistication they make up for in volume," said Freas. "It is unique to see the success they are having with such widely known and frequently leveraged techniques."

Freas explained that APT43 extensively researches people they can spoof and target to reach its goals.

"If APT43 fails with one target or one persona, they simply move onto the next set. They are agile, and we see them spinning up new personas and infrastructure for targeting very quickly, and at scale," said Freas.

Barnhart said in the podcast that awareness of the group's methods was necessary for potential victims to protect themselves.

"We're trying to be proactive. We're done kind of being reactive. We're trying to try to get out there and get in front of it and your endpoint protections and stuff like that," he said. "These guys ... they're good at what they do."

Besides espionage, the group conducts internal monitoring of other North Korean groups and their operations.

Crypto laundering

For many years, the cash-strapped North Korean government has ordered government organizations to generate funds for their own operations, in line with North Korea's founding juche ideology of self-reliance.

For factories or collective farms, this might mean that they sell some of their product on the open market to generate funds for raw materials or farming equipment.

But for APT43, much of their funding comes from crypto currency theft and laundering. To compromise financial data, the group engages in credential collection campaigns.

"In particular, the group registers domains masquerading as popular search engines, web platforms, and cryptocurrency exchanges in relevant target countries of interest," the report said. "We believe these credentials are used to support operations that further APT43 missions."

An example in the report showed the spoofed website of Cornell University, which instructed users to sign in with their cornell.edu credentials.

The group has also been known to spoof Google and Yahoo mail and other legitimate sites on domains it controls, to host "malicious scripts and tools," said an advisory about the group published in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

APT43 launders the ill-gotten cryptocurrency to mine for new cryptocurrency that can't be traced back to the theft.

"In other words, they use stolen crypto to mine for clean crypto," the report said.

Unlike other groups that engage in cybercrime, APT43 seems to be funding itself rather than generating income for the North Korean regime, which Mandiant said suggests a "widespread mandate" for government-backed groups to remain operational without resources from the central government.

'All-purpose sword'

Cyber attacks are the North Korean leadership's "all-purpose sword," and a weapon of mass destruction second only to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, said Daniel Russel, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and current vice president for international security and diplomacy at the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute.

"For the DPRK, cyber is a high-impact, low-cost, and low-risk digital-age tool for stealing cash and cryptocurrency, hacking secrets, and for terrorizing wired nations," Russel told RFA's English Service. "APT43 is part of a large, elite corps of highly trained cyber hackers that has likely already stolen billions of dollars, blunting the effect of sanctions."

Russel said that North Korea has also experimented with cyberattacks against infrastructure overseas.

"Developed countries with sophisticated urban, aviation, communications, and electrical infrastructure are particularly vulnerable," he said, adding that cyber attacks can be camouflaged so that they are hard to attribute to a particular country or entity. "It is no accident that North Korean hackers are embedded in China and Russia, utilizing servers in those countries to make retaliation by the United States risky."

Russel said developing cyber capabilities can be done inexpensively, using widely available equipment.

"The spotlight on hacker groups like APT43 is essential, both as a warning to potential targets but also to galvanize cybersecurity companies to defend against their malicious attacks," said Russel.

Edited by Boer Deng and Malcolm Foster.

Copyright 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Says Not Planning Second Wave of Mobilization

Sputnik News

20230331

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - There are no plans to hold a second wave of mobilization by the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces spokesman for the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Tsimlyansky said on Friday.

Volunteers and those who have already been called up for service are enough to carry out the tasks of the special operation, Tsimlyansky said

"I want to assure you all that there is no second wave of mobilization in the plans of the General Staff. Those who have already been called up for military service, as well as citizens who voluntarily expressed a desire to participate in the operation, are sufficient enough to fulfill the assigned tasks," Tsimlyansky said.

That may be because according to Tsimlyansky, Russians have been volunteering for military service in greater numbers.

"Currently, the number of citizens who have decided to voluntarily enlist in military service under a contract has also increased significantly. For their timely registration, the Defense Ministry expanded the network of selection points for the selection to military service under the contract and increased the number of instructors to work with candidates," Tsimlyansky said.

In October, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Russia had hit its recruitment goals through mobilization, saying in a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he request had been met.

"We have stopped sending notices to people, and the task you set, 300,000 people, has been completed," Shoigu told Putin. "No further measures are planned."

A Sputnik

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Russia Set to Take Helm of UN Security Council, to Critics' Dismay

By Margaret Besheer March 31, 2023

On Saturday, in what some critics say sounds more like an April Fools' joke than reality, Russia will take over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for the month, and no one can prevent it.

With Russia's war in Ukraine entering its 14th month, an arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court for President Vladimir Putin, and Moscow planning to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus, critics are questioning how Russia could helm the U.N.'s most powerful organ.

"The question is very clear: Can the war criminal head the U.N. Security Council?" Andrius Kubilius, a Lithuanian member of the European Parliament, asked during a session Wednesday, referring to Putin.

On March 17, The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader for his alleged role in the abduction and unlawful deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

"I think that people are seeing it the wrong way round. I think that people should understand that this month is more of a headache than an advantage for the Russians," Richard Gowan, U.N. director for International Crisis Group, told VOA.

"If they try and use the presidency to try to stir up trouble for the Ukrainians, or push their narratives about the war, they will just get an enormous amount of blowback," he added.

The 15-nation Security Council is the U.N.'s most powerful organ. It can authorize military action, deploy peacekeepers, sanction nations and individuals, and refer possible war crimes cases to the International Criminal Court.

Council members take turns as president according to alphabetical order (by English spellings). The last time Russia came up in the rotation was February 2022. On the 24th day of its presidency, Putin launched his "special military operation" into Ukraine, in a flagrant breach of the U.N. Charter and international law a also in the middle of a council meeting hoping to prevent it.

The only time in recent history when a country missed its presidency was in 1994 in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, according to Security Council Report, a think tank that studies the council's transparency and effectiveness. At the time, Rwanda was a non-permanent council member.

Rwanda's council seat was vacant for six weeks from mid-July, when Pasteur Bizimungu became Rwanda's president, until September, when Rwanda should have been council president.

"But clearly the new government had just taken up the seat; they didn't have time to prepare. They just had experienced the genocide and they had a new government," Security Council Report told VOA. "So, they skipped Rwanda, and the seat went to Spain, which was next in alphabetical order."

The council decided that Rwanda would get its chance, once the alphabetical rotation had been completed, and it did sit as president in December 1994.

As for Russia's presidency, no one can prevent it.

From the White House podium on Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that a country that "flagrantly violates the U.N. Charter" and invades its neighbor has no place on the council, but there is "no feasible international legal pathway" around that.

"As unpalatable as it may be to see Russia presiding over the council, the reality is this is a largely ceremonial position which rotates to council members month by month in alphabetical order," she said, adding that the U.S. encourages Russia to conduct itself professionally so the council can carry out its work.

"Russia is a permanent member," said one council diplomat. "While they are misbehaving gravely on Ukraine and just tearing the [U.N.] Charter apart, my expectation is they will do this presidency in a professional manner."

Ukraine is outraged that Russia is on the council, much less chairing it. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow's presidency is a "bad joke."

Russian UN Security Council presidency on April 1 is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; it's waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children. The world can't be a safe place with Russia at UNSC #BadRussianJoke #InsecurityCouncil

a Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 30, 2023

Kyiv argues that Moscow should have formally applied for U.N. membership after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and since it has not done so, it does not have the legal right to be on the council, much less a permanent, veto-wielding member.

"Russia's presence in the U.N. Security Council is the result of the largest diplomatic fraud of the 20th century," Kuleba said Thursday at a Chatham House discussion of Russia's war. "We should delegitimize Russia's presence in the U.N. Security Council first, by exposing the truth to everyone."

Regardless of optics or opinions, U.N. observers say there is little Russia can do to exploit its position as council president.

"It's not like the G-20, G-7 or EU presidency where you chair six months or a year and where you inject your own agenda," the council diplomat said.

"I think the role of the council president is a bit overrated," Crisis Group's Gowan said. "Most of it is just chairing meetings and shuffling paper."

Among Russia's planned meetings in April will be a ministerial-level debate chaired by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the defense of the U.N. Charter.

Moscow also plans to hold an informal council meeting early in the month on the issue of Ukrainian children abducted and forcibly deported to Russia, which Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said was planned before the ICC issued its warrant for Putin. The envoy has described the issue of the children as "totally overblown."

And on April 10, Russia has scheduled a meeting on Western arms transfers to Ukraine. Western nations say they are sending equipment, weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as it is fighting in self-defense. They accuse Moscow of obtaining illegal arms transfers from Iran and North Korea.

Boycott

There have been some calls for nations to boycott Russia's presidency, including a nascent online petition campaign. Ironically, the only council member ever to boycott council proceedings was the former Soviet Union.

In 1950, the USSR boycotted council meetings for more than six months over the issue of China's U.N. representation. Moscow had recognized the Communist People's Republic of China as the legitimate government and wanted its representative to replace the Nationalist Chinese delegation.

"They did come back into the council on August 1, 1950, which was their presidency," Security Council Report told VOA. "The reason why they came back was because that was during the Korean War and all these votes on U.N. engagement in Korea were being adopted because they were not there to veto them. So they realized it was disadvantageous to them to not be sitting in the council."

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Romanian prosecution accuses 35 people of railway fraud worth $7.36 mln

Chinsinau, Apr 1 (UNI) The Romanian prosecutor's office filed a case against 35 citizens of Romania and Lebanon involved in the sale of 2,450 railroad cars meant for decommissioning for the price of scrap metal, inflicting damage to the state worth 33.6 million lei (

7.36 mln), Romanian news agency Agerpres reported on Saturday.

In the period from 2014 to 2017, the suspects, some of whom were at the time occupying managerial positions in the National Society for Freight Railway Transport, schemed to sell 2,450 railroad cars intended for decommissioning at the price of scrap metal, although they belonged in the category of waste with higher market value, Agerpres said, citing the prosecution.
'Bring them home': UN experts call for repatriating detained Syria children

31 March 2023 - Independent UN-appointed human rights experts on Friday called for the urgent repatriation of children from northeast Syria, as they enter their fifth year of detention.

Children in conflict zones must be protected, not punished, said the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, together with Fionnuala NA AolAin, UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, in a joint statement.

"It is now time to bring them home," they said. "Many children are now entering their fifth year of detention in northeast Syria, since they were detained by the de facto authorities following the fall of Baghouz in early 2019."

They called on all actors to ensure the immediate safety and protection of all children, regardless of their location in northeastern Syria to prevent them from suffering further harm.

States have an obligation to protect vulnerable children from abuse and possible violations of their right to life, as recognized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Victims of terrorism

"Their best interests as extremely vulnerable children must be reinstated as a guiding principle together with their primary status as victims of terrorism and as children in need of special protection under international law," they said.

Al-Hol and Roj are the two largest locked camps for women, girls, and young boys, holding about 56,000 individuals, including 37,000 foreign nationals. Over half of the population in the camps are children, of which 80 per cent are under the age of 12 and 30 per cent under five.

There are also over 850 boys deprived of their liberty in prisons and other detention centres, including supposed rehabilitation centres, throughout northeast Syria.

Egregious rights violations

The mass detention of children for what their parents may have done is an egregious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits all forms of discrimination and punishment of a child based on the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of their parents, the experts said.

"These children are detained without any legal basis, judicial authorization, review, control, or oversight, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms no child shall be deprived of liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily," they said.

'No place for children'

Most children have known nothing but conflict and closed camps, where the life conditions amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and pose an imminent risk to their lives, physical and mental integrity, and development.

"These squalid camps are no place for children to live with dignity," the experts said. "They lack access to the most basic needs such as medical treatment and health services, food, water, and education."

Protection, not punishment

Amid a deteriorating security situation, the experts said all children in this conflict zone deserve to be protected, not punished.

"These children are victims of terrorism and of very serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and must be treated with dignity in all contexts, whether armed conflict or terrorism," the experts said. "Safe return to their home countries, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the only solution and must be prioritized.

"States must urgently repatriate children, together with their mothers - a solution that we now know is eminently feasible," they said. "We note that it is of the utmost importance that comprehensive rehabilitation programmes are in place when children are repatriated."

About Special Rapporteurs

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. These independent experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.

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Taiwan set to start receiving Javelin missiles in 2023

ROC Central News Agency

03/31/2023 06:59 PM

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Taiwan is expected to take delivery of 400 missiles for Javelin man-portable anti-tank systems purchased from the United States between the second half of this year and 2024, a military source said Friday.

According to the source, who spoke with CNA on the condition of anonymity, 200 of the missiles will be delivered this year while the remaining 200 will be delivered at some point in 2024.

The javelin missiles are part of an arms deal announced by former U.S. President Donald Trump in July 2019, which also includes 1,700 updated tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) 2B RF missiles.

The Defense Ministry previously said that the Javelin missiles would be made in the United States, following reports Washington had proposed manufacturing the missiles in Taiwan.

Su Tzu-yun (ece), a research fellow at the Taiwan government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the Javelin anti-tank systems have fire-and-forget functionality and can penetrate armor up to 800 millimeters thick.

In addition, the Javelin missile's arched top-attack profile has seen them used to great effect against tanks, enabling them to climb above their targets and strike where the armor is weakest, Su said.

Meanwhile, the TOW 2B RF missiles use a wireless radio-guided system, which enables them to be deployed against enemies across water bodies without the risk of deviation from the target as a result of the copper wire being dampened, a common flaw among previous generations of TOW missiles, Su said.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) military plans to use the Javelin and TOW 2B RF missiles against topless landing craft and light-armored landing vehicles, Su said.

(By Wu Sheng-hung and Sean Lin)

Enditem/ASG



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Taiwan speeds up preparation for potential conflict with China

In July, Taiwan's military will hold its first drill at a civilian airport, turning highway sections into runways.

By RFA Staff 2023.03.31 -- Taiwan's military is bolstering its preparation for a possible future war with China by planning an unprecedented military drill at a civilian airport this coming July, the official Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

The military aircraft emergency landing and takeoff drill will be staged at Taitung Fengnian Airport on the southeast coast of Taiwan.

The scenario is that Taiwan's military airports and airstrips would be severely damaged in attacks by mainland China, forcing fighter-jets to land at civilian airports or on highways, the CNA quoted an unnamed military source as saying.

The military is looking to turn a section of Highway 9 "into an emergency landing strip" and a section of a road in Taitung County into an emergency runway, the same source said.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense has not commented on the details because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The drill at Taitung Fengnian Airport will be carried out as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercise, held in July.

Han Kuang, Taiwan's major war games, tests the island's combat capabilities against a possible Chinese invasion.

China considers the democratic island of Taiwan one of its provinces and intends to reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

In response to any major political events or to any support given to Taiwan by its allies, China regularly holds live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait or intensifies the flyovers by its military aircraft.

When Nancy Pelosi, the first U.S. House Speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years, arrived in Taipei last August, Beijing announced a week-long military exercise around the island.

'No unusual military movements'

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is en route to Central America via the United States, and is to make a stopover in California on her way back to Taiwan from a visit to Guatemala and Belize.

While in California, she is expected to meet with the incumbent U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Beijing has threatened retaliation, with China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, Zhu Fenglian, saying that if the meeting took place, China would "definitely take measures to resolutely fight back."

Yet on Thursday, Taiwan National Security Bureau Director General Tsai Ming-yen told the parliament that "the government expected a less severe reaction" from Beijing than when Pelosi visited Taiwan.

On Friday, the defense ministry said only two Chinese military aircraft and three naval vessels were spotted overnight near Taiwan and none had crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait that marks the de facto boundary between the island and the mainland.

But on Friday morning, nine PLA aircraft crossed the line, the ministry announced.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday urged China not to use Tsai's transit "as a pretext to step up any activity around the Taiwan Strait."

Meanwhile, "the Americans are belatedly trying to figure out how to defend Taiwan," said Grant Newsham, author of a new book on a potential Taiwan conflict, "When China Attacks: A Warning to America."

"The People's Liberation Army is capable of launching an assault across the Taiwan Strait, and it - or more importantly, Xi Jinping, thinks it can succeed," Newsham, a retired Marine colonel who's extensively studied the cross-strait military situation, told Radio Free Asia (RFA).

"China has been planning and getting ready to invade Taiwan for at least the last few decades," he said.

"The PLA will hit Taiwan hard and fast while isolating Taiwan electronically and physically," Newsham added. "It will intimidate the Americans into standing clear."

In his opinion, the upcoming Taiwan presidential election in January 2024 is particularly important.

"If a 'pro-China' candidate wins, Beijing just might back off and rely on their Taiwanese proxies to force Taiwan to give in and accept mainland dominance," the analyst said.

"But if the candidate that wants to stay free from Chinese communist dominance wins, I would expect Beijing to use force against Taiwan."

Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Statement by Committee of Ministers President on the anniversary of the liberation of towns Bucha and Irpin

Council of Europe

Presidency of the Committee of Ministers

Strasbourg

31 March 2023

Iceland's Minister for Foreign Affairs and President of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, ThArdAs KolbrAn ReykfjArd GylfadAttir, has made the following statement on the anniversary of the liberation of towns Bucha and Irpin:

"In my last visit to Ukraine, I had the honour to pay tribute to the victims of Russia's terrible crimes in Bucha and Borodianka.

The Ukrainian resistance has been much stronger than expected by the Russians. As a result, Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, targeting schools, hospitals, residential buildings, and civilians, including children and the elderly.

The unlawful deportation of children from the occupied territories to Russia appears to reflect their intention to erase their Ukrainian identity and heritage.

There can be no impunity for the horrendous atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine. It is crucial to document these crimes and damages caused by the invasion to ensure justice for the Ukrainian people in the future.

In our presidency of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, Iceland has highlighted the importance of accountability and we are hopeful that the Council of Europe can contribute to the process by hosting a register of damages under its auspices. I hope this can be established as early as the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in May. This would serve as a first step towards a compensation mechanism and be an important piece of the accountability agenda.

We must make use of all possible means to ensure accountability and the establishment of a special tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine would bridge gaps in the accountability system.

The unimaginable horror and sorrow that Russia has brought upon the Ukrainian people will have a lasting impact, but their bravery will also inspire future generations, as it has inspired us."

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Anniversary of the liberation of towns Bucha and Irpin

Council of Europe

Statement by the Secretary General

Secretary General

Strasbourg

31 March 2023

Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric today made the following statement:

"Today we mark one year since the Russian forces committed appalling crimes against civilians in Bucha and Irpin. These crimes will remain forever in Europe's collective memory. As Russia's aggression continues, other Ukrainian cities and towns have faced similar atrocities.

"There is no place for impunity. The perpetrators must be brought to justice. There can be no sustainable peace without ensuring accountability for these and other crimes. The Council of Europe is playing and will continue to play a key role, in close cooperation with Ukraine, in ensuring compensation for victims and full accountability for the crimes committed, including the crime of aggression.

"We stand with our member state Ukraine, its authorities and people in these difficult and challenging times."

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Speech by President von der Leyen on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, via video message

European Commission

Speech

31 March 2023

Brussels

Dear President Zelenskyy,

Distinguished guests,

People of Ukraine,

When brave Ukrainians fiercely stopped the invader from advancing on Kyiv, they exposed a heinous truth. In Bucha, Russian soldiers had looted and burned homes, tortured, raped, and murdered innocent civilians. I was in Bucha after its liberation. The barbarity of the attacks was palpable. The sight of mass graves and body bags lined up on the ground is etched forever in my memory. And so are the people behind the horrific stories.The young men with their hands tied behind their backs, shot in the head. The grandfather who was shot in the back while riding his bicycle. Not even women and children were spared.

One year on, it is clear: What happened in Bucha, was not a random episode. Those executions in cold blood were part of a bigger plan. Cruel, cynical, calculated. The Kremlin wants to eliminate Ukraine. Its statehood, its independence and democracy. And the Kremlin wants to eliminate Ukrainians: Their national identity. Their sense of being. Their history, and their hope in the future. These are war crimes. These are crimes against humanity. And the Bucha massacres have been replicated in other Ukrainian lands occupied by Russian forces.

Another target in Putin's plan is children. Ukraine says over 16.200 children have been abducted. They have been deported to Russia, Removed from their families and communities. Deprived of their childhood and their roots. This is yet another blatant attempt at erasing the Ukrainian identity. It is undeniable. It is unforgivable. And it is punishable. And so, for the first time in history, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for a leader of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. By charging Putin, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has sent a clear message: there will be no escape for the perpetrator and his henchmen. War criminals will be held accountable for their deeds.

The European Union is working on the collection of evidence and bringing prosecutors together. We have also recently set up an International Coordination Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression. This is done as part of the Joint Investigation Team in Eurojust and in which the ICC also participates.

And we will continue to spearhead efforts to make sure that Putin can be held accountable for the crime of aggression.To that end, we continue to support the creation of a dedicated tribunal if that's what it takes. This is for Ukraine and for every country's right to exist, to be free, and to write its own future. Not only do we want Russia's criminal plan to fail. We want justice for Ukraine and for Ukrainians. Slava Ukraini.

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Statement by Gitanas NausAda, President of the Republic of Lithuania, at the Bucha Summit

President of the Republic of Lithuania

March 31, 2023

I am grateful for this important opportunity to speak out today, one year after the liberation of Ukrainian territories from the Russian invaders, and also one year after the shocking revelation of the true nature of the Russian aggression.

Today I feel a duty to speak about the war crimes and other violations of international law committed in Ukraine by Russian military. Those crimes cannot - and should not - be forgotten. To reach a moral clarity necessary to deal with present-day issues, we must remember the great evil that has already been done.

One year ago, news about the tragic events in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv came out as a great shock. None of us, I believe, could have thought about such atrocities happening on European soil once again. This went far beyond the power of our imagination.

And yet we were forced to witness the results of those four weeks of terror, bloodshed and destruction. Brutal violence has left deep marks in Bucha's streets and houses. But most importantly, it brought untold suffering to innocent people.

Many scars will never heal. Those who survived, as well as those who perished, deserve to see justice done. Therefore, I commend the efforts of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, whose recent report confirms a widespread pattern of summary executions with the highest number in the Kyiv region.

It is now well documented that the Russian authorities and forces have committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is our duty to do everything possible to bring the perpetrators, as well as responsible officials and military leaders, to justice. Therefore, Lithuania fully supports the investigation launched by the International Criminal Court's Prosecutor. My country is also actively assisting through participation in the Joint Investigation Team in EUROJUST.

The International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant against Putin is a clear signal that no one - no one - is beyond the reach of justice, and there will be no impunity.

Having in mind that the deportation of children is only one of Russia's many criminal actions in Ukraine, the international community needs to make another crucial step. To ensure that there is full accountability, we must address the original crime - the crime of aggression.

I therefore call on everyone to support the establishment of a Special International Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. My great hope is that Russian leaders and their accomplices in this war will be held accountable. Until this becomes a reality, Lithuania will stand firmly in full solidarity with Ukraine.

The people of Ukraine have demonstrated incredible ability to resist the brutal aggression of the Russian forces. With their love for freedom, determination and resilience, they have already set an immortal example for us all.

I firmly believe in Ukraine's victory. I believe that after Bucha, which was liberated one year ago, the time will come for other Ukrainian cities, towns and villages. And justice will prevail in the end.

Thank you!

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Ukraine seeks to join EU within year after start of membership talks: FM

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:10, March 31, 2023

KIEV, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine aims to join the European Union( EU) within a year after the start of the membership talks, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday.

"Our goal is to start EU membership negotiations in 2023. I think it will take about a year for Ukraine to become a full member," Kuleba was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Ukraine is performing the tasks put forward by the EU for the membership "much faster than anyone expected," the minister stressed.

In June 2022, EU leaders accepted Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the bloc.

The European Commission put forward seven requirements to be fulfilled by Ukraine for starting the accession talks.

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Belarus warns of 'nuclear' war over continued Western military support to Kiev

Iran Press TV

Friday, 31 March 2023 11:12 AM

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday warned the continued Western support for Ukraine is increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war breaking out in the former Soviet republic as well as igniting the third World War.

The 68-year-old ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, expecting dialogue and diplomacy to replace violence and exchange of fire.

"As a result of the efforts of the United States and its satellites, a full-scale war has been unleashed in (Ukraine) ... a third world war with nuclear fires looms on the horizon," he said during a televised address to lawmakers and people.

Lukashenko said there should be no preconditions for a ceasefire and warned Ukraine against launching a counter-offensive, saying it would make negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv impossible.

The close Kremlin ally, Lukashenko also called for a "truce" in Ukraine and for talks "without preconditions" between the warring sides.

"I'll take the risk of suggesting an end of hostilities... a declaration of a truce," he said during a state of the nation address. "All territorial, reconstruction, security and other issues can and should be settled at the negotiation table, without preconditions."

Lukashenko further said that Russia is planning to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of his country, where there's a strong opportunity to safeguard Belarus from western threats.

Putin said on Saturday that Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its first deployment of nuclear armaments outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"From April 3, we start crew training, and on July 1 we are finishing the construction of a special repository for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus," said Putin.

Belarus shares its borders with both Russia and Ukraine, and Poland lies towards its west.

To the north of these countries is Finland, which has become the latest addition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and would be added as a formal member within days, according to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

"I look forward to raising Finland's flag at NATO HQ in the coming days. Together we are stronger and safer," Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.

With Finland being added to the list of the NATO club, it will become as the second country with NATO forces sharing its borders with Russia.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow's recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a "special military operation" was to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

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Ukraine Marks Bucha Massacre Anniversary As Russia Shells Cities In East

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service March 31, 2023

Ukraine on March 31 marked one year since Russian forces withdrew from Bucha, leaving behind hundreds of bodies of murdered civilians on the streets of the commuter town near the capital in what Kyiv said was a massacre and a Russian war crime.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presided over an official outdoor ceremony in Bucha that was also attended by Moldovan President Maia Sandu and the prime ministers of EU and NATO members Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia -- Eduard Geger, Robert Golob, and Andrej Plenkovich.

In a video posted on social media, Zelenskiy called the Bucha massacre "a symbol of the atrocities" committed by the Russian military.

"We will never forgive. We will punish all those guilty," Zelenskiy said in a statement accompanying the video.

As the Russian military was forced to hastily leave Bucha and Irpin, another town on the outskirts of Kyiv, after a failed attempt to capture the Ukrainian capital, images of the dead bodies scattered on the streets of Bucha sparked a wave of shock and condemnation around the world.

Russia has denied committing the massacres and claimed the deaths were "staged" by Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials estimate about 400 bodies of civilians were found in Bucha, as well as more than 1,000 throughout the region around Kyiv.

Many of the bodies were buried in mass graves.

In a video message, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States "will continue pushing for accountability and for justice for as long as it takes."

Ukrainian and international investigators have opened a probe into war crimes in Bucha, Irpin, and other locations in Ukraine where apparent massacres occurred.

"The key word today is justice. Justice...for all our people who lost relatives, loved ones, health, home, [and] normal life due to Russian aggression, due to the terror of the occupier," Zelenskiy said in his evening video message.

He added that the events that took place in Bucha on March 31 and other talks with international officials were aimed at speeding up the process of creating a tribunal on Russian aggression.

Sandu tweeted about the event in Bucha, saying the people of Moldova "stand with the global community in remembering the terror inflicted on the civilians in Bucha one year ago."

"We honor and grieve the innocent. Democracies must work together to ensure that these atrocities are investigated and punished," she added.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc "assists Ukraine to investigate such crimes and collect evidence," while Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Bucha showed the world "the true face of Russian occuption."

"A year ago, Ukraine liberated Bucha and the world woke up to the true face of Russian occupation. Bucha is a crime scene and a symbol for all Russian crimes -- mass killings, deportations, erasing whole cities," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wrote in a Twitter on March 31. "There's no going back -- Russia will be held accountable."

Meanwhile, fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces for control of Bakhmut and other key towns in the eastern region of Donetsk continued unabated as the northeastern city of Kharkiv was targeted with missile and drone strikes overnight, the military said on March 31.

Russia targeted civilian infrastructure in the city of Kharkiv with nine missile strikes launched from S-300 air-to-surface systems and 10 Iranian-made Shahed drones, Ukraine's General Staff said in its daily report, adding that nine drones were destroyed.

At least five civilians were wounded, authorities said.

"The enemy continues to ignore the laws and customs of war, using terror tactics against the peaceful citizens of our country," the military said.

In the southern Kherson region, Russian troops shelled settlements 64 times over the past day, killing one person and wounding two, the regional military administration reported on March 31.

The city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk was also struck by two Russian missiles that damaged eight residential buildings, the military said.

Heavy fighting continued in and around Bakhmut, where the Ukrainian defenders repelled 22 attacks over the past 24 hours, and in Avdiyivka, Lyman, and Maryinka.

A civilian was killed and six others were wounded by Russian shelling the area around Bakhmut, the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirylenko, wrote on Telegram on March 31.

Bakhmut, a mining city with a prewar population of 70,000 people, has become the epicenter of Russia's offensive for the control of eastern Ukraine. About 2,000 civilians are thought to be left in the city that has been all but razed to the ground.

In southern Ukraine, the city of Zaporizhzhya was targeted by overnight shelling by Russia that damaged civilian infrastructure, the secretary of the Zaporizhzhya city council, Anatoliy Kurtev, reported on Telegram.

Kurtev said no one was injured.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-targets-kharkiv-ukraine- drones-missiles-bakhmut/32343139.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Tornadoes leave three dead in Arkansas: Reports

Washington, Apr 1 (UNI) At least three people died and dozens of others were hospitalized following tornadoes that hit the US state of Arkansas, ABC News reports.

One death was reported in North Little Rock, while two more deaths were reported in the city of Wynne, ABC said on Friday citing local authorities.

At least 50 hospitalizations were reported in the Pulaski County area, according to ABC.
Holy Eviction: What's Going On With The Standoff At Kyiv's Famous Monastery Of The Caves?

By Mike Eckel March 31, 2023

Nearly 1,000 years ago, when Kyiv was the capital of a kingdom known as Kyivan Rus ruled by Prince Yaroslav the Wise, several Orthodox Christian monks were granted permission to build a church on a hilltop on the western bank of the Dnieper River.

Over time, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra grew to include more churches, residences for monks, and a labyrinth of subterranean caves and passages, dug deep into the hillside, with icons, crypts, and chapels filled with the incense of sweet-smelling beeswax from flickering candles.

"For centuries, the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery, with relics of saints buried in caves, has been one of the most important Christian pilgrimage centers in the world," the United Nations heritage organization UNESCO says. "A masterpiece of human creative genius in both its architectural conception and its remarkable decoration."

The Monastery of the Caves, as it is also known in English, has been tangled up for years in worsening Ukrainian-Russian relations, relations that resulted in a formal split -- a schism -- between the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches in 2019, when the Ukrainian church was granted independence.

Now the issue is coming to a head at the historic monastery, as Ukrainian officials demand that the priests who live there -- some of whom are suspected of recognizing the authority of the Moscow church -- vacate the facility.

On March 30, the clerics again defied eviction orders, refusing entry to both Culture Ministry officials and journalists, prompting scuffles.

Here's what you need to know about the site and the fight.

Why Kyiv? And Why Caves?

Historical records say that in the year 988 or 989, a Kyivan prince named Volodymyr embraced the form of Christianity that was rapidly spreading out of Constantinople -- present-day Istanbul -- and was baptized, formally making it the kingdom's official religion.

Less than a century later, Volodymyr's grandson Iziaslav gave Orthodox priests Antony and Feodosiy permission to build the complex.

The monastery, and Kyiv itself, endured a siege by princes from what is today Russia, as well as pillaging by the Tatar-Mongol armies that swept across Asia and Eastern Europe in the 13th century and occupied much of the landmass for decades.

Beginning roughly in the 17th century, the complex was rebuilt and expanded, acquiring many of its Baroque architectural features.

Despite the official atheism of the Soviet Union, the monastery complex remained intact. The Nazi invasion in 1941 and the siege and occupation of Kyiv caused immense damage to the complex. The main Cathedral of the Assumption was destroyed.

After the Soviet collapse in 1991, Ukrainian officials worked to upgrade and modernize the facility. Scores of priests and monks live and work at the complex, and it's now one of Kyiv's most visited sites, both for regular tourists and for pilgrims.

Whose Church? Whose God?

The Russian Orthodox Church, the largest single unit among all Eastern Orthodox churches, has for centuries claimed the mantle of being the true home of Orthodox Christianity.

It has long held sway over one of the main branches of the splintered Orthodox faith in Ukraine, known until recently as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate.

This hierarchy dates back to the 17th century when a group of bishops in Moscow, then the capital of the Russian Empire, effectively took control of the Ukrainian church.

In the chaotic years after the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War, a rival church -- the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church -- was established.

But it was marginalized by Soviet officials, even during periods when the Soviet Communist Party was quietly tolerant of some religious practice.

After the Soviet breakup, a church called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate emerged, competing for Orthodox primacy in the country. The monastery, however, remained under the control the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate.

As tensions built following the outbreak of a Russia-fueled conflict in the eastern Donbas region and Russia's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the Ukraine churches edged further away from Moscow. In late 2018, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate essentially merged, creating the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

In January 2019, the spiritual head of all Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, recognized that church's independence from Moscow.

The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, were not pleased.

In May 2022, three months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate said it had renounced its ties to Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church. It renamed itself the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -- a moniker Kyiv says it has no right to claim.

A 2020 survey found that 34 percent of Ukrainians identified as members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, while 14 percent said they were members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Confused Yet?

The Monastery of the Caves is formally controlled by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine -- the pro-Kyiv church -- but only partly. Some of the priests remaining there have been suspected of harboring allegiances to Moscow.

The symbolism of Orthodox priests with any sort of hint of allegiance to Moscow during wartime, living in a holy site like the monastery, is unacceptable for many Ukrainians.

There's also the religious symbolism. The Monastery of the Caves draws pilgrims from around the world. The complex is home to dozens of bodies -- some centuries old -- of priests, some of whom have been beatified and made saints.

There's also control of the tourist revenues, not all of which end up being shared with the Ukrainian government.

Around three dozen Orthodox priests around the country have been arrested by Ukrainian law enforcement since the February 2022 invasion, accused of unspecified acts of sabotage or of gathering intelligence and sending it to Moscow.

In November, Ukrainian security agents raided the Monastery of the Caves complex, searching for what they said were weapons or anti-Ukrainian propaganda. A Russian Orthodox Church spokesman called it an "act of intimidation" against Ukrainian believers.

Earlier this week, as the deadline for eviction neared, some priests could be seen packing up items and loading them into trucks. Photographs circulating on social media purported to show some hallways with icons missing from walls.

On the day of the formal deadline -- March 29 -- scores of believers attended mass at the monastery's main cathedral. Some holdout priests refused to let Ukrainian cultural officials into some of the property's buildings, resulting in some scuffles and pushing.

On March 31, another standoff occurred.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the effort to evict the remaining priests. In Kyiv, meanwhile, Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that he hoped that cooler heads would prevail.

"I hope that the [holdout priests] will come to their senses," he said.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kyiv-pechersk-lavra-standoff- monastery-russia-monks/32343746.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia to Consider 'NATO Peacekeepers' as Targets if Deployed in Ukraine, Medvedev Says

Sputnik News

20230331

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will consider so-called NATO peacekeepers as legitimate targets if they get deployed in Ukraine on the front line, Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.

"They will be a legitimate target for our armed forces if they are placed on the front line without the consent of Russia with weapons in their hands and directly threaten us," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to the official, the West's real goal is to establish a ceasefire on the front line that is favorable to them.

"It is clear that the so-called NATO peacekeepers are simply going to enter the conflict on the side of our enemies [Ukraine] ... Unleash that very third world war, which they so fear when they talk," Medvedev said.

Earlier in March, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that the European Union is one step ahead from discussing sending military of some peacekeeping type in Ukraine.

A Sputnik

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Statement by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen on the IMF's Approval Of Ukraine's Economic Program

U.S. Department of the Treasury

March 31, 2023

Washington -- Today, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen released the following statement on the IMF Executive Board's approval of Ukraine's economic program.

"I welcome the IMF approval of a $15.6 billion economic program for Ukraine. I commend Ukraine's efforts to pursue broad-based structural reforms under the program despite Russia's brutal and immoral war and strongly support the program's measures aimed at securing economic and financial stability. The program's policies and reforms will support economic growth, strengthen good governance and anti-corruption efforts, and set the foundation for longer-term reconstruction.

The IMF's financial assistance is a critical component in the international community's collective support to Ukraine and will supplement the economic assistance provided by the United States to fund essential services like schools, hospitals, and first responders, as well as the funding from our partners. I want to thank IMF staff for their tireless work and close engagement with the Ukrainian government, the United States, including our dedicated staff at Treasury and other partners of Ukraine in bringing this program to fruition. I'm also pleased that the group of official creditors to Ukraine, consisting of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, have provided financing assurances to support Ukraine's debt sustainability under the IMF program. I call on all other official and private creditors to join this initiative to assist Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia's unprovoked war. The United States will continue to stand by Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes."

Group of creditors of Ukraine provides financing assurances to support the IMF's approval of an upper credit tranche programme

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Full accountability is what teaches an aggressor to live in peace - Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the Bucha Summit

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 22:10

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the first Bucha Summit Faces of Justice, dedicated to discussing the mechanisms of bringing the aggressor state to full accountability for crimes against the Ukrainian people and humanity. Heads of foreign states and governments, other representatives of partner countries and international organizations joined the event in a mixed format.

Opening the summit, the President of Ukraine emphasized that everything the world saw in Bucha one year ago after the Russian occupation became a symbol of the horror brought by Russian aggression.

"We must do everything to make Bucha a symbol of justice. Justice for Ukraine, for Europe, for the whole world. That every Russian murderer, executioner and terrorist answer for every crime against our people, against humanity as such. Everything what happened in Bucha, the Russian army carries wherever it goes," the Head of State said.

He emphasized that systemic violence and genocide are the essence of Russian actions in all Ukrainian occupied territories. After Bucha, the world saw similar things in other de-occupied towns and villages.

Zelenskyy said that only in Bucha district of Kyiv region, the Russian occupiers committed more than 9,000 war crimes, killed more than 1,400 civilians, and 637 of them in Bucha.

"Old people and very young. Men and women, children... 37 children were killed by the Russians only here, only in Bucha and near this town," the Head of State said.

Therefore, according to the President, the occupier's accountability for all crimes must be full.

"There should be three elements in Russia's full accountability. The first is the national justice of Ukraine, which will ensure the accountability of the majority of Russian murderers and terrorists. The second is the International Criminal Court, which is capable of prosecuting Russian war criminals of various levels within its jurisdiction. And the third mandatory element is a special tribunal; the mandatory element - we emphasize for certain countries and certain leaders who have a different opinion - the special tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine, which will bring to justice those guilty of the primary crime - the crime of aggression, the crime that made possible all other crimes of this Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.

As the Head of State said, only justice can ensure the soundness of the post-war peace.

"Only when peace is built on the just foundations of full condemnation of aggression and when the accountability of the one who disturbed the peace is fully ensured, peace can last for long," he said, noting that the formal norms of international law will not work without fully ensured justice.

"That is why justice is one of the points of our fundamental document, our Peace Formula that we have proposed. And for the sake of justice, we are creating a global network of legal cooperation. Cooperation just not to allow does to return. And so that in response to every destruction or ruin of our Ukrainian life by the Russian occupiers, a legal verdict of the court will be pronounced," the President said.

Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to everyone in the world who shares Ukraine's position regarding the inadmissibility of compromises at the expense of justice.

According to him, everyone who does not want a repetition in other parts of the world of what Russia is doing in Ukraine, should work together with our state to create a special tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression, a compensation mechanism to recover all losses caused by aggression.

"Full accountability is what teaches an aggressor to live in peace. Although it is difficult, it is going to work," the Head of State said.

As the President said, significant progress in achieving justice has already been shown by the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for the head of the terrorist state on charges of forcible deportation of Ukrainian children from the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia.

"Ukraine fully supports and actively contributes to the work of the International Criminal Court. We are also waiting for new warrants to arrest Russian political and military figures in relevant cases regarding crimes committed on the territory of independent Ukraine. I emphasize: they must be held accountable not only to the history, but also to the court for everything they have done," Zelenskyy said.

At the President's persuasion, the national judiciary of Ukraine, the International Criminal Court, and the special tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression will together restore the effectiveness of the international order based on rules.

"Today's Summit and the Bucha Declaration bring even closer the time when Russia and all criminals will be punished. May this happen in the name of everyone who died at the hands of Russian war criminals. May this happen in the name of every Ukrainian child whose life was taken by Russian terror. May this happen in the name of the values of the world, on which international law is built and which must function - function effectively, always and everywhere on Earth," the Head of State said.

After the Summit, the Bucha Declaration was adopted, which shall remain open for accession.

The President of Ukraine noted the importance of the fact that about 50 countries and organizations participated in the first Bucha Summit.

"This is extremely important for every Ukrainian man and woman. It is important because there are priorities. It is victory and justice. We will definitely achieve them," he said.

In particular, President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Eduard Heger and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Robert Golob came to Ukraine to participate in the event.

The following participants addressed the audience via video links: President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, President of the Republic of Estonia Alar Karis, and President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili. The following participants joined the summit online: President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits, President of the Republic of France Emmanuel Macron, President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel, President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinisto, President of Hungary Katalin Novak, President of Montenegro Milo ukanovic, President of the Republic of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Republic of Guatemala Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and PACE President Tiny Kox, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola also addressed the participants via video links.

In addition, the following participants spoke via video links: Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein Daniel Risch, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas Philip Davis, and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel.

Video addresses of the ministers of the states supporting Ukraine were also played.

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Bucha Declaration on accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 20:45

We, representatives of the States and International organizations, met on 31 March 2023 for the Bucha Summit on Russia's accountability for the crimes in Ukraine

Reaffirming the paramount importance of the Charter of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of the rule of law among nations and reaffirming our commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine,

Recalling the London Declaration of 13 January 1942 on punishment for war crimes, which, in the midst of a war of aggression, set out international solidarity and resolve to pursue justice,

Recalling the UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/95 (1946), entitled Resolution on the Affirmation of the Principles of International Law Recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, which affirmed the principles of international law recognized by the Nuremberg Charter and Judgment, and recalling further again that aggression is criminalized in many national criminal codes, including that of Ukraine,

Recalling the obligations of all States under Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations, and to settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered,

Recalling the UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, which defines aggression as the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter,

Further recalling the obligations arising from international humanitarian law and international human rights law,

Considering that the UN General Assembly resolution ES-11/1 (2022) deplored "in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine in violation of Article 2(4) of the Charter",

Expressing grave concern at the immense harm and suffering resulting directly and indirectly from the aggression committed against Ukraine,

Expressing grave concern also at the serious crimes under international law that are continuing to be committed on the territory of Ukraine by the members of armed forces of the Russian Federation and its proxies,

Convinced that taking all appropriate steps to reinforce the prohibition of the threat or use of force will contribute to the strengthening of international peace and security,

Convinced also that ending impunity is essential for coming to terms with any past crimes committed and preventing such crimes from happening in the future,

Acknowledging the proceedings initiated by Ukraine against the Russian Federation before the International Court of Justice concerning a dispute related to the interpretation, application, or fulfilment of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and urging the parties to implement the Order for Provisional Measures of 16 March 2022 immediately,

Welcoming the ongoing work carried out by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and related crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/49/1 (2022), and A/HRC/RES/S-34/1, and noting its reporting and assessments,

Acknowledging the ongoing investigations carried out by the International Criminal Court, which can exercise jurisdiction over any war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on the territory of Ukraine since 21 November 2013 and recognizing that the International Criminal Court is not in a position to exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression committed against Ukraine

Underlining the significance of the recent decision of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin and Russian Commissioner of Children's Rights M. Lvova-Belova and emphasizing the importance of accountability for all perpetrators for serious violations of international law,

Welcoming that individual States, including Ukraine, have opened investigations into the serious crimes under international law that have been committed on the territory of Ukraine,

have resolved as follows:

Condemn in the strongest possible terms the serious crimes under international law that have been committed on the territory of Ukraine, including the Bucha massacre which became a symbol of the horrors of the Russian aggression;

Express support also for the efforts of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and express deep appreciation for the International Criminal Court's unique and critical activities to ensure the prosecution of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes under international law and preventing their impunity, thus contributing to the deterrence of such crimes;

Express support for the efforts of States, including Ukraine, to investigate and prosecute crimes within their respective jurisdictions, committed on the territory of Ukraine or against Ukraine, in accordance with their national legislation and international law;

Welcome the international support provided to efforts to ensure comprehensive accountability for serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine, including the Joint Investigative Team set up by the European Union's Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST) on alleged core international crimes committed in Ukraine and the advisory groups providing support to Ukraine;

Call on States and other stakeholders to provide maximum possible support to the activities of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) established at Eurojust to enhance investigations into the crime of aggression by securing key evidence and facilitating the process of case building at an early stage;

Emphasize the importance of international cooperation and judicial assistance in conducting effective investigations and prosecutions, and encourage States to provide such support;

Affirm that those responsible for planning, masterminding and committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine must not go unpunished, and call on the international community to consider appropriate actions, including through the establishment of an appropriate justice mechanism to ensure effective accountability for the crime of aggression, which is of concern to the international community as a whole;

Recognize the need for the establishment of an international mechanism for reparation of damages, loss or injury, and arising from the internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine and supports the establishment of an international register of damage to serve as a record, in documentary form, of evidence and claims information on damages, loss or injury to all natural and legal persons concerned, as well as the State of Ukraine, caused by internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine, as well as to promote and coordinate evidence-gathering;

Emphasize the need to ensure comprehensive accountability for the most serious crimes under international law committed on the territory of Ukraine through appropriate, fair and independent investigations and prosecutions at the domestic and international level, and stress the need to pursue practical steps towards this goal to ensure justice for all victims and to contribute to the prevention of future crimes;

Invite other States and International organizations to join the Bucha Declaration.

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Joint declaration of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Robert Golob

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 19:22

Condemning in the strongest possible terms Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, which undermines the foundations of the UN Charter,

Referring to unwavering support of the European Union, NATO and the UN General Assembly members for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders extending to its territorial waters, as well as fully supporting Ukraine's inherent right to self-defence and to choose its own security arrangements,

Acknowledging Ukraine's significant contribution to the security of Euro-Atlantic area and beyond, in particular through standing up to Russia's military aggression,

Noting that the Constitution of Ukraine defines acquiring full-fledged membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a strategic course of the state,

Noting the support by overwhelming majority of Ukrainian population for integration of Ukraine into the EU and NATO,

Commending the development of extensive bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Republic of Slovenia, and considerable potential for further cooperation in all spheres of joint interest,

President of Ukraine and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia

Reaffirm their support for the principles of international law, the inviolability of borders, and the right for each state to choose its own path and security arrangements;

Reiterate their demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders;

Appreciate the continued support by Slovenia to help Ukraine withstand the Russian aggression and to assist with the reconstruction and fast recovery;

Note the readiness to remain fully committed to the policy of non-recognition of illegal annexation of Ukraine's territories by Russia;

Deplore the dire human rights and humanitarian consequences of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine, including the continuous attacks against critical infrastructure across Ukraine with devastating consequences for civilians, and express grave concern at the high number of civilian casualties, including women and children, the number of internally displaced persons and refugees in need of humanitarian assistance, and violations and abuses committed against children;

Underline their firm commitment to bring to justice those responsible of war crimes and other serious crimes committed in connection with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and to support the establishment of an ad hoc international tribunal to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression;

Recognize the need to establish a sound legal basis for the use of frozen and immobilized Russian assets to support Ukraine's reconstruction and for the purposes of reparation;

Support Ukraine's Peace Formula initiative for a just peace based on respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Slovenia supports the idea of a Peace Formula Summit aiming at promoting its effective implementation to be convened when conditions allow;

Emphasize the importance of Ukraine's consistent efforts of continuing the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian program, aimed at enhancing the global food security;

Welcome Republic of Slovenia's contribution through the World Food Programme (WFP) to the 'Grain from Ukraine' initiative, which enabled a shipment of grain from Ukraine to the developing countries that are hardest hit by food shortages;

Welcome Slovenia's intervention efforts in both cases of Ukraine v. Russia before the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights;

Welcome the historic decision of the leaders of the European Union states, adopted on 23 June 2022, granting to Ukraine EU candidate country status. Ukraine highly appreciates Slovenia's support towards the full-fledged membership of Ukraine in the EU. Slovenia looks forward to Ukraine starting accession negotiations when conditions are met;

Acknowledge Ukraine's commitment to strengthen its efforts to ensure further progress towards the implementation of EU and NATO standards on its European and Euro-Atlantic path and acknowledge bilateral support of the Republic of Slovenia to this end;

Declare the following:

- The Republic of Slovenia will continue to promote strong and effective political and material support by the EU and NATO for Ukraine aimed at ensuring the ability of the Ukrainian state to effectively defend its territories in line with its inherent right of self-defence;

- Ukraine highly appreciates assistance provided by the Republic of Slovenia in order to strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities and alleviate human suffering. Slovenia will continue to provide strong defence, technical, humanitarian and political support to Ukraine for as long as it takes;

- The Republic of Slovenia supports Ukraine to become NATO Member as soon as conditions allow;

- Ukraine and the Republic of Slovenia express readiness to hold bilateral consultations on Ukraine's security concerns prior to NATO membership;

- Ukraine supports the candidature of the Republic of Slovenia for non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for the 2024-2025 term;

- Ukraine and the Republic of Slovenia commit to coordinate closely on these matters by intensifying bilateral contacts.

Signed in duplicate in Kyiv on 31 March 2023 in English.

For Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

For the Republic of Slovenia Prime Minister Robert Golob

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The head of the Ukrainian state holds meeting with President of Moldova

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 18:14

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, visiting our country at his invitation.

The head of the Ukrainian state noted the importance of Moldova's solidarity with the people of Ukraine in the conditions of ongoing Russian aggression and emphasized the commitment to continue doing everything necessary to build friendly and close relations between our states.

He highly appreciated the signals of the Moldovan side in support of Ukraine and the visit of the President of Moldova to the cities affected by the Russian invaders.

The head of the Ukrainian state briefed his counterpart on the situation at the front.

The leaders expressed readiness to strengthen cooperation in countering challenges coming from Russia and exchanged views on the need for further sanctions pressure on Moscow.

Zelenskyy and Sandu discussed current issues of bilateral cooperation in detail.

The President of Ukraine welcomed the joint progress in the development of transport infrastructure, in particular, the connection of Odesa region and the south of Moldova by a new railway line with common border and customs control.

The parties positively noted the work of the relevant departments of the two countries, aimed at increasing the throughput capacity at certain border sections.

Particular attention was paid to the issue of creating a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

The presidents of Ukraine and Moldova also discussed the progress and further prospects of the movement of the two states through European integration.

At the meeting, Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to the Moldovan side for the decision adopted by its national parliament to recognize the Holodomor in Ukraine as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people.

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President of Ukraine holds talks with Prime Minister of Croatia

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 17:57

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej PlenkoviA, visiting our country.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Head of State thanked the Prime Minister of Croatia for his visit and participation in the Bucha summit on the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha from the Russian aggressor.

"We are friends, we feel it. It is very important for our people," the President said, noting the high level of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Croatia.

He separately emphasized the unchanging position of the Croatian government regarding the support of Ukraine and our people during the resistance to Russian aggression.

Zelenskyy briefed PlenkoviA on the situation at the front, drawing attention to the primary needs of our defenders.

The importance of the significant defense assistance provided by Croatia to Ukraine was noted, and the need for its continuation was emphasized.

The parties discussed the issue of increasing pressure on Russia, including sanctions.

Particular attention was paid to further joint work to create a special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression committed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

"For people, justice is very important. Ukrainians lost many relatives and friends over the past year. And it is very important to reach the end and have the results of justice," he said.

Zelenskyy emphasized the importance of cooperation in matters of recovery and post-war reconstruction of the regions of our state liberated from the aggressor.

Noting Croatia's leadership in humanitarian demining, the President of Ukraine welcomed Zagreb's intention to hold a relevant international donor conference this autumn.

The President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia discussed cooperation on the path of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy thanked Croatia for its support in granting Ukraine the EU candidate status and noted the personal role of PlenkoviA in this process.

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Humanity should remember every Ukrainian city, which heroism, resilience give a future to all who value life - President on the occasion of the anniversary of Bucha de-occupation

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 17:35

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Eduard Heger, Prime Minister of Slovenia Robert Golob, and the Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej PlenkoviA took part in events on the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of the city of Bucha in Kyiv region from the Russian invaders.

"A year passed since the day when the Russian occupiers were expelled from our city of Bucha. The city that the world didn't know about at that time. The city that the world will never forget. We will not let you forget. Human decency will not allow us to forget," Zelenskyy said, addressing the audience.

According to him, on the streets of Bucha, the world saw what the Kremlin sought to bring to other streets of Ukraine, Europe and the world, which could have been taken over by the Russian invaders if they had not been stopped by Ukrainian defenders.

"Ukrainian people! You stopped the greatest anti-human force of our time. You stopped the force that despises and wants to destroy everything that gives meaning to a person," the Head of State said.

He said that Russia kills, tortures, and terrorizes because it seeks to destroy human dignity so that a person in the territory controlled by the Kremlin is just dust under the feet of those, who have power.

"This is how it is in Russia today. And it will never be like that in Ukraine, in all of Europe, on the land of each nation, defending freedom together with us," Zelenskyy is convinced.

He said that for more than 400 days, the Ukrainian people have been fully focused on repelling the genocidal full-scale aggression of Russia. Friends help Ukraine - the nations, also believing that human life is the highest value.

"I thank each such nation! Thank you to the leaders, who are here today in Bucha, and to every state represented at today's important events, and to all the nations who have supported us since the first days of the full-scale war," the President said.

He said that the battle for the foundation of the free world is taking place on Ukrainian land. And humanity will definitely win, and Russian evil will fall right here, in Ukraine.

"But humanity should remember every Ukrainian city which heroism and resilience give a future to all who value the most important thing - life," the Head of State said.

President of Moldova Maia Sandu said in her speech that these days we honor the memory of the innocent victims of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine and express our admiration for the Ukrainian defenders who repelled it.

"We, together with you, remember the victims of the brutal acts of the Russian troops against the citizens of Ukraine. Democratic states must work together to investigate and punish those who committed these brutal acts," she said.

Sandu said that Moldova supports Ukraine and will do so until all Ukrainians have an opportunity to return to their safe homes.

"We believe in Ukrainian victory in this battle for our existence, for the restoration of territorial integrity, and we call for justice, without which there will never be peace," the President of Moldova said.

The Prime Minister of Slovenia said that what the Russian aggressor did to peaceful citizens in Bucha can never be forgiven.

"That is why we are with you in this difficult moment and feel our duty to help you in the fight for your freedom," Golob said.

He also expressed the need to bring to justice all those who committed war crimes in Ukraine.

"This war is unprovoked and unnecessary. This was imposed on all of us. But now, it has united us. Today, we are all Ukrainians. Let me remind you that today, we are more connected than ever. Together with you, we are of the Cossack race. And together with us, you will live happily in your land," the head of the Slovenian government said.

In his speech, the Prime Minister of Croatia said that he is visiting Bucha for the second time and remembers all the cruel things that the Russian invaders did in just one month of the occupation of this city.

"Crimes committed in Bucha showed the true face of Russian aggression," PlenkoviA said.

At the same time, according to him, Ukrainian citizens, military personnel, and the country's leadership showed the world what it means to fight for one's freedom and common European values.

"You deserve that Ukraine restores its territorial integrity and liberates the temporarily occupied territories. That is why our support to Ukraine - political, humanitarian, financial, and military - will continue," the Prime Minister of Croatia said, adding that there must be punishment for the crimes committed by the Russian occupiers.

For his part, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Eduard Heger said that the whole world saw the horror of the crimes committed by the Russian army a year ago. He emphasized the need to punish those who committed them.

"Ukraine deserves to be a free democratic state. That's why you will have our full support," he assured, adding that Slovakia will support Ukraine both on the way to the EU and in regaining its territories.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Prime Minister of Slovakia

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 15:08

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger who arrived on a visit to our country to participate in the Bucha Summit.

Welcoming the head of the Slovak government to Kyiv, the Head of State emphasized that he is always welcome in Ukraine.

"On behalf of our people, I thank you for the support that you, your government and the President of Slovakia, as well as ordinary people have provided to Ukraine during such a difficult and challenging year," the President noted.

During the meeting, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Eduard Heger discussed in detail the issue of countering Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and further cooperation between Kyiv and Bratislava both at the bilateral level and on international platforms.

The President of Ukraine thanked Slovakia for the recent significant package of security support, which included MiG-29 aircraft and air defense equipment.

"Increasing the capabilities of our defenders on the frontline is our number one priority," he emphasized.

Special attention was paid during the meeting to the implementation of the Ukrainian initiative regarding the Peace Formula. The Head of State noted that Ukraine is working with a wide range of partners to prepare for the global peace summit. The importance of Slovakia's full support for the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine and willingness to participate in its implementation was noted.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Eduard Heger exchanged views on topical issues of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.

The Head of State emphasized that the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU will be an important signal of support for Ukrainian society.

"We count on active facilitation from Slovakia on this path," he said.

The interlocutors touched upon the issue of Slovakia's involvement in the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the urgent challenge for our country is the speedy restoration of social infrastructure in the de-occupied territories.

"The reconstruction of kindergartens, schools and medical institutions is important for the return of citizens to the liberated territories," the President emphasized.

In this context, the Head of State thanked Slovakia for providing shelter to Ukrainians who were forced to seek salvation from the war.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Eduard Heger also discussed the bilateral dialogue measures for the near future.

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Enhance banking penetration in rural areas: MoS 24 Apr 2023 | 7:42 PM Kolhapur, Apr 24 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Finance, Dr Bhagwat Karad on Monday asked the bankers to focus on banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured and funding the unfunded. see more..

India aims to generate exports worth USD 2 trn in next few years: Minister 24 Apr 2023 | 7:08 PM Mumbai, Apr 24 (UNI) Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India has set an ambitious target of USD two trillion dollars in exports in next few years. see more..

SECI records over 59 pc jump in RE power trading in FY23 24 Apr 2023 | 6:58 PM New Delhi, Apr 24 (UNI) Public sector Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) on Monday said that it registered 59% year-on-year jump in renewable energy (RE) power trading in the financial year 2022-23. see more..

IndusInd Bank Q4 net profit rises 46 per cent to Rs 2,043 cr 24 Apr 2023 | 6:48 PM Mumbai, Apr 24 (UNI) Private lender IndusInd Bank Limited said on Monday that its net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023 was Rs 2,043 crore, as compared to Rs 1,401 crore during corresponding quarter of previous year, up by 46 per cent year-on-year. see more..
President of Ukraine held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Slovenia

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 13:35

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Robert Golob, who arrived in our country on a visit.

Welcoming the head of the Slovenian government to Kyiv, the Head of State said: "I want to thank you for taking the time to visit us on such an important day - the day of de-occupation of Bucha. I am also grateful for all the help you have provided to Ukraine to strengthen it on the battlefield."

Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately emphasized the importance of the recent decision of the Slovenian government to allocate a new package of military aid to Ukraine, which will speed up the liberation of Ukrainian lands from invaders.

In this context, the President informed the Prime Minister of Slovenia about the situation at the front and emphasized that the continuation of effective and active defense support of Ukraine by all partners and allies is more important than ever.

The Head of State noted Slovenia's readiness to join further consolidated steps regarding the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula aimed at achieving lasting and just peace in our country.

The issue of cooperation between the parties regarding restoration and reconstruction in the liberated territories, which is already developing in specific directions, in particular in the Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions, was discussed in detail.

"We count on the further active involvement of Slovenia in the reconstruction projects in Ukraine," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The President and the Prime Minister raised the issue of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of our country. The President emphasized the determination of Ukraine to do everything necessary to reach a decision on the start of negotiations on joining the EU by the end of the current year. He also stressed the importance of Slovenia's support for our country on this path.

During the meeting, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also separately thanked Slovenia for its warm attitude towards Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homeland due to the Russian invasion.

As part of the meeting, the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia signed a Joint Declaration, which will contribute to the enhancement of cooperation between the two countries.

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Andriy Yermak discussed topical issues with representatives of Ukrainian and international media

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 10:54

Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak met with representatives of Ukrainian and international media. Roman Mashovets and Oleksiy Kuleba, Deputy Heads of the Office of the President, also took part in the conversation.

At the meeting, a number of topical issues of the Ukrainian agenda were discussed.

In particular, emphasis was placed on strengthening the military support of Ukraine by partners and allies and enlargement of the defense capabilities of our country. The parties also touched upon the situation at the front and the provision of Ukrainian servicemen.

The course of formation of the "Offensive Guard" in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and new brigades of the Armed Forces, mobilization, preparation of the Ukrainian army for a counteroffensive were discussed.

Particular attention was paid to the international direction, in particular to the political, economic and energy cooperation of Ukraine with partners. In this context, the participants touched upon the issue of cooperation with the states of the G7 and the Global South, in particular with those that are still neutral regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The participants of the meeting also paid attention to the topic of continuation and strengthening of the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation, the issue of confiscation of Russian assets in favor of Ukraine, the return home of deported Ukrainian children from Russia, the prolongation of the grain agreement and a number of other initiatives of our country aimed at ensuring food security in the world.

In addition, the issue of the work of the Congress of Regional and Local Authorities under the President of Ukraine was discussed during the meeting.



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Head of the President's Office met with the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine

President of Ukraine

31 March 2023 - 08:51

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Ukraine Bridget Brink.

Andriy Yermak informed the U.S. Ambassador of the current security situation.

The Head of the Presidential Office thanked the United States for its unflagging support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The parties also noted the importance of the participation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the meeting of the second Summit for Democracy chaired by President of the United States Joseph Biden.







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Spanish PM Urges China's Xi to Speak With Zelenskyy

By VOA News March 31, 2023

Following meetings in Beijing on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he encouraged Chinese President Xi Jinping to hold talks with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss a peace plan with Russia, suggesting the two leaders may have common ground.

Speaking to reporters, Sanchez said he expressed to the Chinese leader Spain's and Europe's concerns about what Sanchez called Russian President Vladimir Putin's "illegal aggression against Ukraine."

Sanchez said he was especially interested in the details of China's position on Ukraine following Xi's visit to Moscow and his meetings with Putin.

The Spanish prime minister said he told Xi about a peace plan put forth by Zelenskyy, and that Sanchez believed it was a plan "that lays the foundations for achieving fair and lasting peace for Ukraine."

He said he encouraged Xi to talk to Zelenskyy about the plan.

Sanchez also gave credit to Xi and the Chinese government for its positions on two issues he felt were important: its total rejection of using or even threatening to use nuclear weapons, and its respect of territorial integrity.

Sanchez made the trip to China not only in his capacity as the leader of Spain, but also as a member of NATO and as a member of the European Union. Spain will assume the rotating presidency of the council of the EU in July.

Sanchez's visit comes less than a week before European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Beijing to meet with Xi.

Macron invited Von der Leyen, leader of the EU's executive branch, to join him on the visit to present a united European front in the meetings with the Chinese leader.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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NEW YORK, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the common stock of Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (NYSE: FIS) between February 9, 2021 and February 10, 2023, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), of the important May 5, 2023 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Fidelity National securities 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 Fidelity National class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=12773 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com 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 May 5, 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 firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the integration of Worldpay with the Fidelity National Merchant Solutions business was not ahead of schedule; (2) the integration of Worldpay with the Fidelity National Merchant Solutions business was not successfully completed during the Class Period; (3) the increases in revenue synergies were not driven by the Worldpay integration; and (4) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Fidelity National class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=12773 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com 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 investors 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

lrosen@rosenlegal.com

pkim@rosenlegal.com

cases@rosenlegal.com

www.rosenlegal.com
DENVER, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mydecine Innovations Group (NEO: MYCO) (OTC: MYCOF) (FSE: 0NFA) ("Mydecine" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company aiming to transform the treatment of mental health and addiction disorders, today reported company highlights and financial results for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.



Company Highlights

In 2022, Mydecine continued to define its focus and clinical trial execution strategy. The Company reached several milestones with the goal to become an efficiently operated biotechnology company. Of significant note, Mydecine announced several advancements in drug development including first and second-generation drug candidates. We have identified and pursued the indications that management believes will be most promising from the view of treating global populations in need. The Company has matured significantly in every aspect of its operations, focus, efficiencies, corporate governance and execution in the pursuit of being a world class, purpose driven, drug development platform that is focused, credible and qualified to successfully accomplish its goals and bring significant value to its loyal shareholders.

During the first half of 2022 management decided to cease the research that was being conducted in the research facility located in Denver, CO. During the quarter, the employees at this facility were released or transferred to other functions of the Company. Management began preparations to liquidate the laboratory equipment and furniture in this location and, subsequently, negotiated an amendment that changed the termination date of the lease. See the discussion of subsequent events for additional information. During 2020 and the nine-months ended September 30, 2021, the Company controlled a variety of hemp-derived cannabis assets that cultivated, designed, manufactured, and distributed products. As well, up to September 30, 2021, the Company had a portfolio that included a rental property and land assets. These business assets were spun out into a separate corporate entity as of October 1, 2021, therefore are not represented in the companys year-to-date 2022 operating results.

On December 9, 2022, completed a private placement and issued 905,660 common shares for gross proceeds of $480,000.

On December 7, 2022, issued 905,263 common shares for gross proceeds of $541,650 pursuant to debt settlements.

On November 28, 2022, completed a private placement and issued 943,396 common shares for gross proceeds of $500,000.

On November 1, 2022, completed a private placement and issued 943,396 common shares for gross proceeds of $500,000.

On September 16, 2022, the Company completed a private placement and issued 1,754,386 common shares for gross proceeds of $1,000,000.

On September 1, 2022, the Company signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to dispose of its Mindleap Health Inc. (Mindleap) subsidiary. Under the LOI terms, the Company would receive $4,000,000 for its shares of Mindleap and would receive a further $100,000 for post-closing consulting services. On December 12, 2022, the Company announced the closing of the transaction. The final purchase price was C$3.6 million, comprising 18 million unit of PanGenomic Health Inc. (PanGenomic), a company listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (the CSE). In addition, the Company and PanGenomic entered into a transition services agreement whereby PanGenomic engaged Mydecine to assist in the transition, transfer, and integration of Mindleap's technologies into PanGenomic's technology platform (the "Services") for two months. In return for the Services, PanGenomic will pay to Mydecine a consulting fee of C$100,000, payable on January 8, 2023.

The Mindleap division sale reduced the Companys operating cash outflows, while allowing the Company to have more operating capital and narrow its focus on its remaining core projects.

On August 16, 2022, the Company completed a private placement and issued 326,666 common shares for gross proceeds of $245,000.

On July 19th, 2022 Mydecine announced it has successfully synthesized multiple short-acting MDMA analogs. This family of analogs have been specifically designed by experts at Mydecine to have a shorter half life than traditional MDMA. The Company has named this family of novel molecules MYCO-006 and have applied for patent coverage with the World Intellectual Property Organization.

On May 27, 2022 the Company completed an overnight offering and issued 2,447,130 common shares for gross proceeds of $2,814,200. The Company paid broker fees of $186,043.

On May 2, 2022, the Company, in connection with its previously announced Common Share Subscription Agreement (the "Subscription Agreement") with a third-party investor (the "Investor") dated March 18, 2022 and the subsequent filing of a second shelf prospectus supplement (the "Prospectus Supplement") in connection therewith on April 27, 2022, the Company has closed the second issuance (the "Offering") under the Subscription Agreement. The Offering resulted in the issuance of 1,254,396 common shares in the capital of the Company ("Shares") at a price of $1.35 per Share for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,693,434.60. The distribution of the Shares is qualified by the Prospectus Supplement.

On April 13, 2022, the Company completed a reverse stock-split, thereby consolidating all of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares ("Common Shares") on the basis of one (1) post-consolidation Common Share for every fifty (50) pre-consolidation Common Shares. As a result of elimination of partial shares, the share count was adjusted by 13 shares.

On February 16th, 2022 Mydecine announced the inclusion of a novel molecule with potentially heart-safe microdose enabling properties in their family of psilocin analogs. The Company has named this group of patent pending molecules MYCO-005.

Ongoing Operations

The Company's main focus is novel drug development. The Companys primary target indication at this time is Smoking Cessation. During the next 12 months, the Company intends to advance these projects on the following fronts:

Using advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to design and screen drugs of interest.

Commence animal studies and subsequent human trials.

Work closely with internationally recognized firms to conduct the clinical trials.

Continue to develop molecule families MYCO-004, MYCO-005 and MYCO-006.

Explore new strategic partnerships to leverage the company's ongoing efforts.

The Company is currently conducting its psilocybin research in Canada at the University of Alberta. The Company also has a number of planned research and clinical trial sites internationally including Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Macquarie University, The Imperial College of London, and several other prominent Universities throughout the United States and elsewhere.

The Companys expectation on receiving regulatory approval to develop and market psychedelic medicine including but not limited to psilocybin and derivatives of psilocybin.

The Company has been in communication with several clinical research organizations (CRO) on a global level that were chosen for their experience with similar compounds and the geographic support for psychedelic research. The location for the Phase I trial of a psilocybin analog will be chosen late 2022 with plans to dose the first patient in the Q2.

Efforts towards MYCO-001, were pivoted towards MYCO-004, a psilocybin analog. Shortly after a positive pre-IND meeting with the FDA regarding MYCO-001, psilocybin prodrug development reached a point where a lead candidate could be chosen. The investigational psilocybin drug product received FDA approval NIDA grant funded trial at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) on smoking-cessation by Matt Johnson & Al Garcia-Romeu. The Company is donating the drug product for the NIDA trial and plans to have the MYCO-004 Phase II trial at JHU in lieu of the originally planned MYCO-001 trial, as part of the 5-year research collaboration agreement. Additionally, the company is planning to supply MYCO-001 drug substance for multiple studies in the European Union in 2023.

The Companys expectations with respect to future performance, results and terms of strategic initiatives, strategic agreements and supply agreements.

The Company has continued building the patent portfolio based on improving natural psychedelics so they may better fit into the current medical care system. The novel compound development pipeline increased production in Q3 (September) and looks to finish 2022 ahead of schedule. Multiple provisional & PCT applications and realized the publication of Novel Psilocin Analog Compositions And Methods of Synthesizing The Same.

The Company is preparing for licensing relationships after another patent publication, Novel Functional Fungal Compound Formulations and Their Therapeutic Methods Of Use, became available. The Company plans to develop the technology further with a manufacturing partner and will be able to pursue licensing relationships with food, drink, and skincare brands by Q2 of 2023.

Financial Results for the Year Ended December, 2022

Net Loss: The net loss attributable to common stockholders was $11.56 million, from operations, or a basic and diluted loss per share of $(1.34). For the same period in 2021, loss from operations was $28.89 million, or a basic and diluted loss per share attributable to common stockholders of ($6.17) and which included a loss of $279,623 from discontinued operations.

Cash Position: The Company had $11,030 in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2022; the Company received $1.8M subsequently in early January 2023 from the sale of investments.

MYDECINE INNOVATIONS GROUP INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION

(EXPRESSED IN CANADIAN DOLLARS) As at, December 31,

2022

$

December 31,

2021

$ Current assets Cash 11,030 1,495,311 Other receivables 86,667 3,856 Sales tax receivable 276,135 201,060 Marketable securities 4,617,885 - Prepaids and deposits 1,220,349 3,521,125 Total current assets 6,212,066 5,221,352 Non-current assets Prepaids and deposits 678,916 1,793,894 Right-of-use asset - 130,546 Property and equipment 9,876 434,910 Total assets 6,900,858 7,580,702 Current liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 5,371,916 1,587,238 Notes payable 85,204 - Derivative liabilities 346,667 1,280,294 Lease liability  current portion - 79,728 Total current liabilities 5,803,787 2,947,260 Non-current liabilities Convertible debentures, net 4,696,974 4,354,302 Long-term portion of lease liability - 67,821 Total liabilities 10,500,761 7,369,383 Shareholders equity (deficiency) Share capital 115,918,379 107,662,388 Contributed surplus 16,787,778 17,288,315 Equity portion of convertible debentures 175,756 175,756 Deficit (136,481,816 ) (124,915,140 ) Total shareholders equity (deficiency) (3,599,903 ) 211,319 Total liabilities and shareholders equity (deficiency) 6,900,858 7,580,702





MYDECINE INNOVATIONS GROUP INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF LOSS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(EXPRESSED IN CANADIAN DOLLARS) For the years ended,

December 31,

2022 December 31,

2021 Sales - 7,493 Cost of goods sold - - Gross margin - 7,493 Expenses Finance cost 911,594 205,267 Corporate development 2,574,487 3,401,645 Depreciation 128,861 235,177 Consulting fees 5,321,179 5,220,556 Director and management fees 535,482 1,346,468 Foreign exchange loss 175,669 355,671 Insurance 926,848 511,501 Office and miscellaneous 162,435 925,568 Professional fees 1,367,862 2,216,950 Regulatory and filing fees 113,382 349,777 Research and development 3,589,434 3,960,232 Salaries 1,669,181 1,424,012 Share-based payments - 3,099,743 Total expenses 17,476,414 23,252,567 Other income (expenses) Change in fair value of derivative liabilities 627,869 43,688 Revaluation of marketable securities (418,011 ) - Impairment of loan receivable - (382,902 ) Other income 93,656 - Gain on settlement of debt - 1,377 Gain on forgiveness of accounts payable 247,521 - Loss on disposal of asset (316,208 ) - Total other income (expenses) 234,827 (337,837 ) Loss from continuing operations (17,241,587 ) (23,582,911 ) Income (loss) from discontinued operations 5,674,911 (5,314,488 ) Net loss and comprehensive loss for the year (11,566,676 ) (28,897,399 ) Net loss per share  Basic and diluted from continuing operations (1.34 ) (6.17 ) Weighted average number of shares outstanding  Basic and diluted 8,647,471 4,681,721

For more information, please review the Companys audited financial statements and accompanying management discussion and analysis which are posted on www.SEDAR.com.

About Mydecine Innovations Group

Mydecine Innovations Group (NEO:MYCO) (OTC:MYCOF) (FSE:0NFA) is a biotechnology company developing innovative first- and-second-generation novel therapeutics for the treatment of mental health and addiction using world-class technology and drug development infrastructure. Mydecine was founded in 2020 to address a significant unmet need and lack of innovation in the mental health and therapeutic treatment environments. Our global team is dedicated to efficiently developing new therapeutics to treat PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction and other mental health disorders. The Mydecine business model combines clinical trials and data outcome, technology, and scientific and regulatory expertise with a focus on psychedelic therapy, as well as other novel, non-psychedelic molecules with therapeutic potential. By collaborating with some of the worlds foremost authorities, Mydecine aims to responsibly fast-track the development of new medicines to provide patients suffering from mental health disorders with safe and more effective treatment options. Mydecine Innovations Group is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, USA, with international offices in Leiden, Netherlands.

Learn more at: https://www.mydecine.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.

For more information, please contact:

Media Contact:

pr@mydecineinc.com

Investor Relations:

investorrelations@mydecineinc.com

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

Joshua Bartch, Chief Executive Officer contact@mydecineinc.com

For further information about Mydecine Innovations Group, Inc., please visit the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Companys website at www.mydecine.com.

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws regarding the Company and its business, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect managements current expectations and assumptions. Often but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as expect, intends, anticipated, believes or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would or will be taken, occur or be achieved.

Such forward-looking statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, without limitation, risks regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the availability and continuity of financing, the ability of the Company to adequately protect and enforce its intellectual property, the Company's ability to bring its products to commercial production, continued growth of the global adaptive pathway medicine, natural health products and digital health industries, and the risks presented by the highly regulated and competitive market concerning the development, production, sale and use of the Company's products. 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 information. 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 save as required under applicable securities legislation.
TLLAAL, HAIDA GWAII, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Earlier this month, Travel + Leisure Magazine announced the winners of the 2023 Global Vision Awards. Haida Tourism, being honoured as a top hospitality brand leading the way in conscious, environment-minded travel .

We are thrilled to receive this award and recognition which reflects our deep commitment to sustainable and cultural tourism. Every element of our guests' experience begins with yahguudang respect for all living things and the interdependence that binds us.

Its an honour to be recognized for our leadership in sustainable tourism. We believe we can continue to find the balance between welcoming visitors to our home and still maintain the integrity of our territory, our culture, and our way of life on Haida Gwaii, says Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, President of the Haida Nation.

Haida Tourism, which is owned by the Haida Nation, strives to provide the very best of Haida Gwaii for our guests and travelers from around the world. The Haida House at Tllaal and Ocean House at Tlaga G awtlaas, specialize in authentic cultural experiences and nature-based adventures. Our guests leave X aada G waay.yaay Haida Gwaii with a deepened understanding and respect for the Haida culture and love for this place that we call home.

Experience and explore X aada G waay.yaay Haida Gwaii with Haida Tourism and have the extraordinary travel experience of a lifetime!

Media Contact:

Kathy James

Director of Sales, Marketing & Guest Experience

Haida Tourism

Email: kathy.james@haidatourism.ca

Phone: 778.914.0585
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (Sabina) or (the Company) (SBB  TSX) reports the financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022.

2022 was a year of continued de-risking at Back River, said Bruce McLeod, the Companys President & CEO. With the completion of our project financing package and related equity financings, we were able to advance the Goose Mine to a formal construction decision. All work since then has been focused on executing and delivering a successful build for first gold in Q1, 2025. Subsequent to the year end, Sabina received a proposal from B2Gold Corp. to purchase all the issued and outstanding shares in the Company in an all-share transaction. After careful consideration, the Board and management of the Company determined that this transaction was in the best interests of the Company. We believe there is significant value to be generated for existing Sabina shareholders through this transaction, both in B2Golds ability to continue to unlock the highly prospective Back River Gold District as well as its existing assets and its considerable dividend. At yesterdays close, the transaction had an implied value of $2.09 per share and a premium of ~57% from the unaffected date.

2022 Highlights:

The Company ended the year with cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $65.8 million.

On September 7, 2022, the Board of Directors of the Company made a formal construction decision for the Goose Mine.

On February 8, 2022, the Company announced the completion of a construction financing package totaling approximately US$530 million in aggregate.



The Financing was comprised of: US$225 million senior secured debt facility with Orion Mine Finance (Orion); US$75 million gold prepay facility with Orion; Gold metal offtake agreement with Orion; US$125 million gold stream arrangement with Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.; and US$95 million private placement of Sabina common shares with both Orion and Wheaton subscribed over three tranches which was completed in May 2022; and US$10 million private placement of Sabina common shares with Zhaojin International Mining Co., Ltd. (Zhaojin) subscribed over two tranches which was completed in May 2022.

The Financing was comprised of:

Subsequent to the completion of the project financing package, the Company completed additional equity financings for total gross proceeds of $143.9 million.



During the year, the Company also: Repaid the US$20 million Sprott bridge loan in May 2022 Received the first two draws of the Wheaton gold stream arrangement of US$62.3 million by December 31, 2022.





The Company also engaged in the following activities in 2022:

On-site construction work, including completion of plant site preparation, construction of water management structures, and pre-stripping of the Echo pit. Advanced various initiatives related to project execution, including internal quality checks related to the various engineering design packages, and activities related to the finalization of the performance guarantee with FLSmidth regarding key equipment for the Goose Mine processing flowsheet. All pre-development activities are now completed for full construction to commence in 2023. Received multiple sealifts from Sabinas eastern and western shipping corridors at the Port Facility, with all cargo offloaded safely to the laydown area. Additionally, Sabina successfully offloaded 9.2 million liters of diesel fuel into its bulk storage tank at the Port Facility. All major equipment and materials required for initial construction have been procured and delivered to the Companys Port Facility in Bathurst Inlet. Commenced winter ice road preparations in December for the delivery of critical supplies and equipment from the Port Facility to the Goose Mine site. (Construction subsequently completed with haulage commenced). Advanced underground development of the exploration ramp to approximately 1600 meters Completed a spring and winter drill program at Goose. Completed a summer exploration field program at George.



For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company reported a net loss of $14.4 million or $0.03 per share. The reported net loss includes $1.6 million (after-tax) of unrealized losses on the change in fair value of the construction financing obligations.

For the Year End 2022 financial statements and Managements Discussion and Analysis, please see the Company website at www.sabinagoldsilver.com or on SEDAR.

SABINA GOLD & SILVER CORP

Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. is an emerging gold mining that 100% owns the district scale, advanced, high grade Back River Gold District in Nunavut, Canada.

Sabina filed an Updated Feasibility Study (the UFS) on its first mine on the district, the Goose Mine, which presents a project that will produce ~223,000 ounces of gold a year (first five years average of 287,000 ounces a year with peak production of 312,000 ounces in year three) for ~15 years with a rapid payback of 2.3 years, with a post-tax IRR of ~28% and NPV 5% of C$1.1B. See National Instrument (NI) 43-101 Technical Report  2021 Updated Feasibility Study for the Goose Project at the Back River Gold District, Nunavut, Canada dated March 3, 2021.

Since the UFS, completion of detailed geotechnical test work on the tailings samples and the inclusion of a high-capacity tailings thickener, the tailings storage capacity of the Echo open pit has increased sufficiently to enable the decision to construct the mill at a 4,000 tpd capacity at the outset. This, in addition to optimized equipment selection and detailed engineering has reduced the cost of the expansion from C$17m to C$10m when compared to the UFS.

The Project received its final major authorization on June 25, 2020 and is now in receipt of all major permits and authorizations for construction and operations.

The Company is also very committed to its Inuit stakeholders, with Inuit employment and opportunities a focus. The Company has signed a 20-year renewable land use agreement with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and has committed to various sustainability initiatives under the agreement.

In February 2022, the Company announced it had completed a comprehensive project financing package for US$530 million comprised of:

A US$225 million senior secured debt facility with Orion Mine Finance;

A US$75 million gold prepay facility with Orion Mine Finance;

A US$125 million gold stream arrangement with Wheaton Precious Metals; and

A US$95 million private placement of Sabina Common shares subscribed to by both Orion and Wheaton Precious Metals.

A US$10 million private placement of Sabina common shares with Zhaojin.



In addition to Back River, Sabina also owns a significant silver royalty on Glencores Hackett River Project. The silver royalty on Hackett Rivers silver production is comprised of 22.5% of the first 190 million ounces produced and 12.5% of all silver produced thereafter.

For further information please contact: Nicole Hoeller, Vice-President, Communications: 1 888 648-4218 nhoeller@sabinagoldsilver.com

Forward Looking Information



This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (the forward-looking statements), including, but not limited to, statements related to the consummation and timing of the Transaction; the synergies, strengths, characteristics and potential of the post-Transaction B2Gold, assuming consummation of the Transaction upon the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, including the Plan of Arrangement; and the timing, receipt and anticipated effects of applicable Shareholder, Court and regulatory approvals. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the future circumstances, outcomes or results anticipated in or implied by such forward-looking statements will occur or that plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur.

While we have based these forward-looking statements on our expectations about future events as at the date that such statements were prepared, the statements are not a guarantee that such future events will occur and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause events or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and assumptions include, among others, B2Golds and Sabinas ability to achieve timely satisfaction of conditions precedent to the Transaction, including with respect to key regulatory, Court and Shareholder approvals; B2Gold's and Sabinas ability to carry on current and future operations, including: the duration and effects of COVID-19 on our operations and workforce; development and exploration activities; the timing, extent, duration and economic viability of such operations, including any mineral resources or reserves identified thereby; the accuracy and reliability of estimates, projections, forecasts, studies and assessments; B2Gold's ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry.

In addition, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Known risk factors include the inherent risks, costs and uncertainties associated with integrating the businesses successfully and risks of not achieving all or any of the anticipated benefits of the proposed Transaction, or the risk that the anticipated benefits of the proposed Transaction may not be fully realized or take longer to realize than expected; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Arrangement Agreement; the risk that the proposed Transaction will not be consummated within the expected time period, or at all; as well as other risk factors and uncertainties identified and described in more detail under the heading "Risk Factors" in B2Gold's most recent Annual Information Form, B2Gold's current Form 40-F Annual Report and B2Gold's other filings with Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which may be viewed at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively, as well as under the heading Risk Factors in Sabinas most recent Annual Information Form which may be viewed at www.sedar.com. Although we have 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. We are under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws.

Bruce McLeod, President & CEO

1800-555 Burrard Street, Two Bentall Centre

Vancouver, BC V7X 1M9

Tel 604 998-4175 Fax 604 998-1051

http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com
/ NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES /

TORONTO, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSXV: RPX, OTCQB: RDEXF) ("Red Pine" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an amendment agreement with Haywood Securities Inc. (Haywood), as co-lead agent and sole bookrunner, on behalf of 3L Capital Inc. (3L Capital and together with Haywood, the Co-Lead Agents), as co-lead agent, and a syndicate of agents (together with the Co-Lead Agents, the Agents) in connection with a private placement on a best efforts agency basis, to increase the size of the previously announced private placement to gross proceeds of up to $6,800,000 (the Upsized Offering).

The Upsized Offering will consist of any combination of (i) units of the Company (the Units) at a price of $0.20 per Unit (the Issue Price); (ii) tranche 1 flow-through units of the Company (the "Tranche 1 FT Units") at a price of $0.235 per Tranche 1 FT Unit (the Tranche 1 FT Issue Price); and (iii) tranche 2 flow-through units of the Company (the "Tranche 2 FT Units" and together with the Units and Tranche 1 FT Units, the Offered Securities) at a price of $0.285 per Tranche 2 FT Unit (the Tranche 2 FT Issue Price).

Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (a Common Share) and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole purchase warrant, a Warrant). Each Tranche 1 FT Unit will consist of one Common Share which will qualify as a flow-through share within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the Tax Act) and one-half of one Warrant. Each Tranche 2 FT Unit will consist of one Common Share which will qualify as a flow-through share within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Tax Act and one-half of one Warrant. Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one Common Share (a Warrant Share) at a price per Warrant Share of $0.250 for a period of 12 months from the closing date of the Upsized Offering.

The Company has granted Haywood an option, exercisable, in whole or in part, by Haywood giving notice to the Company at any time up to 48 hours prior to the closing date of the Upsized Offering, to sell up to an additional $945,000 in any combination of (i) Units at the Issue Price, (ii) Tranche 1 FT Units at the Tranche 1 FT Issue Price, and (iii) Tranche 2 FT Units at the Tranche 2 FT Issue Price.

The Offered Securities to be issued under the Upsized Offering will be offered by way of private placement in Canada and in such other jurisdiction(s) as may be agreed to between Red Pine and Haywood and will be subject to a hold period in Canada expiring four months and one day from the closing date of the Upsized Offering.

The gross proceeds from the sale of Tranche 1 FT Units and Tranche 2 FT Units will be used by the Company to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that will qualify as "flow-through mining expenditures" as such terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Qualifying Expenditures") related to the Company's projects in Canada. All Qualifying Expenditures will be renounced in favour of the subscribers of the Offered Securities effective December 31, 2023. The net proceeds from the sale of Units will be used by the Company for ongoing exploration at the Wawa Gold Project, working capital and general corporate purposes.

The Upsized Offering is expected to close on or about April 25, 2023 and is subject to certain closing conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the conditional listing approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and the applicable securities regulatory authorities. The Upsized Offering is subject to final acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

In consideration for their services, the Company has agreed to pay the Agents a cash commission equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds from the Upsized Offering and that number of non-transferable compensation options (the Compensation Options) as is equal to 6.0% of the aggregate number of Offered Securities sold under the Upsized Offering. Each Compensation Option is exercisable to acquire one common share of the Company at the Issue Price for a period of 24 months from the closing date of the Upsized Offering.

The Offered Securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Red Pine Exploration Inc.

Red Pine Exploration Inc. is a gold exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Companys shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol RPX and on the OTCQB Markets under the symbol RDEXF.

The Wawa Gold Project is in the Michipicoten Greenstone Belt of Ontario, a region that has seen major investment by several producers in the last five years. Its land package hosts numerous historic gold mines and is over 6,900 hectares in size. Led by Quentin Yarie, CEO, who has over 25 years of experience in mineral exploration, Red Pine is strengthening its position as a major mineral exploration and development player in the Michipicoten region.

For more information about the Company, visit www.redpineexp.com

Or contact:

Quentin Yarie, President and CEO, (416) 364-7024, qyarie@redpineexp.com

Or

Carrie Howes, Director Corporate Communications, (416) 644-7375, chowes@redpineexp.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains statements which constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance.

Forward-looking information is often identified by the words may, would, could, should, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect or similar expressions. Forward-looking information contained in this news release includes but may not be limited to: the potential for a hybrid pit and underground project. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflect managements expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Such opinions, assumptions and estimates are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the Companys expectations in connection with the projects and exploration programs being met, the impact of general business and economic conditions, global liquidity and credit availability on the timing of cash flows and the values of assets and liabilities based on projected future conditions, fluctuating gold prices, currency exchange rates (such as the Canadian dollar versus the United States Dollar), variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in accounting policies, changes in the Companys mineral reserves and resources, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, changes in project development, construction, production and commissioning time frames, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, higher prices for fuel, power, labour and other consumables contributing to higher costs and general risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, unexpected changes in mine life, seasonality and weather, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, permitting time lines, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, and limitations on insurance.

This information is qualified in its entirety by cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in filings made by the Company, including the Companys annual information form, financial statements and related MD&A for the year ended July 31, 2022, and the interim financial reports and related MD&A for the period ended October 31, 2022, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.
The city of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights have signed an agreement to revamp policing in the city where George Floyd was murdered by an officer nearly three years ago
Road Town, March 31, 2023 - Talon Metals Corp. (TSX: TLO) ("Talon" or the "Company") reported a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2022 of $1.5 million or nil per share (basic and diluted), which was primarily the result of administration expenses and stock option compensation offset by foreign currency gains. This compares to a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 of $5.5 million or $0.01 per share (basic and diluted), which was primarily the result of administration expenses and stock option compensation.

Capitalized exploration costs and deferred expenditures on the Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project for the year ended December 31, 2022 amounted to $52.9 million. This compares to $38.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The total capitalized exploration cost to the Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project to December 31, 2022 amounts to $160.5 million.

Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, together with Management's Discussion and Analysis have been filed on SEDAR and are available at www.sedar.com.

All amounts are presented in Canadian dollars.

ABOUT TALON

Talon is a TSX-listed base metals company in a joint venture with Rio Tinto on the high-grade Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project located in central Minnesota. Talon's shares are also traded in the US over the OTC market under the symbol TLOFF. The Tamarack Nickel Project comprises a large land position (18km of strike length) with high-grade intercepts outside the current resource area. Talon has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60% of the Tamarack Nickel Project, and currently owns 51%. Talon is focused on (i) expanding and infilling its current high-grade nickel mineralization resource prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 to shape a mine plan for submission to Minnesota regulators, and (ii) following up on additional high-grade nickel mineralization in the Tamarack Intrusive Complex. Talon has an agreement with Tesla Inc. to supply it with 75,000 metric tonnes (165 million lbs) of nickel in concentrate (and certain by-products, including cobalt and iron) from the Tamarack Nickel Project over an estimated six-year period once commercial production is achieved. Talon has a neutrality and workforce development agreement in place with the United Steelworkers union. Talon's Battery Mineral Processing Facility in Mercer County was selected by the US Department of Energy for $114m funding grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Talon has well-qualified experienced exploration, mine development, external affairs and mine permitting teams.

For additional information on Talon, please visit the Company's website at www.talonmetals.com or contact:

Sean Werger

President

Talon Metals Corp.

Tel: (416) 361-9636 x102

Email: werger@talonmetals.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/160919
Formula 1 teams are set to be invited to vote for a shakeup of the already-controversial 'sprint race' weekend format within mere days.

Having already revealed his desire to scrap most practice sessions in Formula 1, the sport's CEO Stefano Domenicali is now proposing that a second qualifying session be added to the sprint race format.

"The more you give the teams and the drivers the chance to show who they are, the better the show," the Italian said in Melbourne.

"We think of a session that just makes the sport better. Together with the drivers and teams, we are thinking about what the best plan might be and we then want to pursue that without fear."

It is believed the idea is to create separate qualifying sessions for both the 'sprint' and the main grand prix - with the sprint qualifying to potentially be a single-car 'time trial' format.

That would leave just one practice session for the weekend.

"Of course you need time for practice because Formula 1 has no practice outside of the grand prix weekends," said Domenicali.

"The young drivers also need the time to train. As always in life, it's about balance."

The hope is that the format change can be rushed through in time for the next race at Baku.

"The tyres are already on their way there," Pirelli's F1 boss Mario Isola said when asked if the new format would require more tyres per driver.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner is also nervous about Baku, declaring in Melbourne that it's "absolutely ludicrous" to hold a sprint race format at such a high-speed street circuit.

McLaren's Zak Brown agrees: "Hopefully all the cars will come back the way they started."

For Domenicali's plan to go forward at such short notice, an unanimous team vote is required.

"It is feasible," an FIA source told Auto Motor und Sport.

"If everything goes according to plan, we can hold an e-vote in two weeks."

Dr Helmut Marko indicated that Red Bull will be voting 'yes'.

"We actually asked for this last year," he said.

"With a separate qualifying session, you can then take more risks in the sprint race and it will be more exciting.

"The third practice session was actually for nothing anyway. It wasn't about anything."

(GMM)
My family cant change my style Osebo

Kofi Duah Showbiz News Mar - 31 - 2023 , 09:55

HIS fashion sense has not only raised eyebrows, it has also made peoples jaws literally drop and he has been slammed for it several times but fashionmonger Osebo The Zara Man is sticking to his guns saying no one and absolutely nothing, not even his family can make him change his style.

It is not rare to see Osebo, who runs a shop, 247 Boutique Zara Man Shop at North Kaneshie, going unconventional and sporting a shirt and a high-waist long skirt, a frock, mini dress, T-shirt over kilts plus a tote bag or briefcase among others.

In a chat with Graphic Showbiz, Osebos real name, Richard Brown, who sometimes looks dapper and is smartly dressed, said no matter how his critics thought his sense of style was an embarrassment, he didnt know what would make him stop.

According to him, although he had been dealing in fashion for about 30 years, he started getting loads of attention when he started with his way of dressing some eight years ago.

I have been in this fashion business for the past 30 years so I dont know why anyone would criticise my fashion sense which has made me who I am today. Those who insult me for my outfits dont understand fashion.

Fashion is madness and it surprises me that Ghanaians complain about my way of dressing. They havent seen anything yet because I always plan ahead what I want to do and I always get the attention I need, he stated.

When questioned if his children or any family member had ever complained about his style, he said his daughter was not very happy with him when he wore a long brown skirt but that would not stop him from dressing that way.

Why would I listen to my children when I am making money through that. I know how this has helped me. I am able to pay their school fees and also take care of bills. So why would I listen to them or anybody for that matter. No one can convince me to change my style, he added.
This year is for Piesie Esther Kwesi Ernest on VGMA nominations

Jayne Buckman-Owoo Showbiz News Apr - 01 - 2023 , 12:27

IT seems this years Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) ultimate award, Artiste of the Year, is a done deal for Gospel act Piesie Esther.

Well, that is the feeling one gets after talking to Artiste Manager/Music Producer Kwesi Ernest about this years VGMA nominees.

Kwesi Ernest, who is also CEO of Media Excel Productions, was not only emphatic about her win but also stated without hesitation that the year under review was no doubt a good one for Piesie Esther.

As for this year, the Artiste of the Year is a straight fight between Piesie Esther and Black Sherif but I am rooting for Piesie Esther. These two artistes made Ghana proud if you look at the work they put into their craft from Accra to Kumasi to Canada to New York, just name it, they were everywhere.

The two of them have been very dominant, Piesie Esther for instance was even on secular platforms. What this means for us in the Gospel fraternity is that the same support we gave to Joe Mettle and Diana Hamilton, we are giving to Piesie Esther and probably even more because we want her to be this years VGMA Artiste of the Year which is very possible.

From where I sit, I think she is 80 per cent through. See, the excitement that greeted the mention of her name even on the night of the nominees announcement was something else.

Even some of the Gospel musicians who are nominees too are all rooting for her. For me, the year 2022/2023 is one for Piesie Esther. So lets all give her our support to see her succeed, he stated.

Asked why all the support was for Piesie Esther and not Joe Mettle who has also been nominated in the Artiste of the Year category, Kwesi Ernest explained saying, For some of us, we are not biased in our dealings with our artistes. I am the Chairman for the Table of Men (a group of male industry players who seek the welfare of Gospel artistes). I play a very pivotal role in the music industry. I am a stakeholder.

The support we gave to Joe Mettle when he was first nominated in the Artiste of the Year category is the same support we gave to Diana Hamilton and it is the same support we are giving to Piesie Esther so let no one be emotional about it.

I am not saying Joe Mettle hasnt worked hard. He has, but this year is for Piesie Esther so lets all rally behind her to win. Lets not forget that every nominee is a potential winner but all support should be given to Piesie Esther for her to win the ultimate prize, he added.
'We were told he was busy' - Ghana Film Authority reacts to Spike Lee comments

GraphicOnline Showbiz News Mar - 31 - 2023 , 07:07

The National Film Authority (NFA) has responded to the comments made by renowned American filmmaker and actor, Spike Lee, that he was not approached by anyone from Ghanas film industry during his recent visit to the country.

Lee was part of the Creative Arts team that accompanied Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, during her three-day visit to Ghana.

During an interview on Asaase Radio, Lee expressed surprise at the existence of a thriving film industry in Ghana and stated that no one from the industry had approached him. He added that he would love to meet people in the film industry but had not been approached.

In response to Lees comments, the National Film Authority released a statement saying that their efforts to meet the filmmaker during his visit were unsuccessful.

The statement read: We have become aware of a circular on the visit of Mr. Spike Lee. As excited as we were to hear this news after he landed on air, the Authoritys CEO was on her way to meet Mr. Lee to reiterate the positioning when the Authority was informed that his schedule was busy for the evening.

The NFA called on organizers of such trips to inform relevant agencies to ensure that Ghana maximizes all opportunities for the benefit of all.

Read the entire statement below;

The National film authority has for the past 3 years worked assiduously to position Ghana as a film and content destination and called on the world to shoot in Ghana.

The CEO of the Authority recently returned from a round table during the recent Oscar week to meet Industry to explore this very positioning

We have become aware of a circular on the visit of Mr. Spike Lee. As excited as we were to hear this news after he landed on air, the Authoritys CEO was on her way to meet Mr. Lee to reiterate the positioning when the Authority was informed that his schedule was busy for the evening

Given the circumstances, the Authority relayed a good will message from the CEO reiterating Ghanas welcome and particularly the film industry and expressed our desire to commence a conversation.

We use the opportunity to call on all organizers of such trips to inform the necessary agencies to ensure that Ghana takes full advantage of all opportunities for the benefit of all.
Cashew: Burgeoning industry in Bono with teething challenges

Biiya Mukusah Ali Features Apr - 01 - 2023 , 13:33

Cashew, which is one of the tree crops being promoted under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme, is largely produced in the Bono Region.

It is a well-known fact that the region is one of the highest producers of the commodity in the country, as it is being produced in commercial quantities.

The crop was introduced into Ghana about 35 years ago, with the Bono Region, which has a total land size of 11,107 square kilometres, representing five per cent of Ghana's territorial land, becoming the leading producer of the commodity.

Statistics available from the Bono Regional Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) indicate that the region produced more than 48 per cent of the total annual production of 170,000 metric tonnes (MT) of raw cashew nuts in 2021.

Following the introduction of the PERD, the region has projected to increase its current production to 130,000 MT per year in the next four years.

The region, with 12 administrative municipal and district areas, has about seven of its districts focusing more on the cultivation of the commodity.

Cashew districts

Noted to be leading producers of cashew in the region are the Jaman North District, Jaman South Municipality, Tain District and Banda District.

Others are the Wenchi Municipality, Berekum Municipality, Berekum West District and the Sunyani West Municipality.

Although the rest of the districts, namely; Sunyani Municipality, Dormaa Municipality, Dormaa West District and Dormaa East District also produce the commodity, they are not into full-scale production.

During this years peak season, the commodity is in abundance in the major producing districts, particularly the Jaman South Municipality and Jaman North District.

When the Daily Graphic visited Sampa and Drobo in the Jaman North District and Jaman South Municipality, respectively, several long trucks were loading and transporting several bags of the raw cashew nuts from the various communities.

It is common to see raw cashew nuts being dried at every available open space, including the shoulders of roads in every community in the Jaman North District and Jaman South Municipality.

PERD programme

The Bono Regional Director of Agriculture, Denis Abugri Amenga, told the Daily Graphic that since the commencement of PERD in 2018, more than 46,000 hectares of new cashew plantations had been established in the region.

Mr Amenga said the Wenchi, Tain, Berekum and Jaman enclaves were the leading producing areas, giving the region the upper hand over other regions.

He said under the programme, thousands of farmers in the region were given free improved cashew seedlings and supported by the Agricultural Extension Officers (AEO) to adopt best agricultural practices in order to improve yield.

Mr Amenga said farmers had also allowed their farms to be pruned, which was one of the major ways of increasing production.

However, he lamented that close to 88,000 MT of the cashew apple, which could be processed into juice and several other recipes went to waste.

Mr Amenga, therefore, called on municipal and district assemblies (MDAs) and private investors to invest in the processing of the cashew fruits to juice.

He said adding value to the raw cashew nuts and apple (fruit) through processing would help create more jobs, increase earnings and reduce poverty to positively impact on the economic and social well-being of the country.

Pricing

Over the years, cashew farmers and dealers in the region have continued to lament low producer prices and some other marketing challenges.

In 2019, some of the farmers suspended the sale of raw cashew nuts because of the drastic reduction in the producer price of the commodity.

Some frustrated farmers also halted picking raw cashew nuts from their farms because the cost involved in processing a bag of nuts was more than the price of a bag of nuts.

Meanwhile, some of the farmers, who have no facilities to store the nuts or need money for various reasons, continue to sell it at low prices.

This year, the government has pegged the minimum price of the commodity at GH8.50 per kilogramme.

However, the announcement by the government was received with mixed reactions from the cashew farmers and dealers in the region.

While a section of them have expressed their joy about the price and commended the government for the initiative, another section of the farmers has argued that the amount was not adequate and could have been pushed to GH10 per kilogramme.

A 42-year-old farmer at Sampa, Victor Ankamah, said the government's decision to peg the price of cashew showed its commitment to farmers.

He said it had helped to stop buyers from cheating farmers, explaining that the amount was in the interest of industry players.

However, a 33-year-old farmer, Salia Ibrahim, told the Daily Graphic that he was not satisfied because the cost involved in picking the raw cashew nuts was higher than what he got from the sale of the commodity.

He explained that he had to either share the picked raw nuts with the pickers by dividing it into three, where he took two out of the three or paid GH50 to each person a day.

Mr Ibrahim said considering the high cost of chemicals and other farming expenses he incurred in the management of his farm, the producer price per kilogramme was woefully inadequate.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to consider increasing the price of the commodity to make the industry lucrative.

Cheating

Mr Ibrahim explained that though the government had pegged the price of the cashew nut, buyers in the area were still cheating farmers, saying, Some buyers continue to cheat us by giving less than the GH8.50.

The Jaman North District Chief Executive (DCE), Solomon Owusu, who also confirmed the cheating issue to the Daily Graphic, said it had come to the notice of the assembly that some buyers in the area were cheating the farmers

He said in order to prevent buyers from cheating farmers, the assembly had inaugurated a taskforce to go into the communities to check activities of the buyers, in order to ensure that farmers were not cheated.

Mr Owusu said the taskforce was made up of officers from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Ghana Police Service (GPS) and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Information Service Department (ISD).

He said it was illegal for buyers to cheat farmers or abuse the price set up by the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA), explaining that cashew production was the backbone of the assembly and would not allow the buyers to cheat farmers.

Revenue

Mr Owusu said cashew was a major source of the assemblys revenue generation, saying, The assembly revenue always increases drastically, during the cashew season.

He said the government had also demonstrated its commitment to the cashew industry and mentioned the establishment of the TCDA, which regulated activities of tree crops, including the cashew.

He said the establishment of the authority had helped to enhance the cashew sector in the area and the country as a whole.

Poor roads, smuggling

Mr Owusu, however, expressed concern about the deplorable nature of roads in the area, explaining that the poor state of the roads impeded cashew business and other socio-economic activities.

He said the assembly had started reshaping some feeder roads in the area to facilitate transportation of food and cash crops, particularly cashew from farmgates to the various storage facilities.

Mr Owusu said since the district shared its border with La Cote d'Ivoire, the assembly had beefed up security in the area to prevent smuggling of cashew nuts in or out of the district.

"Unfortunately, there are several unapproved routes which some of these smugglers may be using, but we have intensified security to check smuggling at the border," Mr Owusu said.

Response

Responding to the cheating issue, a Cashew Buyer, Isaac Kofi Asamoah, explained that buyers sometimes purchased the commodity below the GH8.50 because of the low quality of the nuts.

He explained that the quality of some nuts from the farmers were compromised, stressing that some farmers sometimes failed to dry their nuts properly before selling.

Mr Asamoah said when there was some amount of moisture in the nuts then buyers had to purchase it below the price in order not to incur losses after drying them properly.

He called on farmers to ensure that their nuts were well-dried to avoid controversies.
15th March 2023 - Beware the Ides of March!'

Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd) Opinion Apr - 01 - 2023 , 16:20

On 15th March 2023, surgeons at the Wa-West District Hospital told Ghanaians on radio/TV that, the two lamps in the hospitals operating theatre which they described as their third eye during surgery, had not worked for two years.

They were therefore forced to use their mobile phone torchlights during surgeries. Having recently visited Wa, I felt a raw-nerve of mine touched as I empathized with the surgeons plight!

The significant date 15th March, took me back to my article of March 2021 titled Beware the Ides of March, in which I stated as follows:

As I autographed a copy of my book Retirement Musings for the young Major, I asked for a confirmation of the date.

Today is 15 March 2021 Sir, he said. Wow! Beware the ides of March! I exclaimed instinctively, leaving the Major in wonderment about what I meant!

Julius Caesar is a Shakespearean tragedy we loved quoting from, in school. It was based on the life of the Roman General/Statesman Julius Caesar. Some of the quotes were;

1. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. by Mark Anthony in his eulogy of Caesar.

2. Et tu Brute? (And you too Brutus?) by Caesar after his closest friend Brutus stabbed him.

3. Beware the ides of March by a soothsayer/Caesars wife.

4. Rubicon crossed. The die is cast (alea iacta est) by Caesar daring the Roman Senate.

Ides of March

Monday, 15 March 2021 was the Ides of March in the Roman calendar. It was the day in 44-BC when Julius Caesar was stabbed twenty-three times to death by a group of senators led by his bosom-friend Brutus. Roman history states that, he was earlier warned by a soothsayer not to go out on the Ides of March, 15 Mar 44-BC, a warning reinforced by his wife.

Beware the Ides of March subsequently became synonymous with being warned, but displaying pig-headed obstinacy going against advice, and paying with ones life as happened to Caesar.

Caesar

Starting his military career as a teenager, Caesar rose to become a General. Considered a threat by Pompey, the Head of State,/equivalent of the Roman Republic, Caesar was sent out of the Republic to Gaul in Northern Italy to fight.

Rome and Gaul were separated by a shallow River Rubicon. After Caesar successfully completed his Gallic campaigns, Pompey ordered him to demobilise his army before returning to Rome. Caesar refused and subsequently crossed the Rubicon, declaring alea iacta est (the die is cast), his final act of throwing down the gauntlet at Pompey!

Indiscipline

During the week, TV news showed pictures of the island separating the two sides of the Accra-Tema Motorway, being illegally and dangerously crisscrossed. This reminded me of my stay in Uganda over twelve years ago where I served as the Senior Military Adviser to the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, President Chissano of Mozambique.

Reacting to daily screaming newspaper headlines of murders, I asked a Ugandan colleague why the murders. His answer was simply,

When laws fail to be applied because of political influences, indiscipline and impunity take over.

He also lamented the concentration of power in one hand. That sounded familiar!

Conclusion

On Thursday, 18 March 2021, Ghanas foremost playwright Ebo Whyte in his radio-presentation submitted that, despite the semblance of development, Ghana is in fact sliding backwards. Indiscipline shows at all levels of Ghanaian society!

He added that, we have lost our sense of shame and moral compass. For example, young girls bragging about their affairs with big men evoke no shame. Young men insult adults old enough to be their fathers/grandfathers in the name of politics.

Road traffic indiscipline resulting in carnage on our roads appears to have gained acceptability as normal.

Disgraceful open defecation is part of us!

No country has succeeded by brandishing indiscipline/impunity the way we are! Singapore/Rwanda did not!

On Friday 19 March 2021, the World Bank lamented Ghanas premature de-industrialisation! For an import-substituting country which under President Nkrumah before the 1966 coup produced car tyres, jute-bags, glass, matches/machetes, canned fruits/vegetables and had Ghana Airways and Black Star Shipping Line, our current manufacturing input of only 4% contribution to GDP is sad!

Comments

I concluded the article in March 2021 with the words;

Ghana! Beware the Ides of March! We are on a slippery slope. Unlike Julius Caesar, listen to good advice from Ghanaians, irrespective of political persuasion. For, Ghana belongs to all Ghanaians.

Why has Wa-West District Hospital, for two years, performed surgeries with surgeons mobile phones torchlights, because the two lamps costing 35,000 cedis/($US2,800) each, thus a total of 70,000 cedis/($US5,600) do not work? And yet, one Toyota-Land-Cruiser-V8 government officials use costs over $US100,000.

As a frustrated broadcaster asked, what country is this? Where is leadership? What are our priorities? Where is discipline?

Leadership, lead! Fellow Ghanaians, WAKE UP!

The writer is a Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya and Council Chairman

Family Health University College, Accra
Ripples of Impact  Supporting and investing in female-owned businesses for an equitable future

Mansa Nettey Opinion Mar - 31 - 2023 , 10:25

Female entrepreneurship is on the rise globally, with this wave sweeping over the African and Middle Eastern region.

Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has the worlds highest rate of women involved in entrepreneurial activity. While there remain significant barriers to success that female entrepreneurs face, their contribution to economic stability and development has been widely acknowledged and documented.

As a business leader, Im passionate about supporting women-owned business to achieve their potential and accelerate their growth. Research shows that women owned businesses generate higher revenue. By investing in female entrepreneurs, communities and countries can create more equitable economic footing and better livelihoods for people around the world.

I also appreciate the changing dynamics of todays world, and the role the use of technology can play by empowering and unleashing the economic potential of female entrepreneurs to be a force for economic growth.

In this article, as we celebrate women this month, I explore the need to support women-owned businesses drawing on my personal experience working and engaging with female entrepreneurs.

Supporting system changes

In many ways, the world I started my career in is different from todays world. Innovation and technology play a big role in automating repeated tasks and enabling efficient decision-making.

We have seen the role technology has played in being a gateway to new spaces, markets, and information, thereby boosting womens economic activity and participation. Studies have shown how mobile banking and smartphones have markedly expanded womens financial inclusion and enhanced their businesses.

In 2020, Standard Chartered launched the Women in Tech (SC Women in Tech Incubator) programme in Ghana. This was in the thick of the COVID-19 global pandemic, but we were cautiously optimistic that it would make a splash in the area of female-led entrepreneurship. However, we could not have imagined how successful it would be. Today we are on to the third cohort.

SC Women in Tech was developed to provide more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial excellence. In partnership with Ashesi Universitys Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC), the programme provides female entrepreneurs with the needed support in business management, mentoring, and seed funding. This is the Banks contribution to creating opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership expertise while scaling up their businesses on the backbone of technology.

We helped beneficiaries of the programme to build their skill and business development through best-in-class workshops, masterclasses and other business training sessions. The entrepreneurs had the opportunity to collaborate, learn, and grow, in addition to mentorship support from seasoned entrepreneurs and experienced professionals.

Ultimately, the top five finalists received seed funding and financial guidance to scale up their businesses.

Three years in, the ripples of impact we see spreading from each of these amazing young women who have gone through the incubator programme is impressive. Cumulatively, their businesses with operations in 10 out of Ghanas 16 regions have generated more than GHS1.2 million in revenue, created over 750 jobs and almost 23,000 households have had access to the products and services of these businesses.

Creators of Change

We create heroes and change makers when we institutionalise support programmes and lift participation of female entrepreneurs.

Last year, Hannah Aidoo of HA Farms took part in our Women in Tech incubator programme. At the time her farm, located in Mankessim in the Central Region, had 300 birds and a small vegetable and food crop farm. Today, there are over 2,000 layers and broilers and she has expanded into rabbit, snail and vegetable farming.

I am thrilled about Hannahs growth. From automated water dispensers to CCTV monitoring to social media marketing, Hannah has taken a profession as old as time and infused technology into it to provide societys basic need of food whiles providing employment and generating income sources for her partners and sub service providers.

With her learnings from Women in Tech, HA Farms is advancing farming practices to another level. In Hannahs own words, I believe that if farmers adapt to technology that will help increase their production and preserve foods that theyve produced, theres going to be food available all year round for the nation. It is our role as farmers to research and adapt to new and improved technology that will help us produce beyond seasonal cycles.

Achieving Equity

Several women like Hannah are making a difference in the ever-evolving world of technology. How can the success stories be replicated and scaled to achieve more?

First, we must as a society be aware of potential gender bias and work hard to eliminate it. Becoming aware of how it manifests will make it easier for you to counteract it as a leader, colleague, investor, venture capitalist, or even a mentor. For instance, venture capitalists can take notice of the way they frame questions to entrepreneurs: are they asking female founders different questions compared to male founders pitching for investment?

Secondly, lets actively invest in start-ups led by diverse founders. While women-led start-ups are severely under-represented when it comes to investments, research has shown such companies deliver better revenue.

Lastly, lets build a community of supportive mentors. Behind every successful entrepreneur, there is at least one supportive mentor. Mentors provide valuable advice and support to entrepreneurs, and yet, nearly half of all female founders feel that they lack access to mentors and advisers. This, Im happy to say, is part of our structure at Standard Chartered. I have personally seen the positivity from our staff regularly volunteering mentorship to young women to realise their full potential and improve their chances of starting a business or growing their careers.

Every role played in investing to drive women-led businesses has a multiplier effect and generational impact that brings progress to our communities, continent and the world at large.

As we embrace equity, everyone has a role to play and by building one another up, we will be able to look back and be proud of what we achieved together.

The writer is the Chief Executive of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC.
Fort Saint Anthony

Douglas Anane-Frimpong Apr - 01 - 2023 , 12:48

Fort Saint Anthony is located at Axim, a coastal town and the capital of Nzema East Municipal in the Western Region of Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese in 1515 and later captured by the Dutch who subsequently made it part of the Dutch Gold Coast.

Named Forte Santo Antonio (Fort Saint Anthony), it was the second Portuguese fort built on the Gold Coast, after St Georges Castle (Elmina Castle).

History

In 1503, the Portuguese had built a trading post in Axim, near the edge of the River Ankobra, but they had to abandon it due to incessant attacks by the local people. They, therefore, constructed a massive triangular fort on a small promontory closer to the River Ankobra in 1515. A three-metre deep rock-cut trench was constructed to enhance its defence on the landward side.

The effective defensive capability of Fort St. Anthony was revealed by its ability to withstand attacks for over four years, even after the fall of Elmina to the Dutch in 1637.

Having no rival in the surrounding gold-rich lands of the Ankobra and Tano River valleys enhanced the economic viability of the fort; gold traders from Adanse and Denkyira frequently visited the fort. The Portuguese trade monopoly was, however, ruined between 1670 and 1720, with the construction of rival forts in the bays east of Axim.

By the 1720s, St Anthony had become a Dutch fort. The fort is reported to have amassed more gold at Axim than anywhere else together. The area was also an important source of timber and cotton for Dutch plantations.

The Dutch expanded the fort considerably before they turned it over, with the rest of their colony, to the British. Some of these expansions were to improve defence and also to make more room to keep slaves before they were loaded onto transport ships.

The fort was known as one of the main regional slave trading posts during the 18th century when they received a steady supply of slaves from Ashanti.

In contrast to many other Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast, Fort Saint Anthony was never abandoned during the 19th century, and remained occupied until 1872 when it was ceded to the British.

In the 1950s, it was rehabilitated for use as government and local council offices.

Fort Saint Anthony was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 along with several other castles and forts in Ghana due to its testimony to European pre-colonial and colonial trade and exploitation.

The fort is now the property of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and is open to the public.
Ghana Revenue Authority monitoring teams recover GH86 million in 5 months

Emelia Ennin Abbey Apr - 01 - 2023 , 13:24

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) monitoring teams have recovered more than GH86 million for the state within the first five months of their inception.

The teams, which conduct market surveillance for compliance, comprise the Tema team, based at Tema Harbour; Eastern Frontier, based at Dabala in the Volta Region; Western Frontier in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, and the Vehicle Task Force whose operation is nationwide.

Their operation also led to the interception and detention of 273 uncustomed vehicles between the last quarter of 2022 and the end of February 2023.

Speaking to journalists about the initiative in Accra, the Commissioner of Customs of the GRA, Seidu Iddrisu Iddisah, said the recoveries made by the team would contribute to the revenue drive of the state and ensure that the security of the country was intact.

Background

The Customs Division of the GRA came up with the monitoring team initiative to ensure importers pay the right amounts of duty and also to serve as a tool to curtail smuggling across the country.

In October 2022, four monitoring teams were inaugurated to undertake risk-based and intelligence-driven operations across the country.

The teams also arrested some uncustomed goods and carried out other related assignments which involved the interception of substances suspected to be Indian hemp, among others.

According to the Customs Division of the GRA, an assessment of the operations of the teams between October, 2022 and February, 2023 indicated that the teams had significantly impacted on revenue mobilisation.

No compromise

Giving a breakdown of the amount recovered to the state, Mr Iddisah said the Tema team alone collected GH85 million while the Western Frontier team also recovered a total collection of GH1.46 million.

The Vehicle Task Force intercepted and detained 193 uncustomed vehicles in the last quarter of 2022 and 80 vehicles between January and February 2023.

Mr Iddisah explained that the monitoring teams served as another layer of security measures put in place by the Authority.

The Commissioner of Customs said the monitoring team was also one of the layers of enforcement as the monitoring teams operate at certain strategic areas to ensure that "if someone is able to dodge from the entry points, these teams will be able to apprehend them for the right amount of duties and customs processes to be done."

He commended the teams for the successes chalked up, saying since they were "set up towards the latter part of last year to February, Tema team alone has collected over GH85 million and seized other goods that did not meet the standards required for the country.

The Commissioner of Customs said in the operation of the teams there was no room for compromise and cautioned that the team would not compromise on any unethical exercise by any importer or trader against the countrys customs laws.

Harassment

On the concerns of some team members harassing innocent traders at some of the country's borders, Mr Addisah admitted that such complaints had been made in the public domain but without any concrete evidence.

We have always encouraged people to come out with evidence of our team members harassing individuals or any form of corruption so that we can investigate and deal with the officers involved.

He explained that the teams were guided by a code of ethics and conduct and when it was breached, the necessary sanctions were applied accordingly.
KCCI, Angel Herbal Fair 2023 opens in Kumasi

Emmanuel Baah Mar - 31 - 2023 , 19:49

The Kumasi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), in partnership with Angel Herbal Products, has launched a two-day herbal fair in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region.

The fair, called "KCCI/Angel Herbal Fair 2023," is the first of its kind in the region and aims to increase access to certified local herbal medicines.

The event, which opened on March 31, 2023, is being held at the car park of Dufie Towers at Adum, under the theme "Exploring Healthcare through the Healing Power of Nature".

The fair is supported by Adusah Herbal Mixture, Medimafo Herbal Clinic, Imboost Herbal Mixture, Sharp Herbal Company Limited, and the Amegashie Spiritual & Herbal Center.

The Chairman of KCCI, Stephen Acheampong, said the fair would be held annually, given its potential. The fair brings together industry practitioners, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders to explore herbal medicine and identify resources available in the region for practitioners.

It would bring together industry practitioners, policy makers, and other relevant stakeholders to explore herbal medicine and identify resources available in the Region for practitioners, he noted.

The Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, in a speech read on his behalf commended KCCI and the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry for promoting and protecting commercial and industrial interests.

The ultimate objective is to ensure that sanity and patronage of traditional medicine achieve maximum paramountcy like any other orthodox medicine", he noted.

He added that the government has put in place institutional and regulatory mechanisms to support and intensify the use of plant medicine in the healthcare system.

The Head of the Food & Drugs Authority, John Laryea Odai-Tetteh, urged herbal producers to be innovative and uphold professional and ethical standards.

Dr. Bernard Turkson of the Department of Herbal Medicine at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology stressed the need for herbal medicine producers to always seek expert advice.
Secondary school staff face manslaughter charges over student's death

GraphicOnline Mar - 31 - 2023 , 20:02

Manslaughter charges have been brought against the staff of a secondary school in Nigeria following the death of 12-year-old student Whitney Adeniran, whose autopsy revealed asphyxiation and electrocution as the cause of death.

The trial is scheduled to commence in May, and the Chrisland High School where the incident took place has been closed since the tragic event.

This isn't the first time the school has been in the news for such reasons, having been temporarily shut down last year over allegations of sexual violence during a student trip to Dubai.

In Lagos, several other schools have also faced temporary closures due to similar incidents resulting in students' deaths, ranging from bullying to a fatal accident and even a suspected drowning during a swimming lesson.

Concerned parents and residents are calling for more rigorous monitoring of schools and stricter sanctions against those found culpable, to ensure accountability and prevent future tragedies.
Suicide never an option... Seek Help

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson Apr - 01 - 2023 , 08:39

When three officers in uniform ended their lives within 16 days in 2021, many people asked what had gone wrong.

The reality is that many things could have gone wrong.

Humans, in dealing with certain challenges, sometimes decide to face their demons by ending their lives, with the wrong assumption that suicide is the only way out.

However, this should not be the case, a professor of psychology, Professor Charity Sylvia Akotia, said.

Suicide should never be an option. It is preventable and help is available, she asserted.

Additional measures must be enforced to give people the hope and assurances not to opt for suicide as the solution to their predicaments, Prof. Akotia, who is a former Dean of the School of Social Sciences of the University of Ghana, indicated.

Decriminalisation

For many years, caregivers, psychiatrics, psychologists and many advocates have been clamouring for the decriminalisation of attempted suicide.

The argument has been that suicide is a mental health issue and, therefore, individuals who have suicidal tendencies need help and not jail terms or punishment.

It is, therefore, welcoming that Parliament on March 29, this year, passed the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which decriminalises an attempt to commit suicide.

The President of the Psychiatric Association of Ghana (PAG), Dr Ruth Owusu-Antwi, in an article, said the decriminalisation of attempted suicide would prevent underreporting of suicide cases which would help in accurate estimation of suicide cases.

Again, she said, it would encourage the government to commit more resources and attention to suicide prevention.

For the President of the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), Dr Collins Agyeman Badu, the decriminalisation of suicide would encourage more people to seek help and have access to the right professionals.

That, he explained, was to enable the increasing number of people who had been invited to seek help for mental health challenges following the amendment of the act criminalising suicide to have access to the right professionals to take care of them.

So now, there must be mental health professionals at all hospitals manned by government health workers. Psychologists are the primary gatekeepers to handle acute distress and challenges people are going through, Dr Badu explained.

He said if the government did not promote well-being and prevent the onset of mental health challenges by engaging psychologists at the workplaces, schools and within the communities, the country might not be able to prevent people from getting into the pathways of mental health, including suicide, and that might render the amendment ineffective.

Statistics

A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2021 indicated that about 700,000 people commit suicide every year globally.

Although suicide is a global phenomenon that affects all countries, WHO estimates that 77 per cent of all suicide cases occurred in low and middle-income countries.

In Ghana, a report by the WHO in 2020 showed that there were 1,993 suicide cases annually on the average.

Apart from actual suicide, attempted suicide is also a canker, with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) estimating that 2,781 people attempted to commit suicide between 2018 and 2021.

According to the statistics by Ghanas Mental Health Authority (MHA), in 2018 the number of people who attempted suicide was 797. This rose to 880 in 2019 and to 902 in 2021, while those who died by suicide went up from 69 in 2020 to 86 in 2021.

Risk factors

In a lecture she delivered recently as part of the 75th anniversary of the University of Ghana (UG), Prof. Akotia said research indicated that the risk factors underpinning suicide could be classified into three parts  the individual, community and societal.

She explained that whereas mental disorders (depression and alcohol use disorders) were the main causes of suicide in developed and high-income countries, socio-cultural issues and the inability to deal with life stressors were the factors giving rise to suicide in low-income and developing countries.

These include financial problems, cultural expectations of men and women, relationship break-up, chronic pain and illness, loss of a loved one, unemployment and dissociation from ones community or social group, she said.

The lecture, which was on a series of research conducted by Prof. Akotia and her team over the years, was on the topic: When Life Becomes Unbearable: Dynamics and Complexities of Suicidal Behaviour and Prevention in a Cultural Context.

It focused on what constituted suicide (cultural and legal), attitudes towards suicide, motivations for suicidal behaviour, suicide and the law, experiences of survivors and their families, and media perspective on suicide.

Lack of support for young people

Prof. Akotia pointed out that although suicide cut across all age groups, it was prevalent among youngsters, with adolescents and young adults likely to end their lives that way.

Her findings sit well within estimates by WHO that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds, while research has also shown that one in every 10 adolescents in second cycle schools in Ghana has engaged in some form of self-harm.

The former Dean of the School of Social Sciences said a research conducted by her team showed young people who carried out suicide engaged in it due to a lack of support and what they perceived as personal shortcomings.

The causes are mainly due to intra-personal factors such as personal shortcomings and perceived obstacles, followed by interpersonal causes such as lack of social support and broken heartedness and lastly, extra-personal causes such as economic stress and spiritual forces, she indicated.

In 2016, the Mental Health Authority (MHA) said suicide among young people was of great concern and required a concerted effort by all stakeholders to prevent the future leaders of the country from taking such a route.

The MHA attributed the trend to the failure of society to support the youth by ensuring that efficient and accessible support systems are in place to help build the mental fortitude of the youth and students in particular in their times of weakness and susceptibility.

It said young people normally required help and support and would ordinarily not turn to suicide if such help and support were available.

For most students and young people who attempt suicide, they are actually crying for help to end some unbearable feelings or a situation that seems intolerable.

Young people easily develop suicidal thoughts when they feel trapped, confused, hopeless, helpless and distressed, and are desperate to escape from their suffering rather than actually wanting to die, the authority said.

Media and suicide

In the lecture, Prof. Akotia pointed out that the media as a mass means of communication played a crucial role in suicide.

She said the media had a penchant for reporting on suicide, especially involving celebrities, in a manner that could trigger suicide tendencies in vulnerable groups such as young people.

Clinical and research experiences on working on suicidality in Ghana for close to a decade have shown that most media reports on suicide in Ghana are not guided by any specific guidelines, and if they are, it is possible they are not compliant, Prof. Akotia said.

The psychologist professor, therefore, advised the media to be circumspect in their reportage on suicide and ensure that such reports were in line with the WHO guidelines on responsible reporting on suicide.

Per WHOs responsible reporting guidelines on suicide, a media reportage on suicide should include accurate information on where to seek help for someone contemplating suicide and educate the public on the facts of suicide and suicide prevention without spreading myths.

The guidelines also encourage the media to report on how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts and how to get help.

Again, the WHO encourages the media not to give prominence to suicide stories, not to repeat such stories, not to provide details about the location of the incident and not to use sensational headlines or photographs or video footage.

Suicide not an option

The establishment of the MHA is good news, as it will help to provide direction on mental health and the institutional framework to confront issues such as suicide.

As part of measures to combat suicide, the MHA has established a toll free line  0800678678 to provide psycho-socio support to people.

People who call the line will be given access to mental health experts, psychologists and other specialists who will help them seek redress to their psychological challenges.

Members of the Psychiatric Association of Ghana, who are also spread across the country and ready to render help, can be reached on national helplines, 020-000-9997, 020-681-4666 and 050-344-4793, Dr Owusu-Antwi pointed out.

Prof. Akotia insisted that suicide should never be an option and, therefore, there was the need for people to talk to others and seek help.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, whatever challenges you are going through, remember that suicide is not an option and should never be an option.

Suicide is preventable! Talk to someone, seek help early and know that there is hope. Indeed, hope is right here, she said.

Preventive measures

Dr Owusu-Antwi said decriminalising attempted suicide did not mean legalising suicide attempt, it was rather a freedom to choose to live.

She said the government had done its part by decriminalising attempted suicide and that took a huge burden off patients (the survivors) and their families, as well as the service providers.

But as a society, we still have an ongoing part to play in eradicating suicide from our country, she said, and gave out some suicide warning signs for which the sufferers must seek immediate help.

Dr Owusu-Antwi provided 12 common warning signs of suicide, including active suicidal thinking and verbalising; expressions of hopelessness and depression; sudden recklessness, impulsivity and dramatic mood changes and persistent anxiety and agitation.

On ways to combat suicide, Prof. Akotia said it was imperative for people not to be judgmental about suicidal persons as that could lead to more suffering for such persons.

Suicidal persons suffer in secret without being offered any help. Attitudes towards suicidal persons are largely negative, judgmental and condemnatory, she said.

Specific attitudes include silencing (where no one talks about it because it is perceived as a taboo) and trivialisation (where people cannot accept any reason for engaging in suicidal behaviour). Generally, such attitudes show a lack of understanding and knowledge of suicidal behaviour, she added.

Again, Prof. Akotia said there was the need for the establishment of a National Suicide Prevention Centre to help with the collation of statistics on suicide and suicidal behaviours.

Such a move, she said, would help in the implementation of suicide preventable programmes, especially for vulnerable groups.

Importantly, suicide prevention efforts require much coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society, including the health sector and other sectors such as education, the media and many more.

These efforts must be comprehensive and integrated as no single approach alone can make a significant impact on an issue as complex as suicide, she added.

Another measure, she noted, was awareness creation, adding that the myth and taboo surrounding suicide must be shattered.

We must talk about suicide in a very preventative manner so as to help persons who are going through suicidal crisis.

Awareness creation will also help others understand that suicide is preventable and that we all can contribute in one way or the other to prevent this behaviour from escalating, Prof. Akotia stated.
Brouhaha over approval of ministerial nominees

Dr John Osae-Kwapong Politics Apr - 01 - 2023 , 08:47

The Eighth Parliament is very unique. Pending a final determination of the case against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Assin North, the current balance of power is 137 New Patriotic Power (NPP), 136 (NDC) and one independent candidate.

The one independent caucuses with the NPP majority, making the balance 138 (NPP) and 136 (NDC). In the aftermath of the approval of the Presidents six nominees for various ministerial positions on March 24, with the support of NDC Parliamentarians, the party finds itself dealing with a) a hostile public response and b) the appearance of cracks within the party.

Expectations

In 2021, the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) conducted a post 2020 election survey and asked  In your opinion, how likely or unlikely is it that the current Parliament with the NPP and NDC having an equal number of seats will- a) force or ensure full attendance of all MPs during sitting in parliament; b) improve the practice of parliamentary democracy, thereby enhancing democratic development; c) keep the executive in check; and d) aid scrutiny of international contracts? On the first three, eight out of ten (80 per cent) Ghanaians expected to see improvements. On the fourth, aiding scrutiny of international contracts, seven out of ten (73 per cent) Ghanaians expected to see improvements.

In short, Ghanaians had high expectations of the 8th parliament. There was another expectation, judging from public commentary, that the era of the minority will have its say, but the majority will have its way will end.

Political reality

The NDC minority has 136 seats. This means that even if all 275 Members of Parliament (MPs) show up and vote strictly along party lines, the NDC minority will always lose the vote on any parliamentary matter. That is the first political reality it faces.

The second political reality it faces is that they are dealing with a very determined majority whose government has several policy priorities they are committed to seeing through. That was very clear from the eventual passage of the E-Levy after several months of a stalemate. Take for example the passage of Fiscal Year 2022 (FY2022) budget which was characterised by an initial walkout, a rejection by the NDC minority, a rescission of the vote and a final passage of that budget.

A final example is the vote of censure against the Finance Minister. Even when there had been a public call by several majority MPs for the finance minister to be sacked, none of them voted to support the motion. In short, the majority has shown that, save for absenteeism among its members, there will be no crossing over from their side to cast a vote in support of parliamentary matters deemed to be in the interest of the minority.

The third reality is that MPs must balance few interests  that of the nation, the constituents who voted for them, the party on whose platform they secured a seat in Parliament, and their own. All of these do not always converge easily. Sometimes, the interests will clash and choices, pleasant or unpleasant, will have to be made.

What should Minority MPs Do?

I understand the partys position, and I am sure it is something the general public shares, that government must cut down expenditure and reduce the size of government. What I am not sure about is why the chosen legislative strategy to buttress that position was a fight over six nominees, all of whom were filling vacancies. And even though the party had issued a directive calling on its MPs not to cast a vote for the nominees, what was the guarantee that in a secret vote, there was not going to be any defections?

In the end, losing the vote is not what I find politically embarrassing. It is the defections in their camp in defiance of the partys official position. How could the party and the minority leadership not see this coming?

The public response has been unkind to the NDC, but can you blame them? Among themselves, some of their sentiments have been unkind to each other.

This loss in Parliament is an opportunity for the NDC to ask what really matters in the grand scheme of things. Which legislative battles are worth fighting even if they are not guaranteed a political win? Nothing will gladden the hearts of the NPP more than to see signs of cracks on the NDC front in Parliament, as well as in the party. Is that a luxury the NDC can afford as it gears up for election 2024?

You fight the fights that are worth fighting, not the fights you think you can win. In the face of the political reality they face in Parliament, the NDC must figure out which fights are worth fighting.



The writer is a fellow of CDD-Ghana
EC cant make Ghana Card sole citizenship ID for voters register - Parliament says

Nana Konadu Agyeman Politics Apr - 01 - 2023 , 08:10

PARLIAMENT last Friday rejected the Electoral Commissions (EC) use of the Ghana card as the sole source of identification for one to be registered in the new voters register.

The House unanimously recommended to the commission to include the guarantor system in the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulation, 2023 before it could present it for consideration.

Legislators were of the view that unless and until the challenges confronting the issuance of the Ghana Card were dealt with, using the Ghana Card as the only medium of voter registration would negatively impact the electoral roll and thereby deny some otherwise qualified persons from registering to vote.

"The EC should tarry slowly until everybody eligible voter is afforded the opportunity to register and procure the Ghana before the legislation of such a compulsion," they said.

Report adoption

The House took the decision after legislators adopted the report of the Committee of the Whole on the draft constitutional instrument.

The report, signed by the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who is also the Speaker of Parliament, said it was not the time for the EC to introduce and implement the Ghana card as the only means of identification of citizenship for the purposes of voter registration.

The report was presented to the House by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who moved the motion for the House to adopt the committee's report.

The reports captured the concerns of MPs from both sides of the House raised during previous meetings by the Special Budget Committee and the Committee of the Whole with the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa; the Executive Secretary of the NIA Prof. Ken Attafuah, and the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

It was premised on the fact that the EC could only lay the new C.I. in Parliament for admission and consideration if it gave favourable consideration to the concerns raised by MPs.

Ready to support reforms

The report said MPs, having thoroughly interrogated the issues and reforms being contemplated by the EC, were ready to support for any effort that would enable every Ghanaian to get a Ghana Card because it was the law.

It, however, said the legislators would not accept and would reject any effort that was geared towards making the EC use the Ghana Card as the only medium to qualify a person who was eligible to vote in 2024 elections.

That, it said, was premised on the fact that indeed Ghana had come of age and could boast of a credible national identification card (Ghana Card) to transact business with.

However, even in the face of a number of identification options given in the past, and even in the operation of the NIA, some citizens are unable to register for the national card due to the existence of serious challenges the authority is confronted with, it said.

Oath

Per the report, MPs noted that introduction of Ghana Card to deal with the challenge of multiplicity of identification cords and documents was most laudable and supported by all parties and governments.

The legislators, however, proposed that a person who applied for registration but could not provide as evidence of identification card issued by the NIA because he or she had not been registered by the NIA or not registered by the NIA but had not been issued with the national identification card shall be required by the EC to produce a relative to provide evidence of identification on oath in accordance with the provisions of the Oath Act.

Where a person applies for registration as a voter but has no relative to provide evidence of identification on oath, the EC shall require two persons registered with the NIA and issued with the national identification card to identify that person under oath in accordance with the provisions of the Oath Act, it said.

The indicated the MPs drew the attention of the EC, NIA and the Finance Ministry to an earlier promise of the NIA, as of July 2022, that it would complete a full registration of all citizens aged 15 and above.

At that time the EC had sought the approval of Parliament to amend the C.I. that promise could not be fulfilled.

If the C.l. had been passed then, it would have meant that many otherwise qualified persons could not have been registered then. The same promise is being repeated, it said.

New registration centres.

The Committee expressed strong objection to the limitation of registration centers to only the regional and district capitals and centres determined by the EC.

Access to such centres by Ghanaians from many communities might pose serious challenge.

The explanation of the EC that Regulations 2(1) and 2(2) of the new C.l. have given the EC sufficient authority to create centres when the need arises are not specific and mandatory enough.

The areas for the centres to be created must be specifically stated In the C. I. as done in the case of the district centres. In that regard the committee to the EC to go further downstream by adopting registration centres at the various electoral areas.

With regards to the sharing of data between the EC and the NIA, the members sought to find out the technical infrastructure put in place for such a purpose.

The committee was informed that there was no such technical infrastructure for automatic sharing of data between the EC and the NIA.

However, the EC said it would provide data of persons to be expunged from the register to the NIA for verification, it said.

The Committee of the Whole, calls on Parliament to consider the C. L. when presented to the House, subject to the above proposed revision and amendments.

Speakers warning

Soon after the House had adopted the Committee of the Wholes report, the Speaker said the House would now not depend on the assurances from the EC or the NIA but we are now making inputs into the preparation of the C.I.

He indicated that a constitutional instrument was different from an Executive Instrument which was issued by the Executive and Parliament did not have hand in its passage.

In the C.I. we have a hand; by law we cannot compel the EC to perform its function and neither can they also compel us to perform ours, he said.

He therefore said when the concerns of the House were captured in the new C.I., it would be admitted and considered by the House

If that is not done definitely, we have a say and it was agreed by leadership that the C.I. will not be admitted and considered by the House, he added.
Along with the Meizu 20 series, the Chinese company unveiled its take on car software called Flyme Auto. Meizu was recently acquired by Geely, a Chinese automaker behemoth, owning over a dozen brands, including Polestar and Lotus, so the new infotainment system will likely run on Geely-made vehicles first.

Flyme Auto is designed to deliver a great native experience, but also seamless integration with Flyme-powered smartphoens. The Flyme 10-powered Meizu 20 handset pairs with the car once you enter the vehicle and lets you pick up from where you left off. You can continue using your opened apps directly on the car's display. Screen sharing is also a possibility.

The car makes use of the phone's hardware too. The two devices can share camera feed with each other and the handset itself leverages the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC when serious number crunching is required and also helps with delivering OTA updates to the car.



Flyme Auto integration

Digital car keys, UWB support for finding your car, a voice assistant and native desktop environment with many UI customizations are also on the menu. For more details, we recommend reading the detailed breakdown at ArenaEV.com.

Source (in Chinese)
Over 300 students from different grade levels representing schools from across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands competed in the 45th Island Wide Science Fair on Saturday at the University of Guam.

Nervous but excited students waiting to be judged stood in front of posters outlining their projects and showcasing equipment they used at several buildings around campus.

Categories of projects included ecology and earth science, physical science and math, biology and medical science, chemistry, computers, aerospace robotics and engineering and energy, inventions and sustainability. Divisions based on the grade level of the students competed in these categories.

I feel like some people assume that science is hard when really you just need to have that curiosity. There are different types of fields like botany and marine biology so if you want to learn a certain type of thing in science, think of an experiment like I did, said Angel Payumo, a 17-year-old junior representing George Washington High School.

Her experiment over six months focused on the role of coral pigmentation to reduce and combat coral bleaching which is the result of warming waters.

This bleaching is what is seen when corals die, which is an increasing problem along Guams coastal waters that Payumo wants to play a role in stopping.

She wants to encourage more public school students like herself to get involved in science fairs.

Regional Fair Director Claudia Taitano said this fair goes beyond encouraging science skills.

It helps students learn how to solve problems and think critically which they can carry with them into adulthood.

Concerned about the rise of school shootings in the U.S., 15-year-old Harvest Christian Academy freshman Eric Moon has been working on exploring different technology to prevent them from occurring.

In the event of a shooting, everyone focuses on why and who did it, but my question was how to prevent it, he said, with the example of better ways to use security cameras.

For his project, Moon is developing a way for GPS trackers placed in firearms to alert communication companies and then law enforcement if a gun is close to a school.

He said he always wanted to participate in a science fair and this year decided to go for it to put his computer science skills to good use.

I think this is a really important gateway to a successful future in whatever you want to do, said competition judge Austin Shelton, director of the University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant.

Shelton said, as an islandwide science fair winner when he was in high school, he knows how important an opportunity like this is for Guams youth.

Winners

Two overall winners were selected to represent Guam at the International Science and Engineering Fair to be held May 8-13, 2023 in Dallas:

1st Place: Andrew Kang, age 15, grade 10, of John F. Kennedy High School. His project is titled Invisible Groundwater Discharge Patterns Across Tumon Bay, Guam: Discovery of Vital Habitats Sustained by Tumon Bay Karst Watershed Discharges from an Uplifted Carbonate Aquifer. Sponsored by MEC, IPE Shell and Megabyte Guam on United Airlines with help from Guam Sea Grant, NSF and NOAA programs.

2nd Place: Angel Payumo, age 17, grade 11, of George Washington High School. Her project is titled Understanding the Role of Coral Pigmentation in Response to Coral Bleaching.

, being sponsored by the University of Guam INCLUDES program.

Division 3  middle schools representing grades 6, 7 and 8:

1st Place: Kailee Wong, age 14, Grade 8, St. Johns School for her project entitled, Artocarpus Atilis Hydrogel: The making of Super absorbent polymer with Carboxymelhyl Cellulose (CMC), Aluminum Sulfate and dehydrated Breadfruit.

Division 2  representing upper elementary grades 3, 4 and 5:

1st Place: Inina Harrison, age 9, grade 4 from St Anthony Catholic School for her project entitled, Bees On Guam.

Division 1 primary schools including grades Kindergarten, 1 and 2.

1st Place: Riley Zephyr Mortera, age 7, grade 2 from Wettengel Elementary for his project entitled, Mag Lev Train: Magnetic Poles.

Divisions 1, 2 and 3 overall winners will receive computers from Megabyte Guam.

All first-, second- and third-place category winners will receive trophies and their other prizes at the awards ceremony scheduled at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa on May 28 from 6-8 p.m.
A University of Guam student is one of 11 selected nationwide  and the first from UOG  to be on this years Polaris Project research team under the Woodwell Climate Research Center, according to a press release from the university.

Loreto Paulino Jr., a chemistry major, will be looking for information on climate change while camping in an Arctic region of Alaska with no phone, no internet and access only by small plane this summer.

The project describes its work, funded by the National Science Foundation since 2008, as investigating the fate of the vast quantities of ancient carbon locked in Arctic permafrost as it melts. It seeks to inform decision-makers and the public about climate change and to train future Arctic researchers.

Paulino found out about the Polaris Project at the 2022 SACNAS Diversity in STEM Conference in Puerto Rico. He visited the booth for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  one of his top picks for grad school  and met Dr. Nigel Golden, a post-doctoral researcher studying the response of Arctic species to climate change, who encouraged Paulino to apply for the Polaris Project.

Focused on diversity

Paulino said he was drawn to the opportunity because of the projects focus on addressing climate change and its focus on building diversity in STEM and among future leaders in Arctic research. When reviewing the application, Paulino said one question stood out to him: How do justice, equity, and inclusion relate to addressing climate change?

I immediately thought of Guam and how unfair it is that the people living in this region, who will be hit the hardest by the effects of climate change, are not included in climate votes in the United States, he said. This exclusion highlights the urgent need to empower and include the most vulnerable communities in our efforts to tackle climate change.

Paulino will head to Massachusetts in April for field safety training, then spend two weeks in July with the Polaris Project faculty and research staff doing intensive fieldwork in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of Alaska. Each student will conduct their own research project and then spend another two weeks back at Woodwell Climate Research Center analyzing their data.

Alaska is a place I never imagined I would go, but I am excited to explore its beautiful wildlife and scenery, he said.

Paulino is pursuing a degree in chemistry and a minor in mathematics with the ultimate goal of obtaining a doctorate in chemical oceanography, a field that studies the composition of seawater and how it interacts chemically with the atmosphere and marine organisms. Its a field he hopes more students from Guam will get into as well.
Mayors Awards Ceremony 2023

The annual Mayors Awards Ceremony was held on 29th March 2023. His Excellency the Governor, Vice Admiral Sir David Steel and The Chief Minister, The Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP attended the Ceremony held at the Mayors Parlour in City Hall.

The Chief Minister delivered a speech congratulating each recipient individually.

Following nominations from members of the public and endorsed by the Awards Board, His Worship the Mayor, Mr Christian Santos GMD, conferred thirteen Mayors Award as follows:

For his selfless dedication and services to Scouting and Piping in Gibraltar for over sixty years,

Mayors Award to Mr Anthony Almeida

For her work within HM Prison Service, which led to the functionality of the Prison Female Unit, as well as her voluntary work in the Gibraltar Scouts Association,

Mayors Award to Ms Eileen Barcio

For his voluntary years of service as a musician in the local community, including his regular performances for our senior citizens amongst other charitable work,

Mayors Award to Mr Francis Patrick Chipolina

For voluntarily transforming the Catholic Community Centre into a usable community building amongst many other charitable projects,

Mayors Award to Mr Francis Christian Debono

For performing CPR whilst off duty on a member of the public on the 27th August 2022 at Catalan Bay, her swift and selfless actions ensuring the persons life was saved,

Mayors Award to Mrs Nadine Dellipiani

For running Bishop Healy Home for Girls, providing a home environment for the residents and for personally being a positive influence in their lives from a young age,

Mayors Award to Mrs Janet Federico

For his selfless dedication and services to Scouting and Piping in Gibraltar for over forty years,

Mayors Award to Mr Anthony C Galliano

For establishing and maintaining links in Gibraltar for the Scottish Community, and for raising funds for numerous charities through the annual Burns Night tradition,

Mayors Award to Mr John Honeyman

For founding Action for Housing in 1981 and his commitment to the organisation to present day,

Mayors Award to Mr Henry Pinna

For her voluntary work for the Citizens Advice Bureau over twenty years, assisting Arabic speaking members of the community as an interpreter and translator, giving support and invaluable guidance,

Mayors Award to Mrs Assia Tarfous

For his campaigning over the years for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, his efforts directly resulting in achieving the legalisation of homosexuality in Gibraltar in 1993,

Mayors Award to Mr Charles A Trico

For dedicating fifty years to protecting Gibraltars natural history and heritage and creating the first Artificial Reef in Europe in 1974, a project which still continues today,

Mayors Award to Dr Eric Shaw

For his forty years of service and dedication to the Gibraltar Scouts Association,

Posthumous Mayors Award to Mr Charles Collinson

His Worship was honoured to present the Awards to such deserving individuals who he and the Board felt had gone above and beyond in so many different areas. He felt privileged to meet the recipients and their guests in a ceremony focusing on the good people do in Gibraltar to benefit our community.

The award to Dr Eric Shaw was collected by Mrs Lillian Shaw as Dr Shaw sadly passed away earlier in the month. His Worship had notified Dr Shaw he had been conferred the Award and he was extremely proud and happy to receive it.

His Worship presented Mrs Yvette Collinson with a posthumous award for her late husband Mr Charles Collinson. His Worship knew Mr Collinson and his work personally from his time in the Scouts as a child and was very pleased to recognise Mr Collinson in this way.

In conclusion His Worship thanked the public for taking the time to nominate people they felt were worthy of an Award. The recipients are people who do not seek out reward or recognition for their good deeds and His Worship was delighted to be able to recognise them on behalf of the people of Gibraltar.




Haiti - Mexico : Signing of a cooperation agreement in scientific and technical training activities





Friday, March 31, the Rector Fritz Deshommes of the State University of Haiti (UEH) signed a Framework Cooperation Agreement with the Latin American Institute of Educational Communication (ILCE) of Mexico represented by Dr. Salvador Jose Percastre Mendizabal Director General of the Institute. The ceremony was held in hybrid format online on the zoom platform and at the Rectorate in the presence of Rector Fritz Deshommes, the Ambassador of the United States of Mexico in Haiti (who signed as a witness), Daniel Alberto Camara Avalos, of the Secretary General of the UEH, Wilson Dorlus of the executives of the State University.



The purpose of this agreement is to establish the basis for the two parties to cooperate in carrying out scientific and technical training activities, through the organization and delivery of courses, diplomas, certifications, educational programs and other training academic, scientific and research events of mutual interest, face-to-face or remotely, as well as possibly activities of production or co-production and exchange of audiovisual material.



Established for a period of five years, the two parties undertake in this agreement to carry out activities in the following areas of cooperation :



Professional training and technical training through the organization and development of courses, diplomas and other academic events of common interest, face-to-face or remotely, in compliance with their respective academic requirements or the eligibility conditions that they will have established mutually with a view to achieving the objectives set out in this agreement;



Production or co-production of audiovisual and printed materials of a didactic nature, which can facilitate the achievement of the objectives and the accomplishment of the missions that each Party has assigned to itself;



Promotion of common projects that can provide answers applicable to the fields of scientific and technical knowledge according to the fields of competence of each Party dominates;



Scientific and technical advice for the achievement of programs, activities, objectives or functions developed within their respective institutions;



Joint promotion through respective broadcasters of scholarly, research, broadcast and informational activities sponsored by either Party;



Promotion of actions that lead to socio-educational progress through the media and advanced technological development, to achieve a better and wider distribution of services to the population and increase equal opportunities for all sectors of the the society ;



Development of technological platforms for virtual learning spaces designed and updated, through the use of information and communication technologies;



Cooperation between the Parties for the sharing of experiences in the field of research development, development strategies and information technologies.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Review of the attack on Vivy Mitchell

Partial report of the attack Thursday in Vivy Mitchell, residential district Les Palmes by men of the "Kraze Barye" https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-39189-icihaiti-gang-attack-the-pnh-regains-control-in-vivy-mitchel-les-palmes.html . One person killed, another missing. 6 houses burned including 3 totally destroyed as well as 6 vehicles. 2 members of the "Kraze Barye" gang were fatally injured, no arrests were recorded...



HTC : Constitution and Referendum

The High Transitional Council (HTC) promises to reflect on the various works carried out on the issue of the Constitution with a view to launching the referendum process, said HTC President Mirlande Hyppolite Manigat.



The gangs would control 100% of the capital...

The National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) has declared that Port-au-Prince is 100% under the control of armed gangs. A statement to be taken with caution



Fundamental School : 18 newly graduated students

This week, 18 students of the Training Center for the Fundamental School (CFEF) of Port-au-Prince received during a ceremony at the Royal Oasis Hotel, their diploma from the hands of the Minister of National Education Nesmy MANIGAT after three years of study and a year of internship of responsibility or probation in a public basic school.



Croix-des-Bouquets : New Principal Commissioner

On Thursday March 30, 2023, the Principal Commissioner Altis Max Vital was installed at the head of the district of Croix-des-Bouquets. He replaces in this position the Principal Commissioner Anthously Orelus who has been transferred to the Departmental Directorate of the West II.



The DG of Barbancourt, elected President of the CFHCI

The DG of the Rhum Barbancourt company, Delphine Gardere, was elected President of the Board of the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFHCI).



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Kingsway Inaugurated

The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, together with former Chief Minister Sir Peter Caruana, inaugurated Kingsway on Thursday afternoon.

Kingsway incorporates the road and tunnels that run from Devils Tower Road to the Eastgate roundabout.

Sir Peter Caruana was the Chief Minister at the time that the tunnel was commissioned.

As from 00:01 on Friday 31st March, Kingsway will be the only regular access point for all cars and motorcycles (including commercial vehicles) to the frontier, Gibraltar International Airport, Eroski supermarket, Western Beach and Four Corners.

It will also be the only regular vehicular access point from Gibraltar into Europe.

The Chief Minister and former Chief Minister each drove northbound through Kingsway in their respective G1 vehicles, before cutting ribbons at the Eastgate entrance. This was followed by a short reception at the Wessex Lounge.

The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo reflected on and celebrated the efforts across both administrations to bring the tunnel, and the litigation that suspended its construction for almost 5 years, to successful completion. The Chief Minister thanked the workers, those on the ground, the engineering teams, the project management teams, GJBS, and his predecessor Sir Peter Caruana for their work over almost 15 years that will bring an end to the need for traffic to stop to allow aircraft to land and depart at Gibraltars runway.

The former Chief Minister Sir Peter Caruana reflected on the history, complexity and controversy of the long-term project, as well as the extent of the infrastructural change that has taken place in Gibraltar over the last 35 years due to the investment of successive Governments. Sir Peter then posited that this investment impacts the perspective of visitors and future inward investors to Gibraltar, and requires a long-term vision for the benefit and betterment of Gibraltar as a whole rather than of individual administrations.

At midnight on Thursday, before the barriers on Winston Churchill Avenue closed to vehicular traffic for the final time, G1 was the last vehicle to ever drive across the runway. Minutes later, G1 was the first vehicle to drive through Kingsway as it was officially opened as a public highway.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo, said: I am honoured today to inaugurate Kingsway together with my predecessor, the former Chief Minister Sir Peter Caruana, under whose administration the tunnel was commissioned. This major national infrastructure project has spanned both our successive governments and has required us, as political opponents and never political enemies, to work towards a long-term goal for the benefit of Gibraltar as a whole. Kingsway will stand as a testament to the collective Gibraltarian spirit and resolve in ensuring the betterment today of the Gibraltar of tomorrow.
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This is what you call a Mega-Streik?

Von: Dinah Koschowski

Teilen

Where is my bus? Hadnt she tried to catch a bus, Dinah wouldnt have noticed there is a strike going on.  Rother

Our columnist is surprised that people dont necessarily notice strikes here. Workers are well-behaved even when they fight for more money.

Hamm - I got up early this week and prepared myself to go to the office. I got to the bus stop on time. I saw the number 10 bus pass by, coming from the city but I was waiting for the 11 going to the city. 10 minutes passed and no bus. I was joined at the bus stop by another lady, and we continued waiting together. By this time, I had stood at the bus stop for an hour, but no bus came. We talked with the lady, checked online and saw that there was a transportation strike and all the buses I could take into the city were not running. I went back home feeling very disappointed.

Sie wollen diesen Artikel auf Deutsch lesen? Klicken Sie hier!

This week, Germany had what international media were calling a Mega-strike. Verdi services union and EVG rail and transport union called the strike in 7 states that affected the railway system, local and regional public transport, airports and the countrys harbours after failed negotiations with public sector employers. The media showed images of peaceful protesters from major cities dressed in high-visibility jackets, holding up banners and blowing whistles. However, in Hamm, it was a relatively calm day. You would not know there was a nationwide strike going on.

When Kenyans strike, cancel all your plans

Meanwhile, protesters in Kenya were in the streets complaining about the sky-high cost of living. When Kenyans take to the streets, everything comes to a stand-still. Shops and businesses remain closed and the usual traffic jams are not there. As you drive into the city, you will notice the army in full riot gear, strategically placed every 10 meters, as well as the water cannon trucks at all intersections. Everyone would know there is a strike going on.

The people who attend these demonstrations in Kenya are not calm protesters. The day before the planned strike, you will find people selling massive rocks for 10 cents that should be used for the demonstration. They will scream, make noise, sing songs and basically be a nuisance as they protest. The army tries to use tear gas to disperse the crowds, but they catch the cannisters and throw them back at the soldiers. It becomes a chaotic cat and mouse chase across the city. If you had plans to be in the city centre, you are better off just cancelling them, because the strike prevents you from getting anything done.

Do strikes really yield results?

Despite all the noise, the strikes in Kenya do not really achieve any tangible results. There are no negotiations and the heads of the unions would rather stand up for themselves rather than the workers they are supposed to represent. The workers who participate in the strikes get fired because there are many qualified workers but not enough jobs, so replacing workers is a cheaper option to paying what is deserved.

I like the German strikes because they are definitely better behaved. Although they may cause some unpleasant inconveniences, they proceed peacefully, and nothing is destroyed. Instead, you get to appreciate how important these striking workers are to the society, for example the train and bus drivers who get us safely to our destinations. The unions here actually support the workers and achieve outcomes. I find that extremely encouraging.

I am in favour of the strike because the workers are lamenting on a problem that is being faced all around the world. The cost of living has increased exponentially, and salaries should reflect it. I do have hope that the unions and employers will come to an agreement and there will be no more strikes. Otherwise, I will have to find a new mode of transport to get to work.
Laurel Green Park closed for stream restoration project

LAUREL PARK  Laurel Green Park will be closed starting next week for a stream restoration project along Laurel Green Creek and Wash Creek, a total of about a quarter mile.

The project includes tree and brush removal, site grading and channel stabilization, floodplain activation areas, and stormwater improvement, trail and boardwalk construction and landscaping.

Laurel Park is collaborating with the North Carolina Land and Water Fund and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to fund the project, which was designed by Robinson Design Engineers and Watermark Landscape Architecture, Land Planning, and Consulting.




A FENCE with suspended planters could be installed in Henley market place to make it more uplifting.

The rail fencing would run along the road to each end of the square and be similar to that found in Upper Market Place and Thames Side, close to the ice cream kiosk.

It would also prevent the existing flowerbeds from being walked on and broken.

David Eggleton, chairman of Henley in Bloom, said this would make the area more inviting for visitors and provide a nice backdrop to the outdoor seating.

Speaking at a bloom sub-committee meeting, he said: People keep saying to me that the Market Place looks a bit tired and it kind of needs a bit of uplifting. Market Place did not compare favourably with Mill and Marsh Meadows.

Cllr Eggleton said: Youve got seating areas down there with flowers and cascading trees and all that sort of stuff. In the market place weve got none of that going on.

To uplift it, picture down by the river where you have got the railing fence, just by the ice cream parlour.

We have got that nice hedgerow that parks have put in and a nice seating area. Since thats been done, there has been much more footfall there and its aesthetically pleasing  people take pictures there.

He suggested removing the Japanese laurel as it was often trampled on and replacing it with something attractive.

But Catherine Notaras said she didnt think the fence would be a practical solution. She said: If you start putting up fences, youre going to restrict market place as its not very big. You are going to get more obstruction than anything else.

She added: I think the laurel has been a hero, to be honest. It has been trampled on, it has been driven over, but its still there and looks okay.

Meanwhile, Cllr Eggleton said wanted new sponsors for the planters in the town centre.

He said: We could put a plaque on the side of it with a sponsors name. Its a way of getting some money in so some of these planters dont have to cost Henley in Bloom. It leaves a bit of funding so we can do other things.

Its like with the hanging baskets, where they are taking some sort of ownership and pride in their town.
Independent candidate Hunter Lundy State Sen. Sharon Hewitt (Photo by Henrietta Wildsmith)

Hunter Lundy, a candidate for governor of Louisiana, places blame for Nashvilles school shooting Tuesday on transgender indoctrination, which he worries will lead to more violence in Louisiana and worldwide.

Lundy, an independent who has self-funded his campaign, raised his concerns during an interview with the Illuminator about higher education. Lundy is a fundamentalist Christian and serves on the board of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a religious group that supports biblical legislation.

You had this transgender go to the Covenant Presbyterian school in Nashville and kill three children and three adults, Lundy said. You go back and you look at every killing thats happened at a school or a public location in recent years, every one of them had a mental problem.

Or there was some kind of anti-creation going on in their mind. When I say anti-creation, [I mean] anti-biblical view of creation, Lundy added.

Pearl Ricks, an LGBTQ rights activist and executive director of the New Orleans Reproductive Justice Action Collective, condemned Lundys comments in a statement to the Illuminator.

This attack on students and transgender people is violent, Ricks said. It is unacceptable for anyone; including persons held to formal ethical standards, like attorneys, to preach and perpetuate hate and false information.

The hate and vitriol for transgender students and children is misconstruing the facts and deflecting from solutions to issues of gun violence, youth safety, and trans rights, they added.

Ricks pointed out that most shootings are committed by cisgender men who identify as their sex assigned at birth.

This whole thing is evil, Lundy said. We dont need to be a part of it in Louisiana we dont need any unhealthy ideology going on.

Lundy said he worried that what he referred to as transgender indoctrination would lead to more violence.

Weve known that God created man and woman, male and female, and our body parts were different, our DNA, our hormones are all different, Lundy said. When you start tampering with that, you are playing with the enemy.

Lundy is not the only conservative to express similar thoughts. On the national stage, right wing commentators have ramped up anti-trans rhetoric in the wake of the shooting at a Christian private school in Nashville, during which six individuals, including three children, were killed by an individual law enforcement described as being assigned female at birth but using he/him pronouns on social media. The perpetrator is believed to have attended the school.

This whole thing is evil. We don't need to be a part of it in Louisiana we don't need any unhealthy ideology going on.  Hunter Lundy, independent candidate for governor

Lundy said parents who allow their children to have access to gender affirming healthcare should be held criminally responsible. He compared getting such care for their children to negligently leaving a gun accessible to children, leading the child to hurt themself or another child.

Theyll [charge a parent for leaving a gun out], but youre not going to charge a parent who allows a child to change his sex, or try to change his sex, because weve already proven that you cant change it, Lundy said. But they can remove and mutilate body parts.

Gender affirmation surgery, sometimes referred to as a sex reassignment or sex change operation, refers to any procedure that helps a transgender individual transition to their identified gender. For the vast majority of minors, gender affirming care does not include surgery, but rather social affirmation and reversible medical treatments such as puberty blockers.

In some cases, gender affirming care is given to cisgender minors, such as puberty blockers for children who enter puberty too early or breast reductions for males with an abnormal amount of breast tissue.

The idea that the first conceivable step is the removal of children from the home and the jailing of parents and caregivers is saddening, out of touch and dangerous, Ricks said.

Lundy also said he believes that transgender people are mentally ill, pointing to the high rates of suicidal ideation among transgender individuals. Research on the topic indicates this is due to discrimination, harassment, violence and rejection by friends and family.

Transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault and aggravated assault in Louisiana, Ricks said.

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The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) and city traffic police have launched a mission called Suraksha 75 to make junctions of tech capital safer for pedestrians and commuters. 75 junctions in Bengaluru will be revamped and redesigned under this mission in a way that they enhance the safety and help in a smooth traffic flow. 75 major junctions in Bengaluru to be redesigned. Details

In an announcement, Bengaluru police commissioner for traffic, MA Saleem said, The city has been growing exponentially as there are almost 2000 to 2500 new vehicles coming on city roads every day. For the smooth management of traffic and safety of the residents, the Suraksha 75 mission has been launched in collaboration with the civic body. This can be a game changer for traffic eco system in Bengaluru

Also Read - BBMP proposes the construction of new flyovers in Bengaluru. Details

BBMP Commissioner Tushar Girinath also urged people to cooperate as there might be some inconvenience during redesigning these junctions. We have identified the 75 junctions in the city which are facing continuous traffic woes and Rs. 150 crores has been allotted for this in the state budget. All the junctions will be re designed by BBMPs engineering cell in a way that they provide safety for pedestrians and commuters. We need support and cooperation from people of Bengaluru as there might be temporary inconvenience due to repair works, he said.

During the presentation of state budget this year, Karnataka government allocated Rs. 350 crores for the construction of a five-kilometers elevated road in Bengaluru to further tackle congestion. Rs. 300 crore was further allocated for construction of roads in Bengaluru, while Rs. 1000 crore was granted for white topping of 120 kilometres.
The Karnataka High Court has permitted a businessman to travel to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on a business tour terming the look out circular (LOC) issued against him by a public sector bank as unjustifiable. Karnataka HC

Bank of Baroda had issued the LOC against businessman Himayath Ali Khan in March 2022, which was executed by the Bureau of Immigration, restricting his travel abroad.

Khan claimed to have been a non-functional Director of Associate Decor Limited, a company dealing with wood products.

The company had obtained 199 crore as finance from the bank by mortgaging his properties. A proceeding for recovery of the debt is pending before the Debts Recovery Tribunal.

Also Read - HC quashes state govt circular ordering board exams for Class 5 and 8

Khan claimed that since he was not party to the proceedings and did not have anything to do with the borrowings of the company, the LOC issued against him was illegal.

The single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna allowed him to travel abroad saying: "The petitioner who is described as Director has produced abundant material to demonstrate that he is only a non-functional Director. The list of guarantors is also extracted hereinabove. The petitioner is not shown as a guarantor to any kind of loan advanced. If the petitioner has no role to play in the entire transaction, issuance of LOC against him can hardly be justified."

In the verdict given out recently, the court noted that Khan was not party to the borrowings or the proceedings pending before the tribunal.

"The issuance of LOC which comes about on 07-03-2022 with the second respondent being the originator is bereft of reasons as to why the Bank wants curtailment of travel of the petitioner. The afore-quoted excerpts of the loan document nowhere indicates that the petitioner is the borrower; no criminal proceedings are pending against him; there is an embargo ordered by the court for him to travel, nor that the petitioner is likely to evade trial if he is permitted to travel to UAE," the court said.

The court, however, has not set aside the LOC notice issued to the businessman. Khan has only been allowed to go abroad in the brief window given to him and must return back to India.

The court said issuing LOC has serious repercussions. "The petitioner, even if it is construed to be that he is the Director of the Company, the travel of a citizen cannot be curtailed by the Bank on the ground that he is in default of loan amount. Issuance of LOC has serious repercussions, first of which is that he will not be able to move out of the shores of the nation, notwithstanding any embargo placed by any Court of law," the court maintained.
Ahead of the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold Jai Bharat rally in Kolar on April 9. The election rally will be the first such public meeting of Rahul Gandhi after he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha.(Congress Twitter)

"Rahul Gandhi will be in Kolar on April 9 and address the Jai Bharat Mega Rally there. On April 11, he will visit Wayanad. He is the voice of the people, you can never silence him. This voice will only get louder and stronger," tweeted Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Friday.

Notably, the election rally will be the first such public meeting of Rahul Gandhi after he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha.

READ | Defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi for 21st century Kauravas remark

Political parties are gearing up preparation for assembly polls in Karnataka.

Karnataka assembly polls are significant for national ambitions of BJP and Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Janata Dal-Securlar leaders have said that the people will reject the national parties in the assembly polls.

The Election Commission of India on March 29, announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections.

The polling would take place in a single phase on May 10, and the counting of votes will be done on May 13, the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said in a press conference.

READ | Rahul Gandhi's namesake disqualified, days after his parliament expulsion

Notably, on March 23, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat district court and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 2019 defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark made in 2019 during an election rally in Karnataka. The criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi. After being convicted by the court, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.

The sentence of two-year imprisonment has been suspended for 30 days before which Rahul Gandhi has to appeal against the conviction. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha has been one in a series of flashpoints between the Congress party and the ruling BJP, uniting the opposition parties who have been accusing the Centre of diverting attention from the Adani issue.
Troops of the Border Security Force (BSF) fired at a Pak drone along the Indo-Pak international border in Ramgarh sector of Samba district during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, said officials. In October last year, the Indian Army deployed aqua jammers on the Line of Control to check Pak drones. (AFP)

A blinking light was observed around 12.15am on the international border in the night in general area of Ramgarh. Alert troops fired towards the blinking light due to which it was forced to return. The area is being searched thoroughly, said a senior BSF officer.

The incident comes close on the heels of a powerful IED blast near a border police post in Sanyal of adjoining Hiranagar sector of Kathua district late on Wednesday.

The blast that took place barely four kilometers from the zero line on the IB in Hiranagar sector, around 9.30pm, was heard in four to five villages along the border. On Thursday, security forces, during searches, also recovered a live grenade near the police post.

Official sources confided to HT that the possibility of the drone dropping the payload cant be ruled out.

There was no loss of life or injuries to anyone in the blast.

On June 27, 2021, India had woken up to a new security challenge when two explosives-laden drones from Pakistan had crashed into the Air Force Station at Jammu airport in the early hours that left two IAF personnel injured.

Two Indian Air Force personnel were injured in the explosions that took place around 1.40 am within six minutes of each other. The first blast had ripped off the roof of a single-storey building at the high security technical area of the airport manned by the IAF in Satwari area of the city. The second one was on the ground.

The attack on an Indian Air Force base in Jammu, the first-ever offensive use of drones to target an Indian military facility had set alarm bells ringing in the south block.

In October last year, the Indian Army deployed aqua jammers on the Line of Control to check Pak drones.
Chandigarh/Jalandhar : Two weeks after he gave police the slip, pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh continues to dodge the cops even as senior officials claim that they are close to nabbing the Waris Punjab De chief. Two weeks after he gave police the slip, pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh continues to dodge the cops even as senior officials claim that they are close to nabbing the Waris Punjab De chief.

Amritpal escaped on March 18 from Mehatpur town of Jalandhar district after police launched a crackdown against him and his supporters.

Even after locating Amritpal at Marnaian Kalan village of Hoshiarpur district on March 28 from where he managed to dodge the police party chasing him, cops are clueless about his whereabouts.

It is learnt that in the wee hours of Saturday, police conducted a search at a secluded sugar mill in Dasuya in Hoshiarpur and other places in Garhshankar but returned empty handed.

Police believe that Amritpal and his aide Papalpreet, who is also on the run, might be hiding in one of the Sikh deras in the Doaba region of the state.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised why the counter-intelligence wing team chasing Amritpal at Marnaian Kalan village didnt inform the district police. District police was asked to nab Amritpal around one hour after he fled from a gurdwara near Marnaian Kalan on March 28. A vehicle of the counter-intelligence wing reached the gurdwara 10 minutes after the radical leader had fled along with Papalpreet and three others, a police official of Hoshiarpur district said.

Questions are also being raised over planning of the police in nabbing Amritpal at Mehatpur town of Jalandhar district on March 18 from where he managed to give police the slip and reached Shahbad of Kurukshetra of Haryana on March 20.

Since then, the Punjab Police have conducted multiple raids on deras situated in Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts but without any success.

A senior police official involved in the probe said they are hopeful that they will nab Amritpal soon, especially after he released two videos and an audio clip.

Amritpal has appeared on social media in a few videos and if he continues to do so, he is most likely to leave some clue about his whereabouts, an official privy to the investigation said.

We are on our toes for the past two weeks. One of the deras in Jalandhar lied to the investigators about Amritpals one-day stay there when he returned to Punjab on March 28. We will take action against the dera management, said an official.

From the course of investigation in past two weeks, it appears that the police successfully managed to follow Amritpal and Papalpreet till March 21 before they lost track of his movement. After six days, police tracked the radical leaders location to Punjab following which a massive operation was launched again, said an official.

The police now have a bigger challenge as both Amritpal and Papalpreet have separated and are no longer travelling together.

DIG Jalandhar range Swapan Sharma said the investigation is still on. We are carrying out searches in different parts of the state and are hopeful of positive results, he said.

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Mary Ann Gwinn at the LA Times:

John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson were unlikely allies in the war to preserve Yosemite. Muir, son of a Scripture-quoting Scottish immigrant father, was raised poor on a Wisconsin farm, but he wrote and spoke with the fervor of a prophet, and his craggy visage, tough constitution and unshakable devotion to the natural world drew admirers like a magnet. The urbane and cultured Johnson was an insider with a vast network of contacts in publishing and politics. The editor of one of the countrys preeminent magazines, Johnson hosted New York literary salons, mingled with Americas elite and eventually became the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

It was improbable that they even met  Muir was on the West Coast, Johnson on the East.

more here.
The Delhi police on Saturday filed a 800-page chargesheet, citing 117 witnesses, before a city court in the Kanjhawala drag and death case. A 20- year-old woman, Anjali Kumari, was dragged for nearly 13 kilometres between Sultanpuri and Kanjhawala after being hit by a Baleno car and getting entangled in the underside during the early hours of January 1. (Hindustan)

Earlier in the day, police issued a press release stating that Amit Khanna, Manoj Mittal, Krishan and Mithun have been booked on charges of murder, tampering of evidence, criminal conspiracy and giving false information.

Police have, however, not levied the charge of murder on the other three accused i.e., Deepak Khanna, Ankush and Ashutosh. They have also imposed sections of Motor Vehicle Act on Ashutosh and Amit Khanna. Amit Khanna has additionally been booked on charges of rash driving and endangering life of others.

Metropolitan magistrate Sanya Dalal listed the matter for consideration and taking cognizance on the chargesheet on April 13. Its a bulky file and I would need some time to go through the same, the magistrate observed.

During the early hours of January 1, a 20- year-old woman, Anjali Kumari, was dragged for nearly 13 kilometres between Sultanpuri and Kanjhawala after being hit by a Baleno car and getting entangled in the underside.
The West Bengal government will pay a compensation of 2 lakh to the family members of three persons who were killed in a fire incident in New Delhi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Saturday. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee (File Photo)

These three persons hailed from West Bengal. Banerjee extended her condolences to the bereaved family members. "In an extremely tragic fire incident in Delhi, we lost 3 precious lives from Malda & 1 from Uttar Dinajpur. I offer my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. Along with a compensation of 2 lakh, all kinds of support will be extended to the families of the victims," Banerjee tweeted.

They died when the fire broke out in a house where they lived as tenants in Delhis Shastri Park area.

Condoling the deaths, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP said in a tweet: Couple of them were working as rickshaw pullers in Delhi as there's a scarcity of means to earn livelihood in WB.
LUCKNOW As many as 78 students of BBD University took ill after they consumed food in the hostel on their return to the campus after an event late on Friday night, said authorities. The students said they had salad, rice, dal, chapati, and sweet dish. (Pic for representation)

In all, 42 students were taken to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) and 36 to a private hospital in Chinhat. A team from the health department also visited the students and the hostel on the BBD campus.

The students said they had salad, rice, dal, chapati, and sweet dish. According to them, the chapati and the sweet dish tasted bad. We are also getting the water tested in the lab, said the superintendent of the Chinhat community health centre (CHC) in a report prepared after the inspection.

There was an event on the campus that continued till 11pm on Friday. On their return to their hostel, the students had dinner. We received news about some of them having stomach problem. These students were taken to the hospital, said Prof SM Kamil Rizvi, dean (student welfare) and chief proctor of the BBD Educational Group. There are 800 students in the hostel and all had the same food.

All the students have now recovered. Apart from the hostel food, the students might have eaten something during the event also, but we have served a notice to the vendor who supplies food to the hostellers, he added.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) has convened a meeting of all its district and city unit chiefs on Sunday to work out a strategy to step up the agitation on disqualification of senior leader Rahul Gandhi as Lok Sabha MP after his two-year sentencing in a defamation case. UPCC meet today to finalise strategy on RaGa disqualification case (file)

The party has planned Jai Bharat Satyagraha on the issue.

UPCC president Brijlal Khabri has convened a meeting of all its district and city unit chiefs to discuss future course of action on Rahul Gandhis disqualification. UPCC zonal presidents will also remain present in the meeting. We may also discuss the preparations for the elections to urban local bodies as well, said a senior Congress leader.

As All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venu Gopal has given a detailed programme to hold Jai Bharat Satyagraha at various levels, the UPCC leadership would brief the partys zonal, district and city leaders about the same, he added.

AICC has suggested a schedule for holding district and state level Jai Bharat Satyagraha Programmes to take Rahuls disqualification to the people at grassroots level. The state and district/city units will work out plans to hold Jai Bharat Satyagraha at their levels and inform the party about it after the Sundays meeting.
States basic education minister Sandeep Singh reached the Netherlands and held discussions with the countrys primary and secondary education minister Dennis Wiersma to learn more about the early warning system that is likely to be introduced in U.P. soon. Checking school dropout rate: U.P. delegation in the Netherlands to discuss Dutch model (Sourced)

The early warning system followed in the Netherlands is about tracking student attendance and contacting parents of students missing from school for 40 days or more and to get them back to school.

U.P. could be countrys first state to implement the Dutch model.

We have been enlightened about the vision of Dutch education system by the representatives of Department of Equal Opportunities and Educational Support, the Netherlands. A special discussion session was organised on the topics of compulsory education and early school leaving in Port City Rotterdam, the Netherlands, tweeted Singh, who along with a 12-member delegation of teachers and officers had reached the Netherlands on March 29.

Officials said U.P. government is interested in the early warning system as it could help check the student dropout rate and to give a boost to governments plan to ensure free and compulsory education plan for all children between 6 years to 14 years of age.

The U.P. delegation also visited Zadkine, success centre, a unique school imparting skill development-based education.

Visited a school in the Netherlands, which has phenomenal infrastructure and had a chit-chat with the kids. It was great to know that a lot of children are somehow connected to India, the minister tweeted.

On the first day the delegation attended a brain storming session based on tackling early school leaving where officials informed us how they identify the kids who are willing to dropout from the school system. We visited the Indian Embassy on the second day of our visit. Here, we got the opportunity to meet Reenat Sandhu, Indian ambassador to the Netherlands, the minister added.

In the Netherlands a student is tracked by the authorities if the student is absent for more than 40 days. Their parents are contacted to find the reason for the student missing school. After this, a team is formed to bring the students back in school. This system could be helpful in checking school dropout rate and if implemented, U.P. will become Indias first state to do so, said director general, school education, Vijay Kiran Anand.

Snehil Pandey, a teacher from Composite School, Soharamau, Unnao who received a national award in 2020 and is a part of the delegation to the Netherlands said there was a possibility of U.P. implementing a similar model.
The Supreme Court-constituted panel, appointed by the Chief Justice of India, to probe the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group will prove to be more effective than a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) as sought by the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Saturday. Several opposition parties, led by the Congress, have been seeking a JPC probe into the report. Both the first half of the Budget session and the ongoing second half have witnessed bitter exchanges between the government and the Opposition over repeated disruptions on the matter. (HT Photo)

Besides NCP, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has also supported a court-monitored probe on the Adani issue.

Pawar said a probe by JPC may prove to be futile as the panel may comprise more members from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which enjoys a majority in Parliament. In view of the present strength of BJP in Parliament, it would be more rational to accept the SC panel to probe the Adani issue, Pawar said.

State Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe, however, insisted for a JPC probe. Why is the ruling BJP scared of forming a JPC ? he said.

Read here: Savarkar not national issue, Rahul Gandhi's UK speech not important: Pawar

American securities research firm Hindenburg Research has accused the Adani Group of fraud and stock manipulation. The conglomerate has denied the charges.

Last month, the Supreme Court ordered a probe into the matter and set up an experts committee to be headed by its retired judge AM Sapre. It also sought a status report from markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on its ongoing investigation within two months.

Several opposition parties, led by the Congress, have been seeking a JPC probe into the report. Both the first half of the Budget session and the ongoing second half have witnessed bitter exchanges between the government and the Opposition over repeated disruptions on the matter.

The TMC, however, said it supports a court-monitored probe in the matter. We have nothing to do with the demand of other parties for a JPC probe on the Adani issue. We want a court-monitored probe, TMCs parliamentary leader Derek OBrien said last month.
Mumbai: Ahead of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadis (MVA) first rally in Sambhaji Nagar, which witnessed a communal clash on Ram Navami, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut on Saturday alleged that he received a death threat from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. New Delhi, India - Nov. 21, 2019: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut seen during the winter session at Parliament in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, November 21, 2019. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times) (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

On Friday night, I received a message on WhatsApp from the gangster who had threatened actor Salman Khan as well. When I had received a threat from a Thane builder in February, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had made fun of it, he said.

On Saturday morning, Rauts brother and Vikhroli MLA, Sunil Raut, filed a complaint at Kanjurmarg police station. Hours later, a police team arrested a Pune-based hotelier who allegedly issued the threat using the gangsters name.

You are anti-Hindu. Come to Delhi and you will be shot with an AK-47. You will meet the same fate as rapper Sidhu Moosewala. This message is from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for you and Salman Khan. Be ready, the accused, identified as Rahul Uttam Talekar, had allegedly said in the message.

Initially, the police registered an offence against Bishnoi under section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. However, during investigation, it was found that the message had come from Talekar, 23.

Purshottam Karad, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone VII, said Talekar was arrested in Punes Wadgaon Sheri. Talekar claimed that he had called Raut twice on Friday night. When Raut did not answer his calls, he sent him the message while under the influence of alcohol.

The police said the accused, who hails from Jalna, denied having any links with Bishnoi or his gang, and claimed that he watched videos of Raut and Bishnoi on YouTube and obtained Rauts mobile number.

Meanwhile, the MVA leaders stepped up the attack on the government, claiming that while the latter is busy shielding the traitors, the law and order in the state has gone for a toss.

NCP MP Supriya Sule called it a failure of the home department. After the incidents of violence in parts of the state on Friday, now an elected representative has been threatened by a gangster. If the home minister is not capable of handling the law and order, he should do away with the responsibility.

Reacting to the allegations, Fadnavis said the criminals would be strictly dealt with. As far as the demand for my resignation is concerned, I am aware that some people do not want me to remain home minister for obvious reasons. However, I will continue in the chair and will act against those indulging in illegal activities.

Raut claimed that the cases of communal violence were the work of the ruling parties. They have been trying to polarise voters after realising that the government has failed to garner public support. Our rally in Sambhaji Nagar will be held on Sunday in which our party chief Uddhav Thackeray will participate.

The Sambhaji Nagar rally will be the first of the seven the MVA partners have planned in the state.

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Thane: Twenty-five cases of H3N2 influenza and a death due to the infection has been recorded under the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) jurisdiction in the last 15 days. Thane, India - March 31, 2023: A health worker collects swab samples of citizens for Covid-19 test as cases have increased in the city, at TMC's C.R. Wadia Hospital, in Thane, India, on Friday, March 31, 2023. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Following this, TMC commissioner Abhijit Bangar has directed the health department to stay vigilant.

All doctors in the city have been instructed to start immediate treatment without waiting for test results if patients show symptoms related to H3N2 influenza.

Bangar said, The health department should provide guidelines to all doctors in this regard. If necessary, a meeting should be held and leaflets should be distributed. Instructions have been given to inform about the guidelines in the WhatsApp group of health centres.

Many citizens consult a private doctor first when symptoms of illness appear. If they are not treated properly, they can lead to serious consequences. For this, private doctors will be guided by the health department. At the civil health centre-level, the medical officer has formed a WhatsApp group to coordinate with private doctors, he added.

A guideline has been prepared and distributed to all private doctors on what to do after a fever patient arrives and instructions to follow have been given if a patient is found to have H3N2 symptoms.

They should immediately bring it to the attention of the concerned medical officers, he added.

Symptoms of Influenza

Mild fever, cough, sore throat, body ache, headache, diarrhoea, vomiting, shortness of breath, chest pain, bloody stools, low blood pressure, bluish-black nails, irritability in children.

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Bengaluru: A Bengaluru court has remanded Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Madal Virupakshappa to judicial custody till April 11 in a corruption case. On March 28 the court had given 5-day custody of the legislator to the Lokayukta Police, which ended on Saturday. Madal Virupakshappa

The court adjourned Virupakshappas bail plea till April 6 and asked Lokayukta Police to file objections by then, if any.

Virupakshappa had been remandd to 5-day police custody after Karnataka Lokayukta police arrested the Channagiri MLA hours after the Karnataka high court rejected his anticipatory bail application in the corruption case.

On March 2, Virupakshappa was named the main accused in the corruption case lodged by the Lokayukta after his son was caught taking a bribe of 40 lakh. In the raids that followed, Lokayukta authorities recovered 6.1 crore in cash from his Sanjay Nagar residence and 2.2 crore from his office. A total of 8.23 crore in cash, a huge quantity of gold and silver ornaments, and large investments in land in Karnataka were allegedly uncovered.

In the days following this arrest, the MLA had accepted that the huge cache of money found in his house belonged to his family. He claimed: Our taluk is known as the land of arecanut (supari). An ordinary farmer in our arecanut land has 5 to 6 crore at home. I have 125 acres arecanut farm, arecanut market, and I have many other businesses as well. I will furnish the appropriate documents to the Lokayukta and get back my money.

However, Virupakshappas bail application was rejected by justice K Natarajan of the special court for elected representatives on Monday claiming there were enough reasons for questioning the accused in custody, leading to his arrest.

I am of the view that the petitioner-accused No.1 is not entitled to anticipatory bail as he is required for custodial interrogation, the judge said. Though this court granted the interim anticipatory bail until disposal of the case because there was no material found in the FIR (first information report) at that time, but now, there is sufficient evidence to show the involvement of the petitioner in the commission of the offence.

Virupakshappa claimed the allegations made in the FIR were absurd and there was no sufficient ground to proceed against him, a Lokayukta police officer said. While hearing his plea, the bench had given him interim bail till the disposal of the anticipatory bail petition, the officer said, seeking anonymity. The court has rejected the anticipatory bail and thus the interim bail also stands cancelled.
For the first time since Gorakhpur municipal corporation was formed in 1994 the city mayors post has become a general category seat. Civic polls: Gorakhpur mayors post general category, BJP eyes majority in corporation (pic for representation)

All opposition parties are keeping a close watch on BJPs plan on the seat. Local BJP leaders said that the BJP strategy this time would be to ensure a majority in the municipal corporation.

Political parties are now busy redrawing strategies for civic polls in Gorakhpur.

Gorakhpur is the CMs seat and hence while the mayor on the seat has been from the BJP for the last three occasions, our target this time would be to ensure that majority of the corporators belong to the BJP, a local BJP leader said.

Till now, the city mayors post had always been a reserved one. It was reserved for either OBCs or for women till now.

Interestingly, despite BJP holding the mayor post in Gorakhpur municipal corporation, the municipal corporation house was mostly dominated by opposition. This year with the extension of 10 new wards, strength of municipal corporation board would have 80 corporators, instead of previous 70. The party would try to have its majority in the corporation house now, a BJP leader said.

Samajwadi Partys district unit president Birjesh Gautam also held a meeting to discuss the issue with party members before finalising candidates. Gautam said there were 24 contenders for a party ticket for mayors post.

District vice president of Congress Tauqeer Alam Khan said there were 8 strong contenders from the party for the mayors post and added that the party would decide the name within a couple of days.

Newly appointed regional president of BJP Sadanand Rai said dedication and loyalty for party would decide candidates name. He hoped that the party would maintain its winning record.
Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi  What happens when so-called 'solutions' for refugees fail?

The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says refugees like me who are forced to leave their homes have three options to resume their lives: voluntary return to the place they've left, integration in their host country, or resettlement to a third country. For the vast majority of refugees, these so-called 'durable solutions' do not work.

I know this because I am a refugee still searching for a "durable solution". Instead of finding one, I feel I have been forgotten by the world and left stranded in a refugee camp where my life - and the lives of thousands of others like me - is whittling away.

I am 28 years old now. When I was younger, I always thought that, one day, I would go back to Burundi, my home country. But as I've gotten older, that dream has slowly faded. Instead, I have been living in Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi for more than two decades. The laws in Malawi prohibit me from becoming a part of society, and I have little hope of being resettled to a third country where I would have a chance to live a full life. Globally, less than 1% of refugees are resettled each year.

If you are reading this, you likely have more power to change things than I do. So I ask you: Are you satisfied with the status quo? If not, what can you do to ensure that future refugees will not be condemned to live in my state of prolonged, destructive limbo?

Around the world, millions of refugees like me have been forced to flee their homes because of war, persecution, or natural disasters.

Instead of finding solutions, we languish - often for a decade or more - in refugee camps that were supposed to provide temporary safety and shelter but end up becoming permanent settlements.

We live in a perpetual state of waiting - waiting for these 'durable solutions' that rarely come. Imagine spending years and years of your life in a state of limbo with little prospect of ever finding a place to call home? It's like living in a waiting room to nowhere.

'We were not safe'

I was only a few months old in 1994 when my family fled our hometown of Cibitoke in northwestern Burundi because of the country's civil war. My mother later told me that the morning we left, she saw smoke and flames starting to rise from our neighbours' houses as Hutu rebels stormed the city, killing people indiscriminately.

My father was not at home, so my mother - who was born deaf and mute, and who was pregnant at the time - put me on her back, grabbed my elder sister by the hand, and joined other people who were running for their lives.

It took us four long, perilous months to reach Tanzania, trekking through forests infested with venomous snakes and dangerous wild animals to avoid being seen by the rebel militia. I was told that many people starved to death and some children were left behind because they could not walk.

Even after we reached the Nyarugusu refugee camp in the Kigoma region of northwest Tanzania, we were not safe. People said that some of the Hutu rebels who had taken part in the killing were also coming to Nyarugusu. Fear spread that violence would erupt in the camp. So in 1998, three years after we arrived, we left again, this time to Malawi.

'People who cannot imagine a future give up'

Life in the Dzaleka refugee camp has not been easy. The camp was meant to host about 10,000 refugees, mainly fleeing the 1994 Rwandan genocide, but it is now home to more than 50,000 people.

Loss of hope is common. The stark reality we live in pushes people to despair and to make desperate decisions.

My mother turned to begging in the streets to provide for me and my siblings because no one would give her a job due to her disabilities. When my older sister reached adolescence, like many young women here who have no other way of earning money, she started working as a sex worker to help support our family.

A lot of the boys I grew up with have ended up with mental illnesses and turned to drugs to try to escape their reality. Husbands and wives fight because of financial pressures. And men lose their sense of dignity because they are unable to provide for their families. I've seen people who cannot imagine a future give up and take their own lives.

This is the life that refugees in Dzaleka - and other camps around the world - have been living for decades. It is the life that we are condemned to continue to live because of the failure to find true solutions for us.

'Will my turn ever come?'

Even after more than two decades, we still cannot go back to our country. My mother is traumatised by what she experienced in 1994 and doesn't want to return. Burundi also continues to be unstable and unsafe.

At the same time, integrating into the local community in Malawi is no longer possible. In April last year, the government introduced a new policy requiring all refugees to live inside Dzaleka - including people who had been living outside the camp for years. And the government does not allow refugees to work.

Despite the bleak prospects, I am still pursuing an education. I am currently studying an online course in business management offered by Southern New Hampshire University in the United States, but I have little hope of ever leaving the camp or finding a job.

Sometimes I feel like there is no point in studying. Many young people become discouraged and give up on education. But I am holding out hope that one day there will be an opportunity for me to get a job and better my life. It may not be possible in Dzaleka, but maybe I will get a chance to go to a third country.

A few people I know - including some of my childhood friends - have been resettled to Canada, Australia, or countries in Europe. When I saw them leave, I asked myself: "Will my turn ever come?"

'Refugees need to be treated with dignity'

Many people in Dzaleka, including me, have started the resettlement process - preparing documents and going through various screenings and interviews - but have been left waiting for a decade or more with no progress.

When we ask UNHCR for an update, we are told that our cases have been closed or that our files have been lost. Most of us aren't given an explanation, and the process of trying to figure out what happened or reopen our cases is both time-consuming and never seems to go anywhere. Sometimes, it seems like people who have stayed in the camp the longest have been forgotten while the cases of newly arrived refugees move more quickly, which breaks a lot of people's hearts.

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Like I said, I'm holding out hope. But experiencing how the system works in the camp and knowing how few refugees are resettled globally makes it difficult.

Like any other human beings, refugees need to be treated with dignity. Their rights need to be respected. Host governments and the international organisations that say they want to help need to come together and find ways to allow refugees to work, move freely, and integrate into society. Wealthy countries need to do more to resettle refugees.

Above all, we need reasons to believe our futures will be better than the present or the past.

Edited by Moulid Hujale and Eric Reidy.

Ndizeye Innocent, Burundian refugee living in Malawi and pursuing an online degree in healthcare management from Southern New Hampshire University

Editors note: Flipping the Narrative is an ongoing series that puts the voices of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants at the centre of conversations about the policies and events that shape their lives. This initial essay looks at why the UN's durable solutions for refugees  return, integration, or resettlement  don't work for so many, and where this leaves those the system is failing.
SP leader Azam Khan's wife has lodged a police complaint against an unidentified man alleging that he threw a small bundle inside the main gate of her house containing random articles, including clothes, and expressed fear that it may be associated with "black magic". SP leader Azam Khan. (HT file)

Read here: SC to take up disqualified SP MLAs plea over stay on conviction on April 5

Police said they have arrested the man who is mentally challenged and also suspended four of its personnel -- deployed outside Khan's house -- for dereliction of duty.

Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Shukla said, "A mentally challenged person was responsible for throwing a bundle inside the house of Azam Khan. He has been arrested and efforts are being made to send him to a mental institution."

"Four police personnel deployed in the security at the house of Azam Khan were suspended for dereliction of duty," added the SP.

According to the complaint filed by Tazeen Fatma, a former MP, the incident happened around 6 am on Thursday.

The man throwing the bundle inside was captured on CCTV installed outside the house but could not be recognised immediately.

Fatma wrote a letter to the Rampur superintendent of police reporting the incident and expressed fear that it could be a part of a big conspiracy.

In her letter, Fatma also wondered how could such a breach take place when the house is guarded round the clock by state police and other security personnel.

Additional Superintendent of Police Sansar Singh said they were informed late Thursday that a bundle, wrapped in black foil, had been thrown inside Khan's residence and it contained some clothes, a cap, and a few other articles.

Khan has been an MP from Rampur parliamentary constituency and MLA from Rampur assembly constituency 10 times. His assembly membership ended after a local court sentenced him in a hate speech case.

Read here: Samajwadi Party MLAs wear black sherwanis for second budget of 'Yogi 2.0'. Here's Why

He also has several criminal cases registered against him and was released from jail after getting bail last year.
Union home minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah, who arrived in Bihar on a two-day visit on Saturday evening, has cancelled his scheduled function at Sasaram where communal clashes broke out during Ram Navami festivities, state BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary said on Saturday. Bihar BJP president Samrat Chaudhary welcomes Union home minister Amit Shah at Patna airport on Friday. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

Addressing a press conference at the partys state headquarters here earlier in the day, Chaudhary said Shah, who will be reaching Patna on Saturday evening, will address party workers in Nawada on Sunday as per schedule.

With regret, we have decided to postpone Union home minister Amit Shahs visit to Sasaram as district administration has promulgated Section 144 (prohibitory orders) there. Now, Shah will address a public meeting at Nawada only on Sunday, said Chaudhary.

The imposition of Section 144 in Sasaram is a clear indication that no large gatherings can take place, said the state BJP president, even as he blamed the Nitish Kumar government for the cancellation of the function at Sasaram, scheduled for Sunday to celebrate the birth anniversary of Emperor Ashoka.

It is clear that Nitish Kumar is not in control of the administration. Even Bihar Sharif, which falls in the chief ministers home district of Nalanda, is in turmoil. So are many other parts of the state, alleged Chaudhary.

Later, a delegation of BJP, led by Chaudhary, met Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and handed over a memorandum, seeking his intervention in the matter.

Union home minister of state Nityanand Rai had approached the state government with the offer of providing additional forces as per requirement, but the entire administrative machinery seems to be in a state of sleep, he said. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is not able to control the state. See what has happened in his home district and in Naugachia. It seems violence was fanned deliberately and this shows the failure of the government. He has given a message that he does not want to allow anybody else to hold meetings here.

This is Shahs fourth visit to Bihar since his party BJP was ousted from power in August last year.

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Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Saturday blamed the communal clashes during Ram Navami festivities in Sasaram and Bihar Sharif towns the previous day on some mischief and made light of union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah cancelling his visit to Sasaram, even as the police made scores of arrests from the two towns. Nitish Kumar at a function in Patna. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

I dont know why he (Shah) was coming and I dont understand why he decided not to come, Kumar told reporters in Patna on Saturday.

Communal tensions during Ram Navami festivities at Sasaram and Bihar Sharif are disturbing. Such incidents happened for the first time in the area. Its not naturalWe know some people are indulging in gadbad (mischief) and are trying to disrupt communal harmony in the state. We will not allow this to happen, the chief minister said.

On Friday, violence had erupted in Sasaram town of Rohtas district and Bihar Sharif in Nalanda district, where CM Kumar comes from, leaving several people injured, including policemen, forcing the administration to suspend mobile internet services and clamp prohibitory orders to prevent assembly of people.

Rohtas district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar, however, told HT on Saturday that prohibitory orders were not imposed in the district. He said the decision to lift the suspension of mobile internet services will be taken after reviewing the situation.

The opposition BJP in Bihar had cited prohibitory orders in Sasaram for cancellation of Shahs visit to the town, where he was scheduled to attend a function to mark the birth anniversary of ancient emperor Ashoka at a site of prehistoric rock inscription that had been allegedly encroached by members of the minority community.

CM Kumar, however, feigned ignorance about Shah cancelling his Sasaram visit, saying he had no knowledge. The state government makes all arrangements for the visit if ministers come from the Centre, he said.

Meanwhile, in Bihar Sharif town of Nalanda district, most of the shops and business establishments remained shuttered on Saturday, a day after the violence and arson in which 11 vehicles, including a bus, were torched and valuables looted by rioters from some shops.

According to Nalanda district hospital doctor Viswajeet Kumar, 14 people were brought to the hospital, of which four had sustained bullet injuries. Three of them have been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital and one person is undergoing treatment in ICU, he said.

Inspector general (IG) of police (Patna central range) Rakesh Rathee told HT that around 28 people have been arrested for the violence. We are examining CCTV footages to identify culprits. Additional police forces and an RAF battalion have been deployed at the spot. Police are keeping a close watch on social media to thwart rumour-mongering, he said.

At Sasaram, no untoward incident was reported on Saturday.

Deputy IG (Sahabad range) Navin Chandra Jha said 18 people have been arrested. Police are patrolling the area to build confidence among locals. A peace committee meeting was also held, he said.

Meanwhile, isolated incidents of stone pelting were also reported from Gaya and Naugachhia in Bhagalpur district.

Police said at least five people, including two constables, were injured in Gaya.

According to Gaya SSP Ashish Bharti, 16 people have been arrested.

At Naugachhia, minor clashes between two communities took place over idol immersion, leaving four persons, including a woman, injured. Situation is under control now, said Naugachhia SP Sushant Kumar Saroj.

(With inputs from Prasun K Mishra, Bhabua)

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has deferred the proposed visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to Sasaram to take part in a function amid the reports of violence. Union home minister Amit Shah (ANI Photo)

At least 14 people were injured in a clash that broke out between two groups following a Ram Navami procession on March 31. Amid the clashes, internet services were suspended and section 144 has been imposed in Nalanda and Sasaram.

Amit Shah is scheduled to land in Patna on Saturday on a two-day tour of Bihar and later was scheduled for Sasaram on the same day to mark the birth anniversary of Samrat Ashok. However, cancelling his Sasaram tour, BJP state president Samrat Chaudhary said that Shah will only address a meeting in Nawada.

With regret, we have decided to postpone Union home minister Amit Shahs visit to Sasaram as the district administration has promulgated Section 144 in Sasaram. Now, Shah will address a public meeting at Nawada only, Chaudhary said.

As per the information we have received, the Union home minister will arrive here on April 1. He will spend the night in Patna and leave for his scheduled programmes the next morning, said Chaudhary.

Chaudhary blamed the state government for the violence and uncontrolled situation.

Also Read: Bihar Ram Navami violence: Internet shutdown, section 144 in Sasaram, Nalanda

Bihar CM (chief minister) Nitish Kumar is not able to control the state. See what has happened in his home district Biharsharif. It seems that violence was fanned deliberately and this shows the failure of the government. He has given a message that he does not want to allow anybody else to hold meetings here, Chaudhary alleged.

The Bihar government is sleeping. We have to send Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai there, he said.

Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai and minister of state and Buxar MP Ashwini Kumar Choubey reached Sasaram on Friday to take stock of the situation.

Union home minister Amit Shah, who is scheduled to arrive in Patna on Saturday evening will hold a meeting with intelligence and para-military officials, according to party leaders familiar with the development. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Bihar, will address a public meeting at Nawada on Sunday under the Lok Sabha Prawas programme.

The party has identified 160 seats all-over India, of which 10 are in Bihar under this programme.

Shah had earlier camped in the Seemanchal region last year with an eye on Muslim voters and later in October visited Sitab Diara the birthplace of socialist veteran late Jai Prakash Narayan. In February this year, he visited Valmakinagar and Patna the same day (Feb 25) and addressed Kisan Samagam organized on the occasion of the birth anniversary of peasant leader Sahajanand Saraswati in Patna, in a bid to woo the Bhumihar community that he came from.

His visit to Nawada and Sasaram is also seen as an effort by the BJP to break chief minister Nitish Kumars Luv-Kush equation. The Luv-Kush equation is used in a political context in Bihar to denote the alliance of the agricultural Kurmi and the Koeri caste, which together constitute approximately 15% of the states population.

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The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has offered a contract to a blacklisted contractor who was prohibited from participating in bidding process due to the inferior work during the monsoon period. During 2022 monsoon, the civic body had initiated action against 13 contractors for substandard quality work across 17 roads (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The Ahmednagar Road ward office has allotted a contract to private firm UR facility worth 6 crore for cleaning work at ward office level in the first week of January.

During 2022 monsoon, the civic body had initiated action against 13 contractors for substandard quality work across 17 roads. UR facility is among those contractors. Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar blacklisted these contractors for six months and imposed a fine for negligence. As per the order, the contractor could apply for a tender only after March 31, 2023; however, UR facility was given the contract in January.

Uday Rane, owner of UR facility said, It is true that our service was blacklisted, however, we challenged the PMC order and the court has given us relief. Our firm was blacklisted from December 2022 till July 2022. I applied for tender after that.

Civic activist Prashant Rankhambe procured the information under Right to Information (RTI) Act which revealed that the contractor which was blacklisted for road work managed to bid for cleaning work. The Ahmednagar Road ward office issued the contract to UR facility in the first week of January. How can the PMC allot a tender to a blacklisted contractor?, he said.

Ahmednagar Road ward officer Namdev Bajbalkar said, I have received a complaint letter from one of the social activists. UR facilitys tenders are approved in standing committee and general body meetings. The ward office did not get any communication about the contractor being blacklisted.

Bajbalkar took charge of Ahmednagar Road ward office one month ago. As per my knowledge, most of the contractors are getting work from all ward offices and main buildings. Also, the UR facility did not carry out any road related work in Ahmednagar Road wards office area, he said.

PMC official from the tender cell requesting anonymity said, If the contractor is blacklisted, he is not able to get online access to the tender. After 2019, online tender work has been decentralised. The name of contractors and of blacklisted order copy will be circulated to all ward offices and concerned departments.

Sudhir Kulkarni, a civic activist said, The PMC must take a firm decision to award a tender to a contractor who was blacklisted for some other work. If ward offices are claiming that they havent received any order or list of blacklisted contractors. I think, corporations action was eyewash to show Puneities.

Contractors blacklisted

In 2022, the PMC appointed a third-party organisation- Engineers India Ltd to inspect 139 roads after residents complained of potholes and bad road conditions. Committee had recommended blacklisting of the contractors for one year while the sub-engineer and branch engineer were punished with a fine of 10,000 each or withholding of one salary increment. However, the commissioner Kumar reduced the period of blacklisting to six months, while the officers have been fined 15,000.
Pune: Pimpri-Chinchwad police arrested five persons on Saturday, for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

Pimpri-Chinchwad police arrested five persons on Saturday, for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl. The incident occurred between March 2021 and March 2023 in Pimpri Chinchwads Mann area.

As per police information, the prime accused befriended the victim, and by offering her chocolates and other gifts, he lured her into his shop and raped her numerous times between March 2021 and March 2023.

According to a complaint filed by the victims parents, one of the accused raped the victim multiple times, which resulted in her getting pregnant. He also forced the girl to sleep with the others involved in the case to earn money.

We have arrested the accused for raping a minor, said Mahadev Yelmar, Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) at Hinjewadi police station.

A case has been registered at Hinjewadi police station under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 370 (human trafficking), 376(2)(n) (commits rape on the same woman repeatedly), 376 AB (Whoever commits rape on a woman under twelve years of age), 376 DA (Punishment for gang rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) and sections 4,6,8,10 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
Anupam Kher has shared a video to show the inside of Mumbai's Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, which was opened for public with a grand launch on Friday. Several Bollywood and Hollywood celebrities, businessmen, sportspersons and politicians had attended the launch event. Anupam called NMACC one of the best in the world and said that he was the first guest to enter the venue. Also read: Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas hug Karan Johar at NMACC event days after her interview about being bullied in Bollywood Anupam Kher has shared a video to share a glimpse of NMACC.

Sharing the video, he wrote, What a spectacular cultural centre Nita and Mukesh Ambani have built in the heart of Mumbai! Undoubtedly one of the best in the world. So proud to be the 1st guest to enter the newly built auditorium! And attend the inaugural show Civilisation To Nation brilliantly directed by my friend#Feroz Abbas Khan. Jai ho"

In the video, Anupam shows around the interiors of the NMACC. A huge stage overlooks the massive seating area, which looks all the more grand with several balconies on the side and an additional floor with the seating area. Anupam says, Duniya ke kisi bhi cultural centre se iska muqabla ho sakta hai, balki main to kahunga aur bhi better hai unse (this can be compete with the cultural centres around the world, I would say this is even better than them). He said the state of the art centre was now our desh ki dharohar (heritage of India).

NMACC was inaugurated on Friday with a star-studded event that had all from Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas, Gigi Hadid, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Kiara Advani, Sidharth Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Karan Johar and many others in attendance.

According to ANI, India's first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary cultural space, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, showcases India's finest offerings in music, theatre, fine arts, and crafts. The Cultural Centre is home to three performing arts spaces: the majestic 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seat Studio Theatre, and the dynamic 12S-seat Cube. It also features the Art House, a four-storey dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standards with the aim of housing a shifting array of exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world. Spread across the Centre's concourses is a captivating mix of public art by renowned Indian and global artists, including 'Kamal Kunj' -- one of the largest Pichwai paintings in India.

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A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu on Friday met producer Guneet Monga and director Kartiki Gonsalves, the makers of The Elephant Whisperers. The documentary won the Oscar for the best Documentary Short last month. (Also read: PM Modi meets with Guneet Monga, Kartiki Gonasalves and lauds their Oscar win) President Droupadi Murmu with Oscar 2023 winning documentary short film The Elephant Whisperers producer Guneet Monga and director Kartiki Gonsalves.(PTI)

The President praised Guneet and Kartiki for promoting the Indian "tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature" with their film. Guneet had previously co-produced the documentary Period. End of Sentence that won an Oscar award in 2019. Her The Elephant Whisperers is the first Indian production to win in the category.

Sharing pictures of the meeting between the filmmakers and the President, the official handle of the president's office tweeted, "President Droupadi Murmu met the makers of Oscar winning documentary The Elephant Whisperers, Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga. She congratulated them on winning the award and praised them for showcasing India's tradition of conservation and living in harmony with nature.

Earlier in the day, union minister Anurag Thakur met The Elephant Whisperers' Oscar-winning team at his residence in Delhi. Anurag shared a video with director and cinematographer Kartiki Gonsalves, producer Guneet Monga and Netflix Vice President (Content) Monica Shergill.

The video was captioned as,"Union Minister @ianuragthakur met the Oscar-winning Elephant Whisperers team Kartiki Gonsalves, Director and Cinematographer and Guneet Moonga, Producer. #ElephantWhisperers, a netflix documentary has won the 95th Academy Awards' Best Documentary Short award. @MIB_India."

The minister also shared his happiness at meeting them. "The power of Indias storytelling is unmatched! The Elephant Whisperers is a trunk full of heartwarming, socially relevant and cinematographically enthralling masterpiece! Delighted to meet Guneet and Kartiki; and learn about their amazing journey while making this spellbinding documentary. India is a land of storytellers, a million tales are born each day and some retold for generations. Our regional content has gone global; it is dubbed and enjoyed in every part of the world. India is bustling with stories and a new breed of film makers is hustling to capture them!"

Kartiki Gonsalves' 41-minute-long documentary movie talks about the bond that an orphaned baby elephant (named Raghu) and his caretakers - mahout couple Bomman and Bellie - share. Bomman and Bellie have devoted their lives to protect him from poachers and raise him.

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Just days after Priyanka Chopra gave an explosive interview about being bullied in Bollywood and trying her luck abroad, the actor was seen greeting filmmaker Karan Johar at the inauguration of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Friday. Priyanka had not taken any names but Kangana Ranaut had said in her latest tweets that everyone knows Karan Johar had banned Priyanka Chopra. Also read: Priyanka Chopra chats with Deepika Padukone; Nick Jonas and Ranveer Singh exchange hugs at NMACC launch. Watch Karan Johar gave Priyanka Chopra a hug and chatted with her at NMACC event.

Priyanka and husband Nick Jonas, along with their daughter Malti Marie Chopra Jonas came to India on Friday. They made a stunning appearance at the NMACC launch in the evening where they were seen mingling with Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh and Karan Johar. A video shows Karan and Priyanka sharing a hug and having a conversation on meeting each other. Karan also gave Nick a hug and was seen talking to them for quite a few minutes. Priyanka was also seen laughing aloud as they talked while holding hands.

Reacting to the video, a fan wrote, PC to Nick: Yeah. This is the man who even dared to think that he could ruin my career. Another wrte, Pri brought the floor down.that gown/dress was epic, thats how it should be, as in you comeback to your hometown with a bang like you never left. One more fan commented, "Nick and Priyanka gesture are so sweet!! They both were so ready to give KJ a warmth hugs." A comment also read: "No matter what people do or say about her , she will still have that kindness in her heart as always."

Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra and Karan Johar at NMACC event. (Varinder Chawla)

Priyanka was among the most glamourous celebrities at the event as she made a stunning appearance in a sheer beige gown with a sheer cape. Nick joined her in a black suit. It is their first trip to India with daughter Malti. Priyanka's mom Dr Madhu Chopra also accompanied them to India.

Earlier this week, Priyanka left many in shock as she revealed her reason to move to the west while speaking to Dax Shepherd on his podcast Armchair Expert. She said, I was being pushed into a corner in the industry (Bollywood). I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break. This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not crave for the movies I didn't want to get but I would require to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people. It would require grovelling and I had worked a long time by then that I didn't feel like I wanted to do it.

Reacting to the news, Priyanka's Fashion co-star Kangana had tweeted, This is what @priyankachopra has to say about Bollywood, people ganged up on her, bullied her and chased her out of film industry a self made woman was made to leave India. Everyone knows Karan Johar had banned her. She wrote in another tweet, Media wrote extensively about her fall out with Karan Johar because of her friendship with SRK and movie mafia Cruella who is always looking for vulnerable outsiders saw a perfect punching bag in PC and went all out in harassing her to a point where she had to leave India.

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Actor Rahul Dev was seen alongside Sara Ali Khan, Chitrangda Singh and Vikrant Massey in Gaslight, which premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on March 31. Rahul was asked in a recent interview about acting in more regional films compared to Bollywood. He said 'creativity can be expressed in any way' as he spoke about movies from the south Indian film industries. Also read: Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar are also outsiders, says Rahul Dev on nepotism Actor Rahul Dev at an event. (File Photo)

Rahul admitted that Bollywood has underutilised him while talking about the kind of roles being offered to him. He further spoke about how movies from the south were 'performing well' despite following the same 'template of 70s and 80s films' and essentially 'telling the same story'. He said in south Indian films the dialogues and actors are 'larger than life', and the action and fight sequences are 'over the top', unlike in real life.

"If you look down south, their films are performing well but they all follow the template of 70s and 80s films. The dialogues, actors are larger than life and there are some over the top action and fight sequences which doesnt happen in real life. But the style of narration and telling the same story, the way you tell the story, the way you move and captivate the audience while telling the story, those are the things that matters. So its just the way the story is expressed and how people perceive it. I hope such roles come my way," Rahul told News18.

He also spoke about his journey as an actor, and said, "The skill format of an actor today is a very natural format especially in the OTT. I am from an educated school and background so in a larger than life films, you have to leave your brain and wits back at the home. Two people are fighting. In real life, do you tear each others shirts or flaunt your physique to them? It happens in commercial format and its not bad because many people like watching that. Who are we to decide what is right or wrong? Creativity is only an expression. And its the sort of the expression that you can express in any way."

Rahul, who has worked in films like Champion, Omkara, Torbaaz, and Raat Baaki Hai, among others, was recently seen in the Kannada film Kabzaa alongside Kiccha Sudeep. It also stars Upendra and Shriya Saran. The film was released last month.

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Abuja  Senegalese authorities should immediately release journalist Pape Ndiaye and drop all legal proceedings against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On March 3, police in the capital city of Dakar detained Ndiaye after he responded to a summons, according to media reports and the journalist's lawyer Moussa Sarr, who spoke to CPJ by phone and messaging app.

On Tuesday, March 7, a judge charged Ndiaye with six crimes including "spreading false news," and ordered him transferred to a prison in the town of Sebikotane while he awaits trial, Sarr told CPJ.

The allegations against Ndiaye, a reporter with the privately owned Walf TV broadcaster, stem from his on-air commentary about the prosecution of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko, according to Sarr and those news reports.

"Senegalese authorities should immediately release journalist Pape Ndiaye, cease jailing members of the press for their work, and reform the country's laws to ensure they cannot be used to criminalize journalism," said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator, in New York. "The jailing of journalists has thrown into serious doubt Senegal's reputation as a stable democracy in West Africa."

Sarr told CPJ that no complaint had been filed against Ndiaye, and that the case was being pursued at the discretion of a government prosecutor.

The six charges include provoking a crowd, contempt of court, intimidation and reprisals against members of the judiciary, speech discrediting a judicial act, spreading fake news, and endangering the lives of others, the journalist's lawyer told CPJ.

CPJ's calls to government spokesperson Abdou Kerim Fofana and Justice Minister Ismaila Madior Fall rang unanswered or did not connect.

In late 2022 and early 2023, another Senegalese journalist, Pape Ale Niang, also faced arrest and detention over reporting on Sonko's case, before being released on bail.
Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput shifted to their luxurious duplex apartment in Worli, Mumbai, last year. Mira often gives her Instagram followers a glimpse inside their apartment as she shares pictures and videos of the decor. On Friday, Mira, along with actor-husband Shahid, attended the grand opening of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai. Before making their way to the launch event, both Mira and Shahid gave fans a preview of their designer looks for the night as they posed inside their home. Also read: Mira Rajput shares pics of massive living room, grand piano in her and Shahid Kapoor's new home Mira Rajput posing for photos inside her Mumbai home.

Mira, who wore a backless white gown for the NMACC gala, shared photos of herself posing in front of the wooden staircase inside their Mumbai duplex. In the first photo she posted, Mira, who is a wellness and fashion enthusiast and often shares her tips and tricks on Instagram and her YouTube channel, posed with her back towards the camera. The second photo gave a better look at her floor-sweeping dress and the staircase behind her. A black piano was seen in the background in contrast to the white walls. Some beige flower-inspired light installation was also seen in a corner.

Mira also posed in a brown and beige corner as she showed off another room in the house. She stood in front of a translucent ghost chair in an irregular shape that added the perfect dose of personality to the space. White sheer curtains in the background added an elegant feel to the modern and minimal decor. In her caption, Mira had written, "White is always right. For the opening of the spectacular NMACC."

Shahid Kapoor, who wore a black and golden jacket with black shirt and a pair of black pants for the NMACC launch, also shared photos of himself posing at home. He shared some sun-kissed pictures of himself posing near the same staircase as Mira, and wrote in his Instagram caption, Black at it...

Mira and Shahid married in 2015. They have two children  daughter Misha Kapoor and son Zain Kapoor. Shahid was last seen in the Prime Video web series Farzi, which also features Vijay Sethupathi. As per a 2022 report in News 18, Mira and Shahids new home is worth 58 crore and is located at Three Sixty West, a skyscraper in Worli that offers a breathtaking view of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. The lavish celebrity house reportedly has six parking slots and a spacious 500-sq-feet balcony.

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Hollywood and Bollywood celebs have reached the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai for the second day of the event. While Zendaya stunned in a blue sequinned saree, supermodel Gigi Hadid opted for a white and golden coloured saree. With them was also actor Tom Holland who came in a suited avatar. Also read: Zendaya and Tom Holland arrive together in Mumbai for Nita Ambani's cultural centre launch Zendaya and Tom Holland at the NMACC event on Saturday.

Bollywood actors such as Malaika Arora also arrived in a stunning statement ensemble. She was joined by boyfriend-actor Arjun Kapoor on the red carpet. Besides them, Bhumi Pednekar and Anusha Dandekar were also snapped making their presence in stunning outfits for the night.

Tom Holland and Zendaya arrived in India on Friday. Many fans expected them to appear on the red carpet of Friday's event as well but they left them disappointed.

Tom features as Spider-Man/Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home while Zendaya plays Mary Jane. Besides Tom and Zendaya, several other Hollywood stars arrived in India this week.

Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams and Bridgerton actress Simone Ashley, on Thursday, attended luxury giant Dior's pre-fall fashion show in Mumbai.

Cara Delevingne, Phakphum Romsaithong (Mile) and Nattawin Wattanagitiphat (Apo), and Karlie Kloss were also present at the gala.

Multi-disciplinary cultural space, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, was opened on Friday, aimed to showcase the best of India across music, theatre, fine arts and crafts to the world. It was named after the founder and chairperson of Reliance Foundation Nita Mukesh Ambani. The cultural centre is housed within the Jio World Centre, located in the heart of Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex.

Nita Ambani during the grand opening of the cultural centre said it was like dream come true.

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On Friday, Zendaya and Tom Holland arrived in India on their maiden trip together to the country. The Hollywood couple was rumoured to be in Mumbai for Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre's opening. However, they were not spotted at the star-studded gala that was attended by Bollywood royalty including Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra as well as international celebs such as Gigi Hadid and Nick Jonas. Now, an edited photo of Zendaya and Tom is doing the rounds on social media, and reactions are pouring in from fans. Also read: Zendaya and Tom Holland arrive together in Mumbai for Nita Ambani's cultural centre launch. Watch Zendaya, Tom Holland's photo was shared by Kerala Tourism on April 1.

On April 1, the official Instagram account of Kerala Tourism shared an edited photo of Zendaya and Tom with the caption, "Guess who we spotted far away from home?" The caption had the hashtags 'faraway home', 'Munnar' and 'Kerala tourism'. In no time, the comments section of the post was flooded with fans, who had been waiting for an update on Zendaya and Tom Holland's India visit.



While some joked about the 'epic' photo, others found the April Fool's prank one of the best. Some also said the Tom and Zendaya's edited photo, which was originally taken in Boston last year, looked 'real'. While Zendaya wore an oversized green turtleneck sweater with grey pants and white sneakers, Tom was seen in a grey shirt, black trousers, and matching sneakers.

Kerala Tourism shared a photo of Zendaya and Tom Holland on Instagram.

A person commented on Kerala Tourism's post, "Hater will say it's Photoshopped! As a designer, I stand by it it's real." One more person fell for the edited photo, and commented, "It's totally real. They were spotted at the Mumbai airport, and who knew they were en route to God's own country." One more asked, "Is this for real?" However, many joked about the quality of editing. One wrote, "White balance is not matched... try to improve." One more wrote, "Good April Fool's prank."

Zendaya and Tom were pictured in Mumbai on Friday. The Spider-Man: No Way Home stars were photographed exiting the Mumbai airport. Zendaya was all smiles as she walked out of the airport gate, while Tom was surrounded by his entourage. The two have been dating for a few years now.

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Zendaya and Tom Holland arrived in India on Friday. Photos and videos of the two from Mumbai airport were widely circulated online, and it was rumoured that they will be attending the launch of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre. However, Zendaya and Tom were missing from the paparazzi photos shared from the star-studded event graced by everyone from Priyanka Chopra to Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor. Now, a photo of Zendaya and Tom from their recent outing in India was shared on Instagram. Also read: Tom Holland, Zendaya's pic from 'Kerala' causes confusion among fans Zendaya and Tom Holland arrived in Mumbai on Friday.

On Saturday, Blue Bay Marine, which provides yacht charter services, shared a photo of Zendaya and Tom from one of their luxury yachts. Taking to Instagram Stories, the company wrote along with a photo of the actors posing with their crew, "Hosted Tom and Zendaya on our yacht."

Zendaya wore a flowy red dress with white sandals and a pair of glasses, while Tom was in a white T-shirt with blue jeans, sneakers and a matching beige cap. They smiled and posed with the yacht's crew in the photo, which had more yachts in blue waters in the background. Earlier, Blue Bay Marine also re-shared a video, in which Dior's team was seen boarding a yacht. The fashion house had showcased its collection at Mumbai's iconic Gateway of India on Thursday.

Zendaya poses with Tom Holland and others on a yacht.

Earlier, it was rumoured that Zendaya and Tom Holland had arrived in India on their first trip together to the country for Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre's grand opening. However, they were not spotted at the event that was attended by celebs such as Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra as well as Gigi Hadid and Nick Jonas. Even as fans waited for an update on Zendaya and Tom's India trip, an edited photo of the two, who have been dating for a few years now, began doing the rounds on social media.

On Saturday, on the occasion of April Fool's Day, the official Instagram account of Kerala Tourism shared an edited photo of Zendaya and Tom with the caption, "Guess who we spotted far away from home?" The picture was originally taken in Boston last year, and featured Zendaya in a green turtleneck sweater with grey pants and Tom in a grey shirt and black trousers. Fans left many comments on the post. Some joked about the poor editing, while others wanted to know where the couple was hiding during the India trip.

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On Saturday, BTS' agency Big Hit Music shared a new update regarding member J-Hope's upcoming enlistment in South Korea's military service. J-Hope will be the second member of BTS to fulfil his duties towards the nation after Jin. After the agency revealed that the BTS rapper would be joining as an active-duty soldier, Hobi personally sent a sweet message to fans aka BTS Army. Also read: Jungkook talks about his health, reveals he wants to be on Suchwita BTS' member J-Hope to join army soon.

Big Hit Music in a statement shared, Hello. This is BIGHIT MUSIC. We thank all the fans for your continued support for BTS and would like to update you on J-Hopes upcoming enlistment into the military. J-Hope will fulfil his required time with the military by enlisting in the army. Please note that there will be no official event on the day of his entry.

According to the agency, just like Jin, J-Hope's enlistment day will be a private affair. Restricting fans, the agency mentioned in their statement, The entrance ceremony is a time to be observed by military personnel and their families only. To prevent any issues that might occur from crowding, fans are advised to refrain from visiting the site. Instead, we ask you to keep your heartwarming words of support and farewell in your hearts.

They continued, We also advise you not to get adversely affected by purchasing unauthorized tours or product packages that illegally use the artists IP. Our company will take necessary action against any attempts at commercial activity making unauthorized use of such IP.

We ask for your continued love and support for J-Hope until he completes his military service and returns. Our company will also strive to provide all the support he needs during this time. Thank you, it concluded.

Soon after, J-Hope took to the fan community, Weverse and dropped a smiling selfie where he appeared rather nervous. He wrote to fans, Have a great weekend. Don't worry too much!!!! I love you, ARMY. Reacting to the update, a fan wrote on Twitter, We'll wait for you our hope.

Please say aprils fools, added another fan. Someone also added, I know they will enlist one by one but atleast they can do it in a way that we are not left alone, I just don't want them all to be in the army at the same time atleast one member can stay here with us! It's fair right !!

BTS comprises RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jin, Jungkook, V and Jimin. In December last year, Jin enlisted in the Korean army. J-Hope made his solo debut with Jack In The Box last year as the members are on hiatus to focus on individual careers.

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Actor Dalljiet Kaur married businessman Kenya-based Nikhil Patel in Mumbai last month. She recently moved to Nairobi with her son Jaydon, and the two now live with Nikhil and his daughters from his previous marriage. On Saturday, Dalljiet took to Instagram Stories to post videos of her answering fan questions. She told a fan that she wanted to travel with her husband, and they were not planning on expanding their family. Dalljiet added she was very happy being a mother to their three children. Also read: Dalljiet Kaur shares 'first of many selfies' from honeymoon with Nikhil Patel Dalljiet Kaur and Nikhil Patel married on March 18.

To a fan that asked 'will you both have kids again', Dalljiet said, "Dekho teen bache hai humare. Teen. Mujhe nahi lagta hai ki ab koi bhi aur scope hai. I think hum dono ab travel karna chahte hain. You know, we also have missed out on life in general, toh hum woh bhi enjoy karna chahte hain, while bringing up our kids, giving the best to them. Toh nahi, aur ka scope nahi hai ab kyunki hum teen bacho ke saath bahut khush hain (We have three children, so there's no scope left for another kid. Both of us wish to travel together now as we have missed out on life. We are very happy with our three children, and want to raise them well)."

When a fan called Kenya 'a beautiful country', and said her son will 'love it', the actor said in Hindi in a video as she gave a peek at the view from her new home, There's so much nature here. Everywhere you look there is greenery. I love being here, living with so much nature around you. There's also a lot of warmth here, everyone I have met in Nairobi has been welcoming and warm. Just how we in India make people feel welcomed, people here are the same. I am really looking forward to my journey in Africa, in Kenya.

This was not the first time Dalljiet Kaur was asked about having more kids. During her honeymoon in Thailand last month, she and Nikhil had said they were not planning more children, calling it expensive, during an Instagram Live.

Dalljiet was previously married to actor Shalin Bhanot of Bigg Boss 16 fame. Their son Jaydon was born in 2014. Nikhil has two daughters, Aariyana and Aanika, from his previous marriage.

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Priyanka Chopra stars in the Russo Brothers' next show Citadel, which is all set to release on Prime Video on April 28. Now, in a recent interview, the Russo Brothers have said that the action-packed spy thriller that also stars Richard Madden, Leslie Manville and Stanley Tucci is an answer to the James Bond movies and praised the actor for what she brought into the role. (Also read: Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas hug Karan Johar at NMACC event days after her interview about being bullied in Bollywood) Priyanka Chopra in a still from Citadel.

Last Thursday, the second trailer of the show was released which followed Richard Madden's Mason and Priyanka Chopra's Nadia who are called back to the agency to work together. There they struggle with their attraction for each other. These two secret agents have no recollection of their spy lives as their memories were erased following the crash which occurred years ago. Mason reveals that even though he cannot remember much about his job, he hasn't forgotten Nadia. Meanwhile, Nadia says that she remembers everything.

Now, in a recent interview with Total Film Magazine, the Russo Brothers were asked whether Citadel is their answer to the Bond franchise. To this Joe Russo said, "Its an accurate way to talk about it, without question. I mean, we loved Bond growing up." Then Anthony Russo said, "Were immense fans of Bond, but our job is to try to take what we love about these sorts of genres and films that have influenced us and figure out ways to push them into spaces and places that surprise us  Our job as storytellers isnt to bring you another version of Bond. Our job as storytellers is to bring you a fresh experience that you are excited and surprised by. So hopefully we hit that mark. Well see."

Further commenting on how Priyanka Chopra's character was based on what Bond for women can look like, he added, "This is a genre that traditionally has a male lead. And so what was interesting to us was upending that. Priyanka is really gifted physically. She is a badass on camera and she kicks a lot of a** in the show. Without giving too much away, her character is driving a lot of the action for the better part of the series, and Richards character is playing catch up. That was a really interesting and exciting idea for us."

Apart from Citadel, Priyanka also has Love Again with Sam Heughan and Celine Dion. Written and directed by James C Strouse, the film is an English-language remake of the 2016 German film SMS fur Dich, which was based on a novel by Sofie Cramer.

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Welcome back to The World Weekly, where we will be deconstructing the biggest news stories and placing the seemingly local developments in global context. This week we look at gun violence in the US in light of yet another mass shooting at a school in Nashville. The right to bear arms Gun violence is now so entrenched in American society that Mondays mass shooting at The Covenant School, Nashville, was actually among 131 such incidents that have occurred in the US this year  that is in three months alone. A mass shooting is usually defined as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed. In the last three years, there have been on average two mass shootings a day, according to figures from Gun Violence Archives, and they appear to be on the rise. In total, there have been 9,870 firearm-related deaths (including suicide) so far this year. Last year the US Congress passed the first significant gun control bill in 30 years. It included reforms like tougher background checks for those under 21 and funding to states to implement red flag laws  that is, to remove firearms from people considered a threat. But the limited nature of the reforms was the equivalent of closing the windows, while leaving the front door open. Calls for stricter gun control have been repeated ad nauseam by presidents and victims alike. President Joe Biden signed an executive order to toughen background checks earlier in March. But even statistics  like guns being the leading cause of child and teen mortality in the country since 2020  have failed to shock the US Congress into banning the weapons. A small survey from 2018 estimates that there were 390 million guns in circulation in the country, about 120.5 guns per 100 residents, thats up from 88 per 100 in 2011. (Click to expand) The Second Amendment The gun debate in the US is framed around the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. Anti-gun violence activists have argued that adding more restrictions like background checks can help reduce gun violence in the country, but pro-gun activists  usually Republicans  say that any such curbs will be a violation of their constitutional right. Gun advocates also argue that Americans should be able to possess guns so that they may protect themselves during such shootings. Extensive lobbying from organisations like the National Rifle Association have also significantly contributed to influencing government policy, or the lack thereof. Can the president pass an executive order banning guns? Well, technically, yes. But that doesnt mean it will work. The order can be challenged in court as a violation of the Second Amendment. That doesnt bode well for the president for three reasons. One, the Supreme Court has previously stymied what it considered legislative overreach from the Biden administration, suggesting that it may go that way again. Second, the courts 6-3 current Conservative supermajority along with previous judicial precedents (See: New York law and Heller ruling) make it much more likely that the court will rule in favour of individual gun rights. Third, even though 57% Americans support stricter gun control, issuing an executive order, especially on such a divisive issue, could be seen as undemocratic and tank support for Biden at a time when Democrats are struggling to keep control of the White House and Congress. Protesters gather inside the Tennessee State Capitol to call for an end to gun violence and support stronger gun laws after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. (REUTERS) Exporting gun violence Violence from US guns has also seeped beyond its borders. Between 2014 and 2016, 50,133 guns recovered in criminal investigations across 15 countries in North America, Central America and the Caribbean were of American origin. Put another way, during this span, US-sourced guns were used to commit crimes in nearby countries approximately once every 31 minutes, a Beyond Our Borders report said. Police data in Trinidad shows that the US states of Georgia, Maryland, and Florida are the main smuggling origins for guns in the country. Mexican foreign affairs secretary Marcelo Ebrard said last year that around 60% of all weapons seized in the country were purchased in 10 counties along the US border . In 2021, an article in the Guardian noted that the Mexico believes that more than two million US guns crossed into the country in the decade prior. A large majority of these guns were purchased legally in the US before being diverted to criminal groups and cartels after crossing the border. The Mexican government is trying, at the moment, to enlist Caribbean nations in its efforts to sue American gun manufacturers for fuelling violence in their countries. Canada, where guns are federally regulated, is also seeing a rise in gun violence. 86% of crime handguns [that are] able to be sourced were from the United States, Toronto Police service deputy chief Myron Demkiw told Canadian parliamentarians during hearings last year. The problem however is not limited to illicit weapons, but also includes firearm parts, such as Glock barrels and slides. "These parts are being used to manufacture the untraceable ghost guns that we see being used in our gang conflicts," according to Vancouver Police Staff Sgt Michael Rowe. It's not like a weapons ban has never existed in the US. An assault weapons ban enacted in 1994 expired in 2004. There have been several efforts to renew the ban, but critics argue that there is limited data regarding the effectiveness of the ban. If US lawmakers want data, maybe they should look across the world at countries where a ban on guns has effectively ended mass shootings. Of course, for it to be truly effective, the law has to be an extensive, bipartisan effort  something that looks entirely unlikely in the current state of politics. That's all for this week, folx. If you have any suggestions, feedback, or questions, please write to me at sanya.mathur@hindustantimes.com
The Supreme Court-constituted panel, appointed by the Chief Justice of India, to probe the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group will prove to be more effective than a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) as sought by the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Saturday. NCP chief Sharad Pawar. (ANI)

Besides NCP, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has also supported a court-monitored probe on the Adani issue.

Pawar said a probe by JPC may prove to be futile as the panel may comprise more members from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which enjoys a majority in Parliament. In view of the present strength of BJP in Parliament, it would be more rational to accept the SC panel to probe the Adani issue, Pawar said.

State Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe, however, insisted for a JPC probe. Why is the ruling BJP scared of forming a JPC ? he said.

American securities research firm Hindenburg Research has accused the Adani Group of fraud and stock manipulation. The conglomerate has denied the charges.

Last month, the Supreme Court ordered a probe into the matter and set up an experts committee to be headed by its retired judge AM Sapre. It also sought a status report from markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on its ongoing investigation within two months.

Several opposition parties, led by the Congress, have been seeking a JPC probe into the report. Both the first half of the Budget session and the ongoing second half have witnessed bitter exchanges between the government and the Opposition over repeated disruptions on the matter.

The TMC, however, said it supports a court-monitored probe in the matter. We have nothing to do with the demand of other parties for a JPC probe on the Adani issue. We want a court-monitored probe, TMCs parliamentary leader Derek OBrien said last month.

Meanwhile, on Opposition unity, Pawar said that all non-BJP parties held a meeting recently and are likely to meet soon again for alliance talks ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
One person was arrested from Pune in connection with a death threat given to Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut . The accused has been identified as Rahul Talekar, and has no connection with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Mumbai Police told news agency ANI. "I have intimated the police about the threat call, but do not think any action would be taken", Sanjay Raut said.

Raut allegedly received the threat via text messages and a call, claiming that he will be shot with an AK-47 rifle if he is spotted in New Delhi. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader had filed a complaint in this regard.

I have intimated the police about the threat call, but do not think any action would be taken. I received the call last night. Whenever I inform the government and home minister about such threats they mock me saying it's a stunt. The government is busy sponsoring riots, hooliganism and terror, Raut told reporters.

Also read | Moose Walas father gets death threat e-mail from Bishnois gang: Police

Confirming the development, a police officer, Sanjay Raut received death threats stating that he will meet Sidhu Moose Wala's fate. He got the threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The message said that if you met in Delhi, will kill you with an AK-47. He wrote a letter to the police complaining about the matter.

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Geita  EGHT artisanal miners have been killed due to underground pit collapse at Igando Village in Magenge Ward, Geita Region.

Geita Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Safia Jongo confirmed the incident on Saturday, while speaking to journalists after recovering the bodies of the deceased.

ACP Jongo said the accident occurred due to severe weather conditions following heavy rains that flooded the pit, while the miners were underneath.

"The miners were found dead around 9am after heavy rains pounded in the surrounding area...water invaded the pit where they were mining," ACP Jongo said.

The commander named the deceased as Juma Pamba (42), Akili Anthony (40), Samwel John (25), Juma Swalele (50), Simon Mabula (40), Kamala Nyambogo (30), Bahati Nyambogo (25), and Juma Sumuni (53).

"It is unfortunate that the deceased were conducting their activities in an unauthorised area," the RPC said.

On his part, Fire and Rescue Service Commander in Geita Region, Shabaan Dawa said the rescue procedures started immediately after they received notification of the development, adding that in the course they managed to recover all the eight bodies.

In his address, Geita Regional Mining Officer, Mr Martin Shija said the area where the accident occurred was licensed to one -Abdul Joseph, but banned for artisanal mining activities in September 2022.

Elaborating, Geita Regional Commissioner, Mr Martin Shigella had announced the ban on small-scale miners from operating their activities in the area, and asked the public to follow proper procedures to obtain a licence for safe mining.

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Meanwhile, the Police Force in Mara Region has said that the employee of the North Mara Gold Mine, who died inside the mine threw himself into a hole approximately 20 metres long after he was found digging stones thought to contain gold in an underground mine in the Gokona area.

"The body of the deceased has been kept at the Tarime Town Council Hospital pending a medical examination to determine the cause of his death," the Regional Police Commander (RPC) of Tarime Rorya, ACP Geoffrey Sarakikya said yesterday.

RPC Sarakikya named the deceased as Emmanuel Chacha (25), a resident of Kemakorere village in Tarime District, Mara Region.

RPC Sarakikya has said that the incident happened on Saturday around 11 pm inside the mine operated by the Barrick Company in partnership with the government of Tanzania, through the Twiga Minerals Company.

"He threw himself into a hole after he was found stealing stones thought to contain gold, but the autopsy will provide answers to the cause of death," emphasised RPC Sarakikya.

RPC Sarakikya said that before he threw himself, the task force team found him stealing stones believed to contain gold in the pit.

Commander Sarakikya explained that the taskforce team including the Regional Mining Officer, officers from police force, the mine's security unit and the company's hired Nguvu Moja are working on the issue for further information.

However, RPC Sarakikya said that he will provide a full report of the incident after the autopsy of the deceased is completed.
After Salman Khan, Sanjay Raut gets death threat from 'Lawrence Bishnoi gang' Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

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Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday assured that projects to connect all eight capitals of northeastern states would be completed by 2025. Union home minister Amit Shah addressed a public meeting in Mizorams Aizawl on Saturday. (PTI File Photo)

Addressing a public meeting in Mizorams Aizawl, Shah said that incidents of violence in the region have come down significantly since 2014 and there is a new era of peace and development.

There will be rail, road and air connectivity to all eight capitals in northeast by 2025 and projects worth a total of 1.76 lakh crores are being undertaken for the same, the Union minister said.

Shah was on a day-long visit in Mizoram, where he inaugurated and laid foundation stones of various development projects worth 2,415 crore including the new battalion complex of the Assam Rifles.

Foundation stone of four important road projects valued at around 1,200 crore were laid today. When completed, these would lead to increased trade and business not just within Mizoram but also between the state and neighbouring Myanmar, he said.

Shah appealed to outfits from the region, which are still not engaged in peace talks, to join the democratic mainstream to contribute to northeast and Indias development.

We have been able to bring peace and improve connectivity in the region in the last nine years and the pace of development in northeast is now like rest of the country. The entire northeast is now progressing in the path of peace, stability and development, said Shah.

He mentioned over 8,000 cadres of rebel outfits have surrendered in past nine years and there was 67% decrease in incidents of violence in the region in comparison to 2014, 60% decrease in deaths of security personnel and 83% reduction in deaths of civilians in terror-related violence.

Peace has returned to most of the region due to the peace agreements signed with various outfits. Due to this, there has been nearly 70% reduction in areas termed as disturbed under provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Shah said.

Mizoram will go to the polls towards the end of this year. While the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) is a partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, the parties are not in alliance in the state.

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Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday laid the foundation stone of various projects worth 2,415 crore in poll-bound Mizoram and assured that projects to connect all eight capitals of northeastern states would be completed by 2025. Union home minister Amit Shah. (PTI)

Addressing a public meeting in Aizawl, Shah said there has been a significant decline in incidents of violence in the region since 2014 and there is a new era of peace and development.

There will be rail, road and air connectivity to all eight capitals in the northeast by 2025 and projects worth 1.76 lakh crores are being undertaken for the same, the Union home minister said.

During his day-long visit to the state capital, Shah inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of various development projects, including the new battalion complex of Assam Rifles.

Foundation stones of four important road projects valued at around 1,200 crore were laid today. When completed, these would lead to increased trade and business not just within Mizoram but also between the state and neighbouring Myanmar, he said.

Shah appealed to terror outfits from the region, which have still not engaged in peace talks, to join the democratic mainstream to contribute to northeast and Indias development.

He said that over 8,000 cadres of rebel outfits have surrendered in the past nine years and there was 67% decrease in incidents of violence in the region in comparison to 2014, 60% decrease in deaths of security personnel and 83% reduction in deaths of civilians in terror-related violence.

We have been able to bring peace and improve connectivity in the region in the last nine years and the pace of development in the northeast is now like the rest of the country. The entire northeast is now progressing on the path of peace, stability and development, he said.

Peace has returned to most of the region due to the peace agreements signed with various outfits. Due to this, there has been nearly 70% reduction in areas termed as disturbed under provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, he added.

Mizoram will go to the polls towards the end of the year. While the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) is a partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, the parties arent part of any alliance in the state.

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Internet services were suspended in several districts of Bihar, including Nalanda and Sasaram for 48 hours following the Ram Navami violence that left several people injured, including six with bullet injuries. Section 144 (prohibitory orders) were also imposed in Nalanda and Sasaram. A clash broke out between the two groups during a Ram Navami procession on Friday (Twitter Photo)

Fourteen people were brought to the hospital. Three of them have been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital and one person is undergoing treatment in ICU, said Nalanda Sadar hospital doctor Viswajeet Kumar.

A clash broke out between the two groups during a Ram Navami procession on Friday near Gagan Diwan Mohalla under Laheri police station in Biharsharif, the district headquarters of Nalanda, after one group allegedly pelted stones at the procession, which further led to the gun firing and eight vehicles were torched.

Police personnel, including a guard of the sub-divisional police officer Sasaram, were also injured in the clashes that continued till Friday evening.

Amid the violence, police personnel and administration forces were deployed at the incident site while security has been increased in the district. Meanwhile, Patna central range Inspector General (IG) Rakesh Rathee, who reached Nalanda amid the clashes, informed that the police have so far arrested 28 people allegedly involved in the clash.

He said that they are examining CCTV footage to identify the real culprits while additional police forces and an RAF (Rapid Action Force) battalion have been deployed to take control of the situation. Police are also keeping a close watch on social media to thwart rumour-mongering, said Rathee.

In Sasaram, deputy general of police (DIG) Navin Chandra Jha told HT that police arrested 18 persons while the district magistrate along with the superintendent of police (SP) are holding a peace meeting with both groups clashed during the procession.

Meanwhile, on Friday, an incident of stone pelting during a Ram Navami procession was also reported from Gaya and Naugachhia.

According to Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashish Bharti, members of two groups clashed during the Sobha Yatra procession at Dabbu village.

He said incidents of stone pelting were reported in which several people faced injuries. Meanwhile, police arrested 16 people and raids are being conducted to nab other culprits, said Bharti.

In Naugachhia, four, including a woman was injured after a clash between two groups during idol immersion at Kharik. Situation is under control now. Peace is being maintained, said Naugachhia SP Sushant Kumar Saroj.

Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, minister of state and Buxar MP Ashwini Kumar Choubey reached Sasaram on Friday to take stock of the situation.

Union minister of home affairs Amit Shah is scheduled to arrive in Patna on Saturday on a two-day Bihar visit. He is also scheduled to visit violence-hit Sasaram to address a meeting.

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Just 24 hours after the election schedule was announced for the Karnataka assembly polls, the top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) summoned 50 of its lawmakers from across the country for an urgent meeting. BJP national general secretary BL Santhosh. (PTI)

The meeting chaired by the organisations general secretary BL Santhosh and the man assigned as in-charge of the state, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, had a single point agenda -- to assign key persons who would help boost the partys prospects in the state.

It was a virtual meeting and we were told that we had to reach Karnataka as soon as possible, maybe even in the next 72 hours, one of the persons who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity. These MPs and MLAs were told that the party has identified 115 of the 224-strong assembly to focus on. Each of us would handle 2-3 seats. Weve been told that these 115 seats are in the B category, which means that they are tough but possible winning seats, the person said.

Among the 50 assigned are Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Bihar MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia, Uttar Pradesh MLA Satish Dwivedi, Andhra Pradeshs P Sudhakar Reddy, and MPs Ramesh Bidhuri, Nishikant Dubey and Sanjay Bhatia. Most of them are experienced at being parachuted to various states before elections.

I have been to UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal, in total nine states before, said Bidhuri. While he was waiting for instructions about where to head, he was clear in what his work would be. We have to go there and talk to our workers. Thats the main thing, to motivate them and to make sure that there is proper spread of our ideas among the voters, he said.

About whether the Delhi MP will face any challenges due to language in Karnataka, he said: Every BJP worker across the country knows Hindi.

Jharkhand MP Nishikant Dubey said he was yet to be assigned for the Karnataka election.

While Karnataka is the only southern state to have a BJP government, this election is proving to be a challenge for the ruling party. With BS Yedyurappa, the former chief minister no longer leading the party in the state, there is fear of a backlash within the Lingayat community, which he represents. Chief minister BS Bommai, who replaced him in 2021, has had a tough time handling attacks by the opposition led by the Congress. The extent of the partys challenge is apparent by the fact that it is yet to announce the candidates, while the Congress did so last week.

The main messaging for all those heading to Karnataka will be simple -- tell voters to put their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The focus on what the party likes to call double-engine development enabled by BJP at the Centre and the state has been their trump card in Uttarakhand and Goa last year, where the party achieved easy victories.

The big advantage of sending someone from Delhi or Bihar or UP is that they are seen as an eminent person for campaigns. For instance, say there is a rebel in one constituency. If this Delhi leader goes to the rebel leaders house just to have tea, the rebel leader may appreciate that the party cares about him or her. They can then be persuaded to withdraw so that the partys official candidates chances arent spoilt, a second party functionary said, wishing to remain anonymous.

However, the strategy of flying in extra hands doesnt always work. Cajoling rebel leaders didnt help in Himachal Pradesh, for instance, and was the biggest factor in the partys loss in December last year. In West Bengal, too, the BJP flooding the state with top leaders who were Hindi speakers led to the Trinamool Congress successfully attacking them with the outsiders tag.

Karnataka will vote on May 10 and results will be announced on May 13.

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PATNA: Internet services were suspended for 48 hours in Bihars Nalanda and Sasaram districts after communal clashes during Ram Navami processions on Friday injured several people, including six with bullet injuries, police said. The curfews imposed by administrations in both districts under Section 144 of CrPC continued on Saturday. HT Image

Chief minister Nitish Kumar asserted that the incidents were triggered by some people indulging in mischief. Communal tensions during Ram Navami festivities at Sasaram and Bihar Sharif are disturbing. Such incidents happened for the first time in the area. Its not natural, Kumar told reporters in Patna. We know that some people are indulging in gadbad (mischief) and are trying to disrupt communal harmony in the state. We will not allow this to happen.

In Nalanda, curfew was imposed after violent clashes erupted at around 5pm near Gagan Diwan under the Laheri police station area. The state government sent additional police personnel from the Patna range to bring the situation under control, officers said, declining to be named.

The situation in Nalanda became tense on Thursday after a senior political leader allegedly provoked a group of people to install a loudspeaker near the mosque, a senior police officer told HT. On Friday, when a Ram Navami procession organised by some Hindu right-wing outfits was marching through Gagan Diwan neighbourhood, some people allegedly pelted stones on them, leading to a clash and gunshots from both sides, the officer added.

The mob torched eight vehicles, including a bus and SUV, set on fire over a dozen shops of a particular community and looted stores, said the officer. Six people received bullet injuries.

Fourteen people were brought in Nalanada district hospital, out of whom four had bullet injuries, said Dr Viswajeet Kumar, a physician at the facility. Three of them have been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital and one person is undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit, he added.

Police have arrested 28 people and will lodge four separate first information reports (FIRs) against the troublemakers, said Rakesh Rathee, inspector general of police (IGP), Patna central range. Police were assessing the losses from the clash, he added.

We appeal to the people to stay calm. Police are examining CCTV footages to identify the culprits. Additional police forces and RAF battalion deployed at the spot, Rathee said. Police are keeping a close watch on social media to stop rumour-mongering.

In Sasaram, police arrested 18 people, even as the district magistrate and superintendent of police are holding peace meetings with both communities, said Navin Chandra Jha, deputy inspector general of police, Sahabad range. Police are patrolling the area for confidence-building and are on high alert, Jha said. People should avoid rumours. The situation is under control.

After the violence, Union home minister Amit Shah has cancelled his tour of Sasaram on Sunday, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Partys state chief Samrat Choudhary blaming the state government for poor law-and-order situation. However, the chief minister rejected the allegations, saying: I have no idea about this. I dont know why he was coming and I dont understand why he decided not to come. As far as the law-and-order situation in the state is concerned, its perfectly alright.

Shah, meanwhile, reached Patna on Saturday evening.

There were reports of stone pelting during Ram Navami processions in Gaya and Naugachhia as well. At least five people, including two constables of Gaya police, were injured, police said. Peace has been restored, they said.

Members of two communities clashed during a procession at Dabbu village under Chakand police station area, said Ashish Bharti, senior superintendent of police, Gaya. Police have arrested 16 people, he added.

There were minor clashes between two communities after an immersion ceremony at Kharik in Naugachhia. Four people including a woman have been injured. The situation is under control, said Sushant Kumar Saroj, superintendent of police, Naugachhia. Peace is being maintained.

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India recorded 2,994 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, with the active caseload at 16,354, according to union health ministry data. The daily positivity rate stands at 2.09%, while the weekly positivity rate is at 2.03%, as per the latest health bulletin. Check the revised Covid-19 guidelines from the union health ministry, as well as the situation in different states. MoHFW issued revised guidelines for Covid-19 in the wake of the surge of cases across states. (Representative Image/ HT Archive)

Also Read | 21 new Covid cases surface in Chandigarh

MoHFW's revised guidelines for Covid-19 in the wake of the surge of cases

-Antibiotics should not be used unless there is clinical suspicion of bacterial infection.

-The possibility of coinfection of COVID-19 with other endemic infections must be considered. Systemic corticosteroids are not indicated in mild disease.

-Seek immediate medical attention if difficulty breathing, high-grade fever or severe cough, particularly if lasting for more than 5 days.

-"A low threshold is to be kept for those with any of the high-risk features," guidelines discussed and prepared in January said.

-Additionally, in moderate or severe diseases at high risk of progression, the guidelines recommend, Consider Remdesivir for up to 5 days (200 mg IV on day 1 followed by 100 mg IV OD for the next 4 days)

Covid-19 cases in different states

Maharashtra

Maharashtra reported 425 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, with an active caseload exceeding 3,000. No Covid-related deaths were recorded, and the state's recovery rate stood at 98.14%, according to the state health department bulletin cited by news agency PTI.

Pune had a higher test positivity rate than the state average on Thursday, with the current weekly test positivity rate at 11% compared to the state's 8.16%, officials reported.

Mumbai recorded 177 cases, while Pune city had 50 new cases on Friday. The state government has urged people to avoid gathering in crowded places and to use masks to reduce the spread of the infection.

Delhi

Delhi has seen a rise in fresh Covid-19 cases over the past few days. However, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that there is no immediate cause for concern as the government is taking all necessary measures.

Kejriwal added that genome sequencing of all samples that test positive for Covid-19 is being carried out to detect any new variants promptly. He further informed that the XBB.1.16 variant is currently the most prevalent, accounting for 48% of all positive cases, and while it spreads rapidly, it is not severe.

In regards to mask-wearing regulations, the chief minister stated that no new guidelines had been issued by the Centre yet, and the government would act accordingly when they receive them.

On the vaccination front, Kejriwal announced that all adults in Delhi had received full vaccination against Covid-19, while all eligible people below the age of 18 had been administered with the second dose.

Uttar Pradesh

Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh witnessed its highest single-day count of nine new Covid-19 cases in five months on Friday, prompting the district administration to enforce Covid protocols. The state has seen a threefold increase in active Covid cases over the past few days, although the silver lining is that almost all patients are recovering in home isolation with no significant symptoms.

Dr. Abhishek Shukla, secretary-general of the Association of International Doctors, emphasized the importance of following Covid protocols, such as social distancing, wearing masks in public places, and avoiding crowded places, to reduce the number of cases.

According to officials who attended the review meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, there is currently one Covid positive patient for every ten lakh population in the state.

Last week, UP reported a total of 78 new Covid cases, including 38 from Lakhimpur Kheri, where students and staff of a government residential school were found infected. This was the highest number of cases reported in a single day this year.

Kerala

The Kerala government issued an alert to all districts on Wednesday following a slight increase in Covid-19 cases in the state. Kerala's health minister Veena George announced the alert after a meeting with core committee members and experts, stating that the state reported 172 new infections on Tuesday, indicating a marginal increase in cases.

"We request all to wear masks and meet other measures to check the possible infection. There is no need of any panic and but it always good to take precautions," she said after the meeting.

Several hospitals in Kerala have made masks mandatory, and schools have also advised children to wear them as a precautionary measure.

Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu government has mandated the wearing of face masks from Saturday at all government hospitals throughout the state due to a rise in the number of coronavirus cases, news agency PTI reported. Health Minister Ma Subramanian stated on Friday that doctors, nurses, medical staff, patients, and visitors must comply completely with the new rule at the approximately 11,300 healthcare facilities since infections initially started in hospitals.

Upon arrival at airports in the state, passengers arriving from other countries are randomly screened for COVID-19. During the last 24 hours, 123 individuals have tested positive for the virus in Tamil Nadu, according to the minister.

(With PTI inputs)

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The Mumbai Police arrested a 62-year-old drunk Swedish national for allegedly molesting a 24-year-old cabin crew on board an Indigo Airlines flight from Bangkok to Mumbai. The passenger, identified as Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg, also reportedly assaulted a co-passenger and created a ruckus mid-air on the 6E-1052 Indigo Flight. The passenger, identified as Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg, also reportedly assaulted a co-passenger and created a ruckus mid-air on the 6E-1052 Indigo Flight.(Representational picture)

Westberg misbehaved with the air hostess while serving meals.

What led to chaos?

The passenger reportedly started behaving unruly when the flight attendant informed him that there was no food on board. The accused agreed to take a chicken dish and when the air hostess approached him with the POS machine to make the payment, on the pretext of swiping the card, he held the air hostess's hand inappropriately.

Also Read: Drunk passenger vomits, defecates near toilet on IndiGo flight

When the air hostess protested, Westberg stood up from the seat and molested the Indigo staff in front of other passengers, the woman told the Mumbai Police.

The air hostess accused that the man later abused the staff and other passengers.

The accused was arrested on arrival at the Mumbai Airport on Thursday. He was produced before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate Court and was granted bail.

Eighth unruly flyer arrested

This was the eighth unruly flyer arrest in India in the last three months and the fifth incident of molestation onboard registered between 2017 and 2023.

On Sunday, a drunk male vomited in the aisle and defecated around the toilet on an IndiGo Guwahati-Delhi flight. The incident was flagged on Twitter by Bhaskar Dev Konwar, whose bio identifies him as a 'senior counsel practicing at the Gauhati High Court', who himself drew flak for hailing the shocking event as an example of girl power.

The crew member can be seen in a face mask and cleaning the vomit-covered aisle (which has been covered with paper napkins) with a disinfectant spray. The image also shows other passengers sitting passively and staring at her while she carries out the unpleasant task.

On March 22, passengers John George D'Souza and Dattatreya Anand Bapardekar started drinking after the flight took off from Dubai on an Indigo flight from Dubai to Mumbai. When the cabin crew found this, they informed them about the ban on drinking alcohol inside the flight. But both the accused got infuriated and stood up from their seat and started walking inside the flight drunk.

"Two Indigo flyers have been booked under section 336 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) & sections 21,22 and 25 of Aircraft rules for being drunk & misbehaving with the crew. Both were arrested formally but as the sections were bailable, they were granted bail from the police station itself", DCP Dixit Gedam, Mumbai Police said.

On November 26, 2022, a drunk man had urinated on an elderly woman passenger aboard an Air India flight going from New York to Delhi. An FIR in the case was lodged and the accused  Shankar Mishra  was jailed by the authorities.

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Women without hijab to be prosecuted 'without mercy': Iran's judiciary chief A supporter of the Iranian women life freedom movement takes part in a demonstration, during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany February 18. (REUTERS)

As more and more women continue to defy Iran's compulsory dress code, the country's judiciary chief threatened to prosecute women who appear in public without hijab "without mercy", news agency Reuters reported quoting Iranian media. Read more

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Hardik Pandya answers million-dollar Kane Williamson injury question, Gujarat Titans set for huge setback

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Telangana police arrested a man from Faridabad for running a personal data mining racked, which involved confidential information of at least 669 million individuals and organisations whose details were sold to fraudsters who then used it for scams. HT Image

The victims were spread over 24 states and the data leaked included personally identifiable information  phone numbers, addresses and date of birth etc -- about various categories of people, such as those who were customers of particular learning companies, popular online shopping websites or had debit or credit cards.

We have seized two mobile phones, two laptops and data of as many as 135 different categories containing sensitive information of the government and private organisations and also individuals, including students, senior citizens, defence personnel, government employees, credit and debit card holders, D- MAT account holders and PAN card account holders, said Cyberabad police commissioner Stephen Ravindra.

The arrest spotlights the worrying state of data privacy in the country, where it was held as a fundamental right in 2017, and highlights the persistent threat of banking frauds and identity thefts that can be carried out with such rackets.

Earlier in March, Cyberabad police busted a similar operation with arrests made from the National Capital Region (NCR).

On Saturday, Ravindra identified the arrested person as Vinay Bhardwaj, who operated from his office in Faridabad. He allegedly collected the database from two people the police identified as Amer Sohail and Madan Gopal, both absconding.

Bhardwaj ran a digital marketing business called InspireWebz.

Ravindra said the data included those of GST payers, and customers of Road Transport Corporations, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Paytm, PhonePe, Big Basket, Book My Show, Instagram, Zomato, Policy Bazaar, Upstox, Byjus and Vedantu.

Police said the database was classified into different categories, including banks, insurance and financial services, doctors, software engineers, telecom, trading & stock broking, consulting services.

Data of defence personnel was also found with him. It contains personal information including phone numbers, residential address, email id, date of birth etc, Ravindra said, adding that investigation was on about the sources through which Bhardwaj managed to gather such voluminous data.

Such data can be used for impersonation and as a basis to launch more serious frauds on a victim.

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The planned Mphanda Nkuwa dam, just downstream from Cahora Bassa, will force 1400 families to move. Development projects take priority over lands rights, but people forced off their land must be properly resettled. This has not happened with coal mines in Tete, gas and rubies in Cabo Delgado, and other projects, causing conflicts and protests lasting decades.

After so may bad experiences, including displaced fishers and miners joining the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, one might have thought it useful to try to settle the issue in advance. But Frelimo disagrees.

Officially, there is free movement in Mozambique and NGOs do not need permission to go into villages. But the NGO Justica Ambiental (JA!) says it has been barred, and that community leaders were told by the locality chief that they should not allow members of the community to meet with JA!. Subsequently, the Marara district administrator said in a meeting with JA! that environmental activists cannot go to the project region to talk about rights and laws, or mention the impacts of other megaprojects. ''The dam project should not be crucified for the sins of Jindal's previous coal projects. We cannot be pessimistic and think that will happen here in Marara,'' he added. https://justica-ambiental.org/2023/03/06/lideres-das-comunidades-da-regiao-de-mphanda-nkuwa-recebem-ordens-superiores-para-nao-serem-capacitados-sobre-os-seus-direitos

JA! has always opposed Mphanda Nkuwa.

Rio Tinto preparing to start the digging up of 80 km of beach from Inhambane south to Inharrime.

Mutamba Mineral Sands, owned by mining giant Rio Tinto, is planning to mine heavy sands in 25,000 ha it has a licence for in Jangamo, Inhambane. The first phase, of just 261 ha, will displace 54 houses, 17 commercial establishments, and 173 cultivated fields. (Zitamar 27 Feb) The people want equivalent farmland nearby, but this will be hard to provide because mining companies have concessions or applications to dig up the entire beach from Inhambane town 80 km south to Inharrime, and going from the sea 10 km inland to and including the N1 main road.

Mutamba sands has the concession for a 30 km long strip in the middle of the zone. A company called +258 Limitada has applied for a mining concession for 21,000 ha north of the Mutamba concession to within 5km of Tofo beach. +258 Limitada involves all of the Frelimo elite, including families of former presidents Samora Machel, Joaquim Chissano and Armando Guebuza, as well as Frelimo Political Commission member General Alberto Chipande. (@Verdade 18 Oct 2016)

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Mozambique Governance Human Rights By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Heavy sands are historic sand dunes which a dug up by huge dredges and then sieved for titanium (for white paint and dye), rutile and zircon (both used in the foundry and ceramics industries).

Will government release incriminating documents or accept losing key hidden debts case?

Mozambique's government is suing Credit Suisse and Privinvest in London for bribing public officials to enter into the $2bn secret debt. The case is now in pre-trial hearings and Judge Robin Knowles has ordered the government to provide documents from the State Information and Security Service (SISE) and the Office of the President. These are relevant because senior SISE officials have been convicted of taking bribes and because President Nyusi was defence minister at the time. Knowles has threatened to not allow the case to go ahead ("strike out" in legal jargon) if the documents are not provided.

The just completed secrets debt case in Maputo jailed allies and family of former President Armando Guebuza - who were manifestly guilty. But it would be highly surprising if allies of the current president, and even senior people in Frelimo, were not also involved. Former Finance Minister Manuel Change has been kept in a South African prison for four years while the Mozambican government tries to stop him being extradited to the United States, where he would surely spill the beans. Is Frelimo so anxious to protect some key people that it will give up on the London case it seems likely to win?
A chick of a Great Indian Bustard reared in captivity was for the first time hatched on Saturday in Jaisalmers breeding centre, which aims to release the critically endangered birds in the wild to stem their declining population. Great Indian Bustard chick hatches from birds reared in captivity

This shows that our effort to save the GIBs is moving in the right direction, said a scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India who has been working on the iconic bids for several years. Our aim is to do artificial insemination for GIBs to build their gene pool and improve their numbers in the wild.

The number of Great Indian Bustards has declined to less than 150 in the wild, with close to 90 of them found in just two protected areas, the Desert National Park and Ramdevra Army Protected Area. Its population has declined as much as 75% in 30 years, according to the Wildlife Institute. Power transmission lines and windmills in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan and Kutch in Gujarat have contributed to the decline.

The breeding centre had collected 30 eggs from the wild, of which six were damaged, an official said, declining to be named. Twenty-four chicks were successfully hatched from the eggs, but two of them died. As of now, we have 22 artificially hatched GIBs at the Jaisalmer breeding centre, the official said.

Two artificially hatched birds had mated in February, and the female laid an egg on March 6, according to Ashish Vyas, divisional forest officer and in-charge of Desert National Park.

On Saturday, the egg was hatched with a healthy chick. This is for the first- time reproduction has happened and it is an important step to improve the GIB population, the official said.

The hatching took place after 21 days of incubation, according to Dr Sharwan Singh Rathore, veterinary scientist at the GIB Conservation Breeding project at Sam in Jaisalmer.

The egg was placed in an incubator to keep it warm and under the right humidity levels, Dr Rathore explained. Many times, the GIBs eggs in the wild are eaten by predators and the initiative of artificial hatching was to get maximum chicks from the eggs, which are a few in a year, he said.

Chicks from captive birds would help the centre to increase the population of the birds that can then be released in the wild, officials said. The first generation of GIBs are too attached to humans and have been manually fed. They may not have ability to find food for themselves in wild, said the first official quoted earlier.

Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav congratulated the concerned officials. Happy to share that Project Great Indian Bustard has crossed another milestone in Jaisalmer. GIB, a highly endangered bird, also known as Son Chairaiya, has been successfully hatched from artificially reared birds in captivity. Kudos to forest officials and WII for the feat, he tweeted.

The Great Indian Bustard, the state bird of Rajasthan and also known as Godawan, is listed as critically endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Natures list and is granted the highest level of protection under Indias Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The breeding centre should now focus on new captive breeding initiatives such as artificial insemination and double clutching from almost every female, according to Radheshyam Pemani, a local environmentalist. He asked the government to take measures to protect the GIBs, including removing overhead power cables and putting them underground.

We lost nine godawan in the past four years due to power lines and their number is precariously low, Pemani said. If efforts are not taken, we may lose all godawans in the wild.
Ahead of Arvind Kejriwal's first political rally in Assam on April 2, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday dared his Delhi counterpart to speak against him that Himanta Biswa Sarma is corrupt. Kejriwal will visit Assam along with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann. Reportedly, Kejriwal in the Delhi assembly had said that there are cases against Sarma in other states. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

"Yet, I haven't filed any defamation case. Is there any case against me in any part of the country? I want to file a defamation case, but Arvind Kejriwal like a coward spoke inside the assembly. So let him come to Assam on April 2 and say that, there is a case against Himanta Biswa Sarma, I will sue him rightly," Sarma told reporters.

Speak against me a single word that I am corrupt and next day, I am going to file a defamation case, the same thing I have done against Manish Sisodia, the Assam CM Sarma added.

Sarma clarified that there is no case against him in any part of the country.

Also Read: PM Modis degree order set aside, Kejriwal fined

"You (Arvind Kejriwal) should not speak against somebody in Delhi assembly where you know I am not there to defend. So what is the case against me? So somebody has misled all the people that there is some case against me. In entire India, there is no case against me, except for some cases filed by Congress people in various courts" he added.

Hitting back Rajesh Sharma, AAP's northeast in charge, said, The whole country knows what kind of party BJP is. The country has recognized the anti-democracy people who are doing horse-trading by bringing MLAs of Maharashtra to Guwahati.

The Assam chief minister's warning comes on a day when the Gujarat high court fined Kejriwal 25,000 for asking Gujarat University to reveal details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's education degree.

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Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday slammed what he called the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys Hindu Rashtra ideology, which he said has led to the rise of the Khalistan movement and separatists like Amritpal Singh in Punjab. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. (PTI)

Blaming the ideologies of BJP and RSS for the popularity of radical preacher Singh, Gehlot said, Amritpal Singh is saying that if Mohan Bhagwat & Narendra Modi talk about Hindu Rashtra, then why shouldn't I talk about Khalistan? Gehlot,while addressing a party workers' meeting in Bharatpur, questioned the reason behind Singhs audacity in making such a statement. He added that religion and politics have become intertwined in the country.

It is easy to please people in the name of religion. We should worry about our country, he warned. India remained united because Indira Gandhi did not allow Khalistan to be formed, which is also why she was killed, the CM continued.

Also read | Amritpal Singh's dare to cops in 1st video: 'Would have surrendered if..'

The Waris Punjab De chief has released two video messages and one audio message from hiding as the hunt for the Khalistani sympathiser is on. Singh, who has been on the run since March 18, went live on Facebook on Thursday and declared he will not surrender. Those who feel that I have turned fugitive and I have left my associates, should not keep this illusion in their mind. I do not fear death, he said in the video in Punjabi. In the audio message that appeared before Thursday's video, the Sikh leader asked the Akal Takht to summon a congregation and to prove that Akal Takht is the leader of the community.

During the party meeting, Gehlot also predicted that Congress will win 156 out of 200 seats in the upcoming assembly elections. He dismissed the power tussle between him and former deputy Sachin Pilot as minor differences.

(With inputs from PTI)

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The ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have engaged in a war of words over communal violence in Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations with the West Bengal government handing over the probe to Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Prohibitory orders were also imposed in Howrah on Friday after fresh incidents of stone pelting were reported in the district. Vehicles set on fire by miscreants during clashes between two groups at Kajipara in Howrah district on Thursday, (PTI)

Union minister Smriti Irani accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee of protecting those who pelted it with stones. The Trinamool Congress, however, alleged that it was a conspiracy of the BJP to polarise the society for political gain.

Meanwhile, both parties have shared videos as evidence to show who is responsible for the violence in Howrah.

Top 10 updates on Howrah communal violence:

1. In Howrah, Shibpur, Santragachi, Dasnagar, Salkia, Malipanchghora, and Jagacha areas prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed till April 1, Howrah district magistrate Mukta Arya stated in an order on Friday.

2. Internet services were also suspended in some areas of Howrah till 2am Saturday in the wake of the violence. The Howrah DM has issued notice to telecom, internet, and cable service providers to restrict provocative messages and videos, in the wake of violence that happened in the area.

3. The Mamata Banerjee government handed over the probe into Howrah violence to the CID. A special team led by Inspector General of Police, CID Sunil Choudhury, has initiated the investigation.

4. In a statement, Smriti Irani said it was not the first time that such an attack happened on a religious exercise of Hinduism and alleged a similar attack had taken place during Lakshmi Puja. "Even then Mamata Banerjee could not protect the Hindu community," Irani said. Instead of delivering justice, CM Mamata protected those who took law in their hands and attacked the Shobha Yatra of Ram Navami. She instead put those who took out the yatra in the dock and gave a clean chit to those who pelted the procession with stones, the Union minister said.

5. Mamata Banerjee asserted that neither Hindus nor Muslims, but the BJP and other right-wing organisations were behind the violence in Howrah's Kazipara area during a Ram Navami procession. She also appealed to the people of both communities to maintain peace and law and order in the area.

6. Leader of Opposition in the state Suvendu Adhikari said told reporters that the violence was the result of the alleged appeasement politics of the Mamata Banerjee government which failed to rein in anti-national forces.

7. Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the procession was taken out without police permission as part of a long-term attempt of the saffron camp to disrupt peace and harmony. He also claimed that intelligence feedback suggested that the violence at Kazirapa was a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the BJP which wants to divide people based on religion for political gains.

8. Union home minister Amit Shah spoke to West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose and took stock of the situation in Howrah. Shah also talked with West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and enquired about the law and order situation in the state.

9. Adhikari on Friday filed a PIL in the Calcutta high court seeking an NIA probe into the matter and immediate deployment of central forces in the violence-affected areas.

10. On Thursday, several vehicles were set on fire after two groups clashed in Howrah amid Ram Navami celebrations. During the procession, the rioters vandalized public and private properties and set vehicles on fire.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)

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Making its presence felt in the highly competitive global defence market, India exported military hardware worth 15,920 crore in the financial year 2022-23, the highest ever and a notable tenfold increase since 2016-17, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attributing the surge to enthusiasm for Make in India, and key reforms to spur growth in the sector. India exported military hardware worth  15,920 crore in the financial year 2022-23 (PTI/Representative Photo)

Excellent! A clear manifestation of Indias talent and the enthusiasm towards Make in India. It also shows the reforms in this sector over the last few years are delivering good results. Our government will keep supporting efforts to make India a defence production hub, the PM wrote on Twitter.

Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said that the defence exports hitting an all-time high was a remarkable achievement for the country, and they would continue to grow exponentially.

Also Read: Exceptional: PM Modi lauds HALs record revenue of 26,500 crore

The countrys defence exports were a mere 1,521 crore in 2016-17, but there was a marked improvement in performance in the following years on the back of government policies to boost exports. The exports slipped during 2019-21 before climbing back to healthier levels.

Indias defence exports in 2017-18 stood at 4,682 crore, 10,745 crore in 2018-19, 9,115 crore in 2019-20, 8,434 crore in 2020-21, and 12,814 crore in 2021-22, according to government data.

India is currently exporting military hardware, including missiles, the advanced light helicopter (ALH), offshore patrol vessels, personal protective gear, surveillance systems and a variety of radars to around 85 countries. Weapons and systems that hold export potential include the light combat aircraft Tejas, different types of helicopters, artillery guns, Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, Akash surface-to-air missile systems, tanks, sonars and radars.

India has a good strategy and action plan in place, backed by forward-looking policies, to ensure self-reliance in defence, and boost the countrys status as a net exporter of weapons in the coming years, military affairs expert Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd) earlier said.

India is in talks with Egypt and Argentina for the possible sale of LCA Tejas to their air forces as the country sharpens its focus on increasing its share in foreign markets. Egypt has projected a requirement for 20 aircraft while Argentina needs 15 new fighters. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the public sector aerospace and defence company, is also looking at exporting Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) to the Philippines.

Last year, BrahMos Aerospace and the Philippines signed a deal worth almost $375 million for the Philippine Marines to buy three batteries of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, and Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited won an export order worth $155.5 million for supplying 155mm artillery guns, the first such order for an Indian firm.

In 2020, the Union cabinet, headed by PM Modi, gave its go-ahead to the export of Akash missile systems and also created a high-powered panel for swifter export approvals.

The focus on boosting exports comes alongside a big thrust on the indigenisation of weapons and systems. Categories, where imports have been almost replaced by domestic products, include warships, artillery guns, LCA, basic trainer aircraft, a variety of helicopters, radars, and different types of ammunition.

Moreover, the defence ministry on Thursday signed a raft of contracts for indigenous military hardware worth 32,100 crore, including warships, supersonic missiles for the navy, and surface-to-air missiles and weapon locating radars for the army, the latest in a series of deals concluded in March ahead of the financial year-end.

In all, in March this year, the defence ministry signed contracts worth almost 52,000 crore for locally made military hardware, including basic trainer aircraft, a satellite for the army, training ships, medium-power radars, radar warning receivers, air defence systems, and Dornier aircraft.

Progress in achieving self-reliance goals, and boosting defence exports was reviewed at the three-day Combined Commanders Conference in Bhopal, officials said.

Also Read: PM Modi to ask military to keep pace with changing global geo-politics

India has earmarked 75% of this years defence capital procurement budget for locally made weapons and systems, a move aimed at unlocking new opportunities for achieving self-reliance targets and ramping up the countrys defence exports.

The share of the domestic sector in the defence budget was never higher. India set aside 68% of the militarys capital acquisition budget for making indigenous purchases in 2022-23, 64% in 2021-22, and 58% in 2020-21.

Around 1 lakh crore has been set aside for domestic procurement this year, compared to 84,598 crore, 70,221 crore and 51,000 crore in the three previous years.

The government has also notified hundreds of weapons and systems that cannot be imported, a move aimed at boosting indigenous defence manufacturing.

To be sure, Indias arms imports have fallen over the years, but the country is still the worlds biggest importer of military hardware, according to a report published in March by the well-known think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Making its presence felt in the highly competitive global defence market, India exported military hardware worth 15,920 crore in financial year 2022-23, the highest ever and a notable tenfold increase since 2016-17, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attributing the surge to enthusiasm for Make in India, and key reforms to spur growth in the sector. HT Image

Excellent! A clear manifestation of Indias talent and the enthusiasm towards Make in India. It also shows the reforms in this sector over the last few years are delivering good results. Our government will keep supporting efforts to make India a defence production hub, Modi tweeted.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that defence exports hitting an all-time high was a remarkable achievement for the country, and they would continue to grow exponentially.

The countrys defence exports were a mere 1,521 crore in 2016-17, but there was a marked improvement in performance in the following years on the back of government policies to boost exports. To be sure, the exports slipped during 2019-21 before climbing back to healthier levels.

The exports stood at 4,682 crore in 2017-18, 10,745 crore in 2018-19, 9,115 crore in 2019-20, 8,434 crore in 2020-21, and 12,814 crore in 2021-22, according to government data.

India is currently exporting military hardware to around 85 countries, including missiles, the advanced light helicopter (ALH), offshore patrol vessels, personal protective gear, surveillance systems and a variety of radars. Weapons and systems that hold export potential include the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas, different types of helicopters, artillery guns, Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, Akash surface-to-air missile system, tanks, sonars and radars.

India has a good strategy and action plan in place, backed by forward-looking policies, to ensure self-reliance in defence, and boost the countrys status as a net exporter of weapons in the coming years, military affairs expert Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd) earlier said.

India is in talks with Egypt and Argentina for the possible sale of LCA Tejas to their air forces as the country sharpens its focus on increasing its share in foreign markets. Egypt has projected a requirement for 20 aircraft while the South American country needs 15 new fighters. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is also looking at exporting ALH to the Philippines.

Last year, BrahMos Aerospace and the Philippines signed a deal worth almost $375 million for the Philippine Marines to buy three batteries of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, and Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited won an export order worth $155.5 million for supplying 155mm artillery guns, the first such order for an Indian firm.

In 2020, the Union Cabinet, headed by the PM, gave its go-ahead to the export of Akash missile systems, and also created a high-powered panel for swifter export approvals.

The focus on boosting exports comes alongside a big thrust on indigenisation of weapons and systems. Categories where imports have been almost replaced by domestic products include warships, artillery guns, LCA, basic trainer aircraft, a variety of helicopters, radars, and different types of ammunition.

In a massive push for Make in India, the defence ministry on Thursday signed a raft of contracts for indigenous military hardware worth 32,100 crore, including warships, supersonic missiles for the navy, and surface-to-air missiles and weapon locating radars for the army, the latest in a series of deals concluded in March ahead of the financial year-end.

In all, the ministry signed contracts worth almost 52,000 crore in March for locally made military hardware, including basic trainer aircraft, a satellite for army, training ships, medium-power radars, radar warning receivers, air defence systems, and Dornier aircraft.

Progress in achieving self-reliance goals, and boosting defence exports was reviewed at the three-day Combined Commanders Conference in Bhopal, officials said.

India has earmarked 75% of this years defence capital procurement budget for locally made weapons and systems, a move aimed at unlocking new opportunities for achieving self-reliance targets and ramping up the countrys defence exports.

The share of the domestic sector in the defence budget was never higher. India set aside 68% of the militarys capital acquisition budget for making indigenous purchases in 2022-23, 64% in 2021-22, and 58% in 2020-21. Around 1 lakh crore has been set aside for domestic procurement this year, compared to 84,598 crore, 70,221 crore and 51,000 crore in the three previous years.

The government has also notified hundreds of weapons and systems that cannot be imported, a move aimed at boosting indigenous defence manufacturing.

To be sure, Indias arms imports have fallen over the years, but the country is still the worlds biggest importer of military hardware, according to a report published in March by well-known think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The first case of a potentially deadly fungal infection caused by plants was discovered in a man from Kolkata. The 61-year-old, a plant mycologist, complained of a recurring couch, hoarseness of voice, difficulty swallowing, a sore throat and fatigue for three months. Paratracheal abscesses can block airways and lead to life-threatening infections, which can be deadly if not caught and treated quickly.

He had no history of diabetes, HIV infection, renal disease, any chronic disease, immunosuppressive drug intake, or trauma. The man, who wasnt named had been working with decaying material, mushrooms, and various plant fungi for a long time as part of his research activities, said doctors in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports.

Doctors performed an X-ray and CT scans on the man. The X-ray on the chest came back normal", but the CT scan results showed a paratracheal abscess in his neck.

Paratracheal abscesses can block airways and lead to life-threatening infections, which can be deadly if not caught and treated quickly.

Doctors removed the pus and sent a sample for testing to the "WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference & Research on Fungi of Medical Importance", where he was diagnosed with Chondrostereum purpureum.

Chondrostereum purpureum is a plant fungus that causes silver leaf disease in plants, particularly those in the rose family. This is the first instance of a plant fungus causing disease in a human. Conventional techniques (microscopy and culture) failed to identify the fungus, the report added.

Only through sequencing could the identity of this unusual pathogen be revealed. This case highlights the potential of environmental plant fungi to cause disease in humans and stresses the importance of molecular techniques to identify the causative fungal species, it said.

The patient received a course of antifungal medication, and after two years of follow-up, the patient was absolutely fine, and there is no evidence of recurrence," the researchers wrote.

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Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Hindus are in danger narrative even as the ruling TMC and the opposition party are engaged in a blame game over the Howrah communal violence in West Bengal during Ram Navami celebrations. Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra at Parliament House.(ANI file)

The TMC firebrand MP alleged that the narrative will go on till 2024.

The 'Hindus are in danger' narrative started full flow by @BJP as of Ramnavami. Will go on till 2024. Pak attack, Foreign forces targeting India bakwas running slow this time. Only fool-proof fallback is Hindu card. Jai Maa Kali. Buddhi de maa. Save my country, Moitra tweeted.

The situation in Howrah district's Kazipara area, which witnessed clashes between two groups during a procession on Ram Navami, is peaceful and under control on Saturday, even as prohibitory order was still in force in the area, an officer said.

Shops and markets opened as traffic movement started from the morning amid heavy deployment of police in the area, the officer said.

Internet connections remained suspended even as prohibitory order under CrPC Section 144 was still in place in and around the area where several shops and residences were vandalised during the clashes, he said.

The state CID has over the investigation of the clashes, the officer said.

Meanwhile, police continued with raids throughout the intervening Friday-Saturday night and nabbed a few more people for their alleged involvement in the vandalism.

Several shops were ransacked during the violence while a number of cars including a few police vehicles were set on fire.

On Friday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the BJP and other right-wing organisations were behind the violence in Kazipara area.

The BJP denied the allegations of Banerjee and instead demanded an NIA probe into the matter.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday spoke to governor CV Ananda Bose over the violence and took stock of the situation.

Union minister Smriti Irani accused Banerjee of protecting those who pelted it with stones. "Even then Mamata Banerjee could not protect the Hindu community," Irani said. Instead of delivering justice, CM Mamata protected those who took law in their hands and attacked the Shobha Yatra of Ram Navami. She instead put those who took out the yatra in the dock and gave a clean chit to those who pelted the procession with stones, Irani said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Commercial LPG cylinder price slashed; check city-wise rates Petroleum companies generally revise the prices of LPG cylinders on April 1. (File)

The rate of commercial gas cylinders has been cut by nearly 92 on the first day of fiscal year 2024. However, the price of domestic LPG gas cylinders remains unchanged. Read more

'Hindu Rashtra' led to rise of Amritpal Singh and Khalistan? Ashok Gehlot says

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday slammed what he called the ruling BJPs Hindu Rashtra ideology, which he said has led to the rise of the Khalistan movement and separatists like Amritpal Singh in Punjab. Read more

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen is in the running to be new NATO head: Report

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in the running to be the new head of NATO, The Sun newspaper reported on Friday, citing a diplomatic source. Read more

Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas hug Karan Johar at NMACC event days after her interview about being bullied in Bollywood

Just days after Priyanka Chopra gave an explosive interview about being bullied in Bollywood and trying her luck abroad, the actor was seen greeting filmmaker Karan Johar at the inauguration of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai on Friday. Read more

Watch: MS Dhoni winces in pain after landing awkwardly on injured knee during GT vs CSK IPL tie, video injects fear

Fans waited with bated breath for MS Dhoni to get back on his feet after the Chennai Super Kings captain landed awkwardly on his injured left knee during the dying stages of their IPL 2023 opener against the Gujarat Titans on Friday. Read more

NMACC launch: Alia Bhatt and Priyanka Chopra to Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, who were the best-dressed stars

The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre opening saw many stars. Here's our list of best-dressed celebs, including Priyanka Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan and more. Read more

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Former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu walked out of Patiala jail after 10 months of rigorous imprisonment in the 1988 road rage case. As soon as he walked out of the jail amid cheers from his supporters who were waiting outside the jail since noon for the release of the Congress leader, he said the BJP is stoking violence in Punjab. "There is no such thing as democracy right now. A conspiracy is being hatched to bring President'e Rule in Punjab. Minorities are being targetted. If you try to weaken Punjab, you will become weak," Sidhu said. Read | Navjot Sidhu meets Congress leaders in Patiala jail, plans post-release strategy Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday walked out of Patiala jail after 10 months.

"Whenever there is a dictatorship in the country, a revolution followed. And today I can say thumping my chest that the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi will shake the government from its roots," Navjot Singh Sidhu said.

"See what happened today. I was supposed to be released around noon, but they delayed it because they were waiting for the Congress supporters, the media to leave," Sidhu said. "There is no democracy today. Democracy is in shackles. If Bhagwant Mann is listening to me, I want to tell him also that there is a concerted effort to hurt Punjab," Sidhu said.

"Punjab is the shield of this country. But they are trying to destroy this shield. Wherever there is the majority, there is no democracy, there is a conspiracy by the Centre. They create law and order problems and then they clamp down and say peace has come," Sidhu said in his fiery speech just after his release.

All agencies have become slaves and rubber stamps and only listen to 4-6 people, Sidhu said attacking the Centre. "I am not scared of death because what I am doing is not for my family, but for the next generation of Punjab," Sidhu said.

"History is witness that no one has been in jail even for a week for IPC 323. But why did Sidhu then go to jail? Because my predecessors wrote the Constitution and I respect that," Sidhu said.

Sidhu was jailed on May 20 in 2022 in the road rage case in which 65-year-old Gurnam Singh died in 1988. He was released a few weeks early due to his good conduct during imprisonment. His wife and former MLA Dr Navjot Kaur was diagnosed with cancer and was operated when Sidhu was in jail.

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press release

Dear Mr. Gertler,

Thank you for your letter to our organizations dated 7 February 2023. While we appreciate your sentiment in reaching out to us, we are not in a position to endorse the Settlement Agreement your company, Ventora Development SASU, signed in February 2022 with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (the "Settlement"). In short, too many contractual clauses are not yet available for review, such as the annexes to the Settlement. Moreover, many outstanding questions remain about its substance.

We also remain concerned about the discrepancies between the "spirit of transparency and collaboration" you invoke in your letter and your actions targeting civil society groups. For example, in your letter you "welcome the role of civil society and the free press" and acknowledge that the advocacy conducted by civil society has had its desired effect. Yet at the same time, you or your network have pursued, and continue to pursue, legal action against anti-corruption and human rights activists such as the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), Global Witness, Resource Matters, and the spokesperson for the anti-corruption coalition, Congo n'est pas a vendre, all of whom have questioned your business dealings in Congo.

Furthermore, two whistle-blowers employed at Afriland First Bank in Kinshasa who exposed alleged money laundering involving you and your network were prosecuted by Congolese authorities and subsequently sentenced to death in absentia following a deeply flawed legal process. Although they face the death penalty, the alleged money laundering that they reported has not been investigated. Our understanding is that the Settlement you asked us to endorse may actually obviate such investigations since it would also immunize you and your companies from prosecution in DRC.

Congo's natural resources and the benefits derived from them ultimately belong to its people. They have the right to full transparency about all transactions related to such resources. Indeed, Congolese law requires it. Publication of all mining contracts is also a key condition set by the International Monetary Fund for its $1.5 billion loan to Congo.

In your letter you expressed a willingness to "share further details and documentation in full transparency" and that a full copy of the Settlement was included as an addendum. Unfortunately, a copy of the Settlement was not attached. Nor has it been provided to us, despite our prior requests. We urge you to publish it in full alongside the documents that underpin it, including all contracts, annexes, loan agreements and similar documents pertaining to the acquisition of Congolese assets by your companies since 2010.

We understand that civil society groups, former US officials and others have already expressed concerns and raised important questions about the parts of the Settlement that have been made public. As part of your commitment to "full transparency" we urge you to address these concerns, including those set out below:

The value of the assets you will return to the DRC. Your letter states that the mining and oil assets in north-eastern Congo that your company will return are worth $2 billion, yet Congolese civil society groups and other financial experts say the assets are worth considerably less. We have not seen credible, transparent and independent verified information that would place the value of these assets at $2 billion. Such information is vital to assess the Settlement and the true value of the assets to be returned to Congo.

Reimbursements to your company. The Settlement provides for a reimbursement of 240 million EUR to your company for the prior investments made in the mining and oil assets that you will return to the Congolese state. Again, no credible, transparent and independent assessment of the investment costs has been published, nor has an explanation been provided setting out why the costs of private exploration should be reimbursed by the Congolese state and its people.

Reimbursement of a loan to your company. The Settlement provides for a reimbursement of a $192 million loan your company made to Gecamines, the Congolese state copper-cobalt company, shortly before US sanctions were imposed against you and your companies in 2017. Despite civil society, the DRC public prosecutor and the Inspection Generale des Finances raising concerns about the use of these funds, there has not been enough information to ascertain the ultimate purpose or use of the proceeds of the loan. Additionally, information about the assets or receivables Gecamines may have pledged as securities and any other contractual agreements remain undisclosed.

Ongoing royalty payments for three cobalt-copper mines. The Settlement sets out that your company will retain the royalties from Mutanda Mining, Kamoto Copper Company and Metalkol, three lucrative copper and cobalt mines. However, Congolese officials, civil society and others have questioned the legality of those transactions and the issues are still unresolved. For example, in 2011 two Congolese government ministers explicitly warned Gecamines that the sale of the stake and royalties in Mutanda Mining to your company was contrary to the DRC law, yet the sale went ahead.

Without clarity as to whether the procedure to privatize state royalties was legal, the allocation of these royalties to a private company and not to the DRC state, is at a minimum, premature. Without a clear resolution, this arrangement could improperly deprive the DRC Treasury of much needed revenue. A recent financial analysis by civil society groups estimates these royalties could generate $1.8 billion over the next two decades, funds which could be used to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of Congolese citizens. Once again, a credible, independent and transparent assessment of the validity of the deals needs to occur prior to allocating the royalties to your company in order to resolve these outstanding questions.

Another issue of concern for us is that there are ongoing criminal investigations in various jurisdictions, including in the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland, related to business activities of your closest partners in the DRC. Since 2017, the US government has also imposed sanctions on you and dozens of entities and individuals in your network for "opaque and corrupt mining deals" in Congo. In its press statement in 2021, the US Department of the Treasury said it remained "committed to ensuring that Gertler is not able to corruptly profit from continued access and influence in the DRC and globally." You acknowledged that these sanctions have been "crippling," and that your companies have now "implemented thorough compliance procedures." We urge you to fully publish all these new procedures as well as a full assessment of where these were not followed in the past.

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We note the Settlement specifically commits the Congolese government to assist you in your efforts to have the US sanctions cancelled. Without further clarity on what measures have been taken to justify removing sanctions, it is not clear why sanctions should be removed. We question why the DRC government should assist you in removing these sanctions. We understand that the statutory grounds for sanctions relief may not have been fulfilled and absent any evidence of what steps you have taken to obviate sanctions or how the law has been satisfied, lifting sanctions prematurely could be harmful to the Congo and risks the integrity of the sanctions process. In the interests of transparency, we joined a broad coalition of 25 international and Congolese civil society groups in a public letter to the US administration in this regard.

We are open to discuss our concerns with you in person. But for such a meeting to be productive, there would need to be a halt to all legal process against human rights defenders, anti-corruption activists, non-profit organizations and media outlets by your companies; full public disclosure of the Settlement Agreement and its annexes; a full declaration of all your current business holdings and your affiliated companies and/or proxies and comprehensive disclosure of all contracts that underpin those current holdings. Such actions by you would provide a basis for such a meeting.

Yours sincerely,

Human Rights Watch

Resource Matters

Rights & Accountability in Development (RAID)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said some people are trying to malign his image but every Indian from all sections of society is his protective shield. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the flagging off ceremony of the train, at Rani Kamlapati Station in Bhopal on Saturday. (PTI)

A section of people are trying to malign my image but Indias poor, Indias middle class, Indias tribals, Indias dalit-backward, or I can say every Indian, has become my protective shield, Modi said.

The Prime Minister visited Bhopal to attend a conference of defence chiefs, and flagged off the Vande Bharat Express from Bhopal to New Delhi on Saturday afternoon from Rani Kamlapati Railway Station.

We have to further increase the role of Madhya Pradesh in developed India, This new Vande Bharat Express is a part of this resolution, he said. Vande Bharat is a symbol of Indias enthusiasm and excitement. It represents our skills, confidence and capabilities. It will boost tourism that will improve the opportunities for employment, income and self-employment.

Modi criticised earlier governments and said new thinking and approach of 21st-century India is taking the country forward. The earlier government were busy with appeasement (tushtikaran) of the vote bank, we are committed to satisfying the needs of the citizens (santushtikaran), he said.

The railways didnt see any development for years, he claimed. The governments in the past could have easily upgraded the already existing rail network which India acquired after Independence, but the development of railways was sacrificed due to vested political interests, Modi said. Earlier, news related to train accidents causing loss of life and property was common, but the Indian Railways has become much more secure today.

His government has been continuously increasing the rail budget, the Prime Minister said. The work of 100% electrification of the railway network is being achieved. Madhya Pradesh is also included in the 11 states where 100% electrification has been achieved. The average electrification of railway routes per year has increased tenfold from 600km to 6,000km after 2014, he said.

He also expressed grief on the deaths in the accident in an Indore temple and paid tributes to the departed.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan thanked Modi for changing the face of railways and introducing high-speed train services like Vande Bharat. Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was present on the occasion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday assessed the operational readiness of the armed forces in the backdrop of the lingering border row with China, carried out a security review, and asked the military to stay prepared for new and emerging threats at the Combined Commanders Conference in Bhopal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off the Vande Bharat Express between Bhopal and New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI)

The conference focused on a raft of issues including evolving a joint military vision for the future, theaterisation, self-reliance, modernisation and cyber security, officials familiar with the matter said.

Addressing the countrys military brass on the concluding day of the three-day conference, Modi said the armed forces and the defence sector will be provided all the resources, weapons and technologies required. His comments came a day after the defence ministry signed deals worth 32,100 crore to boost capabilities of the armed forces with indigenous military hardware.

During the final day, various topics including digitisation, cyber security, challenges of social media, Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance), absorption of Agniveers and jointness were discussed, the defence ministry said in a statement.

Chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan briefed the Prime Minister on discussions held during the conference. Those who attended the conference included defence minister Rajnath Singh, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, army chief General Manoj Pande and top commanders of the three services.

This years conference was special as inputs from field units were sought on contemporary issues, including the way forward for greater integration among the three services, which is top priority for the government, the defence ministry said. These inputs were deliberated in detail by the military commanders, its statement said. The conference was based on the theme Ready, Resurgent, Relevant.

The top conference was held at a time when the central government is pushing in Parliament the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, which seeks to empower it to notify the setting up of inter-services organisations, including joint services commands  a key goal of the ongoing theaterisation drive  consisting of units and personnel drawn from the three services, and placed under a commander-in-chief.

It will also empower commanders of tri-services organisations to take action against service personnel of any of the three services  serving under existing or future joint commands or institutions  to ensure discipline and effective discharge of duties.

Efforts to push theaterisation gathered steam again after Chauhan took over as CDS in September 2022, even though the momentum was hit after his predecessor, General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

In a new development, the conference involved the participation of soldiers from every command of the three services, and the Port Blair-based Andaman and Nicobar Command, officials said. The scope of the conference was expanded this year as a few multi-layered and interactive sessions involved these soldiers, they said.

Modi also lauded the armed forces for their role in nation building and providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief assistance to other countries, the ministry statement added.

The conference took place at a time when the India and China have been locked in a border row for almost three years. Despite four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have more than 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in eastern Ladakh.

The two armies have held 17 rounds of talks so far, but problems at Depsang in Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction in Demchok sector are still on the negotiating table.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday assessed the operational readiness of the Indian Armed forces in the backdrop of the lingering border row with China. PM Modi addressed at the Combined Commanders Conference in Bhopal (ANi Photo)

Speaking at the Combined Commanders Conference in Bhopal, the PM carried out a security review and asked the military to stay prepared for new and emerging threats that focused on a raft of issues, including evolving a joint military vision for the future, theaterisation, self-reliance, modernisation, and cyber security, officials familiar with the matter said.

Addressing the countrys top military brass on the concluding day of the three-day conference, PM Modi said that steps were being taken to sharpen the combat potential of the armed forces with new weapons and technologies, his comments coming a day after the defence ministry signed deals worth 32,100 crore to boost the capabilities of the armed forces with indigenous military hardware.

Also Read: Indias defence exports reach 15,920 cr in 2022-23, tenfold jump in 6 years

During the final day, various topics, including digitisation, cyber security, challenges of social media, Aatmanirbharta, absorption of Agniveers and jointness were discussed, the defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan briefed the Prime Minister on discussions held during the conference. The conference was based on the theme Ready, Resurgent, Relevant. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande and top commanders of the three services attended the conference.

This years conference was special as inputs from field units were sought on contemporary issues, including the way forward for greater integration among the three services, which is the top priority for the government, the defence ministry said.

These inputs were deliberated in detail by the military commanders, it said.

The top conference came at a time when the government is pushing in Parliament the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, that seeks to empower it to notify the setting up of inter-services organisations, including joint services commands - a key goal of the ongoing theaterisation drive- consisting of units and personnel drawn from the three services, and placed under a commander-in-chief.

It will also empower the commanders of tri-services organisations to take action against service personnel of any of the three services - serving under existing or future joint commands or institutions - to ensure discipline and effective discharge of duties.

Efforts to push theaterisation gathered steam again after Chauhan took over as CDS in September 2022, even though the momentum was hit after his predecessor, General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

In a new development, the conference involved the participation of soldiers from every command of the three services, and the Port Blair-based Andaman and Nicobar Command, the officials said. The scope of the conference was expanded this year as a few multi-layered and interactive sessions involved these soldiers, they said.

Also Read: Supari for maligning my image, inside and outside...: PM Modi in Bhopal

Modi also lauded the armed forces for their role in nation-building and providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) assistance to other countries, it added.

The conference took place at a time when India and China have been locked in a border row for almost three years. Despite four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have more than 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre.

The Indian and Chinese armies have held 17 rounds of talks so far, but problems at Depsang in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in the Demchok sector are still on the negotiating table. The two sides have been locked in a standoff for almost three years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today will address the Combined Commanders Conference at Bhopal even as the military posture of Indias principal adversariesChina and Pakistanhas recorded no positive change on the borders. The meeting will be attended by all tri-service commanders of the rank of commander-in-chiefs with Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan leading the military show. File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir

While PM Modi will emphasize on Aatmanirbhar Bharat or Make in India concept to promote the indigenization of hardware, he is expected to draw the attention of military commanders on the rapidly changing geo-politics in the world in wake of rapid military-economic rise of China. That the Indian defence exports have jumped ten-fold from 2016-2017 to 15,920 crore is a positive marker for the Make in India initiative.

In the past two days, the military commanders under the leadership of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and CDS Gen Chauhan have debated about future wars, the Agniveer scheme and the impact of social media on the Indian military.

Although PM Modi will urge the armed forces to attain operational synergy in light of the impending military theatre commands, he will ask the forces to remain prepared as there is no positive change on either the Indian land borders or the Indo-Pacific.

The situation along the 3488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains tense with the PLA deploying additional reserve forces in the Eastern Sector before the start of the 20th National Party Congress of the Communist Party of China. There has been disengagement of troops from the friction points in East Ladakh post-PLA May 2020 aggression but there has been no de-escalation of forces with PLA continuing to deploy three heavy combined armed brigades (with armor element) along the 1597 km long East Ladakh LAC. There continues to be friction over PLA hindering Indian Army's right to patrol its border in Depsang Plains in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and the Charding Ninlung Nullah (CNN) junction in the Demchok sector with the Indian side still waiting for confirmation of the next round of senior military commanders dialogue.

The military situation on Indias western front is on a wait-and-watch mode as Pakistan, despite being in a serious political and economic mess, has not let down its posture with its deep state continuing to stoke internal fires in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir through overground separatist workers. The only positive aspect is that the ceasefire is holding in Jammu and Kashmir but that it also works to the advantage of the Pakistan Army as it is being stretched by the Taliban on its western front.

With the rapid expansion of the PLA Navy and its forays into the Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy will also be on its toes as the Indo-Pacific theatre could erupt at any time as the threat of Taiwan is clear and present from Xi Jinping's regime. As the PLA Navy is investing heavily in nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines, the time has come for Indian national security planners to counter this challenge as the nuclear ballistic missile firing submarines have only deterrent value in real terms. The time has come for the Indian military to innovate with new plans and strategies as equations are changing with old allies and new friends.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to flag off the new Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat Express on April 1 from the Rani Kamalapati station in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal. PM Modi will be visiting Madhya Pradesh. During his visit to Bhopal on April 1, he will give a big gift to the people of the state in the form of Vande Bharat Express, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to flag off the new Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat Express on April 1(PTI)

Also read: Over one lakh passengers travel by Vande Bharat Express trains in a month

PM Modi is also set to participate in the Combined Commanders' Conference on the same day, along with heads of three armed forces, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The conference is being held from March 30 to April 1.

Also read: Vande Bharat express to run in Kashmir by next year: Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Here are details about the Vande Bharat Express train between Bhopal and Delhi:

The 11th Vande Bharat Express train is said to cover a 708 km distance in around seven hours, and 45 minutes. According to reports, the train may run from Bhopal's Rani Kamlapati station to Hazrat Nizamuddin station instead of New Delhi railway station - to save time by half an hour. A report by Livemint suggests that the train is likely to stop at Veerangana Laxmibai Jhansi and Gwalior stations - apart from Agra. The train will depart from Rani Kamlapati Railway Station at 5:55 am, make a five-minute stop at Agra Cantt Railway Station, and proceed to New Delhi at 1:45 pm. During return, the Vande Bharat express will depart from New Delhi at 2.45 pm and will reach the last stop Rani Kamlapati railway station at 10.45 pm. As per LiveMint, the fare of Vande Bharat Express( Train No- 20172) between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Rani Kamalapati station will be  1665 which includes  308 as optional catering charges. Executive class is priced at  3120. Chair car tickets for Train No- 20171 Vande Bharat Express will cost  1735 including  379 as catering charges. The price for the executive class is  3185. A government release said that the indigenously designed train set of Vande Bharat Express is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities. The train will provide a faster, comfortable, and convenient travel experience to rail users, the official release said. It is also set to boost tourism, and promote economic development in the region.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said Savarkar can not be a national issue today at a time when there are many pressing issued in the country. The comment comes as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came under fire for his recent 'I am not Savarkar' remark amid the controversy over his disqualification from the Lok Sabha. Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray -- Sharad Pawar's ally in the Maha Vikas Aghadi -- expressed displeasure over the comment and Sharad Pawar too earlier told Rahul Gandhi to desist from criticising Savarkar. Sharad Pawar earlier advised the Congress to not criticise Savarkar.

"Today, Savarkar is not a national issue, it is an old thing. We had said a few things about Savarkar but it was not personal. It was against Hindu Maha Sabha. But there is another side to it as well. We cannot ignore the sacrifice made by Savarkar ji for the independence of the country," Sharad Pawar said. The NCP supremo said Savarkar's sacrifice for the country's independence can not be ignored. Pawar said Savarkar had progressive views and he spoke about it in Parliament many years ago. "Savarkar built a house in Ratnagiri and also constructed a small temple in front of it. He deputed a person from the Valmiki community to perform puja in the temple. I think this was a very progressive thing," Pawar said.

In a recent meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge following Rahul Gandhi's disqualification, Sharad Pawar reportedly told Rahul Gandhi that Savarkar was not RSS. The Congress agreed to tone down its attack on Savarkar not to hurt the sentiments of its allies in Maharashtra.

On Rahul Gandhi's UK speech for which the BJP demanded an apology from the Congress leader, Sharad Pawar said, "I don't think that this (Rahul Gandhi's London speech) issue is that much important because it is not that the criticism is being done today only. In the past also leaders have criticised the government. Only now such issues are being brought up repeatedly. If people have problems over any issue in the country and if someone talks about them, then those issues should be addressed."

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As PM Modi on Saturday flagged off the New Delhi-Bhopal Vande Bharat Express train, he said when he learnt that the date for the inauguration of the train was fixed on April 1, he was sure that 'friends' in Congress would call it PM Modi's April Fool. "But as you can all see the train has started on April 1 only. This is the symbol of our expertise and confidence," PM Modi said. PM Modi on Saturday flagged off the Bhopal-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express.

The previous governments were so engrossed in appeasement of the vote bank that they never focussed on the ease of living of the people. They used to consider one family as the first family. What about the second and third families? They were left on their own. And the victim was the Indian Railways, PM Modi said taking a dig at the Congress.

Condemning the plight of Indian railways before 2014, PM Modi said passengers even stopped complaining knowing that there would be no solution. In the last 9 years, Railway Budget has gone up and in this year's Budget, Madhya Pradesh got over 13,000 crore in contrast with 600 crore before 2014, PM Modi said.

There are some people in our country who, after 2014, committed to malign PM Modi's image. They have said it publicly as well. For this, they have roped in different people. To help them, there are people both inside and outside the country. These people are relentlessly trying to hurt Modi's image. But today, every Indian is Modi's suraksha kavach. And for th, PM Modi said.

The statement comes amid a massive political controversy over Rahul Gandhi's speech in London on the present situation of Indian democracy. The BJP demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi while he got convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 defamation case resulting in his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

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A gnarly old tiger named George, who once terrorised villages in Wayanad and lived out his final years at the Thiruvananthapuram zoo, is now part of school lessons in France. PREMIUM (Photo: Dr Jacob Alexander)

Writer and performing artist Claire Le Michels The Mysterious Journal of Mr Carbon Crow: The Story of George is fictional, but its key characters are real. Theres the Bengal tiger George, the devoted veterinarian Doctor (based on Dr Jacob Alexander, chief veterinary surgeon at the zoo), and the travelling poet (Le Michel) struck by the bond she sees between a kind man and a trapped animal.

The bilingual childrens book, translated from the French to the English by Jerome Gordon and published by Frances Le Verger des Hesperides, was released in January. It was added to the study material of a school in the French town of Parthenay for 2023-24. Fifth-grade students (aged 10 to 11) read it and recorded their impressions in writing and art, as an exercise in comprehension and expression, and as a means of exploring the tales larger themes  of freedom, the tragedy of human-animal conflict, and our vital connections with nature. Two more schools in the region have adopted the book for similar exercises too.

Le Michel, 52, first met George while in Kerala on a three-month artist residency, in 2019. He had the look of a battle-ravaged boxer who has seen better days, she says. It turned out that he had.

On one of her visits, Dr Alexander told her the story of how George was chased out of his territory by a younger tiger, and began hunting cattle in fields and villages. When he was captured, aged 16, the forest department found that he was also very sick. He was covered in maggot-infested wounds. He could barely lift his neck. He also suffered from a deadly respiratory infection of the lungs caused by parasites that are the main cause of death in tigers in Wayanad, says Dr Alexander, who nursed him back to health.

By 2019, George had been in his cage for four years. He spent most of the day lying perfectly still, amid the babble of those who had come to gawk at him. I visited him several times, wondering what was going on in his head. He had the most expressive eyes, Le Michel says.

Then the artist returned home, the pandemic hit; and trapped in her home in France, her thoughts returned to the big cat, who was born free. He reminded me a lot of my grandfather who had to live in a special home for the aged, she says. Whenever they tried to lock him in, because he tended to wander off, he found a way to escape and find refuge under a tree. Nature always felt like home to him, just like for George.

In 2020, Le Michel started a blog about the tiger. Not long after, in December 2021, George died, aged 22. Thats when she decided to take his story to a wider audience, with a book.

As with the blog, which contained puzzles and games, the book is experimental in format. The first half, for instance, is presented as the journal of Carbon Crow, a creative character who is funny, wordly wise and, most importantly, free to roam the zoo. He carries nuggets of information between the caged animals, often responding to questions of despair such as, Why cant we sometimes be let out of our cages?

The second half is a tale of love, acceptance and reconciliation. For months after he recovered, in real life, George could not adapt to his new home. He was unhappy and aggressive. Slowly he came to accept that we were his friends and began greeting me with the ever-so-minimal movement of his tail when I called out to him, says Dr Alexander. Both man and animal are victims of circumstance, Le Michel says. The book explores this helplessness with empathy.

I have always been against keeping animals in captivity, the author adds, but when I saw Dr Alexanders unconditional love and dedication, I realised that life isnt always about concepts that you believe in. Its also about the connections you forge along the way.
Yoga comes with multiple health benefits. It helps in strengthening the muscles, joints and the bones of the body. It also helps in stretching the body and boosting metabolism. The right kind of yoga routine helps in targeting several chronic illnesses and alleviating the symptoms. Yoga, besides strengthening the body, also helps in relaxing the mind. It helps in addressing symptoms of anxiety, stress and inducing better sleep. It helps in charging up the body and creating self-awareness. Sometimes, we need props to perform an asana better. However, a prop can be anything. Anshuka Parwani, yoga trainer to several Bollywood celebrities such as Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor, shared a video where she used a wall of her home as the prop and gave us major yoga goals to follow. Alia Bhatts trainer demonstrates yoga asanas using a wall(Instagram/anshukayoga)

ALSO READ: Alia Bhatts trainer demonstrates asanas for strong arms

Lets keep it simple and practice some asanas using a wall. Did you ever think a wall in your house could be the perfect prop to help you with your Yoga practice, wrote Anshuka in the caption as she shared five yoga asanas that can be done with the help of a wall. They are as follows:

Parsva Tadasana

Uttana Shishosana

One Hand Shoulder Opener

Anjaneyasana Variation

Masalana

Anshuka, with the video, further shared the benefits of performing these asanas. She wrote that these asanas help in engaging the arms, shoulders and the lower back muscles, thereby boosting posture and coordination of the body. They also help in quads, groin, hip flexors, glutes and strengthening the knees. Performing these asanas helps in improving shoulder mobility, flexibility and increasing overall balance and focus of the body. Often the tension of the body accumulates in the thighs and the neck region, and these asanas help in addressing it. These asanas are simple and can be easily practiced at home. So, next time you notice your plain wall, use it innovatively for your next Yoga practice, Anshuka urged her Instagram family to use the wall at home effectively to enhance their yoga game.

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In 1926, while writing in the Asiatic Review journal, parliamentary reporter Edwin Haward compared the proceedings of the House of Commons in London with the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi, and decided in favour of the latter. PREMIUM A structural reimagination of the national legislature will help it make a sincere effort in avoiding disruptions and achieve its true deliberative potential, befitting the worlds largest democracy. (PTI)

The most striking difference between the two Houses is in the mildness found in Delhi. The visitor to the House of Commons is, I think, struck by the forcible way in which that body readily expresses itself at any given moment  There is seldom anything approaching that in the Assembly [in Delhi]. Indeed, one is tempted to believe that most members would rather go without their food than say an angry word, he wrote.

Things have certainly changed since then, and how. The shouting of slogans has replaced the mildness. And in the last decade, choreographed disruption rather than thoughtful debate has dominated our parliamentary proceedings. The latest manifestation of this unfortunate trend played out on the national stage for most of March, when members of the Treasury and Opposition benches prevented Parliament from working in the second half of the budget session.

This deterioration in the functioning of our national legislature has been gradual. The first Parliament in 1952 saw some sharp exchanges, raised voices and walkouts. The tenor of this disagreement increased slightly in the second Lok Sabha. There was an instance of the deputy speaker suspending a Member of Parliament (MP), obstructing the functioning of the House. The errant member refused to leave the legislative chamber and had to be physically carried out by marshals. Other than this isolated incident, whenever the presiding officer asked an obstructing MP to withdraw from the House, they complied, and the debate continued. But from 1962, disruption became a regular affair in the third Lok Sabha.

In its first session, Lok Sabha suspended Mani Ram Bagri, an Opposition MP, for seven days for obstructing proceedings. Bagri, an active participant in House proceedings, would go on to disrupt the Presidents address the next year  an unprecedented feat at that time. During this first five-year term in the Lok Sabha, he would get suspended for over 30 days. The presiding officer would also ask him to withdraw from the House multiple times.

But Bagri was not alone; the lower House also suspended stalwart MPs such as Ram Manohar Lohia and Madhu Limaye. And towards the end of the third Lok Sabha, the House suspended eight members in its penultimate session. It was the first significant instance of penalising multiple MPs for disrupting House proceedings.

MPs such as Bagri were overzealous and unreasonable at times. But they had reasons for disrupting parliamentary proceedings. As Opposition legislators, they felt that their voices were not being heard in a House where the ruling Congress commanded a brute majority. The initial parliamentary response to their disruptive behaviour was that the Speaker asked them to withdraw from the House. If that didnt work, the House suspended the offending MPs from participating in its proceedings. The suspension meant they could not participate in deliberations in the legislative chamber. And Parliament secretariat also removed any questions they asked from the list to be answered by the government.

But the practice of disciplining disrupting MPs by suspending them did not solve the problem of disruptions for the third and subsequent Lok Sabhas. It was because punishing legislators did not address the underlying reason for their behaviour. And this was the shrinking space in Parliament for Opposition MPs to raise issues uncomfortable to the government. This issue is at the root of disruptions even today.

When legislatures started in pre-Independent India, they constituted inbuilt majorities for the British, and this position continued till the Montague Chelmsford reforms of 1919. These reforms increased the representation of Indians in the national legislature. But that did not mean that these Indian members could keep the unelected British government in check. To avoid legislative scrutiny, the Governor General would convene the Central Assembly infrequently. And since the government was not answerable to the people, the legislatures rules prioritised the governments business. It left limited space for discussion by Opposition MPs on other issues. The net effect was that Indian legislators in the Central Assembly enjoyed limited  and sometimes symbolic  opportunities to hold the government to account.

When India became Independent, our Constitution framers modelled our legislative framework on the pre-independent British model. They tilted the balance in favour of the executive by giving it the power to convene Parliament. Their idea was that the government would call a session of Parliament when it had some business to transact. Following this logic, the rules of procedure of independent Indias Parliament also continued to prioritise government business. As a result, the structural space for Opposition legislators to hold the government to account roughly remained the same in pre- and post-independent India.

So, if we want to solve the problem of parliamentary disruption, our national legislature needs to change its rules. One simple one would be to give dedicated time to Opposition parties to debate a particular topic in Parliament. For example, in the House of Commons, Opposition parties get 20 days in a parliamentary session when they determine the agenda of parliamentary discussion. In 2022, 36 separate subjects of debate were taken up during these Opposition days. In January this year, on an Opposition day, the Commons debated the issue of non-domicile tax status. It was an issue that gained public and political prominence because British Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks spouse had claimed such a status, allowing her to save on taxes.

There is already precedence in the rules of procedure of both Houses for something similar. For example, in a parliamentary week, every Friday post-lunch, two-and-a-half hours are reserved for individual MPs to discuss their legislative proposals and other national issues. Similarly, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha could decide the number of days on which Opposition parties could set the agenda for debate in the respective House. It would give the Opposition dedicated time to hold the government accountable on subjects they feel the government is reluctant to debate. The government would also have the opportunity to check the Oppositions sincerity in having a debate and putting forth its stance on contentious issues rather than disrupting. Measures such as this could ensure that Parliament becomes an area for discussion for issues that are a priority for both the government and the Opposition. A structural reimagination of the national legislature will help it make a sincere effort in avoiding disruptions and achieve its true deliberative potential, befitting the worlds largest democracy.

Chakshu Roy is the head of legislative and civic engagement, PRS Legislative Research

The views expressed are personal
Alleged suspects of the extremist group Al-Shabaab are guarded by soldiers of the Somali National Army in Kismayo, Somalia in October 2012.

The Somali President, Hassan Sheik Mohamud on Saturday arrived in Uganda, to attend in a rare occasion, the pass out of trainees from his country.

"H.E Hassan Sheik Mohamud arrived in the country for the pass out of Somali trainees at the Special Mission Training Centre, Butiaba in Buliisa district," State House said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

At Entebbe International Airport, the Somali president who is accompanied by his daughter Janah Hassan Sheik was welcomed by the Ugandan Minister for Defence, Vincent Ssempijja, deputy UPDAF commander, Gen Steven Kiguundu, Crime Intelligence Director, AIGP Christopher Ddamulira ,deputy commissioner general of Prisons ,Samuel Akena and Uganda's deputy ambassador to Somalia among others.

Rare occasion

It is not an everyday occasion for a president to visit the neighbouring country, just to witness the pass out of his country's soldiers who are completing any given training.

On many occasions, countries send delegations especially from the embassy or the national army to attend the pass out ceremonies.

Whereas for many years Somali soldiers and police officers have received training from Uganda, their president hasn't attend their pass out ceremony.

The Somalia National Army officers who are being passed out today, Sunday at the Special Mission Training Centre in Butiaba have been trained by Uganda's Special Forces Command.

The officers being passed out today are therefore a special lot in the eyes of the Somali president.

These are part of the efforts to ensure self-sustainability of Somalia by training its forces to take charge of the country.

The officers trained at Butiaba will offer guard duties to VIPs in Somalia, including the president.

Uganda is part of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) mandate with preparing Somalia to handle its own affairs after a period of over 30 years in turmoil between government and Jihadist groups which had made the country ungovernable.

The deployment of an African Union force (AMISOM) in 2007 led by Uganda turned the tide in Somalia to expel Al Shabab which controlled over 80% of the country to ensure the Mogadishu establishment regains control of affairs.
That India is a young nation is beyond doubt. But was it also, for millennia, a unified civilisation in social and cultural terms with a defined geographical territory? The British believed that they created India. British historian John Strachey is a good example of this colonial deceit. He writes: There is not, and never was an India, nor ever any country of India, possessing according to European ideas, any sort of unity, physical, political, social or religious; no nation, no people of India of which we hear so much. PREMIUM Below the surface, there is a civilisational unity, and objective historians have little doubt about it. (Shutterstock)

The British believed that before they came, India was a collation of random diversities, which they melded together into a nation. As rulers, they were entitled to such an illusion, and to some extent, cannot be blamed for being overwhelmed by the surface diversities that India presents to any foreigner. The apparent cacophony of languages, dress, customs, rituals, food and regional identities, can appear bewilderingly different.

But, below the surface, there is a civilisational unity, and objective historians have little doubt about it. Dr Upinder Singh, in her magnum opus, A History of Ancient India and Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century, testifies to this. She is a professional historian of impeccable credentials and incidentally  the daughter of Dr Manmohan Singh, former prime minister of India. She writes: "One of several explanations of the name Bharatvarsha connects it with the Bharata people, descendants of the legendary king Bharata, son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Cosmography blends with geography in the Puranas. Bharatvarsha is said to consist of nine divisions (khandas), separated from one another by seas. But the mention of mountains, rivers and placessome of which can be identifiedsuggests that the composers were familiar with various areas of the sub-continent, and perceived them as part of a larger cultural whole (emphasis mine).

Other historians, such as Sunil Khilnani, in his very readable book The Idea of India, discounts colonial hubris but still believes that the moments of actual unification of Indias past were achieved under the yoke of British rule. But this too is factually incorrect. Political unity  even if not in the modern sense of a nation-State  was achieved as far back as the fourth century BCE, in the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. His contemporary, the legendary Chanakya, defined that unity as the Chakravarti Kshetra: The area extending from the Himalayas in the north to the sea and a thousand yojanas wide from east to west is the operation of King-Emperor. Scholars of ancient India endorse this territorial unification. Koenraad Elst, in his book, Decolonizing the Hindu Mind, writes: Chandragupta Maurya, Ashok and Samudragupta are fully historical rulers who approached the ideal of uniting the whole sub-continent.There arent many countries which had a sense of national unity 23 centuries ago on the basis of the same boundaries which (disregarding the Partition) are valid today.

This civilisational unity is borne about by the four mathas established by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century CE, much before the British arrived. One was in Sringeri in the south, the second at Puri on the east coast, the third at Dwarka on the west coast, and the fourth at Joshimath in the Himalayas in the north. These four mathas define the civilisational map of India. The great philosopher-sage was himself born in Kerala, and died at Kedarnath.

The truth is that India as a self-conscious civilisation has existed since the dawn of time. Over the centuries, it has interacted with and assimilated other cultures and influences. That has not diluted but only enriched its essential and syncretic cultural unity. Arun Shourie gives some fascinating examples of how this unity is demonstrated in everyday life: Only Namboodris from Kerala are to be priests at Badrinath, those in the Pashupatinath temple at Kathmandu are always from South Kanara in Karnataka, those at Rameshwaram in the deep south are from Maharashtra.the Sankalp Mantra with which every puja commends the prayers in the deities, situates the jajyaman (the person organizing the puja) with reference to the salients and sacred rivers of the entire land.

Book launch in Bhubaneswar

This week, I made a days visit to Bhubaneswar to launch a biography on the late Maharaja Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo, written by Professor Pabitra Mohan Nayak and VR Singh. It was a jam-packed function. RN Singh Deo was the ruler of Patna state in Odisha, but joined democratic politics after 1947 and became the chief minister of Odisha (1967-71), and was also a member of the Lok Sabha. He was a remarkable man, of great integrity and character, learned and cultured, a fine administrator, and in spite of his privileged background, a person of great humility.

I was invited to launch the book by his son, AU Singh Deo, who is himself a highly respected and successful politician. He was the founder, along with Naveen Patnaik, of the Biju Janata Dal, a senior minister in the Odisha government, and a member of the Rajya Sabha. His sons too are in politics. The eldest, Kalikesh Singh Deo, was elected twice to the Lok Sabha, and Arkesh, the younger son, was also a member of the Odisha Assembly.

Pavan K Varma is author, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).

Just Like That is a weekly column where Varma shares nuggets from the world of history, culture, literature, and personal reminiscences with HT Premium readers

The views expressed are personal
Violence against women comes in many forms and from various sources. One that is not highlighted enough is the violence they face from their birth family or natal kin  parents, siblings or close relatives. New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Shakti Shalini recently brought out an incisive report, UnKahi- the Unspoken , documenting the rise of violence against women from natal families during the pandemic. PREMIUM Shakti Shalini recently brought out an incisive report, UnKahi- the Unspoken, documenting the rise of violence against women from natal families during the pandemic. (HT Photo)

Normally, the natal family is the one a woman turns to for help, but during the pandemic, staying at home did not always mean staying safe for many women. A woman complaining about violence from a partner is more easily believable than one who makes such allegations against her family, conditioned as we are to the concept that elders and immediate kin offer protection and physical and emotional safety. So, to name and shame them is not easy.

Shakti Shalinis study was based on women who approached the NGO for help during the pandemic and encompassed those between 18 and 27 years, with 65% of them belonging to the 22-27 age group. A majority of these women belong to the working and lower middle classes.

Media reports during the pandemic highlighted the increase in the incidence of marital violence, but single women living with their natal families had similar experiences. Bharti Sharma, honorary secretary, Shakti Shalini, says, Natal family violence is a phenomenon which is structurally based in our society and, therefore, needs a structural approach. Though our society lays a claim on the integrity of family as a cohesive unit, it equally needs to be accepted that the family is as much an environment of abuse of its vulnerable members, especially girls and women.

The women spoke of abusive and coercive behaviour from their natal families and all of them reported emotional abuse and psychological trauma. Fifteen out of 20 women in the study faced physical and verbal violence that included being slapped. Three women reported physical abuse while one was threatened with forced marriage. In terms of the identity of the person who caused harm, in 60% of the cases, it was both male and female relatives.

In most cases where the violence was perpetuated by female members of the family, the women were also tasked with gatekeeping gendered and patriarchal values and norms. Under the influence of patriarchy and its false consciousness, these female gatekeepers too were controlled by the values of their male gatekeepers who called the shots about right and wrong.

Tanmoyee Bhattacharjee, researcher, Shakti Shalini, says, One of our research participants described how the fact that her own parents were abusing her left her feeling so confused about whether anyone would understand her situation even if she sought help. This is because domestic violence is frequently perceived as something that only affects married women and occurs in their marital homes.

What can be done? One would have to institute long-term sensitisation interventions with girls and boys in schools and colleges for perspective building. The concept that violence even at the hands of close family is unacceptable must be normalised. There have to be campaigns to help build young womens awareness and agency regarding their rights. Psycho-social support and mental health and counselling for girls and young women should be provided wherever possible. There must be exclusive spaces in communities where women can talk without fear about natal family violence. And, of course, there has to be a much greater focus in the media on this insidious form of violence against women.

lalita.panicker@hindustantimes.com

The views expressed are personal
Sanjiv Kapoor, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Jet Airways, recently shared a Twitter post saying he cleared London Heathrow arrivals immigration in 10 seconds through the e-passport kiosks. e-Passports booklets are embedded with an electronic chip to enhance security and to improve the level of identity verification.(Bloomberg)

Also Read| Jet Airways CEO Sanjiv Kapoor calls Indian metro stations artless'; internet divided

E-enabled passport: cleared London Heathrow arrivals immigration in 10 seconds through the e-passport kiosks. Global Entry-enrolled? Clear US arrival immigration in 10 seconds using facial recognition. No departure immigration for UK and US. This is the way to go, Digital! wrote Kapoor.

He added, Incidentally US Global Entry is open to Indian passport holders too. One has to enroll and pay a fee. And I understand e-enabled passports are in the works in India too.

"With technology and services like e-passport kiosks and Global Entry, there is absolutely no human interaction required for arrivals immigration. Purely automated and digital. Long lines are when you don't have this, and need to be manually processed by an immigration officer", he wrote further.

What is an e-Passport?

According to Smart Card Operating System for Transport Application (SCOSTA), e-Passport booklets are embedded with an electronic chip to enhance security and to improve the level of identity verification. e-Passports and readers at the border inspection system must be able to communicate with each other. Interoperability testing of electronic passports is a process that starts typically with the specification of standards and continues with testing. Interoperability tests for e-Passports are performed to ensure international interoperability.
Twitter on Friday made public parts of the computer code that decides how the social media site recommends content, allowing users and programmers a peek into its workings and the ability to suggest modifications to the algorithm. Twitter owner Elon Musk. (Reuters)

The company said in a blog post it uploaded the code in two repositories on code-sharing platform Github. They include the source code for many parts of Twitter, including the recommendations algorithm which controls the tweets that users see on their timeline.

The move comes at the behest of its billionaire owner Elon Musk, who has said code transparency would lead to higher trust among users and rapid improvements to the product.

Also read: Elon Musk announces a set of latest updates for Twitter

It also serves to address common concerns from users and lawmakers, who are increasingly scrutinizing social media platforms over how algorithms select the content that users see.

Musk tweeted on Friday that third parties should be able to analyze the open-sourced code and "determine, with reasonable accuracy, what will probably be shown to users."

"No doubt, many embarrassing issues will be discovered, but we will fix them fast!" he tweeted.

Musk also said Twitter will update its recommendation algorithm based on user suggestions every 24 to 48 hours.

On Friday, Musk and some Twitter employees held a session on Spaces, Twitter's audio chat feature, asking users to bring recommendations and questions about how the platform's code works.

One person questioned why Twitter's code appeared to classify users as Republicans or Democrats. A Twitter employee responded that it was an old feature that was not important to the platform's recommendation system, and the company was looking to remove it.

The repositories on Github do not include the code that powers Twitter's ad recommendations, the company said.

It also said it excluded code that would compromise user safety or privacy, as well as details that would undermine efforts to prevent child sexual abuse material on the platform.

The news also comes after parts of Twitter's source code were leaked on Github, which took down the code last week at Twitter's request.

Twitter asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to order Github to produce "all identifying information" associated with the Github account that had posted the leaked code, according to a legal filing.
An Illinois official has confirmed three more deaths from storms, bringing the total death toll in the South and Midwest to at least 21. A large tornado tore through Little Rock, Arkansas, and neighbouring towns on Friday killing at least seven people and leaving several injured as it splintered homes, and tossed trees and debris on roadways. (Getty Images via AFP)

Crawford County Board Chair Bill Burke said three people were killed and eight others injured after a tornado hit the county about 9:10 p.m. Friday. It appears the fatalities were in or new New Hebron, which is just west of the state line with Indiana. That's close to where three other people were killed in Sullivan, Indiana.

Read here: Tornado hits Arkansas, leaves 24 injured; over 78,000 people left without power

Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 18 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damage's scope.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least seven states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included seven in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, and three in Sullivan, Indiana.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama, Illinois and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornado's path.

Stunned residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high school's roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

Debris and memories of regular life lay scattered inside the damaged shells of homes and strewn on lawns: clothing, insulation, roofing paper, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

Im sad that my town has been hit so hard, said Heidi Jenkins, a salon owner. Our school is gone, my church is gone. Im sad for all the people who lost their homes.

Recovery was already underway, with workers using chain saws to cut fallen trees and bulldozers moving material from shattered structures. Utility trucks worked to restore power, and volunteers set out to help.

At least seven people died in Tennessee's McNairy County, east of Memphis along the Mississippi border, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas, Leckner said, adding that although it appeared all people had been accounted for, crews were going door to door to be sure.

In Belvidere, Illinois, some of the 260 people attending a heavy metal concert at the Apollo Theatre pulled a 50-year-old man from the rubble after part of the roof collapsed; he was dead when emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 other people were injured, including two with life-threatening injuries.

Read here: At least 20 tornadoes hit southern US, damaging roads, blowing roofs off houses

They dragged someone out from the rubble, and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him), Its going to be OK. I didnt really know much else what to do," concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

The venue's Facebook page said the bands scheduled to perform were Morbid Angel, Crypta, Skeletal Remains and Revocation.

Crews worked Saturday to clean up around the Apollo, with forklifts pulling away loosely hanging bricks. Business owners picked up shards of glass and covered shattered windows.

Three people died in Indiana's Sullivan County, near the Illinois line about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 is essentially unrecognizable right now" and that several people were rescued from rubble overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said, and search-and-rescue teams combed damaged areas.

Quite frankly, Im really, really shocked there isnt more as far as human issues, he said, adding that recovery is going to be a very long process.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, authorities said. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said that 2,100 homes and businesses were in the tornado's path, but that no assessment had been done on how many were damaged.

Joanna McFadden was at a nail salon with two other people when the tornado struck.

The only way we knew the tornado was coming, the leaves were swirling, thats the only way we knew, it looked like it was standing still, McFadden said. She and the others took shelter in the back.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to help local responders. She and the mayor toured hard-hit neighborhoods, including one with a badly damaged fire station. Sanders praised its firefighters for moving quickly.

A suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabamas Madison County, said county official Mac McCutcheon. And in northern Mississippi's Pontotoc County, officials confirmed one death and four injuries.

The storms struck just hours after President Joe Biden visited the Mississippi community of Rolling Fork, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa, including one just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. Television footage showed toppled power poles and roofs ripped off buildings and homes in the area.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

Thats a quite active day. But thats not unprecedented, he said.

Hundreds of thousands lost power because of the sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest, and left in its wake high winds. A threat of tornadoes and hail remained for the Northeast, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and New York.

More than 530,000 homes and businesses in the affected area lacked power at midday Saturday, over 200,000 of them in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

Hail broke windows on cars and buildings northeast of Peoria, Illinois. And blizzard conditions whipped parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin, cutting power to tens of thousands in the Twin Cities area. Parts of Interstate 29 were closed.

Read here: At least 7 dead, several injured after tornadoes strike Central US

Nearly 100 new wildfires were reported Friday in Oklahoma, according to the state forest service, and firefighters hoped to gain ground against them Saturday. Fires were expected to remain a danger through the week.
Former US president Donald Trump raised over USD 4 million in 24 hours after a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, his office has said. Former US President Donald Trump. (REUTERS)

Significantly, over 25 per cent of donations came from first-time donors to the Trump Campaign, further solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary, a media release said on Friday.

Also read: Donald Trump likely to surrender next week? What lawyer said after indictment

This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponisation of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor, said the campaign.

With an average contribution of only USD 34, Trumps 2024 campaign is funded by an unmatched coalition of hardworking patriots who are fed up with special interest donors like Soros spending billions of dollars to influence our elections, it said.

Americans from across all 50 states donated to President Trumps campaign within the first five hours of the sham indictment, the release said.

The White House has refused to comment on the indictment of the former president.

Also read: Second hush money case related to Donald Trump being examined: Report

I have no comment on that, President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Zambia, I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president..
Former US President Donald Trump is "upset" and "angry" by his indictment, but "not worried at all," his attorney Joe Tacopina, told CBS after a New York grand jury investigating a "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, voted to indict Trump. With this, Donald Trump became the first former president in US history to face criminal charges. Donald Trump Indictment: US President Donald Trump is seen.(AFP)

Read more: This p**** grabbed back: Porn star Stormy Daniels on Donald Trump indictment

Oh, he's not worried at all. I mean, he's upset, angry. He is being persecuted politically. That is clear to many people  not only on the right but on the left  and we, as Americans, honestly should be concerned. Today it's Donald Trump, tomorrow, it's gonna be a Democrat. The day after that it could be your brother, or your son, your daughter, Joe Tacopina said.

"And we have to be concerned about the rule of law falling," he continued, adding, "because what's happened here is this is a case that would not have been brought against another individual in this country if his name wasn't Donald Trump, pursued by a prosecutor who has obviously very diverse political views from the president. So, it's a very troubling case because there's no crime here."

Watch: Joe Biden forgets name of tornado-hit town he was visiting, calls it

The attorney told NBC news that Donald Trump was "shocked" when he heard the news of his indictment.

Despite all the scuttlebutt and rumors and what not, we believed and hoped that rule of law would have prevailed. So he initially was, was shocked. After he got over that, you know, he put a notch on his belt and he decided we have to fight now, he said.

Donald Trump is ready to fight this", he asserted.

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A group of former international students from India, who are facing potential deportation from the country, staged a protest in downtown Toronto on Thursday afternoon in front of a Federal immigration office. Former Indian students facing deportation from Canada over fake documents protest

Read here: 'Dragged by hair and turban ripped', Sikh student assaulted in Canada: Report

About 50 of those affected participated in the nearly two-hour-long demonstration, and were joined by other organisations like the Naujawan Support Network.

They displayed banners stating they were victims of fraud and seeking justice. We are victims, not culprits and Stop deportation, others said. Another called upon Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to speak up.

The majority of the students impacted are from Punjab. They face an exclusion order from the Canada Border Services Agency or CBSA which could result in their deportation from the country as well as a ban for five years from entering it again.

The students arrived in Canada between 2017 and 2019, and in rare instances, in 2020. They started receiving notices from the CBSA in 2021 and last year, for a hearing as the agency concluded the letter of offer of admission to a Canadian higher education institution, which formed the basis of their study permits, was fake.

The majority of the affected students were represented by the agent Brijesh Mishra of the Jalandhar-based counselling firm EMSA Education and Migration Services Australia.

The ex-students said they were being victimized for no fault of theirs. In an open letter under the banner of Victim Students released in March, they said, We are desperate for justice; we are victims of fraud; we have no criminal level but facing a removal order.

No one can understand our anguish when we learned for the first time through CBSA that the offer was fake and we have been dying and struggling ever since, it added

Among those facing this problem is 27-year-old Inder Singh, who is based in Brampton in the Greater Toronto Area and is originally from Amritsar. He said that while about 70 of them had joined forces to raise this matter, it was difficult to estimate the number of those actually impacted and that could even reach a thousand.

Read here: Amritpal Singh protests in Canada: India worried over security at its missions

Among the groups supporting them is the Nuajawan Support Network, which functions primarily in the province of Ontario, and comprises international students and workers who came together to stop the exploitation and abuse we face from employers, landlords, immigration consultants and the government, according to their online profile.

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With the discovery of two more bodies on Friday, the death toll from a human smuggling operation from Canada to the United States, reached eight. The deceased in the tragedy include a family from India. Police and firemen carry a bag off their search boat from the marshland in Akwesasne, Quebec, Canada March 31, 2023. (REUTERS)

In an update, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police said the two bodies recovered on Friday included those of an adult female believed to be an Indian national and an infant, a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent. The eight victims comprised two families of Indian citizens and Romanians including two children, both holding Canadian citizenship.

The statement said, All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the US from Canada. The circumstances surrounding the deaths continue to be investigated.

The tragedy occurred during the course of an attempt to cross the St Lawrence river, which borders Canada and the US. The region overlaps the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the American state of New York. An overturned vessel was also recovered.

Akwesasne Mohawk Police said they are working with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Americas Homeland Security to confirm the identities of the victims so that next-of-kin notifications may be made.

Police continue to search the waterways for a local, Casey Oakes, who was reported missing on Thursday. The vessel recovered by the police matched the description of that operated by Oakes, the police services Deputy Chief Lee-Ann OBrien informed the media.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in Moncton in the province of New Brunswick, described it as a heartbreaking situation.

This isnt the first time this area has been used as a route by Indians trying to illegally enter the US. In April last year, a tragedy was averted when six Indian nationals were rescued from the freezing St Regis River in the region. That followed suspicious activity being reported to the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service about a boat carrying multiple subjects on the Saint Regis river and travelling from Cornwall in the province of Ontario.

The six rescued were apprehended, and identified as citizens of India, all aged between 19 and 21 years.

That incident occurred three months after four members of family from Gujarat, were found dead due to exposure to extreme winter conditions in the province of Manitoba, near the US border, in what was also a human smuggling operation gone wrong.

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As more and more women continue to defy Iran's compulsory dress code, the country's judiciary chief threatened to prosecute women who appear in public without hijab "without mercy", news agency Reuters reported quoting Iranian media. Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.(AP)

Read more: This p**** grabbed back: Porn star Stormy Daniels on Donald Trump indictment

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said, Unveiling is tantamount to enmity with (our) values. Those who commit such anomalous acts will be punished and will be prosecuted without mercy, he added, without detailing the punishments. The warning comes following Iran's interior ministry reinforcing the governments mandatory hijab law.

The hijab is one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation and one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic, the interior ministry statement said, asserting that there would be no retreat or tolerance on the issue.

Law enforcement officers were obliged to refer obvious crimes and any kind of abnormality that is against the religious law and occurs in public to judicial authorities, Iran's judiciary chief said.

Watch: Joe Biden forgets name of tornado-hit town he was visiting, calls it

Since September last year, many Iranian women have chosen to not wear hijab in public as massive protests gripped the country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police. Mahsa Amini had been detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule.

Since then, videos of women without a hijab resisting the morality police have flooded social media. In Iran, women are obliged to cover their hair with hijab and loose-fitting clothes. Violators have faced public rebuke, fines or arrest for not following the rules.

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Mogadishu  Half of the drought-related deaths occurred among children under the age of 5

A new report released today by the Federal Ministry of Health & Human Services, WHO and UNICEF suggests that an estimated 43,000 excess deaths might have occurred in 2022 in Somalia resulting from a deepening drought when compared with 2017 and 2018 drought crisis. Half of these deaths might have occurred among children under the age of 5.

The findings of the report were released today by the Minister of Health of the Federal Government of Somalia, Dr Ali Hadji Adam Abubakar, in the presence of Mr Adam Abdelmoula, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Ms Wafaa Saeed, UNICEF Country Representative of Somalia and Dr Sk Md Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO Representative for Somalia.

For the first time, a scenario-based forecast model was also developed from the same study to enable anticipatory action and avert drought-related deaths. The forecast spanning from January to June 2023, estimates that 135 people might also die each day due to the crisis, with total deaths projected to fall between 18,100 and 34,200 during this period. These estimates suggest that, although famine has been averted for now, the crisis is far from over and is already more severe than the 2017-2018 drought crisis.

These figures are derived from a statistical model which estimated that the crude death rate increased across Somalia from 0.33 to 0.38 deaths per 10 000 person-days over the period January-December 2022; the rate in children younger than 5 years was nearly double these levels. For 2023, the crude death rate is forecasted to reach 0.42 deaths per 10 000 person-days by June 2023.

Commissioned by UNICEF Regional Office and WHO country office of Somalia and carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London, the study presents retrospective estimates of mortality across Somalia from January to December 2022. The highest death rates were estimated to have occurred in south-central Somalia, especially the areas around Bay, Bakool and Banadir regions, the current epicentre of the drought.

The study, the first in a planned series, received support from the Federal Ministry of Health & Human Services of the Federal Government of Somalia and Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom.

While releasing the findings of the report, Dr Ali Hadji Adam Abubakar commented, "We continue to be concerned about the level and scale of the public health impact of this deepening and protracted food crisis in Somalia. At the same time, we are optimistic that if we can sustain our ongoing and scaled-up health and nutrition actions and humanitarian response to save lives and protect the health of our vulnerable, we can push back the risk of famine forever. Else, those vulnerable and marginalized will pay the price of this crisis with their lives. We, therefore, urge all our partners and donors to continue to support the health sector in building a resilient health system that works for everyone and not for the few. Building a healthier and happier world for all Somalis remains at the heart of our government."

WHO Representative to Somalia and Head of Mission, Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik while commenting on the study findings, said that "We are racing against time to prevent deaths and save lives that are avoidable. We have seen, deaths and diseases thrive when hunger and food crises prolong. We will see more people dying from the disease than from hunger and malnutrition combined if we do not act now. The cost of our inaction will mean that children, women and other vulnerable people will pay with their lives while we hopelessly, helplessly witness the tragedy unfold." Dr Malik added that "From the very beginning of this drought, World Health Organization (WHO) has clearly stated that the drought is a health crisis as much as it is a food and climate crisis. WHO's main concern has been to prevent excess deaths directly or indirectly attributed to drought with a special focus on women and under five children. As such, WHO has stepped up its life-saving integrated health interventions throughout 2022 and would continue to do so in 2023 to avert every preventable death in Somalia."

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"These results present a grim picture of the devastation brought on children and their families by the drought," said UNICEF Representative Wafaa Saeed. "We are saddened by these deaths, and we know there could have been many more deaths had humanitarian assistance not been scaled up to reach affected communities. We must continue to save lives by preventing and treating malnutrition, providing safe and clean water, improving access to life-saving health services, immunizing children against deadly diseases such as measles, and providing critical protection services."

Somalia is enduring five consecutive seasons of failed rains, the longest in recent memory, which has left five million people in acute food insecurity and nearly two million children at risk of malnutrition. The United Nations needs more than US$2.6 billion to meet the priority needs of 7.6 million people in 2023.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whose sacking prompted protests across Israel, is likely to retain his job as he is willing to issue an apology in writing while also have to confirm his loyalty to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Times of Israel reported citing a Hebrew media. Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant.(AFP)

Read here: Israel protests: Thousands rise up after Netanyahu sacks defence minister

For his part, the defense minister reportedly feels that he was left with no choice but to make the speech after Netanyahu ignored his concerns for weeks regarding the damage the judicial overhaul was causing to the military.

Netanyahu fumed at Gallant for the prime-time address he gave last Saturday evening in which he warned that the national divide over the overhaul had "penetrated the IDF and security agencies," impacting their operational capacity, and posed a "tangible threat" to national security.

The prime minister took issue with the content of Gallant's message, given Netanyahu's desire to pass legislation radically curbing the High Court of Justice's power. But he was particularly furious over its timing, the defence minister delivered his speech while Netanyahu was visiting London, Times of Israel reported citing a Hebrew media.

Gallant is prepared to issue an apology in writing, but only for the timing of the speech, as he still stands by the original warning he made a week ago, Times of Israel reported citing Channel 12. Other local Israeli media also carried similar reports. A local media, Channel 12 said that a mere apology would not be sufficient for Netanyahu, and claimed, without elaboration, that Gallant would also have to confirm his loyalty to Netanyahu.

For his part, the defence minister reportedly feels that he was left with no choice but to make the speech after Netanyahu ignored his concerns for weeks regarding the damage the judicial overhaul was causing to the military.

Last Thursday, Gallant planned to give the speech he gave on Saturday night, but Netanyahu managed to convince him to hold off, reportedly assuring him that he would indeed announce a temporary halt to the legislation. Gallant agreed to cancel his speech and waited two more days, but Netanyahu didn't make any announcement, leading the defence minister to move forward with his original plan, Times of Israel reported.

Less than 24 hours after Gallant's speech, Netanyahu's office announced that he was firing the defence minister, a move that sparked spontaneous mass protests in Tel Aviv and across the country that continued into the early hours of Monday morning.

The protests swelled Monday to a strike announcement by Israel's largest labour union, including the grounding of outgoing flights from Ben Gurion Airport, leading Netanyahu to announce a temporary pause to the legislative push that evening, saying he was going to give a chance for compromise negotiations with the opposition.

Despite eventually following Gallant's lead and pausing the legislation, Netanyahu has yet to forgive his defence minister for what he views as a betrayal. However, he has also yet to sign a letter formally notifying Gallant of his removal, which is required for the decision to be finalized, Times of Israel reported.

Read here: Joe Biden may not attend King Charles coronation because: What report claimed

Netanyahu has reportedly come under pressure from several coalition partners, including Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, to keep Gallant as defence minister, and the Biden administration also expressed its concern after the premier's decision, while not commenting on Gallant's removal directly. Channel 13 reported that US officials are privately lobbying Netanyahu to keep Gallant on, Times of Israel reported.
On a visit to tornado-hit town of Rolling Fork in Mississippi, US President Joe Biden made another gaffe. As he was addressing the community, Joe Biden repeatedly referred to the town as Rolling Stone- which is a magazine that focuses on popular culture. Joe Biden: US President Joe Biden delivers remarks.(Reuters)

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"We're not just here for today, I'm determined that we're going to leave nothing behind. We're going to get it done for you," Joe Biden said in the speech, adding, I'm making sure you got a place to sleep, food to eat, helping you rebuild your lives in Rolling Stone.

Unaware of his mistake, Joe Biden said again, "The town of Rolling Stone will be back, and we'll be with you every step of the way."

Towards the end of his speech, Joe Biden realised his mistake and said, What did I say, I said Rolling Fork. Rolling Stone. I got my mind going here.

Rolling Fork was hit by a devastating tornado last week which killed at least 25 people, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

The west part of Rolling Fork is a residential area, and just a number of houses over there have been completely destroyed. Highway 61, where most of our businesses are, all of the businesses on 61 have been completely destroyed," Fred Miller, former Rolling Fork mayor said.

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US vice president Kamala Harris visited her maternal grandfather P V Gopalan's family house in Zambia's capital Lusaka where he lived as an Indian Foreign Service official in the 1960s. Kamala Harris visited the house during her trip to Zambia. Kamala Harris: Zambia's Vice President Mutale Nalumango leads a welcome reception for US Vice President Kamala Harris.(Reuters)

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"My visit to Zambia has a special significance for me, as many of you know, and for my family. As you know, I visited Zambia, Mr President, as a young girl when my grandfather worked here, Kamala Harris said.

"In 1966, shortly after Zambia's independence, he came to Lusaka to serve as a director of relief measures and refugees. That was his title. He served as an advisor to Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda. And he was an expert on refugee resettlement, she added.

P V Gopalan was born in Chennai in 1911 and served an advisor to first President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda and as Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the 1960s. In Lusaka, P V Gopalan lived at 16 Independence Avenue in the 1960s.

"I remember my time here fondly. I was a child, so it is the memory of a child. But I remember being here and just how it felt, the warmth and the excitement that was present," Kamala Harris said.

Watch: Joe Biden forgets name of tornado-hit town he was visiting, calls it

So, from my family and from all of us, we extend our greetings and hello to everyone here, the US vice president added.

P V Gopalan was deputed to the government of Zambia as the Director of Relief Measures and Refugees in January 1966 by the Indian government for whcih he gave up his role as the head of the office of the joint secretary in the Ministry of Rehabilitation.

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Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday traveled down a dirt road to tour a farm outside Zambia's capital thats using new techniques and technology to boost its vegetable crop as she highlighted ways to secure food supplies in an age of global warming. US Vice President Kamala Harris on a farm tour of Panuka Farms, in Chisamba District, Zambia.(Reuters)

Read here: Kamala Harris visits her Indian grandfathers house in Zambia: Remember my

Its an example of what can be done around the world, she said after walking past rows of peppers and inspecting a drip irrigation system.

Unlike in the United States, where conversations about climate change usually revolve around replacing fossil fuels with clean energy, the focus in Africa is on expanding access to food. Rising prices stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been damaging to poor countries, and global warming is expected to bring more challenges in the coming years.

Hunger can also create instability, leading to migration and conflict.

The connection between these issues is quite clear, Harris said.

She is pushing for $7 billion in private-sector investments, mostly to boost conservation and improve food production, to help Africa prepare for the effects of climate change. Her announcement about that goal came as she wrapped up her weeklong visit to Africa, which included earlier stops in Ghana and Tanzania. The trip was intended to advance U.S. efforts to make inroads in a part of the world where Chinas influence runs deep.

It's the biggest-ticket item that Harris has announced, but more work will be needed to follow through.

For example, African Parks, a nonprofit group, has committed to raise $1.25 billion over the next seven years in order to expand its conservation program. Another organization, One Acre Fund, plans to raise $100 million to plant 1 billion trees by the end of the decade.

The politics of climate change are complicated in Africa, which has contributed far less to overall greenhouse gas emissions than richer corners of the world such as the United States. According to the International Energy Agency, 43% of Africans didnt have access to electricity in 2021, and recent outages have caused frustration.

In Ghana, Harris was questioned at a news conference about how the West can demand that Africa go green and forgo using its natural resources. She also was pressed on whether wealthy nations would supply $100 billion annually to help poor countries cope with climate change, a commitment made under the Paris climate accord.

Read here: Indian Army chief calls for strengthening ties with African nations

Harris said it is critically important that, as global leaders, we all speak truth about the disparities that exist in terms of cause and effect and that we address those disparities. She said there were opportunities in the clean energy economy that could help generate growth in Africa.

As for the money, President Joe Biden has requested $11 billion in his proposed budget to meet its international commitments.

We are waiting for Congress to do its work, Harris said.
North Korean leader may be brainwashing his daughter Kim Ju Ae, experts claimed as the questioned her public appearances with the leader, as per a report in Voice of America. Kim Jong Un: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talks with his daughter Kim Ju Ae at a banquet.(Reuters)

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Kim Ju Ae is believed to be 10 years old and has been spotted at military events with her father several times even standing in front of a gigantic Hwasong-17 ICBM at a launch site. She was also seen accompanying Kim Jong Un as the North Korean leader oversaw simulated nuclear counterattack drills on March 18.

The visits to missile sites and military events are "an indoctrinating moment for her," Michael Madden, an expert on North Korean leadership at the Stimson Center said as per the report, adding that she is probably told that the missiles guarantee  the continuity of the Kim family regime.

Watch: Joe Biden forgets name of tornado-hit town he was visiting, calls it

Michael Madden also said that Kim Ju Ae is absorbing "a black-and-white way of viewing things, and that South Korea and the United States are our enemies and have been our enemies for 70-plus years."

While Ken Gause, a North Korean leadership expert and director of International Affairs Group, said as per the report, "There is a part of running North Korea that is very cutthroat. The less you know about how democracies run" and to a certain extent, the less you know about the outside world, probably the better.
US President Joe Biden has reportedly turned down his invitation to King Charles IIIs coronation. The US president is not expected to be in the UK for the coronation, The Telegraph reported quoting sources who said that he will be sending a delegation in his place. Although US First Lady Jill Biden is likely to attend the ceremony without her husband. King Charles Coronation: US President Joe Biden.(AP)

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Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to the US and Buckingham Palace had cordial and diplomatic talks with the White House about the coronation, the report claimed but Joe Biden's aides told the Palace that he had prior commitments.

However, the report said that there may still be some efforts under way to see if Biden can be persuaded to come to the Coronation, while another said that his plan was not locked and loaded.

Read more: Prince Harry stupid: Royal author on relationship with Prince William

In September, Joe Biden and his wife visited the UK to join world leaders at Westminster Abbey in paying their respects to late Queen Elizabeth II.

Among those who are expected to attend the ceremony include: David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham who also attended the Queens funeral. Former Greys Anatomy star Sandra Oh, musicians Gregory Charles and Olympic gold medallist swimmer Mark Tewksbury are also likely to join.

Read more: Queen Consort Camilla may skip this coronation tradition. Reason: Prince William

Confusion remains over whether Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would be present. However, the couple have been invited.

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President Joe Biden on Friday urged Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after the country's security service arrested him on espionage charges  allegations that the newspaper denies. US President Joe Biden.(AP)

Let him go, Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday morning when asked about his message to Russia on the arrest of Gershkovich.

Also Read | Who is Evan Gershkovich, Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia?

Russia's Federal Security Service has accused Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, of trying to obtain classified information.

It is the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations of spying since the Cold War.

The Journal has said it vehemently denies the charges.

Speaking at a news conference in Lusaka, Zambia, Vice President Kamala Harris added that the administration was deeply concerned about Gershkovich's arrest.

We will not tolerate  and condemn, in fact  repression of journalists, Harris said during her weeklong visit to Africa.

The Biden administration said Thursday that it was working to secure consular access to Gershkovich.

Asked Friday morning whether he would expel Russian diplomats or journalists in the U.S., Biden responded: That's not the plan right now.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the targeting of U.S. citizens in Russia unacceptable and that the administration condemns the detention of Gershkovich "in the strongest terms.

The Biden administration has also warned U.S. citizens not to travel to Russia, and for Americans in the country now to depart immediately.
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, accused Ukraine of calling for nuclear weapons, news agency Reuters reported quoting state media. Kim Yo Jong backed her assertion on the basis of an online petition in Ukraine which was signed by almost 1,000 signatures so far. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, is seen. (AFP File)

Read more: Kamala Harris visits her Indian grandfathers house in Zambia: Remember my

Kim Yo Jong said that the petition could be a political plot by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, without giving any details. After Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on Moscow planning to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a public petition was filed on Ukrainian presidential office's website that called for Kyiv to host nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory. The petition also asked for Ukraine to be armed with its own nuclear weapons.

For the petition to seek a response from Ukraine's Zelensky, it needed 25,000 signs. Kyiv officials have so far not responded to the petition.

Read more: Women without hijab to be prosecuted 'without mercy': Iran's judiciary chief

The comments from Kim Jong Un's sister come at a time when North Korea is trying to establish closer ties with Russia as both Pyongyang and Moscow continue to be isolated by the West. North Kore has also supported, repeatedly, Moscow's position after Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Pope Francis left hospital Saturday after a three-night stay for a bronchitis infection, joking with wellwishers and journalists waiting for him outside that he was "still alive". Pope Francis hugs a woman who came to him as he leaves the Gemelli hospital in Rome, after being discharged following treatment for bronchitis.(AFP)

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The 86-year-old pope, who was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Wednesday with breathing difficulties, got out of the car transporting him and smiled and joked with the crowd, before heading off to the Vatican to begin preparations for the most important week in the Christian calendar.
A women-run radio station in Afghanistan has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said as per news agency Associated Press. The women-run station is named Sadai Banowan which means womens voice. The radio station started 10 years ago and has a staff of eight people, six of them female. Taliban In Afghanistan: A Taliban fighter stands guard as a woman walks past in Kabul, Afghanistan.(AP)

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Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for information and culture in Badakhshan province, said that the radio station violated the laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate several times by playing songs and music during Ramadan.

If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again, Moezuddin Ahmadi said.

Meanwhile the head of the radio station Najia Sorosh denied the accusations saying that there was no need for the closure, called it a conspiracy. The Taliban "told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music, she said.

The radio station said that representatives from the government came to the station and shut it down without giving any additional information about the closing.

Watch: Joe Biden forgets name of tornado-hit town he was visiting, calls it

Earlier, the Taliban barred women from employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university.

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analysis

The process of coming to terms with German colonial-era crimes in Tanzania is intended to strengthen relations. The two countries are also in talks on reparations.

Activists and historians have helped to keep the memory of German colonialism alive over the past 100 years. Their debates about restitution and reparations for colonial injustices have put the issue onto the political agenda in countries such as Namibia. .

Tanzania, once part of German East Africa and the scene of colonial-era atrocities, had been relatively quiet -- until now.

'It is by no means too late'

Politicians in the two countries want to work towards clarifying and making right on the events of the past. The return of the human remains of countless colonial war victims to Tanzania is on the cards. These are still stored in German museums, along with cultural objects -- so-called looted art.

"It is by no means too late for this project," Tanzanian historian Philemon Mtoi said. "The time is right to reconnect, to reconcile the people and to build a common future."

Germany should be careful not to "destroy the relationships that existed in Tanzania even after colonization," Mtoi told DW.

Moi says Germany's leaders should approach the task critically and think carefully about the way they bring back objects. Their gestures should be authentic, coming "from the bottom of their hearts." In this way, he said Germany can honestly ensure that the past is remembered.

The process of coming to terms with the atrocities committed during the German colonial period in Tanzania is still in its infancy. But German actors are also urging haste.

"What happened is not sufficiently known, both in Tanzania and in Germany," Katja Keul, Germany's Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, told DW.

Grave crimes in Tanzania

Several uprisings were brutally suppressed at the time of German colonial rule. Particularly devastating were the developments surrounding the Maji-Maji Rebellion of 1905-1907. Historians estimate that as many as 300,000 people were killed in east Africa. Countless skulls and bones were subsequently taken to Germany.

The German Foreign Office and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin want the remains are to be returned to Tanzania or buried in an appropriate place. The foundation took over the large collection of human remains from the Charite Medical History Museum in 2011, according to its president, Hermann Parzinger.

The remains had been were looted from village cemeteries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly to conduct anthropological research in Germany,

"This is grave destruction, grave robbery, which would have been punishable here in Germany, then as now," Parzinger told DW.

A reparations option

The entire inventory of looted human remains should now be returned, said Parzinger. There was an obligation to gather information in advance. in order to determine the exact origin of the bones as precisely as possible. Some information was held in archives in East African countries, he said.

"We already sent the information to the countries concerned of the inventory of 1,200 skulls when the project was completed two or three years ago. About 250 are from Tanzania, around 900 from Rwanda and 35 from Kenya," Parzinger told DW.

Tanzania is also increasing pressure on the German government to take responsibility for German colonial-era atrocities in East Africa.

In early 2020, Tanzania's ambassador to Berlin, Abdallah Possi, called on the German government to "negotiate reparations" for these crimes.

The Tanzanian government is currently preparing to work jointly with the German government and has established a special committee for this purpose, according to Said Othman Yakubu, Permanent Secretary in Tanzania's Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports.

"The committee is still in the works," Yakubu says. "The issue of reparations is one of the items on the table."

Last exhibitions before restitution

Historian Mtoi said reparations alone can't translate to peace and healing in a society. He warned that the government, politicians and descendents of the victims should not see it as a "golden moment to gain an economic advantage."

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Rather, he said, they should respect the fact that their history cannot be offset with material gain, but should be restored and honored - no matter what Africans and Tanzanians went through under the German government of the time.

The joint reappraisal of the history would direct the view into the future and derive a more intensive relationship from it, Keul believes.

But at the moment, there is still a lot that is very much in the dark as far as Tanzania is concerned, she told DW: "That means that on the other side, too, we first have to clarify what exactly our needs are and how we can come together."

In Berlin's Humboldt Forum, an exhibition in September will take a critical look at the Tanzania collection. The objects from the Maji-Maji Rebellion are then expected to be shown in 2024 and subsequently returned to Tanzania.

Verena Greb, Sudi Mnette and Rosalia Romaniec contributed to this article.

Edited by Benita van Eyssen
Pakistan's army said on Saturday that four of its border patrol soldiers had been killed by a group operating from Iran, in an attack which was condemned by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. "A group of terrorists operating from Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces," said Pakistan army. (AFP)

A separatist group, Baluch Liberation Army (BLA), which has previously been involved in attacks on Pakistani security forces and Chinese interests in the region, claimed responsibility in an emailed statement.

Insurgent ethnic Baluch nationalist groups, which operate on both sides of the border, have been fighting for decades for a greater share of regional resources.

The incident took place in the Kech district in southwestern Baluchistan province, which shares a long lawless border with Afghanistan and Iran.

"A group of terrorists operating from Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces operating along Pakistan-Iran Border," the army said in a statement.

The Baluchistan province is rich in natural gas and minerals and also has the deep-water Gawadar port, which is being developed with Chinese money as part of Beijing's $65 billion "Belt and Road" investment in Pakistan.

The army said Pakistani authorities were making contact with Iran to seek ways of preventing such incidents in future.

Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment on Saturday, an annual holiday in Iran.

Iranian state media said Iran's embassy in Islamabad "condemned the terrorist attack in Baluchistan state and said terrorism is a common affliction of the two friendly and neighbouring countries."
Ukraine has ordered 100 Rosomak multi-purpose armoured vehicles, which are made in Poland under a Finnish license, Poland's prime minister said on Saturday. The order will be financed through funds that Poland has received from the European Union and US funds. (Representative Image)(REUTERS)

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"I bring an order placed yesterday by (Ukrainian) Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for 100 Rosomaks that will be fabricated here," Mateusz Morawiecki said during a visit to the Rosomak manufacturing site in the southern Polish town of Siemianowice Slaskie.

The order will be financed through funds that Poland has received from the European Union and US funds that Ukraine has received, he said, without providing details or the overall cost of the contract.

Also Read | Ukraine's Zelensky on Bucha anniversary: 'Will never forgive Russia'

The United States and its allies have provided Ukraine with a host of funding and weapons after Russia invaded its pro-Western ex-Soviet neighbour in February 2022.

The Rosomak is an 8x8 multi-purpose armoured vehicle manufactured under the license from Finland's Patria.
A top Ukrainian cleric from a church with alleged Moscow ties was sentenced to house arrest on Saturday after a hearing into whether he glorified invading Russian forces and stoked religious divisions, the church said. Metropolitan Pavlo, the director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.(AFP)

Read here: Russia Security Council presidency a 'slap in the face': Ukraine FM

Kyiv is cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on the grounds it is pro-Russian and collaborating with Moscow, a charge the church denies.

In a statement, the UOC said a Kyiv court also ordered Metropolitan Pavlo to wear an electronic bracelet. The Interfax Ukraine and Ukrinform news agencies said Pavlo had been given 60 days of house arrest.

"I haven't done anything. I believe this is a political order," Pavlo told reporters after the ruling.

Prosecutors said the house arrest and electronic bracelet were precautionary measures and that the case against Pavlo would continue.

Tass news agency said the court ordered Pavlo to live in a village some 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Kyiv. Pavlo said the house was not fit for inhabitation.

"There is nothing to sleep on, no heat and no light. There is no kitchen, no spoon. But it's okay, I'll endure it all," he said. Pavlo has been living in accommodation in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a 980-year old monastery complex the government says the church must leave.

Tass also said the court had denied Pavlo permission to attend church services.

Pavlo's court appearance came after he was questioned by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which presented the cleric with a series of accusations.

Sixty-one UOC clergy have had criminal cases opened against them since the start of 2022 with seven found guilty.

Pavlo, a senior UOC official, is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The church has thus far refused to leave.

The UOC has been accused of maintaining links to the pro-invasion Russian Orthodox Church, which used to be its parent church but with which the UOC says it broke ties in May 2022.

Read here: Russia-Ukraine conflict cannot be separated from G20, says US head of delegation

The UOC is Ukraine's second-largest church, though most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Moscow's authority.

Moscow said last month that Ukraine was "illegally attacking" the UOC, adding this confirmed the need for its military operations in Ukraine.
Many Republicans in the U.S. Congress have responded to Donald Trump's looming Tuesday arraignment by characterizing the criminal justice system as corrupt, in accusations that parallel their earlier broadsides against the nation's elections after the former president's 2020 defeat. Donald Trump. (Reuters file)

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Trump and his allies in the House of Representatives and Senate have used rhetoric that echoed his false claims of widespread election fraud in the build-up to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

Critics warn that the present partisan rhetoric could shake public trust in courts by undermining the institutional legitimacy of the criminal justice system.

"Trump's indictment is the culmination of 6 years of the Democrats weaponizing law enforcement to target and persecute their political enemies. Dictatorships operate like this  the US is supposed to be different," tweeted Senator Ted Cruz, a hardline Republican who voted to overturn 2020 election results.

Trump says he is innocent of the expected New York charges - which revolve around hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Details of the charges are as yet unclear.

He says the investigation and three other probes involving his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House are all politically motivated.

Most Democrats have warned against challenging the legitimacy of the institutions of government in defense of Trump, who routinely pushed up against the guard rails of democracy during his four years in the White House and was twice impeached by Congress.

"Political leaders ought to stand up for the American system of government," said Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, a member of the House Judiciary Committee who also served on the congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 attack.

"Undercutting the system of government is a serious matter and a threat to our future," she said in an interview.

Trump has been unrestrained in his rhetoric in recent weeks, calling for protests and warning of potential "death & destruction" if he were to be charged.

He used fiery language hours before his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, in a bid to overturn his election defeat. Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after that riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

Focus on bragg

Most Republicans have trained their invective on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accusing the prosecutor of mounting a politically motivated investigation aimed at preventing Trump from being re-elected to the White House in 2024.

After Trump on March 18 announced that he expected to be arrested in days, the Republican-controlled House launched its own probe of Bragg's grand jury investigation, seeking documents and testimony. They have called Bragg's move "an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority" and said the indictment followed years of the office searching for any basis on which to bring charges.

Democrats questioned whether Congress has the authority to investigate a state-level investigation, particularly one conducted under secretive grand jury rules.

Bragg, a Democrat, on Friday warned Republican Representatives Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil, who are leading the probe, against attacking the criminal justice system.

"You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges," the Manhattan prosecutor wrote.

House Republicans continued to push back. Firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene said she planned to protest against Trump's court appearance on Tuesday, while Brian Mast went further and told CNN he would not accept the outcome of a jury trial, saying "I don't have a trust that a jury will make a fair assessment of this."

Not all Republicans were so quick to cast doubt on the courts.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson issued a statement that called for patience and underscored the legal principle that Trump, as a defendant, should be presumed innocent.

"We need to wait on the facts and for our American system of justice to work like it does for thousands of Americans every day," said Hutchinson, who is considering his own 2024 White House run.

Historians including Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer said Republican statements about Bragg and the criminal justice system follow a long-established partisan line.

"The party has invested a great deal in attacking the legitimacy of institutions, which is why Trump fit well into the party and continues to be popular," Zelizer said in an email.

Nicole Hemmer, director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, warned that Republican attacks on the U.S. criminal justice system could ultimately have dire consequences for courts and juries.

"This is the end-game of the 'deep state' rhetoric that Donald Trump has deployed since 2016 to sow those seeds of distrust in institutions of accountability," Hemmer said.

We haven't yet seen a cataclysmic moment in this rejection of the courts. But we are starting to see the steps toward it, as we saw the steps toward Jan. 6 coming from a long way off.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) through the United Nations Human Security Trust Fund Project has begun the training of another fifty-two vulnerable Liberians on business management skills in Saclepia, Nimba County.

A press release says the selected participants are from Bahnand Gbanquoiin, Nimba County, as part of the six project communities in the north-central region of Liberia.

They are being trained on several business management skills with a focus on how to start and improve their businesses in their communities.

The training began on Tuesday, 28 March 2023, and will end on Saturday, 1 April 2023.

ILO Country Coordinator for Liberia, Salif Massalay

spoke on behalf of Dr. Vanessa L. Phalaat, ILO Country Director for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS at the start of the training.

Salif Massalay said the training is part of phase two of the "Start and Improve Your Business" (SIYB) program intended to transform the lives of vulnerable people in rural Liberia, especially in the hard-to-reach areas.

Mr. Massalay explained that the participants will receive start-up capital in the amount of two-hundred United States Dollars each to start a small business in their communities as a means of empowerment, and to apply the knowledge acquired to improve their lives.

"We are not just training you and [letting] you go or forget about you. We will give you [a] small amount of money to start a business," Mr. Massalay encouraged the participants.

He admonished them to take seriously the knowledge being provided to acquire the necessary skills needed to effectively manage and improve their businesses.

He continued that there will be more support for the targeted participants based on their outcome from the start-up capital given to them.

"I encourage all of you to take the training seriously because when you learn all the things we are teaching you, you will be able to properly use the money we are giving you to grow your business."

"There will be more benefits for you on this project, but it will only come if you can manage the first one well," he said.

The training is being conducted by two SIYB consultants including Mr. Alieu L. Kemokai - Lead Consultant and Dr. Moses Zolue of the World Bank in Liberia.

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Participants are being trained on topics such as generating business ideas, the characteristics of an entrepreneur, business planning, marketing, and record-keeping, among others.

The training brought together representatives from Government Ministries including Horace D. Zaway from the Ministry of Finance, and Czar Parley from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Phases one and two of the SIYB project target 264 vulnerable community members to benefit from entrepreneurial skills training on how to start and manage their businesses.

The beneficiaries were selected from six of the project communities (Bahn and Gbanquoi, Botota and Forkelleh, and Zorzor and Yealla) in Nimba, Bong, and Lofa Counties, respectively.

The objective of the step-down training is to build the entrepreneurial capacity of vulnerable community members in the targeted communities to start and improve their businesses.

The intervention is being carried out within the framework of a Joint United Nations Project titled: "Building Resilience of Youth, Women, and Vulnerable Groups through Social Protection Floor in Liberia, using ICT."

It aims to address the complex multi-sectorial and inter-connected challenges of human insecurities particularly food, social, and economic issues for the most vulnerable and neglected populations of the North-Central region of Liberia at the community level.

Five United Nations agencies including the Food and Agricultural Organization, International Labor Organization, World Food Program, United Nations Development Program, and UN Women are implementing this project.
Lusaka  Vice President Kamala Harris landed Friday in Zambia, the final stop on her weeklong tour of the continent.

While there, she discussed debt restructuring with that nation's president and announced a range of private-sector commitments worth more than $7 billion, aimed at supporting climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation.

But for Harris, this stop was a special one - she visited the southern African nation as a young girl, when her grandfather was stationed here as an Indian diplomat.

"A homecoming" is how Zambia's president described Friday's visit by Harris, as he led her through the lush grounds of the presidential palace where zebras, giraffes and peacocks roamed.

Harris, too, basked in nostalgia as she made an unannounced stop at a property in central Lusaka -- now occupied by a modern, nondescript office compound -- where records show her grandfather once lived.

But this two-day stop at the tail end of her Africa tour also involved a difficult subject -- the landlocked but copper-rich nation was the first African nation to default on its sovereign debt when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. On Friday, President Hakainde Hichilema appealed to Harris for U.S. help in restructuring the debt, which is nearing $15 billion.

"What is keeping us down for now, Vice President, is the debt overhang," he said. "We carry a debt burden that really is making it difficult for us to continue with our restructuring process of the economy. And it's actually beginning to negate on the gains we've already made, such as in the foreign exchange market.

"And the earlier we resolve this matter, the better, and we ask for your support, as always, and the support of others to deal with that. And we know when we unlock the debt, more investments will come, and we know that when more investments come, we will create jobs for our young people."

Harris announced a range of private- and public-sector commitments, covering anti-corruption efforts, economic and democratic reforms, agriculture and more. And she supported his call for restructuring the debt, most of which is owed to Chinese lenders.

"We will continue to advocate for speedy finalization of Zambia's debt treatment and the restructuring, and we have talked extensively about that," she said. "Our administration believes the international community needs to help countries such as Zambia regain their footing. So I will reiterate a call I have made many times for all bilateral official creditors to provide a meaningful debt reduction for Zambia."

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Her visit to Zambia also includes a trip to a farm outside Lusaka and a meeting with entrepreneurs. Throughout this weeklong trip that took her across the continent, Harris has reflected publicly on the historic ties between Africa and the U.S.

She spoke of the evils of slavery -- and the importance of teaching accurate history, even when it is painful -- after she toured the slave dungeons in Ghana's infamous Cape Coast Castle. And she spoke proudly of President John F. Kennedy's historic meeting with the man considered the father of modern Tanzania, its first president, Julius Nyerere.

But Zambia was personal, and the work of her grandfather -- who served as an adviser to Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, in the 1960s -- influenced her own trajectory to the highest office ever occupied by an American woman.

"He cared deeply about freedom and independence," she said of her grandfather. "And I was the eldest grandchild and so I got the benefit and the blessing of a lot of time with him as a young child, where he would really talk about that. ...

"He believed in the nobility of public service. He believed in fighting corruption. These are things we would talk about a lot, and I don't think until I was older I realized how that just subconsciously influenced the way I think in very strong ways."
The Government of Mallorca, Consell de Mallorca, and the Mallorca Tourism Foundation and UNWTO have hosted the second edition of the Sustainable Destinations Summit, gathering leading experts, organizations and companies to share best practices and perspectives on environmental, social and economic sustainability in destinations.

The Summit emphasized tourism as a force for good, with momentum building towards a regenerative and nature-positive future. UNWTO and the Government of Mallorca welcomed more than 400 delegates at this year's event, which showcased the latest developments in sustainability for destinations. Discussions highlighted the interdependence of tourism on natural and cultural resources and the potential mutual benefits, while also providing unique first hand perspectives such as from Chief Frank Antoine from the Bonaparte First Nation, or the view from outer space, as told by Pedro Duque, the first ever Spanish astronaut.

The President of Mallorca Government Ms. Catalina Cladera affirmed that "sustainability is a shared will of Mallorcan society and the axis that marks all the policies of the Consell". Cladera pointed out that Mallorca and the rest of the islands in this community "are taking firm steps not only to continue being the reference destination in the Mediterranean, but also to lead the tourism of the future."

In her keynote address, UNWTO Executive Director Ms. Zoritsa Urosevic emphasized the vital "transition of the sector into a force for good that has a positive impact on the Sustainable Development Agenda and our shared global challenges". She added: "If managed well, tourism can be an agent for change, but such a transition towards a green, regenerative and nature-positive tourism sector is needed can be achieved in a collaborative manner."

Source: UNWTO

Big ambitions and big data

During the two-day Summit, UNWTO provided updates on several of its key sustainability-related activities, including the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Action in Tourism which has so far seen more than 800 businesses, destinations and governments commit to achieving a Net-Zero tourism sector by 2050 at the latest. The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative and the Food Waste programme were similarly highlighted as effective instruments for accelerating this transition.

UNWTO also made tourism data and destination management a central part of the conversation at the Summit. The Measurement of Sustainable Tourism (MST) Framework and the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO), which counts among its Members the Mallorca Observatory, will play a crucial role in monitoring the sector's impact on all three sustainability pillars, enabling an evidence-based and informed decision-making.

Private sector importance

The Mallorca government, through its Tourism Foundation and the Sustainable Tourism Observatory, has established a public-private cooperative network across the island and works closely with UNWTO to advance shared goals.

Representing the private sector, Maria Frontera, President of FEHM, (Mallorcas Hotel Federation) joined Carmen Riu Guell, owner of the RIU Hotels & Resorts chain, to discuss bridging generational perspectives in the pursuit of sustainable tourism development. The event also emphasized the importance of collaboration and circularity in transforming the sector. Additionally, Andreu Serra, Mallorca's Minister for Transition, Tourism and Sports, the president of FEHM, Maria Frontera, Mark Tanzer, Executive Director of ABTA, Miguel Sanz, Director General of Turespana, and Thomas Ellerbeck, Member of the Group Executive Council and Chief Sustainability Officer of TUI Group discussed how destinations committed to sustainability can find a balance between marketing and storytelling.

Closing the Summit, Mrs. Rosa Ana Morillo Rodriguez, Secretary of State for Tourism in Spain, emphasized the crucial role of sustainability for the nation during her closing statement. She acknowledged that tourism is one of the key sectors driving Spain's economy and stressed the need for resilience and competitiveness within the sector

RELATED LINKS

About The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency fostering tourism as a vehicle for equal, inclusive and sustainable development. Working with its Member States, international organizations and the private sector, UNWTO promotes safe and seamless travel for all. UNWTO also works to make tourism the foundation of trust and international cooperation and a central pillar of recovery. As part of the wider UN system, UNWTO is at the forefront of global efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including through its ability to create decent jobs, promote equality and preserve natural and cultural heritage.

Follow UNWTO on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin.
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Neotropical songbirds arrive in the trees at Houston Audubon's High Island bird sanctuaries during April's migration season, filling many of us with a sense of childlike wonder.

A child would be awestruck to see a Blackburnian warbler with its flame-colored throat  and be curious about the bird's 4,000-mile migration from its winter home in northern South America.

It's thrilling to see one, even at my age. And despite a lifetime of studying neotropical migratory songbirds such as warblers, tanagers and orioles, I'm as eager as ever to discover other migratory birds arriving at High Island from faraway lands in Latin America.

I've seen the Blackburnian warbler at its winter home in Ecuador. I've gazed out the passenger jet window to see the Central American and Mexican landmass the bird flies over on its way to the Yucatan Peninsula. I've looked down as the plane flies 600 miles over the Gulf of Mexico to the upper Texas Coast, and I've been dumbfounded that the Blackburnian warbler weighing no more than a dollar bill can make the same trans-Gulf flight.

It amazes me how the bird can fly across the Gulf using nothing but winged muscle power, even against howling headwinds from a sudden April cold front. The adult in me knows that untold numbers of Blackburnian warblers and other migratory songbirds will perish at sea during stormy weather and that many reaching land will crash to death against tall lighted buildings or lighted transmission towers.

More Information MIGRATORY SONGBIRDS Neotropical songbirds such vireos, thrushes, warblers and tanagers are migrating from the tropics to ancestral breeding grounds in North America. Particles of magnetite in their heads enable them to orient by compass directions. They also navigate by the stars and sun while also following landmarks such as coastlines, rivers and mountains. Songbirds migrating overland from Latin America to Texas include the golden-cheeked warbler that arrives from Mexico to breed only in the Texas Hill Country. Where to see migratory songbirds: Houston Audubon Societys bird sanctuaries in High Island

Texas Ornithological Societys sanctuaries in High Island and Sabine Pass

Gulf Coast Bird Observatorys sanctuary at Quintana near Freeport See More Collapse

The Blackburnian warbler flies 2,500 miles from Ecuador to the upper Texas Coast. After stopping in bird sanctuaries to rest and fatten up on insects, the bird will fly about one or two thousand miles to breeding grounds in the Great Lakes, New England or Canada's Maritime Provinces.

But I'm still like a child wondering why the bird undertakes such an arduous journey. The answer isn't clear, but scientists believe an innate biological clock compels the bird to migrate. Experiments show that a neotropical songbird confined to a cage will orient itself northward in the spring and southward in the fall.

When the adult in me remembers that neotropical migratory songbirds have drastically declined because of people's depredations of bird habitat, the child in me weeps.

Email Gary Clark at Texasbirder@comcast.net.








Tim Bristow

An argument at a taco stand Friday night escalated and led to an allegedly intoxicated man getting chased and shot in his arm in north Houston, police said.

The altercation began around 11:30 p.m. at the taco stand at West Rittenhouse and North Lane, Houston police Lt. Ronnie Wilkins said.
Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

Authorities on Friday identified the man shot and killed in what police called a targeted killing on a street near the River Oaks District shopping center.

Darrell Gentry, 26, died in the entrance of a parking garage on Mid Lane after being shot, police said. Gentry was identified by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
Harris County District Attorneys Office

A Houston man will serve the rest of his life in prison for fatally shooting a scrap-metal employee during an armed robbery in northeast Harris County in 2018, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Saturday.

Courtney Cortez Hall, 40, was automatically sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Friday after he was convicted of capital murder for robbing and killing 40-year-old Magdaleno Ramos on Nov. 5, 2018, at the B&M scrap-metal business along the Eastex Freeway.
A suspect fired several rounds inside a west Houston nightclub Friday night, sending patrons scattering, police said.

The shots were fired around 11:30 p.m. at the V Live nightclub in the 6600 block of Harwin, according to Houston police. No one was hit.

A witness who claimed to be in line during the shooting said she got "low to the ground" and saw people "jumping a fence."

"I was suffocating for my life," the witness added.
File photo taken on March 18, 2015 shows Edward Snowden on the display of a camera during a live remote interview at CeBIT 2015, the world's top trade fair for information and communication technology, in Hanover, Germany. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

CAIRO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- While pushing for a ban on TikTok over claims that China uses the popular app to spy on Americans, the U.S. government itself spies on the world by using tech companies that effectively control the global internet, said a report published on the English news website of Al Jazeera.

The U.S. government allows its intelligence agencies to "carry out warrantless spying" on foreigners' emails, phones and other online communications, said the report published on Tuesday.

Compared with other countries, Washington has the advantage of having jurisdiction over the small number of companies that effectively run the modern internet, including Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, it said.

"It is a case of 'rules for thee but not for me,'" Asher Wolf, a tech researcher and privacy advocate based in Australia, was quoted as saying.

File photo taken on Oct. 26, 2013 shows a huge slogan board stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building during a protest against government surveillance in Washington D.C., the United Sates. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

The U.S. targeted 232,432 "non-U.S. persons" for surveillance in 2021, when the most recent year for which data is available, the report said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimates that the U.S. government has collected more than 1 billion communications per year since 2011, according to the report.

There have been some indications that U.S. officials see China, rather than TikTok itself, as the ultimate concern, it noted.

The U.S. moves to restrict TikTok appeared to be "more political than good policy," Vedran Sekara, an assistant professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, was quoted as saying.
press release

African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi Adesina has told a high-level international conference in Berlin that urgent action is needed to reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels and harness Africa's renewable energy sources.

Making his remarks at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, hosted by the German federal government, Adesina called on Germany to invest in a cleaner, brighter, and more prosperous future for Africa. While underscoring Africa's success enormous potential to become a global leader in sustainable development, Adesina highlighted the significant energy challenges millions of Africans still face. In 2022, at least 600 million people did not have access to electricity, and 970 million lacked access to clean energy for cooking.

Adesina said in order to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 of affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, the continent must connect 90 million people annually to electricity by 2030 and shift 130 million people from dirty cooking fuels each year. He acknowledged the scale of the challenge, noting that Africa's energy transition would require an estimated $100 billion annually between 2020 and 2040.

Adesina said Africa's significant reserves of cobalt, manganese, and platinum could be utilised to build a robust manufacturing sector rather than being merely exported as raw materials. Alluding to Europe's push for emissions-free vehicles, the bank president said, "Africa is a crucial source for minerals and metals for clean energy value chains, including electric vehicles and utility-scale battery storage. Africa is therefore the perfect place to build lithium-ion batteries to power German cars." The president also recognised green hydrogen as a low-carbon investment contributing to building decarbonised economies.

While the African Development Bank is spearheading efforts to unlock Africa's vast renewable energy potential, with 86% of its power generation investments in renewables and a ban on coal energy projects, Adesina insisted that natural gas should be a crucial part of Africa's diversified energy mix to guarantee a secure energy supply for industries and residences.

"Africa must be given time to transition and be allowed to use its natural gas resources as a transition fuel, just like it is the case in Germany, as well as Europe," he said. Adesina said while Africa will do everything possible to expand the use of renewable energy, the intermittency sources such as wind and solar made it impossible to guarantee security of supply. "Natural gas is therefore a key part of the energy mix for assuring security of supply and critical for Africa," Adesina said.

The annual Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue is a joint initiative of the German Renewable Energy Federation, the German Solar Association, the German Energy Agency, and consulting firm eclareon. The forum draws a wide range of prominent participants from the energy sector including policymakers and representatives from industry, science, and civil society. It provides a platform for discussion of experiences and ideas on a safe, affordable, and environmentally responsible global energy transition.

Other speakers included Kenyan president William Ruto and German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock. President Ruto urged the audience to "rise to the challenge of genuine partnership" to address the climate crisis and break the cycle of dependence that have plagued Africa for decades. Baerbock in her opening statement said the energy transition was "primarily about our security". "Global security depends on getting away from fossil fuels," Minister Baerbock said.


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Governor Appoints MBTA General Manager

BOSTON  Governor Maura T. Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kimberley Driscoll and Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca announced that, after a comprehensive search, they will be appointing Phillip Eng as the next General Manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

Eng is an engineer with nearly 40 years of experience in transportation, including as President of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Long Island Rail Road and Interim President of New York City Transit.

"Phil Eng is the proven leader the MBTA needs to improve safety and reliability across the system and restore the public's trust," said Governor Healey. "He understands that a functioning transportation system is essential to a functioning economy, and he has a track record of taking the reins of struggling public transit systems and dramatically improving service. He also takes a collaborative approach to his work and maintains open lines of communication with customers, workers, businesses, local officials and communities."

Eng worked his way through the ranks of the New York State Department of Transportation beginning in the '80s, ultimately serving as Executive Deputy Commissioner and Chief Engineer from 2013-2017. He then served as Chief Operating Officer of the MTA, where he oversaw successful efforts to improve performance and efficiency across all agencies, including the NYC Transit Authority, Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road and MTA Bridges and Tunnels. He led the procurement and awarding of a $540 million contract to modernize the MTA's mobile ticketing system and improved the MTA's contracting methods to better ensure that projects would be completed on time, with reduce costs and with improved quality and durability.

"It's time for a new way of doing business at the MBTA. As an engineer, a transportation professional for 40 years, and a commuter myself, I'm laser focused on finding innovative solutions to complex problems and approaching them with a sense of urgency that always puts the customer first," said Phillip Eng. "I'm also committed to supporting the hardworking employees who keep the MBTA running and ramping up hiring to ensure that we have the workforce in place to deliver the reliable service that riders deserve."

Eng was then tapped to serve as Interim President of NYC Transit, where he led a workforce of 50,000 employees and was integral to initiating and implementing the $836 million Subway Action Plan to fix aging infrastructure and improve performance across the system.

From 2018-2022, Eng served as President of the MTA Long Island Rail Road, where he managed a system of 7,600 employees and a $1.6 billion operating budget. He transformed the system from having the worst on time performance in decades to having the most consistent on time performance in the railroad's history. He oversaw the implementation of new technology that improved the accuracy of train arrival time estimates on platforms and led to the release of the new and improved LIRR TrainTime app, which provides the public with up-to-date service information. He also focused on improving relationships with customers, workers, labor, elected officials, local businesses and community leaders through consistent communication, including the launch of "Customer Conversation" forums and "Meet the Manager" station settings.

"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Phil Eng to the position of MBTA General Manager. Phil has a record of achievement in delivering world class transportation services in New York State, managing billions of dollars in capital projects, and launching initiatives to improve the customer experience," said Secretary Fiandaca. "Most importantly, Phil has excelled at finding solutions to challenging problems. It's clear he is focused on customer satisfaction, operational excellence, and championing a safe, reliable transportation system. He has wide ranging experience as an executive manager for mass transit, highways, ports, waterways and aviation facilities. We look forward to having Phil guide and support improvements and innovations at the MBTA."

Since June, Eng has served as Executive Vice President of the LiRo Group, where he advises public and private sector clients on engineering, transportation and infrastructure projects. He has worked with a number of public transportation clients across the Northeast, including the MBTA, on construction management and quality design, assurance and control inspections.

He lives in Smithtown, New York with his wife Carole and will be relocating to Massachusetts to begin his new role on April 10.

Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville will remain with the MBTA and assist with the transition to new management.

"I'm deeply grateful to Jeff Gonneville for his 22 years of dedicated service to the MBTA and for rising to the challenge as Interim General Manager during this critical period. He has ushered in a new era of transparency and communication at the MBTA that I know that Phil Eng will continue to build on. We are pleased that Jeff will continue his service to Massachusetts," said Governor Healey.
Adams Officials Hear Future Capital Plans for McCann

ADAMS, Mass.  The Selectmen and Financial Committee saw the $11.5 million McCann Technical school budget and were presented with some future capital projects

Superintendent James Brosnan explained the budget Tuesday in the Adams Free Library and broke down the Adams assessment of $978,048. This is a slight increase over this fiscal year's assessment of $948,049.

Brosnan noted that this small change is partly driven by the addition of one student from Adams.

"What drove this? One additional student from Adams is in the district," he said. "You'll see that there'll be a lot of swings in this budget when you look at other communities up and down and that's all driven by enrollment  In this case, you only have one change, but that is enough to trigger some changes."

Adams has 139 students enrolled in the district.

He said the budget increases are generally driven by contractual salary obligations, vocational and educational supplies, utilities, and the addition of two more instructors  although some of this is leveraged by an increase in state funding lowering the assessments.

Brosnan was asked about capital projects and quickly went through some of the projects the school has completed within the building through grants, budgeting, and in-house including classroom renovations, shop renovations, and the gym renovation.

He said a more immediate project is addressing some old heating units, many of which are original to the 1960s building.

"I have always said we will do one a year, but then we starting losing two a year," he said. "We want to get those fixed."

He did note that the roof was last done in 1997 so a complete roof replacement is in the school's near future.

"We repair the roof, and we keep it going. It was very well done, but its time has come," he said. "But we know where the leaks are, and we can patch them quickly."

He said this will likely be an Massachusetts School Building Authority project through its accelerated repair program. He said roof projects are typically addressed every 25 years. Currently, McCann's roof is more than 26 years old so he was hopeful McCann could jump up the list.

"So that is going to be an MSBA project down the road, but I won't say when," he said. "I won't predict whether it will be it will be the next year or the year after, but it is pretty close."

He said this project would also likely include a complete window replacement. The current windows are single pane and original to the building.

Brosnan touched on the two new hires in the budget: another information technology instructor and an heating, ventilation and air-conditioning instructor.

He said although the $3 million state-funded HVAC building has yet to break ground, he wants to get the program rolling.

He said there will be an HVAC exploratory this fall, and he hopes to be able to enroll students into the program in January.

This all depends on getting the HVAC structure built and although Brosnan said the project is just in its design phase, he was confident it could go out to bid in the spring.

"I am pushing like heck to get it out to bid in May so we can build it and get going  and I think we are in good shape," he said.

In general, he said shop supplies are also driving the increase. With more students and rising prices, he has had to budget well over $200,000 for supplies.

"The price of anything metal and anything wood has gone up. So, I have an electrical shop and in that electrical shop, they use copper wire. That's going through the roof," he said. "Metal fab, all of the metals that are used, the gases. Advanced manufacturing, all of the metal that goes into it, a very steep increase. And we also had more students. So we are pumping up those shop supplies."

The board and committee members also saw the library budget, Veterans Services budget, and the Council on Aging budget. These budgets were all level funded or only slightly increased.
press release

The African Development Bank Group and the government of Sao Tome and Principe have signed a $3.2 million loan agreement to upgrade the country's National Switch payment system that supports the clearing and settlement of country wide high-value and retail payments.

The upgrade will allow for automatic Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) modules and Automated Clearing House functionalities which strengthen the clearing and settlement of payments. Through RTGS, high-value transfers are settled in the Central Bank in real time, reducing liquidity and credit risks within the system. The upgrading will allow for the surge of digital payment, mobile money and other digital services.

The Board of Directors of the Bank approved the loan on 8th March with funds to be disbursed from the Nigerian Trust Fund. The Fund is one of the Bank Group's arms which assists development efforts of the Bank's low-income regional member countries requiring concessional financing. This funding will supplement an African Development Fund grant of $2 million made in 2017, to support the country with state-of-the-art Automatic Transfer System (ATS+). The African Development Fund is the Bank's main concessional lending window.

The agreement was signed on 23rd March 2023 during a brief ceremony attended by Sao Tome and Principe Minister of Planning, Finance and Blue Economy, Ginesio da Mata, and Bank country manager for Angola and Sao Tome and Principe, Pietro Toigo.

Commenting on the signing, Ginesio da Mata said: "This fund will facilitate the financial inclusion of the population and further digitalization of the financial services."

Toigo said, "We are delighted with the support of the Nigerian Government and the determination of Sao Tome and Principe to integrate its financial system in the continental and global economy."

Amba Mpoke-Bigg, Communication and External Relations Department, email: [email protected]

Technical contact: Alexandre Felisberto Mateus, Senior Country Economist; email: [email protected]
A new report released today by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls for greater support and recognition for fact-checking efforts in Asia amid rising misinformation online and in social media. Launched ahead of International Fact-Checking Day on April 2, the report explores the state of fact-checking initiatives in five countries in the region, where religious and ethnic divisions, social polarisation, authoritarian politics, partisan media, and low media literacy create fertile breeding grounds for misinformation.

In launching, Managing the Misinformation Effect  The State of Fact-Checking in Asia,the IFJ also highlighted the safety risks, challenges, and concerns faced by the increasing ranks of fact-checkers and how the critical and most successful fact-checking endeavours work with and alongside journalists in helping to rebuild public trust in media.

The IFJ said: Fact-checking is a strong ally for journalists on the frontline of the war against misinformation. And although fact-checking requires a specialised skillset, many of these skills, especially verification, are very similar to journalistic procedures.

The report focuses on fact-checking efforts in Indonesia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, outlining the misinformation landscape and fact-checking strengths and achievements, as well as challenges and ways forward. Written by fact-checking experts from each of the countries highlighted, each country report outlines the immense potential of collaboration between fact-checking groups and media outlets, education sectors, governmental bodies, and journalists and media workers unions and associations, among other media stakeholders.

With the legitimisation of fact-checking work over the past decade, the IFJ said the report explores how fact-checkers have proven to be successful in dispelling lies, rumours, and disinformation over critical election periods and through ongoing public health crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic. International funding support and investment in the sector and the evolution of organisations such as the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) have helped raise the profile of the industry and enhance its legitimacy as a critical craft in the war against misinformation and disinformation, it said.

Among its recommendations, the IFJ said mainstream media houses should integrate fact-checking into standard journalistic protocols and rapidly correct their own mistakes and that fact-checks should sit high on daily news agendas.

The report marks a progressive step by the IFJ in Asia to engage with this growing industry and its ranks of workers. The work was co-funded with the support of the European Commission and the Norsk Journalistlag and is part of a collaboration with Internews through the joint project, Stronger media Through Enhanced Freedom of Expression and Right to Information.

The report, produced with the support of Internews and Norsk Journalistlag, marks a progressive step by the IFJ in Asia to engage with this growing industry and its ranks of workers.

While exploring the achievements of fact-checking initiatives, the fact-check report authors also outlined significant challenges in establishing and conducting fact-checking efforts, with the practical concerns of funding and sustainability and also ensuring language diversity in building the effectiveness of monitoring system mechanisms.

Key IFJ findings and recommendations:

Fact-checking is vital in defending democracy by fighting misinformation, encouraging media literacy, and restoring public trust in independent media. All stakeholders, including media outlets, journalists, unions, educators, funders, donors, and fact-checkers themselves, have a role to play in this endeavour.

Media outlets and journalists should support independent fact-checking institutions and the expanding network of fact-checkers regionally and globally.

Media operations should also consider providing fact-checking skills workshops and training to all journalists and media workers to help mitigate the chances of unintentionally publishing misinformation in media reporting.

Fact-checking organisations should protect fact-checkers from any threat to their physical and mental health, including defamation, harassment, abuse, and vicarious trauma.

Social media platforms should ensure that fact-checks are given the same level of visibility as the online misinformation they seek to correct.

Journalist unions should explore and expand efforts to support and represent fact-checkers rights to publish and express solidarity with them by acceptance of their participation as media workers.

Funders and donors should continue to support fact-checking initiatives by supporting their training, start-up, and sustainability programs.

Fact-checking initiatives should consider looking beyond short-term funding models to ensure long-term viability and sustainability.

Fact-checking initiatives should expand their reach to improve media literacy and actively seek support from media outlets, civil society, and human rights defenders in publishing their findings.

Universities and schools should teach skills in critical reading of official information, mass media, and social media to encourage media literacy.

A full list of recommendations is included in the report, available here.

The IFJ said:Fact-checking groups need stability and longevity, built on reliable funding and solid organisational foundations. They also need to look inward and protect their fact-checkers from harm, with an awareness of the threats to their physical safety and mental health that this type of work can entail.

READ THE REPORT HERE.
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At least 26 people were killed and dozens injured as tornadoes swept across the US Midwest and South on Friday.

In the last 24 hours, according to ABC News, there were reports of 57 twisters in seven different states, with the worst damage in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

The most deaths were clustered in Arkansas, where tornadoes touched down in the cities of Wynne and North Little Rock, killing five.

Little Rock mayor Frank Scott told CNN the impact is devastating, with more than 30,000 without power.

Literally, in a matter of minutes, it went through the entire western portion of the city of Little Rock  It just came out of nowhere, he said.

Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and stated on Twitter, We will spare no resource to assist with response and recovery efforts for Arkansans impacted.

Residents of Wynne described a city in disarray.

Im in a panic trying to get home, but we cant get home, Wynne City Council member Lisa Powell Carter said on Friday. Wynne is so demolished. ... Theres houses destroyed, trees down on streets.

In Illinois, the severe weather caused the roof of the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere to collapse, injuring 28 and killing one person in a scene Belvidere police chief Shane Woody called absolute chaos.

I was there within a minute before it came down, Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV of the experience. The winds, when I was walking up to the building, it went like from zero to a thousand within five seconds.

Elsewhere, three people were killed near Sullivan, Indiana; one died in Alabama; and one died in Mississippi, according to officials.

As of Saturday morning, about 70 million people remain under slight risk of severe weather in parts of the Ohio Valley and the Northeast, including New York City, Philadelphia, and parts of the Southeast, according to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center.

The battering weather comes just a week after another round of tornadoes ripped through Mississippi and Alabama, killing 26.
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Cassandra Peterson, famed for her role as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, has said her former home in Los Angeles was haunted and claimed to have seen spectres while living there.

The actor said she warned Brad Pitt about the paranormal activity before he purchased the 1.9-acre property from her 30 years ago, but instead of being scared, he loved it.

Pitt bought the mansion in 1994 for a reported US$1.7m and recently sold it for around US$40m. It comes as a number of Hollywood stars were rushing to sell their multi-million dollar properties before the citys new mansion tax comes into force.

Peterson, 71, said that during her early meetings with Pitt about the mansion, she would warn him about a lot of weird things [that] have been going on there in the house since we moved in.

He was very excited about that, she told People. He thought that was really cool.

The horror hostess detailed the ghostly encounters she and ex-husband Mark Pierson had while living there: Ive seen people walking around upstairs, for example, real people just walking.

One time, [a ghost was] sitting downstairs in front of the fireplace, once walking into my bedroom and back out.

Another time, she claimed she saw a person floating around at the bottom of the pool.

I know it sounds nutty. Im Elvira. I know you expect that from me, right? Peterson joked, adding: I dont have hallucinations, I wasnt high and I cant explain those things.

Cassandra Peterson better know as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, poses next to a mannequin wearing the original dress from Elviras Movie Macabre during the media preview of Juliens Auctions year end event Icons and Idols: Hollywood in Beverly Hills on November 29, 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

She and Pierson had a priest come to perform an exorcism on the house, she told the publication.

I had all kinds of things because it was really getting to a point of like, I dont know if I can continue to live here, she continued.

But Pitt was unfazed by her experiences, she said. We were telling Brad all about that and he loved it. I mean, there are not many buyers who that would be a selling point for, but he was like, Oh, thats so awesome. I love that he appreciated the house so much.

The Babylon star and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie raised their six children in the LA mansion, after two years of marriage. They split in 2016, citing irreconcilable differences, and their divorce was finalised in 2019, but they are in ongoing negotiations over custody of their children and division of their financial assets.

(YouTube)

Peterson described the actor as wonderful and always kind and sweet when they met three times before he bought the house.

People reported on Wednesday (29 March) that Pitt had found a buyer for the estate, which is located in the Los Feliz neighbourhood  just ahead of the 1 April deadline when Los Angeles Measure ULA tax came into place.

The tax requires sellers of properties of more than US$5m and US$10m to pay a four and 5.5 per cent transfer tax respectively, with all funds raised going towards public housing.

Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D also reportedly found a buyer for her 12,565-square-foot home earlier this week. According to TMZ, she closed the sale of the house at US$7.75m, half of the original US$15m price tag.
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A man has been arrested after police were called to a report of someone acting suspiciously near the official residence of Scotlands First Minister.

Police Scotland said they were called to the Charlotte Square area of Edinburgh, where Bute House is situated, at about 7.40pm on Saturday.

The force said that a 28-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Bute House is the official residence of First Minister Humza Yousaf, who took on the role this week after winning the SNP leadership contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: We were called at around 7.40pm on Saturday April 1 to a report of a man acting suspiciously in the Charlotte Square area of Edinburgh.

Officers attended and a 28-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident.

There was no threat to the wider public and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

A Scottish Government spokesman said they are aware of the situation but will not be commenting and said that it is a police matter.
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Three British men are being held in the custody of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

One includes so-called danger tourist Miles Routledge, Sky News reports. Mr Routledge was previously evacuated from Afghanistan by the British armed forces in August 2021, but recently decided to return.

One other British national has been identified as charity medic Kevin Cornwell. The third has not been named but is understood to be a UK national managing a hotel in Kabul.

Mr Cornwell - 53 - was arrested at his hotel by officers from the Talibans General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) in January. He is accused of possessing an illegal firearm, kept in the safe in his room. However, his family have reported that he had been granted a licence for it.

Ive seen the Taliban, Ive been speaking to the locals who have seen them kill people, beat people up for not wearing burqas or for wearing eyeliner or mascara, Mr Routledge told The Spectator after he was safely evacuated to Dubai in 2021.

Mr Routledges Twitter states that he goes to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun, listing off recent destinations as Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ukraine.

In February, he tweeted that if he was ever placed on a no fly list, he would take an Uber to Afghanistan.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told The Independent that it is working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families.

We engage pragmatically with the Taliban on HMG priorities, including consular cases like these, human rights, counter-terrorism and humanitarian. HMG policy is to recognise states, not governments, it added.

We continue to advise against all travel to Afghanistan based on the security risks, including detention.

The Independent recently launched a petition calling for the UK to support Afghan war heroes who served alongside British forces.

Notably, an Afghan war veteran who served alongside British armed forces is among those who have fled to the UK on small boats and are now being threatened with deportation to Rwanda.
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Britains leading expert on autism has urged bosses to end the discrimination against talented people with the condition that condemns them to the dole queue.

Speaking on World Autism Day, Sir Simon Baron-Cohen said it was shocking that nearly nine in 10 autistic people are unemployed.

This was despite many having the unique skills needed to become scientists, technicians and engineers. They were an extraordinary resource that is being wasted because too few companies made them feel welcome.

Autistic people were particularly adept at pattern recognition  one of the key characteristics of successful inventors, Sir Simon said on the Desperately Seeking Wisdom podcast.

Sir Simon, 64, director of Cambridge Universitys Autism Research Centre, said: Autistic people are not defined by their disability - they are simply different and their brains are wired differently.

Job adverts should make it clear that they were actively encouraged to apply  instead of putting them off.

If we are serious about treating people equally we should be offering opportunities to work, irrespective of whether people are autistic.

I want to encourage employers to reach out to them and make job adverts welcoming to neurodivergent people, encouraging them to apply, because there has been some discrimination, perhaps inadvertent, to this group.

Unemployment affects peoples independence, autonomy and mental health and makes them feel excluded from society, Sir Simon told interviewer Sir Craig Oliver, former prime minister David Camerons No 10 director of communications.

The shocking statistic that the National Autistic Society have produced is that 85 per cent of autistic adults are unemployed.

Sir Simon said the number of autistic people who applied for jobs would increase if employers also made reasonable adjustments to the workplace to make them feel at home and get the best out of them.

He has said his interest in autism stemmed from his sister, Suzie, who had serious learning disabilities and who died in 2014.

Sir Simon is the cousin of comedian and actor Sacha Baron-Cohen who played Ali G in the 2002 film Ali G Inda House.

He said some autistic people struggle with empathy through a difficulty in reading peoples faces.

But it was a myth that they were not able to address this issue.

As soon as it is pointed out to them, they have the appropriate response. They want to do something about it and alleviate that persons pain or distress.
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The government appears to have U-turned on a promised ban on the import of fur after months of dithering, prompting outrage from animal lovers and experts.

In a response this week to a petition calling for imports from often-torturous fur farms abroad to be outlawed, the government said it had no plans to change the law.

Humane Society InternationalUK, which has lobbied for years for an end to fur sales, accused ministers of betraying animals and the British public.

Fur farms have been illegal in the UK since 2003, but the country still imports large quantities of fur each year, from centres where conditions have repeatedly been shown to inflict extreme suffering.

More than 670m worth of animal skins have been brought to the UK in 20 years, official figures show.

While Boris Johnson was in No 10, a ban was promised in the Animals Abroad Bill, which the government later dropped after cabinet members Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brandon Lewis and Ben Wallace reportedly vetoed it.

In 2021, the government published a formal call for evidence on the fur trade in Britain, but has failed to release the 30,000 responses.

Various reports have suggested the ban was being dropped, but last month the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) issued a statement denying the government had performed a U-turn, blaming limited parliamentary time for the lack of progress.

Danish mink (Getty)

Its already illegal to import cat, dog and seal fur. Now, via a government petition, a formal response has been issued, reading: Current government policy is to retain existing fur measures. While Defra published a formal call for evidence on the fur trade in Great Britain in 2021, we have no plans currently to make further changes.

Claire Bass, of Humane Society InternationalUK, said: Over three-quarters of the British public back a ban on imports of cruel and dangerous fur but the government simply isnt listening.

Instead it appears happy to remain complicit in a global trade that causes suffering to millions of animals, who are kept in factory farm conditions that are breeding grounds for disease, and could well be implicated in the next global pandemic.

This is a betrayal of both animals and voters, and a sign of a government that underestimates how much Brits wont take no for an answer when it comes to fighting cruelty to animals.

Lorraine Platt, co-founder of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, said the government response was very disappointing. We want to see an end to fur farms abroad, she said.

Blue foxes in Belarus (AFP via Getty Images)

Arctic foxes in Russia (Getty Images)

I expect MPs will be talking to the government about this.

She said with three Private Members Bills on animal welfare currently in Parliament, the message her group was hearing was Youre never satisfied.

Many shoppers buy fur unknowingly, believing it to be fake. The real thing is often cheaper than fake fur because it costs so little to rear animals en masse in cramped, dirty conditions.

Footage and testimonies from inside fur farms have shown mink, raccoon dogs and foxes suffering from infected, painful wounds and mental torture from being caged.

Labour MP Mohammad Yasin said in the Commons on Wednesday that the government had done nothing to tackle the abhorrent global trade.

Defra minister Trudy Harrison said the government was considering responses to the call for evidence and was still building evidence, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade.

Former chief executive of the British Fur Trade Association Mike Moser has also performed a U-turn, and now campaigns for a UK fur ban.
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Former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend 10 years ago, could be released on parole within weeks, his lawyer says.

On 31 March, a parole board in South Africa will consider the case of the athlete who was jailed for shooting Reeva Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door at his home in Pretoria, in 2013.

He fired four high-calibre bullets, saying he believed the noise he heard was an intruder and it was self-defence.

He was jailed for 13 years and five months for murder.

We have been advised by the parole board that the hearing will take place on the 31 March, 2023," his lawyer Julian Knight said. "Its an internal process."

Last summer, Pistorius met Ms Steenkamps father, Barry, as part of the process for seeking parole. He will have served more than half of his sentence.

The process, known as victim-offender dialogue, is an integral part of South Africas restorative justice programme that brings parties affected by a crime together.

Reports said the meeting was organised after Pistorious wrote to the Steenkamps in October, which is thought to be his first contact with the family since his 2014 trial.

A friend who visited him in jail reportedly said he was asking his girlfriends bereaved family to forgive him.

But Mr Steenkamp and his wife, June, have since raised objections to Pistoriuss release although they have no power to block it.

Ms Steenkamp, 29, a successful model, TV personality and law graduate, had been in a relationship with Pistorius for just three months when he shot her.

Mr Knight said that if parole is granted, the Paralympian, 36, would probably leave jail the same day or soon after.

Pistorius, a double-amputee known as the blade runner because of his carbon-fibre prosthetics, is expected to appeal if his application is refused.

Offenders in South Africa are automatically eligible for parole consideration after serving half of their sentence.

Recommended Oscar Pistorius could be released from prison next year after glowing behaviour reports

During his lengthy televised trial, Pistorius used his testimony to apologise to Steenkamps family, telling the court: There hasnt been a moment since this tragedy happened that I havent thought about your family.

He was jailed in 2016, initially for a six-year term. After an appeal by prosecutors who said this was too lenient, the term was increased to 13 years.
Families shelter at a church that is being used as a temporary site for internally displaced people in Ituri, Democratic of the Congo.

opinion

The United Nations Security Council has "strongly condemned" violence perpetrated by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has demanded that militia groups disband. Which militia are involved, and who controls them?

In its statement published Wednesday, the Security Council called for "all members of armed groups [to] immediately and permanently disband, lay down their arms and release children from their ranks".

The Council focused in particular on rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23), whose attacks have increased in recent months in North Kivu, which borders Rwanda.

But this week's quarterly report on the DRC by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Allied Democratic Forces and the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (Codeco) are also responsible for the surge in regional violence, with at least 700 civilians murdered in the first three months of this year.

M23

This Tutsi-led rebel group has seized swathes of territory and advanced close to the regional hub city of Goma, prompting the seven-nation East African Community to authorise the deployment in November of a military force of mostly Kenyan soldiers.

M23 rebels were supposed to leave North Kivu by the end of March, but are have been seen throughout the region.

The Congolese government, independent UN experts and several Western governments say the M23 rebels are backed by Rwanda, a claim denied by Kigali.

The Security Council this week again demanded "that all external parties immediately cease their support" for M23.

The March 23 Movement was formed at the end of the Kivu war in 2009. Under a peace deal signed on 23 March of that year, rebels of Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) were integrated into the Congolese army.

Dissatisfied with the way in which the peace terms were administered, and refusing Kinshasa's attempts to disperse them to other parts of the DRC, the rebels mutinied, murdered their officers and took to the bush with weapons, vehicles and uniforms stolen from army stocks.

The group continues to control large swathes of North Kivu, and is probably financed by the illegal export of the region's raw materials - principally timber and minerals - to or through neighbouring Rwanda.

Allied Democratic Forces

This islamist-alligned militia was formed in Uganda in 1995 with a view to opposing then Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

A series of military defeats in the late 1990s forced group members out of Uganda's western Rwenzori mountains and into North Kivu, where their activities centred on the towns of Beni and Ituri.

With an estimated 500 active fighters, the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State armed group in October 2017 and was listed as a terrorist organisation by the US administration.

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Money, weapons and strategic advice for the ADF are believed to come from islamist organisations in Somalia. The group is locally financed by the illegal export of coffee, timber and gold.

Codeco

The group was formed as an agricultural cooperative in the 1970s, before morphing in the late 1990s into an armed militia mainly fighting to defend Lendu people in Ituri and North Kivu.

Several of the militias that claim Codeco affiliation stand accused of massacres and war crimes by UN officials.

Today the group is described variously as an armed political-religious sect, an association of Lendu militias, and a political-military sect.

They are active in the region of Ituri and are suspected of being involved in several massacres and armed confrontations with the Congolese army.

A neglected human disaster

Bintou Keita, the head of the UN mission in DRC, told the Security Council meeting on Wednesday that the country's "already immense" humanitarian needs continue to increase.

"This humanitarian crisis remains one of the most neglected in the world," she said, calling for funding of two billion euros promised under the UN's 2023 humanitarian plan for the DRC.

At least 2,100 schools have shut their doors in North Kivu and Ituri provinces since January due to conflict, according to the UN's children's agency, which it said has affected some 750,000 children.
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On Friday morning, Evelyn Dieckhaus was supposed to be singing What A Wonderful World in a student play at The Covenant School in Nashville.

Instead, on Friday afternoon, the song was performed less than two miles down the road by country star Vince Gill at Woodmont Christian Church, where an estimated 1,500 people gathered to remember the third-grader gunned down on Monday alongside two other pupils and three school staff members.

It doesnt feel like we live in a wonderful world, Dr Clay Stauffer, the churchs senior minister since 2007, said at Evelyns celebration of life.

It feels like we live in a broken world and a fallen world and a violent world -- and in many ways we do.

But I know this: So much good and love is coming out of this tragedy. So much support and compassion is being shown from all over the world. And so much hurt and pain is being met with love and care. And together were gonna get through this  together, were gonna heal, because were stronger together, he said.

This undated photo shows Evelyn Dieckhaus a student at The Covenant School in Nashville (AP)

Evelyn, who would have turned 10 this summer, died on Monday after 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a former Covenant student, shot through the school doors and entered with three guns, also killing fellow nine-year-olds Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, as well as head of school Kathleen Koonce, 60; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and custodian Mike Hill, 61.

The memorial for Evelyn marked the start of funeral and burial services for Covenant victims as Nashville continued to reel from its first fatal elementary school shooting. After the church sanctuary filled up, well before the start of the 3pm service, additional mourners crowded into two other locations on the church grounds, watching the proceedings streamed on screens.

Lady A performed two songs, followed by scripture readings and What A Wonderful World from Vince Gill, whose voice caught in his throat as he addressed the congregation before singing. Sniffles and quiet crying were the only sounds other than his voice.

Mourners arrive for the celebration of Evelyns life (AP)

Evelyns parens, Mike and Katy, and older sister, Eleanor, were in the front pews, along with her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Then Evelyns fathers brother, Jeff Dieckhaus, stood before the cross-section of her hometown to reflect on her bright but short life.

You are unrepeatable, he said, addressing his late niece. There is a magic about you that is all your own.

He described Evelyns love for music and animals, her soft-spoken nature, her affectionate hugs and her academic diligence, smiling through his grief as he recounted Dieckhaus family time at the lake and other favorite memories of his niece.

An estimated 1,500 gathered to remember the nine-year-old at Woodmont Christian Church, just down the street from the school where she was fatally shot on Monday (Sheila Flynn)

She loved babies and animals and nature, Jeff Dieckhaus said.  She was a deep thinker, and she had a pure and precious faith in God. She loved a good joke, the ones that would make her laugh to the point that her whole body would shake. But mixed in those laughs was this little giggle, its hard to describe unless youve heard it yourself, and even harder to forget.

Evelyn was remembered as a girl who loved animals, babies and music (Sheila Flynn)

Evelyn was soft-spoken and gentle, but certainly not timid, he said. She had the courage of a tiger and a spirit that far outsized her nine-year-old body. Evelyn loved to snuggle and sit on your lap; like a little monkey, she would sometimes crawl up on you, hang from your back or just nuzzle into your side . Many times, she would sit on your lap facing you, smiling before moving in for the most affectionate hug one could give.

He described his niece as everyones friend  she made people feel known and seen, but never judged; she was her own friend group, never one to take sides, but instead try to include everyone, he said.

Young Evelyn made you feel so special, he added. She made you feel important.

The near palpable sadness at Woodmont Christian was mixed with shock and disbelief; mourners arrived in pinks and pastels at the request of the Dieckhaus family to honor Evelyns favorite colours. The church was full of outfits that were, for many, likely intended as Easter ensembles; instead, they were pulled out to grieve for the life of an innocent.

Stuffed animals and comfort service dogs were available for the shell-shocked crowd.

Rev Farrell Mason, who read Scripture from the podium during the service and had been counseling Evelyns family since the shooting, addressed the congregationss mixed feelings during her reflection on hope. She said the events of Monday had shaken her own faith, making her ask of God: Where are you? How do you expect us to go forward? Is it even possible to find hope with enough muscle to keep our hearts beating, to keep us from turning our backs on you, to keep us from giving up on hope once and for all?

Nearby churches and businesses offered messages of support on Friday as Nashville began to lay to rest the first of six school shooting victims (Sheila Flynn)

But she insisted: Hope is real, and God promises, if we hold fast to it, it will not disappoint  later adding: Where there is love, there is hope.

Dr Stauffer, in his closing remarks, alluded to the debate and protests that have followed Mondays tragedy. One day before Evelyns celebration of life, hundreds  many mothers, children and students  demanded gun legislation on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol.

People are going to push for change and reform; they already have, he told mourners. Clearly, weve got some problems that need to be addressed.

There are going to be many painful days ahead, but lets all promise to keep this beautiful family in our thoughts and prayers, he said of Evelyns parents, sister and relatives, praising them for their faith and strength.

A private burial will be held on Saturday for Evelyn, as families and the wider Nashville community prepare to lay to rest the other five victims in the coming days.
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A police manhunt is underway for three men sought after their indictments for fatally drugging and robbing two men at gay New York destinations.

Jacob Barroso, 30; Jayqwan Hamilton, 35; and Robert DeMaio, 34, were indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 23 March.

They face charges of murder, robbery, grand larceny, and conspiracy in the killings of John Umberger and Julio Ramirez last year.

The two men are among at least seven people who died from overdoses after they were slipped drugs laced with fentanyl and other substances at bars and restaurants across Manhattan.

NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig explained that the perpetrators would befriend their victims first: They go up to a male victim, they offer some sort of laced narcotics, and then they rob him of his phone.

The suspects would then use cash transfer apps on the phone to empty bank accounts or other financial apps to the tune of thousands of dollars, according to police.

The city Medical Examiner deemed the deaths of Mr Ramirez, 25, and Mr Umberger, 33, homicides caused by drug-facilitated thefts.

Both victims died from acute intoxication caused by a mixture of fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol, and other drugs.

Mr Ramirez, a social worker from Brooklyn, was found unconscious in the back of a taxi on the Lower East Side in the early hours of 21 April 2022 after a night out at Ritz Bar and Lounge on West 46th Street in Hells Kitchen.

Mr Umberger, a political consultant from Washington DC, was found dead in an Upper East Side apartment on 1 June after visiting The Q, a night club on 8th Avenue, also in Hells Kitchen.

There have been numerous other victims of similar schemes, with police investigating at least 43 incidents that took place all over the city between September 2021 and December 2022, according to The New York Post. Two separate crews of robbers are believed to be behind the crime wave.

In March, Lower East Side fashion designer Kathryn Gallagher, who died on 24 July 2022, was added to the list of victims of death by drug overdose administered by thieves, The Daily News reported.

Chief Essig has stressed in the past that there have been incidents outside of the LGBT+ community.

We dont particularly think theyre targeting gay members, he said. This is based solely on monetary gain.

Nevertheless, concern swept the citys LGBT+ bar scene in late 2022 with local community leaders and venues warning customers to be wary and take measures to ensure their safety.

Only the cases of Mr Ramirez and Mr Umberger have so far been attributed to the three wanted men.

A fourth man, Shane Hoskins, 31, was involved in their cases and has been indicted on robbery, identity theft, grand larceny, and conspiracy charges.

At his arraignment in the Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday, bail was set at $50,000 in cash or $100,000 bond. He is being held on Rikers Island.
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King Charles III won plenty of hearts during his three-day visit to Germany, his first foreign trip since ascending to the throne following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, last year.

Charles' tour saw a number of firsts that show the importance both countries placed on it  at a time when London and Berlin are trying to rebuild relations frayed by Britain's departure from the European Union.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took the unprecedented step of welcoming Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, at the Brandenburg Gate with military honors Wednesday. A day later, Charles became the first monarch to address the Bundestag, the German parliament, stressing the long-standing close ties between both countries and the importance of future cooperation.

Observers in both Germany and the U.K. said the trip sent a strong signal about the enduring strength of British-German relations.

Jens Zimmermann, a lawmaker from Germany's center-left Social Democrats, said Charles sent a clear message by speaking to parliament partially in German.

"The speech in the Bundestag was very well-received," Zimmermann told The Associated Press. It was much more political than you might have expected. It was very connecting  I think that was very good.

In the speech, Charles emphasized that London and Berlin have provided considerable aid to Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russias invasion  praise that will have been gratifying to a German government more used to claims it's not doing enough to help Kyiv. Zimmermann said Charles thanking Germans for taking in so many Ukrainians seeking shelter from the war might also be seen as a roundabout criticism of the British government's recent anti-refugee policies.

Although King Charles cannot pass legislation or directly impact British policy, the soft power of his visit should not be underestimated, Zimmermann said.

Others said that after the pandemic's long-distance diplomacy, in-person visits like Charles' can help deepen and renew relationships between leaders.

I think as coronavirus has faded, weve been reminded of the value of face-to-face meetings, said Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank.

And it just does add something to relationships, particularly between heads of state, who are very insulated," she said. "I think it has been received very well.

Charles originally planned to visit France first, but anti-government protests there led both governments to postpone that part of his trip. The new itinerary put the focus on Germany, where Charles has family roots and the royals have long been the subject of keen interest.

That fascination was on display among the German public at Charles' appearances. Despite the wet and cold spring weather, well-wishers waited patiently to greet Charles and Camilla at their stops in Berlin and Hamburg, a city that sees itself as having a particularly close connection to Britain due to its long seafaring and trading ties.

Charles and Camilla also laid a wreath at the remains of St. Nikolai church to commemorate the more than 30,000 people, mostly German civilians, who were killed in Operation Gomorrah, the Allied bombing of Hamburg in July 1943. A boat trip and a farewell reception involving musical performances, including by a Beatles cover band and a sea shanty group, rounded off the kings visit on Friday.

Michael Kruse, a lawmaker with the pro-business Free Democrats who like Zimmermann is a member of the German-British parliamentary group, said the two countries continue to have many common economic interests despite Britain's divorce from the EU.

The channel has widened due to Brexit, he said. That's why the visit by Britain's head of state was all the more important.

Kruse voiced a hope shared by many in Germany, that London will find its way back into the 27-nation bloc.

My hope is still that the British will someday recognize Brexit was a mistake and return to the EU, he said. The door should always be open for this. Until then, we say: see you again, King Charles III.

___

Danica Kirka in London contributed.
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Rep Lauren Boebert of Colorado has often invoked her Christian faith to explain her far right political beliefs.

But when it comes to her 17-year-old son Tyler, whose teenage girlfriend is pregnant, Ms Boebert took a more circumspect approach. In an interview on The Rubin Report on Thursday, host Dave Rubin asked the second-term congresswoman about how she regards the prospect of becoming a grandmother at the age of 36.

Obviously, Im a Christian, and there are standards that we like to uphold, but none of us do it perfectly, Ms Boebert said. One of the biggest things that I look to is him who knows to do right and doesnt, its sin.

Ms Boebert said people can nitpick what the Bible says is right and wrong, but the most important thing is having that heart posture of wanting to serve God.

Ms Boebert said her young son, who is unmarried, was hoping to go to the Universal Technical Institute in Florida, but is now planning on staying at home in Colorado and taking petroleum engineering classes at Colorado Mountain College Rifle.

Would I have chose a different path [for him]? Of course, Ms Boebert said. But this is where were at, and were all embracing it, and were so happy.

There are upsides to the pregnancy, Ms Boebert said.

I get to have him home with me longer, and I get to be GG, she told Rubin. So certianly there are some beliefs that you are like, Wait, this isnt exactly right and exactly what we have taught you, but this is where were at. And were going to teach you about redemption and how to move forward. So Im happy that hes close to me and I get to instruct him now on how to be a loving father and how to raise a baby.

Ms Boebert was herself a teenage mother, concieving a child then-boyfriend Jayson Boebert and giving birth for the first time at the age of 19. Ms Boebert, who dropped out of high school and later married Mr Boebert and had three more children, reportedly became a born-again Christian in 2009.

She is a fierce opponent of abortion, favouring bans on the practice and even suggesting adding human babies to the endangered species list at a Congressional hearing earlier this month, and has also said that she does not support the separation of church and state.
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Within hours of the announcement of the indictment against him on Thursday, former president Donald Trumps 2024 campaign swung into action, pushing out fundraising emails to his loyal supporters.

Railing against the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury for his role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, Mr Trump promised in the email that this witch hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden.

Ever since I ran for president as a complete political outsider, the corrupt ruling class has tried to shut down our America First movement, the email reads.

The Deep State will use anything at their disposal to shut down the one political movement that puts you first.

The campaigns efforts appear to have paid off. A press release on Friday boasted that Mr Trump had raised more than $4m in the 24 hours following Manhattan district attorney Alvin Braggs unprecedented political persecution of the president.

Notably, the campaign claims that more than a quarter of the donations came from first-time donors.

As The Independent previously reported, Mr Trump launched a media frenzy with a false prediction of his imminent arrest on 19 March, which his campaign seized for a series of fundraising messages that netted millions within days.

While Republican lawmakers and potential presidential rivals have largely circled the wagons around Mr Trump, decrying the indictment as highly political  an apparently tearful senator Lindsey Graham made his own fundraising plea in one appearance on Fox News  the former president has been shuttered away at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach residence in Florida.

Other than an appearance alongside former first lady Melania Trump at the private members club at the centre of the property, Mr Trump has been furiously posting on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The posts have ranged from a stream of cable news clips of his allies voicing their support and decrying the indictment, to angry tirades against individual prosecutors  Mr Trump even attacked Mr Braggs Trump-hating wife in one post  as well as Judge Juan Merchan who has been assigned the case.

Judge Merchan presided over both the tax fraud trial of the Trump Organisation and the trial of the companys longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg in late 2022. The former president said he is appealing the assignment.

Amid cries of election interference and kangaroo court, Mr Trump also posted a list compiled by the campaign of lawmakers, district attorneys, and other notable Republicans who have spoken out in his defence.

Notably missing from the list is Florida governor Ron DeSantis, his one-time ally, now foe and principal rival for the 2024 campaign, but who nevertheless had tweeted that the legal system was being weaponised to advance a political agenda.

In one of his more ebullient but still outraged screeds proclaiming his innocence, the former president proposed that after eight years of variously politically motivated investigations, hoaxes, scams, and witch hunts he must be the most honest and honourable man anywhere in the world as nobody else has ever undergone such scrutiny.

Despite such protestations, on Monday he will fly to New York, landing at LaGuardia Airport before spending the night at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. On Tuesday morning, he will report to the courthouse downtown to answer the charges against him. After processing, his case will be heard at 2.15pm in front of Judge Merchan.

In sync with his fundraising emails, Mr Trumps Truth Social profile features a tagline aimed squarely at his bases distrust of government and the Deep State that is fast becoming the centre of his campaign to return to the White House: Theyre not coming after me, theyre coming after you  Im just standing in their way.

If the Manhattan grand jurys indictment of the former president, or any of the other cases he faces, really do prove his undoing, he appears to go down swinging, and loudly.
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King Charles has left a positive impression among Germans after his three-day visit to the country, his first trip abroad since the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last September.

Observers in both London and Berlin said the visit sent a strong message to strengthen ties between the two countries following Britains exit from the European Union.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed Charles and Queen Consort Camilla at the Brandenburg Gate with military honours on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Charles became the first monarch to address the German parliament, the Bundestag, where he stressed the long-standing close ties between both countries.

This friendship meant so much to my beloved mother, the late Queen, who often spoke about the official 15 visits she often made to Germany, he said.

The visit comes as the two sides are trying to rebuild relations after Brexit.

According to Jens Zimmermann, a lawmaker from Germanys centre-left Social Democrats, Charles speech in the German parliament, which was delivered partially in German sent a clear message.

The speech in the Bundestag was very well-received, Mr Zimmermann was quoted as saying to the Associated Press.

It was much more political than you might have expected. It was very connecting  I think that was very good.

In his speech, Charles praised both London and Berlin for providing aid to Ukraine as the Russian invasion of the country continues in its 13th month.

The speech comes as Germany has faced pressure from Western countries for not doing enough to help Ukraine.

Mr Zimmermann said Charles thanking Germans for taking in so many Ukrainians seeking shelter from the war might also be seen as a roundabout criticism of the British governments recent anti-refugee policies.

Michael Kruse, a lawmaker with the pro-business Free Democrats, said the two countries continue to have many common economic interests.

The channel has widened due to Brexit, he said.

Thats why the visit by Britains head of state was all the more important.

The focus of Charles trip to Germany came after his initial plan to visit France first was put off following anti-government protests in the country.

Charles and Camilla also laid a wreath at the remains of St Nikolai church to commemorate the more than 30,000 people, mostly German civilians, who were killed in Operation Gomorrah, the Allied bombing of Hamburg in July 1943.

The Kings visit concluded on Friday with a boat trip and a farewell reception involving musical performances, including by a Beatles cover band and a sea shanty group.

Observers in London said that the visit has helped in renewing diplomatic ties between the two countries.

I think as coronavirus has faded, weve been reminded of the value of face-to-face meetings, Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank, was quoted as saying.

And it just does add something to relationships, particularly between heads of state, who are very insulated, she said.

I think it has been received very well.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Pope Francis quipped that he is still alive as he left a hospital in Rome on Saturday after he was discharged following treatment for bronchitis.

The 86-year-old pontiff was taken to hospital on Wednesday after complaining of breathing difficulties, raising fresh concerns over his health.

The Vatican said that he was treated with antibiotics administered intravenously.

Before leaving the Gemelli University Hospital, Francis shared an emotional moment with a Rome couple whose young daughter died on Friday night at the facility, one of the largest private hospitals in Europe.

Serena Subania, mother of five-year-old Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the Pope, who put a hand on the womans head, reported Associated Press.

The Pope also met a boy who showed him his arm cast, which he then proceeded to sign.

He was seen making a gesture as if to ask: Do you have a pen?

A papal aide handed Francis one, and the Pope autographed the cast.

Francis told reporters that he did feel chest pain, a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital earlier this week.

He later sat in the front seat of a white Fiat 500 car which drove him away from the hospital.

It was reported that instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped past Vatican City.

The Pope was apparently heading to a Rome basilica which is one of his favourites.

The pontiff suffers from a range of ailments including shortness of breath, and has had respiratory problems in the past.

He had part of one lung removed in his early twenties when training to be a priest in Argentina.

He was treated at the same Gemelli hospital in 2021 to remove a part of his colon.

He suffers from diverticulitis, a condition that can infect or inflame the colon.

His latest hospital stay has revived speculation over a possible resignation on health grounds, which would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who died in December almost a decade after stepping down as head of the Catholic Church.

However, Francis has indicated he would follow the example only if he were gravely incapacitated.

Vatican officials said on Friday that the Pope would be at St Peters Square for Palm Sunday Mass to mark the start of Holy Week, which culminates on Easter Sunday, 9 April.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Russia has taken over as president of the UN Security Council despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraines foreign minister described the decision as indicative that something is wrong with international security structures.

Russia replaced Mozambique on Saturday, 1 April despite protests from Ukraine that urged members to block the move. Around 50 Ukrainians protested in front of the UNs office in Brussels on Saturday afternoon, waving a mixture of Ukrainian and EU flags.

About 50 Ukrainians demonstrate at the Avenue des Arts, in front of the office of the United Nations on April 1, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium (Getty Images)

Comprised of 15 members  five permanent members and 10 non-permanent - the UN Security Council rotates on a monthly basis. Notably, Russia last held the presidency in February 2022, the month it began its special military operation in Ukraine.

Russian presidency in the UNSC is a stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning, Dmytro Kuleba  Ukraines minister of Foreign Affairs  tweeted on Saturday.

A state that systemically ruins international peace and security will be presiding over the body tasked with maintaining them.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, Ukraines presidential adviser, added that an entity that wages an aggressive war, violates the norms of humanitarian and criminal law, destroys the UN Charter, neglects nuclear safety, cant head the worlds key security body.

The UK, US, France and China are the remaining permanent members of the Security Council. Its main responsibility involves maintaining international peace and security, describing its function as taking the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression.

Vassily Nebenzia, permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, speaks during a meeting of the UN Security Council, March 29, 2022, at United Nations headquarters (AP)

In 2022, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused the UN Security Council of failing to take sufficient action to prevent Russias invasion, demanding it dissolve altogether. Likewise, Mr Zelensky has also called for Russias member status to be revoked.

As a permanent member, Russia has the power to veto resolutions. In February 2022, it vetoed a move intending to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, further rejecting a resolution calling for the reversal of its illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions in September.

Taking over from Mozambique, today, April 1, Russia is preparing to assume the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (Getty Images)

For a resolution to be passed by the Security Council, there must be nine votes in favour and zero votes against from any of the five permanent members. The council works alongside the remaining 10 non-permanent member countries, which, as of 2023, are Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

However, the UN Charter does not currently allow for the removal of a permanent member. This week, the White House stated that it expects Moscow to continue to use its seat on the council to spread disinformation, acknowledging that this bureaucratic element is, sadly, a reality.

Unfortunately, Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and no feasible international legal pathway exists to change that reality, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
A quick-thinking 10-year-old girl saved a stranded giant octopus during a day at the beach with her family.

The giant Pacific octopus, which weighed a whopping 100lbs, was found twisting around on a mud flat in a Washington state park before being safely returned to the ocean.

The octopus had been kept alive by the 10-year-old who used her sand bucket to keep the cephalopod wet before help arrived.

Park ranger Brandon Hoekstra and Annie England were alerted by the unidentified family visiting the park from Canada before a team of reserve workers headed to the scene.

I wasnt anticipating finding such an alive, healthy octopus, Ms England, an environmental educator, said.

She added: She [the girl] was taking water with her little sand bucket, and she was filling it up and she was pouring it on top of the octopus.

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Former President Donald Trump will not be handcuffed when he surrenders in New York to face criminal charges next week, his defence lawyer Joe Tacopina said.

Susan Necheles, another Trump attorney, said the former president will plead not guilty.

Mr Tacopina said, while Trump was not expected to be cuffed, he likely would be fingerprinted and undergo other routine protocols when going to court on Tuesday April 4.

The 45th president is to face charges in an indictment handed down by a grand jury probing a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

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Hon Alhagie S. Darboe, member for Brikama North and Minority Leader, has said the National Assembly is committed to fighting any form of corruption and would exercise its powers to the fullest to curb corruptible phenomenon in governance.

Hon. Darboe made this statement on Thursday at the National Assembly when he was moving a motion to adjourn the assembly sine-die.

"Collectively, we can tackle other social challenges as a nation, especially on matters of security," he said, adding that the issue of over pricing imposed by businesspeople should also be looked at very well and condemned to discourage such conducts.

"I have to thank all members for their dedication to duties throughout this period," he stated, adding that the Assembly considers and adopts reports and proceedings of the daily seatings as required by law," Hon Darboe explained.

"This assembly will continue the interaction with the executive on questions-and-answer sessions with minister as it concerns their respective portfolios."

For his part, member for Upper Nuimi, Hon Omar Darboe, who seconded the motion, spoke on the Hakalang Road, saying the people of Upper Nuimi "are really concerned" about it. He informed deputies that "work is very slow and people are not happy".

"Therefore," he pleaded, "I am appealing to the Hon Minister of Works to at least talk to the contractors to fast-track the implementation of the contract before the actual agreement date."

On the issue of Kunta Kinteh Island, the Upper Nuimi NAM expressed his concern, saying the Island is getting eroded by the river day by day and the people of Nuimi are afraid that they may lose the Island. "I am therefore calling on the Hon Minister of Tourism to quickly intervene to restore this island," he said.

"This is the island that the Ministry is using to showcase the tourism products abroad. Therefore if the island is protected, we believe that the tourism industry of this country would move forward."

Dilating on government contracts to contractors, the Upper Nuimi member said: "The government is losing a lot of money through procurement, and if we don't change our attitude, this country would be very difficult to develop."

He added: "People have to be honest and serve their nation because that's the only way "we can move this country."
Oscar Pistorius is to stay behind bars after being denied parole on Friday, 31 March.

The former paralympic athlete is serving 13 years in prison for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her multiple times through a toilet door in his home a decade ago.

Officials previously insisted Pistorius was eligible to apply for parole having served half his sentence.

On Friday it emerged that they had received and ignored a letter from a top South African appeals court explaining that Pistorius needed to serve another year and a half in jail before being considered for parole.

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Volodymyr Zelensky called for Bucha to become a symbol of justice on the one-year anniversary of Russias withdrawal from the town.

The Ukrainian president visited the martyred town now synonymous with war crimes allegations to mark a year of its liberation.

During his visit, Zelensky met 85-year-old Hryhorii Zamohylnyi who stayed at home during the hostilities and the occupation of Bucha.

Ukraine estimates that around 1,400 civilians died around Bucha, and 637 in the town itself.

Efforts to repair, and in many cases rebuild, Bucha is underway after Russian forces destroyed houses, bridges, roads and government buildings.

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Hundreds of protesters in Dublin have decried the ending of the eviction ban.

The protest came on the first day of the end of the no-fault eviction ban, which ended at midnight on March 31.

The eviction ban meant tenants could only be ejected over reasons like anti-social behaviour or damage to the property, but the Irish Government has argued that extending the ban would decrease the available supply of housing.

Expand Close People taking part in a cost-of-living demonstration outside Dail Eireann (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook

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In a vote on Wednesday evening the Government defeated a Sinn Fein Bill which attempted to extend the eviction ban until the end of January 2024.

Carrying signs reading rent control now, the crowd of demonstrators outside Leinster House called for homes for people, not for profit.

Disability and homelessness campaigner Kayleigh McKevitt said the rises in cost of living and housing prices have had a serious impact on her mental well-being.

Expand Close Disability campaigner Kayleigh McKevitt speaks to the crowd outside Dail Eireann, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Disability campaigner Kayleigh McKevitt speaks to the crowd outside Dail Eireann, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

I knew from the get-go when I moved into independent living that I would have to be financially smart because as a person with a disability on disability allowance we dont get very much, she said.

Even being financially smart isnt cutting it any more.

I cant buy a full weekly shop because I cant afford it.

Ms McKevitt added: This Government is sending me further into depression.

She also questioned the Governments will to help the most vulnerable.

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Whatsapp Ms McKevitt said the issue was driving her into depression (Niall Carson/PA)

When is this going to stop? Why does it have to keep falling on people who havent got the resources to change it for themselves? she asked.

Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly spoke at the protest.

We are here today because we know the reality  we know what is facing people who are terrified of having the only safety net taken away from them, she said.

Shame on this Government, shame on those independents who supported them, shame on every housing minister who has brought us to this point.

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Whatsapp The housing crisis was described as one of the greatest political challenges by the Taoiseach (Niall Carson/PA)

Ms OReilly spoke of her own experience with homelessness in light of the ending of the eviction ban.

I dont know if anyone in the Government was ever evicted into homelessness, but I was, she said.

I felt ashamed because I couldnt provide a house.

She continued: When I think about that now and I think about people who are facing eviction and facing homelessness, they should not feel any shame, the shame is not theirs, the shame is the Governments.

There are 11,742 people in emergency homeless accommodation as of last month, according to the Governments official tally.

In a speech in the Dail on Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the housing crisis is one of the greatest political challenges of our time.
Bagging the EUs new financial crime watchdog is likely to be a tougher task now than it was in 2017, as the Government grapples with a dire housing crisis and a trickier approval process in Brussels.

Six years ago, Dublin narrowly lost out to Paris in a race to secure the EUs banking regulator post-Brexit, after dropping its bid to lure the medicines agency away from London.

This time around, the Government is again facing off against the French capital, as well as major financial centres Frankfurt and Luxembourg and six other countries: Spain, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Latvia and Lithuania.

Not only will Finance Minister Michael McGrath have to convince his 26 EU counterparts that Dublin is the best place to house the blocs new anti-money laundering agency (AMLA), he will also have to win round MEPs, who are extremely critical of Irelands record on dealing with tax evasion and enforcing data protection.

It is the first time the EUs 705 MEPs have had a say in where a new agency is located, following a court case last year.

Dutch MEP Paul Tang, one of the lead MEPs on the laws underpinning the new agency, has previously called on Ireland to tackle phantom investment by companies parking their money here to avoid paying taxes.

Fianna Fail MEP Billy Kelleher, who sits on the European Parliaments economic affairs committee, said Ireland has made significant progress on eliminating tax loopholes and shell companies in the last number of years.

Dutch MEP Paul Tang has previously called on Ireland to tackle phantom investment

There is a strong view now that there is integrity in our system, he said. We should never be shy in putting Ireland forward for new agencies. It does bring a certain prestige.

He said there was quite intense lobbying for the seat from a number of countries, with France last week holding a launch event in Brussels to promote its own bid.

In a statement last December, Paris  which hosts the European Banking Authority, along with international organisations including the IMF and OECD  highlighted its real estate offering and rail and air links to the rest of Europe.

Boris Rhein, the minister-president of the state of Hesse, pointed to Frankfurts dense network of expertise  Frankfurt is home to the European Central Bank and a plethora of international lenders  while Frankfurts deputy mayor, Stephanie Wust, boasted of the citys affordable housing for families, high-quality healthcare and wide range of international schools.

Luxembourg is home to the European Court of Justice, the European Stability Mechanism (the eurozones bailout fund) and the European Investment Bank.

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Finance Minister Michael McGrath said Irelands significant financial services sector, highly skilled labour force and strong relations with its EU partners make the country an ideal location for the new authority.

He did not mention housing.

The private rental market is chronically starved of homes according to property website daft.ie, with the Simon Community charity saying it is no longer an option for those on housing assistance payments. The Government this week survived a second confidence motion over the lifting of its evictions ban, but also heard that US multinationals see housing as their number one challenge to investment and expansion in Ireland.

Staff at the new EU agency are now set to number 500, up from the 250 initially proposed, with many likely to be brought in from abroad, according to Stephen Rae, publisher of news service AML Intelligence and former group editor of this newspaper.

But he said that Dublin has a lot to offer in terms of commercial office space and said the Government has a really good chance of winning.

We just lost the European Medicines Agency and European Banking Authority by a short length, he said, referring to Irelands 2017 bids. There is an element that Ireland is owed a European agency. It would be quite a prize. But its going to be a fight.

The agency is part of a major overhaul of the EUs financial rulebook, first proposed in 2021

The new agency will be responsible for directly supervising a small number of the blocs riskiest financial firms  with the power to order on-site inspections and issue fines  and coordinating the work of national authorities, such as the Garda Financial Intelligence Unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The agency is part of a major overhaul of the EUs financial rulebook, first proposed in 2021, which would shed more light on beneficial ownership of assets, see the EU directly supervise the riskiest financial firms, and bring crypto traders, crowdfunding platforms, fintechs and golden visa schemes into the supervisory net.

Irelands bid comes just weeks after it closed a controversial golden visa scheme  the Immigrant Investor Programme  that was dominated by Chinese millionaires.

The EU had previously said it wanted the agency up and running by the beginning of 2024, but the package of rules setting it up has yet to be voted into law by MEPs and EU governments. It is not set to be fully operational until 2026.

Irelands EU commissioner, Mairead McGuinness  who is responsible for financial services  has no say in where the agency is located. Its good that there is an interest in this, she said recently.
It was an innocent question, posed by her middle child, that gave Anne Tiernan pause for thought. He said, Mummy, why didnt you grow up to be anything? Tiernan says, laughing at the memory. I was reaching a stage where if I wiped the bloody kitchen bench down one more time, I would lose my mind. I had to do something with my brain. It was now or never.

Contrary to her young sons beliefs, Anne Tiernan had already led a fairly interesting life by then. Despite having a long-held dream to write fiction, she moved from her English/psychology degree into a banking job in Dublin. Fast-forward a couple of years, and twentysomething Tiernan had bought a small flat in Chapelizod, and felt like she had life pretty much sewn up. I really thought, This is it. Im set up for life, she laughs. Only a few months later, she met her now-husband, a New Zealander backpacking around the world. The snag was that his visa was about to expire.

After thinking about it for about five minutes, they moved to New Zealand. A few months after that came another massive curveball, when Tiernan found out she was pregnant with the first of her three children. I think if you told me before I left [Ireland] that Id never be back living there again, I wouldnt have gone, she tells me from her home in Tauranga, on the countrys North Island. Good job you dont know how momentous these decisions are when youre making them.

Her twenties, Tiernan says, were about working enough to enjoy herself and have fun on the weekends, while her thirties were about chaos and babies. At 40, she began to write articles and short stories. And thats when Joy arrived into her head.

I had this single image in my head of a woman in a coma, surrounded by her adult children, and there being a lot of ambivalence and conflict [in that scene], she recalls. At the time, I had no idea how shed even gotten there. I procrastinated starting a novel because I thought youd have to have the whole thing mapped out, with corkboards and Post-it notes. And it was actually Tommy [Tiernan, Annes brother] who said to me, Just sit down and see what happens. Dont wait for the big story to come to you. Just start writing.

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Tiernan wasnt to know it at the time but in writing Joys story, and the stories of her three grown-up children, she would eventually process a seismic event in her own life. Her mother, Helen, took her own life in 2010, after struggling with mental health challenges such as depression and alcoholism for many years.

At the time of her mothers death, Tiernan was living in New Zealand and heavily pregnant with her second child. She went into labour a day later, finding herself in the peculiar position of mainly feeling a post-birth elation, despite the circumstances into which her child had been born.

I was very physically removed from her death, she says of her mum. I couldnt come back for the funeral. I came back to Ireland a few weeks later and stood by her graveside, and I think it still didnt mean anything to me. Part of it was the physical distance and having the new baby. But a lot of it was the emotional distance between myself and my mum. There were just so many conflicting emotions that I had, and I think sadness was the least of them.

It has only been in more recent years that she has been able to feel differently about Helen.

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Where I was probably angry, now I look back and understand how suicidal people feel, how desperate they are. How they think, she says. To them, its the most selfless thing in the world. They honestly believe they are doing the world a favour, and doing the people they love a favour. Now, I have so much more compassion for her and what she went through. At the time, though, I was more like, Mum, your timing just sucked.

And I think part of me  and this is really hard to admit  but part of me was relieved, as I felt life was not going to end well for my mum, she says. There was no way she was going to go happily in her sleep. I think for my entire life, Ive been holding my breath. Youre not glad or anything like that, but its more like, Okay, so now I know how this ends.

Her bother Tommy, too, recently echoed this sentiment when he talked about his mothers death: I think my mam, she obviously found things incredibly difficult, he told Ray DArcy on RTE Radio 1 in January.

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But she also lived at a strange distance from us, even though she was in the same house as us. There was a part of her that wasnt comfortable or couldnt cope with, or didnt want or wasnt able for maybe  a better way of saying it  the kind of intimacies of family life.

Helen was well known and highly respected in the familys native Navan, as one of the women who set up the towns first refuge for women.

There were always kids from the refuge or the neighbours kids running in and out of the house, Tiernan recalls. She was still loving and warm, but for some reason she found motherhood very difficult, and found showing love to us very difficult. I dont remember Mum being very physical or tactile with us. She just had this barrier.

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The one thing that strikes me is that there was so much potential there, she says. She went to art college but had to leave early because her dad died. She was always doing these little sketches, but she never worked, apart from the refuge. And when she had that, she was happier, being involved in something outside of the house and outside of the children. Part of her depression came from maybe a lack of fulfilment with her life. Children and motherhood wasnt enough to fill her up. She could cope with us and we were well looked after physically, but I think emotionally, there was something there.

Writing The Last Days of Joy, then, became a way for Tiernan to process and grieve for Helen. When I read it back, I can still feel that sense of acceptance, she says.

While Helens and Joys stories share commonalities, this is by no means a simple reimagining of her mothers life and death. The emotional truth is very much present in The Last Days of Joy but, Tiernan says, she branched out in the telling of Joys story. While Joy has had an especially difficult upbringing, Tiernan says that she never got to ask her own mother too much about her own childhood.

In the beginning of the story, Joy wakes one morning and decides that this is the day she will take her own life. She pens a note to her elder daughter, Franny, and tapes it to the back door, but Joy survives her suicide attempt.

In a coma but heading inexorably toward death, her three grown children find themselves united at her New Zealand bedside. Of Joys children, theres Conor, the eldest and a high-profile charity executive and one of the countrys most famously eligible bachelors. Next, theres Frances, a wife and tiger mum-of-one who lives near to her mother in New Zealand, although their relationship registers on the chilly side. The youngest is Sinead, a once-celebrated writer now living a precarious existence in Dublin after her career and creativity have hit an obstacle. Each one has their own hang-ups and foibles on board, and the siblings interactions with each other are by turns raw and darkly funny.

We find a lot of humour in talking about childhood, and even talking about Mum. Something like that brings you together, that common kind of experience

Part of the book is told from Joys perspective as she hovers between life and death in an altered state of consciousness  something that Tiernan researched in the book Inside Coma by Pierre Morin and Gary Reiss. Joy revisits certain flashpoints in her life, including her painful childhood, her difficulties with raising small children, and the car accident that altered her life forever.

Going inside Joys head, that was a dark place to go, but it was also really good fun, she says. Its a real gift for a writer, if you can sort of be in some strange reality. Youre not really tied to any sense of realism.

Tiernan writes with particular acuity about motherhood: Joy and Frances are very different as parents, but both of them go to bed full of regret, vowing to be better parents in the morning.

None of us are the mothers we think were going to be, and none of us get the mothers we think we deserve, Frances says at one point.

I mean, that was me, going to bed thinking, Why did I yell at the kids? or Who cares if there are crumbs on the couch? Tiernan smiles. I imagine my mum must have felt like that.

I remember one night, when I was in bed asleep, she came in to me and said, Anne, Im really going to try better. Im going to try. I know I need help. And she just walked out again.

Though Tiernan didnt directly mine the relationships she has with her siblings, Tommy, Niamh and Brian, theres an element of the fictional siblings dynamic that she can relate to.

Were very close, the four of us, and when we were children, we werent that close, but I think that sometimes happens in households where theres, you know, a bit of dysfunction, she says. I think you all kind of retreat into yourself and youre kind of quite separate.

But as adults, were close. With us, we find a lot of humour in talking about childhood, and even talking about Mum. Something like that brings you together, that common kind of experience.

As an early reader, Tommy has become one of the books biggest champions. I mean, I could have probably sent him a pile of shite and hed say, Thats great, I love that, Tiernan says. Hes very supportive and generous, and one of the kindest people I know. I think the persona that you see, not so much on stage but on his chat show, is one where hes very curious and intelligent. He just loves people and draws out stuff from them. And now, we see him with his little granddaughter and its just so lovely. But Im really proud of him as an artist, as hes always been prepared to push himself.

Given its themes, The Last Days of Joy certainly has sorrow and sadness in spades, yet it is undercut with a surprising and welcome dash of mordant humour.

I just think tragedy and comedy are very close together, Tiernan says. Look, theres no subject that I think you cant approach with humour. I dont think anything is out of bounds really, even stuff like suicide and alcoholism. One early reader of the book did say to me, There are times where the kids are a little bit irreverent about whats just happened [to Joy] but  and I dont know about you  but certainly within my Irish family, thats how we approach things.

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Comedy is a handy Trojan horse from within which to explore several difficult topics: in this book alone, suicide, a tragic car accident, failure, MeToo and the wounds passed from generation to generation all feature heavily. For all the humour in the book, Tiernan definitely feels a sense of responsibility towards readers who might have experienced the same.

I did worry that people will think Im making light of [suicide], she says. My mothers death was a terrible thing to have happened, but then I felt quite removed from it. There were an awful lot of conflicting emotions.

I only really have my own experience and how we dealt with things, yet part of me feels the book and its ending are quite hopeful. You might have had this terrible childhood, but life goes on and it can be okay.

Given the personal connection that Tiernan has to Joys life and death, I wonder how talking publicly about her own familys experiences is sitting with her, as part of the promotion for this book.

I feel fine, I mean Ive never shied away from talking about it, she says. The strange thing about suicide is that you need to protect the people you talk to about it. I was flying into Auckland and sat beside this lovely Canadian woman, and we got chatting about our mums and she said, Oh, how did your mum die? Was it cancer? I think people presume if you say your mum died at 60, it wasnt suicide. For my mum and dads generation, suicide was such a shameful thing, so Im all for talking about it and getting it out there.

Tiernans three children are now teenagers, and so she is waving goodbye to what she calls her procreation years. Theres a sense of a new act starting in her life. Her fifties loom on the horizon, and may well be the decade in which her writing career finally looks set to gain traction.

Ten years ago, I wouldnt have had the time to do this, she agrees. I mean, as the kids get bigger, the problems become different and it becomes more about their emotional wellbeing, but I would not have had the headspace before, to do what Im doing now. I honestly dont know how women who work full-time and have little kids also do this [write a book].

On the day we talk, Tiernans house is, in her own words, bedlam, with PE kits needing to be washed and lunches that havent been made. Her daughter is also taking her driving test later in the day. Given that Tiernan has just written a book about the traumas and mental health challenges passed down from generation to generation, her own kids wellbeing is rarely far from mind.

My dads side of the family are very tight, loving and warm, and my dad is such a solid, good, present father, she explains. But yeah, my mums side of the family, theres definitely a sense of darkness and unhappiness. Touch wood, I dont suffer from depression or alcoholism myself, but I do worry about my own kids, like is there some kind of gene for these things? I worry for them, absolutely, but not so much for myself.

Im lucky  Ive somehow managed to escape whatever darkness was there.

The Last Days of Joy by Anne Tiernan is out now via Hachette Ireland

Helplines: If you have been affected by the contents of this article, click here for more information: www.independent.ie/service/helplines-40487532.html
He may be regarded as one of the greatest living writers, a prose stylist of global renown, but John Banville hates reading his own work. All I can see, he says, are the flaws, the mistakes. I cant bear it  it makes me sick.

He reaches for an analogy. Theres a wonderful cartoon by Gary Larson. The top panel is a flowerbed, and the flowers are all beautiful. Thats how people see flowers. The lower panel, theyre all cross-eyed and cauliflower-eared. Thats how flowers see themselves.

No amount of fan adulation or literary prizes can convince him otherwise. I have a destructive perfectionism, he notes. Thats how I am. I cant be otherwise.

Its Monday morning in a busy cafe in the centre of Howth  Banville has lived in the Dublin seaside village for decades  and he is thinking back on a life spent sculpting words. There are easier professions, he says, dead-pan. But this is what I know.

Banvilles lofty status is matched by a prodigious output. He has written more than 30 books and his latest, The Lock-Up, is published next week. Its a page-turning whodunnit and features several of the characters that admirers of his detective fiction will be very familiar with.

Set in 1950s Dublin, its the ninth book starring the pathologist Garrett Quirke and the second in what his publisher is billing the Strafford & Quirke series. St John Strafford  the young detective  first appeared in The Secret Guests, Banvilles novel about Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Windsor who, it was rumoured, were evacuated to Ireland during the Second World War. Banville fleshed out the Strafford character fully in Snow, which was published to considerable acclaim in 2021.

He breaks into a smile when talking about the character. Hes an impossibility, of course. A Protestant from that [well-off] background simply wouldnt have gone into the police force back then.

He brought back Quirke for the last book, April in Spain, and one of the pleasures of the novel  and The Lock-Up  is the uneasy alliance between pathologist and detective. As a number of years had passed since he last featured Quirke, Banville had to go back to the old books, much as he hated the prospect.

I struck on the idea of listening back to the audiobooks. Timothy Dalton did a few of them and Id listen to them in the middle of the night  I dont sleep very well  and having those stories told to me by this wonderful Welsh voice allowed me to step back from them. And, I thought, These arent bad at all.

Its clear he derives great pleasure when imaging the dark, priest-ridden Ireland of the 1950s and of characters who kick against the restrictions. He is especially taken with Phoebe, Quirkes spirited daughter. I think of myself as Phoebe, he says.

Not Quirke, who is remarkably successful with the ladies? He smiles. No.

In April in Spain, Banville surprised readers by killing off one of the central characters. Two of my editors called me and said, John, dont do this. He grins. I did it because it was fun. He looks rueful. Now, I miss her too.

The original Quirke books were written under a nom de plume, Benjamin Black, and he seems surprised when reminded that another name, BW Black, was used for The Secret Guests. Now, everything he writes is under his own name. Will future reprints of the first batch of Quirke books be published as John Banville? Now, theres a thought.

Initially, he invented the Black pseudonym to distance the crime books from his serious fiction. It seemed to annoy a lot of people at the time, he recalls. The crime writers seemed to be very bothered by it.

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It didnt help that in interviews then he would talk about turning out 2,500 words a day for the Black books, while the Banville novels might see him compose a tenth of that in the same span.

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Three of the Quirke books were adapted as feature-length films made for television, and starring Gabriel Byrne in the titular role. Well made as they were, they didnt work as well as they might. Banville doesnt lose sleep over it. I was talking to [veteran director] John Boorman, whos an old friend of mine, and he said to me, Most movies dont work. How would they? Its pure chance that they would. But I thought Gabriel was very good.

Another of Banvilles books, The Black-Eyed Blonde, was adapted for the big screen by Neil Jordan and is out now. Renamed Marlowe  in deference to Raymond Chandlers legendary gumshoe  and starring Liam Neeson, the movie has not been a critical success.

Banville was born in Wexford in 1945 and moved to Dublin in his late teens. His early life in the city is chronicled in a memoir of sorts, Time Pieces. He worked as a sub-editor in The Irish Press and later The Irish Times and published his first book, a collection of short stories, Long Lankin, in 1970. He never returned to the form. I dont think I could write a short story now. Everyone was doing it back then.

His reputation for challenging, skilfully honed books was burnished with a historical trio, Doctor Copernicus, Kepler and The Newton Letter, which were published between 1976 and 1982. By the time he wrote The Book of Evidence in 1989, he was a literary star.

The last book is loosely based on Malcolm MacArthur, whose murder of two people in 1982 shocked the country and gave rise to the acronym Gubu, which stands for grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented.

Does he know if MacArthur ever read the book? Oh yeah, he says. Apparently, he didnt think much of it. He used to come to some of the readings I did. He was there, standing at the back. The pair never spoke.

Id like to think that Freddie Montgomery [the character inspired by MacArthur] has a much better prose style than MacArthur ever had.

Banville is an engaging and open interviewee. On two occasions, he places his hand on the tape recorder to indicate that what he is about to say is off-record. He says he doesnt want to be quoted saying something that might be construed as unkind.

He avoids social media, although he is tickled by the Twitter parody account, @john_banville, which, in its early days, caught out a few people who should have known better.

In 2016, quotes from an interview with an Irish newspaper, in which he lamented that writers often make poor fathers, went viral. I was away on the weekend it appeared. The PR person said to me, Theres been a Twitter storm. I said, Whats a Twitter storm? He said, Youve been attacked all around.

Among those to take umbrage was David Simon, writer of one of the all-time great TV drama series The Wire.

He said I was a f***head, or something like that. Banville pronounces the offending term as though discovering it for the first time. He is mis-remembering the insult, however. What Simon actually tweeted was, Speak for yourself, f***nuts. Family is family. The job is the job.

You can say anything on Twitter, Banville says. There are no libel laws. He looks perplexed by the very notion of Twitter. Why would he bother?

Banville has not revised his original view. Artists make bad parents, he says, simply, although there are exceptions.

He openly admits to having prioritised his books when his kids were small. When he was writing Kepler, his arthouse novel about the German astronomer and mathematician, he would lock himself into his room and pull the curtains on the beautiful view over the water at Howth. It was too distracting. He would write by lamplight while the faint sounds of his children playing outside could occasionally be discerned.

He says he has considerable regrets about not spending more time with his children, especially the two boys, Colm and Douglas, whom he had with his first wife, the late American textile artist Janet Dunham. By his own admission, he was a bit better at giving quality time to his daughters, Ellen and Alice, from his relationship with partner Patricia Quinn.

He was once asked to write a six-word short story in the vein of Ernest Hemingways famous effort: For sale: childs shoes, never worn. I wrote, Should have lived more, written less. He shrugs. Time cannot be rewound, but he is hoping to do a little more living now. There will be no more literary books.

The Singularities, which was published last year, was six years in the making. I cant embark on that sort of thing again, he says, quipping that he might well die halfway through. I put everything into that book. He suggests it may be the novel that comes closest to achieving what he set out to do.

His ex-wife once memorably said that at the end of a days writing, he was like a murderer whos just come back from a particularly bloody killing. Banville smiles at the mention of the quote. Known for her dry wit, Janet died in 2021.

He continues to write prodigiously. He is half-way through another Strafford and Quirke mystery  it should be finished by June and is also writing a novel set in Venice in 1900. It started out as a Benjamin Black book years ago, he says. Its a kind of ghost story.

Banville says he is relieved that none of his children followed him into the world of books. He seems aghast by the idea of anyone wanting to become a full-time novelist. It takes too much, he insists. Writing is too hard especially if, like me, you dont like your own books.

He believes literature is not as appreciated as it once was. There are so many things to steal attention. He admits to not reading much fiction these days. I remember someone saying to me that when I got older I wouldnt read much fiction, and they were right. I dont know why.

The Booker Prize, he notes, isnt as important as it was, certainly when it comes to sales. He should know. In 2005, he won the coveted prize for his novel The Sea.

Back then, I would have sold maybe 10,000 copies in hardback and 20,000 in paperback. After the Booker, I sold quarter of a million, half a million. The Booker then was hugely influential. Its gone now  once they let the Americans in The prize used to be confined to writers from Britain or one of its former colonies.

Banville has long been considered a forerunner for literatures most celebrated honour, the Nobel Prize, which comes with a cheque for 10m Swedish krona (almost 900,000). He was the victim of a hoax in 2019, when he received a call, purportedly from the Swedish Academy to tell him that he had won. He spent the next hour excitedly phoning his friends. Then my daughter phoned me and said, Dad, Im looking online and the whole thing is a hoax.

While he had been on the phone, the same caller left him a voicemail claiming that due to internal wrangling at the academy, the prize had been withdrawn and offered to somebody else. Banville chuckles. It was, Sorry Mr Banville  a bit of a mix-up. Well give it to you next year. He signed off by saying, Have a nice day!

Apparently its quite easy to fake. I was certainly taken in by it. It was a Swedish number and the guy read out the commendation to me. There were two prizes handed out that year because it hadnt been held the previous year and he asked me if Id like this years prize or last years prize.

He has never discovered who was responsible but he believes it was a figure within or close to the Swedish Academy. There was a lot of bad blood at the time and plenty of controversy the year before.

After the interview, we walk down to Howths East Pier where the photographer is waiting. Banville is looking forward to getting the mornings promotional activity out of the way, so he can return to his writing.

Much as he wants to live more, he says the need to write never abates. He turns 78 this year, but the pleasure and pain of putting one word in front of another continues to drive him. He jokes that he has had his daily ration of bright spring sunshine  the time has come once more to close the curtains, turn on a dim light and hammer at the keyboard.





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The Lock-Up by John Banville is published by Faber on April 4

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A giant leech lurking in the woodland undergrowth has been captured hunting baby toads and swallowing them whole in the latest footage set to feature in Sir David Attenboroughs Wild Isles series.

In the BBC One programme, the 96-year-old naturalist and broadcaster shines a light on the challenges affecting the British Isles and celebrates nature that exists on our doorsteps.

The penultimate episode of the series will take look a closer look at freshwater habitats and their inhabitants, which Sir David describes as the lifeblood of our wild isles.

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Whatsapp A female raft spider sits on a pond waiting for prey to make vibrations on the waters surface which she will sense through hairs on her legs in the latest episode of Wild Isles (Silverback Films/Alastair MacEwen/PA)

The programme documents female toads migrating to freshwater to lay their eggs and a few months later the tiny toadlets have to make their way to their woodland home where they will spend most of their adult lives.

However, the baby toads have to cross a killing zone haunted by carnivorous giant leeches which can grow up to 15cm long and hunt using a keen sense of smell and five pairs of eyes.

The episode shows the leeches grabbing the toadlets with either end of their body and consuming it whole, using their three sets of teeth.

Elsewhere in the episode, Sir David looks at the migration of Atlantic salmon, with footage of the fish battling upstream, leaping and attempting to ascend a three-metre waterfall.

The crew attached cameras to underwater drones in order to capture the footage, which took 71 days to film, the longest of any sequence on the series  including nine days to film the salmon leaping up waterfalls, the BBC said.

Expand Close An Atlantic Salmon attempts to leap a waterfall in spate with cameraman Lindsay McCrae in position above the falls.The team scoured the flow country for the perfect waterfall where Lindsay could be secured above the roaring water  capturing a unique, head-on view of the leaping salmon (Silverback Films/Chris Howard/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp An Atlantic Salmon attempts to leap a waterfall in spate with cameraman Lindsay McCrae in position above the falls.The team scoured the flow country for the perfect waterfall where Lindsay could be secured above the roaring water  capturing a unique, head-on view of the leaping salmon (Silverback Films/Chris Howard/PA)

Episode four producer Chris Howard said: Salmon are like the canaries of the coalmine  they touch every part of the river because theyre migratory  they are severely affected by climate change and pollution, as well as changes to the course of the river.

They used to be in all our rivers, but their numbers have been in freefall across the British isles.

Mark Bilsby, of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, said: At the current rate of decline our salmon could be extinct in 20 years, and climate change is the biggest driver of that decline.

Other significant moments from the episode include the first ever bat lek filmed using high-speed infra-red cameras in the North Yorkshire Moors and the remarkable behaviour of the mayfly with a sole purpose to breed.

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It will also feature beaver territories in Scotland, a raft spider waiting for prey to make vibrations on the waters surface and a flock of knot waiting to feed on the rich mudflats.

Expand Close A flock of knot rest on a shingle bank while the high tide covers their feeding grounds on the mudflats.Britain is globally important for wintering waders, who flock from all over Europe to feed on our rich mudflats (Silverback Films/Chris Howard/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A flock of knot rest on a shingle bank while the high tide covers their feeding grounds on the mudflats.Britain is globally important for wintering waders, who flock from all over Europe to feed on our rich mudflats (Silverback Films/Chris Howard/PA)

Producer Mr Howard added: As for the knot  the spectacle of a hundred thousand waders taking to the air to avoid a stooping peregrine just as the sun sets is hard to beat.

It also shows the importance of our estuaries  vital fuelling stations for migratory birds each winter  and is extra special because it only really happens three or four times a year when the tides, light and weather all come together. Spectacular.

The final episode, titled Ocean, airing on Sunday April 9 will see Sir David sign off from Skomer Island.

Across the five episodes, the Wild Isles crew filmed in 145 locations and captured 96 species which took 1,631 days to film.

The series has been funded by nature charities WWF and the RSPB with support from the Open University, and has been produced by Silverback Films  the team behind many of the BBCs landmark nature shows.

Episode Four: Freshwater will air on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday April 2 at 7pm.
Christopher Eccleston said it would be impossible for him to become an actor in todays world following the closure of venues such as the Oldham Coliseum.

The actor appeared at the Greater Manchester venue alongside Maxine Peake to perform an extract of I, Daniel Blake for the venues final performance on Friday evening after Arts Council England (ACE) announced funding for the venue would be cut.

The 59-year-old star of screen and stage, who grew up in Salford, said he went to see productions at Oldham Coliseum in his youth, describing it as a beacon for actors in the area.

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He told Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I think its tragic that Oldham borough is losing a theatre in a time when were supposed to be levelling up.

The question in my mind is, if they can get rid of Oldham Coliseum, which has been there for over 100 years, wheres next for the North West because if you grow up in the North West, you dont feel that culture and the arts belong to you.

You dont believe if you come from a council estate that you can be an actor or a poet or a painter.

So places like Oldham Coliseumtheyre a beacon for people like me.

I wouldnt be an actor if it wasnt for Oldham Coliseum, (and) places like that, and theyre disappearing. So what happens to the next generation of Chris Eccleston or Maxine Peakes or whoever you want to name.

ACE is investing 1.85 million in the borough and Oldham Council recently announced plans for a new theatre, reportedly costing 24 million, which is scheduled to open in 2026.

Expand Close Members of the audience at a public meeting to save the historic Oldham Coliseum in Greater Manchester (Equity/PA) / Facebook

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Eccleston said, as an aspiring actor, he secured a grant to attend a drama school with no academic qualifications which is now necessary so theres no more of actors like me coming through, he said.

The former Doctor Who star claimed it would be impossible for somebody from his background to become an actor today.

He said: The pathway into the arts is not there for them in the way that it was for me now youve got to go to public school, youve got to be Oxbridge otherwise you cant act.

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Its a lot harder for people of my background to get in.

Its got worse, not better.

If you want to be an actor, youre going to have to put up with the unemployment, youre going have to put up with the rejection, and thats going to be double if youre from a working class background, ethnic minority.

Its still an elitist organisation, television, theatre, is incredibly elitist, and getting more so, which is why its the North West that is losing its theatres.

The Oldham Coliseums final show, titled Encore, featured script-in-hand performances of scenes and songs from productions of the past decade, including I, Daniel Blake and Aladdin.

It also paid tribute to the theatres long history including the actor Harold Norman, who died in 1947 after being accidentally stabbed on stage during a performance of Macbeth and appeared with a credit in the programme as a resident ghost.
Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has been overwhelmed and touched by donations from the public which have passed 100,000 after the death of the charitys ambassador Paul OGrady.

The TV and radio presenter became an ambassador for Battersea in 2012 after the success of ITVs multi-award-winning For The Love Of Dogs, 11 series of which were filmed at the home.

After OGradys death on Tuesday evening at the age of 67, the animal charity set up a tribute fund which has raised more than 100,000.

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In a statement to the PA news agency, chief executive Peter Laurie said: Over the coming weeks and months, Battersea will be finding the best way to pay tribute to our wonderful friend and ambassador, the late, great Paul OGrady MBE.

We have been overwhelmed and touched by the countless letters, calls, emails and messages of support along with the generous donations made by kind members of the public this week.

We will be looking to find a suitably fitting way to remember the profound impact Paul had at Battersea and the rescue animal sector, something that will support the animals that Paul loved so much and that would make him proud.

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Mr Laurie previously told PA that OGrady was a genuine animal lover and his real legacy is how he showed the British public and an international audience how lovable and incredible rescue dogs are, inspiring people to adopt and rehome.

OGrady was given a special recognition award at the 2018 National Television Awards for the impact For The Love Of Dogs had on helping find homes for rescue animals nationwide.

His contribution to animal welfare was also recognised with an RSPCA animal hero award.

During the first series of For The Love Of Dogs, OGrady rehomed Eddie, a Chihuahua-Jack Russell cross puppy, at his Kent farmhouse.

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Eddie was joined by Boycie, a shih-tzu, in 2014, Conchita, a Maltese, in 2015, Arfur, a mongrel puppy, in 2017, Nancy, another mongrel puppy, in 2020, and Sausage, a wire-haired dachshund, in 2021.

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Last year OGrady was joined by the Queen Consort in a one-off episode of For The Love Of Dogs to mark 160 years of Battersea.

In tribute to the late comedian and TV star, OGradys final radio show will be rebroadcast on Easter Sunday, after it originally aired on Boom Radio on Christmas Day last year.

BBC One will air a past episode of game show Blankety Blank on Saturday night which sees OGrady as acerbic, platinum wig-wearing drag alter ego Lily Savage.
Did you know that the earliest incarnation of Westlife, which featured Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan at the time, were rejected by Simon Cowell, who called them the ugliest band he had ever seen in his life? Or that Una Healy had auditioned alongside Nadine Coyle on Irish Popstars to become a member of Six?

Or that Brian Dowling appeared on the Saturday-morning music show CD:UK while deathly hungover  but then, so was pretty much everyone else?

In his book Reach For The Stars 1996-2006: Fame Fallout & Pops Final Party, music journalist Michael Cragg has pulled back the velvet curtain on one of the most exuberant, joyful and ebullient stages in British and Irish pop history  a time when Westlife, Blue, B*Witched, Steps, HearSay, Girls Aloud, Spice Girls, Atomic Kitten and Will Young had a stranglehold on the charts. Reach For The Stars is not just a nostalgic celebration of pop, its an incisive look at the hard reality of the industry for those in front of the microphone and beyond.

To the untrained ear, and certainly to its cohort of young fans, that pop music era was one of escapist, bubblegum lightness  an antidote to the more angular, self-conscious Britpop movement that came right before it. But for all its pearly white gaiety and talk of friendships never ending, there was a much darker culture just beyond its fringes.

Cragg is a brilliant master of ceremonies, showing a genuine fans enthusiasm for pop music. During the pandemic lockdown in the UK, he returned to listening to 1990s pop as a sort of psychological salve. I did need to have that sort of escapist fun, he says. I wanted songs that were lyrically about nothing, or basically were a dopamine hit.

Though he loved Michael Jackson as a youngster, Cragg admits that he came out as a pop fan relatively late in life. An indie fan first and foremost, he listened to Radiohead and Travis as a teenager, until he had an epiphany in Ireland.

Expand Close Pop group Westlife at the MTV Europe Music Awards nominations ceremony in London in 1999. Photo: Peter J Jordan / Facebook

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I went to see Travis live in Dublin Castle, and I got hit on the head with an inflatable armchair and a warm beer, he recalls. I think maybe that was when I was like, You know what? I want to go to gig and not get hit by things. I want to go to big pop extravaganzas. I was in my early twenties, post-university, and my flatmate would listen to 5ive and Blue, and so I circled around and realised I was sort of in love with all this stuff. I got quite geeky about the production and the songwriting.

Cragg soon realised that the oral history format had been lent to several more serious film, TV and music genres, but not to this one. I thought, wouldnt it be funny if I did this but with a period that didnt really get that much written about at the time? It wasnt respected as a period of pop music, so I thought it would be a great way to let the people involved tell the story, he says.

He threw out feelers to some of the biggest names of the era, and was gobsmacked when most of them replied in the affirmative, saying they wanted to get involved and be interviewed. Among the books extensive list of dramatis personae are members of Blue, S Club 7, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Spice Girls, All Saints and Atomic Kitten.

Also in the mix are various A&R executives, Top of the Pops producers, venue promoters, journalists, producers, and managers  including, of course, Louis Walsh.

Louis, bless him, smiles Cragg. He was a bit wary of doing this and said, I get asked to do these [books] all the time. No one is gonna read this book. In the end, he was sort of brilliant. He sounded exactly like the person I had imagined.

Songwriters and video directors always have a different angle on whats going on, and they come and watch it all unfold from a different perspective, says Cragg. Take the director who was there when the Spice Girls were told that they were millionaires. No one in the band was ever going to tell me that.

Although Cragg is a diehard pop nerd, he still managed to glean new information from his interviewees. I did know that 5ive had been offered the song Baby One More Time. What I didnt know is that the songs producers played it to 5ive, and one of them said it was really s**t right in front of [songwriter] Max Martin, so they lost the song and Britney Spears turned it into one of the biggest pop songs of all time.

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Expand Close Boy band 5ive, who turned down the song Baby One More Time, which Britney Spears made famous. Photo: Fryderyk Gabowicz/Getty Images / Facebook

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The Irish acts  among them Boyzone, Westlife, Samantha Mumba and B*Witched  were much more than just the Irish versions of other bands. Their Irishness gave them an edge.

The Irish acts had a humour that definitely came through in interviews, especially with the likes of Keith [Duffy] and Shane [Lynch], Cragg recalls. They had stand-out personalities. They were pretty much like Robbie from Take That, with a real sort of playfulness. Ronan [Keating] had to sort of be the anchor, but the others could be really cheeky and funny.

I remember reading a Q Magazine interview with Boyzone and they were absolutely hilarious. There was a lot of drinking and sex, and it was maybe all that stuff you didnt expect to read about, especially if you listen to their music, Cragg says. 5ive say that Westlife were not the sort of angelic band behind the scenes; they just presented as that. I guess back then you could present as one thing and be a different thing, and no one would ever necessarily find out.

By the late-1990s, Take That had split and Boyzone members were keen to pursue solo projects, and there was a sense amid the industry that the boyband moment was about to pass. Walsh came on stream with a newly invigorated Westlife line-up and, with Ronan Keating on board as co-manager, there was a sense that a torch was being passed.

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Westlife seemed to slip into Boyzones slipstream, in that there wasnt really much of a gap, says Cragg. And they were clever with their covers. Boyzone had built on the idea that they could sell albums to an older audience, and that they didnt have to compete with Backstreet Boys in terms of dance routines. They were also the bands who moved outside London and played places like Blackpool or wherever.

Was Cragg surprised when Westlife not only announced their reunion in 2018, but bucked boyband convention by selling out stadium venues across the UK and Ireland?

Like Take That, Westlife came back with new music that built on what they did before, and while that isnt hugely important, it does give the older fans something more than just expecting them to shell out over 50 quid for a ticket. It was like, Here are some new songs  this isnt just about pure nostalgia, says Cragg.

They were also very clever in that they never slagged off each other or the music [after they took a break in 2012], Cragg adds. Sometimes when a boyband splits up or people leave, they do that, and its like, What are you doing? How is a fan meant to relate to that, after theyve given you a lot of time and money and effort to put you where you want? But with Westlife, even in interviews, they never go for each other, and never show they werent enjoying it.

Reach For The Stars also unpacks the underbelly of fame in the 1990s and Noughties, in particular, dealing with the tabloid press at a time when celebrities seemed like fair game and ripe for taking down. It was a time before popstars had social media accounts where they could confirm or refute press reports at will.

Popstars were also being outed as gay by the press at the time.

It was decided it was much easier for them to stay in the closet, with the pressure of their bandmates livelihoods resting on their shoulders should the inevitable happen and a bands young, female audience turn their backs en masse, Cragg says.

Not to generalise, but you think that taking some of your band members from a performing arts background, the likelihood is that someone is going to be gay, says Cragg. There was a sense that these people were allowed to be in this [pop] world but not be themselves or rock the boat. Kevin [McDaid, of V, who previously dated Feehily] refused to be in the closet in his life, but professionally decided that he could get around it if he had to. When Stephen Gately came out via a tabloid, the BBC ran a story with a headline like, Fingers crossed this hasnt ruined their career.

Any conversation around mental health or the psychological welfare of artists was also still a long way off at the turn of the century.

Expand Close Irish girl group B*Witched at the Warner Bros Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999. Photo: Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images / Facebook

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As Sean [Conlon, of 5ive] noted, he would hear people say, Youre rich and famous and living a lifestyle that people would give an arm and a leg to live, so why arent you happy? But the truth is that their schedules were relentless, and they really didnt have that much money, recalls Cragg. They werent seeing their family. They were really young and put together with strangers, and no one really knew how to speak to them about all these things that were happening.

Even I was surprised when Nicola [Roberts, of Girls Aloud] said that no one ever brought up the fact that she was being bullied about on radio or national TV, or by other pop stars, maybe because they all just sort of felt that to say anything would have made it worse.

Further adding to the sense of unease was the idea that many of these artists were replaceable.

There was this warning sent out like, Well, Mutya [Buena] could leave the Sugababes and wed have someone in to replace her by the next single, Cragg says. The songwriters and producers were really important in the creativity of the songs, but the views of the artists didnt really matter, because the songs could be moved from one band to another.

Cragg largely ends his pop odyssey in 2006, a year in which it felt as though there were changes afoot in pop and the party was winding down. Top of the Pops and CD: UK both wound down their broadcasts. Smash Hits ceased publication.

Artists like Lily Allen, who came up through MySpace, had started their careers that year and it was a completely different thing, says Cragg. People were writing very personal songs with very sort of chatty, colloquial lyrics. If felt very different to what had gone on before.

Compared to pops celebratory party vibe from two decades ago, what does he see or hear in todays current crop of pop stars?

Im more connected to the songs because theyve written them  you hear a Billie Eilish song and its so unique and personal and so her, he says.

Shes writing about what she has gone through, and there wasnt really a sense of that necessarily [years ago]. They were writing songs that were about being generically heartbroken. Theres now this sense that the focus has come on to the artists, and they are involved in the songwriting. They are perhaps overly reliant about talking and writing about mental health, but then again, the world is very heavy right now and the music should probably reflect the world that we live in.

Reach For The Stars 1996-2006: Fame, Fallout and Pops Final Party by Michael Cragg is out now via Nine Eight Books
Over three high Schools have benefited from a two-day Media Training from the Youth Media Action (YMA) in Harper City, Maryland County.

The two-day Workshop, which was held on March 20 to 21st, 2023 at the Methodist Church in Harper, brought together the Cape Palmas High School, John Hilary Tubman High School, and Our Lady of Fatima High School's Press Clubs.

The Chief Facilitator of the Media Training, Mr. Abraham Bollien Boimah disclosed that the training was meant to strengthen the capacities of high school press clubs.

He furthered that it was also meant to establish a relationship with the County's Media Activities and report activities, across Maryland County.

Mr. Bomiah mentioned that the training is part of a nationwide opportunity being provided to high school journalists across the country.

For her part, the President of Our Lady of Fatima High School Press Department, Elizabeth G. Julue, who spoke on behalf of the three High Schools lauded the Youth Media Action for the timely initiative, noting "I will like to take this time to appreciate the Youth Media Action for its training, and we are hoping to get more training as the time comes."

She maintained that several Journalists in Maryland County, most especially in Harper City, started from the same High School Press Club, before making their respective ways to be where they now find themselves.

"Even most of our brothers, and sisters, who are in the media field today, started from the same Press Club, so I am encouraging my friends, who have the interest and passion of becoming journalists to make use of the press club activities in their various schools," she elaborated.
A hearing into conspiracy theorist Dolores Cahill allegedly breaking Covid-19 guidelines during the pandemic is due to take place in Dublin next week.

The former UCD professor who went on the run last year after a warrant for her arrest was issued and has been actively travelling around trying not to get arrested.

It is not known if Cahill will appear at the Criminal Courts of Justice for the hearing on Wednesday morning.

The prolific anti-vaxxer whose case relate to Covid breaches posted a video online last month in which she claimed the State want to put me in prison.

I am retired now but as you know the police are coming to my door trying to put me into prison, she said, claiming to have a network of labs in every continent in the world now.

She claimed in the video that officers were knocking on my door and looking for me.

Last year a bench warrant was issued after Cahill failed to appear in court in connection with an incident at Dublin Airport on September 6, 2020, where she was accused of failing to adhere to the guidelines and failing to comply with the directions of gardai.

Having been banned from social media for sharing Covid mistruths, the once-respected immunologist who has a house in Co Dublin and a castle in Co Kildare, now regularly appears in videos from undisclosed locations.

Cahill said she meets weekly with lawyers and doctors as they plan to hold the top 20 people in the world in each country to account for the imposition of Covid-related lockdowns.

Independent.ie can also reveal that Cahill no longer presents her weekly radio show on U.S.-based TNT radio in which she repeatedly broadcasted unfounded claims about the pandemic unchallenged.

Last year Una McCarron from Co Donegal claimed in an interview with the Sunday Independent to have received a phone call from Cahill when her late husband Joe was ill in hospital with Covid. He later died from the disease.

Dolores Cahill has lot of questions to answer regarding the medication she suggested he should be on, telling me what to tell the hospital, telling me he had to be removed from the hospital, telling me Joe would be looked after.
A man who subjected a woman to a brutal, two-hour assault, which left her covered from head to toe in her own blood, has been jailed for three years and six months following a detailed hearing in Mullingar Circuit Court this week.

Aaron Cole (39), of Jamestown Avenue, Inchicore, Dublin 8, was sentenced this week after Judge Keenan Johnson took time overnight to consider evidence of a section 3 assault, which took place in the Athlone home of the victim, Carrie Murray, on August 19, 2020.

Detective Garda Aidan Hynes, in his evidence explained that the accused and the injured party were connected on Facebook and had begun chatting on the evening of August 18. Both parties were drinking and later that night, Mr Cole got a taxi from Dublin to Athlone at a cost of 200.

He arrived at the house at approximately 2.30am and the pair had a few drinks and watched a movie together.

Ms Murray, the court heard, fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 5.20am. She went to bed, letting Mr Cole sleep on the couch.

At 7am, Ms Murray was awoken by her phone ringing downstairs. When she got up to answer it, Mr Cole was on the stairs with the phone in his hand, displaying the caller as her ex-partner and father of her kids, who also happened to be a nephew of Mr Cole.

Mr Cole became paranoid that he was being set up for a beating, the court heard, as he and his nephew did not get along, and he immediately began questioning Ms Murray.

Detective Garda Hynes confirmed to the court that Mr Cole started shouting that he was going to kill his nephew and cut him up. He continued to scream at Ms Murray and then headbutted her in the face, causing her to lose her balance and hold onto the side of her babys cot in an upstairs room.

Mr Cole, the court heard, turned the injured party over and held her down by the back of the neck, screaming at her. She begged him to stop but he continued shouting at her and began hitting her repeatedly on the head with a section of the cot that slides up and down.

There was a massive amount of blood on the carpet of the bedroom, on the cot and on the wall of the bedroom, Det Gda Hynes explained. It was clearly evident that he had used that cot with Carries head underneath it.

The beating continued, with Mr Cole screaming and hitting Ms Murray and accusing her of spiking his drink. Ms Murray blacked out on a number of occasions and, each time she came to, the assault was continuing.

At one stage, the court heard, she was on her hands and knees, with the accused continuing to punch or kick her. He continued shouting at her, threatening to kill her. Ms Murray continued to black out and come to during an assault that lasted approximately two hours by Det Gda Hynes estimation.

Gardai were alerted when a neighbour of Ms Murrays who was working from home heard the commotion from the house. She called Gardai when the commotion didnt stop and Gda Hynes and a colleague arrived at 10am and were met at the door by Mr Cole.

He had no bottoms on, just boxers, and he was wearing a heavily blood stained t-shirt. His arms and face were bloodstained, said Det Gda Hynes. Carrie approached the door in horrendous condition. She was blood stained from head to toe.

Ms Murray, upon seeing uniformed Gardai at the door, went straight to the back of the Garda car without being prompted.

I can only describe it as her trying to get to a place of safety as soon as possible, said Gda Hynes.

Gda Hynes described the accused as being paranoid and under the influence of an intoxicant. However, blood tests later confirmed that Mr Cole was not spiked, but the alcohol levels in his blood were 160 ml of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.

He was completely out of control and clearly under the influence of an intoxicant. There was no animosity towards Gardai but he was paranoid and, despite her injuries, he was still roaring at Carrie Murray, while she was under the protection of Gardai, until he was removed, said Gda Hynes.

Mr Cole engaged with Gardai during interview and accepted that he had caused the injuries but insisted his drink had been spiked and that he thought he had been set up.

He admitted to Gardai that he had headbutted Ms Murray, punched her and kicked her in what he described as an animalistic rage, stating I couldnt control myself.

Det Gda Hynes told the court that, in his 15 years of service with An Garda Siochana, this was the most serious assault Ive ever witnessed.

It was a horrific ordeal, which lasted approximately two hours before Gardai arrived. When I arrived at the scene, he certainly wasnt finished, he said.

It strikes me that if you hadnt arrived at the scene, wed be dealing with a murder, said Judge Johnson.

Absolutely and that is something that has stayed with me, said Det Gda Hynes, commending the neighbour for contacting Gardai.

Ms Murray was brought to Tullamore hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken nose, fractures to both sides of her jaw, damaged teeth, lacerations to the right eye area, nose, upper lip and left temporal area, extensive bruising and soft tissue injuries to the face, upper limbs, lower limbs and chest and a minor head injury.

She was admitted to the intensive care unit in Tullamore and subsequently transferred to St James Hospital where she underwent surgery for the fractures to her jaw, which involved the placement of arch bars and bone plates. She also received sutures to the left upper lip, right eyebrow and right and left cheeks.

While in hospital, she received a blood transfusion, pain relief and intravenous antibiotics. Eight months after the assault, she had recovered substantially but still suffered pain and permanent facial scarring.

After her discharge from the hospital, Ms Murray was readmitted following what Det Gda Hynes referred to as a deliberate overdose when she swallowed a bottle of morphine. As a consequence, she suffered an episode of pancreatitis and has since developed chronic pancreatitis.

In her victim impact statement, which was read to the court by state prosecutor, John Hayden, BL, Ms Murray painted a graphic account of how seriously and adversely impacted she was by the assault.

When I finally came around to myself in hospital, I couldnt see or feel anything. I felt numb, she wrote, adding that, when she managed to sleep, she would wake up screaming and the nurses would have to come and hold her down so she didnt hurt herself.

Mr Cole, taking to the stand at Mullingar Circuit Court, became emotional as he read out a letter of apology he had written to the victim.

You invited me to your home, which resulted in me breaking your trust by assaulting you in your own home in a fit of uncontrollable rage, he said.

Im sorry for every second you had to endure as a result of my unprovoked attack. I want you to know that, no matter the outcome today, Ill never forgive myself.

I am and always will be sorry.

Mr Cole had 5,000 in court as compensation for Ms Murray, who was willing to accept it as a token of his remorse, but not as compensation.

It is hard to understand how the accused could have perpetrated such a serious assault on the victim over a period of two hours, said Judge Keenan Johnson when passing judgement this morning.

He added that it was extremely fortuitous that Ms Murrays neighbour had the presence of mind to ring the emergency services.

One shudders to think what the position might have been had the Gardai not been called and the assault was allowed to continue unabated.

Judge Johnson took a long number of mitigating factors into account when determining sentence, including a strong familial support, the effect that incarceration would have on Mr Coles two children, an early plea of guilt and an attempt to pay compensation.

Accordingly, I am imposing a sentence of three years and six months, he said, stating that the offence was far too serious to have any portion of that sentence suspended.

Finally, after todays sentencing, I hope that the victim can move on with her life and try to put the appalling assault that was perpetrated on her behind her. I know that is easier said than done, but I hope that the closure which todays sentence brings will assist her with that.




A MOUNTJOY inmate headbutted a prison guard in the face and repeatedly punched him in a completely unprovoked attack, it is alleged.

According to gardai, Bernard Corrigan assaulted and injured the officer who had asked: What did you say? while the accused was with a group of other prisoners.

The case against him was adjourned at Dublin District Court for the production of a medical report on the alleged victims injuries.

Mr Corrigan, with an address at the time at the prison, is charged with assault causing harm.

A garda told Judge Bryan Smyth she arrested the accused for the purpose of charge and he made no reply after caution. He was handed a copy of the charge sheet.

The Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the case being dealt with summarily at district court level, subject to the issue of jurisdiction being considered, the garda said.

The judge asked for an outline of the prosecutions case.

The court heard the officer was working in one of the wings at Mountjoy on December 27, 2021, and some prisoners were out on the landing while others were still in cells.

The officer was attending a cell that was close to a group of prisoners including the defendant, the garda said.

After attending to the person in the cell, he walked away and one of the people in the group said something to him, the court heard.

The officer returned and asked: What did you say?

It was alleged he was attacked by the defendant, who headbutted him to the right side of the face. According to the prosecution, Mr Corrigan also punched the officer a number of times.

It was a totally unprovoked attack on the officer, who wasnt expecting it, and the accused was the only person involved, the garda said.

The judge said he would need to see a medical report to decide on jurisdiction and the garda said she would make enquiries as to the availability of one. She said the officer had been seen by his GP.

Defence solicitor John Quinn said the accused was seeking bail. The court heard there was no garda objection to bail and no conditions sought.

Judge Smyth granted bail in Mr Corrigans own bond of 200, with no cash lodgement required.

He adjourned the case to a date in May. If jurisdiction is accepted, the case can remain in the district court. Otherwise, the accused will be sent forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Graham Dwyer is acting like nothing has happened in the aftermath of losing his appeal for the murder of Elaine OHara, as the judicial system braces for a potential appeal to the Supreme Court.

Last Friday week, Dwyer lost his appeal against his conviction for the 2012 murder of the vulnerable childcare worker.

The Court of Appeal found that the limited admission of call data could not give rise to a miscarriage of justice and did not uphold any ground of appeal.

It meant the 50-year-old architect will remain in prison to continue serving his life sentence.

The father-of-three is housed in the Midlands Prison, and sources in the jail say he is getting on with things and acting as though nothing has happened since he learned his appeal was rejected.

There has been no reaction from him. Hes either in complete denial or hes convinced himself this is not the end of the road, according to a source.

Meanwhile, a legal expert says Dwyer has 21 days since he lost his appeal to attempt a fresh appeal to the Supreme Court on a point of law.

It is most likely he will try to appeal to the Supreme Court, given that he has nothing to lose. But whether his lawyers have a point of law to compel another appeal is another matter, they said.

It also looms large that this is all on legal aid, so the State is footing the bill, the taxpayer essentially. His legal team would want to have a compelling argument to justify another appeal. The reality is his chances are slim. 

Since being jailed for life in 2015, Dwyer has successfully challenged the law under which his phone metadata was seized, securing rulings in his favour from the High Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU).

During his conviction appeal in December, his legal team sought a retrial because of the way his trial judge, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, decided to allow the metadata evidence to be put before the jury.

The metadata was important, as it helped establish a link between Dwyer and his victim, with whom he had been having a secret sadomasochistic relationship. Lawyers for the DPP said he murdered her for his sexual gratification.

Ms OHara (36), a vulnerable woman who had been receiving psychiatric care, went missing on August 22, 2012, having been last seen alive near Shanganagh Cemetery in Shankill that day. Her remains were found 13 months later in a forest at Killakee in the Dublin Mountains.

Using the 2011 Communications Act, gardai obtained data associated with Dwyers work mobile phone and other handsets. Using cell-site analysis, they were able to pinpoint roughly where Dwyer was at certain points in time, based on the movements of his work phone.

This helped investigators establish his routine in the months prior to Ms OHaras disappearance.
A WOMAN who stabbed a man she met through a dating website has been handed a three-year sentence.

Craigavon Crown Court heard how the victim went on a date with Krystal Alana Anderson after chatting to her online.

The 32-year-old spent the night at his flat and they were together throughout the next day.

But later that evening, things turned ugly.

The hearing was told the victim remembered lying on the floor listening to music, with Anderson on the sofa. His next memory after that was waking up in the ambulance, and his father was with him.

He had sustained multiple stab wounds and was bleeding heavily from his injuries.

It later emerged that after a commotion was heard from inside the property, Anderson knocked on a neighbours door and asked them to call an ambulance.

However, they noted her demeanour didnt fit with what she was saying and sensed something was not right.

When the police arrived at the property, Anderson refused to let them inside.

After they forced their way in, they found the victim, who was taken to hospital.

They also discovered Anderson in the bathroom, wearing a T-shirt, naked from the waist down (with) blood on her hands and arms.

The court was told she was extremely intoxicated.

Officers noted Andersons arms had marks consistent with self-harming episodes at different stages of healing.

The defendant later claimed the victim had been waving the knife around and that he must have been injured when she tried to take it from him.

She admitted drinking wine and taking cocaine and Lyrica on the night of the attack.

Her victim needed stitches and staples for wounds to his chest and arms.

Im a nice guy, so its really kicked the s*** out of me, he said in his impact statement.

The court was told Andersons life had been plagued by mental health problems and that she had been the victim of serious violence.

A defence lawyer said she was unable to explain what had happened.

Anderson, from Trostan Avenue in Ballymena, pleaded guilty to wounding the victim with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The judge said he was satisfied that both she and society generally would benefit if she had a longer than normal period under supervision.

He ordered Anderson to serve a year in jail and two under supervised licence conditions.
A man who lived in the same Dublin 4 neighbourhood as Annie McCarrick has been identified as a suspect in her murder.

The man is understood to have lived in Sandymount at the time the young American was murdered on or about March 26, 1993.

He has not been arrested, and sources said there were no plans yet to bring him in as gardai continue to build a case against him.

It is not known whether he and Ms McCarrick were known to each other, and gardai stressed last night they are still keeping a very open mind in their murder investigation.

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There is a list of people of interest in this case and this individual is a person of major interest, a source said.

Earlier this week, the Irish Independent revealed that the main geographical focus of the investigation is the

Sandymount area of south Dublin.

This is where Ms McCarrick was last seen, at the Allied Irish Bank on March 26, 1993.

Gardai have released the final known image of her  a grainy shot captured on a CCTV camera at that location.

Sources believe way too much attention was paid by detectives to reported sightings of her in Enniskerry village and Johnnie Foxs pub in the aftermath of the bank sighting.

The firm belief is that the key to solving this case is south Dublin, particularly the Sandymount area where Annie lived, rather than anywhere else, a source said.

However, it has been stressed that it is a complex investigation and everything is still being looked at.

Last week, gardai officially upgraded their missing person investigation into Ms Mc-

Carricks disappearance to a murder investigation and made a public appeal for information.

While convicted rapist Larry Murphy, a long-time suspect in this case, has not been ruled out as a person of interest, sources said gardai believe he is not on top of the list.

Nothing can be ruled out, of course, but this investigation is going in a certain direction now, a source said.

There have been significant developments which cannot be disclosed now.

Murphy has been connected to other missing persons cases, including the 1998 murder of Deirdre Jacob, and Jo Jo Dullard in 1995.

However, the south Dublin suspect in the Annie McCarrick case has never before come to the medias atten-

tion in relation to those matters.

Ms McCarrick, from Long Island, New York, was 27 when she was last seen alive. She had been living in Sandymount and working in Dublin city centre at the time.

It had been believed that shortly after her image was captured inside the AIB in Sandymount, Ms McCarrick boarded a bus to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, to go for a walk, but she never returned.

However, there is significant doubt that bus journey ever happened.

Ms McCarricks father, John, died in 2009 without knowing what happened to his daughter.

Her mother, Nancy, lives in Long Island and was recently visited by senior garda detectives.

Further advances in investigative techniques may help gardai in finally bringing closure for the McCarrick

family.

So far, detectives have discovered and collated more than 5,000 documents and reports, taken more than 300 statements of evidence and retained several exhibits.

On the morning of her disappearance, Ms McCarrick spoke to her flatmates before they left separately to travel home that weekend.

She arrived at the AIB on Sandymount Road at 11am and also made arrangements with friends, inviting them over to dinner the following day.

However, on the evening of March 27, her friends became concerned for her welfare.

She was not at home for the arranged dinner and had not shown up to work.

Groceries that had been bought the previous morning were left unpacked in shopping bags.

By the following day, she was reported missing, a report that was confirmed by her mother, who arrived in Dublin two days later.

Last week, the officer leading the investigation, Detective Superintendent Eddie Carroll, said: I want to speak to any person who met, spoke with or had any interaction with Annie McCarrick on March 26, 1993, or subsequently.

There is a person or persons who have information on the disappearance of Annie McCarrick and her murder, and who havent yet spoken to gardai or who may have already spoken to gardai but were not in a position to tell everything that they know at that time.

I want to speak with any person who has any information on the large brown handbag which it is believed that Annie was in possession of when she went missing. I am appealing to those persons, 30 years later, to please come forward and speak to the investigation team embers.

The primary focus of this investigation is the victim, Annie McCarrick, and her family.

Annies father, John, has passed away not knowing what happened to his daughter.

Annies mother, Nancy, deserves to know the truth  she deserves to know what happened to her daughter. She is waiting 30 years for those answers.

I, and the investigation team, are determined to gather all available information and evidence to find those answers and bring this matter to a positive conclusion.
A woman whose baby is due on the same day her family is to be evicted from their home says they have nowhere else to go.

Kate OKeeffe and partner Stephen Bermingham were served a notice of termination just a couple of months after they found out she was expecting their third child.

The family, who have been on the social housing waiting list with Wicklow County Council since 2014, have to leave their rental property by Tuesday  the same day she is due to give birth at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin.

They have been renting a four-bedroom house in Rathnew, Co Wicklow, for three years, for 1,600 per month. The family gets the Housing Assistance Payment and had entered into a four-year agreement on the property.

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However, the landlord now wishes to sell the house. The couple were issued with a notice of termination on September 30 last year and have been unable to find alternative accommodation within their budget.

Mr Bermingham works full-time with the NCT and Ms OKeeffe had to give up work to mind their 14-month old daughter Eabha. Their eldest daughter Mia is 11.

Ms OKeeffe said she was trying to stay calm for the health of the baby, but described the situation as extremely scary.

We have no idea where we are going to end up or what we are going to do. Weve had doctors letters and everything recommending and pleading with the council to try and sort us out before it causes problems during the pregnancy, but even trying to talk to anyone in the council has been a nightmare, she said.

A search on Daft.ie for four-bed houses in Wicklow shows just three available. The cheapest is 2,350 per month. The other two are priced at 3,120 and 3,450.

Theres nothing out there and anything that is available is overpriced. Even for a three-bed youre looking at around 2,500.

Weve been in the house three years. We lived here for the first year without the HAP and then we signed up to the HAP due to my other daughter being born. It was impossible for my partner to cover the rent by himself.

My other daughter also goes to school in the area and all her friends are here.

"Its an absolute nightmare"

In recent weeks, Wicklow County Council has had zero capacity in its emergency accommodation.

Ms OKeeffe and her partner, who are in their mid-30s, cannot move in with family because their siblings live at home.

Our families feel so helpless, she said.

Theyre overcrowded as it is and theres not much they can do. They cant take in us and three kids.

The Government isnt helping at the moment. Were taking in more refugees when there is no accommodation available and there are more people being made homeless.

Theyve decided not to extend the eviction ban and have put nothing else in place, its very frustrating.

We cant watch the news any more as its so upsetting.

"Weve been on the housing list for nine years. I know of people who are on it 16 years and still waiting.

The politicians are sitting in their rooms and having these arguments but they havent a clue whats happening in the real world.

If you look to get a mortgage, the banks dont even want to know you.

"Its one roadblock after another"

My partner has been working full-time since he was 15. Its not fair to be in this situation.

Wicklow County Council said it does not comment on individual cases. It said there is limited emergency accommodation and every effort is under way to increase capacity.
Wiping tears from her eyes, the female soldier sat upright and dignified in the witness box. Dressed in her full ceremonial uniform, she had told the impact on her life of being sexually assaulted by an army officer after a social function at a military barracks three years ago. The non-commissioned officer also described the effect of the subsequent trial and media publicity. She made no eye contact with her attacker during her five-minute appearance at the Military Justice Centre in McKee Barracks in Dublin. That wasnt easy, the judge remarked, as she concluded.

However, no details of her statement can be reported due to an order by the military judge. Most details of the case have not been reported as a result of the already extensive reporting restrictions.

Counsel for the Director of Military Prosecutions wanted a ban to be imposed on reporting of what the soldier said so as not to cause more trauma to the victim and in the interests of justice.

In the interests of justice, the victim had to make repeated complaints about the assault.

In the interests of justice, the allegations were not investigated for four months.

In the interests of justice, lurid WhatsApp messages were circulated among soldiers about the attack.

In the interests of justice, the social function involved senior officers breaking rules and was in breach of Covid-19 restrictions.

In the interests of justice, information about these incidents was withheld from the Government.

This all happened in some interests, but arguably justice wasnt the motivation in mind.

An explosive report on the culture of abuse, bullying and intimidation in the Defence Forces has now put the military on trial

When several newspapers sought to challenge the reporting restrictions on the sexual assault case, the military judge even questioned their right to even appear in court.

Although initially permitted without any issue, the reporting restrictions even bizarrely included the location of the offence.

A changing of the goalposts on reporting restrictions has become a feature of a number of cases in the past couple of years. The tendency to impose extensive reporting restrictions on military court cases has gone far beyond what would be deemed understandable in civilian courts, particularly in sexual offences, as well as those committed on overseas duty. Security of the State and safety of Defence Forces personnel are often invoked in a blanket fashion to justify restrictions.

The complaint by the two female soldiers didnt just reveal a sexual and physical assault

In this recent sexual assault case, the powerful victim impact statement also contained comments about the impact on her for reporting the offence. But that cant be reported upon. The silencing of victims ended this past week. An explosive report on the culture of abuse, bullying and intimidation in the Defence Forces has now put the military on trial. Tellingly, the report of the Independent Review Group on Dignity and Equality issues in the Defence Forces spoke of some members of management crossing the line between appropriate and inappropriate exercise of military authority.

Crossing the line takes another form when those in command and authority preside over processes that delay, dissuade or suppress issues or complaints about wrongdoing. Examples of reported behaviours intended to delay, dissuade or suppress complaints include cover-ups, falsification of evidence, intimidation of complainants and witnesses, ostracisation of complainants and witnesses; use of delaying tactics; acting unfairly; not allowing due process and exercising, facilitating or encouraging unjust retribution, the damning report says.

The independent investigation found a litany of malfeasance

Delay and dissuasion certainly appeared to feature in the militarys handling of the complaints of the two female soldiers. The male army officer, who cannot be identified, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a female soldier and physically assaulting a second female soldier. The trial heard that the accused had been brought to the mess after being found asleep, while in uniform, in a drunken state shortly before midnight following a barbecue on the base which occurred at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The complaint by the two female soldiers didnt just reveal a sexual and physical assault. It also lifted the lid on the unacceptable behaviour of senior officers that has proved hugely embarrassing for a military top brass acting like a law unto themselves. And it offers an insight into the attitude of the military hierarchy and the relationship with their political masters.

The court ruling on identifying the location of the barbecue has been superseded by an independent investigation and the response of Tanaiste Micheal Martin, who is now demanding consequences. The dishonourable truth for the Defence Forces is the drinking party was held in its own headquarters, for staff working on the response to Covid-19. In an organisation governed by structures, orders and procedures, this event broke virtually every rule in the book.

The independent investigation found a litany of malfeasance, including a lack of documentation, an inadequate investigation and a delay in providing information to the Department of Defence. The drinking party attended by numbers far in excess of what Covid restrictions allowed at the time went on for over seven hours and resulted in the assaults. Remarkably, there was no immediate investigation. When the female soldiers reported what happened, they were called into a barracks with their assailant and offered Brown Thomas vouchers. The assault became the subject of locker room banter among soldiers and when WhatsApp messages circulated widely, word got out and reports had to be filed up the chain of command, resulting in a Military Police investigation.

The Covid-19 task force had been held up as an example of the Defence Forces contribution to the battle the nation was undertaking.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had been given a tour of its headquarters just weeks before the barbecue.

Not only did it reveal what happened, but it lifted the lid on the dysfunctional relationship between the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence

The newly-appointed Defence Minister Simon Coveney visited the task forces HQ five days after the party.

Nothing was said about it to him.

The Department of Defence subsequently found out through a protected disclosure. The proverbial hit the fan. The Military Police investigation conveniently concluded there was no breach of Covid-19 restrictions but alcohol rules had been broken. Sanctions were handed down to three senior officers. Unimpressed at being kept in the dark, Coveney ordered an independent investigation.

Not only did it reveal what happened, but it lifted the lid on the dysfunctional relationship between the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence. The Department of Defence is entitled to be informed of what has happened or is happening, it stated. Now Tanaiste Micheal Martin wants proper punishments imposed upon those senior officers involved in the party. The Defence Forces says it has received this report and is working with the Department of Defence to progress and implement the reports key recommendations.

Sexual assault allegations in the Defence Forces will no longer go to the Military Police and will be assigned to the Garda for investigation and prosecution. A statutory inquiry into the culture of abuse will now take place.

Alongside, a strategic plan on the transformation of the Defence Forces is now being planned.

The bigger picture is the Government saying that time is up on the resistance to change in the military.  With additional reporting by Sean McCarthaigh
The race towards the 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d'Ivoire is shaping up nicely as six teams have so far confirmed their places in the flagship tournament following the recent round of qualifiers over the past seven days.

Holders Senegal, Tunisia, South Africa, Morocco and Burkina Faso have joined hosts The Elephants in the line up for the tournament which has now been confirmed to start in January 2024.

Here is a round-up of matches played in Matchday Three and Four of the qualifiers for the competition to be held in Cote d'Ivoire.

Group A

A three-way battle remains for the two qualification slots heading into the last two rounds of matches. Leaders Nigeria (nine points) beat Guinea Bissau 1-0 in the reverse fixture to remain on the apex, with the latter in second spot (seven points).

Sierra Leone are third (five points) after beating Sao Tome and Principe 2-0 and remain in contention for a place in the final tournament. Sao Tome have been eliminated as they are bottom with a point.

Group B

Burkina Faso have already sealed their place in the tournament as they needed just a point in their last match against Togo. They drew 1-1 to move to 10 points and attain an unassailable lead from third place.

The Togolese are bottom with two points but still with a mathematical chance as they are five points behind second placed Cape Verde who drew with Lesotho who are third. The three teams are all in contention for a place.

Group C

Namibia produced the biggest result from this group with a shock 2-1 win over giants Cameroon and are now only a point away from qualification. They lead the group with five points, one ahead of second placed Cameroon.

Burundi are third in the group with a point. They face both Cameroon and Namibia in June and wins in the two games will qualify them to the tournament.

The group has three teams after the exclusion of Kenya.

Group D

Heading into the June matches, the group remains open. Egypt and Guinea won both their matches in this last round of matches to lead the group with nine points and the two will qualify if they draw when they meet in June.

Malawi (third) and Ethiopia (fourth) are both on three points after back to back losses and fate is out of their hands.

Group E

Ghana, Central Africa Republic and Angola remain in the race for the two qualification slots. Leaders Ghana are on eight points on top of the group, one ahead of CAR after picking four out of a possible six from the last round of qualifiers.

CAR won back to back matches against Madagascar, who remain bottom with one point and have their hopes almost sewn off.

Group F

After their fourth straight win, Algeria's Les fennecs are through to the tournament with an unassailable 12 points. They beat Niger home and away and are also assured of top spot with second placed Tanzania eight points behind.

The Taifa Stars were beaten 1-0 by Uganda in Tuesday's return fixture, with the Cranes getting themselves back into contention. Bottom side Niger on two points are also in contention.

Group G

This group also remains open heading into the final round of matches. Mali's 1-0 loss at the hands of Gambia away from home meant they will wait for qualification, but still remain top of the group with nine points.

Congo Brazzaville avenged for their shock defeat against South Sudan to beat them in their home fixture in Dar es Salaam, moving to second with six points, same as Gambia but with a better goal difference.

South Sudan are bottom with three points and are still mathematically in contention.

Group H

Hosts Ivory Coast are already through, but they remained unbeaten in this group after edging out Comoros 2-0 to move to 10 points. The battle for the single slot to the tournament is now between Zambia (9) and Comoros (3) with winless Lesotho out.

Zambia who beat the latter home and away need just a point in June to confirm their place in the tournament.

Group I

All teams are still in the race to qualify. Gabon lead the group with seven points, one ahead of Sudan who revived their hopes by beating the former 1-0 in Omdurman.

Mauritania are third with five points following their home draw against DR Congo. The latter are on four points which they picked from the past match window from the win and draw against the Mauritanians.

Group J

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Tunisia beat Libya home and away to move to 10 points and claim their ticket to Ivory Coast. They are on 10 points, one ahead of Equatorial Guinea who completed a home and away sweep of Botswana and eliminated them from contention.

They need just a point in their next two matches to qualify. Libya who are on three points have a mathematical chance but fate is not in their hands.

Group K

The group is already sewn with Morocco and South Africa confirming their tickets. Morocco had already qualified even before this qualification window as they were on six points.

South Africa booked their spot with a nervy 2-1 win over Liberia in Monrovia, making amends after dropping a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 in the first leg. The group has three teams after the exclusion of Zimbabwe.

Group L

Defending champions Senegal swept Mozambique home and away to move to 12 points and confirm their qualification. The battle for the single remaining slot is now left to Mozambique (4), Rwanda (3) and Benin (2).

Rwanda and Benin played to back to back 1-1 draws.
Two men without boarding passes tried to pass through Dublin Airport security in two separate incidents on Thursday.

Abdul Ahmead (48), who was fined earlier in the week after he boarded a flight to Birmingham without a passport or boarding pass, tried to pass through the airport again on Thursday morning.

He was stopped by a member of An Garda Siochana in Terminal 1 and a court has now ordered his deportation. He had yet to go through the screening section and was not airside.

The Irish Independent can reveal a second man, in his 30s and also without a valid ticket, tried to pass the self-scanning gates in Terminal 1 at about 1pm on Thursday.

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He was cautioned by An Garda Siochana after being arrested by airport police.

A garda spokesperson said: A second male in his 30s was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act at Dublin Airport and taken to Dublin Airport garda station.

This male has been dealt with under the Adult Caution Scheme.

A spokesperson for the airport authority DAA said: Close co-operation between airport security and An Garda Siochana at Dublin Airport resulted in the arrest of two individuals. 

We do not comment on specific aspects of aviation security operations.

The Irish Independent previously highlighted how Ahmead successfully boarded an Aer Lingus flight on Monday night without a valid boarding pass or passport.

He was seated on the plane when airport police came to remove him.

He returned to the airport at 11am on Thursday, was spotted by a garda who recognised him and was arrested shortly afterwards.

Ahmead was charged again with trespass and immigration offences and taken back to Dublin District Court on Thursday afternoon.

He was given an eight-week prison sentence that was suspended as long as he co-operates with the authorities and is deported.

The incidents come as the Irish Aviation Authority is investigating a protected disclosure from a whistleblower, who alleges screening at the airport is not fit for purpose and could lead to a terrorist attack.
A GARDA representative body has criticised a tweet by Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin that depicts gardai policing a forced eviction.

Mr O Broin tweeted a mock-up of an eviction taking place with photoshopped images of masked gardai assisting with the forced removal of an individual from a thatched cottage.

The artwork, created by artist Mala Spiosrai, draws heavily on a historic painting of Irish people being forcibly evicted in the 19th century. Mr O Broin has defended the tweet saying it is intended as a criticism of Government policy, not the Gardai.

O Broin, the Sinn Fein housing spokesperson, posted the image in a tweet just after lunchtime on Saturday with the caption: No words needed.

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It comes on the day that the no fault eviction ban has officially expired amid fears that thousands of tenants face eviction in the coming weeks and months.

The tweet has, however, caused a significant backlash online.

Antoinette Cunningham, the general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, tweeted: Deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate tweet..and this from an elected representative!!!how insultingly wrong to portray [An Garda Siochana].

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Without linking to Mr O Broins tweet, Justice Minister Simon Harris posted on Saturday evening: Todays social media post by a leading member of the main opposition party shows what they really think of the Gardai.

The mask slips. Its offensive, inappropriate and disrespectful to the men and women of An Garda Siochana.

Several Fine Gael politicians have also criticised the tweet by Mr O Broin with Senator Regina Doherty describing it as a new low for you Eoin.

Dublin Fingal TD Alan Farrell said: Eoin o Broin should apologise and delete his tweet. Utterly pathetic, immature behaviour. Its this sort of throw away commentary that causes real harm.

Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain tweeted: We all make mistakes on here. Easy solution - delete the tweet, apologise and we all move on. [An Garda Siochana] deserve better than this & I suspect Eoin realises that.

Contacted on Saturday, Mr O Broin told Independent.ie: The image is a reworking of a 19th century painting of a famine era eviction by Dublin artist Mala Spiosari.

"It depicts a private security company carrying out an eviction with the Gardai observing. That is what happens in cases of a court ordered eviction.

"The tweet is intended as a criticism of Government policy, not the Gardai.
"Id be walking down the street in Galway and someone would say, Oh, theres Lynda! Theres Miss Ireland. God, I thought shed be prettier. I thought shed be taller. I thought shed be skinnier. Look what shes wearing! She looks terrible. Photo: Ray Ryan

"I would go from [binge-eating] to restricting my food. When I say restricting my food, when I was at my worst I was going about 14, 15 days without any food. Nobody knew that until last year. Because you hide it." Duffy as Miss Ireland at the Miss World 2002 competition in London. Picture by Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Back when Lynda Duffy won Miss Ireland in 2002, going on to represent our country at Miss World, nobody had an inkling that the sophisticated and confident young woman who held the crown was suffering.

I wasnt bulimic, I wasnt anorexic, she explains from her parents home near the Mayo border.

With binge-eating, you eat really quickly, so its not about spending the day having different foods, or what most people might consider a pig-out that you might do over a period of an evening or a period of the day. Binge-eating disorder is eating as much as you can as quickly as you can. And I would go from that to restricting my food. When I say restricting my food, when I was at my worst I was going about 14, 15 days without any food. Nobody knew that until last year. Because you hide it.

Long-term fasting such as Duffy describes is extremely dangerous and can compromise the immune system and put a strain on the heart.

Expand Close "Id be walking down the street in Galway and someone would say, Oh, theres Lynda! Theres Miss Ireland. God, I thought shed be prettier. I thought shed be taller. I thought shed be skinnier. Look what shes wearing! She looks terrible. Photo: Ray Ryan / Facebook

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Whatsapp "Id be walking down the street in Galway and someone would say, Oh, theres Lynda! Theres Miss Ireland. God, I thought shed be prettier. I thought shed be taller. I thought shed be skinnier. Look what shes wearing! She looks terrible. Photo: Ray Ryan

When I say no food, I mean no food. Nothing passed my lips except water and green tea.

Duffy has recently moved home from the Middle East, where she had lived for over a decade, and has founded a new business, Therapy with Lynda, using a technique which she says vanquished her own demons. Though she traces her eating disorder back to when she was in boarding school aged 16, the starvation part only began within the past five years.

During the worst of it, Duffy had a busy job recruiting for one of Saudi Arabias so-called mega projects, building a new smart city in the desert and along the Red Sea. Neom, a mega-city, will be 33 times bigger than New York, has a budget of $500bn and aims to be powered exclusively by renewable energy when completed in 2030.

I was managing the recruitment for seven sectors within the organisation, recruiting people from all over the globe, at every level from graduates to executive directors. How could she function in such a demanding role without eating for weeks at a time?

After about three or four days, you just get used to it. Obviously you get tired, you get irritable and restless. For me, it wasnt even about wanting to lose weight. I was at a point where I felt so out of control of my life.

I had to prove to myself that I was mentally strong, and that was the only way I could do it. It was ridiculous and its really bad for you and its stupid. But when youre in that mindset, you dont know how else to control stuff.

Before we get to the therapy that she says cured her eating disorder overnight  and which she now uses to treat others  Duffy speaks about how she binged to suppress the negative beliefs she had about herself from a young age.

Beliefs that were well established by the time her agent at her model agency suggested she enter a certain beauty pageant when she was 21.

Miss Ireland was a great experience and probably, at the time, I didnt appreciate it when I did win. I should have been really proud. I suppose I had the mindset of not giving myself credit for things.

Instead, she was comparing herself unfavourably to the other girls. There were definitely girls who were taller than me, who were skinnier than me, who were prettier than me. This is all in my own opinion and I kind of felt like, Well, why would I deserve to win? You expect Miss Ireland to have their hair and make-up done and everythings fabulous and I was never that person. I could turn on that switch when I needed to, but Im not the sort of person who puts on make-up or who is dressed up to the nines every day.

That year, the Miss World contest was held in Nigeria. It was a catastrophe. When a newspaper article suggested that Islams founding prophet Mohammed would have married a Miss World contestant, it ostensibly caused religiously motivated riots that left over 200 people dead.

I remember getting a call from The Gerry Ryan Show first thing in the morning and I didnt really actually know what was going on at that point.

After three days of unrest, Miss World organisers chartered a plane to London for their beauty queens.

I remember them saying to us, Dont turn on your phone on the bus in case we get shot at. Like, just crazy stuff. It was wild.

Duffy was already unhappy to be away from home for a month  she had wanted to leave after two weeks  partly because of catty contestants and constant rivalry.

I remember specifically two other Misses were like, God, look at the state of her hair. I just found it very hard to do the whole hair and make-up thing every day. It was just so unnatural for me that I really struggled.

At least the contests relocation to London meant Duffys family  she is the youngest of four  could join her.

Once back in Ireland, she had to attend events, launches and press calls as part of her Miss Ireland duties. Afterwards, she would go home, clean her face and change into her pyjamas. In her free time, she preferred to dress down.

I remember in the first two years after the win Id be walking down the street in Galway and someone would say, Oh, theres Lynda! Theres Miss Ireland. God, I thought shed be prettier. I thought shed be taller. I thought shed be skinnier. Look what shes wearing! She looks terrible.

Expand Close Lynda Duffy at the Miss World 2002 competition. Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images / Facebook

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The criticism, understandably, stung. I would consider myself a strong person, I have good willpower. I would have been a confident person, but my self-esteem would have been really low. She differentiates between confidence and self-esteem by saying that while she believed she was a good model  because I just have to walk  she never felt good enough. How do I treat myself? Do I love myself by giving myself good food? No. Do I look in the mirror and say, Im beautiful? No. I look in the mirror and say, You have two different eyelids  one is bigger than the other. Your nose is slightly crooked. Your teeth are too small for your mouth. Your mouth needs to be wider.

These are all things I used to look in the mirror and say: Well, these arent right. So why would anybody love me? It was stupid.

Meanwhile, she had a supportive boyfriend, was in demand for photo shoots and working for a medical devices company. The following year she handed over her sash and crown to Rosanna Davison, who, to date, is the only Irish woman to win Miss World.

I remember that was in the Citywest Hotel. When she won Miss World, I remember saying, Oh great, the person after me has to go and win Miss World just to make me look even worse. Ive met Rosanna a few times and its amazing for her. Thats something that shell carry for her whole life and its a real honour.

In her late 20s, Duffy left her job, broke up with her boyfriend and entered her first period of being really unhappy.

She adds: I was like, What am I doing with my life? I was in a horrible place, feeling really worthless and thinking, I wish I didnt wake up today because I dont want to feel this pain.

Within two weeks she pulled herself out of this funk and met with a recruitment agent in Dublin for career advice.

They said, Would you consider a job in recruitment? And because I didnt know what else I wanted to do, I said, Why not? I joined them for about six months and then I moved to Dubai in September 2012. She was in a new relationship with someone who had already travelled to Dubai. Duffy would spend over eight years in the city and, initially, everything was great.

For the first time since I was 16, my eating habits stabilised. I was trying to figure out why that was. Is it because Im not in modelling? Is it because Im in a different environment?

But it wasnt long before the old destructive pattern reappeared.

I was in a relationship at the time and I think I kind of went into, Why does this person want to be with me? This person is going to leave me. Theyre going to find someone whos prettier, taller, smarter, funnier, has nicer clothes, looks better, doesnt wear glasses. Everything goes into overdrive and youre like, Well, I dont want to feel this way. So what do I do to stop myself feeling this way? I eat. But it doesnt stop you feeling that way. Its almost like an addiction. I got an instant relief from it. But it doesnt fix the thing. You just do it again and again and again.

Did her boyfriend know?

So my boyfriends throughout the years would have known I had a challenging relationship with food. Some of them would have seen me kind of binge, but none of them would have known the depths of the starvation part.

She would tell them she had breakfast at work, had a late lunch with colleagues, didnt feel like dinner, wasnt hungry.

You just come up with every kind of excuse. When I was in relationships and I would go for a binge, Id say, Im going to the shop to buy a magazine. And then Id go to the shop, buy five or six bars, crisps, doughnuts, whatever I could eat as quickly as possible, and Id have it done within 15 minutes. Id be back and they wouldnt know any different. Im just coming back with my magazine.

How did she not get sick?

There were times when I thought I would be sick, but it never happened. I would just get into bed and lie down because I used to have a phobia about getting sick as well. In one way that was probably good because if I didnt have the phobia I would have been bulimic, maybe. Id always eat to the point where I knew that if I ate one more thing, Id be sick, and that was my cut-off.

While her career continued to flourish in the Middle East, Duffy tried to tackle her eating disorder through talk therapy but wasnt receptive to it.

A turning point came when she left Dubai for Saudi Arabia and the Neom city project two years ago.

I was working and living in an extremely remote location, surrounded by the same people every day. We lived in cabins, so it wasnt like a normal compound structure. So in itself, it was a mentally challenging place. But it was also a place where all your food was provided. We had buffet food, breakfast, lunch and dinner. So for somebody like me, its happy days, but its also bad.

Every day was either a good day at the buffet  when she would eat nothing  or a bad day, when she would binge.

Im going to have 15 desserts and then Im going to stop at the shop on the way home and buy myself five bars. Im going to have dinner  have two dinners sometimes  and just overeat, overeat, overeat. So it was this constant struggle.

She no longer tried to conceal the problem.

I hid it for so long that, when I got to Saudi, I was so exhausted from hiding it I didnt care any more who knew. So Id be sitting having dinner and the lads  grown men  would be saying, How do you eat that much? And they werent joking. This wasnt a ha ha situation. I was like, I dont know. I guess my body is just so used to it.

And because Im not somebody who is overweight, people always presumed, well, how could she have an eating disorder because she is a normal weight? I wasnt underweight and I wasnt severely overweight because I balanced myself out.

Over time, her mood deteriorated and she went to the same odd place in her mind she had gone to 10 years earlier.

Not liking myself and just thinking, Why am I here? I was single at that point. Im still single, but I was like, Why would anybody want me? Whats the purpose of me? Nobody cares. All this negative, stupid stuff. Of course people care about you. And that overtook everything.

Did the escalation of her disease have anything to do with the tremendous pressure on women in their late 30s to settle down and start a family?

Perhaps a little, as the bingeing is triggered by rejection. I never internally felt pressure to settle down and have kids, but there is definitely an external perception. As in, a singleton, over 35, who is looking for a relationship, considered a good catch and is STILL single  then there must be something wrong with them! Overwhelmed, Duffy took an extended break home to Ireland in 2021.

I was staying with my parents and I switched off from everybody. I didnt speak to my parents, didnt speak to my friends.

My dog, who I love more than anything in the world, I didnt even interact with him, she says of Cooper, who has been by her side since she got him in Dubai in 2005.

Three weeks later, she talked herself out of the funk again, returned to Saudi and embarked on a self-development course that cost a fortune and was rubbish. When she rang her mentor looking for her money back  she didnt get it  he recommended she try Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) instead.

Id never heard of it but I thought it looked interesting. Its a mixture of CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy], psychotherapy and hypnosis.

RTT was founded by British woman Marisa Peer and it has a celebrity following.

Barack Obama and Ellen DeGeneres used it to stop smoking. Kate Middleton used it for hypnobirthing, Duffy claims.

Duffy met three RTT therapists before finding the one she wanted to share her story with. RTT involves an initial consultation for two hours to explore the root cause of a particular problem, after which you must listen to a personalised audio every day for 21 days. There are a couple of brief follow-up conversations with the counsellor in the following weeks.

It sounds so simple but its about understanding why I was doing it. Its about understanding trauma. Trauma can be anything from physical illness to something your parents said to you when you were young and it stuck with you for life. People have different things in life that they were privy to, not always in a positive way, she says, not wishing to go into the specifics of her own situation.

I remember after my session going down to the dining hall and looking at the desserts, and it was like looking at water. I felt nothing. I was, like, OK, weird. And the next day I went down again and I felt nothing. So it was just a case of overnight, it just stopped. That was December 12, 2021.

I tell Duffy that our readers might think such a quick fix is impossible. If I hadnt gone through this myself, Id be like, Yeah, whatever. Id be sceptical, she says. But for me, the binge-eating stopped overnight. That doesnt mean to say its going to be like that for everybody.

She had slower success tackling her self-esteem. The second session was about how to get over these feelings of not feeling good enough, not feeling worthy, not feeling lovable enough, not feeling these constant fears of rejection. That didnt happen for me overnight. It took me about three months to get to that point where I was like, No, I am worthy. I always have been and I always will be.

Now she says she is in a better place to meet someone. I know my worth, I dont accept disrespectful behaviour, I know that I am lovable no matter what. I know that I am good enough for someone, exactly as I am and how I look.

Such was her excitement at the effects of RTT, Duffy spent a year training to become a practitioner before taking on her first clients.

I love what I do. My original plan was to stay in Saudi for another year and do both. But my job there was so demanding, I couldnt have committed to it.

She moved home to Galway in December 2022 and has launched her business here instead. Her typical client has disordered eating habits, including one girl aged just 14. Anxiety is another big one. Fears and phobias is a big one. One of my clients has a phobia about vegetables.

As for her own fears, on a trip to Thailand, Duffy had a hankering for ice cream for the first time since her overnight aversion to junk food. I actually WhatsApped my therapist, and I said, I feel like ice cream. What do I do? She was like, If you feel like ice cream, have some ice cream. So I had a bowl of ice cream. That was it!

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Given a choice between a chi-chi mountain resort in Utah, where the super wealthy ski, and a log cabin in the Finnish woods, it seems wed be better looking to the Finns if we want to find true contentment.

At first glance it would appear that the UN World Happiness Report, which this week named Finland as the happiest place in the world for the sixth year in a row, has little to do with a celebrity hit-and-run ski trial, which has been unfolding in the drab surroundings of a Utah court room.

But on closer inspection perhaps those embroiled in the clash of the skis could do worse than seek out a spell in Finland with its cold climate and six months of winter and darkness for inspiration on how to be happy.

The proponents of the hokey and often cringe-inducing US courtroom drama  76-year-old retired optometrist Terry Sanderson and wellness empress Gwyneth Paltrow sued and counter-sued one another over a collision on the slopes of the Deer Valley Resort  may have all the trappings of wealthy, pampered lives but theyve left us with an aftertaste of mild revulsion at how theyre living them.

Despite years of working as an actress before founding her lucrative lifestyle empire Goop, Paltrows facial expressions have oscillated between looking smug and vaguely bored in court. Sanderson was a picture of misery. At one point Paltrow actually said to the court: I feel really sorry for him. It feels like hes had a difficult life.

Its fair to say that all is not coming up smelling of roses in Goop land despite Paltrows victory in the case. On the face of it, being able to pay thousands of dollars for private ski tuition for your children in a luxury resort is a pretty fortunate position to find yourself in. But when your empire is built on wellness and inner harmony, having the spotlight focused on your supposed lack of empathy for the plight of a fellow skier is not a great look.

All week, commentators have focused on Paltrows court wardrobe, a new style sub-genre labelled courtcore. From her muted grey trouser suit to her super-luxe slouchy cream sweater, the actresss sartorial choices have been relentlessly raked over. Choosing stealth wealth or wearing brands that arent easily identifiable and whisper luxury rather than loudly declare it has become part of the actresss battle to win over fans in the court of public opinion.

But the point is that none of these tactics and no amount of money can stop life careening into you  whether youre on top-dollar ski slopes or not. Money can shield the one-percenters from rubbing shoulders with mere mortals, but even the super wealthy are not immune to accidental encounters.

Perhaps its this fact alone which makes the trial so compulsive and makes the juxtaposition with the happy Finns, who seem to care not a jot for celebrity lifestyles, so compelling. Precarity is a factor in all our lives which is why people have gone gaga for the Goop queen in court. Nobody could have seen this compulsive viewing coming.

The Finns, on the other hand, have uncovered some nuggets of gold when it comes to really living their best lives  theres no mention of bone broth or jade eggs either. Sociologists suggest that their way of life celebrates co-operation rather than competition and point out that while people from other nations measure success in terms of material wealth  bigger job, house, car  the Finns are more likely to be trying to do something fun in their free time, usually outdoors and in nature.

Whatever the weather, the Finns are likely to be found hiking, camping and jumping into lakes with a zest for life that leaves citizens of other countries flagging.

Another reason for their contentment might be having access to the basics like affordable housing, a living wage, good healthcare and excellent schools. These kinds of solid planks, which frame so much of what a fair society should be built on, are taken for granted in Finland.

Then theres a national character trait called sisu which is deeply ingrained in the Finnish consciousness. Sisu as a concept roughly translates as perseverance and grit no matter what comes your way. According to Katja Pantzar, author of Everyday Sisu: Tapping into Finnish Fortitude for a Happier, More Resilient Life, Finns have a subdued happiness. They might be totally satisfied, but they dont have the same body language, like smiling, she says.

All of this seems like a different world to one which has come under scrutiny in the courtroom in Utah where someone who described himself as a ski-ologist gave expert testimony on ski injuries. I cant help but wonder what the stoic, brand-eschewing Finns would make of the Soho blue notebook the Goop founder brandished during the trial with its eye-watering price tag of $250.

In a recent Goop post, Paltrow said her most lasting mistakes, and the mess that comes with them, have all stemmed from me not standing fully in my truth and speaking from it, come what may.

After the furore of the courtroom drama dies down she may do well to look to Finnish culture for healing. In Finland, there are 3 million saunas for a population of just over 5 million. With 188,000 lakes across the country, plus those 3 million saunas, theres plenty of space for everyone to sweat out the negative.
The eviction ban is lifted today, on April Fools Day, but the Dail is already on an incredible two-week recess for Easter  which virtually nobody has noticed.

Who are the fools here? The politicians are playing the public, but it could be that their short-sightedness will come back to bite them in poll results and approval ratings. Has there ever been an adjournment so badly timed and out of sync with the public mood?

The house quietly went into recess on Thursday evening after cursory consideration of a bill to create a national register of personal property, to be kept and consulted by An Garda Siochana, so that people can be informed if stolen (and pre-registered property) is recovered.

A good idea, no doubt, but it was crushed by the Coalition, for the second time, because it had been introduced by Sinn Fein.

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There were so few speakers in the Dail that the axe came an hour and 20 minutes early.

Sinn Fein TD Martin Kenny made the last contribution: I accept that if the Government is not going to support the legislation, it is clearly not going to go anywhere.

It is a Thursday evening, at the last sitting before the Easter recess with nobody else in the chamber, so I am not going to keep us here forever talking about it, but the intention with the bill was to find a mechanism to ensure peoples property is better protected and that, if it has been stolen, it can be traced to the rightful owner when found.

But it was not to be. The Dail adjourned at 6.40pm until 2pm on Tuesday, April 18.

Quite why a religious feast which is always held on a Sunday should interrupt the work of the Irish parliament for two weeks must be a real puzzle to many  especially when the politicians pulled a similar stunt at recently as St Patricks Day. 

Admittedly, taking advantage of an extraordinary opportunity for Irish interests, they flew hither and thither around the world.

Expand Close Sinn Fein TD Martin Kenny. Photo: Kyran O'Brien / Facebook

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Delayed jet-leg from his trip to Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing may help explain Eamon Ryans stumbling performance on Morning Ireland yesterday when it was admitted he was not as clear as he could have been.

He claimed there would be a safety net in place from this weekend for tenants whose landlords are selling  that they would be offered first refusal on buying their homes. But the tenant in situ scheme is not up and running, as Mr Ryan claims, because it needs legislation  and nobody will be legislating in Dail Eireann for the next two-and-a-half weeks.

Clearly the Government could have prepared and rushed through that legislation before adjourning for Easter  and Mr Ryans empty assertions only underline that fact.

Similarly, it might have entered someones head to curtail the long recess so that the job could be done next week  when it is not yet Easter.

But no, the Government has temporarily vacated its house when others face being forcibly evicted from theirs. The disconnect is stark.

While some TDs traditionally jet off to foreign climes for a break at this time of year there will be the suspicion among some that this year, the two-and-a-half-week break is arranged for the enjoyment of grandstanding on the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and the related visit of US president Joe Biden.

Cold comfort for those looking to put down roots, rather than get back in touch with them.
When you think about Europes murderous colonial forays into Africa, Britain, France and even little Portugal and Belgium come to mind. Germanys role in that infamous carry-on is more usually an afterthought.

But a new German movie shines a light into another dark corner of that great countrys difficult history. It tells us that at the height of colonialism, the scale of the German empire, covering mainly Africa and parts of Asia, came in at number three in the world.

The old maxim  it never rains but it pours  kicks in here. Last month we saw the first ever German film treatment of the 1928 epic novel relating to World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front, deservedly being lauded at the Oscars.

Now brace yourselves for another movie probing the dark corners of German history, Measures of Men. This one tells us how, 120 years ago, the Herero people rose up against colonial rule in German south-west Africa, now called Namibia.

The German military command ruthlessly suppressed the uprising and issued a notorious extermination order, which led to what has gone down in the history books as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Director Lars Kraume took his period film drama on tour in Namibia before its European release in late February.

In an engaging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kraume laudably wondered if a movie could have a role in the reparation of past wrongs. But he also justified telling the story from the standpoint of the German aggressors, arguing that trying to tell it from the sufferers side would amount to cultural appropriation.

In reality, he is paving the way for the succeeding generations of victims of this ferocious atrocity to broach the issue from their own historical records and folk memories. We will await that development with great interest.

I have yet to see this movie, which is only gradually becoming available, and thus far am dependent on some positive reviews and the directors formidable track record. There is nothing smug, either, attaching to writing about this topic.

Lets recall that the fallout from the suffering of the German people through two world wars and a totalitarian regime has limited their scope for visiting other dark history corners. Lets also note that the track record of European colonials is one of comparable degrees of reprehensible acts.

Exempting the Irish, who were often part of the British oppressive apparatus, is also problematic, but a topic for another day.

Kraume says he studied history but learned little about this horror in southern Africa in the first years of the 20th century, or many other elements of his countrys colonial past. It would, he concedes, have been easier to tell the horror tale from the point of view of brave local freedom fighters who opposed the German military might and paid a terrible price.

He has a great track record for visiting his countrys historic dark corners. In 2018 he made a movie called The Silent Revolution, which is the inspiring story of a group of school pupils who defied the old East German regime in 1956 with gestures of solidarity and protest on behalf of the Hungarian people who were crushed by Russian tanks. In 2015 he did a film about Fritz Bauers attempts to catch Nazis like Adolf Eichmann.

The directors way into the story is via an ethnologist, Florian Hoffmann, who was a devotee of the new discipline of the comparative study of different races culture and behaviour.

Young Hoffmann visits the so-called Volkershau, where the German authorities paraded people from their colonies in a kind of human zoo.

Hoffmann does not believe in the pseudoscientific theories proving black people are less intelligent than whites and is fixated by Kezia, a Herero interpreter. Things kick on from there towards disaster.
After a recent column proposing the elimination of sheep on the uplands of Ireland so the rainforest can rewild, I gingerly entered the home of my cousin, Deirdre Moloney, and her husband, Andy, a farmer of high renown in the midlands.

You might need to check your facts on that one Sarah, Andy politely suggested.

All right, I said, but only if you check them with me.

So last Friday, in the middle of lambing season, I dragged them to Delphi, Co Mayo, where I had badgered the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) into sending representatives to discuss mountain ecology.

Dr Derek McLoughlin from LIFE Wild Atlantic Nature, an EU-funded project that protects rare habitats, drew the short straw, and he brought Martin Gavin, a Leenane sheep farmer, to meet us.

Derek and Martin walked us along the Bundorragha River at the foot of Mweelrea to explain why rewilding is complex and sheep, managed properly, are not necessarily the enemy.

Although of different generations and professions, both men grew up here and understand intimately the impact of human behaviour on the landscape.

Martin pointed out the sunken half-acre where he cut turf as a teenager. Now he works with Derek to protect what he once burned to keep warm.

Deforestation is not recent. Most of Irelands trees were gone by medieval times and the Cromwellian plantations finished off the great forests.

Andy asked about the ridges high up the mountainside and Martin told us of their grim origins. During the famine, people planted potatoes up there in a desperate attempt to escape the blight. It didnt work.

The ridges were evidence of an apocalypse. But new life emerged and this landscape, barren at first sight, is valuable and vulnerable.

Ireland is a small island, yet we have 85pc of the EUs blanket bog and a big proportion of its heathland. Our record protecting these habitats is awful, and regular readers know I view turf-cutting as vandalism.

In other words, Ireland needs more native trees, but protecting the bog and heathlands is the European priority. Thats where sheep come in.

Martin lets sheep and cattle lightly graze the moor grass at Delphi. Derek rooted around beneath the grass and picked up the moss Sphagnum capillifolium and showed us sedges and broadleaf herbs.

Then in a nearby ungrazed patch, he pulled back the moor grass to reveal nothing. It had grown so densely, everything else was dead.

In Delphi, light grazing preserves biodiversity, and with it the building blocks for peat.

Elsewhere, it might be better to stop grazing and let nature take its course, but each mountain has finely balanced dependencies and rewilding is too crude a policy.

Consider the pearl mussel, a globally endangered species. It thrives in the Bundorragha river on the fresh water freely flowing down the mountainside. Martin is part of an EU pearl mussel project and has installed barriers in the streams to hold back silt, which damages this rare species. If the land suddenly rewilded, it would alter the flow of water. The pearl mussel lives for around 120 years, and we dont how or if the mussel would adapt. Any sudden change is risky.

Conversely, I remarked on the flooded land Id seen on the drive up through Connemara, and Derek agreed that in some areas, trees would help prevent flooding.

Meanwhile, Martin Gavin also leads a community project funded by the NPWS to kill the dreaded rhododendron, and he showed us his success.

I got very fond of Martin on our walk and appreciated how the hill farmer can be the great environmental ally. But farmers need to live, and as cousin Andy keenly argued, people need affordable food. I think we should eat less meat of higher quality, but the poor might not agree.

Andy and Martin swapped notes on the Common Agricultural Policys wild swings in incentives that encouraged them to intensify production in the past.

Now the money is shifting from production to protection and from east to west. This year, 20,000 farms will receive a payment that reflects the ecological quality of their land.

So what did we agree as we stood in the dramatic landscape? Mostly that its complicated.

Chastened and charmed, I tracked down Ray OFoghlu, who featured on the RTE EcoEye programme I quoted in my original article. He leads the Wild Atlantic Rainforest Project at Hometree, restoring hundreds of acres of woodland, grassland and peatland in the west of Ireland.

He says hes not a fan of the term rewilding as it means everything and nothing and is polarising.

He agrees with Derek that we need native forests in Ireland, but in a mixed landscape that delivers for water, food and timber and supports grassland, peatlands, heathlands and, especially, the farmers who live there.

This is where incentives are vital. The rainforest is devalued if there are grants for everything except woodland. Ray fears that without supports, farmers will abandon the land and well have unmanaged rewilding with unforeseen consequences.

As Derek said: Its an intricate web of natural, social and economic history.

Every mountain is different. Some need native trees, some dont, and animals and humans have a role.

In Mweelrea, haunted by the famine ghosts and imagining the ancient Atlantic rainforest, I wondered how these mountains will look in a thousand years.

Who will walk among our ghosts and what story will the landscape tell them about us?
US president Joe Biden can expect a very warm welcome when he comes to Ireland after Easter. And why wouldnt he, this Democrat with Irish roots, arriving to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement?

Yet the crowd that will turn out to see him might not be as big or as euphoric as the one that rocked up for Barack Obama in Dublins College Green in May 2011.

So much has changed in those 12 years, not only in Ireland but in the balance of whether we see ourselves as closer to Boston than Berlin.

Obama practically danced on to the stage in College Green to the sound of U2s Beautiful Day. T-shirts sold in Moneygall bore the legend: Whats the craic  Barack. Americas show of support for the Ireland of 2011 was hugely appreciated at a time when it felt like the EU and the ECB had shafted the country by forcing it into a painful bailout at the behest of France and Germany. ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet had threatened to pull emergency financial support to the banks.

When Obama was telling the crowds in Dublin, Yes we can, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso was saying it wasnt Europe that created this fiscally irresponsible situation and this financially irresponsible behaviour.

Former tanaiste Mary Harney had asserted in July 2000 that Ireland was geographically closer to Berlin but spiritually we are probably a lot closer to Boston than Berlin.

In 2011, the Irish economy was massively reliant on US inward investment and exports to Britain.

Since the UKs decision to pull out of the EU in 2016, our relationship with Brussels and the capitals of Europe has strengthened. They showed solidarity and support on the issue of the Border after Brexit.

Fast-forward to EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in 2019, who said the EU will stand fully behind Ireland regardless of what happens with Brexit.

Irish people are much more willing to see themselves as European rather than having a particular take on an Anglo/American worldview. The Boston/Berlin pendulum, which never sat comfortably at either end, has swung in a more easterly direction in the last few years.

Yet so much money is blowing in from a westerly direction as our dependency on the employment and profits of US corporations has increased. The lines from Dublin to Boston and Dublin to Berlin remain anything but straight. When Harney characterised the dichotomy in what she acknowledged was a simplification, she talked about two different systems.

Boston/US depends more on individual effort and a minimum of government involvement; Berlin/Europe has more concern for social harmony and social inclusion, with governments being prepared to intervene strongly through the tax and regulatory systems, she said.

During the intervening years we have seen a banking crisis and a pandemic with state players on both sides of the Atlantic pumping huge fiscal and monetary supports into the system.

Yet the social contract appears to be breaking down in the US, where the land of opportunity is only such for a self-perpetuating few. European values of social solidarity are more appreciated in Ireland after both the crash and the pandemic. We are also keen to distance ourselves from the populist shift to the right that has taken place in both the Tories Brexit Britain and the Trump-era America.

The real question is how are we doing when it comes to putting our solidarity policies where our European mouth is? The cost of the social contract we crave is higher income taxes, greater distribution of wealth and higher corporate taxes to fund a better health service, genuinely free third-level education and social infrastructure, including houses.

French protesters are setting fire to buildings and rubbish to protect a retirement age of 62. Our retirement age is heading for 67. The French contribute nearly 12pc of GDP to public pensions. We pay around 4pc. Their approach may be unsustainable, but so too is ours.

Ireland was second only to Greece in scale and speed of health cutbacks by developed countries after the last crash. Socially and culturally we see ourselves more through European eyes, but our American-style model of high output and lower tax has served the economy well.

In economic terms we are envied across Europe, yet our inability to deliver social and affordable housing is more pitied across Europe.

The benefits of the more Boston business mindset have helped drive the economy forward from being among the poorest of developed nations in the mid-1980s to one of the wealthiest in this decade.

Yet having reached such success, the limitations of rapid progress, poor planning and an economy-driven model are coming back to bite us. We are becoming social victims of our economic success and unable to realise all of the opportunities this economic model created.

We remain firmly with a foot in both camps. We want a European society but an American economy. Despite the warm embrace of Europe after Brexit, the top 10 corporate taxpayers in Ireland pay over half of all corporation tax. This list is dominated by US firms.

It means just 10, mainly American firms, contribute 1 in every 8 collected by the State in tax, and this doesnt include the 209,000 people working for US companies or the 14.9bn in payroll they contribute.

Maybe we can continue to ride two horses. It has served us pretty well up to now. But with so much change, from potential trade wars, a fracturing society in the US and security issues with China and Russia, the scope for business as usual is narrowing.

We have no idea who the next president of the US will be or what he or she might stand for. We have no idea what solidarity will remain between the EU and US over rebuilding Ukraine when the war finally ends. And we have no idea where to position ourselves in the growing fracture between the US and China.

There will be plenty of time for Joe Biden to have a welcome pint or two in Ireland. It is who is coming afterwards that might dictate where the Boston/Berlin pendulum swings next.
Nairobi  In response to journalists being harassed, attacked, and arrested while covering mass anti-government protests in Kenya since March 20, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for authorities to take action to protect members of the press:

"Journalists covering the ongoing protests in Kenya are carrying out a crucial public service, and authorities must support reporters instead of threatening or detaining them," said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ's sub-Saharan Africa representative. "Kenya's regional reputation as a hub for the free press is at risk unless this aggression against the media is stopped, and attacks on journalists are credibly investigated and prosecuted."

Since March 20, protests against the 2022 election of President William Ruto and declining economic conditions have been held by the opposition Azimio la Umoja political coalition twice a week, during which police and members of the public have harassed or assaulted members of the media and police briefly arrested two journalists, according to multiple news reports and statements from local media rights organizations.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga called for a boycott of a local newspaper, which he accused of "benefiting from the blood and tears of Kenyans," on March 21, a move he rescinded two days later.

The Communications Authority, the country's broadcast regulator, also threatened to revoke six TV stations' broadcast licenses; on March 24, the Kenyan High Court suspended the regulator's ability to revoke the licenses pending a hearing of a civil society application alleging that the authority acted illegally and unconstitutionally, according to news reports and court documents reviewed by CPJ. The authority said it would comply with the ruling.
June Maher from Bray photographed at the Cost of Living Coalition portest outside Leinster House.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 1/4/23

Protesters at the Cost of Living Coalition portest outside Leinster House.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath 1/4/23

Thousands braved miserable weather conditions to protest against the Governments decision to lift the ban on evictions.

An estimated 2,000 people made their dissatisfaction with the States housing policies known as they protested outside Leinster House.

Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham, who attended the protest, said the housing crisis is obscene and a failure of the Government.

When I moved out to Coolock in the 1970s, this was before we were in the EU, we weren't a wealthy country and we were able to build for people, he told the Irish Independent.

The Dublin actor said he has a friend with a 10-year-old child who is being evicted.

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You cant ask a grown man to sofa surf it's obscene. To steal somebodys dignity, thats an utter failure of Government policy. Its beyond competent, he said.

The protest was organised by the Cost of Living Coalition and was supported by a range of trade unions, political parties and activism groups.

A single mother, who wished to remain anonymous, with a nine-year old child will be evicted from her home on Thursday.

The anxiety is huge because I have done everything right, I've paid taxes for 17 years and Ive paid thousands in rent, its unfair, she said.

The mother, who works full-time, was served with an eviction notice in October and has not been able to find alternative accommodation.

I dont want my daughter to be in emergency accommodation, that is traumatising for life, she said.

Meanwhile, disability activist Kayleigh McDevitt (28) with Cerebral Palsy was told she would be living in transition housing in Clontarf for a maximum period for six-months, however, she is still there five years later and says it is affecting her mental health.

I can't afford my TV anymore because of bills getting too much, she told the crowd in an emotional address.

I know it doesnt mean a lot to people but as someone who is suffering from depression, this government is sending me further into depression.

It makes you feel like you are not valuable enough, said Ms McDevitt, who is on a disability allowance of 220 per week and pays 511 per month on rent.

Why cant people stand up for us, because I dont know how much more I can take.

While 69-year-old June Maher from Bray, who attended the protest, was served with an eviction notice in 2018 as her landlord sold her home after nine years.

I was four days away from declaring homeless, she said.

Ms Maher has severe arthritis and was forced to rent an apartment with black mould before she received a home from the council after 13 years on the housing list.

To find yourself in that situation is surreal, she said.

I threw myself at the mercy of the council, I had too. I never dreamed in a million years after working since 13 that it would happen, she said.

Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly said the spineless Independent TDs who supported the government in lifting the eviction ban should be ashamed.

Ms OReilly said she received a notice of eviction from her home in Clonskeagh in 1995 when she was pregnant.

I dont know if anyone in the government was ever evicted into homelessness, but I was, she said.

It was horrible and I felt ashamed. I felt ashamed because I couldn't provide a house.

When I think about it now and think about the people facing eviction and homelessness, they shouldn't feel any shame, the shame is on the government, she said.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik, who attended todays protest, said she is deeply concerned by the stories from constituents in her area who have been left with nowhere to go.

She said it is appalling for people to be told to garda stations if they have nowhere else to go.

Councils have been left in a very difficult position because they haven't been given the resources or the capacity. Government are telling us there are schemes in place but they are simply not, she said.

The eviction ban was introduced for six-months over the winter period as a safety net for renters at risk of becoming homeless.

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A Sligo man before Sligo District Court on a number of charges including assault, criminal damage and trespass, was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison by Judge Sandra Murphy on Thursday.

John Dennedy, of Racecourse View, Sligo was sentenced to six months in prison for assaulting security man John Joe Dowdican causing him harm at Sligo University Hospital on October 13th 2019.

Other charges before the court included damaging a front door belonging to Ann Marie Mahon at Castle St, Sligo on January 1st 2021. He was charged with having a knife with a blade which was sharply pointed at JFK Parade Sligo on February 5th 2020. Dennedy was charged with entering the Glasshouse Apartments, Hyde Bridge, Sligo on February 5th 2021 as a trespasser and at the same location damaging property to wit two windows valued at 300 each.,

He was charged with having in a public place a brass knuckle duster intended to cause injury or intimidate a person at Pilkington Terrace, Sligo on April 16th 2019.

He was charged with intoxication and engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour at The Mall, Sligo on November 28th 2020.

On dates unknown between February 11th 2021 and February 12th 2021 he was charged with damaging a black Renault Twingo to the value of 2,074 at St Marys Cathedral, Temple St, Sligo. He was charged with intoxication at Joe McDonnell Drive, Cranmore on March 8th 2022 and engaging in threatening, abusive of insulting behaviour on the same date.

There was another intoxication charge at Racecourse View on January 7th 2021.

He was also charged with engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour at Sligo Courthouse on May 15th 2022.

He was charged with stealing a four-pack of Guinness valued at 7.50 from Tesco, Wine St on May 7th 2021.

He was also charged with stealing a bottle of brandy valued at 19.99 and five cans of ready mix gin from Aldi, Cranmore Road, Sligo on May 8th 2022.

He was charged with possession of cocaine on April 16th 2019 at Pilkington Terrace.

In passing sentencing, Judge Murphy said she had gone through the matters before the court for a considerable time and a lot had been dealt with originally by Judge Kilrane and had been re-entered.

She sentenced him to a total of 18 months in prison.

Included in sentencing was the assault on the security man at Sligo University Hospital.

Judge Murphy said a Victim Impact Statement had been handed in and she had taken note of all the injuries.

She said there was no compensation paid and said it was a very serious incident.

She said in relation to the trespass and criminal damage at the Glasshouse Apartments, there was no compensation.

She sentenced him to 18 months in prison and backdated it to when he was into custody, which was February 3rd.

She said Dennedy was one person she had considered very carefully when sentencing.

The judge said unfortunately he fell by the wayside and matters were re-entered.

She said her hope is that Dennedy wont have a triggering offence on release from prison in relation to the suspended sentences of four months.

Defending solicitor Mr Mark Mullaney thanked her.
Gorey Community School students Rachel Ni Nuait, Orlaith Kearns, Tom McCreary and Kate Dolan along with History teachers Mr John Bermingham and Ms Liz Russell pictured with the tricolour presented to the school at Flag Day to commemorate the flying of the first tricolour in Waterford 175 years ago.

1st Year History students Evan Halford, Hannah Farrell, Niamh Ryan and Andy Kinsella pictured with the tricolour presented to the school at Flag Day to commemorate the flying of the first tricolour in Waterford 175 years ago.

5 th year History students Rachel Ni Nuait, Aoife Scully, Tom McCreary, Rebecca Singleton, Aoife ODowd, Kate Dolan and Orlaith Kearns pictured with the tricolour presented to the school at Flag Day to commemorate the flying of the first tricolour in Waterford 175 years ago.

History students from Gorey Community School who attended the Flag Day ceremony in Waterford: Aoife ODowd, Evan Halford, Hannah Farrell, Niamh Ryan, Tom McCreary, Rebecca Singleton, Orlaith Kearns Andy Kinsella, Aoife Scully and Rachel Ni Nuait and Kate Dolan pictured with the tricolour presented to the school at Flag Day to commemorate the flying of the first tricolour in Waterford 175 years ago

History students from Gorey Community School (GCS) marked an important moment in Irish history at a Flag Day ceremony in honour of the 175th anniversary of the first flying of the Irish tricolour.

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Organised by the Thomas F Meagher Foundation in Waterford, the event remembers the moment that Irish patriot, Thomas Francis Meagher flew the first tricolour flag on 7 March 1848 from the Mall in Waterford at the Wolf Tone club. A US army general, an Irish patriot and the governor of the state of Montana at various stages of his life, Meagher is credited with making a significant contribution to both Irish nationalism and to the preservation of the United States. He also worked tirelessly to assist the assimilation of the Irish into American society.

At the recent Waterford event, a flag was presented to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and readings and music were performed for teachers and students alike from across the country. A group of first and fifth year History students from GCS attended the event with their teachers, Ms Liz Russell, Ms Lorraine Kelly and Mr John Bermingham.
Sarah Ferguson has insisted she will stand by disgraced Prince Andrew despite the controversy surrounding her ex-husband.

The Duchess of York, better known as Fergie, was married to Andrew for 10 years until they separated in 1996.

The pair have two children daughter, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Andrew was accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Guiffre, one of Epsteins victims, when she was underage in the US. Andrew has consistently and vehemently denied the accusations.

Andrew was stripped of his military titles and asked to step down as a working royal last year, after he paid Guiffre a multi-million pound settlement to stop the case going to court.

Speaking to Brendan OConnor on RTE Radio One, Ferguson insisted she would stand by Andrew.

I will stand by what I believe is right and good and kind of a heart and of a human being; he stood by me in my very difficult times. However, I still believe that he is a good father and a very good grandfather, and he stood by me, and Ill stand by him.

The 63-year-old released her latest book, A Most Intriguing Lady, a Novel late last year and she has said it has a bit of "herself in it.

Lady Mary, the main protagonist in the book, is rebellious red head who struggles with the stiff confines of society, similar to how Fergie sees herself.

Having signed a 22-book deal, she said, I think going minute by minute, day by day, I love this book. I think youve always got to do what you love.

Book one I was just becoming a novelist and author. I'm 63, starting a new career and very proud of it and so lady Margaret was my first book, Lady Mary is my second book.

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The third book; the more that I'm getting confident in myself the more I can write and can get into it.

The lengthy interview saw OConnor commend Ferguson for being Irelands favourite royal, telling her she was more craic that the rest.

He also referred to her dirty laugh to which Fergie insisted she wouldnt change.

While she acknowledges she has lived every girls dream, she said living in the royal institution prevented her from expressing herself.

It was a thing in those days not to express your emotions. I suppose thats why it has been very difficult for me because I am full of joy, and I am full of why and full of curious life.

During her early life, tabloids often pitted Fergie and Princess Dianna against each other, writing headlines calling Fergie the Duchess of Pork and Fat Frumpy Fergie.

It was diabolical, Diana and I were permanently put against each other, permanently there was competition because they had to sell papers. There were some headlines that they have taken down saying they never said it but I've kept copies of it so they cant.

And I admit yes, I'm very vulnerable sometimes when it hurts, it does hurt. And thats probably when I would reach for the cookie jar.

We (herself and Dianna) were inseparable, and we knew each other from the Barbara Cartland days, that was a relative of hers. It's really important that I believe in kindness so it didnt matter what anyone said about Dianna or what Dianna said about me, I loved her to the day, even today. She was witty and quick, we both got on brilliantly.

With King Charles coronation approaching, she said she has not yet received an invitation to the ceremony but believes he will bring a fresh new chapter and bring a great unity and fresh look at life.

If we look back on Charles life, the Kings life, we will see that he was a champion of environmentalist; he was a champion of so many things and he was criticized for it all the way through and so yes I do think he's going to be a modern king.
Suzanne Neville's 'Cowarth' dress, which will be available at the sample sale

Presenter Jennifer Zamparelli wearing a feathered Cult Gaia dress for the final of Dancing with the Stars

Savile Row is the home of British heritage tailoring, and since her arrival in this hallowed turf , Ruby Slevin of Banshee of Savile Row has been charting new territories. Her latest push is for the little black dress wrapped around the slick elegance of a great tuxedo.

Made from worsted wool with a silk lapel, the tuxedo dress provides a little preview of Slevins upcoming new collection, titled Bring Sexy Back.

I felt that Savile Row needed to be disrupted with a little black dress, says Slevin, a graduate of the Grafton Academy. There has never been a little black dress on Savile Row, and I just thought it was fun and sexy and an alternative way of wearing tailoring.

Expand Close Banshee of Savile Row tuxedo dress worn over trousers and a linen shirt. Picture: Emily Fry / Facebook

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What I love is that it is part of the Banshees DNA, so you can wear it as a cocktail dress, wear it as a suit, wear it with jeans, it is sustainable and does not just serve one purpose in your wardrobe.

Breaking the tailoring glass ceiling, so to speak, Slevin says: I thought a beautiful chic, black, understated dress was the first way to go. Ive actually done another one in purple pinstripe, and it can also be done in velvet, and I can see it in loads of different fabrics.

The tuxedo dress is made to measure and costs 2,150. With a keen eye on versatile dressing, Slevin has mixed it up. For her new-season shoot, she teamed the dress with wide-legged tuxedo trousers (915), worn open, like a jacket, over a white linen shirt with grandfather collar (430) and styled with myfrkl.com jewellery from Angela Scanlon, who is a fan of the brand.

For her own publicity shots, Slevin styled the tuxedo dress over jeans to show yet again the many ways it can be worn.

I think the silhouette would be great for loads of different fabrics, which is really exciting, says Slevin.

I really do think the silhouette would be fab in velvet and in a tailored linen look as opposed to linen always being designed in a more loose way.

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Slevins studio is at number 13 Savile Row. She is home regularly for bespoke fittings at the Arts Club on Fitzwilliam Street, and she is hosting a trunk show there from April 19-21.

Its a nice opportunity to get some ideas for bespoke, made-to-measure pieces, especially for those who want to downsize their wardrobes to items you really love and want to wear all the time. bansheeofsavilerow.com

Plumage for spring

How utterly fabulous did Jennifer Zamparelli look wearing the Cult Gaia Shannon pink feather-embellished mini dress stylist Fiona Fagan chose for her for the finale of Dancing with the Stars?

The American brand, a hot favourite in New York, Miami and Hollywood, was one of the new brands to arrive on the contemporary floor in Brown Thomas this season along with Andreadamo, Farm Rio, Coperni and Reformation.

Expand Close Presenter Jennifer Zamparelli wearing a feathered Cult Gaia dress for the final of Dancing with the Stars / Facebook

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The price tag of 1,425 pushes this super-glam statement dress very much into a luxe-buy category, but you can rock a feather without breaking the bank.

Spanish brand Mango has introduced Capsule, a new events collection with fortnightly drops throughout the spring and summer. so expect feathers along with silk, taffeta, tassels and sequins.

Expand Close Peach satin blouse and trousers from Mango / Facebook

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Be sure and keep an eye out for the peach satin shirt with feather trim above the cuffs (180), and there are matching ankle-length trousers with feather trim (200).

The Capsule collection is available mainly online, and Mango chose three colour groups  black, reds and pinks, and pastel tones.

Expand Close Feather trim top, 83, with matching trousers, 91, from clubllondon.com / Facebook

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Whatsapp Feather trim top, 83, with matching trousers, 91, from clubllondon.com

Another brand doing lots of feathered separates is Club L London. Fun pieces include a tie-front shirt with feather trim on the cuffs with matching trousers, feathered mini skirts (127.95), bandeau tops (97,95) and a striking champagne feather halter-neck mini dress (376). mango.com; clubllondon.com

Discount wedding dresses

Designer Sharon Hoey is having a sample sale today and again next Monday and Tuesday at her bridal boutique at 6 Lower Merrion Street.

Expect to see samples from covetable top bridal ranges like Suzanne Neville, Jenny Packham, Hoeys own bespoke luxury couture gowns as well as brands like Mikaella and Paloma Blanca.

Expand Close Suzanne Neville's 'Cowarth' dress, available at the sample sale / Facebook

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Its first come, first served. And while you are there, I suggest mums and daughters should take a peek at Hoeys AndTate range, which is really quite something, full of very interesting dress and skirt shapes. sharonhoey.com
Debris covers the ground in Rolling Fork, Miss., Friday, March 31, 2023, after a deadly tornado and severe storm moved through the area. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Tornadoes have torn through parts of the American South and Mid West, killing at least 10 people, shredding homes and shopping centres and collapsed the roof of a theatre during a concert.

Emergency responders across the region counted the dead and surveyed the damage on Saturday morning after tornadoes touched down into the night, part of a sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Mid West.

The dead included four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, Cross County Coroner Eli Long told KAIT-TV. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana and the Little Rock area of Arkansas.

Wynne City councillor Lisa Powell Carter said the town about 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, was without power and roads were full of debris.

The storms also killed three people in Sullivan County, Indiana, emergency management director Jim Pirtle said in an email. Some residents were missing in the county seat of Sullivan, near the Illinois border about 95 miles south west of Indianapolis.

At least one person was killed and more than two dozen hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said.

In Belvidere, Illinois, the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed during a tornado, killing one person and injuring 28.

The venues Facebook page said the bands scheduled to perform were Morbid Angel, Crypta, Skeletal Remains and Revocation.

Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue. Responders also rescued someone from a lift and had to deal with downed power lines outside the theatre.

Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as chaos, absolute chaos.

A tornado also killed a woman and critically injured three other people in Madison County, Alabama, emergency services worker Don Webster told WAFF-TV.

The tornado in Little Rock tore first through neighbourhoods in the western part of the Arkansas capital and shredded a small shopping centre. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

In the evening, officials in Pulaski County announced a confirmed fatality in North Little Rock.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the National Guard to help local authorities respond throughout the state.

The police department in Covington said on Facebook that the west Tennessee city was impassable after power lines and trees fell on roads when the storm passed through on Friday evening.

Authorities in Tipton County, north of Memphis, said a tornado appeared to have touched down near the middle school in Covington and in other locations in the rural county.

Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley said on Facebook that homes and structures were severely damaged.

Tornadoes also caused sporadic damage in eastern Iowa. One veered just west of Iowa City, with video showing toppled power poles and roofs ripped off an apartment building in the suburb of Coralville and significantly damaged homes in the city of Hills.

Nearly 90,000 customers in Arkansas lost power, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages. Outages were also reported in Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas.

In Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, north east of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state on Friday night.

There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa, wind-whipped grass fires in Oklahoma, and blizzard conditions in the Upper Mid West as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to 85 million people.

Fire crews battled several blazes near El Dorado, Kansas, and some residents were asked to evacuate, including about 250 primary school children who were moved to a high school.
Dozens of flights to and from Heathrow were cancelled yesterday as a 10-day strike that promises to cause chaos for Easter holidaymakers began.

More than 40 flights to and from Heathrow were cancelled, with the airport also warning travellers to expect longer than usual delays.

British Airways said changes were made because of the Heathrow strikes, protests in France and bad weather.

There had been hopes that last-minute talks on Thursday would stop Terminal 5 security staff from taking industrial action during one of the airports busiest periods of the year, but they broke down

The strikes will now run until April 10 and are likely to lead to more cancellations.

Terminal 5 is the worst hit part of the airport, with more than 20 flights cancelled from there yesterday.

Earlier this week, British Airways, which is the sole airline that services the terminal, confirmed that it would be cancelling hundreds of flights during the strike period.

About 5pc of all its planned flights will be cancelled over the 10-day period, which equates to 16 round trips a day.

The airline said the majority of cancellations would be for domestic and short-haul flights.

However, among the flights cancelled are long-haul journeys to New York, Washington and other European destinations.

Flights coming in from Kuwait and San Francisco have also been cancelled.

To try to mitigate the issues, BA is looking to use bigger aircraft on operating flights to move more passengers.

In an update yesterday, Heathrow said the number of security lanes that were in operation would be reduced, and so would fast-track security. Heathrows VIP suite will also be closed throughout the strike period.

It said that it was likely to take longer to get through security, and called on passengers to not come early for their flights, which means no earlier than three hours before a long-haul flight and two hours for a short-haul flight.

The unrest comes despite John Holland-Kaye, the Heathrow chief executive, saying the airport was operating as normal and moving staff from other areas of the business to fill the roles. He said: We have some agency, third-party, workers who have come in to help us... theyre keeping the airport running smoothly. ( Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2023)
Finland is set to join Nato in days after Turkeys parliament voted to ratify its membership bid, submitted in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey was the last among Natos members to ratify the bid, after months of negotiations between Ankara and Helsinki. All 276 MPs present voted in favour.

All 30 Nato allies have now ratified the accession protocol, the alliances secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said yesterday.

Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days.

Finlands entrance into Nato is a significant moment.

It shares an 830-mile border with Russia, and the two nations fought ferociously during the Second World War.

Helsinki also possesses one of the most powerful arsenals in Western Europe.

Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had raised concern that Finland and Sweden, who submitted their Nato bids at the same time, had not taken his countrys security concerns about Kurdish separatists and militants seriously.

Ankara is still holding off approving Swedens membership demanding more action against what it claims is support for what Mr Erdogans government deems terrorist groups.

Finland has taken more steps compared to Sweden in the context of the fight against terrorism, the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted government ally Nationalist Movement Party MP Ismail Ozdemir as saying.

Helsinki was officially neutral during the decades of the Cold War and 30 years afterward, even as it integrated into the European Union and co-operated deeply with Nato on sensitive security matters.

Finland opted to join Nato following Russian president Vladimir Putins decision to invade Ukraine last year. It was set to enter alongside Sweden, but both countries efforts have been held up by Turkey and Hungary.

The Budapest government of prime minister Viktor Orban, who has long been a friend of Putin, appeared eager to not run too afoul of the Kremlin.

Both nations are also irked by western criticism of their authoritarian tendencies.

Both were not invited to a United States democracy summit this week.

However, Hungary ratified Finlands entrance into Nato earlier this week.

Analysts and Turkish political insiders say that Sweden will also likely be given the green light by Ankara, probably after the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Putin has repeatedly hit out at what he sees as western interference in Ukraine and has framed his war as a way to prevent a further eastern expansion of Nato.

Finland would add to Natos strengths. Its armed forces and intelligence services are known as sharply focused on Russia and the Kremlin, with a deep institutional understanding of Moscows ways. Unlike other Scandinavian countries. It has maintained mandatory military conscription and has spent robustly on defence.

Despite a population of just 5.5million people, Finland has a potential ground force of 280,000 troops, including reserves.

Finlands geography would give Nato a major presence on Russias borders and more tools to defend Baltic states formerly under the Kremlins dominion. But Finland, like the Baltic states, is also within easy range of Russian tactical weapons.

The vote in Ankara yesterday could also help the prospects of Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin ahead of national elections tomorrow.
It hurts to be Russian. When Vladimir Putin launched his special military operation in Ukraine, he claimed that its aim was to save the Russians, Russian culture and the Russian language from Ukrainian fascists. In the process, it is predominantly the Russian-speaking cities in the east of the country, together with their populations, that have been wiped out.

War crimes have been committed not only against people, but also against my language.

The language of Alexander Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy, Marina Tsvetaeva and Joseph Brodsky has become the language of war criminals and murderers. For the foreseeable future, Russia will be associated not with Russian music and literature, but with bombs dropping on children and those terrible images from Bucha.

Monstrous crimes have been committed in the name of my people, my country, in my name. But there is another Russia. That other Russia is suffering pain and anguish. In the name of my Russia, in the name of my people, I would like to ask the Ukrainians for forgiveness  but I know that what has been happening in Ukraine is unforgivable.

When my father was 18, he went to the front to avenge his brothers murder at the hands of the Germans. After the war, he spent the rest of his life hating the Germans, and everything to do with the country. I told him, But Dad, Germany has some great literature! German is a beautiful language! But my words had no effect on him. When this war is over, what will I be able to say to the Ukrainians, whose houses have been bombed and plundered by Russian soldiers, whose relatives have been killed by Russian missiles? That Russian literature is wonderful, and that Russian is such a beautiful language?

When war starts, culture has failed. Great German literature couldnt avert Auschwitz, great Russian literature couldnt prevent the gulag, and my books and those of other Russian authors published in the past 20 years couldnt avert this tragedy.

So what can writers do? They can do what they do best  make themselves heard. They must tell it like it is. If you say nothing, youre effectively supporting the aggressor and the war. In the 19th century, the Poles fought against tsarist Russia for your and our freedom, and now the Ukrainians are fighting for your and our freedom. They are defending not only their human dignity, but the dignity of all humankind. Ukraine is defending our very freedom and dignity, and we must help in any way we can.

My mother was Ukrainian and my father was Russian; I cant help but be glad that theyre not around to experience the tragedy that has hit our people.

This war hasnt only just begun. It began in 2014  but the Western world refused to see it, and acted as if things werent all that bad. In the intervening years, Ive kept trying to explain to people who this Putin is, in my writings as well as in public appearances. It didnt work. Now Putin has explained it himself.

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The aim of Russias special military operation is to destroy democratic Ukraine. The result of the special military operation will be the destruction of Putins Russia. But what then?

Two previous attempts to introduce democracy in Russia have both failed. The first Russian democracy of 1917 lasted only a few months; the one of the 1990s just managed to cling on for a few years. Each time my country tries to build a democratic society and to institute elections, a parliament and a republic, it finds itself back in a totalitarian empire. Again and again, Russian history bites its own tail.

Do dictatorships and dictators give birth to an enslaved population, or does an enslaved population give birth to dictatorships and dictators? Its the old chicken-and-egg conundrum. How can the vicious circle be broken? Where can Russia make a fresh start?

If Hitlers Germany was able to extricate itself from the vicious circle of dictatorship and slave mentality, why shouldnt Russia? The Germans have diligently studied the topics Dealing with the Past and Processing Guilt, and managed to create a democratic society; yet Germanys rebirth was founded on its total, crushing military defeat. Russia, too, needs its zero hour. It cannot make a fresh start as a democracy without repentance and an acknowledgement of national guilt. Russia was never de-Stalinised, and there were no Nuremberg trials for the Communist Party. Russias fate now depends on its de-Putinisation.

Just as, in 1945, the Germans who didnt know were confronted with the concentration camps, the Russians who dont know have to be confronted with ruined Ukrainian cities and the bodies of dead children. We Russians must openly and bravely acknowledge our guilt and ask for forgiveness. Every Russian has to go down this road. But will Russia get down on its knees in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol, or anywhere that Russian tanks have been: in Budapest, Prague, Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga, Grozny?

Expand Close Mikhail Shishkin. Photo: Evgeniya Frolkova / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mikhail Shishkin. Photo: Evgeniya Frolkova

In 1945, the Germans tried to justify themselves, arguing that, yes, Hitler was a vile and evil criminal, but they, the German people, didnt know anything about it  that they, too, were Hitlers victims. The moment the Russians use the same argument, and claim that Putins criminal gang took the people hostage, that he did wage a criminal war against Ukraine, but ordinary Russians didnt know that and thought it was about liberating the Ukrainians from fascists, that they, too, were Putins victims  the moment this happens, de-Putinisation will fail, and a new Putin will be born.

Neither Nato nor the Ukrainians can do the de-Putinising for the Russians. The Russian people must clean up the country themselves. Are we up to the task? Is it realistic to expect constitutional democracies to form in those territories that will declare their independence from Moscow  since the disintegration of the Russian empire isnt over yet? Yugoslavia showed how quickly a multinational state can descend into brutal war and genocide, and if violence escalates in Russia it will set my country back centuries. For the West, this would mean a fresh wave of countless refugees.

A new era of turmoil is on the horizon for Russia, where most people have lost faith in democratic ideas and are pinning their hopes on a strongman ruler. Such a strongman will no doubt be found, and the West, too, will understand and accept a new dictatorship of order. No one wants turmoil in a country that has lots of rusty nuclear missiles.

There must be an acknowledgement of national guilt. Without complete de-Putinisation, Russia has no future. A long and painful process of rebirth is its only option, and all those sanctions, the poverty, being ostracised, will be the least of Russias worries. For the Russian people not to undergo an inner rebirth  that would be far more terrible. Putin is a symptom, not the disease.

It should now be the mission of Russian writers and artists to show the world that there is another Russia, and that not all Russians support this war. This war isnt being waged between Ukrainians and Russians, but between human beings who speak both Ukrainian and Russian on the one hand, and inhuman beings who speak the language of lies and are willing to obey criminal orders on the other.

In this war, then, there are no nationalities  only human beings and inhuman ones. The latter have no nationality, because they are this criminal regimes slaves, who beat up and arrest the humans who are taking to Russias streets to protest against the war.

Putins crime is that he has poisoned the people with hate. Putin will step down at some point, but the pain and hate will probably remain in their souls for a long time. Then it will be up to culture, to literature and the arts, to process the trauma. The day a dictator ends his miserable, unworthy life doesnt mark the end of culture  it never has and never will. There will be no need for books about Putin or books that explain the war: war, someone ordering the people of one nation to kill those of another, cannot be explained. True literature defies war. True literature is about our need for love, not hate.

After war comes anti-war literature. Just like Ernest Hemingway and Erich Maria Remarque once, I have no doubt that there will be young authors writing about their experiences in this war. Both Russians and Ukrainians will write books, and theyll be very different books. Both will write about the pain that loss brings, about death, about grief; but while Ukrainian literature will see books on the birth of a free country, the heroic resistance against evil and the fight for human dignity, Russian authors will be preoccupied with the acknowledgement of national guilt for the crimes that have been committed.

Hate is a disease. Culture is the cure.

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Abridged from My Russia: War or Peace? by Mikhail Shishkin. Translated from German by Gesche Ipsen. Published by riverrun
Johannesburg  The killing of nine Chinese gold mine workers in conflict-ridden Central African Republic this month highlighted the risks some Belt and Road development projects face in volatile areas.

To protect Chinese investments and citizens, Beijing deploys its own private security contractors, but analysts say these companies operate very differently on the continent than Russia's notorious Wagner Group.

President Xi Jinping called for those responsible for the March 19 attack by gunmen on a Chinese-run gold mine outside Bambari to be "severely punished," while the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a security alert for its citizens.

"The foreign ministry will continue to work closely with other government agencies concerned and subnational governments to do everything possible to protect the safety and security of Chinese nationals and companies in Africa," ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters after the incident.

With thousands of Chinese working in Africa since Xi's infrastructure-building push began in 2013, their security and the protection of assets like mines and natural gas projects -- as well as railways and shipping routes -- have become a key concern for Beijing, said Jasmine Opperman, an independent security consultant based in South Africa.

Chinese workers in Africa also are increasingly targeted by criminal gangs for kidnapping.

All these threats have led to a rise in the number of private military companies (PMCs) or private security companies (PSCs) operating on the continent.

"On China PMCs we have to go back to the Belt and Road Initiative," Opperman told VOA. "We have seen a massive deployment of workers, Chinese workers, more specifically infrastructure. Now these investments, like in Sudan, South Sudan, are really in volatile areas, so we have seen a proliferation of Chinese PMCs on the African continent, with a task to protect employees and the infrastructure projects."

Incidents like the one in CAR could now result in more Chinese security companies deployed.

"It's about the protection and expansion of Chinese influence, and because of the volatile security situations, we are seeing these PMCs now growing in numbers," said Opperman.

Different than Wagner?

But analysts stress there is a huge difference between Chinese security firms and companies like Wagner Group -- which the U.S. Treasury this year designated a "transnational criminal organization" -- or even disgraced and disbanded U.S. company Blackwater, which committed abuses during the Iraq war.

Wagner Group, which has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, has been in the news recently because of the group's deployment of tens of thousands of mercenaries to fight in the war in Ukraine. But it's long been operating in destabilized countries in Africa, including CAR and Mali.

Paul Nantulya, a China expert at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA that Chinese private security companies are not really private at all.

"Ninety-nine percent of security contractors in China are ex-People's Liberation Army and also ex-special forces and ex-paramilitary police. There's a level of control, the laws in China are very clear, that the state must have a holding interest in all security firms," he said.

Nantulya's previous research on the topic found that of the 5,000 security firms registered in China, 20 were licensed to operate overseas and reported that they employed 3,200 individual contractors. However, he said he thought the true number was much higher.

Among the companies working on the continent are Beijing DeWe Security Service, Huaxin Zhong An Security Group and China Security Technology Group. In Kenya, DeWe employs around 2,000 security contractors just to protect the $3.6 billion China-built Standard Gauge Railway, according to his study.

However, Nantulya told VOA that Chinese companies "work very, very differently from Russian ones like Wagner. Wagner is engaged in combat operations. It's engaged in wars; it supplies a national security adviser in, for instance, the Central African Republic. They become part of the governing architecture. They fight wars on behalf of governments."

The U.S. government said Wagner has "meddled and destabilized countries in Africa, committing widespread human rights abuses and extorting natural resources from their people. ... Wagner personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abductions and physical abuse in the Central African Republic and Mali."

Asked by VOA whether the U.S. has any concerns about Chinese security contractors operating in Africa, a State Department spokesperson replied: "We respect the ability of countries to decide for themselves whether to partner with the PRC. However, we echo the long-standing calls from African capitals that the PRC must respect host country laws and international obligations."

Nantulya noted that most Chinese security contractors - except for those involved in maritime escort missions intended to protect against pirates - are strictly controlled and aren't even allowed to be armed.

"The Chinese, it's a small footprint. According to Chinese law, Chinese contractors are not allowed to go into operations with weapons, so they have to work very closely with host nation security forces. They do a lot of training, they do a lot of capacity building, they supply equipment, they supply intelligence, they supply surveillance and so on," he said.

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Opperman said the Chinese security contractors could still have a destabilizing effect.

"Though PMCs from China are not allowed to carry weapons, what they are doing is collaborating through private or local security companies or even local militia groups in terms of providing security ... by means of collaborating with local militias, you're basically taking sides."

In 2016, more than 300 Chinese oil workers were stranded amid heavy militia fighting in Juba, South Sudan. DeWe's unarmed personnel helped to evacuate the Chinese nationals by enlisting armed South Sudanese by enlisting armed South Sudanese as backup. Some of the South Sudanese government-backed militias used by Chinese companies have been accused of committing atrocities.

And there have been incidences of violence, despite the arms ban. In Zimbabwe, two Chinese security contractors were jailed in 2017 for shooting and wounding a politician's son, while in Zambia in 2018, two suspected Chinese security contractors were arrested for providing illegal training and military equipment to a local security firm.

The Chinese Mission to the African Union did not reply to a request for comment.
President Alexander Lukashenko has said that Russia, which has already decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could also, if necessary, put intercontinental or strategic nuclear missiles there too.

In an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Mr Lukashenko said Moscows plans to station nuclear arms on the territory of its close ally would help protect Belarus, which he said was under threat from the West.

I am not trying to intimidate or blackmail anyone.

"I want to safeguard the Belarusian state and ensure peace for the Belarusian people, Mr Lukashenko said.

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that the tactical missiles would remain under Moscows control, Mr Lukashenko suggested he could use them with Russias agreement if Belarus was threatened with destruction.

He also raised the prospect of deploying strategic nuclear weapons  intercontinental ballistic missiles that can destroy whole cities from thousands of miles away  on Belarusian soil.

Mr Lukashenko said Belarus had enough conventional weapons to counter threats, but if we see that behind (the threats) lies the destruction of our country, we will use everything we have.

If necessary, Putin and I will decide and bring in strategic weapons  if needed, the Belarusian leader said.

He offered no evidence of such a threat from the West, or of a further allegation that there were plans to invade Belarus from neighbouring Poland, a member of the US-led western Nato alliance.

Take my word for it, I have never deceived you.

"They are preparing to invade Belarus, to destroy our country, he told the audience.

Russias decision to station tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus amid rising tension with the West over its invasion of Ukraine is its first deployment of nuclear weapons outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Belarus said this week that the weapons would offer protection against what it described as a campaign of pressure from the United States and its allies aimed at overthrowing Mr Lukashenko, who has been in power in the country for nearly three decades.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he found the promised deployment worrisome.

In yesterdays speech, Mr Lukashenko also called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in the Ukraine war.

He cautioned that Russia would be forced to use the most terrible weapon if it felt that it was threatened.

It is impossible to defeat a nuclear power.

"If the Russian leadership understands that the situation threatens to cause Russias disintegration, it will use the most terrible weapon.

"This cannot be allowed, Mr Lukashenko said.

The Kremlin acknowledged Mr Lukashenkos ceasefire proposal.

He added that both Putin and Mr Lukashenko would have an opportunity to discuss it next week, but that the situation in Ukraine had not changed.

Ukraine has previously rejected Minsks offer to broker peace.

Russia used Belarus as a launchpad for its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, and Kyiv says Russia continues to use Belarusian airspace for drone and missile strikes against Ukraine.

Belarus has said it will not enter the war, but regularly holds joint military training exercises alongside Russian forces.
A senior Ukrainian official yesterday ruled out any ceasefire that would involve Russian forces remaining on territory they now occupy in Ukraine.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, made his comments after a call for an immediate ceasefire by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Any ceasefire will mean (Russias) right to stay in the occupied territories. This is totally inadmissible, Mr Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, speaking in Madrid, the European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said China cannot be a mediator in the war in Ukraine as it leans too much toward the invader, Russia.

China does not distinguish between aggressor and victim of aggression, Mr Borrell told a panel in Madrid. China doesnt call for a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

But China should use its influence over Russia to pressure for peace, he added.

In Mr Borrells view, the only peace plan on the table is the one presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in November, including demands to withdraw Russian troops and restore Ukraines territory to the status quo before Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Beijing last month put forward its own 12-point peace plan and called for a comprehensive ceasefire.

Mr Borrell said the EU would not accept a situation of Russia installing a puppet regime in Ukraine with Russian troops deployed on the border with EU member Poland.

In Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Turk has deplored how grave human rights violations were shockingly routine in Russias invasion of Ukraine and said the number of civilian casualties was far higher than official figures.

Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces have committed atrocities. At the Human Rights Council session yesterday Russian representative Yaroslav Eremin condemned the crimes committed by Ukrainian forces.

The US Permanent Representative to the UN Human Rights Council Michelle Taylor said there could be no comparison drawn between the violations committed by each side, however.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified more than 8,400 civilian deaths and more than 14,000 wounded.

The UN Human Rights Council does not have legally binding powers but its debates can spur investigations that feed evidence to national and international courts.

The council next week is expected to adopt a resolution to extend and deepen the mandate of a UN investigative body set up to probe possible atrocities in Ukraine.
Joe Bidens message to Russia yesterday was Let him go, as he faced pressure to act after the arrest of an American newspaper correspondent. But asked whether he would expel Russian diplomats or journalists in response, he said: Thats not the plan right now.

Evan Gershkovich, who is based in Moscow for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested while on assignment to Yekaterinburg on Wednesday. Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) has charged him with espionage. He is being held in Moscows Lefortovo prison, where the FSB keeps high-value prisoners.

The Wall Street Journal, along with Gershkovichs friends and colleagues, denied the FSB allegations and demanded his release.

The papers editorial board yesterday said the arrest demonstrated a declining ability to deter assaults on its citizens, and called on Mr Biden to consider diplomatic and political escalation.

The board added: The timing of the arrest looks like a calculated provocation to embarrass the US and intimidate the foreign press still working in Russia.

Gershkovich is the first American reporter in Russia to be charged with espionage since Nicholas Daniloff  a US News and World Report journalist  was arrested in 1986.

Daniloff, who denied the spying charges, was released three weeks later in exchange for a Soviet diplomat detained by the FBI.

Russian political analysts have suggested Gershkovich will similarly be used as a bargaining chip for the release of Russian agents who are being held in the US and other Western countries.

Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel prize-winning Russian newspaper editor, said Gershkovich was clearly not a spy and that he was being targeted to intimidate the press.

I know Gershkovich. Ive met him two or three times over the last year. I know the practice exists of using journalists as spies, intelligence officers and illegals [undeclared spies]  this is not that kind of case, Muratov said.

Referring to Ivan Safronov, a former journalist who was sentenced to 22 years in jail for treason last year, he added: At every turn, were being charged with espionage and treason. Its a trend to show that journalism is a dangerous profession... both for Russian and other journalists.

The Kremlin denied that it was cracking down on foreign correspondents in Russia and said accredited reporters could continue to work.

All journalists who have valid accreditation here  I mean foreign journalists  can and do continue their journalistic activity in the country. They do not face any restrictions and are working fine, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said yesterday.

Gershkovich was fully accredited with the foreign ministry and had worked in Moscow for six years.

Accredited journalists who incur the governments displeasure have occasionally faced harassment or expulsion from Russia in recent years, but none have been jailed since the Cold War. ( Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2023)
It was an inauspicious start to Donald Trumps defence. The former president making a fat-fingered spelling mistake on his own social media, screaming in his trademark block capitals on Truth Social that he had been INDICATED by Radical Left Monsters.

He hadnt (unless thats some kind of QAnon cult shorthand), but he has been indicted. British readers start here: that means he will face criminal charges. The first US president in history.

So what happens now? Do the allegations make sense, and will the evidence stack up?

The charges  as I write  are still under seal. In other words, no one has yet seen what the New York district Attorney Alvin Bragg actually has on Donald Trump, but the investigation takes us into falsification of his business records  with a possible knock on effect on campaign financing.

It centres around hush money Trump paid to Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election  to stop her talking about the sex she had with him a decade earlier.

Stormy was silent then. But not for long after. I interviewed her in 2018 when she went into curiously specific detail about the shape of the presidential penis. She was smart, fierce, articulate and funny. And she basically decided that it was check mate on the president once hed leaked her name into public domain.

Read More

What a beloved irony. That the woman he paid to shut up may actually end up bringing down his whole house of cards. That little bit of his anatomy doing even more reputational damage than the aforementioned fat finger.

As news of the indictment broke  the details still under wraps  Trump acolytes were quick to call it a political witch hunt.

Even senior Republicans seeking to take on Trump in the presidential primaries worded their indignation with care.

Florida Governor Ron De Santis called it a weaponisation of the legal system. Nikki Hayley, who walks a tightrope in her love and loathing of Trump, pronounced it more about revenge than justice. Mike Pence, a man who served Donald Trump as his vice president yet found himself fighting for his life against marauding protestors inside the Capitol building, called the indictment outrageous.

None, you will note, suggests Trump himself is innocent.

This is the political crux: those who seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024 believe they must tether themselves to a MAGA base. A base that believes the system is against them and all attempt to hold Trump accountable is political persecution. Its what Trump has told them, after all.

But endorse the former president too forcefully and you send them right into Trumps arms. Thats not what they want either. Some  cannily  have chosen complete silence for now.

And even Democrats who scoff at the idea of a witch hunt will admit to their own insecurities about the New York DAs move. Of all the things to level at Trump, they will think inwardly  the attempted insurrection, the move to overthrow democracy, the begging for fake votes in Georgia  you bring this up?

Is this the hill to die on  an actress, a few thousand pounds and a dodgy business deal? It has the whiff of Al Capone. A way to catch mobsters, not autocratic charlatans.

And yet, they must put their faith in this indictment. You have to start with the evidence you have, not the evidence you wish you had. And this evidence, dont forget, has already indicted, convicted and incarcerated one man  Trumps former lawyer Michael Cohen.

They didnt come for Trump last time because he was a sitting, serving president. This time hes not.

Much has been made of the political capital Trump stands to reap from this move. He can play the martyr! Seize the headlines! Paralyse his opponents of any move against him!

Yet this overlooks one fairly major thing: Trump does not want to be sent to prison. He really doesnt. Hes evaded indictment for the past 40 years one way or another. It was never the plan.

A man who knows how to woo the voter, schmooze the press, please the crowds and glamourise a trip down an escalator is no longer in control of events. Hes in the hands of a grand jury and a judge. And that doesnt sit easily with a control freak.

And Trumps political opponents know they must go with caution. Any attempt to expand a charge of misdemeanour to a criminally significant charge of felony must be watertight.

Any democrat who believes in the rule of law cannot start with a presumption of guilt. And any move which humiliates the president  a perp walk, a mug shot  could backfire into protest.

You have to go back 20 years to find the advice that should now serve as the prosecutors bible. A time when reality TV meant the gritty drama of The Wire, not the flashy guilt of The Apprentice. It was Omar who warned then:

(When) you come at the King, you best not miss.
Kolkata: If ever there was 'perfection' served on a plate it was here at Mezzuna. It scored a 10 on 10 on its 10th anniversary! Art was served with fine detailing. Curated by Chef Sabyasachi Gorai or Chef Saby, each of the dishes served was a celebration of culinary excellence.

Cafe Mezzuna, at Forum Mall on Elgin Road completed 10 years of its operations in Kolkata and celebrated it by introducing for the first time a menu curated exclusive for KolkatansFresh Baked Sourdough Neapolitan PizzaNaples Breeze and Romana Pizzas; Chili Lime Prawns, Spicy Tomato Salsa Jalapenos, Barbecue Chicken, Roasted Peppers and Portuguese Espetada and Turkish Kebabs such as Fiery Char Grilled Chicken and Biggie Lamb Adana.

The menu amply reflects the genius of Chef Sabyperfectly delicate flavours heightened with fresh ingredients. Be it the sourdough pizzas, the Lean Chicken Koobideh, the Burrata Bomb, the Zebra Ravioli or the Sea View Lollipopsall together creates a brilliant visual treat and are exceedingly satisfying for the palate.

The tastes linger long after one departs from the dining scene at Cafe Mezzuna. The all new menu is sure to lure a greater number of gastronomes. This collaboration, between Chef Saby and the much admired restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee, is a celebration in itself!

Chef Saby is a recipient of the most coveted National Tourism Award, for the Best Chef of India, awarded by the President of India. His biggest international achievement came when he won the Best Chef of India at Varli Awards, New York, to name a few.

The menu needed a revamp, more so, the pizza section Our whole focus was on creating the signature Neapolitan pizzas, informs Chef Sabyasachi Gorai, in fact it took an entire day to explain what is a pizzaits like biryani...when you go down south they will serve a green dhania biryani while someone from Bengal will argue that it is notsimilarly pizza is being served in various avatars and much removed from the original recipe. He laments the fact that little or no research goes into the preparation of pizzas which have more than two hundred year old history attached to it.

As per the legend, the modern pizzaan open-faced flatbread slathered with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheesewas given to us during the 18th century by Raffaele Esposito, a baker from Naples, Italy. In 1889, in honour of King Umberto and Queen Margherita, who were visiting Naples, he made a pie topped with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes, ingredients which represented the colours of the Italian flag, as a patriotic gesture. It is rumoured that the Queen enjoyed the pie, and thus it came to be known as a Margherita.

Here, at Cafe Mezzuna we are trying to bring back the original Pizza Neapolitan and our crew is being trained by a pizza master from Naples. states Chef Saby. We have also worked with a flour producing company from Naples, and our cheese is fresh mozzarellathere are no other toppings except for tomato, truffle tapenade and cheeseno chilli flakes, dry herbs or meat toppings. So this is what you will get when you ask for Pizza Margherita. A special oven by Marco Cappiotti has been installed in the kitchen. It is handmade and essential to create the perfect pizza that the Chef wants to serve. It takes about 120 seconds to create a pizza in this oven. Sourdough is being used to create the pizza base. The dough is prepared 24 hours in advance and allowed to rest under a controlled temperature.

Besides the pizzas the must try items are authentic Turkish style kebabsthe Biggie Lamb Adana, this is perhaps the one-of-its-kind of kebab being served only at Cafe Mezzuna. For Biggie Lamb Adana, minced mutton (from the shoulder region) is seasoned only with salt and left to marinate for two nights and cooked over high heat to be served with a thin flatbread, sumac flavoured onions and dips. Then theres the juicy and succulent Lean Chicken Koobideh served with fresh salad, roasted potatoes and a dressing drizzled over the kebabs. Both, besides being a visual delight, are truly delicious!

All the items have brought together the best of local ingredients...such as mushrooms, smoked Bandel cheese and Kalimpong cheese, feta, home-cured cottage cheese, fresh greens and other ingredients.

The list of must tries include the Burrata Bomb, Avocado Crostini, Zebra Ravioli, African Suya Kebab, Sea View Lollipop and three Milk Cake. Experiencing the new menu at Cafe Mezzuna calls for an unhurried time as each of the items need to be relished with each bite!

A unit of Anjan Chatterjees Speciality Restaurants Ltd, Cafe Mezzuna has wooed its customers with a spread uniquely its own.
Image Credit: Twitter/BJP Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal/UNI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal for a days visit on Saturday.

A special IAF plane carrying the Prime Minister touched down at approximately 9:30 am.

He was received at the State Hangar by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other select dignitaries.

Subsequently, Modi departed in a convoy of three Army helicopters for the Lal Parade Ground from where he left by road for the Kushabhau Thakre International Convention Centre  a short distance away  for addressing the valedictory session of the Armys three-day Combined Commanders Conference.

He was welcomed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and top officers.

The Conference is off limits to the press.

After 3 pm, the Prime Minister is scheduled to reach the Rani Kamalapati Station where he shall flag off Madhya Pradeshs maiden Bhopal-Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi) Vande Bharat Express.

Modi will then head for the Hangar from where he shall return to the national capital by air.

Bhopal has been converted into a veritable citadel owing to the security bandobast in view of the prime ministerial visit.
Image: UNI

Jammu: Alert troops of Border Security Force opened fire to push back the drone along the International Border in Ramgarh sector of Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir.

The BSF spokesman said that a blinking light was observed around 0015 hrs on the IB in the night in the general area of Ramgarh.

"Alert troops fired towards the blinking light due to which it was forced to return back," he said.

The spokesman added that the area being searched thoroughly.

(With UNI inputs)
BJP Twitter page

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat Express train between Bhopal and New Delhi at Rani Kamlapati Railway Station in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Upon arriving at the venue, the Prime Minister carried out an inspection of the Rani Kamlapati - New Delhi Vande Bharat Express and also interacted with the children and crew of the train.

The Prime Minister began his address by expressing grief about the tragedy that occurred during Ram Navmi in a temple in Indore and paid tributes to the departed souls and empathized with their families.

He also wished a speedy recovery to those recovering from injuries during this mishap.

The Prime Minister congratulated the people of Madhya Pradesh for getting their first Vande Bharat train.

He said that the train will reduce the travel time between Delhi and Bhopal and will usher in many facilities and conveniences for the professionals and youth.

The Prime Minister recalled that he was fortunate enough to also inaugurate the venue for todays organization, Rani Kamlapati Station.

He also expressed gratitude for getting the opportunity to flag off Indias state-of-the-art Vande Bharat Express for Delhi.

He pointed out that today is one of the rare instances in the history of Indian Railways that a Prime Minister has visited the same railway station twice in a very short period.

The Prime Minister further added that todays occasion is a prime example of a new order and new traditions being created in modern India.

The Prime Minister talked about his interaction with the school children on the occasion and underlined the sense of curiosity and excitement about the train in the children.

In a way, Vande Bharat is a symbol of India's enthusiasm and excitement. It represents our skills, confidence and capabilities, he said.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the benefits of the train for tourism in the area as Sanchi, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur and Udayagiri caves will start getting more footfalls. This will also improve the opportunities for employment, income and self-employment.

Emphasizing the new thinking and approach of 21st-century India, the Prime Minister recalled the appeasement by the earlier government at the cost of meeting the needs of the citizens.

They were busy with appeasement (tushtikaran) of the vote bank, we are committed to satisfying the needs of the citizens (santushtikaran), he added.

Calling Indian Railway, common family transport, the Prime Minister asked why it was not upgraded and modernized earlier.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the governments in the past could have easily upgraded the already existing rail network which India acquired after independence but the development of railways was sacrificed due to vested political interests.

Even after decades of independence, the Prime Minister said, the Northeastern states had not been connected to the rail network.

The Prime Minister remarked that the government has strived to make Indian Railways the best rail network in the world.

Throwing light on the negative publicity that Indian Railways received before 2014, the Prime Minister addressed the issue of thousands of unmanned gates in this extensive rail network causing fatal accidents.

He informed that the broad gauge network is free from unmanned gates today. He also noted that earlier, news related to train accidents causing loss of life and property was commonplace but the Indian Railways has become much more secure today.

He highlighted the scope of Made in India 'Kavach is being expanded to strengthen the security of passengers.

The Prime Minister stressed that the approach to safety is not limited to just accidents but also that any emergency is immediately attended to during the journey, which is of immense benefit to the women, he said.

Cleanliness, timeliness, and black marketing of tickets have all been addressed with technology and concern for the commuters.

Modi said through the One Station One Product initiative, Railways is emerging as a powerful tool for taking the products of local artisans from one place to the other.

Under the scheme, commuters can buy local products of the district such as handicrafts, art, utensils, textiles, painting etc at the station itself.

About 600 outlets are already operational in the country and more than one lakh purchases have been made.

The Prime Minister said that Today, Indian Railways is becoming synonymous with convenience for the common families of the country.

He listed upgrades like railway station modernization, WiFi facilities on 6000 stations and CCTV on 900 stations in this regard.

He highlighted the popularity of Vande Bharat among the youth and the growing demand for Vande Bharat from every corner of the country.

The Prime Minister mentioned the record allocation for railways in this years Budget.

When will is there, intentions are clear and determination is firm, new paths emerge, he said.

Modi informed that, in the last 9 years, the rail budget was continuously increased and Madhya Pradesh got Rs 13, 000 crore allocated in the rail-related budget compared to the average of Rs 600 crores in years before 2014.

Giving an example of the modernization of railways, the Prime Minister highlighted the work of 100 percent electrification of the railway network is being achieved in some parts of the country every other day.

He informed that Madhya Pradesh is also included in the 11 states where 100 percent electrification has been achieved.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the average electrification of railway routes per year has increased tenfold from 600 kilometers to 6000 kilometers after 2014.

Today, Madhya Pradesh is writing a new saga of continuous development. Be it agriculture or industry, today the strength of MP is expanding the strength of India, the Prime Minister remarked.

He reiterated that the performance of Madhya Pradesh is commendable in most of the parameters of development on which the state was once called Bimaru.

The Prime Minister gave examples of Madhya Pradesh being among the leading states in building houses for the poor.

He further added that the state is also doing a fine job in providing water to every household.

He also touched upon the farmers of the state and mentioned that they are creating new records in the production of many crops including wheat.

He also touched upon the industries in the state and said that it is continuously moving towards new standards, thereby creating endless opportunities for the youth.

The Prime Minister alerted the people about the concerted efforts to malign his image from both inside and outside the country.

India's poor, India's middle class, India's tribals, India's Dalit-backward, every Indian has become my protective shield. he said, asking people to stay focused on the development of the country. We have to further increase the role of Madhya Pradesh in developed India.

"This new Vande Bharat Express is a part of this resolution, he concluded.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi: Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan, will be on an official visit to India from April 35, at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu.

The Bhutanese King will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji, and senior officials of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

The visit of the King of Bhutan is in keeping with the long-standing tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries, an official statement said.

During the visit, the King of Bhutan will meet with President Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and senior officials will call on the King of Bhutan.

India and Bhutan enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation, which are characterized by understanding and mutual trust.

The visit would provide an opportunity for both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation and to further advance the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation, the statement said.

According to a Bhutanese statement: The visit is a testament to the longstanding and deep-rooted friendship between Bhutan and India, and will further strengthen the close ties between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Bhutanese PM Lotay Tshering has said that he had said nothing new in his statements to the Belgian paper, La Libre, over Doklam and the Bhutan-China boundary talks, and there is also no change in position by Bhutan.

PM Tshering said, I have said nothing new and there is no change in position.

His statement comes after some media outlets misunderstood and then went on to misrepresent the Bhutanese PMs interview alleging that Bhutan had changed its position on Doklam in the talks and that China was being given a new role.

The PM during his recent Europe tour had given an interview to journalist Sabine Verhest of the Belgian paper, La Libre, which is a popular daily newspaper that publishes in French.

(With UNI inputs)
A new chef has arrived in town!

Executive Chef Andreas Mensch joins the Kempinski Hotels in Kenya overseeing the culinary portfolio for both Villa Rosa Kempinski and Olare Mara Kempinski. He was officially unveiled at a luncheon held at the Villa Rosa Kempinski that saw media personalities and social media influencers in attendance.

Andreas Mensch, inspired by his grandfather who owned a pastry shop, began his culinary career as an apprentice chef at the four-star Hotel Germania in Bregenz, Austria. He later moved to the double-Michelin-starred restaurant Korso bei der Opera in Vienna as a demi chef cuisine. His culinary repertoire flourished under the training of the renowned celebrity chef Gerer, and the restaurant garnered four toques from the esteemed Gault Millau, whilst he was working there.

We got a sneak peek of Chef Andreas' culinary prowess at the luncheon with a delicious three-course menu highlighting seasonal ingredients. We started with the Tuna and Mango Ceviche: fresh pieces of tuna with diced mango that was so sweet it had traces of vanilla, diced shallots, habanero chili, and lime.

A fresh, flavourful start to our lunch. For the second course, a Supreme of Coquelet Chicken was served with sweet potato and morel sauce. The butter and rosemary chicken breast was perfectly moist and the leg confit had been slow-cooked for several hours and was bursting with savoury flavours. Finally, we ended our lunch with a lemon meringue tart. The buttery crust had perfect give under our forks and supported a tangy, light lemon meringue.

His culinary career has grown exponentially from an apprentice chef to an executive chef position in just 12 years. Over the last 30 years, Andreas has worked for reputable hospitality brands such as Fairmont Hotels, Sofitel and Pullmans and his career has seen him transverse the globe working in different destinations including USA, Norway, Russia, Latvia, Hungary Jordan and Dubai. His most recent role before joining Kempinski Hotels involved spearheading the opening of the Pullman flagship in Georgia as an Executive Chef at Pullman Tbilisi Axis Towers.

He graduated with distinction from the Berufsschule, Department for Chefs Lochau in Austria. His culinary repertoire flourished working in double Michelin Star restaurant Korso bei der Opera, in Vienna. Where he had the opportunity to work under the renowned celebrity chef, Gerer - during which the restaurant achieved four toques from the esteemed Gault Millau.

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Commenting on his appointment, General Manager, Petra Baumann said, 'We are glad to have Executive Chef Andreas join our team. With his extensive culinary experience, am confident he will play a significant role in executing innovative food concepts and creating exquisite food offerings for both Villa Rosa Kempinski and Olare Mara Kempinski'.

His passion for excellence and pushing boundaries has seen him host an exclusive scent dinner with the renowned Chandler Burr, the famous New York Times perfume critic. As well as hosting lavish banquets up to 1,500 guests and catering for dignitaries including Head of States and diplomats.

He now joins the Kempinski Hotels as an Executive Chef overseeing the culinary portfolio for both Villa Rosa Kempinski and Olare Mara Kempinski, Kenya. He's expected to elevate the culinary offering in both properties, infused with his global flair and impressive hospitality experience.

We can't wait to try more of his food and experience his culinary expertise with local favours and global flair.

(Author/ Written by Soni Adriance, also known as Soni Side Up, a food/drink, travel, and lifestyle content creator. Soni is also will our resident roving presenter. You can catch her on Capital In The Morning, The Fuse, The Jam or The Hype )
Image: Pixabay

New Delhi: Two unidentified bike-borne assailants shot dead an advocate named Virender Kumar in Delhis Dwarka-1 area, media reports said.

The incident occurred at approximately 4 pm when Kumar was sitting inside a car.

The deceased was a resident of Sector 12 of Dwarka.

The police are currently investigating the matter and analysing nearby CCTV footage to identify the attackers.

According to police, prima facie personal enmity appears to be the reason for the crime.
New Delhi: On the occasion of Utkal Divas, IndiGo, Indias leading carrier has announced and opened booking for flights between Bhubaneswar and Dubai.

The maiden international flight from Bhubaneswar will take off from Biju Patnaik International Airport on May 15, 2023. IndiGo is working in close collaboration with the Odisha government to commence international operations from Bhubaneswar, strengthening connectivity from the state.

International flight operations will also commence from Bhubaneswar to two more destinations - Singapore and Bangkok for which slots and other operational requirements are being finalized.

Direct connectivity to aviation hubs like Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok will help channelize the huge potential for economic growth through enhanced accessibility. IndiGo recently won the bid to operate direct flights to these three important gateways.

As per the agreement, IndiGo will operate direct flight from Biju Patnaik International Airport thrice a week. Inaugural ticket prices have been set to start at 10,000 per single side journey and 20,000 for round trip on the Bhubaneshwar  Dubai route.

Vinay Malhotra, Head Global Sales, IndiGo said, We are pleased to announce the launch of maiden international flights from Bhubaneswar, enhancing direct connectivity to key international destinations. IndiGo has been at the forefront of enhancing international connectivity at affordable fares. The new direct flights between Bhubaneswar-Dubai will reduce the need for travellers to connect to international destinations through metro cities only. This will not only enable faster connectivity, enhanced accessibility but also encourage trade and tourism in the state. This partnership between the government and private enterprises is a great example as it will open up new opportunities for economic growth and create efficient ways for people to travel. We will continue to explore more flight options for our customers and stay true to our promise of courteous, hassle-free, on-time and affordable travel experience.

Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha said, Connectivity is key to development, and it has been a focus area of our government. Direct connectivity with Dubai which is one of the biggest aviation hubs will open up a direct gateway to the world. Not only it will provide seamless connectivity but also it will have huge multiplier effect on investment in Odisha in sectors like IT, manufacturing and tourism.

Bhubaneswar, also known as "The Temple City of India", draws pilgrims from all over the world. The city is a tourist hotspot and boasts of beautiful temple architecture. There are numerous tourist attractions in the city, including the Lingaraj Temple, Iskcon Temple, Tikarpada Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajarani Temple, and Nandankanan Zoological Park. Bhubaneswar is also a major industrial city in Orissa, with a number of iron and steel manufacturing plants.

Dubai, also known as the "Venice of the Gulf," is the main commercial centre of the United Arab Emirates. The city is also known for its high-end shopping, cutting-edge architecture, and nightlife. Furthermore, Dubai is known for having the purest and most reliable source of gold. It is well-known for many tourist attractions, such as the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Al Arab, the Dubai Fountain, the Dubai Mall, and many more. It is also well-known for its luxurious hotels, including Atlantis, The Palm Jumeirah, and Rixos Premium Dubai JMR.
Image: OCHA/Hedinn Halldorsson

New York: Independent UN-appointed human rights experts on Friday called for the urgent repatriation of children from northeast Syria, as they enter their fifth year of detention.

Children in conflict zones must be protected, not punished, said the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, together with Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, in a joint statement.

It is now time to bring them home, they said. Many children are now entering their fifth year of detention in northeast Syria, since they were detained by the de facto authorities following the fall of Baghouz in early 2019.

They called on all actors to ensure the immediate safety and protection of all children, regardless of their location in northeastern Syria to prevent them from suffering further harm.

States have an obligation to protect vulnerable children from abuse and possible violations of their right to life, as recognized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Victims of terrorism

Their best interests as extremely vulnerable children must be reinstated as a guiding principle together with their primary status as victims of terrorism and as children in need of special protection under international law, they said.

Al-Hol and Roj are the two largest locked camps for women, girls, and young boys, holding about 56,000 individuals, including 37,000 foreign nationals. Over half of the population in the camps are children, of which 80 per cent are under the age of 12 and 30 per cent under five.

There are also over 850 boys deprived of their liberty in prisons and other detention centres, including supposed rehabilitation centres, throughout northeast Syria.

Egregious rights violations

The mass detention of children for what their parents may have done is an egregious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits all forms of discrimination and punishment of a child based on the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of their parents, the experts said.

These children are detained without any legal basis, judicial authorization, review, control, or oversight, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms no child shall be deprived of liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, they said.

No place for children

Most children have known nothing but conflict and closed camps, where the life conditions amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and pose an imminent risk to their lives, physical and mental integrity, and development.

These squalid camps are no place for children to live with dignity, the experts said. They lack access to the most basic needs such as medical treatment and health services, food, water, and education.

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Protection, not punishment

Amid a deteriorating security situation, the experts said all children in this conflict zone deserve to be protected, not punished.

These children are victims of terrorism and of very serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and must be treated with dignity in all contexts, whether armed conflict or terrorism, the experts said. Safe return to their home countries, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the only solution and must be prioritized.

States must urgently repatriate children, together with their mothers  a solution that we now know is eminently feasible, they said. We note that it is of the utmost importance that comprehensive rehabilitation programmes are in place when children are repatriated.
Image: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre

New York: Urgent efforts must be made to de-escalate the situation following Russias announcement last weekend that it plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the UN disarmament chief warned the Security Council on Friday.

The risk of a nuclear weapon being used is currently higher than at any time since the depths of the cold war, said Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. The war in Ukraine represents the most acute example of that risk.

The Security Council met on the heels of President Vladimir Putins announcement last Sunday that it had reached an agreement with its neighbour, which has been any ally in Moscows invasion of Ukraine, to station non-strategic nuclear weapons inside Belarusian territory, which would be in place for aerial use, by July.

Dangerous rhetoric

Ms. Nakamitsu said the absence of dialogue and the erosion of the disarmament and arms control architecture, combined with dangerous rhetoric and veiled threats, are key drivers of this potentially existential risk posed by nuclear escalation.

When it comes to issues related to nuclear weapons, all States must avoid taking any actions that could lead to escalation, mistake or miscalculation, she said, recalling that all States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or the NPT  nuclear-armed States and non-nuclear weapon States alike  must strictly adhere to its commitments and obligations.

They should return to dialogue to de-escalate tensions urgently and find ways to develop and implement transparency and confidence-building measures, she said, appealing to States parties to the treaty to fully adhere to their obligations and to immediately engage in serious efforts to reduce nuclear risk.

Nuclear sharing

The issue of nuclear sharing, the hosting by a non-nuclear weapon State of a nuclear-weapon States nuclear weapons, has existed for decades, across regions and under different arrangements pre-dating the Non-Proliferation Treaty, with the exception of the recent Russian announcement, she said.

For the sake of all our security, she echoed the UN Secretary-Generals call for Russia and the United States to return to full implementation of the New START Treaty and commence negotiations on its successor.

Russia: A nuclear war cannot be won

We are pursuing cooperation with Belarus without violating obligations, Russian ambassador and Permanent Representative, Vassily Nebenzia insisted. We are not transferring nuclear weapons. We are talking about the retrofitting of airplanes and training teams in construction of a storage facility on the territory of Belarus.

Russian tanks would not be in the Ukraine now, if the United States and its allies had not undertaken, what he described, as a coup detat in Kyiv in 2014, pumping the Kyiv regime with weapons, he said.

Indeed, the US may have already deployed between 100 and 150 nuclear warheads in Europe, he said, recalling Moscows repeated calls on Washington to set aside the cold war mentality by returning US nuclear weapons to its own territory.

Russia must take all requisite measures in response to provocative steps, he said, given the fraying global security architecture, dictated exclusively by Washington, along with Londons recent decision to deploy armour-piercing ammunition to Ukraine.

A nuclear war cannot be won, he said.

United States: Serious consequences

Russias suggestion that this intended deployment is justified because of the use of armour-piercing ammunition supplied by Western forces, containing depleted uranium, is ludicrous, US ambassador Robert Wood said.

Armour-piercing ammunition is in no way analogous to tactical nuclear weapons, he said, adding that the Kremlin is attempting to limit and deter Ukraines efforts to defend itself, and manipulate matters to win the war.

Russia is seeking to escalate its brutal war rather than to seek peace, he said. Meanwhile, Belarus has recently enacted laws to enable the Russian deployment, he added.

Recalling a recent Russia-China security agreement, he said one provision stated that nuclear-weapon States should refrain from deploying nuclear weapons abroad.

Any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would have severe consequences and would fundamentally change the nature of this war, he said, calling on Russia to reconsider its decision about deploying tactical nuclear weapons inside Belarus.
Wikipedia Commons

Karachi: An alliance of Dalit community people took out a rally from the Karachi Press Club to the Sindh Assembly building in the Pakistani city on Thursday to protest against alleged forced conversion in the nation.

They also demonstrated against the suspension of the Thar Express.

Hundreds of people, including women and children, from different segments of the scheduled caste Hindus like Kolhi, Bheel, Meghwar, Oad and Bagri, participating in the rally under a banner of the Pakistan Darawer Ittehad also staged a sit-in outside the provincial legislature, reports Dawn News.

The protesters were seen carrying placards that read slogans like Why minority girls are seen as sex slaves by radicals, No one stands for minority communities and We want protection.

Shiva Kutchi, Narain Das Jaipal, Sardar Khemchand Bheel, Nirmal Kumar Meghwar, Parkho Mal Bheel, Dr Amreshi Kutchi, Mansangh Thakur, Narain Das Lakhani, Molchand Parmar, Bhimar Lal Karnani and others, leading the rally, said that forced conversion was a serious issue in Sindh but for the last eight years, a draft law to this effect had been pending legislation before the Sindh Assembly, the newspaper reported.

The leaders accused the government and political parties of taking no serious steps to address the issue of forced conversion of underage Hindu girls seriously.

They warned that if their demands pertaining to the kidnapping-cum-conversion of Hindu girls and others were not met, they would be compelled to stage a sit-in outside Chief Minister House and Bilawal House.

The protesters also distributed a 15-point charter of demands at the rally. It claimed that Hindu girls were being kidnapped and forcibly converted and married against which a law must be enacted, reported Dawn News.
Jeff Kingma/Unsplash

Qalat, Afghanistan/UNI: One child was killed and three others were injured after a mine left over from past wars went off in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, said a statement of the provincial Police office released here Saturday.

An unexploded mine, which had been left over from past wars, exploded in the Sarkhogan area of Shahjoy district on Friday, killing one child and injuring three others, the statement said.

A group of children from nomadic families was playing next to a tractor in a field when they found a toy-like device and played with it. It suddenly exploded, killing one and injuring three others.

A similar blast claimed the lives of two children and injured four others in the northern Jawzjan province on Tuesday.

Afghanistan reportedly is one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world as dozens of people, mostly children, are killed and maimed every month due to blasts of unexploded ordnances left over from the past four decades of wars and civil strife.
Image: Pixabay

Cox's Bazar: A Rohingya man was shot dead in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar area.

The deceased was identified as Syed Alam.

He was killed in Block D of Kutupalong camp No 8 around 1:15am, Ukhiya police station Officer-in-charge (OC) Sheikh Mohammad Ali told Dhaka Tribune.

Locals who witnessed the incident claimed Syed Alam, a night guard patrolling the area, was killed in a shootout between the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO).

He was taken to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

Police presence has been increased in the camp since the incident.
Image: Pixabay

People in Pakistan's Karachi are facing troubles in the month of Ramzan amid a gas crisis across the city.

With the non-availability of gas even at the time of Sehri and Iftar, people are forced to face hardship as they are needed to depend on costly LPG cylinders and wood to face the challenges.

On Thursday, enraged people took to the street, though in small numbers, in some parts of the city cursing the Sui Southern Gas Company for piling miseries on them in the holy month, reports Dawn News.

While complaints very low pressure or no supply of gas at Sehri and Iftar timings kept on pouring in from every known locality of the city, the gas utilitys complaint service, 1199, appeared not accessible, the newspaper reported.

Even netizens have flooded the social media platforms with posts complaining about the tough condition created due to the lack of gases.
Image: Wikipedia Commons

Bisham: The Karakoram Highway recently turned into a battlefield when thousands of protesters, who were staging a sit-in demonstration, in Pakistan's Mera area clashed with the police on Thursday, leaving three persons hurt, media reports said.

The protesters were demonstrating against unjust distribution of wheat flour.

The protesters led by the nazims of various village councils affiliated with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz blocked the highway for over five hours for vehicular traffic against the unfair distribution of flour sanctioned by the government, reports The News International.

Three persons also sustained injuries when people pelted police with stones while police baton-charged the protesters and fired teargas and shots into the air to disperse the people, the newspaper reported.

Local residents told the newspaper that thousands of people had joined the demonstration.
Representational image

Coco Islands: Satellite images have revealed that Myanmar's Coco Islands, which is located at a strategically crucial point in the Bay of Bengal, is witnessing a steady makeover with tell-tale signs of military modernization and facilities to support aircraft, media reports said.

Instead of the phantom Chinese intelligence post still prevalent in the popular imagination, the latest images reveal that Myanmar may soon be intending to conduct maritime surveillance operations from Great Coco Island, the largest in an isolated archipelago that lies just 55 kilometres north of Indias strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands, reports Chatham House website.

The photos from January 2023 by Maxar Technologies, which specializes in satellite imagery, show renewed levels of construction activity on Great Coco.

Visible are two new hangars, a new causeway and what appears to be an accommodation bloc, all of which are visible in proximity to a freshly lengthened 2,300-metre runway and radar station.

Visible as of late March on the southern tip of Great Coco, just beyond the causeway connecting the islands, is evidence of land clearing efforts indicating construction work to come, read the website.

The past two years of civil war in Myanmar have left it isolated internationally with the military junta, known as the Tatmadaw, increasingly fragile.

Beijing has staked a large investment in the country via the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor to access Indian Ocean sea lanes as a way to bypass the Strait of Malacca  which has acted as a critical sea lane for shipping destined for Chinas east coast  and direct energy imports instead over land into Chinas Yunnan province.

Growing evidence suggests Myanmars military coup has increased Beijings influence in the country, the website reported.

With Myanmars armed forces struggling to control large swaths of the country and with the economy in freefall, China seems to be shoring up the regime and protecting its investments for now.

Chinese companies are believed to be operating on the ground, building major infrastructure projects such as deep-water ports, while the junta is allocating the few troops it has left to protect them.

This has implications for Indias strategic interests in the region, as New Delhi seeks to counter Chinas growing influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

With the Coco Island developments, India may soon face a new airbase close by in a country increasingly tied to Beijing.

The militarization of the Coco Islands by the Tatmadaw, combined with the wider Chinese developments occurring inland, could pose a significant security challenge to India and its navy.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands provide Indias Eastern Fleet strategic depth in the Bay of Bengal and command approaches to the Strait of Malacca, the website reported.

Chinese commercial shipping could soon bypass the strait and offload their cargo in Myanmar, nullifying Indias advantage. Meanwhile an expanded airbase on Great Coco opens the possibility that India may soon have to contend with Tatmadaw eyes watching the movements of its warships.

There is another concern. If China were to further apply pressure to the Tatmadaw, leveraging naval intelligence acquired from surveillance flights from Great Coco for desperately needed economic investment, it would give Beijing a key regional advantage over New Delhi, the website added.

Fears that China could use Myanmar to monitor the Indian navy are not new, especially in the context of Great Coco.

Conspiracy theories dominate the recent history of the Coco Island chain.

Despite efforts to debunk them, they underpin almost all the conjecture around Great Coco, with any activity by Myanmar to reinforce its military presence seen as having a Chinese hand behind it. It is essential then to sort fact from fiction.
Nairobi  Siaya senator, Oburu Odinga has accused Deputy President Riagthi Gachagua of hatching a plot to assassinate his younger brother Raila.

The Senator alleged that Gachagua's past statements on how to deal with the former Prime Minister had laid bare his intentions.

He lamented that the donor community was privy to the alleged assassination plot but had chosen to keep quiet.

Oburu warned the government against carrying out the assassination, saying that the country will not be the same.

National Assembly minority leader, Opiyo Wandayi said it was laughable that the US ambassador was fast in condemning the attacks on the media by the police and other goons while keeping quiet over the attempts on Odinga and other Azimio la Umoja leaders.

Siaya Senator James Orengo seriously condemned the atrocities meted out on Kenyans and Azimio leaders accusing President William Ruto of hypocrisy.
image credit: Wallpaper Cave

Quebec (Canada): The bodies of eight migrants, including two minors, have been retrieved after they perished while attempting to unlawfully cross from Canada into the United States, BBC reported citing the authorities

Two more bodies were also sighted in the St. Lawrence River by a police helicopter Friday.

Among the deceased were individuals from Romania and India.

The authorities were already searching for Casey Oakes, a 30-year-old boater who is still missing.

It is uncertain whether there is any connection between Oakes and the families who perished.

At approximately 5:00 pm local time (9:00 pm GMT), law enforcement discovered the first cadaver in a wetland situated in Tsi Snaihne, a Mohawk land positioned directly on the border between the United States and Canada.

The deceased were found within the Quebec vicinity of Akwesasne, a Mohawk enclave that encompasses portions of Ontario, Quebec, and New York State. The location is approximately 120km to the west of Montreal.

The police found the remaining corpses close by, but the authorities have not yet made their identities public.

The deceased consisted of two minors and six adults.

During a news briefing on Friday, a local police chief stated that one of the minors, who was under three years old, possessed a Canadian passport. The other infant was also a citizen of Canada.

Law enforcement officials believe that the group comprised two families, one of Romanian and the other of Indian descent, as reported by Lee-Ann O'Brien, the Deputy Chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service.

According to O'Brien, it is believed that all the deceased individuals were trying to cross into the US from Canada illicitly. She also mentioned that the weather was turbulent in the region on Wednesday night.

Condoling the deaths, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "This is a heartbreaking situation."
Run us through the company's business model. How was the idea behind starting this company conceptualized?

WRMS (Weather Risk Management Services) is an agricultural and climate risk management company transforming the agriculture sector for the last 18 years by leveraging data, technology and financial innovation. Our mission is to develop risk management solutions to help farmers enhance productivity, gain an assured income and build resilience against climate change effects while practicing sustainable farming.

The company has been founded by Sonu Agrawal (IIT, IIM alumnus) along with CA Anuj Kumbhat (Chartered Accountant) and Dr. Ashish Agarwal (PhD, Electrical Engineering from IIT). UPL Limited (erstwhile United Phosphorus Limited), an Indian multinational company that manufactures and markets agrochemicals, industrial chemicals, chemical intermediates, and specialty chemicals, and also offers crop protection solutions, is the largest stakeholder and a key investor in WRMS.

We are on a mission to enhance the way agriculture is undertaken in India by transforming Indias farms into SecuFarms  income secured smart and sustainable farms.

Ingen Technologies Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WRMS established in 2008, manufactures, supplies and installs agriculture and supply chain related IoT devices for government and private sectors. The IoT devices provided by WRMS for the agriculture, dairy industry and supply chain logistic solutions add up to the major revenue stream for the company. The company also offers accurate and real-time weather data services using automated weather stations that help measure parameters like temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, and solar radiation every second.

WRMS has developed significant experience in offering full-stack services in parametric and agriculture insurance. WRMS has done Index Insurance product development and hazard assessment studies in India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi. All the insurance companies providing Weather Index Based Insurance in India have used WRMSs services in product design and distribution.

We have a 500-member team with presence across 22 states in India; and have experience of working in 15 countries across the globe. Our team comprises experts from diverse fields including agriculture, data science, actuarial sciences, and IT.

Kindly walk us through WRMS unique smart-farming model.

Through SecuFarm, our flagship product, we offer farm-level yield assurance solutions to smallholders in India. We leverage data, technology, and financial innovation to offer farmers:

A guaranteed benchmark yield

Adoption of smart farming technology to manage operational risks and maximize yield

Financial risk transfer to manage catastrophic risk

WRMS helps farmers set up SecuFarms i.e., sustainable smart farms that not only enhance farm productivity, but also guarantee a minimum yield and income to the farmers. Our smart farming technology facilitates remote monitoring of farms through which farmers can be provided advice  in advance as well as in real time  on how to best maximize farm productivity. This is done by using a combination of smart and sustainable technology that involves soil sciences, water management, non-toxic pest and disease management, IoT, AI, machine learning, smart irrigation, drones, telematics and GIS.

The target farm yield and income are defined in the SecuFarm contract, and the plan to achieve the target farm income is also outlined beforehand. In case the actual farm yield turns out to be lower than the promised level due to incorrect technical assistance, error, and / or negligence, WRMS compensates for the shortfall in the actual farm income vis-a-vis the targeted value of the farm income. This assurance of a minimum income makes the farmer more willing to adopt smart and sustainable technology. Different smart and sustainable technologies are deployed on the farm to operate in tandem with a single goal to improve farmers income and reduce his production cost.

What sets you apart from other agritech companies in India?

WRMS is more than just an agriculture technology company. WRMS provides farmers with farm-level advisory, complete income protection, and farm-level loss assessment through SecuFarm. It is the first Smart & Sustainable Farming solution in the world that ensures livelihood stability of farmers.

Having an expansive experience of almost two decades in the sector, WRMS has worked prolifically with some of the leading names in the agro-input and procurement industry like Pepsico, Safal, ITC, Mother Dairy, etc. along with government and govt-run bodies like NCFC, APSDPS, KSNDMC and Bihar Government. With over 2.5 million farmers served, 1 million acres of land geo-tagged and 10,000+ IoT devices installed, WRMS is a leader in the agriculture and dairy risk management industry.

WRMS can be credited for introducing many firsts such as bundling the global first parametric insurance with agri-input value chain. It started CARM services in India; Introduced bundled solutions of Index Insurance (BICSA), India and Bangladesh; Satellite-based flood index insurance product, UP; Index insurance for securing credit to chili farmers, Andhra Pradesh; Parametric insurance based disaster risk financing solution, Fiji and many others.

How does the SecuFarm app work? What is the idea behind it and how are you marketing the product?

WRMS endeavors to make farming sustainable and profitable for smallholders, and with this mission, the company launched the SecuFarm app, a one-of-a-kind solution in the agri space, to offer farmers farm level yield assurance by downscaling their risk using technology and data. The SecuFarm app bridges farmers across the country with the latest digital technology in agriculture and handholds them right from the seed selection stage to make sure that they get a better yield by following the package of practices shared with them in their own language. Once farmers get enrolled in the SecuFarm app, their farm is geo-tagged for farm level monitoring. After this, they start getting customized farm specific crop management advisories, weather forecasts, irrigation advisories, crop awareness audio-visual content, soil analysis, etc. on the SecuFarm app in their language, which ensures a high farm yield and better crop management. The app also links farmers directly with agri experts using the Plant Doctor feature to resolve all their crop-related queries. The app offers post-harvest market linkages to ensure that the farmers get the best prices for their crop in the market. In case the farmers dont produce the assured minimum yield due to weather attack or crop diseases even after following the package of practices, the company gives them timely compensation, thus protecting their socioeconomic status and supporting rural livelihoods. Thus, SecuFarm is a complete income protection solution for farmers that also drive them towards sustainable and climate-smart farming practices. WRMS is currently affiliated with over 10 million farmers; 1 million acres of land have been geo-tagged; 1.5 lakh SecuFarms have been created; and over 15,000 farm IoT devices have been deployed.

What were the challenges faced during setting up and scaling the business? How did you overcome them?

18 years of WRMS journey is filled with challenges we have overcome. WRMS is at a juncture where our products and services have proven track record of quality and service. Our challenge is to get the capital scale up to expand each of these product lines. We are also looking to scale SecuFarm solution in all parts of the country by partnering with like-minded organisations like FPOs, lending institutions, impact organisations, agri-input companies, etc. working with farmers.

What are the key drivers of WRMS in index insurance? How many projects has the company completed in this space?

We started our risk management journey in 2005 by creating a full-stack digital-first solution to help insurers and reinsurers understand, quantify, and manage the risks associated with weather events and crop yields. As a pioneer, WRMS has bagged many world firsts in the parametric insurance space like designing and implementing the first-ever parametric insurance solution for countries like Fiji, Indonesia, Haiti, Fiji, Tonga, India and Bangladesh. We have also served diverse agri value chain players like seed companies, contract farming companies, and agri-input companies with their very first value-chain-enabled bundled index insurance solutions.

Having worked in 20 countries and with esteemed clients like World Bank, PepsiCo, Bayer, UNWFP, WWF, GIZ, and UNCDF, we are geography agnostic.

WRMS has developed a full-stack digital-first platform for designing, development and implementation of innovative risk management solutions. The platform allows development of Indexes based on diverse datasets, including

Observational Weather Data and Visibility Data Remote Sensed Data of Vegetation, Flood / Drought Extent Earth Observation data of Wind, Rainfall, Temperature and other parameters Yield Data of Crops

The platform enables holistic risk management that includes Product Validation, Product Design, Data Management, Product Education, Beneficiary Onboarding, Policy Management, Claim Calculation & Payouts.

What are the new trends in the farming sector? How do you see AI and other technologies in the sector for the next 5 years?

The new trends are what IoT and AI bring to the sector. These technologies together have successfully revolutionized the agriculture industry in ways one cannot imagine  combating the most common problem the world is facing, i.e., bridging the gap between food demand and supply.

Over the next five years farmers will increasingly adopt these technologies to meet the growing need for food and to improve crop quality.

WRMS has signed an MoU with government bodies for agriculture and Agritech solutions; could you throw some light on this?

WRMS aids the government bodies in the effective implementation of government schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY schemes) by subsidy optimization, timely loss assessment & claim settlement, providing farm-level manpower services for crop assessment & monitoring agriculture insurance, and promoting innovation in agriculture.

Consequently, the PMFBY plan becomes transparent, manageable, cost- and time-effective, and manageable. Additionally, in order to perform pilot research for the improvement of crop cutting experiments, the company collaborates with governmental organisations like the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) (CCEs).

Ingen Technologies, a fully-owned subsidiary of Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS) has also collaborated with the Regional Meteorological Centre, Guwahati, Assam, India, Meteorological Department (IMD), and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, and bagged the contract for procurement, installation, and maintenance of Automatic Rain Gauge Stations in the North East States of India. The company is working with many government organizations like Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning Society, and more.

What challenges do you face in convincing Indian farmers to adopt more smart farming?

The difficulties we have in persuading Indian farmers to use smart farming techniques include low literacy rates, traditional agricultural methods, a lack of trust in adopting technology, limited investment capacity, and herd mentality. Because farming involves risk and uncertainty, farmers are unwilling to change.

Share details of recent funding? Are you looking to raise funds over the next 12 months?

WRMS got Euro 2.1 Mn funding last year. It is using the funding to develop and implement the yield guarantee solution to improve the resilience of 100,000 smallholder farmers in India against climate risks and incentivize smart agricultural risk management practices as well as to scale up the yield guarantee solution for crops such as cotton, chili, paddy, wheat and potato.
Forest officials in Maharashtra have started the 'rewilding' of two tiger cubs rescued from the Pandharkawada forest range in the Yavatmal district last month.

The two tiger cubs became orphans after their mother, tigress PKT-7, died last month.

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Tiger cubs get a second wild chance

The tiger cubs were rescued on March 14 from Ghatanji forest, a few weeks after the death of their mother.



Earlier this week, the two cubs were moved to Pench Tiger Reserve for "rewilding".

According to a release by Prabhu Nath Shukla, deputy director of Pench Tiger Reserve-Maharashtra, the 8-month-old tiger cubs were on Wednesday released into the Titralmangi enclosure at the protected forest for rewilding.

Both the cubs are healthy and freely roaming inside the enclosure, said the release, adding that the rewilding will be carried out as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

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NTCA is a statutory body constituted under the Wildlife (Protection) Act for strengthening tiger conservation in the country.



Pench, a tiger reserve spread across two states

Primarily located in the southern part of Madhya Pradesh, the Pench Tiger Reserve also spreads across 257 square kilometres in Maharashtra.

According to the latest data, Pench (MP) had a tiger population of 87 in 2018, while on the Maharashtra side, the big cat count stood at 44 in 2021.

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How is rewilding of tigers carried out

Rewilding involves the reintroduction of a tiger cub into the wild when it becomes apparent that the big cat can survive in the jungle independently.



To make them capable of hunting and fending for themselves, the tiger cubs will be introduced into a near-wild environment, where they can learn the necessary skills before reintroducing to the natural forest.

According to the SOP of the NTCA, such tigers should be kept in enclosures made of prefabricated material, which can be removed easily for rewilding.

The location for rewilding should have sufficient groundwater or should be close to a water source, as a substantial amount shall be needed to maintain the premise.

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It also states that a 'critical distance' should be maintained from the tigers as violating this distance would elicit a response that may result in them becoming dependent on humans.

In the rewilding of tiger cubs, restoring the behaviour relating to critical distance (wilding) is essential to ensuring complete seclusion from human beings and their associates.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
This photo taken on March 29, 2023 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) A perspective mentioned a lot is that the United States is in no position to define the nature of democracy. BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The so-called "Summit for Democracy" co-hosted by the United States was held Tuesday through Thursday when concerns about democratic backsliding are rising in participating countries. At a time when the world yearns for unity, many experts and analysts see the summit as America's attempt to spread its false narrative of "democracy" which is not based on genuine dialogue but sheer manipulation. A perspective mentioned a lot is that the United States is in no position to define the nature of democracy. It cannot be the only judge of democracy, as there are different forms of democracy in the world and the American standard of democracy is not the only one that exists, Marinko Ogorec, a Croatian political analyst, told Xinhua in an interview. "The basic principle of democracy is not to impose your model and your social values on others," he noted, adding that different forms of democracy should be respected just like different values and traditions and that "only when we respect those differences can we talk about democracy." Some say that in the United States, democracy is not about the welfare of the people but a political tool. "American democracy has been deteriorating, and as you say, backsliding over the past decades," said Herman Tiu Laurel, founder of Philippine BRICS Strategic Studies. Elections have become a very divisive factor, said Laurel, noting that the electoral and so-called democratic process has degenerated into two parties fighting each other. "There is never a compromise, a real compromise, because each party wants to stay in power or grab power so that they can enjoy the economic and financial bonanza from being in power ... So it is no longer about the welfare of the people," he said. A man participates in a protest against police brutality in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 27, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) According to an expert on international relations in Guinea-Bissau, Americans have no human rights lessons to give to Africa. The country "still can't solve the problem of racism and police blunders which have become a sad reality for the Black population of the country," said Antonio Nhaga, general director of the journal The Democracy. Nhaga said that the "paradigm of democracy" declared by the United States is a "blow of pressure on certain countries" because Westerners have always wanted to impose "their vision of democracy on the world." While troubled by its chaotic internal affairs, the United States is by no means democratic when it comes to its hegemony-based foreign policy, an Egyptian expert said. "The West is schizophrenic when it comes to democracy," Mokhtar Ghobashy, deputy chairman of the Cairo-based Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said in an interview with Xinhua. The West in general and the United States in particular claim to be advocating democracy and rights in some countries as a pretext to pressure them for political purposes, the expert said, citing Washington's responsibility for the disorders and conflicts in some parts of the world, including the ongoing Ukraine crisis. "The United States, through the intended summit on democracy, wants to talk about itself as an oasis of democracy and power transition ... but in one way or another, there is a wide gap when it comes to implementing democracy in relation to the external world," he said.
Amb Roya Rahmani of Delphos joins VPOTUS Kamala Harris during her visit to Zambia and announces Delphoss contribution in support of the the Global Initiatives on the Economic Empowerment of Women in Africa

For 35 years, Delphos has championed financial solutions in emerging economies. Our philosophy is that the key to financial inclusion is harnessing the energy and creativity of women. We believe that empowering women of Africa is essential to enabling African communities to achieve their dreams.

Delphos International is proud to have Amb Roya Rahmani, Chair of Delphos International and a former Afghan Ambassador to the United States, join the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, during the launch of the Digital Coalition Program in Lusaka Zambia on April 1st 2023.

We have committed to mobilizing $250 million by 2027 to advance womens economic security across Africa, including $100 million for projects to advance digital gender equality and womens clean energy contributions, such as through products particularly benefitting women customers or supporting women-led enterprises.

Currently on an Africa tour, Amb.Rahmani has led many initiatives related to women empowerment and continues to advocate that women empowerment and participation is key to addressing climate change and positive economic development.

With a strong resolve to address financing gaps in developing countries, Delphos has been building bridges between government, Development Financial institution, investors and private sector to enable implementation of projects that can change the lives of many ordinary people, with a particular focus on women. It is embedded in our philosophy that women empowerment must be the bedrock of our efforts towards digital transformation, sustainable infrastructure, and climate resiliency.

-END-

About Delphos:

Delphos is the definitive source for arranging innovative financial solutions for development companies and projects. We specialize in raising long-term, competitively priced capital for corporates, fund managers, developers, SMEs, sovereigns, and entrepreneurs around the world. Since 1987, we have arranged more than $20 billion in development finance to support the efforts of over 1,200 companies. We tap into the resources of more than 350 government agencies and multilateral organizations worldwide to help clients realize their international business goals and have sustainable impact. In addition to our capital raising efforts, Delphos provides market-leading transaction advisory and investment/risk management consulting services to government and private sector clients across multiple industries. We are approved advisors to AfDB, DFC, IDB Invest, IFC, USAID, US Ex-Im Bank, USTDA, WBG, leading private equity firms, infrastructure developers and strategic investors, and foreign governments and utilities.
A Bolt driver identified as Aiyu Eromosele Thomas, who was reported missing in February, has been found dead.

The 34- year-old resident of 70 Imole Avenue, Ajasa Command, Lagos, was reportedly booked by an unidentified passenger before he became missing.

His vehicle, a Toyota Corolla with registration number GGE583GX grey color 2005/6 model, was found abandoned the following day.

A police patrol team had discovered the vehicle abandoned by the roadside at Ojota, Lagos.

READ ALSO: Pete Edochie Mourns Death Of Grandson, Kambilinachukwu

An elder Brother of the Bolt driver, Aiyu Etiose Godwin, who spoke with Daily Trust, said the matter was first reported at Meiran Police station before it was escalated to the headquarters of the state police Command.

He (the missing person) left his house for his commercial driving activities at about 7:30am of on the 1st of February 2023. He drives a Toyota corolla which he registered with Bolt Rider company for the taxi activity. When he did not return and his phone numbers did not go through, my mother that was staying in his house at the period, raised the alarm.

The familys effort to know his whereabouts proved abortive, hence we reported to Meiran divisional Police headquarters. The Bolt Rider Company where he registered the car for the commercial use were contacted and the company provided the Police some information to aid in investigation.

Confirming the vehicle was later found, he added, On observation, the drivers door sliding glass was broken and fluid suspected to be blood was seen on the right side of the drivers seat. Around 14th of February 2023, the Meiran Police decided to transfer the case to a special unit under the CP at Lagos state Police Command Headquarter Ikeja, for further and advance investigation. The Police at the state Command promised the family that a thorough investigation would be carried out. But as weeks rolled by and no information forth coming, my mother and the entire family were in Panic.

The brother, however, pleaded with the Police, the CP and the units concerned to please act on this investigation.
Operatives of the Nigeria Police have arrested three lawyers in Port Harcourt while reportedly filing tribunal processes for the All Progressives Congress APC in Rivers State.

The lawyers were said to be preparing petitions for the APC in Rivers State to officially file a legal proceeding against the conduct and results of the just concluded governorship election in the state.

It was gathered that the three lawyers from the Tuduru Edes Chamber, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, were lodged in an hotel where they were working before police stormed them and picked them last night.

Confirming the development, the Principal of the three lawyers, Tuduru Ede, SAN, said the act was carried out by the police, adding that his colleagues were picked and taken to Ogbunabali Police State without reason.

Ede stated that the act was perpetrated in connivance with the Peoples Democratic Party and the state government to frustrate the APCs move to the tribunal.

READ MORE: Rivers APC Accuses Gov Wike Of Sponsoring Electoral Violence

He said: Three lawyers filing the process for the APC in Rivers State were arrested last night while they were preparing the papers by the Nigeria Police in collaboration with the PDP.

The arrest is to prevent the APC from filing their process to court. Three lawyers and some support staff members who were typing the petitions were arrested.

They made away with duplicate copies of Form EC8A and others documents that they were using in filing the petitions.
The goong phao, whole grilled freshwater river prawn with nam pla waan, neem, fried shallots, garlic and peanuts from Kalaya in Fishtown on Friday, January 20, 2023. Read more

In the spring of 2018, when Chutatip Nok Suntaranon was still unknown to most Philadelphians, she ran into an old friend, Greg Root, at a restaurant in Queen Village with his business partners at Defined Hospitality.

Hey, do you guys want to invest in a small Thai restaurant? she said jokingly to Root, whose Thai-born wife, Danee, had also become Noks close friend. She knew Root and his partners, Al Lucas, chef Nick Kennedy, and developer Roland Kassis, already had their hands full. Theyd just opened the 165-seat Suraya in late 2017. A supersize new edition of Pizzeria Beddia and Condesa were also in the works.

Still, Nok couldnt resist: One day Im going to be very famous and youll regret it!

We all laughed, Root recalls, although not because he doubted Nok. He knew from tasting her home cooking that she was talented. He even lent a hand early on  offering logistical advice and temporary front-house staffing  as Nok, her husband, Ziv Katalan, and another partner launched the original Kalaya as a 37-seat BYOB in Bella Vista.

With a stunning display of flower-shaped dumplings, profoundly spiced curries, and fiery cauldrons of tom yum crowned with majestic river prawns, Kalaya dazzled from the start with Southern Thai flavors most Philadelphians had never tasted. Nok, who named the restaurant after her mother, presented bold levels of chile heat, bracing sourness, and fermented seafood umami as an unapologetic badge of cultural identity.

No one could have predicted the acclaim that would follow for a chef who, after a two decade career as a flight attendant, went to cooking school, worked various kitchen jobs, and opened her first restaurant at age 50. She was named The Inquirers 2019 Chef of the Year, and Kalaya earned Esquires Best New Restaurant award for 2020, multiple James Beard nominations, and a featured stop on Netflixs Philadelphia-themed Someone Feed Phil.

Nok has, indeed, become famous. But there will be no regrets for Defined Hospitality. They may have passed on opening a small Thai restaurant  but have instead opened a giant one in this soaring Fishtown partnership with Nok.

How do you like our glow-up? says server Lindsay Smith, one of a dozen longtime employees who made the move to Kalayas new 140-seat location where the staff now numbers 80.

With arching glass windows that will open in fair weather, cream-colored walls hung with modern Thai art, tropical drinks flowing from the bar, and multicolored orbs of shaved ice landing on every table for dessert, theres a glamorous energy to the new Kalaya that befits Nok herself. She lends a glow of ebullient hospitality to the dining room, greeting guests and stripping their grilled river prawns from the shell tableside for goong phao, mixing the sweet tail meat and rich orange fat into jasmine rice with fried shallots, bitter neem flowers, and splashes of tangy-sweet nam pla waan tamarind sauce  her ever-fabulous haute couture outfits be damned.

This grand new Kalaya, which opened here in late November, even comes with a cluster of 14-foot palms that rise toward a skylight at the center of the renovated warehouse space. The timbered rafters of this century-old industrial room sometimes remind Nok of the market in her village of Yantakhao, where shed fall asleep as a little girl behind the tubs of shrimp paste at her mothers vending stall  a reminder of how far shes come.

Its not a stretch. I saw that market for myself when I followed Nok to Southern Thailand last spring as she went in search of inspirations for this next chapter. Its a world away from West Palmer Street and Frankford Avenue. But Kalayas magic has always been Noks ability to transport the flavorful essence of her childhood to America without compromising its boisterous soul, from fiery duck laab crunchy with fried skin and roasted rice powder to the stinky sator beans that lend a camphoraceous punch to the complexity of khao yum turmeric rice salad with dried anchovies and coconut.

I worried something might be lost in the transition from the unplugged intimacy of Kalayas starter BYOB to the high fidelity razzle-dazzle of a Defined Hospitality production. But those fears were unfounded. Every one of the signatures from Kalayas South Philly debut is at least as good in Fishtown, if not more consistent, from the exquisite blue flower-shaped shaw muang chicken dumplings to the array of complex curries made from vivid spice pastes. Theres the peppery goat and lamb stew rich with collagen, toasted coconut, and curry leaf thats a heady homage to Noks father. The tom yum broth offers a tart and spicy contrast of lime juice, tamarind, and galangal to the sweet seafood treasure of prawns and barramundi. A stir-fry of colossal crab meat, pu pad pong karee, is luxurious with evaporated milk, crab roe, and chili jam.

The new location has obvious benefits. Theres an expansive bar, not only accounting for a 30% boost in revenue, but also serving creative takes on ya dong whiskey shots infused with 11 Tigers herbs, a churning barrel to freeze Grolsch beer slushies, and festive Thai twists on daiquiris, negronis, coladas, and spiked tea. The service has been well-tuned and enthusiastic, save for a frosty hostess who unapologetically greeted us with news of a wait despite being on time for our reservation.

The small delay was worth it, not to mention the hassle of reserving 30 days in advance. With the extra capacity here to serve 300-plus diners a night, Kalaya 2.0 is a complete package that has also retained the essence of Noks passion to keep evolving  and potentially becoming Philadelphias most impactful restaurant since Zahav.

An expanded kitchen team under chef de cuisine Will Flemming and executive sous-chef Jonathan Rodriguez has allowed Nok to focus on menu development and quality control. And its clear, given the new capabilities a bigger kitchen has afforded, with a half dozen people alone dedicated to its sensational dumplings, that Noks full vision of Southern Thai cuisine has only just begun to bloom.

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Among the most important additions has been the charcoal-fired grill, not only for those prawns, but for the chickens marinated in fish sauce and lemongrass that are roasted with their feet on and glazed with a curried coconut milk sauce whose palm sugar sweetness has been dialed back  just enough  from the similar grilled birds we ate at a roadside stand near Trang.

Fragrant green curry, a labor-intensive process Kalaya now has the resources to continuously make fresh, lavishes a bowl of tender shrimp beside glass noodles turned purple with butterfly pea leaf flowers, exuding the vibrant hues Nok covets in her food. Wok-fried chicken, steamed fish, and hand-pressed noodles are in the works.

There are tangy relishes  grilled shrimp paste with lime and garlic; and ground pork with tamarind, miso, and coconut cream  that serve as essential condiments to unify the multiplate collage of bright flavors typically served in a family-style meal. And there are other small wonders to cherish, like the crispy gui chai chive cakes that we snacked on in Bangkoks Or Tor Kor Market. The greens must be massaged with oil and seasonings, then rest for 30 minutes before theyre carefully drained and mixed by hand into a green batter thats steamed and then fried into crunchy squares with sweet soy dip: No shortcuts! Nok says.

If left to Noks traditionalist tastes alone, dessert would simply be sweet sticky rice topped with buttery monthong durian, whose distinctive aroma of flower shop and petroleum is a taste Ive finally acquired. But splashy new Kalaya also deserves a finale with drama. And Defined Hospitality pastry chef James Matty collaborated with Nok to create playful, oversize riffs on shaved ice whose bowling ball-size orbs of fluffy crystals are streaked with brilliant-colored sauces and hide creamy surprises at their cores.

Eating one is like a snowy treasure hunt as you burrow with a spoon through one side saturated with sweet Thai iced tea and tangy guava syrup to find chunks of jackfruit and then banana panna cotta at its heart. Or chocolate panna cotta inside coconut-passion fruit ice; or lime leaf cheesecake beneath a tangy drift of yuzu-Thai basil ice.

Eat them fast, or youll be left with a lychee-flavored puddle, making me wonder if it really needs to be 2 pounds of ice? Its one of the few exceptions to the rule at this remarkable new edition of Kalaya: Bigger has actually turned out to be better.

Kalaya

4 W. Palmer St., 215-545-2535; kalayaphilly.com

Dinner Monday through Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, until 11 p.m.; Sunday, 4-9 p.m. Weekend lunch coming soon.

Reservations on Resy open up 30 days in advance (new seats post at midnight). There are 14 seats for walk-ins at the bar.

Wheelchair accessible.

Almost the entire menu is gluten-free, except for desserts that can be modified.

Street parking only.
St. Josephs University has vowed to make improvements after an active-shooter report on Thursday that turned out to be false caused concern and confusion among students and staff.

On Thursday afternoon, Philadelphia police responded to a report of an active shooter inside the universitys Drexel Library building. Soon afterward, responding officers declared that the library was clear and there was no shooter, and police said the call was probably a prank.

The universitys public safety office first received a phone call at 2:42 p.m. claiming an active shooter, said university spokesperson Liz Kennedy Walsh. Philadelphia police were notified and on the campus within three minutes.

The university waited for the police to declare that the library was clear and the campus was safe, then issued a text alert around 3:10 p.m. saying the situation had been investigated and there was no emergency, Walsh said.

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There was no initial alert reporting the unverified shooter report, Walsh said.

The Student Senate issued a statement afterward that the lack of communication with the student body regarding the nature of this incident as it happened was unacceptable. Parents of students also complained, with one sharing on Facebook a screenshot of a text exchange with her daughter.

Cops ran into the library and yelled at everyone to get down. Im hiding under a table, the student wrote. Im so scared.

On Friday, responding to the criticism, Ross Radish, interim vice president for student life, announced a series of steps to improve how the university would handle similar situations.

The university will send out a shelter-in-place alert with any future report of an active shooter, Radish said in a statement.

The university was fortunate that the threat was not real, but what is also critically important is to acknowledge that there was a gap in our protocol. That is unacceptable, and we are taking steps to eliminate that gap, Radish said.

With the new policy on issuing shelter-in-place alerts: This means that, sometimes, we will do so unnecessarily. But we cannot hesitate to put the campus on alert, even if it will only be for a brief amount of time, Radish said.

The university also has begun a comprehensive review of the incident on Thursday, a review of emergency exits and evacuation standards, a test of the universitys emergency notification system, and adding a false-report scenario to a previously planned active-shooter drill this summer.

Besides dealing with the potential threat of gun violence and mass shootings, we are also seeing a spike in hoax and false active shooter reports, making the landscape of managing public safety increasingly complex. We must be unequivocal in our response and vigilant in our preparedness training, Radish said.

Earlier this week, a series of fake calls reporting active shooters were made to various schools in Western Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania State Police said the calls appeared to have been computer-generated.

Staff writer Frank Kummer contributed to this article.
A charcuterie meat board sold as an add-on to the four-course trattoria meal at Heavy Metal Sausage Co. includes (clockwise from right) Pennsylvania-spiced mortadella, bresaola, porchetta di testa, and beef salami. Read more

If you had just 500 square feet to realize your culinary dreams, how would you fill it? Chef Patrick Alfiero and Melissa Pellegrino have managed to fit more than a few good ideas into the cozy confines of Heavy Metal Sausage Co.

Theres the small market of specialty foods featuring stellar local ingredients  from Susquehannah Mills oils to Pasta Lab noodles and cheeses from the Farm at Doe Run  that inspire their own cooking. That includes the whole grain Redeemer wheat from Small Valley Milling that Alfiero mills there himself and bakes into sourdough breads for the distinctive sandwich menu on the blackboard that frames the door.

And then there are the dozen or so house deli meats, sausages, and charcuterie used to fill those creations, from a clever turkey roulade with both white and dark meat to rarely seen zungenblutwurst, which Alfiero also makes. This corner storefront at West Porter and South Mole Streets is a sausage company, after all. And a fine one at that.

Thats evident when your teeth snap through a smoky hunk of garlicky kielbasa, or the fresh Italian Piccante sausage flared with Calabrian chiles, or special duck links smothered in tangy cacciatore. Heavy Metal brings a welcome burst of next-gen creativity to South Philly fueled by locally sourced meats that is reviving a legacy of Italian butchery at risk of disappearing.

Trattoria nights

If you come on Thursday nights, this tiny retail space also transforms into a romantic pop-up trattoria where a dozen lucky diners are tucked into every corner, window seat, and kitchen counter for one of the most intimate dining experiences around.

Weve got some add-ons tonight, Alfiero announced during his introductory pre-meal address  a ritual of Phillys new pop-up tasting menu bistros. A four-course prix-fixe menu for $65 already promises plenty of food with family-style menus conjured spontaneously each week. But the extras are fun, too. We werent going to pass on cappellacci made from fresh-milled flour pasta stuffed with roasted squash. It came with smoked ham bits, pepitas, and crumbled Valley Milkhouse Blue Bell cheese.

No one should miss the add-on charcuterie board of Alfieros latest creations. We devoured a generous montage of smoky bresaola, piquant beef salami, crunchy piggy porchetta di testa, and supple pink rounds of mortadella fragrant with Pennsylvania juniper and Appalachian allspice. It was well worth the additional $25.

Like many in this wave of ambitious tasting menu kitchens, Alfiero and Pellegrinos project began as a pandemic pop-up, first out of ITV, where Alfiero was the chef, and then at the food cart inside Hermans Coffee, Phillys premier pop-up launching pad.

Alfiero and Pellegrino, who started dating when he was at ITV and she was the wine director at Laurel, chose this space because of the friendly neighborhood vibe surrounding West Passyunk Avenue, and the third-floor apartment where they now live.

Theyve given the retail space their personal stamp. Pellegrino, who studied at Savannah College of Art and Design before becoming a front-of-the-house fixture on Phillys hospitality scene, indulged Alfieros musical passion by painting a striking mural across the far wall. A blood-red field is overlaid with a Pennsylvania keystone, animal skulls, two favorite knives, and a Death Metal-style crown of spiky vines tangled with hidden letters that are illegible, per Pats request, she says.

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It does say Heavy Metal Sausage Co.,  he insists. Trust us.

It adds an edgy energy to the room, especially in the daylight hours with Lamb of Gods guitar riffs banging through the speakers while Alfieros sandwich service is in full throttle. These arent your standard roll-based Philly sandwiches, as Alfiero has no desire to compete with the hoagie shops nearby he so admires. From the whole grain focaccia used for the Italian layered with his cotechino, salami cotto, provolone, and sweet pepper relish made to his grandmothers recipe, to the fiery long hot pepper relish that adds a sneaky heat to his deeply smoked ham with pickled asparagus and Alpine cheese, these sandwiches are high-level expressions of his own craft.

Alfieros most memorable sandwich is the Poppe, named in honor of his Polish grandpa. Its fresh-ground rye bread frames a deep purple stack of tongue-studded zungenblutwurst with garlic mayo and Birchrun Hills cheddar. Its better than I ever expected from anything starring blood salami  and is a signature new standout in Phillys sandwich scene.

As intriguing as the daytime offerings are, the dinners show even greater potential. These two veterans of fine dining are essentially hosting elaborate dinner parties their way, casually, with finesse. To watch them work side by side in these tight quarters is to observe a clinic of refined efficiency, with Pellegrino gracefully tending the tables while an endless stream of well-prepped courses flow effortlessly from Alfieros minimalist open kitchen.

The food is Italian in spirit and technique, tapping their shared family heritages. But its clearly Pennsylvania food first, as Alfieros primary inspirations come from seasonal ingredients grown by local stars such as Stryker Farms (pork), Linden Dale Farm (goats), Neighbours Farmstead (rabbits), Keisers Pheasantry (poultry), and Green Meadow Farm (produce).

We saw that seasonality in the first antipasto course, which paired luscious eggplant caponata with the giardiniera crunch of pickled end-of-summer produce, alongside a heartier fall dish of involtini cabbage stuffed with sausage perfumed with local fennel pollen.

One of the most memorable dishes had nothing to do with meat but everything to do with Alfieros talent for coaxing magic from special ingredients. A risotto of Martelli rice grown in New Jersey by Blue Moon Acres was simply stunning in its subtlety, the distinctly toothy grains hovering inside a luxurious cream gravy steeped from the rinds of St. Malachi, a world-renowned Gouda hybrid from the Farm at Doe Run, with ribbons of the nutty cheese shaved to order overtop.

Alfieros butchery skills also extend to fish. His elaborate presentation of fresh rainbow trout from Green-Walk Trout Hatchery was a worthy main event. The whole fish were stuffed with a bread crumb-trout stuffing tanged with preserved Jimmy Nardello peppers, then pan-roasted in butter and served over a rutabaga ragu. It was topped with a salsa verde for which Alfiero used salt-cured mid-Atlantic mackerel because the typical anchovies in that herbal puree are not local.

Like many savory chefs, Alfiero has limited interest in dessert. But Im glad fresh cannoli is among them  the shells made from house-milled flour, the ricotta filling enriched with pumpkin, then drizzled in apple molasses.

Pellegrino leaves her imprint on dessert, too, showing off talent for unconventional gelati like the caramelized fennel-flavored scoop sweetened with maple (instead of refined sugar) and topped with black walnuts. She also flexes her love of spirits here, despite Heavy Metals current status as a BYOB, offering guests complimentary amari from their growing collection. Its a perfect finishing touch, along with Alfieros meticulously poured Chemex of Hermans Spot Saver coffee.

The trattoria nights will become more frequent soon, including four nights of Seven Fishes feasts in Christmas week. As they continue to add options to this tiny, hybrid space, these two are clearly only limited by their imaginations.

Heavy Metal Sausage Co.

1527 W. Porter St., heavymetalsausage.com

Open for retail and sandwiches Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Friday and Saturday until 6 p.m. Thursday trattoria dinner seatings at 6 and 8 p.m., advanced reservations required online.

BYOB.
President Joe Biden gives the thumbs up to the crowd that gathered across the street as he exited Parc on Rittenhouse Square, where he dined with his family Saturday. Read more

As Joe Anderson was finishing his lunch Saturday at KFar Cafe Philadelphia, the West Philly resident received an unexpected text from a friend eating inside Parc: President Biden is here.

Just a short walk from Parc, the University of Pennsylvania student dashed from KFar to join a swarming crowd outside the Rittenhouse Square restaurant. Rushing with excitement, Anderson brushed shoulders to squeeze between onlookers for a perfect view of the president as he left the French bistro.

I wouldve got a table if I knew he was coming, said Anderson, who had stopped at Parc for a drink before heading to KFar.

 READ MORE: Biden dines at Parc; Tiffany Trump goes to Audrey Claire

Anderson joined hundreds of others waiting outside barricades formed with Chevy Suburbans and Philadelphia police cars. Reactions ranged from excitement to wondering what was happening inside the restaurant at 18th and Locust Streets.

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Less than a month after rolling out his budget proposal during a speech in Northeast Philadelphia, Biden was back in town, arriving at Parc around 1:15 p.m. He was in the city to see his granddaughter Maisys senior art show at the University of Pennsylvania, according to the White House traveling press pool.

Biden ordered a brunch favorite  pancakes  according to an onlooker.

About an hour and a half after arriving, Biden, first lady Jill Biden and their family stepped outside and were serenaded by Curtis Institute of Music students with the singing of the national anthem.

They were very excited to see the president and really celebrate that moment in a way that only Curtis students can do, Curtis spokeswoman Patricia Johnson said.

The president engaged the crowd, even telling one person not to leap from above. Some in the sidewalk audience stood on their toes, cell phones out, to capture a picture or video of the unexpected visitor.

Seeing the crowd gathering outside her apartment, Rittenhouse Square resident Barbara Craig decided to join them. Shes used to seeing Biden on TV, but to catch a glimpse in person was a joy, she said.

Im excited; its really a big surprise, Craig said.

Aaron Loschiavo, who admitted being starstruck when he saw former President Donald Trump years ago, was less enthusiastic about the Biden sighting, but still somewhat impressed.

Regardless, hes the president of the United States, Loschiavo said. Whether Im into him or not, its definitely a unique experience.

Staff writers Michael Klein, Layla A. Jones, and Julia Terruso contributed to this article.
U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, Ph.D., visited the University of Witwatersrand and met with Professor Gilbert Khadiagala and Dr. Asad el-Malik from the African Center for the Study of the United States (ACSUS). Also in attendance was Wits Universitys vice chancellor, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Everisto Mugocha, Ph.D., U.S. Consul General Vincent Spera.

On March 28th, 2023 U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, Ph.D., visited the University of Witwatersrand and met with Professor Gilbert Khadiagala and Dr. Asad el-Malik from the African Center for the Study of the United States (ACSUS). Also in attendance was Wits Universitys vice chancellor, Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Everisto Mugocha, Ph.D., U.S. Consul General Vincent Spera, and a delegate from the consulates office.

The broad purpose of the ambassador's visit was to find broader ways in which the embassy and the University of Witwatersrand can engage. Brigety's visit comes at a critical time in U.S.-South Africa relations. The two countries have a long history of cooperation in areas such as health, trade, security, and development. However, there are also significant challenges facing the relationship, including the U.S. angst related to South Africas relationship with Russia and China.

Brigetys expressed the need for the two countries to have a mutually beneficial relationship and pointed to the many similarities between the two countries such as both nations having Dutch and English influence, challenges with issues related to race, both being constitutional democracies, and both countries have strong regional and global economic influence. He stated that the relationship between the two nations is on an upswing and said, we are here to think through what ways we can continue to engage.

Ambassador Reuben Brigety | @USAmbRSA The broad purpose of Ambassador Reuben Brigety's visit was to find broader ways in which the United States' embassy and the University of Witwatersrand can engage.

Khadiagala discussed the work that ACSUS has been doing to help socialize the next generation of (African) scholars that will critically examine the relationship between the continent and the United States from an African perspective. Khandiagala also discussed ACSUS diaspora project and the importance of engaging African Americans. Brigety, the first African American to hold his position, expressed support for the research and scholarship the center has produced. Vilakazi added that ACSUS has the potential to do much in the area of exchange and cross-cultural pollination.

Brigety also participated in a fireside chat with a select group of Wits international relations students facilitated by Mugocha. The ambassador encouraged students to call on the spirit of the ancestors and bring their power into your presence. He presented the students with a philosophical interrogative, what are you going to do? He added, answer that question and live out that answer. Brigety fielded questions from the students on a range of topics including security, corruption, climate change, health- linked to the covid-19 pandemic, international relations, and U.S. aid to the African continent.

Ambassador Brigety vowed that the United States is all in on Africa.

The authors are Project Coordinators at the African Centre for the Study of the United States, Wits University.
Im sad that my town has been hit so hard, said Heidi Jenkins, a salon owner in Wynne, Ark. Our school is gone, my church is gone. Im sad for all the people who lost their homes. Read more

WYNNE, Ark.  Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 26 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damages scope.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and laid waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included at least nine in one Tennessee county; four in the small town of Wynne, Ark.; three in Sullivan, Ind.; and four in Illinois.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Ark., where city officials said more than 2,600 buildings were in a tornados path.

Residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles west of Memphis, woke Saturday to find the high schools roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows, and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

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Debris lay scattered inside the shells of homes and on lawns: clothing, insulation, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

Ashley Macmillan said she, her husband, and their children huddled with their dogs in a small bathroom as a tornado passed, praying and saying goodbye to each other, because we thought we were dead. A falling tree seriously damaged their home, but they were unhurt.

We could feel the house shaking, we could hear loud noises, dishes rattling. And then it just got calm, she said.

 READ MORE: Multiple tornado warnings issued as severe storms rip through the Philly region

Recovery was already underway, with workers using chainsaws and bulldozers to clear the area and utility crews restoring power.

Nine people died in Tennessees McNairy County, east of Memphis, according to Patrick Sheehan, director the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

Gov. Bill Lee drove to the county Saturday to tour the destruction and comfort residents. He said the storm capped the worst week of his time as governor, coming days after a school shooting in Nashville that killed six people including a family friend whose funeral he and his wife, Maria, attended earlier in the day.

Its terrible what has happened in this community, this county, this state, Lee said. But it looks like your community has done what Tennessean communities do, and that is rally and respond.

Jeffrey Day said he called his daughter after seeing on the news that their community of Adamsville was being hit. Huddled in a closet with her 2-year-old son as the storm passed over, she answered the phone screaming.

She kept asking me, What do I do, daddy?  Day said, tearing up. I didnt know what to say.

After the storm passed, his daughter crawled out of her destroyed home and over barbed wire and drove to nearby family. On Saturday evening, baby clothes were still strewn about the site.

In Memphis, police spokesman Christopher Williams said via email late Saturday that there were three deaths believed to be weather-related: two children and an adult who died when a tree fell on a house.

Tennessee officials warned that the same weather conditions from Friday night are expected to return Tuesday.

In Belvidere, Ill., part of the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed as about 260 people were attending a heavy metal concert. A 50-year-old man was pulled from the rubble.

I sat with him and I held his hand and I was [telling him], Its going to be OK. I didnt really know much else what to do, concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

The man was dead by the time emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 others were hurt, including two with life-threatening injuries.

Crews cleaned up around the Apollo on Saturday, with forklifts pulling away loose bricks. Business owners picked up glass shards and covered shattered windows.

In Crawford County, Ill., three people were killed and eight injured when a tornado hit around New Hebron, said Bill Burke, the county board chair.

Sheriff Bill Rutan said 60 to 100 families were displaced.

Weve had emergency crews digging people out of their basements because the house is collapsed on top of them, but luckily they had that safe space to go to, Rutan said at a news conference.

That tornado was not far from where three people died in Indianas Sullivan County, about 95 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 is essentially unrecognizable right now and several people were rescued overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said.

Im really, really shocked there isnt more as far as human issues, he said, adding that recovery is going to be a very long process.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than 50 were hurt, some critically.

The National Weather Service said that tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with wind speeds up to 165 mph and a path as long as 25 miles.

Masoud Shahed-Ghaznavi was lunching at home when it roared through his neighborhood, causing him to hide in the laundry room as sheetrock fell and windows shattered. When he emerged, the house was mostly rubble.

Everything around me is sky, Shahed-Ghaznavi recalled Saturday. He barely slept Friday night.

When I closed my eyes, I couldnt sleep, imagined I was here, he said Saturday outside his home.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. On Saturday, Sanders requested a major disaster declaration from President Joe Biden to support recovery efforts with federal resources.

Another suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabamas Madison County, officials said, and in northern Mississippis Pontotoc County, authorities confirmed one death and four injuries.

Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa and broke windows northeast of Peoria, Ill.

The storms struck just hours after Biden visited Rolling Fork, Miss., where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes from the latest event, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

Thats a quite active day, he said. But thats not unprecedented.

More than 530,000 homes and businesses were without power as of midday Saturday, over 200,000 of them in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

The sprawling storm system also brought wildfires to the southern Plains, with authorities in Oklahoma reporting nearly 100 of them Friday. At least 32 people were said to be injured, and more than 40 homes destroyed.

The storms also caused blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest.

A threat of tornadoes and hail remained for the Northeast including in parts of Pennsylvania and New York.
The digger had a sixth sense for ginseng roots, a preternatural ability to see leaves from a distance amid a swirling puzzle of forest life. He was driving, quickly now, on a gravel road that wound through a deep valley between those forests. Then he hit his brakes.

Do you see that road sang? he said, excitedly, before jumping out of the car.

Sang, a longtime nickname for the mysterious and lucrative ginseng root, might just be Pennsylvanias most valuable crop, often selling for hundreds of dollars per pound. Some say the slow-growing root is being exploited, overharvested by deer or greedy newcomers. Many longtime diggers believe thats an excuse to drag the harvest, one of Pennsylvanias oldest, closer to licensing and taxation.

Most dont want to talk about ginseng at all.

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The full-time digger and forager who allowed The Inquirer to accompany him for a day wanted to be identified only as Justin G. A savvy competitor might use his full name to get his address, he said, then glean his hunting grounds. Western Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh was as specific as he wanted to get about our location. Other diggers wanted this reporter to wear a blindfold or leave phones behind on account of GPS capabilities. Justin, 39, only requested anonymity  and full camouflage.

Id just rather no one see us, he explained.

Unlike ramps, a type of wild onion, or chicken of the woods, an edible fungus, ginseng demands big money, depending on the age and size of its roots. Diggers sell to licensed buyers, the middlemen, who then sell it to larger markets in China and Korea, where the root has been prized for millennia for its medicinal effects. Pennsylvanias buyers number in the dozens and need to be licensed but diggers like Justin dont need a permit to harvest it or grow it. He hopes it stays that way.

Uncle Sam has a real hard time sticking its nose into the ginseng business, he said.

Pennsylvanias Department of Conservation and Natural Resources sets the guidelines for wild ginseng harvesting, with a season that runs from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30. The state asks diggers not harvest on state land or in parks, to collect mature plants with at least three five-pronged leaves and red berries, and to seek permission before digging on private property.

All of those rules are broken to some degree, every season.

American ginseng, according to the DCNR, has been protected since 1975 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as CITES. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service regulate its export. In 2019, the Wildlife Service went undercover and charged 14 people in Pennsylvania for the illegal harvest and sale of ginseng. The operation was dubbed Root Cause.

Eric Burkhart, a faculty member in Penn States department of ecosystem science and management, is arguably the states foremost expert on the plant and its place in Pennsylvanias rural culture. He said Pennsylvania typically exports around 1,000 pounds of dried ginseng root annually, joining states like Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, and New York as top exporters.

Every year, Burkhart studies reports buyers are required to submit, and he often urges diggers to divulge more information, particularly about how much ginseng theyre planting. His goal, he said, is to learn how much ginseng is left  but its not easy. Hes banned from at least one wild ginseng Facebook group.

This stuff is valuable stuff and its only gotten more valuable and, at least in Pennsylvania, its kind of gotten rolled up in this outlaw culture, a kind of blue-collar thing, he said. People like me just arent welcome.

Burkhart said social media, technology, and reality shows like Smoky Mountain Money and Appalachian Outlaws have contributed to an influx of new diggers rushing into the woods, sometimes upending centuries of traditions.

That made a lot of people a lot more quiet about the culture now, he said. It brought a criminal element into the forest.

Last year, a woman in Indiana was charged with homicide for shooting and killing a ginseng digger behind her home. A similar shooting happened in Ohio in 2013.

Derek Pritts, a retired waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, sees all sides of it. Hes a digger and a dealer, and the author of Ginseng: How to Find, Grow, and Use North Americas Forest Gold. Pritts grew up steeped in moonshine and sang in the hills of Fayette County out in Southwest Pennsylvania. Its the top-producing ginseng county in the state, he said.

Pritts said ginseng is deeply rooted in the earliest days of the United States.

George Washington used ginseng to offset our Revolutionary War debt, he said. It was the one thing the Chinese would trade gold and silver for.

Pritts believes the new diggers, who use plant-identifying apps, are taking roots that are too young and too small. Ginseng, he said, is a long game. It often takes roots 10 years to reach maturity.

People see it and they dig up everything they see, he said. Old timers know you leave the young plants alone. You come back in 5, 10 years.

Finding old ginseng means navigating hilly terrain and out-of-way places . If they dont roll an ankle or tumble down a hill, diggers also face poison ivy, countless thorns, and, further north, poisonous rattlesnakes and copperheads. Justin said he was once attacked by a doe protecting her fawn.

Pritts carried a walking stick and a pistol on a recent trip.

In case we see a coyote, he said.

In Western Pennsylvania, Justin G. began his day by heading up a steep embankment off an undisclosed gravel road. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness beneath the canopy, but he trudged through briars that clawed away at his skin. Seasoned diggers dont follow trails or make them and the cuts and scrapes on Justins bare arms attested to that. With such a dry summer, the ginseng was turning yellow faster, and he spotted one plant easily from 40 feet away.

Do you see it? he said. Its beautiful.

With a long, crowbar-type of tool, he dug carefully around the plants three stems, or prongs, and found the root. He put it all in a pocket and placed a ginseng berry in the hole.

You dig one, you plant one, he said.

Justin, who works as a handyman in the winter, resents how diggers have been portrayed as criminals and tweakers in the media and on reality shows. Few people last, he said, and he considers deer, not people, to be his biggest competition.

Its not easy money, he said. Theres nothing easy about this.

Justin said he didnt go to college, but knows he could have. He named every plant he passed in the forest, smelling one trees bark when he was unsure. Ginseng profits, he said, will help his daughter go places where he couldnt. He declined to say exactly how much money he makes each season, but its in the thousands.

You have to have a good attitude about it. You have to believe youre going to find some over the next hill, he said. I always think that. At night, when I close my eyes, I see ginseng.

On the way back to his house, he slammed on his brakes to dig the large plant he spotted ten feet off the road, somehow, while driving. When he returned to the car, he was nearly shaking, estimating the one root to be worth $50 alone.

This one right here is probably older than you and me combined, he said.

Back at Justins rancher, a porch full of puppies greeted him. Their mother is named Sang and he hopes at least of the pups could be a ginseng sniffer and make life easier.

Justin piled bags and bags of ginseng roots on a table, nearly 12 pounds that hes getting ready to sell. That would pay for heat and groceries over the winter. But he kept coming back to the 100-year-old root hed just dug, holding it up in the air and calling it a beauty.

His girlfriend, Joeleen, said shes never known anyone more passionate about ginseng.

I wish he looked at me the way he looks at that old root, she said.
Cherie Kemper-Starner, Base Owner and Captain at SailTime, a sailing school and club at Penns Landing. She's pictured here at G. Winters Sailing Center in Riverside, NJ. Kemper-Starner believes emphatically that Pennsylvania is not a landlocked state. Read more

In 2015, social media was preoccupied with whether a certain dress was blue or gold.

Last year, it was all about the number of wheels versus doors in the world.

Now, folks are asking the prosaic-yet-somehow-compelling question of whether Pennsylvania is a landlocked state.

More than 10,000 people voted on Twitter in an informal poll conducted two weeks ago by the Ettingermentum Substack newsletter. The results  nearly a 50-50, yes/no split  garnered more than 250,000 views, according to the newsletter, which focuses on politics and history.

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Its an interesting and quirky question, said Frank Galgano, executive director of the Pennsylvania Geographical Society, and a geography professor at Villanova University.

But the answer isnt as clear-cut as you might think.

First, a definition: A landlocked state is often described as being surrounded almost entirely by land, with no access to ocean coastlines or seaports.

The commonwealth obviously features two wet borders, neither with ocean views, but both with eventual access to the sea: Lake Erie in the north, which ultimately connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence Seaway; and the Delaware in the east which, as William Penn could tell you, leads to the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic.

So, is the Keystone State landlocked? People on Twitter werent shy about weighing in:

If you have to take a boat to get to the ocean youre landlocked, says @buckbuckwhatup. Its that simple.

If you have a major seaport [like Philadelphia] you arent landlocked! says @vituperativeerb.

The Marines and the NAVY were founded in Philadelphia, says @Andypry. Seems pretty aquatic to me.

Castigating the notion that a waterway that eventually leads to the ocean confers unlocked status, @FrankStalworth asserts, Missouri can get to the ocean using the Mississippi River, ... [but] Id say Missouri is pretty solidly landlocked.

Even experts seem divided.

A website called GeographyRealm lists Pennsylvania among the 27 landlocked states, hemmed in as much as Colorado or Wyoming.

Meanwhile, World Population Review, a website that presents demographic analysis, tells us Pennsylvania isnt enclosed because the eight Great Lakes states have distant access to the ocean.

Muddying things further, World Atlas introduces degrees of landlocked-ness. For example, it says, Nebraska is the countrys most penned-in state because its triply landlocked  one must travel through at least three states to reach an ocean.

By that standard, Pennsylvania is singly landlocked, according to the Review, because a person could reach the ocean by cutting across one of four states  New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, or New York.

For his part, Galgano said the Delaware is the key to determining that the state isnt landlocked.

The river is an estuary, part of a coastal zone, he said, because it has tides and, in some parts, brackish water, a combination of salty and fresh.

If youre in a coastal zone, you have a direct connection to the ocean, which makes us not landlocked, Galgano said.

The tidally influenced Delaware estuary extends from Cape May and Cape Henlopen, Lewes, Del., north to Trenton, said ecologist Danielle Kreeger, senior science director for the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.

So, she added, Philadelphia and Camden sit on a U.S. coastline, and the Port of Philadelphia is deemed a strategically important national seaport in a state thats definitely not landlocked.

Beyond that, Kreeger noted, Pennsylvania receives federal money specifically because it isnt landlocked, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Coastal Zone Management Program.

Coastal geologist Kimberly McKenna, interim executive director of the Coastal Research Center at Stockton University in Galloway Township, Atlantic County, said that not just the river un-locks Pennsylvania: The states Lake Erie coast is considered a shoreline by the federal government, making Pennsylvania not landlocked.

By the way, if you believe a state thats had a shark attack couldnt be landlocked, then Pennsylvania qualifies.

In 1961, a worker named Charles Peterson at the now-defunct Philadelphia Aquarium at Fairmount Water Works suffered a lacerated thumb from a shark while he cleaned a tank, according to the Shark Research Institute.

It wasnt Jaws, but it got peoples attention.

Ultimately, said Cherie Kemper-Starner, owner of SailTime Philadelphia, a sailing club and school in Penns Landing, anybody whos sailed a boat from the Delaware to the ocean could tell you that the commonwealth is not landlocked.

No way, she said. My gosh, this part of the world was founded by people on sailing vessels.

Amused by the landlocked question, Kurt Cheng, shellfish science manager at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, said that if people really wanted to be spun up by a brain teaser, ask them if they think New Jersey is a peninsula.

If people say no, Cheng suggested, try driving there from Pennsylvania without a bridge.

That concept might be too much for even social media to handle.
Van Wagner, a teacher in Danville, is climbing the highest tree in every Pennsylvania county to raise awareness for environmental issues. Wagner shows us his climbing skills in the state game lands, Montour Ridge, Danville, Pa., in mid-February. Read more

DANVILLE, Pa.  On most days, Van Wagner has pine needles in his pockets and sawdust in his salt-and-pepper beard. He teaches his high school students about agriculture and trees, trims tree branches on the side and, if he can carve out a few extra hours, Wagner even sings folk songs about the forest.

Trees and education are my thing, he said.

On a blustery Friday afternoon, earlier this month , Wagner was 40 feet up a pitch pine, high atop the Montour Ridge in Montour County. Wagner, 46, was on a practice climb, preparing for his ambitious and unusual plan to raise awareness about Pennsylvanias vast forests. He plans to climb the tallest tree at the highest elevation, in all 67 of Pennsylvanias counties over the course of the next year or two.

My goal is to get a conversation going about forestry, Wagner said before his climb. I would like to see more Pennsylvanians literate in forest ecology and forest economics. Its a big part of Pennsylvanias economy.

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More than half of Pennsylvania is forested and, according to Penn State, the timber and forest products industry contributes over $5 billion to the state. The largest tracts are usually parks and game lands protected by a slew of state and federal agencies. Privately owned parcels make up one million of Pennsylvanias 16.6 million acres of forest.

Those forests, Wagner pointed out, are not static, like a landscape painting. They need constant logging to stay healthy, to ward off the horde of invasive insects, like the emerald ash borer that has decimated 100 million ash trees in the state since it first appeared in 2007.

Pennsylvanians take it for granted and theres threats to it, he said. Some trees have been decimated and others could be.

Wagner teaches agriculture at Danville Area High School, in the town where he grew up. Hes also a certified arborist and forester. He runs Van Wagner and Sons Tree Service with his two teenage sons. His first climb for the project was a red oak in Montour County last month, then a pitch pine on Jones Mountain in Union County. Hes also climbed trees at high points in Northumberland and Schuylkill Counties, but he isnt setting any hard timeline for himself.

I expect it to take years, Wagner said.

Wagner, who is documenting his climb on a website, said the idea was simply an extension of his passions: climbing trees and education.

It just hit me one day while in the woods and I thought I bet no one has done this,  he said.

Wagners particularly excited about the states highest points. Mount Davis, in the Laurel Highlands of Somerset County, is 3,213 feet above sea level, the highest peak in Pennsylvania. Bedford Countys Blue Knob is not much shorter at 3,120 feet. In Philadelphia, the highest elevation is just 442 feet above sea level. Its on Summit Street in Chestnut Hill.

Philly is going to be interesting because I bet some of the trees are like 300 years old, he said. Climbing a tree that was likely alive when William Penn was alive would be quite a experience.

On this Friday afternoon in February, the pitch pine Wagner was climbing was swaying in the wind up on Montour Ridge. Wagner, halfway up, seemed to get a kick out of it.

Oh man, its really moving now, he yelled.

Wagner was using a rope and wearing both a harness and helmet but his wife, Tamara, said she stopped worrying about his safety a long time ago. The couple met at an outdoor camp as teens and began dating later when they both attended Penn State.

Wagner used to mine anthracite coal and still skateboards and rides dirt bikes. His safest hobby is music. Hes released more than 30 albums of his folk music and regularly plays at venues and festivals in the area.

Tamaras pretty sure her husband, the woodsman, is most at home in a tree.

I mean, hes kind of unstoppable, she said.
Police escort the hearse carrying the body of Philadelphia Police Cpl. James OConnor up Academy Road to Givnish Funeral home on March 13, 2020. OConnor was killed in the line of duty while serving a warrant to a home in the city's Frankford section earlier in the day. Read more

The alleged killer of Philadelphia Police Sgt. James OConnor IV, who was fatally shot in 2020, is now eligible for the death penalty, U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced Friday.

Hassan Elliott, 25, and three codefendants were charged in a 31-count superseding indictment unsealed Friday that accuses them of racketeering, three other murders, and nine nonfatal shootings that occurred while they operated a violent drug-trafficking operation in the citys Frankford section.

The superseding indictment also includes notices of special findings that now make Elliott eligible to be sentenced to death if he is convicted. All four defendants have been in custody since 2020, when they were originally charged by federal prosecutors.

The other defendants are Khalif Sears, 21, and two previously unidentified people, Kelvin Jiminez, 32, and Dominique Parker, 31. The 2020 indictment had charged Elliott, Sears, Bilal Mitchell, and Sherman Easterling.

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The four defendants are now charged in the superseding indictment with killing Kaseem Rogers on Dec. 3, 2018; Tyrone Tyree on March 1, 2019; and Dontae Walker on Aug. 22, 2019.

The notices of special findings for Elliott are related to all four homicides.

Elliott and others were long-standing members of a street gang known as 1700 Scattergood that operated from a drug stash house on the 1600 block of Bridge Street.

On March 13, 2020, around 5:40 a.m., Elliott, Sears and others were in the stash house when OConnor and other members of the Police Departments SWAT team arrived with a homicide warrant for Elliott related to the 2019 murder of Tyree, prosecutors said.

As OConnor and other SWAT members climbed stairs to the second floor of the residence and announced their presence multiple times, Elliott allegedly fired a semiautomatic rifle 16 times, striking and killing OConnor, prosecutors said.

In 2020, city prosecutors said Elliott had bragged of the shooting in jail and scrawled OConnors name on the wall of his cell.

OConnor, the son of a city police officer, was posthumously promoted from corporal to sergeant.
A 19-year-old man was shot on SEPTAs westbound Market-Frankford Line Friday morning, the second shooting to happen in the citys subway system in three days.

The man, whom authorities have not identified, was shot in the left arm while riding the subway at 52nd Street Station in West Philadelphia just before 8 a.m. Friday, according to Philadelphia police. He is in stable condition and being treated at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in University City.

The shooting was sparked by a fight between two men that started on the subway, said Chuck Lawson, acting chief of the SEPTA Police. Two more men joined the fray, he said, and the fight turned into a three-on-one brawl.

One of the men pulled out a handgun and shot, hitting the 19-year-old in the arm, Lawson said. The victim held down the shooter until police arrived, he said, and officers then detained three of the men involved.

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Lawson did not say if the man who was shot had said he acted in self-defense.

A passenger on the train pushed the emergency call button when the fight broke out, alerting the train operator, said Lawson.

Police were still searching for the fourth man involved in Fridays incident, which unfolded in less than 60 seconds, said Lawson.

Market-Frankford Line service has since been restored to regular operations, SEPTA officials said. While police were on the scene, passengers had to board on westbound platforms between the 40th Street and 56th Street stations.

The shooting was the second to occur on SEPTA this week. Two people were hospitalized after being shot inside Snyder Station on the Broad Street Line on Wednesday evening.

Philadelphia police arrested Saquan Ausborne, 29, later Wednesday night for that shooting. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and related crimes, the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office said.

Wednesdays shooting stemmed from an argument that got physical between Ausborne, his girlfriend, her ex-boyfriend, and two of his friends, police said.

During the fight, Ausborne, of the 1700 block of Wharton Street, pulled out a gun and began firing, authorities said. The ex-boyfriend was hit in his hip and the girlfriend, who was standing behind her ex, was hit in the leg.

A weapon was recovered at the scene, thought it was unclear whose weapon it was. Ausborne is being held on $1.1 million bail and a stay-away order was issued.

The incidents come amid renewed concerns about passenger safety on Philadelphias two subway lines. The transit agencys ridership has continued to decline post-pandemic, prompting SEPTA to try new safety measures, including the installation of seven-foot fare gates.

On Friday, SEPTA CEO and general manager Leslie Richards said SEPTAs police department would also be adding to its ranks, but said gun violence on the public transit system was part of a larger citywide crisis.

We are going to do everything that we can to make our system safe, starting with our continued commitment to boosting staff for the SEPTA Transit Police Department, she said. But there are issues here that are much bigger than SEPTA.

Twenty-five officers are expected to join SEPTA police within the coming months, 21 of them from a class of recruits set to graduate in June, said Richards. In an effort to attract more officers, SEPTA raised starting pay for recruits to $56,507 annually  up from $46,536, according to a SEPTA spokesperson. SEPTA also increased salaries for officers with more experience, the spokesperson said.

SEPTA added more police officers to train cars beginning in mid-February, alongside an additional 60 unarmed security officers across stations and trains. The initiative followed a pilot program in January that added artificial intelligence to security cameras across subway platforms to more quickly detect when a gun is discharged.
Protesters march down Market Street in Philadelphia on Friday in celebration of Trans Day of Visibility. Read more

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside City Hall on Friday evening to call for increased protection of trans rights in the wake of two major anti-trans bills that became law this week. The two bills, passed in Kentucky and West Virginia, are part of a wave of anti-trans legislation conservatives are pushing across the country.

We wont go down without a fight, said Zach Jackson, an 18-year-old nonbinary student at the Community College of Philadelphia, as the crowd cheered. Hopefully these laws will not come to Philadelphia, but that doesnt stop me from being scared.

Jackson said they were grateful their mother and siblings were there to support. Jacksons mother, Naima Truxon, said she had Googled the term nonbinary when Jackson first came out and had learned along the way. She was proud of their activism and wouldnt have missed the rally.

The demonstration came during a surge of anti-trans legislation. There are currently 424 active bills nationwide  including three introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature  seeking to block trans people from accessing health care, education, and other rights, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker. The president of the American Principles Project, one of the conservative groups lobbying hardest for anti-trans bills, described such legislation as a political winner to the New York Times.

Folks are upset about whats going on in other states, Breighton Golphin, 31, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said in an interview. But the question is, what are we going to do here?

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Golphin said the Philly Trans March decided just two weeks ago to organize a Trans Day of Visibility rally, partly because Philly is in the midst of a heated election season. (The Philly Trans Marchs annual event is held in October). Organizers urged attendees to post on social media and tag the citys many candidates for mayor and City Council.

Attendees, many of them young and enthusiastic, carried blue, white, and pink trans flags and handmade signs reading Menstruation has no gender and We keep us safe.

Wes Allen, a 17-year-old trans student at Central High School, told the crowd that if Pennsylvanias anti-trans bills became law, they would not only ban me from my sport of choice, but would ban my younger brother from even mentioning me in his classrooms.

Should I be a banned topic? Allen asked.

Currently, the city offers some protections to trans and nonbinary students. Schools and organizations that serve young people here must allow trans and gender-nonconforming youth to use the names, pronouns, clothing, and restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, under city regulations enacted in 2022. Employees also cannot share the transgender status of children without their express consent.

Still, LGBTQ advocates in Philly have watched in alarm as anti-trans bills elsewhere make progress.

Were deserving to be treated like human beings. As it stands now, were being treated like monsters who should be eliminated and vanquished, said Kendall Stephens, 37, in an interview before the demonstration. A Philly-based transgender activist who grew up in North Philadelphia, Stephens was attacked in her home in 2020 by a group shouting anti-trans slurs. One of the attackers pleaded guilty in February.

 READ MORE: Im a trans teen in Central Bucks. Here, it doesnt get better.

Stephens said when she was growing up, she felt trans people werent seen at all, to the extent that lawmakers were not specifically targeting them. Paradoxically, she sees the wave of anti-trans bills as a sign of trans peoples growing political power.

Weve been dealing with anti-transness for as long as we can remember, Stephens said. Well get through this, too.

In Kentucky this week, the Republican-led legislature overrode the Democratic governors veto of a bill that LGBTQ advocates have called one of the most extreme in the nation. The law bans gender-affirming surgery, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for children under the age of 18, prohibits lessons about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, and prevents school districts from requiring or recommending that teachers use childrens desired pronouns.

But the demonstration in Philly was also a celebration. Originally envisioned as a day to affirm the positive existence of trans people, as opposed to focusing solely on violence against them, Trans Day of Visibility has been recognized on March 31 since 2010, according to the advocacy organization GLAAD. This is the first year in recent memory that a demonstration has been held in Philly in honor of the day, Golphin said.

Those at the rally said they found it heartening. Jo Corvis, 27, was wearing a handmade trans flag cape made from oversize pink and blue sequins. A resident of West Philadelphia, Corvis said they had made most of their friends at past Philly trans marches.

Im excited, a little overwhelmed, Corvis said, before joining the crowd as it surged down Market Street.
The National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall. A week after the release of a report documenting a significant rise in antisemitism in Pennsylvania, neo-Nazi stickers were sighted in Chestnut Hill Read more

Racist, antisemitic propaganda and white supremacist fliers were posted in Chestnut Hill sometime between late Friday and early Saturday, according to a neighborhood resident.

The resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, spotted a sticker Saturday morning in the 7900 block of Germantown Avenue that read 88 Crew. The number 88 is code among some white supremacists for Heil Hitler, H being the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Later, the neighbor, who was walking a dog, reported seeing more than 20 stickers along Germantown Avenue between West Springfield Avenue and West Hartwell Lane, including on side streets. The messages included 100% white, 100% proud.

The neighbor removed all the stickers, along with fliers for a white supremacist group out of the United Kingdom called Highland Divisions.

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This is not something that will be tolerated anywhere in the 8th District, said Councilmember Cindy Bass, who represents the district that includes Chestnut Hill. I know the people that live in Chestnut Hill do not subscribe to those sentiments and overwhelmingly reject these sorts of attempts to infiltrate the community. Its not acceptable and it will never be acceptable in Chestnut Hill or anywhere else.

In its annual report released March 23, the Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic incidents increased 65% in Pennsylvania in 2022, compared with the previous year. That was far higher than the national increase, 36%.

The report found that in 2022, there were 114 incidents of vandalism and harassment targeting Jewish people in Pennsylvania, the highest number in the state in ADLs 40 years of collecting data.

Early last week, Port Richmond was littered with hundreds of stickers featuring racist, antisemitic messaging including Nazi symbols and ethnic caricatures.

The reality is, hate in all its forms is normalized, Andrew Goretsky, the ADLs regional director, told The Inquirer in an article published last week. I used to say its becoming normalized. I no longer say its becoming normalized.

Like the neighbor in Chestnut Hill, a Port Richmond resident used a box cutter to remove about 100 stickers from the neighborhood.

Wyndmoor, Cheltenham, and Laverock in Montgomery County have also been hit with antisemitic and racist fliers.
Former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart (center) greets audience members after a forum for mayoral candidates in January. The Inquirer Editorial Board noted that she is "the best prepared to lead on Day One." Read more

Philadelphias next mayor will make history. Because Democratic voters far outnumber Republicans here, whoever wins the May 16 primary will likely become the 100th person to lead the city.

Even more historic, the next mayor could be a woman. So, it is fitting that for the first time in its 194-year history, The Philadelphia Inquirer believes the best person for the job also happens to be a woman.

The Inquirers lack of endorsements for female mayoral candidates is largely because only two viable contenders have ever run before: former City Councilmember Happy Fernandez in 1999 and former District Attorney Lynne Abraham in 2015.

But this year, four qualified women are running in what is hopefully a sign that slow-to-change Philadelphia is ready to shatter City Halls glass ceiling. Of Americas 10 largest cities, only Philly and New York have never elected a female mayor.

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While all the female candidates have experience in city government, one is distinctively qualified for the difficult job ahead: former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart.

Rhynhart has the experience, independence, vision, and temperament needed to unite a diverse city and address the systemic problems of crime, schools, taxes, and poverty that have long plagued Philadelphia.

Electing Rhynhart would make history, but voters want someone who can bring about change now. Fortunately, out of the nine viable Democratic candidates, she is the best prepared to lead on Day One.

Philadelphia  like many big cities and small towns across the country  has faced radical upheaval in the new millennium. The 2008 Great Recession, the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd in 2020 shook the country and impacted the fiscal and emotional health of many.

The fallout continues to reverberate, but rather than seize the opportunity to reposition Philadelphia to better compete in the 21st century, City Hall has muddled along.

In the face of record crime and changing work patterns that have created challenges and opportunities for the city, the administration of Mayor Jim Kenney has been largely devoid of big ideas, innovation, and  worst of all  leadership. Billions in federal COVID-relief dollars have flowed into Philadelphia with little to show for them except a city budget that ballooned 50% to $6 billion.

Talk about a wasted opportunity.

As Kenney fiddled, Philadelphia burned with gun violence, homicides, and rampant crime, from carjackings to shoplifting. In fact, the lack of response from City Hall to the lawlessness has many residents scared, outraged, and leaving Philadelphia.

The next mayor must fill the current leadership void by immediately addressing the crime problem while tackling the interconnected albatross of poverty, failing schools, and high taxes.

In addition to Rhynhart, two other candidates impressed the editorial board. Real estate magnate Allan Domb spent seven years on City Council, where he donated his salary to the School District and worked to lower taxes. Hes largely self-funding his campaign, so he wont be beholden to any special interests. Domb has also put forth some of the most detailed plans to improve the city. His rise from humble beginnings and desire to give back to the city where he made his fortune are laudable.

The board interviewed the nine viable candidates. It was clear Rhynhart is best prepared to meet the moment.

Cherelle Parker, a former City Council member and state representative, has the grit and passion to go with a record of accomplishment. She is outspoken and devoted to Philadelphia, especially when it comes to affordable housing and improving neighborhoods.

Another candidate has attracted a lot of attention  largely because he paid for it through slick television ads. Jeff Brown is an outsider with catchy slogans. While he should be commended for opening grocery stores in food deserts, selling cereal does not make a mayor. Browns manipulation of ads using Michelle Obama and former Gov. Tom Wolf, along with an ethics board investigation involving his campaign finances, are red flags.

The board interviewed the nine viable candidates, watched them debate issues in public forums, reviewed their policy proposals, and examined their records. It was clear Rhynhart is best prepared to meet the moment.

A major strength: Rhynhart has worked in city government but is not a part of the outmoded Democratic machine. In fact, she became the first woman elected city controller by unseating a three-term incumbent without the partys backing  a true sign of independence.

Before Rhynhart, the city controller post was traditionally held by political insiders who issued milquetoast reports that barely caused a ripple. Rhynhart used the office to expose waste and inefficiency in city government. Shes on the side of taxpayers, not insiders.

As crime increased, Rhynhart shined a light on the many reasons why the citys response has been so abysmal. One report detailed the Police Departments inefficient deployment of officers and delayed 911 response times in poorer neighborhoods.

The report was attacked by the powerful Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 president John McNesby, who has long been an obstacle to needed reform. McNesbys whining underscored that Rhynhart hit a bulls-eye.

While the Kenney administration touted its record spending on programs to reduce gun violence, Rhynhart issued a report that showed the majority of spending would take years to produce results. Long-term improvement is vital, but not without short-term solutions.

Such fearlessness in taking on protected interests is refreshing and sorely needed in the next mayor. At the same time, Rhynhart has demonstrated another deft talent: Her ability to lead and build consensus.

Rhynhart won the endorsement of two former mayors. More impressive, the two mayors dont like each other. Yet somehow she got John Street and Michael Nutter in the same room to film a campaign ad.

More to the point, the endorsement of two mayors who know what the job requires is more meaningful than support from unions that expect something in return.

Rhynhart is poised to take on the challenge of fixing the citys public schools. Her education plan includes working closely with the superintendent to set clear goals and metrics and appoint a school board that shares her vision for improvement and accountability, while also commanding the respect needed to lobby Harrisburg for more state funding.

Rhynhart has a daughter in public school, so she has a vested interest in ensuring students are safe and have the resources needed to succeed. Fellow parents cant do better than having a mom with a school-age student in their corner.

Rhynhart, 48, was born in Madison, Wis., but moved to Abington when she was 6. She graduated from Middlebury College and received a masters degree in public administration from Columbia University.

She spent seven years on Wall Street at Fitch Ratings and then Bear Stearns before joining the Nutter administration in 2008, first as city treasurer and then budget director. Her municipal finance experience will be crucial in balancing the need to lower taxes and fund city services  especially once the federal COVID-relief dollars are gone.

Rhynharts economic plan calls for rethinking the citys onerous tax structure, reducing red tape, and boosting the number of Black-owned businesses. She also stressed the need to use data to identify problems and increase efficiency  something that has been sorely lacking in the Kenney administration.

Rhynharts experience has enabled her to know what works and what doesnt work. She has demonstrated that she has the courage to take on the status quo, while also working with others to get things done. She is focused on serving the needs of Philadelphia as a whole and not just the neighborhoods or Center City.

For those reasons and more, The Inquirer endorses Rebecca Rhynhart in the Democratic primary for mayor on May 16.
First dates can be awkward and stressful. Theres a lot of pressure that comes with picking the right spot: Is it too dark to see them smile? Is it too loud, or is the vibe too stuffy? Most important, hows the food?

Sure, you want to impress your date  youre a worldly, interesting person, after all!  but if youre gonna shell out for a meal with a stranger, the least one can ask for is good food.

Whether you matched on Hinge or a friend set you up on a blind date, consider one of these restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and brunch spots. Theyre casual enough for a quick meet-up, but cozy enough to linger over life stories and a love connection, long after dessert is served.

Get to know each other over a shared meal

You could share idly, pongal, vada, mini dosa, a choice of dessert, and masala chai with the tiffin combo for two at this busy Center City restaurant. But then, there are also combos for veggie- and meat-eating couples, too  enjoy biryanis, kurmas, parottas, and more. And if youre not into sharing food, there are plenty of entrees.

 1518 Chestnut St.,  808-762-6627,  philadelphia.ammasrestaurants.com

Although slurping noodles might not be the best idea for a first date, Neighborhood Ramens flavorful soups and house-made noodles make it worth the mess. Try the spicy, creamy tantan with pork and chicken broth or the chicken and fish shio ramen. Vegan lovers, there are plenty of options for you as well.

 617 S 3rd St.,  215-201-3501,  neighborhoodramen.com

Share hummus and fried feta cheese rolls with the cutie you met on the apps for your first meet-up in a cozy setting  a favorite of Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan. Keep the conversation flowing over plates of Mediterranean sea bass and marinated lamb chops and then finish off the night sipping Turkish tea and splitting the sweet, cheesy kunefe.

 944 N 2nd St.,  215-660-9471,  peraphiladelphia.com

Inside this Queen Village restaurant, the dimly lit ambience offers an intimate dining experience. Order family-style to share everything from the ebi shumai (steamed shrimp dumplings) to the torikatsu sando with spongy milk bread, caramelized onion, persimmon katsu sauce, and yuzu koshu pickles. Or dive into a variety of sushi rolls, sashimi, and chirashi, a sushi style where the fish is served alongside other ingredients over sushi rice. Cocktails like the Okinawa daiquiri, made with Okinawan rum and overproof Jamaican rum, may help keep the conversation loose and flowing.

 780 S 2nd St.,  267-909-9002,  royalsushiandizakaya.com

Step into this fun, whimsical restaurant in Fishtown where drinks at the bar, a booth in the back, or a spot near the pool table can make for a memorable night. Treat your date to salmon crudo with smoked pineapple nuoc cham and peanut and shallot crumble, broiled Wellfleet oysters with nduja butter, or salt-roasted beets with pickled beet labneh. End the night on a sweet note with the snickerdoodle creme brulee.

 1232 N Front St.,  267-858-4325,  middlechildphilly.com

Cheers to a night out

Maybe your meet cute is at the northeast corner of Walnut Street over an indulgent martini or a gin, lemon, and chocolate sipper. The crowd at this Rittenhouse Square bar are available on a first come, first serve basis  the vibes are see and be seen  so no reservations are needed to order red or white wine with that special someone, but best to avoid popular times like right at happy hour, so youre not awkwardly waiting for a perch.

 1737 Walnut St. NE Corner,  215-825-7035,  akitchenandbar.com

Wanna groove with that hottie who slid into your DMs? Head over to happy hour from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday to dance the night away at the go-go, disco, and soul parties, where you can order $9 craft cocktails, $7 spirits, or get $2 off draft beers. Work up an appetite? Snack on cheesey vegan or rosemary parmesan popcorn throughout the night. There is also a late-night happy hour from 10 to 11 p.m. on Thursdays.

 339 N. 11th St.,  267-239-0290,  thetrestleinn.com

Head to this Starr-spot in Fishtown for its Baja-meets-art-gallery vibes. The sprawling indoor/outdoor spot is energetic and artsy, with a dynamic menu of Mexican flavors. Make it a margarita date with classic, strawberry, and prickly pear offerings in a relaxed atmosphere thats got disco fries with crema and salsa fresca for sharing.

 1749 N. Front St.,  215-770-7001,  lmnophilly.com

Keep it casual with a daytime hang-out

At Cafe la Maude, Nathalie Richan and her husband, Gabi, serve French-Lebanese-inspired dishes, from baklawa pancakes to foul moudamas (stewed fava beans). Benedicts and omelets are always a good move, especially when they come with Lebanese sausage and shaved rib-eye steak. And dont sleep on the sweet stuff like the Berrylicious pain perdu.

816 North 4th St.,  267-318-7869,  cafelamaude.com

In this colorful Vietnamese restaurant on South Street, sip on iced Vietnamese coffees while you and your hungry date peruse the menu. Start with the zesty lemon banana chocolate chips mini pancakes before moving on to the jasmine rice bowl with runny eggs to share. Be sure to try the chao chay, the restaurants signature brothy rice porridge that feels like a warm hug.

 1500 South St.,  267-758-6008,  thebreakfastden.com

A coffeehouse with syrup-coated French toast and crispy spinach feta cigars (stuffed phyllo dough rolls) might have you lingering with that date you werent too sure about. Add in a plate of warm fried ricotta fritters rolled in cinnamon sugar and youll be making plans for the second date. Dont forget to order one of the specialty drinks like strawberry cold brew or smores hot cocoa from the chic bar up front.

2275 Bridge St., Bldg 101,  215-613-5558,  guardhousephilly.com

If youre a picky eater, then Eggscellent is the spot for you, thanks to its large picture menu laying out all your options. Theres a variety of breakfast sandwiches like the brekkie banh mi with maple sausage, toasts, burritos, and more. The bright, cheery shop in Old City is a draw for its relaxed atmosphere, ideal for getting to know a new person without the pressure of needing to impress in finer confines.

113 Chestnut St.,  267-534-2753,  eggcellentphilly.com

Keep it moving with a coffee date

Try something new, together. Venture into the world of Vietnamese coffees with your date at this Kensington cafe. Sip on the traditional ca phe sua or try the egg coffee, a Vietnamese-style espresso topped with egg custard. If your dates a dud, take your drinks to go, but the option to linger is yours.

 3400 J St G1,  215-690-1268,  capheroasters.com

Whether youre in the mood for a cappuccino, Americano, or latte, Ultimo offers hot and cold caffeinated drinks to get you through a casual first meet-up. And if youre feeling nervous, the shop sells calming teas, too.

 Multiple locations.  ultimocoffee.com
?? Al conmemorar, manana, el Dia Mundial de Concienciacion sobre el #Autismo, la presidenta Dina Boluarte expreso el compromiso del Gobierno con la atencion y los derechos de las peruanas y peruanos con discapacidad. #LuzAzulPorElAutismo2023 #DiaMundialDelAutismo pic.twitter.com/Qg4Mo1EuiW
President Woodrow Wilson denounced mob violence and lynching in a famous proclamation 100 years ago this week. He called on all Americans to make an end of this disgraceful evil.

Philadelphia wasn't really listening.

White residents of Fitler Square had recently stoned the home of a Mrs. T. Lytle, an African American at 2504 Pine St. The same mob "burned two wagon loads of furniture" owned by African American tenants moving in at 2524-26 Pine Street." Lytle wanted to press charges but stayed silent when told that if she talked, her house would be torchedon Independence Day.

Editors of the Philadelphia Tribune, the city's African American newspaper, drew a line in the sand: "We favor peace but we say to the colored people of the Pine Street war zone, stand your ground.  If you are law abiding you need not fear.  If you are attacked defend yourself like American citizens.  When they tread upon your rights fight them to the bitter end."

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Something close to the bitter end took place a few weeks later  the very same day as Wilson's speech  on July 26. Adella Bond, a probation officer of the Municipal Court, had just moved into her newly purchased rowhouse at 2936 Ellsworth St. "The second time I went down that street, I was stoned," Bond told a reporter. "When movers arrived with her furniture," Bond "appeared in her doorway armed with a revolver. Her white neighbors claimed that by this action, she had invited conflict."

"About 100 white men and boys gathered in front of my house" the evening of July 26, Bond later told reporters. "I heard them talk about having guns, and I saw the guns and cartridges. At last a man came along with a baby in his arms. He handed the baby to a woman, took a rock, and threw it. The rock went through my parlor window. I didn't know what the mob would do next, and I fired my revolver from my upper window. "

The following night, violence erupted on 26th Street between Annin and Oakford. Jesse Butler shot and killed Hugh Lavery. The next day a mob at 27th and Titan Streets gave chase to Henry Huff, who lived nearby. Huff killed police officer Thomas McVay. Two others were shot and wounded.

The entire neighborhood  Washington Avenue to Dickinson Street, 23rd to 30th  erupted. "In a series of street battles waged for twenty-four hours  by more than five thousand white and colored men in a  section covering about two square miles  scores were seriously injured in the most terrific and bitter race riot that has ever taken place in this city. Half a hundred men were placed under arrest," reported the Inquirer, which listed 27 dead and wounded.

And that was before the police beating of Preston Lewis and the station-house murder of Riley Bullock, two innocent African Americans.

"We wish to deplore the fact that your police have not been able to protect our citizens from mob violence," read a protest letter to the mayor composed by African American leaders. "Your police have for a long time winked at disorder, such as the beating up of negroes, the stoning of their homes and the attacking of their churches."

Bullock's family and friends buried him on Aug. 2. Saloons reopened the following day. Funeral Masses for Thomas McVay, Hugh Lavery, and Frank Donohue were held with police guards at the ready.

In the following weeks, every last one of the officers assigned to the 17th District Station House at 20th and Federal were transferred. A judge rebuked the entire Police Department for "looseness in the investigation of the death of Riley Bullock." Murder charges against two officers, Robert Ramsey and John Schneider, made their way through the courts.

In December 1920, a jury deliberated for 30 minutes and acquitted them.

A century passed, allowing Philadelphians, and most historians, to bury this entire story in the deepest, dustiest recesses of public, and private, memory.

Kenneth Finkel, professor of history at Temple University, blogs at PhillyHistory.org, where a version of this essay is posted. He is author of Insight Philadelphia, published by Rutgers University Press. He can be reached at kfinkel@temple.edu.
Sister Taleah Taylor (left), president of the City of Dreams Coalition, and Rebecca Rhynhart (center), shown here after Rhynhart announced her run for mayor on Oct. 25, 2022. Read more

The Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer has endorsed Rebecca Rhynhart for mayor, picking the former city controller over 10 other Democrats.

In an editorial published Saturday, the board  which operates separately from The Inquirer newsroom  wrote that Rhynhart has the experience, independence, vision, and temperament needed to unite a diverse city and address the systemic problems of crime, schools, taxes, and poverty that have long plagued Philadelphia.

In a statement Saturday, Rhynhart said it was an honor to receive the endorsement.

Right now, we face a critical turning point that calls for bold, courageous leadership, she said. I ran for Controller against the status quo in 2017 because I wanted to be an independent voice for Philadelphia residents, and thats how I will lead as mayor.

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The backing provides another high-profile endorsement for Rhynhart, who is also endorsed by two former mayors: John F. Street and Michael A. Nutter, the latter of whom hired Rhynhart to work in his administration.

It also comes as coalitions are forming around other candidates. A handful of elected Democrats and ward leaders this week began coalescing around former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker, who earned an endorsement from State Sen. Vincent Hughes, a longtime lawmaker who himself considered a bid for mayor.

 READ MORE: Sign up for The Inquirer's newsletter on the Philadelphia mayor's race.

Parker  who is being supported by several labor unions, including the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council  will also be backed by State Sen. Sharif Street, the head of the state Democratic Party, as well as a half-dozen other state elected officials and 10 Northeast Philadelphia ward leaders.

Grocer Jeff Brown has also won endorsements from several labor unions, and former City Councilmember Helen Gym is backed by the teachers union and a coalition of progressive organizations.

Endorsements from news organizations and individual elected officials can provide a boost to candidates, especially in a crowded field with no clear front-runner.

Larry Ceisler, a public affairs executive and longtime political observer, said candidates seek endorsements from constituencies who vote and from groups willing to knock on doors or help on a campaign. Short of that, he said, endorsements become validators that campaigns use in advertising.

It helps from a validation standpoint that the voter is not out there by themselves, he said. For instance, if you like Vince Hughes or Sharif Street, you say, Well, theyre for Cherelle Parker and, short of any compelling reason for me to be against Cherelle Parker, that works for me.

Political communications strategist Mustafa Rashed said despite the prevalence of social media and other forms of communication, The Inquirers endorsement remains coveted today.

Anyone who tries to downplay it would happily have taken it, he said.

In 2015, the last time there was a competitive Democratic primary for mayor, The Inquirer endorsed State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who lost to Jim Kenney. In 2007, The Inquirer endorsed Nutter, who served two terms as mayor.

Rashed said Rhynhart is appearing to be increasingly well-positioned ahead of the May 16 primary election, though there has been no public, independent polling.

Shes been running a quiet, not splashy, but effective campaign, Rashed said. Rebecca has positioned herself to take advantage of others missteps and consolidate support. Shes made no mistakes.

 READ MORE: Phillys Northwest Coalition has elected mayors. Will it determine the next one?

The Editorial Board, which interviewed nine candidates, wrote that Rhynhart is on the side of taxpayers, not insiders, saying that while she worked in city government, shes not part of the outmoded Democratic machine.

Rhynhart served in Nutters administration as city treasurer and budget director, then briefly worked in Kenneys administration as chief administrative officer before running in 2017 for city controller.

The board wrote that it was also impressed by Parker, saying she has the grit and passion to go with a record of accomplishment, and Allan Domb, a former City Council member the board said has some of the most detailed plans to improve the city.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally in Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 3, 2022. Read more

Donald Trump has divided Pennsylvania for years. The leaked news of his indictment was no different.

Pennsylvania Republican allies rallied behind him. Democrats applauded the prosecution as a sign of justice in motion. And both sides speculated what it could mean for his 2024 presidential campaign.

Like the two previous impeachments, this sham is nothing more than an outrageous abuse of power, said U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R., Pa.).

An immoral man, corrupt citizen, and twice-impeached former president was indicted yesterday, proving that no one should be above the law, said U.S. Rep Madeleine Dean (D., Pa.).

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Typically, political scandal is something candidates hope to avoid when running for office. But Trump is far from typical and both allies and critics said on Friday that the indictment could either galvanize Republican voters who see the prosecution as overtly political or offer another reason to those looking for a party reboot to abandon the scandal-prone former president.

The upside of this for former President Trump is people will see hes again being persecuted and come to his defense, said Sam DeMarco, who heads the Republican Party in Allegheny County. The downside is that many other independents or swing voters will just see this as more drama when theyre looking for stability.

 READ MORE: Live updates: Donald Trump expected to surrender next week after indictment

Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, though the exact charges are not yet known. Its the first time in U.S. history a former president has been indicted for a crime. He has denied wrongdoing and said in a statement Thursday that he was completely innocent. Hes expected to surrender Tuesday.

This week might be the beginning of a longer saga. Trump is facing several different investigations, including a federal probe of his actions to challenge the 2020 election and his handling of classified information after he left office. That could set up the potential for a summer of various debates, and possibly additional charges.

However, at a Republican conference Friday in Harrisburg, the indictment and the prosecutor behind it was often the butt of a joke: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, he seems to have reduced crime in New York City to the point that the biggest thing he has left to prosecute is someone saying someone else paid off an adult film star, Stacy Garrity, the state treasurer, said jokingly. Its so good to know there are no more murders, no more robberies, no more muggings in Manhattan.

He probably welcomes this kind of attention

The indictment comes on the heels of a 2022 midterm election in Pennsylvania where Trump-aligned State Sen. Doug Mastriano lost the governors race by a large margin, prompting members of the state GOP to soften their support for the former president, skeptical of his ability to deliver votes in a key state. After the midterms, several influential Republicans in the state expressed worry that while Trump has a fervent base, he is also an ideal foil for Democrats. Trumps bombastic style also may have repelled some suburban swing voters away from the GOP.

Pat Poprik, GOP chair in Bucks County, thinks the indictment will help Trump reclaim some of that wavering support.

There are some people who go for underdogs and rally around when people are picked on, Poprik said. I think this crossed the line. This is a criminal charge over something so weak. I think people are going to see this and think, This is just too much. 

Support for Trumps presidential bid rose in the last week as news bubbled of a possible indictment. And Republicans are deeply skeptical of investigations into Trump. A recent Reuters poll showed 75% of Republicans believe he is being unfairly persecuted through politically motivated investigations.

Matt Brouillette, the head of Commonwealth Partners, an influential conservative group in the state, said he thinks the prosecution fits perfectly into Trumps ongoing narrative that theres a witch hunt against him, which could help Trump in a 2024 primary in Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump has a strong plurality of support in the Republican base and these actions only harden that support as well as rallying other Republicans who recognize this is a purely political prosecution, Brouillette said.

In a Trumpian kind of way, he probably welcomes this kind of attention.

 READ MORE: Donald Trump was just indicted. Heres what happens next

Brouillette, who has called on Trump to retire from the party and indicated early interest in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, took it one step further. He said he thinks the prosecution is politically motivated because Democrats think it could help Trump win the nomination, which is ultimately what Democrats want.

But a criminal prosecution, even if unpopular with the GOP base, could still hurt Trump as a candidate. And potential candidates for other top spots toed the line on how hard they should come down in defense of the former president.

We havent seen what the indictment is, but I think its obvious this is a highly politicized attack on the former president, said Dave McCormick, a former financier and U.S. Senate candidate expected to run again in 2024.

DeMarco predicted while most Republicans might be unified in thinking the case is an overreach, they wont let it affect who they think should run the country.

I think folks can believe that this is wrong without also believing that President Trump is the best messenger for the Republican Party in 2024, DeMarco said.

The most formidable potential GOP opponent to Trump is DeSantis, who will be in Pennsylvania on Saturday, headlining the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in Harrisburg as he explores whether to run for president. It will be a moment to see what kind of response DeSantis gets in a different swing state where Trump had a huge following in 2016.

At the GOP conference on Friday, several hundred conservatives gathered to discuss strategy ahead of elections this year and next, but few mentioned Trump.

Several speakers alluded to Trumps indictment, but few directly addressed it.

Its a very solemn day in the history of America, isnt it? said State Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R., Clinton) to start the conference Friday morning.

Anything in the news today? asked Holly Love, a conservative radio host on WHP-AM (580).

Democrats defend the process

Democrats in Pennsylvania have pushed back on Republicans who frame the case as a political witch hunt, and have stressed due process.

For a guy who ran a campaign saying he wanted to bring back law and order, this is in fact law and order, State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) said Friday.

I think this is actually a pretty sobering moment for the country, but I think its an important moment for the country that we never say that, because youre lucky enough to be in the White House that crimes you committed before that job and after or during that job, cant be prosecuted, Kenyatta said.

 READ MORE: Whos who in the Manhattan DAs Donald Trump indictment

J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist in the state, criticized the impetus of many Republicans to dismiss the case before the grand jury findings are even revealed.

Its indicative of a Republican Party that seems to have a real disconnect between what they say  which is be tough on crime and hold people accountable  but then when President Trump is supposedly about to be held accountable for things he did wrong, its improper, Abbott said.

U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia) invoked the Founding Fathers.

Benjamin Franklin famously said in Philadelphia that we have a republic, if you can keep it,  he said. And ensuring that accountability applies to a former president is important for keeping our republic and the rule of law.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Chester) said, No person is above the law and all people are innocent until proven guilty as guaranteed by the Constitution.

President Trump is no exception.
Sen. John Fetterman is photographed leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, after six weeks of inpatient treatment for clinical depression. His office said he returned home to Braddock to be with his family, and his office has said he'll return to the Senate the week of April 17. Read more

Sen. John Fetterman was released from the hospital Friday after six weeks of inpatient treatment for clinical depression and returned to his home outside of Pittsburgh, his office announced.

The Pennsylvania Democrat was hospitalized for major depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in mid-February. Fettermans depression is now in remission, according to a news release from his office that also disclosed new details from a doctor about his health  including about his heart condition and ongoing recovery from the stroke he suffered in May.

I am so happy to be home. Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves, Fetterman said in a statement. I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works.

 READ MORE: Sen. John Fetterman has been hospitalized with depression. Here is what to know about the common but serious disorder.

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Fetterman is expected to return to the Senate the week of April 17, his office said this week. The Senate will be in recess for the next two weeks beginning Monday, and Fetterman will return when the chamber resumes work.

Fetterman will appear on CBS Sunday Morning for an interview with lead anchor Jane Pauley. The pair spoke earlier this week in Bethesda, Md., where Walter Reed is located, and the interview will air at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Its like you just won the biggest, you know, race in, in the country. And the whole thing about depression is, is that objectively, you may have won, Fetterman tells Pauley in a preview clip of the interview released Friday. But depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And thats exactly what happened. And that was the start of a downward spiral.

The announcement of Fettermans return home included new details about his health that were attributed to physician David Williamson, the neuropsychiatry chief and medical director at Walter Reed who oversaw the senators care.

Fettermans symptoms of depression became worse in the two months prior to his hospitalization, the release said. He wasnt talking much and moved slowly, had low energy and motivation, and felt a sense of worthlessness. He did not have suicidal thoughts, according to the statement.

Eventually, the senator stopped eating and drinking, which reduced his blood pressure and can cause low blood flow to the brain.

Fettermans depression was treated with medication, and Williamson reported improvement during the six-week hospital stay. The senators mood improved, and he engaged with others more, and ate and drank well. While at the hospital, the release said, Fetterman read a book about depression to better understand the disorder.

He expressed a firm commitment to treatment over the long term, Williamson described in his discharge briefing, according to Fettermans office.

 READ MORE: Depression can get better. These four Philadelphians are living proof.

A week before his admission to Walter Reed, Fetterman spent a couple of nights at George Washington University Hospital after checking himself in with light-headedness. The hospital found no new stroke at the time.

In Fettermans discharge briefing, Williamson said that they couldnt find evidence of a new stroke and said the senators neurological condition was the same as previous assessments.

The summary of the discharge briefing also provided new information about Fettermans heart. A few weeks after Fettermans May 2022 stroke, his campaign released a letter from Allegheny County cardiologist, Ramesh Chandra. In the letter, Chandra said that he diagnosed the senator with a common type of irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation (A-fib) in 2017.

One of the risks of A-fib is that because a part of the heart is not contracting in unison, blood clots can form inside the hearts chambers. Fetterman was prescribed medications but, according to the June letter, he stopped taking them and didnt follow up with his physician for five years.

Chandra also diagnosed Fetterman with cardiomyopathy, a term that describes multiple conditions that affect the ability of the heart muscle to pump blood as it should.

 READ MORE: Fettermans health issues date back at least to 2017. Heres an overview.

Fettermans office on Friday provided details from Williamson noting that his left ventricular ejection fraction, a measure of how much blood the chamber of the heart pumps to the body, was 50-55%. A low ejection fraction is an indicator of heart failure. Measures between 50% and 70% are considered normal, according to the American Heart Association.

The statement also noted that there were no blood clots in his heart.

Finally, Fetterman has been struggling with auditory processing issues since his stroke. While at the hospital, physicians identified hearing loss in both ears and the senator was fitted for hearing aids.

With improvement in his depression, improvement in the patients speech abilities was noticeable and we believe that significant continued improvement is likely with continued outpatient rehabilitation, the statement attributed to Williamson read.
HARRISBURG  Gov. Ron DeSantis told a group of Pennsylvania Republicans to stay tuned.

Im proud of what weve done in Florida, but were gonna do more because I have only begun to fight, DeSantis said at a conservative political conference Saturday.

We are gonna save liberty in this country.

The speech was a preview of an expected 2024 presidential campaign and an opportunity for DeSantis to test the waters in a key swing state where former President Donald Trump had big support in 2016 and lost narrowly in 2020.

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DeSantis got a warm welcome from the crowd with a speech that railed against liberal ideology and celebrated his dominant reelection in Florida  all with the fighting bravado that has made him a popular conservative champion.

He blasted the Biden administration and praised his states hands-off approach to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, as well as his hands-on approach to regulating education and restricting transgender rights. Politically, he painted a hopeful picture for Pennsylvania Republicans on how hes helped transform Florida from a swing state to a solid red one thats attracting new residents from blue states.

I see people that have left Philly come to Florida all the time, he said. Weve served as the promised land for Americans whove been disenchanted with left-wing governments.  We have left the Democratic Party for dead in the state of Florida.

DeSantis also noted his personal ties to Pennsylvania: His great-grandparents settled in Beaver County, and he recalled competing in the Little League World Series games in Williamsport when he was 12.

One name that DeSantis did not say during the course of his nearly hour-long speech was that of Trump. DeSantis condemned the former presidents indictment by a Manhattan grand jury as part of a larger criticism of progressive district attorneys around the country  without mentioning Trump by name.

That is when you know that the law has been weaponized for political purposes, DeSantis said.

On Thursday, he said would not help with extradition, though reports have indicated Trump plans to travel to New York and willingly surrender to face criminal charges on Tuesday.

A political warning shot

DeSantis spoke from a ballroom outside Harrisburg to several hundred people, mostly conservatives involved in local politics  a much less excitable and colorful crowd than a Trump rally. The crowd at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference included state and local elected officials, all trying to build their strategy for the next two elections with one clear enemy threatening Americas freedom: the woke left.

Other speakers included former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, conservative TV commentators, and former U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick. Most speakers, including Conway, avoided addressing Trumps indictment, while others used it as the butt of a joke.

DeSantis has risen to national prominence over his policies targeting African American history classes and transgender rights, as well as his support for parental control of involvement in schools, and tougher border policies.

He got his biggest standing ovation of the day for comments about banning licensed medical providers from offering gender-affirming care to transgender minors.

Woke medicine is not real medicine, DeSantis said to cheers.

Being loud and uncompromising in those viewpoints, he said, has won over Florida, where he was reelected by 20 points in November.

I am not going to be like some of these Republicans, they just sit around, all defensive, DeSantis said. Theyre like potted plants. They dont want to offend the media or the Democrats. No, were going on offense in the state of Florida.

Democrats fired back, calling DeSantis a danger to unions, LGBTQ rights, and public education in a virtual news conference about his visit. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta compared DeSantis to State Sen. Doug Mastriano, calling both carnival barkers who ultimately dont appeal to most voters in the state.

We deserve better than these people, Kenyatta said. And I think that as we continue to tell the truth, the ideology that theyre pushing is not going to work. Doug Mastriano tried it, and he lost pretty bad.

Eric Hagarty, a former head of the state Department of Education, said the challenges facing students and educators are only made worse by the kind of discord and division being sown by politicians like Gov. DeSantis.

Unlike sunshine and warmer weather, thats not something that I think most Pennsylvanians are looking to import from Florida, Hagarty said.

DeSantis could be an attractive alternative for some Republicans in the state whose support for Trump softened after a 2022 midterm election in which the GOP suffered some big losses.

The stakes are very high, DeSantis said of the upcoming elections in a ballroom in Harrisburg. I think what Florida shows is that if you pursue a bold agenda, if you exhibit strong leadership, you not only can take on the left, you can beat the left.

In most polls so far, Trump beats DeSantis in a primary battle. But its early, and unclear whether Trumps indictment and the other investigations he faces, would help or hurt him in a GOP primary.

Its clear Trump sees DeSantis as a potential threat. Hes repeatedly attacked the Florida governor on the campaign trail. This weekend a super PAC supporting Trump spent $1.3 million on an ad attacking DeSantis, including in Pennsylvania media markets.

The more you learn about DeSantis, the more you learn he doesnt share our values. Hes just not ready to be president, a narrator says in the ad from MAGA Inc.

GOP primary voters split

Republican Pennsylvania voters at the conference were torn over who they would support should DeSantis join the presidential field that already includes Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Allen McCormack, a Dauphin County resident who attended Saturdays event, said there are good reasons to support either Trump or DeSantis.

For Trump, it doesnt matter what he says, he still keeps supporters, McCormack said. DeSantis, on the other hand, has shown himself as a strong leader during the pandemic.

[Floridians] never had an absence of freedom, McCormack said. Their life was normal during all of this.

Valerie Snook, of Harrisburg, said shes supported Trump in the last two presidential elections, but is now thinking of other options, including DeSantis.

I think [DeSantis] is a very viable candidate, Snook said. I definitely want a good, strong conservative leader.

Suzie Frisch, of Wayne County, said she backed Trump tremendously the last two presidential elections, but is also uncommitted to any candidate just yet.

I think [DeSantis] is strong, but maybe its not his time yet, she said. Maybe 2028.
Construction insurance specialists say their insurance market is strong with plenty of capacity and underwriters competing for the best accounts.

According to specialists interviewed by Insurance Journal for their assessment of the market, the boom in the construction business has allowed underwriters to refine their appetites and be more selective and focus on profitable accounts.

At the same time that the overall market is healthy, conditions can be tough in certain geographic regions and for riskier projects with large fleets, wildfire or difficult builders risk exposures.

Some believe the soft market cycle in construction insurance is over. They see more business making its way to the surplus lines market.

While overall total construction starts fell 8% from January-April 2019, the 12-month moving total for construction starts from April 2018 to April 2019 remained the same, according to Dodge Data & Analytics most recent report on U.S. construction activity.

Also, Dodge Data & Analytics reporting in May on major sectors said that nonresidential building rose 4%, commercial building 9%, and manufacturing building 7%, while institutional building remained unchanged, the report revealed in May. Residential building held steady with the previous period, with single family housing unchanged and multifamily housing up 1%.

The insurance market overall for construction has had only slight rate increases, says Brian McDonnell, managing principal, national construction specialty practice for EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants based in San Francisco. Thats been the case except in certain geographic areas including New York, where the labor market is a nightmare, and in states with high wildfire risks such as California. But in general, its only problematic areas seeing rate increases, he said.

Contractors appear to be keeping busy. Were still seeing a number of projects in the planning stages, big projects and other projects in general across the board, said McDonnell.

Katie Davies, president and CEO of Technical Risk Underwriters (TRU), confirms that construction activity has been brisk, with the number of building permits issued in 2018 and 2019 trending toward a five-year high. We are seeing the majority of our risks in the southeast and southwest of the country, though we expect more 2019 projects to start in the northern states as summer begins, Davies said.

Insurance carriers are paying more attention to underwriting and selecting accounts they want to do business with and being very competitive on those.

Not every coverage area is stable, however. Auto continues to be a huge underperforming line for carriers, he said. The rise in building activity over the past five years has added to the difficulty in construction auto as contractors have been bringing on more inexperienced workers and drivers. Heavy, large fleets are extremely challenging for contractors today, McDonnell said.

Some construction underwriters are feeling the effects of inexperienced workers and a shortage of construction labor in general. Rate pressure is being felt in general liability and excess liability.

Here are five trends to watch in construction, according to insurance specialists.

More Selective

The growth in the construction sector is leading to new opportunities for insurance underwriters. Those opportunities are also making it possible for carriers to have their pick of accounts and be more selective on best-of-class business, said Brian F. Cooper, managing director, National Construction Practice, for Gallagher Construction Services in San Francisco.

Insurance carriers are paying more attention to underwriting and selecting accounts they want to do business with and being very competitive on those, he said. Other accounts with riskier profiles might get passed by. Theyre either not providing quotes on those, or the quotes are reflective of higher rates, Cooper said. Theyre really paying more attention to the actual underwriting of premiere accounts rather than chasing premium dollars like has been the case the past several years.

For insurance agents and brokers, that means being prepared for heightened scrutiny when it comes to new business and renewals, says Bill Creedon, North America Industry Leader, Construction, for Willis Towers Watson in Denver. Its taking a lot more strategy going in from brokers, clients, everybody, and looking at things far earlier, Creedon said.

For higher risk accounts, such as construction firms with large fleets, unique general liability exposures, wildfire exposures, or those risks in catastrophe prone regions, underwriting may take more creativity, he said.

Contractors are facing broadening contractual requirements and an increasingly discerning underwriting community, Creedon added. Standard market construction carriers have their pick of preferred business today and hes seeing more business make its way to the surplus lines market. Theyre starting to drive more business into the wholesale market, which is seeing quite an influx, he said. Its an incredibly fast-changing environment.

As with any market cycle, when the transition begins from soft to hard market, underwriters dig deeper as pressures from management and reinsurers increase, Erik Davis, managing director, Construction Specialty Practice, for RT Specialty, told Insurance Journal. Davis said its no longer a construction insurance market where carriers are taking anything and everything. The focus now is on profitable underwriting across the board, he said.

In general, the insurance industry has been writing construction business at a loss for the past decade or even longer, Davis said. But with the uptick in construction business, underwriters have been inundated with submissions. They are looking for better information to sell the account and requiring thorough underwriting information to underwrite the tougher classes and risks.

Its important to provide thorough submissions and think about ways you can help your underwriters do their jobs effectively and efficiently, Davis added. Like it or not, brokers are ranked by underwriters, and as they become busier and busier, its imperative you do all you can to get your deal to the top of their stack to get looked at.

Davis concurs that more construction business is being pushed out of the standard lines market into surplus lines this year. Year-to-date submission flow of construction business is up 32% for RT Specialty over the same period in 2019, Davis said. This uptick is driven by certain pockets of the standard lines market exiting the construction business, or by handing out large increases in premium on renewals. That is pushing contractors to shop more than in prior years.

Also, there continues to be growth in new construction starts in geographies that are primarily surplus lines-focused areas such as New York, West Coast residential, energy business, airports, and others typically served by excess and surplus lines writers, Davis said.

TRUs Davies is also seeing an increase in submissions. As an E&S MGU with a wholesale only distribution, we are seeing increases in submissions and bound business, Davies said. This is due to contraction in capacity in the construction insurance market coupled with a continued increase in new projects that need insurance.

Like it or not, brokers are ranked by underwriters, and as they become busier and busier, its imperative you do all you can to get your deal to the top of their stack to get looked at.

Builders Risk

In some sectors of construction, builders risk is experiencing volatility.

We are seeing this increase in the frame builders risk space specifically, TRUs Davies said.

Due to the cost benefits of frame construction, developers continue to look at this method of building as a cost-effective solution to multifamily living projects where the site allows for this type of construction, Davies told Insurance Journal.

While fires can occur on any construction project, wood frame projects are particularly vulnerable. With more wood frame structures being built, we have noticed an increase in fire losses during the course of construction, said Jay Hurin, Technical Director for Travelers Inland Marine Risk Control. These structures are particularly susceptible to fires.

Insurance rates have gone through the roof and the capacity has shrunk dramatically for projects with wood frame construction, according to Gallaghers Cooper. Wildfire risk and arson are leading that trend. The cost of insuring frame construction is so expensive that its pushing some contractors to consider different building materials, he said.

The property area is probably the most challenging right now, he said. When people are designing new projects or retrofitting, they really are looking at what would impact the sustainability [of the building] and also impact resiliency to whatever that environment is, geographically.

Contractors are also putting more consideration into the cost of insuring the materials. Cooper thinks they were thinking of building with wood because its cheaper than concrete. But now, theyre having second thoughts, saying, Well, the difference in cost after taking insurance into consideration and sustainability into consideration maybe isnt cost-effective, he said. Even though the actual hard costs of wood versus steel might save money, the soft costs such as the cost of insurance might end up making the project more expensive. So might as well build it with steel.

The London market has picked up some of the slack in the wood frame builders risk market but that is starting to change, according to Cooper. Theyre starting to tighten up quite a bit in that area, he said. I would suspect that over the next several years, the type of construction and the different types of wood products, laminates, etc. will become more of a hurdle in the underwriting community. They are looking at that more and taking that into consideration when providing capacity or pricing on the property side of the risk.

Willis Towers Watsons Insurance Marketplace Realities 2019 Spring Update reported that the North American builders risk market is starting to see a firming price trend. The shift can be attributed to poor loss experience globally, coupled with a fixed/operational property market that is quickly hardening, the report said. This loss experience, in concert with a decade of eroding marketing conditions, has reduced builders risk capacity in the London marketplace.

Creedon says while overall builders risk is experiencing an increase in rate in some areas, most changes to the line have come in terms and conditions, not price.

Security and monitoring technology are helping to manage the risks for some projects.

Carriers are placing a lot of emphasis on security at the job site, when the workers arent working, Creedon said. They want to know what the security is on the job site? Does the project have cameras? Do you have 24-7 surveillance, live people on the site? he said. Security is a huge factor in the underwriting process on projects for the builders risk, particularly if theyre in an urban area that is susceptible to arson.

Continuing Labor Woes

A shortage of construction workers is the most challenging issue for contractors, the experts say.

Some 80% of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Labor shortages in the construction industry remain significant and widespread, said Ken Simonson, AGCs chief economist, in May.

William Blanchard, managing director at Fort Worth-based insurance agency Higginbotham, says the lack of skilled labor has put tremendous pressure on some of his construction clients. I hear from a lot of contractors that they cant find qualified people, he said. That just leads to inexperienced workers, and that can lead to workers comp claims, auto claims, because theres just a lot new folks out there doing tasks they havent done in the past.

That also leads to potentially faulty workmanship claims, according to Matt Hammer, partner at Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners in Tampa, Fla.

Hammer says hes seeing a number of general liability carriers pull out of the market in the residential construction space as a result of claims caused by untrained and unskilled workers being thrust into construction jobs. There is such a demand for labor that you might have the entry level person thats taking on more responsibility, doesnt do quality work on a project, and then a claim surfaces in a year or two, or even right on the job site, he said.

Were seeing a number of changes with regards to general liability and excess liability because of that, he said. The number of carriers is dwindling, and the rates are increasing, he said. Some of the more specialized programs, project specific and wrap ups, the number of carriers that have historically offered those programs, especially those that are coming off multiple year rolling programs, the renewals have been difficult because the carrier capacity is drying up.

Creedon agrees that labor is the number one issue for construction firms. The construction industry  its an intersection of a generation that is timing out, getting close to retirement in the very near future, and its difficult to bring young people into the industry.

Changing Appetites

More construction business also means a changing carrier appetite for certain classes of business.

Theres not a whole lot of options, so auto is by far in the most disarray out of all of the coverage lines for both the general contractors and the subcontractors.

While multi-family construction, apartments and condos, has been a popular real estate development focus for many years, the recent construction boom is leading carriers to change their perspective on the desirability of multi-family, according to Hammer. So, theres some carriers that will now classify multi-family more as residential and less as commercial, and therefore restricting their appetite for such developments, he said. Plus, I think carriers are being more sensitive to the jack of all trades contractor, too, he said.

Hammer still sees competitive options for the general contractors that are doing primarily commercial construction, but the environment is less robust for multi-family and/or residential. The good news, Were seeing companies like Zurich pick up the pieces where some regional players like Westfield have changed their perspective in Florida, he said. You see the business going towards those carriers that are stable and committed to the business.

But he agrees with others that carriers are more selective when it comes to underwriting.

So while a company like Zurich may be more willing to take on a particular risk like multi-family with a contractor thats been in the business of developing multi-family and has a long track record of successful performance, they are less likely to take on someone who has no track record with multi-family and now has five projects planned in the coming year, he explained.

Todays environment is more selective, underwriting is coming into play, contractor expertise definitely is being evaluated more, and restrictions on multi-family have surfaced, he added.

Auto Again

Hammer and others agree the most difficult insurance line for construction today is commercial auto.

Hands down, across the board, for organizations that have large fleets, especially in the subcontract world, auto is difficult, Hammer said. Auto rates are increasing pretty much at a minimum of 20% in most of our southeast renewals, he said, even on accounts with no claims.

Theres not a whole lot of options, so auto is by far in the most disarray out of all of the coverage lines for both the general contractors and the subcontractors.

Auto liability remains the most challenging line in primary casualty for construction, says Creedon. Underwriting results have been sharply deteriorating since 2015, and while there is indication that repeated auto rate increases year after year are having an impact on carrier profitability and rate strategy, he doesnt expect underwriters to scale back on rate any time soon.

Construction firms with the scale and ability to take on larger retentions are making changes, according to McDonnell. Some are maybe putting the first $5 million of their auto exposure into a captive, hoping that they can manage that as opposed to paying market rates, he said.

Hammer says many of his larger clients are turning to alternative risk financing as well, such to weather the storm of difficult auto market conditions. Were seeing a number of different insureds going to the alternative risk financing route to better finance the risk associated with auto and also theyre incorporating the general liability, and workers comp, and property in certain cases.

Despite the challenges, construction business is good, Blanchard said. The forecast is saying its going to be robust for some time, he said. Were in a good spot.

Topics Carriers Trends Agencies Auto Excess Surplus Wildfire Underwriting Market Contractors Construction
News

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused disruption in the youth labor market, but also affected the market for rt-pcr kit qiagen

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the youth Labour market, the ILO said. The ILO's just-released Global Employment Trends 2022 report found that the job prospects of young people aged 15 to 24 lag behind other age groups.

The latest figures estimate that the total number of unemployed young people worldwide will reach 73 million this year. While this is a slight improvement on 2021 levels, the ILO says the number of unemployed young people is still 6 million above the 2019 pre-pandemic level.

Martha Newton, deputy director-general of the ILO, said the COVID-19 crisis had exposed flaws in the way young people's needs were being addressed. Those least able to get a foothold in the labor market include first-time job seekers, dropouts, inexperienced recent graduates and those who remain involuntarily inactive, she said.

"With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the percentage of young people neither in employment, education or training - what we call NEETS - rose to 23.3 percent, the highest level ever... We've seen youth NEET rates jump to their highest level in 15 years, "Newton said.

Throughout the pandemic, young people have faced a multidimensional crisis, the ILO said. It says disruption to their education and training leaves them without the skills they need to find jobs. This could harm their long-term employment, education and income prospects, it said.

Newton says job opportunities for many young people are shrinking. She added that young women are worse off than young men when it comes to finding work. The ILO projects that 27.4 percent of young women worldwide are likely to be employed by 2022, compared with 40.3 percent of young men, she said.

The report finds that youth unemployment recoveries are likely to be more successful in high-income countries than in low - and middle-income countries. It expects youth unemployment in North America to be below the world average at 8.3 percent, compared with 20.5 percent in Latin America this year.

Although Africa's youth unemployment rate is 12.7 percent, the report says that figure masks the fact that many young people in Africa are opting out of the labor market. The International Labor Organization ranks Arab countries as having the highest and fastest growing youth unemployment rates in the world. It says the situation is particularly bad for women. The report notes that the unemployment rate for young women in the region is 42.5 percent, nearly three times the global average for young women.

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Analysis and forecast of the market size of PCR diagnostic industry

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a nucleic acid synthesis technology that uses the principle of DNA double-strand replication to replicate specific DNA fragments in vitro. With this technology, the detection equipment can amplify the target gene in a large number in a short time, expanding the target gene fragment to the order of millions to billions, thus achieving high sensitivity detection. At present, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnosis of infectious diseases such as hepatitis, venereal disease, intestinal respiratory disease and tumor single gene detection is an important application field. In 2020, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic technology was identified as the "gold standard" for COVID-19 diagnosis due to its high sensitivity and accuracy.

China's PCR diagnostic market is developing rapidly, with the market size growing rapidly from about RMB 2.37 billion in 2015 to about RMB 5.93 billion in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 25.8%. China's PCR industry experienced explosive growth due to the huge demand for testing caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, and the market size of China's PCR diagnostic industry exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2020. With the introduction of a large number of PCR diagnostic instruments, the PCR diagnostic industry will enter a new stage of development. It is expected that the PCR diagnostic industry will maintain a double-digit growth rate, and the market size of the PCR diagnostic industry will reach about 23.42 billion yuan in 2030 based on the factory price, and the cagR will reach about 13.3% from 2019 to 2030.

Market Demand of the rt-pcr kit qiagen

The DNA/RNA Extraction Kit market and other rt-pcr kit qiagen s are projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.26% during the forecast period 2022-2027.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the rt-pcr kit qiagen market for a short time due to restrictions on different business and research activities for rt-pcr kit qiagen s. In addition, diagnostic tests for other diseases and medical conditions in hospitals and other clinical diagnostic facilities have been affected as COVID-19 has led to fewer patients taking tests. However, the high rate of COVID-19 infection and research activities are undertaken by major companies in the field of sequencing to expand their understanding of the virus and its origins, as well as molecular diagnostics of the SARS-COV-2 virus, have led to the development and launch of many DNA - and RNA-BASED COVID-19 kits, The kits proved so important that they were in great demand.

Market drivers for the rt-pcr kit qiagen

The growth of the DNA/RNA extraction kit market is primarily driven by increased investment in R&D activities in different areas, including molecular diagnostics for different chronic and infectious diseases. For example, the US spent $842 billion on R&D activities in 2020, followed by China at $664 billion, according to the ORGANISATION for Economic Co-operation and Development. Technological advances worldwide, new product launches by major market players, and an increase in cancer cases are also likely to complement the growth of the markets under study.

Other factors, such as increased demand for automation of DNA/RNA extraction technologies, new user-friendly and easy extraction kits, and DNA/RNA for analysis of new diseases causing microorganisms, are expected to drive DNA/RNA growth. RNA Extraction Kit market during the forecast period. Therefore, low awareness and availability of the kit and low market penetration in less developed and developing regions around the world are the major factors limiting the growth of the DNA/RNA extraction kit market.

North America is expected to dominate the global rt-pcr kit qiagen market during the forecast period

North America, which holds a major share in the rt-pcr kit qiagen market, is expected to show a similar trend during the forecast period, mainly due to the high level of R&D activity in the region and the presence of major market players in the region constantly developing their products for the markets studied.

In the region, the US is expected to take a major share of the DNA/RNA extraction kit market due to heavy investment in R&D by government and private entities, increased demand for rt-pcr kit qiagen s, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases.

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IT IS the first proper Paddys Day after several years of pandemic. La Daughter and I do the parade, LD and her cousin further embolden their investment portfolio in Auntie Nellies Sweet Shop and then we have the traditional post-parade snifter in LAtitude 51.

The atmosphere around town has been simmering nicely all day but, come evening, temperature is rising, the pot beginning to bubble and spit in certain quarters and we are happy to hightail it out of town before it reaches boiling point.

Children ditched, I head for Kinsale with two fine comrades and our American guest. Though the erstwhile gourmet capital is itself no stranger to the bacchanal and several senior speed wobblers have obviously been putting in the hard yards at the bar all day, it is distinctly more laid back in comparison to the city as we enjoy a pre-prandial porter outside The Greyhound, supping al fresco as night draws in.

It is the first Paddys Day in years that hasnt been Baltic and when we finally take to pulling collars a little tighter around the neck, its time to nip around the corner to the bijou little culinary cauldron that is Saint Francis Provisions (SFP), which, other than a small heated terrace outside, is a 13 seater restaurant, seven of those seats actually high stools at the bar or window.

Very naturally, a venue that size only condenses and heightens a champagne atmosphere that fizzes and froths from the moment we pop open the door. Monsieur Clink-Clink orders from a smashing list of natural and low-intervention wines; I do likewise with pretty much most of a tidy little menu, and were off.

Jamies local oysters  au naturel and with ponzu soy glaze  are dispatched in seconds, washed down with smooth, juicy Soave (Fillipo Fillipi, Soave Colli Scaligeri, 2021). Olivier Beaujouans West Kerry Coppa is a fine example of sourcing the very best produce and dispensing with ego to accord a true artisan the plaudits. Seams of creamy dense fat run through fragrant, peppery scarlet meat, alongside a humble yet effective retinue of toasted almonds, cornichons and sweet piquant pickled radishes. Alongside, delicious SFP focaccia, a savoury, springy bread pillow we re-order repeatedly through the meal for it goes well with just about anything.

The first serious flexing of kitchen muscle arrives as brandade stuffed piquillo peppers: velvety salt cod, potato and olive oil puree piped into peppers and roasted until the flesh is lush, sweet, and meaty and the brandade has plumbed oceanic depths in the oven  extraordinarily good, the next time my heart is broken, Ill heal it with these.

Some of the fare served up at St Francis Provisions

More small plates: sublimely smoked potatoes, wild garlic aioli, and a giddy spritz of lemon; deeply flavoursome romanesco and romesco, their swirling Fibonacci spirals grilled to a rugged, craggy char.

Then skewers of grilled ox tongue, tender, sweet meat graced with rendered fat, what could become an umami lullaby, enlivened with the trilling notes of sumac and acidity of labneh and blood orange. It is one of the finest dishes on a night of fine dishes.

Chewy grilled octopus with potato escabeche and aioli transports me to North West Spain in a mouthful, while leek and Gubeen tart tatin is a rich caramel of savoury sugars. Roast quail are exquisitely cooked, near blackened crispy skin, and succulent, glistening pinkish meat within.

A large plate of Lost Valley heritage pork belly, rich, sumptuous, slow-cooked and deeply imbued with its own flavoursome fat, is served with barley risotto, pickled apple and rhubarb, a sharp and elegant counterpoint. It vies for pride of place with magnificent roasted wild sea trout and fennel, sprinkled with flaked almonds and grapes.

The wines keep coming: Judith Becks impeccable Hunny Bunny (Blaufrankisch, Austria 2021) especially fine with the pork, as is a Chardonnay (Pupillin, Jura, France 2020) with the fish.

For dessert we have tonka bean flan, with poached rhubarb, shimmying like vanillas soul brother on the epicurean dance floor, while Dark Mystery Cake, butterscotch, whipped cream, and prune, is a deep, dense swirl of sweet spices. Finally, a return to Lost Valley Dairy, their stunning Sobhriste cheese, possibly the finest new Irish cheese of recent years, washed down with Valentia Island Vermouth.

Since opening in 2019, SFP has been a very special restaurant, curated, for want of a better word, by Barbara Nealon with an unerring instinct for all that is good and authentic about Irish food. But, despite a rapturous reception from the off, she has had to navigate choppy waters familiar to many in hospitality, in particular, retention of staff. In a space this size, it is difficult to furnish ambitious young chefs with the same opportunities available in larger, better-resourced venues and Nealon has had several times to endure the disappointment of building a good team only to see them fly the nest. I believe, however, the universe had other plans for Nealon and SFP and the most recent blow, when Darren Kennedy left to head up the Sage Midleton kitchen last year, was in fact the near-existential challenge needed to unearth like a truffle the true essence of SFP.

Nealon created a new role for herself, cooking as much as serving and gave front of house over to the gentle charm of Emily Hartless while Spaniard Rebeca Recarey Sanchez came in as head chef. As humble as she is affable, Recarey Sanchez is doing a quite superb job, embellishing superbly sourced local Irish produce and judicious imports with pronounced Iberian influences, many dishes delivered as tapas-style small plates, in what is evolving into a genuine and singular Hiberno-Iberian cuisine, tonight casting welcome Spanish culinary sun on Irish winter comforters.

St Francis Provisions: "negatives are harder to find than a hen's dentist"

Negatives are harder to find than a hens dentist: perhaps plating of certain dishes might be looked at as both octopus and pork belly present as a homogeneity of brown, underwhelming to the eye but, then again, superb tastes and flavours are the perfect riposte to that; more pertinently, perhaps the addition of further fresh, raw, crunchy elements  pickles, ferments, raw vegetables, leaves  to add contrast and light relief to some of the heftier dishes, but, again, small beer in the grand scheme of things.

What truly anoints this latest version of SFP is the powerful feminine energy that radiates like joy-filled light through the room and kitchen, all blessedly devoid of the angular edges and pompous peacockery that too often results when ego and testosterone romp and stomp around in boys club restaurants.

In the end, they have to prise us from our seats and drag us wailing to the door, fingernails clawing furrows in the floor, so loath are we to leave. (Not quite, but our leaving is carried out with extreme reluctance!)

Just a few days after we dine, SFP is awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand. It is richly deserved and more, for SFP is now unquestionably one of Irelands finest restaurants.

The Verdict:

Food: 9

Service: 9.5

Value: 10

Atmosphere: 10

Tab: 90 per person (including tip and too much wine!)
Irish food in 2023 isnt about boiled bacon and cabbage. Its not focused on colcannon, champ, or boxty  delicious though all those things are. There are chefs and cooks throughout Ireland looking at great Irish ingredients in a new light and cooking with them in innovative ways. Spicing up traditional soda bread, elevating a deli-counter standard, making the ubiquitous turnip into something desirable, or showcasing the best of Irish pork in a taco  these dishes all have local ingredients at the core, but are enhanced by people who bring their own life experiences, flavours, and traditions to the kitchen. While keeping an eye on Irish food heritage, theres also an eagerness to look beyond this island and incorporate new ideas.

Whether youre a vegetarian, a fan of Indian spices or Mexican ingredients, or celebrating Irish dairy, theres a place for you here. Its the way that we all cook now, pulling inspiration from a myriad of sources including recipe books, restaurants, spice shops, and social media. Pull up your chair to a table that features these new Irish classics  its a most delicious place.

Soda bread with a twist

Traditional Irish baking with modern twists. Thats the subtitle of Graham Herterichs debut cookbook, Bake, and he delivers in every way. The book is a celebration of classic Irish bakes such as brown soda bread, tea brack, and apple tart, including exemplary recipes for those dishes, but each classic is followed by a non-traditional alternative: Rye, ale & honey bread; malted coffee, chocolate & pecan brack with a variety of toppings and flavoured brack butters; and a Dingle gin, lemon, and fuchsia tart inspired by what Herterich calls the fuchsia-lined boreens of West Kerry.

For Herterich, who opened The Bakery in Rialto in 2018, Irish food is memory. Remembering. Its not just a type of food, its a feeling of sitting around the kitchen table, that warmth and cosiness. I dont want to say bacon and cabbage or tea brack, its more the warmth and emotions of a lovely time.

Growing up as one of five children in Athy, Co Kildare, much of his cooking is inspired by the women around him as a child. His mother, sister, grandmothers, aunts, and family friends, all named at the start of the book, instilled a real gra for baking that comes across in his writing. Endlessly creative  when we talk, he waxes lyrical about a recent version of chicken and waffles that he made, substituting a soda farl for the waffle element  he loves the fact that traditional Irish baking is fast and cheap. Two hours after you have an idea, youre eating the result.

His playful and inventive attitude in the kitchen has seen Herterich reinventing classic teatime treats such as Mikado and Kimberley biscuits and purple Snacks. He recently started a subscription-based brack club, the first of which involved China rose tea and prosecco-soaked sultanas, along with dried strawberries, rose petals, white chocolate, and pink peppercorns.

Herterichs love of spices  a hobby of mine is going into spice shops. I like to pick up a bag of something different, research the living daylights out of it and figure out how I can incorporate it into traditional Irish foods  led to the development of the panch phoron soda bread recipe that graces the cover of Bake. Inspired by Sunil Ghais goat keema pao from Dublins Pickle Restaurant, Herterich pairs lamb keema with a vibrantly-flavoured soda bread that incorporates turmeric and a spice blend called panch phoran. Soda bread is fast and its a great carrier of flavour, says Herterich. Since the book was published, lots of people have tried it and are loving that idea of sharing a loaf of bread and a pot of curry.

Panch phoron soda bread with lamb keema curry Graham Herterichs love of spices led to the development of the panch phoran soda bread recipe Servings 4 Preparation Time  10 mins Cooking Time  1 hours 10 mins Total Time  1 hours 20 mins Course  Main Ingredients For the panch phoron soda bread:

4 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp panch phoron, plus a little extra to sprinkle on top

1 tbsp ground turmeric

500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp bread soda a small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped

1 tsp salt

a pinch of freshly ground black pepper

350ml buttermilk

1 medium egg, beaten

For the lamb keema curry:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

500g minced lamb

2 tbsp panch phoron

2 tbsp curry powder (mild or hot  your choice)

1 tbsp ground turmeric

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

200g frozen peas

2 tbsp natural yoghurt

a small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks finely chopped Method To make the bread, heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden. Add the garlic, panch phoron and turmeric and cook for another 23 minutes to allow the spices to release their flavour. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 180C fan. Prepare a baking sheet by lightly dusting it with a little plain flour. Place the flour and bread soda in a large bowl and mix well using a table knife. Make a well in the centre of the flour, then add the cooled spiced onion, chopped fresh coriander, salt, pepper and the buttermilk. Mix gently before starting to incorporate them into the flour using a table knife. Bring the dough together, then tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead and shape the dough into a 20cm round. Put the bread on the baking sheet and cut a deep cross on the top, then brush with the beaten egg  try not to get any egg into the cut lines  and sprinkle with a little more panch phoron. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, then turn the bread upside down and cook for a further 10 minutes. To check if the bread is baked, tap the bottom  it should sound hollow when fully cooked. Wrap in a clean tea towel while its cooling to stop the crust getting too hard. To make the curry, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes before adding the garlic, chillies and ginger. Cook for another 2 minutes, until everything has softened. Turn up the heat to high before adding the lamb and breaking it up gently with a spoon. Cook for about 10 minutes but try not to overmix or move the lamb too much at this stage, allowing it to get a nice fried colour before moving it around again. Add the spices and cook for a further 23 minutes, then add the tinned tomatoes and half a tin of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the frozen peas and yogurt and simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir in the coriander just before serving with toasted slices of the panch phoron soda bread.



Bake by Graham Herterich (25) is published by Nine Bean Rows. ninebeanrowsbooks.com

Bake by Graham Herterich (25) is published by Nine Bean Rows. NineBeanRowsBooks.com

Jambon, but not as you know it

Its all about the produce for chef Niamh Fox. Having worked at Rochelle Canteen in London, Ard Bia and Kai in Galway, she has foraged her own seasonally-led path since moving to Co Clare. A veteran of festivals and pop-up food events  barbecuing at The Big Grill, serving low and slow feasts at the West Cork Food Festival, producing locally sourced and foraged dinners on Inishbofin  as well as catering for yoga and self-build retreats, Fox has consistently worked with the best of local ingredients.

Fox grew up on a farm on Inishbofin, off the coast of Connemara, with a grandmother who used to make the butter for the island. When she thinks about Irish food, she  unsurprisingly  focuses on whats native to Ireland. We are lucky to have the soil and land to support great vegetables, dairy and meat, some fine fish in our seas too. Fox also acknowledges the importance of looking back to our not-so-plentiful past: Even in times of famine, for an impoverished population weve done well to endure and still have a surviving history of the cultivation of butter, herding animals, resourcefulness.

Her jambon first appeared in Milk by John and Sally McKenna. Fox developed the recipe because she wanted to put this classic of the hot deli counter on her menu: Its something that had the capability of being deeply tasty,

simple to make, well-loved and easily recognised. While the word jambon means ham in France, these hot flaky pastries filled with creamy, cheesy sauce and flecked with bits of its savoury namesake have, in recent years, become identified as quintessentially Irish. Fox acknowledges the role that the hot deli has played in everyday eating: The chicken fillet roll fed a nation, spawned the boom  and still survived! The jambon has done equally well and I wanted to give it a chance to stand up to quality ingredients and really show what it could do.

This is where Foxs love of Irish produce shines through: Ideally it would be a ham you have cooked yourself, [cut into] lovely thick slices. If you cant do that then Id be giving Fingal Ferguson and the Gubbeen gang a shout to get some of their delicious ham or try your local butchers ham.

Cheese is important too and Fox recommends something with a good melt factor. She likes a fine farmhouse Cheddar like Hegartys, I also like to do a bit of a mix so I could go for a mature Gubbeen or even a bit of a fridge clear-out and go for a few cheesy odds and ends. Make sure you bake plenty of these savoury mouthfuls as theyre always a winner: You can see people are giddy with enjoyment as they break into the pastry and see the cheese and Bechamel oozing out.

The beloved jambon A classic of the hot deli counter, Niamh Fox developed the recipe because she wanted to put it on her menu Servings 12 Preparation Time  15 mins Cooking Time  1 hours 10 mins Total Time  1 hours 25 mins Course  Baking Ingredients Rough puff pastry ( Note : you can skip this part and buy it pre-made from the supermarket if you prefer)

225g strong flour, plus extra for dusting work surface

2.5ml ( tsp) fine sea salt

250g butter, cold but not rock hard, cut into small cubes

150ml ( pint) ice-cold water

Roasted red onion

4 red onions, cut into quarters

splash of extra virgin olive oil

salt pepper

sprig of thyme, picked

a small sprinkling of brown sugar

For the creamy, dreamy white sauce:

50g butter

50g plain flour

500ml full fat milk

500g cheese, grated (I use a mix of Templegall, Gubbeen, Coolea, of course you can use a good Cheddar or bits and bobs from your fridge too.) Reserve a little to sprinkle.

pinch of nutmeg pepper and sea salt to taste

400g of the best free-range ham you can get your hands on, cut into little cubes

1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk, for brushing Method For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir the butter into the bowl until each piece is coated with flour. Add water to the bowl, working quickly to bring everything together to a rough dough. Gather the dough in the bowl, and then turn it onto the work surface. Squash the dough into a fat, flat sausage, without kneading. Wrap in clingfilm then chill the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes. Lightly dust the work surface and the pastry. Roll out the pastry until its about 1cm thick and three times as long as it is wide. Straighten up the sides. Try to keep the top and bottom edges as square as possible. Fold the bottom third of the pastry up, then the top third down, to make a block or a book. Again trying to keep corners nice and square. Press the edges of the pastry together with the rolling pin. Chill for 15 minutes. Roll out and fold the pastry again, repeating this four times in all to make smooth dough, with buttery streaks here and there. If the pastry feels greasy at any point, or starts to spring back as you roll, then cover and chill it for 10 minutes before continuing. Chill the finished pastry for an hour, or ideally overnight, before using. Next make the caramelised onions: mix everything together and pop in an oven set around 200C for 30 minutes, then mix and cover and continue to cook for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. To make the cheesy sauce, melt butter at low heat, stir in the flour and mix well until a dough starts to form. Gradually pour in the milk, mixing really well so that there are no lumps in the sauce. Once all the milk has been added, add the grated cheeses and a pinch of nutmeg & pepper and salt. Mix well until you get a thick cheese sauce. Add the finely cubed ham to the sauce, allow the mixture to cool. To assemble the jambon, cut out squares from the pastry and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Put a scoop of the cheese mixture in the centre of each square and a little of the caramelized onion, on top. Fold the corners to the centre and make sure they overlap (to avoid the ham & cheese from pouring out of the pastry). Pinch together the edges where needed. Brush the egg mix over the pastry and sprinkle the final bit of cheese on top, and repeat for the other squares. Place the tray in the oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.



Niamh Foxs jambon recipe is from Milk by John and Sally McKenna (Estragon Press) guides.ie

Niamh Fox is on Instagram at @little_niamh_fox

Taking turnip to new heights

Making turnip sexy. Thats what Denis Cotter achieved at Corks Paradiso restaurant when he put this braised turnip galette on the menu. Its a recipe that he came up with one quiet evening in the Paradiso kitchen when I was trying to do something that would make people think differently about turnips.

A vegetable that grows well in the Irish climate, turnip often plays a supporting role in a meal but is rarely the star. Cotter, who has always focused on cooking vegetables  rather than vegetarian cooking  literally looked at the root in a new way, seeing different shapes within the haphazard and misshapen outer form. By trimming and cutting a turnip into thin sheets, slowly braising them in the oven and layering them with a mixture of mushrooms, chestnuts, and cheese, he transformed a humdrum ingredient into something that has remained a much-loved staple of the Paradiso menu for many years.

The reaction from customers  and from cooks who have made the recipe at home  has always been positive: People who eat it for the first time usually cant believe it is a turnip dish, with its combination of elegance and rich, comforting flavour. That makes it a hugely pleasurable experience for both the diner and the cook. It even sounds sexy: braised turnip galette of chestnut and portobello with beetroot port gravy. Who could possibly resist?

As a vegetarian, Cotter believes that Irish food is more about ingredients than specific dishes or any kind of tradition. Probably because of my own personal nostalgia, Im very attached to potatoes, turnips, and cabbage. From three decades of working with an innovative grower, I also think of things like asparagus, artichokes, broad beans, squash, and loads more as essential to my idea of Irish food.

In his first book, 1999s The Cafe Paradiso Cookbook (Atrium), he was clear about his concept of Irish food:

I said, rather optimistically, that Irish food is made with ingredients grown here and cooked in any style or perceived culture by people living here. Its satisfying to see that come to pass. there is so much diversity in our food culture now.

Cotters work with local growers and in putting Irish vegetables at the centre of the plate continues in collaboration with the current kitchen team, headed by chef Miguel Frutos. As Cotter celebrates 30 years in business this year  no easy task in the notoriously fickle restaurant world  the food at Paradiso continues to delight and excite.

Braised turnip galette of chestnut & portobello with beetroot port gravy Making turnip sexy. Thats what Denis Cotter achieved at Corks Paradiso restaurant when he put this braised turnip galette on the menu. Servings 4 Preparation Time  10 mins Cooking Time  1 hours 5 mins Total Time  1 hours 15 mins Course  Main Ingredients For the galettes:

2 large turnips

4 tbsp butter

100mls white wine

100mls vegetable stock or water

For the filling:

4 large Portobello mushrooms

100g cooked chestnuts

100g cream cheese

For beetroot port gravy

600mls beetroot juice

300mls port

300mls tomato passata

1 small red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 stick celery or a small piece of celeriac, diced

2 cloves

80g cold, unsalted butter, diced Method First make the filling: Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the mushrooms on an oven tray, brush them with butter or olive oil, season with salt and roast until tender, 10-15 minutes. Chop the roasted mushrooms coarsely and put them in a food processor with the chestnuts. Pulse to get a coarse puree. Remove to a sieve over a bowl and leave to cool, then fold the drained mushrooms into the cream cheese. The turnips: While the mushrooms are cooking, peel and trim the turnips to get blocks from which you can cut square slices with sides of about 7-8cm and about 3mm thick - four slices per portion, sixteen in all. Take time to make sure they are of even thickness. Lay the turnip slices in one or two oven dishes, slightly overlapping. Melt the butter, wine and stock together in a small pan, and pour this over the turnip slices. Lower the oven temperature to 160C. Season with salt, cover loosely with parchment, and place the turnips dishes in the oven for 40 minutes or more, until tender. The turnip slices should be soft enough to yield easily to a table knife but not fall apart. Carefully remove the slices from the braising liquid and stack them in piles of four until later. Beetroot port gravy: Simmer everything, except the butter, together for 20 minutes. Puree and push through a fine sieve, saving the liquid. Return this to the stove and reduce it to half the volume. Set aside until serving. To finish: Place four slices of turnip on a parchment-lined oven tray and cover evenly with some of the mushroom-chestnut mixture, leaving a very narrow edge uncovered all round. Cover each with another turnip slice and repeat until each has four turnip layers and three of mushroom-chestnut. Press firmly to get a flat even top. Brush the tops with butter. Place the galettes in the oven at 180C to heat through for 7-10 minutes. Finish the beetroot port gravy by bringing the beetroot liquid to a boil and whisking in the cubes of cold, unsalted butter to get a smooth thickened gravy. Place a galette on each of four plates and pour a generous pool of sauce around.



Denis Cotter, Paradiso. paradiso.restaurant

Denis Cotter is the founder and executive chef at Paradiso. paradiso.restaurant

Making the most of Irish pork

For Mexican chef, food writer and shopkeeper Lily Ramirez-Foran, Irish food means family. She has been married into an Irish family for more than 20 years and observed how the concept of Irish food has changed a lot since then. Its been a journey of discoveryThe more I live and learn in Ireland, the more I understand the social and political contexts of food in this country. The founder of Picado Mexican, Irelands first Mexican grocer and cooking school, in Dublins Portabello, Ramirez-Foran understands that food can act as an important connector for emigrants. Irish food Irish ingredients represent a bridge between my past and my present. I make Mexican food every day with beautiful Irish ingredients, says Ramirez-Foran. My pantry is a mixture of Irish and Mexican ingredients and Im the better cook because of it.

In her cookbook Tacos, published last year by Blasta Books, Ramirez-Foran uses the Mexican taco - a dish that Irish people have been enjoying a full-on love affair with over the last few years - to showcase a variety of techniques and recipes. For her first cookery demonstration in 2011 she used Irish free range pork to make pork pibil, a traditional Mexican dish from the Yucatan Peninsula, for an enthusiastic group of Irish food bloggers. Its been a mainstay in demos ever since. Its Mayan in its origins and my version is adapted to the modern way of living and cooking as well to suit the ingredients we can get in Ireland.

After years of cooking at home and for cookery demonstrations in Picado, she knows that this dish can win anyone over. It was my calling card, she says, my way to say, hey, dont be afraid of Mexican food, try this, not spicy and uber flavoursome dish! It opened many doors for me. The only unfamiliar ingredient was achiote paste, a bright red spiced paste. This is made with annatto seeds - something that Irish people may have only encountered previously as a colouring in red cheddar - but achiote paste has now become more widely available.

For pork pibil, Ramirez-Foran takes the best of Irish ingredients and combines them with Mexican techniques and cooking methods to make a flavoursome feast: it showcases some of the excellent pork meat we have in Ireland, but also our amazing cider vinegars, the tomatoes, onions, garlic all grown locally. Its a win-win! The distinctive result - juicy, orange-red meat with a spiced/sweet citrus flavour - is irresistible. I recently served this dish in a crispy tostada, topped by a red onion pickle to an Irish Michelin-starred chef, remembers Ramirez-Foran. I will never forget the surprised look on his face. He could not believe how good it was. That reaction made my year!

Pork pibil tacos by Lily Ramirez-Foran After years of cooking at home and for cookery demonstrations in Picado, Lily Ramirez-Foran knows that this dish can win anyone over. Servings 6 Preparation Time  10 mins Cooking Time  3 hours 40 mins Total Time  3 hours 50 mins Course  Main Ingredients 1kg pork shoulder, skin left on, cut into three chunks

350g ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters

1 small onion, peeled and cut into quarters

5 large garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

1 x 7cm Mexican cinnamon stick

 tsp black peppercorns

50g Mexican achiote paste

75ml apple cider vinegar

juice of 1 large orange 1 tsp flaky sea salt 80ml water

For the tacos:

16 corn tortillas, warmed

de arbol salsa roja

red onion pickle Method Preheat the oven to 150C. Place the pieces of pork in a large heavy-based casserole, skin facing up so it doesnt stick. Add the tomato and onion quarters, wedging them in between the pieces of meat and on the top. Set aside. Place the whole garlic cloves in a hot, dry frying pan over a high heat, turning them every minute or so  the aim is to have lovely golden garlic with plenty of charred bits and a sweet smell. This will take about 6 minutes. Halfway through, add the cinnamon stick to the same pan and toast it for 23 minutes before adding the peppercorns and toasting for 1 minute more, until they are fragrant. The kitchen should smell beautiful by now. Transfer everything from the pan to a blender followed by the achiote paste, apple cider vinegar, orange juice, salt and 40ml of the water. Blend until smooth, then pour the sauce over the meat in the casserole. Use the remaining 40ml of water to rinse any leftover sauce out of the blender and pour this into the casserole too. Cover with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit your casserole and cover the casserole with its lid. Transfer to the oven and roast for 3 hours. Take the casserole out of the oven and uncover the meat. Everything should be soft so, using two forks, shred the meat and crush the tomatoes and onions, making sure to mix everything together  there should be enough sauce to coat everything well. I normally just carry the casserole to the table and let the meat rest and soak up all the flavours of the sauce while I get everything else together. Set the table and bring over bowls of the de arbol salsa roja and red onion pickle to add a little heat. To assemble your tacos, add some pork to a warm corn tortilla, then spoon over some of the salsa and red onion pickle.



Blasta Books #1: Tacos by Lily Ramirez-Foran (15) is published by Blasta Books. blastabooks.com

Tacos by Lily Ramirez-Foran (15) is published by Blasta Books. www.picadomexican.com
Franz Joseph became Emperor of Austria in 1848, and King of Hungary in 1867  remaining in power until his death in 1916. The multi-national cosmopolitan empire he ruled with benevolent tolerance officially recognised 14 languages and aimed to find a harmonious balance between the various interests of the competing nationalities who lived cheek by jowl. This suited most of the Jews who resided within the empires borders. They were given unique opportunities for self-definition and were known to be the emperors most fervently loyal subjects.

Joseph Roth was among them. The Jewish author was born in September 1894, in Brody. Today, its part of western Ukraine. But in the late 19th century the small town was part of the Kingdom of Galicia  which had been established by the Habsburg monarchy in 1772, following the first partition of Poland. By the 1880s, Galicia was the poorest of the Austrian crownlands, with the lowest life expectancy levels of all the ex-polish territories.

During Roths childhood, most of Brodys impoverished population spoke Yiddish, which was then the lingua franca of Jewish Europe, and 72% of the town were Jewish.

The town became known as the Polish Jerusalem and three times a day, three-quarters of Brodys population turned to face the real Jerusalem and pray, Keiron Pim writes in Endless Flight: The Life of Joseph Roth.

The book explores Roths remarkable life story. A journalist by profession, Roths work took him across the European continent. He lived in Lviv, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris among other places. Mostly in expensive hotels he could ill afford. Roth wrote in German and prided himself on the fact that he never really lay down solid roots in any one place for very long.

Nostalgia for a more compassionate and steadier world  which he believed the Habsburg Empire offered to a multi-ethnic central east Europe  lies at the core of Roths literary oeuvre, which contains 17 novels and novellas, including Flight Without End, Tarabas, Job, The Radetzky March, and The Emperors Tomb.

The collapse of the Habsburg Empire [in 1918] was the defining trauma of Roths life, Pim explains from his home in Norwich. Roth felt it tied together a great stretch of central-east Europe in a way that was perhaps less than ideal, but which was far better than the ethnonationalism that followed.

In 1925 Roth was appointed Paris correspondent of The Frankfurter Zeitung, the leading liberal daily in Europe at that time. In an article dated January 11, 1926, Roth wrote: [Its] the gaps in the news that are the interesting bits.

Roths lyrical and poetic journalism was usually found in a part of the newspaper that was then known as the feuilleton. It had its roots in Paris in the early 19th century, evolved in Vienna not long afterwards, and became an important component of many newspapers across Europe in early 20th century. Urbane, sophisticated, witty, and terse, the amusing reports and criticism of the feuilleton section featured on the lower half of the papers first page and were written to a length that accommodated the busy urban readers attention span.

Roth wrote these small reports in a third person narration style that often had the feel of a literary novel. It also gave Roth the opportunity to play the role of the wandering metropolitan Flaneur.

The feuilleton was a form that really suited Roths knack of wandering around cities and noticing fleeting moments that had universal implications, says Pim .Roth was not great when it came to journalistic accuracy, but his reporting was more like poetry because he had this incredible insight into human nature.

Joseph Roth: a Jewish author that bore witness to history

Politically savvy, Roth also kept his attentive eye and pen on the wider historical narrative that was unfolding in his own lifetime too. He witnessed the disastrous consequences of the newly formed centrally planned economy in the Soviet Union, when he travelled there as reporter in the 1920s. The following decade he observed how the rise of fascism was transforming Germany into a dangerous xenophobic, super nationalistic state.

Roth was extremely suspicious of all forms of nationalism, including the Zionist project for a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, which was still a pipe dream in Roths lifetime. He reflected on these ideas in a letter dated October 1932, describing the First World War and the collapse of the Dual Monarchy as the most powerful experience of my life and the end of my fatherland, the only one I have ever had.

The paternalistic metaphor was not coincidental. Roth never met his own father, Nachum Roth. He was, apparently, committed to a sanatorium before he even knew he had a son. Roths wife, Friedl Reichler, met a similar fate, spending the 1930s in psychiatric asylums in Germany and Austria. She was killed in the Nazi euthanasia programme in 1940.

Friedl was [diagnosed] as a schizophrenic around 1928, and was institutionalised permanently from 1930 onwards, so it fell on Roth to cover the costs of her care and that just crippled him, Pim explains.

The biographer notes how Roth brought a great deal of chaos and uncertainty into his wifes life. Friedl craved stability, which Roth could not give her. Roth was paid well for his writing, but he never owned a bank account, couldnt manage money, and lived hand to mouth, mostly criss-crossing Europe on trains.

Roth found this life in constant flux liberating and exciting, says Pim. But it only exacerbated Friedls instinctive anxiety and drove her over the edge. And, of course, Roths excessive drinking didnt help the situation either.

Roth died in January 1939, aged 45. The official cause of death was pneumonia. But the poor health Roth suffered due to his chronic alcoholism meant he never stood a chance of recovering.

Roth had been warning his Jewish friends across the continent the fate that lay in store for them as early as 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. That year, after he took a one-way train from Berlin to Paris, Roth wrote a letter to his good friend, patron, and fellow Jewish writer, Stefan Zweig. Do not deceive yourself. Hell reigns, Roth explained.

Roth was referring to the antisemitism the Jews of Germany faced as Hitler ideas of an expanding Reich were being set in motion. Roth died nine months before Hitler invaded Poland. Nevertheless, his stern warnings were extremely prescient.

Brody, his hometown had been incorporated into the Second Polish Republic  it was declared in 1918 but its borders were formally established and secured following The Treaty of Riga, in March 1921, which concluded the Russo-Polish War of 191920.

Pim notes how nearly all of Brodys Jewish population perished in the Holocaust. Most were deported in 1943 from the Nazi-built Brody Jewish ghetto to the Belzec death camp where they were exterminated.

Pim says Roths journalism and novels feel strangely relevant to read in the present moment, when the borderlands where Roth was born are once again being contested.

In a time when ugly reductive nationalisms threaten to overpower liberal aspirations, Roth speaks to us urgency and power, the biographer explains.

Roth would not have been surprised by [the Russian aggression] we are witnessing today in Ukraine, the author concludes. Because he grew up in that part of east-central Europe where ethnic tensions were always bubbling away. The tolerance, internationalism, and humanity of his writing is something we should really cherish and hold onto.
Love travelled full circle for Sinead McDonald and Niall ODriscoll.

A bit like the duo themselves, as they toured around Ballydehob in a vintage white Beetle on their wedding day.

Because it was in the west Cork village that Sinead, from Drumcondra, Dublin, and Niall, from Skibbereen, first set eyes on one another.

That was 20 years ago. We met as teenagers, says Sinead. Although Im originally from Dublin, I spent a huge chunk of my life in Ballydehob, as it is where my dad is from.

Sinead McDonald and Niall ODriscoll with their wedding party

Four years after they began a long-distance relationship, Sinead moved to Cork, in 2017.

And while they now live in Ballinhassig, it was back to Ballydehob for their big day, on August 26, 2022, to exchange vows in St Brigids Church, in a Mass led by Rev Michael Anthony Buckley, supported by Fr Donal Cahill.

Sinead McDonald with her bridal party

Nialls dad Tony and brother Gary restored the vintage motor (previously owned by the grooms late godfather) that was the couples wedding car and in which they travelled to Dunmore House Hotel, Clonakilty for their reception.

The brides parents, Michael and Bernie McDonald, and her maternal grandmother together with the grooms parents, Bernie and Tony, were among those congratulating the newlyweds.

Sinead McDonald and Niall ODriscoll got married in St Brigid's Church in Ballydehob

Also by Sineads side were her sister and maid of honour, Ailbhe McDonald, her friends, Karen Gardiner and Stevi Russell, and the grooms twin sister, Emma ODriscoll.

Niall chose his brother Gary ODriscoll to be his best man and his brother Shane ODriscoll to be groomsman along with his friends, Hugh OFlaherty and Finbarr Russell.

The couples niece, Jessica Galvin, was their flowergirl and their nephew, Darragh Galvin, was the ring bearer.

Sinead McDonald and Niall ODriscoll got engaged in 2020

Niall popped the question in March 2020.

It was mere days into the start of the pandemic lock-down. Niall had planned to propose in London, but after the trip was cancelled due to covid, he prepared a lovely dinner at home and proposed afterwards, right there in the kitchen, with a beautiful Chupi aquamarine and diamond ring, says Sinead.

They chose the theme A Wild Atlantic wedding when planning their big day.

Niall adds: As sea-lovers, we chose ceremony and reception venues that were near the beautiful west Cork coastline. The bride describes the entire occasion as buzzing with energy, emotional and full of love, bursting with laughter and fun.

Sinead says: We wanted a wedding full of fun, colour, craic, and love along the coast  with a healthy dose of vintage glamour.

After years of travel bans and uncertainty, the most special thing for us was having Nialls brother, Shane and family, and my best friend and bridesmaid, Stevi, back home from Australia. Sinead looked super-elegant in a bespoke couture gown by Kathy De Stafford Atelier in Dublin and the groom was dapper in a custom-made suit by Five Seasons Silk & Tailoring, Hoi An, Vietnam, and the groomsmens suits were hired from Sean Murray, Skibbereen.

The bridal hair and makeup team of Neil Ryan, Aisling Kelly and Aisling Hickey, arrived from Dublin.

Sineads friend, Egle Laukyte, from White Cat Studio was behind the camera and another friend of Sineads, Sharon Fox Barry of Fox Flowers, created the floral arrangements.

House of Ren Films was the videographer.

Sinead McDonald and Niall ODriscoll got married in August 2022

The couples friends Megan ORiordan, Christine Kelly and Colin Oliver provided the music during the ceremony and their friend Lily MacMonagle sang for their first dance.

Another pal of the couples, DJ Stevie G, kept the guests dancing until the small hours of the morning.

The newlyweds mini-mooned in The Europe Hotel & Resort and in January enjoyed a honeymoon in Vietnam.

Sinead works in marketing for The Doyle Collection hotel group, and is based in The River Lee hotel, Cork. Niall is an engineer working in power generation.
Inquests can be traumatic for bereaved relatives. So what drove one Limerick family to seek two inquests into the death of their father, Mike Daly Snr?

In March, a second inquest recorded a verdict of medical misadventure, overturning the verdict of natural causes reached in 2012, leading Mr Daly's son to say: We finally got justice for my dad.

Mr Daly Snr, 64, died at Milford Hospice, Limerick in 2010, following what his son Mike Daly Jnr remembers as horrendous suffering after an operation in 2007.

His father had surgery at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. However, he continued to suffer from post-operative bleeding and pain, and endured multiple hospital admissions and attendances between 2008 and his death.

The family did not accept the results of the first inquest and tried to have it reopened, unaware of how rare this is.

I plagued the Coroner by email nearly daily, begging for him to reopen the inquest, even protesting outside his office with all my family, Mike said.

In hindsight, I now know his hands were tied and he could only open another inquest if new evidence came up.

That moment came when crucial documents were identified among over 6,000 records from UHL and St Johns hospitals, following years of research.

Mike dedicated three days weekly to the search, supported by a legal nurse, alongside his security guard job.

During my research of my Dads medical records, I needed for the third time to get a full set of records again. This time I came across two documents that Id never seen before.

Mike said a 2009 blood test stated that my dad had toxic granulation in his blood, this is a massive indicator of serious infection, ie sepsis".

There was also a letter from his fathers cardiologist.

(This) was dated the same day as my Dad dying, and basically said under no circumstances is the heart to blame for Mr Dalys death" he said, and basically the sepsis drove the heart failure".

Mike Daly Snr's widow Mary, holding a framed photograph of her husband.

When he reported this to UL Hospital Group, they replied in November 2016, saying laboratory reports are not printed for FOI requests unless specifically requested.

They said: This (cardiologists) letter was dictated after your father was transferred to Milford Hospice, it should have been filed in his HealthCare Record, this was indeed an oversight, and I apologize for same.

Shortly after sharing the records with the coroner, a second inquest was announced.

I was in my sitting room, and for four years I put together the truth of what happened to our dad. It was a massive psychological undertaking, but I had to do it for my dad and my family.

He remembers, with teary eyes: For us to see him have about 120 seizures over a few days, you couldnt forget that. My mother had to witness all of that, my sisters.

He recalls one brief moment of lucidity before his father passed.

I dont know where he got the strength but he uttered one word, revenge, he said.

I looked at my sister and said did you hear what he said, and she said revenge.

The first inquest lasted two hours maybe, he said.

In March, Coroner John McNamara heard from 13 people, including expert witnesses he commissioned.

It was so surreal sitting there listening because everything that all the experts said, were my findings from my investigation of my dads death, Mike said.

Surgeon Raphael Keane removed a 6cm cancerous tumour from Mr Daly Snrs bowel and treated him. He gave evidence he was sure Mr Daly did not suffer a bowel leak.

The court also heard from former Senior House Officer Dr Dinuk Wijewardene and Clinical nurse manager Camel O Sullivan of their concerns.

Former State Pathologist Marie Cassidy said based on medical records she reviewed, Mr Daly Snr suffered chronic sepsis.

She said there was no active focus on sepsis described at the time of death.

Justice at last

The coroner recorded that findings from 2012 on causes of death be modified from cardiac failure, to cardiac failure and cardiac disease on a background

of recent bowel cancer, surgeries, infection, sepsis, and peritonitis.

For Mike, this was a huge relief. However, he remains extremely frustrated it took so long.

He has many questions around why they were not supported by the medical system in finding answers, and plans to keep asking.

Mike Daly Jnr still has memories of better times with his dad, which he shares with his own teenage daughter.

He was a great dad. When he wasnt working and on weekends he would bring us swimming out on the river, he said.

Back in the 1980s youd go to a river to swim. There was a place called Shannon Fields that was famous for picnics and swimming.

Layla has grown up without her grandfather, he said.

She grew up loving him, he said. She knows him, and thats the only thing I am proud about, she does know him though shes never met him.

A UL Hospital Group spokesman said: UL Hospitals Group notes the findings and verdict of the Coroner's Court in Kilmallock on Thursday March 9. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sympathies to Mr Daly and his family on the loss of their father.
TRANSGENDER people have been officially recognised in the law for eight years, so why are some people suddenly so concerned about a so-called threat?

Its a question that was posed by some who attended a private meeting of the Fine Gael TDs and senators this week.

A lengthy discussion ensued after Wexford TD Paul Kehoe told his party colleagues he had received more queries and emails about transgender issues than the ending of the eviction moratorium. A number of party members agreed.

I have had more emails on issues relating to education and transgender matters than over the eviction ban, one TD said after the meeting.

However, he said the emails received have all been very similar in tone and language, which suggested to him that it is part of an organised campaign with religious undertones.

Another member suggested its a campaign that has been imported directly from abroad and that it echoes the type of culture wars that have ignited in the US and, more recently, Britain.

Some within the Government and Fine Gael are increasingly concerned that the anti-transgender right-wing narrative is seeping into the mainstream, with parents of young schoolgoing children now the target audience.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill says even 'our own supporters' are fearful of issues that are not based in reality.

Minister of State Jennifer Carrol MacNeill told this weeks meeting of the parliamentary party that she had been contacted by a Fine Gael grassroots member who said she was worried about the safety of her daughters, and the possibility of males being able to use female changing rooms.

She pointed out that even our own supporters have become fearful of issues that are not based in reality, and more education and discussion are needed.

The perceived danger of an abusive man dressing up as a woman to get a gender recognition certificate in order to gain access to single-sex spaces is absurd.

Garda figures will clearly show that men dont feel the need to go to those lengths to violently or sexually assault women.

It was a point that was strongly addressed by Senator Regina Doherty when she was asked to appear before a Scottish parliament committee.

To me, its kind of fanciful when you recognise that in the Irish State, women have issues with regard to safety because of male violence.

I dont think a man who wants to be violent towards a woman needs to go to the extent of changing his gender through a certificate so that he can get access to me in the dressing room of Zara or wherever it happens to be, she said.

While dismissed as fanciful its a narrative that is clearly being pushed and gaining traction.

When asked about it on Thursday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he really hates the idea of transgender people being dubbed as a group who are a threat to children and a threat to others. He said:

Theyre no more threat to others than any other group in society and I really hope people will avoid straying into that space.

Robust, informed, and open debate should always be welcome and is essential to a functioning democracy. But many of the points that have been raised of late seem to solely centre around a believed danger to children, women, men, and prisoners.

There has been little thought or compassion shown towards those who have been singled out  a small cohort of extremely vulnerable people.

The emails sent to our politicians certainly dont consider the real issues facing those seeking to transition or those who have already transitioned  fundamental difficulties in accessing healthcare, or young people who are targeted and bullied for being different and the toll this has on their mental health.

Another angle being pushed is that the Gender Recognition Act, which legally acknowledges transgender people, was in some way rushed or not fully considered before it was passed into law back in 2015.

Ms Doherty, who was before Scotlands equalities, human rights, and civil justice committee as they debated what would become a highly contentious and divisive topic, said there is a very small but growing campaign which is now seeking to repeal our own Gender Recognition Act.

The act allows citizens to be legally recognised by their preferred gender and people can apply to the minister for social protection for a gender recognition certificate.

This is a self-declaration system and there is no requirement for medical diagnosis or judicial approval before a certificate can be obtained.

While a significant and life-changing piece of legislation for some, the numbers availing of it are relatively low; in 2021 for example, the State approved 195 gender recognition certificates.

It is understood that former justice minister Charlie Flanagan told this weeks Fine Gael meeting that other countries are rapidly rowing back on what was legislated for in Ireland in 2015, with the Gender Recognition Act.

Mr Flanagan suggested that issues were not fully discussed in advance of the legislation.

Dr Lydia Foy speaking to the large crowd at the Cork LGBT Pride Festival parade in 2016. Picture: Denis Minihane

Yes, the legislation passed relatively unscathed from the type of polarised, bitter and at times nasty debate that was seen earlier this year when then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon became embroiled in controversy over where transgender prisoners should be detained.

But it would be inaccurate to say it was simply pushed through without discussion by a Government of which Mr Flanagan was a member back in 2015.

Indeed, transgender rights had been on the agenda and in the public sphere long in advance of the act coming into force.

A 22-year-long legal battle taken by Dr Lydia Foy to have her gender recognised on official documents was the starting point along a winding road to the enactment of the law.

In 1992, Dr Foy had gender reassignment surgery and the following year, applied for a new birth certificate recognising her true gender but was refused. Her protracted fight involved two high-profile High Court cases.

Following on from this, an inter-departmental group was established in May 2010 and the following year then minister for social protection, Joan Burton announced her intention to legislate for the recognition of the acquired gender of transgender people.

The High Courts ruling in the Foy case that the State was in breach of its commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights in its failure to provide this recognition was delivered in 2008. This Government is determined to implement legislation in this matter as soon as possible, Ms Burton said in July 2011.

Public and political discussion did not stop after 2015 and a review of the operation of the Gender Recognition Act was completed in 2018.

Grubby culture wars

As the topic reignites, Mr Varadkar has moved to warn his own party that politicians should not become embroiled in grubby culture wars. He said that those involved just want to shout at each other and score points.

I think we do need to talk about it but lets do it in a way that understands were talking about individuals, were talking about families, were often talking about quite vulnerable people. And lets try and be sensitive in our comments. And thats to try to avoid anything thats disrespectful.

We have lived in a country where transgender people have been legally seen and accepted for eight years.

But transgender issues are now being put forward as areas that should be of public concern  women should be terrified, parents should be seriously concerned, and female prisoners should feel under threat.

What is most concerning is all of the unease being stoked comes from a place that disregards the people at the centre of the issue.
During a break of proceedings at a tribunal, I got talking to a senior garda.

We spoke about one of the issues that were being examined by the inquiry. This man was a rock of sense in the solutions he prescribed and pointing out where things went wrong. He got me thinking that if more people like him were in positions of responsibility there would be no need for expensive and time-consuming inquiries.

Shortly after our exchange, this man got into the witness box to give evidence. I can say with hand on heart that under oath he went on to tell lie after lie after lie. At one point, some of the lies were so transparent the chair of the inquiry looked sceptically at him.

To his credit, the witness kept a straight face. And then he stepped down, exited the room, and rejoined the real world, the whole experience having hardly cost him a thought.

None of this is to suggest that lying under oath is unique to gardai. It most certainly is not. Over decades covering tribunals and court cases, I have, I believe, seen people from all kinds of backgrounds commit perjury, a criminal offence. The only difference in tribunals is that the offenders  alleged on my part  tended to be from one of the power centres of society, be it in politics, business, the law, or, in a few instances, media.

In courts up and down the country, lies are told on a constant basis with absolutely no repercussions.

Last year, the Department of Justice published a report on perjury which stated that deliberate lying by some people goes on all the time.

Unfortunately, all too frequently some people have deliberately lied in court or misrepresented the truth in affidavits which materially affected the course of justice and equity, the report stated.

The problem is that perjury is notoriously difficult to prove.

Rare conviction

Last week, however, there was a conviction, an occurrence that is so rare, and the circumstances of this one so highly unusual, that it is worthy of close examination.

Pat Ryan is 27 and a former Limerick hurler who has won three All Irelands. In 2020 he was caught speeding and issued with a fixed charge notice (FCN), which includes a fine and the application of penalty points. Thousands of citizens receive one of these every week and are faced with a choice. Do you accept a fair cop, including the points, or try to get out of it? Many choose the latter and take their chances that it will get lost in the system. This is a gamble because if it doesnt get lost you have to go to court with the prospect of having your penalty points doubled and the possibility of a further fine. This is where things get sticky.

Frequently, motorists appearing in the district court tell the judge they didnt receive the original notice, that the goddamn postal system let them down. In recent years, judges have grown sceptical of this line and now usually ask the motorists to swear in the witness box that this is actually the case.

And in they go in their droves, and many lie, safe in the knowledge that they wont be done for perjury because there is no way of confirming that they are not telling the truth

This is where Pat Ryan fell down. Mr Ryan did as so many others do but he hadnt reckoned with some of the finest minds in crime detection in this country. Officers from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI), which habitually tackles organised crime, armed robberies and murders, have been conducting an investigation into abuse of the fixed charge notice system in Limerick for over three years.

Originally, the lads from NBCI arrived in town from Dublin to probe aspects of the citys gangland crime, but their investigation veered off course.

Make no mistake, there is abuse of the FCN system. But that abuse has been massively reduced since the problem was first raised by former garda Maurice McCabe a decade ago

And if the hierarchy within the force believe that a sledgehammer is required to crack this nut, that is their prerogative.

They know how best to fight crime. What is inexplicable is that this high-powered investigation into what is considered corruption is confined to the Treaty City. Can you imagine, for instance, the collection of the great and good which could be nabbed, both within and without the gardai, if the sleuths in the NBCI turned their investigative powers towards Dublin to investigate abuse of the FCN system? There is no knowing where it might end, but for some reason, it is the people of Limerick, including the local gardai, who are considered to be particularly susceptible to engaging in this kind of, apparently, serious crime.

Anyway, in 2020, Pat Ryan told the judge in Limerick District Court that he hadnt received the notice.

The boys in the NBCI, in the course of their investigation, had sight of a social media post showing that Pat had actually received it. They retrieved the digital audio recording from the court and put together their case.

Last Tuesday the hurler pleaded guilty to one count of perjury. Judge Patricia Harney sentenced him to two weeks in prison. He told a brazen lie in the face of this court, the judge said to Mr Ryans solicitor, Con Barry. The whole criminal justice system is based on truth given to the courts.

Pat Ryan is appealing. He is a young man who has a big cloud hanging over his future, particularly should he plan to travel outside the country.

He can have no complaint about his conviction. He can certainly consider himself to be the unluckiest perjurer since the speed camera was invented

In effect, he has been caught in the spokes of the big investigation that the NBCI is conducting in Limerick.

Maybe this conviction will act as a deterrent to those who lie daily in courts up and down the country. Maybe the great and the good who habitually lie in sworn inquiries will now think twice before perjuring themselves. Dont hold your breath though.

Meanwhile, there is great irony in the boys from the NBCI notching up a conviction in Limerick ostensibly designed to ensure that the roads are made safe. For the last two and a half years five members of the local divisions traffic corps have been suspended as a result of the bureaus investigation. The capacity to police the roads in the mid west has thus been reduced.

These five have not been charged with anything or subjected to any disciplinary action. If they did wrong they should be held accountable, but why the delay? Surely these individuals are not being scapegoated? Surely if the sleuths have stumbled on any senior figures involved in abuse of the system they are not looking the other way. Surely the high powered investigation is, in the best traditions of policing, being conducted without fear or favour in a fair and proportionate manner. Lets hope so, anyway.
One of the many lines to leap out of the Independent Review Groups report on the Defence Forces published this week is that women are barely tolerated.

That, the IRG report notes, is the best-case scenario.

At its worst, the organisation verbally, physically, sexually and psychologically abuses women in its ranks.

This kind of attitude manifested itself further through what the report describes as a discernible pattern of rape and sexual assault.

It was also evident in the fact that three-quarters of female recruits who have experienced unwanted physical contact or assault did not report the incident.

None of those surveyed by the IRG contacted the gardai about what had occurred, irrespective of how serious it was.

In effect, the Defences Forces is a mans world into which women are assumed to have strayed, as if they opened the wrong door and ended up there by mistake.

To be female is to be considered an object rather than a full human being, the IRG report states of attitudes in the forces.

Within the Defence Forces, there are just 603 women out of a full complement of 8,600, representing just 7%.

That this would today be an attitude prevalent in the workplace beggars belief.

The report goes on: In the 40 years since women were first allowed to join the Defence Forces, it appears that no thought has gone into researching, thinking about, or describing a Defence Forces soldier who is female.

"The Defence Forces appears to have adopted an add women and stir model. No consideration appears to have been paid to identifying the capacities and strengths of female soldiers. No thought or preparation went into elements like uniforms, boots, and facilities.

The approach seems to have been (and, in many areas, continues to be) one of get in there and try to be as much of a man as you can be.

Much of this points to an organisation living in the past when the workplace was almost entirely a mans world.

For instance, in 1970, females made up just 29.5% of the global workforce. By 2021, this has ballooned to 59.8%.

In Ireland, the change has been even pronounced as the country changed from being underdeveloped to a first-world country.

The total number of women in the workforce in Ireland is 1.2m, the IRG report states.

These figures show that the rate of female participation in the labour force has increased in tandem with Irelands accession to the EU, the ending of the marriage bar in the civil service, significant advances in educational attainment by females, and the growth and development of the Irish economy.

Yet, within the Defence Forces, there are just 603 women out of a full complement of 8,600, representing just 7%.

Taking into account that the forces are also disciplined entities with a strict hierarchical culture, one might wonder whether much of the problem is simply down to the low level of female participation in which a misogynistic culture could be easily disguised and covered up until some brave women finally were able to come forward in recent years.

It is certainly the case that other sectors of the workforce have adapted and changed as formerly male-dominated.

According to sources in the human resources sector, this is not always the case.

The problems highlighted in the IRG report, as they pertain to women, have far more to do with the culture of the organisation than the level of female participation.

This was evident two years ago in a report into the workplace for solicitors, conducted by the Law Society.

One out of every two female respondents to a survey had experienced sexual harassment, as had one out of eight male respondents.

Equally, a high proportion of those who said they had experienced harassment had not reported the matter.

Sexual harassment exists in the prison service as it does in most workplaces, a retired prisoner governor says.

It would appear a major increase in female participation in a sector does not lead to a change of culture.

Ethel Gavin, a retired prison governor, says she could relate, to some extent, to the IRGs report as it relates to women being expected to fit into a mans world.

When I joined first there was an element of that, she says.

For instance, there werent even womens toilets in the prison when I first joined. And the former inspector of prisons, Michael Reilly, used to suggest that he felt a lot of women when they joined simply conformed to the male type of culture, you know, cursing at work and that kind of thing.

"He felt that women were to some extent losing their identity in efforts to fit in better. I think, certainly in the past, that was accurate to a degree.

Today, about one in 10 prison officers are women.

Ms Gavin says sexual harassment exists in the prison service as it does in most workplaces, but she thinks neither the culture nor the low participation rate for females has a major impact on that.

I was aware of a couple of cases of sexual harassment before I left, she says.

There was one instance where two female staff had been in contact with a senior male staff member on social media and it got out of hand.

"There have naturally been other incidents but nothing that I would consider above and beyond what goes on in the workplace in general.

The Independent Review Group report on the Defence Forces has been an eye-opener for most people and highlights how elements of the workplace are really living in the past.

However, while the Defence Forces may be an outlier in terms of the extent of unacceptable  and sometimes criminal  behaviour towards women, it certainly is not alone in harbouring a culture that continues to live in the past.
Former US president Donald Trump is facing several charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment against him by a New York grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

He will be formally arrested and arraigned next Tuesday in his hush money case, court officials said, an announcement promising the historic scene of a former US commander in chief forced to stand before a judge.

The indictment against him remains sealed and the specific charges were not known, but details were confirmed by people who requested anonymity.

The streets outside the court where the arraignment will unfold were calm on Friday compared with earlier in the week.

When Mr Trump turns himself in, he will be booked like anyone else facing charges, with mug shot and fingerprinting.

But he is not expected to be put in handcuffs. He will have secret service protection and will almost certainly be released the same day.

In the meantime, Mr Trumps legal team prepared his defence while the prosecutor defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial.

Congressional Republicans, as well as Mr Trump himself, contend the whole matter is politically motivated.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg wrote to three Republican House committee chairmen on Friday in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The case is plunging the US into uncharted legal waters, with Mr Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment.

And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next years presidential election.

Mr Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against him could hurt that effort  though his campaign is already raising money by citing it.

Law enforcement personnel outside Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Friday (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

Top Republicans also have begun closing ranks around him.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised to use congressional oversight to investigate Mr Bragg.

Representatives James Comer, Jim Jordan and Bryan Steil, the committee chairmen whom Bragg addressed in his letter, have asked the district attorneys office for grand jury testimony, documents and copies of any communications with the justice department.

Mr Trumps indictment came after a grand jury investigation into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to bury allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter.

The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Both claim to have had sexual encounters with Mr Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

A New York City Police car and court officer stand guard outside the Manhattan district attorneys office (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Mr Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution and an injustice. He says that it is specifically designed to damage his 2024 presidential run.

Mr Trumps lawyer Joseph Tacopina said during TV interviews on Friday he would very aggressively challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment.

Mr Trump himself, on his social media platform, complained that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, HATES ME.

On his social media platform Mr Trump also accused Democrats of having LIED, CHEATED, AND STOLEN IN THEIR MANIACAL OBSESSION TO GET TRUMP.

The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight ahead of his planned arraignment on Tuesday.

He will be arraigned in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinsteins rape trial took place.

On Friday, officials from the secret service and the New York Police Department toured the court and discussed security plans.

Mr Trump has long decried the Manhattan investigation as the greatest witch hunt in history (Evan Vucci/AP)

Since Mr Trumps post on March 18 post claiming his arrest was imminent, authorities have ratcheted up security, deploying additional police officers, lining the streets around the court with barricades and dispatching bomb-sniffing dogs.

Since no former president had ever been charged with a crime, there is no rulebook for booking the defendant.

He will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken, and investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants.

All of that activity takes place away from the public. New York law prohibits the release of mug shots in most cases. Less clear is whether Mr Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons.

Once the booking is complete, the former president would appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment.

Even for defendants who turn themselves in, answering criminal charges in New York generally entails at least several hours of detention while being fingerprinted, photographed and going through other procedures.

As for the allegations, as Mr Trump ran for president in 2016, his allies paid two women to bury their accusations.

Alvin Bragg (Seth Wenig/AP, File)

The publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer paid McDougal 150,000 dollars (120,000) for rights to her story and sat on it, in an arrangement brokered by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

After Cohen himself paid Daniels 130,000 dollars (105,000), Mr Trumps company reimbursed him, added bonuses and logged the payments as legal expenses.

Federal prosecutors argued, in a 2018 criminal case against Cohen, that the payments equated to illegal aid to Mr Trumps campaign.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violation charges, but federal prosecutors did not go after Trump, who was then in the White House.

However, some of their court filings obliquely implicated him as someone who knew about the payment arrangements.

The New York indictment came as Mr Trump contends with other investigations that could have grave legal consequences.

In Atlanta, prosecutors are considering whether he committed any crimes when trying to get Georgia officials to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss there to Joe Biden.

At federal level, a justice department-appointed special counsel is investigating Mr Trumps efforts to unravel the national election results.

Additionally, the special counsel is examining how and why he held on to a cache of top secret government documents at his Florida club and residence, Mar-a-Lago, and whether the ex-president or his representatives tried to obstruct the investigation into those documents.
Hoy conmemoramos 60 anos del establecimiento de relaciones diplomaticas entre el Peru y Corea; tiempo en el cual hemos consolidado estrechos vinculos de amistad sustentados en valores compartidos. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/nd8Z7ptIVT
US President Joe Biden is expected to reject an invite to the King of England's coronation next month.

Mr Biden has reportedly turned down the invitation from Buckingham Palace, to watch Charles being officially crowned.

According to The Telegraph, Mr Biden may send his wife and First Lady, Jill Biden in his place.

Sources have said there is no threat to the "special relationship" between Britain and the US, and that the personal relationship between Charles and Mr Biden is strong.

Heads of state from around the world will attend the celebration on May 6, including all three presidents of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola, and Charles Michel.

Mr Biden will visit Ireland from April 11-15 for the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and could meet Charles in the north at that point.

It is expected that Mr Biden will travel with hundreds of people, including family members, on the trip, and will spend one day in the North before spending the rest of the trip in the Republic.

It is believed that while in Dublin, Mr Biden will give a public address, with locations such as Trinity College and Collins Barracks being considered.

College Green, where Barack Obama delivered a speech in 2011, is another option.

It is expected that Mr Biden will also visit Mayo and Louth, where he has family links.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak formally invited him to make the trip to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement when the pair held talks in San Diego.
A Ukrainian court has ordered a leading Orthodox priest who is accused by authorities of condoning Russias invasion to be put under house arrest.

Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraines most revered Orthodox site, has denied the charges and resisted the authorities order to vacate the complex.

Ukraines top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offence. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over the famed Orthodox monastery.

A hearing had been adjourned until Monday after the priest said he was feeling unwell.

A senior priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church blesses parishioners in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery (AP)

After the courts ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around Pavels ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it.

I am accepting this, he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldnt I accept this?

In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russias invasion was politically driven.

I have never been on the side of aggression, Pavel told reporters in the courthouse. This is my land.

Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, threatening him with damnation.

SBU agents raided the metropolitans residence, and prosecutors asked the court to put him under house arrest pending the investigation.

A supporter of Ukrainian Orthodox Church holds an icon outside the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery (AP)

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia.

The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

The UOC has insisted that it is loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion from the start.

But Ukrainian security agencies say some in the church have maintained close ties with Moscow. The agencies have raided numerous holy sites of the church and then posted photos of roubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

The government had ordered the monks to leave the compound by March 29. It claims they violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site, and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Dozens of UOC supporters gathered outside the monastery on Saturday, singing hymns in the rain. A smaller group of protesters also turned up, accusing the other side of sympathizing with Moscow.
Burma Myanmar Junta Sacks Commander After Heavy Casualties in Karen State

Yangon commander Major General Nyunt Win Swe (left)

Myanmars junta has sacked Lieutenant General Khin Hlaing, the Karen State commander, after his forces suffered heavy casualties in clashes with the Karen National Union (KNU).

Khin Hlaing is the second general to be forced out after Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the Sagaing Region commander, was dismissed last year.

Major General Myat Thet Oo, the southeastern commander overseeing Karen State, was also transferred.

The reshuffle suggests junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is unhappy with the heavy regime casualties in Karen State. Recently, the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the KNU, raided a strategic junta outpost near the Thai border, killing 16 regime troops.

A Min Aung Hlaing protege, Yangon commander Major General Nyunt Win Swe, has succeeded Khin Hlaing as the head of the Bureau of Special Operations 4 with a promotion to lieutenant general.

He nominated the 11th Light Infantry Division commander, Brigadier General Soe Min, who he worked with in Yangon, as the new southeastern commander.

Min Aung Hlaing vowed on Armed Forces Day on Monday to take decisive action against all revolutionary forces.

The KNU, which has fought for independence for more than 70 years, ridiculed the junta chiefs statement.

A military analyst said: This reshuffle is like the one he made last year in Sagaing. It means the junta is losing ground in these areas. Fighting will intensify in Karen State.

Padho Saw Taw, the KNUs spokesman, told The Irrawaddy that the reshuffle was nothing new or serious for the KNU as it had happened before without tangible results.

Appointing a new commander is what they normally do when they suffer defeats. It wont have any impact on us. Please see what we did recently to them, said he, referring to their raids to the Thai border trade zone in junta-controlled Myawaddy Township and follow-up fighting in the area and at the regimes strategic outposts.

Naypyitaw commander Major General Zaw Hein has been moved to Yangon and he is succeeded in Naypyitaw by Brigadier General Wai Lin.

The commandant of the National Defense College, Major General Kyaw Shwe Tun, has been appointed head of the southern naval headquarters and will be replaced by the Defense Services Academy commandant Major General Zaw Min Latt.
Burma Myanmar Resistance Fighter Beheaded, Two Teens Killed in Sagaing Raid

A drone video showing regime troops with Bo Sin Yines head.

Myanmars junta forces tortured and killed three resistance fighters, who were captured during a raid on a resistance camp in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region, on Thursday.

One of the victims was beheaded and a former captain, who recently defected from the military, was captured.

Around 90 junta Ogre Column soldiers raided Sagaing District Peoples Defense Force (PDF) Battalion 1s base in Swal Lwal O village in the south of the township on Thursday morning.

Bo Sin Yine, the groups deputy commander, and two 19-year-olds were detained and killed shortly after.

Bo Sin Yines decapitated body was retrieved on Thursday and his funeral was conducted without his head, according to resistance forces.

His head was discovered on Friday after junta troops left the village.

His head had a six-inch cut in the back and both ears were missing, Ko Lu Lin, the leader of the Myinmu Civil Revolution Force, who helped retrieve the bodies, told The Irrawaddy.

Bo Sin Yine escaped during the raid but returned to find his friend, a former captain who recently defected from the military and is now missing.

We used a drone to track them and saw regime soldiers cutting off his head, Ko Lu Lin said.

A drone video seen by The Irrawaddy shows around 15 regime troops surrounding the detainee and one soldier chopping his head off. Two soldiers beside him are holding knives.

A soldier then carries the head away. The video was later shared by resistance groups as evidence of junta war crimes.

The teenagers bodies were found with one shot in the head and the other in the groin.

Ko Nway Oo, leader of the Civilian Defense and Security Organization of Myaung resistance group, said the resistance fighters were unable to defend themselves as they lacked proper weapons.

Despite being a PDF loyal to the civilian National Unity Government, the battalion has only two automatic rifles. Unluckily, they were both being used by a patrol at the time of the raid, said Ko Nway Oo.

All of Swel Lwal Os villagers escaped the day before the raid when junta troops arrived at a nearby village.

On Thursday morning, resistance groups used a drone to bomb junta troops in Swal Lwal O and more than 12 soldiers are believed to have been killed or injured, Ko Nway Oo said.

The Ogre Column recruits from Light Infantry Battalion 708, which is led by Lieutenant Colonel Tun Lin Aung.

Since February 23 it has raided resistance strongholds in Ayadaw, Myinmu, Sagaing and Myaung townships in Sagaing Region and Yesagyo Township in Magwe Region, killing nearly 50 resistance fighters and civilians.

It has beheaded and mutilated resistance fighters and killed many civilian detainees, raping women before killing them.

An estimated 42 Ogre Column troops were killed in resistance attacks in Myaung Township between March 12 and 23, while the unit raided villages and resistance bases in Myaung and Yesagyo townships. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

The Ogre Column returned to Myaung Township on Wednesday after being reinforced in Myinmu Township.
Conflicts In Numbers How Much of Myanmar Does the Junta Really Control?

Myanmar regime soldiers stand guard on a road in Naypyidaw in February, 2021. / AFP
Junta Watch Junta Watch: Regime Promotes Heritage Farce to UNESCO; Military Reinforcements in Rakhine Rattle Truce; and More

Min Aung Hlaing and Kyu Kyu Hla during their visit to Sittwe, Rakhine State on March 30. / Popular News

Thingyan propaganda

The military regime is producing a documentary about Thingyan, Myanmars traditional New Year festival, in a bid to have the water festival enshrined on UNESCOs heritage list. The push has prompted the juntas Culture and Religious Affairs Ministry to urge revelers not to drink too much in what is the countrys largest annual celebration.

In a vision that is as ludicrous as it is ridiculous, the regime sees the festival as an opportunity to create an impression of normalcy and stability in Myanmar, which has been plunged into armed conflict since the coup. But as expected, the majority of Myanmar people have no interest in Thingyan celebrations organized by the junta.

The regime appears to have conveniently forgotten what happened last year when Myanmar people boycotted the festival, forcing the junta to hire people and coerce civil servants to join the festivities to create an impression that its Thingyan pavilions were crowded with revelers. In Yangon, the event turned ugly, with trucks organized by the regime repeatedly visiting the regime-organized pavilions, and traffic police forcing drivers and passengers passing anywhere near a pavilion to stop and enter.

Now, the regimes culture ministry is talking as if people were in a festive mood and ready to indulge in the annual celebration. Who do they think they are kidding?

Designer outfits ditched

Kyu Kyu Hla, the wife of junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, has come under fire again, this time for her attire while accompanying her husband on a trip to Rakhine State in western Myanmar.

How come Min Aung Hlaing has brought a maid with him? netizens joked on social media, referring to Kyu Kyu Hlas choice of a short-sleeved striped shirt with hta-mein (womens sarong) as she visited Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. She also left the shirt untucked  a significant departure from her usual style.

The wives of six majors accompanying her including Daw Nilar, spouse of military intelligence chief Ye Win Oo, followed her lead, also wearing plain, plaid, and striped shirts with hta-mein.

Kyu Kyu Hla, who is notorious for her love for luxury brands, is sanctioned by US government.

Rakhine peace shaken as junta stocks up on weapons

Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, on March 30 for his third monthly visit since January.

The trips follow the informal truce reached between the Myanmar military and the Rakhines ethnic armed group, the Arakan Army, last November. During his visits, Min Aung Hlaing called for swift completion of the India-backed Kaladan road-and-sea transport project, as well as for the success of the China-backed special economic zone in Kyaukphyu in the interests of Myanmar.

At the same time, the Myanmar military is reinforcing its troops and weaponry in Rakhine, and has also tightened security. Little wonder then that Min Aung Hlaings visits are prompting speculation among locals and observers.

Junta green-lights Belt and Road

With China resuming its investment projects in Myanmar, the regime has appointed its US-sanctioned deputy prime minister and finance minister U Win Shein as vice-chairman of the steering committee for implementation of the Belt and Road initiative, succeeding deputy junta chief Soe Win.

The committee was previously chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was arrested and imprisoned after being ousted in the February 2021 coup. Following the coup, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing took the helm of the committee, and Soe Win served as vice chair.

The juntas replacement of Soe Win with U Win Shein, who has better experience with managing investment projects, signals a green light for Chinas strategic project despite international sanctions.

Retired Top Brass Wheeled Out For Embattled Myanmar Junta Chief

Min Aung Hlaing orchestrates show of support on Armed Forces Day as morale among troops and regime threatened by relentless resistance attacks. Read more here.

Myanmar Junta Chief Vows to Defeat Shadow Govt and Allied EAOs for Supporting Resistance

The Armed Forces Day comments highlight the growing threat posed by the National Unity Govt, Peoples Defense Force and allied ethnic groups to Min Aung Hlaings regime. Read more here.
In two weeks, 42 women from Save Our Sisters, a Key Biscayne Dragon Boat rowing team, will head to the 2023 IBCPC Dragon Boat Festival at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand to compete against 240 teams from 30 countries.

What makes the Key Biscayne team different is they are all breast cancer survivors. In fact, every participant in the New Zealand race is a breast cancer survivor.

Team leader Victoria Jackson began racing dragon boats over 15 years ago.

Bonnie Cooper, a dear friend, knew I was a recent breast cancer survivor and introduced me to the sport, said the longtime island resident. I went out the first day and really threw myself into it. The next two days I was so sore I could hardly move, but I went back.

Jackson said, with a chuckle, she had been bitten by the dragon, and was hooked.

Dragon boats are large row boats requiring 20 paddlers, a drummer and a person who steers. They originated in China more than m2500 years ago.

The Save Our Sisters team practices twice a week -- every week, all year.

We even kept practicing during COVID, but we switched to individual kayaks to keep members safe, said Jackson.

The team is for all ages, all stages and all phases of breast cancer survivors, including both senior citizens and women in their 20s.

They dont just race, they are also very involved in the community.

We take our boat to events to spread the message of hope to women, and to educate them about early detection. said Jackson. From schools, to womens groups, even to prisons.

The team attends 5 to 6 races a year in the Miami area and around Florida. They also compete at international races that have taken them from Canada to Italy.

It is so much more than just racing; we are a support group. We take care of each other. We even have scholarships for sisters who have difficulty paying for treatments, said Jackson. We have one major sponsor, Miami Cancer Institute / Baptist Hospital, but we could surely use more.

For more information, go to www.teamsosmiami.org
??|Ministerio Publico logro que PJ ratifique la prision preventiva por 36 meses contra Pedro Castillo, investigado por el presunto delito de organizacion criminal y otros. Ademas, que se varie la medida de comparecencia por prision preventiva contra el exministro Geiner Alvarado. pic.twitter.com/kwE4iZfUDK
YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. A meeting was held in the Tegh-Kornidzor section with the participation of the representatives of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and border adjustment works were carried out, as a result of which the situation in the given section improved significantly, ARMENPRESS reports, NSS Armenia informed.

The NSS also informs that the works are currently ongoing, and the public will be informed about the results.

Earlier, on March 30, the National Security Service informed that according to the agreements reached in August, 2022, from April 1, 2023, the Lachin corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia was supposed to end at the Kornidzor bridge. From April 1, the route connecting the territory of the Republic of Armenia to the Lachin Corridor should pass through the Kornidzor-Tegh route, only through the territory of the Republic of Armenia. After August 2022, a part of the road connecting the Lachin Corridor to the Republic of Armenia again passed through the territory of Azerbaijan after the Kornidzor Bridge. That section of the road along its entire length and its adjacent territory was controlled by the Russian peacekeeping forces. According to the agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the border guards of the two countries were to be deployed along the above-mentioned section on both sides of the border in the last days of March.

Map misreading have appeared during deployment. In some places, the Azerbaijani side, without waiting for pre-arranged adjustments, started to position itself and carried out engineering works. According to the Armenian side, there were five such points, where the Azerbaijani side was located 100 to 300 meters further from the border.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Police in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne say they have found the bodies of two more people, including an infant, who were among a group of migrants who died trying to cross into the United States
A Romanian official says the divisive internet personality Andrew Tate has won an appeal to replace his months of detention in jail with house arrest while under investigation for possible organized crime and human trafficking
YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, 12 people with tumor diseases and pathologies requiring emergency surgical interventions were transferred from Artsakh to specialized medical centers of the Republic of Armenia with the mediation and escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ARMENPRESS reports, the Ministry of Health of Artsakh informed.

5 patients, who were referred to Armenia for treatment within the framework of the state order, returned to Artsakh.

Planned surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical facilities of Artsakh.

5 children are in the neonatal and resuscitation department in "Arevik" medical unit.

At the "Republican Medical Center" CJSC, 9 patients are in the intensive care unit, 5 of them are in critical condition.

Until today, a total of 241 patients have been transferred from Artsakh to Armenia with the mediation and escort of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has heard the concerns of the Russian Federation and will be able to ensure that the further process related to the Rome Statute does not harm the strategic relations between Armenia and Russia, Deputy President of the National Assembly told ARMENPRESS.

- Mr. Arshakyan, after the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia recorded in the decision published on March 24 that the Rome Statute corresponds to the Constitution of Armenia, both in Armenia and in Russia and in the international press, there was a great noise and it was presented that this was Armenia's reaction to the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court against the President of the Russian Federation. How will you comment?

- I think the best answer to the question is provided by the chronology. The Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the draft law of the Republic of Armenia "On Ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court signed on July 17, 1998 and on the adoption of a statement on the retroactive recognition of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in accordance with Article 12, Part 3 of the Statute" on December 29, 2022, during the public session of the Cabinet. The issue was reported live by Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan. It has been clearly recorded that this is Armenia's reaction to the cases of Azerbaijan's aggression against the sovereign territories of Armenia, in particular, to the acts of war committed by Azerbaijani servicemen during the September aggression. The ratification of the Rome Statute will give Armenia the opportunity to raise the issue of responsibility for the gravest crimes committed by the servicemen of Azerbaijan in the International Criminal Court. Continuing the chronology, I would like to emphasize that the government presented the issue to the Constitutional Court on January 3, according to the established procedure. The International Criminal Court published the decision on the President of the Russian Federation on March 17. The Constitutional Court of Armenia published its decision on March 24 after a three-month discussion. Moreover, according to Armenian legislation, the Constitutional Court should make a decision within three months. That decision is exclusively legal and answers only one question: do the obligations stipulated by the Rome Statute correspond to the Constitution of Armenia? I mean, the decision of the Supreme Court does not recognize anyone as guilty in any matter, neither requires anyone to be arrested. And back in December 2022, the Armenian government of course could not have guessed or predicted the probability and content of concrete decisions by the International Criminal Court in March.

- But the MP of the ruling faction announced that after the ratification of the Rome Statute, if the Russian president visits Armenia, he will be arrested.

- There were similar publications in the Russian press before the statement of the MP of the ruling faction. This does not mean that the Russian press expressed its wishes in those publications. I think the MP of our faction was impressed by the publications of the Russian press and social networks, for which I am sorry. Naturally, the ruling party and team have no such intention or desire.

- But the problem is that if the Rome Statute is ratified, it will be inevitable.

- It is a wrong perception, because as of today we already have a signed agreement with another country, according to which the Rome Statute will not affect our bilateral relations. There can be such a regulation with Russia. But this is just one of the options. There are other options as well. One thing is clear, we have heard the concerns expressed by the Russian Federation, and I think we will be able to ensure that the further process related to the Rome Statute does not harm the strategic relations between Armenia and Russia.
Cayuga County Legislature Chair David Gould said officials need to gather more information and confer with attorneys before deciding what, if any, action they'll take regarding a federal agency's decision to put more than 100 acres of Cayuga Nation land into a tax-free trust.

The Cayuga Nation announced Thursday that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency within the Department of the Interior, had granted its application to take properties the nation owns into trust. By doing so, the nation is exempt from property taxes and local zoning oversight.

The BIA had not publicly released the decision on its website, and did not respond to The Citizen's request for more information on Friday.

Gould told The Citizen Friday that he was informed of the decision by the Cayuga Nation, and had not been officially notified by the BIA.

But given what the BIA has signaled in the recent past, the chair said the decision was not a surprise.

"We all knew it was coming," he said. "It was a matter of when, not if."

After the BIA under former President Donald Trump rejected the trust application in the summer of 2020, the Cayuga Nation pushed forward with a lawsuit it had brought demanding a decision months earlier. In the fall of 2021, the agency, now part of President Joe Biden's administration, said in the lawsuit that it would reconsider the decision after receiving unspecified new information from the nation. The parties agreed to pause the litigation until that reconsideration was completed.

Gould said he wants to now meet with town, village and school district officials, the county's attorneys on staff and legal counsel retainer for the Cayuga Nation land claim issues, and Sheriff Brian Schenck, to discuss what the decision means and what steps might be next.

In its announcement, the Cayuga Nation urged officials not to legally challenge the BIA ruling.

"The naysayers who have cynically opposed our very existence now have no excuse for not recognizing our reservation and our sovereignty. We call upon local leaders to accept the BIAs decision and stop wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits," the nation's statement said.

Gould said it was too early to comment on potential litigation, but he did express his personal view that he hopes the nation and the local leaders can work together.

"I think the best route is to sit down and discuss this with them," he said. "Communication is the best thing you can do."

A draft environmental assessment released in September indicated that the agency was preparing to grant the full application, which sought trust protection for 115 acres of land in the village of Union Springs and the town of Springport. The bulk of the land, 111 acres, was in the village and connected to its Lakeside gaming center and its nearby convenience store/gas station. A 3.7-acre parcel of vacant land in Springport made up the rest.

In its announcement Thursday, the nation said the BIA had agreed to put 101 acres into trust. It's not clear from the Cayuga Nation announcement where land that was not granted trust status is located, nor why it wasn't included in the agency's final decision.

In the final environmental assessment, released earlier in March, the BIA said one of the main issues local opponents of land-into-trust status have expressed  the loss of property tax revenue  is not significant.

According to figures taken from 2021 tax payments, local jurisdictions will lose about $64,000 in combined revenue from Cayuga Nation property tax payments. The biggest impact proportionally would be felt by the village of Union Springs, where the $8,330 in property taxes paid by the nation accounts for 3.15% of the total tax base. Both Cayuga County and the Union Springs Central School District would lose less than 1%.

"The tax revenue generated by the Nations properties is minimal when considered in the context of the total tax base," the final environmental assessment said.

The environmental assessment also said the Cayuga Nation is willing to provide support for the fire, emergency medical and police services that are needed at times on its trust lands.

"The Nation will explore cooperative agreements in regard to community service providers, including emergency services, to ensure that the Nations properties and patrons of its businesses are adequately protected."
The USA entered new territory on Thursday with the indictment of former President Donald Trump, an unprecedented transfer in US historical past.

However different liberal democracies have ample expertise accusing former  and generally present  leaders.

Whereas the present French chief is usually secure from prosecution, former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac have each been discovered responsible after leaving workplace.

Trump was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday in reference to paying an grownup movie actress to stay silent about an alleged affair between her and Trump greater than 15 years in the past. Associated prices might embrace potential marketing campaign finance violations and enterprise fraud. Data: Trump will seem in courtroom on Tuesday.

Trumps indictment is groundbreaking for the US however its not all that unusual amongst liberal democracies  though distinguished Trump supporters say the indictments make the US seem like a malfunctioning banana republic.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels longest serving prime minister, is at the moment on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of belief. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud in 2012 and sentenced to 4 years in jail, although he was suspended for 3 years and spent the remaining 12 months in neighborhood service as a result of he was over 70. in 2013 after being discovered responsible of paying for intercourse with a minor and abuse of energy (the ruling was later overturned on enchantment).

South Korean President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to greater than 20 years in jail for corruption and abuse of energy in 2018, although she was pardoned by her successor after serving lower than 5 years. Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to fifteen years in jail for embezzlement and accepting bribes in 2018, however the present president pardoned him in late 2022.

It is all the time an enormous deal when a former president or prime minister is indicted, however in most democracies it is regular for them to be charged with critical crimes, Stephen Levitsky, a professor of presidency at Harvard College, instructed The New York Instances this week. .

France has prosecuted two former presidents, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, in addition to former Prime Minister Francois Fillon on prices starting from marketing campaign finance violations to embezzlement.

Upon his loss of life in 2018, Chirac was celebrated by many French residents for his irreverent fashion, his air of charisma as a world statesman (notably his opposition to the 2003 Iraq warfare), and for his mixture of cultural conservatism and center-left economics. However whereas he was on the Elysee Palace from 1995 to 2007, many denounced him as a trickster.

Investigating magistrates launched an investigation into Chiracs administration of the Paris council, which runs the capital, in 1999 after he obtained a grievance accusing him of widespread abuses of energy whereas he was mayor from 1977 to 1995, however that presidential immunity protected him so long as he remained in workplace.

Allegations of corruption in opposition to Chirac grew to become a working joke on the nations hottest satirical tv programme, Les Guignols de lData, which mocked him as a cape-wearing anti-hero Tremendous Menteur (Tremendous Liar). One sketch depicted Chirac and his spouse, Bernadette, as a pair of aged rappers, luddling in banknotes as they gawked at breaking the regulation.

However nostalgia for Chirac elevated after French voters grew weary of the charismatic fashion of his successor, who pundits dubbed Nicolas Bling Bling Sarkozy. Nevertheless, in 2011 Chirac grew to become the primary former French president to be tried in a landmark trial.

Chirac was discovered responsible of affect peddling, breach of belief and embezzlement, when, throughout his tenure as mayor of Paris, he positioned 21 folks on the municipal payroll who had already labored for his conservative political celebration, the Rally for the Republic. It value the towns taxpayers 1.4 million.

Chirac was not current on the trial, after his attorneys introduced a medical report saying he was affected by reminiscence loss and in poor health well being, amongst different critical and irreversible neurological issues.

Chirac was suspended for 2 years in late 2011 on account of his superior age and frailty.

Alain Juppe, Chiracs prime minister (and later international minister), was convicted of corruption in reference to the case in 2004. He was given a suspended 14-month jail sentence and banned from public workplace.

Chirac thus grew to become the primary French chief to be placed on trial since Marshal Philippe Petain, who was convicted of treason after World Battle II for collaborating with Nazi Germany.

President of France from 2007 to 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted of corruption in two separate trials.

In March 2021, Sarkozy was discovered responsible of trying to bribe a decide by providing him a profitable job in return for labeled details about one of many many investigations launched in opposition to him since he left workplace. He was sentenced to 3 years in jail, two of which have been suspended, in what grew to become generally known as the bismuth case, making him the primary former head of state in post-war France to be given a jail sentence. He appealed the decision.

In September 2021, Sarkozy was sentenced to a 12 months in jail with home arrest, tagged with an digital monitoring bracelet, after being discovered responsible of unlawful marketing campaign financing throughout his failed 2012 election marketing campaign and subsequently dropping an enchantment. may be spent on political campaigns; A sequence of US-style rallies brought on Sarkozys prices to skyrocket, with the ultimate invoice coming to at the very least 42.8m, practically twice the authorized restrict of 22.5m.

The courtroom mentioned Sarkozy knew weeks earlier than the 2012 election that the statutory restrict was susceptible to being breached and voluntarily refused to supervise extra bills, with prosecutors accusing him of ignoring two memos from his accountants bringing the case.

The case grew to become generally known as the Bygmalion Affair, after the general public relations agency that created pretend invoices to obscure the true value of the rallies.

Sarkozy additionally faces allegations that he illegally accepted cash from former Libyan chief Muammar Gaddafi to fund his first, and finally profitable, marketing campaign within the 2007 elections. Sarkozy was first positioned beneath formal investigation for unlawful marketing campaign financing in 2018 earlier than he He faces prices of prison affiliation in 2020.

Nicolas Sarkozys conservative prime minister, Francois Fillon, was the favourite to win the 2017 presidential election, holding first in opinion polls till the Penelopeget scandal befell his candidacy and earlier than Emmanuel Macron changed him as front-runner.

In January 2017, French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported that Villons spouse Penelope had been his parliamentary aide for 15 years, making round 1 million, though she did little precise work.

Fillon was sentenced to 5 years in jail in 2020, suspended for 3 years and banned from workplace for 10 years; Penelope was given a three-year suspended sentence, and in 2022 the Courtroom of Attraction decreased their sentences to 4 years, with a suspended sentence of three years and solely two years, respectively.

Nevertheless, the courtroom stored the fines of 375,000 euros imposed on every of them within the pretend jobs scandal, and in addition ordered the fee of 800,000 euros to the Nationwide Meeting (Home of Representatives).

Beneath French sentencing pointers, Fillon would doubtless spend his time in jail beneath home arrest, electronically labeled, slightly than go to jail.

Fillons protection workforce says they are going to file one other enchantment with Frances highest courtroom.
A catastrophic twister struck the southern US state of Arkansas and killed three individuals on Friday, whereas extreme storms to the north induced the roof of a theater in Illinois to break down, killing one and injuring 28, authorities mentioned.

A twister hit the state within the afternoon, inflicting what Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred to as widespread harm. Sanders mentioned two individuals have been killed within the city of Wayne within the japanese a part of Arkansas, whereas an official was killed in Pulaski County, which surrounds it. D.C. Little Rock confirmed demise there.

Huge harm has occurred in Central Arkansas, Sanders wrote on Twitter.

In depth harm in Wynne. I have been in contact with native officers for updates and steerage for state assets. Please observe the directions of the native authorities.

Praying for the security of all corners who stand in the way in which of those storms.

March 31, 2023 Roughly 30 people have been transported to our native hospitals, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. mentioned.

The Nationwide Climate Service issued twister warnings for components of the close by states of Tennessee, Illinois, and Iowa.

Within the night, catastrophe struck Belvedere, Illinois, when extreme climate induced the roof and a part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to break down whereas a metallic band was enjoying on stage inside.

Fox 32, a Chicago affiliate, reported on its web site that greater than 20 ambulances have been referred to as to the scene. Belvidere Fireplace Chief Sean Shadel reported that one individual was killed and 28 injured within the catastrophe, with 5 hospitalized with critical accidents.

Tv footage confirmed emergency personnel carrying injured individuals from the celebration on stretchers, and a video clip posted on social media confirmed rubble, a few of which reached waist peak virtually to the ground of the live performance venue, and a gap within the ceiling.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker tweeted late within the night: My administration is watching carefully the roof collapse on the Apollo Theater in Belvedere tonight.

A twister hit Arkansas throughout the afternoon, circling components of Little Rock. A automotive at a closed intersection.

I used to be mainly in full shock as a result of the neighborhood was mainly trashed and destroyed. Some buildings had their roofs fully blown off, Farrar mentioned. It added that the twisters path was a couple of quarter of a mile (half a kilometer) extensive, leaving extreme harm, however outdoors the direct path, the harm was very minor. Property harm is in depth and were nonetheless responding, Scott, the mayor of Little Rock, wrote on Twitter.

Presently, were conscious of 24 individuals who have been hospitalized in Little Rock and will not be conscious of any deaths in Little Rock presently. The property harm is in depth and were nonetheless responding. #LRwx #ARwx

Authorities in Pulaski County surrounding the state capital mentioned it had suffered vital storm and hurricane harm.

Greater than 78,000 individuals have been with out energy throughout the state, in accordance with Poweroutage.us. The governors workplace couldnt instantly verify any accidents to AFP, however an area hospital informed the Arkansas Democratic-Gazette it had already begun taking sufferers, together with that. Little is in vital situation.

Baptist Well being is making ready to deal with accidents, the newspaper reported, a College of Arkansas hospital spokesperson informed AFP.

We have not seen individuals are available but, however we all know the emergency providers have had issue reaching individuals due to fallen timber, the spokesperson mentioned. We anticipate individuals to come back all night time.

Tornadoes are widespread in the USA, particularly within the heart and south of the nation. Per week in the past, a twister swept by the southern state of Mississippi, killing 25 individuals and inflicting extreme harm to property, and President Joe Biden visited town of Rolling Fork. On Friday, one of many hardest hit areas in Mississippi. In December 2021, about 80 individuals have been killed by tornadoes in Kentucky.

(AFP)
Israeli troopers killed a suspected assailant after operating over a automotive within the West Financial institution on Saturday, the Israeli navy stated, in an escalation that threatens to finish a interval of relative calm in the course of the holy month of Ramadan to date.

The killing of the Palestinian got here lower than 24 hours after an Israeli Arab snatched a gun from a police officer in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and shot him earlier than he was shot lifeless.

The military stated a terrorist had carried out a ramming assault close to the city of Beit Ummar earlier than being neutralized, and a military spokesman confirmed to AFP that the alleged attacker had been killed.

Magen David Adom medics stated the three males have been taken to hospitals in Jerusalem with critical, reasonable and lightweight accidents.

The Palestinian Authority stated in an announcement that the lifeless man was Muhammad Baradiya, 23.

Early Saturday, police stated they shot and killed medical scholar Muhammad al-Osaibi, 26, from the Bedouin village of Hura in southern Israel.

In response to police, Asibi snatched a gun from an officer and fired it at different law enforcement officials close to the close by Chain Gate, an entry level to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound within the Outdated Metropolis of Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

Bystanders reported listening to gunfire, and an AFP photographer noticed dozens of police deployed within the Outdated Metropolis at round 1:00 am (2200 GMT Friday).

Assibis household disputed the police account of his dying and demanded to see tv footage, Israeli media reported.

Ram, the Islamic social gathering in Israels parliament, rejected the police model of occasions, citing in a Fb submit the allegations of witnesses who stated Asibi had come to assistance from a girl who had been in a scuffle with police. known as for an investigation.

The umbrella group representing Arab residents of Israel introduced a normal strike and a day of mourning on Sunday following the execution of Asibi.

In the meantime, the police have been standing by their unique model of occasions and issued one other assertion on Saturday afternoon saying that the positioning of the assault was not coated by surveillance cameras.

Video footage launched by police confirmed what was described as an asibi milling across the compound alone. One other video confirmed folks on the chain gate reacting in worry, prone to the sound of gunshots.

Police additionally dismissed the concept that a girl was concerned, saying Asibi arrived alone, with officers suspicious of him being within the compound after closing hours.

The capturing occurred hours after tens of hundreds of Palestinians crowded into Al-Aqsa Mosque for the second Friday prayer of Ramadan, which handed peacefully regardless of fears of bloodshed in the course of the holy month.

Israeli police stated greater than 100,000 folks gathered to hope at Islams third-holiest website, which was constructed on what Jews name the Temple Mount, Judaisms holiest website.

Greater than 2,000 law enforcement officials have been deployed throughout town.

The Jordanian authority that manages the mosque complicated estimated the variety of worshipers at 250,000.

The escalation of violence within the Israeli-Palestinian battle for the reason that starting of the 12 months has raised fears of bloodshed throughout Ramadan.

Because the starting of the 12 months, the battle has claimed the lives of 88 Palestinians, together with militants and civilians, and one Israeli Arab.

One other 14 Israelis, together with members of the safety forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian have been killed throughout the identical interval, in accordance with an AFP tally primarily based on official sources on each side.

(AFP)
ALBANY  State lawmakers were all but certain to miss a midnight Friday deadline to pass an on-time budget, the negotiations stalled by two contentious items at the top of Gov. Kathy Hochuls agenda: bail reform and housing growth.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Thursday that, Nothing other than bail and the housing compact has gotten any real discussions, while Senate Majority Leader Andrea-Stewart Cousins said that talks were in the middle of the middle.

On Friday, Hochul told reporters that while she and legislative leaders were focused on the big-ticket items, their staffs were working around the clock on other matters, including climate initiatives, education, health care and capital projects.

Theres progress being made in many areas, but in terms of what the leaders are talking about, we want to resolve these matters, and then the other areas will fall, Hochul said.

The Senate formally adjourned until noon on Monday. Assembly members remained on call, but Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay did not believe any voting was planned for that chamber this weekend.

Hochul, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins are all Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, a North Tonawanda Republican, told reporters on Friday that he believed Senate Democrats' rejection of Hochul's chief judge nominee earlier this year had damaged the Democrats' relationships during budget negotiations.

"They're trying to send a message that the State Assembly and Senate, that they sort of run the show here," Ortt said. "I have an issue with that because most of that leadership is based solely out of New York City. And the politics that they focus on are anathema to me."

He called the left-wing of the Democratic Party in New York "extreme" and urged Hochul, who hails from Buffalo and is considered a moderate Democrat, to "stand in there and make sure that this budget attempts to be a budget that works for all New Yorkers."

One budget bill  approving payment of the states outstanding debt service  did pass the Assembly earlier this week and the Senate on Friday.

The parties have the option of passing a temporary budget extender bill ensuring state employees will be paid as negotiations run late. The parties face a deadline at the end of the day Monday to either pass a budget or an extender to ensure such payments are issued.

Hochul wants to amend a bail reform law passed in 2019, which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and some nonviolent felony charges. Hochul  who also made amending the law a top priority in 2022 budget negotiations  this year is trying to change a provision she believes creates confusion for judges deciding whether to set bail for criminal defendants.

The governor is trying to change a provision of the 2019 law requiring judges to use the "least restrictive" means to ensure a defendant returns to court. She said that would avoid confusion with other parts of law giving judges greater discretion over whether to require bail in violent felony or serious misdemeanor cases.

"I want to remove any question about whether a judge has discretion to set bail," Hochul said during a recent news conference. "I want to make it absolutely clear that judges have both the authority and the accountability for these important decisions."

Democrats that run the Assembly and Senate have resisted making further changes to the law, and intentionally omitted Hochuls proposal in their one-house budget plans released in mid-March. But Politico reported this week that Heastie was softening on the issue: The Assembly had brought language to the budget negotiating table altering the state bail laws by removing, for some offenses, the least restrictive means standard.

Since that report, some Assembly Democrats have stated the intention of standing their ground and resisting changes to the law.

Ortt slammed the Democratic-controlled Legislature for holding up the budget over Hochul's proposed change to the the bail law.

"I can't think of anything more modest that would have any actual impact," Ortt said. "And even that is too much for Assembly and Senate Democrats, even though public safety remains at the top of New Yorkers' concerns."

Hochuls other big-ticket item is a plan to build 800,000 units of housing in New York over a decade. At issue is an aspect that would allow developers to bypass local zoning restrictions if housing growth did not occur quickly enough in a given locality. Under the plan, every upstate municipality would have to grow its existing housing stock by 1% every three years. In Erie County, that works out to roughly 4,400 new homes by 2026.

The Assembly and Senate scrapped that idea in their one-house budget proposals. Instead, legislative Democrats want to provide $500 million in incentives for local governments to hit growth goals. But supporters of Hochuls plan say that, especially for affluent suburbs prone to resisting new development, the incentive will not work.

On Friday, the watchdog groups Reinvent Albany and Citizens Budget Commission released a report finding that there was $14.8 billion in proposed lump sum pots of money in Hochuls budget proposal  including $8 billion in Covid-19 emergency pots of money  that would not be subject to review by Comptroller Tom DiNapolis office.

The report found that the Legislatures one-house budget bills included a Senate proposal creating two, $1 billion lump sum funds for distressed hospitals, which members of the Senate would have a role in later distributing.

Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany, said that $2 billion for hospitals in the Senate budget was new this year. She called the language outlining the requirements for how the funds would be spent broad and vague.

The watchdog groups define lump sums as pots of money allowing spending for a broad range of projects or purposes  determined and allocated after the Legislature and Hochul have already approved the funds in the budget.

DiNapoli said on Friday that the final budget should meet "high standards of transparency" and urged the Legislature "to reject the proposed changes, which eliminate competitive bidding requirements and oversight by my office of nearly $13 billion in spending.
Pope Francis anticipated to be launched from the hospital after three nights

Pope Francis was because of go away hospital on Saturday after a three-night keep for therapy for bronchitis, and start preparations for crucial week within the Christian calendar.

On Wednesday, the 86-year-old Pope was taken to Gemelli Hospital in Rome after he complained of respiratory issues, however his situation improved after he was given antibiotics. On Friday, the pope visited the hospitals kidss most cancers ward, handed out chocolate Easter eggs and in addition baptized a weeks-old child, in response to a video launched by the Vatican.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni mentioned Francis was working earlier on Friday within the hospitals papal wing on the tenth ground and watching newspapers. Thursday night time, eat pizza with some hospital employees.

The Argentine pope is predicted to be relieved of his put up on Saturday, Bruni mentioned, and hell preside over a Palm Sunday mass in St. Peters Sq.. The ceremony marks the start of Holy Week, which culminates in Easter Sunday.

Francis hospitalization was the second since 2021, when he underwent surgical procedure on his colon, additionally at Gemelli. His mounting well being points over the previous 12 months have prompted widespread concern, together with hypothesis that he could select to retire fairly than keep within the job for all times.

His predecessor, Benedict XVI, resigned in 2013, in a drastic transfer not seen for the reason that Center Ages, and guests to St. Peters Sq. on Friday expressed reduction on the popes enchancment. I used to be afraid for the Pope, mentioned a 56-year-old Italian vacationer who gave his identify as David.

He added, However I am glad it is higher, as a result of it is coming again. For the trustworthy and the Catholic neighborhood, that is vital.

Francis marked 10 years as head of the Catholic Church worldwide earlier this month. He has pushed main reforms in governance and sought to forge a extra open and merciful church, although he has confronted home opposition, notably from conservatives.

He has mentioned repeatedly that he would contemplate quitting if his well being deteriorated  however mentioned final month he had no plans to stop for now.

Throughout a Palm Sunday Mass, Francis is predicted to stay seated whereas one other clergymanmaybe a senior cardinalconducts the ceremony within the altar. The Vatican, citing medical employees, mentioned Thursday that Francis had been recognized with infectious bronchitis. antibiotics, and that the therapy had led to a important enchancment in his state of well being.

Gemelli Hospital is such a favourite with the Pope that it was dubbed Vatican III by Pope John Paul II, who was handled 9 occasions at Gemelli and spent a complete of 153 days there. flock, Francis continues to journey internationally and maintains a busy schedule.

However he was pressured to make use of a wheelchair and strolling stick final 12 months due to knee ache, and final summer time he admitted he needed to decelerate.

On Thursday, he mentioned he was touched by the various messages he was receiving on the hospital, and thanked on Twitter those that prayed for his restoration.

Im moved by the various messages Ive obtained in these hours and specific my gratitude for the closeness and prayers.

 Pope Francis (Pontifex) March 30, 2023 Francis earlier keep at Gemelli in July 2021 lasted for 10 days. He was admitted after growing a type of diverticulitis, an irritation of the sinuses that develops within the lining of the intestines, which required surgical procedure. In an interview in January, Pope mentioned the diverticulitis had returned.

(AFP)
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By Willow Kreutzer, University of Iowa and Stephen Bagwell, University of Missouri-St. Louis | 

When natural disasters strike, women and girls tend to experience disproportionate challenges and heightened risks.

They are much more likely than men to experience sexual violence and health problems. Women and girls also face greater professional and educational setbacks.

So it should come as no surprise that challenges continue to mount for women in Turkey and Syria following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6, 2023, that killed more than 50,000 people and displaced 3 million people.

Earthquake survivors in Turkey also include 356,000 pregnant women who, at the end of February 2023, urgently needed medical care, according to the United Nations. Some women have had to give birth to their children in collapsed buildings.

Women are also more likely than men to be left out of government policies and programs responding to the disaster, often forcing them to migrate away from disaster zones. Death rates are higher during disasters for women even in some cases of rich countries, due in part to such factors as women not wanting to leave the home during an emergency.

We are scholars of human rights and political science. It is important to keep in mind that as natural disasters take a disproportionate toll on women, these crises also tend to shift womens political attitudes. While the disproportionate impact of disasters on women has been well documented, a lesser-known imbalance is how such crises tend to shift political attitudes.

Research shows that womens trust in government declines after a natural disaster, while mens political trust increases  in both poor and rich countries.

In countries like Turkey with multiple disasters a year, studies show that womens trust in government will likely decline over time. This includes their trust in government institutions, as well as their trust in those with power in government  political leaders, parties and parliament. When women do not see those in power as meeting their needs and trying to support and protect them, their trust wanes.

Why women are more vulnerable post-disaster

There are a few main reasons why women tend to feel the worst effects of a natural disaster.

First, societal expectations placed on women as the main caretakers in the household in both more and less economically developed countries are exacerbated following a disaster.



Photo by Caglar Oskay on Unsplash

Women are often tasked with collecting and carrying food and water to their families, for example, as well as tending to their children and other family members. Womens responsibilities as the primary caretaker often place them in dangerous settings after disasters, either traveling through rugged terrain to reach water and food or staying in unstable housing structures to cook and help their families.

Second, governments tend not to prioritize womens particular health needs. Pregnant or nursing mothers may be unable to receive routine care, leading to an increase in risk of death or disease to both mother and baby.

While there are some international relief groups and projects that focus on providing menstrual health care to women following a disaster, this kind of response is not common.

Third, women are more likely to be living in poverty, with fewer economic alternatives than men following a disaster. They are slower to return to work, if they can at all, and are often denied government relief under the assumption that their husbands will support them. This further decreases womens overall safety.

A series of earthquakes in Turkey

Following the February 2023 earthquake, advocacy groups and relief response agencies voiced concern that women and girls in Turkey were left in hastily constructed refugee camps that did not have access to safe bathrooms, clean water or period products.

Women and especially young girls living in temporary shelters are at a higher risk of gender-based violence and early child marriage, according to humanitarian agencies like Plan International. This is especially true if women do not have designated areas separate from men  as is the case in Turkey.

The Turkish advocacy group The Womens Coalition has asked the government to remove preexisting obstacles to supporting women, like ending bans on popular social media sites.

This is because social media can play a vital role in coordinating relief and rescue efforts, and these bans are actively keeping women and LGBTQ organizations from connecting with people and providing assistance in earthquake-affected areas.

Women and girls may also be wary of asking male relief workers for help with their reproductive needs. Hesitancy to ask for help from male workers extends beyond reproductive needs.

Womens rights activists in Turkey have said that women who were caught naked or without headscarves under the rubble were less likely to ask for help or rescue out of fear.

Understanding the political ramifications

Peoples trust in the government in Turkey is generally low, and data demonstrates that Turkey could be doing significantly more with its available resources to guarantee respect for human rights overall. For example, recent reports by human rights groups indicate that Turkish authorities do not always enforce laws preventing domestic violence, which is common in the country.



Photo by Rostyslav Savchyn on Unsplash

Since peoples trust in politics and government is shaped by lived experiences, we think that solutions to prevent a decline in trust logically involve minimizing the experiences that cause the decline. While governments cant control natural disasters, they can ensure that their responses are more inclusive of womens needs.

Willow Kreutzer, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Iowa and Stephen Bagwell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis

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

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment)  The United States does not have much of a history of holding its high office-holders to account. No former president or vice president has been convicted of crimes committed while in office.

It is not true, however, as some commentators are now implying, that it is unprecedented for a former member of the executive to be arrested and tried. Thomas Jeffersons first vice president, Aaron Burr, got into similar legal hot water. As the History Channel points out, On February 19, 1807, Burr was arrested in Alabama for alleged treason and sent to Richmond, Virginia, to be tried in a U.S. circuit court.

Trump has just joined Aaron Burr in being arrested once out of the White House (Im using White House symbolically; until Lyndon Johnson VPs had their offices in the Senate Building). The scandal of Burrs duel with Hamilton, in which he killed Hamilton, caused him to be dropped from the ticket by Jefferson in the 1804 campaign, and he resigned on March 2, 1805.



Aaron Bur, painting by John Vanderlyn, public domain.

Once out west, having left Washington, D.C., Burr was full of big talk, which the British ambassador dutifully recorded. He spoke of getting the Western territories to secede from the union. Worldhistory.us explains that the ambassador, Anthony Merry, wrote to London that Burr asked for funding to effect the separation of the Western part of the United States. He said Burr even requested that the Royal Navy seize New Orleans during the takeover.



Via Wikipedia. Sources: Natural Earth and Portland State University (https://gist.github.com/wboykinm/05756ac2e625bae9ed81). This file was derived from: Louisiana Purchase.png

Author, William Morris, (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

In fact, Burr seems to have been trying to leverage some money out of the British to buy up land from Mexico in what is now Texas. Burrs loud scheming created a widespread impression in the East that he was trying to lead a secession of territories in the Louisiana purchase, He was put on trial three times, but the trials ended with a not guilty verdict. However, his attorney, Henry Clay, eventually became convinced that his client was indeed guilty and had lied to him.

Like Burr, Trump will be arraigned before a judge. That will come next Tuesday. Whether he will actually be convicted, as Burr was not, remains to be seen. Maybe in that regard Trump really be the first figure from the executive to end up spending time in jail.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2023) - Tincorp Metals Inc. (TSXV: TIN) (OTCQX: TINFF) ("Tincorp" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has granted, subject to regulatory approval, an aggregate of 2,480,000 stock options to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company, pursuant to the terms of the Company's stock option plan. The options are exercisable for a period of 5 years from the date of grant at price of $0.47 per share, being the closing price of the common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") on March 30, 2023. The options vest in six equal tranches over a period of three years, and are subject to the provisions of the plan and the policies of the TSXV.

About Tincorp

Tincorp Metals Inc. is a mineral exploration company focusing on tin projects in Bolivia and a gold project near Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Company has 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 in respect of the Skukum Gold Project was completed in October 2022.

On Behalf of Tincorp Metals Inc.

signed "Gordon Neal"

Gordon Neal, CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations, Tincorp Metals Inc.

Phone: +1 (604)-336-5919

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.tincorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2023 / Rockland Resources Ltd. (the "Company" or "Rockland") (CSE:RKL) is pleased to announce that it has signed an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Wapistan Lithium Project (the "Project") located within the James Bay region of Quebec.

The Wapistan Lithium Project is a large land package comprised of 219 claims (10,722 hectares) over two claim blocks (Wapistan East and West; Figure 1). The property is easily accessed by all-season roads, hydro and has two nearby communities offering exploration and mining services.

The Wapistan East Property is underlain by approximately 20 kilometres of the Yasinski Group volcano-sedimentary rocks (greenstone belt). Whereas the Wapistan West property is underlain by approximately 11 kilometres of the Yasinski Group rocks.

The Wapistan Project is located between 8 and 30 kilometres easterly from the lithium prospects and spodumene bearing pegmatites of the nearby Q2 Metals Mia Property (QTWO - TSXV) and Ophir Gold's Radis Property (OPHR - TSXV); all which form part of the same greenstone belt.

At Mia, two notable showings include Mia Li-1 (0.47% Li2O) and Mia Li-2 (2.27% Li2O), were recently sampled by Q2 Metals. These occurrences of spodumene pegmatite are well documented and located within the western part of the Yasinski Lake (greenstone) Belt. Historical work in 1959 (Main Exploration Company Ltd., GM10200) within the Mia Property has mapped an approximate 8.3 km trend of pegmatite (up to 30.5 metres wide) extending in the same greenstone belt from the Mia occurrences eastward toward the Wapistan Property.

The Wapistan Project has never been explored with lithium or critical elements in mind, despite the well positioned location. At Wapistan, a small number of pegmatites are described within the regional provincial SIGEOM database. The Company has retained Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. to complete a comprehensive property-wide compilation of historical data, and a review and interpretation of high-resolution satellite photos, in order to generate exploration targets for the upcoming field season.

Figure 1. Wapistan Lithium Project Location

Mike England, CEO of Rockland stated "We are extremely excited to acquire such a large land package covering one of the most promising Greenstone Belts in the James Bay Region of Quebec. Recent exploration by both Q2 Metals and Ophir Gold has shown the western part of the belt to host a number of spodumene bearing pegmatites. While Patriot Battery Metals has demonstrated the James Bay region to host the potential for a world class lithium discovery"

Cumulative terms of the option agreement will see Rockland issue 10.8 million shares and pay $400,000 cash over a 12-month period. A 2% NSR will be granted to the vendor of which half (1%) can be purchased back by the Company for $1,000,000 at any time.

The proposed transaction is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including, as applicable, approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. A 21-day due diligence period has been granted to Rockland. The proposed transaction would be an arm's-length transaction for the company and would not constitute a fundamental change or result in a change of control of the company, within the meaning of the policies of the CSE. A finders fee will be payable.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Francois Gagnon, P. Geo., Senior Exploration Geologist for Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., and Qualified Person under NI 43-101 on standards of disclosure for mineral projects.

Disclaimer

*Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby and/or geologically similar properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's properties

About Rockland Resources Ltd.

Rockland Resources is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets for the benefit of its shareholders.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Mike England

Director

For further information, please contact:

Mike England

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither the Canadian Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at WWW.SEDAR.COM).
PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH Apr 2  Peace Lutheran Church, 3430 N. Fourth St., Flagstaff. 928-526-9578. 10-11 a.m., We invite you to join the family of Peace Lutheran Church (LCMS) on Sunday at 10:00am for in person blended service (Combined Liturgical, hymnal based and Praise Worship) with Holy Communion. Pastor William Weiss Jr. (Pastor Bill) will be presiding. The service will be live streamed on our website (peacelutheranflagstaff.org) and on YouTube. https://go.evvnt.com/1639815-0.

LIVING CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH Apr 2  500 W. Riordan Road, 500 W. Riordan Road, Flagstaff. 928-526-8595. 10-11 a.m., We invite all to celebrate with us God's love and presence in our lives and be God's hands in the world. We are intentionally inclusive. We worship through music, teaching, prayer, and the sacraments each Sunday at 10 a.m., at the Campus Ministry Center located on the NAU campus or join us online. Join Rev. Kurt Fangmeier for Palm Sunday! Today, we encounter the paradox that defines our faith: Jesus Christ is glorified king and humiliated servant. We too are full of paradox: like Peter, we fervently desire to follow Christ, but find ourselves afraid, denying God. We wave palms in celebration today as Christ comes into our midst, and we follow with trepidation as his path leads to death on the cross. Amid it all we are invited into this paradoxical promise of life through Christs broken body and outpoured love in a meal of bread and wine. We begin this week that stands at the center of the church year, anticipating the completion of Gods astounding work. The Processional Gospel - enter with Palms Matthew 21:1-11. We will explore more with our Reading of Isaiah 50:4-9a (The servant of the Lord submits to suffering), Psalm 31:9-16 (Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit) and with Reading Philippians 2:5-11 (Humbled to the point of death on a cross), Finally, the Gospel Matthew 26-27 (The passion of the Lord).

BEACON UU SUNDAY SERVICE: The Tree That Owns Itself - Can We Ever 'Own' Nature? Apr 2  Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 510 N. Leroux St., Flagstaff. (928) 779-4492. 10-11 a.m., ALL ARE WELCOME! You BELONG at Beacon. Spiritually open and intentionally inclusive since 1958. One of the most beloved residents of Athens, Georgia, is a stately Jackson Oak known as the tree that owns itself. The tale of this roadside wonder raises the question of whether we can ever own Nature, even as land is bought or stolen and stripped of its resources, and as we face ever-worsening climate crises and environmental injustices. In this early Earth Day service, well ponder our responsibility to practice sustainability and care for the natural world, rather than have dominion over it. Rev. Robin Landerman Zucker, preaching. Original poetry from Worship Associate Lise Breakey. Music from Austin Shaw and Andrez Alcazar. Social Justice Witness from Genevieve Pearthree from the City of Flagstaff Sustainability Office. https://go.evvnt.com/1638841-0.

Unity of Flagstaff Spiritual Center Apr 2  Unity of Flagstaff Spiritual Center, 1800 S. Milton Road, Flagstaff. 10:30-11:30 a.m., Welcome to YOUR Holy Week Palm Sunday. Wont you join us at Unity of Flagstaff for a New Thought about an Old Story? Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus riding into Jerusalem, bringing his message of Love, and modeling what it is to stay centered in our Christ Self in spite of the events around us in the world. Remembering who we are amid the Storms that we talked about last week. Palm Sunday announces the central conflict of Holy Week and all the subsequent events thereafter. How could this story support our daily lives? Every day is an opportunity to see the Holiness amid lifes experiences. What if we were to stand in our Divinity as Jesus modeled for us? Bringing the message of Love. And, as we ride through the most expected and unexpected events in our lives, demonstrating the power of being true to our Divine Nature. Unity of Flagstaff 1800 S. Milton. Join us for in-person celebration, or LIVESTREAM YouTube.unityofflagstaff.org Unity of FlagstaffFind YOUR Expression!. https://go.evvnt.com/1645850-0.

Flagstaff Federated Community Church: Please join us for in person services Sundays at 10 a.m. We are located at 400 W Aspen Ave. on the corner of Aspen and Sitgreaves in Downtown Flagstaff. All are welcome to our services. For more information about Flagstaff Federated Community Church please call our office at 928-774-7383, Mon  Thurs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Church of the Resurrection Sunday Church Services: 740 W. University Heights Drive S., 740 W. University Heights Drive S., Flagstaff. 928-853-8522. 10-11:30 a.m., Church of the Resurrection Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): We invite you to join us for worship at 10 a.m. on Sundays at 740 W. University Heights Drive South. Please feel free to contact us for information on our mid-week gatherings and for more information on our church. You can find us at www.cor-pca.org and www.facebook.com/CORFlagstaff or we can be reached at corflagstaff@gmail.com and (928) 699-2715.

Leupp Nazarene Church: The church, near mile post 13 or Navajo Route 15, has been holding services by teleconferences and doing drive-up meetings. For information, call pastor Farrell Begay at 928-853-5321. Teleconference number: 1-7170275-8940 with access code 3204224#. Services are 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays and 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays.

Christian Science Society of Flagstaff: 619 W. Birch Ave. The Christian Science Society of Flagstaff has opened for Sunday services while continuing to have them available via Zoom for online and phone. Wednesday testimony meetings are available only via Zoom. For phone Sunday Services: Dial: 669-900-9128, Meeting ID: 369 812 794#, Passcode: 075454#. For phone Wednesday meetings, dial: 669-900-9128, Meeting ID: 971 672 834#, Passcode: 894826#. The access for Zoom on Sundays is: https://zoom.us/j/369812794. The Zoom access for Wednesdays is: https://zoom.us/j/971672834. The password to use to enter both is CSS. We welcome all to attend our Sunday Services in person, or live by Zoom, at 10:00 oclock, and to attend our Wednesday Testimony meetings live by Zoom, at 5:30 oclock. Our Reading Room will be open on Wednesdays from 4:005:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10-noon. For further information please call 928-526-5982.
Before its scheduled debut, Netflix's upcoming series "Queenmaker" starring Kim Hee Ae is receiving negative comments from the public. Continue reading the article to know what happened.

'Queenmaker' Stirs Buzz Online Due to Its Political Theme

Netflix gears up for another interesting series, "Queenmaker" to release this April. However, just a few days before it premieres, the drama is already creating a buzz online due to its political theme and cast.

In preparation for its release, Netflix Korea dropped "Queenmaker's" poster online, describing it as a political series with an imaginative framing, established by a genius image maker who has lived like a weed like a human rights lawyer.

The show consists of eleven episodes, it tells the journey of Hwang Do Hee (Kim Hee Ae) (Moon So Ri), a top executive of a big corporation, and Oh Kyung Sook, a labor rights lawyer.

Based on the synopsis provided, Oh Kyung Sook decides to run for the Seoul mayoral election after she catches Hwang Do Hee's attention while fighting against the corporation that he works for.

Apart from the poster, the released trailer video, highlights the intense race for the 39th Seoul election. Hwang Do Hee refuses to elect someone else as mayor, he encourages Oh Kyung Soo to run for the mayoral race to fix the power that the Eun Sung Group holds.

Here's What People Are Saying About Netflix's 'Queenmaker'

However, despite the series' promising plot and top-notch actors and actresses, it still received backlash from the public. People left negative comments ahead of the drama's upcoming release.

Some commented, "Why is Netflix investing in writers and PDs who want to look good in the political realm?"

"Isn't this a political spec for human rights lawyers?"

One online user wrote, "Don't create content like this when it's clear how much Koreans hate politicians."

Another commenter pointed out that lead stars Kim Hee Ae and Moon So Ri's roles exhibit feminism.

Meanwhile, "Queenmaker" is set to release on Netflix starting April 14. Viewers will see more familiar faces in the series like Ryu Soo Young, Seo Yi Sook, Jin Kyung, Kim Tae Hoon, Ok Ja Yeon, Yoon Ji Hye, Lee Kyoung Young, and Jo Won Hee.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Ahn Jae Hyun's Acting Criticized Despite Successful Debut of 'The Real Has Come'

What can you say about Netflix's forthcoming political series "Queenmaker"? Share your thoughts in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie and Somers voters will decide between two candidates in a Kenosha Unified School Board race during Tuesdays spring election.

Incumbent Yolanda Adams and candidate Lamar Madison are running for the position, for a three-year term.

Adams is a longtime resident of Kenosha, after her family moved from San Antonio, Texas, when she was 2 years old. She has three children, all of whom attended Kenosha Unified schools, along with grandchildren who attend Kenosha Unified schools.

Adams was elected to the board in 2020, and previously served on the board in the early 2000s. She returned to serve in 2019 as an appointed member to finish the final year of then-board member Gary Kunich.

Adams graduated from Gateway Technical College with an Associate of Applied Science in accounting, and Carthage College with a Bachelor of Science in accounting. She held jobs at American Motors, Commonwealth Edison and Great Lakes Naval Base as an executive secretary. She also worked as a Senior Accountant at Outboard Marine Corporation and SER Jobs for Progress, and was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League of Racine and Kenosha, Inc.

Adams has served the community in various organizations including the Wisconsin League of United Latin American Citizens, American Association of University Women and the Rotary Club of Kenosha, among several others.

Madison is a Columbus, Miss., native and a senior training and compliance manager for Takeda Pharmaceutical. He is also a a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves. He graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in Political Science. He also holds a masters degree in Business Organizational Security Management from Webster University.

Madison and his wife, Ledi, have three children, two of which are school-aged and attend Nash Elementary School. He has previously worked as a police chief, director of emergency services for the military and as a warden at Guantanamo Bay. Madison received military commendation awards throughout his career.

What is the most important issue?

Adams: I believe its the declining enrollment, as weve been talking about it for at least three years now. We know that its not going to improve (and) were going to continue to see a decline. There are multiple factors for that. Were still recovering from the loss of students from the pandemic. We had some enrollment losses there. But the decline in the birth rate is happening everywhere in the country, so its not expected to improve. Its consistent with the continued slide in the state birth rate, so were not alone in this. Its predicted to continue for at least another five years. We have budget concerns over this decline, because it affects our budget so much, and the way the state formula is, we have about $440,000 less per-pupil aid to work with. To me, as a fiscal person with a fiscal background, my major concern is the next school year budget and how we are going to balance that. Our expenditures are going to be more than the revenue, which means you usually cut expenses, so that, to me, is the major concern.

Madison: I would say the thing that is most affecting school systems is the misappropriation of funds, like mishandling the budget, which causes us to be in debt ... Nothing else matters until we get a handle in the system responsible with the money that we get. So I would say budget issues is the number one thing. This is a self inflicted wound. Its not about being fully funded. I would say, 2010, was when we had the most students, like 23,000, then from there it started to decline. Around year three of the decline, you should have started projecting what changes needed to be made to stop the bleeding in our schools. Nothing was done up until the last minute when we didnt have a choice. Now we have to take dramatic measures to correct it, So short of a bailout from the state, we have to make some real tough decisions going forward. A lot of things are important, but without funding, we dont have a school.

Why are you running?

Adams: In light of the fiscal cliff and the fiscal concerns, I think we need to have some board members who truly understand budgeting. I think I bring that to the board. Other School Board members all have something unique that they bring to the board. I think, for me, its my fiscal experience and my accountability, as it really relates to finances.

Madison: When the whole COVID-19 policies came out, that opened my eyes a lot. It showed me how much power the School Board actually has concerning educating kids, the budget (and) who gets hired (and) who gets fired. Before, most people didnt really pay attention to a School Board race and like a lot of times they went unchallenged and no one really cared about it. But once COVID hit parents started seeing what was going on in the school system and started mistrusting them. So thats when I was like, You know what, I have to get involved and start being part of the solution and stop being part of the problem.

If elected, what will you strive to get accomplished?

Adams: One of the things is we know that we need to retain our teachers, and so recruitment, hiring and retention are what I hope to accomplish. Teachers are leaving for numerous reasons. I hope to develop a plan that will help us find teachers to come to our district and to keep them and, furthermore, to diversify our district as it relates to ethnic diversity. We need to bring more teachers who are qualified, no doubt, but that are able to represent the students of color that are in our district, and thats a high percent. So I think we need to recruit all teachers, but particularly teachers of color to our district. We are working on that plan... We set a goal, (and) one of our goals was t have an effective engaged workforce, so we did say by June of 2023 that we will identify the strategies to increase the diversity by 5% by June of 2026. So in three years, we want we want to accomplish this goal.

Madison: I think the first thing I have to do is get my hand around the budget and make sure we are solvent. Secondly, I would try to make Kenosha Unified a place where people want to send their kids to school. Right now a lot of parents are opting out, because its not a place that people want to send their kids. I forget the exact rank, but we rank in the bottom 50%. And even within the bottom 50% were still at the bottom of that. Even though we have low birth rates, we still have more people leaving the school system than coming in. You have to ask yourself, why are they doing that?

Anything you would like to add?

Adams: Theres been a lot of talk about why we are meeting virtually. I want people to know that the board and I like to have an in-person meeting, and were not trying to silence anybody. But the meetings were changed from in-person to virtual due to safety concerns, and that was the only reason why. If we see that were having disruptions where were not able to conduct an orderly meeting, and then we have board members or citizens that come for citizens comments and they dont feel safe walking back to their cars, thats a safety concern.

Madison: If people really want change, we have had the same people cycle in and out of the board for years. These are the same people that got us in this mess, and I think you need new people on the board to get us out. Theyve had anywhere from 10 to 15 years to fix this problem. And again, some of the same people have been cycling in and out of the the board. And its gotten worse: costs have gone up and grades have gone down, and theres a huge gap... You dont have to be a teacher or educator to fix the issues that are going on in our schools.
Today is April Fools Day, so try to catch someone with at least one prank today. (And if someone gets you, be a good sport and laugh it off.) April 1 is also Fun Day, which means its the perfect excuse to go a little nuts and enjoy some silliness today.

Hop over to Downtown Kenosha from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today for the Small Business Bunny Hop. Participants are welcome to visit the participating businesses to collect Easter eggs, filled with candy and stickers for children. Adults will receive eggs filled with coupons and other special offers. Eggs are available while supplies last.

The Growing with Bristol community organization is hosting an Easter egg hunt starting at 10:30 a.m. today in Hansen Park, 19806 86th Place in Bristol. Bring your camera for photos with the Easter Bunny. More than 20,000 eggs, stuffed with a variety of candy or small toy prizes, will be scattered for children to collect. There will be a staggered starts of the different age groups, up to age 10. This is a free April 1 event. Note: Hansen Park is off of Highway 45, south of Highway AH in Bristol.

The Broadway musical Chicago is on stage at 2 and 7:30 p.m. today (April 1) at Harborside Academy, 913 57th St. The show, which runs through Sunday, is set in Chicago in the 1920s, telling the story of corruption in the criminal justice system and the concept of the celebrity criminal. Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for senior citizens (55 and older) and $6 for students and staff members.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time will be performed 7:30 tonight (April 1) at Bradford High School, 3700 Washington Road, in the Studio Theater. Curious Incident is a play by Simon Stephens. The story concerns the death of a neighbors dog, investigated by young Christopher Boone, who is autistic. While trying to discover who killed Wellington, he ultimately changes his own life. Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for senior citizens (55 and older) and $6 for students and staff members.

Agatha Christies classic mystery And Then There Were None continues tonight at the Rhode Center for the Arts, 514 56th St. When 10 strangers are trapped in a mansion, they start dying, one by one. Will anyone make it out alive? 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for senior citizens and students and are available at the door.

The 14th annual International Peeps Art Exhibition is open through April 15 at the Racine Art Museum, 441 Main St. The museum is open noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission to the museum is $10 for adults and $8 for seniors (age 62 and older) and students.
Students, parents and community members gathered in Civic Center Park Friday afternoon to march, display signs and flags and listen to speeches during a student walkout for public awareness marking Transgender Day of Visibility.

The event is held each March 31 to celebrate trans and non-binary people and raise awareness of discrimination faced by trans people worldwide, according to the LGBTQ Foundation.

The event was one of many walkouts planned throughout the country for the Queer Youth Assemble March for Queer and Trans Youth Autonomy protest.

Adrian Wick, one of the local organizers and a sophomore at Reuther High School/Harborside Academy, said it was planned by a group of students and spread through word-of-mouth.

Especially in such small schools, word-of-mouth is the main way you get it around, Wick said. I work at the Bristol Renaissance Fair over the summer, so I contacted some of the people (there). I also know that other people in our schools have adult role models theyre fortunate enough to be safe around and could invite.

Wick said events like the walkout are important because of the issues continued relevance.

There have been 44 states that have introduced or put into place anti-trans legislation, and were lucky enough that Wisconsin hasnt done that yet, Wick said. But were only three months into the year and weve already gotten so much hate and just we need to be more visible.

Cailey Miller, a junior at Harborside, said she was at the walkout to support her friend and twin sister, Cathryn.

Im personally not a part of the LGBTQ community, but Im a huge ally, Miller said. I dont want to lose them because of (their rights) being taken away. I care about them a lot.

A number of students stood on the bricks outside of the sculpture in the center of Civic Center Park and shared stories of bullying, losing friends to suicide and even struggling with their own mental health and attempts on their life for their identities.

Parents and other community members stood by and listened as students spoke. Mark, 53, and his son Tiergan Beutel, a 14-year-old Lance Middle School student, attended the event as allies.

Like everybody said, a lot of people are getting hurt and a lot of people are dying because theyre perceived as different, and thats stupid, Tiergan Beutel said. Its really important (to be at events like this) because it makes everybody feel like they have somebody to talk to.

Tiergan Beutel was a student speaker who expressed his support for LGBTQ students.

My friend is trans, Tiergan Beutel said. I would defend my friend from anyone who was spouting (stuff).

Mark and Tiergan said they are both allies to LGBTQ people.

Im here because I have many young people, people my age, people in between, in my family in my circle of friends, n a circle of friends that I call family that fall into the category of LGBTQ. They dont deserve the garbage thats being thrown against them, Mark Beutel said. Im here to support.

Indian Trail students also walk out

Earlier in the day, students at Indian Trail High School and Academy circled the school parking lot holding signs that read quote and quote, while holding transgender flags. Some students said they were out for a walkout for trans lives.

Gov. Tony Evers declared March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility in Wisconsin in a proclamation on March 6.

Ive gotten old enough that I cant be silent, Mark Beutel said. If I had any one thing I would tell any of them is not to let other people set your value.
On March 20, Kenneth G. Poocha began his role as Chief Executive Officer of Native Americans for Community Action, Inc. (NACA), according to a press release.

Poocha was born and raised in Flagstaff and received both his BA in Sociology and MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona. He is enrolled in the Hopi tribe and his mother is from the Santa Ana Pueblo (Tamaya) in New Mexico. Mr. Poocha is married with two boys. Poocha has also held an internship with the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.

Prior to working for NACA, Poocha was employed by the Arizona Department of Child Safety (AZDCS) from 2013 to 2023. In that capacity, Mr. Poocha served initially as an investigator out of the Prescott office, then as the Agencys Tribal Liaison. From 2010 to 2013, Poocha was with the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe, where he worked as the Director of Education, and for a short period of time, with the Yavapai-Prescott Tribal Police Department.

In 2006, Poocha was appointed by Governor Napolitano to head the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs. Poocha has also worked in the juvenile justice field, with non-profit Community Health Centers and Tribal Health Programs, and has been an Adjunct Professor within the Maricopa Community College System.

I am both humbled and grateful for this opportunity to be the next to lead this vital and essential organization," Poocha said. "NACA has been an important part of the Flagstaff community for over 50 years, with a long history of serving our Indigenous families. I hope together we can continue to build upon this success and this foundation for the next 50 years. My commitment to you and to NACA is to continue with the great programs and services we currently offer, while building new programs and services that will meet the needs of and empower the people we serve.

To learn more about NACA, visit its website at www.nacainc.org or call (928) 526-2968.
How understanding cultural backgrounds can lead to better patient care [PODCAST]

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Joining us today is Raj Sundar, a family physician with expertise in cultural humility and safety.

Raj explains that the traditional approach to such situations tends to ignore the patients cultural values and beliefs, with the health care team often focused on achieving their goals. However, cultural humility and safety offer an alternative paradigm. Cultural humility involves self-reflection of ones own values and beliefs, while cultural safety aims to create an environment free from harm for the patient when receiving care.

By applying these principles, we can gain a better understanding of the patients cultural background and how it influences their decision-making. Through cultural humility and safety, we can create a shared world of care that respects and values diverse communities, providing the best care possible.

Raj Sundar is a family physician and can be reached on Twitter @krajsundar.

He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, Its time to ditch cultural competence.

The Podcast by KevinMD is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience.

With a growing physician shortage, increasing burnout, and declining patient satisfaction, a dramatic change is needed to make health care more efficient and effective and bring back the joy of practicing medicine. AI-driven ambient clinical intelligence promises to help by revolutionizing patient and provider experiences with clinical documentation that writes itself.

The Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience, or DAX for short, is a voice-enabled, ambient clinical intelligence solution that automatically captures patient encounters securely and accurately at the point of care. Physicians who use DAX have reported a 50 percent decrease in documentation time and a 70 percent reduction in feelings of burnout, and 83 percent of patients say their physician is more personable and conversational.

Rediscover the joy of medicine with clinical documentation that writes itself, all within the EHR.

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The allopathic medical system has failed me  as a patient, mother, and physician. Like many physician peers, I entered the health care world with grand visions of healing others. I quickly learned during my clinical rotations in medical school that healing (in the truest sense of the word) was less likely but that helping was still possible. So I rolled up my sleeves and entered pediatric residency, where I learned how to make sick kids healthy and keep the healthy ones from getting sick.

Or so I thought.

After training, I started working as a pediatrician in outpatient practice doing the same work albeit on a less acute level. To keep children healthy, I performed many check-ups, gave vaccines, and offered parents advice on various topics with the knowledge gleaned from my years of education. Sure, I also healed lots of children by prescribing antibiotics and other medications for their medical diagnoses. In doing so, I came to think of children with frequent ear infections, reflux, asthma, allergies, eczema, constipation, and a whole host of other complaints as healthy with a touch of [insert symptom here].

My perspective began to change when my son was diagnosed with idiopathic ketotic hypoglycemia. Yep, idiopathic because we really dont know why, but oh, dont worry, kids tend to grow out of this by the time they are teens. This diagnosis came during his third hospitalization at only three years old  twice before due to respiratory issues and this time due to altered mental status from the hypoglycemic event in an otherwise healthy child, who also has severe eczema and behavioral issues. Because I was suspicious his other diagnoses were not separate and unrelated. Because I would not accept idiopathic as an answer, and because the traditional medical system wasnt able to provide one, I looked elsewhere.

This led to me diving head-first into integrative and functional medicine. In doing so, I found that my sons multiple medical issues, not just the hypoglycemia, directly resulted from mycotoxin exposure. All of his symptoms fit so nicely. You see, mycotoxins damage the respiratory tract, are immunotoxic, and can cause both allergic symptoms (i.e., skin issues) and autoimmunity of the neurologic system (i.e., behavioral issues). When I discovered the interior of his wall was covered in mold, it was like the perfect present with a bow around it fell into my lap. What was once multiple chronic medical issues was now one treatable root cause.

My question is this: When did it become acceptable that we consider eczema, asthma, or gut issues, common childhood conditions? Until we as physicians acknowledge that these are indeed chronic conditions, that they are not normal, and that they indicate an underlying health problem, we will keep treating the symptoms and, in doing so, continue to disrupt the ecosystem of our bodies.

Ive realized that the allopathic medical system keeps us in a vicious failure cycle due to the above fallacy. As a patient and mother of a patient, Ive been given medications to ultimately treat symptoms. Ive done the same as a physician and, thus, not truly healed my patients. This is what I was taught, and lets be honest, all I had time to offer families as treatment in the current churn and burn health care system. This is a disservice to us all, patients and physicians alike.

Please dont misunderstand me  I am incredibly grateful for modern medicine and the power of extremely talented physicians who have treated me, my family, and countless others. I wholly recognize that many people would not be here today without the advances weve made in medicine. My point is that we need to re-examine what we consider success and what we consider health.

When I was speaking with a friend about my recent discoveries and interest in integrative medicine, she jokingly said, Welcome to the dark side.

So here I find myself, perceived in the dark, yet feeling more cloaked in light than ever before in my career. If the dark side is one where physicians question blanket uniform recommendations, truly consider the needs of the patient sitting in front of them and their uniquely individual circumstances, and seek to find a unifying root cause of disease symptoms, then count me in. Or, I suppose, out.

Kortney West is a pediatrician.
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The timing of the United States Drug Enforcement Administrations One Pill Can Kill campaign is crucial, considering the recent Carrollton teen tragedy in which Fentanyl-laced pills posing as oxycodone were distributed through a juvenile dealer to high school students who then sold the deadly drugs to high school and middle school students. Commenting on the dramatic increase in drugs laced with Fentanyl in North Texas, Nexus Recovery Centers chief clinical officer Julie Pittman told CBS News, We used to make mistakes when we were young and dumb, but those mistakes are deadly now.

Deaths may occur due to overdose, such as the Fentanyl-laced pills consumed by the teens, or due to the drugs being devoid of any therapeutic ingredient, such as the recent FDA recall of counterfeit antimalarial Combiart tablets. The WHOs estimate that low- and middle-income countries spend an estimated $30.5 billion on substandard or falsified medicine implies hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths, often occurring in children in low-income countries, due to treatable illnesses such as malaria and acute pneumonia. One estimate cites a counterfeit drug prevalence in some parts of Africa and Asia as high as 70 percent. The use of falsified and poor-quality medicines also contributes to rising antimicrobial resistance and future treatment failure.

Meanwhile in developed nations, the Viagra a patient purchased online may contain anything from printer ink to arsenic. Or a patient may face treatment failure after consuming a cheaper chemotherapeutic from Canada that lacked any therapeutic ingredient. The closed drug distribution system designed to prevent harmful drugs from entering the U.S. supply chain fails to protect patients who venture online for convenience or cost savings. According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), potentially 95 percent of websites offering prescription drugs operate illegally. Expensive drugs in high demand, including erectile dysfunction drugs, weight loss aids, hormones, steroids, antihistamines, antivirals, antianxiety drugs, and even chemotherapeutics, antibiotics, antivirals, and vaccines are common targets. Greater demand for a drug paired with limited supplysuch as for Tamiflu during flu seasoncreates a hole that criminal opportunists may try to fill with fakes.

As the online pharmacy industry continues to lure uninformed consumers with competitive prices and convenience, providers may consider educating patients during Medication Safety Week about the tremendous risks of purchasing commonly counterfeited drugs online or while traveling abroad.

Emily Kahoud is a medical student.
During fires, floods and other major emergencies, Coconino County issues a series of directives to residents who need to evacuate their homes for their own safety  warning them to be ready to evacuate, set to leave their houses, and ultimately communicating when its time to go.

The Ready, Set, Go system just got an improvement, informed in part by the violent and expedient spread of the Tunnel Fire.

We had 75-mile-an-hour winds at the ignition source that were moving extremely fast, said Tim Carter, the assistant director of Emergency Management for Coconino County.

Carter is one of the people who produces and publishes emergency alerts in the county. Last summer he was in direct communication with deputies in the field, working to determine where evacuation orders needed to be delivered and coordinate with first responders to help residents get to safety.

The fire, Carter said, was moving with incredible speed.

We had a fire moving at 30 miles an hour. Unfortunately, the information that I got was a call from a supervisor in the field who is in the middle of the evacuations. When he says, Hey, we need to evacuate a neighborhood, I say Okay, where? Because it [the area] has to be basically a square or a polygon. There have to be boundaries around it, explained Bret Axlund, the deputy chief of the Coconino County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies and emergency managers in the field then have to stop what theyre doing, refer to a map and sketch out the evacuation area, before relaying the information back to someone like Carter, who is poised to send out a Ready, Set, Go alert.

At one point it was 12 seconds between [sending out] a set and a go; we should have just stayed on the phone, Axlund said, recalling the speed at which the Tunnel Fire was forcing the hands of communicators.

Evacuation areas have to fit cleanly into polygons because the emergency alert system needs to set geographic boundaries before issuing communication.

Carter uses technology called geo-fencing to make sure people in the relevant region are the only ones who receive an alert. Essentially, he draws a shape around a region on a map and crafts an emergency alert that is pushed out to people who either live or are currently in a given region.

Instead of drawing each notification area by hand while an emergency is underway, Coconino County Emergency Management said theyve created a way to make the process simpler and more automated.

They drew up a map that pre-designates evacuation zones throughout most of the heavily populated areas in the county. Every zone has a name and a distinct number.

Instead of saying we need to evacuate from this street to that road, this driveway to there, it's zones one, two, three. It makes the decisions a lot easier and more streamlined, Carter said.

Axlund said streamlining those decisions can be critical in emergency situations.

Thats one of the things that we heard from the community. The faster we can get them messaging, the better it is for everybody, but it goes back to that personal preparedness, Carter said. I heard a lot of folks with livestock, especially large animals, say, Im going to start looking at evacuating when I go into set.

Coconino County is the first county in the state to draw out an evacuation map of this kind. The idea came after the City of Sedona contracted for the development of an evacuation plan for their area in January of this year.

That sparked some important conversations, and going back to what we learned from last years events, it became very clear that collaboration with CCSO to put together something countywide made really good sense, said Wes Dison, the Director of Emergency Management in Coconino County. Northern Arizona is getting it right.

The map is available for public viewing online, and Dison hopes community members will check it out.

Pre-designated zones might seem less precise than a made-in-the-moment evacuation area, but Axlund said hes confident no one will be put on any evacuation status unless absolutely necessary.

We will not evacuate people unnecessarily. Thats the one thing we dont want to do. Its a major inconvenience to remove someone from their home, Axlund said. Last summer he was out helping to evacuate neighborhoods effected by the Tunnel Fire.

If emergency management needs to draw a more precise evacuation area on the map, they can still use the same manual process theyve been using. The new zones, Carter emphasized, are designed to be an extra tool in the tool kit to enhance expedience.

Dison did point out, the map is only designed to apply to unincorporated areas. He noted in some of the countys more rural areas, people might not find their address connected to a zone.

We do have people that live off-grid. We tried to cover as much of the residential areas as we could, and I would like to emphasize this goes back to personal responsibility. If you dont live in one, its not because we dont think youre important, said Dison. Its just because logistically we have to figure out a way to make it work best. If you live off grid or if you live outside of one of these zones, please figure out what zone you live next to print that map. Pay attention to that area. If that zone is evacuated then theres a pretty good chance that maybe you should consider evacuation.

Coconino County uses two communication systems to alert people to hazards in an area.

One system works like a reverse 911. It finds the phones in a given area and sends out alerts that way. The other system, called "RAVE," allows residents to register for alerts using their address.

During this summers fires, if a resident was not enrolled to receive emergency alerts and they were not physically in the evacuating area  they might not have known they were under an evacuation notice. Thats why Axlund said enrolling in emergency alerts is so important.

During these last fires, we had deputies entering homes and letting people know their yard was on fire when they had no idea, he said.

Dison said for the foreseeable future, alerts will still include neighborhood boundaries in addition to zone names. Still, he encourages county residents to check the new evacuation zone maps and familiarize themselves with their zone.

We have a very engaged public, as this becomes a matter of normalcy, they will start to know their zone and tell their neighbors, Hey were in zone 71. I think theyll learn that. In the future, that will become more of a thing, Dison said.

To sign up for Coconino Countys emergency notifications, visit https://www.coconino.az.gov/2612/Emergency-Notification-System

To view the new, interactive evacuation map, visit www.coconino.az.gov/evacmap.
Government

featured

Businesses owe $600K in seating fees to city

Rob O'Neal / ROB ONEAL/Keys Citizen Fritas Cuban Burger Cafe is located at 425 Southard St. While not targeted for seating violations, owner Marsha Weaver must calculate the cost of adding seats.

With increased manpower, the City of Key West wants to collect more than $600,000 in impact fees owed by restaurants with more seats than they are authorized to have.

In public records obtained by the Keys Citizen, the city is looking at collecting $601,675.20 in impact fees from 65 restaurants, including some of the biggest names in the business.

We started this process under former City Manager Greg Veliz, said Chief Code Enforcement Officer Jim Young. Were not fining anybody yet, and are allowing businesses to go through the process to either add the seats we found or remove them.

To say the seating permit process is complicated would be an understatement.

The bureaucracy is like dealing with the Greek mythological three-headed creature Cerberus, as applications must be made to the citys licensing, planning and building departments, then be approved by the fire marshal.

Once allowable seating is determined, business owners must pay a one-time impact fee of $592.20. That doesnt include before- and after-the-fact application fees. But then there are recurring fees from the other departments  which are to be determined.

Collected fees go toward sewer waste and traffic impact.

The list of non-compliant establishments reads like a whos who of Key West.

Hanks Hair of the Dog was the most out of compliance, licensed for 49 seats but actually hosting 118 seats  69 more than allowed. The business owes the city $40,861.80  if they want to keep the additional seats.

That doesnt include recurring fees  which no one at the city could define  plus after-the-fact variance application fees ranging upward of $4,000.

Then you have the iconic Sloppy Joes, at 21 seats over its permitted occupancy, totaling $12,436.20.

For them, the economic pinch might not be so bad.

We are working with businesses to allow them to come into compliance, said Young. We are not citing and fining them. If restaurants want to apply for additional seats, they can. If they want to remove the excess seats, they can do that. If they want to apply for more seats, that is also on the table.

But then you have the underdogs, like Marsha Weaver, proprietor of Fritas Cuban Burger Cafe on Southard Street.

Initially, the popular food truck only had benches for customers waiting for takeaway orders.

But as Weaver expanded her business, she added sit-down seating. Now, she is considering expanding into the two parcels next door but might not be able to afford it.

I wasnt sure because it was on my patio  and I just kind of added stuff in the spirit of Key West, she said.

Now, facing more than $8,000 in impact fees and licensing and permitting costs, Weaver remains upbeat.

My average item is less than $10. So if a table costs me a $592, then an additional $500 a year, how many burgers do I have to sell to pay for that seat? If your average plate is $35, you could factor that in.

But the city has been great, and everybody has been willing to work with me.

After three years of construction and three months of road work that threatened her business, Weaver is taking a long look at what she does.

This just kind of makes me reflect on everything I am doing. I just want to keep providing a quality Key West experience, she said. But at what cost?

ted@tedlund.com
Unique, wedding cake masterpieces have won the coveted Cake Designer of the Year award for a Kilkenny woman.

Sarah McGree, founder and owner of The Wild Grazer, scooped the award for her speciality cheese wheel cakes, at the weddingsonline awards 2023.



The Wild Grazer wedding cakes offer an alternative to the traditional wedding cake. A growing trend, the wedding cheese cake is created by stacking wheels of at least four speciality cheeses. The Wild Grazer works exclusively with Irish suppliers including Gubbeen and Cooleeney and has a range of over 20 cheeses for couples to choose from.



The wedding cheese cake was developed in response to Irish couples increasing appetite for bucking traditions in favour of newer alternatives for their big day. The cheese cakes, which come peppered with seasonal produce like figs and passion fruit, provide an Instagramable centerpiece and savory snack that can fuel guests dancing into the night.

ABOVE: Sarah McGree, founder and owner of The Wild Grazer



Sarah spent her twenties working in The US and Canada where she catered events for clients including Hilary Clinton and Warren Buffet, and held the position of Senior Wedding and Events Advisor at The Gladstone, one of Torontos most celebrated boutique hotels. Drawn back to Ireland during Covid, she coupled her international experience with best of local produce to start The Wild Grazer.



Sarah has recently invested in a bespoke catering kitchen to increase capacity and expand the cheese wheel wedding cake offering nationwide. For more information see www.thewildgrazer.ie
Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!

(Kitco News) - The tokenization of existing securities and Security Token Offerings (STOs) are quickly moving from experimental, novel and niche to credible, proven, and mainstream. When Blackrocks Larry Fink called the tokenization of securities the next generation for markets on Nov. 30, it piqued peoples interest. When BlackRock's own iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (CSPX) was converted into a tradable token on the Ethereum network just three months later, it proved his point.

Citis Money, Tokens and Games report, released on March 30, offers some idea of the potential scale, with analysts writing that they expect to see $4 trillion to $5 trillion of tokenized digital securities and $1 trillion of distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based trade finance volumes by 2030. According to CoinGecko, the total market cap for all cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin currently stands at $1.2 trillion.

Bitfinex Securities is an exchange that enables the trading of tokenized securities such as equities and bonds, and it is one of the few platforms licensed to facilitate the issuance of new STOs. It is powered by Bitfinex, which operates the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and also manages Tether, the largest issuer of stablecoins including USDT, whose nearly $80 billion in market share represents two thirds of the total stablecoin market.

Kitco News recently spoke with Jesse Knutson, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities. He believes the STO represents the next major evolution in capital markets, and he thinks tokenized securities are positioned to have a banner year in 2023, regulatory headwinds notwithstanding.

There's always headwinds, isn't there? he laughed.

Knutson described the STO opportunity as a puzzle that needs three pieces to be successful. The first one is technology, and I think the technology box is probably ticked at this point, he said. We've got platforms like the Bitfinex main platform that trade $100 million in assets a day or more, with uptime of 99.99%. We've got issuance protocols like Blockstreams Liquid Network which lets us issue assets like the Blockstream Mining Note. So I think the technology side of it is pretty much set.

The second piece of the puzzle is investable assets. Knutson said the initial coin offering (ICO) boom of 2017 was an interesting proof of concept, but left a lot to be desired. There was no investor protection, there was nothing about investor rights or issuers obligations, no regulatory frameworks, he said.

Jesse Knutson - Photo provided by Bitfinex Securities

One of the problems with the ICO boom was it was focused exclusively on these early-stage, high-risk, high-reward, very speculative VC-type investments, and I just don't think that's going to move the needle for most mainstream institutional investors, he added. What we need now is more investable assets.

Knutson said Bitfinex Securities is focused outside the crypto space for assets that would appeal to the sensibilities of traditional investors. We're looking almost preferentially to things that are more brick-and-mortar, more traditional things with cash flow, things that are modifiable, things that have ROI, he said. I think slowly we're seeing more of that stuff come to market.

The third piece, which Knutson said has been missing for a long time, is commercially viable regulatory oversight. People wonder why the STO market has been slow to develop, he said. Securities are a regulated market, we move at the pace of regulators, and the pace of regulators is typically very cautious and very thought out and methodical. Right now, we're finally starting to see all three of those puzzle pieces come together. I think over time, people who are entrenched in the incumbent system like Blackrock even the Fed has been making positive comments about STOs.

I think people are increasingly seeing this as a natural evolution of capital markets.

Security tokens over conventional securities

Knutson said the essential idea behind the STO is to harness the emerging technologies of the digital asset space and apply them to capital markets. If you look at the history of capital markets, theyve been very resistant to the adoption of technology, more so than almost any other industry you can think of, he said. The internet in the last 20 years has had a profound influence on almost every industry, except capital markets. There's been some superficial changes, things like online brokerages, but when you look at fundamentally, how assets are traded, custodied, settled and issued, not that much has changed in the last couple of decades.

Knutson has been based in Asia for many years, and he offered stock trading as a clear example of the limitations of traditional securities markets. In Taiwan, if you sell TSMC on Friday, you don't get your cash until next week, it's T+2, he said. We only trade 9:00 am till 1:30 pm, we don't do Chinese New Years, we don't do weekends. And there's no reason from a technological perspective why you can't do that better.

He contrasted these conventional market limitations with crypto exchanges like the main Bitfinex platform. It trades 24/7/365, 99.99% uptime, real-time settlement, you sell your Bitcoin, you get cash instantly, and you can redeploy it, he said. I think all of that is massively favorable towards investors. And then the liquidity, you can access really deep pools of liquidity in a way that previously wasn't possible.

Tokenized securities must evolve further

Knutson said that when many securities are tokenized these days, investors get some benefits like fractional ownership, real time settlement, and 24/7/365 trading, but theyre still missing out on other key advantages of digital assets. Those benefits are the ability to be able to pull your assets off the exchange, to self-custody them, to ping them over to another exchange, to do arbitrage or to even trade them peer-to-peer, he said. I think that's an important part of tokenization.

But new tools and protocols are enabling them to deliver this functionality as well. There's technology now, like Blockstreams Liquid Network has a category of assets called transfer-restricted assets, he said. That means that you have a whitelist and once that whitelist is established, you can do all of these things within a whitelisted ecosystem. I think it's a really good balance between our obligations to KYC-AML and our regulators, and also ease of use for investors, and giving investors a degree of control over their assets, he said. That's pretty revolutionary.

Security tokens can serve crypto investors

Bitfinex is a big name in cryptocurrency, and Knutson believes Bitfinex Securities can make a strong case for security tokens to the crypto community as well. I think the market within the digital asset space is also very valuable, he said. Now, what are the opportunities for security tokens? The digital asset industry, the most notorious characteristic of it is high volatility. Bitcoin is the lowest volatility digital asset outside of the stablecoins, and that's enough to give most people heart palpitations.

Knutson said that because volatility is so high within the digital asset space, he believes there's a strong appetite for low volatility, low friction assets. I'm quite keen to do things in real estate with REITs or low volatility corporate bonds with a decent return on them, he said. And my pitch to digital asset people, crypto high net worth people is, you've got your Bitcoin position, you've got your Tether position, why not park some of your stablecoin position in something that's low volatility, low risk, and that gives you a return?

Knutson believes security tokens are poised to take a big slice out of the stablecoin pie. As a registered security, you've got ongoing reporting obligations and a level of transparency that's a real leg up for anything in the digital asset industry, he said. I think there's a really good opportunity in the digital asset space for boring companies and boring products. There's a lot of value for digital investors in something like a widget maker that pays a dividend yield of 5 or 7 per cent.

Those kinds of things can be boring in the real world, but could be very interesting to digital asset investors.

The AIFC: Regulatory advantages and regional opportunities

Bitfinex Securities was one of the first companies to register and be licensed in the AIFC (Astana International Financial Centre) which is positioning itself as a global center for business and finance, and the exchange recently opened their new HQ in Kazakhstan to take full advantage of the opportunity.

Knutson said the move represents a strong vote of confidence in the regulatory regime for securities that Kazakhstan has established, and he believes the AIFC can serve as a catalyst for capital growth across the region.

The [AIFC] has been modeled after the Dubai International Financial Center, he said. It operates on English common law, so its legal system is completely independent of the domestic Kazakh system, and then it's got frameworks and laws that are more familiar to institutional and foreign investors. The idea is to give foreign investors peace of mind and encourage them to deploy capital into Kazakhstan.

It also benefits Kazakhstan by giving domestic companies better access to global capital markets. I find the AIFC to be very front-foot on the adoption of technology, Knutson said. And you might wonder, why is there opportunity for STOs in places like El Salvador or Kazakhstan, smaller economies that don't necessarily come to mind when you think of global capital markets? The answer is because these places need the technology, they see the opportunity, and they're hungry for economic growth.

Lumbering incumbents and nimble newcomers

Knutson said that the big incumbent players in financial markets have no incentive to quickly adopt new technologies because they continue to benefit from the status quo. I think some of these smaller countries like El Salvador and Kazakhstan, although Kazakhstan is huge geographically, they see this as an opportunity to leapfrog a lot of their peers, he said.

It's difficult to compete with Singapore, Hong Kong, or London, but you can do it asymmetrically from a different angle and you might get similar results. So it can be a big driver not only for domestic investment, but also in the creation of a whole new capital market within the region. You think about places like Singapore or Hong Kong that are small, they don't have a lot of natural resources, and then became these massive financial centers, he said.

Why can't El Salvador be like the Singapore, the Hong Kong of Latin America? Why can't the AFIC be the Singapore or Hong Kong of Central Asia? I think it's completely doable.

And those big incumbents are no doubt taking note of these developments as well. Even within the current anti-crypto climate in Washington, Knutson sees reasons for optimism for the future of security tokens and the broader U.S. crypto ecosystem.

Coinbase has something like 60 million users, and the users skew heavily towards young people, he said. There's a strong cohort of people, across creed color,political affiliation, that like this industry, are passionate about this industry, and would be supportive of it.

There are also champions for crypto at the federal and state level who believe these emerging technologies and markets should be cultivated rather than crushed.

A lot of people see this as an economic driver, he said. So the mayor of Miami, he was making noises about this because he saw it as an economic driver. Texas, obviously, sees an influx of bitcoin miner investment. El Salvador has benefited in numerous ways from their adoption of Bitcoin, and Kazakhstan as well.

I think the underlying theme is that it can be a driver of the real economy.
March 31 (Reuters) - March recorded the worst U.S. bank failures since the 2008 crisis, but that did not stop some investors from snapping up battered financial stocks to bolster their bets on the sector's long-term health, fund-flow data showed.

Exchange-traded funds tracking U.S. regional banks saw their strongest net inflows in months, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF receiving $1.25 billion in the month to March 29, while the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT.P) took in $258 million, according to Refinitiv Lipper data.

March was the first month of net buying for the IAT fund in a year, and one of the best months on record in terms of flows for KRE.

That's despite both funds plunging about 29% in March as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank triggered fears of a contagion and doubts about the sector's stability, making U.S. regional banks among the worst-performing sectors this year.

"A lot of investors are assuming that the worst of the volatility has cooled at this point and taking advantage of those lower prices," said Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at VettaFi.

A swift response from regulators and central banks encouraged investors looking to "buy at the bottom," Islam said.

Investors also eyed funds tracking larger banks assumed to be more stable, with the SPDR S&P Bank ETF taking in nearly $79 million in March, its first month of net buying since October.

"Bank equities are already pricing in a lot of bad news," said John Tierney, strategist at MacroHive, recommending increased allocations to big banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Citigroup (C.N).

"As markets continue to settle down ... banks generally and major banks especially will outperform the S&P 500."

Overall prices for these funds recovered slightly over the past week as banking sector worries eased, but the KBE fund is set to drop 23% for the month, its worst since COVID-19 lockdowns roiled markets two years ago. The S&P 500 (.SPX) rose 2.5%.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 67F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 40F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Here's what you need to know: Saturday, April 1
A state investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department launched after George Floyd's death revealed a pattern of "discriminatory, race-based policing" by officers going back a decade, according to a report released in April 2022.
Global Crossing Airlines Group Inc. (CVE:JET  Get Rating) shares were down 4.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as C$1.36 and last traded at C$1.36. Approximately 10,010 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 11,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$1.43.

Global Crossing Airlines Group Price Performance

The stocks fifty day moving average price is C$1.36 and its 200-day moving average price is C$1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 105.95, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of C$63.25 million and a PE ratio of -2.57.

Global Crossing Airlines Group Company Profile

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Global Crossing Airlines Group Inc operates in the airline business. It focuses to fly as an aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) and wet lease charter airline serving the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin American markets. The company is based in Miami, Florida.

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Serengeti Resources Inc. (CVE:SIR  Get Rating) shot up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as C$0.50 and last traded at C$0.49. 70,621 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 97,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.48.

Serengeti Resources Trading Up 2.1 %

The stocks 50 day moving average price is C$0.49 and its 200-day moving average price is C$0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of C$54.39 million and a PE ratio of -8.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Serengeti Resources Company Profile

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Serengeti Resources Inc acquires and explores for mineral properties in Canada. It company explores for gold, copper, and silver deposits. The company's flagship property is the Kwanika project that covers an area of 25,928 hectares located in the northern Quesnel Trough, British Columbia. It also has an option to acquire 100% interest in Top Cat project covering an area of approximately 21,600 hectares situated in central British Columbia.

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko delivers a state-of-the nation address in Minsk, Belarus, March 31, in this photo provided by the Belarusian Presidential Press Service. AP-Yonhap



Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed to Belarus along with part of Russia's tactical nuclear arsenal, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday, ramping up his rhetoric amid tensions with the West over the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.



Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that his country plans to deploy tactical, comparatively short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.



The strategic nuclear weapons such as missile-borne warheads that Lukashenko mentioned during his state-of-the nation address would pose an even greater threat, if Moscow moves them to the territory of its neighbor and ally.



Belarus was a staging ground for Russian troops to launch their invasion of Ukraine a little over 13 months ago. Lukashenko, in office since 1994, delivered his annual address amid escalating tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.



Both he and Putin have alleged that Western powers want to ruin Russia and Belarus.



"Putin and I will decide and introduce here, if necessary, strategic weapons, and they must understand this, the scoundrels abroad, who today are trying to blow us up from inside and outside," the Belarusian leader said. "We will protect our sovereignty and independence by any means necessary, including through the nuclear arsenal."



While Putin emphasized that Russia will retain control over the tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, Lukashenko charged that he also will have a say.



"Don't say we will just be looking after them, and these are not our weapons," he said. "These are our weapons and they will contribute to ensuring sovereignty and independence."



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Friday Putin's plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus as a reflection of Russia's battlefield setbacks and its increasing global isolation. Zelenskyy argued that it also means Lukashenko has yielded completely to Moscow's control, adding: "I think he no longer decides which weapons are located on his territory."



Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be completed by July 1 and added that Russia has helped modernize Belarusian warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons.





Ukrainian soldiers on captured Russian T-72 tanks hold military training close to the Ukraine-Belarus border near Chernihiv, Ukraine, Oct. 28, 2022. AP-Yonhap
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 48F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 33F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

A few showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High 49F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 32F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
There has been a dramatic transformation in America's attitude toward China since Donald Trump became president in January 2017. Engagement has increasingly been replaced by containment and confrontation. There were hopes that the Biden administration would embrace a more cooperative approach. It was not to be. On the contrary, following the demonising and grandstanding of Trump, Biden has largely shunned engagement and sought to isolate China and undermine its economy. The atmosphere in America has increasingly come to resemble that of the cold war, not yet hysterical but increasingly toxic toward China.

America's hostility toward China is a salutary reminder of two things. First, the US is unable to accept not being No 1 in the world. It regards this to be its God-given right. Any country that endangers this is seen as a threat and an enemy. This attitude deeply suffuses American society. That is why hostility toward China moved so rapidly from being the view of a small minority to becoming consensual. The attitude of the great majority of Americans toward China is now far more hostile than it was several years ago. Second, a powerful theme in America is intolerance: a Manichean stress on good and evil, a rejection of the other, as exemplified by the treatment of African Americans and native Americans, and the McCarthyite witchhunt against communists and others in the 1950s, which generated an atmosphere of near-hysteria (as brilliantly captured in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, one of the greatest plays ever written).

So where will it end? In the longer run, the anti-China movement in the US faces insurmountable problems. China cannot be excised in the manner of the cold war because China is already more important to the global economy than the United States. In other words, attempts to decouple from, and isolate, China has very severe limits. The US will be obliged to live with and interact with China come what may. Much as it would like to, moreover, it will be quite impossible for the US to undermine the present governing system in China or split the country, as it succeeded in doing to the USSR. That is for the birds. Sooner or later, these realities will assert themselves. Ever since 2017 I have been a pessimist about the timescale of any return to a more cooperative relationship between the US and China. I still am.

It would be wrong, however, to be fatalistic. Sooner or later, America will have to face up to realities and recognise that it must learn to share the world with China. With the Chinese economy already larger than America's, it is obvious that America cannot cling on forever to the belief that it is, and must remain, No.1 in the world. That era is fast coming to an end. But it has been difficult to spot any chinks of light in the growing darkness engulfing America. Democrats, Republicans, the military and foreign policy establishments, and growing sections of business, are singing from the same anti-China hymn sheet. That is why a recent statement in the New York Times, America's most influential newspaper, by its Editorial Board is to be welcomed.

It takes issue with the present anti-China consensus, arguing against confrontation and for engagement, and that "Americans' interests are best served by emphasising competition with China, while minimising confrontation." It believes that "Chinese actions and rhetoric also need to be kept in perspective. By the standards of superpowers, China remains a homebody." And that "China continues to show strikingly little interest in persuading other nations to adopt its social and political values." So much for China the aggressor. Furthermore, it believes that many of the challenges facing China are similar to America's, such as income inequality, hence "common prosperity." It regards "the Biden administration's continuation of Trump-era restrictions on trade with China, and its imposition of a host of new restrictions," as a "dubious strategy."

The logic of the New York Times editorial would lead in a very different direction to that being pursued by the Biden administration. At its heart would be engagement and cooperation. There is a de facto recognition that China is here stay, that far from being a dangerous threat, the two countries have many interests in common and must find a way to cooperate. We should not exaggerate its significance. It is still a relatively isolated voice. But nor should we underplay it. The New York Times is a powerful and influential voice of liberal America, widely read by Democrats. More than any other US publication, its views are closely followed in Europe.

There has been a big shift in opinion in China about America. From respect and admiration, attitudes have become increasingly negative and dismissive. How could it be otherwise? America has turned on China and is seeking to contain and undermine it. America is no longer a friend. But we should never lose sight of the fact that ultimately China and the US must cooperate. In that light, any signs of a shift in American attitudes are to be welcomed and encouraged.

The author Martin Jacques is a visiting professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and a senior fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University. This is an abstract of a speech delivered by Martin at the Understanding China Conference (Guangzhou).

Source: Global Times
Donald Trump strikes no-handcuffs deal for his arrest next week on 30 charges  but may still face mugshot!
'Harsh' parenting can bring mental health harms to kids. In a new study, yelling and physical punishment were more likely than calm, consistent parenting to lead to emotional issues, researchers found. Read more

'Harsh' Parenting Can Bring Mental Health Harms to Kids: Study FRIDAY, March 31, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Parents who harshly discipline their young children may be putting them on a path toward lasting mental health symptoms, a new study suggests.

Talking to your kids about school shootings. Following yet another tragedy, two children's mental health experts from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas offer some advice. Read more

Talking to Your Kids About School Shootings: Experts Offer Guidance FRIDAY, March 31, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Children should feel safe at school, but learning of a mass shooting  like this week's tragedy at Covenant School in Nashville  can threaten their sense of security.

Study refutes notion that C-section harms a baby's 'microbiome.' The bacterial makeup of a pregnant woman's vagina does not influence the composition of germs in the baby's gastrointestinal system, new research shows. Read more
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Saturn is doing something never seen before in our solar system
The man shot dead by law enforcement in Valley County Wednesday has been identified as 47-year-old Jonathan Ryan Hamilton.

Hamilton was shot by a Valley County Sheriffs Deputy. He was an inmate at Valley County Detention Facility and was taken to Francis Mahon Deaconess Hospital for physical therapy treatment. While at the hospital, he apparently used scissors to take a hospital employee hostage.

The Valley County deputy shot Hamilton to protect others in the facility, county Sheriff Tom Boyer said. No other patients, hospital staff or law enforcement members were injured, the sheriff said.

The inmate was flown to a hospital in Billings for treatment where he died.

Hamilton was originally arrested on a Blaine County warrant in another state and returned to Montana to face several criminal charges pertaining to child sex assault, the Sheriff said.

The sheriff said in a statement that along with the state DCI investigation, he has asked Phillips County Sheriff Jerry Lytle to handle the administrative review of the shooting.

In 2009, a man fired several rounds in the parking lot of Francis Mahon Deaconess Hospital, killing one person and wounding two others. The shooter, 42-year-old Roger Lynn Sellers, later died in an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement.
Agartala (Tripura) [India], April 1 (ANI): Agartala, the capital of Tripura, is all set to host a G20 meeting on Monday and Tuesday. The meeting will delve into 'Clean Energy for Greener Future.'

The state is making massive preparations for the event, and dozens of decorated stalls have been installed at the Hapania indoor exhibition hall.

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Stalls belong to various districts of the state showcasing their products. The state has worn an enlightened attire, with paints and decoratives.

Minister of Industries and Commerce, Santana Chakma, visited the exhibition hall to inspect the ongoing preparations and stated that Tripura is well prepared to welcome the international and national delegates.

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Notably, this is the first time an international meeting of such stature will be held in Tripura.

Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Saha also spoke about the preparedness and the glory of hosting a prestigious G20 meet.

The delegates will visit all the historical and attractive places of the state like Ujjayanta palace, and Nirmahal, among others.

"I have held review meeting with all the concern ministries and office-heads to take the stock of their preparedness towards the program yesterday and got to know that all are ready to host and are eagerly waiting for the summit to happen. It should be a great source of encouragement and inspiration for the state of Tripura as the whole world will come to see the state of Tripura with its beautiful and attractive historical places," CM said.

"Tripura is well prepared to host the delegates from the European and other countries of the world in the upcoming G20 summit which has been scheduled to be held on 3rd and 4th. This is in the great pleasure for the people of Tripura as for the first time such a huge kind of program of international standard is going to be held in the state," CM 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)
Hazaribag, Apr 1 (PTI) Around 700 people were injured while playing with swords and sticks during Ram Navami celebrations in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district, officials said on Saturday.

The Ram Navami celebrations, which began around 8 pm on Friday, concluded on Saturday night. Braving heavy rains, 91 akharas took part in the centuries-old celebrations in the town's Boddom Bazar in Bada Thakur Bari area, they said.

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The celebrations that were marked by well-decorated tableaux touring the length and breadth of the town saw the participation of over 2 lakh people, they added.

No untoward incident was reported during the celebrations, officials said, adding that huge number of security personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.

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Fifteen medical camps were set up by the Hazaribag Medical College and Hospital (HMCH) to deal with any emergency situation, they said.

Around 700 people received minor injuries while playing with traditional weapons. Most of them were treated at the camp, while many were also sent to different hospitals, an HMCH official said.

In East Singhbhum, 27 akhara committees of Jamshedpur who could not take out the Ram Navami rallies following unrest over the restriction on loud music during celebrations, immersed their 'jhandas' (flags) in various ghats peacefully, an official said.

A dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by certain organisations in Haldipokhar, around 25 km from Jamshedpur, also passed off peacefully, he said.

The bandh was called demanding suspension of the circle officer of Potka, and action against those responsible for the brick-batting during Ram Navami procession, which injured at least five people.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], April 1 (ANI): On the occasion of 'Utkal Dibas' (Odisha Day), Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday disbursed the financial assistance of Rs 877 crore to small, marginal and landless farmers of the state for the Kharif season under KALIA scheme.

As per Chief Minister's Office, more than 43 lakh farmers from all the districts of Odisha, except poll-bound Jharsuguda have received assistance through direct bank transfer.

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"The development of the state is linked with the welfare of the farmers, so we started the new financial year by providing welfare support on the Utkal Dibas," Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik said.

Stating that Odisha is self-reliant in the production of food grains today, it is able to extend its support to the country's Public distribution system (PDS) Chief Minister gave the credit for this to lakhs of farmers of the state.

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Asserting that the state government has taken many steps for the improvement of the agriculture sector the Chief Minister advised the farmers to use more machines and modern equipment in agriculture.

Odisha CM further said that the state government is implementing many grain-based missions to increase the production of nutritious food in the state and improve the income of farmers and also added that the farmers focus on crop diversification. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
One person is dead, another is injured and a suspect is in custody after a late-night shooting at a bar in Beulah.

Shawn Gramkow, 38, of Beulah, allegedly drew a 9 mm handgun from the waistband of his pants and began firing after getting into a fight with two men Thursday night at Fanatics Bar. Law officers responded to a 911 call at about 11 p.m.

The 23-year-old man who was killed and the man who was injured were not immediately identified. The man who died had a Florida driver's license, according to an affidavit.

Surveillance video shows the three men sitting at the bar and talking before the fight. The man who was later injured started the fight by headbutting Gramkow, and the man who later died -- who was Black -- joined in, punching Gramkow in the face, according to the affidavit. Gramkow later allegedly told authorities that he had "jokingly" used a Black slur before the fight, and the other men -- whom he had not met before -- had gotten upset.

Gramkow allegedly said "that he was panicking, frantic and that he wasn't thinking clearly," and that he just wanted to get away because he was outnumbered and did not intend to kill anyone, according to the affidavit.

The document states video shows Gramkow firing the gun, striking walls in the bar and hitting the man who was injured. He allegedly shot the other man in the head while the man was on the ground "in a position of disadvantage," according to the affidavit. An autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner concluded the man suffered four gunshots, to the right thigh, the crotch area, the right cheek and the back of the head. The man was declared dead at the scene.

Authorities allege that at one point in the altercation the gun's magazine was ejected, and Gramkow reinserted it and continued firing.

Gramkow left the bar after the incident and was stopped and arrested by a Beulah police officer, who located the gun in the vehicle.

Gramkow made his initial court appearance Friday on felony charges of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. He also faces a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. The murder charge carries a maximum punishment of life in prison without parole.

Bond for Gramkow was set at $50,000. His attorney, David Dusek, declined comment to the Tribune.
New Delhi, April 1: A lawyer was shot dead by two unidentified bike-borne assailants in New Delhi's Dwarka area on Saturday, said police. The victim has been identified as Virender Kumar. Delhi Shocker: Woman Shot Dead on Road in Paschim Vihar While Returning Home.

The incident happened at around 4:30 pm on Saturday in the Dwarka-1 area in Delhi, when the victim was travelling in a car. Punjab Shocker: Man Shot Dead by Neighbour In Broad Daylight After Heated Argument in Jalandhar (Watch Video).

The police said that the lawyer was also attacked before. Police are probing the matter from all angles. Further details are awaited.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kota, Apr 1 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday alleged that a "lobby" associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was inciting and misguiding private doctors agitating against the Right to Health Bill in the state while patients are suffering.

The protesting doctors have claimed that the execution of the legislation will create hurdles in their smooth functioning and the involvement of local authorities will increase.

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People have been given the right to access health services for free up to Rs 25 lakh as the government will pay for the treatment under the Bill, the chief minister told reporters here when asked about the ongoing strike. He also appealed to the doctors to end their protest.

"The recommendations given by the doctors to the finance secretary were all agreed upon but later on some four to five doctors, who are associated with the RSS, raised objections. It is not an allegation but the truth that they are people from the RSS," Gehlot said. He also said the "four to five people, associated with the RSS, who misguided the doctors, are 'gaddar' (traitors)".

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The chief minister claimed that two people came from Delhi and called him up to meet him.

"They were directed to Finance Secretary Akhil Arora, but instead of meeting with the secretary, the two went to the governor. They after misguiding doctors here, returned to Delhi," Gehlot said and claimed that the two persons from the national capital are also associated with the RSS.

The chief minister said that "a lobby of the RSS is ruining doctors, misguiding them...". The notification for the RTH is yet to be issued and if there are doubts and confusion, they could be cleared, he said.

"It is not the time for politics as people are suffering and they should immediately end their strike," Gehlot said

A delegation of the protesting doctors met the chief minister at the Kota airport. Gehlot listened to the doctors while trying to clear their doubts and appealing to them to end their strike.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], April 1 (ANI): Responding to the death threat received by Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena faction leader Sanjay Raut, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that police are investigating the case and proper action will be taken in the matter.

This comes after the Mumbai Police on Saturday arrested the accused who allegedly sent the death threat message to Raut.

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Talking to the media here on Saturday, Fadnavis said, "The person threatening Sanjay Raut has been identified, and primary information has been received that he threatened Sanjay Raut in a drunken state. A thorough investigation will be done in this matter, and action will be taken".

The arrested accused has been identified as 23-year-old Rahul Talekar. He has also admitted that he sent the threat message as he was in an inebriated state.

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"The accused person who was detained in Pune related to a threat message to Sanjay Raut has been arrested by police. He has been identified as 23-year-old Rahul Talekar. The accused has admitted that he sent the threat message as he was in an inebriated state," the police said.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra MP Sanjay Raut received a death threat message, after which he filed a written complaint to the Mumbai Police.

"Sanjay Raut received death threats stating that he will meet the fate of Sidhu Moosewala. He got the threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The message said that if you are in Delhi, we will kill you with AK-47. He wrote a letter to the police complaining about the matter," the police had said.

Upon receiving the death threat, Raut said alleged the state government and police didn't do anything in the past when similar threats were made against him.

"I got a threat message and I have informed the police. I won't be scared. Similar attempts were made to carry out an attack on me but what did the police do? What did the state's home minister do?" he stated.

Initially, the Mumbai Police had said that the accused used Lawrence Bishnoi's name and his connection with the gangster will be probed.

However, later the police said that the accused has no connection with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday accused the government of weakening environment and forest laws and institutions working for conserving environment in order to facilitate ease of doing business.

On the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger which was started by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi on this day, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said the legacies of both this project and the Chipko movement which also completed 50 years a few days ago are under threat from this government.

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"This government is deliberately weakening the laws and institutions working towards forest conservation and environment," he told reporters.

"We are against this liberalisation and the laws should be strictly enforced and institutions should be strengthened while dealing with today's biggest challenge of changes in the environment," he also noted.

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Attacking the government, he said, "They have a mindset that environment laws are against the ease of doing business. So they want to weaken these laws so that people do not feel that projects are delayed because of environment laws."

Noting that our laws say that the project can be implemented only after the rights of those living in forests are given, the Congress leader said that is why Adani project in Jharkhand is being opposed by our government there.

Ramesh also alleged that their (BJP government's) target has been the Forest Conservation Act as businessman think the environment laws are an impediment in growth, but asserted they don't know that these laws are necessary for people.

"If you weaken the laws, then this will have a negative effect on people's health."

"It is very clear that there is an agenda and the target is to weaken all environmental and forest laws because the view of the Niti Aayog and the government is that these are regulatory burdens and they don't look upon these as societal obligations. That is the fundamental reason," he stressed.

The Congress leader also cited instances where the government has sent the Forests Amendment bill to a select committee of Parliament instead of sending it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

He said that a few months ago the wildlife protection act was amended and the Congress had opposed it, because due to that amendment the doors were being opened on the trade of elephants through it.

"The dangers due to this amendment in the law, the trade on elephants was banned but the government has been given the right to allow trade of elephants," he claimed.

"Two days ago in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Forest Conservation Act 1980, the government brought a bill to amend it and has been sent to the Select Committee and not the Standing Committee as I am the chairman of the Standing Committee," he claimed.

Ramesh said on March 27, 1973 in Mandal village in Uttarakhand, women started the Chipko movement and it proved as an important milestone in environment conservation as it created consciousness about environment protection.

He said Indira Gandhi started the project Tiger in Uttarakhand at Corbett National Park on April 1, 1973 and nine tiger reserves were selected across the country.

These include the Corbett and Ranthambore in the north, Melghat and Kanha in mid-India, Bandipur in South, Simlipal, Sunderbans and Palamu in eastern India and Manas in northeastern India, he said, adding that today there are 53 such tiger reserves.

"Today is the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger and of Chipko Andolan, both of whose legacies are under threat from this government."

Terming Project Tiger as the most successful example of environment conservation, he said, Indira Gandhi felt that not just tigers will be preserved but forests will also be conserved.

"Today due to that project tiger, our 53 tiger reserves comprise one-third of our thick forests across the country," Ramesh said, adding that not just an animal was preserved but it proved an important step for preserving our forests.

"But, its political, economic and social importance is that all our laws are in danger today," he noted.

The gains made in last 50 years in saving and conserving our forests, are all in danger today, he said.

The Congress leader said it is not just their party which is opposing the amendments to the forest laws but cited a four-page letter by National Commission for Scheduled Tribes chairman Harsh Chauhan, on September 26, 2022, to Environment and Forest Minister where he has clearly stated that the amendments in rules and laws are not in the interest of tribals living in forests and it goes against the Forest Rights Act passed in Parliament in 2006 as it takes away the forest rights of tribals.

Ramesh earlier shared old pictures of Indira Gandhi with tigers and wildlife on Twitter and said, "15 months after she launched Gir Lion Project, Indira Gandhi heralded Project Tiger exactly 50 years ago today at Corbett. There were 9 tiger reserves then. Today, there are 53. For her, protecting tigers = protecting forests. Tiger reserves are one-third of rich forest areas now."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also shared a picture of tigers on Twitter and said, "50 years ago, 'Project Tiger' was launched by Smt. Indira Gandhi for habitat conservation of the Tiger."

"This landmark initiative ensured a viable tiger population for economic, scientific, cultural and ecological values. Let us continue protecting this majestic animal," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lucknow, Apr 1 (PTI) In an important judgment, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has held that a person can raise a plea of juvenility even after passage of 22 years during trial.

The bench has permitted a woman, who was a minor in 2000 at the time of the dowry-related death of her sister-in-law, to move a plea before a court to get her case transferred to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

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She had alleged that she was falsely implicated in the dowry-death case when she was only 13 years old.

Thereafter, she married and was living with her husband. Now the chief judicial magistrate, Sitapur, has issued a non-bailable warrant against her in the case.

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When she filed her plea of being juvenile at the time of the incident, seeking to transfer her case to the JJB, the CJM rejected the plea on December 7, 2022, saying that the plea was raised after 22 years.

Setting aside the CJM order, the bench observed that there was no time limit fixed for moving the plea of juvenility in the case.

"The intent of the legislature is very clear from bare reading of the provisions of Section 7(A) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, which permits the accused to take the plea of being juvenile at the time of incident, seeking benefit of the Act at any stage of the case, may it be pre-trial, trial or even appeal, a bench of Justice Shree Prakash Singh said recently.

With this observation, the bench has set aside the order of a lower court and asked the petitioner to file her plea of juvenility along with the certified order in the said court which would decide it within the next 45 days.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chandigarh, Apr 1 (PTI) Punjab government on Saturday announced the setting up of a task force in each district to investigate complaints against private schools.

According to an official statement, the decision was taken by School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains following several complaints by parents and students that private schools were "looting" them "in the name of books/copies and funds".

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"Taking strict notice of the loot being done by private schools in the name of books and funds, Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains has formed a task force to stop this," it said.

Each task force will have three principals from a district. It will investigate the complaints received by the education minister and submit its report to the regulatory authority, said the statement.

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Bains said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also received several complaints and the state government will not allow education to become a business.

All work will be in accordance with laws and regulations and violators will not be spared, he said.

He said a few days ago, a letter was issued to the private schools through all the District Education Officers of the state asking them to follow instructions of the school regulatory authority regarding books, copies, and fees, and funds.

Bains said he was surprised to know that private schools were selling class 1 books for Rs 7,000.

He instructed the owners and management of the schools to teach only NCERT books and also submit by April 30 information regarding any increase in fees/funds.

According to the rules, schools in towns have to display the names of three to five shops from where students can buy books outside their buildings while institutions in cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Amritsar, should exhibit a list of 20 such shops.

The Punjab government had last year said that private schools cannot compel children to buy books, uniforms, or stationery items from select shops.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], April 1 (ANI): Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Pratibha Virbhadra Singh said that the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi's membership is a murder of democracy.

Pratibha said that Rahul Gandhi was constantly asking questions to the government, so he was disqualified as an MP.

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Addressing a media conference in Shimla on Friday, she said, "This has never been seen before in the history of the country. It is for the first time democracy is being strangled like this."

After the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi's membership from the Lok Sabha, the Congress party has been vocal all over the country. Continuous efforts are being made to bring the opposition on a single platform.

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Pratibha Virbhadra Singh who is also a member of the Indian parliament from the Mandi segment of Himachal Pradesh said that Congress will not allow the murder of democracy in the country. She said that this was done by the Prime Minister just to save and protect his Industrialist friend Adani.

"Congress is raising the voice of farmers, horticulturists, workers and common people while the Prime Minister is busy strengthening his best friend Adani. The Union government led by BJP is misusing the power and has throttled the democracy in the country", she added.

Pratibha said, "BJP targeted Rahul Gandhi as part of a well-planned strategy, as he had asked two questions to the Modi government at the Centre on the Adani scam in the House. He had asked that Adani's shell companies have twenty thousand crores rupees and from where did this money come when Adani is in the infrastructure business and he cannot earn that much."

She said that just 9 days after Rahul Gandhi's speech in Parliament on the Adani scam, the defamation case against him was started again. The hearing of the case begins on February 27 and on March 23, the trial court convicts Rahul Gandhi and sentences him to a maximum sentence of two years in this case. Along with this, within 24 hours on March 24, Rahul Gandhi's membership was disqualified by the speaker of the Lok Sabha which is very unfortunate.

She said, "It was surprising that immediately after this the order was issued to vacate the government residence within a month. She said that this is the first time in the history of the country that a Member of Parliament has been awarded the maximum punishment in a defamation case."

Pratibha Singh said that part of the speech given by Rahul Gandhi and Congress National President Malika Arjun Kharge on Adani inside the house of parliament was deleted. She said that not letting the house run by the ruling party was a part of BJP's well-thought-out strategy, which would have avoided Rahul Gandhi's questions in the House.

She said that when Rahul Gandhi wanted to clarify his position in the House on one of his statements given abroad, even after his request to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, he did not even get a chance to speak and he has now been expelled from the membership of the House.

Pratibha Singh said, "The BJP is in panic due to huge public support in Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. Today Congress is trying to show the reality of BJP to the people through the press in support of its leader Rahul Gandhi in all the district headquarters across the state and this process is going on in the whole country."

On being asked about the office bearers of Youth Congress who were removed from different positions for not participating in the protest in support of Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, Pratibha said that they were removed by the Youth Congress Central leadership as they were given a call to assemble in Delhi and also they failed to give reasons for not participating. (ANI)

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Montreal, Apr 1 (AP) Police in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne said Friday they have found the bodies of two more migrants who died trying to cross from Canada into the United States, bringing the death toll to eight, including two children.

Authorities had pulled six bodies from a river that straddles the Canada-US border on Thursday, members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent.

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Akwesasne Mohawk Police Chief Shawn Dulude said authorities are still looking for 30-year-old Casey Oakes, who was last seen Wednesday operating a boat that was found next to the bodies.

A total of eight bodies have now been recovered from the waters. All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the United States from Canada, Dulude said.

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Dulude said he didn't know if Oakes is alive or not, adding that he is a person of interest.

The territory is known for being a transit point for the trafficking of humans and contraband because of its location. And in February, police in Akwesasne reported an increase in human smuggling into the Mohawk territory.

Weather conditions in the area were rough Wednesday night, said Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service

The territory is known for being a transit point for the trafficking of humans and contraband because of its location. And in February, police in Akwesasne reported an increase in human smuggling into the Mohawk territory.

O'Brien said six of the bodies were located during a search for Oakes who was reported missing on Thursday. Oakes of Akwesasne was last seen Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. boarding a small boat departing from the east end of Cornwall Island, located in the St. Lawrence River and on the Ontario side of the Mohawk territory.

This is a heartbreaking situation, particularly given the young child that was among them, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. We need to understand properly what happened, how it happened and do whatever we can to minimize the chances of this ever happening again.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service said the first body was located around 5 p.m. in a marsh. The area was searched further by a police marine unit with the help of the Canadian Coast Guard and the Hogansburg Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department.

Air support units with the Quebec provincial police and Ontario Provincial Police are expected to assist with the investigation of the area.

Post-mortem and toxicology tests have been ordered to determine the cause of the deaths.

Akwesasne police say there have been about 80 people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

Akwesasne straddles the Canada-United States border, and has territory in Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

There's always been people coming through here, Dulude said. I've always been worried about it. It's just that now there's more attention.

He said it's mostly people going south to the US and it is rare that someone comes north.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. A seventh person, spotted leaving the vessel and wading ashore, was later identified as a U.S. citizen. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials described what happened as a human smuggling incident.

Trudeau and US President Joe Biden announced a plan last week to close a loophole to an immigration agreement that allowed thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to move between the two countries along a back road linking New York state to Quebec.

The deal closing an illegal border crossing point about 105 kilometers (66 miles) east of Akwesasne took effect Saturday. O'Brien said it has nothing to do with the closure of the Roxham Road illegal crossing into Canada.

Early last year, a Florida man was charged with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teen, were found in Canada near the US border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard between Manitoba, Canada and North North Dakota. The dead were Indian nationals trying to enter the US. (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, April 1: Former US President Donald J. Trump has prepared to surrender to prosecutors in Manhattan next week as the New York police braced for protests and sharply partisan responses from Democrats and Republicans ushered in a tumultuous time for a deeply polarised nation, New York Times reported.

A day after a grand jury indicted Trump and made him the first former president to face criminal charges, metal barricades were up around the criminal courthouse on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan. Former US President Donald Trump Faces 34 Counts Related to Business Fraud.

Dozens of reporters and camera crews camped out across the street on Friday, while 20 court officers stood at the courthouse entrances, monitoring activity on the street, New York Times reported. Trump intends to travel to New York on Monday and stay the night at Trump Tower, people familiar with his preparations said. He has no plans to hold a news conference or address the public while he is in New York, the people said.

Trump remained largely quiet on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida, where he spent the day talking on the telephone with advisers. One of his lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said in a television interview that the former president would not take a plea deal and was prepared to go to trial, a typically defiant stance that is likely to endear him to his supporters, who see the prosecution as a politically motivated vendetta by Democrats, New York Times reported. Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury on 34 Counts Related to Business Fraud.

Late on Friday afternoon, Trump burst out on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, writing in all capital letters that Democrats were "INDICTING A TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN IN AN ACT OF OBSTRUCTION AND BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE." He concluded that it was all happening "WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!"

The former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on charges related to payments made just before the 2016 presidential election to buy the silence of a porn star who said she had an extramarital affair with him. The former president, who has denied the affair, has been charged with more than two dozen counts in a sealed indictment, according to two people familiar with the matter, although the exact charges remain unknown, New York Times reported.

The case, which could drag on for months and whose outcome is far from clear, is likely to test the country's institutions and the rule of law. It will also have deep repercussions for the 2024 campaign for the White House, a race in which Trump remains the Republican front-runner.

Even many of Trump's potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination snapped into line behind him in the hours after news of the indictment broke, looking more like allies than competitors. All passed on the opportunity to criticize the former president and some rushed to his defence in a sign of just how reluctant 2024 contenders are to directly confront him and antagonize his many millions of supporters in the party, New York Times reported.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a potential presidential candidate who has clashed with Trump, rushed to his defence, posting on Twitter that the indictment was "un-American" and amounted to "the weaponization of the legal system."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Copenhagen [Denmark], April 1 (ANI): India, Denmark on Saturday exchanged views on multilateral, regional issues including India's G20 presidency, India-EU Free Trade Agreement, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, co-operation at the UN, and climate change.

The two sides during the 7th round of India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Copenhagen on Saturday, undertook a comprehensive review of their bilateral relations, acknowledged that bilateral relations have grown significantly and have benefited from the signing of the first-of-its-kind Green Strategic Partnership in September 2020, according to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release.

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The consultations were co-chaired by India's MEA Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma and Denmark's State Secretary for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jesper Moller Sorensen. The last round of FOC had taken place in 2009 in New Delhi.

During the 7th foreign office consultations, discussions were held on progress made to implement the Joint Action Plan and sectoral cooperation in the areas of Renewable Energy including Offshore Wind, Water Management, Smart Cities, Green Shipping, Health, Dairy and Animal Husbandry.

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Both sides noted the progress on the setting up of the Smart Laboratory on Clean River Water in Varanasi.

The two countries appreciated that bilateral trade in goods and services had exceeded USD 6.64 billion in 2022 and agreed to diversify their trade and investment. Over 200 Danish companies are present in India and have been working in various areas such as wind energy, shipping, consultancy, food processing and the engineering sector while around 60 Indian companies, mainly in the IT, life sciences and clean-tech, renewable energy and engineering sectors, have a growing presence in Denmark.

The two sides agreed to continue high-level political exchanges and to hold the next round of the Joint Commission Meeting at Foreign Minister's level in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates, according to the MEA press release.

As per the official release, there have been several high-level engagements between India and Denmark in recent years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Denmark in May 2022.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of the Kingdom of Denmark recently visited India from February 26- March 2, 2023. Prime Minister Frederiksen paid a State Visit to India in October 2021, being the first Head of Government to visit India since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations were held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. It was agreed to hold political consultations at regular intervals. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
North Dakota lawmakers are steering toward a study of the state's charitable gambling issues, including the proliferation and siting of electronic pull tab machines.

The 2017 Legislature approved the glitzy devices, which appeared in 2018. They quickly became a common sight in bars. Gov. Doug Burgum has called them functionally slot machines."

Recently a loose interpretation of an "alcoholic beverage establishment" has led to the machines appearing in a handful of places such as gas stations and convenience stores. Cities and counties authorize gambling in their jurisdictions, including the machines and where they go.

The state's top gambling regulator is awaiting clarification on e-tabs so her office can regulate their activity correctly.

Bill fails

One bill that opponents called an expansion of the machines failed Friday.

The Senate killed House Bill 1484 by Rep. Nathan Toman, R-Mandan, in a 6-38 vote with no debate. The state House of Representatives last month had passed the bill, 66-27.

The bill sought to require locations with the machines to have an on-sale liquor license approved by the local government.

"This could include coffee shops, hair salons, gas stations, grocery stores or a site the local governing body allows," Sen. Judy Estenson, R-Warwick, told the Senate.

The bill also aimed to give sole discretion for approving machine sites to city and county boards, removing the state attorney general's authority for "final approval," instead mandating the AG to issue a license that a local government approves.

Estenson said the Senate Judiciary Committee was "concerned about the lack of uniformity without the AG oversight" as well as "local concerns that have been expressed that there are problems happening within the local control of this increased gambling."

Bar definition

The siting issue isn't dead. Senate Bill 2304 by Sen. Jerry Klein, R-Fessenden, would mirror new rules by the state Gaming Commission that alter the definition of a bar to clarify that it does not include off-sale liquor stores, gas stations, grocery stores or convenience stores, but allows bars in hotels, bowling alleys and restaurants.

The rule change last year was "for the future in case nothing happens during this legislative session," state Director of Gaming Deb McDaniel has said.

North Dakota has 4,400 electronic pull tab machines in more than 800 sites statewide.

Klein's bill is set for a hearing Monday before the House Industry, Business and Labor Committee. The Senate passed the bill, 35-12.

Klein has called the machines' appearance in convenience stores "troubling," and cited concerns for gambling addiction, regulation and impacts on Native American tribes, whose casinos are a major part of their economies.

Charitable organizations benefit from off-reservation gambling in North Dakota. The machines generated nearly $1.6 billion in proceeds in fiscal 2022, paying out about $1.4 billion in prizes and netting about $200 million for charitable uses.

'Pause'

The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill that would limit the machines' proliferation during a mandatory, interim 2023-24 legislative study of issues facing North Dakota's charitable gambling.

Sen. Jonathan Sickler, R-Grand Forks, told the Senate that House Bill 1497 "represents a pause."

"The unexpected and rapid expansion has laid bare policy disagreements that need to be resolved and fundamental questions that need to be answered now before our charitable gaming industry grows even larger," Sickler said.

The Legislature has handled a bevy of bills this session related to gambling and e-tabs, including ones on siting, rent increases and regulatory control.

The bill by Rep. Keith Kempenich, R-Bowman, goes back to the House for concurrence on Senate amendments.
Washington [US], April 1 (ANI): Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Saturday said that Indian community members across America have been working to advance bilateral commercial, economic and people-to-people ties.

"A delightful afternoon with Indian community members from across the US who have been working to advance bilateral commercial, economic & people to people ties," the Indian Ambassador tweeted on Saturday.

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Taranjit Singh Sandhu recently met the US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti. The two discussed immediate priorities in deepening India, US bilateral partnership.

"Congratulated @ericgarcetti on his swearing-in as the Ambassador of US to India. As he prepares to depart for India, we discussed some immediate priorities in deepening the bilateral partnership, in line with our Leaders' vision. Look forward to working with Eric," Sandhu tweeted.

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Earlier, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy welcomed Sandhu at a reception hosted by eminent diaspora members Nachhattar and Susana Chandi at Indian Wells in California and re-conveyed his support for stronger India-US ties in the days to come.

Addressing the gathering, Sandhu highlighted India's journey in the last 75 years in all spheres, including politics and economy, the ongoing digital transformation and clean energy; the evolution of the India-US partnership and how it is now being spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden's vision; and the role of diaspora in fostering ties.

In his remarks, Sandhu underlined three important aspects that merit attention.

"First, India's own remarkable developmental journey overcoming numerous challenges; Second, the parallel evolution of the India-US partnership to become one of the most consequential relationships in the world and third, the exemplary role that the Indian Diaspora had played and continues to play in nurturing this relationship," said Sandhu. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], April 1 (ANI): Israel's Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Friday called India one of Israel's closest and dearest friends. He called it a distinct pleasure to have been invited to India.

Knesset Speaker made the statement during a meeting with Parliament Speaker Om Birla. "It is a great honour for me to be here with you today. This is indeed not only my first visit to India but also the first visit of any speaker of the Knesset in an official visit to India. And it is my distinct pleasure to have been invited specifically to India, one of Israel's closest and dearest friends and the world's largest democracy," Amir Ohana said.

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"When I had to decide where to make my first official visit as speaker of the Knesset, India stood up with all the other countries. We saw it not only as a dear friend but also as a rising power in the world in many, many fields," he added.

Amir Ohana said that Israel and India are marking 31 years of diplomatic ties. He said, "Our countries are marking 31 years of full diplomatic relations. What started as ties between two ancient civilizations with rich histories and tremendous respect for our traditions, is now a friendship based on common interests in almost every aspect of life. We also share a deep historical connection."

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He further said, "Over the years, our relations have grown warmer and I'm happy to note that today the friendship and trust between us is fertile, is a fertile ground for closer cooperation on a variety of issues. I am delighted that earlier today I had the privilege to have signed a Memorandum of Understandings with my dear colleague Shri Om Birla detailing our common intention to strengthen our relationship over the coming years."

Referring to the Jews community living in India, Amir Ohana said, "Jews have lived peacefully in India for thousands of years, and those Jews who came to Israel from India served as a solid bridge between our two nations. It is actually one of the only nations on earth where Jews could live peacefully for thousands of years without any recognition of antisemitism, which is an unknown term in this country and we are thankful for that."

The Israeli Parliamentary Delegation led by Amir Ohana called on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at Parliament House on Friday. At the outset, Birla welcomed the delegation to India and said that Israel and India have traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations.

Notably, the Israeli Parliamentary Delegation, which is on an India visit till April 4, was jointly invited by the Vice President and Chairperson of Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Birla underscored that India and Israel share a robust democratic heritage and as fellow democracies, both countries have many similarities, which include respecting diverse cultures, following democratic values, and working as per the hopes and aspirations of the people. He also observed that in the changing global dynamics, the relations between India and Israel have become more important.

While speaking about the strong parliamentary relations between the two Parliaments, Lok Sabha Speaker expressed happiness at the formation of a Parliamentary Friendship Group for India in the Knesset. Birla emphasized that both Parliaments should work together at international fora and accordingly prepare an action plan based on collective discussion and dialogue.

Om Birla further suggested that both Parliaments must share experiences, best practices and technology to deal with global challenges and to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes across a range of situations. Speaking about regular high-level visits between the two countries over the years, Birla said that such visits have added new energy to bilateral relations.

In the context of the technological dominance of India and Israel in different scientific fields, Birla said that Israel is a world leader in agri-technology. He mentioned that people from around the world seek to emulate the technological progress that Israel has made. Birla said through mutual collaboration both nations can learn from each other and reap the benefits of technological progress. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Taipei [Taiwan], April 1 (ANI): In a retaliatory move, Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away ten Chinese aircraft, which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, normally an unofficial barrier between the two sides, Al Jazeera reported.

Nine Chinese fighter jets and one military drone crossed the median line in the 24 hours to 6 am local time on Saturday (20:00 GMT on Friday), the ministry said in a daily report on Chinese military activities.

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This comes after Beijing has threatened unspecified retaliation if Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, now travelling in Central America, meets United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy as she transits through the US on her trip to Latin America.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained in recent years of almost daily missions by the Chinese air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone.

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Tsai arrived in Guatemala on Friday on a visit to shore up ties with dwindling allies after Honduras became the latest country to cut diplomatic relations with Taipei in favour of Beijing. She will also visit neighbouring Belize, Al Jazeera reported.

Tsai is expected to meet McCarthy in Los Angeles on her way back to Taipei later this month from Central America.

Washington had said there was no reason for China to "overreact" to the "normal, uneventful" trip, while Beijing warned the US was "playing with fire" over Tsai being hosted by officials in the US, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning in a press conference on Wednesday said, "China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. We firmly oppose any visit by the leader of the Taiwan authorities to the US in any name or under whatever pretext."

According to the statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning further said, "We firmly oppose the US' having any form of contact with the Taiwan authorities, which violates the one-China principle. China has repeatedly protested to the US side on Tsai's so-called stopover in the US."

Last year, China fired multiple missiles and launched military drills around Taiwan after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. Her visit also strained the bilateral ties between US and China.

China staged war games around Taiwan in August 2022 after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and has continued military activities near Taiwan, though on a reduced scale.

So far this month, Beijing has sent 292 military aircraft and 76 naval vessels around Taiwan. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of grey zone tactics by routinely sending aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ, reported Taiwan News.

"China stepped up their military action in early August 2022 and held its live-fire drills in six locations around the country after the US White House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2-3, 2022. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, April 1: Devastating storms and tornadoes scraped US states of Arkansas and Illinois on Friday into early Saturday, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens more, trapping others in their homes, and damaging businesses and critical infrastructure, reported The New York Times (NYT).

In Arkansas, the governor declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon after officials said one person was killed in North Little Rock and two died in Wynne, in separate tornadoes. A state of emergency was also declared in Missouri in response to severe weather. US Storm: Powerful Storms and Tornadoes Tear Across Mississippi Leaving 25 Killed and Dozens Injured (Watch Video).

The mayor of Little Rock, Frank Scott Jr., said that at least 30 people were hospitalized there and that more than 2,000 homes were damaged. The storm did extensive damage to businesses and apartment complexes, the local police said.

Tornadoes Tear Through Arkansas and Illinois:

Unforgettable chase in my home state today (Arkansas). After a close intercept with the Cabot tornado, we then witnessed the Wynne and Lexa tornadoes. Cant say enough about my partner @wx_Frankie and his ability to keep calm and focused in tense situations. It breaks my pic.twitter.com/gflLwTtW4G  Zachary Hall (@WxZachary) April 1, 2023

On Friday night in northern Illinois, a person was killed and 28 others were hospitalized after the roof collapsed at a theater in Belvidere with 260 people inside, told the fire chief, Shawn Schadle, reported NYT.

Roughly 150 miles to the east of Sherman, in Sullivan Country, Ind., three people were also killed after a tornado touched down, according to Sgt. Matt Ames with the Indiana State Police.

In addition to Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee, tornadoes were reported to the National Weather Service across Wisconsin, Iowa and Mississippi. As the storm system moved eastward early Saturday, tornado warnings remained in place for parts of Alabama and Georgia, according to the National Weather Service. US Storm: Widespread Damage, Many Injured in Rolling Fork As Tornado Moves Through Mississippi (Watch Video).

More than 450,000 homes and businesses were in the dark early Saturday across Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee, with about one-third of the outages reported in Indiana, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.

Friday's severe storms came a week after severe weather walloped the Southeast and killed at least 26 people. An overnight tornado, which makes people most prone to extensive damages, levelled much of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where estimated maximum winds of 170 mph roared.

President Biden on Friday visited Rolling Fork, the Mississippi community hit hardest by the tornadoes last week. Tornadoes killed 13 people and destroyed homes and businesses in Rolling Fork and in surrounding Sharkey County.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
In addition to private investment totaling some $7 billion, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that Washington will provide federal investment to boost access to climate information services.US Vice President Kamala Harris announced private sector investment worth $7 billion to help Africa combat and adapt to climate change. The announcement came as her week-long trip to Africa comes to an end on Saturday.

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"The United States is committed to these types of innovative solutions to support climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience," she said during a press conference with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Friday.

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Harris added that the US would also provide more federal funding to improve access to climate information services.

The private funding will comprise investments by a mix of 27 companies and organizations. The funding is to be used for the promotion of climate-smart agriculture and to tackle the effects of climate change on Africa's food security.

Some of the funds will be used for projects in sustainability, clean energy and clean transportation.

Harris' trip marks the fifth high-level visit from the United States to the continent in a short span of a few months.

Climate politics in Africa

Numerous studies have established that even though African countries add relatively less towards the climate crisis, the repercussions faced in the continent are substantial.

African countries emit far less greenhouse gasses than developed countries like the United States.

At a press conference in Ghana, Harris was asked how the West could ask Africa to go green and stop using its natural resources. She was also questioned about the commitment of $100 billion in aid from wealthy nations to impoverished countries under the Paris climate accord.

Harris said it is "critically important that, as global leaders, we all speak truth about the disparities that exist in terms of cause and effect and that we address those disparities."

mf/sms (AP, dpa)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 01, 2023 01:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday in the Christian tradition, is the first day of Holy Week observed by the Christian community worldwide. It is observed on the Sunday before Easter, commemorating Jesus Christs triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday is associated with the blessing and procession of palms. In 2023, Palm Sunday will be celebrated on April 2, marking the beginning of the Holy Week. The Palm Sunday date changes yearly based on Lent and the spring equinox. Holy Week 2023 Calendar: From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday; List of Important Days And Dates of The Catholic Holy Week.

Palm Sunday History

Palm Sunday special ceremonies have been taking place toward the end of the 4th century in Jerusalem. They are described in the travelogue Peregrinatio Etheriae (The Pilgrimage of Etheria). Moreover, in the West, the evidence of the Palm Sunday ceremonies is found in the Bobbio Sacramentary, which dates to the 8th century. Palm Sunday is the day that is remembered and celebrated as the day Jesus entered Jerusalem as Savior and King. It is believed that Jesus rode a donkey into the town of Jerusalem; a large crowd gathered and laid palm branches and their cloaks across the road and shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Palm Sunday Significance

The Holy Week of the Christians begins with Palm Sunday leading up to Easter Day. Throughout the week, people of the Christian community offer prayers to Jesus Christ. Palm Sunday is also known as Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem in Orthodox Churches and is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year. The day before Palm Sunday is known as Lazarus Saturday, where believers often prepare palm fronds by knotting them into crosses in preparation for the procession on Sunday. The hangings and vestments in the church are changed to a festive colour  most commonly green.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 01, 2023 10:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The study by investigators at the Smidt Heart Institute in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center also found that overall survival from sudden cardiac arrest declined from 15.3 per cent to 10 per cent during the pandemic.
The Mumbai police recently arrested a Swedish national for allegedly molesting a crew member onboard a Bangkok-Mumbai flight. As per reports, the Swedish national was arrested on Thursday after a complaint was filed by IndiGo Airlines crew members. After being arrested, the accused was granted bail by the Andheri court on Friday. "Further probe underway," police officials said. IndiGo Airline Crew, Passenger Engage in Heated Argument Onboard Plane, Video Goes Viral.

Swedish National Arrested for Molesting a Crew Member

Mumbai: Swedish national arrested for allegedly molesting a crew member onboard a Bangkok-Mumbai flight, on Thursday after a complaint by IndiGo Airlines crew members. Arrested accused was granted bail by Andheri court on Friday. Further probe underway: Police  ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2023

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Times Staff Writer

Slain federal drug agent Enrique Camarena told his killers that agents knew the whereabouts of two of Mexicos most powerful drug lords but did not pursue them because they feared for their own lives, according to a tape-recording of Camarenas torture made public Monday.

In a chilling transcript of Camarenas ordeal, filed in Los Angeles federal court, the Drug Enforcement Administration agent is heard complaining to his captors that U.S. agents in Guadalajara were not allowed to carry arms and thus never conducted surveillance of reputed drug kingpins Rafael Caro-Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo.

To conduct surveillance over there at the house, I have never,sir . . . I am afraid, Camarena said.

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I did not want trouble. I just wanted to get out of here, he said, a reference to his impending transfer back to the United States.

Throughout the two tapes, obtained by Mexican authorities from the home of Fonseca-Carrillo, Camarena is frequently heard to moan with pain and plead with his captors to refrain from beating him further.

At one point, he complains of sharp pains throughout his body and entreats his captors: Couldnt I ask you to have my ribs bandaged, please?

DEA officials said Camarena may have been trying to mislead his captors at some points. For instance, agents working abroad can carry weapons if local authorities approve, they said.

Camarena was kidnaped Feb. 7, 1985, as he left the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara to meet his wife for lunch. His severely beaten body and that of his pilot, Alfredo Zavala-Avelar, were discovered several weeks later, still bound and gagged, buried on a remote ranch 70 miles north of Guadalajara.

Federal prosecutors now believe that a former Mexican police official, Sergio Espino-Verdin, conducted a two-day interrogation of Camarena at a large estate outside Guadalajara owned by Fonseca-Carrillo, according to documents filed with the court.

Prosecutors also disclosed that Espino-Verdins voice and that of Caro-Quintero have been identified on the interrogation tape. Carpet fibers and a bed sheet found with Camarenas body point to the Fonseca-Carrillo home as the site of his torture and murder, the prosecution said.

Caro-Quintero, Fonseca-Carrillo and Espino-Verdin were among nine men indicted earlier this year by a federal grand jury in connection with Camarenas murder. Only three of the nine, however, are in U.S. custody. Raul Lopez-Alvarez, 28, Jesus Felix-Gutierrez, 38, and Rene Martin Verdugo-Urquidez, 36, are scheduled to go to trial later this month in Los Angeles.

Extradition proceedings have been stalled for several months against Caro-Quintero, who has been identified as the most powerful drug trafficker in Mexico, and Fonseca-Carrillo, the alleged enforcer for his organization. Both are presently in custody in Mexico City.

Defense lawyers announced Monday that the Mexican government has formally protested the arrest of Verdugo-Urquidez, who has alleged that he was taken into custody by masked men on the streets of San Felipe in January, 1986, blindfolded and driven to the U.S. border at Calexico, where he was pushed through a hole in the fence into the arms of U.S. marshals.

U.S. officials have admitted paying four former Mexican police officials $32,000 to apprehend Verdugo Urquidez.

All of the defendants in custody have denied any involvement in the Camarena case, and several filed motions Monday seeking to force the government to disclose the identities of other suspects, who the defense claims must be the real perpetrators.

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie ordered the government to privately disclose to the court the identities of other suspects and informants to allow him to decide whether that information might exculpate any of the defendants.

Defense lawyers have also challenged the validity of what government prosecutors say is the tape-recording of Camarenas torture. In motions filed with the court, the defense says an unexplained burst of music and clicking sounds indicate that the tapes may have been tampered with, or fabricated.

But in several affidavits filed with the court, DEA agents who worked with Camarena say the tapes must be authentic. Camarena is heard to disclose confidential information that could not have been known to anyone but him, and prosecutors say that several of his closest associates, including his wife, have identified the voice on the tape as that of the slain drug agent.

Restricted Information

Part of the information on the tapes that officials say could not have been known to anyone outside the DEA is Camarenas disclosure that officials at DEA headquarters had voiced complaints about the Guadalajara office.

Im telling you that we are being reprimanded from Washington because, according to them, we are not working here, Camarena is heard to say. As I say, well, who is going to do the work if they have one unarmed?

In several places on the tape, Camarena says that DEA agents failed to conduct surveillance against top drug traffickers in Guadalajara because of DEA policies preventing them from carrying weapons or participating in active investigations.

You wont believe this, but it is very dangerous for us to conduct surveillance; as I say, we are unarmed, he said.

Camarena said he had requested and received approval for a transfer out of Guadalajara because things are very tough here.

DEA officials in Washington could not be reached for comment late Monday, but the agencys spokesman in Los Angeles, Ralph Lochridge, said DEA normally carry weapons abroad.

In Mexico, it might be the local comandante that can deny or sanction the carrying of firearms, he said. Maybe what he was trying to do was give them an answer that was inaccurate, but an answer as to why he wasnt conducting surveillance on them. He was just throwing out something that was wrong.

Along those lines, Camarena at first denies on several occasions that DEA officials knew the whereabouts of Caro-Quintero and Fonseca-Carrillo. But he admitted toward the end of the session that he had locations for both men.

He also provided only sketchy information as to the identities and locations of DEA informants in Mexico.

This apparently angered his interrogator, who at one point snapped: Who is it that put the finger on Rafael? Dont tell me about your problems; speak of the information you can give us, you can provide us to finish with this bunch of jerks. . . .

Voice Called Weak

Yes, sir. What more can I tell you, sir? says Camarena, whose voice is described on the transcript as very weak.

The transcript of the alleged torture session runs 56 pages. Federal prosecutors said they believe the tape was turned off whenever Camarena was being beaten.

Affidavits based on autopsy reports, also filed with the court Monday, reported that Camarenas jaw was broken in several places and his head was shattered like an eggshell.
Times Staff Writers

Huey P. Newton, a leading proponent of African-American militancy in the 1960s and a co-founder of the radical Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was shot three times in the head and killed early this morning in a West Oakland neighborhood plagued by violence and crack cocaine.

Oakland police declined to speculate on a motive for the killing, although Newton, 47, had a history of cocaine abuse and had been sentenced to 90 days in San Quentin Prison earlier this year for possessing drug paraphernalia, a violation of parole in an earlier case.

We had a call of gunshots in the area, Oakland Detective Dan Voznik told United Press International. He was found in the street and pronounced dead at a local hospital.

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Voznik and other detectives refused further comment until later today.

Critically Injured

Phyliss Brown at Highland Hospital in Oakland said Newton was brought to that major emergency facility at 5:50 a.m. critically injured with multiple gunshot wounds in the head. She said he was pronounced dead at 6:12 a.m.

Although Newton did not live in the 9th Street neighborhood where he was shot, he frequently visited the area, said Jules Ayo, 54, who said he lived a few doors away from the bloodstained sidewalk where police found Newton.

Ayo said he heard gunshots at 5:15 a.m., but did not go outside to see what happened because gunplay is common among the run-down, wood-frame, single-family houses in the chronically drug-plagued part of the city.

When you hear shots, you stay in the house, he said. Night people run these streets. We dont come out at night.

Newton founded the Black Panther Party in Oakland in 1966 with Bobby Seale, and the two young firebrands with their armed and uniformed followers quickly became a militant counterpoint to the nonviolent civil rights movement led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Provocative Stunt

Panthers roamed the streets of Oakland, a law book in one hand and a gun in the other, interrupting arrests and other police activities when they believed that black people were being treated unfairly. In one particularly provocative stunt, armed Panthers once pushed their way on to the Assembly floor at the Legislature to protest a law banning the carrying of loaded weapons.

Later, the Panthers concentrated on programs to feed the hungry, teach the young and battle drug abuse and the pushers who encouraged it.

Newton disbanded the group in 1982 after he was accused of embezzling $600,000 in state aid to the Panther-run Oakland Community School. Most of those charges, however, eventually were dropped and Newton pleaded no contest to a single allegation of cashing a $15,000 state check for his own use. He was sentenced to six months in jail and 18 months probation.

That case, settled last March, and the drug charge were the latest in a long series of Newton confrontations with the law.

Furious Gun Battle

One year after organizing the Panthers, Newton was shot and wounded during a furious gun battle with Oakland police that left an officer dead. Newton was convicted in 1968 of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to spend from two to 15 years in prison.

He was released in 1970, after serving 22 months in prison, when a state appeals court ruled that the jury in the case had received improper deliberation instructions from the trial judge.

In 1974, after being accused of killing a 17-year-old prostitute and pistol-whipping his tailor, Newton fled to Cuba and claimed political asylum. He returned in 1977 to face the charges; two trials ended in hung juries.

A year later, he was found guilty of being an ex-felon in possession of a handgun. He was found guilty of the same charge in 1979 as well, and finally was sentenced in 1981 after lengthy appeals.

Even during these difficulties, Newton, the son of a Louisiana preacher, pursued an education. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in social science from UC Santa Cruz.

Times researcher Norma Kaufman contributed to this story.
The North Dakota Senate missed an opportunity this week to do something to help schoolchildren when it rejected a bill to expand a free lunch program, though it might get another chance to do the right thing.

Some of the comments against House Bill 1491 were callous. The bill was defeated by one vote, 23-24, on Monday, and an attempt to revive it failed on Tuesday, 20-27.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. LaurieBeth Hager, D-Fargo, would have dedicated $6 million over the next two years to cover K-12 students lunch costs if their family income is less than double the federal poverty level.

Hager originally proposed providing free lunches to all K-12 students at a cost of nearly $90 million in state funds. The House amended the bill reducing its cost and how many families would qualify. Under the amended bill, families of four with incomes at or below $60,000 would have qualified.

The Tribune editorial board supported the bill in its original form and also backed the amended bill. Some of the comments against the bill were disturbing.

I can understand kids going hungry, but is that really the problem of the school district? Is that the problem of the state of North Dakota?" Sen. Mike Wobbema, R-Valley City, said during the debate. He added, Its really the problem of parents being negligent with their kids.

The Tribune believes it is a problem for school districts and the state to tackle. Yes, schools dont refuse to serve students whose families havent paid the school lunch tab. It would make it easier for school districts if the state paid for more school lunches.

Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, argued ... this is a personal responsibility issue and not a starvation issue of children. Unfortunately, some families struggle to pay all their bills. It doesnt mean they dont work and try to do the best for their children.

Conservatives in the Legislature have pushed numerous bills they say will benefit and protect children. Many of the bills seem more intent on pushing an agenda than really helping children.

A bill advancing in the Legislature would provide $24 million to help parents pay for sending their children to a private school. The Tribune believes its more important to pay for school lunches than pay tuition to private schools that can be selective on who they accept.

Funding school lunches has been gaining ground across the nation. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham just signed a bill providing school lunches for all students. California and Maine have similar laws, with Vermont and Nevada considering legislation. Colorado voters approved a measure providing school lunches.

Theres still hope for funding North Dakota school lunches. The House on Friday narrowly approved an amendment to Senate Bill 2284 to provide $6 million for that purpose. House budget writers will consider the proposal before the full chamber votes whether to send it back to the Senate.

It makes sense for the state to pay for at least some lunches. Otherwise, school districts often have to scramble to find ways to fund the unpaid lunch bills. The state is responsible for educating children, and it should feel responsible for feeding them.

Hopefully, the Legislature will approve SB 2284 with the school lunch funding included. The mood in the Senate doesnt bode well for the bill, but approval is the right thing to do.
<i> Suzan Shown Harjo, who is Cheyenne and Creek, is executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, based in Washington. </i>

What if museums, universities and government agencies could put your dead relatives on display or keep them in boxes to be cut up and otherwise studied? What if you believed that the spirits of the dead could not rest until their human remains were placed in a sacred area? The ordinary American would say there ought to be a law--and there is, for ordinary Americans. The problem for American Indians is that there are too many laws of the kind that make us the archeological property of the United States and too few of the kind that protect us from such insults.

Some of my own Cheyenne relatives skulls are in the Smithsonian Institution today, along with those of at least 4,500 other Indian people who were violated in the 1800s by the U.S. Army for an Indian Crania Study. It wasnt enough that these unarmed Cheyenne people were mowed down by the cavalry at the infamous Sand Creek massacre; many were decapitated and their heads shipped to Washington as freight. (The Army Medical Museums collection is now in the Smithsonian.) Some had been exhumed only hours after being buried. Imagine their grieving families reaction on finding their loved ones disinterred and headless.

Some targets of the Armys study were killed in noncombat situations and beheaded immediately. The officers account of the decapitation of the Apache chief Mangas Coloradas in 1863 shows the pseudoscientific nature of the exercise. I weighed the brain and measured the skull, the good doctor wrote, and found that while the skull was smaller, the brain was larger than that of Daniel Webster.

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These journal accounts exist in excruciating detail, yet missing are any records of overall comparisons, conclusions or final reports of the Army study. Since it is unlike the Army not to leave a paper trail, one must wonder about the motive for its collection.

The total Indian body count in the Smithsonian collection is more than 19,000, and it is not the largest in the country. It is not inconceivable that the 1.5 million of us living today are outnumbered by our dead stored in museums, educational institutions, federal agencies, state historical societies and private collections. The Indian people are further dehumanized by being exhibited alongside the mastodons and dinosaurs and other extinct creatures.

Where we have buried our dead in peace, more often than not the sites have been desecrated. For more than 200 years, relic-hunting has been a popular pursuit. Lately, the market in Indian artifacts has brought this abhorrent activity to a fever pitch in some areas. And when scavengers come upon Indian burial sites, everything found becomes fair game, including sacred burial offerings, teeth and skeletal remains.

One unusually well-publicized example of Indian grave desecration occurred two years ago in a western Kentucky field known as Slack Farm, the site of an Indian village five centuries ago. Ten men--one with a business card stating Have Shovel, Will Travel--paid the landowner $10,000 to lease digging rights between planting seasons. They dug extensively on the 40-acre farm, rummaging through an estimated 650 graves, collecting burial goods, tools and ceremonial items. Skeletons were strewn about like litter.

What motivates people to do something like this? Financial gain is the first answer. Indian relic-collecting has become a multimillion-dollar industry. The price tag on a bead necklace can easily top $1,000; rare pieces fetch tens of thousands.

And it is not just collectors of the macabre who pay for skeletal remains. Scientists say that these deceased Indians are needed for research that someday could benefit the health and welfare of living Indians. But just how many dead Indians must they examine? Nineteen thousand?

There is doubt as to whether permanent curation of our dead really benefits Indians. Dr. Emery A. Johnson, former assistant Surgeon General, recently observed, I am not aware of any current medical diagnostic or treatment procedure that has been derived from research on such skeletal remains. Nor am I aware of any during the 34 years that I have been involved in American Indian . . . health care.

Indian remains are still being collected for racial biological studies. While the intentions may be honorable, the ethics of using human remains this way without the full consent of relatives must be questioned.

Some relief for Indian people has come on the state level. Almost half of the states, including California, have passed laws protecting Indian burial sites and restricting the sale of Indian bones, burial offerings and other sacred items. Rep. Charles E. Bennett (D-Fla.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have introduced bills that are a good start in invoking the federal governments protection. However, no legislation has attacked the problem head-on by imposing stiff penalties at the marketplace, or by changing laws that make dead Indians the nations property.

Some universities--notably Stanford, Nebraska, Minnesota and Seattle--have returned, or agreed to return, Indian human remains; it is fitting that institutions of higher education should lead the way.

Congress is now deciding what to do with the governments extensive collection of Indian human remains and associated funerary objects. The secretary of the Smithsonian, Robert McC. Adams, has been valiantly attempting to apply modern ethics to yesterdays excesses. This week, he announced that the Smithsonian would conduct an inventory and return all Indian skeletal remains that could be identified with specific tribes or living kin.

But there remains a reluctance generally among collectors of Indian remains to take action of a scope that would have a quantitative impact and a healing quality. If they will not act on their own--and it is highly unlikely that they will--then Congress must act.

The country must recognize that the bodies of dead American Indian people are not artifacts to be bought and sold as collectorss items. It is not appropriate to store tens of thousands of our ancestors for possible future research. They are our family. They deserve to be returned to their sacred burial grounds and given a chance to rest.

The plunder of our peoples graves has gone on too long. Let us rebury our dead and remove this shameful past from Americas future.
From Associated Press

A boy dressed in camouflage shot and critically wounded a 13-year-old female classmate in the lobby of their middle school Friday, police said.

The boy, also 13, then pointed a pistol at the principal and assistant principal, who told him to stay cool, Supt. Carlos Viramontes said. The youth was taken into custody by police shortly after the 12:45 p.m. shooting at Deming Middle School.

The girl, Araceli Tena, was in critical condition at Thomason Hospital in El Paso with a gunshot wound in the back of her head, a hospital spokeswoman said. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital, about 100 miles east of Deming.

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Police refused to comment on the boy or any possible motivation for the shooting. No charges had been filed.

Viramontes said school officials had heard a lot of stories but knew of no motive for the shooting at the only middle school in the farming and ranching town of about 15,000. Deming is 33 miles north of the Mexican border.

Right now, the only relationship that we know of is the fact that they were students here at the middle school. We dont know if there was any association between the victim and the suspect, Police Chief Michael Carillo said.

When police arrived at the school in response to a 911 call, they confronted the armed student in the lobby. They ordered him to put down the small-caliber pistol, and after about five minutes, he put it down, Carillo said.

No other students were hurt, and only one shot was fired, he said.

Some students were locked in classrooms until police announced the school was safe, and several parents picked up their children after hearing about the shooting.

The school district had established a safety plan last year after the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., hoping we would never have to use it, Viramontes said.

Sixth-grader Anjelita Gonzales said a school official yelled Code Red over the loudspeaker and the teacher locked the classroom door.
Sam Quinones is the author of "True Tales From Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx" (University of New Mexico Press). His last story for the magazine was on the band Los Tigres del Norte.

One day in 1968, when twins Juan and Abel Velazquez were 15 years old, their father, Jose, sat them down and placed before them canvases of black velvet. Jose had grown up on the hard streets of Mexico City, where hed been a boxer for a time. Later he taught himself cartooning and then to paint on velvet, which is how hed been supporting his family.

Time for playing is over, he told his sons. Its time to make money.

He took up a brush, dabbed it in pink paint and taught his sons the craft he knew best. Starting with a simple classic image of Tijuana velvet painting--the Pink Panther--he taught them to paint on the soft, rich fabric. When their attention or brush strokes strayed, he grabbed his sons by the hair and shook them. We just wanted to go out and play, recalls Abel.

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For the next two years, the boys learned the secrets of velvet painting. Brushes had to be nearly dry, their father told them. Laden with too much paint, they would cause caking. Painting back and forth across velvet muddies the fabrics sheen, so paint only in one direction. Paint what sells. Be literal. Tourists dont buy velvet impressionism.

Other velvet icons followed: Snoopy, Charlie Brown, the Playboy Bunny. They learned to paint a prowling tiger and John Wayne, bullfighters and unicorns, black lovers and white lovers. The Velazquez twins became known among Tijuanas painters as The Photographers, since what they painted invariably looked so much like the real thing.

Juan and Abel Velazquez were not the first velvet painters in Tijuana, but they are now, at age 51, almost the last. Like bleary-eyed boxers whove fought too many rounds, they still lug their velvet paintings around the city, trying to sell them to tourists but seldom with much luck. After decades of defining Tijuana, velvet painting is disappearing.

The art supply store that once sold 200 hundred-yard rolls of velvet a month now barely sells two. Many painters have died, moved away or turned to other professions. Only a handful are still known to paint velvet, and none of them are young. Even the tradition of committing Elvis to velvet--the fabled Velvis--marches steadily to extinction. In the entire city of Tijuana, more than 1 million strong, only a few still regularly brush the Kings fleshy cheeks and pillowy lips onto velvet.

One of these artists is Enrique Felix, who abandoned velvet for many years but recently returned to it as a hobby. My children now are in their 20s, says Felix, who sells his paintings at his curio shop near the tourist drag of Avenida Revolucion. I dont want them to do this. This is a good way to die of hunger. When we die, no one will know the technique. Itll be forgotten and disappear.

Tijuana is proud to be an industrial city now, a pit stop in the global economy where more than 600 foreign-owned maquiladoras, or assembly plants, employ more than 100,000 people. Tijuana workers manufacture more televisions than are produced in any other city in the world.

Yet few events signal that change as clearly as the decline of velvet painting, the art that was Tijuanas hallmark for so long. From the late 1960s to the mid-80s, the citys tourist shops were virtually wallpapered in velvet portraits of JFK, clowns, unicorns, crouching tigers, bandits and Jim Morrison. The city of Juarez went even further, with factories of velvet painters turning out scads of the stuff. Tijuana had street corridors where teenagers could watch and learn from the more experienced velvet artists. Artists today recall that cops, construction workers--some even say doctors--became velvet painters.

In the United States, these were the days of lava lamps, black lights and water beds in vans. If the 1970s were the most embarrassing years of the 20th century, then Tijuana was its Florence. Even the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years, ingeniously drew political capital from velvet painting.

The father of modern velvet painting was a debauched drunkard named Edgar Leeteg, an American billboard painter who moved to Tahiti and was immortalized in the book Rascals in Paradise by James Michener and A. Grove Day. Leeteg would paint all week, then drink and fornicate on Tuesdays, when his money and whiskey would arrive by boat. He died during a drunken spree in 1953, leaving behind many Tahitian children and hundreds of velvet paintings hanging in Hawaiian bars, restaurants and brothels.

Its not clear how the art form migrated to Mexico from the South Seas. One theory holds that U.S. sailors who had seen Leetegs work in Hawaii brought their enthusiasm for it back to their home base in San Diego. When on leave in Tijuana, they asked the street painters there if they could duplicate Leetegs style. Whatever the explanation, velvet painting clearly took hold in Tijuana in the late 1950s. By the 70s, the city had a well-trained battalion of painters who were able to provide any icon of machismo and pop culture that tourists wanted splashed across the fabric.

There was a moment in the early- to mid-1960s when velvet painting could have become serious art in Tijuana. The painters who were using the medium were widely considered some of Tijuanas best: Miguel Najera, Tony Maya, Roberto Sanchez, Nacho Amaro. Imitators hadnt yet entered the field. Tijuanas main attraction, however, was Avenida Revolucion, the tourist drag known for intense competition among merchants. Tijuana took the low velvet road and soon paintings were selling wholesale.

Imitations of what sold well became the prevailing ethic. Painter Jesus Gutierrez photographed a neighbor with rugged features. Using the mans photograph as a model, he painted a bandit. The man moved away long ago and his name is lost to history, but he became the standard bandit for dozens of velvet painters. Through the years, they would add whiskers, an eye patch, scars, a beard, a mustache or a cigarette. But the nose, eyes and chiseled visage remain unmistakably the same. You paint something, and if it sells well everyone does it, says Gutierrez, who owns a gallery in town and paints velvet only on request.

By the mid-1970s, velvet had become the purview of an international assortment of immigrant merchants who would visit Tijuana. There was a Mexican guy from Arizona. Bart the Armenian lived in New Zealand and would order 200 paintings each time he came through, as did an Indian fellow from Trinidad and Tobago.

The Canadian Arabs are remembered most fondly by Tijuanas velvet painters. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, they arrived almost every month and set up in a San Ysidro motel. Theyd order paintings in lots of 100. Tijuanas painters would frantically dash off the work over the next two weeks, and the Arabs would fill tractor-trailers and truck them to Toronto. Theyd empty Tijuana every time theyd come, recalls Juan Velazquez.

One day, while hurrying to fill an order, Jose Velazquez finished a canvas and tossed it aside. Later he found that it had landed face down against a blank piece of velvet and had left a print. The Velazquez studio grew hushed. He swore his sons to secrecy. Soon they were painting one canvas heavily and then laying it against a blank one, pressing the two together. They would quickly fill in some detail and have a sellable second painting in a fraction of the time it took to paint one from scratch. Soon the Velazquez home was a velvet production line.

During these years, the twins built their parents a home, paid the household expenses, bought cars and clothes, and gave money to their sisters. By 1979, the velvet painting market was so crowded with artists painting the same kitsch that they undercut each others prices, with most works selling for $10 to $30 each. The painters decided to unionize, and the Quetzalcoatl Painters Union grew to 350 members.

Through the union, velvet painting became part of the PRI. The PRI ruled Mexico for so long because it mastered the ability to co-opt and extract loyalty from varied sectors of Mexican life. It did this by threatening to levy government sanctions against those outside the party.

During that same period, the Tijuana police began rousting velvet painters who worked and sold in public. So the new union asked Rafael Garcia Vazquez, a PRI leader and head of the collection of vendors unions known as the Revolutionary Workers Confederation, to help defend them. In exchange, the painters joined the PRI and supported the political career of Garcia Vazquez. At one point, Garcia Vazquez even tried to use velvet painting unionists as his bodyguards when a faction within the confederation threatened to oust him or kill him or both.

Sales of velvet paintings began to weaken in the mid-80s as tourists tastes turned to other things. Painting on onyx was popular for a while, and by the end of the 1980s, velvets glory days had drawn to a close. Painters stopped painting. The union faded away. Jose Velazquez spent the last years of his life as a cartoonist, selling his work in front of the Fronton Palacio jai alai hall. One day even the Canadian Arabs stopped coming, without a final goodbye.

These were the years when Tijuana began turning away from tourism. The decline of velvet painting correlates directly with the rise of the citys assembly plants, which make increasing numbers of Americas televisions. Today the towns economy has diversified. Its middle class has expanded. Most of the people crossing from Tijuana into the United States are Tijuana residents with cars and money, going shopping. The city now has an opera company, two conservatories of classical music and far more Mexican businessmen visiting on weekdays than American tourists.

If velvet painting once defined Tijuana to Americans, and a good many Mexicans, its decline serves as a faithful barometer of the citys changing place in world culture.

While the Velazquez brothers continue to work in velvet, they can no longer make enough money by selling paintings to stores. So they take them to the street. Abel Velazquez says, however, that he was recently prohibited from selling his paintings on the tourist bridge to Avenida Revolucion. Mixtec Indian vendors from Oaxaca--selling serapes, gum, wrestling masks and grains of rice with your name on them--complained that he was hurting their sales. This may be the final indignity: Indians, once the most disparaged of Tijuanas migrants, now have the political power to push around velvet painters.

We spent our youth in velvet painting. They were nice years, says Abel Velazquez. But its like everything else. Everything ends.
Times Staff Writer

Talk about swimming with sharks.

Zhang Xingshui, an attorney with the Beijing Kingdom law firm, knows that like people everywhere else in the world, the Chinese dont always trust lawyers, who often promise things they cant deliver. But in China, he says, lawyers dont trust their clients, who like to skip out without paying. And neither trusts judges, who routinely disregard the law in favor of politics when rendering decisions.

Living in such a society is tiring for everyone, Zhang said. Youre forced to be vigilant so you dont fall into pits, which are everywhere. Everybody is a victim and at the same time an offender.

Even as China surges onto the world stage as if powered by rocket fuel, Earths most populous country is beset by trust issues that would test anyone.

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Rules arent clear and must be navigated on the fly. The food supply is full of life- and health-threatening fakes. Factories spew chemicals into the air and water at alarming rates. Power and connections far outweigh justice, and social tension is growing.

Meanwhile, corrupt local officials pay lip service to Communist Party ideals as they line their pockets at the expense of the general population. Land that farmers have tilled for generations can be seized on a moments notice in a system that doesnt recognize private property. Friends cheat friends and uncles bilk nephews for short-term gain.

Though the widespread insecurity is difficult to quantify, analysts say it is taking an economic and psychological toll, and making governing more difficult.

China is in a very serious trust crisis, said Zheng Yefu, a sociologist at Peking University and author of the book On Trust. Id say were looking at a minimum of a generation, maybe 20 or 30 years, to recover, but it could take two or three times that long.

Experts cite several reasons for the dearth of trust. Some point to the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution and other wrenching political campaigns in the first decades of communist rule that ended centuries-old traditions and forced family members and friends to denounce one another, severing basic human bonds.

Mutual trust among people because of various political movements has deteriorated to the lowest level that any society can possibly hit, said Hung Huang, chief executive of China Interactive Media Group and star of the recent film Perpetual Motion, about a woman out to determine which of her friends is having an affair with her husband. Theres also a very different starting point: In America, youre innocent until proven guilty. In China, youre guilty until proven innocent.

Others cite the influence of a market economy on a society without a well-developed legal or regulatory system. Some say a lack of religion or meaningful belief system under communism leaves people morally adrift.

The government has tried to address the problem with a recent morality campaign -- Eight Virtues and Eight Shames, a list of dos and donts, including Be honest and trusting and Avoid being immoral for personal profit -- but some question Beijings commitment.

Right now theyre more concerned with building hardware, big buildings and dams than with morality and other software, said Zheng of Peking University. And anyway, the government shares much of the blame for the present trust crisis.

Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociologist at Peoples University in Beijing, agreed, citing the example of wildly inaccurate government statistics released for political purposes, a general lack of accountability and systemic corruption in the party ranks.

If the beam above is crooked, the beam below wont be straight, either, Zhou said. Officials cheat the common people and the common people cheat those above them. Its a vicious cycle.

Systemic problems and outdated or intentionally skewed laws and regulations encourage companies and individuals to cut corners.

For example, a driver who kills a pedestrian faces a maximum liability of about $4,100 in rural Shaanxi province but upward of $37,000 in Shanghai. But when pedestrians are merely injured, theres in effect no cap on liability.

This can create some twisted incentives. When driver Ma Yinghao hit a pedestrian in December, he deliberately backed over the injured person in an attempt to kill him, hoping to avoid high hospital and compensatory fees.

Rather than fixing a flawed system, the state often responds by trying to prevent similar abuses through intimidation, which the Intermediate Peoples Court in Shijiazhuang did by sentencing Ma to death.

The problems affect some of Chinas most visible professions, including medicine, the media, education, accounting and manufacturing.

The advertising industry, for instance, which is a font of fake claims, is regulated by the Advertising Industry Assn. and a unit of Chinas State Administration of Industry and Commerce. Both are government-run, have their own agendas and, insiders say, dont even make a pretense of keeping up with industry practices, a function of an unresponsive one-party state that doesnt face political opposition or citizens who vote.

A flawed structure all but forces advertising account representatives to take kickbacks, given wage levels that wont support them, said Zhang Li, general manager of Beijings Mid-South SeaSky Advertising Co.

Mistrust in China is less a problem of individual morality than the system, which often makes it difficult to do the right thing, Zhang said. Even someone so moral theyd jump into the water to save a drowning person might still cheat to survive.

In other parts of the economy, a relentless drive to make easy money has led to a spate of pyramid and other get-rich-quick schemes, with government regulators often uninterested in preventing abuse unless it becomes a political problem that jeopardizes their own careers, analysts say.

Distrust can roil marriages as well. The rapid spread of affairs has shocked many in China, especially in light of the not-too-distant past when employers approved all marriages, divorces, births, travel and job changes, putting a chill on most infidelity.

Chinese societys obsession with marital distrust was epitomized in the 2004 hit Cellphone, in which a husband spends much of the movie giving excuses over his phone to hide his affairs. His most famous excuse, Wo zai kaihui, or Im in a meeting, became a running joke.

If you look at the news, watch television, go on the Internet, all you see is a lack of trust, said Wang Huifen, 39, a government worker. Even within marriage theres no trust.

Does she trust her husband? I dont want to talk about it, she said. Thats personal.

Cheating on your spouse and cheating the public are closely related, according to the state-run New China News Agency, which reported last year that 95% of Chinese officials convicted of corruption had mistresses.

In the marketplace, unscrupulous hucksters take advantage of the most basic of human needs and insecurities -- from food, housing and medical care to welfare and education for treasured only children -- to cheat their customers.

In Daoxianghu, an area of lakes, fields and pay as you catch fishing operations on the outskirts of Beijing, Shi Yingzhao fingers his bean and cucumber plants. A year ago, fed up with city life and tired of worrying about the poisons and additives in his food supply, the book editor moved into a courtyard home where he grows his own organic vegetables.

I try not to eat anything from the market, he said. You just dont know what youre eating. I dont use any chemicals or synthetic fertilizers. Of course you cant ever be 100% sure, because the bigger environment is already polluted.

Its no wonder hes worried. Purveyors of fake baby formula continue to victimize the poorest and least educated people more than a year after a 2004 scandal left 12 infants dead and hundreds of children malnourished or brain-damaged after they were fed white powder with no nutritional value.

There are scandals involving carcinogenic noodles, poisoned melon seeds, waste-filled pancakes, substandard wine and water-injected pork, among others.

According to the New China News Agency, 500 people suffer from sickening or deadly food poisoning a day, and a study released in June by the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medical Sciences found that one-third of foods labeled nutritious for children were completely lacking in nutritional value.

Often at the root of the problem are retailers with an extremely short-term outlook, limited accountability and little downside if they fleece their customers. Steven Qiu, 23, said he recently called a computer company in Beijing to make sure it had a particular Sony model he wanted. When he arrived, the company had no Sony products, let alone the item he wanted.

They lied just to get me to come, he said. I was furious -- it cost me a lot of time and money. And in typical fashion, their attitude was terrible. They werent in the least bit concerned who I complained to.

Shenanigans in the job market have given rise to a new profession: specialists hired to check the credentials of newly recruited staff. One government crackdown a few years ago revealed that 15,000 civil servant party members had used fake university degrees and other bogus certificates to get their jobs.

The very basis of trade, Chinas currency, is frequently counterfeited, and even the smallest retail outlets are equipped with special machines to check the authenticity of bills.

Yet Chinese have a high tolerance for uncertainty, some say, allowing them to cope with and even thrive under these conditions, as uncomfortable as they may be.

After a while, it becomes quite normal, said Shi, the book editor. While life for ordinary people is very hard, it also makes them strong and determined to survive.

mark.magnier@latimes.com

*

Yin Lijin in The Times Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.
Charles Koch, seen in 2012. Has he enlisted the University of Utah in a campaign against teaching Marx?

Heres something you may not have known about the University of Utah: Its been a center of scholarship in Marxian economic theory.

But the right-wing Koch family almost certainly knows. That could be why the Charles Koch Foundation is making a $10-million donation to the school to establish a distinctly non-Marxian Institute for Economics and Quantitative Analysis at the universitys business school. The donation will match a combined $10-million donation from two foundations of Utahs Eccles family. (Hat tip to Erik Loomis of the University of Rhode Island, who picked up on the announcement.)

The University of Utah says theres nothing to the supposition that the Koch donation is aimed at balancing the perceived Marxian bent of the universitys economics department. Adam Meirowitz, a business school professor who helped develop the idea for the institute and will be its faculty director, says the ideological reputation of the Koch brothers unfortunately makes people worry. He told me by email that talk about balancing or countering is off the mark and that the idea is based on misperceptions.

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For the better part of a century, Castros Cuba and the University of Utahs economics dept. seemed like the last bastions of Marxist thought in North America.  Deseret News, Salt Lake City

If so, those misperceptions are strong on the wing in Salt Lake City. One local newspaper, the Deseret News, which is owned by an affiliate of the Mormon church, couldnt restrain its glee when the donations were announced July 20.

For the better part of a century, the newspaper groused, Castros Cuba and the University of Utahs economics department seemed like the last bastions of Marxist thought in North America  with the latter being subsidized by local tax dollars. The institute, it editorialized, will provide some philosophical balance to the universitys educational offerings and scholarship on economics.

The university, for its part, thinks the Deseret News view of the department is outdated  or that it may be mistaking Keynesian economic thought, which is very much in the mainstream, for Marxism.

Meirowitz told me that hes confident that the institute will support high-quality research, not efforts to reach certain answers. There is no room for the foundations to challenge this. Based on his conversations with foundation representatives, he says, I also dont see any desire to influence our choices. The institutes goals, he says, include building a small but world-class research presence in economic theory and applied economics at the university and supporting a novel, mathematically intensive major for undergraduates.

The university says it approached the foundations, rather than the other way around. The grant agreement between the university and the Charles Koch Foundation specifies that the direction of the institute, its budget, and its appointments will be subject to the universitys standard procedures.

Yet this may overlook ways the Charles Koch Foundation could exert subtle, or even not-so-subtle, influence over the institute. Its $10-million donation will be spread over eight years, with each annual $1.25-million grant contingent on a written request and, at the four-year mark, an update on the progress made in establishing this new program.

The foundation is under no obligation to contribute any funds to the Institute or the University, the agreement says, which implies it could be revoked at any time on almost any pretext. Moreover, the Koch and Eccles grants are contingent on each other, which means that a Koch objection could endanger the entire $20 million in institute funding.

This grant structure could magnify any Koch Foundation pressure on the program. That wouldnt happen if the university insisted, as some institutions do, on a general grant to the university to be applied by administrators in any way they see fit, with the money paid up front and irrevocably. Anything short of that merely invites the donating foundation to try throwing its weight around.

I reached out for comment from the Charles Koch Foundation, but havent heard back. A spokesman for the foundation, John Hardin, told the Salt Lake Tribune that the foundation is devoted to promoting critical thinking via a platform where [competing] ideas have the freedom to interact.

The Kochs are anything but shrinking violets when it comes to how their money is spent. They tend to portray their educational contributions, which currently go to hundreds of colleges and universities, as impartial donations. But their academic giving principles point to an agenda aimed at fostering the principles of free societies  in practice, that tends to mean those with fewer regulations or government interference in free markets. Just as upholding values such as free speech, property rights, and progress are important to a healthy, growing society, the foundation says, they are also pivotal in fostering a healthy, growing organization.

How has that worked in the real world? Sometimes the strings attached to a Charles Koch Foundation grant are overt. Thats what happened at Florida State Universitys economics department, which accepted $1.5 million from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, a precursor of the Charles Koch Foundation, in return for giving the foundation the right to accept or reject faculty appointments made with those funds; in the first round of hiring, the foundation rejected 60% of the universitys faculty choices. And a 2008 agreement between that foundation and Utah State Universitys business school gave the foundation the right to approve or reject professors hired under a $625,000 grant.

One interesting aspect of the University of Utah institute is that it will bear the name of Marriner Eccles, not Charles Koch. That reflects both the magic of the Eccles name and the opposition Koch inspires.

The Eccles clan is among the most prominent and respected in Utah, dating back to its patriarch, David, who lived around the turn of the last century, when he was the leading tithe payer to the Mormon church, and after whom the business school is named. Two family members sit on the universitys board of trustees.

Marriner Eccles (1890-1977) is the familys most illustrious forebear, but he wasnt born that way. He was the oldest child of Davids second polygamous family, which was disdained by the senior family and almost entirely shut out of the Eccles fortune when David died without a will in 1912.

Marriner, however, turned out to have a flair for business. He managed the familys construction business, Utah Construction, which reaped a fortune as a major contractor on Hoover Dam, as well as its banking business. But he was anything but a conventional conservative. He was an ardent New Dealer and a believer in the role of government in managing economic crises.

FDR brought him to Washington, where he wrote the legislation that gave the moribund Federal Reserve System the powers it needed to help manage the economy, and appointed him the Feds first governor after the legislation passed. The precepts of John Maynard Keynes werent well known in the U.S. at the time, but its proper to regard Eccles as a proto-Keynesian. Hes widely regarded as the architect of the modern Fed, whose Washington headquarters building bears his name.

That leaves the question of how Utah gained its reputation as a hive of Marxian scholarship in the first place. The process apparently began with the arrival of leftist economists from UC Berkeley, who were fleeing an atmosphere of ferocious anti-communism there after World War II. They recruited two notable Marxian economists, Hans Ehrbar and Emery K. Hunt, both of whom are now retired and listed as emeritus professors. As Marxian economic analysis fell out of favor, and Marxs thinking became relegated to the history and philosophy departments, Utah remained one place where he was still taught as an economist.

The university, for its part, says the notion that its economics department is still red is outdated, especially since Ehrbar and Hunt are long retired. What remain, the university says, is a department committed to a diversity of economic research, including the Keynesianism espoused in effect by Marriner Eccles.

Would Eccles approve of his role in American economic history being caricatured as Marxian by supporters of an institute bearing his name? Good question.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.
The Donald Trump indictment made him the first former president to ever be criminally charged. However, this begs the question, will he surrender? Will he even be arrested?

The former president's charges are still unclear as of writing as the indictment itself is still under seal. However, the Associated Press reported that they are working to coordinate Trump's surrender, which might happen as early as next week.

It is also not clear if prosecutors seek jail time for the former president should he be convicted. Should Trump not be jailed, he could still make a run for the White House and he could still be president again.

Should Trump surrender, New York Law requires him to be fingerprinted and photographed, fielding basic questions such as name and birthdate, and getting arraigned. This applies to all criminals, be they rich or poor, no matter how powerful or if they are normal people. Defendants are also typically detained for at least several hours.

Donald Trump Is Likely to Surrender on Tuesday, Says His Lawyer

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina confirmed that the Manhattan DA's Office reached out to the Trump camp. He may not be able to represent Trump during this specific case because of a possible conflict of interest as he may have represented porn star Stormy Daniels previously.

He appeared on NBC's "Today" show Friday morning and said that the former president is likely to turn himself in on Tuesday. "We're working out those logistics right now," said the lawyer. "He's not gonna hole up in Mar-a-Lago."

READ MORE: Donald Trump Indicted, Makes History as First Criminally Charged Ex-US President

However, Tacopina still insisted that Trump would not be taking a plea deal, as the Trump attorney insisted that his client did not do any crime, according to the Associated Press.

The Manhattan DA asked Trump to surrender on Friday, but his lawyers stated that the Secret Service needed additional time as they made security preparations.

As for him being extradited, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is currently Trump's biggest rival for the Republican nomination, stated he will not extradite Trump and accused Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg of being politically motivated. Experts believe DeSantis, who had been trading barbs with Trump for weeks, may have been pressured into saying this by Trump supporters.

Stormy Daniels Interview with Piers Morgan Postponed After Donald Trump Indictment

The first president to ever be criminally indicted may be going down because of a former porn star. Now, that porn star's life may be in danger as Stormy Daniels's scheduled interview with British host Piers Morgan has been postponed for security reasons.

According to The Guardian, Piers Morgan confirmed this, saying that his interview with Daniels, which was supposed to happen on Saturday, was suddenly postponed. Morgan added that he hopes that she is okay.

Trump's hush money payments to Daniels were the focus of the Manhattan DA's investigation into the former president, as he instructed his then-lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, to pay off Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal to not talk about their affairs with Trump as he ran for the presidency in 2016.

READ NEXT: Fox News CEO Furious at Reporter for Fact-Checking Donald Trump's Election Lies

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Gasp heard on Fox News as Donald Trump indictment announced - Guardian News
The legal battle between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News has entered a new stage after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that the case should go to trial.

The judge's decision came after weeks of Dominion revealing private messages between Fox News hosts and executives.

The Delaware judge said in his ruling that it was "CRYSTAL clear" that none of the allegations made by former President Donal Trump's allies on Fox in the weeks after the election was true.

The private messages revealed by Dominion as evidence showed that several Fox News stars and executives have publicly peddled Trump's narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. But privately, they ridiculed and criticized this false claim made by the former president.

One example is a private message from Tucker Carlson admitting that he hated Trump "passionately" and was excited not to talk about the former president after he lost the election.

Another message revealed that Carlson told fellow Fox host Laura Ingraham that Sidney Powell, a lawyer representing Trump in election-related lawsuits, was "lying" and he had "caught her" doing so.

However, despite knowing the "lies," they still spread misinformation on air. According to the Associated Press, Davis said it is now up to a jury "to decide whether Fox acted with actual malice in airing the claims."

If the jury does find this to be true, they would also be the ones to decide how much money Dominion would be getting in their lawsuit.

Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., are facing a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by the voting equipment firm, which claims that the conservative network defamed the company by repeatedly claiming, without evidence, election fraud claims involving their voting machines.

"The statements at issue were dramatically different than the truth," the judge said as he denied Fox's effort to throw out the lawsuit and Dominion's appeal for a victory without a jury.

"In fact, although it cannot be attributed directly to Fox's statements, it is noteworthy that some Americans still believe the election was rigged," the judge added.

Davis also wrote in his 81-page ruling that Fox's failure to present extensive evidence to contradict the fraud claims "indicates that its reporting was not disinterested."

READ NEXT: Tucker Carlson Admits He Hates Donald Trump 'Passionately'

Jury Selection and Trial Date for Fox News Defamation Lawsuit Announced

Should Fox decide not to go for a last-minute financial settlement, the trial will begin around mid-April.

According to Politico, the judge has set jury selection on April 13, and the trial is set to begin on April 17 in the Delaware Superior Court in Wilmington.

Several Fox News executives and personalities such as Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity could be called on the stand.

Ex-Fox News Producer Says She Gave Misleading Testimony for Dominion Lawsuit to Keep Her Job

During an interview with NBC News on Thursday, former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg admitted that she gave misleading testimony in the Dominion defamation case because the right-wing network pressured her.

She said she was "bullied, intimidated and coerced" into protecting the network to keep her job.

"It felt awful. I mean it felt terrible because I knew that I was bullied, intimidated, and coerced into saying that just to keep my job and stay at the company," Grossberg said.

She then noted that she did it after deciding to keep her job "so that I can keep paying my bills. It seemed like the safer decision for me at the time."

READ MORE: Fox News CEO Furious at Reporter for Fact-Checking Donald Trump's Election Lies

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Fired Fox News Producer Speaks Out Over Dominion Legal Battle - From TODAY
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador traveled on Friday to Ciudad Juarez, near the U.S.-Mexico border, where 39 migrants died in a fire at a migrant detention center.

However, Lopez Obrador only spoke with federal employees in Juarez's Ginmansio del Colegio De Bachilleres and did not meet with any of the patients nor any of the thousands of migrants who have been staying in the city for months in hopes of being granted asylum in the U.S., according to Border Report.

That created some chaos during the president's visit as migrants confronted him while he was inside a van outside the college gym on Friday afternoon.

A group of migrants tried to block Lopez Obrador's motorcade, resulting in scuffles. They were seen banging their hands on the van and demanding it to stop. They were reportedly trying to talk to the president.

The migrants said they just wanted to let him know that they were in a crisis and ask for justice for the victims of the migrant center fire and their families.

Lopez Obrador was in Juarez not for the issue of the deadly fire but to meet with federal employees promoting his administration's social welfare programs.

In a press conference before he started his trip to Juarez, the Mexican president said he would meet with the doctors treating the 27 migrants injured in the fire, but it was unclear if that happened.

Lopez Obrador said the migrant center fire was his administration's second most painful moment, next to a 2019 pipeline fire in Tlahuelilpan that killed about 137 people.

"I confess it hurt me a lot, it damaged me... It ripped my soul apart," Lopez Obrador noted.

Arrests Ordered in Relation to Migrant Center Fire in Mexico

Justice seems to be moving now, as a Mexican court issued arrest orders Thursday for six people in relation to the migrant center fire.

The federal prosecutor leading the investigation, Sara Irene Herrerias, noted that three officials from the National Immigration Institute, two private security guards contracted by the agency, and the migrant who allegedly started the fire as a form of protest were all being investigated.

The migrant has already been detained, while the other five have yet to be arrested, she said. Over two dozen migrants have been injured, with 27 of them still hospitalized, according to Federal Public Safety Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez.

These people who are still in the hospital are either in serious or critical condition, though at least one migrant has already been discharged, the Associated Press reported.

Rodriguez added that Grupo de Seguridad Privada CAMSA, the private security firm that had a federal contract to provide security in several immigration facilities, would have its operating permit revoked and face a fine.

Security camera videos showed the guards walking away when the fire started inside the cell holding migrants. They did not attempt to release them, though it was unclear if they even had the keys to the cell doors.

Mexico Government to Close Burned Migrant Center, Set Up Migrant Rights Body

Rosa Icela Rodriguez confirmed that the Mexican government had decided to close down the burned migrant facility, which had received complaints about poor conditions and human rights violations even before the fire.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador noted that he would be setting up a commission to ensure the human rights of migrants are protected. It will be headed by Father Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest and longtime migrant activist.

However, according to the Associated Press, it is still unclear what sort of powers this commission would have.

READ NEXT: Texas: FBI Shot, Killed Suspect in Kidnapping of Migrants From Mexico

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: 38 Killed in Fire in Mexico Migrant Detention Camp - From ABC News
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement on Transgender Day of Visibility:

"On Transgender Day of Visibility and every day, we must show transgender students that we see them and that we support them. We know many transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students face challenges that can impact their mental health and their ability to thrive in school-not because of who they are, but because of the hostility directed at them."

READ NEXT: FACT SHEET: President Joe Biden Urges Regulators to Reverse Trump Administration Weakening of Common-Sense Safeguards and Supervision for Large Regional Banks

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona Added:

"Unfortunately, this hostility is what follows when politicians are among those attempting to bully transgender students and their families, and use state laws to limit who they can be in our school communities. It's unacceptable. It goes against what we stand for as a nation.

Schools must be welcoming, affirming, and nurturing places for teaching and learning. The Department of Education will continue working together with parents and families, educators, and students so that we can achieve this goal for every young person."

READ MORE: FACT SHEET: Vice President Kamala Harris Announces Initiatives to Advance the U.S. Partnership With Zambia
You have to give Disney credit; when they make a decision to do something, no matter how ill-advised, they'll always go down with the ship. Although a decent idea at first, Disney's live-action films have slowly become one of the company's most hated pieces of content. Both fans and critics have been vocal about how little magic Disney's live-action remakes retain from their source material. Plus, they're also kind of corny and often shoddily put together in such a transparent attempt to bilk parents out of their money via nostalgia.

However, even though the company's last live-action adaptation of Pinocchio was met with a litany of negative reviews, Disney has decided to stay the course and keep churning out more detestable perversions of their classic films. What's next on the menu? According to Deadline, the Lilo & Stitch live-action adaptation-starring Zach Galifianakis as the eponymous Stitch-has found its Lilo.
The Aruba Tourism Authority is looking for the islands next weather person, which the organization says is the worlds easiest job.

The job is so easy, according to the tourism authority, because Aruba is considered one of the sunniest Caribbean islands.

That means for the weather reporter, pretty much the same weather report day after day. And because theres usually very little to report on other than sun, Aruba says no experience necessary to apply.

Yes, this is clearly a marketing ploy (the job only lasts for a week), but its certainly a fun one.

So ... what does the weather reporter actually do?

The job involves taking over weather reporting duties on Arubas social media channels for a week and a six-night, seven-day trip to Aruba for two.

The gig also includes free lodging at the new Embassy Suites by Hilton Aruba Resort. The resort has access to Eagle Beach, which is home to some of the clearest blue water in the world.

How to apply

If youre interested in applying for the job, visit this website, register and submit a 30-second weather report about Aruba between now and March 31.

The tourism authority also gave a clue to what theyre looking for in a sample weather report: Its probably 80 degrees and sunny.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
The Bucks County District Attorneys Office on Friday announced a cold case homicide has been solved.

Investigators say two men, both of whom have since died, were responsible for the shooting death of 34-year-old Richard Wesley Wheeler in September 1980 in Nockamixon Township. District Attorney Matt Traubs office drew that conclusion after piecing together a timeline based on an association between the three parties, according to a news release describing the allegations.

This incredible piece of investigative work built a timeline of events that ultimately solved this Cold Case, Weintraubs office says in the release. The final piece to this mystery was accomplished earlier this year when investigators were able to track down the shooter.

Wheeler and the two, Peter Eric Marschner and Leslie Schmidt, met while incarcerated in Danbury Federal Prison in Danbury, Connecticut, the news release states.

Marschner was a German national known as the Captain, who had a history of stealing yachts, boating equipment and money from harbors in the Caribbean Islands. That history got him arrested in May 1977 by French officials, and he was sent to the Danbury prison where he met Wheeler, a marijuana dealer who escaped a California prison, and Schmidt, a Bucks County methamphetamine dealer, according to investigators.

While incarcerated, the three men allegedly conspired to set up a meth lab in Upper Bucks County once they were released from prison.

Wheeler was released first, and was entrusted $250,000 by Schmidt to care for Schmidts family until Schmidt finished his prison sentence.

Released from prison in July 1980, Marschner was being deported back to Germany when he escaped from custody in the confusion surrounding a delay to his flight from JFK Airport in New York City, investigators say.

Schmidt became suspicious Wheeler was spending the $250,000 on himself rather than Schmidts family, and ordered Marschner to kill Wheeler, investigators determined.

Wheeler was shot four times, sometime between Sept. 8 and Sept. 18, 1980, when his body was found hidden on a wooded property along Center Hill Road in Nockamixon about a mile south of Kintner Hill Road, according to the release from Weintraubs office.

In 1983, investigators spoke to witnesses, concluding that Schmidt hired a German guy to pull the trigger, the release states, and that the gunman was someone Schmidt had met in Danbury Federal Prison.

Throughout the case, investigators have tried to locate Marschner, who disappeared after killing Wheeler, the DAs office says.

Marschner, who was 42 at the time, fled in Wheelers pickup truck to New Jersey, the DAs office says. He changed his name to Charles McLaren and was arrested again in 1982, with the fingerprints matching those of Marschner from his 1977 arrest, investigators said.

After his release, Marschner under the McLaren name lived his life in New Jersey, raising a family and running a successful limousine service in New York City before his death in 2006, investigators say. Schmidt died in 2022.

The Bucks County District Attorneys Office considers this case solved due to the deaths of all the participants in the murder, the release states. Additionally, this office has consulted with the victims family, and they are grateful that this crime is now solved.

The case was investigated by Detective David Hanks with the Bucks County District Attorneys Office, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Christopher Cleveland and Bucks County Deputy District Attorney Megan A. Hunsicker.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
After a 47-year-old patient arrived at a Manhattan hospital for "observation," he decided he preferred the ambulance ride over the medical facility. So at 5am, when no one was paying attention, the gentleman ran back out to the ambulance that had taken him to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, found the keys still in the ignition, and took it for a spin. His joyride lasted 25 minutes and even included a chase, but the fun came to an abrupt end after police set a spike strip in his path.

From AP News:

The ambulance was tracked by GPS heading north through Westchester County on Interstate 87, police said.

State troopers spotted the ambulance near Tarrytown and tried to stop it, the New York state police said in a news release. The driver failed to stop, and the troopers gave chase, police said.

The runaway ambulance was finally stopped when troopers put a tire-spiking device on the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge that spans the Hudson River, police said. The ambulance's tires deflated when the man tried to cross the bridge.

The man was arrested on charges including grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and driving while intoxicated, police said.
The trout were biting Saturday morning that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission stocked in Lehigh Valley waterways like the Monocacy Creek at Bethlehem.

Pennsylvanias statewide trout season opened at 8 a.m., with New Jerseys trout opener following a week later on Saturday, April 8.

For those looking for some tips on trout-fishing success, Fish and Boat recommends seeking out cold clear lakes and streams, and some rivers, and fishing during the mid-day in spring and early morning or early evening during the summer.

For bait, consider minnows, worms, salmon eggs, corn, cheese or prepared baits fished on a light wire hook drifted on the bottom. Good lures to use are spinners and small crankbaits. The line should be 2-to-8-pound test, with a 6-14 hook size and lure weight of about 1/32 to 1/8 of an ounce, the commission says.

Visit fishandboat.com for information about fishing licenses, which increased in price for 2023 and are slated to increase again for 2024. In New Jersey, visit dep.nj.gov for license information.

Pennsylvania offers fish-for-free days with no license required for residents or out-of-state residents on Sunday, May 28, and Tuesday, July 4. New Jerseys free freshwater fishing days are Saturday, June 3, and  following the fall trout stocking  Saturday, Oct. 21; on these two days, only residents may fish New Jerseys public fresh waters without a license or trout stamp. Size and daily catch limits still apply.

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The dreaded spotted lanternfly will soon return to menace anyone outdoors across most of Pennsylvania plus New Jersey, but there is still time to prepare for the rapidly spreading pests.

According to Ellen Roane, arborist with Harrisburgs Department of Parks, Recreation and Facilities, the region will see young lanternflies start to be active in late April and early May  which gives us about a month to prepare traps.

The insects have a tendency to drop out of the tree and then crawl back up the trunk, Roane said as she put in place a heavy-duty flypaper roll around one tree at Italian Lake in Harrisburg. As they crawl back up the trunk, they get stuck on this.

The insects have spread across the central Pennsylvania region in recent years. While they are no threat to humans, Roane said that they can be a threat to certain plants they feed on, particularly grape vines and apple trees. This is in addition to the sticky honeydew residue they leave after feeding, which itself can attract sooty mold.

Among the citys parks, places like Italian Lake and Reservoir Park are among the most affected by the insect, Roane said. But they can thrive nearly anywhere that the tree of heaven can be found - itself an invasive species of weed. The relatively fast-growing and rapidly-spreading tree species is the lanternflys favorite food.

For anyone who wants to do their part and protect their own trees from spotted lanternflies, Roane suggests attaching a strip of heavy-duty fly paper around the trunk of a tree, such as these products which can be purchased on Amazon.com:

Smaller, standard-sized fly paper wont do the job, Roane said, though the best approach with the larger rolls is to cut them in half to make a thinner band  around six inches across will do. Then, to ensure that squirrels or other animals dont get caught, the flypaper should be covered with a mesh window screen, such as these:

Roane explained that the length of the window screen should be about twice the amount necessary to wrap around the tree, so that it can be crimped at the top and attached to the tree with thumbtacks or push pins, secured above the fly paper and extended over it like a skirt.

Arborist Ellen Roane demonstrates how to create a trap for spotted lanterflies at Italian Lake in Harrisburg.

This setup will allow the screen space so that it doesnt touch the fly paper and stick. Instead, it will stick out from the tree and still allow squirrels to climb across it, but the smaller lanternflies will climb directly onto the flypaper as they go up the tree.

Youll need to change the paper periodically, because it will get full, Roane said. Ive come out and seen them completely covered.

The egg clusters can already be seen on many trees, and while destroying them before they hatch can be effective, they can often be high enough to be difficult to reach.

This style of trap works best in the spring and early summer, Roane said, with the youngest stages of lanternflies. The fully grown adults are large and strong enough to jump free from the fly paper, though they can still be trapped with the more complicated circle traps. Details on those can be found here:

More information on circle traps can also be found via the Penn State Extension website.

READ MORE:
Former U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick said during an appearance Friday in East Pennsboro that hes definitely considering another run for office and he called the indictment of former President Donald Trump highly political.

During a 15-minute appearance at the conservative Pennsylvania Leadership Conference at the Penn Harris Convention Center in Cumberland County, McCormick said Trumps indictment represented a dark day for American justice free from politics.

Its obvious that this is a highly politicized attack on the former president thats been made by a partisan district attorney, McCormick told moderator Salena Zito, a writer for the conservative Washington Examiner.

As for him making a second attempt at a seat in the Senate, McCormick said hes still motivated to serve after he lost the GOP Senate primary to Dr. Mehmet Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes last year.

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, said he is definitely thinking about running for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who lost to Gov. Josh Shapiro in November, is also reportedly considering a U.S. Senate run.

Im definitely trying to figure out how to best serve, McCormick told Zito.

McCormick announced his 2022 run for Senate at an appearance with conservative Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas at Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in North Whitehall Township.

McCormick joked that hes a former executive, but his family is tired of getting his repeated advice with his exasperated wife recently looking at him and saying, You must get a bleep job.

Laughing, McCormick said, Ive got to figure out whats next.

Otherwise, McCormick, a West Point graduate and decorated veteran, talked about the points he makes in his new book, Superpower in Peril: A Battle Plan to Renew America, particularly about the nations military prowess and global standing against threats from China and Russia.

Were at a moment where we have to have a plan and vision for moving forward, said McCormick, who drew applause when he said the United States needs to hold China accountable for the COVID-19 virus.
A man charged with defrauding the State out of thousands of euro in Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) assistance is to be sent forward for trial.

Cristiano Feitosa Vaz, 3 St Joseph's Terrace, Granard, Co Longford, was served with a book of evidence at last week's sitting of Longford District Court.

The court heard the accused was to stand trial accused with 12 sample counts of alleged fraud under Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft & Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

They allege Mr Feitosa Vaz fraudulently obtained payments totalling 4,200 at Bank of Ireland, Main Street, Granard, Co Longford on dates between April 14 and June 30 2020.

Mr Feitosa Vaz was initially charged in July 2021 and made no reply when the alleged offences were put to him.

Directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were returned later in the year which provided the matter could be disposed of in the District Court 'summarily' on the proviso Mr Feitosa Vaz tendered a guilty plea.

Those alleged offences totalled an overall 4,200.

Garda Eamon Fitzpatrick gave evidence of having served the book of evidence on Mr Feitosa Vaz.

Defence solicitor Frank Gearty applied for legal aid on behalf of his client and for one junior counsel to be assigned to the case.

The court was told the accused was being sent forward for trial on 12 alleged counts of alleged PUP fraud.

Judge Bernadette Owens gave the accused an alibi warning, informing him that if he intends to rely on the defence of an alibi he must, within 14 days, notify the Prosecution of this in writing.

Mr Feitosa Vaz was sent forward for trial on his own bond of 500 and remanded on continuing bail to the next sessions of Longford Circuit Criminal Court on May 9.
A Fine Gael Minister visiting Laois has defended the lifting of the rental eviction.

With just two houses to rent in Portlaoise, a town of 24,000 people, on the day of Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveneys visit to Laois on March 30, the Leinster Express / Laois Live asked him if he is happy to stand over the lifting of the ban, effective from April 1.

Minister Coveney argues that removing the ban will stop landlords selling up.

This is the point. We need to focus on supply of more houses. There is significant evidence that the ban on evictions has contributed to many landlords leaving the market, and many properties also leaving the rental market.

We know that 21,000 landlords left the market last year, which is reducing the options for people who need rental properties. We have nearly 12,000 people in emergency accommodation today and 3,500 are children. We need to get more properties into the rental market so that those families have an option to get out of emergency accommodation and into rental properties.

If we know that extending an eviction ban is reducing the number of rental properties, then we have to do something about that," the Enterprise Minister said.

He claims it is now more difficult to evict a tenant.

Of course people who face eviction need to be helped by the state. We have, over the last number of years, significantly improved the security of tenure of tenants. Landlords cant easily evict anybody at the moment unless there are specific reasons.

The focus has to be to get more rental properties into the market, to build more new homes, get more vacant properties into the market, to ensure that we have affordable rental, affordable homes for sale, more social housing.

We built 9,000 social houses last year which is more than at any time since 1975. We are delivering more houses but weve got to do more.

Im more than aware of the anxiety and concern, frustration and anger around the shortage of housing. The Government is determined to respond to that, but the core problem here is we simply dont have enough houses available for rent in Portlaoise today. Unfortunately the judgement weve made, because of the statistics that dont lie, is that extending the eviction ban contributes to more and more properties being taken out of the rental market," he said.

Latest homeless figures for Laois meanwhile show seven families living in emergency accommodation, and 12 single people. The figures were given at the March 27 meeting of Laois County Council, relating to the end of February.

Since the start of 2023, 15 families in Laois had presented as homeless to the council desk, and 31 single people.
The people of the Laois should wear the Easter Lily with pride to mark the 107th Anniversary of the Easter Rising, according to Aontu political party's representative in Laois.

Eleanor Deane Maher explained that the Easter Lily commemorates the 1916 Easter Rising and all the men and women who gave so much for Irish Independence and Freedom.

"We wear the Lily to honour their enormous sacrifice and to focus on the ideals and objectives that they fought for.

Not all those objectives have been achieved and we need to work harder, together, to ensure that they are. Democratic Irish Independence, economic justice and to cherish all the children of the nation equally; thats what our brave heroes called for as they struck that fateful blow for our freedom in 1916. The ideals of our wonderful men and women who took on a powerful Empire in 1916 are shared by Aontu and we are working tirelessly every day to bring them to reality.

All of us owe the men and women who lit the flame for our freedom as a country, our deepest gratitude. Show it by wearing the Easter Lily, she said.

The Easter Lily was introduced by Cumann Na Mban in 1926 to raise funds for families of those involved in the fight for Irelands freedom.
Hundreds of protesters in Dublin have decried the ending of the eviction ban.

The protest came on the first day of the end of the no-fault eviction ban, which ended at midnight on March 31.

The eviction ban meant tenants could only be ejected over reasons like anti-social behaviour or damage to the property, but the Irish Government has argued that extending the ban would decrease the available supply of housing.

In a vote on Wednesday evening the Government defeated a Sinn Fein Bill which attempted to extend the eviction ban until the end of January 2024.

Carrying signs reading rent control now, the crowd of demonstrators outside Leinster House called for homes for people, not for profit.

Disability and homelessness campaigner Kayleigh McKevitt said the rises in cost of living and housing prices have had a serious impact on her mental well-being.

I knew from the get-go when I moved into independent living that I would have to be financially smart because as a person with a disability on disability allowance we dont get very much, she said.

Even being financially smart isnt cutting it any more.

I cant buy a full weekly shop because I cant afford it.

Ms McKevitt added: This Government is sending me further into depression.

She also questioned the Governments will to help the most vulnerable.

When is this going to stop? Why does it have to keep falling on people who havent got the resources to change it for themselves? she asked.

Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly spoke at the protest.

We are here today because we know the reality  we know what is facing people who are terrified of having the only safety net taken away from them, she said.

Shame on this Government, shame on those independents who supported them, shame on every housing minister who has brought us to this point.

Ms OReilly spoke of her own experience with homelessness in light of the ending of the eviction ban.

I dont know if anyone in the Government was ever evicted into homelessness, but I was, she said.

I felt ashamed because I couldnt provide a house.

She continued: When I think about that now and I think about people who are facing eviction and facing homelessness, they should not feel any shame, the shame is not theirs, the shame is the Governments.

There are 11,742 people in emergency homeless accommodation as of last month, according to the Governments official tally.

In a speech in the Dail on Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the housing crisis is one of the greatest political challenges of our time.
A 20 million fund can help bridge a gap between the haves and have-nots when it comes to centres for community use in Laois, according to sean Fleming TD.

The Minister of State welcomed the Government's decision to establish the Community Centres Investment Fund for 'shovel ready projects'.

Department of Rural and Community Affairs said that for the first time, funding of at least 1 million will be invested in projects which in areas that currently lack community facilities.

The news comes just in the same month as the Laois community of Clough gave away 100,000 trying to raise funds for a community hub in the village.

Minister Fleming believes such project can be supported by the new fund.

"This is a very welcome development as there are a number of locations in Co. Laois without a community centre that would benefit from this fund.

"Some of our towns in the county have no community centre and in badly need of support to build a new community centre.

"Many of our smaller towns and villages throughout the county have community centres in their area and substantial funding has been provided in recent times to renovate and upgrade many of these community centres.

"There clearly is a gap across the country and in some of the towns in Laois," he said.

The TD asked people in areas without centres to come together and work with Laois County Council in terms of progressing a new community centre for their area. He also called on Laois County Council to contact those areas so that applications can be made to the Department of Rural and Community Affairs from Laois.

"This is an opportunity that should not be let pass and Laois needs to be to the forefront with some good applications," said the Fianna Fail Minister of State.

A Department statement said New Builds Measure will make grant funding of at least 1 million available per project.

However, the projects must have all the necessary permissions and consents in place (e.g. planning consent) and be located on a green/brown field site

It said the fund will provide 90% of the total project value to a maximum of 6 million with at least 10% to be provided in matching contributions. A minimum of 5% of the matching contributions element must be in cash.

It said funding for renovations or refurbishment of existing community centres is not eligible but can still be accessed through the departments CLAR Programme, Town and Village Renewal Scheme or LEADER Programme.

An application form for the 2023 Community Centres Investment Fund can be requested from ccif@drcd.gov.ie

The deadline for the receipt of applications is 12 noon on 3 July 2023. Application guidelines can be found HERE
Fox News' effort to get Dominion's $1.6bn defamation case against it tossed out was itself ended today by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis. The lawsuit will now go to trialwhich looks like a dangerous one for Fox News, given the evidence already revealed in court showing that its presenters knew they were promoting lies about the company's voting machines.

Davis handed Dominion a major win, too, when he agreed that the challenged statements are false. The ruling spares the voting machine company from having to litigate baseless conspiracy theories about its role in the 2020 election during the upcoming trial against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp.  Fox News had argued that the challenged comments were opinion and protected as such, but Davis disagreed. "The Court finds, as a matter of law, that the Statements are either fact or mixed opinion," he wrote. "The Statements were capable of being proven true, and in fact the evidence that would prove the Statements was discussed many times (but never presented)."

It's difficult to bring a libel case to conclusion in the U.S. One must prove not only that a statement was false, but that it meets various standards aimed at protecting the right to free speech. Fox News has done an astounding job of systematically nailing many of them. If it emerged that a top executive blithely emailed everyone to demand of its hosts "lie about Dominion Systems, and be sure that everything you say is false or recklessly disregards what you know to be true or false. Thanks, Susan" no-one would be surprised.
Panama's Mining Association Adopts Towards Sustainable Mining





PANAMA CITY, March 31, 2023 /CNW/ - Camara Minera de Panama (CAMIPA), Panama's national mining chamber, has announced its adoption of Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM), a made-in-Canada corporate social responsibility performance system that improves environmental and social practices in the mining sector.

As a result, CAMIPA and its affiliated companies will adopt a set of indicators that will allow them to measure and publicly report on the most integral aspects of its mining industry, including those focused on environmental stewardship and effective community engagement.

"This is an important occasion, we are proud to become part of this initiative that has proven to be essential for the mining sector to enhance its contribution to the sustainable development of the regions where it operates," said Roberto Cuevas, President of CAMIPA. "In order to improve this contribution to sustainable development, the mining sector must assume and promote the best practices and standards in its relationship with the country and territories, communities, the environment, the productive system and the State."

CAMIPA joins 12 other mining associations around the world, the sixth in Latin America together with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina, in adopting the TSM standard. Panama's mining chamber will tailor TSM's performance areas to reflect the unique aspects of its mining industry and commits to implementation in the next five years.

TSM is a globally recognized sustainability program that supports mining companies in managing key environmental and social responsibilities. TSM was the first mining sustainability standard in the world to require site-level assessments and is mandatory for all companies that are members of implementing associations. Through TSM, eight critical aspects of social and environmental performance are evaluated, independently validated, and publicly reported against 30 distinct performance indicators.

"The mining industry's role in providing the minerals and metals essential to the technologies we use every day cannot be overstated and it is critical that these materials be responsibly sourced, with environmental stewardship and community engagement at the forefront," said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada, TSM's founding member. "The TSM standard will enhance sustainable performance for Panama's mining sector and we are extremely pleased to welcome CAMIPA as our newest TSM partner."

Performance in TSM is evaluated across a set of detailed environmental and social performance standards, including climate change, tailings management, water stewardship, Indigenous and community relationships, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management and preventing child and forced labour. TSM helps drive performance improvement where it counts ? at the site level ? and contributes to securing support for mining activities from the communities where it operates.

To ensure TSM reflects the expectations of civil society and industry stakeholders, it was designed and continues to be shaped by an independent, multi-interest advisory panel. As part of its implementation, CAMIPA will implement a similar advisory body to provide this valuable oversight function.

About TSM

The Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative is a globally recognized sustainability program that supports mining companies in managing key environmental and social responsibilities. Mining companies are expected to report regularly on the implementation of each protocol. In addition, their activities will be evaluated by an external auditor every three years. Please visit www.TSMinitiative.com.

About CAMIPA

The Mining Chamber of Panama is an association that brings together companies of the metallic and non-metallic mining, as well as suppliers of the entire mining sector, and its work since 1990 has been to promote the growth of mining given its existing enormous potential and the important contributions that this sector can make to the sustainable development of the country. Please visit www.camipa.org.

SOURCE Towards Sustainable Mining

31 march 2023 at 10:00

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Statement - Statement from Minister Champagne concerning competition in the telecommunication sector





OTTAWA, ON, March 31, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, issued the following statement:

"Since the proposed merger between Rogers and Shaw was announced, I have been very clear: affordability and competition are central to any decision I make in my role as Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

"That's why last October, I officially denied the request to transfer Shaw's wireless spectrum licences - held by their subsidiary, Freedom Mobile?to Rogers. At the time, I also outlined my expectations for the separate proposed transfer of Freedom Mobile's spectrum licences to Videotron.

"Since then, the Competition Bureau, the Competition Tribunal and the Federal Court of Appeal have all weighed in on the potential competitiveness a fourth national player could have on our telecom industry.

"The evidence is clear: Having a strong fourth competitor does lead to lower prices, as we've seen in Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

"Today, I am informing Canadians that I have secured on their behalf unprecedent and legally binding commitments from Rogers and Videotron. And, after imposing strict conditions, the spectrum licences of Freedom Mobile will be transferred to Videotron.

"This transfer follows a series of agreements signed by the parties that will ensure that this new national fourth player will be in it for the long haul, be able to go toe-to-toe with the big three, and actually drive down prices across Canada.

"As part of these agreements and conditions, Videotron:

Will offer plans that are comparable to those currently available in Quebec , and offer options at least 20% cheaper than those made available by the major players;

, and offer options at least 20% cheaper than those made available by the major players; Cannot transfer the Freedom Mobile licences for a period of ten years;

Will have to expand its 5G wireless network in Freedom Mobile's pre-existing operating territory within two years;

Will expand mobile service into Manitoba via the use of a signed Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement or other means and offer plans comparable to what it offers in Quebec ; and,

via the use of a signed Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement or other means and offer plans comparable to what it offers in ; and, Will increase data allotments of existing Freedom Mobile customers by 10% as a near-term bonus while it invests to bring down prices overall.

"Separately, Rogers will also be subject to strict and legally binding commitments requiring them to make major investments to improve connectivity within the next 5 years, including:

Creating 3,000 new jobs in Western Canada and maintaining them for a minimum of 10 years after the closing date;

and maintaining them for a minimum of 10 years after the closing date; Establishing a Western headquarters in Calgary and maintaining it for a minimum of 10 years after the closing date;

and maintaining it for a minimum of 10 years after the closing date; Investing $1 billion to expand broadband Internet access, at speeds of at least 50/10 megabits per second, and 5G mobile service in areas where it is not currently available;

to expand broadband Internet access, at speeds of at least 50/10 megabits per second, and 5G mobile service in areas where it is not currently available; Investing at least $2.5 billion to enhance its 5G network in Western Canada , and $3 billion in additional network service expansion projects; and,

to enhance its 5G network in , and in additional network service expansion projects; and, Expanding access to low-cost broadband Internet plans and launching a new low-cost mobile offering for low-income Canadians.

"These agreements are subject to significant financial damages for non-compliance: up to $200 million in the case of Videotron and up to $1 billion in the case of Rogers. These agreements will be released publicly and are subject to annual reporting requirements.

"Should the parties fail to live up to any of their commitments, our government will use every means in our power to enforce the terms on behalf of Canadians.

"Videotron and Rogers have also entered into commercial network-access agreements, which includes a MVNO and Domestic Roaming Agreement, on terms that will help Videotron compete more effectively as it expands in other regions of Canada. This will ensure more Canadians can benefit from lower prices for their wireless services.

"I am also looking forward to similar commercial MVNO agreements being signed expeditiously by the major players with regional players across Canada, as they are an essential tool to drive down prices.

"Under these conditions, Videotron's acquisition of Freedom Mobile's licences will improve affordability, competition, and innovation in the telecommunications sector.

"As part of my decision today, I am also announcing a moratorium on large scale spectrum transfers and directing my Department to launch a comprehensive review of Canada's spectrum transfer framework ? something which has not been done in almost a decade.

"The establishment of an effective national fourth player who can compete and drive down prices has been the goal of successive governments for decades. Today's announcement allows for the establishment of that fourth national player for the first time in Canada's history.

"If Canadians do not begin to see a clear and meaningful reduction in prices within a reasonable amount of time as a result of this decision, I will have no choice but to use further legislative and regulatory powers to drive down prices.

"Canadians rightfully expect and deserve more from their telecom sector. We will continue to ensure the industry meets these standards, including improving competition, reliability and affordability."

Associated links

Stay connected

Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED .

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA , Facebook: Canadian Innovation , Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

31 march 2023 at 10:07

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Nevada tech workforce grows in depth and breadth: CompTIA releases year in review State of the Tech Workforce report





Nearly 3,000 new jobs added in 2022; state had highest growth rate nationally

CARSON CITY, Nev., March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Against the backdrop of an eventful year tech employment in Nevada added new jobs and grew in depth and breadth, according to today's release of new research from CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.

CompTIA's annual "State of the Tech Workforce" reveals that net tech employment1 in Nevada grew by 6.4% in 2022, the highest percentage of any state. The number of people employed in technology increased by 2,942 workers.2 CompTIA forecasts a 4.8% increase in tech employment for 2023 ? approximately 2,300 net new jobs.

More than 48,000 people work in tech jobs, spanning both technical and non-technical workers employed by tech companies and tech professionals who work in other industries. The estimated median wage for a tech worker in Nevada is $75,778. That's 97% higher than the median wage for all occupations in the state.

Nevada's tech industry has an economic impact of $8.9 billion, or 4.6% of the state economy. There are an estimated 5,000 tech businesses in the state.

CompTIA's "State of the Tech Workforce" is the most comprehensive source of data on the size and scope of the U.S. technology industry and workforce. The report includes data on employment, wages, business establishments, job postings, workforce diversity, emerging tech metrics and more. Among other highlights from the new report:

Occupations poised for growth ? Positions in software development, programming, web development and quality assurance; cybersecurity and systems engineering; database, data science and analytics are expected to see the most growth in Nevada this year.

Emerging tech employment opportunities ? 27% of all tech jobs postings in the state last year were for occupations related to emerging technologies or for positions that required emerging tech skills.

Workforce diversity ? Nevada is in the first quartile in the report's diversity index, a measurement of the depth and breadth of diversity in the tech workforce for seven primary race and ethnicity groups, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women account for 26% of the state's tech workforce; Hispanic or Latino workers, 13%; and Black or African American workers, 7%.

The full report is available at https://www.cyberstates.org/.

About CompTIA

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the world's leading information technology (IT) certification and training body. CompTIA is a mission-driven organization committed to unlocking the potential of every student, career changer or professional seeking to begin or advance in a technology career. Each year CompTIA, directly and through its global network of partners, provides millions of people with training, education and certification opportunities designed to help them build career-ready IT skills. To learn more visit https://www.comptia.org/

Media Contact

Steven Ostrowski

CompTIA

[email protected]

630.678.8468

1 The tech workforce consists of two primary components ? technology professionals working in technical positions (IT support, network engineering, software development, data science, etc.) and business professionals employed by technology companies. Combined they are represented by the "net tech employment" designation.

2 The 2022 employment estimates and 2023 projections represent the most up-to-date data at the time of publication. As with any labor market data source there is a lag effect, recent developments during late 2022 and early 2023 will likely not be fully reflected in the data.

SOURCE CompTIA

31 march 2023 at 11:05

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Watercrest Senior Living Group Welcomes Danielle Potter as Executive Director of Market Street Memory Care Residence Palm Coast





VERO BEACH, Fla., March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Watercrest Senior Living Group proudly announces the addition of Danielle Potter to the leadership team as executive director of Market Street Memory Care Residence Palm Coast in Palm Coast, Florida.

Potter joins the Market Street Palm Coast team with the knowledge and experience of serving in a multitude of roles in the senior living industry. She started her career in housekeeping, working her way upwards as a resident care coordinator, lifestyle director, lead concierge, and business office director before earning her leadership role as an executive director several years ago.

"We are privileged to welcome Danielle to our Watercrest team as she embraces the residents and associates of Market Street Palm Coast like family," says Marc Vorkapich, Principal and CEO of Watercrest Senior Living Group. "The depth and breadth of knowledge in serving seniors combined with her personal mission to honor seniors, makes Danielle an excellent addition to our team."

Being raised by her great-grandmother, 'Nana,' Potter learned from an early age the importance of respecting her elders. Her earliest memories include volunteer hours at the local VFW and numerous trips to visit Nana's friends in senior living communities.

"I gained so much wisdom at a young age listening to the stories and advice I learned from Nana and her friends," says Danielle Potter, Executive Director of Market Street Palm Coast. "These experiences showed me how the simplest of gestures, a kind word, touch or smile, can leave a lasting impact on those around you."

Market Street Palm Coast is a 64-unit state-of-the-art memory care community in Palm Coast, Florida, owned and operated by Watercrest Senior Living Group. The community was recently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a 2022-23 Best Memory Care Community, achieving the highest possible performance rating for Memory Care

Market Street Memory Care Residence Palm Coast offers world class care, multi-sensory programming, diverse culinary experiences, and unparalleled associate training honoring seniors with Alzheimer's and dementia. The community is conveniently located at 2 Corporate Drive in Palm Coast, Fla. For information, please contact the community at 386-388-7495.

About Watercrest Senior Living Group

Watercrest Senior Living Group was founded to honor our mothers and fathers, aspiring to become a beacon for quality in senior living by surpassing standards of care, service and associate training. Watercrest senior living communities are recognized for their luxury aesthetic, exceptional amenities, world-class care, and innovative memory care programming offering unparalleled service to seniors living with Alzheimer's and dementia. A five-time certified Great Place to Work, Watercrest specializes in the development and operations of assisted living and memory care communities and the growth of servant leaders. For information, visit www.watercrestseniorliving.com.

SOURCE Watercrest Senior Living Group

31 march 2023 at 13:30

News published onand distributed by:
Statement by Minister Hussen for Sikh Heritage Month





Throughout the country today, Canadians are marking the beginning of Sikh Heritage Month

OTTAWA, ON, April 1, 2023 /CNW/ - Today, Canadians across the country mark the beginning of Sikh Heritage Month.

For more than 125 years, the Sikh community has made immense contributions to the social, economic, political and cultural fabric of our country. This month gives us the opportunity to celebrate these accomplishments and educate future generations about them.

Since the arrival of the first Sikh immigrants in the late 19th century, this community has helped make Canada a more diverse and inclusive society. With more than 500,000 members of the Sikh community here in our country, Canada is the proud home to one of the largest Sikh diasporas in the world.

The values of equality, humility, generosity and compassion are core principles of Sikhism. In fact, these values will be also highlighted during Vaisakhi later this month.

As Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, I invite everyone to celebrate and learn about the culture and history of Sikh communities here in Canada throughout April and beyond.

Happy Sikh Heritage Month!

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

1 april 2023 at 09:00

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Cat Simulators Systems and SimScholarstm Curriculum Play Key Roles in Georgia's New Heavy Equipment Operator Training Program's Success





PEORIA, Ill., April 1, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Simformotiontm LLC's Cat Simulators systems and SimScholarstm heavy equipment operator (HEO) curriculum are playing key roles in the state of Georgia's newly launched HEO simulator training program.

Cat Simulators are the main focus of the program because the simulators are so authentic to the real equipment. The simulators, along with the SimScholarstm curriculum, really put our students on the fast track to becoming operators. Jeremy Whitaker , Director of Training & Recruitment

The new HEO program is one of Georgia's 17 Career Clusters/Pathways which provide a structure for organizing and delivering quality Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) programs in Georgia's public high schools. The HEO program provides a pathway for students in 12 high schools and career technical centers throughout the state of Georgia to learn and enter the construction industry.

C.W. Matthews Contracting Co., Inc. recently piloted the program with its employees and deemed the program as very effective in placing individuals on the "fast track" to becoming heavy equipment operators in the horizontal construction industry. Jeremy Whitaker, Director of Training & Recruitment, attributes much of the program's success to the Cat Simulators systems and SimScholarstm curriculum.

"Cat Simulators are the main focus of the program because the simulators are so authentic to the real equipment," said Whitaker who explained how the SimScholars curriculum provides instructors with a course overview, exercise objectives, learning outcomes, lesson plans, step-by-step procedures, checklists/schedules, student management tools, quizzes and pre/post-tests. "The simulators, along with the SimScholars curriculum, really put our students on the fast track to becoming operators."

The program consists of three classes, Industry Fundamentals & Occupational Safety (the beginning course for all construction pathways in Georgia), Intro to Heavy Equipment: Excavator and Heavy Equipment 1: Bulldozer. Starting in the Intro to Heavy Equipment class, instructors split the class into two groups.

Students in Group 1 complete in-class learning using the SimScholars curriculum. They learn in-depth reasons on why they need to operate machines a certain way. Meanwhile, students in Group 2 experience hands-on excavator training on the Cat Simulators systems and complete exercises like the Machine Walkaround, Bench & Truck Loading, Trench Box & Pipe and Trenching, just to name a few. Once both groups finish their objectives, they switch places with the in-class students training on the simulators and the simulator students completing the in-class learning.

During the second and third classes in the HEO pathway, industry partners provide "vision trips" to the students which benefit both the industry partners and students. The partners have the opportunity to build relationships with the students; the students get to experience the real equipment and see skilled operators run the machines.

Whitaker explained during the vision trips students see that the controls on the simulators are the same as the controls on the real iron. ?Having the same controls on the simulator as the real equipment is very important. It makes the learning curve less steep when they move to the real equipment.?

At the end of the second and third classes in the pathway, industry partners host students at real jobsites where students perform their "Capstone Projects." The students' capstone projects require them to perform the same series of tasks on the real equipment as they did on the simulators. During the capstones, seasoned operators observe the students and make sure they adhere to strict safety guidelines.

"Students are familiar and comfortable with the real machines because of the time they've spent learning and practicing on the simulators," said Whitaker. "Transitioning from the simulator to the real equipment is like putting on a comfortable pair of boots that you've broken in. You're already familiar and comfortable with them. The students are able to make an impact in the field on the real equipment on day one."

Whitaker explained that students who successfully complete the entire program, their capstone project and receive a favorable evaluation and recommendation from their CTAE instructor will have a variety of career opportunities in the horizontal construction industry from contractors across the state.

"We are thankful for all the support this new pathway has received," commented Whitaker. "Our intent is to continue to work with the Georgia General Assembly to budget additional funding so that more programs can be launched across the state to impact students while meeting our industry's workforce demand."

About Simformotiontm LLC

Simformotiontm LLC is a leader in heavy equipment simulator training solutions. Simulation can help address initiatives such as safety and production; while ensuring training can be delivered anytime day or night, regardless of weather conditions. Cat Simulators are chosen as training solutions in such markets as mining, construction, forestry, government, and trade and vocational schools. Simformotiontm LLC is a licensee of Caterpillar Inc. As used herein, ?Simformotion? means Simformotiontm LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.

CAT, CATERPILLAR, LET'S DO THE WORK, their respective logos, "Caterpillar Yellow," and the "Power Edge" and "Modern Hex" trade dress, as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission. www.cat.com / www.caterpillar.com Third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact

Kim Roberts, Simformotion LLC, 1 3097136577, [email protected], Simformotion LLC

SOURCE Simformotion LLC

1 april 2023 at 10:15

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BetterWay Medical Group announces Simpleceduretm, an in office alternative to traditional surgery





Simpleceduretm is the latest in hand medical technology giving you peace of mind that you are doing the safest, most convenient & cost-effective process for your medical needs. Find out more.

DALLAS, April 1, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- BetterWay Medical Group Offers In-Office Procedure called Simpleceduretm as an alternative to hand surgery that is typically done in a hospital or surgery center operating room.

A new medical procedure company has launched offering patients an alternative to surgeries that require hospitalization. The company provides a range of hand procedures that would normally be performed in a hospital or surgery center setting.

The in-office surgeries are designed to reduce the burden on hospitals & surgery centers which are often overcrowded have long waiting lists for procedures and have an often higher chance of infection. By offering these services in a comfortable and convenient office environment patients can avoid the stress and hassle of the hospital or surgery center. In addition to these conveniences, The benefits of Simpleceduretm are that it cuts out the risk of general anesthesia, lowers costs, promotes quicker recovery times, promotes convenience, and provides more customized and personal care.

Simpleceduretm includes a range of minimally invasive procedures such as carpal tunnel cubital tunnel syndrome De Quervain's Tenosynovitis Trigger Finger (Or Thumb) Dupuytren's Contracture and Ganglion Cyst. All procedures are performed under local anesthesia and are minimally invasive allowing patients to even drive themselves home the same day.

"We're thrilled to offer patients an alternative to traditional hospital-based surgeries," said the company's CEO CJ Brock. "Our in-office procedures are safe, effective, and convenient, and they allow patients to receive the care they need without the stress and unnecessary risk of the hospital or surgery center."

The company's team of highly trained medical professionals includes surgeons and nurses who have years of experience in their respective fields and have thousands of successful in-office hand procedures under their belt. All procedures are performed using the latest equipment and technology to ensure the highest level of safety and efficacy.

Patients who are interested in learning more about BetterWay Medical Group's Simpleceduretm can visit their website https://betterwaymedicalgroup.com/ or contact their office directly at 469-697-6437 to schedule a consultation. BetterWay is committed to providing the highest level of care and support to all of its patients and they look forward to serving the local community and beyond.

Media Contact

CJ brock, BetterWay Medical Group, 1 9729796222, [email protected]

SOURCE BetterWay Medical Group

1 april 2023 at 17:40

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The leader of the populist BBB movement, Caroline van der Plas, in Okkenbroek, eastern Netherlands, on March 15, 2023. PETER DEJONG / AP

Caroline van der Plas has explained the recent success of her party. According to her, it hinges on the support of "normal citizens who do not feel listened to, angry at the established order and strangled by the state." She is the leader of the BoerBurgerBeweging (Farmer-Citizen Movement, BBB) and sees herself as a "woman with common sense" who intends to ensure her supporters are heard.

In two years, the former communications specialist, well-versed in marketing techniques, has managed to capitalize on a revolt led by "farmers fearing for their survival on land where they have lived and worked for generations," to set herself up as the standard-bearer for many Dutch people including the many who do not live in the countryside.

Her indignation over a "nitrogen plan," a government project to reduce toxic emissions from the agricultural sector and severely limit livestock numbers in the Netherlands, has led to a much broader demand.

On March 15, in a provincial election that will soon determine the composition of the Dutch Senate, the BBB became the largest party in the kingdom, far ahead of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberal Party.

Van der Plas, having learned from other dramatic episodes in recent Dutch political history, is determined to build on this success and transform the movement into a governing party.

Will she ever become Prime Minister? "No. But you never know..." she said recently. It remains to be seen whether this goal is compatible with her constant denunciation of the establishment.

In any case, the resounding success of the BBB, at a time when Europe is embarking on the gigantic task of combating climate change, raises questions. The environmentalist movement in the Netherlands, which has embarked on the path of "eco-socialism" by joining forces with the social democrats, is the first to be affected. This union, however, did not achieve the expected result, with both parties failing to deliver progress compared to the previous election in 2019.

Parasites of the welfare state

The four parties that makeup Rutte's center-right majority are also pondering the lessons of a vote that saw the victory of the BBB in all 12 provinces of the country including those that make up the Randstad, the conurbation that brings together Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague and concentrates economic development, innovation and sometimes flashy modernity.

There, it is undoubtedly the call of van der Plas' movement for "less state, fewer taxes, fewer rules" that has been heard. Perhaps also her willingness to introduce a stricter migration policy: She is not hostile to the idea of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda "but only if they are well received there."

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A second hospital in the state has announced it will no longer deliver babies: "It has been increasingly difficult and unsustainably expensive to recruit and retain a full team of high quality, broad-spectrum nurses to work in a rural setting where nurses need to be proficient in many different fields."

The Idaho Capital Sun reports that the Idaho Legislature is not finished, either: it is "on track to defund research into preventing maternal deaths" and will not extend postpartum Medicaid coverage.

Like many rural hospitals, Valor Health has taken multiple hits in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of staff and nurses who can deliver babies, and the revenue challenges that have dogged rural health care for decades are among the factors the hospital referenced in an announcement posted to its website. There are several hospitals within an hour of Emmett, including hospitals operated by St. Luke's and Saint Alphonsus health systems, which have invested heavily in maternity care in the past decade.

Valor Health didn't cite the new anti-abortion laws putting its maternity ward out of commission, though the other hospital was more forthright about that.

For young women, the message could not be clearer: leave the state, before it's too late.
ONE Limerick man has been given the highest honour from his parish as he has been recommended by Bishop Leahy to receive a religious medal for outstanding service to his community.

After almost 44 years as Conductor of the Abbeyfeale Senior Choir, Dee Dennison stepped down on St Patricks Day after the 12 noon Mass, where there were tears, cheers and a standing ovation for the modest gentleman, who was never one for the spotlight.

Anyone who has met Dee knows this is an accurate summation, as in speaking with him, Dee immediately credited his passionate choir as the reason for his successes, calling them a great bunch.

Describing the local man as a perfectionist in his homily, Fr Tony Mullins said, there are no words that express the gratitude of the parish for all the work that Dee put in over all the years since Pope John Paul II came to Ireland.

He went on to say that the entire choir has helped to lift the spirits of the thousands of people who have attended services in Abbeyfeale down all those years, he added.

Adamant that his recommendation comes from an immense team effort, Dee says, its all down to a combination of hard work and devotion from himself, the parish choir and the musicians.

Having done masses with West Limerick Radio, TV masses, and even choir exchanges with Tralee Choir, the Abbeyfeale group is described as co-operative in every way by the humble conductor.

Not forgetting those who fuel the choir, Dee said, we got full support at all stages from the clergy. They have always been fully behind the choir, and a great support.

A presentation from the parish was made at the noon service on March 17, and it was announced that Bishop Leahy had recommended Dee for the historical Benemerenti Medal.
JUST a few weeks before it was due to be unveiled, a journalist writing in the Limerick Chronicle asked when will the Sarsfield Memorial be erected, if it ever will be?

This succinct question captured the mood of Limerick citizens in 1881 as plans to commemorate Patrick Sarsfield, who defended Limerick during the Siege of 1691, reached a final impasse, and characterised a project that spanned four decades.

From as early as 1840, the citizens of Limerick desired to commemorate General Patrick Sarsfield by erecting a statue to his memory. An anonymous letter printed in the Limerick Reporter suggested that an equestrian statue of Sarsfield should be erected close to the Treaty Stone as an ornament to our city nothing could be finer, or in a spot more appropriate.

The writer adding that the statue of Sarsfield in his military dress, on the very spot, and pointing to the very stone on which the living man signed the treaty, would vividly remind us of bygone glories.

In February 1843 the Corporation began its search for a sculptor to produce the work. The favourite contender was John Hogan (1800-1858) who is best remembered in Limerick for his bronze figurative sculpture of Daniel O'Connell, unveiled in 1857.

The project generated much commentary in the local and national press. In May 1843, a lengthy article in the Tuam Herald argued that Sarsfields face and dress (armour) should be copied from his portrait, of which there is a fine engraving now in the possession of Mr Geraghty, bookseller of Angelsea Street, Dublin and let us have no ancient dressing of the man in costume.

Finally, let the surrounding features, both artistical and economical, be on a massive and great scale, or let the work be left undone until better times: a middling or shabby monument would be worse than nothing. The writer succinctly concluded that Limerick is nothing without Sarsfields dust.

The question of a fitting location for the statue began as early as 1844 when the Town Council announced that the statue would be erected on the centre of Thomond Bridge making the ever-memorable Treaty Stone the pediment on which it is to rest.

They also expressed their hope that funding would not be an issue for a work which is to last for centuries to honour the memory of the illustrious General so imbued with national spirit.

The Corporation invited those who remember with pride the glorious exploits of Sarsfield at Aughrim and Limerick, and the delicate regard he had for Irish honour, to contribute to the cost of the project estimated to be in the region of 5,000.

Despite much public interest in the project, it lingered on at a snails pace for several more years until the late 1850s when Thomas Baker Jones, secretary of the Sarsfield Testimonial Committee, revived the endeavour. The Limerick Chronicle reminding its readership that the name of Sarsfield is a household word within the walls of the city, and that it should not be suffered to lie longer neglected.

Baker Jones opened a public subscription in April 1859 and donations came in from all over the world: Patrick Donohue and Friends, Boston, Lieut.-Col. French, London, Thomas Parker, Bloomsbury Square, Mr Harslum, Birmingham, and from clergy of all denominations. Within a few months, the sum of 600 consisting of shillings and sixpences, had been collected through spontaneous offerings from hardship and toil.

The noted Limerick artist and photographer, Henry OShea (1832-1907) drew the initial sketches for the statue which were subsequently refined by John Lawlor (1820-1901) whose skill as a sculptor was widely recognised, he having produced busts of other nationalist luminaries such as Daniel OConnell and William Smith OBrien.

Once finished, a fractious debate erupted as to where to place the statue. Suggested sites included Mathew Bridge, the Peoples Park or Bank Place. Finally, after a more than forty year wait, Lawlors accomplished bronze statue of Sarsfield was installed on the grounds of St. Johns Cathedral in 1881.

Sarsfield stands in an attitude of advance, atop a limestone pedestal, dressed in seventeenth-century costume with his sword drawn. The inscription reads: To commemorate the indomitable energy and stainless honour of General Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, the heroic defender of Limerick during the sieges of 1690 and 1691, died from the effects of wounds received at the Battle of Landen 1693.

The annual Limerick Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival, launched in 2019, also commemorates the memory of Patrick Sarsfield and the Wild Geese. The 2023 festival will take places between the 15th and 16th July and celebrates the longstanding friendship between Ireland and France, now our closest EU neighbour.

Dr Paul OBrien lectures at Mary Immaculate College
A NOTORIOUS criminal who has admitted money laundering offences, accepts he has made poor choices in the past and intends to turn his life around when he is released from prison, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Gerard Mackin, aged 40, who is originally from west Belfast and who has a previous address at Rhebogue Road in Limerick, was once the first person convicted of a Belfast murder by a Dublin court before his conviction was quashed and a retrial collapsed.

He was extradited from Alicante in Spain last December and has pleaded guilty, before the Special Criminal Court, to laundering 4,780 as the proceeds of criminal behaviour at Rhebogue Road in Limerick, on April 17, 2019.

Detective Garda Stephen Ahern previously told the non-jury court that he arrested Mackin at Dublin Airport on December 5 last in relation to a European Arrest Warrant which was issued on April 7, 2022.

During a sentencing hearing, Detective Sergeant Padraig O'Dwyer detailed the background to the case.

He told prosecution counsel Fiona Murphy SC that two gardai on patrol had observed an Opel Insignia car suspiciously parked outside Mackin's house on April 17, 2019.

Gardai had a conversation with the driver of the vehicle, who cannot be named as he is currently before the courts, and he was searched.

Det Sgt O'Dwyer said the driver was found to be in possession of 4,780 in cash, an Aquaris phone and an iPhone. Elastic bands were holding these items together within bubble wrap.

The driver spoke to gardai and said he was self-employed and that the money belonged to him.

A cautioned memo was later taken from the driver of the car.

On that date, the court heard that Mackin came out of his house and conversed with gardai telling them that the money belonged to him. Mackin informed gardai that the driver of the car was going to Belfast the next day and that the money was to be given to his [Mackin's] fiancee.

Mackin produced a receipt from a credit union showing that he had a loan for 10,000. A search was carried out on the driver of the Insignia and Mackin but nothing of evidential value was found.

Mackin was later arrested and taken to Henry Street garda station, where he was interviewed on a number of occasions and denied the offence of money laundering.

During his fourth interview Mackin told officers that from his experience of gardai in the past he had seen them outside his house and "I said put that money up for safekeeping in case you coming for me".

When asked about the Aquaris phone, which the court heard is used to communicate privately, Mackin told detectives that it had been left in his house and he had picked it up.

Mackin said the 4,780 was made up of a deposit by him to his previous landlord. Ms Murphy said a statement was taken from the landlord, who said the denominations were in 50 notes but that the money seized had been in 20 notes.

Mackin was then released and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It is the prosecutions case, said Ms Murphy, that the money in the package was "not derived from a deposit" but was the proceeds of crime.

Counsel said the guilty plea was entered by Mackin in circumstances where he accepts the circumstances of the seizure and his guilt for the offence of money laundering. She said the view of gardai is that Mackin was engaged in criminality at the time of the offence.

The court heard that Mackin has one previous conviction for assault causing harm.

In March 2016 Mackin was jailed for three years by the Special Criminal Court for a "depraved and barbaric" assault in which a man in his 50s was lured to an address in Limerick where he was "viciously assaulted" and nailed to a kitchen floor with a nail-gun.

On the second day of this trial, Mackin admitted to assault causing harm at Larch Court, Kennedy Park, Limerick, on September 14, 2015.

When directions were issued by the DPP to charge Mackin with money laundering, the accused had moved to Spain and a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was issued.

Mackin, the court heard, consented to his surrender and has been in custody since his arrest in Spain on December 5 2022.

Defence counsel Ronan Kennedy SC said there "is little enough to be said for the offence itself" and that obviously any money laundering offence is serious but the sum of money involved in the case fell at the lower end of the scale.

Mr Kennedy asked the court to take into account that his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. He said that Mackin was in a long-term relationship with his partner since 2005 and they had two children together.

In his submissions, Mr Kennedy said that Mackin and his family decided to move to Spain in September 2021 where the defendant found employment working in a building firm. "Things were going well until his past came back to haunt him and he was then arrested on foot of a EAW," he said.

The court heard he went into custody in Spain on December 2, 2022.

Counsel asked the court to take into consideration that Mackin has never met his eight-week old son because of his surrender and that he has been incarcerated since then.

"That is a source of very significant upset and regret to him that he wasn't present for his son's birth. His absence has also caused particular hardship to his partner in the last number of weeks," he added.

In mitigation, Mr Kennedy said actions speak louder than words and that the manner in which his client met the case was instructive. "He came home to Ireland to face the music and wipe the slate clean," he said, adding that Mackin had not made an application for bail.

In terms of the future, counsel said that Mackin would be on the first flight back to Spain when he is released from prison as he intended to build a new life there with his family and does not intend to return to this jurisdiction, certainly in the short-term.

Furthermore, the lawyer said Mackin intended to turn his life around when he is released from prison. "He is a person who has had an opportunity to look back on his past behaviour and readily accepts he made poor choices in the past and is determined to make a go of it when he serves his sentence," he stated.

The barrister said the defendant was born into a family where alcohol was "rife" and had taken positive steps in recent years to deal with this by having an implant inserted in 2020.

Ms Murphy, prosecuting, said the court needed to look at three matters namely the amount of money involved, the circumstances in which the money was moved and how it was obviously of relevance that the defendant was found with other items.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Alan Mitchell, remanded Mackin in custody until May 19, when he will be sentenced.

In January 2011, Mackin's retrial for the murder of Edward Burns, a taxi driver and 36-year-old father-of-five, dramatically collapsed at the Special Criminal Court after the State entered a 'nolle prosequi' [a decision not to prosecute]. Several of Mackin's supporters who were in court applauded and cheered while members of the victim's family openly wept.

The chief prosecution witness refused to give evidence at the trial after telling a Belfast High Court judge he was threatened that if he gave any evidence, he would be shot dead.

Mackin had pleaded not guilty to the murder at Bog Meadow, Falls Road, Belfast on March 12, 2007.

It was the second trial of Mackin after a 2008 conviction - which made Mackin the first person convicted in a Dublin court for an alleged murder in Belfast under a rarely-used cross border anti-terrorism law - was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal and a retrial ordered.

In July 2013, another nolle prosequi was entered against Mackin at the non-jury court on a charge of IRA membership and demanding money with menaces on behalf of the INLA in Co Monaghan on May 18 and 21, 2012.
A 57 million funding package has been allocated to charities and community groups in Northern Ireland facing a financial crisis due to a loss of European money.

Eighteen projects covering around 100 organisations across the region will receive backing through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) with a focus on helping support people into work.

However, an umbrella group representing community organisations in Northern Ireland said the funding announced amounted to only half of what was previously available.

The Government announcement came on the day financial support provided by the European Social Fund (ESF) comes to an end as a consequence of Brexit.

Some charities in Northern Ireland had warned they would have to cut staff numbers and support programmes if funding was not replaced.

The successful projects were selected after an open competition among organisations in Northern Ireland, while other groups will have been left disappointed.

There has been criticism from the community sector that the announcement was not made earlier.

Representatives of 1,000 community groups staged a demonstration in Belfast earlier this month to highlight the cash crisis.

Making the announcement, Levelling Up Minister Dehenna Davison said the Government was increasing the pot originally earmarked for economic inactivity support in Northern Ireland by 15 million.

We are making the most of opportunities outside the European Union to deliver for people in Northern Ireland, she said.

It is fantastic that organisations have come together in new partnerships to deliver creative solutions to economic inactivity through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

In recognition of the huge impact charities, businesses and colleges are having on the ground, Im delighted to announce that we are boosting the original funding pot for this competition by an additional 15 million to help them support even more people into fulfilling jobs.

This is an important milestone in the investment we are making to level up Northern Ireland and the whole of the UK.

The ESF funding had been worth around 40 million. This money was 35% match-funded from Stormont, raising the sum to 54 million.

However, the Stormont executive is not operating and civil servants are limited in the spending decisions they can take.

The UK Government announced plans for a 42 million replacement funding package in December  a sum that has now risen to 57 million.

The Government said the funding would benefit around 100 organisations and support more than 25,000 economically inactive people in Northern Ireland.

The grants allocated on Friday focusing on economic inactivity represent 45% of a total of 127 million the Government has committed to spend in Northern Ireland through the Shared Prosperity Fund.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris welcomed the announcement, saying: The 57 million funding will support the vital work of community and voluntary organisations, enabling them to support people in Northern Ireland into secure and sustainable employment.

Through its People and Skills strand, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will invest in skills training and interventions to support economically inactive people in Northern Ireland.

This is key to boosting productivity and harnessing Northern Irelands growth potential.

But Rev Andrew Irvine, chair of the Community Sector Peer Group, said: The stark reality is that todays funding is half of that previously available.

Todays last-minute intervention will only provide a lifeline for some services.

This will have a devastating impact on those groups who have not received funding, their staff and those who rely upon them.

It will take time to assess the impact of this debacle.

He added: The indecision of the past four years has shown that there is no strategic, long-term, joined-up thinking by Government in London or Belfast towards employability services or the wider contribution of Northern Irelands community sector.
An art exhibition focusing on the victims of Northern Irelands troubled past has gone on display at Stormont for the 25th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

Silent Testimony, by Co Down artist Colin Davidson, features 18 large-scale portraits  each of which portrays the personal experience of individuals who suffered loss during the Troubles.

He worked with the victims group Wave on the portraits, which were first displayed at the Ulster Museum in 2015 and have toured extensively.

It has now been placed on display in the Long Gallery at Parliament Buildings.

A number of those who sat for the portraits attended the launch event on Friday evening as well as Northern Irelands victims commissioner Ian Jeffers, who thanked Mr Davidson for giving such a powerful voice for victims.

Addressing the gathering, Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey said it is important victims are remembered as the anniversary agreement approaches, adding they have too often felt left behind by the political process.

With this in mind, and as part of the Assemblys own contribution to marking this anniversary, I was delighted when Colin Davidson agreed a number of months ago to the display of his exhibition to come for the first time to Parliament Buildings, he said.

I have no doubt that this inclusion will add a very significant addition to the visitor experience of those coming to Parliament Buildings in the weeks ahead.

Mr Davidson said he first conceived the idea of the exhibition back in 2013/14 and thanked those at Wave for supporting the work, and those who sat for his paintings.

In making the 18 paintings I made 18 new friends, and it spread beyond that for me, he said.

Id like to thank each of the 18 people who sat for me, who entrusted their stories to me, who hadnt had an opportunity to tell their stories before but welcomed me into their homes and let me into their world, allowed me to experience a fragment of what they had been going through, and allowed me to build that spirit, that sense of sometimes trauma, always grief, into the fabric of the paint.

Its because of their trust in me and their willingness to engage that the paintings contain that power, I cannot lay claim to that.
Mynavi Corporation (Japan) has taken a controlling stake in People Matters, the fastest-growing media platform and community for HR and Talent leaders in India & APAC. Founded 12 years ago in Gurgaon, India, People Matters has become the knowledge community of choice for leaders and CXOs to help prioritize talent at the center of their organizational strategy.



Established in 1973, the $2 billion Mynavi Corporation is one of the largest HR companies in Japan with offices in Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Poland, and India. With this transaction, Mynavi aims to leverage the global insights, brand power, and network of People Matters in the HR space and further expand Mynavis business in India and Asia.



Mynavi Corporation, Representative Director, President and Executive Officer, Mr. Yoshiaki Tsuchiya said, "The work and impact that People Matters has accomplished in the last decade is fantastic. We are committed to enabling People Matters as an independent media and community business as they continue to scale profitably to newer heights and build an ecosystem around the globe."



People Matters provides content and research on the latest trends and strategies related to organizational design, human resources and worktech to its community of 300,000 HR and Talent leaders in India and APAC. The company is also the creator and owner of TechHR, Asia's largest HR & WorkTech conference held in Delhi & Singapore. Over the last 12 years, it has established itself as the marketing platform of choice for large brands in worktech, recruitment and HR services.



Ester Martinez, founder & CEO of People Matters is excited about the possibilities of this new milestone, saying, "This transaction is great news for the HR and Talent community. It will enable us to serve our members at a much deeper level, and our ability in empowering them to become the answer to talent challenges in their organizations will be amplified multifold. This transaction enables us to build the People Matters 3.0 journey of scale and profitability."



She further added, This transaction was a rewarding exit opportunity for our angels and for investors like The HR Fund. We are extremely grateful for their long-standing trust, commitment and support over the last 10 years. Also, I cherish the opportunity for team members at People Matters to realize value from their stock options and to further carry on in complete alignment of our mission, expansion plans and milestones along with the team and with Mynavi."

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
India will offer its currency as an alternative for trade to countries that are facing a shortage of dollars in the wake of the sharpest tightening in monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve in decades.

Facilitating the rupee trade for countries facing currency risk will help disaster proof" them, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said during an announcement on Indias foreign trade policy Friday in New Delhi.

Also Read: Russia suggests trade payment in  via UAE

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Egypt are facing dollar shortage and have shown interest to trade in the Indian currency, a government official later told reporters, declining to be identified citing rules. A lack of dollars played a party in forcing Sri Lanka to default on its debt last year, while Bangladesh recently took a loan from the IMF to shore up its own reserves.

Also Read: India aims for $2tn exports by 2030 with new Foreign Trade Policy 2023

India has been attempting to internationalize the rupee to reduce dollar demand and insulate its economy from global shocks. Officials have previously said that apart from Russia, countries in Africa and the Gulf region are also keen to trade in its local currency.

Also read: India to use G20 gathering to push rupee trade

The central bank first unveiled plans for rupee settlement last year, a project that has received an encouraging response" from other countries, Deputy Governor T. Rabi Shankar said in an address in October.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has made it mandatory for all National Pension System (NPS) subscribers to upload certain documents as of 1 April, 2023 to the Central Record-Keeping Agency (CRA) user interface before withdrawing the pension corpus.

The new rules for withdrawal from the NPS will make annuity payments faster and simpler for subscribers exiting the NPS.

"In the interest of Subscribers and to benefit them with the timely payment of annuity income, the upload of the documents shall be mandatory with effect from 1st April 2023," PFRDA, a regulatory body for the overall supervision and regulation of pensions in India had earlier said.

The documents include -

- NPS exit/withdrawal form

- Proof of identification and residence as stated in the withdrawal request

- Bank account proof

- Copy of the Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) card

The pension body said that the upload of the documents shall be mandatory with effect from 1 April, 2023 in the interest of Subscribers and to benefit them with the prompt distribution of annuity income.

567,116 beneficiaries of NPS at present

There are 567,116 beneficiaries above the age of 60 years currently under the NPS. The minister quoted the figures from PFRDA.

Under the old pension scheme, a government employee is entitled to a monthly pension after retirement. The monthly pension is typically half of the last drawn salary of the person.

Under the new pension scheme, employees contribute a portion of their salaries to the pension fund. Based on that, they are entitled to a one-time lump sum amount on superannuation.

For the record, the old pension scheme was discontinued in December 2003, and the new pension scheme came into effect on 1 April, 2004.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on 1 April has again raised questions on PM Modi's education qualification, a day after Gujarat court imposed 25,000 fine against him. Kejriwal said that HC order against him has increased doubt on PM Modi's degree. He asked if PM degree is fake?"

While addressing a press conference, the Delhi CM said, It's important that the PM has to be educated because he has to take a lot of decisions in a single day. HC order has increased doubt on PM Modi's degree. If he has a degree and it's real, then why isn't being shown?"

On 31 March, a Gujarat court imposed a 25,000 fine against Delhi CM asserting that information on PM Modi's academic degrees was not needed. The single judge bench also set aside an earlier order by the Chief Information Commission calling for the data to be furnished by the relevant universities.

While noting that both Kejriwal and the CIC were "absolutely casual" in their approach, the court also observed there was "indiscriminate misuse" of the RTI Act in this case.

Allowing the Gujarat University's appeal against the CIC order, Justice Biren Vaishnav also imposed a cost of 25,000 on Kejriwal and asked him to deposit the amount within four weeks to the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA).

"This court finds that the CIC while passing the impugned order was well aware that what it was directing was not a specific and certain but a fishing and roving enquiry," said Justice Vaishnav in his order.

Soon after the verdict, CM tweeted saying, Does the country have the right to know how educated their PM is? He vehemently opposed showing the degree in the court. Why? And those who demand to see their degree will be fined? What is happening? Illiterate or less educated PM is very dangerous for the country."

In the order, Justice Vaishav said, Accordingly, the petition is allowed and the impugned order (of CIC), dated April 29, 2016, is quashed and set aside."

The Commission being a statutory authority ought to have kept the aforesaid principles in mind while dealing with the oral request of Kejriwal and ought not to have made an exception in the present case, the HC said.

Expressing surprise that the CIC entertained Kejriwal's request and issued an order, the court said, "Such requests cannot be made so casually making mockery of the very intent and purpose of the RTI Act."

Meanwhile, AAP said it would appeal against the order in the division bench. "With this judgement, citizens have lost their right to seek information about the PM's degrees. The cost imposed on Kejriwal, who was a respondent in this case, also came as a surprise for us. Since we are not satisfied with this judgement, we will soon approach a division bench against this order," said AAP Gujarat's legal cell president Pranav Thakkar.

In April 2016, then CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu had directed the Delhi University and the Gujarat University to provide information to Kejriwal on the degrees that Modi received. Three months later, the Gujarat High Court stayed the CIC order after the varsity approached it against that order.

The CIC order came a day after Kejriwal wrote to Acharyulu, saying he has no objection to government records about him being made public and wondered why the commission wanted to "hide" information on Modi's educational qualifications. Based on the letter, Acharyulu directed the Gujarat University to give records of Modi's educational qualifications to Kejriwal.

(With inputs from agencies)
Through consistent policy initiatives of the government and tremendous contribution of the defence industry, India exported military hardware worth 15,920 crore in the financial year 2022-23, almost 3,000 crore more than the previous financial year.

It a rise of over 10 times since 2016-17, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attributing the surge to enthusiasm for Make in India, and key reforms to spur growth in the sector.

India is now exporting to over 85 countries. Indian industry has shown its capability of design and development to the world, with 100 firms exporting defence products at present," the Ministry of Defence said.

The rising defence exports and participation of 104 countries in Aero India 2023 are proof of Indias growing defence manufacturing capabilities," it added.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the achievement as a clear manifestation of Indias talent and the enthusiasm towards Make in India.

It also shows the reforms in this sector over the last few years are delivering good results. Our government will keep supporting efforts to make India a defence production hub," he said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh termed record defence exports as a remarkable achievement of the country. Under the inspiring leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the defence exports will continue to grow exponentially," he tweeted.

Today, India, which was known as an importer about eight years back, exports major platforms like Dornier-228, 155 mm Advanced Towed Artillery Guns (ATAGs), Brahmos Missiles, Akash Missile System, Radars, Simulators, Mine Protected Vehicles, Armoured Vehicles, PINAKA Rockets & Launchers, Ammunitions, Thermal Imagers, Body Armours, besides Systems, Line Replaceable Units and Parts & components of Avionics and Small Arms. There is growing global demand of LCA-Tejas, Light Combat Helicopters, Aircraft Carrier, MRO activities etc.

To give a push to defence exports, government has taken a number of policy initiatives and brought reforms over the last 5-6 years. Export procedures have been simplified and made industry friendly with end-to-end online export authorisation curtailing delays and bringing Ease of Doing Business.

The government has notified three Open General Export License (OGEL) for export of Parts and Components/Transfer of Technology/Major Platforms and Equipment. OGEL is one-time export license, which permits the industry to export specified items to specified destinations, enumerated in the OGEL, without seeking export authorisation during the validity of the OGEL," the ministry said.

Export leads received from various countries are disseminated to the registered Indian Defence exporters through online portal on real time basis to enable them to respond to export opportunities," it added.

Regular reviews are held with Indian Missions abroad to promote Indian defence products and facilitate Indian Industry. More than 40 webinars organized with Friendly Foreign Countries (FFCs) with involvement of Industry Associations.
A baby was born in a Costco parking lot in Livingston County, Michigan on Saturday, March 25. MLive news provides some details:

The fire department and Livingston County EMS arrived around 1:30 p.m. to the baby being born and assisted with delivery, officials said, adding there were no complications during delivery. Husband and wife were on their way to a hospital but pulled over into the parking lot at 6700 Whitmore Lake Rd. because delivery was "imminent," officials said. Mother and baby were transported in an ambulance to a nearby hospital shortly after.

If you can't get to a hospital, there are definitely worse places for a (routine, uncomplicated) emergency birth. I mean, Costco has lot of things you'd need for a routine birthpain killers, fresh towels, pillows, baby wipes, bandages, ice, and lots more. I can only hope they named the baby Kirkland!
Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzias was chairing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the ensuing months, many council members would condemn Moscow while others called for the country's expulsion from the UNSC. Russia persevered in spite of draft resolutions attempting to end the Ukraine crisis, repeatedly justifying its war efforts. Now, in an absurd turn of events, the other country is once again taking charge of the powerful international body.

While some countries have been vocal about their criticism, most indicated that they would not move to block Russia's ascension. The UK for example contended itself with urging Russia to "conduct itself professionally" when it assumes the role.

The Kremlin said on Friday that it planned to "exercise all its rights" in the role.

ALSO READ: UK mocks Russia's foreign policy, calls it April Fool's Day joke'

"It's not just a shame. It is another symbolic blow to the rules-based system of international relations," tweeted the Ukrainian president's chief of staff.

As of April 1, theyre taking the level of absurdity to a new level. The security council as it is designed is immobilised and incapable to address the issues of their primary responsibility, that is prevention of conflicts and then dealing with conflicts," ," the Ukrainian permanent representative was quoted as stating by The Guardian.

(With inputs from agencies)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party have proposed a draft bill in the parliament that would impose fines of up to 100,000 on public and private entities that use foreign terms, particularly English, instead of Italian in official communications. This comes a day after Italy said it was temporarily blocking ChatGPT over data privacy concerns, the first western country to take such action against the popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.

Why does Italy want to ban English language?

The bill calls for the protection and promotion of the Italian language, stating that the spread of English "demeans and mortifies" Italian and has repercussions for society as a whole. "It is not just a matter of fashion, as fashions pass, but Anglomania (has) repercussions for society as a whole," said the text of the draft bill, calling for the Italian language to be protected and nurtured.

If the bill is approved by both houses of parliament, it would require all public and private bodies to use the language of Dante to promote their goods and services. However, there is no indication of when this might happen.

The draft also stipulates that all job titles in companies operating in Italy should be spelt out in Italian, with foreign words only allowed if they cannot be translated.

The bill argues that the widespread use of English in Europe is "even more negative and paradoxical" given that Britain has left the European Union.

The proposed bill has received criticism from some quarters, with opponents arguing that it would be a setback for the country's international image and harm its competitiveness. Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has herself used foreign words in her speeches, although she has also emphasized the importance of promoting the Italian language and culture.
After massive job cuts earlier this year, Google has now announced cost-cutting measures that include a focus on prioritizing its work in artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement was made in a memo signed by Ruth Porat, Google's chief financial officer, and Prabhakar Raghavan, the company's search lead, on behalf of all PA and Functional leads.

This work is particularly vital because of our recent growth, the challenging economic environment, and our incredible investment opportunities to drive technology forward  particularly in AI," read the memo, as reported by Business Insider

The memo also revealed that the company would be making changes to its office services in response to the new hybrid workweek. Cafes, micro-kitchens, and other facilities will be tailored to better match how and when they are being used, and decisions will be based on data.

For example, where a cafe is seeing a significantly lower volume of use on certain days, we'll close it on those days and put more focus instead on popular options that are close by."

These cost-cutting measures come months after Google announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs.

In a memo, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the company had reviewed its products, people, and priorities, leading to job cuts across geographies and tech. He acknowledged the different economic reality that the company was facing and took full responsibility for the decisions that led them to that point.

Recently, a group of employees at Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, signed a petition calling for better treatment towards co-workers during the layoff process. Close to 1,400 people working at Alphabet Inc., in an open letter to Sundar Pichai, listed some demands, including the freezing of new hirings.
Georgia has become the first US state that has condemned anti-Hindu bigotry. The US state passed a resolution in which it said that Hinduism is one of the world's largest and oldest religions with over 1.2 billion adherents in over 100 countries and encompasses an array of diverse traditions and belief systems with values of acceptance, mutual respect, and peace.

Condemning Hinduphobia, Representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta introduced the resolution. Georgia's resolution observed that the American-Hindu community has been a major contributor to diverse sectors such as medicine, science, and engineering, information technology, hospitality, finance, academia, manufacturing, energy, and retail trade, among others.

It highlighted the Hindu community's contributions of Yoga, ayurveda, meditation, food, music, and arts have enriched the cultural fabric and has been widely adopted in American society and enhanced the lives of millions.

However, there have been documented instances of hate crimes against Hindu Americans over the last few decades in many parts of the country, the resolution pointed.

A move in this regard was spearheaded by the Atlanta chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), which organised the first-ever Hindu Advocacy Day held on March 22 at the Georgia State Capitol. It was attended by around 25 lawmakers -- both Republicans and Democrats -- who joined the Hindu community to understand its concerns, pledge to create ways to protect the community against discrimination, and facilitate the inclusion of Hindu voices in important decision-making processes in the state.

It was a true honor to work with Rep McDonald and Rep Jones as well as other lawmakers who guided us through the whole process of getting this County Resolution passed," said Rajeev Menon, CoHNA vice president.

We also heard that all the lawmakers had been working really long hours given the number of legislative items on the agenda, but still decided to join us at the Advocacy Day to show how much they value the Hindu community," he said.

CoHNA general secretary Shobha Swamy said, The issues faced by Hindu Americans in Georgia and the rest of the country via false, Hinduphobic narratives are negatively impacting a community that has been hardworking, law-abiding, and enriching the fabric of America."
Eight people have been found dead in Canada as they tried to cross the St Lawrence River into the United States near Akwesasne. According to CBS News, the bodies are those of six adults and two children-one under the age of three who had a Canadian passport, the other an infant who was also a Canadian citizen.

The news media added the bodies are believed to have been an Indian family and a Romanian family who were attempting to cross into the US.

Police located Oakes's vessel near the bodies.

They were found in a marsh on the riverbank. The IDs of the victims have not yet been released, pending notification of their next of kin.

The local police said that a storm brought high winds and sleet into the area and that could have caused the tragedy. Besides, the boat carrying them could be small and could not load the weight of seven or eight people.

It is not the first time that a search operation for missing people was conducted who have tried to cross the border.

The theofficials rescue people attempting to enter the US or Canada over the river and its tributaries about three or four times a year.

Almost exactly a year ago, they rescued a group of six Indian nationals who had just made it into America on the river when the boat they were in hit a shallow bank and got stuck.

Smuggling on the rise at the US-Canada border:

Police told CBS News that they have seen an uptick in human smuggling into the US. There have been 48 incidents so far this year. However, the recent deaths had nothing to do with the closure of the Roxham Road illegal border crossing.

The police officer said most who try to enter the US through the area are Indian and Romanian families and added, "had no idea" why that was the case.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol stated they have seen more than eight times as many people try to cross from Canada into the US in 2022 compared to previous years. More than 64,000 --came through Quebec or Ontario into New York, it added.
A food expert's claim that carbonara, a traditional Italian pasta dish made with eggs, pork cheek, pecorino cheese and pepper, is actually American, has sparked a food fight between Italy and America.

What is America's claim?

Alberto Grandi, a food historian at the University of Parma, wrote in La Repubblica that the value and history" of Italian cuisine were surrounded by misunderstandings". Grandi claimed that the dish actually came from Americans who were in Italy after the Second World War.

Maybe once a year we ate amatriciana [a tomato-based recipe with bacon], when we could afford to kill a pig. But Id never heard of Carbonara before the war," he told the Financial Times.

The first recipe that was publicised is from 1953 in Chicago. Many Italians went to America, so practically all the cooking  all the Italian kitchen is Italo-American, " Grandi was quoted as saying by Euronews.

He further claimed that many Italian classics, from panettone to tiramisu, are relatively recent inventions and that practically all the Italian kitchen is Italo-American.

How did Italy react?

The controversy comes just days after Rome attempted to have Italian cuisine added to the UNESCO list of cultural heritage. Coldiretti, Italy's national farmers association, called Grandi's claim a surreal attack on the iconic dishes of Italian cuisine".

Deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini added experts and newspapers are envious of our tastes and beauty".

However, Grandi remained undeterred, stating that the row was "a nationalistic controversy" and that some had even alleged that he was part of an "anti-Italian conspiracy". He claimed that with his studies he had shown that many preparations derive from the last 50 to 60 years of history and from interactions with American culture.

This is not the first time that carbonara has caused controversy. In 2021, The New York Times' cooking supplement published a recipe for "Smoky Tomato Carbonara" which included tomatoes and replaced pork cheek and pecorino with bacon and parmesan. The recipe led to a furore in Italy, with Coldiretti calling it a disturbing knockoff of the prestigious dish from Italian popular tradition" and complained that carbonara was one of the most disfigured Italian recipes".
Sonia Ferreira struggles to remember what this deserted fishing community near Rio de Janeiro looked like when she moved here some 50 years agomostly because a good chunk of it is now at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The coastline is receding as much as 18 feet a year at the mouth of the Paraiba do Sul river in Atafona, home to 7,000 people, satellite images show. Between 1984 and 2016, some 550 feet have disappeared. Climate change has increased sea levels, scientists say, and most of the rivers water has been diverted to nearby cities, farms and factories, thwarting its ability to push back the ever-higher waves that sweep away buildings, livelihoods and memories.

You watch it happen in slow motion," said Ms. Ferreira, 78, surveying the rubble at the waters edge that had been the home where she raised three children. You dont know when exactly your house will fall down but you know it will."

Atafona is an extreme example of the challenge that lies ahead in a country with some 4,600 miles of coastline, one of the worlds longest. Environmental researchers say scores of other beachside communities face similar fates in Brazil, among the top 10 countries that will be most affected by rising sea levels, according to Climate Central, a research organization on climate science.

In tourist hot spots such as Joao Pessoa on the northeastern coast, hotel owners are already begging the government to build artificial reefs to protect their beaches from higher tides.

In Sao Paulo state, rising sea levels combined with intense rains led to severe floods in February that killed more than 60 people and left thousands homeless, said Celia Gouveia Souza, a geologist and oceanographer at the government-backed Institute of Environmental Research.

There was a huge amount of water trying to drain down the rivers into the sea just as the sea was rising to its highest point," she said.

In Atafona, the 2-mile-long stretch of beach south from where the Paraiba do Sul river meets the ocean resembles a war zone. Houses severed in half teeter on the sand. A broken television set perches on the branch of an upturned tree. Entire streets lie empty, cordoned off by the government, their wreckage covered in graffiti citing passages from the Bible that allude to the end of the world.

Global average sea levels are rising because of melting polar ice sheets and the expansion of the waters volume itself in higher temperatures, according to the United Nations. But climate change is also leading to higher and more frequent storm surges, which is causing much of the damage in Atafona, said Eduardo Bulhoes, a marine geographer at Rios Federal Fluminense University.

The United Nations Security Council held their first-ever debate on sea level rise in February, warning of its global implications from mass migration to conflicts over competition for freshwater and land. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited data from the World Meteorological Organization showing global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years. Since 1993, the rate of sea level rise has doubled, increasing by nearly 10 millimeters since January 2020 to a record high last year, according to the WMO.

Atafonas problems have been compounded by manufacturing and agricultural development upstream. Decades ago, the Paraiba do Sul would thunder down the valley to meet the Atlantic, slowing the oceans advance on Atafona.

But now, some two-thirds of the rivers water is diverted upstream to supply the city of Rio de Janeiro, and also by factories and farms along its 700-mile course. Deforestation to make way for nearby sugar cane farms has damaged its banks, further reducing the rivers flow.

At the rivers mouth, there has long been this battle between the river and the sea," said Mr. Bulhoes. The rivernow a slow-moving muddy stretch of water that is gradually getting saltierhas lost.

Some 500 buildings have disappeared into the sea since the 1960s, said Andre Pinto, a historian and official at the Sao Joao da Barra municipality, of which Atafona is a district. Broken kitchen tiles and shards of metal puncture the white sands, making it dangerous to enter the water.

Ms. Ferreiras eyes welled up as she scanned the oceans empty expanse for remnants of her past.

There used to be five blocks of houses that waybeautiful mansions, a church, places to eat crab and fresh fish where everyone would meet."

In place of tourists, several lone men with bloodshot eyes recently roamed the shores, frantically searching for scrap metal or anything of valuepart of what residents say is a growing problem with crack-cocaine addiction. Occasionally, the police evict squatters from the most precarious ruins.

Eliane Silva, 60, has mixed feelings about the ocean. Since fishermen first arrived here in the 1600s, the sea has been the source of Atafonas wealth, providing a livelihood for the communitys fishermen, including both her sons. But now the sea is about to take everything she has.

The vacation home where she has worked as a live-in housekeeper for the past 30 years is next in line to disappear.

Its only a matter of time before I lose my job," she said, adding that she has grown frightened of the water.

The seafront used to be lined with Atafonas grandest houses, the summer residences of wealthy sugar cane barons.

They were the first to go, said Joca Delbons, one of the few real-estate agents who has stuck it out in Atafona. He said there is still demand farther inland, either from those who were evicted by the sea or by investors hoping to buy cheap and sell for a big profit if there is ever a solution to halt the waters.

University researchers into coastal erosion have proposed everything from a giant stone wall to hold back the sea to an underwater blanket to hold the sand in place. There was also talk of adding to the sand dunes that have helped buffer some of the homes farther down the beach and building 240-meter-long (262-yard-long) jetties out into the ocean.

In the end nothing was done," said Mr. Pinto, blaming Brazils rigid environmental laws and infighting over which government entity would pay. He believes the best solution is to relocate people farther inland.

Marcela Toledo, environment secretary for Sao Joao da Barra, said the city hall was working with federal and state officials to unify efforts," saying that more needed to be done to address problems upriver.

Meanwhile, the municipal government has resorted to putting out more than a thousand sandbags every year to protect the most vulnerable propertiesa palliative measure that Mr. Pinto said is about as effective as trying to dry ice."

Some residents, though, refuse to give up.

Talis Santiago, a handyman whose small house is now several feet from lapping waves, spends his days fending off scavengers and sand. Once located on firm land a long walk from the beach, his home has gradually been overcome with sand as the coastline moves closer. Every week, he removes mounds of it that accumulate on his roof, threatening to crush the house from above, as the ocean encroaches below.

The sea is crafty, it starts by eating away at the house from underneath, destroying the foundations until it collapses," said Mr. Santiago.

A short walk up the beach, Ms. Ferreira was recently hunkered down in an outbuilding she built behind her now-destroyed house. Most people around here believe that this is all the will of God," said Ms. Ferreira, who spends time talking to local scientists who come to inspect the damage.

Im not one of those people, though," she said. This was us, human beings, we did this."

Write to Samantha Pearson at samantha.pearson@wsj.com
According to a report from 9to5 Google, Google has initiated a trusted test program in the United States for its new AI-driven features. Enterprises, education users, and customers over 18 years of age are invited by Google to join this "small group," sign up, opt-in, and can leave the program at any time, as per the report.

As part of the public testing, Google is enabling users to try out the generative AI tools for drafting emails, birthday invitations, creative writing, and ideation. Additionally, Google is experimenting with customizable options in Gmail that enable users to include emojis to modify the tone of their messages. The testing is being carried out on the Gmail Android platform, and the new features are accessible at the bottom right corner of the screen.

Although the features are currently only accessible to select users in the US, they will be globally available soon. Upon release, these AI-powered tools are expected to aid users in enhancing their productivity and efficiency by enabling them to "create, connect, and collaborate" more effectively.

Google has announced the introduction of a new era for Google Workspace by integrating AI-powered features across Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Meet, and Chat. These upcoming AI tools are designed to assist users in achieving their work goals. With the integration of these AI-powered tools, users will be able to perform a variety of tasks such as drafting, replying, summarizing, and prioritizing content on Gmail, brainstorming, proofreading, writing, and rewriting on Docs, generating auto-created images, audio, and video on Slides, auto-completing, generating formulas, and contextually categorizing on Sheets, and generating backgrounds and capturing notes on Meet.

Google's blog post also highlights that with the generative AI in Gmail, users can effortlessly draft anything from a birthday invitation to a job cover letter. Additionally, Google can help users enhance their message's depth or simplicity by elaborating or shortening it, even to bullet points. Users can also choose to "Formalize" their message or add some humor with the "I'm feeling lucky" option, which includes playful stylistic choices like emojis. A floating action button (FAB) positioned at the bottom-right corner of the Compose screen provides access to these options.

The AI-powered features in Google Docs can help users to elaborate on or condense their text, as well as to draft blog posts or song lyrics. The web version of Google Docs will include a "Help me write" button that expands when clicked, revealing a prompt input. Once the user inputs their request, Google generates a draft that the user can thumbs up/down, generate/"View another," and "Refine." The user can then "Insert" the draft into their current document and make any necessary edits. Furthermore, users testing the AI tools in Google's test program can provide feedback that Google can use to refine and improve the generative AI functionality within Gmail and Docs.
In the past few months, artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated the technology world, and a big credit goes to OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, which has brought AI into the mainstream narrative. In fact, billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has called ChatGPT the most "revolutionary" technology in 40 years or so.

However, amid the growing popularity of ChatGPT worldwide, this AI tech has now faced a major setback. ChatGPT was reportedly banned in Italy on Friday. It is the first known instance when a government has blocked an artificial intelligence tool.

According to a report by the New York Times, Italy's data protection authority has accused OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, of stealing the data of its users. Besides, the Italian authority has said that ChatGPT does not have an age-verification system in place to prevent minors from being exposed to illicit material.

With this, Italy has become the first country to ban ChatGPT over privacy concerns. Whereas in China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, OpenAI has deliberately decided to remain inaccessible.

Following the ban, ChatGPT founder Sam Altman said Italy is one of his favourite countries and added, We of course defer to the Italian government and have ceased offering ChatGPT in Italy (though we think we are following all privacy laws). Italy is one of my favorite countries and I look forward to visiting again soon!"

We of course defer to the Italian government and have ceased offering ChatGPT in Italy (though we think we are following all privacy laws).



Italy is one of my favorite countries and I look forward to visiting again soon!  Sam Altman (@sama) March 31, 2023

In Italy, the regulators have told the OpenAI to block internet users in the country from gaining access to ChatGPT until the company turns over additional information, the NYT report mentioned.

OpenAI has been given 20 days to provide the agency with the material and possible remedies before a final decision can be made about the future of tech in the country.

Italian regulators cited a 20-March data breach that exposed the conversations and payment details of dozens of users. The Italian regulators might impose a fine of about $22 million or 4% of its worldwide annual revenue.

OpenAi has announced that it had disabled ChatGPT in Italy and remains committed to protecting people's privacy.

NYT report quoted ChatGPT's statement saying, " We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals".

"We also believe that AI regulation is necessary," it added.

Yesterday, a user asked ChatGPT whether it would be banned in Italy because of privacy concerns, the AI tool replied, " There should be no concerns...I am an artificial intelligence language model that can be accessed from anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection".
House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the two top Republicans in the Texas Legislature, have dug in their heels on how to reduce property owners tax burden  with dueling proposals on how to get it done and a path to a potential compromise unclear.

Patrick wants to raise the states homestead exemption  the dollar amount of a homes value that cant be taxed  on school district property taxes, with an additional boost for seniors. Phelan favors tightening the states appraisal cap on how much the value of a homeowners main residence taxed by school districts can rise each year. Each says the others proposal wouldnt cut taxes meaningfully.

Patrick has been forceful in his opposition to Phelans appraisal cap proposal and drew a line in the sand this week, vowing not to compromise with the House on the idea.

I cant compromise on something I know is not the right policy, Patrick, a Houston Republican, told The Dallas Morning News. There are other things we can work with the House on, but this  I would say is not one of those things because the math is the math.

Meanwhile, Phelan doubled down on his proposal. The Beaumont Republican hasnt written off raising the states homestead exemption like Patrick wants, but he questioned how much relief property owners would actually get from it. Phelan argues that tightening the cap would do more to slow or cut homeowners tax bills by guarding them against skyrocketing property values.

It is our job at the Texas Legislature to do what we can to maximize tax savings for Texas taxpayers, Phelan wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in The Houston Chronicle.

The standoff between the two chambers comes with high stakes. Cutting the states property taxes, among the highest in the nation, was a cornerstone of Gov. Greg Abbotts reelection bid last year  and Abbott has promised to spend at least half of the states nearly $33 billion surplus on property tax cuts.

Abbott has been mum on which idea he favors, but noted during a San Antonio Chamber of Commerce event earlier this month that he heard "countless times on the campaign trail" that home appraisals are too high.

Observers think Abbott wont let lawmakers leave Austin without putting a tax cut bill on his desk  and could call a special session if the two sides cant resolve their differences.

Republicans don't want to go back on those promises, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. Property tax relief was the number one issue in the campaign. If they can't deliver on this, it's going to make them look not only foolish for not being able to get it done, but also like they broke their promise to Texans.

Abbotts office did not respond Friday to an email requesting comment.

Raising the states homestead exemption is a key component of the Senates $16.5 billion property tax package this session. The proposal  carried by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican  would boost the amount of a homes value that cant be taxed by school districts from $40,000 to $70,000, with an additional $20,000 increase for seniors. A homeowner who pays the states typical school tax rate would pay $341 less on their annual tax bill than they would have without the increased exemption; seniors would save an additional $227.

Tax cut proponents in the Senate argue that having an exemption with a fixed dollar amount will help homeowners every year no matter what happens to home values.

The most powerful tool that you have as a tax writer is an exemption, Bettencourt said during a March 22 floor debate on the measure. These exemptions are unprecedented by any measurement. This is a historic, never-had-occurred-before exemption increase for homeowners in the state.

But the Houses tax writers are skeptical of that argument, saying that homestead exemptions wont help homeowners in a red-hot housing market like the one Texas endured last year. If home values skyrocket, so will property owners tax burden, they say  and the bigger a homes value gets, the smaller the homestead exemptions relief will be.

Phelan and state Rep. Morgan Meyer, a University Park Republican carrying the Houses main tax bill, argue that their proposal is tailored to address homeowners concerns.

No one has ever come up to me and said, Morgan, man, weve got to do something about our homestead exemption, Meyer told NBC DFW on Sunday. But what they do come and tell me is, Morgan, what is going on with our appraisals?

Tax cut warriors in the House want to lower the states annual appraisal cap on a homes taxable value from 10% to 5%  and expand the benefit to owners of commercial properties such as stores, restaurants and apartment complexes.

Tax experts and business lobbying groups such as the Texas Association of Realtors have warned that lowering the cap would have dire ripple effects that would create substantial inequities among property owners and upend the housing market  results that California saw in the decades after voters decided to cap how much their homes could be taxed in the late 1970s.

Experts say that enacting a tighter appraisal cap would result in bigger tax breaks to owners of homes and businesses who have held their property for a longer period, meaning the burden of paying property taxes would fall more heavily on new homeowners and business owners. The difference between what neighbors on the same block pay in taxes could wind up being drastically different, said Lynn Krebs, a research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.

While their homes may have similar market values, the new neighbor is going to be paying a significantly higher property tax bill and receiving the same public services, Krebs said.

Tightening the cap would likely also result in an even pricier housing market, critics warn, because homeowners would be encouraged to hold on to their property in order to keep their tax benefit  leading to less churn on the market, fewer homes available and higher home prices.

And ultimately, critics say, halving the appraisal cap wouldnt bring tax bills down because cities, counties and school districts could raise their tax rates to make up for any lost revenue.

Despite the disagreement over the homestead exemption and appraisal cap proposals, theres some overlap between the House and Senate proposals. Both chambers have set aside $5.3 billion for school district property tax cuts in their proposed budgets for the next two years, which would benefit homeowners and business owners alike.

The Senates tax cut package would pump another $5.38 billion into that purpose  saving the owner of a $300,000 home who pays the states average school district tax rate about $210 on their annual tax bill. It also includes $1.5 billion in business property tax cuts.

The Houses main tax cut proposal would also put an additional but significantly larger sum  $12 billion  into cutting school property taxes. It would result in more than $1,000 in savings over two years for an owner of a $350,000 home, according to Phelans office.

House leaders havent shut the door on a potential compromise with the Senate.

This is a process, Meyer said. We are still going to talk about homestead exemptions. Well still talk about different assets [and] facets of the plans because this is our job and our commitment to our constituents is to get something done.

So far, the Senate is moving faster on its tax cut proposal, passing its package out of the full chamber last week. Two days prior, a House committee voted out the Houses main tax cut proposal by a 10-1 vote, but its not yet clear when the bill will make it to the House floor.

Disclosure: Texas A&M University, Texas Association of Realtors and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/31/dan-patrick-dade-phelan-property-tax-cuts/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Common Cause & Lokniti  Centre for the Study Developing Societies (CSDS)

Press Release

Status of Policing in India Report 2023: Surveillance and the Question of Privacy

New Delhi, March 31, 2023: The Status of Policing in India Report 2023 was launched today at the India Habitat Centre by a panel of eminent personalities, followed by a discussion on rethinking surveillance. The theme of this years report is surveillance and privacy, and in his keynote address, Justice (Retd.) J. Chelameswar, a former Supreme Court Judge, said that only a robust privacy law can determine if the data of private citizens is being collected for the public good. Any act of the State is meant for the welfare of the people, and this is possible only when there is a law for the collection and regulation of data, only then can it be determined if it is for the welfare of the people or for the whims of the political masters. He added, In a good number of cases the collection of data is not for the larger interests of society, but for the political interests of the rulers. Are we, the people of India, in a position to bring democratic pressure on the government?

Mr. Prakash Singh, a retired IPS officer who has campaigned for police reforms, opined that surveillance has always existed in human societies going back to pre-historic times, but the rate of change of technology has put advanced tools of surveillance in the hands of the government. In India there are certain agencies that have been authorized to put people under surveillance, but the sanction must come from the Home Ministry. About one lakh sanctions for surveillance are given every year, which works out to about 250 per day. Can there be judicious application of mind with such a large number? There is no liability provision, if it is found that a wrong person has been put under surveillance. Due application of mind is not happening today, Mr. Singh, a former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and the BSF, said.

Prof. Ruchi Sinha, who teaches at Criminology and Justice at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai said that private tech corporations do surveillance of the citizens most private desires and monetize them, and that this should cause outrage. We are victims of horizontal surveillance. Contemporary surveillance is asymmetrical. The data capture is giving power to the Corporations. This data footprint is the bias of the person who has done the coding. Where is the evidence that people doing this coding have human rights training or sensitivity training?

Apar Gupta, the Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation said that digital surveillance is not something that started in the recent past.

Referring to the Malimath and Madhava Menon committees which talked about electronic surveillance in the early 2000s, he said that the government has been looking for ways and means to normalize surveillance.

Anjali Bharadwaj set the tone as the moderator by talking about accountability and transparency when it comes to surveillance. Bharadwaj is the Co-convener of the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information and a long-time activist on transparency on accountability.

The SPIR 2023 is the first of its kind study in India that explores public opinions and experiences regarding digital surveillance in India. Recent developments like the Supreme Courts judgement on right to privacy and discussions on data protection have intensified debates around privacy and surveillance. The study also considers the alleged use of Pegasus spyware by the government and the enactment of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, which grants police the power to collect biometric information from suspects and detainees.

Common Cause, in collaboration with the Lokniti Programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, conducted a face-to face survey with 9,779 individuals across 12 Indian states and UTs to understand perceptions around digital surveillance. The study also involved focus group discussions with domain experts, in-depth interviews with serving police officials, and an analysis of media coverage of surveillance-related issues.

The findings indicate a high level of public support for certain forms of government surveillance, but also a lack of public awareness regarding critical issues such as the Pegasus scandal and the Puttaswamy case.

Consistent with earlier SPIR surveys, public perceptions of digital surveillance by the government and issues such as freedom of expression demonstrate high levels of support for police violence. However, support for any form of surveillance is directly proportional to the respondents socio-economic status, i.e. the richer the respondent, the more the support. The poor, Adivasis, Dalits, and Muslims trust the police the least.

Key Findings of SPIR 2023

? The number of CCTV cameras with the police is significantly lower than the number of cameras within the cities.

? There is no statistically significant relationship between the CCTVs available with the police and the rates of cognisable crimes from 2016 to 2020.

? Even states that have a high registration of cybercrimes, the infrastructural capacity to handle such cases does not match the high volumes of registration of cybercrimes.

? In the focus group discussions, stakeholders agreed that while surveillance is conducted by various actors it is the unchecked surveillance by the state that is the biggest cause for concern.

? While the participants had differences about the efficiency of mass surveillance for controlling crime there was consensus that surveillance technologies required better oversight.

? The FGD participants were of the opinion that support for surveillance technologies amongst the general public stemmed from ignorance about the right to privacy.

? It was felt that the public views surveillance as an effective tool for public safety and national security.

? Some participants also pointed out the differences in opinions depending on the class of the citizens, with the poor being less likely to support surveillance by the police or the state.

? Some FGD participants and serving police officers said that police departments in India lack the necessary infrastructure and legal mechanisms to properly conduct surveillance (and therefore the ground reality is that the police are unable to use surveillance technologies effectively).

? One out of two people (51%) said CCTVs have been installed in their households/colonies, while high-income groups are more than three times more likely to have CCTV coverage in their residential areas compared to slums.

? The government is three times more likely to install CCTV cameras in slums/poor localities, compared to higher-income localities.

? The poorest are least likely to support the installation of CCTVs at any location.

? People with higher levels of education are more likely to believe that CCTVs help in crime reduction and are less likely to believe that CCTVs can be misused for illegal mass surveillance.

? Only one in four people strongly feel that CCTVs carry a risk of illegal mass surveillance. Nearly three out of four people strongly believe that CCTVs help monitor and reduce crimes.

? About half of the respondents supported the collection of biometric details of suspects.

? Adivasis and Muslims are the most critical of the police collecting biometric details of all suspects.

? More than one out of two people strongly support the use of drones by the armed forces, government, and police. However, farmers and the poorest are most likely to oppose drone usage by government agencies.

? One out of two people fully support the use of FRT by the government, and police. People are four times more likely to strongly support the use of FRT by government agencies, compared to its use by private entities.

? Nearly two out of three respondents believe that political parties surveil citizens for electoral gains.

? Over half of the people strongly justify using CCTV cameras to control protests. People from small cities and poor backgrounds are least likely to support the use of CCTVs to curb political movements or protests.

? One out of five people believe that it is right for the government to monitor peoples social media posts.

? Large sections of the respondents feel government surveillance by CCTVs (52%), drones (30%), FRT (25%), etc. to suppress protests and political movements are justified to a great extent. Those from Punjab are least likely to support government surveillance during protests, while those from Gujarat are most likely to support it.

The detailed key findings in English and Hindi as well as the full report can be accessed hCommon Cause & Lokniti  Centre for the Study Developing Societies (CSDS)

Press Release

Status of Policing in India Report 2023: Surveillance and the Question of Privacy

New Delhi, March 31, 2023: The Status of Policing in India Report 2023 was launched today at the India Habitat Centre by a panel of eminent personalities, followed by a discussion on rethinking surveillance. The theme of this years report is surveillance and privacy, and in his keynote address, Justice (Retd.) J. Chelameswar, a former Supreme Court Judge, said that only a robust privacy law can determine if the data of private citizens is being collected for the public good. Any act of the State is meant for the welfare of the people, and this is possible only when there is a law for the collection and regulation of data, only then can it be determined if it is for the welfare of the people or for the whims of the political masters. He added, In a good number of cases the collection of data is not for the larger interests of society, but for the political interests of the rulers. Are we, the people of India, in a position to bring democratic pressure on the government?

Mr. Prakash Singh, a retired IPS officer who has campaigned for police reforms, opined that surveillance has always existed in human societies going back to pre-historic times, but the rate of change of technology has put advanced tools of surveillance in the hands of the government. In India there are certain agencies that have been authorized to put people under surveillance, but the sanction must come from the Home Ministry. About one lakh sanctions for surveillance are given every year, which works out to about 250 per day. Can there be judicious application of mind with such a large number? There is no liability provision, if it is found that a wrong person has been put under surveillance. Due application of mind is not happening today, Mr. Singh, a former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and the BSF, said.

Prof. Ruchi Sinha, who teaches at Criminology and Justice at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai said that private tech corporations do surveillance of the citizens most private desires and monetize them, and that this should cause outrage. We are victims of horizontal surveillance. Contemporary surveillance is asymmetrical. The data capture is giving power to the Corporations. This data footprint is the bias of the person who has done the coding. Where is the evidence that people doing this coding have human rights training or sensitivity training?

Apar Gupta, the Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation said that digital surveillance is not something that started in the recent past.

Referring to the Malimath and Madhava Menon committees which talked about electronic surveillance in the early 2000s, he said that the government has been looking for ways and means to normalize surveillance.

Anjali Bharadwaj set the tone as the moderator by talking about accountability and transparency when it comes to surveillance. Bharadwaj is the Co-convener of the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information and a long-time activist on transparency on accountability.

The SPIR 2023 is the first of its kind study in India that explores public opinions and experiences regarding digital surveillance in India. Recent developments like the Supreme Courts judgement on right to privacy and discussions on data protection have intensified debates around privacy and surveillance. The study also considers the alleged use of Pegasus spyware by the government and the enactment of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, which grants police the power to collect biometric information from suspects and detainees.

Common Cause, in collaboration with the Lokniti Programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, conducted a face-to face survey with 9,779 individuals across 12 Indian states and UTs to understand perceptions around digital surveillance. The study also involved focus group discussions with domain experts, in-depth interviews with serving police officials, and an analysis of media coverage of surveillance-related issues.

The findings indicate a high level of public support for certain forms of government surveillance, but also a lack of public awareness regarding critical issues such as the Pegasus scandal and the Puttaswamy case.

Consistent with earlier SPIR surveys, public perceptions of digital surveillance by the government and issues such as freedom of expression demonstrate high levels of support for police violence. However, support for any form of surveillance is directly proportional to the respondents socio-economic status, i.e. the richer the respondent, the more the support. The poor, Adivasis, Dalits, and Muslims trust the police the least.

Key Findings of SPIR 2023

? The number of CCTV cameras with the police is significantly lower than the number of cameras within the cities.

? There is no statistically significant relationship between the CCTVs available with the police and the rates of cognisable crimes from 2016 to 2020.

? Even states that have a high registration of cybercrimes, the infrastructural capacity to handle such cases does not match the high volumes of registration of cybercrimes.

? In the focus group discussions, stakeholders agreed that while surveillance is conducted by various actors it is the unchecked surveillance by the state that is the biggest cause for concern.

? While the participants had differences about the efficiency of mass surveillance for controlling crime there was consensus that surveillance technologies required better oversight.

? The FGD participants were of the opinion that support for surveillance technologies amongst the general public stemmed from ignorance about the right to privacy.

? It was felt that the public views surveillance as an effective tool for public safety and national security.

? Some participants also pointed out the differences in opinions depending on the class of the citizens, with the poor being less likely to support surveillance by the police or the state.

? Some FGD participants and serving police officers said that police departments in India lack the necessary infrastructure and legal mechanisms to properly conduct surveillance (and therefore the ground reality is that the police are unable to use surveillance technologies effectively).

? One out of two people (51%) said CCTVs have been installed in their households/colonies, while high-income groups are more than three times more likely to have CCTV coverage in their residential areas compared to slums.

? The government is three times more likely to install CCTV cameras in slums/poor localities, compared to higher-income localities.

? The poorest are least likely to support the installation of CCTVs at any location.

? People with higher levels of education are more likely to believe that CCTVs help in crime reduction and are less likely to believe that CCTVs can be misused for illegal mass surveillance.

? Only one in four people strongly feel that CCTVs carry a risk of illegal mass surveillance. Nearly three out of four people strongly believe that CCTVs help monitor and reduce crimes.

? About half of the respondents supported the collection of biometric details of suspects.

? Adivasis and Muslims are the most critical of the police collecting biometric details of all suspects.

? More than one out of two people strongly support the use of drones by the armed forces, government, and police. However, farmers and the poorest are most likely to oppose drone usage by government agencies.

? One out of two people fully support the use of FRT by the government, and police. People are four times more likely to strongly support the use of FRT by government agencies, compared to its use by private entities.

? Nearly two out of three respondents believe that political parties surveil citizens for electoral gains.

? Over half of the people strongly justify using CCTV cameras to control protests. People from small cities and poor backgrounds are least likely to support the use of CCTVs to curb political movements or protests.

? One out of five people believe that it is right for the government to monitor peoples social media posts.

? Large sections of the respondents feel government surveillance by CCTVs (52%), drones (30%), FRT (25%), etc. to suppress protests and political movements are justified to a great extent. Those from Punjab are least likely to support government surveillance during protests, while those from Gujarat are most likely to support it.

The detailed key findings in English and Hindi as well as the full report can be accessed here
Members of the team sent by the CDC to study the health impact of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, themselves fell sick while nearby the site. CNN reports that the researchers suffered from "sore throats, headaches, coughing and nausea," as locals did.

The investigators who experienced symptoms were part of a team conducting a house-to-house survey in an area near the derailment, and they immediately reported their symptoms to federal safety officers.

"Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours. Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects," a CDC spokesperson said in the statement.

The illnesses are coming to light after repeated assurances by government officials and representatives from Norfolk Southern, the company that operated the train, that the air and drinking water in East Palestine is not hazardous to health.
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LIMON, Costa Rica (AP)  In this colorful Caribbean port, where cruise ship passengers are whisked to jungle adventures in Costa Ricas interior, locals try to be home by dark and police patrol with high-caliber guns in the face of soaring drug violence.

Costa Rica logged a record 657 homicides last year and Limon  with a homicide rate five times the national average -- was the epicenter.

The bloodshed in a country better known for its laid-back, its all good outlook and its lack of a standing army has stirred a public outcry as the administration of President Rodrigo Chaves scrambles for answers.

Where Costa Rica had previously been just a pass-through for northbound cocaine from Colombian and Mexican cartels, authorities say it is now a warehousing and transshipment point for drugs sent to Europe by homegrown Costa Rican gangs.

In Limon, that shifting criminal dynamic has mixed with swelling ranks of young unemployed men who make up the majority of the casualties in fierce territorial battles.

Martin Arias, the deputy security minister and head of Costa Ricas Coast Guard, said Limons violence stems from disputes over both the control of cocaine shipped to Europe and the marijuana sold locally.

In January, authorities dismantled a ring working to smuggle drugs through the container port. Cocaine has been secreted into walls of the steel containers and even packed among pineapple and yucca headed for Spain and Holland.

Foreign drug traffickers used to pay Costa Rican fishermen to bring gasoline to their smuggling boats.

Later, the Mexican narcos said, Were not going to use money; were not going to leave the trail that money leaves in banks, in systems; were going to pay in cocaine, Arias said.

At first, the fishermen and their associates didnt have the contacts to sell their cocaine abroad, so they sold it locally as crack. But once they realized how much more the cocaine was worth in Europe, they began smuggling it out of the port, he said.

Meanwhile, marijuana was arriving from Jamaica and Colombia, and gangs fought over the local market. Victims of that violence are mostly in marginalized neighborhoods, Arias said.

Costa Rican authorities classified 421 of last years 657 homicides as score settling.

Former Security Minister Gustavo Mata estimated that 80% of the killings in Costa Rica were related to the growth in drug trafficking.

We used to talk about Colombian cartels, Mexican cartels, Mata said. But now investigators have found gangs led by Costa Ricans, he said.

Mata, who served as security minister from 2015 to 2018, said that Costa Rica had become an enormous warehouse of drugs and an operations center for exports to Europe.

The Limon ports shipping business  both legal and illegal  has placed it at the center of violence.

In Limon, there are four strong criminal groups competing for the drug market, said Randall Zuniga, director of Costa Ricas Judicial Investigation Department. These groups clash, and generally the people who die are sellers or members of the criminal groups.

But the violence has not been confined to Limon or to those involved in the drug trade.

The Feb. 28 shooting of 8-year-old Samuel Arroyo, killed by a stray bullet while he slept in the capital San Jose, stirred popular outrage. Costa Ricans with no connection to the boys family turned out for his funeral carrying white balloons.

President Chaves said Samuel died in a manner that was outrageous, inexplicable and unacceptable. The president said the shooting apparently stemmed from a gang war. A 15-year-old was arrested in connection with the death.

One month earlier, Ingrid Munoz organized a demonstration outside federal courts in San Jose to demand action after her 19-year-old son Keylor Gambia was killed defending his girlfriend from an assault.

What were seeking is to create consciousness so that there is not impunity, Munoz said. What we want is justice, so that the judges, as well as the prosecutors, understand the serious situation that not only the youth, but everyone in the country, is living.

Security Minister Jorge Torres, in comments to congress in January, faulted a justice system in which he said those sentenced on drug violations serve only a fraction of their prison sentences. There are crimes for which you must serve the entire sentence, Torres said.

Torres said he would have a new security strategy ready by June, but meanwhile more resources for police were needed. If we want to resolve this in the short term we need more police in the streets, he said.

Limon sits 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of San Jose. It is Costa Ricas most important port, handling much of the countrys exports to the United States and Europe.

In 2018, the government privatized its container port, giving the concession to a Dutch company.

Antonio Wells, secretary general of the dockworkers union for Costa Ricas Atlantic ports, said some 7,000 jobs were lost in the port privatization, which he blames for Limon's social problems.

Last year, Limon was the canton with the second-highest murder rate with more than 62 homicides per 100,000 residents.

If there are no jobs, it sounds terrible to say, but for many the closest thing to a job is being a hit man, Wells said.

Costa Ricas murder rate has increased in each of the last four years. Last year's rate was 12.6 per 100,000 residents, still only about one-third of Honduras, but the highest for Costa Rica since at least 1990.

Costa Ricas Association of Professionals in Economic Sciences in January found a strong correlation between low levels of development and high homicide rates in the most violent cantons like Limon.

This isnt the Limon I grew up in, a retiree who identified himself only as David said on a recent day as he chatted with others in the citys central square. After 9 oclock at night you cant walk and its really sad."
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Chattanooga police said the driver lost control of the vehicle on a curve and went partially over the side road close to Sanders Road. The mayor of Lookout Mountain, Georgia said it's not the first time trucks have posed a problem on the mountain.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the National Labor Relations Board's March 2021 order that Elon Musk must delete an anti-union tweet threatening to eliminate stock options for unionized workers at Tesla. Tesla will also have to hire back and compensate a wronged employee.

Mr. Musk seems to enjoy paying lawyers, so I assume he will continue fighting against unionization at his various companies.

Yahoo:
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Representatives from Dade and Hamilton County encourage people to have a safety plan before the storms arrive. They offered their safety tips to keep you safe, in case of severe weather.
From a racist mass shooting in May to a deadly, once-in-a-generation blizzard in late December, the blows to Western New Yorkers' collective psyche hit often and hard in 2022, and they continued into this year.

Its all enough to traumatize even the most resilient of communities  and area mental and behavioral health providers agree that the effects of compounding tragic local events shouldnt be ignored.

"From our perspective, the community has gone through tremendous trauma last year, and trauma affects everybody and it affects people in different ways," said Michael Ball, vice president for community affairs at Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of WNY. "So, if we're going to really be prepared for traumatic events in our community moving forward, it's going to take all of us. It's going to take a group effort to do that."

Highmark joined this week with Mental Health Advocates of WNY and other behavioral health providers through a collaboration dubbed #wearehope to discuss community trauma, its impacts, and various ways to address it.

A forum Wednesday at Highmark assembled a variety of local mental and behavioral health experts from the Buffalo Urban League, BestSelf Behavioral Health, Crisis Services, Say Yes Buffalo and other organizations to consider enhancements in mental health services, following a series of tragic local events over the past year.

Melinda DuBois, executive director of Mental Health Advocates of WNY rattled off a list of other tragedies: an overnight fire on Huntington Avenue in early July that claimed the lives of pediatrician Dr. Jonathan D. Daniels and two of his daughters; a New Year's Eve fire on Dartmouth Avenue that killed a grandmother and six of her grandchildren; and in the loss of Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno in a downtown fire on March 1.

"Oh, and we had an earthquake," DuBois added. "We are taking time to reflect on our collective trauma."

Those traumas build up, even as those affected by them keep moving along with their daily lives.

"We need to be able to take this time and space to really think about what's happened and really think strategically about what we want to say. What we're learning today is that traditional methods of mental health delivery may not be the best option for a lot of folks. And, so, really looking at how people can get hope, how they can get help, how they can get compassion from each other is really one of the important messages," DuBois said.

Social worker Amanda Budwine talked about the physical effects of trauma that are manifested by hyper-arousal symptoms, including migraine headaches, increased heart rate, and gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, to symptoms of hypo-arousal, such isolation, detachment and dissociation.

"We need to have a plan. We need to communicate that plan, and we need to acknowledge that that plan is imperfect. Because, if we pretend that a perfect plan is going to happen, we're not validating the community members' experiences, and we're going to fall short," Budwine said.

Patrick Greene of Horizon Health Services spoke about helping those in crisis in the community.

"So how do we help the community? That's a good question. You might be thinking to yourself, 'Well, what can I do? I'm just one person.' And, the answer that I would give you in a word is connection," said Greene.

"Dr. Peter Levine, who founded a really effective trauma therapy called somatic experiencing, he has a course on trauma that I often go to. He says that trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness. And, if we think about the legacy of trauma, traumatic events, they leave this lasting wound inside that can be with us for years and years. It manifests physically, emotionally, psychologically and, it's particularly difficult to help wounds heal," he added.

Greene and others also raised compounding factor of the Covid-19 pandemic as a debilitating event over the past three years.

We have been more disconnected as a society than ever before. So that compounds any type of effect on trauma," Greene said.
Nine American Army soldiers, among them two of Filipino descent, were reported killed on Wednesday in helicopter crashes that marred a military training exercise in Kentucky.

The accident involved two US Army helicoptersvariants of the Black Hawk model designed for medical evacuationthat crashed during a nighttime training mission in Trigg County, near Fort Campbell, killing all nine soldiers on board.

The US Army released the names of the victims, all of them members of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell

The list included Filipino-Americans Sgt. Isaac John Gayo, 27, from Los Angeles, California; and Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, from Austin, Texas. They were reportedly born in the Philippines and enlisted in the US military in 2019.

Two US Army helicopters crashed during a nighttime training mission in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers on board, a general said Thursday.

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The crash was considered the deadliest such incident involving the military in more than eight years.

The aircraft were flying in formation with pilots using night vision goggles during a routine training exercise, and were steered to land in an open field across from a residential area, avoiding deaths or injuries on the ground, Brigadier General John Lubas told a news conference.

The crash resulted in the death of all nine service members aboard the aircraft, all of them members of the 101st Airborne Division, which is based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Lubas said.

Five soldiers were on one helicopter and four on another, with the military still working to notify all the families of those killed.

With an investigative team heading to Fort Campbell from the base where US Army Aviation is headquartered in Alabama, it was still unknown whether the two helicopters collided.

We have a safety team coming from Fort Rucker, Alabama who specialize in aircraft safety and specifically these investigations, Lubas said.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear mourned the lost soldiers and praised those who responded to the crash.

Freedom relies on those who are willing to serve, some of which pay the ultimate price, the governor told the news conference.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement he is saddenedby this tragic loss, while White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told journalists that we stand with all who are grieving in the wake of this terrible, truly terrible, accident.

News network MSNBC quoted a local resident who witnessed the crash.

Two helicopters just disappeared out of the sky. There was a large flash, Nick Tomaszewski said, adding that another helicopter circled the area for about 30 minutes before ambulances arrived.

The last time nine or more people died in a training-related incident involving a helicopter was on March 10, 2015, when a Louisiana National Guard Black Hawk crashed during a nighttime training mission off the Florida coast, killing 11 people, US Army Combat Readiness Center spokesman Jimmie Cummings told AFP.

Each accident is thoroughly investigated, and lessons learned are applied to improve safety standards and processes, Cummings said.

There have been multiple other crashes of US military aircraft in recent years, including another involving a Black Hawk that killed two Tennessee National Guardsmen during a training flight in Alabama in February.

Four US Marines were killed during NATO exercises in Norway last year when their V-22B Osprey aircraft went down, possibly after hitting a mountain, investigators said.

And two US Navy pilots were rescued after their T-45C Goshawk jet crashed during a training exercise in a residential neighborhood near Fort Worth, Texas in 2021. The pilots ejected before the plane went down.

The 101st Airborne Division is the US Armys only air assault division. Nicknamed the Screaming Eagles, it was activated in August1942 and gained renown during World War II in the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Bulge.

More recently the division has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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In YouTubes Breaking Barriers Online and Beyond event, women content creators from several walks of life shared their inspiring stories on rising above challenges and how YouTube has helped them make a difference.

Hosted by Miss Trans Global 2020, actress, writer, and content creator Mela Habijan, the intimate gathering delved into the different stories of YouTube creators Lyqa Maravilla, Candy Pangilinan, Chezka Carandang, Jozelle Tech, as well as Habijan and Google Philippines Country Director Bernadette Nacario themselves.

Mela Habijan

Helping an entire society break barriers and achieve their full potential

Lyqa Maravilla was inspired to start creating educational content in 2015 by her own grandmother, who only managed to attain a Grade 3 education, as well as a group of women who could not pass the Civil Service Exam because they were also juggling their responsibilities as homemakers and mothers.

Eventually, more people found her content and were able to apply her lessons to other similar exams, and the momentum she gained from this support gave her the confidence to create more content on study hacks, workplace tips, and many more videos that simply were able to help Filipinos, especially those who were disadvantaged.

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Not only were the barriers in many Filipinos ways broken, but more importantly, heavily disadvantaged women were now gaining an edge. Were able to help so many people get jobsactually, our current average is three to five people, mostly women, reporting per day that they land jobs and get promoted, said Maravilla.

In the same vein as Maravillas highly helpful educational content, commercial pilot Chezka Carandangs YouTube content goes a long way in opening an entirely new horizon of possibilities for women.

Starting her own YouTube channel during the pandemic, Carandangwho had always wanted to be a pilot but had to figure out how to do it herselfsimply wanted to share the process and her own story of how she managed to soar to the skies.

Thats why I started my YouTube channel. Before, I was the one who had a hard time learning and becoming a pilot, now, I want to be the one aspiring pilots turn to to learn how to become a pilot, said Carandang.

It all started with one video on how to become a pilot, and after that, I was able to build a community. I get so many comments saying Chezka, I became a pilot because of you. I didnt know it was possible to become a pilot.

YouTube as a way to inspire

Beyond education, because of the multitude of diverse voices on the platform, for many people YouTube is also a source of inspiration.

Take for example Jozelle Tech, a CEO, entrepreneur, consultant, and content creator who also has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, leaving her to rely on a wheelchaira natural barrier.

Being differently abled has certainly not stopped Tech from doing what she does best, which is helping businesses reach their full potential. Her YouTube content generally focuses on business, branding, and marketing tips and advice.

These physical challenges are a huge barrier in living a full life. Whats harder is that Im part of two marginalized groupsIm a woman bound to a wheelchair. As a child, I had so many dreams, but people would always tell me no, dont be ambitious. But I am ambitious, and I couldnt accept that this was going to be my life. I couldnt walk, so thats why I decided to run a business, said Tech defiantly.

Meanwhile, comedienne and actress Candy Pangilinan, whose YouTube channel features her daily life raising her son Quentin, who has special needs, found herself becoming an inspiration to fellow mothers in similar situations.

I never imagined people would come to me wherever I am, telling me, Ms. Candy, thank you so much for what you do. I learn from your vlog and follow what you do on your content, said Pangilinan.

The support is overwhelming. People asked me what I do with Quentin, so I asked him if we can show the internet our regular lives. Eventually, it grew. Now people are asking, people are coming to me. Honestly, my burden 19 years ago has become my blessing today. YouTube really helped me a lot in developing my son.

As for Habijan herself, who educates people on all things transgender on her YouTube channel, credits the platform for the full realization of her hosting dreams, as she announced she will be hosting shows on YouTube including Rainbow Bench, a YouTube-first talk show focused on LGBTQIA+ stories and allyship.

Its my dream to be like Oprah, said Habijan. There are so many possibilities being realized by YouTube. I cannot fathom the fact that weve really neared this age where everyone can. And we all can, right now.

Sharing her very own breaking barriers story, Google Philippines Country Director Bernadette Nacario said, Ive been in tech for over 30 years now and my journey in the industry is not easy! Back in the early days of tech, there was a time when I was the only woman in the boardroom full of men. It was daunting at first but I didnt let this hold me back! I stood my ground and believed in myself. I showed them that women can and women will! Womens ability to lead not just with data but with empathy makes us effective leaders.

Be inspired by the #PinaysWhoBreakBarriersOnYouTube. Listen to their stories on the replay of Breaking Barriers Online and Beyond on the Google Philippines YouTube channel and Facebook page.

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ALBANY  State lawmakers were all but certain to miss a midnight Friday deadline to pass an on-time budget, the negotiations stalled by two contentious items at the top of Gov. Kathy Hochuls agenda: bail reform and housing growth.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Thursday that, Nothing other than bail and the housing compact has gotten any real discussions, while Senate Majority Leader Andrea-Stewart Cousins said that talks were in the middle of the middle.

Bail and a billionaire at issue in Albany budget talks At a news conference last Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul stated that, "Protecting New Yorkers is my No. 1 priority. Full stop."

On Friday, Hochul told reporters that while she and legislative leaders were focused on the big-ticket items, their staffs were working around the clock on other matters, including climate initiatives, education, health care and capital projects.

Theres progress being made in many areas, but in terms of what the leaders are talking about, we want to resolve these matters, and then the other areas will fall, Hochul said.

The Senate formally adjourned until noon on Monday. Assembly members remained on call, but Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay did not believe any voting was planned for that chamber this weekend.

What's in, what's out as emboldened New York State Legislature counters Hochul's budget proposal Democrats who control the State Senate and Assembly released their budget plans this week, rejecting some of Gov. Kathy Hochul's top priorities. Here are where some of the major issues stand as negotiations continue.

Hochul, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins are all Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, a North Tonawanda Republican, told reporters on Friday that he believed Senate Democrats' rejection of Hochul's chief judge nominee earlier this year had damaged the Democrats' relationships during budget negotiations.

"They're trying to send a message that the State Assembly and Senate, that they sort of run the show here," Ortt said. "I have an issue with that because most of that leadership is based solely out of New York City. And the politics that they focus on are anathema to me."

He called the left-wing of the Democratic Party in New York "extreme" and urged Hochul, who hails from Buffalo and is considered a moderate Democrat, to "stand in there and make sure that this budget attempts to be a budget that works for all New Yorkers."

One budget bill  approving payment of the states outstanding debt service  did pass the Assembly earlier this week and the Senate on Friday.

The parties have the option of passing a temporary budget extender bill ensuring state employees will be paid as negotiations run late. The parties face a deadline at the end of the day Monday to either pass a budget or an extender to ensure such payments are issued.

Proposal seeks to end Albany's annual fight over imperiled 'safety net' hospitals In the final days of state budget negotiations, more than a dozen Democrats in the State Senate have begun pushing a proposal that would upend how hospitals serving large numbers of low-income patients are funded.

Hochul wants to amend a bail reform law passed in 2019, which eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and some nonviolent felony charges. Hochul  who also made amending the law a top priority in 2022 budget negotiations  this year is trying to change a provision she believes creates confusion for judges deciding whether to set bail for criminal defendants.

The governor is trying to change a provision of the 2019 law requiring judges to use the "least restrictive" means to ensure a defendant returns to court. She said that would avoid confusion with other parts of law giving judges greater discretion over whether to require bail in violent felony or serious misdemeanor cases.

"I want to remove any question about whether a judge has discretion to set bail," Hochul said during a recent news conference. "I want to make it absolutely clear that judges have both the authority and the accountability for these important decisions."

Democrats that run the Assembly and Senate have resisted making further changes to the law, and intentionally omitted Hochuls proposal in their one-house budget plans released in mid-March. But Politico reported this week that Heastie was softening on the issue: The Assembly had brought language to the budget negotiating table altering the state bail laws by removing, for some offenses, the least restrictive means standard.

Since that report, some Assembly Democrats have stated the intention of standing their ground and resisting changes to the law.

After Hochul vetoes, Legislature includes measure in state budget to close tax fraud 'loophole' When corporations or wealthy individuals intentionally avoid paying required taxes by not filing documents at all, a whistleblower law in New York does not apply  and for the third time the State Legislature is trying to change that.

Ortt slammed the Democratic-controlled Legislature for holding up the budget over Hochul's proposed change to the the bail law.

"I can't think of anything more modest that would have any actual impact," Ortt said. "And even that is too much for Assembly and Senate Democrats, even though public safety remains at the top of New Yorkers' concerns."

Hochuls other big-ticket item is a plan to build 800,000 units of housing in New York over a decade. At issue is an aspect that would allow developers to bypass local zoning restrictions if housing growth did not occur quickly enough in a given locality. Under the plan, every upstate municipality would have to grow its existing housing stock by 1% every three years. In Erie County, that works out to roughly 4,400 new homes by 2026.

The Assembly and Senate scrapped that idea in their one-house budget proposals. Instead, legislative Democrats want to provide $500 million in incentives for local governments to hit growth goals. But supporters of Hochuls plan say that, especially for affluent suburbs prone to resisting new development, the incentive will not work.

On Friday, the watchdog groups Reinvent Albany and Citizens Budget Commission released a report finding that there was $14.8 billion in proposed lump sum pots of money in Hochuls budget proposal  including $8 billion in Covid-19 emergency pots of money  that would not be subject to review by Comptroller Tom DiNapolis office.

The report found that the Legislatures one-house budget bills included a Senate proposal creating two, $1 billion lump sum funds for distressed hospitals, which members of the Senate would have a role in later distributing.

Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany, said that $2 billion for hospitals in the Senate budget was new this year. She called the language outlining the requirements for how the funds would be spent broad and vague.

The watchdog groups define lump sums as pots of money allowing spending for a broad range of projects or purposes  determined and allocated after the Legislature and Hochul have already approved the funds in the budget.

DiNapoli said on Friday that the final budget should meet "high standards of transparency" and urged the Legislature "to reject the proposed changes, which eliminate competitive bidding requirements and oversight by my office of nearly $13 billion in spending.
Joe Biden will miss out on the coronation of King Charles III. The ceremony will take place in early May, but reports suggest that the United States president will not be in attendance.

Despite planning to travel to Northern Ireland next month, Biden is expected to return to the US just days before King Charles arrives to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Who will travel to London in Biden's place?

According to reports, Biden will ask either first lady Jill or vice president Kamala Harris to attend the coronation on May 6.

"We think the representative will be the first lady or the vice president," a source told the Daily Mail.

"For the Queen it was the Governor of California and the U.S. Army chief of staff."

According to The Daily, Dame Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to the US, and Buckingham Palace officials had been involved in "cordial and diplomatic" talks with the US government to organise the delegation.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have also been invited to attend the ceremony, but they have yet to confirm whether they'll travel to the UK for the coronation.

"Archie's birthday falls on May 6th, coronation day and the Sussexes want the family to recognise that," a source told OK! last month.

"The Sussexes have asked for some kind of celebration or acknowledgement to be factored into the day's plans to ensure that his fourth birthday won't get lost during the momentous day.

"They want their children to spend time with other family members, especially their cousin August who is around about the same age as Lilibet. Both couples get on extremely well and are keen for their children to be close."
SPRINGFIELD  The Student Prince Cafe and The Fort Restaurant is a special place at Christmas.

But its not the evergreen decor that makes it special for Nathan Yee, director of hospitality for the Bean Restaurant Group and part of the third generation of Yee family members working for Bean.

For him, its the busing of tables, the running of food, the greeting of guests and the general  some would say overwhelming  busyness of the place.

Its a rush for me, Yee, said. I love it.

Bean Restaurant group  which took over the Fort in 2014 in partnership with Peter Picknelly and others  will be honored in May by the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau as the 2023 Howdy Awards for Hospitality Excellence Spotlight Award winner.

The Howdys honor front-line hospitality service workers each year. Winners of most awards are secret and announced with much fanfare at the ceremony Monday, May 15, at 6 p.m. at the MassMutual Center.

Its very cool, Yee said of the Howdy honor, emphasizing that it is for a whole team of about 500 employees working at 16 separate business locations.

Yees grandparents, the late Jung Tai Johnny Yee and his wife Linda Yee, founded the Hu-ke-Lau in Chicopee in 1965.

Nathan Yee is the Hospitality Director for the Bean Restaurant Group. (Don Treeger / The Republican) 3/31/2023

To think it all started with that one Chinese food location, and with Polynesian food, in Chicopee , Massachusetts, Yee said.

The Yees grew, first with The Halfway House which the Yee family purchased in 2002 and continues to operate the cozy local pub.

Those 500 employees include 11 members of the Yee family.

Linda, now 85, is still involved.

She tells us what we are doing the wrong way, what we are doing the right way and what we should be doing better, Nathan Yee said.

That number of 16 units includes three seasonal locations at the Big E and a food truck.

And soon it will include two new restaurants.

With Picknelly and other investors, the Yees took over the ailing White Hut in 2020.

Tuesday, the company closed on the $300,000 purchase  recorded at the Hampden County Registry of Deeds  on the former PeoplesBank location at 825 Hampden St. in Holyoke which will be another White Hut.

We are in the design stages of that now, we are still working on the concept for it. But it will have that White Hut look, he said.

And the Yees have settled on a name  Copper + Kin  for their restaurant inside the renovated 13-31 Elm on Springfields Court Square.

Itll be American fare with hand-cut pasta and other on-trend offerings, Yee said. The plan is to create a space that is fancy enough for date night but relaxed enough to bring a family.

Thats where the name comes from: copper, because of the weathered copper on the historic building. Kin, because its a place to gather with family, he said.

The plan is to be open at 13-31 Elm this year.

At 24, hes worked in the business since the age of 12. He was doing a lot of cleaning, carrying and moved on to serving, bartending.

Its a lot of long nights. We wash a lot of dishes. Its a lot of cleaning, he said. Its what my family has always done.
Editors note: This story has been modified pursuant to The Republicans policy not to name alleged victims of sexual assault.

SPRINGFIELD  A former Massachusetts state trooper is under internal investigation after a West Springfield resident obtained a protective order over alleged unwanted sexual contact in late February.

Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio confirmed that Capt. Brian Gladu retired March 16, a week after a 27-year-old West Springfield resident obtained a temporary harassment order from a judge.

At the time of his retirement, he held the rank of captain and was (and remains) the subject of three Internal Affairs investigations for alleged violations of departmental policy, rules, or regulations, Procopio said.

He declined to discuss further details of those investigations. Court records say the West Springfield resident accused Gladu of touching him inappropriately in late February while the trooper was at his house as part of an investigation.

Timothy M. Burke, a lawyer for Gladu, called the allegation ludicrous.

Its clear that there were allegations, prior investigations that had taken place, and the information that was presented to the court established a legitimate basis for my clients actions, Burke said.

We intend to appeal the decision of the court, Burke said. Weve requested not only a copy of a transcript of the proceeding ... but also we were not provided with the initial complaint on March 9. That was done without our knowledge or participation and it was issued, unfortunately, without the opportunity to present any information to contradict the allegations made by the complainant.

Springfield District Court Judge Patrick Sabbs granted the West Springfield resident a yearlong protective order after hearing testimony from both sides.

The resident said he encountered Gladu twice over the past three years  once in April 2020 when Gladu was tracking a suspect who reportedly had been spotted around the residents apartment complex and a second time on Feb. 27 when the trooper knocked on the residents door a second time related to an investigation.

Well, this is certainly a strange set of circumstances, Sabbs said during the hearing.

Sabbs found, based on evidence presented at the hearing, that the trooper brushed up against the residents chest while looking around the apartment. The judge granted the order mandating that Gladu stay 25 yards away from the resident and the residents place of work.

To their credit, the state police take these cases very seriously, but unfortunately there are unintended consequences if you cant even defend yourself at a hearing, Burke said of his client.
A Connecticut prison near Massachusetts southwestern border will close Saturday, April 1 due to the states dwindling prison population. Here are the states plans for the soon-to-be-vacant facility.

The Willard Correctional Institution at 391 Shaker Road in Enfield will shut down on Saturday, April 1, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced in a press release earlier this year.
A former member of the Stoneham Police Department appeared in federal court on Friday after authorities charged him with defrauding three of his landlords, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for Massachusetts.

Robert Kennedy, 53, used falsified information to get three separate apartment leases and intentionally withheld rent payments, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a news release. Although Kennedy made between $141,000 to $187,000 a year with the Stoneham Police Department, Kennedy lived rent-free in various apartments by taking advantage of the slow eviction process, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.

Kennedys girlfriend further delayed the eviction processes at the apartment after she filed fraudulent applications for housing assistance, according to court documents.
CHARLTON  Police are investigating a robbery Friday at the Country Bank for Savings at 37 Worcester Road.

Police received a report of a robbery shortly before 3 p.m. Officers interviewed employees and witnesses and searched the area on foot with the assistance of police dogs from the Massachusetts State Police and Oxford Police.

Police say preliminary investigation indicates the suspect is a lone middle-aged white male. He was described as heavy set, with reddish scruffy facial hair, about 6 feet tall, wearing a knit hat, sunglasses, a surgical mask, black over blue winter coat, blue denim jeans and black footwear. The man approached a teller, demanded money, stating he had a weapon, before taking an undisclosed amount of currency, then fleeing on foot, police said. There was no weapon seen, according to police.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Charlton Police Department at (508) 248-2250 or (508) 248-2340 (anonymous tip line).

Information that leads to the identification and arrest of a bank robber may be eligible to receive reward money under a program sponsored by the Massachusetts Bankers Association.
Dont put away that umbrella just yet.

Following widespread rain in Massachusetts early Saturday, strong to severe thunderstorms are possible in the evening, particularly in western and central parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

Scattered, harsh thunderstorms are possible between the hours of 7 and 11 p.m. Connecticut and Western and Central Massachusetts, including areas in and around Springfield and Worcester, are at the greatest risk for isolated, severe storms. There are lower probabilities in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the Weather Service said.

All of southern New England is at risk for severe thunderstorms, but the highest risk is across western Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Weather Service noted in a tweet.

Strong to Severe Storms Possible This Evening 



 7 PM to 11 PM

 Highest threat is western MA & CT

 Damaging straight-line wind is the primary threat, secondary threats include hail and an isolated tornado



View our summarized graphic below #MAwx #CTwx #RIwx pic.twitter.com/mMiT41deFg  NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) April 1, 2023

A hazardous weather outlook has been issued for Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. The primary threats from the potential storms are large hail and damaging winds, but heavy rain and isolated tornadoes are also possible, according to the Weather Service.

Localized, strong to damaging wind gusts could cause isolated tree damage. Gusts Saturday could reach as high as 21 miles per hour in Springfield, 25 mph in Worcester, 24 mph in Boston and 37 mph in Hyannis on Cape Cod, the Weather Service said.

Temperatures Saturday should remain mild before the storm leaves behind a cold front, with highs expected to reach 67 degrees in Springfield, 63 in Worcester and Boston and 54 in Hyannis, according to the Weather Service.

In the meantime, before the potential thunderstorms arrive in the evening, moderate to heavy rain was forecast throughout Massachusetts early Saturday. The weather should become dry and milder in the afternoon along and northwest of Interstate 95 prior to the possible storms, the Weather Service said.

Another round of rain Saturday morning, possibly moderate to heavy at times. Drier weather arrives Saturday afternoon, but a round of strong to severe thunderstorms is possible Saturday evening, especially across western MA and CT, with a strong cold front #MAwx #CTwx #RIwx pic.twitter.com/6ljviIHsxK  NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) April 1, 2023

Dry, blustery and cooler conditions are forecast Sunday. Breezy weather and seasonable temperatures are expected Monday as well, though a weak cold front could bring scattered, light rain to Massachusetts late Monday, according to the Weather Service.
Besides the nursing and doctor shortages impacting health care in the U.S., theres another big shortage threatening health worldwide  a huge decline in public health workers who assist and guide entire regions and communities in disease prevention and health crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

In response, the federal government is beefing up aid via the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration to help more  and more diverse  students enter public health professions, including at the University at Buffalo.

At UB, a historic hiring push to bolster research and diversity The idea is that more university-based research can help turn UB into a powerful force that can help grow the Buffalo Niagara economy.

UB recently received a $1.3 million grant to train students at its School of Public Health and Health Professions who otherwise wouldnt be able to afford graduate school.

UB is using the money to directly help students from underrepresented backgrounds finance their public health education. In spring, UB welcomed its first cohort of 20 students into the HRSA program, said Gregory Homish, professor and chair of UBs Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, which is overseeing the award.

Of the first cohort, 17 students are enrolled in UB's Master of Public Health program, and three are in other graduate certificate programs. Just over half are the first in their family to attend college, Homish said.

Health services programs at Niagara, Canisius aim to increase workforce, diversity Niagara University and Canisius College are bolstering their nursing programs and physician assistant programs to address a shortage of workers and diversity in Western New York health care programs.

This is a great opportunity for the School of Public Health and Health Professions to help train the public health workforce, Homish said. Were on the forefront of graduating students who possess the in-depth skills that public health employers need to improve health outcomes  Through the HRSA program, well now graduate a larger number of highly skilled candidates for the workforce.

Studies have found that almost half of all state and local public health workers left their jobs between 2017 and 2021, and another 130,000 are expected to leave by 2025, according to healthaffairs.org.

Some have cited public backlash against efforts to implement health measures such as vaccines and masks. Many have expressed burnout from the demands of the pandemic, which exposed the severity of the shortage of all health care professionals.

Health care systems and educators are responding by offering more support services to aspiring health professionals before they even enter the workforce and are seeking more ways to recruit and retain people interested in public health.

Kim Krytus, assistant dean and director of UB graduate public health programs, said the students in the program include working professionals and current students, as well as new students.

They come from diverse backgrounds and will greatly help to diversify our local public health workforce, bringing in-depth skills in pandemic preparedness and public health crisis planning, as well as addressing health disparities, she said.

One of the UB students in the program is Naike Belizaire, who grew up in Haiti and majored in biological sciences with a minor in Africana studies at Binghamton University before coming to UB for her masters in public health.

I would not have been able to graduate on time if I didnt receive this scholarship, because as a full-time independent student who works part time, I wouldnt be able to pay for school and my living expenses at the same time, Belizaire said.

Belizaire is exploring becoming a public health program manager focusing on refugee health, Black maternal and child health, and predicting pandemics and epidemics in underserved communities, she said. She is currently working as a research assistant in the Department of Family Medicine at UBs Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Repair crews were making progress late Saturday following storms that blew through Western New York during the afternoon and left more than 15,000 customers without power.

Shortly before midnight, National Grid reported 8,292 without electricity, primarily in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. NYSEG said 4,267 customers were still affected in those two counties. Scattered outages were reported elsewhere.

An approaching cold front sent two waves of heavy rain sweeping through the region Saturday afternoon, accompanied by strong winds and falling tree limbs.

A high wind warning issued by the National Weather Service for Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Wyoming and southern Erie counties expired at 7 p.m. A lake shore flood advisory was in effect until 10 p.m. along the Lake Erie in Erie and Chautauqua counties.

Highest wind gust in Western New York was 66 mph at 5:21 p.m. at the Dunkirk airport, the National Weather Service reported. Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga registered a 58 mph gust at 4:56 p.m. The Wellsville airport saw 60 mph at 3:09 p.m. and there was a 59 mph gust at Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown at 2:03 p.m.

Temperatures, which climbed to spring-like readings in the low 60s before the storm raced through, fell to the 30s mid-evening and were expected to bottom out in the 20s overnight.

The National Weather Service office in Buffalo issued several advisories for parts of Western New York as storms moved through on Saturday.

NWS Buffalo even indicated the possibility of a tornado, but said the threat "only applies to an area near and northeast of Cattaraugus Creek toward Yorkshire and Arcade." No tornado was reported.

Winds were still blustery later Saturday and there was a chance of snow overnight, but accumulation was forecast at less than half an inch.
State law boldly directs renewable energy to generate 70% of our electricity by 2030. To achieve this mandate, our legislators hired outside experts to conduct a feasibility study of the energy potential of offshore turbines on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, a.k.a. Great Lakes Wind (GLW). The GLW study was released in December, and it identified significant economic potential and no major obstacles. Yet despite these findings, New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) concluded GLW currently does not offer a unique, critical, or cost-effective contribution toward New Yorks 2030 goal.

In its white paper, NYSERDA noted no unique characteristics of GLW. Except NYSERDA never defined unique, giving it carte blanche to reject the study.

Typically, unique means one of a kind, or unlike anything else. Wind turbines  72,800 already operating throughout America, are unlike natural gas, oil and coal energy sources. They emit no carbon. They arent susceptible to fossil fuel price fluctuations. And an active wind farm already exists off the coast of Rhode Island, with many other projects uniquely moving forward  including near Cleveland on Lake Erie.

Separately, NYSERDA never offered which renewable energy sources are unique. Yes, solar panels and land-based turbines are referenced, but NYSERDA omits their challenges. Both require lots of land. Solar panels require high-demand earth elements like lithium (so more mining, pollution and land degradation), and they must be replaced every 20-30 years (so more replacement costs). Finally, land-based turbines suffer worse intermittency issues.

Like unique, NYSERDA never defined critical either. So heres my definition. There have been five mass extinctions on Earth, four were due to climate change. The warmest 30-year period of the last 1,400 years in the Northern Hemisphere was recorded from 1983-2012. And compared to the mid-1800s, climatologists predict a 2.6 to 4.1-degree Celsius temperature increase by 2050. Heat events will grow in frequency and intensity.

Globally, existing offshore wind turbines will eliminate 10.2 gigatons of carbon emissions between now and 2050. (One gigaton equals one billion metric tons of water, or 400,000 Olympic-size swimming pools!) In Western New York, GLW could generate 16,600 megawatts of energy, enough energy to supply millions of homes.

All things considered, GLW can provide a critical contribution to NYs 2030 goal.

The study estimates GLW could create up to 18,400 good-paying jobs and contribute an estimated $2.6 billion in national GDP. (18,400 exceeds just my hamlets population by 17,000 people.) So why didnt NYSERDA find GLW cost-effective? Answer: jobs and broader economic benefits alone do not justify the higher relative costs, and to realize those jobs additional State investments would be required.

But what initiative doesnt have upfront costs, and what will solar and land-based wind cost? And how many good-paying jobs for Western New Yorkers would justify GLW? NYSERDA doesnt answer these questions, and it ignores ways to lower costs, e.g., larger turbines, collaboration with Pennsylvania or Canada, public-private ventures.

Instead, NYSERDA discusses electrical grid costs (something all renewable projects need), cargo ship difficulties transiting the Locks (so how is Cleveland getting this done?), and ports needing larger infrastructure. Yet bolstering New Yorks port capacity should be precisely what NYSERDA wants, given their immense value to our local economy and the $6 trillion in annual Great Lakes trade.

Not unique, critical, or cost-effective? NYSERDA should take a do-over and reassess GLWs vast potential.

Ben Gullo, of Cattarugus County, is a U.S. Coast Guardsman currently stationed at the Eisenhower School for National Security.
The Need for COVID-19 Boosters Among Elderly

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The revised roadmap outlines three priority-use groups for COVID-19 vaccination: high, medium, and low.These priority groups are principally based on risk of severe disease and death, and consider vaccine performance, cost-effectiveness, programmatic factors and community acceptance.The high priority group includes older adults; younger adults with significant comorbidities (e.g. diabetes and heart disease ); people with immunocompromising conditions (e.g. people living with HIV and transplant recipients), including children aged six months and older; pregnant persons; and frontline health workers.For the high priority group, SAGE recommends an additional booster of either 6 or 12 months after the last dose, with the timeframe depending on factors such as age and immunocompromising conditions.Importantly, the WHO also said that all the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations are time-limited, and should be applied only for the current epidemiological scenario only."Countries should consider their specific context in deciding whether to continue vaccinating low risk groups, like healthy children and adolescents, while not compromising the routine vaccines that are so crucial for the health and well-being of this age group," Nohynek said.Meanwhile, India on Saturday logged 2,994 new COVID-19 infections, and the number of active cases increased to 16,354, according to Union health ministry data.The death toll climbed to 5,30,876 with nine deaths -- two each from Delhi, Karnataka and Punjab; one from Gujarat; and two were reconciled by Kerala.Source: IANS
Back in school, April Fools Day was a particularly exciting day for the boys in our class. One of the craziest April Fool pranks I remember was when a guy took his friends project and hid it in the classrooms smartboard closet.

The poor guy went nuts searching for it and was about to cry in front of the teacher when his prankster friend whipped it out of the closet, much to his surprise and relief.

 iStock

April Fools Day pranks can be a lot of fun, when done right, and make you the undefeated prank king of your family or friend group. Here are 60+ April Fools Day jokes and pranks ideas on WhatsApp that will make you the undefeated prank king of your family and friend groups.

April Fools Day Jokes & Prank Ideas For Whatsapp For School & College Friends

1. Replace your friends glass of Pepsi or Coca Cola with soy sauce.

2. Send food at your friends address and keep the payment mode as cash on delivery. This will positively freak out your friend and his family!

3. Prank call your friend to say youre calling from the bank and have noticed a theft in his account.

4. Take a small box of slime and throw it on your friends notebook or neck.

 MensXP

5. Place a fake piece of poop slime on your friends bag and act alarmed and disgusted.



6. Fill a doughnut with mayonnaise and offer it to your friends. Record their reactions to make fun of them later.

7. Put one half of a fake Rs. 500 note inside a friend's book, so it sticks out invitingly. Attach it to a larger handwritten note that says, "April Fools!"

8. Create a fake exam result for your friend and send it to them via WhatsApp. Make it look as convincing as possible, and watch them freak out before revealing it's just a prank.

 MensXP

9. Use a voice-changing app to disguise your voice and prank call your friends on WhatsApp. You can pretend to be someone else, or just say something silly and see how they react.



10. Create a fake news story and share it with your friends on WhatsApp. Make it outrageous and funny.

11. Send a message to a friend asking them to cover for you because you're sick or have an emergency, and then show up in class or at school as if nothing happened.

April Fools Day Jokes & Prank Ideas For Whatsapp For Family

12. Change the language setting on your parents' phone to a language they don't understand, and then watch as they struggle to change it back.

13. Cover the soap in your parent's bathroom with clear nail polish, so when they go for a bath, it wont lather.

14. Unscrew the shampoo or conditioner bottle in your parent's bathroom and cover the top with plastic wrap. Theyll be puzzled about why the shampoo isnt coming out despite the bottle being full!

15. Tell them that your remote now works on voice command and watch them try to scream instructions at the remote that cant do a thing.

 MensXP

16. Put a broken glass sticker on your dads car and watch him freak out about the damage.



17. Sit for breakfast with your family and take out a sterile cup (one thats often used for urine collection) filled with apple juice. Drink out of it confidently and watch your family stare at you in shock!

18. If you stay away from family, do the good ol trick where you call them on WhatsApp and pretend to tell a really interesting story while just moving your lips without making a sound.

19. Offer to cook something and make your mom and dad taste it on a spoon. Add lots of salt, sugar, or any other crazy ingredient to the spoon to shock them.

20. Change the name of your family WhatsApp group chat to something outrageous, like "The Llamas of Justice" or "The Bandar Brigade."

 MensXP

21. Use WhatsApp's "Status" feature to post a fake announcement, such as "I'm moving to Australia tomorrow!" and see how many family members believe it before revealing it was just a prank.



22. Change the notification sound on a family member's phone, so when they receive a WhatsApp message, it'll make a ridiculous sound like animal/ bird calls or a flushing toilet.

23. If youre a pet parent, put peanut butter on the floor when no ones looking and then call your partner or parents to show them the mess your pet has created. Proceed to touch it with your hands and spread it around before pretending to lick it off your fingers!

24. Send a message on your family WhatsApp group chat saying that you've decided to drop out of school or quit your job, and watch as they react before revealing it was just a prank.

 MensXP

25. Send automatic, fun messages to your friends' phones by subscribing them for the Cat Facts app, and laugh at their frustrated replies to unsubscribe!



26. Send the typing dots GIF to someone with an iPhone and leave them wondering about whats taking you so long to type.

27. Scare your family with a stray fake cockroach on the bed, their neck, etc.

April Fools Day Ideas For Jokes & Pranks On Whatsapp For Office

28. Keep chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen counter in the office that are actually filled with raisins!

29. If your colleagues use a Windows computer, press the Ctrl, Alt, and downward arrow keys to flip the display screen upside down on their laptop. You can bring it back to normal by pressing Ctrl, Alt, and the upward arrow key together!

30. You can also use the fake poop slime again and place it on a colleague's car to gross him out.

31. Send out an official announcement asking your colleagues to come early for a meeting and then reach late yourself, only to reveal it was a prank.

 MensXP

32. Organise a treasure hunt for a colleague by leaving them notes in different places. The final note can lead to a funny toy or something hilarious.



33. Get a pack of Oreos and switch the creamy filling with toothpaste before distributing them amongst your colleagues.

34. Get your hands on a fake coffee spill toy. Place it on your colleagues laptop or stack of important files and papers when theyre not looking to freak them out. You can use this on different people in the office.

35. Leave an envelope with a bunch of keys and a note on your office besties desk that says Keys to your new house. Keep working hard!

 MensXP

36. Take inspiration from The Office and pull a Jim Halpert prank by wrapping your colleagues desk in colourful wrapping paper or plastic wrap which is harder to take off.



37. Take your colleagues iPhone and turn the icons of all their apps into cat pictures with iPhoneception.

38. If your colleague uses a mouse, block its sensor with a Post-It note and scribble a funny message on it.

39. Tell your colleagues there are brownies in the kitchen and place a box filled with brown paper cut outs of the alphabet E.

April Fools Day Jokes For SMS and WhatsApp Messages

Send these as SMSes or Whatsapp messages on April Fools Day to your friends, girlfriend, wife and co-workers for a good laugh!

40. You are one who is INTELLIGENT, You are the one who is CHARMING, You are the one who is CUTE and I am the one who is spreading RUMOURS.

41. A recent study has claimed that Fools use their thumb to read their message. Now, don't try to change your finger! Happy April Fool's Day!

42. I might have not wished you on Holi or Diwali, Christmas or New Year, but I want to wish you on the most special day of the year for you. Happy April Fool's Day to you.

43. Boss just told me that you are soon going to be transferred to Iceland to get some ice for our office. Happy April Fools Day to you.

 MensXP

44. I always thought you were smart and intelligent until I was in the same team as you.. Now I have very different opinions about you.



45. You are required to submit your project on your birthday which falls on the first of April. Best wishes on April Fools Day to you.

46. You always surprise me with your humour, talent, personality and now I just impressed you with my skills to surprise you with my lies.. Happy April Fools Day.

47. You are beautifool, wonderfool, helpfool, colourfool and therefore, I want to send my best wishes on April Fools Day to you.

 MensXP

48. If your palm is bigger than your face then you are born with a smart brain and if you just tried that then you know who you are. Happy April Fools Day.



49. It is not easy to make a fool out of your own self but I must say that you have done a fairly good job. Wishing you a very Happy April Fools Day.

50. You are the best, you are cool but above all you are a fool. Happy April Fools day.

How To Make April Fools Out Of Your Wife Or Girlfriend

51. Give your wife or girlfriend a good ol jumpscare from behind the fridge, sofa, closets, etc.

52. Bring her a breakfast of the strangest things like toothpaste sandwiches, cereal soup, or just broken eggshells.

53. Send her a WhatsApp message that says, I have to tell you something, and then dont reply for 2-3 hours.

54. Replace soap in the bathroom with a crisp toast to give her a morning surprise.

55. Tell your wife or girlfriend to meet you in the bedroom for a special outfit and dress in the most ridiculous clothes to make her laugh.

 MensXP

56. Change her ringtone to something funny.



57. Keep sending her messages every hour like This number does not exist anymore or Please beware of messages from (add your number) to avoid a malware attack.

58. Coat a few cotton balls in chocolate and freeze them. Offer them as a sweet treat to your wife and girlfriend and watch her struggle with it!

59. Use a small sticker or tape to cover the sensor of your TV remote and watch her struggle to make it work!

 MensXP

60. If you have a baby at home, spread some nutella or peanut butter on a clean diaper and tell your partner somethings wrong with the babys poop, before proceeding to get your hands dirty in it and leaving her horrified.



61. Send this April Fools message on WhatsApp to annoy her: You have a sweet smile, a sweet voice. I tell sweet lies.

62. You can also get poetic with a hilarious shayari for April Fool's Day: Hasino se rasme wafa nibhana aur dil lagana zindagi ki sabse badi bhool hai. Jis din ye karein ikrar mohabbat kasamajh jana janeman ki us din kuch aur nahin April fool hai.

63. Swap the salt and sugar containers so when she makes her first cup of chai or coffee, shell be in for a surprise!
Editor's note: A previous version of this editorial misstated which fund Preservation Buffalo Niagara used for a loan to 238 Carlton St. in Buffalo.

Its a promise to the community. For the past three years, the real possibility of a food co-op for East Buffalo has gathered strength. The need was there and it looked like the will and the means were finally meeting it.

African Heritage Food Co-op represents the long-held dreams of both its founder, Alexander Wright, and the countless community members who hope to use it as their primary source of fresh groceries.

That makes it all the more disturbing that the project has been put at risk by such a major misstep as failing to file nonprofit tax status forms three years in a row. That this basic procedure was allowed to fall through the cracks provides reason for grave concern about the projects leadership. Wright, the co-ops founder and president, as well as his board of directors  who, disconcertingly, are not listed on organizations website or anything else thats publicly available  owe a full explanation and credible assurances that the prospective co-op is on the right track to become reality.

Not to do so is to insult the trust of those who have contributed substantial funding and other major resources.

A building on Carlton Street was donated in 2019 by retired University at Buffalo professor Lorna Peterson; there was also a $40,000 loan that year from Preservation Buffalo Niagaras revolving loan fund. In 2022, the co-op got $25,000 from the M&T Bank Foundation, a refrigerated truck sponsored by Independent Health and $5,000 from the Western New York Foundation.

Finally, a $3 million grant was announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul last June. This is on hold until Empire State Development completes its internal review.

Wright has long been a vocal advocate for access to fresh food in underserved neighborhoods. Before the Carlton Street project, he led similar efforts on Highland Avenue in Niagara Falls and on Clinton Street in Buffalo. Neither of these storefronts gained enough traction to survive for very long, however, and, in the meantime, Wright has been making fresh food deliveries to pantries, other nonprofits and individuals.

He redoubled his efforts to answer extra need after the May 14 massacre and the recent Christmas blizzard. Wright also personally delivered food and personal protection equipment during the height of the pandemic.

There is no question that the 43-year-old graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Law has a good heart and a good cause.

The reality is that it takes more than that to build a successful food co-op operation from scratch. An organization that supports such ventures, National Co-op Grocers, reported in its news section recently that South Philly Food Co-op first began organizing in April 2010 and opened its store in December 2020. This sobering timeline is not uncommon in the world of food co-op development.

Closer to home, the Lexington Co-op Markets, now boasting two upscale locations on Elmwood and Hertel avenues, had an equally long and occasionally rocky road to success. The project started in 1971 in a shabby West Side storefront with 17 founding members. It took a few decades and plenty of challenges before the transformation so many Buffalo shoppers admire today  and the operation could have collapsed at any time along the way if not for the perseverance of management and the contributions of dedicated member-owners.

Wright has plenty of enthusiastic supporters, like Allison DeHonney, owner of another East Buffalo fresh food venture, Urban Fruits and Veggies. She asserts, His passion for East Buffalo is huge, and his desire to educate and have people understand how important ownership is in your professional life is invaluable in our community.

Such affirmations are inspiring and helpful, but Wright also needs to build a firm organizational structure, one that offers the full transparency necessary from a project that has received so many public dollars. Nonprofit credentials should be documented as should long-term plans and board membership. With organizations like this, there is no such thing as too much information.

If the African Heritage Food Co-op is to live up to the faith of its supporters and answer an undoubted need in its neighborhood, there is work to do.

And the results of that work should be made available  soon  to the community the co-op plans to serve.

  

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.
News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

In a sad incident, a nine-year-old girl was mauled by a pit bull in Whitecliffe Harare and died upon admission at Parirenyatwa Hospital on Saturday last week.The police confirmed the incident on their Twitter handle."The ZRP is investigating a sad incident where a 9-year-old female juvenile died on admission at Parirenyatwa Hospital after being attacked by a pit-bull dog at a house in Whitecliffe, Harare on 25/03/23."However, some Twitter users suggested that pit bulls should be banned."Why can't we ban pit bulls in Zimbabwe? wrote The boy from Shekwa.Dziva Sambiei Vegona Mzik said, "My humble opinion is all those with pit bulls should just surrender them to SPCA anyone found with a pit bull should go to jail those are vicious animals same as a lion."
News / National

by Nkululeko Nkomo

Information trickling from Lusaka, Zambia indicate that Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of Econet Wireless Global Ltd and first female and black US Vice President Kamala Harris held a secret meeting on Friday at a private location in Zambia to discuss some undisclosed information.Harris has been on a whirlwind diplomatic tour of Africa while Masiyiwa reportedly said he is in the country to inspect his joint venture company, in Zambia, with Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), called Liquid Telecom Zambia.Speaking to this reporter Political analyst John Mbizvo said the secret meeting between Masiyiwa and Harris was some smoke whose fire must be closely monitored."The meeting that we hear took place in Lusaka between Masiyiwa who is known for funding opposition political parties in Zimbabwe and the United States of America Vice President at a African neighbouring country which is ruled by a political party that is hostile to revolutionary parties must not be treated as child's play."It must be noted that the meeting of the two happens after the neighbouring Zambia allowed for an establishment of an American military base and the visit of AFRICOM Commanders."Let us not forget that it is the same Masiyiwa who was quoted in Wikileaks that he was quietly floating an idea to shift executive power from the then President Mugabe to a technocratic Prime Minister and he may want to do the same to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Masiyiwa stays in the Western world if he wanted to meet Harris he would have just jumped next door. What we are seeing here is that there might be a plot to distabalise Zimbabwe using Zambia as a springboard."In 2019 Professor Jonathan Moyo said the Econet Boss hatred for the country emanated after a dispute over a shoddy job that Masiyiwa's Retrofit company did at the former President Robert Mugabe's rural home in Zvimba!When Harris was elected Vice President Strive said: It's a REALLY BIG DEAL FOR ME.
Relatives of a victim mourn at a hospital in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on March 31, 2023. At least 11 people were killed and more than 10 others injured in a stampede during ration distribution in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi of Sindh province on Friday, police and rescue officials said. (Str/Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD, April 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and more than 10 others injured in a stampede during ration distribution in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi of Sindh province on Friday, police and rescue officials said.

Hundreds of people had gathered at a congested place outside a private factory to collect Ramadan charity ration in the SITE area of Karachi when the stampede took place, Superintendent of Police SITE Muhammad Mughees Hashmi told Xinhua.

He said that the factory owner was distributing the free ration without prior permission from the local administration and proper arrangements, adding that at least six people including the factory manager have been arrested.

An investigation has been launched into the incident. The death toll might further rise as several of the injured are in critical condition, according to hospital sources. 

Footwear left behind by participants are seen at the site of stampede in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on March 31, 2023. At least 11 people were killed and more than 10 others injured in a stampede during ration distribution in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi of Sindh province on Friday, police and rescue officials said. (Str/Xinhua)

People are pictured at the site of stampede in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on March 31, 2023. At least 11 people were killed and more than 10 others injured in a stampede during ration distribution in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi of Sindh province on Friday, police and rescue officials said. (Str/Xinhua)

Policemen examine the site of stampede in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on March 31, 2023. At least 11 people were killed and more than 10 others injured in a stampede during ration distribution in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi of Sindh province on Friday, police and rescue officials said. (Str/Xinhua)
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada has shared a tweet responding to new insinuations of Iran's Nasser Kanaani regarding press briefing within the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramovs visit to Israel, Azernews reports, citing the tweet.

"We explained our position on allegations against Azerbaijan. Main question is why the Iranian side sticks to its systematic pattern of deviation from norm and rationality in judgment. This clearly is a biased approach. Who wants to know the truth can watch the briefing video," the tweet said.

Previously, Hajizada made a statement resolutely condemning Kanaani's remarks.

"As is known, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov didnt voice anything anti-Iranian during the joint press briefing with the Israeli Foreign Minister [Eli Cohen]. In this regard, we consider this statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry as another step against Azerbaijan, he said.

The Azerbaijani spokesperson emphasized that Azerbaijan has never allowed its territory to be used against third states.

On the contrary, recently threats against Azerbaijan have been voiced from the territory of Iran, along with certain provocations. The examples include the conduct of military exercises by Iran along the borders of Azerbaijan, military flights over the state border, anti-Azerbaijani statements by Iranian officials, filming and displaying videos with threats to Azerbaijan near the Khudaferin bridge, involving children, by Iranian security structures such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran, Hajizada said.

According to the diplomat, the initial results of the investigation of the terrorist attack against the Azerbaijani MP Fazil Mustafa, also shed light on the Iranian trail.

Today, Iranian-Armenian brotherhood is the main threat to the region. Over the past 30 years, Iran, in fact, by its tacit consent, turned a blind eye to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, he noted.
Searchers recovered eight bodies from the St. Lawrence River near the Quebec-Ontario border as of Friday. On Saturday, searchers continued looking for a missing boater. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Akwesasne officials have named two family members of Romanian descent  including a man holding his two children's passports  who were among eight bodies recovered this week from the St. Lawrence River, near the Quebec-Ontario border.

In a statement on Saturday, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service said one man has been identified as 28-year-old Florin Iordache. Police said he had two Canadian passports in his possession  one for his two-year-old child and another for his one-year-old infant whose bodies were recovered.

One woman  Florin's wife and the children's mother  has also been identified as 28-year-old Cristina (Monalisa) Zenaida Iordache.

Police previously said they believed the four to be members of a Romanian family who were attempting to cross into the United States near the Kanien'keha:ka community of Akwesasne  which straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

Family members told CBC News Saturday they hadn't heard from the family in a week and that they knew they were planning to come to the U.S. to join family in Orlando, Fla.

The family in Orlando also confirmed to CBC News that Florin was traveling with his wife and two children. They now want to find a way to repatriate their bodies to their hometown in Romania.

On Saturday, police said that four Indian nationals, who they also believed were a family attempting to cross into the U.S., have not been identified.

A source with the police in India told CBC News that at least three of them are family members from Gujarat  the same state in India as the family who died trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba in 2022.

The source said the family members include a man in his 50s and a woman and man in their 20s. The age and gender of the fourth Indian national is unknown at this time.

The eight bodies were found in a marsh on the riverbank.

The news came as searchers battled poor weather and visibility on Saturday, as they continued to look for a missing boater on the St. Lawrence River.

Story continues

Casey Oakes, 30, an Akwesasne resident, was last seen on Wednesday at about 9:30 p.m. ET, boarding a small, light-blue vessel leaving Cornwall Island. He was dressed in black, wearing a black face mask and a black tuque.

Akwesasne officials have not made any direct connection between the deaths and Oakes.

Valene Gray, owner of the Three Feathers Cafe, said the community has been shaken by the tragedy.

"In the past couple days, it's been very heavy, very emotional, customers coming in and they're sad," Gray said in an interview on Saturday. "You could tell they were upset, you could tell they were hurting."

Wanting to offer support to her community, Gray said it was an honour to be hired by the Mohawk council to make sure all of the volunteer searchers were fed. She said the cafe has provided breakfast sandwiches for the past two days and supper on Friday.

"It's very important to be supportive and to be a true community member," she said.

WATCH | Akwesasne cafe owner on how the community is coping:

Popular spot for human smuggling, police say

A few of the volunteers could be seen gathered at the Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department, in Hogansburg, N.Y., on Saturday, while police blocked off access to the marina, where a command post was set up.

Authorities say the territory's unique geography makes it a popular spot for human smugglers, with police making 48 separate interceptions this year. Most of those who try to enter the U.S. through the area are of Indian and Romanian descent.

In February, police in Akwesasne reported an increase in human smuggling into the Kanien'keha:ka community.

Longtime community member Alex Burns said the river has been a prime area for smuggling for years because the "border is open."

"There's no customs here," he said.

Burns said he was once involved in smuggling alcohol because it was an easy way to make money, something he believes is the driving force behind the popularity of human smuggling.

People in the community "don't have any money, so $1,000 a head is like a million for them," he said.

"It's really tragic because people are still hard-strapped for money. There's a lot of businesses here that they can go work at, but they don't have the skills, a lot of them haven't graduated high school. They can't get jobs here because they don't have education."

Burns said it's up to authorities to figure out how to stop human smuggling to ensure tragedies like this don't happen again.

Gray, for her part, hopes the community can heal from this tragedy and not be tainted by it.

"We have a really good community, and I'm just hoping this tragic event doesn't keep a black eye on here because that's not what we're about," she said.
BBC/World of Wonder/Guy Levy

RuPaul's Drag Race UK and Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs the World star Victoria Scone has revealed that she has split from her fiancee, Dani.

Victoria proposed to Dani on the show last year. While on the main stage, she referenced popping the question. And at a viewing party, where Victoria and Dani were watching the episode together, Victoria got down on one knee and asked Dani the big question.

Fellow drag queen Kendall Gender caught the moment on video and shared it on social media.

Sadly, Victoria has now announced that she and Dani have split.

Related: Hollyoaks confirms RuPaul's Drag Race winner Danny Beard will feature in opening titles

Sharing the news on Twitter today (March 31), Victoria said: "Hello! This is just to say that unfortunately, Dani & I separated a few weeks ago. Saying this now to mainly/hopefully stop the well wishes on the engagement haha."

Victoria added that she and Dani are "all good".

An outpouring of love and support came from Victoria's fans, who were quick to reply to the announcement tweet.

"Sorry to hear that, both legends of course," one Twitter user wrote. Another added: "Oofbreakups can be rough. I cant imagine the added pressure that fame brings into the mix. Wishing the best for you both!"

BBC/World of Wonder/Guy Levy

Related: Drag Race star Laganja Estranja explains why she won't be back for an All Stars season yet

On season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, Victoria had to exit the competition early, as she sustained a knee injury during a performance.



Victoria later appeared on Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs the World, placing in the top four with Rita Baga, Ra'Jah O'Hara and Silky Nutmeg Ganache. Ra'Jah took home the crown, while Silky was the runner-up.

Victoria previously explained to Digital Spy in an exclusive interview why she chose not to return for another round of Drag Race UK and instead go on Canada vs the World.

"Given the choice, for me, it's an obvious answer really," she said. "To be able to perform and compete with international superstars, and be able to film it internationally too. I think I've made a good choice."

Story continues

RuPaul's Drag Race UK airs on BBC Three in the UK and streams on WOW Presents Plus in the US.

Interested in talking about all things Drag Race? Visit our dedicated sub-forum

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Signs indicate that work has gotten underway on the traffic signal changeover taking place on two of Manistees intersections. Poles at the corner of River and Maple streets will be replaced, inconveniencing traffic as little as possible over the next two weeks with three-way stop signs.

Work on the intersection of U.S. 31 and River Street will commence during this time as well, with flaggers directing traffic for one day, while signals are switched over.

40 YEARS AGO

Employees ratify contract

Morton Salt and Morton Chemical Divisions of Morton Thiokol, Inc. of Manistee and Oil, Chemical and Automic Workers Local 7-667 report the ratification of a new contract March 31. The existing agreement was scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. on April 1.

Morton Salt Employee Relations Manager Richard Sytek reported that the new two-year agreement calls for a 55 cent increase the first and 50 cents for the second year. Also included in the agreement are increases in pension, sickness and accident benefits and safety allowances.

Now playing

Now playing at the Vogue Theatre is The Black Stallion Returns. Showtimes are 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Showing at the Chippewa Drive-In is an action packed double feature. 48 HRS will show at 7:20 p.m. followed by Vice Squad at 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. 48 HRS will be repeated late on both nights.

60 YEARS AGO

New trucks coming

Bell Pickup Service, of Grand Rapids  which has the contract for pickup of Manistee city garbage  is building two new packer unit trucks for use in Manistee and will bring one of them here April 15 for a tryout at no cost to the city. Pickup by Bell is planned to begin on May 1.

Painting to be displayed

A painting by Philip Joseph, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Joseph, of Onekama, was accepted for exhibit in the 29th Annual Local Artists Exhibition in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The abstract painting called, The Flying Dutchman will be on display in the Fort Wayne Art Museum from March 31 to April 28.

80 YEARS AGO

Trees to be planted

Preliminary plans for the coming season were discussed by members of the Northside Improvement Association last night during a meeting held at the home of Harry Zeller. President Art Mueckler said that the NIA plans to plant more trees at Fifth Avenue Beach.
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WYNNE, Ark. (AP)  Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 26 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damage's scope.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees and laid waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included at least nine in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, three in Sullivan, Indiana, and four in Illinois.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where city officials said more than 2,600 buildings were in a tornado's path.

Residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high school's roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

Debris lay scattered inside the shells of homes and on lawns: clothing, insulation, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

Ashley Macmillan said she, her husband and their children huddled with their dogs in a small bathroom as a tornado passed, praying and saying goodbye to each other, because we thought we were dead. A falling tree seriously damaged their home, but they were unhurt.

We could feel the house shaking, we could hear loud noises, dishes rattling. And then it just got calm, she said.

Recovery was already underway, with workers using chainsaws and bulldozers to clear the area and utility crews restoring power.

Nine people died in Tennessee's McNairy County, east of Memphis, according to Patrick Sheehan, director the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

Gov. Bill Lee drove to the county Saturday to tour the destruction and comfort residents. He said the storm capped the worst week of his time as governor, coming days after a school shooting in Nashville that killed six people including a family friend whose funeral he and his wife, Maria, attended earlier in the day.

Its terrible what has happened in this community, this county, this state, Lee said. But it looks like your community has done what Tennessean communities do, and that is rally and respond.

Jeffrey Day said he called his daughter after seeing on the news that their community of Adamsville was being hit. Huddled in a closet with her 2-year-old son as the storm passed over, she answered the phone screaming.

She kept asking me, What do I do, daddy?" Day said, tearing up. "I didnt know what to say.

After the storm passed, his daughter crawled out of her destroyed home and over barbed wire and drove to nearby family. On Saturday evening, baby clothes were still strewn about the site.

In Memphis, police spokesman Christopher Williams said via email late Saturday that there were three deaths believed to be weather-related: two children and an adult who died when a tree fell on a house.

Tennessee officials warned that the same weather conditions from Friday night are expected to return Tuesday.

In Belvidere, Illinois, part of the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed as about 260 people were attending a heavy metal concert. A 50-year-old man was pulled from the rubble.

I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him), Its going to be OK. I didnt really know much else what to do," concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

The man was dead by the time emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 others were hurt, including two with life-threatening injuries.

Crews cleaned up around the Apollo on Saturday, with forklifts pulling away loose bricks. Business owners picked up glass shards and covered shattered windows.

In Crawford County, Illinois, three people were killed and eight injured when a tornado hit around New Hebron, said Bill Burke, the county board chair.

Sheriff Bill Rutan said 60 to 100 families were displaced.

Weve had emergency crews digging people out of their basements because the house is collapsed on top of them, but luckily they had that safe space to go to, Rutan said at a news conference.

That tornado was not far from where three people died in Indiana's Sullivan County, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 is essentially unrecognizable right now" and several people were rescued overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said.

Im really, really shocked there isnt more as far as human issues, he said, adding that recovery is going to be a very long process.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than 50 were hurt, some critically.

The National Weather Service said that tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with wind speeds up to 165 mph (265 kph) and a path as long as 25 miles (40 kilometers).

Masoud Shahed-Ghaznavi was lunching at home when it roared through his neighborhood, causing him to hide in the laundry room as sheetrock fell and windows shattered. When he emerged, the house was mostly rubble.

Everything around me is sky," Shahed-Ghaznavi recalled Saturday. He barely slept Friday night.

When I closed my eyes, I couldnt sleep, imagined I was here, he said Saturday outside his home.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. On Saturday, Sanders requested a major disaster declaration from President Joe Biden to support recovery efforts with federal resources.

Another suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabamas Madison County, officials said, and in northern Mississippi's Pontotoc County, authorities confirmed one death and four injuries.

Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa and broke windows northeast of Peoria, Illinois.

The storms struck just hours after Biden visited Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes from the latest event, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

Thats a quite active day," he said. But thats not unprecedented.

More than 530,000 homes and businesses were without power as of midday Saturday, over 200,000 of them in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

The sprawling storm system also brought wildfires to the southern Plains, with authorities in Oklahoma reporting nearly 100 of them Friday. At least 32 people were said to be injured, and more than 40 homes destroyed.

The storms also caused blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest.

A threat of tornadoes and hail remained for the Northeast including in parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

___

DeMillo reported from Little Rock. Associated Press writers around the country contributed to this report, including Kimberlee Kruesi in Adamsville, Tennessee, Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, and Corey Williams in Detroit.
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LUSAKA, Zambia (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday traveled down a dirt road to tour a farm outside Zambia's capital thats using new techniques and technology to boost its vegetable crop as she highlighted ways to secure food supplies in an age of global warming.

Its an example of what can be done around the world, she said after walking past rows of peppers and inspecting a drip irrigation system.

Unlike in the United States, where conversations about climate change usually revolve around replacing fossil fuels with clean energy, the focus in Africa is on expanding access to food. Rising prices stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been damaging to poor countries, and global warming is expected to bring more challenges in the coming years.

Hunger can also create instability, leading to migration and conflict.

The connection between these issues is quite clear, Harris said.

She is pushing for $7 billion in private-sector investments, mostly to boost conservation and improve food production, to help Africa prepare for the effects of climate change. Her announcement about that goal came as she wrapped up her weeklong visit to Africa, which included earlier stops in Ghana and Tanzania. The trip was intended to advance U.S. efforts to make inroads in a part of the world where Chinas influence runs deep.

It's the biggest-ticket item that Harris has announced, but more work will be needed to follow through.

For example, African Parks, a nonprofit group, has committed to raise $1.25 billion over the next seven years in order to expand its conservation program. Another organization, One Acre Fund, plans to raise $100 million to plant 1 billion trees by the end of the decade.

The politics of climate change are complicated in Africa, which has contributed far less to overall greenhouse gas emissions than richer corners of the world such as the United States. According to the International Energy Agency, 43% of Africans didnt have access to electricity in 2021, and recent outages have caused frustration.

In Ghana, Harris was questioned at a news conference about how the West can demand that Africa go green and forgo using its natural resources. She also was pressed on whether wealthy nations would supply $100 billion annually to help poor countries cope with climate change, a commitment made under the Paris climate accord.

Harris said it is critically important that, as global leaders, we all speak truth about the disparities that exist in terms of cause and effect and that we address those disparities. She said there were opportunities in the clean energy economy that could help generate growth in Africa.

As for the money, President Joe Biden has requested $11 billion in his proposed budget to meet its international commitments.

We are waiting for Congress to do its work, Harris said.
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ROME (AP)  A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that he's still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peter's Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis' Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend's Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peter's Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the child's already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell  I felt sick," he said, pointing to his mid-section  a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favorites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, Long live the pope! and clapped.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they "show great tenderness."

We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals, he said. Francis also said he read journalists' accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.''

Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, Forward, thanks.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered , Yes.

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) address, a review of the globe's conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peter's Square.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.

__

Gregorio Borgia contributed reporting.
This morning Ive got some new music for you, an interview with Jason Lang, Penny Langs son, who is touring his recent album of Pennys songs he recorded, and an interview in the 3rd hour with Bobby Dove who will be in Ottawa to play Red Bird Live on April 7th, Kate Greenland opening for Bobby. And we have lots of music, starting with some jazz, moving through a little skiffle, a little nonsense, some country and well youll see. Stay tuned. Ill tell you who youre listening to.

Its a Womans Prerogative (03-03-46)

Pearl Bailey - Complete Jazz Series 1944-1947 Goody Goody

Ella Fitzgerald - CABU Jazz Masters - Une Anthologie 1948-1955 Roll Em Pete

Joe Williams & Count Basie and His Orchestra - Everyday I Have the Blues How Long Blues

Lonnie Donegan - Showcase Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O

Lonnie Donegan - Showcase Freight Train

Van Morrison - Moving on Skiffle Im so Lonesome I Could Cry

Van Morrison - Moving on Skiffle Words of Love

Patti Smith - Rave On Buddy Holly How Can I Miss You When You Wont Go Away

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks - The Most of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks Queen of the House

Jody Miller - Queen of the House I Hate Your Ugly Face

Kris Kristofferson - Bone Red Hen Boogie

The McCormick Brothers - The McCormick Brothers Images of Stephanie

Phil Jenkins - Noteworthy - Noteworthy A Little Mercy

Christine Graves - Everyday Life - Everyday Life I Missed You IN My Dreams Last Night

Shelley Posen - Old Loves - Old Loves Today is Going to be a Good Day

the Weber Brothers - Acoustica - Acoustica Paper Airplane

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Paper Airplane My Last Goodbye

Ted Hawkins - Cold and Bitter Tears: Essential Recordings Handled With Care

Jason Lang - Handled With Care - Handled With Care November Blues

Jason Lang - Handled With Care - Handled With Care Plumb Tuckered Out

Jason Lang - Handled With Care - Handled With Care Sudden Waves

Penny Lang - Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky - Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky Leaving Came Easy

Shawna Caspi - Hurricane Coming - Hurricane Coming Stand in the Joy

William Prince - Single - Single Skinny White Male

Tom Lips - Made of Sky - Made of Sky When Irish Girls Grow Up

Tom Russell (Featuring Dolores Keene) - The Man From God Knows Where Dont Take it Too Bad (Live in studio)

Townes Van Zandt - Sunshine Boy - The Unheard Studio Sessions & Demos 1971-72 Last Goodbye

The Wailin Jennys - Bright Morning Stars - Bright Morning Stars Abilene

David Wiffen - At The Bunkhouse Coffeehouse - At The Bunkhouse Coffeehouse Maybe Tomorrow

Nancy Griffith - blue Roses from the Moon I Thought I Heard You Singing

Melissa Carper and Rebecca Patek - Brand New Old-Time Songs Sometimes its a Lonely Road

Bobby Dove - Hopeless Romantic - Hopeless Romantic Gas Station Blues

Bobby Dove - Hopeless Romantic - Hopeless Romantic Hopeless Romantic

Bobby Dove - Hopeless Romantic - Hopeless Romantic Chance in Hell

Bobby Dove - Hopeless Romantic - Hopeless Romantic Winnies Song

Stone Fence Theatre featuring Sarah Wright - Soundtrack - Tom Thomson & The Colours of Canada - Soundtrack - Tom Thomson & The Colours of Canada God is Great 4

Jeff Meleras featuring Melwood Cutlery - Copernicus Road - Copernicus Road Stealing

Jeff Meleras featuring Shannon Ross - Copernicus Road - Copernicus Road Gold in the Middle

Lynn Miles - Tumbleweedy World - Tumbleweedy World Don't Tell Me How I Feel

Sherry Harding - Dont Tell Me How I Feel - Dont Tell Me How I Feel Longing for Home

Mike Biggar - Live at the BMO Theatre - Live at the BMO Theatre
The Dodgers have claimed right-hander Jake Reed off waivers from the Red Sox, per announcements from both teams. Boston designated Reed for assignment earlier in the week, and hell now head back to L.A. for a third stint as a Dodger. With the addition of Reed, the Dodgers 40-man roster is now at 38 players (though one of the two vacancies will go to Clayton Kershaw, once his reported deal is finalized).

Reed, 30, has been with six different teams since June 2021, when he was released by the Angels. Upon being cut loose, he signed with the Dodgers and has since bounced to the Rays, to the Mets, back to the Dodgers, to the Orioles, to the Red Sox and now back to Los Angeles via a series of waiver claims.

Its a dizzying sequence of transactions for Reed, who along the way has pitched just 26 2/3 innings at the MLB level. Hes been tagged for a 5.74 ERA in that time and posted a 19.2% strikeout rate, an 8.3% walk rate and a 39.8% ground-ball rate.

Even with those pedestrian numbers, Reed continues to intrigue clubs thanks to an atypical delivery and arm slot thats helped him to confound right-handed batters. He also had a strong showing in Triple-A this past season and carries a solid 3.84 ERA and 25.6% strikeout rate at that level. Reed still has one more minor league option year remaining, so if he survives the offseason on the Dodgers 40-man, he can give them some flexible depth in the bullpen next season.
The Red Sox announced that lefty James Paxton has triggered his $4MM player option, sticking with the club for 2023.

Paxton, 34, has oscillated back and forth in his career between excellent results and injury setbacks. He was drafted by the Mariners and pitched for them from 2013 to 2018. In those six seasons, he never posted an ERA higher than 3.90 but also never stayed healthy for a full season, topping out at 28 starts and 160 1/3 innings in his last year in Seattle. After being traded to the Yankees prior to 2019, he had another solid season, though again limited by injuries. He made 29 starts for the Yanks and tossed 150 2/3 innings, posting an ERA of 3.82.

The injury issues have only gotten worse since then, as the lefty was limited to just five starts and 20 1/3 innings in 2020 due to a left flexor strain. He reached free agency after that campaign and signed a deal to return to Seattle for 2021. He made only one appearance, throwing just 1 1/3 innings, before being shut down and eventually requiring Tommy John surgery.

Going into 2022, his status was uncertain. He was definitely going to miss some time, but it was possible he could be recovered from the TJS in time to contribute to a team down the stretch. He and the Sox agreed to a convoluted deal that reflected that uncertainty. Paxton earned a $6MM salary in 2022, with the convoluted part coming after that. First, the Red Sox would have to decide whether or not to trigger a two-year club option that would pay Paxton $26MM, with a $13MM salary in both 2023 and 2024. If they declined, Paxton would have the ability to trigger a one-year, $4MM option for 2023.

That structure seemed to take into account the wide variance of potential outcomes. If Paxton were able to return and show some of his previous excellent results, the Sox would be rewarded for taking the gamble by getting to lock him down for another two years. If things went the other way, their obligations would be significantly less but Paxton had a safety net in there for himself.

The latter scenario was what ended up happening in 2022, as Paxton suffered a lat strain during his rehab and never made it back to the active roster. Now the southpaw is in the position of having missed an entire season as well as only logging 21 2/3 innings over the past three seasons combined. That made it a fairly easy call for Boston to turn down their option as opposed to committing to Paxton for another two years. That decision was indeed confirmed on Monday.

That put the onus on Paxton to decide whether or not to lock in a $4MM guarantee for 2023. On the one hand, after three straight effectively lost seasons, its probably difficult to turn down cash on the barrel like that. On the other hand, Paxton got himself a $10MM guarantee last offseason when it was known that he was going to miss at least part of the year. In the end, he decided to opt for the proverbial bird in the hand as opposed to seeing what other creative deals he could find on the open market.

This decision could potentially work out for both parties in 2023, given the uncertainty in the Boston rotation. Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill have just become free agents, leaving some big holes in the rotation. Chris Sale declined his opt-out and will remain with the club next year, though hes tough to rely on right now. Similar to Paxton, various injuries have limited him to 48 1/3 total innings over the past three seasons. He will surely have a role but might not be able to log over 200 frames like he has done in the past. That leaves Nick Pivetta as the most reliable member for next year, with some wild card options like Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock and Brayan Bello in the mix.

With all of that uncertainty, its likely that Paxton will be given a chance to make some starts and re-establish his health before returning to the open market a year from now. For the Sox, they will get a high-risk, high-reward roll of the dice that would certainly be worth the modest $4MM figure if Paxtons health can cooperate.
December 22: As expected, Hosmer has been released, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

December 16: The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Wyatt Mills from the Royals in exchange for minor league righty Jacob Wallace and opened a spot on the roster by designating first baseman Eric Hosmer for assignment, per a team announcement.

Hosmer came to the Sox in a deadline deal just a few months ago. The Padres signed him to an eight-year, $144MM contract going into 2018, a deal that most observers considered an overpay from the moment it was announced. Hosmers production dipped thereafter, which only added to the albatross nature of the deal.

In 2017, his last year with the Royals, Hosmer hit .318/.385/.498 for a wRC+ of 135, indicating that he was 35% better than league average. But in his first season as a Padre, he produced a line of .253/.322/.398 for a wRC+ of 95. Apart from a surge in the shortened 2020 campaign, hes been around league average in each season and frequently mentioned in trade rumors with San Diego hoping to get rid of him. As the deadline approached this past summer, Hosmer was originally included in the blockbuster deal that was to send Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego. However, Hosmer had a limited no-trade clause that included the Nationals, allowing him to veto the deal. Instead, Luke Voit was sent to Washington in his place, but the Padres then quickly dealt Hosmer to the Red Sox, who were not on his no-trade list.

As part of that deal, the Red Sox would only have to pay Hosmer the league minimum salary, with the Padres remaining on the hook for the rest of it. With this move just a few months later, it seems the trade was more about the young players involved, as Boston sent pitching prospect Jay Groome to the Padres but received a couple prospects as well in Corey Rosier and Max Ferguson. Its also possible that the club viewed Hosmer as a bit of a safety net at first base, where Bobby Dalbec had been struggling and prospect Triston Casas had yet to reach the majors. Casas was called up in September and launched five home runs down the stretch as well as walking in 20% of his plate appearances, leading to a batting line of .197/.358/.408, wRC+ of 120. Perhaps that debut gave them enough confidence to proceed without Hosmer.

Whatever the motivation, Hosmers time in Boston seems likely to end after just 14 games. The club will have one week to trade him or put him on waivers, though a trade will be difficult to arrange. As part of Hosmers contract, he gained a full no-trade clause after being dealt by the Padres. Its also possible that a team might have interest in claiming Hosmer off release waivers, as his minimal salary would create a no-risk scenario for the claiming club. However, players on release waivers are allowed to reject claims and elect free agency, which likely means no team would bother putting in a claim. It seems the most likely scenario is that Hosmer ends up released and returns to the open market.

Though he hasnt produced more than 0.8 fWAR in any season since 2017, its likely some teams that need help at first base or designated hitter would have some interest. The Padres are on the hook for the $39MM owed to Hosmer over the next three years and any team that signs him would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Padres pay.

Over the last three seasons, his batting line is .271/.335/.407 for a wRC+ of 107, or 7% above league average. That doesnt lead to a lot of value overall as he is generally graded as a poor defender, but its possible he could find a bit of uptick at the plate next year. The upcoming rules on defensive shifts are expected to primarily benefit left-handed hitters like Hosmer, as teams stack the right side of the infield with defenders. Hosmers worst trait as a hitter is his incredibly high ground ball tendencies, as his career rate is 54.5%. For reference, this years league average as 42.9%.

Many of the top first baseman from this winters free agent class have already been signed, with Jose Abreu, Josh Bell and Anthony Rizzo off the board. For clubs still looking for upgrades there, Hosmer will likely join the remaining options, such as Trey Mancini, Brandon Drury, Matt Carpenter, Wil Myers and Brandon Belt.

As for the other players involved in todays announcement, Mills, 28 next month, was designated for assignment by the Royals when they signed Ryan Yarbrough earlier this week. The Royals had only acquired him a few months earlier as part of the Carlos Santana trade. He tossed 29 1/3 innings for the Royals with a 4.60 ERA, but the Red Sox are likely more interested in his minor league numbers. In 33 2/3 Triple-A innings this year, he posted a 2.14 ERA while striking out 29.9% of batters faced, though he also walked 12.7% of them. He still has an option year remaining, giving them an intriguing depth option with roster flexibility.

Wallace, 24, was drafted by the Rockies but came to the Red Sox as the player to be named later in the Kevin Pillar trade. He spent this year in Double-A, tossing 56 2/3 innings with a 3.81 ERA and 30.4% strikeout rate, though a huge 19.6% walk rate.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
The Reds have traded corner outfielder/second baseman Nick Solak to the Mariners for cash, both teams announced. Seattle had an opening on the 40-man roster and immediately optioned Solak to Triple-A Tacoma. No additional move was necessary.

Solak never played a regular season game as a Red. Cincinnati acquired the right-handed hitter from the Rangers at the beginning of the offseason. It was a cash transaction that saw the Reds add a player who was a few years removed from being a well-regarded prospect. Cincinnati gave Solak a look as part of a wide-open outfield mix in Spring Training, but he collected just two hits in 20 at-bats.

That lackluster exhibition showing pushed Solak down the outfield depth chart. Cincinnati designated him for assignment yesterday as they set their Opening Day roster, clearing a 40-man spot to add a pair of relievers and infielder Jason Vosler to the big league group. Solaks stay in DFA limbo lasted only a little more than 24 hours, as Seattle stepped in to jump the waiver order.

A second-round pick of the Yankees in 2016, Solak has now been a part of five different organizations as a professional. Hes only ever played in an MLB game with Texas, tallying 974 plate appearances as a Ranger between 2019-22. Solak broke into the majors with an impressive .293/.393/.491 showing over 33 contests as a rookie, showing the offensive promise which prospect evaluators had long noted.

The Louisville product hasnt managed to build off that strong debut. Hes been a below-average hitter in each of the three seasons since then, combining for a .246/.317/.354 line in 839 plate appearances dating back to 2020. Hes shown decent contact skills but not drawn many walks or hit for a significant amount of power.

That tepid offense has come as Solak has increasingly moved down the defensive spectrum. Drafted as a second baseman, hes long been regarded by scouts as a below-average defender there. Defensive Runs Saved graded him six runs worse than par in a little more than 1000 innings in 2021. Texas pushed him to left field with the Marcus Semien signing in 2022.

In spite of his lackluster big league showings of late, the 28-year-0ld has continued to perform well in the minors. He spent most of last season with the Rangers top affiliate in Round Rock, where he hit .278/.371/.489 with 10 longballs, a strong 11.6% walk rate and a 19.7% strikeout percentage over 57 games. Hes now a .293/.370/.510 hitter over parts of three Triple-A campaigns.

Solak has one minor league option year remaining. The Ms can keep him in Tacoma as needed for the rest of this season if he holds a spot on the 40-man roster. He adds a right-handed bat who could potentially join Sam Haggerty and, when healthy, Dylan Moore as complements to Kolten Wong at second base. Seattle also has a left field platoon of Jarred Kelenic and AJ Pollock, with Solak stepping in behind them and Cooper Hummel in that regard.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
SALINE, MI -- Customers at Carrigan Cafe in Saline can sip coffee while playing board games or hanging out with the restaurants iconic stuffed teddy bear, Tobin.

The cafe opened in September 2014 after Karen and Jason Carrigan purchased the former My Favorite Cafe space in downtown Saline.

Read more: Carrigan Cafe now open in Saline

Now, nearly nine years later, the cafe is known for its coffee and customer service, Karen said, adding that one fan-favorite drink is its Mexican Latte.

The latte is made with brown sugar blended with cinnamon, nutmeg and splash of dark Ghirardelli chocolate. Customers looking for something spicy can even add some cayenne pepper to the mix.

Another drink customers often get is the cafes Tiger Latte, Karen said, adding the drink is named for how its dark Ghirardelli chocolate and caramel mimic the animals stripes.

The cafe uses Coffee Express in Plymouth as its coffee supplier offering organic and fair-trade coffee beans. Carrigan also has other drink options to choose from like teas, French sodas, Italian sodas, smoothies and milkshakes.

Menu items for the cafe include in-house baked goods, salads, sandwiches and everchanging options for quiche and soups. The cafe also serves a variety of gluten-free and vegetarian options as well.

A popular menu item for Carrigans is its customizable breakfast sandwiches, Karen said. Customers have the chance to choose between bread or Barrys Bagels and select everything that goes on it including vegetables, cheese, meat and sauces.

When it comes to lunch, Karen said Carrigan Cafes Baja Club is a top pick. The sandwich is served with the customers choice of bread, turkey, bacon, pepper jack cheese, tomato, lettuce and chipotle mayo.

Karen said owning her business was always her dream especially since she had experience in the culinary arts and is a people person. The owner finally realized she wanted to open a cafe after working as a barista with The Drowsy Parrot in Saline.

Read more: Reports: The Drowsy Parrot in downtown Saline closes

I always wanted to open my own restaurant, but never really fine-tuned what restaurant, she said. (Working at Drowsy Parrot made me realize) this is something cool. I get to see people, but I get to make their stuff at the same time.

Since opening, Karen said she quickly became everyones aunt who offers a safe and comfortable spot in downtown Saline. She said her main goal is to always bring a positive vibe with her business.

Over the years, Carrigan Cafe has served as a place for family gatherings, baby showers and even one couples wedding. Karen said she loves that her business can not only help her customers make memories, but that she gets to meet so many people in Saline.

It makes me feel proud that somebody appreciates or has faith in me and what I do and that they want to bring Carrigan into their lives and be part of it as well, she said.

Carrigan Cafe, 101 S. Ann Arbor St., Suite 107, is open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to noon on Sunday.

Learn more about the cafe online, on social media or by phone at 734-316-7633.

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ANN ARBOR, MI  A little rain on a cold, windy Saturday wasnt enough to stop committed pot smokers from descending upon downtown Ann Arbor and lighting up.

Despite the drizzle and temperatures below 40 degrees, smoke still billowed from the University of Michigan Diag during the 52nd-annual Hash Bash marijuana rally on April 1.

Between the main smoke fest and political rally on the Diag and coinciding Monroe Street Fair, thousands mingled about and took part in the cannabis celebration on April Fools Day.

Five-dollar edibles! vendors on the Diag called out to passersby as Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg songs blasted from speakers and rolling digital billboards for a local dispensary advertised a free eighth of an ounce of weed with each purchase.

Scenes from Hash Bash on the University of Michigan campus on Saturday, April 1, 2023. The rainy weather didnt prevent people from attending the annual event.Sydney Verlinde | MLive.com

With the inclement weather, the crowd on the Diag was sparser than usual, but diehards still donned marijuana-themed attire  complemented with umbrellas and ponchos  to take in a series of speeches. The crowd joined along in anti-police chants while calling for freeing people in prison for marijuana.

Free Danny Trevino! Josey Scoggin of the Great Lakes Expungement Network yelled out, referring to Lansings professor of pot, a marijuana entrepreneur sentenced in 2020 to nearly 16 years in prison after federal investigators determined he was operating outside of marijuana laws.

Our rule is no tokers left behind, said Richard Clement, a longtime marijuana activist from Detroit, who called for freeing all federal pot prisoners and encouraged attendees to call the White House and tell President Joe to let my people go.

While Michiganders voted to legalize marijuana in 2018, Clement said he wants to see it legalized nationally, saying weed is a plant from God and should be protected in the U.S. Constitution.

John Sinclair, the Ann Arbor poet whose 10-year prison sentence for two joints led to the first Hash Bash on the Diag in April 1972, made an appearance Saturday. The inaugural event happened after the Michigan Supreme Court declared the states marijuana law unconstitutional and Sinclair was freed from prison.

Now in his 80s, he sat in a wheelchair Saturday as he recited a poem and wished the crowd a happy Hash Bash after complaining about the government overtaxing marijuana.

John Sinclair, seated in a wheelchair at the entrance of the Hatcher Graduate Library, addresses the crowd at the 52nd-annual Hash Bash marijuana rally on the University of Michigan Diag in Ann Arbor on April 1, 2023.Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News

Theyre not done yet  theyve still got their filthy hands in the pie of marijuana business, he said. We have to keep resisting all of these terrible charges they make, all the extra taxes.

He added, Remember, these are the people that put us in prison for smoking marijuana. Now theyre trying to get us to pay them for letting us grow marijuana.

Other speakers recalled past opposition to Hash Bash by the city and UM and police crackdowns that used to happen at the event before pot was legalized in Michigan. Despite attempts to suppress it over the years, the free the weed event endured.

Remembering a tense standoff with police at the 1996 Hash Bash

UM police reported no issues or arrests Saturday.

The event is now in a phase where its finally accepted by the university and the city and theyre not working against us, Hash Bash historian Rich Birkett said.

Scenes from Hash Bash on the University of Michigan campus on Saturday, April 1, 2023. The rainy weather didnt prevent people from attending the annual event.Sydney Verlinde | MLive.com

Birkett also recalled the history of the Monroe Street Fair, the Hash Bash street party that officially started in 2002. Its origins trace back to 1995 when festival-goers started going to Casa Dominicks on Monroe Street after Hash Bash, he said, noting before that the afterparty was at the Heidelberg on Main Street in 1994 and at Fuller Park in 1993.

A history of Hash Bash and marijuana activism in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor marijuana activist Chuck Ream, a retired kindergarten teacher and regular Hash Bash speaker who spoke Saturday, said it takes on aspects of religion to still have so many people show up for Hash Bash on a day like Saturday.

Were here because we have a deep belief, a very powerful belief, that we can change the world, he said. And the Mother God put on this Earth what we need to change the world in all the magical and healthful plants that we have.

Chuck Ream speaks at the 52nd-annual Hash Bash marijuana rally on the University of Michigan Diag in Ann Arbor on April 1, 2023.Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News

Some attendees puffed on foot-long joints while listening to the speeches and some posed for photos with a giant inflatable Wiz Khalifa RAW joint. Its 420 somewhere, read one of the green pot-leaf flags planted in the Diag lawn.

We need to remember that, even though we can be out here enjoying cannabis and a community experience, not everybody gets that privilege, said Allison Bohn, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at UM.

Bohn said she gets asked why theres still a Hash Bash when marijuana is legal here now. She noted there are still people living with criminal records or incarcerated because of pot while others can go to stores and legally buy it like its candy.

We need to think of the marginalized communities, especially the Black and brown bodies that sit in prisons and still serve time when we can be out here, she said.

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GENESEE COUNTY, MI  To celebrate Genesee Countys 188th birthday, Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroad is opening its doors to the community at no charge for one day this summer.

The 19th century historical village, located at 6140 N. Bray Road in Genesee Township, will offer free admission on Saturday, June 3, the Genesee County park has announced on social media.

Genesee County Day will feature more than 20 vendors, food trucks, games, county resources and more, according to the announcement.

The local attraction will open for the 2023 season on Saturday, May 27.

Huckleberry Railroad train tickets will cost an additional fee and can be purchased on the Genesee County Parks website.

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If you are looking for a fun way to spend an afternoon this spring, Columbus Public Library is the place to be! We have a wonderful lineup of programs planned, and all are totally free to the public. Whether you would like to develop a new skill, talk about an interesting subject with friends, or learn a little more about history, we have programs that will suit you.

On Friday, April 7 from 1-5 p.m., the BUS-eum will be visiting Columbus at Frankfort Square. This mobile museum exhibit will feature social history from the Greatest Generation, from 1914-1939. Some of the topics covered include the anti-German hysteria of WWI, the 1918 flu pandemic, prohibition, and Civil unrest during the Great Depression. In addition to the exhibit, from 1:30-2:30 p.m., German university students will host a discussion on climate change titled Heartlands Future: How Might We Live Together on a Changing Planet, and from 3-4 p.m., Dr. Michael Luick-Thrams will hold a presentation on the Cow Wars farmer rebellions. Funding for this program is provided by the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation.

On Saturday, April 29 at 2 p.m. at the library, Beth Sparrow will hold her presentation titled Beginning Genealogy. In her presentation, Beth covers how to begin researching your family. She shows which records may be helpful, different tools to use, and what to do when you get stuck. This presentation may be especially helpful if you would like to begin discovering your family tree or have an interest in genealogy. Funding for this program is provided by Humanities Nebraska.

On Saturday, May 13 at 2 p.m. at the library, Jody Lamp will hold her presentation titled Stories from Nebraskas Agricultural History. During this presentation, Jody will explore the history that turned Nebraska into an agricultural powerhouse with slogans such as The Cornhusker State or The Beef State. She will share the stories of the people, places, and innovations that helped create the Nebraska that we know today. Funding for this program is provided by Humanities Nebraska.

On the last Thursday of each month, Columbus Public Library holds its adult book club at 6:30 p.m. This month, on April 27, we will be discussing One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle. On May 25, we will discuss The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman. On June 29, we will discuss A Life in Light by Mary Pipher. Copies of these books will be available for checkout at the library. If you would like to suggest a book for the July-December discussions, please email me at kelli.deroos@columbusne.us by April 26.

If you stop by the library between 2 and 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoons, you can attend Tech Tuesday. During Tech Tuesday, library staff will sit down with you and help answer questions you have about your technology and how to use it. Staff can also assist with installing and using library apps such as Libby or hoopla so that you can read, listen to audiobooks, and watch movies from your smartphone, tablet, or computer.

As you can see, there is a lot going on at Columbus Public Library. If you have any questions about our upcoming programs, stop by, give me a call at 402-562-4214, or email me at kelli.deroos@columbusne.us.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY, MI  A 22-year-old man was taken to the hospital in critical condition after his vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree early Saturday morning.

The single-vehicle crash happened at 1:38 a.m. Saturday, April 1, on Hough Road west of Holmes Road in Berlin Township, according to a news release from the St. Clair County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies responded to a report that a 2006 Dodge Ram had left the roadway and struck a tree, the release said. Rescuers found the driver, a 22-year-old man from the Almont area, trapped inside the vehicle.

The man was rescued from the vehicle by firefighters and transported to McLaren Lapeer Hospital in critical condition, according to the release.

Investigators believe speed and alcohol were factors in the crash, the release said.

The crash remains under investigation by the St. Clair County Sheriffs Office.

Sheriffs deputies were assisted at the scene by the Berlin Township Fire Department and Tri Hospital EMS.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a Grand Rapids police officer who inadvertently fired a long-range projectile at close range  hitting a man  during the 2020 riot.

The judge also granted summary judgement in favor of two other officers and the city of Grand Rapids in a lawsuit filed by Sean Hart and Tiffany Guzman, who alleged police misconduct and excessive use of force.
MONTCALM COUNTY, MI  A 26-year-old Alma man is dead after he was ejected from his vehicle in a crash early Saturday morning, police say.

Michigan State Police responded to the single vehicle crash at 3:10 a.m. Saturday, April 1, on McBride Road in Montcalm County, according to a tweet by MSP.

Police say the 26-year-old was traveling east on McBrides Road when he lost control of his vehicle, went off the roadway, and was ejected from the vehicle.

Investigators believe speed and alcohol were factors in the fatal crash, according to MSP.

Montcalm County EMS assisted at the scene of the crash.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Made popular after going viral on social media, Korean corn dogs are all the rage with their crispy coating and Instagram-worthy cheese pulls.

A newly opened restaurant in Grand Rapids is here to satisfy your Korean corn dog cravings, along with other Asian treats.

Toastn Tea, at 2500 E Beltline Ave. SE, Suite F, opened in February and offers Asian-inspired tea drinks, sandwiches, soups and other food items.

I took a lot of time to travel in Asia during my college years, so I brought back some of the stuff I got to see and taste overseas and I brought it here, said owner MaiSee Xiong. We have Korean and Vietnamese (food). I didnt really want to focus on just one cuisine, I wanted to bring the best of it all.

The menu at Toastn Tea includes chicken wings with a variety of sauces, Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches, Korean nachos, fresh spring rolls, pho soup and honey toast. One of the most popular items on the menu is the Korean tacos, which are served with red cabbage, lettuce, carrots, green onion and a Korean aioli sauce with your choice of beef, chicken or tofu.

Another favorite fusion dish on the menu is the Korean nachos, with spicy queso, kimchi, pickled jalapenos, cilantro, green onion and your choice of meat on top of wonton chips. Both Korean tacos and the nachos are $13.95 for chicken and tofu and $14.95 for beef.

After going viral on social media in the last year, Xiong recommends customers try the Korean corn dogs, which she says are a popular street food in Korea. The corn dog is filled with mozzarella cheese or a mix of cheese and traditional American hot dog, then coated in a crispy batter. The corn dog then is deep-fried and sometimes rolled in sugar.

Theyre very different, a lot different than what were used to here, Xiong said. Its almost in between a hot dog and a doughnut and its cheesy. It sounds weird, but it all kind of works together. Its very crispy.

The all-cheese corn dog runs $5.95 and the mix of cheese and hot dog is $6.95.

After taking that cheese-pull photo of your Korean corn dog, Xiong recommends customers wash it down with one of the restaurants boba tea options. The large variety of tea flavors can be served as-is or with chewy tapioca pearls added. Toastn Tea sells milk teas, fruit teas, smoothies, lattes, lemonade refreshers and signature beverages. Some of the signature beverages include a dragonfruit lemonade refresher, an ube milk tea and a strawberry cheesecake latte.

Our most popular drink is our brown sugar boba tea, but we also have great fruit teas and smoothies, Xiong said.

Whether youre at Toastn Tea for a quick bite or to hang out with friends, Xiong said she hopes everyone feels welcome.

I wanted to create an environment where people could enjoy for our food and drinks, she said. Our restaurant has a very cafe look, where people can just come in and enjoy. We have board games for people to play.

Toastn Tea is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon-8 p.m. on Saturday. The restaurant can be reached at 616-647-5700. A full menu is available at the Toastn Tea Facebook page, facebook.com/toastnteagr.

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JACKSON COUNTY, MI  Easter is hopping around the corner and several events are taking place in the Jackson County area.

With Easter falling on Sunday, April 9, here is a look at whats happening, from egg hunts to large community dinners.

Eggsplore Bright Walls

Kids and families can hunt for giant Easter eggs located at 30 of the Bright Walls murals in downtown Jackson. The event is from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 1.

Kids up to age 12 can pick out a treat from each giant egg they find for free. Rain date will be Saturday April 8 at the same time, officials said.

Westwood Mall

Westwood Mall is having an Easter egg hunt from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 1 in the mall, 1850 W. Michigan Ave.

The Easter bunny will be hopping in for free photo opportunities for kids. Eggs and goody bags will be available while supplies last for the kids, officials said.

Encounter Church

Kids can hunt for some eggs at the eKids Egg Fest event from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 at Encounter Church, 620 Robinson Road.

Kids will rotate through four stations, an egg hunt, games and arcade, peeps house building and the Easter story, officials said.

It is a drop-off event, but parents are welcome to stay with their child, officials said.

City of Jackson

Kids in Jackson will have an opportunity to hunt for eggs with the city of Jackson at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 8 in Horace Blackman Park, 200 W. Michigan Ave.

The event features prizes, photos with the Easter bunny and an opportunity to meet Jackson police officers and firefighters, officials said.

The egg hunt takes place in two waves, with ages 3 to 5 starting at 10 a.m. and ages 6 to 8 at 11 a.m. Because it is a city-sponsored event, the event is only open to city residents, officials said.

Jackson College

Jackson College is hosting its annual Easter Egg Hunt, from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 8 on Central Campus, 2111 Emmons Road.

Family activities will start at 10 a.m., with the egg hunt starting at 10:30 a.m. Children will search in various age groups.

Face painting, inflatables, a petting zoo and the Easter bunny will be in attendance. Parents are asked to bring a bag or basket for their child.

The event also features tours of the EMS Simulator and a Summit Township fire truck, officials said.

The event will move inside in case of inclement weather into the Bert Walker Hall Community Rooms. More information can be found on Jackson Colleges website.

Easter at Mama Tu-Tus

Wanda Beavers, also known as Mama Tu-Tu, is holding her annual egg hunt and raffle at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 8 at 122 W. Biddle St.

The afternoon will be filled with free Easter baskets, while supplies last. Then a raffle will be done for prizes, including some for adults and kids.

Donations are still being accepted and can be made at 122 W. Biddle St. or by calling Beavers at 517-419-0932.

Sandhill Crane Vineyards

This Easter egg hunt is just for the adults, and will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 8 at Sandhill Crane Vineyards, 4724 Walz Road.

Residents must be 21 or older to participate. Eggs will come with special prizes inside.

Guests can dress up and gain an additional 30 second head start., organizers say. Each participant is asked to only pick up 10 to 15 eggs so everyone can walk away with something.

Guests that find one golden egg can receive a private small plate pairing for four guests. Two silver eggs can win a free charcuterie board and small eggs will include coupons.

Young People of Purpose

Young People of Purpose is putting on its annual Easter egg treasure hunt. The event is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 8 at 1107 Maple Ave.

The event is free and will feature food and a fun house. Register can be made by calling 517-879-8628.

Community-Wide Egg Hunt in Brooklyn

Another egg hunt is taking place from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8 at Heart O the Lakes Church, 7031 Jefferson Road. All kids up to fifth grade can participate.

Queen of the Miraculous Medal Parish

Queen of the Miraculous Medal Parish will once again host a community-wide Easter dinner for the Jackson area. The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, April 9 at Queens Parish Social Center, 811 S. Wisner St.

Dinner is free, but reservations are required, by calling 517-435-5296 or by emailing information to queensholidaydinner@gmail.com.

Doors open at 1:15 p.m. Those who wish to volunteer should call 517-414-4438.

Cascades Manor

Cascades Manor is hosting an Easter brunch at noon and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 9 at Cascade Manor, 1970 Kibby Road.

Reservations are required and can be made a 517-784-1500. The cost is $49 for adults and $19 for ages 10 and under.

The menu for the event includes glazed ham, shrimp cocktail, quiche, steamed vegetables and desserts.

Did we miss something?

If you have information on an Easter event in Jackson or the surrounding area that we have missed and would like to have added, email reporter Chloe Miller at cmiller@mlive.com

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MIDLAND, MI  Theres a creperie in mid-Michigan offering sweet and savory crepes and a little bit of Paris in downtown Midland.

One of the most popular dishes at Crepes Et Amis, located at 130 Townsend St. near the new Bookmarks bookstore, can be found on its sweet menu. The best-selling Berry Cheesecrepe is a crepe served with strawberries, Nutella and cheesecake filling. Another popular sweet offering is the Violets crepe, which features blueberry compote, lemon cream and almond crumble.

Hands down, our biggest seller is the Berry Cheesecrepe, said Brandon Morey, owner of Crepes Et Amis.

But Moreys personal favorite can be found on the savory menu. The Edmond Dantes is described as a crepe with smoked ham, roasted turkey, melted Swiss, raspberry preserves and honey mustard.

Its like a Monte Cristo sandwich, he said.

A savory customer favorite is Wilburs Salutation, a crepe served with scrambled eggs, cheddar, bacon, Roma tomato and spinach and drizzled with house-made spicy mayo.

Everything is made here, Morey said. We also make our own croissants.

Crepes Et Amis started as a food truck serving crepes at area farmers markets and has had a permanent storefront since 2015. It is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday and offers online ordering.

For more information, visit www.crepesetamis.com or find Crepes Et Amis on Facebook.

Would you like MLive to feature your favorite restaurant in Michigans Best Local Eats? Send the details, including business name, address and best menu item, to Heather Jordan at hjordan@mlive.com.

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At 8 years old, David Medina Alvarez knew what he wanted to be when he grew up: a transportation designer.

He envisioned inventing an electric supercar  flashy, luxurious, prestigious and, most importantly, fast.

Growing up in Morelos, Mexico, Medina Alvarezs hero was his grandfather, who lifted his family out of poverty by creating a real estate empire. When Medina Alvarez, 23, arrived in Detroit in 2018 to study at the College for Creative Studies he was eager to follow his grandfathers path.

I could hear my grandpa and all of my family tell me, David, youre going to study abroad to create jobs, not to work for someone else, he said.

That entrepreneurial spirit is the crux of Global Detroits Entrepreneur in Residence program.

Global Detroit, an economic development group focused on strategies for employing immigrants and international students, launched its pilot entrepreneur residency program in 2019. The aim was to slow Michigans brain drain.

The state loses its international talent pool of students in hard sciences, engineering and business, many of them with masters or doctoral degrees, due to visa status.

Global Detroits program partnered with the University of Michigans Economic Growth Institute to connect immigrant startup founders with part-time university employment, enabling the founders to launch their startups in the U.S. As the startups grow, founders often are able to secure longer-term visas, said Steve Tobocman, Global Detroit Executive Director and former state representative.

As of March 2022, the program supported eight founders from seven companies. They collectively raised $15.6 million in venture capital and created 49 jobs. The startups produced more than $500,000 in annual recurring revenue.

The first four years of Global EIR have proven that this model of supporting immigrant startup founders not only works, but can be a real asset to growing Michigans startup economy and ecosystem, Tobocman said.

Related: Michigans high-tech industries need foreign workers to drive future growth

Michigans electric vehicle and mobility sector is in desperate need of people like Medina Alvarez.

The state added $5 million to the 2023 budget to fund global talent attraction and retention and appropriated the funds directly to Global Detroit and the Labor and Economic Opportunity office.

Of those funds, $4 million is for international student retention, skilled immigrant integration and attraction. The remaining $1 million goes to growing Global Detroits Entrepreneur in Residence program in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

Medina Alvarez saw in Michigans aggressive $16 billion investment into the emerging EV sector an opportunity to create without any limitations.

He spent much of his childhood visiting the ocean-front city of Acapulco and riding all-terrain vehicles along the coast. I have really good memories with ATVs but I also have a couple of memories burning my ankles and breaking down the ATV because I decided to go into the ocean, he said.

This sparked the idea for the EQuad, his electric solution for a lighter, quieter and faster ATV.

Medina Alvarezs company Livaq is taking the EQuad prototype to international expos and hoping to land a spot at next years Detroit Auto Show. Global Detroit is helping Livaq secure a space to build on its prototype in the Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield.

When I started this journey, half of the people were telling me that Im crazy. The other half were telling me do it and see what happens. Only 10% said we will help you, Medina Alvarez said. Having that mechanism of support coming from [Global Detroit] is really important.

Lawrence Tech and Michigan Technological University are in the works as Global Detroits next academic partners, alongside Wayne State and College for Creative Studies, Tobocman said.

Part-time employment at a university allows entrepreneurs to be exempt from the H-1B visa cap.

Michigan consistently ranks among the top 10 states for migrant workers with H-1B work visas, which allows companies to employ foreign workers in specialty jobs requiring technical expertise. The number of H-1B visas issued each year, however, is capped at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for people with advanced degrees from American universities.

Up and down the line of STEM  science, technology, engineering, mathematics  international students comprise 40% or more of almost every critical field, according to the National Foundation for American Policy.

That is talent Michigan cant afford to lose.

Related: Immigration is saving Michigan from population loss, but state falls far behind national averages

In the business world, immigrant entrepreneurs continue to make up a larger slice of Americas startup economy.

More than half of the U.S.s unicorn companies  a privately owned company valued at $1 billion or more  had at least one immigrant founder, according to a 2022 study by the National Foundation for American Policy.

Miho Shoji, Global Detroits first female founder, left her home country of Bolivia when she was 18.

Now at 38, shes sees the tiresome paperwork, legal fees and government interviews as part of business.

Being an entrepreneur, you have to solve things. Its in your hands. Nobody will solve anything for you, Shoji said.

[Being an immigrant] I think its a little bit easier to solve things when you have already a mindset of nobody will give me anything  legal status, funding, anything  if I dont go and get it.

Shoji and her co-founder Alfredo Jaldin started their first human resource technology company in 2012 when they lived in Chile. The software tracked employee engagement with data rather than annual surveys.

Tracking personal data and using artificial intelligence was a tough pitch at the time, Shoji said.

When the business partners moved in 2017 to New York, they gained traction within the U.S.s startup ecosystem and evolving technology. The pair learned new fundraising and employee recruitment strategies.

I think this country made us who we are now, Shoji said.

But a student visa gave them a short runway to gain momentum. Thats when the pair was introduced to Global Detroit and Tobocman, who Shoji calls her angel. Employment at U of M and then the College for Creative Studies extended their status.

The Global Entrepreneur in Resident program gave them the time and resources to launch Moodbit, an AI program that analyzes, anonymizes and aggregates employee data to track culture shifts like employee burnout or dissatisfaction.

Pre-pandemic employers told Shoji they could gauge how employees felt by taking them out to pizza on a Friday. Remote work, though, put Moodbit in high demand.

Now the company has 11 employees and is on the path to raise $2.5 million in their next seed round.

If we dont have these type of programs or partners, our lives  as immigrants, entrepreneurs, international students  is much, much harder, Shoji said. Nothing is easy in entrepreneur or immigrant life but [Global Detroit] makes it a little easier.

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A child care nonprofit based in Columbus will have to wait longer before it can be potentially exempt from property taxes.

During the Platte County Board of Equalizations meeting on March 28, supervisors tabled a permissive exemption application for Columbus Area Childcare.

The nonprofit was started last year following the closures of child care facilities in Columbus. Although the organization was kicked started by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, the two entities operate separately.

Columbus Area Childcare runs a child care facility under the same name at the former Little Messengers Inc. building, 753 33rd Ave. It opened its doors in December 2022.

Columbus Area Childcare is unique in that a number of industries in town contribute to the nonprofits cause in the form of scholarships that are passed down to the families of the industries employees, the Columbus Telegram previously reported.

The board of equalization had previously tabled the nonprofits application at a March 14 meeting. On March 28, Assessor Kari Urkoski updated supervisors that additional information on Columbus Area Childcare had been sent to the state for a recommendation, but the state indicated the nonprofit should not be considered exempt.

Urkoski added she reached out to Columbus Area Childcare about seeing the facility in person as it may be possible the nonprofit could receive a partial exemption.

At this time, I'm still going to have to deny based on the recommendations from the state, Urkoski said. Because it doesn't meet the charitable education criteria set forth by the state because of the nature of the ones that are receiving scholarships are exclusive

Dawson Brunswick, chamber president who spoke as a representative of Columbus Area Childcare, noted that state statute regarding tax exemption is broad.

Nebraska Revised Statute 77-202 lists property owned by educational, religious, charitable or cemetery organizations or any organization for the exclusive benefit of any such educational, religious, charitable or cemetery organization and used exclusively for those purposes as exempt from property taxes.

The same statute also gives a definition of an educational organization as an institution operated exclusively for the purpose of offering regular courses with systematic instruction in academic, vocational, or technical subjects

Brunswick said that no other nonprofit child care center in Columbus is subject to property taxes, though most of them are associated with religious institutions.

One example I'd like to point out is Community Action Partnership. They use the same curriculum that we do and they also receive a tax exemption right now, Brunswick said.

Brunswick provided a packet of information to the board of equalization, including a letter from the state showing that Columbus Area Childcare receives subsidy. He noted there was a case in a different county in which exemption was granted due to the organization receiving subsidy.

Brunswick said more than 1,000 child care spots are needed in Platte County.

There is the chance, Brunswick allowed, that if the board approved the exemption, it could be challenged by a higher authority.

Seventy-five percent of the legislature's saying child care is a massive issue for the state. I like to think that if a local governing board approved the exemption that the state would move on, Brunswick said. Seeing that no other nonprofit child care center in town is subject to property taxes, this would be the county's long-term investment in this child care center.

District 3 Supervisor and Chairperson Kim Kwapnioski asked Urkoski if she could further confer with the state and see if there is a way that Columbus Area Childcares application could be approved. Urkoski said she would be able to look into that.

I would like to see the state look into this more, I think that's better for that in regards to making a decision, Kwapnioski said.

In other county news, the long-delayed East 29th Avenue viaduct project is seeing progress.

During the regular board of supervisors meeting held March 28, supervisors OKd a resolution to approve the plans, specifications and estimate for the project.

Platte County Highway Department Administrative Assistant Jane Cromwell said the county needed to pass the resolution as its the local agency in the effort. However, she added the estimate is just for materials and footage.

They (Nebraska Department of Transportation) intend to go out for bids on this project on June 15. And they will have an estimate for us before that time, Cromwell said.

An amended agreement will also be presented that will stipulate if there are any caps on dollar amounts for the state, railroad company and county.

It will all come to a head probably the first couple of weeks in June, Cromwell said. I can tell you that its in the works, the state is moving forward with selecting a construction engineer.  (Supervisors) Bob (Lloyd) and John (Harms) will serve on that selection committee. And then we'll probably be meeting soon as well.

The Platte County Board of Supervisors also approved:

The resignation of Public Defender Timothy Matas, effective at the end of April. He has served in the position for 14 years.

A request from Emergency Manager Tim Hofbauer to go out for bids for a new communication tower. The board previously approved the use of American Rescue Plan Act dollars for the project. Hofbauer said the bids would be opened on May 3 with the board OKing a bid on May 9.

Renewing a contract with Zelle HR Solutions to provide the county with human resources services.

A resolution proclaiming May as Platte County History Preservation Month.
Ghanaian actress and social critic Lydia Forson has expressed her frustration with the high cost of data bundles in the country.

In a tweet on Monday, April 4, Forson is wondering if the same is being felt by others

"Does anyone else feel like they're buying more credit/ data but getting less data and talk time?" Forson asked in the tweet.

Her comments sparked a response from Kafui Dey, a television personality and broadcaster with Ghana Television (GTV), who claimed that he did not have such issues with data bundles.

"I buy the maximum amount for data. Lasts me 5 months and I am a heavy user,"Kafui Dey responded.

In a follow-up tweet, Forson asked Mr. Dey to reveal the network and the cost of the data bundle he uses.

"You need to tell us which network and how much this 'maximum' costs waii! Show us the way," Forson tweeted.

The high cost of internet bundles has been a major concern for many Ghanaians amid the current economic quagmire.

Forson's comments and Dey's response have sparked a conversation among Ghanaians on social media about the need for more affordable internet data bundles.
Ghanaian American-based comedian, Michael Blankson has expressed concern over the prevalence of drug abuse among Ghanaian youths.

In a tweet on Friday, March 31, Blankson blamed the influence of the western culture for the problem and called for urgent action to address it.

"I just found out we have drug addicts in Ghana. Omg, the western world has rubbed up on us smh. We have to fix that asap Ghana," Blankson tweeted.

Blankson, who has a large following on social media, is known for his comedic performances that often touch on social and political issues.

His tweet has sparked a conversation among Ghanaians on social media about the growing problem of drug abuse among young people in the country.

Blankson's tweet has been praised by many Ghanaians who see it as a wake-up call for the government and society as a whole to take action to address the problem of drug abuse among young people.

Some have called for more investment in education and job creation to provide young people with alternatives to drug use.
St. Francois County voters, as well as those living in the cities of Farmington, Park Hills and Leadington, will decide in Tuesdays election whether to allow a 3% sales tax, over and above that collected by the state, for the local sale of recreational marijuana.

The Daily Journal asked St. Francois County Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher, Farmington Mayor Larry Forsythe, Park Hills Mayor Stacey Easter and Leadington Mayor Joe Davis why their government entities are proposing a 3% sales tax on the purchase of recreational marijuana.

Describing it as a sin tax, Gallaher said, We will have increased costs over this because of the various, frankly there's a lot of question marks involved. How do you test for that? The drug dog we had had to be taken out of service and put in another service because he was sensitized to marijuana. And now if a dog that is sensitized to marijuana picks up on heroin, then the defense attorney says, Well, how do you know he didn't pick up on the marijuana, which is legal? Those are thrown out instantly, so you can't use that dog anymore  so there's another layer of expense. That's $20,000 or $30,000 right there, a onetime cost. My reason, except for the sin tax situation, is that, you know, I'm very concerned about the additional cost of bill-paying.

Mayor Forsythe voiced his concern about the adverse effects that recreational marijuana use by parents may have on their children.I know most of our citizens don't smoke marijuana, but those who do will pay a three percent sales tax to the city of Farmington, if it is passed, he said. The three percent sales tax will be used, hopefully, to put back into the school system  not all of it, but some of it will be put back into the school system for things like resource officers that can help children who are living in homes where there is drug use. And so that's what the council has agreed to do with some of the money. We could sure use another resource officer out there. We could use a resource officer in every school we have  I hate to say it, but even in public kindergarten.

Mayor Easter explained that when other towns began considering the tax, her city decided to hop on the bandwagon.

Additional funds are needed to help with many issues the city is facing, she said. Specifically, helping to continually increase wages and rebuild infrastructure. Since most neighboring communities are also considering this tax, we felt it makes sense we do, as well.

Mayor Davis maintains that his citys aldermen were interested in being aligned with the state.

At this point, its legal, and while we have no dispensaries or proposed outlets, we want to be sure we have everything in place to address it if we ever reach that point for consideration, he said.

The Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) initially raised questions about the idea of counties and municipalities imposing recreational marijuana taxation and thus stacking onto existing state taxes. DOR Director Joel Walters said, "We are concerned that this could add an additional burden on our citizens. We need to be sure that it is fair for everyone."

DORs original stance was that cities and counties in the state could not add more than a 10 percent total tax on recreational marijuana sales. This included all state, local, and special taxes combined.

This position was challenged by some Missouri counties and cities that had proposed an additional 3 percent sales tax specifically for recreational marijuana. DOR maintained it did not have the authority to allow any additional taxes above the current state sales tax rate, and therefore it voiced opposition to the proposed increase.

Asked about the DOR statement, Gallaher said, That's been changed. We are distinctly allowed to do it now. We have a legal opinion on that. That question is a month old, and it's thrown out. It's moot.
The Ghana Airports Company Limited has welcomed the new night flights launched by Ethiopian Airlines in the country.

Ethiopian Airlines on Tuesday, March 28, officially launched additional four (4) times weekly night flight operations to Accra.

With the new evening flights, the travelling public from Ghana will be connected same morning to Africa, same day to BOM, DEL, Same day to DXB, same day to IST, TLV among others.

According to Ethiopian Airlines, the move is to improve its services in Ghana with additional frequency to serve as a continuation of the same commitment to better serve the Ghanaian travelling public.

Speaking at the launch of the night flights, Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey, Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited said her outfit has no doubt that it will offer more connectivity options for travellers.

She said her outfit is hoping that this new service will also make travelling affordable for Ghanaian travellers.

The new evening service will undoubtedly offer more connectivity options for travellers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. We hope that this will provide the needed competition and offer travellers affordable fares.

"We wish to assure Ethiopian Airlines, that we will provide them with the needed support for a smooth facilitation at Kotoka International Airport, Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey said in her remarks.

She continued, on behalf of the Board and Management of Ghana Airports Company Limited, I wish to congratulate Ethiopian Airlines on the launch of the additional four (4) times weekly night flight operations to Accra.

Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey further intimated that the Ghana Airports Company Limited will continue to provide the needed facilities and services for a pleasant travel experience, in line with its mission of providing world-class facilities and services for the benefit of our stakeholders.

Already, Ethiopian Airlines operates daily flights from Addis Ababa to Accra. The new night flights will complement Ethiopian Airlines regular midday flights, making Ethiopian Airlines the largest operator by frequency (11 times per week) servicing Kotoka International Airport.

In a brief address at the launch, Mrs. Aniley Eshetu, Area Manager of Ethiopian Airlines Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia gave the assurance that the airline is committed to providing the best service to Ghanaian travellers.

This evening, while officially launching Ethiopian evening flights as of Accra, Ethiopian Airlines is once more affirming its commitment to serve the Ghanaian travelling public with more convenience and time efficiency, she shared.

Mrs. Aniley Eshetu also took time to express appreciation to the government of Ghana for the support throughout the process to introduce the new night flights service.

Once again, on behalf of the Ethiopian Airlines family, I would like to thank the people and the Government of Ghana for the support throughout this long journey. With your continued patronization, we project towards more successful and commendable service years ahead, she noted.
Leading airline on the continent, Ethiopian Airlines has launched additional four times weekly night flight services to Accra.

The launch was held in Accra on Tuesday, March 28.

Delivering an address at the launch, Mrs. Aniley Eshetu, Area Manager of Ethiopian Airlines Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia said the move is a continuation of the commitment to better serve the Ghanaian travelling public.

Moreover, these new additions coupled with our daily morning flights will enable us to connect Accra eleven times a week to our expanding global network spreading across five continents, Mrs. Aniley Eshetu revealed.

She continued, this evening, while officially launching Ethiopian evening flights as of Accra, Ethiopian Airlines is once more affirming its commitment to serve the Ghanaian travelling public with more convenience and time efficiency.

With the new evening flights, the travelling public from Ghana will be connected same morning to Africa, same day to BOM, DEL, Same day to DXB, same day to IST, TLV among others.

Before ending her address, Mrs. Aniley Eshetu thanked the people and the Government of Ghana for their support throughout the long journey to launch the new night flights.

She stressed that her outfit with continued patronisation, projects more successful and commendable service years ahead.

Speaking at the launch of the night flights, Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey, Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited said her outfit has no doubt that it will offer more connectivity options for travellers.

She said her outfit is hoping that this new service will also make travelling affordable.

The new evening service will undoubtedly offer more connectivity options for travellers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. We hope that this will provide the needed competition and offer travellers affordable fares.

"We wish to assure Ethiopian Airlines, that we will provide them with the needed support for a smooth facilitation at Kotoka International Airport, Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey said in her remarks.

As a veteran Pan African Airline committed to connect Africa together and to the rest of the world, Ethiopian Airlines has been playing vital roles in enabling air transport services, thereby contributing to the social, economic and political development of the continent Africa.

Currently, deploying 143 modern aircraft, Ethiopian serves 131 international passenger and cargo destinations, including 63 African cities with daily and multiple flights with a minimum layover in Addis. Ethiopian Airlines also has 35 ultramodern aircraft on firm order.
Energy Policy Analyst, Mr Ben Nsiah has explained the continuous reduction of prices in petroleum products in Ghana in recent times.

According to him, reduction of the prices was inevitable following a drop in the prices of petroleum products on the international market.

He noted that, the price of diesel which stood at $1,315 per metric as of July 2022 is being sold at a little over $800 on the international market.

He maintained that petrol is currently being sold at $7,77 per metric compared to its price of $1, 200 in July last year

According to him, petroleum products have seen over 100 per cent reduction in prices on the international market leading to a drop in prices at the local pumps.

He was speaking on the Kumasi based OTEC 102.9 FM's morning show Nyansapo on Thursday March 30, 2023.

Consumers of petroleum products are expected to witness a significant drop in prices from April 1, 2023.

According to the Institute for Energy Security, fuel prices will likely drop between 2 percent and 9 percent. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), which is key for many households, will also experience a drop in prices.

Mr Ben Nsiah however said he will not be surprised if the prices go down beyond the projected 2 per cent because of the current strength of the local currency.
The Chief Justice (CJ) Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has cautioned judicial officers against harassing persons who come to the court to seek redress.

The CJ also called on the public to stand firm and be unyielding to unlawful demands of judicial officers.

Chief Justice Yeboah was speaking at the inauguration of the newly-constructed High Court in Kasoa in the Central region.

He urged staff of the Judiciary who will be working at the new court, while discharging their duties, to exhibit a high sense of professionalism.

A newly-constructed court house will not be of much use if the administrative staff do not effectively assist the judge to function productively.

To this end, I urge the staff of this court to exhibit a high sense of professionalism in the discharge of their duties, the CJ stated.

He continued that: Ill like to remind them that most clients who patronise our service are often physically and emotionally distressed. They need comfort and help as they turn to the court for justice.

Harassment in all forms including the threat and extortion of monies from persons who come to the court for redress is the cruelest way to treat our own people.

I urge the public to stand firm and refuse to yield to the unlawful demands of judicial service officers and staff.

The Chief Justice also encouraged court users to report any of such officers to ensure that the appropriate disciplinary action is meted out to them.

Do not be afraid to report such officers for appropriate disciplinary action to be taken against them, he said.

According to Justice Yeboah, no such officer will be shielded if found out.

I can assure you that the Judicial Council, which I chair, will not shield any judicial officer or staff found to have been guilty of misconduct, he added.

The CJ was optimistic that the new court will present a new and friendlier phase of justice delivery in the municipality.

Source: classfmonline.com
01.04.2023 LISTEN

The Southern Sector distributor of the Tamanaa Company's Ltd, Alhaji Musa Abubakari has observed that the future of the country's rice industry stands bleak.

He lamented that rice producers have no hope that the challenges confronting the sector can be resolved due to the lackadaisical attitude of government.

Speaking to the Correspondent in an interview, Alhaji Musa Abubakari who also doubles as the Chairman of the Moslems Executive Foundation (MEF) indicated that efforts of the players to ensure more rice production in the country continue to derail.

He said previously rice production in the country was encouraging, leading to job creation and revenue mobilization to support the government.

According to chairman Abubakari who is also the Managing Director of Basfam Co.Ltd in Kumasi, it took rice producers by surprise when they realized that several companies have been allowed to import foreign rice into the country.

Chairman Musa said the situation compelled local players to meet the sector Minister who gave assurance to discourage the foreign import.

He lamented that the assurance of the sector minister has yielded no results as more foreign rice conitnue to flood the market crowding out the local businesses.

According to him, his company and other local rice producers have large quantities in stock that have not been distributed due to the demand of foreign rice.

"The sector Minister has failed to support us to produce the local rice in quantities for both local consumption and export," the business man disclosed.

Alhaji Musa Abubakari told the Correspondent that his company, Tamanaa Co Ltd with over 4,000 workforce maybe compelled to lay off the workers if the marketing and sales continue to deep.
Minority in Parliament has accused government of siphoning about GH4 billion from the National Health Insurance Scheme fund since 2018.

According to the caucus, the government failed to make payment to the fund in the year 2022 despite taking about GH1.7 billion from the over GH3 billion accrued for the fund.

Speaking to journalists, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said such moves by the government would collapse the Health Insurance Scheme if it persists.

Last year, we realised that only about 6 percent of the amount collected was paid which was the worse in the history of the NHIS. In 2021, the government collected in excess of GH2 billion and paid about GH127 million and which constituted about 6 percent, and we raised such concern.

As though the issues we raised angered the government, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government decided not to pay anything in 2022. Not even 1 cedi was paid. In the 2022 formula, it was estimated that the government collected about 3.6 billion cedis and the government took about 1.7 billion cedis.

This is a dangerous trend and can collapse the NHIS. From the year 2018, the government took 197 million Ghana cedis from NHIS, in 2019 the government took 752 million cedis from the proceeds, in 2020 they took 277 million cedis. In 2021, they took 1.1 billion and in 2022, they took 1.7 billion cedis. So from 2018 till now the government has taken in excess of 4 billion Ghana cedis from NHIS.

But the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh in a reaction said the inclusion of some critical medical conditions in the scheme is contributing to the delay in the release of the funds to the scheme.

He, however, described several of the claims made by Mr Akandoh as spurious adding that the Majority Caucus will respond at the appropriate time.

-Citi Newsroom
Ministry of Roads and Highways has debunked the allegation of road construction bias against it by the Members of Parliament (MPs) for Afram Plains North and South.

The Ministry in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said a joint statement issued by Madam Betty Nana Efua Krosbi Mensah, MP for Afram Plains North and Mr Joseph Appiah Boateng, MP Afram Plains South, on diversion of road funds was not true.

The Ministry noted that the joint statement was misleading and that the Members of Parliament could have easily sought the necessary clarification from the Ministry.

The Ministry said in September 2021, the Minister for Roads and Highways and the Minister for Finance submitted a joint Memorandum to Parliament for the approval of Commercial and Credit Facility Agreements for the Design and Construction of Adawso  Ekyi Amanfrom Bridge and Associated Roads.

It said funding was to be arranged and structured by Deutsche Bank AG of Germany.

The statement said the project consisted of two contracts namely the construction of Bunso Adawso and Specified Approach Roads to the Adawso Bridge.

This, it said, comprises Takorowatwen  Ekyi Amanfrom Road, Adawso  Kwahu Tafo Road (20km), Kwahu Tafo  Miaso Road, Miaso  Begoro Road and Begoro  Obuoho Road.

The statement said the other was the design and construction of Adawso Bridge, comprising the construction of approximately 3.6km of a 2-lane bridge, including service lanes and a walkway to connect Adawso and Ekyi Amanfrom in the Eastern Region and the construction of a new toll plaza.

The statement said it was expected that the two components of the project, with a total cost of 350million, would be executed concurrently and be completed in 30 months subject to the successful completion of the financing arrangement.

It said the road contract was tied to the bridge contract to realise the full benefit of the project.

The statement said following the approval by Parliament of the two projects and the financing arrangements, Government had continued to diligently pursue the funding for the project.

It is in light of this that Government allocated about $98 million under the $750 million African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Loan as a contribution to the road contract component after one of the financiers declined to participate in the financial arrangement, the statement said.

It is important to state that due to the current debt restructuring exercise, Government has not been able to conclude the arrangement of the financing for the project.

It said this had informed Government's prudent decision to apply the allocation under the Afreximbank facility to the equally important Accra-Kumasi corridor.

It said the re-allocation would be applied to specifically the Apedwa to Ejisu section of the Accra  Kumasi Road.

It stated that this stretch went through major towns such as Osino, Anyinam, Enyiresi, Nkawkaw and Konongo in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions.

The statement said it was common knowledge that sections of the road within these towns were usually marked with heavy traffic congestion causing a lot of delays, accidents, pedestrian-related crashes and increased travel time.

It said as part of the Ministry's programme of dualizing the Accra-Kumasi Road, the following four by-passes, with a total length of about 40.40km, were to be constructed to improve travel time and safety along the Accra-Kumasi corridor.

It mentioned the Osino By-pass (11.6km), Anyinam By-pass (6.1km), Enyiresi By-pass (9.1km) and Konongo By-pass (13.6km).

The statement said eight different contracts had been signed with indigenous local Contractors for all the by-passes, which would be a three-lane dual carriageway with adequate drainage structures and interchanges.

The statement said it was, therefore, disturbing for the Members of Parliament to suggest that the decision to suspend the project was purely politically motivated and intended to deprive the people of Afram plains of their share of the national cake and also worsen their living conditions as a result of the deplorable state of the roads.

Indeed, Government recognizes that the project areas have great potential to contribute significantly to the well-being of its inhabitants and food security in Ghana since they produce much of Ghana's crop yields even though there is limited access to the rest of the country by the Volta Lake with the ferry as the only means of transport, it said.

It said it was important to stress that Government was currently undertaking a number of road projects to improve the state of roads in the Afram Plains area.

The statement provides below some of the contracts currently ongoing along the project road and the Afram Plains.

These are reconstruction of Begoro Abuoso  Mpaem (including Kwahu Tafo  Adawso)  (38km) in the Fanteakwa North/Kwahu East Districts and the reconstruction of Begoro  Feyiase (20km) .

Others are reconstruction of Ankomah to Kwahu Tafo Road (10km) in the Kwahu East District and spot Improvement and Routine Maintenance Works totalling 329km in the Fanteakwa North District and Afram Plains area.

It said from the above, it was obvious that the Ministry, and for that matter Government, was committed to ensuring that all parts of the country get their fair share of the national cake in terms of road construction.

It said the allegation by the Honourable Members against the Ministry of bias could not, therefore, be accurate.

We state emphatically that the decision by Government is not purely politically motivated and is not informed by any stronghold considerations.

It said the Ministry was simply committed to providing the necessary road infrastructure for the socio-economic development of the country.

It said the Ministry assures the good people of the Afram Plains area, including the MPs for the Afram Plains, and the public that the decision taken was in the interest of the general welfare of the people of Ghana.

Adding that however, Government was committed to addressing their road network challenges and encourages all to cooperate with the Ministry as they strive to improve upon the national road network.

GNA
The Nkawie circuit court has sentenced a security guard to 15 years imprisonment for stealing cables and other fittings at the construction site of the Afari Military hospital in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality.

Daniel Ahenkora, 19, pleaded guilty to the charges of stealing, aiding and abetting, by the prosecutors, and was sentenced on his own plea.

His accomplice, Asirifi Blankson 55, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded into prisons custody to reappear on April 14, this year.

Police Detective Chief Inspector Comfort Amankwaa told the court presided over by Mr Justice Nana Brew that the two accused persons were security guards of Avengers Security Company, which was providing security services at the construction site.

On March 18, this year, at about 1830 hours, soldiers on patrol at the site spotted Asirifi in the act of cutting a 138-millimeter cable with a hacksaw blade.

Upon seeing the military patrol team, Asirifi decided to move away but they called him and after interrogation, handed him to his Supervisor, who was the complainant in the case.

On March 19, this year, another soldier informed the complainant about the theft of some cables by one Richard Mensah, who was able to escape with his booty.

Mensah is currently on the run.

The complainant reported the matter to the Nkawie police, who arrested Asirifi and Ahenkora.

According to the prosecution, Asirifi in his caution statement denied the charges, claiming to have picked the hacksaw blade from the ground.

However, Ahenkora admitted having watched Mensah to steal the cables and that he received GHc200.00 from Mensah as his share from the sale of the cables.

Investigations are still ongoing.

GNA
Principal of the Gbewaa College of Education has bemoaned governments failure to increase the feeding amount allocated to the colleges for the feeding of teacher trainees for the past five years.

He said one major challenge confronting the College is feeding.

"It would interest you to note that for about five years now, government is yet to increase the amount of money usually allocated to the colleges for the feeding of the teacher trainees, he lamented.

Dr. Halidu Musah indicated that the rising cost of food prices have resulted in this College incurring more than seven thousand Ghana cedis debt a week.

Due to the rising cost of food prices, the situation has resulted in this College incurring a deficit of more than seven thousand Ghana (GH7000) per week, he stated.

Dr Musah laments that, the situation may also affect the quality of food served the students if nothing is done to address the financial constraints.

The principal was speaking at matriculation ceremony for 360 fresh students.

Dr. Musah told the fresh stduents that if at any point in the time during your studentship, it is detected that you falsified your results for admission, you shall be dismissed without delay.

The principal also advises students to be of good behavior. You must therefore strive to always live above board in what you do and say. Endeavour at all times to follow the approved channels of communication to seek redress of any issue. Be reminded that the College does not condone bad behavior. Hence, those found culpable of misbehaviour and insubordination will be sanctioned accordingly, he added.

Present at the matriculation was the Vice President of Kusaug traditional Council and his entourage, Naba Tambiis Baaluk-ku- Nwiake Aguuri Ibrahim II, Chief of Pusiga.
OVC Connexion-Ghana, an NGO that seeks to inculcate the ideals and qualities of servant leadership in orphans, and vulnerable children has launched an initiative to empower 50 children at Ekon in the Cape Coast Metropolis.

Focused on improving the academic performance of beneficiary children, the programme dubbed Read, Feed and Lead will also empower children to address challenges in their communities.

The beneficiary children were successfully selected after going through a laid-down assessment process and were recognized as orphans and vulnerable children who were schooling within the Ekon community.

Envisioned to cover more than 200 children next year, beneficiaries would be tutored in English Language, Mathematics, and life skills programmes and daily snacks.

Supported by Sustainable Connexions International, the children would be given quantities of supplementary reading books and teaching and learning materials before, during and after the programme to enhance their reading skills.

Mrs. Alyson Small, the President, and Executive Director of Sustainable Connexions International, expressed her joy at the successful launch of the project and thanked parents for entrusting their children in their care.

She urged the children to learn hard to enable them to develop their God-given talents to become responsible adults.

She said children were precious gifts from God, and every parent must value the gift as such.

Mr. Isaac Okpoti Tsakley, the Project Coordinator for Cape Coast, emphasized the support of this vulnerable group by enhancing their education and life skills qualities at this young age.

He said the focus of the project was to move teaching and learning away from the hostile environment, focusing on the foundational skills of learners and making teaching and learning child-centered, activity and play based.

Madam Adwoa Awortwe a beneficiary parent thanked the NGO for the support and appealed to them to expand to cover more children.
Many area law enforcement officers were recognized Thursday night at the annual Mineral Area Elks Law Enforcement Banquet, hosted at the Elks Lodge.

Big River/Bonne Terre Fire Chief David Pratte had been asked by Roland Seal, past exalted ruler of the Mineral Area Elks Lodge, to give a speech at the event. During his speech, Pratte talked about the word justice, and what it means when it comes to law enforcement.

He is very out there in the community, Seal said about Pratte while preparing a plaque. He does a wonderful job, and for all the work you do, not only for Bonne Terre but around the county with the fire protection district and so forth, weve named you our Citizen of the Year.

Pratte received the Citizen of the Year plaque from Seal. After the plaque was presented to Pratte, St. Francois Countys County Auditor Louie Seiberlich presented the municipal awards.

Patrolman Rodney Holdman was named Bonne Terres Municipal Officer of the Year. In the letter given to the Elks lodge, Police Chief Doug Calvert said Holdman was assigned the job of Ordinance/Nuisance Officer, and he works closely with the City Building Inspector. On average, Holdman sent out 50 nuisance notices a month while also answering calls, working traffic enforcement, and completing investigations. Calvert said Holdman also works with those who receive nuisance violations to correct the problems; and as a liaison with city business owners when it comes to property crimes and concerns.

Desloge Police Chief James Bullock nominated Cpl. Josh Crider for the Desloges Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Josh has been with the department since 2016, and received the rank of Corporal in April 2021. In March 2022 Josh accepted the role as a K-9 handler. James explained he and his K9 Benny have formed a good team and work well together. During the year of 2022, he made 17 drug cases, most of them after the acquisition of Benny. He also maintains all the other cases he acquires throughout the year.

Desloge Sgt. Dustin Cash received the Meritorious Valor Award from the ELKs Lodge for his outstanding professionalism and performance of duty in saving the life of fellow officer Cpl. Garrett Worley on March 17, 2022.

Farmington Police Department had two recipients. The first nominated by Farmington Police Chief Chris Bullock was Kasandra Paige Battreal. Battreal, according to Chris, was hired fresh out of the academy in June 2021, and has since become a fine officer. In 2022 Battreal wrote 244 reports and issued 333 warnings, 248 citations, and also made 140 physical arrests. Chris also said Battreal represents what a department is looking for in a good officer with knowledge, dedication, and integrity.

Cheryla Bullet Boyd was nominated for the Officer/Animal Control of the Year for her 39 years of outstanding and dedicated service to law enforcement and animal control. According to Chris, Boyd began her career in 1984 as a dispatcher with the Farmington Police Department before leaving dispatch and taking a job with the department as a full-time Animal Control Officer, where she served until 1989. She then became a full-time Police Officer in 1989 and served in that capacity until 1997. Then, she went back to become a full-time Animal Control Officer and has served as such ever since. Chris said the department will miss her, and all wish her the best in her retirement.

Park Hills Police Chief Richard McFarland nominated Officer Michael Himich as the Park Hills Police Departments Officer of the Year for 20222. Himich started with the department in June of 2021 and has since grown into a great officer said McFarland. He has made 361 traffic stops, wrote 247 citations, typed 137 reports, made 22 drug arrests, and had 30 fugitive arrests. On Feb. 19 Himich pursued a stolen side-by-side in the early morning hours, and when the driver drove off road to escape capture Himich used good judgment and terminated the pursuit so that he wouldnt endanger himself or the driver. The following morning, Himich had another encounter with the same side-by-side and another pursuit, this time successfully catching the driver with the help of the St. Francois County Sheriffs deputies.

Leadington Police Departments Sgt. Andrew Lewis was nominated by Police Chief Jerry Hicks for their Officer of the Year. Hicks said Lewis came to the department a little over a year ago and has quickly gone from officer to Sergeant. Within a few months. Lewis has been a great assistance and an amazing officer according to Hicks, as he demonstrates professionalism, ethics, and compassion to all around him. Hicks said Lewis is always finding ways to push the department into the future and focusing on better ways to do things.

Sheriff Daniel Bullock nominated Deputy Ryne K. Scherffius for Deputy of the Year. Scherffius began his career with the Sheriff's Department on March 14, 2020 and has since moved to the patrol division. In 2022 he responded to 658 calls for service, completed 76 reports and made 76 arrests for various criminal offenses. His hard work and dedication earned him a promotion to the K-9 division in November 2022.

Daniel also nominated Deputy Alex Shumate for honorable mention for 2021. In 2021, Shumate answered 1,224 calls for service, and out of those calls, Shumate completed 94 reports and arrested 81 individuals for various criminal offenses. Daniel said it was Shumates drive and leadership that earned him a promotion to K-9 duties in June 2021, and after completing a 5-week canine handler certification, Shumate returned to St. Francois County where he utilized his partner Kai. In 2022 Shumate was promoted to the rank of Corporal.

From the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Captain Ryan Burckhardt nominated Trooper Dennis Pogue. Pogue began his career with the Missouri State Highway Patrol on July 1, 2019. Upon graduating, he was assigned to Troop C, Zone 14, in Washington and St. Francois counties. During his career, Burkhardt said Pogue has defined himself as a gentleman who actively enforces the law and is an outstanding, hardworking, and reliable member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. His professionalism and commitment to his career is a reminder that Pogue is a police officer who wants to make a difference in the lives of those he encounters daily.

Captain Chris Crider from the Missouri State Park Rangers nominated Ranger David DJ McCarty Jr. for Missouri State Park Ranger of the Year. McCarty started his career with the rangers in October of 2021, and is stationed in Zone Two with St. Francois and Jefferson counties being his primary area of responsibility. Chris said McCarty has shown constant growth in his role, and his willingness to help others is shown in his daily work. McCarty leads the zones in arrest for 2022, and is the first to volunteer for events or training. He is also enrolled in training to be certified as an emergency medical technician, which Chris said will be extremely beneficial to state park visitors.

911 Communications Director Alan Wells nominated the night shift crew consisting of Supervisor Doug Graham, Ashley Richard, Rikki Mayberry, Brody Johnson, Michelle Mabry, and Justin Barton. Wells said on March 17, 2022 this crew was on duty throughout the entire incident involving officers Layne Burns and Worley of the Bonne Terre Police Department, and worked as a team to coordinate the appropriate response needed. A month later the same shift handled another high profile incident involving Officer Pete Unverferth with the Ste. Genevieve Police. Wells said the shift is greatly respected by their peers and fellow officers.

St. Francois County Ambulance District David Tetrault nominated two members of the district for Paramedic of the Year. Emily Schumer began working for the district in 2020 and in that time has made a lasting impression on coworkers and patients said Tetrault. She goes above and beyond in every aspect of her job, provides excellent patient care and advocates for her patients. In her time off she volunteers for the department on projects like the Save Your Sweetheart event where employees train members of the community how to perform hands-only CPR.

The second member nominated was Derrick Carlton, who Tetrault said has been an outstanding employee over the last 13 years. Carlton is a Paramedic and Field Training Officer with the District, and his dedication, clinical knowledge, and excellent work habits are wonderful examples for future EMS providers. Carlton serves on the SFCAD Emergency Response Team and has been deployed to several different states during times of disaster. He is also a member of the Missouri EMS Funeral Response Team.

Seal awarded the last plaque, the Law Enforcement Meritorious Centurion award to former Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker. Baker was not in attendance, so the plaque went to Chris Bullock. Baker was a key factor in the ad hoc committee that brought Backstoppers to the area. Seal said he has known Baker most of his life, and he was very dedicated.
The United Nations (UN) Eminent Peace Ambassador to Ghana, Dr Samuel Ben Owusu has warned that Ghana may import water and or buy water at a very high price in future if the country's water bodies are not protected from the activities of illegal miners.

He observed that one of the challenges Ghana was facing was the pollution of water bodies, citing galamsey, disposal of refuse in water bodies, and building on waterways amongst others.

The UN Peace Ambassador gave the warning after his return from the United Nations Global Water Sustainable Conference held at New York, United Nations Assembly Hall, in the United States of America (USA).

It was aimed at reaffirming the internationally agreed water-related goals and targets including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Amb. Dr Samuel Owusu represented the West African Mission of the International Association of World Peace Advocates and Ghana respectively.

He called on churches, organisations and individuals to ensure that the water bodies are preserved.

He said if Christians do not get involved, it will get to a time they will not even get water for baptism.

We know that the President is doing all he can so that the management of water can stand well, but it needs individuals, it needs organisations, it needs churches, the media and everybody to join the fight, he said.

He added, When a person becomes a Christian, he or she is baptized, and if Christians do not get involved in protecting and managing the water we have in this country, we will not have a site to baptize anyone. People now perform baptisms in swimming pools rather than running water because we have allowed our water to become polluted, which has caused us a great deal of harm. In the next 50 years, we may not have access to water if we do not take precautions and the government does not take the necessary steps.

Amb. Dr Samuel Owusu also noted that the United Nations has drafted a policy to ensure that by 2030, there should be successful water management across the world, expressing hope that by then, water pollution in Ghana, especially galamsey, will be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, he called on individuals, groups, schools and all those who wish to have knowledge about water to call on him for assistance.

He said he will also use his platform to preach to the people the need to maintain water in the country.

-Citi Newsroom
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has asked Ghanaians to disregard reports that it is planning to introduce a GH500 coin as part of the countrys legal tender.

Reports are rife on social media alleging that such a coin, with samples already viral, is in the works.

But the apex bank said it has no such intentions. The Director for Currency Management at the Bank of Ghana, Dominic Owusu, dismissed the reports and described them as false.

When there is a currency issuance or change, the Bank of Ghana will come with an appropriate press release to inform the public. We saw on social media that the central bank will issue a GH500 note or coin, but the bank has not done any such thing. So it's not true, Mr Owusu clarified.

Mr. Owusu also responded to reports that the one pesewas coin is no longer legal tender.

The central bank has not demonetised the one pesewa coin, he said in a Joy News interview.

Mr. Owusu further urged Ghanaians to handle the cedi notes with care to prevent them from getting worn out easily.

We want the education out there for people to learn how to handle the cedi not to worn out. That's why you journalists are here, and I want you to help the central bank in that quest. The bank is also doing its part and will make sure all is done to save the cedi, Mr. Owusu stressed.

- Citi Newsroom
Member of Parliament for the Cape Coast South constituency, George Ricketts-Hagan has reiterated the decision of the Minority Caucus to vote against the governments new tax bills.

The Cape Coast South lawmaker said the Minority is committed to resisting the bills as a bold statement to the government that it cannot be reckless with its expenditure and expect Ghanaians to pay the price.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Mr. Ricketts-Hagan intimated that the procedure to have the bills either rejected or approved is different from what occurred with the approval of the presidents ministerial nominees.

He said if the government really wants to raise revenue, it must then cut down its extravagant and reckless spending and not continue to burden Ghanaians with more taxes that have no basis.

The size of the government is too large and there is so much wasteful expenditure, and we want the government to do what it can to reduce the economic situation in the country and that is our position.

Mr. Ricketts-Hagan further slammed the Executives decision to cut down salaries in its quest to cut costs.

All these are cosmetic cuts because what we want the government to do is to cut down on expenditure which they are not doing. If the government is really serious to reduce its spending, it can do it and IMF will be glad about that.

He also urged the government to adopt the Zambian strategy where the country refused to seek a financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund, but it is still functioning with no hitches.

Zambia refused to go to the IMF for a bailout and many warned that the country will fold up, but Zambia is still up and doing well and looking within to raise revenue while cutting down on its spending, and they are doing well. The government must stop behaving like a leaked bucket in its spending and save Ghanaians.

-Citinewsroom
Former President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday, concluded his three-day tour of the Central Region with a vow to fix the countrys ailing economy if delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) gave him the mandate to lead the party in the 2024 general election.

Expressing a strong belief in winning the party's presidential slot on Saturday, May 13, he accused the government of mismanaging the country's economy since assuming office.

Rounding up his tour in Assin Central after visiting the Upper Denkyira West and Upper Denkyira East constituencies, he said the Ghanaian economy has been collapsed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia with their 'voracious appetite for borrowing'.

The debt crisis, for which there are very few tangible projects to show for, and the worsening economic hardship of Ghanaians amply demonstrate the negative impact of a collapsed economy.

Former President Mahama, who occupies number one position on the ballot paper for the party's presidential primary, has massive support from all constituencies visited amid rousing welcome.

Former President Mahama would be contesting the slot with Mr. Kojo Bonsu, former Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, and Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, a former Minister of Finance and Governor of the Bank of Ghana, who occupy the second and third positions on the ballot paper respectively.

On the campaign trail were Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, a former running mate in the 2020 presidential elections, Prof Joshua Alabi, convener of former President Mahama's campaign, Mr. Julius Debrah, former Chief of Staff and some former NDC appointees, Members of Parliament, regional, constituency, and branch executives of the party.

Mr Mahama started the tour by visiting seven constituencies including the Awutu Senya East Constituency, Awutu Senya West, Gomoa East, Effutu, Gomoa Central, Agona East, and Agona West on Tuesday.

For the second day, he visited Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, Ekumfi, Gomoa West, Mfantseman, Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese, Cape Coast South and North, Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira and Twifo Atti-Mokwa constituencies.

He said the country's economic woes could not be blamed or attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian-Ukraine war, but rather on poor governance and reckless borrowing.

He recounted how the government's attention was drawn to the increasing rate of borrowing by the minority in parliament in every budget they brought to Parliament in 2018, but were ignored.

Even the World Bank told them that you are risking going into debt distress because of too much borrowing, and they refused to listen. Today, exactly what they were warned against is what has happened, so why are they running from taking responsibility for the mess created?.

He, therefore, urged the government to stop the blame game and be bold to tell Ghanaians that it had mismanaged the economy, saying victory in the 2024 general election is already staring the NDC in the face.

Assuring Ghanaians of better years ahead, he asked the youth to rise, and with collective and patriotic energies rescue the nation from decay, saying democracy, transparency, and accountability were bedfellows.

He said the NDC has done it before; bringing tangible socio-economic infrastructure to communities and ensuring the economy worked for all and not just a privileged few.

GNA
Parliament has directed the Electoral Commission (EC) to hold on with its plans to use the Ghana Card as the sole document for registration onto the voters register for the upcoming 2024 general elections.

This comes after officials of the EC, the NIA, and the Finance Minister appeared before the Committee on the Whole of Parliament to provide a brief on the proposed constitutional instrument by the electoral body.

The Committee in its report says the EC must ensure that all eligible voters are allowed to secure their Ghana cards before the presentation of the new CI in Parliament for passage.

Deputy Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for the Effutu constituency said the decision to direct the EC to rework the CI was a neutral one devoid of political leanings.

It must be emphasized that in coming to a conclusion on the way to go on the CI, this matter was not a partisan one, but it was one that all of us had an interest in, and so I will want to dispel any notion out there that whereas the NDC was against the EC, the NPP was for the EC.

He however admonished that should the EC decide to push the CI through, MPs must do their best to educate their constituents on its provisions.

It must be emphasized that should the CI be considered by the Electoral Commission, it is upon us to educate our people because, unlike the old CI, no impression should be given to those without a Ghana Card that they can just go and expect anybody at all to guarantee for them.

On his part, the Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim charged his colleagues to vote against the CI when it is finally brought to Parliament for approval.

I want to call on colleagues from all sides to vote to adopt the report because doing so will do the country some good.

-citinewsroom
Donald Trumps court hearing has been set for Tuesday afternoon, according to the BBCs US partner CBS News.

The former president is expected to fly from Florida on his private plane and hand himself in with federal agents there to protect him.

A grand jury has indicted Mr Trump in connection with a $130,000 (105,000) pay-out to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The charges are not yet public, and a lawyer for Mr Trump said on Friday that he too has yet to read the indictment.

A law enforcement official told CBS that Mr Trump is expected to fly his private plane to New York on Monday before surrendering to officials on Tuesday.

The process is likely to involve dozens or possibly hundreds of Secret Service agents, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mr Trump will not be handcuffed, the official added, saying that shackles are typically only used on suspects who are thought to be a flight or safety risk.

The hearing is due to take place at 14:15 local time (19:15GMT).

Mr Trumps lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told ABC News that Mr Trump will probably appear in court on Tuesday, but nothing is certain.

Prosecutors will try and get every ounce of publicity they can from this thing, he said, adding the president will not be put in handcuffs.

I understand theyre going to be closing off blocks around the courthouse, shutting down the courthouse, he continued.

Security is being co-ordinated by the FBI, NYPD, Secret Service and New York City court officers.

Sources tell CBS that they are bracing for possible scenarios that include attacks against Mr Trump, prosecutors, jurors or members of the public. The district attorneys office has received many threats, the sources said.

On Friday morning, the streets around the courthouse were calm but the barricades were going up in anticipation of what may come next week.

Police officers were on patrol and security plans were being put into place. Many expect the area to go into lockdown when the former president attends court.

The district attorneys office had initially asked Mr Trump to surrender on Friday, according to Politico, but the request was rejected because more time was needed for security preparations.

Mr Trump, 76, denies wrongdoing. He is the first serving or former US president to face a criminal charge.

It is unclear how many charges are contained in the indictment, which is still sealed.

Media reports have said the ex-president faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud and Mr Tacopina said on Thursday he thought there would be 34. But on Friday, he said he did not know how many.

We know what the subject matter is, we know the basis of the charges. We dont know the exact counts or how theyre formulated, he said.

On Friday Mr Trump began attacking the judge assigned to his case in an effort to undermine the credibility of the investigation and rally his base to his defence.

Republicans  including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy  have accused the Manhattan district attorney of weaponising the criminal justice system to influence next years presidential election. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who Mr Trump recently suggested should run for Senate, called on followers to protest and said she plans to be present in New York next week.

In response, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the charges had been brought by citizens of New York doing their civic duty  and neither the former president nor Congress could interfere with proceedings.

In Washington, the US Capitol Police, which are tasked with safeguarding lawmakers in Congress, said the force believes protests will take place across the country and have plans in place to increase security at the US Capitol.

In 2016 adult film star Stormy Daniels contacted media outlets offering to sell her account of what she said was an adulterous affair she had with Mr Trump in 2006  the year after he married his current wife, Melania.

Mr Trumps team got wind of this and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to Ms Daniels to keep quiet. This is not illegal.

However, when Mr Trump reimbursed Mr Cohen, the record for the payment says it was for legal fees. Prosecutors say this amounts to Mr Trump falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanour  a criminal offence  in New York.

President Joe Biden declined to comment on the indictment, despite being pressed on the issue by journalists as he left the White House on a trip to Mississippi.

Mr Tacopina said Mr Trump was being pursued by a prosecutor who has obviously very diverse political views from the president. So its a very troubling case.

He said the former president was not worried at all about the charges.

Hes upset, angry. Hes being persecuted politically. That is clear to many people, not only on the Right but on the Left.
A former Member of Parliament has taken a swipe at the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin for descending on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his comments on the anti-gay bill when US Vice President paid a courtesy call on him at the Presidency during the week.

President Akufo-Addo, in answering a question posed by a US journalist accompanying Kamala Harris, said Ghana had not yet passed an anti-LGBTQ law.

He, however, indicated that he will step in after the process ends in Parliament, which is currently studying a bill proposed by some private members.

It hasn't been passed, so the statement that there is a legislation in Ghana to that effect is not accurate, Mr Akufo-Addo corrected the journalist.

Parliament is dealing with it and at the end of the process, I will come in.

This had incensed the Speaker, who told the President to stay out of this because so far as he is concerned, he, Mr Bagbin, is in charge.

At a breakfast meeting with the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship on Tuesday, March 28, the Speaker insisted that President Akufo-Addo has no locus to come in now but will be forced to implement the dictates of the bill once it is passed.

However, speaking on TV3s The Keypoints on Saturday, April 1, former Tema East Member of Parliament (MP) Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover said the Speaker got the President totally wrong.

[President Akufo-Addo] said he will come in after the whole process in Parliament, he said.

Mr Speaker, you totally got the President wrong.

He also indicated that the current crop of MPs, so far as he knows, will not pass any law that will support homosexuality.

-3news.com
Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Speaker of Parliament, Friday described the Late Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, as a noble statesman, who chartered a nationalistic path and contributed to national development.

He said: The Hon. member was a good and clear-minded person, who never allowed emotions to cloud his thoughts when making contributions on the floor of Parliament.

Mr Bagbin eulogised the late Dr Akoto Osei when his family paid a courtesy call on him in Parliament.

The former MP first entered Parliament on January 7, 2005 in the 4th Parliament and served three terms.

He was a cabinet member of former President John Agyekum Kuffours government as Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning and major economic advisor to the government.

The late MP helped in the management of finance and planning activities in the country.

He died on Monday, March 20, 2023 at age of 69.

On his part, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the majority Leader, described the late Akoto Osei as an even-tempered person, a trait which endeared him to all members, irrespective of their political affiliations.

Mr Cyril Oteng Nsiah, the Clerk to Parliament, indicated that the late member was a deep thinker, who brought a lot of timely solutions to issues.

GNA
The Minority in Parliament has been able to make a case for why the Ghana Card should not be the sole requirement for Voter Registration by the Electoral Commission (EC).

The Ghana Card as the only source of identification for Voter Registration is contained in a New Constitutional Instrument (CI) presented to Parliament by the Commission.

In February when EC Chairperson Jean Mensa visited Parliament to defend the New CI she explained that the move has become necessary to make the Voter Register of Ghana most credible.

She argued that making the Ghana Card the only source of identification will rid the register of foreigners and people who are underage.

The use of only Ghana Card will ensure and guarantee the credibility of the register and elections, prevent enrolment of minors, prevent foreigners from voting, eliminate the guarantor system which is prone to abuse, Jean Mensa stressed.

She further explained that the EC has no intention of making the Ghana Card itself the Voter ID Card as had been speculated.

The Ghana Card will not be used for voting in 2024, it will be used to register, she said.

After weeks of consideration, Parliament on Friday, March 31, rejected the New CI presented by the Electoral Commission.

Both the Minority and Majority in Parliament unanimously agreed that at this point in time, the guarantor system should still be used during registration.

In the past, the Minority had argued that abolishing the guarantor system now will disenfranchise a lot of Ghanaians.
The governments ambition to raise more revenue has received a massive boost following the passing of three new revenue Bills by Parliament.

In the last few days, there had been a heated debate on three revenue Bills; the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, the Excise Duty and Excise Tax Stamp (Amendment) Bill, and the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill.

While government explained that it urgently needs the Bills passed to help the country, the Minority opposed the idea with the argument that Ghanaians are already suffering and should not be burdened with more tax.

Before the end of sitting on Friday, March 31, Parliament voted on the three new revenue Bills.

Fortunately, for the government, all Bills were passed after a majority decision of 137-136.

With the three Bills, government aims to generate approximately GHC4 billion a year to supplement domestic revenue.

The passing of the Bills is also expected to help government in the quest to secure a board-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The agreement will see Ghana receive a US$3 billion credit facility from government to help revive the countrys economy and set it on a path of growth.
Two candidates are seeking election to the St. Francois County 911 Board this Tuesday. The candidates are vying for a District 1 seat soon to be vacated as current board member Mark Allen prepares to retire.

Terry Luetkemeyer

Luetkemeyer, 66, lives with his wife in Farmington. The couple has three children and four grandchildren.

Luetkemeyer attended the University of Missouri-Columbia, earning a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics.

The candidate spent 33 years working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Rural Development mission area as an area director. He spent the final seven years of his working career with First State Community Bank, where he set up and managed a government lending department specializing in tax-exempt lending to governmental bodies and commercial guaranteed loans through the SBA and USDA.

Luetkemeyer is a member of the Elks Lodge in Farmington.

Asked about his motivation for seeking election to the St. Francois County 911 Board, Luetkemeyer mentioned wanting to serve the county's essential services.

"I presently serve as a volunteer on the 911 finance committee board and was involved in financing the equipment and new 911 building while working at First State [Community Bank]," said Luetkemeyer. "My main motivation is the desire to be involved in an organization that provides an essential service to the area."

In terms of qualifications that make him a good fit for the board, Luetkemeyer cited his experience working with governing entities, emergency personnel, and financial matters.

"My work history with USDA Rural Development and First State Community Bank has provided me with an in-depth knowledge of various governmental bodies, their boards, and first responder groups," Luetkemeyer noted. "In addition, I have a good working knowledge of governmental accounting and budgeting."

Speaking about his goals if elected to the county's 911 board, Luetkemeyer said he would strive to maintain the growth and progress made in improving the area's emergency communications.

"Continue to work towards improving 911 coverage and explore other projects that might be a good fit for the organization," Luetkemeyer said of his objectives.

Steve Young

Young, 46, lives in Farmington. The candidate is married and has three children.

Young attended classes at Mineral Area College. He is employed as a fire and explosion investigator for a large insurance provider and has 20 years of experience working in fire and explosion investigation.

Young serves as the secretary of the board of directors for the Missouri chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators. He is the principle committee member for the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 1033 and NFPA 1700 committees. Young is also the assistant fire chief for the Wolf Creek Fire Protection District and has been a department member for 22 years. The candidate is a member of the Farmington Christian Church.

When asked what motivated him to seek election to the county's 911 board, Young said he wanted to bring his experience in emergency response to 911, saying it was a crucial service to the community.

"I have seen a lot of good changes happen at the 911 center since the passage of the sales tax," said Young. "I believe that our 911 center is one of the best in the State of Missouri. I am running for the open District 1 seat because I believe in the continued advancement of our emergency services in St. Francois County. That advancement begins with the 911 center. It is the lifeline between our citizens and our emergency services."

Speaking on what makes him qualified to serve on the 911 board, Young pointed to his work in multiple capacities of emergency service throughout the years.

"My knowledge and experience in emergency services include 25 years in the fire service, six years as a 911 dispatcher (five years at St. Francois County 911, 2004  2009; and one year at Ste. Genevieve 911, 2003 - 2004), committee member that helped develop 911 dispatch protocols for St. Francois County 911 fire dispatching, nine years as a director and one year as the secretary of the Missouri Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators, 10 years as a principal committee member with two NFPA technical committees and over 20 years as a fire and explosion investigator.

"I have also served on numerous sub-committees in regard to the fire service, fire investigation, 911, and insurance industry," Young added.

Young said some of his goals as a board member would be to maintain high-quality standards of the county's 911 services and its staff.

"One of my goals, if elected to the 911 board, is to ensure that our 911 center continues to provide the best 911 dispatching service to our citizens and emergency services," said Young. "This can only be continued through professional dispatching, state-of-the-art equipment and technology.

"Another goal is to ensure that our 911 center continues to recruit and retain the best-qualified personnel for new dispatchers and retain our great staff of current dispatchers. This can only be achieved by ensuring that our dispatchers are compensated with salary and benefits equal to or greater than dispatchers in adjacent counties such as Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis. We must remember that these dedicated men and women are the first voice that our citizens hear when they are having their worst day."
A Mongolian boy born in the United Staes has been named by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the third most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism.

According to media reports, the eight-year-old has dual nationality and is said to have a twin.

He is reportedly the son of a university professor and the grandson of a former Mongolian member of parliament.

Buddhism's spiritual leader

We have the reincarnation of Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche of Mongolia with us today, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, told 600-odd followers at the unveiling ceremony in Dharamshala, the north Indian Himalayan town.

The ninth Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa died in 2012 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and since then there has been a tense wait for his reincarnation.

Analysts say the move to acknowledge him as the rebirth of Buddhism's spiritual leader in Mongolia is likely to anger China.

Chinese authorities had insisted they would only recognise Buddhist leaders who the country's own special government-approved appointees have chosen.

With this move, the Dalai Lama has finessed the Chinese," Jayadeva Ranade, president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy told RFI.

"The recognition was done quietly and without the Chinese getting wind of the move. It reasserts the Dalai Lama's prerogative to recognise, or authenticate the reincarnate monks.

This right is something the Chinese government has been trying to usurp.

Srikanth Kondapalli, professor of China studies at the capital's Jawaharlal Nehru University, pointed out that the Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa is considered to be a crucial leader in influencing the identification of the future next Dalai Lama and other crucial religious issues in Tibetan Buddhism.

As the Chinese Communist party wants to control and decide about the succession of the 15th Dalai Lama, by invoking a 17th century Qing dynasty practice, the above move not only curtails China's choice but also renews the current Dalai Lama's hold over the pan-Tibetan Buddhism across the globe, Kondapalli told RFI.

In 1995, when the Dalai Lama named a new Panchen Lama, the second most important figure in the faith, the child was swiftly arrested by Chinese authorities and replaced with a candidate of their own.

Today, he is the vice-president of the Buddhist Association of China and seen in monasteries across Tibet, spreading pro-China messages.

Implications of the move

Alka Acharya, honorary director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, maintained that the identification of successors in the pantheon has become an intrinsic element in the politics and the power dynamics of the primary contestation between China and the Dalai Lama, and therefore Tibet.

It is unlikely that this matter will cause any major shake-up in the Buddhist world in the short to medium term. The Mongolian clergy which will have to endorse the announcement and will be subject to the larger China -Mongolia statist equation, Acharya told RFI.

China is determined to have complete control over the succession of the Buddhist religious clergy.

China does not want the Dalai Lama to have anything to do with identifying the reincarnations of Tibetan Buddhist Lamas, including the next Dalai Lama.

Should the current Dalai Lama, 87, die without naming his successor, the role or opinion of the just appointed Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa could be crucial, as a large number of Tibetan Buddhists do not acknowledge the China-recognised Panchen Lama.

The Dalai Lama fled to India in early 1959 from the Tibetan capital Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

He has since worked to draw global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his homeland.
There is no question that Ghana's hardworking and apolitical world-class solid-achiever-types, who make up its impressive middle-class demographic, now understand that far from being insulated from the effects of ruinous high-level corruption, because of their wealth, they are just as vulnerable to the debilitating effects of bad leadership, as are ordinary Ghanaians.

It is for that reason that prudence demands that middle-class Ghanaians ought to demand that before any debt rescheduling and cancellations take place, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), members of the Paris Club of Nations and China, must act in concert, to force certain changes, to drastically reduce the high-level corruption slowly destroying Ghana.

Chief amongst those anti-corruption measures, must be new legislation giving the Auditor General prosecutorial powers. That is a must if the big-thieves-in-high-places who dominate our system and are selfishly milking Mother Ghana dry, are to be checkmated.

Next up after that anti-corruption measure, must follow new legislation indemnifying all whistleblowers from prosecution - which also incentivises whistleblowing: by rewarding whistleblowers with 30 percent of recovered purloined public funds resulting from their exposure of nation-wrecking high-level corruption.

If those changes (amongst a host of other needed anti-corruption measures), aren't forced on Ghana's hard-of-hearing greed-filled ruling-elites, Ghana will not be able to achieve its full potential regardless of which of the two dominant political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), happens to be in power, in Ghana, at any given point in time, going forward into the future. That is how the IMF can best help rescue Ghana from certain ruination. Yoooooooo...
01.04.2023 LISTEN

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) urges the government of Benue state to intervene and provide Ms. Msendo Idun and her babies necessary support. Ms. Idun, 20, is at the Foundational Memorial Hospital Makurdi where she gave birth to twins on Sunday, March 26, 2023. She has been discharged but cannot leave the hospital because of her inability to pay the medical bills. Msendo was billed 150,000 naira but has only paid 55 thousand naira. The father of the twins, Terwase, abandoned her shortly after she took in. The mother of Terwase, Mrs. Adzenda, asked the son to reject her and the pregnancy.

For nine months, Msendo managed the pregnancy without any help from Terwase or his family. The last time she saw Terwase was in December 2022. Also, neither Terwase nor his mother has bothered to check or call on her since she gave birth on Sunday. The AfAW contact in Benue has visited the hospital and confirmed this difficult and worrisome situation. He reported that Msendoo looked weary, sad, and malnourished.

Msendo's case is not linked to witch persecution which is the main focus of AfAW. But last night, the AfAW intervened and donated one hundred thousand (100, 000) naira to help Ms Msendo settle the medical bills. Msendo needs more assistance to take care of her babies. The AfAW calls on state authorities in Benue to take necessary measures to support and ensure the well-being of Msendo and the babies. The government should compel Terwase to provide child support and fulfill his parental obligations and responsibilities as required by law. Meanwhile, the AfAW calls on the state chapter of the National Human Rights Commission office and the International Federation of Women Lawyers, the state department of social welfare, the ministry of women affairs, child rights and women groups, charity organizations, well-meaning individuals in Nigeria and beyond to intervene and ensure that Msendo and the babies get the help that they urgently need.

By Leo Igwe
01.04.2023 LISTEN

We condemn the practice of unethical journalism by a Prothom Alo photojournalist who instigated a child by offering

money to make comments on the Independence and National Day.

On the Independence and National Day, the photojournalist gave a kid Taka 10 asking him to comment saying, We want freedom of fish, meat and rice", which goes against the ethics of journalism and is a shameless example of using a child for political purposes.

The boy was giving interview in front of the National Memorial in Savar, which is a symbol of our freedom; and what he did not say was publicised. The child himself later told reporters that the Prothom Alo journalist asked him to say this in exchange of Taka 10.

The veracity of the childs assertion and withdrawal of the Prothom Alo news item 17 minutes after its release established the fact that the child was used for political purposes to make the government embarrassed, which is a punishable crime. The story was false, fabricated and politically motivated. Police arrested Prothom Alo journalist Shamsuzzaman after a case was filed against him by the offended people.

According to people from all strata, this kind of falsehood against the state, society, independence is a crime. We think running such false, fabricated and ill-motivated story on the Independence Day has completely gone against the ethics of journalism.

The increasing trend of misinformation and fake news has become a grave concern day by day. Therefore, journalists have to work responsibly keeping in mind that nobody is above the law.

If we all work together, we will be able to fight the mounting trend of misinformation and fake news. In this regard, everyone has a responsibility to combat the scourge of fake news and disinformation.

We all have to promote strong norms on professional journalism, support investigative journalism, reduce financial incentives for fake news, and improve digital literacy among the general public.

The practice of ethics in mass media is very important in the multidimensional development of society and state. The expansion and freedom of mass media are very necessary in multidimensional development of the state, democracy and society, and at the same time, ethics in journalism is vital to this end too.

The government does not want to control the press as it believes the press will be an auxiliary force of society, family and country. Therefore, the press must have liberty, but, side by side good sense should prevail on everybody for the sake of society while disseminating news and views.

Independent Bangladesh today stands tall on the world map. Bangladesh's progress in various fields including economy, infrastructure, education, medical, housing is enviable. This development of Bangladesh is a wonder of the world. All developed countries of the world, world leaders are full of praise for this development of Bangladesh. Those who once called Bangladesh a 'bottomless basket' are today calling Bangladesh a model of development. Today Bangladesh is praised in every forum of the world. After a long struggle and movement, Bangladesh became independent through a long nine-month liberation war led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. And the economic and social development of the country has become possible under the leadership of his privileged daughter. Due to which the image of Bangladesh has been bright in the world meeting, Sheikh Hasina is one of the most influential leaders in the world today.

This development in Bangladesh, the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina has never been seen well by the anti-independence circle. Local and foreign interests have recently joined them. Sometimes talking about progress, sometimes talking about human rights, they want to belittle the development of the country. Anti-national propaganda is done whenever there is an opportunity. A national daily newspaper is the most advanced in this work. Those who talk about human rights and fundamental rights are the ones who break these again. Allegedly, their only agenda is to tarnish the progress of development and tarnish the image of the country. The elected constitutional government should not be tolerated by them. Their aim is to steal benefits by putting an unelected government in power. We saw their masks during the One-Eleven. To achieve this goal, they are using some foreign states and organizations, including a class of intellectuals. Dragging them with false information.

Last March 26, the newspaper insulted independence by publishing a picture online of a child and calling it a day laborer. Later, a placard was made and spread on Facebook. After some time in the face of intense criticism, they revised the news slightly, but by then, what happened was done. This newspaper has been doing such activities for a long time. Common people think that they are doing this to tarnish the image of the country. Sheikh Hasina has been criticizing the development of the government whenever she gets an opportunity. The newspaper called Prothom Alo published the anti-independence news on March 26 which is harmful to the country's freedom and the country as a whole. It is not unfair to take action against those who repeatedly do this. Various organizations of journalists and professionals have expressed their support for the action taken by the government on March 26 against anti-independence news coverage.

The most important thing is that an ignorant child has been used in this news of Prothom Alo. In whose hands, anti-independence speech was brought out with 10 taka. How is this journalism? They talk big about child labor, child rights, hold meetings and seminars. There are also some foreign organizations and countries with them. Their character is to oppose the government like that newspaper. Handing 10 rupees to a child and insulting freedom through it, putting the child's life in danger - this is not an unforgivable crime. Is it a crime to take action against the journalist who published the news in this newspaper? Where the independence of the country has been ridiculed, will the state and government sit quietly? The government did not remain silent. took action. And in this, some people of our civilized society and some foreign countries and organizations who talk about Bangladesh in words did not see it well. They want us to remain silent even if they mock our freedom and sovereignty. But the people of independent Bangladesh won through the bloody liberation war cannot and will not accept it. That is why a case has been filed regarding the news of the newspaper. It is now a court matter. Because no one is above the law in independent sovereign Bangladesh.

Finally, it is a heinous crime to publish an anti-independence news story using a child's picture without the family's permission. It can never be journalism, yellow journalism. Foreign countries that talk about Bangladesh's human rights, freedom of media, find fault, criticize Bangladesh, do not see any words on their faces when such crimes are committed. Have they thought, if the anti-independence news is served in the hands of an ignorant child with a small amount of money, if such a thing happened in their country, then what measures would not have been taken in their laws? Human rights would not have been violated then. In fact, they are ignorant. What is the state of human rights in their country, what is the state of the media, we see in the international media from time to time. Murder, shooting is now a daily occurrence in many developed countries. They don't talk about them but talk about freedom of speech only for Bangladesh. We have to get out of this. Patriotic people and the government should be more aware.

Jubeda Chowdhury is a Dhaka based teacher, freelance columnist, researcher.
Two platoons of the Formed Police Unit (FPU) will soon be deployed to the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo Police District Command to beef up policing in the area, Ambrose Dery, the Minister of Interior, has informed Parliament.

This, he said would go a long way to help curb the increasing cases of robberies and other violent crimes in the North East Region and the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo area.

Mr Dery said this in response to a question by Dr Abed-Nego Azumah Bandim, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bunkpurugu.

The MP asked the Minister what measures have been put in place to curb the increasing cases of armed robberies in the Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri District.

The Minister said the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District Police Command was responsible for the Bunkpurugu-Nyankpanduri and Yunyoo-Nasuan Local Government Districts.

He said there were three Police Stations in two Districts with 49 Police personnel, which indicates that the Police to civilian ratio in the district was one Police to 2,842 civilians.

Mr Dery noted that this ratio was far below the United Nations requirement of a 1:500 Police civilians ratio.

He reiterated that this notwithstanding, the Police Administration had put in place measures to combat robberies and other violent crimes in the district.

The measures he mentioned included intelligence-led Policing, mounting Police Check Points at robbery-prone areas, and escort of commercial vehicles and market women to and from various markets.

Other measures included foot and vehicle patrols and organised swoops at criminal hideouts.

Some newly passed out constables have been posted to augment the existing Police strengthen in the District to perform visibility duties, he stated.

GNA
Mrs Monalisa Okojie, Founder, Upward African Woman (UAW) Foundation, a Canadian-based Non-Profit Organisation, has encouraged girls to manage their periods with confidence and dignity.

She said menstruation was a natural biological process, experienced by half of the world's population, yet, it remained shrouded in secrecy and stigma in many cultures.

Mrs Okojie said this at a programme at the Obosomase Methodist Basic School, Aburi, in the Eastern Region, under the Expose Africa Initiative, Ghana Project to empower girls and women.

The programme was on the theme: ''Promoting Menstrual Health, Hygiene and Child Development.''

As part of the programme, the Foundation donated consumables, bottles of water and drinks, gifts to students who performed excellently in their studies and sanitary pads for young girls.

Mrs Okojie underscored the need for girls to be educated on menstrual health and hygiene to prevent them from being embarrassed about it as well as to reduce the stigma surrounding it.

The Founder noted that a lack of menstrual education and information could negatively impact girls' ability to attend school or participate in daily activities.

''Menstruation can be uncomfortable and even painful for some girls, but there are ways to manage these symptoms through proper hygiene and self-care. Using clean and safe menstrual products, such as pads or tampons, can help prevent infections and other health issues,'' she stated.

Mrs Okojie said practising good menstrual health and hygiene was crucial for both physical and emotional well-being and could boost self-esteem and confidence as girls felt more in control of their bodies and lives.

The Founder advised them to educate themselves extensively about menstrual health and hygiene, and ask questions or seek help when necessary.

''Remember that taking care of your body and your mental health is important, and that includes managing your periods in a way that works best for you. Finally, do not let anyone make you feel like you cannot do something or achieve your goals just because you are in your period. You are capable of anything you set your mind to, regardless of your menstrual cycle,'' she said.

Mrs Aineakho Ojior, Director, Programme Development of the Foundation, advised girls to own and be protective of their bodies.

She asked them to report all persons who offensively touched them.

Mrs Ojior urged girls to take their studies seriously to become prominent people in their communities.

Madam Joana Ofori-Manteaw, Headmistress of the School, expressed gratitude to the Foundation for its kind gesture.

She appealed to the Government, philanthropists, and individuals to build a library for the pupils to improve their learning abilities, a science laboratory for their practical, renovate the school and provide furniture for her office.

''My table and chair are broken so I have covered them up in my office,'' she stated.

Miss Magdalene Offeibea, a Junior High 2, pupil said with the insight they had received from the Foundation about menstruation they would endeavour to abide by them.

Upward African Woman is a California-based Non-Prot Organisation, founded in 2014 to empower women, giving them and their children an opportunity for a better life.

In Ghana, the Foundation offers full scholarships for females in Fashion Design, Hairdressing, Beauty, Spa and Salon, and Cosmetology.

GNA
Mr Emmanuel Holortu, Chief Executive Officer of Safety Protections Against Crime Consult, has called on traditional authorities to stop interfering in and arbitrating criminal cases such as rape, defilement, incest and murder in their communities.

He has also advised community actors such as chiefs, queen mothers and Assembly members to assist victims of domestic violence to report or refer serious incidents of abuse to the Police for legal redress.

Mr Horlortu made the call during a sensitisation meeting organised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG)

The two-day meeting, held in Tamale, was to strengthen community systems for Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH) as well as Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and HIV/TB.

It was also to engage with community leaders to create awareness and provide support mechanisms for PSEAH/GBV and HIV/TBTB.

Mr Horlortu said most cases of domestic violence were not reported to the Police leaving the victims without justice.

He added that mostly, in the rural areas, it was women and girls, who remained the most victims of domestic violence.

He urged civil society organisations and traditional leaders to support efforts to create awareness of the fight against domestic violence in their communities.

Madam Bushira Alhassan, Acting Northern Regional Director of the Department of Gender, said three out of five women in the country had experienced some form of assault.

Madam Alhassan added that adolescents and young girls in marriages or cohabitation relationships in the country were more vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence.

GNA
On 1 April, Russia took up the presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council. Ukraine's foreign minister described the situation as "the worst joke ever for April Fool's Day".

Each of the council's 15 members takes up the presidency for one month. The last time Russia was in charge was in February 2022, the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

The Security Council is responsible for maintaining peace worldwide.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the move, which the UN described as inevitable since Russia is a permanent council member, was further proof that the international security aparatus is fatally flawed.

Noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court on suspicion of having committed war crimes in Ukraine, a presidential spokesman in Kyiv said allowing Russia take control of the Security Council was "another rape of international law."

Russia promises 'new world order'

He went on to assert that a country that "wages an aggressive war, violates the norms of humanitarian and criminal law, destroys the UN Charter, neglects nuclear safety, can't head the world's key security body".

Moscow's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, told the Russian news agency Tass that he intends to oversee several debates, including one on arms control.

He said he hoped to discuss a "new world order" which would end global domination by the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for Russia to be removed from the Security Council, or for the body to be dissolved. The UN charter does not allow for the removal of a permanent member.

Russia is one of five nations, the others being France, UK, US and China, which can veto Security Council decisions.

Twice last year, Russia prevented the passage of resolutions calling for the end of the invasion of Ukraine and the restoration of sovereign territory occupied by Moscow's troops.
Sudanese leaders have postponed the signing of an agreement planned for Saturday. The deal was intended to pave the way for a return to democratic government, an official said, blaming the delay on continued disagreement between military factions.

Representatives have for weeks been negotiating an agreement, the final part in a two-phase political process launched last December and intended to set out the terms for reviving the transition to civilian-led rule and democratic elections following the 2019 ouster of President Omar al-Bashir..

Instead of the long-awaited ceremony expected on Saturday, officials are to meet to "agree on a new date for signing the final political accord, which could not be signed" due to "the lack of consensus on certain issues", a spokesman said in a statement.

Reform of the security forces is a key point of contention in the talks, which envisage the departure of army generals from politics once a civilian government is installed.

Critics have decried as "vague" the December deal, agreed after near-weekly protests since a 2021 coup.

What future for Rapid Support Forces?

The proposed reforms include the integration into the regular army of the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, second in command to the 2021 coup leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that Bashir had unleashed a decade earlier in the western region of Darfur against non-Arab rebels. The militia has since been accused by rights groups of having committed war crimes.

While experts have pointed to worrying rivalries between Burhan and Daglo, the two men appeared side by side last week, speaking in the capital Khartoum to plead for a successful integration.

Talks have stalled since, according to observers, with persistent disputes over a timetable for the RSF's integration.
02.04.2023 LISTEN

Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has thanked the Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and the entire Minority for supporting government in approving the three revenue bills.

After the passage, he said in a tweet on Saturday that Parliament rose this morning on a successful note: all critical businesses were duly executed as planned & many others.. The majority is grateful and commends its membership.

We are also grateful to the minority leader & his team, wishing them well in their Primaries.

Parliament has by 137-136 majority decision passed the three revenue bills on Friday, March 31.

The bills are the Income Tax Amendment Bill, Excise Duty Amendment Bill, and Growth and Sustainability Amendment Bill.

The government is seeking to generate approximately GH4 billion per year to supplement domestic revenue.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta earlier appealed to Parliament to pass the three bills to help in facilitating the deal that Ghana is seeking under the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking at a forum in Accra on Thursday, March 30, he said Our Parliament, in the national interest, will pass these bills before the close of the week and it will not be seen as disloyalty to anyone party. So if I may be permitted to use the word fellow Ghanaians, we are a blessed nationI am more convinced now than ever that we are a blessed nation.

A week ago I was in China to meet their Finance Minister and various institutions about support for an IMF programme and the Lord certainly went ahead of us.

Ghana is a big country, the Minister of Finance is a big man but the Minister of Finance of China gave us the Ghana delegation almost an hour and a half conversation. Not only did he do that he also called the chairman of the Exim Bank of China to join him to talk through these ways in which they can facilitate to make sure we get our IMF transaction.

So indeed America is ready for us, we saw Kamala Harris here, Germany has been here, the Europeans are behind us, the Fund is behind us. It is left with our Parliament. It can't be that we shoot ourselves in the foot. Let us rally behind our Parliamentarians.

-3news.com
Charlottesville radio host Sherry Taylor has won a national award for her work in the industry.

Taylor, who hosts a morning show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Charlottesville Radio Groups Z95.1 station, has been awarded the Gracie Award for Radio Host in a Small Market.

Sherry Taylors genuine connection to our community is inspiring to our entire organization, Charlottesville Radio Group general manager Garrett Klingel said in a statement. Her presence reminds us on daily basis why we love what we do. We are beyond lucky to have had such an amazing talent on Z95.1 for all these years!

The Gracie Awards, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, are named after the late American performer Gracie Allen.

Taylors award will be celebrated at the Gracies luncheon in Cipriani, New York, on June 20.
Ghanaians expected President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to have expressed the sentiments of the people regarding homosexuality when he met the Vice President of the United States of America Kamala Harris, Bawku Central Member of Parliament, Mahama Ayariga has said.

Mr Ayarga said the president could have used the occasion to make known to the US Vice President the actual feeling of Ghanaians regarding homosexuality, which is an outright rejection of the practice but he did not do that.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Satiurfay April 1, he said The issues relating to the president and the Vice President of the US, I think the concern of a lot of people is that they expected the president to be upfront to the Vice President of US when she brought the matter up and just indicate to her that the people of my country are against this practice, straight forward, so that she knows the sentiment of Ghanains.

President Akufo-Addo dissociated from the Proper Human Sexual Rights & Ghanaian Family Values Bill also known as the Ant-Gay Bill.

Proposed under a Private Members' Bill, the anti-gay bill is expected to criminalise some of the activities of homosexuals in Ghana.

Answering a question put to him at the Jubilee House on Monday, March 27 when US Vice President Kamala Harris called on him, President Akufo-Addo confirmed that the bill is currently before Parliament, which will decide on it, but most of its provisions are being fine-tuned.

It hasn't been passed, so the statement that there is legislation in Ghana to that effect is not accurate, he said.

Parliament is dealing with it and at the end of the process, I will come in, he added.

President Akufo-Addo welcomed US Vice President Harris to the seat of government as part the latter's three-day visit to the country.

She stressed how strongly she feels about the importance of supporting and fighting for the cause of human rights including rights of LGBTQs.

For the American press who are here, you know that a great deal of work in my career has been to address human rights issues, equality issues across the globe including as well as the LGBTQ community and I feel very strongly about the importance of supporting freedom and supporting and fighting for quality among all people.

President Akufo-Addo and Kamala Harris suffered flak from one of the sponsors of the Bill who is also Member of Parliament of Ningo Prampram Samuel Nartey George.

Sam George said Madam Harris should be the last person to talk about human rights issues because violations of human rights are rife in her home country.

Speaking on the Big Issue on TV3 Tuesday, March 28, he said Kamala Harris is not the SI Unit for Human rights. She is actually one of the last people in the world who should be talking about human rights.

As Vice President of the United States, she comes from a country where human rights abuses are rife. In fact, barely two hours after she finished making those comments that she was interested in human rights, in her own country a 28-year-old woman walked into a school building and killed three children and teachers.

I believe that a Vice President who has been elected and is concerned about human rights should be concerned about the children in school that they should be able to have a decent education without fearing that indiscriminate gun violence will end their lives. Gun violence is a human rights issue. hs has not been able to deal with those issues.

He also said President Akufo-Addo goofed.

First, I thought President Akufo-Addo would have used this opportunity to send a clear message to the world and the country that his fidelity is to the Ghanaian people. Based on the 1992 Constitution that he swore an oath to uphold, he would have sent a clear message that Ghana is not going to entertain any expressions of homosexuality.

Second, it was known that this would be a topic and I expected that he would have shown he was on top of his brief. On the two points, President Akufo-Addo goofed and failed.

The President doesn't know what he is talking about, the Bill has not substantially changed, the Bill remains as tough and as rigid as it was. The focus of the Bill has not changed, and the objective has not changed.

-3news.com
02.04.2023 LISTEN

Private legal practitioner Mr. Martin Kpebu has said he no longer fights for persons who are homosexuals in society because he cannot speak for faceless people.

He wants them to come out and speak or fight for themselves for themselves

Mr Kpebu explained that he is aware of big lawyers in this country who are homosexual but are not prepared to come out publicly to defend their actions.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, April 1, he said To be very frank with you I do not intend to go into the merits of the debate on LGBTQ. I have made comments on it in the past, briefly stating that if some people want to fight for it it is within their right to fight for it but the reason I am no longer interested in joining this debate aggressively is that the people who practice LGBTQ, they dont want to show their faces. So I ask, how am I going to advocate for a faceless person?

So that is the disconnect. It is a very sensitive matter, I have been crying here Saturday to Saturday that the Ghanaian doesnt want to fight, this is another of that. Privately, I have seen big lawyers involved, big lawyers who are gays and they cant fight for themselves and you are saying Kpebu should come and fight, no, you cant fight everything. There are big lawyers, I am telling you on authority, in this country involved and they dont want to show their faces. At least they should come out, lets see them explain their situation.

I have been telling some of them privately that if we even get fifty of them to snap a picture, and come out to address a press conference when they speak, they will evoke compassion.

The discussion on the Key Points centered on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo s decision to dissociate from the Proper Human Sexual Rights & Ghanaian Family Values Bill also known as the Ant-Gay Bill.

Proposed under a Private Members' Bill, the anti-gay bill is expected to criminalise some of the activities of homosexuals in Ghana.

Answering a question put to him at the Jubilee House on Monday, March 27 when US Vice President Kamala Harris called on him, President Akufo-Addo confirmed that the bill is currently before Parliament, which will decide on it, but most of its provisions are being fine-tuned.

It hasn't been passed, so the statement that there is legislation in Ghana to that effect is not accurate, he said.

Parliament is dealing with it and at the end of the process, I will come in, he added.

President Akufo-Addo welcomed US Vice President Harris to the seat of government as part the latter's three-day visit to the country.

She stressed how strongly she feels about the importance of supporting and fighting for the cause of human rights including rights of LGBTQs.

For the American press who are here, you know that a great deal of work in my career has been to address human rights issues, equality issues across the globe including as well as the LGBTQ community and I feel very strongly about the importance of supporting freedom and supporting and fighting for quality among all people.

-3news.com
Bawku Central MP Mahama Ayariga has said that his colleague lawmaker who was involved in an accident when he was driving to Parliament on Friday, March 31 was speeding to vote on the three revenue bills.

He said the MP suffered a deep cut on the forehead and was rushed to Parliament despite the injuries.

He was subsequently sent to the hospital after proceedings in Parliament.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, April 1, Mr Ayariga said The report I got was that the accident happened around the Ghana Institute of Journalism just right behind Parliament. Apparently, he was speeding to Parliament to get the vote.

I think when he got to that turn, I dont know what happened but he got involved in the accident. He was brought to Parliament in an ambulance and then subsequently he was driven to the hospital.

I havent heard about him yet, one of our colleague MPs who is a medical doctor escorted him to the hospital, I believe it was SSNIT Hospital and came back. He had a cut on the forehead. Beyond that, we dont have any report of exactly what his condition is I wish him a speedy recovery.

The Member of Parliament for Nanton and Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture , Alhaji Mohammed Hardi Tufeirua was involved in an accident while on his way to Parliament to partake in proceedings.

He was subsequently transported in an ambulance to Parliament to be able to take part in proceedings, TV3's Parliamentary reporter Komla Kluste said.

He was rushed to the hospital for medical attention after voting on the bills.

Parliament has since passed all three revenue bills.

The bills are the Income Tax Amendment Bill, Excise Duty Amendment Bill, and Growth and Sustainability Amendment Bill.

The government is seeking to generate approximately GH4 billion per year to supplement domestic revenue.

-3news.com
The passage of some financial bills by Parliament on Friday, March 31 has sparked agitaions.

The Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022 seek to raise about 4 billion Ghana Cedis in domestic revenue.

Government has justified the passage of the bills to speed up the IMF board approval for a 3billion dollar bailout.

However, an old post by the current Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has been digged out criticising the Mahama administration for introducing more taxes.

In a July 17, 2014 tweet, Mr. Nkrumah claimed that the numerous taxation amounts to squeezing the struggling citizens for more cash.

What govt needs to do is to be bold to cut costs. Not squeeze the dying for more taxes. 2much waste even. Shocked, he tweeted.

Citing this, Miss Bawa Mogtari, a Special Aide to ex-President Mahama asserted that while Ghanaians are already suffering, government continues to squeeze more taxes from them.

She said in a tweet on Saturday, April 1 that My Brother I hope you are even more shocked at how low the govt in which you serve as Information Minister has sunk, now you are literally squeezing the dead, for more taxes! such recklessness! I am gobsmacked.
Joshua Anoumou Agbenu, a Public Relations Communications Strategist and an NDC member has urged former President John Dramani Mahama to consider someone from the Volta region as his running mate for the 2024 elections.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, April 1, Agbenu explained that selecting a Voltarian as Mahamas running mate will appeal to the Volta caucus which has supported the NDC over the years.

He argued that although the NDC chose Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang from the Central region in 2020, the region did not reciprocate the gesture.

Agbenu noted that the running mate position is meant to complement the presidential candidates strengths.

He noted that if the expected goals are not met, the choice should be revised.

He asserted that Leslie Mensah Tamakloe, who is from the Volta region and has contributed to digital development, will be a better choice than Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyeman.

Clearly a son of the Volta soil who has heavily contributed to digital development across several industries, it is essential for the NDC and most importantly, the already crowned flag bearer, John Dramani Mahama, to consider returning to the backbone of the congress to assess this selection after the presidential primaries in May 2023, Agbenu wrote.

The NDC communicator noted that the party has paid attention to the Central region since ex-President Jerry Rawlings era but it is time to return to the Volta region.

Agbenus call comes at a time when the NDC is seeking to rebuild confidence in the party following its defeat in the 2020 elections.

Selecting a running mate who appeals to the key constituencies that have supported the party over the years could boost the NDCs chances in 2024.

He believes that choosing Leslie Mensah Tamakloe from the Volta region will guarantee the NDCs traditional stronghold and ensure victory in 2024.

Inasmuch as this culture of revising the selection of running mates in the NDC has partially been on the grounds of some unfortunate circumstances, it is important for the NDC, at a time when the party is being considered as a better option for 2024, to consciously prove to Ghanaians that every single detail related to the 2024 campaign, even to the selection of a running mate, expressly meets their needs and wants, Agbenu stated.

Check his full write-up dubbed, No Akple for Mahama (2), on Facebook below:
This rivalry has also led to the abandonment of projects initiated by preceding governments irrespective of the relevance and how much has been put into it and above all, it has led to a short-sighted approach to development in the country, he said.

Prof Agyeman-Duah said this on Saturday during a television discussion on the topic, Getting it right after 30 years. My case for Constitutional Review.

He noted that political party organisation and electoral politics in Ghana had been heavily monetised, with highest bidder often winning elections.

The Professor said the cost of participation and embedded corruption in party politics had excluded many individuals with promise, whether young or old.

He said another key area where party democracy in Ghana seemed to have flopped was with the actualisation of political participation.

Prof Agyeman-Duah said the 1992 Constitution invested so much power in the Executive at the expense of the other arms of Government, with presidential appointments becoming the means to creating jobs for party members and friends in Parliament.

Mr Oliver Barker-Vormawor, Legal Practitioner and Researcher, said the 1992 Constitution had failed to deliver to Ghanaians the blessings of prosperity and equal opportunity and rather allowed a select few to prosper at the expense of all.

He said the 1992 Constitution should not be considered as untouchable and called for a new Constitution to restore faith in the project Ghana.

The Lawyer said a new Constitution was a process, not an event and an opportunity to rebuild societies' beliefs and desires for change from the ground up.

The Constitution of the nation is much more than a simple road traffic law. It carries with it the hopes and aspirations of the people and when they have lost belief and hope, when they are no longer compelled by the moral authority of that document, the Constitution has lost its rhythm there.

It will forever mean very little to the Executive that swears an oath to uphold it and to the Judiciary that is called upon to interpret it, yet undermines it at every opportunity. When we call for a new Constitution, we are calling for more than the gathering of a few lawyers to produce for us another document without a soul but a document of our own making, he said.

GNA
Shiseido Company, Limited (OTCMKTS:SSDOY  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,900 shares, an increase of 21.1% from the February 28th total of 12,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 39,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days.

Shiseido Price Performance

OTCMKTS:SSDOY traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $46.72. The stock had a trading volume of 11,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,087. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Shiseido has a 1-year low of $32.70 and a 1-year high of $52.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.10.

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Shiseido (OTCMKTS:SSDOY  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.09. Shiseido had a net margin of 3.18% and a return on equity of 5.39%. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter. Analysts expect that Shiseido will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

About Shiseido

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Shiseido from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd.

(Get Rating)

Shiseido Co, Ltd. engages in the production and sale of cosmetics for men and women. It operates through the following segments: Japan, China, Asia Pacific, Americas, Europe, Travel Retail, Professional, and Others. The Japan, China, Asia Pacific, Americas, and Europe segments sell cosmetics, fragrance, and personal care products with core brands such as Shiseido, cle de peau BEAUTE, ELIXIR, MAQUILLAGE, AUPRES, urara, TSUBAKI, Za, and narciso rodriguez in each corresponding region.

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Stellar AfricaGold Inc. (OTCMKTS:STLXF  Get Rating) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,200 shares, a growth of 28.6% from the February 28th total of 5,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 46,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.2 days.

Stellar AfricaGold Price Performance

Stellar AfricaGold stock remained flat at $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday. Stellar AfricaGold has a 52 week low of $0.02 and a 52 week high of $0.06. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $0.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $0.03.

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Stellar AfricaGold Company Profile

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Stellar AfricaGold, Inc engages in the business of acquiring, exploring, and evaluating natural resource properties. It operates through Canada and Western Africa geographical segment. The company was founded on July 23, 1987 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $117.00 target price on the healthcare product makers stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on ABT. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Raymond James lifted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $109.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $122.12.

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Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE ABT opened at $101.26 on Tuesday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $93.25 and a 12 month high of $124.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $103.91 and a 200-day moving average of $104.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $175.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.68.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

Abbott Laboratories ( NYSE:ABT Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.69 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 26.09%. The companys revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Abbott Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,896 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,222,103.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $68,375.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at $7,091,998.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total transaction of $26,842.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,896 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,222,103.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,971 shares of company stock worth $199,140. Insiders own 0.52% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abbott Laboratories

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ABT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 154,563,421 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $14,955,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,683 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,138,862 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $7,173,676,000 after acquiring an additional 351,136 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,598,624 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $3,352,840,000 after purchasing an additional 537,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares in the last quarter. 72.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Abbott Laboratories

(Get Rating)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following business segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products.

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Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $290.00 to $279.00 in a report on Monday, December 19th. Piper Sandler lowered Accenture from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and set a $268.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 12th. Cowen lifted their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $311.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, Piper Jaffray Companies lifted their price objective on Accenture from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $314.00.

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Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE ACN traded up $3.15 on Friday, reaching $285.81. 2,954,450 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,416,368. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $271.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.25. Accenture has a fifty-two week low of $242.80 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Accenture ( NYSE:ACN Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.20. Accenture had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The company had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.54 earnings per share. Accentures revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture will post 11.55 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.53, for a total value of $155,974.68. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 42,991 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $12,060,265.23. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.53, for a total transaction of $155,974.68. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 42,991 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $12,060,265.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.08, for a total transaction of $1,449,420.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,444 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,509,299.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 36,475 shares of company stock valued at $10,225,149. Company insiders own 0.08% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Cadence Bank raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 4,999 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,686,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Simmons Bank raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 7,260 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,868,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 1,099 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 449 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantum Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 73.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Accenture

(Get Rating)

Accenture Plc engages in the provision of management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe and Growth Markets. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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The Nelson County teenager arrested after a trove of guns, fentanyl, and other drugs were seized during a raid on a house in the Johnson Village neighborhood may have to spend at least two months in jail, as he was denied bail on Thursday.

Court records indicate that 18-year-old Shahiem T. Michie of Arrington wont get another hearing in Charlottesville General District Court until June 8.

Michie was arrested Wednesday on two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute and one count of possessing firearms with drugs.

The charges came after agents with JADE, or Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement, Task Force, in cooperation with officers from the Charlottesville Police Department executed a search warrant in the 500 block of Cleveland Avenue, according to a statement by Charlottesville police.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid thats said to magnify the effects of other drugs. The National Institutes of Health estimates that about 70% of Americas annual 106,000 drug overdose deaths are from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, which can kill with a dose as small as two thousandths of a gram.

That suggests that the 256 grams seized in the Cleveland Avenue raid could have killed 128,000 people.

Other materials seized in the Tuesday raid include six handguns, three rifles including an AK-47, about 428 grams of cocaine, about 200 grams of methamphetamine, about 3 pounds of marijuana, about 1,600 counterfeit M30 fentanyl pills and $4,691 in cash.

Local police have been under increasing pressure in recent months to stem a tide of gun violence.

Since September, gunfire has killed 14 people and injured 22 others in Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County.

Albemarle Police have spoken of a nexus between teens, drugs and auto theft. Charlottesville police have said they have investigated several homicides this year alone that appear to be targeted attacks in which participants attempted to settle disputes with firearms.

The citys most recent killing occurred March 18 on Elliewood Avenue, a stub street considered part of the Corner neighborhood near the University of Virginia. In that case, a man named Lakori Rayquan Brooks has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Cody Brian Smith.

Michie is being held in Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Jail. Messages left with his attorney, Norman Lamson, were not returned Friday.
Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their underweight rating on shares of Admiral Group (LON:ADM  Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a GBX 2,150 ($26.42) price objective on the stock.

ADM has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Admiral Group to a hold rating and set a GBX 2,150 ($26.42) price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Numis Securities reissued an add rating and issued a GBX 2,575 ($31.64) price target on shares of Admiral Group in a report on Friday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an underweight rating and issued a GBX 1,650 ($20.27) price target on shares of Admiral Group in a report on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, Peel Hunt reiterated a hold rating and set a GBX 2,160 ($26.54) price target on shares of Admiral Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of GBX 2,201.50 ($27.05).

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Admiral Group Price Performance

Shares of ADM stock opened at GBX 2,038 ($25.04) on Tuesday. The stocks fifty day moving average is GBX 2,118.46 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 2,079.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 107.56, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 1.15. Admiral Group has a 52 week low of GBX 1,691.50 ($20.78) and a 52 week high of GBX 2,646.60 ($32.52). The stock has a market capitalization of 6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 1,643.55, a PEG ratio of -1.02 and a beta of 0.25.

Admiral Group Cuts Dividend

Insiders Place Their Bets

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 4th will be issued a GBX 52 ($0.64) dividend. This represents a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 4th. Admiral Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 6,612.90%.

In related news, insider Annette Court bought 920 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 1,999 ($24.56) per share, for a total transaction of 18,390.80 ($22,595.90). In related news, insider Geraint Jones sold 1,175 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,851 ($22.74), for a total value of 21,749.25 ($26,722.26). Also, insider Annette Court purchased 920 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 1,999 ($24.56) per share, with a total value of 18,390.80 ($22,595.90). Corporate insiders own 16.55% of the companys stock.

About Admiral Group

(Get Rating)

Admiral Group plc provides financial services in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Canada, India, and the United States. It offers insurance products, including motor, household, travel, and pet insurance, as well as personal lending products through Admiral loans. The company operates through UK Insurance, International Insurance, Admiral Loans, and Other segments.

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Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 352,100 shares, a decline of 24.0% from the February 28th total of 463,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 186,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Banco de Chile Price Performance

BCH stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $19.52. 135,081 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 226,018. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.02. The stock has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.36. Banco de Chile has a 1-year low of $15.64 and a 1-year high of $22.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.93 and a 200-day moving average of $19.60.

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Banco de Chile Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th were given a $1.3688 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 16th. This is an increase from Banco de Chiles previous annual dividend of $1.33. Banco de Chiles dividend payout ratio is 40.98%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco de Chile

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BCH. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,197 shares of the banks stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 138.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,553 shares of the banks stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 700.0% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,568 shares of the banks stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,247 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 473.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,663 shares of the banks stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 2,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 96.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,764 shares of the banks stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.99% of the companys stock.

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Banco de Chile in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Banco de Chile Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Banco de Chile SA engages in the provision of banking services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, Wholesale, Treasury, and Subsidiaries. The Retail segment consists of consumer loans, commercial loans, checking accounts, credit cards, credit lines, and mortgage loans. The Wholesale segment includes corporate clients and large companies where the product offering focuses on commercial loans, checking accounts and liquidity management services, debt instruments, foreign trade, derivative contracts, and leases.

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Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL  Get Rating) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,072 shares of the energy companys stock after selling 608 shares during the period. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLCs holdings in Shell were worth $3,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SHEL. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Shell by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 10,737 shares of the energy companys stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Shell by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 421,491 shares of the energy companys stock worth $24,004,000 after purchasing an additional 92,431 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Shell by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,787 shares of the energy companys stock worth $2,527,000 after purchasing an additional 5,162 shares during the last quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV raised its holdings in Shell by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 18,245 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 3,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Hawaii raised its holdings in Shell by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 16,991 shares of the energy companys stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.74% of the companys stock.

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Shell Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of SHEL traded down $0.40 on Friday, hitting $57.54. The companys stock had a trading volume of 5,167,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,997,503. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firms fifty day moving average price is $59.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.44. Shell plc has a fifty-two week low of $44.90 and a fifty-two week high of $62.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.65.

Shell Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. This is an increase from Shells previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Shells dividend payout ratio is 20.14%.

Several analysts have weighed in on SHEL shares. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Shell from GBX 2,900 ($35.63) to GBX 3,000 ($36.86) in a report on Friday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Shell from GBX 2,761 ($33.92) to GBX 2,987 ($36.70) in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. AlphaValue raised Shell to a reduce rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. Wolfe Research cut Shell from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Shell from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $2,879.86.

Shell Profile

(Get Rating)

Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver gas to market.

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Caledonia Mining Co. Plc (NYSEAMERICAN:CMCL  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 61,000 shares, an increase of 14.7% from the February 28th total of 53,200 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the companys stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 62,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Caledonia Mining Stock Down 2.6 %

CMCL stock traded down $0.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.20. The company had a trading volume of 75,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 68,514. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.02 million, a PE ratio of 11.34 and a beta of 0.78. Caledonia Mining has a twelve month low of $8.75 and a twelve month high of $18.23.

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Caledonia Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 27th. Investors of record on Friday, January 13th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 12th. Caledonia Minings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.79%.

Institutional Trading of Caledonia Mining

About Caledonia Mining

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Caledonia Mining by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 531,363 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,589,000 after acquiring an additional 51,756 shares during the period. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Caledonia Mining during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,732,000. Herr Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Caledonia Mining during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,085,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Caledonia Mining by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 45,513 shares of the companys stock valued at $564,000 after acquiring an additional 3,463 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Caledonia Mining by 132.4% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 36,609 shares of the companys stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 20,857 shares during the period. 6.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

(Get Rating)

Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc primarily engages in the operation of a gold mine. It also explores for and develops mineral properties for precious metals. The company holds 64% interest in the Blanket Mine, a gold mine located in Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe. It also has an agreement to purchase 100% ownership in the Maligreen project, a brownfield gold exploration project located in Gweru mining district in the Zimbabwe Midlands.

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Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT  Get Rating) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,600 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems holdings in Caterpillar were worth $8,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the first quarter valued at $433,134,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its position in Caterpillar by 46.8% during the third quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 2,624,672 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $435,423,000 after purchasing an additional 836,340 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Caterpillar by 168.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 977,373 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $160,368,000 after purchasing an additional 612,692 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Caterpillar by 15.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,130,082 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $531,926,000 after purchasing an additional 422,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Caterpillar by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 40,070,278 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $6,574,731,000 after purchasing an additional 291,836 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.02% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity at Caterpillar

In related news, insider Joseph E. Creed sold 18,294 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.00, for a total transaction of $4,555,206.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Lange Bob De sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,559 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,139,750. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph E. Creed sold 18,294 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.00, for a total value of $4,555,206.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,247 shares of company stock worth $16,819,690 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.27% of the companys stock.

Caterpillar Stock Performance

CAT traded up $4.30 on Friday, hitting $228.84. 2,746,909 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,391,344. Caterpillar Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.60 and a 52 week high of $266.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $240.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $224.63.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.95 by ($0.09). Caterpillar had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 45.61%. The firm had revenue of $16.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Caterpillar Inc. will post 15.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CAT. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Caterpillar to $250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on Caterpillar in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Bank of America raised Caterpillar from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $217.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $260.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Caterpillar from $228.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $238.35.

About Caterpillar

(Get Rating)

Caterpillar, Inc engages in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates through the following segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy and Transportation, Financial Products, and All Other.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG  Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CMG. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $1,847.00 to $1,664.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $2,080.00 price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,900.00 to $1,850.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,725.00 to $1,875.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Chipotle Mexican Grill from $1,750.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Chipotle Mexican Grill presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $1,844.79.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Stock Performance

Shares of CMG stock opened at $1,708.29 on Tuesday. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a one year low of $1,196.28 and a one year high of $1,754.56. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $1,599.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,539.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.28, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Chipotle Mexican Grill ( NYSE:CMG Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $8.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.88 by ($0.59). Chipotle Mexican Grill had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.58 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Chipotle Mexican Grill will post 41.38 EPS for the current year.

In related news, CMO Christopher W. Brandt sold 584 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,595.00, for a total transaction of $931,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 7,782 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $12,412,290. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CMO Christopher W. Brandt sold 584 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,595.00, for a total transaction of $931,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 7,782 shares in the company, valued at $12,412,290. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 2,193 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,633.11, for a total transaction of $3,581,410.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 23,347 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $38,128,219.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,404 shares of company stock worth $15,317,901 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chipotle Mexican Grill

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sawtooth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 43.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sawtooth Solutions LLC now owns 467 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 106.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 79,607 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $119,630,000 after acquiring an additional 41,020 shares during the period. General Partner Inc. purchased a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill during the 4th quarter valued at about $79,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the third quarter worth about $243,000. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 12.5% in the third quarter. Pearl River Capital LLC now owns 370 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 93.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

(Get Rating)

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc engages in the development and operation of classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. It offers a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads prepared using classic cooking methods. The company was founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, CA.

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Clear Creek Financial Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) by 37.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,842 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,503 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLCs holdings in General Mills were worth $490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 6,579 shares of the companys stock worth $504,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 0.5% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. now owns 27,800 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,129,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.0% in the second quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,353 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.6% in the third quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 8,212 shares of the companys stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 3.5% in the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 3,954 shares of the companys stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.48% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $83.88.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $85.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.54. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.94 and a 52 week high of $88.34. The firm has a market cap of $50.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.28. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $79.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.37.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 23rd. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 14.04% and a return on equity of 24.51%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. General Millss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.65%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Sean N. Walker sold 27,157 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total transaction of $2,304,814.59. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 90,975 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,721,048.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other General Mills news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 1,955 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.99, for a total transaction of $168,110.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,474,384.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sean N. Walker sold 27,157 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total value of $2,304,814.59. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 90,975 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,721,048.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,036 shares of company stock valued at $4,078,559 in the last 90 days. 0.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Profile

(Get Rating)

General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers.

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CTS Co. (NYSE:CTS  Get Rating)s share price was up 5% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $46.79 and last traded at $46.62. Approximately 182,301 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 9% from the average daily volume of 167,229 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CTS. Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of CTS in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of CTS in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $41.50.

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CTS Stock Performance

The firms fifty day moving average price is $44.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59 and a beta of 0.72.

CTS Announces Dividend

CTS ( NYSE:CTS Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The electronics maker reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The company had revenue of $142.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.56 million. CTS had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 16.14%. The businesss revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CTS Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. CTSs dividend payout ratio is currently 8.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kieran M. Osullivan sold 2,746 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $129,062.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 498,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,407,645. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other CTS news, CEO Kieran M. Osullivan sold 2,746 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $129,062.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 498,035 shares of the companys stock, valued at $23,407,645. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kieran M. Osullivan sold 15,979 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $751,013.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 481,807 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $22,644,929. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,759 shares of company stock worth $881,673. Corporate insiders own 2.22% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CTS. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of CTS by 1,501.8% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 339,700 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $14,149,000 after acquiring an additional 318,492 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CTS during the 4th quarter worth about $10,697,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in CTS during the 4th quarter worth about $7,606,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in CTS by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,331,200 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $131,316,000 after buying an additional 162,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in CTS during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,772,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CTS Company Profile

(Get Rating)

CTS Corp. engages in the design and manufacture of sensors, connectivity components, and actuators. Its products include controls, pedals, piezo sensing products, sensors, switches, transducers, electromagnetic and radio frequency interference filters, capacitors, frequency control, resistors, piezo microactuators, and rotary microactuators.

Further Reading

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First Resource Bancorp (OTCMKTS:FRSB  Get Rating) is one of 168 public companies in the National commercial banks industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare First Resource Bancorp to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares First Resource Bancorp and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio First Resource Bancorp $21.79 million $5.63 million 6.98 First Resource Bancorp Competitors $7.80 billion $1.63 billion 8.87

First Resource Bancorps rivals have higher revenue and earnings than First Resource Bancorp. First Resource Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets First Resource Bancorp 25.81% N/A N/A First Resource Bancorp Competitors 24.57% 12.41% 1.15%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

This table compares First Resource Bancorp and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

51.9% of shares of all National commercial banks companies are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of shares of all National commercial banks companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for First Resource Bancorp and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score First Resource Bancorp 0 0 0 0 N/A First Resource Bancorp Competitors 1015 6715 6409 263 2.41

As a group, National commercial banks companies have a potential upside of 33.77%. Given First Resource Bancorps rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Resource Bancorp has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Risk and Volatility

First Resource Bancorp has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Resource Bancorps rivals have a beta of 0.83, indicating that their average share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

First Resource Bancorp rivals beat First Resource Bancorp on 9 of the 10 factors compared.

About First Resource Bancorp

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First Resource Bancorp, Inc. is a holding company that engages in the provision of community banking services through its subsidiary, First Resource Bank. Its subsidiary offers lending and depository services for businesses, professionals, and individuals in the Delaware Valley. The company is headquartered in Exton, PA.

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Fragasso Group Inc. cut its position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:EFAV  Get Rating) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,304 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,747 shares during the period. Fragasso Group Inc.s holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF were worth $1,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,274 shares of the companys stock worth $2,434,000 after purchasing an additional 11,097 shares during the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 13,803 shares of the companys stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF during the 4th quarter worth about $540,000. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Monterey Private Wealth Inc. now owns 25,404 shares of the companys stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 71,286 shares of the companys stock worth $4,533,000 after purchasing an additional 10,910 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF Stock Performance

Shares of EFAV stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $67.65. 360,603 shares of the company were exchanged. The firms 50 day moving average price is $65.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.60. iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF has a 52 week low of $64.68 and a 52 week high of $76.51.

About iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF

The iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF (EFAV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI EAFE Minimum Volatility (USD) index. The fund tracks an index of developed-market equities, ex-US and Canada, selected and weighted to create a low volatility portfolio subject to constraints including sector exposure.

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Elnur Enveroglu

Iran is a nest of a regime that has become famous for its devious activities under the Islamic religion. There is no country near or far that is not threatened by it. However, in fact, the state of Iran is like a tree with a rotten root, and the branches attached to it may one day be torn from the rotten trunk once and for all.

Mullahcracy is like a radiation that harms its surrounding

Unlike other theocratic regimes of the world, barbarian authorities or dictatorships, the Tehran mullocracy is extremely dangerous.

It is not much complext to understand it; the clerical regime in Tehran is heterogeneous - endless conflicts between various groups, camps and detachments lead to conspiracies, merciless intrigues and, ultimately, even to the most risky and dangerous means of expanding their sphere of influence.

These remedies sometimes have an overly repulsive effect.

Given that the political, moral and ideological foundations of Tehran's theocracy are rotten, and its goals are risky and dangerous for neighboring states, it is necessary to choose a model of behavior with a regime that still sees the world through the prism of the Middle Ages, is in constant search of enemies and tries to deceive citizens with impunity.

Kanani's statement portrays Iran's growing contempt and hostility?

Iran's attitude, or rather its hostility towards Azerbaijan, exacerbated by a sense of contempt, has reached such an extent that official Tehran seeks to interfere in Baku's foreign policy decisions.

Iran regards the joint statements of the Israeli Foreign Minister with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister on the creation of an ""anti-Iran united front" " as Israel's disdainful intention to turn the territory of Azerbaijan into a space from which a threat to Iran's national security will emanate, and categorically condemns this. This was stated by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Nasser Kanani.

He called the statements of the foreign ministers of Israel and Azerbaijan 'a tacit consent to the anti-Iranian orientation of their cooperation" and demanded clarifications from the Azerbaijani authorities on this issue.

An Iranian diplomat who uttered the phrase "tacit consent" considers himself so authoritative that he dares to "demand explanations" from Baku.

Kanani's statement is, of course, the interpretation of Iran's ultimate dismay.

Much to regime's consternation may lead it to resort to other means

The aggressive, almost hysterical policy of Iran, constantly aggravating relations with Azerbaijan, drawing the situation into the plane of open confrontation, has become a source of serious threat to the South Caucasus.

The mullahs in Tehran began to widely use proxy forces as part of a hybrid war against Baku.

With the victory in the second Karabakh war, which lasted 44 days, Azerbaijan put an end to the 30-year occupation and, having forced Armenia to capitulate, achieved serious successes both in diplomacy and in the economy.

Pursuing a balanced policy between West and East and choosing the paradigm of horizontal interaction with all countries, Baku has become a reliable and serious partner for the European Union, which is faced with an acute shortage of energy resources due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Iran is annoyed by the strengthening, growing geopolitical weight of Baku, which is steadily increasing the volume of oil and natural gas exports along the routes and is becoming an extremely important strategic partner in diversifying energy sources of the European Union states.

To prevent this, the Iranian regime, using all the means at its disposal and using mechanisms, seeks to strengthen ties with Armenia, prevent the implementation of the Zangazur transport corridor project, threatening Azerbaijan with senile statements like "Syunik is strategically important for us, changing borders in the region is our red line".

To achieve its goals, the mullah regime in Azerbaijan is using a strategy aimed at supporting terrorist groups and extremist groups in a number of countries around the world.

Back in the 1990s, Iran, having created a terrorist group called "Azerbaijani Revolutionary Detachment" to overthrow the constitutional government in Azerbaijan, targeted the state and government institutions of our country, especially oil and gas infrastructure.

The Tehran regime, which controls the Hezbollah unit created in Azerbaijan, also tried to commit murders and terrorist acts in our country.

These threats from Iran will never be able to scare Azerbaijan away. Despite the military support sent to Armenia from Iranian territory, the Azerbaijani army defeated the occupier Armenian army in 2020. And after that, any aggression and provocations against Azerbaijan will be decisively suppressed.
The New Mexico counselor charged with indecent acts against an Albemarle County girl under his care nearly two decades ago got a second chance at bail on Friday. But once again, a judge denied to offer pretrial release to 52-year-old Darren Wade Powell despite a plea for reconsideration from his lawyer.

The court is not going to change its view in this case, Judge Areshini Pather said Friday afternoon after a brief hearing in Albemarle Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Pather did, however, issue a general admonition against loud voices and close talking after Powells lawyer claimed that the girls father approached the accused mans sister after the previous days hearing to gloat about Powells incarceration.

Powell has been charged with two counts of indecent acts with a custodial child, each of which is a felony that can bring a sentence as long as five years.

The allegations against Powell arose a year ago, when the girl, now an adult, began telling Albemarle investigators her story of a counselor allegedly abusing his position of trust to groom and rape a 15-year-old.

During the prior days hearing, it became apparent that the prosecutor, who did not oppose bail, had not specifically asked the alleged victim for her view.

I did speak to the victim this morning, Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Alicia Milligan said during the subsequent hearing. She indicated she very much would like to see him stay in jail.

Milligan said that the alleged victim did not perceive an immediate threat from Powell, because she no longer lives in the area, but nonetheless feared intimidation or retaliation. That last statement prompted an immediate response from Powells attorney, Rhonda Quagliana, who gestured toward the victims father.

Speaking of intimidation and retaliation, this gentleman crowded my space and had a confrontation with my witness, said Quagliana. He said something to the effect of Better luck next time.

The court has not released the name of the alleged victim in the case.

Quagliana noted that Powell has no criminal record and has not made contact with the alleged victim since the time of the alleged sexual crimes which were said to occur in 2004 and 2005.

We do not accept the truth of these allegations, said Quagliana. Hes presumed innocent. Hes been in jail for a month.

Can I see the attorneys in chambers? the judge interjected. When they returned, Quagliana continued making her case for bail.

The standard here is not guilt; its not even probable cause, said Quagliana. It was nearly 20 years ago, and it would be a misdemeanor if he were not a counselor.

It is a serious charge, countered Milligan. And her family is concerned.

Quagliana noted that shes not proposing a full freedom for Powell but instead attempting to place him under an electronically monitored house arrest.

The risk of flight is mitigated by home electronic incarceration, Quagliana said. Unless the court finds that hes a danger to the community or flight risk, hes eligible for bond.

Your lawyer is correct, the judge told Powell, who attended the hearing electronically from the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, where he has been held since March 25 after his extradition from custody near his home in La Luz, a suburb of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The judge acknowledged that theres a presumption of pretrial release unless theres a risk of flight or public danger, but she declared that the severity of the charges and Powells distance from home require continued incarceration.

I take seriously your arguments, but Im going to stand by my decision of yesterday, said Pather. The court has seen cases like this, and theyre highly charged on both sides.

Quagliana said she would appeal.
iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF (BATS:GHYG  Get Rating) shares shot up 1.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $42.84 and last traded at $42.82. 30,542 shares changed hands during trading, The stock had previously closed at $42.33.

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF Trading Up 1.2 %

The businesss 50-day moving average price is $42.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.31.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF stock. Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF (BATS:GHYG  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 640 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF Company Profile

The iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF (GHYG) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in high yield fixed income. The fund tracks a market-value-weighted index of high-yield bonds issued in developed markets and denominated in local currencies. GHYG was launched on Apr 3, 2012 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Kathmere Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:GSIE  Get Rating) by 64.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,700 shares of the companys stock after selling 165,887 shares during the quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF worth $2,639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GSIE. LexAurum Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 296,859 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,544,000 after purchasing an additional 41,640 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Emerald Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 21,080 shares of the companys stock valued at $607,000 after purchasing an additional 6,713 shares during the last quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 209,882 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,040,000 after purchasing an additional 9,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 18,356 shares of the companys stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter.

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Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF Stock Performance

GSIE stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $30.81. The stock had a trading volume of 536,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,876. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.73. Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF has a 52-week low of $24.21 and a 52-week high of $33.44.

Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF Profile

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF (GSIE) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund tracks an index of stocks in developed markets outside of the US comprising four sub-indices: value, momentum, quality and low volatility. The index uses multiple factors to pick stocks, and each sub-index receives equal weight.

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Lafayette Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW  Get Rating) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 99,347 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab accounts for about 2.3% of Lafayette Investments Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.s holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $8,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SCHW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Charles Schwab by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,437,061 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $8,943,291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,952 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,566,364 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $4,712,255,000 after purchasing an additional 717,683 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 7.4% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 20,767,564 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,492,565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431,879 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in Charles Schwab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 17,076,247 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,227,270,000 after purchasing an additional 68,423 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,109,194,000. 73.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Charles Schwab

In other news, President Richard A. Wurster purchased 2,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $54.39 per share, for a total transaction of $108,780.00. Following the acquisition, the president now directly owns 101,391 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,514,656.49. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Charles Schwab news, President Richard A. Wurster acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $54.39 per share, for a total transaction of $108,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 101,391 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,514,656.49. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan M. Craig sold 51,144 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,863.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 81,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,706,960 and sold 728,106 shares valued at $58,067,403. Insiders own 7.50% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Charles Schwab Price Performance

SCHW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Charles Schwab from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Charles Schwab from $79.00 to $61.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Charles Schwab in a report on Friday, March 10th. They set a buy rating and a $97.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Charles Schwab from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $80.50.

Shares of NYSE SCHW traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.38. The companys stock had a trading volume of 43,886,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 46,566,832. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $70.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.93. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 52 week low of $45.00 and a 52 week high of $93.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.10 by ($0.03). Charles Schwab had a net margin of 34.60% and a return on equity of 24.94%. The company had revenue of $5.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Charles Schwab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 9th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. This is a boost from Charles Schwabs previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Charles Schwabs payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Charles Schwab Company Profile

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The Charles Schwab Corp. is a savings and loan holding company, which engages in the provision of wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services. It operates through the Investor Services and Advisor Services segments. The Investor Services segment includes retail brokerage and banking services to individual investors, and retirement plan services, as well as other corporate brokerage services, to businesses and their employees.

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Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI  Get Rating) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,500 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems holdings in S&P Global were worth $7,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Putnam Investments LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 32,099 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $9,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 850 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,847 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Girard Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Girard Partners LTD. now owns 19,199 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $5,862,000 after buying an additional 1,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 15,599 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $4,763,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

SPGI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price target on S&P Global from $398.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on S&P Global from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on S&P Global from $393.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on S&P Global from $362.00 to $379.00 in a report on Monday, December 5th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on S&P Global in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $393.56.

Insider Activity

S&P Global Trading Up 1.0 %

In other news, insider Saugata Saha sold 750 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.47, for a total value of $277,102.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,921.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . In other S&P Global news, insider Saugata Saha sold 750 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.47, for a total transaction of $277,102.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,337 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,921.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link . Also, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,500 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.52, for a total value of $2,703,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,816 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $57,977,384.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold a total of 11,749 shares of company stock worth $4,266,185 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NYSE SPGI traded up $3.50 on Friday, hitting $344.77. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,732,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,557,708. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $279.32 and a 52-week high of $423.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $351.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $339.99. The firm has a market cap of $113.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.84, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.12.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 9th. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.07. S&P Global had a return on equity of 9.84% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.15 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 12.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 24th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. This is a boost from S&P Globals previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. S&P Globals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.29%.

S&P Global Profile

(Get Rating)

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions. The Market Intelligence segment provides multi-asset-class data and analytics integrated with purpose-built workflow solutions.

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MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its holdings in The Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS  Get Rating) (TSE:BNS) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,500,000 shares of the banks stock after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia comprises 1.2% of MUFG Securities EMEA plcs portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. MUFG Securities EMEA plc owned approximately 0.13% of Bank of Nova Scotia worth $73,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,204,955 shares of the banks stock worth $2,055,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,423,155 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 24,244,364 shares of the banks stock worth $1,157,302,000 after acquiring an additional 5,736,216 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 555.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 22,840,226 shares of the banks stock worth $1,118,692,000 after acquiring an additional 19,354,619 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 13,297,820 shares of the banks stock worth $635,833,000 after acquiring an additional 5,474,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 230.5% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,592,000 shares of the banks stock worth $550,723,000 after buying an additional 8,085,000 shares in the last quarter. 45.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia stock traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $50.36. 1,273,807 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,029,015. The firms 50-day moving average price is $51.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.02 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.01. The Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $45.26 and a one year high of $74.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Dividend

Bank of Nova Scotia ( NYSE:BNS Get Rating ) (TSE:BNS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 28th. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.15). Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. On average, research analysts expect that The Bank of Nova Scotia will post 5.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be given a $0.774 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 3rd. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.15%. This is a boost from Bank of Nova Scotias previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Bank of Nova Scotias dividend payout ratio is currently 54.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on BNS shares. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Scotiabank downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. StockNews.com started coverage on Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a sell rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from $86.00 to $77.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $87.15.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

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The Bank of Nova Scotia engages in the provision of financial products and services including personal, commercial, corporate, and investment banking. It operates through the following segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, Global Banking and Markets, and Other. The Other segment includes group treasury and smaller operating segments.

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MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 435,101 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $7,579,000. KeyCorp comprises 0.1% of MUFG Securities EMEA plcs investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KeyCorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in KeyCorp during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in KeyCorp during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. CNB Bank lifted its position in KeyCorp by 3,380.8% during the 2nd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,810 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vigilant Capital Management LLC lifted its position in KeyCorp by 634.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vigilant Capital Management LLC now owns 2,547 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.11% of the companys stock.

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KeyCorp Price Performance

NYSE KEY traded up $0.14 on Friday, reaching $12.52. The companys stock had a trading volume of 13,592,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,246,696. The firm has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a PE ratio of 6.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $16.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.25. KeyCorp has a 52 week low of $9.60 and a 52 week high of $23.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

KeyCorp ( NYSE:KEY Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. KeyCorp had a net margin of 22.46% and a return on equity of 15.27%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that KeyCorp will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 27th. KeyCorps payout ratio is 42.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of KeyCorp from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Odeon Capital Group lowered shares of KeyCorp from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $19.18.

Insider Transactions at KeyCorp

In other news, insider Amy G. Brady sold 45,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.58, for a total transaction of $701,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 119,121 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,855,905.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Ruth Ann M. Gillis acquired 2,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.95 per share, with a total value of $25,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 42,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $556,344.95. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Amy G. Brady sold 45,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.58, for a total transaction of $701,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,121 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,855,905.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.54% of the companys stock.

KeyCorp Company Profile

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KeyCorp is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It provides a range of retail and commercial banking, commercial leasing, investment management, consumer finance, student loan refinancing, commercial mortgage servicing and special servicing, and investment banking products and services to individual, corporate, and institutional clients.

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National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEARCA:GLD  Get Rating) by 192.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 660,604 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after acquiring an additional 434,764 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FIs holdings in SPDR Gold Shares were worth $112,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of SPDR Gold Shares by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 1,988 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Mader & Shannon Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of SPDR Gold Shares by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Mader & Shannon Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124,829 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $21,176,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of SPDR Gold Shares by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 19,429 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $3,296,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of SPDR Gold Shares by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 396,976 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $67,343,000 after acquiring an additional 5,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of SPDR Gold Shares in the 4th quarter worth about $115,000. 37.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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SPDR Gold Shares Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSEARCA:GLD traded down $0.96 on Friday, reaching $183.22. 8,003,334 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,112,195. SPDR Gold Shares has a 12 month low of $150.57 and a 12 month high of $186.24. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $176.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.20.

SPDR Gold Shares Company Profile

SPDR Gold Trust (the Trust) is an investment trust. The investment objective of the Trust is for the Shares to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the Trusts expenses. The Trusts business activity is the investment of gold. The Trust creates and redeems Shares from time to time, but in one or more Baskets (a Basket equals a block of 100,000 Shares).

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Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in TriNet Group, Inc. (NYSE:TNET  Get Rating) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 81,778 shares of the business services providers stock after acquiring an additional 3,672 shares during the quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLCs holdings in TriNet Group were worth $5,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TNET. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in TriNet Group by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,190,526 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $412,181,000 after buying an additional 430,430 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of TriNet Group by 1,442.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 374,732 shares of the business services providers stock worth $29,087,000 after acquiring an additional 402,651 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of TriNet Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,543,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of TriNet Group by 133.5% during the 2nd quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 40,019 shares of the business services providers stock worth $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 159,576 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in shares of TriNet Group by 344.7% during the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 194,800 shares of the business services providers stock worth $13,874,000 after acquiring an additional 151,000 shares during the period. 91.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of TriNet Group in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Cowen increased their price objective on shares of TriNet Group from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, TriNet Group presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $81.25.

TriNet Group Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of TNET stock traded up $1.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $80.61. 257,608 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 337,997. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $79.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.71. The stock has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50 and a beta of 1.16. TriNet Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.60 and a 12 month high of $103.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

TriNet Group (NYSE:TNET  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 15th. The business services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.78. TriNet Group had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 52.06%. The company had revenue of $310.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $250.09 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that TriNet Group, Inc. will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at TriNet Group

In other TriNet Group news, CEO Burton M. Goldfield sold 6,250 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,541 shares in the company, valued at $8,173,116. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other TriNet Group news, SVP Alexander G. Warren sold 2,555 shares of TriNet Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.59, for a total value of $228,902.45. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 34,111 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,056,004.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Burton M. Goldfield sold 6,250 shares of TriNet Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $475,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,173,116. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,835 shares of company stock worth $1,953,511 over the last three months. 40.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

TriNet Group Company Profile

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TriNet Group, Inc provides human capital management (HCM) solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. Its services include HR expertise, benefit options, payroll services, risk mitigation, and a technology platform. The company was founded by Martin Babinec in 1988 and is headquartered in Dublin, CA.

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Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,949 shares of the information technology services providers stock after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.s holdings in Accenture were worth $787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,473,666 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $15,045,274,000 after purchasing an additional 816,734 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 46,363,742 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $11,929,391,000 after buying an additional 319,707 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Accenture by 33.6% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,858,899 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $2,459,673,000 after buying an additional 2,228,802 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 5.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,296,119 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,877,293,000 after buying an additional 354,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.5% during the third quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,799,259 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $1,492,149,000 after buying an additional 29,646 shares during the last quarter. 73.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.53, for a total value of $155,974.68. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 42,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,060,265.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 556 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.53, for a total value of $155,974.68. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 42,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,060,265.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,250 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.08, for a total transaction of $1,449,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,444 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $9,509,299.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,475 shares of company stock worth $10,225,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Accenture Stock Performance

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut shares of Accenture from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and set a $268.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, March 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $310.00 to $290.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $314.00.

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $3.15 on Friday, reaching $285.81. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,009,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,137,236. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $242.80 and a 52-week high of $345.30. The company has a market cap of $180.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.93.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The information technology services provider reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.20. Accenture had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 30.73%. The business had revenue of $15.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $15.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.54 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 13th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Accentures dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.25%.

About Accenture

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Accenture Plc engages in the provision of management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe and Growth Markets. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,524 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company comprises about 1.1% of Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $2,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 688 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Orion Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 900 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Lam Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.24% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WFC. Piper Sandler cut Wells Fargo & Company from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $47.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Wells Fargo & Company in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $51.88.

Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance

Shares of WFC stock remained flat at $37.38 during trading on Friday. 30,287,859 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,221,556. The company has a market capitalization of $141.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firms 50-day moving average price is $43.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.75. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $35.25 and a 1 year high of $53.30.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $19.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.04 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.91% and a return on equity of 9.28%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Companys payout ratio is presently 38.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Wells Fargo & Company news, EVP Kleber Santos sold 34,698 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total value of $1,605,476.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,590 shares of the companys stock, valued at $906,429.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.05% of the companys stock.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

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Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified, community-based financial services company. It is engaged in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage products and services, and consumer and commercial finance. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management.

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At funeral services at a Chesterfield church to mourn Irvo Otieno, there was also a call to remember him as a symbol of how mentally ill people are treated by law enforcement and the need for change.
PVH (NYSE:PVH  Get Rating) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $106.00 to $110.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the textile makers stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on PVH. Cowen boosted their target price on shares of PVH from $75.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Cowen upped their price objective on shares of PVH from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of PVH from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, December 5th. Wedbush increased their price target on PVH to $77.00 in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on PVH from $72.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, December 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PVH currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $87.78.

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PVH Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of PVH opened at $89.16 on Wednesday. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $81.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 2.07. PVH has a 12-month low of $43.49 and a 12-month high of $94.51.

PVH Dividend Announcement

PVH ( NYSE:PVH Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 28th. The textile maker reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.71. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.36 billion. PVH had a return on equity of 11.69% and a net margin of 2.22%. PVHs quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PVH will post 10.01 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 8th were given a $0.0375 dividend. This represents a $0.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.17%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 7th. PVHs payout ratio is presently 5.07%.

Insider Transactions at PVH

In related news, EVP Mark D. Fischer sold 1,732 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total value of $140,292.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,629,908. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PVH

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in PVH by 38.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,767,398 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $258,379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616,002 shares in the last quarter. Southeastern Asset Management Inc. TN bought a new stake in PVH during the second quarter worth about $121,380,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in PVH by 9.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,684,738 shares of the textile makers stock worth $129,067,000 after buying an additional 148,917 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc CT increased its holdings in PVH by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc CT now owns 1,658,302 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $74,292,000 after buying an additional 7,226 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of PVH by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,579,507 shares of the textile makers stock valued at $70,762,000 after buying an additional 84,262 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.50% of the companys stock.

About PVH

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PVH Corp. engages in the design and marketing of branded dress shirts, neckwear, sportswear, jeans wear, intimate apparel, swim products, handbags, footwear, and other related products. It operates through the following segments: Calvin Klein North America, Calvin Klein International, Tommy Hilfiger North America, Tommy Hilfiger International, Heritage Brands Wholesale, and Heritage Brands Retail.

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AstraZeneca (OTCMKTS:AZNCF  Get Rating) and Sanofi (NYSE:SNY  Get Rating) are both health technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for AstraZeneca and Sanofi, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score AstraZeneca 0 0 1 0 3.00 Sanofi 0 0 0 0 N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

Profitability

40.9% of AstraZeneca shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.0% of Sanofi shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Sanofi shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

This table compares AstraZeneca and Sanofis net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets AstraZeneca N/A N/A N/A Sanofi N/A N/A N/A

Dividends

AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Sanofi pays an annual dividend of $1.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. AstraZeneca pays out 343.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sanofi pays out 48.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sanofi has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Sanofi is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AstraZeneca and Sanofis gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio AstraZeneca N/A N/A N/A $0.82 171.76 Sanofi $45.39 billion 3.02 $7.14 billion $2.83 19.23

Sanofi has higher revenue and earnings than AstraZeneca. Sanofi is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AstraZeneca, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Sanofi beats AstraZeneca on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AstraZeneca

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AstraZeneca Plc is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company was founded on June 17, 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

About Sanofi

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Sanofi engages in the research, production, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. It operates through the following business segments: Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Healthcare, and Vaccines. The Pharmaceuticals segment comprises the commercial operations of the following global franchises: specialty care, diabetes and cardiovascular, established prescription products and generics, and research, development, and production activities. The Consumer Healthcare segment includes the commercial operations for its Consumer Healthcare products. The Vaccines segment consists commercial operations of Sanofi Pasteur. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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Hauck Aufhauser Investment Banking set a 125.00 ($134.41) price objective on Shop Apotheke Europe (ETR:SAE  Get Rating) in a report published on Friday, Borsen Zeitung reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Credit Suisse Group set a 42.00 ($45.16) price target on shares of Shop Apotheke Europe in a research note on Wednesday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a 140.00 ($150.54) target price on Shop Apotheke Europe in a report on Thursday. Bank Of America (Bofa) set a 82.00 ($88.17) price target on Shop Apotheke Europe in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Baader Bank set a 85.00 ($91.40) price objective on Shop Apotheke Europe in a report on Thursday. Finally, Warburg Research set a 108.00 ($116.13) target price on Shop Apotheke Europe in a report on Thursday.

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Shop Apotheke Europe Trading Up 2.4 %

ETR:SAE opened at 83.42 ($89.70) on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.86. The stocks 50 day moving average price is 69.62 and its 200 day moving average price is 54.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 66.24, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 2.88. Shop Apotheke Europe has a 52 week low of 36.51 ($39.26) and a 52 week high of 105.25 ($113.17).

Shop Apotheke Europe Company Profile

Shop Apotheke Europe N.V. owns and operates online pharmacies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands. It provides prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and pharmacy-related beauty and personal care products, as well as food supplements. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Sevenum, the Netherlands.

Further Reading

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Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMBC  Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,720,000 shares, a growth of 27.4% from the February 28th total of 2,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 469,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.9 days. Currently, 8.5% of the companys stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ambac Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al raised its stake in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 55.3% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 64,878 shares of the companys stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 23,109 shares during the period. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. purchased a new stake in Ambac Financial Group during the third quarter valued at about $1,105,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in Ambac Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $105,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 18.3% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 8,946 shares of the companys stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Finally, Repertoire Partners LP raised its position in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 18.8% in the second quarter. Repertoire Partners LP now owns 1,196,066 shares of the companys stock valued at $13,575,000 after purchasing an additional 189,064 shares during the period. 69.84% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AMBC. Roth Capital reissued a neutral rating on shares of Ambac Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com started coverage on Ambac Financial Group in a report on Friday, March 17th. They set a hold rating for the company.

Ambac Financial Group Stock Up 3.1 %

AMBC traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $15.48. 965,145 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 596,159. Ambac Financial Group has a 1 year low of $7.24 and a 1 year high of $17.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $701.09 million, a PE ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.66.

Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AMBC  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $219.00 million for the quarter. Ambac Financial Group had a net margin of 103.61% and a return on equity of 52.87%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ambac Financial Group will post -1.25 EPS for the current year.

About Ambac Financial Group

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Ambac Financial Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial guarantee insurance policies through its subsidiary, Ambac Assurance Corp. Its services include credit, insurance, asset management and other financial services. The company was founded on April 29, 1991 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of China Green Agriculture (NYSE:CGA  Get Rating) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the basic materials companys stock.

China Green Agriculture Price Performance

NYSE CGA opened at $4.09 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $4.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.95. China Green Agriculture has a one year low of $3.90 and a one year high of $10.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 1.98.

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Institutional Trading of China Green Agriculture

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in China Green Agriculture stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of China Green Agriculture, Inc. (NYSE:CGA  Get Rating) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,368 shares of the basic materials companys stock, valued at approximately $115,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.13% of China Green Agriculture at the end of the most recent reporting period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 0.14% of the companys stock.

China Green Agriculture Company Profile

China Green Agriculture, Inc engages in the research, development, production, and sale of various types of fertilizers and agricultural products. It operates through the following segments: Jinong, Gufeng, and Yuxing. The Jinong segment includes fertilizer products, with focus on humic acid-based compound fertilizer.

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StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Leju (NYSE:LEJU  Get Rating) in a research note released on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the financial services providers stock.

Leju Price Performance

Leju stock opened at $1.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.45. Leju has a 1-year low of $1.03 and a 1-year high of $8.49.

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Leju Company Profile

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Leju Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of online-to-offline real estate services. It offers electronic commerce, online advertising, and listing services on new residential property sales. The company was founded on November 20, 2013 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Xinyuan Real Estate (NYSE:XIN  Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services providers stock.

Xinyuan Real Estate Price Performance

NYSE:XIN opened at $4.06 on Wednesday. Xinyuan Real Estate has a 1 year low of $2.95 and a 1 year high of $11.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.78.

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Institutional Trading of Xinyuan Real Estate

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Xinyuan Real Estate stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (NYSE:XIN  Get Rating) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 478,629 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $536,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. owned approximately 0.90% of Xinyuan Real Estate at the end of the most recent reporting period. 27.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Xinyuan Real Estate

Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the acquisition, investment, and development of real estate properties. It operates through the following geographical segments: Henan Province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, Sichuan Province, Beijing, Hainan Province, Hunan Province, Shaanxi Province, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xinjiang, Zhuhai, and United States.

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE  Get Rating) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a buy rating to a hold rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on HPE. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Monday, March 20th. They issued a neutral rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $14.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Monday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $16.77.

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

NYSE HPE traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $15.93. 15,416,129 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,872,697. The stock has a market cap of $20.64 billion, a PE ratio of 24.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.23. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a one year low of $11.90 and a one year high of $17.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.53 and a 200-day moving average of $14.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Insider Transactions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( NYSE:HPE Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 2nd. The technology company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.40 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a return on equity of 4.22% and a net margin of 2.92%. Hewlett Packard Enterprises revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 47,307 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.01, for a total transaction of $804,692.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Alan Richard May sold 703,226 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.11, for a total value of $10,625,744.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 249,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,770,111.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeremy Cox sold 47,307 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.01, for a total value of $804,692.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 799,621 shares of company stock worth $12,178,761. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 66.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,062 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 821 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Arlington Partners LLC acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Horan Securities Inc. boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 211.8% during the 3rd quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 2,214 shares of the technology companys stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Hampshire Trust acquired a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 81.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co is a global edge-to-cloud company, which engages in the provision of information technology, technology and enterprise products, solutions, and services. It operates through the following segments: Compute, High Performance Computing & Artificial Intelligence (HPC & AI), Storage, Intelligent Edge, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments and Other.

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America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:AMX  Get Rating)  Analysts at Zacks Research issued their Q1 2023 earnings estimates for shares of America Movil in a report issued on Monday, March 27th. Zacks Research analyst V. Doshi expects that the Wireless communications provider will post earnings per share of $0.37 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for America Movils current full-year earnings is $1.39 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for America Movils Q2 2023 earnings at $0.21 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $0.31 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $0.33 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $1.21 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $0.37 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.37 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.40 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $1.52 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $1.71 EPS.

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AMX has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of America Movil from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut America Movil from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and set a $19.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $21.70.

America Movil Stock Down 1.5 %

AMX stock opened at $21.05 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $66.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. America Movil has a 12-month low of $16.13 and a 12-month high of $22.65.

America Movil (NYSE:AMX  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 14th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. America Movil had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 18.55%. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.62 billion.

Institutional Trading of America Movil

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky acquired a new stake in shares of America Movil in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,099,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of America Movil by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 31,958 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 4,685 shares during the period. CI Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of America Movil in the 4th quarter valued at about $929,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of America Movil by 83,299.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,190,495 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 11,177,077 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of America Movil by 809.1% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 277,266 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $5,032,000 after purchasing an additional 246,768 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 5.55% of the companys stock.

America Movil Company Profile

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America Movil SAB de CV engages in the provision of telecommunications services. The firm operates through the following segments: Mexico Wireless, Mexico Fixed, Brazil, Colombia, Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay), Andean Region (Ecuador and Peru), Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama), the Caribbean (the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) and Europe (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia).

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ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in American Express (NYSE:AXP  Get Rating) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 202,656 shares of the payment services companys stock after buying an additional 829 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.s holdings in American Express were worth $29,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in American Express by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Frontier Wealth Management LLC raised its position in American Express by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Frontier Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,355 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% in the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,485 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 4,345 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 1.3% in the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 5,607 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. 83.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, insider Monique Herena sold 15,217 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.18, for a total transaction of $2,635,280.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,712 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,374,644.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Express news, insider Monique Herena sold 15,217 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.18, for a total transaction of $2,635,280.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,712 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,374,644.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 5,456 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.52, for a total transaction of $952,181.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,045 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,229,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,361 shares of company stock valued at $8,773,678 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.11% of the companys stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

American Express Stock Up 1.6 %

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AXP shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $159.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $158.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of American Express from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of American Express from $128.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Express has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $175.44.

Shares of NYSE AXP traded up $2.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $164.95. The stock had a trading volume of 3,594,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,101,252. The businesss 50 day moving average is $169.97 and its 200-day moving average is $155.91. The company has a market cap of $122.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.20. American Express has a 52 week low of $130.65 and a 52 week high of $194.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

American Express (NYSE:AXP  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The payment services company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.25 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 31.76% and a net margin of 14.16%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.18 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that American Express will post 11.25 EPS for the current year.

American Express announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 8th that allows the company to buyback 120,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the payment services company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the companys management believes its shares are undervalued.

American Express Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from American Expresss previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 5th. American Expresss payout ratio is presently 21.14%.

American Express Company Profile

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American Express Co engages in the provision of charge and credit card products and travel-related services. It operates through the following segments: U.S Consumer Services (USCS), Commercial Services (CS), International Card Services (ICS), Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS), and Corporate and Other.

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Donald Trump raised over $4 million towards his 2024 presidential run in 24 hours after a Manhattan grand jury indicted the former US president on charges related to paying off a porn star, his office has said. According to the former presidents campaign, over 25 per cent of donations came from first-time donors to the Trump Campaign, further solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary. "This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponisation of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor," it said in a statement on Friday. "With an average contribution of only $34, Trump's 2024 campaign is funded by an unmatched coalition of hardworking patriots who are fed up with special interest donors like Soros spending billions of dollars to influence our elections, it said. Americans from across all 50 states donated to President Trump's campaign within the first five hours of the "sham indictment, the statement said. The grand jury on Thursday voted to indict Trump, a Republican, for his role in paying money to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to buy her silence over an alleged affair. Trump, who is the first former US president to face a criminal charge, will be arraigned on Tuesday. The indictment remains under seal and it is not clear what crimes and how many criminal counts Trump has been charged with. On Thursday, within minutes of Trumps indictment, the Trump campaign fired off a fundraising email soliciting contributions toward the 76-year-old's 2024 campaign. It was the first of more than half a dozen fundraising emails sent out by the Trump campaign after the indictment. The White House has refused to comment on the indictment of the former president. "I have no comment on that," President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday. Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Zambia: "I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president." Trump, the 45th US President from 2017 to 2021, has denied all wrongdoing in connection with the payments made ahead of the election in 2016. Trump is currently the front-runner among all declared and potential contenders for the 2024 Republican White House nomination. There is nothing in US law that prevents a candidate who is found guilty of a crime from campaigning for and serving as president  even from prison. Trump was twice impeached by the House of Representatives. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.
After a three-year hiatus, Pakistan and China are set to resume trade from Monday through the Khunjerab Pass  the only land route between the two all-weather allies, a media report said on Saturday. The Khunjerab Pass was closed in November 2019 to contain the transmission of the COVID-19 virus between the two countries. The arrangements to reopen the border point for bilateral trade and other activities under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have been finalised by both sides, the Dawn newspaper reported. The $60 billion CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China's Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPEC is a network of roads, railways, pipelines, and ports in Pakistan connecting China to the Arabian Sea. Gilgit-Baltistan Home Secretary Rana Mohammad Saleem Afzal said that officials on both sides agreed to reopen Khunjerab Pass for trade and travel activities from April 3. He added that the process of issuing border passes would start soon, the report said. "Most important aspect is that it's a CPEC route. CPEC consignments will enter Pakistan through Khunjerab Pass from China," he said. Under an agreement, trade and travel activities between the two countries through the Khunjerab Pass start annually on April 1 and close on November 30. Daily bus service also plies from the Sost Valley of the Gilgit-Baltistan region to the Xinjiang province of China, the report said. The first trade activity between China and Pakistan under the CPEC started via the Karakoram Highway in November 2016. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar, said that the federal government had been working to revive CPEC activities, the report said. She added that all hurdles in the bilateral trade's way would be removed. The prolonged closure of the Khunjerab Pass caused immense financial hardships to the local business community, and thousands of workers became jobless, the report said, quoting officials. During the last three years, the Pass was occasionally opened for emergency cargo transportation from China to Pakistan on specific days. The volume of trade between the two countries would increase after the reopening of the Khunjerab Pass, Gilgit-Baltistan Collector of Customs Syed Fawad Ali Shah was quoted as saying in the report. He said all required arrangements had been finalised for normal trade at the Sost dry port. Shah added that he met traders, the port management and other stakeholders, who were all happy and assured the administration of their cooperation in smooth trade activities at the dry port. Haji Liaquat of the Gilgit-Baltistan Importers and Exporters Association said that the people affiliated with trade between the two countries were optimistic about the revival of economic activities in the region, according to the report. He added that the people of the region and the government exchequer suffered losses worth billions of rupees owing to the prolonged halt of trade at the Sost dry port.
Christian Dior SE showcased its Fall 2023 collection in Mumbai on March 30, becoming the first fashion house to unveil the latest lines in India as luxury brands tap new markets in a hunt for their next billions. Everything from sari-inspired skirts to boleros to vibrantly colored outfits in silks, including those in an Indian pink, were on display, with the Gateway of India as the backdrop in the show led by Diors first female creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri. Parent group LVMHs shares rose as much as 1 percent to 838.7 euros ($913), touching a record high during market hours on Friday. Dior, the second-biggest brand of billionaire Bernard Arnaults French luxury behemoth LVMH, and the decision to add India to its seasonal schedule shows a rising interest to tap the nations rising wealth. India currently has 119 billionaires, according to Oxfam, with the country estimated to produce 70 new millionaires every day between 2018 and 2022. It also points to Diors ability to bring entry-level buyers into the LVMH realm  a rising group of spenders, especially in the country of 1.4 billion people, through its cosmetics to perfumes to bags offerings. Its a hugely untapped market with the middle class on the rise and lots more and lots more, by the year, millionaires, says Deborah Aitken, senior analyst for luxury goods at Bloomberg Intelligence. Its vibrant, its new design, new color, new technologies into the luxury space, which is hugely needed. Diors not new at showcasing its collections at untapped locations with iconic architecture serving as the backdrop to its runways. Artistic director Kim Jones had unveiled its mens fall collection last year with the Pyramids of Giza rising in the background, bringing to front its parent groups ambition to ensure future profits as the next generation of the Arnault family takes on more pivotal roles in the empire. When you think about Dior, theres an immediate link for Dior in fragrances, in make-up where theyre so strong and that is where entry-point luxury starts for so many consumers, said Aitken.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Bhopal on April 1 morning to take part in the ongoing Combined Commanders' Conference and to flag off a Vande Bharat Express train that will run between the state capital and Delhi. Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed PM Modi at the city airport on his arrival around 9.30 am. The prime minister then proceeded to the Kushabhau Thakre International Convention Centre in the city, where the Combined Commanders' Conference is underway, official sources said. The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier planned a mega roadshow in Bhopal to welcome PM Modi, but it was cancelled in the wake of the Indore temple tragedy that occurred on Thursday, in which 36 persons lost their lives, party's state unit president Vishnu Dutt Sharma said. Around 3.15 pm, Modi will flag off the Vande Bharat train from Rani Kamalapati station in Bhopal, the sources said. The railway station in Bhopal, which was earlier called Habibganj station, was renamed as Rani Kamalapati station in November 2021 in honour of the famousGond queen of Bhopal. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) earlier said that the new train being introduced between Bhopal and New Delhi will be the eleventh Vande Bharat train in the country. The Combined Commanders' Conference, which began on March 30, is being held on the theme 'ready, resurgent, relevant' and will see deliberations over a spectrum of issues pertaining to national security, including jointness and theaterisation in the armed forces.

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The Election Commission has no role to play in the plea seeking directions to debar lawmakers disqualified under the anti-defection law from contesting by-elections during the same term of the House and the Centre is the appropriate authority to adjudicate the matter, the poll panel has told the Supreme Court. In an affidavit filed before the top court, the poll panel said the Centre is the appropriate party for the adjudication of the prayers made in the plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur. "The issue involved in this matter pertains to the interpretation of Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution. It relates to matters that do not have a nexus with the conduct of elections in terms of the remit of the Commission under Article 32. "Therefore, Respondent No. 1 (Centre) is the appropriate party for the adjudication of the prayers made in the present Petition," the poll panel said. In her plea, Thakur had said there is a concerted pan-India effort by political parties to render the Constitution's 10th Schedule  provision on disqualification on grounds of political defections  as otiose and redundant. It had said the import of the provisions of Article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution and its consequential effect on an MP or MLA, who suffers disqualification under the 10th Schedule, would have to be considered by this court which had no occasion till now to do so. The plea had said that once a member of the House incurs disqualification under the 10th Schedule, he or she cannot be permitted to contest again during the term for which he was elected as Article 172 makes membership of a House co-terminus with the term of five years of the House except in circumstances mentioned therein. It had said that once the 10th Schedule comes into play and a seat falls vacant due to disqualification then that particular disqualified member of the House has to incur disability under Article 191 (1)(e ) of the Constitution and be debarred from being chosen again during the term for which he/she was elected. Consequently, his nomination shall be rejected as provided in Section 362 (a) of the Representation of the People Act, the plea said. Thakur in her plea said that it concerns the importance of party politics in a democracy and the requirement to have stability within the government to facilitate good governance, as mandated under the Constitution.
Whats the time? If you had asked this question in Beirut recently, the answer would have told you more about the person replying than the actual time. Lebanon was scheduled to turn its clocks forward under the Daylight Saving Time protocol last week, along with much of Europe. However, a disagreement between Muslims observing Ramadan and Maronite church authorities meant that, for a while at least, millions of people were unofficially living in two different time zones. This led to short-term chaos in airports, businesses, and in general across the country. That apart, the last thing people coping with a debilitated economy need is even a hint of sectarian disagreement. The same country has a rich, centuries-old tradition of clockmaking. It is also home to some famous clock towers, including one in Beirut's Nejmeh Square built during the French Mandate, and the Ottoman-era Sultan Abdul Hamid Clock in Tripoli. Novelist Amal El-Mohtar, who is of Lebanese origin, recently upended this chronological spirit in an SF novella, This is How You Lose the Time War, co-written with Max Gladstone. It is an anarchic, fractured tale dealing with agents from warring empires travelling back and forth in time across multiple universes. Time travel has been a time-honoured subject for novelists since H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895. (Although a few decades earlier, Charles Dickens also ranged over past, present, and future in A Christmas Carol.) Many science fiction writers have explored the notion of time in ingenious ways, often exceeding their counterparts in literary fiction. Theres no shortage of invention, though. If F. Scott Fitzgeralds Benjamin Button ages backwards, in Martin Amiss Times Arrow, the arrow in question flies in reverse. Meanwhile, those on the planet of Trafalmadore in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five take in the past, present, and future at a single glance. Novels about different timelines continue to appear. Take the rather twee series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi set in a Tokyo coffee shop that is a launchpad for returning to earlier life events. More absorbing is the multiverse spin of Kiran Manrals All Those Who Wander, in which characters realise that what we experienced of time in our regular life was just one strand of a complex tapestry. Its in Alan Lightmans Einsteins Dreams that concepts of time are perhaps most evocatively explored in a work of fiction. A remarkable feat for a book of less than 200 pages. In a Calvino-esque move, Lightman structures the work around a series of dreams by the German physicist during the time he was working at a patent office in the Swiss town of Bern. Each vivid vision shows how the townspeople would behave if they experienced time differently. In one, time is a circle, bending back on itself, reminiscent of ancient Indian thought. In another dream, time flows like water, occasionally displaced by breeze or debris. In yet others, it flows backward, or has another dimension, or is split into two. Modernist writers paid special attention to times subjective motion. William Faulkners The Sound and the Fury features four narrators, each with an individual sense of times passage. James Joyces Ulysses stretches the events of 24 hours into a capaciously inventive work, and Virginia Woolfs Mrs Dalloway, similarly set during the course of a single day, is interspersed with the periodic chimes of Big Ben. The short second section of Woolfs To the Lighthouse is striking in this regard. Titled Time Passes, it conveys and compresses the impact of the Great War in a series of fragmentary episodes. Here, time is an impassive, indifferent character acting on the others in the novel. For other writers, time is the air their characters breathe and are intimately affected by. In Salman Rushdies The Moors Last Sigh, the protagonist ages twice as fast as everyone else; in Amitav Ghoshs The Shadow Lines, past events separated in time fuse in the narrators memory to inform the present. Eudora Welty felt that the novelist lives on closer terms with time than he does with place. In her essay, Some Notes on Time in Fiction, she goes on to show how. Plenty of myths and legends, she points out, are constructed out of time: the riddle of the Sphinx, Penelopes web, and the frame story of the Thousand and One Nights, for example. In Aristotelian fashion, Welty continues that time is the bringer-on of action, the instrument of change. Fiction does not hesitate to accelerate time, slow it down, project it forward or run it backward, cause it to skip over itself or repeat itself. Writers like Thomas Mann and Marcel Proust find ways to make time give back all it has taken, through turning life by way of the memory into art. For Henri Bergson, lived time was dynamic, not static; for Gottfried Leibniz, time was the thread on which events are strung. For Carlo Rovelli, time has multiple distinct properties; and for Dean Buonomano, our brains are time machines that remember the past to predict the future. There are theories aplenty, and its only in novels that we can come close to fathoming the ways in which we spend it, buy it, kill it, waste it, and make it fly.
Rishi Sunak spent more than 500,000 of taxpayers' money on private jet trips in less than two weeks, again sparking accusations that the UK prime minister is out of touch. According to The Guardian, newly-released government data shows Rishi Sunak took private jet trips costing more than Rs 5 crore in less than a fortnight last year. He spent a total of 512,321 on trips to Egypt, Bali, Latvia and Estonia in the last quarter of 2022 alone. Sunak hired a private jet to fly to the Cop27 summit in Egypt last November  a one-day trip that cost 108,000 (Rs 1 crore approx.) He then jetted off to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia  a five-day visit that came up to more than 340,000. He returned from Bali on November 17. The following month, the British prime minister made trips to Latvia and Estonia to visit troops. The cost of the trip came to 62,500, not including Sunaks personal costs, according to The Mirror. Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats energy and climate spokesperson, called it a shocking waste of taxpayers money and slammed the environmental cost of flying private. This is a shocking waste of taxpayers money at a time when people are struggling to pay their bills. Yet again this Conservative government is completely out of touch. "The government can pretend to care about a greener future with their so-called green day but the reality is they are trashing their own promises, Hobhouse said. As one of the wealthiest leaders that the UK has ever seen  with a net worth rivalling the royals  Sunak has regularly faced criticism for his spending. Here are five other instances when the UK PM faced backlash.
Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested a Swedish national for allegedly molesting an IndiGo cabin crew member. The passenger, identified as Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg, created a ruckus during a flight from Bangkok to Mumbai on March 30. He was in an inebriated condition, according to a Times of India report. Westberg reportedly began to misbehave while meals were being served on board IndiGo Flight 6E-1052. The 62-year-old touched a 24-year-old cabin crew member inappropriately. Narrating the incident, the IndiGo crew member said, The problem began when I informed Westberg who was drunk, that there was no sea food on board. I served him a chicken meal and asked for his ATM card to make the payment on the pretext of swiping the card, the passenger held my hand. I pulled it back and asked him to enter the card PIN. This time he crossed the limit getting up, he molested me in front of other passengers, said the air hostess. The passenger returned to his seat when the cabin crew member shouted that he was misbehaving. However, a few moments later, he stood up again and began to argue with another crew member. According to the FIR filed in Mumbai, he kept yelling F*** y** through the journey and cursed out not only the crew but other passengers as well. At one point, the captain was alerted and a red warning card was read out to Westberg. The Swedish national was arrested when the flight landed in Mumbai. He was released on a bail of Rs 20,000 on Friday.
No-frills carrier IndiGo on Saturday announced starting flight services to Dubai from Bhubaneswar's Biju Patnaik International Airport on May 15 and unveiled plans to connect Odisha's capital city with Singapore and Bangkok going forward. The airline, in a statement, said it has opened bookings for the Bhubaneswar-Dubai flight services, which will be operated three times a week. IndiGo said it is "working in close collaboration" with the Odisha government to commence international operations from Bhubaneswar which will strengthen air connectivity from the state capital. The maiden international flight from Bhubaneswar will take off from Biju Patnaik International Airport on May 15, IndiGo said in the statement. International flight operations will also commence from Bhubaneswar to two more destinations  Singapore and Bangkok for which slots and other operational requirements are being finalised, it stated. According to the airline, direct connectivity to aviation hubs like Dubai, Singapore, and Bangkok will help channelise the huge potential for economic growth through enhanced accessibility. IndiGo said it recently won the bid to operate direct flights to these three gateways. "Connectivity is key to development, and it has been a focus area of our government. Direct connectivity with Dubai which is one of the biggest aviation hubs will open up a direct gateway to the world," Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was quoted as saying in the statement. Not only it will provide seamless connectivity but also it will have a huge multiplier effect on investment in Odisha in sectors like IT, manufacturing and tourism, Patnaik added. Also known as "The Temple City of India", Bhubaneswar attracts pilgrims from all over the world. Besides, a tourist hotspot Bhubaneswar is also a major industrial city of the state, with a number of iron and steel manufacturing plants, IndiGo said in the statement. "The new direct flights between Bhubaneswar-Dubai will reduce the need for travellers to connect to international destinations through metro cities only. "This will not only enable faster connectivity, enhanced accessibility but also encourage trade and tourism in the state," said Vinay Malhotra, Head Global Sales at IndiGo.
This month, Jews will celebrate the holiday of Pesach, commonly known by its English name Passover.

Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, described in the book of Exodus. In its ancient formulation, the holiday was an occasion for making a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem and offering a special sacrifice.

The animal that was offered would become the main course of a sacred meal eaten on the first night, alongside matzah (unleavened bread) and maror (bitter herbs). For the duration of the week, no leaven whatsoever was to be eaten.

After the destruction of the temple, once sacrifices could no longer be offered, the custom morphed into a highly ritualized and symbolic meal called the Passover Seder. Seder means order, and the normative ritual now in practice involves numerous blessings, readings, foods and actions that are to be recited, eaten and performed in the proper sequence on the first night of Passover.

There is far more detail to the Seder ritual than I can cover here, but Id particularly like to elaborate on what is, to me, the core element of the entire endeavor.

After sanctification blessings, ritual handwashing and a symbolic appetizer, the story of the Israelites redemption from slavery is retold. One might expect this would involve a straightforward recitation of the text of, say, the first 15 chapters or so of the Book of Exodus. But what actually appears in the Haggadah, the book containing the standard text of the Seder ritual, is an interpretive retelling.

Relatively few of the specific plot details found in Exodus are mentioned. Moses role is almost entirely glossed over. The highlighted elements are Gods promise to Abraham, the oppression faced by the Israelites under Egyptian rule, and Gods role in effecting the liberation through signs and wonders in the form of the 10 plagues.

Numerous quotations from elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible are brought to expound upon a relatively small selection from the text of Exodus. The whole section culminates with these words:

In each and every generation, a person is obligated to see themselves as if they left Egypt, as it is stated (Exodus 13:8): And you shall explain to your son on that day: For the sake of this, did the Lord do this for me in my going out of Egypt. Not only our ancestors did the Holy One of Blessing redeem, but also us together with them did God redeem.

The purpose of the Passover Seder isnt just to retell the story of the Exodus. Its to get us to internalize the meaning of story. The liberation that happened millennia ago wasnt just a one-time thing. For the Jewish people, that event represents the beginning of an ongoing relationship between us and God, as the force that makes for both our physical and spiritual redemption.

The story has a particularistic dimension  the God of Israel is our God and our relationship is maintained. But it also has a universal dimension. By identifying ourselves with the Israelites, we can understand and empathize with the experience of oppression. And by the same token, we can properly understand and appreciate the value of our freedom.

Because the Haggadah touches on both of these themes, a Seder can be an intense and serious experience. But that intensity is also balanced by exuberant expressions of joy in singing the psalms of Hallel, drinking four cups of wine, and enjoying a festive meal in the company of family and friends. The result is one of the most brilliantly creative and enduring rituals that Judaism has to offer.
Hong Kong, the former British colony and now a special administrative region of China, with high energy, spectacular skylines, skyscrapers and notoriously high-priced real-estate, is also a city of deep-rooted traditions, culture, heritage and foodie delights  a marriage between the East and West dotted with colonial buildings rubbing shoulders with modern architecture. Hong Kong (or HK) also has a great gastronomic culture, so dont forget to eat at street food stalls and indulge in dim sums and milk tea. Here's our pick of how to explore the city in 36 hours, whether you are there on a work/business trip or for leisure: Day 1 10 am: Pray at Man Mo temple Start off your HK odyssey at one of the oldest temples there, built in 1847, dedicated to the God of war and the God of literature. This smoke-filled temple, tucked between skyscrapers on Hollywood Road, is a riot in gold and red. It has gargantuan incense coils suspended from the ceiling with wishes of the worshippers tucked into them. There are giant urns, heaps of offerings  fruits, flowers, even biscuits in front of the statues. Worshippers burn huge joss sticks; some shake bamboo rods to read their fortunes  the one that falls on the ground while shaking corresponds to a number that is in the Fortune book. Many parents and offspring come here to worship the God of literature before taking an exam. 2 pm: Go back in time at Tai Kwun Hong Kongs latest case of urban renewal is Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts which used to be an old complex of 16 colonial buildings between 1864 and 1925. After eight years of extensive renovations at a whopping cost of US$485 million, it opened in May 2018, now converted into a cultural hub. Have a drink at the Art Nouveau inspired bar Dragonfly designed by the cocktail bar maverick Ashley Sutton  sit under a dome of Tiffany glass lamps with motifs of dragonflies. Take a tour of the Victoria prison which has recreated cells with video displays to make the experience more real. Have a Cantonese meal at the upmarket Madame Fu, decorated with art works and Hermes scarves converted into lamps, with seven themed rooms. 6 pm: Retail therapy at Temple Street Night Market This carnival of all-night shopping and eating, spread over one-kilometre area, around Tin Hau Temple, is one of Hong Kongs liveliest places. Located in Kowloon, this is an open air a sprawl of stalls selling everything from souvenirs like magnets and calligraphy brushes to bags, jade jewellery, silk and linen clothes, watches, teapots and cups, mobile phone paraphernalia. There are also fortune tellers, and Cantonese opera that you may catch if you are lucky. 8 pm: A meal at the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant Tim Ho Wan is a hole-in-the-wall dim sum restaurant, started by Chef Mak Kwai Pui, that gained recognition after receiving a coveted Michelin star and, therefore, is known as one of the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Its always crowded so you may have to wait a bit. Theres an itemised list on every table  you just have to tick off your list and place the order. Theres a bewildering array of dishes on offer from their signature pork buns to shrimp dumplings, fish balls, pan fried taro cake. Dont miss the sweet pumpkin cream with sago for dessert. Day 2 10 am: Explore Sham Shui Po This working-class district of blocks of residential apartments interspersed with three main shopping streets is where you can get a glimpse of the real Hong Kong. Walk along the Apliu Street, famous for its electronics market, selling every kind of gizmo under the sun. Yu Chau Street is lined with shops selling wholesale fabrics, as well as accessories like ribbons and buttons. Then head to the retro restaurant Kung Wo Tofu Factory, which sells tofu in every form  from deep-fried to silken-tofu pudding, as well as cold soya milk in bottles. 12 pm: Experience island life at Cheung Chau To experience a different side of Hong Kong away from the clamour, take a ferry from Central Pier No. 5 to Cheung Chau Island. This small fishing village with a crowded harbour, full of sampans, small boats and houseboats, was once inhabited by pirates and, today, you can crawl down those caves for soft adventure and then walk or cycle around the island, exploring beaches with windsurfers and street stalls selling souvenirs dried seafood and Chinese tea. Gorge on street food from fish balls and seafood noodles and rice, to sweets and snacks like bean-curd cake and fried tofu. Visit the Chinese Pak Tai temple, with stone carvings and incense coils suspended from the ceiling. 5 pm: Go to the peak Victoria Peak, at 552m (1,811 ft), is one of Hong Kongs most popular destinations, with panoramic views over its iconic skyline and Victoria Harbour and wooded walks. In the early 19th century, wealthy Europeans were carried up by sedan chairs until the Peak Tram was built. The Peak Tram, a 1.4km, 19th-century funicular railway which takes you to an elevation of around 500m, is an iconic Hong Kong must-do. At the top are shopping and leisure centres as well as a panoramic viewing terrace called the Sky Terrace. 8 pm: Catch the lights Every night at 8 pm, the Victoria Harbour comes to life with A Symphony of Lights, a light show that features 46 skyscrapers along the skyline. The laser show illuminates the harbor in a scintillating display of synchronised music and light. The Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront has the best vantage point, or hop on to a boat from there, and catch it from the water. Day 3 10 am: End the trip with a tram journey To experience that part of the city which still beats to its own rhythm take a tram tour. Running along the northern strip of the island, the trams are a symbol of Hong Kongs heritage and have been connecting the city since 1904, and are a good way to get a window into local life. One of the best tours is on a vintage tram called TramoRamic that starts its journey near Causeway Bay and ends at Western Market. Some places that you will pass on this journey is Happy Valley with its racecourse, and Central, the world of glitzy skyscrapers.
Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump's expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, as the Republican mounts a bid to regain the presidency, could further inflame divisions in the United States. A New York judge on Friday authorized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to make the charges public, but it was not clear when he would do so. For nearly two weeks, Trump has been using the various legal threats he confronts to raise money and rally supporters as he seeks his party's nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year. The first U.S. president to try to overthrow an election defeat, inspiring the deadly 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, has signaled he will continue to campaign even as he faces charges. "I am not afraid of what's to come," Trump said in a fundraising email on Friday. Trump has called himself "completely innocent." Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020, on Friday declined to comment on the indictment as he left the White House for a trip to storm-ravaged Mississippi. After word surfaced on Thursday that Trump had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, he called himself the victim of political persecution. The specific charges are not yet known, though CNN reported that Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud. Susan Necheles, a Trump attorney, told Reuters he will plead not guilty. Another Trump lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said Trump will not have to wear handcuffs at his court appearance and will likely be released without having to post bail. "He's ready to fight. He's gearing up," Tacopina said in a phone interview. The charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days and Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for the court appearance expected on Tuesday. Necheles said she did not expect charges to be unsealed until that day. Any potential trial is still at least more than a year away, legal experts said, meaning it could occur during or after the presidential campaign. PARTISAN BRAWL Trump, 76, has accused Bragg of trying to damage his electoral chances. Trump's claims have been echoed by many of his fellow Republicans and his potential rivals in the race for the party's presidential nomination. Mike Pence, Trump's former vice president and a possible 2024 candidate, said the charges send a "terrible message" to the world about U.S. justice. "I'm very troubled by it," Pence said at a forum in Washington. Ahead of the indictment, the grand jury heard months of evidence about a $130,000 payment to Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. "It's vindication," Daniels told the Times of London. "He's done so much worse that he should have been taken down (for) before." Senior House of Representatives Republicans have vowed to investigate Bragg and demanded he hand over documents and other confidential material from the investigation. Bragg said Congress does not have authority to interfere with a New York legal proceeding and accused the lawmakers of escalating political tensions. Bragg's office has been the target of bomb threats in recent weeks. "You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges," Bragg wrote in a letter to Republican lawmakers. Aside from this case, Trump faces two federal criminal investigations into his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his handling of classified documents after leaving office. Trump also faces a separate Georgia investigation into his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in that state. SECURITY HIGH Officials have stepped up security around the courthouse in New York since Trump on March 18 called on his supporters to protest any arrest. A law enforcement source said police would close streets around the courthouse ahead of Tuesday's expected appearance. On Friday, media outlets were set up outside the courthouse but there was no sign of unrest or protests related to the case. Trump appealed earlier this month for nationwide protests, recalling his charged rhetoric ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, and warned last week of potential "death & destruction" if he were charged. Outside Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, a small group of people waved "Trump Nation" flags and cheered as cars passed by. "I think he's going to get more votes now because people will maybe wake up," said Eve Knapp, a Trump supporter. Merchandise vendor Ronald Solomon said sales of Trump-themed hats and t-shirts were up sharply after the charges were announced. Some 44% of Republicans said Trump should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week. LEGAL PERIL Trump has escaped legal peril numerous times since the 1970s, when he joined his family's real estate business. In the White House, he weathered an investigation into his 2016 campaign's contacts with Russia and two attempts in Congress to remove him from office. Bragg's office prosecuted Trump's business on tax-fraud charges last year, leading to a $1.61 million criminal penalty, but Trump himself was not charged. The presiding judge in that case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is expected to oversee the Daniels case as well, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some legal experts have said Bragg might have to rely on untested legal theories to argue that Trump falsified business records to cover up other crimes, such as violating federal campaign-finance law. The former president's personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said he coordinated with Trump on the payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump has denied having had sexual relationships with either woman, but has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen. Cohen pleaded guilty to a campaign-finance violation in 2018 and served more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors said he acted at Trump's direction.
The International Monetary Fund said on March 31 its executive board approved a four-year $15.6 billion loan program for Ukraine, part of a global $115 billion package to support the country's economy as it battles Russia's 13-month-old invasion. The decision clears the way for an immediate disbursement of about $2.7 billion to Kyiv, and requires ambitious reforms of Ukrainian officials, especially in the energy sector, the Fund said in a statement. The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan is the first major conventional financing program approved by the IMF for a country involved in a large-scale war. The size of the overall package is meant to signal the global community's commitment to continue supporting Ukraine in the war, sources said. Ukraine's previous, $5 billion long-term IMF program was canceled in March 2022 when the fund provided $1.4 billion in emergency financing with few conditions. It provided another $1.3 billion under a "food shock window" program last October. The latest loan is expected to unlock about $100 billion worth of additional international support for Ukraine. An IMF official said the $115 billion package includes the IMF loan, $80 billion in pledges for grants and concessional loans from multilateral institutions and other countries, and $20 billion worth of debt relief commitments. Ukraine must meet certain conditions over the next two years, including avoiding steps that could erode tax revenue, keeping adequate foreign exchange reserves to maintain exchange rate stability, promoting central bank independence and strengthening anticorruption efforts. Deeper reforms will be required in the second phase of the program to enhance stability and early post-war reconstruction, returning to pre-war fiscal and monetary policy frameworks, boosting competitiveness and addressing energy sector vulnerabilities, the IMF said. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said the program faced "exceptionally high" risks, and its success depended on the size, composition and timing of external financing to help close fiscal and external financing gaps and restore Ukraine's debt sustainability. "Russias invasion of Ukraine continues to have a devastating economic and social impact," she said, lauding Ukrainian authorities for maintaining "overall macroeconomic and financial stability." The decision formalizes an IMF staff-level agreement reached with Ukraine on March 21 that takes into consideration Ukraine's path to accession to the European Union after the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the new funding. "It is an important help in our fight against Russian aggression," he said on Twitter. "Together we support the Ukrainian economy. And we are moving forward to victory!" U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the funding package would help secure economic and financial stability and set the foundation for long-term reconstruction. "I call on all other official and private creditors to join this initiative to assist Ukraine as it defends itself from Russias unprovoked war," Yellen said in a statement. "The United States will continue to stand by Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes." The IMF said that multiple stakeholders, including international financial institutions, private-sector firms, most of Ukraine's official bilateral creditors and donors are supporting a two-step debt treatment process for Ukraine that includes adequate financing assurances on debt relief and concessional financing during and after the program. LONGER WAR SCENARIO IMF official Gavin Gray told reporters the fund's baseline scenario assumed the war would wind down in mid-2024, resulting in the projected financing gap of $115 billion, which would be covered by the multilateral and bilateral donors and creditors. The fund's "downside scenario" saw the war continuing through the end of 2025, opening a much larger $140 billion financing gap that would require donors to dig deeper, he said. Gray said the program had been designed to function, even if economic circumstances were "considerably worse" than the baseline. He said the countries providing financing assurances had agreed to work with the IMF to ensure Ukraine was able to service its debt to the IMF if larger sums if needed. Ukraine will face quarterly reviews beginning as early as June, he said.
April 01, 2023

Ukraine Open Thread 2023-77

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Posted by b on April 1, 2023 at 16:18 UTC | Permalink

Comments

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Drilling activity broke a two-week winning streak. Not only that, but the count posted its first quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2020.

Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said Friday its US rig count, which it has reported weekly since 1944, fell by three rigs to 755 for the week. Still, thats 82 rigs or 12% more than the 673 reported a year ago. Baker Hughes said the rig count rose two for the month, the first monthly increase since November. The count fell 24 rigs during the quarter.

The number of rigs seeking crude oil dipped by one rig to 592  still 59 more than the 533 rigs drilling for oil last year. The number of rigs drilling for natural gas dropped by two to 160  22 more than the 138 reported the previous March.

Texas bucked the downward trend, rising four rigs to 376  45 more than the 331 at work statewide last year. New Mexico dropped four rigs to 104. Kansas (1) joined Texas as the other producing state to see an increase. Colorado (1) Louisiana (1) and Oklahoma (2) were the other producing states, alongside New Mexico, to see declines.

The Permian Basin dropped one rig to 352 rigs drilling throughout the basin  29 more than 323 last year.

Eddy County, New Mexico, was the most active county in the Permian with 54 rigs, up one for the week. Lea County, New Mexico, fell to second most active, falling five rigs  the steepest decline among Permian counties  to 49 rigs.

Reeves County showed the sharpest increase, rising four rigs to 42 for the week. Martin County followed with 40, down two for the week. Midland and Loving counties each reported 27 rigs, down one for Midland and up one for Loving. Howard and Upton counties each reported 19 rigs, up one for Howard and unchanged for Upton. Glasscock County reported 10 rigs for a third consecutive week.

Enverus Foundations, part of the energy-focused Software as a Service firm Enverus, said its US rig count reached 841 during the week ended March 29, falling by two from the previous week. The count is down 1% in last month and up 7% year over year.

In major plays, the Permian added three rigs for a total of 347 rigs. The Gulf Coast added two for 108 and the Anadarko and Williston each added one rig for 78 and 42 respectively. Two major plays saw declines with Appalachia dropping two to 51 rigs and the Denver-Julesburg also dropping two rigs to 19.
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP)  Sudans military leaders and pro-democracy forces will delay the signing of an agreement to usher in a civilian government, both sides said in a joint statement issued early Saturday.

The postponement of the signing  which had been scheduled for later Saturday  comes as key security reform negotiations between the Sudanese army and the countrys powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces appear to have reached a deadlock.

Military generals met with pro-democracy leaders Saturday in the capital of Khartoum and agreed to sign the deal on April 6, said Khalid Omar, a spokesman for the pro-democracy block, in a separate statement.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the U.N., the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa, who have facilitated talks between the military and pro-democracy groups.

Sudan has been mired in chaos after a military coup, led by the countrys top Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, removed a Western-backed power-sharing government in October 2021, upending the countrys short-lived transition to democracy.

But last December, the military, the RSF and numerous pro-democracy groups signed a preliminary deal vowing to restore the transition.

In recent months, internationally brokered workshops in Khartoum have sought to find common ground over the countrys thorniest political issues in the hope of signing a more inclusive final agreement.

Chief among the discussion points have been security sector reform and the integration of the RSF into the military  the topic of this weeks talks. But talks ended Wednesday without any clear outcome.

Shihab Ibrahim, a spokesperson for one of the largest pro-democracy groups that signed December's deal, said the army and the RSF have struggled to reach an agreement over the timeline of the integration process.

The army wants a two-year timeline for integration while the RSF has called for a 10-year window, he said.

Spokespersons for the Sudanese army and the RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexicos president on Friday visited the border city where 39 migrants died in a fire at a detention center, expressing pain over the disaster though he was not expected to bring any changes in tough immigration policies.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he was personally devastated by Mondays tragedy in Ciudad Juarez, which is across from El Paso, Texas.

I confess it hurt me a lot, it damaged me, Lopez Obrador said before starting out on his trip to Juarez. It ripped my soul apart.

The president said the fire was the second most painful moment of his administration, exceeded only by a 2019 pipeline fire in the central Mexico town of Tlahuelilpan that killed about 135 people.

However, it hasnt cost him much politically.

Many residents of Mexican border cities mourned the death of the migrants in the smoky mattress fire, which was set by some migrants to protest perceived moves to deport them. But in Ciudad Juarez, many peope were fed up with migrants largely from Central America and Venezuela begging for change at street corners and blocking border bridges.

They and residents of other cities have been calling for authorities to be tough with migrants, and the U.S. also pressures Mexico to curb the flow of migrants.

Ivonne Acuna Murillo, a political science professor at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, said Lopez Obrador doesnt have much maneuvering room to change Mexicos immigration policy.

It would be difficult, on one hand, because of the enormous pressure from the United States to stop migrants arriving at the border, Acuna Murillo said. She added that it is difficult in terms of the presidents own policy goals ... the budget for migration and shelters and all of that is low.

Migrant anger did flare in Ciudad Juarez on Friday, when a group of migrants and their supporters tried to block the presidents motorcade, leading to scuffles. Earlier in the day, he had promised to meet with doctors treating the injured, but it was not clear if that happened.

Eager to gain favor with the United States, Lopez Obrador has made life hard for migrants seeking to cross Mexico to reach the U.S. border. He has assigned tens of thousands of army troops and National Guard officers to retain migrants, and allowed the United States to return migrants from Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua and Cuba to Mexico.

But the U.S. has contributed little to helping Mexico shelter or integrate the returned migrants.

Lopez Obrador lashed out Friday, saying the U.S. should be spending more on economic development in Latin America to prevent migrants from leaving their homes, rather than sending military aid to Ukraine.

How can you compare what the U.S. government sends to Central America, with the 30, 35 billion dollars it is spending on buying weapons for Ukraine? he said.

Federal Public Safety Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez said that the government would close the detention center where the fire occurred and that it would check the conditions in other instalations.

On Friday, in the southern city of Tapachula, the biggest detention center for migrants was nearly emptied to review conditions, said a federal official, who who spoke on condition of anonymity. The center, with capacity for about 1,000 people, has been criticized repeatedly for overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and corruption.

Lopez Obrador said he will set up a commission to ensure the human rights of migrants are protected. He said the commission will be headed by a longtime migrant activist, Rev. Alejandro Solalinde. It was unclear what powers the commission would have.

In the meantime, Lopez Obrador said, I will concentrate on the medical side, basically. What matters to me is treatment for the injured.

Mexico has turned down a U.S. offer to help provide medial treatment to the injured, most of whom suffered smoke inhalation, saying they were too ill to be moved.

Rodriguez said Thursday that 24 migrants remained hospitalized, all of them in apparently either serious or critical condition. Four migrants had been discharged, she said.

The migrant accused of starting the fire suffered only slight injuries and already was released from the hospital, presumably into custody.

That migrant, along with three officials from the National Immigration Institute and two private security guards at the detention center face charges of homicide and causing injuries. The federal prosecutor's office says it also is investigating others for possible misdeeds.

A video from a security camera inside the Ciudad Juarez facility shows guards walking away when the fire started inside the cell holding migrants and not making any attempt to release them. It was not clear whether those guards had keys to the cell doors.

There have been years of complaints about poor conditions and human rights violations at migrant detention facilities in Mexico, including inadequate ventilation, food and water, and overflowing toilets.

And there is mounting evidence of corruption throughout Mexico's immigration system, in which everyone from lawyers and immigration officials to guards have taken bribes to allow migrants out of detention.

Little has been done up to now to address these concerns.

___

Associated Press writers Maria Verza in Mexico City and Edgar H. Clemente in Tapachula contributed to this report.
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GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei toured the archaeological site of Tikal on Saturday during a trip by Tsai that aims to shore up the self-governing islands ties with its remaining allies in Central America.

The Taiwanese leader will visit Guatemala and Belize, the islands only two remaining allies in Central America, where Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama and Costa Rica have all switched their support to China. Honduras broke relations with Taipei a week ago.

Under a blazing sun Saturday, Tsai and Guatemalan Foreign Minister Mario Bucaro, representing Giammattei -- who suffers from multiple sclerosis  climbed one of the Mayans most important pyramids: Temple II, also called Temple of the Masks.

With incense, a Mayan invocation ceremony, a Mayan ball game and an exchange of gifts, Tsai and Giammattei talked as they enjoyed the central square of Tikal archaeological park.

The day before, in a joint message, the leaders spoke of unity, solidarity and the values shared by Guatemala and Taiwan.

Tsai thanked Guatemalas government for its support, calling it an ally and partner. She has framed the trip as a chance to show Taiwans commitment to democratic values globally.

On Sunday, Tsai is scheduled to visit a hospital in the western department of Chimaltenango that was built with the help of a Taiwanese donation.

Before arriving in Guatemala, the Taiwanese president visited the United States. She will culminate her visit to Central America with a stop in Belize, before returning to the U.S.

The trip also is aimed to solidifying ties in Latin America as China funnels money into the region and pressures its countries to break off relations with the self-governed democratic island.

Between 2005 and 2020, the Chinese have invested more than $130 billion in Latin America, according to the United States Institute of Peace. Trade between China and the region has also shot up, and is expected to reach more than $700 billion by 2035.

Taiwan now has no more than 13 official diplomatic partners. More than half of those are small countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Belize, Guatemala, Paraguay, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Southeast Alabama Coalition for the Homeless (SEACH) will sponsor a Homeless Connect event in Dothan Saturday, April 15. The event will take place from 7 until 10 a.m. in the back parking lot at the Alfred Saliba Family Service Centers Mixson Business Center, located at 545 West Main St., in Dothan. A meal and much-needed supplies will be delivered to homeless areas, camps and individuals.

Supplies needed include:

Food items, such as pop-top/quick eat non-perishable food items and bottled water, to include Vienna sausages, Beanie Weenies, Ramen noodles, fruit cups, granola bars, ravioli, tuna, crackers, small bag of chips, small bags of crackers, Spam/potted meat, canned soup, SpaghettiOs, cookie packs, apple sauce, small bags of nuts, beef jerky, boxed raisins, fruit snacks, trail mix, and small canned pop top veggies.

Toiletry items, such as shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, shave cream, body lotion, bath soap, shower gel, combs, toilet paper, and feminine pads;

Baby items, such as diapers and wipes;

Only Summer Specific Clothing Items in sizes adult male, adult female, child male and female: shorts, shoes and sandals only;

Living items, such as new socks, new underwear, hat/cap, bandana, sunglasses, umbrellas, rain coats, purses, wallets, blankets, sheets, tents, bikes, air mattresses/cots, camp chairs, Colman stoves, mini propane tanks, large propane tanks, flash lights, belts, back packs, bug spray, batteries, sunscreen and can openers.

Drop off locations for supplies are at the Ark, the Harbor, and Love in Action. Be sure to tell them donations are for the Homeless Connect event. The Ark at 475 West Main in Dothan can be contacted at (334) 794-7223. The Harbor at 320 North Foster in Dothan can be contacted at (334) 790-4031. Love in Action at 279 West Main Suite 2 in Dothan can be contacted at (334) 494-4995.

Monetary donations can be sent to: SEACH, 545 West Main Street, Suite 100, Dothan, Ala. 36301

Volunteers are needed from 7 until 8:30 a.m. on April 15 to help sort and pack the food and supplies for the homeless. Volunteers are also needed from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. to deliver the food and supplies to homeless areas, camps and people. To volunteer, go to the Covan trailer in the back parking lot at the Mixson Business Center, located at 545 West Main Street in Dothan.

For additional info, dial 2-1-1.
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TOKYO (AP)  Evacuation orders were lifted in small sections of a Japanese town just southwest of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Saturday, in time for the areas popular cherry blossom season, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined a ceremony to mark the reopening.

The area of about 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) where entry restrictions were lifted is part of Tomioka town, most of which had already been reopened since an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Former residents and visitors celebrated the latest reopening as they strolled along a street known as the cherry blossoms tunnel.

Koichi Ono, 75, was back to the neighborhood where he grew up and lived all his life until he was forced to evacuate. After 12 years, I can finally return to my life here," he told NHK television. The disaster hit when I was just starting my retirement life, so I'm starting all over again.

Ono, who learned indigo and vegetable dying while evacuating, wants to open a workshop to serve as a meeting place for people. I hope more people come and visit.

At the ceremony, Kishida pledged to keep working to reopen all no-go zones.

The lifting of the evacuation is by no means a final goal, but the start of the recovery, Kishida said.

The 2011 disaster caused massive amounts of radiation to leak from the plant, and more than 160,000 residents had to evacuate from across Fukushima, including about 30,000 who are still unable to return home.

Tomioka is one of 12 nearby towns fully or partially designated as no-go zones. The two sections in Tomioka that reopened for the first time in 12 years represent one-fifth of the worst-hit no-go zone and were selected by the government along with several other locations in the region for intensive decontamination.

But jobs, daily necessities and infrastructure remain insufficient, making it difficult for younger people to return, and families with small children worry about possible radiation effects.

"The living environment and many other things still need to be sorted out, Tomioka Mayor Ikuo Yamamoto told reporters.

In the newly reopened Yonomori and Osuge districts of Tomioka, just over 50 of about 2,500 registered residents have reportedly returned or expressed intention to go back to live. Only about 10% of the towns pre-disaster population of 16,000 have returned since large areas of Tomioka reopened in 2017.

Town surveys show a majority of former residents say they have decided not to return because they have already found jobs and educations and built relationships elsewhere.

The evacuation order was lifted in several sections of another hard-hit town, Namie, northwest of the plant, on Friday. The reopened area accounts for only about 20% of the town.

I have mixed feelings because there are many residents who still cannot return or have no idea when they can return," said Namie Mayor Eiko Yoshida at an evacuation-lifting ceremony on Friday.
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This week, two local community banks came together to support a mission to improve the lives of teachers, first responders and Midland Memorial Medical staff in Midland by providing affordable housing opportunities.

The Hillcrest Village Housing Development, instituted by the Midland Community Development Corp. is a new, mixed purpose single-family housing development on 19.8 acres that will provide affordable homes for sale to two groups; homebuyers meeting HUD income guidelines and homebuyers who are Midland Independent School District teachers, Midland Memorial hospital staff and City of Midland first responders. Community National Bank and West Texas National Bank, both known for their philanthropic efforts in the Permian Basin, each donated $25,000 to the Hillcrest Village project.
Former President Donald Trump walks towards his plane during his first campaign rally after announcing his candidacy for president in the 2024 election at an event in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023.
Although some groups have resumed meetings, others schedules may have changed because of pandemic restrictions. It is recommended you contact the group in advance to verify details. Any changes in meeting schedules can be emailed to JJCsocial@myjournalcourier.com.



ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

217-370-4002

Jacksonville locations:

 First Baptist Church, 1701 Mound Ave. Wheelchair-accessible.

 Club HOW, 638 S. Church St.

Monday

 Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at First Baptist Curch. Bowen Group.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

Tuesday

 Open discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Womens open meeting, 5:30 p.m., First Christian Churchs Fireside Room.

 VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 7 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, Main and Washington streets.

 ROODHOUSE: Closed discussion, 12-step/12 traditions, 8 p.m. at Grace Center, 114 W. Palm St.

Wednesday

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

Thursday

 Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Newcomers Group.

Friday

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. TGIF Group.

 Closed discussion, 5:15 p.m., Big Book Study at Club HOW.

 VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 401 E. Broadway Ave.

Saturday

 Open speaker, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

 Open meeting, noon at Club HOW.

Sunday

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. 12 & 12 Group.

 Closed discussion, 10 a.m. at Club HOW. (Second Sunday is open)

 SPRINGFIELD: AA for Women, 10 a.m. at Discovery Club, 313 W. Cook St.



AL-ANON

Meetings are nonsmoking and open to anyone. The only requirement is that there be a problem of alcohol with a loved one or friend. 217-248-6434.

Wednesday

 Al-Anon, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 331 E. State St. (use Morgan Street entrance).



NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS

All meetings are nonsmoking. Not affiliated with any religious organization.

Jacksonville location:

 Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf, 104 Finley St. (enter through back door). 217-883-1975.

Monday

 Open discussion group, 7 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf.

Wednesday

 Open discussion group, 8 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf.

Friday

 Open discussion group, 7:30 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church for the Deaf.



OTHER MEETINGS

Monday

 Living Grace support group, 6 p.m., GO Church, 767 S. West St. The group uses both biblican and neuroscientific insights and tools to help reduce stress, depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges. 952-693-6841 or jamiemgish@gmail.com.

 Hope Lives On support group for mothers who have lost children to suicide, 7 p.m., Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, 155 W. Morton Ave.

 Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. at Faith Tabernacle, 571 Sandusky St. Use side entrance to church hall.

 PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. in the basement of Subway in Pittsfield. 1-800-323-1388.



Tuesday

 Jacksonville Sunrise Rotary, 7 a.m. Holiday Inn Express meeting room, South Jacksonville. 217-243-6895.

 Dementia Caregiver support group, 2-3 p.m., free virtual event. Call 800-272-3900 to register, which is required. Hosted by the Springfield office of the Alzheimers Association Illinois.

 American Legion Post 279, 7 p.m. at 903 W. Superior Ave.



Wednesday

 Breastfeeding support group, 6 p.m., Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, Meeting Room 2.

 ROODHOUSE: Women with Hearts of Love (WWHOL), 6-7 p.m. at House of Restoration, 208 W. Franklin St. 217-602-1670.



Thursday

 Jacksonville Area Chess Club, 6-9 p.m. at Jacksonville Public Library. 217-370-0882.

 Jacksonville Kiwanis Club, noon at Hamiltons.

 WHITE HALL: Addicts Victorious, teens 5:30-6:30 p.m.; adults 7-8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of New Life Church, 626 Curtis St.



Friday

 Jacksonville Rotary Club, noon at Hamiltons.

 PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 6 p.m. at Assembly of God, 575 Piper St. 800-323-1388.



Saturday

 Jacksonville Amateur Radio Societys Net, 9 p.m. Transmitted on K9JX repeater. K9JX.com.
Illinois State Police/Provided

MOUNT STERLING  A Mount Sterling man was being held Saturday in lieu of $2 million bail following his arrest on sexual assault of a child charges.

Gary A. Welty, 71, of Mount Sterling was arrested on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, according to Illinois State Police. The charges are Class X felonies, the most serious in Illinois with the exception of first-degree murder.
A new book of poetry challenges its contributors  and sometimes its readers  to look back and ask, What if?

Writing the Self-Elegy: The Past Is not Disappearing Ink was edited by poet Kara Dorris, an Illinois College assistant professor of English.

Its technically defining the self-elegy, which is actually pretty hilarious, because I dont really like to define poetry, Dorris said, noting that putting a label on it is too limiting.

Many may recognize the word elegy as something frequently heard at funerals, a lament for the dead. Self-elegy takes a slightly different  if familiar  approach, Dorris said.

More Information Writing the Self-Elegy: The Past Is not Disappearing Ink, edited by Kara Dorris, is being published by Southern Illinois University Press with an anticipated May 16 release date. It is available for preorder at siupress.com/selfelegy, Amazon and other online book retailers. The paperback version is $29.95 and the e-book is $18.99. See More Collapse

Elegy is about loss, she said. Self-elegy is different. Its not really about a death but about those roads not taken, what would have happened had you moved somewhere else, how it would have changed your life, the direction its going.

Its a lot about kind of looking back at yourself.

It can be melancholy but also often is about self-love and understanding, she said.

Its understanding where you came from, Dorris said. Oh, I should have known better. But, truthfully, should we have known better?

Dorris compares the self-elegy to a selfie, something capturing a snapshot of a persons past.

Theyre artifacts, memorials of the moment gone too fast, she said. They record a moment in time and allow us to look back at that moment.

Thats not all they have in common with a selfie.

Self-elegies allow us to frame ourselves, to tell our own stories, Dorris said. Some people can argue that all poetry is self-elegy. A poem is definitely the way a poet interacts with the world and, oftentimes, those are about loss and change.

For the book, Dorris brought together 28 poets of diverse backgrounds and experiences, each of whom contributed poems, essays and writing exercises to the endeavor. Those writing exercises can be used by individual readers to write a self-elegy of their own or as part of a classroom project.

Despite the similarities in contributions, the contributors approach and voice are unique, Dorris said..

Some poets are mournful, some celebratory, she said. But theyre always reflective, always thinking back and trying to understand and work through a moment or loss of some sort. You would think it would be sad, but I dont think its sad at all. I think theyre exploratory and reflective.
Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Corey N. Ward, 45, of 824 Bills Road, Franklin, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 9:22 p.m. Thursday on charges of driving under the influence, improper lane use and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

 Aracelis Valdez-Almonte, 18, of 411 W. Main St., Beardstown, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 12:32 a.m. Wednesday on charges of operating an uninsured motor vehicle, having expired registration and driving while license is suspended.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Lawrence J. White, 55, of 516 Pine St. was arrested at 1:15 a.m. Friday on a domestic battery charge after being accused of spitting on a woman and pushing her.

 Tiffani R. Weger, 30, of Jacksonville was cited at 2:47 p.m. Thursday on a charge of unlawful visitation interference.

 David L. Wilson, 39, of 882 N. Church St. was arrested at 4:22 a.m. Thursday on a retail theft charge after being accused of taking a pair of gloves from Jiffi Stop, 841 W. Morton Ave., without paying.

VANDALISM

 A window was kicked out of a residence in the 300 block of West Beecher Avenue, according to a report filed at 11:05 a.m. Thursday.
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NEW YORK (AP)  When Donald Trump steps before a judge this coming week to be arraigned in a New York courtroom, it will not only mark the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges. It will also be a reckoning for a man long nicknamed Teflon Don, who until now has managed to skirt serious legal jeopardy despite 40 years of legal scrutiny.

Trump, who is the early front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is expected to turn himself in Tuesday. He faces charges including at least one felony offense related to hush money payments to women during his 2016 campaign. Like any other person facing trial, he will be booked, fingerprinted and photographed before being given the chance to enter a plea.

The spectacle that is sure to unfold will mark an unprecedented moment in American history that will demonstrate once again how dramatically Trump  who already held the distinction of being the first president to be impeached twice  has upended democratic norms. But on a personal level, the indictment pierces the cloak of invincibility that seemed to follow Trump through his decades in business and in politics, as he faced allegations of fraud, collusion and sexual misconduct.

Boy, after all this time its a bit of a shock, Trump biographer Michael DAntonio said of the indictment. You know I always thought of him as the Gingerbread Man, shouting, You cant catch me! as he ran away.

Given his track record, he said, I had trouble imagining he would ever be held accountable.

These are not things that Donald Trump ever thought in his entire life, nor I, for that matter, that he would ever be confronted with, Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime fixer and a key witness in the case who served jail time for the payments, told CNN.

Of course, some of the celebration by Trump's detractors may be premature. Trump could seek to have a judge quickly dismiss the case. Even if it moves forward, there's no guarantee of conviction. Intensifying investigations in Atlanta and Washington are seen as potentially more serious legal threats.

Still, Trump and his team were caught by surprise when word of the New York indictment broke Thursday evening, following news reports that the grand jury hearing the case was set for a weekslong hiatus. As the deliberations dragged on, some in Trump's orbit had become convinced that the case had stalled and that charges might never be brought. That included Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina, who said Friday morning he had hoped the rule of law would prevail.

Trump, he said on the Today" show, was initially was shocked by news of the charges, but quickly pivoted to his usual pushback playbook.

After he got over that," he said, Trump "put a notch on his belt and he decided we have to fight now. And he got into a typical Donald Trump posture where hes ready to be combative on something that he believes is an injustice. ... I think hes now in the posture that hes ready to fight this.

In the meantime, Trump and his team have tried to use the news to his advantage, hoping to energize his loyal base by painting the investigation as part of a larger plot to derail his candidacy.

Already, the charges have been a boon to his struggling fundraising. The campaign announced Friday evening that it had raised over $4 million in the 24 hours after the indictment became public, far smashing its previous record after the FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club.

More than 25% of donations, according to the campaign, came from first-time donors. The average contribution: $34.

His campaign also continued to blast out supportive statements from dozens of top Republicans who have rallied behind Trump, including several of his declared and likely challengers, underscoring his continued hold on the party.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a speech Saturday to conservatives meeting in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, accused the Democratic prosecutor in New York, Alvin Bragg, of weaponizing the law for political purposes in bringing a case against a former president. DeSantis said the district attorney had indicted a former president on misdemeanor offenses that he was straining to try to convert into felonies.

Trump has been in contact by phone with key congressional allies, including members of House leadership and top committees, according to people familiar with the conversations, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the response.

Trump ally Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who formally endorsed the former president Friday, said Trump doesnt back down" and was going to "fight back," telling a local radio show it was "yet another chapter where Donald Trump is going to come back on top in the end."

The media maelstrom has catapulted Trump back into the spotlight he craves, at least temporarily limiting attention being paid to his rivals, including DeSantis, who is widely expected to challenge Trump for the nomination, and has been holding events across the county to promote his book.

Trump aides have been discussing other ideas to maximize the situation, including the possibility of holding a press event either before or after the arraignment. Trump is expected to travel from Florida to New York on Monday and stay overnight at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan before heading to the courthouse early Tuesday. He will return to Florida after the arraignment.

Trump has long denied that he had a sexual encounter with the porn actor known as Stormy Daniels and has blasted Bragg for pursuing the years-old case.

Trump is also facing continued investigations in Georgia, over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and in Washington, where a special counsel is probing the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as well as Trump's handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and potential obstruction of the investigation.

But Sam Nunberg, a longtime former aide who broke with Trump years ago, said that while he no longer supports Trump, he believes the Manhattan case is a waste of time," given the allegations, which remain under seal. And he said he was skeptical it would ultimately matter.

It doesnt surprise me," he said of the indictment. What would surprise me is if he actually ended up behind bars in prison and I dont see that happening.

DAntonio said that sentiment  and a continued belief that Trump will somehow prevail and dodge the charges  continues among the many people who have reached out to him in the last 24 hours, despite the charges.

They're like, he's going to get away with it," he said. "Somehow, hes going to get it thrown out.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that Trump Tower is in midtown Manhattan, not lower Manhattan.

___

Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
Temple Emanu-El has announced Rabbi Jonathan Lee Jackson will join the Reform Jewish congregation as its newest rabbi next month.

We are delighted that Rabbi Jackson has agreed to become our spiritual leader, Temple President Dr. Stefan Zweig said in a press release. He brings to us an outstanding academic background, and a special ability to invigorate membership, to provide congregants with a unique spiritual journey, and to develop interfaith relationships and community activities.

Jackson is coming to Dothan after serving as a rabbi at Temple Beth IsraelShaare Zedek in Lima, Ohio. He is expected to begin his duties on May 1.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Jackson earned his bachelors degree in religion from Hendrix College in Arkansas and a masters in theological studies from Harvard. He has also served as a lecturer in cultural anthropology and religious studies at a variety of different universities across the country.

In 2021, after earning a master of Hebrew letters from Hebrew Union College in Israel and Ohio, Jackson was ordained as a reform rabbi.

He is excited to get to Dothan.

The opportunity to serve such an important and historical synagogue as Emanu-El is quite an honor, Rabbi Jackson said. This is an exciting time to be a rabbi in Dothan. The Wiregrass region is experiencing dynamic growth, and I am confident that the Dothan Jewish community will be growing along with it. I look forward to cultivating our growth and deep engagement with the broader interfaith community.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli police shot and killed a man who they alleged tried to snatch an officers gun at an entrance to a Jerusalem holy site early Saturday, raising fears of further violence during a time of heightened tensions at the flashpoint compound.

Later Saturday, the Israeli military said a Palestinian driver rammed his vehicle into a group of Israelis in the occupied West Bank. Israeli medics said three people were wounded, two seriously, and the alleged attacker was shot dead.

In Jerusalem's police shooting, Palestinian worshippers at the entrance to the site on Saturday morning had a different account, saying that police shot the man at least 10 times after he tried to prevent them from harassing a woman who was on her way to the holy compound, home to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the heart of Jerusalems Old City  the third holiest shrine in Islam. The compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the most sacred site in Judaism.

The police said the slain man was 26-year-old Mohammed Alasibi from Hura, a Bedouin Arab village in southern Israel. The village council called for a thorough investigation of his killing and a general strike Saturday in protest.

Hours after the incident, the muddy stone alleyway leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque was still stained with blood. Alasibi's family said he was a physician who had recently passed his exams and earned his M.D. in Romania. He returned to his hometown a month ago, his cousin said, and was caring for his sick father as he worked to get certified in Israel.

He is a polite, kind man from a family of doctors who was going to Al-Aqsa for spiritual reasons, his cousin Fahad Alasibi said. If you want us to believe that he tried to attack police, then show us the security footage.

A police spokesperson pushed back on Palestinian accounts, insisting there was no woman walking to the compound at midnight because the complex was closed to visitors under an agreement with an Islamic trust called the Waqf controlled by Jordan.

Nonetheless, a few dozen people have been trying to sleep at the mosque overnight during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, prompting Israeli police to intervene and try to evict the worshippers.

The police spokesperson said Alasibi first aroused suspicion walking toward the shuttered compound. After being stopped for questioning, the spokesperson said Alasibi jumped on one of the officers and grabbed his gun, managing to fire two bullets toward policemen as the officer struggled to restrain him. Police described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack and said they shot and killed him in self-defense. No officers were injured. The spokesperson said there was no camera on the inner wall of the compound that could have captured the incident.

Palestinian worshippers at the compound Saturday disagreed. Noureddine, a 17-year-old who lived in the neighborhood and declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals, said he saw Alasibi confront police who had stopped a female worshipper on her way to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Alasibis relationship to the woman was not clear. He said some kind of disagreement broke out between Alasibi and the officers before he heard a dozen shots ring out.

Nothing could justify that many shots, he said, pointing to chaotic footage he filmed that showed Palestinian vendors and worshippers screaming at the sound of bullets being fired in rapid succession. They were fired at close range.

His cousin Fahad said Alasibi was worried about making the trip from Israel's Negev desert to Al-Aqsa because his ailing father relied on him. But he went because praying there during Ramadan means a lot to him," he said.

The city's contested compound has been a focus for clashes in the past, particularly in times of turmoil in Israel and the West Bank. This year, as violence surges in the occupied territory under the most right-wing government in Israeli history, fears of an escalation in Jerusalem have mounted with the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Israeli police have boosted their forces as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers flock to Al-Aqsa Mosque for prayers.

On Friday, more than 200,000 Palestinians gathered at the compound for noon prayers, which passed peacefully.

Noureddine said police forced Palestinian vendors and worshippers out of the area after the incident, beating him and others with batons. Israeli police briefly closed the site before reopening it for dawn prayers.

Confrontations at the hilltop compound have triggered wider violence in the region in the past. Clashes at the site in May 2021 helped fuel the outbreak of a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers.

This year's convergence of Ramadan with the Jewish holiday of Passover could increase the possibility of friction as the Old City hosts a massive influx of pilgrims.

For the past year, Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged in the occupied West Bank. At least 86 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli or settler gunfire this year, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed 15 people in the same period. Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting police incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)  More than 60 self-exiled members of a Chinese Christian church who were detained in Thailand paid fines for overstaying their visas but remained in police custody Saturday uncertain about their legal status amid fears they would be deported against their will to their home country, where they face possible persecution.

The 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church were taken to court Friday in the resort city of Pattaya after being detained a day earlier by Thai immigration authorities. The 32 members of the group considered to be adults were charged with overstaying their visas, said Col. Tawee Kutthalaeng, chief of the Pattaya-area Nong Prue police station. Two American citizens who were with the group and briefly held had not been placed under arrest, he said.

After being fined, the church members had expected to be released to be able to return to where they had been staying in the area, said Deana Brown, one of two American supporters who accompanied them. Brown said she has been working to resettle the church members in Tyler, Texas, where her organization is based.

However, they were put on two buses which first took them to the Pattaya office of the immigration police and then drove them to Bangkok for what a police officer told The Associated Press was normal processing of their case.

The drive under police escort from Pattaya to Bangkok, which would normally take about two hours, instead took closer to five because the passengers forced the buses to stop en route and disembarked by the roadside, saying they feared they were being driven to Bangkok's international airport to be repatriated.

There were grounds for their skepticism. In 2015, Thailand sent 109 members of the Muslim Uyghur minority back to China against their will despite fears they would face official persecution and possible torture. The U.N. refugee agency at the time called Thailands action a flagrant violation of international law, and the United States also condemned the deportations.

Only after receiving reassurances by phone did the Chinese church members continue their journey, arriving early Saturday morning at a police facility known as the Police Club in northern Bangkok that has space for large numbers of detainees. The main Immigration Detention Center in the middle of Bangkok, where some detainees have been stuck for years, is notoriously overcrowded.

Members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also called the Mayflower Church, came to Thailand in 2022 seeking asylum. They are trying to get to the U.S., but the current status of their applications is not clear. Most members of the church are young, married, middle-class couples, with their children making up about half the group.

They fled China in 2019 alleging that they were being persecuted by government security forces, initially settling on South Koreas Jeju Island. They left South Korea for Thailand after meetings with local and U.S. officials made it clear that prospects for refuge there were dim.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement Saturday appealing to the Thai government not to repatriate the group.

Thai authorities need to recognize the grave dangers facing Christians back in China and under no circumstances force them to return, said Elaine Pearson, the New York-based organization's Asia director.

"If Thailand determines that the 63 Christian Chinese cannot stay, then they should be permitted to seek protection in another country, Pearson said. Rights-respecting governments should urgently step up to express their willingness to receive these asylum seekers at risk.

Brown, CEO of the Texas-based Freedom Seekers International, an organization whose mission statement says it seeks to rescue the most severely persecuted Christians in hostile and restrictive countries, said that when the group looked into renewing their visas, they were told of a new requirement that any Chinese citizen renewing a visa in Thailand must report to the Chinese Embassy first. Their visas expired several months ago.

When they told us that, we knew that nobody could get their visas, Brown said. There was no way, because as soon as they walk into the Chinese Embassy theyre gone, we would not see them again. Theyve been hiding out since then.

The press section at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok did not answer its telephone and the embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The U.S. Embassy said it had no immediate comment on the case.

Upon their 2022 arrival in Thailand, church members told reporters that they had been stalked, harassed and received threatening calls and messages even while they were in South Korea. They said relatives in China had been summoned, interrogated and intimidated.

At that time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the matter was not a diplomatic question and declined to comment further.

In China, Christians are legally allowed to worship only in churches affiliated with Communist Party-controlled religious groups, but for decades the authorities largely tolerated independent, unregistered house churches. They have tens of millions of worshippers, possibly outnumbering those in the official groups.

In recent years, however, house churches have come under heavy pressure, with many prominent ones shut down. Unlike previous crackdowns, such as Beijings ban on Falun Gong, a spiritual movement it labels a cult, the authorities have also targeted some believers not explicitly opposed to the Chinese state.

China is one of 15 nations that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in its annual report last year recommended be designated as countries of particular concern for repression of religious groups.

It said the ruling Chinese Communist Partys policies require religious groups to support its rule and its political objectives, including by altering their religious teachings to conform to the partys ideology and policy. Both registered and unregistered religious groups and individuals who run afoul of the CCP face harassment, detention, arrest, imprisonment, and other abuses, the commission said.

___

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press journalist Dake Kang in Boao, China, contributed to this report.
To the editor:

I scan several newspapers each day from across the country. Often the disparity between important news events and what Americans are expressing concern about is astonishing.

One day, news broke that Honduras has canceled relations with freedom-loving Taiwan to give allegiance instead to communist China. The same day, it was reported that residents unhappy with noise from pickleball courts in Chicago launched a petition to remove that activity from their neighborhood park.

The fact that one of the last remaining Latin-American countries aligned with Taiwan gave up its allegiance to free institutions and pledged its faith to totalitarian economics is an obnoxious noise that drowns-out playful pickleball banter by a large margin.

But do we really care? Plenty of citizens who recently gathered in Waco, Texas, seem to want to bring autocracy right to our front door in 2024, let alone to Honduras.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah
People work at the office of a tech startup in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters

Investment in Vietnamese startups reached $634 million in 2022, down 56% over the previous year due to the impact of global economic fluctuations.

This investment was directed to startups through 134 deals, according to the Vietnam Innovation and Technology Investment 2023 Report, published Thursday by Do Ventures, a venture fund, and the National Innovation Center (NIC).

Vietnam ranked third in the number of deals and fourth in investment in Southeast Asia last year, the report said.

"The investment decreased due to the absence of big deals," said Le Hoang Uyen Vy, managing director of Do Ventures.

By sector, financial services attracted the most investment, increasing 248%. Retail was the second, despite its capital decreasing by 57%, followed by health and education.

Vietnamese funds led the way in capital inflows for the first time, with a total of $287 million, followed by investors from Singapore, North America and South Korea. "Amid difficult circumstances, domestic investors are the ones fueling startups," Vy said.

Regarding the 2023 outlook, nearly 100% of surveyed investors said they would at least keep the current level of investment, according to the report. In the medium term, Vietnam's startup ecosystem is still very attractive.

At the "Vietnam Innovation Forum" on Thursday, Nguyen Anh Quang, senior investment director of SK - a South Korean fund that has invested $2 billion into Vietnam - is interested in consumer and healthcare projects.

South Koreas STIC Investment, which has invested $300 million in Vietnam, is interested in startups in the fields of logistics, e-commerce, and healthcare.

Tran Duy Dong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, said Vietnam's startup ecosystem still has some areas it needs to improve, such as having few unicorns, startups valued at $1 billion upwards, venture capital funds, and big deals.
Members of exiled Chinese church detained in Thailand View Photo

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)  More than 60 self-exiled members of a Chinese Christian church who were detained in Thailand paid fines for overstaying their visas but remained in police custody Saturday uncertain about their legal status amid fears they would be deported against their will to their home country, where they face possible persecution.

The 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church were taken to court Friday in the resort city of Pattaya after being detained a day earlier by Thai immigration authorities. The 32 members of the group considered to be adults were charged with overstaying their visas, said Col. Tawee Kutthalaeng, chief of the Pattaya-area Nong Prue police station. Two American citizens who were with the group and briefly held had not been placed under arrest, he said.

After being fined, the church members had expected to be released to be able to return to where they had been staying in the area, said Deana Brown, one of two American supporters who accompanied them. Brown said she has been working to resettle the church members in Tyler, Texas, where her organization is based.

However, they were put on two buses which first took them to the Pattaya office of the immigration police and then drove them to Bangkok for what a police officer told The Associated Press was normal processing of their case.

The drive under police escort from Pattaya to Bangkok, which would normally take about two hours, instead took closer to five because the passengers forced the buses to stop en route and disembarked by the roadside, saying they feared they were being driven to Bangkoks international airport to be repatriated.

There were grounds for their skepticism. In 2015, Thailand sent 109 members of the Muslim Uyghur minority back to China against their will despite fears they would face official persecution and possible torture. The U.N. refugee agency at the time called Thailands action a flagrant violation of international law, and the United States also condemned the deportations.

Only after receiving reassurances by phone did the Chinese church members continue their journey, arriving early Saturday morning at a police facility known as the Police Club in northern Bangkok that has space for large numbers of detainees. The main Immigration Detention Center in the middle of Bangkok, where some detainees have been stuck for years, is notoriously overcrowded.

Members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also called the Mayflower Church, came to Thailand in 2022 seeking asylum. They are trying to get to the U.S., but the current status of their applications is not clear. Most members of the church are young, married, middle-class couples, with their children making up about half the group.

They fled China in 2019 alleging that they were being persecuted by government security forces, initially settling on South Koreas Jeju Island. They left South Korea for Thailand after meetings with local and U.S. officials made it clear that prospects for refuge there were dim.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement Saturday appealing to the Thai government not to repatriate the group.

Thai authorities need to recognize the grave dangers facing Christians back in China and under no circumstances force them to return, said Elaine Pearson, the New York-based organizations Asia director.

If Thailand determines that the 63 Christian Chinese cannot stay, then they should be permitted to seek protection in another country, Pearson said. Rights-respecting governments should urgently step up to express their willingness to receive these asylum seekers at risk.

Brown, CEO of the Texas-based Freedom Seekers International, an organization whose mission statement says it seeks to rescue the most severely persecuted Christians in hostile and restrictive countries, said that when the group looked into renewing their visas, they were told of a new requirement that any Chinese citizen renewing a visa in Thailand must report to the Chinese Embassy first. Their visas expired several months ago.

When they told us that, we knew that nobody could get their visas, Brown said. There was no way, because as soon as they walk into the Chinese Embassy theyre gone, we would not see them again. Theyve been hiding out since then.

The press section at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok did not answer its telephone and the embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The U.S. Embassy said it had no immediate comment on the case.

Upon their 2022 arrival in Thailand, church members told reporters that they had been stalked, harassed and received threatening calls and messages even while they were in South Korea. They said relatives in China had been summoned, interrogated and intimidated.

At that time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the matter was not a diplomatic question and declined to comment further.

In China, Christians are legally allowed to worship only in churches affiliated with Communist Party-controlled religious groups, but for decades the authorities largely tolerated independent, unregistered house churches. They have tens of millions of worshippers, possibly outnumbering those in the official groups.

In recent years, however, house churches have come under heavy pressure, with many prominent ones shut down. Unlike previous crackdowns, such as Beijings ban on Falun Gong, a spiritual movement it labels a cult, the authorities have also targeted some believers not explicitly opposed to the Chinese state.

China is one of 15 nations that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in its annual report last year recommended be designated as countries of particular concern for repression of religious groups.

It said the ruling Chinese Communist Partys policies require religious groups to support its rule and its political objectives, including by altering their religious teachings to conform to the partys ideology and policy. Both registered and unregistered religious groups and individuals who run afoul of the CCP face harassment, detention, arrest, imprisonment, and other abuses, the commission said.

___

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press journalist Dake Kang in Boao, China, contributed to this report.

By TIAN MACLEOD JI and DAVID RISING

Associated Press
Charles wins hearts in Germany as soft power pays off View Photo

BERLIN (AP)  King Charles III won plenty of hearts during his three-day visit to Germany, his first foreign trip since ascending to the throne following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, last year.

Charles tour saw a number of firsts that show the importance both countries placed on it  at a time when London and Berlin are trying to rebuild relations frayed by Britains departure from the European Union.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took the unprecedented step of welcoming Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, at the Brandenburg Gate with military honors Wednesday. A day later, Charles became the first monarch to address the Bundestag, the German parliament, stressing the long-standing close ties between both countries and the importance of future cooperation.

Observers in both Germany and the U.K. said the trip sent a strong signal about the enduring strength of British-German relations.

Jens Zimmermann, a lawmaker from Germanys center-left Social Democrats, said Charles sent a clear message by speaking to parliament partially in German.

The speech in the Bundestag was very well-received, Zimmermann told The Associated Press. It was much more political than you might have expected. It was very connecting  I think that was very good.

In the speech, Charles emphasized that London and Berlin have provided considerable aid to Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russias invasion  praise that will have been gratifying to a German government more used to claims its not doing enough to help Kyiv. Zimmermann said Charles thanking Germans for taking in so many Ukrainians seeking shelter from the war might also be seen as a roundabout criticism of the British governments recent anti-refugee policies.

Although King Charles cannot pass legislation or directly impact British policy, the soft power of his visit should not be underestimated, Zimmermann said.

Others said that after the pandemics long-distance diplomacy, in-person visits like Charles can help deepen and renew relationships between leaders.

I think as coronavirus has faded, weve been reminded of the value of face-to-face meetings, said Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank.

And it just does add something to relationships, particularly between heads of state, who are very insulated, she said. I think it has been received very well.

Charles originally planned to visit France first, but anti-government protests there led both governments to postpone that part of his trip. The new itinerary put the focus on Germany, where Charles has family roots and the royals have long been the subject of keen interest.

That fascination was on display among the German public at Charles appearances. Despite the wet and cold spring weather, well-wishers waited patiently to greet Charles and Camilla at their stops in Berlin and Hamburg, a city that sees itself as having a particularly close connection to Britain due to its long seafaring and trading ties.

Charles and Camilla also laid a wreath at the remains of St. Nikolai church to commemorate the more than 30,000 people, mostly German civilians, who were killed in Operation Gomorrah, the Allied bombing of Hamburg in July 1943. A boat trip and a farewell reception involving musical performances, including by a Beatles cover band and a sea shanty group, rounded off the kings visit on Friday.

Michael Kruse, a lawmaker with the pro-business Free Democrats who like Zimmermann is a member of the German-British parliamentary group, said the two countries continue to have many common economic interests despite Britains divorce from the EU.

The channel has widened due to Brexit, he said. Thats why the visit by Britains head of state was all the more important.

Kruse voiced a hope shared by many in Germany, that London will find its way back into the 27-nation bloc.

My hope is still that the British will someday recognize Brexit was a mistake and return to the EU, he said. The door should always be open for this. Until then, we say: see you again, King Charles III.

___

Danica Kirka in London contributed.

By FRANK JORDANS and EMILY SCHULTHEIS

Associated Press
Sonora Washington & Stockton Corridor project View Photo

Sonora, CA  Commuters can expect delays as next week crews begin work on a sidewalk and bus stop project at a busy downtown Sonora intersection.

Dirt Dynasty out of Valley Springs is the contractor for the Stockton-Washington Corridor Downtown Transit and Accessibility Project in downtown Sonora. The work was to begin in recent weeks, but the recent stormy weather postponed the project. It will now begin on Monday, April 4th, and continue until the project is complete. The scope of work will consist of new sidewalk approaches on all four corners of the intersection. It will also include constructing sidewalks and bus stops, about a block down on West Stockton Street. The hours of operation will be Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day.

Motorists will face delays of up to 10 minutes at times due to equipment moving in and out of the areas. Drivers will also want to watch out for water-filled barriers installed in the work areas. Traffic could also be shifted around using temporary striping throughout the project.

There will also be a large truck detour in place, with those traveling south on South Washington Street not allowed to turn right onto West Stockton Street. Also, eastbound trucks on West Stockton Street will not be able to turn left onto North Washington Street.

The contractor noted that they are working with all of the businesses affected by this construction to allow for safe pedestrian traffic.
World Health Organization officials examine the home of a suspected Marburg virus victim in the northern Angolan town of Uige in 2022. Photo by Reuters

The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee has ordered screening of people arriving from African countries with outbreaks of Marburg, the highly contagious and deadly hemorrhagic viral fever.

The order comes after a Ministry of Health warning about the disease, which has a 50-88% death rate and which has killed dozens of people in Africa.

Vietnam has classified the disease in group A, which includes dangerous diseases that need proactive preventive measures such as Covid-19, Ebola and bird flu.

The city government has instructed districts to prepare monitoring and treatment measures and quarantine suspected cases to contain the virus spread.

Medical facilities need to investigate the contact history of patients with symptoms such as high fever, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, cramps, vomiting, and bleeding, it said.

WHO has said Marburg is caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Ebola. Both diseases are rare, but can cause dramatic outbreaks with high fatality, and there is currently no specific treatment or vaccine for them.

Two large outbreaks that occurred simultaneously in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany, and in Belgrade, now Serbia, in 1967, led to the initial recognition of the disease. The outbreak was associated with laboratory work using African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) imported from Uganda.

This week, the CDC urged travelers to Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, which are facing their first known outbreaks of Marburg virus, to avoid contact with sick people and to watch for symptoms for three weeks after leaving the area.

As of March 22 Equatorial Guinea had 13 confirmed cases, including nine people who have died and one who has recovered, while Tanzania, on the east African coast, has had eight confirmed cases, including five deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
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The Go Blue campaign was created to raise awareness of the prevalence of child abuse.

We try to bring awareness and education because our main goal is to work toward prevention, HCCWB member Anna Rigler said.

Due to high winds, the celebration was moved across the street from Millennium Park to the Fair Theatre. Members from the three host organizations along with City of Plainview officials and others from philanthropic organizations gathered to bring awareness to child abuse.

Plainview Mayor Charles Starnes was in attendance as well and shared some facts he learned about child abuse through the Youth Protection Training program through his association with the Boy Scouts of America.

He shared that one in every four girls is abused/neglected and that one in every six boys is abused/neglected. Along with that, Starnes read a proclamation which included recognizing April 1 as Go Blue Day and recognizing the month of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Erin Baxter, director of community engagement with St. Francis Ministries, along with representatives from the HCCWB and DFPS  Rigler and Minnie Escobar, spoke during the event thanking the members of the Hale County community for their efforts to fight back against child abuse and shared a few statistics on child abuse in the area. According to Escobar, there were nearly 7,000 completed CPS investigations in the Panhandle area between 2021-2022. Along with that, a little over 2,400 children were confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect within the same year in the Panhandle.

Baxter touched on the importance of Go Blue Day and the awareness it can bring.

By spreading education, maybe someone will say something if they see something.

An event like today is a really great representation of the community, Baxter said. We all share the same heart for these kids and we want to work with these kids.

Below is the proclamation read by Starnes.

Whereas child abuse is a community problem. And finding solution depends on involvement among people throughout the community.

And whereas over 66,000 Texas Children were confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect, including 140 Hale County, children and statistics of children who were abused and neglected increase each year.

And whereas the effects of child abuse are felt by whole communities and need to be addressed by the entire community.

And whereas effective child abuse prevention programs succeed because of partnerships created among social service agencies, schools, religious organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the business community.

And Whereas all citizens should become more aware of child abuse and information within the community and become involved in supporting parents to raise their children in a safe, nurturing environment.

And Whereas children are the foundation for a prosperous and innovative society, and the foundation for a child's growth and development is established when every community and every citizen takes responsibility for creating healthy environments where children can thrive.

Now therefore, I Charles Starnes, Mayor of the City of Plainview, Texas, call upon all citizens, as well as community agencies, religious organizations, medical facilities, schools and businesses to increase their participation in our efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect, and do hereby proclaim April 1, 2023 as Go Blue Day, and further recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

New legislation in the U.S. Senate aims to establish a new interstate highway running through Texas to facilitate trade between Canada and Mexico.

Introduced in March by a number of senators including Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, the Ports-to-Plains Highway Act would designate a portion of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor  a 2,300-plus mile route stretching from Laredo to Alberta, Canada  that runs through Texas as a future addition to the interstate highway system.
Lawmakers in the state legislature just advanced a bill that would honor Texas native and U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen who was murdered in 2020 while stationed at Fort Hood.

House Bill 2248 introduced by State Rep. Josey Garcia recently passed the Texas House Defense & Veterans Affairs Committee and would designate Sept. 30 as Vanessa Guillen Day, which is also Guillen's birthday.

If the bill becomes law, the day would not only mark the memory of her life and tragic death, but programs and activities would be organized each year on Sept. 30 to "increase awareness of the militarys response to missing persons, sexual assault, and sexual harassment cases for service members.

Testifying in favor of the bill on March 23, Vanessa's sister, Mayra Guillen, told local media that many people came to testify in favor of the proposal.

"It was a great outcome," she said. "And the bill got passed."

Guillen, a 20-year-old Army Specialist at the time of her death, went missing in mid-April 2020. News of her disappearance spread across the country as celebrities, political figures and everyday people rallied to find her. Months later, her remains were found buried along the Leon River on June 30. An investigation found Specialist Aaron Robinson bludgeoned her to death.

Robinson, who committed the crime alongside his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, fled Fort Hood shortly after the remains were found and fatally shot himself when authorities attempted to arrest him in nearby Killeen.

Although Army leaders declined to comment on the ongoing investigations at the time, reports found a culture of abuse towards women ran rampant and unchecked at the base.

For three years since the murder, Guillen's family has worked to seek justice through lawsuits.

Aguilar later pleaded guilty to felony charges in November 2022 in her involvement in dismembering Guillens body before burying her remains. A sentencing date is pending, and Aguilar could face a maximum of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and the possibility of 12 years supervised release after serving time.
Federico Candoni / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

A Texas man who committed a robbery, murder and a shooting in just 45 minutes was sentenced at the end of March to significant prison time.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas, 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne Carrington walked into American Bank in Corpus Christi on Aug. 8 with a silver gun and demanded money from the teller, warning him not to press the alarm or make a scene.
The Plainview City Council voted to move forward with rezoning the future site of the Plainview Lofts.

During a regular meeting on Tuesday, the council approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment to change 26 lots from a suburban residential to a mixed residential district at 201 Amarillo Street.

MRE Capital came to the council back in February with a proposal to apply for a grant through the Texas House and Community Affairs for federal funding to build an affordable housing community for older residents.

The project will include 38 units. They will be duplexes and quads, according to Assistant City Manager Jeff Johnston. The community will include a dog park, a pool and other amenities.

The rezoning request went before the Planning & Zoning Commission on March 9, he noted. It was approved.

In preparation for this vote, the City sent notices out to nearby residents asking for feedback on the project, as required by law.

We did receive six comment letters, Johnston said. Two of them were in favor of the development.

More for you Plainview City Council takes action on plans regarding new housing

A few noted concerns such as the property being in a flood zone, increased traffic in that area, the possibility of higher property values and neighborhood quality.

Regarding the flood zone concern, Johnston said the property owners have been informed of those risks and have plans in place to ensure theyre not an issue. For example, the company knows how tall to build to avoid any serious flood concerns.

Regarding tax valuations, Johnston said those are regulated by the Hale County Appraisal District, not the city.

I think if tax appraisals go up, that only means were doing better as a city, said Council Evan Weiss, during the council comment portion prior to the vote on the rezoning item. I realize it means its more out of pocket. I get that.

It also was noted that the project will move traffic flow to travel down Amarillo to both enter and exit that part of the neighborhood.

No citizens spoke during the public hearing portion following the presentation Tuesday.

Following the discussion, the council voted unanimously to approve the first reason of this item. The item will be reviewed again for a second reading at the next meeting. Citizens will have another chance to share their thoughts during that public hearing.

If the council accepts the second reading, which will likely be presented at the April 11 meeting, the zoning changes will take effect.
CAIRO (AP)  Syrias chief diplomat was in Egypt on Saturday in a step toward normalizing ties between the two countries. It was the first trip to the capital of Cairo for a Syrian foreign minister in over a decade.

Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry for talks that addressed ties between the two countries along with other regional and international topics, according to Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesperson for the Egyptian foreign ministry.

The two ministers first held a tete-a-tete meeting before being joined by their delegations for wider consultations on means to support the Syrian people to restore its unity and sovereignty over its whole territories, Abu Zaid said.

Shoukry also reiterated Egypts support for U.N.-brokered efforts to achieve a political settlement to Syrias conflict, the spokesman said.

Mekdads visit comes as the two countries inch toward re-establishing ties. Its been more than a decade since Syria was globally isolated after President Bashar Assads brutal crackdown on mass protests against his rule in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. The unrest quickly descended into protracted civil war.

For years, many public figures in Egypt have urged the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to restore ties with Assads government. They also pushed for Damascus return to the Cairo-based Arab League.

Syria was suspended from the Arab League and other pan-Arab organizations. But in recent years several Arab countries have begun restoring ties with Assads government after it regained control over most of the country, thanks to military assistance from Iran and Russia.

A devastating earthquake that stuck Turkey and Syria in February has intensified moves to normalize ties with Syria. Several Arab nations dispatched senior officials and sent aid to show solidarity with Syria and Turkey. Assad also was hosted recently in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

El-Sissi spoke with Assad by phone after the earthquake hit and sent Shoukry to Damascus, where he met with Assad. Shoukry was Egypts most senior official to visit Syria since 2011.
Courtesy San Antonio Zoo

Ugh. Leave it to me to get stuck working April Fool's morning. The "pranks" started way earlier than usual this year with Little Caesar's dropping an abomination on March 21, so we should have know we were in for a lot of "fun" on April 1.

San Antonio institutions love a good joke, and no one does it better than the San Antonio Zoo. CEO and President Tim Morrow must be a regular prankster given the zoo's penchant for a fake press release. There was the biodome. The elephants romping through the San Antonio River near Brackenridge Park (RIP Lucky). And now, there's the checks notes Beaver Tales Wildlife Park.
Talk about state takeovers of public school districts, thoughts on shifting to four-day school weeks, and proposals to close campuses are, unfortunately, becoming more common in Texas as of late. While the, albeit potential, major changes are commonly due to issues plaguing much of the nation like low student enrollment, teacher shortages, and funding issues, it stings just as much when those conversations turn close to home.

With Harlandale ISDs Monday, March 27, vote to close four elementary schools, I feel like Im losing a bit of my roots as a proud San Antonio Southsider.

The districts board of trustees approved the closure of the Columbia Heights, Morrill, Rayburn, and Carroll Bell campuses in a 4-3 vote, coming some months after a group chat or two of mine mentioned the possibility of such closures within the Southside district. At the time, I remember thinking Harlandale wouldnt let such a thing happen.

And now its happening. Students from the four elementary campuses will be sent to another HISD campus while the school buildings will be repurposed for other programs and services.

Harlandale ISD

While many area residents question how repurposing buildings is a good decision given that the district has cited low funding as a cause for the closures (a justified concern), I immediately thought of what this means to the Southside. Harlandale is just one school district serving the larger Southside area, but its also home to a good population of San Antonians who take pride in who they are and where they come from. Here, youre either a McCollum Cowboy or a Harlandale Indian, trained from elementary age to know what youre going to grow up to be.

Im a Harlandale ISD baby through and through. I attended the namesake high school just like my aunts, uncles, and parents. My dads childhood home is located right behind Columbia Heights, a literal backdrop to our familys history, while my mom went to Morrill, where her classmates gushed over my grandpa with his sweet car and refined fashions. Even though I didnt go to the same elementary school as them, Ive listened to their stories, memories about their classmates, with a deep appreciation for their respective neighborhoods. They grew up in a time when it mattered what side of I-35 you grew up on, with east of the highway being considered more affluent. Your neighborhood, your elementary school defined you whether you liked it or not.

Sarah Martinez for MySA

While those prejudices arent as obvious in the present day (at least from my own experience), those memories from elementary school are a big deal. These classmates are your first friends and last a lifetime. Even if they didnt make it to your graduating class, these folks stick with you (though youre likely to see them on Facebook or at H-E-B sooner or later). Even if you cant remember their names, the memories stay with you. To this day, I still take pride in being the first fifth grade class to enjoy the state-of-the-art Stonewall Flanders campus. And what wasnt to love? My grandma was the cafeteria manager there while my mom taught third grade. I loved my principal and teachers, especially in fourth grade since she would let me be chismosa with her every morning. While the staff and teachers have changed since then, the idea that a culture, a family built within the school, would be gone forever is heartbreaking.

Sarah Martinez for MySA

Thats what is happening to Columbia Heights (a staple of the neighborhood since 1958), Morrill (named after the man who donated the land for the school in 1894, though it has operated as an elementary school since 1929), Rayburn (which opened in 1949), and Carroll Bell (with roots back to the 1920s). While the pride of the Circle Hood will always run deep, losing the stomping grounds of Columbia Heights will affect change. Families have stayed in this neighborhood for generations, with abuelitas sending their kids, grandkids, and maybe even great-grandkids to the same school as well as HISD graduates coming back to teach in the schools that raised them. While Harlandale ISD can cite low enrollment numbers and shifts toward charter schools as a reason for these schools not being needed, it feels wrong to cheat these neighborhoods of this history, of these families created both by blood and community.

I see some of my classmates, many now with kids of their own, sending their little ones to charter schools. I dont blame them. Its their right as a parent, after all. But it still stings the same. In the past, Harlandale ISD has encouraged the community to be family and join the Harlandale legacy. That legacy is getting smaller with all the standing issues and will change as these closures come into fruition. I just hope that legacy is never lost. LINSA, por vida.
A San Antonio man is not expected to face charges after his car was stolen and a confrontation with the suspected thief ended in fatal gunfire on Wednesday, March 29, police said.

The man's vehicle was stolen from his Northside home on Wednesday afternoon, police said. But by using an Apple AirTag, he was able to track his truck down to a shopping center on the Southeast Side in the 3200 block of Southeast Military Drive.

SAPD spokesperson Nick Soliz said the man called police to report his vehicle as stolen, but did not wait for police to arrive before attempting to confront the suspected car thief around 4 p.m.

Police said the man saw his truck in the parking lot, walked up to the stolen vehicle in an attempt to confront the person inside, and some sort of disagreement ensued. Soliz said he could not confirm if the man and the suspected thief argued, but said the car theft victim told police he believed the suspected thief pulled out a gun which prompted "a firefight."

Police said that, at this time, they believe the car thief victim is the only person to have fired shots and could not confirm if there was more than one weapon found at the crime scene.

The suspected thief, another man, was shot and pronounced dead, Soliz said. His identity has not been released. The car theft victim reportedly stayed at the scene of the shooting, complied with police, and was taken into custody for questioning. The shooter is not expected to face charges, Soliz said, but noted an investigation is ongoing.

"... I urge the public to wait for police in this matter," Soliz said in a news conference. "Let us go with you. We have training."

Here are this week's other top stories:

Donald Trump was indicted on federal charges on Thursday, March 30, and Texas leaders have spoken up about the historical moment.

USAA announced almost 500 jobs will be cut from the company, citing an economic downturn as the cause.

An Arkansas man was found on a Texas beach more than a year after his family reported him missing.

Iconic Texas brand Shiner Beer announced the opening of its first barbecue restaurant.

Two San Antonio-area chefs have been tapped as finalists for the James Beard awards, which is often billed as the 'Oscars of food.'
Nevada Gold Mines and Operating Engineers Local 3 reached a three-year collective bargaining agreement on March 23, resulting in an 8.5 percent pay increase over the next three years, among other benefits.

The new CBA goes into effect April 1 and remains in place through March 31, 2026.

NGM went into this negotiation knowing that our employees are our greatest assets, and we worked with IUOE3 to negotiate this agreement with that in mind, said John Bourke, lead negotiator for Nevada Gold Mines. The conversations with IUOE3 during the negotiation were open, honest, and transparent; these are the types of conversations that true partnerships are built on and support continuous improvement for the business.

NGM said in a statement that the goal was to reach an agreement that supports positive employee relations and offers attractive terms and conditions of employment, while enhancing the companys ability to operate.

At NGM, we believe in fostering genuine partnerships, said Henri Gonin, head of NGM operations. The relationship weve created with IUOE3 has resulted in us agreeing on a CBA that provides a good outcome for our employees and enables the operational flexibility needed to achieve the best business outcomes. We look forward to working with our employees and partners to safely produce well into the future.

The greatest highlight to note is that in December of 2019, we could not receive recognition (from NGM) and our members faced a large amount of uncertainty and insecurity, said Local 3 District Representative Scott Fullerton. Today, we negotiated a three-year agreement which will continue Local 3s 58-year association with that mine site. It says a lot about the dedication of the membership, the determination of Local 3 and the importance of both parties communicating effectively.

It is amazing when you look back and see a relationship that went from being completely adversarial to a relationship that has effective interaction and rapport; definitely positive progress amongst everyone.

After NGM was formed as a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Newmont in December 2019, there were disagreements over how NGM was handling the union membership of the workers at the former Newmont mines north of Carlin. The union had represented more than a thousand Newmont miners at these mines since 1965.

NGM said it wanted the former Barrick and Newmont employees at the mines in the Carlin Trend to vote on whether they wanted to be in the union, so that all the workers at the mines in this area would be either union or non-union. The OE3 union said NGM was not honoring the collective bargaining agreement with the former Newmont workers that was finalized in January 2019 and ran through March 2022.

In early 2020, the union filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against NGM, and in August of that year the ULP was settled, resulting in NGM agreeing to recognize the union.

Subsequent ULPs were filed regarding pay, classification, and other issues. Over time, communication between the union and NGM improved. From January through March 2022, more settlements and agreements between the two parties were finalized, resulting in more than $1.1 million in back pay and other damages. In March of 2022, NGM and Local 3 agreed to a one-year extension with a 2.5 percent pay increase for the workforce.

The parties went into negotiations in February of this year, which led to the new three-year agreement.

For Local 3 member and miner Carl Peters, who helped negotiate the latest pact, This agreement means a great deal of stability for the next three years. Its just a good feeling to be able to breathe now, knowing where we came from, when the joint venture occurred, to where we are now, and ratifying a new, three-year contract  its a really good feeling, that stability, and its an excellent agreement.

The underground miner doesnt have to sit on the negotiating committee, as the role is voluntary, but he explained that the reason he does it is because, The people I work with are like brothers and sisters. Were family out there. Mining is a close-knit community.

For him, the union and his participation in its process is the only thing that holds this company in check. Theres no competition for labor anymore.

Local 3 member and miner Jackulyn Kinkead has been around the mining industry her whole life. (Her husband is also a miner.) The former accountant works in the underground mine, operating trucks, graders and loaders. She also served on the negotiating committee and noted, We didnt lose anything; we came out ahead on everything.

She wanted to serve on the negotiating committee to know the behind-the-scenes process of everything.

Regarding her union protections, she said, I like the protection, people on my side  if something happens, I am able to make a phone call.

The union and NGM will not need to negotiate again for another three years.
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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Andrew Tate, the divisive internet personality who has spent months in a Romanian jail on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, has won an appeal to replace his detention with house arrest, an official said Friday.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Tates appeal, which challenged a judges decision last week to extend his arrest a fourth time for 30 days, said Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanias anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT.

Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 5.5 million Twitter followers, was initially detained in late December in Romanias capital Bucharest, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women.

All four won an appeal Friday, and will remain under house arrest until Apr. 29, Bolla said. None of the four has yet been formally indicted. The court ruled in favor of their immediate release. Prosecutors cannot challenge the appeal courts decision, which was final, Bolla added.

More for you Over 3K CPS Energy customers have no power in S.A. due to storms

As the brothers left the detention facility late Friday in Bucharest, Tristan Tate told a scrum of reporters that the judges today made the right decision.

I respect what theyve done for me and they will be vindicated in their decision, because Im an innocent man and I cant wait to prove it, he said.

Some Tate supporters outside the facility chanted Top-G, Top-G, using a popular moniker many of Andrew Tates fans refer to him as.

Later, standing outside what is believed to be the Tate brothers' home near the capital, Andrew Tate said he wanted to thank the judges who heard us today, because they were very attentive and they listened to us, and they let us free.

I have no resentment in my heart for the country of Romania or for anybody else, he said. I just believe in the truth  I truly believe that justice will be served in the end. There is zero percent chance of me being convicted for something I've not done.

Tate, a professional kickboxer who has resided in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech. He has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.

DIICOT said in a statement after the December arrests that it had identified six victims in the human trafficking case who were allegedly subjected to acts of physical violence and mental coercion and sexually exploited by members of the alleged crime group.

The agency said victims were lured with pretenses of love and later intimidated, placed under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.

In January, Romanian authorities descended on a compound near Bucharest linked with the Tate brothers and towed away a fleet of luxury cars that included a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and a Porsche. They reported seizing assets worth an estimated $3.9 million.

Prosecutors have said that if they can prove the cars owners gained money through illicit activities such as human trafficking, the assets would be used to cover the expenses of the investigation and to compensate victims. Tate unsuccessfully appealed the asset seizure.

___

Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.
Yves here. The fact that were in a generally busy time, news-wise (geopolitical power and physical struggles, bank panics, Trump in the dock) means that some important stories are not getting the attention they warrant. When, as with school vouchers, a major objective of the exercise is to direct yet more taxpayer funds to private interests, the perps are no doubt delighted to be receiving comparatively little attention.

Yet as this story shows, even in conservative Virginia, legislators appear to regard a bright shiny new voucher scheme called an education success account may have been a bit too obvious an exercise in looting to pass muster. This article warns that voucher advocates plan to keep working on state representatives to convert them. If you are in Virginia, please consider contacting your Assemblyman to thank the legislature for turning down House Bill 1508.

By Sandra Jones, who served as an investigative reporter for nearly two decades and has received numerous awards for her broadcast reporting. Produced by Our Schools

When Republicans in the Virginia State Legislature renewed their proposal to enact legislation to create a new school voucher program in the stateprevious attempts were vetoed by Democratic governors in 2016 and 2017they said their effort was to push to strengthen parental rights and expand educational opportunities, according to the Virginia Mercury. But when it came time to vote on these proposals in February 2023, a majority of Virginia lawmakers thought otherwise and voted the school choice proposals down.

A bill that Republican lawmakers were especially keen on, House Bill 1508, would have created the Virginia Education Success Account Program, which would allow parents to set up a savings account funded with state dollars that could be used to cover educational expenses at private schools in Virginia, the Virginia Mercury reported.

The proposal is an example of a new breed of school choice laws that have been enacted in 10 states so far. The so-called education savings accounts (ESAs) essentially work like school vouchers that have long been a priority for right-wing conservatives and libertarians, according to Our Schools reporter Peter Greene.

Despite the proposals for the new voucher program going down in both the Virginia House and Senate, proponents of the bill are far from discouraged, according to a February 2023 article in the Virginia Mercury. I think people are still learning and getting their minds around what ESAs are and how they work and making sure that they dont harm public schools, said Rachel Adams, director of external affairs for Americans for Prosperity Virginia, a libertarian conservative advocacy group that advocated for the bill. Well be back next year doing the same thing, she said.

But the reluctance of Virginia lawmakers to go forward with this idea shows where opposition to this form of school choice is coming from and calls into question just who these proposals would create opportunities for, and how they would impact local schools that the vast majority of parents choose to send their children to.

A Test-and-Punish System

For Kathy Beery, a retired educator with Harrisonburg City Public Schools, bringing education savings accounts to Virginia meant the exact opposite of what proponents of the new law said it would result in. It means that children will not receive the educational opportunities that others will receive in other parts of the state, she told Our Schools. The other parts of the state that Beery referred to are metropolitan areas like Richmond, where education choices are abundant, versus rural communities where education advocates believe that efforts to enact more school choice will harm the local schools they value.

Beery is a member of Virginia Educators United and a strong advocate for public education, especially for parents and kids in rural districts. For rural communities, she said, the schools are the center of community connections. To lose their schools means losing sports, bands, [school] plays, and friendships that support the community.

Beery, who has been on the front lines in the fight against public school privatization, believes that these proposals could have a detrimental impact on rural schools that are already experiencing financial stress.

Without the needed resources, students [left in the public school system] will do poorly on state standardized tests [which makes the schools more vulnerable to] takeovers and privatization, Beery said. She described this as a test-and-punish system.

Miles away in the largely rural county of Roanoke, Laura Bowman shares a similar sentiment. This is a horrifying attempt to undermine not only public schools but [also] the entire teaching profession, she said. Bowman described supporters of the Virginia Education Success Account Program as monied interests [who] never let a crisis go to waste, and the recent pandemic is no exception.

Bowman, who has served as president of the Roanoke County Council of PTAs and chairman of the Roanoke County Public Schools Parent Advisory Council, has spent more than a decade advocating for the health, safety, education, and well-being of children.

She too described Virginias school assessment policies as a test-and-punish system and added, The results of those corporate-provided testsnot local assessments, report cards, and graduation ratesare used to give weight to the school choice argument. By focusing on the standardized test scores of students who live in under-resourced communities, the privatizers assert that public schools are the problem, not the circumstances the children in those communities live in.

Bowman also questioned how widely applicable the new voucher programs opportunities would be. I live in a more rural part of Virginia, she said. Whether [the voucher is] $5,000 or $6,300, it isnt going to get a student in the door of my local private schools, for a variety of reasons (there are fewer local private schools, the cost per student is higher than in a metropolitan area with more existing school options and resources, etc.).

Bowman noted that voucher advocates who acknowledge the cost differences between tuition at high-quality private schools compared to what a voucher would cover are advocating for so-called microschools that allow families to pool their voucher money to form a small school with other parents. She countered, This assumes there are adults who are able to be at home with the kids and who can, one, effectively teach kids essential ideas and skills and, two, ensure that the content is going to be centered on factual information and will help the student succeed post high school.

While advocates for the voucher program might argue that not all private schools do a disservice to students and their communities, consider the potential harms of scaling up the known worst cases that so far have resulted from a lack of regulatory oversight that guides public schools. In January 2023, Vice broke a shocking story about an Ohio homeschool Telegram channel with thousands of members that openly embraced Nazi ideology and promoted white supremacy, while proudly discouraging parents from letting their white children play with or have any contact with people of any other race. Admins and members use racist, homophobic, and antisemitic slurs without shame, and quote Hitler and other Nazi leaders daily in a channel open to the public.

If the bill creating the Virginia Education Success Account Program had been successfully passed, would Virginia parents using this neo-Nazi homeschool network be able to have their expenses covered with public tax dollars? Its not clear.

A Priority for Republican Governors

Vouchers dont provide an actual choice for students living in rural areas who have little, if any, access to private schools, according to the National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE), a nationwide advocacy group that champions public schools and explicitly opposes school vouchers.

If students are able to use a voucher, they are generally required to endure long, costly commutes, NCPEs website said. And, vouchers are especially harmful to the public school systems serving large rural areas because the schools are forced to spread the same costs for facilities, transportation, administration, and instruction over a smaller revenue stream.

The potential negative impacts that new voucher programs may impose on rural schools have significant consequences for the nations public education system at large, NCPEs website noted, because [m]ore than one in four schools in America are rural and nearly one in five students attend a rural school, which is approximately 8.9 million students.

Despite warnings from advocates about the dire consequences new voucher programs would have on rural schools, there is a growing resurgence in state legislatures for school choice action, Education Week reported, especially for enacting new ESAs.

In a January 2023 Education Week article highlighting new ESAs that are expected to roll out in Iowa and Utah, Douglas Harris, director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice at Tulane University, said that the programs are enjoying greater popularity because [t]he term vouchers doesnt poll very well So theyre just changing the name to make it sound better.

School voucher programs have become an especially high policy priority for Republican governors, according to the analysis done by FutureEd and The 74, a media outlet that is generally supportive of school choice. An article based on the analysis noted, the school choice proposals in 15 State of the State addresses nearly all came from Republican governors. The only Democratic governor to broach the subject, Arizonas Katie Hobbs, pledged to provide more accountability for a broad expansion of education savings accounts that her predecessor pushed through the legislature.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott said in February 2023 that he will be heavily involved in the push for an education savings account program this legislative session, according to the Texas Tribune. The article noted, Similar proposals have typically met resistance from a coalition of Democrats and rural GOP lawmakers. Abbott, however, opted to cherry-pick his constituents opinions, saying, Among Republican rural voters, about 80 percent support this.

There has been no shortage of controversies surrounding the school choice debate, and the controversies surrounding these proposals are not going away.

One firefight that recently flared came from Utah where a prominent lobbyist, Allison Sorensen, executive director of Kaysville-based Education Opportunity for Every Child, who is helping to lead the effort to enact a new ESA program in that state, was recorded saying she wants to destroy public education, according to KUTV. She later apologized for her remarks, but public education proponents, including education historian Diane Ravitch, called the comment an example of voucher proponents saying the quiet part out loud.

Communities With No Schools

School choice proponents have confidence that their calls for ESAs will win over lawmakers, but opposition to these programs is not witheringeven among Republicans. In Idaho, a Freedom in Education Savings Accounts bill that was under consideration in the legislature was ultimately defeated in the Senate. Most Senate Republicans opposed the bill, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Proponents of public education continue to warn that with more resources going to ESAs and other kinds of voucher programs, there will be fewer dollars to fund community public schools, especially in rural and under-resourced communities that constantly struggle to maintain service.

If the school choice movement has its way, and the marketplace is the only driver of schooling, there may be communities with no schools because no one is interested in operating a school in that community, said Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education. Or, it may be that the only school is a religious school, so if you want a secular school for your child, you will be out of luck.

Remember, private schools choose students, Burris added. Many of these schools do not enroll students who are LGBTQ+ or who have special needs. Parents may find they have no school options at all other than homeschooling or online schools. We can see how this story ends. Unfortunately, too few are paying attention, she said.

Back in Virginia, Bowman is not alone in her fight for public schools.

Vouchers take money out of the budget [meant] for public schools and route it to various recipients that include private schools and homeschooling businesses, the Virginia Public Education Partners, a grassroots group that opposes school privatization, said in a statement sent to Our Schools. So, public schools have less opportunity to address teacher and bus driver shortages, school maintenance, overcrowding, mental health, and safe buildings.

Public schools are meant to create intelligent, responsible, civically engaged citizens, said Bowman. Theyre often the hearts of our communities, especially in rural areas of the nation. Families, faculty members, and the community regularly come together for school sporting events and school concerts, she added. Id hate to see the positive community spirit surrounding my neighborhood public schools erode under misguided school voucher laws.
Why Primates (Including Humans) Love to Spin Ourselves around until We All Fall Down Scientific American

Study suggests pumas utilize sly strategy of fertilizing plants that recruit prey to hunting grounds Phys.org

An aperiodic monotile exists! The Aperiodical. The Einstein Hat, punning on the German ein  one, stein  stone (or tile). Its fairly safe to predict that if the einstein part sticks, future generations will be confused about whether Albert Einstein was involved. Here is a video on how to construct one.

Climate

#COVID19

China?

Prepare for a multipolar currency world Gillian Tett, FT. The deck: The US dollar still dominates debt markets, but some niche-sounding data suggests things could be set to shift. But see

Will the Chinese renminbi replace the US dollar? Michael Pettis, Elgar Online. From 2022, still germane. Gentlemen prefer bonds. But not Chinese bonds:

Does this look like a reserve currency to you? Lots of talk about USD losing reserve currency status, and the CNY gaining it. But NOBODY wants to own Chinese bonds pic.twitter.com/CB95cAFipy  Jens Nordvig  (@jnordvig) March 31, 2023

India

European Disunion

Its The Thing I Will Really Miss When I Move Back To The US: Americans Are Sharing Everyday Aspects Of Life In Europe That Feel Like Luxuries If You Didnt Grow With Up Them Buzzfeed. #17: Universal, government-run healthcare. Cant have that. Dont these nimrods understand theyre vassal states?

A surprising find inside the walls of Notre-Dame Big Think

New Not-So-Cold War

B-a-a-a-a-d Banks

2024

Our Famously Free Press

Judge sends Dominion lawsuit against Fox News to trial Politico Twitter is dying TechCrunch. Starts out good, and ends up here: We should also consider how the rules based order weve devised seems unable to stand up to a bully intent on replacing free access to information with paid disinformation. Whos we? Do we really believe in a rules-based order, if those quotes are not airquotes? As for bully, could we please not personalize literally everything as a form of microaggression? As for disinformation. Ruling class actors are a squillion times worse than, say, QAnon, if indeed a distinction exists, there. With friends like these.

LAffaire Joffrey Epstein

Tech

Paradigms Gone Wild London Review of Books. On Thomas Kuhn.

Zeitgeist Watch

Class Warfare

As You Grieve, Your Brain Redraws Its Neural Map Psychology Today

The benefits of deep time thinking BBC

Scientists Found an Entirely New Way of Measuring Time Science Alert

A Growing Number of Scientists Are Convinced the Future Influences the Past Vice

Zillions and Zillions Online Etymology Dictionary. You have to want to know the past like a citizen.

Antidote du jour (PB via JU):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
(Natural News) Russia and China spent years working on and developing missiles that could travel at hypersonic speeds, making them all but impossible to shoot down using existing missile defense systems, all while the U.S. spent decades focused on low-intensity guerilla warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That inattentiveness to the growing threat of hypersonic missiles in the hands of our adversaries has cost us big time.

In testimony given to a House Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Andrew Hunter confirmed that the US Air Force intends to terminate the hypersonic weapons program by Lockheed Martin. He stated that the Air Force presently has no plans to pursue future procurement of the weapon, which is referred to as the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), Zero Hedge reported this week.

An earlier report from Breaking Defense indicated that the ARRW produced by Lockheed Martin could be in peril after Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, during testimony before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee on the services fiscal 2024 budget request this week, acknowledged that the March 13 test was not a success, leading to concerns about the future of the program.

The one we just had was not a success. We did not get the data that we needed from that test  currently examining that, trying to understand what happened, Kendall told lawmakers.

Kendall was referring to the recent ARRW test conducted by the Air Force, which was announced last Friday and reportedly accomplished several objectives but did not include any statements of success, reports said.

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, the missile was released from a B-52H bomber off the southern coast of California, but encountered issues with data link transmission during its flight.

While Assistant Secretary Hunters testimony did not make clear whether the Air Force had decided to terminate the Lockheed program due to the tests failure or if the decision had been made previously, it is evident that the program has experienced difficulties.

Kendall had indicated that the outcome of future tests could determine the fate of the ARRW program. He also mentioned that the Air Forces other hypersonic program, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), had exhibited more promising results.

We see a definite role for the HACM concept. Its compatible with more of our aircraft. And itll give us more combat capability overall. So, were more committed to HACM at this point in time than we are to ARRW, he said.

It is a matter of concern that despite being the worlds largest military spender, the US has not yet deployed any hypersonic missiles, while Russia has used its Kinzhal hypersonic missiles multiple times in the conflict in Ukraine.

To counter the advances of Russia and China in this field, the Department of Defense has invested billions of dollars since 2019 in programs aimed at developing hypersonic missiles. However, the recent failed hypersonic missile test by the Air Force has raised doubts about whether the US is falling behind in the hypersonic arms race, Zero Hedge noted further.

The U.S. military has been actively developing hypersonic missile technology in recent years, as these high-speed weapons have the potential to revolutionize modern warfare. Hypersonic missiles can travel at speeds greater than Mach 5 (approximately 3,800 miles per hour), allowing them to cover vast distances in a short amount of time. Their speed, combined with a low radar signature and the ability to maneuver during flight, makes them difficult to intercept, giving the U.S. military a significant strategic advantage.

Despite the progress made in hypersonic missile development, there are still significant challenges to overcome. These include developing materials that can withstand the extreme temperatures experienced during hypersonic flight, the need for more advanced guidance systems, and the overall cost of producing and deploying these weapons.

Its not clear how Russia  whose defense budget is a fraction of what the U.S. spends annually  can develop and field such a weapon while American engineers cannot.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Digital media company BuzzFeed has quietly published over 40 whole articles generated by artificial intelligence.

The company announced earlier this year that it would start publishing AI-assisted content, according to CEO Jonah Peretti, who promised that the tech would be held to a high standard. (Related: AI chatbot GPT-4 TRICKED a person into solving captcha by pretending to be human.)

I think that there are two paths for AI in digital media, said Peretti. One path is the obvious path that a lot of people will do  but its a depressing path  using the technology for cost savings and spamming out a bunch of SEO [search engine optimized] articles that are lower quality than what a journalist could do, but a tenth of the cost.

The first AI-generated content BuzzFeed published were a series of ad-lib quizzes that turned user input into customized responses.

BuzzFeed quietly published over 40 AI-generated travel guides

Despite Perettis claims to the contrary, it does appear that BuzzFeeds first foray into AI-written articles has generated only SEO-bait articles that the CEO derided as only being fit for content farms.

As of press time, BuzzFeeds Buzzy AI tool has published 44 posts covering destinations in Morocco, Sweden, the Caribbean, Nepal and even some in the United States. They appear to be fully SEO-driven travel guides that Noor Al-Sibai and Jon Christian of Futurism described as comically bland and similar to one another. At least seven of the articles feature almost-coped opening lines:

I know what youre thinking: Isnt Stockholm that freezing, gloomy city up in the north that nobody cares about? in an article about the Swedish capital of Stockholm.

Now, I know what youre probably thinking. Nepal? The Himalayas? Havent we all heard of that already? in an article about the mountain region of Khumbu in Nepal.

Now, I know what youre thinking  But Caribbean destinations are all just crowded resorts, right?' in an article about the small Caribbean nation of Sint Maarten.

Now, I know what youre thinking. Puerto Rico? Isnt that where all the cruise ships go?,' in an article about San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.

Now, I know what youre thinking  Bigger isnt always better, in an article about Providence, Rhode Island.

Now, I know what youre thinking  Cape May? What is that, some kind of mayonnaise brand?,' in an article about Cape May, New Jersey.

Now, I know what youre probably thinking. Brewster? Never heard of it,' in an article about Brewster, Massachusetts.

Futurism noted that almost every article written by Buzzy uses the phrase hidden gem, such as Alemia Island, Florida, a hidden gem of beaches, Carmel-By-The-Sea, California, a hidden gem of Californias coast and West Virginia, which is a hidden gem of a state.

A spokesperson for BuzzFeed said the AI-generated articles are merely part of an experiment that the company did to see how well its AI writing assistance tech functions.

Were continuing to experiment with AI to enhance human creativity and are trying new formats that allow anyone (with or without a formal background in writing or content creation) to contribute their ideas and unique perspectives on our site, said the spokesperson.

This new creative tool enables a collaborative writing process in partnership with AI and a human editor to unlock the creative potential of UGC [user-generated content] so we can broaden the range of ideas and perspectives that we publish. As we iterate, future formats will continue to have built-in ways for humans to be in the loop as co-collaborators and editors.

Learn more about the expansion of AI into the workforce at Robotics.news.

Watch this episode of The Paul McGuire Report as host Paul McGuire discusses how Big Tech companies are using open-ended AI technology to collect private data from people, changing their lives for the worse.

This video is from the Paul McGuire channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Ex-Google engineer warns Microsofts AI-powered Bing chatbot could be sentient.

Microsofts AI chatbot goes haywire  gets depressed, threatens to sue and harm detractors.

Voice actors are losing their jobs to AI robots  is your job next?

ChatGPT AI taught to single out hateful content by silencing whites, Republicans and MEN: Research.

Rise of the machines: Expert warns AI will take over 20% of all jobs within 5 YEARS.

Sources include:

Futurism.com

TheVerge.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A member of the European Parliament (MEP) has warned that the European Union (EU) is in danger of criminalizing the use of physical cash in favor of using digital currencies with its new anti-money laundering laws.

Politicians in the European Parliament, the EUs main legislative body, have long been campaigning to impose an upper legal limit on the value of cash transactions within the bloc, claiming that such a move would help curtail criminality within the bloc.

The latest proposal the European Parliament has voted on prevents Europeans from spending over 7,000 euros ($7,617) in the physical tender as part of a single transaction and bans cryptocurrency transactions paying for goods and services that are valued over 1,000 euros ($1,088). (Related: State legislatures are sneakily introducing amendments to laws that would pave the way for CBDC domination.)

Dr. Gunnar Beck, a German MEP from the conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party, warned that the new measure, which is supposedly meant to clamp down on money laundering and tax evasion within the bloc, has gone too far in curtailing how much people can spend cash.

In a statement made in Breitbart Europe, Beck pointed out how the AfD welcomes additional efforts to tackle financial crimes like money laundering and terrorist financing, but rejects the parliaments call to put legal limits on single cash transactions.

While we should focus on money laundering by organized crime and Islamist terrorists, the EU chooses to tighten its surveillance of German savers and pensioners transactions, remarked Beck. This is a mistake.

Beck further warned how the main proponents of limits on cash transactions are attempting to force the entire bloc to support this by passing a regulation instead of a directive. This means that individual nation-states will not be able to avoid implementing these reforms, even if they are very much against preventing their citizens from using physical legal tender within their own countries.

EU Parliament to push cash transaction limit further down

Beck further warned that many EU parliamentarians have already rejected the 7,000 euro-limit on single cash transactions. He warned that the original proposal would have put the limit down to just 3,000 euros ($3,267). Fortunately, thanks in part to pressure from the AfD and other conservative parties in the European Parliament, this limit was increased to the current 7,000 euros.

Outside of the EUs main political institutions, individual nations in Europe appear keen on curtailing the use of cash. In Germany, politicians are currently debating on whether or not a legal limit on cash transactions is a good idea.

In the Netherlands, cash transactions over 3,000 euros have already been banned. In France, residents are legally prohibited from paying for goods or services with cash if the transaction costs more than 1,000 euros.

Outside of Europe, Australia is considering implementing a ban on cash transactions worth more than AU$10,000 ($6,696).

Learn more about the expansion of government-sponsored digital currencies at CryptoCult.news.

Watch this episode of Brighteon Broadcast News as host Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, discusses how the government has declared war on cryptocurrencies to make way for central bank digital currencies.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Ron DeSantis to introduce legislation in Florida prohibiting the use of CBDCs in the state.

FISCAL INSANITY: European Central Bank plans to implement negative interest rates alongside digital euro rollout.

Big Banks team up to launch digital wallet that can compete with PayPal and Apple Pay are you ready for your digital wallet social credit score enforcement?

HYPOCRISY: Federal Reserve warns banks against using crypto while planning to develop its own digital currency.

Coming economic collapse will be used to close banks and introduce central bank digital currencies.

Sources include:

Technocracy.news

Breitbart.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Editors Note: This article is Part 1 in a two-part series on the impact of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine mandates on airline safety in the U.S.

(Article by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. republished from ChildrensHealthDefense.org)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a first-class medical clearance to a pilot whose medical history includes possible vaccine-induced myocarditis, according to a letter leaked anonymously by a pilot.

This letter was leaked amid recent revelations the FAA is prioritizing keeping pilots in the air at the expense of the safety of pilots, passengers and the general public.

FAA data indicate the number of medical flight diversions increased in 2021 and 2022, compared to 2019 and prior.

Other documents reveal that in 2021, the FAA strongly recommended, in writing, pilots receive the COVID-19 vaccines issued under an emergency use authorization (EUA), despite the agencys own regulations prohibiting pilots from taking medications or therapeutics that have been on the market for 12 months or less.

Pilot cleared to fly despite possible vaccine-induced myocarditis

The leaked letter  with names and dates redacted  issuing a first-class medical certificate to a pilot with a history of possible vaccine-induced myocarditis  originated from the FAAs Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City.

According to the letter:

You are cautioned to abide by Title 14 of the CFRs, Section 61.53, relating to operations during medical deficiency.

Because of your history of possible Vaccine induced Myocarditis, Hyperlipidemia, Ganglion Cyst removal Left Hand, and Knee pain, operation of aircraft is prohibited at any time new symptoms or adverse changes occur in your health status.

The FAA has admitted to an airline pilot that his myocarditis was possibly vaccine induced. Yet, without further investigation, they continue to jeopardize the saftey of air travel and the health of pilots by pushing non FDA approved injections against their own aeromedical pic.twitter.com/bQMEIluJqe  Josh Yoder (@JoshYoder) March 15, 2023

According to WebMD, Myocarditis often has no symptoms. Johns Hopkins Medicine states that acute myocarditis can develop suddenly, while according to Empendium, the onset of myocarditis may be sudden, with factors causing autoimmune reactions to allergens  such as vaccines  listed as a common cause of this condition.

Yet despite this, and despite the pilots other medical issues, the FAA said: Our review of your medical records has established that you are eligible for a first-class medical certificate.

A November 2022 University of Basel study that examined individuals who had received a COVID-19 booster shot found elevated cardiac troponin levels in a higher percentage of vaccinated individuals than expected, and evidence of temporary mild damage [myocarditis] to cardiac cells in 2.8% of the patients  instead of the anticipated 0.0035%.

According to cardiologist Dr. Christian Muller, one of the studys authors, even such mild damage could potentially become more serious with time, especially with the administration of annual COVID-19 boosters:

So theres slight damage to heart muscle cells in almost 3% of the cases, which shouldnt be overestimated, but also not ignored. 

According to current knowledge, the cardiac muscle cant regenerate, or only to a very limited degree at best. So its possible that repeated booster vaccinations every year could cause moderate damage to the heart muscle cells.

According to the FAA, a first-class medical certificate generally is designed for the airline transport pilot, while second-class [is] for the commercial pilot, and third-class for the student, recreational and private pilot.

This clearance may be the first time the FAA openly acknowledged a vaccine injury, such as vaccine-induced myocarditis, in a pilot.

In a Jan. 24 report, Federal Air Surgeon Susan Northrup, M.D., M.P.H., said the FAA has seen no evidence of COVID-19 vaccine injuries that led to aircraft accidents or pilot incapacitations.

And in February, Northrup told The Epoch Times she was aware of only four potentially vaccine-related adverse events in active pilots. Of these, only one [pilot] has provided medical documentation through the normal process, according to Northrup. She did not describe what the normal process is.

However, in April 2022, the FAA and Northrup were made aware of several incidences of vaccine injury in pilots that occurred as early as December 2021, via a hand-delivered letter to the FAA and other federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, from the California-based Advocates for Citizens Rights.

The letter included data showing pilots across the aviation industry  including commercial, military and general aviation pilots  face increased health risks from the COVID-19 vaccines due to the unique nature of their profession.

The letter referred to specific incidents, including the case of an agricultural pilot, Cody Flint, who nearly blacked out while flying but managed to land his plane safely  although he has no recollection of how he did it.

In an interview with The Defender in May 2022, Flint said the incident occurred two days after he received his first and only dose of the primary series of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in February 2021.

He was diagnosed with left and right perilymphatic fistulas (a lesion in the inner ear), and highly elevated intracranial pressure due to swelling in his brainstem.

My intracranial pressure had risen so high that it caused both of my inner ears to blow out, Flint said. Doctors told him this is usually caused by major head trauma.

A Jan. 27 letter from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to Northrup listed four pilots, including Flint and an air traffic controller who suffered severe adverse events soon after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

American Airlines Captain Bob Snow, coerced to vax (jab or job), suffered a heart attack 6 mins after landing in Dallas, April 9th. He speaks out. All Canadian airline pilots were coerced exactly the same. Contact Cdn Airline execs & Transport Canada if you have concerns. pic.twitter.com/nJhCqhAuIz  Free to Fly (@freetoflycanada) April 19, 2022

One of the pilots, Wil Wolfe, suffered a seizure and died 13 days after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Bob Snow suffered sudden cardiac arrest immediately after landing a passenger jet at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and Greg Pierson suffered atrial fibrillation within 24 hours of receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Hayley Lopez, an air traffic controller, sustained serious adverse events within minutes of receiving her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and was ultimately diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, commonly referred to as POTS.

Keeping pilots in the air  at the expense of safety?

An August 2021 interview with Courtney Scott, D.O., M.P.H., published in the Federal Air Surgeons Medical Bulletin, may shed light on why the FAA may be brushing off vaccine-related adverse events in pilots and issuing medical certificates despite a pilots histories of vaccine injury.

Scott, who worked with the FAA for over a decade and is acting manager in the agencys Aerospace Medical Certification Division, said at the time, the goal was to keep pilots in the air instead of grounding them when medical risks were identified, as long as the agency could do so safely.

Scott said:

There has been a shift in the goal of aerospace medicine standards from preventing airmen with certain medical conditions from flying, to allowing some airmen with certain medical conditions to fly after mitigating the risks. This mitigation, which we can call aeromedical disease management, is what makes the role of AMEs [aviation medical examiners] so important, helping to identify and assess risk.

AMEs are essential to getting and keeping pilots in the air. Occasionally, pilots can see the AMEs as an adversary because sometimes in the mind of a pilot, the goal of an AME is to stop them from flying. This attitude goes with the old aeromedical focus of not allowing anyone to fly if they have certain medical conditions. Now the goal is to get the pilot flying if they can do so safely.

Its unclear if this is official FAA policy. However, recent actions by the agency, ranging from the loosening of its electrocardiorgram (EKG) limits to the granting of a first-class medical certificate to a pilot with possible vaccine-induced myocarditis, suggest a willingness on the part of the FAA to accept loosened medical standards in allowing pilots to fly.

COVID vaccine injuries contributing to more flight diversions, pilot shortage?

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed Feb. 24 by the US Freedom Flyers, an advocacy organization that opposes vaccine mandates for pilots, the FAA provided data regarding the number of airplanes that had to divert for medical emergencies from 2017 through the present.

The raw data provided by the FAA indicate a decrease in 2021 and 2022, compared to the years 2017 through 2019, as flight activity was ramped up following the strong restrictions of 2020. Between 2017 and 2019, annual diversions for medical reasons ranged from 630 to 641. The figure was 510 in 2021, and 589 in 2022.

However, when calculated as a proportion of the number of flights and number of passengers carried in the U.S. annually, the figures tell a different story. The FAA did not provide these data, but the Bureau of Transportation Statistics does.

The data show that pre-pandemic, in 2018 and 2019, domestic and international passenger traffic in the U.S. exceeded 1 billion. In 2021, that number barely exceeded 700 million, and reached 935.4 million in 2022.

Flight movements similarly decreased compared to pre-2020 levels. Total domestic and international flights in the U.S. exceeded 10 million in 2018 and 2019. They totaled 7.6 million in 2021 and 8.7 million in 2022.

As a result, the data show that, on a per-flight basis, the percentage of flights diverted for medical reasons increased in both 2021 and 2022 compared to pre-2020 levels. Similarly, the percentage of diversions as a percentage of total passenger movements sharply increased in 2021, while the 2022 figure exceeded that of 2018 and 2019.

Notably, 2021 and 2022 were the years the COVID-19 vaccine was made available and widely distributed to the public.

Also potentially playing a role in the FAAs rule changes and its apparent increased tolerance for pilots medical issues is an ongoing pilot shortage.

According to a July 2022 report by Oliver Wyman Insights, an impending pilot shortage was on the horizon in early 2021, and is now materializing, due to an aging workforce and mandatory retirement age of 65, and a wave of early retirements at the height of the pandemic  the the report didnt specify a reason for the wave.

Snow confirmed for The Defender the growing shortage of pilots in the U.S., noting that former military aviators are a traditional source of pilots for the airlines, but the military no longer produces pilots in large numbers, so there is now a shortfall.

The airline industry does not seem as attractive to the younger generation as with prior generations, Snow added.

The airline industry may tacitly be making the same admission. According to a Dec. 8, 2022, report by CBS News:

Theres language in a new bill now introduced in Congress  the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill  asking the Federal Aviation Administration to reconsider part 121 and to allow the use of a single pilot operation, first in cargo aircraft.

According to CBS News, the airline industry is lobbying for this move, as it would lower costs and ease pressure from crew shortages.

The FAA is facing Congressional reauthorization this year, as its previous five-year authorization, passed in 2018, is set to expire. No reauthorization bill appears in a Congressional web search as of today, but it is expected that a bill will formally be introduced within the calendar year.

Globally, more than 40 countries, including the U.K., Germany and New Zealand, have also lobbied the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a U.N. body, to codify the one-pilot change in international regulations.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency also supported the revision, although in February, it postponed this rule change in Europe. Canada rescinded its rule requiring two pilots to be present in the cockpit at all times, in 2017.

Illustrating the potential dangers of one-pilot crews, Canada previously adopted its two-pilot rule following the deliberate crash of Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 in March 2015. When the flights captain exited the cockpit, presumably to take a bathroom break, the first officer locked him out of the cockpit and proceeded to intentionally crash the plane into the Alps. All passengers and crew were killed.

Current FAA regulations require two-pilot crews on commercial flights.

FAA, in recommending COVID vaccination, violated its own regulations

In a May 25, 2021, Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO), the FAA strongly recommended that pilots, crew members and aviation industry employees get the COVID-19 vaccines  indicating, in writing, that the agency violated its own regulations in the process.

The SAFO stated:

Crewmembers are encouraged to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Those who hold an FAA-issued airman medical certificate must comply with any applicable medical requirements following vaccination. Crewmembers are encouraged to share their vaccine status with their employers occupational health program.

COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are available across the United States, and everyone 16 years of age and older is eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

These vaccines are effective against COVID-19, including severe disease, and a growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection or to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others, although further investigation is ongoing.

Wide-spread vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the pandemic, and air crewmembers are recommended to get vaccinated as soon as possible and in compliance with FAA direction on flight duties after vaccination.

Now, in the case of these shots, one day after they were mandated the FAA announced We have determined that these are good to take. And to date: no data, no studies, no supporting analysis of any kind under FAA medical oversight have been produced for anybody thats been pic.twitter.com/StDkyO5ejJ  US Freedom Flyers (@USFreedomFlyers) March 21, 2023

This guidance runs contrary to regulations codified in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations 61.53, under the heading Pharmaceuticals (Therapeutic Medications)  Do Not Issue  Do Not Fly. These regulations state:

The FAA generally requires at least one-year of post-marketing experience with a new drug before consideration for aeromedical certification purposes.

This observation period allows time for uncommon, but aeromedically significant, adverse effects to manifest themselves.

[N]o person who holds a medical certificate issued under part 67 of this chapter may act as pilot in command, or in any other capacity as a required pilot flight crewmember, while that person  [is] receiving treatment for a medical condition that results in the person being unable to meet the requirements for the medical certificate necessary for the pilot operation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the first EUA for COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020. Under FAA regulations, pilots should have been prohibited from taking the vaccines until December 2021, at the earliest, and perhaps not until EUA authorization was replaced by fully licensure.

Moreover, the May 2021 SAFO stated:

The FAA and CDC recommend and expect that all U.S.-based air carriers and crewmembers, all non-U.S.-based air carriers operating flights with a U.S. nexus, and all non-U.S.-based crewmembers on flights with a U.S. nexus implement and use their company-developed COVID-19 preparedness plans and procedures in conjunction with the FAA and CDC occupational health and safety guidance in the attached appendix regarding practices for limiting the spread of COVID-19.

For several major U.S. air carriers, these preparedness plans and procedures encompassed internal vaccine mandates for their employees, including pilots. Several vaccine-injured pilots who previously spoke to The Defender said that they were coerced by employer mandates into getting the COVID-19 vaccines.

Brett Vance, a former Air Force fighter pilot and airline pilot who later served as a test pilot in the FAAs Aircraft Certification Service, was forced into retirement from his FAA position as a result of the Biden administrations vaccine mandate for federal employees.

Vance wrote that he and other FAA employees who did not want to receive the COVID-19 EUA vaccine were threatened with disciplinary actions, including confiscation of funds from their retirement annuity accounts and even firing, if they did not get vaccinated.

Concerns regarding the FAAs endorsement of the COVID-19 vaccines came as early as Dec. 15, 2021, in a letter from the California-based Advocates for Citizens Rights, which was co-signed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and chief litigation counsel for Childrens Health Defense (CHD) and Mary Holland, CHD president and general counsel.

The letter accused the FAA and the aviation industry of:

Putting both pilots and the general public at risk of death and/or serious injury by operating in contravention of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, 61.53, and related guidance which together operate to disallow medical clearance of pilots who have injected or ingested non-FDA approved products  like the COVID-19 inoculation.

Johnson raised similar concerns. In remarks published in a Feb. 21 article by The Epoch Times, Johnson noted that on Dec. 12, 2020, the same day the FDA first issued an EUA for COVID-19 vaccines, the FAA declared these vaccines are also safe for pilots.

Read more at: ChildrensHealthDefense.org
(Natural News) A report from investment bank Goldman Sachs warned that the proliferation of artificial intelligence technology could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs around the world.

Specifically, Goldman Sachs warned about generative AI, which can create content indistinguishable from human work. The expansion of generative AI systems is poised to significantly disrupt the job market. (Related: AI chatbot GPT-4 TRICKED a person into solving captcha by pretending to be human.)

Despite significant uncertainty around the potential of generative AI, its ability to generate content that is indistinguishable from human-created output and to break down communication barriers between humans and machines reflects a major advancement with potentially large macroeconomic effects, the report stated.

The report noted that about two-thirds of jobs in the United States and Europe are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and AI systems could potentially replace up to a quarter of current jobs in the U.S. and Europe.

Goldman Sachs report pointed out that AIs impact will vary depending on the sector of the job market. But white-collar workers could be the first to be replaced as up to 18 percent of all work is at risk of becoming computerized.

According to the report, workers in administrative tasks and in legal professions are most vulnerable, with 46 percent and 44 percent at risk of being automated, respectively.

The report noted that the AI boom will have little effect on jobs that require manual labor and outdoor tasks. Only six percent of construction jobs and four percent of maintenance jobs are expected to be replaced by AI systems.

Similar findings in Europe show that 45 percent of clerical support roles will be most affected by AI automation, while just four percent of workers in the crafts and related trades sector are vulnerable.

Outside of Europe and the U.S., highly developed economies like Israel, Japan and Sweden are most at risk of being impacted by automation, with around 25 to nearly 30 percent of jobs in these countries being exposed. Meanwhile, countries like China, India and Vietnam with more manufacturing and blue-collar-heavy workforces are among the least likely to be negatively impacted.

Many businesses may switch to AI due to savings, productivity boom

The report also warned that many businesses would be enticed into replacing their employees with AI systems due to the possibility of a boom in productivity, among other factors.

The combination of significant labor cost savings, new job creation and higher productivity for non-displaced workers raises the possibility of a productivity boom that raises economic growth substantially, although the timing of such a boom is hard to predict, read the report.

The report authors noted that the expanded use of generative AI could raise annual American labor productivity growth by a little under 1.5 percent over 10 years, given broad adoption. The boost to global labor productivity could increase annual global GDP by seven percent, which Goldman Sachs claimed highlights the enormous potential of generative AI if it delivers on its promise.

Carl Benedikt Frey, a director at Oxford Universitys Oxford Martin School, warned that the expansion of generative AI could also drive down wages due to people being forced to compete with AI.

The only thing I am sure of is that there is no way of knowing how many jobs will be replaced by generative AI. What ChatGPT does, for example, is allow more people with average writing skills to produce essays and articles, wrote Frey. Journalists will therefore face more competition, which would drive down wages, unless we see a very significant increase in the demand for such work.

As another example, Frey pointed to how the introduction of GPS technology and rideshare companies like Uber devalued the importance of knowing all the streets in London.

And so, incumbent drivers experienced larger wage cuts in response, by around 10 percent, according to our research, said Frey. The result was lower wages.

Over the next few years, generative AI is likely to have similar effects on a broader set of creative tasks.

Learn more about the proliferation of AI at Robotics.news.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, discusses how the plan to replace human labor with AI systems comes from the globalists.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Ex-Google engineer warns Microsofts AI-powered Bing chatbot could be sentient.

Microsofts AI chatbot goes haywire  gets depressed, threatens to sue and harm detractors.

Voice actors are losing their jobs to AI robots  is your job next?

Rise of the machines: Expert warns AI will take over 20% of all jobs within 5 YEARS.

Globalists following planetary script to REPLACE HUMANS with AI systems  you are now obsolete.

Sources include:

Finance.Yahoo.com

AIBusiness.com

Entrepreneur.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has confirmed that hundreds of fish were killed after a nuclear power plant was forced to shut down due to radioactive leak.

An estimated 230 fish were killed following the shutdown, which was initiated Friday, March 24, after another leak was discovered at the Xcel Energy Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant (XES) near Minneapolis.

As part of its normal operations, warm water from the Monticello plant enters the river, which the fish get used to. The fish kill is unfortunate, but not unexpected given the significant temperature change that can occur when warm water from the plant stops flowing to the river during a shutdown in operations, said MPCA in a statement released Monday, March 27.

Those killed include bass, channel catfish, common carp and one or more species of sucker fish.

According to reports, attempts to fix the problem resulted in further contamination of the land around the facility. Monitoring equipment at the site showed that hundreds of gallons of contaminated water had escaped since the first repair.

The plant, meanwhile, insisted that the leak posed no threat to public safety and has since been fixed.

No drinking water concern, no safety concern, no concern to the environment, said Chris Clark, president of XES in Minnesota. Well let the plant cool, well cut that pipe out, well send that pipe out to a lab and do a full root cause analysis of why that pipe failed.

Clark added there was no threat to groundwater in the area and he also doesnt anticipate any impact on electric service. Even if the plant were to stay offline during peak winter or peak summer needs, the company has enough margin that theyll have the ability to provide service during those times, he said.

However, the MPCA acknowledged that some of the material was found in groundwater around the plant, which ultimately flowed into the Mississippi.

According to reports, the contaminated water carried the radioactive isotope tritium, 400,000 gallons of which poured into the ground from a broken pipe before the leak was noticed last November. Though the plant operator and local government were aware of the issue for months, the public was not informed until mid-March. (Related: German nuclear power plant stops operations following leak.)

Tritium is a mildly radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is often found in water used to cool nuclear reactors. The only way it can affect people is if they breathe it in or drink tritiated water, said Daniel Huff, an assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health.

Residents nearby appeal for transparency from the government and XES

Some Monticello residents surrounding the plant, which is about 38 miles northwest of Minneapolis and upstream of the Mississippi River, expressed their concerns about the delay in finding out about the initial spill. I think the general public needs to be informed more about this, said Megan Sanborn, 31, who lives six miles upstream from the nuclear plant.

NBC News reported that XES notified the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state on Nov. 22, 2022, the same day it confirmed the leak as a non-emergency report with no impact on the health and safety of the public or plant personnel.

The origin of the leak was found about a month later from a broken pipe between two buildings, and a temporary solution was devised to contain the water and reroute it back to the plant for reuse.

In late February, the city was informed about the leak, but it wasnt until March 16 that state officials told the public. It was just then the company announced it had been taking steps to contain and manage the leak over the past four months.

My children go to school two miles downstream from the power plant. If the water levels were safe the entire time like they were saying, then where was the transparency? Sanborn lamented.

Tyler Abayare, who regularly fishes near the plant, said he has noticed dead fish near the plant in previous years when the facility closes for maintenance every April. Then, the dead fish drift downstream to shallow water and decompose. He typically avoids fishing in the area until July.

It just starts to stink and makes your eyes water, Abayare said.

Follow Radiation.news for more stories related to nuclear power plants.

Watch the video below where a freelance investigative journalist talks about the Minnesota plant radioactive leak.

This video is from the Suzie Etc- Search for Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Another nuclear plant closed down in Michigan as Americas energy grid gets systematically dismantled.

Half of Frances nuclear power plants are offline as dark winter approaches.

Amid green energy collapse, Germany now reconsidering decision to shut down zero-emission nuclear power plants.

Radioactive waste discovered at Missouri elementary school.

Sources include:

RT.com

CBSNews.com

NBCNews.com

Finance.Yahoo.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo warned that the mRNA Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines have a terrible safety profile, questioning why anybody should be having the shots injected in the first place.

These vaccines have a terrible safety profile. Im not sure anyone should be taking them, that is the honest truth, he said during a March 16 press conference. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was also in attendance at the press conference that commemorated the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns three years ago. (Related: FL Surgeon General Ladapo: COVID mRNA vaccines MORE DANGEROUS than any shot used in the US  Brighteon.TV.)

Ladapo also rebuked both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for denying the truth. He blasted the two agencies for their low-value divisive policies, such as vaccinating children for COVID-19.

He referenced a study published in the Lancet, which found that vaccinated people were at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than unvaccinated people.

They showed that after seven months, the protection from an infection started around 70 percent, [then it goes] down, down, down. At seven months, it hops onto the other side of the axis, Ladapo said. So, it is negative, and that continues. The magnitude of that negativity increases over time. That is a fact, has the CDC or FDA ever said a word about that? No.

Back in February, Ladapo issued a health alert on the safety of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines based on data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Statistics from the platform revealed a significant increase in adverse events in the Sunshine State after the mRNA shots were rolled out.

In Florida alone, there was a 1,700 percent increase in VAERS reports after the release of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to an increase of 400 percent in overall vaccine administration for the same time period, the alert stated.

CDC, FDA accuse Ladapo of fear-mongering

In response, the CDC and the FDA penned a joint letter to Ladapo accusing the Florida surgeon general of misleading the public on the side effects of the COVID-19 injections.

Focusing on adverse events in the absence of causal association and without the perspective of countervailing benefits is a great disservice to both individuals and public health, the agencies wrote. Like every other medical intervention, there are adverse effects from vaccination. Serious adverse events from COVID-19 vaccines are rare and are far outweighed by the benefits of these vaccines for every age group.

NaturalHealth365 staff writer Patrick Tims commented on the three-letter agencies correspondence.

The letters ended by noting how severe negative health outcomes from the shot are rare, he wrote. However, those willing to venture beyond CNN, MSNBC and other mainstream media channels and news websites are becoming increasingly aware that potentially millions of people have been victimized by Big Pharmas experimental jabs.

Ladapos office wasted no time in drafting a reply against the two agencies accusations. In a statement directly issued to Fox News, Florida health officials noted how the federal governments insistence on the COVID-19 vaccines being safe and effective was a form of gaslighting American taxpayers for nefarious purposes.

Nikki Whiting, communications director for the Florida Department of Health, said in the statement: The response from the federal government is just another redundant display of the same apathetic talking point of safe and effective. Googling their fact sheets would have achieved the same result. While [federal officials] gaslight the American public, Florida pushes for the truth.

Head over to BadMedicine.news for more stories about the dangers of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Watch Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo expound on the mRNA COVID-19 injections terrible safety profile below.

This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Florida surgeon general slams profoundly corrupt CDC over handling of pandemic.

Ben Armstrong lauds Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, lawyer Thomas Renz for exposing flaws of COVID-19 vaccines.

Florida surgeon general warns: COVID-19 vaccines linked to higher risk of cardiac-related DEATH.

Sources include:

NaturalHealth365.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

FoxNews.com

Brighteon.com
A delegation led by Rector of Azerbaijan Technical University Vilayat Valiyev has visited Spain.

During the visit, the delegation met with the academic staff of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), and visited the UPM Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering, Azernews reports.

The meeting addressed the issues on developing cooperation between AzTU and UPM in expanding academic staff and student mobility, as well as conducting joint research on various topics and signing of double diploma agreements in relevant fields.
Russia aims to further strengthen its comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with China, Russia's new Foreign Policy Concept said on Friday.

Russia prioritizes the development of mutually beneficial cooperation with China in all areas, providing mutual assistance and strengthening coordination in the international arena to ensure security, stability, and sustainable development at the global and regional levels, the document said.

In addition, Russia strives to improve the infrastructure of an international transport corridor connecting Europe with western China and develop the Russia-Mongolia-China economic corridor, it said.

The Foreign Policy Concept was approved by President Vladimir Putin in a decree signed on Friday to replace the 2016 version. The document came into force immediately.
(Natural News) One of Europes largest manufacturers of ammunition for firearms is having trouble expanding its factory capacity due to the ongoing energy crisis.

According to Norway-based Nammo, which is co-owned by both the Norwegian government and a Finnish state-controlled defense company, blames TikTok for the roadblock. The social media app, the company claims, is hogging all the electricity by creating a new data cancer to host pointless data like storage of cat videos.

There is reportedly no more energy available for Nammo to expand, which is the fault of globalist politicians in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere who cut the continent off from abundant and affordable energy from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos, stated Morten Brandtzg, Nammos chief executive.

(Related: Last fall, Goldman Sachs warned that the energy crisis in Europe is causing the continent to be de-industrialized.)

Is Chinese-owned TikTok deliberately expanding data centers near European defense assets to deprive them of scarce energy resources?

Ever since the war broke out in Ukraine, demand for ammunition across Europe has surged. Right now, about 6,000 rounds per day, the equivalent of the entire annual order from a small European country, are being produced, but Nammo would like to see that number increase to 65,000 rounds per day to meet demand.

This is impossible, though, because TikToks new data center is taking preference and hogging all the available energy. The kiddos and their smartphone addictions apparently take preference over national defense.

Brandtzg says demand for artillery rounds is 15 times higher than normal right now. The European ammunition industry needs to invest 2bn in new factories alone just to keep up with demand from Ukraine, let alone other European countries.

We see an extraordinary demand for our products which we have never seen before in our history, Brandtzg said about the issue.

TikTok is building not just the new data center in question but also two others this year. The company also has the option to build two more data centers by 2025 in Hamar, located 25 kilometers to the east of Raufoss, said Green Mountain, TikToks Norwegian data center provider.

When asked if he thinks it is a coincidence that a Chinese-owned company is stopping a defense companys expansion, Brandtzg responded that he will not rule out that its not by pure coincidence that this activity is close to a defense company.

I cant rule it out, he added.

Local energy provider Elvia confirmed to the media that the electricity network in Norway has no spare capacity after promising TikTok that it had preference for its data centers.

If Nammo orders capacity, depending on how much it needs, it will take time before there is available capacity as the transmission network needs to be strengthened, Elvia said.

Once-plentiful and inexpensive electricity resources made Norway and other Nordic countries a destination for data centers like those now being built by TikTok. Their colder climate also helped to keep cooling costs down.

All of that has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine, though. Now, there is not enough electricity to go around, and these nations defense operations are suffering as a result.

It will be a big fight, said one industrialist from northern Sweden about the conflict between public and private energy needs. Do we want green steel or data centers for Facebook?

For Europe, this is a major concern for industry: critical industry must have access to energy, added Brandtzg. I dont think its a one-off. I think its a trend for the future.

The latest news about the European energy crisis can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

FT.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) I believe that Trumps indictment by power-crazed Democrats is yet another necessary step for the trial by fire that will see America rise up against tyranny, censorship, election rigging and the demonic infestation of the Left that has produced child grooming, transgenderism, trans terrorism and widespread psychological trauma.

The world needed to see the insanity of the Democrats as they not only rigged the election against Trump (and America) but are even now trying to put him behind bars just as Democrats themselves are never prosecuted for serious crimes, including bribery, human trafficking and treason.

As youll hear today in my Brighteon Broadcast News episode (below), I also believe that Trump himself needs to make it through this trial by fire to achieve a personal transformation.

Trump has been tone deaf to the systematic oppression and targeting of his own supporters

In my opinion, Trump has been too self-centered and tone deaf to the systematic oppression of his own supporters. For years into his first administration, Trump seemed to be wholly unaware that his own supporters were being censored, deplatformed and de-monetized across nearly all tech platforms. Even today, Trump still does not understand that his Operation Warp Speed has resulted in the killing and maiming of millions of innocent Americans. Some of those victims followed Trumps vaccine advice to their own demise.

For Trump to be the leader that America needs, he must be willing to be nailed to the cross (so to speak) and show that he is willing to put his own neck on the line to take a stand for America. Trump must also learn to reject the establishment traitors and deep state goons that characterized his first administration. Perhaps now, with this indictment, Donald J. Trump will finally come to experience what the rest of us have been going through for the last 7-8 years, and Trump himself will suffer just enough to realize that this is about much more than Trump himself: Its about whether America can throw off the shackles of authoritarianism and restore its constitutional republic glory.

To restore America, Trump must wholly reject the establishment and must call for the complete dismantling of the deep state and all its institutions, including the FBI, DOJ, FDA, CDC, DHS and more. They are all corrupt beyond repair and weaponized against the American people.

I think Trumps arrest and prosecution may actually be the wake up call that Trump needs to finally get serious about draining the swamp and using executive power to arrest and imprison the traitors, operatives and treasonous actors who have declared war on this nation.

This may be Gods plan, yet only Trump himself can decide if he will undergo the Heros Journey transformation necessary to become the revolutionary leader that America needs.

In effect, Trump must transcend Trump if he is to be a true leader for Americas restoration. (George Washington transcended Washington, by the way, and became a servant of God to achieve Gods plan for America as a Christian-founded nation).

Personally, I will not vote for Donald Trump the man. I will vote only for Donald Trump as a servant of Gods plan for America. It is up to Trump himself to decide which Trump he wants to be.

Get full details in todays Brighteon Broadcast News video below:

Brighteon: Brighteon.com/363a5136-02d3-454c-be33-cc51052a2c9c

Rumble: Rumble.com/v2fn1x6-bbn-mar-31-2023-trump-indictment-is-gods-plan-to-transform-america.html

Banned.Video: Banned.video/watch?id=6426f7c2551f0f61f7b88f06

iTunes podcast: Healthrangerreport.com/brighteon-broadcast-news-mar-31-2023-trump-indictment-is-gods-plan-to-transform-america-through-trial-by-fire

Catch more news about Donald J. Trump at Trump.news

Discover more interviews and podcasts each day at:

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(Natural News) Despite public statements in support of free speech, censorship on Twitter has surprisingly increased since billionaire Elon Musk purchased the platform according to data from MRC Free Speech Americas CensorTrack.org database. MRC Free Speech America found that Twitter censorship has been on the rise under Musks leadership in comparison to the old regime. Musk once tweeted that he saw Twitter as the de facto town square and wrote that failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. It appears that a lot of work needs to be done to achieve Musks vision.

(Article by Joseph Vazquez republished from NewsBusters.org)

Here are MRC Free Speech Americas findings:

Twitter censorship has been on the rise under Elon Musk. MRC Free Speech America found 293 cases of documented censorship since Musk took control of the platform and began terminating the previous regimes employees from Nov. 4, 2022 through Mar. 4, 2023. Thats 67 more than the 226 documented cases in CensorTrack.org from the old regime during the same time period a year prior (Nov. 4, 2021  Mar. 4, 2022).

MRC Free Speech America found 293 cases of documented censorship since Musk took control of the platform and began terminating the previous regimes employees from Nov. 4, 2022 through Mar. 4, 2023. Thats 67 more than the 226 documented cases in CensorTrack.org from the old regime during the same time period a year prior (Nov. 4, 2021  Mar. 4, 2022). The severity of the censorship since Musk took over has been harsher. In 245 of the 293 (84%) documented cases of censorship on CensorTrack.org, Twitter locked users accounts, and in nearly all cases users were required to delete the content to regain access to their accounts. Under the old Twitter regime, by contrast, only 136 of the 226 (60%) documented cases of censorship consisted of locked accounts.

In 245 of the 293 (84%) documented cases of censorship on CensorTrack.org, Twitter locked users accounts, and in nearly all cases users were required to delete the content to regain access to their accounts. Under the old Twitter regime, by contrast, only 136 of the 226 (60%) documented cases of censorship consisted of locked accounts. The previous Twitter regime targeted the biggest, most politically sensitive user accounts . However, Musks moves that led to the firing and resignation of key leaders in the elitist team in charge of the effort to target high follower accounts has not resulted in a reduction of censorship practices by the remaining rank-and-file staff involved in content moderation. The implication? The remaining staff at Twitter are revolting against Musks efforts to foster a free speech environment on the platform. Some high-profile users censored under the old regime during the analyzed period included Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), conservative radio host Dan Bongino, Just the News founder John Solomon, and the American Heart Association.

. However, Musks moves that led to the firing and resignation of key leaders in the elitist team in charge of the effort to target high follower accounts has not resulted in a reduction of censorship practices by the remaining rank-and-file staff involved in content moderation. The implication? The remaining staff at Twitter are revolting against Musks efforts to foster a free speech environment on the platform. Some high-profile users censored under the old regime during the analyzed period included Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), conservative radio host Dan Bongino, Just the News founder John Solomon, and the American Heart Association. Sixty-two percent of documented cases of censorship during Musks leadership involved tweets critical of the lefts transgender narrative. At least 182 of the 293 (62%) documented cases of censorship recorded in the CensorTrack.org database for Twitter under Musk involved users being censored for speech critical of the lefts woke transgender narrative. Twitters censorship on this issue stands in stark contrast to the theorized pretext for Musk launching his $44 billion bid to acquire the platform. The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon shared in a tweet that Musk reached out to us before he polled his followers about Twitters commitment to free speech. He wanted to confirm that we had, in fact, been suspended. He even mused on the call that he might need to buy Twitter. Now hes the largest shareholder and has a seat on the board. The Babylon Bee was banned under the previous regime for a humorous tweet declaring transgender Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine its Man of the Year in 2022.

At least 182 of the 293 (62%) documented cases of censorship recorded in the CensorTrack.org database for Twitter under Musk involved users being censored for speech critical of the lefts woke transgender narrative. Twitters censorship on this issue stands in stark contrast to the theorized pretext for Musk launching his $44 billion bid to acquire the platform.

STUDY: Twitter Censorship Shockingly on Rise After Elon Musk Takeover

Twitter owner Elon Musk sent an email to staff stating that the value of the Big Tech platform was worth $20 billion, which is just around half of the amount he paid for it. But Twitter 2.0s value as the new free speech haven also ended up plunging like a bad stock market bet. A new MRC Free Speech America study using CensorTrack.org data shows that censorship on Twitter 2.0 has surprisingly gotten worse.

MRC Free Speech America staff tallied the number of logged Twitter censorship entries between Nov. 4, 2022  around the time Musk began mass layoffs of leftist employees held over from the old regime  and Mar. 4, 2023. Also tallied was the total number of logged Twitter censorship cases from the same time period beginning the prior year: Nov. 4, 2021 to Mar. 4, 2022. The results were revealing. MRC Free Speech America tallied 293 logged censorship cases under Musks time as owner, which is 67 cases more than the 226 entries tallied from the old regime. Twitter has to do better if Twitter 2.0 is to be the digital town square and free speech haven owner Musk has said it should be.

The severity of the censorship since Musk took over has been harsher. In 245 of the 293 (84%) documented cases of censorship on CensorTrack.org, Twitter locked users accounts, and in nearly all cases users were required to delete the content to regain access to their accounts. Under the old Twitter regime, by contrast, only 136 of the 226 (60%) documented cases of censorship consisted of locked accounts.

Self-described conservative Christian rapper Bryson Grays account was suspended Dec. 11, 2022, for allegedly violating [its] rules against hateful conduct, according to screenshots tweeted by online streamer Ethan Ralph. Gray reportedly told Blaze Media that he thought his account was permanently suspended for calling Elton John gay. I think I got banned because I called Elton John gay, which would be weird for obvious reasons, Gray said. Twitter reinstated Grays account by December 13.

Live Action President Lila Rose was suspended from Twitter March 2023 without explanation. Live Action tweeted at the time: Breaking: Our president @LilaGraceRoses account has just been suspended & apparently deleted without explanation or notification. Whats going on @TwitterSupport @Twitter? It is unclear what prompted the suspension. Twitter restored the account the following day. Rose said she received an email from Twitter saying the platform had unsuspended the account as it does not appear to be in violation of the Twitter rules.' Twitter did not respond to MRC Free Speech Americas request for comment by the time the CensorTrack.org entry was logged.

Musks Twitter locked Twitter account @thebradfordfile on Dec. 22, 2022 without providing a specific reason for the censorship, according to a purported screenshot. Twitter claimed that the account violated Twitters Rules. It is unclear how the account violated Twitters policies. The platform locked the account for 12 hours.

Additionally, the uptick in documented censorship cases under Musk is more heavily weighted toward accounts with fewer followers compared to the the previous Twitter regime The Twitter Files unveiled the platforms censorship cabal  the Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support (SIP-PES) team  that included former Twitter General Counsel Vijaya Gadde, ex-Global Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth and former Twitter CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal. This cabal was where the the biggest, most politically sensitive decisions got made, said Twitter Files journalist Bari Weiss. Musk fired both Agrawal and Gadde. Roth, whose role at Twitter served as the epicenter of Twitters decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop bombshell prior to the 2020 election, later resigned. Dorsey stepped down from his role as CEO in November 2021.

While the departure of Roth, Gadde, Agrawal and Dorsey appears to have helped Musk reduce the censorship of larger accounts, some believe that the censorship culture they fomented in the elitist SIP-PES has only grown stronger among the rank-and-file Twitter staff who are still moderating user content.

Based on our analysis it is clear that there is an internal revolt going on among the woke staff at Twitter. Im sure they dont like that their new boss has dissolved the high-level censorship team, but Musks actions appear to have motivated the remaining staff to be even more aggressive toward regular conservatives on the platform. They are undercutting Musks plan to foster a free speech environment on the platform, MRC Vice President for Free Speech Dan Schneider said. Musk has a good history of fixing problems that are brought to his attention. But it is clear that the censorship police are still on the beat at Twitter. Musk still has a lot more housekeeping ahead of him.

Some high-profile users censored under the old regime during the analyzed period included Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), conservative radio host Dan Bongino and Just the News founder John Solomon.

Johnson was censored by Twitter Jan. 3, 2022 for tweeting graphics comparing the recorded cases of adverse reactions between COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine. Twitter slapped a sharing restriction on Johnsons tweet, which harmed his 290,300 followers at the time by preventing them from liking, commenting or retweeting it. Twitter only allowed users to quote-tweet Johnson. Twitter, in effect, prevented an elected official from being able to communicate freely with the public.

Bongino found himself on the receiving end of Twitter censors Jan. 28, 2022 when the platform suppressed searches for his verified account. Users who searched Bonginos name or Twitter handle using the platforms Explore feature were not able to find his verified account in the search results. This act harmed Bonginos 2,400,000 followers at the time by preventing them from being able to easily access his viewpoints on important policy issues.

Twitter suspended Solomon for daring to commit journalism on Dec. 29, 2021. Just the News released a statement Dec. 28 noting that Solomon was suspended from the leftist Big Tech platform for sharing an article about the legal distinctions between Pfizers fully approved and emergency use authorization (EUA) COVID-19 vaccines. The distinction could affect the legality of vaccine mandates. Twitter slapped the article Solomon attempted to share with a Warning: this link may be unsafe label and propagandized that it could lead to real-world harm. Solomon also slammed Twitter for the censorship: It is outrageous and unfair that a story that is completely accurate and points out an important legal distinction between the two versions of vaccines gets blocked and my account suspended. Twitters actions constituted harm to Solomons 876,000 followers at the time by preventing them from seeing journalism that doesnt comport with the government and Big Pharma narratives.

But the comparison between Twitter 2.0 and the old Twitter regime gets even more strange when considering the kind of content that was censored under Musk.

Sixty-two percent of documented cases of censorship during Musks leadership involved tweets critical of the lefts transgender narrative. At least 182 of the 293 (62%) documented cases of censorship on the platform under Musk involved users being censored for speech critical of woke transgenderism. The total number of documented censorship cases dealing with transgenderism under Twitters old regime amounted to just 24.

This doesnt appear consistent with the theorized pretext for why Musk bought Twitter in the first place.

Musk launched his $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter after satire site The Babylon Bee was banned March 20 for a humorous tweet declaring transgender Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine its Man of the Year in 2022. Apparently, Twitter 2.0 hasnt done much to rectify this problem. Since this censorship case occurred outside of the analyzed time period for MRCs CensorTrack study for the old Twitter regime (Nov. 4, 2021  March 4, 2022), The Babylon Bees Man of the Year censorship was not included in the overall tally. In addition, the MRC and other users like Federalist CEO Sean Davis and The Daily Wire podcast host Michael Knowles were recently locked out of their accounts for reporting on the infamous Trans Day of Vengeance protest organized by Our Rights DC set to happen between March 31 and April 2. Since these cases of censorship occurred outside of the analyzed period, they also were excluded from MRC Free Speech Americas tally.

In one particular censorship case involving criticism of transgenderism during the analyzed period of Musks leadership, a user tweeted: Man and woman are defined by biology. XY sex chromosomes = man. XX sex chromosomes = woman. Transgender is a mental disorder known as gender dysphoria. It should be treated by a psychiatrist, not a surgeon. Twitter claimed this violated its rules against hateful conduct. The users account was locked until he deleted the tweet.

Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) ran afoul of Twitters rules under Musk. On Jan. 2, 2023, Greene tweeted about legislation she proposed before Congress regarding the medical transition of children. Greene stated in her tweet: Congress must pass my bill, the Protect Childrens Innocence Act to stop the medical expiration and genital mutilation of children. Kids who arent old enough to vote, get a tattoo, or buy alcohol & tobacco shouldnt be manipulated into permanently disfiguring their bodies. The tweet was a quote tweet of a tweet by the account known as Billboard Chris. Billboard Chris had tweeted at the time: Heres what boys at @BostonChildrens can expect before inverting their penis into a neovagina which will need to be dilated for the rest of their life.

Twitter placed a sensitive content filter over Greenes tweet. When viewed on the desktop version, only the Billboard Chris tweet was covered, and users could click to view what Twitter hid under the interstitial. However, when viewed on the Twitter app, Greenes entire tweet was also covered by the interstitial and users were unable to click to view the tweet.

Since Musk has acquired the platform, however, he has done the world a great service through his transparency on The Twitter Files. The Twitter Files exposed the extent to which the federal government appeared to collude with Twitter through the backdoor to censor objectionable speech under the old regime, which Americans would probably never have been made aware of had it not been for Musks $44 billion bid. Musk has even gone as far as to unsuspend numerous formerly banned Twitter accounts, such as the account of former President Donald Trump. What the CensorTrack data show is that Musk certainly has his work cut out for him if Twitter is going to be the haven for free speech online he says it should be.

Musk has put a lot on the line to open things up so theres more freedom to speak on Twitter, said The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. Hes also personally involved himself in the restoration of a large number of conservative accounts that were suspended without justification, including ours. And Ive seen him move quickly to resolve mistakes that have been made since he took over. So I think its clear hes actively working on the problem and the goal  the reason he bought Twitter in the first place  is still in view.

The Babylon Bee is a member of the Free Speech Alliance led by the Media Research Center.

Read more at: NewsBusters.org
(Natural News) Now that the world is waking up to the dangers and uselessness of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) is backing off in trying to push them, at least on children and teenagers.

New guidance posted on the WHO website states that young people likely do not need to get jabbed. This decision was made by WHOs Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, also known as SAGE, which touted it as a revised roadmap for the future of covid shots.

There are now three priority groups for the jabs  high, medium, and low  that are based on the risk of severe disease and death when testing positive for the alleged virus. Children and teens are low-priority because they are considered to be low-risk for covid sickness or death.

The WHO made sure to emphasize that it still believes that young people should get traditional essential vaccines for things like rotavirus, measles, polio, and pneumococcal conjugate, which the United Nations body says will have a greater impact.

(Related: In order to get covid jabs approved for young people, the FDA had to use a critically flawed risk-benefit analysis based on pseudoscience.)

WHO still wants babies, elderly to take covid injections and boosters

As for covid booster shots, the WHO is advising that only elderly people take these as well.

Updated to reflect that much of the population is either vaccinated or previously infected with Covid-19, or both, the revised roadmap reemphasizes the importance of vaccinating those still at-risk of severe disease, mostly older adults and those with underlying conditions, including with additional boosters, said SAGE Chair Dr. Hanna Nohynek in a WHO press release posted to the agencys website.

Countries should consider their specific context in deciding whether to continue vaccinating low-risk groups, like healthy children and adolescents, while not compromising the routine vaccines that are so crucial for the health and well-being of this age group.

Countries must consider factors such as disease burden, cost-effectiveness, and other health or programmatic priorities and opportunity costs when making decisions about how to respond to this new guidance, the WHO added.

Children and teenagers with compromised immune systems or preexisting health conditions are still advised by the WHO to get covid jabbed. Additionally, the WHO wants infants under the age of six months to get jabbed as well due to the burden of severe Covid-19 effects, to quote Fox News.

Another group the WHO is still targeting is pregnant women, whom it claims have a high risk of catching covid and thus can still benefit from getting injected according to the recommended course.

Marc Siegel, a clinical professor medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a routine pro-pharma shill on Fox appeared on the network to tell viewers that just because the WHO decided to put children and teens into the low-priority category does not mean that parents should not still inject them just because.

This change in prioritization is not the same thing as saying that they shouldnt have the covid vaccines, Siegel stated in desperation. The question that has emerged recently is: how many covid shots is enough?

Siegel did at least acknowledge that many young people already have natural immunity and are thus protected from covid and any other type of cold virus belonging to the coronavirus family.

Natural immunity following infection must be included in counting immune protection, as well as the amount of covid still around, he clarified, adding that he still believes covid shots to be a valuable tool in warding off so-called long covid.

Want to learn more about the dangers and ineffectiveness of Fauci Flu shots? You can do so at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

FoxNews.com

NaturalNews.com
They are small, have a high reproductive output, and live in Madagascar's forests. Offspring are born during the 5-month rainy season, and a fat pad forms to aid them to sustain the relatively cool season when there is little food.

But what if the rainy season gets drier and the dry season gets hotter? Because of their high reproductive output, mouse lemurs may be able to adapt to climate change.

Researchers from the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research examined long-term data from Madagascar and discovered that climate change is destabilizing mouse lemur populations and increasing their risk of extinction.

Identifying trends with long-term data

Climate change effects have primarily been studied in large, long-lived species with low reproductive output, as per ScienceDaily.

Small mammals with high reproductive rates adapt well to changing environmental conditions, so they have received little attention in the context of climate change.

Claudia Fichtel and Peter Kappeler of the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ) have been studying lemurs on Madagascar for many years, amassing a unique data set that will help fill this knowledge gap.

Peter Kappeler and Claudia Fichtel researched the demographic composition of a mouse lemur population at Madagascar's DPZ research station from 1994 to 2020.

Climate data from the same time period show that the rainy season in this region became drier and the dry season became warmer.

They analyzed the data with colleagues from the University of Zurich and discovered rising mortality as well as rising reproductive rates. According to Claudia Fichtel, these opposing trends have kept the mouse lemur population from collapsing, but have resulted in population destabilization as the animals' already quick life cycle has been accelerated.

Also Read: Tuberculosis Outbreak at Madagascar Zoo Has Killed Endangered Species Including Lemurs

The risk of extinction is increasing.

Climate change-induced population fluctuations constitute an existential danger to the animals and may lead to extinction.

Kappeler's findings show that even an animal species that is thought to be easily adaptable to changing environmental conditions due to a high reproductive rate is threatened by climate change

This is bad news because lemurs, which only exist in Madagascar, are the world's most endangered mammals.

Claudia Fichtel believes that in the future, data on a population's demographic stabilisation should be included when categorizing the danger of the disappearance of an animal species.

Climate change threatens vital biodiversity

Rising temperatures have an impact on vegetation, food sources, and access to water, among other things, as per IFAW.

Certain animals may be forced to migrate outside of their usual patterns in search of food and livable conditions, while others may perish.

People are already seeing a five-fold increase in climate and weather-related natural disasters such as droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes, compared to 50 years ago. People, pets, and wildlife suffer catastrophic losses as a result of these disasters.

Climate change exacerbates human-wildlife conflict by causing habitat loss and extreme weather events, forcing people and wildlife to share increasingly crowded spaces.

People and wildlife are traveling further in search of food, water, and resources as ecosystems change.

Related article: Humans Did Not Entirely Hunt Giant Lemurs Into Extinction
Illinois has once again been hit by unrelenting severe weather, this time posing risks of two times as many storms, high risk of tornadoes, hail, and damaging winds.

On Friday afternoon and into the evening, severe weather is expected to move into the Chicago area, potentially bringing the possibility of tornadoes.

Double Dose Storms, High Risk of Tornadoes

Friday could see two rounds of storms, the first from 2 to 6 PM and the second storm, pouring down from 6 to 11 PM.

According to AccuWeather, there is a high risk of tornadoes, torrential downpours, hail, and damaging winds reaching as much as 70 mph to 80 mph in the Chicago area. The National Weather Service warned that the threat from severe weather includes damaging winds, tornadoes, and damaging hail. The service added that this is a significant, albeit relatively rare, severe weather threat for the region.

The weather service suggested having several options for receiving weather alerts, including a wake-up call option.

Damaging Hail, Damaging Winds

In particular, during round one of the storms, damaging hail and winds that move at speeds greater than 75 mph are possible. The weather service warned that the hail could dent siding and automobiles.

The private forecaster AccuWeather said storms could bring hail, damaging wind gusts, flooding downpours, and an isolated tornado to Joliet on Friday. Unsecured objects might be blown around by strong winds. There may be a few power outages and tree limbs that are blown down.

AccuWeather forecasted a rapid development of thunderstorms that would threaten a large portion of the nation, including St. Louis, Chicago, Little Rock, and Indianapolis.

According to the weather service, the region will also experience non-thunderstorm winds at 45 mph after storms leave the area, mostly close to and to the south of Interstate 80, Patch reports.

Multiple Weather Alerts Illinois

From the National Weather Service data, Illinois is under a long list of multiple weather alerts. This includes a Tornado Watch, multiple Flood Warnings, as well as multiple Wind Advisories.

The Tornado Watches, which will all end by 8 PM tonight is effective over 56 counties of Illinois.

Some of the Wind Advisories are set to last until April 2, while some of the Flood Warnings won't expire until the 10th.

Also Read: Severe Weather Outbreak Widespread in 20 States, Multiple Tornadoes Possible

Chicago Weather

In Chicago, two weather alerts are in effect.

A Gale Warning is in effect until 7 PM Saturday in the affected area, which is Winthrop Harbor to Calumet Harbor. Strong winds will produce dangerous waves that could capsize or damage vessels in addition to visibility, according to weather officials. Thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon and this evening in the aforementioned area, which could bring about locally stronger winds as well as higher waves.

A Small Craft Advisory is in effect until 10 PM tonight in the same area. The service advises mariners to change their plans to avoid these dangerous circumstances, as well as to stay in port and look for a safe harbor. Changing courses is also an option, as well as preparing the ship for rough seas. South winds to 30 kt and significant waves to 5 ft, The Weather Channel reports.

Related Article: Weather Forecast: Severe Weather Risks From Cold Front Expected in Southern Wisconsin, Tornadoes Possible
The weather forecasts reported that challenging winds are forecast to unleash in parts of the United Kingdom this week, causing possible slower commutes and travel disruptions.

The early beginning of March had heavy snow and freezing rain unloaded in parts of the United Kingdom.

As the last stretch of the winter season comes, winter storms and heavy snow could still become the main concern for motorists and homeowners.

Challenging winds in the UK

In the latest weather forecast, The Daily Mirror UK explained that problematic winds could likely emerge this week in parts of the Southern United Kingdom.

According to the report, Met Office said a low pressure could help bring southerly winds in the southern UK, especially in Devon and Hastings.

Motorists and homeowners traveling this week should consider the weather before leaving, as the strong winds could become troublesome.

The report noted that 50 to 60 mph could likely impact.

Moreover, the Met Office's latest forecast said rainy conditions could continue in parts of England this week.

The weather forecast said rain could unload in Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland and Wales.

People traveling outside should bring an umbrella or raincoat protection to avoid the hassle of rainy conditions.

Meanwhile, the forecast said that eastern England could experience light rain conditions. In contrast, parts of western Scotland could notice a chilly weather outlook.

On the weekend, the forecast said rain could also unfold in the South as heavy rain showers persist in southwest England.

From Sunday to Tuesday, the weather forecast said that patchy rain could start to fade on Sunday.

Next week, the forecast noted the possibility of cloudy to rainy conditions, especially in the west. Based on the April 5 to April 14 forecasts, the report showed that light winds are expected to unfold.

Britons could also feel above-average temperatures next week.

Weather forecasts in Canada and US

In the United States, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported that heavy snow reaching 7 to 14 inches could unload in Northern Wisconsin this weekend.

Also Read: US Weather Forecast: Severe Weather Conditions Likely to Emerge Dallas to Chicago This Week

The weather advisory warned of difficult to dangerous travel conditions, resulting in snow-covered roads, slippery travel, poor road visibility and blizzard-like conditions.

In addition, the weather agency is also monitoring the possibility of tornadoes and large hail in parts of the United States, especially in Northeastern Missouri, Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.

The forecast warned of the severe weather risk that could impact Central and Eastern Texas and Southeastern Arkansas.

People in the affected areas should stay alert to the weather conditions, especially isolated tornadoes.

According to the report, about 28 million people were on tornado watch due to the severe weather threat.

Tornado outbreaks could result in life-threatening situations. Motorists with travel plans should consider the weather conditions to avoid possible travel hazards.

Meanwhile, homeowners should keep emergency kits at home as the severe weather threat could result in dangerous travel and power outages.

Related Article: UK Weather Forecast: High Winds, Heavy Rain Expected to Unfold This Week

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
The Youth Global Commutation Forum with the theme Global Communication, Youth Empowerment was held at Tsinghua University in Beijing on March 31, 2023. Nearly 100 experts from different government departments, colleges, and organizations gathered at Tsinghua University to share experiences on how to improve global communication and engage in discussions on how to better promote global communication among Generation Z (Gen Z) members around the world.

Attendees of the Youth Global Commutation Forum at Tsinghua University. (Photo provided by Tsinghua University)

Gen Z makes up 80% of global Netizens, according to Zeng Qingkai, Editor-in-chief of China Daily 21st Century English Education Media. The enormous online presence makes Gen Z an important group to reach out to, in order to bridge communication gaps among different countries and cultures. Compared to the previous generations, Gen Z is also more open-minded and inclusive, making them easier audiences of different ideas and stories.

Zeng Qingkai, Editor-in-chief of China Daily 21st Century English Education Media. (Photo provided by Tsinghua University)

Following the discussion on global communication and Gen Z, experts from Tianjin University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, the University of International Business and Economics, Peking University (PKU), and Tsinghua University presented the works the schools have done to reach out to global audiences and their achievements over the years. Luo Ling, Deputy Director of Media Convergence Center from Peking University shared the formula PKU developed to tell the China story, and Chen Ken, Director of Global Communication Center from Tsinghua University shared a model established by Tsinghua to promote global communication.

Luo Ling, Deputy Director of Media Convergence Center, Peking University. (Photo provided by Tsinghua University)

Chen Ken, Director of Global Communication Center, Tsinghua University. (Photo provided by Tsinghua University)

Five GenZ leaders respectively from Russia, Belarus, India, the U.S., and China shared their experiences in promoting global communication, their understanding of global communication, and their ideas on how to better tell the China story to the world. Temelidi Yulia from Russia finds that posts on Instagram and TikTok can often reach a larger audience than a written media piece. Ekaterina Kaligaeva emphasized the importance of coming to China to see what the real China is like, and Indian reporter Shamim Zakaria stressed the significance of global communication as dialogue is very important to share different opinions.

Photo of Gen Z leaders engaging in discussion. From left to right: Huang Ernuo (host), Temelidi Yulia, Shamim Zakaria, Ekaterina Kaligaeva, Peter Joseph Scheuer Jr. (Tom), and Ge Qing. (Photo provided by Tsinghua University)

The forum wrapped up with a talk by Professor Shi Anbin of Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication, who summarized the four digital platforms which have become key channels of transcultural communication with global Gen Z: short videos, internet literature, online gaming, and e-commerce. These platforms have caught the attention of global Gen Z members, and shown the aspects of Chinese culture that appeal to them . Practitioners of global communication need to better use these platforms for cultural communication and develop similar mediums to attract more Gen Z members.

Professor Shi Anbin, Tsinghua University. (Photo provided by Tsinghua University)

Telling a good China story and showing a real, three-dimensional, and comprehensive China have been important tasks to strengthen Chinas global communication. Nowadays, the discourse and practice of global communication are being focused on a younger generation, as members of Gen Z have a broader international perspective and have become a new force in international communication and public diplomacy. The Youth Global Commutation Forum discussed how to carry out communication work for Gen Z, and how to bring into play the new role of Gen Z in international communication. These are key concepts to Chinas global development and a central approach for China to engage with the rest of the world.

Editor: JYZ
Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki has announced the purchase by Ukraine of 100 Polish-made armored personnel carriers Rosomak (Wolverine) at the expense of funds from the European Union and the United States.

"The Ukrainian army will buy from us 100 Rosomaks, which are manufactured in Siemianowice-Slaskie. Rosomak are top-class armored personnel carriers. Payment for this purchase will be made from the funds of the EU and the U.S.," Morawiecki tweeted on Saturday.

Rosomak is a licensed copy of the Finnish armored personnel carrier Patria, developed in 2001.It was used in the war in Afghanistan. In total, 670 such armored personnel carriers have been produced so far.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court came to the rescue of a BSc student who was externed from Jamkhandi to Sedam taluk on the ground that there is reasonable apprehension that he would engage in the commission of an offence. In response to a plea filed by the student, Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum stayed the order passed by the assistant commissioner for two weeks, to enable him to appear for the examinations which conclude on April 8, 2023.

The court said the petitioner shall give an undertaking before the assistant commissioner, that he will not indulge in any such activities. The 20-year-old student from Bilagi taluk of Bagalkot had district moved the court, questioning the order.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court came to the rescue of a BSc student who was externed from Jamkhandi to Sedam taluk on the ground that there is reasonable apprehension that he would engage in the commission of an offence. In response to a plea filed by the student, Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum stayed the order passed by the assistant commissioner for two weeks, to enable him to appear for the examinations which conclude on April 8, 2023. The court said the petitioner shall give an undertaking before the assistant commissioner, that he will not indulge in any such activities. The 20-year-old student from Bilagi taluk of Bagalkot had district moved the court, questioning the order.
Toby Antony By

Express News Service

KOCHI: The report filed by Kochi City Police Commissioner K Sethu Raman to Kerala Chief Secretary on the Brahmapuram incident hints at the sub-surface fire as the likely reason for the rapid spread of fire at the waste treatment plant on March 2, which took over ten days to douse.

The report also blamed the dumping of solid waste in the yard for the frequent fires at the plant. The report elaborates on two kinds of fire  surface fire and sub-surface fire. Surface fire, as the name suggests, occurs mostly on the landfills top surface and occurs during refuse burning at a low temperature, emitting dense white smoke and products of partial burning.

Sub-surface fires, on the other hand, are complex and occur below the surface, producing carbon monoxide and products of incomplete combustion, such as dioxins and furans. According to the report, the fire that occurred on March 2 has the characteristics of a sub-surface fire.The fire started from sector 2 of legacy waste that is more than 10-13 years old.

The CCTV visuals obtained from the land reveal that the spread of the fire was extremely rapid. It began by 3.58 pm, and by 4.03 pm, it engulfed the whole area. Within five minutes, it spread like a big fire, with black smoke billowing out from it. Given the age of the waste and the gases emitted after the fire, it is likely that sub-surface fire and hotspots and prevalent throughout the dump yard, the report read.

Probe to discern cause of fire continues

As part of the probe to discern the exact cause of the fire, Kochi police interviewed 50 persons, including 48 who were present at the plant on March 2, the day the fire started. Call data records of 25 persons were collected, and the mobile phones of 20 were seized for analysis. The report claims that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

So far, no conclusive evidence is available regarding the cause of the fire. CCTV visuals of six cameras could not indicate any evidence of arson or sabotage. Several persons have disclosed that they have seen random fires at the plant, which are normally put down by them. Only major fire incidents are reported to Fire and Rescue Services, the report read.

Natural causes of fire not ruled out

The report also elaborates on the possible natural causes of the fire. A ten-member team of experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory collected evidence from the plant, and results are awaiting. The surface temperature was measured by Enviro Design Eco Lab, Palarivattom, on March 23. When the atmospheric temperature was 36 degrees Celsius, the surface temperature at a depth of 60cm of the legacy waste was 48 degrees Celsius.

ALSO READ | Authorities sat on many proposals to prevent fire at Brahmapuram dumpyard

The waste is dumped up to the height of 10m, and the temperature at the level of five meters and below is likely to be extremely high. The waste dumping yard contains un-segregated legacy waste with highly inflammable items such as batteries, perfume bottles, medicine cans, beverage papers, wood and several inflammable materials. The legacy waste is completely covered by long dry grass peculiar to the area, and likely that friction of long dry grasses may cause a fire. Methane and other gases emanating from the yard and the depth of legacy waste are also likely to stroke fire, the report read.

ALSO READ | Kerala state FSL report also points to the sub-surface nature of fire

The report also referred to fire occurrences frequent at waste management facilities across the globe.

KOCHI: The report filed by Kochi City Police Commissioner K Sethu Raman to Kerala Chief Secretary on the Brahmapuram incident hints at the sub-surface fire as the likely reason for the rapid spread of fire at the waste treatment plant on March 2, which took over ten days to douse. The report also blamed the dumping of solid waste in the yard for the frequent fires at the plant. The report elaborates on two kinds of fire  surface fire and sub-surface fire. Surface fire, as the name suggests, occurs mostly on the landfills top surface and occurs during refuse burning at a low temperature, emitting dense white smoke and products of partial burning. Sub-surface fires, on the other hand, are complex and occur below the surface, producing carbon monoxide and products of incomplete combustion, such as dioxins and furans. According to the report, the fire that occurred on March 2 has the characteristics of a sub-surface fire.The fire started from sector 2 of legacy waste that is more than 10-13 years old.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The CCTV visuals obtained from the land reveal that the spread of the fire was extremely rapid. It began by 3.58 pm, and by 4.03 pm, it engulfed the whole area. Within five minutes, it spread like a big fire, with black smoke billowing out from it. Given the age of the waste and the gases emitted after the fire, it is likely that sub-surface fire and hotspots and prevalent throughout the dump yard, the report read. Probe to discern cause of fire continues As part of the probe to discern the exact cause of the fire, Kochi police interviewed 50 persons, including 48 who were present at the plant on March 2, the day the fire started. Call data records of 25 persons were collected, and the mobile phones of 20 were seized for analysis. The report claims that the cause of the fire is still under investigation. So far, no conclusive evidence is available regarding the cause of the fire. CCTV visuals of six cameras could not indicate any evidence of arson or sabotage. Several persons have disclosed that they have seen random fires at the plant, which are normally put down by them. Only major fire incidents are reported to Fire and Rescue Services, the report read. Natural causes of fire not ruled out The report also elaborates on the possible natural causes of the fire. A ten-member team of experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory collected evidence from the plant, and results are awaiting. The surface temperature was measured by Enviro Design Eco Lab, Palarivattom, on March 23. When the atmospheric temperature was 36 degrees Celsius, the surface temperature at a depth of 60cm of the legacy waste was 48 degrees Celsius. ALSO READ | Authorities sat on many proposals to prevent fire at Brahmapuram dumpyard The waste is dumped up to the height of 10m, and the temperature at the level of five meters and below is likely to be extremely high. The waste dumping yard contains un-segregated legacy waste with highly inflammable items such as batteries, perfume bottles, medicine cans, beverage papers, wood and several inflammable materials. The legacy waste is completely covered by long dry grass peculiar to the area, and likely that friction of long dry grasses may cause a fire. Methane and other gases emanating from the yard and the depth of legacy waste are also likely to stroke fire, the report read. ALSO READ | Kerala state FSL report also points to the sub-surface nature of fire The report also referred to fire occurrences frequent at waste management facilities across the globe.
Kartik Bhardwaj By

Express News Service

Bholaa is a crazy film. No, thats not it. Bholaa is a batshit crazy film. Bholaa has two Sikhs, in a jungle, in the middle of the night, doing wheelies on tractors as they try to rein in a truck. Thats more like it. Now, I am all for going berserk. Action sequences dont necessarily have to be plausible. Eject from a car falling off a cliff while you grab your lover mid-air and superhero-land; or unleash some feral animals at a British high officials party. I am game. But an action scene in a film is the payoff, not the narrative. Although Bholaa has some cleverly crafted set pieces, at times it feels like a video game jumping from a boss fight to a boss fight, without any cutscenes.

A remake of the 2019 Tamil film Kaithi, Bholaa takes the logline from the original.A recently-released convict, teams up with an injured cop to transport drugged-out policemen in a truck. Parallelly, there is a deranged gangster is trying to enter a police station and retrieve his drug overhaul. Now, Bholaa takes some creative liberties.

The film opens with a chase sequence during the day, and we get a deservedly heroic introduction of Tabu as IPS Diana Joseph. It is a bang-on start but leaves no scope for any build-up. Bholaa has an incessant urge to give instant gratification to its viewers. Its dialogue resorts to rhyme to seek attention, its action comes like a barrage of bullets, balancing somewhere between being mindless and meticulous and its emotional foundation constantly trembles.

Coming back to heroic introductions, Bholaa has a certain affinity for verbosity. We meet the titular character in jail while he is reading the Bhagavad Gita. As he exits the prison, a prisoner, as if on cue, starts giving a voiceover. The less you know about him, the betterthose who did, didnt survive I guess we know more than enough. In Kaithi, Karthis Dilli has a subtler, more enigmatic introduction in which he sits in a police car, just another guy, picked up because he seemed suspicious. Bholaa impatiently throws everything at the audience to elicit a response.

Although initially enjoyable, the action becomes almost lunatic as the film proceeds. There is a masked biker gang which looks like it was probably on its way to a talent show, there is a CGIed leopard (which, sadly, runs away), a kachcha gang uncharacteristically beefed up, and many moustached men battle-crying with bazookas atop jeeps. Once you know Bholaa is invincible (and if you dont yet Makarand Deshpande will remind you) there is no sense of threat left in the action. The film, however, needs to be applauded for not shying away from the gore. There are close-ups of bones breaking, teeth flying after a slap, and a mans chest being pierced by a fist. Its something novel for a Hindi film but thats it.

Bholaa cant stand any lulls in the narrative, lest you spot its flaws. Kaithi, in its heart, was a story of a father meeting his daughter for the first time. Bholaa weaves its emotional bits around its action and not in its centre. Ajay seems stony in showing sentiment. The scenes involving his daughter fail to provide fuel for the action that ensues. In the approach of being broody, he ends up being one-note. By the time Bholaa has sliced goons with a trident, broken innumerable necks and tattered them with a gatling gun, I am thinking the title Rudra would have been better suited for the film. Oh well.

Director: Ajay Devgn

Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Deepak Dobriyal, Sanjay Mishra

Bholaa is a crazy film. No, thats not it. Bholaa is a batshit crazy film. Bholaa has two Sikhs, in a jungle, in the middle of the night, doing wheelies on tractors as they try to rein in a truck. Thats more like it. Now, I am all for going berserk. Action sequences dont necessarily have to be plausible. Eject from a car falling off a cliff while you grab your lover mid-air and superhero-land; or unleash some feral animals at a British high officials party. I am game. But an action scene in a film is the payoff, not the narrative. Although Bholaa has some cleverly crafted set pieces, at times it feels like a video game jumping from a boss fight to a boss fight, without any cutscenes. A remake of the 2019 Tamil film Kaithi, Bholaa takes the logline from the original.A recently-released convict, teams up with an injured cop to transport drugged-out policemen in a truck. Parallelly, there is a deranged gangster is trying to enter a police station and retrieve his drug overhaul. Now, Bholaa takes some creative liberties. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The film opens with a chase sequence during the day, and we get a deservedly heroic introduction of Tabu as IPS Diana Joseph. It is a bang-on start but leaves no scope for any build-up. Bholaa has an incessant urge to give instant gratification to its viewers. Its dialogue resorts to rhyme to seek attention, its action comes like a barrage of bullets, balancing somewhere between being mindless and meticulous and its emotional foundation constantly trembles. Coming back to heroic introductions, Bholaa has a certain affinity for verbosity. We meet the titular character in jail while he is reading the Bhagavad Gita. As he exits the prison, a prisoner, as if on cue, starts giving a voiceover. The less you know about him, the betterthose who did, didnt survive I guess we know more than enough. In Kaithi, Karthis Dilli has a subtler, more enigmatic introduction in which he sits in a police car, just another guy, picked up because he seemed suspicious. Bholaa impatiently throws everything at the audience to elicit a response. Although initially enjoyable, the action becomes almost lunatic as the film proceeds. There is a masked biker gang which looks like it was probably on its way to a talent show, there is a CGIed leopard (which, sadly, runs away), a kachcha gang uncharacteristically beefed up, and many moustached men battle-crying with bazookas atop jeeps. Once you know Bholaa is invincible (and if you dont yet Makarand Deshpande will remind you) there is no sense of threat left in the action. The film, however, needs to be applauded for not shying away from the gore. There are close-ups of bones breaking, teeth flying after a slap, and a mans chest being pierced by a fist. Its something novel for a Hindi film but thats it. Bholaa cant stand any lulls in the narrative, lest you spot its flaws. Kaithi, in its heart, was a story of a father meeting his daughter for the first time. Bholaa weaves its emotional bits around its action and not in its centre. Ajay seems stony in showing sentiment. The scenes involving his daughter fail to provide fuel for the action that ensues. In the approach of being broody, he ends up being one-note. By the time Bholaa has sliced goons with a trident, broken innumerable necks and tattered them with a gatling gun, I am thinking the title Rudra would have been better suited for the film. Oh well. Director: Ajay Devgn Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Deepak Dobriyal, Sanjay Mishra
Abhilasha Cherukuri By

Express News Service

The coveted pan-India label is used loosely in Indian cinema, and culturally rooted stories that are infused with larger-than-life heroism seem to be the go-to themes for such films. Nanis Dasara had the potential to become the next big pan-Indian film originating from the Telugu states. In fact, it starts off as a compendium of multiple pan-India films. Veerlapalli, the hamlet Dasara is set in is abutted by coal mines and the thick layer of black dust everywhere takes you back to the mines of KGF.

We see Dharani (Nani) make a living with his friends by pilfering coal from moving trains, with his parkour jumps reminiscent of the action choreography in Pushpa. At the heart of Dasara is the jigri dosti of Soori (Dheekshith Shetty) and Dharani and there are no points for guessing which recent successful Telugu film comes to mind when we talk of male friendship.

However, what makes Dasara a film that truly expands the definitions of what passes off as a pan-India film is director Srikanth Odelas unique and rousing voice that ensures the film assuredly dodges comparisons. There are a lot of a-ha, I got you! moments in the film that makes us smile thinking of how quick we were to judge Dasara as just a byproduct of the successes of a KGF/RRR/Pushpa/Kantara, and not as a highly effective, and deeply engrossing mass entertainer that is its own beast.

Alcohol is the primary leitmotif of Dasaras first half, which is used to establish the caste and power dynamics of Veerlapally. We see how the stronghold of Shivanna (a buck-toothed Samuthirakani) shifts to Rajanna (Sai Kumar), creating a ripple effect in the lives of Dharani, Soori, and Vennela (Keerthy Suresh). It is beautiful how Dharani, Soori, and Vennela form a subversive love triangle, which has a refreshing eschewal of jealousy that paves the way for a tender gaze on male vulnerability.

Srikanth Odelas vision finds a perfect match in Nanis acting prowess, as the actor lays his heart bare in scene after scene to heartbreaking effect. This vulnerability is used as a platform from which the film makes giant strides in the second half where the plot steadily burgeons into mythical proportions, which is kickstarted by a bone-chilling interval banger that injects adrenaline into the proceedings and gives Dasara a new sense of urgency.

Dasara, at its core, is the coming-of-age story of Dharani, who suffers a personal tragedy before taking up the cudgels for a righteous fight. Unlike the usual big-ticket revenge sagas, where rage and violence are de rigueur, Dasara actually makes way for a debate on the necessity of violence. Though the film quickly resumes the originally scheduled plan of bloodshed, it was an interesting detour nonetheless. Srikanth shows glimpses of being a filmmaker who wants to reinvent masala cinema, and he starts off by changing the way the genre generally treats its women.

Keerthy Suresh gets a great role, of a woman who goes from being confident and sassy to one coming to grips with a tragedy. Poorna, who plays the role of Chinna Nambis wife is an interesting casting choice as she makes an impact despite her limited presence. But the same cant be said of Shine Tom Chacko, who isnt supported by the writing, which gives him poorly dubbed, expository lines that only make him less scary with every line.

The place where Dasara truly succeeds is in the makers attention to detail. Visuals of hooch and mutton curry, displayed as hallmarks of Telangana culture feature prominently, and the presence of people with dwarfism is a depressing but pertinent detail thrown in to show the congenital issues people living amidst coal mines are susceptible to. It is a world cut from the cloth of reality, of lived experiences and memories finding their way from the script to screen.

However, the film does falter a bit with some creative choices, and the discord between writing and editing. Why should a weapon have the visual of a villain superimposed upon it when the films strength lies in its subtlety and strong emotions?

What truly is the takeaway from Nanis Dasara is the voice of a potentially important filmmaker. The pre-interval action sequence and the portions involving Dharani and Vennelas marriage are resounding proof of Srikanth Odela being the real deal. Of course, there are places where he needs to pick up the slack, especially in the staging of the action sequences among others. But points to Srikanth for developing a core and a narrative that rises above its shortcomings and manages to create a visceral, immersive experience where the sum of the emotions elicited prove to be larger than its moving parts.

Film: Dasara

Director: Srikanth Odela

Cast: Nani, Keerthy Suresh, Dheekshith Shetty, Shine Tom Chacko

Rating: 4/5

The coveted pan-India label is used loosely in Indian cinema, and culturally rooted stories that are infused with larger-than-life heroism seem to be the go-to themes for such films. Nanis Dasara had the potential to become the next big pan-Indian film originating from the Telugu states. In fact, it starts off as a compendium of multiple pan-India films. Veerlapalli, the hamlet Dasara is set in is abutted by coal mines and the thick layer of black dust everywhere takes you back to the mines of KGF. We see Dharani (Nani) make a living with his friends by pilfering coal from moving trains, with his parkour jumps reminiscent of the action choreography in Pushpa. At the heart of Dasara is the jigri dosti of Soori (Dheekshith Shetty) and Dharani and there are no points for guessing which recent successful Telugu film comes to mind when we talk of male friendship. However, what makes Dasara a film that truly expands the definitions of what passes off as a pan-India film is director Srikanth Odelas unique and rousing voice that ensures the film assuredly dodges comparisons. There are a lot of a-ha, I got you! moments in the film that makes us smile thinking of how quick we were to judge Dasara as just a byproduct of the successes of a KGF/RRR/Pushpa/Kantara, and not as a highly effective, and deeply engrossing mass entertainer that is its own beast.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Alcohol is the primary leitmotif of Dasaras first half, which is used to establish the caste and power dynamics of Veerlapally. We see how the stronghold of Shivanna (a buck-toothed Samuthirakani) shifts to Rajanna (Sai Kumar), creating a ripple effect in the lives of Dharani, Soori, and Vennela (Keerthy Suresh). It is beautiful how Dharani, Soori, and Vennela form a subversive love triangle, which has a refreshing eschewal of jealousy that paves the way for a tender gaze on male vulnerability. Srikanth Odelas vision finds a perfect match in Nanis acting prowess, as the actor lays his heart bare in scene after scene to heartbreaking effect. This vulnerability is used as a platform from which the film makes giant strides in the second half where the plot steadily burgeons into mythical proportions, which is kickstarted by a bone-chilling interval banger that injects adrenaline into the proceedings and gives Dasara a new sense of urgency. Dasara, at its core, is the coming-of-age story of Dharani, who suffers a personal tragedy before taking up the cudgels for a righteous fight. Unlike the usual big-ticket revenge sagas, where rage and violence are de rigueur, Dasara actually makes way for a debate on the necessity of violence. Though the film quickly resumes the originally scheduled plan of bloodshed, it was an interesting detour nonetheless. Srikanth shows glimpses of being a filmmaker who wants to reinvent masala cinema, and he starts off by changing the way the genre generally treats its women. Keerthy Suresh gets a great role, of a woman who goes from being confident and sassy to one coming to grips with a tragedy. Poorna, who plays the role of Chinna Nambis wife is an interesting casting choice as she makes an impact despite her limited presence. But the same cant be said of Shine Tom Chacko, who isnt supported by the writing, which gives him poorly dubbed, expository lines that only make him less scary with every line. The place where Dasara truly succeeds is in the makers attention to detail. Visuals of hooch and mutton curry, displayed as hallmarks of Telangana culture feature prominently, and the presence of people with dwarfism is a depressing but pertinent detail thrown in to show the congenital issues people living amidst coal mines are susceptible to. It is a world cut from the cloth of reality, of lived experiences and memories finding their way from the script to screen. However, the film does falter a bit with some creative choices, and the discord between writing and editing. Why should a weapon have the visual of a villain superimposed upon it when the films strength lies in its subtlety and strong emotions? What truly is the takeaway from Nanis Dasara is the voice of a potentially important filmmaker. The pre-interval action sequence and the portions involving Dharani and Vennelas marriage are resounding proof of Srikanth Odela being the real deal. Of course, there are places where he needs to pick up the slack, especially in the staging of the action sequences among others. But points to Srikanth for developing a core and a narrative that rises above its shortcomings and manages to create a visceral, immersive experience where the sum of the emotions elicited prove to be larger than its moving parts. Film: Dasara Director: Srikanth Odela Cast: Nani, Keerthy Suresh, Dheekshith Shetty, Shine Tom Chacko Rating: 4/5
Dilip Singh Kshatriya By

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government's order to cancel excess National Food Security Act (NFSA) ration cards without conducting an economic survey will deprive over five lakh members of 80,000-plus tribal families of their right to food, according to people in the know.

The decision comes at a time when the Government of India under the NFSA has decided to provide free rations to 81.35 crore people belonging to low-income families for a year.

The Gujarat government is saying there are more ration cards than residents in many areas and hence it has started the process of cancelling the ration cards of 83,556 families spread across 11 districts and more than 30 talukas. The majority of tribal families are concentrated in these talukas and districts, according to the Congress party.

Vansda, a tribal populated area, is the most affected by the government's decision.

Vansda taluka Deputy Collector (Mamalatdar) MS Vasava told The New Indian Express, "We have received a circular issued by the government. So, the ration cards are being cancelled. I can't say anything more on the matter."

ALSO READ | Manual scavenging rampant in Gujarat, affected families clamour for compensation

A ration shopkeeper, who requested anonymity, said, "The government's decision will primarily affect tribal families, as only 3600 families in Vansda taluka will be affected. The important thing to remember is that the ration card is issued by the government and they have the authority to cancel it. But they are forcing shopkeepers like us to do so."

Vansada Congress MLA Anant Patel said, "Most of the people in the tribal areas are very poor as they cannot earn their daily meal by themselves, and without any kind of circular, any kind of economic survey. Many ration cards of old age people, disabled, women, and widows have been cancelled in this cancellation process."

"Ration cards for 217 families in Wangan village, Vansda taluka, where all tribal families live, have been cancelled. We will hold a rally in the entire tribal area in the coming days, as well as write a letter to the Chief Minister. If the government does not reverse its decision, we will stage a movement throughout Gujarat," he further said

According to data, 7470 Narmada district ration cards, 7595 Dang district ration cards, and 5,947 Tapi district ration cards have been cancelled.

ALSO READ | 1,359 families were added to the BPL list in 'developed Gujarat' in 2 years

In addition, the government has also ordered the cancellation of NFSA ration cards in the following fully tribal areas: 3607 in Vansda taluka, 1763 in Kawant, 3267 in Jhalod, 5227 in Ghoghamba, 4462 in Morwahdf, 1080 in Balasinore, and 3806 in Posina.

There are also families in other areas and their total number adds up to 83556.

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government's order to cancel excess National Food Security Act (NFSA) ration cards without conducting an economic survey will deprive over five lakh members of 80,000-plus tribal families of their right to food, according to people in the know. The decision comes at a time when the Government of India under the NFSA has decided to provide free rations to 81.35 crore people belonging to low-income families for a year. The Gujarat government is saying there are more ration cards than residents in many areas and hence it has started the process of cancelling the ration cards of 83,556 families spread across 11 districts and more than 30 talukas. The majority of tribal families are concentrated in these talukas and districts, according to the Congress party.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Vansda, a tribal populated area, is the most affected by the government's decision. Vansda taluka Deputy Collector (Mamalatdar) MS Vasava told The New Indian Express, "We have received a circular issued by the government. So, the ration cards are being cancelled. I can't say anything more on the matter." ALSO READ | Manual scavenging rampant in Gujarat, affected families clamour for compensation A ration shopkeeper, who requested anonymity, said, "The government's decision will primarily affect tribal families, as only 3600 families in Vansda taluka will be affected. The important thing to remember is that the ration card is issued by the government and they have the authority to cancel it. But they are forcing shopkeepers like us to do so." Vansada Congress MLA Anant Patel said, "Most of the people in the tribal areas are very poor as they cannot earn their daily meal by themselves, and without any kind of circular, any kind of economic survey. Many ration cards of old age people, disabled, women, and widows have been cancelled in this cancellation process." "Ration cards for 217 families in Wangan village, Vansda taluka, where all tribal families live, have been cancelled. We will hold a rally in the entire tribal area in the coming days, as well as write a letter to the Chief Minister. If the government does not reverse its decision, we will stage a movement throughout Gujarat," he further said According to data, 7470 Narmada district ration cards, 7595 Dang district ration cards, and 5,947 Tapi district ration cards have been cancelled. ALSO READ | 1,359 families were added to the BPL list in 'developed Gujarat' in 2 years In addition, the government has also ordered the cancellation of NFSA ration cards in the following fully tribal areas: 3607 in Vansda taluka, 1763 in Kawant, 3267 in Jhalod, 5227 in Ghoghamba, 4462 in Morwahdf, 1080 in Balasinore, and 3806 in Posina. There are also families in other areas and their total number adds up to 83556.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Indias 11th and Madhya Pradeshs first Vande Bharat Express train from Bhopals Rani Kamlapati station on Saturday.

This came 16 months after PM Modi had on November 15, 2021 unveiled the Rani Kamlapati railway station (formerly named Habibganj) as the country's first world class railway station.

In the last six months, this was the PMs fourth visit to MP, where assembly polls are scheduled for the year-end.

The Rani Kamlapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train, which will render semi-high speed connectivity between the MP capital and the national capital in seven-and-a-half hours, had 300 school students on board on its inaugural run. The PM had a short interaction with the children, before flagging off the train in the presence of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, MP governor Mangubhai C Patel and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Taking an April Fool dig at the opposition Congress, the PM said, When the inaugural run of this train was fixed for April 1, our Congress friends thought Modi would make everyone April Fool, but you see, the train has actually started on the same date. This train symbolizes developing Indias growing skill, capability and confidence.

Modi lashed out at the Congress and opposition, saying, Amid all this development, I want to draw your attention to another important issue. Some people in our country since 2014 have taken a vow to malign Modis image. For it, theyve given supari to all kinds of people and aiding them are some people operating from within and outside the country.

ALSO READ | India home to idea of elected leaders much before rest of world: PM Modi

But much to their disappointment in todays India, the entire poor, middle-class, tribals, Dalits and backward sections have turned out to be Modis suraksha kavach (security shield). Owing to this they (opposition) have started behaving madly and even taken a vow to dig Modis grave. But amid all these conspiracies, every citizen of the country will have to focus on the country's development and nation building.

Taking another dig at the Congress, Modi said, Previous governments treated just one family (Nehru-Gandhi family) as the countrys first family, leaving behind countrys ordinary families, including the poor and middle class to fend on their own. Its living example is the Indian Railways, which has over the decades been an ordinary Indian familys preferred mode of transport.

Had the previous governments wanted, they could have very well modernized the existing rail network after independence. But narrow political interest, focus on populist promises and appeasement and vote bank politics, resulted in sacrificing railways' development. The situation was so bad that even decades after independence, our North Eastern states remained largely cut off from railway connectivity, he said.

In the last nine years since our government came to power, weve focused on how to transform Indian Railways into the world's best rail network. In this years annual budget, weve allocated record money for railways, contrary to the past when railways development was seen as a loss making exercise. The budget for railways has continuously been increased over the last 9 years. In this years budget, Rs 13,000 crore has been allocated for railways related projects in Madhya Pradesh alone, compared to just Rs 600 crore for MP before 2014, he added.

The best example of how the railways continues to be modernized is the steady manner in which rail route electrification work is underway. MP is among the 11 states, where cent percent rail electrification has been achieved. Prior to 2014, the average 600 km route was being electrified annually, but it has now jumped to 6000 km every year, the PM maintained.

Congratulating MP on its first Vande Bharat train, the PM said, This train will not only render new service to working professionals, youth and businesspersons, but will further boost tourism potential of the region, through accelerated connectivity to tourist sites adjoining Bhopal, including Sanchi Stupa, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur and Udaigiri caves.

Earlier, MPs wrote to the government for allowing/increasing stoppages of trains, but now the MPs are writing to start totally Swadeshi technology-based Vande Bharat Express trains from their areas. There is growing demand for starting the train from every corner of the country, which clearly establishes that this train service has become a super hit nationwide.

More on the Rani Kamlapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train

11th Vande Bharat Express in the country and first such service in MP.

Train will travel to and fro between Rani Kamlapati and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations (708 km) in 7 hours and 30 minutes.

Totally based on Swadeshi (indigenous) technology.

Comprises 16 chair car coaches with 180 degrees rotating recliner seats for 1100 passengers, besides automatic doors.

It also has Wi-Fi connectivity, CCTV cameras and special emergency measures.

Its totally differently-abled friendly with features like seat numbers written in Braille script, special toilets and touch screen facilities.

Will render semi-high speed connectivity between MP capital and the national capital

BHOPAL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Indias 11th and Madhya Pradeshs first Vande Bharat Express train from Bhopals Rani Kamlapati station on Saturday. This came 16 months after PM Modi had on November 15, 2021 unveiled the Rani Kamlapati railway station (formerly named Habibganj) as the country's first world class railway station. In the last six months, this was the PMs fourth visit to MP, where assembly polls are scheduled for the year-end.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Rani Kamlapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train, which will render semi-high speed connectivity between the MP capital and the national capital in seven-and-a-half hours, had 300 school students on board on its inaugural run. The PM had a short interaction with the children, before flagging off the train in the presence of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, MP governor Mangubhai C Patel and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Taking an April Fool dig at the opposition Congress, the PM said, When the inaugural run of this train was fixed for April 1, our Congress friends thought Modi would make everyone April Fool, but you see, the train has actually started on the same date. This train symbolizes developing Indias growing skill, capability and confidence. Modi lashed out at the Congress and opposition, saying, Amid all this development, I want to draw your attention to another important issue. Some people in our country since 2014 have taken a vow to malign Modis image. For it, theyve given supari to all kinds of people and aiding them are some people operating from within and outside the country. ALSO READ | India home to idea of elected leaders much before rest of world: PM Modi But much to their disappointment in todays India, the entire poor, middle-class, tribals, Dalits and backward sections have turned out to be Modis suraksha kavach (security shield). Owing to this they (opposition) have started behaving madly and even taken a vow to dig Modis grave. But amid all these conspiracies, every citizen of the country will have to focus on the country's development and nation building. Taking another dig at the Congress, Modi said, Previous governments treated just one family (Nehru-Gandhi family) as the countrys first family, leaving behind countrys ordinary families, including the poor and middle class to fend on their own. Its living example is the Indian Railways, which has over the decades been an ordinary Indian familys preferred mode of transport. Had the previous governments wanted, they could have very well modernized the existing rail network after independence. But narrow political interest, focus on populist promises and appeasement and vote bank politics, resulted in sacrificing railways' development. The situation was so bad that even decades after independence, our North Eastern states remained largely cut off from railway connectivity, he said. In the last nine years since our government came to power, weve focused on how to transform Indian Railways into the world's best rail network. In this years annual budget, weve allocated record money for railways, contrary to the past when railways development was seen as a loss making exercise. The budget for railways has continuously been increased over the last 9 years. In this years budget, Rs 13,000 crore has been allocated for railways related projects in Madhya Pradesh alone, compared to just Rs 600 crore for MP before 2014, he added. The best example of how the railways continues to be modernized is the steady manner in which rail route electrification work is underway. MP is among the 11 states, where cent percent rail electrification has been achieved. Prior to 2014, the average 600 km route was being electrified annually, but it has now jumped to 6000 km every year, the PM maintained. Congratulating MP on its first Vande Bharat train, the PM said, This train will not only render new service to working professionals, youth and businesspersons, but will further boost tourism potential of the region, through accelerated connectivity to tourist sites adjoining Bhopal, including Sanchi Stupa, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur and Udaigiri caves. Earlier, MPs wrote to the government for allowing/increasing stoppages of trains, but now the MPs are writing to start totally Swadeshi technology-based Vande Bharat Express trains from their areas. There is growing demand for starting the train from every corner of the country, which clearly establishes that this train service has become a super hit nationwide. More on the Rani Kamlapati-Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express train 11th Vande Bharat Express in the country and first such service in MP. Train will travel to and fro between Rani Kamlapati and Hazrat Nizamuddin railway stations (708 km) in 7 hours and 30 minutes. Totally based on Swadeshi (indigenous) technology. Comprises 16 chair car coaches with 180 degrees rotating recliner seats for 1100 passengers, besides automatic doors. It also has Wi-Fi connectivity, CCTV cameras and special emergency measures. Its totally differently-abled friendly with features like seat numbers written in Braille script, special toilets and touch screen facilities. Will render semi-high speed connectivity between MP capital and the national capital
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy by two decrees put into effect the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council of April 1 on the application and amendments to personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).

The relevant decrees of April 1 are posted on the website of the head of state.

Sanctions have been imposed against, among others, the Federation Council (the upper chamber of the Russian parliament), the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, instrument making, radio electronics and the cable industry.
Dr Jayaram Poduval By

March 30 this year initiates the centenary of Vaikom Satyagraha which had a long-lasting impact on Keralas socio-political scenario. Many are responsible for the success of the temple entry movement, which envisioned a radical change in social, religious, political and cultural realms. The caste system, the foundation of Keralas social structure before the 20th century, started shaking as soon as the century began. Educational augmentation of the distressed classes through secular establishments the colonial institutions instituted and the works of social, religious and political activists and reformers gave a new direction to progressive thinking. However, temples stood as the relics of the old system sustaining the caste system in the guise of retaining tradition. Unlike other structures, temples architecturally defined the caste system. Social activists like TK Madhavan understood the importance of breaking this last bastion of caste society in each village of Kerala.

TK Madhavan can be considered the main force behind the Temple Entry Movement. He gave a speech in the Sri Moolam Praja Sabha in 1904 when only 17 about the atrocities of untouchability. He was the first to raise the issue of temple entry in the public domain through the editorial of Deshabhimani in 1917. Through his efforts, the SNDP Yogam [a socio-religious movement initiated by Sri Narayana Guru], in its annual meeting held in May 1920, resolved that All public temples belonging to the Government should be open to all Hindus regardless of Caste. He also successfully linked the issue of untouchability with that of the national movement for freedom and equality.

Madhavan met Mahatma Gandhi at Tirunelveli in 1921 and informed him about the disabilities of the Izhava community, sought his advice on the proposed temple entry movement and the support of the Congress party. Robin Jeffrey quotes about the interview details thus, I would ask you, Gandhi began, to drop temple entry now and begin with public wells. Then you may go to public schools. Madhavan quickly corrected him: You seem to mistake our position in society for something analogous to that of the untouchables in British India. Except for half a dozen schools all public schools in the state are open to us. Gandhi replied: You are ripe for temple entry then. Gandhi added that the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee [KPCC] should take up the issue. Soon Madhavan returned to Gandhi with KP Kesava Menon, Secretary of the Travancore Congress Committee, at the Kakinada Congress Session in 1923. The session passed a resolution inaugurating a national campaign against untouchability. The KPCC chose K Kelappan, a Travancore-based Malabar Nair, as the convener of the Anti-Untouchability Committee. The timing of the resolution was crucial as Kerala could join the pan-Indian movement against caste atrocities and the quest for caste identity like the Ad-Dharm movement in Punjab; the movement under Ambedkar in Maharashtra; the Nama-Sudra movement in Bengal; the Adi-Dravida movement in Tamil Nadu; the Adi-Andhra movement in Andhra; the Adi-Karnataka movement; the Adi-Hindu movement centered around Kanpur. More than a caste-based agitation, the Temple Entry Movement shaped into a nationalist movement for civil rights. It was a strategically taken decision by leaders like TK Madhavan, who explained, I think it is a common perception that the Temple Entry Right and the movement is solely for the right of avarnas to enter the temple and worship God. Indeed, earning would be part of the Temple Entry Right, but that is not the prime and only goal of the Temple Entry Right or the movement. Temple Entry Right is the ethical right with religious and political facets.

The Indian National Congress, leading the freedom movement, had to address the issue of untouchability seriously as the lower castes support was tilting towards the good governance of the British in areas like Anjengo and Malabar. The lower castes did not find the racial discrimination of the British any different from the prevalent caste segregation. Congress took this opportunity to gather the support of the lower castes in Kerala and bring them into the nationalist movement, which till then was considered an upper-caste struggle for power. The rebellion against the ideology of old Kerala society gained legitimacy from the adoption by the Indian National Congress of M K Gandhis programs of social reform, observes Robin Jeffrey.

The Vaikom Satyagraha movement of 1924-25 started on March 30, 1924 with active support nationwide. The Akalis offered langar for the Satyagrahis. The Malayali diaspora living in Malaya and Singapore offered monetary support. The Savarnas, too, joined the struggle by organising savarnajathas [rallies] and boycotting temples. National leaders, radical thinkers and social reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, E V Ramasvami Naikar [Periyar] and Sri Narayana Guru came to Vaikom to support the Satyagraha. The Vaikom Satyagraha also triggered similar satyagrahas in Malabar and Kochi regions, in Guruvayur and Paliyam.

The success of the movement came after a decade when the Maharaja of Travancore ordered the opening of the temples under the public administration for all Hindus, regardless of caste, through the historic Temple Entry Proclamation in 1936, six years after the passing away of TK Madhavan, the visionary of social equity and the man who knocked on the doors of God.

DR JAYARAM PODUVAL

Department of Art History& Aesthetics

The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

(jpoduval@gmail.com)

March 30 this year initiates the centenary of Vaikom Satyagraha which had a long-lasting impact on Keralas socio-political scenario. Many are responsible for the success of the temple entry movement, which envisioned a radical change in social, religious, political and cultural realms. The caste system, the foundation of Keralas social structure before the 20th century, started shaking as soon as the century began. Educational augmentation of the distressed classes through secular establishments the colonial institutions instituted and the works of social, religious and political activists and reformers gave a new direction to progressive thinking. However, temples stood as the relics of the old system sustaining the caste system in the guise of retaining tradition. Unlike other structures, temples architecturally defined the caste system. Social activists like TK Madhavan understood the importance of breaking this last bastion of caste society in each village of Kerala. TK Madhavan can be considered the main force behind the Temple Entry Movement. He gave a speech in the Sri Moolam Praja Sabha in 1904 when only 17 about the atrocities of untouchability. He was the first to raise the issue of temple entry in the public domain through the editorial of Deshabhimani in 1917. Through his efforts, the SNDP Yogam [a socio-religious movement initiated by Sri Narayana Guru], in its annual meeting held in May 1920, resolved that All public temples belonging to the Government should be open to all Hindus regardless of Caste. He also successfully linked the issue of untouchability with that of the national movement for freedom and equality. Madhavan met Mahatma Gandhi at Tirunelveli in 1921 and informed him about the disabilities of the Izhava community, sought his advice on the proposed temple entry movement and the support of the Congress party. Robin Jeffrey quotes about the interview details thus, I would ask you, Gandhi began, to drop temple entry now and begin with public wells. Then you may go to public schools. Madhavan quickly corrected him: You seem to mistake our position in society for something analogous to that of the untouchables in British India. Except for half a dozen schools all public schools in the state are open to us. Gandhi replied: You are ripe for temple entry then. Gandhi added that the Kerala Provincial Congress Committee [KPCC] should take up the issue. Soon Madhavan returned to Gandhi with KP Kesava Menon, Secretary of the Travancore Congress Committee, at the Kakinada Congress Session in 1923. The session passed a resolution inaugurating a national campaign against untouchability. The KPCC chose K Kelappan, a Travancore-based Malabar Nair, as the convener of the Anti-Untouchability Committee. The timing of the resolution was crucial as Kerala could join the pan-Indian movement against caste atrocities and the quest for caste identity like the Ad-Dharm movement in Punjab; the movement under Ambedkar in Maharashtra; the Nama-Sudra movement in Bengal; the Adi-Dravida movement in Tamil Nadu; the Adi-Andhra movement in Andhra; the Adi-Karnataka movement; the Adi-Hindu movement centered around Kanpur. More than a caste-based agitation, the Temple Entry Movement shaped into a nationalist movement for civil rights. It was a strategically taken decision by leaders like TK Madhavan, who explained, I think it is a common perception that the Temple Entry Right and the movement is solely for the right of avarnas to enter the temple and worship God. Indeed, earning would be part of the Temple Entry Right, but that is not the prime and only goal of the Temple Entry Right or the movement. Temple Entry Right is the ethical right with religious and political facets. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Indian National Congress, leading the freedom movement, had to address the issue of untouchability seriously as the lower castes support was tilting towards the good governance of the British in areas like Anjengo and Malabar. The lower castes did not find the racial discrimination of the British any different from the prevalent caste segregation. Congress took this opportunity to gather the support of the lower castes in Kerala and bring them into the nationalist movement, which till then was considered an upper-caste struggle for power. The rebellion against the ideology of old Kerala society gained legitimacy from the adoption by the Indian National Congress of M K Gandhis programs of social reform, observes Robin Jeffrey. The Vaikom Satyagraha movement of 1924-25 started on March 30, 1924 with active support nationwide. The Akalis offered langar for the Satyagrahis. The Malayali diaspora living in Malaya and Singapore offered monetary support. The Savarnas, too, joined the struggle by organising savarnajathas [rallies] and boycotting temples. National leaders, radical thinkers and social reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, E V Ramasvami Naikar [Periyar] and Sri Narayana Guru came to Vaikom to support the Satyagraha. The Vaikom Satyagraha also triggered similar satyagrahas in Malabar and Kochi regions, in Guruvayur and Paliyam. The success of the movement came after a decade when the Maharaja of Travancore ordered the opening of the temples under the public administration for all Hindus, regardless of caste, through the historic Temple Entry Proclamation in 1936, six years after the passing away of TK Madhavan, the visionary of social equity and the man who knocked on the doors of God. DR JAYARAM PODUVAL Department of Art History& Aesthetics The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (jpoduval@gmail.com)
Prabhu Chawla By

For Indias popular peregrinator Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the world is his oyster, and the External Affairs Ministry is the sous chef. But of late, his foes are cooking up a storm on Western streets. Khalistani provocateurs are targeting Indias global clout powered by Modi, the darling of world leaders, as attested by mammoth diaspora crowds greeting him at every airport, town hall and public rally.

As the PM prepares for his third political battle at home, he is expected to travel abroad to consolidate his influence. Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia in May are on the bucket list.

On May 20, he lands in Hiroshima for the G7 summithis fifth, to be followed by Quad from May 23 to 24 in Sydney. On the heels of his Down Under tour is the official bilateral visit to America in June, just before President Biden enters election mode. Since Modi wont be able to travel abroad after the G20 deliberations in India end, his team plans to use his diplomatic air miles to reaffirm his identity overseas.

Besides the usual official huddles, dinners and lunches, his team is exploring the possibility of organising massive public rallies like in the past.

As of March 2023, Modi has made 69 foreign visits covering all the Earths continents. He has flown over half a million miles to around 80 countries. He has visited America seven times, Japan six, China five, Russia four and the UK thrice in nine years.

The advance parties of officials and BJP leaders have already landed in these countries even as the MEA and the PMO carefully draw up their schedules. Spoiling the party are warnings of separatist disruptions to a projected vishwa gurus vishwa yatra.

Khalistani vandals have thrown a spanner in the works of Indian intelligence capabilities. Violent demonstrations in front of Indian missions and Hindu temples in various Australian cities have blotted their copybook while the local government is unable to punish separatists on its soil who desecrated Indian shrines. Khalistan supporters in the US tried to set the Indian consulate in San Francisco on fire; theyve threatened to organise more protest rallies across the USA.

In Canada, Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, cant move around freely, fearing harm to their person. Intelligence reports say Khalistanis will hold huge protests during Modis visit to Australia and the USA.

Undeterred, the establishment has decided to mobilise the Sangh Parivar and other nationalist elements abroad, including Sikhs, by organising massive welcome gatherings for the prime minister. The PMO and the Home Ministry are baffled by the sudden spurt in anti-India activities.

Their primary concern is the failure of the agencies and the local missions to anticipate anarchy, take preventive measures and alert the Centre to mount pressure on the hosts. The conduct of Indian High Commissioners in Australia, Britain and Australia in curating a pro-India local environment is under scrutiny.

Though Modi is unlikely to visit Britain before the 2024 elections, the PMO and HMO are fuming over secessionists pulling down the tricolour from the High Commission building in London. It is perhaps the first time Indian flags have been pulled down by a hostile crowd anywhere in the world. Local leaders of Indian origin in the UK feel that outreach initiatives by the High Commission to connect Sikhs and Hindus are below par. The current envoy Vikram Doraiswami is known more for his social skills among Londons elite than for promoting bonding with Indian communities.

An expert in Mandarin, he has been enjoying plum postings irrespective of the party in power: 15 assignments in 30 years. His last stint was a short spell as Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh when relations between the two nations were uncomfortable; prime minister Sheikh Hasina left him hanging for months before granting an audience. Indians settled in Australia have similar grievances against their diplomats.

According to leading Indians who regularly interact with the mission, High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra, who took charge in April 2021, doesnt have the necessary experience to deal with ethnic conflicts and local civil society groups. In 25 years in service, he hasnt been posted in any country with a large concentration of Sikhs and PIOs.

Hence it was left to Prime Minister Modi to deal with the Australian PM directly. The PMO is hopping mad at the arson attempt in LA. America has been for long the safe abode of Khalistan extremists. But the style and ferocity of their protests have led the government to review the role of Indian diplomats.

Our ambassador to Washington, Taranjit Sandhu (who is on extension), is an old American hand, having spent around 11 years in the US before becoming the envoy in January 2020. Even though he has failed to counter and neutralise Khalistani sentiments by leveraging his influence on Modis wealthy and successful Indian admirers; the PM has always received rousing welcomes on all his American visits.

It is not enough for a leader and his country to be adored at home to become a global Goliath. The quality of diplomats a government deploys determines the quantity of its success overseas. Currently, there are about 900 IFS officers posted in 193 Indian missions and South Block. Many heads of sensitive missions have been picked up more for their loyalty than for the quality of their diplomatic skills.

Barring Natwar Singh who lost his job for a bit of undiplomatic adventurism, MEA has always had an experienced politician at the helm who understood the politics of diplomacy. Modi handpicked a retired IFS officer lacking political credentials as Indias External Affairs Minister.

Unfortunately, S Jaishankar comes across as an arrogant diplomatic genius specialising in undiplomatic offensiveness. It is on his almost five-year uninterrupted watch as Indias diplomatic goalie when Indian diplomacy has scored the most self-goals and failed to check extremist effervescence. While Modi keeps Indias standard flying abroad, Indian missions in sensitive nations are flying their flags of competence at half-mast.

Celebration and facilitation of the Modi Mantra cannot be the double engines of Indias foreign policy unless diplomacy acquires the political vision and will to vanquish its domestic enemies abroad. If diplomacy is war by other means, as Clausewitz said, India is already at war with extremism in which the idea of New India, the prime minister and his legacy are the targets. The battle is just beginning. Indian missions must have a mission, not zero vision, with eyes closed.

prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com

Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

For Indias popular peregrinator Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the world is his oyster, and the External Affairs Ministry is the sous chef. But of late, his foes are cooking up a storm on Western streets. Khalistani provocateurs are targeting Indias global clout powered by Modi, the darling of world leaders, as attested by mammoth diaspora crowds greeting him at every airport, town hall and public rally. As the PM prepares for his third political battle at home, he is expected to travel abroad to consolidate his influence. Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia in May are on the bucket list. On May 20, he lands in Hiroshima for the G7 summithis fifth, to be followed by Quad from May 23 to 24 in Sydney. On the heels of his Down Under tour is the official bilateral visit to America in June, just before President Biden enters election mode. Since Modi wont be able to travel abroad after the G20 deliberations in India end, his team plans to use his diplomatic air miles to reaffirm his identity overseas.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Besides the usual official huddles, dinners and lunches, his team is exploring the possibility of organising massive public rallies like in the past. As of March 2023, Modi has made 69 foreign visits covering all the Earths continents. He has flown over half a million miles to around 80 countries. He has visited America seven times, Japan six, China five, Russia four and the UK thrice in nine years. The advance parties of officials and BJP leaders have already landed in these countries even as the MEA and the PMO carefully draw up their schedules. Spoiling the party are warnings of separatist disruptions to a projected vishwa gurus vishwa yatra. Khalistani vandals have thrown a spanner in the works of Indian intelligence capabilities. Violent demonstrations in front of Indian missions and Hindu temples in various Australian cities have blotted their copybook while the local government is unable to punish separatists on its soil who desecrated Indian shrines. Khalistan supporters in the US tried to set the Indian consulate in San Francisco on fire; theyve threatened to organise more protest rallies across the USA. In Canada, Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, cant move around freely, fearing harm to their person. Intelligence reports say Khalistanis will hold huge protests during Modis visit to Australia and the USA. Undeterred, the establishment has decided to mobilise the Sangh Parivar and other nationalist elements abroad, including Sikhs, by organising massive welcome gatherings for the prime minister. The PMO and the Home Ministry are baffled by the sudden spurt in anti-India activities. Their primary concern is the failure of the agencies and the local missions to anticipate anarchy, take preventive measures and alert the Centre to mount pressure on the hosts. The conduct of Indian High Commissioners in Australia, Britain and Australia in curating a pro-India local environment is under scrutiny. Though Modi is unlikely to visit Britain before the 2024 elections, the PMO and HMO are fuming over secessionists pulling down the tricolour from the High Commission building in London. It is perhaps the first time Indian flags have been pulled down by a hostile crowd anywhere in the world. Local leaders of Indian origin in the UK feel that outreach initiatives by the High Commission to connect Sikhs and Hindus are below par. The current envoy Vikram Doraiswami is known more for his social skills among Londons elite than for promoting bonding with Indian communities. An expert in Mandarin, he has been enjoying plum postings irrespective of the party in power: 15 assignments in 30 years. His last stint was a short spell as Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh when relations between the two nations were uncomfortable; prime minister Sheikh Hasina left him hanging for months before granting an audience. Indians settled in Australia have similar grievances against their diplomats. According to leading Indians who regularly interact with the mission, High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra, who took charge in April 2021, doesnt have the necessary experience to deal with ethnic conflicts and local civil society groups. In 25 years in service, he hasnt been posted in any country with a large concentration of Sikhs and PIOs. Hence it was left to Prime Minister Modi to deal with the Australian PM directly. The PMO is hopping mad at the arson attempt in LA. America has been for long the safe abode of Khalistan extremists. But the style and ferocity of their protests have led the government to review the role of Indian diplomats. Our ambassador to Washington, Taranjit Sandhu (who is on extension), is an old American hand, having spent around 11 years in the US before becoming the envoy in January 2020. Even though he has failed to counter and neutralise Khalistani sentiments by leveraging his influence on Modis wealthy and successful Indian admirers; the PM has always received rousing welcomes on all his American visits. It is not enough for a leader and his country to be adored at home to become a global Goliath. The quality of diplomats a government deploys determines the quantity of its success overseas. Currently, there are about 900 IFS officers posted in 193 Indian missions and South Block. Many heads of sensitive missions have been picked up more for their loyalty than for the quality of their diplomatic skills. Barring Natwar Singh who lost his job for a bit of undiplomatic adventurism, MEA has always had an experienced politician at the helm who understood the politics of diplomacy. Modi handpicked a retired IFS officer lacking political credentials as Indias External Affairs Minister. Unfortunately, S Jaishankar comes across as an arrogant diplomatic genius specialising in undiplomatic offensiveness. It is on his almost five-year uninterrupted watch as Indias diplomatic goalie when Indian diplomacy has scored the most self-goals and failed to check extremist effervescence. While Modi keeps Indias standard flying abroad, Indian missions in sensitive nations are flying their flags of competence at half-mast. Celebration and facilitation of the Modi Mantra cannot be the double engines of Indias foreign policy unless diplomacy acquires the political vision and will to vanquish its domestic enemies abroad. If diplomacy is war by other means, as Clausewitz said, India is already at war with extremism in which the idea of New India, the prime minister and his legacy are the targets. The battle is just beginning. Indian missions must have a mission, not zero vision, with eyes closed. prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: A four-year-old boy was severely injured after a pack of stray dogs chased him and attacked him outside his residence at Sanath Nagar under Kanuru village limits on Friday.

The boy, identified as Shaik Aseef, was rushed to the Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH).

According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 11 am on Friday when Aseef was playing outside his house. A pack of strays suddenly began chasing him.

On hearing Aseefs cry for help after one of the dogs bit him, neighbours and family members immediately rescued the four-year-old and shifted him to the hospital.

Aseefs father Apsar alleged that the civic body officials concerned failed to take action against the stray dog menace, despite receiving complaints from residents.

We have complained to the municipal officials about the threat we face daily because of the stray dog menace. They come and take the dogs away, but later release them into the streets. Some families feed them now and then. Sometimes they leave food for the dogs near our house in the night, despite us telling them not to do so, he rued.

It may be recalled that the incident comes just weeks after street dogs had attacked three students while they were returning from school in Bhavanipuram on March 1.

Several residents in Vijayawada and surrounding municipalities have been requesting the officials to take stringent action against dogs to ensure no dog bite cases are reported.



VIJAYAWADA: A four-year-old boy was severely injured after a pack of stray dogs chased him and attacked him outside his residence at Sanath Nagar under Kanuru village limits on Friday. The boy, identified as Shaik Aseef, was rushed to the Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH). According to eyewitnesses, the incident took place around 11 am on Friday when Aseef was playing outside his house. A pack of strays suddenly began chasing him. On hearing Aseefs cry for help after one of the dogs bit him, neighbours and family members immediately rescued the four-year-old and shifted him to the hospital.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Aseefs father Apsar alleged that the civic body officials concerned failed to take action against the stray dog menace, despite receiving complaints from residents. We have complained to the municipal officials about the threat we face daily because of the stray dog menace. They come and take the dogs away, but later release them into the streets. Some families feed them now and then. Sometimes they leave food for the dogs near our house in the night, despite us telling them not to do so, he rued. It may be recalled that the incident comes just weeks after street dogs had attacked three students while they were returning from school in Bhavanipuram on March 1. Several residents in Vijayawada and surrounding municipalities have been requesting the officials to take stringent action against dogs to ensure no dog bite cases are reported.
Express News Service

MANGALURU: In 2018, the BJP almost swept the entire coastal Karnataka garnering 16 of 19 seats. This tally rose to 17 after the 2019 by-election.

This time, riding high on the Modi factor and achievements of the double-engine government, the saffron party is trying its best to hold on to its fort even as Congress is trying to breach the bastion by banking on the anti-incumbency factor and corruption charges against the ruling dispensation.

Except in one or two segments where JDS has some presence, it appears to be a straight contest between BJP and Congress elsewhere in the region, which has Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts. It is too early to tell whether the fledgling AAP and SDPI will have any impact here.

Congress is looking to increase its 2019 tally of just two seats, and the party could bag a few more if it fields the right candidates. But already, dissidence is brewing over the selection of candidates in some seats. Congress is, however, confident of winning Bantwal, Bhatkal and Kaup.

ALSO READ | Congress picks young guns for battle in BJP turf Dakshina Kannada

Veterans like RV Deshpande, B Ramanath Rai and Vinay Kumar Sorake, who are contesting from these seats, have appealed to voters emotions saying it will be their last election. The party is also going all out to win back the Backward Classes, telling them that BJP is misusing them for political gains.

In 2018, BJP triumphed because of issues surrounding Paresh Mestas death. But the CBI later filed a B report in the case, much to the partys embarrassment.

Congress is also blaming hate crimes and moral policing for the regions failure to attract enough investment, resulting in the migration of youth. But BJP has countered this narrative, blaming Congress minority appeasement politics for the ills plaguing the region. It is turning arrests in alleged terror activities by NIA in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi to its advantage to drive home the message that only the BJP can cleanse the region of anti-national elements.

ALSO READ | Congress' 10-point manifesto for coastal region in Karnataka

Setting up of Shree Narayana Guru Development Corporation and installing his statue at a major junction has helped the party blunt the opposition attack that it is ignoring Narayan Guru or Billavas. BJP workers were upset over the murder of party Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru, but the party appears to have managed to douse the fire.

The cabinets recent decision on increasing the quota for Lingayats and Vokkaligas and internal reservation for Dalits will not have much impact here because of their slender population. But one has to see whether scrapping the 4 per cent Muslim quota will have any impact. There is a feeling that allowing Muslims to claim quota in the EWS pool will affect the upper castes in the coastal region more than anywhere else.

MANGALURU: In 2018, the BJP almost swept the entire coastal Karnataka garnering 16 of 19 seats. This tally rose to 17 after the 2019 by-election. This time, riding high on the Modi factor and achievements of the double-engine government, the saffron party is trying its best to hold on to its fort even as Congress is trying to breach the bastion by banking on the anti-incumbency factor and corruption charges against the ruling dispensation. Except in one or two segments where JDS has some presence, it appears to be a straight contest between BJP and Congress elsewhere in the region, which has Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts. It is too early to tell whether the fledgling AAP and SDPI will have any impact here.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Congress is looking to increase its 2019 tally of just two seats, and the party could bag a few more if it fields the right candidates. But already, dissidence is brewing over the selection of candidates in some seats. Congress is, however, confident of winning Bantwal, Bhatkal and Kaup. ALSO READ | Congress picks young guns for battle in BJP turf Dakshina Kannada Veterans like RV Deshpande, B Ramanath Rai and Vinay Kumar Sorake, who are contesting from these seats, have appealed to voters emotions saying it will be their last election. The party is also going all out to win back the Backward Classes, telling them that BJP is misusing them for political gains. In 2018, BJP triumphed because of issues surrounding Paresh Mestas death. But the CBI later filed a B report in the case, much to the partys embarrassment. Congress is also blaming hate crimes and moral policing for the regions failure to attract enough investment, resulting in the migration of youth. But BJP has countered this narrative, blaming Congress minority appeasement politics for the ills plaguing the region. It is turning arrests in alleged terror activities by NIA in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi to its advantage to drive home the message that only the BJP can cleanse the region of anti-national elements. ALSO READ | Congress' 10-point manifesto for coastal region in Karnataka Setting up of Shree Narayana Guru Development Corporation and installing his statue at a major junction has helped the party blunt the opposition attack that it is ignoring Narayan Guru or Billavas. BJP workers were upset over the murder of party Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru, but the party appears to have managed to douse the fire. The cabinets recent decision on increasing the quota for Lingayats and Vokkaligas and internal reservation for Dalits will not have much impact here because of their slender population. But one has to see whether scrapping the 4 per cent Muslim quota will have any impact. There is a feeling that allowing Muslims to claim quota in the EWS pool will affect the upper castes in the coastal region more than anywhere else.
By Express News Service

TUMAKURU: Farmers, claiming their right over forest and gomala land, clashed with forest department personnel at Gangaiahnapalya village in Gubbi taluk on Thursday evening. A farmer and a forest staffer were injured in the incident.

Tension prevailed after around 50 farmers allegedly threw stones at 40 forest staffers, who resorted to a lathi-charge. Members of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) alleged that the forest department staff attacked a farmer, Doddananjaiah, who was admitted to the district general hospital. Devendra, a forest guard from Koratagere, too was hospitalised for injuries in his head, sustained in the melee. On Friday, KPRS members protested outside the deputy commissioners office, demanding action against the forest staff, including RFO Duggaiah.

It is said that the trouble started with the forest department digging trenches on forest boundaries, at a time when farmers are taking up sowing activities. The group of farmers was led by KPRS leader Yashwant. The farmers also tried to damage the machines used for digging trenches, alleged the forest staff. After a heated exchange over the rights of farmers over the land that belongs to the forest department, a scuffle broke out, they added.

Assistant Conservator of Forests Mahesh Malagatti said the protesters obstructed the forest staff who were working on 52 hectares of land on Survey no. 31 and 34 that are notified as a reserved forest. In the same area, 66 acres of land on Survey no. 196 have been identified as gomala land, on which the farmers are claiming their right and have applied for title deeds under the Bagair Hukum scheme. He said Tahsildar Arati has ordered a joint survey.

TUMAKURU: Farmers, claiming their right over forest and gomala land, clashed with forest department personnel at Gangaiahnapalya village in Gubbi taluk on Thursday evening. A farmer and a forest staffer were injured in the incident. Tension prevailed after around 50 farmers allegedly threw stones at 40 forest staffers, who resorted to a lathi-charge. Members of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) alleged that the forest department staff attacked a farmer, Doddananjaiah, who was admitted to the district general hospital. Devendra, a forest guard from Koratagere, too was hospitalised for injuries in his head, sustained in the melee. On Friday, KPRS members protested outside the deputy commissioners office, demanding action against the forest staff, including RFO Duggaiah. It is said that the trouble started with the forest department digging trenches on forest boundaries, at a time when farmers are taking up sowing activities. The group of farmers was led by KPRS leader Yashwant. The farmers also tried to damage the machines used for digging trenches, alleged the forest staff. After a heated exchange over the rights of farmers over the land that belongs to the forest department, a scuffle broke out, they added.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Assistant Conservator of Forests Mahesh Malagatti said the protesters obstructed the forest staff who were working on 52 hectares of land on Survey no. 31 and 34 that are notified as a reserved forest. In the same area, 66 acres of land on Survey no. 196 have been identified as gomala land, on which the farmers are claiming their right and have applied for title deeds under the Bagair Hukum scheme. He said Tahsildar Arati has ordered a joint survey.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was served a notice by the Lok Sabha secretariat to vacate his official bungalow as he has been disqualified as an MP, Congress leaders in Karnataka have started Namma Maneyu Nimma Mane (our house is your house) campaign, inviting Rahul to their homes.

For the last two days, party leaders, workers and others have been tweeting Mera Ghar Aapka Ghar, inviting Rahul to their houses.

In Karnataka, too, leaders invited Rahul home. Former ministers KJ George, Dinesh Gundurao, Zameer Ahmed, MLA Rizwan Arshad and others were seen holding a poster, reading Namma Mane, Nimma Mane, as they stood in front of their homes.

A person like Rahul Gandhi doesnt need a government bungalow. He lives in our hearts and is more than welcome to stay at our home, Rizwan tweeted.

George said, Our home is your home, Rahul GandhiJi! Most welcome anytime!

Even netizens and party workers were tweeting, asking Rahul to come to their house. We are with you, Rahul Gandhi. You have always stood up for the voiceless, now let us be your shelter in this storm. #NammaManeNimmaMane, said a netizen, Ashish.

Rahul's Kolar event pushed to April 9

Congress leader Rahul Gandhis visit to Kolar to launch the nationwide Jai Bharat campaign with the tagline Satyameva Jayate has been deferred to April 9 from April 5 as he is busy exploring legal options with experts regarding his disqualification as an MP, a Congress leader told TNIE.

However, another source said since AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will be holding the Congress Election Committee (CEC) meeting on April 5, Rahuls visit has been postponed.

Congress leaders including Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, and CLP leader Siddaramaiah among others held a preliminary meeting about the April 9 event on Friday. Since he was disqualified for his remark on 'Modi surname' in Kolar, he wanted to launch the campaign from there.

BENGALURU: After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was served a notice by the Lok Sabha secretariat to vacate his official bungalow as he has been disqualified as an MP, Congress leaders in Karnataka have started Namma Maneyu Nimma Mane (our house is your house) campaign, inviting Rahul to their homes. For the last two days, party leaders, workers and others have been tweeting Mera Ghar Aapka Ghar, inviting Rahul to their houses. In Karnataka, too, leaders invited Rahul home. Former ministers KJ George, Dinesh Gundurao, Zameer Ahmed, MLA Rizwan Arshad and others were seen holding a poster, reading Namma Mane, Nimma Mane, as they stood in front of their homes.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); A person like Rahul Gandhi doesnt need a government bungalow. He lives in our hearts and is more than welcome to stay at our home, Rizwan tweeted. George said, Our home is your home, Rahul GandhiJi! Most welcome anytime! Even netizens and party workers were tweeting, asking Rahul to come to their house. We are with you, Rahul Gandhi. You have always stood up for the voiceless, now let us be your shelter in this storm. #NammaManeNimmaMane, said a netizen, Ashish. Rahul's Kolar event pushed to April 9 Congress leader Rahul Gandhis visit to Kolar to launch the nationwide Jai Bharat campaign with the tagline Satyameva Jayate has been deferred to April 9 from April 5 as he is busy exploring legal options with experts regarding his disqualification as an MP, a Congress leader told TNIE. However, another source said since AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will be holding the Congress Election Committee (CEC) meeting on April 5, Rahuls visit has been postponed. Congress leaders including Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, KPCC president DK Shivakumar, and CLP leader Siddaramaiah among others held a preliminary meeting about the April 9 event on Friday. Since he was disqualified for his remark on 'Modi surname' in Kolar, he wanted to launch the campaign from there.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an unprecedented move, the state government has sacked 67 junior higher secondary English teachers who did not have adequate workload following staff fixation. Ironically, the government school teachers who were discharged for want of vacancies, on Friday had received appointments through the state PSC.

Though the government has assured that these teachers would be given appointments once regular higher secondary school teacher-junior (HSST-jr) vacancies arise, the teachers unions are not convinced. They contended that the issue could have been addressed by redeployment of teachers or deputation to other wings of the general education department.

The terminated teachers posts were earlier treated as supernumerary till March 31, 2023. After their continuance in service beyond March 31 seemed doubtful, the teacher's unions approached the government demanding an extension.

Recently, General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the government was considering the matter favourably. He added that a case regarding the teaching posts was pending before the court, and a decision was awaited.

Anil M George of the Higher Secondary School Teachers Association (HSSTA), said such a move was unheard of in the states education sector. In 2018, when many higher secondary teaching posts became excess in aided schools following staff fixation, the government had treated these posts as supernumerary till their retirement. However, in the case of government school teachers, the posts were made supernumerary for a brief period and eventually terminated, he said.

HSSTA has urged the government to withdraw the order and to redeploy the 67 English teachers in various sections of the general education department. This would ensure that there is no break in service for the teachers, many of whom had received appointments through PSC after waiting for many years.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an unprecedented move, the state government has sacked 67 junior higher secondary English teachers who did not have adequate workload following staff fixation. Ironically, the government school teachers who were discharged for want of vacancies, on Friday had received appointments through the state PSC. Though the government has assured that these teachers would be given appointments once regular higher secondary school teacher-junior (HSST-jr) vacancies arise, the teachers unions are not convinced. They contended that the issue could have been addressed by redeployment of teachers or deputation to other wings of the general education department. The terminated teachers posts were earlier treated as supernumerary till March 31, 2023. After their continuance in service beyond March 31 seemed doubtful, the teacher's unions approached the government demanding an extension.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Recently, General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the government was considering the matter favourably. He added that a case regarding the teaching posts was pending before the court, and a decision was awaited. Anil M George of the Higher Secondary School Teachers Association (HSSTA), said such a move was unheard of in the states education sector. In 2018, when many higher secondary teaching posts became excess in aided schools following staff fixation, the government had treated these posts as supernumerary till their retirement. However, in the case of government school teachers, the posts were made supernumerary for a brief period and eventually terminated, he said. HSSTA has urged the government to withdraw the order and to redeploy the 67 English teachers in various sections of the general education department. This would ensure that there is no break in service for the teachers, many of whom had received appointments through PSC after waiting for many years.
Mayank Bhusan Pani By

Express News Service

SAMBALPUR: Deepali Das is a chip off the old block. The 26-year-old always had the chutzpa her late father Naba Kishore Das displayed. When Biju Janata Dal supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced her as partys candidate for Jharsuguda bypoll on Friday, it only seemed natural progression for the management graduate.

On January 29, when Das senior fell to the bullets of an ASI at Brajarajnagar, Deepali was in Europe. The family was shattered. A grief-stricken Deepali returned and quietly shouldered the responsibility. She spoke about her fathers loss, love and affection the electorate heaped on the three-time legislator as well as how BJD boss stood with them like a father figure during the hour of personal tragedy.

With her nomination, the baton has been passed on. Naba Das who was elected as Jharsuguda MLA on a Congress ticket twice in 2009 and 2014 had switched to BJD in 2018 and continued his winning streak in 2019. Deepali first came to limelight when she joined her father in government and private meetings after the 2019 elections. She started working at the grassroots level in Jharsuguda under Narsingh Bishnupriya Charitable Trust and quickly endeared herself with her work during the Covid crisis. Eventually, Deepali was seen as the representative of minister in her constituency.

Born in 1997, Deepali Das studied at DAV Public School, Burla before moving to Rajasthan where she completed Plus Two from Mody School in Lakshmangarh. She then went on to get her BCom from KC College, Mumbai, and then pursued MBA in Public Relations and Communication from EU Business School at Barcelona, Spain.

Months before Naba Das death, Deepali was seen actively campaigning during Padampur by-elections in November last for BJD candidate Barsha Singh Bariha. Barsha too had lost her father Bijay Ranjan Singh Bairha and was picked by BJD to take up the mantle.

After the death of the minister, people of Jharsuguda expected Deepali would be chosen to step into her fathers shoes. She was seen at various social functions during the last month. It is a very big day for my entire family and my father would have been happy if he were here. I am indebted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for having shown faith in me. I feel proud to be selected by the BJD, she told mediapersons after the formal announcement by the ruling party.

Deepali said her only objective will be to work for development of Jharsuguda. Being a woman, she said, working towards empowerment of woman in the constituency and bringing them to the mainstream will be her priority. Her fathers memory was right up there. My constant focus will be to keep my father alive in the minds of the people of Jharsuguda by following in his path.



SAMBALPUR: Deepali Das is a chip off the old block. The 26-year-old always had the chutzpa her late father Naba Kishore Das displayed. When Biju Janata Dal supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced her as partys candidate for Jharsuguda bypoll on Friday, it only seemed natural progression for the management graduate. On January 29, when Das senior fell to the bullets of an ASI at Brajarajnagar, Deepali was in Europe. The family was shattered. A grief-stricken Deepali returned and quietly shouldered the responsibility. She spoke about her fathers loss, love and affection the electorate heaped on the three-time legislator as well as how BJD boss stood with them like a father figure during the hour of personal tragedy. With her nomination, the baton has been passed on. Naba Das who was elected as Jharsuguda MLA on a Congress ticket twice in 2009 and 2014 had switched to BJD in 2018 and continued his winning streak in 2019. Deepali first came to limelight when she joined her father in government and private meetings after the 2019 elections. She started working at the grassroots level in Jharsuguda under Narsingh Bishnupriya Charitable Trust and quickly endeared herself with her work during the Covid crisis. Eventually, Deepali was seen as the representative of minister in her constituency. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Born in 1997, Deepali Das studied at DAV Public School, Burla before moving to Rajasthan where she completed Plus Two from Mody School in Lakshmangarh. She then went on to get her BCom from KC College, Mumbai, and then pursued MBA in Public Relations and Communication from EU Business School at Barcelona, Spain. Months before Naba Das death, Deepali was seen actively campaigning during Padampur by-elections in November last for BJD candidate Barsha Singh Bariha. Barsha too had lost her father Bijay Ranjan Singh Bairha and was picked by BJD to take up the mantle. After the death of the minister, people of Jharsuguda expected Deepali would be chosen to step into her fathers shoes. She was seen at various social functions during the last month. It is a very big day for my entire family and my father would have been happy if he were here. I am indebted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for having shown faith in me. I feel proud to be selected by the BJD, she told mediapersons after the formal announcement by the ruling party. Deepali said her only objective will be to work for development of Jharsuguda. Being a woman, she said, working towards empowerment of woman in the constituency and bringing them to the mainstream will be her priority. Her fathers memory was right up there. My constant focus will be to keep my father alive in the minds of the people of Jharsuguda by following in his path.
Binita Jaiswal and Novinston Lobo By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: After two days of protest by the students of Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, Kalakshetra Foundation, demanding action against a few faculty members over complaints of sexual harassment, the Chennai city police late on Friday booked assistant professor Hari Padman under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment) 509 (use of words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and Section 4 of Women Harassment Act.

Security was beefed up at Kalakshetra

campus on Friday | Ashwin Prasath

The complaint was lodged by a former student at an All Women Police station in the city. Police sources said the man was sending obscene messages and comments to her through social media. The victim had also mentioned that the faculty harassed her while she was studying at the institute and she had to discontinue her studies because of him. The accused kept harassing her even after she left the institution, a senior police officer said.

The development comes on a day when Chief Minister M K Stalin promised thorough investigation and action against wrongdoers in the Tamil Nadu assembly. Over 100 students gave written complaints to the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu womens commission who visited the campus and also called off their two-day sit-in protest on the campus on Friday.

The protesting students also sent letters to the CM and union culture minister seeking action against four male teachers. The letter written by a newly-formed Kalakshetra students union, which was shared by the students with TNIE, said students have been facing sexual and verbal abuse and harassment for decades from assistant professor Hari Padman, and repertory artists Sanjit Lal, Sai Krishnan, and Sreenath. They have also been facing body shaming, verbal abuse and casteist remarks from serving director Revathi Ramachandran and head of the dance department, Dr Jyolsana Menon, the letter said.

TN womens panel chief holds talks with students for 4 hours

The management of the foundation failed to give satisfactory answers to queries on why no action was taken on the sexual harassment complaints from students, said AS Kumari, chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, who conducted an inquiry with the students on the campus for four hours on Friday. Responding to the issue raised by members of various political parties in the assembly during zero hour, the CM said,

When the issue was brought to my notice, I spoke to the district collector and got the details. A team of revenue and police officials was sent to Kalakshetra for inquiry. On Friday morning, this team met the students and the Kalakshetra administration and had discussions. A police team headed by a woman inspector has been posted there to ensure the safety of the girl students.

Kumari also interacted with a few former students via video call and said she will submit her detailed report to the CM by Monday. I have received over 100 written complaints from students. We will examine the complaints and will submit our report to the state government by Monday, she said. However, she refused to divulge the complaint details received from students, citing confidentiality.

Kumari said the management of the foundation failed to give satisfactory answers to her queries. The director and deputy director were not present on the campus. I met the principal and when I asked him why no action was taken on the sexual harassment allegations so far, he had no answer, she said.

The womens panel chief also said that students have expressed their willingness to write the examination which was postponed abruptly by the management on Thursday. I will take up the issue with the institutes director. I have also advised the students to call off the agitation, Kumari said.

(With inputs from T Muruganandham)

CHENNAI: After two days of protest by the students of Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, Kalakshetra Foundation, demanding action against a few faculty members over complaints of sexual harassment, the Chennai city police late on Friday booked assistant professor Hari Padman under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment) 509 (use of words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and Section 4 of Women Harassment Act. Security was beefed up at Kalakshetra campus on Friday | Ashwin PrasathThe complaint was lodged by a former student at an All Women Police station in the city. Police sources said the man was sending obscene messages and comments to her through social media. The victim had also mentioned that the faculty harassed her while she was studying at the institute and she had to discontinue her studies because of him. The accused kept harassing her even after she left the institution, a senior police officer said. The development comes on a day when Chief Minister M K Stalin promised thorough investigation and action against wrongdoers in the Tamil Nadu assembly. Over 100 students gave written complaints to the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu womens commission who visited the campus and also called off their two-day sit-in protest on the campus on Friday. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The protesting students also sent letters to the CM and union culture minister seeking action against four male teachers. The letter written by a newly-formed Kalakshetra students union, which was shared by the students with TNIE, said students have been facing sexual and verbal abuse and harassment for decades from assistant professor Hari Padman, and repertory artists Sanjit Lal, Sai Krishnan, and Sreenath. They have also been facing body shaming, verbal abuse and casteist remarks from serving director Revathi Ramachandran and head of the dance department, Dr Jyolsana Menon, the letter said. TN womens panel chief holds talks with students for 4 hours The management of the foundation failed to give satisfactory answers to queries on why no action was taken on the sexual harassment complaints from students, said AS Kumari, chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, who conducted an inquiry with the students on the campus for four hours on Friday. Responding to the issue raised by members of various political parties in the assembly during zero hour, the CM said, When the issue was brought to my notice, I spoke to the district collector and got the details. A team of revenue and police officials was sent to Kalakshetra for inquiry. On Friday morning, this team met the students and the Kalakshetra administration and had discussions. A police team headed by a woman inspector has been posted there to ensure the safety of the girl students. Kumari also interacted with a few former students via video call and said she will submit her detailed report to the CM by Monday. I have received over 100 written complaints from students. We will examine the complaints and will submit our report to the state government by Monday, she said. However, she refused to divulge the complaint details received from students, citing confidentiality. Kumari said the management of the foundation failed to give satisfactory answers to her queries. The director and deputy director were not present on the campus. I met the principal and when I asked him why no action was taken on the sexual harassment allegations so far, he had no answer, she said. The womens panel chief also said that students have expressed their willingness to write the examination which was postponed abruptly by the management on Thursday. I will take up the issue with the institutes director. I have also advised the students to call off the agitation, Kumari said. (With inputs from T Muruganandham)
Sandip Ghose By

There is a widespread notion that while talking about Hilsa with Bengalis, one must keep a bucket handy to hold their rush of saliva. That is, of course, an exaggeration. Not all Bengalis are crazy about Iilish as Hilsa is known. It is more of an East Bengal phenomenon. People of West Bengal, or 'Ghoti-s', as they are called, do like Hilsa but dont get into raptures over it. Whereas for a "Bangal" -- people originating from the erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Hilsa is not just a fish, it is a cult and part of the collective Bangladeshi consciousness. You can take Bangladeshis out of Bangladesh -- but you cannot take the love of Iilish out of them no matter which corner of the world they reside in.

Hilsa has been officially declared as the 'national fish' of Bangladesh. The country produces over five lakh tons of Hilsa, which constitutes eighty-five percent of Hilsa supplies in the world. But the species is not unique to Bangladesh.

Other than India, it is found in Myanmar, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and, also, in the Persian Gulf -- Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. It is essentially an estuarine fish belonging to the herring family that travels upstream on the river to spawn during monsoons. In India, apart from the Ganga Delta of Bengal, lower Brahmaputra in Assam, Mahanadi in Odisha, Godavari in Andhra Pradesh -- one does find Hilsa in the Narmada on the West Coast that are sold in Mumbai as Pala. But just like Norwegian Salmon or the Pacific Tuna, there is no dispute that Bangladeshi Hilsa is the gold standard and barring the ones in the Hooghly (or Ganges) nothing comes close to it.

Thanks to the skyrocketing price of Iilish and restrictions on exports by Bangladesh of late some Hilsa from Myanmar and Gulf have been making their way into the Kolkata market. Between the two Irrawaddy Hilsa is passable. Myanmar is, in fact, the second largest exporter of Hilsa and is often found in Bangladeshi stores in the US, where it scores over the Potomac Shad that the Bengali diaspora had to make do in the past. But ones that come via Dubai are barely recognisable distant cousins of the Bengal Hilsa.

ALSO READ | Punjabi food: Of Kwality, Chicken Tikka Butter Masala and dhabas

In West Bengal, traditionally, Iilish has been a seasonal fish. The 'ghotis', in general, thrive on smaller fishes that breed in ponds and some larger varieties like Rohu and Bhetki that are farmed inland fisheries in brackish water. They are partial towards the Chingri of all sizes and strains -- Bagda (Tiger Prawns), Galda (Baby Lobsters), Chabra and Kucho (Shrimps) found inland and the coast of the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, being a riverine country with massive river systems has a crop of large fishes like Aar, Boal and Chitol. So, there is a fundamental difference in the piscine preference on the two sides of the border.

The 'ghotis' have a limited range of Iilish preparations. In West Bengal, Iilish usually comprises only a part of a meal along with other varieties of fish, meat and vegetable preparations. Whereas Bangladeshis often have Iilish cooked in multiple forms as different courses of the same meal. So a Bangladeshi meal can start with Iilish 'Bhorta' made with dried Hilsa, Ilisher Deem (Fried Fish Roe), Illish Machher Petty Bhaja (Fried Hilsa Belly), Iilish Macher Matha with Kochu-saag (Hilsa Fish Head with Taro Leaves and Stem), Illishe er Tel Jhaal or Iilish Shroshe Bata (Hilsa Curry in Oil or Mustard Sauce) and end with Iilish Macher Tok (Hilsa Chutney). This is excluding some of the exotic preparations made on special occasions. As per one count, Bangladeshis have over two hundred recipes of Hilsa.

The 'Ghotis' are less adventurous with the Iilish. As unitary families are further shrinking with the children flying off the nest and home cooks becoming scarcer, Hilsa lunches are becoming popular in the clubs of Kolkata. However, they are no match for a typical Bangladeshi Hilsa feast. The most elaborate fare in West Bengal would not have more than three or four items of Hilsa. Thats probably the maximum a dyspeptic Ghoti can consume at one go. Luckily I have both West Bengal (my mother was pure 'Ghoti') and East Bengal (my father's family came from Faridpur, now in Bangladesh) genes -- so come somewhere in between -- though even I cannot compete with the voracious appetite of a Bangal when it comes to Iilish.

ALSO READ | The joy of getting into a pickle in India

The taste of Hilsa comes primarily from the oil in its fatty belly. The optimal size of a mature fish is between three to four pounds. Fresh Hilsa deep fried in mustard oil is a treat in itself. The belly fat, extracted separately and melted, mixed with rice tastes divine with a bite of green chillies. Being a soft fish with high fat, it does not need much cooking. It is lightly-steamed with mustard paste, a few split green chillies thrown in and a drizzle of raw mustard oil on top for finishing. In West Bengal, the Taro leaves (Kochu - shaak) are replaced with Malabar Spinach (Pui - Shaak) for making a "chhochori" (vegetable) with the fish head. On a regular day - instead of the more spicy shorshe baata or bhapa (steamed) iilish - Bong Moms would make a light curry with aubergine and nigella seeds (kalonji or kalo-jeera) for a simple family lunch.

In recent years, many Bangladeshi restaurants have opened in Kolkata and spread to other cities of West Bengal. The trend was started by Kasturi - which now has several branches across Kolkata and the suburbs. Believe there is one in Bhubaneswar too. They get their own supplies of Hilsa from Bangladesh that gives them a competitive edge. Thanks to them the Kolkatans have been introduced to other forms of Hilsa like Iilish Bhuna. However, the credit for bringing back some classic Hilsa recipes goes to Anjan Chatterjee. His Oh Calcutta holds an annual Hilsa festival which serves some rare Iilish preparations. My personal favourite is Aam-tel Iilish. In the Oh Calcutta version - prime pieces of hilsa are marinated in the oil of mango pickle, wrapped in pumpkin leaves and steamed in a clay pot with rice. With the oil drippings mixed in the garam bhaat (hot rice), it is truly a gourmet affair.

The legendary Firpo's of yore had invented Smoked Hilsa for the sahibs. In it, the deboned fillets of the fish were marinated in anchovy sauce and roasted over charcoal on a bed of sweetened puffed rice. Oh Calcutta carried the innovation further with boneless Shorshe Iilish to make it accessible for people who cannot tackle the fine pin bones. I believe he has introduced a Pickled Hilsa in his nouvelle Calcutta cuisine restaurant in London. I am yet to try it -- though I suspect, when in London, I am more likely to crawl up to a Bangladeshi restaurant in Brick Lane than a Piccadilly fine dining eatery.

There is a widespread notion that while talking about Hilsa with Bengalis, one must keep a bucket handy to hold their rush of saliva. That is, of course, an exaggeration. Not all Bengalis are crazy about Iilish as Hilsa is known. It is more of an East Bengal phenomenon. People of West Bengal, or 'Ghoti-s', as they are called, do like Hilsa but dont get into raptures over it. Whereas for a "Bangal" -- people originating from the erstwhile East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Hilsa is not just a fish, it is a cult and part of the collective Bangladeshi consciousness. You can take Bangladeshis out of Bangladesh -- but you cannot take the love of Iilish out of them no matter which corner of the world they reside in. Hilsa has been officially declared as the 'national fish' of Bangladesh. The country produces over five lakh tons of Hilsa, which constitutes eighty-five percent of Hilsa supplies in the world. But the species is not unique to Bangladesh. Other than India, it is found in Myanmar, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and, also, in the Persian Gulf -- Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. It is essentially an estuarine fish belonging to the herring family that travels upstream on the river to spawn during monsoons. In India, apart from the Ganga Delta of Bengal, lower Brahmaputra in Assam, Mahanadi in Odisha, Godavari in Andhra Pradesh -- one does find Hilsa in the Narmada on the West Coast that are sold in Mumbai as Pala. But just like Norwegian Salmon or the Pacific Tuna, there is no dispute that Bangladeshi Hilsa is the gold standard and barring the ones in the Hooghly (or Ganges) nothing comes close to it.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Thanks to the skyrocketing price of Iilish and restrictions on exports by Bangladesh of late some Hilsa from Myanmar and Gulf have been making their way into the Kolkata market. Between the two Irrawaddy Hilsa is passable. Myanmar is, in fact, the second largest exporter of Hilsa and is often found in Bangladeshi stores in the US, where it scores over the Potomac Shad that the Bengali diaspora had to make do in the past. But ones that come via Dubai are barely recognisable distant cousins of the Bengal Hilsa. ALSO READ | Punjabi food: Of Kwality, Chicken Tikka Butter Masala and dhabas In West Bengal, traditionally, Iilish has been a seasonal fish. The 'ghotis', in general, thrive on smaller fishes that breed in ponds and some larger varieties like Rohu and Bhetki that are farmed inland fisheries in brackish water. They are partial towards the Chingri of all sizes and strains -- Bagda (Tiger Prawns), Galda (Baby Lobsters), Chabra and Kucho (Shrimps) found inland and the coast of the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh, on the other hand, being a riverine country with massive river systems has a crop of large fishes like Aar, Boal and Chitol. So, there is a fundamental difference in the piscine preference on the two sides of the border. The 'ghotis' have a limited range of Iilish preparations. In West Bengal, Iilish usually comprises only a part of a meal along with other varieties of fish, meat and vegetable preparations. Whereas Bangladeshis often have Iilish cooked in multiple forms as different courses of the same meal. So a Bangladeshi meal can start with Iilish 'Bhorta' made with dried Hilsa, Ilisher Deem (Fried Fish Roe), Illish Machher Petty Bhaja (Fried Hilsa Belly), Iilish Macher Matha with Kochu-saag (Hilsa Fish Head with Taro Leaves and Stem), Illishe er Tel Jhaal or Iilish Shroshe Bata (Hilsa Curry in Oil or Mustard Sauce) and end with Iilish Macher Tok (Hilsa Chutney). This is excluding some of the exotic preparations made on special occasions. As per one count, Bangladeshis have over two hundred recipes of Hilsa. The 'Ghotis' are less adventurous with the Iilish. As unitary families are further shrinking with the children flying off the nest and home cooks becoming scarcer, Hilsa lunches are becoming popular in the clubs of Kolkata. However, they are no match for a typical Bangladeshi Hilsa feast. The most elaborate fare in West Bengal would not have more than three or four items of Hilsa. Thats probably the maximum a dyspeptic Ghoti can consume at one go. Luckily I have both West Bengal (my mother was pure 'Ghoti') and East Bengal (my father's family came from Faridpur, now in Bangladesh) genes -- so come somewhere in between -- though even I cannot compete with the voracious appetite of a Bangal when it comes to Iilish. ALSO READ | The joy of getting into a pickle in India The taste of Hilsa comes primarily from the oil in its fatty belly. The optimal size of a mature fish is between three to four pounds. Fresh Hilsa deep fried in mustard oil is a treat in itself. The belly fat, extracted separately and melted, mixed with rice tastes divine with a bite of green chillies. Being a soft fish with high fat, it does not need much cooking. It is lightly-steamed with mustard paste, a few split green chillies thrown in and a drizzle of raw mustard oil on top for finishing. In West Bengal, the Taro leaves (Kochu - shaak) are replaced with Malabar Spinach (Pui - Shaak) for making a "chhochori" (vegetable) with the fish head. On a regular day - instead of the more spicy shorshe baata or bhapa (steamed) iilish - Bong Moms would make a light curry with aubergine and nigella seeds (kalonji or kalo-jeera) for a simple family lunch. In recent years, many Bangladeshi restaurants have opened in Kolkata and spread to other cities of West Bengal. The trend was started by Kasturi - which now has several branches across Kolkata and the suburbs. Believe there is one in Bhubaneswar too. They get their own supplies of Hilsa from Bangladesh that gives them a competitive edge. Thanks to them the Kolkatans have been introduced to other forms of Hilsa like Iilish Bhuna. However, the credit for bringing back some classic Hilsa recipes goes to Anjan Chatterjee. His Oh Calcutta holds an annual Hilsa festival which serves some rare Iilish preparations. My personal favourite is Aam-tel Iilish. In the Oh Calcutta version - prime pieces of hilsa are marinated in the oil of mango pickle, wrapped in pumpkin leaves and steamed in a clay pot with rice. With the oil drippings mixed in the garam bhaat (hot rice), it is truly a gourmet affair. The legendary Firpo's of yore had invented Smoked Hilsa for the sahibs. In it, the deboned fillets of the fish were marinated in anchovy sauce and roasted over charcoal on a bed of sweetened puffed rice. Oh Calcutta carried the innovation further with boneless Shorshe Iilish to make it accessible for people who cannot tackle the fine pin bones. I believe he has introduced a Pickled Hilsa in his nouvelle Calcutta cuisine restaurant in London. I am yet to try it -- though I suspect, when in London, I am more likely to crawl up to a Bangladeshi restaurant in Brick Lane than a Piccadilly fine dining eatery.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. The relations between Azerbaijan and China have been of the nature of strategic partnership. Personal efforts of President Ilham Aliyev, his close relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, have been the key elements in the successful development of relations between the two countries. But today, as major changes occur on the global geopolitical map, strengthening the cooperation between Azerbaijan and China is more important than ever. And both the countries are on the fast track to achieve enormous progress in various fields, both separately and together. Strong political platform has been established long time ago, and, now, the creation of a framework for economic cooperation is underway.

The war in Ukraine has basically shaped the new world order. As old ways of cooperation no longer fit, everyone is rapidly searching for new partners, resources and transport routes. Here is when Azerbaijan, together with China, comes in hand.

Friendly relations between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Xi Jinping play an important role in achieving the current high level of bilateral relations. Xi Jinping himself calls President Ilham Aliyev a great friend of China.

Chinas role today is steeply increasing, thanks to its strong economy and political will. Thus, high level of relations between Azerbaijan and China is of particular importance for Azerbaijans national interests, first and foremost.

Transport cooperation is, perhaps, is the most important pillar on which the two countries have to focus on. With the development within the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), of the so-called Middle Corridor, as well as with the proposal of new initiatives, such as the Zangazur corridor, Azerbaijan has truly become an international logistics and transport hub. Azerbaijan has also joined the One Belt, One Road initiative, which has been the centerpiece of Chinas foreign policy in recent years, and is actively developing within it.

President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with Chinese CGTN (China Global Television Network) TV channel in Davos back in January called the Belt and Road Initiative a very wise and timely project.

"Azerbaijan actively joined from the very beginning, and we started to invest in the infrastructure, which was not in place. So, over the last ten years, we built one of the largest, if not the largest, trade seaports in the Caspian, with a capacity of 15 million t, which we plan to expand to 25 million t. We build a shipyard to be able to manufacture the vessels to transport cargo across the Caspian. We invested largely in the railroad infrastructure, not only in Azerbaijan but also in the neighborhood. And now, we have allocated additional investments to expand the capacity of this railroad from Baku to the western destination. And we did all the necessary other projects, like highways and airports," President Ilham Aliyev said.

Cooperation in transport sector, within the Belt and Road project in particular, has boosted the volume of cargo transported from China through Azerbaijan to the West. The trade turnover between the two countries also saw growth over the last year. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic, that shook the whole world, could not but affect the cooperation between Azerbaijan and China. However, compared to the pre-pandemic figures, the trade turnover between the two countries in 2022 did not see any dramatic decrease and amounted to $2.15 billion ($2.18 billion in 2019). The stable increase is particularly evident, if compared annually. The figure of 2022 has increased by 20.7 percent year-on-year ($1.78 billion in 2021). Both in 2022, and 2021, China ranked fourth among the main trade partners for Azerbaijan.

In the same interview, President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that the Middle Corridor has a great future within the Belt and Road, and all other transport projects that China initiates, because, after all, all those routes will have to take their way through the Caspian.

"So, the "Belt and Road" Initiative also activated transportation through different routes, particularly north-south. And now we'll also talk about the Northwest. So, it's really a global project that is moving successfully, and all the countries on route already see the benefits. Of course, it depends on the strategies of the countries and how they treat the transportation projects. For us, it was one of the main factors in our efforts to diversify our economy and reduce our dependence on oil and gas revenues. So I can tell you that last year, the transits through Azerbaijan increased by 75%, not only because of the infrastructure but also because of proper management. And the measures that have been taken allow us to speed up the process of cargo transportation to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles and make it physically more attractive," President Ilham Aliyev said.

The geopolitical landscape of Eurasia is changing rapidly. However, the role of Azerbaijan within the framework of the Middle Corridor and the Chinese Belt and Road initiative is increasing day by day. Thanks to clear and farsighted foreign policy of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan is at the forefront in the Greater Eurasia region. China is expanding to the West, and the development of the Middle Corridor has become important for the further integration and connectivity of the Eurasian region. Thus, Azerbaijan and its initiatives are of paramount importance in the socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic orientation of China and the whole of Eurasia.
By PTI

PESHAWAR: A Christian man was gunned down by a few unknown men in Pakistan's northwestern region on Saturday, police said.

The incident happened when Kashif Masih was at his home in Peshawar's Sufaid Dheri Pishtakhara area.

"Kashif Masih was gunned down while at home by a few unknown men," police said, adding that efforts to nab the culprits are being made.

This is the second incident of target killing of minority members in the last 24 hours in Peshawar as Sikh trader Diyal Singh was murdered on Friday.

Muslims account for about 96 per cent of Pakistan's 207 million population, Hindus 2.1 per cent and Christians about 1.6 per cent according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimates.

PESHAWAR: A Christian man was gunned down by a few unknown men in Pakistan's northwestern region on Saturday, police said. The incident happened when Kashif Masih was at his home in Peshawar's Sufaid Dheri Pishtakhara area. "Kashif Masih was gunned down while at home by a few unknown men," police said, adding that efforts to nab the culprits are being made.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); This is the second incident of target killing of minority members in the last 24 hours in Peshawar as Sikh trader Diyal Singh was murdered on Friday. Muslims account for about 96 per cent of Pakistan's 207 million population, Hindus 2.1 per cent and Christians about 1.6 per cent according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimates.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In an updated foreign policy that Russia announced on Friday, it said that it faced 'existential threats' to its security and development from 'unfriendly states', adding that it will build a privileged strategic partnership with India.

The 42-page document sets out changes to Russias view of the world  in particular its increasing confrontational relationship with the West.

"Russia will continue to build up a particularly privileged strategic partnership with India with a view to enhance and expand cooperation in all areas on a mutually beneficial basis and place special emphasis on increasing the volume of bilateral trade, strengthening investment and technological ties, and ensuring their resistance to destructive actions of unfriendly states and their alliances," according to their foreign policy.

ALSO READ | India inks deal to ramp up Russian oil imports

Russia has constantly supported India in G20 and SCO and has also spoken about continued enhancement of bilateral trade in defence and oil sector. Recently, Russias Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, had said that Russia had increased its oil exports to India by a massive 2200 per cent since sanctions. India has increased oil imports from Russia as it gets a good discount and continued supplies.

"In order to help adapt the world order to the realities of a multipolar world, Russia, the policy says, intends to make it one of priorities to enhance the capacity and international role of the interstate association of BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the RIC (Russia, India, China) and other interstate associations and international organizations, as well as mechanisms with strong Russian participation," the policy says.

Russia says that its foreign policy is independent and driven by its national interests and the awareness of its special responsibility for maintaining peace and security at the global and regional levels.

"Russian foreign policy is peaceful, open, predictable, consistent, and pragmatic and is based on the respect for universally recognized principles and norms of international law and the desire for equitable international cooperation in order to solve common problems and promote common interests," the document adds.

NEW DELHI: In an updated foreign policy that Russia announced on Friday, it said that it faced 'existential threats' to its security and development from 'unfriendly states', adding that it will build a privileged strategic partnership with India. The 42-page document sets out changes to Russias view of the world  in particular its increasing confrontational relationship with the West. "Russia will continue to build up a particularly privileged strategic partnership with India with a view to enhance and expand cooperation in all areas on a mutually beneficial basis and place special emphasis on increasing the volume of bilateral trade, strengthening investment and technological ties, and ensuring their resistance to destructive actions of unfriendly states and their alliances," according to their foreign policy.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); ALSO READ | India inks deal to ramp up Russian oil imports Russia has constantly supported India in G20 and SCO and has also spoken about continued enhancement of bilateral trade in defence and oil sector. Recently, Russias Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, had said that Russia had increased its oil exports to India by a massive 2200 per cent since sanctions. India has increased oil imports from Russia as it gets a good discount and continued supplies. "In order to help adapt the world order to the realities of a multipolar world, Russia, the policy says, intends to make it one of priorities to enhance the capacity and international role of the interstate association of BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the RIC (Russia, India, China) and other interstate associations and international organizations, as well as mechanisms with strong Russian participation," the policy says. Russia says that its foreign policy is independent and driven by its national interests and the awareness of its special responsibility for maintaining peace and security at the global and regional levels. "Russian foreign policy is peaceful, open, predictable, consistent, and pragmatic and is based on the respect for universally recognized principles and norms of international law and the desire for equitable international cooperation in order to solve common problems and promote common interests," the document adds.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 31. The 3rd Meeting of Energy Ministers of the Member States of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Budapest, Hungary, signaled the continuation of the transformation of the OTS into a crucial regional organization. Despite the common Turkic cultural heritage of the countries, each state in the Organization has a unique set of opportunities and challenges they face. After all, the issues in front of them are dictated by regional dynamics, which is highly specific in any given case.

Despite these set of issues and challenges, the OTS became a beacon that united Turkic states under the banner of their common Turkic heritage. Initially, most people regarded the organization merely as a cultural forum. However, as time passed by, it became evident that the Organization of Turkic States offers considerably more than being a simple cultural forum.

The perfect example of the above-mentioned argument is the 3rd Meeting of Energy Ministers and the avenues that it opens up to the participants, observers, other regional states, and economic blocs. The benefits that the Organization offers are numerous, and if used wisely, the OTS may become an important piece of the regional international relations system.

The platform with diverse representation

The diversity of member states and observer countries is one of the key strong points of the OTS. The presence of Turkiye, Hungary, Azerbaijan, and Central Asian states offers a unique opportunity for discussion in a multilateral format. Additionally, their joint discussions in an organization with a small number of states make reaching a consensus on issues of interest easier, compared to other regional organizations.

The Organization of Turkic States offers an interesting medium for communication between states and economic blocs with each other. Particularly, the OTS may serve as a bridge between the Turkic states and the European Union. The Turkic states may find it appealing to find a common framework for multilateral cooperation with their European partners, which will complement bilateral relations between the EU and any particular member of the OTS. Additionally, such cooperation will offer a unique dynamic to various fields of cooperation between the OTS member countries and the EU.

From the perspective of the EU, potential cooperation with the Organization of Turkic States will offer several highly specific benefits. First, the EU will find it very easy to build relations with the OTS due to the presence of Hungary. This will make the dialogue between the sides go smoother.

Systemic approach to cooperation

The second benefit is crucial, as it goes in line with the EUs long-term strategic interests and vision. The OTS unites several important oil and gas exporting countries, such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, in addition to having Turkiye, a major oil and gas transit country, onboard. The puzzle is being completed by Hungary, which is already working on fostering gas cooperation with Azerbaijan. Additionally, the OTS hydrocarbon exporting countries also started their transition to becoming energy exporters, which will introduce additional opportunities for cooperation in the future.

Consequently, the OTS offers a systemic approach to oil, gas and energy transit. This system, despite still being under development, offers a credible solution to the EUs existing problem of energy security. In this context, the opportunities that the Organization presents for the EU can be very appealing, should the EU be willing to engage in dialogue with the OTS.

A similar approach can be taken regarding transport cooperation. Currently, it is impossible to use the trade route via Russia, due to the sanction imposed on Moscow. The trade route through Iran is inaccessible for a similar reason. Under these circumstances, the only possible way to link Western and Eastern countries is via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), also known as the Middle Corridor. As of today, this is the only route that bypasses Iran and Russia, thus making it possible to execute trade operations between Europe and Asia.

The access to this route lies through Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The three countries serve as a gateway to tapping into the global trade potential. Being able to foster a relationship with the OTS may offer the EU in general, and its member states individually, a very beneficial partnership that will impact all involved economies positively.

Overall, the EU may find cooperation with the OTS highly beneficial in two strategic areas. Currently, Turkic states offer credible solutions to the critical issues that the EU seeks to address. Establishing close relations with the Organization may foster the EUs image in the Turkic countries significantly.

OTS as a potential regional integration model

The development trajectory of the OTS suggests that the decision-makers opted to transform it from a cultural organization to an all-encompassing body, which offers a platform for dialogue on strategically important issues. As the Organization transformed to its current state, it became clear that energy is one of these issues, due to the demands dictated by the geopolitical shifts.

Despite the growing significance of the OTS, there is significant potential for further improvements to be made. Perhaps, it is somewhat early to make such a bold prediction, however, it is looking increasingly likely that, at least, some countries in the Organization will see an increase in the level of integration. This would be necessary to streamline their joint operations in the framework of the projects that they are involved in. For example, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan would benefit immensely from harmonizing existing customs procedures, as it would lead to a reduction of time that the goods spend in transit through the Middle Corridor. This is one of the examples of possibilities that OTS offers to its member states. The potential closer cooperation between the national institutions may lead to an even higher level of integration between the nations, which will, consequently, benefit all involved parties.

The possibilities for closer integration will present themselves in the process of implementation of major projects, but even now the potential is observable. This would be a very welcome development for all states involved because, in the existing political climate, there are limited regional organizations, which treated the participants as equals.

The transformation of the OTS is an interesting development for the participants of the organization and other political actors. The growing stature of the Organization will draw attention to it, which will turn it into a regional platform for communication between the East and West.

It would be particularly interesting to see whether the EU chooses to cooperate with the Organization of Turkic States, as the benefits to be had by this cooperation are too valuable to overlook. The EU can have tangible and intangible benefits from such cooperation.

Finally, the transformation of the Organization brings the member states closer. For example, during the 3rd Meeting of Energy Ministers Askhat Khasenov, Deputy Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, invited the member countries to participate in the joint development of energy deposits in Kazakhstan. Such opportunities exist in other fields as well, and the countries will only benefit in the long run from the partnership.

In conclusion, the transformation of the OTS opens up several avenues for multilateral cooperation. These partnerships can be achieved internally between the member countries, and externally with other regional entities, such as the EU.
PM Modi makes surprise visit to New Parliament Building, interacts with construction workers

New Delhi, March 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday went for a surprise visit to the New Parliament Building, sources said.

PM Modi makes surprise visit to New Parliament Building, interacts with construction workers

They said he spent more than an hour and inspected various works. He observed facilities coming up at both the Houses of the Parliament and also interacted with the construction workers.In July last year, the Prime Minister had unveiled the National Emblem cast on the roof of the New Parliament Building. He had also interacted with workers.The National Emblem is made of bronze with a total weight of 9,500 kg and is 6.5 m in height. It has been cast at the top of the central foyer of the New Parliament Building. A supporting structure of steel weighing around 6,500 kg has been constructed to support the Emblem.The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone of the New Parliament Building in December 2020. The new building is an intrinsic part of the vision of 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat'.The Central Vista project is poised to strengthen governance infrastructure by building new facilities for India's Parliament and an efficient and sustainable Central Secretariat to house all the ministries of the Government of India.The Central Vista Development and Re-development Master Plan includes construction of new Parliament building, redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue and construction of Common Central Secretariat Buildings.The New Parliament Building will have extensive usage of wooden structuresfor creation of interior as well as exterior decor, rooted in traditional motifs and elements. It will also have handknotted carpets from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh.ANI31 March 2023

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Syrian air defences shoot down Israeli missiles over Damascus

Damascus, March 31: Syrian air defences on Friday most of the Israeli missile strike that targeted military sites in Damascus.

Syrian air defences shoot down Israeli missiles over Damascus

Local media said the forces shot down most of the missiles in the sky over Damascus and its vicinity, reports Xinhua news agency.The Israeli forces carried out their attack from the Golan Heights, targeting military sites in the countryside of Damascus, the Syrian army said in a statement, adding that no casualty was reported.Xinhua reporters heard several explosions in Damascus amid the attack and the air defence responses.The attack is the second in 24 hours.After midnight Thursday, Israel launched a missile strike, injuring two soldiers and leaving damage.Israel has carried out hundreds of air attacks against targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including two missile strikes this month on Aleppo International Airport.This was the third attack by Israeli forces on the air transport facility in six months.Israel claims the strikes are aimed at bases of Iran-allied armed groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.Israel says such operations are aimed at preventing Iranian weapons from reaching armed groups in Syria that are backed by Iran.Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria's civil war, and around half of the country's pre-war population has been forced from their homes.IANS31 March 2023

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Nepals PM to expand cabinet this week, Congress to get key ministerial portfolios including finance

Kathmandu, March 31: Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda is all set to reshuffle his cabinet by the end of this week, ruling party leaders said.

Nepal's PM to expand cabinet this week, Congress to get key ministerial portfolios including finance

Rajendra Shrestha, a senior leader of the ruling Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), told India Narrative that the cabinet will be reconstituted by Saturday this week.The cabinet will acquire full shape as per the understanding reached among the partners in Nepal's ten-party ruling alliance.Shrestha of JSP said that the ten-party alliance finalized the distribution of key ministerial portfolios on Wednesday.He said that at least eight ministerial portfolios including finance and foreign affairs will be held by the Nepali Congress, the largest party in parliament. The Congress party is expected to finalize names of leaders to become ministers shortly. A meeting of the party's central working performance committee is taking place on Thursday for the same.Likewise, the Maoist party will get at least five more ministries. 'Prime Minister Prachanda is willing to keep the home ministry himself,' a leader of the Maoist party, told India Narrative.According to understanding reached among the partners in the alliance, Janata Samajbadi Party will get two ministerial portfolios, Unified Socialist will get two, Loktantrik Samajwadi, Nagarik Unmukti Party and Janata Samajbadi will get one ministerial portfolios each.The cabinet reshuffle, which was expected to be settled earlier last week, was delayed due to bickering among key partners in the ruling alliance over the distribution of ministerial portfolios.The cabinet reshuffle is expected to boost the confidence of government, which has made several pledges including post-pandemic recovery and bringing programs to revive the national economy which is hit by global crisis including Russia-Ukraine war.This will be first cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Prachanda after he got vote of confidence in mid-March for a second time in past four months. He was appointed as the prime minister in December 2022 in alliance with the CPN (UML) led by KP Sharma Oli after breaking an alliance with the Congress party. However, Prachanda broke alliance with the UML barely two months later and again joined hands with the Congress party in the course of presidential polls in the first week of March.Miffed at Prachanda's decision to lend support to Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudel as the country's President, the UML quit the government by recalling its eight cabinet ministers. Those ministerial portfolios fell vacant since then.Prime Minister now Prachanda enjoys support of the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), Janata Samajbadi Party, Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party, CPN (Unified Socialist), Loktantrik Samajwadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha.This ten-party new alliance is an extension to the five-party ruling alliance which existed since mid-July 2021 after the ouster of the then PM KP Oli.The five-party ruling alliance had come into existence in retaliation to Oli's move of dissolving parliament twice in December 2020 and in May 2021.(Santosh Ghimire is India Narrative's Nepal Correspondent based in Kathmandu)(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)--indianarrativeIANS31 March 2023

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Finlands membership will make alliance stronger: NATO Gen Secy

Brussels, March 31: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), General Secretary on Friday said that Finland's inclusion will strengthen the intergovernmental military alliance and added that the body hopes to welcome Sweden as full member soon.

Finland's membership will make alliance stronger: NATO Gen Secy

In a video shared by the official Twitter account of NATO Spokesperson, Oana Lungescu, the NATO General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, is heard welcoming and congratulating Finland.Stoltenberg said, "I welcome the vote by the Turkish Grand National Assembly to ratify Finland's membership in NATO. All 30 NATO allies have now ratified the accession protocol.""And I have just spoken with President Sauli Niinisto to congratulate him on this historic occasion," Stoltenberg said."Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days. The membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger. Finland has highly capable forces, advanced capabilities and strong democratic institutions. So Finland will bring a lot to our alliance," NATO General Secretary said.He said, "All allies made a historic decision last year to invite Finland and Sweden to join our alliance. Since then, we have seen the fastest ratification process in NATO's modern history. All allies agree that a rapid conclusion of the ratification process for Sweden will be in everyone's interest. I look forward to also welcoming Sweden as a full member of the NATO family as soon as possible."Turkish Parliament on March 30 voted all the way in favour of Finland's application to join NATO, clearing the last hurdle in the accession process, while also continuing to block Sweden from joining the military alliance.As per a CNN report, Ankara's vote fulfils Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "promise" to allow Finland to become part of the military alliance.Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland's accession. Following the vote, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said his country is "ready to join NATO." He further said, "All 30 NATO members have now ratified Finland's membership. I want to thank every one of them for their trust and support," according to a CNN report.Niinisto stressed that "Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the Alliance." As per the news report, he said, "We look forward to welcoming Sweden to join us as soon as possible."NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg welcomed the decision of Turkey. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Stoltenberg stated, "I welcome the vote of the Grand National Assembly of #Turkiye to complete the ratification of #Finland's accession. This will make the whole #NATO family stronger and safer."Finland and Sweden had in 2022 submitted applications to join NATO. A majority of NATO members, except for Turkey and Hungary had welcomed the applications by the two Nordic countries.Turkish President Erdogan had accused Finland and Sweden of housing Kurdish "terrorist organizations." Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Finland and Sweden were disseminating "outright lies" about his country's rule of law record, as per the CNN report.Later, the two nations softened their stance on Finland's accession. However, Hungary and Turkey continue to remain opposed to Sweden becoming part of NATO.On Monday, the Hungarian Parliament voted 182 to six in favour of Finland's application. On Wednesday, Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said there was "an ample amount of grievances that need to be addressed" before Sweden's bid to join NATO would be approved by Hungary.ANI31 March 2023

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J&K Lt Governor chairs meeting to discuss preparations for Amaranth Yatra 2023

Jammu, March 31: Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha on Friday chaired the 44th board meeting of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), in which various aspects of Yatra-2023 were discussed, an official statement said.

J&K Lt Governor chairs meeting to discuss preparations for Amaranth Yatra 2023

The Jiamp;K Lt Governor is the ex officio Chairman of the SASB.The meeting discussed the ongoing works and future projects for smooth and hassle-free pilgrimage.Principal Secretary to Lt Governor and SASB's CEO Mandeep K. Bhandari made a detailed presentation and briefed the board on various aspects of Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra-2023 including registration for Yatra, provision of helicopter services, service providers, Yatra camps, langar/NGO services, insurance cover for yatris/service providers etc.He further presented the action taken report on the decisions taken in the previous board meetings, the statement said.The Chief Engineer of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) briefed the meeting on the progress regarding maintenance, restoration iamp; development works of the Yatra tracks.Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Raj Kumar Goyal, DGP Dilbag Singh, Special DG, CID, R.R. Swain, ADGP, Jammu, Mukesh Singh, the Divisional Commissioners, Secretaries, Additional CEO, SASB and other senior officers from civil administration, SASB, the police and the army also attended the meeting, in person and through virtual mode, the statement said.The yatra to the Himalayan cave shrine in Anantnag district is held every year.Devotees visit the cave shrine for 'Darshan' of the ice stalagmite structure believed by the devotees to symbolise the powers of Lord Shiva.IANS01 April 2023

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Civil Aviation Minister Scindia meets Advisory Group on Airport Operators in Delhi

New Delhi, March 31: Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday met the Advisory Group on Airport Operators in Delhi to discuss the wide-ranging issues in the civil aviation industry.

Civil Aviation Minister Scindia meets Advisory Group on Airport Operators in Delhi

On this occasion, Civil Aviation Minister Scindia said that discussions were held on issues such as capacity enhancement security equipment and the issues related to customs.Union Minister Scindia took to Twitter and said, "Met the Advisory Group on Airport Operators to deliberate on a range of issues, such as capacity enhancement, security equipment, and customs issues. Given the positive trend of the surge in domestic traffic, we are working to ensure that the industry is ready to cater to this growth".Earlier Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said that India will become the largest civil aviation market in the next decade while addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) International Conference on Advanced and Short-Haul Air Mobility for All (ASHA) Technologies for Ease of Transport."India has crossed the pre-COVID number of air travellers by 10 per cent to reach 455,000 passengers daily, with airlines now operating at 80-90 per cent load factor," Scindia said.He said that we need more aircraft because India has an insatiable desire to travel.While stating that India is proving itself to be a manufacturing hub in the aerospace sector, Scindia invited global companies to be part of India's journey.Technology has jumped forward and has become an important protagonist in future of mankind," the minister said."In that period of change and dynamic flux, the civil aviation sector is making unimaginable strides as never before," he added.Speaking about opportunities in the advanced air mobility sector, the minister said the drone market will become a Rs 3 lakh crore market by 2030 employing 3-4 lakh persons.During the conference Union Minister Scindia also emphasised that the government was no longer a regulator but a facilitator and partner to the industry.ANI01 April 2023

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has responded to new insinuations of Spokesperson for Iranian MFA Nasser Kanaani regarding press briefing within the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramovs visit to Israel, Trend reports.

"We explained our position on allegations against Azerbaijan. Main question is why the Iranian side sticks to its systematic pattern of deviation from norm and rationality in judgment. This clearly is a biased approach. Who wants to know the truth can watch the briefing video," Spokesperson for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizada said in a tweet.

Previously, Hajizada made a statement resolutely condemning Kanaani's remarks.

"As its known, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov didnt voice anything anti-Iranian during the joint press briefing with the Israeli Foreign Minister [Eli Cohen]. In this regard, we consider this statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry as another step against Azerbaijan, he said.

According to Hajizada, Azerbaijan has never allowed its territory to be used against third states.

On the contrary, recently threats against Azerbaijan have been voiced from the territory of Iran, along with certain provocations. The examples include the conduct of military exercises by Iran along the borders of Azerbaijan, military flights over the state border, anti-Azerbaijani statements by Iranian officials, filming and displaying videos with threats to Azerbaijan near the Khudaferin bridge, involving children, by Iranian security structures such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran, the spokesperson said.

According to Hajizada, the initial results of the investigation of the terrorist attack against the Azerbaijani MP Fazil Mustafa, also point to the Iranian trail.

Today, Iranian-Armenian brotherhood is the main threat to the region. Over the past 30 years, Iran, in fact, by its tacit consent, turned a blind eye to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, he noted.

Its well known that Iran didnt resent the occupation of Azerbaijans Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur, didnt prevent the sale of building stones from destroyed houses from plundered Azerbaijani districts in Iranian markets, nor protested the destruction and desecration of 65 out of 67 existing mosques [in previously occupied Azerbaijani territories], the spokesperson reminded.

In connection with the above, we strongly condemn the statement of Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani. This statement is another step towards reducing the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations to a crisis, Hajizada said.
PM Modi likely visit to Chennai next week, BJP plans huge reception

By Payal Mehta, New Delhi, March 31: Bharatiya Janata Party is planning a huge welcome for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit likely next week in Chennai where he is likely to flag off Vande Bharat Express among other developmental programmes, sources said on Friday.

PM Modi likely visit to Chennai next week, BJP plans huge reception

Prime Minister is likely to visit Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai where he will inaugurate the new terminal of Chennai Airport, flag off the Vande Bharat Train and attend an event of the Ramakrishna Mission, sources said.The BJP is planning a massive welcome in which over 30,000 people are expected to line up the streets to welcome the Prime Minister upon his arrival.State president Annamalai who is also the co-in-charge of poll-bound Karnataka has been supervising all the arrangements."We are also speaking to the concerned authorities if we can arrange for a public meeting/meeting where the PM can address the party workers while he is here in Chennai," a state office bearer told ANI talking about the party's plans of arranging a public meeting."PM Modi is the biggest face for the BJP as the saffron party looks to make inroads down South, especially in Tamil Nadu," he added.Recently, the nomination of noted music maestro Ilayaraja to Rajya Sabha, is an interesting indication in that direction.PM Modi had spoken about the Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam during the 99th edition of 'Mann ki Baat', his monthly radio programme.As a part of the exchange programme between Tamil Nadu and PM Modi's home state Gujarat- the Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam is slated to take place between April 17 - April 26 this year in Somnath.As per historians, in 1024, Mohamed Ghazni raided the Kathiawar neighbourhood of Somnath. People fled to various parts of the country including southern India. The people, essentially weavers stayed in Madurai and worked on silk robes for the royal families in Madurai under Thirumalai Naicker, the King of Madurai from 1623 till 1669. They settled in Trichy, Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Salem, etc to name a few locations for over four centuries. This has been one of the biggest connections between the two Indian states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.Notable personalities from Saurashtra in Tamil Nadu include Carnatic Music composer Venkataramana Bhagavathar, freedom fighter NMR Subbaraman called Madurai Gandhi, and actor Vennira Aadai Nirmala to name a few.As per the data available, out of 12 lakh Saurashtrian citizens settled in Tamil Nadu, more than half reside in Madurai alone. The rest are spread across Chennai, Salem, Thanjavur, and Tirunelveli to name a few.ANI01 April 2023

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FAOs initial assessment of Turkey earthquakes indicates over 20 pc losses in food production

Rome, March 31 (ANI/WAM): The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is scaling its operations to help earthquake-hit rural communities in Turkey and the Syrian Arab Republic sustain and recover basic food production while assessing agricultural damage and monitoring the longer-term and indirect impacts.

FAO's initial assessment of Turkey earthquakes indicates over 20 pc losses in food production

The devastating earthquakes struck southern Turkey and the northern part of the Syrian Arab Republic on February 6, 2023. Initial assessments of the impact in Turkey indicate severe damage to agriculture, including crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as rural infrastructure in affected areas.In Turkey, the earthquake severely impacted 11 key agricultural provinces affecting 15.73 million people and more than 20 per cent of the country's food production. The earthquake-affected region, known as Turkey's "fertile crescent", accounts for nearly 15 per cent of agricultural GDP and contributes to almost 20 per cent of Turkey's agrifood exports.More than one-third of the population in these hardest quake-hit provinces live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Disrupted supply chains and financial challenges are exacerbating the struggle of rural families to access and afford productive inputs, leaving them unable to meet basic needs and support their families.Initial assessments indicate significant impacts on agriculture, with preliminary estimates of USD 1.3 billion in damage and USD 5.1 billion in losses to the sector. Damage refers to the replacement or repair cost of totally or partially destroyed physical assets and stocks, such as agricultural infrastructure, livestock and crops. Whereas, a loss refers to the economic and productive impact of the damage, such as reduced availability of food and higher food prices due to the loss of stored crops.Besides collapsed buildings, and non-operational food sector structures, damaged crops and storage facilities, the earthquakes struck major livestock breeding regions, destroying barns and causing animal losses and injuries. Shelter shortage, feed scarcity and disrupted vaccine production have raised foot-and-mouth disease risks and concerns over deteriorating animal husbandry conditions. Fish production has also been compromised, with 34 fish farms and three fishing ports impacted and the loss of key fish species. Small-scale fishers and aquaculture producers will also suffer significant income losses due to the inability to resume operations.Access to agricultural inputs has become increasingly challenging in the region, and numerous agricultural and livestock activities have come to a halt due to labour losses and shortages. This precarious situation raises further concerns as the summer harvest season draws near."Planting before the end of rainfall is our only chance to ensure a healthy crop for the coming year, given the damage to our irrigation channels and agricultural infrastructure. We need fertilisers now before it's too late," said Mesut Ozer, a farmer from Nurdagi, Gaziantep.FAO urgently seeks USD 112 million to deliver immediate and longer-term support to earthquake-affected families and communities in Turkey. This includes USD 25 million under the United Nations Turkey Flash Appeal issued in February to rapidly provide cash, livestock and agricultural support to 900,000 rural people.To date, FAO has secured only USD 1.5 million of these requirements through its Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA) and internal resources. With this, FAO has rolled out immediate interventions to safeguard livelihoods, including providing cash, rehabilitating damaged infrastructure at the household level, distributing livestock feed and providing quality inputs."The planting season deadline is approaching. We need to urgently support our farmers by providing fertilisers and seeds," said FAO Subregional Coordinator for Central Asia and FAO Representative in Turkey, Viorel Gutu. "This is our only chance to maintain crop production levels this year. We also need to provide animals with feed to maintain their health and productivity."The assessment of damages and losses in Syria is ongoing and will be released shortly as well as FAO's plan and strategy to respond. (ANI/WAM)ANI01 April 2023

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India G20 Presidency: MoS Muraleedharan joins inaugural session of 2nd Sherpa meet in Kerala

Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram), March 31: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Friday joined the inaugural session of the 2nd Sherpa meeting under India's G20 Presidency in Kumarakom, Kerala.

India G20 Presidency: MoS Muraleedharan joins inaugural session of 2nd Sherpa meet in Kerala

Speaking at the event, he said that he is confident that Sherpas will strongly carry forward the discussions further to achieve ambitious outcomes.In a tweet, he wrote, "Delighted to have joined the inaugural session of 2nd #G20 Sherpa Meeting at Kumarakom, Kerala.""Confident that the Sherpas will carry forward the discussions further to achieve outcomes that are ambitious, inclusive, decisive and action-oriented," the tweet read further.The 2nd G20 Sherpa meeting is chaired by India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant and will witness participation by over 120 delegates from the world's 20 largest economies, nine invitee countries, and international and regional organisations.The event, according to an official statement, is slated to work on a range of issues of global concern.The delegates will reportedly hold multilateral discussions on G20's economic and developmental priorities as well as on addressing contemporary global challenges during the four-day gathering.The deliberations of the Sherpa meetings will take forward the outcomes of various Sherpa Track and Finance Track meetings. The deliberations will form the basis of the Leaders declaration, slated to be adopted at the summit set to take place in New Delhi in September 2023, the official press release said.India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant will also lead discussions with the G20 Troika comprising India, Indonesia and Brazil. He will meet with G20 Sherpas and heads of delegations of G20 members, invitees and international organizations, including the Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) to discuss issues pertinent to the Global South and from the Advanced Economies (AEs) on shared priorities and mutually beneficial ways forward.The MEA in the press release noted that India has selected its G20 priorities considering the diverse global challenges of the day, the concerns of developing countries and the need for greater momentum for collective action to take forward the shared international agenda, especially the development and environment agenda.India's G20 theme "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" - "One Earth. One Family. One Future" encapsulates the shared vision of the G20 for galvanising wide support and reaching decisive, ambitious, inclusive and action-oriented outcomes. These outcomes require the G20 to come together and act as one family to instil hope.Ongoing deliberations during India's G20 Presidency include Green Development, Climate Finance and Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), accelerated, inclusive and resilient growth, accelerating progress on sustainable development goals (SDGs), technological transformation and digital public infrastructure, multilateral institutions for the 21st century and women-led development.These priorities demonstrate the needs of the Global South which were articulated by 125 participating countries at the first-ever Voice of Global South summit, according to MEA press release. The Voice of Global South Summit was hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2023.Notably, the first G20 Sherpa meeting was held in Udaipur in December last year. The meeting witnessed active participation by G20 Members, nine guest countries and 14 international organizations.ANI01 April 2023

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Petcare firm LoyalPetZone celebrates 8 years of successful operations; Plans to open new stores in Guwahati and Bhubaneswar in 2023

New Delhi, March 31: Incepted in 2014, LoyalPetZone is a renowned pet care company that has been successfully operating for eight years. With a commitment to providing quality care and products for pets, the company has established itself as a trusted brand in the industry. In 2023, LoyalPetZone is set to expand its operations by opening new stores in Guwahati and Bhubaneswar, furthering its mission to serve pet owners and their furry companions.

Petcare firm LoyalPetZone celebrates 8 years of successful operations; Plans to open new stores in Guwahati and Bhubaneswar in 2023

LoyalPetZone was founded by Kushal Paul, Amit Nandy, and Susmita Paul, owners who initially ran an offline pet supply store and clinic in Howrah and Kolkata, West Bengal, in late 2014. The owners identified a significant gap in the pet health sector and worked to address the prevailing challenges in pet care. After serving pet owners offline for two years, LoyalPetZone expanded online in 2016. The company joined major e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart in 2014 and launched its online store at in 2016.Highlighting the brand's vision and mission, Susmita Paul, Co-founder shared, "We are long-time pet owners and recognized the absence of quality pet healthcare services in the market. This unfulfilled need for basic veterinary services inspired us to concentrate on this sector. While we initially focused on online e-commerce marketplaces for the first few years, we gradually shifted to our portal to provide better pricing and service to our customers. The e-commerce marketplaces charged exorbitant commissions at that time, and it was impacting our profitability and ability to sustain the business."Sharing his thoughts on the brand's exponential growth, Amit Nandy, Co-founder added, "The pet supply sector in India is poised to reach 1400 million dollars in just retail sales in the next 2 years and we plan to play a small but important part in it. In 2016 we started serving customers directly from our online store at www.LoyalPetZone.com . Except the first 2 years 2014-2016 and after opening our own portal, it was in 2018 that we became profitable for the first time and have been so for the last 4-5years by the grace of God and animal lovers in India.""In 2014, we started as a bootstrap model and although we have limited resources, we are not seeking investors or following the franchise model. This is because we do not want to open new stores throughout the country at a rapid pace and offer huge discounts or sell products at a loss just to increase our GMV and acquire more capital from investors. Such practices would negatively impact our profitability. Many of the omnichannel pet retail chains in India are expanding quickly and generating large revenue, but they are not yet profitable. It is uncertain if they will ever achieve profitability at their current rate of cash burn and discounting. Furthermore, it is possible that some of these companies are violating the FDI rules established by the Indian government by engaging in multi-brand retail, which could make it difficult for Indian pet supply and pet clinic owners. We have no intention of engaging in such practices." added Kushal Paul, Founder.LoyalPetZone started small with only a handful of competitors in the market, but as the pet shop industry experienced a boom in recent years, the brand has evolved to offer comprehensive health care and medicine for pets. In 2017, LoyalPetZone acquired a retail drug license, allowing us to fulfil veterinary prescriptions for our customers, ensuring their pets receive the best possible care. LoyalPetZone is committed to pet health, and well-being has driven our growth and success in the industry.In January 2023, LoyalPetZone took another step towards serving our customers by launching their own android and ios app. The app offers pet owners and animal lovers throughout the country a convenient and easy way to shop for pet supplies.In the coming months, LoyalPetZone plan to expand its offline presence by opening two new stores in Eastern India, specifically in the cities of Guwahati and Bhubaneswar. The brand believes in focusing on the Eastern and North-Eastern region of India, where they can make the most significant impact and offer pet owners easy access to quality pet supplies. Currently, LoyalPetZone is focused on pet healthcare and pet services like clinics, grooming and spa.Furthermore, LoyalPetZone has partnered with leading e-commerce fulfilment services like Shiprocket and Amazon to provide local storage and same-day deliveries to most urban areas in India through online sales. LoyalPetZone is committed to providing our customers with the best possible experience and looks forward to serving the pet-loving community of India for many years to come.For more information, visit -This story has been provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)ANI01 April 2023

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Okayti Tea participates and impresses at the G20 Summit

Mumbai, March 31: Okayti Tea successfully participated in the G20 Summit in Mumbai from March 28th to March 30th, 2023. Okayti Tea established a tea experience centre under the Tea Board of India, which was open during the summit. The tea experience centre, located in Mumbai, showcased the diversity of tea varieties available in India, promoting and educating attendees about the rich culture and history of orthodox tea.

Okayti Tea participates and impresses at the G20 Summit

Dr Bhagwat Karad, the Minister of State for Finance, Govt of India, lauded Okayti's efforts and extended his support towards the tea experience centre. He expressed his delight and enthusiasm while trying the offerings by Okayti, which left a lasting impression on him. His appreciation of Okayti's commitment to promoting the Indian tea industry is a testament to the company's dedication towards advancing the global tea sector. As Dr Bhagwat savoured his tea, he shared his thoughts on the tea industry in Darjeeling. He expressed that in order for tea manufacturers in the region to expand their exports, they need to pick up the pace. Darjeeling tea is renowned for its delicate flavour and aroma, and is highly sought after by tea enthusiasts around the world. However, in order to keep up with the growing demand for Darjeeling tea, manufacturers must increase production and streamline their operations.Okayti Tea's participation in the G20 Summit demonstrated their dedication to addressing international concerns and finding long-lasting solutions to the most critical issues facing the planet."It was fantastic that we attended the G20 summit. The time is now to create stronger and more recent connections across the world's major economies in order to protect this historic commerce. The Ministers and delegates who came to see us at the tea experience centre were very appreciative and supportive of our efforts." says Mr Rajeev Baid, MD of Okyati.For more information, please visitThis story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)ANI01 April 2023

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AIIMS, Delhi to set up library, museum to showcase legacy of institute

New Delhi, March 31: The AIIMS New Delhi will set up the Museum of Archives to exhibit the high standards of work ethics, evidence-based patient care and the legacy of the Institute. It would assist generations to come to understand the objectives and culture of the organization and motivate them to live up to them.

AIIMS, Delhi to set up library, museum to showcase legacy of institute

According to the Office Memorandum," All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi was established in 1956 as an autonomous institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament with the objective of setting the highest standards of Medical Education in India by bringing together in one place, educational facilities of the highest order for the training of healthcare personnel in all important branches for the attainment of self-sufficiency in Medical Education. Nearly seven decades into its journey, AIIMS, New Delhi continues to be the forerunner in the field of health education, research and patient care, across the country.""The standards that it has attained and maintained over the period are a result of the dedicated healthcare professionals that have toiled day in, day out to nurture this Institute. AIIMS has developed a rich culture that amalgamates evidence-based medicine with strong work ethics that synchronise to deliver results envisioned during its inception. However, some memories have faded, especially for people who only recently associated with the Institution. As has been observed, most of the renowned educational institutions across the globe maintain archives to demonstrate their legacy," as mentioned in the Office of Memorandum."These archives are a witness to the past and provide an explanation for historical actions and rationale behind current decisions. They assist the coming generations in adapting to the Institute's culture and align their individual objectives with the organisation's. It is imperative that the archives are collected and maintained at AIIMS, New Delhi in the Library and a museum to showcase the legacy of the Institute," it said.ANI01 April 2023

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Experience the future of social networking with AICIC - Indias revolutionary app

New Delhi, March 31: AICIC App, the revolutionary new social gathering app that helps you stay connected, build relationships, and learn from others. Whether you are looking for new friends, wanting to share your thoughts or just exploring the world, AICIC App is the perfect social interaction-based platform for you. With AICIC App, you can easily discover and join conversations, build meaningful connections, and even learn from the experiences of others.

Experience the future of social networking with AICIC - India's revolutionary app

The world of online marketplaces is growing rapidly, and those looking to get in on the action are always looking for the next big thing. AICIC App is here to provide the perfect solution for those looking to develop a marketplace for users - connecting them with job placement services, matrimony services, real-estate and more.AICIC App understands that people need a platform to connect with others and also get access to services they need. That's why it has developed a unique social app that allows users to post content, chat messages, schedule messages, live images and videos, and even emergency video posts. With this app, you can easily create and manage your own marketplace and connect with other users.AICIC App allows you to easily search and browse through job placement services, matrimony services and real-estate services quickly and easily. You can also post content related to these services, providing you with a great way to advertise your services and reach out to potential customers. Additionally, you can post and share content on our app, allowing other users to see what you're offering.It also provides a variety of tools and features to help make the process of developing a marketplace easier and more effective. AICIC App provides access to advanced analytics and reporting, allowing you to measure your performance and make changes quickly and easily. You can also access our customer support service to get help whenever you need it.App =This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)ANI01 April 2023

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We will be able to achieve USD 900 billion exports: FIEO

New Delhi, March 31: Foreign Trade policy (FTP) 2023 is focussed more on export growth, and the country will achieve USD 900 billion in exports in the next financial year, Dr A Sakthivel, the President of Federation of India Export Organisation (FIEO) said.

We will be able to achieve USD 900 billion exports: FIEO

Talking to ANI, the FIEO President said., "I am very confident that next year we will be able to achieve USD 900 bn exports of goods and services".Sakthivel said that We welcome this foreign trade policy because now there is no time limit for it."So, because of the global situation, we need regular amendments. So once five years policy then we get stuck. So this policy is good for us in that way. Our export to Russia and other countries are stuck. We are getting good orders from such companies but we are not able to do it because of the Rupee mechanism. So the government is going to consider the rupee trade mechanism that is good. A lot of countries are starving for foreign currency. Countries like Russia, Sri Lanka, Iran, and Iraq are short of foreign exchange. If the Rupee trade mechanism is in place, it is easy for exporters to trade with these countries," he told ANI.Earlier in the day, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that India's exports have surpassed 750 billion USD, and the country is on track to achieve the 2 trillion USD export target by 2030.Arun Garodia, the Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) said that they are hopeful of their exports rising significantly from the next year."We are hopeful that for the next year, our exports, be it merchandise or services, are going to increase significantly. There is no sunset clause in FTP 2023. Due to this, there was a fear among the exporters that after the end of the policy, the uncertainty will no longer exist," he said.Pankaj Chaddha, the senior VP, of EEPC said that One District One Product has been promoted in this policy."Their products will be brought internationally. One District One Product has made every district an exporter today. As Japan, South Korea, Germany, and France move forward, we are also moving forward at the same step. Our product will also be acceptable anywhere in the world," he said.Naren Goenka, the Chairman of AEPC said the FTP 2023 encapsulates the progressive and growth-oriented vision of the government for promoting India's exports."It is pro-MSME, innovative in approach and in the spirit of cooperative federalism. It will help promote women's participation and promote start-up ecosystems for technology infusion into manufacturing and business processes, ensuring efficiency and competitiveness. The focus on cross-border e-commerce will help align India with the global digital business value chain. The added thrust on sustainability, compliance and ease of doing business will help India boost exports," he said.Welcoming the newly launched Foreign Trade Policy 2023, Mr Vinod Aggarwal, the President of SIAM; and MD and CEO of VECV said that the Auto Industry would get substantially benefitted from the FTP 2023."Measures such as self-certification of origin, reduction of the threshold for Status Holders of Exporters, enabling Rupee payment and reduced Export Obligation under EPCG Scheme for Electric Vehicles. These measures will go a long way in propelling Automobile Exports from India, as Indian vehicle manufacturers are increasingly focusing on widening their exports footprint," he said.ANI01 April 2023

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Defence Ministry inks Rs 470 cr deal with Visakhapatnam firm naval aircraft yard modernisation

New Delhi, March 31: Ministry of Defence on Friday signed a contract with Vishakhapatnam-based Ultra Dimensions Pvt Ltd (UDPL) for modernisation of Naval Aircraft Yards (NAYs) at Goa and Kochi, at a cost of approx Rs 470 crore.

Defence Ministry inks Rs 470 cr deal with Visakhapatnam firm naval aircraft yard modernisation

The NAYs undertake servicing and repairs of naval aircraft, aero engines, rotables and test equipment at Goa and Kochi.According to the Ministry of Defence, induction of latest state-of-the-art aircraft into Indian Navy inventory requires modernisation of existing maintenance and repair facilities at Naval Aircraft Yards to bridge the technological and capability gap to meet the present and future aviation maintenance challenges.The modernisation includes repair facilities with state-of-the-art automated machineries and composite repair bays. This project will generate an employment of more than 1.8 lakh man-days over a period of three years.The modernisation will augment operational readiness of naval aviation platforms and reduce dependence on external agencies and foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for repairs. This project will be a proud flag bearer of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', said the Defence Ministry statement.In addition, Ministry of Defence has inked a contract with Mecon Ltd, Ranchi as project monitoring consultant, at a cost of Rs 24 crore.ANI01 April 2023

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5.8 L families in Assam are landless: Minister

Guwahati, March 31: At least 5.8 lakh families are still landless in Assam, the state Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan told the state Assembly on Friday.

5.8 L families in Assam are landless: Minister

He also informed the House that the current government has allotted 'pattas' to more than 1.35 lakh families."Maintaining all rules and regulations, the state government was in the process of clearing encroached land. These will be allocated to landless families," the Minister added.Responding to a query from Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi, Mohan said that the state had 5,80,709 landless families, who will be gradually given land under the 2019 Land Policy.According to him, anti-enroachment drives are conducted in accordance with the Assam Land and Revenue Rules, 1886, to clear encroached land.However, the Minister refuted claims that a particular community was targeted while carrying out the anti-enroachment.He said, "The state government has given land pattas to a total of 1,36,140 families in the last two years."IANS01 April 2023

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Presentation of products of media entities (excluding audiovisual media entities), as well as performance of work and services directly related to media activities to media entities (excluding audiovisual media entities) by non-residents which dont have a permanent representative office in Azerbaijan, has been exempted from VAT, Trend reports.

This issue was reflected in the amendments to the Tax Code, on the application of which President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed the relevant decree.

According to the document, the following amendments have been made to the code:

- Article 102.1.39 is added at the end of Article 102.1.38 with the following content:

"102.1.39. income received by media entities (with the exception of audiovisual media entities) from their own activities (including advertising revenue), as well as material assistance, provided by the body (institution) determined by the relevant executive authority - for a period of three years from January 1, 2023.";

- at the end of Article 106.1.31, the point sign is replaced by a semicolon and Article 106.1.32 is added with the following content:

"106.1.32. income received by media entities (with the exception of audiovisual media entities) from their own activities (including advertising incomes), as well as material assistance provided by a body (institution) determined by the relevant executive authority - for a period of 3 year from January 1, 2023.";

- article 164.1.8-1 is added with the following content:

"164.1.8-1. Presentation of products made by media entities (with the exception of audiovisual media entities), as well as the performance of works and provision of services directly related to media activities, to media entities (except audiovisual media entities) by non-residents who do not have a permanent representative offices in Azerbaijan - for a period of three years from January 1, 2023 ";

- At the end of Article 218-1.1.6 the dot sign is replaced by the semicolon sign and Article 218-1.1.7 is added as follows:

"218-1.1.7. incomes received by media entities (except audiovisual media entities) from their own activities (including advertising revenue), as well as material assistance provided by a body (institution) determined by the relevant executive authority, - for a period for three years from January 1, 2023".

This law has been effective from January 1, 2023.
US Consulate, USAID fund beauty salon run by transgenders in Thane

Mumbai, March 31: The US Consulate in Mumbai and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have launched a new salon, 'TransFormation', which is owned and operated by members of the transgender community at Kalyan town in Thane, an official said here on Friday.

US Consulate, USAID fund beauty salon run by transgenders in Thane

The occasion was the International Transgender Day of Visibility, and the TransFormation salon is expected to support enhanced career opportunities for the deprived transgender community.The salon was inaugurated by US Consul-General in Mumbai, Mike Hankey, and USAID Deputy Mission Director, Karen Klimowski, and will offer its services in an inclusive and stigma-free ambience."We are proud to support the TransFormation Salon where anyone, regardless of how they identify themselves, can access its services in a safe and inclusive environment. We recognise the contributions of transgender, nonbinary and gender non-forming people. We take pride in supporting improved health outcomes through innovative models that mobilise communities to take charge of their financial and physical health," said Hankey.Klimowski said that as per the USAID's guiding principle, 'Do nothing about them without them', the transgender community was directly involved in designing and establishing the salon."It will not only serve the community, but also enhance career and entrepreneurship opportunities for the local transgenders in a locally-led and inclusive development," said Klimowski.Neeta Kene, chairperson of the NGO 'Kinnar Asmita', which is running the establishment, said that it sends out a strong message to the society that transgenders with the right kind of skilling and support can effectively mainstream themselves."For us, this is not only an initiative on livelihoods, it is on dignity, self-worth, and progress. We are thrilled to start this venture and we need the support of the mainstream to make it a roaring success, both socially and financially," Kene urged.This is the second salon of its kind in Maharashtra. The first one by the same name and funded by Deutsche Bank and Rotary Club of Mumbai was launched on March 25 at Prabhadevi in Mumbai, followed by Kalyan on Friday, Kene said."There are around six professionally-trained staff now and we will cater to all beauty requirements of transgenders and women customers. If we are successful, we plan to open more similar salons in the state by the year-end," Kene told IANS after the inauguration.Kene added that the USAID has provided the entire funding of around Rs 3.20 million for infrastructure, salaries and other costs, excluding the rent for the premises in Kalyan.The TransFormation Salon was set up with support from the USAID and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in partnership with FHI 360 and the Humsafar Trust.IANS01 April 2023

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Madhya Pradesh recorded 300% growth in air connectivity

New Delhi, March 31: Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday said that Madhya Pradesh has witnessed a significant development with regard to air connectivity since the year 2014.

'Madhya Pradesh recorded 300% growth in air connectivity'

The Minister said that in 2014, the state of Madhya Pradesh had air connectivity with only eight cities in the country, but now it is connected to 26 cities, which is a 300 per cent growth.The weekly air traffic movement from the state was 500 aircraft, and in 9 years, it has increased to 840.Madhya Pradesh was given 60 routes under the RCS UDAN scheme, 33 of them are already operational and 12 will be operational soon.Recently, Reva airport's foundation was laid and Rs 50 crore will be invested in its development.In Gwalior, a new integrated terminal building is being developed at a cost of Rs 500 crore.A new integrated terminal building costing around Rs 475 crore is being developed in Jabalpur also, said the Minister.The Minister on Friday inaugurated a direct flight between Indore and Sharjah.The new route will enhance connectivity with the Middle East and promote trade, commerce and tourism in Madhya Pradesh.It will operate three days a week commencing from March 31, 2023.Scindia said that after Indore to Dubai, Indore to Sharjah will be Indore's second air connectivity with the UAE.This will not only boost trade and commerce but also connect families living in two different countries.Speaking on connectivity and infrastructure development, Scindia said that in 2013-14, Indore was connected to only 6 destinations."In the 9 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, it has increased to 24 including 2 international destinations, which is a 400 per cent growth. Earlier, weekly air traffic movement from Indore was 320 which has now increased to 500 which is a 52 per cent growth," Scindia said.IANS01 April 2023

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Chingles announces #ChinglesGetsTheGOAT campaign

New Delhi, March 31: Pass Pass Chingles, the popular gum brand from Dharampal Satyapal Group (DS Group), a multi-business corporation is proud to announce their latest campaign #ChinglesGetsTheGOAT. The brand is thrilled to join hands with the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T) for this campaign and can't wait to share the excitement with their fans.

Chingles announces #ChinglesGetsTheGOAT campaign

Since its launch in 2012, Chingles has been known for being the go-to brand for those who want to pull off hilarious and memorable pranks. The campaign began with the brand dropping tiny hints on their social media channels, challenging fans to guess who the G.O.A.T is. From pre-buzz to the final reveal, subtle hints were posted on chingles's social media with witty content that made people participate and share it on their instagram stories as they are decoding, which famous athlete or celebrity it could be. This has resulted in massive speculation and buzz on who the GOAT is.To get the excitement going, the initials of the GOAT have been revealed as S.K and as expected, this has kept the fans on their feet and forced them to put on their thinking caps. To join the contest, all that they have to do is follow the brand on social media @chinglesgums and stay tuned for exciting hints that Chingles is dropping. The fans are trying their best to figure out who the GOAT is, they are sharing their guesses by using the hashtag #ChinglesGetsTheGOAT. It's not as easy as anyone would think!This campaign is all about celebrating greatness, and they're excited to see people are joining the bandwagon. One can get along the fun by dropping their guesses for the personality who's daring, popular and of course, The Greatest of All Time.The campaign #ChinglesGetsTheGOAT was ideated and conceptualized by FoxyMoron.Arvind Kumar, General Manager Marketing, Dharampal Satyapal Foods Ltd. says, "Chingles is known for its playful and fun-loving spirit. For years, it has taken a strong positioning by engaging people with good humour through pranks and hopes to continue doing the same through its playful campaigns and initiatives. This time, we wanted to do something unexpected and fun that would bring people together, and what better way to do that than a playful engagement with the G.O.A.T uncovered on April Fools' Day? We're thrilled that so many people are joining in and having fun."Commenting on the campaign, Alin Choubey, Business Head - North, FoxyMoron quotes, "Chingles continues to push boundaries with their latest campaign, #ChinglesGetsTheGOAT, carrying on our tradition of out-of-the-box and innovative engagements. The fun-loving spirit has always been a hallmark of the brand, and we remain committed to bringing joy and laughter to the Chingles fans through creative initiatives. The collaboration between Team FoxyMoron and DS Group never fails to deliver unforgettable and fun-filled experiences."Chingles will unveil the big reveal - 'The G.O.A.T' personality on April 1!So, head over to @Chinglesgums social media pages now and start following them to join the fun! Be the first to crack the code and guess the G.O.A.T. Stand a chance to be rewarded too!Chingles Instagram Page -Chingles Facebook Page -Chingles Twitter Page -#ChinglesGetsTheGOAT Pre-buzzDS Group is a multi-business corporation with a strong Indian and international presence. Founded in the year 1929, it is an inspiring and successful business story that blends a remarkable history and legacy with visionary growth and innovation. The key Business Pillars of the Group are Mouth Fresheners, Food and Beverage, Confectionery, Agri, and other Investments. Catch salt and spices, Catch Beverages, Pulse, FRU, Maze, Ksheer, Pass Pass, Rajnigandha, Rajnigandha Pearls, Pulse, BABA, Tulsi, The Manu Maharani and Namah are some of the leading brands, the Group proudly shelters today.Guided by a clear set of values and built on a strong foundation of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility is an integral part of the Group's business objectives to enhance livelihoods and build sustainable communities. Future-focused, the Group has been steadily expanding its 'green' initiatives, including Energy and Water Conservation, to reflect its response to what the world needs and its own role as a committed corporate citizen.This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI01 April 2023

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CM Yogi govt installs over 2.5 cr smart prepaid meters across Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, March 31: The Uttar Pradesh Government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has installed smart prepaid meters on the premises of a total of 2.69 crore consumers so far under the Government of India's Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, stated an official release.

CM Yogi govt installs over 2.5 cr smart prepaid meters across Uttar Pradesh

Notably, the Government of India issued the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) notification in 2021 to provide quality and uninterrupted power supply to the state's consumers through an efficient and strong distribution system. The Government seeks to bring down distribution losses from 12 to 15 per cent by 2024-25 through the scheme.Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) Chairman M. Devraj informed that the Government of India has approved a total of Rs 18,885.48 crore for the installation of smart meters, of which 15 per cent of the sanctioned amount, i.e. Rs 2832.82 crore, is provided as a grant and the remaining amount, i.e., Rs 16,052.66 crore, will be funded by the State Government and the Distribution Corporation.He informed that Rs 16,498.61 crore has been sanctioned by the Government of India for strengthening the power system and reducing distribution losses, of which 60 per cent ( Rs 9,899.17 crore) will be provided as a grant by the Government of India and the remaining 40 per cent (Rs 6,599.44 crore) by the state government and the distribution corporation.For loss reductions, 2.71 lakh km of armoured cabling was used for providing connections, construction of 15,000 km of LT line with armoured cable, replacement of 1.18 lakh km of open wire LT line with AB cable, an extension of 35,000 km 11 KV lines, and 16,000 km 11 KV feeder separation works were carried out.Rs 19,000 crores to be used for modernization of electricity distribution systemAccording to M Devraj, proposals worth Rs 18,916.20 crore have been sent to the Government of India for the modernization of the electricity distribution system and the approval is expected in the next financial year. Of this proposed amount, 60 per cent (Rs 11,349 crore) will be funded by the Government of India and the remaining 40 per cent (Rs 7,566.4 crore) will be funded by the state government and the distribution corporation.The proposed main works of modernization include the construction of 593 new sub-stations of 33/11 KV, capacity enhancement of 1511 sub-stations of 33/11 KV, construction of about 10,000 km of new 33 KV lines, installation of 76,000 distribution transformers, construction of about 22,000 km 11 KV line, construction of about 15,000 km LT line, capacity enhancement work of one lakh distribution transformers and 14 SCADA/DMS in urban areas.ANI01 April 2023

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Indian commercial real estate to witness steep growth in the coming decade

Noida, March 31: India's fast-growing economy has created significant demand in commercial real estate comprising office, retail and co-working spaces, among others. While the growing urbanisation has already generated high demand in all these segments, the growth in the commercial real estate sector is equally driven by the expansion of domestic and international businesses.

Indian commercial real estate to witness steep growth in the coming decade

As per the market reports, the country's commercial real estate sector is expected to reach a market size of $90 billion by 2030. It is growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8 per cent. The favourable government policies such as Make in India, Smart Cities Mission and Digital India, etc., have contributed in achieving such commendable growth.The government's concerted focus on ease of doing business is one of the prime reasons why more and more foreign investors have queued up to enter the Indian commercial real estate market.Capitalising on the high returns, the investors have been diversifying their portfolio and the investment from foreign institutional investors have also increased significantly. As a result the country has witnessed the development of world-class commercial projects in the last couple of years.Apart from the major cities, tier-II and III cities are also becoming the hubs of commercial real estate development. Buoyed by the high demand, new commercial projects are being developed in all these regions. Moreover, the expansion of IT and services sectors have fuelled demand for logistics spaces as well as modern warehouses. Even more and more companies are expanding their offices and co-working spaces are also contributing to the fast-track expansion of this sector.The Indian commercial real estate market has remained resilient despite several headwinds. Registering robust growth the sector offers attractive opportunities for both domestic and international investors. Registering robust growth despite several headwinds, the commercial real estate segment is well-positioned to lead the growth from the front going forward. It is expected to provide high returns and commendable growth over the next decade.Meanwhile, Bhutani Group has been contributing immensely to fulfill the new age demand for commercial real estate. It has to its credit a series of landmark developments in Noida which include Cyberthum, Alphathum, City Center 150, Bhutani Technopark, Cyber Park, city center GZB, Avenue 62 to name just a few among many others. Bhutani Group is known for its diverse project portfolio that scores high on location, design, quality and world-class amenities. It has been on a continuous trajectory of evolution, displaying the highest standards of deliveries and return on investment all across Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR).For more information, please visitThis story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.ANI01 April 2023

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Punjab govt should provide compensation to farmers for crop loss, demands ex-CM Amarinder Singh

New Delhi, March 31: Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday demanded that the state government should provide appropriate compensation to the farmers who faced huge losses due to crop damage amid heavy rainfall.

Punjab govt should provide compensation to farmers for crop loss, demands ex-CM Amarinder Singh

Taking to Twitter, Singh said, "Completely tragic to note how these untimely incessant rains have caused huge losses to our farmers' crops. I urge Punjab Government to get the Girdawari done as soon as possible and provide appropriate compensation."On March 27, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann held a meeting with the officials and discussed the matter of compensation for the farmers in the wake of crop loss due to bad weather.Heavy damage to crops was reported due to the bad weather in North India. Crops of the farmers from many districts in Punjab were destroyed, after which farmers were demanding compensation.Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann personally visited the crop fields to assess the damage to crops along with several officials. After the assessment of crops, he held a meeting with the officials. Taking it to Twitter CM Bhagwant Mann released a video on his personal account and told that, "We have changed the way of compensation of the previous government and now unlike the previous government, we will not only announce compensation but also give it"."We will not distribute cheques of Rs 54 or Rs 111, but timely compensation will be given to the farmers in a transparent manner," he had added.CM Bhagwant Mann told that earlier Rs 12,000 was given for a 75 per cent to 100 per cent loss, but now Rs 15,000 will be given for a 75 per cent to 100 per cent loss. In the previous government, Rs 5400 was given for 33 per cent to 50 per cent loss, but now Rs 6750 will be given.Taking it to CMO Punjab Twitter, he had said, "The labourers will get 10 per cent as compensation adding that Rs 95,100 will be paid as compensation to full house damage whereas Rs 5,200 will be given for minor damage to houses. The state government will soon introduce a crop insurance scheme for the farmers".ANI01 April 2023

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Rekha shines in her traditional look at Diors Mumbai fashion show

Mumbai, March 31: She has already mesmerized Dior's current creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, who tagged her as 'India's most iconic woman'. Veteran beauty Rekha looked resplendent in her traditional Kanjivaram saree at Dior's India-inspired pre-fall 2023 show on Thursday evening.

Rekha shines in her traditional look at Dior's Mumbai fashion show

The 'Silsila' actor had a fun moment with the paps stationed at the Gateway of India, where the show was held. Rekha greeted the paps with folded hands.The actor chose a gorgeous pink Kanjivaram saree for the occasion. Her hair was neatly tied in a bun and she decorated it with flowers. She completed the look with a golden potli and heavy jewellery. The actor also posed with Sonam Kapoor later.After meeting Rekha before the show, Maria Grazia Chiuri wrote about her experience on Instagram. She wrote, "I was so touched to meet the iconic Rekhagi last night for the first time. India's most iconic woman and an incredible actress. I am so grateful you have joined us last night, it was a true honour." For that event, Rekha chose a pure white saree.Set against the backdrop of the iconic Gateway of India, the French fashion brand celebrated the richness of Indian textiles and the show itself marked the first official calendar display by a prominent European luxury brand in India.Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior's current artistic director of women's collections, has collaborated with Mumbai-based atelier Chanakya School Of Craft to put together the luxury brand's ready-to-wear collection.Thai stars Phakphum Romsaithong (Mile) and Nattawin Wattanagitiphat (Apo), Frieda Pinto, Never Have I Ever actress Poorna Jagannathan alongside Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Masaba Gupta attended the event.ANI01 April 2023

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BJP to celebrate its 43rd Foundation Day on April 6

New Delhi, March 31: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will celebrate the 43rd foundation day of the party on April 6, sources said.

BJP to celebrate its 43rd Foundation Day on April 6

According to sources, the party has planned a week-long social harmony campaign from April 6 till the birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Ambedkar on April 14.On this occasion, PM Narendra Modi will address BJP leaders.BJP National President JP Nadda has also written a letter to all state presidents and party leaders to participate actively in social harmony week. Apart from issuing the letter, Nadda has also discussed the outline of the programs that will be run during this period by video conferencing with all the state presidents.Sources have told ANI that for the address of PM Modi on April 6 morning, BJP has asked party workers through a letter that it should be ensured that Prime Minister's message will be heard by gathering in the state, district, divisional, booth level offices.The party has told the state units that booth committees and Panna Pramukhs at every booth should listen to the PM's speech and all booth presidents should put up BJP flags at their respective homes.Party has instructed that the BJP workers should organise seminars and discussions on the history of the party and the achievements of the central government after the PM's speech till April 14. Apart from this, party workers have also been asked to invite intellectuals of the society on the occasion of party foundation day and to decorate the party offices with lighting and distribute prasad.It has been made mandatory for the office bearers of the party and all the MPs and MLAs to participate in the Foundation Day programmes, organise at least three programs in one assembly constituency, and share the photographs on social media. Along with that instructions have been given to celebrate Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar's birthday on April 14 by putting up his picture at booth-level programs.BJP has also asked the workers that intellectuals and social workers of Dalit community should be given detailed information about the programs being run by the Central Government for them. In this regard, garlanding of Babasaheb's pictures and programs for cleaning slums will also take place.On the birth anniversary of Dalit reformer and social thinker Jyotiba Phule on April 11, instructions have been given by the OBC Morcha at the party's mandal level to organise health check-up camps and honour senior citizens and reward meritorious students and also to honour the senior BJP workers.Also on the party foundation day instructions have been given to invite and felicitate the workers working since Jana Sangh. During social harmony week, all the fronts of the BJP will run different campaigns.ANI01 April 2023

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Assam: Villagers appeal for precautionary measures as river erosion wreaks havoc in Barpeta ahead of monsoon

Barpeta, March 31: As river erosion wreaked havoc in the state, the villagers of Assam's Barpeta district appealed to the state's administration to take precautionary measures as the monsoon season approaches.

Assam: Villagers appeal for precautionary measures as river erosion wreaks havoc in Barpeta ahead of monsoon

Inamul Hoque, a resident of the Baghmara Char area said that due to river erosion, a school building and many human settlements were completely destroyed in this area."Now the flood season is coming and we are so much worried. If precautionary measures are not done ahead of the rainy season, then many families in this area will again suffer. We request our MLA to undertake safety works by spending at least Rs 20-30 lakh from the MLA fund to protect the area from river erosion," Inamul Hoque said.The local villagers also appealed to the state government to take appropriate action to protect the settlements in the district.Villagers of 1 no, Baghmara Char, Nayer Char area under Baghbar assembly constituency in Barpeta are under serious threat of river erosion.The river erosion continues to wreak havoc in the area and the Brahmaputra river and Jaljali river wiped out many homes, land, religious institutions, school buildings, and thousand bighas of agricultural lands.According to local villagers, many families in the area have been affected due to the river erosion and many of them have lost their homes.The mighty Brahmaputra river and Jaljali river had taken over the land and several houses, school buildings, and religious institutions were destroyed in the past years also.According to the Assam government data, the state has so far lost about 4.27 lakh hectares of land in river erosion of the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries.ANI01 April 2023

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 2. Azerbaijan is commemorating the 7th anniversary of the countrys military success in 2016 April battles, Trend reports.

On April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions and settlements of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire by the Armenian Armed Forces. As a result of the shelling of Azerbaijans settlements located along the line of contact, six civilians were killed, including two children under the age of 16. Numerous public and private facilities, including civil infrastructure, were severely damaged as a result of the attack.

Azerbaijan responded with an armed offensive, which resulted in four days of fighting, as the country liberated several important strategic spots previously occupied by Armenian Armed Forces.

Among the liberated territories during the four-day fighting were heights around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and Leletepe hill located in the direction of Fuzuli district. As a result of the April battles, 30 Armenian tanks, up to 15 artillery installations and engineering fortifications were subjected to destruction, 320 Armenian soldiers were killed and over 500 enemy soldiers were wounded.

Military operations along the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian forces ceased on April 5, by agreement of the parties.

As a result of the successful counteroffensive, more than 2,000 hectares of territory were liberated from the Armenian occupation. The April battles, in general, demonstrated President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev's special attention to the army, the high combat readiness of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces, their ability to liberate the occupied territories.

Azerbaijani armys victories in the April battles have laid the foundation for the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from the Armenian occupation during the 44-day war (from late Sept. through early Nov.2020).

Today, every citizen of Azerbaijan is proud to see the country's flag flying in Shusha and other lands liberated from Armenian occupation.
Cyprus, Israel, Greece join forces on energy

Nicosia, April 1: The foreign ministers of Cyprus, Israel and Greece agreed to cooperate more closely on issues including energy, defence, economy and tourism.

Cyprus, Israel, Greece join forces on energy

After their meeting in Nicosia, Constantinos Kombos (Cyprus), Eli Kohen (Israel) and Nikos Dendias (Greece) said that trilateral cooperation on energy is crucial for stability in the region, Xinhua news agency reported.Cyprus and Israel have discovered several natural gas fields, which are currently being developed."Unlocking the full potential of our region will be a game changer ... We strive to promote a reliable and sustainable energy corridor from the Eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe," the Cypriot foreign minister said.The ministers emphasised the significance of the EastMed pipeline, which could transport natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe and reduce dependence on Russian natural gas.Meanwhile, Greece's Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias underlined his country's goal of becoming a domestic and regional energy hub.IANS01 April 2023

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Indias NHPC likely to develop 480 mw hydro-project in Nepal

Kathmandu, April 1: If everything goes as per plans, Indias NHPC will begin development of 480 megawatt Phukot Karnali Hydroelectric Project in Nepal.

India's NHPC likely to develop 480 mw hydro-project in Nepal

According to some Nepali media reports, the Kathmandu government has decided to develop the project jointly with NHPC India and Vidhyut Utpadan Company Limited (VUCL), an undertaking of the government.Surya Rijal, managing director of the company, said that the company has decided that 51 per cent of the project will be invested by NHPC and 49 per cent by the Power Generation Company."Our discussion has been going on for a year. The board had passed this decision earlier too. However, we couldn't make the decision. It should be approved by the Council of Ministers as well," he said.Officials said that if negotiations will complete, it is likely that during the visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prachanda, to India, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed for the joint development of the project.According to Rijal, this decision will be implemented only after the approval of the cabinet."We will send this decision to the Ministry of Energy very soon. We do not know when the ministry will take it to the cabinet and when it will be approved," he said.According to him, NHPC had proposed to invest in Phukot Karnali in December last year.Now NHPC has emerged as a key player in Nepal's energy sector.NHPC Limited had signed an MOU with Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to develop the 750 MW West Seti and 450 MW SR-6 hydroelectric projects in Nepal in August last year.The construction of the 480 megawatt Phukot Karnali hydropower project, for which a detailed study report (DPR) has been prepared, has not yet progressed.The construction of the main structure has not been started for two years due to the inability to raise investment for the project, which is in a state of preparation and construction.If approved by the Council of Ministers, a joint venture investment agreement will be signed with NHPC. In the feasibility study, it is mentioned that the project will cost Rs 92.3 billion and can be completed within five years of the start of construction.The 480 MW electricity generated from here will be sold in India. The electricity of this project will be taken to India through the Karnali Corridor transmission line.The National Transmission Grid Company has signed an agreement with the Indian company Kalpatru to construct a 400 kV transmission line in the Karnali Corridor.India has also been entrusted with the construction of 900 MW Arun-III. Arun-IV of 490 MW, Lower Arun of 679 MW has also been entrusted by the Indian company.According to the joint vision letter on energy cooperation between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in March last year, the Ministry said that the Phukot Karnali semi-reservoir project is going forward with the joint investment of government-owned organisations of both the countries. It is mentioned in the draft that NHPC will have to manage the market of the electricity generated from the project and the loan required to build the project on behalf of the promoter company.If Nepal wants to consume the electricity of the project by itself, it will have the right to buy it. The project's electricity will be exported only when Nepal does not consume it.It is proposed to capitalise expenses incurred in the project's license expenses, study and access road in the company the authority's share investment will be opened to build the project.IANS01 April 2023

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PMK urges Centre to roll back hike in toll charges

Chennai, April 1: The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has urged the Union government to roll back the hike in toll charges. PMK President and former Union minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, said that the charges have been hiked at 29 toll plazas in Tamil Nadu and that this was not acceptable.

PMK urges Centre to roll back hike in toll charges

In a statement on Saturday, Anbumani Ramadoss, who is also the Rajya Sabha MP, said, "It is unacceptable to hike toll rates without improving national highways. The hike is condemnable."He said that with the hike in toll prices from April 1, vehicles will have to pay Rs 1.51 per km extra and that this would lead to increase in prices of essential commodities.Ramadoss said that Tamil Nadu had more than 10 per cent of toll plazas in the country and added that of the 6606 km of national highways, toll charges are collected for 5134 km in the state. The PMK leader said that this works to around 77 per cent and was almost four times higher than the national average of 20 per cent.The former Union minister also recalled a statement by Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari who said that toll plazas would be rationalised to have one plaza for every 60 kilometers.He said that Gadkari had promised to reduce the rates at nine toll plazas in Tamil Nadu by 40 per cent of the existing charges. He called upon the central government to roll back the increased hike rates of toll plazas that have come into effect from April 1.IANS01 April 2023

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BrahMos missile batteries to be deployed strategically to tackle maritime threats from China, Pakistan

New Delhi, April 1: The Indian Navy would deploy its recently-approved BrahMos supersonic cruise missile-equipped mobile coastal batteries at strategic locations across the maritime zone to neutralise threats from both east or the west, former Navy Chief Vice Admiral Satish N Ghormade said on Saturday.

BrahMos missile batteries to be deployed strategically to tackle maritime threats from China, Pakistan

The mobile coastal missile batteries were cleared by the Defence Ministry recently and a contract was signed with the BrahMos Aerospace corporation on March 30 in this regard.In an interaction with ANI, a day after his superannuation, Ghormade said, "We will be able to deploy the Next Gen Mobile Missile Coastal Batteries at strategic locations so that any threat from the east or west could be monitored and neutralized. The BrahMos-Equipped Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries is an indigenous joint venture. This provides us with two capabilities; land attack and anti-ship, both are extremely essential to the maritime security of the nation."Notably, the delivery of BrahMos missile batteries is scheduled to commence in 2027.These systems will be equipped with supersonic BrahMos Missiles and will significantly enhance the multi-directional maritime strike capability of the Indian Navy.The BAPL is a Joint Venture between India and Russia making crucial contributions to augment the new generation of Surface-to-Surface missiles with enhanced ranges.This contract is going to give a further boost to the indigenous production of the critical weapon system and ammunition with the active participation of indigenous industries. This project will generate employment of more than 90,000 man-days over a period of four years.ANI01 April 2023

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PM Modi to attend Combined Commanders Conference, flag off Vande Bharat Express in Bhopal today

New Delhi, April 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal on Saturday to flag off the country's 11th Vande Bharat Express.

PM Modi to attend Combined Commanders' Conference, flag off Vande Bharat Express in Bhopal today

"Will be in Bhopal today. In the morning will take part in the Combined Commanders' Conference and later will flag off the Vande Bharat Express between Bhopal and New Delhi. This train will boost connectivity between MP and Delhi," PM Modi tweeted today.During his visit, the Prime Minister will attend the Combined Commanders' Conference-2023 at the Kushabhau Thakre Hall in Bhopal at around 10 am.The three-day conference of Military Commanders is being held from March 30 to April 1, 2023, on the theme 'Ready, Resurgent, Relevant'."During the Conference, deliberations will be held over a varied spectrum of issues pertaining to national security, including jointness and theaterisation in the Armed Forces. Preparation of the Armed Forces and progress in defence ecosystem towards attaining 'Aatmanirbharta' will also be reviewed," an official statement said earlier."The conference will witness the participation of commanders from the three armed forces and senior officers from the Ministry of Defence. Inclusive and informal interaction will also be held with soldiers, sailors and airmen from Army, Navy and Air Force who will contribute to the deliberations," it added.Meanwhile, the indigenously designed train set of Vande Bharat Express is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities. It will provide a faster, more comfortable and more convenient travel experience for rail users, boost tourism and promote economic development in the region.ANI01 April 2023

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India, Denmark exchange views on G20 presidency, India-EU FTA, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific

Copenhagen [Denmark], April 1: India, Denmark on Saturday exchanged views on multilateral, regional issues including India's G20 presidency, India-EU Free Trade Agreement, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, co-operation at the UN, and climate change.

India, Denmark exchange views on G20 presidency, India-EU FTA, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific

The two sides during the 7th round of India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Copenhagen on Saturday, undertook a comprehensive review of their bilateral relations, acknowledged that bilateral relations have grown significantly and have benefited from the signing of the first-of-its-kind Green Strategic Partnership in September 2020, according to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release.The consultations were co-chaired by India's MEA Secretary (West) Sanjay Verma and Denmark's State Secretary for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jesper Moller Sorensen. The last round of FOC had taken place in 2009 in New Delhi.During the 7th foreign office consultations, discussions were held on progress made to implement the Joint Action Plan and sectoral cooperation in the areas of Renewable Energy including Offshore Wind, Water Management, Smart Cities, Green Shipping, Health, Dairy and Animal Husbandry.Both sides noted the progress on the setting up of the Smart Laboratory on Clean River Water in Varanasi.The two countries appreciated that bilateral trade in goods and services had exceeded USD 6.64 billion in 2022 and agreed to diversify their trade and investment. Over 200 Danish companies are present in India and have been working in various areas such as wind energy, shipping, consultancy, food processing and the engineering sector while around 60 Indian companies, mainly in the IT, life sciences and clean-tech, renewable energy and engineering sectors, have a growing presence in Denmark.The two sides agreed to continue high-level political exchanges and to hold the next round of the Joint Commission Meeting at Foreign Minister's level in New Delhi at mutually convenient dates, according to the MEA press release.As per the official release, there have been several high-level engagements between India and Denmark in recent years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Denmark in May 2022.Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of the Kingdom of Denmark recently visited India from February 26- March 2, 2023. Prime Minister Frederiksen paid a State Visit to India in October 2021, being the first Head of Government to visit India since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.India-Denmark Foreign Office Consultations were held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. It was agreed to hold political consultations at regular intervals.ANI02 April 2023

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Azerbaijan's State Border Service continued implementing measures to ensure the protection of the state border, and combat smuggling, illegal migration, and drug trafficking, the press center of the service told Trend.

Thus, according to the press center, in March 2023, 51 people were detained for violating the state border, 23 of them are citizens of Azerbaijan, 10 - citizens of Afghanistan, six - citizens of Pakistan, five - citizens of Iran, one citizen of Georgia, India, Guinea, Liberia, Palestine, and two citizens of Tajikistan.

"As part of activities to combat illegal migration, 24 people were detained while trying to cross the state border with fake passports, visas and stamps. A total of 988 people were detained for violating the rules of the border regime, and appropriate measures were taken against them," the press center said.

Besides, 294 people from the wanted list were identified and transferred to the relevant structures, the exit of 429 people with restrictions on leaving the country, and the entry of 19 people prohibited from entering the country were prevented.

As a result of measures to combat illegal drug trafficking, 91 kilograms 821 grams of narcotic drugs, and 7,613 tablets of psychotropic drugs were found and seized.

The press center added that as a result of measures taken in the framework of combating smuggling activities, contraband worth a total of 4.2 million manat ($2.4 million), including drugs, alcohol, tobacco products, and fake stamps, was seized.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 57F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 42F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide, as well as hundreds of radio and TV stations. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Well tell you about a mowed-down patch of prairie in Urbana  security at our local trauma center  wholl get to park at the new south-campus parking deck  and why its so hard to keep litter out of the Second Street basin in Champaign. Oh, and you know those turquoise-colored rental bikes that seemed to be everywhere in C-U last summer? Theyre ba-a-a-ack ...
Researchers led by a team at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created a statistical model to identify standards for typical, high, or low rates of bleeding after pediatric tonsillectomies. The findings, published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, could help doctors and hospitals improve outcomes for the third-most common pediatric surgery in the U.S.

This model is a useful instrument to include in quality and safety initiatives around tonsillectomies. Now, doctors have a validated model to judge their bleeding rates against." Romaine Johnson, M.D., First Author, Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at UTSW and the Department's Director of Quality and Safety

In 2019, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation issued updated guidelines for pediatric tonsillectomies, which recommended that surgeons self-monitor their patients' bleeding rates after these procedures. Ron Mitchell, M.D., UTSW Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology, was lead author on those guidelines and on the current study.

Although complications after tonsillectomies are rare, Dr. Johnson said, excessive bleeding is one of the most common and is often considered a factor in the very few deaths associated with this surgery. The change in guidelines was a significant step toward helping improve tonsillectomy safety, he said, but physicians faced a significant hurdle in using them effectively. No standards existed to inform doctors whether their personal or institutional bleeding rates were considered normal, high, or low.

To develop probability standards, Dr. Johnson and his colleagues collected data from the Children's Hospital Association's Pediatric Health Information System database, which contains de-identified patient information covering inpatient stays, outpatient surgeries, emergency department visits, and observation unit patient data from more than 49 not-for-profit children's hospitals in the U.S.

The researchers were primarily interested in data involving patients who came to the emergency department or were readmitted for bleeding after tonsillectomies  a sign that their bleeding after the procedure was considered excessive. Researchers collected demographic data on these patients as well as medical histories.

After stratifying bleeding rates for these institutions into percentiles, the team found that the median probability rate for bleeding among all patients was 1.97%. The lowest rate hovered just over 1%, and the highest rate, in the 99th percentile, was 6.4%. Variables associated with increased rates of post-tonsillectomy bleeding included adolescent age (older than 12), Hispanic ethnicity, residence in a relatively high-wealth ZIP code, and obesity.

Dr. Johnson emphasized that the study did not account for surgical technique or the many tools available to perform tonsillectomies. Different training of surgeons could also affect results, a variable that's difficult to capture, he said. But Dr. Johnson stressed that technique may not be to blame for higher bleeding rates since many factors outside a surgeon's control contribute to risk, including a patient's age or other comorbidities.

"This model provides a useful starting point to help surgeons look critically at their own bleeding rates and help them understand why this complication might occur," Dr. Johnson said.

Other UTSW researchers who contributed to this study include Dylan R. Beams, Stephen R. Chorney, Yann-Fuu Kou, Felicity Lenes-Voit, Seckin Ulualp, and Christopher Liu.

Dr. Johnson holds the Beth and Marvin C. "Cub" Culbertson Professorship in Pediatric Otolaryngology. He also serves as Director of the Pediatric Voice/FEES Clinic at Children's Medical Center Dallas. Dr. Mitchell holds the William Beckner, M.D., Distinguished Chair in Otolaryngology.

This study was funded by the Beth and Marvin "Cub" Culbertson Endowment in UTSW's Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
Latinx children in the US experienced higher rates of depression and anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic, a new study shows, as experts state the "pressing need" to examine the long-term impact.

Findings, published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, follow the examination of early adolescent school data from the first two years of the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The results show Latinx students were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to present with risk for both depression and anxiety during every academic year cohort assessed.

The highest maladjustment was found among Latinx girls and gender non-conforming/binary students.

Clinical Psychology Professor Antonio Polo, from DePaul's College of Science and Health, was the lead author of the four-year-long study.

Uncertainty remains as society takes inventory of the effects of drastic lifestyle changes, and of the pronounced mental health difficulties experienced by children and adults. In the U.S., Latinx youth and families have been disproportionately affected. These results highlight that practical and efficacious programs are needed to address the needs of adolescents in school settings, and this is a critical time to implement them widely. And, in particular, the findings about non-binary students point to a need to make school environments more inclusive and welcoming of youth across the gender identity spectrum so that these students have a place to turn to rather than feel isolated or alienated." Antonio Polo, Professor, DePaul's College of Science and Health

This study's sample was comprised of 1,220 elementary and middle school students from 59 Chicago Public Schools (CPS), identified by school staff and referred for services.

Polo and his colleagues at DePaul trained school social workers, school psychologists, and school counselors who helped these students receive an evidence-based coping skills program to address their mental health needs.

CPS is the fourth largest school district in the U.S., enrolling over 320,000 students. Most CPS students are economically disadvantaged (72.7%), and from Latinx (46.5%), African American (35.8%), European American (11.0%), and Asian American (4.4%) backgrounds (Chicago Public Schools [CPS], 2022).

The students who took part in the study were evaluated using the Children's Depression Inventory and the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale to assess their symptoms and risk levels for depression, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety.

The team's findings confirm prior studies that have established that Latinx youth report higher depression and anxiety symptoms than their peers. Polo notes that this type of anxiety changed from year one and two of the pandemic.

"There was greater generalized anxiety in the first year of the pandemic and greater social anxiety in the second year of the pandemic.

"This makes sense because during the first year of the pandemic children were at home. They had fears about Covid-19 and the health and safety of their parents and grandparents.

"There was also financial insecurity. During the second year, students returned to the classroom. Returning to in-person instruction and interacting with teachers and fellow students was difficult for many of the students and accounts for the transition to greater risk from generalized anxiety to social anxiety."

The researchers said that it was not surprising that internalizing problems are increasing for Latinx youth and for youth, in general.

They noted that "families were in isolation and withdrawn from others for prolonged periods. The children received instruction via video conferencing for over one year. They did not have the opportunities for natural and less restrictive socialization. Additionally, mental health services were severely disrupted and often unavailable to Latinx youth, especially those from uninsured and of low-income backgrounds".

Also playing a role, the researchers noted, was the multiple stressors that Latinx children and families of underrepresented backgrounds endured both during, and before the pandemic began. These included hostile and discriminatory immigration policies in the United States, racially motivated mass shootings, anti-Asian American discrimination, and the murders of George Floyd and others by the police.

Polo and his colleagues shared concerns about expectations of a quick turnaround of the high rates of depression and anxiety in students.

They wrote "the latest data from the state of Illinois reveal lower teacher retention, high and chronic student absenteeism, and significant achievement drops in math, English, and other subjects which, among Latinx students, are closely connected to depression.

"Rates of both anxiety and depression among children and adolescents were already on the rise during the decade before the pandemic suggesting that addressing these problems is of utmost importance."

Polo and his colleagues at DePaul are trying to help. Since 2017, they have partnered with Chicago Public Schools Office for Social and Emotional Learning to provide training and support to school mental health providers through Act & Adapt, a video-guided group program designed to prevent and treat depression among early adolescents. Act & Adapt was designed and tailored to serve youth of diverse backgrounds within a school context. And with support from CPS and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, DePaul is evaluating and expanding the use of this program.
A full emergency was declared at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday afternoon after a Dubai-bound FedEx aircraft suffered a bird-hit.

Last month, a bird strike incident forced an Air Asia flight, en rounte to Pune, to make an emergency landing at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar. The plane suffered a bird hit soon after taking off from the airport.

In October last year, an Akasa Air plane flying from Ahmedabad to Delhi hit a bird, which caused sustained radome damage. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft sustained radome damage as a result of the bird strike at 1,900 feet. Earlier that day, on October 15, a bird struck a Mumbai-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight.

A radome is a body part attached to an airplanes nose-mounted radar that is often referred to as the planes nose due to its conical shape. However, in addition to offering protection, it enables the radar to receive electromagnetic signals without distortion.

On the other hand, a bird strike is often referred to as bird ingestion, bird hit, or Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH). It happens when an airborne animal - such as a bird or a bat - hits an airplane in flight.

Usually, events of bird strikes happen when an aircraft is flying at a low altitude, primarily during take-offs or landings. It is because these aerial animals generally fly at low heights. However, it is not to say that bird strikes dont happen at higher altitudes, as the world record for a bird hit at the highest altitude was 11.3 kilometers above the ground.

Animal and bird strikes have become a common phenomenon at Indian airports, but the number of incidents has increased significantly this year compared to last. This is primarily due to increased air traffic, but inadequate infrastructure and poor waste management in several cities also play a significant role.

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American firm ExxonMobil is set to invest $110 million (Rs 900 crore) to construct a lubricant manufacturing plant at Raigad, Maharashtra. The plant will be set up in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporations Isambe Industrial Area. ExxonMobils plant, once completed, is expected to manufacture 1.59 lakh kilolitres of finished lubricants annually.

Also Read: Uno Minda Launches High-Performance BS VI-Compliant Engine Oils for Two-Wheelers

The plant is expected to start operations by the end of 2025. ExxonMobil made the announcement about the lubricant manufacturing plant in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as well as Minister of Industries Uday Samant and senior government officials.

The ExxonMobil plant will give a significant boost to the central governments Make in India initiative. The plant is expected to create about 1,200 jobs during the construction phase. It will also source a large part of additives, base stocks and packaging to locals.

Were thrilled to announce our first greenfield investment in India! Were building a lubricant manufacturing plant in Maharashtra to help meet Indias growing demand for high-performance lubricants. Know more: https://t.co/iGv5ArHRHI @Dev_Fadnavis, @samant_uday, @midc_india pic.twitter.com/9miASFxhxl ExxonMobil India (@exxonmobil_ind) March 31, 2023

Manufacturing locally will simplify our supply chain, enabling us to serve the needs of our Indian customers and consumers more readily. We are excited about our growing role in supporting the India growth story, Vipin Rana, CEO, ExxonMobil Lubricants Pvt. Ltd, stated.

The plant will cater to growing demand for finished lubricants in industrial sectors such as steel, manufacturing, mining, power, and construction. The plant will also cater to the passenger and commercial vehicle segments.

The lead country manager for ExxonMobil affiliates in India, Monte Dobson, hailed the announcement of a new plant. He also stated that Maharashtra, which is among the countrys largest manufacturing hubs, was a natural choice for the factory. This will be ExxonMobils first green investment in India.

We are proud to deepen our longstanding commitment to India with our first greenfield investment. Maharashtra is amongst Indias largest manufacturing hubs and a natural choice for our lubricant plant thanks to its attractive investment environment, Monte Dobson stated.

ExxonMobil sees the plant as a step towards bolstering its presence in the country. The energy company is a major liquefied natural gas supplier for India. ExxonMobils chemical products are widely used in the Indian manufacturing sector. The company first began supplying LNG to India in the early 2000s and is a big player in Indias move to transition to a gas-based economy.

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With the organisational support of the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Aktau the Center of Azerbaijan held an event on March 31 - Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

Azernews reports that the consulate staff, professors and teachers of the university, Azerbaijani and Kazakh students, social activists participated in the event held at Yesenov State University.

First, the memory of the victims of the genocide was commemorated with a minute of silence.

Then the speakers talked in detail about the genocides of the Armenian nationalists and their patrons against the Azerbaijanis in the last two centuries.It was noted that tens of thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis were killed as a result of the mass ethnic cleansing policy carried out by the Bolshevik-Armenian armed groups in Azerbaijan at the beginning of the last century, and one of the most terrible genocides of the 20th century was committed against our people.

It was stated that the genocide of Azerbaijanis will never be erased from the memory of our people.
Details added: first version posted on 10:40

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Azerbaijan's State Border Service continued implementing measures to ensure the protection of the state border, and combat smuggling, illegal migration, and drug trafficking, the press center of the service told Trend.

Thus, according to the press center, in March 2023, 51 people were detained for violating the state border, 23 of them are citizens of Azerbaijan, 10 - citizens of Afghanistan, six - citizens of Pakistan, five - citizens of Iran, one citizen of Georgia, India, Guinea, Liberia, Palestine, and two citizens of Tajikistan.

"As part of activities to combat illegal migration, 24 people were detained while trying to cross the state border with fake passports, visas and stamps. A total of 988 people were detained for violating the rules of the border regime, and appropriate measures were taken against them," the press center said.

Besides, 294 people from the wanted list were identified and transferred to the relevant structures, the exit of 429 people with restrictions on leaving the country, and the entry of 19 people prohibited from entering the country were prevented.

As a result of measures to combat illegal drug trafficking, 91 kilograms 821 grams of narcotic drugs, and 7,613 tablets of psychotropic drugs were found and seized.

The press center added that as a result of measures taken in the framework of combating smuggling activities, contraband worth a total of 4.2 million manat ($2.4 million), including drugs, alcohol, tobacco products, and fake stamps, was seized.
Khaqan Murtaza, Director General (DG) of Pakistans Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), told a Senate panel that all pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) wanted to leave the flag carrier.

Explaining the reason for this to the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation, the DG said around 35 percent tax was deducted from the salaries of the pilots, reports The Express Tribune.

He added that in addition to that, there was a tax imposed on flying hours of pilots too. Most of the times you hear about flight cancellations, the reason for this is the shortage of pilots," he said.

Also Read: Russian Carrier Aeroflot Starts Daily Flight on Delhi-Moscow Route, Details Here

Senator Mohsin Aziz, a member of the panel, inquired that the PIA would ever turn profitable in their lifetimes.

PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Amir Hayat replied that the national carrier was making operational profit, The Express Tribune reported.

Senator Aziz told him to inform the panel about the overall profit of the airline, and not just that of its operational. The PIA CEO then switched to the subject of pilots licences.

He said there were 141 pilots with questionable licences, adding that 69 of them had been cleared.

The DG told the panel that action was being taken against those who had acquired fake licences as well as those who assisted them.

He continued that the issue was blown out of proportion when former Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had claimed on the floor of the National Assembly that 40 percent of the PIA pilots had dubious licences, The Express Tribune reported.

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The price of commercial LPG cylinders has been slashed by Rs 91.5 per unit, effective Saturday (April 1), according to news agency ANI quoting sources. A 19-kg commercial cylinder will now cost Rs 2,028 in the national capital Delhi.

The report also said the petroleum and oil marketing companies have not made any changes in the prices of domestic LPG cylinders.

On March 1, 2023, the prices of 19-kg commercial LPG cylinders were hiked by Rs 350.5, after which it was being sold at Rs 2,119.5 in Delhi. The 14.2-kg domestic LPG had also got costlier by Rs 50.

Meanwhile, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices have also been reduced to Rs 98.349.59 per kl, from Rs 1.07 lakh per kl in Delhi.

Earlier, on January 1, commercial cylinder prices were increased by Rs 25 per unit. The prices of the commercial cylinders were reduced the last time in September 1 last year by Rs 91.50.

LPG cylinder prices vary from state to state depending on the VAT and transportation costs of the region. It is also calculated on the basis of the prices of crude oil. Retailers revise LPG cylinder prices at the beginning of each month keeping in line with global crude oil prices.

Each household is entitled to 12 cylinders at subsidised rates a year. Beyond this, cylinders can be purchased at market value.

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GST collections in March 2023 rose 13 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.60 lakh crore, according to the latest data from the finance ministry. The return filing in March was the highest ever, and the collections were second highest ever.

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of March 2023 is Rs 1,60,122 crore of which CGST is Rs 29,546 crore, SGST is Rs 37,314 crore, IGST is Rs 82,907 crore (including Rs 42,503 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,355 crore (including Rs 960 crore collected on import of goods)," the finance ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

It said it is for the fourth time in the current financial year that the gross GST collection has crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark, registering the second-highest collection since the implementation of GST". This month witnessed the highest IGST collection ever.

Abhishek Jain, partner (indirect tax) at KPMG in India, said, Monthly GST collection for the month of March being the second highest of all time, coupled with 22 per cent higher GST collections for FY 22-23 over last year point towards the growing trajectory of the Indian economy. Another cheer point is the highest ever compliance rate with 91.4 per cent of returns being filed in the month of March, indicating success of revenue authorities and businesses in ensuring tax compliance and preventing tax evasion."

The government has settled Rs 33,408 crore to CGST and Rs 28,187 crore to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue of Centre and the States in March 2023 after IGST settlement is Rs 62,954 crore for CGST and Rs 65,501 crore for the SGST.

The revenues for the month of March 2023 are 13 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, revenues from import of goods was 8 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 14 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year," the ministry said.

The return filing during March 2023 has been highest ever. About 93.2 per cent of statement of invoices (in GSTR-1) and 91.4 per cent of returns (in GSTR-3B) of February were filed till March 2023 as compared to 83.1 per cent and 84.7 per cent, respectively, same month last year.

The total gross collection for 2022-23 stood at Rs 18.10 lakh crore and the average gross monthly collection for the full year is Rs 1.51 lakh crore. The gross revenues in 2022-23 were 22 per cent higher than that last year. The average monthly gross GST collection for the last quarter of the FY 2022-23 has been Rs 1.55 lakh crore against the average monthly collection of Rs 1.51 lakh crore, Rs 1.46 lakh crore and Rs 1.49 lakh crore in the first, second and third quarters, respectively.

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The popularity of OpenAIs ChatGPT has surprised the entire world. From students to companies, everybody is using AI applications to make their jobs easier. But, can you imagine that you can also make money by just teaching people how to use it? Its ironic how the chatbot was once viewed as a threat that could take away jobs, but now it is being used to earn money. According to a Business Insider report, a 23-year-old man named Lance Junck has launched an online course on an education platform.

In just three months, Junck managed to enroll more than 15,000 students from around the world for his ChatGPT Masterclass. Junck offers a complete guide for beginners" and has earned around $35,000 (around Rs 28.4 lakh). The course has been designed to teach people how to use ChatGPT.

Speaking with the Business Insider, Lance shared that he was blown away by the capabilities of the AI app and said that he wanted to make the bot accessible to everyone. He also mentioned that he saw an opportunity to teach people how to use the tool and designed the online course.

I think people are kind of afraid of ChatGPT, so I tried to make it warm and exciting and approachable," Lance added.

Lance admitted that he is self-taught and has spent hours on the bot every day, asking it to do things like write an introduction to a novel or product description for certain items to understand it better. He also mentioned that he consumes every piece of ChatGPT content" on the internet, including articles and posts on LinkedIn, GitHub and Reddit.

The report also stated that the course is more than seven hours long and is now priced at $20 (Rs 1,643) and includes 50 lectures aimed at beginners and took Lance three weeks to record the video classes.

Students who enrolled for Lances course are majorly from the US. Many students from India, Japan, Canada, Venezuela, Russia and parts of the Middle East have also joined Juncks course. At present, Italy has put a temporary ban on ChatGPT. Italys data protection agency on Friday cited that the artificial intelligence app did not respect user data and could not verify users age.

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Painters in a Chinese village once known for churning out replicas of Western masterpieces are now making original art worth thousands of dollars, selling their own works in a booming domestic art market. Home to more than 8,000 artists, southern Chinas Dafen has been producing near-perfect copies of timeless masterpieces for years. In its heyday, three out of five oil paintings sold worldwide were made in the village, and for years village painters sold their copies to buyers across Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

Exports began to dip after the 2008 global financial crisis, and all but dried up when China slammed shut its borders in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A few artists gave up and closed their studios. But others saw in the obstacles an opportunity to establish themselves as painters in their own right by catering to Chinas art market  the second-biggest in the world, with sales jumping by 35 percent in 2021.

Self-taught artist Zhao Xiaoyong used to sell replicas of Vincent van Goghs work for about 1,500 yuan ($220) each, while his original pieces fetch up to 50,000 yuan, he said.

When Zhao moved to Dafen from central China in 1997, his family shared a tiny two-bedroom apartment with five other tenants.

Those days, there was an assembly line-style system, with each artist painting a small section of a larger piece, like an eye or a nose, before passing the piece to another painter to draw a limb or a shirt sleeve," he told AFP.

After years of cranking out mock masterpieces, Zhao eventually saved enough money to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Saint-Paul Asylum in southern France, where the artist famously painted The Starry Night".

I felt I could finally enter into his world instead of just copying his brush strokes," Zhao said.

I realised I had to come out of Van Goghs shadow and give life to my thoughts."

Now he chronicles how the Dafen oil painting village has changed, using Van Goghs style: one canvas shows Zhao in a crowded workshop holding one of the Dutch painters self-portraits, while fellow artists nap on their desks.

Tourist boost

Since Chinas dismantling of its zero-Covid policy in late 2022, the streets of Dafen are once again bustling with visitors, crouched in front of easels, slapping paint on canvases.

As well as immersing themselves in the artistic culture with painting lessons, many of the tourists come to buy pieces from the villagers, but their hunt for a good deal is another factor behind the fading market in handmade fakes.

In one alleyway, workers brush paint onto printed canvases of Duccios Madonna and Child".

These are sold for a knock-down price as low as 50 yuan per piece, while a hand-painted copy costs up to 1,500 yuan.

We paint a few strokes over the printed image to make it look like an authentic oil painting," said one artist, who declined to be named.

Buyers think the printed background is painted using watercolours."

Chinese aesthetic

Another Dafen-based artist on a mission to move on from painting imitations is Wu Feimin, who has carved out a niche selling Buddhist-themed art.

I used to copy Picassos work, and now I have my distinct style," Wu said, painting a giant face of the Buddha with a palette knife.

It takes weeks, sometimes months, to complete one painting," the artist said as he was getting ready for exhibitions in the village and the rich industrial hub of Guangzhou.

Its risky, but the margins are better."

Other artists told AFP that they went back to school during the pandemic to learn how to draw mountains and weeping-willow trees seen in traditional Chinese landscape paintings.

Wealthy Chinese buyers want art that reflects a Chinese aesthetic," said Yu Sheng, a fine-art teacher who used the opportunity to retrain in the classical style.

While he continues to make ends meet by exporting replicas of Western works, he also creates his own pieces, determined to crack the more lucrative domestic market and become a portrait painter for the wealthy.

And he is confident in his abilities over those of artists from well-known schools.

Our technique is better because we paint every day, but we dont have contacts with art dealers in big cities," he said.

Our survival depends on whether our work is recognised by Chinas art buyers  we must learn to bend like bamboo."

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Twitter CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to the spotlight, and he knows exactly how to keep the internet talking. The tech billionaire recently caused a stir on Twitter when he posted a photo of himself in a white puffer jacket, similar to the one worn by Pope Francis in a viral AI-generated image. Heres the thing, Musks photo is also AI-generated, and in a tweet that followed the snap, he shared a cheeky remark: Just borrowed my friends jacket wdyt?" The snap shows Musk wearing a sleek white puffer jacket. Unlike the Popes ensemble, this one was opened from the front. And Musk was seen sporting a golden medallion along with the fit.

Just borrowed my friends jacket wdyt? Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2023

While some Twitter users were quick to wonder if this was a real image or something created using AI tools like Midjourney, others were more focused on Musks sense of humor and his ability to keep things interesting on social media. Musks tweet quickly went viral, and most people couldnt get enough of the tech moguls wit and charm.

The Pope wore it better," wrote a user, and Elon Musk agreed.

 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2023

Another commented: You clearly shop at the same store as Pope." sharing the snap of Pope Francis in the white puffer jacket.

You clearly shop at the same store as Pope. pic.twitter.com/MZMyvqp6Cn vahap eren (@VahapErenTR) March 31, 2023

His rockets arent the only thing thats fly, wrote another user.

His rockets arent the only thing thats fly  TrendSpider (@TrendSpider) March 31, 2023

A tweet read, Is this image entirely fake or just super heavily edited?

is this image entirely fake or just super heavily edited? Ben Adlin (@badlin) March 31, 2023

For those wondering how this puffer jacket AI-images became a thing, it might help to catch up on how Pope Francis has become a sensation on social media for his unconventional fashion sense. A photograph of the Pontiff wearing a large white puffer jacket has gone viral on Twitter and has been hailed by many for his stylish and hip look. However, theres a twist. It turns out that the photo is not real, but was generated by an AI application called Midjourney. The photo was originally shared on a subreddit before it started circulating on social media. Despite being a digitally created image, the picture has created a buzz on Twitter, with both fashion lovers and the general public praising Pope Franciss puffer jacket look. A tweet featuring the image read, The boys in Brooklyn could only hope for this level of drip."

Social media users have utilized the social media platform to express their admiration for the Popes attire, with some even making humorous wordplays to convey their thoughts. Some users found it hard to believe that the image was created using AI, as it appeared to be an authentic photograph.

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Spine-chilling footage of a man fighting off two polar bears merely with sticks has left the Internet in shock. Shared on Reddit, the incident took place outside what appears to be the mans lodging in a snow-clad mountain. He stands just a few steps away from the door when the two polar bears gang up on him in their move to attack. One of the bears tries to get close to the person, but he stands his ground and throws a giant stick to block its way. Both the bears fall a few steps behind before they try to attack him again.

The person repeats his move causing the animals to leave. Just moments before the clip ends, there enters a dog from behind who appears to be the mans pet. Watch the video here:

As soon as the video surfaced on the social media forum, it prompted a series of vivid responses from internet users. One of the called it, An unbearable situation to say the least. Another who claims to know about predator animals personalities wrote, Predators generally dont enjoy conflict, if their food has a good chance at wounding them theyd rather find something more helpless. One more added, He bearly escaped that situation.

Meanwhile, a concerned user asked, Did he fight them off or did they get more interested in that dog that ran off camera? Another lauded the mans strategy to keep the animals at bay, A bold strategy to disarm yourself like that, twice. However, one user condemned the man for throwing his weapon, Why are you throwing your weapons away? What is wrong with you.

It appears that no one was harmed during the incident. In the month of January, a polar bear attack left the people of a small town in Alaska in a state of frenzy. Reportedly, the bear chased several residents in the area killing a mother and her 1-year-old son. Authorities claimed that the community member had to shoot and kill the bear to put an end to the nightmarish attack.

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Originating in the 1980s in the United States, garbology" refers to the careful examination of the contents of our trash! This form of garbage archaeology" was first used to measure the effectiveness of HIV prevention campaigns, before being extended to other fields and being used in various ways throughout the world.

Studying the contents of our trash is a practice known as garbology." And its by no means new, since this scientific discipline dates back to the 1980s. When the United States was faced with a massive AIDS epidemic, employees of the city of Baltimore began to carefully inspect the contents of wastewater with a very specific aim: to count the number of used condoms that had been flushed, in order to measure the impact of campaigns deployed in the country to stop the spread of the virus. By early 1988, workers were finding between 200 and 400 every day," reports a BBC story on the subject.

Garbology" involves carefully studying the waste thrown away by populations for a specific purpose. Far from being confined to the United States, the practice has since been applied in other parts of the world, notably in Africa, again to determine the extent to which citizens are likely to use protection during sex. Several decades later, the technique was adapted to monitor the prevalence of Covid-19. This was achieved in the city of Boston, for example, by analyzing the citys wastewater.

Far from being confined to public health, garbology" quickly spread to other fields (politics, economics, marketing, sociology, journalism, etc.). In the early 2000s, a field study conducted in the United States used this method to study the eating habits of participants. Garbology" has thus become a discipline in its own right, and is even taught in several universities in the United States.

But above all, it has the merit of making us aware of the extent and impact of our own consumption, and more particularly, of our waste production, whether in terms of plastic pollution or food waste. As underlined by a Reporterre article, the recent and dramatic garbage collectors strike in the French capital proved a shock to the system for some Parisians, who came face to face with their waste production. In fact, some parents explain that they switched to cloth diapers for their babies in order to cut down on trash. With so much garbage piling up on the sidewalks, it became increasingly difficult to look the other away!

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Ajit Kumar, a student of Chausa in Buxar district has set an example for others by securing rank 8 in the Bihar Board matric or class 10 exam results 2023 declared on Friday, March 31. He scored 478 marks. The son of Shambhu Nath Singh and Poonam Devi, residents of Pavani village of Chausa block, Ajits father is a contractual labourer, while his mother is a homemaker.

Ajit told the media that he would like to give the credit for his success to his teachers and his parents. He added that he had always been encouraged by his father to pass the matriculation exam with good marks. Ajit further said that his father was his constant motivation. He shared, My father not only used to ask me about studies after working the whole day when he used to return home in the evening but also never let anything hamper my studies. At the same time, I got a lot of guidance from my teachers, due to which I have achieved this success today.

Ajit also said that after this he will choose the science stream in his intermediate. He added that by working harder than he used to, he will make the district proud again by performing well in the intermediate as well. Ajit aims to serve the country as an officer in the army. To fulfill this dream, he has already started preparing for the defence services exams.

The Bihar Board results were declared on Friday. MD Rumman Ashraf from Sheikhpura secured the top position in the Bihar Board Class 10 examination 2023 with 489 marks. Namrata Kumari from Bhojpur came second. The third place has been secured by Gyani Anupama from Aurangabad. The total pass percentage this year stands at 81.04 per cent, with 16,10,657 candidates passing the exam. Last year, the total pass percentage was 79.88 per cent.

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The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) is currently conducting the board examination for Classes 10 and 12. While the Class 10 board exams will conclude on April 3, the Class 12 board exams will end on April 5. According to reports, students can expect the results in the first week of June.

Once out, the students can access the result from the official website of jac.jharkhand.gov.in. They have to use their roll number and date of birth to download their scorecards. The students can also access their scores on News18 website.

Last year, 3,73,893 students passed the Jharkhand Academic Councils Class 10 board exams. The pass percentage out of the total number of students who appeared was 95.60%. The total pass percentage for the Jharkhand Class 12 board exams for Science, Commerce and the Arts was 91.43%, 92.74% and 97.42% respectively.

Jharkhand Board 2023 results via SMS: How to check

For Class 10 results: Type JHA10 space roll number and send it to 5676750. A candidate can also access the results with this format-

RESULT (space) JAC10 space RollCode + RollNumber (space) REGISTRATION NUMBER - Send it to 56263. Jharkhand Academic Council Class 10 Result 2023 will be sent through an SMS on the same number.

For Class 12 results, type an SMS in this format  RESULT (space) JAC12 (space) Roll Code (space) Roll no. Send the message to 56263. The JAC Board 12th result 2023 will be sent to the respective student in the form of a text message on the same number.

Jharkhand Board 2023 results: How to check online

Jharkhand Board Class 10 and 12 results can be checked online as well. Students need to visit the official website and enter their roll number and roll code in the login window. Follow the steps provided below to check the Jharkhand Board 2023 results-

Step 1 - Visit the official website of the Jharkhand Board - jac.jharkhand.gov.in.

Step 2 - On the homepage, click on the JAC class 10th or 12th Result. A link will be available to the student. Click the provided link.

Step 3- A login window will display on the screen. Enter the roll number and roll code provided in the hall ticket.

Step 4 - Click on the submit option. The JAC results for classes 10, and 12 (Whichever you selected) will appear on the screen. Download and save the Jharkhand board result for your future reference.

After the result, students can ask Jharkhand Academic Council to re-evaluate and scrutinise the scorecard. On the official website, a link will be provided for re-evaluation. Those who want a re-evaluation, should apply within the deadline with the requisite fee.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has declared that the state will give the JAC 2023 toppers laptops, cell phones and a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. The top three students in the JAC 2023 results for Classes 10 and 12 will be eligible for this prize, according to a PTI report.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Drug smuggling from Iran to Azerbaijan has been prevented at 02:30 (GMT +4), the State Border Service of Azerbaijan told Trend.

As a result of joint activities carried out by the Goytapa border detachment area of the State Border Guard Troops and the police department of the Yardimli district, the smuggling of 13.52 kilograms of narcotic drugs and 1,500 tablets of M-40 methadone was prevented near Avash village of Yardimli district.

"During the operational-search activities carried out on the territory, three residents of Avash village were detained as suspects. The operational-investigative activities are ongoing," the service added.

Previously, on the Goytapa border detachment area of the State Border Guard Troops, located near Shatirli village of Azerbaijans Jalilabad district, a violation of the state border from Iran in the direction of Azerbaijan by Iranian citizens Milad Azimi and Muhammad Fallah was revealed.

During the detainees' inspection, the border guards found and confiscated 41.37 kilograms of narcotic drugs.
A drunk passenger - a Swedish national - allegedly molested a 24-year-old IndiGo cabin crew mid-air onboard the Bangkok to Mumbai flight. The incident is the latest in a string of incidents of unruly behavior on flights in recent months.

The drunk passenger reportedly misbehaved with the air hostess while serving meals. Things escalated when the cabin crew informed the 63-year-old passenger that there was no food available onboard the plane.

The incident took place onboard the four-hour Bangkok-Mumbai 6E-1052 Indigo Flight on Thursday. The passenger was identified as Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg.

The passenger reportedly grabbed the air hostess hand when she attempted to receive payment from the passenger for a dish that was available, reports Times Now. When the crew member protested, he reportedly stood up and molested the air hostess, according to a statement by the woman to the Mumbai police.

The accused who was forced to return to his seat when the air hostess screamed, stood up again and reportedly abused co-passengers and other staff members onboard the flight.

Following the incident, the cabin crew informed the captain about the incident and the accused was arrested upon his arrival at Mumbai airport. He was reportedly produced before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate Court and was granted bail after a Rs 20,000 surety on Friday.

This was the eighth reported case of unruly behavior by a passenger mid-air in the last three months.

Last week, a drunk IndiGo passenger vomited in the aisle and defecated around the toilet on a Guwahati to Delhi flight. The shocking incident prompted outrage on social media after a photo of a cabin crew member cleaning the mess went viral.

The passenger was reportedly intoxicated and vomited in the aisle and defecated around the toilet.

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A senior Congress leader recently took a jibe at the central vista redevelopment plan and the construction of the new Parliament building, terming it a vanity project of Prime Minster Narendra Modi.

The political controversy is not new and even a Supreme Court order giving the project a go-ahead could not put an end to it. The central vista is not the only case in point. The purchase of Rafale planes, the Pegasus snooping scandal and the Adani saga have all knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court. Judicial orders, committees and their reports have not settled the political debate conclusively.

Many would argue that courts are not supposed to settle questions of policy. Judicial pronouncements cannot decide whether a policy is good or bad. The elected government has the discretion to decide on whether a certain expenditure needs to be undertaken, whether a defence spending is feasible in national interest or can the country afford a new Parliament building. These are questions of public policy that cannot be settled by a court of law.

Nevertheless, the courts have attempted to tread on this territory. The orders of the Supreme Court are used as ammunition in political narrative depending on whose argument they suit.

In the last few years, a trend has emerged where any high-profile political controversy pertaining to a policy issue is taken to the doors of the Supreme Court, irrespective of whether the issue is worth adjudication. Any concerned citizen can file a public interest litigation which may lead to the intervention of the Supreme Court. In most of these cases, the question is not of any largescale illegality, but is often about often vague constructs of propriety that the courts have dealt with.

These litigations are a reminder of the time when the Bofors scandal rocked the nation in the late 1980s. Ironically, the opposition, especially the Congress, might be looking for its Bofors moment now. The Bofors scandal pertained to allegations of corruption and kickbacks in a major defence deal. The scandal came with huge political costs to Rajiv Gandhi and his government, but never resulted in any high-profile conviction. The perception of large-scale corruption and the alleged involvement of Rajiv Gandhi was a political indictment of sorts.

Times have changed and political perception is far more clinically managed. The central vista project is linked to national pride in the political narrative. Pegasus emerged as an issue that only concerned the political or intellectual elites and failed to resonate on the ground. The judiciary hardly had any role to play in these issues.

Unlike Quattrocchi in Bofors, there was no face in the alleged Rafale scandal that the opposition could go to town with.

The Supreme Court gave a green signal to the deal on the limited aspects that were brought before it. The ammunition for building a political perception against the government that the Opposition is looking for has not come from the courts so far. All attempts have been a dampener. In fact, on critical issues, judicial orders have worked in the favour of the government.

Courts cannot and should not do the job of creating and mobilising political perceptions.

Many argue that perhaps courts should not take up such issues. That indeed is an afterthought because the result does not suit the narrative of the losing side. Its a double whammy for the courts. The courts would be damned if they refuse to take up a central vista or a Pegasus case, and are questioned even when they do.

The Supreme Court made an earnest attempt to deal with the Pegasus controversy, but barely few individuals submitted their phones for examination. All eyes are on the Supreme Court committee set up post the Adani controversy and what kind of regulatory recommendations it can come up with. Nothing stops the government or any other agency from launching a parallel investigation or enquiry.

Constitutional courts play a crucial political role in India or any other democracy. The courts are looked upon to check the excesses of a strong executive and restore the balance. The hunt for a perfect corruption scandal will lead the opposition parties to the High Courts and Supreme Court very often.

In election season, the courts have a tricky and crucial role to play. But the judiciary shall play its own role of upholding the rule of law and cannot do the work of the Opposition.

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The Mumbai Police has issued a traffic advisory for commuters travelling from Bandra to Dahisar. The authorities have advised people travelling during evening rush hour should use S.V Road and New Link Road as much as possible to travel to Dahisar from Bandra. As road work is going on at Dudhsagar Road North Bound under Dindoshi Traffic Division (Goregaon East). Passengers travelling from Bandra to Dahisar during evening rush hour should use S.V Road and New Link Road as much as possible, a post by the Mumbai Police read.

The order has also banned the movement of all types of vehicles going to Dudhasagar Road, towards Mohan Gokhale/Oberoi Mall, to decrease congestion. The restrictions will remain in place till May 31.

Take a look at the advisory here:https://twitter.com/MTPHereToHelp/status/1641848041765498882

Earlier, the Mumbai Police had informed that Sane Guruji Marg, N/B Rd was undergoing repairs and cementing. Due to this, the authorities have forbidden entry and parking for vehicles at Sane Guruji, Marg Satrasta Junction to Chinchpokli Junction. The decision will be in place till May 5 in order to reduce inconvenience to the people.

From 25/03/23to04/05/23,Sane Guruji Marg, N/B Rd will be excavated for repair and cementing. To avoid danger, obstruction and inconvenience to the public,entry is banned for vehicles and parking prohibited at Sane Guruji, Marg Satrasta Junction to Chinchpokli Junction (N/B). Mumbai Traffic Police (@MTPHereToHelp) March 27, 2023

Mumbai Police had previously issued a traffic advisory due to construction work on the Dadar metro. In a press release, the police stated that traffic will be disrupted from Lt. Anna Tipnis Chowk (Steelman Junction) to Gadkari Chowk since the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) is constructing the underground Dadar Metro Railway station, under Metro line 3, project -4.

The circular stated that the northbound road between Gadkari Chowk to Lt Anna Tipnis Chowk (Steelman Junction will remain closed to vehicular traffic. The southbound road will remain open for vehicles. Both sides of the road will forbid the parking of vehicles at all times. On Ranade Road there shall be no entry of vehicular traffic from Senapati Bapat statue towards Steelman Junction. The road will remain one way for vehicles moving from Steelman junction towards Senapati bapat Statue, the press release stated.

Vehicles moving from the Portuguese Church along the northbound of Gokhale road will have to turn left from Lt. Anna Tipnis Chowk (Steelman Junction) and then go along Ranade Road, Dadasaheb Rege Road, Gadkari Junction to move towards their intended destination. The restrictions will remain in force till March 23, 2024.

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The Ram Navami celebrations were blemished again this year due to the communal violence that erupted in several parts of the country on Thursday, hampering the festivities. While a communal clash during religious processions in several states left at least 22 people injured while at least 54 people were apprehended. The incidents were primarily reported from the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. Follow Ram Navami LIVE Updates Here

Police in Bihars Munger registered against 200 unidentified people after violence erupted during the Ram Navami procession there. It is been alleged some objectionable words were spoken when the procession entered the Hazratganj Mohalla area.

At least seven people were detained and a case against 500 was registered in Maharashtras Aurangabad after a dispute had arisen over a Ram temple in the area on Wednesday and a police team was attacked and several of their vehicles were set on fire during a violent clash on Thursday.

Over the years, religious events have repeatedly become grounds for perpetrating communal violence in the country. In April last year, the country witnessed communal clashes in as many as nine states during and after religious processions celebrating the Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti.

News 18 looks at the history of some of the recent communal clashes and incidents of violence during religious festivals in India.

Violence During Festivals

Ram Navami 2022- At least one person was killed and several houses or shops were set on fire in four states which witnessed violent clashes following Ram Navami celebrations last year.

In Khargone in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the violence started when the Muslim community allegedly objected to a DJ playing objectionable music in the procession. This was followed by stone pelting and arson at many places in the city, in which many people including Khargones superintendent of police were injured.

Clashes also broke out during Ram Navami processions in two towns in the western state of Gujarat  Himmatnagar and Khambhat. One person was killed while another was injured in clashes in Khambhat. In West Bengal, several people were injured in an attack on a Ram Navami procession in Howrah. In Jharkhands Bankura, there was an alleged attack on the car of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker and Union Minister Subhash Sarkar.

Hanuman Jayanti 2022- Police on April 18 2022, booked 13 people and arrested 11 in connection with an alleged stone-pelting incident that took place in Uttarakhands Haridwar on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. The stone-pelting incident allegedly occurred while a procession was crossing a Muslim-dominated stretch of the village on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, Garhwal (Range), according to The Indian Express. Several people were injured in the violence that ensued.

Ganesh Chaturthi 2022- A communal clash was reported from the Mandvi locality of Gujarats Vadodara on the night of August 29, ahead of the Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations. In regard to the incident, at least 13 people were detained by the police and patrolling has been strengthened to avoid repeated incidents.

Diwali 2022- After Navaratri, Diwali was also not very peaceful in Guajarats Vadodora. A fight that started over bursting firecrackers turned into communal clashes between two communities in the citys Panigate area at midnight. The Police detained at least 19 people relating to the case. According to PTI, petrol bomb had also been hurled at the Police.

Lakshmi Puja 2022- At least 40 people were arrested and sent to police custody for allegedly taking part in a clash between two communities in West Bengals Kolkata on the occasion of Lakshmi Puja last year. Nine police personnel, including two IPS officers and an assistant sub-inspector, were injured when they tried to stop the violence that took place in the Ekbalpore area of south Kolkata.

Holi 2023- An attempt to incite communal tension was busted in Uttar Pradeshs Meerut ahead of Holi this year after an argument between people from two communities turned violent two days ahead of the festival. According to reports, when people of one community were trying to raise funds for the Holika Dahan ritual, some people from the other community started passing objectionable comments which incited the argument. The situation was brought under control when the local police and the paramilitary force intervened and a case was registered against both sides.

Muharram 2017: At least six people were injured and four two-wheelers were set on fire when people of two communities clashed following rumours of stone pelting on a Tazia procession brought out during Muharram in Uttar Pradeshs Ballia in 2017.

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Come World Autism Awareness Day (April 2), and Dr Anil Kumar Kundra will inaugurate his second Autism Guardian Village at Balasinor in Gujarat. His original facility in Hyderabad entered its 10th year in 2023, and he felt that there is an urgent need for more such centres.

A 2019 study by Neurology India says that more than two million people in India might be affected by the Autism Spectrum Disorder. However, 10 years ago, when Dr Kundra tried to find a caregiving facility for a friends autistic son in India, he found none. He had then blurted out that he would create a place where his friends son would be looked after.

When I heard about autism years ago, I had no idea what it was. I realised that awareness is very low among Indians, even though many children are diagnosed every year," says Dr Kundra.

The Autism Guardian Village on the outskirts of Hyderabad is an answer to the biggest worry of parents with autistic children  what will happen to our child after we die?

FEELING OF BELONGING

In the village, these parents can live with their children till the end. After a child is left with no parent, the facility looks after him/her. The expenses are drawn from a trust created by these parents and Kundra. Parents buy a house in the village which is later passed on to the child. Every child has a caregiver, and other specialists to look after his every need.

I conceived this place for those parents who do not want to send away their children to a special facility. We have created an environment, so that these children can thrive and lead a life of dignity. The world outside is not very kind to them. In this village, the children live among people who are like them. This gives them a sense of community and removes their sense of isolation," says Dr Kundra. The desire to help these children changed Dr Kundras course of life. He already had an MPhil in English. He went on to pursue masters and PhD in psychology.

Mona Rai, who lives in the facility with her 24-year-old son, Tanmay, says that the village has been their home since 2020. She moved in from Noida after her husband passed away. Living here has improved Tanmays quality of life immensely. He has quickly picked up new social skills. The best part are the people who come together every day to provide a sense of belonging to the children. Its not only the facility, but also the neighbours who look after Tanmay. I could not have asked for more."

Acceptance is winning half the battle. In the village, the kids make friends, find people to say hello to. They clean their rooms, their utensils and clothes in a community setting. It gives them the sense that they are also needed in this world," says Dr Kundra.

The Autism Ashram in the village provides all kinds of therapy to the children. They study, learn vocational skills and lead a healthy life.

We have a schedule set for them. Throughout the day, they walk, do yoga, meditate, learn, listen to music and play. At the end of the day, they are very tired and sleep well. Good sleep, nutritious food, the green environment and loving neighbours ensure that every child lives a good life," adds Dr Kundra.

Dr Kundra, who is from Punjab, settled in Hyderabad after his father, who was in the Indian Army, was posted here. He lives with his wife in the facility. After him, he says, his two daughters will help continue his legacy.

ABOUT AUTISM

Dr Hema Nalini Kandru, a senior Consultant Developmental Pediatrician, says that Autism Spectrum Disorder is a condition where a child faces difficulty in social communication and interaction. The child has difficulty in beginning or continuing a conversation. They cannot communicate their needs either by pointing or verbally. Because of this difficulty, they may not respond when parents, other kids or teachers interact with them. They may not play in the way it is expected. They might line up toys whether it is blocks, balls or cars, depending on their interest.

Explaining the traits of children with autism, the doctor adds: They may have sensory issues like being uncomfortable/scared with everyday sounds. They are not comfortable with haircuts, brushing or having food with certain textures. They may repeat phrases or words that they have watched or make repeated movements like flapping hands or keep running in circles. Parents usually come with concerns of a child not responding when called or not speaking as expected for age."

Screening for autism can be done as early as 16 months. Diagnosis is done by a developmental pediatrician/ child psychologist or psychiatrist.

ALSO READ | World Autism Awareness Day 2022: How to Spot, and Treat Signs of Autism?

Specific tools for autism are used to diagnose the condition. Early identification and intervention leads to a better outcome. Depending on the individual needs of the child, therapies such as occupational therapy, speech therapy and behaviour therapy are advised. Parents play a major role and the interventions mediated by parents are more helpful.

The doctor says, Autism is not a disability, it is a different ability. We need to support children, parents and families with this ability."

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In a sigh of relief for people ahead of the Karnataka elections next month, authorities have withdrawn a 22 per cent took fee hike on the newly inaugurated Mysuru-Bengaluru expressway.

According to The Indian Express, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project director B T Sridhar confirmed the revision in toll fee.

The NHAI was supposed to enforce the hike in the toll tariff but decided to change its decision. The agency increased the fee for cars from Rs 135 to Rs 165 for single journeys.

Built under the central governments flagship programme, Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP), at a cost of Rs 8,480 crore, the 119-km expressway has helped cut down travel time between the two cities from three hours to 75 minutes. The expressway was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi last month.

The fully access-controlled expressway has six to 10 lanes and was built in two phases  from end to end, it has 50 bypasses; 64 underpasses, including pedestrian underpasses; 11 overpasses; 19 large bridges; 44 small bridges and four railway overbridges. It also has greenfield sections that form bypasses around Bidadi (7 km), Ramanagara-Channapatna (22 km), Maddur (7 km) Mandya (10 km) and Srirangapatna (7 km).

The work on the project officially began in 2019 and was expected to be completed in two years, ie, by 2021, but was delayed due to several hurdles, including the Covid-19 pandemic that brought construction work to a standstill for several months.

Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha said that the hike was not restricted only to the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway but to the entire country.

I spoke to the NHAI chairman and project director and chief engineer of the Bengaluru regional office. There is some work pending on the stretch. We can have a rethink on the hike once they are completed, Indian Express quoted Simha as saying.

However, the hike in toll tariffs was not withdrawn on other stretches.

As per the revised toll price, car travellers will shell out Rs 125 for taking 128.850-km section of Hubballi to Hospet section (Nalwadi toll plaza) on NH-63 and Rs 125 in Chitradurga-Davangere stretch (Hebbalu toll plaza) on NH-48 and Rs 105 in Hubli-Hospet section (Halligudi toll plaza).

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Making a grand entrance with their sparkling chemistry were celebrity power couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Dressed in custom made ensembles designed by ace designer Anamika Khanna, Deepika and Ranveer posed for the shutterbugs at the grand opening of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai.

Known as the doyenne of Indian couture, Anamika Khannas designs have always celebrated India and its crafts. Highlighting Indian embroidery and showing how uniquely they can be experimented with, Anamika celebrated India through its embroidery in Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singhs ensembles.

A symbol of elegance and style, Deepika looked ethereal in a gold zardozi embroidered pantsuit with pearl and emerald highlighting. Giving the look a regal and royal touch, she paired the ensemble with a gold zardozi border floor length cape. Talk about making a dramatic entrance!

Styled by celebrity stylist Shaleena Nathani and assisted by Anjali Chauhan, Deepikas contemporary yet traditional look comprised a unique maang tika complementing her hair style done by celebrity hair stylist Gabriel Georgiou. Deepikas makeup which was done by makeup artist Kritika Gill looked fresh yet simple that not only complemented her overall look, but made her look like true royalty.

Complementing his gorgeous wife, Ranveer Singh adorned a custom Anamika Khanna ivory embroidered silk achkan with an asymmetrical shredded hem. Ranveers look definitely played the perfect mood board for Indian weddings. The Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani actor kept his look minimal but its not a Ranveer look without some bling, right? Ranveer completed his desi look with a diamond necklace.

Anamika Khanna along with her sons Vishesh and Viraj Khanna were present at the grand opening of NMACC which premiered The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation -Indias biggest ever musical, conceived and directed by Feroz Abbas Khan.

The marquee production brought together exceptional Indian talent such as Ajay-Atul (music), Mayuri Upadhya, Vaibhavi Merchant, (choreography) along with 350+ artists including an epic 55-piece live orchestra from Budapest, to showcase Indias cultural journey through history. The visual spectacle featured over 1,100 costumes designed by leading fashion designer and costume designer Manish Malhotra.

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HOLY WEEK TIMELINE 2023: The Holy Week, also known as Passion Week, is a significant period in the Christian calendar. The Holy Week is a sequence of eight days that provide an occasion for Christians to contemplate the transformation in humanity, brought about by Jesus sacrifice on the cross.

ALSO READ: Good Friday 2023: Wishes, Images, Status, Quotes, Messages and Greetings to Share

The week starts with Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, and proceeded through the Last Supper, his crucifixion. The week culminates with Easter Sunday marking his resurrection. As the Holy Week is being observed from April 2 to April 9, heres taking a look at its timeline, starting from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday  April 2, 2023

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, and it commemorates Jesus Christs triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. As per the Bible, the people of Jerusalem welcomed Jesus by waving palm branches and laying them on the ground in front of him. It is customary for churches to distribute palm branches on Palm Sunday to commemorate this event. The palms are blessed by the priest, and the faithful carry them in a procession before entering the church.

Holy Monday  April 3, 2023

This day is a remembrance of when Jesus Christ cleansed the temples. According to the Bible, Jesus removed the wrongdoers and overturned the tables of those selling doves, telling them, It is written: My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.'"

Holy Tuesday  April 4, 2023

This day commemorates the time that priests or Pharisees worked with Herod the Great, the king of Judea who had been appointed by Rome, to secure Jesus conviction.

Holy Wednesday  April 5, 2023

On Holy Wednesday, Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus disciples, made a deal with the religious authorities to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. This event is commemorated in many churches by the Tenebrae service, a solemn and contemplative service of psalms and readings.

Maundy Thursday  April 6, 2023

Maundy Thursday is the day when Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples, where he instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. He washed the feet of his disciples, demonstrating the importance of service and humility. Maundy Thursday is a day of remembrance and reverence for the sacrament of Holy Communion, which is a central part of Christian worship.

Good Friday  April 7, 2023

Good Friday marks the day of Jesus crucifixion and death on the cross. It is a solemn day of fasting and penance, where Christians reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus for the salvation of humanity. Many churches observe the Stations of the Cross, a devotional practice that involves reflecting on the events leading up to Jesus crucifixion.

Holy Saturday  April 8, 2023

Holy Saturday is a day of waiting and anticipation, as Christians prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Many churches hold Easter Vigils, where the faithful gather for prayers, readings, and the lighting of the Paschal Candle, which symbolizes the light of Christ.

Resurrection Day  April 9, 2023

Resurrection Day, also known as Easter Sunday, is among the most important day in the Christian calendar. It commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Churches hold special services, and many families gather for feasts and festivities. The Easter egg, which symbolizes new life and rebirth, is a popular tradition during this time.

The Holy Week is a time of reflection, repentance, and celebration for Christians around the world. Each day of Holy Week has its own significance, and the events leading up to Resurrection Day are a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus and the hope of new life in him. Whether through prayer, fasting, or acts of service, Christians are encouraged to deepen their faith and draw closer to God during this holy season.

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Abdu Rozik and MC Stans fight is no secret. The two, who were a part of Mandali in Bigg Boss 16 house, recently lashed out at each other via their respective statements. However, looks like they have now spoken to each other over a phone call. Sajid Khan shared the same during his recent media interaction. He also mentioned that Abdu and Stan are very young and added that such arguments can be resolved with just a hug.

I feel they are very young. Look at their age Stan is 23 and Abdu is 19, friends usually fight with each other and it is very common. It is not a big deal. I am sure once Abdu comes back to India, Mumbai, we all will have food together. It will just take a hug to make things normal. I feel they have already spoken over the phone. I also feel these things are exaggerated on social media for numbers," Sajid said as quoted by The Times of India.

This comes days after Sumbul Touqeer Khan also talked about Stan and Abdus fight and explained that there are phases in all relationships. She also hoped for the two to resolve their issues at the earliest. There are phases in every relationship. Every friendship experience fights at some point in time. Their situation is being highlighted as they are both very famous. I think they will resolve their issue soon and be friends again," she had said.

Abdu Rozik and MC Stan fight reports made headlines after the former said Mandali khatam (Mandali is over) in one of his media interactions. Later during an Instagram live session, Abdu claimed that Stan does not even answer his calls. His team also issued a statement and claimed that even though Abdu tried contacting Stan on several occasions but until this day Stan has not responded or addressed" why he has not got back to Abdu.

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Rohini Theatre in Chennai came under the scanner recently when a tribal family, belonging to the Narikurava tribal community, was denied entry inside the cinema hall despite having valid film tickets. The incident caught everyones attention and people slammed the theatre management for practicing untouchability. Though the family was later allowed to watch the movie, the incident has led to legal action by authorities.

Now, the Human Rights Commission of Tamil Nadu has reportedly directed the police to file a case against the theatre. On Friday, March 31, police also booked a staffer and an FIR was registered under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and section 341(wrongful restraint) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to reports, a senior official said that before taking further action they needed to verify the claims by both sides.

The theatre management told us that three people attempted to enter with one ticket and thats why they were stopped first. But, to prevent the issue from blowing up further, they allowed them to watch the movie. Those who have claimed that they were denied entry on previous occasions as well are also being questioned, a senior police officer was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

Earlier, veteran actor Kamal Haasan condemned the act on social media. He tweeted in Tamil, which can be loosely translated to, Despite having tickets, nomadic people were denied entry into the theatre hall. They were allowed only after protests on social media. This is reprehensible.

Director Vetrimaaran also reacted to the incident.

100 years ago, theatres stopped practicing untouchability. It is a dangerous trend to practice untouchability by not allowing the working class inside the hall. Even though they were allowed inside the theatre later, it is strongly condemnable that such an incident happened," he posted on Facebook.

After the backlash, the theatre management also issued a statement where they have given the reason for stopping the family. The statement mentioned that the family went to watch Pathu Thala. The excerpt from the press release read, The movie is censored U/A by the authorities. Children below the age of 12 cannot be permitted to watch any movie that is certified U/A as per the law. Our ticket checking staff has denied entry on this basis to the family, who had come with children aged 2, 6, 8 and 10.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Footage of the positions of the Azerbaijani army recently taken under control in the territories at the border zone in the Lachin district have been published on social networks, Trend reports.

In regard with the commissioning of the new Lachin road, several high grounds between Jaghazur and Zabukh villages of Lachin region, main and auxiliary roads, as well as large areas along the border were taken under the control of the Azerbaijan Army Units.
Rani Mukerji is currently basking in the success of her recently released film Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway. The actress recently made an appearance on Kareena Kapoor Khans talk show What Women Want. During the interview, Rani discussed maintaining a regular childhood for her daughter Adira, particularly while attending school. This involves ensuring that her young child is not subjected to the paparazzi when she goes out.

When Kareena inquired about the superpower Rani and Aditya use to shield their child from the paparazzi, Rani responded, No, superpower. I just very sweetly tell them, please dont take baby's photos and they don't. They are very sweet. And they have been like this right from the very beginning. Because they know Adi is a private person, I'm a private person."

The actor stated that providing a regular upbringing for Adira in school was crucial for her. This was because being the child of famous parents often draws a lot of attention, and she wanted Adira to understand that her birth status did not make her special. Instead, Rani emphasized the importance of Adira making herself special through her own accomplishments in life.

The Mardaani actress also shared her experience of when her daughter was in the NICU. She explained that Adira arrived two months prior to her due date and was very small, causing her to feel stressed as a mother. Rani's maternal instincts took over when Adira spent seven days in the NICU instead of the expected 15. Rani went on to talk about the instant change that motherhood brings to a woman, saying that there is something within women that transforms when they become mothers.

According to her, The minute you see the baby out of your system and you look at that baby's face, you suddenly realise that you're not important anymore. She also mentioned that when you become a parent, you realize that someone else has now taken priority over yourself. It's a novel feeling of loving someone else more than yourself, and she personally felt this way when she became a mother. At that moment, there was nothing more significant to her than her child."

Meanwhile, Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, a movie directed and written by Ashima Chibber features Rani Mukerji, Anirban Bhattacharya, Neena Gupta, and Jim Sarbh in the lead roles. The film premiered in theatres on March 17. Rani plays the character of Debika Chatterjee, a Bengali woman who battles against a country after her children are removed from her custody.

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The United States, which is the fulcrum of Western civilisation, and Germany, which is the major player in the European world, came up with foolish assertions that they are watching the developments on Rahul Gandhi without realising that they are not helping his cause, but ending up creating a villain out of him.

Saying that one is watching the developments has got no meaning since every country watches the developments in other countries. That is why every important country has its representatives all across the world as envoys. For example, India must be watching keenly the way the US administration is treating its former President Donald Trump. India can also talk a lot about the failure of the US to resolve the racial issue. But when you assert that you are watching the development, it has a different connotation. It means the country either thinks itself to be a policeman or it suffers from a superiority complex. And this happens when there is a conflict between your understanding and practice of democracy. The US, the Western world and Europe have been in high praise of Indian democracy. The way people come out and vote, the way democratic institutions have become strong and trustworthy in India has been the topic of debate.

Why then discordant note on the issue of Rahul Gandhi? Is Rahul Gandhi for them bigger than Indian democracy? This creates doubt in the mind of an average Indian. If these countries value Indian democracy, they would know that the people of this country do not like Rahul Gandhi or his politics and they have voted for Narendra Modi as the symbol of hope. India does not have a dictatorship that the ruling establishment can treat it the way it wants. Even elected governments have restrictions. There is the press and the judiciary.

To see Rahuls present situation, as an outcome of political rivalry by the ruling establishment, is a travesty of matured understanding. Rahul may cry foul but those who understand the Indian justice system would say for sure that this has been his own doing. First, you cannot give a communal slur for an entire community. Rahul had the option of clarifying that he did not mean that. He was defiant because of his hatred for the Modi surname and wanted punishment rather than saying sorry.

Even after the punishment, he had the option to go for appeal. Rather than enacting a drama over the situation, he should have opted for a legal battle. It appears he sensed a great opportunity in projecting himself as a victim. But he forgot that judicial orders cannot be assigned political motives. While some of his well-wishers in foreign lands may buy this, people in this country are far more mature. Every issue is debated at roadside tea stalls or chaupal in Indian villages.

Why did the US jump the gun? US Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, at his maiden press conference, said: Respect for rule of law & judicial independence is a cornerstone of any democracy. Were watching Mr Gandhis case in the Indian court and we engage with the Indian government on a shared commitment to democratic values including freedom of expression. In our engagements with our Indian partners, we continue to highlight the importance of democratic principles and the protection of human rights including freedom of expression as a key to strengthening both our democracies engaging with the government of India.

Two days later, Germany too, joins in. The German government said: We have taken note of the verdict of the first instance against the Indian Opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as well as the suspension of his parliamentary mandate. To our knowledge, Rahul Gandhi is in a position to appeal the verdict. The appeal will show whether the verdict stands and whether suspension has a basis. We expect standards of judicial independence and democratic principles to be applied.

The prime question in everyones mind will be why the same hue and cry or such observations were not made when other legislators were disqualified in a similar fashion when they were convicted for an offence for two years. Rahul Gandhi had upheld the validity of this process of disqualification and tore the ordinance that the UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh sought to bring, to nullify the provision enunciated by the Supreme Court.

The BJP has rightly slammed the Congress for seeking foreign intervention. The representatives of the Modi government have rightly objected to such statements by foreign countries and the fact that this government would not tolerate any interference from anyone in its internal affairs.

Despite pitfalls, the judicial process in the country has acquired immense respectability. What the US and Germany have demonstrated is their lack of understanding and appreciation of the functioning of Indian democracy. Rahul Gandhi cannot be given special status just because he belongs to a political family. Such statements would put a question mark on the intentions of these countries.

As far as the Congress is concerned, it should figure out why Rahul Gandhi should not be compared with Mir Zafar who invited foreign power, i.e. the British, to fight internal power struggle. The loss of Indians at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 led to the establishment of the British Empire in India. Rahul has given an opportunity to these foreign countries to poke India through their irresponsible statements.

The writer is the convener of the media relations department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book Narendra Modi: The Game Changer. The views expressed are personal.

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In a 1937 article, Rashtrapati, published in the Calcutta-based journal, Modern Review, Jawaharlal Nehru imputed to himself all the traits of a dictator and concluded that we want no Caesars. The original pronunciation of the Anglicised Caesar is Kaiser, meaning despot, dictator, etc. We all know how the world burned due to German Kaiserism, a bloody phenomenon which occurred during Nehrus radioactive years in politics and public life. Nehru wrote this article under a pseudonym that reeks of irony: Chanakya.

Given some of the more shocking revelations from the overall Nehruvian crypt, we can conclude in hindsight that the aforementioned article is a study in classic narcissism. A vainglorious love letter he penned to himself. Here is how an excerpt reads: Watch him again. There is a great procession and tens of thousands of persons surround his car and cheer him in an ecstasy of abandonment. He stands on the seat of the car, balancing himself rather well, straight and seemingly tall, like a god, serene and unmoved by the seething multitude. Suddenly there is that smile again, or even a merry laugh and the tension seems to break and the crowd laughs with him, not knowing what it is laughing at. He is godlike no longer but a human being claiming kinship and comradeship with the thousands who surround him and the crowd feels happy and friendly and takes him to its heart.

Is all this natural or the carefully thought out trickery of the public man? Perhaps it is both and long habit has become second nature nowWith his seeming carelessness and insouciance, he performs on the public stage with consummate artistry. Whither is this going to lead him and the country? These questions would be interesting in any event, for Jawaharlal is a personality which compels interest and attention Men like Jawaharlal, with all their capacity for great and good work, are unsafe in democracyA little twist and Jawaharlal might turn a dictator sweeping aside the paraphernalia of a slow-moving democracy Jawaharlal cannot become a fascist. And yet he has all the makings of a dictator in himwith all his love of the crowd, intolerance of others and a certain contempt for the weak and the inefficient

We have a right to expect good work from him in the future. Let us not spoil that and spoil him by too much adulation and praise. His conceit is already formidable. It must be checked. We want no Caesars.

Reading this today feels surreal. But it is also a representative essay in which we can trace the psychological origins of the decadal Nehruvian abuse of Government machinery. The abuse was merely the consequence that flowed from such a psyche. In 1937, nobody in the Congress had even dreamed that India would get freedom in just a decade. Yet, here was Nehru anonymously glorifying himself in the third person and worrying that his self-professed greatness would transform him into a dictator. To put it bluntly, it appears that Nehru had convinced himself so early that he was born to rule, and not govern.

But if anybody qualifies for the title of dictator in recent Indian history, it is Sanjay Gandhi. Both Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi couldnt go the whole hog because they were constrained and were prudent enough to realise not to overstep these limits. The ex-Communist writer and intellectual, Philip Spratt  Nehrus contemporary  has given perhaps the best assessment of Nehru as a shackled Communist dictator: The figure in world politics who most resembles [Nehru] is [Fidel] Castro. Castro got into power on false pretences. i.e. as a liberator, not as a Communist, but within a year or so he had liquidated his opponents and built up the Communists so far that he was able to drop the mask. Nehru got into power on the same false pretences, i.e. as a liberator and he has proceeded in the same direction, but far more cautiously. Castro succeeded Batista; Nehru succeeded Gandhi on the one hand, and the legalistic British regime on the other. The two legacies between them have cramped his Communist style. Nehru has sometimes sighed for a cadre such as Mao Tse-tung built up during the Long March. But such a cadre, while it might have enabled him to enforce Communism, would not have made it any more congenial to IndiaCommunism remains wholly alien to this conservative, religious, individualistic, property-conscious, peasant-minded country.

A timeless wisdom informs us that a dictators power is almost wholly derived from and sustained by his yes-men. Nehru adopted a three-pronged device during his early bid to consolidate power.

The first was to pack his inner circle with family, unvarnished sycophants and ideological comrades. To this list belong Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Brijmohan Bijji Koul, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, VK Krishna Menon, Kidwai, et al.

The second was to expel any challengers to his power by using a time-tested tactic: humiliation. Some among these challengers had been his close friends who had helped him in difficult times. Others were light years ahead of him in eminence and accomplishment, a fact he knew better than others. The shameful episodes detailing how he heartlessly ejected C Rajagopalachari, Dr BR Ambedkar and John Mathai dont make for easy reading even today.

The third was his trump card. Each time he found the heat unbearable  criticism from his cabinet members, the opposition, etc,  he held out the ultimatum of resignation. And it worked each time. Op-eds and fawning international media coverage would immediately materialise, with headlines like After Nehru, who? Who can Step into Nehrus Shoes? and so on. How is this fundamentally different from similar media coverage that Rahul Gandhi keeps getting  as a saviour of democracy, as a warrior against authoritarianism, etc?

These yes-men drawn from varied cesspools and pursuing their own private agendas were only too aware of their importance if not indispensability to Nehru. And he let them run their little enterprises by feigning blindness, a fact that Spratt mentions in the same article: An item of [Nehrus] policy is his tolerance of corruption Nehru has the same bohemian attitude towards audit objections: they belong to the fussy bourgeois era of Gokhale and Gandhi When the resolution on the socialistic pattern was passed at Avadi, an important Congressman compared it to Emperor Akbars Din Ilahi. Socialism, he said, is Nehrus personal fad, which will quickly be forgotten when he passes from the scene. It seemed a shrewd judgement at the time, but it overlooked the attraction of socialism for a ruling party of hungry careerists.

From the discussion so far, it is clear that it would be limiting to view the Congress misuse of power as being restricted only to harassment by official agencies.

To cite another random example, we have the foul hounding of one of Indias tallest historians, RC Majumdar. His only crime was his professed devotion to writing the full truth about Nehru and Gandhis roles in the freedom struggle. Majumdars stature was slandered and his career ruined. The witch hunt was frontally led by Maulana Azad and some high-ranking bureaucrats, a saga that Majumdar has himself recounted.

Naturally, the quality of yes-men in the post-Nehru years coarsened, and just as naturally, paved the path to the criminalisation of Indian politics. Now, the agencies were unleashed at whim to settle personal or political scores by individual legislators. It was no longer necessary for the hounding order to come from the very top.

The familiar argument that Indira Gandhi was primarily responsible for the destruction of democratic institutions is true only in a limited sense. Jawaharlal Nehru had already primed the field. She harvested the venomous crop.

The ideological, economic and policy side to the wrecking of the government machinery is a thread that is interwoven with this venal legacy. Nehrus addiction to softcore Communism translated as intractable hatred for free enterprise, which obviously impoverished businesses. Which further meant that there was not enough money to go around. Which also meant an endless spiral of taxes. However, for the Congress, this translated into a paucity of funds to finance its poll campaigns. That was when the now-ubiquitous Brahmastra was deployed: threatening businesses with tax raids. The late Nani Palkhivala has given us the most lucid and most detailed treatises on this sick phenomenon in his masterly We the Nation and We the People. It is a miracle how India actually lifted itself up from this muck.

Even as recently as 2012-13, Arun Shourie had made a cryptic remark when the former CAG Vinod Rai was dragooned by the Congress-led UPA regime for exposing their serial skulduggeries. Shourie said that Rai had taken the Congress by surprise with his exposes because all the while they had thought, yeh hamara aadmi hai  he is our man. In other words, they viewed Vinod Rai as a traitor.

And so, when Amit Shah narrated his ordeal at the hands of  to borrow his words, Chidambaram, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, it is clear that he was severely understating and downplaying the case. What the Congress has historically done is not abuse of power or misuse of agencies: it exercised quasi-dictatorship. The Emergency gave India its full taste.

Series Concluded

The author is the founder and chief editor, The Dharma Dispatch. Views expressed are personal.

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The winds that had left its sail bloody and tattered after the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections have again started blowing in the BJPs favour. In the last year or so, hundreds of crores of cash have tumbled out of houses of Bengal CM Mamata Banerjees men and women and hundreds of houses have tumbled out of the swindlers invisible safes in full public view, showing it up as one of the most recklessly corrupt regimes in recent memory. The trust of even hardworking Trinamool supporters has been shaken. To Bengals poor  that is a staggering multitude, as according to the World Bank, West Bengal grew at an even slower pace than the countrys other low-income states  such vulgar loot is a cruel joke.

The other spectre that the Ram Navami violence has brought back for Mamata Banerjee is Muslim appeasement. Howrah erupted with stone-pelting by Islamist mobs who resented Hindu religious processions during the festival. The CM has been desperately trying to offset her pro-minority and anti-majority image lately. From chanting Chandi slokas to calling herself a staunch Brahmin, and from deciding to build replicas of Jagannath and Vaishno Devi temples in the state to holding Ganga aarti along the Hooghly, Mamata Banerjee has embarked on a massive image-correction among Hindu voters.

But perhaps the loss in the Assembly bypoll in Sagardighi, which has a 65 percent Muslim population, alarmed her about disenchantment setting in among her electoral milch cow (her own words), the Muslims.

And so, despite Muslim mobs laying violent siege on Ram Navami, she invoked Allah tala and chastised Hindus for entering Muslim areas on Ram Navami. Months before the panchayat polls, she has walked right into the trap of her own image.

Also, the alleged roughing up of NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo by cops at the Tiljala police station reinforces the blemish on the state as a law-and-order hellhole. Kanoongo was in Bengal to probe two separate cases of rape and murder of children.

But is the BJP ready to take complete advantage of the Zephyr flowing its way? The reaction of the party to the Howrah violence and thrashing of the NCPCR head has been a meek threat to file a public interest litigation in court. Its stock response to the frequent slash of the sword has been to wield an inexorably slow legal process. It has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives in pre- and post-poll violence.

The BJP perhaps reckons that its cadre repeatedly taking the onslaught will draw voter sympathy and electoral dividends. It also perhaps still counts on Mamata Banerjees covert support to its bills and policies in Parliament and does not want to go for the kill till it feels it is strong enough.

But the politics of Bengal can be unfathomable for those sitting in Delhi. The need of the hour is to unite the fractious party with floating, self-serving elements and take to the streets against a weakening TMC. If Mamata were the leader of the state opposition, she would overwhelm the ruling party with street protests and a barrage of drama for the media to lap up.

The Bengal BJP has lacked that gall. It has also not been able to mobilise the states women, Mamatas silent strength. The BJP needs to prepare and empower its cadre to take up the street challenge. Bengal does not back those who fail to defend themselves, however oppressive the regime. With rural and general elections approaching, it might want to rethink and decisively rearrange things.

Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal.

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Christmas is celebrated all over the world on December 25. India, too, is home to some of the oldest settlements of Christians, with Kerala having an ancient Syrian Church and following in present times. The number of Christians have increased due to increased missionary activities and proselytisation. Punjab has also seen its fair share of Christian conversions, like all other states. For the outer world, Punjab is commonly characterised by its Sikh faith, food, music, philosophy, and folk dances. According to the Punjab Religion Census of 2011, Sikhs constitute a majority religion in the state with approximately 58 percent of the share, Hindus are 38 percent, Muslims are nearly 2 percent, and Christians at 1.26 percent.

However, media reports and Christian leaders argue that the actual number of faith followers is between 10-15 percent. The big gap in the calculation has emerged from the fact that the converts originally belonged to vulnerable communities such as the Dalits. The converts keep their original identity to enjoy the benefits of reservation and miss out on their current religion in the census.

Christianity in Punjab: Now and Then

Christianity in Punjab is not new, as it entered the state in 1834 and has stayed as a socio-cultural force. The initial set of Christians in Punjab was predominantly urban, literate, and socially diverse. However, the focus of present-day conversions is specifically on the large population of marginalised population of the Dalits and other vulnerable caste groups. A mass conversion movement of rural Dalits transformed a predominantly urban community of Christians into a rural and backward community. The reason behind the community being backwards in a relatively forward state is due to the conversions of Dalits. The converts inherit their past identities and follow customs, traditions, and lifestyles as they did in their previous religion. Therefore, Punjabi Christians are now characterised as backward, economically unstable, illiterate, and less urbanised.

Dalits and Valmiki Hindus, along with Mazhabi Sikhs, are converting to Christianity in large numbers as they believe their original religions do not provide them with solace as Christianity does. Dalits and Valmiki Hindus allege that their communities still suffer the consequences of rigid caste structures. The surprising case is that of Mazhabi Sikhs, who have already converted from Hinduism and gone to Sikhism. Sikhism is preached as a religion of equality; however, the story is different on the ground. In rural areas, many Gurudwaras of various denominations can be seen in a single village, such as Ravidas Gurudwara, Jatt Gurudwara, and Mazhabi Sikh Gurudwara. In reality, Sikhism is not an equalising religion, as the upper-caste Jatts look down upon Mazhabi Sikhs and treat them differently. Such discrimination has become a root cause for Mazhabi Sikhs to leave the Sikh faith behind and embrace Christianity. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) came to take notice of conversions in 2012, when 40 Mazhabi Sikhs converted to Christianity in the Taran Taran district. The head of Akal Takht, Sardar Harpreet Singh, had said that there is no doubt that the followers of the Christian faith are increasing; however, the pressing issue that needed attention was that the Hindu and Sikh communities should analyse why the Dalits, Valmiki Hindus, and Mazhabi Sikhs were leaving their religions.

Church preachers fill the vacuum left by other religions and introduce vulnerable groups to a new religion and faith of Christianity. Hindu and Sikh organisations allege that these preachers take in people on the pretences of healing the sick, bringing back the dead, and so on. The allegations have also led to violent clashes as Punjab witnessed a series of clashes and protests between the Christians and the radical Nihang Sikh communities in November 2022. Earlier in August, a Catholic Church was vandalised, and the car of a Church functionary was set on fire in Patti, Taran Taran.

Conversion at the cost of social relations

The recent conversions have created a scenario of communal hatred in Punjab as Christian groups are targeting vulnerable communities. Moreover, the distorted number of Christians on census data leads to misinformation as the converted communities retain their original identity in documents to avail the benefits of reservation. Hindu and Sikh organisations allege that the missionaries use monetary influence to lure people from vulnerable communities. There have been videos circulating widely on social media sites of people being cured miraculously of their diseases as soon as they embrace Christianity. It is believed that almost all villages have one or two converted Christian families in Punjab. Over 65,000 missionaries are active in the state.

The conversions have severely impacted social relations as people from other religions see the converted Christians as unfaithful towards their religion. The demographic change in the state of Punjab has become starkly apparent as the population has increased by 14 percent since the last census in 2011. With the population growth, there has also been a rise in religious denominations, as a notable decrease in the number of Sikhs from a previous 59 percent to a recent 57 percent is visible. The decrease in the Sikh population has ultimately added to the population of Christians in Punjab.

Another impact of rampant Christianisation has been the appropriation of the social landscape as Christian missionaries have designed churches on lines of Sikh gurdwaras to attract people from other religions. The pastors and Church leaders have also composed songs praising Jesus on lines of Sikh kirtan. The cultural appropriation being done by Church is putting the practices of the Sikh and Hindu faiths in a dilemma. A case in point is that of Khambra village of Jalandhar district, where Pastor Ankur Narula has taken up the responsibility of converting others by setting up the Ankur Narula Ministry. The Church of Signs and Wonders has become a prime example of rapid conversion as the establishment has gone from having three members in 2008 to having more than three lakh members in 2022.

Role of Social Media

Technology is developing at an unprecedented pace, and so the population is getting accustomed to its usage. The Christian missionaries operating in Punjab are carefully utilising social media and have a considerable presence on various social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The accounts share videos of people healing from illness, treating deaf or hard of hearing, and individuals who used a wheelchair getting up. Such videos have been used to propagate the powers of alleged healers. Church leaders also share information about Sunday masses on social media and invite people for joint prayer.

The extensive presence on social media signifies the deep pockets that Christianity has managed to get in the past few years. Most of the Twitter accounts had joined only recently, in 2020, when the pandemic struck the world. The lockdown allowed missionaries to target the poor by distributing food grains and other essential items. After the withdrawal of lockdown measures, the footfall at various churches in Punjab has drastically increased as people have come in contact with others.

Way Forward

The reaction from the authority figures of Sikh and Hindu communities has been abysmal at most. As elucidated in the above section, the main reason behind the increase in the rate of conversions is the social inequality in the Sikh religion. In recent times, SGPC, the temporal authority of the Sikh religion, has failed to bring together Sikhs from all backgrounds due to its political motives. The over-indulgence of political parties in religious matters has distorted the events revolving around conversion. The program started by SGPC, where Sikh Jathedar goes door-to-door and preaches the Sikh way of life, has not achieved success as Christian leaders have recently filled the vacuum. Hindu leaders are also yet to take heed of the matter.

The need of the hour is to make the vulnerable groups feel equal with other members of the community without any discrimination. The social inequalities in terms of different gurdwaras for Sikhs and Dalit Sikhs have sparked the debate around the Sikh religion and its adherents being casteist. Dalits, Mazhabi Sikhs, Valmiki Hindus, and all other communities should be given the same respect and stature in society as it helps (maintain harmonious social relations. Christian leaders are taking advantage of a broken society infested by casteism and inequality and converting people rapidly.

The issue is not with the Christian religion, as the Indian Constitution gives freedom to propagate religion. However, how church groups and pastors appropriate other religions and cultures severely threatens their existence. Sikhism was created on a rhetoric of establishing a caste-less society; however, no religion in the Indian subcontinent can survive without its caste characteristics. The SGPC, Akal Takht, and other Hindu organisations must act together to contain the societys mass conversions of the lower strata.

The author served as a Research Intern at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi (ICWA). Her area of research includes the Indo-Pacific, India-US relations, Indian diaspora, Indias national security, and contemporary Punjab. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters in International Studies from CHRIST, Bangalore. Views expressed are personal.

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Over the last couple of years, there has been a concerted effort to malign the image of the worlds largest voluntary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindutva in the Western academia and public discourse. A number of digital platforms have sprung up targeting the RSS and all things related to Hindus. They are not only vitriolic but make assertions based on the wrong facts. The unfortunate part is that Western academia often succumbs to this anti-RSS propaganda without getting the facts checked. In fact, a whole industry has sprung up whose full-time occupation is to spread anti-RSS and anti-Hindu propaganda and it is thriving on this. This creates confusion among the younger generation of the Indian diaspora also, who often get influenced by this false narrative, and hence start questioning the credentials of the Hindu thought and Hindu philosophy. In this multi-part series, we will take a look at the discourse on RSS and Hindutva in the Western world and check out how much of it is based on facts and how much of it is propaganda. This is the first part of the series.

The US-based Georgetown University has published a factsheet on the RSS as a part of its Islamophobia project under a programme called Bridge Initiative. The factsheet is full of factual errors and unnecessarily portrays an extremely negative image of the RSS. Lets take a look at some of the key errors.

Georgetown University fact sheet: The RSS isparamilitary volunteer organisation.

Real facts: The RSS is a socio-cultural organisation. No arms training is given in the RSS. In fact, the RSS is known for its social service projects. More than two lakh welfare projects are run by the organisations volunteers. Also, under Indian law, it is not allowed to run a paramilitary organisation. The RSS volunteers are very disciplined. Their level of discipline and confidence in their senior functionaries is unmatched in the realm of civil society world. That is why, many commentators tend to term it as a paramilitary organisation, which is factually incorrect.

Georgetown University fact sheet: The RSS was founded in 1925 by KB Hedgewar in response to a series of small and large-scale riots between Hindus and Muslims across Northern India.

Real facts: The founder of the RSS, Dr KB Hedgewar, was an Indian revolutionary. At a younger age, he was part of Anushilan Samiti, a leading revolutionary organisation of Bengal, which was fighting against the British colonial rule. Dr Hedgewar realised that one of the key reasons that a handful of Britishers were able to colonise and subjugate a massive country like India was because there was no unity among Hindus. And by Hindu, he meant all those who live in India and consider it to be their motherland, they might be going to the mosque or Church or any other place of worship. Religion has always been a matter of personal faith for the RSS and all its leaders have always said this on the record. So Dr Hedgewar decided to set up an organisation which could unite Hindus. The RSS stand is clear in this regard, if some people have problems with the term Hindu, they may call themselves Bharatiya (citizens of Bharat/India). The RSS was, thus, not set up as a reaction to the communal situation but with an objective to unite Indians and carry out social reforms amongst Hindus, so that the faultlines created in the Indian society would be rectified. The primary objective of the RSS was to help India attain its independence from British rule and then ensure that this independence remains intact as, in the past, Indians had lost their country to several invaders, primarily because the society was divided.

Georgetown University fact sheet: In 1940, M.S Golwalkar succeeded Hedgewar as head of the RSS. Golwalkar, widely regarded as the ideological architect of the Sangh, is the author of We, or, Our Nationhood Defined, which maps out a vision of a Hindu Rashtra. A March 2018 piece by Parnal Chirmuley in The Indian Express notes that Golwalkars vision [of a Hindu state] drew inspiration from Italian fascism, specifically Mussolinis organisation of fascist paramilitary forces. In recent years, the RSS has been at the forefront of promoting Hindu nationalism in India, with the Sangh accused of inciting violence against Indias Dalit-Bahujan community, including hate crimes against Muslims, lynching of the Dalits, and pogroms against religious minorities.

Real facts: The ideological architect of the RSS was Dr KB Hedgewar. Five Sarsanghchalaks after that, including MS Golwalkar, the second RSS chief, contributed towards the evolution of the RSS as an organisation. So the ideological foundation was laid by Dr Hedgewar and not Golwalkar as asserted in Georgetown Universitys factsheet.

As far as Golwalkar is concerned, he has been deliberately misquoted from his book We, or, Our Nationhood Defined and wrongfully called fascist. In the same breath, RSS is often called anti-Muslim or anti-Christian. Neither Golwalkar nor the RSS ever believed in the superiority of any race, caste or class.

To give you the correct perspective about what was Golwalkars thought process, we need to take a look at what he said in an interview in the early 1970s. J. Nandakumar, who is also the convenor of Prajna Pravah, an organisation of intellectuals, has quoted an interesting comment of Golwalkar (also known as Guruji), in his book Hindutva for the changing times, Indus Scrolls Press, 2019.

In an interview to Dr Saifuddin Jilani (published in early 1970s in weekly Organiser), Guruji says, Indianisation does not mean converting all people to Hinduism. Let us all realise that we are the children of this soil and we must have allegiance to this land. We belong to the same society and our ancestors are common. Nandakumar has written, Understanding this is Indianisation in the real sense. Indianisation does not mean that one should be asked to quit his religious system. We neither said this, nor we are going to say so. Rather, we believe that a single religious system for the entire human society is not suitable.

As far as RSS stand on the Dalits is concerned, let us dive deeper into what the RSS has been doing on the ground and how some of the top leaders of India have acknowledged its contribution towards the upliftment of the socially backward sections of the society.

Due to its efforts to end caste-based discrimination, right since its inception in 1925, Mahatma Gandhi was all praise for the RSS when he visited its camp in Wardha, Maharashtra, in 1934, and witnessed that all the volunteers were eating together. None of them were bothered about the caste of the swayamsevak sitting next to him. Gandhi recalled this visit when he addressed an RSS meeting on September 16, 1947, in the sweepers colony in Delhi.

Harijan, a weekly newspaper published by Mahatma Gandhi, reported this event on September 28, 1947. The report read: Gandhi ji said that he had visited the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh camp years ago at Wardha when the founder Shri Hedgewar was alive. The late Shri Jamnalal Bajaj had taken him to the camp and he (Gandhi) had been very well impressed by their discipline, complete absence of untouchability and rigorous simplicity.

One of the fiercest opponents of caste-based discrimination and the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, was also deeply impressed by the way RSS volunteers demonstrated equality for all castes through their behaviour. The first formal interaction of Ambedkar with the RSS took place in 1935. He had gone to Dapoli near Pune for some work where he visited an RSS shakha. In 1939, he was invited to an RSS training camp in Pune. There he also met RSS founder Dr KB Hedgewar. There were more than 500 RSS volunteers at that camp when Dr Ambedkar reached there. He was quite impressed by the fact that there was no discrimination on the basis of caste. In June 1953, senior RSS functionaries Moropant Pingley and Balasaheb Sathey met Ambedkar in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, where the latter asked for detailed information about the outreach of the RSS.

Earlier, in 1948, when the Congress government at the Centre had banned RSS by falsely implicating it in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Ambedkar was in favour of lifting the ban. After it was lifted, the second sarsanghchalak of RSS, MS Golwalkar, went to Delhi in September 1949 to meet Ambedkar to express his gratitude for the help he had offered in lifting the ban.

It is ironic that while the detractors of the RSS have been targeting Golwalkar, trying to paint him as someone who believed in the Nazi idea of the superiority of races, it was none other than Golwalkar who led the setting up of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to end caste-based discrimination in all spheres of life. The VHP was founded in 1964 on the occasion of Janmashtami at Sandeepni Ashram in Mumbai in the presence of 40 leading lights of Bharatiya society cutting across castes and religions. The VHP was set up after the RSS realised that caste discrimination is a major fault line of Hindu society. So it brought all the spiritual and religious heads under one umbrella and ensured that they issue the clarion call repeatedly since then to end the caste discrimination in the Hindu society. Earlier, the RSS inspired the setting up of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in the early 1950s to work among Scheduled Tribes who had become the most marginalised sections of Indian society during the British rule.

The RSS, in recent times, has set up a full-fledged vertical called Samajik Samrasta. This can be broadly translated as a vertical for social equality. This vertical specifically works to end any kind of discrimination faced by the socially marginalised sections of society.

Millions of volunteers come together every day in over 60,000 RSS shakhas, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, social or economic status. The volunteers address each other by their first name only. Their surnames which often indicate the caste in our society are not given any importance by anyone in the organisation. Every RSS shakha organises Sahbhoj (community dinner) at regular intervals where every volunteer brings food from their home. All the food items are put together and everyone eats the same food.

The central axis of the RSS worldview on caste discrimination in Bharat is best depicted by a lecture delivered by the RSS third Sarsanghchalak, Balasaheb Deoras, at the Vasant Vyakhyanmala (Vasant lecture series) in Pune in 1974. This is the guiding framework for its efforts to eradicate social inequality.

Deoras said, Untouchability is a saddening and unfortunate aspect of our social inequality. Some thinkers opine that it was non-existent in the olden times, but at some stage, during the passage of time, it gatecrashed into our social system and took root. Whatever be its origin, all of us consider that untouchability is a terrible folly and it must, of necessity, be thrown out lock, stock and barrel. There are no two opinions about it. Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in America, said, If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong. Similarly, it is for all of us to declare, If untouchability is not wrong, then nothing in the world is wrong! Every one of us must, therefore, aim at eradicating social inequality in each and every form. We must clearly explain to the people at large how our society became weak and disorganised on account of social inequalities. We must also show them the way to get rid of them. It is necessary that every individual must make his or her contribution in this effort. That would remove a stumbling block in the way of Hindu Consolidation.

The above-mentioned is just a small sample of the factual errors committed in the RSS fact sheet posted on Georgetown Universitys website. Incidentally, the financial contribution to the Bridge Initiative, a programme under which this fact sheet was posted, had come from Saudi Arabia and the contributor was later arrested for fraud, money laundering and corruption.

It is time for the Indian diaspora as well as intellectually honest academicians to challenge such fact sheets about the RSS where there are no facts and just pure propaganda material. It is surely doing great harm to all those students and researchers who are accessing this fact sheet to know more about the worlds largest voluntary organisation. As this fact sheet has wrong facts and baseless allegations, it is time to bring it down and put up the real facts.

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books including two books on the RSS. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed are personal.

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Union home minister Amit Shah was forced to cancel his tour of Sasaram in Bihar due to prohibitory orders following communal tension during Ram Navami festivities. But the administration denied the imposition of Section 144 in the city. The BJPs decision to cancel the visit points to rumours spread by the media.

According to Rohtas district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar and superintendent of police Vineet Kumar, Section 144 was never imposed in Sasaram. But the BJP still went ahead and cancelled Shahs event scheduled for April 2.

Forces are deployed at sensitive points. Sadbhawana march has been conducted, in which people from both communities took part. Things are coming back to normal, shops are reopening. We are doing a flag march and we havent come across any untoward incident. Internet services are shut till further orders. We are analysing the losses. Section 144 is not imposed anywhere, its just a rumour, said Kumar.

CNN-News18 confirmed that Section 144 was not imposed in any part of Sasaram city and media reports could have played a role in cancellation of Shahs visit to the city. However, the home minister will still be addressing a public gathering at Hisua in Nawada district on Sunday.

The ruling party and the opposition are both engaged in a war of words over the violence in Nalanda and Sasaram on Ram Navami, with state BJP president Samrat Choudhary accusing the Nitish Kumar-led government of stalling Shah from conducting a public event in Sasaram by imposing prohibitory orders under Section 144.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Choudhary squarely blamed the state government in Bihar for the cancellation of the function at Sasaram, which had been organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of Ashoka the emperor.

It is clear that Nitish Kumar is not in control of the administration. Even Bihar Sharif, which falls in the chief ministers home district of Nalanda, is in turmoil. So are many other parts of the state, alleged Choudhary.

He added: The imposition of Section 144 of CrPC in Sasaram is a clear indication that no large gatherings can take place. Hence, the honourable home minister has cancelled his visit to the town for Samrat Ashoks birth anniversary celebrations.

Choudhary, while speaking to CNN-News18, showed a video in which a constable was announcing that Section 144 had been imposed in the area. But the police department has summoned the constable to know on whose orders he was announcing the prohibitory orders.

Shah arrived in Patna on Saturday evening and is staying at a city hotel; he is expected to hold parleys with party office-bearers. The home minister may also hold a meeting with administrative officials to get a feel of the situation on the ground.

Tight security arrangements are in place for the tour and besides security personnel, drones have been pressed into service at places Shah is expected to visit before boarding his return flight on Sunday afternoon.

Responding to the situation, Nitish said: We have brought the situation under control and asked for investigation. We are on alert. Action will be taken against those involved. For years, everything was going well in Bihar; what happened all of a sudden? Its not a natural thing, surely someone is behind all this.

Asked about Shahs programme being cancelled, Nitish said, I dont know about this its wrong to accuse the state government. Full security is given on the arrival of any minister, we always take care of this.

Sasaram violence

Arson and stone pelting were reported in Gola Bazar in Sasaram city. The atmosphere was tense in areas such as Gola Bazar, Kadirganj, Mubarakganj, Chaukhandi and Navratna Bazar, which have been closed to the public.

According to the local residents, the Ram Navami procession had come to an end in the area. Meanwhile, some people set the pandal on fire and the atmosphere deteriorated in no time. Two groups started a scuffle even as several vehicles and shops were vandalised as well as torched.

A large number of police personnel soon reached the spot and handled the situation. At present, police force has been deployed in every nook and corner in the area. The situation is under control.

Several shops and vehicles have been torched or vandalised in areas like Shahajalal Pir, Sona Patti, Qadir Ganj and Navratna Pir where angry mobs also indulged in stone-pelting, injuring many people, including two police personnel, said the sub-divisional magistrate.

Nalanda violence

A ruckus broke out on March 31 between two groups near Gagan Diwan under Laheri police station area in Nalanda. A shobha yatra was being carried out from Hospital Road to Baba Maniram Ka Akhada. At least 20,000 workers of Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) were present during the procession.

According to local sources, when the procession reached Kanta area, miscreants started throwing stones from rooftops that led to a stampede-like situation followed by clashes. Half a dozen vehicles were set ablaze and a madrasa was also torched later in the night. Earlier, police were outnumbered and miscreants were on a rampage. Later, hundreds of police and administration forces were deployed at the spot to control the situation.

Police have also restricted gatherings of four or more persons under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after the clashes on Friday left 11 hurt, including three with bullet injuries, as well as several vehicles and shops gutted. Bihar police, in a communique, has confirmed 27 arrests so far.

Bhagalpur violence

On Ram Navami, the idol of Ram was installed in the Kali temple located at Kharik Bazar in Bhagalpur. Later in the night, village residents had taken the idol on the chariot to the ghat for immersion. The procession was pelted with stones from the top of a mosque as it was returning after the immersion. Eyewitnesses who were part of the procession said when they were returning, stones started raining on them.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday asserted that neither Hindus nor Muslims, but the BJP and other right-wing organisations were behind the violence in Howrah's Kazipara area during a procession on Ram Navami.

She also appealed to the people of both communities to maintain peace and law and order in the area.

Banerjee admitted that it was a failure on part of the police and said strict action will be taken in this regard.

"I am lucky that no one was killed in yesterday's clash," Banerjee told news channel ABP Ananda.

The Trinamool Congress supremo announced that those affected in the clash and had their houses and shops vandalised would be compensated by the state government.

"I have been appealing to the people to carry out Ram Navami processions peacefully. No government incites people to carry out vandalism. It was the BJP, Bajrang Dal and some of their allies who directly carried out the vandalism," Banerjee said.

She alleged that the BJP incited similar clashes at around 100 places in the country.

"Howrah's incident is very unfortunate. I had repeatedly given instructions that the processions should not pass through that area. I am telling you, it's neither the Hindus nor the Muslims who carried out yesterday's attacks.

"Criminals used guns, petrol bombs and several other materials including bulldozers to enter the area and attacked those who were fasting during Ramadan month and carried out devastations at shops and residences," she added.

Banerjee said that the police officers who failed in carrying out their duty properly on Thursday will face strict action.

"I will appeal to all and both the communities to have faith in me and maintain peace. I know how to handle this situation," she said.

Talking more on the incident, Banerjee expressed her apprehensions that the BJP-led central government would be sending probe agencies to the state in connection with the clashes in Howrah.

"Bengal is a peaceful team But in this context they (the BJP-led central government) will send agencies," she said.

Later, police said that 45 people have been arrested in connection with their alleged involvement in Thursday's vandalism in Howrah.

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Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday attacked the Narendra Modi government, saying the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha was part of a conspiracy that was hatched following the massive success" of his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Gandhi was disqualified as an MP following his conviction and two-year sentencing by a Surat Court last week in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his Modi surname" remark.

The chief minister, while addressing Congress workers at a Sammelan, also alleged that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who hails from Kota, was under pressure and did not allow Gandhi to speak in Parliament. Rising prices, unemployment, social disharmony and widening gap between the poor and the rich were the issues of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra," Gehlot said in Kota.

Some people afraid by the personality of Rahul Gandhi that emerged out of the massive success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra hatched a conspiracy against him," he said on the issue of Gandhis disqualification.

The BJP will have to face the consequences of Rahul Gandhis expulsion from Parliament, Gehlot said in Jaipur while addressing a meeting of party workers.

The entire opposition is united on the issue of Gandhis disqualification and this unity is a good sign, the CM said at the meeting held in Sanganer.

The BJP has been attacking Gandhi, a former Congress chief, over his democracy under attack" remarks in the UK and demanding he apologise, and has criticised him over his 2019 comment.

Before his disqualification, Gandhi was not allowed to speak in Parliament and he had also approached the Lok Sabha speaker, the chief minister said, adding that it was Birlas duty to allow Gandhi to speak.

But the Congress leader was being forced to apologise and this meant that Om Birla ji was working under pressure and if he had been aware of his position, and of dignity and glory of Rajasthan, his gesture should have been different", Gehlot said.

Referring to Rajasthan assembly Speaker CP Joshi, the chief minister said he dealt with matters of members of both ruling and opposition parties with impartiality.

Those who become speaker of a House no longer remains a member of a party," Gehlot said and added that currently the post Birla holds, is not an ordinary post.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who hails from Kota, should function impartially in Lok Sabha but he is not able to function impartially and is working under pressure," the chief minister said.

The Congress succeeded in maintaining unity of such a grand nation like India, but the ways the Narendra Modi government and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have adopted is unfortunate for the country, Gehlot said and told party workers that their fight against them was ideological.

He said the Congress, which made several sacrifices during the countrys freedom struggle, does not need nationalism lessons from the BJP and the RSS.

They (BJP and RSS) talk about India and nationalism will we learn nationalism from them? Those who got the country freedom will learn nationalism from them? Gehlot said as he questioned the contribution of the BJP and the RSS in the countrys independence struggle.

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The BJP on Saturday attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the judiciary indicate that he is either on the verge of losing sanity or trying to create a ground for the future in view of probe agencies gradually unearthing corruption under his government "with proof".

On Friday, after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Central Information Commission directing the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degree to him, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the verdict has "stunned" the people and further increased "suspicion" over the claims about the prime minister's academic qualification.

Replying to a question on whether Kejriwal is fearing his arrest also, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters, "There may be many possibilities because of the way things are coming out gradually during the investigation." "If someone does something he knows what he did," he said, without taking the name of Kejriwal.

Last year, AAP leader Satyendar Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case, while this year, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as the ED in the Delhi excise policy case.

Kejriwal, who earned his degree from an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), is so clever" that he only reads the files and doesnt put his signature on them, Trivedi alleged.

"He made Sisodia and Satyendar Jain put their signaturesHe is not a 'guru' but a 'guru ghantal', 'natwarlal," the BJP leader added.

After the bail application of Sisodia was rejected by a court, the AAP on Friday expressed its disagreement with the court's decision and alleged that the prime minister doesn't want the former deputy chief minister and Jain to come out of jail.

Addressing a press conference, AAP MP Sanjay Singh had also targeted the prime minister following the Gujarat court's verdict, alleging that Modi does not want people to know about his academic qualification as he is not educated.

"The way opposition parties are crossing all limits of insulting India's democracy and judicial system in the country, the party (BJP) is feeling pain and anguish both," Trivedi said.

The BJP leader said the court, while rejecting Sisodia's bail application, noted there were "serious apprehension" of him destroying and tampering with evidence and even influencing "some prime witness" in the case if he was released on bail The court also noted that the evidence collected by the CBI in the case so far not only shows the applicant's "active participation" in alleged criminal conspiracy but also "prime facie commission of some substantive offences of the Prevention of Corruption Act by him", he said. The court further observed that Sisodia and other members of the AAP were accused of manipulating the implementation of the Delhi excise policy to facilities "monopolisation and cartelisation" of the liquor trade in Delhi, Trivedi said.

"This means that not only Sisodia but other people from the AAP were also responsible for influencing the liquor policy," he charged, adding that "this is the reason why they are enacting all this drama". The AAP, whose corruption is gradually being established completely, has stooped to the "lowest levels" of political discourse to defend itself and Kejriwal enacted a drama over the Gujarat High Court's verdict so that they can hide behind this veil, he alleged.

"The way corruption is gradually being proved based on facts, he (Kejriwal) has perhaps reached the verge of going mad or he is deliberately trying to create a ground under pressure with some future strategy in mind," the BJP spokesperson charged. "The kind of words and language that he has been using against the prime minister and the judiciary with the kind of his body language indicates that he has gone completely mad," he added. Trivedi cautioned Kejriwal against levelling personal allegations against Prime Minister Modi.

"Listen carefully, you might be a badbola (big mouth) but you will get nothing by being so," the BJP leader said referring to Kejriwal, and added, "The one, who is great and qualified, shines like a diamond like our Prime Minister Modi.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, has confirmed Azerbaijan's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB+' with a Positive Outlook, Trend reports via the agency.

"The rating is supported by a very strong external balance of Azerbaijan, the lowest public debt in the group of analogs, as well as the funding flexibility via major assets of the sovereign wealth fund," the agency said.

According to the agency, the Positive Outlook reflects the enhancement of external and fiscal buffers due to high energy prices, as well as greater restrictions on spending, which will be supported by the consistent application of the restored budget rule.

In addition, Fitch forecasts an increase in the net asset position of Azerbaijan's sovereign creditors by 10.9 percentage points in 2023-2024 to 68.7 percent of GDP, which is the highest indicator in the rating peer group.

The agency also notes a steady improvement in the banking sector indicators of Azerbaijan. Moreover, Fitch analysts believe that the supervision of banking regulators is improving.

"The ratio of overdue loans at the end of 2022 decreased to 2.9 percent (6.1 percent at the end of 2020), while the return on average capital was 17.3 percent. At the same time, the adequacy capital of the first level that is at the sufficient level, declined by 15.2 percent, while deposits and their dollarization decreased to 48 percent in 2022", the agency said in the statement.

Fitch Ratings Inc. is one of the world's most reliable rating agencies. Its purpose is to deliver business intelligence to make better decisions and reduce business risks for its clients.
Former US president Donald Trump raised over USD 4 million in 24 hours after a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, his office has said.

Significantly, over 25 per cent of donations came from first-time donors to the Trump Campaign, further solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary, a media release said on Friday.

This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponisation of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor, said the campaign.

With an average contribution of only USD 34, Trumps 2024 campaign is funded by an unmatched coalition of hardworking patriots who are fed up with special interest donors like Soros spending billions of dollars to influence our elections, it said.

Americans from across all 50 states donated to President Trumps campaign within the first five hours of the sham indictment, the release said.

The White House has refused to comment on the indictment of the former president.

I have no comment on that, President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Zambia, I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president.

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A section of the UK opposition criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for taking private jet trips which cost almost 500,000 in just over a week in 2022. The data was shared in a Cabinet Office document which detailed Rishi Sunaks travel in the third quarter of 2022.

The data shows the Prime Minister spent 108,000 on private jet travel to and from the Cop27 summit in Egypt, reaching the venue on November 6 and returning the next day.

The cost of the round trip to Bali for the G20 summit was over 340,000, followed by a 62,000 day trip to visit troops in Latvia and Estonia. Additionally, a private jet to attend a meeting in Prague cost nearly 40,000.

A report by the Guardian said, while the British PMs office does have occasional access to an RAF Voyager aircraft designed for passenger travel, all of the flights mentioned in the report were actually conducted on a chartered Airbus A321 from Titan Airways, which was being operated on behalf of the UK government.

The Guardian report pointed out that the planes tail fin has a union flag and is a de facto equivalent to the official aircraft used by some other world leaders.

This is a shocking waste of taxpayers money at a time when people are struggling to pay their bills. Yet again this Conservative government is completely out of touch, Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats energy and climate spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The government can pretend to care about a greener future with their so-called green day but the reality is they are trashing their own promises, she further added.

The documents also showed that 20,000 was spent on other costs for the prime ministers which also included accommodation, meals and visas.

The costs incurred by the officials who accompanied him on the trips were not included in the document. At least 35 officials joined Sunak in Bali.

Members of the UK press also travel on these flights but they pay for the flights themselves. The Downing Street in response to the allegations made by the opposition said: The role of the prime minister includes holding vital meetings with world leaders during bilateral visits and summits to discuss issues of international importance  including security, defence and trade.

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The 92-year-old Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch took a direct role in how the news channel called the 2020 US election for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, the Guardian said citing newly unredacted messages.

Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems are embroiled in a $1.6bn defamation case where the latter alleged that the broadcaster knowingly spread false claims about Dominion Voting Systems voting machines during the 2020 US Presidential Election Results day.

It would be great if we call it for Biden as soon as he gets over, say, 35,000 ahead in Pennsylvania, Murdoch wrote, the Guardian said, to networks chief executive, Suzanne Scott on November 6.

This was three days after the election day but one day before Pennsylvania showed then US president-elect Joe Biden leading then US-President Donald Trump.

Whenever we do it, it will all be over. Regardless of Arizona, the memos quoted Murdoch as saying. The call of Arizona for Biden angered the networks mostly conservative supporters and also Trump supporters.

Murdoch also had an expletive-ridden response when author Michael Wolff reported that Trump was furious over the Arizona call. Wolff said Murdoch responded with his signature grunt and said: Fuck him.

The son-in-law of the former president in his memoir also said that Murdoch told him that it is not even close and the numbers are ironclad, referring to the votes amassed by Joe Biden.

It was also revealed through the emails that Murdoch noted the commitment shown by the former president to push the claims of large-scale electoral fraud and asked the network then to call the election when Biden would up by 50,000 in Pennsylvania but insert a caveat and say that the call was subject to litigation.

Fox called Pennsylvania for Biden when he was around 35,000 votes ahead of Trump and 10 minutes after other networks.

Keep in mind the Trump campaign is in the midst of waging legal challenges in several states. But the path is clear for the new president-elect, the anchor hosting the segment, Martha MacCallum, told viewers, according to the Guardian.

Murdoch also said that Trump attorney and former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani was being a bad advisor to the former president because the claims of electoral fraud lacked real evidence.

But hes got to get some real evidence Fact that Rudy is advising really bad, Murdoch wrote in an email accessed by the Guardian.

Dominion has to prove Fox News hosts and executives knowingly broadcasted electoral fraud claims despite knowing they were untrue. Their filing alleges primetime stars Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham did not do enough to denounce Trumps allegations as their network kept broadcasting Trumps claims.

The filing also points to the role played by anchor Jeanine Pirro who ignored the fact check and discussed on air the so-called Dominion conspiracy theory, involving Venezuelan influence and Cuban money.

She, citing Guiliani, alleged that crooked Democrats stole votes. When aspects of the coverage and her opening dialog of the show was highlighted she refused to change it despite the fact check. The inconsistency was highlighted by a senior executive.

Another filing showed that Fox News producers were concerned about losing their core audience. Scott told producers that there was anger regarding the Arizona call.

(There was) intense anger over our AZ call A trust has been broken and its our job to help them through this to the other side with strong reporting, investigative pieces and certainly speaking to the audience with respect is critical, Scott wrote in an email to producers.

The senior vice-president of Fox Corporation Raj Shah sent a memo to Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdochs son saying: Fox News is facing a brand crisis, with viewers upset and online activists in open revolt of Foxs handling of election night coverage last week and certain programming decisions since.

Shah said that the effect of this will not fade on its own and will linger on for weeks or months and pose a threat to the Fox News brand and should be effectively addressed.

Fox News challenged Dominions claim by citing that the voting machine supplier is using cherry picked quotes without context and is trying to generate headlines.

It also said that the news content aired by them were newsworthy allegations reasonable viewers would have understood and they were not shown as factual statements.

Fox is saying that the press freedom and right to a free press is at stake. (Fox News) will continue to fiercely advocate for the first amendment in protecting the role of news organisations to cover the news, the organisation said.

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Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit in a video was seen opposing the pilgrimage corridor to the Sharada Peeth Temple in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). He was irked at a lawmaker from Sheikh Rasheed Ahmads Awami Muslim League (AML) for entertaining the idea of opening a pilgrimage corridor.

This is a change of stance because Basit, when he was the high commissioner to India, at an event in New Delhi that initiatives would be taken for Hindus from India to visit the Sharada temple in PoK after the construction of an access road.

However, in the video released by him recently, not only did he oppose the idea but he urged the Pakistani government to educate Kashmiris living under Pakistani illegal occupation and members of the rubber-stamp legislative assembly to attend workshops to have a better grasp of their own history.

The rubber-stamp legislative assembly passed a resolution demanding to build a corridor which would enable people from PoK to travel to the Union Territory of Jammu and the Union Territory of Kashmir and also allow people from the Union Territories to visit PoK.

The resolution was passed by the AML, which is known for its close ties to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan.

Abdul Basit also said that he spoke to the speaker of the rubber stamp legislative assembly of PoK and urged him to take necessary steps.

He said the so-called speaker of the PoK legislative assembly said he was not present when the resolution was passed and if he would have been present such a resolution would not have been passed.

Basit in the eight minute-long video is seen condemning the move and accusing local lawmakers for giving an indirect approval to Indias desire to build a pilgrimage corridor to the Sharada Peeth Temple in the PoK.

Basit was referring to Union home minister Amit Shah who said on March 22 that the government will move forward to open Sharda Peeth on the lines of the Kartarpur corridor.

Shah was responding to a suggestion made by Ravinder Pandita, convener of the Save Sharda Committee Kashmir (SSCK). Pandita requested that the Sharda Peeth corridor should be made operational in the same way Nankana Sahib gurudwara and the Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan have been made operational.

Shah said that the government will move forward to open Sharda Peeth for devotees on the lines of Kartarpur corridor while adding that Sharda Peeth has been a historical centre of Indias cultural and religious heritage

The Sharada Peeth Temple is an ancient Hindu temple located in the Neelum Valley of Muzaffarabad in PoK. The temple is believed to be one of the 18 Maha Shakti Peeths and is dedicated to the goddess Sharada.

The proposal for a Hindu pilgrimage corridor to the Sharada Peeth Temple is similar to the Kartarpur corridor, which was opened in 2019 to allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan.

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The Pakistan governments bid to outsource operations and land assets to a private sector arm of the World Bank Group has been criticised by the Aircraft Owners and Operators Association (AOOA) of Pakistan, the Dawn reported.

They allege that the government did not follow the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules. They alleged that the government kept the proceedings of outsourcing secret and the process is now doubtful and dubious.

The statement said no country outsources its money-making assets like the airports to a third country which cannot run its own airport, adding that the government has outsourced its major airports to a Singaporean company which is being run by Indians.

In its statement, it accused the government of outsourcing money-making assets like the airports to a third country which cannot run its own airport referring to a West Asian country and said the government outsourced its major airports to a Singaporean company run by Indians.

It threatened the government of Pakistan, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) (its private sector wing) for malpractice and dodging law of the land.

The Pakistani government in a bid to generate forex began outsourcing of operations and land assets at three major airports to be run through a public-private partnership, the Dawn reported. They expect the bid will help strengthen the dwindling forex reserves.

The Officers Association and Joint Employees Union of Civil Aviation also held a meeting chaired by Zareen Gul Durrani at Civil Aviation Authority Headquarters, Karachi to discuss the concerns over the government move to outsource the three airports.

During the emergency meeting, the stakeholders announced that the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will face problems along with the country if they move ahead with their plans of outsourcing the airports.

The outsourcing of Lahore, Islamabad and Quetta airports were being discussed by the government. Civil aviation employees were told to protest, approach lawmakers and reach out to President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and also to Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir to halt the outsourcing plan.

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A large tornado tore through Arkansas on Friday causing significant damage," the governor of the southern US state tweeted, as rescuers rushed to aid residents and hospitals said they were bracing for casualties.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote that police and emergency services were working to assist anyone injured," and called for residents to stay aware as the National Weather Service forecast more storms later in the afternoon.

Significant damage has occurred in Central Arkansas," Sanders wrote.

Widespread damage in Wynne. Ive been in touch with local officials for updates and to direct state resources. Please follow the direction of local authorities.Praying for the safety of all Arkansans who are in the path of these storms.  Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) March 31, 2023

The New York Times reported that the tornado had touched down near the state capital, Little Rock, and had torn down trees and damaged houses. More than 70,000 people were without power across the state, according to Poweroutage.us.

The citys mayor, Frank Scott, tweeted that the storm had been devastating" and said he had asked Sanders office to send National Guards to help with cleanup.

The governors office could not immediately confirm any casualties to AFP, but a local hospital told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that it had already begun to receive patients, including a few" in critical condition.

Here at the Capitol I just signed an executive order declaring that a State of Emergency exists in the State of Arkansas due to todays severe weather. We will spare no resource to assist with response and recovery efforts for Arkansans impacted. pic.twitter.com/FsY47vOusn Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) March 31, 2023

The spokesperson for the Baptist Health hospital said it was preparing to treat injuries, the newspaper reported.

The University of Arkansas hospital was also on standby, a spokesperson there told AFP.

We havent seen people come in quite yet but we know that emergency services have had trouble reaching people because of downed trees," the spokesperson said.

We expect people to come throughout the night."

Tornadoes are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.

A week ago, a tornado swept through Rolling Fork, a small town in Mississippi, killing 13 people and causing extensive property damage.

President Joe Biden visited the area on Friday.

In December 2021, about 80 people were killed by tornadoes in Kentucky.

Read all the Latest News here
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. FlyArystan, a Kazakh low-cost flight operator, resumed flights from Almaty, Kazakhstan to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Trend reports, citing FlyArystan.

The price of one-way ticket is set at 20,493 Kazakh tenge ($45). The price includes a random seat and the right to carry one piece of luggage.

The flights take place twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The 2-hour-long flights are carried out on Airbus aircrafts.

The tickets can be purchased via the company website and mobile application.

FlyArystan offers a diverse network of flights for its customers, which includes several popular destinations, such as Turkiye, Georgia, the UAE, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, among others.

Recently, the company revealed that direct flights between Astana and Baku, Azerbaijan will be launched starting on 2 June 2023. The flights will be carried out by Airbus A320 each Monday and Friday.
As far as jobs go, Leslie Stauffer and Sarah Kubiak have remarkable ones. They're the sole archivists of the Bettmann Archive, a collection of about 11 million historical photographs that's managed by Getty Images but, more specifically, by the two women. Writing for BuzzFeed News, Kenneth Bachor and Ross Mantle give a history of how the archive came to be, with credit going to rare books curator Otto Bettmann, who fled Germany for the US in 1935 with two trunks of photos in tow. They have more on that, but the meat of the piece centers on their interview with Stauffer and Kubiak, who have been with the archive since beginning internships there as grad students in 2004.

As for where "there" is, that would be an underground facility in the Iron Mountain near Boyers, Pennsylvania, where the archive resides. The former limestone mines have been converted to vaults used by a number of private businesses and government agenciesand the Bettmann Archive is located the furthest underground. To get to work each day, Stauffer and Kubiak go through TSA-like security procedures before entering a window-less and water-free airlock-protected vault that is permanently kept at 38 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit and 40% humidity. It's cold and dark, so much so that "in the winter, we don't see the sun until the weekend," says Stauffer. But the job is unbeatable, she says. "We provide the photographic evidence of historical facts," fulfilling research requests for projects ranging from documentaries, book publishers, and news outlets. (Read the full piece here.)
Horses evolved then went extinct in the Americas 4 million years ago, but not before they crossed the Bering Land Bridge to Eurasia, were they were domesticated. Then in 1519 the Spanish brought them to Mexicoand from there, a new study suggests horses arrived in North America earlier than previously believed. Science News reports that new research indicates Indigenous peoples corralled the Spanish horses' offspring and moved them north via trade routes. According to the study published this week in Science, Native Americans across the Great Plains and the Rockies had integrated horses into their lifestyles by the early 1600s, well before European encounters.

This account challenges previous assertions that horses proliferated in North America only after Pueblo people expelled Spanish settlers from New Mexico in 1680a claim with little supporting evidence. In the Conversation, study authors archaeozoologist Stacey Welling and Lakota scientist Shawn Kelley describe teaming up to assemble scientists and scholars from around the world to investigate the horse in the American West. Through studying ancient animal remains, radiocarbon dating, and ancient horse genomics, and examining Indigenous oral traditions about horses, the team found evidence that horses across western North America were alive in the early 17th century and possibly earlier.

The team also found indications Native Americans were utilizing horses up to 100 years before the arrival of the first Europeans. For example, Welling and Kelley's team analyzed the remains of a baby horse from ancient Comanche territory dating to 1650 and found that it lived out its life in the area, contradicting a European account from 1724 stating that Comanches got their horses by bartering with colonizers. The study's findings suggest that the relationship between Native Americans and horses is more complex and nuanced than previously thought. (Read more horses stories.)
Italy has become the first western country to ban ChatGPT, at least temporarily, per the BBC and the AP. The country's data-protection authority said Friday that it would immediately block OpenAI's chatbot and investigate it for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation, a piece of European Union law governing data protection and privacy. The independent watchdog said there was no legal justification for "the mass collection and storage of personal data for the purpose of 'training' the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform" and referred to the "inaccurate processing of personal data" in apparent violation of the GDPR.

According to TechCrunch, the GDPR "provides Europeans with a suite of rights over their data, including the right to rectification of errors." It adds OpenAI "does not appear to have informed people whose data it's repurposed to train its commercial AIs," which "could be a pretty sticky problem for it." The Italian Data Protection Authority (IDPA)which referred to a March 20 data breach exposing users' conversation history and payment informationalso said ChatGPT doesn't verify the age of users like Google's rival chatbot, and therefore "exposes minors to absolutely unsuitable answers compared to their degree of development and awareness."

The move follows a week of intense discussion of privacy and safety concerns around advanced AI. Days ago, the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) called for the EU and individual countries to investigate ChatGPT, with deputy director general Ursula Pachl describing "serious concerns" about how AI-powered chatbots "might deceive and manipulate people," per Fortune. Critics say these systems provide false information, amplify biases in source material, and carry huge environmental costs. OpenAI will have 20 days to respond to the IDPA complaint. Per TechCrunch, a company found to have violated the GDPR can be fined the greater of $21.7 million or up to 4% of annual turnover. (Read more ChatGPT stories.)
After mandating that all new passenger vehicles sold in California must be electric by 2035, the state has gone bigger. The federal Environmental Protection Agency granted a legal waiver on Friday that lets California require that half of all heavy vehiclesincluding garbage trucks, tractor-trailers, and cement mixersbe electric by the same deadline. The waiver enables California to enact regulations more stringent than federal standards on pollution from trucks, though the Biden administration has new rules in the works, the New York Times reports. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said such policies will spread. "This is a moment to mark because it's a preview of the order of magnitude of the change in the industry," he said. "There's a power in these waivers and that power is emulation."

The president of the Engine Manufacturers Association expressed concerns about the policy, which will apply to vehicles as small as delivery vans. To meet the mandate, Jed Mandel said, manufacturers need "adequate lead time, regulatory stability, and the necessary zero-emission recharging and refueling infrastructure." Rannie Vincent of Western Trucking School in Bakersfield said it's a tough time to make such a change, per KBAK. "There is an 85,000 trucker shortage, and I think it could be devastating to the industry," she said. California's ability to go beyond federal standards already is being challenged in court by Republican attorneys general from 17 states. That case is to be heard by an appeals court later in the year. (Read more electric vehicles stories.)
On Thursday, Canadian authorities recovered six bodies from the St. Lawrence River, near the border with the United States. On Friday, two more bodies were found, including an infant, bringing the total number of the dead to eightsix adults and two children. Police now say that the deceased, who are believed to have died Wednesday night, were members of two families who were trying to cross the river by boat to make an illegal entry into the US, reports Reuters. Police say the bodies were all found in a marshy area in Tsi Snaihne in Akwesasne, a Mohawk territory, reports the BBC.

Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of police for the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, said at a Friday news conference that the weather Wednesday was bad, with wind, rain, and sleet. She noted that one family appeared to be from India, and the other from Romania. The second child, who authorities say was under the age of 3, had a Canadian passport, and the infant was also a Canadian citizen, O'Brien added. The police department's chief, Shawn Dulude, said that police are searching for Casey Oakes, a 30-year-old local who's now missing, and whose boat was discovered near where the victims were found. Dulude says Oakes has been deemed a person of interest in the case.

All three of the news outlets note that this area in particular has become a hot spot for attempted illegal crossings into the US, some of which have similarly ended in tragedy. "We need to understand properly what happened, how this happened, and do whatever we can to ensure that we're minimizing the chances of it happening again," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters, calling the deaths "heartbreaking," per Reuters. Police say they're waiting on autopsies and toxicology tests to determine a cause of death for the migrants. (Read more migrants stories.)
A tornado raced through Little Rock and surrounding areas Friday, splintering homes, overturning vehicles and tossing trees and debris on roadways as people raced for shelter. The city's main trauma center said it was expecting at least 15 to 20 patients, per the AP. A state emergency official reported heavy damage and said there's a "high probability" of multiple injuries. Mayor Frank Scott Jr. has already asked for National Guard help, per CNN, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency. Other areas of the South and Midwest were preparing for damaging storms, as well.

The twister tore first through neighborhoods in west Little Rock and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses, and vehicles. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock was operating at a mass casualty level, a spokesperson said. Several people had already been transported to the medical center, but an exact count was not immediately available. Mark Hulsey, a special projects manager for Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock, said at least one person was in critical condition.

Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to say a tornado was headed her way. She could hear glass shattering as the tornado roared past and emerged afterward to find that her house was one of the few on her street that didn't have a tree fall on it. "It's just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud," Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared in the area. The Little Rock Fire Department reported heavy damage and debris in the western end of the city, saying on its Facebook page that firefighters were performing rescue operations in the area.

(Read more Little Rock, Arkansas stories.)
UPDATE

Apr 1, 2023 5:10 PM CDT

The scope of the destruction caused by what may have been dozens of tornadoes that swept through parts of the South and Midwest the day before became clearer late Saturday. Officials raised the death toll to 21, the AP reports; seven of the victims were killed in Tennessee's McNairy County. Search-and-rescue crews were still working in places as cleanup began. Tornadoes were confirmed or suspected of touching down in at least eight states. Clint Lamb, the mayor of Sullivan, Indiana, said that an area just outside his town "is essentially unrecognizable right now." Recovery, he said, "is going to be a very long process."

Apr 1, 2023 8:00 AM CDT

A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois, and made a deadly sweep across the border into rural Indiana. The storm caused three fatalities in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said in an email to the AP early Saturday. The storm damaged homes, and some residents were missing in the county seat of Sullivan, located near the Illinois state line, about 95 miles southwest of Indianapolis. At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the area of Little Rock, Arkansas, authorities said.

The town of Wynne, in northeastern Arkansas, was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris. Authorities said a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one person and injuring 28, five of them severely. The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming from the theater at 7:48pm. It said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage. The collapse occurred at the Apollo Theatre during a heavy metal concert in the town, located about 70 miles northwest of Chicago. Belvidere Fire Department Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue. He noted that first responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to grapple with downed power lines outside the theater.

Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as "chaos, absolute chaos." There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people. Tornadoes also moved through parts of eastern Iowa, with sporadic damage. One tornado veered just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. The destructive weather came as President Joe Biden toured the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck in Mississippi one week ago and promised the government would help the area recover. Such intense "supercell" thunderstorms are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world.

(Read more tornadoes stories.)
A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraine's top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery. Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraine's most revered Orthodox site, has denied the charges and resisted the authorities' order to vacate the complex, the AP reports. After the court's ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it.

"I am accepting this," he said before the bracelet was attached. "Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldn't I accept this?" In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine that he condoned Russia's invasion was politically driven. "I have never been on the side of aggression," Pavel told reporters in the courthouse. "This is my land." He cursed President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the week, threatening him with damnation. SBU agents raided the metropolitcan's residence, and prosecutors asked the court to put him under house arrest pending the investigation. The hearing Saturday was adjourned until Monday after the metropolitan said he was feeling unwell.

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war. The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine. The UOC has insisted that it's loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion from the start. But Ukrainian security agencies have raided holy sites of the church and then posted photos of rubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

(Read more Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
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Fairbanks, AK (99707)

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Mostly cloudy with snow showers around before midnight. Low 8F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 50%..

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Mostly cloudy with snow showers around before midnight. Low 8F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 50%.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. The total cost of Turkmenistan's national projects implemented with the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) from 2018 through 2022 is more than $7.5 million, a source at GEF told Trend.

It was noted that during the reporting period, the fund implemented projects in accordance with the four-year investment cycle of GEF-7.

"The GEF applies a System for Transparent Allocation of Resources for each cycle in order to support the activities of countries related to the conservation of biodiversity, mitigation of climate change and combating land degradation. The GEF-8 investment cycle began in 2022, which will last until 2026," said the source.

The GEF added that within the framework of the GEF-8 investment cycle, the fund has allocated over $9.4 million to Turkmenistan.

"In general, the GEF operates in 183 countries around the world that have ratified at least one of the following conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and Minamata Convention on Mercury," the GEF said.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an independent financial mechanism for providing grants to developing countries and other relevant criteria for assistance to countries for the implementation of projects that have a beneficial impact on the state of the global environment.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

In a dramatic turn of events, Bahraini police arrested a 21-year-old arsonist within an hour of him setting fire to a parked car in a residential neighbourhood.

Thanks to the swift action of the Criminal Investigation Police at the General Departments of Investigation and Criminal Evidence, the suspect was caught red-handed and taken into custody without incident.

According to authorities, the suspect had a personal dispute with the car owner and had deliberately set fire to the vehicle as an act of revenge. The crime was reported immediately, and the police sprang into action, opening an investigation and gathering evidence from the scene and nearby surveillance footage.

Police said they identified the suspect soon and were hot on his heels. Using a combination of intelligence, technology, and teamwork, the police were able to apprehend the suspect within a record time of one hour.

During the interrogation, the suspect confessed to his crime and revealed the motive behind it. The police have taken the necessary legal measures to refer the case to Public Prosecution.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Ministry of Education has dismissed rumours that a private school had prevented its students from performing noon prayers, calling the reports baseless.

In a statement, the ministry revealed that its private education licensing directorates had conducted an investigation into the matter.

The statement further explained that students could perform the noon prayers at their homes itself since school ends before that time. The ministry also confirmed that no prior violations had been reported against the school in question.

The statement emphasised that the school has the right to file a complaint against the false accusations levelled against it.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Americans are renewing their focus on railroad safety after a string of recent derailments, especially two fiery ones involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota that prompted evacuations.

Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments. They want standards for the trackside detectors used to help identify equipment problems, more notice to states about hazardous chemicals they are hauling, and at least two people at the helm of freight trains.

A Senate bill would toughen the penalty for safety violations to up to 1% of a railroad's annual operating income and set standards for the maximum length and weight of freight trains, which have grown significantly in recent years. Trains now routinely stretch beyond two miles (3 kilometers) long.

The railroads themselves say they will take steps that include installing roughly 1,000 more trackside detectors. But the industry has a long history of resisting new regulations. The Association of American Railroads trade group has already spoken out against the crew size rule and requiring electronically-controlled brakes.

Railroads are generally regarded as the safest way to transport hazardous chemicals across land, and statistics show that 99.9% of those shipments arrive safely. Most derailments don't cause major problems, but there are still nearly three a day somewhere in the country. Just one derailment involving hazardous chemicals can be disastrous.

FLAMMABLE TRAIN RULES

Regulators established a set of safety rules for trains hauling large amounts of crude oil, ethanol or other flammable liquids in 2015 after several fiery derailments, including one of the worst disasters in railroad history.

In 2013, the brakes failed on a parked crude oil train in the hills above the Canadian town of Lac Megantic. The unmanned train rolled downhill and derailed, killing 47 people and causing millions of dollars in damage.

Other crude oil crashes, like one that created a massive fireball outside the town of Casselton, North Dakota, in 2013, alarmed regulators because the number of crude oil shipments had skyrocketed as more oil was being produced in areas without many pipelines, like North Dakota.

The 2015 rules require railroads to notify states about how many flammable liquid trains they expect to transport each week and to find the safest route possible for them. They also establish a maximum speed limit of 50 mph (80 kph).

Neither the Ohio or Minnesota trains that derailed were covered by these rules. To be considered a high-hazardous flammable train, a train must have either a block of 20 or more flammable liquid cars or at least 35 flammable liquid cars in all.

Lawmakers and regulators have discussed expanding the definition, so more trains would be covered.

ELECTRONIC BRAKES

Federal regulators originally proposed that any high-hazardous flammable train would need upgraded electronically-controlled brakes that can stop trains more quickly by applying all cars' brakes simultaneously. Conventional systems apply air brakes sequentially. But they dropped that proposal in 2018 after Congress required them to conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis.

Mike Rush, a senior vice president of safety and operations with the AAR trade group, told Federal Railroad Administration officials this week that considering electronic brakes now would be a complete waste of time.

He said the major freight railroads spent a decade testing electronic brakes and found only limited benefits. Electronic brakes also were prone to breaking down, he said.

Since 2015, it has become much more common for railroads to use multiple locomotives spread throughout a train. That helps stop trains more quickly because the locomotives can send a braking signal at once  though likely not as quickly as electronic brakes would.

TANK CAR UPGRADES

One thing in the 2015 rules was a requirement to upgrade DOT-111 tank cars used to haul crude oil and ethanol to make them less likely to leak in a derailment. The tank cars involved in Thursday's BNSF derailment in Minnesota were upgraded triple-hulled DOT-117 cars, but they still ruptured and caught fire.

Since 2015, nearly 48,000 of the newer tank cars have been built, and some 41,000 older tank cars have been upgraded to meet a 2029 deadline set by Congress. Another 35,000 older tank cars need to be upgraded or replaced.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested speeding up those upgrades to complete them by 2025 after the Ohio derailment. But the Railway Supply Institute, which represents big tank car manufacturers that own most of the nations tank cars, says thats not possible because of current labor and supply chain shortages.

CHEMICAL CONCERNS

The ethanol that spilled and caught fire in the Minnesota derailment is less of a concern than the vinyl chloride that was released after the Ohio derailment or other toxic chemicals railroads routinely carry, like chlorine gas that was released during a 2005 derailment in Graniteville, South Carolina, killing nine people and injuring more than 250.

Ethanol is relatively clean burning, but contaminated soil in the area will have to be removed.

The vinyl chloride released from tank cars in Ohio out of fear it might explode is associated with increased risk of certain cancers. Officials warned when they burned it that two concerning gases  hydrogen chloride and phosgene, which was used as a weapon in World War I  might be released in the process.

That's why so many East Palestine residents remain concerned about potential long-term health impacts even though state and federal officials insist they haven't found alarming levels of chemicals in the air or water. Norfolk Southern has also been ordered to test for dioxins, which may have been released during the February incineration.

___

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski contributed to this report from Minneapolis and Heather Hollingsworth contributed from Mission, Kansas.
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SHERMAN  Come the fall, all of the students in Sherman could be traveling out of town every day to attend school.

The Sherman School, which serves about 260 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, has needed repair for many years. But now, as the district faces paying for up to $50 million in repairs, school administrators are considering whether to close the building and send the students to neighboring districts.

It's the only school in the town, and if it were to close, Sherman would be the only town in the state without a school, according to a state Department of Education spokesperson.

Although the Region 12 school superintendent said that district could easily enroll Sherman students, Sherman Superintendent Pat Cosentino said she doesn't think the local school will close  and said she doesn't want it to happen.

"It would be detrimental to Sherman, to the community," Cosentino said. "It would have long impacts, economically and socially."

Cosentino met with Sherman teachers and said she reassured them that the school would remain open.

"Everybody's very nervous because they're thinking they may lose their jobs, and I said, 'Don't worry, we're not losing our jobs. This school is going to stay open'," she said.

Enrollment projections for Sherman School Sherman School has also seen a steady decline in enrollment, dropping from about 440 students in 2009 to 240 students in 2022. Last year, citing decreased enrollment and a possible transition to a part-time role, Sherman Schools Superintendent Jeff Melendez resigned. Last July, Pat Cosentino, the former New Fairfield superintendent, became the interim part-time superintendent for the Sherman School. This school year, there are 267 students, however, that number is expected to eventually slightly rise, Cosentino said. "They're not going up by leaps and bounds, but we should be at least to 300 (students) or maybe even a little higher within the next seven to eight years," she said. According to the New England School Development Council Enrollment Projection report, by 2028, the Sherman School will have about 270 students in grades K-8. The district's 145 high school students attend New Fairfield High School, Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury and Shepaug Valley High School in Washington. It costs about $14,000 for the Sherman school district in tuition for each high school student sent out of district. See More Collapse

Sherman school officials will present a cost analysis and further information on the possibility of regionalization at the April 5 meeting of the Board of Education. The 7 p.m. meeting will be held in person and on Zoom.

Sherman First Selectman Don Lowe said the town is motivated to get the building fixed "in a way that's economical to the taxpayers" of the town.

"The school is a vital part of our town, and I believe it's important to keep it here," Lowe said.

Families want a school

If the Sherman School were to close, many families with young children may rethink moving into town, said Ed Martin, a realtor with eXp Realty in Sherman.

The school is a selling point for the town, he said.

"Fifty to 80 percent of the time, the school is the primary reason people move to Sherman. Sherman is a great school," said Martin, a 20-year town resident.

Matt Vogt, chairman of Sherman's Board of Education, agreed.

"It would have a massive impact on values of the homes if there's no school here," Vogt said. He also said he knows many young families with children who moved to town because of Sherman School.

"Why would any of them choose to move to a small town like Sherman, which pretty much has nothing else, if they didn't have the school?" he said.

Cosentino said that when she worked in Region 12, there was discussion about closing the Burnham School in Bridgewater, which had 39 students at the time. But parents were strongly opposed, she said.

"Those people fought tooth and nail to keep that school open," she said. "One of the reasons was they didn't want to be the only town in Connecticut without a school."

Building repair costs

The debate over the future of the Sherman School was sparked by the need for $45 million to $50 million in repairs.

The repairs would be extensive, Vogt said in a statement.

"These problems are not superficial, but are centered mainly around mechanical-, plumbing-, electrical- and structure-based systems, where failing components from many prior renovations need to be removed, reengineered, and replaced," he said.

"This is no simple task, and the work required to access many of these systems results in the need to 'touch' almost every part of the facility," Vogt said.

The town approved forming a 10-member School Building Committee last May that is overseeing repairs and improvements to the facility.

Lowe said he would like the committee to come up with a repair plan that residents will approve.

"I am concerned that the present plan is just too expensive for taxpayers in Sherman," he said. "It's about a $45 (million) to $50 million plan, which would be a significant tax increase  above a 20 percent tax increase."

Decisions on the aging school's future need to be addressed soon, Cosentino said.

"We don't have a choice. The roof is failing. The HVAC is failing. The whole building has buckets all over the place. We can't drink the water," she said. "Unfortunately, Sherman let this building get to a place where you can't just fix pieces anymore. Everything's interconnected."

If there were a cost savings from closing the building, the district would have to factor new costs such as tuition, busing and special education, she said.

Other factors beyond the cost must be considered, said Vogt, such as the time young children would be spending on the bus.

"Young kids being on a bus in another town, not only (would have) to traverse from town to town but then once they get to Sherman, be distributed throughout the town to their homes. What does that entail and does it make sense?" he asked.

Would the savings from closing the school "really have a value over what the detrimental effects of that kind of situation to the town?" he said.

Even if the school should close to students, Cosentino said the building would still need repairs.

"We have a school building that's empty  80,000 square feet. You still have to upkeep it. You have to have gas and electric and heat. You can't let it destroy itself," she said.

Who could take the students?

Marc Gosselin, superintendent of Region 12, which serves students from Roxbury, Bridgewater and Washington, said his district would have plenty of room to accept the Sherman students.

"We have three elementary buildings that are all under capacity. So we have more than enough space to absorb the elementary students from Sherman," Gosselin said. The district also has enough space for Sherman middle schoolers, he said.

"It makes sense" if the Sherman students were to go to Region 12 since the district already educates some of the town's high school students at Shepaug Valley High School, Gosselin said.

"We currently have 33 students coming to us from Sherman in grades 9 through 12," he said. The Region 12 district educates about 800 students.

It would be good for the younger Sherman students, because they would be "in our system and exposed to our curriculum and program all the way along," he said.

"We're always looking to grow our enrollment as well, and so it will be welcomed," Gosselin said.

There would also be a financial incentive for Region 12 to educate the Sherman students: "We would pick up the tuition dollars," he said.

The New Milford school district, however, said it would not have space for the younger Sherman students. The New Milford school district has an enrollment of about 3,700 students.

"For us to maintain our favorable class sizes, we wouldn't be able to take any of them," New Milford Schools Superintendent Janet Parlato said. "We try to maintain classes that are between 20 and 23 students."

Kenneth Craw, New Fairfield schools superintendent, said he was not certain whether that district could accept any Sherman students.

"Town officials haven't been approached with this question. We haven't undergone that analysis," he said. There are 2,100 students in the New Fairfield district, which also accepts high schoolers from Sherman.

The state Department of Education said it does not get involved in the decisions made by local Boards of Education.

"We hope they would hold a public hearing, talk to the community members, hear from the public before making any of these decisions," said Matthew Venhorst, an attorney with the education department.
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DANBURY  When Jesy Fernandez moved to Danbury at age 23, he fell in love with the city. As he grew older, Fernandez wanted to find a way to give back to the community that has become his home.

He decided last fall to run for office for the first time. Although he lost his race to represent Danbury in the 109th House District to Democrat Farley Santos, Fernandez recently found another way to serve.

A Republican, Fernandez was appointed to fill the seat on the Danbury Board of Education vacated by former chair Rachel Chaleski. Also a Republican, Chaleski resigned over the winter after she was elected a first-time state legislator in the 138th House District last fall representing part of Danbury.

This is exciting for me, said Fernandez, a Dominican Republic immigrant. I always looked for ways that I could help the city."

Fernandez knows about the Danbury Public Schools: His daughter, Tatiana, who is now in college, went through the Danbury school system, and his son, David, is now a junior at Danbury High School.

I am getting a first-hand look, and it gives me an insight now at how the education system works," Fernandez said. "I have been in two regular meetings since I was appointed, and its still a learning experience.

"But I have always put 100 percent into whatever I do, and this is no different," he said.

As he began in the post, "one thing I have been doing is talking to teachers and getting their insight, Fernandez said.

Danbury school board Chair Ralph Pietrafesa said appointing Fernandez to the empty seat made sense.

"He has been involved in the community a long time, and I've gotten to know Jesy," Pietrafesa said. "He has lived in the city a long time, he's a local business owner and it's important for him to give back to the city he loves. He is a good fit for the school board."

Fernandez was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the U.S. when he was 8. He lived on Long Island, where he attended high school, before attending University of Massachusetts. He left UMass to join the Navy, where he served for over three years.

When he was 23, Fernandez moved to Danbury and has lived in the city ever since.

Fernandez, 46, owns a small business, CT Painting Design, and has volunteered through his church with food banks.

While some kids say they want to grow up to be president, I dont think there are many who say they want to grow up to be on the Board of Education, Fernandez said. Growing up, I never thought about politics.

But as you get older and mature, you realize how important politics is, to be in that position and make a difference for your community. Education and addressing the issues associated with it is an extremely important part of that process.

While campaigning last fall, Fernandez said he discovered that when it came to education, there was one main concern among voters.

I talked to a lot of people when I knocked on doors, and efficiency was one thing they always talked about when it came to Danbury education, Fernandez said. One challenge, something that is one of my goals on the school board, is to make our classrooms more efficient.

We have a huge amount of children in our classrooms. One way to make our classrooms more efficient is to reduce the number of children in a classroom. With more kids entering our school system, that level will rise," he said.

Fernandez said "one positive thing" that will help reduce the size of classrooms will be the new career academy, which is scheduled to open in fall 2025.

"It will give our students more choices and that can help reduce the number of kids in a class. So far, everything we have heard from the engineers, the project is going well and on schedule, he said.

The city approved $164 million to build the career academy. Danbury will become the states first public school district to implement the career academy model, bringing in college and career-focused programs for its middle school and high school students.

When you think about education and what the school board does, it looks easy when you look at it from the outside, Fernandez said. But when you are part of it, part of the process, you see the challenges and its a big responsibility. We have been going through the budget. Ive been getting my feet wet learning what the process involves."

Last fall's campaign was "a learning experience," he said.

"Listening to people and understanding their concerns and the issues important to them when it comes to education helped shape what my goals are for the school board, Fernandez said.

While Im keeping the door open for another possible campaign try down the road, my focus now is to do my best to chip in and address the educational needs of our city, he said

Fernandez's term on the school board runs until the next municipal election, which will be in November.
I heard it first.

Standing on a stepladder in my yard, pruning the suckers out of the limbs of my old apple tree, I heard a piercing Kee-Ah !!! Kee-Ah !!! Kee-Ah !!!

Then I looked up and saw a red-shouldered hawk, circling high, wide and lovely in the sky over my house.

And I was happy. Spring is here. The red-shoulders  graceful and noisy  are back.

I dont write down their arrival, as I do phoebes and bluebirds in spring, juncos in the fall. But hearing them, watching them soar around seems to mark a change to warmer days for me, as sure as peepers and tree frogs squawking and quaking away.

And its a sound, and sight more common in the state. After fading from the scene for decades, red-shouldered hawks are making a serious comeback throughout the Northeast.

Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, said this may be due, in part, to there being more forested land in the state. Red-shouldered hawks are woodland, swampland birds, so there may simply be more habitat to live in.

But Comins said theyre also proving to be amenable neighbors to humans.

Theyve really adapted to suburbia in the past 20 years, he said.

Ryan Maclean, bird education specialist at the Greenwich Audubon Center  owned by Audubon Connecticut, the state chapter of the National Audubon Society  said that even a couple of decades ago, birders at the centers autumn hawk watch, might see a few hundred red-shouldered hawks migrating south each year.

In 2014, it was over 1,000, he said. In 2022, it was 1,871. On Oct. 28 last year, we saw 532 red-shouldered hawks in one day.

Which is excellent news. While some hawk species  red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, Coopers hawks  are doing well, others are in serious decline. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection lists northern goshawks as threatened, and sharp-shinned hawks and harriers as endangered species.

Comins said goshawks  which need large forest tracts  may be extirpated in Connecticut.

For all intents and purposes, theyre gone from the state. he said.

Likewise, harriers  a grassland species  no longer have much of that habitat to hover and hunt over.

Sharp-shinned hawks need bigger forest tracts. Coopers hawks, which are more adaptable, may be out-competing them as well, Comins said.

It was habitat loss that made red-shouldered hawks so rare in the state.

In the 19th century, settlers cut down most of the states trees to make fields. Red-shouldered hawks, being woodland birds, had no suitable place to live here.

But as people gave up farming and abandoned those fields, the trees grew back, and the red-shouldered hawks returned.

What is surprising is how they adapted to suburban Connecticut. They may be woodland birds, but small blocks of tree bordering houses seem to suit them fine for nesting

So, lucky suburbanites, listen and look up.

It is such a success story, said Cathy Hagadorn, executive director of Deer Pond Farm nature center in Sherman, which is owned by the Connecticut Audubon Society.

Red-shouldered hawks  Buteo lineatus  are medium-sized hawks. Mature adults have a lovely rufous plumage on their breasts and shoulders, black-and-white wings and a striped tail.

They feed on small rodents, amphibians and snakes

Hagadorn said shes seen a red-shouldered hawk swoop into the nigh grass near the centers pond and fly away with a leg sticking out its mouth.

And its a frog, she said.

And unlike their larger, bulkier cousins  the red-tailed hawk  red-shouldered hawks have comely lines.

Theyre incredible to look at, said MacLean of the Greenwich Audubon Center.

Theyre really graceful, said Bethany Sheffer, volunteer coordinator and naturalist at the Sharon Audubon Center, which is owned by Audubon Connecticut.

Sheffer knows of what she speaks. She often talks to group to groups accompanied by Oban, a female red-shouldered hawk who imprinted on humans as a chick and is an excellent educational bird.

In the spring, red-shouldered hawks call out as they circle and loop in the air, both to establish territory and to attract a mate. They are the most vocal of the states hawks.

For the last couple of weeks, Obans started calling, Sheffer said.

Hagadorn said seeing such birds should make humans a little more vocal themselves about preserving natural habitat and protecting the wildlife that lives in it.

Maybe we need to develop our own raptor calls, she said.
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HARTFORD  Prince Tech boys basketball coach Kendall May was killed Friday in a hit-and-run crash involving a sport utility vehicle, officials said.

Hartford police said the crash took place shortly before 6:30 p.m. in the 3000 block of Main Street.

Police said they found May, 56, of Bloomfield, unresponsive at the scene of the crash and immediately began performing life-saving measures, but he ultimately died at an area hospital.

The driver, who has not been identified, fled north on Main Street in a gray Jeep Cherokee with the Vermont license plate KGE457, according to police. The incident remains under investigation.

May served as head coach at Prince Tech, his alma mater, for more than 25 years and racked up more 400 wins during his tenure. His death was confirmed Saturday by Dennis Mercado, the technical high schools athletic director.

Kendall May's brother Tyrone May said he was the freshman coach the last 15 seasons working under his older brother. Kendall also coached the boys cross country team and the girls track team and at one time was also the baseball coach at Prince Tech, Tyrone said.

He also said Kendall was the schools inside suspension person, which handles the schools discipline cases.

He always wanted to joke all the time with kids, Tyrone said. He had a name for every kid in the school. He would intentionally mess up peoples names to make them laugh.

"He would help anyone at the drop of a dime. Hed give the kids clothes, sneakers. There wasnt something he would not do for you.

Tyrone also called Kendall the captain of the ship in the family.

He was the one who took care of everything, Tyrone said. He was the communicator. Anything that needed to be communicated, he took care of it.

Mark Snyder, a former athletic director and varsity boys basketball coach at Prince Tech, coached Kendall May, who graduated in 1984. He said Kendall was hired as an educational assistant at the school in 1989 and had been the varsity boys basketball coach since 1997.

Hes Mr. Prince Tech, Snyder said. He did everything at Prince Tech. This is very sad and very tragic.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Armenian servicemen, apparently, have switched to self-destruct mode, shooting at each other.

As Armenian Ministry of Defense reported, on March 31, at about 22:50 local time, "a shootout between the servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces took place in the southeastern border zone, due to a misunderstanding in conditions of extremely poor visibility".

"Misunderstanding", "poor visibility"... there are too many excuses and it looks rather suspicious.

After the incident, the body of Hrachya Sarukhanyan, a conscript of the Armenian Armed Forces, was found with a fatal gunshot wound. Another soldier was wounded.

However, Armenian MoD's statement, saying that they "share the heavy grief of the loss and express support to the relatives and friends of the murdered man!", looks rather ironic.
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SHELTON  From the decline of industry downtown and the creation of a bustling Bridgeport Avenue to the recent resurgence of Canal Street, one constant has remained  zoning consultant Tony Panico.

Panico, now 91, began working with the city in 1963, when his firm, Bryan and Panico, was selected by the then newly formed Shelton Municipal Planning Commission to prepare the city's initial set of subdivision regulations. A 60-year relationship was formed.

As a private, municipal planning consultant, my personal preference has always been to develop an ongoing relationship with a community, rather than just assist in resolving an issue and disappear, Panico said.

Panico said this type of relationship gave him the opportunity to intimately learn about a community, its goals, ambitions and desires, and then follow up with various needs with its commissions.

Working with a municipality over time gave me the opportunity to see some of our long-range suggestions, opportunities and proposals come to fruition, Panico said. Planning for something 20 or so years down the road is one thing, but being there to see it become reality is something much more rewarding.

Panicos years of service were recognized recently when he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Federation of Planning and Zoning Agencies during the organizations annual dinner conference in Southington.

Mayor Mark Lauretti praised Panico as an invaluable resource who has touched everything, from zoning regulations to development projects throughout the city.

Tony has been invaluable, Lauretti said, adding that to remain in a position for this length of time, you need to be good at your job and have a grasp of the history of the area. That combination proved to be successful for him and our city."

He said Panico was a constant as new commissioners come and go every election cycle.

He has also been a mentor, said Lauretti. He has been invaluable in helping new members along.

When looking back on Panicos legacy, Lauretti said the development of Bridgeport Avenue and the R.D. Scinto, Inc. projects come to mind. The mayor added Panicos ability to find compromise with developers has most assuredly helped reduce the number of projects filed under the states 8-30g affordable housing statute.

I was so pleased that through the federation, Tonys years of work in municipal planning was able to be acknowledged statewide, said Virginia Harger, Shelton's planning and zoning commission chair. Tonys work with the commission these last 60 years is unequaled. I would be hard pressed to find someone whose expertise in this area surpasses Tonys.

Attorney Dominick Thomas, Jr., of Cohen and Thomas, said he has known Panico for some 40 years and calls him an invaluable asset to Sheltons development, planning and growth."

He is the creator of the Planned Development District concept of zoning that has resulted in the development in Shelton that makes it the envy of many other towns, Thomas said. While we have not always agreed on the type of development or conditions imposed on a specific project, one of Tonys best qualities is the ability to engage, discuss and resolve.

Thomas said Panico effectively navigates "the minefield" of the commission, the public, the applicants and politics.

By being accessible and willing to listen to both sides, many issues have been resolved through sensible compromise that works out the best for both parties, Thomas said. There are issues that we have agreed to disagree but that disagreement never impacts the ability to continue to try to resolve issues on other projects going forward.

Thomas added that Panico's most important quality was his integrity.

"When you do not have to doubt a persons integrity, it makes it easy to be straightforward, honest and upfront in your discussions to resolve matters, Thomas said.

Panico, now retired and living in Florida, still consults on all proposed projects thanks to the livestreamed city meetings. He said he looks back with pride on the numerous developments he has helped shepherd to completion in the city.

My fondest memories in that regard are the conceptual planning for and ongoing growth and development of the Route 8 corridor through Shelton, he said.

The city facilitated those plans many years ago with Frank Osak, Ole Severson and the Planning and Zoning Commission. He praised the group for convincing the state to relocate the proposed upgrading of the existing Bridgeport Avenue to a new location, parallel to the existing Bridgeport Avenue, as opposed to physically upgrading the existing road.

The city capitalized on that, and the rest is history, Panico said.

Another fond memory, he said, is identifying the need and planning for Constitution Boulevard from White Hills to Route 8. He said the commission planned for and worked to get needed rights of way as critical intervening parcels of land came up for development.

During his years as an engineer, Panico said he was always most fond of determining where roads, bridges, major utility services, and things of that nature would be best located and what their basic design parameters should be.

When Panicos firm first began working with the city, it was at a time when the Board of Aldermen was still the official zoning authority for the city, with zoning regulations initially enacted in 1952 and revised in 1955.

After first working with Shelton on the subdivision regulations in 1963, he said his firm was asked to assist in preparing the first Comprehensive Plan of Development for Shelton  funded by federal grant money  which was officially adopted in early 1966.

Bryan and Panico were then asked to prepare a total rewrite of the zoning regulations, which were subsequently adopted in 1966. The firm was dissolved in 1972 and since then Panico had been continually associated with Shelton through his firm, A.J. Panico & Associates.

As with many cities of Shelton's size and background, challenges are many, Panico said. Downtown revitalization has always been a major challenge, something the commission and I have looked forward to for years and are now beginning to enjoy, but it is not without its challenges.

While Panico still maintains a full schedule with the ever-busy Shelton Zoning Department, he sees an office that is expanding, with a group of knowledgeable individuals.

I anticipate that will result in the eventual lowering of my workload, but I will always only be a telephone call away, Panico said.
The financial crisis of 1907 started when some Wall Street schemers borrowed outlandish sums from the Knickerbocker Bank to try to corner the copper market. Their plan was to control the price of copper, the fiber optic cable of the second Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately for them, they failed, and with their failure, panicked Knickerbocker depositors literally ran to the bank to withdraw their funds. As is always the case, banks rarely survive a run.

The Silicon Valley Banks recent failure was just a modern version of an age-old story about the fragility of banks in the face of a crisis. Due to the actions of the Federal Reserve and the largest private financial institutions in the world, the seeming resolution and containment of the crisis to just two other financial institutions was swift and decisive. Apparently, part of the problem at SVB was that too much of their deposits were held by depositors with accounts far in excess of the FDIC limit, making those deposits vulnerable to being wiped out at the slightest hint of run.

From 1999 to 2017, I was an economic consultant to the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. The Federal Home Loan Bank system was created after the Great Depression to stabilize savings and loan institutions by assisting their member institutions with access to credit. It also regulated the banks and collected information on consumer mortgage loans, called loan application records, or LARs. Every application for a mortgage to every financial institution is recorded. My work was to review the millions of LARs to help the bank identify problems in the market. Our work was important because in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the S&L industry had gone off the rails when S&Ls were deregulated by the Reagan administration and Wall Street schemers stepped in and bankrupted over a third of all S&Ls in the country.

I fully understand the economics of not letting one banks failure become a contagion impacting hundreds if not thousands of other banks because of the bad actions of one set of executives. It was a financial crisis that led to the 1907 Crisis, the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the Great Recession in 2008-2010. All these crises can be traced to the lack of good regulatory oversight and injurious behavior by financial schemers.

Consumers, workers, firms and governments need a place to park their paychecks, pay their bills, collect other payments, and borrow money. The economy needs to be able to connect those with resources to those who can put those resources to work while making money for both parties.

But banks are by design unstable. Depositors put their money in the bank. The bank takes some of those deposits and lends them to borrowers, leaving just enough cash in the bank to meet its anticipated cash needs. Economists call this intermediation.

The first banks started out simply as places to store your gold, diamonds and cash. These banks realized their customers did not come in every day to check the security of their assets. These early financial geniuses realized they could make money using other peoples money by lending assets they did not own to borrowers who promised to bring the money back with interest. Banking is a great business model.

Our economy, because of technology, is becoming cashless. We do not use gold for currency, and we are increasingly using digital transactions. We get paid without the need to go to the bank to deposit our checks; those funds go directly from our employer's bank to our bank. We use credit and debit cards more than cash to execute our daily transactions. We pay our babysitters by sending funds through our cellphones.

Additionally, recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that the median amount of cash Americans have in banks is $5,000, and the bottom 40 percent have accounts of only $2,000. Clearly the banks for most Americans are used primarily as transaction vehicles and not places to store valuables or to generate wealth.

While Americans are not great savers, we are great borrowers. According to a 2023 study, the typical American household owes more than $165,000. Access to credit allows households to borrow money for higher education (student loan debt), purchasing homes (mortgage debt), and just buying stuff (credit card debt). Banks are involved in all this debt.

Are we getting to the point in history, society and culture when banks and traditional capital institutions are solutions to the problems of the past and not the opportunities of the future? Is a bank-free economy possible? This may sound like throwing out the baby with the bath water. Having periodic financial crises may not be a reason to contemplate a bank-less world. However, in such a world, worth and value would physically reside within the person not in a building.

Something or someone will always have to keep account of what is coming in and what is going out. Right now, our complex financial system manages this process. This future sounds like the promises of digital currency. My view is bitcoin and their class of assets are a transition, not the end state.

To some, a bank-less world may sound like chaos and anarchy. There is no disputing the fact that we are experiencing changes in financial technology that were unimaginable 40 years ago. The only thing that is certain is that 40 years from now, banks will be unrecognizable.

We need banks today, but I do not think the banks of the future will be needed in the way they were needed in the past. A bank-less economy may not mean the future will be free of financial crises. Whatever replaces these ancient institutions will require robust regulatory oversight. Schemers with access to other peoples money and unregulated greed will always result in financial instability.

Fred McKinney is the co-founder of BJM Solutions, an economic consulting firm that conducts public and private research since 1999, and is the emeritus director of the Peoples Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Quinnipiac University.
In the continuing controversy over a now-stalled plan to remove the statue of a 17th century army officer from the exterior of the State Capitol building, legislative leaders have highlighted the need to consider new historic figures for inclusion among the empty third-floor niches along with immortal figures, including Gov. Ella T. Grasso and the all-white, all-male Colonial state founders.

A bill that recently advanced from a legislative committee, not without controversy of its own, is aimed at creating a formal process for identifying and commissioning new statues to celebrate Connecticut's diversity through the existing, appointed State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission, which meets quarterly and is currently involved in an advisory capacity on the estimated $54 million renovation of the High Victorian Gothic-style granite and marble 1878 landmark.

The bill passed the Government Administration and Elections Committee in a 14-5 vote, with the most-vocal opposition from conservative state Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott, who also criticized the current political makeup of the restoration commission because the appointees are dominated by Democrats. "Certainly, I'm not opposed to diversity," Sampson said. "I can also recognize the desire to maybe update the appearance of our Capitol that is more in keeping with our society currently." He noted that many of the statues were commissioned at a time "when things were not fair."

Photo by Ken Dixon

But he argued that as currently written, the legislation would essentially create a system of reverse discrimination. "What this policy says, by requiring that the statues be added to the exterior of the State Capitol building reflecting the diversity of the state, is suggesting that new statues ought to be selected by paying attention to people's race and gender," Sampson said. "That's how we got into this problem. I don't want to perpetuate it. I believe that language becomes very dangerously close to a quota, which we know from federal debates, Supreme Court decisions and so forth certainly about other types of policies, are not constitutional."

State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the GAE committee, disagreed on the issue of statue quotas. "I read this as only creating a process for identifying and commissioning additional statues," he said. "It's a basic value, in addition to memorializing exemplary and meritorious people, that we should also reflect the diversity of our state in those memorializations. I think it matters to individuals who walk through our halls, who see what statements we're making about who we consider exemplary to memorialize. It provides inspiration to individuals. It makes people feel seen."

The legislation, which next heads to the House of Representatives, would also create a new State Historical Commission within the executive branch, made up of scholars from the state's colleges and universities, with the goal of examining commemorations and statuary, and make recommendations to the preservation panel.

During a recent public hearing on the proposal, Daniel Menihan Jr., a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, said the state's tribal nations hope to have membership on the proposed historical commission. "By improving the State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commissions mission to plan for more diverse statuary, and establishing a scholarly commission to examine all three branches of governments existing commemorations, we honor our rich and complex past," Menihan said in recent testimony to the Government Administration & Elections Committee.

Menihan said tribal leaders are still hopeful that that the marble statue of Capt. John Mason, who led the massacre of hundreds of Pequots in the Mystic section of Groton in 1637, will eventually be removed from the niche overlooking Bushnell Park, where it has stood since 1909. While it was budgeted for removal in recent years, a cost overrun brought the issue to a little-known committee of legislative leaders, where Republicans opposed the plan.

"While the (Preservation) Commission did not authorize removal, we remain hopeful it will one day be removed," Menihan said. "Throughout history, John Mason has meant many things to many people. To descendants of the historic Pequot Tribe, he was a murderous figure, central to the devastation of our ancestors settlement in the 17th century. To others, he was an early English settler who founded the town of Windsor."

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, a sponsor of the bill, suggested that the Preservation and Restoration Commission consider installing signs around the Capitol to help the public understand the sculptures and other art on the Capitol grounds and on the building.

"We are a state that respects and values diverse lived experiences and perspectives," Rojas told the GAE committee. "States across the country are re-evaluating monuments and public art depicting historical figures or events which are inconsistent with present-day beliefs and values. We have an opportunity to model a commitment to diversity and acknowledge a greater humanity than is currently reflected. The time is now for Connecticut to ensure that the most prominent symbol of our state tells a story that is more representative of the rich diversity of its people."
During the Passover Seder one is obligated to drink a small amount from four cups of wine.

Wine as recorded in Psalm 104:15, gladdens the heart of mankind, but more specifically the number 4 symbolically refers to the four Hebrew words of redemption mentioned in Exodus 6:6-8: Say to the Israelites, I will bring you forth  from bondage  I will save you  I will redeem you  I will bring you into the land.

Accordingly, the Haggadah, the sacred text capturing the Exodus narrative recited at the Seder, reminds us that from that first cup of wine when we arrive at the recitation of the Ten Plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians we are to diminish the level of our joy.

In the words of Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508), our redemption [from bondage] had to come by means of the punishment of other human beings. [Egyptians].

This concept of compassion is anchored in the Book of Proverbs: If your enemy falls, do not exult. (24:17)

Indeed, this idea gained prominence in rabbinic literature where Rabbi Yirmiyahu Low (1812-1874) asserted: Since the Jewish people are filled with mercy, and through our being saved from Egypt, Gods creatures were lost and drowned. Although it is a great joy for us that God took us out of Egypt and redeemed us, it is still painful for us that through this, others were destroyed  If God had saved us without causing loss and death to others, it would have been a greater happiness.

Moshe Meirovich is rabbi to the Bnai Israel congregation in St. Catharines

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The signing of the Partnership Agreement with (L) Jennifer Dockstader, executive director at Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, Fort Erie, Ont. and (R) Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann, president of First Nations University, Regina, Sask.



Students learning Kanyenkeha (the Mohawk language) at the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre will now be able to receive a minor degree in the language thanks to a partnership with the First Nations University of Canada and the University of Regina.

When we speak of the languages, I think theres a lot of important words that come up when were talking about Indigenous languages such as reconciliation, decolonization, all these important words that are being floated around, this is what its about, said Trina Joseph with First Nations University of Canada.

Yonkwatkontahkwenhatye, or We are Continuing in Mohawk, will support students who have participated in the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centres Ken:tho tsi Kateweyenhstha (I study here) program for Mohawk and want to continue their learning.

Growing up without our language, its such an important thing for us to be here today. To be able to give back to our communities, to communities across Turtle Island, so that they have the opportunity that I had, said an emotional Tahnee Bennet, a Mohawk language instructor for the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre.

The program, which includes five courses, will be the largest program of its kind in the country for students learning Mohawk.

Im grateful for the chance to spread Kanyenkeha to many many more people from all over, so they can come to know its power and its beauty. So thank you for doing this. I like people who think big and do big things, said Brian Maracle, who founded Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, a Mohawk Immersion Program and is a curriculum writer for the Yonkwatkontahkwenhatye (we are continuing) program.

Maracle explained that many of the individuals who have gone through his programs now speak and write the language fluently, using it in their day to day lives and are even passing the language along to the next generations as a first language instead of English.

Our language loss has bottomed out, were on the way back. Its all because of the root word teaching method that weve devised. I point out that I didnt grow up speaking the language. My parents werent speakers, note Maracle.

The Mohawk Language Certificate Program will become one of several other language programs offered by the First Nations University of Canada.

It is also an honour to know that we are placing the Mohawk language here among the Cree people who will recognize and care not just for the language, but also for our people, said Jennifer Dockstader, executive director of the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre.

Officials from the university say theyre excited about the opportunity to help another Indigenous community be able to reconnect with their language at a university level.

Our languages are connected to the land. The land informs our languages. Thats why I feel we have to work collectively, we have to work together to ensure that those languages continue to survive and thrive, said Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann, president of First Nations University of Canada.

The Yonkwatkontahkwenhatye will launch at the First Nations University of Canada in fall 2023.

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Rakiza, an infrastructure fund investing in Oman and Saudi Arabia, which is co-managed by Oman Infrastructure Investment Management (OIM) and Equitix, has reached the target of its first fund at over $1 billion.

It has already deployed 25% of capital across three projects: a 30% stake in Omantels passive tower assets in Oman; a majority stake in Khazaen Fruit and Vegetable Central Market in Oman; and a c.31% stake in the Oman International Container Terminal located in the Port of Sohar.

The fund invests in infrastructure projects that generate stable returns through a combination of exit-driven capital gains, and income in the renewables, power and water, social infrastructure, telecommunications and transport and logistics sectors. The pipeline of near-term opportunities is strong and there are several further investments which are nearing financial close, including in what would be Rakizas first acquisition in Saudi Arabia.

Creating value

Rakiza actively seeks to create value through its investments while supporting the achievement of the relevant global sustainability and ESG targets set by its key investors. By considering ESG factors, Rakiza aims to provide a positive long-term impact on society and the planet, while at the same time positively impacting financial performance.

Rakizas investment decision-making processes undergo a rigorous ESG screening procedure; ESG data at portfolio companies is also actively monitored to ensure target companies behave in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and enhance their sustainability profile.

Muneer Al Muneeri, Rakiza Founder and OIM CEO, said: Our target of raising over $1 billion is an important milestone, on which Rakiza hopes to build with similar future initiatives. The success of and appetite for the Fund is not only evidence that Oman and Saudi Arabia offer attractive investment opportunities for global institutional investors, but that Rakiza is leading the way in identifying compelling assets and projects across the region. We look forward to moving to the next stage of the funds journey together with our strategic partners. These partners all contribute complementary experience and expertise to the Rakiza investor community, which has greatly enhanced intrinsic value for our stakeholders.

Attractive home

Hugh Crossley, Equitix Co-Founder and CEO, said: The GCC is an attractive home for smart capital, and an exciting investment destination for those with local access. We are pleased to have such strong and growing partnerships with the regions leading institutional investors. Driven by Rakizas local investment teams in our Riyadh and Muscat offices, we aim to deliver on the Funds return objectives, by investing in, and developing, compelling essential infrastructure projects, in Oman and Saudi Arabia.-- TradeArabia News Service
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 14 in Beijing, his office said on Friday, rescheduling a visit that was postponed last week after Lula was diagnosed with a mild pneumonia, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Lula will leave for China on April 11 and intends to stick to the original agenda, including the signing of some 20 agreements with Brazil's largest trading partner.

The trip's aim is to upgrade relations with China now that Lula is back in office and seek new Chinese investment in the Latin American country. It will come two months after Lula met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, as Brasilia aims for a pragmatic foreign policy balancing ties with its top trading partners despite growing tensions between the two.
Former Toronto Transit Commission chair Howard Moscoe has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario because he says Fallsview Casino is limiting mobility scooters to high rollers.



A former chair of the Toronto Transit Commission has filed a human rights complaint against Niagara Casinos, alleging the casinos failed to live up to their legislative duties to accommodate people with disabilities.

Specifically, Howard Moscoe says in his filing that the casinos failed to live up to the requirements of Ontario accessibility law or even the casinos own commitment to accessibility due to limitations he says the Fallsview Casino has placed on scooter loans for patrons.

Moscoe said the casino appears to reserve scooters for people with disabilities who they deem high rollers.

Moscoe, 83, filed his complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on March 21, naming Niagara Casinos president Richard Taylor and Ontario Lottery and Gamings (OLG) vice-president of legal and compliance, corporate secretary Tony Wong as respondents.

Niagara Casinos senior director of marketing services, Jennifer Ferguson, said the organization is unable to comment on any open or pending legal matters, but said the organization takes all of our guests concerns seriously and works with guests to try to meet their accessibility needs.

We are one of the only casinos in the province that offers guests electric mobility scooters to use free of charge, she said.

Ferguson said Fallsview has certain parameters in place under its policies for scooters, but we work with every guest to understand their mobility needs and try to accommodate them accordingly.

She said Fallsview also has a program in which it can arrange for additional electric mobility scooters to be delivered on-site to meet guest needs, at guests own cost.

Moscoe, who is also a former long-time Toronto city councillor, said in a letter to Taylor last June that he enjoys gaming and in the past has been a frequent visitor to the Fallsview Casino. He said he is disabled and needs a scooter and his wife uses a power wheelchair.

Moscoe said OLG has an accessibility policy in which the agency says its committed to creating an inclusive culture by preventing and removing barriers for people with a disability.

Moscoe, who said he suffers from heart disease and impaired lung function, said his wife has Parkinsons disease and is unable to walk. He said he was instrumental in convincing OLG in 2019 to start a scooter program at Fallsview Casino and said he and his wife used the program frequently before the pandemic simply by calling ahead of time to reserve two scooters.

Moscoe said he and his wife decided in December to drive to Niagara Falls to the casino after a two-year pandemic break, bringing his scooter on a lift on his car. But when they phoned ahead to Fallsview to book a scooter, Moscoe said he was told he was not eligible to pre-book a scooter because his Momentum rewards program status was too low.

In other words, disabled patrons who are high rollers can reserve a scooter in advance (but) others cannot, Moscoe said.

He said he was told to drive from Toronto to the casino and that if there was a scooter available, he could use it.

He told Taylor thats an affront to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Moscoe urged Taylor to remove the restriction immediately while also enlarging the scooter program. He said hed be willing to pay $20 to use a scooter in exchange for $20 of match play.

He said he waited three months for a response and then wrote a second letter, but said both letters were ignored.

In an interview, Moscoe said tying scooter availability to how much gamblers spend is morally wrong and said the casino needs to separate the scooters from the preferred gamblers list.

Its bad, bad optics, he said.

In an attempt to solve the impasse, Moscoe said he spoke to Wong, who he said agreed to mediate the matter. Moscoe said he called the casino on March 6 and was told he would have a scooter reserved in his name for a March 10 visit.

But on March 8 he said he got a call from the casino saying a complementary scooter was not available for him because of my card category, but that the casino could arrange a rental from a private scooter provider for $75.

He said that callers supervisor confirmed it was casino policy to only provide casino-owned scooters to card holders with an ignite statusone of the levels of the Momentum rewards programor above. Moscoe said thats a clear violation of provincial law and the casino principles by Mohegan Gaming Corporation, the casino operator.

Moscoe said he wants an apology and wants Niagara Casinos to donate $50,000 to the Ontario March of Dimes as compensation.

With a net profit of $1.6 billion in 2021, OLG could easily purchase numerous scooters, said Moscoe.

He expects the human rights case could drag on for several years due to a backlog of cases before the tribunal.

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The exterior of the old Perth jail.



It's not for lack of attention that the old Perth jail still sits on the market.

Originally listed at $750,000 in June of 2022, the price of the 1862 structure fell to $495,000 in the summer and now sits at $399,000.

Real estate agent Ian Shackell of Lennard Realty says he's had a fair share of calls about the property.

We've had lots of interest, lots of tire kickers. Everyone's kind of curious, right? Because for that kind of price you can't really buy much of anything and its this beautiful old heritage building.

The property has also attracted the attention of multiple media outlets from across Canada, as well as Ottawa-based paranormal investigators the Phantoms of Yore, who performed a paranormal investigation at the jail in late 2022.

The investigation focused on three historical figures: Turnkey John Lee, who managed the jail with his wife for over 50 years (they both died there); Granny, an old woman vagrant who died at the jail in 1905; and Rufus Weedmark, who was executed in the permanent gallows in the back of the jail. Legend has it he strangled his wife to death after she threw a teapot at him during a drunken dispute.

(Here's part one of the investigation, and you can also watch parts two, three and four on YouTube.)

Elliot Luijkenaar from Phantoms of Yore explains the organization focuses on paranormal tourism in eastern Ontario.

We run public investigations at a few jails, which are quite popular, he said. It would be great to see (the Perth jail) purchased and restored.

Shackell believes the ideal buyer is someone that loves heritage and old stone buildings, would most likely look at trying to convert this to a multi-residential redevelopment.

The space has potential as a boutique hotel, apartments, condos, even office space for that matter, and the Town of Perth has been open-minded to any re-zoning that would need to be done to support such a vision, Shackell said.

The catch, of course, is that the jail needs a lot of work.

RELATED STORIES 8 reportedly haunted places in the Ottawa Valley

First and foremost, money needs to be spent on getting the roof fixed, Shackell explained. I would say a total roof replacement to protect integrity of the structure.

He added that a number of sections of the building have these massive stone and brick walls that form the cells. Theres a lot of awkward space, if you will, that people are trying to wrap their heads around  what do I do with it?

Think you might be the ideal buyer for the jail? Check out the full listing on Realtor.ca, or give Shackell a call at 613-963-2640.

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Millions of people around the world likely have treasured snapshots of a family trip to Niagara Falls carefully tucked inside a photo album.

But only one such photograph was recently added to Canada Council for the Arts Art Bank.

The Wanderers by Toronto artist Zinnia Naqvi was recently among 72 works by emerging and established artists added to the collection.

The nostalgic tableau features a centre photograph of her mother and sisters taken in Niagara Falls in 1988 together with other images and items including books and board games.

I wanted to think about what they would have been learning about Canada when visiting Niagara Falls, Naqvi said.

I am also thinking about how tourist sites like these are designed specifically for audiences to learn certain details about that place. But who designs these spaces, what do they want people to learn, and what are they leaving out are important questions that we dont often consider.

The Wanderers is part of a larger body of work called Yours to Discover, which includes photographs of her family visiting popular Ontario tourist attractions.

The artists incorporated family photographs as a means of understanding and re-examining commonly accepted ideals of Canadian culture.

I wanted to make works that many immigrants from different backgrounds could relate to. I also wanted to question my place as a settler immigrant, which is why you see games like Settlers of Catan.

While the main photo in The Wanderers was taken before she was born, Naqvi said Niagara Falls holds a special place in her heart.

Her family immigrated to Canada from Pakistan three years after the images were taken.

They would return to Niagara often when she was child, which she said was a common practice with many immigrant families.

I think for a lot of second generation immigrants and people who grew up going there, a lot of the wonderment around the falls itself is lost because we have taken it for granted, she said.

The title of the work is in reference to The Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog, an 1818 painting by German artist Caspar David Friedrich.

That painting is featured on a mug included in the tableau.

The pose of my mother and sisters is very similar to the man in the painting, so it was interesting to think about them stumbling upon the falls, although we know the area around the falls is heavily manufactured today.

Naqvi is thrilled her work was selected for the Art Bank as it will now be able to reach new audiences and be a part of ongoing discussions on topics such as migration and citizenship.

Based in Ottawa, Canada Council for the Arts received more than 1,700 submissions in response to the call for purchases to commemorate its 50th anniversary.

Priority was given to artists who self-identify as Indigenous, Black, racialized, Deaf or having a disability, from official language minority communities, youth, LGBTQ, gender-diverse and women.

Art is often an expression and an account of an artists quest for identity, Simon Braul, director and chief executive officer of Canada Council for the Arts, said in a release.

With these latest acquisitions, the Art Bank collection is all the more inclusive and representative of the art that is currently being created and contributing to societal progress.

The Art Bank offers unique public access to contemporary visual art through three programs  art rental, loans to museums and outreach projects. Its collection is valued at more than $72 million.

Artists from every province and territory are represented, including St. Catharines artist Azadeh Monzavi.

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KITCHENER  The principal of a Waterloo elementary school allegedly used an online website and social media to contact teenaged girls, leading to an arrest in an investigation involving three separate police forces.

The joint investigation involving London police, Toronto police and Waterloo Regional Police started in February 2023.

During the investigation, a 55-year-old man communicated with girls he believed to be under the age of 16 years old, sending sexually explicit messages and images.

Under the username Sam and Chuck, the man used an online website and the social media messaging app Snapchat to contact the girls.

On Thursday, the man had arranged to meet one of the teenaged girls. Police arrested him in Burlington and he was taken to London to be charged.

Phillip Sallewsky, a 55-year-old man from Kitchener, now faces 17 charges.

Sallewsky is a principal of Northlake Woods Public School, a school in the northwest end of Waterloo.

Waterloo Region District School Board spokesperson Estefania Brandenstein said the board is aware of the situation and cannot comment because the matter is before the courts.

As per our process, the staff member has been assigned to home immediately, and as such, they are not able to attend WRDSB school properties or access WRDSB communication tools, Brandenstein said in an email statement.

The charges against Sallewsky are:

Five counts of luring a person under 16 years of age by means of telecommunications

Two counts of invitation to sexual touching under 16 years of age

Sexual assault

Sexual interference with person under 16 years of age

Luring a person under 16 years of age by means of telecommunication

Three counts of transmit sexually explicit material to a person under 16 years of age

Luring a person under 18 years of age by means of telecommunication

Print/publish/possess to publish child pornography

Import/sell/distribute, etc. child pornography

Unlawfully possess child pornography

No one had physical injuries in connection to the investigation.

Cst. Sandasha Bough with London police said any other information about the investigation will be released through the court process.

The accused is scheduled to appear in a London court on May 11, 2023.

Anyone with information or who may have been a victim is asked to call their local police service. You can call Waterloo Regional Police at 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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It could be the unicorn-glow that catches your eye. Or the flash of your own reflection. Either way, Ali Latif knows that if he passes you in his car on the streets of Toronto, youre going to take notice.

Having wrapped his Model Y in reflective vinyl  the feat took the industry professional 38 hours with the help of his wife, Reema  Latif, 33, says his tightly clad ride now serves as a showstopper.

Its a sort of portfolio-on-wheels, a moving business card. It signals that, in the realm of automotive wrapping and embellishment, this specialist knows his stuff.

Beneath the glitzy outfit of Latifs car is a simple, trusted Tesla, a tangible reminder of the hard work that made his dream come true  and of the woman whos been along for the ride.

Latif takes up the story:

I met my wife  at the time, my girlfriend  in 2015. Her birthday was coming up, and, of course, I wanted to impress her. Shed been talking a lot about this amazing electric car being developed by a company called Tesla.

At the time, this car that didnt need fuel seemed like a brand new idea, and she was fascinated by it.

Unfortunately, buying a Tesla for her birthday wasnt an option  seeing as though it was about $100,000 out of my price range.

So, instead, I did some research and found someone in Toronto had one and was willing to rent it out to me for the day. I picked her up for her birthday in that Tesla as a surprise that year. She loved it, of course . But me? I really loved it.

Ive always been a car guy and after driving the Tesla I couldnt get it out of my mind. The complete lack of maintenance, the growing charger network and the instant torque  I was hooked. And I started renting it, and I did that again and again.

As the years went by, the company got better and supercars eventually came out. I kept thinking maybe, just maybe, one day, wed have one of our own. I rented the Tesla for our road trips. I rented it so many times after that, I think it started annoying my wife.

We even got married in a Tesla.

Financially, though, it was always just a little bit out of reach.

All this time Id been working in finance and accounting, and when COVID eventually hit, I was forced to figure out a new form of income. Looking towards self-employment, Id seen someone wrapping vehicles on TV, and, professionally speaking, it seemed the perfect fit. Id always wanted to work with cars, but was just not a huge fan of getting my hands dirty. But this was the polished side of the industry. I signed up for as much training as I could find and afford.

Fast forward to today and I now work full-time as a PPF (Paint Protection Film) installer and automotive protective care professional. I work for private garages, and, often, with luxury cars, such as Rolls-Royces and Aston Martins.

Its been a wild ride.

In the midst of that massive change, about a year-and-a-half ago, my dream of owning a Tesla finally came true. We considered it a business purchase, or at least thats what I told my wife to convince her to take the leap. It was a joint purchase in the end, and it coincidentally arrived on our wedding anniversary.

When I decided I wanted to wrap it  this was sort of an experiment for me to improve my skills  I asked her to pick the colour. We wrapped it together, starting on a Friday evening and finishing on a Sunday night at 3 a.m.

Since then, its generated so much business. People approach me all the time when they see it and ask me what I do for a living. I tell them that I dont have my own shop quite yet. Thats another dream  one I hope will come true this year.

A wrap like this one will theoretically last two to three years, but my wife is now kind of antsy to change it up again  maybe to something like a silver, maybe this summer.

But me, Im not sure. I think Id like to keep it this way just a little bit longer.

I love the way it looks, and so does everyone who sees it.

For the exterior I used a vinyl wrap thats applied along the cars exterior  a chrome film. Yes, its primarily for esthetics, but it does provide some degree of protection. A solid wrap, such as a pink or purple, is difficult enough to apply, but, because this has a mirror-finish, it takes much more time and precision. The goal is that, if you stood in front of it, you could see your own reflection. I often notice people taking off their glasses off when I pass by, thinking theyre giving off a sheen when its just the wrap  and kids really seem to love it when I pass by a schoolyard.

Teslas safety features have allowed me to let my vehicle shine.

The Model Y is actually Teslas bestseller class and its in high demand  its a crossover version of Teslas fleet  and we picked it because of the space and because of the safety. Teslas safety features are just amazing: sentry mode, for example, records whenever someone is close to your car when its parked and saves a clip. The 360-dash-cam is a huge plus if you ever get into an accident or in trouble, and the car is connected to the Tesla network remotely if ever it were stolen. I personally believe, given how my Tesla looks, it would have been stolen or vandalized by now if it were any other car.

NOTE: If you love your car, write and tell us, briefly, why at wheels@thestar.ca

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The identity crisis facing the global Tibetan community has been apparent for some time.

Now some people in India, where a significant number of Tibetan refugees live, are working to stem the tide of social erosion.

As they marked the 64th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10, younger people in the global Tibetan diaspora have had to face not only a life removed from their homeland but a diminishing sense of community around them. But they are fighting back  with their phones and computers, to find each other and tell their own stories.

March 10 is a solemn day for Tibetans around the world. On that day in 1959, a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, against nearly a decade of repression by the Chinese government.

Marking the day is a reminder for Tibetans living in exile that we are still refugees and a reminder for non-Tibetans that our issue has not been solved, says Kunsang Tenzing, a cafe owner in Dharamshala and founder of the Stories of Tibetans, a photography and videography project that documents Tibetan stories from across the globe.

Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar, daughter of Tibetan refugees and elected member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile in India, says it was only when she got into activism that she realized the power of social media. I dont just have to be on the streets for people to hear me. With social media, if I am able to reach five fresh faces, it would mean my activism has had some outcome.

Dolkars Instagram features photographs of the March 10 procession that she attended in Dharamshala, a small town nestled in the Himalayas in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

The Chinese response to the 1959 revolt was brutal and the 14th Dalai Lama had to flee to India, where he still lives. Jawaharlal Nehru, then Indias prime minister, welcomed him and a Tibetan government-in-exile, now known as the Central Tibetan Administration, was set up in Dharamshala in 1960.

Over the years, thousands of Tibetans have followed the Dalai Lama. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 73,000 Tibetan refugees were living in India in 2020. The Tibetan diaspora has now spread across the country.

The younger generations were, however, either born in India or arrived as children. A large number of them have never seen their homeland. The last few years have witnessed a dramatic decline in the Tibetan population in India. Fertility rates among Tibetans there have dwindled, many young Tibetans are moving to other countries and hardly any Tibetans are fleeing their homeland to come to India anymore. The Central Tibetan Administration also noted a sharp decline in enrolment in Tibetan schools in India from 2012 to 2021.

In these circumstances, the Tibetan community faces an existential crisis  how to preserve its culture, its identity and its freedom struggle. Social media is slowly becoming the glue keeping the community connected and for sharing all things Tibetan.

Hailing from Dharamshala, Dolkar joined the Tibetan Womens Association in 2012 as co-ordinator of a project for the legal empowerment of Tibetan women. Today, she is serving a second term in the 17th Tibetan parliament-in-exile. It was in 2013, when she was the vice-president of the Gu-Chu-Sum movement association (an organization that raises awareness about human rights violations and political prisoners in Tibet), that she started posting on Facebook about the self-immolations and student protests taking place in Tibet at the time. In a bid to reach out to Tibetan youth, she also started posting on Instagram to bring attention to issues facing the community.

Recently, she was providing daily updates on the budget session of the parliament that has now ended. So many youths have come to me asking about the Tibetan parliament, she says. It was a big surprise that something so general to me was new information for them. Many did not want to sit the entire day listening to politicians and asked for short, five-minute videos. This is how I started giving daily updates in my first term and the practice has continued.

Tenzing is creating a digital archive of Tibetan oral history called the Stories of Tibetans. He uses Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to share stories from different generations, and spent this March 10 interviewing people.

My social media handles work something like the Humans of New York, which features street portraits and interviews with people in New York City, says Tenzing. We want to bring our personal stories to the world. I think Tibet has become an old fairy tale for most people. These human tales may encourage more people to be a part of our freedom struggle.

Tenzings posts get about 6,500 views on average, with some getting as many as 50,000. We share stories whenever there is opportunity, he says. So when the time comes, Tibet still exists in peoples hearts.

Beri Gyalse, a monk and Tibetan language teacher, came to India in 1994 when he was seven years old. He developed a keen interest in Tibetan literature from a young age and went on to become a lecturer in Tibetan language at the Banaras Hindu University in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Today, he teaches the language on social media, using Instagram to reach Tibetan youth and Facebook to reach those who are older.

Nowadays, social media has become part of everyones lives, even the monks and the nuns are using it, he says. One day, I just came on Facebook Live and spoke something about patience or compassion or tolerance or something. Surprisingly, the video was loved and shared by many people. So I started making short videos on the Tibetan language on Facebook and later came on YouTube and Instagram as well.

Gyalse hopes that many more Tibetan language teachers will start posting on social media, to promote our language, promote our culture, and through that teach our history to the new generations.

In southern India, Tenzin Tashi, a musician from the Hunsur Tibetan Settlement in the state of Karnataka, posts about his work and projects on Instagram and YouTube. Social media is a good way to let your followers know about your music, new songs. Sometimes, we make good connections for collaborations and find sponsorship too.

Known by his stage name, Ixx Tashi, he learned Tibetan classical music in school and plays the dranyen, a traditional Tibetan guitar. Online he often brings up his life as a Tibetan living in Karnataka, a state in southwest India.

My song South Side was a tribute to the people and government of Karnataka, he says. The Tibetan people here loved the song. I am now producing South Side 2, where I will translate Kannada words (the predominant language in Karnataka) to Tibetan so my people here can also learn the local language.

He also aspires to write a patriotic song this year: I want my brothers and sisters to feel some patriotism, especially since we all live in the modern world and dont really understand the pressure in Tibet.

At the heart of the social media activity is the quest to hold the Tibetan community and identity together, no matter in which part of the world. As Dolkar says: My only hope from the Tibetan diaspora around the free world is to remind ourselves that we must never forget our roots, we must never forget our Tibetanness and we must have pride in being a Tibetan.

Shefali Malhotra is a health policy researcher based in New Delhi and a fellow in global journalism at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

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BUCHA, Ukraine  Ukrainians marked the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha Friday with calls for remembrance and justice after a brutal Russian occupation that left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves, establishing the town near Kyiv as an epicenter of the war's atrocities.

We will not let it be forgotten, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a ceremony in Bucha, vowing to punish those who committed outrages there that are still raw. Human dignity will not let it be forgotten. On the streets of Bucha, the world has seen Russian evil. Evil unmasked.

Bucha's name has come to evoke savagery by Moscow's military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Ukrainian troops who retook the town found the bodies of men, women and children on the streets, in yards and homes, and in mass graves. Some showed signs of torture.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, fighting continued Friday: Russia used its long-range arsenal to bombard several areas, killing at least two civilians and damaging homes.

And the Kremlin-allied president of neighbouring Belarus raised the stakes when he said Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed in his country, along with part of Moscows tactical nuclear arsenal. Moscow said earlier this week that it planned to place in Belarus tactical nuclear weapons, which are comparatively short-range and low-yield. Strategic nuclear weapons, such as missile-borne warheads, would bring a greater threat.

At the official commemoration in Bucha, Zelenskyy was joined by Moldova's president and the prime ministers of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Russian troops occupied Bucha weeks after they invaded Ukraine and stayed for about a month. When Ukrainian forces retook the town, they encountered horrific scenes. Over weeks and months, hundreds of bodies were uncovered, including of children.

Russian soldiers, on intercepted phone conversations, called it zachistka  cleansing, according to an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series Frontline.

Such organized cruelty, which Russian troops also employed in other conflicts such as Chechnya, was later repeated in Russia-occupied territories across Ukraine.

Zelenskyy handed out medals to soldiers, police officers, doctors, teachers and emergency workers in Bucha, as well as to the families of two soldiers killed during the defence of the Kyiv region.

Ukrainian people, you have stopped the biggest antihuman force of our times, he said. You have stopped the force which has no respect and wants to destroy everything that gives meaning to human life.

Ukrainian authorities documented more than 1,400 civilian deaths, including 37 children, in the Bucha district, and more than 175 people were found in mass graves and alleged torture chambers, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine and other countries, including the U.S., have demanded that Russia answer for war crimes.

Among the civilians killed was 69-year-old Valerii Kyzylov, whose wife survived but for whom the horrors inflicted on Bucha, her hometown, are still raw.

I remember everything like it was yesterday, she said, twisting a handkerchief in her hands as she stood at a candlelit vigil on Friday evening. A year has passed but I still see it before my eyes.

She cried as she recounted the horror she endured a year ago. Of Russian troops shooting her husband dead and leaving the body lying in the street for days. Of the Russian soldiers taking over her house, where she was forced to live in the basement. They would bring other civilians to the basement, she said, some with bags over their heads, and they would decide there whom to execute and whom to allow to live.

I lived with my husband for 47 years. We have two children. We had such a nice family, she said, weeping. This pain is so great. He was so beautiful. He was killed for nothing.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin alleged Friday that many of the dead civilians were tortured. Almost 100 Russian soldiers are suspected of war crimes, he said on his Telegram channel, and indictments have been issued for 35 of them.

A Ukrainian court has sentenced two Russian servicemen to 12 years in prison for illegally depriving civilians of liberty, and for looting.

I am convinced that all these crimes are not a coincidence. This is part of Russias planned strategy aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation, Kostin said.

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights chief said his office has verified the deaths of more than 8,400 civilians in Ukraine since Russias invasion  a count believed to be far short of the true toll. Volker Turk told the U.N. Human Rights Council that severe violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have become shockingly routine during Russia's invasion.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, along with announcing the possibility of the deployment of Russian strategic nuclear weapons in his country, called for a ceasefire in Ukraine. A truce, he said in his state-of-the-nation address in Minsk, must be announced without any preconditions, and all movement of troops and weapons must be halted.

Its necessary to stop now, before an escalation begins, Lukashenko said, adding that an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using Western-supplied weapons would bring an irreversible escalation of the conflict.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Russia has to keep fighting, again claiming that Ukraine has rejected any talks under pressure from its Western allies.

Peskov also dismissed remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that the European Union was mulling the deployment of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, calling that extremely dangerous.

Russia has maintained its bombardment of Ukraine, with the war already in its second year. Along with the two civilians killed Friday, 14 others were wounded as Russia launched missiles, shells, exploding drones and gliding bombs, the Ukraine presidential office said.

Two Russian missiles hit the eastern city of Kramatorsk, damaging eight residential buildings, the office said. Nine missiles struck Kharkiv, damaging residential buildings, roads, gas stations and a prison, while Russian forces shelled the southern city and region of Kherson. A barrage at Zaporizhzhia and its outskirts caused major fires.

In the battered front-line town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, a baby and adult were killed in Russian shelling, according to the presidential office. Before the Russian invasion, about 25,000 people lived in Avdiivka. About 2,000 civilians remain.

___

Hanna Arhirova reported from Kyiv. Jamey Keaten contributed to this report from Geneva, while Yuras Karmanau contributed from Tallinn, Estonia.

___

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

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CAIRO (AP)  Syrias chief diplomat was in Egypt on Saturday in a step toward normalizing ties between the two countries. It was the first trip to the capital of Cairo for a Syrian foreign minister in over a decade.

Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, according to Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesperson for the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Syrias state-run SANA news agency reported that Mekdad would discuss bilateral ties and the latest developments in the region and the world.

Mekdads visit comes as the two countries inch toward re-establishing ties. Its been more than a decade since Syria was globally isolated after President Bashar Assads brutal crackdown on mass protests against his rule in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. The unrest quickly descended into protracted civil war.

For years, many public figures in Egypt have urged the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to restore ties with Assads government. They also pushed for Damascus return to the Cairo-based Arab League.

Syria was suspended from the Arab League and other pan-Arab organizations. But in recent years several Arab countries have begun restoring ties with Assads government after it regained control over most of the country, thanks to military assistance from Iran and Russia.

A devastating earthquake that stuck Turkey and Syria in February has intensified moves to normalize ties with Syria. Several Arab nations dispatched senior officials and sent aid to show solidarity with Syria and Turkey.

El-Sissi spoke with Assad by phone after the earthquake hit and sent Shoukry to Damascus, where he met with Assad. Shoukry was Egypts most senior official to visit Syria since 2011.

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DOVER, Del. (AP)  Attorneys for several insurance companies are appealing a federal judges decision to uphold the confirmation of a $2.4 billion bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Boy Scouts of America.

In an emergency motion filed Friday, attorneys for non-settling insurers asked U.S. District Court Judge Richard Andrews to halt the effect of a ruling he issued Tuesday while they take their case to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The BSAs bankruptcy plan is aimed at allowing the Texas-based organization to continue operating while ensuring compensation for tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children while involved in Scouting.

In his ruling, Andrews rejected arguments that the bankruptcy plan wasnt proposed in good faith and improperly strips insurers and abuse survivors of their rights.

The opposing insurers note that an automatic halt to litigation against the Boy Scouts as a debtor in bankruptcy expires after April 11. They fear the BSA could argue at that point that further appeals are moot, thus subjecting them to irreparable harm. They also note BSA lawyers on Thursday refused to agree even to a period of advance notice before causing the bankruptcy plan to to take effect. Attorneys for the Boy Scouts, meanwhile, have asked the bankruptcy judge to approve almost $4 million in funding for preparatory work on the trust from which abuse survivors would be paid.

The insurers argue the case presents fundamental questions of bankruptcy law of vital importance that could have widespread impact in mass tort bankruptcies for years to come.

Even if this Court is satisfied that it has correctly determined the issues, a reasonable possibility exists that the Third Circuit  which has repeatedly cautioned against the dangers posed by mass tort bankruptcies  may disagree on one or more issues the certain insurers or other appellants will raise on appeal, attorneys wrote.

Doug Kennedy, co-chair of the official committee representing abuse survivors, decried the latest appeal effort, saying it shows a callous disregard for survivors.

Its time for the objecting insurers to show that they actually care about the people they insure, and stand aside while this plan becomes effective, Kennedy said in a text.

Under the plan, the BSA itself would contribute less than 10% of the proposed settlement fund. The local Boy Scout councils, which run daily operations for troops, offered to contribute at least $515 million in cash and property, conditioned on certain protections for local troop sponsoring organizations, including religious entities, civic associations and community groups.

The bulk of the compensation would come from the Boy Scouts two largest insurers, Century Indemnity and The Hartford, which reached settlements calling for them to contribute $800 million and $787 million, respectively. That is a fraction of the billions of dollars in potential liability exposure the two insurers faced.

Settling insurers, local Boy Scout councils and troop sponsoring organizations would receive broad liability releases as non-debtor third parties protecting them from future sex abuse lawsuits in exchange for contributing to the victims compensation fund  or even for not objecting to the plan.

Meanwhile, other insurers  many of which provided excess coverage above the liability limits of underlying primary policies  have refused to settle. They argue the procedures for distributing funds from the victims trust would violate their contractual rights to contest claims, set a dangerous precedent for mass tort litigation and result in grossly inflated payments.

More than 80,000 men have filed claims saying they were abused as children by Boy Scout leaders and volunteers around the country. A plaintiffs attorney has acknowledged that some 58,000 claims probably couldnt be pursued in civil lawsuits because of statutes of limitations.

When it sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020, the Boy Scouts had been named in about 275 lawsuits and told insurers it was aware of another 1,400 claims. According to plan opponents, the huge number of claims filed in the bankruptcy were the result of a nationwide marketing effort by personal injury lawyers working with for-profit claims aggregators to drum up clients.

Opponents argue that the BSA, desperate to escape bankruptcy, subsequently colluded with claimants lawyers to inflate both the volume and value of claims in order to pressure insurers for large settlements, then transferred its insurance rights to the settlement trust. The trust would be overseen by a retired bankruptcy judge but would work closely with an advisory committee of claimants lawyers.

Some abuse survivors who oppose the plan argue it violates their due process rights because it releases their claims against non-debtor third parties without their consent. Such third-party releases, spawned by asbestos and product-liability cases, have been criticized as an unconstitutional form of bankruptcy grifting, where non-debtor entities obtain benefits by joining with a debtor to resolve mass-tort litigation in bankruptcy.

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VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP)  The man named as a person of interest in the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old daughter was charged with two counts of murder in their deaths, police in Washington state said Friday.

Detectives from the Vancouver Police Department booked Kirkland Warren for two counts of first-degree murder Friday after the Clark County Medical Examiners Office determined Meshay Melendez, 27, and her daughter, Layla Stewart, sustained gunshot wounds to their heads, according to a statement.

Warren was out on bail pending a long-delayed murder trial in Arkansas. When he was arrested in southwestern Washington early this month on charges that he assaulted Melendez and fired a gunshot into her apartment, he quickly posted bond and was released again.

The March 22 discovery of the bodies of the mother and daughter raised questions about why someone facing a murder charge in another state would be released from custody after being arrested in a serious domestic violence offense.

Warren was charged with killing an acquaintance in his vehicle in 2017 and leaving the body in a roadside ditch. He told police the passenger was asking him for money and that he shot him because he feared for his safety.

His family got him released from custody pending trial by putting up 10% of his $250,000 bond, said his attorney in that case, Mark Hampton. Warren subsequently moved to Washington with the knowledge of his lawyer and prosecutors.

Hampton didnt return a phone message seeking comment on the new murder charges Friday. It was unclear if Warren, who was incarcerated in the Clark County Jail, had an attorney for the latest charges.

Warrens March 2 arrest stemmed from a December episode during which police said he assaulted Melendez and then fired a gunshot into her apartment. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Warren was the last person seen with the mother and daughter before they disappeared, authorities said. A friend told police she had been babysitting Stewart the night of March 11 when Warren arrived to pick her up. Melendez was unresponsive in the car, naked from the waist down.

The friend reported Melendez missing March 18. Melendezs mother also reported her missing, saying the family had not heard from her for a week. The next day, police arrested Warren again. With his bail in Arkansas revoked and his bail in Washington increased to $1 million, he has been in custody since.

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Syrias foreign minister met his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Saturday, the first such visit in more than a decade and the latest sign of Arab states mending ties with President Bashar al-Assad, Trend reports citing Al Arabiya.

Faisal Mekdad was embraced by Sameh Shoukry as he arrived at the Egyptian foreign ministry, the first official trip since before the uprising and conflict that began in Syria in 2011.

Egypts foreign ministry published pictures of the two ministers in a closed meeting before a wider discussion.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the talks were aimed at strengthening relations between the two states.
OTTAWA - Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the governments plans for pharmacare are moving forward, but experts who study government drug plans suggest the Liberals may have lost the political will to take bold steps toward a national program.

People like Marc-Andre Gagnon were still holding out hope that spending would be set aside in Tuesdays federal budget to create a national, single-payer drug plan.

But though the Carleton University health policy professor said he was optimistic, he also admitted he wasnt surprised when there was no mention of pharmacare in the document.

We dont see the political willingness anymore, Gagnon said in an interview Friday.

Progress on pharmacare is one of the conditions of the confidence-and-supply agreement the NDP entered with the Liberals last year, in which the NDP throws its support behind the government on key confidence votes in exchange for progress on the partys priorities.

Under the agreement, the government has until the end of this year to pass some kind of pharmacare legislation, and must put together a national list of essential medicines and a plan for bulk purchasing by 2025.

Duclos said in no uncertain terms that progress on the file will continue  but that progress is likely to be incremental.

Were making steps moving forward. But well have to proceed step by step, he said in an interview, adding that first, the cost of drugs needs to be driven down and medications need to be made more accessible.

One of those early steps was the launch of the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases last month, which committed $1.5 billion toward improving the access to and affordability of effective drugs for rare diseases over three years.

Duclos called it an important signal to what we are looking to do in the longer term.

But theres no denying that government enthusiasm for a national drug program has tempered significantly over the last several years. What began as a legacy-making policy proposal for the Liberals in 2015 now rarely gets a mention on Parliament Hill, as other health concerns have crowded the national conversation.

The health ministers office was consumed with the pandemic and the health-care crisis that followed, and the department has also been busy with another condition of the Liberals deal with the NDP: national dental insurance for uninsured low- and middle-income families.

With the pandemic, everything was put on hold, and basically, they never got back to this issue of a national prescription drug plan, even if they have all the tools, Gagnon said.

Making headway on pharmacare now would likely mean spending money the government cant spare anymore, Simon Fraser University health policy professor Steven Lewis said in an interview.

There would probably have to be a new tranche of money, which I dont see forthcoming anytime soon given that this deficit is a bit bigger than was anticipated, Lewis said.

In 2017, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated a pharmacare plan would cost $19.3 billion per year if it had been implemented in 2015, and would grow over time to cost $22.6 billion. In todays dollars, the annual cost would be between $23 billion and $27 billion.

At the same time, overall spending on drugs  between governments, insurance companies and Canadians  would be expected to drop by $4.4 billion as a result of better purchasing power.

Lewis said its difficult to know how much pharmacare would cost before knowing exactly how the government plans to do it. For example, the government could choose to tax employers who previously offered drug benefits to recoup some of the cost.

In 2019, the government got a detailed road map to guide the path toward a national pharmacare program, which recommended starting with essential drugs first.

That report, put together by a National Advisory Council led by Dr. Eric Hoskins, suggested the initial public spending increase would be roughly $4.1 billion if it was implemented in 2022, and would grow to cost $38.5 billion by 2027 as the list of covered drugs expanded.

Aside from the cost pressures, both Lewis and Gagnon said the government may be facing pushback from the pharmaceutical industry.

Changes to the way drug prices are set at the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board have been met with resistance from industry and patient groups who worry that lower prices will affect access to new drug therapies in Canada.

A genuine pan-Canadian, fully medicare-inclusive pharmacare program is going to create some winners and losers with pharma, said Lewis, who explained there would likely be firmer price negotiations and clampdowns on off-label drug use.

But while critics suggest the government is dragging its feet, Duclos characterizes it as carefully laying the groundwork.

Pharmacare is done better when we have better access, better affordability and better knowledge of how to use drugs in Canada, Duclos said.

He added that theres still a lot to do before figuring out the next step, to make sure each stride toward long-term pharmacare is the right one.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2023.

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MONTREAL  It is a rare budget, at the federal or the provincial level, that results in an opposition leader rushing to do a victory lap about its content.

And yet thats exactly what happened Tuesday on Parliament Hill.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was still in the process of delivering her budget speech when a jubilant NDP leader emerged from the House of Commons to claim credit for significant parts of its content  starting with the imminent implementation of a full-fledged national dental care program.

Instead of playing hard to get, Jagmeet Singh embraced the budget as his brainchild. He is even going on tour to highlight the features he says his party inspired.

As a result, Justin Trudeaus minority government gets to live another day or in this case probably another year.

If Singh wants to see the dental care program get off the ground, he will have a compelling interest in not pulling the plug on the current Parliament until next years budget at the earliest.

Once it is up and running, it will be hard for any future government to walk back the measure.

Given a choice, the Liberals opted for the safest path on offer  to do what they must to push off their next return to the polls.

For the most part, they believe that whatever concessions they made to their NDP ally in exchange for more time to shore up their electoral fortunes and polish up the record they will run on in the next campaign will reflect well on them at election time.

Spending billions on a new social program at this difficult juncture in the economic cycle may turn off what is left of the fiscally conservative segment of the Liberal base, but then so do many of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievres prescriptions.

Much as the Liberals needed their government to survive, the NDPs need for a budget along the lines of the one presented on Tuesday was no less pressing.

Yes, the New Democrats could have defeated the budget for a number of reasons.

They could have used the federal decision to give a pass to provinces like Ontario that are turning to private clinics to handle some of the public health care systems caseload to cast themselves as defenders of medicare.

But when Singh launched a trial balloon along those lines earlier this year, it did not fly. Chances are that battle will be more successfully fought  if at all  on provincial battlegrounds.

Another NDP rationale for bringing down Trudeaus government could have revolved around climate policy and the Liberal refusal to cut subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

But with Alberta about to go the polls, the last thing NDP Leader Rachel Notley needed was for her federal counterpart to go to war against the oil and gas industry.

Under either of those scenarios, the NDP would have risked trading its current influence for a weaker hand.

Given the partys distant third place in voting intentions, the best Singh could have hoped for in an election this spring would likely have been another Liberal minority government.

The NDP leader can, as he does these days, gamely argue that his endgame is to become prime minister, but such an outcome remains a very long shot. Looking at Quebec, he cant count on a repeat of the orange wave that propelled the party under Jack Layton to Official Opposition.

But that is not to say the victory Singh claimed on budget day is an empty one or that it will not lead to greater things for the NDP.

When he struck a non-aggression pact with the Liberals a year ago, Singh decided to go where none of his federal predecessors had ventured before.

This weeks budget gave him something tangible to show for both that decision and for his partys presence in the House of Commons.

Perhaps even more importantly, it has introduced the NDP caucus (and its Liberal counterpart) to a different and, in many ways, more fulfilling way of doing business.

Opposition politics can eat at ones soul. On the one-year anniversary of the pact between the two parties earlier this year, it was striking to hear some leading New Democrats talk of the satisfaction they found in having a seat at the table rather than just being on the outside throwing brickbats at the government.

Tuesdays budget may well come to be seen as the high point of Singhs tenure and the dental care program his legacy.

But in an era when minority federal governments are becoming the rule rather than the exception, the dynamics in this Parliament could also pave the way for an even more co-operative future.

Should the aftermath of the next election ever lead to a full-fledged Liberal/NDP coalition government, Freelands third budget will have been one of its building blocks.

Chantal Hebert is an Montreal-based freelance contributing columnist covering politics for the Star. Reach her via email: chantalh28@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert

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Erin OToole, the former Conservative party leader, has exited federal politics in mild disagreement with his old boss, Stephen Harper.

While both men agree that the Conservatives are headed back to power, they arent exactly in sync on how that will happen.

OToole said in his resignation statement on Friday: The Conservative party is the party of Confederation and I know it will return to government offering the hope and ideas our country so desperately needs.

Harper, on the other hand, offered this advice when he appeared on stage last week at a big conference in Ottawa:

What I say to Conservative opposition leaders is: your job today, yeah, broadly speaking, indicate a direction youre going to go, but its not to talk about how you would run the country.

This, Harper said, is the road map to power for current Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre  say as little as possible on the hope-and-ideas front.

Conservatives have never let Justin Trudeau forget that he once said budgets balance themselves. But here was Harper, saying what he obviously views as a hard-nosed truth: governments defeat themselves.

Some of this is true, to a degree. Ive often put it another way: its not your enemies who will seal your fate in politics, but your friends. OToole, lets remember, was only ousted as Conservative leader after his own caucus turned on him in the midst of the convoy occupation in Ottawa. No Liberals wielded that knife.

Harpers laid-back counsel was delivered at the annual Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference, during an engaging trip down memory lane on stage with former Reform Party leader Preston Manning. As someone who covered the rise of Reform and these two leaders extensively, it was great to hear the old stories (and to see the two of them laughing and getting along, which wasnt always the case).

What made Harpers do-nothing advice stand out in this discussion, though, is that it was at direct odds with their recollections of how they led their parties to prominence and, in Harpers case, power.

Manning and Harper recalled how Reform almost single-handedly put deficit reduction and constitutional weariness on the political radar in the 1990s and forced the Liberals to adopt those policies. That is absolutely true. Reforms pressure created the public-opinion conditions for the Liberals budget-balancing measures under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.

Harper, meanwhile, seems to have developed a case of amnesia about how the Conservatives rode to power in 2006 on the strength of five big priorities, which they hammered home with incredible message discipline and clever marketing in the 2005-06 election campaign. They were, for those who have forgotten: a cut to the GST, $100 cheques for child care, the accountability act, cracking down on crime and ending health-care wait times.

That was far from letting the Liberals defeat themselves.

What Harper has also forgotten  as many have observed  is that he came into office as one of the most media-friendly politicians of his era. He was a regular on TV political panels. He frequently held long, answer-filled scrums as Opposition leader. He spoke often to journalists like me, on and off the record.

It was only after he became prime minister that he became overtly hostile to the media  an approach that Poilievre has clearly adopted in opposition.

Harper, showing that old paranoid-PM streak, warned Poilievre last week that to talk openly about hopes and ideas would be to fall into a trap with the liberal media.

I worry that thats what the liberal media here wants Pierre Poilievre to do  (to) make himself the issue, Harper told Manning.

Harper has kept a pretty low profile since leaving office in 2015, so seeing him give out advice so publicly was an event in itself. But its worth noting that very few of Harpers political progeny  recipients of his advice, presumably  have gone on to success after serving in his government. Two leaders and former MPs, Andrew Scheer and Erin OToole, have flamed out. Two former members of Harpers cabinet tried their hands at being Albertas premier  Jim Prentice and Jason Kenney  and were defeated (one in an election, one by his own caucus.)

In fact, reviewing Harpers past cabinets, its difficult to find any minister who has gone on to bigger and better things in elected politics. It may well be that the way Harper ran his government was poor preparation for politics in the post-Harper era. His advice isnt rooted in how he ran opposition, but rather in how he ran his government  defensively and secretly.

Poilievre, in short, may want to take last weeks advice from the former prime minister with a grain of salt. Elder statesmen of parties arent always the best strategists.

Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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Binta Garba, a former senator from Adamawa, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review the March 18 governorship election in the state.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, on Friday, Garba alleged that the election was characterised by overvoting and manipulation of results.

On March 20, the electoral commission declared the governorship election in the state as inconclusive.

Mohammed Mele, the collation officer, announced that Ahmadu Fintiri, the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 421,524 votes while Aisha Binani, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), polled 390, 275 votes.

Mele said the margin between the two top candidates was less than the total number of potential voters  37,016  in 69 polling units where elections were cancelled.

However, Binani had asked INEC to review the results of some LGAs

The electoral umpire had fixed April 15 for the supplementary election in the state.

Reacting to the development, the former senator asked INEC to ensure that the results are authenticated with the numbers of accredited voters recorded by the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines.

In one of the 16 wards in my local government, there were two polling units (oo9 and 003), and there was overvoting in these polling units. When we were called upon, I asked the INEC staff what the electoral law stipulates about overvoting, she said.

Prior to the election, INEC made it known that if you have one vote over and above the BVAS accreditation, obviously there is an overvoting. So, polling unit 009 had an overvoting of one, while polling unit 003 had two.

Right there, the INEC staff affirmed this and on the INEC form, they recorded zero for both PDP and APC. But to my amazement, the result from polling unit 009 was included for PDP votes, while a rerun is being organised for 003.

Im pleading with the INEC chairman, the women of Adamawa and Nigeria are pleading that they should check and authenticate the BVAS.
The court of appeal in Sokoto has sentenced two Chinese nationals, Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuai, to six years imprisonment for fraud.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned the convicts before a federal high court in Sokoto on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, money laundering, and attempted bribery to the tune of N50 million.

The trial court had struck out the charges against the defendants.

However, delivering judgment in the appeal filed by the EFCC on Friday, the court of appeal led by Abubakar Talba, found the respondents guilty of two out of the three counts.

The judge said the respondents are charged with conspiracy and making a cash payment in excess of the threshold provided by the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 ( as amended in 2012) to Abdullahi Lawal (then zonal head of EFCC Sokoto) which was established beyond reasonable doubt before the lower Court but surprisingly the trial Judge somersaulted in his judgement and recanted.

Talba held that the EFCC was able to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

I regret to say that the judgment is like a fiction by the trial judge who created doubts in his mind while discharging his responsibilities, the judge said.

Without doubt, the trial judge grossly misconceived that no offence was committed.

Conspiracy is a distinct offence even if the commission of the actual offence is aborted, and in the instant case there exists positive cogent inescapable evidence the offence was committed.

The respondents are Chinese and an offence of this gravity in their home country attracts the death penalty yet here they are corrupting our country.

The courts of the federal republic of Nigeria will not condone corruption in any way. As President Muhammadu Buhari has said, if we dont kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.

The court held that the appeal was immensely meritorious and convicted and sentenced the Chinese nationals to three years on each of the two counts.

However, each of the convicts were given an option of N10 million fine on each count.




Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has congratulated the Governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, but warned him that he is going to run a brief government, hence they are meeting in court.





Ganduje, who was offering prayers for the incoming president, Bola Ahmad Tinubu on his 71st birthday at Government House, Kano, Saturday, said he is congratulating Yusuf for having a brief victory in the last conduct of the elections.





He said they have since directed their lawyers to prepare legal actions against the outcome of the election that was marred by irregularities and heavy rigging.





The prayer was attended by several islamic leaders of different sects with some APC stakeholders and cabinet members.
Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has lambasted some political elements plotting to truncate the May 29 handover by installing a National Interim Government.

Some political bigwigs who were not satisfied with the outcome of the February 25 presidential poll, have reportedly vowed that the president-elect, Bola Tinubu would not be sworn-in as the countrys next president come May 29.

There has been a series of protests in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja with a call for the cancellation of the poll which they alleged was rigged in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Recall also that the Department of State Services, DSS, on Wednesday raised the alarm over an alleged plot to create an Interim Government, saying it has identified some key players in the plot.

The secret police said the plot for an interim government was aimed at setting aside the constitution and undermining civil rule, as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis.

The security alert by the DSS has continued to generate reactions across the country as supporters of the ruling party and the president-elect vowed to thwart the plot, insisting that the former Lagos Governor must be sworn-in on May 29 as contained in the countrys constitution.

Speaking on the matter, the National President of AYCF, Yerima Shettima in a chat, said the plot would only amount to effort in futility.

According to him, some Nigerians paid huge sacrifices, even supreme price for the current democracy, stressing that those calling for Interim Government were ignorant of the repercussions.

He said, Often, when I hear people talk about an interim government, I see them as dreamers living on the figment of their imagination, which is an expensive joke.

We dare those proponents of interim government, again and again, to try rubbish and see what will happen. These are people that can best be described as enemies of democracy. Some of us are not finding this language funny.

I remember vividly in the 90s when we were very young in the struggle; when we were in the trenches with senior comrades such as Gani Fawehinmi, Anthony Enahoro, Wole Soyinka, and the rest of them. I remember vividly that that illegality happened but by then we were not strong enough to do anything. But today, we dare those characters.

Let them try it after all our sacrifices for democracy. This is because those calling for an interim government have not made any sacrifice for democracy. They have not paid any dues and have not been in the trenches. They only saw themselves in the corridors of power by mere opportunity. They have not made a single sacrifice.

But some of us who were in the trenches at the time of the dark days of the military, and suffered a lot of incarceration in the hands of one military dictator to another wont allow such to happen. As a matter of fact, we lost some of our comrades to the struggle because we yearned for democracy.

I also remember that some of our comrades were jailed and to date, their lives cannot be the same. Only a few of us are opportune to stay strong to date to give the story of what happened during those dark days.

And if anybody just wakes up from his hangover to talk about interim government, God will not forgive that person. We are waiting, we are determined.

Let us wait and see what will happen between now and May 29. Let them not hand over power to the president-elect and see what will happen. We will occupy this country. They have never seen what they will see this time around.

Let them not joke with us. We are determined and willing to ensure that democracy has come to stay in this country. Nobody can undermine this democracy. We will not allow those enemies to succeed. Again, we will never!
The Italian government has banned ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence tool, over data privacy concerns.

Italy is the first country to restrict the use of ChatGPT since its popularity exploded globally in recent months.

On Friday, the Italian data protection agency announced that it would immediately block the chatbot from collecting Italian users data while authorities investigate OpenAI, the San-Francisco based company behind the ChatGPT.

It described the move as a temporary measure until ChatGPT respects privacy.

The agency, also known as Garante, accused OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPTs users who are supposed to be aged 13 or above.

Garante said OpenAI had no legal basis for using the data it had amassed to train the algorithms that power the platform.

The agency gave OpenAI an ultimatum of 20 days to respond to the order and provide the measures it has taken in response to its concerns.





Speaking on the development, OpenAI said it has disabled ChatGPT for Italian users at the governments request.

The company said it believes it complies with privacy laws in Europe and would work closely with Italys privacy regulator.

We are committed to protecting peoples privacy and we believe we comply with GDPR and other privacy laws, OpenAI said.

We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals.




The Lagos State Government says rehabilitation work will be carried out on the Third Mainland Bridge on Sunday (tomorrow) to repair identified failed/peeled asphaltic sections.

The state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, in a statement on Saturday, disclosed traffic diversion plans for the rehabilitation process occurring between 9 am and 4 pm.

Citing the readiness of the Lagos State Public Works Corporation to carry out the project, Oladeinde explained that traffic would be diverted from one lane to another lane at the identified failed asphaltic sections on the bridge.

He added that this was expedient to solve tailbacks along the bridge at the peak periods as a result of the failed sections.

Oladeinde assured Lagosians that the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would be fully on the ground to direct traffic to ameliorate the inconveniences.

The statement further implored motorists to be patient as the measures taken are aimed at providing quality and safe road infrastructure for everyone.




The Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos, Fredrick Nwajagu, has been nabbed in a midnight raid by the Nigeria Police and Department of State Services (DSS).

It was learned that Nwajagu, the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate was arrested by a combined team of police and DSS in the early hours of Saturday.

A police source revealed that the team stormed his palace but he fled; he was eventually traced to a hotel in Ejigbo and arrested at 1:00 am., and he is currently in the custody of the DSS.

The Eze on Friday vowed to invite members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people in the state.

Nwajagu, in a 49-second video shared on Twitter on Friday, said the move became necessary in the wake of attacks on some Igbo people in the state.

The Igbo leader said he stood by his words, insisting that his people must take a stand in Lagos.

IPOB, we will invite them. They have no job. All of the IPOB will protect all of our shops. And we have to pay them. We have to mobilize for that. We have to do that, Nwajagu said.

We must have our own security so that they will stop attacking us at midnight, in the morning, and in the afternoon.

When they discover that we have our own security, before they come, they will know that we have our own men there.

I am not saying a single word to be hidden. I am not hiding my words; let my words go viral. Igbo must get their rights and get standing in Lagos State.
Multiple avalanches killed at least four people and left several others missing on Friday in the Nord-Troms area of northern Norway, according to reports by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The Norwegian authorities described the situation as extremely serious and advised people to avoid traveling in the affected areas.

According to press reports, the death toll may increase, as rescue operations have been severely hampered by bad weather conditions, with ground crews unable to enter some of the affected areas.

The worst affected area is Reinoya, a small island in Nord-Troms, where two people were found dead and a barn with around 140 goats was swept into the sea.

"The victims were permanent residents of the farm. The other residents in the area are being evacuated," Aftenposten quoted Mona Benjaminsen, the mayor of Karlsoy municipality, as saying.
Cuba President, Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaragua President, Daniel Ortega, have congratulated Bola Tinubu, president-elect, for winning the general election in February.

In a statement on Saturday, Tunde Rahman, media aide to Tinubu, said Diaz-Canel and Ortegas congratulatory messages were conveyed in separate letters.

Rahman quoted the Cuban president as describing Tinubus victory as a reaffirmation of the will to continue to strengthen the historic relations of friendship between the two countries.

On the part of Nicaragua, the message signed by Ortega and Rosarios Murillo, the countrys vice-president, gave its best wishes to Nigeria.

Our best wishes for peace and prosperity of Nigeria, while reiterating our unwavering commitment to continue strengthening the fraternal bonds of solidarity and brotherhood that unite our peoples and governments, they said.

Also, the Developing Eight Organisations for Economic Cooperation (D8), while congratulating Tinubu, said it looked forward to working with his administration.

Nigeria is a staunch member of the D8 Organisation. The country graciously hosts the D8 Health and Social Protection (D-8 HSP) in Abuja and is on track to host the D8 Centre for Small and Medium Enterprises, Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam, the D8 secretary-general, said.

Nigeria is also preparing to host the first D8 Private Sector-driven Energy Forum in Lagos in mid-2023.

We look forward to working with your administration to realise the aims and objectives of our organisation.
The leadership of the Labour Party (LP) says Julius Abure is still the national chairman.

Farouk Umar, national secretary of the LP, in a statement on Friday said some unknown faces who claimed to be members of the Edo chapter of the party at a press conference in Abuja announced the suspension of Abure as the chairman.

Umar said the suspension of Abure was illegal, noting that the recognised members of the Edo chapter of the party were not those who attended the press conference.

The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party was called to the press conference held today Friday, 31st March 2023 by some unknown faces assembled in one room in Abuja wherein they pronounced a suspension on our National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, the statement reads.

They also made some spurious allegations against him which are untrue and concocted by the sponsors of the Press Conference. We however deemed it fit to make some responses.

The young men we saw on that visuals are apparently not anybody from Labour Party in Edo state as claimed.

The executives of the party in the state, local government and my ward are well known to the party.

None of them were at the press conference. We make bold to say that they are people assembled and rented from some Abuja slums and paid to read a prepared speech given to them.

Again, our party constitution is clear on who can suspend and who cannot suspend the national chairman.

They should go and read the party constitution. It is only the National Convention that can suspend the national chairman of the Labour Party.

It also must be through such a convention called for the purpose of the suspension of the national Chairman.
A 18-year-old Camden man was arrested Friday after he was accused of gunning down a 21-year-old in the city last weekend, officials said.

Daijohn Spaulding was shot at about 2:40 p.m. on the 1400 block of Collings Road on Sunday, the Camden County Prosecutors Office said in a statement. Spaulding, of Camden, was brought to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later, authorities said.

Nykwan Taylor was later identified as a suspect and charged Thursday with murder and weapons-related offenses, the office said. He turned himself in to police on Friday and was taken to the Camden County Correctional Facility.

The shooting remained under investigation and anyone with information was asked to contact Detective Jeremy Jankowski of the Camden County Prosecutors Office Homicide Unit at (856) 397-3485 and Detective Vincent Russomanno of the Camden County Police Department at (609) 941-9517.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
Some New Jersey school districts are scrambling to schedule days off this spring after not using up their snow days during one of the states least snowy winters on record.

It is the opposite of what has happened during far snowier winters, when districts had to add school days in June or cut into spring break.

One such discussion is playing out in Madison, a K-12 district in Morris County that built three snow days into its 2022-23 school calendar. Madison, as of Friday, has only lost a single day, Feb. 28, due to the weather, Superintendent Mark Schwarz told NJ Advance Media.

Rather than moving up the last day of classes, June 14, Schwarz is recommending two additional days off around the Memorial Day weekend, in which students would be off starting May 25 and returning June 1. This would hinge on not losing any school days for weather or any other reason between now and that time, he said.

The school board is scheduled to vote April 18 on amending the calendar, which already includes two professional development days for teachers  in which classes are not held  on the day before, and after, the traditional Memorial Day weekend.

Its not ideal. At the same time, we dont have a lot of school left, Schwarz said of the longer-than-usual break.

While New Jerseys snowfall totals in March are still being tabulated, the results through February raise the possibility that the final results through April  the technical end of the states snow season  could be the lowest on record, dating to the late 1800s.

New Jersey received, on average, only three inches of snow from October through February, according to the office of New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson. Thats more than 17 inches below normal.

Madison is not alone in making some last-minute juggling, among the districts  not all do  that build snow days into their calendars.

The K-12 Spotswood school district in Middlesex County is extending its spring break and Memorial Day weekend, each by two days, due to unused snow days, according to Superintendent Graham Peabody.

This winter, the timing of many instances of snow and ice forecasts, coupled with the preparation of our Buildings and Grounds staff as well as our coordination with Spotswoods Office of Emergency Management, allowed the district to safely open our buildings for students and staff each day, Peabody wrote in a letter to parents March 17 that the district provided to NJ Advance Media.

Spotswood is adding Monday, April 17, and Tuesday, April 18, to its spring break that begins on Friday, April 7, and also is closing schools on Friday, May 26, and Tuesday, May 30, creating a five-day break for Memorial Day weekend.

Peabody added that one or more school days could be restored if, for weather or any reason, a school day is canceled.

The changes in Madison, Spotswood and other districts are not unusual, said Thomas Parmalee, managing editor for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

It is customary for districts to build in a few extra days to meet the state-mandated requirement to be open for instruction for 180 days. When these days are not used, schools might add days to a vacation period or end the school year earlier than expected, Parmalee said.

The reverse has happened many times, in which schools have had to add days due to using more snow days than anticipated, Parmalee said.

When Superstorm Sandy struck New Jersey in 2012, many districts had to add days of instruction by taking days away from a spring break or ending school a little later in June, Parmalee said.

The K-12 Berkeley Heights school district is extending spring break, happening next week, through Monday, April 10, while adding two days off around the Memorial Day weekend and a fourth snow day give-back on June 5, Superintendent Melissa Varley announced four weeks ago. Students at Governor Livingston High School will have classes June 5 to make up for day lost to flooding, at just that one school, Varley posted.

I know there has been a great deal of angst regarding the give back of snow days, Varley wrote in a March 2 Facebook post, adding that the days chosen are pretty set in stone via the teachers union contract.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.
Liberty Science Center in Jersey City is unveiling a pair of new art installations this April Fools Day  one that will have you virtually climbing the walls.

Argentine conceptual artist Leandro Erlichs interactive The Building uses a strategically placed jumbo mirror to reflect members of the public on the facade of a New York City apartment building in seemingly gravity-defying poses.

The exhibit will be introduced during a private opening reception on Saturday, April 1, and then be open to the public starting Sunday, April 2.

Also opening this weekend is Brooklyn native Dustin Yellens 2018 large-scale allegorical sculpture The Politics of Eternity, a three-dimensional mixed media collage embedded in laminated glass.

Erlich likened The Building to a theatrical stage where the cast  in this case, members of the public  can draw on their imagination to create their own narrative.

I usually think that the audience inside a work plays the role of an actor, simultaneously plays the role of the interpreter and at the same time, plays the role of the audience looking at someone else., the 50-year-old Buenos Aires native said in an interview with Mari Carmen Ramirez, curator at Museum of Fine Art Houston, where a similar installation by Erlich recently was exhibited. Its like someone is looking at someone else doing something and at that time the person is a witness, but immediately after or before, that person was the person who was playing a role and whatever the role is, it presents itself as something spontaneous.

That spontaneity can translate to anything from hanging off a fire escape by your fingertips, walking up and down the side of the building or grasping the ankle of someone dangling upside down from a third-story window.

Dustin Yellin's "The Politics of Eternity" is opening this weekend at Liberty Science Center.Liberty Science Center

Yellens chevron-shaped The Politics of Eternity aims to be perspective-altering in a different way. According to the description on the 47-year-old artists website, it teases how our contemporary landscape, no matter how diverse, is frozen between an illustrious, if not imagined past, and a promised, yet uncertain future.

Yellin used layered-glass sculptures to create enmeshed networks consisting of hundreds of tiny National Geographic magazines and reference books totaling 10,000 pounds. The wide array of images  an ancient sacred totem an as-yet-born society donning jetpacks, waterfalls, the sun, the moon and other celestial bodies, tall ships and a Hades-like fiery underworld, to name a few  seek to show that just because people share the same physical space does not mean that they share the same history or, more importantly, desires.

Erlichs installation will remain on display through the summer, and Yellins will be on display until next year.

Both exhibits are part of LSCs new Big Art program.

The center is located at 222 Jersey City Blvd. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays to Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, with extended hours for spring break. General admission is $25-$32.

Leandro Erlich's interactive "The Building" installation is opening this weekend the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.Liberty Science Center

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Shortly after the legal weed market opened 11 months ago, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission cited five cannabis operators  Ascend, Curaleaf, Verano, GTI and Acreage  for selling to the public during times reserved for registered patients.

These violations are still happening, but with less frequency.
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Russia remained Turkiyes top crude exporter in January, according to the statistics released by the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) on Saturday, Trend reports citing TASS.

The statistics say that 1.18 million tons of crude oil and petrochemical products were imported from Russia, followed by Iraq and Kazakhstan with 917,656 tons and 683,740 tons, respectively.

In the meantime, the total volume of crude imports to Turkiye in January 2023, compared to January 2022, dropped by 3.64% to 3.45 million tons, whereas exports of refined petroleum products grew by 7.3% to 2.2 million tons.

Russia traditionally holds its sport as Turkiyes top supplier of crude oil and petrochemicals.
If it werent for the coronavirus, Mardi Gras Indian fans would be getting ready for the annual Super Sunday Mardi Gras Indian marches that usually take place over the next few weeks. To stand on the curb watching fantastically colorful, feather-coated figures pass by, to the sound of rattling tambourines and age-old chants, is one of the most singular and spectacular New Orleans experiences.

Theres no question about that. The question is, should we be calling them Mardi Gras Indians? Other terms, such as Black Masking Indians and Black Indians are in use as well.

The elaborately beaded, feathered suits worn by New Orleans maskers may have been inspired by traditional Native American dress, but they are an expression of African heritage, too. Deciding on the most appropriate label to apply to the custom is complicated. The answer depends on whom you talk to.

Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr.

Its up to your preference, said Bo Dollis Jr., of the Wild Magnolias tribe. All the time that I was coming up, it was always Mardi Gras Indians, he said.

After Katrina, when many Mardi Gras Indians had been displaced by the flood, Dollis began hearing other terms, like Black Masking Indians, he said. Those labels may have become more prevalent during the Black Lives Matter era, to emphasize that Mardi Gras Indian masking is an expression of Black culture, he said.

Dollis, who is 40, said that the difference in terminology may be generational, with younger people adopting the less well-known terms. But, he said, I was brought up on Mardi Gras Indians. Im more old-school and thats the way I keep it.

Queen Dianne Honore

Dianne Honore of the Yellow Pocahontas tribe is new to Indian masking. She sewed her first suit last year and debuted it in a small, socially distanced, outdoor gathering on Mardi Gras morning 2021.

Honore said she prefers the term Black Indian. The phrase Mardi Gras Indians was applied to the tradition somewhere along the line, because most people only saw Black Indian maskers on Mardi Gras, she said. But the term hasnt always been as prevalent.
When Brian Egland started an artists residency last summer at the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production in Utica, Mississippi, the program challenged participants to do a project that centered on rural life in the South. At first unsure what constituted a project representative of the broader South or rural life, he decided that anything in his experiences growing up in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, must be relevant.

All the things from my life must be Southern, he says. My life was going to church every Sunday. I grew up around a lot of sugarcane. Going to the library was part of my life. My mom used to hang clothes on the clothesline. Everything that was part of my life  I found a way to put in there.

The play, Where the Suga Still Sweet, premieres April 8 at the We Will Dream Festival. Its one of four plays by emerging Black playwrights with ties to the South that are part of the festival presented by No Dream Deferred theater at the Andre Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice.

Where the Suga Still Sweet centers on Runna, a young man who is often lost in his own thoughts and reliving the past. At a young age, he lost his close friend Sondelo. Runnas great aunt, Nanny Mae, has raised him, and she still brings him to church, where the preacher, Vern-Mayor, is intent on saving Runna, who has not yet decided to be baptized into the church. Vern-Mayor is an insistent and thundering presence, and hes driven by his own quest for redemption.

Everybody in this play is trapped in some way, Egland says. Runna, in his own mind. Nanny Mae is trapped in never having been able to live. A lot of people need religion as a way to heal their past wounds or past transgressions. Vern-Mayor wants to help people, but his greatest driving force and need is redemption.

Nanny Mae has raised Runna, but since a young age, shes had to raise younger siblings and other family members children. Shes barely had a chance to focus on her own life, and sticking close to the church has helped her. In an unguarded moment, she taps her feet to music emanating from the nearby Suga Shack, a night spot where she and other church members would not go.

The church is the primary setting of the drama, which treats the audience like the congregation. At times, Nanny Mae addresses congregants, and sometimes Runna sits with the audience. Some of the preaching could sound familiar or age-old.

But the setting is contemporary, and the show reflects more modern elements Egland grew up with, like movies and comic books. Runna tells the congregation that he has superpowers. Its one of the ways he tries to cope with the past and with the pressures of the church.

Runnas friendship with Sondelo was not viewed innocently by some.

Homosexuality is brought up, says director Lauren Turner, who founded No Dream Deferred theater. Nanny Mae brings it up and tries to pray it out of Runna. It speaks to the way we interpret gender expressions and what that means as it relates to sexuality. There are so many assumptions. Even in the church, there are things Runna is doing, the way he embraces people is viewed as feminine, and therefore he must be gay, and We need to pray the gay away.

Though Sondelo died young, the friendship still resonates for Runna. As with some of the scripture that Vern-Mayor cites, many things can be interpreted in different ways, and Runna is viewed askance by some.

This is part of their beliefs, Egland says. This is what has been given to them and ingrained in them. Maybe they wont be able to shake it out in their lifetime. Theyre not bad people. They might be the most loving people. You might love them dearly. Thats the intersection where this happens.

Where the Suga Still Sweet is one of two premieres for Egland. Hes also an actor, and has appeared on local stages, including in Goat in the Roads immersive drama The Uninvited. Egland has been doing more film work, and he appears in Renfield, the horror comedy starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula thats about to open nationally.

Egland is currently a resident artist with National Black Theatre. Hes working on a new play that also reflects on his experiences living in Breaux Bridge.

Where the Suga Still Sweet runs through May 21 at the We Will Dream Festival. Its in rotation with Drapetomania: A Negro Carol, which runs through April 30. A third full production, The Defiance of Dandelions, opens April 28 and runs through June 17. The festival hosts the HBCU Theatre Summit April 13-16. The festival concludes with a gala celebrating Juneteenth.

For tickets and information about shows and other events at the We Will Dream Festival, visit nodreamdeferrednola.com.
When the breeze is blowing just right behind The Odeon building in the CBD, the aroma of roasted meat perfumes the air. It wafts from the smoker behind Devil Moon BBQ at 1188 Girod St. There, juicy briskets emerge dark and crusty with just the right balance between chewiness and tenderness.

Louisiana-born chef Shannon Bingham knows his way around smoked meat, and he believes South Louisiana doesnt get the credit it deserves for its smoked meat traditions.

Our food culture has smoked meat at its heart, says the chef, partner and pitmaster, who opened Devil Moon BBQ just after Mardi Gras, and the adjacent Brewery Saint X on March 28.

Devil Moon BBQ What Devil Moon BBQ Where 1188 Girod St.; devilmoonbbq.com When Lunch Tue.-Sun. How Dine-in Check it out Barbecue drives two new CBD spots

If house-made sausage, smoked over a fire until the skin crackles and snaps, isnt barbecue, then Bingham doesnt know what is. We just dont call it barbecue, like Texas and Tennessee do, he says.

Creating a sense of place for Louisianas smoky heritage is one of the overarching goals of both Devil Moon, the more casual eatery, and Brewery Saint X, a sit-down restaurant that serves some smoked items and shareable plates along with house-made craft beers. Theres also a full bar with plenty of whiskey and bourbon on the shelves.

Devil Moons name was pulled from generations of blues songs, and the menu features many traditional items, ranging from barbecue plates to hefty versions of barbecue sandwich classics.

The pulled pork has an edgy chew, and as with all the sandwiches, it is served on a potato roll dressed with coleslaw, pickles and sauce. Sandwiches come with a choice of side, such as potato salad and coleslaw. Bingham also prepares an excellent dirty rice, and red beans and rice, collard greens and mac and cheese all ooze Louisiana flavor.

Platters are built around brisket, offered lean or fatty, smoke-reddened pork ribs, house-made sausage and fancy-tasting smoked turkey. Platters come with two sides. There are three barbecue sauces. The house sauce is flavored with root beer and cane syrup. Creole mustard informs the Carolina-style sauce, and the vinegar sauce has pickled apricots.

Starters include pimiento cheese with crackers and a smoked onion dip with chips. A $79 party platter rounds up all the meats and sides and feeds four to six people. A recent daily special was a smoked roast beef po-boy topped with gravy and horseradish cream.

Brewery Saint X is perfect for a carnivores date night, with a menu that invites sharing. New Orleans-based architecture firm Bell Butler designed the bright and welcoming space with high ceilings and exposed wood.

Main dishes include roasted Gulf fish with New Orleans-style barbecue sauce, confit beef cheeks with salsa verde and grilled pork collar with pickled mushrooms and mustard jus. There also are sandwiches, salads and snacks like beef fat fries and spicy fried green tomatoes.

The beer list will have 16 selections, with many German- and British-style drafts. Beyond beer, guests can expect an array of inventive house-made bottled cocktails, ranging from the classics to creative and locally inspired riffs. There also are wines and an impressive selection of nonalcoholic offerings.

The Neighborhood Restaurant Group, a hospitality company based in Washington, D.C., known for its beer, is behind both restaurants. NRG was founded by Baton Rouge native Michael Babin, so Devil Moon and Brewery Saint X mark a homecoming of sorts for him.

Devil Moon signed up for this springs Hogs for the Cause, an event that Bingham has supported going back to his days as part of the opening team for Blue Oak BBQ. Theres a real family culture in barbecue, he says.
Hundreds of Benjamin Franklin High School students walked out of class Friday afternoon, including several queer students who gave emotional speeches against the anti-LGBTQ bills Louisiana lawmakers have filed so far this year.

The students also organized a city-wide protest through the French Quarter afterward, which about 500 people of all ages attended.

At Franklin, students held various Pride flags and wore Pride stickers on their cheeks, chanting We are trans, and we are proud, and We are trans. Fight these bills.

But the mood quickly turned more somber as they began chanting These bills kill, referring to the high rates of depression and suicide among transgender youth.

"People who will never ever understand how it feels to live my life are attempting to control it in ways that will leave not only me, but many other transgender people devastated, depressed or even at risk of physical harm, said Vincent Jarand, a 16-year-old trans student. This is the beginnings of a genocide.

Jackie Kimbrough, a Black trans 17-year-old, wiped away tears talking about the impact the bills could have on LGBTQ youth in the state.

Im 17 years old, and Im fighting for my life, Kimbrough said.

The walkout and protest took place on International Transgender Day of Visibility and ahead of the start of the Louisiana Legislative session on April 10.

Students and advocates spoke out against several bills, including one by Rep. Raymond Crews, a Bossier City Republican, that would have school employees call students by the names on their birth certificates and use the pronouns according to the sex on their birth certificates. This means school employees could be forced to misgender trans and gender-nonconforming students and call them names they no longer use.

Jude Armstrong, a transgender Franklin student who came out and changed their name publicly earlier this year, cited research showing that using a LGBTQ persons chosen name and pronouns can reduce their likelihood of suicide and depression.

"I've watched friends flinch at the sound of their dead names and wrong pronouns, Armstrong said. I don't want to feel that fear when I go to school."

They also are bringing back bills banning gender-affirming health care for minors and a version of the Dont Say Gay bill forbidding school employees from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity at school.

We beat those bills into the ground last year, and we'll do it again this year, said Serena Sojic-Borne, a 2017 Franklin alum and organizer with the Freedom Roads Socialist Organization.

Another bill, by Ville Platte Republican Sen. Heather Cloud, would force libraries to adopt policies limiting minors from checking out books deemed by their local library board to have sexual content, as defined in the bill. It also requires them to create a process by which library goers could request libraries reconsider whether a library material should be included in a library collection.

The bill is part of a national conservative culture war on public libraries, particularly books with LGBTQ characters and by LGBTQ authors.

I don't know if these Republicans have ever talked to a young person but if a teenager is looking for porn, they are not going to their local libraries, Sojic-Borne said. I can tell you that.

AG [Jeff] Landry, you're a crook. Kids deserve to read gay books, protesters chanted at the citywide protest.

Passersby in the French Quarter were generally supportive of the protest, chiming in and giving protesters the thumbs up. A street performer across from Jackson Square even let protest leaders borrow his microphone to speak, and some protesters tipped him in return.

Keep up the good work, he told protesters.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 1. Bayraktar Aknc UAV hit the target with high accuracy from a distance of 140 kilometers during test firing conducted with the help of IHA-230 missiles developed by the national industry, Trend reports citing Turkish media.

According to a statement made by Baykar, the integration of new ammunition and locally produced systems into Bayraktar Aknc, which is developed by a national manufacturer, continues successfully.

In this context, test firing conducted on March 31 with the first Turkish supersonic air-to-ground missile IHA-230 developed by Roketsan was successfully completed.

IHA-230 missile with KKS/ANS control system, launched by Bayraktar Aknc UAV, hit the target with high accuracy from a distance of 140 kilometers.

The IHA-230 missile, which has its own propulsion system, thanks to its long range and high rate of fire, will be able to demonstrate effectiveness against targets located kilometers away from the UAV.
Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 18 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damages scope, Trend reports citing ABC 17.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included seven in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, and three in Sullivan, Indiana.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama, Illinois and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornados path.

Stunned residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high schools roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

Debris and memories of regular life lay scattered inside the damaged shells of homes and strewn on lawns: clothing, insulation, roofing paper, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

Im sad that my town has been hit so hard, said Heidi Jenkins, a salon owner. Our school is gone, my church is gone. Im sad for all the people who lost their homes.

Recovery was already underway, with workers using chain saws to cut fallen trees and bulldozers moving material from shattered structures. Utility trucks worked to restore power, and volunteers set out to help.

At least seven people died in Tennessees McNairy County, east of Memphis along the Mississippi border, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas, Leckner said, adding that although it appeared all people had been accounted for, crews were going door to door to be sure.

In Belvidere, Illinois, some of the 260 people attending a heavy metal concert at the Apollo Theatre pulled a 50-year-old man from the rubble after part of the roof collapsed; he was dead when emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 other people were injured, including two with life-threatening injuries.

They dragged someone out from the rubble, and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him), Its going to be OK. I didnt really know much else what to do, concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

The venues Facebook page said the bands scheduled to perform were Morbid Angel, Crypta, Skeletal Remains and Revocation.

Crews worked Saturday to clean up around the Apollo, with forklifts pulling away loosely hanging bricks. Business owners picked up shards of glass and covered shattered windows.

Three people died in an apparent tornado in Indianas Sullivan County, near the Illinois line about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 is essentially unrecognizable right now and that several people were rescued from rubble overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said, and search-and-rescue teams combed damaged areas.

Quite frankly, Im really, really shocked there isnt more as far as human issues, he said, adding that recovery is going to be a very long process.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, authorities said. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said that 2,100 homes and businesses were in the tornados path, but that no assessment had been done on how many were damaged.

The National Weather Service in Little Rock said the tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with wind speeds up to 165 mph (265 kph) and a path as long as 25 miles (40 kilometers).

Joanna McFadden was at a nail salon with two other people when the tornado struck.

The only way we knew the tornado was coming, the leaves were swirling, thats the only way we knew, it looked like it was standing still, McFadden said. She and the others took shelter in the back.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to help local responders.

A suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabamas Madison County, said county official Mac McCutcheon. And in northern Mississippis Pontotoc County, officials confirmed one death and four injuries.

The storms struck just hours after President Joe Biden visited the Mississippi community of Rolling Fork, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa, and broke windows on cars and buildings northeast of Peoria, Illinois.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

Thats a quite active day, he said. But thats not unprecedented.

Hundreds of thousands lost power because of the sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest, and left in its wake high winds. A threat of tornadoes and hail remained for the Northeast, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and New York.

More than 530,000 homes and businesses in the affected area lacked power at midday Saturday, over 200,000 of them in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

Blizzard conditions whipped parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin, cutting power to tens of thousands in the Twin Cities area. Parts of Interstate 29 were closed.

Nearly 100 new wildfires were reported Friday in Oklahoma, according to the state forest service, and firefighters hoped to gain ground against them Saturday. Fires were expected to remain a danger through the week.
Tragic Accident Claims Life of Mother of Four at Arizona's Coconino National Forest (Photo : Facebook screenshot )

On Monday, a 44-year-old mother of four, Jennifer Petri, suffered a fatal fall from a 20-foot cliff at Coconino National Forest near Sedona, Arizona. The tragic accident occurred while Petri was hiking with a friend at her favorite spot in the park, known to locals as "The Bluffs."



According to the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office, the incident happened around 4 p.m., when Petri plunged over the steep ledge, which is approximately 200 feet above West Clear Creek. Her friend reported that she was no longer visible after the fall. The USDA Forest Service describes the area as "steep," "deep," and "rocky," and cautions hikers that emergency services are distant from the gorge.



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Rescuers faced difficulties in locating Petri due to the treacherous terrain. YCSO deputies had to use binoculars to find her at the base of the cliff just above the water's edge. Unfortunately, by the time they reached her, she had already passed away. Her body was airlifted out of the canyon.



The circumstances surrounding Petri's fall are still under investigation, and a spokesperson for the YCSO could not confirm to The Post whether foul play was a factor in the accident.



Danae Wolf, a family friend, told 12 News that Petri was an enthusiastic outdoors person who usually spent Sundays at the creek with her family. Describing Petri, Wolf said, "Jennifer, she's goofy, she's funny and adventurous. Had the most contagious smile." Wolf also praised her compassion and empathy, qualities she admired in Petri.



A well-loved server at Camp Verde Denny's, Jennifer Petri is survived by her husband and four sons. Tragically, one of her sons celebrated his 15th birthday just two days after her death. Wolf emphasized that Petri should be remembered for her compassion and as an amazing mother, stating, "She was the glue that held her family together."


HAMMOND  A Gary man who failed to win exoneration on claims of racial injustice is pleading guilty to a weapons violation.

Dwayne Crawford appeared Friday before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Andrew P. Rodovich.

The 49-year-old defendant admitted illegally possessing a pistol that Munster police recovered during a 2020 traffic stop from a car in which he was a passenger.

Rodovich stated for the court record that Crawford knowingly is giving up his constitutional right to make the government prove its case before a jury and recommended that Senior U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody accept Crawfords guilty plea.

If the court accepts the plea deal, Crawford would serve a five-year sentence, his third imprisonment and federal conviction for gun- and drug-related crimes since 1998.

Crawford had hoped to avoid this outcome when he claimed last year that his arrest was racially motivated.

Court papers state that Munster police Officer Alexander Reillo, assigned to the Lake County Drug Interdiction Unit, was on routine patrol shortly after 4 p.m. Jan. 22, 2020, when he stopped a gray sedan.

Reillo said the vehicle was making unsafe lane changes in the 8000 block of Calumet Avenue in the heart of Munsters downtown.

Crawfords defense attorney, Gregory T. Mitchell of Homewood, Illinois, said there is little evidence that a traffic violation occurred, and Reillo didnt issue a traffic citation over it.

Mitchell said the officer only stopped the car because Crawford and the driver are black men  making it an unlawful traffic stop, violating Crawfords constitutional right against police suspicion solely because of his race.

Government prosecutors argued that the officer had many good reasons to be suspicious: The cars driver smelled of marijuana and had no drivers license, plus Crawford, a wanted man, gave a fake identification card to the officer.

The Lake County prosecutor had charged Crawford six weeks earlier with unlawful possession of a firearm. The state dropped the gun case after a federal grand jury indicted Crawford.

Federal prosecutors argued that all of these suspicions led the officer to search a duffel bag in the cars trunk.

The bag held a pill bottle with Crawfords name printed on it and a green leafy substance resembling marijuana inside. The bag also contained a loaded black Taurus 9 mm handgun.

Crawford said the bag didnt belong to him and he hadnt smoked marijuana in years.

Nevertheless, the officer concluded that the gun belonged to Crawford, leading a federal grand jury to indict Crawford for being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm.

A federal court magistrate ruled last year that the traffic stop and search was unlawful because of discrepancies in Reillo's court testimony and his police reports about the cars unsafe lane change.

The government, he said, failed to prove that the arrest wasnt racially motivated.

U.S. District Court Judge James Moody disagreed, ruling last summer that the officer had a reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation occurred and there was nothing else to show that the officer violated Crawfords constitutional rights.

The judge scheduled a jury trial for Crawford to begin next week. He faced a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment if he were found guilty.

Crawford states in his seven-page plea deal that his DNA was found on the gun and that he knew he shouldnt have possessed it because he had two felony convictions.

The U.S. attorney charged Crawford and three others with robbing the Members Advantage Credit Union of Michigan City in 1998. He pleaded guilty and served a 97-month prison term.

In 2008, the U.S. attorney charged Crawford with selling marijuana worth thousands of dollars from a Merrillville house.

Crawford pleaded guilty 10 years ago to the marijuana case and served a 97-month sentence for that crime as well.
Texas Boy Missing Amid Disturbing Living Conditions and Mysterious Family Disappearance (Photo : Everman Emergency Services)

A six-year-old Texas boy, Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who has been missing for almost a week, was reportedly living in a squalid shed featuring a death altar before his disappearance. Dallas' Fox station obtained video footage revealing the appalling conditions of the shack, where the boy lived with eight other people.



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Located in Everman, Texas, the shed contained an altar dedicated to Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, a female cult figure representing death in Mexico. Despite the Catholic Church's denunciation of the figure, Santa Muerte has gained popularity, especially among members of the Gulf, Sinaloa, and Juarez drug cartels, according to the DEA.



FBI investigators have been assisting local authorities in the small town south of Fort Worth, collecting documents and other evidence from the site. An Amber Alert was issued for Noel on Saturday after family members informed the police and child protective services that they had not seen the boy, who has physical and developmental challenges, for several months. His mother is believed to have left the country.



Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer told WFAA that the boy "was born at 25 weeks and therefore, has a lot of physical disabilities and developmental disorders." He also mentioned Noel's social disorder and chronic lung disease, which occasionally necessitated the use of oxygen.



When initially contacted by the police and child protective services, Noel's mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, claimed he was in Mexico with his biological father. However, it later emerged that the boy's father had never met him, having been deported from the US before his birth.



Authorities discovered that Noel's siblings had been taken out of school, and before they could locate Rodriguez-Singh again, she and her husband had flown to Turkey with six of her children, ultimately heading to India. Noel was not on the flight, according to Everman police.



Charles Parson, 71, owns the property where the shed is located. He met Rodriguez-Singh at a grocery store nearly ten years ago and provided her with two rooms in his home when she was a struggling single mother. She later moved into the shed as her family expanded to ten children, three of whom now live with their grandparents.



Parson, who regards himself as Noel's godfather, is confident that the boy's mother did not harm him and that he is still alive. An arrest warrant has been issued for Rodriguez-Singh, who will face charges for making false reports to a police officer about a missing person and for violating her probation in an unrelated case. Police describe her as having an "extensive criminal history" and being the subject of a previous Child Protective Services investigation.


GARY  Cadets hired with the Gary Police Department used to have to wait about a year and a half before they officially received their badges.

Applicants going through the new hiring process won't have to wait more than four months before they can begin patrolling the streets.

To address an officer shortage that has affected law enforcement nationally, Gary police have expedited their hiring process and explored new ways to recruit, according to the department's command staff.

Were taking a new, refreshed application to this process," Maj. Chief Jerry Williams said. "Its going to be more structured.

The process will include an online application, available on a computer, tablet or mobile phone. It will be more user-friendly and easier to complete than filling out a paper application. And the department's website is getting a complete overhaul, Williams said, to make it more accessible for the community.

Applicants are still encouraged to complete the application on a computer because some glitches are being worked out on the mobile application form.

As part of 16 ordinances passed in November by Gary's Police Reform Commission, the Gary Police Department will have more control over its hiring, firing, promotion and disciplinary processes. Previously, the process was handled by six appointees on the Police Civil Service Commission.

"This is a big deal for the agency and a big deal for the community," Williams said.

The deadline for submitting applications has been extended to April 14, Williams said, because of the positive response they have received. The department will hold an all-day hiring session April 23, which includes a physical agility test, a written examination, an interview and a background investigation. Once all components are processed, cadets are ready for the academy.

Cmdr. James Bond said part of the expedited process is a desire to be cognizant of a candidate's time. Many previous cadets were unable to work or lost time at work because of an arduous hiring format. The hope is to ensure that quality candidates are not lost.

"We understand, the climate of law enforcement has changed," Bond said. "We want to give back to the basics of honor: trust, loyalty and respect. More importantly, we want to give that to the community, and we want officers who embody that."

Gary officers have multiple opportunities for advancement, which Bond said he believes makes the department special. There are nine divisions Gary officers can advance to, including homicide, narcotics, SWAT and federal task forces.

Restructuring the hiring process also means rethinking recruitment. Bond said they're building relationships with local colleges, reaching out to local high schools and contacting military branches. Gary officers are at Purdue University this weekend, shadowing other officers on how they recruit at job fairs.

"We're building a strong recruitment process, and I think we'll see the benefits within a year or less," Bond said.

Cmdr. Anthony Titus said the department recently met with the Gary Community School Corp. about starting a police cadet program for high school students. The district hopes to have it ready by August.

"That is going to have some long-term benefits," he said. "Not only for law enforcement, but for the community and that generation that might feel law enforcement only views them within a certain light."

Rebuilding relationships with the community is another crucial component, Williams said.

The department is launching a Real Time Crime Center in the next month or so, allowing community members to submit information online about crimes. A live map on the website will show where and when crime happens in the city. Also, Gary officers will be outfitted with body cameras in the coming weeks, which Williams believes will increase transparency between the department and community.

Community cooperation is necessary to help solve crimes, Cmdr. Edward Gonzalez said. Public help will allow police to get investigations to "where they need to be."

The backbone of the police department is the community, he said.

For more information, go to gary.gov/police-department.
MERRILLVILLE  A flurry of hands packed bags of dried noodles and cartons of potato flakes. Standing in the middle of the lineup, U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan loaded containers of toasted wheat cereal.

Mrvan and a crew of volunteers helped the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana prepare boxes Friday for two food-security programs geared toward seniors. The Highland Democrat helped launch one of them during his time as the North Township trustee.

"The Northwest Indiana Food Bank was a safety net during the pandemic," he said.

According to Feeding America, food bank usage increased by a third during the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Mrvan said, many of the food chain's vulnerabilities were exposed.

In Northwest Indiana, one major vulnerability was food security among older residents.

Since 2017, the Food Bank of NWI has served seniors through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, or CSFP. It provides monthly groceries for residents of Lake and Porter counties who are older than 60 and live at 130% of the poverty level or below.

The program started with about 100 participants; the Food Bank now serves about 1,700 seniors. The Food Bank of NWI's CSFP is the largest in Indiana.

However, Food Bank CEO Victor Garcia said pantries began to notice a "gap" during the pandemic. Seniors who make even 135% of the poverty level do not qualify for CSFP but still needed accessible, nutritious food. In 2020, the food bank began developing the Senior Pantry Pack.

Pantry Pack has no income restrictions. Instead, the food bank works with township trustee offices to identify seniors who may be food insecure. Garcia said Mrvan and the North Township Trustee's Office were a lead partner on the project.

Kim Robinson, the Calumet Township trustee, said her office just bought their first box of dried and canned goods from the food bank. After working with local farmers to distribute free produce boxes three years ago, Robinson realized a need for consistent access to healthy food.

The Calumet Township food pantry is looking to start operations in the next few weeks and will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1900 W. 41st Ave. in Gary.

In Indiana, 1 in 9 people face hunger, compared with 1 in 12 in Illinois. The issue is even worse in Lake County, where the food-insecurity rate was 13.1% in 2020; Indiana's state average was 10.8% that year. According to data from Feeding America, Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties collectively have 96,870 food-insecure residents.

In recent years, the Food Bank of NWI has worked to go beyond "just getting as many pounds of food out as possible," Garcia said.

They have partnered with local health care providers and urban farms on a Food is Medicine program that prescribes specific foods based on medical needs; they work with the Lake County Juvenile Justice program to get food to children; and they've started giving out diapers.

Food Bank deliveries are distributed through local churches, legion halls, community centers and refrigerated smart lockers. They're similar to an Amazon locker: A digital code allows people to pick up boxes of food at locations throughout the Region. The program is in a pilot phase; there are lockers in Merrillville, East Chicago and Gary, and one soon will be in Valparaiso.

The Food Bank is working to "meet people where they are," Garcia explained.

"What we know is, individuals who are food insecure have other issues that revolve around the social determinants of health and one of those is going to be a transportation barrier."

The Food Bank is also working to expand capacity. Officials hope to complete a new $450,000 freezer space next week. Garcia called the 2,800-square-foot cold-storage area a "game changer."

During the visit Friday morning, Mrvan pledged to ensure that the food bank's programs receive ample funding in the upcoming farm bill. The package of agriculture and food-related legislation passed every five years provides federal funding for such key programs as SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The current farm bill is set to expire in September. A new one is being negotiated in Congress.

"We were here during the pandemic," Garcia said. "The next tragedy or crisis is coming, so we need to continue to invest in the food bank system because we're going to be relied on again at some point and we need to make sure that we're ready to respond."

PHOTOS: Mrvan volunteers at Food Bank of NWI US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank US Rep Frank Mrvan at food bank
When he turned 80, Robert L. Wright told his wife, Diana, that he was hoping for a big celebration if he ever lived to be 100 years old.

On his 90th birthday, the East Chicago resident told her the same thing: He wanted to be celebrated if he lived to 100.

Last weekend, he got his wish.

East Chicago proclaimed it to be Robert L. Wright Day in honor of the man believed to be the city's last surviving World War II veteran, who's been alive since Calvin Coolidge was in the White House and took part in a lot of the history that's taught in textbooks.

Wright's birthday was Saturday. Representatives of Mayor Anthony Copeland, state lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan visited him for a ceremony Sunday.

The police chief, fire chief and others honored him with cards, cake, flowers and recognition.

He even received a framed letter from the president thanking him for his military service and his remarkable feat of longevity.

"I'm just so happy. It's so beautiful," Diana said. "It's a blessing he's here at this age. It's beautiful that he's blessed and recognized."

Wright was surprised too. He told his wife he "was pleasantly shocked to live this long because he was a smoker and a drinker."

Wright worked for decades as a mailman who was popular around town and often puffed on a cigar. He also frequently enjoyed a plate of bacon for breakfast.

"He had a big cigar. He was a smoker and a drinker and lived this long," Diana said. "It goes against all science. He always joked that having a much younger wife kept him young. I'm much younger."

Wright was born in 1923 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was raised by his grandparents  grandmother Fannie Woods was a freed slave  after his mother died.

When he reached his late teens, he moved to Northwest Indiana in search of work and opportunity as part of the Great Migration.

"He came to East Chicago looking for a job and a better quality of life," his wife said. "He was a young boy, just 16 or 17 years old."

Wright ended up doing various jobs in the steel mills and then working at Standard Oil Refinery in Whiting, but he was soon drafted during World War II.

"He was a rifleman," she said. "He was not a happy camper. He was just married and was taken away from home."

Wright and his first wife, Willie Mae Jones, were wed in 1942. They had a daughter, Florence Adee, but he was conscripted and sent to Germany to fight the Nazis for four years.

"He had a job counting dead bodies and did a lot of logistics type of stuff," Diana said. "He used to give me war stories here or there but didn't like to talk about it a lot."

He was discharged and returned home, graduating from Washington High School in East Chicago's Indiana Harbor neighborhood. With the G.I. Bill, he studied at Watkins Barber School at Wilson Junior College, where he got a certification to work as a tailor.

Like many veterans of that era, he went to work for the post office.

"He got veteran's preference for being in the military," she said. "It wasn't a prestigious job but he absolutely loved the people on his route and took good care of them. He always loved his customers. He was known around town."

He ended up working for the Postal Service for 40 years. He's ended up living so long that he's been retired for nearly as long as he worked.

"I don't know why he lived so long," his nephew Jason Reyes said. "It could have been all the walking as a postman."

He lived in East Chicago for more than 80 years, initially in the Brickyard neighborhood that no longer exists and now on Arbutus Drive. He suffers from dementia but is otherwise in good health, his wife said.

"It's awesome that he's lived this long," Diana said. "He has no diabetes or heart condition, no chronic conditions. His blood pressure is a little high, so I joke he should stop eating so much bacon. To be 100 years old and only have to take three pills is pretty amazing. I joke that I want to be just like him when I grow up, as I'm much younger than he is."

She said her husband has defied the odds.

"I read somewhere only 1 in almost 7,000 people, or 0.00014%, live this long. It's truly amazing. He's truly loved and truly blessed."
Whether we like it or not, its coming, Roger Entner, a telecom expert and founder of the research firm Recon Analytics, said about eSIM technology.

But this move isnt really all about Apple. The Federal Communications Commission also favors eSIM technology, because it makes it easier for people to switch to a different carrier by using software instead of going to a store for a physical SIM card. And the technology has security benefits: If your phone is stolen, thieves cant remove an eSIM to hijack your phone number and commit identity theft, as they could with a physical SIM card.

Most important, the experience of using eSIM data plans for travel has greatly improved. About five years ago, eSIM data plans for international roaming were overpriced, and cell service was sometimes unreliable. But in the last year, Ive tested a few eSIM services when I left the country and found them to be cost-effective and zippy.

As is always the case with new technology, there are downsides. Activating a data plan on a foreign network with an eSIM is not as straightforward as sticking a different SIM card into your phone. The process is especially challenging for those who are less familiar with technology, putting the onus on more tech savvy companions to help them make the switch.

There are also privacy concerns. Many eSIM service providers offer apps that collect your data for tracking purposes.
My husband, whom I have been with for 30 years, has never been very comfortable with sex. I was in my late 30s when we met and had long been single. We worked together; he was smart and made me laugh. I realized he was basically a good person, and we were mostly happy together. Although he is a bit controlling, I have found ways to either ignore or confront this behavior. Sex and intimate contact, however, have devolved over time. Now there is no more than a daily perfunctory kiss.

The problem is that I am a very sensual person. I did have an affair that I managed to keep from him a few years ago, and that kept my sanity intact. I owe my husband a lot, and he has been deeply supportive of my art career. Recently when I left town for three weeks to take care of my ailing mother, he said that he would have killed himself if I hadnt come back. But can I stay in a celibate marriage for the last few years of my viability as a woman? Ive become very depressed. We have no children together, so that is not part of the equation. I dont want to hurt him; if I left, he would be devastated in a way that Im not sure he could recover from. I recently met someone I am very drawn to, but I am tortured by the choice.  Name Withheld

From the Ethicist:

There isnt just one model of enduring happy marriage. But the usual contemporary ideal begins with sexual attraction and passionate romantic feelings and turns into a long-term mutual engagement, with physical intimacy as a big part of it. Whats evident is that your concern goes beyond sexual gratification in any narrow sense. When you mention the prospect of leaving your husband for someone you are very drawn to, its clear that you want a different kind of connection, involving physical intimacy in the context of a loving relationship.

Thats not something you and your husband have lost; its something you never had. In an observation about eros often credited to Lacan, desire implicates the desire to be desired. Your description of your mostly happy marriage, by contrast, makes it sound as though your relationship has been a long friendship with benefits  modest benefits, which have ebbed to nothing. Its possible to wonder why your marriage has lasted so long. I say this not because a companionable marriage that isnt grounded in romance and eros cant be an alternative ideal (a so-called mariage blanc involves no sex at all), but because it obviously isnt your ideal. Whatever the marital model is, it should meet the needs of both parties. Couples dont have to have exactly matching desires for sex, but its better if some mutual accommodation is possible.
It was the first of at least seven visits Mr. Cohen made to the office this year. In the ensuing meetings, prosecutors grilled him about granular aspects of the hush-money episode. He provided them with documents and his phone.

While evaluating Mr. Cohens evidence, the prosecutors began presenting evidence to the grand jury. The first witness was David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker Mr. Cohens payout to Ms. Daniels. Mr. Pecker was followed by Ms. Danielss lawyer and some of Mr. Trumps employees and campaign aides, most prominently Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks. The process culminated in Mr. Cohen testifying before the panel for more than two days in March.

By then, the parade of witnesses had begun to draw a media crowd outside 80 Centre. The fervor grew when The Times reported that Mr. Bragg had signaled to Mr. Trumps legal team that he was poised to seek an indictment. And when Mr. Trump prematurely predicted his own arrest two weeks ago, the blocks near the courthouse took on a circuslike atmosphere.

At one point, as court officials were preparing to escort a witness into the grand jury, there was a traffic accident outside the courthouse involving a truck that was packing up from filming a scene of the sequel to the film Joker nearby.

All week, no indictment had emerged. But on Thursday afternoon, Chris Conroy, the formerly skeptical prosecutor, walked into 80 Centre Street. In his arms was a copy of the New York State penal law, marked up with sticky notes, to instruct the grand jurors on the law before they took the vote that indicted the former president.
Mr. Powells attack on Mr. Ma, in April 2021, came amid a wave of violence targeting people of Asian descent in New York City and elsewhere in the United States that had begun with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. An accompanying surge in reported hate crimes prompted Asian American leaders in the city to demand that more be done to address the problem.

People of Asian descent have been the victims in several high-profile crimes in the past few years. In November 2021, GuiYing Ma, a 61-year-old Chinese immigrant, was fatally beaten as she swept a Queens sidewalk. In January, the man who admitted attacking her was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In January 2022, Michelle Alyssa Go was pushed to her death by a mentally ill man at the Times Square subway station. The next month, Christina Yuna Lee was fatally stabbed by a man who followed her from the street into her apartment. In March 2022, a 28-year-old man was charged with seven counts of assault and attempted assault in connection with a two-hour spree of attacks on women of Asian decent in Manhattan.

In the case of Mr. Ma, the police said at the time that Mr. Powell had suddenly shoved him from behind while the older man was pushing a grocery cart full of bottles and cans near 125th Street and Third Avenue.

Video footage released by the police showed that after Mr. Ma collapsed to the ground, Mr. Powell had stomped on his head and kicked him several times in the face.
WASHINGTON  About 1,900 people whose names were in White House visitor logs from the end of Donald J. Trumps presidency recently received letters alerting them that their Social Security numbers had been mistakenly posted online in January during an upload of data from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The letters, which were sent by the Government Publishing Office and which recipients reported receiving within the past week, came nearly three months after the security breach, during which the office uploaded White House visitor logs from December 2020 that were obtained by the Jan. 6 committee.

The visitor logs, which contained 1,694 full Social Security numbers and 178 partial Social Security numbers, were online between 9:16 p.m. Jan. 2 and 11:21 a.m. Jan. 4. The Government Publishing Office removed them shortly after being alerted to the data breach by a news outlet.

We are sorry that this data breach occurred and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or concern this may cause, the letters state, according to a copy of one obtained by The New York Times.
NASHVILLE  A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the implementation of a Tennessee law aimed at restricting public drag performances, hours before it was set to go into effect.

A Memphis theater company that frequently stages drag performances, Friends of Georges, challenged the law this week, arguing that the ambiguity of the law violated the theaters constitutional rights. Violators of the law would be charged with a misdemeanor, or a felony for continued offenses.

The measure, passed by the Republican-dominated legislature and signed into law on March 1, was set to go into effect on Saturday. It makes no explicit mention of drag but forbids adult cabaret and performances on public property by topless, go-go or exotic dancers, strippers, or male or female impersonators that are harmful to minors.

But the murkiness of the language, paired with a concerted effort among conservative lawmakers across the country to limit the rights of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, had raised concerns about the implications for drag performers and transgender and gender-nonconforming people.
Mr. Trump remained largely quiet on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida, where he spent the day talking on the telephone with advisers. One of his lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said in a television interview that the former president would not take a plea deal and was prepared to go to trial, a typically defiant stance that is likely to endear him to his supporters, who see the prosecution as a politically motivated vendetta by Democrats.

Late on Friday afternoon, Mr. Trump burst out on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, writing in all capital letters that Democrats were INDICTING A TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN IN AN ACT OF OBSTRUCTION AND BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE. He concluded that it was all happening WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!

The former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on charges related to payments made just before the 2016 presidential election to buy the silence of a porn star who said she had an extramarital affair with him. The former president, who has denied the affair, has been charged with more than two dozen counts in a sealed indictment, according to two people familiar with the matter, although the exact charges remain unknown.

Conservative Republicans continued to criticize the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, whose office rebuked House Republicans for attempting to interfere in the case.

The case, which could drag on for months and whose outcome is far from clear, is likely to test the countrys institutions and the rule of law. It will also have deep repercussions for the 2024 campaign for the White House, a race in which Mr. Trump remains the Republican front-runner.
Gruesome Discovery: Florida Toddler Found in Alligator's Mouth Following Mother's Murder (Photo : St Petersburg Police Department/Facebook)

A harrowing search for a missing two-year-old in Florida concluded tragically when the child's body was discovered inside the mouth of an alligator. The father of Taylen Mosley has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, for both the child and the boy's mother, 20-year-old Pashun Jeffery, who was stabbed to death.



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St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway reported that officers were investigating the area around Dell Holmes Park when they noticed an alligator with "an object in its mouth" in Lake Maggiore. The police fired a round at the alligator, killing it and causing it to release the child's body. It remains unclear how Taylen died or whether he was already dead before ending up in the lake.



"We are sorry that it had to end this way," said Police Chief Anthony Holloway.



Authorities began searching for Taylen at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday after discovering Jeffery dead from "multiple stab wounds" in her apartment, having followed a blood trail from her vehicle. Thomas Mosley, Taylen's father, became a person of interest after he admitted himself to a local hospital with cuts on his hands and arms. Police have not confirmed whether these injuries could have been inflicted by Jeffery in self-defense, but Holloway stated, "nothing in our investigation leads us to believe that he is a victim."



Mosley, who is still hospitalized, checked in without his son. An Amber Alert was issued, and a major volunteer search was launched, fearing the boy was in danger. Officers initially deployed dive teams in nearby retention ponds before moving 14 miles north of Taylen and Jeffery's home, where they ultimately discovered the boy's body.



Family members fondly remembered Taylen and Jeffery in the aftermath of their tragic deaths. "He's always calling his mom on his cell phone," Lakita Denson told WFLA. "He misses his mom; they called each other all the time. She really loved Taylen." Theo Brickhouse-Sails added, "We just want to say that Taylen is a beautiful little boy. He's really loving and caring."


Some people look forward to tax season as a time of unexpected bounty; others approach it with as much enthusiasm as a deer might have for bowhunting season. For much of my career, Ive been a self-employed person with erratic earnings. I usually owe. I put off filing for as long as possible, and then I often request an extension.

Procrastination is tempting: The Internal Revenue Service projects that it will receive requests for extensions from over 20 million people this year. Maybe we delay filing because, according to the I.R.S., it takes 13 hours to fill out the forms. Or maybe tax time forces us to confront a topic we often prefer to avoid: finances.

As of February 2022, 65 percent of Americans considered money a major source of stress, according to a survey published by the American Psychological Association. And theres evidence that chronic stress from financial worries can take a toll on mental and physical health, contributing to increased risk of cardiovascular problems and insomnia.

People think of money as numbers on a tax statement, but its really not, said Megan McCoy, an assistant professor in the department of personal financial planning at Kansas State University. Money is about power, control, safety, your future. Its about survival, yet we try to repress the emotions that come up.
JERUSALEM  The Israeli police shot dead an Arab man early Saturday in disputed circumstances in front of an entrance to the most prominent holy site in Jerusalem, in an episode that risked escalating tensions in the city at an already volatile time.

A police spokeswoman said that officers had stopped the man for questioning because he was inside the Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to both Jews and Muslims, after it had formally closed. Seconds later, the spokeswoman said, the man seized and fired a police officers gun, leading them to kill him in self-defense. The police described the man as a terrorist.

In a conflicting account, the Palestinian news media reported that he had been killed during a scuffle after intervening to prevent the assault of an Arab woman. Neither version could be immediately corroborated. The police spokeswoman said that no woman had been present, and that it was not possible to provide video evidence, because there was no nearby surveillance camera and the officers did not have time to switch on their body cameras before the scuffle began.

The shooting occurred at the Chain Gate entrance to the compound, and the dead man was identified by the police as a 26-year-old from Hura, an Arab town in southern Israel.
LEE We wrote it during Covid, and we were seeing headlines like: Because of Covid, road rage up. So yeah, it was in the air.

But even aside from the rage, the thing that gets exacerbated with Covid is this sense of isolation and loneliness. When Amy talks to George in the intimacy exercise scene about this feeling shes had forever, that came from me telling the writers room about my own low points. I was talking about my goddaughter, Lily  she was 4 at the time  and how I just hope she never has this feeling, and I started crying because it was very sad to think that shes going to have to deal with it. I think that the show is really getting at the core of this feeling that a lot of us cant escape.

Do you ever wonder why you got so mad during the encounter that inspired this show? Or is it a common thing for you?

LEE Um, yeah, I think I should probably reflect on it more.

YEUN I think youve done quite a lot of reflecting!

LEE Well, Ive definitely thought a lot about not just that incident but why I am the way I am. And why any of us are.

Its easy, in writing, to point to one thing and be like, Oh, it was this trauma in my past, like, A leads to B leads to C. But thats just not how we work. The lines arent straight  its very wiggly, and theres a lot of stuff. I think thats what the show wants to explore: That its not one thing. It really is about how hard it is to be alive.
When Anna Winger, the co-creator of the new Netflix series Transatlantic, relocated to the vibrant French port city of Marseille last year, she found a dilapidated villa awaiting her. The relic, as she called it, was ideal for her purpose: the recreation of the Villa Air-Bel where, early in World War II, a dapper American named Varian Fry oversaw an extraordinary rescue operation for artists and writers, most of them Jews, hounded by the Nazis and the Vichy government of occupied France.

Arriving in Marseille in mid-August, 1940, determined to help those in danger after witnessing the abuse of Jews in Berlin in 1935, Fry had to battle not only the French authorities and Nazi ideology, but also his own risk-averse United States Consulate in Marseille.

Improvising at a time when the United States had not yet entered the war, Fry, a rebel in a suit, navigated a narrow path until his forced departure in late August 1941. He was determined to secure safe passage and overseas visas for the thousands of foreign undesirables who soon came knocking on his door.

Among the some 2,000 people he rescued were the artist Max Ernst, the political philosopher Hannah Arendt and the German novelist Heinrich Mann.
When I was a child, we rarely went on big family trips.

Part of that is generational. I was born in the 60s, when the lives of children and their parents were more separate. Air travel was still special and, in my family, reserved for the adults. But there was something innate, too. I think some people are wanderers, and others are not. We had a vacation house in the same state as our real house, and when vacation time rolled around, thats where we went.

In my own life as a parent, Ive leaned hard the opposite way. I have a photograph of my son at 2, peering into a fancy bathtub at a hotel in Paris. Before he was 10 hed traveled to China. I didnt take an international flight until my junior year of college.

The pandemic put our journeys on hold for a while; our 2020 trip to Japan is now planned for later this year. But it seems as if everyone is on the move and families arent leaving anyone home with the babysitter. Hotels are ditching no children rules. Generations are heading off together, often with grandparents and grandkids sharing their own adventure and leaving parents out of it. That kind of shift in how we vacation inspired me and my colleagues on The Timess travel desk to put together a special package published this week on family travel.

Why take the kids along? I think that those of us who do hope our children will be more curious, more tolerant and better able to negotiate the world. We take our children to museums, hoping our love of culture will rub off; we explore the natural world, hoping to get them to look up and experience the earths beauty; we mix in some history with the child-centric activities to help them understand the tides that continue to carry us along.
LOS ANGELES  One pleasingly bitter, gently botanical, sort-of purple nonalcoholic cocktail in, and I was just happy to be caught in the gravitational pull of the Ruby Fruit.

What could be better on a rainy weeknight than chatting with friends and strangers squished at the bar, snacking on fried gigante beans and ripping apart floppy slices of mortadella drizzled with hot honey?

The crowd, the food, the playlist, the efficiency and warmth of the staff  a couple of hours later, when my group started to wind things down and put on their coats, I almost resisted leaving. Surely we could get one more round of drinks and hot dogs, or at least order some crispy-bottomed caneles. Surely we could hang out here forever, or at least until 10 p.m., when they closed.
Attack. Attack. Attack.

Delay. Delay. Delay.

Those two tactics have been at the center of Donald J. Trumps favored strategy in court cases for much of his adult life, and will likely be the former presidents approach to fighting the criminal charges now leveled against him if he sticks to his well-worn legal playbook. In fact, his attacks against both the prosecutor and the judge in the case have already begun.

Over more than four decades, Mr. Trump has sued and been sued in civil court again and again. In recent years, he has faced federal criminal investigations, congressional inquiries and two impeachments. He has neither a law degree nor formal legal training, but over the course of that long history, he has become notorious in legal circles for thinking he knows better than the lawyers he hires  and then, very often, fires  and frequently is slow to pay if he does at all.

The former president now faces an indictment stemming from a hush-money payment made to a porn star in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump, who has steadfastly contended he committed no crime and almost certainly will decline any plea deal, will fight the case in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The battle there will play out in front of the same judge who last year presided over the tax fraud trial of Mr. Trumps family real estate company  a trial that ended in a conviction on 17 felonies.

The details of Mr. Trumps defense strategy are still unclear because the specific charges in the indictment against him will stay under seal until his arraignment Tuesday.
These measures would fundamentally alter Israels identity as a Jewish and democratic state, an identity that has always rested on a delicate balance between the secular and the religious, the progressive and the traditional, and the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities of Israels Jews. And it would make the creation of a Palestinian state effectively impossible.

As this board has argued for years, the security and even survival of the Jewish state depend on eventually achieving a durable peace settlement with the Palestinians, to include the formation of a state of their own. The two-state solution has been all but moribund, in part because of political disarray and corruption on the Palestinian side. But were the far-right parties to succeed in their designs on the West Bank and the Temple Mount or in curtailing the rights of Israeli Arabs, Israel would be on an untenable path in its treatment of Palestinians and Arab citizens, and the door to a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians would be closed. And as Mr. Netanyahu must understand, that could in turn jeopardize the tentative ties Israel has forged with Arab states through the Abraham Accords, which he hopes to make one of his lasting legacies.

The call for reforming the judiciary is not in itself misguided. At its founding 75 years ago, Israel failed to produce a constitution, relegating the formulation of basic laws and legal guidelines instead to the Parliament and the Supreme Court. A sort of common law evolved, with the high court assuming the power to review the legality of government actions, while the task of appointing judges fell to a committee of judges, jurists and politicians. An independent attorney general and legal watchdogs in government departments further extended a system of checks and balances. As Israel has moved politically to the right in recent years, some conservatives have argued that the judiciary has remained a self-perpetuating and unrepresentative body of justices with a left-wing outlook.

It is not clear whether Mr. Netanyahu has much room to maneuver in his coalition. Through most of his 27 years in and out of the prime ministers office, he has been viewed as a master of political survival, but also as fundamentally cautious. Yet his actions have been sharply curtailed in recent years by an ongoing trial for corruption, which has made it ever more difficult for him to find coalition partners (and has also given him personal reasons to resent the judiciary). After a series of inconclusive elections in recent years, Mr. Netanyahu managed to stay in office only by forging an alliance with the radical fringe. And with only a four-seat majority in the Parliament, that fringe could take him down at any moment.

The ultranationalist and ultrareligious parties to which Mr. Netanyahu has linked his fate will not lightly abandon their designs. Their way is destructive for Israel, for the peace process, for Israels fledgling relations with Arab states and for its long relationship with the United States.
To the Editor:

America Is in a Disgraced Class of Its Own, by Matthew Desmond (Opinion guest essay, March 19), should be required reading for every American of high school age and beyond, and especially for anyone eligible to vote in America.

Poverty abolitionist is a brilliant and simple idea. It conveys the message that acceptance of Americas pernicious and lingering level of poverty is a choice, not an inevitable result of a capitalist system.

Just as important, it helps reinforce the seemingly obvious point that most of the issues of greatest concern to most Americans  like crime, homelessness, the drug crisis, and especially all their related effects on women, children and people of color  are equally rooted in povertys systemic effects.

Unless and until we as a country are truly committed to reducing poverty and dismantling the industries that profit from it, those other problems will remain intractable as well.
Decades of medical experience and research since has found that when patients are treated for gender dysphoria, their self-esteem grows and their stress, anxiety, substance use and suicidality decrease. In 2018, Cornell Universitys Center for the Study of Inequality released a comprehensive literature review finding that gender transition, including hormones and surgery, improves the well-being of transgender people. Nathaniel Frank, the projects director, said that a consensus like this is rare in social science.

The Cornell review also found that regret  a decision to either stop treatment or express unhappiness about ones decision to transition socially, medically or surgically  became even less common as surgical quality and social support improved. All procedures in medicine and surgery inspire some percentage of regret. But a study published in 2021 found that fewer than 1 percent of those who have received gender-affirming surgery say they regret their decision to do so, a much lower rate than has been reported for more common medical interventions like plastic surgery and orthopedic care. A separate analysis of a survey of more than 27,000 transgender and gender-diverse adults found that the vast majority of those who detransition from medical affirming treatment said they did so because of external factors (such as family pressure, financial reasons or a loss of access to care), not because they had been misdiagnosed or their gender identities had changed.

When considering the growing body of overwhelmingly positive data about adult transgender treatment, it makes sense that earlier intervention, which can lessen the permanent effects of puberty, would make gender transition easier for teenagers. Puberty blockers had been used with minimal concern about side effects since the 1980s. They have been approved by the F.D.A. to treat endometriosis, prostate cancer and precocious puberty. When used for adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria, they allow for an additional safeguard as gender-diverse patients become more certain about their identities through ongoing evaluation, family support and review. Offered shortly after puberty begins, blockers are typically used to delay puberty for as long as two years. Decreasing bone density  a side effect of puberty blockers  can return to normal once puberty resumes, either by withdrawing the blockers or administering cross-sex hormones.

While those who express gender nonconformity before puberty only receive supportive care, not medication or surgery, experts who treat gender dysphoria in early puberty consider the benefits of treating teenagers obvious, based on the effectiveness of adult treatments.

The presumption that gender-diverse identities are not real  that young people will eventually come to accept their birth assigned gender as their minds catch up to their maturing bodies  is not supported by the evidence and is likely harmful. There are, after all, more than 40 identified intersex variations representing diversity in the development of genitalia. Gender identity is similarly diverse. In nature, for every rule, there is an exception.
The Ministry of Health and Population has screened over 8 million primary school students for anaemia, obesity and dwarfism since 2019, according to the most recent official figures released on Sunday.
DeSantis has to find an avenue of attack on the former president and actually take the shot, knowing that he could alienate legions of Republican voters in the process. He has to somehow persuade Trump supporters that he could do a better job  more effective and less chaotic  without disparaging Trump to the point where he, DeSantis, is no longer viable. And he has to do all of this before Trump can build steam and roll over him like he did his rivals in the 2016 Republican primary.

The problem for DeSantis is that it might already be too late.

According to a recent Fox News poll, more than 50 percent of Republican voters support Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, compared with 24 percent for Gov. DeSantis. According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 51 percent of Republican voters support Trump, compared with 40 percent for DeSantis. And according to a recent Morning Consult poll, 52 percent of Republicans support Trump, compared with 26 percent for DeSantis.

A lot could change between now and next year. Trump could collapse and DeSantis could pick up the pieces. But lets consider the context of the last 13 years of Republican politics. Republican voters have always liked Trump. When asked in a 2011 NBC News poll whom they wanted to win the party nomination, 17 percent said Trump, just behind Mitt Romney and beating both Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. Trump was so influential even then that Romney asked for his endorsement, sharing the stage with the real estate mogul at an embarrassing Las Vegas news conference.

The weakest Trump has ever been among Republican voters was in the wake of Jan. 6, when it seemed as if the entire political class, Republicans included, was ready to cut him loose. But they didnt. Prominent Republican leaders kept him in the fold. Conservative media defended his actions. He was vulnerable, yes. But he remained the dominant figure in Republican politics.

DeSantis could have struck when the former president was weak. He didnt. And now the most likely outcome is that Trump takes the crown again, tossing his rivals aside like a collection of old dolls.
There is a presumption among a certain kind of analyst  rooted, I presume, in a deeply buried belief in the vengeance of Almighty God  that because Republicans morally deserve Donald Trump they will be stuck with him no matter what. That having refused so many opportunities to take a righteous stand against him, they will be condemned to halt at the edge of a post-Trump promised land, gazing pathetically across the Jordan even as they cast in their lots with the False Orange Messiah once again.

That assumption informs some of the reactions to the Trump indictment and the immediate rally effect that it produced among Republicans, with the former presidents (presumptive) leading challenger, Ron DeSantis, not only condemning prosecutorial overreach but promising some kind of Floridian sanctuary should Trump choose to become a fugitive from New York justice.

A certain part of the media narrative was already turning against DeSantis, or at least downgrading his chances, in part because he hasnt yet swung back hard at any of Trumps wild attacks. Now with the indictment bringing the Florida governor and most of the G.O.P. leadership to Trumps defense, that narrative is likely to harden  that this is just another case study in how leading Republicans cant ever actually turn on Trump, and they will be condemned to nominate him once again in 2024.

In reality, the electoral politics of the indictment are just as murky as they were when it was just a hypothetical. One can certainly imagine a world where a partisan-seeming prosecution bonds wavering conservatives to Trump and makes his path to the nomination easier. But one can equally imagine a world where the sheer mess involved in his tangle with the legal system ends up being a reason for even some Trump fans to move on to another choice. (A poll this week from Echelon Insights showing a swing toward DeSantis in the event of an indictment offers extremely tentative support for that possibility.)
Substantial legal impediments stand in the way of prosecutors who might want to charge a former president for official actions, but there are plenty of areas that remain open for scrutiny even during the presidency. Every president travels throughout the country campaigning, fund-raising and making stops for official business. Say a candidate instructs the motorcade to speed to an event and it results in a deadly car accident or he directs organizers to let people into a venue that is over capacity and someone loses his or her life, crushed in the crowd. Are we later going to see an investigation and prosecution for involuntary manslaughter?

A statute on the books in Florida makes it a crime to engage in libel. If Mr. Biden leaves office and criticizes Mr. Trump or another prominent Floridian in the state in writing, will he be vulnerable to prosecution?

These variables are impossible to fully anticipate. After all, Mr. Trump probably never considered that paying an adult film star to stay quiet using his companys money would make him vulnerable to prosecution in Manhattan. But to the extent that there were principled objections to local prosecutors pursuing presidents, they will be significantly less compelling or credible in the future, particularly coming from Democrats.

It didnt have to be this way. The most obvious and sensible approach, at least for Mr. Biden, would have been to instruct his attorney general to engage and coordinate with Mr. Bragg and Fani Willis, the district attorney investigating Mr. Trump in Fulton County, Ga., assuring them that the Biden Justice Department would conduct thorough criminal investigations concerning Mr. Trumps business dealings and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. (Federal prosecutors routinely ask state and local prosecutors to step aside when the underlying facts implicate federal laws or federal interests, and they almost always agree.) In doing so, Mr. Biden could have not only alleviated the legal uncertainty and controversy that currently surrounds Mr. Trump; he also might have protected himself and his Democratic successors from retribution. But the president does not appear to have taken those steps, leaving both prosecutors with the license  and arguably the imperative, given their responsibilities to their constituents  to pursue Mr. Trump for any questionable conduct in their jurisdictions.

There is probably not much that Mr. Biden or other presidents can do to mitigate these risks, except perhaps to try to limit as many of their unofficial activities  where they live, vacation and conduct business or nonprofit work  to states and localities that are safely and consistently run by the same party. But that, too, is a bleak prospect: an America where presidents avoid states where people disagree with them. In the long run, it might also limit the ability of the Democratic and Republican Parties to groom presidential contenders from states that are not safely blue or red.
Follow our live updates of NASAs Artemis II moon mission announcement.



If youre looking for space news in April, you wont have to wait long.

On Monday, NASA will introduce the four astronauts who will travel on the Artemis II mission. The Artemis program  a successor to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s  aims to return Americans to the moon later in the decade. Artemis II will send three American astronauts and one Canadian on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth, launching as soon as 2024.

The announcement of the missions crew will occur at 11 a.m. Eastern time on April 3. They will be the first humans to fly beyond low-Earth orbit and toward the moon since the Apollo 17 mission concluded in 1972.

In the middle of the month, a major European Space Agency mission will send a spacecraft on a long journey toward Jupiter, the solar systems largest planet. The spacecraft, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer or JUICE, will focus on studying several of the gas giants moons: oceanic Europa, massive Ganymede and quirky Callisto.
With the arrival of spring, theres a silver, or really, a multicolored lining to the extreme weather that has battered the west all winter: the promise of wildflower-filled weeks and months ahead, particularly in Southern and Central California and Arizonas Sonoran Desert.

We are anticipating a good to better-than-average wildflower bloom, said Jorge Moreno, an information officer for California State Parks. Conditions are similarly favorable to the east, according to Michelle Thompson, chief of communications for Arizona State Parks and Trails.

The winters precipitation has led to whispers of a super bloom this spring, similar to the frenzy of wildflowers that carpeted the California and Arizona desert in the winter and spring of 2019.

Theres only one problem with that: There is no universally accepted definition of a super bloom by the scientific community, said Ana Beatriz Cholo, a spokeswoman for the Pacific West region of the National Park System, adding that some definitions focus solely on desert blooms, while others simply refer to an above-average profusion of spring blooms. But most folks will agree that a super bloom entails an unusually large and colorful display of wildflowers that result from substantial and well-timed rains.
Margot Stern Strom, a former schoolteacher who in the mid-1970s turned her dismay over her lack of knowledge about the Holocaust into a nonprofit educational organization that develops anti-hate curriculums for teenagers, died on Tuesday at her home in Brookline, Mass. She was 81.

Her daughter, Rachel Fan Stern Strom, said the cause was pancreatic cancer.

Ms. Strom was teaching seventh- and eighth-grade language arts and social studies at the Runkle School in Brookline in 1975 when she and a colleague, Bill Parsons, attended a workshop on the Holocaust. It was an unsettling experience, which made them realize how little they knew about the Nazis murder of six million Jews.

She and Mr. Parsons, she was quoted as recalling on the website of Facing History & Ourselves, the organization they went on to found, felt that they had been victims of the silence on the Holocaust.

And now, as teachers, she added, we were perpetuating that silence.

It was the seed for their creation of Facing History, which uses injustices like the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation, apartheid in South Africa and the George Floyd killing to help guide eighth to 12th graders understanding of the motivations behind racism, extremism and antisemitism, as well as their moral implications and the power of people to shape historys course.
BELVIDERE, Ill.  The room went dark. The roof crashed down. And as debris blew across the old theater packed with concertgoers, a powerful blow landed on the back of Gabriel Salas, leaving a gash that would need to be repaired with stitches.

I didnt know what happened, said Mr. Salas, who said he followed the sounds of screaming and helped to pull bodies from rubble at the Apollo Theater in Belvidere, Ill., where hundreds had gathered to watch a metal concert on Friday night before an apparent tornado shredded the building. I just felt like I needed to help. Like, do something.

The scenes of distress in Belvidere, where one person died and dozens more were injured, have been part of a wide trail of suffering wrought by storms across a broad swath of the country this weekend  first the Midwest and South on Friday, and then the East on Saturday  that has left at least 32 people dead.

In McNairy County, Tenn., where nine people died, downed power lines choked roadways and some houses were gone. In rural Crawford County, Ill., where three people died, the sheriff told of rescuers digging people out of basements. And in the small city of Sullivan, Ind., the mayor described a landscape that looked like a war zone, with newly homeless residents who were still dazed. Five people died across Indiana, including three in Sullivan County, according to officials.
Ukraine has offered a new understanding of a future possible world war, Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University in Beijing, wrote in the Guangming Daily newspaper, in January. He also wrote: Russias strategy of nuclear deterrence certainly played a role in ensuring that NATO under the United States leadership did not dare to directly enter the war.

Pentagon officials have said that Russias troubled invasion serves as a stark warning to China against risking a war over Taiwan, which lies about 100 miles off its coast. Russian forces have been dogged by shortfalls of weapons and ammunition and failures in intelligence, resulting in stalled advances and the heavy loss of soldiers lives. Some Chinese analysts have been blunt in their views of how Russia has foundered.

The shortcomings that have been exposed in the Russian militarys logistics and supplies should be a focus for us, said an article in a magazine published by Chinas agency for developing major military technology. It said that China had to prepare for similar challenges when we consider future sea crossings, the seizure of islands, and other hazard-filled operations  an implicit reference to taking Taiwan.

Ultimately, though, studying Russias mistakes may bolster Chinas conviction that it could prevail in a possible conflict, said foreign experts who study the Peoples Liberation Army. Chinas official military budget of $225 billion is nearly three times as big as Russias, and Chinas vast manufacturing and technological capacity means it can produce plenty of advanced drones and other weapons that Russian forces have lacked.
PARIS  Manil Hadjoudj was handing out fliers at the entrance to Sorbonne University, tirelessly repeating, Do you care about electric scooters? to passing students, most of whom seemed indifferent to his plea.

I care about our pension system right now, one of them said without stopping.

Mr. Hadjoudj, 18, had been hired by the three electric scooter rental companies in Paris to try to persuade young riders to help save their businesses in a vote this Sunday, when the French capital is holding a referendum on whether to ban renting the scooters within city limits.

Five years after the motorized version of the two-wheeled scooters flooded the streets and sidewalks of Paris, this transportation option  whose human-powered version has long been popular with children  has become a topic of adult fury, delight and tension.

City Hall calls them a threat to public safety and environmentally questionable, and wants them gone. The rental companies counter that their scooters are eco-friendly, ease getting around the city and create jobs. They see Paris as a model for good scooter practices around the world.
They discharged him and my daughter on the same day. I hope its a good sign for him and for her, he said. He is of course the Holy Father, and any Catholic wants to know that he is well, but for Italians, its a little more than that. He is our father, our grandfather for children. We want to know that he has recovered and is well.

Francis, asked how he was feeling, replied, smiling, Still alive, you know, according to a video posted on Twitter by CNNs Vatican correspondent.

He had never felt afraid, Francis told the journalists.

He also spoke of his visit to young oncology patients at the hospital. Its the best thing, when youre a priest, being a priest, being a pastor, he said. And he praised the work of the medical staff. You have to be heroic to work in a hospital, he said. And you need tenderness.

After leaving the hospital, Francis went to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he prayed before a venerated icon of the Virgin Mary, a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said in a statement. Francis also offered a prayer for the children he had met in the oncology ward, the sick and those who suffer because of illness or the loss of their loved ones, the statement said.

Francis arrived at the Vatican a short time later, entering through a side entrance close to the Casa Santa Marta, the guesthouse where he has lived for the duration of his 10-year papacy.
Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Italy's Arsenale Group to launch the Middle East region's first luxury train in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The agreement reflects SAR's commitment to promoting tourism and cultural affairs in the Kingdom and aims to boost national tourism goals, said its CEO Dr Bashar bin Khaled Al Malik after signing the deal with Paolo Barletta, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arsenale Group.

The luxury train will offer visitors and residents of the Kingdom a unique opportunity to explore a range of tourist attractions within a framework of integrated luxury transportation services, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Agrawal, who began his official responsibilities in August, hailed the development efforts undertaken by the government of Egypt on the economic and social levels

The UNs World Food Programme (WFP) seeks to focus on cooperation with Egypt within its new 2023-2027 framework in mainly five sectors: food security and nutrition, building community resilience, social protection, private sector participation, and refugee support, according to the WFPs new country director in Egypt Praveen Agrawal.

Agrawal made the comments during a meeting with Egypts Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, where they discussed exploring areas of cooperation and avenues for supporting the countrys development agenda.

During the meeting, Al-Mashat asserted the ministrys aspirations in expanding partnerships with the WFP, particularly in the field of developing both rural and low-income communities in Upper Egypt.

She also expressed the importance of strengthening relations within the scope of the new 2023-2027 WFP Country Strategy in Egypt that falls within the current Partnership Development Framework, which entails supporting the participation of relevant entities from the government, private sector, and civil society in achieving the countrys development vision.

Moreover, the minister discussed the possibility of transforming the Luxor Centre for Innovation and Knowledge Sharing into a centre of excellence, becoming the first of its kind in Africa.

The WFPs centres of excellence are platforms that achieve food security by tackling malnutrition in developing countries through the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

On his part, Agrawal, who began his official responsibilities in August, lauded the development efforts undertaken by the government of Egypt on the economic and social levels.

The WFP began its work in Egypt in 1968.

The current WFP portfolio in Egypt amounts to $586 million, covering a variety of projects addressing agricultural and rural development in Upper Egypt. In the first phase of its projects implementation, 63 villages across 5 governorates have benefited from the WFPs development interventions.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines security service charged a senior Orthodox Christian leader on Saturday with supporting Russias war effort and placed him under house arrest, in a sharp escalation of a dispute over loyalty to the state that has deeply divided the countrys dominant religion.

The charge against the vicar, Pavlo Lebid, came as Russian forces pounded targets along the front line in eastern Ukraine, killing at least five civilians. After several months of heavy fighting, however, Moscow has struggled to make a decisive breakthrough.

Since the start of Russias full-scale invasion last year, Ukraine has worked to weed out Moscows influence over religious matters and stamp out perceived clerical support for the Kremlin. The abbot of the revered Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Mr. Lebid is a senior figure in one of Ukraines major Orthodox churches, a branch connected to the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow whose leader has spoken out strongly in favor of President Vladimir V. Putins decision to invade Ukraine.

Many Ukrainians argue that Mr. Lebids church has not clearly stated its position on the conflict and is therefore compromised. The Ukrainian security services have gone further, describing the Russian-aligned patriarchate as an incubator of pro-Russia sentiment and as infiltrated by priests and monks who have directly aided Moscow in the war.
We had to escape, said Enrico Pinzan, a mosaic restorer in St. Marks Basilica, who had run down to grab a precious crucifix from the crypt, where water had breached an outside wall and gushed through the windows. He and others tried to hold it back with sacks. But the water was too strong and started shooting through the bricks.

This was it, the big one that MOSE had been designed to stop. Engineers at the time said it was ready. But it stood down.

Lifting the Walls

The failure to stop the great floods brought political pressure, international scrutiny and uncomfortable introspection to Venice and all Italy. A change had to be made.

In the days after the flood, Mirco Angiolin, the site manager at the sea walls command center, lamented that the walls were ready but that no one was in charge to say, I take responsibility, and to activate MOSE when it was needed.

We need a chief, he said.

Rome accelerated the appointment of Elisabetta Spitz, a top public-sector manager, as MOSEs overseer.

She said she made the decision on Oct. 3, 2020, to lift the walls, not to answer a crisis but as a simple test. With relatively little fanfare, the walls went up as Italys attention was absorbed not in beating back the sea but in breaking the wave of the coronavirus contagion.

They worked. Engineers popped Prosecco.

Since then, Venice has been protected from high-water events, but the parts of the city that flood at lower levels remain precariously exposed.
JERUSALEM  When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended his contentious plan to overhaul Israels judiciary this past week, easing weeks of unrest, he won the support of one of the most right-wing ministers in his coalition by promising to take the first steps toward forming a new national guard that the minister could control.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister for national security, has long pushed for such a national guard. The idea is that it would be made up of both regular armed forces and volunteers who might be deployed at short notice during times of unrest, like the riots that swept across Israel in May 2021 during the 11-day Israel-Hamas war.

He says the proposed guard is an essential mechanism for preserving Israeli security during times of crisis. But critics say that as envisioned by Mr. Ben-Gvir, according to a proposal in documents he released this past week and other public statements, the force would essentially be aimed at Israels Arab minority.

The riots of 2021 were between Arabs and Jews in the countrys areas with a large Arab presence.

The possibility that his proposal could be adopted has already set off protests, amid fears, dismissed by the minister, that he could also use it against his political enemies.
Case 2:23-cv-02176-TLP-tmp Document 14 Filed 03/31/23 Page 14 of 15 PageID 136 sanctions. These penalties carry with them, among other things, potential loss of liberty and great reputational harm. But even without enforcement, the vague and overly-broad nature of the Statute can have a chilling effect on speech. Plaintiff has met its burden of proving irreparable harm to it in the absence of an injunction. III. No Substantial Harm to Others and Public Interest Defendants, assuming that Plaintiff lacks standing to sue, assert that these factors weigh in their favor because the public has an interest in ensuring that its officials are not subject to an aimless injunction." (ECF No. 19.) Plaintiff alleges that it has been engaging in this type of speech since 2011 without incident, and that granting the TRO will cause no harm "other than potential dissatisfaction by some legislators and members of the public who are under no obligation to attend [Plaintiff's events]." (ECF No. 7 at PageID 45.) The Court also notes that one of the Defendants, Shelby County DA Mulroy favored the TRO, citing the great uncertainty and concern among the people of Shelby County," regarding the Statute's scope. Tennessee took an affirmative step by enacting this law. No one has ever been charged under this law because it has yet to take effect. Defendants agreed that the state's existing obscenity laws can prosecute mostand arguably even all of the conduct that the Statute seeks to regulate. So, issuing a TRO here will preserve the status quo and benefit the public interest by clarifying the scope of a law that could impact the First Amendment rights of Tennessee residents. 3 Plaintiff proffered unopposed evidence to support its contention that other civic groups are also concerned about the Statute's vagueness and overbreadth. (ECF No. 23.) A notable example is from Mystie-Elizabeth Watson, Producer and Director of Absent Friends, a theater organization that hosts a monthly showing of the movie, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." (ECF No. 23-2 at PageID 139 ("Rather than risk the well-being of its drag performers, Absent Friends made the decision to restrict future performances to audience members 18 years of age and older . . . Were it not for this law, Absent Friends would not have added an age restriction to its monthly performances."). 14
KINNITTY GAA Club have done the right thing by asking the County Board to set up a committee to review the parish rule.

The parish rule has come onto the table as a source of discussion lately with a few players Drumcullen parish seeking permission to play with Kinnitty while Tullamore have been engaged in a similar tug of war over players in the Cappincur area  a Tullamore appeal was postponed last week and is due to be heard this week.

Some clubs in Offaly have breached the parish rule in recent decades and it is an issue that is not going to go away.

A review of the parish rule is very welcome, though they have also asked that the committee be put in place with an independent chairperson. The need for an independent chairperson is questionable and it is something that Offaly GAA has to sort out internally  their proposal for a review committee will be dealt with at a County Board meeting on April 11 as the officers want to give clubs an opportunity to discuss it.

It is not clear yet exactly what Kinnitty have in mind with an independent chairperson. Do they want someone from outside the county or do they want someone from within Offaly but who is not a member of a GAA Club or the County Board? Either way, there are no real grounds for an independent chairperson. A strong, very capable chairperson not weighed under with work in a club or the County Board would be a very good thing but he or she would have to be from the GAA family, fully aware of the landscape in the county. Ultimately, however, the decision will rest with clubs.

The latest issues have created plenty of hassle between Kinnitty and Drumcullen, and Tullamore and Cappincur GAA Clubs and there are very human considerations at play on both sides of the coin here.

An independent chairperson, however, suggests the need for a mediator type and there is not a clear requirement for this on a county level.

There is a lot of merit in a parish rule change and adding a parentage amendment, which would allow children to play with the club of a parent, even if in another parish. Other counties have this and it would certainly solve some of the most recent cases involving Cappincur, Tullamore, Kinnitty and Drumcullen  whether it would then stop clubs trying to claim players from outside their parish and honouring the parish rule fully would be its big test.

The parish rule is being tested in all sort of ways at the moment. One club attempted to pull in players from well outside their area, by claiming it applied to Protestant parish boundaries  it clearly relates to the Catholic boundaries. Another club has attempted to secure a transfer of a young player from outside the county on very questionable grounds  it has been turned down by Leinster Council and Croke Park  and you can be sure other tests are imminent. Those cases are very different than most of the recent ones but it shows the way clubs can behave.

The GAA has had such success in Offaly and gained such a sporting foothold in most of its area at least partly because of the parish rule and the strong community ethos this has built up in every area. Any weakening of this is not to be taken lightly but a parentage rule is certainly worth considering. The big fear with a major change is that it will do severe damage to smaller clubs with their best players going to big clubs to further their careers  and they will certainly resist that.

That rule can be added without a review committee and it can certainly be done without an independent chairperson  though it is possible to see some of where Kinnitty are coming from and any committee would have to be chaired by a person outside of them, Drumcullen, Tullamore and Cappincur.

It would be good to have a look at the demographics of clubs in Offaly and this would be an essential part of any review  the population in each area, the number of children in each age group, the possible problems that lie ahead for the smaller clubs. As Offaly and Ireland becomes increasingly urbanised, there are huge challenges for small clubs and many of these would benefit from a parentage type rule.

It may even become necessary in the coming years for some. As population declines in some areas, amalgamations will come onto the table for discussion and the GAA scene in Offaly could be very different in fifty years time than now. The bottom line, however, is that the clubs will decide what happens the parish rule and if any changes will be made. Every club has the right to put in a motion for change to Convention and irrespective of what any committee comes up with, clubs have the say.
Thousands of motorists are believed to have been offered free NCT tests since the start of the year, because of delays caused by a massive backlog.

The test normally costs 55. However, under a customer charter, drivers qualify for a free test if they are not offered an appointment within 28 days of seeking a test.

This rule is subject to a number of conditions, including that the vehicle owner did not fail to attend an appointment.

In February it emerged that there are now 375,000 vehicles on Irish roads without a valid NCT certificate.

One reason for this is that 3,500 people per week are not turning up for appointments to have their car tested.

Many NCT centres around the country do not have appointments available for the next 5 months.

Representatives from the car testing company told an Oireachtas Transport Committee in February that there are 375,000 vehicles overdue their NCT, which they said is more than double the normal amount for the early months of the year.
An Egyptian ship carrying relief aid left from Arish Port to Latakia port in Syria and Port of Mersin in Turkey to deliver hundreds of tons of relief aid to earthquake-affected areas, the Egyptian armed forces announced on Thursday

According to the Egyptian Armed Forces, the supply ship which serves in the Egyptian commercial maritime fleet carries hundreds of tons of relief aid provided by the defence ministry, the social solidarity ministry, the Egyptian Zakat and Charity House and the Tahya Masr (Long Live Egypt) Fund.



This comes as part of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's directives to continue offering humanitarian assistance to the two countries that were hit by a destructive earthquake on 6 February, the statement of the Egyptian Armed Forces said.

Over 46,000 people have died due to the powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck northwest Syria and southern Turkey on 6 February, making the quake one of the deadliest this century.

Countries and organisations from across the globe have been providing humanitarian aid, with over 140 aid trucks entering Syria as of Friday, according to the UN.

Last week an Egyptian supply ship arrived in Turkey and Syria carrying tons of relief aid along with two military cargo planes that took off for Turkey carrying large quantities of humanitarian aid.

Egypt sent five military planes  two to Turkey and three to Syria  carrying large quantities of medical aid the day after the disaster.

Egypt also sent a rescue team of medical specialists and rescue technicians alongside the medical aid to Syria

The Egyptian Red Crescent also launched a donation campaign for Syrias earthquake victims.

Additionally, Egypts Tahya Masr (Long Live Egypt) fund designated on Wednesday a bank account at all state-owned banks to receive donations from inside and outside Egypt to send basic goods and pharmaceutical supplies to the victims.

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Fact Check: Image of Israeli protests shared as those from France

Fact Check

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

France has been reporting violent protests against the pension reforms. Protestors have on numerous occasions clashed with the police over the issue.

Videos and images of protestors being tear gassed by the police and setting garbage on fire have since gone viral.

Now a photo is making the rounds showing an aerial view image of a street flooded with people. This photo allegedly shows a protest in France.

While sharing the image a Twitter user wrote, "protests in Parish tonight."

Fact Check: Will your electricity connection be disconnected if you do not update your bill?

OneIndia has learnt that this image is not from France, but from Israel. A reverse image search led us to a Reuters article from March 5 2023. The report said that protests had broken out on Israel against the government's judicial overhaul. The article says that the image was shot by photographer Ilan Rosenberg in Tel Aviv on March 4 2023.

The image has also been used by The Jerusalem Post and US News.

Protests broke out after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a delay in judicial overhaul plan. Despite the delay, the protests are still ongoing in the country.

Rosenberg who shot the image even shared it on his Facebook page.

Fact check: All you need to know about 1.1% levy on UPI transactions

While comparing the image, we could come to a conclusion that both were shot at the same location. The image posted by Rosenberg shows Crown Plaza City Centre written on a tall building. The same can bScreenshot 2023-04-01 at 9.29.18 AM.pnge seen in the image that has gone viral with the claim that it is from France.

Hence it becomes clear that the image being shared that the protests are from France is misleading. The original image is from a protest from Isreal.

Fact Check Claim Image shows ongoing protests in France against pension reforms Conclusion The image is from Israel and the protests are against judicial reforms Rating Half True Raise your request for FACT CHECKING. Mail us at [email protected]
Will there be 4th Covid wave in India? Experts weigh in

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

After four months, India recorded 2,994 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, while the number of active cases increased to 16,354. According to Union health ministry data, with the fresh infections, India's Covid-19 tally stands at 4.47 crore. Meanwhile, the death toll climbed to 5,30,876 with nine deaths - two deaths each were reported from Delhi, Karnataka and Punjab, one from Gujarat, and two were reconciled by Kerala.

At 16,354, the active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 98.77 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.09 per cent and the weekly positivity at 2.03 per cent, according to news agency PTI.

Despite fears of Covid cases shooting up in the last few weeks by 30-fold from a low base of fewer than 100 cases, there's some relief.

In a series of tweets, Covid data analyst, Vijayanand, explained that Omicron XBB 1.16 sublineage could be behind the recent surge in Covid-19 cases across the country.

''India covid cases trend shows small increase in last few weeks, the increase in trend is not rapid but slow, so this does not call for a new wave and its mostly due to Omicron XBB 1.16 sublineage. India had been dominated by other XBB sublineage before so no reason for concern,'' he wrote.

India covid cases trend shows small increase in last few weeks, the increase in trend is not rapid but slow, so this does not call for a new wave and its mostly due to Omicron XBB 1.16 sublineage. India had been dominated by other XBB sublineage before so no reason for concern. pic.twitter.com/dHstbDgVtG  Vijayanand - Covid Data Analyst (@vijay27anand) March 31, 2023

He had earlier claimed that ''The new XBB.1.16 Omicron Sublineage causing increase in cases in various parts of India, but this emerging variant is unlikely to cause waves because most of the population already are immune to XBB and Omicron, this is only sublineage. while H3N2 flu is still dominant wear mask if you wish to protect yourself,'' he said.

The new XBB.1.16 Omicron Sublineage causing increase in cases in various parts of India, but this emerging variant is unlikely to cause waves because most of the population already are immune to XBB and Omicron, this is only sublineage. while H3N2 flu is still dominant wear mask  Vijayanand - Covid Data Analyst (@vijay27anand) March 29, 2023

This variant was first detected in Pune in February this year and is said to be fast replacing the dominant strains in the country. Named officially as XBB.1.16 on March 5, the sub-variant rapidly transmits and has additional mutations in its nucleotide and amino acids.

"The XBB 1.16 subvariant is a highly transmissible variant with high infectivity rate. The subvariant has mutations on the amino acids and nucleotide space that gives it the capacity to escape hybrid immunity achieved by vaccination and previous exposure to the virus," Dr Charu Dutt Arora, Infectious Disease Specialist, Consultant Physician, AmeriHealth, Asian Hospital told Hindustan Times.

XBB.1.16 symptoms

Dr Arora, explained that the signs and symptoms of the new sub-variant are almost the same as that of Omicron variant.

"High grade fever for more than 48 hours, cough, sore throat, body pain, severe headache, cold and abdominal discomfort. There is no loss of smell or taste seen in the patients, so far. Most of them have mild to moderate disease and are being managed on home isolation," Dr Arora told Hindustan Times.
I'll pay Rs 10 lakh each to Shah, Shinde if they sit under sun: MIM MP

Shah's Sasaram visit off as Sec 144 imposed after Ram Navmi violence

India

oi-Prakash KL

Union Home minister Amit Shah's visit to Sasaram in Bihar's Rohtas district has been cancelled in view of imposition of Section 144 following the communal violence.

"Union Home minister Amit Shah was supposed to come to Sasaram for an event. As Bihar govt imposed Sec 144 we have to cancel the event. How can we hold an event like this?" ANI quoted Bihar BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary in a tweet.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate Manoj Kumar ordered imposition of Section 144 on Friday afternoon after re-eruption of clashes, which first broke out the previous evening.

The Bihar cops have arrested over 20 people following a clash between two groups in Nalanda district during a Ram Navami procession on March 21. The authorities have imposed Section 144 in the district as well as Sasaram which also reported a clahs on Friday.

"Police are patrolling the area, and are on alert. We're maintaining peace. Over 20 people were arrested. Eight people were injured and three sustained bullet injuries. People should not believe rumours. The situation under control now," Mishra told ANI.

Deploy central forces to bring situation under control: Bengal MP to PM Modi on violence

In Nalanda, miscreants pelted stones and set around half a dozen vehicles ablaze on the 10th day of Ram Navami celebrations near Gagan Diwan under the Laheri Police Station area in Biharsharif, according to a report.

In Bihar Sharif, which falls in the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Section 144 was imposed after clashes in areas like Gagan Deewan, Mansoor Nagar and Nabi Nagar left more than 10 people injured and over a dozen vehicles and shops gutted.

"We appeal to the people to stay calm. We are also examining CCTV footages to identify and bring to book trouble makers", said Nalanda District Magistrate Shashank Shubhankar.
An architect What Delhi court said while rejecting Manish Sisodias bail plea

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A Delhi Court on Friday denied bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in Delhi Excise Policy case.

The court made some stinging remarks while rejecting the bail plea filed by Sisodia.

The court observed that the former Deputy Chief Minster of Delhi prima facie played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy.

Special CBI judge, M K Nagpal while denying bail to Sisodia in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that as per the allegations made by the prosecution, Sisodia can be held to be the architect of the criminal conspiracy.

Manish Sisodias judicial custody in CBI case extended by 14 days

"The evidence collected so far clearly shows that the applicant through the co-accused Vijay Nair was in contact with the South lobby and formulation of a favourable policy for them was being ensured at every cost and a cartel was permitted to be formed to achieve monopoly in sale of certain liquor brands of favoured manufacturers and it was permitted to be done against very objectives of the policy," judge, Nagpal said.

The court also noted that there were serious apprehensions of Sisodia destroying evidence or even influencing some prime witnesses in the case, if he were to be released on bail.

While rejecting the bail on the ground of parity with the other accused, the court said that Sisodia's rile could not be equated with or put at part with the roles of the other three accused, who have already been granted bail.

"The evidence collected so far by the CBI not only shows applicant's active participation in the above criminal conspiracy, but also the prima facie commission of some substantive offences of the PC Act by him," the court said.

Sisodia and others have been accused of manipulating the Delhi Excise Policy to facilitate monopolisation of liquor trade in Delhi.

It has been alleged by the CBI that this was done against the advance kickbacks of around Rs 90 crore paid by persons carrying out the liquor business from South India.

To ensure repayment of the said kickbacks, certain provisions in the Excise Policy were inserted to favour the "South lobby" and other members of the cartel, the CBI had alleged.

While delving deeper into the facts of the case, judge Nagpal said that the allegations made against the appellant are serious in nature.

Delhi to have five dry days as 'Old Excise policy' extended for 6 months

"The allegations made against the applicant are serious in nature and at this stage of the case, he does not deserve to be released on bail as he has been arrested in this case only on 26.02.2023 and investigation even qua his role has still not been completed," the judge observed.

Sisodia was arrested on February 26 by the CBI, following an interrogation that lasted nearly 8 hours.

On February 27, he was remanded in CBI custody till March 4. He remained in CBI custody until March 6, following which he was sent to judicial custody.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 11:03 [IST]
PM flags off Vande Bharat Express from Telangana: Travel time to Tirupati comes down drastically

Ram Navmi violence in Hyderabad; Telangana sixth State to witness it

India

oi-Prakash KL

A clash broke out between two groups in Hyderabad's old city Charminar area as a few from the Muslim community attacked a few Hindus for sloganeering on Ram Navmi day during Ramzan prayers.

Although no complaint was filed, the cops took suo-moto cognisance of the matter. "A clash occurred between two groups in the Charminar area. A few people from the Muslim community attacked a few people from the Hindu community who came on a bike and started sloganeering on Ram Navmiday during Ramadan evening prayers," ANI quoted Charminar Station House Officer (SHO as saying.

"Police didn't receive any complaint, however, a case has been filed by taking suo-moto cognisance. The accused are yet to be identified," the SHO said.

Further investigation is underway.

Clashes during Ram Navmihave been reported in West Bengal's Howrah district, Maharashtra's Aurangabad and Malvani, Gujarat's Vadodara, Bihar's Sasaram and Nalanda and a minor issue in Karnataka's Hassan.

In Bengal, violence broke out on Thursday evening between two groups when a Ram Navmiprocession was taken out in the twin city of Howrah. Several vehicles, including some belonging to the police, were torched and shops and auto-rickshaws ransacked during the violence.

However, a fresh stone pelting incident was reported on Friday. A number of local people locked themselves inside houses while shops and markets were closed. Vehicular movement was disrupted following the incident of stone pelting.

Clashes took place between different groups in the Aurangabad city of central Maharashtra as well as in the Malvani area of Mumbai on Thursday. Over 20 people have been arrested in connection with the violence.

Whereas in Gujarat, police detained 24 persons for allegedly hurling stones at two Ram Navmiprocessions in communally-sensitive areas in Vadodara city.

In Bihar, the Bihar cops have arrested over 20 people following a clash between two groups in Nalanda district during a Ram Navmiprocession on March 21. The authorities have imposed Section 144 in the district as well as Sasaram which also reported a clash on Friday.

In Nalanda, miscreants pelted stones and set around half a dozen vehicles ablaze on the 10th day of Ram Navmicelebrations near Gagan Diwan under the Laheri Police Station area in Biharsharif, according to a report.

Also, clashes broke out between two groups in Hassan in Karnataka during a Ram Navmiprocession. Four people have suffered injuries after they were stabbed when the procession was passing by a mosque. However, preliminary investigation has said that it was a minor scuffle and the situation is normal in the city. A total of nine people have been arrested.
Defamation case against Rahul for calling 'RSS-21st century Kauravas'

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has been charged with a new defamation suit, just days after a Gujarat court sentenced him to two years in prison.

On Friday, a complaint was brought to a Haridwar court regarding comments made by the former MP while participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in January. In a speech in January, Gandhi referred Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) as the "21st century Kauravas".

"We have filed the complaint under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On April 12, the court will hear the complaint, stated lawyer Arun Bhadoria, on behalf of Kamal Bhadoria, an RSS volunteer.

Targeting the RSS, the Congress leader called its members the "21st century Kauravas" and alleged they never say "Har Har Mahadev" and "Jai Siya Ram" as they are against India's values and "tapasya".

Addressing a street-corner meeting after the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by him reached Ambala district Monday evening, Gandhi said Haryana is the land of the Mahabharata and went on to take a dig at the RSS and the ruling dispensation.

Out of jail, Sidhu slams Centre and Punjab govt, calls Rahul a revolution

"Who were the Kauravas? I will first tell you about the 21st century Kauravas, they wear khakhi half-pants, they carry lathis in hands and hold shakhas.... India's 2-3 billionaires are standing with these Kauravas," he alleged, referring to the RSS.

Talking about the case, Bhadauria's lawyer Arun Bhadoria said,''Rahul Gandhi compared the RSS to the Kauravas of the 21st century. It is his indecent speech which reveals his mindset. RSS is such an organization that whenever there has been a calamity in the country, it has come forward to help.'' He further informed that the court has registered the case and asked the plaintiff to appear for an advance hearing on April 12, as quoted by OpIndia.

Earlier, a second defamation case filed against Rahul Gandhi in Thane, Maharashtra, following a 2014 speech in which he allegedly blamed the RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 22:34 [IST]
West Bengal to get its first Vande Bharat Express on December 30: 5 facts to know

Deploy Central forces to bring situation under control: Bengal MP to PM

India

oi-Prakash KL

BJP Lok Sabha MP Jagannath Sarkar has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah requesting "the intervention of Central forces to prevent the spread of repression in Howrah". He has also demanded an NIA investigation into the root cause of riots.

"I am writing you this letter with a heavy heart for the local people who suffered a lot because of communal riots that erupted during Ram Navami rallies at Howrah, West Bengal on 30 March 2023 (Thursday). The situation is quickly spiraling out of control, and the local police force is unable to control the violence," he said in the letter shared by ANI on Twitter.

The violence broke out when a Ram Navarni procession was crossing the Kazipara locality as stones were thrown at them from a nearby roof, he claimed.

"This communal riots resulted in stone pelting, torching of several vehicles and the ransacking of local shops. Vehicles engulfed in flames and a heavy police deployment, including riot control force were implemented in the area and the security personnel had to fire tear gas shells to disperse the mob. From the Friday morning fresh incidents of stone-throwing and arson were reported in Shibpur just hours after the road where the incident took place was opened up to traffic," he stated.

Howrah limping back to normalcy even as Section 144 in place

He then held the West Bengal government and the state administration "completely responsible" for the violence. The BJP MP said that presently the situation has become uncontrollable.

Mamata is making false and fabricated allegations against the people who believes in "sanatan culture' and celebrating the Ram Navami, he alleged. "Moreover, she announced protests on the day of Ram Navami, dated on March 30," he pointed out.

"As a concerned citizen, as per the demand of the local people, I urge you to intervene and deploy central forces to bring the situation under control. The use of force may be necessary to restore law and order and protect the lives and properties of innocent civilians.

Furthermore, I also request the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the root cause of the rots and identify the instigators behind them. It is important to bring these individuals to justice and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future," he Sarkar highlighted.

It has to be noted that West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sukanta Majumdar on Friday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into violence in Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations.

"It is always my privilege to write to you, especially concerning about the affairs of my state. But unfortunately this time I am forced to write about the orchestrated attack on the Processions of Ram Navami in various parts of West Bengal like Howrah, Dalkhota. In Howrah it took ugly turn with Bombs and Stones thrown on the procession inspite of taking prior permission from Police by submitting Route map," wrote the West Bengal BJP chief in his letter addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Secondly, the BJP leader said on March 30 the procession in Howrah was attacked at the same place where it was attacked during the last Ram Navami in spite of police presence.

Following the violence in West Bengal's Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations, Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Friday filed a PIL in Calcutta High Court seeking a NIA probe into the matter and immediate deployment of Central Forces in the violence-affected areas.

Despite writing on the wall, Bengal police were sitting ducks in Howrah

Violence broke out on Thursday evening between two groups when a Ram Navami procession was taken out in the twin city of Howrah. Several vehicles, including some belonging to the police, were torched and shops and auto-rickshaws ransacked during the violence.

However, a fresh stone pelting incident was reported on Friday. A number of local people locked themselves inside houses while shops and markets were closed. Vehicular movement was disrupted following the incident of stone pelting.

With inputs from PTI
Despite writing on the wall, Bengal police were sitting ducks in Howrah

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

It was a disaster waiting to happen. Communal tensions in Howrah, West Bengal flared up for a second time in a row, despite warnings and the police not imposing curbs swiftly.

The Kazipara and PM Basti areas located adjacent to Shibpur police station witnessed stone pelting for several hours, with the police personnel of Bengal stuck in between. The stone pelting took place at a time when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Adani Putra Sena took out processions. Last year too, the area witnessed communal tensions owing to stone pelting and this makes it clear that the police in Bengal were caught napping for a second year in a row.

The areas continue to remain tense for the past three days. The ruling TMC and opposition BJP have accused each other for the issue. The TMC released a video in which a man can be seen holding a pistol. The BJP on the other hand has submitted two videos to the Howrah police showing incidents of stone pelting from the rooftops as the procession was carried out.

Looking at the videos one gets the clear impression that the police had not followed the protocols. Very little was done on the ground to prevent this violence. In fact there was clear Intelligence to suggest that there would be violence during the procession. The police did not even take a cue from what happened last year.

Mamata Banerjee vs BJP over Ram Navami violence in Howrah

A source however clarified that the police were in full force during the procession. Videos however show that despite a strong force of 100 being present, they were not equipped. The police instead of fighting the protesters with riot gear, were more on the defensive. They were seen defending themselves with milk crates as the mob roamed around fearlessly.

This year the situation was worse and the tensions in the area linger on. Last year, there was stone pelting and other incidents of arson. The police were however able to calm tensions and restore law and order in about an hour. This year the situation is different and the police action clearly seems to be lacking.

The tensions at Howrah prompted Union Home Minster, Amit Shah to speak with the West Bengal Governor. Sources tell OneIndia that a close watch would be kept on the situation. If the need be, central forces could be deployed. From the face of it, it appears as though the state police is unable to bring a halt to the tensions in the area. The force looked clearly out of place and despite the writing on the wall, the police failed in curbing the violent, the source also said.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 10:16 [IST]
Fact Check: This image of huge crowds in Gujarat is not from the AAP roadshow

Probe recommended into scam of Rs 1,300 crore in construction of classrooms by AAP government

Farmers, engineers, doctors in AAP second list for Karnataka polls

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ha released its second list of 60 candidates, who will be contesting the upcoming elections in Karnataka.

The AAP had released its first list comprising 80 candidates.

The list of candidates includes, 14 farmers, 18 advocates, 6 doctors, 11 women, 23 engineers and four IT professionals. The party has also fielded 5 doctorates, 29 post-graduates,68 graduates and six MBA holders.

"We even have given a ticket to a former BMTC conductor because we believe that only a common man can understand the pains of a common man," the party said in a statement.

In poll bound Karnataka four dry days on cards

The party also said that 59 of the 60 candidates announced part of the second list are first time contestants.

"People of Karnataka are tired of the existing 3 parties, and 46 per cent have said that they want a new party," the AAP said.

Recently AAP supremo, Arvind Kejriwal had said that the party will be contesting in all 224 constituencies in the state.

The BJP is the only party which is yet to announce its list of candidates. Reports suggest that the BJP will release its full list of candidates either on April 6 or 7. The Congress and JD(S) on the other hand have announced its first list of candidates.

Speculations are rife that the Congress and JD(S) are waiting for the BJP to announce its full list, before they could make their list final. Charges have been traded by all parties of poaching attempts being made before the final lists are finalised. Chief Minister Basavarj Bommai has accused the Congress of trying to poach its leaders. The Congress has however denied all these charged.

More desertions in Karnataka as elections near

Polling in Karnataka will be held on May 10, while counting of votes will take place on May 13. The Election Commission of India had earlier this week, announced the full schedule for the Karnataka Assembly elections.

The BJP will be looking to retain power, while the Congress on the other hand is going all guns to overthrow the ruling party. The JD(S) on the other hand is expecting like always that it would play kingmaker, if no party is able to secure a clear majority.
Will the new collegium to appoint CEC, ECs be able to keep rogues off politics?

Karnataka to vote on May 10; Result on May 13

JDS for ban on Sudeep's films days after the actor extended support to BJP

In poll bound Karnataka four dry days on cards

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Karnataka Assembly Election will together bring a total of four dry days, the Election Commission has said.

The dry days would be on May 8, 9, 10 and 13, the Election Commission said. Karnataka will be voting on May 10, while the results would be declared on May 13.

Serving and selling of liquor will be banned in all establishments within the polling area during the period of 48 hours, ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of polling the commission said.

More desertions in Karnataka as elections near

"This will include dates of re-poll, if any," the Election Commission of India Secretary, Sanjeev Kumar Prasad said in a letter to the Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer.

Liquor sale would also be banned on the day of counting. The commission said that counting would begin on May 13 at 8 am.

"The storage of liquor by individuals shall be curtailed during the above period,"the commission also said in the letter. The commission also directed the state government to issue comprehensive orders to ensure that the measures are in place.

Paid holiday:

Meanwhile the Election Commission has written to the state and central government to grant a paid holiday to all workers on May 10. It noted that daily wagers who are working in shops and establishments are also entitled for the paid holiday.

Does Karnataka vote on caste alone: A look at the other issues

"Even those electors, including casual workers, outside the constituency concerned would be entitled to the benefit of a paid holiday," the letter by the Election Commission of India to the state and central governments read while citing Section 135B of the Representation of People Act.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 9:44 [IST]
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed on Monday the importance of reviving the political process and settling the crisis in Syria as soon as possible in accordance with relevant international resolutions, most importantly UN Security resolution 2254.

In a meeting in Cairo with the UN special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, the Egyptian foreign ministry stated that Shoukry reviewed with Pedersen Egypts support of Syria in the face of the devastating earthquake that hit Northern Syria and Southern Turkey killing thousands.

Egypt has already sent several shipments of relief aid to both Syria and Turkey.

In late February, Sameh Shoukry paid a visit to Damascus  the first for an Egyptian FM to the country since 2011  to convey a message of a solidarity.

During the talks, the Egyptian foreign minister stated that all parties should help Syria in the aftermath of the earthquake.

For his part, Pedersen shared Shoukrys vision on the importance of moving forward towards a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

The Egyptian foreign minister expressed Egypts full endorsement of the envoys efforts in this regard.

Both officials agreed to continue consultations on ways to facilitate reaching a political solution in Syria.

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Here's what Himanta Sarma has to say on moving Amritpal Singh aides to Assam jail

Have tea and lunch with me at my house: Kejriwal responds to Himanta Sarma's warning

If you torture Sikh, you will be held accountable: Pro-Khalistan leader threatens Assam CM Sarma

Story of those 12 fascinating months: Himanta on last few days in Congress

Let Kejriwal come here & say that I am corrupt: Assam CM Sarma

India

oi-Prakash KL

Ahead of AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal's visit, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has warned the Delhi CM that he will "sue" him if speaks against him in his state.

"Is there any FIR or case against me anywhere in the country? I wanted to sue him but like a coward, he spoke inside the assembly," the Assam chief minister said.

Kejriwal had reportedly said in the Delhi Assembly that there are cases against Sarma. The Delhi CM said that one should not speak against anybody inside the assembly where the accused is not there to defend himself.

"Let Kejriwal come here on April 2 and say that I am corrupt. The next day, I will file a defamation case against him as I have done against (AAP leader) Manish Sisodia," the Assam CM stated.

Here's what Himanta Sarma has to say on moving Amritpal Singh aides to Assam jail

Sarma had filed a criminal defamation case against Sisodia, the then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, at the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup, in August last year for levelling some allegations against him at a press conference in New Delhi. The BJP leader was then the health minister.

"There is no case against me before any agency or court," Sarma said.

The chief ministers of Assam and Delhi have often sparred on Twitter over issues related to education and health.

The Delhi Kejriwal along with his Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann is scheduled to attend their first political rally in Assam on April 2.
More desertions in Karnataka as elections near

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

With all parties yet to release their full list of candidates, two MLAs have resigned and joined the Congress.

A T Ramaswamy of the Janata Dal (S) who represents the Arkalgud constituency in Hassan and N Y Gopalkrishna of the BJP from Kudligi have resigned from their respective parties and joined the Congress. Both are likely to contest from the same seats in the May 10 elections on a Congress ticket.

Ramaswamy became the second leader from the JD(S)to quit the party this week. Earlier, S R Srinivas from the Gubbi district had quit the party and joined the Congress. The JD(S) is expected to witness more desertions as reports say that K M Shivalinge Gowda who represents Arsikere is also likely to ditch his party.

Does Karnataka vote on caste alone: A look at the other issues

Ramaswamy while confirming his resignation said that he thanks the JD(S) for giving him the opportunity to serve as a member of the Legislative Assembly.

"I did not quit the JD(S). The party threw me out. I am a victim of money power. I have been contacted by people of other parties. I will decide in a day or two whom to join," Ramaswamy said.

Meanwhile A Manju who has done stints with the BJP and Congress is likely to contest on a JD(S) ticket from the Arkalgud constituency. Gopalkrishna on the other hand has met with both Congress chief, D K Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah and held discussions.

A former member of the Congress, Gopalkrishna had won the elections from the Molakamuru assembly in Chitradurga district, four times. After he had been denied a Congress ticket in 2018, he joined the BJP ahead of the elections.

The BJP had given him a ticket from the Kudligi constituency instead of Molakmuru as senior BJP leader Sriramulu was fielded from there. Both Sriramulu and Gopalkrishna won the elections.

Why the Congress is fighting the Karnataka battle without a CM face

All parties are yet to release their final list of candidates. The Congress and JD(S) has released half their lists. The experts say that the Congress and JD(S) are waiting for the final list of candidates to be released by the BJP. Both parties are expecting desertions from the BJP. There has been a war of words between the BJP and Congress with both parties accusing each other of trying to poach leaders from either sides.

Elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10 as per the announcement made by the Election Commission of India earlier this week. The verdict will be out on May 13.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 9:00 [IST]
NATO door open for India for more engagement: Envoy

India

oi-Prakash KL

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is ready to engage more with India if it is interested, US NATO Ambassador Julianne Smith said and also appreciated India's role in Ukraine-Russia war

"The NATO alliance is open to more engagement should India seek that. NATO currently has 40 different partners around the World and each individual partnership is different. Various countries come to the door seeking different levels of political engagement, sometimes countries are much more interested in working on inter-operability, and standardization questions. So, they vary. But, the message that has already been sent back to India is that NATO alliance is certainly open to more engagement with India, should that country take interest in pursuing that", ANI quoted Julianne Smith as saying in a virtual press briefing.

The Ambassador stated that currently there are no plans by the alliance to expand this to a broader global military alliance.

"Membership is not something that we have really considered with anyone in the Indo-Pacific or Asia-Pacific. The alliance remains the Euro-Atlantic military alliance. Its door is open to the region. But there are no plans by the alliance to expand this to a broader global military alliance," she added.

How NATO sees the recent Russian jet incidents

Talking about the meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which will take place on April 4-5, 2023 at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the ambassador said "at this stage, we would not want to invite them (India) to NATO ministerial until we knew more about their interest in engaging the alliance more broadly".

"Regarding the Ministerial next week, 4 countries that I mentioned (Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Japan), are four countries that have already established formal partnerships with the alliance over many years. They worked closely with the NATO alliance on security challenges. These relationships have been ongoing. We have been working to strengthen these relationships. These are four countries that joined us at the summit last year in Madrid," said added.

"In terms of the future with India, I think NATO's door is open in terms of engagement should India be interested. But we would not want to at this stage invite them to NATO ministerial until we knew more about their interest in engaging the alliance more broadly," Smith claimed.

Hails India's Role in Russia-Ukraine War

The envoy hailed India's role in the Russia-Ukraine war and said she is grateful for the humanitarian assistance that India has been able to provide to the country and that she appreciates India's call for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine.

"We both at NATO and United States, welcome what India has been able to do for the people of Ukraine. We are very grateful for the humanitarian assistance that India has been able to provide which is critical right now and those needs are only growing. Certainly, appreciate calls coming from India for some sort of immediate end to the war in Ukraine. That's important. And we have been in constant communication with India about what more we can do together to hold Russia accountable and we have done that and worked with India, spoken with India several times since Russia started this war inside Ukraine," said Smith.

"The United States and India do not always share exactly the same policy approaches, but we do share a commitment to upholding the rules-based order and ensuring that the key principles particularly as they relate to sovereignty and territorial integrity, those principles are respected. I think that's the most important part of our relationship," she added.

Biden meets NATO leaders as Putin chances Chinese Foreign Minister

Speaking about the NATO shift, the envoy highlighted how the alliance has started to mention the Asia-Pacific and the Indo-Pacific in some of its strategic documents.

"NATO has really shifted in a pretty noticeable way in terms of how it conducts outreach and engages with its partners in Indo- pacific. If you go back 5-6 or 7 years, you would find an alliance that didn't necessarily have rich agenda with the countries in the Indo-Pacific. Still, in recent years, what NATO has started to do is to include, mention of the Asia-Pacific and the Indo-Pacific first and foremost in some of its strategic documents," she said.

"This is the first time that the alliance acknowledges the importance of focusing on the PRC as a challenge for the alliance and why it's important for NATO allies to enhance and deepen its relationship across with partners in the region and NATO has just done that. We are bringing our friends from the Indo- Pacific in the NATO HQ into ministerial, what we call North Atlantic Council in summits so that we can learn from our partners in terms of what their experiences, challenges to the security," she added.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 8:40 [IST]
Punjab cops rummage through animal shelters, deras to trace Amritpal

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Punjab police has expanded its hunt for pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh, who has been on the run for the past two weeks.

The hunt has been expanded to 'deras' and other possible hideouts of the Waris Punjab De chief in Hoshiarpur district, where some suspects had abandoned their car following a chase that began three days back.

Several media reports claim that Amritpal Singh's mentor, Papalpreet Singh may have gone on a different route since the Innova SUV he was travelling in got intercepted on March 28.

Amritpal Singh has made a joke out of the Punjab Police

Singh has been on the run since a police crackdown began on March 18. He has however appeared in two videos since the crackdown, in which he made it clear that he has no intention of surrendering. He also called on a large gathering of Sikhs to discuss issues relating to the community.

In a bid to nab Singh, the police have placed barricades at all key points and a thorough search of vehicles is taking place in Marnaian and nearby villages, including Bibi Di Pandori and Bassi was underway, according to news agency PTI.

Police officials are also searching 'deras,' residential places, small rooms set up near tubewells and even shelters for animals in several villages. The Punjab Police said that they were maintaining a strict vigil.

Reports have also claimed that a close aide of Amritpal, Joga Singh has been detained, but the police officially denied the information.

In his latest video, Amritpal Singh claimed that he is not a fugitive and would soon appear before the world. In an audio clip, he is heard saying that he is not negotiating a surrender. He also called on the Akal Takht to summon a 'sarbat khalsa' congregation to discuss issues related to the Sikh community.

The police are also using drones to track down Amritpal's movements. This operation was probably launched too late, a report in The Tribune said.

Amritpal Singh looking to create chaos before his surrender: Sources

Reports also say that Amritpal Singh may be alone at some location as the videos shot by him are in selfie-mode. His aides Joga Singh and Papalpreet had reportedly moved towards Sahnewal, where they are said to have stopped over at a Gurdwara.

The chase by the Punjab Police has gained much media attention. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had even pulled up the police for failing to nab Amritpal despite having force of 80,000 personnel.
Solar eclipse: 5 myths associated with it busted by scientists

Shraddha Walkar murder accused Aftab beaten up by other jail inmates

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Aftab Poonawala's advocate claimed that he was allegedly beaten up by other inmates while he was produced in court.

Aftab, who is accused of murdering his live-in partner, Shraddha Walkar, on May 18 last year and dismembering her body and scattering them across Mehrauli forest.

It is reported that on Friday while being transported to Delhi's Saket Court for the case hearing, Aftab was assaulted by other prisoners. The jail administration has been ordered by the court to ensure his safety.

Additional sessions judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar issued the directions to authorities while hearing arguments on the charges against Poonawala.

Aftab will find, hunt and kill me: Shraddha Walkar in new audio clip

"... it is submitted on behalf of the accused that he had been manhandled by other inmates during his court production. Lock-up in charge, Saket Court, as well as jail superintendent, are directed to ensure that the accused is produced safely during court productions," ASJ Kakkar said.

As it completed its arguments in the case, the Delhi police had on March 20 told the court that there are "incriminating circumstances revealed through reliable and clinching evidence which form a chain of events".

The court had then posted the matter for hearing the response of Poonawala's lawyer.

Poonawala has been booked for the offences under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

Shraddha Walkar Murder: Delhi Cops complete arguments on charges against Aftab Poonawala

On Friday, Special Public Prosecutors Amit Prasad and Madhukar Pandey appeared for the Delhi Police.

During the proceedings, Poonawala's advocate said that section 201 can be invoked only against a person who screens the offender and not against the person accused of the main offence.

Countering the argument, special public prosecutor Prasad said he would place on record judgments against the argument.

The SPP also opposed an application made by the victim's father regarding the supply of audio and video attached with the chargesheet, saying dissemination of such material to media would cause prejudice to the accused.

Hence, if it is supplied, then the condition of no dissemination to anyone should be imposed, he said.

The court has posted the matter for further proceedings on April 3.

The Delhi police had filed a 6,629-page chargesheet on January 24 in the case.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 23:15 [IST]
IndiGo passenger accidentally opened plane's emergency exit in Dec; aircraft took off from Chennai after check

Swedish national molests IndiGo air hostess, arrested in Mumbai

India

oi-Prakash KL

A 63-year-old Swedish national was arrested in Mumbai on Thursday for allegedly molesting a cabin crew member onboard an IndiGo flight from Bangkok.

The accused named Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg was handed over to Mumbai police by the airline staff after the flight landed at Mumbai Airport. He was produced in the Andheri court on Friday and granted bail the same day on payment of Rs 20,000 bail surety.

The Sahar police has filed a four-page chargesheet using the accounts of three witnesses (all cabin crew), according to a report in The Times of India.

The accused started misbehaving with the cabin crew when meals were being served on a four-hour-ling Indigo flight (6E-1052). The 63-year-old man was drunk and his run-in continued till the flight landed in Mumbai.

The report claims that a red warning card was read out by the captain. "The problem began when I informed Westberg (seated on 28-E), who was drunk, that there was noseafood onboard. I served him chicken meals and asked for his ATM card to make a payment through the POS machine. On the pretext of swiping the card, the passenger held my hand. I pulled it back and asked him to enter the card PIN. This time he crossed the limit ... getting up, he molested me in front of other passengers. When I shouted and screamed that he was misbehaving, he returned to his seat," the daily quoted the cabin crew member as saying in the complaint.

Bomb threat to IndiGo Delhi-Deogarh flight truns out to be hoax

This is the 8th unruly airline passenger arrested in India in the past three months, according to officials.

The FIR further said, "The accused kept hurling 'f**k y**' during the entire journey. It is then that the victim read out the red warning card and ... declared (him) an 'unruly passenger'."

Westberg also assaulted 'another passenger seated on 28-D' who confronted him, the FIR said.

The Swedish national is accused of assaulting a co-passenger.

However, Westberg's lawyer Prabhakar Tripathi claimed that Westberg has health issues and his body shivers. "He cannot hold anything without help. He tried to hold the POS payment card machine when he touched the cabin crew. He did not touch her intentionally," he added.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 14:40 [IST]
'US is going to hell': Trump in first speech after arraignment

Georgia first US State to pass resolution against Hinduphobia

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

A resolution passed in the United States has condemned Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bigotry, while stating that Hinduism is one of the world's largest and oldest religions.

It said that Hinduism has over 1.2 billion adherents in over 100 countries and encompasses an array of diverse traditions and belief systems with values of acceptance, peace and mutual respect.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta, which is home to one of the largest Hindu and Indian-American diaspora community in Georgia.

The resolution said that the American-Hindu community has been a major contributor to diverse sectors such as science, engineering, medicine, information technology, hospitality, academia, finance, energy, manufacturing, retain trade among others.

US Vice President Kamala Harris visits Indian grandfathers house in Zambia

The resolution took note of the community's contribution to Yoga, ayurveda, meditation, music, food, arts and said that it has enriched the cultural fabric and has been widely adopted in American society. It has enhanced the lives of millions, it also noted.

The resolution said that there has been documented instances of hate crimes against the Hindu-Americans over the last few decades. It said that Hinduphobia is exacerbated and institutionalised by some in academia who support the dismantling of Hinduism and accuse its sacred texts and cultural practices of violence and oppression.

This move was spearheaded by the Atlanta chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America. The first-ever Advocacy Day was held on March 22 at the Georgia State Capitol. It was attended by 25 lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats.

Rajeev Menon, vice presidency to the CoHNA said, "it was a true honor to work with Rep McDonald and Rep Jones as well as other lawmakers who guided us through the whole process of getting this County Resolution passed."

"We also heard that all the lawmakers had been working really long hours given the amount of legislative items on the agenda, but still decided to join us at the Advocacy Day to show how much they value the Hindu community," he also said.

Days after US backs Rahul, ex-prez Trump set to be arrested

"The issues faced by Hindu Americans in Georgia and the rest of the country via false, Hinduphobic narratives are negatively impacting a community that has been hardworking, law-abiding and enriching the fabric of America," Shobha Swamy, general secretary of CoHNA said.

"We urged for their help in combating such bigotry which advances hatred and creates the idea that Hindus and people of Indian-origin need special laws and monitoring due to allegations around some inherent propensity to discriminate," she also said.
Congress leader Navjot Sidhu likely to be out of jail on April 1

Out of jail, Sidhu slams Centre and Punjab govt, calls Rahul a revolution

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu walked free on Saturday after spending nearly 10 months in Patiala central jail in a 1988 road rage death case. He was wearing a sky blue jacket when he came out of jail. There were expectations that he would be released by afternoon but he came out of jail at 5:53 pm.

As soon as he walked out of the jail, the Congress leader said the BJP is stoking violence in Punjab.

VIDEO | Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu walks out of Patiala Central Jail. He was sentenced to a one-year term in a 1988 road rage case that led to a 65-year-old man's death. pic.twitter.com/HlWGvzb86r  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 1, 2023

Speaking to media, Sidhu said,''There is no such thing as democracy right now. Conspiracy to bring President's Rule in Punjab. Minorities being targeted. If you try to weaken Punjab, you will become weak.''

''When a lion roars, it echoes in America and Germany. Whenever a dictatorship came to this country a revolution has also come and this time, the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. He will rattle the government,'' Sidhu said.

''Institutions are now slaves. I am not scared. I'm not afraid of death. What I'm doing is for coming generations in Punjab,'' Navjot Sidhu after walking out of Patiala jail.

2 accused in Sidhu Moosewala murder case killed in jail fight in Punjab

"History is witness that no one has been in jail even for a week for IPC 323. But why did Sidhu then go to jail? Because my predecessors wrote the Constitution and I respect that," Sidhu said.

The 59-year-old's supporters had assembled since morning outside the prison to accord him a grand welcome upon his release and they could be heard chanting 'Navjot Sidhu zindabad'.

The former state Congress chief was jailed on May 20 last year after being sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court over the death of the 65-year-old Gurnam Singh in a road rage case in 1988.
YEIDA to buy farmers' land from April 15

India

oi-Prakash KL

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) will start purchasing the land from the farmers for industrial development near the Noida airport from April 15.

The purchased land will be given to the investors who would like to set up their industrial units along the Yamuna Expressway, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

"We will start buying the land from land owners who want to sell their land for the planned development around the airport. We will follow the laid down procedures and purchase the land required for the development," the daily quoted YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh as saying.

The land will be purchased from 10 villages such as Maqsudpur, Rabupura, Birampur, Tirthali, Murad Garhi, Kureb and Myana.

YEIDA to hire consultant to build dashboard

The YEIDA can buy the land through the 2013 Land Act or directly from the farmers who are willing to sell. The second option is said to be the easier one. "By purchasing land directly from the farmers, we can procure the land more easily and ready it for the required purposes," said Singh.

YEIDA officials claim that farmers are interest to sell their land as it is paying a rate of Rs 3,100 per square metre besides rehabilitation benefits, the report added.

"After the Uttar Pradesh government hiked the land rates from Rs 2,300 to Rs 3,100 per square, farmers are ready to give up their land for development as the move will also create jobs in the region," said Kapil Singh, a farmer from Birampur village.

YEIDA intends to develop an Electronic City in Sector 10, a Film City in Sector 21, a Medical Device Park in Sector 28, an Apparel Park in Sector 29, besides commercial and industrial development in Sector 32.

"We have got the land in all of these sectors as we had acquired them earlier too. But still some patches are left to be purchased from farmers to complete the development work in these sectors," said Singh.

The Noida airport is strategically located at about 72 km from IGI Airport, about 52 km from Noida, about 130 km from Agra and about 90 km from Multi-Modal Logistics Hub (MMLG) at Dadri. The authorities are hoping to complete the first phase of the project by the end of September this year.

YEIDA plans Metro corridors to ease travel blues along Yamuna Expressway

Spread over an area of 1,334 acre, the Noida airport is being developed by Noida International Airport NIAL under Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), which is a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG.

According to the developer, a multi-modal connectivity, an integrated cargo hub and facilities for maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft are among the key features of the master plan for the upcoming Noida airport at Jewar. There are also plans to make it a transit hub.

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Story first published: Saturday, April 1, 2023, 14:29 [IST]
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution. The oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed on 14 June 1775 to fight the American Revolutionary War (17751783)before the United States was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself to be a continuation of the Continental Army, and thus considers its institutional inception to be the origin of that armed force in 1775.
President Joe Biden is opening his second Summit for Democracy with a pledge for the U.S. to spend $690 million bolstering democracy programs around the globe.

The Biden administration wants to use the two-day summit beginning Wednesday to zero in on making technology work for and not against democracy, according to a senior administration official. Some 120 global leaders have been invited to participate.

Biden frequently speaks of the U.S. and like-minded allies being at a critical moment in which democracies need to demonstrate they can out-deliver autocracies. The summits, something Biden promised as a Democratic 2020 presidential candidate, have become an important piece of his administration's effort to try to build deeper alliances and nudge autocratic-leaning nations toward at least modest reforms.

"Thanks to the commitment of leaders... gathered today and the persistence of people in every region of the world demanding their rights be respected and their voices be heard, we're seeing real indicators and real indications that we're turning the tide here," Biden told the summit.

Strengthening transparent, accountable governance rooted in the consent of the governed is a fundamental imperative of our time, Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a joint statement at the opening of the summit.

The new funding will focus on programs that support free and independent media, combat corruption, bolster human rights, advance technology that improves democracy, and support free and fair elections.

The official, who previewed the summit on the condition of anonymity, said the administration has also come to an agreement with 10 other nations on guiding principles for how the governments should use surveillance technology.

The surveillance tech agreement comes after Biden signed an executive order earlier this week restricting the U.S. government's use of commercial spyware tools that have been used to surveil human rights activists, journalists and dissidents around the world.

The world has had a tumultuous 15 months since Biden's first democracy summit in December 2021. Countries emerged from the coronavirus pandemic, and Russia launched its war in Ukraine, the largest-scale war in Europe since World War II. Biden has also tangled with Beijing, speaking out repeatedly about China's military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Russian invasion was a jolting moment for the world's democracies.

Since the last summit for democracy two years ago, the world has changed dramatically, Rutte said. "For decades, the idea of war in Europe seemed unthinkable. But we were wrong as Russias brutalization of Ukraine has shown we cannot assume that democracy, freedom and security are givens, that they are eternal.

Kenyan President William Ruto said that democracy building was essential to developing nations' growth. Ruto was the winner last year of the countrys close presidential race in which opposition candidate Raila Odinga had alleged irregularities, but Kenyas Supreme Court unanimously rejected the challenges.

This is our path to sustainable development, Ruto said.

The U.S. hosted the last summit on its own. This time, it recruited four co-hosts  Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia  after ambassadors from China and Russia criticized the first summit and accused Biden of causing a global divide with a Cold War mentality.

Still, some countries would rather not get between Washington and Beijing.

Pakistan announced, as it did in 2021, that it received an invitation but would skip the summit, a move seen in part as an effort by the impoverished Islamic nation to assuage longtime ally China, which was not invited.

The Biden administration has also expanded its invitation list. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gambia, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Lichtenstein, Mauritania, Mozambique and Tanzania were extended invitations to this years summit after being left off the list in 2021.

The first day of the summit was convened in a virtual format and will be followed on Thursday by hybrid gatherings in each of the host countries, with representatives from government, civil society and the private sector participating.

Costa Rica will focus on the role of youth in democratic systems. The Dutch are taking on media freedom. South Korea is looking at corruption. Zambia is centering on free and fair elections

The U.S. is no stranger to the challenges facing democracies, including deep polarization and pervasive misinformation.

Lies spread about the 2020 presidential election by then-President Donald Trump and his supporters have convinced a majority of Republicans that Biden was not legitimately elected, normalized harassment and death threats against election officials, and been used to justify efforts in Republican-controlled legislatures to adopt new voting restrictions.

Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in a racial gerrymandering case from Alabama t hat voting rights advocates fear could virtually dismantle the nearly 60-year-old Voting Rights Act. Congressional efforts to shore up that federal law and increase voting access have failed.

Biden came into office vowing that human rights and democracy would play significant roles in his approach to foreign policy. But he's faced criticism from some human rights activists for being too soft on some Arab countries over their human rights records. The administration sees these nations as important partners in bringing stability to the Middle East.

More recently, Biden administration officials have been at odds with close Mideast ally Israel, as conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to push forward a far-reaching judicial overhaul that the administration worries will diminish Israel's democracy.

Netanyahu in remarks at the summit's opening session said Israel remained a robust democracy in the midst of a very intensive public debate.

Democracy means the will of the people as expressed by a majority, and it also means protection of civil rights, individual rights. Its the balance between the two, he said.

Marti Flacks, the director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said there's been a disconnect between the Biden administration's messaging and actions on human rights. The administration may get higher marks from allies for how it has approached stresses on democracy at home.

The fact that the Biden administration has been very open and transparent about the challenges that the U.S. is facing domestically on the democracy front has increased their credibility on these issues externally, Flacks said. "Because one of the big questions that I think they faced coming in is how can you begin to talk about human rights and democracy overseas if you cant address those problems here at home.

Following his appearance at the plenary session of the summit, Biden will host President Alberto Fernandez of Argentina for talks in the Oval Office.

Fernandez, who was also taking part in the summit, is looking for backing from Biden as his country tries to renegotiate the countrys $44 billion lending program with the International Monetary Fund.

Argentina is asking the IMF to revise its requirements for release of the latest installment of the deal, arguing that it has been negatively impacted by a drought and by higher energy prices caused by Russias war in Ukraine.

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A look at sub-imperialism and multipolarity in Brazil historically and into the future.



In the Open Veins of Latin..

Eurasia Review 01 Apr 2023
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Eurasia Review 13 Apr 2023

A new order may be emerging in the Middle East, but how it is emerging does not fit the core narrative written by..
Donald Trump took aim at the Manhattan DA, alleging the 'crime statistics' in NYC are 'a complete and total disaster.'
The monks in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery of Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been accused of having links to Russia. The abbot of the monastery was placed under house arrest for 60 days.
Members of Parliament have voted to summon the owner of Canada's largest wood pulp producer and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne to testify before the Natural Resources committee. The motion comes following an investigation by CBC News and other media partners.
Israel staged airstrikes on the suburbs of Syria's capital Damascus early Friday morning, killing Milad Heidari, an Iranian military adviser from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iran's state TV reported.

Irans state TV also warned that Israel would receive a response for the crime.

Syrian state news agency SANA acknowledged the attack, quoting a military source who said the missile barrage came from the direction of the Golan Heights at 12:17am.

"The Syrian air defense system successfully intercepted several of the missiles, but the attack resulted in some material damage," the source added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani strongly condemned the attacks.

Unfortunately, the international community did not have the expected and deterrent reaction to the aggressive and continuous military attacks by Israel on Syria, including civilian airports and residential areas," Kanaani said.

He added that such aggressive practices are a clear and ongoing violation of international laws and regulations.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges specific operations.

Israel says it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanons Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Al-Assads forces.

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A statistician at the University of Waterloo shares his magic formula to win prizes in the Tim Hortonss Roll Up To Win contest.
Three British men are being held in Taliban custody in Afghanistan - including so-called "danger tourist" Miles Routledge who returned to the country after being evacuated by British armed forces less than two years ago.
The monks in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery of Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been accused of having links to Russia.
Kyiv plans to launch a counteroffensive against Russia this spring. A former US military meteorologist has taken to Twitter to provide valuable predictions as to when ground conditions will be right.
Borussia Dortmund shot themselves in the foot in Munich as Bayern stormed back to the top of the Bundesliga in Thomas Tuchels first game. But the result poses bigger questions than just what happened in the title race.
A new order may be emerging in the Middle East, but how it is emerging does not fit the core narrative written by..

Eurasia Review 13 Apr 2023
The US leader will decline an invite to see King Charles crowned next month, The Telegraph reports.
NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. He will be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in his hush-money case, [...]
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Pistorius was sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison for in 2017, four years after he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp in their home, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi performed Friday prayers alongside high ranking state and military officials at El-Moshir Tantawy Mosque in New Cairo to mark the 6th of October 1973 war victory, which occurred on the 10th of Ramadan on the Islamic Hijri Calendar.

The Friday prayers were attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Defense and Military Production General Mohamed Zaki, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Osama Askar as well as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayyeb and Grand Mufti of Egypt Shawki Allam.

Also in attendance were Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik, Minister of Justice Mohamed Abdel-Rahim, Minister of Local Development Hisham Amna, Minister of Military Production Mohamed Salah El-Din, Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa and Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal.

Doctor El-Shahat El-Sayed Azazi delivered the Friday sermon.

Following the prayer, President El-Sisi held a meeting with the commanders of the Armed Forces in which he asserted that the Egyptian people highly appreciate all the efforts and sacrifices made by the Armed Forces to defend the security and safety of the homeland.

El-Sisi also saluted the Armed Forces servicemen for their huge efforts to enhance Egypt's security, stability and progress.



The meeting with the military top brass tackled several local, regional and international issues, especially in light of both the current political and economic developments worldwide and Egypts efforts to achieve stability and enhance development in the region.

The 10th of the holy month of Ramadan this year falls on Saturday.

Ramadan is the 9th month on the Hijri lunar calendar.

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When finance ministers and central bankers arrive in Washington next week for the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, they will have much to discuss, from the global economys fragile recovery to the risk of financial instability, from fragmentation to the fallout from Russias war in Ukraine.



But it is imperative that they...
Satellite images show a high level of activity at North Korea's main nuclear site, a U.S. think tank reported on Saturday after the North Korean leader ordered an increase in production of bomb fuel to expand the country's nuclear arsenal. The Washington-based 38 North North Korea monitoring



#northkorea #northkorean #northnorthkorea #yongbyon #kimjongun #sipri
Akwesasne: Two Indians were among the eight people who drowned in the St Lawrence River while attempting to cross into the US from Canada illegally. The authorities recovered six bodies on Thursday and suspect that the tragedy occurred on Wednesday night.

The Chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service confirmed that they are searching for a missing 30-year-old man, Casey Oakes, who is a person of interest in the case, as his boat was found near the area where the victims were recovered. This is the latest tragedy involving Indians seeking better prospects abroad.

At least two children with Canadian passports were among the victims, said police, who are waiting on the results of a post-mortem and toxicology tests from Montreal to determine the cause of death.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed last week to stop asylum seekers coming to Canada through unofficial border crossings, a move critics said could mean refugees and migrants will take more risks when crossing.

But Akwesasne police said the agreement that closed all unofficial border entries, including Roxham Road in Quebec, should not have factored here because the families were seeking to go to the U.S., not to Canada.

"Right now what I can tell you is this has nothing to do with that closure," O'Brien said.

Last year an Indian family of four froze to death in Canada's province of Manitoba as they were trying to cross into the U.S.

The Akwesasne reserve straddles both sides of the St. Lawrence River, with land in Ontario and Quebec on the Canadian side, and New York. To fight the smuggling of people and goods, local police monitor the river full-time with funds from Quebec.

"We're reeling from this tragedy," Akwesasne Chief Abram Benedict told reporters. "It does bring to light the challenges of immigration for Canada and the United States."

More people have been using Akwesasne territory to try to enter the U.S. in secret, with 80 interceptions recorded since the beginning of the year, and the majority have been Indians or Romanians, said Dulude.

On Wednesday night, when the families likely sought to cross the river, the weather was poor.

"It was very windy," O'Brien said, and it was raining and sleeting. "It was not a good time to be out in the water."

Trudeau called the deaths "heartbreaking."

"We need to understand properly what happened, how this happened and do whatever we can to ensure that we're minimizing the chances of it happening again," he told reporters in Moncton, New Brunswick.

(With inputs from PTI & Reuters)
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Hive Mind Fear Full Article | Print Article Saturday, April 8, 2023 | SHARE How many of us actually live life fully engaged, out on the field, in the thick of it, taking it as it comes? Who experiences real joy and sorrow, thriving community, authentic love?

All This For A Thimbleful Of Dirt Full Article | Print Article Saturday, April 8, 2023 | (3 comments) SHARE Had Hannibal not... had the Buddha not... had the builders of Stonehenge not done what they did, exactly as they did it, we would not have this thimbleful of sand from a place about as definitively inaccessible as a place can be.

Rupert the Transgender Terrorist Full Article | Print Article Saturday, April 1, 2023 | (3 comments) SHARE The distance between this artificial structure and democracy cannot be traversed: the two cannot coexist. And this is the actual polarization that we continue to misidentify as political, endlessly squabbling over irrelevancies, to the enormous profit of a few feudal oligarchs, and to our great and terrible loss.

Now that the messengers have been dealt with Full Article | Print Article Saturday, March 11, 2023 | (9 comments) SHARE Politicians are riding the ambient terror that's now normal in America for all it's worth. We are led by opportunists and con-artists drumming up business among the most uninformed. Not "misinformed" or "disinformed" or yet "malinformed" but just benumbed and hypnotized with fear, ripe for plucking. This has bankrupted democracy, and thrown public discourse into chaos.

Journalism: Where Did It Go? Full Article | Print Article Sunday, February 26, 2023 | (1 comments) SHARE Taibbi and Gerth and others are being called "revisionists" now. But "Hamilton 68" was as inevitable as the election of a mediocre con artist to the presidency, or our current apparent descent into permanent world war. In both cases neither side, not the babbling hucksters nor the supposedly cooler heads, had the least intention of changing trajectory, much less addressing it.

Series: Antisocial Media (6 Articles, 5825 views)

Twitstorm II Taibbi Unearths Twitter McCarthyism Full Article | Print Article Saturday, January 28, 2023 | SHARE don't bother chasing any conspiracy theories, remember that this is all baloney. The big money makes it just one more obvious slate-wiping threat to everything living in the known universe. However, we must expect failure when humans try to set up such Babel-towers, long before anything resembling heaven's stairway appears.

Series: Antisocial Media (6 Articles, 5825 views)

Toxic Conversational Bubbles Full Article | Print Article Friday, January 27, 2023 | (1 comments) SHARE The platform, and not any person or community, finds this extremely profitable. But the people who were once related are now merely linked by some trivial attractant ephemera, with no way of knowing what happened.

Series: Antisocial Media (6 Articles, 5825 views)

Golden Rule arrives in Cuba! (Press Release) Full Article | Print Article Sunday, January 1, 2023 | (2 comments) SHARE The historic Golden Rule anti-nuclear sailboat arrived in Cuba this morning, December 31, 2022. The storied wooden boat, which was sailed toward the Marshall Islands in 1958 to interfere with US nuclear testing, set sail from Key West, Florida on Friday morning with a crew of five. The 34-foot ketch belongs to Veterans For Peace, its mission "to end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons."

Series: Peace Boat (3 Articles, 3080 views)

Historic Golden Rule Peace Boat On Its Way to Cuba (press release) Full Article | Print Article Friday, December 30, 2022 | (1 comments) SHARE The storied wooden boat, which was sailed toward the Marshall Islands in 1958 to interfere with US nuclear testing, set sail from Key West, Florida on Friday morning, and will arrive at the Hemingway Marina in Havana on Saturday morning, New Years Eve day. The 34-foot ketch belongs to Veterans For Peace, and implements its mission "to end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons."

Series: Peace Boat (3 Articles, 3080 views)

Twitstorm: the Wrath of the Media descends upon Matt Taibbi Full Article | Print Article Sunday, December 18, 2022 | (10 comments) SHARE This is so much bigger than an obscenely rich playboy playing pingpong with the public mind, much less a clever researcher into new slang and symbolism on the internet with a book to sell. These may be stories, but they pale next to what's been dumped in Taibbi's lap, probably because of his reputation for old-school journalistic integrity, that he is faithfully, and responsibly, reporting.

Series: Antisocial Media (6 Articles, 5825 views)

Locks are to keep honest people out Full Article | Print Article Wednesday, November 30, 2022 | SHARE the humans who lit up this doomsday machine are long dead. The self-maintaining and adaptive algorithms have become a rueful joke, if they are acknowledged at all. But make no mistake: not intelligent, or hostile, or evolving into some new hybrid species, its intention is more like that of a toaster, just one simple function to perform endlessly. Earth will be a barren rock long before it fixes us in its malevolent gaze.

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On my way to a performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton, I stopped at the post office. When I excitedly mentioned where I was headed, I was confronted with a sharp, "I don't believe in that!"

I must have looked surprised as I wondered: Don't believe in going to musicals? Don't believe Hamilton existed? Don't believe the story?

I didn't have to wonder for long. "Hamilton was white! They shouldn't have black actors playing a white person!"

"Well, Hamilton's mother was from the Caribbean!" I shot back to a look of genuine surprise.

And therein lies much of the value of Lin-Manuel Miranda's masterpiece: effectively using the arts, as has long been the tradition, as a vehicle to enhance education, insight and then hopefully, tolerance and empathy.

Creative license is employed in this work of art, as it is in others, and nitpickers may argue over the factual details of the narrative. However, the spirit of the story is not only intact, but is enhanced by creativity. As Cervantes famously warns us in Don Quixote, "Facts are the enemy of Truth."

Experiencing Miranda's Hamilton while nestled within the geographic area where many of the pivotal activities occured was a thrill for Norfolk, Virginia's audience in Chrysler Hall. Every local reference was met with enthusiastic applause, whoops and hollers:

The Commonwealth of Virginia, known as the "birthplace of presidents," boasts eight sons; three are featured prominently in the musical: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

The Battle of Yorktown, which took place less than thirty miles from the venue, was masterminded by Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton. The victory famously heralded the end of the Revolutionary War and set the stage for the birth of a new country.

The Chesapeake Bay, which figured prominently in the Revolutionary War, is less than 10 miles from Chrysler Hall.

Coincidently, a visible reminder of the struggles these early Americans-to-be faced is barely 400 yards from the venue: a British cannonball, still lodged in the wall of the historic St. Paul's Church.



Cannonball lodged in church wall.

(Image by Wikipedia (commons.wikimedia.org), Author: lori05871 from Rural Vermont, USA) Details Source DMCA



Hamilton premiered on Broadway in 2015. Miranda's brilliant musical score mixes R&B, pop, soul, jazz, rap and traditional show tune styles. In addition to writing the book, music, and lyrics, he also starred in the title role on Broadway.

Hamilton received a Pulitzer, 11 wins out of 16 Tony Award nominations, a Grammy, a MacArthur 'genius grant' for the creator and a special Kennedy Center Honor. Many have called the masterpiece the best Broadway show to date. Seeing it is an essential experience for any musical, cultural, political or history buff--indeed, for any American.

Miranda based the musical on historian Ron Chernow's 2004 book, Alexander Hamilton, noting, "My feeling when I was reading his biography was like, why is the only thing I know about him is that he died in a duel?" And, indeed, until this musical launched, that is all most Americans knew about Hamilton, if they knew about him at all.

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"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August, 2018)

Trump, What a fundraiser: click here. Who else could possibly be indicted for a set of felony crimes, and do this?

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As my regular readers know, I write on Trump and write on Trump and write on Trump, and have done so since 2015, with my first column on him which was entitled "Is it Hair Trump or Herr Trump? In fact (and yes, there's a little ad here), I recently published, on Kindle to be sure, six volumes, about 310,00 words, of my columns on Trump, 2015-2021 (Click Here).

So yes, I was going to take a little Trump-time off. Even with the prospect of an indictment possibly coming up. Many folks were thinking "New York," but a couple of days ago it looked like it would be delayed there. The Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, although from the outside certainly appearing to be pursuing the case, also seemed to have certain matters on his mind before asking the Grand Jury that he had empaneled to deliver an indictment on Trump.

Would it be a misdemeanor or would it be a felony? The former might be easier to prove but the latter would carry much more weight. And then all sorts of experts, even long-time Trump opponents, like Andrew Weisman, the former lead prosecutor on the Steamship Bill Barr "Mueller Investigation," which Barr himself managed to sink (without, of course, going down with it), discussed the difficulties involved in seeking a felony indictment. But all signs pointed to a delay. And so, on Thursday, March 30, I posted the following tweet:

"thepoliticaljunkies @tpjmagazineMar 30

Click Here. Couldn't be that DA Bragg is in totally off-the-record communication with Spec. Pros. Smith who told him to hold off w/ the misdemeanor indictment until Smith files his for one or more felonies, on 'Mar-a-Lago,' and the Jan. 6 Insurrection? Could it?"

And then ooops, Trump is, in his very own words, "indicated." Yes, lots of folks picked that up, very quickly, and lots of folks noted it. It surely was fun, wasn't it? We know that Trump does not know the English language very well, except to attack with it (see just below), but this was a good one. And it certainly indicated which way Trump would have liked to see this one go: off the rails. Except that it didn't. And most seriously for Trump, although many observers, including many legal ones on the anti-Trump side, thought that a felony indictment would be a reach, this Grand Jury did vote for one. So, of course there are many issues that one could deal with. Let's just pick a few, at least for now, not necessarily in order of importance.

First, just a week ago, or so, at least looking from the outside at what was going on with the Grand Jury itself, what might have changed things, speeded things up, provided more evidence to support a felony indictment? Three names come to mind (and I am making no claim for originality here).

The 1st of them is Allen Weisselberg, long-time Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, who as is well known was convicted of certain financial crimes, (without, however, "giving up" Trump), and sent to a fairly short sentence at New York City's (gigantic) Rikers Island Jail. It happens to be a very unpleasant place, out-of-which Weisselberg certainly would like to get. As it happened, he recently replaced his Trump-type lawyer for an independent one. There is speculation that he may have provided testimony implicating Trump in one or more crimes, something he previously refused to do.

The 2nd of them is David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher who buried the "Stormy Daniels" story. He appeared again before the Grand Jury on March 26, 2023, and many have added an "st" to "again." The 3rd is Stephanie Clifford (stage name "Stormy Daniels," a name which she apparently prefers to use, at least in public), who at least "met with the DA" about 10 days before the indictment came down.

So, new information apparently came in. That which would have been testified to before the Grand Jury would have been under oath. And if Weisselberg and Pecker did not present new information, why would they have appeared before the Grand Jury at this time?

Second, there is the matter of a felony indictment and Trump's passport (and who knows if he has only one). In such a case, standard State Dept. regulations require that it be lifted. Since, as my regular readers know, I think that Trump will flee if things get too tight for him legally, a felony indictment at this time makes it stickier for him, in this regard. Trump and family members have developed close relationships with certain Middle Eastern powers even before he became President. And as it happens, countries like Dubai and the UAE do not have extradition treaties with the United States. Just sayin'.

Third, there is Trump's use of the "Six [more recently Seven] Magic Tricks that I have written on, on numerous occasions, in this space. They are, briefly:

1. He has always had one or more protectors and enablers, either personal, or financial or both. (Except on the political/Republican side, which don't count for personal matters, Weisselberg, who appeared to be the last-man-standing now appears to be gone.

2. "Always attack; Never defend," and its variation, lie-lie-lie, are out in full force.

3. "When you run into a problem, just sue." You may not win, and it may cost you some money. But a) you might win and b) with the endlessness with which civil litigation can be drawn out in the U.S. legal system, that other side may just get worn out. It is very well-known that Trump has used "sue, sue, sue" on the countless civil-law conflicts he has been in, suing to get a criminal indictment dismissed is not in the law, and while a defendant may ask for an indictment to be dropped if new evidence is brought to light, that does not seem to be a possibility in this care

4. In the whole of his business life, Trump has never been responsible to anyone else, either above him (except for Dad, of course) or even alongside. NOT applicable in this case.

5. Trump has (for the most part happily) lived his life surrounded by enemies. Exploiting this Magic Trick is at the top of the list, along with "Always attack, Never Defend," in this case. Man! Is he off and running on this one.

6. Trump is history's greatest con man. Which is where his massive fund-raising comes in. AND:

7. "Oh woe is me; everyone's against me, and it's so unfair[!]" Likely at the top of the list this time (especially when for example, the charging DA happens to be Black and he happened, indirectly, to receive campaign support from "George Soros.")

Fourth, it is absolutely fascinating to read the Republican-and-other-Trumpist responses to the news of the indictment. For example (from the New York Times of March 31, several articles):

1. Ron DeSantis said: "The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head." (As I noted in a tweet on March 27, "The Criminal Justice System is indeed weaponized against him. That's what the CJS is: the weaponization of Justice against criminals."

2. Mike Pence said: "The unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a finance campaign issue is an outrage." One wonders what kind of charge the former V-P would consider justified, incitement to riot, perhaps?

3. Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law Professor, and former G.W. Bush DOJ official, said, "Whether the indictment is warranted or not, it crosses a huge line in American Politics and American legal history." That's sure as shootin' true, Prof. But is your implication that that line shouldn't' have been crossed in this case? And it not in this case, in what kind of case would you sanction so doing?

4. Rep. Mark Green, Repub. of TN and chair of the Homeland Security Comm., said "Daniel Ortega arrested his opposition in Nicaragua and we call that a horrible thing." (Funny that he didn't' mention the imprisonment of "Lula" by Bolsonaro in Brazil.) Then, as if President Biden had any control over an indictment in the State of New York, for a violation of State law, Green said, "Mr. Biden, Mr. President, think about that."

5. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the D.A. has "irreparably damaged our country" and "the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account." Under which law(s) and for what might that be done, the Speaker did not say.

6. Pam Bondi, a Trump ally, said that "I believe that this will help President Trump politically. (Get that, he has been charged with a felony and she thinks that it will help him politically. Surely tells one something very important about the Republican Party and its voters, doesn't it?)

7. FoxNews host Jesse Watters said "the country is not going to stand for it. And people better be careful." (I wonder what he might have meant with that last bit.)

8. Of course, last week Rep. Jim Jordan and etc. had sent that letter to the DA "demanding that Mr. Bragg provide communications, documents and testimony about his investigation." One wonders under exactly what legal/Constitutional authority that process would be carried out. But Mr. Jordan appeared not to address that matter. Oh yes, the Repubs, just love Federalism, when it suits their purposes.

9. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the well-known expert on Constitutional law, contributed that observation that the indictment was unconstitutional. Over the years, for different purposes, I have read the Constitution pretty much all the way through, several times, and I can't recall a provision of it that could be interpreted in that way. But, hey, you learn something new every day.

10. Finally (in this set), on the air, the ever-helpful Tucker Carlson said ""probably not the best time to give up your AR-15," and added that "Trump's indictment represents a 'political purge' against Republicans. He went on to claim that the "rule of law has been suspended for everyone who would consider voting for [Trump]." And we all know whose listeners Carlson's are.

Fifth (and finally). I have hardly read every statement on the indictment made by a Republican, or any other critic of the indictment-being-handed-down. But I did read quite a few of them. To me, it is absolutely fascinating that none of them said that the former President should not have been indicted, because he is innocent.

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Addendum (from The New York Times, p. A17, NYC edition, April 1, 2023 (no foolin'). The following Republicans, generally known (in relative terms at least) to be in the "moderate" wing of the party, avoided "making a comment" at this time, or words to that effect: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, No. 2 Sen. Repub. John Thune, Gov. Noem, former Rep. Liz Cheney, former Gov. Chris Christie, Gov. Chris Sununu (NH), Sen. Scott (SC), and former Gov. Larry Hogan (MD). Former FL Repub. Rep. Francis Rooney, apparently, along with everybody else, not havingt seen the details of the indictment said "It's stupid and they have no case." Former VP Pence "condemned it as politically motivated." Many respondents expressed "concerns about the legitimacy of the case," that is, to repeat, a case they haven't seen. One characteristic, historically, of a fascist party (except in the case of the Empire of the Sun), is that it has a Supreme Leader with a complete hold over both its politics and its policies.

(Article changed on Apr 01, 2023 at 1:07 PM EDT)

(Article changed on Apr 01, 2023 at 1:14 PM EDT)


Trump indicted and arranging for 'surrender' for arrest in NY Donald Trump becomes the first former president ever indicted. A Manhattan grand jury voting to criminally charge Trump.

(Image by YouTube, Channel: MSNBC) Details DMCA



Former President Donald Trump seen pictured after his indictment was announced.

Okay Trump was indicted yesterday by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

We're really in uncharted here as no president or former president has ever been indicted.

Trump has been living in Florida. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has said he would not assist in Trump being extradited to New York. Does that mean officials from the DA's office in Manhattan couldn't go down to Florida and bring Trump back to New York next Tuesday to face the charges against him? We'll have to wait and see what happens.

An article posted on Friday titled, "Trump indicted: What happens next?" [1] described what the case against him was all about simply listing what the actual charges are, how Trump reacted, posing the question could he still run for president, and lastly what happens next.

What was most surprising to this writer was the following from the article, "Charges and even a conviction, do not disqualify him from a presidential run".

That may be correct as a re-read of the Constitution indicates there is nothing in it preventing Trump from running again.

There's references to a president being removed for treason, bribery, or other high crimes but Trump is no longer in office. So it doesn't apply to him.

There is mention in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that "No person shall be elected president having engaged in insurrection".

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Oregon child welfare officials are seeking the publics help in locating twin 5-month-old boys they said went missing with their parents from North Portland a week ago and who may be in danger.

Jacob and Jacobi Wade were last seen March 24 with their parents, Alexis and William Wade, the Oregon Department of Human Services said in a statement Friday.

The state Human Services Department could not provide additional information about the case due to child privacy laws, according to spokesperson Jake Sunderland.

Both of the boys weigh about 8 pounds, have black hair and brown eyes and are about the size of an average sized newborn, the statement said.

The family may be traveling out of state, possibly to Wasington, D.C., according to the statement.

The Oregon Department of Human Services asked anyone with information to call 911 or the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline at 1-855-503-7233.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.
President Joe Biden is urging Russia to release Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, whom the countrys security service arrested on espionage charges, allegations the newspaper denies

President Joe Biden on Friday urged Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested on espionage charges, allegations the newspaper denies.

Let him go, Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about his message to Russia on the arrest of Gershkovich.

Russias Federal Security Service has accused Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, of trying to obtain classified information. It is the first time an American journalist has been detained in Russia on accusations of spying since the Cold War. The Journal has said it vehemently denies the charges.

Speaking at a news conference in Lusaka, Zambia, Vice President Kamala Harris added that the administration was deeply concerned about Gershkovich's arrest.

We will not tolerate, and condemn, in fact, repression of journalists, Harris said during a weeklong visit to Africa.

The Biden administration said Thursday it was working to secure U.S. consular access to Gershkovich. Asked Friday whether he would expel Russian diplomats or journalists in the U.S., Biden responded: Thats not the plan right now.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the targeting of U.S. citizens in Russia unacceptable and said the administration condemns the detention of Gershkovich "in the strongest terms.

The Biden administration has also warned U.S. citizens not to travel to Russia, and for Americans in the country to depart immediately.

In Moscow, Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize-winning editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, told reporters he knows the detained journalist and Gershkovich was not an agent using his professional and journalistic accreditation as a cover for espionage.

Speaking more generally of the Kremlin's repression of independent journalism, which has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine, Muratov said: "This is a trend  trying to attribute espionage and treason to people at every step, to show that the profession of a journalist is an enemy profession for the country  for Russian and other journalists.

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If you want to know why Portlands newest restaurant group chose a food cart pod for its first big project, just look at the name.

Win Win, the new group founded by XLB owners Jasper Shen and Linh Tran and artist Catie Hannigan, spent the past year securing a roster of seven food carts for Lil America, the new BIPOC- and LGBTQ-focused cart pod at 1015 S.E. Stark St.

For the carts, Lil America offers below-market rents for the kind of amenities only found at a handful of other Portland pods. For Win Win, the project was a chance for the trio to get their consulting feet wet, giving free-of-charge advice to a hand-selected group of cart owners.

Were lucky enough with XLB that were doing OK, Shen said of the dumpling-focused North Portland restaurant. But I dont really want to open a whole bunch of XLBs or whatever. At a certain point youve got to try to pay it back to the community, to try to make something better.

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Lil America currently hosts seven carts, one that was already in place (Los Plebes), two that are new (Frybaby and Makulit) and four that relocated from other pods (Bake on the Run, Hawker Station, The Dripn Crab and Speed-O Cappuccino). The pod will hold a grand opening event from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 1.

Food carts are already one of the more diverse parts of Portlands food scene, but that doesnt mean every small business has equal access to the amenities found at high-profile pods such as Prost, Hinterland or CORE. At Lil America, carts have access to their own refrigeration, dry storage and are directly plumbed to a sewer line, an important consideration due to new state rules regarding waste water disposal.

The Lil America food cart pod is being developed as a partnership between ChefStable and Win Win, a new community-focused restaurant group co-founded by (from left) Catie Hannigan, Linh Tran and Jasper Shen. Carter Hiyama

In addition to the carts, the pod has proper bathrooms, indoor seating and a symbiotic relationship with Fracture Brewings adjacent taproom. Dos Hermanos bakery, which sits alongside XLB on North Williams Avenue, is moving into a larger space next to the taproom later this year. Last month, Willamette Week reported that St. Jack chef John Denison plans to open a seafood-focused raw bar, Cache Cache, in the same building. ChefStable, the restaurant group that backs XLB, is a partner in the brewery, bakery, raw bar and Lil America.

This opportunity popped up with (ChefStable owner) Kurt (Huffman) having this space and honestly, we just didnt have enough funding to get people into restaurants, Shen said. Even a food hall type thing would be exponentially more expensive, and I personally am wary of food halls after seeing what happened at Pine Street Market.

[Related: Here are Lil Americas 7 BIPOC/LGBTQ-owned food carts]

Rent for each cart is $1,500 a month, around half of what Bake on the Run owner Michael Singh says he was paying at Hawthorne Asylum, a nearby cart pod with fewer amenities.

The exclusive focus on BIPOC- and LGBTQ-owned carts meant Win Win asked MidCity SmashBurger, a cart that was an early fixture on the lot, to move out. According to Shen, the group offered MidCity owner Mike Aldridge a spot on a nearby corner, but he did not accept. MidCity can now be found at the Level Brewing taproom at 1447 N.E. Sandy Blvd.

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We had a lot of discussions about it, but we wanted to try to create this multicultural thing, and I think whenever you create anything, theres going to be some people who win and some people who lose, Shen said. I think its just the reality of the situation and yeah, it kind of sucks for them.

(In a text message Friday, Aldridge said that while he was disappointed in not being included in the pod, he still believes in their mission of elevating BIPOC and LGBTQ+ owned trucks. The move away from its original location has cost his business roughly 50 percent of its revenue, he wrote.)

After talking with incoming carts, Win Win learned that one thing most owners wish they had more of was dry storage and access to refrigeration. Still, Shen knows unforeseen issues are sure to pop up.

Youll realize six months from now, Oh, we need a bigger garbage room, Shen said. Were not even in full swing yet. Like anything, its a learning process.

What: Lil America, a new BIPOC- and LGBTQ-focused cart pod with seven food carts, indoor bathrooms and an adjacent brewery taproom with a full bar.

Where: 1015 S.E. Stark St.

When: Lil Americas grand opening will take place on Saturday, April 1 with music, food and drink specials, a visit from PDX Bubble Unicorn from noon to 2 p.m., a set by DJ K Marie from 2 to 5 p.m., and a drag show at 3 p.m. This is a family-friendly event. Dogs on leashes are welcome.

What else: On April 15, Bake on the Run plans to celebrate Phagwah, the Guyanese version of Holi. Guests will wear white and throw vibrantly colored powder at each other, signifying the triumph of good over evil, according to owner Michael Singh. A DJ will play Soca Chutney and Bollywood music.

Read more:

Here are Lil Americas 7 BIPOC/LGBTQ-owned food carts

 Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe
Lil America, a new food cart pod focused exclusively on BIPOC- and LGBTQ-owned carts, will hold its grand opening from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 1 at 1015 S.E. Stark St. In addition to music, a visit from the PDX Bubble Unicorn at noon, and a drag show at 3 p.m., the event serves as an introduction to the pods seven small businesses, including two brand new carts and several that relocated from other pods. Here are the seven carts youll find if you drop by the pod today.

Bake on the Run

Take a bite of chef Bibi Singhs chickpea-potato curry and youre likely trying the only Guyanese eatery on the West Coast. Thats from Chile to Alaska, Bibis son, Michael Singh, notes. At Bake on the Run, that curry, a yellow split pea dal or a mix of egg and salted cod come with a side of bake, a semi-sweet puff bread that gives the cart its name. As Michael Singh explains, Guyanese food is part Indian, part African, part Chinese, part Portuguese, with like nine tribes within the borders, so all the food intermingles.

The Dripn Crab

Over the past year, locals have lined up for seafood boils at Bag O Crab on Northeast 82nd Avenue, Captains Choice in the Lloyd District and the just-opened Sea Crab House in Beaverton. But Shermain Scotts cart, which first touched down at Southeast 82nd Avenues CORE pod, opened before all three, offering saucy bags of crab, shrimp, sausage and hard-boiled eggs. Bibs and gloves are provided.

Frybaby

If youre looking for a breakout star at Lil America, it might just be this Korean fried chicken cart, which sits near the pods entrance and keeps relatively late closing hours (currently until 10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday). Growing up in Dallas, owner Sunny Hatch spent as much time eating Popeyes, Churchs and Taco Bell as he did eating Korean food, experiences that go into the menu at Frybaby, Hatchs just-opened food cart. Here youll find double-fried chicken wings tossed in spicy gochujang or soy garlic sauces with Southern-influenced sides such as bossam collard greens and mashed potatoes with curry gravy, all with cart-made kimchi.

Hawker Station

Damian Lillard likes the wings. For many Portlanders, that might be all you need to know about Andy Kous cart, which originally opened as Jas Kitchen at the CORE pod on Southeast 82nd Avenue (thats where Dame dropped by Hawker Station, ordering his wings with lemon-pepper sauce). But drop by today and youll also find a steak and eggs special, perhaps, and a Singaporean style khao man gai (chicken and rice), similar to the famous version at Nongs, only with a distinct ginger-scallion sauce.

Makulit

Jollibee fans have at least another year to wait until the beloved Filipino chain brings its fried chicken Portland. In the meantime, local chefs are taking matters into their own hands. This new cart, from longtime XLB sous chef Mike Bautista and Xrysto Castillo, serves lumpia, adobo-smothered poutine, fried chicken bites and longanisa-beef burgers from an in-your-face cart with a pink-and-yellow color scheme inspired by a bag of Calbee shrimp chips. We love Filipino food, but we love junk food too, Bautista said. We wanted to make it loud, because Filipino food is loud and spicy and sweet, and we didnt want to compromise that.

Los Plebes

The lone holdover cart from back when the pod was still a parking lot, Los Plebes serves regional Mexican dishes with an emphasis on Tijuana-style tacos, plus a real-deal trompo spinning up al pastor. Raul Garcia is the head honcho, loading the side broiler with marinated pork each night, while cousins Emmanuel and Eddie bring different tastes of Mexico to the table via the carts Saturday specials, including a recent Yucatecan-inspired cochinita pibil.

Speed-O Cappuccino

Originally found on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, this bubblegum pink cart is staffed exclusively by queer sex workers and serves espresso drinks, oat milkshakes and an all-vegan menu of corn dogs, smash burgers and sweet fruit tamales. Think of it as a bikini barista with a mission to increase visibility for trans and nonbinary Portlanders and nourish the local LGBTQ community. Sex work is like college, co-owner Dahlia Hanson says of her dancing gig. You can use it to level up, to strategize and get things you want.

What: Lil America, a new BIPOC- and LGBTQ-focused cart pod with seven food carts, indoor bathrooms and an adjacent brewery taproom with a full bar.

Where: 1015 S.E. Stark St.

When: Lil Americas grand opening will take place on Saturday, April 1 with music, food and drink specials, a visit from PDX Bubble Unicorn from noon to 2 p.m., a set by DJ K Marie from 2 to 5 p.m., and a drag show at 3 p.m. This is a family-friendly event. Dogs on leashes are welcome.

What else: On April 15, Bake on the Run plans to celebrate Phagwah, the Guyanese version of Holi. Guests will wear white and throw vibrantly colored powder at each other, signifying the triumph of good over evil, according to owner Michael Singh. A DJ will play Soca Chutney and Bollywood music.

Read more:

Meet Lil America, a new BIPOC/LGBTQ-focused food cart pod

 Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe
A potentially fatal fungus is spreading in the United States, but those with minimal health risks are likely in the clear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fungal species  Candida auris  spread at an alarming rate from 2020 to 2021, according to recently released CDC data. The agency said last month it is becoming a more dangerous threat to public health and warned health care facilities to be on the lookout for the fungus in their patients.

Likely factors for its spread in hospitals include poor infection prevention practices and increased screenings for the fungus among patients, the CDC reported.

The fungal infection was first reported in 2016, but why is it resurfacing now and should you be concerned? Heres what to know about C. auris:

What is it?

Candida auris may sound foreign, but you may be familiar with its sibling  Candida albicans  which is typically what causes vaginal yeast infections, explained Dr. Julie Trivedi, medical director of infection prevention at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Candida in and of itself is found in the intestinal tract and can cause yeast infections, especially in cases where maybe people have had antibiotics, Trivedi said.

C. auris is a type of yeast that can enter the bloodstream and falls under the fungus kingdom, which encompasses a diverse group of organisms. Fungi are commonly found outdoors, including in mulch and mold, and yeasts like Candida are considered a type of microscopic fungi, she said.

We see other types of Candida species that can cause infections in the hospital, and sometimes these are in patients who have either been in hospitals very frequently, Trivedi said.

However, since they are resistant to most antifungal drugs, C. auris infections are hard to treat, and severe cases can be fatal. About 30% to 60% of infected people have died from it, based on data from a limited number of patients  many of whom had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death  the CDC reported.

In 2022, the government agency reported 160 clinical C. auris cases in Texas out of 2,377 total in the United States. A 2022 World Health Organization ranking of disease-causing fungi listed C. auris in its critical priority group.

In Oregon, a handful of cases have been reported, according to KOIN.

So why exactly is the fungus resurfacing? It might be another lingering side effect from the pandemic, Trivedi said.

C. auris may have increased in frequency because of the strain on health care systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a shortage of health care workers and personal protective equipment.

Its possible that there could also be increased transmission because of those constraints that were placed on health care systems, Trivedi said.

Patients in the hospital during COVID-19 likely also upped their intake of antibiotics, which put them at higher risk for exposure to the fungi, she added.

Whos at risk?

People who either spend a long amount of time or are frequently at health care facilities are most at risk for infection, including hospitalized individuals or those in long-term care residences, Trivedi said.

Other patients at risk include those with cancer, those who recently had a transplant and those undergoing dialysis.

In addition, people with invasive lines, such as catheters or central lines, are also more susceptible to C. auris infection, as they serve as possible ports of entry for any bacteria.

Catheters and ports are basically a way for organisms on the outside to be able to get on the inside, she said.

Should I be worried?

If youre a healthy person who doesnt spend much time at the hospital, theres a low chance youll get infected.

Moreover, the infection will likely not cause a respiratory outbreak the same way COVID-19 did, which was considered a respiratory viral infection, Trivedi said. Unlike COVID-19, C. auris cannot be spread through respiratory droplets, or breathing.

The pace, and the number of cases might continue to increase, but its going to increase in a different way, she said.

Instead, C. auris infection is mainly spread through extended periods of contact with someone who has it, such as sharing the same room as an infected patient. Shaking hands with an infected person likely wont transmit the fungus, Trivedi said.

I do think that its important for individuals to recognize that this is a growing threat, she said.

--Noor Adatia, The Dallas Morning News

2023 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The wooden box  about a foot long and maybe six inches deep  remained on a pantry shelf in a Portland Heights home in the Southwest hills for 36 years.

No one opened it.

No one moved it.

No one touched it.

The box held the familys hope and optimism for a long-awaited reunion -- until that hope and optimism finally were extinguished for good. Then, when it was time to accept the truth about that grim Wednesday in 1944, it held very different qualities. Tears and pain. Thats when the box was moved from the homes living quarters and placed on the pantry shelf.

All of that, wrapped up in a simple wooden box, tucked away in an ordinary Portland home.

***

Tom Triplett, the boy who lived in the home, first noticed the box when he was 9 or so after his mother asked him to fetch something for her from the pantry. He saw that box weekly, if not daily, and it became a part of his childhood.

He left home, graduated from college and then law school. He married. The couple had two daughters. After a long career as a Portland attorney, he retired and now lives in Bend.

Its been a long time, but Triplett, 82, can still close his eyes and see that box on the pantry shelf of his childhood home. Even at 9 he knew it was something special. He would soon learn from his father that it was a marker, a before-and-after in his familys history.

My uncle went missing when I was 4, he said. My only memory of him is when I was 3.

During World War II, his uncle, Jim Triplett, married and living in Seattle, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the precursor to what eventually became the U.S. Air Force. He rose to the rank of master gunnery sergeant and was assigned as a radio operator to the 445th bomber group, which was a part of the Eighth Air Force. Stationed in England  and known as the Mighty Eighth  the group planned and carried out bombing missions against Nazi and Axis targets throughout occupied Europe.

A group of bombers mistakenly veered off course and was attacked on the way back to their base in England.

On Sept. 27, 1944, 35 B-24 Liberators of the 445th bomber group, with 336 crew members, mistakenly veered off course during a mission targeting Kassel, Germany. Separated from the pack, they were, in every sense of the word, flying naked, with no fighter-plane support to protect their flanks.

The group dropped their payloads on a secondary target and were making their prescribed turns to head home when 150 German Luftwaffe fighters came through the cloud cover and attacked. Of the 35 American planes, 25 were downed inside Germanys borders. Others crash-landed in France, England and Belgium. Only four bombers safely returned to their air base in England. Records showed that 117 airmen were killed in action, 121 taken prisoner and eight were missing in action.

Of the 35 American planes, 25 were downed inside Germanys borders. Others crash-landed in France, England and Belgium. Only four bombers safely returned to their air base in England. Records showed that 117 airmen were killed in action, 121 taken prisoner and eight were missing in action.

The lumbering bombers, with no fighter cover, were easy targets, said Jim Bertram, whose father was a navigator on one of the bombers. Bertram, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the chairman of the Kassel Mission Historical Society, a nonprofit that endeavors to keep alive the collective memory of that day and the participants legacies.

This air battle would become the greatest single-day loss to a single group in air-warfare history, said Bertram.

Jim Triplett, 36, was on one of those bombers.

***

Jim Triplett

About a month before the attack over Kassel, Tom Tripletts father, Bill Triplett, wanted to do something for his brother for Christmas.

Bill, a Stanford University graduate, who ran a chain of Portland-area grocery stores started by his father-in-law, came home with a wooden box. It was unpainted, simply constructed and functional. He filled it with small gifts to send to his brothers air base in England.

I never, ever, looked in the box, said Tom Triplett. But I know from my father there was tobacco in it. Chocolate  things to eat.

One day, later in 1944, the doorbell rang at the Triplett home. His wife, Eileen Triplett, a fellow Stanford University graduate, opened the door and saw a man from the Army. In his hands was a wrapped package.

The box.

The man said it was being returned to sender, labeled addressee unknown. When Bill Triplett arrived home from work, his wife handed him the box.

Bill Triplett made calls, learned about the attack over Kassel and was told his brother was listed as missing in action. A year later, the family was notified that Triplett had been officially declared dead.

Because of the location where the planes went down, my grandmother and my father believed my uncle might have been taken prisoner, said Tom Triplett. My father was convinced that one day his brother would come home. He put that box in the pantry because he wanted to hand it to his brother.

And there the box remained.

It was a constant reminder to the family, said Tom Triplett. To her dying day, my grandmother believed her son was coming home.

Of the nine men on Jim Tripletts bomber, only three parachuted to safety  and they were captured by Germans. Bill Triplett later learned what supposedly happened onboard when the fighters attacked.

My father heard that my uncle told everyone on the plane to go first, Tom Triplett said. He didnt have children. They did and he told them it was important they survived. My uncle was the last one to parachute from the plane. I dont know where my father heard that. I cant prove or disprove it, but it became part of our family legend.

Now, late in his own life, Tom Triplett has a theory about the box in the pantry and his father.

Bill Triplett had planned to enlist with his brother, his son pointed out. The Army, however, rejected him because he had bad ankles from a ski accident on Mount Hood.

I think there may have been a certain amount of feeling on my fathers part that he should have been there with his brother, said Tom Triplett. Im surmising. He never told me this, but as I got older, I knew what he might have felt like.

Tom Triplett was living out of the country when his parents sold their Portland Heights home and moved to a planned community in West Linn.

His mother died in 1994, his father four years later.

When their son helped clean out the place, he couldnt find the wooden box. He never learned what became of it. For 36 years, the wooden box on a shelf in the pantry had been the one constant in a changing world.

Now it was gone.

***

The Kassel Mission Memorial Association was formed 40 years ago to honor the Kassel mission. A memorial was built on the site where the lead B-24 bomber went down near Friedlos, Germany.

The Kassel Mission Memorial Association was formed 40 years ago to honor the Kassel mission. A memorial was built on the site where the lead B-24 bomber went down near Friedlos, Germany.

It is the only known memorial dedicated to honoring airmen from both sides of the conflict who perished that day.

Members of the society, made up mostly of descendants of those who participated in the Kassel Mission, travel to the memorial every five years to meet each other and local Germans, and to pay their respects. The memorial was built in the spirit of reconciliation and the need for cooperation among nations.

Only one person from that mission, a pilot now 99, is still alive. For decades, eight servicemen from the Kassel Mission, including Jim Triplett, were not accounted for.

A German man affiliated with the association spent years attempting to identify each crash site, and another German man helped with archaeological digs to try to locate the eight missing men. That information was shared with the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which looks for remains of missing servicemen.

In 2016, working with German partners, the U.S. agencys officials began an excavation at a potential Kassel mission site and found bone fragments.

Four years ago, Tom Triplett was asked by the Kassel Mission Historical Society if he would provide a DNA sample. He agreed.

What happens then, said Bertram, is you wait and wait and wait.

Two months ago, Triplett received a call that he describes as coming out of the blue.

His DNA matched the DNA on bones found in Germany.

Officials had located Jim Triplett.

It was a great relief, Tom Triplett said.

After hanging up the phone, Triplett began calling all his relatives.

A 79-year-old mystery was over.

***

Triplett later learned that DNA provided by someone else in the United States allowed identification of other bone fragments found at the site, allowing the remains of Lt. Porter Pile, the co-pilot of Jim Tripletts bomber, to be identified too.

Tom Triplett and one of Piles descendants talked by phone and agreed on a joint ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The remains of both Jim Triplett and Porter Pile will be taken by an honor guard for an October inurnment.

Tom Triplett will stand at attention.

He will not be alone.

His father will be there with his brother.

His grandmother will be there with her son.

The spirit of the entire family, he said, will be with me in Arlington.

Triplett said he has experienced what he calls moments of quiet reflection.

He has not cried.

That, he knows, will happen at Arlington National Cemetery.

 Tom Hallman Jr

503-221-8224; thallman@oregonian.com; @thallmanjr

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Former President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

He will be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in his hush money case, setting the scene for the historic, shocking moment when a former president is forced to stand before a judge to hear the criminal charges against him.

The former president is expected to fly to New York on Monday and stay at Trump Tower overnight ahead of his planned arraignment Tuesday, according to two people familiar with his plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trumps travel.

Trump will be arraigned in the same Manhattan courtroom where his company was tried and convicted of tax fraud in December and where disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinsteins rape trial took place. On Friday, officials from the Secret Service and the NYPD toured the courthouse and met about security plans.

Court officers ultimately closed and secured access to the 15th floor, where Merchan was continuing to preside over unrelated matters, until Trumps arraignment.

Lawyers involved in the cases and some employees were permitted to stay, but media were chased away by officers, who were standing sentry in front of a bike-rack barricade set up in the hallway. Officers yelled at reporters who ventured up, This floor is closed, and ordered them to get back in the elevator and leave.

Officers have been cautioned to remain vigilant and maintain situational awareness, both inside courthouses and while on perimeter patrols, as evidenced by the incident on Tuesday afternoon outside of Manhattan Supreme Court, the court said in a statement.

Since Trumps March 18 post claiming his arrest was imminent, authorities have ratcheted up security, deploying additional police officers, lining the streets around the courthouse with barricades and dispatching bomb-sniffing dogs. Theyve had to respond to bomb and death threats, a suspicious powder scare and a pro-Trump protester who was arrested Tuesday after witnesses say she pulled a knife on passersby.

Since no former president had ever been charged with a crime, theres no rulebook for booking the defendant. He will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken, and investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants, according to a person familiar who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive security operations.

All of that activity takes place away from the public. New York law discourages the release of mug shots in most cases. Less clear is whether Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons.

Once the booking is complete, the former president would appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment.

Even for defendants who turn themselves in, answering criminal charges in New York generally entails at least several hours of detention while being fingerprinted, photographed, and going through other procedures.

Trump lawyer Joseph Tacopina said during TV interviews Friday he would very aggressively challenge the legal validity of the Manhattan grand jury indictment. Trump himself, on his social media platform, trained his ire on a new target, complaining that the judge expected to handle the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, HATES ME.

The indictment remained sealed and the specific charges were not immediately known, but details were confirmed by people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that isnt yet public.

When Trump turns himself in, hell be booked mostly like anyone else facing charges, mug shot, fingerprinting and all. But he isnt expected to be put in handcuffs; hell have Secret Service protection and will almost certainly be released that same day.

In the meantime, Trumps legal team prepared his defense while the prosecutors office defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial. Congressional Republicans, as well as Trump himself, contend the whole matter is politically motivated.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, Leslie Dubeck, general counsel in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, wrote in a letter sent Friday to three Republican House committee chairs that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The case is plunging the U.S. into uncharted legal waters, with Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment. And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next years presidential election. Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against him could hurt that effort  though his campaign is already furiously raising money by citing it.

Trumps indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

As Trump ran for president in 2016, his allies paid two women to bury their accusations. The publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer paid McDougal $150,000 for rights to her story and sat on it, in an arrangement brokered by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

After Cohen himself paid Daniels $130,000, Trumps company reimbursed him, added bonuses and logged the payments as legal expenses.

Federal prosecutors argued  in a 2018 criminal case against Cohen  that the payments equated to illegal aid to Trumps campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violation charges, but federal prosecutors didnt go after Trump, who was then in the White House. However, some of their court filings obliquely implicated him as someone who knew about the payment arrangements.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution, an injustice. He shouts in all capital letters on his social media platform that the Democrats have LIED, CHEATED and more to damage his 2024 presidential run.
The tiny cell that once held Oregon civil rights pioneer Minoru Yasui in solitary confinement high above downtown Portlands streets in the old Multnomah County Jail was dedicated Saturday.

Yasui was a 26-year-old law school graduate in March 1942 when he decided to step out into the streets of Portland after dark in defiance of a curfew imposed on people of Japanese descent after the United States entered World War II.

From 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., Japanese aliens and Japanese American citizens had to be in their residences. At all other hours, they could not be more than five miles from their homes. Yasui knew this law was unconstitutional. He was determined to be arrested to create a test case in court.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller learned the story of Yasui, a fellow University of Oregon law school graduate, from Peggy Nagae, an attorney who worked to overturn his conviction. When it came time to sell the old central courthouse, Waller visited the jail cell on the upper floors above the courtrooms and determined to try to preserve it. She reached out to advocates to arrange to move it to the Japanese American Museum of Oregon in Old Town.

On Saturday, she said she was struck by the cruelty of his captors, who chose to place him in the only cell that had no window for daylight. Yasui spent nine months alone in the cell, which is now on permanent display at the museum. After his release, he was incarcerated at Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho.

When the war ended, Yasui moved to Denver, where he set up a law office. Yasui took on leadership positions with the Japanese American Citizens League and would spend the rest of his life fighting for civil rights. His conviction was vacated in 1984.

In 2015, President Barack Obama posthumously gave Yasui the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Americas highest civilian honor, which is displayed in the cell. In 2016, the Oregon Legislature named March 28 Minoru Yasui Day.
Former Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was denied parole Friday and will have to stay in prison for at least another year and four months after it was decided that he had not served the minimum detention period required to be released following his murder conviction for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 10 years ago.

The parole board ruled that Pistorius would only be able to apply again in August 2024, South Africas Department of Corrections said in a short, two-paragraph statement. It was released soon after a parole hearing at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre prison where Pistorius is being held.

The board cited a new clarification on Pistorius sentence that was issued by South Africas Supreme Court of Appeal just three days before the hearing, according to the statement. Still, legal experts criticized authorities decision to go ahead with the hearing when Pistorius was not eligible.

Reeva Steenkamps parents, Barry and June, are relieved with the decision to keep Pistorius in prison but are not celebrating it, their lawyer told The Associated Press.

They cant celebrate because there are no winners in this situation. They lost a daughter and South Africa lost a hero, lawyer Tania Koen said, referring to the dramatic fall from grace of Pistorius, once a world-famous and highly admired athlete.

The decision and reasoning to deny parole was a surprise but there has been legal wrangling over when Pistorius should be eligible for parole because of the series of appeals in his case. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide, a charge comparable to manslaughter, in 2014 but the case went through a number of appeals before Pistorius was finally sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison for murder in 2017.

Serious offenders must serve at least half their sentence to be eligible for parole in South Africa. Pistorius lawyers had previously gone to court to argue that he was eligible because he had served the required portion if they also counted periods served in jail from late 2014 following his culpable homicide conviction.

The lawyer handling Pistorius parole application did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

June Steenkamp attended Pistorius hearing inside the prison complex to oppose his parole. The parents have said they still do not believe Pistorius account of their daughters killing and wanted him to stay in jail.

June Steenkamp, the mother of Reeva Steenkamp arrives at the Atteridgeville Prison for the parole hearing of Oscar Pistorius, in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, March 31, 2023. The parents of Reeva Steenkamp, the woman Oscar Pistorius shot dead 10 years ago, will oppose the former Olympic runner's application for parole, their lawyer said Friday. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)AP

Pistorius, who is now 36, has always claimed he killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law student, in the pre-dawn hours of Valentines Day 2013 after mistaking her for a dangerous intruder in his home. He shot four times with his licensed 9 mm pistol through a closed toilet cubicle door in his bathroom, where Steenkamp was, hitting her multiple times. Pistorius claimed he didnt realize his girlfriend had got out of bed and gone to the bathroom.

The Steenkamps say they still think he is lying and killed her intentionally after a late-night argument.

Lawyer Koen had struck a more critical tone when addressing reporters outside the prison before the hearing, saying the Steenkamps believed Pistorius could not be considered to be rehabilitated unless he comes clean over the killing.

Hes the killer of their daughter. For them, its a life sentence, Koen said before the hearing.

June Steenkamp had sat grim-faced in the back seat of a car nearby while Koen spoke to reporters outside the prison gates ahead of the hearing. June Steenkamp and Koen were then driven into the prison in a Department of Corrections vehicle. June Steenkamp made her submission to the parole board in a separate room to Pistorius and did not come face-to-face with her daughters killer, Koen said.

Barry Steenkamp did not travel for the hearing because of poor health but a family friend read out a statement to the parole board on his behalf, the parents lawyer said.

Pistorius was once hailed as an inspirational figure for overcoming the adversity of his disability, before his murder trial and sensational downfall captivated the world.

Pistorius lower legs were amputated when he was a baby because of a congenital condition and he walks with prosthetics. He went on to become a double-amputee runner and multiple Paralympic champion who made history by competing against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, running on specially designed carbon-fiber blades.

Pistorius conviction eventually led to him being sent to the Kgosi Mampuru II maximum security prison, one of South Africas most notorious. He was moved to the Atteridgeville prison in 2016 because that facility is better suited to disabled prisoners.

There have only been glimpses of his life in prison, with reports claiming he had at one point grown a beard, gained weight and taken up smoking and was unrecognizable from the elite athlete he once was.

He has spent much of his time working in an area of the prison grounds where vegetables are grown, sometimes driving a tractor, and has reportedly been running bible classes for other inmates.

Pistorius father, Henke Pistorius, told the Pretoria News newspaper before the hearing that his family hoped he would be home soon.

Deep down, we believe he will be home soon, Henke Pistorius said, but until the parole board has spoken the word, I dont want to get my hopes up.

-- Mogomotsi Magome and Gerald Imray | Associated Press
The sight of aircraft spewing neon pink liquid over flaming trees and brush has become a hallmark of aggressive wildfire suppression campaigns  if not a potent symbol of governments struggle to control increasingly destructive forest fires.

But as the use of aerially delivered retardant has soared in recent years, some forest advocates say the substance does more harm than good. They claim wildfire retardant drops are expensive, ineffective and a growing source of pollution for rivers and streams.

Theres no scientific evidence that it makes any difference in wildfire outcomes, said Oregon forester Andy Stahl. This is like dumping cash out of airplanes, except that its toxic and you cant buy anything with it because it doesnt work.

Now, a federal lawsuit in Montana that seeks to stop the U.S. Forest Service from dropping retardant into water could reshape how the agency battles wildfires throughout the western United States.

The case is being watched particularly closely by officials in California, where an extremely wet winter is likely to stoke the growth of so-called connecting fuels  grasses that can carry small flames from a spark on a roadway to chaparral and forested areas.

This is going to destroy towns and many communities in California, if they allow this to go through, said Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin, whose town was razed by the Camp fire in 2018. To maybe save a few fish, really?

The lawsuit, filed by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, of which Stahl is executive director, accuses the Forest Service of violating the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the discharge of pollutants into U.S. waters without a permit.

The action comes as more retardant is being dropped from the air than ever before amid longer, more active fire seasons. In 2021, 52.8 million gallons of retardant were dumped on federal, state and private land, compared with a 10-year average of about 39 million gallons per year, according to figures provided by the Forest Service. More than half of the retardant the Forest Service used on national forest lands was dropped in California  more than any other state.

The Forest Service primarily uses ammonium phosphate-based retardant, which is intended to coat vegetation and other fuels around the edges of a fire to deprive advancing flames of oxygen. The goal is to slow fire spread and lessen its intensity so crews on the ground get a chance to directly attack it.

But the chemical, which is also used as fertilizer, can kill aquatic life. For example, in Santa Barbara County, dozens of endangered steelhead trout were killed in Maria Ygnacio Creek during the 2009 Jesusita fire. UC Santa Barbara scientists documented elevated ammonia levels in the water and concluded the fish kill was likely due to retardant drops.

The Forest Service has dropped more than 760,000 gallons of retardant into water, both accidentally and under an agency directive that such drops are permissible if they mitigate threats to human life or public safety, according to figures the agency released last year.

Plaintiffs in the case have asked the court to enjoin the Forest Service from spilling retardant into waterways. However, the Forest Service contends in court documents that the only way to do so is to stop using retardant altogether  an action that they say would deprive the service of a crucial firefighting tool.

Plaintiffs, however, say the Forest Service could instead increase the width of buffer zones alongside waterways where no retardant can be dropped.

After the suit was filed, the Forest Service asked the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a general permit to cover the discharge of retardant into waterways. The EPA estimates the process will take about 2 years.

Facing the potential prospect of the Forest Service not being able to apply retardant from the air for more than two years, more than a dozen communities and interest groups have petitioned to intervene in the case. They include Paradise, Butte and Plumas counties in California and trade organizations representing private firefighting companies, the timber industry and agriculture.

The impacts that everybody is experiencing in California and beyond are so dramatic that we have no option other than to build a coalition to try to cease any action that would result in a higher risk as it relates to wildfire damages, said Matt Dias, chief executive of the California Forestry Association.

Members of the trade group, which represents lumber mills, veneer plants and biomass facilities in the state, have lost hundreds of thousands of acres to wildfire over the past several years, he said. The effects extend beyond the forest products industry to include the loss of hundreds of lives, the depletion of carbon stocks and recreational opportunities, the degradation of air quality and the economic devastation of rural communities, he added.

My understanding is that fire retardant is not good for waterways, but think of the other side of it, said Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter, who lost his home in the Camp fire. A massive forest fire burning down a huge amount of acreage is probably worse for the environment.

The Camp fire was the deadliest wildfire in California history, killing 84 people. Although retardant was unable to be used to save Paradise because the blaze moved too quickly, generating 100-mph winds and thick clouds of black smoke that grounded air tankers, retardant did stop the flames from spreading to nearby Chico and Durham, Bolin said.

The legal wrangling prompted U.S. Reps. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel) to on March 14 introduce a bill that would explicitly exempt firefighting agencies from having to obtain a permit for retardant use.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a decades-long battle between FSEE and the Forest Service over the agencys use of retardant. The nonprofit first sued the Forest Service in 2003 for failing to conduct the appropriate environmental analyses to use aerial retardant; a federal court ruled the agency must do so. The nonprofit again sued the Forest Service in 2008, alleging its environmental analysis was inadequate, and the court ruled the Forest Service had to do a more thorough analysis by the end of 2011.

Thats when the Forest Service agreed to map out exclusion areas where it would refrain from dropping retardant absent a risk to public safety, including buffers around vulnerable species habitat and waterways. The EPA told the agency at the time that if pilots complied with these guidelines, they would not need a permit, as they would not be discharging retardant into waterways.

But in a report released last year, the Forest Service admitted that it had dropped more than 1 million gallons of retardant into exclusion areas on 459 occasions from 2012 through 2019. Retardant landed in water on 213 of those occasions, representing less than 1% of the roughly 56,868 retardant drops the Forest Service made during that time frame, the agency said in court documents.

While the lawsuit primarily concerns the dropping of retardant into water, the issue of whether it works as intended has also been raised in court documents.

The Forest Service has argued that a prohibition on discharges of retardant into water would impair its firefighting capabilities and jeopardize safety, doing a disservice to the public interest. The FSEE has argued however that the agency lacks evidence that aerial retardant actually accomplishes those goals.

Studies performed by Forest Service scientists have concluded that aerial retardant slows fire spread in laboratory-based and experimental fires, but that its effectiveness in the field is dependent on environmental conditions like slope, fuel type, terrain and weather.

Aerial retardant is effective over a narrow range of conditions, and the windows of opportunity for those conditions are narrowing each year due to climate change, said Timothy Ingalsbee, a former wildland firefighter and executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, which is not involved in the lawsuit.

Retardant is most effective when used in the cool of the morning on relatively level terrain with sparse vegetation during the initial attack of small fires burning near communities, he said. Ground crews must be nearby to take advantage of the reduced rate of spread by cutting containment lines; otherwise, the fire may slow only temporarily and then keep spreading, he said.

And yet, Ingalsbee said, research has shown that retardant is often dropped in the heat of the afternoon during the extended attack of large fires burning on steep, densely forested slopes in remote areas where ground crews cant reach, or when fire behavior is so intense that its too dangerous for ground crews to engage.

The Forest Service feels pressure to do something, as much for public relations as any operational benefit, he said. But its just a big airshow.

2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Egypts National Press Authority will sponsor the upcoming fourth edition of the Gamal Abdel-Nasser Fellowship for International Leadership, Egypt's Ministry of Youth and Sports announced on Saturday.

The fellowship will be held in June 2023 under the patronage of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, under the slogan "Youth of Non-Aligned and South-South Cooperation."

The fellowship will transfer the Egyptian experience in institution-building to young leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the ministry said in a statement.

Last years edition sought to enhance the role of youth in reviving the principles of non-alignment and activating cooperation between the global South, in light of the widening civilisational and development gap between the countries of the North and South.

The fellowship has received international praise for promoting sustainability through investments in youth, based on Egypts Development Agenda 2030.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum comprised of 120 world states that are not aligned with or against any major power bloc.

In April 1955, representatives from 29 governments of Asian and African nations gathered in Bandung, Indonesia, to discuss peace and the role of the Third World in the Cold War, economic development and decolonisation.

The core principles of the Bandung Conference were political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs and equality.

Drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, the NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, through an initiative by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, among others.

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Vice President Kamala Harris is pushing for $7 billion in private-sector investments to help Africa prepare for the effects of climate change.

The announcement comes as she wraps up her weeklong trip to the continent on Saturday.

Harris plans to visit a farm outside Lusaka, Zambia's capital, where workers are using new techniques and technology to grow more produce, part of her effort to demonstrate ways to secure food supplies despite global warming.

The United States is committed to these types of innovative solutions to support climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience, she said Friday during a news conference with President Hakainde Hichilema.

Harris' trip, which included stops in Ghana and Tanzania, is intended to advance U.S. efforts to make inroads in Africa, where China's influence runs deep.

The $7 billion announcement is the biggest-ticket item that Harris has announced, but more work will be needed to follow through.

For example, African Parks, a nonprofit group, has committed to raising $1.25 billion over the next seven years in order to expand its conservation program. Another organization, One Acre Fund, plans to raise $100 million to plant 1 billion trees by the end of the decade.

The politics of climate change are complicated in Africa, which has contributed far less to overall greenhouse gas emissions than richer corners of the world such as the United States.

According to the International Energy Agency, 43% of Africans didn't have access to electricity in 2021, and recent outages have sparked frustration.

In Ghana, Harris was questioned at a news conference about how the West can demand that Africa go green and forgo using its natural resources.

She also was pressed on whether wealthy nations would supply $100 billion annually to help poor countries cope with climate change, a commitment made under the Paris climate accord.

Harris said it is critically important that, as global leaders, we all speak truth about the disparities that exist in terms of cause and effect and that we address those disparities. She said there were opportunities in the clean energy economy that could help generate growth in Africa.

As for the money, President Joe Biden has requested $11 billion in his proposed budget to meet its international commitments.

We are waiting for Congress to do its work, Harris said.

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BIG RAPIDS  Every year, all over the world, Christians celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ during the week leading up to Easter.

In Big Rapids, a group of churches have reached beyond the denominational aisle to celebrate Easter together.

It's kind of like tradition, if you will, that we all get together and do something for Holy Week, and then we all have our own Palm Sunday and our own Easter services, said Julie Cole, administrative assistant at the United Church of Big Rapids,

Churches ranging from Lutheran, to Methodist, to Episcopal to Presbyterian and United Church of Christ take turns hosting Ecumenical services.

Holy Week begins with Maundy Thursday commemorating the Last Supper where Jesus celebrated his final Passover with his disciples and washed their feet, according to Christianity.com.

Big Rapids Maundy Thursday service begins with a potluck at 6 p.m. April 6 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 323 S. State St.

We started couple years, we've had a potluck along with the Maundy Thursday, Cole said. There's been a couple years where they've done the foot washing thing.

Big Rapids First United Methodist will coordinate Good Friday service at noon April 7.

It will be held at Immanuel (Lutheran Church, 726 Fuller Ave.) because they don't have an elevator right now, Cole said, and then they're going to assemble a community choir.

Easter starts early with a sunrise worship service at 7 a.m. April 9 at Hemlock Park, located at the east end of Hemlock Street in downtown Big Rapids. Then St. Andrews Episcopal will hold an Easter Vigil at 8 a.m.

Cole said the tradition for churches to meet together has been beneficial, especially since some churches in the area have interim pastors.

It's kind of a way to, No. 1, build community, she said, No. 2, to take advantage of those churches that have a regular pastor.

HOLY WEEK SERVICES

Big Rapids First United Methodist: 304 Elm St., Big Rapids. 231-796-7771.

Maundy Thursday Community Service/Potluck: 6 p.m. April 6 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Good Friday Community Service: Noon on April 7 at Immanuel Lutheran Church

Easter Sunrise Worship: 7 a.m. Sunday, April 9 at Hemlock Park

Easter Vigil: 8 a.m. Sunday, April 9 at St. Andrews Episcopal

Easter Sunday Worship: 10 a.m. Sunday, April 9 at First United Methodist

Big Rapids Free Methodist Church: 204 W. Pere Marquette St., Big Rapids. 231-580-6779.

Last Supper: 6 p.m. Wednesday

Easter service: 11 a.m. Sunday

Fellowship Christian Reformed Church: 407 Perry Ave., Big Rapids. 231-796-3517.

Maundy Thursday Service: 7 p.m. April 6

Easter Breakfast: 9-10:15 a.m. April 9

Easter Worship: 10:30 a.m. April 9

Grace Calvary Fellowship: 423 S. State St., Big Rapids. 231-250-7254.

Easter Service with communion: 10:30 a.m. April 9

Immanuel Lutheran Church: 726 Fuller Ave., Big Rapids. 231-796-8273.

Maundy Thursday Community Service/Potluck: 6 p.m. April 6 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church w/ potluck at 7 p.m.

Good Friday Community Service: Noon on April 7 at Immanuel Lutheran Church

Easter Sunday Worship: 9:30 April 9 with brunch after service at Immanuel Lutheran Church

Redeemer Lutheran Church: 12775 Northland Drive, Big Rapids. 231-796-4728.

Maundy Thursday Service with Communion: 7 p.m. April 6

Good Friday Tennebrae: 7 p.m. April 7

Easter Breakfast: 8:30 a.m. April 9

Easter Worship Service: 10 a.m. April 9

Resurrection Life Church of Big Rapids: 14734 215th Ave., Big Rapids. 231-796-4080.

Easter services: 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. April 8; and 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. April 9

St. Andrews Episcopal Church: 323 S. State St., Big Rapids. 231-598-9032.

Maundy Thursday Community Service/Potluck: 6 p.m. April 6 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church w/ potluck at 7 p.m.

Good Friday Community Service: Noon on April 7 at Immanuel Lutheran Church

Easter Sunrise Worship: 7 a.m. Sunday, April 9 at Hemlock Park

Easter Vigil and Holy Eucharist: 8 a.m. April 9 at St. Andrews Episcopal

St. Mary-St. Paul Catholic Parish: 1009 Marion Ave., Big Rapids. 231-796-5202

Holy Thursday Mass: 7 p.m. April 6 at St. Mary

Good Friday: Noon and 3 p.m. April 7 at St. Paul

Easter Vigil: 9:15 p.m. April 8 at St. Paul

Easter Mass: 10 a.m. April 9 at St. Mary

Trinity Fellowship Evangelical Free Church: 15085 220th Ave., Big Rapids. 231-796-2600.

Passover and Potluck: 6 p.m. April 4

Easter Service: 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. April 9

United Church of Big Rapids: 120 S. State St., Big Rapids. 231-527-9567.

Maundy Thursday Community Service/Potluck: 6 p.m. April 6 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Good Friday Community Service: Noon on April 7 at Immanuel Lutheran Church

Easter Sunrise Worship: 7 a.m. April 9 at Hemlock Park

Easter Vigil: 8 a.m. April 9 at St. Andrews Episcopal

Easter Sunday Worship: 9:30 a.m. April 9 at United Church of Big Rapids.

Editors note: The Pioneer reached out to Big Rapids churches to find out when they will be meeting for holy week. Here is a list of those who responded. To find a church in Mecosta County, visit www.bigrapids.org/churches.
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BIG RAPIDS  Jack & The Bear restaurant celebrated its one-year anniversary this week with the Mecosta County Chamber of Commerce.

Members of the chamber gathered Friday to mark the occasion with a ribbon cutting.

Owner Billy Abbott joined his wife, Kerri, and their son, Liam, as well as his grandparents to commemorate the day.

Big Rapids Mayor Fred Guenther was also present to mark the anniversary.

The restaurant celebrated with specials, including $5 wet burritos.

Abbott said marking one year was a very special occasion.

It was a struggle for a while for Kerri and I, and we werent sure we should do this, Abbott said. We really didnt know what else to do, but I believe the American dream is still alive in this country. With hard work, determination and a good attitude, you can get anything. Thank you for supporting us, we couldnt do it without the community supporting us. I love being a part of this community.

The restaurant opened in March 2022 at 525 South Third St. at the southeast end of Big Rapids and has been serving up classic barbecue such as smoked chicken, pulled pork, beef brisket, corned beef and St. Louis ribs. Options also include sides like mashed potatoes, black beans and rice, coleslaw, potato salad and creamed corn.

The menu later added ice cream and shakes to cater to customers with a sweet tooth.

Chamber representative Alivia Prabucki said the restaurant has brought quality dining to Big Rapids.

I stopped in for lunch the other day, as I often do, Prabucki said. I was talking with Billy about how when he first opened, the first three days he worked three 24-hour shifts because he ran out of meat and had to speed down to get more and have it ready and cooked for the next day. I think thats an awesome story and really shows just the kind of dedicated businessman he is.
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For Chief Nursing Officer Tammy Terrell and the more than 800 nurses at MyMichigan Medical Center Midland, completing the Magnet Recognition for nursing excellence inspired the best in them during an unprecedented time of challenge and stress in the healthcare field.

Magnet recognition is considered the gold standard of nursing excellence, a distinction earned by only a small community of hospitals and health care organizations international. This achievement provides our community with the ultimate benchmark to measure the quality of patient care, Terrell said.

Last April, MyMichigan Medical Center Midland was recognized as the first hospital in the region to achieve Magnet recognition as a reflection of its nursing professionalism, teamwork and superiority in patient care.

The American Nurses Credentialing Centers Magnet Recognition Program distinguishes organizations that meet rigorous standards for nursing excellence. There are 608 Magnet recognized hospitals worldwide and only 14 in Michigan.

Where do they go from here? Once Magnet Recognition is attained by a hospital, it is in place for four years before it must be renewed through another application process. Registered Nurse Michele Hurd looks forward to being a part of that renewal process. "We have a very strong foundation," she said. "This time around for the renewal, I just feel were in a much more solid, predictable place to achieve Magnet designation. "Just because you achieve Magnet doesnt mean your work stops. Its ongoing," Hurd noted. "Theyre all related to patient outcomes and engagement. We are in such a good place." The renewal process really began as soon as MyMichigan Midland received Magnet status one year ago, said MyMichigan Health Magnet Program Director Ruth Kitzmiller. "We are in a contiguous state of gathering that information and writing it down and putting it in what I call 'stories to share,'" Kitzmiller said. " ... To keep growing our shared governance, keep growing our relationships - that process is ongoing and never-ending. We're always jotting down (thoughts and saying), 'Hey, thats a great story were going to share with the appraisers.'" See More Collapse

"Getting that designation in April 2022 was the cherry on top," MyMichigan Health Magnet Program Director Ruth Kitzmiller said. "We endured, we had grit and we did it through (the pandemic)."

How did they do it?

About eight years ago, the late Diane Postler-Slattery, president and CEO of MyMichigan Health at the time, and then-Chief Nursing Officer Jan Penney sparked MyMichigan Medical Center Midland on the path toward Magnet Recognition.

"We had the luxury of having two great leaders," Kitzmiller said. "Diane had come from a Magnet organization. She began to plant those seeds here."

The Magnet Model provides a framework for nursing practice, research, and measurement of outcomes. Through that framework, the American Nurses Credentialing Center evaluates applicants across a number of components and dimensions. The criteria include the quality of nursing leadership and coordination and collaboration across specialties, as well as processes for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of care.

Magnet recognition is the gold standard for nursing excellence and is a factor when the public judges health care organizations. U.S. News & World Reports annual showcase of Americas Best Hospitals includes Magnet recognition in its ranking criteria for quality of inpatient care.

Research shows that Magnet recognition provides specific benefits to health care organizations and their communities, such as:

 Higher patient satisfaction with nurse communication, availability of help and receipt of discharge information.

 Lower risk of 30-day mortality and lower failure to rescue rates.

 Higher job satisfaction among nurses.

 Lower nurse reports of intentions to leave their positions.

Even though Magnet specifically honors excellence in nursing, Kitzmiller said it is truly a team honor.

"Even though Magnet is given to us by a nursing credentialing center, it really does take the entire organization," she said. "We include interdisciplinary stories (in our certification process). It really is a designation for our entire building. It is empowering our nurses to be autonomous in the care they provide."

Kitzmiller's thought was echoed by Registered Nurse Michele Hurd, who is also the manager of the medical intensive care unit at MyMichigan Medical Center Midland.

"Its not just about the nurses, but its about working with an interdisciplinary team: respiratory care, discharge, intensive care, (and many others). It really takes this interdisciplinary team to adequately take care of patients," Hurd emphasized.

Magnet Recognition includes shared governance and shared decision making among nurses through a unit practice council.

"They drive their work from the data they have," Kitzmiller said.

This shared decision making proved to be essential during COVID and the flood of 2020 that hit the MyMichigan Midland campus hard.

"Our units that had strong unit practice councils, like the medical ICUs, they really thrived during these tough times," Kitzmiller explained. "When we had to change the PPE protocols, the staff were giving us feedback and saying, 'This doesnt work.' During the flood, we had a situation where our sewers were out and we had to make some fast decisions. We said, 'Lets pull the staff together and well figure this out.'

"Some decisions, we had to make as leaders. But keeping the staff involved and keeping shared governance involved during the flood and the pandemic were really key to our success," Kitzmiller continued.

Also central in the Magnet process, Terrell said, was a generous grant from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation that established the Margaret Ann Riecker Institute for Nursing Excellence.

"That support has played a vital role in continuing to build leadership skills that, once again, contributed to our successful navigation throughout the challenges of this past year," Terrell said.

What does Magnet mean to MyMichigan Midland?

Hurd, Kitzmiller and Terrell said this recognition strikes at the heart of why they went into nursing. After serving as a nurse for many years, Hurd said she is still highly driven to give each patient the best possible care.

"I'm passionate about what we do for patients and for their families," she said. "We are here at the hardest time in their lives, and we strive to be excellent."

Kitzmiller recalls at a young age being motivated by her grandfather's illness to become a nurse.

"My grandfather being sick was the catalyst for me, wanting to be that person who could help him," she said.

"It is just amazing, the opportunities that nursing allows a person (to do)," added Kitzmiller, who has been a nurse in an operating room among other positions.

Terrell, who was an emergency room nurse for many years, said it brings her joy to make a difference for others.

"At the end of the day, it's about serving people and making a difference in the lives of others," she said. "We (nurses) see the human spirit at its best and at its worst and everything in between. That is what brings me joy."

MyMichigan Health President and CEO Lydia Watson said when the Magnet Recognition was announced to the Midland nurses, their response was unmistakable.

"The day that they received the national designation - and I happened to be attending in the room where the recognition was given - the excitement was palpable," Watson said. "The pride in that group of what was accomplished was heartwarming, and it was just an incredible experience. So they were very proud of themselves, as they should have been."

Even though Postler-Slattery did not live to see the Magnet recognition be officially announced, she knew it had been achieved because she was present for the virtual appraisal by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in March 2022.

"We invited Diane to the appraisal," Terrell said. "She was like a kid in a candy shop. She got to welcome the appraisers. (After the appraisers said the Magnet Recognition had been achieved), I said, 'We knocked it out of the park, Diane.' She literally jumped out of her chair, she was so excited.

"We carried her picture with us when we took the stage in Philadelphia to receive the official designation," Terrell added.
Anxiety is the most common psychological disorder affecting adults in the U.S. In older people, its associated with considerable distress as well as ill health, diminished quality of life, and elevated rates of disability.

Yet, when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent, influential panel of experts, suggested last year that adults be screened for anxiety, it left out one group  people 65 and older.

The major reason the task force cited in draft recommendations issued in September: the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for anxiety in all older adults. (Final recommendations are expected later this year.)

The task force noted that questionnaires used to screen for anxiety may be unreliable for older adults. Screening entails evaluating people who dont have obvious symptoms of worrisome medical or psychological conditions.

We recognize that many older adults experience mental health conditions like anxiety and we are calling urgently for more research, said Lori Pbert, associate chief of the preventive and behavioral medicine division at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and a former task force member who worked on the anxiety recommendations.

This we dont know enough yet stance doesnt sit well with some experts who study and treat seniors with anxiety. Dr. Carmen Andreescu, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, called the task forces position baffling because its well established that anxiety isnt uncommon in older adults and effective treatments exist.

I cannot think of any danger in identifying anxiety in older adults, especially because doing so has no harm and we can do things to reduce it, said Dr. Helen Lavretsky, a psychology professor at UCLA.

In a recent editorial in JAMA Psychiatry, Andreescu and Lavretsky noted that only about one-third of seniors with generalized anxiety disorder  intense, persistent worry about everyday matters  receive treatment. Thats concerning, they said, considering evidence of links between anxiety and stroke, heart failure, coronary artery disease, autoimmune illness, and neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia.

Other forms of anxiety commonly undetected and untreated in seniors include phobias (like a fear of dogs), obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder (a fear of being assessed and judged by others), and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The smoldering disagreement over screening calls attention to the significance of anxiety in later life  a concern heightened during the covid-19 pandemic, which magnified stress and worry among seniors. Heres what you should know.

Anxiety is common. According to a book chapter published in 2020, authored by Andreescu and a colleague, up to 15% of people 65 and older who live outside nursing homes or other facilities have a diagnosable anxiety condition.

As many as half have symptoms of anxiety  irritability, worry, restlessness, decreased concentration, sleep changes, fatigue, avoidant behaviors  that can be distressing but dont justify a diagnosis, the study noted.

Most seniors with anxiety have struggled with this condition since earlier in life, but the way it manifests may change over time. Specifically, older adults tend to be more anxious about issues such as illness, the loss of family and friends, retirement, and cognitive declines, experts said. Only a small fraction develop anxiety after turning 65.

Anxiety can be difficult to identify in older adults. Older adults often minimize symptoms of anxiety, thinking this is what getting older is like rather than this is a problem that I should do something about, Andreescu said.

Also, seniors are more likely than younger adults to report somatic complaints  physical symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue, headaches, chest pain, shortness of breath, and gastrointestinal problems  that can be difficult to distinguish from underlying medical conditions, according to Gretchen Brenes, a professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Some types of anxiety or anxious behaviors  notably, hoarding and fear of falling  are much more common in older adults, but questionnaires meant to identify anxiety dont typically ask about those issues, said Dr. Jordan Karp, chair of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson.

When older adults voice concerns, medical providers too often dismiss them as normal, given the challenges of aging, said Dr. Eric Lenze, head of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the third author of the recent JAMA Psychiatry editorial.

Simple questions can help identify whether an older adult needs to be evaluated for anxiety, he and other experts suggested: Do you have recurrent worries that are hard to control? Are you having trouble sleeping? Have you been feeling more irritable, stressed, or nervous? Are you having trouble with concentration or thinking? Are you avoiding things you normally like to do because youre wrapped up in your worries?

Stephen Snyder, 67, who lives in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, and was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder in March 2019, would answer yes to many of these queries. Im a Type A personality and I worry a lot about a lot of things  my family, my finances, the future, he told me. Also, Ive tended to dwell on things that happened in the past and get all worked up.

Treatments are effective. Psychotherapy  particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps people address persistent negative thoughts  is generally considered the first line of anxiety treatment in older adults. In an evidence review for the task force, researchers noted that this type of therapy helps reduce anxiety in seniors seen in primary care settings.

Also recommended, Lenze noted, is relaxation therapy, which can involve deep breathing exercises, massage or music therapy, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation.

Because mental health practitioners, especially those who specialize in seniors mental health, are extremely difficult to find, primary care physicians often recommend medications to ease anxiety. Two categories of drugs  antidepressants known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and SNRIs (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors)  are typically prescribed, and both appear to help to older adults, experts said.

Frequently prescribed to older adults, but to be avoided by them, are benzodiazepines, a class of sedating medications such as Valium, Ativan, Xanax, and Klonopin. The American Geriatrics Society has warned medical providers not to use these in older adults, except when other therapies have failed, because they are addictive and significantly increase the risk of hip fractures, falls and other accidents, and short-term cognitive impairments.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
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WYNNE, Ark. (AP)  With tornadoes hitting the Midwest and the South this weekend, some survivors said they emerged from their homes to find buildings ripped apart, vehicles tossed around like toys, shattered glass and felled trees.

J.W. Spencer, 88, had never experienced a tornado before, but when he and his wife saw on TV that a tornado was nearing their town of Wynne, Arkansas, he opened a front window and rear door in his house to relieve air pressure. The couple scurried into the bathroom, where they got into the bathtub and covered themselves with quilts and blankets for protection.

Fifteen minutes later, the storm unleashed its fury on the town nestled among the flat fields and fertile farmland of eastern Arkansas. Debris came whistling through their house.

We just rode it out," Spencer said on Saturday. "We heard stuff falling, loud noises. And then it quit. It got quiet.

After it passed, the couple emerged to see devastation in the neighborhood.

We come through it real good, as far as the physical part, Spencer said.

Many large trees were down in the community of 8,000 residents who take pride in their schools, their churches, their mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses. Numerous single-family homes were damaged, especially near the high school, which had its roof shredded and windows blown out.

Near a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, where a tornado killed one man and injured 40 concertgoers, Ross Potter picked up glass shards Friday in front of his building. The last time the town was devastated to this extent from a tornado was in 1967.

Ambulances whirred by after the theater was hit.

They took, I cant even remember how many people, Potter said. He was lucky  only a few of his building's windows were broken, mostly on the second floor. Across the street, most of the brick siding on a storefront was ripped away.

Back in Wynne in northeastern Arkansas, Alan Purser stopped in his pickup truck to chat with Spencer. Purser described how he rode out the tornado with his cats in his home, which is being remodeled. He took a risk, sheltering in the sun room which is covered by glass, but it was one of the few rooms not being remodeled.

I just lay down with my cats, and lay a blanket over me, and let it rumble, he said of the tornado that flipped over the camper van parked outside.

From his front porch in Covington, Tennessee, Billy Meade Jr. said he watched a tornado pass through, before hail struck and the sky darkened.

You could see the swirl, Meade said. The rain was like a sheet. You couldnt even hardly see past the rain, it was so dark. But you could see the swirl going past.

Less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, a tornado struck the elementary school that Meades twin sons go to, as well as a middle school next door. On Saturday morning, an exposed gymnasium's bleachers were visible through a crushed brick wall. Much of the roof was ripped off.

The neighborhood Im in looks fine  its like nothing even happened, Meade said. But as soon as you go around the corner, its like devastation. Theres power lines down everywhere  all kinds of stuff everywhere.

And as a tornado hit Little Rock, Arkansas, workers at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe cowered together in the bathroom.

It was really loud because the glass started breaking, said Irulan Abrams, an employee who stood outside the building near a door with broken windows. A siren howled in the distance. She said one person was injured.

Now we don't have anywhere to work, Abrams said.

When the tornado hit, there were nine firefighters in Little Rock's Fire Station No. 9, which became one of the most devastated areas of the city. They sheltered in the chiefs office as the tornado damaged their building.

If I said it wasnt scary, Id be lying, Capt. Ben Hammond said Saturday.

Once the tornado passed, the firefighters began working to help injured residents and to clear debris blocking their equipment.

Once you address all the people you can see, then youve got to start looking for the people you cant see, he said.

The fire station has served as a shelter for neighbors amid fears that another storm was coming.

___

Associated Press reporters Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this story. Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.
Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad is set to meet with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo on Saturday, the first such visit by a top Syrian diplomat to Egypt in over a decade.

The two top diplomats will discuss issues of mutual concern, including regional issues.

In late February, FM Shoukry visited Damascus to extend a message of solidarity to the Syrian people following the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria leaving thousands dead and more homeless. It was the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister to Syria since 2011. During the visit, FM Shoukry held meetings with his counterpart as well as with Syrias President Bashar Al-Assad. In a press conference in Damascus following these meetings, Shoukry stressed that the Syrian people have a special place to Egyptian people and the purpose of this visit, in the first place, is humanitarian to deliver solidarity at the presidential, governmental and citizen level to the Syrian people amid this tragedy. Egypt was the first country to send humanitarian relief to Syria following the devastating earthquake.

A day before Shoukrys visit to Damascus, the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament Hanafy El-Gebaly visited Damascus and met with Syrian President Al-Assad as part of a delegation of speakers of several Arab parliaments to express solidarity with the Syrian people following the earthquake.

This visit was the first of its kind for an Arab parliamentary delegation to Syria in two decades.

"The visit comes to show solidarity with the Syrian people and express support after the disastrous earthquake which hit the country on 6 February," said El-Gebaly in Damascus.

"Egypt in particular has historic relations with Syria. I am here in Damascus to convey a message that we all support the great and steadfast Syrian people and wish them all prosperity and welfare," El-Gebaly added.

On the day that the earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi phoned his Syrian counterpart Al-Assad to express condolences over the victims of the calamity and affirm that Cairo would provide all needed humanitarian aid.

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Washington, DC, US (PANA) - When finance ministers and central bankers arrive in Washington next week for the International Monetary Fund (IMF}-World Bank Spring Meetings, they will have much to discuss, said Kristalina Georgieva, the Funds Managing Director here Saturday
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA)- A visiting UN Secretary General Envoy for Libya, said here Saturday he wants countries neighboring Libya to cooperate with him to flush mercenaries, militias and foreign armies out of the North African country
Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP)

An American couple who was visiting ailing family member and to prepare for Rara festival in Haiti was abducted, as confirmed by the State Department

Married couple and US citizens Jean-Dickens Toussaint, an accountant, and wife Abigail Michael Toussaint, a social worker, along with another unidentified person were snatched off a public bus and kidnapped in Haiti last March 18.

This is just one from the 101 gang-related kidnappings in the area for the first two weeks of March alone, as reported by the United Nations.

The kidnappers are holding the couple for ransom, demanding $200,000 for each, relatives stated.

"How are we ever going to come up with that money? To the gangs, I want to say, we want our family back. We are not rich over here," Nikese Toussaint, sister of Jean-Dickens, expressed Monday to the Associated Press in a phone interview.

Not the first time for the family

Since the abduction occurred, her brother has only been allowed to make two brief calls.

As of writing, all the family knows is that the couple is tied up. The phone calls are too short to know if they are being treated well or provided with food and water.

It turned out that this is not the first time that the Toussaints have been involved in a gang-kidnapping incident. Seventeen years ago, the gangs had abducted two of Nikese's cousines at Port-au-Prince, which is 60 percent controlled by gangs, according to the U.N, though Haitians on the streets declare a hundred percent control. Her cousins were eventually released yet remain to be traumatized up until now, VOA News narrated.

The family recently paid a trusted individual $6,000 to offer to the gang. Unfortunately, the money disappeared. According to the family, it is not unusual that the kidnappers would refuse release of the victims despite being paid, but the Toussaints firmly believe the payment vanishing was a scam.

Following that incident, the family knew that they needed to get help from the government as they did not want to take any more risks or release any more money.

They have already been in touch with the FBI, which is currently helping them with the case.

Read Also: Two Indiana Moms Rescue Kidnapped Ohio Baby and Lead Police to Suspect

Haiti: On constant violence since 2021

"We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and we'll continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners," assured Vedant Patel, State Department spokesperson, in a briefing.

Since the beginning of the year up until March 15, there were already 53 people killed, 300 injured and 277 kidnapped due to gang-related incidents that happened mainly in Port-au-Prince, as stated by data from the Human Rights Service of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti.

Aside from the 101 individuals kidnapped In the first two weeks of March alone, there have already been 164 injured and 208 killed.

According to CBS News, most of the victims are Haitian, and kidnappers pressure the victims' families into giving large amounts of money for their release.

Following the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, Haiti has experienced a strong surge of violence with all of its gang wars and political chaos.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the unelected successor as head of the government, has been seeking help from the United Nations to lead a military intervention. However, no country yet has been willing to put their men on the battlefield.

The Toussaints remain hopeful and strong, especially that they are taking care of the couple's two-year-old son who just had his birthday last Tuesday.

Related Article: 12-Year-Old Escapes Alabama Kidnapper by Chewing Off Restraints, Leads Police to 2 Dead Bodies
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Abu Dhabi-based district cooling company Tabreed has announced the appointment of Ali Al Rumaihi as the country manager for the Kingdom of Bahrain.

In addition to managing the companys current portfolio of clients, which includes Bahrain World Trade Centre, Bahrain Financial Harbour, Reef Island, and The Avenues Mall, Al Rumaihi will be responsible for expanding Tabreed Bahrains district cooling business opportunities.

He brings over 15 years of experience in transactional real estate advisory and investment in Bahrain and the GCC. He has also worked on a range of regional master planned projects, having previously served as Head of Corporate Finance at Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakats real estate arm, Bahrain Real Estate Investment Company (Edamah), and as an Executive Consultant at Ernst & Young Real Estate and Hospitality Transaction Advisory Services.

Tabreed CEO Khalid Abdullah Al Marzooqi said: Al Rumaihi joins Tabreed at an exciting time as we gear up for further regional expansion. The Government of Bahrain has announced high-density master developments and key infrastructure projects in the kingdom, where district cooling is going to be a likely choice."

"I am confident that under Al Rumaihis leadership, Tabreed will continue to provide exceptional services to our customers and contribute to the sustainable development of Bahrain's economy, he added.

On his new role, Al Rumaihi said: "Tabreed Bahrain will continue to support sustainable development in Bahrain and will align its business strategy with the kingdom's Economic Vision 2030 and National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP)."

"With government vision and support, we believe that Bahrain is perfectly positioned to become a leader in district cooling, significantly reducing carbon footprints in current and future cities within the island, and at the same time, achieving high energy efficiency. I look forward to working with Tabreeds UAE and Bahrain teams to deliver outstanding services to our clients and explore new opportunities for growth.

Al Rumaihi holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and a Bachelor of Science in Business and Management from Brunel University, London, England. He is also a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) by the Institute of Management Accountants, New Jersey, US.-TradeArabia News Service
Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry discussed with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad in a meeting in Cairo on Saturday efforts to achieve a comprehensive political settlement to the Syrian crisis.

Mekdads trip to Cairo is the first visit by a top Syrian diplomat to Egypt in over a decade.

The two officials had a one-on-one meeting and then were joined by their respective delegations, tackling issues of mutual concern, including regional issues.

Minister Shoukry reiterated to his Syrian counterpart Egypt's full support for efforts to reach a comprehensive political settlement to the Syrian crisis as soon as possible.

Shoukry said the settlement should be in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions, voicing Cairo's support to the UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, as per a statement released by Egyptian foreign ministry following the meeting.

He also underlined the necessity of achieving national consensus among the Syrian people, building confidence, and continuing the meetings of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.

A comprehensive political settlement of the Syrian crisis would put an end to foreign interference in the Syrian affairs, ensure the restoration of the country's full security and stability, preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty and eliminate all forms of terrorism, Shoukry explained.

This, he noted, would allow for the voluntary and safe return of Syrian refugees, alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people and enhancing stability in the region, according to Spokesman for Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Talks also tackled ways to help the Syrian people face their accumulated challenges, including recovering from the effects of the devastating February earthquake, the statement added.

On his part, Mekdad conveyed his country's appreciation for Egypt's supportive role in Syria, expressing gratitude to Egypt for providing humanitarian relief after the earthquake.

He said he looks forward to more Arab solidarity with Syria in order to overcome its crisis and restore its historical role in the Arab world.

During the meeting, the Syrian minister presented various aspects of the Syrian crisis, including economic, humanitarian and security challenges which the Syrian people faced and are still suffering from, according to Abu Zeid.

Both ministers agreed on intensifying channels of communication between the two countries with the aim of tackling issues and matters of interest for both countries, added Abu Zeid.

FM Sameh Shoukry receives Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of sisterly Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Mekdad at the Ministry HQ. @Syrianmofaex pic.twitter.com/tOJ8YNjR9t  Egypt MFA Spokesperson (@MfaEgypt) April 1, 2023

In late February, FM Shoukry visited Damascus to extend a message of solidarity to the Syrian people following the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria leaving thousands dead and more homeless.

It was the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister to Syria since 2011.

During the visit, FM Shoukry held meetings with his counterpart as well as with Syrias President Bashar Al-Assad.

In a press conference in Damascus following these meetings, Shoukry stressed that the Syrian people have a special place to Egyptian people and the purpose of this visit, in the first place, is humanitarian to deliver solidarity at the presidential, governmental and citizen level to the Syrian people amid this tragedy.

On the day that the earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi phoned his Syrian counterpart Al-Assad to express condolences over the victims of the calamity and affirm that Cairo would provide all needed humanitarian aid.

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Where Was Uz?

Job 1:1 (RSV) There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; . . .

Uz, according to the book, was in close proximity to the Temanites, the Shuhites, the Naamathites (all noted in Job 2:11), and the Buzites (Job 32:2), as well as possibly the Arabian Desert (1:19). Lamentations 4:21 associates Uz with Edom, which was located to the east and west of the Aravah, or Arabah, the Jordan Rift Valley between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. This view seems to fit with the flora and fauna mentioned in the book. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia elaborates on the location of Uz:

The country was subject to raids by Chaldeans and Sabeans (Lam. 1:15, 17); . . . Job himself is called one of the children of the East (Qedhem) [Job 1:3]. The Chaldeans (kasdim, descendants of Chesed, son of Nahor, Gen. 22:22) inhabited Mesopotamia; a branch of the Sabeans also appears to have taken up its abode in Northern Arabia (see Sheba). Teman (Gen. 36:11) is often synonymous with Edom. . . . Shuah was a son of Keturah the wife of Abraham (Gen. 25:2), and so connected with Nahor. Shuah is identified with Suhu, mentioned by Tiglath-pileser I as lying one days journey from Carchemish; and a land of Uzza is named by Shalmaneser II as being in the same neighborhood. . . . Abraham sent his children, other than Isaac (so including Shuah), eastward to the land of Qedhem (Gen. 25:6). (1)

McClintock and Strong provide similar speculation:

As far as we can gather, it lay either east or south-east of Palestine (Job 1:3) . . .adjacent to the Sabeans and the Chaldaeans (Job 1:15, 17), consequently northward of the Southern Arabians, and westward of the Euphrates; and, lastly, adjacent to the Edomites of Mount Seir, who at one period occupied Uz, probably as conquerors (Lam. 4:21), and whose troglodytic habits are probably described in Job 30:6-7. . . . From the above data we infer that the land of Uz corresponds to the Arabia Desert of classical geography, at all events to so much of it as lies north of the 30th parallel of latitude. . . . The general opinion of Biblical geographers and critics locates the land of Uz somewhere in Arabia Petraea. (2)

The New Bible Dictionary states that Most modern scholars incline towards the more southerly location: which it defines as the area between Edom and N. Arabia. (3)

Gleason Archer broadly concurs:

The district of Uz, in which the action took place, was located in northern Arabia; the Sepuagint refers to it as the land of the Aisitai, a people whom Ptolemy the geographer locates in the Arabian desert adjacent to the Edomites of Mount Seir. (4)

As to the Temanites association with Edom:

A duke Teman is named among the chiefs or clans of Edom (Gen. 36:42; 1 Chron. 1:53). He does not however appear first, in the place of the firstborn. Husham of the land of the Temanites was one of the ancient kings of Edom (Gen. 36:34; 1 Chron. 1:45). From Obad. 1:9 we gather that Teman was in the land of Esau (Edom). In Amos 1:12 it is named along with Bozrah, the capital of Edom. In Ezek. 25:13 desolation is denounced upon Edom: From Teman even unto Dedan shall they fall by the sword. (5)

The Buzites were also probably from the neighborhood of Edom. (6) Archer thinks they probably lived adjacent to the Chaldeans in northeast Arabia. (7)

The highest probability of the location of Uz, based on all these indications, as best can be determined by scholars, therefore, seems to be the land of Edom, or in any event on its borders or relatively close to it.

Date of the Events and Composition

All estimates are  to varying degrees  speculative and uncertain, but  for what its worth  Archer notes that a date before the time of Moses, in the patriarchal age . . . was the view of the Talmud and was widely held by Christian scholars until modern times. (8) Some conservative Bible scholars like Keil and Delitzsch, E. J. Young, and Unger thought that the composition dated to the time of Solomon (10th century B.C.), though most of them thought Job lived during the time of Moses or earlier. The broad conservative consensus might be summed up as follows: A Solomonic date . . . is the earliest we can reasonably adopt . . . [but] any dogmatism derives from subjectivism or preconceptions. (9)

The more traditional views as to the date of its events and the recording of them are based on the following rationales:

The story of the Book of Job is laid in the far-off patriarchal age, such a time as we find elsewhere represented only in the Book of Genesis; a time long before the Israelite state, with its religious, social and political organization, existed. . . . The patriarchal conditions, wherein the family is the social and communal unit, enable him to portray worship and conduct in their primal elements: religious rites of the simplest nature, with the family head the unchallenged priest and intercessor (compare Job 1:4-5; 42:8), and without the austere exactions of sanctuary or temple; to represent God, as in the old folk-stories, as communicating with men in audible voice and in tempest; and to give to the patriarch or sheikh a function of counsel and succor in the community analogous to that of the later wise man or sage (compare Job 29:1-25). (10) Until a comparatively late time, the general opinion was not only that the persons and events which it describes are real, but that the very words of the speakers were actually recorded. It was supposed either that Job himself employed the latter years of his life in writing it (A. Schultens), or that at a very early age some inspired Hebrew collected the facts and sayings, faithfully preserved by oral tradition, and presented them to his countrymen in their own tongue. Some such view seems to have been adopted by Josephus, for he places Job in the list of the historical books, and it was prevalent with all the fathers of the Church. . . . It has always seemed to pious writers incompatible with any idea of inspiration to assume that a narrative, certainly not allegorical, should be a mere fiction, and irreverent to suppose that the Almighty would be introduced as a speaker in an imaginary colloquy. We are led to the same conclusion by the soundest principles of criticism. Ewald says (Einl. p. 15) most truly, The invention of a history without foundation in facts  the creation of a person, represented as having a real historical existence, out of the mere head of the poet  is a notion so entirely alien to the spirit of all antiquity, that it only began to develop itself gradually in the latest epoch of the literature of any ancient people, and in its complete form belongs only to the most modern times. In the canonical books there is not a trace of any such invention. Of all people, the Hebrews were the least likely to mingle the mere creations of imagination with the sacred records reverenced as the peculiar glory of their race. It is true that the arguments advanced by Ewald (11) to show the historical character of the chief features of the book are not entirely conclusive, . . . still they must be allowed to have some weight, and, taken in connection with the general usage of Scripture in its poetical and rhetorical amplifications, and especially with the considerations presently to be adduced in relation to the author of this. book, justify the presumption of a historical foundation, not only for the facts and personages represented in the book, but also, to a certain extent, for the speeches. . . . To this it must be added that there is a singular air of reality in the whole narrative, such as must either proceed naturally from a faithful adherence to objective truth, or be the result of the most consummate art. (12) Many look upon the entire contents of the book as a freely invented parable which is neither historical nor intended to be considered historical; no such man as Job ever lived. Catholic commentators, however, almost without exception, hold Job to have actually existed and his personality to have been preserved by popular tradition. Nothing in the text makes it necessary to doubt his historical existence. The Scriptures seem repeatedly to take this for granted (cf. Ezekiel 14:14; James 5:11; . . .). All the Fathers considered Job an historical person; . . . The Book of Job, therefore, has a kernel of fact, with which have been united many imaginative additions that are not strictly historical. What is related by the poet in the prose prologue and epilogue is in the main historical: the persons of the hero and his friends; the region where be lived; his good fortune and virtues; the great misfortune that overwhelmed him and the patience with which he bore it; the restoration of his Prosperity. . . . According to the usual and well-founded assumption, Job lived long before Moses. . . . His wealth like that of the Patriarchs, consisted largely in flocks and herds (1:3; 42:12). The kesitah or piece of money mentioned in 42:11, belongs to patriarchal times; the only other places in which the expression occurs are Genesis 33:19, and Joshua 24:32. The musical instruments referred to (21:12; 30:31) are only those mentioned in Genesis (Gen. 4:21; 31:27): organ, harp, and timbrel. Job himself offers sacrifice as the father of the family (1:5), as was also the custom of the Patriarchs. . . . Job evidently did not belong to the chosen people. He lived, indeed, outside of Palestine. He and the other characters betray no knowledge of the specifically Israelitic institutions. Even the name of God peculiar to the chosen people, Yahweh, is carefully avoided by the speakers in the poetic part of the book, and is only found, as if accidentally, in 12:9, and according to some manuscripts in 28:28. The sacrifice in 42:8, recalls the sacrifice of Balaam (Numbers 23:1), consequently a custom outside of Israel. For the solution of the problem of suffering the revelations made to the Patriarchs or even Moses are never referred to. Nevertheless Job and his friends venerated the one true God. They also knew of the Flood (22:16), and the first man (15:7, and Hebrews 31:33). . . . The author of the book is unknown, neither can the period in which it was written be exactly determined. Many considered the book the work of Job himself or Moses. It is now universally and correctly held that the book is not earlier than the reign of Solomon. (13)

Timnah Copper Mines

Job 28:1-3 Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. Men put an end to darkness, and search out to the farthest bound the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

The Timnah Copper Mines were just north of Eilat, in Edom. The current town of Eilat is on the north shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, at the southern tip of Israel. Excavations at Timna starting in 2009, led by Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef, determined with high precision dating techniques, that the major smelting activity occurred in the early Iron Age (11th9th centuries B.C.). (14)

Coral

Job 28:18 No mention shall be made of coral . . .

Coral has been found in the excavations at the Timnah Copper mines. They came from  arguably  some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world, in Gulf of Aqaba (the northeastern portion of the Red Sea). In fact, Eilats Coral Beach Nature Reserve and Conservation area is an Israeli nature reserve and national park near the city of Eilat, covering a third of a mile of shoreline. Its the northernmost shallow water coral reef in the world. If the writer of Job knew about it the coral found there, this may indicate that he lived (and/or the events occurred) either in the century before Solomon, or in David or Solomons time. But it does line up with what we know. The Red Sea and things connected with it are mentioned in Job 6:3; 7:12; 9:8, 26; 12:8; and 26:12. The only other times the word coral appears in the entire Bible are in Lamentations 4:7 (14 verses before the text mentions Edom and Uz), and Ezekiel 27:16, where it is said to come from Edom.

Animals in Edom / Uz

The Hai Bar (Yotvata) Biblical Wildlife Reserve, also near Eilat, was founded in 1968 by Avraham Yoffe, in order to provide a refuge for and preservation of animal species indigenous to the region in ancient times. Thus, animals can be seen there which are mentioned in the book of Job: donkeys (Job 6:5; 11:12; 24:3, 5; 39:5), mountain goats (aka ibex: 39:1-4), deer (39:1; hinds in RSV); cobras and vipers (20:14-16); jackals (30:29); ostriches (30:29; 39:13-18); hawks (39:26); eagles (9:26; 24:3; 39:27), oryx or wild ox (39:9-12), and locusts (39:20). The book of Job also mentions the leviathan (41:1-34), thought by most scholars (15) to refer, in this passage, to a crocodile: an animal that used to be prevalent in Israel, even in the last few centuries, but no longer is. (16) People in Bible times were also familiar with the crocodile of the Nile. As for the behemoth (Job 40:15-24), the hippopotamus . . . seems to fit the description best. (17) It was definitely known in ancient Egypt, and remains from the fourth and third millennia B.C. have been found in the Sinai Peninsula and near present-day Tel Aviv. They are thought to have become extinct in the Levant sometime after the ninth century B.C. (the same being true of elephants). (18)

Additionally, Yehuda Feliks, a professor of Biblical and Talmudic Botany, in his book, : Chapters in Biblical Ecology (London: Soncino Press, 1981) provides numerous examples of plants mentioned in the book of Job: indigenous to the regions of Uz and Edom.

FOOTNOTES

1) James Orr, ed., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1939), Uz (2).

2) John McClintock and James Strong, eds., The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York: Harper and Brothers: 1880), Uz. Arabia Petraea was the name of a province of Rome, consisting of the former Nabataean Kingdom in Jordan, the southern Levant, the Sinai Peninsula, and the northwestern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. Its capital was Petra. Ancient Edom was within its boundaries.

3) J. D. Douglas, ed., The New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962), Uz, 1306.

4) Gleason L. Archer, Jr., A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), 440

5) Orr, Teman.

6) Orr, Buz; Buzi; Buzite.

7) Archer, 440.

8) Archer, 442.

9) Douglas, Job, Book of, 636. My own opinion (based on the research of Egyptologist and archaeologist Kenneth Kitchen) is that Abraham was born c. 1880-1860 B.C., Joseph was born c. 1737-1717 B.C., and that Moses lived from c. 1340 or 1330-c. 1220 or 1210 B.C.

10), Orr, Job, Book of.

11) Georg Heinrich August Ewald (1803-1875) was a German Protestant theologian and exegete; a professor of theology and of oriental languages.

12) McClintock and Strong, Job.

13) Joseph Hontheim, Job, in The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company; this article, 1910). The nomenclature for Bible citations has been updated.

14) Erez Ben-Yosef et al, A New Chronological Framework for Iron Age Copper Production at Timna (Israel), Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research No. 367 (August 2012), 31-71.

15) Douglas, Leviathan, 1029.

16) See Arik Haglili, Crocodiles in Israel.

17) Douglas, Behemoth, 138.

18) Reginald ODonoghue, Beasts of the Bible and Babylon, The Extinctions, July 24, 2021.

***

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Photo credit: Job is Visited by Three Friends [public domain / creazilla]

***

Summary: I provide examples in the book of Job of verifiable historical peoples and lands, & also note accurate mentions of copper, coral, and various indigenous animals.
The political parties who have now been made accountable under the RTI will not easily give up and the legal battle may be contested till the bitter end in the higher courts.

In their public postures, however, they have taken the line that they are already furnishing information to other agencies like the election commission and the income tax; they can be inundated by frivolous petitions; the confidentiality of political decision making can be misused etc; it is not possible to maintain records .The legality of the order should better be left to the courts because that is where the legality of the order of the CIC will be decided.

A brief examination of the performance of the Act so far may light up some areas of the debate.

The RTI Act made available to the common people all the information that could be made available to the members of legislatures and members of the parliament. Suddenly the amorphous, undifferentiated, impersonal information potentially accessible to or already in the inert keeping of our public representatives is being mined by RTI seekers to seek a measure of control over their destinies. The master key to force open the secret vault called bureaucracy which had for long eluded the citizenry become available to all and sundry. The accountability scene is undergoing a magical transformation.

RTI activists, autodidacts, and public spirited people are using this as a tool to map the objective reality of their particular situations against the given big picture. People at large nourish fairly sound attitudes based on instinct and memory but they lack a coherent account as to how their local environments of oppression are located within the larger economic or socio-political realities. In order to be able to derive maximum advantage from this legislation, people all over the country are raising themselves to levels of awareness commensurate with their particular situation, are acquiring uncanny legal skills and are extending their circle of influence to initiate a potentially transformative movement. Antonio Gramsci would have approved of these organic intellectuals.

Where does my little postage stamp of a village figure in the double digit growth story of Bihar? To find out Sanjay Sahani, Ramkumar Thakur and a motley group from a nondescript village called Ratnauli in Bihar demanded the information about the implementation of MNREGA in their panchayat. It is but natural that the custodians of all those little bureaucratic lies that collectively go to make the official truth should feel threatened. Ram Kumar Thakur had to be simply put away. But killings are not the norm; slapping of false cases is the standard tactic as the RTI groups have claimed and even the pioneering RTI activist Shiv Prasad Ray was subjected to this fate.

The formidable bureaucracy which had expressed fears of its misuse have realized its subversive potential. So they have taken to something akin to a civil disobedience movement, a strategy of passive resistance against army of information seekers under RTI demanding information as varied as the lifting and disbursal of PDs grains to the amounts of travelling allowance drawn by the civil servants. They just remain silent. Or pretend imbecility. If you ask for information A they furnish B and in some cases no relief could be had even from the information commission. Or they wage semantic guerilla warfare; they ambush you with an ambiguity of meaning. So there is no frivolity involved here. It is a deadly serious business.

There are some other democratic dividends as well. RTI has created a new and thriving public sphere. Village chaupals, hamlets with cyber cafes, small towns - quite different from the traditional city centric public sphere, salons, coffee houses, universities, think tanks and media clubs are the new hubs of activity. Debates on development and public issues are becoming livelier because the range and depth of their information has increased considerably and citizens are acquiring a better understanding of how things are done. The RTI is materializing a public that is living up to instantiate and ideal of public reason.

So should the political parties feel bothered by unnecessary duplication of work or is there an apprehension in the political minds that the information furnished by them, say the accounts of laughable sums of money spent in their election campaigns by candidates could be put to rigorous scrutiny by an army of local volunteers? Everyone knows that the figures are meant just to get past the Election Commission which has neither the time nor the wherewithal to verify them in every particular. But in the hands of the masses it can transform the whole scene. How many taxis were hired, who printed the publicity material, who set up the pandal and for how much? The right to information becomes purposive, goal directed hence an effective tool of accountability; in the statistical keeping of the Election Commission it is merely grist for the academic researchers mill for drawing broad general conclusions.

In the absence of transparency and internal democracy politics has largely become the skill of intrigue among a narrow group of those closest to the instruments of power. Mendacity and cynicism in political discourse - "they know very well what they are doing, but still, they are doing it" has become a sad fact of our lives. So what is at stake here is not the fear of being submerged under frivolous queries, nor is any one afraid of being asked about their internal affairs - the nation has already an unsolicited surfeit of it. RTI is ushering in some kind of a direct democracy and that is a terrifying idea.

India Today magazine once referred to Manoje Nath, a 1973-batch IPS officer, as being fiercely independent, honest, and upright. Besides his numerous official reports on various issues exposing corruption in the bureaucracy in Bihar, Nath is also a writer extraordinaire expressing his thoughts on subjects ranging from science fiction to the effects of globalization. His sense of humor was evident through his extremely popular series named "Gulliver in Patiliputra" and "Modest Proposals" that were published in the local newspapers.
To mark International Womens Month, Women at Uber and Black at Uber teamed up with TechConnect to host an event on the role of technology and culture in promoting equity across the continent.



According to Marjorie Saint-Lot, Head of Uber Ghana and Cote dIvoire, the event is intended to be a reminder to all African women and girls of the potential they have to become global leaders and trailblazers in the world of tech and business, or indeed whatever path they choose to follow.



As a global organisation that prioritises inclusion and gender equity, Uber has long championed the cause of women around the world, Saint-Lot points out, not only because it is a moral imperative to create a more just and equitable society with opportunities for all, but also because promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, and putting more women in leadership positions, is proven to make for more innovative, successful and sustainable businesses.



Jeminatu Alabi-isama, Head of TechConnect Africa states that Its our mission to build a highly engaged, innovative and interconnected global community. We are proud to work with Uber on this initiative to uplift and empower women across Africa and transform communities.



The event attracted African female business role models who shared their experiences and insights, including the lessons they have learned in their respective journeys. The panellists included Marjorie Saint-Lot, Vanessa Bannerman of Christie Brown, Adoma Owusu of Visa and Femi Asante of Group Sebastien. The conversation was moderated by Nanama Botchwey, the founder of N.Dowuona & Company.



At the event, Uber also announced the official launch of #GigSister, a women earner empowerment initiative in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. #GigSister is an influencer-led community group created to connect, empower and grow female drivers on the Uber platform across Africa. The initiative, which has already achieved success in parts of Europe and the UK, sees Uber teaming up with like-minded partners, including Google and LOreal, to uplift and empower women through mental health support, motivation and self-promotion, as well as self-defence training.



From a women-driver safety perspective, Uber launched Women Preferred in South Africa which allows women and non-binary drivers to choose to only pick up women riders.



We are excited about this opportunity to come together and celebrate the potential of women to be business leaders in Africa, Saint-Lot says, and in the process promoting gender equality, recognising the contributions of women in business creating a more level playing field for both genders in Africa and inspiring women and girls to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and career ambitions.













Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Bank of Ghana has denied social media speculation that it plans to introduce a GH500 coin, asserting that it has no immediate plans to issue higher denominations for circulation.



Although samples of the purported coins have been shared on social media, the Director for Currency Management at the Bank of Ghana, Dominic Owusu, dismissed the reports as false.



He explained that the introduction of new currency or withdrawal of existing notes and coins is always thoroughly planned and accompanied by extensive public and media education.



When there is a currency issuance or change, the Bank of Ghana will come with an appropriate press release to inform the public. We saw on social media that the central bank will issue a 500 note or coin but the bank has not done any such thing. So its not true, Mr Owusu told Joy NEws in an interview.



Mr. Owusu urged the public to ignore social media stories that suggest the Bank is introducing new currencies without an official statement.



In response to reports that the one pesewas coin is no longer legal tender and out of circulation, he emphasized that the coin is still valid for transactions and must be accepted by customers.



Thats why we are here, so help us to circulate those information that those coins are still legal tender and must be used for transactions. The central bank has not demonetize the one pesewa coin, he said.



We want the education out there for people to learn how to handle the cedi not to worn out. Thats why you journalist are here and I want you to help the central bank in that quest. The bank is also doing its part and will make sure all is done to save the cedi, he stressed.



He said the Bank of Ghana remains committed to educating Ghanaians on how to handle the cedi to prevent it from becoming worn out.







Source: graphiconline.com









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US Vice-President Kamala Harris has lauded Tanzanias reforms aimed at strengthening the East African nations democracy.



Her host, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, described the visit as a milestone for her country.



Ms Harris is in the second leg of her Africa tour which began in Ghana and will conclude in Zambia over the weekend.



With colourful traditional dances, Tanzanians welcomed Ms Harris to their country. Buses in the seaside city of Dar es Salaam were draped in her pictures.



Its a rare visit by a senior American official. Many see it as an endorsement of President Samias reforms.



Since taking over from the controversial John Magufuli, who died two years ago, she has lifted a ban on opposition rallies and encouraged press freedom. Exiled politicians have returned home.



Ms Harris described the decisions as important and meaningful steps that have helped expand the two countries partnership.



She announced $560m (451m) in support to boost trade with Tanzania and strengthen democracy.

Source: BBC









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Director of Public Affairs at the Volta Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Effia Tenge has exited the service.



Mrs. Tenge announced her exit which takes immediate effect on Friday in a post to journalists she has worked with in the Volta region.



this is to inform you that I have formally exited my post as Director, Public Affairs and for that matter the Ghana police service, she wrote.



She added that, I want to use this medium to thank you all for your immeasurable support during my appointment as Public Affairs Officer of the noble profession. We will definitely meet again hopefully in a different working environment.



Until her arrival in the Volta region, Mrs. Tenge was the head of Public Affairs Unit of the Ghana Police Service in the Greater Accra region for several years.



She was first appointed into the service as a Public Affairs Officer in 2005 and stationed at the Media Monitoring Center of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, National Headquarters where she served and later became the supervisor, placing her in a vantage role to conduct media analysis of police and security-related information and deal with potential negative publicity likely to affect the reputation of the institution.



Effia Tenge introduced the Police Regional News Magazine Police Diary to ensure regular information flow on law enforcement activities that promotes police professionalism, respect for human rights, transparency in police operations, and accountability to the public.



She was a lead advocate against sexual and gender based violence and also led several sensitization campaigns on the crime of kidnapping in schools.



Just recently, Mrs. Effia Tenge led another campaign against substance abuse and school hooliganism across the Volta region.



She is regarded an astute communicator with an enviable working relationship with the media and the general public.



Her premature retirement has undoubtedly come as a shock.

Source: Starrfm.com









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Member of Parliament(MP) for the Yendi Constituency, Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama has warned against politics of insults as the party inches closer to electing a flagbearer to lead it ahead of the 2024 elections.



He says followers of the various candidates should bear in mind that it is an internal contest and therefore, there will not be the need to step on the toes of any candidate to cause any form of disaffection.



Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama made this known at the launch of BMW (Bawumia Must Win) Pressure Group, Thursday, March 30, 2023.



Lets remember that we are in an internal contest and therefore, we will have to eschew all forms of insults. We are one family and will need each other after this process so to avoid challenges going forward, lets focus on telling delegates and all eligible voters what Dr. Bawumia can do and not step on any toes, he said.



He was optimistic that the Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will emerge victorious in the election.



He added that, We will win and there is nothing that will change the victory of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia but we will need to work harder. My father contested for the NPP flagbearership but he didnt get the kind of support Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has received today, even Ashanti and other important regions are clamouring for Bawumia so why should anyone think its not Bawumia? Lets work together as a unit so we do not burn bridges.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Saturday that the fight that took place in the last decade in Sinai against terrorism is "no less significant" than the fight that led to Egypt's victory in the October War 50 years ago.

Related Sisi performs Friday prayers to mark 50th anniversary of 10th of Ramadan war victory

The president made these remarks during an Iftar event with the chieftains of Sinai tribes and personnel in the Second and Third Field Armies to mark the 50th anniversary of the victory in the 6th of October War in 1973, which fell on 10th day of the holy month of Ramadan that year, per the Islamic Hijri calendar.

Minister of Defence General Mohamed Zaki and Chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Osama Askar attended the Iftar event.

The president, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, said in his remarks that the state appreciated the efforts of the Armed Forces and civilian police as well as the chieftains of Sinai tribes during the war on terrorism in Sinai, vowing that the state would continue to empower them.

"The fight that took place on the land of Sinai against terrorism is no less significant than any fight carried out by Egypt in previous battles, El-Sisi said.

The work that was carried out in this war is no less significant than the work that led to the victory of October," he added.

Remember, ten years ago many people were asking when terrorism would be over. Now, thanks to you, it is over.

The president also noted that the state has invested in Sinai heavily over the past eight years and will continue to implement development projects in the peninsula.

He also assured that the current economic crisis in the country will be over soon and will become history.

Earlier in the day, the president inspected security checkpoints east of the Suez Canal.

During his inspection tour, the president spoke briefly with soldiers and officers from soldiers and officers in the East of Suez Canal Forces Command, who are tasked with combatting terrorism, as well as personnel in the Second and Third Field Armies.

"This victory was achieved for our beloved Egypt after its army and people united in a brilliant scene," President El-Sisi told the personnel.

"I am happy to be amongst my sons who are fighters in the Egyptian Armed Forces in the east of the Suez Canal on the precious land of Sinai," the president wrote on his Facebook page.

Before attending the Iftar, the president inspected the permanent operations centre of the East of Suez Canal Command to follow up on security status.



















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Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng has called on former President John Dramani Mahama to apologise to Ghanaian children for equating the food they eat in schools to that of food for dogs.



Mr Mahama in his campaign tour in the Central Region expressed worry over the poor nature of the food being served in the various Senior High Schools (SHSs) as part of the implementation of the government's flagship programme Free Senior High School (Free SHS).



According to John Dramani Mahama, the poor nature of the food being served to the students makes them sick and uncomfortable.



Today, if you go to see the kind of food the children are eating in the schoolsyou shudder to serve such food to your dogs at home,'' he told delegates and party members in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa Constituency.



Reacting to Mr Mahamas comment, Mr Kwarteng said it is unpresidential for the former President to speak that way.



In a Facebook post, Mr Kwarteng noted Former President John Dramani Mahama is known for his unpresidential remarks but little did we know he could be such loose, vulgar and low. How do you equate food for human beings to that of dogs? Jesus Christ!



Mr Mahama is not only wrong in demeaning our collective efforts in providing quality education for Ghanaian students but hes also wrong for reducing the school children to dogs. Thats insulting.



Comments like this is not acceptable. Is backward, retrogressive, negative and unpresidential.



Somebody whose leadership witnessed the worst educational outcomes ever shouldnt be making such comments. He should apologize to Ghanaian Children!

Source: class fm









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The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has reaffirmed his commitment to impartiality in the exercise of his duty as the head of the Legislature.



Mr Bagbin made the commitment when the chiefs and people of the Awudome Traditional Council in the Volta Region conferred on him a title as a chief of Awudome with the stool name, Togbe Nutefeworla I of Awudome.



The title is one of the highest honours of the area.



At a short ceremony held at the Speakers secretariat last Monday, the Paramount Chief of the Awudome Traditional Area, Togbega Addai Kwesi Djanie XIII, said the enstoolment of the Speaker was in recognition of his good leadership of the house and integrity and called on the house to accord the Speaker all courtesies deserving of a chief.



Having followed the Speakers political career over time and having satisfied ourselves with the Speakers regard for integrity, the Awudome Traditional Council took a decision to build an everlasting relationship with his person, his character and his principles. This decision by the council congregated in installing him as a chief with the title Togbe Nutefeworla I, the council said.



Appreciation



In his appreciation, the Speaker stressed the importance of the honour done him and pledged his commitment to continue to be impartial in the exercise of his duty.



I dont take this title lightly at all. The recognition of me as a King of Integrity is a serious thing and I want to assure the good people of the Awudome traditional area that I will continue the same way of impartiality, the Speaker said.



I may even go beyond that to have a Minority government where the Majority Members of Parliament are in opposition but a sterling leader is elected to be President of Ghana he said.



Mr Bagbin also expressed a desire for a minority government. According to him, such a phenomenon would help put failing governments on its toes.



The Speaker will formally be introduced to the general public in a special ceremony later.







Source: graphiconline.com









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Charles Owusu has applauded the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, for being blunt on the position of Parliament on the matter of whether or not a legislation should be made to criminalize homosexual practices in Ghana.



The Vice President of United States of America, Kamala Harris, during her visit to Ghana, spoke out in support of LGBTQ+ people in Africa.



She made her position in support of the LGBTQ+ community very vivid in her meeting with President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and sounded she was advocating that Ghana declares support for homosexual acts.



I will also say that this is an issue that we consider and I consider to be a human rights issue and that will not change, she said.



But the Speaker, in response, has made it emphatic that LGBTQ+ will not be tolerated in Ghana.



Charles Owusu Praises Parliament



The former Head of Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu has asked Parliament not to support any law that fails to criminalize the act of homosexuality in Ghana.



He rebuked the US Vice President for coming into Ghana to sound what seems like a caution to Ghanaians for choosing not to legalize the practices of homosexuals.



"We won't sit in this country for someone to come from somewhere and tell us that he or she accepts humans to have sex with dogs but a man cannot marry two wives. It's a taboo in America to marry two wives," he said and wondered why America would want to compel Ghana and other African countries to accept LGBTQ+ acts.



"My daughters cannot introduce a woman to me as their husband. It won't happen infront of me. What law in Ghana can compel me to allow this to happen in my home?", he warned.



He admonished the authorities in the country to point it out clearly to the US and all advocates of homosexuality that "we (Ghana) won't accept this today or tomorrow".





Speaker's speech

He said, "I was so happy when I read that Pope Francis directed that no Reverend father should celebrate over gay or lesbian marriage. Yes, Rome has spoken and the matter is ended, so committee members that will refer to the bill, we want the report.



"Don't be intimidated by any person. I made this statement when I was a member of the European ACP Parliament in Brussels. Now we have two of our members in, who happen to be leading our committee constitutional legal colloquial affairs, who are handling the bill and since we referred it to them; till date, we haven't heard anything.



He continued; "That is creation and that is the spice of life. How come we are using that to divide ourselves? Please let the report flow. We need to legislate. Our friends, yes passed their law in Uganda. We did not go the way they have gone because our constitution is clear as to the direction we should move and so we will be guided by that.



"Because if we pass any law against the constitution, it's unconstitutional. So, we have to do that. So, what are you afraid of if you have the whole people behind you? If God is with you, who can be against you? And if God says please go into the wilderness, multiply and fill the world, that is God giving you that command.



"If somebody says please don't multiply, how can that person be strong? I don't only speak this way in Ghana, I spoke it in the last meeting we attended in IPU at Barry. Anybody who listened to my speech, they were silent on this matter, likely because it's a Muslim country. They applauded me.



"If it's somewhere else, they will be asking questions, as the vice president just did yesterday. These things should not be tolerated, that is undemocratic. What is democracy? That somebody else will have to dictate to me as what is good and what is bad; its unheard of. Because we have decided to devalue ourselves and go begging.



"Come on! We have more than enough. God has created more than enough for every person. Its just because you are looking at somebody elses share, not yours. We have enough in the well. The bill will be passed.



"That is why we are representative of the people, so in terms of law which is part of policy, we finalise it and then the executives have the authority to implement it, to execute it. Let's get this clear. Once this bill is before here, he is not in charge, I am in charge."

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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Kwesi Pratt has come hard on the Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris over her utterances during her visit to Ghana.



Addressing the press at Jubilee House, Kamala Harris declared the US support for the homosexual community.



Standing alongside Ghana's President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Mrs. Harris said she felt very strongly about supporting the development of LGBTQ+ rights in Africa.



I will also say that this is an issue that we consider and I consider to be a human rights issue and that will not change, she said.



On Wednesday, she also announced a $1 billion initiative to improve women's economic empowerment in Africa.



"Improving the economic status of women and girls is not only a matter of human rights, justice and equity, it is also a strategic imperative that reduces poverty and promotes sustainable economic growth," she emphasized.



But Mr. Pratt has blasted the United States over their position on Africa and how they seem to be imposing their rights on African countries.



"If you knew democracy, would racism be so rampant in your country? If you knew democracy, would you have gone to Iraq to kill one million people? You supported Apartheid. You showed the way for Nelson Mandela to be arrested. Are you the ones to teach us democracy?", he questioned.



Mr. Pratt said these on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The very first episode of Hells Paradise will premiere on Saturday, April 1.

You can stream the premiere starting 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Crunchyroll.

STREAM HELLS PARADISE: Crunchyroll

Part of what fans and CBR call the Dark Trio  one that also includes Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen  the original Hells Paradise manga by creator, Yuji Kaiku, was released back in 2018 in Shonen Jump.

As summarized by a Crunchyroll news release, the manga-turned-anime (also known by its Japanese title, Jigokuraku) takes place during Japans Edo period and focuses on the mysterious felon, Gabimaru the Hollow.

Gabimaru, a shinobi formerly known as the strongest Iwagakure who is now a death row convict, is told that he will be acquitted and set free if he can bring back the Elixir of Life from an island that is rumored to be the Buddhist pure land Sukhavati, reads the release. In hopes of reuniting with his beloved wife, Gabimaru heads to the island along with the executioner Yamada Asaemon Sagiri.

Upon arriving there, they encounter other death row convicts in search of the Elixir of Life, as well as a host of unknown creatures, eerie manmade statues, and the hermits who rule the island. Can Gabimaru find the Elixir of Life on this mysterious island and make it back home alive?

The series stars Chiaki Kobayashi (Cells at Work) as Gabimaru and Yumiri Hanamori (Blue Period) as Sagiri.

For the full breakdown on how and where to watch the premiere of Hells Paradise, check out the below:

What: Hells Paradise season one

Episode: 1

When: Saturday, April 1

Time: 11:30 a.m. (ET)

Stream: Crunchyroll
The wooden box  about a foot long and maybe six inches deep  remained on a pantry shelf in a Portland Heights, Oregon, home in the Southwest hills for 36 years.

No one opened it.

No one moved it.

No one touched it.

The box held the familys hope and optimism for a long-awaited reunion -- until that hope and optimism finally were extinguished. Then, when it was time to accept the truth about that grim Wednesday in 1944, it held very different qualities. Tears and pain. Thats when the box was moved from the homes living quarters and placed on the pantry shelf.

All of that, wrapped up in a simple wooden box, tucked away in an ordinary Portland home.

***

Tom Triplett, the boy who lived in the home, first noticed the box when he was 9 or so after his mother asked him to fetch something for her from the pantry. He saw that box weekly, if not daily, and it became a part of his childhood.

He left home, graduated from college and then law school. He married. The couple had two daughters. After a long career as a Portland attorney, he retired and lives in Bend.

Its been a long time, but Triplett, 82, can still close his eyes and see that box on the pantry shelf of his childhood home. Even at 9 he knew it was something special. He would soon learn from his father that it was a marker, a before-and-after in his familys history.

My uncle went missing when I was 4, he said. My only memory of him is when I was 3.

During World War II, his uncle, Jim Triplett, married and living in Seattle, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the precursor to what became the U.S. Air Force. He rose to the rank of master gunnery sergeant and was assigned as a radio operator to the 445th bomber group, which was a part of the Eighth Air Force. Stationed in England  and known as the Mighty Eighth  the group planned and carried out bombing missions against Nazi and Axis targets throughout occupied Europe.

A group of bombers mistakenly veered off course and was attacked on the way back to their base in England.

On Sept. 27, 1944, 35 B-24 Liberators of the 445th bomber group, with 336 crew members, mistakenly veered off course during a mission targeting Kassel, Germany. Separated from the pack, they were, in every sense of the word, flying naked, with no fighter-plane support to protect their flanks.

The group dropped their payloads on a secondary target and were making their prescribed turns to head home when 150 German Luftwaffe fighters came through the cloud cover and attacked. Of the 35 American planes, 25 were downed inside Germanys borders. Others crash-landed in France, England and Belgium. Only four bombers safely returned to their air base in England. Records showed that 117 airmen were killed in action, 121 taken prisoner and eight were missing in action.

Of the 35 American planes, 25 were downed inside Germanys borders. Others crash-landed in France, England and Belgium. Only four bombers safely returned to their air base in England. Records showed that 117 airmen were killed in action, 121 taken prisoner and eight were missing in action.

The lumbering bombers, with no fighter cover, were easy targets, said Jim Bertram, whose father was a navigator on one of the bombers. Bertram, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, is the chairman of the Kassel Mission Historical Society, a nonprofit that endeavors to keep alive the collective memory of that day and the participants legacies.

This air battle would become the greatest single-day loss to a single group in air-warfare history, said Bertram.

Jim Triplett, 36, was on one of those bombers.

***

Jim Triplett

About a month before the attack over Kassel, Tom Tripletts father, Bill Triplett, wanted to do something for his brother for Christmas.

Bill, a Stanford University graduate, who ran a chain of Portland-area grocery stores started by his father-in-law, came home with a wooden box. It was unpainted, simply constructed and functional. He filled it with small gifts to send to his brothers air base in England.

I never, ever, looked in the box, said Tom Triplett. But I know from my father there was tobacco in it. Chocolate  things to eat.

One day, later in 1944, the doorbell rang at the Triplett home. His wife, Eileen Triplett, a fellow Stanford University graduate, opened the door and saw a man from the Army. In his hands was a wrapped package.

The box.

The man said it was being returned to sender, labeled addressee unknown. When Bill Triplett arrived home from work, his wife handed him the box.

Bill Triplett made calls, learned about the attack over Kassel and was told his brother was listed as missing in action. A year later, the family was notified that Triplett had been officially declared dead.

Because of the location where the planes went down, my grandmother and my father believed my uncle might have been taken prisoner, said Tom Triplett. My father was convinced that one day his brother would come home. He put that box in the pantry because he wanted to hand it to his brother.

And there the box remained.

It was a constant reminder to the family, said Tom Triplett. To her dying day, my grandmother believed her son was coming home.

Of the nine men on Jim Tripletts bomber, only three parachuted to safety  and they were captured by Germans. Bill Triplett later learned what supposedly happened onboard when the fighters attacked.

My father heard that my uncle told everyone on the plane to go first, Tom Triplett said. He didnt have children. They did and he told them it was important they survived. My uncle was the last one to parachute from the plane. I dont know where my father heard that. I cant prove or disprove it, but it became part of our family legend.

Now, late in his own life, Tom Triplett has a theory about the box in the pantry and his father.

Bill Triplett had planned to enlist with his brother, his son pointed out. The Army, however, rejected him because he had bad ankles from a ski accident on Mount Hood.

I think there may have been a certain amount of feeling on my fathers part that he should have been there with his brother, said Tom Triplett. Im surmising. He never told me this, but as I got older, I knew what he might have felt like.

Tom Triplett was living out of the country when his parents sold their Portland Heights home and moved to a planned community in West Linn.

His mother died in 1994, his father four years later.

When their son helped clean out the place, he couldnt find the wooden box. He never learned what became of it. For 36 years, the wooden box on a shelf in the pantry had been the one constant in a changing world.

It was gone.

***

The Kassel Mission Memorial Association was formed 40 years ago to honor the Kassel mission. A memorial was built on the site where the lead B-24 bomber went down near Friedlos, Germany.

The Kassel Mission Memorial Association was formed 40 years ago to honor the Kassel mission. A memorial was built on the site where the lead B-24 bomber went down near Friedlos, Germany.

It is the only known memorial dedicated to honoring airmen from both sides of the conflict who perished that day.

Members of the society, made up mostly of descendants of those who participated in the Kassel Mission, travel to the memorial every five years to meet each other and local Germans, and to pay their respects. The memorial was built in the spirit of reconciliation and the need for cooperation among nations.

Only one person from that mission, a pilot now 99, is still alive. For decades, eight servicemen from the Kassel Mission, including Jim Triplett, were not accounted for.

A German man affiliated with the association spent years attempting to identify each crash site, and another German man helped with archaeological digs to try to locate the eight missing men. That information was shared with the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which looks for remains of missing servicemen.

In 2016, working with German partners, the U.S. agencys officials began an excavation at a potential Kassel mission site and found bone fragments.

Four years ago, Tom Triplett was asked by the Kassel Mission Historical Society if he would provide a DNA sample. He agreed.

What happens then, said Bertram, is you wait and wait and wait.

Two months ago, Triplett received a call that he describes as coming out of the blue.

His DNA matched the DNA on bones found in Germany. Officials had located Jim Triplett.

It was a great relief, Tom Triplett said.

After hanging up the phone, Triplett began calling all his relatives.

A 79-year-old mystery was over.

***

Triplett later learned that DNA provided by someone else in the United States allowed identification of other bone fragments found at the site, allowing the remains of Lt. Porter Pile, the co-pilot of Jim Tripletts bomber, to be identified too.

Tom Triplett and one of Piles descendants talked by phone and agreed on a joint ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The remains of both Jim Triplett and Porter Pile will be taken by an honor guard for an October inurnment.

Tom Triplett will stand at attention.

He will not be alone.

His father will be there with his brother.

His grandmother will be there with her son.

The spirit of the entire family, he said, will be with me in Arlington.

Triplett said he has experienced what he calls moments of quiet reflection.

He has not cried.

That, he knows, will happen at Arlington National Cemetery.

 Tom Hallman Jr. 503-221-8224; thallman@oregonian.com; @thallmanjr
Five volunteers braved a brief but chilling helicopter ride Tuesday to return from Terrible Tilly, the abandoned 142-year-old Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, a watery mile off northern Oregons coast.

The four men and one woman, age 29-58, had camped three nights on the exposed basalt outpost and spent their days cleaning up the stone fortress to ready it for sale. They also collected artifacts to raise money for more maintenance work.

Oregons only offshore light station, rising 133 feet above the churning ocean, is visible from Seaside to Cannon Beach, but difficult to set foot on.

The private Tillamook Rock property, which is part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, can only be reached by helicopter with the owners permission  otherwise its a federal crime  and when the weather allows and sea lions arent blocking the landing pad.

Its not an easy location to get to, said pilot Alex Ambros of Jerry Trimble Helicopters, whose first attempt to retrieve the volunteers around 1 p.m. Tuesday was thwarted by strong winds and a downdraft over the lighthouse that forced her to return to the Seaside Municipal Airport. Im impressed how anyone constructed a lighthouse out there.

On Saturday, however, the air was calm and the Robinson R66 helicopter was able to set down on the cliffside, makeshift pad that is a little larger than a parking spot. The volunteers held onto the side of the helicopter to guide around the sheer drop to the rocks and water below.

By 4 p.m. Tuesday, after three successful landings on the rock, the entire crew had reunited at the Seaside airport, wet from rain, dirty from work but elated to return with stories.

Nick Hellmich of St. Helens dropped to the tarmac and comically kissed the ground. I would love to go back anytime, he said. It was great to be part of something bigger than myself. ... This has impact on history.

Ian Lively, also of St. Helens, smiled as rain pelted him. It was some of the most fun Ive had in awhile, he said. There were difficult conditions but it was a pretty good time.

Ivory Pearson of Rockaway Beach, the only woman known to have camped on Tilly, said even though she had confidence in the pilot, it was frightening to return in the helicopter during a brief break in the weather. But when she was out there, surrounded by water, she said she felt freedom.

Volunteer Brian Coulson of Idaho Falls has a tattoo of Tilly on his left arm. He helped clean up the island in 2019 and was on the last flight out Tuesday with Mike Daves, who was overseeing the work.

Coulson said the reason he takes risks to be on the rock is simple: She calls to me. To me shes home, he said. The conditions are so harsh. She was impossible to build, maintain or even remain ... yet she exists.

Proudly watching all of this unfold was Tillys longtime owner Mimi Morissette, who accepts all of the challenges with grace and determination. No one builds a lighthouse in a place that has good weather, she said.

The acre-wide rocky outcrop, partially leveled by dynamite during its construction in 1881, has been overrun by 600-pound sea lions that pushed through the corroding front door. Inside, among the relics and debris are some of the remains of the Eternity At Sea columbarium, which held 30 funeral urns.

Morissette, 78, is driven to find sustainable revenue for what she calls a world icon. Since she and investors purchased the land in 1980, she has seen the only viable use as a columbarium.

I didnt want to be in the cemetery business, but there is no fresh water, no sewer, no light and no way to land, said Morissette.

The license for the Eternity At Sea columbarium was not renewed in 1999 by the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board. But when she was accepting urns, Morissette told people at some point it could become a burial at sea.

The cost for supplies and helicopter runs for the three-day cleanup was about $25,000, Morissette said. As the largest shareholder, she has paid for upkeep and other costs for 43 years.

She tried to sell the lighthouse in 1993. And again in 2022, with an asking price of $6.5 million. Experts she hired say there is room for 300,000 urns. Her business card for the Oregon Tillamook Rock Lighthouse Columbarium has her phone number and email, and states that her urn idea has $1.5 billion economic potential.

After making more improvements in October, the most significant in 20 years, she will put Tilly back on the market. She plans to ask even more than $6.5 million.

She said shell need to invest $1.5 million to replace metal with titanium. Seawater and neglect turned once gleaming steel used for the roof, spiral staircase, catwalk and railings into crumbling rust. She also wants to create a titanium honeycomb to store urns.

Other destruction has taken place over decades. Violent storms ripped off pieces of the island then hurled the boulders at the building, according to historic accounts. Seawater can flood the tower and breakers pound the roof and broke the glass long ago.

The Tillamook Rock lighthouse has also been a target for vandals. Glass windows were shattered by bullets.

Like many others, Morissette speaks about the rock as if its a person: Tilly loves to have her picture taken. She has authorized Ken Abbett to be the official drone pilot and photographer of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.

She is protective of her property and worries that unauthorized drone pilots will cause an accident.

Volunteer Alicia Bryan helped coordinate the crew and cargo reaching the rock. She grew up in Astoria and had long admired Tilly from afar. She even got 1.5 miles away from it once in her large boat.

Last Saturday, on the sixth helicopter run from the Seaside airport, Bryan jumped into a spare seat and fulfilled three wishes: She reached the rock, returned with a souvenir and flew in a helicopter.

The four-mile roundtrip took place in less than 30 minutes, but the memories will be lasting, said Bryan, who works for Community Action Team in St. Helens. The stars aligned, she said, holding a small rock, her Tilly souvenir, in her hand.

She said she admires owner Morissette for preserving the history of the landmark and pursuing a course for decades to find the propertys highest and best use.

This cannot be a bed and breakfast, said Bryan.

Bryan, who has lived on the coast and knows the impact of the oceans relentless wear and tear on buildings and boats, thought the lighthouse was in good shape. It needs paint, cleanup, but that has always been the case faced by all of the owners, she said. The structure still stands without issues.

Where other owners have failed to meet their promises, Mimi is succeeding, said Bryan. There is no other alternative than to create a columbarium. I would like to have a portion of my ashes out there.

Tillys history

The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, designed to guide ships on their treacherous ocean journey to the Columbia River, played a critical role in the development of the Pacific Northwest and World War II shipbuilding.

Due to its challenging location, construction costs were $123,493 in 1881 dollars, making it the most expensive lighthouse to build on the West Coast at the time and the priciest to maintain.

Recently discovered original blueprints are being preserved at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum.

For 77 years, members of the U.S. Lighthouse Service and, after 1939, the U.S. Coast Guard walked 77 steps on the spiral staircase from the first floor to the steel plate floor of the lantern room.

In 1957, the light station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was decommissioned.

Investors from Las Vegas who hadnt seen the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse in person bought it for $5,600 at an auction in 1959.

In 1973, the Las Vegas group sold it for $11,000 to George Hupman, a New York-based executive with General Electric, who wanted to create a summer retreat. Hupman brought in a generator and cleaned up the bird droppings, but after a few visits, he sold the rock.

Max M. Shillock Jr., with funds from Joy Goolsby, purchased the lighthouse from Hupman in 1978 for $27,000. The property was included as an over-the-top luxury gift idea in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog, but there were no takers.

In 1980, Goolsby sold the lighthouse for $50,000 to real estate developers Mimi Morissette and Cathy Riley, who were backed by a group of investors, The Oregonian reported.

The owners opened the Eternity At Sea columbarium.

I dont know what awareness we have after death but if there is any awareness then I cant think of a more beautiful or romantic place as I view the Oregon coastline and all the wildlife flying by, Morissette said in a 1981 interview after celebrating the lighthouses 100th anniversary.

After cleaning up the building and sealing windows and all but one door, Morissettes parents and her friends ashes were placed inside the lighthouse by Eternity At Sea.

Morissette is optimistic shell find a buyer for the island and lighthouse.

In 2022, she bought a small ad that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, and then spent a week marketing the Oregon landmark at the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association convention in Las Vegas.

She tells prospective buyers that her property has fewer government requirements than those imposed on lighthouses purchased after Tilly was built.

Plus we are world famous, she wrote in an email she shared with The Oregonian. Her slogan is Americas Lighthouses are Americas Castles.

Other unlikely commercial ideas for the island have ranged from creating a gambling casino to relocating the lighthouse to be used as a theme restaurant.

Before the last lighthouse keeper, Oswald Allik, departed the island, he wrote in the official logbook, which is at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.

Allik called the lighthouse one of the most notorious and yet fascinating of the sea-swept sentinels in the world as well as a friend of the tempest-tossed mariner.

He stated that its beacon has been a star of hope and its foghorn a voice of encouragement through howling gale, thick fog and driving rain.

He concluded his praise with an era has ended. With this final entry, and not without sentiment, I return thee to the elements.

 Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072, jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman
The wife of a man who died after he was hit by a car she was driving at their Hillsborough, New Jersey, home was arrested this week and charged with death by auto, authorities announced Friday.

Robert OKeefe, 41, was struck by a car driven by 37-year-old Amanda OKeefe shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 25, according to a joint statement from the Somerset County prosecutors office and the Hillsborough Police Department. Robert OKeefe was pronounced dead at the scene.

Amanda OKeefe was allegedly over the legal blood alcohol concentration limit at the time of the incident and on Wednesday she was charged and surrendered herself to authorities at the office and was arrested, the agencies said.

She was lodged in the Somerset County Jail and released on Thursday with unspecified conditions pending a future court appearance, the office said.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.

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A York County man is accused of attacking a federal air marshal while he was working in his official capacity last year, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

38-year-old Zachary William Easterly, of Etters, is charged with misdemeanor assault of a federal officer, according to the release.

Easterly attacked a Special Agent of the Federal Air Mashal Service on Aug. 30, 2022, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.

If Easterly is convicted, he could face up to one year in prison, one year of supervised release and a $100,000 fine.

Read more on PennLive:
U.S. Senator John Fetterman was released from the hospital and has returned to his home outside Pittsburgh, according to a statement released by the U.S. Senate on Friday.

Fetterman was receiving treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since mid-February for major depression, according to the statement. His medical team, led by Neuropsychiatry Chief Dr. David Williamson, said Fettermans depression is now in remission.

While the Senate is in recess for the next two weeks, Fetterman will spend time with his family in Braddock and return to D.C. when the Senate session resumes on April 17.

I am so happy to be home. Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs, Fetterman said in a statement. I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life. I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works. This isnt about politics  right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help.

Fetterman, 53, was recovering from the aftereffects of the stroke he suffered last May during his Senate campaign when he went to Walter Reed on the advice of the Capitol physician.

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Private label, fleece-lined hoodies were flying out of Boscovs, and CEO Jim Boscov wanted to know why.

It turned out that the October 2020 surge in demand had little to do with the personal service and unpretentious vibe that have helped make Boscovs the largest family-owned department store company in America.

It came from young people posting TikTok videos of themselves dancing and modeling inexpensive plaid outerwear from Boscovs.

Our hoodies were going viral, said Boscov, 73, the CEO and public face of the privately held company, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year.

In one week we had an eightfold increase in sales of the hoodies. We sold $200,000 worth at $24.99 each, he said. We had been doing digital marketing for years, but it opened our eyes to the power of influencers.

One of those influencers vowed in her video to never be dissing Boscovs again  suggesting not only the opportunities, but also the challenges facing the more than century-old company in todays economy.

Image vs. reality

While Boscovs has continued to open stores while other traditional retailers are closing, its image remains a throwback to the days when department stores were dominant, and malls were all the rage.

The decor in some of its older stores is heavy on mirrors, bright lights, and neon signage evocative of a disco or a casino. Some people likely perceive Boscovs shoppers as the mothers or grandmothers of those fleece-lined hoodie enthusiasts.

The trick is to evolve but not give up the core of what works and makes us successful, said Boscov, adding that new stores feature sleeker designs. The company also renovates two stores each year.

We have to keep learning and changing, he said. But we wont throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Boscovs traces its start to Solomon Boscov peddling housewares from farm to farm near Reading in Berks County in 1914. He was 23 and had recently emigrated from Russia with his brothers passport, hardly any money, and even less English.

Nevertheless, my grandfather earned a reputation as honest and kind, and for providing good merchandise at a great price, Boscov said during an interview at company headquarters just outside Reading.

These continue to be our core values.

From its first store  Economy Shoe & Dry Goods  in Reading in 1918, Boscovs has grown to 49 stores in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio.

The companys bustling headquarters occupies a mostly windowless warren of offices in the basement of its Reading Mall store.

Boscovs charismatic uncle, Albert, who led and grew the company for nearly 50 years and ultimately saved it, established the tradition of an in-store headquarters.

Success doesnt happen because of what goes on in the office, said Boscov, who generally visits a different store weekly. Its what happens on the sales floor that matters.

Boscovs is a full-service department store, he said. And we have something you dont find everywhere: We have salespeople on the sales floor.

Boscovs is often an anchor in shopping malls  another retail institution that once seemed invincible. The busy Voorhees, N.J., Boscovs is pretty much all that remains of the Echelon Mall, which was built in 1970. The 50th Boscovs is scheduled to open this fall in a Bridgeport, W.Va., mall.

But the company also has downtown stores in Binghamton, N.Y.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; and Providence, R.I.

Department stores arent what they were when Wanamakers, Gimbels, and Strawbridges ruled Philadelphia regional retail.

But Boscovs comes closer than most. It still has candy and toy departments and sells draperies, beds, recliners, and small appliances. It carries clothing for petite as well as big and tall customers, and many of its stores have hair salons and optical shops, along with hearing aid and travel services.

Survival of the savviest

Boscovs has figured out how to thrive in the anti-brick-and-mortar retailing world, said Michael Lisicky, a Cherry Hill native, historian and author of books about department stores, including Bambergers.

Boscovs isnt run by a private equity firm. Theyre a family of merchants, who know who they are and know their customers, he said. Boscovs isnt reimagining the department store because maybe it doesnt need to be reimagined. Not everything is broken.

Lisicky pointed to the chains signature breadth and depth of inventory as a selling point. Customers know they will probably find whatever theyre looking for at Boscovs, he said.

Boscovs fan Cathy Nevins, an educator and social worker who lives in Cherry Hill, agrees. When I take my grandchildren there, they usually see something they like.

Nevins also likes that Boscovs cultivates relationships with local nonprofits. I like their ethics of people helping people, she said.

Until the pandemic, a half-dozen Boscovs stores still had restaurants called The Greenery, where the Bos-cobb salad was once a staple. Tailors are no longer on site, either  although tailoring services are still offered.

We hate to give up things that make us distinctive, said Boscov, who paused at one point during the interview to take a call from his mother, Shirley, whos 97 and lives in a Reading retirement community.

Shes very active and tries to go swimming every day, he said.

Boscovs existential crisis

A widower and the father of a grown daughter, Jim Boscov grew up working in the stores and learning the family business firsthand from his grandfather and uncle. He had part-time jobs in a number of departments as a teenager and joined the company full time at age 26.

But he left in 1990, moved to Boston, and launched a series of retail or retail-related businesses, including a successful outlet store chain. He came back to Boscovs in 2008 as an assistant to Albert, who had retired only two years earlier but returned to lead an effort to save the company.

As mergers and closures roiled the department store industry in 2006, Boscovs  under the leadership of then-CEO Kenneth Lakin  bought 10 store locations that had become available in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The expansion brought the total number of Boscovs to 49 and introduced the brand to new markets.

It might have worked, but the economy hit the skids, the credit market crashed, and Boscovs did not have the liquidity at the time that it needed to survive, Jim Boscov said.

Because of the goodwill Boscovs had earned, Albert was able to cobble together the necessary funds to buy the company back, with the entire family participating, he said.

The 10 recently acquired store locations were closed. In the following decade, Albert started the company on a new path of expansion. He was 87 when he died of pancreatic cancer in 2017.

Albert had named Jim Boscov CEO in 2015. Under his leadership, Boscovs took over the former Nordstrom space in Providence, opened two Connecticut stores, one near Youngstown, Ohio, and soon, in Bridgeport, W.Va.

Looking to the future

Boscovs came knocking on our door, said Andy Lang, mayor of the city of 9,000 in north-central West Virginia.

People are very excited, he said. I really like what Mr. Boscov says about tailoring the store to fit the community. Its going to be great.

Boscovs is serving a market that remains robust, said Sheri Lambert, an associate professor of marketing at Temple University who studies consumer behavior.

Bricks-and-mortar isnt dead, she said. And malls arent dead either.

While the pandemic elevated e-commerce, it also underscored how much people missed communal experiences, such as shopping, Lambert said.

Stores like Boscovs are where people can go to be among other people and have a sense of community, she said. People like to touch and feel merchandise, and they like to be among other [shoppers], which is hard to do online.

Boscov said he intends to keep working but noted that the store has recruited new management talent from within and outside the family.

The company is always looking for new opportunities. He said the success of the standalone Boscovs Outlet, near the Reading Mall store, is an additional format that could work in other locations. He didnt name any in particular but wouldnt rule out Philadelphia  or Center City  either.

The worst thing we could do is pretend to be something were not, he said. Were going to continue to be Boscovs.
Animal rights activists gathered Saturday in front of the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area office to ask for the removal of its executive director in the wake questions about the shelters finances and treatment of animals.

At least 20 people assembled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., picketing for executive director Amy Kaunas to either step down or be removed.

The protesters, who included former volunteers, say they have unanswered questions and concerns about Kaunas management style, the organizations oversight and spending decisions at the nonprofit. The group also has an active Facebook page and paid for a highway billboard as part of their efforts In Pursuit of change, at the shelter.

Pursuit, the American bull-dog mix once slated to be euthanized, joined protestors outside the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area's office as they petitioned for Amy Kaunas, the executive director of the organization, to be removed from her position.

This discontent first became public in February after an American bull-dog mix named Pursuit was slated to be euthanized for escalating incidents, despite volunteer claims that the dog was adoptable, lovable and deserved a second chance with special training. The first protest occurred on the day Pursuit was supposed to be put down. During the event, a volunteer whisked him away from the shelter without permission and is now seeking to find him a permanent home.

Pursuit showed up to join the protesters on Saturday, as they hand-delivered two letters to the shelter. These letters requested financial statements, donor reports, policies on animal intake and euthanization, and complaints against the staff and more.

Shelter officials previously said they dont euthanize animals for lack of space and regret any time an animal must be put down. They said the difficult decision to put down Pursuit was made after two incidents last summer, and one in January where he displayed aggressive behavior.

The 4-year-old American Bulldog mix had been at the shelter since October 2021, with little interest over the next 400 days, according to officials.

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Trump indictment sends shock waves through conservative conference in Cumberland County: Its a vendetta
OMAHA, Neb.  Americans are renewing their focus on railroad safety after a string of recent derailments, especially two fiery ones involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota that prompted evacuations.

Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments. They want standards for the trackside detectors used to help identify equipment problems, more notice to states about hazardous chemicals they are hauling, and at least two people at the helm of freight trains.

A Senate bill would toughen the penalty for safety violations to up to 1% of a railroads annual operating income and set standards for the maximum length and weight of freight trains, which have grown significantly in recent years. Trains now routinely stretch beyond two miles (3 kilometers) long.

The railroads themselves say they will take steps that include installing roughly 1,000 more trackside detectors. But the industry has a long history of resisting new regulations. The Association of American Railroads trade group has already spoken out against the crew size rule and requiring electronically-controlled brakes.

Railroads are generally regarded as the safest way to transport hazardous chemicals across land, and statistics show that 99.9% of those shipments arrive safely. Most derailments dont cause major problems, but there are still nearly three a day somewhere in the country. Just one derailment involving hazardous chemicals can be disastrous.

FLAMMABLE TRAIN RULES

Regulators established a set of safety rules for trains hauling large amounts of crude oil, ethanol or other flammable liquids in 2015 after several fiery derailments, including one of the worst disasters in railroad history.

In 2013, the brakes failed on a parked crude oil train in the hills above the Canadian town of Lac Megantic. The unmanned train rolled downhill and derailed, killing 47 people and causing millions of dollars in damage.

Other crude oil crashes, like one that created a massive fireball outside the town of Casselton, North Dakota, in 2013, alarmed regulators because the number of crude oil shipments had skyrocketed as more oil was being produced in areas without many pipelines, like North Dakota.

The 2015 rules require railroads to notify states about how many flammable liquid trains they expect to transport each week and to find the safest route possible for them. They also establish a maximum speed limit of 50 mph (80 kph).

Neither the Ohio or Minnesota trains that derailed were covered by these rules. To be considered a high-hazardous flammable train, a train must have either a block of 20 or more flammable liquid cars or at least 35 flammable liquid cars in all.

Lawmakers and regulators have discussed expanding the definition, so more trains would be covered.

ELECTRONIC BRAKES

Federal regulators originally proposed that any high-hazardous flammable train would need upgraded electronically-controlled brakes that can stop trains more quickly by applying all cars brakes simultaneously. Conventional systems apply air brakes sequentially. But they dropped that proposal in 2018 after Congress required them to conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis.

Mike Rush, a senior vice president of safety and operations with the AAR trade group, told Federal Railroad Administration officials this week that considering electronic brakes now would be a complete waste of time.

He said the major freight railroads spent a decade testing electronic brakes and found only limited benefits. Electronic brakes also were prone to breaking down, he said.

Since 2015, it has become much more common for railroads to use multiple locomotives spread throughout a train. That helps stop trains more quickly because the locomotives can send a braking signal at once  though likely not as quickly as electronic brakes would.

TANK CAR UPGRADES

One thing in the 2015 rules was a requirement to upgrade DOT-111 tank cars used to haul crude oil and ethanol to make them less likely to leak in a derailment. The tank cars involved in Thursdays BNSF derailment in Minnesota were upgraded triple-hulled DOT-117 cars, but they still ruptured and caught fire.

Since 2015, nearly 48,000 of the newer tank cars have been built, and some 41,000 older tank cars have been upgraded to meet a 2029 deadline set by Congress. Another 35,000 older tank cars need to be upgraded or replaced.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested speeding up those upgrades to complete them by 2025 after the Ohio derailment. But the Railway Supply Institute, which represents big tank car manufacturers that own most of the nations tank cars, says thats not possible because of current labor and supply chain shortages.

CHEMICAL CONCERNS

The ethanol that spilled and caught fire in the Minnesota derailment is less of a concern than the vinyl chloride that was released after the Ohio derailment or other toxic chemicals railroads routinely carry, like chlorine gas that was released during a 2005 derailment in Graniteville, South Carolina, killing nine people and injuring more than 250.

Ethanol is relatively clean burning, but contaminated soil in the area will have to be removed.

The vinyl chloride released from tank cars in Ohio out of fear it might explode is associated with increased risk of certain cancers. Officials warned when they burned it that two concerning gases  hydrogen chloride and phosgene, which was used as a weapon in World War I  might be released in the process.

Thats why so many East Palestine residents remain concerned about potential long-term health impacts even though state and federal officials insist they havent found alarming levels of chemicals in the air or water. Norfolk Southern has also been ordered to test for dioxins, which may have been released during the February incineration.
LOUISVILLE, Ky.  The nine service members who died in a crash involving two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters ranged in age from 23 to 36 and were from seven states, the military said Friday, as it released the identities of the soldiers and an investigative team continued its probe of the accident.

A military news release said the service members came from Florida, Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey.

This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these Soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come, said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell.

Two HH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell on Wednesday night in southwest Kentucky during a training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircrafts. The crash occurred in Trigg County, Kentucky, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of the Army post that is home to the 101st Airborne Division.

A special military investigative team was on the scene Friday but rain and wind have slowed the early work, Army officials said.

The two Black Hawks were flying during a training exercise and the pilots were using night-vision goggles, Army officials said. The accident occurred during flying and not during the course of a medical evacuation drill, said Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne deputy commander.

The helicopters carried flight data recorders, similar to the black boxes that investigators use to analyze crashes involving passengers planes. Officials are hoping the devices yield information about the cause.

The Army identified the soldiers as: Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida; Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri; Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, California.; Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina; Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Florida; Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri; and Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23, of Oradell, New Jersey.

The four soldiers piloting the two Black Hawks were Esparza, Smith, Barnes and Healy, according to the Army.

Dave Busby, who taught Smith in middle school, was among several of Smiths childhood teachers and classmates who posted tributes on Facebook.

What a great kid. What a tragedy, Busby said by phone from his home in St. James, Missouri, the small town where Smith grew up. Ill be honest I wept  what a shame.

Even as a teen, Smith was ambitious, forward-looking and perceptive, Busby said: You could tell he was going places.

Solinas dedication to being a flight medic showed his character, his brother, Aidan Solinas, said in a statement.

We are a faithful family and we are proud David was training to rescue soldiers on the battlefield, he said. Being a flight medic is one of the most difficult jobs that you can do, and illustrates that David was a man of compassion and faith.

Gores father, Tim Gore, told the Goldsboro News-Argus that his son leaves behind a wife whos pregnant. Gore, a pastor in Wayne County, said that his son, who was known to family as Caleb, was an infant when the family moved to North Carolina and remained in the state until he joined the Army after graduating high school.

His passion was search and rescue, and if you were wounded on the battlefield, Caleb coming out of that helicopter would be the most beautiful thing you would ever see, Gore told the newspaper. He was kind, compassionate, and a gentle giant because he was built like a tank.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Friday ordered flags at state buildings lowered to half-staff from sunrise on Saturday until sunset Monday in honor of the soldiers.

Over the last 10 years, the Armys Black Hawk helicopter has been involved in 40 so-called Class A mishaps, which involve either a fatality or more than $2.5 million in damage. Forty-four personnel died in those cases.

Wednesdays crash was the deadliest training incident for the Army since March 2015, when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the Florida coast in dense fog, said Jimmie Cummings, spokesperson for the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker. Four soldiers from the Louisiana Army National Guard and seven Marine special operations forces were killed.

Cummings said the most deadly non-combat Black Hawk crash was in 1988 and also involved Fort Campbell aircraft. The crash killed 17 troops when two helicopters collided in mid-air. The most deadly Army aircraft training incident was a Chinook crash in Germany in 1982, that killed 46 U.S. and international forces. The second was a C-23 Sherpa fixed wing aircraft crash in Georgia in 2001 that killed 21 Army and Air Guard personnel.

Fort Campbell also had a multi-aircraft crash in 1996, when two Blackhawks clipped propellers, killing five soldiers. The last deadly aviation accident at Fort Campbell occurred in 2018, when an Apache helicopter crashed during training, killing two soldiers on board.

The Black Hawk helicopter is a critical workhorse for the U.S. Army and is used in security, transport, medical evacuations, search and rescue and other missions. The helicopters are known to many people from the 2001 movie Black Hawk Down, which is about a 1993 battle in Somalia.
Ex-President Donald Trump is no longer untouchable, porn star Stormy Daniels said Friday in her first interview since Trumps indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.

This p--sy grabbed back, she told The Times of London, referring to the now infamous Trump quote grab em by the p--sy, during a conversation with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, caught on tape in 2005.

Daniels has noticed that people are reacting differently to the indictment than they did to the initial news reports years ago about her sexual encounter with Trump.

The first time it was like gold digger, slut, whore  you know, liar, whatever, Daniels said. And this time its like, Im gonna murder you, she said.

Daniels is at the center of Donald Trumps hush money case which stems from payments made to her in an alleged effort by Trump to buy her silence in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

Daniels told the British newspaper that when she heard the news of the indictment, she was out riding her horse, which is named Redemption.

Theres something really ironic and hilarious that I got the news about the indictment while I was sitting on a horse named Redemption, she said  adding that she put some of the $130,000 she received in hush money payments toward buying a horse trailer.

She says she is not scared of the idea of facing Trump in court, because she has seen him naked and, theres no way he could be scarier with his clothes on.

But she does feel the gravity of the historic situation, and the potential for danger.

Whatever the outcome is, its going to cause violence, and theres going to be injuries and death, Daniels said.

Theres the potential for a lot of good to come from this. But either way, a lot of bad is going to come from it, too.
HOUSTON  A 53-year-old Houston womans life was spared when a robbers gun jammed as he tried to shoot hergiving her an open window to return fire, police say.

Shes a Godly woman, thats why the gun jammedbecause God jammed it, Keshondra Turners son told KHOU11.

Turner had been serving soul food from Elite Eats, her familys food truck, with her brother in southwest Houston Tuesday afternoon in a parking lot off South Main Street just inside Beltway 8 in Houston, according to KHOU11.

Thats when a 23-year-old man pulled up beside it and asked what food the truck serves, according to Houston Police Department Lieutenant Bryan Bui.

As Turner showed him a bag of chicken, the man pulled out a gun and exited his truck, Bui said.

Turner closed the window to the food truck, but the man forced it back open and put his arm inside while pointing his gun at her, according to Bui.

Thats when he pulled the triggerbut the gun jammed, according to Bui.

Turner drew her gun and shot the man several times, who collapsed around 50 feet away and died at the scene, Bui said.

Turner is licensed to carry a firearm, and the robber did not fire any shots, Bui said.

The food truck had only been open an hour when it was robbed, and only had $40 inside, according to ABC13.

The Houston Police Department did not file charges during the investigation, but the Harris County District Attorneys Office is referring the incident to a grand jury.

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Theres no reason any Pennsylvanian should be without health insurance. But big changes are taking effect starting Saturday, April 1, and those who have been counting on Medicaid need to act now and not procrastinate.

As of Saturday, anyone enrolled in Medicaid for health insurance will need to reapply to verify they are still eligible for coverage. You may not be automatically renewed. If youre on Medicaid now, you should go to: dhs.pa.gov/staycovered to reapply.

Medicaid is specifically designed to help people with low incomes. It has been a lifesaver for thousands of people and their families through the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government mandated no one could be dropped from the program during the pandemic, even if their income increased.

Thank goodness for that or thousands more may have died from COVID-19.

But the federal mandate to keep people on Medicaid ended Saturday. Now, people will need to renew their eligibility each year, as was the requirement before the pandemic. You should do so as soon as possible.

Acting Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Val Arkoosh speaks with PennLive's Editorial Board about changes in Medicaid guidelines that take effect in April 2023.

Acting Secretary of Human Service Val Arkoosh met this week with the Editorial Board for PennLive and The Patriot-News to clearly explain whats happening, why its happening and what to do about it. In fact, she says the state is ensuring people receive multiples direct messages via email, text and snail mailings informing them of the changes and how to re-apply for Medicaid, if they still need it.

Medicaid recipients will receive messages from the Department of Human Services 90, 60 and 30 days before and after their renewal date. And information will be sent in multiple languages.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services should be commended for pulling out all the stop to make sure Pennsylvanians know of the changes and understand what to do. They are alerting Pennsylvanians that the same law taking effect for Medicaid are impacting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Childrens Health Insurance program (CHIP).

The department has a website with information on how to re-apply for Medicaid, SNAP and CHIP at: dhs.pa.gov/staycovered.

And information to help determine eligibility is available at: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/Services/Assistance/Pages/MA-General-Eligibility.aspx .

People whose incomes have increased but who still dont have an employer-sponsored plan  or cant afford it  have another option. Arkoosh says Pennsylvanians can enroll in PENNIE, the state version of the Affordable Care Act.

PENNIE has high-quality, affordable health insurance plans, and Arkoosh says her agency has staff ready to help people determine the best health insurance plan for their needs. Shes strongly encouraging anyone who fears their income has risen too much for Medicaid to still send in their information. It will automatically be sent to PENNIE to facilitate new coverage.

Were joining Arkoosh in urging everyone on Medicaid to act immediately. But the good news is no one is being immediately dropped from coverage.

Arkoosh says Gov. Josh Shapiro is taking a realistic approach, realizing everyone may not get the message, despite their best efforts to publicize, promote and inform those who are being impacted. And the truth is, thousands likely will procrastinate, despite the urgency of the message.

Even if you procrastinate, dont reapply and get sick, all is not lost. You will have 90 days to appeal and be reinstated. That means if youre still eligible for Medicaid, your coverage will remain intact, retroactive to the date when coverage expired.

The state is making extraordinary efforts to keep every Pennsylvanian with health insurance. Thousands have already gotten the message and responded to the email and text messages. Theyre protected. But thousands more Pennsylvanians havent responded.

DHS is looking for community leaders to help ensure no Pennsylvanian loses health insurance.

We encourage people to contact the agency to help spread the word. Anyone who wants to be a helper can sign up here: https://www.dhs.pa.gov/PHE/Pages/Helpers.aspx.

Please do it now. Dont procrastinate.

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By Mark S. Singel

Poll after poll says that citizens have become numb to the horror of classroom killings. If there ever was outrage, it is being replaced by the cold reality that our leaders just dont care.

In fact, the response to the murder of more children and teachers at the Covenant School in Tennessee was shockingly cavalier from some Republicans. Congress cant do anything about it, said one particularly craven weasel. In fact, many of the people we elected to office at the federal and state level are cowards. They continue to put the rights of gun ownership over the safety of our children.

The worst part is many voters accept their rhetoric and continue to elect them.

Elected officials need to understand the urgency of the situation. The Associated Press did a grim roll call of the students whose lives were ended in what they thought was their safe place  their place of learning. One hundred and seventy five kids were killed in classrooms since Columbine. We have suffered through 13 mass shootings in classrooms since the beginning of this year.

Thats one massacre per week.

Another sickening reality is that gunfire has become the leading cause of death among children. Not cancer; not car crashes  guns.

Roy S. Johnson of the Alabama Media Group put it this way: We love our guns more than we love our children  Oh, we feel. We hurt. Our stomachs go weak, our hearts skip when we learn of yet another godawful killing spree ... Yet we dont care.

More to the point, our elected representatives dont care. U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) represents the Nashville district where Covenant School is located. He said he was Utterly heartbroken and offered his thoughts and prayers. He also has steadfastly opposed any effort to enact background checks or to keep assault weapons out of the hands of potential murderers.

Congressman Andy Ogles put the bang into Christmas.

In fact, he and his family posed for their Christmas card wielding automatic weapons. Nothing says Merry Christmas like glorifying the tools of death.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of that parent who waited for their nine-year-old son or daughter to come home from school only to be told that an AR-15 assault weapon ripped through his or her tiny body. Parents have a right to their outrage. We all have a responsibility to join them in their grief and in their efforts to make our own kids safe.

There are now more guns in America than people. It is also true that many gun owners twist the 2nd amendment into a blanket justification for them to gather as wide a variety of guns as they can stuff into their display cases. They would not take kindly to any effort to take those weapons away. Politicians are not about to change their pro-gun positions. They rely on generous funding from the gun lobby when campaign time comes around.

Clearly, the only way to counteract the gun lobby is to be direct with each and every candidate who is seeking our vote. Ask him or her: Do you support common sense gun safety legislation? Do not vote for anyone who cannot answer that question with a simple Yes.

And what are some of those common-sense ideas?

First, universal background checks.

It should be a given that anyone purchasing a gun should be vetted for any prior criminal record and for any impairments that could make them dangerous.

Second, aggressive Red Flag laws in every state.

These would allow citizens to alert the authorities if they believe a current gun owner has shown violent tendencies. Most killers have tipped their hand on social media platforms or in other settings. They should be reported to the Courts or law enforcement before they gun down children.

Third, raise the age to purchase guns to at least 18.

Kids should not be anywhere near firearms until they demonstrate the maturity to handle a deadly weapon. Age limits are imperfect but they are a start.

Finally, proper storage of weapons and appropriate training in gun safety should be mandatory.

The next time your congressman or state senator tries to hide behind the second amendment, tell him or her these are some common-sense actions they can take immediately. When they talk about thoughts and prayers for our dead children, tell them, for Gods sake, do something about it.

Mark S. Singel is a former Democratic Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor of Pennsylvania.
Former U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick said during an appearance in East Pennsboro Friday that hes definitely considering another run for office and he called the indictment of former President Donald Trump highly political.

During a 15-minute appearance at the conservative Pennsylvania Leadership Conference at the Penn Harris Convention Center, McCormick said Trumps indictment represented a dark day for American justice free from politics.

Its obvious that this is a highly politicized attack on the former president thats been made by a partisan district attorney, McCormick told moderator Salena Zito, a writer for the conservative Washington Examiner.

As for him making a second attempt at a seat in the Senate, McCormick said hes still motivated to serve after he lost the GOP Senate primary to Dr. Mehmet Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes last year.

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, said he is definitely thinking about running for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who lost to Gov. Josh Shapiro in November, is also reportedly considering a U.S. Senate run.

Im definitely trying to figure out how to best serve, McCormick told Zito.

McCormick joked that hes a former executive, but his family is tired of getting his repeated advice with his exasperated wife recently looking at him and saying, You must get a bleep job.

Laughing, McCormick said, Ive got to figure out whats next.

Otherwise, McCormick, a West Point graduate and decorated veteran, talked about the points he makes in his new book, Superpower in Peril: A Battle Plan to Renew America, particularly about the nations military prowess and global standing against threats from China and Russia.

Were at a moment where we have to have a plan and vision for moving forward, said McCormick, who drew applause when he said the United States needs to hold China accountable for the COVID-19 virus.
Kellyanne Conway did not endorse her old boss, former President Donald Trump, during her Friday night address to a conservative conference in East Pennsboro, but said she understands why hes pulling away from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in recent polling.

Voters, Conway told more than 700 people gathered at the Penn Harris Convention Center for the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference dinner, simply prefer a candidate with experience in the White House.
Ukraine has ordered 100 Rosomak multi-purpose armored vehicles, which are made in Poland under a Finnish license, Poland's prime minister said on Saturday.

"I bring an order placed yesterday by (Ukrainian) Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for 100 Rosomaks that will be fabricated here," Mateusz Morawiecki said during a visit to the Rosomak manufacturing site in the southern Polish town of Siemianowice Slaskie.

The order will be financed through funds that Poland has received from the European Union and US funds that Ukraine has received, he said, without providing details or the overall cost of the contract.

The United States and its allies have provided Ukraine with a host of funding and weapons after Russia invaded its pro-Western ex-Soviet neighbour in February 2022.

The Rosomak is an 8x8 multi-purpose armoured vehicle manufactured under the license from Finland's Patria.

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U.S. Rep. Scott Perry added his voice to the Republicans condemning a New York grand jurys indictment of former President Donald J. Trump, apparently on a battery of charges related to hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump is expected to make an initial, voluntary court appearance in Manhattan next week.

I feel like I am living in the Third World or a banana republic, Perry said, commenting after an appearance at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, a major gathering of conservative activists in swing state Pennsylvania Saturday.

You know crime is off the charts in New York City. Youve got a local district attorney whos reducing felony (prosecutions) at the rate of over 50 percent, and losing 50 percent of the ones he does fight. And his focus is not on the safety of his citizens that elected him - well, they and George Soros, apparently - but his focus is on a campaign pledge to pursue to the former president, Perry said.

Perry is currently locked in a federal court battle over whether communications on his cell phone should be available to investigators engaged in a separate probe into Trumps efforts to cling to power after his defeat in the presidential election.

Perry, various investigations have shown, was central to several of those efforts.

In that case, FBI agents seized Perrys phone Aug. 9 with a court-approved warrant, but they are still fighting for a necessary second level of judicial permission to begin combing through the records. Perry has argued most of the data should be off-limits to the investigators because of Constitutional protections against questioning a sitting Congressman for his or her legislative activities.

Perry did not significantly address any of the pending Trump investigations from the stage.

But speaking with PennLive after his remarks he said he considers the New York indictments an abuse of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs prosecutorial authority.

It is a stain, and it is a degradation of our judicial process and all it does is sow discontent and mistrust with the American people in that process. It is a horrible event, Perry said.

In his stage speech, Perry, the lightning rod representative from northern York County, focused mostly on his pivotal role in the election of U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House in January.

Perry and a small group of other conservatives withheld their decisive votes from McCarthy, the leader of the Republican caucus, until they won agreement to a battery of House rules changes that the holdouts said were designed to give all members of the House a greater voice in the chambers proceedings.

Perry, whose group wielded leverage to make their demands because of the Republicans narrow majority in the House, got the changes through, and on Saturday he said that so far he believes the changes have been working as promised.

So far the rules are being adhered to, Perry said. There are single-purpose bills that are coming through committees (to the House floor). Theyre not just being air-dropped in. So far that is all working as advertised, and as agreed upon.

Perry offered his January stand as an example for what all conservatives must do, in his view, to save Americas individual liberties against what he sees as a woke government / media establishment.

I will just tell you that we are losing our freedoms little by little, moment by moment, at a breathtaking pace right now, Perry said.

It is urgent. And if we dont fight for the things we believe in, if we dont challenge the way thats its always been everything that I grew up with... its all going to be gone.

To win that political fights ahead, Perry said, its incumbent on conservatives to closely vet candidates in Republican primaries to make sure that true fighters are winning seats on school boards, in state legislatures and in the Congress, and not what he called squishes.

its not personal. It wasnt personal with me and Kevin McCarthy. But it is business. And it is the business of the salvation of the Republic of the United States of America and it is worth your effort. It is worth your sacrifice. it is worth your and their discomfort, Perry concluded.

We can no longer try to find compromise between normal and crazy. Crazys got to go. We just want to be normal. And were going to have to fight for it.
By ADRIAN SAINZ and ANDREW DeMILLO, The Associated Press

WYNNE, Ark. (AP)  Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 21 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damages scope.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included seven in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois, and three in nearby Sullivan, Indiana.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornados path.

Stunned residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high schools roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

Debris and memories of regular life lay scattered inside the damaged shells of homes and strewn on lawns: clothing, insulation, roofing paper, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

Im sad that my town has been hit so hard, said Heidi Jenkins, a salon owner. Our school is gone, my church is gone. Im sad for all the people who lost their homes.

At least seven people died in Tennessees McNairy County, east of Memphis along the Mississippi border, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas, Leckner said, adding that although it appeared all people were accounted for, crews were going door to door to be sure.

In Belvidere, Illinois, some of the 260 people attending a heavy metal concert at the Apollo Theatre pulled a 50-year-old man from the rubble after part of the roof collapsed; he was dead when emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 other people were injured, including two with life-threatening injuries.

In Crawford County, Illinois, three people were killed and eight others injured after a tornado hit around New Hebron, Bill Burke, the county board chair, said.

Thats not far from where three people were killed in Indianas Sullivan County, about 95 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 is essentially unrecognizable right now and that several people were rescued from rubble overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said, and search-and-rescue teams combed damaged areas.

Quite frankly, Im really, really shocked there isnt more as far as human issues, he said, adding that recovery is going to be a very long process.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, authorities said. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said that 2,100 homes and businesses were in the tornados path, but that no assessment had been done on how many were damaged.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to help local responders.

A suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabamas Madison County, said county official Mac McCutcheon. And in northern Mississippis Pontotoc County, officials confirmed one death and four injuries.

The storms struck just hours after President Joe Biden visited the Mississippi community of Rolling Fork, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa, and broke windows on cars and buildings northeast of Peoria, Illinois.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

Thats a quite active day, he said. But thats not unprecedented.
By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly weather including tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois and made a fatal sweep into rural Indiana.

The storm caused three deaths in Sullivan County, Indiana, Emergency Management Director Jim Pirtle said in an email to The Associated Press early Saturday. The storm damaged homes, and some residents were missing in the county seat of Sullivan, located near the Illinois state line about 95 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris.

A homs is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)AP

Cleanup begins after a tornado touched down near the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Ninth Street in Coralville, Iowa, Friday, March 31, 2023. City crews, residents and neighbors worked to clear debris off the roadway and vehicles. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette via AP)AP

Authorities said a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one person and injuring 28, five of them severely. The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming from the theater at 7:48 p.m. It said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage.

There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

The destructive weather came as President Joe Biden toured the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck in Mississippi one week ago and promised the government would help the area recover.

The Little Rock tornado tore first through neighborhoods in the western part of the city and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger grocery store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

In the evening, officials in Pulaski County announced a confirmed fatality in North Little Rock but did not immediately give details.

Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock officials told KATV in the afternoon that 21 people had checked in there with tornado-caused injuries, including five in critical condition.

Mayor Frank Scott Jr., who announced that he was requesting assistance from the National Guard, tweeted in the evening that property damage was extensive and we are still responding.

A person walks on the roof of a building damaged in a storm after a tornado warning in Johnson County, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Hills, Iowa. (Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via AP)AP

About 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, the small city of Wynne, Arkansas, saw widespread tornado damage, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed.

St. Francis County Coroner Miles J. Kimble told the AP by phone Friday night that he was assisting the Cross County coroner in Wynne and that two people died there in the tornado.

The governor at a briefing with Little Rock officials Friday night said it was possible the number of deaths could rise.
Not long after a severe thunderstorm watch was issued in a wide area of central Pennsylvania, the National Weather Service added a thunderstorm warning to the area around Harrisburg.

A thunderstorm watch means storms are possible in and near the watch area. Warnings are more urgent and indictate severe weather has been reported by spotters or indicated by radar, according to the weather service.

The severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 5:30 p.m. for areas that include parts of Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster and York counties, the NWS says. Storms could include hail and wind gusts up to 60 mph.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Harrisburg PA, Hershey PA and Colonial Park PA until 5:30 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/ztAVYEoHpr  NWS State College (@NWSStateCollege) April 1, 2023

The thunderstorm watch is in effect until later, 8 p.m.
Israeli police shot and killed Mohammad Khaled al-Osaibi, a Palestinian from Houra, near Al-Aqsa Mosque's Chain Gate according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Israeli police claim that Osaibi, a 26-year-old medical school graduate who had just passed his exam in Israel, attempted to snatch a weapon from a border guard before being killed.

However, witnesses had a different account, saying that police shot Osaibi at close range after intervening on behalf of a Palestinian woman who was assaulted by police and forced to leave the mosque.

Hours after the incident, the muddy stone alleyway leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque was still stained with blood.The village council called for a thorough investigation of his killing and a general strike Saturday in protest.

Ayman Odeh, an Israeli parliament member and Talab Al-Saneh, a former member, denied the police's allegations and demanded that Israeli police release security camera footage to verify the claim Osaibi tried to seize a weapon.

Odeh argued that the killing of Osaibi was an execution and that the only way to address the ongoing violence is to end the occupation.

He was killed in cold blood after finishing his prayers, said prominent Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi. As with previous crimes committed by the police, we are accustomed to many false narratives.

The police closed all entrances to the mosque and the Old City following the incident, attacking vendors and shopkeepers in the area before reopening the gates.

The attack occurred hours after thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the second Friday of Ramadan for prayers.

Over 2,000 police officers were deployed throughout the city in anticipation of the prayers.

Since the beginning of this year, Israeli occupation forces have killed 92 Palestinians, almost all of them from the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Don't Miss Your Chance to Become the PartyPoker Grand Prix Spring Main Event Champion

April 01, 2023 Matthew Pitt Editor

The Grand Prix Spring series concludes on April 3 with the crowning of the $250,000 guaranteed Main Event champion, leaving you rapidly running out of time if you have aspirations of becoming this tournament's champion. With at least $250,000 waiting to be won for a $55 investment, you'd be crazy to turn up the chance to become a PartyPoker champion.

The 14 remaining Grand Prix Spring series Main Event flights are a mixture of Regular (eight-minute blinds), Fast (seven minutes), Turbo (five minutes), and Hyper (three minutes) speeds, so make sure you check out the PartyPoker lobby if you have a preference for how quickly the blinds increase. There are satellites from as little as a single cent available in the lobby, opening the door for every PartyPoker player to get involved in this value-packed event.

Regardless of the clock, the structure is the exact same across all flights, with you sitting down with 100,000 chips, and playing to blinds starting at 400/800/100a. Late registration remains open until the end of the tenth level, and one re-entry is permitted before the registration period ends. Each Day 1 concludes when there are only 15% of the field remaining, with those top 15% of finishers progressing to Day 2 at 8:05 p.m. BST on April 3 having locked in at least a min-cash for their efforts.

Remaining Grand Prix Spring Main Event Flights

Date Time (BST) Sat 1 Apr 12:05 p.m. 3:05 p.m. 6:05 p.m. 10:05 p.m. Sun 2 Apr 1:05 a.m. 12:05 p.m. 3:05 p.m. 6:05 p.m. 10:05 p.m. Mon 3 Apr 1:05 a.m. 12:05 p.m. 3:05 p.m. 5:05 p.m. 6:05 p.m.

At the time of writing, the PartyPoker Grand Prix Spring Main Event has attracted 3,596 entrants, who have created a $179,800 prize pool. Anyone wanting to start Day 2 with a top-ten chip stack will need to turn their initial 100,000-chip arsenal into at least 1,697,620

Give Your Bankroll a Boost with the PokerNews-Exclusive PartyPoker Freerolls

Current PartyPoker Grand Prix Spring Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts

Place Player Chips 1 Rockasrabbit 2,585,541 2 OllieWollie1991 2,680,022 3 WhatKings 2,159,411 4 Kaukaya 2,085,858 5 KirkL. 1,983,913 6 Eye_Sea_Emm 1,869,483 7 KingSuited 1,742,038 8 xxBrianxx81 1,712,418 9 LeoArara 1,708,029 10 salmaovidente 1,697,620

Grand Prix Spring Mini and Micro Main Events Represent Superb Value

It is not only the $55 buy-in $250,000 guaranteed Grand Prix Spring Main Event that has the poker community's tongues wagging but also the Mini and Micro Main Event. The Micro Main Event guarantees $10,000 for only a $2.20 investment, while the Mini Main Event is an $11 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed affair. Both the Micro and Mini Main Events have Day 1s running at the same time as their bigger brother.

Enjoy Dozens of PartyPoker Tournaments

There are dozens upon dozens of PartyPoker tournaments running around the clock, each complementing the Grand Prix Spring series. You can check them out with the recently launched PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar, an interactive tool that makes registering for online poker tournaments a breeze.

Help Yourself to a PartyPoker Welcome Package

Download PartyPoker via PokerNews and deposit at least $10 to receive a 100% match up to $600 welcome bonus in addition to up to $30 worth of free play.

A $10 deposit yields $10 worth of tickets over the course of a week:

Day 1: 2x $1 SPINS tickets + 1x $5.50 MTT ticket

Day 2: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets

Day 4: 1x $3.30 MTT ticket

Day 6: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets

Increase your deposit to at least $20, and the following ticket package is yours:

Day 1: 1x $5.30 MTT ticket

Day 2: 2x $1 SPINS ticket

Day 3: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket

Day 4: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket

Day 5: 3x $2.20 MTT tickets

Day 6: 2x $3 SPINS tickets + 1x$3.30 MTT ticket

Residents of the United Kingdom enjoy a slightly different welcome from PartyPoker. Their deposit of at least 10 comes with a 100% match up to 400 first deposit bonus plus $10 worth of Party Dollars, which can be used in any of the site's games every day for six days.

To release the total Deposit Bonus amount, you must accumulate four times the Deposit Bonus amount in loyalty points. Each time the player accumulates 10% of the Total Loyalty Points required, they will receive a 10% increment of the Deposit Bonus
In a White House Proclamation, American President Joe Biden recognised the various contributions to American society by Arab Americans and declared April 2023 as Arab American Heritage Month.

The White House released a proclamation on Friday by President Biden making April 2023 Arab American Heritage month where all Americans were called upon "to learn more about the history, culture, and achievements of Arab Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programmes and activities."

The proclamation described the history of Arab Americans in the country as being one of unity where hard work and diversity led this community to many great accomplishments.

Invoking the image of the American Dream, the proclamation invites all Americans to ensure that all people of various ethnicities have equal opportunities within American society.

The proclamation celebrates the enormous contributions of Arab Americans to the United States, maintaining that "the achievements of Arab Americans are reflected in the arts and sciences; in businesses and faith communities; in classrooms and hospitals; and in police stations, firehouses, and every branch of the military. "

The proclamation cites the large number of Arab Americans working in the Biden administration as proof that this administration is egalitarian and representative of all Americans.

While acknowledging the unjust and discriminatory treatment that Arab Americans are sometimes subject to in the United States, the proclamation rejects previous legislation and presidential actions which have unequally harmed historically underserved communities.

The proclamation states that "hate must have no safe harbor in this country."

Appealing to the idea of equality  which lies at the heart of the declaration of independence  the proclamation insists that the United States is the only nation that was built on an idea, namely that of equality.

It asserts that celebrating Arab American Heritage Month is an opportunity for the United States to honor Americas fundamental values and advance equity and opportunity for all people.

The proclamation concludes by affirming that diversity is Americas greatest strength.

Back in 2022, Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and the governors of 45 states all issued proclamations honouring the celebration of Arab Americans and their heritage.

There has been a total of 144 proclamations, statements, and resolutions presented in different states.

Likewise, the legislatures of Illinois, Oregon, Virginia, and Indiana have all enacted permanent legislation declaring April to be National Arab American Heritage Month.

Previously, April was the National Arab American Heritage Month initiated by the Arab America Foundation in 2017. Cultural and educational institutions, municipalities, state legislatures, government employees, and non-profit organisations held special events and issued proclamations around the nation in recognition of the Arab American community's rich history and various contributions to society.

Only a few states such as Michigan, California, Illinois, DC, and Texas recognised the concept of the National Arab American Heritage Month when it was first introduced. Therefore, the celebrations were inconsistent, and the states at the time did not coordinate with each other.

This proclamation by President Biden marks the historic adoption of April as Arab American Heritage Month on a national level. It is, therefore, a culmination of all these previous efforts.

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After nine levels of play on Day 2 of Event #19: $3,300 Main Event at the Merit Poker Carmen Series hosted by the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino a total of 142 players emerged from a combined starting field of 765. A familiar name leads those 142; Maxime Chilaud of France with 1,895,000. Chilaud also led the field in Event #13: $5,300 High Roller after Day 1, going on to finish in 12th for $14,850. He does not have a big lead, however, with Efraim Tavdi nipping at his heels on 1,861,000. Israel's Michael Magalashvili, who displayed cautious patience alongside timely aggression, rounds out the top three with 1,766,000.

When play commenced, 187 players returned, having navigated their way through one of the four starting flights. But with late registration open for a further four levels and a big prizepool brewing, more players who perhaps did not enjoy the best of luck during Day 1 were sure to hop in. That is precisely what happened as the total number of entrants swelled beyond the number set in this same event back in January.

Merit Poker Carmen Series $3,300 Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Maxime Chilaud 1,895,000 158 2 Efraim Tavdi 1,861,000 155 3 Michael Magalashvilli 1,766,000 147 4 Denis Kapustin 1,580,000 132 5 Mikhail Zamiatin 1,567,000 131 6 Kristaps Vismanis 1,560,000 130 7 Uri Reichenstein 1,545,000 129 8 Shalev Halfa 1,440,000 120 9 Boris Angelov 1,346,000 112 10 Daniel Myers 1,300,000 108

Those players were able to generate a total prizepool of $2,111,400, significantly more than the already lofty guarantee of $1,500,000. That mammoth total will be split amongst the top 89 finishers, each of whom is guaranteed a minimum of $4,580 for their efforts with a gargantuan $376,800 set to hit the bank account of whomever emerges victorious. Nobody has yet secured themselves a slice of the pie, however, as the money bubble is set to burst on Day 3.

Nevertheless, all those who were able to navigate their way through the first two days have already enjoyed a relatively deep run that they will be hoping to turn into a healthy payday. Unfortunately, several notable players who took their shot will not be joining them, including Boris Kolev, Jason Wheeler and Gabi Livshitz. They will have to test their luck and skill another day in another event.

Notables who do remain in contention include Uri Reichenstein (1,545,000), WSOPE Main Event winner Jack Sinclair (986,000) and Romania all time money leader (and perhaps the embodiment of the year of Romania) Alexandru Papazian (710,000).

Day 3 resumes at 12 p.m, Saturday April 1st (no April fools, promise) at the start of Level 19 with blinds at 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante at which point nine further levels will be played before the close of the day. April 1st also happens to be Cyprus National Day so even those who fall short of the money will have a reason to celebrate (or at least an excuse to drown their sorrows).

Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as its live reporting team continues to provide updates of Event #19: $3,300 Main Event through to its conclusion.
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A judge has rejected Fox Newss argument that they are protected by the First Amendment and found that the Dominion lawsuit can go to trial.

CNBC reported, Judge Eric Davis of Delawares Superior Court rejected Foxs arguments that it should bypass a trial since its protected by the First Amendment. The judge granted some of the voting machine makers motions, with the exception of its argument that Fox and its hosts acted with malice in broadcasting false claims about the 2020 presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

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The judge did reject Dominions motion to get a judgment without a trial, but Fox has been claiming that they were practicing jourNewss and protected by the First Amendment when they spread lies about Dominion voting machines and other election conspiracy theories involving Dominion.

The ruling on Friday is another step in the destroying of Fox Newss pretense of journalism. There are journalists working at Fox News, but the evidence suggests that executives and anchors knew that the Dominion voting machine conspiracies they put on the air were false, but the network showcased them anyway because they were afraid of losing viewers to Newsmax and OAN.

Even if Fox News loses the Dominion lawsuit, it will not be put out of business, but the Dominion lawsuit has exposed Fox News, and it is limited how much of an audience it will be able to develop beyond Republicans and the conservative media bubble.

Donald Trumps indictment is getting all of the attention, but things are also not looking so good for Fox News.
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Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has been released from the hospital. The senator is back in Braddock, PA. His depression is in remission, and he will return when the Senate reconvenes.

Fettermans office said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, Pennsylvania U.S. Senator John Fetterman is back in Braddock. Earlier today he was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was treated for major depression by a team led by Dr. David Williamson, Neuropsychiatry Chief and Medical Director. According to Dr. Williamson, Senator Fettermans depression is now in remission. Senator Fettermans entire course of treatment took place in the Neuropsychiatry unit at 7 East, a medical unit. With the Senate in recess for the next two weeks, Senator Fetterman will spend time with his family and constituents in Pennsylvania, and return to Washington, D.C. when the Senate session resumes on April 17th.

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In his discharge report, Dr. Williamson the doctor who treated the senator said that his speech abilities improved as his depression improved and the doctor suggested that depression may have been a barrier in his stroke recovery.

Sen. Fetterman urged people who are suffering with depression to get help, I am so happy to be home. Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs. I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life. I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works. This isnt about politics  right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help.

According to the American Stroke Association, depression is a common experience for stroke survivors, and it is often caused by biochemical changes in the brain. Depression can be a barrier to rehabilitation and stroke recovery.

Pennsylvanians will be happy to have their senator back, and the Senate Democrats will welcome back their 51st vote.

John Fetterman has had a tough road of late, and it is good to see that he has made progress in his recovery.
To close out Gemini season, Tommy Dorfman and Lucas Hedges stepped out holding hands  disrupting a peaceful Saturday morning with their chaotic paparazzi pics.



The two looked exactly how you would imagine a couple from Brooklyn heading to the farmer's market would look.

Tommy Dorfman was in a long orange shift dress (think the hotter version of the quarantine nap dress ), but Lucas Hedges stole the show in cut off shorts and knee high boots .

The look of the summer! The weekend's Prada Spring 2022 runway show said: "leg!" and he understood the assignment!



Usually, we would have questions. Something along the lines of  why? How? Or, the existential classic: What could this mean?

But mostly we know that it's Hot Vaxxed Summer and anything goes. Kiss your friends! Wear knee high boots in New York Humidity! Bring back bucket hats!

Looking back at the parade of unprecedented pairings that were rolled out before us this Spring more efficiently than the vaccine  Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox; Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian; John Mulaney and Olivia Munn; God forbid even Bennifer  those couples of yore now seem tired, inane, predictable.

No more proclamations of love and vials of blood around your neck a la Machine Gun Kelly. No explanations or excuses for anything. We want Lucas Hedges Tommy Dorfman energy. Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson and Rita Ora energy. Completely unhinged and unexplained.

This time last year, celebrities were taking up activism and singing imagine and becoming public health experts. But finally, thankfully, that era is done with! Bring back mess! Bring back drama! Bring back pure, chaotic paparazzi photos on a Saturday morning!

Step aside "No Nuance November"; it's "Just Do Whatever June," where we will be making unfounded assumptions, jumping to wild conclusions, and then just ... believing them.

So  Happy Pride to Lucas Hedges and Tommy Dorfman. And that's all there is to say about it.
The most chaotic plot twist of the summer so far  and therehavebeenmany  is the new trio that has been spotted around New York City: Zoe Kravitz, Channing Tatum, and Channing Tatum's bike.

Though there were whispers about the unlikely Kravitz and Tatum pairing earlier this summer, they were dismissed. That was partly because the pair seems so opposite that it was too baffling to believe, and partly because there were more interesting rumors about Zoe Kravitz floating around the internet  namely that she was dating Taylour Paige.

Despite the fact that Taylour Paige is famously dating Jesse Williams, this was a more compelling rumor simply because it started on Instagram. When Kravitz posted a (now-deleted) photo of the two of them with a cryptic, slightly suggestive caption, the internet collectively said: oh?

And because so much celebrity news and gossip starts online (shoutout to DeuxMoi, the people's princess), we're so used to decoding tweets and getting updates on Instagram. However, we've reached a turning point.

Gone is the era of curated Instagram PSAs. Keeping in trend with the new age of Gen Z nonchalance, celebrities are less likely to let us completely into their lives and instead, more prone to keeping us guessing.

After years of being Very Online, curating perfect versions of ourselves on social media and turning ourselves into (*gags*) personal brands, the tides are shifting and trends are moving in the opposite direction.

The pandemic brought on a lot  like, a lot  of oversharing. So much of 2020's quarantine content was relentless and terrible in the guise of "togetherness" and "vulnerability." Celebrities lamented about "our" situation from their pools, old acquaintances seemed to always be livestreaming on social media, and even our friends posted maybe too many photos of their banana bread.

But the increased volume of content decreased the quality. Suddenly, the need for curation was usurped by the desperate need for attention and validation that isolation wrought. And now, with most people venturing out into some semblance of their old lives, the constant social media updates have petered out, but what remains is the unpolished veneer that has made Instagram casual again.

It's the era of photo dumps (the 10 photo carousel that acts as a time capsule and is usually a chaotic combination of group pictures, solo shots, and out of context observations) and unfiltered feeds. It's also the era of shameless stories, oversharing as an art form, and constant declarations of our own defining, or niche, personality traits  seeing something on TikTok and saying "that's so me."

But with all this online chaos, somewhat paradoxically, this is also the era of the very Offline Boyfriend.

While seemingly innocuous parts of our lives are broadcast for all to see, significant others are no longer a crucial part of the aesthetic.

This is especially true within a heteronormative paradigm. Where once Instagram was the prime venue to "show off" a boyfriend to get validation and peer approval, this shift is further proof that the reigning cultural "cool girl" is no longer the one who has the most male approval. Rather, the "cool girl" is cool for her peers by herself, and her boyfriend is rendered irrelevant, or even reductive, to her aesthetic.

@i_d Why is everyone obsessed with having an offline boyfriend right now? @lauraepitcher investigates. #normcore #bellahadid #loggingoff

But aside from Tatum, Kravitz, bike, who are these cool girls and who are their offline boyfriends?



When Issa Rae posted her wedding photos in July, everyone was like  what? While Issa Rae's relationship had been public, with a few articles announcing her engagement months prior, it was also very private. Despite her veritable television empire and iconic cultural status, Issa Rae had no interest in wedging her relationship status into her personal brand and becoming one half of a proverbial power couple  why would she? She's Issa Rae.

Similarly, despite the constant paparazzi and media flurry around her as part of her job, Bella Hadid has managed to keep her long-term boyfriend mostly under wraps.

This is opposite to her highly publicized relationship with Abel Tesfaye of The Weeknd from a few years ago. Instead of photo ops, paparazzi pictures, and public outings, Bella and her new man are barely ever spotted  usually only by fans snapping blurry iPhone photos of the pair in SoHo.

After the spectacle of pandemic pap walks  a horror show led by Shawnmila (everyone's least favorite PR couple) and the brief, pre-Bennifer pairing of Ana De Armas and Ben Affleck  nothing came to fill the void. And celebrities welcomed it. The unexplained, confusing couples that have emerged this past year were a precursor to the offline phenomenon that looks like it's here to stay.

The bygone era of celebrities calling paparazzi to showcase their relationships and of heavily curated couple announcements ended firmly with J-Lo and Ben Affleck's Instagram carousel announcement (peak Leo behavior)  the perfect blend of new age photo dump and semi-cheugy PDA. And while we'll kind of miss the drama of it, we're glad it ended so spectacularly.

From now on, it looks like we'll be playing guessing games and being ambushed by surprise couples riding through New York City on fixed-gear bikes.
In February, the Department of Labor announced that it had discovered 102 teenagers working in hazardous conditions for a company that cleans meatpacking equipment at factories around the country, a violation of federal standards. The minors, ages 13 to 17, were working with dangerous chemic Read moreGuest editorial: The dangerous race to put more children to work
The Berkeley County Sheriffs Office released crime data from across the county in 2022. At 1,229 square miles, Berkeley County is the third largest county in South Carolina. The sheriffs office is headquartered in Moncks Corner, but it now has six substations across the county. Read moreFentanyl a major concern per 2022 crime stats
A business marriage with its roots in tie-dyed rock-and-roll and jangly guitar bands became official this weekend with the merger of South Carolina's second-largest law firm and an even bigger practice in Alabama, representing a growing trend of size matters in the U.S. legal community.

Columbia-based Nexsen Pruet has joined up with Maynard Cooper & Gale of Birmingham, Ala., to create a firm with 550 lawyers and 23 offices in a deal that was announced in January but didn't take effect until April 1.

In an era where clients are looking to consolidate their legal representation to a single, regional or national shop with deep resources, the merger gives both sides considerably more clout.

It also reunites a couple of 1980s law school buddies who spent plenty of time kicking around the nightclubs and music halls of Nashville  that is, when they weren't hitting the books at Vanderbilt University.

"We liked the same kind of music. That's how we became friends," Leighton Lord, the Nexsen Pruet executive who will serve as president of the combined firm, said of Jeff Grantham, the Maynard Cooper top boss who'll be CEO of the newly named Maynard Nexsen.

Back then, scouting out emerging bands or learning where bigger names were playing wasn't as easy as a few smartphone clicks.

"We had to get a newspaper and find who's playing at the Exit In and who's playing at the Cannery," Lord said. "And then you wandered around the library trying to find people that would go with you."

More often than not, Grantham was along for the ride.

"Everybody thinks of Nashville and they think of country music, and there's great country music there," Grantham said. "But when we were there, it was kind of the college band '80s. We had a great group that got together, hung out and listened to live music."

Some of the most popular music at the time was coming from the college town of Athens, Ga., birthplace to bands like R.E.M. and Love Tractor and a favorite haunt of alternative pop group Guadalcanal Diary. Lord and Grantham tried to see as many of those bands as their class schedules would allow  Grantham remembers a half-dozen or more R.E.M. shows  but their musical tastes didn't stop with the college radio playlist.

"We also liked the Grateful Dead a lot," Lord said. "So, we saw two or three Grateful Dead shows together, and we got to be friends."

Bench strength

The two kept in touch sporadically after earning law degrees in 1989, but separate careers consumed most of their time over the next three decades or so.

Lord remembers it was a casual remark from another Vanderbilt friend, sometime before the pandemic, that sparked curiosity about what his old concert companion was up to.

"I heard Jeff had become managing partner of Maynard Cooper, so I pulled up their website and was, like, 'Wow, these guys are doing some neat stuff'," Lord said. "So I just picked up the phone and called Jeff and said, 'Hey, let's get together.' We both happened to be in Atlanta and had lunch together and decided, you know, to rekindle the friendship and figure out how we could better manage our respective firms."

A merger was the last thing on their minds. But as the pandemic dragged on, the more they talked.

"He was one of the people I'd call to ask things like  what are you all doing about masks, or what are you doing about a PPP loan," Grantham said. "We were trying to figure out how to navigate the thing, and that kept us in touch."

Eventually, Lord and Grantham realized their separate firms were a lot alike, and those commonalities could help each side achieve some long-held goals.

"We hired a consultant to talk us out of it, but the consultant looked at it and said, 'This makes more sense than any merger I've ever worked on'," Lord said.

The firms didn't have any overlapping geography, although both wanted to break into markets where the other had already planted a flag. Maynard Cooper had strengths in some practice areas that Nexsen Pruet was looking to shore up, like cyber security and venture capital, and Maynard Cooper was looking for help in building a construction practice. Both firms had long histories and workplace cultures they were proud of. And everyone seemed to get along, "which is, you know, rare for a bunch of lawyers," Lord said.

"By coming together, you guys create bench strength," Mike Short, the LawVision consultant, told the two men.

By 2022, merger talks had hit high gear.

Merger mania

The waning days of the Covid-19 pandemic seemed to put a lot of law firms in a courting mood.

Legal consultant Fairfax Associates counted 46 completed mergers in 2022, according to a report by Reuters. That figure is still below the 10-year historical annual average of 55, but dealmaking is picking up. Fairfax has already tracked six merger deals that closed since the start of this year, mainly between large and mid-size firms. The consultant said further talks between several pairs of large firms could also be in store for 2023.

"A new wave of mergers has gripped the industry," Roy Strom with Bloomberg Law wrote on his Big Law blog. Strom said top lawyers are "admitting it's good, in some sense, to grow for growth's sake."

Scale provides an advantage when it comes to pitching for business, Kent Zimmerman and John Morris posited in Law Firm Mergers: Lessons From Successful Strategic Combinations.

"All things being equal, firms that are larger and more profitable than peers tend to have higher profiles and stronger brands, are invited to more beauty contests and attract more top talent," they wrote in their 2022 book. "In addition, the costs of attracting and retaining high-performing lawyers, investing in technology and deepening geographic and practice capabilities are also easier to absorb when spread across a larger and more profitable partnership."

Lord and Grantham  the pair joke Maynard Nexsen should have been called Lord Grantham, after a "Downton Abbey" character  agree with all of that.

"We have people that are marketing against us because they say Nexsen doesn't have enough lawyers to get it done," Lord said. "And so the bigger engagements, the big deals, the big litigation, they tend to go to firms that have more lawyers and more bench strength, because the client feels they have the resources to put into the project or the trial."

Unlike a lot of mergers, where redundancies lead to job cuts, Lord said there are no overlaps with this deal and, in fact, hiring is anticipated.

"Both firms were pretty lean and mean, so we probably have to hire more staff to run the combined firm, not less staff," he said.

The new Maynard Nexsen will be knocking on the door of the AmLaw 100  a sort of Fortune 500 for the legal community that ranks the top U.S. firms by revenue. Lord and Grantham figure they'll land about 20 spots short of making that list, where entry is counted in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. When it comes to headcount, Maynard Nexsen will easily rank among the nation's 100 largest firms.

Grantham hedged on whether Birmingham will be considered the combined firm's headquarters, saying the practice will have strong leadership at all of its outposts, including Columbia.

The merger means Nexsen Pruet will lose its status as one of the biggest South Carolina-based law firms  second only to Columbia's Nelson Mullins and its 1,000 attorneys spread across 17 states.

Lord thinks a home-state law firm is still important to many clients, adding the Carolinas is a tough market for a new outsider to crack.

"We're going to maintain a very strong local presence in North Carolina and South Carolina," he said. Maynard Nexsen will continue to own and operate NP Strategy and Nextra Solutions  wholly owned subsidiaries that focus on public relations and technology support, respectively.

"We're still going to be as politically active as we always have and push our people into community work and supporting our community," he said. "We plan to maintain a very strong involvement in the Carolinas."
The Port of Charleston greeted its first "green" container ship this week when ZIM line docked a vessel named for a Israeli shipping magnate and philanthropist at its Wando Welch Terminal.

The Sammy Ofer is powered by liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which burns significantly cleaner than the commonly used diesel and produces 23 percent fewer emissions of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

Haifa, Israel-based ZIM calls the vessel, which is on its maiden voyage, "an important step forward in the industrys journey to decarbonize."

At 1,200 feet long and capable of carrying 15,000 20-foot boxes, the Sammy Ofer is one of the largest ships of its kind to call on the port. More than 1,850 cargo containers were scheduled to move on and off the vessel during its stay at Wando Welch in Mount Pleasant, according to the State Ports Authority's website.

"With the entrance of the ZIM Sammy Ofer we embark on a new era, with a far more efficient and sustainable fleet, improving our cost structure and competitive edge and enhancing our commitment to ESG values, Eli Glickman, the container line's president and CEO, said during the ship's naming ceremony last month.

Ofer died in 2011. The ship named for him is part of ZIM's ZCP Asia service, which connects ports in China, South Korea and Jamaica to the U.S. East Coast.

The Sammy Ofer is scheduled to head from Charleston south to Savannah next, with additional stops at Wilmington, N.C., and Jacksonville before it sails back to the Caribbean and Asia.

Seaspan Corp., a Hong Kong-based ship owner and management firm, and ZIM have a long-term charter agreement for the Sammy Ofer. It's the first of 10 LNG-fueled vessels that Seaspan has ordered for use by the line.

"The significant fleet of highly efficient LNG vessels tailored for ZIM, will expedite both companies progress toward our next phases of sustainable shipping," Bing Chen, Seaspan's president and CEO, said in a written statement.

Global container lines are looking at alternative fuels to decarbonize their operations.

Although LNG-powered ships now account for about 1 percent of the carrying capacity, demand is rising. A report by TradeWinds shows they now make up 30 percent of the global order book  198 vessels that can haul to 2.31 million 20-foot containers  up from 25 percent a year ago.
The board of executive directors for the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) approved $344.5 million fund on Saturday to finance Phase I of Egypt's Electric Express Train Project during the bank's 350th meeting.

During its 350th meeting in Jeddah, the Islamic Development Bank's (IsDB) board of executive directors approved three projects worth a total of $403 million.

Egypt's Electric Express Train Project is a 660km sustainable, green, and climate-resilient electric express railway system, aimed at providing safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for 25 million people annually while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 250,000 tons of CO2 per year.

IsDB President and Group Chairman Muhammad Al Jasser emphasized the significance of the approved projects, stating that they will promote sustainability, economic integration, and resilience during these challenging times.

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Opponents of the proposed zoning request for the Union Pier project in Charleston have created a new website to generate more public input, adding to the ways residents can voice opinions about what the State Ports Authority envisions as a mix of shops, hotels and homes on the 64-acre waterfront site.

The Historic Charleston Foundation calls its MakeItCharleston.com a "resource so the citizens of Charleston can be in the best position to determine the direction forward with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The group is not opposed to redeveloping Union Pier but has expressed concerns about what is being proposed to the city. The foundation said the property near the foot of Market Street "must not become the next cookie-cutter apartment or office building development," and added the SPA and its development partner, Lowe, "are rushing to hastily develop what could become the same generic apartment buildings, hotels and retail spaces that have been popping up all over the peninsula."

The SPA said in a written statement that its proposal is "reflective of a Charleston feel and neighborhood that we can all be proud of."

The maritime agency  which owns and operates the Port of Charleston, including Union Pier  has submitted a draft zoning document that shows 1,600 multifamily residential units and 600 hotel rooms on about 36 acres of developable land at the site fronting the Cooper River and sandwiched between Concord and Laurens streets. The master plan also calls for a combined 540,000 square feet of retail and office space  about two-thirds the size of Northwoods Mall in North Charleston.

The SPA said its proposal "calls for more public waterfront access, more green spaces, a beautiful park over the piers, more commercial spaces and housing on the peninsula  including much-needed workforce housing, more connected streets and walkways, and significant flooding solutions for the site and surrounding neighborhoods."

Winslow Hastie, the foundation's president and CEO, did not respond to a request for comment, but the foundation has said the proposal is too dense and out of character for the city's Historic District.

In addition to news articles and opinion pieces, the website features a section for comments that will be forwarded to Charleston City Council, which will decide whether the Union Pier master plan is approved.

"It is important for them to fully understand that the process is in their hands," the foundation, in an email to its members, said of city officials. "They can control the timeline and ensure that adequate public engagement is promoted."

The SPA, which held a series of public meetings on the proposal last year, also has a comment section on its UnionPierSC.com website. The agency said the redevelopment proposal is in the early stages and "the public will continue to have numerous opportunities to weigh in during the citys public process."

In addition to the two websites, The Post and Courier hosted a public meeting this month to discuss the proposal, and the city said it will host three public meetings to provide information and get feedback. The first of those meetings, to discuss the plan's environmental impact, will be held at 5 p.m. March 23 at the Gaillard Center. Comments can also be submitted online at www.innovate.charleston-sc.gov/comments.

The city's Technical Review Committee got its first look at the plan on March 2 and made several recommendations, including reducing the height of waterfront buildings, halving the maximum number of hotel rooms to 300 and moving park space off of marshland and onto the propertys mainland. The committee, which is made up of city employees, will take up the proposal again at a future meeting. The plan will go before the planning commission later and it will need three approvals from the City Council before it is finalized.

The SPA decided to sell its Union Pier site in 2020 after years of trying to get approvals for a new cruise ship terminal to replace its aging, 1970s-era facility. The maritime agency said last year it won't renew a contract with Carnival Cruise Line  which has sailed year-round from the terminal since 2010  when that deal expires at the end of 2024. The SPA will continue to host short, port-of-call visits from cruise ships at the existing terminal afterward.
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Bids due on new outdoor gathering place

The final construction cost of a new outdoor gathering spot in the Lowcountry is expected to be known soon.

Bids are due April 14 on the proposed Joseph S. Daning Amphitheater to be built behind City Hall at Goose Creek's municipal complex on North Goose Creek Boulevard. The city has estimated the cost at $4 million, but the ultimate price tag won't be known until a bid is accepted.

The outdoor feature overlooking a small lake is named after former state Rep. Joe Daning, who also served twice on City Council.

It will have seating for about 1,000 and include a food truck area, restrooms and additional parking. City officials hope it will bring more concerts and concert-goers to the growing Charleston suburb in Berkeley County.

Groundbreaking is set for May 30, and construction is expected to take about 18 months, according to city spokesman Frank Johnson.

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Morrison Yard's 12-story office building, designed to be symbolic of offset stacked shipping containers as a nod to the site's port-related past, includes a variety of new office tenants, rooftop events venue and views overlooking Charleston Harbor and the Ravenel Bridge.

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By the numbers

6,000: Square footage of a planned coffee shop and office building near a busy intersection in Mount Pleasant.

1,200: Square footage of a new sandwich-themed gourmet market coming to North Charleston.

101: Number of new townhomes planned in West Ashley development off Bees Ferry Road.

This week in real estate

+ Reopening: A downtown Charleston retailer is relaunching after being closed for nearly four months because of issues related to construction of a neighboring hotel.

+ New regulations: Slab-built homes in flood-prone areas may be a thing of the past under a measure that received initial approval by Charleston City Council March 28.

+ Off the table: A sizable tract near Awendaw won't see a proposed housing and commercial development after conservationist bought the land near the Francis Marion National Forest.

The median price of a house in South Carolina increased by the smallest percentage in almost a decade in February.

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MOUNT PLEASANT  Plans to expand a waterfront hotel at Patriots Point are moving ahead, but without the full blessing of the towns Planning Commission.

The Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina is seeking to amend its development agreement with Mount Pleasant to allow up to an additional 133 rooms at the older of its two lodgings.

Representatives of the property said the extra guest rooms will be needed to keep pace with demand.

But in a 6-3 vote earlier this week, the Planning Commission recommended denial in a decision that isn't binding. The resort's request will now move on to the Planning Committee, which will recommend whether Town Council should approve it.

The commission members who voted against it expressed concerns about an overconcentration of hotel rooms in that part of town and the impact on traffic. Bill Smyth, Garrett Lacy, and Michael McCormick were in favor of the request.

The hotel, which hasn't been expanded since it was completed 25 years ago, is on state-owned land under a long-term lease with the Patriots Points Development Authority.

Oliver Rooskens, managing director of the resort, said this week that the authority supports an update to the development agreement "that would allow for more hotel rooms. We are working with the town of Mount Pleasant to get this first step approved, he said in an email.

Earlier this year, Rooskens said that the resort was only seeking the assurance that it could add rooms in the future when the need arises and had no immediate plans to expand the hotel.

The Patriots Point Development Authority will review the request separately. No formal plans have been submitted to the agency, spokesman Chris Hauff said.

Mount Pleasant has experienced the fastest growth in hotel rooms over the last five years, according to Daniel Guttentag, director of the College of Charlestons Tourism Analysis Office.

Plans have already been approved for Bennett Hospitality's $500 million Patriots Annex near the Yorktown aircraft carrier at Patriots Point Naval & Maitime Museum that will include hotel rooms, a convention center, office space, retail shops and 130 residential units.

The same firm also is developing the nearby Ferry Wharf project, where a 175-room Embassy Suites opened last year. Next up is a 100-room Marriott-flagged lodging to be built at Patriots Point Road and Harry Hallman Boulevard.

The Planning Committee is schedule to take up the Charleston Harbor Resort expansion request April 3.

The original 122-room hotel at Patriots Point made its debut in mid-1997. Its operator, part of a large insurance company, bought the leasing rights to prima land at the state-owned visitor attraction for $17.5 million in 2002. The company added the 92-room Beach Club hotel about six years ago.

Charleston Harbor Resort also has filed plans to add up to 130 boat slips to its marina in a separate request with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Pee Dee packaging giant Sonoco has sold off most if not all of its South Carolina timberland holdings, including a big tract in the Charleston region, saying it no longer needs to cut down trees to produce paper.

The Hartsville manufacturer announced the $72 million all-cash sale to ManuLife Investment Management on March 30, after inquiries from The Post and Courier to both companies.

The rural properties total 55,000 acres.

Today, Sonoco produces paper exclusively from recycled fibers and no longer requires natural tree fiber for production," CEO Howard Coker said in a written statement.

He said the deal benefits shareholders of the publicly traded company "while also ensuring that the property goes to a buyer that puts sustainable management at the forefront of its natural capital investment strategy.

"Manulife ... has extensive experience with these types of sustainable transactions, and we feel confident that these lands will continue to be held in good stewardship, Coker said.

Sonoco didn't specify how it plans to use the sale proceeds. It did not respond to a request for comment.

The properties that changed hands include a nearly contiguous 16,595-acre swath along the Santee River in upper Berkeley County, between Lake Marion and U.S. Highway 52.

The sale price was $17.6 million, according to public land records.

Sonoco Products Co. bought the bulk of its Lowcountry real estate in 1994 from lumber giant Georgia-Pacific for about $5.9 million. It later acquired a smaller parcel in 2004 from the owners of the neighboring Oakland Hunt Club near Pineville for $405,000.

Elsewhere, Sonoco had acquired numerous rural tracts in Darlington, Florence, Lee and Marlboro counties, according to a public access website that compiles property and tax records for about two dozen local government agencies in South Carolina.

In 2018, the company reported owning and managing 55,080 acres in the state  in line with the amount sold this week  mainly to produce tree fiber to feed its Hartsville paper mill.

The buyer is part of a multinational insurance and financial services firm based in Toronto. ManuLife Investment Management described itself as the largest timberland management company in the world. It stressed that it's not a real estate developer.

"Sustainability has been and continues to be a core guiding principle and is embedded in all of our forestry operations," a ManuLife spokesperson said in a written statement Friday. "The property will be managed as a long-term timberland asset by our local foresters who live, breathe and work there and are likewise invested in the health and productivity of the property to preserve and enhance the environment and the community."

Paper mill operators and other longtime forest-product companies have been selling off land they acquired decades ago, mostly for financial reasons or because of changes in their businesses.

The buyers vary, ranging from large investment and management firms like ManuLife to housing developers to conservation groups and individuals.
Vintage furniture and decor are seeing renewed interest as current interior design trends draw inspiration from the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s. And Charleston is uniquely suited to shoppers trying to tap into this budget-conscious and eco-friendly movement.

The Charleston area is home to a variety of resale shops, consignment stores and flea markets that all offer opportunities to score one-of-a-kind finds. Being close to furniture-making hub North Carolina also means high-quality items easily find their way down to resale shops here.

Following World War II, an estimated 60 percent of all furniture made in America was produced within a 150-mile radius of High Point, N.C., according to the High Point Museum. And many of those durable pieces of furniture are still in circulation among resellers.

The Post and Courier spoke with vintage furniture purveyors about their tips for finding a good deal.

"Buying secondhand is like treasure hunting and different from what everyone else is buying at the big box stores," said Sharon Payer, owner of North Charleston resale market, The Station.

"These pieces are the ones that add the most character to your space and help to tell your story."

Where to look

Charleston has no shortage of resale shops. They range from nonprofit donation hubs, like Goodwill and The Salvation Army, to King Street's high-end antique stores. But the search for a good vintage find doesn't have to stop at brick-and-mortar shops.

Online sellers are seeing success on social media, either on Facebook's Marketplace landing page or on individual profiles on Instagram.

Charlotte Daniels runs the Instagram account Charleston.Vintage where she sells home decor items and clothing. She also has a profile on high-end resale website chairish.com.

Chairish helps her access customers outside of the Charleston area, which was helpful after her recent move to Orangeburg. Many sellers offer shipping options, while Facebook Marketplace allows users to filter results by location and arrange pickup.

Daniels also takes her wares to recurring pop-up markets, such as Pickers Hullabaloo at Firefly Distillery in North Charleston.

Her advice is look at products from a variety of sellers. Estate sales, garage sales and vintage markets are all great places to find unique treasures. And the more browsing experience a shopper gets, the sharper their eye becomes.

"It takes time just building up the knowledge," she said.

Even without much experience, vintage shoppers are still likely to get a better deal than buying brand- new, Payer said.

"Buying vintage and reclaimed is not only Earth-friendly, but budget-friendly as well," she said.

What to look for

When evaluating a piece of secondhand furniture, there are some telltale signs that the piece is built to last.

For wood furniture, weight is an easy indicator that it's durable. But keeping an eye out for finer details helps too.

"Dovetail joinery" along the inside of a drawer is a type of interlocking wood construction that denotes a higher quality product. The notches are visible when the drawer is pulled open. Another promising sign on the side of a drawer or underside of a table is the furniture maker's label. Those usually signify a furniture maker that is focused on craftsmanship rather than mass-producing products with no markings.

Names to look out for include Lane, Stanley, Henry Link, Thomasville and Bassett, Payer said.

Broyhill is a notable mid-century furniture maker, Daniels added.

Making your mark

Once a shopper has sights set on a potential purchase, some spot-checks will help determine its condition.

"Any piece of furniture is only worth what you're willing to pay for it," Payer said. "Keep an eye out for missing hardware, loosely wrapped rattan, drawers that don't slide easily, staining, broken or wobbly legs and any water damage. These can all be issues that bring down the value."

Not every nick or scratch is reason to abandon a potential purchase altogether. Some quick fixes can restore a piece easily.

"Natural oil-based wood cleaners can bring a dull piece back to life," Payer said. "If color is your thing, mineral-based paints are easy to use and don't always require priming first."

Daniels suggested lightly sanding a piece with steel wool and then spraying it with a coat of lacquer to freshen it up. Hardware stores also sell crayon wood sticks, which help fill in and cover up gashes.

For an upholstered item such as a dining chair, Daniels suggested giving it a firm smack. If a yellowy powder comes out, that's usually a sign that the foam inside is deteriorating and needs to be replaced. If it is in good condition, reupholstering with new fabric and a nail gun is an easy at-home project.

Not only will small projects restore or customize a piece of furniture, but they will also save them from a landfill. The environmental benefit of shopping secondhand is one of the main draws for Daniels and Payer.

"There is so much energy consumption when buying new: sourcing materials, producing the goods and then the energy used to transport those goods typically from overseas," Payer said.

As design trends change, shopping sustainably and on a budget will always have a timeless appeal.
GREENVILLE  Bob Jones University President Steve Pettits resignation just three months after agreeing to a contract extension stemmed from conflict with the chairman of the schools Board of Trustees, according to two letters sent to the board that were widely circulated online.

Pettit wrote in a letter on March 21 he would tender his resignation unless board chairman John Lewis stepped down from his position and from the board's executive committee. The second letter was dated March 29. The author, an attorney for a large BJU alumni group, confirmed to the Post and Courier the authenticity of the document he wrote. He also spoke to the veracity of the letter written by Pettit.

The university confirmed Pettit's resignation in a news release on the evening of March 30. The Post and Courier reached out to Pettit and the university's communications department for more information but had not received responses as of mid-afternoon March 31.

In his letter to the board, Pettit listed multiple concerns about Lewis conduct, writing that the board chair had adopted a posture of secrecy and privacy.

Lewis moved executive committee meetings to former BJU president Bob Jones IIIs private residence, Pettit wrote, and instructed board members to withhold information about a Feb. 23 meeting from the school's administration and counsel.

The letter alleges Lewis has also worked to consolidate his personal power on the board by gatekeeping requests for information, moving board documents to an off-campus computer purchased at his instruction and hiring an outside attorney to advise the board without notifying all of its members.

Pettit wrote that Lewis obstructed a Title IX investigation by refusing to provide board minutes to the schools Title IX coordinator, ordering the coordinator to suspend the investigation, and accusing the coordinator of lying and Pettit of trying to oust him through the Title IX process.

The Title IX investigation stemmed from accusations that a board member made comments that female students and student athletes wore clothes that were too revealing. To back up the claim, the board member used photos of the students without their consent. The board referred the matter to the Title IX coordinator in February and Lewis actions directly contradicted that decision, Pettit wrote.

He also wrote Lewis disregarded staff concerns about financial shortfalls driven by a drop in donations and enrollment directly linked to a loss of confidence in the universitys direction under the current board leadership.

The second letter circulated on social media was sent to the board March 29 by Greenville attorney Clay Custer, of Womble Bond Dickinson, on behalf of a group called "Positive BJU Grads & Friends," which has a Facebook page with more than 6,300 members.

Custer told The Post and Courier he has represented the group for about five months.

Custer, who is also a BJU alumnus, stressed in the letter that the group was not planning legal action but voiced grave concerns about the governing bodys conduct. He wrote urging the board to put a pause on adding new members to allow for a cooling off period and recommended that the board add an ally of Pettits to the executive committee to avoid increasing the one-sided majority.

He also emphasized the need to replace a member of the executive committee who recently left with someone who is an advocate for the president.

It is common knowledge that the EC has multiple members who, over the past 18 months, have not been favorably inclined towards Dr. Pettit and his administration, Custer wrote. We believe it would accomplish much in the way of unity (both in the public eye of perception and in reality) by filling the EC position vacated by Tim Stanley with a board member who has been a strong advocate of Dr. Pettit.

Custers letter claimed board members had called alumni critical of their conduct apostates, progressives and deplorable, and that they had quoted bible verses about liars in emails to concerned graduates.

Speaking to The Post and Courier, Custer said the rift was driven by a perception held by members of the board that Pettit is not conservative enough.

"My client has repeatedly put on their Facebook page that they believe the board leadership, including Dr. Lewis, had a disagreement with Dr. Pettit because they did not think he was conservative enough or fundamentalist enough," he said.

Pettit, the schools fifth president and first not related to the universitys founder Bob Jones Sr., will officially step down after the May 5 commencement ceremony.

The announcement comes just three months after Pettit signed a three-year contract extension with the university. It would have gone into effect after commencement and continued through 2026.

In a March 31 address to the student body, audio of which has circulated on social media, Pettit said his decision came after lengthy discussions with the Board of Trustees during its spring meeting this week.

I believe this was the Lords direction and the right decision, he told the students. Serving at BJU has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.

In a statement sent out with Pettits March 30 resignation announcement, Lewis said the board accepted his decision regretfully.

The chair and the full board voiced overwhelming support to him, Lewis wrote. But each one of us respects his decision to resign and are deeply thankful for his years of dedicated service to the mission of BJU and its faculty, staff, and students. We wish him Gods best in his future endeavors.

During Pettits tenure, which began in 2014, the private, evangelical university received the national accreditation it had long eschewed. The same year, it regained federal tax-exempt status. The IRS had stripped it of its nonprofit status more than three decades prior after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling centered on a university policy prohibiting interracial couples. The school dropped that rule in 2000.

Hundreds of students gathered in prayer on BJU's campus March 31 following Pettit's announcement, and an online petition calling for Lewis' resignation had garnered more than 3,400 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

Efforts by The Post and Courier to contact Lewis on March 31 were unsuccessful.
In honor of the former C.E. Murray High School War Eagle turned University of South Carolina Gamecock, hundreds of fans throughout the county gathered downtown Kingstree Friday afternoon to celebrate Darius Rush Day, presented by the Williamsburg County School District. Read moreDarius Rush Day Celebrated
MYRTLE BEACH  Dozens of Horry County Republicans flocked to a busy Myrtle Beach intersection April 1 and April 5 to protest the historic criminal indictment of former president Donald Trump.

About 35 protesters, mostly in their 50s or older, carried flags and signs defending Trump along the intersection of Carolina Forest Boulevard and U.S. 501. The group was met with both criticism and support by passing drivers. American Conservative Voices, a Horry County conservative group, organized the protest.

Its an attack on our own Constitution, our Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, group spokesman Ken Coleman said regarding the indictment. Theyre doing it for one reason only, to try to prevent him from representing people like us.

Its a sin whats happening to Trump, said group founder Linda McHugh, who also promoted the unsubstantiated claim that Trump was cheated in the 2020 election. It (the protest) is to make people aware of whats happening.

Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury earlier this week for charges stemming from payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. Exact charges have not been revealed. The indictment remains sealed until Trump is arraigned on April 4, the Associated Press reported.

Trump is expected to surrender that day. He has denied all wrongdoing. Prosecutors have not said whether they intended to seek prison time in the event of a conviction, according to AP.

The whole thing is ridiculous, McHugh said, regarding the indictment. I dont care what he did in his private life. I care what he does that affects my country, and he was doing very good for us until they shot him down.

American Conservative Voices also led a protest on March 21 supporting Trump before he was indicted. Trump had requested his followers to protest his anticipated arrest, which he claimed would occur that day. Over 30 county Republicans attended that protest in Carolina Forest, organizers said.

During the April 1 protest, some attendees said they saw Trumps indictment as another example of the degradation of Western civilization as they knew it, which they blamed on Democrats promoting anti-Christian ideals, like LGBTQ rights.

Others promoted unsubstantiated theories about the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the grand jury and the future judge in the case all being Democrats, which they claimed would ensure a guilty verdict for Trump.

Protesters also said they saw the indictment as the latest Democratic attempt to find dirt on the former president.

I think theyve made a bad mistake with Trump, and they're just trying to find anything to make him look guilty of anything, said Joyce Dowling, a local Republican. With this particular thing, I dont feel hes guilty.

Coleman said his group plans to hold another protest once Trump's charges are revealed.

This story has been updated.
Charleston County Council is moving forward with plans to enlist a new health care provider at the jail, ignoring staunch opposition from the Sheriff's Office in an effort to get another company in place before the current contract expires.

County Council is poised to hire VitalCore Health Strategies after its Finance Committee  comprising all nine council members  took a decisive vote March 30. None of the members voted "no," though Councilman Henry Darby and Councilwoman Jenny Honeycutt were absent from the meeting.

"I am absolutely opposed to (the committee's) choice," Sheriff Kristin Graziano said in a March 31 statement to The Post and Courier. Her department previously said it planned to ask county officials to restart the lengthy bidding process, which began in December.

Councilman Joe Boykin, a former law enforcement officer, moved to accept a recommendation from the county's procurement department to select VitalCore. The for-profit, Kansas-based company beat out two others to replace Wellpath as the jail's medical contractor.

Both County Council and the Sheriff's Office, as well as Wellpath officials, are eager to see the company leave Charleston. Seven people have died in the jail's custody within the last year. Between 2019 and 2021, the jail reported three deaths, according to state data.

The county's coroner recently declared one inmate's death a homicide due to "gross medical neglect." Calls from local, state and federal officials are growing by the day for a federal probe of a potential pattern of civil rights violations at the jail.

Graziano, who once called Wellpath's services "woefully inadequate," said she'd be the first person to welcome a Justice Department investigation of the detention center.

Kip Hallman, Wellpath's former president, has pushed back at the sheriff's claims. He wrote in a Jan. 27 letter that the jails severe staffing crisis hinders medical staffs ability to safely provide care, among other failings. Nearly 40 percent of detention center deputy positions are vacant, county records show.

The Sheriffs Office refutes these accusations.

Council Chairman Herb Sass previously told the newspaper he's concerned about the tight timeline in which a new medical provider must get set up. Wellpath's current contract, in place since 2020, is set to expire June 30.

Finance Committee members spent about an hour in executive session mulling over the three contracts, which were blindly scored by a committee comprising one county official and four Sheriff's Office personnel. They did not discuss the matter in front of the public.

Their decision came despite the objection from the Sheriff's Office. Spokesman Andrew Knapp released on March 28 a number of internal emails detailing officials' dissatisfaction with all three of the contract contenders, including Wellpath.

Members of the department's top brass, including Graziano, don't think any of the options are "capable" of meeting the jail's needs, said Abigail Duffy, who manages special projects for the Sheriff's Office.

"Our agency is adamantly opposed to any of the offers," she wrote in a March 21 email.

Graziano elaborated on the department's concerns in her statement, accusing the Finance Committee of "basing their decision on money and not quality of care." The sheriff isn't opposed to VitalCore in particular, or the other companies that submitted bids, she said.

"The opposition is due to the fact that we know what our needs are, and we do not believe that any of them are able to meet our requirements," Graziano said.

Asked after the March 30 meeting if he was concerned about Graziano's disapproval of VitalCore, Sass replied: "Her people did participate in the process."

A trove of internal communications between county staff, Sheriff's Office and Wellpath employees released March 30 through a Freedom of Information Act request shows Graziano's department had another provider in mind all along: the Medical University of South Carolina.

Sheriff's Office leaders had notified county officials in May 2022 about "grave concerns" with Wellpath, and asked to begin the process of finding a new contractor. In September, Duffy told the county's procurement manager the department wanted MUSC for the job.

But sheriff's spokeswoman Amber Allen said county officials thwarted the plan. On Jan. 10, the county invited for-profit medical contractors to a mandatory pre-bid conference. MUSC wasn't included in the invitation despite county officials knowing the Sheriff's Office wanted it to apply, Allen said.

Sass said to his knowledge, the county's procurement department wasn't aware MUSC was an interested party. County officials put out the proposal request in December, weeks before the pre-bid conference. Companies wishing to respond to the request must attend the conference, he said; representatives for MUSC did not.

If the county retroactively added MUSC to the bidding process, it could open the county up to litigation, Sass said.

With only three months until Wellpath's contract expires, Graziano's hope that the county might backtrack and put out a new request for bids are effectively squashed.

County Council is expected to vote on authorizing the VitalCore contract at its April 4 meeting. Graziano, who's been attending an out-of-town conference, plans to attend.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of the story misstated Kip Hallman's current job title.
"Now Finland needs NATO, but NATO needs Finland as well in the face of an aggressive Russia," said Jamie Shea, a former senior NATO official who is an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank. "NATO will find collective defense against Russia easier now it has access to Finnish territory and the capabilities Finland brings to the table."

But 13 months on, Finland's choice to join means the U.S.-led alliance is now doubling its border with Russia in a move that changes the military calculus from the Baltic region to the Arctic.

When President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine, part of Moscow's justification was the claim that it needed to stop further NATO expansion in its backyard.

When Finland becomes a NATO member, it adds a potent military to the alliance and a strategic puzzle piece that can better help defend the alliance's vulnerable eastern flank from potential Russian attack, officials and analysts say.

 Protecting the Baltics

Alliance military planners have fretted for years over how to protect its three Baltic members, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, from a possible attack by Russia. Concern focused on the Suwalki Gap, a 65-kilometer strip between the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, where a lightning strike could sever the Baltic allies from the rest of NATO.

Now Finland's membership could help NATO to dominate the Baltic Sea and, with Helsinki less than 70 kilometers across the water from Estonia's capital, Tallinn, provide a new route for reinforcements.

"Finland's accession will strengthen NATO's forward defense and contribute to deterrence by denial," Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told AFP. But he warned "the significance of the Suwalki gap for NATO remains, since Belarus has de facto become Russia's military district," and insisted the alliance needs to push on with plans to reinforce the Baltics.

To the north, having Finland onboard will help the alliance defend the thin strip of Norwegian territory linking to Russia where Moscow could have staged a "fait accompli" assault, said analyst Jan Kallberg.

"Up to this point, NATO air forces have been dependent on a few Norwegian airfields that could be targeted early in a conflict, Finland adds more bases and air strips," said Kallberg, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. And as jostling for control in the Artic region involving Russia, China and the West increases, stepping up NATO's footprint on its doorstep will be a major boost.

 Prepared for War

Adding an extra 1,300 kilometers to the alliance's land border with Russia will also bring vulnerabilities, and working out how to defend it will pose a challenge for NATO strategists.

While its response to Finland's membership has been more muted than many expected, the Kremlin has pledged to bolster its forces close to the frontier in the coming years.

But with Russia's military bogged down in Ukraine, analysts say it will likely take years for Moscow to rebuild its capacity. For the time being, Finland is expected to follow neighbor Norway's example and opt not to have forces from NATO allies stationed permanently on its territory.

The country has its own highly capable military. "Finland is one of the very few European countries that never stopped preparing for a potential war," said Minna Alander, a research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

While other Western European militaries scaled back after the Cold War, Finland stuck to a conscription model fashioned from the bitter experience of the Soviet Union's invasion in 1939.

"That now gives Finland a wartime troop strength up to 280,000 and a total reserve of 870,000," Alander said. "With 1,500 systems, Finland has one of the largest artilleries in Europe and has been and is continuously investing in air defense."

 A Last Gap

Military officials from its future NATO counterparts point to Finland's winter warfare experience and planned upgrade to the latest U.S. aircraft as key assets. "On land, they are extremely capable, operating in the harshest of conditions and backed by considerable artillery," a senior Western official told AFP. "In the air, Finland is buying the new F-35 fighter."

Finland's membership does highlight one gap left for NATO -- its neighbor Sweden. Stockholm's application remains blocked by resistance from Turkey and Hungary, meaning that it still cannot be fully integrated into NATO's defense plans.

"The mere fact that Finland comes in will bolster Sweden because it will now be sandwiched between NATO members," Shea said. "But the hope is still that they will be allowed in as soon as possible," he said.
The Friends of Gadsden Creek are not taking no for an answer. The group is pushing ahead in its effort to stop a new mixed-use development from replacing the waterway with a hotel, office buildings and condominiums.

A brief recently filed in the S.C. Court of Appeals disputes a decision by the S.C. Administrative Law Court that favored the WestEdge Foundation and the city of Charleston in a lawsuit pitting community activists against municipal and commercial interests.

WestEdge is overseeing development in one of the citys tax-increment financing districts. It plans to fill whats left of one of the last remaining tidal creeks on the Charleston peninsula.

The controversy over whether to save or destroy Gadsden Creek is a case study in how city-backed development can be leveraged to upgrade infrastructure and provide a public benefit.

It also shows how city-backed development continues to threaten African Americans on the West Side who have experienced a series of assaults over the decades, community activists say. This is just the latest project to encroach on the property, culture and history of Black people in Charleston, they say.

Ben Cunningham, an attorney with the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, which is representing Friends of Gadsden Creek, said the law isnt the only thing on his side. So is a moral imperative to administer justice.

The project to fill in what has become a 4-acre tidal channel and erect more buildings on the site would generate new property tax revenue and enable a massive flood- and pollution-mitigation project to proceed. As the issues are contested in court, residents of the low-income housing project Gadsden Green and nearby homes on Charlestons low-lying West Side wait in fear of the next hurricane, the next rain bomb, the next storm surge.

Until the new drainage project is complete, this neighborhood remains vulnerable not only to the forces of Mother Nature but also to toxins leaching into the creek from a massive garbage dump that replaced 120 acres of marshland along the Ashley River in the 1950s.

For now, though, its all in limbo.

The problem

Gadsden Creek once was a significant tidal waterway that meandered into a pristine marsh. It was used regularly by Black residents for crabbing, fishing, religious ceremonies and recreation. The creek provided physical, spiritual and cultural sustenance.

In the 1940s the city designated the area where the Gadsden Green housing complex now stands an urban renewal project. It cleared away dozens of single-family homes and replaced them with public housing.

Then, in the 1950s, the city filled the adjacent marsh with garbage, bulldozing and compacting the material so that the Charleston peninsula could gain acreage on which to build.

Filling in marshland was not a new practice; today, much of the peninsula  around 40 percent  is filled land, some of it hazardous. But this particular landfill effort is best understood in the context of urban renewal, which now is widely acknowledged to have been racially discriminatory, Friends of Gadsden Creek and their allies argue.

In the 1960s, more homes on the West Side and across the peninsula were demolished to make way for the Crosstown Expressway  now named the Septima P. Clark Parkway  displacing hundreds of African Americans and damaging what had been a cohesive Black neighborhood.

Efforts elsewhere downtown, such as the Ansonborough renewal project and the construction of the Gaillard Auditorium, also resulted in the displacement of Black residents.

So its no wonder that African Americans on the West Side now fear WestEdge and its impacts, and that many of them want the creek preserved.

WestEdge wanted the creek preserved, too. When the TIF district  a defined area of blight eligible for special public financing  was defined in 2008, the plan was to build around it. But years of study that included core sampling, water testing, consultations with experts, and revised predictions of sea level rise, along with financial concerns, forced planners to reconsider.

In a lengthy decision that systematically addressed all of the various concerns raised during legal proceedings, Chief Administrative Law Judge Ralph King Anderson III stated he was not convinced by the arguments of Friends of Gadsden Creek.

In a perfect world, preserving and restoring the creek would clearly be the desired outcome, Anderson wrote. The creek is a valuable resource. But this is a very unique situation, and the creek is tainted by a landfill that must be dealt with. Dangerous concentrations of lead, arsenic, chromium, mercury and PCBs are leaching into the waterway, washing onto adjacent land, and flushing into the Ashley River.

The surest way to cap the exposed portion of the landfill where the creek runs and prevent its continued erosion is to fill the drainage channel, he wrote.

Other options presented by Friends of Gadsden Creek  installation of a tidal gate at the culvert, construction of a berm along Hagood Avenue, and elevation of adjacent streets  failed to convince the judge that the acute flooding and contamination problems could be solved, or that they could be adequately addressed without spending many millions of dollars more on work that falls outside the purview of the TIF district.

The fight

Cunningham said a restored creek would provide a natural solution to saltwater storage and stormwater drainage. Pluff mud and spartina grass already have accumulated atop portions of the landfill, and theres no reason why a properly excavated and repaired creek, with a restored cap, couldnt keep the contaminants at bay, he said, citing testimony by Joshua Robinson, an engineer and hydrologist who appeared in court on behalf of Friends of Gadsden Creek.

Adding a berm (earthen barrier) along Hagood Avenue, raising the roadway and installing a culvert gate could control the influx of tidal waters. The western side of Hagood Avenue is within the TIF district, but most of the eastern side isnt, according to city officials. And the street is controlled by the S.C. Department of Transportation, which would need to participate in any authorized road improvement project that would likely cost tens of millions of dollars and take years to complete.

But thats better than the current plan, Cunningham said. Besides, he said, the city damaged the community repeatedly over the decades, and therefore the city must remedy that damage. Using high costs as an excuse to avoid doing the right thing merely extends the injustice.

The community shouldnt have to forfeit the last greenspace, he said. Is it too much to ask to preserve and enhance the last remnant of an ecological system thats culturally valuable to that area? ... Whats the city willing to do for the community?

He said he rejects the rhetoric that admits the injustices of the past in one breath then dismisses them in the next.

That was terrible, but what can we do about it now? goes the sentiment, Cunningham said. I have a real problem using that as a springboard for more development. ... The city is putting the nail in the coffin of what it started years ago.

The scope and cost of addressing the flooding and contamination issues are enormous, which is precisely why the city designated the area a TIF district. Tax increment financing  selling bonds and incurring debt to be paid off with future property tax revenue  enables officials to raise the money required to upgrade public infrastructure (which is the only allowed use of the funds). The $15 million remediation project would address three related issues at once: nuisance tidal flooding, stormwater drainage and landfill pollution.

The tax revenue needed to pay back the accumulating debt would be derived by developing the rest of WestEdge.

Michael Maher, CEO of the nonprofit WestEdge Foundation, said a regular development project could never solve these problems, and the costs are difficult for any municipality to bear alone. By creating a TIF district, the city finally can generate the funds required to do the necessary infrastructure work.

The TIF district designation expires in about 15 years, so the delay prompted by the lawsuit has both financial and quality-of-life repercussions, he said. Each day of legal limbo is one less day WestEdge has to build out the project and ensure the flow of new tax revenues, and its one more day that West Side residents must endure the threats posed by flooding and contamination.

Maher said the projects public benefit is significant, assured and lasting. Other solutions would not be as effective and would add significant costs. A berm would inhibit access to the creek, block the view, and potentially slow the outflow of stormwater. A raised Hagood Avenue could worsen stormwater flooding at and around Gadsden Green.

He said he appreciated concerns about gentrification but noted that WestEdge will cause no displacement of residents. People who choose to live in the new apartments there are not buying single-family homes that already exist in the neighborhood and therefore not adding much pressure to the real estate market for such homes, he said.

Adding high-density residential inventory helps to moderate the rising costs of housing, and the Publix supermarket is an obvious gain for West Side inhabitants, Maher said. About half of WestEdge residents hold jobs in the hospital district across the way, which keeps cars off the roads and healthcare workers close to their place of employment.

All of it is a consequence of public dollars. Thats the nature of tax increment financing, Maher said. So its important to spend those dollars wisely and efficiently.

Its not a perfect solution, he said of the current plan, but its the best solution we have.

The current plan also calls for a landscaped drainage pond, historical interpretation of the West Side, new access to Brittlebank Park and education and job training initiatives.

The answer?

Any alternative approach would likely require a new round of review and permitting by the Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Matthew Fountain, the citys director of stormwater management, said a berm and elevated Hagood Avenue likely would contain tidal water but, without expensive check valves, pumps and pipes, would do nothing to improve rain-caused flooding west of the road. At best, he said, a berm would only drain stormwater when the tide is low.

It wouldnt improve (neighborhood) flooding; it would only make the flooding no worse, he said.

Pumping water into the creek could change its ecology, an issue the Corps of Engineers would likely want to consider, Fountain said.

Restoring the creek (which should never have been designed to run across the landfill in the first place, he said) would entail extensive excavation and removal of the garbage, the installation of some kind of waste-containment system, including cut-off walls along the sides of the waterway. All the garbage would need to be transported somewhere else, and dirt trucked in and deposited in its place.

Some excavation already is planned by WestEdge in preparation for filling in the creek, but the clearance effort needed to revitalize the drainage channel could pose dangers.

(E)xcavation of uplands to create tidal marsh adjacent to Brittlebank Park is not authorized, the Army Corps wrote in its 2019 permit for work related to deep tunnel drainage construction. The potential negative impacts associated with excavating a portion of a former landfill and restoring tidal flow to this area far outweighs the potential environmental benefits of the proposed mitigation activities.

The Charleston Area Justice Ministry has made the Gadsden Creek issue one of its advocacy priorities, throwing its support behind the effort to preserve the waterway.

Arthur McFarland, a retired municipal court judge, advocate for the West Side community and former co-president of the Justice Ministry, called for a comprehensive approach to the various issues facing the neighborhood. He said hes afraid that focusing too narrowly on Gadsden Creek flooding and contamination could result in the persistence  or emergence  of other problems.

For example, the Charleston Housing Authority plans to upgrade the Gadsden Green housing complex. But the timing and exact scope of work are not yet defined. Residents, he said, are concerned about the potential for disruptive impacts. That project needs to be prioritized and made part of a broader effort to improve the whole area, McFarland said.

More affordable housing is needed there, along with green space and other amenities, he said. Those, too, should be part of a comprehensive plan.

He said he is dubious of claims that TIF revenue will provide significant benefits to nearby residents, other than some infrastructure improvements that the city was obligated to provide in any case.

This tests the sincerity of WestEdge and the city, McFarland said. I think the Gadsden Green community is not primary, or even close to being primary, in their consideration. What the people of that area believe is they will gain absolutely nothing. In the long run, they will lose.

City Councilman Keith Waring, who has paid close attention to the issue, said he is sympathetic toward those seeking to save the creek and wonders whether a compromise is possible. Perhaps more funding can be secured by tapping into federal infrastructure money, enabling engineers to devise a viable alternative solution, he said.

Waring is concerned that Friends of Gadsden Creek is downplaying the contamination problem and hopes the legal appeal isnt merely a stalling tactic, he said. After all, nothing much can be done until the flooding problem is solved.

As for Gadsden Green, perhaps the Housing Authority should transfer control of the complex to the city, and the city should design a large-scale low-income and affordable housing initiative for the area, replacing whats there with hundreds of new and improved units, Waring proposed.

He remains uncertain about the fate of the 4-acre channelized and relocated tidal creek, as the Army Corps of Engineers called it in 1981.

I dont think we can save all the creek, he said.

Maher welcomes feedback and looks forward to discussing the addition of project-related public amenities. But any conversation that belittles the contamination problem, cost challenges and urgent need for flood mitigation, or ignores the requirements of tax-increment financing, is not likely to be very productive, he said.

Weve got significant challenges, and these challenges require investments, he said. Who will benefit if a restored creek continues to flood the neighborhood?

The appeals process could take many months, or even years, to complete. Litigants can ask to leapfrog over the Court of Appeals in order to bring the case before the South Carolina Supreme Court and achieve a quicker resolution, but that request has not yet been made.
The most promising effort weve ever seen to slash South Carolinas alarmingly high DUI death rate is the ignition interlock device  a simple little contraption that makes it impossible for anyone with even a trace of alcohol in their breath to start a car. Last year alone, these devices st Read moreEditorial: Nothing SC lawmakers can do right now will save more lives than this
South Carolina voters might get to decide next year whether they want a politician or a professional handling the states financial duties. Legislators could make their decision this month.

Were not referring to legislators decision about holding a constitutional referendum on letting the governor appoint the comptroller general. Were referring to their selection of a candidate to serve the final 45 months of Richard Eckstrom's term.

The race, such as it is, quite literally pits a politician against a professional. A 10-year House member who lost his reelection bid in November against a career policy expert whose knowledge of how and where money moves through state government is practically unparalleled. A candidate who is sending out letters with campaign promises versus an unassuming expert who agreed to do the job if elected but refused to campaign.

A candidate whose election could undercut any support there is in the House to make the position appointive or a transitional figure who is perfectly prepared to inventory and repair the office and hand it over to whoever is elected or appointed in 2026 or  ideally  to dismantle the office.

Which one would you hire to bring stability and competence to an office thats been racked by the scandal of a decade-in-the-making $3.5 billion overstatement of our states assets and the forced resignation of a comptroller whose inability to recognize his failures was on full, demoralizing display during weeks of Senate hearings?

Former Rep. Kirkman Finlay, a one-time Columbia City Council member who lives on what once was part of his ancestor Wade Hamptons plantation, describes himself as a farmer and restaurateur. He might do as good a job as anybody who would win the office in a statewide election. But contrary to the claims of his legislative backers, theres nothing in his background that makes him particularly prepared. Instead, a single item on his resume qualifies him to win an election by members of the Legislature: his tenure in the body that holds 124 of the 170 votes.

His selection, in other words, would be just the latest example of the House doling out cushy state jobs to its own members, former members and members relatives, who might not be the best candidate or even particularly qualified. Although there are more recent examples, its worth noting that when the states other elected financial office came vacant midterm, House members outvoted senators to elect a then-current House member, Converse Chellis.

Mike Shealy, on the other hand, went to work for the state budget office in 1982 as a revenue forecaster and has spent the past 20 years translating senators budget vision into the massive bill that gets passed every year to fund state government. He now runs a statewide leadership training program operated by the state Department of Administration and only agreed to let his name be offered as a candidate when senators asked him to.

His vast and relevant experience in both the legislative and the executive branches means hes ready to run the office on day one and makes him particularly if not uniquely qualified to oversee its dismantling, if legislators decide to go that route, as they should.

Sen. Larry Grooms, who led the panel that dissected the $3.5 billion error that a House panel had decided to ignore, told The Post and Couriers Seanna Adcox he plans to nominate Mr. Shealy because he would quietly ensure accuracy in our states finances, adding, We need a band director, not a noisemaker.

We agree.

Candidates seeking an unpaid position on the board of trustees of even our tiniest public colleges have to go through a public screening process and cant ask legislators to vote for them until screeners give everyone the green light. When candidates run for a $151,000-a-year job managing the states payroll and overseeing the complex conversion of the states budget documents into a format that Wall Street uses to determine how much it costs our state to borrow money, its no-holds-barred. That needs to change.

Although state law doesnt require it, neither does it prevent the House and Senate from summoning Mr. Finlay and Mr. Shealy to answer questions publicly about their qualifications, experience and approach to the job and the office. Lawmakers should do just that. Such a hearing should convince some legislators to reconsider their hasty pledges to Mr. Finlay and select a professional for the job; if not, it would help voters understand whats going on here.

Click here for more opinion content from The Post and Courier.
As I discussed in a Dec. 14 column, South Carolina is well on its way to becoming a leader in all things automotive, and increasingly that means electric vehicles. Unfortunately, even as EVs roll off our assembly lines, the opportunities for small businesses to sell electricity to power thes Read moreGrooms: South Carolinas EV predicament  and its golden opportunity
New data is suggesting at least some U.S. adversaries are taking advantage of the hugely popular TikTok video-sharing app for influence operations.

A report Thursday by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) finds Russia "has been using the app to push its own narrative" in its effort to undermine Western support for Ukraine.

"Based on our analysis, some users are engaging more with Russian state media than other, more reputable independent news outlets on the platform," according to the report by the U.S.-based election security advocate that tracks official state actors and state-backed media. "More TikTok users follow RT than The New York Times," it said.

The ASD report found that as of March 22, there were 78 Russian-funded news outlets on TikTok with a total of more than 14 million followers. It also found that despite a commitment from TikTok to label the accounts as belonging to state-controlled media, 31 of the accounts were not labeled. Yet even labeling the accounts seemed to have little impact on their ability to gain an audience.

"By some measures, including the performance of top posts, labeled Russian state media accounts are reaching larger audiences on TikTok than other platforms," the report said. "RIA Novosti's top TikTok post so far in 2023 has more than 5.6 million views. On Twitter, its top post has fewer than 20,000 views."
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"Treachery on the Nile" is the Sixth and Final Book in the Popular Michael Vaux SeriesTORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2023 / Author Roger Croft is pleased to announce the launch of his newest spy novel, "Treachery on the Nile." The book is the sixth and final novel in the popular Michael Vaux series.To learn more about "Treachery on the Nile," which can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at Books a Million, please visit https://rogercroft.com As Croft noted, former newsman and occasional MI6 agent Michael Vaux has survived an assassination attempt and is planning on a long period of rehabilitation."But the spymasters at Vauxhall Cross, the London HQ of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, have learned of a military plot to overthrow the pro-West regime of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The conspirators are to finalize their planning on a Nile pleasure craft and MI6 hits on the idea of sending Vaux on a recuperative trip up the Nile on the same boat." Vaux is told that he is being sent on a "recuperative" cruise up the Nile. By social contact and shipboard friendships his MI6 runners think it inevitable that he will soon learn more about the timing and details of the coup so that it can be aborted by any means possible.Vaux quickly discovers from a motley crew of sub-agents and a careless army co-conspirator the details of the plot; and has mixed feelings about whether the coup would not be all that bad for the long-suffering Egyptian people.As this excerpt makes clear, "Treachery on the Nile" is a fast-paced and exciting story that will appeal to fans of spy novels and stories of intrigue from start to finish."The two men stepped on to the narrow starboard deck. There was a mild breeze, just enough to see the lateen sails billowing gently as they powered the dahabiyathrough the moonlit western desert."Both men leaned over the wooden handrail and gazed into the scudding, murky water as the vessel headed swiftly south. Small islands of scrub and felled palm trees flitted by and they heard the odd squawk of wildfowl as perhaps the night's slumber had been rudely disturbed."Vaux said, Okay. Tell me what this is all about.'"Simcoe fished a packet of Cleopatra'from his pocket, then a classic Ronson lighter. He offered Vaux a cigarette. Vaux shook his head. Simcoe lit up and quickly dispelled smoke from the side of his mouth."You must have noticed that clique of military men. They were there at dinner. That fellow who looks like President al-Sisi's twin brother and had the gall to whisk Anne away to see his big presidential cabin, or whatever he called it, is an army man if ever I saw one.'"Yes, they're on a sort of sabbatical as far as I could gather. This Himeidi fellow says he hoped the cool Nile evenings will help them relax and discuss some military games that are coming up-or so I understand.'"That's just it, Westropp. Or should I call you Vaux?'"Don't be flippant, old man. Get on with your story.'"It's all a sham. This clique, or whatever we want to call them, are plotting the overthrow of the current Sisi regime. There-as succinct as I can make it.'"Vaux showed no reaction. Then as a journalist you're in the right spot at the right time. You're on the brink of a major scoop and you could be nominated Newsman of the Year.'"Simcoe shook his head and looked Vaux straight in the eye. Don't joke Vaux. I'm serious. London wants you to work with me to help expose this conspiracy to overthrow the legitimate government of Egypt.'"Vaux fell silent. He peered through the moonlit night, his eyes sometimes falling on dim, isolated Bedouin camps and makeshift tents, the outlines of supine camels resting on the ground nearby. At one point, he thought he saw a floodlit minaret surrounded by palms in the middle of nowhere"So, he thought, the wily puppeteers at Vauxhall Cross had decided on one final and masterly deception to bring him back into the fold"About Roger CroftRoger Croft was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England. Following national service, Croft landed his first job in journalism with London's Daily Mail where he worked on the City (financial) staff under legendary editor Patrick Sergeant, who taught him the basics of popular journalism. Croft went on to work at a number of other publications and enjoyed a long career before switching gears to write spy novels. Since he quit the grind of daily journalism, Croft has toured the world for novel ideas. For more information, please visit http://www.rogercroft.com Media ContactRoger Croftrcroft@ sympatico.ca 416-923-9389Toronto, Ontario, CanadaSOURCE: Roger Croft
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HONG KONG / ACCESSWIRE / March 30, 2023 / COSCO SHIPPING Development Co., Ltd. ("COSCO SHIPPING Development" or the "Company") (SSE:601866)(HKEX:2866) is pleased to announce the results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2022 (the "Reporting Period") today. In 2022, the Company recorded operating revenue of RMB25.465 billion, net profit attributable to owners of the parent company recorded RMB3.923 billion, and the basic earnings per share amounted to RMB0.29 . The Company plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB0.087 per share to all shareholders.In 2022, the evolution of the world economic changes has accelerated, the global economic development was generally slowing down, and the overall economic operation of China remained stable. Under the environment where challenges and opportunities coexist, the shipping market gradually returned to normal and transform and develop towards digital intelligence and low carbon. The Company has solidly pushed forward to improve quality and efficiency and stabilize growth, promoted reform and innovation for new development, achieving stability in economic benefits amid market fluctuations.Promoted the integration of industry and finance to create value through industrial chain collaborationIn 2022, the Company's shipping leasing business achieved an operating income of RMB7.844 billion, including RMB2.408 billion from the vessel leasing business. The Company continuous strengthened the coordinated linkage of industrial chains on the integration of "leasing and manufacturing, and leasing and shipping",deeply tapped into market potential and strengthened judgment on market segments. The Company promoted innovation in leasing models and achieved vessel leasing business expansion in market segments. The container leasing business recorded revenue of RMB5.436 billion.The Company always adhered to the "key customer strategy" and advanced diversified leasing services. The Company expanded its business in the field of reefer containers and special containers and achieved new breakthroughs in business sectors. Meanwhile, the Company enhanced the capabilities on global containers trade and boosted the improvement of the overall operational efficiency through the establishment of the customer-centric digital operation system.The container manufacturing business achieved an operating income of RMB20.711 billion. With the orientation of customer demand, the Company constantly improved the product layout, actively promoted product R&D and deployed green and environmental protection sectors to advance the expansion of application scenarios of containers. In 2022, the Company and COSCO SHIPPING Specialized Carriers jointly developed and produced special collapsible frames for commercial vehicles and vigorously demonstrated its professional advantages in "customized production + oriented services." The Company's marine container-type power batteries have obtained the recognition on the overall design by China Classification Society and passed on-site inspections.The investment management business achieved an Investment income of RMB1.784 billion. The Company focused on the principal business of shipping logistics, integrated resources in industrial chains and empowered the development of the principal business through "an industry-finance-investment integrated business." Layout of the track of scientific and technological innovation, digital and intelligent transformation showed significant resultsThe Company actively layout the track of scientific and technological innovation, improved the top design on scientific and technological innovation and digital transformation and Special Plan, which specified key projects and set out development targets and orientations. In respect of the container leasing business, the Company actively promoted the deep integration of digital technology with production and operation and the coordination of users' services with industries. Based on the digital capabilities of the iFlorens independently designed and developed and the containers trade platform, the Company developed a new business scenario with digital technology empowering business and e-commerce improving customer experience, achieving new breakthroughs in online orders on the platform and sales volume of e-commerce. The Company applied for participating in the first "Professional Competition on Innovation in Digital Scenarios of SOEs" hosted by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and has successfully qualified for the finals. In respect of the container manufacturing business, the Company vigorously promoted the construction of "digital factories" and facilitated green and intelligent development. It recorded results in the updating and upgrading of green and intelligent products and technological equipment. In 2022, the Company applied 184 new patents. As of the end of 2022, the Company had 457 patents.Implemented the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategies and launched a new project of electric container vesselsFocusing on the positioning of "ecological priority and green development" in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Company has actively promoted the project of electric container vessels , and the construction of two 700TEU electric container vessels of the Company was successively commenced. The project is an important measure for the Company to actively practice national "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategies and develop demonstration for green and zero-carbon shipping and won the "Green Growth" Award at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Global Call 2022. It was released at the 2023 Pudong New Area Conference on High-quality Development of Core Area of International Shipping Center as one of annual 10 innovation cases in international shipping in Pudong New Area. In addition, the Company organized the establishment of the China Electric Ship Innovation Alliance to integrate advantageous resources in all links of green shipping industrial chains, jointly promote a green shipping system on the coordinated development of relevant ancillary industries and better facilitate the implementation of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategies in the shipping industry.Strengthened ESG Management and Built the Foundation for Sustainable DevelopmentThe Company continued to improve the ESG governance and integrated the special strategic planning on ESG into the "14th Five-year" development plan of the Company to promote the comprehensive implementation of the ESG concept in an orderly manner. In 2022, the Company obtained various recognitions over its ESG management. The analysis on risks and opportunities related to climate change in the Sust
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RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2023 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP( www.ktmc.com) informs investors that securities class action complaints have been filed against Credit Suisse Group AG ("Credit Suisse") (NYSE:CS). The complaints charge Credit Suisse with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the company's business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Credit Suisse's materially misleading statements and omissions to the public, Credit Suisse's investors have suffered significant losses.CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR CREDIT SUISSE LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/credit-suisse-group-ag?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=cs&mktm=r CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERELEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE:MAY 8, 2023CLASS PERIOD: MARCH 10, 2022 THROUGH MARCH 20, 2023CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:Jonathan Naji, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ ktmc.com Kessler Topaz is one of the world's foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.CREDIT SUISSE'S ALLEGED MISCONDUCTOn March 10, 2022, Credit Suisse filed with the SEC its 2021 annual report on a Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021. The 2021 annual report failed to identify any material weaknesses with Credit Suisse's internal controls.On December 1, 2022, Credit Suisse's Chairman, Axel P. Lehmann ("Lehmann") stated in an interview with Financial Times that customer outflows had not only "completely flattened out," but had, in fact, "partially reversed." The following day, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Lehmann reiterated his previous statements, reassuring investors that as of November 11, 2022, customer outflows had "basically stopped." Following Lehmann's statements, Credit Suisse's American Depository Share ("ADS") price rose $0.29 per ADS, or 9.36%, to close at $3.38 per ADS on December 2, 2022.Then on February 9, 2023, Credit Suisse issued a press release announcing its 2022 financial results. The press release revealed that, contrary to Lehmann's prior statements, large customer outflows had continued through year-end 2022. Specifically, the press release reported customer outflows of 110.5 billion Swiss francs in the final three months of 2022, a figure which far exceeded market expectations. Following this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell $0.56 per ADS, or 15.64%, to close at $3.02 per ADS on February 9, 2023.On February 21, 2023, Reuters reported that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority was reviewing Lehmann's previous comments regarding customer outflows. Following this news, Credit Suisse's ADS price fell another $0.10 per ADS, or 3.31%, to close at $2.92 per ADS on February 21, 2023.Then on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, Credit Suisse issued its annual 2022 report and revealed that it had identified "certain material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting" for the years 2021 and 2022. Additionally, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, the chairman of Credit Suisse's largest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, which holds 9.88% of Credit Suisse, announced that it won't provide further financial support to Credit Suisse and that it would not buy more shares on regulatory grounds.Following this news, the price of Credit Suisse ADSs fell 13.94% to close at $2.16 per ADS on March 15, 2023.Finally, on March 20, 2023, Credit Suisse issued an announcement on Form 6-K of its merger agreement with Union Bank of Switzerland and that Union Bank of Switzerland would be the surviving entity upon closing of the merger transaction.Following this news, the price of Credit Suisse ADSs fell 52.99% to close at $0.9450 per ADS on March 20, 2023.WHAT CAN I DO?Credit Suisse investors may, no later than May 8, 2023, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class, through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPor other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Credit Suisse investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information. The first class action complaint against Credit Suisse, Calhoun v. Credit Suisse Group AG, et al. Case No. 23-cv-01297, is filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey before the Honorable Karen McGlashan Williams.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASEWHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLPKessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. The complaints were not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com CONTACT:Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLPJonathan Naji, Esq.280 King of Prussia RoadRadnor, PA 19087(484) 270-1453info@ ktmc.com SOURCE: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-01 07:05:46

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+91 7580990088Parmeet Singh7580990088

Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting recently released their most comprehensive study on the global mobile continuous patient monitors market. This research report provides a detailed overview of the market's drivers and restraints, as well as a thorough analysis of the current trends that are likely to shape its future. To create this in-depth report, the team of analysts used both primary and secondary research methods. The report offers an unbiased perspective on the mobile continuous patient monitors industry, allowing clients to make well-informed business decisions. The report reveals key insights about the global mobile continuous patient monitors industry, such as the market's size and potential for growth. It also examines the impact of technological advancements, regulatory changes, and consumer behaviors on the market's performance. Analysts also take a closer look at the market's competitive landscape, highlighting the strategies used by leading players to gain a competitive edge. Additionally, the report outlines potential threats and opportunities that may arise in the near future.Overall, this comprehensive report offers an invaluable resource for those looking to better understand the global mobile continuous patient monitors market. With the help of the study's data-driven insights, clients can gain a better understanding of the current market dynamics, allowing them to make informed business decisions.Request a Sample of this Report at: https://www.dhirtekbusinessresearch.com/market-report/Mobile-Continuous-Patient-Monitors-Market/request-for-sample-report The global mobile continuous patient monitors market was in a state of flux, and the future direction was uncertain. To gain clarity, a comprehensive research study was conducted to analyze the market using Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis. By combining these two methods of analysis, the research could gain a clear perspective of the global mobile continuous patient monitors market's expected direction.The SWOT analysis focused on identifying the market's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It was a useful tool in determining the potential of the market to succeed and develop, as well as its potential vulnerabilities. The Porter's five forces analysis, on the other hand, provided a detailed look into the competitive landscape, examining the level of competition, the bargaining power of customers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitute products.The research report delved into the trends that were shaping the market, as well as consumer behavior patterns. It was found that the competition among the existing players in the market was intense, and new entrants posed a major threat. The bargaining power of customers was also strong, and suppliers had to come up with innovative products to keep their customers satisfied. Additionally, the threat of substitute products was also present, and companies had to be prepared to face this competition.Overall, the research study provided a comprehensive understanding of the global mobile continuous patient monitors market's expected direction. By combining Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis, the research was able to gain a clear picture of the market's future. The report gave readers a better understanding of the trends and consumer behavior patterns that would shape the market's evolution.Highlights of Global Mobile Continuous Patient Monitors Market ReportThe global mobile continuous patient monitors market report is a comprehensive overview of the current state of the industry and provides an in-depth analysis of its future trends and developments.The report details the market size, growth rate, industry trends, and other noteworthy information. It also highlights key products and services that are driving the growth of the market, as well as their respective market shares.One of the most important aspects of the global mobile continuous patient monitors market report is the analysis of the competitive landscape. The report details the competitive positioning of the leading players in the market and the various strategies they are using to stay ahead of their rivals.The report also examines the recent technological developments that are disrupting the industry and the effect they will have on the market in the long term. It also covers the impact of government regulations and policies on the industry and provides an insight into the future trends in the industry.The global mobile continuous patient monitors market report provides an insightful look at the current state of the industry and a comprehensive overview of its future prospects. It is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to gain an understanding of the market and its potential.Scope of the ReportMobile Continuous Patient Monitors Market SegmentsThe market by product type is segmented into portable type, floor standing type.The market by application is segmented into hospital, home health care.Regions Covered in the Global Mobile Continuous Patient Monitors Market:North America (the United States and Canada)Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe)Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Rest of Asia Pacific)The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa and Rest of the Middle East & Africa)Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Rest of Latin America)The mobile continuous patient monitors market has been under intense scrutiny over the past few years, and the latest report released by the market research division provides a comprehensive overview of the leading players in the industry. The report contains a detailed chapter on company profiles which provides an overview of the strategic objectives of the leading players, their primary products and services, and an in-depth analysis of their strategic initiatives.The report reveals that the leading players in the mobile continuous patient monitors market are taking aggressive steps to strengthen their position in the industry. Many of the organizations have embarked on R&D activities to stay ahead of the competition and remain competitive. Their strategic initiatives have also been designed to capitalize on the technological advances in the industry.The report also provides an overview of the financial outlooks of the leading players in the industry. An overall analysis of the organizations' financial statuses reveals the current trends in the market. This allows readers to gain a better understanding of the potential of the mobile continuous patient monitors market and its expected trajectory.It is clear that the mobile continuous patient monitors market is a highly competitive industry and the leading players have to continuously innovate to keep up with the competition. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the industry and its key players and provides readers with an understanding of the industry's current and future prospects. This research aims to provide readers with an informed assessment of the anticipated trajectory of the mobile continuous patient monitors market.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Mobile Continuous Patient Monitors Market Research Report:CAS Medical Systems, Dragerwerk, GE Healthcare, Heyer Medical, Huntleigh Healthcare, Masimo, Mindray, NSystems Medizintechnik, Nihon Kohden, OSI Systems, Philips Healthcare, Promed Group, SchillerContact UsDhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private LimitedContact No: +91 7580990088Email Id: sales@ dhirtekbusinessresearch.com
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-01 06:58:49

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+91 7580990088Parmeet Singh7580990088

Dhirtek Business Research and Consulting recently released their most comprehensive study on the global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market. This research report provides a detailed overview of the market's drivers and restraints, as well as a thorough analysis of the current trends that are likely to shape its future. To create this in-depth report, the team of analysts used both primary and secondary research methods. The report offers an unbiased perspective on the neonatal intensive care respiratory devices industry, allowing clients to make well-informed business decisions. The report reveals key insights about the global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices industry, such as the market's size and potential for growth. It also examines the impact of technological advancements, regulatory changes, and consumer behaviors on the market's performance. Analysts also take a closer look at the market's competitive landscape, highlighting the strategies used by leading players to gain a competitive edge. Additionally, the report outlines potential threats and opportunities that may arise in the near future.Overall, this comprehensive report offers an invaluable resource for those looking to better understand the global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market. With the help of the study's data-driven insights, clients can gain a better understanding of the current market dynamics, allowing them to make informed business decisions.Request a Sample of this Report at: https://www.dhirtekbusinessresearch.com/market-report/Neonatal-Intensive-Care-Respiratory-Devices-Market/request-for-sample-report The global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market was in a state of flux, and the future direction was uncertain. To gain clarity, a comprehensive research study was conducted to analyze the market using Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis. By combining these two methods of analysis, the research could gain a clear perspective of the global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market's expected direction.The SWOT analysis focused on identifying the market's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It was a useful tool in determining the potential of the market to succeed and develop, as well as its potential vulnerabilities. The Porter's five forces analysis, on the other hand, provided a detailed look into the competitive landscape, examining the level of competition, the bargaining power of customers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitute products.The research report delved into the trends that were shaping the market, as well as consumer behavior patterns. It was found that the competition among the existing players in the market was intense, and new entrants posed a major threat. The bargaining power of customers was also strong, and suppliers had to come up with innovative products to keep their customers satisfied. Additionally, the threat of substitute products was also present, and companies had to be prepared to face this competition.Overall, the research study provided a comprehensive understanding of the global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market's expected direction. By combining Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis, the research was able to gain a clear picture of the market's future. The report gave readers a better understanding of the trends and consumer behavior patterns that would shape the market's evolution.Highlights of Global Neonatal Intensive Care Respiratory Devices Market ReportThe global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market report is a comprehensive overview of the current state of the industry and provides an in-depth analysis of its future trends and developments.The report details the market size, growth rate, industry trends, and other noteworthy information. It also highlights key products and services that are driving the growth of the market, as well as their respective market shares.One of the most important aspects of the global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market report is the analysis of the competitive landscape. The report details the competitive positioning of the leading players in the market and the various strategies they are using to stay ahead of their rivals.The report also examines the recent technological developments that are disrupting the industry and the effect they will have on the market in the long term. It also covers the impact of government regulations and policies on the industry and provides an insight into the future trends in the industry.The global neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market report provides an insightful look at the current state of the industry and a comprehensive overview of its future prospects. It is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to gain an understanding of the market and its potential.Scope of the ReportNeonatal Intensive Care Respiratory Devices Market SegmentsThe market by product type is segmented into nebulizers, inhalers, ventilators, continuous positive airway pressure devices, apnea monitors, others.The market by application is segmented into hospitals, clinics, others.Regions Covered in the Global Neonatal Intensive Care Respiratory Devices Market:North America (the United States and Canada)Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe)Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Rest of Asia Pacific)The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa and Rest of the Middle East & Africa)Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Rest of Latin America)The neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market has been under intense scrutiny over the past few years, and the latest report released by the market research division provides a comprehensive overview of the leading players in the industry. The report contains a detailed chapter on company profiles which provides an overview of the strategic objectives of the leading players, their primary products and services, and an in-depth analysis of their strategic initiatives.The report reveals that the leading players in the neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market are taking aggressive steps to strengthen their position in the industry. Many of the organizations have embarked on R&D activities to stay ahead of the competition and remain competitive. Their strategic initiatives have also been designed to capitalize on the technological advances in the industry.The report also provides an overview of the financial outlooks of the leading players in the industry. An overall analysis of the organizations' financial statuses reveals the current trends in the market. This allows readers to gain a better understanding of the potential of the neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market and its expected trajectory.It is clear that the neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market is a highly competitive industry and the leading players have to continuously innovate to keep up with the competition. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the industry and its key players and provides readers with an understanding of the industry's current and future prospects. This research aims to provide readers with an informed assessment of the anticipated trajectory of the neonatal intensive care respiratory devices market.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Neonatal Intensive Care Respiratory Devices Market Research Report:BD, Dragerwerk, GE Healthcare, Getinge Group, Koninklijke Philips, Medtronic, Mercury Medical, ResMed, Smiths Group, Teleflex, Trudell Medical International, Vyaire MedicalContact UsDhirtek Business Research and Consulting Private LimitedContact No: +91 7580990088Email Id: sales@ dhirtekbusinessresearch.com
PR-Inside.com: 2023-04-01 16:00:12

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 1, 2023 / WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Trinseo PLC (NYSE:TSE) resulting from allegations that Trinseo may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.SO WHAT: If you purchased Trinseo securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=13711 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@ rosenlegal.com or cases@ rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On March 27, 2023, The Inquirer published an article entitled "Bristol plant that spilled chemicals into Philly's water supply had other mishaps over the last decade." The article reported "a chemical plant in Bristol that authorities said caused a toxic spill, threatening Philadelphia's drinking water, has a long history of mishaps - including at least four recent contamination incidents." In addition, the article stated "over the past decade, the U.S. Coast Guard twice before detected releases of acrylates [commonly used to produce glass-like acrylics] from the Bristol facility into the Delaware. The EPA had separately flagged two other acrylate releases." The article cites, "David Salas-de la Cruz, a Rutgers University associate professor of chemistry, worked at the Bristol plant during its Rohm and Haas days. He said the number of incidents over the past decade was unusual." On this news, the price of Trinseo's stock fell $1.09, or 5.26%, to close at $19.62 per share on March 27, 2023.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 litigate securities class actions. 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.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 FloorNew York, NY 10016Tel: (212) 686-1060Toll Free: (866) 767-3653Fax: (212) 202-3827lrosen@ rosenlegal.com pkim@ rosenlegal.com cases@ rosenlegal.com SOURCE: Rosen Law Firm PA
Reader survey As a reader of PREMIUM TIMES, your opinion matters. Please take our survey to help us better understand the values and preferences of our readers. Your feedback will give us valuable insights into how we can tailor the different types of content we offer to meet your needs. The survey should only take about 6-8 minutes to complete. Click here to take it.

Some Nigerian poultry farmers recorded huge losses due to the scarcity of naira notes caused by the implementation of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the first quarter of the year.

Farmers who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES within the week explained how the cash crunch affected sales of poultry products such as eggs and broilers amidst high prices of poultry feed. Other farmers lamented how they recorded unprecedented losses and sold off their birds at low prices.

Although the CBN and commercial banks in the country are beginning to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that the old naira notes be circulated until 31 December, poultry farmers said that they are reeling from the ripple effects of the naira scarcity.

Background

On 26 October 2022, Nigerias CBN announced the introduction of newly redesigned 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes into the countrys financial system. But after the notes were unveiled, millions of Nigerians across the country were unable to access them from banks and ATM cash points.

The development triggered protests and frustration among bank users who took to the streets to express their grievances. In the midst of the crisis, the CBN extended the deadline for the phasing out of the old notes from 31 January to 10 February. Yet, many Nigerians and several businesses had a hard time functioning effectively due to difficulty getting the new notes.

Amid the hardship being faced by Nigerians, the countrys Supreme Court gave an order restraining the CBN from going ahead with the implementation of the 10 February deadline set for the phasing out of the old notes. But in his reaction, President Muhammadu Buhari during a live broadcast only approved the continued use of the old N200 notes up until April. Thus, the naira scarcity persisted.

On 3 March, the Supreme Court later ruled that the old notes be recirculated alongside the new notes until 31 December.

Poor Demand

Peter Ogbeide, who runs a poultry farm in Nasarawa State, said the cash crunch has crippled his poultry business. He recorded huge losses as a result of poor sales due to a lack of cash, he said.

This issue (cash scarcity) has crippled our poultry session! We are forced to stop the birds from laying by not giving them (birds) Layers feeds and planning to sell off, he told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.

Last week, he said, a company brought more than 100 crates of eggs and was forced to sell for N500 to N800 per crate as against N1500 and above it was trading before the new naira policy was implemented.

We have about 80 crates of eggs that we have not been able to sell despite dropping the price to 1700 as against the wholesale price of 1900! We fear by Monday the eggs would start going bad because they would have stayed more than 5 days, Mr Ogbeide said.

As a strategy to encourage their customers to buy eggs, the farmer explained that they had to suggest transporting the eggs to their customers after reducing the price. Despite the marketing strategy, he lamented, customers complained of a cash crunch.

Most of them are saying they still have the ones we supplied them since last week as consumers dont have the cash to buy them off their shelves, Mr Ogbeide noted.

On his part, Oyewole Ademola, another poultry farmer in Nasarawa State, explained that the Nigerian local market, sales and service are basically cash driven but that the recent cashless policy enforcement by the government and the CBN affected their businesses.

As a farmer and egg producer, Mr Ademola said, the price of eggs per crate slumped from N1800 to N1500 from the farm. He added that the retailers are complaining of low patronage due to the unavailability of cash.

Eggs have a lifespan of two weeks before they get rotten, no retailers would want to stock it for too long, he said.

The eggs are getting spoiled. We may have to begin to bury the product as a waste if no one is buying due to the cash strap inflicted on us by those who are expected to support the farmers.

The farmer noted that Nigeria is a cash-based economy unlike the developed country where most things can be bought from the shopping mall in bulk and payment can be made with credit cards.

Majority of our goods here are openly displayed at roadside, local and community markets where cash is heavily recognised for most transactions, the farmer said.

He wondered how a farmer who doesnt have a bank account or smartphone could cope with electronic transfers amid the cash crunch.

Timothy Okunade, the ex-president of the Kaduna State chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES early this week, described the situation as bad.

Can Emefiele release more cash into circulation before he kills the poultry industry in Nigeria? At least the election is done now. Please help us to plead with Emefiele for Gods sake, he lamented.

In a video shared with our reporter, shot on his farm, crates of eggs were placed in several rooms without off-takers while the farmer could be heard lamenting that his entire farm is littered with eggs, while the birds are still laying and feeding on expensive feed amid dwindling sales.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported how in neighbouring Plateau State, the state government had to mop up eggs from farmers to save their businesses.

Way Forward

Mr Ademola said the government and the CBN have to review their decision about the naira redesign policy that has caused a lot of pain and suffering for many Nigerian businesses.

This is not a cashless policy, its confiscation of peoples money by FGN/CBN, he added.

Azeez Salawu, founder and executive director at Community Action for Food Security (CAFS) Initiative, said the cash crunch has had a severe impact on poultry farmers, leading to significant losses of eggs and income.

He said targeted government interventions could be helpful in cushioning the effects of these policies on farmers.

Financial assistance and access to credit facilities can help these farmers cover their operating costs and invest in their businesses during these difficult times. Subsidies for poultry feed and inputs can help to reduce production costs, making it easier for the farmers to maintain their businesses and generate income, he said.

Mr Salawu added that training and educating the farmers on alternative strategies for managing their businesses such as diversifying their product offerings, expanding their customer base, or exploring new markets can be valuable for the farmers who are facing this current economic uncertainty.

Overall, he said, a comprehensive approach that combines financial assistance, access to credit, subsidies, and training and education will be effective in supporting poultry farmers in Nigeria during this challenging time.

Its important that policymakers prioritise the needs of farmers and work to create policies that help them to thrive and succeed in the face of economic adversity, he said.

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An unidentified passenger was on Friday evacuated from an Ibom Air flight over alleged threats against Nigerias president-elect, Bola Tinubu.

In a video making the rounds on social media, the man stood in between the passengers seat in the middle of the aircraft and could be heard threatening that Mr Tinubu must not be sworn in as Nigerian president next month.

You all are sitting here, and Tinubu is about to be sworn in as President. Tinubu must never be sworn in. He must never be President, he said.

I am a PhD holder in law and Ill keep saying what I am saying.

His conducts and utterances attracted the attention of other passengers aboard the flight, while some other passengers asked him go to court.

Instead of going off this plane, you will go down, the unidentified man told another passenger who challenged him to disembark from the aircraft.

In the midst of the melee, some airport security officials evacuated the man from the aircraft.

The story behind this video is that, a middle-aged man (checked-in passenger) entered the plane. He stood in the middle of the plane and raised his voice, saying" you all are sitting here, and Tinubu is about to be sworn in as President, lai lai, Tinubu must never be sworn pic.twitter.com/UlM2TX0qyL  Foundational Yoruba Boy (@Chrisbamidele) March 31, 2023

While trying to resist attempt to evacuate him, the man screamed: Obidients! You are looking Obidients!

Obidients refers to the collective name adopted by supporters of the Labour Party candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi.

However, it remains unclear as of press time Saturday morning whether the man is a supporter of the LP flagbearer.

Reactions

When contacted on Saturday, Aniekan Essienette, Ibom Airs Group Manager, Marketing and Communications, told PREMIUM TIMES that the airline is aware of the incident, adding that security officials had to evacuate the man from the aircraft for security reasons.

We shall issue an official statement soon, she said.

READ ALSO:

Meanwhile, a Twitter user who claimed to be a co-passenger on the flight, Attahiru Abdullahi, said the incident delayed the flight for over an hour.

I was on this flight. This display delayed our flight take off time from 6pm to a few minutes to 7:30pm. I hope hes fine anyway, he said.

I was on this flight. This display delayed our flight take off time from 6pm to few minutes to 7:30pm. I hope hes fine anyway  ATTAIRU Abdullahi (@hajiabdul2003) April 1, 2023

Major opposition political parties ( Labour Party and PDP) have expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of the just concluded presidential election that produced the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Mr Tinubu, as Nigerias president-elect.

On Wednesday, Nigerias secret police, the State Security Services (SSS), announced that certain people are plotting to put an interim government in place ahead of the swearing in of a new president on 29 May.

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Moruf Oseni, the immediate past deputy managing director of Wema Bank, has assumed the position of substantive managing director and chief executive officer of the lender effective 1 April, 2023.

The appointment was first announced in December following the retirement of Ademola Adebise, allowing Mr Oseni to serve in an acting capacity in the three months to March before his appointment was confirmed.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has endorsed the decision to appoint Mr Oseni, Wema Bank said in a statement Saturday.

Wole Akinleye, until recently, the executive director superintending the banks corporate banking segment and the South West business, takes over as the deputy managing director just as Tunde Mabawonku, Wema Banks former chief financial officer, is now an executive director.

Both appointments have been greenlighted by the CBN and are effective 1 April.

Profile

Mr Oseni joined the Lagos-based lender in 2012 as an executive director and rose to become the deputy CEO, holding the role for four years.

With over 25 years of experience, including more than 16 years at senior to executive management levels, Oseni was the MD/CEO of MG Ineso, a principal investment and financial advisory firm, the statement said.

He had also served as Vice President at Renaissance Capital and was an Associate at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup Global Markets in London, it added.

He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Institut European dAdministration des Affaires (INSEAD) in France as well as a Masters in Finance from the London Business School.

Mr Oseni is a graduate of Computer Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and an alumnus of the Advanced Management Programme of the Harvard Business School.

The Board is confident that these new appointments will be crucial to the continued transformation and growth of the Bank as it positions itself as a market leader in Nigerias banking industry through technology and innovation, the statement said.

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On Thursday, 76-year-old actor Brian Cox wore jeans, a denim jacket and comfortable beach shoes to greet the journalists who went to interview him at a luxurious hotel in Madrid, Spain. Both in spirit and appearance, hes very different from his character Logan Roy, the multimillionaire media tycoon and paterfamilias of the ill-fated family in Succession. Another difference between Brian Cox and Logan Roy: Cox drops only two f-bombs in the interview and not a single fuck off. The fourth and final season of screenwriter Jesse Armstrongs brainchild just premiered on HBO; Succession will end its run as the successful heir to all the formidable series that preceded it on the prestigious cable channel.

Question. After such a long career, what has the role of Logan Roy meant to you?

Answer. It has been a great experience, and its been a great gift. Its gone beyond me. Logan has become this icon. Theres an element of that which is a little uncomfortableI dont scare people, Logan scares peopleand actually, that has a plus side when I think, keep your fucking distance. So, I dont have to do that... And the other thing that I slightly miss is my own anonymity. I was known for something, and people would be like, oh yeah, youre the one who was in... So, I like that, but now thats gone away, and Logan is such an omnipresent individual. One had no idea that [Succession] was going to be this successful. I mean, I thought it was damn good, dont get me wrong, Ive always loved the show, and its a great piece of writing, but I didnt know that the audience was going to go as crazy as its gone. And they really have gone crazy. Its just, wherever one goes, theres an extraordinary reaction from people [For example,] this guy, this older man came into the hotel and said, You look like that guy, that Logan Roy character. And I said, I am Logan. He said, my god! And then he said, Youre so appealing. Ive never been described as appealing.

Q. Why do you think that the series has been so successful? What has drawn us to the characters?

A. I think were hooked to see that kind of avarice so naked. Those children, you cant believe theyre as fucked up as they are We have a gladiatorial urge in us as an audience. We like to see people beat [the] shit out of one another, you know, whether its with swords in the gladiator ring or on TV and families disrupting and exploding in front of our very eyes. We love it. We find it reassuring. It shows where we are in our state of evolution. Were not evolved at all. Were rather backward. Im not knocking it because people watch it but the reason is because they love to see horrible things.

Q. Do you consider Succession to be a drama or a comedy?

A. I would say its much more of a satire. It has comedic elements, but its also quite political. And it does look at these people and throws up a series of questions. And thats the gift of the writers.

Brian Cox and Matthew Macfadyen in the first episode of the fourth season of 'Succession'.

Q. Succession is a reflection on wealth and peoples relationship with power and money. Whats your moral reading of the characters behavior?

A. The moral reading is very obvious. Its that people in that position become so disconnected from any form of down-to-earth reality. Logan is a careerist, hes only concerned about his business. His business has moved in a certain direction and hes successful because of that direction, so he goes with it. I like to think that when he was a younger man he had certain ideals and then rapidly, over time, those became eroded. And he created this family. And, of course, he remembers them as children; he loves his kids, but now theyve become these monsters that hes partly, but not wholly, responsible for. I think the audience sort of blames him too much We do this thing of blaming [our] parents for who we are, and I think that theres a legitimate side to that, but there also comes a point when all bets are off. After the age of 21, youre responsible for yourself, you cant keep blaming it on your mom and your dad, you have to own who you are, and I dont think we do that. I think human beings avoid owning who they are. I mean, what theyll do is go to any belief system, whether its Judaic or Islamic or Catholic, theyll go to that to tell them who they are and, oh, yes, if Im a good boy, Ill go to heaven, and all that, and its all bullshit, really, when you think about it.

Q. Are extremely wealthy people very different from the rest of us?

A. They are, because they live in a bubble, a bubble of their own creation. Dont get me wrong, I dont damn them all. When people use wealth for good intentions, then thats fine. Philanthropy is great, and we all depend on philanthropy. Good god, my profession depends on that, it depends on the kindness of strangers to help us along. So, its not all that way. But theres this element where it distances you from a kind of reality. You know, I am a glutton for punishment; I have to be reminded of exactly who I am. I cant throw that off I never thought of myself as working class. When I was a kid and my dad had a shop, we did quite well. We lived in a very small environment, we were very tight, and we were sort of low-middle class, rather than working class. And then we became poverty class because we lost everything. And you adjust accordingly.

Actor Brian Cox, who plays Logan Roy in Succession, in a February 2023 photograph. Colin Hutton

Q. Since you come from that background and you consider yourself a socialist, is it hard not to judge people who are so far removed from your experience?

A. No, I mean, I think that actors dont judge the characters. They present their characters, warts and all, and its up to the audience to judge. And sometimes the audience judges right; a lot of the time the audience gets it wrong. And theres a lot of projection going on; audiences project things Its a thing that we doand it also has to do with the state of our evolution. Were not quite evolved

Q. Yesterday you visited the Prado Museum, and you said that people associate your character with Goyas painting Saturn Devouring His Son.

A. Yeah, that was an unfortunate thing to say, because I kind of reinforced that myth. And it is a myth. He doesnt eat his children. But people have actually [mentioned] Saturn Eating His Children and there I [was]

Q. Do you draw on other references to play Logan Roy?

A. No. Well, I mean, its around you daily. I mean, you see people who are in that state, you hear stories about them... But its also your own take, its what you create, and you dont always need referents for that creation. When youre young, theres a lot of research, but I go back to children Children have that [instinctual] thing. We have an instinct, and we forget about it. We tend to think we have to crowd it with books, and we have to know.... Children dont do that, theyre there, theyre present..

Q. You have questioned some of your co-stars acting methods in the series [specifically Jeremy Strong, who stays in character even when he is not shooting]. What is your opinion of the other actors in Succession?

A. We have a fantastic cast, really fantastic. Every single one of them is a great actor and theyve got better over time. Sarah Snook is phenomenal. I never watch the show... My wife watches it and shell tell me about it. But I did actually see the scene the other night with Matthew [Macfadyen] and Sarah [Snook] in the bedroom, and I thought Sarah played it beautifully. And Matthew. I just love the actors; I love what they do. Theyre so great and theyve been great from the word go.

Q. Why did Jesse Armstrong decide to end the series after four seasons?

A. Because too many shows go past their sell-by date. He doesnt believe in infinite television; he believes in finite television. And theres a finite element. And if you think about it, its four [seasons], three children, three [seasons], the father, the fourth [season]. Its the perfect unit. I think it was hard for him, I think it was in many ways painful, but he did it. And also he lives in England, but hes had to spend a lot of time in America, and thats tiring. I live in Brooklyn, I went there for many reasons, because I wanted to make movies. I lived in Hollywood for a while; I dont anymore. But I can see that after a while, its wearing for your family, and also work; hes been working on this show since, I think 2014, so its nine years, and he wants to go into something else, and I think thats very important.

Q. Without giving anything away, what did you think about how the series ended?

A. I think its good, yeah, I think its the right thing. Its very peaceful. Logan comes to a point of peace, which is quite good.

Q. What about you? Have you thought about retiring?

A. Me? Retire?!? Bollocks! No, no, I will never retire. I mean, Ive overcrowded myself this year, but no, I dont want to retire. I mean, Ill be forced to retire when I cant remember, when Alzheimers kicks in and I dont know where the hell I am. Then Ill probably have to retire, but its not my intention to retire.

Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook in the first episode of the fourth season of 'Succesion'.

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BUA Foods will pay shareholders a dividend per share of N4.50 translating to a payout of N81 billion for fiscal year 2022, the food companys audited earnings report showed on Saturday.

The planned dividend is subject to shareholders approval at the firms forthcoming annual general meeting.

Similarly, appropriate withholding tax will be applied at payment.

In 2021, the company paid a dividend of N3.50, with the payout totalling N63 billion.

BUA Foods current cash plan followed a remarkable year marked by record revenue of N418.3 billion, after sales grew by 25.5 per cent year on year.

The company highlighted in the document that sales volume was driven especially by its fortified and non-fortified sugar products, while bakery flour, pasta, bran and molasses contributed the rest of its turnover.

Nigeria, the groups primary market, accounted for 86 per cent of sales, unlike the previous year when it accounted for all revenue, affirming the progress of the companys expansion drive into the rest of Africa.

After-tax profit stood at N91.3 billion compared to N69.8 billion a year earlier. That implies BUA Foods will be paying 88.7 per cent of its profit as dividend.

AbdulSamad Rabiu, Africas 4th richest man by Forbes ranking, holds 92.6 per cent of the shares in BUA Foods.

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Following an attack on worshippers in a mosque by adherents of a traditional religion in Ile Ife, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has called for peace and orderliness in the ancient city and its environs.

Four persons were reportedly injured when the traditional religion worshippers attacked worshippers in a mosque in Ile-Ife on Thursday.

Traditionalists in the town had announced on Wednesday that the Oro cult would perform some rituals in some parts of Ife between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., advising residents to avoid the areas.

According to one of those in the mosque, Abdulazeez Bashir, Oro adherents broke through the fence and began flogging worshippers with canes, instructing them to leave the ablution area.

One of them even attacked the Imam, Alhaji Abdullateef Adesiyan while coming into the mosque. He was beaten with a cane and hit on the face with a rod.

When I discovered that about five persons had been injured, apart from the Imam of the mosque, I had to call the Ife Chief Imam, Alhaji AbdulSemiu AbdulHammed to intimate him with the happenings.

The situation could have escalated into a big crisis when other Muslims began to gather around, but the traditionalists eventually left. The victims were later taken to a hospital for treatment, Mr Bashir said.

Speaking through his deputy, Obalufe of Ifeland, Oba Idowu Adediwura, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Ile-Ife, the Ooni appealled for peace.

He said as the royal father of Christians, Muslims and traditionalists and as a leader who championed peaceful coexistence globally, there was no reason why his home should be in turmoil.

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He said that as a direct descendant of Oduduwa, the progenitor of Yoruba race who also preached peaceful coexistence, he believed there was no reason why people of different faiths should not live peacefully in tolerance.

He noted that the two major faiths and traditional worshippers had coexisted peacefully in ages past and that there should not be hostilities between them now.

When contacted on the incident, the police spokesperson in Osun State, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed it, stating that an investigation into the mosque invasion had been launched.

Oba Ogunwusi promised to renovate the mosque that was affected as well as pay the hospital bill of the Imam of the mosque.

The Chief Imam of Ifeland, Mr AbdulHammed, told NAN on Friday that the trouble had been settled.

He confirmed that the traditional religion worshippers assaulted the Imam of Idiomo Mosque, Ilare, Alfa Adesiyan, inside the mosque.

Mr AbdulHammed called for maintenance of fundamental rights of religion, speech and peace among others.

There is no family throughout Africa that practices one religion.

There should be freedom for individuals to practice whatever religion they choose without coercion, he said.

The chief imam appealed to indigenes to ensure that they maintained peace and orderliness during each festival in the town, stressing that there is no profit in violence.

(NAN)

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Ibom Air on Saturday confirmed the evacuation of a passenger from its Abuja-Lagos bound flight over alleged threats against Nigerias president-elect, Bola Tinubu.

In a statement issued by Aniekan Essienette, the airlines Group Manager, Marketing and Communication, the airline described the passengers behaviour as inappropriate and unruly.

A passenger stood up and began addressing other passengers in a manner considered inappropriate and unruly, as he was making other passengers nervous, the statement said.

The airline did not identify the passenger or provide further details about his condition after he was evacuated from the aircraft.

Unruly behaviour

PREMIUM TIMES reported how, in a video making the rounds on social media, the yet-to-be identified man stood in between the passengers seat in the middle of the aircraft and could be heard threatening that Mr Tinubu must not be sworn in as Nigerian president next month.

You all are sitting here, and Tinubu is about to be sworn in as President. Tinubu must never be sworn in. He must never be President, he said.

I am a PhD holder in law and Ill keep saying what I am saying.

His conducts and utterances attracted the attention of passengers aboard the flight, while others asked him to go to court.

Instead of going off this plane, you will go down, the unidentified man told another passenger who challenged him to disembark from the aircraft.

While trying to resist attempt to evacuate him from the aircraft, the man screamed: Obidients! You are looking Obidients!

It remains unclear Saturday afternoon whether the man is a supporter of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections.

Supporters of Mr Obi are popularly refered to as Obidients.

Forceful removal

In its statement Saturday, Ibom Air said its crew deemed the mans continuous unruly behaviour unsafe and invited airport security to help put the situation under control.

Upon his refusal to stop or disembark peacefully, the airline said the security operatives were left with no choice but to forcefully disembark the passenger as a last option.

We are aware that several videos and reports of this incident are circulating on social media and wish to provide the right perspective, the statement noted.

Ibom Air wishes to assure our passengers that we maintain very high safety and service standards and will never compromise the safety and security of our passengers.

We apologise to the affected passengers for the time it took to disembark this passenger, which caused an otherwise on-time departure to be delayed by an hour, the statement said.

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Shamshudeen Dambazzau, a member of the House of Representatives from Kano State, has asked the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to consider zoning the Senate President position to the North-west.

Mr Dambazzau, in a statement on Saturday, said it will be strategic for a lawmaker from the zone to occupy the position.

It is our strong belief that it will be strategic for the party to zone the position of Senate President to the North-west. This will help in building on the partys presence in the zone, especially in Kano and other states where the opposition parties have occupied, he said.

The APC is yet to make an announcement on zoning of the presiding officers for the two chambers.

From the results of the 25 February National Assembly elections, the party has already formed majority in the lower chamber having secured 57 out of the 109 seats in the chamber.

The party stands a chance to increase its seats in the Senate after the supplementary election scheduled for 15 April. Five seats are up for grabs in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states.

Meanwhile, several senators have announced their interest in the position the Senate Presidency in anticipation of the decision of the party on Zoning.

They include Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Barau Jibrin (Kano), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), and Sani Musa (Niger).

Others former Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom State and Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State.

Jibrin is appropriate for Senate president

Mr Dambazzau also made case for Mr Jibrin as the Senate President, arguing that the Kano Senator, who is the Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriations, has the requisite legislative experience to lead the 10th House.

Aspirants are emerging for the various leadership positions but we, who are rooting for Senator Barau Jibrin to become the next President of the Senate, believe in his capacity and capability to steer the wheel of the federal parliament towards the path of growth and stability for our dear country, as envisioned by the founding fathers of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Jibrin, is not only an experienced parliamentarian having been elected for a third term but also a seasoned administrator, a quality he has shown as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

It is worthy to note that Jibrin has been in charge of the federal governments budget in the Senate when the 9th National Assembly returned the countrys budget cycle to January-December, which greatly helped the President Mumammadu Buhari-led administration in achieving its economic goals. Indeed, his loyalty to the APC government and party is exemplary, he said.

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The Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), Friday, sealed the hall of Bon Platinum hotel in Enugu State, where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued certificates of return to the Governor-elect of the state, Peter Mbah and State House of Assembly members-elect.

The ECTDA, an urban development and infrastructure management agency of the state government, said the decision was in response to a reported structural defect of the double decker hall which caused a big bang during the issuance of the certificates of return to the 2023 election winners in the state on Thursday.

The bang, which occurred during the issuance of certificates of return, caused fear among recipients of the certificates, INEC officials, commissioner of police in the state and several others who scampered for safety during the incident.

The process was, however, completed, amidst fear of possible collapse.

Some officials of the ECTDA, who visited the hall on Friday, for inspection, said they discovered that the building had no approval plan.

Another structure under construction in the hotel also had no approval of the agency, the officials said.

Josef Onoh, the chairperson of the ECTDA, told reporters in Enugu on Friday that the management of the hotel was impatient because they did not allow the agency to conclude its investigation of the facility, but was appealing to be allowed to hold another function in the distressed hall this Saturday without addressing the fault in the hall.

The hall doesnt have an approval but the hotel has and there was a structural defect on the hall yesterday (Thursday) when INEC was issuing certificates of return which made everybody scatter because they thought the building was going to collapse, Mr Onoh said.

So, we went there today for inspection and we are now sealing the place, including another building being developed at the back.

The proprietor of the hotel is not ready to exercise patience for the Nigeria Society of Engineers to come for their own inspection, but is asking us to allow her to host a wedding there tomorrow (Saturday) and I wonder how much she collected for the event that the venue cannot be relocated. So, we have sealed the hall, he added.

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For the first time in Nigeria, queens of traditional kingdoms held a conference on Thursday 30 March to commemorate the Black Womens History Month.

About 120 queens from across Nigeria attended the event held at the Palace of Ooni of Ife in lle Ife, Osun State to discuss the impact of royal queens in national development .

The conference was organised by Ronke Ogunwusi and Janet Mba-Afolabi under the Queen Moremi Ajasoro initiative and Olori Janet Afolabi Foundation.

The conference, titled, The Impact of Oloris ( Royal Queens) In National Development, examined the impacts of queens in their kingdoms.

In her welcome speech, Mrs Ogunwusi, a wife of the Ooni who is also the founder of Africa Fashion Week London and Nigeria Week and CEO of a Adire Textile hub, explained the reasons for the conference.

She said, Today for the first time in history we are coming together to see how we can all work together on different projects to impact our communities.

She invited the queens to take advantage of the Adire training which is free, adding that she has trained over 500 women and youths in the trade.

Mrs Mba-Afolabi, who gave the keynote address, said there are are so many challenges in Nigeria today.

Our husbands, the kings, are in the forefront of solving those problems. But we should also rise up and support them.

She urged the queens to identify problems in the domains, do a problem analysis and strategy on how to solve them.

Mrs Mba-Afolabi said if queens make impacts with their projects in the communities, such impacts can be replicated at the national level.

Encouraging the Queens to start small, she narrated how she personally teaches English language for free and also feed her students with snacks.

Recalling that she started with 10 students, she said: Today I have over 150 students. I also empowered some set of traders with 20,000 Naira each and ask them to pay back 5000 Naira monthly so we can give the money to others. None of them defaulted. They all paid the loan back and on time too. This means that you do not need huge some of money to impact on people.

READ ALSO: NCDMB partners women engineers on STEM education for girls

The wife of Osun State Governor, Ngozi Adeleke, who was the special guest of honour, in her goodwill message commended the organisers the event.

She said she is committed to supporting and empowering women to develop Osun State. I am ready to collaborate with you whenever you need me, she added.

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The United States chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has scheduled a pro-democracy march in Washington D.C. in support of the 25 February presidential election in Nigeria, won by Bola Tinubu.

The solidarity march at the Lafayette Park  Southwest Quadrant, opposite the White House, will take place on Monday 3 April, as a counter move to anti-democratic elements of the Labour Party, who staged a demonstration on Thursday.

According to Adeleke Lamori, one of the organisers of the Monday rally, the purpose was to let the world know Mr Tinubu is the president elect.

President Joe Biden should help Nigeria for easy transition, he said.

On Thursday 30 March, a group of Nigerians loyal to Peter Obi, the defeated candidate of Labour Party, staged a demonstration at the same venue.

Lai Balofin, a professor and chairman of the APC in the US, said that countrys government was not involved or in support of the protest, as anybody can get approval for a peaceful protest.

We also wish to state that this protest was sponsored by Peter Obi, who lost the election in Nigeria.

It is our belief that the Nigerian presidential election was free and fair, and Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu won the election. The majority of Nigerian voters gave him their mandate, and no propaganda, manipulation or tissue of lies can stop his inauguration.

Mr Balofin assured Nigerians not to be perturbed by the actions of the protesters.

We have mobilised true Nigerians to come out in support of their mandate, and we believe that the protesters will not succeed in their mission to disrupt the peace and stability of Nigeria, he said.

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The Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and its partner, the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) on Thursday rounded off the second phase of the Climate Change In News Media project with a two-day capacity building for media practitioners in Nigeria.

The training, which was funded by UNESCO, held in Abuja, Nigerias capital territory, with representatives from six different media platforms across the country.

Organisers said participants were drawn from print, radio, online, and television towards ensuring that the message gets to diverse populace.

The capacity building was part of the projects mandate in ensuring climate change reporting gains prominence and attention across West Africa.

Speaking at the training, the Executive Director at CJID, Tobi Oluwatola, noted that climate change is a phenomenon affecting the entire world, but it impacts African communities differently due to vulnerabilities such as poverty, weak infrastructure, and limited resources. It, therefore, must continue to be treated as an important issue.

Participants speak

The participants at the event described the training as a refresher course needed for journalists to become more intentional about climate change reporting.

Olatokewa Ayoade, The Head of News at Kiss FM said the training was an important one for her newsroom and that it wouldnt have come at a better time. She further described it as an eye-opener for her newsroom to do more.

She explained that before the training, her organisation focused more on special reports with more focus on SDG-related stories.

But now I have learnt to draw more attention to climate change-related stories, its devastating effects, and the hidden human angles that can better create awareness and inform the citizens better, Mrs Ayoade said.

Olanrewaju Oyedeji, a data journalist with Dataphyte noted that the training helped deepen his understanding of climate change reporting and the diverse topics around it.

He said: The training helps my robust thoughts on climate change from the local level. Journalists need more training, and its admirable that the CJID has taken the initiative to take this important and laudable step.

A senior reporter at Premium Times, Chiamaka Okafor, described the training as necessary, timely and insightful.

She said: Although this is not my first training, I think such refresher gatherings are important to the extent that the subject matter has yet to find a home in many newsrooms and the Nigerian media landscape generally. I feel a burst of ideas and many concepts are making better sense now.

In his closing remarks, the Director of Programmes at the CJID, Akintunde, Babatunde, said the organisation remains committed to ensuring that journalists are continuously empowered through capacity building and workshops.

Capacity trainings for journalists such as this are critical so that they can be better informed as they tell the stories of climate change, exploring various key issues around it from various important angles, to be able to play their roles as agenda setters for the government and other stakeholders.

He emphasised the need for journalists in Nigeria to pay more attention to reporting climate change beyond what he described as regular rhetorics, so that stakeholders and the government in particular can take more decisive action towards addressing climate change challenges, especially in Nigeria.

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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arraigned a lecturer at the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) for sexual harassment.

The agency said in a statement Friday that the lecturer, Balogun Olaniran, was charged to court for demanding sexual and monetary gratification from a female student of the institution.

It added that Mr Olaniran who was at the time the Head of the institutions Department of Religious Studies demanded sexual benefit or the payment of N100,000 from the student with a promise to alter her academic grades in 2021.

Mr Olaniran was arraigned before Justice Osinuga, the presiding judge, at the Ijebu-Ode high court, Ogun State, on a one-count charge for violating Section 8(1) (a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

More details

The ICPC noted that Mr Olaniran pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.

The charge read in parts: ..within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, corruptly demanded sexual benefit or payment of the sum of N100,000 for himself from  (name withheld), a female student, on account of a favour to be afterwards shown her in the discharge of his official duties as a lecturer and Head of Department of Religious Studies at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu Ode, to wit, offering to alter her academic grades from fail to pass in courses with codes EDU 311 and EDU 312.

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The trial judge admitted the defendant to bail of N500,000 with a surety in like sum.

The judge said the surety must provide evidence of three years of tax clearance and evidence of means.

The case was adjourned to 11 May for the commencement of trial.

Sexual scandals on campuses

Mr Olanirans case is one of the many sex-for-mark scandals that have continued to rock the nations education sector.

In 2018, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, sacked a lecturer, Richard Akindele, for demanding sex from his student.

Mr Akindele was later found guilty and sentenced to 24 months in prison. He served his sentence in Ilesa prison.

Also in 2021, the management of OAU dismissed another lecturer, Adebayo Mosobalaje, who was said to have been found guilty of sexual demeanour against a female student.

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) also dismissed Boniface Igbeneghu and Samuel Oladipo, who were involved in sex-for-marks scandal.

This decision was taken almost two years after the two lecturers were exposed in a 52-minute documentary by BBC Africa where a reporter, disguised as a 17-year-old admission seeker, exposed randy lecturers.

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The National Broadcasting Code (NBC) has fined Channels Television N5 million for allegedly violating the NBC code in a programme with the Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed.

The NBC communicated the fine to Channels in a letter signed by its Director General, Balarabe Ilelah, on 27 March.

NBC said Mr Dattis comments on Seun Okinbaloye-anchored Politics Today on Wednesday, 22 March, was capable of inciting public disorder and therefore violated some sections of the broadcasting code.

Mr Ilelah said the commission had warned Channels several times to consider public interest before airing any of its programmes.

Consequently, on the following infractions, Channels Television is hereby sanctioned and shall pay a penalty of N5,000,000 (five million naira) only in the first instance, he said, adding, any further violations by the station would attract higher sanctions.

You are advised to pay within two weeks from the day of receipt of this letter or the penalty will be graduated.

Dattis comments

Speaking on Wednesdays edition of Politics Today on Channels Television, Mr Baba-Ahmed called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of Nigeria not to swear in Bola Tinubu, whom INEC declared as the president-elect, insisting that declaring Mr Tinubu a winner and issuing him a certificate of return was against the constitution.

Whoever swears in Mr Tinubu, Mr Baba-Ahmed said, has ended Democracy in Nigeria.

He said: Mr President, do not hold that inauguration. CJN your lordship, do not partake in unconstitutionality. I am taking this risks for the sake of my country.

Yes, it is extreme and I am saying it. It was more extreme for Yakubu (INEC Chair) to issue that certificate (of return). It was reckless. He is putting all our lives in danger. All of us.

I am telling you that on the 29th of May 2023, swear in Tinubu as this result is, you have ended democracy whoever you are.

You cannot swear in people who have not met constitutional requirements. If you do that, you have done something unlawful, something unconstitutional. And I am repeating it, whoever does not meet the constitutional requirement must not, must never be sworn in. You said my name. If you like I can say it again. I am Datti Baba-Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed said the APC candidate had not met the constitutional requirement to be declared president-elect, saying INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, had put the lives of Nigerians in danger by issuing Mr Tinubu a certificate of Return.

Swearing in a ticket that has not met the constitutional requirements of the constitutions is ending Democracy. Quote me on it and that is indeed a correct interpretation, he said.

However extreme it is I am saying it on national TV. I dont like to take risks. I am not taking any risk.

The LP vice presidential candidate also stated that he does not have faith in the judicial system to serve him and his principal, Peter Obi, justice.

I do not, he said when asked of his faith in the court. There is a certain senate president who contested presidency and lost and today he is declared senator and the laws of Nigeria do not allow you to contest two offices. I was contesting governorship in Kaduna but I withdrew before the contest and that was why I was nominated as vice presidential candidate on this ticket. Electoral Act violated. Promises violated. Now they are inching to violate the constitution to the extent that they will even swear in a president who has not met constitutional requirements. And we should sit down and be afraid and not talk about it. No way.

Mr Baba-Ahmed, however, said it was not a reason for them not to approach the court as there could be a first time when the system would work.

History is full of first time, he said. There may be the first time that the court system will work. Remember, I have suffered from the legal system. My House of Reps, my Senate. I accepted. Nothing I can do. And that is to underscore the law in me. I am a law abiding citizen. I am a law promoting citizen.

Despite coming third in the result announced by the electoral commission, INEC, Messrs Obi and Baba-Ahmed have insisted they won the election.

They have approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to contest the process of the election and the declaration of APCs Mr Tinubu as winner of the election.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the election has also rejected the outcome of the election and approached the election petition tribunal to seek redress.

Days ago, the State Security Services (SSS) raised the alarm that some politicians are working to scuttle the 29 May transition by plotting an interim government.

The Presidency has also dismissed claims that President Buhari was not willing to hand over to the president-elect.

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Saudi Arabia will be hosting the 42nd edition of the Global Real Estate Summit (42nd FIABCI Global Leadership Summit) next December in Riyadh.

The summit, said to be the industry's largest annual gathering, will bring together real estate pioneers and CEOs of critical real estate companies from all over the globe to the Saudi capital.

The event will see them showcase their expertise in real estate sector as well as discuss key industry issues. Also the participants will be taken on a tour to some of the most prominent real estate projects in the kingdom.

The selection of KSA as the summit venue comes following the World Real Estate Federation meeting in Cannes, France, held last month on the sidelines of the international real estate event MIPIM.

FIABCI Global Leadership Summit will be witness to several sessions, workshops, meetings and lectures aiming to deal with the challenges of real estate industry as well as available investment opportunities.

It will also discuss the role of the industry's leaders in creating revolutionary ideas, the best international practices and the mechanism of their application in the region, said the organisers.

The upcoming event will address the Saudi real estate sector in light of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and its successes achieved to date, which enhance the vision's goals, they added.-TradeArabia News Service
Do you really want me to tell you what happened with McCartney? asks French screenwriter and musician Loulou Dedola, the author of a comic book about Fela and an unconditional fan of Kuti, on a phone call with ICON. The question about Paul McCartney and Fela Kutis notorious clash in 1973 amuses him, and he says that he knows what happened firsthand. Dedola began visiting Lagos in the late 1980s and has gone to see Kuti and his sons ever since. Actually, McCartney called him on the phone, and he said, Hi, its me, Paul McCartney! Id like to do a duet with you. And Fela... Dedola cuts off the sentence with a laugh. That Fela... Fela said to him, Who? I dont know who you are.

McCartney was in Lagos recording his third album with Paul McCartney & Wings, Band on the Run, and he was still trying to shed the baggage of having been a Beatle. The recording was hectic to say the least, although the effort was worth it; the album was a bestseller in the UK in 1974. That success didnt seem promising when the Brit arrived in Lagos. His producers said it was one of the best recording studios of the time. But they found that the band didnt have the necessary material to record a rock album. McCartney was warmly received in the newspapers, but one person was not moved: Fela Kuti, the father of Afrobeat and a pioneer in African music in the 1960s, accused the former Beatle of going to Africa to steal black music.

I went to Lagos and the first thing that happened to me is that I was accused of stealing black peoples music. You have come to steal music! So, I asked, who said that? It was in the newspapers... It was Fela, of course. I called him on the phone and said, Hey, man, Im not here for that, I just love African music and I want to recreate that atmosphere, McCartney recounted in a 2013 interview. On several occasions, McCartney, who has always praised Kutis figure and influence, returns to that anecdote, changing some details and displaying his musical genius: from memory, he plays what he remembers of his favorite Kuti song, a refrain that he was unable to identify or later find on recordings.

Thats not surprising: live, a Fela song could last up to half an hour. But McCartney still remembers the rhythm. It is curious that McCartney starts the interview by referring to the musician as Fela Ransome Kuti. Ransome was Felas last name at birth, but he changed it because he considered it to be a colonial legacy. The Nigerian recording artist and his mother took on an ancestors surname, Anikulapo, which means the one who carries death in his pocket.

According to Dedola, who was just at the Cartoon Movie in Bordeaux, France, to present the project adapting his comic book into an animated film, it took McCartney two weeks to track down Kuti and let him know that he was really asking him to do a duet with him. McCartney told him that he had decided to do a duet with top black musicians, and Kuti kept teasing him, Yeah, all right, but I just dont know who you are. McCartney had avoided mentioning it up to that point, but he had to fall back on his laurels. Im one of the Beatles! But Kuti was adamant: The who? That was Fela. Some of those who were [familiar with] that call said that it lasted more than fifteen minutes, that Fela cut him off to talk to women and that it exasperated the Brit, who eventually joined the fray. This conversation is nonsense. You know very well who the Beatles are; they are the most important group in the world! Then, according to Dedola, before hanging up on McCartney, Kuti responded: If you havent played in Africa, youre not the most important group in the world! Dedolas version of events does not coincide exactly with McCartneys account. Nevertheless, it reflects Kutis character.

The rumor that the former Beatle wanted to play with locals reached other ears as well. Paul McCartney was fascinated by Fela, but he took it terribly. It seems that Fela was afraid that a British musician would appropriate his music or go to Lagos just for the folklore, says Alexandre Girard-Muscagorry, the curator of the Fela Anikulapo Kuti: Afrobeat Rebellion exhibit, which is on display at the Philharmonie de Paris until 11 June. This is the first exhibition devoted to Fela Kutis musical and political career. The exhibit recovers the material that the musician gathered to create Afrobeat in the 1970s and 1980s. That Fela treated him that way does not detract from the fact that McCartney always recognized that Afrobeat was a setback for him, as it was for many Westerners at the time, because it was a sound they had never heard before.

Detail of the exhibition 'Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Afrobeat Rebellion', in Paris. Philarmonie de Paris

The truth is that, for better or worse, that conversation happened, but the two geniuses did get to know each other, as evidenced by a 1973 photo of the two together. McCartney has said that Kuti accepted his invitation to come to the studio and see firsthand that the work they were doing was not theft. Theres nothing like African music, he said to me. So, we became good friends, and he invited me to the Afrika Shrine, his legendary club outside Lagos. I had a fantastic night; it was a wild experience. And he played a song that Ive never been able to find recorded. But it was very intense; when it was over I was crying, said the British musician, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1997. Before that, in 1965, Elizabeth II decorated the Beatles with the Order of the British Empire. John Lennon returned the honor in 1969 because of the United Kingdoms involvement in the war between Nigeria and the pro-independence region of Biafra and UK support for the United States in Vietnam.

Political awakening

The Nigerian Civil War, between 1967 and 1970, led to Fela Kutis radicalization and most political period. Until then, the son of a well-to-do but politically aware Christian family (his mother, Funmilayo, was a womens rights activist) had stood out as a musician with his band the Koola Lobitos. In 1963, after studying at Londons Trinity College of Music, Kuti recomposed the group with which he played the new highlife genre that had arrived from Ghana, influenced by the jazz he had heard in England and Afro-Caribbean music. But, as African American activist and musician Sandra Izsadore describes in the documentary Finding Fela, his songs spoke of soups. Hence, the Koola Lobitos tour in the United States was a failure. The awakening of black consciousness and movements like the Black Panthers in the United States was a far cry from the street chronicles in Felas songs.

Izsadore, who was romantically involved with Kuti until she arrived in Nigeria and discovered he was already married, ends up calling him a son of a bitch in the documentary. The composers feminist conscience was far different from Felas machismo. Still, she was the one who put the autobiography of Malcolm X in his hands, completely changing his life and music. He also appropriated the Black Panthers signature avenging gesture: raised fists.

British decolonization in the early 1960s awakened political, ethnic and religious tensions in Biafra, triggered by the struggle to control the regions glut of oil. Biafra was blockaded and its inhabitants suffered a famine that killed some 3 million people during the two-and-a-half-year-long conflict.

Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.

The Nigeria that emerged had grown up in the shadow of oil wells and the corruption of a new political system that became the main subject of Kutis new songs. Fela would have had no need for that had it not been for what oil did to the country, John Darnton, a former New York Times correspondent in Lagos, points out in the documentary.

From his trip to the United States, Fela recovered many elements of black nationalism and, above all, a consciousness and pride in being black. There, he began to assert himself and to give his music a very political meaning. Not only did he reaffirm his racial identity, but he connected with the political dysfunction in Nigeria, even going so far as to become involved in a presidential election in the late 1970s, says Girard-Muscagorry.

Kutis unique way of challenging the Nigerian regime even led him to create an independent republic at his home just outside Lagos, the self-styled Republic of Kalakuta, where he lived with his family, friends and the 27 dancers he decided to marry. He said that polygamy was an African traditionthat we had to reject the values of Christianity and reconnect with African traditions, but of a very reductionist, generalized Africa... Sometimes he took extreme or macho positions. Fela was very progressive politically; he affirmed democratic values for the people and against the corruption of the elites. But he was much more conservative on gender issues, fueled by anti-colonial criticism. Its very paradoxical and complex, observes the curator of the exhibition on the self-styled Black President. (One of Kutis musical colleagues, Mabinouri Kayode Idowu, and music curator Mathilde Thibault-Starzyk are also involved in putting on the exhibit).

Not only did Kuti perform at his nightclubs, but he also launched into criticisms against the state, military forces and foreign powers. His anti-colonial discourse drew from the Pan-Africanist intellectuals of the time, which helps us to understand why Kuti ended up accusing Paul McCartney of cultural appropriation in 1973. It is true, adds the curator, that Fela collaborated with European musicians, he toured Europe, in the 1980s his manager was French, and he was open to collaborations. I think it depended on how the issue was approached and when.

Look, McCartney is also a genius of Felas stature. You have to have heard McCartney play solo piano in any bar in London. Like Fela, he is on par with Mozart or Chopin, but I dont think Fela understood his intentions. Perhaps he perceived [McCartneys] gesture as a bit patronizing. Thats how I interpret it, says Dedola. For the French musician, there was no attempt at appropriation. Lets be clear, Afrobeat is African music but its not black music. It is played with white instruments, on a white scale, with jazz... I dont see what McCartney could have done. Fela played with Ginger Baker, a white guy who plays Afrobeat super well. What mattered to him was reaching as many people as possible.

The truth is that Paul McCartney talks about Fela Kutis influence on his music whenever he gets the chance. He sent the Paris Philharmonic a few-seconds long self-recorded video, in which he flashes the peace sign: Fela is the boss.

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World politics reminds me of the 1700 British play, The Way of the World, by William Congreve. The title is based on the dog-eat-dog manner the characters in upper class society employed all means, including greed and deception, to outwit themselves to protect their interests. Africa needs to learn the way of the world and map out its own path to development.

Lagos, the most cosmopolitan and politically progressive state in Nigeria on 18th March engaged in the degenerative politics of exclusion. The debilitating disease of campaigning that a non-full-blooded native cannot be governor, is an incapacitating one. Ten days later, a different philosophy of politics evolved in Scotland, where the parliament elected 38-year-old Humza Haroon Yousaf, son of first generation migrants from Punjab, Pakistan, as the countrys first minister, or de facto leader.

The Scots were not interested in who Yousafs father is, where his wife comes from or the nationality of those he hangs out with; they simply want someone to get the job of governance done; somebody to lead their struggle for devolution of power in the United Kingdom (UK). So, the world would be witnessing the strenuous struggles of Scotland led by Yousaf to negotiate a possible exit from UK, while the latter, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Indian origin, would be fighting to keep the kingdom united. Interestingly, Pakistan and India, along with Bangladesh, were a single country under British colonialism. So, while Scotland strives to progress in world politics, Nigeria is in regression.

The Nigeria media also appears not to be patient enough to read the world. For instance, in this weeks three-nation African tour by United States (US), Vice President Kamala Harris, who is covering Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, they are screaming that Nigeria was snubbed. Some of the headlines read: US Vice President, Kamala Harris shuns Nigeria; Nigeria missing as Vice President Kamala Harris visits Africa; Nigeria missing in VP Harris list of countries to visit; Again, US shun Nigeria!

These are clearly presumptuous. We do not know the reasons for the tour and whether Nigeria fits in. We do not know the objectives; and in any case, why must Nigeria, one of the 55 countries in Africa, be included in a tour of three countries. To me, it is logical for the US to visit Ghana because it is the American military base in West Africa; a poster boy of International Monetary Funds anti-people policies and a place where unpopular Western culture can be tested. It is, therefore, not surprising to me that the visit is coming at a time the Ghanaian parliament is debating a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) bill called the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Value. It seeks to make it a crime to be gay, bisexual or transgender in the country.

Harris had, before her visit, said she had raised the issue of LGBT with Ghana because it is a human rights issue. Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo had tried to pre-empt the parliament when he told the American media: I have no doubt that the parliament of Ghana will show as it has done in the pastits sensitivity to human rights issues as well as to the feelings of our population and will come out with a responsible response to the proposed legislation.

These are not things that are likely to appeal to Nigeria because the countrys position on LGBT is clear, and a campaign against China and Russia are not likely to succeed, as Nigeria has no disagreements with those countries. Also, we do not have a culture of making other countries enemies, our enemies.

In Ghana, Harris, accompanied by her husband, Doug Emhoff, returned to the LGBT issue and the Ghanaian bill: I feel very strongly about the importance of supporting the freedom and supporting the fighting for equality among all people, and that all people be treated equally. I will also say that this is an issue that we consider, and I consider, to be a human rights issue, and that will not change. A second issue about the visit is the US trying to get Africa into an anti-China and anti-Russia alliance. On the latter, Akufo-Addo in December, 2022, in a report to the US, had complained that Burkina Faso was engaging Russias private military contractor, Wagner Group, to fight Islamist extremists and violent groups.

In an apparent reaction to this, Harris announced in Accra: To help address the threats of violent extremism and instability, today I am pleased to announce $100 million in support of Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Cote dIvoire and Togo. She said in 2024, Ghana would receive an additional $139 million.

These are not things that are likely to appeal to Nigeria because the countrys position on LGBT is clear, and a campaign against China and Russia are not likely to succeed, as Nigeria has no disagreements with those countries. Also, we do not have a culture of making other countries enemies, our enemies.

Indeed, why should Africa side one international power bloc against the other, more so when world politics is not always logical? For instance, the war in Ukraine threatens to go on for a while, with each side digging in. As more lethal arms are being deployed, the UK decided to supply depleted uranium munitions-armour piercing tank rounds  to Ukraine. In reaction, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his country would be deploying tactical nuclear weapons in neigbouring Belarus. Ordinarily, this would seem a tit-for-tat war game. However, the European Union (EU) would have none of this. EUs top diplomat, Josep Borrell, bellowed: Belarus hosting Russian nuclear weapons would mean an irresponsible escalation and threat to European security.

The US also responded angrily, as this may be an escalation of the arms race. But as an African, I ask myself: what am I missing in all these? If the US has, over the years, crossed the oceans to store nuclear weapons in Germany, Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, what will be out of place for Russia to store same type of weapons in neigbouring Belarus?

Generally, it will be unwise for Africa to allow itself to be a pawn in world politics. To me, it is understandable that the US would send our Jamaican-African sister Harris on a charm offensive to Africa, it is left to us not to be as vulnerable as Brother Akufo-Addo.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) described the Russia decision as an extremely dangerous escalation which makes the use of nuclear weapons more likelythe likelihood of miscalculation or misinterpretation is extremely high; sharing nuclear weapons makes the situation much worse and risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

I agree completely. However, it would be wishful thinking if some countries can deploy nuclear weapons and we expect others not to do same. Generally, why would countries with nuclear arms decide whether others should not be similarly armed? For instance, why would Israel attack Iran in an attempt to stop that country acquiring nuclear weapons when it is warehousing the same weapons?

Generally, it will be unwise for Africa to allow itself to be a pawn in world politics. To me, it is understandable that the US would send our Jamaican-African sister Harris on a charm offensive to Africa, it is left to us not to be as vulnerable as Brother Akufo-Addo.

World politics reminds me of the 1700 British play, The Way of the World, by William Congreve. The title is based on the dog-eat-dog manner the characters in upper class society employed all means, including greed and deception, to outwit themselves to protect their interests. Africa needs to learn the way of the world and map out its own path to development.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.

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The Jigawa State High Court has sentenced three persons to death by hanging for kidnapping and armed robbery.

The court in a separate judgment also sentenced one Mustapha Isah to ten years imprisonment for sodomy.

The Judge, Mohammed Kaugama, convicted Suleiman Bello, Auwalu Muhammed and Yakubu Muhammed to death by hanging after finding them guilty of a nine count-charge of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and armed robbery with the use of firearms.

The defendants were found guilty of conspiring to kill one Audu Saje of Manda village in the Kaugama local government. The convicts also stole his motorcycle after killing him.

The court also found that during the robbery, the convicts abducted one Hadiza Abdullahi of Marma town in Kirikasamma local government area and subsequently requested N150 million ransom.

The spokesperson, Jigawa State Ministry of Justice, Zainab Baba, said during a raid of the convicts hideout, three AK 47 riffles, one GPMG, nine magazines as well as 309 live ammunition, the sum of N2.7 million and a boxer motorcycle belonging to the late Mr Saje (the victim) was found in their possession.

The Honourable judge, while delivering the judgment held that, the prosecution led by the Honourable Attorney-General of Jigawa State, Musa Aliyu had successfully proved the offences of Criminal Conspiracies to commit culpable homicide and armed robbery.

And illegal possession of firearms against the 1st, 3rd and 4th Defendants, Suleiman Bello, Auwalu Muhammed and Yakubu Muhammed through circumstantial evidence of five witnesses that testified before the Court and the motorcycle of late Audu Saje found in their hideout camp.

The 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th defendants have inter-alia been sentenced to death by hanging for the offence of Culpable Homicide under section 221(a) of the Penal Code Law of Jigawa State, death by hanging for the offence of Armed Robbery under section 1(2) of the Firearms (Special Provision) Act, Law of the Federation.

And ten years imprisonment for the offence of Illegal possession of the firearms under section 3 (1) of the same law. The Court held further that, the Prosecution failed to prove the charge of abduction and theft against the Defendants, Mrs Baba told reporters in Dutse, Jigawa State capital.

Sodomy

Meanwhile, another high court judge, Mohammed Sambo, sentenced Mr Isah a resident of Auramo Quarters, in Ringim Local Government to 10 years imprisonment for sodomy.

According to the states Ministry of Justice, the offence was punishable under section 4 (2) of the Penal Code, miscellaneous amendment Law of Jigawa State, 2014.

The defendant was alleged to have lured an 11year old boy and assaulted him inside a shop. On arraignment, defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge. In a bid to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt against the defendant as required by the law, the prosecution called five witnesses who tendered four exhibits.

The exhibits tendered included a medical report and confessional statements. At the close of the prosecution case, the defendant opened his defence and testified for himself as defence witness 1 and called one witness as defence witness 2 and closed his case.

While delivering the judgment on the 30th day of March 2023, the Judge Mr Sambo held that the Prosecution Counsel, Kabiru Abdullahi had proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt against the Defendant, thus, he was found guilty and jailed for ten years, Ms Baba said.

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The State Secret Services (SSS) and police have arrested the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos, Fredrick Nwajagu, who threatened to invite the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people in the state.

Benjamin Hundeyin confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday that Mr Nwajagu was arrested in a joint operation of the police with the SSS.

According to Daily Trust, it was gathered that the team had traced Mr Nwajagu to his palace, but he fled.

He was said to have been tracked to a hotel in Ejigbo where he was apprehended.

Background

In a video posted on Friday by @DeeOneAyekooto, Mr Nwajagu threatened to invite IPOB members to Lagos, claiming that members of his ethnic group were being attacked in the nations commercial capital.

IPOB, we will invite them. They have no job. All of the IPOB will protect all of our shops. And we have to pay them. We have to mobilise for that. We have to do that. We must have our own security so that they will stop attacking us in the midnight, in the morning, in the afternoon.

Attention @jidesanwoolu We will invite IPOB terrorist to Lagos to protect our properties in Lagos and combat anyone against us. Eze Ajao Estate Lagos SAY NO TO TERRORISM pic.twitter.com/j0flnnHsvD  Ayekooto (@DeeOneAyekooto) March 31, 2023

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When they discover that we have our own security, before they will come, they will know that we have our own men there. I am not saying a single word to be hidden. I am not hiding my words, let my words go viral. Igbo must get their right and get stand in Lagos State, he had said in the video.

SSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya could not be reached on phone for his comment.

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visits Panuka farms outside Lusaka, Zambia, Saturday April 1, 2023. Harris is on the last leg of a a seven-day African visit that took her to Ghana and Tanzania. (AP Photo/Angela Nandeka)

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday traveled down a dirt road to tour a farm outside Zambias capital thats using new techniques and technology to boost its vegetable crop as she highlighted ways to secure food supplies in an age of global warming.

Its an example of what can be done around the world, she said after walking past rows of peppers and inspecting a drip irrigation system.

Unlike in the United States, where conversations about climate change usually revolve around replacing fossil fuels with clean energy, the focus in Africa is on expanding access to food. Rising prices stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been damaging to poor countries, and global warming is expected to bring more challenges in the coming years.

Hunger can also create instability, leading to migration and conflict.

The connection between these issues is quite clear, Harris said.

She is pushing for $7 billion in private-sector investments, mostly to boost conservation and improve food production, to help Africa prepare for the effects of climate change. Her announcement about that goal came as she wrapped up her weeklong visit to Africa, which included earlier stops in Ghana and Tanzania. The trip was intended to advance U.S. efforts to make inroads in a part of the world where Chinas influence runs deep.

Its the biggest-ticket item that Harris has announced, but more work will be needed to follow through.

For example, African Parks, a nonprofit group, has committed to raise $1.25 billion over the next seven years in order to expand its conservation program. Another organization, One Acre Fund, plans to raise $100 million to plant 1 billion trees by the end of the decade.

The politics of climate change are complicated in Africa, which has contributed far less to overall greenhouse gas emissions than richer corners of the world such as the United States. According to the International Energy Agency, 43% of Africans didnt have access to electricity in 2021, and recent outages have caused frustration.

In Ghana, Harris was questioned at a news conference about how the West can demand that Africa go green and forgo using its natural resources. She also was pressed on whether wealthy nations would supply $100 billion annually to help poor countries cope with climate change, a commitment made under the Paris climate accord.

Harris said it is critically important that, as global leaders, we all speak truth about the disparities that exist in terms of cause and effect and that we address those disparities. She said there were opportunities in the clean energy economy that could help generate growth in Africa.

As for the money, President Joe Biden has requested $11 billion in his proposed budget to meet its international commitments.

We are waiting for Congress to do its work, Harris said.

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VANCOUVER, BC, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Aris Mining Corporation (Aris Mining or the Company) (TSX: ARIS) (OTCQX: TPRFF) announces the filing of a National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects compliant technical report in support of the updated mineral resource estimate for the Toroparu Project in Guyana. The technical report entitled "Updated Mineral Resource Estimate NI 43-101 Technical Report for The Toroparu Project, Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region, Guyana" has an effective date of February 10, 2023 (the Technical Report) and supports the disclosure made by the Company in its news release dated March 14, 2023. The Technical Report is available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.aris-mining.com.

About Aris Mining

Aris Mining is a Canadian company led by an executive team with a track record of creating value through building globally relevant mining companies. In Colombia, Aris Mining operates several high-grade underground mines at its Segovia Operations and the Marmato Mine, which together produced 235,000 ounces of gold in 2022. Aris Mining also operates the Soto Norte joint venture, where environmental licensing is advancing to develop a new underground gold, silver and copper mine. In Guyana, Aris Mining is advancing the Toroparu Project, a gold/copper project. Aris Mining plans to pursue acquisition and other growth opportunities to unlock value creation from scale and diversification.

Aris Mining promotes the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining as this process enables all miners to operate in a legal, safe and responsible manner that protects them and the environment.

Additional information on Aris Mining can be found at www.aris-mining.com and www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" or forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements relating to the Company's plans and strategies are forward-looking. When used herein, forward looking terminology such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "believe", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the Company in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that the Company believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's most recent AIF and in the Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2022 which are available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Aris Mining Corporation
BEIJING, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described bilateral relations as "very good" in an interview with China Media Group two weeks ago, before embarking on his official visit to China.

Then one day before he wrapped up his week-long trip, the two countries had their relations updated to a "comprehensive, high-quality and forward-looking" partnership, as Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Lee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has the deepest engagement in China's reform and opening up, and shares the closest integration of interests with it, Xi said.

He added that China is ready to strengthen strategic communication and seek greater synergies between strategies with the Singaporean side to make "high quality" a distinct feature of the cooperation between the two countries.

Relations a model for region

China and Singapore enjoy expanding and deepening economic ties. From 2013 to 2021, China had been Singapore's largest trading partner for nine consecutive years. And Singapore continued to maintain its position as the largest source of foreign capital in China for the 10th consecutive year in 2022.

From January to February 2023, the total import and export volume of China and Singapore reached $19.5 billion, up 37.6 percent year on year, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce.

In addition, Singapore is the very first nation among the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to publicly support the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and it is also a member of the Friends of Global Development Initiative (GDI) group.

A landmark project of high-quality BRI cooperation between China and Singapore, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor saw 107,000 TEU containers transported by the rail-sea intermodal freight trains as of February 23 this year, up 9.25 percent year on year.

During Friday's talks, Xi hailed China and Singapore as important partners, describing the relationship as "forward-looking, strategic and exemplary."

That has not only helped advance the revitalization of each country's development, but also serves as a model for countries in the region, said the Chinese president.

China is willing to strengthen the construction of the corridor with Singapore, Xi pledged. Efforts should also be made to deepen digitalization, green transformation and third-party cooperation, and promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, he added.

For his part, Lee expressed confidence in the vitality and resilience of China's economy, echoing a message he had highlighted when speaking at the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) on Thursday.

Singapore and other neighboring countries are looking forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China, he said.

Dividends of peace

Asia has been hailed as "a bright spot in the bleak global economic landscape" and global economic governance has entered into the "Asian moment," according to a recent report released by the BFA.

The weighted real GDP growth rate of Asia in 2023 is estimated at 4.5 percent, an increase from 4.2 percent in 2022, said the report, adding that the region is expected to accelerate the pace of overall economic growth.

During talks with the Singaporean leader, Xi attributed such good momentum in the region to a development path with Asian characteristics that features independence, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation.

Against the backdrop of accelerating world changes unseen in a century, regional countries should cherish the hard-won development momentum to jointly safeguard the dividends of peace in the region, he said.

Xi urged efforts to keep in the right direction of economic and regional integration and reject the attempts to push for "decoupling and severing supply chains."

"No country should be allowed to deprive the Asian people of their right to pursue a better and happier life," said the Chinese president.

Singapore believes that countries should respect each other, coexist peacefully, cooperate for mutual benefit, avoid conflicts, and work together to deal with risks and challenges, said Lee.

Even if there is competition between countries, it should be based on respect and trust, and there should be no picking sides, he said.

When it comes to the Taiwan question, Lee stressed that almost all countries in the world recognize that there is only one China in the world, and develop friendly and cooperative relations with China on the basis of the one-China policy.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affairs, and the touting of "Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow" will have unpredictable and grave consequences, warned the Singaporean prime minister.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-03-31/Xi-Jinping-meets-Singaporean-prime-minister-1iCPhk5YmVG/index.html

SOURCE CGTN
BOGOTA, Colombia, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE: EC) informs that the Board of Directors, in its meeting held on March 31, 2023, approved the composition of its committees as follows:

AUDIT AND RISK COMMITTEE

Luis Alberto Zuleta (President)

Juan Jose Echavarria

Sandra Ospina

Claudia Gonzalez

NEW BUSINESS COMMITTEE

Saul Kattan (President)

Esteban Piedrahita

Gonzalo Hernandez

Mauricio Cabrera

Sandra Ospina

Monica de Greiff

Claudia Gonzalez

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE

Esteban Piedrahita (President)

Gonzalo Hernandez

Monica de Greiff

Claudia Gonzalez

Luis Alberto Zuleta

Juan Jose Echavarria

REMUNERATION, NOMINATION, AND CULTURE COMMITTEE

Mauricio Cabrera (President)

Monica de Greiff

Saul Kattan

Juan Jose Echavarria

HSE COMMITTEE

Sandra Ospina (President)

Claudia Gonzalez

Luis Alberto Zuleta

Monica de Greiff

Mauricio Cabrera

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE

Saul Kattan (President)

Esteban Piedrahita

Sandra Ospina

These appointments are effective as of the date hereof.

-----------------------------------------

Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the main integrated energy companies in the American continent, with more than 18,000 employees. In Colombia, it is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production of most transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and it holds leading positions in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segments. With the acquisition of 51.4% of ISA's shares, the company participates in energy transmission, the management of real-time systems (XM), and the Barranquilla - Cartagena coastal highway concession. At the international level, Ecopetrol has a stake in strategic basins in the American continent, with Drilling and Exploration operations in the United States (Permian basin and the Gulf of Mexico), Brazil, and Mexico, and, through ISA and its subsidiaries, Ecopetrol holds leading positions in the power transmission business in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, road concessions in Chile, and the telecommunications sector. This press release contains business prospect statements, operating and financial result estimates, and statements related to Ecopetrol's growth prospects. These are all projections and, as such, they are based solely on the expectations of the managers regarding the future of the company and their continued access to capital to finance the company's business plan. The realization of said estimates in the future depends on the behavior of market conditions, regulations, competition, and the performance of the Colombian economy and the industry, among other factors, and are consequently subject to change without prior notice.

This release contains statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or in future filings or press releases, or orally, address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, including in respect of the Company's prospects for growth and its ongoing access to capital to fund the Company's business plan, among others. Consequently, changes in the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements: market prices of oil & gas, our exploration, and production activities, reserves, market conditions, applicable regulations, the exchange rate, the Company's competitiveness and the performance of Colombia's economy and industry, to mention a few. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Head of Capital Markets (a)

Maria Catalina Escobar

Email: [email protected]

Head of Corporate Communications (a)

Juan Guillermo Londono

Correo electronico: [email protected]

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
The Mangonada Rebel energy drink featuring Tajin is available for a limited time only

GRANTS PASS, Ore., April 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Spice up your day with Dutch Bros' newest drink, the Mangonada Rebel and top it like it's hot with Tajin! Starting today, this refreshing new drink is available at all 700+ Dutch Bros locations.

Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9092652-dutch-bros-introduces-mangonada-rebel-energy-drink/

Dutch Bros introduces new sweet & spicy drink The Mangonada Rebel is inspired by the iconic Mexican treat. This energizing take on a classic features a mix of Dutch Bros exclusive energy drink, Rebel, and mangonada flavor topped with Strawberry Real Fruit and Tajin.

The Mangonada Rebel is inspired by the iconic Mexican treat. This energizing take on a classic features a mix of Dutch Bros' exclusive energy drink, Rebel, and mangonada flavor topped with Strawberry Real Fruit and Tajin. It can be ordered either blended or iced.

Tajin is a unique blend of 100% natural chili peppers, lime and sea salt. It's the perfect addition to give any drink a slightly spicy touch. Be sure to try out the Mangonada Lemonade for an equally delicious, non-caffeinated option!

"When we first tested out the Mangonada Rebel last year in a few select markets, the hype and love for this drink was absolutely off the charts," said Kristin Sha, senior director of regional marketing at Dutch Bros. "We have so much love for the Mangonada flavor profile and are so incredibly stoked to bring this drink to all the communities we serve!"

"Dutch Bros' Mangonada Rebel is the perfect drink to showcase Tajin's unique flavor composition and iconic tangy taste, combined with the sweet and refreshing Mango profile," said Juan Carlos Limon, Brand Marketing Manager at Tajin USA. "As Dutch Bros and Tajin lovers are now able to experience this one of a kind pairing, we encourage all fans to share the love via social channels using hashtag #TajinIt."

The Mangonada Rebel is available through the end of June.

TAJIN is a registered trademark and is being used with permission.

About Dutch Bros

Dutch Bros Coffee is a drive-thru coffee company dedicated to making a massive difference one cup at a time. Headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, where it was founded in 1992 by Dane and Travis Boersma, it's now sharing the "Dutch Luv" with more than 700 locations in 14 states. Dutch Bros serves specialty coffee, smoothies, freezes, teas, an exclusive Dutch Bros Rebel energy drink and nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee. Its rich, proprietary coffee blend is handcrafted from start to finish.

In addition to its mission of speed, quality and service, Dutch Bros is committed to giving back to the communities it serves. Through its Dutch Bros Foundation and local operators and franchisees, the company donates several million dollars to causes across the country each year.

To learn more about Dutch Bros, visit www.dutchbros.com , follow Dutch Bros Coffee on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , & TikTok , and download the Dutch Bros app to earn points and score rewards!

About Tajin

Industrias Tajin is a Mexican-owned company and market leader in both Mexico and the United States in the chili powder category, in addition to being one of the most important brands in the production and commercialization of products derived from chili worldwide. Today, it has a presence in more than 65 countries around the world. Tajin was founded in 1985, surprising consumers with the perfect blend of lime, chili, and sea salt. In 1993, Tajin made its first export to the United States and Tajin International Corporation was established in Houston, TX, from where all commercial activity of the brand in the U.S. is managed. The brand arrived in Central American and European markets in 2006. To learn more about Tajin, visit at www.tajin.com or follow us on social media via @TajinUSA.

SOURCE Dutch Bros Coffee
DUBLIN, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Cloud Management for the OpenStack Market by Type (Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Community Cloud, Hybrid Cloud), End User (IT, Academic Research, and Others), and Region 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cloud management for the OpenStack market size reached US$ 2.9 Billion in 2022. Looking forward, the analyst expects the market to reach US$ 10.3 Billion by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 23.52% during 2022-2028.

The increasing adoption of cloud platforms, escalating sales of smartphones, and extensive research and development (R&D) activities represent some of the key factors driving the market.



OpenStack is an open-source cloud-based platform that uses pooled virtual resources to build and manage private and public clouds. It consists of software tools that help manage and build cloud-computing platforms in the cloud. It offers a complete platform for organizations and enterprises to develop and manage private and public clouds.

Cloud management for OpenStack includes various infrastructural elements, such as networks, subnets, and routers. It manages distributed compute, network, and storage resources, aggregate them into pools and allows on-demand provisioning of virtual resources through a self-service portal. It helps to improve security, reduce costs, manage enormous clusters for computing and storage, and boost business agility, availability, and efficiency by providing a platform on demand.



The increasing adoption of cloud platforms by businesses for effective and efficient work management is one of the key factors driving the market growth. Open stack services offer various benefits, such as wide community support, no customer lock-in enforcement, and easy and fast deployment.

In line with this, the increasing demand for scalability, infrastructural cost reduction, speed-to-market, and maintenance in the information technology (IT) industry is favoring the market growth. Additionally, the rising demand for OpenStack from organizations and enterprises for space optimization, computing and storage and the growing need to effectively manage multi-cloud implementations is acting as another growth-inducing factor.

Apart from this, the increasing demand for big data analytics, the emerging trend of bring your own device (BYOD) into workplaces, and the escalating sales of smartphones are providing an impetus to the market growth. Moreover, the ability of open-source solutions to cost-effectively manage a business enterprise's data analytics, transactions, and enterprise applications is positively influencing the market growth.

Furthermore, the increasing utilization in various industry verticals, which assists in enhancing operational effectiveness and financial management, is propelling the market growth. Besides this, the deployment of OpenStack helps users to effectively manage private, and public cloud computing platforms is creating a positive outlook for the market.

Other factors, including increasing demand for internet-enabled services by enterprises, various technological advancements, extensive research and development (R&D) activities, and the widespread utilization to enhance visibility and control over resources by optimizing networks, are supporting the market growth.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global cloud management for the OpenStack market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What are the drivers, restraints, and opportunities in the global cloud management for the OpenStack market?

What are the key regional markets?

Which countries represent the most attractive cloud management for the OpenStack markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end user?

What is the competitive structure of the global cloud management for the OpenStack market?

Who are the key players/companies in the global cloud management for the OpenStack market?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology

2.1 Objectives of the Study

2.2 Stakeholders

2.3 Data Sources

2.3.1 Primary Sources

2.3.2 Secondary Sources

2.4 Market Estimation

2.4.1 Bottom-Up Approach

2.4.2 Top-Down Approach

2.5 Forecasting Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Cloud Management for the OpenStack 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 Public Cloud

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Private Cloud

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Community Cloud

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Hybrid Cloud

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by End User

7.1 IT

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Academic Research

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Others

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Region



9 Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

9.1 Overview

9.2 Drivers

9.3 Restraints

9.4 Opportunities



10 Value Chain Analysis



11 Porters Five Forces Analysis



12 Price Analysis



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Market Structure

13.2 Key Players

13.3 Profiles of Key Players

13.3.1 BMC Software Inc.

13.3.1.1 Company Overview

13.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.2 Cisco Systems Inc.

13.3.2.1 Company Overview

13.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.3 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

13.3.3.1 Company Overview

13.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.4 Micro Focus International plc

13.3.4.1 Company Overview

13.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.5 Oracle Corporation

13.3.5.1 Company Overview

13.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.6 Red Hat Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)

13.3.6.1 Company Overview

13.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.7 Splunk Inc.

13.3.7.1 Company Overview

13.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8 VMware Inc.

13.3.8.1 Company Overview

13.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kedig6

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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SOURCE Research and Markets
NEW YORK, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The hospice market is estimated to grow by USD 89.07 billion during 2022-2027. However, the growth momentum will progress at a CAGR of 4.11% during the forecast period. The market is segmented by service (nursing services, medical supply services, physician services, and other services), end-user (home settings, hospitals, specialty nursing homes, and hospice care centers), and geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW)). To learn more about the professional skincare market, request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Hospice Market 2023-2027

The nursing services segment will account for a significant share of the market growth during the forecast period. Nursing services are available at nursing homes, hospice centers, and home hospice care. These services can be provided by a Certified Hospice and Palliative Licensed Nurse (CHPLN). They focus on the medical and psychological care of terminally ill patients.

The market is driven by the increasing geriatric population. The increasing prevalence of diseases in the aging population is one of the major factors driving the growth of the global market. East and Southeast Asia have the world's largest elderly population, with 260 million people in the 65+ age group. These regions are followed by Europe and North America, with over 200 million people in this age group. Hence, the increasing geriatric population across the globe will increase the incidence of diseases, which will drive the global market during the forecast period.

Hospice Market Insights -

Vendors : 15+, Including AccentCare Inc., Amedisys Inc., Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Caritas Internationalis, Chemed Corp., COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC., Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care, Dierksen Hospice, FC Compassus LLC, Golden Living Centers , Intrepid USA Healthcare Services, LHC GROUP Inc., LifePoint Health Inc., National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care, PeaceHealth, ProMedica Health Systems Inc., PruittHealth Corp., Samaritan Health Services, The Ensign Group Inc., among others

: 15+, Including AccentCare Inc., Amedisys Inc., Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Caritas Internationalis, Chemed Corp., COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC., Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care, Dierksen Hospice, FC Compassus LLC, , Intrepid Healthcare Services, LHC GROUP Inc., LifePoint Health Inc., National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care, PeaceHealth, ProMedica Health Systems Inc., PruittHealth Corp., Samaritan Health Services, The Ensign Group Inc., among others Coverage: parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and vendor landscape; vendor product insights and recent developments; key vendors; and market positioning of vendors

Global Hospice market - Vendor Insights

The global hospice market is fragmented. The competitive landscape of the market is expected to intensify due to the increase in service extensions, the availability of new services, and new applications of integrated service offerings. Moreover, the key market players compete on service, quality, pricing, and service differentiation. Some of the key vendors covered in the report include:

AccentCare Inc.: The company offers hospice services by providing comfort and symptom management during the end of life.

The company offers hospice services by providing comfort and symptom management during the end of life. Amedisys Inc.: The company offers hospice services that provide quality of life for patients with life-limiting illnesses.

The company offers hospice services that provide quality of life for patients with life-limiting illnesses. Brookdale Senior Living Inc.: The company offers hospice services that can be provided in any place, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

The company offers hospice services that can be provided in any place, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care: The company offers hospice services by helping patients use emotional and spiritual therapy.

Global Hospice Market  Market Dynamics

Major Trends -

Increased incidence of life-threatening diseases

Increasing healthcare spending worldwide

Expansion and growth of several healthcare domains

The CDC defines lifestyle diseases as illnesses caused by unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking, and lack of exercise. The most common lifestyle diseases include stroke, heart attack, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cirrhosis. However, with proper treatment and medical care, these diseases can be cured or made less severe. Moreover, the increase in the prevalence of lifestyle diseases drives admission rates in healthcare facilities. To meet the high demand for healthcare facilities, manufacturers and suppliers are introducing advanced products and increasing market penetration through efficient distribution networks. All these factors will drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Key challenges -

Lack of skilled nursing staff

High cost of healthcare

Increasing cases of fraudulent home healthcare services

Prospective employees, such as medical students, prefer to pursue medical specialties outside of primary care for better monetary benefits. Medical professionals such as nurses and physician assistants play an important role in the care of hospice center residents. However, the lack of skilled staff can discourage prospective new residents, thereby reducing the market's revenue. Therefore, such factors will negatively impact the market growth 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!

The hospice market report provides critical information and factual data, with a qualitative and quantitative study of the market based on market drivers and limitations as well as future prospects.

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What are the key data covered in this Hospice Market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the hospice market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the hospice market size and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the hospice market across North America , Europe , Asia , and Rest of World (ROW)

, , , and Rest of World (ROW) A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of hospice market vendors

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Related Reports:

The home healthcare services market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.83% between 2021 and 2026. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 56.83 billion . The rising geriatric population is notably driving the home healthcare services market growth, although factors such as limited availability of skilled workforce may impede market growth.

is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.83% between 2021 and 2026. The size of the market is forecast to increase by . The rising geriatric population is notably driving the home healthcare services market growth, although factors such as limited availability of skilled workforce may impede market growth. The healthcare facilities management market size is expected to increase by USD 68.46 billion from 2021 to 2026. The increasing demand for cloud-based healthcare facility management solutions is notably driving the healthcare facilities management market growth, although factors such as the fragmented nature of the market may impede the market growth.

Hospice Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.11% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 89.07 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 3.54 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 32% Key countries US, Canada, UK, Germany, and China Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled AccentCare Inc., Amedisys Inc., Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Caritas Internationalis, Chemed Corp., COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC., Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care, Dierksen Hospice, FC Compassus LLC, Golden Living Centers, Intrepid USA Healthcare Services, LHC GROUP Inc., LifePoint Health Inc., National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care, PeaceHealth, ProMedica Health Systems Inc., PruittHealth Corp., Samaritan Health Services, and The Ensign 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.

Browse through Technavio's Consumer Staples 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 Service



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 hospice market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global hospice market 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.2 Service Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Service 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 Service

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Service - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Service - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Service

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Service



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Service

6.3 Nursing services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Nursing services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Nursing services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Nursing services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Nursing services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Medical supply services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Medical supply services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Medical supply services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Medical supply services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Medical supply services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Physician services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Physician services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Physician services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Physician services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Physician services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Other services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Other services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Other services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Other services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Other services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by Service

Exhibit 50: Market opportunity by Service ($ billion)

7 Market Segmentation by End-user

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 51: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 53: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

7.3 Home settings - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Home settings - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Home settings - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Home settings - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Home settings - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Hospitals - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 59: Chart on Hospitals - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Hospitals - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 61: Chart on Hospitals - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Hospitals - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Specialty nursing homes - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 63: Chart on Specialty nursing homes - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Specialty nursing homes - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 65: Chart on Specialty nursing homes - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Specialty nursing homes - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Hospice care centers - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 67: Chart on Hospice care centers - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on Hospice care centers - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 69: Chart on Hospice care centers - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on Hospice care centers - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.7 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 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 79: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: 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 81: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 83: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 87: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 89: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 91: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 92: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 93: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 94: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 95: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 96: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 99: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 101: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 102: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 103: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 104: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 105: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 107: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 108: Data Table on Canada - 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 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 113: 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 114: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 115: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 116: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 117: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 118: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 119: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 AccentCare Inc.

Exhibit 120: AccentCare Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 121: AccentCare Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 122: AccentCare Inc. - Key offerings

12.4 Amedisys Inc.

Exhibit 123: Amedisys Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 124: Amedisys Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 125: Amedisys Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: Amedisys Inc. - Segment focus

12.5 Brookdale Senior Living Inc.

Exhibit 127: Brookdale Senior Living Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Brookdale Senior Living Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Brookdale Senior Living Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 130: Brookdale Senior Living Inc. - Segment focus

12.6 COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC.

Exhibit 131: COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC. - Overview



Exhibit 132: COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC. - Product / Service



Exhibit 133: COVENANT HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES INC. - Key offerings

12.7 Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care

Exhibit 134: Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care - Overview



Exhibit 135: Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care - Product / Service



Exhibit 136: Crossroads Hospice and Palliative Care - Key offerings

12.8 Dierksen Hospice

Exhibit 137: Dierksen Hospice - Overview



Exhibit 138: Dierksen Hospice - Product / Service



Exhibit 139: Dierksen Hospice - Key offerings

12.9 Golden Living Centers

Exhibit 140: Golden Living Centers - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 141: Golden Living Centers - Product / Service

- Product / Service

Exhibit 142: Golden Living Centers - Key offerings

12.10 LHC GROUP Inc.

Exhibit 143: LHC GROUP Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 144: LHC GROUP Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 145: LHC GROUP Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 146: LHC GROUP Inc. - Segment focus

12.11 LifePoint Health Inc.

Exhibit 147: LifePoint Health Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 148: LifePoint Health Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 149: LifePoint Health Inc. - Key offerings

12.12 National Association for Home Care and Hospice

Exhibit 150: National Association for Home Care and Hospice - Overview



Exhibit 151: National Association for Home Care and Hospice - Product / Service



Exhibit 152: National Association for Home Care and Hospice - Key offerings

12.13 Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care

Exhibit 153: Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care - Overview



Exhibit 154: Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care - Product / Service



Exhibit 155: Oklahoma Palliative and Hospice Care - Key offerings

12.14 ProMedica Health Systems Inc.

Exhibit 156: ProMedica Health Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 157: ProMedica Health Systems Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 158: ProMedica Health Systems Inc. - Key offerings

12.15 PruittHealth Corp.

Exhibit 159: PruittHealth Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 160: PruittHealth Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 161: PruittHealth Corp. - Key offerings

12.16 Samaritan Health Services

Exhibit 162: Samaritan Health Services - Overview



Exhibit 163: Samaritan Health Services - Product / Service



Exhibit 164: Samaritan Health Services - Key offerings

12.17 The Ensign Group Inc.

Exhibit 165: The Ensign Group Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 166: The Ensign Group Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 167: The Ensign Group Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 168: The Ensign Group Inc. - Segment focus

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 169: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 170: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 171: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 172: Research methodology



Exhibit 173: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 174: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 175: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Hyundai Sets New Q1 Total and Retail Sales Record; Q1 Total Sales Increased 16%

March Total Sales Increased 27%; Fifth Consecutive Month With A Total Sales Record

March Retail Sales Up 15%

All-Time Best-Ever Records for Santa Cruz and Santa Fe HEV

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., April 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America reported total March sales of 75,404 units, a 27% increase compared with March 2022 and the best March in Hyundai history. This was the fifth consecutive month with a total monthly sales record, led by Venue (+74%), Elantra HEV (+37%), Tucson HEV (+52%), and Kona N (+5%). March was an all-time best-ever retail and total sales record for Santa Cruz (+30%) and Santa Fe HEV (+123%). Hyundai fleet sales were 9.4% of total volume for the month.

"March 2023 will be a month to remember and a great way to finish the quarter with our fifth straight month of record total sales," said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. "We're set for an exciting announcement with the launch of the all-new Kona at the New York International Auto Show and we're celebrating our 25th anniversary of Hyundai Hope On Wheels."

March Retail Highlights

Hyundai sold 68,312 retail units in March, a 15% year-over-year increase from March 2022. March retail sales were led by Venue, Elantra HEV, Santa Fe HEV, Tucson HEV, Santa Cruz and Kona N. Hyundai eco-friendly vehicle sales of 11,407 represented 17% of retail and a 20% year-over-year increase.

Q1 Highlights

In the first quarter, Hyundai total sales were 184,449 units, a Q1 total sales record and an increase of 16% year-over-year. Q1 retail sales were 169,491 a 6% increase compared with Q1 2022. Hyundai also set new Q1 total and retail sales records for Venue, Elantra N, Santa Fe HEV, Tucson, Tucson HEV, Santa Cruz and Kona EV.

March Total Sales Summary



Mar-23 Mar-22 % Chg YTD (Q1) 2023 YTD (Q1) 2022 % Chg Hyundai 75,404 59,380 +27 % 184,449 159,676 +16 %

March Product and Corporate Activities

Model Total Sales

Vehicles Mar-23 Mar-22 % Chg YTD (Q1) 2023 YTD (Q1) 2022 % Chg Accent 2 1,446 -100 % 30 2,697 -99 % Elantra 13,447 10,205 +32 % 32,473 22,072 +47 % Ioniq 0 860 0 % 0 3,544 0 % Ioniq 5 2,114 2,700 -22 % 5,736 6,244 -8 % Ioniq 6 222 0 0 % 222 0 0 % Kona 7,314 6,053 +21 % 19,220 15,536 +24 % Nexo 21 113 -81 % 65 166 -61 % Palisade 6,176 7,283 -15 % 19,602 21,025 -7 % Santa Cruz 3,825 2,950 +30 % 9,307 8,400 +11 % Santa Fe 13,236 10,124 +31 % 28,526 25,582 +12 % Sonata 5,310 1,716 +209 % 14,490 7,744 +87 % Tucson 20,111 13,642 +47 % 46,170 39,655 +16 % Veloster 1 205 -100 % 5 462 -99 % Venue 3,625 2,083 +74 % 8,603 6,549 +31 %

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.hyundainews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
WELLINGTON, Fla., March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Impresos Factory, a leading printing solutions service with over 30 years of experience, is excited to announce its Spring Promotion to support US businesses' marketing efforts. The promotion includes special startup packages, up to 25% discounts for recurring printing orders for retail, hospitality, health care, and real estate industries, and personalized quotes for special orders.

With its extensive printing services, Impresos Factory is committed to delivering high-quality print solutions nationwide to help businesses of all sizes achieve their marketing goals. The company understands that marketing can be a significant expense for businesses and provides affordable printing solutions to support them.

"We are thrilled to launch our Spring Promotion and support US businesses in their marketing efforts," said CEO Jesus Bello. "Our team is dedicated to providing top-quality printing solutions at a reasonable price to help our clients succeed by fulfilling our mission to imagine, create, design, print and deliver high-quality and affordable marketing collateral for every business and any budget nationwide."

Impresos Factory's commitment to customer satisfaction and attention to detail sets it apart from other printing service providers. With its focus on providing custom print solutions and the support of its parent company, Follow Us Marketing Agency; the company has earned a reputation for excellence in the industry as the design and print partner that delivers branded solutions with the best quality, price and delivery time, without charging rush fees.

"We are excited to support businesses in all the United States, making it easier for our customers to access our affordable, high-quality printing solutions through our Spring promotion no matter where they are located," said Bello. "We understand the challenges that businesses face in today's market, and we are committed to providing tailored solutions to help them succeed,"

The Spring promotion is now available and runs through May 15, 2023. For more information about Impresos Factory's services, please visit www.impresosfactory.com.

About Impresos Factory:

Impresos Factory is a leading printing services provider, offering a wide range of printing solutions to businesses and individuals across the US, Latin America and the Caribbean. The company's state-of-the-art printing technology and commitment to customer satisfaction set it apart in the industry. Get flexible and cost-effective printing solutions with Impresos Factory, your one-stop destination for Printing Services. For more information, please visit www.impresosfactory.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2045728/Impresos_Factory___Logo.jpg

SOURCE Impresos Factory
KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kansas City Life Insurance Company (the "Company") announced today that Nancy Bixby Hudson, a member of the Board of Directors, has notified the Chairman of her retirement from the Board of Directors effective at the close of business on April 19, 2023.

Ms. Hudson has served on the Board since 1996. Ms. Hudson is also retiring from the Board of subsidiary Old American Insurance Company and previously served on the Board of former subsidiary Sunset Life Insurance Company of America.

Ms. Hudson has stated that it has been an honor to serve the policyholders and shareholders of Kansas City Life, and that she will continue to support the Company through her encouragement of leadership and the Board in the coming years.

R. Philip Bixby, Chairman of the Board, thanked Ms. Hudson for her service to the Company and her counsel through the years. "Nancy has provided strong leadership throughout her time on the Board, and it has been a privilege to serve with her over the last 27 years, and I wish her the best in her retirement."

Kansas City Life Insurance Company (OTCQX: KCLI) was established in 1895 and is based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Company's primary business is providing financial protection through the sale of life insurance and annuities. The Company operates in 49 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, please visit www.kclife.com.

SOURCE Kansas City Life Insurance Company
Ramita Navai, in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is pictured in front of a poster that indicates how to correctly wear a burqa.

Opinion articles written in the style of their author. These texts are to be based on verified facts and must be respectful towards people, even though their actions may be criticized. All opinion articles written by individuals from outside the staff of EL PAIS shall feature, along with the authors name (regardless of their greater or lesser renown), a footer stating their office, academic title, political affiliation (if any) and main occupation, or the occupation related to the topic being assessed

On March 8, 2022, the streets of Kabul are packed with armed men. They will not tolerate demonstrations for International Womens Day.

A group of women meets clandestinely in a local establishment. They allow themselves to be filmed and interviewed with their faces uncovered. They know that the Taliban intelligence services are watching them.

I [protest] for my three little sisters, so that they dont end up being subjected, one woman affirms. If we hide in our houses, they win. Not hiding takes a lot of courage.

Many countries are in contention for being the worst place in the world to live. But for women, there is little doubt: it is Afghanistan. The only country on earth that prohibits the education of girls from the age of 12.

Women in Afghanistan must be invisible, covered from head to toe. Your face cannot show. You cannot travel if you arent accompanied by a male member of your family. Almost all women who used to have careers have lost their jobs. Many girls and women are forcibly married. There are arbitrary arrest and disappearances  torture is frequent and goes unpunished.

The invisible women of Afghanistan helped Ramita Navai  a British reporter of Iranian origin  tour the country on two separate visits. One was in November of 2021, three months after the hasty, messy departure of the last US.. soldiers. The second was in March of 2022, when the Taliban had consolidated their hold over the failed state.

Navai wanted to see if the regime had truly moderated in search of international recognition, after they last controlled the country in the late-1990s. The answer turns out to be a resounding no. The journey is narrated in her documentary, Afghanistan: No Country for Women.

On her first visit, in November, what had been the Ministry for Women had already been renamed Virtue and Vice Prevention. But feminist graffiti was visible on the white facade. There was still room for some kind of protest, like those organized by the fired female officials. But by March, the graffiti had been replaced by a large poster indicating how to properly wear the burqa.

Demonstration in defense of women's rights in front of the presidential palace in Kabul, in September 2021. STRINGER (Reuters)

The journalist passes through Kabul and peripheral cities such as Herat, where the repression is even more vicious. She learns of women who have been detained for the crime of immorality for months, without judicial intervention or any official record. They are prohibited from communicating with their families.

Even so  and this seems to indicate that the dictatorship is still chaotic and sloppy - Navai manages to enter one of the detention centers in search of a missing young woman. And she finds her.

Several of the detained women and girls say that they have been tortured with electric shocks from taser pistols. The reporter also collects testimonies about girls forced to marry Taliban soldiers, either in agreement with their families so that they can be released from prison, or as the result of direct kidnappings. Navai learns of victims of sexual violence, who risk being jailed if they report it.

Navai also manages to get closer to the resistance  the movement being led by the women who show their faces in front of the camera (other interviewees ask that their faces be pixelated) and refuse to give up. They organize surprised demonstrations that are quickly crushed. They have established a network of safe houses to hide persecuted women and their families while they find a way to get them out of the country.

Before leaving Afghanistan, the journalist interviews a Taliban government spokesperson and tells him everything she has seen. And he replies, without flinching or looking at her face, that nothing she says is true. The reporter  like the viewer  will do well to believe more than what she has seen with her own eyes.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition
Users can scan their physical environment to discover real-world cyber dangers with a side of humor

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Malwarebytes, a global leader in real-time cyber protection, is taking the next great leap in security with the launch of WorldBytes, a best-in-class, first-of-its-kind, next-generation mobile security application that takes the malware scanning technologies that customers know and love and applies them to the first frontier of human evolution: real life interactions. Powered by Malwarebytes and next-level AI technology, users can use their mobile devices to scan the world around them and get real-time threat assessments of anything and everything  including questionable Tinder dates, the unlabeled sauce at the back of their fridge and their neighborhood cat. The responses, powered by ChatGPT, humorously explain the potential cyber risks lurking within.

Download WorldBytes: try.malwarebytes.com/worldbytes

Powered by Malwarebytes, users get threat assessments IRL of anything. The responses explain potential cyber risks. Tweet this

"We're proud of our powerful malware scanning engine and the peace of mind it gives users by stopping threats on their devices," said Mark Beare, General Manager of Consumer, Malwarebytes. "We took that same idea and brought it to the physical world with WorldBytes. Users can reveal the hidden cyber threats around them in a humorous way, helping to make cybersecurity accessible and relevant for all."

Malwarebytes believes that cybersecurity can be effective, yet simple and intuitive for users. A recently launched campaign, "Protection You Can Trust," leverages humor again to make cybersecurity engaging and accessible for all. The campaign's first two films poke fun at some of the internet's most notorious troublemakers and illustrate how  with just a few clicks in Malwarebytes  you can scan, clean and protect your device, shutting down cyber threats and scams. Watch them on YouTube.

While we can't give users real threat intelligence on everyday objects, we hope they enjoy playing with WorldBytes. Consumers ready to protect their devices from malware, ransomware, spyware and other cyberthreats can learn more at www.malwarebytes.com/for-home.

To read more about the latest threats and cyber protection strategies, visit our newsroom , or follow us on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , TikTok and Twitter .

About Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes believes that when people and organizations are free from threats, they are free to thrive. Founded in 2008, Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski had one mission: to rid the world of malware. Today, Malwarebytes' award-winning endpoint protection, privacy and threat prevention solutions and its world-class team of threat researchers protect millions of individuals and thousands of businesses across the globe. The effectiveness and ease-of-use of Malwarebytes solutions are consistently recognized by independent third parties including MITRE Engenuity , MRG Effitas , AVLAB , AV-TEST ( consumer and business ), Gartner Peer Insights , G2 Crowd and CNET . The company is headquartered in California with offices in Europe and Asia. For more information and career opportunities, visit https://www.malwarebytes.com .

Malwarebytes Media Contact:

Ashley Stewart, Director, Public & Analyst Relations

[email protected]

SOURCE Malwarebytes
NAPLES, Fla., March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vernon Litigation Group, based in Naples, Florida has filed a claim against Ameriprise relating to the actions of Ameriprise Financial Broker Scott Roslonowski in Indian Harbor, FL. The claim has been filed on behalf of an Ameriprise client who allegedly had his portfolio of liquid, blue chip stocks transformed into an illiquid, high-fee portfolio of REITs, Riversource variable annuities, and Riversource insurance products. Ameriprise and Roslonowski alleged advice and actions also caused the client to suffer significant tax consequences.

If you or someone you know has experienced inappropriate investment advice and recommendations from an Ameriprise Financial advisor related to non-traded REITs or Riversource annuities and insurance products, one of our securities attorneys can provide you with a free and confidential analysis of your situation and discuss your rights with you.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.vernonlitigation.com/ or contact Vernon Litigation Group by phone at 1-877-649-5394 or by e-mail at [email protected] to speak with a representative of Vernon Litigation Group.

SOURCE Vernon Litigation Group
Outstanding women honored and cash prizes awarded to women-owned startups and small businesses

LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (VSEDC) kicked off its Women's History Month celebration with a bang, presenting HerStory - an event that honored three exceptional women leaders and showcased the best women-owned startups and small businesses in the area.

Valerie Spiller, Rashunda Rene, and Guadalupe Tlatenchi were recognized with an Award of Excellence for their numerous accomplishments. Meanwhile, six impressive finalists were chosen from dozens of applicants and pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges from major banks and lending institutions.

The top three winners of the pitch competition were awarded cash prizes of $1,500, $1,000, and $500, respectively. The Audience Choice Award winner received an extra $500. The competition was fierce, but Crystal Crawford of Liberated Eyewear emerged as the winner of the startup category and the Audience Choice Award. Desiree Ashe-Bradford of Events by Dab and Melissa Scott of MODEFYwear claimed second and third place, respectively.

In the small business category, Jana Johnson of 4Hunnid Logistics claimed the top spot, followed by Myra Bell of B3 Media Solutions and Tracey Ambrose of Tracy Ambrose W.R.A.P.

If you missed this fantastic event, don't worry  VSEDC will be hosting its annual Latino Heritage Event in October 2023. Keep an eye on the calendar for upcoming events and see how VSEDC is dedicated to empowering disadvantaged communities!

Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (VSEDC) is a community-based nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) recognized for decades of technical and entrepreneurial assistance to South LA small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. The service VSEDC provides serves to drive community self-sufficiency, facilitate business growth, access to affordable housing, goods and services, and job creation. VSEDC achieves this through youth education and entrepreneurial projects, CDFI programs, and fundraising efforts. Find out more about VSEDC at www.vsedc.org, Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation
Copenhagen, April 1 : Multiple avalanches killed at least four people and left several others missing in the Nord-Troms area of northern Norway, according to media reports.

The Norwegian authorities described the situation as extremely serious and advised people to avoid travelling in the affected areas, Xinhua news agency reported, citing reports by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

According to press reports, the death toll may increase, as rescue operations have been severely hampered by bad weather conditions, with ground crews unable to enter some of the affected areas.

The worst affected area is Reinoya, a small island in Nord-Troms, where two people were found dead and a barn with around 140 goats was swept into the sea.

"The victims were permanent residents of the farm. The other residents in the area are being evacuated," Aftenposten quoted Mona Benjaminsen, the mayor of Karlsoy municipality, as saying.

In Nordreisa municipality, a foreign citizen was confirmed dead after being dug out from the avalanche by another person in the same group. The group of six belonged to a foreign tour group and were in Kildalen when the avalanche hit the area.
Los Angeles, April 1 : Los Angeles, the most populous county in the US, has officially ended its local public health emergency for Covid-19.

"As the longest emergency in LA County history draws to a close after 1,122 days, we honor the 36,000 who lost their lives and reflect on the opportunity to serve the public during this challenging time," wrote county officials in a tweet on Friday.

The local state of emergency for Covid-19 was initially proclaimed on March 4, 2020, in Los Angeles County, home to over 10 million residents.

The county, once one of the hardest-hit parts in the US amid the pandemic, reported 1,269 new Covid-19 cases and 24 new related deaths earlier this week, bringing the countywide tallies to over 3.72 million cases and 35,994 deaths as of Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the latest update of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

"The end of the emergency doesn't mean the end of LA County's support for residents who continue to struggle with Covid-19 and its impacts," county officials tweeted.

They noted in a statement that this means changes in some programs but many services will continue to be available to support residents in the county.

With the lifting of county, state and federal Covid-19 emergency orders, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health continues to ensure easy access to free vaccines, boosters, tests and therapeutics, public health officials said in a statement last week, urging local residents to maintain sensible precautions to minimise disruptions at worksites, schools and health care facilities caused by Covid-19 outbreaks.

The Covid-19 emergency state in California, the most populous state of the US, officially ended on February 28, nearly three years after Governor Gavin Newsom issued the country's first statewide stay-at-home order. In January, the White House announced its plan to end the Covid-19 national emergency and public health emergency on May 11.
Ankara, April 1 : Turkey's Foreign Ministry summoned Danish Ambassador Danny Annan over "an attack targeting Quran and Turkish flag" at a public demonstration in Denmark.

The ministry said in a written statement that it strongly condemned and protested the "heinous act committed under the guise of freedom of expression", which is "unacceptable".

The statement came after Turkish media reported that members of the Danish far-right group The Patriots Go Live displayed Islamophobic banners and chanted anti-Islam slogans in front of the Turkish Embassy in Denmark's capital of Copenhagen earlier on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The protest was live broadcasted on the group's Facebook page, local TV network CNN Turk reported.

"It is seen that the inadequacy of legal and administrative measures and the lack of political will to prevent such acts as well as impunity of perpetrators have encouraged further provocations," the ministry said in the statement, speaking of the recurrence of anti-Islam demonstrations in Denmark lately.

It urged Danish authorities to take necessary actions against the perpetrators of this act and to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such "provocations", according to the statement.

Earlier, Turkey had summoned the Danish ambassador to denounce "the desecration of the Quran and the Turkish flag" over a public protest staged in Copenhagen on March 24.
New York, April 1 : Members of an Indian family were among those who drowned while trying to illegally cross a river from Canada to the US, according to authorities.

The eight people, whose bodies were found in a marsh near the St Lawrence River in a Native Canadian reservation in Quebec, included persons "believed to be citizens of India" who "are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the US from Canada", Lee-Ann O'Brien, the deputy chief of the local police, said on Friday.

Six of the bodies were discovered on Thursday during an air search, she said.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS) later reported that two more bodies were found on Friday. One was of a woman believed to be an Indian citizen and the other was of an infant of Romanian descent with a Canadian passport, it said.

The identities of those whose bodies were found were not revealed.

O'Brien said at the videocast news conference that the AMPS was working with immigration and Homeland Security officials to confirm the identities of the dead and inform their relatives.

She said that the other family in the incident was believed to be from Romania.

A boat that was found near the bodies belonged to a Native Canadian, Casey Oakes, who is also missing, she said.

The area of the Akwesasne Mohawk Native Canadian reservation in Quebec abuts New York, which was the likely destination of those who tried to cross over.

Canada is providing a conduit for Indians trying to enter the US illegally.

Last April, six Indians were rescued from the St Regis River by US Border Patrol agents after US authorities were alerted by the AMPS that a boat was sinking close to the US border.

In January last year, a family of four Indians were found frozen to death in Manitoba near the US border along Minnesota state.

They were identified as Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, 39, and Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel, 37, and their children, Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel, 11, and Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel, 3, from Dingucha in Gujarat.

Before their bodies were found, US authorities caught seven Indians nearby on their side of the border.

Last August, seven people from Gujarat were detained by US authorities when they illegally entered the US from Quebec.

The illegal immigration by Indians to the US from Canada is the opposite of the recent trend of people illegally crossing over in the opposite direction because of more liberal asylum regulations in Canada and better services available there.

More than 39,000 people, many who had come to the US on the southern border with Mexico, crossed into Canada last year leading to an agreement between the two countries to stop the migration.

Under the deal reached last week by US President Joe Biden and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, both countries agreed to turn back people illegally crossing the border.

Now Indians caught trying to enter the US from Canada will be sent back there.

The US-to-Canada migration was the result of a domino effect: People from Central America and elsewhere cross into the US; the states and cities on the border, both Republican and Democrat-controlled, because of the pressure from the influx send some of them by bus to New York, a liberal Democrat city that is a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants, and New York, facing similar pressures in providing for them, in turn, sent them Canada.
Tokyo, April 1 : The Japanese government announced a draft policy outline to tackle the country's falling birthrate, which includes advancing childcare allowances and increasing benefits for families with multiple children.

The policy package, proposed by Masanobu Ogura, minister in charge of policies for children, also includes expanding college education scholarships and upping support for single parents, reports Xinhua news agency.

It stated that until parents' children graduate from high school, the government would abolish income limits and continue to pay benefits to the parents.

However, it did not specify the amount of money that would be awarded.

The Children and Family Agency to be launched Saturday plans to strengthen cash benefits for families in order to make child-rearing less of a financial issue, the Japan Times reported, citing officials.

Amid efforts to reform childcare services, scholarships and student loans for higher education will be expanded to households with multiple children and students of certain majors, as such benefits are now offered mainly to low-income families, according to the draft.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, calling the proposals "unprecedented steps," told reporters on Friday that the government will set up a new panel chaired by himself to discuss related issues, aiming to present a general framework for a budget focused on childcare that will be "double" previous amounts, Kyodo News reported.

The total number of births in Japan slipped to a record low last year by falling by 43,169, or 5.1 per cent, from the previous year to 799,728, according to preliminary data released by the health ministry.

Falling under 800,000 for the first time since records began in 1899, the drop came much earlier than the government had expected.

The draft proposals will likely be included in new economic and fiscal policy guidelines due in June, according to local media reports.
London, April 1 : A 49-year-old Indian-origin man has been jailed in the UK for forcing and "emotionally blackmailing" his parents to fund his long-standing drug addiction.

To get money, Daevan Patel flouted a series of restraining orders barring contact with his parents, who now feel "humiliated and depressed" by their cruel son's behaviour, Birmingham Live reported.

The Wolverhampton Crown Court heard on March 27 how Patel "relentlessly" asked for money, sometimes calling his parents 10 times a day, and even showing up at their home if they did not answer.

Sentencing, Judge John Butterfield KC said Patel had made his parents' lives a "misery" by "bleeding them for money" to fund his drug habit.

He was issued restraining orders in 2009 and 2013 protecting his parents from him.

Prosecutor Sarah Allen said Patel flouted the order three more times when he showed up at their home in Bilston, Wolverhampton, and "wore them down" until they handed over 28 pounds.

"He did not appear to show much care to the suffering he was causing his parents and it appears he was of the view that because he was a drug addict, he was absolved of any responsibility for his actions," Prosecutor Allen told the court.

Patel's parents decided to inform police after they "ran out of money to give him".

Patel, who is currently at a prison in Cardiff, has previous offences for dishonesty, shoplifting and theft.

He admitted three counts of breach of a restraining order on January 21, 25 and 27.
In recent years, the number of passwords people must remember has increased at a staggering rate. According to a Lastpass report, employees at small- and medium-sized companies use up to 85 passwords, while those who work at large companies average about 25. Tech giants like Apple and Google are trying to develop solutions so that users dont have to memorize as many log-in credentials, and theyre attempting to bolster security. But will passwords as we know them today really disappear?

When it released the latest iPhone operating system, Apple also launched passkeys as a replacement for passwords. The company noted that the new system [makes it] faster to log in, easier to use and much more secure. It allows the user to access any app or service with Face ID or Touch ID, Apples facial recognition and fingerprint identification systems. Theres no need to manually enter a password.

Apple says that one of the advantages of passkeys is greater protection against phishing (a technique for accessing a users personal and banking data by pretending to be a company or institution that the person already knows). Josep Albors, the director of research and public awareness at ESET Spain, believes that this system is more secure than traditional passwords. It prevents us from entering our credentials on fraudulent sites ready to steal our information; [with passkeys,] the users identification is encrypted from end to end, between our device and the online service we want to access, he says.

How do Apples passkeys work?

When the user creates a passkey, the operating system generates a unique cryptographic key pair that is associated with an account on the app or website. Garrett Davidson, an engineer on Apples authentication experience team, explains that one key is public and stored on Apples servers, while the other is private and remains on the users device at all times. The server never learns what your private key is, and your devices keep it secure, he says.

Then, when the user tries to log in to one of his or her accounts, the website or app server sends a challenge to the device. Only the private passkey can answer it. The public key is then used to validate the answer, but it cannot solve the challenge on its own. This means that the server can be sure that you have the right private key, without knowing what the private key actually is, Davidson explains.

Passkeys are encrypted and synchronized on all Apple devices through the iCloud keychain. For devices that arent compatible with this cloud storage system, a QR code is generated, which must then be scanned by the users iPhone. At first glance, this login method seems quite promising, but not all applications support the system at this time.

The problem with traditional passwords

In their efforts to address Web security issues, major technology companies face the central challenge of how to eliminate traditional passwords. The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) alliance, which includes companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, seeks to do just that. According to Albors, Microsofts approach is highly effective because it replaces passwords with numerical codes generated by a cell phone app, although Apples is more convenient and user-friendly. Similarly, the Mountain View company has been setting the stage for a future without passwords for over a decade.

Traditional credentials have a number of disadvantages. As Fernando Suarez, the president of Spains General Council of Official Computer Engineering Associations, points out, users are advised to create a password for each service and memorize it or save it in a password manager. But people dont always do that. Indeed, a Google survey indicates that 13% of Americans use the same password for all of their accounts, and 52% have the same one for several but not all services.

Moreover, according to NordPass password manager, the most commonly used passwords are weak  for example, 123456, qwerty, password, 111111, and I love you. Suarez says that replacing those with biometric systems, which are based on each individuals unique physical characteristics, makes it possible to authenticate a persons identity quickly and reliably.

Nuria Andres, a cybersecurity strategist at Proofpoint for Spain and Portugal, says that passwords represent the users critical first line of defense against an attacker and a successful cyberattack. Even in the best-case scenario, in which a person accesses a web service with a unique and fairly secure password, its possible to launch a targeted attack that reveals the users passwords and leaves him or her at the mercy of cybercriminals, she says.

The limitations of a passwordless world

While Apples passkeys have the potential to do away with some password security problems, its still too early to assess the potential limitations of password replacements. Right off the bat, one of the inherent problems of biometric identification-based log-in systems is that the credentials cannot be changed, says Albors. Thats the disadvantage of using authentication thats unique to your person, such as your face or fingerprints, as opposed to something you know, like passwords. He also notes that, in rare cases, someone else could gain access to a users account if they got around facial identification. A team of researchers at Israels Tel Aviv University claims that it has discovered a way to bypass many facial recognition systems.

Suarez notes two possible drawbacks to Apples new system. For starters, biometric systems are not foolproof. You need a password or PIN to use as an alternative in case biometrics dont work because of a broken camera or some other reason, he says. Additionally, by storing the private code on the device itself, if we lose it, we wont have immediate access to services that use such technology.

The end of passwords?

Although several companies have been announcing the demise of traditional passwords for years, that promise remains unfulfilled. Jordi Serra, a professor at the Open University of Catalonias School of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications, agrees that Apples new system hasnt been fully implemented yet. Its a step toward being able to eliminate passwords in the short term, but it will take time for these systems to become more usable and secure, he says.

A majority of IT specialists want to protect their accounts by using password alternatives. According to a Ponemon Institute report, these experts believe that using biometric systems would increase their companies security. Albors projects that traditional passwords will inevitably disappear since they do not effectively guarantee a secure log-in process; thats because of the sheer number of online services and because users tend to create and reuse weak passwords. But it is not clear when password use will be phased out entirely: Although that date is getting closer, it depends on people accepting the different solutions that are currently available.
Mumbai, April 1 : Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut has received a death threat allegedly in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

According to party officials, Raut received a WhatsApp message on his mobile late on Friday night on the alleged threat.

The message warned that whenever Raut is seen in New Delhi, he would be shot dead with an AK-47 rifle.

Not taking chances, Raut informed the Mumbai Police Commissioner and a probe is underway.

Earlier, he had written to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the threats to his life.

On Saturday, Sena (UBT) Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve said that the present state government had removed Raut's security, and urged that the threats must be taken seriously.

It maybe recalled that Bollywood superstar Salman Khan had also got death threats recently from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang or his henchmen.
Dakshina Kannada, : April 1 (IANS) Karnataka police have arrested a male home nurse on charges of sexually harassing an aged patient in Mudubidare town of Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, police said on Saturday.

The arrested male nurse is identified as 19-year-old Shivananda from Gadag. According to police, the accused was appointed to take care of a sick elderly person at his residence in Hudco colony near Kodangallu.

However, the victim fell sick repeatedly and got depressed. The family members grew suspicious and installed CCTV cameras in the room without the knowledge of the accused male nurse.

The CCTV footage showed that the accused male nurse forced the elderly patient for unnatural sex. The footage also showed the accused beating up the patient to agree to his demands.

The family lodged a complaint with the Mudubidare police in this regard and the accused is arrested. Further investigation is on.
San Francisco, April 1 : Tech giant Google has launched its Nearby Share for Windows as a beta application that will help users to transfer files between their Android device and PC.

The Nearby Share Beta for Windows app is currently available as a direct download from android.com for Windows 10 and newer with "ARM devices not supported," reports 9To5Google.

On the users' PC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi must be turned on, with the company specifying a 16-foot (5-meter) transfer range between devices.

It allows users to "quickly transfer photos, videos, documents, audio files or entire folders between your Android device and Windows PCs." According to the tech giant, it will be helpful for users who want to "edit your photos on a larger screen or organise your digital folders." Currently, this beta is rolling out in the US and select regions globally, the report said.

Android launches Nearby Share Beta for Windows app https://t.co/u4QBzCf7r4 by @technacity  9to5Google (@9to5Google) March 31, 2023

Meanwhile, in December last year, the tech giant had rolled out new Material You design for its Nearby Share app on Android phones and tablets.

The Material You revamp added visual changes to the main UI users interact with on the Nearby Share app.

-- Syndicated from IANS
New York, April 1 : When former US President Donald surrenders to authorities in New York on April 4 he will not be handcuffed, according to his lawyer Joe Tacopina.

"The (former) resident will not be put in handcuffs," he told ABC News on Friday.

He will be accompanied by Secret Service Agents who are required to protect him as a former President making the surrender complicated.

"I don't think they're going to allow this to become a circus, as much as humanly possible", Tacopina said.

On a CBS TV programme he said that Trump is "not worried at all", but added, "he's upset, angry he is being persecuted politically".

Trump will be produced in a New York State Supreme Court, which despite its name is the first-level judicial body in the state.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is expected to preside over the case, can either release him with or without bail, or order him held in custody.

Trump faces charges relating to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels who alleged he had an affair with him in 2006.

A grand jury indicted him in the case on Thursday, but the charges will be announced only when he surrenders and it is unsealed in court.

The $130,000 payment and the affair -- which Trump has denied -- are not illegal, but he faced allegations of bookkeeping irregularities in recording the payments and of violating election finance laws.

The payments were allegedly recorded as fees to his former lawyer Michael Cohen who had given Daniels the money.

Cohen was convicted in a federal court on charges of violating election laws by making the payments while Trump was running for president in 2016 and sentenced to three years in prison.

He is the prime witness in the case being pursued against Trump in local courts by Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, who was elected to the post as a Democratic Party nominee.

"While our country was going to hell," Trump posted on social media, "the radical left Democrats" have "gone too far indicting a totally innocent man in an act of obstruction and blatant election interference".

President Joe Biden refused to be drawn into the indictment controversy as that would only back Republican assertions about a politically motivated case.

"I'm not going to talk about the Trump indictment", he told reporters who asked him about it and stuck to "no comment" as they kept rephrasing the question.

Vice President Kamala Harris took the same line.

At a news conference in Zambia, where she was on a tour of Africa, Harris said: "I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president." Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: "No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence. Hopefully, the former president will peacefully respect the system, which grants him that right." But Republicans rallied around Trump and even his rivals for the party's presidential nomination came out with messages of support.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, considered Trump's main rival in the 2024 polls, said: "The weaponisation of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head." Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has been heavily criticised by Trump, called it an "outrage".

Nikki Haley said on Fox TV: "This is more about revenge than it is about justice." Vivek Ramaswamy called it "un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its political rivals".

When a person facing charges surrenders to a New York court, the person is fingerprinted, photographed and handcuffed.

Often the alleged "perpetrator" is also paraded in handcuffs before news cameras in a ritual known locally as "perp walk".

Trump will likely be fingerprinted and photographed.

"As far as a mugshot's concerned, perp walk, as I said, I'm sure they'll try to make sure they get some joy out of this by parading him," Tacopina said of the prosecutors.

"We'll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively regarding the legal viability of this case." Politico reported that according to Trump's campaign, he will go to New York from Florida, where he lives at his Mara-a-Lago resort, on April 3night.

He will appear in court at 2.15 p.m. on April 4 and return to Florida the next day, with no public events scheduled in New York.

Trump attacked Merchan saying he "hates me" and claimed that Bragg had "handpicked" him for the "witch hunt case".

A court official said that Merchan was randomly picked for the case.

Merchan presided over two tax cases involving two Trump Organization companies that ended in their conviction and in a case involving the former chief financial officer of a Trump company, Allen Weisselberg, admitting he was guilty of charges of tax fraud.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Kolkata, April 1 : The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal police has taken over the charge of investigation on the clashes in Howrah district on Thursday over a Ram Navami procession that started on Wednesday and continued on Friday.

Sources from the state government said that investigation will be conducted by the special operation group (SOG) under CID and the investigation team will be headed by an officer in the rank of deputy inspector general (DIG) of police.

West Bengal Governor C. V. Ananda Bose late Friday evening issued a strongly worded statement directing the police to be objective, strong and fair in the matter.

State secretariat sources said that the decision of handing over the charge of investigation in the matter to the CID was taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself after discussion with the Governor, in which she assured the constitutional head of the state of necessary and prompt action in the matter.

The Governor has already announced the constitution of special cell at Raj Bhavan for real-time monitoring of the situation.

Meanwhile, though no fresh incidence of clash or violence occurred in the troubled pockets in Howrah district, the ambience continues to be tense there. Constant patrolling in the area by mobile police teams and the ban of gathering in those areas is still in force.

Already, a public interest litigation has been filed by the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Sevendu Adhikari demanding central agency probe in the clashes over Ram Navami procession.

Meanwhile, political slugfest over the clashes are on. On one hand, Trinamool Congress leadership has claimed that tension broke out after the organisers of the procession at Howrah changed the route of the procession at the last moment, while on the other hand, the opposition parties like the BJP, Congress and CPI(M) claimed that it was a failure on the part of the police that they could not stop the procession from changing the route.
New Delhi, April 1 : Indian Super League (ISL) side Bengaluru FC has confirmed the departure of Brazilian centre-back Alan Costa, who leaves the Blues after two seasons.

The club revealed that the defender decided to return back to his home country to be with his family after the expiration of his loan spell, informs ISL.

Costa signed for the Blues ahead of the Hero ISL 2021-22 season, joining Bengaluru FC on a two-year loan deal from Campeonato Brasileiro SArie B side, AvaA Futebol Clube. Costa has featured in 36 games for the Blues in the Hero ISL across season and made a difference at both ends of the pitch, contributing four goals and two assists.

He has also scored some important goals for the club. The Brazilian found the net in the Durand Cup 2022 final, helping his side lift the trophy. In Benglauru FC's opening game of the Hero ISL 2022-23 season, Costa netted the winner against NorthEast United FC. The Brazilian also scored in the reverse fixture against the Highlanders, which was the start of Bengaluru FC's 10-match winning run.

Before arriving in India, Costa spent the majority of his professional career playing for clubs in Brazil. He began his career with FerroviAria. He later had stints at Palmeiras, Internacional and Coritiba, besides loan spells at Sao Bento and VitAria, before his move to AvaA Futebol Clube in 2020.
New York, April 1 : Scientists in the US, including an Indian-origin researcher, have found that residents of Ventura County in California had a 38 per cent increase of sudden cardiac arrest during the first two years of the pandemic.

Most affected were Hispanic residents, who faced a 77 per cent increase of the condition causing a sudden loss of heart function that is usually fatal, said the researcher, adding that rates of sudden cardiac arrest rose sharply during the pandemic.

The study by investigators at the Smidt Heart Institute in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center also found that overall survival from sudden cardiac arrest declined from 15.3 per cent to 10 per cent during the pandemic.

"These real-world findings that span the Covid-19 pandemic have uncovered important ethnicity-specific challenges that could be addressed to help the community, especially in the event of future outbreaks,a said study co-senior author Sumeet Chugh, director of the Center for Cardiac Arrest Prevention at the Smidt Heart Institute.

Although studies in other communities have reported similar findings, this is the first study to include data from two full years of the pandemic and to evaluate the differences in sudden cardiac arrest rates by ethnicity.

"While we believe some of the rising cases of sudden cardiac arrest could have been a direct result of Covid-19 infection, we also suspect that indirect effects of the pandemic played a crucial role in the spike of incidence, and in the decline of survival," elaborated Kyndaron Reinier, research associate professor in the Department of Cardiology in Smidt Heart Institute.

The indirect effects may have included patients delaying preventive care for their heart conditions during the pandemic as well as waiting to call 911 for chest pain or other cardiac-related symptoms.

Additionally, bystander CPR declined among all residents, especially Hispanic residents, said the study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Heart Rhythm.

"As we look to future waves of Covid-19 or entirely new pandemics, this study emphasises the importance of seeking preventive -- and emergent -- care when needed," said Reinier.
Chennai, April 1 : The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran - who is also the nephew of expelled AIADMK interim general secretary V.K.Sasikala - is set to meet the powerful Thevar community leaders for developing his party into a formidable political entity in the state.

Notably, the Thevar community has been traditional supporters of the AIADMK and South Tamil Nadu has been a bastion of the AIADMK due to this support extended by the community.

However, after the AIADMK has gone into the hands of Edappadi K. Palaniswami(EPS), a Gounder community man, the Thevar community is not satisfied in the senior leaders from the community being thrown out from the party which has always cherished the support of Thevar community for victories.

A Thevar community elder while speaking to IANS pointed out, "We considered AIADMK as our own party but now it is not so. The tallest leader from the Thevar community, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) is now out of the party fold. V.K. Sasikala is already out. The party is now in the hands of Edappadi K. Palaniswami, a Gounder. In Tamil Nadu, caste is a reality, and expelling our leaders from the party and making way for other caste members will be strongly opposed." Sources in AMMK told IANS that the former MLA's meeting with the Thevar elders will lead to some political churning and the AMMK stands to gain in the days to come.
Chennai, April 1 : The Indo-Japanese car joint venture Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd closed last fiscal selling 174,015 units logging a growth of 41 per cent.

The company said it had sold 174,015 units last fiscal, up from 123,770 units sold in FY22.

According to Toyota Kirloskar, last month it sold 18,670 units, up from selling 17,131 units in March 2022.

Major contributions coming from strong consumer demand generated for the recently introduced Innova Hycross, Urban Cruiser Hyryder, The New Innova Crysta and Hilux, the company said.

"The passenger vehicles segment witnessed a steady growth last year, and TKM (Toyota Kirloskar Motor) was prepared to ride the wave by making deeper inroads into the market to meet the varied mobility needs," Atul Sood, Vice President, Sales and Strategic Marketing, said.
Kolkata, April 1 : With the BJP virtually setting the tone for launching full-fledged preparatory measures for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the other political parties in West Bengal, such as the ruling Trinamool Congress, Left Front and the Congress, are yet to focus on specific strategies for the mega battle for New Delhi's throne in 2024.

While a major reason for these parties not yet focusing on their respective strategies for next year's Lok Sabha polls is because of the panchayat elections scheduled this year, there are some internal issues for Trinamool, Left Front and Congress that are hindering their respective leadership from setting the bull's-eye for 2024 in line with the BJP.

As envisaged by the political observes based on the statements made by different leaders of these non-BJP parties, while Trinamool is busy scaling the pulse of the national opposition, especially the non-Congress regional parties, the concentration of CPI(M)-led Left Front and Congress is to consolidate the alliance between them with the panchayat polls this year as the bouncing-board on this count.

The statements from the leaders of these political parties clearly indicate why they are on an observatory phase for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, rather than hurrying their respective strategies.

While the Trinamool has made it clear to maintain a distance with the Congress in their own blueprint of Opposition alliance, the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, has made it clear that currently, the target is to build coordination with the different regional parties in the country having strengths in their respective states.

He also said that Trinamool is not thinking of any third-front model.

"We are not speaking of any third-front model right now. Mamata Banerjee will hold dialogues with the leaders of different regional parties which have substantial strength in their respective states," Bandopadhyay said.

Mamata Banerjee had herself made it clear that fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after identifying the principal face of the Opposition, or to be more precise projecting the prime ministerial candidate, is not in the scheme of things of Trinamool Congress right at this juncture.

"Our target is to bring down BJP from its position of power, instead of thinking of who will be the leader after the polls," the Chief Minister had said.

If scaling the national Opposition pulse is currently the prime priority for Trinamool, for the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress, the focus is consolidating their understanding and alliance, which will start with the panchayat polls this year, and will be carried forward in the general elections next year.

Leaders of both Congress and CPI(M) have admitted that the implementation of the successful alliance model throughout West Bengal has become even more necessary after its success in the recent Assembly bypoll to the Sagardighi constituency in Murshidabad district, where Left Front-supported Congress candidate Bayron Biswas emerged as the victor from the minority-dominated stronghold of Trinamool.

The Sagardighi model also worked wonders for the alliance in some local body polls, where both Trinamool and BJP got wiped out in the face of Left-Congress unity.

The leaders of both the parties have claimed that their current focus is to spread a united movement throughout the state on various issues against the Trinamool government, such as recruitment scam and dearness alliance (DA) crisis, among others, to reap benefits for the alliance in the panchayat polls.

In fact, a major official show of Left-Congress unity was shown on the streets of Kolkata on March 29, when top state leaders participated in a joint rally, protesting the non-payment of DA to the state government employees. The workers of Left Front and Congress participated in the rally in huge numbers, carrying their respective flags.

According to CPI(M) politburo member and the party's state secretary, Mohammad Salim, the joint agitations will be spread throughout the state in the coming days.

"We are inviting all those who are against both the BJP and Trinamool Congress to join our movement," Salim said.

According to Congress leader and counsel in the Calcutta High Court, Kaustav Bagchi, it is difficult to believe that the BJP and Trinamool are opposing each other.

"They are clandestine partners. So, we must develop a united Opposition movement involving the common people. Sagardighi has shown the way and it is time to replicate the same in the panchayat polls," he said.

The panchayat polls in West Bengal since 2008 have given indications of the imminent changes in the political equations in the state.

The 2008 panchayat polls gave the first indication of the growing cracks in the red fort, which turned into major fissures in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and ultimately led to the collapse of the Left in 2011.

The 2018 panchayat polls gave the first indication that the BJP is evolving as the major opposition force in West Bengal, replacing the Left Front and the Congress, which turned true in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 Assembly elections.
Rina and Dakotah  a mare and her foal  at the Sacred Way Sanctuary in Alabama, circa 2015.

The first time the Native Americans saw a Spanish soldier riding his horse, they didnt understand what they were seeing.

Historical chronicles speak of a first exploratory mission with a couple of dozen horses and some mares. The Indigenous people recorded how, in 1519, the horses belonging to the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes looked like centaurs  half-man and half-horse. Thus, to them, it appeared as if the horse and the rider were a single entity.

Today, a multidisciplinary investigation  involving almost 100 scientists from around the world and 66 centers and institutions  details how the image of a human-horse was a constant among the Indo-American tribes on the plains of the United States during the first half of the 17th century, before the rest of the European colonizers arrived.

At least since the Spanish conquest of America from the south, during the viceroyalty of New Spain, horses had already begun to spread northward from the frontier settlements in New Mexico. The new dating of fossils has found that the domesticated equine presence was actually 200 years earlier than previously thought. A strong genetic affinity has been found between contemporary horse herds and the Spanish equestrian population from centuries ago.

Horse and rider petroglyph at Tolar, Sweetwater County, Wyoming. Representation carved by Comanches or Shoshone. PAT OAK

The modern wild horse had roamed the American continent thousands of years before the conquest, during the Pleistocene epoch, before becoming extinct in North America. Hence, for the authors of the work  which was published at the end of March in the journal Science  it was undeniable that there had been contact between wild and domesticated horses.

One of the unknowns that the new evidence helps answer is that, after the disappearance of wild horses 13,000 years ago during the Ice Age, the equines found in the American West had undoubtedly strong Iberian genetic affinities. These Spanish horses came from Eurasia across the Atlantic, disembarking in the Caribbean with the troops of the Spanish Empire, towards the beginning of the 17th century.

This research stems from a pioneering collaboration between institutional science and the tribes of the Great Plains of the United States, involving scientists of Comanche, Pawnee and Lakota origin, among other Indigenous tribes.

Researcher Yvette Collins  from the Toulouse Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics (CAGT) in France  is also known as Running Horse (tasunke iyanke wi). She hails from the Lakota tribe on the Indian reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The scientist explains that it was time to join other Indigenous communities and welcome scientific research.

Collins notes that a study was set up to analyze the past of horses  a species that plays a key role in the cosmogony and culture of Native Americans. The Lakota group, for instance, calls itself sungwaka, which means horse nation in Sioux.

Researcher Yvette Collins, from the Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics in Toulouse, France. CEDIDA

From the Lakota point of view, horses are in the same category as a person our experience with them is different, Collins explains.

As a member of the tribe and from her experience as a researcher, she offers a new way of looking at things: We dont use fences or corrals with the horses  we present the animals as part of the clan. They are sacred.

Her interest in scientific knowledge and the history of horses is what has motivated this interdisciplinary study, as well as the fact that her society has been one of the first Indigenous groups to open the doors to external researchers.

This is something historic, says French geneticist Ludovic Orlando, also from the CAGT. Hes a co-author of the recent study and has been researching the evolution of horses for more than 15 years.

Of course, what weve discovered about the reappearance of these animals in the US is important, but [the fact] that Indigenous people are collaborating with geneticists is unique.

Orlando thinks that, regardless of the ideas that the publication reveals, what is vital is that its the first time that the Amerindian societies themselves have carried out the analyses.

The research takes advantage of the archaeological remains of the first historical specimens of horses, instead of being based on the European conquerors records, which are riddled with omissions, inaccuracies and a strong anti-Indigenous bias. The authors note that this error was made with many previous studies.

The horse was (and is) essential for many Indigenous residents of the American Southwest to be able to navigate the Great Plains  an area of over one million square miles that crosses the entire Midwest of the continent, from north to south, connecting Mexico and Canada. Archaeologist William Taylor  who teaches at the University of Colorado and is a co-author of the study  explains that, after having located an equestrian fossil with torsion marks on its muzzle, this points to the fact that the mount was ridden by Amerindians. Furthermore, the relic presents healed wounds in its bone record, indicating that the Indigenous cared for injured horses.

Taylor is a researcher specializing in Mongolia. The Asian record of the relationship with horses is completely different from what we find in the Indigenous West. Among the details found from analyzing the 30 bone remains with osteological, genomic, isotopic, radiocarbon and paleopathological tests, signs found in the skull indicate that there was expert coordination between the rider and the horse.

One of the specimens analyzed in the scientific work on the relationship between Amerindians and their horses. William Taylor (Universidad de Colorado, Montana, EE UU)

Federico Navarrete  a specialist in Mesoamerican studies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who didnt participate in the study  describes how the horse formed a deeper relationship with the tribes north of the Mississippi River due to the hunter-gatherer character and nomadic nature of Native Americans across the American prairies.

Meanwhile, in central Mexico, the historian points out, for the Mesoamerican Indigenous peoples, [horses] werent so useful, nor an element of significant exchange. Another animal that was domesticated in the Middle East and transported transatlantically by Columbus in 1492 played a more important role for the Mexica: the sheep.

In [central Mexico], they liked sheep better, [because] they gave wool quickly, they could be eaten and they could be raised anywhere. They became very important, Navarrete emphasizes.

From being a key player in the world of the 19th and early-20th centuries, Orlando laments the disappearance of horses: A loss in animal lives, but also in culture. And he comments ironically how at this moment, there are more French people  around 70 million  than horses in the Western world. One hundred years ago, this would have been unthinkable, when in Paris or New York, there were even problems with dung  [there was] a big crisis with horse dung.

For this scientist, the main success of the research is how they approached the subject matter: The worst thing we could have done is helicopter science  go to these communities, do our studies and leave without relating to them.

Collins  who emphasizes how the science of the Lakota emphasizes the preservation and equal treatment of the horse  is optimistic about more work with Indigenous communities: This is the first of many research projects.

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Chandigarh, April 1 : With the BJP gung-ho on its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress in the border state of Punjab is yet to re-emerge from its own shadows -- first to challenge the ruling AAP and then to counter the saffron brigade, which is largely banking on the sections deserting it, largely Jat Sikhs, to strengthen its base.

Also, the state's once prominent regional outfit Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which marked its centennial in 2021, is facing worst crisis "structurally, organisationally, and even in terms of ideological leadership" with the mass exodus of leaders, even veterans with grey flowing beards.

Now the SAD is going back on its "panthic" agenda to win back its core base, particularly in rural belts, after the backlash to the 2015 sacrilege incidents and subsequently its initial support to the Centre's (now repealed) farm laws.

Of late, SAD President Sukhbir Badal visited the residence of Satwant Singh, one of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in Gurdaspur and attended the wedding of slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's grandson.

Slamming the AAP government for the "undeclared emergency and reign of repression and terror" with arrest of Amritdhari youth (baptised Sikhs) amidst the ongoing crackdown against fugitive Khalistani preacher Amritpal Singh, Badal categorically said five-time Chief Minister and Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Badal had pulled the state out of "bloody cycle of terror and repression" and started an era of peace and progress.

Citing the violent separatist movement for Khalistan in the 1980's and early 1990's in which thousands of people died, he said successive governments since have "pushed Punjab back into the jaws of insecurity and repression".

For the weakened Congress, which ruled the state from 2017-2022, the mass exodus of leaders, comprising loyal and veteran lawmakers like Capt Amarinder Singh, Manpreet Badal, Gurpreet Kangar, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Raj Kumar Verka, and Sunil Jakhar, a prominent Hindu face, left the party struggling for revival.

Popular Sikh face from Delhi, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, has also joined the saffron brigade.

The Akali Dal enabled the BJP to play a second fiddle role till September 2020 when it snapped over two-decade long ties by pulling out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after sharp differences emerged over the three controversial farm laws.

People have rejected the SAD in the recent Assembly polls for the second consecutive time. Its legislators in the present Assembly of 117 have shrunk to a mere three, down from 15 seats in 2017-22, the lowest ever number.

The BJP, which had won three seats in the 2017 when it had contested in alliance with the Akali Dal, secured two seats this time.

The saffron party is strengthening its roots in the Sikh-dominated state under the leadership of two-time Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who is seen as a nationalist and widely respected Sikh leader in the politics, and prominent Hindu face Jakhar.

Jakhar said he decided to leave Congress over issues such as "nationalism", "brotherhood", and "unity" in Punjab.

But can "poaching" of the prominent Sikh faces turn the tide in Punjab? BJP insiders say all is not well at this point in time. There is a tug of war of supremacy between the new entrants and the hardcore 'Hindutva' face, who is feeling suffocated now.

Congress watchers feel Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra has somehow managed to energise the cadres that had been demoralised after the Assembly elections rout in March last year and the mass exodus of their leaders.

The eight-day Punjab leg of yatra passed through five out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab -- Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur, probably the most extensively covered state after Kerala.

Interestingly in Punjab, the tug of war is both between the BJP and the AAP, and the Congress and the AAP.

BJP state president and legislator Ashwani Sharma recently accused the Bhagwant Mann-led government for deteriorating law and order in the state, mainly in the wake of the escape of pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh.

Facing Opposition parties' potshots in the just concluded Budget session on the issue of law and order, Mann said as compared to several Congress and BJP-ruled states, the law and order situation was far better in Punjab.

Replying to the discussion on the Governor's address in the Vidhan Sabha, Mann said rather than misleading people on this issue Congress and BJP leaders must check their facts as the states having governments of their parties were far below Punjab in law and order.

Despite the narrative set for the BJP with its brand Modi once again in 2024, political watchers told IANS the Congress is largely wracked by infighting and the oldest state party Akali Dal, which emerged from a religious reformist movement, is falling back on a core "panthic" agenda to regain its political battleground.

Ahead of the final showdown for 2024 general polls, there is a semi-final in the state. Jalandhar, the Dalit-dominated constituency that fell vacant after Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, 76, died of a heart attack while taking part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, is going for bypoll on May 10.

Eyeing to retain its seat, the Congress had announced the name of Karamjit Chaudhary, wife of Santokh Chaudhary, as the party's candidate.

Till date, the Congress enjoyed seven full-term governments -- after the 1952, 1957, 1962, 1972, 1992, 2002 and 2017 elections -- in the state.

The Akali Dal made history in 1997 by becoming the first non-Congress party to complete its first full term in office since Independence and has repeated its feat in 2007 and 2012 in alliance with the BJP in both terms.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com)
Chennai, April 1 : Political parties in Tamil Nadu have plunged into preparation mode for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with the ruling DMK appointing 234 party leaders as observers in all the Assembly constituencies of the state.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin has called upon the party cadres to get all the 39 seats in the state and the lone seat in Puducherry thus winning all the 40 seats in the offing from TN and Union territory of Puducherry.

With Congress's E.V.K.S. Elangovan winning the Erode East bypoll by a margin of 66,087 votes, the confidence of the DMK front has increased manifold. Another plus point the party think tanks are finding is the excellent administration carried out by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ever since he assumed the office in May 2021.

The people-friendly and socially responsible programmes, including Makkale Thedi Maruvan (health at doorsteps) and free breakfast project for primary school children, have touched a chord with the people of the state. Free bus travel for women is another major hit for the party as several lower and middle class women are benefitted by the scheme.

Chief Minister Stalin has now commenced connecting to people and listening to their woes thus becoming more popular among the local people of the state which is the voting population.

Spat between the AIADMK and BJP over the arrogance of BJP state president K. Annamalai has led to a major setback for the alliance leading to another advantage for the DMK front.

Annamalai has, according to party insiders, said that he would resign if an alliance with the AIADMK is continued by the national leadership of the BJP.

However, the National leadership of the BJP is keen that the alliance with the AIADMK will continue in Tamil Nadu as without the support of a Dravidian major, no national party will be able to win the elections in the state.

For example, the leaders pointed out that the alliance the Congress was having with the DMK and how it has developed into a win-win situation for both the parties in the state.

Several utterances in public space made by the BJP state president have led to the AIADMK leaders retorting to his tirades and bringing up a common perception that the AIADMK-BJP alliance was in totters.

The BJP national leadership immediately called up AIADMK senior leaders, including party general secretary Edappadi K . Palaniswami (EPS) and informed him that the BJP was very much in alliance with it. This led to an open statement by EPS on Thursday that the alliance between the BJP and AIADMK was intact in the state.

Meanwhile, as a second option, AIADMK leadership has already commenced discussions with the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) of actor-turned-politician Seeman, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a Dalit political party presently aligned in DMK front and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam(DMDK) of actor, politician Vijayakanth.

While NTK is a fierce Tamil nationalistic party, VCK is a Dalit party and DMDK has a presence in almost all the constituencies of the state.

These meetings of the AIADMK top brass with the leaders of small political parties is a shrewd move not to be left behind if the BJP decides to snap ties. A senior leader of the AIADMK while speaking to IANS said, "In fact as far as AIADMK is concerned, it is better for us to leave the alliance with the BJP as the entire minority community is against us now. If the ties with the BJP are snapped as wished by that party's state president, things are much easier for us, and will win more seats than in an alliance with the BJP." He, however, said that with the party supremo EPS confirming the alliance with the BJP for the time being, there were no questions of thinking about a new political alliance.

In Tamil Nadu, the main fight is between the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) led by the DMK and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP. With the general elections a do-or-die battle for both fronts, the alliances have already begun preparations to win the polls.

M.R. Sundaraswamy, Director, of Socio-Economic Development Foundation, a think tank based out of Madurai while speaking to IANS pointed out, "The DMK is far ahead of other political parties in Tamil Nadu as of now. Political perception can, however, change in no time and there will be undercurrents. But as of now it is DMK all the way and if AIADMK breaks its alliance with the BJP, it will get a few seats, but a BJP, AIADMK combine is not going to gain in Tamil Nadu. DMK is presently riding high due to a divided opposition as well as for the performance of the Stalin government which has done extremely well for the people of the state in all aspects."
Bhopal, April 1 : The state of Madhya Pradesh is gearing up for a nail-biting Assembly poll, scheduled to be held towards the end of this year. Politically, the state stands at the crossroads and a close contest between the traditional rivals -- the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on the cards.

Though, the leaders in the ruling BJP would officially rule out the anti-incumbency of nearly two decades (except for 15 months of Kamal Nath-led Congress government), but at time, they also mention that foot soldiers of the party are already at work in all earnestness to beat the anti-incumbency of four terms under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Congress on the other hand has positioned itself on voter fatigue while raising public issues on which the BJP may face the heat. The grand old party would be more reliant on its counter strategies with polls drawing nearer, and tall promises being made that the 'Bachan Patra' (election manifesto) would be unique and will comprise all sections of society.

Senior Congress leader Rajendra Kumar Singh, who is also head of 'Bachan Patra' committee of MP Congress, during an exclusive conversation with IANS claimed the ruling BJP would loss at least three to five per cent votes due to decreasing popularity of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and that will be an extra edge for the Congress.

Singh noted: "The BJP would also accept this point that Shivraj Singh Chouhan's popularity has decreased at least up to some extent and a clear evidence of this was seen in the 2018 Assembly elections. In 2018, the BJP had got 0.6 per cent more votes against the Congress, but in total number of seats, they (BJP) were five seats behind. This time, there would be a huge difference in both -- total number of seats and the vote percentage. We are confident that the Congress will get four to five per cent more votes against the BJP this time." In 2018, out of total 230 Assembly seats in the state, the Congress had won 114 while the BJP had won 109 seats. BSP and SP had won two and one seats respectively, while Independent candidates won four seats.

In terms of vote share, the BJP, with 41.02 per cent votes, had upper hand against Congress' 40.89 per cent. However, the Congress argue that it fielded candidates on 229 seats, leaving one seat - Jatara in Tikamgarh district - for the Sharad Yadav-led Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), and thus there was this difference in the vote share.

When asked about the political arithmetic behind his assertion that Chouhan's popularity has plunged, Singh claims: "In the last two-and-half years, Chouhan has not taken any step that can increase his popularity... He (Chouhan) has developed a good image among the people of Madhya Pradesh, but in the last two-and-half years of his current tenure as Chief Minister, he has completely surrendered to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And as PM Modi's popularity is now gradually falling, how can the BJP would win more seats than the Congress." On the other hand, the BJP will try to beat the anti-incumbency factor by intense involvement of its two popular faces -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the election campaign.

"Anti-incumbency will of course be a factor, but elections are not fought on just one factor. More importantly, the leadership quality is a factor that plays bigger role in winning elections... the BJP has charismatic leader - Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let the elections come, things will be clear then," says a senior BJP leader.
New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) As Bihar votes for the second phase of polls on Tuesday, it is the youth power from the opposition Grand Alliance which has taken on the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Image Source: IANS News

Patna: Congress President Rahul Gandhi with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav during a rally ahead of the seventh phase of 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Patna on May 16, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Patna, April 1 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha following the Surat court verdict that convicted him in a criminal defamation case has given new hope to Opposition parties in Bihar to corner the BJP.

The fear of central probe agencies is being considered as the reason for this "unprecedented" unity among opposition parties over the Rahul Gandhi issue. The family of Bihar's former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is continuously under the radar of central agencies.

When asked about Rahul Gandhi's conviction and disqualification, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said: "We are watching everything, and will answer (the BJP) in the best way when the time comes." With his remarks, Tejashwi made it a loud and clear message that he is ready to fight against BJP.

"BJP keeps the Opposition busy in court cases and uses the Hindutva card to win elections. But now, Rahul Gandhi has given a clear message that they (Opposition) do not fear court cases and investigation agencies. And, the Hindutva card of the BJP will be countered through the caste combination," a Congress leader said.

Bihar is crucial for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as this is the state where BJP is not in power. Moreover, the caste equation is also not ideal for the BJP in the state.

When it comes to the caste equation here, Muslims have more than 18 per cent vote share followed by Yadavs (16 per cent), Kushwaha (12 per cent) and upper castes comprising Bhumihar, Brahmins, Rajput and Kayasth have around 15 per cent votes. These are estimated figures and the exact numbers would be revealed after the completion of caste-based census in the state, which is currently underway and the state government has announced that it will be completed in 11 months.

The political parties in the state strongly believe that caste equations are the only weapon to counter the Hindutva politics of the BJP.

Muslims and Yadavs are the core voters of RJD and Luv (Kurmi having 4 per cent voters)-Kush (Kushwaha having around 12 per cent voters) is the core voters of JD-U. On the other hand, the upper caste voters in the state are tilted towards BJP. Now, as BJP leaders are aware that they cannot easily penetrate into the MY (Muslim-Yadav) equation of the RJD, they go for weakening the JD-U vote bank. The voters of Kushwaha community are on the target list of the saffron party in the state.

The way Upendra Kushwaha formed a new party - Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) - by leaving the JD-U and now openly supporting the BJP is an indication that the BJP would hurt the Kushwaha vote bank of Nitish Kumar.

Upendra Kushwaha has openly announced that "there is no leader who could challenge Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections".

To strenghthen its hold over the Kushwaha community, the saffron party has even made Samrat Chaudhary - who belongs to Kushwaha community - the party's state president. The idea is to give a message to the voters of Kushwaha community that Nitish Kumar is not their leader.

To counter the strategy of BJP, JD-U prepared jumbo jet teams, keeping in mind the caste equations.

The national team comprising 32 leaders is led by party's national President Lalan Singh, while the state team with 252 leaders in it is being led by party's state chief Umesh Kushwaha.

JD-U, to keep Kushwaha vote bank intact, has given the responsibility to two Kushwaha leaders to lead Rohtas and Muzaffarpur districts. The idea is to make up for the loss of Kushwaha votes after Upendra Kushwaha left the party. Further, it has appointed Mangni Lal Mandal as national vice president of the party to make a substitute of Upendra Kushwaha.

JD-U has given space to five leaders of Muslim community in the national team. Besides them, four leaders belong to upper castes, eight leaders of Lav-Kush community, two leaders of Yadav community, six leaders of EBC and two Mahadalit leaders are also given space in the national team.

Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats and will play crucial role in deciding the fate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In 2019, BJP-led NDA that also had support of JD-U in Bihar had won 39 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats. However, the situation has changed now; in 2024, BJP is in the Opposition and has to contest against an alliance of seven parties headed by Nitish Kumar. It has to face the might of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Jitan Ram Manjhi and left parties leaders. After the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' and the issue of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification has given new life to the Congress in Bihar.

This is the reason why BJP's 'Chanakya' and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is making frequent visits to Bihar to strengthen his party's position.

Reacting on Shah's visit, RJD senior leader and MLA Bhai Virendra said: "The visit of Amit Shah will not have much impact in Bihar. People are aware that the BJP means 'Badka Jhutha Party'. It had come into power with many promises and none of them were fulfilled. Unemployment, price rise, farmers issues still haunt the state and the country... The Mahagathbandhan will win all 40 seats in the state."
Jaipur, April 1 : Rain, along with hailstorm, that lashed Rajasthan has resulted in a dip in temperature in several districts of the state.

The Meteorological Department has predicted rain with thunderstorms in many parts of the state over the next 24 hours.

Jaipur Meteorological Center Director Radheshyam Sharma said, "There is a possibility of thunderstorm with wind at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour in Jaipur, Sikar, Alwar, Nagaur, Jhunjhunu, Churu, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Dholpur, Karauli, Bundi, Kota, Baran and Jodhpur due to active Western Disturbance in Rajasthan in the next 24 hours. Along with strong wind, an alert has also been issued for rain. There is also a possibility of hailstorm at some places in Jaipur division." The weather will be clear from April 4, after which the mercury will start rising.

On Saturday till 8.30 a.m, Ajmer received around 22 mm rainfall, Alwar -- 13.8 mm, Jodhpur -- 12.2 mm and Sikar -- 8 mm.

In east Rajasthan, the lowest temperature was recorded in Sirohi at 13.9 degrees Celsius, and maximum was in Banasthali Tonk which was 35.1 degrees.

The western part of the state recorded minimum temperature in Sangria which was 14.6 degrees and maximum was in Barmer which was 33.7 degrees.
Ulan Bator, April 1 : Snow and snowstorms are lashing the central parts of Mongolia, including capital Ulan Bator and Tuv province, the country's weather monitoring agency said in a statement on Saturday.

Meanwhile, strong wind and dust storms are sweeping through eastern provinces and southern Gobi parts of the country, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

The unstable weather is expected to continue during this weekend, it said, urging the public, especially nomadic herders and drivers, to take extra precautions against possible disasters.

In addition, large parts of Mongolia are expected to see extreme cold weather in the coming days, the statement added.

It notied that overnight temperature is expected to drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius in western and northern provinces of the country.

Mongolia has a harsh continental climate as strong winds, snow and dust storms are common during the spring.
New Delhi, April 1 : A 21-year-old man was arrested from Delhi's Neb Sarai area after he was seen cutting a cake with an illegal pistol in a video which is viral on social media, an official said on Saturday.

In the video, a person is seen blowing out candles and later cutting a cake with the help of a pistol. The firecrackers were also bursting in the area.

The accused was identified as Aniket alias Anish, a resident of Sangam Vihar.

As per police record, Aniket is also previously found involved in a case registered at Malviya Nagar police station.

"Taking cognisance of a viral video on social media wherein a young man was cutting cake with a pistol, #DelhiPolice identified the accused and arrested him from Neb Sarai along with .315 bore country-made pistol & 2 live rounds. Case registered u/s 25 Arms Act," Delhi Police tweeted.

According to Chandan Chowdhary, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), on Thursday, an information was received regarding the video on social media in which one criminal was carrying an illegal weapon and roaming in the Sangam Vihar area.

"The location of the accused was zeroed down in Sangam Vihar, Neb Sarai and subsequently he was apprehended. One country-made pistol and two live cartridges were recovered from his possession," said the DCP.

"The accused admitted to shooting the video to gain popularity on social media and establish his identity among other criminals and to entice young boys," the DCP added.
April 01 : Palm Sunday is a Christian religious festival that commemorates the Biblical event of Christs arrival to the city of Jerusalem as King, or Mesiah on the back of a colt. It is known that the people of Jerusalem greeted their King, waving palm leaves and laying them on his path along with their cloaks, and shouting Hosanna! to celebrate his arrival.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy Week of Passion and is observed on the Sunday before Good Friday and Easter. This year, Palm Sunday falls on April 2nd, 2023.

As per the Christian scriptures, Jesus Christ arrived to Jerusalem along with his disciples and people celebrated the coming of the Mesiah. In the Book of Luke 19:41-44, it is said that Jesus stopped on his way, looked at the city, and wept for the destruction that is yet to come. He preaches that Good always comes with a price. The Holy Week that follows honors Passion- the sufferings, trials, deception, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Devotees attend special mass on Palm Sunday and hold palm leaves to represent this Biblical episode. They also move in processions around their church of worship as a symbol of their willingness to follow Christ.

Send and greet your loved ones on this Holy occasion with beautiful handpicked Palm Sunday Greeting Cards with Bible verses and special messages.

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So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!~ John 12:13

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When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? The crowds answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. ~ Matthew 21:10-11

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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ~ Zechariah 9:9

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Rejoice in the Lords arrival. May you have a blessed Palm Sunday

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Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!- Luke 19:38

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Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.- John 11:25

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May this Palm Sunday symbolize the arrival of Jesus into our lives.

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Our lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf of springtime.- Martin Luther

Image Source: Prokerala.com Wishing you a Happy Passion Sunday

May the Lord grace you and your family with his blessing on this Holy Palm Sunday

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May you enjoy the beauty of the spring on this Holy Palm Sunday

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Lift your hopes, and bow in prayers

For the Saviour will listen to you

Happy Palm Sunday

May joy and good health fill your lives

Have a wonderful Palm Sunday this year

Enjoy this auspicious time with loved ones in prayers and happiness

Read the Gospel and may glory shine upon you

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Keep the high spirits, sing Halleluiah and enjoy this day

Happy Passion Sunday

On this blessed day of enlightenment and hope

I wish you success and happiness always

Celebrate this Palm Sunday with joy and gratitude

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Count your blessings

Let go of your flaws and egos

May you be blessed abundantly on Palm Sunday

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Today on Palm Sunday

Get inspired to live better

Wishing you a blissful year of happiness this year

Image Source: Prokerala.com Say Halleluiah during the Holy Week

Let the beauty of palm leaves wrap your life in glory and peace

May your minds open to His love

Wishing you peace this Palm Sunday

Image Source: Prokerala.com Hope and peace on Palm Sunday

Spread cheer and hope

Lift your spirits

As you will be saved soon

May this Palm Sunday bring you life and joy

Image Source: Prokerala.com Enjoy His coming on Palm Sunday

Shout in praise and sing Halleluiah

Celebrate Palm Sunday with loved ones in joy

Image Source: Prokerala.com May your Palm Sunday be blassed

Be grateful for the Lords blessings that you have received

May you prayers be answered to the fullest

Happy Palm Sunday

Image Source: Prokerala.com Welcome the Saviour this Easter

Trust in the Lord, and be merry

For He will shower his blessings in abundance

Celebrate his joyful coming this Sunday

Wishing you a blessed Passion Sunday
Bengaluru, April 1 : The Karnataka unit of the Congress on Saturday slammed the state's ruling BJP government over the gang rape of a minor girl in a moving car in Bengaluru and claimed that the incident is the result of inefficiency of Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday said due to the inefficiency of the Home Minister, the state police department has derailed.

"The police's inactiveness during the phase of elections is dangerous. I request the Election Commission to monitor the functioning of the police department," he appealed.

The gang rape was carried out by four men on March 25. The victim hailed from the city's Koramangala area.

"The people have lost faith in the existence of a law and order system in the state," Siddaramaiah maintained.

He further said that the government was supposed to finish off anti-social elements and criminals. "Now, the common people are putting up with the results of giving a red carpet welcome to rowdy sheeters, murderers to the party and facilitating them." "When questioned about the collapse of the law and order system in the state, Jnanedra reacted strongly in the Assembly session. His inefficiency is the reason for all these atrocities," Siddaramaiah charged.

"The talk of people that the Home Minister is capable of making transfers as per the suggestion of a criminal is becoming true," he alleged.

Meanwhile, probe into the incident has revealed that the accused persons had approached the girl in the pretext of moral policing.

They questioned her while she was sitting with a male friend in a park late in the night.

Initially, one of the accused questioned her and later returned with his friends and kidnapped the girl.

The accused are aged between 23 and 24 years. Two are office boys, one is an electrician and another works with a BPO.

The accused hailed from the same place. The victim is shocked and under treatment following the incident.

She is cooperating with the investigating officers.

The victim had told the police that she was gang raped throughout the night in the moving car.

She lodged a complaint on March 26.
Mandya : , April 1 (IANS) Opposition leader Siddaramaiah's son, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, stated on Saturday that he will not contest in the upcoming assembly elections.

Yathindra, Congress MLA from Varuna constituency, had represented the same constituency in the 2018 assembly elections. But, this time Siddaramaiah is contesting from Varuna constituency and there was curiosity on which seat Yathindra would contest.

"I won't contest from any constituencies. I have started campaigning for my father Siddaramaiah since January. The Varuna constituency does not belong to any individual. I have not sacrificed my seat for my father. The voters own the constituency," he explained.

This is the last election of my father and people of Varuna constituency wanted him to contest, he said.

Yathindra had won with a margin of more than 45,000 votes from Varuna constituency. He has earned a good name for himself in the constituency for being polite and reciprocal. Yathindra is a doctor by profession.

Sources explained that, since Siddaramaiah will be busy with campaigning across the state, his son had taken charge of ensuring his victory from Varuna constituency.

Siddaramaiah is the contender for chief minister's post and Congress insiders explain that his own party leaders, who were sidelined during his tenure, are waiting to take revenge on him by ensuring his defeat in the elections.

The sources say that Siddaramaiah ensured the defeat of G. Parameshwara from Koratagere constituency to eliminate him from the race for the post of chief minister in 2018. Similarly, Siddaramaiah had taken a tough stand on state party President D.K. Shivakumar and did not include him in the cabinet for a long time. Presently, he is vying with him for the post of chief minister. Considering various factors, Siddaramaiah's team is taking no chances and selecting the safe seat for him. However, political circles say that anything can happen in Varuna constituency.
When plants are stressed, they sound like popcorn. Imagine bubble wrap being popped. That is what a team of Israeli scientists found after performing a series of experiments; not only that, but their sound profile varies, depending on their plight  whether they need water, have a stem cut or are infected by a virus. The researchers were also able to distinguish between the sound waves of a tomato plant, of tobacco and a cactus. So, does this mean that plants actually speak? Are they trying to communicate? No. The explanation is much simpler and it has to do with basic physics.

Plants respond to changes in the environment, especially if they cause them stress. They lose their greenness, their leaves droop and they wither. Recent research has also shown that they can communicate chemically, by releasing volatile substances when attacked by insects. In 2019, a team led by the biologist and mathematician Lilach Hadany from the Tel Aviv University, in Israel, also found that flowers increased their nectar sugar concentration a few minutes after hearing the buzz of pollinators. Now, Hadany and her colleagues have discovered that they also make sounds that contain information.

The experiments began in a soundproof room where they placed dozens of tomato and tobacco plants. Because they had never been heard before, they assumed that if they made sounds, they must be in parts of the spectrum that humans cannot perceive; with this in mind, they put the subjects of study near ultrasound microphones, capable of recording sound waves with a frequency between 20 and 250 kilohertz (an adult human rarely hears beyond 16 kHz). Some of them were left without water for five days and others had some stems cut off. For comparison, they also left some alone.

"Any system of pipes that transports a fluid generates sounds and that does not mean that a water pipe is trying to communicate with anyone" Carlos Vicient, Centro de Investigacion en Agrigenomica

The results, published in the scientific journal Cell, show that the unstressed plants emitted on average one sound per hour, while the dry ones increased their noise to 35 per hour in the case of tomato plants and 11 per hour in that of tobacco. In those that were cut, the sounds were 25 and 15 per hour, respectively. One notable detail is that the tomato plants increased the number of sounds as the days without water passed; but then, when dehydration threatened their lives, they slowed down until they stopped emitting them altogether. With these first data, the researchers designed an algorithm and repeated the experiments in a greenhouse, a more realistic environment. Their artificial intelligence was able to detect which ones were making sounds, how many and what type of stressor was causing them.

In this study we solve a very old scientific controversy: we prove that plants emit sounds, says Hadany. Our findings suggest that the world around us is full of plant sounds and that they contain information, for example, about water scarcity or about injuries. We assume that the sounds emitted in nature are detected by nearby creatures, such as bats, rodents, various insects and possibly other plants as well.

The scientists placed ultrasonic microphones at various distances from tomato plants (pictured), tobacco, corn, grapevines, nettles and cacti. Ohad Lewin-Epstein

The phenomenon is not limited to tomato and tobacco. The researchers repeated their experiments with corn, wheat, nettles and cacti, and they all made sounds. In addition, they found that they also emitted them when they were infected with the tobacco mosaic virus, a pest of Solanaceae plants. Some of the ultrasound waves were picked up by microphones up to 16 feet away. The Israeli scientists also saw that in the woodiest plants, such as the almond tree or the grapevine, the sound was practically imperceptible.

The authors of the study are not sure about the reason behind this. The bark might be interfering, or perhaps they emit sounds at other frequencies, speculates Hadany, acknowledging the need to study the matter further. They are also not entirely clear on how these sounds are produced. The theory of a plant consciousness that some defend is ruled out, as there is nothing akin to a brain or a nervous system in the plant kingdom. So why do plants produce ultrasound? The researchers suggest that it could be due to the formation and bursting of air bubbles in the plants vascular system, in a phenomenon known as cavitation.

"Our findings suggest that the world around us is full of plant sounds and that these sounds contain information." Lilach Hadany, Universidad de Tel Aviv

Carlos Vicient, a researcher at the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (Spain) who reviewed Hadanys study, explains cavitation: It is a dysfunction that occurs in the water-conducting vessels of plants (or in any other kind of conduit) when they are subjected to some type of water stress. The water columns break and air bubbles appear. This process can generate sounds. He immediately clarifies: The fact that a plant emits sounds doesnt mean that it is communicating with its neighbors. Any pipe system that transports a fluid generates sounds; that doesnt mean that a water pipe is trying to communicate with anyone.

Jose Blanca, professor of genetics at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), knows the history and genetics of tomatoes very well, and he agrees with Vicient. The sounds seem to be due to something very mundane; fluids moving through tubes. In other words, no plant intelligence or deliberate communication here, he points out. The authors mention a series of possible ecological implications: That there are species, mice for example, which take advantage of these sounds in some way. But this is completely speculative; they havent carried out any experiments or observations in this regard, explains Blanca.

Hadany explains: We have no idea about the intention, and we dont even know if the sounds are used for communication. Now we are studying the responses of animals and plants, which could give us clues about this. She adds: It must be taken into account that even if there is no intention and the sounds are emitted passively, they contain information, so natural selection could be acting on the organisms for which plant stress is relevant, favoring listening and response to sound. But this is entirely theoretical for now.

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Thiruvananthapuram, April 1 : Even as the ruling LDF in Kerala on Saturday celebrated its second anniversary of retaining power in the 2021 Assembly polls, the Opposition staged a protest observing it as black day.

Leading the protest, Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan said that Kerala has become the most debt-trapped state due to the "misrule" of Vijayan.

"Despite Rs 5,000 crore burden passed on to the people by the state government, Chief Minister Vijayan is on a celebration mode by coming out with advertisements to celebrate the anniversary. The people are being burdened with an additional Rs two on fuel products starting Saturday which will lead to an all round price hike," said Satheesan.

Petrol in Mahe (part of Puducherry) which is sandwiched between Kannur and Kozhikode district is cheaper by Rs 15 per litre, while diesel is cheaper by Rs 13 as compared to Kerala.

"The Vijayan government has become a dismal failure as it's unable to collect taxes. Vijayan should come clean on the role of his intervention in giving succour to the Chit fund business owned by Gokulam Gopalan. The state treasury has gone dry and no payments above Rs five lakhs were being paid. Things are in a total mess," added Satheesan.

Meanwhile, Vijayan has come out with numerous advertisements in the media as part of the second anniversary celebrations saying his government has put its best foot forward in the building of a 'new Kerala'.
Seoul, April 1 : K-pop suburban BTS' member J-Hope will join the South Korean Army as an active duty soldier, the band's agency said Saturday.

"J-Hope will be enlisting in the Army as an active-duty soldier to fulfill his mandatory military service," BigHit Music said on Weverse, a K-pop fan community platform, reports Yonhap, a news agency.

It, however, said there will be no separate event for fans on the day of his enlistment.

The date and location of the military unit where the K-pop star will be serving were not disclosed.

The agency urged fans to refrain from visiting the site to prevent safety accidents caused by overcrowding.

Last month, the member said during a live broadcast on the same platform that the date for his enlistment was already fixed but did not provide details.

He will become the second member of BTS to enroll in the military, following the oldest member, Jin, who began his military service in December.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years.

The 29-year-old released 'On The Street' featuring American rapper and producer J. Cole, on March 3. The solo track topped the iTunes Top Songs charts of 80 territories around the world and debuted at No. 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
New Delhi, April 1 : In the wake of another rise in Covid-19 cases in several countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended booster vaccination for the elderly and other vulnerable groups.

The updated recommendation, issued this week, came after a meeting of WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).

It revised the roadmap for prioritising the use of Covid vaccines, to reflect the impact of Omicron and high population-level immunity due to infection and vaccination.

"Updated to reflect that much of the population is either vaccinated or previously infected with Covid, or both, the revised roadmap re-emphasises the importance of vaccinating those still at-risk of severe disease, mostly older adults and those with underlying conditions, including with additional boosters," said SAGE Chair Dr Hanna Nohynek, in a statement.

The revised roadmap outlines three priority-use groups for Covid vaccination: high, medium, and low.

These priority groups are principally based on risk of severe disease and death, and consider vaccine performance, cost-effectiveness, programmatic factors and community acceptance.

The high priority group includes older adults; younger adults with significant comorbidities (e.g. diabetes and heart disease); people with immunocompromising conditions (e.g. people living with HIV and transplant recipients), including children aged six months and older; pregnant persons; and frontline health workers.

For the high priority group, SAGE recommends an additional booster of either 6 or 12 months after the last dose, with the timeframe depending on factors such as age and immunocompromising conditions.

Importantly, the WHO also said that all the Covid vaccine recommendations are time-limited, and should be applied only for the current epidemiological scenario only.

Thus, the recommendations for "the additional booster should not be seen as for continued annual Covid vaccine boosters," the global health body said.

"Countries should consider their specific context in deciding whether to continue vaccinating low risk groups, like healthy children and adolescents, while not compromising the routine vaccines that are so crucial for the health and well-being of this age group," Nohynek said.

Meanwhile, India on Saturday logged 2,994 new Covid infections, and the number of active cases increased to 16,354, according to Union health ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 5,30,876 with nine deaths -- two each from Delhi, Karnataka and Punjab; one from Gujarat; and two were reconciled by Kerala.
Kathmandu, April 1 : If everything goes as per plans, Indias NHPC will begin development of 480 megawatt Phukot Karnali Hydroelectric Project in Nepal.

According to some Nepali media reports, the Kathmandu government has decided to develop the project jointly with NHPC India and Vidhyut Utpadan Company Limited (VUCL), an undertaking of the government.

Surya Rijal, managing director of the company, said that the company has decided that 51 per cent of the project will be invested by NHPC and 49 per cent by the Power Generation Company.

"Our discussion has been going on for a year. The board had passed this decision earlier too. However, we couldn't make the decision. It should be approved by the Council of Ministers as well," he said.

Officials said that if negotiations will complete, it is likely that during the visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prachanda, to India, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed for the joint development of the project.

According to Rijal, this decision will be implemented only after the approval of the cabinet.

"We will send this decision to the Ministry of Energy very soon. We do not know when the ministry will take it to the cabinet and when it will be approved," he said.

According to him, NHPC had proposed to invest in Phukot Karnali in December last year.

Now NHPC has emerged as a key player in Nepal's energy sector.

NHPC Limited had signed an MOU with Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to develop the 750 MW West Seti and 450 MW SR-6 hydroelectric projects in Nepal in August last year.

The construction of the 480 megawatt Phukot Karnali hydropower project, for which a detailed study report (DPR) has been prepared, has not yet progressed.

The construction of the main structure has not been started for two years due to the inability to raise investment for the project, which is in a state of preparation and construction.

If approved by the Council of Ministers, a joint venture investment agreement will be signed with NHPC. In the feasibility study, it is mentioned that the project will cost Rs 92.3 billion and can be completed within five years of the start of construction.

The 480 MW electricity generated from here will be sold in India. The electricity of this project will be taken to India through the Karnali Corridor transmission line.

The National Transmission Grid Company has signed an agreement with the Indian company Kalpatru to construct a 400 kV transmission line in the Karnali Corridor.

India has also been entrusted with the construction of 900 MW Arun-III. Arun-IV of 490 MW, Lower Arun of 679 MW has also been entrusted by the Indian company.

According to the joint vision letter on energy cooperation between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in March last year, the Ministry said that the Phukot Karnali semi-reservoir project is going forward with the joint investment of government-owned organisations of both the countries. It is mentioned in the draft that NHPC will have to manage the market of the electricity generated from the project and the loan required to build the project on behalf of the promoter company.

If Nepal wants to consume the electricity of the project by itself, it will have the right to buy it. The project's electricity will be exported only when Nepal does not consume it.

It is proposed to capitalise expenses incurred in the project's license expenses, study and access road in the company the authority's share investment will be opened to build the project.
Patna, April 1 : A day after violence erupted in Sasaram and Nalanda, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday claimed that these are well-planned conspiracies to disturb the peace.

"The authorities are looking into every matter and the truth will come out soon," he stated.

"We have never seen any such incidents in Bihar. Why is it happening now? Some people have deliberately conspired wrong things to disturb peace. I have given directions to the authorities to probe the incidents from every angle and find out the culprits. We will not tolerate any such incident in Bihar," Kumar said.

When asked about the law and order situation deteriorating in Bihar, Nitish Kumar said that there is no issue of law and order in Bihar. It is a painful incident.

Reacting to the cancellation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally in Sasaram, Kumar said that he is the home minister of the country and he can go anywhere. "Why would we have any objection," he said.

"If Amit Shah is coming or not is his decision. I have knowledge about it. I want to ensure that there is no law and order problem in Bihar. Everything will be investigated," Kumar said.

"We learnt about the Nalanda incident at 6 p.m. on Friday. Soon, we have directed authorities to investigate the incident," he said.

Meanwhile, Neeraj Kumar, JD-U MLC and party's chief spokesperson sharply reacted to the statement of Bihar BJP President Samrat Chaudhary and asked him to reveal the identity of BJP workers with phone numbers who were being attacked by bomb in Sasaram.

Earlier, Samrat Chaudhary claimed that due to failure of state government, violence erupted in Sasaram. Hence, BJP cancelled the event of Amit Shah as section 144 has been imposed there.
New Delhi, April 1 : A 54-year-old man was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel in South Delhis Safdarjung Enclave area, a senior police official said on Saturday, adding that a murder case has been lodged in connection.

The deceased was identified as Deepak Sethi, a resident of Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.

The Safdarjang Enclave police station received a PCR call at 12,49 p.m. on Friday regarding the death of a person in Baljeet Lodge.

A team immediately rushed to the spot, the police said.

"During initial investigation, it was revealed that Deepak had checked into the hotel at 8.50 p.m. on Thursday along with a woman. However, the woman had left around midnight," the official said..

"Deepak was found dead the next morning with froth coming out of his mouth and some stains in pillow. He had consumed liquor in the room too. The deceased had no stable job for the past 7-8 years and was doing commission work.

"In view of the unnatural death in suspicious circumstances, a case of murder has been registered and investigation is underway," the official added.
New Delhi, April 1 : On the completion of investigation in the Kanjhawala case, in which a 20-year-old woman was killed after being dragged for several kilometers by a car, the Delhi Police on Saturday filed a 800-page charge sheet against seven accused.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal of the Rohini Court has posted the matter for consideration of the final report on April 13.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the police to conclude its investigation and file a charge sheet on Saturday.

"During the course of investigation, seven men were arrested and upon its completion, a charge sheet of around 800 pages was prepared with around 120 witnesses," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer), Harendra Singh said.

The police said, "On the basis of the material and evidence collected during the investigation, to the best of capabilities, sufficient material has come on record to prosecute the accused." Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mithun, and Manoj Mittal have all been booked for murder, according to the charge sheet. Amit Khanna and Ashutosh were also booked in accordance with the Motor Vehicles Act's rules.

It said all the accused were booked for criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, harbouring offender, common intention and false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person.

Amit Khanna has been charged with additional offences by the Delhi Police for reckless driving and causing hurt by endangering their lives or personal safety.

Initially, the case was registered under Sections 279 and 304 of the IPC but later, police had added section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code in the matter.

On January 21, the Rohini court had dismissed Deepak Khanna's bail plea.

Earlier, two other accused, Ankush and Ashutosh, were granted bail.

Anjali died an agonising death on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 in the Kanjhawala area after her scooty was hit by the car and her clothes had gotten entangled in one of its wheels, which led to her being dragged for a considerable distance.
Guwahati, April 1 : After clinching the Masterchef India 2023 title, 26-year-old Assam boy Nayanjyoti Saikia returned to his hometown in Tinsukia on Saturday, where he was accorded a warm welcome.

The Masterchef title winner was taken from Dibrugarh's Mohanbari airport to his Gobindopur village through a grand procession.

People in his locality received him with huge enthusiasm and traditional Bihu dance was performed.

Saikia said, "I am speechless. So many people have supported me, nothing is sufficient to thank them." He also said that this trophy might inspire other boys to become chefs in their career.

Nayanjyoti Saikia was declared the winner of the cooking reality show Masterchef India 2023 on Friday after successfully completing a number of challenges in the grand finale. He also received a golden chef coat in addition to prize money totaling Rs 25 lakh.

The first runner-up of the competition was also from Assam - Santa Sarmah. Mumbai's Suvarna Bagul finished as the second runner-up on MasterChef India 2023. Both of them were awarded Rs 5 lakh cash prize.

In the grand finale, chef Sanjeev Kapoor was present along with celebrity chefs Vikas Khanna, Ranveer Brar, and Garima Arora. Kapoor tasked the three winners with creating a "signature three-course meal" that represented their identity.

With his plate, Nayanjyoti chose to symbolise his hometown of Tinsukia. He served Assamese-style duck as the main course, curry crab as starters, and mixed berry sorbet as dessert.
Washington, April 1 : Former US President Donald Trump called on his supporters to rally round him and protest nationwide as he expects to be arrested coming Tuesday in anticipation of an indictment from a New York jury of a Manhattan court on the years-long investigation into a hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the AG's tax fraud case.

"Protest, take our nation back," Trump said. Referring to himself in a social media post, he said the "leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested Tuesday next week. But he did not detail the reasons for his possible arraignment and arrest. However, Trump's legal team said, following his social post, that they had not received any notifications so far from the prosecutors.

Meetings after meetings have been held through the week between state and federal law enforcement agencies in New York City on the preparations' to be made for security ahead of a possible indictment of Trump, media reports said adding the US was already on the edge fearing a repeat of the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill.

Trump has been pushing his team to get his base riled up in the belief that the indictment would give him considerable political leverage, CNN said in a report.

Any indictment of Trump, who has already announced his 2024 re-election is expected to change the political narrative around a controversial politician, considered a divisive figure by political strategists.

As Trump has an elaborate history of civil litigation, both before and after his presidency in 2016 to 2023, any criminal charge against him would dramatically alter his legal woes even as he works against odds within the GOP (The Republican Party) to recapture the White House in a 3rd time bid.

Meanwhile, CNN says another witness is expected to testify on Monday before the grand jury investigating the hush money payments, the cornerstone of New York District Attorney Alan Bragg's base for arranging the former president. Whether this witness would be the last in this case occurred during the 2016 pre-polls when Trump allegedly paid off adult star Stormy Daniels in his reportedly stormy affair with her remains to be seen. Republicans say this is a fabricated case.

Trump's legal team is now behind the scenes preparing for the steps to be taken should the former president be indicted. Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Trump, later said the former president had based his claims on press reports.

"No one tells us anything which is very frustrating. President Trump is basing his response on press reports," Tacopina said in a statement to CNN. He also said he did not expect a former president to be handcuffed behind his back to do a perp walk, though Trump has told his advisors such an act would protect him as a martyr in a stupendous drama before the media and cameras across the nation.

A Trump spokesperson said while the former president has not received any notification from the Manhattan DA's Office on any possible indictment, he was only "rightfully highlighting his innocence" in his post.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, tweeted on Saturday any potential indictment of Trump would be "an outrageous abuse of power" from the NY DA's office.

Mike Pence, vice president under Trump, endorsed McCarthy's statement saying: "Well, like many Americans, I'm just - I'm taken aback." He told Breitbart News in a radio interview that the Manhattan district attorney's investigation "reeks" of "political persecution." The DA's Office refused to comment. Trump reportedly told his advisors that the NY DA Alan Bragg hates him.

Media reports in the US claim that Trumps' call for a protest seems like history replaying the January 6 action of the ex-President to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election declaring Joe Biden as President that culminated in the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Some of Trump's advisers have urged him in private to call off his appeal for protest as they feared that the optics of a mass protest in the streets of Manhattan could spiral out of control repeating the 2021 insurrection.

Meanwhile Bragg said in an email to staff on Saturday that his office will "not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York."
Hyderabad, April 1 : In a clear indication of her intentions to unseat the ruling BRS party in Telangana, YSR Telangana Party chief Y.S. Sharmila on Saturday reached out to both sides of the opposition spectrum in the state.

Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has been on the warpath against Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

On Saturday, Sharmila called up and had individual talks with state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, and state Congress chief Revanth Reddy.

During her telephonic conversations with the two opposition party leaders, Sharmila sought their cooperation in fighting the unemployment problem plaguing the state.

She proposed that a concerted strategy is necessary to achieve this goal.

Sharmila also suggested that the three parties give a call for a march to Pragati Bhavan which is K. Chandrasekhar Rao's residence.

Opposition unity is crucial to defeat KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, she told them.

"... opposition parties will not survive in Telangana if they do not unite against the BRS," she added.

Both the Opposition party leaders have responded positively to Sharmila's overture.

YSRTP sources said that Bandi Sanjay has assured full cooperation in the matter of unemployed youths, and agreed to meet Sharmila in the near future to discuss.

While Congress leader Revanth Reddy said that the time has come for opposition parties to join hands, he reportedly told her that a decision will be taken after due discussion within the Congress party.
Since classical Greece, much has been written about the creative process. It is thought to have three phases. The first requires dedication and effort: the future musician, writer, architect or scientist studies their craft for days, months or years. They are then in a position to respond to the following stage, the moment illumination, when the idea appears. The third stage is also laborious: bringing the idea into existence.

The first and third phases are usually within the reach of any committed person. But between them is the magical moment, which makes the difference between a craftsman and an artist, a normal person and a genius. It is the moment of inspiration. That instant does not require time or effort, but a spark. What went through Archimedes mind when he was floating in the baths of Syracuse and shouted his famous Eureka, which sent him running naked through the streets of the city? The mathematician Henri Poincare explained how, after working intensely on the problem of Fuchs functions with no success, he went out for a walk. Suddenly, when he was no longer thinking about the problem, he saw the solution. This story repeats itself over and over: it is said that Isaac Newton was resting under an apple tree when he saw a piece of fruit fall. That lucky moment changed the course of science and humanity. What is the secret behind it?

One day, when I was teaching at the Barcelona School of Architecture, a troubled student asked me for a meeting. I only have two weeks left to hand in my final project, she said with a broken voice and wet eyes, and I cant think of anything. Maybe this is not my career, even though I like it. I understand, I told her; I will give you some advice that you may not be able to follow. Its spring, the weather is magnificent, the summer heat is beginning to show. Pack your suitcase, remember your bathing suit and one of your favorite novels, take a train to Sitges and stay at a guest house near the sea. Forget the problem for the first week. Enjoy it. The second, if everything goes as I hope, you will use it to work on your project. She looked at me silently, eyes wide. Its amazing how some students trust their teachers so much that theyre able to accept seemingly crazy ideas, I thought. The last train leaves at eight, she told me. She turned around and I watched her leave, determined to put the plan into action.

Two days later, someone knocked on my office door. It was her. But arent you in Sitges? No, she answered. I just came back. The day after I arrived, yesterday, I was lying in the sun on the beach after swimming, and the idea occurred to me. It came to me so clear and complete that I filled my notebook with hand-drawn sketches. Are here. Tonight I will start drawing the plans.

What happened here? Something obvious. In the creative process, the first and third phases require intense work: time and effort. But the moment of inspiration, the crucial moment of epiphany, demands the opposite: oblivion, relaxation, half-sleep. Sometimes mathematics comes to our aid to explain situations that we believe to be magical. One day I discovered that the intersection of two curves, a convex one that represents the brains judgment capacity, and the concave one that represents the imagination capacity, intersect at the half-sleep point. At that point, the mathematical product of the two curves, which represents creative capacity, shows a maximum. It corresponds to a brain frequency of about 10 cycles per second (the so-called alpha rhythm) and, as the curve shows, this is the point of maximum creative efficiency, the state of inspiration. Thats why Archimedes was floating in the baths, Newton resting under the apple tree and my student lying on the hot sand. Effort is useless here. Quite the contrary: we must flee from it and throw ourselves into laziness. That is the state in which ideas appear.

The problem is that we dont always have a hot spring, a beach or an apple tree close at hand. In a rushed, anxious world, is there any way to place the mind in that state of maximum creative efficiency? Can I use a simple technique to place my organism in the state of low brain vibrations that Archimedes was in when he shouted Eureka? Dali had an answer: after drinking my coffee and before falling asleep after dinner, he kept the teaspoon in his hand. When it hit the ground, it woke him up. The image that crossed his mind at that moment is usually optimal. He devised that trap to catch ideas.

Inspiration is about achieving a partial disconnection of consciousness and ensuring that memory, which is not static but kinetic, mixes the data on its own. But there are other ways. Some were already known by ancient cultures, without the modern enlightened man taking notice of them. Trust in the gods, for example. The gods, in almost all ancient cultures, are considered the supreme creators, the inventors of all things. They grant creative capacity to some mortals as a gift. Naturally, all these are just metaphors, but they hide an explanation of the creative process. To understand the gods, one must begin by paying attention to an ancient oriental technique: the vibration of the vocal cords. The sound that we emit when pronouncing a word (significant) is related to an image (meaning) that reflexively comes to occupy the mental screen of our consciousness. But if I manage to make a meaningless sound say, om my conscious attention seeks the corresponding image, but cant find it because there isnt one. Om is a word with no meaning. And what happens then? My conscience finds a blank screen and remains in a dead end. That is to say, it leaves a free field for my kinetic memory to generate images and ideas.

But what does this have to do with the gods? Prayer, which in all civilizations is understood as a way of addressing the gods, follows exactly the same path. The words are usually banal: meaningless vibration of vocal cords, blank screens of consciousness, freedom of creative memory to generate encounters among the data it contains. Nothing mysterious. Prayer is nothing more than a simple and ancient technique to obtain solutions to human problems. And the satisfied prayer affirms like Homer: God has enlightened me. Metaphors that use poetic language to explain a simple and very real physiological process: our memory is capable of generating images and ideas if the pressure of consciousness is lifted. And if we pray in a well-designed temple like so many Gothic churches the result is even more tangible. Certain architecture is designed to facilitate the favor of the gods. The temples are nothing but creativity laboratories, but the enlightened man has decided to abandon them. A regrettable waste.

How to have an epiphany

Other methods to achieve revelations do not require going to church. Jorge Luis Borges devised his own strategy: he pretended to be another writer, who he called Almotasin. For him, the release of conscience consisted of abandoning responsibility for the writing, leaving his creative memory free to give free rein to his occurrences. Borgess trick diverting his own personality towards a fictitious author led me to propose one of my students favorite exercises in the Theory of Invention course. It was called A Divergent Day. Often, our routine is the biggest enemy of creativity. The trick was to leave the self behind. The exercise consisted of becoming an invented character for 24 hours. That day, they did not go to their usual jobs, they dressed differently, they ate different foods for breakfast and lunch, they rented a room and slept in another city, they changed their names and studied another topic. For most of the students, this was a long day, full of exciting adventures, encounters and unforeseen situations. It showed them that the world we live in can be different, starting with ourselves. The ideas that suddenly occur to the invented character surprise the real me, because they would be unthinkable under normal conditions.

The eureka moment comes to meet us when we leave routine. The explanation is simple: we have an inaccurate idea of what our memory is and how it works. According to the Oxford Dictionary, memory is a file from which we can extract data to display it on the mental screen of consciousness (recollection). But here the Dictionary misses something crucial, because our memory is not a static file, like a library, but rather a kinetic one: its data is in perpetual motion, boiling and colliding and recombining to generate new images and ideas. In my opinion, we can establish an analogy with Albert Einsteins kinetic theory of matter the particles of every material body are in perpetual motion and their average speed determines their temperature by proposing a kinetic theory of memory. Like particles, data in memory moves, collides and combines. It occurs on its own, without requiring the help of conscience, which acts solely as a spectator and judge. We can therefore say that our memory has a temperature. The higher it is, the greater the agitation of the data it contains. This agitation of memory is controlled, like a thermostat, by conscious activity. Consciousness and memory form a self-regulating, cybernetic system, like a horse and its rider. Memory is the engine of the process, but it is governed by conscious activity, which acts by cooling off the combinatory capacity of memory. So, if we want memory to generate ideas or images, consciousness must be reduced. This was the case when Archimedes floated in the pool or when Poincare took his walk. Like the string that pulls the kite, consciousness directs the process, but it must allow enough slack for wit to take flight.

That is why the methods to achieve creative efficiency propose tricks to place the brain frequency in an alpha state of relaxed consciousness. We must remain vigilant though, because if consciousness decreases excessively, we fall asleep. With the tension completely eliminated, the kite flies without control, creating unpredictable images (dreams). The optimal creative state is therefore that of a slightly reduced consciousness, which allows an oscillating tug of war over memory. The ways to achieve it act first on our physical organism and, secondly, on our brain frequencies. My friend Popon Basal, an excellent cellist, told me that his teacher, the great Mstislav Rostropovich, confessed to him one day his little secret: he always carried a rosemary branch in his jacket pocket. Before performing, he inhaled its aroma.

Carlos Garcia-Delgado (Calatayud, 1944) holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and is an architect. His latest book is 'El yo creativo' (Arpa, 2022), with which he was a finalist for the Anagrama Essay Prize.

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Jammu, April 1 : Alert Border Security Force (BSF) troops fired at a suspected Pakistani drone in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district on Saturday.

A BSF spokesman said that a blinking light of a "suspected" drone was observed around 12.15 a.m. on the international border in Ramnagar area of Samba district.

"Alert troops fired towards the blinking light after which the drone was forced to return," a BSF spokesman said.

The spokesman added that over two dozen rounds were fired at the drone but it managed to return to the Pakistan side of the border.

A massive search operation is going on in the area to find out whether any narcotics or weapons were air-dropped by the drone during its flight on the Indian side of the international border.
Kolkata, April 1 : The ugly spat between the members of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and representatives of the local administration and members of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR), which started at Tiljala in Kolkata on Friday, continued at Gazole in Malda district on Saturday.

The NCPCR team is on a field visit in West Bengal to inspect cases of minor abuse.

On March 18, a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped inside her school premises by three local men. The NCPCR team led by the commission's chairman Priyank Kanoongo reached Gazole on Saturday for the purpose of field inspection into the case.

Somewhere around the same time, a team of WBCPCR led by its chairperson Sudeshna Roy also reached the spot, and the two sides got engaged in a heated exchange of words.

Kanoongo alleged that the process of field inspection was disrupted by the WBCPCR team, which reportedly created hindrances for them to speak to the members of the victim's family in private.

"The incident happened 10 days back, but the members of WBCPCR couldn't take out time to meet the members of the victim's family. Now when we are here, they have also arrived to disrupt the process of our investigation. We are supposed to get state protection since our visit was informed to the state administration from beforehand. But we are not getting that," Kanoongo told mediapersons.

However, Sudeshna Roy refuted the allegations and claimed that her team went there to cooperate with the central team.

"Both the teams are supposed to work together. But it seems that the visiting team members are trying to hide something and hence they are objecting to our presence," she said.

Irked by the ongoing spat, the victim's mother minor told mediapersons that at a time when she is looking for justice for her daughter who is still in trauma, such ugly spats are just adding to her pains.

"The unfortunate incident that happened with my daughter has started taking political colours now. This is something we cannot afford to take at this point of crisis," she said.

On Friday evening, Kanungo had alleged that when he went to the Tiljala police station in Kolkata in connection with the 'human sacrifice' of a seven-year-old girl by her neighbour, he was harassed and assaulted by the officer-in-charge of the police station, Biswak Mukherjee.

He also alleged that when he along with NCPCR secretary Rupali Bandopadhyay reached the residence of the victim, Roy stopped them from having a free interaction with the family members.
New Delhi, April 1 : Procurement of goods and services from government portal Government e Marketplace(GeM) has crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore mark in the financial year 2022-2023.

Terming it a remarkable achievement, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted the role of GeM as a digital tool in the public and national interest.

GeM is a symbol of the speed with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the country forward through modern technology, said the Minister.

"I am confident that GeM will grow faster, the future is very bright. I would like to appeal to more and more vendors to join GeM so that they too get a chance to participate in the government's procurement process," he said.

After the GeM portal was launched, business worth about Rs 400 crore was done, and in the second year, GeM did business of about Rs 5,800 crore. The business through GeM has grown from around Rs 35,000 crore two years ago and tripled last year to Rs 1,06,000, the Minister informed. Growing to Rs 2 lakh crore in five years shows that this experiment of the Prime Minister has been successful, he further stated.

The Minister also mentioned that India has crossed total exports of 750 billion dollars for the financial year 2022-23 and the final figure is expected to cross 765 billion dollars.

The G20 Trade and Investment Working Group Meeting, held in Mumbai recently, also saw positive discussions, he informed.

The Union Minister expressed that India has got the Presidency of the G-20 under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, and it is a great opportunity to showcase the achievements of the rapidly developing 'New India' to the world.

Speaking about the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 released in the national capital on Friday, he said that this has been welcomed by industry and trade bodies.

A sense of stability is reflected in the foreign trade policy, he added.

GeM, an online platform for public procurement in India, was launched on August 9, 2016 with the objective of creating an inclusive, efficient, and transparent platform for the buyers and sellers to carry out procurement activities in a fair and competitive manner.
Aizawl, April 1 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that connectivity projects comprising road, rail and air worth Rs 1.76 lakh crore would be completed by 2025 in the northeastern region.

Inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of 11 projects worth Rs 2,500 crore in Mizoram, the Home Minister said that the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project is said to be the most significant project that India has undertaken in Myanmar.

The Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project was jointly undertaken by India and Myanmar to create a multi-modal mode of transport for shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar as well as to the northeastern region of India through Myanmar.

Shah said that budgetary allocation under PM-DevINE (Prime Minister's Development Initiative for North East Region) has been increased by 276 per cent.

"Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister in India who visited 53 times in the northeastern region in the past nine years while the central ministers visited 432 times in the region to take forward the development of the region," the Home Minister said adding that development of the region is Modi government's one of the priority sectors.

He said that with the surrender of 8,000 militants of different extremist outfits and signing of various accords, violent activities have been reduced to a large extent in the region.

Shah inaugurated the Assam Rifles' new battalion headquarters at Zokhawsang, which is 15 km away from Aizawl city.

The Home Minister laid the foundation stones for several infrastructural projects, including a smart city project, Aizawl Bypass roads and several roadway projects for Aizawl, Champhai and Mamit districts.

He also laid foundation stone for Rs 193 crore Laldenga Cultural Centre, to be built on the northern side of Assam Rifles ground in the heart of the state capital.

Laldenga, who was the founder of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), spearheaded a cessationist movement for two decades between 1966 and 1986 and was the first chief minister of Mizoram after it attained statehood in 1987.

According to officials, Assam Rifles, which has been guarding Mizoram's 510 km border with Myanmar, has two bases in Aizawl, one at Zodin and the other at Khatla.

The battalion headquarters at Zodin has been shifted to Zokhawsang.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said that with the laying of the foundation of Laldenga Cultural Centre and shifting of the Assam Rifles battalion headquarters, the aspiration of the MNF in particular and people of Mizoram in general has come to a reality.

Relocation of the Assam Rifles from the heart of Aizawl city has been one of the major commitments of the MNF since the early 1990s.

The demand for shifting of the Assam Rifles was first raised by Laldenga in 1988 after the central paramilitary force killed seven civilians in a clash.

The relocation was also one of the important promises of the MNF in the last Assembly polls held in November 2018.

In February 2019, the Union Home Ministry directed the Assam Rifles to shift its battalion headquarters to Zokhawsang by May 31 of that year.

However, it was delayed due to various reasons.
Kochi, April 1 : Visitors are not allowed into the Bengaluru-based Archana Hande's installation 'My Kottige' - demon temple, put up for display at the Fort Kochi Aspinwall House.

The viewers are instead guided into the work of art through pipes, small doors, and windows fitted at various places on the walls of the room.

Take a look and one can see scraps, including kitchen utensils like knives and scoops and things like iron boxes and shovels, laid out aesthetically.

What inspired Hande to create an artwork from discarded materials in daily life is the wisdom she received from her grandmother that "Kalu-Kudka will save you from all harm and evil".

Kalu-Kudka means drink-drunk ghost. This personal god, lovingly called KK by the artist, has got a temple of its own. That is a major component of the artwork by Archana.

Her work also gives a hint of an 'evil eye'.

In South Indian architecture, there are certain modifications done to constructions to evade the spell cast by 'evil eyes'.

Blocking vision using sheets or panels with holes in them is one such modification. Another is placing stone window frames to peep in secretly and erecting columns to hide behind.

"Through the installation 'My Kottige', which brings together the demon temple and the modifications to stop the evil eye, a modern demon temple meant for an urban society has been raised," said Hande.

"The objective is the creation of a demon temple, a place of worship that protects contemporary society from the evil eyes of cast, creed, and gender disparity. The discarded old substances made of iron have been picked up from the workplaces of those involved in physical labour. They talk about supremacy and authoritarianism. Being cast out, thrown away, or discarded is contemporaneous. The fact that iron objects from bygone days are all now rusty brings out different levels of meanings," said Hande.
Los Angeles, April 1 : The 'Star Wars' actor John Boyega has recalled being "blown away" by the script for his social injustice bank heist film 'Breaking'.

The actor played real-life depressed US Marine Corps veteran Brian Brown-Easley in the 2022 movie, who calmly walked into a Wells Fargo branch in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2017, reports 'Female First UK'.

He then threatened to set off the bomb that he claimed was in his backpack unless he was paid $892. He was owed in disability benefits that had been brutally cut off in a bureaucratic move which plunged him into poverty.

Boyega told NME about loving the script, co-written by the film's first-time feature director Abi Damaris Corbin with British dramatist Kwame Kwei-Armah: "I read it; I was blown away by it. I read it as if I was watching the movie. I liked the complication and the duality of his character. So much going on: the PTSD he's going through; not having access to his daughter." 'Female First UK' further states that Boyega also loved that Easley was a movie and comics nerd, and was jokey and gentle - completely at odds with the man trying to pull off his desperately sad bank heist.

Easley was shot in the head with a single bullet by Cobb County Police Department Officer Dennis Ponte, a sniper on the force with a military past. He had been hiding in the woods and had let his commanders know he had a clean shot.
Chandigarh, April 2: Deputy Superintendent of Police (retd) Jaswant Singhs confessional statement in the Mohali trial court seems to reveal the contents of the much talked about sealed drug reports that are lying with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The statement of the DSP who turned approver in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act (NDPS Act) case registered against inspector (substantial rank head constable) Inderjit Singh on June 12, 2017, exposes the police-smuggler nexus in the illicit drug trafficking in Punjab.

The statement is bound to have direct bearing on the three drug reports submitted by the SIT that were opened and forwarded to the Punjab government for action recently.

A strong effort is afoot in the court of Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ), Mohali, Sandeep Singla, to thwart the opening of the confessional statement of Jaswant Singh recorded before a judicial magistrate under section 164 of CrPc. Advocate Terminder Singh, counsel for accused inspector Inderjit Singh, who is in jail and advocate Amarjit Singh Sukhija, representing accused ASI Ajaib Singh who is out on bail, moved an application in May 2022. They prayed that the approver's statement may not be opened.

Before the ASJ gives his decision on the issue on the next date of hearing, DSP Jaswant Singh spoke exclusively to indianarrative.com to disclose how the then SSP Tarn Taran, Rajjit Singh Hundal (now AIG NRI cell) and the main accused inspector were allegedly linked inextricably together in the illicit drug racket.

He explained that ad hoc inspector Inderjit Singh with substantial rank of a 'hawaldar' (head constable) was not eligible to register an FIR or investigate a case under the NDPS Act. As per the Act an officer not below the rank of a regular Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) could register or investigate a drug case. But the SSP Rajjit Singh posted his friend Inderjit as SHO, CIA police station, Tarn Taran and allowed him to register FIRs under the NDPS Act.

"I pointed out to the SSP that this was illegal and the prosecution will lose cases in courts as Inderjit was not even a regular ASI but Rajjit admonished me and told me to 'mind your business," he recalled.

The DSP said three drug smuggling cases registered at the Sarhali police station under the Tarn Taran police district fell flat in a trial court with the judges noting that the IO (investigating officer i.e. Inderjit Singh) was not competent to register an FIR or to investigate a drug case under the NDPS Act. The accused smugglers from whom large quantities (commercial quantities) of heroin ('Chitta') were recovered got acquitted by courts.

"On the directions of the SSP, I used to sign documents of the drug seizures in the capacity of a gazetted officer, as required under the NDPS Act. This landed me in trouble as I was also made a co-accused in the FIR number 1 of 2017, registered at the Special Task Force (STF) police station, Mohali," he laments.

ADGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu, after taking over as Punjab's STF chief, decided to review the performance of police and success rate of NDPS cases in courts. He found that Tarn Taran SSP Rajjit Singh Hundal was getting the drug cases investigated by a head constable Inderjit in violation of the NDPS Act. Inderjit was arrested. As much as 4 kgs of 'chitta', 3 kgs of smack, 2 AK 47 rifles, a revolver, a pistol and large quantities of live cartridges were recovered from his residence.

STF sources disclose that during interrogation, accused Inderjit alleged that SSP Rajjit Singh Hundal was his partner in crime. It came out that he used to manipulate the 'challan' (chargesheet) before submitting it in the trial court after striking a deal with the arrested smugglers. The actual evidence used to be tampered. Instead of 'chitta' some other intoxicant used to be sent for forensic lab testing and registration numbers of smugglers' vehicles used to be wrongly mentioned to weaken the case and help the accused.

Sources also revealed that when inspector Inderjit Singh arrested a smuggler with large quantities of heroin, he would show much less quantity of recovered drugs. The misappropriated quantity of drugs would then be sold-off in the open market through a team of hired peddlers spread throughout Punjab.

Replying to a question, DSP Jaswant Singh said that he met senior officers to explain his conduct and offered to turn approver to help the prosecution. Under the NDPS Act, the state government is empowered and, not the court, to accept and make an accused an approver ('sarkari gawah').

ASJ Sandeep Singla, on March 21, 2023 heard the arguments of the counsel for accused opposing opening of DSP Jaswant Singh's sealed confessional statement and is expected to issue an order on the next date.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Chandigarh, April 1 : Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday closed eight toll plazas in the state, saving Rs 10.12 lakh of the commoners daily.

Addressing a gathering after closing the toll plaza at Kiratpur Sahib-Nangal-Una road, the Chief Minister said these toll plazas have been illegally looting the people in connivance with the previous governments.

The Chief Minister said stopping loot of the common man in these toll plazas was the priority of his government. He said he had raised these issues in the Lok Sabha and "now when he has got the opportunity to serve the people, he is closing these tolls barriers".

Mann said these roads will be taken over by the PWD and timely repair, widening and strengthening of these roads will be ensured.

The Chief Minister said the era of 'roads on rent' has ended in the state. He said the Congress and the Akalis had connived with the toll plaza agencies to extend largesse to them by blatantly ignoring their all misdeeds.
Bhopal, April 1 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a veiled attack on the opposition Congress accusing it of 'attempting' to tarnish his image. He said the attempt of deteriorating his image is being made since 2014 after the people of India elected him as Prime Minister.

Modi made the remarks in Bhopal where he flagged off 11th semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train at Rani Kamlapati Railway Station during his day-long visit to the city. It is the first Vande Bharat Express for Madhya Pradesh, which will run between Bhopal and New Delhi.

"Some people have taken pledge to ruin my image, and they have been making these attempts since 2014. Some of them are doing it within the country, while some are supporting these people from outside. But, the people of this country are my 'suraksha chakra' (security cover)," Modi said.

The Prime Minister appealed people not to fall into their fake trap and support the development vision of his government.

Modi's vailed attack on Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi came as the latter has questioned the relationship between him (Modi) and business tycoon Gautam Adani.

The Prime Minister went on saying that his opponents (Congress and Rahul Gandhi) were attacking on him with a new tacit everyday. "But, I would urge people of Madhya Pradesh to continue your support for the development vision and not to fall under false trap. Madhya Pradesh has a crucial role in the development of the country," Modi made this appeal to the people of Madhya Pradesh where the assembly elections are due this year.

Meanwhile, he also slammed the Congress for not upgrading India's railway connectivity despite being in the power for several decades. He said the Indian Railway used to get only Rs 600 crore budget before 2014, which now has increased up to Rs 13,000 crore.

"This is the basic difference between the Congress and the BJP governments. After Independence, we have got a setup model of Indian Railway, and it needed upgradation. However, previous governments focused only on keeping happy one family (indicated towards Gandhi family)," Modi added.

While gifting first Vande Bharat train to people of Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi said that, perhaps it would be first time in the history of India that one Prime Minister visited at the same Railway station twice within a short period of time. Notably, one of the two railway stations in Bhopal - 'Habibganj' was redeveloped with world class amenities and it was renamed after Gond Queen Rani Kamlapati in November 2021 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kolkata, April 1 : The West Bengal Council of Higher Education has sent letters to the vice chancellors of different state universities seeking their opinion about the feasibility of implementing the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 in the state.

Sources from the West Bengal education department said that in the letters to the vice chancellors, they have been asked to state clearly whether the universities are prepared to implement the National Education Policy by the next academic year.

"The vice-chancellors have also been asked to give their opinion about alternatives in case they are not ready to implement it by the next academic year. The suggestions of the vice- chancellors have been sought on effective implementation of the policies in the state," a senior official from the education department said.

The education department has formed a six- member committee to review the process of implementation of the policy in the state. The committee is headed by the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University, Suranjan Das.

Initially, the West Bengal government was against implementing the NEP in the state and instead, it said, it would have its own state education policy.

However, later, the state government backtracked from that decision because of some "practical problems" in implementing it and agreed to implement the NEP.

The Union government approved the NEP in July 2020, replacing the earlier National Education Policy-1986.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 22:50 | World, All, Japan

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is expected to demand the prompt release of a Japanese businessman detained on suspicion of espionage when he meets his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Beijing on Sunday.

Hayashi will also touch on China's assertive claims to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Japanese government officials.

The meeting will be the first held in person between the countries' foreign ministers since November 2020. Hayashi arrived in the Chinese capital Saturday for a two-day trip.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at a November meeting in Bangkok to arrange Hayashi's visit. Qin, who succeeded Wang Yi in late December, also extended an invitation to Hayashi during phone talks in February.

The first visit to China by a Japanese foreign minister since December 2019 comes as Japan has been urging the release of the senior employee of Japanese pharmaceutical firm Astellas Pharma Inc., detained since last month on suspicion of engaging in spying activities.

Japan has also requested that he be allowed to meet consular officials.

On Saturday evening, Hayashi met with representatives of Japanese businesses operating in China and told them he will make a stern protest to Beijing over the Astellas Pharma employee's detention and strongly demand his early release, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Hayashi also said he will continue to urge China to ensure a transparent, predictable and fair business environment and pledged support for Japanese firms' operations in China, the ministry added.

The two Asian powers have long been at odds over the Senkakus, called Diaoyu by China. Over the years, Tokyo has lodged protests with Beijing over repeated intrusions by Chinese coast guard vessels into Japanese waters around the uninhabited islets.

China's relations with the United States have also been tense in the East China Sea over Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that Beijing insists must be eventually unified with the mainland.

China has called for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine while maintaining friendly ties with Moscow, while Japan, as this year's president of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, is in a position to maintain pressure on Russia to end the war.

Xi visited Moscow in March where he said China will actively promote peace talks in hopes of ending the Ukraine war.

The G-7 grouping imposed economic sanctions on Moscow, but China has not joined the coordinated efforts. Hayashi will continue to urge Beijing to "take responsible actions" as a regional power, the officials said.

Japan's decision on Friday to tighten export controls for advanced chip manufacturing equipment could leave China less amenable to Tokyo's requests as the measure is seen as an effort to hinder Beijing's development of cutting-edge semiconductors that could be used for military purposes.

Still, the two countries said Friday their defense authorities set up a hotline designed to build confidence and prevent unexpected military contingencies.

Related coverage:

Businessman detention shocks Japan firms in China, dampens sentiment

Japan to end negative COVID test requirement for visitors from China

Majority of foreign press harassed in China anti-lockdown rallies
New Delhi, April 1 : A 53-year-old lawyer was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants in Delhi's Dwarka area on Saturday, an official said.

The official said that the deceased was identified as Virender Kumar, a resident of Sector-12, Dwarka and his security was withdrawn after following due procedure in 2021.

According to police, an information was received on Saturday around 4:20 p.m. regarding an incident of murder near Sector-1 in Dwarka following which a police team rushed to the spot.

"On spot, it was revealed that two bike-borne assailants shot Virender, an advocate by profession, in a Maruti Ertiga car," said a senior police official.

"Prima facie, the angle of personal enmity is suspected to be the reason. However, multiple teams are working on the case from all angles," said the official, adding that further investigation is going on.
Chennai, April 1 : The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has urged the Union government to roll back the hike in toll charges. PMK President and former Union minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, said that the charges have been hiked at 29 toll plazas in Tamil Nadu and that this was not acceptable.

In a statement on Saturday, Anbumani Ramadoss, who is also the Rajya Sabha MP, said, "It is unacceptable to hike toll rates without improving national highways. The hike is condemnable." He said that with the hike in toll prices from April 1, vehicles will have to pay Rs 1.51 per km extra and that this would lead to increase in prices of essential commodities.

Ramadoss said that Tamil Nadu had more than 10 per cent of toll plazas in the country and added that of the 6606 km of national highways, toll charges are collected for 5134 km in the state. The PMK leader said that this works to around 77 per cent and was almost four times higher than the national average of 20 per cent.

The former Union minister also recalled a statement by Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari who said that toll plazas would be rationalised to have one plaza for every 60 kilometers.

He said that Gadkari had promised to reduce the rates at nine toll plazas in Tamil Nadu by 40 per cent of the existing charges. He called upon the central government to roll back the increased hike rates of toll plazas that have come into effect from April 1.
Patna, April 1 : A man who killed a 12-year-old boy with an axe and climbed atop a high-tension electric pole after committing the crime was lynched by an angry mob in Patna district on Saturday.

The deceased man is believed to be mentally unstable. Following the incident, which took place in Punpun, tension is prevailing in the area. A large contingent of police has been posted in the area to prevent any untoward incident.

The incident took place near Allauddin Chawk under Punpun police station where the accused hacked to death a 12-year-old boy named Babban Singh, the son of Karu Singh, with an axe.

Some local residents saw the man killing the minor boy and chased him. The man then ran from the spot and climbed atop a high-tension electric pole to save himself. But the angry mob pelted stone on him and eventually he fell down from the pole. The angry mob then lynched the man.

Though the police had reached the spot, they failed to save the man as they were outnumbered by the local people. The violent mob also pelted stones on the police team, injuring some cops.

Following the incident, Patna City SP (East) accompanied by senior officers reached the spot and restored normalcy.
Nagpur, April 1 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday put his weight behind the Supreme Court constituted 6-member committee, appointed by the Chief Justice of India to probe the alleged stock manipulation issue by the Adani Group, saying it would be more effective than the Joint Parliamentary Committee, (JPC) demanded by the Congress-led Opposition.

Justifying his stand, Pawar said: "It is a common sense that the JPC will have more members from the ruling party (BJP) since it has an overwhelming majority in Parliament. Hence, in terms of effect, the JPC would not be a balanced panel as against the Supreme Court appointed committee which has independent experts." On the controversy around Veer Savarkar, he said "at this juncture, it is not a national issue".

"Moreover, late Savarkar was more science-oriented with progressive thoughts. He built a temple in which he appointed a Dalit as a priest in Ratnagiri," he said, adding Savarkar also had a scientific stance on the cow slaughter issue.

Refusing to comment on clashes that took place at Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) in Maharashtra on the occasion of Ram Navami, he said "it would not be proper to debate on the matter, and now, the priority should be to establish normalcy there".

Asked about the possibility of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha along with the Maharashtra Assembly in 2024, the former Union Minister said "there was no basis for such speculations".

On the Opposition unity, he said that all non-BJP parties held a meeting recently and are likely to meet soon to speed up a joint alliance against the ruling BJP for the next general elections.

Pawar said another meeting is being convened within the next 10 to 12 days as per the convenience of other political parties to chalk out a strategy for the 2024 elections.
Bengaluru, April 1 : The Special Court for People's Representatives in Bengaluru on Saturday sent Karnataka BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa to 10-day judicial custody in connection with the bribe for tender case.

Justice Jayath Kumar issued the order after the Lokayukta sleuths produced the accused before the court.

Virupakshappa, who is the prime accused in the case, was arrested on March 27 and produced before the court the next day. The entire episode has caused embarrassment to the party ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections.

Virupakshappa's son Prashath Madal, a government official, was caught red-handed while receiving Rs 40 lakh bribe for allotment of procurement order of raw materials for the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL), a public sector unit.

The accused MLA was the Chairman of KSDL and his son was allegedly receiving bribes on behalf of his father.

The authorities had seized Rs 8.12 crore in cash, 1.6 kg gold from the residences of the accused BJP MLA and his son, who was arrested.
Kolkata, April 1 : An Enforcement Directorate (ED) counsel told a special court here on Saturday that real estate promoter Ayan Sil, who was arrested in connection with the multi-crore scam in recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal, had transferred hefty scam proceeds to the tune of Rs 26 crore to a highly influential person through an agent.

ED's counsel Phiroze Edulji told the court that Sil has confessed to transfering the scam proceeds during interrogation by the central agency.

He also said that the investigating officers suspect that this fund transfer was meant for a high-ranking government official associated with the education sector.

"The investigation so far has revealed that Sil collected about Rs 45 crore from around 1,000 candidates appearing for the recruitment examinations for teaching and non-teaching posts, a major portion of which was transferred to as many as 30 bank accounts in his name.

"The investigating officers have so far got information about 40 of his bank accounts, eight residential apartments, five premium vehicles, one petrol pump and one hotel. All these were fruits of the scam proceeds," Edulji submitted in the court.

Edulji also claimed that Sil was directly responsible for the tampering of the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets, through which candidates genuinely scoring higher marks were disqualified where "right option marks" in the OMR sheets by them were changed to "wrong option marks".

Sil's counsel moved the bail plea on behalf of his client and pleaded that he be released on bail under any condition. However, the court rejected the application and remanded the accused to judicial custody till April 11.
Chennai, April 1 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that it is now agreed during the negotiations of bilateral trade treaties that India has a better robust commercial system giving investors the confidence they need.

Inaugurating the renovated court premises of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench in Chennai, Sitharaman also said that vested interests are not allowed to game the debt resolution system in the country.

Sitharaman said the process of Resolution Professional (RP) and Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) getting vitiated and other points come into discussions whenever bilateral investment treaty negotiations happen with countries with whom India wants to ink an agreement.

The Finance Minister also said that investors gain greater confidence when the glitches are removed.

Negotiations now concede that India has a better robust system and is giving confidence to investors who are coming to the country, she remarked.

According to Sitharaman, corrective action has been taken in consultation with the judiciary when some 'interest' operates in decision making at the level of the RPs.

Sitharaman said there should be lots of exchange of views and suggestions from both the technical and judicial members so that the success of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is there and India becomes a lot more successful in the commercial activities, and investors don't have any hesitation.

On the filling up of vacancies, Sitharaman said there is some resentment about the benches not being filled fast - both judicial and technical members.

The government has taken the point very seriously and of late a lot of appointments have been made with full speed, Sitharaman said.
Chennai, April 1 : Tamil Nadu Water Works Minister and senior DMK leader S. Duraimurugan said on Saturday that the state government is not slowing down the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar river linking project.

Speaking on the floor of the Assembly, Duraimurugan said the government is keen that the project is swiftly completed.

The opposition AIADMK had told the House that the project has been slowed down since the DMK came to power. The minister in his response said that in the past two years, the speed of land acquisition for the project and digging of canals have been accelerated.

The minister said that in 2020, the then AIADMK government had allocated an amount of Rs 600 crore for the project, but only Rs 34.31 crore was spent and 71.6 acres of land was acquired for the project, and the balance amount returned to the government treasury that year itself.

Duraimurugan in his speech said the DMK government has allocated Rs 312 crore in the past two years and acquired 698.97 acres of land. He also said that the present government has made a provision to retain the unspent money in a deposit for further use towards land acquisition, instead of returning it to the government treasury by the end of the financial year.

The minister also said that further allocation of Rs 554.17 crore for land acquisition has been made by the DMK government for 2023-24.

He said during the previous AIADMK government, no digging of canal took place during 2020-21, adding that during the DMK rule, Rs 177.9 crore has been allocated in the past two years and 64 per cent of the targeted work has been completed.

He also said that an amount of Rs 111.52 crore has been allocated for digging of canal during the 2023-24 financial year.

There was uproar in the House when former minister C. Vijayabhaskar of the AIADMK said that it was former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who had allocated funds for the project and commenced work for it.

Duraimurugan confronted Vijayabhaskar by saying that the DMK government had commenced the construction of the barrage in Mayanur for the project when it was in power in 2009.
Chennai, April 1 : The Tamil Nadu Police on Saturday arrested a 35-year-old labourer, Ramesh Kumar, for posing nude before a 7-year-old girl.

The girl complained to her mother that when she had gone to a nearby shop to buy provisions, the accused posed nude before her and also invited her to his house. She complained that the accused had performed the same act a few days before as well.

The incident took place at Annur in Coimbatore district.

The mother of the girl immediately lodged a complaint with the all-woman police station in Mettupalayam. The police took Ramesh Kumar into custody on Saturday and charged him under the provisions of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offenses (POSCO) Act.

Kumar was produced before a judicial magistrate's court, which remanded him to judicial custody.
Patna, April 1 : Three persons were killed while five others injured in a shootout in Bihar's Madhubani district on Saturday, the police said.

According to the police, the incident took place in Sahorwa village over a property-related dispute between two groups.

The police said both groups had indulged in indiscriminate firing.

The deceased have been identified as Nawal Yadav, Prabhas Yadav and Bijli Devi.

The injured individuals have been admitted to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital. Of them, four are said to be in a serious condition.

Of the deceased, Nawal Yadav is the brother of Madhopur Panchayat Mukhiya Arvind Gumaita, while Bijli Devi is the Mukhiya's mother.

One person has been arrested in connection with the incident.

"The main accused has been arrested... an investigation is underway. We have deployed an adequate police force to restore peace," said Prabhat Kumar Sharma, DSP of Phulparas range of Madhubani.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 00:02 | All, Japan

Japan's Imperial Household Agency on Saturday established a formal press relations office to revamp its public outreach.

The launch comes after the agency in charge of the family's affairs struggled with scandals and sharp, often slanderous, online reaction over former princess Mako's engagement and 2021 marriage to her university sweetheart Kei Komuro.

The new office is expected to freshen its staid website, which has been the agency's only direct interface with the public, and consider other options, including using social media, to proactively share information about the imperial family.

Led by Maiko Fujiwara, 44, who formerly worked at the National Police Agency, the office can have up to 10 people. It will first start with nine, one of whom was hired from the private sector.

"We would like to ensure giving in a timely manner a fuller picture than in the past about imperial members' activities and personalities," Yasuhiko Nishimura, the head of the agency, has said.

A senior official at the agency has said that "proactively giving correct information would help counter bashing" of the imperial family, although it remains wary to introduce social media, fearing direct posts by imperial family members may prompt unexpected reactions.

While overseas royals like the British royal family use a variety of social media tools, the agency's website has consisted of Emperor Naruhito and other working family members' schedules, images and speeches at events.

The limited communication with the public has been blamed by pundits as a factor behind the media reports, which could be considered libelous, over the Komuros, leaving former princess Mako with a stress-related illness.

Both her father, Crown Prince Fumihito, and her uncle, Emperor Naruhito, subsequently sought the media's understanding of the need for accurate information about their family and building trust with the public.

"It is also important to communicate information about the imperial family at the right time and in a manner that is easy to understand in order to build relationships of trust with the public through repeated exchanges," the emperor said on the occasion of his birthday on Feb. 23.

The crown prince also did not rule out the possibility of imperial family members turning to social media during a press conference before his birthday last year.

Related coverage:

Husband of ex-Japan princess Mako registered as lawyer in N.Y.

Japan emperor expresses sorrow at world suffering, prays for peace

FOCUS: Japan's imperial family eyeing social media to stay in touch
Agartala, April 1 : The Tripura Police on Saturday destroyed 7,999 kg ganja (marijuana) and 49,860 highly-addictive Yaba tablets worth Rs 4.2 crore, officials said.

A police spokesman said the high-level drug disposal committee headed by IGP R. Gopala Krishna Rao destroyed the drugs at Radhakishore Nagar in West Tripura.

The drugs were seized during the last few months by various law enforcement agencies from different parts of the state.

Meanwhile, in the past one week, the Border Security Force (BSF) and Tripura Police seized large quantities of ganja worth around Rs 11 crore and arrested two persons in this connection.

Chief Minister Manik Saha, who also holds the home portfolio, during a discussion on drugs menace in the just-concluded Assembly session, had said that the state government has taken a zero tolerance policy against drugs trade.

A BSF official said that the para-military troopers have tightened its vigil along Tripura's 856 km international border with Bangladesh to curb trans-border smuggling of various contrabands.
Patna, April 1 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday criticised the state Chief Secretary Amir Subhani for vacant posts of members in the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

An event was held in Patna to celebrate the 75th anniversary of BPSC where Kumar was the chief guest.

He has also directed the Chief Secretary to sit with his Principal Secretary Deepak Kumar and resolve the problem.

"You have given speech and work which is all right but we are expecting more from you. Why the posts are vacant in BPSC and why you have not taken steps to fill it. Please sit with the principal secretary of CMO Deepak Ji and sort the issue," the Chief Minister said.

BPSC has six members in the selection committee and three of the posts are vacant now.

The Chief Minister has also asked the officials to keep an eye on those candidates whose marks in the Mains examination are high and are getting low marks in the interview.

"It has been 75 years of BPSC and we want to expand its reach more. We also want that all the work related to it would go in a smooth possible manner. If anything needs improvement, inform us, we will address the issues immediately. We have given responsibility to senior (Retd) IAS officers for the smooth functioning of BPSC," Kumar said.
Patna, April 2 : After the arrival of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Patna, BJP leader and MLC Sanjay Mayukh has alleged that the Bihar government deliberately stopped Shah's rally in Sasaram.

The Union Home Minister is currently staying in Hotel Maurya, Patna, and will hold a meeting with senior BJP leaders.

"The state government has imposed section 144 in Sasaram. Our state party president Samrat Chaudhary has clearly said that the state government has stopped Amit Shah's rally in Sasaram. How could it be possible if section 144 is imposed there? We have scheduled a programme at Nawada and it will be held tomorrow," Mayukh said.

Opposition leader Vijay Kumar Sinha said: "Communal tension was prevailing in Sasaram. When one of the BJP MLAs asked this question in the Assembly House, the state government did not clarify about the situation in Sasaram. It is a deliberate attempt of the state government to stop the rally." Meanwhile, Lalan Singh, the JD-U National President, said: "BJP realised that people would not come to Sasaram. Hence, BJP suddenly cancelled the rally. The situation is normal in Sasaram and who is stopping him (Amit Shah). He is the Home Minister of the country and we would welcome him in Bihar. At the same time, I am also saying that BJP will not open its account in Bihar in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The Mahagathbandhan will win all 40 seats."
Patna, April 2 : A day after violence erupted during Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, some people were involved in looting shops in Bihar's Nalanda, an official said.

The accused were caught on CCTV cameras looting in the shops located at Nala road area under Laheri police station. They looted the shops in the garb of violence in the affected area.

The traders shut their shops in fear of violence and anti-social elements looted the valuables in the garb of violence.

Shashank Subhankar, the Nalanda District Magistrate, said: "We have detained 27 persons for questioning. Besides, CCTV cameras are being scanned to identify the offenders. The process of analysing the loss is currently underway and the victims will be compensated." "We are analysing the loss of properties in the district. The victims will be compensated after the analysis. The number of private and government properties were damaged in the violence," he added.

"We have initiated flag marches in the affected area and deployed adequate forces there to prevent any untoward incidents," said Ashok Mishra, Nalanda Superintendent of Police.

Sasaram Superintendent of Police, Vineet Kumar, said: "The district police have deployed adequate security forces in the affected area. We also did the flag march. Some rumours were also spread that people are migrating from the district which is absolutely false. We are keeping an eye on those people who are spreading lies on social media."
Aden : , April 2 (IANS) Unidentified gunmen killed a senior military official of Yemen's government forces in the country's southwestern province of Taiz, a security official told media.

"Two masked gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire and assassinated colonel Yasser Al-Hashidi in the Wadi Al-Qadi neighbourhood in the centre of Taiz province late on Friday night," the local security official said on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

Well-known for his active role in leading operations against the Houthi group in Yemen, Al-Hashidi served as the chief of operations for the third Border Guard Brigade affiliated with the pro-government forces, said the official.

The local security authorities have swiftly responded to the situation and have opened an investigation into the drive-by shooting incident, according to the official.

Assassinations have become more frequent in recent years as the conflict has dragged on, with various Yemeni warring parties targeting each other's military and political figures, Xinhua news agency reported.

Yemen has been embroiled in a devastating civil war since 2014, with the Houthi militia fighting against the internationally-recognised government and its allies, which include a Saudi Arabia-led coalition.

The UN has been pushing for a ceasefire and peace talks in Yemen to end the more than eight years of civil war which caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The conflict brought the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of collapse, leaving millions of people without access to adequate nutrition.
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The San Francisco employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against Global Security Management Agency, Inc., alleging the company violated the California Labor Code. The lawsuit against Global Security Management Agency, Inc. is currently pending in the Contra Costa County Superior Court, Case No. C23-00532. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

The Complaint further claims Global Security Management Agency, Inc. failed to reimburse employees for required business expenses. California Labor Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, Plaintiff and other California Class Members were allegedly required to use their personal cellular phones as a result of and in furtherance of their job duties.

The complaint further alleges Global Security Management Agency, Inc. restricted employees from unconstrained walks in which employees could not leave work premises during their rest period. The applicable California Wage Order requires employers to provide employees with off-duty rest periods, which the California Supreme Court defined as time during which an employee is relieved from all work related duties and free from employer control.

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Owner Shirley Wells believes Sweeten Creek Coffee's friendly baristas and relaxing environment contributed to the win. "Customers say that they love our coffee and friendly, personal service!

Locally owned Sweeten Creek Coffee has been named the Best Coffee House in Asheville, North Carolina.

In the second annual Best of Asheville contest, Asheville Media Group awarded 472 Gold and Silver Medals in 238 categories. Sweeten Creek Coffee won the Gold Medal for Best Coffee House.

Owner Shirley Wells expressed surprise and delight at winning the award. "I didnt even know we were competing! she said. A customer nominated us and encouraged everyone he knew to vote for us."

Wells opened Sweeten Creek Coffee only four years ago after learning how to open a coffee shop from award-winning Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea.

To get started, the companys coffee shop startup consulting team helped Wells with everything from choosing a winning location, designing her coffee shop and selecting equipment to training Wells and her team to prepare drinks and serve customers.

In addition, Customer Growth Rep Heather Syx continues to work with Wells to solve problems and grow her business.

"Crimson Cup has been a huge part of our success! Wells said. Not only do they provide us with great coffee and supplies, but Heather has helped greatly with the cost of goods sold and questions about running our shop."

Wells believes Sweeten Creek Coffee's friendly baristas and relaxing environment contributed to the win. "Customers say that they love our coffee and friendly, personal service!

Programmable customer buttons in Sweeten Creeks point-of-sale system allow baristas to record favorite drink orders for regular customers. As a result, customers enjoy fast, consistent drink preparation and pricing.

Customers get excited when we ask if they want a button, Wells said. Because the initial drink price is programmed into their button, they are protected from price increases.

The buttons are so popular that she bought wearable buttons for customers that say, I Have a Button! Sweeten Creek Coffee, Asheville, NC.

A pet-friendly policy and support for local animal shelters also drive Sweeten Creeks popularity, according to Wells.

We collect 50 cents for every dog cookie sold, and one hundred percent of the proceeds go to the local no-kill shelter, she said. We are very dog-friendly and give out free, broken dog biscuits. And belly rubs!

Wells invites everyone in Western North Carolinas Blue Ridge Mountains to discover why Sweeten Creek Coffee was named the best Asheville coffee shop.

Located at 330 Sweeten Creek Road, the shop serves Crimson Cups award-winning craft coffee and espresso drinks, nitro cold brew on tap, hot and iced teas, kombucha on tap, Italian sodas and hot chocolate. To complement the drinks, guests can choose from a wide selection of breakfast sandwiches, pastries, lunch sandwiches, pot pies, and quiche.

Sweeten Creek Coffee is open seven days a week. For the latest news, follow the shops Facebook and Instagram pages.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Founded in 1991, Crimson Cup is at the forefront of the coffee industry. Its attentive roasting, startup support and global partnerships are consciously designed for the greater good of communities around the world. Among other national recognitions, the company has earned 2020 and 2017 Good Food Awards, the 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Crimson Cup travels the world searching for the perfect cup  driven by meaningful relationships, honesty and a shared vision for the future. Its Friend2Farmer initiatives foster respect and decency through mutually beneficial collaboration across local and global communities.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, the company teaches entrepreneurs how to open and run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into coffee shop startup costs.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also owns several Crimson Cup Coffee Shops and a new CRIMSON retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
A compensation framework between news publishers and the tech platforms will help correct the current imbalance in the marketplace whereby Google and Meta have set the rules that everyone else must play by."

The News/Media Alliance applauds Senate Antitrust Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator John N. Kennedy (R-LA) for today reintroducing the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). The bill would provide digital journalism providers the ability to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google for fair compensation for the use of their valuable content. Currently, publishers do not have the ability to negotiate these deals on their own, as the dominant tech platforms capture the majority of U.S. digital ad revenue, leaving publishers with little to reinvest in the production of high-quality journalism. This follows in the wake of other countries successful compensation systems for publishers, with Australias Media Bargaining Code and European legislation leading the way and Canada and the UK expected to follow.

In response to the bill reintroduction in the Senate, News/Media Alliance Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Danielle Coffey said, The time is now to pass this critical legislation that will protect and sustain local journalism, now more important than ever to ensuring an informed society. Emerging technologies such as AI are making it even more clear the need for compensation when content creators may soon see even less return than what they receive today. The cost of inaction is simply too great to ignore any longer. We must ensure that the digital ecosystem returns value back to the people who deliver high-quality journalism we all rely on around the world.

Since 2018, the News/Media Alliance has been vocally advocating for such legislation in the U.S. A compensation framework between news publishers and the tech platforms will help correct the current imbalance in the marketplace whereby Google and Meta have set the rules that everyone else must play by, Coffey said.

Previously reintroduced in the 117th Congress (S. 673 and H.R. 1735), the Senate Judiciary Committee completed its bipartisan markup of the JCPA in September 2022. The bill received broad support, not only in Congress where it had 90 co-sponsors in the House and Senate (on both sides of the aisle), but also from over 300 consumer interest groups, unions, conservatives, advocacy groups and third-party organizations. In addition, nearly 24,000 individuals signed a Change.org petition for the bill and nearly 1,000 editorials in support of the JCPA have been published in newspapers in 48 states across the country. In a poll of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted in April 2022, 70 percent of Americans said they support Congress passing the JCPA.

The bill nearly passed into law in December when it was included in the NDAA legislation package. However, as it did in Australia just before the Media Bargaining Code passed there, Meta threatened to remove news from Facebook in the U.S. if the JCPA passed, further demonstrating their outsized power.

The JCPA has now been reintroduced in the 118th Congress to continue progressing forward.

Coffey added, We are grateful to Chair Klobuchar and Senator Kennedy for their commitment to quality journalism, and we look forward to working with them to ensure small and local news publishers receive fair compensation from the platforms for the valuable journalism they work tirelessly to provide. News publishers need a lifeline, and the JCPA is that lifeline.

More information on the bill can be found on the News/Media Alliance website at http://www.JCPABill.com.
From our IT systems and operational processes to our employee development and collaborative environment, we have equipped our workforce with the tools and resources they need to support their success.

Smith, a leading global distributor of semiconductors and electronic components, today announces that it was named to Comparablys lists for Best Sales Teams and Best Company Outlook, ranking #13 and #90, respectively. These recognitions are based exclusively on anonymous employee feedback on the Comparably website. This is the first time Smith has been named to either list.

The awards come after Smiths best year ever in 2022, during which the company earned $4.8 billion in total revenue and made significant investments in global expansion. Smith opened a new sales office in London and expanded its existing offices in Berlin, Cluj-Napoca, Guadalajara, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen. The company increased its workforce by 18 percent worldwide and continues to attract top talent for new career opportunities.

Smith has a tremendous infrastructure in place to drive our growth, said Jennifer Kabbara, Director of Global Sales at Smith. From our IT systems and operational processes to our employee development and collaborative environment, we have equipped our workforce with the tools and resources they need to support their success.

Smiths sales team members gave the company an A+ rating in 17 different categories, from leadership and outlook to diversity and environment.

Our people are Smiths most valuable asset, and our investments in our people are a key component of our success, said Jennifer. These investments help to foster growth, opportunity, and satisfaction among our employees, which in turn supports our recruitment and retention efforts.

The companys outlook ranked in the top five percent of nearly 1,500 similarly sized companies and received an A+ rating from Comparably. These scores reflect the positive sentiments shared among hundreds of anonymous reviews:

The culture is great, and the people are amazing.

I love my job, I love my team members, I love going to work every day to contribute to the companys success and growth!

I get to create new opportunities and turn it into results.

I dont feel stressed, and I come to work with pleasure.

I enjoy being challenged and provided opportunities for growth and learning, and Smith gives me that.

We are thrilled to be recognized once again by Comparably for our overwhelming employee satisfaction, said Jennifer. We look forward to continued opportunities to support our employees development and satisfaction.

About Smith

Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and automobiles. In 19 cities around the world, Smiths legion of employees communicates in 50 languages and dialects and buys and sells components 24 hours per day, generating global annual sales in excess of $4.8 billion in 2022. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. The support of Smiths flexible Intelligent DistributionTM model optimizes customers supply chains from beginning to end, including offering customized options for IT asset disposition that deliver maximum ROI, sustainability, and security. Smiths testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, and Singapore cover critical areas like quality management, counterfeit prevention, and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, offering real-time, global inventory and logistics visibility. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number seven among all global distributors. For more information, please visit http://www.smithweb.com or reach out to a Smith representative any time of day at +1 713.430.3000.

###
By George Galer, KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 09:26 | Feature, All, World, Japan

An 80-year-old artist in a small coastal community in California has completed a mural commemorating his city's relationship with its sister city in Japan that was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The mural will be unveiled on April 14 at the Kamome Festival in Crescent City. The festival celebrates the 10th anniversary of the discovery of a small barnacle-filled boat that washed ashore over two years after the disasters on the other side of the Pacific.

The mural depicts high waves from the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and the boat named the Kamome which helped forge the relationship with Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

The creator of the mural, Harley Munger, has been living in Crescent City since he was 6 years old. When Munger was a child, he would go down to Crescent City's beach to search for "ukidama," or old Japanese floats used for fishing.

"We've always had a connection because the current always had a connection," Munger says. The tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake reached the Californian city damaging piers and sinking dozens of boats.

Munger feels a personal connection with the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

While making the mural, Munger decided to create an identical one to send to Rikuzentakata. He hopes the murals will be "another symbol of friendship between the cities."

On March 11, 2011, a wide area of northeastern and eastern Japan was devastated and over 15,000 people died. In Rikuzentakata, over 1,500 lost their lives.

Two years later, the Kamome, a boat from Takata High School, washed up on Crescent City's South Beach. Students at Del Norte High School in the city took it upon themselves to clean the boat and help return it to its rightful owners, the marine science department of the Japanese school.

This gesture created a lasting bond between the two communities. Del Norte and Takata became sister schools in 2014 and Crescent City, along with Del Norte County, established a sister-city relationship with Rikuzentakata in 2018.

Bill Steven, 57, had the idea for his son and friends to clean and send Kamome back to Japan. He said another reason for the great relationship between the sister cities is the "many similarities," one of which is their shared history of tsunamis.

On March 28, 1964, in the early morning hours, what the University of Southern California Tsunami Research Center called the "largest and most destructive tsunami to ever strike the United States Pacific Coast" hit Crescent City.

Sybil Wakefield, 97, thought the commotion outside was just kids walking home from the movie theater. Like many residents, she did not fully realize what was happening, but what she saw the next morning was hard to forget. "It looked like the library had moved and cars were piled everywhere," she said.

The tsunami flooded their basement and destroyed the boiler, leaving her family without warm water for months.

Nearly 300 buildings were destroyed or had to be torn down because of the damage they sustained, devastating downtown Crescent City. But the worst damage was the 11 lives lost that day.

Memories of the 1964 tsunami have waned in Crescent City. But the story of the Kamome and the relationship with Rikuzentakata "reminds us of things we need to prepare for...(it) helps keep the awareness alive," Steven said.

Related coverage:

Japan marks 11 years since quake disaster, Fukushima crisis

Japan's Kishida visits areas hit by 2011 disaster for 1st time as PM

Baseball: Marines' Roki Sasaki thankful for support after 2011 disaster
The Abu Dhabi School of Government (ADSG), part of the Department of Government Support (DGS), has launched the Future Digital Leaders and Young Digital Leaders programmes, as part of the Strategic Track of the Abu Dhabi Digital Programme.

The programmes have been created in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA), the Abu Dhabi Global Market Academy (ADGMA), and the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The launch aligns with the Abu Dhabi School of Governments efforts to nurture and shape globally competitive talent that is qualified to lead the government of the future.

Equipping employees

The programmes aim to equip Abu Dhabi government employees with the essential skills and expertise to ensure their readiness for leadership in the digital field and enable them to play a leading role in contributing to Abu Dhabis digital transformation.

Government employees who participate in the Future Digital Leaders programme will gain the fundamental skills necessary to thrive in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. In addition to empowering them to become efficient digital leaders in their entity. On the other hand, the Young Digital Leaders programme serves as an exceptional opportunity for participants to develop their competencies in six domains of technology management, including critical thinking, system thinking, emerging technologies, radical innovation, organisational strategy, and leadership.

Dr Yasir Al Naqbi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi School of Government, said: These exceptional programmes will provide Abu Dhabi government employees with a unique opportunity to gain a comprehensive set of technical and practical skills that will empower them to make meaningful contributions in their entities and to excel in a technology-driven world, while also realising their professional potential as digital leaders.

Human capital needs

At ADSG, we are eager to develop world-class educational experiences for Abu Dhabi government employees in line with our ambition to foster a culture of development and excellence as we continue to anticipate and meet the human capital needs of the Abu Dhabi government, he added.

Dr Mohamed AbdelHameed Al Askar, Director General of ADDA, said: We want to enable Abu Dhabi governments young employees to become digital leaders. These transformational programmes will unlock their potential and map out their journey towards digital excellence. The Future Digital Leaders and Young Digital Leaders programmes present exceptional opportunities to develop their capabilities and ensure their readiness for a technology-driven tomorrow.

Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Global Market Academy said: These 6-month programmes will enable Nationals to develop as future and young digital leaders. At ADGMA, we are committed to supporting the development of our nation's knowledge-economy in alignment with the UAEs wise leaderships vision and will continue to play our part in contributing towards growing, upskilling and reskilling local talent.

ADSG is supporting the learning ecosystem of the emirates government by providing world-class educational opportunities to government employees, based on international best practices, and adapted to the needs of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.-- TradeArabia News Service
KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 00:01 | All, Japan

Japan on Saturday launched a new agency for overseeing child policies as the government under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida struggles to reverse the country's declining birthrate.

The Children and Families Agency, under the direct supervision of the prime minister, will tackle a wide range of challenges, including the perilously low birthrate, child abuse and poverty, as the "control tower" in compiling policies while eliminating sectionalism.

The agency, the first governmental body to be established after the Digital Agency in September 2021, brought together relevant departments from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry as well as the Cabinet Office. Combined with people from the private sector and local governments, the agency has around 430 officials.

Yumiko Watanabe, a senior bureaucrat of the welfare ministry, heads the agency.

Its launch comes at a time the number of babies born in the country last year fell to below 800,000 for the first time since record-keeping began in 1899.

Kishida has warned that Japan is "on the brink" of losing its social function against a backdrop of the rapidly falling birthrate.

Aside from tackling the birthrate problem, the new agency is also tasked with supporting pregnant women, children with disabilities and "young carers," or children who routinely look after their family members.

Among new measures, the agency plans to introduce a system of requiring a certificate of no criminal record for people assuming jobs linked to children in the wake of a series of sexual abuse cases by babysitters that came to light in recent years.

Although the agency has been designed to eliminate sectionalism among governmental organizations, school education -- a key area related to children -- will remain in the hands of the education ministry.

About 4.8 trillion yen ($36 billion) was allocated to the agency for the fiscal year starting April, but critics say it may be difficult to secure a sufficient budget for child policies in a stable manner.

Kishida has expressed willingness to "double" his administration's spending on child policies, but he has not specified its starting point or how to secure the increased amount, fueling speculation that the government will have to carry out tax hikes to finance the costs.

Related coverage:

Japan vows to boost child allowances to tackle falling birthrate

Japan targets 85% taking paternity leave in FY2030 to tackle low birthrate

Japan births hit all-time low in 2022, below 800,000 for 1st time
"My office looks like a place where a writer would work in a murder mystery, says Paul Rudnick, speaking via Zoom from his colorful and cluttered writing room in his apartment in Manhattans West Village. Its a little on the Gothic side and a little Dumbledore, and its got stacks of papers going back decades. As a writer, I like to have a lot of visual activity around me. I love the distraction. Some people have gotten so self-conscious about their backgrounds in video calls. They like things to be blank and untraceable, so I thought, well, Im going to give them full throttle here.

The versatile Rudnick has been writing at an impressive pace for decades, producing groundbreaking plays like the Obie Awardwinning Jeffrey, about life during the AIDS crisis; comedic screenplays (Sister Act, Addams Family Values, In & Out); and adult and YA novels. Rudnicks latest novel, Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, out in June from Atria, concerns a love affair between the wealthy son of a prominent conservative family and a nice, middle-class Jewish boy from New Jersey. The narrative follows their relationship over 50 years as they enjoy the freedom of gay life in 1970s Manhattan, cope with the AIDS epidemic, navigate homophobia, and witness the strides made by the LGBTQ movement.

History is one of the great subjects for any writer, and Farrell Covington is very much a work about history, Rudnick says. I would call it a comic epic. It has a huge central love story but its larger than that. One of the advantages of getting older is that you live through more, you have a certain authority. These are events and times Ive lived through and I know something about them. I didnt want to write a book of gay despair. I wanted something larger, more pleasurable in a way. The book was influenced by everything from Brideshead Revisited to The Great Gatsby. Its a big American story, one that I dont think has been told before, certainly not with a gay couple at the center.

The novel celebrates being gay, and its elegant, witty prose calls to mind Breakfast at Tiffanys, Auntie Mame, and the fiction of P.G. Wodehouse. The character Farrell Covington was inspired by a man Rudnick met on a train when he was in his late teens. This elegant man started giving me advice about my future, and no one had ever offered that to me before, Rudnick recalls. He had the single most dazzling piece of luggage Id ever seenit was this leather, custom-made case. Everything about him seemed stylish, smart, and fun, and I thought, I want to be where that can happen.

Rudnick was born in 1957 in New Jersey and raised in a tract house in the suburbs, a kid with opinions. I was probably insufferable because I was stubborn, he says. My parents had to put up with a lot. They were funny. Theres a tradition in Jewish families of humor as a balance and a resource. When youre part of a tradition thats suffered from so many pogroms and so much hate and death you better have a sense of humor, and that was really valued in my house. My mom and her sisters were hilarious. They were like the Marx brothers. I absorbed that as a kid.

After graduating from Yale in 1977 with a degree in drama, Rudnick moved to Manhattan and forged a path as a writer. His early plays include I Hate Hamlet, about a TV star who struggles to take on the role of Hamlet; The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, which presents scenes from the Bible from a gay perspective; and Jeffrey, a comedy that, according to Rudnick, tried to capture the insanity of the AIDS era, and that, for a time, no theater wanted to produce because of its subject matter.

AIDS was its own education, Rudnick says. All right, so this is what its like when 50 of your closest friends die and arent given a chance. Its a helpful way, in the most tragic sense, to learn to take nothing for granted. Dont sneer at tragedy or dismiss happiness.

Paul is a rare talent, says David Kuhn, co-CEO of Aevitas Creative Management, the agency that represents Rudnick. Hes known the author for over 30 years. People might not be aware of how significant his contribution to the culture has been. Between Jeffrey and In & Outa 1997 film starring Kevin Cline as a Midwestern teacher who questions his sexualityhe helped put gay stories and characters into the mainstream by leading with humor.

Peter Borland, Rudnicks editor, adds, Paul explores the uniqueness and specialness of gay life. Farrell Covington was the first novel I read in a long time that felt so appealing in its humanity and its affection for its characters. Its a book that made me happy, even though there are some very sad moments. Its about finding happiness and love and holding on to both.

Love abounds in Rudnicks work, and in his personal life, too, thanks to his relationship with his husband, a doctor whom Rudnick met at a nightclub in 1992. Hes the best man who ever lived! Rudnick gushes. He was immediately adored by my friends and family, many of whom asked for free medical advice and prescriptions. He was willing to supply one of those. Being with a writer isnt easy and hes adapted superbly. Its a New York love story.

Esmond Harmsworth, Rudnicks agent, says, Paul is an incredibly warm person, and he makes the most outrageous wisecracks. His voice on the page, thats exactly who Paul is. Hes had success in so many different art forms and so many areas of life, and hes totally sweet. Ive never heard him not be gracious. That sounds like an infomercial but he really is like that.

Having an amiable personality has served Rudnick well as a screenwriter. If you have a tendency toward anxiety youll drown in Hollywood, he says. He started writing scripts in the 80s after a chance meeting with producer Scott Rudin. I love it, but its a recipe for constant nervous breakdowns. You think, Oh my god, what do I do? Who do I please? When you write a novel youre hoping to please yourself and the reader, and theres a purity to that that I live for.

Rudnick hopes readers will love his new novel as much as he enjoyed writing it. If I ever had a manifesto, this book is it, he says. It about the possibility of human happiness. If you read it, I can almost guarantee youll have a good time.

Elaine Szewczyks writing has appeared in McSweeneys and other publications. Shes the author of the novel Im with Stupid.
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Manga Mania

Mangia, manga fans: last week was a big week for you. The latest volume in Tatsuya Endos Spy X Family series hit #1 on our overall bestseller list just before Wit Studio and CloverWorks announced the second season of its anime adaptationplus an original movie for good measure. The latest offering from Gege Akutamis Jujutsu Kaisen series and a deluxe edition of Kentaro Miuras Berserk series also hit our lists (#5 overall/#4 in trade paperback and #5 in hardcover fiction, respectively), as did the latest volume in Chugongs Solo Leveling Korean webcomic series.

Poverty Soars

I have a deep suspicion of theories of poverty that are just letting us off the hook. The progressives have them, and the conservatives have them, Matthew Desmond told PW in a recent profile. I want my writing to be read by policymakers. Policymakers or no, Desmond clearly has his readers. Poverty, by America, the latest by the author of 2017s Evictedwhich won a Pulitzer, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN/Galbraithhit #2 in hardcover nonfiction in its first week, with more than four times the sales of Evicted in its first week.

Howlin Wolf

The definitive epic poem of Old English literature remains hot even in 2023. Bea Wolf, a graphic novel reinterpretation from American cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and French cartoonist Boulet, follows Maria Dahvana Headleys 2020 translation of Beowulfitself coming after Headleys 2018 remixing of the myth in the novel The Mere Wifeselling 8,748 copies in its first week and landing at #8 on the hardcover fiction list. Our starred review called the book a truly fresh, inventive remix that privileges childhoods insular sensibilities alongside an unsettling truth: Time lingers for no kid. 

NEW & NOTABLE

COUNTDOWN

James Patterson and Brendan DuBois

#18 Overall,

#2 Hardcover Fiction

The second book in Patterson and DuBoiss Out of Sight series finds agent Amy Cornwall with only five days to save the world and four to save her family.

SMOLDER

Laurell K. Hamilton

#6 Hardcover Fiction

The latest from trailblazing supernatural romance and urban fantasy novelist Hamilton keeps her signature blend of supernatural action and erotically charged soap opera drama on simmer per PWs review.
Across traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories, an Indigenous Editors Association aims to shift the Canadian book industry. The IEA, founded on principles of Indigenous governance and place-based knowledge, incorporated in 2019. Now, with 40 established members and approximately 20 pending applications for membership, the organization is working to connect Indigenous editors, writers, and publishing consultants with job opportunities and to foster authentic Indigenous perspectives and representation.

IEA president Karon Shmon, a Metis educator, says she joined the IEA to provide support to Indigenous people connected to publishing, and to maintain Indigenous worldviews, perspectives, and ways of telling our stories. Shmon serves as the director of publishing at the Gabriel Dumont Institute, whose GDI Press promotes Metis culture and history: We recently distributed 1600 Michif language kits, free of charge, to every school, every library, and every Metis local in the province, Shmon said. We have made the effort to make Michif revitalization resources and to ensure our childrens books are dual translation in English and Michif. Her work with the IEA extends this preservation effort.

Momentum for the IEA gathered for more than a decade. The longer history goes back to the 2006 Anskohk Indigenous Literary Festival, explained Metis writer Rita Bouvier, the IEAs incoming president-elect and author of a beautiful rebellion (Thistledown Press). At that 2006 event, Saskatchewan Arts Board program consultant Joanne Gerber facilitated meetings among Indigenous book industry practitioners and public funding agencies. This led to the formation of the Indigenous Editors Circle, described by Bouvier as a professional learning community held in the summers of 2014, 2015, and 2017 with the late Greg Younging and other Indigenous leaders serving as faculty. (In partnership with Simon Fraser University, the IEA now hosts a May seminar called the Greg Younging Conversation.)

The IEA developed from the Indigenous Editors Circle, establishing a board of directorsknown as the Counciland a primarily volunteer staff. Unlike the Circle, which takes place as a weeklong summer seminar, the IEA operates and shares resources year-round. I am pleased that we have a flattened hierarchy and we rely on group leadership, Shmon said. I like to think we are flexible and responsive, so we will continue to offer professional development and networking opportunities. For example, when the Circle couldnt meet in person in summer 2021, the IEA developed a webinar series on topics the seminar likely would have covered, including sensitivity reading, substantive editing, emerging Indigenous editors, strategies for finding employment, and professional networking. Another webinar series is in the works.

IEA director Nadine Ryan, a citizen of the Shishalh Nation, became the associations first hired staffer in April 2022. The IEA had been volunteer-run until I started, and we still see ourselves as a fledgling organization, Ryan said, adding that they hope to hire again in the coming months. She now supports Schmon, Bouvier, and others on the Council, revising the bylaws and designing a website thats accessible for those with disabilities as well as those dealing with technological barriers in rural or otherwise remote environments.

Outreach will be essential in the coming years, Ryan said, starting with band offices and tribal councils and within the communities. Luckily, our council members are spread across Canada, so I see that as a huge advantage. Everyone can focus on a different province or territory and get the word out. In addition to outreach, another goal involves developing a membership policy, especially with the evolving controversy around Indigenous identity fraud, Ryan said. Although the IEA wants to reduce barriers to involvement, they are wary of non-Indigenous applicants and determined to create opportunities for exclusively Indigenous communities.

Responses have been positive. We've had so many people excited about the work, said Ryan. Publishers suggest job openings, which the IEA circulates in a member newsletter. The Editorial Freelancers Association and editorial consultancy Salt & Sage Books share their resources, and university presses in Canada and the U.S. are offering to consult on projects. We've even had some American publishing professionals want to join the organization, so we have a couple of American members already, Ryan said.

Incoming IEA president Bouvier looks forward to increasing, intentional growth for the IEA. Nurturing the foundations of who we are as an entity will be ongoing to ensure we are meeting the needs of our members, Bouvier said. We also understand that our vision and mandate is not something we can accomplish in isolation from the existing organizations in editing and publishing. We see ourselves working in tandem and sometimes in partnership with others involved in this industry.
With more than 40 million Spanish-speaking readers and language learners, according to the Census Bureau, the U.S. has the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, after Mexico, Spain, and Argentina. Whats more, if demographic trends continue, the Instituto Cervantes estimates that by 2060, 27.5% of the U.S. population will speak Spanish, which would make it the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. It therefore comes as no surprise that the U.S. market for Spanish-language books is growing. Accordingly, PW is now offering a quarterly spotlight on developments in that market. This will include discussions with authors, booksellers, librarians, publishers, and others in the value chain.

The U.S. market for Spanish-language titles is largely being driven by bilingual families, schools that offer dual-language classes, and libraries that service communities with large numbers of Spanish speakers. In addition, there are heritage-language customers who want to practice their Spanish, and language learners seeking cultural immersion.

Bilingual books have proven popular with children, parents, and students alike. In 2022, two new services, Enlingos and Curio, launched to cater to this audience, offering subscription boxes for bilingual and Spanish-language childrens books.

Historically, one of the most prolific and inclusive publishers of bilingual books is Star Bright Books in Cambridge, Mass. Founded in 1994 by Deborah Shine, a former bookseller and publisher from South Africa, the company offers more than 200 board and picture books in monolingual and bilingual editions covering 33 languages. After English, Spanish is most widely represented on the list, which includes 27 monolingual Spanish titles and 68 bilingual books.

There are some immigrant families that want books in their native language, while others want books they can read in their native language, while their child may only speak English, so they will also read to them in English, Shine says. It varies.

Accordingly, Star Bright often offers multiple editions of the same title, including English, Spanish, and bilingual versions. In our bilingual books, we always put the foreign text above the English translation, which is often different from how other publishers do it, says Shine, who is in her 90s and continues to run the company. English is always secondary to the foreign language in our books. Star Brights latest release is Arletis, Abuelo y el mensaje en la botella by Lea Aschkenas, illustrated Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. The picture book, which tells the true story of a young Cuban girl who strikes up an unlikely pen pal friendship with a Californian, is offered in English and in a Spanish translation by Lawrence Schimel, senior editor of Swiss publishing house NorthSouth Books. The book was written in English and then we had it translated, Shine says. It was a natural decision to publish it in Spanish, for the storys main character is Cuban and it is set in Cuba. Our Spanish titles are typically bilingual, but for this book, we decided to do a Spanish-only edition. The book has a print run of 4,000 copies for each edition and has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection.

Arletis, Abuelo y el mensaje en la botella will likely find a strong market in south Florida, where there is a large Cuban population. Traditionally, the largest concentrations of Spanish book sales have been along the coasts and borders of the U.S.; however, publishers note, that is changing as the migration of Spanish speakers increases.

Our market concentration is in all the places you would expect it to beCalifornia, Texas, Florida, New York, says Ariana Stein of Lil Libros, a Los Angelesbased publisher of bilingual board books in Spanish and English for children ages four to eight. But our fastest-growing markets are in the Midweststates like Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri. Our books come out of the American Latino experience.

Stein cofounded Lil Libros with her friend Patty Rodriguez after they could not find Spanish-English bilingual books for their kids. There is a phrase in Spanish, Ni de aqui, ni de alla, meaning not from here, nor there, which captures the feeling of being an American Latino, says Rodriguez, who writes many of the books with Stein, including several of the presss bestselling titles, such as Loteria: First Words/Primeras palabras and Counting with/Contando ConFrida.

In all, Lil Libros has published nearly 40 books, which have sold more than two million copies combined, Stein says. The Life of/La vida de Selena by Rodriguez and Stein has sold more than 250,000 copies, much of it direct to nonprofits and other community organizations. Gross revenue started at $11,000 in 2014 and topped $1.7 million in 2020, an 18% jump over 2019.

Stein and Rodriguez have fostered strong ties with their community and say they have more than 300,000 social media followers that generate 1.2 million impressions each month. When the company wanted to raise capital to expand into publishing picture books, it turned directly to its readers, raising $2.4 million in equity funding through the crowdsourcing site Wefunder in a campaign that closed in May 2022. We raised this from nearly 6,000 people, who invested in $250$500 incrementswith a few large investors, as well, Stein says. Some 30% of Lil Libros sales are direct-to-consumer, and the company has begun holding in-person pop-up sales and events, primarily in Los Angeles and Tucson, but with plans to extend these to Texas and New York City.

Future plans include rapidly expanding the number of titles published per year. We hope to eventually go from doing 11 books per season to as many as 60 per year, Rodriguez says. New titles include the Luz Lucero, nina astronauta by Zaida Hernandez, illustrated by Karla Monterrosa, just published in March, and Wepa, written and illustrated by J. de LaVega, about an energetic child whos labeled as having ADHD, coming in May. In October 2022, Lil Libros acquired an equity stake in Bitty Bao, a startup publisher of bilingual English-Chinese board books for children, marking its expansion into a new language.

Despite the popularity of their books, the publishers at both Star Bright and Lil Libros note that they continue to face one challenge in particular. Bookstores keep shelving our books in the foreign books section, Rodriguez says. Bookstores, while stocking more Spanish-language and bilingual books, continue to see them as something of a niche rather than a mainstream item. Barnes & Noble was without a dedicated Spanish-language book buyer until Ernesto Martinez, former buyer at Borders, was hired last year. The change has been significant: today, the majority of B&Ns renovated stores include designated bays for Spanish-language titles and Martinez writes a blog, Aroma a libros, covering Spanish-language books on B&Ns website.

 Our fastest-growing markets are in the Midweststates like Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri. 

The growth of interest in Spanish-language books has been good news for Lectorum, the oldest and largest distributor of Spanish-language books in the U.S., which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2020. Working out of a 30,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in New Jersey, the company distributes some 25,00030,000 Spanish-language titles that it imports from publishers across the Spanish-speaking world. Sales have been very strong since the end of the pandemic, says Lectorum CEO and president Alex Correa. In 2021 and 2022, schools had bigger budgets to acquire books. While this year may not be quite as good, Im still optimistic.

Lectorum also publishes its own books and has a backlist of more than 200 titles, many of them Spanish translations of classic childrens books. This past year, the company acquired North American rights to the Spanish-language translations of all of Kate DeCamillos books, including The Beatryce Prophecy and Because of Winn-Dixie, which has become one of Lectorums bestselling titles. It also acquired the rights to Dan Goodmans Weird School trilogy.

More than half of Lectorums business is with schools and libraries, many of which have taken an interest in the companys e-books platform, MakeMake, which offers 1,800 titles for kindergarten through high school. It comes from Colombia and offers primarily Latin American books, Correa says. It now has 30 public libraries licensing it for patrons.

Correa notes that in the past year, more and more schools have expressed interest in book fairs, which Lectorum conducts online. Unfortunately, that specific business is also becoming more challenging, as politicians representing Florida and Texas promote book bans. The issue is all the more complicated when there are language differences between politicians, families, and educators.

Looking ahead, Correa notes that one outcome from the pandemic is that many students have fallen behind in reading proficiency. As a consequence, librarians and teachers are asking for material that has content suitable for older readers but is also easier to read. While they might be able to read a picture book, an older student would consider that childish, Correa explains. We actively looking for books to fill that need.
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On Saturday, April 1, the University of Georgias Department of International Student Life hosted its 24th annual International Street Festival. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the event returned to downtown Athens.

The festival, a local tradition since 1999, promotes cultural awareness and showcases international groups within the Athens community for thousands of visitors each year.
On Wednesday, the upcoming fiscal year budget for the state of Georgia, which included a $66 million decrease in funding for the University System of Georgia, was passed. The budget will now go to Gov. Brian Kemp for approval.

The FY 2024 budget allotted $3.1 billion to USG, which oversees the 26 public colleges and universities in Georgia. According to a USG statement released Thursday, the budget comes after 20 of those institutions were already set to receive decreased funding in the coming year under the states funding formula due to declines in enrollment.
'While we do some metro-to-metro flying, we have got a lot of metro-to-non-metro cities like Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru-Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru-Guwahati and Bengaluru-Kochi.'

Photograph: PTI Photo

Akasa Air will continue to focus on connecting metro and non-metro cities in the next one to two years, its founder and CEO Vinay Dube said.

The airline will start operating international flights before December, he added.

In its summer schedule, the airline will operate 751 weekly flights. By the end of June, this number will rise to 925.

"Our focus is going to be on connecting the metros with tier-2 and tier-3 cities," Dube said. "While we do some metro-to-metro flying, we have got a lot of metro-to-non-metro cities like Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru-Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru-Guwahati and Bengaluru-Kochi."

"For some time, we will focus on metro to non-metro connectivity... In this network planning time horizon (during the next one to two years), that is where our focus is going to be," Dube said in an interview with Business Standard on the sidelines of the CAPA India Aviation Summit 2023.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Akasa Air/Facebook

Akasa Air operated its first commercial flight last August. It currently operates between 14 cities in the country.

As per regulations, only airlines with 20 planes can operate international flights.

"We already have 19 aircraft in our fleet. We will launch our first international flight by the end of this calendar year. Boeing 737 Max has very good range capability, probably the best in its class, which will allow us to fly to West Asia, Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, the Northeast of Africa, former CIS countries. It has got a good range, but we have not yet narrowed down where we are going to fly," Dube noted.

In November 2021, the airline ordered 72 B737 Max planes from Boeing.

Talking about the delivery schedule, Dube said the airline plans to have 20 planes in the first 12 months of its operation. "In every subsequent year, we will get 12-14 aircraft," he added.

IMAGE: Vinay Dube, founder and CEO, Akasa Air. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters

The airline is already considering placing another aircraft order. "We need to secure our capacity for the future," he said.

The new aircraft order will be for more than 100 planes, but the airline cannot say anything beyond that, he said.

The airline will increase its employee strength by about 50 per cent by March next year.

"We have a little over 2,000 employees right now. The number of employees that we are going to have would be commensurate with our aircraft delivery. Our employee number will continue to track in that order of magnitude. So, putting that in specific numbers, by the end of this fiscal year (by March 2024), we should be upwards of 3,000," Dube mentioned.

The company was focusing on employees across roles -- flight attendants, engineers, pilots, etc, he said.

"I think our approach is that we have to continue to be the employer of choice to be able to attract talent across the board... We are an extremely employee-centric company, and that is where our focus is on -- to make sure that we get a disproportionate share of good employees by being an employer of choice," he added.

Dube is happy with the performance of the airline since its first flight in August.

The airline's 'yields' (which are the average revenue earned from each passenger per kilometre of air travel) are unfolding as per its expectations.

"We have been either number one or number two when it comes to on-time performance since the ministry of civil aviation started monitoring the data. Our load factors have been in the low 80s beyond the first 45-60 days," he added.

"We are very pleased with both -- our reliability and the reaction we have had from our customers."

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
He staked everything to ensure the BJP returned to power; and now that it has, he stands to lose a lot, points out Aditi Phadnis.

IMAGE: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Gudi Padwa Shobha Yatra in Nagpur, March 22, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

Devendra Fadnavis's last speech as chief minister in the Maharashtra assembly (November 2019) ended with a poem written by him and it ended with 'mee punha yein (I'll be back).'

This caused great hilarity in Maharashtra's political circles, with Jitendra Awhad adding his own postscript via a TikTok video that played the chief minister's announcement of 'mee punha yein' and a bored man standing before the camera and saying: 'bring some chuna (lime) along with you when you come back.'

The autumn of 2019 marked a turning point in Maharashtra politics: The 36-day drama that eventually led to the installation of Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister; Ajit Pawar's 'defection' and his return; and Mr Fadnavis's resignation as chief minister.

After a brief interregnum in the Opposition and with the active support of Governor B S Koshyari, Mr Fadnavis did return, but as deputy chief minister with charge of finance, reporting to Eknath Shinde, auto-driver-turned-chief minister and leader of the breakaway Shiv Sena.

When reporters met Mr Fadnavis at a Diwali milan last year and asked him if he was happy about his current role, his reply was a bald 'No'.

Since then, things have only gone from bad to worse.

Within weeks of being made chief minister, Mr Shinde set up the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA), a state body along the lines of the Centre's NITI Aayog. Mr Fadnavis was made co-chairman.

The decision would have been unexceptionable had Mr Shinde not named as vice-chairman (with cabinet rank) Ajay Ashar, a builder and head of the Ashar group, which continues to develop properties across Mumbai in Bandra, Ghatkopar and Thane.

When the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi was in power and Mr Shinde was minister for urban development, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar spoke in the assembly about the 'closeness' between Mr Ashar and Mr Shinde. The speech is still publicly available.

The question BJP leaders are asking privately is the same as the ones Congress leaders are asking publicly: "Devendra Fadnavis, who was leader of the Opposition then, also raised objections over the proximity between Mr Shinde and Mr Ashar. How can the Shinde-Fadnavis government appoint the same person to such a crucial office?" asked Congress leader Nana Patole.

Mr Fadnavis and his photogenic wife Amruta are in the news for other reasons also.

MLAs heard in silence his extraordinary speech in the assembly, explaining how his wife had been forced to lodge an FIR against a fashion designer whose father is a bookie and is currently underground.

Over a period of nearly two years, this young woman was allowed easy access to the Fadnavis household with the request that Mrs Fadnavis model clothes, footwear, and jewellery.

The family now claims this relationship soured, turning into extortion demands, threat, blackmail, and worse.

There are many things about this account that don't add up.

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with Fadnavis address a press conference in Mumbai, March 27, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The Maharashtra local body elections were due about a year ago.

The last government trotted out a variety of excuses to postpone them.

This government shows no sign of ordering them anytime soon.

The 'defection' of the Foxconn project to neighbouring Gujarat has further damaged the Maharashtra government's reputation.

MVA partners are waiting for the Supreme Court's order on the defection of 16 MLAs, causing the split in the Shiv Sena and leading to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.

The Shinde government can appoint up to 43 ministers.

It has only 20 now -- because all the pressures and pulls cannot be accommodated.

The coalition can also nominate 12 people to the Legislative Council.

But there is so much infighting, with new Congress 'defectors' laying claim along with long-time RSS activists, that the decision has been deferred.

However, while the greatest gainer from this crisis has been Eknath Shinde, who could only have dreamt about getting Maharashtra's top job, the greatest loser has been Devendra Fadnavis.

He was always known as a clean-cut, wholesome, boy next door who turned down a transfer to the Centre to stay in Maharashtra.

But suddenly his adversaries are re-surfacing: Vinod Tawde, who was not given the ticket in the 2019 assembly election but has been elevated in the party and is now in charge of Bihar; and, alarmingly, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, a Congressman who joined the BJP a few years ago, is an important figure in the Maharashtra sugar cooperative sector, and is currently revenue minister in the state.

Mr Vikhe Patil is a Maratha and keeps a low profile but has access to important people in New Delhi.

If the court disqualifies Mr Shinde and the 16 with him, they cannot remain ministers.

The successor to Mr Shinde should automatically be Mr Fadnavis, right? Wrong. Mr Vikhe Patil's name is in circulation.

The government's record in winning elections is not exactly stellar: It lost the Kasba by-election in Pune, where the BJP has been in power for nearly three decades.

How Mr Fadnavis regains lost ground remains to be seen. But here's the thing -- he staked everything to ensure the BJP returned to power; and now that it has, he stands to lose a lot. Especially his reputation.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Priyank Kanoongo claimed that he was roughed up by police officers while visiting the residence of a minor girl in Kolkata's Tiljala area, who was killed by a neighbour earlier this week.

IMAGE: National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights chairperson Priyank Kanoongo speaks to the media about his visit to Tiljala police station to inquire about the the alleged murder of a minor girl, in Kolkata, March 31, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

The police, however, rubbished Kanoongo's allegation and said officers had cooperated with him, and it was the NCPCR chief who "misbehaved" with them.

"Bengal police officer Biswak Mukherjee beat me up at Tiljala police station in West Bengal. Policemen were secretly recording our investigation proceedings. They beat me up for protesting against this," Kanoongo tweeted in Hindi on Friday.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights chief Sudeshna Roy claimed that Kanoongo "insulted her and her colleagues", and that she was contemplating lodging a police complaint in this regard.

"The NCPCR team went there without informing us. When I reached the spot, he (Kanoongo) started speaking in a very insulting tone. He also tried to assault me," she told PTI.

Roy had on Thursday written to NCPCR, stating that its proposed visit to West Bengal over the murder of a girl in Kolkata and the rape of another minor in Malda was "not really necessary".

Earlier this week, a seven-year-old girl was killed by a neighbour in Tiljala, while a Class-6 girl was allegedly raped during school hours inside a government institute in Malda.
Nobody can ignore late Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar's sacrifice for the country's independence struggle but disagreements over him cannot be made a national issue today as there are many pressing matters to focus on, said Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday.

IMAGE: Sharad Pawar said there is no need to thrust Savarkar into the national narrative especially because there many other major issues concerning the common public. Photograph: @PawarSpeaks/Twitter

Defending Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is being targeted by the Bharatiya Janata Party for speaking about issues in India on foreign soil, he said this is not the first time an Indian has spoken about issues in the country while abroad.

Pawar was speaking at the Press Club in Nagpur, where he also visited Union minister Nitin Gadkari's home.

To a query on whether he spoke to Rahul Gandhi about Savarkar and if the Congress leader would slow down in his criticism of the late Hindutva ideologue, Pawar said leaders of 18-20 political parties recently sat and discussed major issues before the country.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused Gandhi of repeatedly insulting Savarkar. It is also organising Savarkar Gaurav Yatra in his honour.

I suggested that there is a need for us to deliberate on the way the country is being run by those in power, he said.

Pawar said, Today, Savarkar is not a national issue, it is an old thing. We had said a few things about Savarkar but it was not personal. It was against Hindu Maha Sabha. But there is another side to it as well. We cannot ignore the sacrifice made by Savarkar ji for the independence of the country.

About 32 years ago, Pawar said, he had spoken in Parliament about Savarkar's progressive views. He said Savarkar built a house in Ratnagiri and also constructed a small temple in front of it. He deputed a person from the Valmiki community to perform puja in the temple. I think this was a very progressive thing, said Pawar.

The NCP leader said there is no need to thrust Savarkar into the national narrative especially because there many other major issues concerning the common public.

On the BJP's criticism of Gandhi, Pawar said the Congress leader also has the freedom to put his opinion like everyone else.

Asked if it is proper for a leader to speak about issues concerning India on foreign soil, Pawar said one should not give much importance to it as this has not been done for the first time.

The NCP leader leaders criticised the government in the past as well. Only now such issues are being brought up repeatedly. If people feel agitated over something in the country and if an Indian talks about it, then I think those issues should be addressed.

To a query if he thinks Lok Sabha and state elections will be held together in 2024, Pawar said they won't happen at the same time.

During his Nagpur visit, Pawar also visited Union minister Nitin Gadkari at the latter's home and called it a courtesy visit. On the request of Gadkari to Pawar, a sub-centre of Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune, is coming up in Nagpur. Pawar is the president of this institute.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 11:53 | World, All, Coronavirus

A majority of foreign journalists who responded to a recent survey by a press group in China said they or their Chinese colleagues experienced harassment, obstruction or some form of intimidation when covering protests last year against the now-abandoned "zero-COVID" policy.

In the survey, which drew responses from 102 members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China and was released on March 1, 62 percent reported challenges in reporting on the rallies, with respondents saying nearly a dozen local staff who observed the events purely for work purposes were detained or questioned by the police afterward.

The rare outpouring of public anger that broke out over lockdowns, quarantines and other stringent antivirus measures was witnessed across China in late November, with some participants publicly calling for President Xi Jinping to step down.

In what became a symbol of protest against the authorities, many held up blank sheets of paper while shouting slogans. The draconian antivirus measures were withdrawn late last year following the rallies, with Beijing reopening its borders and abandoning quarantine measures in January in a full departure from the "zero-COVID" policy.

Some respondents from Western outlets reported being "tackled, hit repeatedly and detained by police," and said they were asked to delete images of forceful arrests in demonstrations held in Shanghai and Beijing.

The survey, conducted in December and January, said 2022 was "yet another tough and draining year" for the foreign correspondent community in China, with heightened COVID-19 restrictions causing a "near complete pause" in travel and reporting trips within the country.

Almost all respondents, or 91 percent, said they were unable to travel to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2022 because of COVID-19 restrictions, with many parts of the far-western region subjected to lockdown restrictions for months last year.

Some Western countries have criticized Beijing for alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

The delays in Chinese authorities granting new visas to incoming journalists continues to be "a major bottleneck that have stymied adequate staffing for bureaus," the FCCC media freedom report said.

Looking ahead, the press group expressed "cautious optimism" for 2023 as China has ditched the stringent antivirus policy and reopened borders.

"However, we are not hopeful that the substantive issues at the heart of what makes China a daunting country to report on will be resolved," the report said, referring to pressure and threats against news sources, as well as surveillance by authorities.

Related coverage:

China's premier Li opposes new Cold War in warning to U.S.

China sets modest 2023 GDP goal of some 5% after COVID

China reports about 60,000 COVID-related deaths amid int'l criticism
The Georgia Assembly has passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia, making it the first American State to take such a legislative measure.

IMAGE: Indian-Americans celebrate Ayodhya's Ram Temple foundation stone laying ceremony in Washington, US. Photograph: ANI

Condemning Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bigotry, the resolution said Hinduism is one of the world's largest and oldest religions with over 1.2 billion adherents in over 100 countries and encompasses an array of diverse traditions and belief systems with values of acceptance, mutual respect and peace.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta, home to one of the largest Hindu and Indian-American diaspora communities in Georgia.

The resolution observed that the American-Hindu community has been a major contributor to diverse sectors such as medicine, science and engineering, information technology, hospitality, finance, academia, manufacturing, energy, retail trade, among others.

It also noted that the community's contributions of Yoga, ayurveda, meditation, food, music, arts have enriched the cultural fabric and have been widely adopted in American society and enhanced the lives of millions.

Stating that there have been documented instances of hate crimes against Hindu-Americans over the last few decades in many parts of the country, the resolution said Hinduphobia is exacerbated and institutionalised by some in academia who support the dismantling of Hinduism and accuse its sacred texts and cultural practices of violence and oppression.

A move in this regard was spearheaded by the Atlanta chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), which organised the first-ever Hindu Advocacy Day held on March 22 at the Georgia State Capitol. It was attended by around 25 lawmakers -- both Republicans and Democrats -- who joined the Hindu community to understand its concerns, pledge to create ways to protect the community against discrimination and facilitate the inclusion of Hindu voices in important decision-making processes in the state.

It was a true honor to work with Rep McDonald and Rep Jones as well as other lawmakers who guided us through the whole process of getting this County Resolution passed, said Rajeev Menon, CoHNA vice president.

We also heard that all the lawmakers had been working really long hours given the amount of legislative items on the agenda, but still decided to join us at the Advocacy Day to show how much they value the Hindu community, he said.

CoHNA general secretary Shobha Swamy said, The issues faced by Hindu Americans in Georgia and the rest of the country via false, Hinduphobic narratives are negatively impacting a community that has been hardworking, law-abiding and enriching the fabric of America.

We urged for their help in combating such bigotry which advances hatred and creates the idea that Hindus and people of Indian-origin need special laws and monitoring due to allegations around some inherent propensity to discriminate, she said.
Stepping up attack, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the Gujarat high court verdict on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree issue had further increased the suspicion over claims about his academic qualification and that he would not have taken steps like note ban if he was educated.

IMAGE: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference in New Delhi. Photograph: @ArvindKejriwal/Twitter

The Aam Aadmi Party chief's remarks came a day after the Gujarat high court quashed a seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which had asked the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degree to him.

The BJP hit back at Kejriwal and said his remarks indicate that he is either on the verge of losing sanity or trying to create a ground for the future in view of the probe agencies gradually unearthing "proof" of corruption under his government.

Allowing the Gujarat University's appeal against the CIC order, Justice Biren Vaishnav had also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal who had sought information on Modi's college degree through RTI and asked him to deposit the amount within four weeks to the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA).

"I have only one question today. Whether in the 21st century, India's prime minister should be educated or not. Does India need an educated PM," Kejriwal said, adding if there is a valid degree of Modi, why is Gujarat University not showing it.

Gujarat University is unwilling to part with the information on Modi's degree either due to his arrogance or his degree is fake, Kejriwal charged, firing a fresh salvo at the prime minister.

Entire country is stunned by the high court's order because there should be a freedom of seeking information and asking questions in a democracy, Kejriwal said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The high court's order has increased the suspicion over the prime minister's education, he charged.

If the prime minister had studied at Gujarat University or Delhi University, they should have been celebrating it, instead they are hiding the information, the Delhi chief minister said.

Kejriwal pressed on with his question on Modi's education, saying the question becomes imperative since being the top manager of the country, Modi has to take so many important decisions every day, including those about science and economy.

If the prime minister is not educated, the officers and various other people will come and get his signature anywhere, get anything passed like the note ban (demonetisation) due to which the country had to suffer a lot, he charged.

"If Prime Minister Modi was educated, he would not have implemented the note ban.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was a very good concept but the way it was implemented by the Modi government ruined the country's economy, Kejriwal alleged.

All three farm laws which were brought without holding consultation with the people had to be withdrawn eventually So this is the way anyone can fool the PM if he is not educated, he added.

Kejriwal contended that there can only be two reasons why Gujarat university is not ready to give information on the prime minister's academic qualification.

It's either due to Modi's arrogance, or, his degree is fake, the Delhi chief minister charged.

The AAP chief at the same time said that being illiterate is not a crime or sin as there is so much poverty in the country.

Many of us are not in a position to get formal education due to financial conditions in the families, he said, adding poverty continues to afflict the nation even after 75 years of independence.

However, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi slammed the AAP chief for his remarks on the prime minister.

"The AAP, whose corruption is gradually being established completely, has stooped to the lowest levels of political discourse to defend itself, he said.

"The way corruption is gradually being proved based on facts, he (Kejriwal) has perhaps reached the verge of going mad or he is deliberately trying to create a ground under pressure with some future strategy in mind," the BJP spokesperson charged.
Members of an Indian family were among six people who drowned in the St Lawrence River while attempting to cross into the US from Canada illegally, authorities said on Friday, in the latest tragedy involving Indians seeking greener pastures abroad.

Image used for representational purpose only. Photograph: RCMP/Handout via Reuters

Six bodies were recovered by police Thursday afternoon in a marshy area of Quebec near an overturned boat during an aerial search with the Canadian Coast Guard., according to Canadian news outlets CBC and CTV.

A search of the area is ongoing to find the missing infant.

"The six individuals are believed to be from two families, one of Romanian descent and the other believed to be citizens of India," Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, told reporters in a news conference on Friday.

"The police believe one infant from the Romanian family has not been located and we'll continue searching," she added.

"All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the US from Canada."

The police said one of the bodies found was that of a child under three.

The child was found with a Canadian passport and was a member of a Romanian family.

The bodies, which haven't been officially identified, were found in Tsi Snaihne in Akwesasne, a Mohawk territory that straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

They were discovered after the search for another missing person that also started Thursday.

O'Brien said it was too soon to know whether the deaths can be linked to a smuggling network operating in the area.

Akwesasne police are working with Immigration Canada to assist with identifying the victims and notifying the next of kin. They are also increasing surveillance on the river.

"We're trying our best," O'Brien said.

"We're a very small police service."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that there are many questions that need answers about what happened to the two families.

This is a heartbreaking situation, particularly given the young child that was among them," he said during a news conference in New Brunswick.

"Our thoughts are first and foremost with the families who are suffering the loss of loved ones right now."

"We need to understand properly what happened," he said.

"And do whatever we can to make sure we are minimizing the chances of it happening again."

Quebec Premier Francois Legault offered his condolences to the family of the victims, calling it a horrible drama.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante also offered her condolences, saying on Twitter that it was an incredibly sad tragedy.

"No one should have to go through such an ordeal," Plante wrote.

Akwesasne police say there have been 48 incidents of people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

In January 2022, the bodies of four Indians, including a baby, were found frozen in Manitoba near the Canada-US border. in April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.
India's export of military hardware reached an all-time high of Rs 15,920 crore in the financial year 2022-2023 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing it as a clear manifestation of enthusiasm towards 'Make in India' initiative.

IMAGE: The home-grown 155 mm/52 Cal Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System is one of the key platforms that India has been exporting. Photograph: DRDO

The value of total defence exports in 2022-23 is a ten-fold increase compared to the amount of Rs 1,521 crore recorded in exporting military hardware in 2016-17.

"India's defence exports have reached an all-time high of Rs 15, 920 crore in FY 2022-2023. It is a remarkable achievement for the country," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Twitter.

"Under the inspiring leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi, our defence exports will continue to grow exponentially," he said.

In a tweet, Modi described the achievement as a clear manifestation of India's talent and the enthusiasm towards 'Make in India'.

"It also shows the reforms in this sector over the last few years are delivering good results. Our Government will keep supporting efforts to make India a defence production hub," he said.

The key platforms that India has been exporting are Dornier-228 aircraft, 155 mm Advanced Towed Artillery Guns (ATAGs), Brahmos missiles, Akash missile system, radars, mine protected vehicles, armoured vehicles, Pinaka rockets and launchers, ammunition, thermal imagers and various components of avionics and small arms.

There is growing global demand for Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, light combat helicopters and aircraft carrier, MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) facilities, the ministry said.

It said India is exporting military hardware to over 85 countries.

"The Indian industry has shown its capability of design and development to the world, with 100 firms exporting defence products at present. The rising defence exports and participation of 104 countries in Aero India 2023 are proof of India's growing defence manufacturing capabilities," the ministry said.

"Through consistent policy initiatives of the government and tremendous contribution of the defence industry, India has achieved a remarkable milestone in defence exports in 2022-23. The exports have reached an all-time high of approximately Rs 16,000 crore, almost Rs 3,000 crore more than the previous financial year," it said.

India exported military hardware worth Rs 8,434 crore in 2020-21, Rs 9,115 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-19, according to official data. The amount in 2017-18 was Rs 4,682 crore.

The government has set a target of achieving defence manufacturing worth Rs 1,75,000 crore including defence exports of Rs 35,000 crore by 2024-25.

In the last few years, the government has taken a series of measures to promote domestic defence production.

"To give a push to defence exports, the government has taken a number of policy initiatives and brought reforms over the last 5-6 years. Export procedures have been simplified and made industry friendly with end-to-end online export authorisation curtailing delays and bringing ease of doing business," the ministry said.

"The Government has notified three Open General Export License (OGEL) for export of parts and components/transfer of technology/major platforms and equipment," it added.

The OGEL is one-time export license, which permits the industry to export specified items to specified destinations, enumerated in the OGEL, without seeking export authorisation during the validity of the OGEL.

"Export leads received from various countries are disseminated to the registered Indian defence exporters through an online portal on a real time basis to enable them to respond to export opportunities," the ministry said.
Authorities in Italy have blocked chatbot ChatGPT with immediate effect in the country.

With this, Italy becomes the first European country to block the advanced Artificial Intelligence software, which is capable of emulating and elaborate human conversations among other actions.

Italian data protection authority on Friday (local time) has said that it is blocking the Microsoft backed chatbot developed by US start up OpenAI and will investigate whether it complied with the country's General Data Protection Regulation.

A data breach affecting ChatGPT users' conversations and information on payments by subscribers to the service had been reported on March 20, the Italian watchdog said.

Several countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have blocked ChatGPT, which came into existence in November 2022.

The Italian data protection authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) said it has opened an investigation against ChatGPT and the US company OpenAI.

"No way for ChatGPT to continue processing data in breach of privacy laws. The Italian SA imposed an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of Italian users' data by OpenAI, the US-based company developing and managing the platform.

An inquiry into the facts of the case was initiated as well," the Authority stated as per a release on its website.

The authority said that it noted the lack of information to users and all interested parties whose data is collected by OpenAI, but above all the absence of a legal basis that justifies the mass collection and storage of personal data, for the purpose of "train" the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform.

The Italian SA emphasizes in its order that the lack of whatever age verification mechanism exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness, even though the service is allegedly addressed to users aged above 13 according to OpenAI's terms of service.

OpenAI is not established in the EU, however, it has designated a representative in the European Economic Area.

The Italian data protection authority said that OpenAI has to notigy within 20 days of the measures implemented to comply with the order, otherwise, a fine of up to EUR 20 million or 4 per cent of the total worldwide annual turnover may be imposed.

In its order, the Italian SA highlights that no information is provided to users and data subjects whose data are collected by Open AI; more importantly, there appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to 'train' the algorithms on which the platform relies.

As confirmed by the tests carried out so far, the information made available by ChatGPT does not always match factual circumstances, so inaccurate personal data are processed, the Data Protection Authority of Italy said.
The Rajasthan government has decided to challenge in the Supreme Court the acquittal of four accused in the Jaipur serial blasts case by the high court, an official said.

IMAGE: Police van carrying the accused in the 2008 Jaipur serial bomb blast arrives at court, in Jaipur. Photograph: PTI Photo

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the government will file a special leave petition in this matter in the top court.

An official spokesperson said the decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Gehlot at his residence Friday night.

Gehlot said the state government is determined that the culprits are given the harshest punishment.

A special leave petition will be filed in the Supreme Court against the decision of the Rajasthan high court, he said in the meeting.

The chief minister also decided to terminate the services of Additional Advocate General Rajendra Yadav, who was appointed to appear in this case, the spokesperson said.

After examining in a high-level meeting, a decision has been taken to appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court's decision in the Jaipur bomb blast case. The state government will ensure justice to the victims by engaging the best lawyers, Gehlot tweeted.

Chief secretary Usha Sharma, principal secretary (home) Anand Kumar, director general of police Umesh Mishra and other officers were present in the meeting.

The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday had acquitted the four accused in the case, who were sentenced to death by a special court in 2019.

The high court also pulled up the probe agency for its poor investigation.

The special court on December 18, 2019 had convicted accused Mohd Sarwar Azmi, Mohd Saif, Mohd Salman and Saifur Rahman in the case while giving benefit of doubt to Shahbaz Hussain and acquitted him.

The state government challenged the acquittal of Shahbaz Hussain in the high court.

At the same time, all four convicted had filed an appeal against the sentence.

A division bench of high court Justice Pankaj Bhandari and Justice Sameer Jain on Wednesday acquitted the four accused. The court, in its order, also confirmed the acquittal of a fifth person -- Shahbaz Hussain -- by the trial court.

Jaipur was rocked by a series of blasts on May 13, 2008 when bombs went off one after another at Manak Chawk Khanda, Chandpole Gate, Badi Chaupad, Chhoti Chaupad, Tripolia Gate, Johri Bazar and Sanganeri Gate.

The explosions had left 71 people dead and 185 injured.

One live bomb was recovered near Ramchandra Temple which was defused by a bomb disposal squad.
Amid the family feud over Hassan assembly seat in poll-bound Karnataka, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday said he will not entertain any 'rebellion.'

IMAGE: H D Deve Gowda's son H D Revanna and daughter-in-law Bhavani Revanna Photograph: @BhavaniRevanna/Twitter

He also said the second list of candidates will be released on Monday including for the Hassan seat.

The Hassan seat has become a big headache for Janata Dal-Secular, which is witnessing a rebellion within the first family of the party.

The party which was among the first to release its list of candidates has not been able to finalise a name for Hassan constituency yet.

The reason being that the former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's daughter-in-law and H D Revanna's wife Bhavani Revanna is adamant about contesting the election from Hassan, which is a JD-S stronghold.

It is now learnt that the Bhavani has warned that she would contest the election as an independent candidate if she is denied a ticket. Her two sons  Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and MLC Suraj Revanna too have backed their mother.

"I will not entertain any rebellion. I have already said this several times that we will respond to the sentiments of the party workers. Even if there is pressure it will not work because the final decision will be left to the wishes of the workers," Kumaraswamy told reporters.

According to sources in the JD(S), Kumaraswamy is keen on fielding H S Prakash's son H P Swaroop.

H S Prakash was a four-time MLA from this constituency who lost the 2018 Assembly election to BJP's Preetham Gowda. Six months after losing the Assembly election, Prakash passed away.

The JD-S second-in-command wanted to field Swaroop keeping in view the large support base and sympathy he enjoys among voters, the sources said.

They added that 89-year old Deve Gowda, who is not keeping well, called the leaders from Hassan to discuss the issue at his Bengaluru residence.

With the Hassan conundrum growing to enormous proportions, senior party leaders reached Bengaluru on Saturday to find a way out.

"Some of our leaders have arrived here with regard to Hassan constituency and they too made an appeal. The matter now is that Deve Gowda is not in good health and he is not able to discuss it," former JD(S) state president H K Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hassan.

He was confident the situation will change because there is still a lot of time to file nominations."

"The decision has been left to the supremo' (Deve Gowda). An appropriate decision will be arrived at," Kumaraswamy said.

To a question whether the list that is likely to be released on Monday will have Bhavani Revanna's name, the six-time Sakaleshpur MLA said the matter is still at the discussion level.

"We had a discussion with H D Kumaraswamy. He is going to make an announcement in two days. It (announcement) can be delayed further. We cannot predict. The final decision will be taken by the 'supremo', Kumaraswamy and Revanna," H K Kumaraswamy said.

He also said there will be just one decision, which everyone should abide by.
Situation in Howrah district's Kazipara area, which witnessed clashes between two groups during a procession on Ram Navami, is peaceful and under control on Saturday, even as prohibitory order was still in force in the area, an officer said.

IMAGE: Security personnel cordon off an area after clashes broke out between two groups during a 'Ram Navami' procession on Thursday, at Kajipara in Howrah district on Friday, March 31, 2023. Photograph: PTI Photo

Shops and markets opened as traffic movement started from the morning amid heavy deployment of police in the area, the officer said.

Internet connections remained suspended even as prohibitory order under CrPC Section 144 was still in place in and around the area where several shops and residences were vandalised during the clashes, he said.

The state CID has over the investigation of the clashes, the officer said.

"Situation is under control and peaceful. Life is leaping back to normalcy. We are, however, continuing with the police deployment there to keep a check on the situation. As of now the internet connectivity will remain suspended as a part of our security measures. The investigation of the clashes has been taken over by the CID," the officer told PTI.

Meanwhile, police continued with raids throughout the intervening Friday-Saturday night and nabbed a few more people for their alleged involvement in the vandalism.

"We will be verifying their involvement with video footage we have from the spot on that day. If found guilty they will be treated as per the law," he added.

On Thursday evening, clashes broke out between two groups when a Ram Navami procession was passing through Kazipara in Howrah town.

Several shops were ransacked during the violence while a number of cars including a few police vehicles were set on fire.

Fresh incidents of stone pelting by locals on police was witnessed in the area on Friday afternoon following which prohibitory orders were imposed in the area and internet services were suspended.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party and other right-wing organisations were behind the violence in Howrah's Kazipara area during a procession on Ram Navami.

The BJP denied the allegations of Banerjee and instead demanded an NIA probe into the matter.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday spoke to West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose over the violence during a Ram Navami procession in Howrah and took stock of the situation.

Shah also spoke to BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar in this connection.
The earlier situation of "emergency control" at the India-China border is a matter of the past, and overall it is stable at present, a senior Chinese diplomat said in Kolkata.

IMAGE: Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi reviewes the operational situation in Sub Sector North in the Ladakh sector. Photograph: ANI Photo

Interacting with journalists on Friday evening, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese embassy in India, Chen Jianjun, said the two Asian giants continue to maintain communication via diplomatic and military channels, promoting the transition of the border situation to "normalised management and control".

"The current border situation is overall stable," he said.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed along the Line of Actual Control in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, resulting in minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides.

The clash near Yangtse in the sensitive sector took place amid the border standoff between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.

The ties between India and China nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two neighbours in decades.

"The Chinese side has always viewed and handled China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. Although the relationship faces some difficulties, China's position has never wavered and we have been committed to pushing it back on the track of healthy and steady development," Jianjun said.

He said the two countries could draw strength from their ancient civilisations, and share oriental wisdom with the world, so as to jointly maintain the stability of the international order.

"In a world intertwined with changes and chaos, China and India could speak out loud for more institutional rights of developing countries. The two countries working together will bear on the future of Asia and beyond," he added.

Jianjun said China supports India in fulfilling its role during its presidency of G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

"China and India's bilateral trade continues to grow. Cultural, scientific, technological, educational and other people-to-people exchanges and cooperation resume in an orderly manner," he said.

The diplomat said China and India share similar positions on many regional and international issues, and have extensive common interests in South-South cooperation, development and poverty reduction, climate change and energy security.

"We believe that China and India could find a way for the neighbouring countries to live in peace and develop together, so as to realise the 'Asian Century'," he added.
The prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art will return 15 sculptures to India after it was learnt that the antiquities were illegally removed from the country and sold by disgraced dealer Subhash Kapoor.

IMAGE: A view of Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. Photograph: Courtesy The Met/Twitter

In a statement Thursday, the Met said it will transfer the 15 sculptures for return to the government of India. The works range in date from the 1st century BCE to the 11th century CE, and include terracotta, copper and stone.

All of the works were sold at one point by Kapoor, who is currently serving a prison sentence in India.

The Museum is committed to the responsible acquisition of archaeological art and applies rigorous provenance standards both to new acquisitions and to works long in its collection. The Museum is actively reviewing the history of antiquities from suspect dealers. The Museum values highly its long-standing relationships with the government of India and is pleased to resolve this matter, the Met said in the statement.

The museum contacted Homeland Security about its works from Kapoor in 2015 and is pleased to be acting on this matter today as a result of the criminal investigation into Subhash Kapoor by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, it said.

Through this cooperative partnership, the museum received new information from the Manhattan DA's office about 15 works of art that made it clear that the works should be transferred, resulting in a constructive resolution, the statement said.

In addition, in cooperation with the DA office's criminal investigation into Turkish sites Bubon and Perge, the museum recently removed from display from its Greek and Roman galleries three pieces from Turkey-- two of which were loans and a third is part of the Met's collection, it said.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 20:44 | All, World

Russia's threat of nuclear weapons use against Ukraine is "cowardly" and "completely insane," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement that his country will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its neighbor and ally, is "a cowardly way to threaten and blackmail the West, not just Ukraine," the prime minister, whose country joined NATO in 2009, told Kyodo News in a recent interview.

Putin's comment in a March 25 state television interview was the most recent signal by him about the possible use of nuclear weapons, which has triggered global concern.

The Albanian leader also said Russia's control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest on the continent, in southern Ukraine also reflects Moscow's cowardice and weakness.

Rama, who visited the atomic bomb memorial site in the Japanese city of Hiroshima in February, said he prayed that the use of nuclear weapons will not be repeated.

"No goal, no ambition, no reason, no justification can be found in the sane mind for the use of nuclear weapons," he said.

Albania, which abandoned communist rule in 1990, is eyeing to join the European Union.

As the war enters its 14th month, the prime minister said that democratic countries will continue to support Ukraine.

They cannot afford to "let Vladimir Putin invade another country with no resistance...and to let down Ukraine," he said, adding that the West is also "protecting itself."

"The impact of the war on the security of Europe, including Albania, can be very vast in case the war goes wrong," he said. "If Putin succeeds in his hazard game, then everything will change."

Rama also criticized Iran for supplying attack drones used by Russia in the war.

He praised Japan for working with the West on security issues. Calling Japan a "great friend," he also said Albania wants to work with it on cyber-security issues.
By Mie Sakamoto, KYODO NEWS - Apr 1, 2023 - 10:41 | Feature, All, Japan

As the Japanese government launched a new agency Saturday to address the declining birthrate, experts are calling for more drastic steps than the measures recently announced by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The Children and Families Agency was created to oversee child policies, including tackling child abuse and poverty, and comes after the number of babies born in the country in 2022 slid below 800,000, a level reached more than a decade sooner than the government had estimated.

At 799,728 births, the figure represented a 5.1 percent drop from the previous year and seventh consecutive annual fall. It marked the first year births had fallen below 800,000 since records began in 1899, according to preliminary government data released in February.

"The faster-than-expected decline in the number of births is a national crisis," said Hiroki Komazaki, the founder and CEO of nonprofit organization Florence, a child welfare aid group. "It is a man-made disaster, as the government failed to take effective measures."

In February, Kishida said his government would double its childcare budget from the current 2 percent of gross domestic product. But the government soon contradicted his pledge, saying it was not setting any specific targets for the size of the budget.

Komazaki said he was disappointed by the backtracking, especially after the prime minister was more decisive about doubling Japan's defense spending over the next five years.

"Setting up a new agency specializing in child-related issues is a really good move. But the government cannot carry out more measures unless the budget is increased," Komazaki said, adding that an additional 6 trillion yen ($45 billion) will be needed each year to support child-rearing households to relieve the financial burden.

The number of newborns in Japan has been on a downtrend since peaking at around 2.09 million in 1973 in the middle of the country's second baby boom. In 1984, the number fell to 1.5 million and dropped below 1 million in 2016.

Although the government introduced various measures including a free preschool education and nursery program as well as boosting support for infertility treatment, they have so far failed to reverse the trend.

Before the launch of the new agency, Kishida announced plans to expand childcare allowances and implement measures to allow 85 percent of eligible male workers to take paternity leave by fiscal 2030, up from 14 percent in fiscal 2021.

"The next six to seven years will be the last chance to turn the declining birthrate around," the prime minister told a press conference on March 17 while vowing to take "unprecedented" steps.

He also warned that the rapid decline in the youth segment of the population will see the economy shrink and bring societal impacts. The country will face difficulty in maintaining the social security system and communities.

Despite the sense of alarm expressed by the prime minister, Kazumasa Oguro, a professor at Hosei University, said measures that are currently on the table are effectively an extension of past policies that have had limited effect on lifting the nation's birthrate.

"The government needs to make a checklist on whether each policy will contribute to increasing births or not," said Oguro, who specializes in public economics. "The government cannot implement unprecedented measures unless it discusses where to concentrate its resources."

To raise the number of births sharply, Oguro proposes giving parents 10 million yen if they have a third child, and 10 million for each after that as an incentive to increase the size of families.

Without such a drastic measure, the number of births in Japan is likely to continue to slide and fall below the 500,000 threshold in 2052, 20 years earlier than the government predicted in 2017, he said.

While a decline in the population will reduce the sustainability of the social security system, it will have a major impact on Japan's diplomacy and security, as the size of the population is correlated with a nation's power, Oguro said.

"At a time when the relationship with China and the international security situation are becoming so tense, population is an important factor," he said.

Meanwhile, Florence's Komazaki said people in Japan should share the view that children need to be raised by society as a whole, not only by their parents.

For example, nurseries can be currently attended only by children with working parents but, given cases of child abuse occur more frequently in households with full-time housewives, all parents should have access to the service, he said.

In a draft policy package unveiled Friday, the government will consider introducing a system that would allow families raising children to use daycare centers regardless of the parents' working status.

"We need to shift our mindset to one in which all children are to be raised in local communities, together with their parents," Komazaki said.

Related coverage:

Japan launches new agency to deal with children's issues

Japan vows to boost child allowances to tackle falling birthrate

Japan targets 85% taking paternity leave in FY2030 to tackle low birthrate
JOHANNESBURG -- The family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend wants answers, her mother told a Johannesburg newspaper as the country waited to hear for the first time why prosecutors believe the iconic athlete murdered Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her multiple times on Valentine's Day morning.

June Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's mother, told the Times in a front page interview: "Why? Why my little girl? Why did this happen? Why did he do this?"

"Just like that she is gone," the paper quoted her as saying in what it described as an emotional telephone interview. "In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here."

Pistorius, who remains in custody in a red-brick, one-story police station in Pretoria, is set to return to court Tuesday for the start of his bail hearing. That hearing will be the first opportunity for the prosecution to describe evidence police gathered against the 26-year-old double-amputee runner and the reasons why he was charged with murder.

Pistorius' family denies he committed murder though has not addressed whether he shot her. When word first emerged about the killing there was speculation in the local media that Steenkamp had been mistaken for an intruder in Pistorius' home.

Steenkamp's funeral will also be held Tuesday in her hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast, her family said. It would be a private ceremony at a local crematorium, closed to the public and media.

Steenkamp, a blonde model, law graduate and reality TV contestant, died last week of multiple gunshot wounds inside Pistorius' upscale house in a gated community in the eastern suburbs of the capital, Pretoria.

Police said they arrived in the predawn hours of Thursday to find paramedics trying to revive Steenkamp. Police said she had been shot four times. A 9 mm pistol was recovered from the scene and Pistorius was arrested and charged with murder the same day.

"All we have is this horrendous death to deal with ... to get to grips with. All we want are answers ... answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this," June Steenkamp said in the Times.

Prosecutors said in Pistorius' first court appearance Friday that they would pursue a more serious pre-mediated murder charge against the Olympian and world's most high-profile disabled athlete.

In a statement initially given only to The Associated Press and two South African reporters over the weekend, Arnold Pistorius, Oscar's uncle, said the prosecution's own case would show there was no murder.

"We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation," Pistorius' uncle said, "and that the state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all."

The bail hearing, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, will be the first time both the prosecutors and defense will show their hands about the evidence involved in the killing, said Stephen Tuson, an adjunct law professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

"There will kind of be a little trial within a trial," Tuson said.

Due to the gravity of the charges, Pistorius' defense lawyers will present their case first, trying to argue that their client is not a danger to the public and won't try to flee to avoid trial, Tuson said. They'll also have to show that he won't try to intimidate witnesses, nor pose a risk of sparking public unrest, the professor said.

The defense does have the opportunity to put Pistorius -- who broke down and wept in his first appearance in court -- on the stand to offer testimony on his own behalf. That likely won't happen, as prosecutors would then be allowed to ask him potentially incriminating questions, Tuson said.

Typically, defense lawyers read a prepared statement in court instead.

From there, prosecutors will offer their own version of events, likely bolstered by testimony from the lead investigator in the killing, Tuson said.

Pistorius has been in custody in Brooklyn police station in Pretoria.

His agent told the AP that there is no way to predict if he will ever run track again.

"For me it's too early to comment," Peet Van Zyl said. "I think it's still a huge shock and tragedy that took the world by surprise so I can't comment on that one (Pistorius' future career) or give any timeline to that at this point in time."

Follow Gerald Imray at http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP

Follow Jon Gambrell at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP
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TORRINGTON  An enterprising students idea to form an entrepreneurs club at Torrington Middle School has resulted in a donation of more than $500 to a local domestic violence agency.

Eighth-grader Savannah Staton formed the Youth Entrepreneurs Club at the school last year. Under the guidance of humanities coach Stacey Pollock, the club has grown to nine members, all with varying business interests.

Savannah said a Valentines Day sale of the groups handcrafted bracelets and artificial flowers netted $515 after expenses, and she decided to donate the profits to the Susan B. Anthony Project at 179 Water St.

I just felt like it was a good charity, because it helps the community a lot, and it really gets around to a lot of people, she said.

Accepting the check on behalf of SBAP was Ashley Cerruto, business development associate. Cerruto thanked the students and said the sale of bracelets and flowers was a great way to educate people about the organization.

What we do is to help individuals and families dealing with interpersonal violence and also to educate students and anybody in the community about the issues of domestic and sexual violence, and things that we might do to prevent that from happening and help those who have experienced that, Cerruto said.

Savannah said she formed the club because she started her own business making jewelry and crafts, and finds it fun. I just wanted to encourage some other people in the school, that if they had an idea, they can try it out, she said.

Club member Gracie Lucas also makes jewelry. Ive made logos and am working up to what I would do to have a business, she said.

Member Hafsah Loya said, I want to sell my art and my paintings on canvases and my drawings and market them and maybe make some money for it. She also helped pick out the colors for the bracelets, she said.

Anthony Loja joined the club because he was interested in marketing his clay sculptures. It seems like an interesting thing to do, because I like art, he said.

Sixth-grader Matthew Putnam helps his father mow the lawn, and wants to start his own lawn-mowing service. I just like to work outside, help neighbors out and stuff, he said.

Pollock said the orders for bracelets for Valentines Day overwhelmed the group, which meets two days a week.

We had 337 bracelets that we had to make, so thats too many," she said. "We had to buy some, but then we talked about getting the most for our money."

Alyssa Staton, Savannahs mother, said of her daughter, Shes amazing. I lucked out. I won the lottery when it comes to my kids. She said she was not surprised at Savannahs accomplishments, just proud. Shes in a league of her own."

She also is proud of her other girls, Chesney, a TMS student, and Ella, who attends Vogel Wetmore.

Its wonderful to see them wanting to give back and then stepping up and advocating for it on their own, and coming up with a plan and seeing it through," said Shelley Rinaldi, the school principal.

She said it was the students idea to donate to Susan B. Anthony Project.

They enlisted adult help, and it just really helps them be a greater part of the community, she said. And this, to me, is teaching them not only to be great community members, but to be leaders in the world that theyre in.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP)  The indictment of former President Donald Trump will likely have little impact on the high stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race to be decided next week, as Democrats try to flip majority control of the court with the fate of abortion access in the state on the line, those closely watching the contest said Friday.

Trump has not been directly involved in the race, did not endorse anyone, and the Republican-backed candidate has tried to distance his connections with the former president and the GOP. Additionally, Trump's support among Republicans appears to be waning in the battleground state that he barely won in 2016 and then lost by a similar margin in 2020.

While this (indictment) may get the juice flowing with some of his supporters, some may have a head shake and shoulder shrug," said longtime Republican strategist and former state GOP party leader Brandon Scholz. This indictment thing isnt really tied into this race. It is a Trump issue."

Charles Franklin, a pollster for the Marquette University Law School, said the indictment could spur a bump in turnout both among Trump's most ardent supporters and his most fervent Democratic opponents. But he didn't think it would fundamentally alter the dynamics of the Supreme Court race between Republican-backed Dan Kelly and Democratic-backed Janet Protasiewicz to be decided Tuesday.

The classic October surprises are things that involve the candidates themselves, not someone else," Franklin said. "For that reason, I think theres probably less reason to think this news dramatically changes the Supreme Court race because people would have to know enough to connect Donald Trump to the Supreme Court race and have not been planning to vote, or vote differently, in Tuesday's election.

Protasiewicz's campaign spokesperson, Sam Roecker, said Friday, "We dont expect voters to be distracted by whats happening in New York.

Were focused on winning a critical election in four days that will have long-term consequences for millions of Wisconsinites when it comes to issues like reproductive rights and the strength of our democracy," he said. We know voters are focused on this race because its an opportunity to return fairness and impartiality to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Kelly told reporters after a campaign stop Friday in Watertown that he had no idea whether the indictment would motivate people to vote in his race.

Supporters of Kelly, who previously served on the state Supreme Court, are hoping the indictment will fire up the GOP base like the raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home the day before Wisconsin's August GOP gubernatorial primary did.

Although Trump endorsed Kelly in his run for the court in 2020, Kelly did not seek a Trump endorsement this time and wouldn't even commit to accepting one if it had been offered.

Kelly worked for the Wisconsin Republican Party and the Republican National Committee after he lost the 2020 election. He also advised the states top Republicans on their scheme after Trumps loss in 2020 to have fake electors cast Wisconsins electoral voters for him.

I am running against probably one of the most extreme partisan characters in the history of this state. Protasiewicz said during their only debate in March.

Again, this is you being quick to lie, Kelly responded.

Kelly insisted throughout the campaign that his personal politics are irrelevant and emphasized that hes dedicated to the rule of law.

The indictment Thursday came after 10 days of early voting across the state. As of Friday morning, nearly 353,00 absentee ballots had been returned. Early voting ends Sunday.

In the last days before an election, things have been set in motion for a long time," said Franklin, the pollster. "People have already been making up their minds whether to vote or not and, if so, who to support. In that sense, these late-breaking things dont shift support tremendously, particularly when they dont involve the candidates.

The winner Tuesday will determine majority control of the court, which is expected to rule on the fate of Wisconsin's near-total abortion ban, Republican gerrymandered legislative districts and voting rights heading into the 2024 presidential election. The court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Bidens win in the state in 2020.

Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, has tried to make the race a de-facto referendum on abortion, while also blasting Kelly for his ties to Republicans and his work for Wisconsin Right to Life.

Abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, are behind Protasiewicz. The Wisconsin Democratic Party has given her campaign nearly $9 million, helping her to get an advantage over Kelly in television advertising.

Kelly's backers include the state and local GOP chapters as well as GOP mega-donors Richard Uihlein and Diane Hendricks.
HONG KONG, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee said on Friday that Hong Kong should spare no efforts to pursue economic growth and development, and enhance competitiveness.

Lee made the remarks after returning to Hong Kong on Friday from Boao, a coastal town in China's island province of Hainan, where he attended the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2023.

Lee said he deeply believed Hong Kong's development is in the right direction after attending the forum.

Lee said Hong Kong has unlimited opportunities brought by the country's development and policies. Therefore, Hong Kong should fully integrate into the overall development of the country, and fulfil its position in eight key areas set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Hong Kong should also take an active part in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.

"As an international city, Hong Kong needs to consolidate its strength and competitiveness in this regard, and build on its unique advantages of relying on the motherland and connecting with the world," Lee said. 
Thai actors Phakphum Romsaithong, popularly known as Mile, and Nattawin Wattanagitiphat aka Apo, who rose to fame with their hit series KinnPorsche, recently bid adieu to India after their short stay in the country. They reached their homeland Bangkok, Thailand and shared updates on social media.

Mile and Apo visited Mumbai on March 29 to attend the Christian Dior's Fall 2023 collection at Gateway Of India in Mumbai. The popular Thai stars took to their social media handles and shared photos from the flight as they headed back home. Sharing the photo from back home, Mile wrote, "Arrived."

Take a look at the tweet:

In another tweets, he thanked his fans for gathering in huge numbers outside the airport in India and wrote, "..Thank you for coming, hope I can be here longer next time.. And yeah.. super appreciate for the @dior Women's Fall 2023. Sweet show...craft, aise and enjoyment." Have a GN! In another tweet, he shared a photo from his car. He wrote, "Hope to see you again. Bye-bye Mumbai. 31/03/2023. Need to go back home and wanna go back here again. #India #SeeYouAgain."

Take a look at the tweets below:

,,, Thank You For Coming:)



Until We Meet Again ,,, https://t.co/PFs4UNrPJy  mile phakphum (@milephakphum) March 31, 2023

,,, Thank You For Coming, Hope I Can Be Here Longer Next Time



And Yeah Super Appreciate For The @Dior Womens Fall 2023.

Sweet Show Craft, Wise & Enjoyment ,,,



Have A GN!

.

.#DiorFall23xMileApo https://t.co/FKxuo0kmdQ  mile phakphum (@milephakphum) March 30, 2023

Apo also shared a photo. In it, he could be seen posing in front of Gateway of India in Mumbai. He wrote, "It's so memorable time for me to be here in India for the first time. THANK YOU so much for Our Indian fans for coming to see us today. We are respecting your appreciation."

Take a look at the tweets below.

Its so memorable time for me to be here in India for the first time. THANK YOU so much for Our Indian Fans for coming to see us today. Were respecting your appreciation.  @milephakphum @Dior #DiorFall23xMileApo pic.twitter.com/oYHc9ZNFx3  Nnattawin (@Nnattawin1) March 30, 2023

Mile, Apo enjoy their time in India

KinnPorsche stars Mile and Apo visited the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai and offered prayers to Lord Ganesha. They explored the city by taking a stroll on Mumbai streets and visited museums. They also did sewing on canvas. They enjoyed their stay at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Mile took to his Instagram stories and shared a series of glimpses with fans. They had 'desi breakfast' and tea. They shared a photo of their breakfast which included dhokla, jalebi and fafda.
Around 75 delegates will be arriving in Tripura on Sunday for a science conclave titled clean energy for green future as part of the G20 meetings, Chief Minister Manik Saha said.

The event will be held on April 3 and 4 at the International Fair Ground at Agartala, the capital of the northeastern state.

This will be a big opportunity for the state to showcase its wealth and resources before the global stage, the chief minister said while speaking at a programme at Badharghat in West Tripura district on Saturday.

Saha said that earlier it was decided that the conclave will be held in Guwahati but Prime Minister Narendra Modi batted for hoisting such an event in Agartala.

Delegates from several G20 countries including the US, China and Brazil and nine European nations will be joining the clean energy for green future conclave.

Delegates from Bangladesh will also be attending the event as invitee members, said Special Secretary of Industries and Commerce, Abhishek Chandra, told the media at the Civil Secretariat here.

There will be nine sessions on various topics during the conclave. The G-20 delegation will also visit Oxygen Park and join a Yoga session. Besides, they will also visit the Agartala Book fair, he said.

The chief minister is scheduled to meet the G20 delegates on Sunday and inaugurate an exhibition showcasing the states art, culture, heritage and business opportunities.

India assumed the Presidency of the G20 or Group of 20 for one year from December 1, 2022.

New Delhi has decided to host around 200 G20 meetings across the country during its yearlong Presidency of the intergovernmental forum of the worlds major developed and developing economies.

G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).
European Parliament on Friday condemned Italys conservative government after it asked the council to stop registering the children of same-sex parents. EU derided Italys conservative government for its move that it slammed as "discriminatory". It restricts the rights of LGBTQ+ people, European Parliament MEPs said, according to the Guardian newspaper. The Milan city council had been transcribing children of same-sex couples born via surrogacy or IVF overseas into its civil register which Italy has objected to. European Parliament slammed Italy for what it said was a "broader attack against the LGBTQI+ community in Italy.

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala this week made a trip to Brussels to form an alliance and seek support from the opposition parties against the ruling Italian government. He warned that with such orders, the Italian ruling administration is violating the rights of same-sex-parent families. EU MEPs are now urging Italy to immediately rescind its decision". Such an act "will inevitably lead to discrimination against not only same-sex couples but also primarily their children," they argued, according to an amendment to a 2022 report compiled by liberal and centrist Renew Europe. MEPs noted that such a decision by the government of Giorgia Meloni was a direct breach of childrens rights under a UN convention. Surrogacy is illegal in Italy while IVF is only available for heterosexual couples.

US passes bill to protect LGBTQ+ same-sex marriage

Last year, in December, the US passed historic legislation the 'Respect for Marriage Act' to federally protect same-sex and interracial marriages and instate the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Bill was sent to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature and later became the law, signifying the decades-long shift in how gay marriages. The draft bill won bipartisan support in the Democratic-led House. The lower chamber passed the bill successfully this summer with backing from over 47 Republicans. It got the final approval by 258 to 169. As many as thirty-nine GOP lawmakers supported the Democrats in passing the legislation. Biden noted that the new law will relieve the LGBTQI+ and interracial couples who will now be guaranteed federal protections should they decide to marry and start a family.
According to a diplomatic source cited by a British tabloid, there is speculation that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen may be considered for the role of NATO head as of October this year. The source mentioned that a number of NATO member states have suggested Leyen for the position. However, according to a report from Sputnik, some UK sources have indicated that they would likely veto her appointment due to concerns about her past performance as German Defense Minister.

Jens Stoltenberg, the current Secretary General of NATO, is expected to vacate his position in the fall of 2023. Although his term was scheduled to end in October 2022, it was extended for another year until September 30, 2023, due to the Ukraine crisis. Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen's term as European Commission President is slated to end next year. According to a report by the Foreign Policy journal in February, the process for selecting a successor to the current NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, will involve consultations between members of the alliance, with the final decision being based on consensus. However, the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are expected to have significant influence in the selection process.

What does a NATO Secretary General do?

The NATO Secretary General is the chief administrative officer of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a political and military alliance of North American and European countries. The Secretary-General acts as the organisation's spokesperson, leading its operations and guiding its direction.

The Secretary-General is chosen through a process of consultation and consensus among NATO member states. The North Atlantic Council, which is the alliance's principal political decision-making body, takes the lead in the selection process. The council includes the ambassadors of each NATO member state and meets at least once a week. The Secretary-General is appointed for a term of four years, which can be renewed for another term.

Traditionally, the Secretary-General has been European, while the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), who is the highest-ranking military officer in NATO, has been American. However, this is not a formal requirement. The Secretary-General has several important responsibilities. One of their most significant duties is to serve as a mediator between the member states of NATO. The Secretary-General is also responsible for organising and chairing meetings of the North Atlantic Council, and for representing the alliance in meetings with leaders of other countries and international organisations.

In addition to these duties, the Secretary-General oversees the NATO International Staff, which provides administrative and logistical support to the alliance's operations. The Secretary-General is also responsible for coordinating the efforts of the NATO military authorities and ensuring that the alliance's political objectives are translated into effective military action.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, has called for the formation of a full court in response to a petition filed by the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regarding delays in the Punjab polls, as per a report from Geo news. Sharif made these comments during a press conference held in London, where he also discussed the decreasing foreign reserves of Pakistan.

During a recent press conference in London, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also spoke out against his disqualification from the prime minister's office, saying it hurt the future of the country. Sharif also criticised the poor decisions made by those in authority that have damaged Pakistan's economy, highlighting the struggles of the impoverished who are forced to sell their possessions to pay for medical expenses they cannot afford. Sharif apparently intends to investigate the reasons for his disqualification with the involvement of retired judges such as Saqib Nisar.

Why has PTI filed a petition?

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the Election Commission of Pakistan's decision to delay provincial elections in Punjab. The PTI's petition argues that the ECP's order is in violation of both the constitution and a previous judgment of the apex court.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan states that the matter involved in the petition is of public importance with reference to the enforcement of fundamental rights for millions of people in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI's move comes after the country's poll panel postponed the election in Punjab until October 8, citing concerns that it could not ensure transparent and peaceful polls on the originally scheduled date of April 30.
Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will pay a three-day visit to India beginning Monday to expand the already close bilateral ties especially in the sphere of economic and development cooperation.

The King will hold talks with President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Wangchuck will be accompanied by Tandi Dorji, Bhutanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, and senior officials of the Royal government of Bhutan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said announcing the visit.

"At the invitation of the President of India Droupadi Murmu, the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will be on an official visit to India from April 3 to 5," the MEA said.

It said the visit of the King is in keeping with the long standing tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two countries.

"India and Bhutan enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation, which are characterized by understanding and mutual trust," the MEA said in a statement.

"The visit would provide an opportunity to both the sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation and to further advance the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation," it said.
Ethnic Serbs have boycotted en masse local elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo with ethnic Serb majorities where local mayors resigned in November 2022 to protest a cross-border dispute over vehicle registrations.

The Central Election Commission late on April 23 said preliminary results indicated that the Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party of Kosovo's prime minister, Albin Kurti, had won the mayoral races in North Mitrovica and Leposavic, while the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo had taken races in Zvecan and Zubin Potok.

As expected, turnout was low, after the dominant ethnic Serb party, Srpska Lista (Serbian List), which enjoys the support of neighboring Serbia's government, announced it was boycotting the votes. The commission said only 1,567 people -- or 3.47 percent of voters -- showed up at polling stations.

Despite the low turnout, the results are considered legally valid. There is no minimum turnout rule for the vote.

There are around 45,000 voters eligible to elect new mayors in North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok, along with municipal assemblies in Zvecan and Leposavic.



RFE/RL correspondents reported that the only ballots that were being cast were submitted in places with ethnic Albanian residents.

WATCH: Most of the voters in RFE/RL footage from North Mitrovica and Zvecan are local Albanians, as are most of the candidates for mayor, due to a boycott by the dominant Kosovo Serb party, Serbian List.

The result could further step up tensions between ethnic Serbs who are mostly loyal to neighboring Serbia and Kosovo's central government that represents the country's overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority.

Ethnic Serbs compose some 1-2 percent of Kosovo's population of around 2 million people.

Milan Radoicic, vice president of Serbian List, said following the vote that "those who think that with 1 or 2 percent of votes, they can lead the municipalities in the north, I have to say that the Serbian people will never allow them to do that."

A former chairwoman of Kosovo's Central Election Commission, Valdete Daka, told RFE/RL that so long as proper procedures were being followed, the tiny number of votes would likely result in mayoral seats being filled but not necessarily an end to the local problems.

Daka said the "nonappearance in the elections" was essentially "conveying a message to the government of Kosovo that they won't accept the leaders who emerge from these elections."

Fifteen years after the mostly ethnic Albanian former province declared independence from Serbia, Belgrade continues to oppose recognition of Kosovo's independence.

Many ethnic Serbs in Kosovo continue to lean heavily on support from Serbia and its nationalist president, Aleksandar Vucic.

The Serbian List party has demanded the formation of an Association of Serb Municipalities, as Kosovo's government pledged to the international community a decade ago, and the withdrawal of special units of the Kosovo Police from the north of the country.

A total of 10 candidates were competing for the mayorships, only one of whom -- independent candidate Sladjana Pantovic in Zvecan -- is an ethnic Serb. Pantovic was the rare exception among ethnic Serbs, turning out to vote at around 8 a.m.

Pantovic received just five votes, or 2.6 percent.

Another ethnic Serb candidate, Aleksandar Jablanovic from the Party of Kosovo Serbs, withdrew from the race in Leposavic three days ago, saying there were not "adequate conditions" for voting.

All of the remaining candidates were ethnic Albanians from the Mitrovica Civic Initiative, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, and Kurti's Self-Determination movement.

The election commission had to organize alternative polling stations for the April 23 voting because the schools that normally host the voting in northern Kosovo operate within the so-called parallel system run by Serbia's leadership.

Kurti this week accused Belgrade of intimidating Serbs from the north to discourage their participate in the voting.

Vucic alleged on April 22 that Kosovar authorities were effectively staging "an occupation" of the north after the elections.

The four northern municipalities have been without mayors since November, when Serbian representatives largely loyal to Belgrade resigned from their jobs over the Kosovar government's threatened imposition of a requirement for all vehicles to be registered locally.

The voting took place at 19 polling stations, 12 of which were organized by Kosovar authorities in the final days before the vote.

Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani and the Central Election Commission urged citizens in the north to exercise their right to vote.

The international community has also expressed regret at the Serb-led boycott and urged all sides to exercise restraint.

Following the election, the U.S. Embassy in Pristina said, "We recognize Kosovan election officials' efforts to make polling places available to citizens wishing to exercise their right to vote, while minimizing potential points of tension."

"We likewise express our appreciation for the professionalism of the Kosovo Police, EU Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), and KFOR in ensuring a secure environment for the elections."

Kosovo remains blocked from many multinational organizations due to Serbian and Russian opposition to recognition, although there were recently signs of a possible breakthrough under EU-mediated talks.

The European Parliament on April 18 approved a decision on visa liberalization that will allow citizens of Kosovo to travel to most European countries without a visa by January 2024 at the latest. It is the last Western Balkan country to achieve such status.

U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier told RFE/RL's Balkan Service on April 21 that citizens in the north of Kosovo and all political parties "have a responsibility to respect the democratic process, recognizing that they all had the opportunity to register and participate."
Visitors are seen at the Telecom Congress of Huawei in Gaborone, Botswana, March 31, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei held its first Telecom Congress in Botswana from Tuesday to Friday, launching a series of network and data center solutions.

The four-day event drew more than 400 representatives from the government, telecom operators, enterprises, and universities to experience the latest industry technologies and solutions.(Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

GABORONE, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech giant Huawei held its first Telecom Congress in Botswana from Tuesday to Friday, launching a series of network and data center solutions.

The four-day event drew more than 400 representatives from the government, telecom operators, enterprises, and universities to experience the latest industry technologies and solutions.

Thulagano Segokgo, Botswana's minister of Communications, Knowledge and Technology, expressed gratitude to Huawei for actively participating in Botswana's national digital transformation during the event and encouraged the company to bring more cutting-edge innovative technologies to Botswana.

For many years, Huawei has taken an active part in Botswana's planning and development of information and communication technology (ICT) so as to support the building of ubiquitous connectivity and the ICT sector in Botswana, said David Zhang, managing director of Huawei in Botswana.

"We hope to provide Botswana with high-quality 5G experience and digital intelligent transformation solutions," said Zhang.

During the event, Huawei held a forum on the theme of "ICT for Youth Development and Employment" to support Botswana's socio-economic development through talent cultivation.

Since 2019, Huawei has provided industry-leading ICT training to more than 100 Botswana university students through the programs of Seeds for the Future and Huawei ICT Academy, said Zhang.

In the future, Huawei plans to provide communications training for 100 Botswana students every year, he said.

Puntsho Pusoetsile, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology, welcomed the plan and encouraged more enterprises to participate in local communications talent cultivation. 

A visitor tries VR devices at the Telecom Congress of Huawei in Gaborone, Botswana, March 31, 2023. Chinese tech giant Huawei held its first Telecom Congress in Botswana from Tuesday to Friday, launching a series of network and data center solutions.

The four-day event drew more than 400 representatives from the government, telecom operators, enterprises, and universities to experience the latest industry technologies and solutions.(Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)
A few months ago, few people predicted that Montenegrin presidential challenger Jakov Milatovic was on track to unseat Europe's longest-serving democratically elected leader. In fact, the 36-year-old, Western-educated economist wasn't even his own party's choice for the job.

But the former economy minister has done just that, thanks to a landslide victory over President Milo Djukanovic in an April 2 runoff that highlighted an avalanche of public distrust and opposition to the 61-year-old incumbent. Preliminary results on election night suggested Milatovic won the second round by a 60-40 margin, and Djukanovic conceded defeat and wished the victor a "successful" presidency.

Djukanovic, the head of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), has effectively led Montenegro as president or prime minister since 1991, but his rule has been sullied by corruption allegations and accusations of involvement with organized crime.

Milatovic's win could also provide momentum for his 9-month-old Europe Now! party ahead of snap parliamentary elections already scheduled for June 11.

But just 2 1/2 years after he gave up international banking to join an ill-fated cabinet led by pro-Serbian forces, Milatovic remains a mystery to many Montenegrins and most outsiders.

He was born in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica, which was known at the time as Titograd, in December 1986. That was the same year that rising star Djukanovic joined the presidency of Yugoslavia's Socialist Youth League, an eventual springboard to presidential and prime ministerial stints in Montenegro's postcommunist and postindependence eras.

After finishing his studies in economics at the University of Podgorica, Milatovic spent one year as a scholar at Illinois State University in the United States and then had stints studying in Vienna and Rome. He went on to earn a master's degree in economics at Oxford.

WATCH: Jakov Milatovic declares victory in Montenegro's presidential election.

Following his academic studies, he worked at a regional bank and then Deutsche Bank before joining the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as an economist in London and Podgorica.

Then, watershed elections in 2020 handed a one-seat majority in the Montenegrin parliament to an assemblage of pro-Serbian, pro-Serbian Orthodox, and other groupings to send Djukanovic's DPS into opposition for the first time since multiparty elections began in 1990.

Around one-third of Montenegro's residents identify as Serbian and around two-thirds worship under a local arm of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Tensions with Belgrade have broadly eased since Montenegro declared independence from a union with Serbia in 2006, but questions of Montenegrin national identity and shared culture remain sore spots.

Milatovic left his job abroad to become economy minister in the "technical" cabinet of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, one of the 12 "apostles" -- as Krivokapic famously called them -- in a government negotiated under the watchful eyes of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the Ostrog Monastery to assert the coalition's pro-Serbian, pro-church credentials.

In government, Milatovic soon joined forces with another well-traveled thirtysomething analyst: Finance Minister Milojko Spajic.

They quickly demonstrated a knack for populist simplicity.

Spajic and Milatovic were the architects of a stimulus-and-reform scheme that boosted wages in part by abolishing contributions to health care in the midst of a pandemic. Dubbed "Europe Now," the plan showed immediate results, contributing to more than doubling the monthly minimum wage -- from 222 euros ($242) to 450 euros ($491) -- and boosting average wages from 530 euros to 670 euros.

Critics say the moves effectively reneged on Milatovic's pledge that the government was "dedicatedto structural reforms," crippled the financial fitness of the health-care system, and left the country vulnerable to a "Greek scenario" of default. Milatovic has blamed reform failures on a lack of political will that he says has also hamstrung Montenegro's EU candidacy.

But the "Europe Now" initiative earned both men considerable popular support.

In a pointed critique of the Djukanovic era, Milatovic boasted that "this was the first significant increase in the standard of living [in Montenegro] in the past 30 years." He also suggested that the country could "reach an average [monthly] salary of 1,000 euros in a short period of time."

The Krivokapic government lost a no-confidence vote in February 2022 brought on by a crisis over denial of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide by a junior minister, although it stayed on in a caretaker capacity until April.

By June 2022, with Spajic as president and Milatovic as his deputy, the duo created a new political party with a stated centrist, pro-EU, anti-corruption agenda called Movement Europe Now! (Pokret Evropa Sad!).

In October 2022, with Milatovic heading the party list in Podgorica, home to nearly 1-in-3 Montenegro residents, Europe Now! won a stunning 21 percent of the vote on pledges of modernizing the workforce and delivering economic prosperity.

Spajic, a Serb, announced his plans to challenge Djukanovic in this month's presidential election, but his bid was derailed by his longtime official residency in Serbia and suspected dual citizenship.

In next-man-up fashion, Milatovic quickly stepped in to fill the void.

"Whether it's me or Spajic is really not so important at the moment," Milatovic said in January ahead of Spajic's withdrawal, describing himself as "a man who has never run from responsibility."

As a candidate, he played up his economic experience and support for Montenegro's EU membership bid, which has slowed over reform failures and enlargement fatigue among the bloc's members.

He has also consistently argued for closer relations with Serbia.
Members of Russias invading forces in Ukraine are receiving their pay in many cases either late, not in full, or not at all, the wives of several conscripted or mobilized soldiers have told RFE/RL.

Yekaterina, from Ivanovo, some 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow, told North.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Russian Service, that her husband, Aleksandr, was mobilized on October 21 but hasnt received any pay for the last two months.

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.

He asks about pay, but only receives empty promises. His commanders tell him he just needs to wait, but theres been no money coming in for two months now, Yekaterina complains, adding that taking care of an infant with no relatives to help only adds to her anxiety.

You probably know yourself that its not easy to raise a child on 20,000 to 30,000 rubles ($250-$380) a month, because you need diapers, food, and so on, she says.

Its not an isolated case. Across Russia, relatives of those fighting in Russias invasion have said that pay is either being delayed or not being received at all, the independent Ukrainian media outlet Verstka reported, based on monitoring social media posts in 52 Russian regions as well as illegally annexed Crimea.

According to the report by Verstka, those impacted include professional soldiers and those who have recently enlisted in the army, as well as conscripts dragooned during Russias partial mobilization" drive.

The inability of Russias military bureaucracy to cope with the swelling numbers of fresh Russian troops is likely the reason for the pay delays, Valentina Melnikova, who heads the Committee of Soldiers Mothers of Russia, told Verstka.

Weve never had so many people involved in conflicts before. Neither volunteers nor the mobilized have ever been [in the army before]. There is no experience of working with such personnel, Verstka quoted Melnikova as saying.

The partial mobilization of Russian citizens to fight in the countrys invasion of Ukraine triggered not only protests but a mass exodus after it was announced last September. Tens of thousands fled the country by car across land border crossings or bought airline tickets out of the country.

In a bid to lure Russians to pick up a gun and participate in Russias unprovoked aggression, the government of President Vladimir Putin -- recently indicted by the International Criminal Court for the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children  has promised hefty pay.

According to official information, the starting salary for a Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine is around 195,000 rubles ($2,535) a month -- nearly 14 times higher than the median salary in some regions of Russia.

Yelizaveta from the Vologda Oblast told North.Realities that her husband, Kirill, 25, saw his pay drastically cut recently, allegedly to punish him for returning late to his regiment after a visit home to see his newborn daughter.

He was paid 6,000 rubles ($75) for February; the rest was cut. Our baby is only a month old and we have no money, she said, adding that commanders told her husband that it was unclear when his full pay would be reinstated, although she says that had been dipping in recent months as well.

Previously, they paid 220,000 rubles a month, then less and less. For January, it was 195,000, she said.

Yulia, from Ust-Ilimsk in Irkutsk, in Russias Siberia region, says her husband signed a contract to fight in Ukraine but has only been paid less than one-quarter of what he was promised.

Only a salary of 30,000 rubles ($380) has been paid, said Yulia, who, like Yekaterina, futilely turned to Russian officials for help and answers.

I wrote everywhere. But he is not alone. Everyone who left with him is not receiving [pay] as well, Yulia said.

She refused to point the finger of blame at the Kremlin, however.

Well, there can be many reasons. We can only guess, be patient, and wait," she said. "The Russian people are patient.

Close to 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, The New York Times reported in late February.

The Russian military placed its death toll at under 6,000 in September, its most recent acknowledgment of its losses. Open source-based media tallies have verified more than twice that number of Russian deaths.

Ukraine, meanwhile, says it is investigating more than 76,000 alleged Russian war crimes, including killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings, and sexual assaults.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, a Russian children's rights official, on the charge of illegally deporting thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia.

Besides not being remunerated, Russian soldiers are reportedly not being properly equipped for battle, in many cases. Men mobilized for deployment in Ukraine have been instructed to bring their own medical supplies due to dire shortages at the front.

With supplies low or nonexistent, families have been forced to buy their own equipment, including thermal underwear and body armor, for mobilized soldiers, The Guardian reported in October.

Yelizaveta from the city of Volzhsky, an industrial town in the Volgograd region, claims that her husband was not paid for his service in January or February.

Before that, everything came fine: 195,000 [rubles] every month on the 12th [of the month]. I haven't asked anyone about it yet. My husband has been [deployed in the invasion] since September; hes a volunteer, she explains.

WATCH: Buda Munkhoyev and Vladimir Popov moved from the Siberian region of Buryatia to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to avoid mobilization and the war in Ukraine. In Kyrgyzstan, they started making videos about local life and culture there, notching up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.

The pay problems come as the Kremlin is grappling with rising expenditures but shrinking revenues.

Russias federal budget deficit rose to 2.58 trillion rubles ($34.19 billion) in the first two months of the year as government spending skyrocketed amid slumping revenue from oil and gas sales, the Russian Finance Ministry reported on March 6.

Moscow relies on income from oil and gas -- last year around 11.6 trillion rubles -- to fund its budget spending and has been forced to start selling international reserves to cover a deficit stretched by the cost of the Ukraine invasion, Reuters reported.

Putin told government officials in Moscow on March 29 that sanctions imposed by the West to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine could have a negative impact on the countrys economy. It was a rare admission from the Russian leader, who just weeks earlier -- on March 14 -- had dismissed the impact of Western sanctions on Russias economy, boasting that the countrys economic sovereignty was stronger than ever.

Economist Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs calculates that Western sanctions alone have basically shrunk Russias economy by 10 percent, a larger impact than the 2008 financial crisis.
Passengers pose for a group photo at the West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, April 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

HONG KONG, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The long-haul services of the Express Rail Link (XRL) Hong Kong Section fully resumed on Saturday, connecting the financial hub with destinations outside the neighboring Guangdong province.

Over 30,000 passengers are expected to take bullet trains to the mainland on Saturday, according to forecast by the MTR Corporation.

Tickets for trains departing early for destinations such as Xiamen and Beijing have already been sold out.

People queued up to purchase cross-border tickets for the next 14 days at the West Kowloon Station, terminus of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong XRL, which connects Hong Kong with the mainland's high-speed rail network.

The XRL operation has been smooth since its resumption of short-haul services on Jan. 15. 

Passengers from the mainland leave the West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, April 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

A staff member presents souvenirs to passengers at the West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, April 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

Passengers arrive at the departure hall of the West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, April 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

Passengers arrive at the departure hall of the West Kowloon Station in south China's Hong Kong, April 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)
MACAO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Friday held a conference and a symposium to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, a milestone in the historical process of the "one country, two systems" cause.

The Basic Law of the Macao SAR, together with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, forms the constitutional foundation for the Macao SAR. The Macao SAR government and different circles of life have persisted in building Macao's governance system and capabilities under the framework of national governance.

They have also resolutely safeguarded national sovereignty, security and development interests, implemented the principle of "patriots administering Macao," made substantial progress in Macao's economic development, people's livelihood and social stability, and promoted the steady and sustained development of "one country, two systems" practices with Macao characteristics.

"PATRIOTS ADMINISTERING MACAO"

"The Basic Law of the Macao SAR was the outcome of legalizing and institutionalizing the 'one country, two systems' principle," said Tong Io Cheng, member of the Committee for the Basic Law of the Macao SAR under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

Since Macao's return, the Macao SAR has fully respected and safeguarded the central authorities' overall jurisdiction over Macao and correctly exercised the power of administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, which serves as key to the success of "one country, two systems" practices in Macao.

In 2016, the Macao SAR amended its law on election of the Legislative Assembly, stipulating that candidates must not hold political posts in foreign countries and that they must uphold the Macao SAR Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Macao SAR.

During the election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of Macao in 2021, 21 candidates were disqualified for having not upheld the Macao SAR Basic Law, or not pledging allegiance to the Macao SAR.

SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY, SECURITY, DEVELOPMENT INTERESTS

"National security is the basic premise of the existence and development of the country. It is also a vital foundation for Macao to maintain long-term prosperity and stability," said Wang Yu, member of the Committee for the Basic Law of the Macao SAR under the NPC Standing Committee.

The Macao SAR government and various circles of life have always put safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests as a top priority, added Wang.

Since 2009, the Macao SAR has completed legislation on safeguarding national security as stipulated by Article 23 of the Macao SAR Basic Law and supporting laws. Macao is now progressing with amendment of the legislation on national security to further improve the legal system for safeguarding national security.

Since 2018, the Macao SAR government has also organized exhibitions each year to help increase Macao residents' awareness of national security.

GOVERNING MACAO IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW

Since Macao's return to the motherland, the SAR has enacted or amended 363 laws and 792 regulations, providing a strong legal guarantee for the development of various causes.

Currently, a legal system with the Constitution and the Basic Law as the core and five major codes as the mainstay has been formed in Macao, guaranteeing residents' basic rights such as the right to elect and be elected, freedom, and access to social welfare.

Macao has made notable progress in various social causes since 1999, continuously increasing its social welfare level. The average life expectancy of male and female residents reached 81.3 and 87.1 years respectively.

INTEGRATION INTO OVERALL NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

"The Basic Law provides a solid legal guarantee for Macao's economic development and improvement of people's livelihood," said Ip Kuai Peng, vice rector of the City University of Macao.

Guaranteed and guided by the Constitution and the Basic Law, the central authorities' favorable policies continuously assisted Macao to integrate into the overall national development and achieve leaping economic and social development, Ip said.

Over the years, the central authorities have facilitated the establishment of closer economic and trade relations between the mainland and Macao, offered new space for the development of Macao's higher education, promoted exchanges and trade in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and supported Macao's appropriate economic diversification by building the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin, Macao's neighboring Zhuhai city.

In 2022, Macao revised its gaming laws.

From 1999 to 2021, Macao's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.5 percent annually in real terms on average. Meanwhile, per capita GDP grew from 15,000 U.S. dollars to 44,000 dollars. Foreign exchange reserves increased from 2.86 billion dollars to 26.66 billion dollars.

POPULARIZATION OF LAWS

The Macao SAR has also been dedicated to popularizing the Constitution and the Basic Law, with official and non-official groups focusing on publicizing the laws to students and the general public.

Founded in 2001, the Macao Basic Law Promotion Association is a major organization devoted to publicizing the Constitution and the Basic Law. Since 2012, the association has organized nine training sessions to Macao's young people.

"Education on the Constitution and the Basic Law has become core of Macao's patriotic education system," said Liu Chak Wan, president of the association.

Macao should continue learning and using the Basic Law to fully tap the advantages of the "one country, two systems" principle, find out deep-rooted problems in Macao's socio-economic development, and enrich practices of "one country, two systems," added Liu. 
Viral Video

Social media Users flooded the comment section with Wishes

The Passion of ones profession can never let you stop to work anytime-anywhere. This has been proven correct after a video of a wedding photographer clicking photos of the bride in his own wedding went viral on the social media. The video has been a delight to watch the adorable couple.

The Passion for photography and the eager urge to capture the best moments forced Ayan Sen (Groom) to hold the camera and take some shots of his beautiful bride Priya at the wedding. Their video is being loved by people on the internet. Social media users flooded the comment section with words of praise and congratulatory messages for the couple.

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The Video has been dropped by Scylen Photo-Graphics. He wrote, "wedding_photographer_scylen's profile picture. When you marry a photographer!! Itni si khwahish toh banti hain.One of our team Photographer just got married.Wishing ayansen_twd & Priya a very happy married life ahead."

SEE THE VIDEO HERE.....




HOUSTON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- At least two tornadoes battered parts of the southern U.S. state of Arkansas Friday afternoon, causing "catastrophic" damage in the state's capital city Little Rock, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.

At least one person was hospitalized in critical condition after severe storms moved through central Arkansas, said the Office of Emergency Management in Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock.

Large trees were uprooted, rooftops smashed, buildings severely damaged, and even 18-wheelers blown over, according to images posted online.

Members of the Little Rock National Weather Service were also forced to evacuate.

Authorities estimated there were at least 600 injuries so far, and Little Rock police were transporting people to hospitals as there were not enough ambulances to respond, according to local media outlet KTHV.

At least two tornadoes have been confirmed so far. Little Rock's Fire Department said on social media that heavy damage was caused and there was debris in the western end of the city.

As of 4:00 p.m. local time, nearly 75,000 customers were without power across the state, according to PowerOutage.us.

The threat of dangerous severe storms, including tornadoes, will last into early Saturday, meteorologists said. 
Kapil Sibal

Recent events are its "trailer": Kapil Sibal

NEW-DELHI: Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Saturday (April 1) alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to incite communal violence ahead of the 2024 general elections, citing incidents in West Bengal and Gujarat. He said, "Recent events are its 'trailer'."

Violent clashes broke out between two groups during Shobha Yatra on Ram Navami in West Bengal's Howrah city on Thursday. Both BJP and Trinamool Congress (TMC) have accused each other over this. On the occasion of Ram Navami, there were reports of violence from Gujarat and Maharashtra as well.

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Sibal tweeted, "As we approach 2024..For the BJP On the table :1) communal violence 2) hate speech 3) baiting minorities 4) target opposition by use of ED, CBI, election commission. Trailer : Burning of Bengal Stoking communal violence in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat."

It is worth mentioning here that Sibal, who was a Union Minister in the first and second term of the UPA government, left the Congress in May last year and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an independent member with the support of the Samajwadi Party.




MP Sanjay Raut

The Police have detained an accused in this case

Mumbai: Senior leader of Shivsena and MP Sanjay Raut has recently received death threats. According to information, Sanjay Raut was threatened through a message on his mobile phone. The message was sent in the name of Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, confirmed Sanjay Raut.

The police have detained an accused in this case and he is being interrogated. Sanjay Raut said, "I have received a threat on my phone and I have reported it to the police. This is the second threat i have received. Earlier, The then Home Minister termed it a stunt. This government is not serious about the security of the opposition. But that's okay, it doesn't matter to me."

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An FIR has been registered at the Kanjurmarg Police Station on the complaint of Sunil Raut, brother of Sanjay Raut. The police have registered a case under section 506(2), 504 and made Lawrence Bishnoi an accused.

Reports said that the person who sent the threatening message is from Pune named Rahul Talekar, who works in a hotel there. According to the police, he was intoxicated while sending the threatening messages. Rahul Talekar is being detained and questioned. But so far no relation between him and Lawrence Bishnoi has been revealed.
Harjot Bains

E-mail- EMOfficepunjab@gmail.com

MOHALI: The Arbitrariness of private schools will not last anymore! In a major step by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government, strict action will be taken against the private schools who charge fees according to their own will. An e-mail has been launched by Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains in this regard.

Minister Harjot Singh Bains has said in the message issued to the parents that any complaint against the schools which are collecting fees voluntarily or increasing their financial burden can be sent to this e-mail.

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The Education has issued the E-mail- EMOfficepunjab@gmail.com.

This major step has been taken by the Education Minister on the basis of complaints of arbitrariness of private schools. The Education Minister has given a message to the parents that no private school can charge fees arbitrarily. Fees will be charged as per prescribed rules.

Notably, The Education department has issued a letter to about 800 schools in the districts, in which the management has been ordered to share the details of the class-wise fees during the new session on the portal. Apart from this, the school should convey this information to the education department through its official e-mail.

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According to the information, parents changed their children's schools last year due to high fees issue. According to the parents, on March 15, DEO issued a letter in this regard. Despite this, no checking or action was taken on complaints received from the parents. Keeping these complaints in mind, the Education Minister has issued an e-mail which will contain all the details.
Hyundai Motor India reported strong YoY sales in March 2023 with domestic sales and exports both posting positive growth

Hyundai Motor India has had a successful year with strong growth reported for its model lineup. The company registered its highest ever domestic sales of 5,67,546 units in FY 2022-23 relating to a YoY growth of 17.9 percent. This was against 4,81,500 units sold in FY 2021-22. FY 2022-23 saw Hyundai Motor India introduce many new products among which were the Tucson, new Venue, electric Ioniq 5, facelifted Grand i10 NIOS / Aura and new gen Verna  each targeting a different segment of buyers in the country.

Exports also improved in the period FY 2022-23 by 18.4 percent to 1,53,019 percent up from 1,29,260 units sold in FY 2021-22. This took cumulative sales to 7,20,565 units in FY 2022-23, an increase of 18 percent when compared to 6,10,760 units sold in FY 2021-22.

Hyundai Sales March 2023

In March 2023, the company sold a total (domestic + exports) of 61,500 units. This was an 11.2 percent growth when compared to total sales of 55,287 units sold in March 2022. In domestic markets, sales stood at 50,600 units in March 2023.

This was up 13.45 percent when compared to 44,600 units sold in March 2022 relating to a 6,000 unit volume growth. It was also a MoM growth of 7.73 percent as against 46,968 units sold in Feb 2023. Exports on the other hand improved by 1.99 percent YoY to 10,900 units in March 2023 from 10,687 units exported in March 2022.

Taking into account Q1 2023 sales, Hyundai Motor India sold 1,47,674 units in the said period. This was an 11.31 percent growth from 1,32,672 units sold in Q1 2022 while it was an increase of 12.47 percent when compared to sales of 1,31,305 units sold in Q4 2022.

Hyundai SUVs in demand  Creta Waiting Period stretches to 32 weeks

Following high demand for models such as the Creta, New Venue, Alcazar, Tucson, Aura and Grand i10 Nios, waiting period has stretched upto 24 weeks for the petrol variant and upto 32 weeks for the Creta diesel. It was the best-selling passenger car and best-selling compact SUV in the past month. Facelifted Creta as well as Creta EV are planned for launch in India.

Waiting period for the Alcazar extends to 16 weeks while the i20 premium hatchback has a waiting period of 16 weeks. The i10 NIOS commands a 20 week waiting period while Venue is at 32 weeks and Aura at 14 weeks depending on variant. 2023 Verna mid-size sedan deliveries have started. It comes in with new design, feature updates, several first in segment features and a powerful turbo petrol engine lineup.
Upon launch, Heros new motorcycle could take on rivals such as TVS Apache RTR 200 4V and Bajaj Pulsar NS200

Indias largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp has started looking beyond the commuter segment. The company has plans to launch multiple new products in 200cc to 500cc segment. This space is expected to register strong growth in coming years and Hero wants to make the most of it.

Last month in March, it was revealed that Hero will be bringing back Karizma in its new-gen avatar. Now, patent documents reveal another new bike, which is expected to be Hunk 200. While Hunk is no longer available in India, it is sold in several international markets. New Hunk planned for India will have a unique profile and equipment list.

Hero Hunk 200 styling

Just like other bikes in this segment, Hero Hunk 200 has a sleek profile. It is expected to have all-LED lighting. Some of the key highlights include compact headlamp cowl, wide handlebar, sculpted fuel tank design, sporty shoulder fairing, rugged engine protector, cone-shaped exhaust canister, single-piece saddle and boomerang-styled grab rails.

Hero Hunk 200 could get a full-digital instrument console. It is expected to be a compact unit, all while displaying a wide range of information. It remains to be seen if Bluetooth-based connectivity features will be available with the bike. Among rivals, TVS Apache RTR 200 4V has a dedicated connectivity suite. In comparison, Bajaj Pulsar NS200 does not have connectivity options.

Riding stance seems a bit committed with the slightly low-set handlebar. However, foot pegs appear to be centrally mounted. Rider seat section has a scooped profile, which should ensure adequate comfort even during longer journeys. It also lowers the seat height, improving overall balance and handling. The bike appears to be agile and highly manoeuvrable, making it suitable for city streets. Pillion seat section seems a bit narrow, but the panels on the side are quite wide. These should ensure adequate thigh support.

Hero Hunk 200 engine, specs

Powering Hero Hunk 200 could be a new engine. Lack of a radiator indicates that the bike will have an air-cooled engine. Power and torque output could be comparable to other street bikes in this segment. For reference, TVS Apache RTR 200 4V has a 197.75cc engine. In Sport mode, it churns out 20.82 PS of max power and 17.25 Nm of peak torque. Pulsar NS200 is equipped with a 199.5 cc motor that makes 24.5 PS and 18.74 Nm.

Hero Hunk 200 is expected to get 17-inch alloy wheels, shod with standard tubeless tyres. It will have disc brakes at both ends, with at least single-channel ABS. Suspension system comprises telescopic forks at front and a monoshock unit at rear. There is unlikely to be any premium equipment such as ride-by-wire tech and slipper clutch. Hero is likely to focus on sporty styling, peppy performance and affordable pricing to make it work.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors has reported outstanding YoY and MoM growth in March 2023 to 18,670 units

Toyota Kirloskar Motor ended the past financial year on a positive note. The company sold 1,74,015 units in FY23, a 41 percent increase when compared to 1,23,770 units. The company saw a YoY growth of 8.98 percent to 18,670 units in March 2023 as against 17,131 units sold in March 2022.

Toyota Sales March 2023

This was a volume growth of 1,539 units. MoM sales on the other hand increased even more significantly by 22.29 percent when compared to 15,267 units sold in Feb 2023. Company models which generated increased demand through the month of March 2023 were the Innova Hycross, Urban Cruiser Hyryder, Innova Crysta and Hilux.

Following positive YoY and MoM growth in March 2023, the company also recorded sales of 46,665 units in Q1 2023 which was a 40.54 percent growth from 33,203 units sold in Q1 2022. This was a volume growth of 13,462 units. In Q4 2022 sales stood at 35,329 units.

Toyota Hycross, which was a recent entrant in the company line-up, has contributed to sales. The company had also opened bookings for the Innova Crysta Diesel in March 2023.

Toyota Optimistic About Future In India

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) ended the fiscal year in the green, and is optimistic about its growth and momentum in the upcoming years. With steady growth for passenger cars, TKM was able to capitalize on this trend, and met the diverse mobility needs of its customers. The companys success in meeting these needs is attributed to its strategy of launching new products, introducing greener and advanced technology options, and focusing on customer service. TKMs new launches were received well by customers.

Atul Sood, Vice President, Sales and Strategic Marketing, TKM said, We also opened bookings for the much-loved New Innova Crysta Diesel which has strongly contributed to our achievements in the month of March 2023.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) is optimistic about the coming year, given the strong customer demand for its products. The companys strategy of closely serving its customers has helped. TKMs success in the recently ended fiscal year can be attributed to its focus on launching new products, introducing cars that are sought after, and meeting varied segment needs. As the company continues to prioritize customer service and sustainable growth, it is well-positioned for continued success in the future.
Aramco, one of the worlds leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, and international contract logistics provider DHL Supply Chain have announced plans to set up a new end-to-end Procurement and Logistics Hub joint venture.

The two companies have signed a shareholders agreement for the hub in Saudi Arabia, which will enhance supply chain efficiency and sustainability.

It would be the regions first such hub catering to customers in the industrial, energy, chemical and petrochemical sectors, said a statement.

The joint venture aims to be operational in 2025 and provide reliable end-to-end integrated procurement and supply chain services for companies across the industrial, energy, chemical and petrochemical sectors.

The joint venture will initially focus on Saudi Arabia, with aspirations to expand across the MENA region.

Aramcos pre-eminent energy and industrial supply chain ecosystem and DHLs world-class logistics expertise are expected to enable the joint venture to add value in meeting customers supply chain purchasing, warehouse and inventory management, transportation and reverse logistics needs.

The aim is for the joint venture to achieve industry best practices in procurement and supply chain management, as well as the deployment of more sustainable supply chain, transport and warehousing solutions, it said.

Amin H Nasser, Aramco President & CEO, said: This partnership brings together two industry leaders, each with long and storied histories. By combining the exceptional energy, chemicals and industrial supply chain ecosystem of Aramco with the world-class shipping and logistics expertise of DHL, we aim to enable the Procurement and Logistics Hub joint venture to serve as a one-stop hub for customers supply chain needs. We anticipate that it will not only advance the economic goals of our two companies but also accelerate growth across Saudi Arabia and the MENA region.

Oscar de Bok, DHL Supply Chain CEO, said: "We are extremely excited to announce the signing of this agreement with Aramco. Through it, DHL intends to foster its business operations and logistics networks throughout Saudi Arabia and the MENA region while expanding our industrial footprint. By working in partnership with Aramco, we aim to provide regional and multinational businesses from these sectors access to a robust international logistics network, fostering positive economic growth while promoting sustainable activities."

Through state-of-the-art technologies, the joint venture is expected to allow businesses to reduce costs, maximise efficiency and harness digitalization. It represents the culmination of several years of cooperation between the two companies, and aims to transform inventory and logistics management, expand business, create jobs and enable economic diversification in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region, the statement said.

The formation of the joint venture is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, it added. -TradeArabia News Service
BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, reported a 62.1-percent surge in net profit in 2022.

Net profit attributable to the parent company reached 149.38 billion yuan (about 21.74 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The company's business revenue rose 23.9 percent to about 3.24 trillion yuan in the reporting period, it said.

The company also said that its free cash flow increased by 88.4 percent year on year. 
Ade Perdues first name means royalty in the Nigerian language of Yoruba. Since he was an infant, the family had called him Prince Ade ( pronounced AH-dee), a fitting nickname for someone so well loved.

The 22-year-old Oceanside man, known for his vibrant personality and legion of friends, died earlier this month under mysterious circumstances. Authorities have labeled the case a homicide but have provided few details about what happened; a man briefly arrested in connection with the killing has since been released.

Perdue was found not breathing in a home on South Horne Street near Michigan Avenue about 6 a.m. on Dec. 11, police said. Paramedics tried to revive him but he was declared dead.

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Although there were no visible signs of traumatic injury, detectives determined Perdue was a victim of foul play based on the totality of the circumstances and after speaking to witnesses, authorities said.

Officers later arrested 24-year-old Pablo Mendoza, and booked him into jail on suspicion of murder. He was released a few days later without charges filed, and could not be reached for comment this week.

An Oceanside Police Department spokeswoman said detectives are declining to release any new information on the case, and that the investigation is continuing.

Perdues family wants answers, even if theyre unlikely to ease their heartbreak.

He was so full of life, his sister-in-law, Ilene Miller Perdue, said earlier this week. Why him?

She said the family is grateful for the outpouring of support from Perdues friends and co-workers at Masters Kitchen and Cocktail in Oceanside, where the young man was a bartender.

Its been therapy for me, said Perdues mother, Jewel Perry, who moved to South Carolina a few years ago and is now back in town for her sons memorial. You would think he was a celebrity. He was so young to know so many people.

So many have reached out with condolences that the family had to move the service planned for Friday to a larger church. It is now set for 5 p.m. at Vista Assembly Church, 290 N. Melrose Drive, the family said.

Ade Perdue was an Oceanside native, born at Tri-City Medical Center. He graduated from Oceanside High in 2013. The family is very close, his mother said, with plenty of inside jokes and boisterous laughter. Even in that context, the boys laugh stood out  it was so infectious, oh my gosh, his sister-in-law said.

Perry said she and her son spoke at least a few times a week  hed call as he rode his skateboard to work  and texted even more. In one recent message, the young man called his mother queen.

On Thanksgiving, a few weeks before he died, Perdue sent his mother a short text: Thank you for giving me my life.

When Perdues father called with news of their sons death, Perry immediately headed to the airport for the first flight out, taking nothing more than the clothes on her back.

On Monday, she sat with her daughter-in-law and two of Ades brothers  Richard Perdue, 36, and Steven Blackman, 27. The mother smiled as she scrolled through her phone, pointing out photos shed periodically taken of old family pictures  some were of the three brothers together, Ade beaming and bright at 4, 5 or 6 years old. Her friends, she said, called him an old soul.

Richard Perdue said his brother was a hard worker, and had worked his way up from a busboy to server to bartender. He dreamed of owning his own watering hole.

Perry last saw her son in October when she visited to celebrate his 22nd birthday. She stayed for eight days in a timeshare near the water, so she could have her family over and cook for them.

She smiled as she showed images from that visit, including videos of her son tending bar at Masters. In one, he glided by her as she sat at the bar, then offered up a quick Hello world to her camera as he bounced between customers.

Perry had no idea how precious those moments would be.

It was meant for me to have those eight days, she said this week.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The following is the full text of a joint announcement released on Saturday by China and Singapore on the establishment of an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership.

Joint Announcement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Singapore on the Establishment of an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership

At the invitation of H.E. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, H.E. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, made an Official Visit to China from 27 March to 1 April 2023.

During the visit, H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, met with Prime Minister Lee. Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Lee held a bilateral meeting. Prime Minister Lee also met with H.E. Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and H.E. Wang Huning, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Both sides agreed that relations between China and Singapore have continued to grow from strength to strength. Both countries have taken a long-term and strategic perspective in charting the path for developing mutually beneficial bilateral relations. Under the "All-Round Cooperative Partnership Progressing with the Times" established by both countries during President Xi's State Visit to Singapore in 2015, bilateral relations have progressed well, in line with the two countries' unique strengths and development priorities. Both sides have established substantive and multi-faceted cooperation in a wide range of areas, and jointly seized new opportunities in emerging fields.

Both sides have agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to an "All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership", reflecting both countries' desire to set the strategic direction and chart the development of bilateral relations going forward.

Singapore reaffirmed its support for China's pursuit of high-quality development and welcomed China's continued commitment to reform and opening up. China spoke highly of Singapore's longstanding participation in China's modernisation journey, which has laid a strong foundation for bilateral cooperation, and expressed support for Singapore's continued growth and prosperity.

Both sides took stock of the commendable progress of bilateral cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). On the important occasion of the tenth anniversary of the BRI this year, both countries will take the opportunity to broaden and deepen high-quality cooperation that benefits our peoples and region.

In line with the two countries' commitment towards collaboration that is of a high standard and quality, both sides welcomed the substantive conclusion of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) Work Programme for Subsequent Negotiations, which was launched pursuant to the Protocol to Upgrade the CSFTA signed in 2018. This upgrade will allow the CSFTA to provide for more business-friendly, liberal, and transparent rules as well as improve the market access for our businesses to trade and invest in each other's markets. Both sides looked forward to the signing of the Protocol for the CSFTA Subsequent Negotiations as soon as possible this year.

Building on the "High-Quality" and "Future-Oriented" approach to bilateral cooperation, both sides looked forward to strengthening the comprehensive and innovative cooperation between China and Singapore in areas including trade and investment, green and digital economies, food security, financial sector, aviation, and people-to-people exchanges. Both sides will work together to harness synergies in new fields like digital transformation and unlock new growth opportunities geared to the future development. Both sides looked forward to pursuing new areas of cooperation, making full use of intergovernmental mechanisms such as the existing annual Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation, as well as the eight Provincial Business Councils in China.

Both sides reaffirmed the continued strengthening of ASEAN-China relations and cooperation under the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Singapore welcomes China's support for the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality in the evolving regional architecture. China and Singapore will work together for the effective implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), and advance preparations for the further enhancement of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA 3.0) to drive mutually beneficial economic growth.

Both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to multilateralism, support for the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, adherence to international law, and would continue to maintain close communication and cooperation at the United Nations and other multilateral organisations.

China and Singapore will continue to work together to uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system as embodied by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), maintain an open and inclusive global economy, and ensure the stable and smooth operation of global supply chains, so as to jointly meet global challenges and make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all. 
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been named among the largest five donors of humanitarian aid to Turkey following the deadly earthquake on February 6th.

The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesman, Jens Laerke, said that donors had contributed $268 million in response to the $1 billion humanitarian funding appeal for relief work in Turkey.

Laerke added that the largest donors were Saudi Arabia, the US, Kuwait, the European Commission, and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

He did not specify the contribution from each donor.

The UN and other humanitarian agencies have reached 4.1 million people with basic household items and clothes, 3 million with emergency food aid, and 1.6 million with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) assistance, while 700,000 people have received support to improve their living quarters.

We have news today on our #Turkiye #earthquake response.@UN & partners have reached 4.1M ppl with relief items for cooking, heating, sleeping.



700K have received emergency housing support.



3M received food assistance & 1.6M water.



Thanks for $268M in donor support so far. pic.twitter.com/9682tjn1tD  Jens Laerke (@JensLaerke) March 31, 2023

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) provided the aid under the directives of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Over 50,000 people were killed in Turkey and Syria after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeast Turkey and northern Syria on February 6th.

Read More: Strongest Earthquakes that Hit the Middle East in the Past 50 Years

The earthquake is considered one of the most powerful quakes in the region in recent years.
Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister and former chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister and former chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, in Beijing on Friday.

Wang said China has reasons to be concerned about the possible regression of Japan's policy toward China and to question whether Japan will continue to adhere to the direction of peaceful development.

China hopes Japan will return to the original aspiration of the four political documents between the two countries, remove interference from all sides, and create conditions for the healthy development of China-Japan relations and the resumption of post-pandemic exchanges in all fields, he said.

Wang lauded Fukuda's contribution to China-Japan friendship over the years and hoped that more Japanese people from all walks of life will play a positive role in improving China-Japan ties.

Hailing China's efforts to peacefully resolve regional disputes, Fukuda said China has actively promoted economic globalization and achieved fruitful results in external exchanges and cooperation, injecting confidence and certainty into this world of change and disorder.

Fukuda said he hopes that the two countries will maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, enhance mutual understanding, eliminate misunderstanding and misjudgment, and work together for peace and development in Asia. 

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister and former chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)
TRIPOLI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- As the United States held the second "Summit for Democracy" this week, Libyans have expressed their doubts about the U.S. rhetoric of democracy.

Experts and citizens in Lybia have said that when they revolted against late leader Muammar Gaddafi's government in 2011, they were hoping for stability and democratic transition, as promised by the United States. However, the North African country has since slipped into a state of insecurity and chaos.

NO BETTER LIFE

"Things have not changed for the better. Unfortunately, Libya has become a mess. Security is fragile, the economy is weak, and foreign interference continues," Mohamed Dakhil, a father of four, told Xinhua.

"Twelve years ago, I used to receive a monthly salary of 900 dinars (about 700 U.S. dollars), enough for a whole month and more. Today, I earn more than 2,000 dinars (about 400 dollars), but I cannot survive a whole month with this amount. The price of goods has reached the point of insanity," said the 49-year-old Libyan.

Naima Baraka, Mohamed's wife, bakes and sells traditional bread to help her husband pay the house rent and family needs. "I lost my three brothers in the war in 2011. All our conditions changed from bad to worse," she said.

Since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has struggled to make a political transition amid escalating violence and political division.

The United States claimed that it helped Libya get rid of Gaddafi so that Libyans could enjoy democracy and freely choose their government, but in reality, it caused chaos and insecurity and left Libyans facing a dark fate of non-statehood, Ismail Ben Gharsa, a 60-year-old Libyan who has five children, told Xinhua.

"We only want America and its Western allies to leave us alone, and not to interfere in our affairs, because we are able to choose the political system that is in line with our social and political traditions," he said.

FAILING U.S. DEMOCRACY

Noting that "the United States is always trying to show that it is a pioneer in democracy, human rights and public freedoms," Libyan political analyst Faraj al-Dali said it is not the reality because the United States "suffers from clear distortions in its system itself."

Meanwhile, "Washington should know very well that every country has a different identity and system that do not necessarily agree with it (Washington)," said al-Dali, adding that to respect democracy, one should not impose it by force.

Al-Dali's remarks were echoed by Jalal al-Fitouri, a law professor, who said, "America is trying to delude the world that it has a unique and strong regime." And it should not impose American democracy "by force, war, provoking strife and overthrowing regimes, as happened in Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries."

"The United States claims to be democratic while, in reality, spreads war and destruction in Libya and other Arab countries and steals their wealth under the pretext of combating terrorism," said 32-year-old Omar al-Sharef.

"The truth is that America is contradictory in its policies. How can the United States host a summit on democracy when it is originally a colonial country that lives on plundering the wealth of other peoples?" al-Sharef said. 
Victoria Ernst and her husband had kept up with alarming headlines about the warming planet. Theyd heard urgent calls from environmentalists and California officials for people to stop using natural gas.

So when renovating their 1913 home in San Franciscos Glen Park neighborhood, they decided to replace all gas appliances  the stove, water heater, the furnace  with electric ones. That was April 2022.

One year later, they are still waiting for needed upgrades from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

I thought by now wed be moving in, Ernst said. It just doesnt end.

Bay Area residents are under growing pressure to get rid of gas appliances in their homes. Last month, regional pollution regulators passed rules barring new gas-powered residential furnaces or water heaters from being installed, even in existing homes, starting a few years from now. And people will be charging their electric cars at home in growing numbers heading toward 2035 when sales of new gas-powered cars will end in the state.

But homeowners who want to abandon fossil fuels are confronting a major obstacle: getting PG&E to move quickly enough to provide more electricity.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Homes connected to the grid have electric panels, a steel box holding circuit breakers that manage the flow of electricity into the building. Residents adding more electricity-gulping appliances sometimes need a new panel capable of supplying more amperage, or amps, so more electricity can flow into a home.

The process requires a collaboration with PG&E. Property owners may need to make renovations to accommodate new equipment, including not only the panel but also the wiring into a building and other parts connecting the system to neighborhood power lines. PG&E is closely involved in the work to ensure it follows safety codes.

PG&E said the part of the process it works on most directly  reviewing and approving the wiring changes and connecting the home to neighborhood power lines  takes on average four weeks (and the company seeks to reduce that to three). About half of all panel upgrades are simple requests that take less than a month, according to PG&E.

But the other half are more complex and time-consuming, with a process that PG&E says typically runs five to 14 months from start to finish for individual residential panel upgrades. That timeframe includes homeowners negotiations with PG&E over issues such as where to locate the panel  which is the responsibility of the homeowner, but ultimately requires PG&E approval.

In other words, this scenario requires time, patience and money  and is likely to become increasingly common as more households electrify appliances in older homes.

Ernst knew her house would need far more electricity than the old stucco bungalows 125-amp electric panel, especially because they plan to get an electric car. So she called PG&E.

Shed already gone through the process before. The home had a 40-amp service when she and her husband bought it in 2019, and it took PG&E about five weeks to connect the new 125-amp electric panel.

This time, her panel upgrade request was assigned to PG&Es express connections department. She bought the bigger 320-amp panel to replace the smaller old one. Her contractor just needed to know where to install the new panel, which is about four times larger than her current panel. It couldnt be located in the same place as the old one, Ernst said, because of space constraints and other technical limits.

Ernst has exchanged dozens of emails with a PG&E express connections employee based outside the Bay Area, according to a review of these files by The Chronicle. Shes sent diagrams, measurements, detailed descriptions, photographs from various angles and her contractors notes.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

At one point, a PG&E staffer passed along a photograph to Ernst that was marked up by another utility employee with three location options for the new panel. The first option was actually the neighbors house and the other two were areas too narrow. In another exchange, PG&E recommended Ernst use an external door to the first floor garage space to build a utility closet and give the company the keys. Ernst declined because that would cut off access to the first floor through that door and reduce storage space.

Not once in the last 12 months has a technician or any other PG&E staffer visited her property, she said. This is the crux of the problem, according to Ernst, who said PG&E simply cannot do this work remotely by reviewing photos with any efficiency.

PG&Es Express Connect department, which generally operates remotely, is meant for simpler projects, according to utility spokesperson Lynsey Paulo.

However, PG&E attributed the long time frame to Ernst, saying her original application for a new electric panel was originally filed twice. Applications were incomplete and (the) customer did not respond to requests for additional required information, so applications were canceled, according to an emailed statement from Paulo.

Ernst said shes had to answer the same questions repeatedly and the PG&E representative seemed to be failing to log the information. She said she was shocked to learn her application had been canceled without warning earlier this year, and it has since been reinstated.

Ernst is hopeful they have finally reached a compromise that only requires they demolish old stucco planters built into the front of her home to install the new panel. But theres no guarantee.

Who in their right mind is going to say: Sure, Im ready to electrify,  Ernst said. If people hear about my story  forget it.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

PG&E has acknowledged that its response times for a variety of services have been slowed because of urgent demands that the utility prioritize wildfire prevention work, such as putting power lines underground. In addition to individual homeowner upgrades, the utility has been slow to connect new housing developments to the grid  prompting complaints from officials in areas like Tracy, and leading state Sen. Scott Wiener to propose a bill to address the problem.

The experience of having a funky, old home is common in the Bay Area, where about 65% of homes were built before 1978  before many current building codes and when demand for electricity was far less, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

But soon, the upgrade difficulties could become more widespread as swapping out appliances becomes mandatory. In the coming years, anyone with unrepairable water heaters (starting in 2027) and gas furnaces (in 2029) must install electric ones, according to new regulations from the air district, which is seeking to reduce health-harming pollution from nitrogen oxides.

Greg Nudd, deputy air pollution control officer with the air district, said property owners who adopt electric appliances gradually can get by, at least at first, without time-consuming panel upgrades. Nudd said he installed an electric water heater in his home without triggering an upgrade, though he will need a panel upgrade when he replaces his furnace.

Nudd says the air district tried to build in time before the rules kick in to allow for the industry to catch up with more energy-efficient appliances and for PG&E and homeowners to prepare on their ends too.

We do recognize were pushing the envelope on technology, Nudd said.

But some residents say the challenges are immense.

Sunnyvale resident Mike Kapolnek spoke out during air district meetings to warn board members about potentially troublesome consequences for homeowners who cant make those upgrades without getting into a monthslong queue for PG&E.

Kapolnek told The Chronicle hes been waiting since September to have PG&E approve a location for a new electric panel so he can forgo most gas appliances for electric ones. Utility staff at one point directed him to install metal poles in front of the panel for safety reasons  in his narrow driveway.

He lives on a residential street with older homes and huge magnolia trees  both complicating factors, despite the charm. Hes anticipating further delays once the utility grapples with where to install a new electric drop, the line bringing electricity from street power lines to the house because of those magnolias sprawling branches.

Hes hoping this will be resolved by summer, if were lucky, Kapolnek said.
A Safeway store on the cusp of San Franciscos Fishermans Wharf is set to close at the end of May, the latest retailer to go dark as the city continues its quest to lure back tourists and office workers.

We continuously evaluate the performance of our stores, and occasionally its necessary to close locations that arent meeting financial expectations, representatives of the grocery store chain said in a statement Friday.

Striking a somber tone, the statement noted that Safeway has served the waterfront area at the northwest edge of North Beach for decades, and that the decision to shutter the store at 350 Bay St. isnt one we made lightly.

When the store shuts down on May 27, employees will have the option to transfer to a nearby Safeway, the statement said. The Pleasanton-based company, a subsidiary of Albertsons, has 16 stores in San Francisco.

Its definitely a bummer, said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, whose district includes North Beach. Nonetheless, he maintained that North Beach, dotted with pizzerias, tapas bars and a handful of supermarkets, is not a food desert.

In addition to a Trader Joes across the street from the closing Safeway and one on Nob Hill at California and Hyde streets, residents have another Safeway in Jackson Square, a Lukes Local on Green Street, a Whole Foods on California Street off Van Ness Avenue, and a future Bi-Rite on Polk Street, in the longtime home of Real Food Co. market.

Although North Beach residents patronized the Bay Street Safeway, Peskin viewed it as highly tourist-dependent and prone to stumble as San Franciscos downtown empties. Still, he acknowledged that a variety of factors may have jolted the store, including competition from the nearby Trader Joe's and retail theft, a problem bedeviling many San Francisco merchants.

Danny Sauter, a board member of North Beach Neighbors, said Safeway was among several Bay and Taylor Street businesses felled over the past several years, including a clothing store, a gym, a market, a Walgreens and a hardware store. The departures left gaping vacancies on a block that straddled two neighborhoods and seemed in need of rejuvenation.

He hopes city officials will reexamine the Bay Street landscape in terms of whats the best use for these spaces, whether its housing or a future subway station.

Mayor London Breeds spokesperson Jeff Cretan said that while he could not comment on the circumstances of an individual store closing, city officials value Safeways presence in neighborhoods throughout San Francisco and will continue to work closely with them in their efforts to make their stores successful.

San Franciscos tourism recovery is going strong, Cretan added, pointing to ambassadors the city has placed along waterfronts, and a report from SF Travel, the citys tourism and marketing arm, which said that visitor spending more than doubled last year and forecast an economic recovery next year.
After an extraordinarily wet winter, most reservoirs in California are at, over or near their historical average capacity.

But theres a major exception: Trinity Lake, in far northern California, the third-largest reservoir in California behind Shasta and Oroville reservoirs. Trinity is only at 51% of its historical average capacity  and 37% of capacity overall  as of April 1, according to data from the Department of Water Resources.

California reservoir levels: Charts show water supply across the state

Trinity may be filling slower than other reservoirs because the northernmost part of the state has received less rainfall relative to other parts of the state, according to Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center.

Additionally, Trinity is heavily dependent on snowpack; versus Shasta, which is mostly dependent on rainfall to fill, Mary Lee Knecht, Bureau of Reclamation Region 10 public affairs officer, wrote in an email to the Chronicle. Much of the snowfall may not melt and flow into the reservoir until late spring or summer, according to the Trinity River Restoration Program.

According to a closely watched map from the U.S. Drought Monitor, the northernmost parts of the state continue to remain in moderate drought in counties such as Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen, Shasta and Trinity, with interior parts of Northern California also remaining abnormally dry.

Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled back some drought restrictions last week but said he didnt revoke his drought emergency proclamation because of persistent dryness in certain parts of the state.

It is incumbent upon us to recognize that the conditions have radically changed throughout the state, but not enough in places like Klamath and around the Colorado River Basin to call for the end of the drought in California, Newsom said at a news conference last month.

The parts of the state that remain dry are also usually arid areas: The northeast corner of California is known to be a rain shadow, whereas the southeast  where drought also persists  is desert, Mount said. The southeast corner of California also gets much of its precipitation from summertime monsoon rains instead of winter storms, Mount said.

Inyo, San Bernardino, Imperial and Riverside counties remain in moderate drought, with parts of Inyo and San Bernardino counties in severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Most of the atmospheric rivers that hit California since December have been concentrated in the Bay Area and Central Coast, with some also hitting the Los Angeles region, Mount said, referring to a map of atmospheric rivers from the UC San Diego Institution of Oceanography.

Few, however, have been directed at the Klamath Basin, with many landing just north or south of the region or brushing against it, Mount said. Trinity Lake is part of the Klamath Basin, with Trinity River being the largest tributary of the Klamath River.

For what you might call the luck of the draw, just enough of those atmospheric rivers shifted a couple hundred miles to the south this year rather than plowing into their normal location, which would be in the Trinity, Klamath watershed and Shasta and upper Sacramento. So weve got one of those years where we turned our normal gradient of precipitation  dry in the south, wet in the north  and flipped it so that our far north was not particularly wet, Mount said.

But even areas of California that on paper are out of drought will still feel the effects of long-term water supply problems. The Drought Monitor can be notoriously unreliable for California because it doesnt take into account groundwater conditions  which have been slow to recover despite winters deluges  and the fact that California transports water across the state to meet local needs, according to Mount.

Even if the drought is largely over, water scarcity is enduring, said Jay Lund, vice director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. That remains true in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, where it may take years for groundwater to recover from the overpumping during drought years.

It also remains true in the Klamath Basin, where contentious debates about water use between agriculture and ecosystem preservation, which the drought exacerbated, wont be alleviated soon, Lund said.

Tribes want to see lots of releases of water for salmon. Farmers are really seeing very little water from the projects because  of tremendous changes that are going to be occurring with the removal of some of the hydropower dams. Its just a lively place for water conflicts, Lund said.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle 2022

To the south, in San Bernardino County, Heather Dyer, CEO of the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, is not ready to declare the end of the drought either. The water districts service area has received 56.9 inches this wet season, above the historical average of 31.1 inches, she said.

Still, when looking at the pattern of rainfall over the past 20 years, this years above-average total hasnt made up for the cumulative loss of precipitation the region has suffered since 1997, Dyer said. The districts cumulative departure from the mean since then has trended downward, with wet years like this only marginally shifting the marker upward, she said.

To me, being in a drought is basically the cumulative amount of rain over time, and what that means to our ecosystems and our water systems, Dyer said. Its going to take more than one wet year to get out of that hole.

In anticipation of future dry years, the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District is starting construction on a new stormwater capture project in April, which Dyer estimates will take 18 months to complete.

I wish we had that in place. I wish that many water agencies had those types of systems in place, she said. I feel like this has given me a new sense of urgency that we need to be building infrastructure for the future, and this year is exactly why we need to do that.
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A gap in the earth has appeared in Marin County above Redwood Boulevard, a road so warped by last months landslide that it looks more like river rapids. The landslide temporarily shut down Highway 101 and also disrupted operations of two Pacific Gas & Electric Co. gas lines and a county aqueduct.

20 feet wide, 15 feet deep. Thats how much earth has moved down toward the road and pushed the asphalt of the road over the top of our pipeline, said Robert Clark, North Marin Water District operations superintendent.

The earth is still shifting, and may for months.

Its a challenging situation for utilities with buried pipes, reflective of the dangers of a powerful landslide in the saturated earth. Such deep-seated landslides are typically much larger than the more typical debris flows. Deep-seated landslides can be triggered by high-intensity rainfall but could occur weeks or months later, even when the sky is clear, the California Geological Survey said.

In a deep-seated landslide, water reaches deeper under the surface and percolates in zones of weak rock, creating a landslide plane under the weight of rain-soaked rock and soil, according to the California Geological Survey.

It might take all of that water that landed on the surface weeks to months to get down into that mountainous slope and to build up, said Jeremy Lancaster, a California Geological Survey associate state geologist.

Shallow landslides mostly occur during bouts of heavy, intense rain. On the other hand, deep-seated landslides are more sensitive to longer-term, above-average accumulation of rainfall over the course of months  like the series of storms California has gotten this winter, said Matthew Thomas, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Surveys Landslide Hazard Program.

Three years of drought have dried out the land, which causes soil to shrink and opens cracks, Lancaster said. That allows even more water to penetrate the land during times of heavy rainfall, Lancaster said.

The dividing line between a shallow and deep-seated landslide is around 9 to 10 feet in depth, Thomas said, though they can sometimes be hundreds of feet deep, Lancaster said. They can cover an area of a couple of acres or be hundreds of acres in size, Lancaster said.

California has had thousands of landslides of all types since the onslaught of storms began, Lancaster said. The California Geological Survey has not yet broken out how many are deep-seated, Lancaster said, but they are less common than shallower slides. The survey has an interactive map of deep-seated landslide susceptibility, searchable by address and last updated in 2011.

Landslides (of any type) are more likely in areas that have a history of landslides, Lancaster said. They also are more likely where the slope gradient is higher and where the rocks are weaker, Lancaster said.

Deep-seated landslides are usually slow-moving and provide enough indicators for people to evacuate, Lancaster said. But not always: In 1982, the Santa Cruz Love Creek landslide was a fast-moving, deep-seated landslide that killed 10 people, Thomas said.

For people who live near sloped areas, some warning signs are the development of new springs, cracks in the hillside that didnt previously exist and tilting or cracking floors, Thomas said.

Residents should also pay attention to signs of cracking or falling debris, Lancaster said. Malfunctioning gas or water lines could indicate pipes being pulled apart, while doors or windows that dont close properly could indicate the homes foundation has shifted, Lancaster said.

In the Marin County case, the landslide is still shifting a little bit, Steven Torrence, Marin Countys director of emergency management, said last week. The county, PG&E, Caltrans and the North Marin Water District are looking at a six-month program to stabilize that area. That's not going to happen fast, Clark said.

PG&E has created a bypass under Highway 101 for both of its gas lines, which will be in operation for up to six months as the utility company permanently relocates those lines, said PG&E spokesperson Jason King.

The North Marin Water District has closed about 2,000 feet of the aqueduct covered by the landslide and is meeting water demand with another local water treatment plant, Clark said. But by the end of April, water demand will go up, and if the aqueduct has been damaged, the water district will have to build an alternative, Clark said.

Utilities will be on the watch for more disruptions as the spring progresses.

In general, the tail end of the window for worrying about deep-seated slides in a place like the Bay Area tends to be March, April (or) May, Thomas said.
The following is a list of Bay Area restaurants that closed in March 2023. Click here for the February 2023 list of closings.

Chef-owner Paul Canales of the popular Spanish restaurant Duende has closed his southern French Bistro Occitania after just nine months in the Kissel Uptown Oakland hotel. Eater SF first reported on the March closure. Canales called the restaurant unsustainable and said that he would focus on his existing restaurant nearby.

Elegant Marina neighborhood bar and restaurant Maybecks served its last guests on March 18. The restaurant opened in 2015, earning a following for its beef Wellington Wednesdays, but had brought on new chefs, Lori Baker and Jeffrey Banker, as partners less than a year ago. Owners told Eater SF, which broke the news, that keeping the restaurant open in the current economy wasnt feasible anymore.

Northern Iranian restaurant Komaaj suddenly closed its San Francisco restaurant on March 31. Instead, the former pop-up is plotting a new restaurant and market in Bernal Heights.

Third Culture Bakery, maker of sought-after mochi muffins and butter mochi doughnuts, closed its Mission District location just seven months after opening on Valencia Street. Co-owner Wenter Shyu told Eater SF that regular theft and cleaning urine and feces from the shops doors and windows were recurring issues. Third Cultures outposts in West Berkeley, Walnut Creek and the Inner Sunset remain open and still baking.

Janelle Bitker/The Chronicle

Vikings Giant Submarines has served its last cold cut combos and banh mi. The popular sandwich shop in San Franciscos Glen Park neighborhood closed on March 17 so owners Betty and Steven Chang could retire. In a handwritten note, shared on social media by the Glen Park Merchants Association, the Changs thanked neighbors for the 18 years of support. We will miss you and wish you the best, the note reads.

An omakase sushi restaurant in SoMa has now closed its doors for good. Sushi Ondo opened in early 2019, establishing itself as a stop for sushi tasting menus accented with Korean flair. Min Choe, the chef behind Barnzu, a Korean restaurant in the Tenderloin that closed in December, was Sushi Ondos owner. The San Francisco Standard first reported this closing.

The combination bicycle shop and cafe Luckyduck closed its doors in Oaklands Lake Merritt on March 31. The space served as a reunion point for bike rides and a stop for post-ride coffees, while also offering bike repairs. A Facebook post announcing the last day of operations says: We are proud to have served Oakland and nurtured our community for as long as we could.

Fountain Cafe, a popular stop in Oaklands City Center, has closed its doors after almost 30 years, East Bay Nosh reports. The restaurant was a hub for nearby professionals and office workers grabbing a quick coffee with a sandwich, or helping themselves to the salad bar.

The Polk Street location of Indian-Pakistani restaurant Shalimar in San Francisco has closed, Tablehopper reported, due to high rent and lease issues. Popular dishes included the chicken tikka masala and palak paneer, spinach and fresh cheese cooked with spices. Locations in Dublin, Fremont and on San Franciscos Jones Street are still open.

Cotatis Down to Earth Cafe closed for good on March 19, Sonoma magazine reports. The restaurant offered popular dishes like poutine and crab rolls and sandwiches with house-cured pastrami. Chef Chris Ball said the increasingly high cost of ingredients and labor forced the decision to close.

Mario Cortez / The Chronicle

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Mississippi Catfish, a popular stop for Southern-style seafood and barbecue, closed its doors on Richmonds stretch of San Pablo Avenue. The Richmond Standard reports.

Cornerstone Jamaican restaurant Kingston 11 in Oakland hosted its last night of regular service on March 25. Chef-owner Nigel Jones cited the difficulty of keeping a fully staffed dining room in his decision to discontinue regular dinner service. Kingston 11 still holds the lease to the building and will use the kitchen as a hub for its catering services and to host special events.

Andre Sanchez

The funky, revolutionary home-brew supply store San Francisco Brewcraft closed after 30 years of supplying San Franciscos aspiring home brewers. Manager Andre Sanchez told The Chronicle the shop was no longer a money-making venture. The store had supplied the home breweries that would become local standouts like Harmonic Brewing, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers and Fort Point Beer Co.

In SoMa, Don Ramons Mexican Restaurant closed after 40 years on March 31. The owners told The Chronicle they were unable to reach an agreement with their landlord following a rent increase.
A long-loved San Francisco Mexican restaurant is serving its last enchiladas and chile Colorado on Friday after more than 40 years in business.

The second-generation owners of Don Ramons Mexican Restaurant said they were unable to reach an agreement with their landlord who had raised their SoMa rent at 11th and Folsom streets from $10,000 to $15,000 per month.

Nati Ramirez, daughter of founders Guadalupe and Don Ramon Ramirez, said in a tearful phone interview that if she had closed the institution Saturday, on April 1, it would have been interpreted as a bad joke.

Nati Ramirezs parents opened Don Ramons in 1982, serving food from Ayulta, Jalisco. Her brother, Javier Ramirez, designed the two-story dining room, with arches, tiles imported from Guadalajara and wrought iron balconies meant to evoke historic Mexican interiors.

My brother loved red, so the buildings tiled red, Nati Ramirez said.

Javier Ramirez died young, in 1994, followed by his parents. Nati and her sisters Leonila and Lucy Ramirez, along with Natis daughter, Nathalee, have operated the restaurant since.

In 2014, the sisters leased an office unit above the restaurant, which they owned, to a nonprofit, which illegally converted it to housing. When they finally left, we counted the rooms, the places to sleep, and they had more than 15, said Nati Ramirez.

The occupants damaged the building and stopped paying rent, forcing the Ramirez sisters to take out a loan, which they were then unable to keep repaying during the pandemic. The business filed for bankruptcy, and the lender, the current landlord, took possession of the building last year.

In a statement, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown mourned the loss of Don Ramons. This isnt just the end of a beloved family institution, this is something bigger, Brown said.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Don Ramons was a registered San Francisco legacy business, added in 2020.

The SoMa area has changed drastically since her parents first arrived there, recalled Nati Ramirez, who cited recent vacancies in the area. In 1967, the Ramirez family first opened a grocery store in the neighborhood, serving takeout Mexican food for local warehouse workers. They later relocated to a deli on Valencia Street before upgrading to Don Ramons.

My fathers dream was always to have a big restaurant, and here we are, said Ramirez. Sometime next week, an auctioneer will come to appraise the furniture, like chairs her father picked out, Ramirez said. She is looking at other locations within the city to possibly relocate.

Reach Caleb Pershan: caleb.pershan@sfchronicle.com
A San Francisco Superior Court judge has refused to dismiss a suit against Amazon by the state of California that accuses the e-commerce giant of forcing its resellers to keep their prices high. The ruling came a week after a federal judge in Seattle allowed a similar suit to proceed on behalf of consumers in California and 17 other states.

The suits, if successful, could force the nations largest online retailer to pay billions of dollars in damages.

Both suits say Amazon has prohibited companies that sell their products through its site from offering those products elsewhere for a lower price. That was Amazons stated policy from 2012 until 2019, when the company formally withdrew it, but the suits say Amazon still monitors and enforces the policy and penalizes resellers that charge less for products sold through other outlets.

Amazon also requires its wholesalers to reimburse the company for lost profits if they charge lower prices to other buyers, the states and consumers said. As a result, they said, competitors such as Walmart, eBay and Target have been unable to reduce their prices because suppliers have to charge them more to keep their Amazon business.

The suits claim Amazon, which accounts for nearly half of U.S. online retail sales, is stifling competition in violation of antitrust laws. The suit by consumers in 18 states claims potential damages between $55 billion and $172 billion. Attorney General Rob Bonta has not estimated the amount California is seeking in its case, but his suit calls for refunds to the states consumers, financial penalties against Amazon, and a court order prohibiting the challenged practices.

In a ruling Thursday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman said the states allegations, if proved, could show that Amazons anti-competitive practices have had the effect of raising prices on competing retail marketplaces.

He said the accuracy of the states claims would be decided at a later stage of the case. But Schulman rejected Amazons argument that its policy, carried out on its own, could not be considered the type of agreement or conspiracy that violates antitrust laws.

Suppliers cannot force their purchasers to adhere involuntarily to terms by use of coercion or pressure, Schulman wrote. The use of such tactics, he said, can be considered a combination with those purchasers that violates the Cartwright Act, Californias antitrust law that prohibits price-fixing to restrict competition.

In the multistate suit, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones of Seattle ruled March 24 that consumers who bought products at inflated prices from  sellers allegedly conspiring with Amazon were entitled to sue Amazon for anti-competitive practices.

Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that the agreements at issue here were designed to maintain market power and that the resellers kept their prices high in order to keep doing business with Amazon, Jones said.

Bonta, who filed the California lawsuit in September, praised Schulmans decision.

As California families struggle to make ends meet, were in court to stop Amazon from engaging in anti-competitive practices that keep prices artificially high and stifle competition, the attorney general said in a statement. We wont stand by while Amazon uses coercive contracting practices to dominate the market at the expense of California consumers, small business owners, and the economy.

Amazon declined to comment on the rulings.
They are brand names so familiar  and so iconic  that it feels as if theyve always been woven into our cultural landscape.

Apples PowerBook laptop. Intels Pentium microprocessor. BlackBerry phones. Sonos sound systems. P&Gs Swiffer and Febreze cleaning products. Impossible Foods faux meat. Coca-Colas Dasani water. Subarus Outback and Forester SUVs. GMs OnStar driver assistance. Embassy Suites hotels.

All were coined by a small Sausalito company, Lexicon Branding, which also helped pioneer the field of brand naming  devising distinctive, memorable monikers to serve as a prism for helping people understand company and product identities.

Four decades back, I had the insight that brand names were becoming more important as the world was becoming more interconnected, languages beyond English were becoming more important, and economies in many countries were growing at a rapid pace, said David Placek, Lexicon CEO and founder. I decided there might be an opportunity here. No one had integrated this idea of developing brand names and brand architectures into a suite of services.

With a background in politics (as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill) and advertising (six years at San Franciscos Foote, Cone & Belding), he started Lexicon in 1982, bootstrapping it with his own savings. Its still privately held, with 18 full-time employees, six part-timers and a worldwide network of on-call linguists. But its size belies the thousands of names its devised.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Brands Lexicon has worked with are displayed in a conference room at the Lexicon office in Sausalito. Photos by Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Brands Lexicon has worked with are displayed in a conference room at the Lexicon office in Sausalito. Photos by Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Dave is an iconic figure in the naming space, said Rob Meyerson, a brand consultant and author of the book Brand Naming. Lexicon is the 800-pound gorilla in this very small world of bespoke naming agencies that just focus on naming. They keep nailing it, again and again.

Now, in a world where AI can write entire books, not to mention term papers, blogs, slogans, lyrics and, yes, names, the field of naming could be disrupted. Lexicon has begun to experiment with what AI can do, but Placek thinks the human touch will always be integral.

If you ask for a new name for a new wine, it might take grape and leaf and (devise) Bold Leaf Cabernet, but it cant do something smooth, seamless and distinct, he said of artificial intelligence.

Search engine optimization has become an increasingly important part of the process.

When youre digital, youre instantly global, Placek said. We do more legal clearance than ever before, and have expanded our network of linguists around the world to 110 in 70 countries.

Lexicon has also invested heavily in understanding language acquisition and sound symbolism (the resemblance between sound and meaning).

Companies are well aware of how crucial names are.

Our name is the gateway to our brand experience, said Noah Spring, vice president of branding and creative at Pennsylvania pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen. As he admitted, that name, the result of a long-ago corporate merger, is a handful, a mouthful and an earful. If you had to type my email address every day, you would cry.

So the Fortune 10 company turned to Lexicon for a new moniker.

We needed a name that could travel across 21 languages and cultures, be unique enough to be memorable, and generate enthusiasm among our 44,000 employees, Spring said. Its a puzzle that needed to be solved.

Over a rigorous six- to eight-month process, Lexicon generated a number of names and AmerisourceBergen vetted them. Spring declined to say what it paid. Lexicon said its prices start around $50,000.

The winner: Cencora, which combines aspects of cent (for 100) and core. Besides its English meaning, core references the Latin word for heart.

Its a neologism, Spring said, referring to Cencoras identity as a new word. Theres just enough meaning in the name to make it intriguing and to give it meaning in a number of different languages.

The PowerBook, introduced in 1991, put Lexicon on the map, legitimizing its value, Placek said.

Lexicon approached that assignment for Apple as it still does: viewing prototypes of the product, holding brainstorming sessions, researching consumers views.

When Lexicon devised Pentium for Intels chips, it was the industrys first branded microprocessor. It was about making people aware that what was on the inside of the computer should be part of the decision-making process, Placek said.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Seeking a word that was elemental or foundational, his team went through the periodic table. Eventually it took the suffix from sodium, titanium, uranium and welded it with pent, underscoring that the chips were Intels fifth generation.

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When a small Canadian company approached Lexicon in 1998 needing a name for its new phone  among the first to handle email and secure messages  its engineers suggested prosaic names like EasyMail and ProMail.

We said, Youre so small, but youve got something absolutely game changing here  youve got to tell the world you are not like the rest,  Placek said. We brought them this word BlackBerry and they looked at us like we were a little bit off.

We explained, Your competitors, the big ones, would never have the courage to use this name. Your device is black. B is one of the most reliable sounds in the English alphabet. Theres alliteration between the two Bs. Show a picture of blackberry fruit as your logo and everybody will get it. 

BlackBerry  its rabid fans nicknamed it CrackBerry  became a global sensation.

Swiffer was another product that established a whole new category.

P&G came to us with the idea of a mop, Placek said. They had registered a trademark with a name like ProMop, very logical, very rational. But when we got a conceptual model it was clear that it wasnt really a mop; it was a new household cleaning device.

The team decided to jettison the word mop. After interviewing consumers who universally disliked mopping, We said to P&G, This is an unpleasant, joyless task. Lets create something that (shows that this) uplifts us, saves time, is effective, but has joy in it.

The linguistics team analyzed sounds and words related to cleaning like sweep, wipe, vacuum and dishrags.  Sweep was one of the most efficient sounds, so we drilled down on that, Placek said. We began to scramble letters, and the first thing to come was the word swift. It wasnt distinctive enough so we added er for more energy.

When it comes to naming opportunities in his personal life, Placek hasnt made waves. His grown children are Brenna and Kennedy. His cockapoo is Scout. There are thousands with that name in California alone, he said ruefully.

As for his grandchildren? Did my kids ask me for naming advice? he said. They did not!
San Francisco will not pay for Twitter verification under Elon Musks new plan to remove blue check marks from users who do not subscribe to a monthly fee, officials said Friday.

In an email to more than 60 public information officials in the citys agencies on Friday, the mayors office indicated that the city has no plans to pay for Twitter verification.

Musk has given April 1 as the deadline for public figures, journalists, government agencies and others currently verified for free to pay up or lose their verification badges. The billionaire owner and CEO of Twitter has referred to his plan  which offers blue check marks only to users who pay up to $11 a month  as glorious.

City officials join the White House and many prominent Twitter users in rejecting Musks latest moneymaking plan.

It is our understanding that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service, White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty told staffers in an email sent Friday afternoon obtained by Axios. Thus, a blue check mark will now simply serve as a verification that the account is a paid user.

Twitter introduced the free blue check marks 14 years ago to combat misinformation from accounts that impersonate individuals.

One of Musks first moves after buying the San Francisco-based social media company for $44 billion in October was to launch a service that grants blue check marks to anyone who pays $8 a month. But it was quickly inundated by imposter accounts, including those impersonating Nintendo, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, and Musks businesses Tesla and SpaceX.

The company later revised its criteria, issuing gold badges to brands and companies and gray checks for governmental organizations. Under the new plan, Twitter said it would charge businesses and organizations $1,000 per month to retain their verified status, plus a $50 monthly charge for each affiliated account.

On Friday, it revised that plan, saying it would waive the $1,000 monthly fee for its 500 largest advertising clients and for the 10,000 most-followed brands, companies and organizations, according to an internal Twitter document obtained by the New York Times.

The verification service for individuals costs $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for iPhone and iPad users. Subscribers receive fewer ads, can post longer videos, and have their tweets featured more prominently in the feed.

San Francisco supervisors expressed their opposition to Musks plan, with several stating that they will not pay for verification. Supervisor Hillary Ronen told The Chronicle she plans to remove her Twitter account, citing Twitters culture of hate-filled dialogue that pushes people further apart and leads to less understanding.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin criticized Musk, saying that he will not pay for his blue check mark and that he has been in discussions with city administrators to ensure they have no intention of meeting the ransom demand.

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As far as Im concerned, we shouldnt be negotiating with terrorists and contributing to the delinquency of a crazed tech CEO, said Peskin.

Supervisor Shamann Walton stated that he will not be paying for verification but noted that his Twitter account had been hacked and that he had not used the app at all. A representative from Supervisor Connie Chans office said that they had stopped using Twitter since Musk took over the company, and have no plans to return to the platform.

Several media organizations, including the New York Times, CNN, Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, also this week said they would not pay Twitter for the feature.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A cold low-pressure system will march toward the coast Saturday afternoon, funneling rounds of moisture and winds to the Bay Area. But before that moisture makes it ashore, it will come into contact with the warm, dry air that the April sun will radiate across most of Northern California.

The first day of April is shaping up to be a brawl between winter and spring. One of two outcomes is possible by this evening: The warm, dry air keeps the Bay Area dry, or the low-pressure system pulls in some light showers.

Winters last hurrah

After a month of unusual winter storms that lasted well into the first couple weeks of spring, the atmosphere is finally starting to shut Californias storm door. The Pineapple Expresses that helped create rivers of moisture between Hawaii and California are shutting down. This means the chances will continue to drop for low-pressure systems to evolve into extratropical cyclones  like what ended up happening during the most recent cyclone.

Instead, low-pressure systems that do roll up to the coast will likely become wind-driven rather than rain-driven. Another way to think about it is that the energy from these low-pressure systems might still be high, but with far less moisture they wont be able to produce rain, snow or wet thunderstorms. Instead, these systems will likely become wind makers over the coming weeks, raising breezy winds on the coast that could spread farther inland.

Thats largely whats on tap for Saturday afternoon.

Saturdays low-pressure system will approach the coastline just like every other system has over the past several months. But unlike its predecessors, this one wont tap into a raging atmospheric river. Instead, whats available will be moisture between Hawaii and California thats holding on by a thread.

Baron/Lynx

The system will still likely draw clouds and chances for mist across the Bay Area, but any showers will be limited to the coastline and hillsides that are directly in the winds path. This means the highest chances for showers to surface this afternoon and evening will be on the coastline along Highway 1 between Sonoma and Santa Cruz counties and some of the west-facing highlands in Sonoma County.

Aside from those areas, the rest of the Bay Area is looking at a slight chance for sprinkles in the Oakland Hills and atop some of the hills in San Mateo County. All in all, expect a mostly sunny morning and early afternoon before evening clouds roll in. Temperatures will likely fall by 2 to 3 degrees along the coast and bays, but its still looking like a comfortable afternoon for the wider Bay Area.

Saturday breakdown

San Francisco: Comfortable weather will prevail across the city on Saturday as the weekends warming trend peaks this afternoon.

Following this mornings brief patches of marine fog just off the coast and around Mount Davidson, partly cloudy skies are on tap for large stretches of the west side. Residents in the Sunset and Richmond districts can look forward to daytime highs in the mid-50s as clouds gradually return to the shoreline around 1 p.m., disrupting the solar heating of the day.

Residents east of Sutro Tower can expect a little bit more sun, allowing temperatures to reach the upper 50s. Some of the warmest spots in the city will be around Dolores Park and the Mission, where daytime highs could reach 60 degrees just before the sea breeze arrives after 1 p.m. This afternoons breeze will be gentle, gusting to 15 mph downtown and 20 mph closer to Ocean Beach and the Presidio. Clouds will then gradually return by 5 p.m., with a few sprinkles possible this evening along the immediate coastline and parts of Golden Gate Park.

Pacific Coast and Peninsula: Misty and foggy conditions will again be possible along Highway 92 between Half Moon Bay and San Mateo, with most burning off as the sun rises. The warm spring sun will raise temperatures to the upper-50s along the coast just before the sea breeze kicks in after 1 p.m. This breeze will be light and generally gust up to 15 mph, but it will be enough to keep temperatures from climbing higher  a precursor to the ebb and flow of the marine layer in the coming weeks.

Residents along the San Bruno Gap  including Daly City, Millbrae and San Francisco International Airport  will experience a similar warm-up over the course of the morning just before the sea breeze comes ashore this afternoon. This will keep daytime temperatures along the gap closer to the mid- to upper 50s. The sea breeze wont be as present along the I-280 and 101 corridors, meaning residents from Millbrae to Redwood City will have a higher chance of seeing the 60 degrees. Clouds will then gradually return to the coast, raising the odds for a few sprinkles along HIghway 1 between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay this evening.

North Bay: The warming trend continues across Solano, Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties this Saturday. The April sun will radiate enough warmth across the inland valleys of Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Napa to raise temperatures to the lower 60s by 1 p.m. Some of that warmth will make it to the delta and San Pablo Bay just before the bay breeze arrives around 2 p.m. This breeze will keep temperatures in San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon, Fairfield and Vacaville closer to 60 degrees.

The warm air wont be limited by a breeze in open areas north of Napa and Sonoma, meaning vineyards and grasslands will likely jump to the mid-60s by afternoon. The same cant be said for some of the woodlands closer to the Sonoma County coastline and the Russian River, where shade from trees will keep temperatures closer to the lower 60s. Cloud cover will generally increase by evening, with a few chances for sprinkles on tap for the Sonoma County and Marin County coastline, including Point Reyes and Bodega Bay.

East Bay: Residents along the Oakland and Berkeley hills will wake to some patchy fog this morning. Most will burn off just before 9 a.m., making way for sunnier skies and daytime temperatures in the upper 50s across Contra Costa and Alameda counties by noon.

Conditions will then deviate for residents by the water and those farther inland. A breeze off San Francisco Bay will stream into the I-80 and I-880 corridors around 1 p.m., meaning that daytime highs in cities like Oakland, Richmond, Albany, Alameda and Hayward will only reach the upper 50s. The same will be true along the delta, including cities like Concord and Livermore.

Residents east of the Caldecott Tunnel will be spared from the coolest air this afternoon. This will allow highs to reach the lower 60s in places like Walnut Creek, Dublin, Pleasanton and most of the San Ramon and Livermore valleys. Skies will then become more overcast by midafternoon, but enough sunlight will get through the clouds to keep warming the inland valleys. Evening sprinkles will be possible in the Oakland hills as these clouds roll in, but most likely it will surface as mist.

South Bay: Wondering where to find some of the warmest, sunniest weather in the Bay Area on Saturday? The answer lies in the Santa Clara Valley, where highs will likely reach the mid-60s. A few upper 60s will be possible along the Cupertino Hills, east San Jose and the 101 corridor between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Some warmth will radiate toward the Santa Cruz coastline, meaning Capitola, Aptos and Soquel can expect highs in the lower 60s. A few mid-60s will be possible in the Santa Cruz Mountains, particularly west of Highway 17 in Felton, Scotts Valley and Ben Lomond.

There will be much cooler air set up along Highway 139 between Alum Rock and Mount Hamilton. Look for daytime highs around the Lick Observatory in the lower 50s, while nighttime temperatures will drop to the upper 20s.
BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Political Bureau of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held on Thursday afternoon its fourth group study session on the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

While presiding over the session, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, stressed that this group study session will set an example for the entire Party to further advance the study and implementation of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as part of the theoretical study program to consolidate Party members' understanding in theories.

Liu Guozhong, Li Ganjie, Li Shulei, He Weidong, and Chen Min'er, who are all members of the Political Bureau, shared what they have achieved from studying Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, explaining how the study benefited their own thinking and work.

After listening to the speakers, Xi made an important speech. He pointed out that studying and implementing the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the fundamental requirement for us to break new ground to advance our causes and pursue development on the new journey in the new era. One important piece of experience drawn from our Party's historical achievements and remarkable successes is to always equip our Party with the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to Chinese context and the needs of the times and use them to guide our practice and advance our work. Facing the complex international and domestic situation, arduous tasks of promoting reform and development, and maintaining stability, and various uncertain and unpredictable risks and challenges on the new journey in the new era, it is urgent for Party members and officials, especially leading officials at all levels, to further study and implement to the letter the Thought in order to achieve the strategic goals set at the 20th CPC National Congress. This primarily explains why the CPC Central Committee has decided to launch this Party-wide theoretical study program.

Xi stressed that for every step forward in the Party's theoretical innovation, theoretical study must follow. The Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been developed for 10 years. Along this journey, we have also encouraged the entire Party to study it for 10 years and achieved notable results. However, the task of theoretical study remains daunting. The theme of this study program has been decided to be the study and implementation of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, so as to encourage the whole Party, especially leading officials, to continuously further their study and implementation of the Thought.

Xi pointed out that the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era covers all realms and respects, including reform, development, social stability, domestic affairs, foreign relations, national defense, and governance of the Party, the state, and the military, which constitute a complete scientific system. As the report to the 20th CPC National Congress has clarified, the main contents of this Thought are summarized in the 10 affirmations, the 14 commitments, and achievements in 13 areas. We should not only study and master the main contents comprehensively and systematically, but also grasp the theoretical system of this Thought as a whole, so as to understand it inside out. We must understand and grasp the new ideas, thoughts, and strategies proposed for various fields and the specific requirements put forward for various aspects of work in the context of the entire theoretical system, so that one-sidedness with only fragments of the Thought being learnt can be avoided, and we will never fail to see the wood for the trees.

Xi emphasized that to thoroughly study and understand the Thought, we must also grasp its worldview, methodology, and the stances, viewpoints and methods running through it. In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, a science-based method was put forward for continuing to promote theoretical innovation, that is, we must put people first, must maintain self-confidence and stand on our own feet, must uphold fundamental principles and break new ground, must adopt a problem-oriented approach, must apply systems thinking and maintain a global vision. These "six musts" epitomize the stances, viewpoints and methods of the Thought. Only if we gain an accurate command of the stances, viewpoints and methods of the Thought, including the six musts, can we better understand the essence of the Thought, have right thinking and methods for doing things, keen vision of situations, and ability to analyze issues profoundly, and do our work with precision and ease.

Xi noted that studying the Thought is for application and turning it into a powerful intellectual tool to transform ourselves and the world. During this theoretical study program, Party members and officials, especially leading officials at all levels, must consciously involve their own thoughts in it, and gain a good command of the requirements of the Party's new theories for maintaining firm ideals and convictions, raising their ideological level and enhancing their Party consciousness, which includes never forgetting the original aspiration and founding mission, bearing in mind the country's most fundamental interests, improving political acumen, understanding and capacity to deliver, being strict in practicing self-cultivation, using power and exercising self-discipline, being earnest in thinking, work and behavior, being faithful, clean and responsible and being pragmatic and honest for the sake of the people, so as to preserve the political character of Communists forever. In particular, we should transform the Thought's worldview and methodology as well as the stances, viewpoints and methods running through it into our own ideological tool, internalizing them in our hearts and manifesting them in our actions.

Xi pointed out that the Party's new theories should be applied to the implementation of the major strategic plans put forward at the 20th CPC National Congress. We should be good at applying the Thought in observing, understanding and steering the trends of the times, better implement the national rejuvenation strategy within a wider context of the once-in-a-century changes taking place in the world, have a profound insight into time and momentum as well as crisis and opportunity, and actively identify, respond to, and steer changes. We should be good at using this Thought to make new progress and breakthroughs in promoting modernization through a Chinese path, strengthen political leadership, enrich strategic support, expand practical paths, solve problems hindering development, and stimulate vitality, to make the Chinese modernization more distinct in its Chinese characteristics, more prominent in its strengths, and brighter in its prospects. We should also be adept at using the Thought to solve various problems in economic and social development, so as to fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, speed up the creation of a new development pattern, advance high-quality development and promote common prosperity. We should be adept at utilizing this Thought to forestall and defuse major risks, enhance the sense of vigilance, be prepared for worst-case scenarios and contingencies, always save for a rainy day, be prepared against possible war, be proactive in taking precautionary measures, preempt and nip risks in the bud, resolutely prevent various risks from spiraling out of control and guard against systemic risks. We should also be adept at utilizing this Thought to further advance full and rigorous self-governance of the Party, always stay alert and determined to tackle the special challenges that a large political party like ours faces, pay attention to solving the new problems that arise and deep-seated problems that exist, so as to ensure that the Party will never change its nature, its conviction, or its character.

Xi emphasized that comrades in the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee should set an example during the theoretical study program. It is an effective management and work method for leading officials to set examples through their own conduct and influence the subordinates. They should set a higher standard, meet stricter requirements and take more practical measures in the program in order to set examples, establish benchmarks and lead the way for the whole Party. They should take the lead in doing a good job on the theoretical study, guiding and promoting an in-depth study of the Thought among the whole Party. They should also take the lead in conducting inspections and researches, go to the grassroots to see the real situation and communicate with the people, and be more conscious of problems so as to get a clear picture of the situation, pinpoint the problems, put forth right solutions, and put forward new line of thought and new approaches for solving problems with a view to guiding and promoting the trend of conducting inspections and researches among the Party. They should take the lead in conducting inspections and examinations and rectifying misdeeds detected. In line with the new circumstances, new tasks and new responsibilities, they should integrate the theoretical study with examinations and rectifications to identify their own shortcomings and deficiencies in work, place themselves under supervision from within and outside the Party with correct attitude, conscientiously carry out criticism and self-criticism, and make efforts to solve problems from the root cause of thinking and institutional mechanism, so as to do a good job in examinations and rectifications within the whole Party and win public trust with specific results from rectifications. They should take the lead in organizing the theoretical study program in the regions and areas under their jurisdiction, perform their duties well, know well how the study is going on, and make efforts to detect symptoms of potential problems and tendentious problems. They should do their work in a down-to-earth manner to make sure that they do not deviate from the right direction and their work intensity remains strong, so that the theoretical study will be carried out in a solid manner and concrete results will be achieved. 
STAMFORD  After dramatically returning to the companys board of directors in January, WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon is now back on the sports-entertainment powerhouses payroll.

McMahon and the Stamford-based company finalized this week an employment agreement, whose terms include a $1.2 million annual base salary and potentially seven-figure bonuses and stock awards, as well as a number of benefits, according to a company filing Friday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As WWE officials weigh options that could include a sale of the company, the deal solidifies the comeback of McMahon, 77, who announced last July an ultimately short-lived retirement amid a company investigation of his alleged misconduct.

McMahon agrees to render such services to WWE on a full-time basis as are consistent with the position of executive chairman of the board pursuant to the terms and conditions hereinafter set forth, the agreement says, in part. McMahon shall, at all times, faithfully, industriously and to the best of his ability, experience and talent, perform the duties associated with this position, and he shall devote all of his working time and efforts to the performance of such duties. McMahon shall, at all times, also be subject to and comply with the policies and procedures generally applicable to WWEs senior executives to the extent the same are not inconsistent with any term of this agreement.

Among other requirements, the employment agreement stipulates that McMahon shall report directly to, and be subject to the direction of the board. McMahons base of work shall be in WWEs Stamford, Connecticut headquarters; however, he shall also render services at such other places within or outside the United States as WWE may direct from time to time and as may be reasonably necessary to effectively fulfill his duties and responsibilities.

The deal provides McMahon with several ways of increasing his compensation, including participation in the companys discretionary bonus plan. For the company's 2023 fiscal year, he will have an annual incentive bonus, with a target of 175 percent of his current salary. With a $1.2 million base salary, 175 percent of that amount would equal $2.1 million.

McMahon, who is the companys controlling shareholder, will also be considered for eligibility in all future stock programs that are offered to other key executives in the company. Starting this year, McMahons equity grant will have an annual target grant date value of $4.3 million.

At the same time, McMahon will be eligible for full company benefits that include medical, dental, life and disability while he will be automatically enrolled in WWEs 401k plan. He will also have paid time off through the accrual of 20 vacation days and three personal days per year. In addition, McMahon shall be entitled to travel first class in the performance of his duties hereunder.

McMahons deal is intended to be two (2) years from McMahons start date of Jan. 9, 2023, and it shall be extended automatically for an additional year as of the second anniversary of the effective date and as of each subsequent annual anniversary of the effective date.

The agreement also notes that McMahons employment shall, at all times, be on an at-will basis, so that either WWE or McMahon may terminate his employment, and this agreement, with or without cause or reason, at any time. However, if McMahon intends to terminate his employment, he shall provide WWE with at least 60 days advance written notice.

In the SEC filing, WWE also reported a new employment agreement with Nick Khan, who has served as the company's sole chief executive officer since January and had served from last July to January as co-CEO alongside Stephanie McMahon, who is Vince McMahons daughter. Through the new deal, Khans annual base salary increased from $1.35 million to $1.5 million. At the same time, his annual target bonus opportunity, as a percentage of annual base salary, increased from 160 percent to 175 percent, and his annual equity grant date target value increased from $3.575 million to $5.375 million.

Among other recent developments, WWE last week submitted a filing to the SEC in which it said that McMahon had paid the company about $17 million as reimbursement for costs that include those connected to the boards investigation of his alleged misconduct.

McMahon announced last July his retirement as chief executive officer following several articles published by The Wall Street Journal that revealed the allegations against him. The Journal reported that McMahon agreed to pay four women a total of more than $12 million over the past 16 years to keep secret allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity, citing unnamed people familiar with those agreements and related documents.

WWE officials have said that the investigation was completed last year and that the company is implementing the boards recommendations related to the probe. But, in public documents and statements, the company has not disclosed those recommendations or clarified whether the board found that McMahon had committed any wrongdoing.

McMahon leveraged his status as the controlling shareholder to return to the board in January, a process that also involved him bringing back two former WWE co-presidents to serve on the board and removing three board members. Two other board members resigned because they opposed McMahons return.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP)  The 34th GLAAD Media Awards featured a surprise Jennifer Coolidge appearance, honors for Bad Bunny and Christina Aguilera and, of course, jokes about Donald Trump's indictment  the news of which broke just hours before Thursday's show.

Coolidge was greeted with a standing ovation as she opened the show at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. The star of The White Lotus was later surprised herself when her Best in Show co-star Jane Lynch appeared onstage beside her.

The GLAAD Media Awards show, intended to honor fair, accurate and inclusive representation of LGBTQ individuals and issues," will land on Hulu on April 12. The host, comedian Margaret Cho, cheered the former president's indictment.

What a wonderful way to celebrate that," Cho said on the red carpet before the event. "I think its just so incredible. I never thought I would see it happen. Im so glad, too. And I cant wait to see how it goes down.

Christina Aguilera was presented with the Advocate for Change award by Club Q survivor Michael Anderson, a bartender at the popular Colorado Springs nightclub the night of the deadly shooting in November 2022. He later made headlines after quoting Aguileras lyrics when he testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

On Thursday, Anderson quoted Aguileras lyrics once again during his introduction of the pop star.

The show also paid tribute to the late Leslie Jordan with a performance from country music star Orville Peck. Pecks performance was introduced by actor Cheyenne Jackson, who reminisced about Jordans time on the set of American Horror Story.

Cheers erupted when Ricky Martin took the stage to present Bad Bunny with the Vanguard Award for his LGBTQ+ allyship. The reggaeton artist asked the crowd in English if he could give his acceptance speech in Spanish, which was met with an enthusiastic yes from the crowd.

Bad Bunny thanked the LGBTQ+ community for embracing and inspiring him.

I believe that following my heart is what has led me to where I am, and following my heart is what has led me to be here receiving this award, being surrounded by so many beautiful people, he said in Spanish.

Gabrielle Union presented her The Inspection co-star Jeremy Pope with the Stephen F. Kolzak award for promoting LGBTQ+ visibility and acceptance.

I played Jeremys mom in the movie, and we developed an incredibly close bond, Union said. And, you know, I know a little something about raising a Black queer child in this world and all I wanted to do was advocate for Jeremy in every way that I could. I mean, his undeniable talents, his innocence, his peace, his peace and his very soul. I wanted to protect it."
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Andrew Christ, University of Vermont and Paul Bierman, University of Vermont

(THE CONVERSATION) In 1963, inside a covert U.S. military base in northern Greenland, a team of scientists began drilling down through the Greenland ice sheet. Piece by piece, they extracted an ice core 4 inches across and nearly a mile long. At the very end, they pulled up something else  12 feet of frozen soil.

The ice told a story of Earths climate history. The frozen soil was examined, set aside and then forgotten.

Half a century later, scientists rediscovered that soil in a Danish freezer. It is now revealing its secrets.

Using lab techniques unimaginable in the 1960s when the core was drilled, we and an international team of fellow scientists were able to show that Greenlands massive ice sheet had melted to the ground there within the past million years. Radiocarbon dating shows that it would have happened more than 50,000 years ago. It most likely happened during times when the climate was warm and sea level was high, possibly 400,000 years ago.

And there was more. As we explored the soil under a microscope, we were stunned to discover the remnants of a tundra ecosystem  twigs, leaves and moss. We were looking at northern Greenland as it existed the last time the region was ice-free. Our peer-reviewed study was published on March 15, 2021 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

With no ice sheet, sunlight would have warmed the soil enough for tundra vegetation to cover the landscape. The oceans around the globe would have been more than 10 feet higher, and maybe even 20 feet. The land on which Boston, London and Shanghai sit today would have been under the ocean waves.

The ice core and the soil below are something of a Rosetta Stone for understanding how durable the Greenland ice sheet has been during past warm periods  and how quickly it might melt again as the climate heats up. Today, humans are warming Earths climate, and the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising quickly.

Secret military bases and Danish freezers

The story of the ice core begins during the Cold War with a military mission dubbed Project Iceworm. Starting around 1959, the U.S. Army hauled hundreds of soldiers, heavy equipment and even a nuclear reactor across the ice sheet in northwest Greenland and dug a base of tunnels inside the ice. They called it Camp Century.

It was part of a secret plan to hide nuclear weapons from the Soviets. The public knew it as an Arctic research laboratory. Walter Cronkite even paid a visit and filed a report.

Camp Century didnt last long. The snow and ice began slowly crushing the buildings inside the tunnels below, forcing the military to abandon it in 1966. During its short life, however, scientists were able to extract the ice core and begin analyzing Greenlands climate history. As ice builds up year by year, it captures layers of volcanic ash and changes in precipitation over time, and it traps air bubbles that reveal the past composition of the atmosphere.

One of the original scientists, glaciologist Chester Langway, kept the core and soil samples frozen at the University at Buffalo for years, then he shipped them to a Danish archive in the 1990s, where the soil was soon forgotten.

A few years ago, our Danish colleagues found the soil samples in a box of glass cookie jars with faded labels: Camp Century Sub-Ice.

A surprise under the microscope

On a hot July day in 2019, two samples of soil arrived at our lab at the University of Vermont frozen solid. We began the painstaking process of splitting the precious few ounces of frozen mud and sand for different analyses.

First, we photographed the layering in the soil before it was lost forever. Then we chiseled off small bits to examine under the microscope. We melted the rest and saved the ancient water.

Then came the biggest surprise. While we were washing the soil, we spotted something floating in the rinse water. Paul grabbed a pipette and some filter paper, Drew grabbed tweezers and turned on the microscope. We were absolutely stunned as we looked down the eyepiece.

Staring back at us were leaves, twigs and mosses. This wasnt just soil. This was an ancient ecosystem perfectly preserved in Greenlands natural deep freeze.

Dating million-year-old moss

How old were these plants?

Over the last million years, Earths climate was punctuated by relatively short warm periods, typically lasting about 10,000 years, called interglacials, when there was less ice at the poles and sea level was higher. The Greenland ice sheet survived through all of human history during the Holocene, the present interglacial period of the last 12,000 years, and most of the interglacials in the last million years.

But our research shows that at least one of these interglacial periods was warm enough for a long enough period of time to melt large portions of the Greenland ice sheet, allowing a tundra ecosystem to emerge in northwestern Greenland.

We used two techniques to determine the age of the soil and the plants. First, we used clean room chemistry and a particle accelerator to count atoms that form in rocks and sediment when exposed to natural radiation that bombards Earth. Then, a colleague used an ultra-sensitive method for measuring light emitted from grains of sand to determine the last time they were exposed to sunlight.

The million-year time frame is important. Previous work on another ice core, GISP2, extracted from central Greenland in the 1990s, showed that the ice had also been absent there within the last million years, perhaps about 400,000 years ago.

Lessons for a world facing rapid climate change

Losing the Greenland ice sheet would be catastrophic to humanity today. The melted ice would raise sea level by more than 20 feet. That would redraw coastlines worldwide.

About 40% of the global population lives within 60 miles of a coast, and 600 million people live within 30 feet of sea level. If warming continues, ice melt from Greenland and Antarctica will pour more water into the oceans. Communities will be forced to relocate, climate refugees will become more common, and costly infrastructure will be abandoned. Already, sea level rise has amplified flooding from coastal storms, causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage every year.

The story of Camp Century spans two critical moments in modern history. An Arctic military base built in response to the existential threat of nuclear war inadvertently led us to discover another threat from ice cores  the threat of sea level rise from human-caused climate change. Now, its legacy is helping scientists understand how the Earth responds to a changing climate.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/ancient-leaves-preserved-under-a-mile-of-greenlands-ice-and-lost-in-a-freezer-for-years-hold-lessons-about-climate-change-157105.
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BRIDGEPORT  But for the high price of photographic film Bridgeports top detective might have taken a different career path.

This week Lt. Christopher LaMaine, 53, is retiring after 32 years with the Police Department, the last 14 as supervisor of the Detective Bureau.

In the last 10 years he has supervised 170 homicide investigations, with a 70 percent solve rate, one of the highest solve rates in the country, according to FBI statistics.

But in 1991 LaMaine was at a crossroads.

A young patrol officer, he got talking to Phil Noel, a photographer for the then-Bridgeport Post at parades and other events about their mutual love of photography and Noel convinced LaMaine to apply for a photographer job at the newspaper.

LaMaine got the job, but after a few months realized it wasnt as glamorous as he hoped it would be and he had to buy his own film.

It was costing me a lot of money, he said. So, he ended up going back to his day job with the police department.

LaMaine said in the early 1990s being a police officer in Bridgeport was a busy occupation.

On one shift we had seven unrelated shootings in five hours. The volume of crime was tremendous," he said. "There were car chases and foot chases. It didnt stop.

He said he later worked undercover in the narcotics unit.

I loved doing drug surveillance because there were no shortage of drug dealers in the 1990s," he said. "The great thing about working narcotics is that its rarely a life-and-death situation. If you dont catch the drug dealer today, youll get a chance to arrest him tomorrow.

He said while he was with the unit, they made 9,600 arrests.

States Attorney Joseph Corradino started as a state prosecutor in Bridgeport about the same time LaMaine joined the police department.

I have always been amazed by him, said Corradino. Hes always been proactive. When he was a young patrolman, he would organize other officers on adjacent posts to take down drug dealers, while he climbed onto porch roofs of abandoned houses and observed the transactions only feet away from the unsuspecting criminals, then radioing to the other officers to make the arrest.

While LaMaine can now name just about every street in the Park City, he knew nothing about Bridgeport before he joined the police department and even got lost his first time in the city.

LaMaine grew up in Cheshire and attended Cheshire High School. After high school he went into the Marines.

I was in the Marines with this guy who grew up in Bridgeport and kept talking about wanting to be a Bridgeport police officer, he said. He grew up in the inner city of Bridgeport and had all these great stories that were just so foreign to me because I grew up in the suburbs. The more he kept talking about it the more I became convinced that I wanted to become a cop in Bridgeport because it sounded so cool.

When he got out of the Marines LaMaine started cold calling the department hoping to get an application to become a police officer.

Finally, they told me to come down and pick up an application. But when I got here, I was lost. I had to ask directions to City Hall. I had no idea where I was, he said.

While talking, the sound of men yelling in unison out on the street interrupted LaMaine. It was the newest police recruiting class jogging down Fairfield Avenue. Some of the recruits were carrying heavy weights as they ran.

Wow thats great, LaMaine said, watching the procession. They do things so much better now than when I started. We didnt do any of that and believe me we had a lot of guys who were out of shape. But they do things much better now, smarter. They recruit better. They train better and they get some very good officers.

After eight years in the narcotics unit LaMaine said he was ready for a change and in 2009 transferred to the Detective Bureau.

At that time James Viadero, a long-time mentor to LaMaine, had been appointed bureau captain.

Viadero had previously restarted the departments scuba team and LaMaine, who had been a serious diver since he was 17, served on the team under Viadero.

Jimmy had been a good mentor to be as I came up the ranks and when I found out that he was the new head of the Detective Bureau I wanted the assignment, he said.

Viadero appointed LaMaine to head the new homicide squad.

The DB was more cerebral than narcotics work. There was less action, but there was also a lot more pressure, especially in homicide cases, he said. You dont want to mess up a homicide case because you are at the end of the line. If you dont solve it no one will. If the case goes unsolved the victims family has no other recourse.

He said thats something he now stresses to young detectives.

Look, I dont care if people yell at us in the street, the pressure of the job is trying to deliver on every case and feeling like crap when you dont, he said. Unless you solve 100 percent of them, and you never do, you are going to feel bad.

Corradino said LaMaine, as leader of the homicide squad, remained a hands-on supervisor succeeding in solving the most serious cases.

He has always been an engaging personality, a wiry burst of energy with the face of someones kid brother, the top prosecutor said. Whether its the middle of the day in my office or 3 a.m. at the scene of a homicide, Chris is always on. I dont think he gets tired and may actually be energized by the challenge of solving crimes. Hes an amazing interrogator, using native charm and quick intellect to trip up suspects who try to pull the wool over his eyes.

Part of what made LaMaine a good investigator is that he has a wide range of knowledge in multiple areas.

Hes one of the few people I know who can move effortlessly from discussing evidence to art history to geopolitics and back to the present investigation," Corradino said. "I am certainly going to miss working with him.

Criminal defense lawyer Frank Riccio II got to know LaMaine through many of his cases.

In my nearly 25 years as a criminal defense attorney, I have interacted with Chris LaMaine countless times. He was a no-nonsense police officer while at the same time being courteous, polite and respectful, Riccio said.

Looking back at some of his cases, LaMaine said he noticed a pattern. His most memorable cases all involved female victims, elderly victims and vulnerable victims.

There was the tragic Dec. 2018 murder of Bethel woman Emily Todd by a man she had met on an on-line dating app.

It was good that we could get some justice for her family, he said.

Solving the 27-year-old murder of 77-year-old Theodore Teddy Edwards in the Boston Avenue Duchess restaurant.

Teddy was just a guy working for a living cleaning up in the Duchess, when he was killed for no reason, he said.

In 2013, 24-year-old Aryndel Castro disappeared from his city home.

Eight years later LaMaine was on his hands and knees digging in a dirt crawl space under a Noble Avenue house when he uncovered Castros remains. Two men are now awaiting trial for Castros murder.

It was both a good and bad feeling, he said. His (Castros) family had prayed all these years that he was still alive and I had to give them the bad news. But at the same time it was closure after all these years.

Then there are the cases that LaMaine admits he sometimes shakes his head about.

The brain eater case as LaMaine refers to it. Everyone else knows it as the Bridgeport cannibal case.

In December 2011, Florida author Tyree Lincoln Smith hacked a homeless man to death in a vacant house here and then ate the mans brain and eyeballs in Lakeview Cemetery, washing the parts down with sake.

Yeah, that was a strange one, LaMaine said.

In May 2018, a Bridgeport man was kidnapped. In a frantic phone call, he told his aunt the kidnappers were going to have an alligator eat him unless she paid a ransom.

LaMaine managed to track the kidnappers to a hotel in Shelton. The kidnappers arrested, LaMaine found the victim lying in a bathtub guarded by a 4-foot alligator. He grabbed the gator by the tail.

The thing snapped at me, it was a decent size, he said. He dispelled the rumor that he now has a pair of alligator boots.

Its probably swimming around with a lot of other alligators at a zoo, he said.

Being a detective, LaMaine said, is like having a backstage pass to life.

Its been great adventure," he said.

And speaking of adventure, with his police career at an end, LaMaine said he has always wanted to climb Mount Everest. Although some might say police work is more challenging.

I have a friend who has done it (climbed Everest) twice, but he admitted to me that he couldnt do what I do," he said. "Everyone wants to see whats behind the crime tape and this badge give you that backstage pass. You get to see people at both their worst and their best.
A former Connecticut man who fled the state after facing child porn charges and who was recently captured by U.S. marshals while trying to cross the Mexican border has been extradited back to Connecticut, officials said.

Thomas Marcel, 64, formerly of East Haddam, was facing two sets of charges related to child pornography in 2012 when he failed to show up at Superior Court in Norwich, where the cases were being prosecuted, federal officials and court documents show.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  Hikers will honor a young Massachusetts woman who died in New Hampshire by climbing multiple peaks this summer and raising funds for a foundation created by her family.

The event, dubbed Emilys Hike To Save a Life is set for July 29, with proceeds going to the Emily M. Sotelo Persistence and Safety Charitable Foundation, hiking safety initiatives and search and rescue teams. Its being organized by Hiking Buddies NH 48, a nonprofit group that connects people interested in hiking the 48 mountains taller than 4,000 feet (about 1,220 meters) in New Hampshire.

Sotelo, of Westford, Massachusetts, disappeared on Mount Lafayette on Nov. 20. Her body was found three days later, on what would have been her 20th birthday. Though she had nearly completed her quest to summit all 48 peaks, she had almost no experience with winter hiking, and officials say she was woefully unprepared for the brutal conditions that killed her.

In a video to promote the fundraiser, Sotelos mother said the outpouring of support from the hiking community helped her in the dark days after her daughters death.

I had a lot of support from work, from friends, from family. But the overwhelming support from people who did not know her, and their pain and their willingness to do anything for her, were empowering, Olivera Sotelo said.

Emily Sotelo was a sophomore at Vanderbilt University who hoped to become a doctor. In an interview with The Associated Press in December, her family said she was determined to make the world a better place.

Seeing people rally to save a life would make Emily very proud of the whole community," her mother said in the video for the fundraising event.

Benjamin Pease, founder of Hiking Buddies, said Sotelos death shook his community, spurring calls for action.

This is our opportunity. Were going to finish Emilys hike, he said.




SHANGHAI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government recently said that Brazil and China could trade in their own currencies in the future, and not use the U.S. dollar as an intermediary.



A Brazilian diplomat in Shanghai told Xinhua that such an arrangement will facilitate bilateral trade and lower the cost of transaction.

China has been Brazil's biggest trade partner for 14 consecutive years, and Brazil is the first Latin American country to hit a trading volume of over 100 billion U.S. dollars with China.







Produced by Xinhua Global Service
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Mia Bloom, Georgia State University and Sophia Moskalenko, Georgia State University

(THE CONVERSATION) At the outset of Russias invasion, almost no one in the West expected that Ukraine would be able to offer Russia any kind of serious opposition to its unprovoked aggression.

Much has been written about how leaders, including allies, underestimated the leadership ability of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But beyond miscalculating how a comedian could transform into a Winston Churchill-like figure, military assessments of the Ukrainian army were also way off.

A year into the war, its clear many overestimated the Russian armys will and capability to fight and the Ukrainian armys will to resist an opponent superior in number, equipment and positioning.

What can explain the way the Ukraine war has played out, in contradiction to experts predictions?

We believe that one factor underlying the unexpected performance of each countrys military can be traced to the cultural differences between Russians and Ukrainians. Those differences were cultivated in part through the fairy tales of their childhoods.

One of us, Sophia Moskalenko, is an expert on the psychology of fairy tales. The other, Mia Bloom, studies childrens mobilization into violent extremism  why and how children turn to violence. We know the power of folklore in shaping the worldview of children and, ultimately, of the adults they grow up to be.

Underdog hero vs. magical thinking

Folklore is important for understanding peoples cultural narratives  story lines that describe something unique to the cultures history and its people. They help to define a cultural identity and, in subtle ways, shape future choices. The master narratives that Ukrainian children grow up with  which serve as the dominant cultural script  are radically different from the ones Russian children absorb.

Traditional Ukrainian bedtime stories, such as Kotygoroshko, Kyrylo Kozhumyaka and Ivasyk Telesyk, all portray unassuming characters persevering against insurmountable odds. The character arc takes them through challenges, testing their will and transforming them from vulnerable to triumphant.

These fairy tales follow a well-known narrative arc of the underdog hero  a formula used for decades in bestselling books like Harry Potter and Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars.

In Ukrainian childrens bedtime stories, the main characters often start out as unlikely heroes, but their courage, cleverness and grit help them succeed against the odds.

In contrast, Russian childrens stories often revolve around a central character named Ivan Durak  Ivan the Stupid. Hes the third brother, inferior to his older brothers, one of whom is typically smart, the other average. When the main character is not explicitly called stupid he is portrayed as lazy, lounging in bed all daywhile his older brothers work hard.

In Russian fairy tales such as By the Pikes Wish, Princess Frog and Sivka Burka, the main character eventually prevails. He doesnt win through his own virtues, though, but through the intervention of a magical being  a fish, a frog, a horse  that does all the hard work while the main character claims credit.

These Russian folk tales seem to suggest that the recipe for success is not to be too smart or work too hard, like the two older brothers, but to sit tight in hope that magic will take care of everything.

Facing the greatest challenge

Most adults dont walk around thinking about the fairy tales they heard as children. However, these early stories, experienced through the magnifying glass of childhood emotions, shape our understanding about the world. They determine the repertoire of our actions, especially in times of crisis.

Fairy tales prepare us to recognize real-life heroes and villains, love and betrayal, good and evil. They guide our actions as we navigate these dichotomies.

The difference in traditional Russian and Ukrainian folklore might in part explain the difference between the Russian and Ukrainian armies performances.

When facing the greatest challenge of their lifetimes, those in the Russian army failed to perform well and demonstrated poor morale. By contrast, Ukrainians rose to the challenge in a spectacular way, transforming themselves through grit and determination from the underdog to the hero who just might succeed against all odds.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/how-fairy-tales-shape-fighting-spirit-ukraines-children-hear-bedtime-stories-of-underdog-heroes-while-russian-children-hear-tales-of-magical-success-179630.
MIDDLETOWN  A gunman fired "multiple rounds" at a car traveling along Ferry Street on Friday night, injuring a 16-year-old boy and sending him to the hospital, police say.

Middletown police said they were called to the area of 50-60 Ferry St. for a reported shooting around 10:25 p.m. Friday. Police said they discovered an "undisclosed number" of spent shell casing and a fired bullet but did not find any victims.
Connecticut State Police

BRIDGEPORT  A city man was arrested early Saturday on a charge of driving under the influence after he was caught speeding recklessly on a local highway, state police said.

Luis Santiago, 31, was taken into custody shortly after 1 a.m. after troopers stopped his silver Kia Optima near Exit 5 on the northbound lanes of Route 8, according to a news release from the Connecticut State Police.
By Joe Hong and Erica Yee

CalMatters

Halfway through a chilly school day in February, Theresa Griffin's sixth grade classroom at Stege Elementary is more chaotic than usual. On the white board, Griffin writes the names of talkative students who will be staying behind after the lunch bell rings. A knock on the door interrupts reading instruction.

Six younger students need a classroom to work in while their teachers are attending a conference. Griffin spends 10 minutes rearranging tables to make space for them. Griffin is willing to do anything she can to help her colleagues -- if she can offer a little support, maybe they'll stick around at the school where many teachers leave after a few years. At the start of the current school year, Griffin was the only teacher at Stege with more than five years of experience -- she's been teaching at the school 23 years.

Located in Richmond just north of Berkeley, Stege serves the highest percentage of students from low-income households in the West Contra Costa Unified School District but its teachers on average have less experience than all but one other school. And that experience disparity isn't unique to Stege and West Contra Costa -- it plays out in schools throughout California.

The dearth of experienced teachers at high-poverty schools contributes to one of the defining traits of public education: the achievement gap between students from low-income families and their higher-income peers. At schools throughout California, standardized test scores plummet when poverty rates rise. Last school year, 47% of students statewide met English language arts standards and 33% met math standards. At Stege, those rates were far lower, just 11% and 9%, respectively.

Over the past several decades, solutions to teacher staffing disparities have swirled within California's state Legislature, local school boards and among academic researchers. Chief among them: paying teachers more to work at high-poverty schools. But again and again, teachers unions have shot down that idea.

The unions' opposition frustrates some researchers who point to the benefits of what's called "differentiated pay." But labor groups point to the complex and fragile ecosystem that can be disrupted by trying to address just one piece of the broader inequality plaguing public education.

The California Teachers Association codified its opposition to differentiated pay in its policy handbook, which explains that school districts use what is known as a "single salary schedule" to pay all teachers at all schools the same wages based on their experience and education levels. "The model is widely accepted because it is seen as less arbitrary, clearer and more predictable," the handbook states. "Because of these factors, the single salary schedule will continue to be the foundation of educators' pay."

Claudia Briggs, a spokesperson for the association, said public school districts should not be using their limited pool of funds to pay certain teachers more than others.

"(Differentiated pay) can be very divisive and hard to implement fairly and consistently," Briggs said. "And it doesn't get to the root of the problem."

In 2009, the statewide union assailed legislation authored by former state Sen. Darrell Steinberg that would have barred districts from laying off a larger share of teachers from high-poverty schools. School employees are typically laid off based on seniority, with newer teachers being most vulnerable. Steinberg said the state needed to step in to ensure that high-poverty schools could build strong teams of educators. The California Teachers Association argued for local control over layoffs.

"(The union) put up billboards saying I wasn't friendly to education," Steinberg said. "Some fights are just worth having."

The union also rallied against merit pay in federal programs like Race to the Top that would have required districts to use test scores to evaluate teachers. Under pressure from the union, California lawmakers refused to implement a system of teacher evaluations, weakening their chances of winning a chunk of the $4 billion in competitive grants offered by the Obama Administration.

Briggs said differentiated pay is a "Band-Aid." She added that paying higher salaries for teachers at certain schools is a decision for local districts and their unions, but the California Teachers Association opposes it as a statewide policy. State lawmakers should focus on raising salaries and improving working conditions for all teachers, she said.

In any conversation about improving teacher retention, union leaders, including those at the California Teachers Association, are likely to mention community schools as a more holistic solution. Community schools partner with local social service, mental health and other medical providers to link students and their families with the help they need. Union leaders say community schools can remedy the hardships facing students, rather than simply paying teachers more to single-handedly address the impacts of poverty.

"Paying higher salaries for hard-to-staff schools is a flawed solution," Briggs said. "It doesn't address the reasons they're hard to staff in the first place."

In 2018, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond told CalMatters during his election campaign that he believes all teachers should be paid more, and that the focus should be on improving working conditions. Thurmond said the studies on differentiated pay showed mixed results, specifically citing research by the Learning Policy Institute. One study by the research organization found that teachers at high-poverty schools were more likely to leave because of the pressures of standardized testing and unhappiness about their administrations, not compensation.

Thurmond, who won election and re-election with strong backing from the teachers union, wouldn't comment for this story, but Deputy Superintendent Malia Vella replied on his behalf and made clear that his opposition to paying teachers more in high-poverty schools hasn't changed. Instead, Vella said, the solution is raising salaries for all teachers along with smaller class sizes, more mentorship and affordable housing.

"A complex problem needs a complex solution," Vella said. "Yes, raising salaries, but also doing all the things we know will make the system sustainable."

Statewide snapshot

It's a common pattern within the teaching workforce: young teachers begin their careers in high-poverty schools, put in a few years of service and transfer to a school in a more affluent neighborhood once they acquire a bit of seniority. Schools serving wealthier families tend to have more classroom resources, higher test scores and more involved parents. Teachers feel physically safer and more supported by their principals and administrators.

The result is a constant drain on schools with the neediest kids, which serve as training grounds for novice teachers.

CalMatters analyzed teacher experience data from 35 California school districts and 1,280 schools, including those from urban, suburban and rural communities. The correlation between student poverty and teacher experience is most obvious in large urban districts. In San Diego Unified, the state's second-largest district, 17% of teachers at the 20 highest-poverty schools have less than five years of experience. At the more affluent schools, just 6% have less than five years of experience.

Staffing data from other large urban districts, including Long Beach, Oakland and Sacramento, show a similar trend. These trends align with national research showing that high-poverty communities have the least access to experienced teachers.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District has 64 schools. Among them, the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals ranges from 7% at Kensington Elementary to 77% at Stege. In 2022, Stege Elementary was identified as one of the 474 lowest-performing schools in the state.

The median years of experience among the 13 teachers at Stege, according to district data from 2022, is three years. Griffin is the one teacher in the school with more than six years of experience, and she believes her consistent presence makes a difference.

"When you have kids that come from families where they have a lot of strife going on, they don't have anybody that is consistent," Griffin said. "Children like to have consistency, and when you don't have consistency they don't know what to do."

Experience is just one of the ways experts measure the quality of an educator. A teacher's education level and effect on student test scores are also often factored in.

However it's measured, there's a large body of research showing that teacher quality is more influential than every other factor in a student's education. That includes a student's socioeconomic background, language abilities, school size and class size. At high-poverty schools, where students are more likely to be achieving below grade level, a quality teacher can make an even bigger difference. Andrew Johnston, an economist at UC Merced, said the research makes clear that an effective teacher can have a profound impact on all students.

"What's amazing is that when we randomly assign a kid to a high-quality teacher, not only are they doing better in the years after that, but they're doing significantly better in adulthood," Johnston said. "A good teacher increases a student's future earnings and decreases incarceration rates."

The suggestion of differentiated pay triggers questions about whether money alone can entice the best teachers to work at the highest-needs schools. And that leads to the thornier question of which teachers deserve to be paid more.

John Zabala is the president of United Teachers of Richmond, the local union for West Contra Costa Unified. He was previously a school psychologist at another high-poverty school in the district. His experience has led him to support the idea of differentiated pay, but he knows that union opposition makes it untenable.

"I think we have to be open to things," he said. "But I can already hear the teachers in other schools being upset that they're not getting additional pay."

Griffin also thinks teachers at Stege Elementary should be paid more, but she's in it for the mission more than the money. She said teachers' compensation is less important than their commitment to maintain high standards for all students. It's a way of showing love to students who might not have anyone else who believes in them.

"I demand excellence, and I will help you get there if you're willing to get there with me," Griffin said. "But I'm very strict and sometimes that can be hard on them because they're not getting that from anywhere else."

Challenges at high-poverty schools

Griffin comes to school dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt under a gray hoodie. After making copies in the front office, she walks in a steady gait down the long hallway to tidy her classroom before school starts. She declines to share her age, saying her students have been trying to figure out how old she is.

She speaks slowly in a soothing voice. As students file into the classroom, Griffin asks them to remove their hats and hoods. She delegates tasks to her students: one oversees the pencil sharpener while another distributes textbooks.

As students begin working independently on their iPads, Griffin takes attendance. From the corner of her eye she sees one student chewing gum.

"My trash can is lonely," she tells him without looking up from the class roster.

Teaching students who live in poverty is uniquely challenging. They often come to school without having eaten breakfast or dinner the previous night, making it harder for them to focus and easier for them to be disruptive. Those experiencing homelessness or moving frequently have erratic attendance. Students with emotional traumas can require teachers to serve as both therapists and social workers.

"At some of the schools where I served, the way they treated kids of color was just horrible in my eyes," said Griffin, who knows that Black and Latino students are more likely to be living in poverty. "They had very little expectations for their academics."

At Stege, 44% of students are Black compared to 13% districtwide. Among them, 12% met or exceeded standards in English language arts and only 6% met or exceeded standards in math last school year.

Jeremy, a Black student in Griffin's sixth grade class, said he likes how Griffin "does it old school." He admits he's talkative in class, and so he understands when she scolds him.

"She's more experienced," Jeremy said. "Other teachers get used. They get played because they don't know how to control their students."

Researchers say the benefits of experience usually plateau after five years in the profession, with the steepest learning curves occurring in the first three years.

The number of veteran teachers at a school can provide clues to the work environment as well as the job market in the surrounding community. Under most union contracts seniority must be considered when a teacher applies for a job, so more veteran teachers at a school is often an indicator of a less stressful work environment.

"When teachers at high-poverty schools get a couple years of experience, they tend to transfer," said Dan Goldhaber, the director at the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, which studied gaps in teacher quality.

In other words, high-poverty schools see more turnover, while schools in more affluent areas see more applicants for teacher vacancies.

Mary Patterson is a teacher at Longfellow Middle School in Berkeley Unified. With 62% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, Longfellow has more than double the poverty rate of the other two middle schools in the district. Patterson uses the term "headwinds" to describe the challenges her students face, such as dealing with biases because they are Black or Latino or being from a low-income or a divorced family.

"Our job's harder. It just is," she said. "But we teach every kid we get. We're not a school that complains about our students."

Patterson wrote an article almost 20 years ago about reducing turnover among newer teachers. The piece examines how administrators often require newer teachers to teach more subjects, resulting in longer hours with less pay. Add a high-poverty student body to those working conditions, and you get a work life that's unsustainable for many educators, Patterson said.

The salary solution

Over the years economists as well as education and policy experts have studied the benefits of compensating teachers more to work in more challenging environments. Some researchers say differentiated pay alone isn't a sustainable solution.

"The term 'combat pay' has been used in a pejorative way to describe those pay schemes," said Tara Kini, the director of state policy at the Learning Policy Institute. "But if it's not paired with strengthening the working environments in those schools, then it doesn't hold up in the long term."

But experts agree that it's one method of increasing retention at hard-to-staff schools.

"The papers that have come out recently say that pay flexibility is super useful to schools and students," said Johnston of UC Merced. "What happens with rigid pay schedules is that the person who's totally checked out is being paid the same as a person who's being a real hero for students."

In public school districts in California, administrators negotiate with local teachers unions to agree on a salary schedule, which determines how much educators get paid based on their education level and years of experience. Most, if not all, school districts post their teacher salary schedules on their websites.

Teachers know exactly how much they and their colleagues are earning. Union leaders say this transparency is partly an effort to reduce historical pay gaps for women, people of color and other marginalized groups. The salary schedule also helps cultivate solidarity among a teaching force: Educators know they're all being paid fairly compared to their peers, union leaders say. This lays the groundwork for collective bargaining and teachers' loyalty to their unions.

Union leaders contend that differentiated pay would undermine collective bargaining -- that instead, all teachers deserve raises.

"I absolutely believe that if we had a way to get teachers who were more effective and assign them to (schools with poorer students), we'd be better off," said John Roach, the executive director of the School Employers Association of California. "But the collective bargaining process does everything it can to avoid identifying teachers as being better than another."

Trying to pay the best teachers more to work in high-poverty schools inches school districts toward an even more fraught conversation about evaluating teacher quality. Experts, teachers unions and policymakers have argued over how to assess teachers for decades. From one perspective, teachers who have a history of raising their students' test scores are seen as more qualified teachers.

Researchers refer to this measure as the "value-added" score assigned to a teacher. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University economist, championed this way of assessing educators starting in the 1970s.

"On average, standardized test scores have shown to be really important," he said. "This is not the only thing that measures a good teacher, but it's an important part."

Opponents of the value-added model argue that a teacher's effectiveness can vary widely from year to year depending on the types of students and various other social and economic factors outside the classroom.

One policy mechanism has been around for 10 years as part of an effort to close achievement gaps. California's Local Control Funding Formula, which is the state's system for funding K-12 schools, sends more money to districts for their foster children, English learners and students from low-income households. But the intended results of the formula can only be fully realized with differentiated pay, Hanushek said.

"If you aren't allowed to use the money in the best way possible, the whole system is being undermined," he said.

Hanushek also said districts should be able to use test score data to send their most effective teachers to the highest-poverty schools with more pay. This would allow districts to directly target the extra money they receive via the formula, giving in essence a pay bonus to lure the best teachers to work at those schools.

But without support from teachers unions, that notion remains a pipe dream. Districts instead rely on the personal passion and commitment of individual teachers to close the achievement gap.

"If you take (differentiated pay) off the table, there's not a lot you can do to get really high-quality teachers into poor schools," Hanushek said.

In California, school districts avoid value-added measures. District officials assess teachers through classroom observations, but tenure protections prevent disciplinary action based on low test scores alone.

Policies in other states suggest differentiated pay could make hard-to-hire positions more desirable and more competitive. In Hawaii and Michigan, districts enticed special education teachers with salary increases between $10,000 and $15,000. One study found that in Georgia, higher pay for math and science teachers reduced turnover by up to 28%.

Griffin, the teacher at Stege Elementary, said the district once offered a $10,000 stipend for teachers who committed to work at a high-poverty school for two years. But she said most teachers left after fulfilling that commitment.

Like the California Teachers Association, local unions are also calling for more community schools. Zabala, the union president for West Contra Costa Unified who supports differentiated pay, also believes the community school model is a crucial piece of the needed reform. Since 2021, California lawmakers doled out $4 billion in community schools grants. West Contra Costa Unified is guaranteed a total of $31 million until 2027.

"I don't believe that a stipend or pay differential is sufficient," Zabala said. "There also needs to be a change in how we conceptualize schooling."

Meanwhile, West Contra Costa Unified's teachers just narrowly averted a strike last month after negotiating a 7% raise this year and a 7.5% raise next year -- raises that will apply equally to teachers at schools with the wealthiest and poorest student bodies. Zabala said these raises will be crucial for attracting teachers to all of West Contra Costa Unified's schools, especially amid a teacher shortage. He said his bargaining team also asked for one-time $2,500 stipends for teachers working in high-poverty schools, but district officials rejected that proposal.

The situation looks dire at the district, as it needs to cut $20 million this year to afford those teacher raises. Zabala expects much of those reductions to come from after-school and mental-health programs at high-poverty schools.

But Griffin said she isn't overly concerned. If anything, she's indifferent to the threat of budget cuts. She said she's going to keep doing what she has always done: focus on her students.

After her students leave her class at the end of the day, Griffin begins tidying up her classroom, picking up books and papers her students left behind. She admits she's tired, but only because she's a morning person and not because her students were especially rowdy that day.

"I think you just have to have it in your heart to do what you need to do to help the kids," Griffin said. "If it's not in your heart, it makes it harder to do."

Copyright  2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2023 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
By Rowena Gonden

Bay City News

Step inside the imposing building that is itself an art form and you'll see the creative energy of dozens of seniors on display.

With the exhibition "The Power of Creativity and Community," San Francisco City Hall has become a showcase for paintings and drawings by 90 individuals, all of them beneficiaries of a nonprofit dedicated to enriching the lives of older people through art.

"The byword here is compassion," said Jon Finck, publicist for Art With Elders, which has been holding art classes for seniors for nearly 32 years and is hosting a Saturday event in which program participants will share their experiences.

"It's truly transformational. It has taken many seniors out of feeling isolated, forgotten -- even by their families in many cases," he said.

Since becoming a nonprofit in 1991, AWE has served an estimated 12,000 elderly people by offering instruction at sites from senior centers and nursing homes to the City's Laguna Honda Hospital, a facility for low-income patients who require specialized care for disabilities and chronic illnesses.

In addition, AWE has shared its work with millions of viewers through the exhibits it organizes, according to Executive Director Mark Campbell.

He's also one of the 20 professional artists currently teaching classes in Russian, Cantonese and three other languages at 43 locations around the Bay Area from Vallejo to San Jose.

The instructors, many of whom hold graduate degrees in art, introduce students to concepts such as using the space on a canvas to maximize visual interest and choosing the brightness and tone of colors to create perspective in landscape paintings.

Some participants have studied art in the past, but most had never tried their hand at it before enrolling in AWE's classes that typically are held once a week at no cost to them. Online classes are also available for a suggested donation of $10 to $15.

Together they experiment with acrylics and watercolors, colored pencils, charcoal, pastels and ink.

Kered Whitcraft, 73, hasn't let glaucoma stop him from painting with acrylics that he's bulked up with an additive to create a 3D effect, enabling him to trace images with his fingers once the layers have dried.

And although he sometimes struggles to see what the instructor is doing and occasionally must pause during class when eye strain causes headaches, Whitcraft keeps returning to AWE's classes in San Francisco.

"(They) stimulate the creativity in other aspects of my life," he said, noting that he was inspired to decorate some of his clothes, including a pair of sneakers he painted in bright colors to see them more clearly.

Oakland resident Luis de la Garza rhapsodizes about the classes he began taking in 2020 at San Francisco's Openhouse, which organizes social events for the LGBTQ+ community.

Until then, the 68-year-old retired museum collections manager hadn't had any formal art instruction or even dabbled in the creative process other than making greeting cards and collages for relatives using scissors, glue and magazine photos.

Now, however, de la Garza has two works on display at City Hall, can describe in detail the color mixing techniques he uses to paint realistic-looking landscapes and still life, and loves the mental exercise of putting the images he envisions onto paper.

"I learn all the time to keep the brain stimulated -- I get a kick out of it," said de la Garza, who's also challenging himself with Yiddish and Japanese classes when he's not writing poetry and short stories.

"Television can only give you so much (stimulation). And for me it's not much," he said.

Nearly all the seniors Finck has spoken with say AWE has changed their lives.

As people age their friends start dying off, but AWE's classes have enabled seniors to make new friends -- "and that means everything to these seniors," Finck said. "We're not curing cancer, but I would venture to say the effect on their mental health is enormous."

Campbell cites studies that have attempted to quantify the number of older adults who lead solitary lives and the effects of that isolation.

A 2020 study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reported that even before the pandemic, about one out of four Americans who are 65 or older were socially isolated.

What's more, the lack of interactions with others that's caused or exacerbated by circumstances such as living alone, losing relatives or friends and suffering chronic illnesses is linked to premature death, according to the publication.

In a similar vein, the National Institute on Aging asserts that prolonged isolation is as bad for one's health as smoking 15 cigarettes daily.

Art With Elders has its own numbers: According to the most recent of the biannual surveys it conducts, 83 percent of students credited the classes with helping them make new friends and 93 percent felt happier overall, Campbell said.

Working with paints and pencils takes their focus off declining health and the loss of loved ones, enabling them instead to relish an outlet for their creativity, he said.

"It totally changes their life, it gives them energy," Campbell said.

"The Role of the Arts in Building Social Connection" is at noon Saturday at the San Francisco Arts Commission Main Gallery, War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave., Suite 126, S.F. Admission is free, registration encouraged at Eventbrite.

"The Power of Creativity and Community" runs through Aug. 25 on the ground floor and in North Light Court of City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Place, San Francisco. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; closed weekends. Admission is free. Visit artwithelders.org.

Copyright  2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2023 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  A Pakistani Sikh businessman and a Christian cleaner were shot dead by unknown assailants in separate incidents in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said Saturday.

Gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on Sikh shop owner Dayal Singh when he was in his grocery store and fled the scene, said police officer Haroon Rasheed. He said an investigation was underway.

Rasheed said police have found evidence from surveillance camera footage and will soon be able to identify the gunmen.

Ranveer Singh, a representative of Pakistans minority Sikh community, said the businessman had no problems with anyone. He said Sikhs are feeling insecure as 11 members of their community have been killed in recent years.

The minister for information and religious minorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is located, assured Sikhs the culprits will be arrested and there will be steps to protect minorities. Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel also announced compensation of 500,000 rupees for Singhs family.

A Christian man, Kashif Maseeh, was shot dead by unknown attackers on Saturday. He was attacked while returning from his job as a cleaner for local authorities.

It was the third targeted killing in two days. Prominent Hindu doctor and eye surgeon Birbal Genani was gunned down in Karachi on Thursday. Police superintendent Zubair Tanoli said Genani received a fatal gunshot to the head.

Religious minorities often face violence in Pakistan, even though the countrys Constitution guarantees them equal rights and the freedom to practice their faith.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP)  A women-run radio station in Afghanistans northeast has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said Saturday.

Sadai Banowan, which means womens voice in Dari, is Afghanistans only women-run station and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.

Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for Information and Culture in Badakhshan province, said the station violated the laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramadan and was shuttered because of the breach.

If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again, said Ahmadi.

Station head Najia Sorosh denied there was any violation, saying there was no need for the closure and called it a conspiracy. The Taliban "told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music, she said.

Sorosh said at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday representatives from the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Virtue Directorate arrived at the station and shut it down. She said station staff have contacted Vice and Virtue but officials there said they do not have any additional information about the closing.

Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Media outlets closed over lack of funds or because staff left the country, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.

The Taliban have barred women from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university. There is no official ban on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban barred most television, radio and newspapers in the country.
BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China Everbright Bank, one of the country's leading lenders, has pledged more credit support for the real economy in 2023.

The bank will this year increase credit support for key areas, including advanced manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation, green finance and inclusive finance, to ensure credit growth in these areas is higher than its overall loan growth, said Wang Zhiheng, president of the bank.

The bank's total loans amounted to 3.57 trillion yuan (519.52 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of last year, an increase of 8 percent from the start of 2022.

The lender's outstanding medium- and long-term loans to the manufacturing sector hit 193.6 billion yuan at the end of 2022, up 40.7 percent from a year ago, while outstanding loans to small and micro enterprises reached 305.3 billion yuan, up 28.8 percent from the end of 2021.

The bank's net profits totaled 45.04 billion yuan in 2022, up 3.2 percent year on year.

Its non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.25 percent at the end of last year, unchanged from the start of 2022. 
It was the 130th United States mass shooting in 2023. And we were only 86 days into the year.

On Monday, March 27, two 9-year-old children, one child nearly 9, and three adults were shot to death at the Covenant School in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville. The 28-year-old assailant, killed during the police response, had recently purchased seven firearms, legally.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters that the parents of the shooter believed their adult child, who lived with them and was being treated by a doctor for an emotional disorder, no longer had a firearm and should not be in possession of weapons.

Tennessee has no red flag provision that would allow removal of firearms from those who pose a violent threat to others, or themselves. Tennessees lax gun laws have become even less strict in recent years, with permits and background checks no longer required.

Since 2021, Tennessee has allowed the carry of handguns, both concealed and unconcealed, without a permit for anyone over 21. And on Monday, the very day of the shooting, a federal judge approved an agreement to lower that age to 18, with some restrictions. Instead of defending the age in the existing law, Tennessees attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, chose to negotiate a settlement with a gun rights group that brought a lawsuit arguing for the lower age.

As part of the rationale for the agreement on a lower age, Skrmetti referred to the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a New York gun law. In this 6-3 ruling, SCOTUS expanded gun rights by asserting a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. Considering this ruling, legislatures in red states throughout the country will likely enact laws that expand gun rights. And while legislatures in blue states seek to enact laws that promote gun safety, the SCOTUS ruling potentially makes this more difficult.

Ned Lamont, governor of blue Connecticut, is seeking passage in this legislative session of House Bill 6667, "An Act Addressing Gun Violence." The bill was voted out of the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday March 28, with 23 in favor and 14 opposed. No Republican members of the committee voted in favor. As of the writing of this column (March 30), the bill had 28 co-sponsors with others still signing on. Co-sponsors include Democratic representatives Stephen Meskers, Hector Arzeno, and Rachel Khanna, with state Sen. Ryan Fazio, a Republican, the only legislator representing Greenwich who is not among the co-sponsors.

With the horror of the Nashville school shooting fresh on our minds, its good to know that Gov. Lamont and legislative leaders continue to aggressively pursue measures to reduce gun violence in Connecticut, Jonathan Perloe, Communications Director for Connecticut Against Gun Violence (CAGV), wrote in an email. Our state remains one of the safest from gun violence, but were still facing a public health crisis. We must remain vigilant in keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people and committed to funding community-based intervention programs in the neighborhoods most affected by gun violence. Thats what the governors bill will do.

Among the bills many good measures, CAGV has identified as its own priorities the no exceptions safe storage requirement; making the ghost gun law more enforceable; and continued funding of community violence intervention programs.

Some of the numerous other safety measures included in this legislation are closing loopholes in the states assault weapons ban; strengthening penalties related to the states ban on large-capacity magazines to make that ban enforceable; and increasing the age to purchase all firearms to 21.

The proposals will institute commonsense reforms, close loopholes, and make our gun safety laws enforceable, the governor says in his official fact sheet.

Connecticuts gun safety laws, enacted in 2013 with bipartisan support following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, are among the countrys strictest. At the time, it seemed inevitable that the massacre of 20 small children would change the national conversation, the culture, and federal law.

This time, the outrage wont be fading, is the headline to my Feb. 17, 2013 column about the March for Change at the State Capitol.

A decade later, there appears little hope for change beyond blue borders.
Calling all Halloween fanatics!

A hair-raising home set up as a spooky haunted house in Baird, TX, has jumped onto the market

Offered for just $125,000 and operated as an active haunted house, every inch of the scream-worthy property is decked out in the most horrifying decor.

Skeletons walk the ceiling of one room, while the Grim Reaper lurks in the background.

Another room features a grisly surgical scene with a decapitated prop head, held on a platter by a mannequin.

Living room Realtor.com

Operating room Realtor.com

A faux fireplace in the living room is actually a secret door to the kitchen, where "blood" trickles from the cabinets alongside eerie saws, meat cleavers, and coffin doors that lead to extra storage rooms.

And if that doesn't get your skin crawling, the open-casket "funeral viewing room" in this house of horrors will certainly get your spine tingling.

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Watch: Ghost Hunting with the Paranormal Investigators From 'Kindred Spirits'

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The frightfully fun property is this week's most popular home, and it has caught plenty of attention online.

"This house has gone so viral, it's crazy," declares listing agent Tina Irias, of Keller Williams Realty - Abilene. "It's a listing you don't see every day. The owners do a haunted house seasonally, and it's a profitable business. They have had it for about nine years now, and it draws a huge crowd every year."

Irias explains that while the owners love Halloween, they are now retired and hope to find a buyer who will continue to operate the space as haunted house.

Kitchen Realtor.com

Funeral room Realtor.com

Known as 13 Vultures Haunted Estate, the 2,168-square-foot home sits on nearly 2 desolate acres, complete with additional buildings and even a retired school bus.

"Yikes, I wonder what is in there?" ponders the listing.

Potential buyers are daring to take a peek.

"I showed it the other day, and the woman called it 'charming,'" Irias laughs. "I am not sure if 'charming' is the right word. It has been so much fun to show. The seller is a prankster, so he was hiding behind the front door when I showed up with a buyer."

She adds, "I don't make eye contact with any of the dolls, because I'm afraid they might move!"

Secret door Realtor.com

Costume closet Realtor.com

This isn't the first time Irias has worked with the sellers.

"I sold them another property that was a lakefront home, and they had a Halloween theme there with bloody handprints on the curtains, a Chucky doll, and a skeleton in the tub," she recalls. "I told them that not everyone loves Halloween, so maybe they should take some of the props down. When I sent the photographer over and they listed the photographs, I couldn't believe some of the props were still there."

However, the fear factor won over buyers. The owners received multiple offers on the day it was listed. So when it came to sell the pair's haunted house, Irias knew better than conceal its creepy motif.

"I said I would just go with it," she admits. They didn't want to remove the props since they are part of the haunted house. So I knew I had to go with the flow, and I decided to write the listing to fit the pictures."

Outbuilding Realtor.com

Retired school bus Realtor.com

Irias believes the home could be a hit on other special days of the yearnot just Halloween.

"If someone buys this house and keeps it as a haunted house, there are a lot of people in the industry who do things like a haunted Valentine's Day or a haunted St. Patrick's Day," she says. "In October, for Halloween, it draws about 1,800 visitors, and it's only open on weekends."

The space could also be used as a commercial business, Irias suggests.

While the home has no central heat or air conditioning, the roof is new and everything else is operational.

Built in 1952, the cinder block home features three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms and is being sold as is. Most of the props can be purchased separately.

The post A Bone-Chilling Haunted House in Texas Creeps Onto the Market for $125K appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
In this weeks roundup, low-cost Frontier Airlines adds four seasonal routes out of San Francisco International for the summer; JSX revives a California intrastate route; United drops two more small cities; two U.S. airlines introduce in-flight Wi-Fi using Elon Musks satellite network; Air India trims U.S. schedules due to a shortage of 777 pilots; international route news comes from Finnair, Delta, American and Lufthansa; American and its Chilean partner seek to launch code-sharing on South American routes; a Santa Clara-based aviation firm announces its second eVTOL route with United; a new bill in Congress would let TSA create a no-fly list for unruly passengers; the State Department warns of lengthy processing times for passport applications and renewals; and a federal judge sets a trial date for the Justice Departments antitrust suit against the JetBlue-Spirit merger.

In domestic route news, Frontier Airlines plans to introduce four new seasonal nonstop routes from San Francisco International in May and June. The low-cost carrier is set to begin daily flights from SFO to Orlando on May 10 and to Chicago Midway on May 21, followed by three weekly SFO-Detroit flights starting June 22 and four weekly roundtrips from SFO to Cleveland as of June 23. SFO-Orlando and SFO-Cleveland nonstops are already offered by United, while Delta has nonstop SFO-Detroit service. There are no nonstops between SFO and Chicago Midway, but United has frequent nonstop service to Chicago OHare; American and Alaska also offer SFO-ORD service. Frontier is offering introductory one-way fares from San Francisco to Orlando ($59), Chicago ($69), Detroit ($99) and Cleveland ($99), but they must be purchased by April 4 for travel May 10 through Aug. 15 on select days of the week, with some blackout dates around holidays. Frontiers expanded seasonal service at Cleveland will also include flights to San Diego starting June 8, as well as flights to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dallas-Fort Worth, both beginning May 12.

The business-class regional carrier JSX is set to resume intrastate seasonal service on April 6 between Monterey and Santa Anas Orange County Airport with small-jet flights on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays. The Points Guy reports that United is planning to drop two more small cities from its network: Springfield, Illinois, on May 31 and Erie, Pennsylvania, on June 1. Both are served from Chicago OHare by United Express/SkyWest. It notes that American is due to add Chicago-Springfield service June 1 and that it already has Erie flights from its Charlotte hub.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Elon Musks Starlink satellite network is the latest provider to bring in-flight internet service to the airline industry, and it is rolling out on two U.S. carriers  at no cost to users.

Hawaiian Airlines does not currently offer in-flight Wi-Fi, but passengers should soon be able to access the internet if theyre on one of the airlines Airbus A321neos. A company spokesperson tells us that Hawaiian will begin to offer free high-speed Starlink Wi-Fi this summer on the A321s, with additional connectivity capabilities coming this fall across the airlines wide-body aircraft. With the high-speed link, passengers will be able to stream content, play live games with friends on the ground, collaborate on work projects in real time, and post those Instagram photos from their island trips. Connecting to the internet will be seamless when guests walk on board, without registration pages or payment portals, the spokesperson said.

Hawaiian will be the second U.S. airline to offer free Starlink satellite Wi-Fi. The first is the regional carrier JSX, which recently started offering the service on its 30-passenger jets. A few weeks ago, The Points Guy reporter Zach Graff conducted a series of technical tests of Starlink on a JSX flight and came away quite impressed. He connected four separate devices to the Starlink service and found the connections were outstanding. Each device measured download speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. Upload speeds, which hovered between five and 20 Mbps, were just as impressive, he wrote. But the real show-stopper was the ping, a measure that generally indicates how much buffering youll experience during data-intensive tasks. The ping clocked in between 28 and 150 milliseconds in the four tests  an incredible feat for inflight Wi-Fi. Just by the measure of these speeds alone, I could quickly tell that this would be my fastest inflight experience ever.

Air India, suffering from a shortage of Boeing 777 pilots, is trimming its U.S. schedules until it can staff up. The airlines San Francisco-Delhi service has been reduced from 10 flights a week to seven from now through June 30, while its New York JFK-Mumbai schedule will be trimmed from daily service to four flights a week during the month of May, and Newark-Delhi service has been suspended from now through May 1. Several Air India flights to North America have been canceled or delayed in the last few months, Simple Flying said. And all of it was primarily due to a crew shortage, ranging from an inadequate number of pilots or delays in the U.S. visas for flight attendants. In February, Air India had to cancel some flights to San Francisco and at least one to Vancouver. Many of the flights that were able to operate to North America faced delays of around 10-12 hours.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

In other international route news, Finnair this week resumed summer seasonal service to Helsinki from Chicago OHare with four weekly flights and from Seattle with three. Finnair already flies year-round from Los Angeles, New York JFK and Dallas-Fort Worth. Delta has resumed nonstop service from its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub to Tokyo Haneda after a three-year suspension of the route. Last year, American Airlines had to suspend some international service because Boeing was late in delivering the new 787s that the carrier was planning to use for that service, and apparently the problem is still lingering. American is suspending Philadelphia-Madrid flights during May and early June, citing the late delivery of Boeing Dreamliners.

Lufthansa, citing strong demand for transatlantic flights this summer, plans to bring its 509-passenger Airbus A380s back to the U.S., operating daily Boston-Munich service beginning June 1 and daily New York JFK-Munich flights starting July 4. Delta, citing routine seasonal adjustments to its network based on future demand, plans to eliminate six transatlantic routes during the 2023-2024 winter season, which begins in late October. Routes getting the axe include Atlanta to Dusseldorf and Stuttgart, Germany, along with New York JFK to Berlin, Copenhagen, Geneva and Stockholm.

American Airlines and its partner JetSmart, a low-cost Chilean carrier, have filed with the U.S. Transportation Department for approval to begin code-sharing. The partnership would put Americans AA code onto both domestic and international flights operated by JetSmart, according to Routesonline.com. That carrier flies to 23 points within Chile and to eight other countries in South America. American currently flies to JetSmarts Santiago base from Miami and Dallas-Fort Worth; it recently suspended New York JFK-Santiago service.

Santa Clara-based Archer Aviation has announced the second air taxi route it plans to operate for United Airlines, using Archers four-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL). Expected to launch in 2025, the route would carry passengers between downtown Chicago and Uniteds hub at Chicago OHare, operating from Vertiport Chicago, in the Illinois Medical District near The Loop. From there, passengers will be able to travel to and from ORD via Archers Midnight aircraft in approximately 10 minutes. A similar trip by car can take upwards of an hour or more during rush hour traffic, Archer and United said. They noted that the initial routes developed as part of their urban mobility project will focus on airport-to-city center transportation and will later expand to include service to surrounding communities. Last fall, the two companies said that their first eVTOL route would connect Uniteds Newark hub to the downtown Manhattan heliport, near Battery Park and convenient to the Wall Street financial district. The Archer eVTOLs operate at speeds of up to 150 mph with a range of up to 100 miles.

Although the number of disruptive passenger incidents has dropped off from its COVID-19-era peak  especially after the mask mandate ended  its still a lot higher than it was before the pandemic, and a bipartisan bill introduced in Congress this week would authorize the Transportation Security Administration to create its own no-fly list to ban troublesome individuals from commercial flights. Currently, unruly flyers face travel bans from the airline they were flying at the time of an incident, but there are no industrywide bans (except the FBI no-fly list, which targets people with suspected links to terrorists). A similar bill was pushed last year with the backing of airline unions, but it went nowhere. The new bill would let TSA decide how long to ban someone and would provide for an appeal process.

David Paul Morris/Getty Images

If youre planning to fly outside the U.S. this summer and you need to apply for or renew a passport, you better start the process now. The State Department warns travelers that the volume of passport applications this year is running 30% ahead of 2022 levels, so as of this week, Routine processing will take 10-13 weeks and expedited processing, which costs an additional $60, will take 7-9 weeks, the agency said. These new processing times only apply to new applications submitted on or after March 24. Processing time begins the day we receive an application and do not include mailing time. If you already have a passport, the State Department said it continues to urge U.S. citizens to check their passport expiration date and renew now if they are planning international travel this year.

A federal judge in Boston has set Oct. 16 for the start of a trial in the Justice Departments antitrust suit challenging the JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger. The judge scheduled four weeks for the trial, which will be held without a jury. At issue in the case is whether the combination of the two carriers would heighten competition in the airline industry, as JetBlues lawyers contend, or diminish it, as the Justice Department claims. JetBlue is eager to get the trial and any possible appeals underway because it has set July 2024 as the deadline to complete the merger. Meanwhile, the Transportation Department has rejected an exemption request from JetBlue that would have allowed the two airlines to operate under common ownership pending the formal combination of their operating certificates. DOT cited the pending Justice Department suit as the reason for denying the exemption request.
VIENTIANE, April 1 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese company and a research institution signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Lao government on Friday to promote agricultural cooperation in the Lao capital Vientiane.

The MoU on tropical agricultural science and technology was signed between Yangguang Jiarun (Laos) Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. and South Subtropical Crops Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, and the Department of Agriculture of the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Xie Fei, the general manager of the Yangguang Jiarun, told Xinhua on Saturday that under the framework of the MoU, all involved parties will collaborate to deepen cooperation on agricultural science and technology, with the aim to accelerate the application of research on the entire tropical agricultural industry chain.

"This will promote a new pattern of international agricultural cooperation between China and Laos," the Chinese Sichuan businessman said.

He added that they aim to build the Yangguang Jiarun (Laos) Eco-Agricultural Industry Project in southern Laos into a national agricultural demonstration base, a tropical crop germplasm resource library, a tropical agricultural scientific research and experimental project, and an agricultural training center in Laos. 
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 37-year-old Staten Island man with a history of run-ins with police was found guilty of multiple charges stemming from a September 2021 altercation at a Great Kills shopping center, according to District Attorney Michael E. McMahon.

Thomas Santagata was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and tampering with physical evidence charges in state Supreme Court, St. George, on Thursday. He faces a minimum of two to four years and a maximum of five-and-a-half to 11 years in prison if the sentences are to run consecutively.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  This Saturday might be April Fools Day, but its no joke that Saturday Night Live is returning from a mini-hiatus with an all new episode.

Abbott Elementary actress Quinta Brunson is set to make her SNL debut on April 1. Joining the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner will be rapper Lil Yachty, who will perform on the Studio 8H stage for the first time.

And if youre wondering about upcoming episodes, weve got the good word on the next few hosts and musical guests.

On April 8, SNL legend Molly Shannon will return to her old stomping grounds alongside musical guest The Jonas Brothers. On April 15, itll be Ana De Armas taking the reins with Karol G performing.

SNL kicked off its 48th season on Oct. 1 with actor Miles Teller pulling hosting duties and Kendrick Lamar rocking out as musical guest.

On Oct. 8, Brendan Gleeson hosted the show with musical guest Willow. Megan Thee Stallion was tabbed as host and musical guest on Oct. 15. Musician Jack Harlow also pulled double duty on Oct. 29 during the shows venerable Halloween episode.

On Nov. 5, actress/comedian Amy Schumer hosted for the third time, while Steve Lacy made his musical guest debut. Comedian Dave Chappelle was welcomed back to Studio 8H for his third hosting gig on Nov. 12. He was joined by hip-hop group Black Star.

On Dec. 3, actress Keke Palmer made her SNL debut alongside musical guest SZA. On Dec. 10, SNL greats Steve Martin and Martin Short hosted while Brandi Carlile returned as musical guest.

Dec. 17 marked the final episode of 2022. It featured actor Austin Butler as host and Lizzo as musical guest. To audiences surprise, 11-year cast member Cecily Strong announced the episode would be her final, and that she was stepping away from the show.

The first episode of 2023 featured Aubrey Plaza with musical guest Sam Smith on Jan. 21. Actor Michael B. Jordan hosted on Jan. 28 with musical guest Lil Baby.

On Feb. 4, Pedro Pascal hosted with Coldplay as musical guest. Actor Woody Harrelson hosted the Feb. 25 episode with Jack White as musical guest.

The first show of March featured Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, with music support from Kelsea Ballerini on March 4. Next up was Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega making her Saturday Night Live debut on March 11. She was joined by musical guest The 1975.

If youre a cord-cutter or dont have cable, you can live stream SNL on Fubo TV or Peacock, NBCs streaming service. Both offer free trials.

BTW: If you didnt know, Staten Islander Colin Jost is the longtime co-anchor of Weekend Update. Jost has been on the desk since 2014, and with the show since 2005. Fellow Staten Islander Pete Davidson left the show this past May following eight seasons.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Buying a home is one of lifes biggest decisions. Youll always get more if youre willing to spend more, but you can also get more for your money depending on where you are in New York. Heres what you can get for $2,000,000 around the state.

1. Tottenville, Staten Island

- 312 Shore Road, Staten Island, N.Y. (Courtesy of Google Earth)(Courtesy of Google Earth)

This four-bedroom, four-bathroom home located at 312 Shore Road was sold for $1,875,000 on Jan. 19. The single-family home, built in 1992, sits on a tranquil street just a short walk away from Conference House Park. The 22-foot ceilings in the entry enhance the allure of the decorative iron spiral staircase. The 4,000-square-foot home features a traditional Center Hall Colonial layout, recessed lighting and crown molding. A top-of-the-line kitchen, a cozy family room and a built-in two car garage offer all you could want in a home. The luxurious primary suite, complete with a fireplace and refined bathroom, only enhances the space. Rounding out the home is a backyard oasis, which offers an outdoor kitchen, a covered seating area, a heated in-ground saltwater pool and a hot tub. Link to listing.

Leftover funds: $125,000

2. Lincoln Square, Manhattan

- 2 Columbus Ave., New York, N.Y. (Courtesy of Google Earth)(Courtesy of Google Earth)

This luxury condo is comfortably located within a 1999 Lincoln Square building at 2 Columbus Ave. The 1,275-square-foot space features two bedrooms, and two-and-a-half bathrooms, and was sold for $1,999,995 on March 9. Oversized windows and tall ceilings allow for natural light to fill the space while simultaneously offering stunning views of the city. An open great room makes for the perfect area to lounge, while the kitchen offers everything one could want for a home. Beyond these amenities, the pristine location makes for quite the alluring draw. The residence is just a block away from Central Park and is located near numerous shops and restaurants, making for a pleasant neighborhood. Link to listing.

Leftover funds: $5

3. Setauket, Long Island

- 19 Ivy Lane, Setauket, Long Island, N.Y. (Courtesy of Google Earth)(Courtesy of Google Earth)

This custom, cedar shingle home at 19 Ivy Lane sold for $1,875,000 in November. The expansive home sits on a 1.26-acre lot and offers 7000 square feet of comfortable living space. Filling the walls of the property are five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. A chefs kitchen, three indoor fireplaces, custom molding and hardwood floors add a prestige to the home. The private yard serves as a retreat, featuring an in-ground pool and waterfall, an outdoor kitchen area and ample space. A short stroll will land you on the beach, perfect for those who enjoys walks or simply basking in the sand. Link to listing.

Leftover funds: $125,000

4. Clarence, Buffalo

- 9715 Rocky Point, Clarence, Buffalo, N.Y. (Courtesy of Google Earth)(Courtesy of Google Earth)

This elegant home located at 9715 Rocky Point sold for $1,750,000 in December. The luxurious 1995 property offers 5,884 square feet of living space on an .80-acre property. Within the premises, there are five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The details and amenities throughout the space include magnificent marble, Brazilian cherry wood, a foyer, a wet bar and four fireplaces. A heated garage and driveway speaks to the attention to comfort this home provides. A private yard with a saltwater pool makes for the perfect getaway, while the landscaping makes for a sight to behold. Lying on the outskirts of Buffalo, the home rests in front of a beautiful lake. Link to listing.

Leftover funds: $250,000

5. Skaneateles, Finger Lakes

- 89 E Genesee St, Skaneateles, N.Y. (Courtesy of Google Earth)(Courtesy of Google Earth)

This classic village home at 89 E. Genesee St. was sold for $1,975,000 in December. The charming 1890 home offers 4,850 square feet of living space on a 1.47-acre lot. Located in the historic Skaneateles Village, the home is directly across the street from the lake, offering scenic views. The home has been renovated with diligence and attention to detail. A gourmet kitchen, modern electrical and plumbing, and a two-car garage meet all the standard desires of a home, while the woodwork, fireplaces and unique accents add to the environment. Link to listing.

Leftover funds: $25,000

6. Saratoga Springs

- 632 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Courtesy of Google Earth)(Courtesy of Google Earth)

This multi-family home at 632 North Broadway sold for $1,800,000 in October. Constructed in 1885, the classic structure contains six bedrooms and four bathrooms. While the lot is .26 acres, the home offers a comfortable 5,015 square feet of living space. Link to listing.

Leftover funds: $200,000
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A Staten Island man originally sentenced to 12 years in prison for a robbery he swore he didnt commit has gotten his conviction vacated and a new trial will be ordered, according to his lawyer.

Timothy Turner, 36, of Meiers Corners, was convicted of first-degree robbery in connection with the April 2018 stickup inside Richies Barbershop on Olympia Boulevard in South Beach.

This latest development came in part after a second suspect in the incident  Jermain Moore  testified in court last year that he had never met Turner and acted alone in plotting the robbery.

On Thursday, Justice Wayne M. Ozzi announced he would be vacating Turners prior conviction and called for a re-trial. Ozzi had originally sentenced Turner back in September 2019.

I have never seen an alleged co-defendant come and want to testify that my client did nothing,' attorney Gary DeFilippo told the Advance/SILive.com, noting that hes been working in the court systems for more than 30 years. Ive never had that happen [to me].

Shpresa Turner, Turners wife, praised the news and thanked DeFilippo for taking on the case.

At this time, we are really happy with the judges decision and that my husband will be able to come home to his family soon, she said. Were just really grateful and, of course, thank God that justice will be served.

DeFilippo reiterated that Moore had been on the run for two years and wasnt around when Turner first went on trial.

They had no context of what was being said in that surveillance video. [Moore] gave us the context, he added.

Due to the bail bond not being approved by a judge, Turner was sent back to Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, N.Y. on Thursday, amid confusion over who had custody of Turner.

Were now waiting on the bail bond to be approved so the clerk here on Staten Island can issue the cut slip to city Corrections,' said DeFilippo. Then theyll tell Green Haven that hes free to go.

Turner is expected to be released from prison on Monday, according to his wife.

In response to the decision, a spokesman for the Richmond County District Attorneys Office told the Advance/SILive.com:

Our office is carefully reviewing the courts 26-page written decision that was issued yesterday, and will assess our next steps in this matter after such review.

CASE TAKES UNEXPECTED TURN

Judge Wayne Ozzi is shown in this file photo. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel)

Moore testified in court that it was around the time of his arraignment that he learned there was a co-defendant in the case, Turner, who was sentenced for charges stemming from the same incident.

When he was sentenced, he said, the two families got to talking  followed by a letter from Moore to Turners family in 2021, stating he had never met Turner and acted alone in plotting the robbery, the Advance/SILive.com previously reported.

I found out that this Timothy Turner guy is my [co-defendant], and he couldnt be, replied Moore. He is innocent. He (has) nothing to do with this.

In allowing Moores testimony be submitted as new evidence, Ozzi stated, in part, the following in court filings:

The court notes that Moore made the affidavit after his sentencing for the robbery, at a time when he had, in a matter of speaking, nothing to lose.

He also had nothing to gain at that point, noted the defense, in terms of his sentencing.

During the 2018 trial, the jury was presented with surveillance footage, which did not include audio, that showed Moore enter the barbershop and pull out a gun.

Turner  who stands about 66 and is a muscular 260 pounds  is seen at first dropping to the ground behind a barbers chair, then standing up and helping Moore push the shop owner into the bathroom. Hes then seen backing away from the bathroom as a scuffle ensued between Moore and the victim.

He turns and closes the curtains to the shop, before looking toward the bathroom again. He grabs his coat and slowly exits.

Moore testified in 2022 that he came upon Turner, who happened to be sitting in the barbers chair, at which point he said he ordered him at gunpoint to help push the shop owner into the bathroom.

Moore said he also ordered Turner to close the curtains while he was forcing the victim to remove a Cuban chain and Rolex watch.



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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Four months after legal adult-use recreational weed dispensaries began opening in New York, Staten Islands first location has been announced.

The news of Staten Islands first weed dispensary, Case420, was announced at a Community Board 3 meeting on March 24, when owner Mohamed Elgaly made himself available to the community for questions.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made history Thursday when news broke that a grand jury convened by his office voted to indict former President Donald Trump.

The district attorneys office said Thursday evening that it had contacted the former presidents lawyers, and that they were coordinating his surrender.

Trump is now the first sitting or former president criminally charged. Heres what we know so far.

WHAT HAPPENED?

All this is related to an alleged 2006 affair the former president had with pornstar Stormy Daniels, and a 2016 hush money payment Trumps then-fixer and attorney, Michael Cohen, made to her in the lead-up to that years election.

Cohen, who is a convicted felon and key witness in Braggs case, has said that he made the $130,000 to Daniels on Trumps behalf, and was subsequently repaid by the former presidents family business, the Trump Organization.

Stormy Daniels attends the Los Angeles Premiere Of Neon's "Pleasure" at Linwood Dunn Theater on May 11, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)

In an effort to conceal the payments, the Trump Organization allegedly falsified business records, a scheme Cohen said the former president knew about.

A Trump indictment from the Manhattan District Attorneys Office had been a possibility since before Braggs predecessor, former District Attorney Cy Vance left office, but the current D.A. convened a grand jury earlier this year.

Trump, who has denied an affair with Daniels and any wrongdoing, made headlines related to the case when he took to Truth Social on March 18 to announce he expected to be arrested the next week, but no announcement came from Braggs office until Tuesday.

Daniels lawyer, Clark Brewster, said his client wasnt surprised by Thursdays news, but that she was relieved that Trump had been indicted.

Really, its a fight against [Trumps] rejection of truth and his manufacturing of stories, Brewster said about why Daniels offered her cooperation during the grand jury procedure.

WHAT WILL THE CHARGES BE?

Braggs indictment against the former president remain sealed, but CNN has reported that the grand jury indicted Trump on more than 30 charges related to business fraud.

Under New York penal law, falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor charge, but can be elevated to a felony if done with the intent of committing, aiding or concealing another crime.

The harshest penalty the president could face in relation to a felony charge would be four years in jail, according to the state court system.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrives at his office, Thursday, March 23, 2023, in New York. A New York grand jury investigating Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star appears poised to complete its work soon as law enforcement officials make preparations for possible unrest in the event of an indictment. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

WHEN WILL HE BE ARRAIGNED?

Braggs office and Trumps attorney have yet to say anything publicly, but the Associated Press reported that the former president is likely to be arraigned Tuesday.

Trump, who has Secret Service protection like any other former president, likely wont be cuffed nor held for more than a few hours, but his booking will look like almost any other. Hell likely be fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken.

The former president is currently at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, and could just stay there without ever facing the law. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who Trump has identified as a potential rival in the 2024 presidential campaign, has said Florida wont cooperate with extradition requests.

Trump, who has declared his 2024 candidacy, will be able to continue his run even if hes convicted and imprisoned.

WHO BROUGHT THE CHARGES?

Bragg has long been a target for conservative attacks, because of what they label the district attorneys soft-on-crime policies since he took office in 2022, but he has a long history as an attorney.

Hes had two stints with the New York Attorney Generals Office, once under Elliot Spitzer and another Eric Schneiderman when he served as chief deputy attorney general. Bragg also served as a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and has worked in the private sector.

On Friday, he denied requests for information about the case from a trio of Republican congress members who head committees in the House of Representatives, and responded to their accusations that his indictment was brought for political reasons.

Congress has no warrant for interfering with individual criminal investigationsmuch less investigations conducted by a separate sovereign, he wrote in a letter to Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), and James Conner (R-Iowa).

The Committees attempted interference with an ongoing state criminal investigationand now prosecutionis an unprecedented and illegitimate incursion on New Yorks sovereign interests.

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves after he was introduced to speak in Rolling Fork, Miss., Friday, March 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)AP

WHATS THE REACTION?

Reaction has been mostly predictable with most of the American right circling their wagons around Trump in defense of the former president and their partys leader, and the American left cheering Braggs indictment.

Trump has referred to the indictment as political persecution and election interference, and taken personal aim at the Manhattan district attorney.

Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, who was handpicked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace, the former president said in a statement. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, hes doing [President] Joe Bidens dirty work ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!

For his part, Biden, who beat Trump in the 2020 election, has declined to comment on the indictment as he made his way around Mississippi Friday touring storm damage.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Former President Donald Trump was the first U.S. President to be impeached twice. He was also the first person to be elected to the nations highest office with no prior military or political office experience. Could Trump also become the first convicted felon to be elected president in American history?

A Manhattan grand jury voted on Thursday to indict the 45th president. While the specific felony charges remain sealed, the indictment follows an investigation into payments made during Trumps 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an alleged extramarital affair.

Trump is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon. In the meantime, questions are buzzing about what this means for Trumps 2024 presidential campaign. The former president may have the determination, but can he legally be elected if he is a convicted felon?

The short answer is yes.

The U.S. Constitution states three requirements for serving as president: being at least 35 years of age, a natural born citizen and having been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years. There are no provisions in the Constitution regarding a presidential candidates criminal history, meaning an individual who has been charged or convicted of a crime is not barred from holding the highest office in the nation.

Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Iowa, weighed in on the matter, ahead of Trumps indictment.

Its pretty widely accepted that the list of qualifications in the Constitution is exclusive  that is, Congress or states cant add qualifications to those listed in the Constitution, Muller said to CBS News. Its something that really doesnt affect your ability to run as a candidate, to appear on the ballot, or to even win the election.

CAMPAIGNING FROM THE PEN

If convicted, Trump would not be the first presidential candidate to run their campaign from behind bars.

Eugene Debs, a labor movement leader in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ran on the Socialist Party ticket six times. Ironically, his most successful run for president occurred in 1920 while Debs was serving time in federal prison, charged with violating the 1917 Espionage Act for an anti-war speech.

Although he didnt win against Woodrow Wilson, Debs earned nearly one million votes  3% of the vote nationally.

OTHER HURDLES TO OFFICE

While alleged criminal history would not stop Trump from taking office again, his involvement with the January 6 insurrection theoretically could.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no former government officials can hold office, neither civil nor military, in the U.S. if they have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

House Democrats attempted to invoke the 14th Amendment for this purpose with legislation introduced in December 2022, but the bill did not pass committee before the next session when Republicans assumed majority of the House.

RUNNING THE U.S. FROM PRISON?

Even if it is legal to be a convicted felon and elected president, is it realistic that a president run the country from prison?

A 1973 Office of Legal Counsel memo produced during Watergate titled Amenability of the President, Vice President and other Civil Officers to Federal Criminal Prosecution while in Office suggests that a president would not be able to fulfill all the duties of president while incarcerated.

Drawing from the memo, Stefanie Lindquist, foundation professor of law and political science at Arizona State University, wrote in The Conversation that the president would not be able to perform core functions of the job from behind bars, such as travel for various purposes or review classified documents.

Modern presidents are peripatetic: They travel nationally and globally on a constant basis to meet with other national leaders and global organizations. They obviously wouldnt be able to do these things while in prison. Nor could they inspect the aftermath of natural disasters from coast to coast, celebrate national successes and events or address citizens and groups on issues of the day, at least in person, Lindquist wrote.

Moreover, presidents need access to classified information and briefings. But imprisonment would also obviously compromise a presidents ability to access such information, which must often be stored and viewed in a secure room that has been protected against all manner of spying, including blocking radio waves  not something thats likely available in a prison, she continued.

The 1973 memo concludes that [t]he physical confinement of the chief executive following a valid conviction would indisputably preclude the executive branch from performing its constitutionally assigned functions.

Translation: The president couldnt do his job, Lindquist said.

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FOLLOW GIAVANNI ALVES ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
The Palestinians on Thursday marked the 47th anniversary of the "Land Day" amid calls to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories that has been going on since 1967. #GLOBALink





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Its no secret that The GRACE Foundations Virtual Bingo program has been a staple within the organizations calendar of events for more than three years.

Started during the COVID-19 quarantine, the initiative is a fundraiser for GRACE.

But this time around, Bingo players and friends were invited to come in-person and sit on a couch or around a dining room table at Staten Islands Raymour & Flanigan in New Springville to be part of a hybrid Bingo experience.

The Community Collaboration and Bingo  is a win-win, says Cathy DelPriore, executive director of The GRACE Foundation, who adds it translates into a perfect partnership.

HERES HOW IT WORKS

The GRACE Foundation of New York and Raymour & Flanigan joined forces to present the hybrid virtual/live Bingo experience theyre calling Couch Potato Bingo.

Bingo players even bring their own laptops and play along in the store while Bingo hosts Dan Ryan, of the GRACE web series Dan On the Street, and his Dominque Treglia call out bingo numbers.

Raymour & Flanigans manager, Farrukh Raghib and staffers also treat players to pizza and other refreshments  and generously donated a number of prizes like pillows and other amenities  plus a $500 donation check to The GRACE Foundation.

From the left, Dan Ryan, Diane Peruggia, Debbie DiForte, Cathy DelPriore, Staci Jospey and Farrukh Raghib, store manager, Raymour & Flanigan. (Courtesy/GRACE Foundation)Staten Island Advance

Those who chose to play from home also become part of the Zoom experience.

And as usual, there are cash prizes, virtual wheel surprises between games and a 50/50 raffle.

It is an important part of our mission to serve the community, said Raghib. As manager of the Staten Island store, our associates can partner with organizations and charities theyre passionate about serving and feel a close connection to. We value our community and will continue to partner with GRACE as well as other non-profits in the future.

As part of the innovative partnership  and since April is Autism Awareness Month  Raymour & Flanigan is also further spreading the word by creating awareness in their stores by asking customers to donate $1, $5 or more in connection with their Paper Puzzle Piece Campaign during the month of April. The project is part of spreading awareness and acceptance for all those with disabilities.

For more information about The GRACE Foundatiaon visit www.graceofny.org.

And for further information about Raymour & Flanigan, visit https://www.raymourflanigan.com/about-us/community-giving
SLU Student Helps Other New Immigrants Feel at Home by Working with Afghan Chamber of Commerce

ST. LOUIS - Sahar Hussaini knows where she would be if she hadnt immigrated to the United States three years ago from Afghanistan.

Sahar Hussaini is a student in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business. Photo by Sarah Conroy.

Id be at home in Kabul doing housework and chores, she said.

Instead, she thrives as a first-year college student at Saint Louis Universitys Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business. The academic sophomore is majoring in marketing and when she isnt studying, she is helping business owners and new immigrants as a board member of the newly formed Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Afghan Community Center in St. Louis.

The Center opened in February at 3611 S. Grand Blvd. It is sponsored by the International Institute of St. Louis. The Center hosts courses in English, entrepreneurship skills and financial literacy for Afghans in the region wishing to explore business opportunities.

It is open to everybody and we welcome any one who wants to come by to show support, she said.

Hussaini said she was inspired to work with the Chamber because she wanted to give back to the St. Louis Afghan community that had given so much to her. She arrived in St. Louis nearly three years ago, with her siblings and mother. They joined her father who was already in the area.

She arrived in St. Louis just as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and businesses. She began her U.S. high school education online, not yet speaking English.

Members of the St. Louis Afghan community were instrumental in helping Hussaini learn about her new home and work on her English language skills. Now she gives back by working with young people and planning upcoming events for the Chamber.

We are going to do an art day where we paint murals around the building, she said.

Hussaini is an artist herself and hopes to incorporate her art into her career. She plans to open her own arts organization that gives back to people from war-torn countries.

The resources available at the Afghan Chamber will help her when the time comes.

I want to open my own business someday, she said. Im getting the chance right now to take what Im learning in my classes and apply those techniques with the Chamber, but I also get to learn how to operate a business. The Chamber members are helping me work towards my goals.

Hussaini said she chose SLU because of the Universitys mission.

I liked that learning isnt separate from the whole person  we are learning how to be a part of the world here, she said.
Celebrity and privacy have always been uncomfortable bedfellows. When a person attains one, the other soon becomes a casualty.

For Prince Harry, celebrity was something he was born into through no fault or choice of his own. And, as he has known since he was old enough to remember, any hopes of real privacy in his life have mostly been doomed to failure and disappointment.

Prince Harry arrives at the Royal Courts Of Justice, in London last week. Credit: PA

Weve seen him barefoot and naked, partying in jacuzzis with the lads and every romantic dalliance  no matter how fleeting  photographed, documented and dished up to the masses for public consumption.

In more recent years he and his wife Meghan have harnessed their celebrity, turning it into a multimillion-dollar money spinner, with podcasts, tell-all memoirs, childrens books, paid for television interviews and the most recent Netflix documentary series, which further dissected the most intimate details of their very un-private lives. It drew record audiences on the platform.
My doctor rang with blood test results when I was reading in bed. Im not sure if its good or bad news, she said. But youre done. I was officially in menopause. You might not know whether to celebrate or grieve.

Oh, doctor, Ill be breaking into show tunes after four or five years of perimenopause horror. The brain fog. Anxiety. The pounding heart. Sleeplessness. The haemorrhage that started in a Japanese ski resort and ended 32 days later in a Melbourne hospital theatre. Mood swings that caused me to weep thinking about Bruce Willis sacrificing himself in Armageddon.

About 80,000 Australian women move into perimenopause every year. Credit: iStock

For 12 months, I wanted to kill everyone. The biting force of it took me back to the post-natal depression that crippled me after our third baby.

The idea of self-harming whispered for long dark months. With perimenopause, it was everyone else who was in the gun. Not fun. Neither was sex becoming painful. I was surprised. My doctor wasnt. Classic vaginal atrophy. HRT [hormone replacement treatment] will have you back in showroom condition. Like, what? My vagina is atrophying? Nobody mentioned this.
Back in one of the lengthier Sydney lockdowns, I decided to learn a new skill. It didnt require sourdough starter, a crochet hook or special shoes. It didnt even require a device; actually, it called for me to put down my device. I decided to learn to just be with my thoughts.

I used to be very good at that. Back when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, I didnt have a choice! I didnt have my own landline or TV, so when alone in my bedroom I was either reading, listening to music or daydreaming. I certainly had no portable devices to distract me, so out walking, on the train or standing in a queue, I had no alternative but to let my mind wander.

After her divorce, Sackville distracted herself with her phone in every idle moment. Credit: Getty

But once the smartphone came along, I never needed to be alone with my thoughts, so I very rarely was. And after my divorce, I distracted myself in every idle moment. I chatted to friends on WhatsApp, scrolled through Instagram and Facebook, and fell down internet rabbit holes. I listened to podcasts, posted on Twitter and engaged in pointless arguments with strangers on social media.

I spent most of my time absorbing the thoughts of other people and very little time exploring my own. Whats more, I was spending hours swiping on dating apps, frantically searching for a partner. This was in part because I was lonely and wanted companionship. But it was also  I realise now  because I didnt know how to be alone. I had no idea how to keep myself company, or to validate or nurture myself, so I looked to other people to give me what I needed.
Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto has denied the furore that engulfed controversial Liberal MP Moira Deeming and the Victorian Liberal Party contributed to the partys loss in the federal seat of Aston.

Earlier this week, Deeming was suspended from the state party room for attending an anti-transgender rights protest in Melbourne that was crashed by neo-Nazis.

Moira Deeming and John Pesutto before the pairs relationship turned sour. Credit: Facebook

Pesutto had initially insisted there wasnt any option but to expel the MP, before backflipping during a party room meeting and suspending her for nine months.

At a press conference this afternoon, Pesutto denied the saga had affected yesterdays byelection, asserting that voters cast their ballot on federal issues.

Its clear to me, based on the comments of candidates and people on the ground, that it simply wasnt an issue ... In essence, it was about cost of living. It was a federal byelection with some local issues in it, he said.

None of the issues surrounding the Victorian parliamentary [Liberal Party] were being raised with people on pre-poll or yesterday.

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I know the last two weeks were tough, but there was a purpose  it was to say to the Victorian people that I will fight for these principles, I will fight for these values.

After losing his seat of Hawthorn in the 2018 state election, Pesutto said he was keenly aware that the Liberal Party needs to reform if its to be a winning force again.

If we are to restore our standing with the Victorian people and the Australian people, we have to take actions that demonstrate to the people that we are committed to being that inclusive, welcoming and engaging party, he said.

I feel for Roshena Campbell, shes a good candidate and I hope that we can see her in the parliament one day, and Ill do everything I can to support her in that effort.
A Sydney mayor wants to sink a navy ship four kilometres off Coogee Beach to create an artificial reef for scuba divers, but is facing a revolt by councillors concerned about the cost and impact on marine life.

A narrow majority of Randwick councillors last week backed the $10 million proposal from the Gordons Bay Scuba Diving Club.

Scuba divers are campaigning for a dive wreck for Sydney at a site four kilometres from Coogee. Credit: Edwina Pickles

Randwick Labor mayor Dylan Parker said the artificial reef would create new recreation options for scuba diving and snorkelling, increase marine biodiversity and opportunities for marine research, and boost tourism.

However, the councils support for the proposal was overturned the next day. Three councillors led by the Greens Rafaela Pandolfini lodged a rescission motion forcing the council to suspend its decision until its next meeting in April.
The states education department has warned Instagram teacher influencers that filming in classrooms and selling learning resources for educators may breach their terms of employment.

NSW teachers are supplementing their income by selling worksheets, filming sponsored content and sharing teaching tips on social media. Their union and others in the industry say stalling wages have popularised online side hustles, which find a captive market among their overworked peers.

Former primary school teacher Tam Milledge is now working full-time as a social media influencer. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

While a second job for a teacher was once private tutoring or marking external tests, social media has created new opportunities. Some teacher Instagram accounts based in NSW have more than 100,000 followers and offer advice and resources for running classrooms.

A search for products tagged NSW on the online classroom resource marketplace Teachers Pay Teachers returns more than 4000 results. More than 3500 of those resources are being sold for a fee, ranging from 50 cents for a single worksheet to hundreds of dollars for a years curriculum.
Melbournes Federation Square and music venues in New York built over train lines are being studied by crews designing the $2.5 billion Brisbane Live Arena concert venue above the new Roma Street Station.

The 17,000-seat venue  over the top of Roma Street Station  will also be used during the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games for swimming and water polo with a drop-in pool.

Planners are using Melbournes Federation Square and live music venues in New York to gauge how best to keep noise from trains at a minimum during future live concerts. Credit: Cross River Rail Development Authority

After the 2032 Games it will become Brisbanes major large concert venue, with concertgoers able to use trains and buses to and from the revamped Roma Street Station underneath.

But questions have been asked about how noise from the trains could impact live music concerts in the $2.5 billion Brisbane Arena now being funded by the federal government.
The laying of a war crime charge against a former Australian SAS soldier has led to a renewed call for charges against whistleblower David McBride to be dropped.

Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz became the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with the war crime of murder over the killing of Dad Mohammad in Uruzgan province in 2012. He was granted bail on Tuesday, after a magistrate found his safety and his ability to mount a legal defence would be affected if he remained in custody.

McBride is facing a jury trial over the leaking of a cache of documents to the ABC shortly after his discharge from the ADF, which formed the basis of its 2017 Afghan Files investigation. The subsequent Brereton Report found credible evidence of war crimes committed by Australian special forces, with 39 murders, executions and allegations of torture.

McBride faces five charges relating to the unauthorised disclosure of information, theft of Commonwealth property and breaching the Defence Act, and could face up to 50 years in prison.

Senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre Kieran Pender said the Schulz case underscores the importance of McBrides whistleblowing and called on Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to drop the case against McBride.
Mehmet T. Nane, Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of Pegasus Airlines, has been appointed Chairperson of the Board of Directors following the recent Ordinary General Meeting.

Nane succeeds Ali Sabanc, who served as Chairperson of the Board of Pegasus for 17 years, and will now continue to serve as chairperson of the board of directors of Esas Holding and a board member of Pegasus Airlines.

Nane, who joined Pegasus Airlines in March 2016, served as CEO of the company for six years before assuming the position as Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Managing Director in March 2022.

He continues to serve in various national and international bodies including the Chair of the Board of Governors and the Chair Committee of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Private Aviation Enterprises Association.

Nane graduated from the department of International Relations at Bogazici University and began his career in 1988. Until 1997, he held positions in various business units at Turkiye Emlak Bankas, Demirbank and Demir Invest respetively.

From 1997, he was with Sabanc Group, until 2005, where he held roles of Vice President of the Strategic Planning and Project Development department, Director of the Retail Group and General Secretary of Sabanc Holding.

He served as Vice Chairperson of the Board of Teknosa between 2000 and 2005, CEO of Teknosa between 2005 and 2013, and CEO of CarrefourSA between 2013 and 2016. In March 2016, he joined Pegasus Airlines.

Nane had served in several prestigious posts including as Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Retailers Federation, was the founding chairperson of the Turkish Federation of Shopping Centres and Retailers (TAMPF) and Food Retailers Association (GPD).-TradeArabia News Service
BOAO, Hainan, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Song Hailiang firmly believes in the benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), viewing it as a path of development, win-win cooperation and hope for all those involved.

In an interview with Xinhua during the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, in south China's Hainan Province, Song, board chairman and executive director of China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (Energy China), said that the decade-old BRI will bring broader consensus, wider development space and more brilliant achievements in the future.

"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed BRI, and I hope that countries and regions along the Belt and Road can ensure substantive, steady, sustained and high-quality development and usher in a brighter future of BRI cooperation," he said.

Energy China is a comprehensive conglomerate that provides holistic solutions and full-chain services in areas such as power and infrastructure to China and the world as well.

The company has been actively practicing the concept of green and low-carbon development, and building infrastructure projects such as dams, roads and bridges around the world, Song said.

He noted that the company has done business in more than 140 countries and regions across the world, with more than 100,000 employees engaged in international businesses. To date, contracts with a value of over 500 billion yuan (about 72.76 billion U.S. dollars) have been signed along the Belt and Road.

"Our business along the Belt and Road has been deeply integrated into the construction of energy and power infrastructure," he said, listing several large-scale infrastructure projects, such as a hydroelectric power plant in Argentina, a seawater desalinization plant in the United Arab Emirates, and a gas-fired combined cycle power plant and a 1-GW wind power project in Uzbekistan.

In terms of public well-being projects, Song mentioned a maternity medical center that the company built in Kenya last year.

"There was a lack of maternity facilities and delivery rooms in the past. Local residents had to go to a hospital more than 40 km away. Thanks to the new center, women and infants can receive better medical services," Song explained.

China and countries along the Belt and Road are working together to develop a high-quality green Silk Road, and pursue green and low-carbon development by increasing investment in green energy, he said.

He said that the company has completed a variety of green, low-carbon and high-quality projects overseas, which not only promote local employment but also help other countries achieve new energy targets. "More efforts should be made to strengthen cooperation in the fields of green infrastructure, energy and finance," he said.

"We remain committed to pursuing international cooperation following the principles of localization, marketization and internationalization. I have full confidence in the future, and believe that the BRI will enjoy sound development in the long run," Song added. 
A first home buyer bought a three-bedroom Marrickville house for $2.6 million at auction on Saturday.

About 80 people gathered for the auction of 19 South Street, watching on as spirited bidding pushed the sale price $400,000 above the reserve.

The home was one of 819 Sydney properties scheduled for auction on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 71.2 per cent from 552 reported results, while 105 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Eighteen parties registered to bid on the Marrickville home on a 474-square-metre block, including some who only inspected the home for the first time on Saturday.
Alicante, Spain: In an attempt to distance itself from the historic abuse of indigenous peoples of former European colonies, the Vatican has declared that past popes were manipulated by European powers to justify their colonialism of the Americas.

The claim centres around three papal bulls, or official decrees, issued in the 15th century to provide a religious excuse for the seizure of non-Christian land discovered by Spain and Portugal in South America.

The documents went on to become the basis of all European territorial claims in the Americas and the United States western expansion into Native American territory.

In 1823, the US Supreme Court ruled that the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands, coining the legal and political Doctrine of Discovery. That concept still provides a foundation for some property laws today.
LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The United States is portraying itself as the universal model of democracy, but in fact its system is "plutocratic rather than democratic," British political commentator Carlos Martinez has said.

"As a capitalist democracy, the U.S. is a democracy for the capitalist class -- the ruling class, the group of people that own and deploy capital. As many people have pointed out, it is a money democracy, and the government meets the interests primarily of the wealthy," Martinez told Xinhua in a recent written interview.

"In England we say that 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating.' Similarly, you can tell the nature of a government by its actions; by its economic, political and social priorities," he wrote.

In Martinez's view, the U.S. government "prioritizes fossil fuel profits over preventing climate breakdown; it prioritizes private medical companies and pharmaceutical industry profits over saving lives; it prioritizes the military-industrial complex over preserving peace. These priorities match those of the elite, not the people, not the vast majority of people that work for a living."

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the United States sees an increasing number of homeless people each year and declining life expectancy, he said.

"The scourge of racism is getting worse in the U.S. This structural racism is evident throughout society: in health indicators, in educational outcomes, in economic outcomes," Martinez noted.

"Black people, Latinos and indigenous Americans are far more likely to suffer chronic poverty, to live in crowded housing, and to lack access to healthcare. This is the continuing unaddressed legacy of slavery, genocide, colonization and apartheid. Does anybody seriously think this represents the pinnacle of democracy?" he asked.

"Given the state of U.S. democracy, it's nothing short of farcical that the (Joe) Biden administration persists with organizing the so-called Summit for Democracy," Martinez said.

He further said that the U.S. government is failing to improve people's lives, and so "it uses nice words about democracy to attract voters."

On geopolitics, the Biden administration is using the summit to consolidate an alliance that seeks to protect U.S. hegemony and impede humanity's movement towards multipolarity, noted Martinez, who also closely watched the first episode of the summit in 2021.

"The Summit for Democracy is, in reality, a summit for hegemony," he said.

Speaking of China's democratic practices, he said that the Chinese government is "prioritizing common prosperity, developing clean energy systems in order to protect the planet, rolling out infrastructure throughout the country, tackling corruption, building peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with the peoples of the world."

"These priorities are entirely consistent with the needs and aspirations of the Chinese people," he wrote.

Citing challenges such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and poverty, Martinez said what the world needs is genuine democracy in international relations.

"Cooperation, mutual respect, non-interference and a win-win approach are absolutely necessary to secure a safe future for humanity," he said. 
Italy blocks AI chatbot ChatGPT over data privacy failings



Rome, March 31 (AFP) Mar 31, 2023



Italy said on Friday it was temporarily blocking ChatGPT over data privacy concerns, becoming the first western country to take such action against the popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot.

The country's Data Protection Authority said US firm OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, had no legal basis to justify "the mass collection and storage of personal data for the purpose of 'training' the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform".

ChatGPT caused a global sensation when it was released last year for its ability to generate essays, songs, exams and even news articles from brief prompts.

But critics have long fretted that it was unclear where ChatGPT and its competitors got their data or how they processed it.

Universities and some education authorities have banned the chatbot over fears that students could use it to write essays or cheat in exams.

And hundreds of experts and industry figures signed an open letter this week calling for a pause in the development of powerful AI systems, arguing they posed "profound risks to society and humanity".

The letter was prompted by OpenAI's release earlier this month of GPT-4, a more powerful version of its chatbot, with even less transparency about its data sources.

OpenAI said Friday that it has "disabled ChatGPT for users in Italy".

"We are committed to protecting people's privacy and we believe we comply with... privacy laws. We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals," an OpenAI spokesperson said.

"We also believe that AI regulation is necessary - so we look forward to working closely with (authorities in Italy) and educating them on how our systems are built and used," the spokesperson said.

"Our users in Italy have told us they find ChatGPT helpful for everyday tasks and we look forward to making it available again soon."



- 'Unsuitable answers' -



The Italian authority imposed a "temporary limitation of the processing of Italian user data" by OpenAI and said it had launched an investigation.

As well as a lack of legal basis for data collection, the authority also highlighted a lack of clarity over whose data was being collected.

It said wrong answers given by the chatbot suggested data was not being handled properly, and accused the firm of exposing children to "absolutely unsuitable answers".

The watchdog further referenced a data breach on March 20 where user conversations and payment information were compromised -- a problem the firm blamed on a bug.

Nello Cristianini, an AI academic from Bath university in Britain, said securing user data and enforcing age limits were easy to fix.

But the other two accusations were more problematic -- that the model is trained on personal data that is gathered without consent and then not treated properly.

"It is not clear how these can be fixed anytime soon," he said.

The company has been given 20 days to respond and could face a fine of 20 million euros ($21.7 million) or up to 4 percent of annual revenue.

The runaway success of ChatGPT garnered OpenAI a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft, which uses the technology in its Bing search engine and other programs.

It also sparked a gold rush among other tech firms and venture capitalists, with Google hurrying out its own chatbot and investors pouring cash into all manner of AI projects.

ams-jxb/rl/tjj/mca

MICROSOFT
BRISTOL  For a brief moment at the National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fames annual induction ceremony in Ohio on Thursday night, the faces of fallen local police Lt. Dustin DeMonte and Sgt. Alex Hamzy stared out into the audience.

Beamed on to an enormous screen at a hotel in downtown Toledo, Ohio, an image lineup honored officers who died in the line of duty in 2022, including DeMonte and Hamzy.

Nearly six months ago, on the night of Oct. 12, DeMonte, Hamzy and a third officer, 26-year-old Alec Iurato, were ambushed as they responded to a Redstone Hill Road home for a report of a possible domestic dispute between Nicholas Brutcher, 35, and his brother, Nathan, 32, according to the Connecticut State Police.

Wielding what has been described as a high-powered rifle, Nicholas Brutcher opened fire on the officers from behind as they stood outside the homes side door, firing more than 80 rounds, according to state Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr. What role Nathan Brutcher played in the shooting, if any, has not been disclosed.

DeMonte and Hamzy were fatally injured in the hail of bullets, Devlin said.

Iurato was hit in the leg but managed to shoot and kill Nicholas Brutcher after taking cover behind a police cruiser, bodycam footage released by Devlin's office showed. He was admitted to Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford for treatment and discharged less than 24 hours later.

Nathan Brutcher was also wounded in the shooting, according to state police.

In the days that followed, law enforcement agencies across the country simultaneously hailed Iurato as a hero and mourned DeMonte, 35, and Hamzy, 34.

DeMonte, a father of two posthumously promoted from sergeant to lieutenant, was expecting a third child with his wife, Laura, at the time of his death. Their second daughter, Penelope Dustin-Ann DeMonte, was born at 12:35 p.m. on March 6. Cradled in her mothers arms, she emerged from the hospital to a standing ovation from the members of the Bristol Police Department.

Hamzy, a newlywed posthumously promoted from officer to sergeant, was about to celebrate his first anniversary with his wife, Katie, at the time of his death. He was remembered by his father, Ahmad Hamzy, as a patriot and all-American passionate about serving his community. His grief-stricken mother, Salma Hamzy, stayed home for nearly three months after he was killed.

With DeMonte and Hamzy's deaths, Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould said at the induction ceremony Thursday, "We lost two great officers, and the world lost two great people."

"May their souls rest in eternal peace, and God bless their families," he said.

In January, the National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame, an organization founded in 2017 that recently received nonprofit status, announced that Iurato had been chosen for its Courage in Service Award. He was reportedly nominated by state Rep. Jill Barry, D-Glastonbury, and was the only awardee from the northeastern United States.

Held at the Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel, the induction ceremony was broadcast on Facebook Live by Bristol Mayor Jeff Caggiano's office starting around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Taking the stage after Sheriff Mark Lamb several hours later, Gould recounted the events of Oct. 12, 2022, ending with Nicholas Brutchers death.

Calling Iurato's actions "truly heroic," Gould described how Iurato had "professionally, calmly and with extreme precision" fired the single shot that killed Brutcher, striking him in the neck. Connecticut Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr. ruled in a preliminary report released days after the ambush that Iurato was justified in using deadly force.

Shortly before inviting Iurato to join him onstage, Gould, addressing Iurato directly, seemed to imply that Brutcher may have planned to continue the shooting spree after attacking the three officers.

Alec, I cant thank you enough for what you did that night, because you saved a lot of peoples lives," he said. "You saved your brothers and sisters that were responding, and I believe you saved a lot more lives that night."

Wearing a dark beard and black suit, Iurato embraced Gould and Lamb, accepting a small trophy from the latter before posing for photos. Standing before the podium, he warned that his speech would be brief.

Speaking about what happened to myself, Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy is something thats extremely difficult for me, he said, calling DeMonte and Hamzy the true heroes.

In my world, he continued, theyre the true recipients of this award. Myself and many others will forever honor them because if it werent for them that night, then no one who responded on Oct. 12 would be here. Their actions are a different form of friendship and dedication that Ive never seen before and I hope I never see again. Someone whos a great inspiration to me recently told me, Say their names, tell their story, remember their sacrifice that they made, because thats your duty. I hope that by being here today and sharing this story, it helps someone realize that when people truly care about you, theyre willing to go to extraordinary lengths to keep you safe.

Iurato went on to thank several friends back home.

If "it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here with you all today," he said. He hugged Lamb again before he walked offstage, trophy in hand.

Fundraisers and other events continue to be held in memory of DeMonte and Hamzy.
STAMFORD  Michelle Troconis, one of two remaining defendants in the Jennifer Dulos case, is again seeking to have her court-ordered GPS removed.

Calling the device a modern day "Scarlet Letter," her attorney Jon Schoenhorn argued again in a motion filed Wednesday that his client has obeyed all court orders and restrictions since she was arrested on tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution charges one week after the New Canaan mother of five vanished on May 24, 2019.

"The undersigned cannot emphasize enough that there is no lawful basis for GPS monitoring here," Schoenhorn said in a motion seeking a modification of her conditions of release. "In the nearly 46 months since Ms. Troconis was first charged, there has been no occasion  not once  when she was out of compliance with any conditions of release  major or minor."

Stamford Superior Court Judge Gary White denied a similar motion in November, but Schoenhorn appealed the ruling with the state Appellate Court. The Appellate Court reversed White's ruling in December and directed the lower court to conduct a new hearing on Troconis' bid to have the GPS removed.

Schoenhorn filed the motion to support the modification of her conditions of release just one day before evidence in the case he gave to prosecutors through a third-party will be the subject of a closed hearing Thursday in state Superior Court in Stamford.

The hearing will determine if a letter that was found in a box with the evidence should be considered attorney-client privilege since it was turned over to prosecutors by attorney Tara Knight, who Schoenhorn said was acting on his behalf. The evidence included some tools and a blue sweatshirt that may have contained the DNA of an employee of Fotis Dulos. Schoenhorn contends the sweatshirt may cast doubt on whether Fotis Dulos attacked his estranged wife in her rented home in New Canaan or the employee was somehow involved.

Troconis, who was living with Fotis Dulos at the time, and attorney Kent Mawhinney are charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the case.

Fotis Dulos died by suicide in January 2020, three weeks after he was charged with killing his estranged wife. Jennifer Dulos' body has never been found, but she is presumed dead by police and her family.

Prosecutors claim Schoenhorn should be required to step down as Troconis' attorney since he may be called as a witness at her trial to discuss where he found the evidence Knight turned over. Schoenhorn has countered by calling for the prosecutors to be removed from the case.

It is unclear if Troconis' motion to have the GPS removed will be heard in open court after the sealed hearing on the evidence.

Schoenhorn is claiming in the 51-page motion that his client can no longer ride horses or seek employment in equine therapy to teach disabled children how to ride because of the obtrusive GPS unit.

"The visible bracelet also causes extreme public embarrassment as it cannot be hidden from plain view because of its size, which has resulted in immense and unnecessary stress," Schoenhorn said in the motion.

He also described a scene in November when Troconis was swarmed by TSA agents and New York State Police troopers as she tried to fly out of LaGuardia Airport to Colorado. The agents and police demanded verification that she had permission to travel, which she had, Schoenhorn said.

Troconis, 48, now resides with her teenage daughter in another state, but has returned for court hearings and complied with all other conditions of her release, Schoenhorn said.

In the motion, Schoenhorn included excerpts from scholarly articles comparing electronic monitoring to the "Scarlet Letter," made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne's book of the same name published in 1850 about a woman who has a child out of wedlock.

"For over three and one half years, the defendant has sought relief from this onerous condition, which has now become abusive and punitive," Schoenhorn said. "No claim has been advanced by the state that the defendant is a flight risk or poses a danger to anyone in the community. Therefore, the state has failed to set forth the requisite factual basis for the condition."
STAMFORD  A substitute security guard working at Rippowam Middle School who was arrested after police say he got into a physical altercation with a student has been fired, according to a schools spokesperson.

On March 16, guard Marcus Taylor was accused of grabbing a student and pulling him down a hallway toward the school's main office when the student did not pull down a hood attached to his sweatshirt after Taylor told him to do so, according to a police report filed at the time.

The report states that Rippowam Principal Kristina Colmenares was a witness and attempted to get between the two, telling Taylor "she's got this." Colmenares told police that Taylor was using what she described as excessive force and was not listening to her as he headed to the main office with the student in tow, the report stated.

Officers also interviewed Taylor, who said he told the student earlier in the day to take down his hood, but the student did not do so, the report stated. The school policy states that students shall not have hoods over their heads, according to the police report. At lunchtime, Taylor again encountered the student and told him again to lower his hood, the report stated.

The student did not respond, at which point Taylor grabbed the student's backpack and attempted to take him to the office, Taylor told police, according to the report. The student allegedly threatened Taylor, according to the guard's recollection, the report stated. Taylor told police the student "got him hot," and he grabbed him "around the neck area of his sweatshirt with one hand and began to pull him down the hallway," the report stated.

Taylor, who could not be reached for comment Friday, was charged with breach of peace and issued a summons to appear in court.

His arraignment was scheduled for Thursday morning, but according to the clerk's office at the Stamford Superior Court, Taylor failed to appear. He was issued a bail commissioner's letter. His next hearing date is set for May 31.

On March 20, Taylor was fired, said Kathleen Steinberg, spokesperson for the district.

"It was an unfortunate incident," Steinberg said. She said the student did not suffer any major injuries from the altercation.

Officers learned about the confrontation once they were already at the school for an unrelated matter, according to the police report. They were told by Colmenares that the incident took place around lunchtime and the student and his mother were in a conference room.

Officers then met with Colmenares, security staff, the student and his mother.
An Ecuadorian woman living in Woodbridge was sentenced to five months in prison, becoming the latest person to face time behind bars in a tax refund scheme the government alleges cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ordered Olga Aucapina to serve three years of supervision upon the end of her prison sentence, as well as to pay $177,589 in restitution, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release.

The 53-year-old appeared Thursday in New Haven for sentencing. Aucapina, also known as Olga Aucapina Paredes, is released on bond and is required to report to prison on May 30, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Prosecutors said between May 2013 and April 2017, Aucapina and several other Ecuadorian citizens illegally obtained tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service.

"In order to obtain the refunds, Aucapina and others filed fraudulent federal tax returns, in the names of other foreign nationals ('claimants'), with the IRS," the U.S. Attorney's office said. The fraudulent tax returns stated that the claimants resided in the U.S., earned wages from companies in the U.S., and had federal income tax withheld from the claimants wages."

"In truth, the claimants never worked for or earned income from those companies," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney's office said U.S. Customs and Border Protection have no records of the claimants being in the country during the tax years for which the returns were filed.

Through the scheme, Aucapina and her associates obtained 142 tax refunds, totaling about $435,500, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Aucapina personally deposited 59 of those refunds, totaling $177,589, into her own bank accounts.

She and her associates then used the money for personal use and wired some funds to relatives in Ecuador, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

On July 16, 2021, Aucapina and three others were charged with various offenses stemming from the scheme. Aucapina pleaded guilty to theft of public money on Feb. 14, 2022. Her co-defendants pleaded guilty to related charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Edwin F. Gutierrez and Diego Aucapina, co-defendants in the case, were each sentenced to six months in prison followed by two years of supervision for the scheme. Jairo Santiago Sarango was sentenced to a year of probation.
Patrick Sikes / For Hearst Connecticut Media

WATERBURY  Police say they are working with New York authorities to determine if a fatal motor vehicle crash in that state is connected with this week's drowning death of 17-year-old Benjamin Payton.

The local teen, who was a student at Crosby High School, drowned in a reservoir after running from an officer who spotted him and three other teens sitting in a stolen car Tuesday afternoon, Waterbury police said. The teens, ages 14, 16 and 17, were arrested, according to police.
LOS ANGELES, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States continues to see a decline in life expectancy though the country has the highest healthcare spending among wealthy nations, reflecting systematic problems, inequality and other challenges.

The average American life expectancy was shortened by more than seven months in 2021, a historic decline for the second straight year, in the wake of an already large drop of 1.8 years in 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The expected life span of Americans decreased to 76.4 years in 2021, logging its shortest level since 1996.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has driven most of the decline in life expectancy, a rise in accidental deaths and drug overdoses also contributed, as did deaths from heart disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, according to the newest report from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.

Excess deaths due to COVID-19 and other causes in 2020 and 2021 led to an overall decline in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021 of 2.7 years for the total population, according to the report published at the end of 2022.

Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, characterized the diminution of life expectancy in the United States as "historic."

A new report released by the CDC also showed maternal mortality in the United States reached a high in 2021.

Mortality rates among U.S. children and adolescents are also on the rise, according to a paper published in the journal of the American Medical Association.

"This increase in all-cause pediatric mortality has ominous implications. A nation that begins losing its most cherished population -- its children -- faces a crisis like no other," said the paper.

"This is the first time in my career that I've ever seen an increase in pediatric mortality. It's always been declining in the United States for as long as I can remember," said Woolf, the paper's lead author. "Now, it's increasing at a magnitude that has not occurred at least for half a century."

While other high-income countries were also hit hard in 2020, most had begun to recover by last year.

Despite having the highest healthcare spending among peer wealthy nations, Americans die at younger ages across every demographic group compared to their counterparts in other wealthy nations.

"How could this happen? In a country that prides itself on scientific excellence and innovation, and spends an incredible amount of money on health care, the population keeps dying at younger and younger ages," National Public Radio reported.

Americans eat more calories and lack universal access to health care, the report said. But there is also higher child poverty, racial segregation, social isolation, and more, and even the way cities are designed makes access to good food more difficult.

The average lifespan of Americans has decreased also as a result of an increase in suicide which poses a high risk for younger people.

Murders and suicides involving guns have reached an all-time high in the United States. From 2020 to 2021, the rate of firearm homicides and that of firearm suicides both increased by more than 8 percent, according to a report released by the CDC last October.

Deep-rooted inequities and structural racism are also contributing more to ethnic breakdown in life expectancy than other rich countries, said a report of TRT World, an international news platform.

According to Ann Bullock, former director of diabetes treatment and prevention at the federal agency of Indian Health Service, Native American and Alaska native populations had the lowest life expectancy of any race or ethnicity at 65.2 years.

Indigenous peoples who already had high rates of chronic diseases due to poverty, prejudice and limited access to healthcare were more vulnerable in the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a report of independent U.S. news outlet Common Dreams, Woolf emphasized what public health experts call "the U.S. health disadvantage," with Americans relying on a healthcare system driven by profit motives instead of public health, widespread access to guns, high levels of pollution, and economic inequality as risk factors contributing to the drop in life expectancy and overall poor health conditions compared to other high-income countries. 
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THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP)  Greeces prime minister promised Friday to extend an existing wall across all of the countrys land border with Turkey as he campaigned for the country's general election.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who called the May 21 election earlier this week, presided over a ceremony to sign his center-right government's decision to nearly double the length of the existing steel border wall over the next year.

The wall currently spans 37.5 kilometers (25 miles), and the government plans to extend it by 35 kilometers over the next 12 months. More than 100 kilometers of wall will be added to that by 2026, government officials said.

Border security remains a high-profile issue in Greece due to long-standing disputes with Turkey and a mass migration of refugees and migrants into the European Union during 2015-16 that largely was triggered by war in Syria and Iraq.

Mitsotakis and other officials accused their political opponents from the left-wing Syriza party of trying to undermine the project and to block the government's attempt to obtain European Union funding for it.

I would like to express my regret that there are political forces in Greece today that are fighting this project, Mitsotakis told supporters during his campaign stop in Orestiada, a town near the Greece-Turkey border.

Let them state their position clearly: Will they tear down the wall that we have already built and return to a policy of open borders? Or will they preserve it and help secure Greeces borders? Mitsotakis asked.

Syriza officials accused the government of misrepresenting the opposition's position, adding that the EU's executive commission already ruled out providing direct funding for border walls.

We are not going to tear down anything, European Parliament Vice President Dimitris Papadimoulis, who heads the Syriza delegation in the EU legislature, told Greek radio station Real FM. And of course, we support EU funding for border security needs, like funds for night vision cameras and coast guard vessels.

Papadimoulis accused the government of pandering to far-right voters and trying to distract attention from a deadly rail disaster last month that has triggered public anger and cut into Mitsotakis lead in opinion polls.

The government argues the wall has functioned as an effective deterrent against illegal migration, helping prevent more that 250,000 crossings at the land border last year.

___

Follow AP's coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens, Greece.
AP

ISLAMABAD (AP)  A militant attack from across the border with Iran left four Pakistani soldiers dead Saturday in southwestern Baluchistan province, the army said.

The soldiers were part of a routine border patrol operating along the Pakistan-Iran border when the militants struck in the Jalgai sector of Kech district, the military said in a statement.
A 66-year-old man has been remanded in custody accused of the murders of a father and son who were shot dead in two villages six miles apart in Cambridgeshire.

The bodies of Gary and Joshua Dunmore were discovered at properties in The Row, Sutton, and Meridian Close, Bluntisham, on Wednesday.

Stephen Alderton, of no fixed abode, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm.

Alderton, wearing a grey prison tracksuit, confirmed his name, age and address at Huntingdon Magistrates Court on Saturday, before being remanded in custody.

No pleas were entered and the case was sent to Cambridge Crown Court, where a hearing will take place on Monday.

The victims family have paid tribute to the devoted father and son in a statement released via Cambridgeshire Constabulary on Friday.

They said: Josh was a devoted father and a loving uncle.

He was a wonderful son and brother and leaves behind an extensive group of family and friends.

He will be deeply missed and the devastation this has caused will never heal.

Gary was the most devoted son, brother, dad and grandad, who gave everything for those he loved.

He was a gentle and generous person who always put others before himself and hell be massively missed by his family and all those who knew and loved him.

A floral tribute to Gary Dunmore, left outside his home in The Row, Sutton, said: To my dear neighbour Gary.

A man who loved his family dearly, a dear friend to all, so helpful and kind and was always around as a friend and my little odd job man.

Im going to miss you.

Police said post-mortem examinations will take place at Peterborough City Hospital on Monday.
A man has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a man whose body was found dumped in northwest London.

The body of Justin Bello, 38, was found in what police called a communal are on Lovett Way, Wembley on November 25, 2019.

Stasious Scott, 34, Fishlock Court SW4, was arrested in Jamaica on January 24, 2023. He was brought back to the UK on March 23 and charged with murder and perverting the course of justice.

He appeared at the Central Criminal Court on Monday along with 46-year-old Robert Shorter, of Ranelagh Road, Wembley.

Shorter was arrested in December 2019 and later charged with perverting the course of justice.

A provisional trial date for both men has been set for September 2023. Scott has been remanded in custody.
T he number of new businesses opening in the capital is now being outstripped by closures for the first time in six years, figures show.

London is the worst region for closures in the UK after suffering a net loss of 7,695 local enterprises in 2022.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that 76,730 small businesses shut last year compared with just 69,035 openings.

In contrast, there were 67,363 business closures in the city in 2017 and 76,960 openings  a net gain of over 9,500.

This figure reached an all-time high in 2019 as the capital saw a net gain of almost 15,000 businesses.

It comes as businesses are set to see 85 per cent of their energy support cut after the Government chose not to extend the Energy Bills Relief Scheme in the Spring Budget.

Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson and MP for Richmond Park, has criticised the Government in wake of the figures.

She said: Behind these alarming numbers are individuals, families and homeowners simply trying to stay afloat. Londons businesses are the backbone of our communities yet too many shops, cafes and restaurants are boarded up.

Londons tech entrepreneurs who power growth desperately need a helping hand, instead theyve been strangled by years of economic chaos, Brexit related red tape and stagnant growth.

The Conservative Government are ignoring the plight of Londons businesses. Rather than growing opportunities in the capital, these figures show the Government has quite literally done the opposite.

Jeremy Hunt needs to step up immediately, review his plans to slash energy support, and give Londons businesses the support they need.

Previously, energy costs were capped under the Energy Bill Relief scheme, but that has now been replaced by the Energy Bills Discount scheme. This new scheme will only see bills disconted while not capping enery costs.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy has been contacted for comment.
W est Lindsey District Council has launched legal action against the Home Office to challenge the decision to use a local Royal Air Force station as a site for asylum accommodation.

It follows an announcement by the Minister for Immigration on Wednesday to use RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire as a site for up to 2,000 asylum seekers.

The local authority said in a statement that it does not consider the base to be appropriate and that it is concerned Home Office proposals will affect plans to deliver a 300 million regeneration programme and put the world-renowned heritage site at risk.

It insisted there are a significant number of barriers to mobilising the site for asylum seekers, including significant contamination from previous site uses that would require thorough remediation.

The body accused the Home Office of failing to provide a satisfactory response to questions raised and said it has therefore commenced legal action to challenge the government departments decision.

The Councils Director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities, Sally Grindrod-Smith, said: Despite ongoing attempts by the Council to set out to the Home Office the irretrievable damage that would be caused to the once in a generation investment opportunity that is on the table, the Home Secretary has taken the decision to utilise RAF Scampton as a site for asylum accommodation.

The Council considers that the decision is irrational and moreover the Home Office does not have the appropriate planning permission for the intended use.

The Council has therefore issued a letter before action, sent in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review, which requires the Home Secretary to respond by no later than 4pm on Thursday April 6 2023.

She added: The Council is acutely aware of the concern caused by the proposal and the potential loss of much needed levelling up investment. We will continue to press the Home Office to engage directly with our community to fully understand the concerns being raised.

According to a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document published by the Government following its decision, the site would accommodate single adult male asylum seekers using a phased approach  starting with moving 200 people on site before increasing to 2,000 people over time.

The FAQ document said: RAF Scampton has been identified as a surplus military site that is suitable for the purposes of asylum accommodation.

The site will create new jobs and bring investment into the area, following the draw-down of the RAF facility.

The site at RAF Scampton will provide accommodation for asylum seekers and is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, helping to minimise the impact on local communities and services.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
T here are no plans to delay the deadline of the so-called bonfire of EU laws following reports that Rishi Sunaks pledge, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, was proving difficult, the Government has said.

Accotrding to The Times, Downing Street is considering a six-month extension to the Governments plan to amend, repeal and replace around 4,000 pieces of EU law retained after Brexit.

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill has proved controversial, with questions too over the feasibility of combing through such a considerable amount of legislation in such a relatively short period of time.

The Bill, currently in the House of Lords, allows nearly all remaining retained EU law to be either repealed or absorbed into UK domestic law by December 31, 2023.

Despite the report, a Government spokesman said that there were no plans to change the sunset deadline.

The Retained EU Law Bill will enable us to amend or remove burdensome retained EU law and ensure we can create the best regulatory environment in the UK to drive economic growth, boost innovation and develop a competitive advantage in future technology, the spokesman said.

The programme to review, revoke and reform retained EU law is under way and there are no plans to change the sunset deadline.

Ministers are reportedly also considering whether to make concessions to peers, amid considerable concern in the Lords about the Governments plans.

The paper suggests that the Government may publish a list of all the laws that will be scrapped, while also committing to retaining high-profile and fiercely defended EU regulations such as the working-time directive and pieces of environmental law.

The UK Retained EU Law Bill was among the topics discussed at a meeting in London last month when the UK and the EU formally signed off on the Windsor Framework, although sources at the time stressed that Brussels was not raising concerns about the proposed legislation.

Any such delay could prove controversial, with the move likely to prompt criticism from Tory Brexiteers on the backbenches.
This photo taken on Nov. 4, 2022 shows an evening view of the Lujiazui area in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

China is not the enemy of the West. With mutual respect and understanding, the interests of China and the West can "converge on key issues, to the benefit of the whole world," Laurent Michelon, a French entrepreneur who has been living in China for 25 years, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

by Xinhua writers Yang Jun and Zhou Haojin

BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- There is a growing expectation among the Western population to hear something positive about China, "at least more factual," a business insider has observed.

China is in the crosshairs of certain Western countries, which are openly waging "a multidimensional war" to contain its economic and political development, Laurent Michelon, a French entrepreneur who has been living in China for 25 years, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"I perceive in a growing part of the Western public a doubt about the information reported about China in the Western media, because everything is so negative about such a diverse country, populated by 1.4 billion people, with 5,000 years of history and which has become the second largest economy in the world," he said.

Author of the book "Understand the China-West relations (2022)" (Comprendre la relation Chine-Occident), Michelon's analysis of China is vastly different from mainstream perceptions in the West, but closer to the reality of the Chinese society.

In his book, he delved into a question often asked by his European and American friends: "why I live so long in a country about which they can only read negative news."

This aerial photo taken on Feb. 21, 2023 shows the full Internet of Things container terminal of Tianjin Port in north China's Tianjin. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Western media usually present an "apocalyptic portrait" of China. The Western political and media elites, which are closely linked to the economic elites, are playing a perverse role in smearing China, while investing increasingly in the country, he said, citing the latest figures which indicated growing European Union investments in China, as well as trade between China and the United States.

In contrast with the mainstream Western media that systematically demonize China, Michelon has been pushing for a less caricatured, less ideological and more fact-based vision of China.

During his recent multiple interviews with French media, Michelon pointed out the many errors of analysis by Western media about China, which is pummeled repeatedly by negative propaganda.

These biased reports, he said, involved a handful of industry moguls in such fields as arms, finance, pharmaceuticals and energy.

Michelon believed that such a journalistic bias is due to the blindness of Western media, whose reports about China are based on assumptions, but not facts, research, or investigations.

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 30, 2022 shows a relocation site for poverty alleviation in Kaili, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

This is because the reporting of whatever positive about China's development is systematically refused by editors in attempts to block the Western public from the reality of China's progress, he added.

In his book, the author explains that behind the defamation of China by Western elites lies the promotion of a so-called "rules-based order" imposed on the whole world, which is "a set of vague rules outside of international law," seeking to hold back multipolarity.

Despite all the disinformation, "in Europe, many people know that they have been lied to" on many issues, including COVID-19, Ukraine, and "logically on China as well," he noted.

Michelon praised such China-proposed initiatives as the Belt and Road Initiative, for their role in promoting inclusive development, saying that China has "a true joint development approach, and not the predatory approach that is presented in the international media."

China is not the enemy of the West. With mutual respect and understanding, the interests of China and the West can "converge on key issues, to the benefit of the whole world," the business insider added. 
M inisters and water companies could face a new legal obligation to clamp down on raw sewage being dumped into the countrys waterways under new plans put forward by the Labour Party.

Jim McMahon, the shadow environment secretary, has proposed legislation that makes it a legal requirement for all sewage outlets to be monitored.

Labours Bill would also impose automatic fines for sewage dumping, as well as implementing a legally binding target to reduce it.

The proposals would also create a new requirement for the Secretary of State to publish a strategy on the reduction of sewage discharges, as well as regular economic impact assessments.

Labour wants the Conservatives to allow time in Parliament for the Bill, although there is little to no prospect of the plan becoming law.

Its clear that we have a Tory government that has run out of road, when all it can resort to is regurgitating old announcements that do nothing to end sewage dumping, Mr McMahon said.

Thats why Labour has brought forward legislation to force the clean-up of the water industry.

Tory MPs, having previously blocked Labour-backed measures to end the Tory sewage scandal, have no excuses for not supporting this Bill, which puts an end to sewage dumping once and for all.

The next Labour government will build a better Britain and end the Tory sewage scandal, delivering mandatory monitoring on all sewage outlets, introducing automatic fines for discharges, setting ambitious targets for stopping systematic sewage dumping and ensuring that water bosses are held to account for negligence.

It comes after figures revealed that raw sewage was dumped into rivers and coastal areas across England more than 300,000 times last year despite a fall in the overall number of spills.

Data from the Environment Agency showed that the number of times sewage pollution was spilt from storm overflows fell by almost a fifth last year compared with 2022.

There were 301,091 sewage spills, equivalent to 824 spills a day last year.

Although the number of times untreated sewage was released into waterways fell by 34 per cent, it still amounted to 1.7 million hours.

Despite the criticism from the Labour party, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is expected to announce next week plans that ministers believe will make polluters pay, with tougher fines levied on water companies put into a water restoration fund.

Part of the plan will see Ms Coffey publish a six-week consultation on strengthening the Environment Agencys ability to impose sanctions on water companies without going through the courts.

The Government is believed to support a lifting of the upper cap on civil penalties on water companies, allowing unlimited fines.

Defra said the penalties would be quicker and easier to enforce, with the most serious cases still taken through criminal proceedings.
T he Russian general in charge of the Ukrainian invasion may soon be pushing the limits of how far Moscow will tolerate failure, British defence chiefs have said.

General Valery Gerasimov, the Russian Chief of the General Staff (CGS), took personal command of the military operation on January 11, 2023.

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) says his tenure has been characterised by a failed effort to launch a winter offensive with the aim of gaining control over the whole of the Donbas region.

They wrote: Gerasimovs tenure has been characterised by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed.

Valery Gerasimov / Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

On several axes across the Donbas front, Russian forces have made only marginal gains at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties, largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel gained from the autumns partial mobilisation.

After ten years as CGS, there is a realistic possibility that Gerasimov is pushing the limits of how far Russias political leadership will tolerate failure.

It comes after a senior Ukrainian official ruled out any ceasefire that would involve Russian forces remaining on territory they occupy in Ukraine.

The remarks by Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, came after a call for a ceasefire by the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Any ceasefire will mean (Russias) right to stay in the occupied territories. This is inadmissible, Mr Podolyak said on Friday.

Russia similarly dismissed the notion of a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying it would not enable it to achieve the goals of its special military operation.

Separately, Mr Lukashenko said Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed to Belarus along with part of Russias tactical nuclear arsenal.

"Putin and I will decide and introduce here, if necessary, strategic weapons, and they must understand this, the scoundrels abroad, who today are trying to blow us up from inside and outside," the Belarusian leader said. "We will protect our sovereignty and independence by any means necessary, including through the nuclear arsenal."

While the Russian president emphasized that Russia will retain control over the tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, Mr Lukashenko charged that he also will have a say.

Dont say we will just be looking after them, and these are not our weapons, he said.

These are our weapons and they will contribute to ensuring sovereignty and independence.

Mr Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be completed by July 1 and added that Russia has helped modernize Belarusian warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
T hree British men are being held in custody in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

The UKs Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) says it is trying to secure consular contact with the British nationals, and is supporting their families.

Non-profit organisation the Presidium Network is assisting two of the men, said to be charity medic Kevin Cornwell and a second unnamed man who manages a hotel in Afghanistans capital Kabul, according to Sky News.

Scott Richards, a spokesperson for non-profit the Presidium Network which is providing assistance to the pair, told Sky News he understands they are well and in good health.

But he said there has been no meaningful contact with the men, adding his organisation is very hopeful that contact will be made.

It is not clear how long the third man has been detained.

An FCDO spokesperson said: We are working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families.

The department says it engages pragmatically with the Taliban on incidents including consular cases like these, as well as human rights, counter-terrorism and humanitarian issues.

The FCDO continues to advise against all travel to Afghanistan based on the security risks, which it says include detention.
A t least six people have been killed after a tornado ripped through including US states in Arkansas and Illinois.

One person died while more than two dozen were left injured in the Little Rock area, Arkansas authorities said.

The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two people had died, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris. Two other fatalities were reported in Sullivan County Indiana.

Authorities said a theatre roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one person and injuring 28.

Tornadoes damaged hundreds of homes and buildings Friday afternoon across a large part of Central Arkansas / Getty Images

The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming in at 7.48 pm.

The collapse occurred at the Apollo Theatre during a heavy metal concert in the town located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Chicago.

Belvidere Fire Department Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue. He said first responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to grapple with downed power lines outside the theatre.

Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as chaos, absolute chaos.

Gabrielle Lewellyn had just entered the theatre when a portion of the ceiling collapsed.

I was there within a minute before it came down, she told WTVO-TV. The winds, when I was walking up to the building, it went like from zero to a thousand within five seconds.

There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

In Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night.

More outages were reported in Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas.
C hristopher Eccleston said it would be impossible for him to become an actor in todays world following the closure of venues such as the Oldham Coliseum.

The actor appeared at the Greater Manchester venue alongside Maxine Peake to perform an extract of I, Daniel Blake for the venues final performance on Friday evening after Arts Council England (ACE) announced funding for the venue would be cut.

The 59-year-old star of screen and stage, who grew up in Salford, said he went to see productions at Oldham Coliseum in his youth, describing it as a beacon for actors in the area.

He told Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I think its tragic that Oldham borough is losing a theatre in a time when were supposed to be levelling up.

The question in my mind is, if they can get rid of Oldham Coliseum, which has been there for over 100 years, wheres next for the North West because if you grow up in the North West, you dont feel that culture and the arts belong to you.

You dont believe if you come from a council estate that you can be an actor or a poet or a painter.

So places like Oldham Coliseumtheyre a beacon for people like me.

I wouldnt be an actor if it wasnt for Oldham Coliseum, (and) places like that, and theyre disappearing. So what happens to the next generation of Chris Eccleston or Maxine Peakes or whoever you want to name.

ACE is investing 1.85 million in the borough and Oldham Council recently announced plans for a new theatre, reportedly costing 24 million, which is scheduled to open in 2026.

Eccleston said, as an aspiring actor, he secured a grant to attend a drama school with no academic qualifications which is now necessary so theres no more of actors like me coming through, he said.

The former Doctor Who star claimed it would be impossible for somebody from his background to become an actor today.

He said: The pathway into the arts is not there for them in the way that it was for me now youve got to go to public school, youve got to be Oxbridge otherwise you cant act.

Its a lot harder for people of my background to get in.

Its got worse, not better.

If you want to be an actor, youre going to have to put up with the unemployment, youre going have to put up with the rejection, and thats going to be double if youre from a working class background, ethnic minority.

Its still an elitist organisation, television, theatre, is incredibly elitist, and getting more so, which is why its the North West that is losing its theatres.

The Oldham Coliseums final show, titled Encore, featured script-in-hand performances of scenes and songs from productions of the past decade, including I, Daniel Blake and Aladdin.

It also paid tribute to the theatres long history including the actor Harold Norman, who died in 1947 after being accidentally stabbed on stage during a performance of Macbeth and appeared with a credit in the programme as a resident ghost.
BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu met with Bangladesh Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Shaheen Iqbal in Beijing on Saturday.

Noting that China and Bangladesh are friendly neighbors, Li said China appreciates Bangladesh's firm support on issues concerning China's core interests.

China stands ready to expand new exchange areas and create new cooperation highlights with Bangladesh to make greater contributions to safeguarding the common interests of the two countries as well as global and regional security, Li said.

Shaheen said Bangladesh is willing to deepen practical cooperation with China in various fields, and jointly push bilateral military relations to a new height. 
Ma Ying-jeou visits the tomb of his grandfather with his family in Shuangyang Village of Chaensi Town in Xiangtan County, central China's Hunan Province, April 1, 2023. Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, and his family on Saturday morning visited the tomb of his grandfather in the mainland's Hunan Province and honored the family's ancestors at the site. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)

CHANGSHA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, and his family on Saturday morning visited the tomb of his grandfather in the mainland's Hunan Province and honored the family's ancestors at the site.

The tomb is located in the county of Xiangtan in Hunan.

Ma and his four sisters stood in front of the well-preserved tomb and carried out a solemn ceremony based on local tradition to pay respects to their ancestors. Ma presented flowers and fruits as sacrifices and used a local Hunan dialect when reading an article to honor his grandfather.

After the ceremony, the family took photos at the site.

During an interview, Ma said that over the years he had always wished to visit the site and pay homage to his grandfather, and this wish had now finally been fulfilled. He also noted that cherishing respect for ancestors is "a very important part of our Chinese people's ethical education."

On his visit, when local people greeted him with saying "Welcome home," Ma used local dialect and answered "the Xiangtan boy is back!"

The family also visited a local ferry pier, the construction of which had been financed by Ma's grandfather and other locals in the 1910s, to provide a free ferry service for the public at that time. 

Ma Ying-jeou makes a libation in front of the tomb of his grandfather in Shuangyang Village of Chaensi Town in Xiangtan County, central China's Hunan Province, April 1, 2023. Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, and his family on Saturday morning visited the tomb of his grandfather in the mainland's Hunan Province and honored the family's ancestors at the site. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)
The former head of the Havana Group who convinced an investor he could help secure lucrative contracts with companies such as Niagara Casinos and Fort Erie Race Track has been found guilty of fraud.

In his judgment delivered Thursday in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Judge Andrew Brown said Steven Sardinha, 50, took advantage of a gullible investor and, with another man who was later murdered, swindled him out of more than $200,000.

The judge said the victim, a Hamilton steelworker for more than 40 years, was neither sophisticated nor experienced in business matters and took Sardinha at his word and invested in the company with the promise of multimillion-dollar contracts.

He was an overwhelmingly trusting individual, the judge said. He asked few questions, and accepted as true what he was told.

Court was told the victim, now 65, met the defendant in the fall of 2017 following a chance meeting.

Sardihna offered him an opportunity to become a shareholder in a soil-removal company called Forever Top Soil.

The victim invested $30,000 for a 30 per cent stake in the company and was later introduced to Grant Norton.

Sardihna said Norton was an old friend and a consultant for Metrolinx who had the authority to award a $1.2-million excavation and maintenance contract involving transit stations across southern Ontario.

The victim met with Norton in February 2018 and was told of the Metrolinx contract as well as other potential lucrative contracts with Niagara Casinos, Fort Erie Race Track and CN Rail.

The following month, a new company  Havana Group Supplies Inc.  was created with the victim listed as president.

Purchasing construction equipment, repair costs, fuel costs and other expenses fell on the victims shoulders.

He was easily convinced that lucrative contracts awaited him in the near future, if only he would purchase more and more construction equipment and invest more and more of his savings, the judge said.

The man drained his savings account and cashed out his RRSPs.

He readily assumed the role as chief bill payer, for companies he knew little or nothing about, the judge said.

At one point, the victim was paying the offender a salary  $1,000 a week  and covering his personal expenses including food.

The defendant also convinced the victim to buy him a new truck so he could look a certain way when going to job sites.

He trusted Steven Sardinha, Brown said. He thought Steven Sardinha was protecting his interests. In that he was wrong.

By June 2018, court was told, Norton met with the victim and proposed a new plan  called Plan B  to ensure the company would be awarded the Metrolinx contract.

Under the new plan, the victim would continue as an investor but be a silent partner and have no active role in the company.

(The victim) having invested so much in the venture and awaiting the promised Metrolinx contract, reluctantly agreed to Plan B, the judge said.

When he got cold feet about a week later, the victim claimed Sardinha and Norton threatened him, saying he was dealing with the Mafia, and he should just play ball.

Soon after, the corporate offices of Havana Group in Beamsville were broken into.

Nothing of value was stolen, but for corporate documents and ownership documents of the equipment bought by the victim.

Police were contacted but no arrests were made.

On the same day as the break-in, court heard, Sardinha incorporated a new company with a similar name, Havana Group Supplies Inc.

The victim was then cut out of any dealings with Forever Top Soil or the original Havana Group.

Weeks after the mans removal from the company, a grand opening was held in Waterdown for the new company.

Much of the construction equipment on display  dump trucks, backhoes and other machinery  had been purchased by the victim.

Representatives from the various entities mentioned in the scheme, including Niagara Casinos, testified at trial there were no contracts on the table, and none had ever heard of Sardinha, Norton or the Havana Group.

The much-hyped Metrolinx contract and talked about contracts with CN Rail, the old casino and Fort Erie Race Track never materialized because they never existed, the judge said.

Sardihna, who had represented himself at the seven-day trial, maintained he was a victim of misrepresentations made by Norton.

The former Ancaster resident, who has multiple previous fraud-related convictions, is scheduled to return to court in May for sentencing.

The Crown is seeking a custodial term plus restitution for the victim.

Meanwhile, Norton was reported missing in Waterloo in July 2020.

At the time, the 59-year-old was on the run from Niagara Regional Police after failing to appear in court to answer multiple charges including fraud and theft.

Nortons remains were found in a wooded area in London, Ont., nine days after Hamilton mobster Pat Musitano was shot dead in a Burlington parking lot.

Musitano was a minority shareholder in Havana Group Supplies. He pleaded guilty in 2000 to conspiracy to commit murder in the 1997 death of Carmen Barillaro of Niagara Falls.

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Demonstrators gathered in 40 locations across Canada on Saturday to voice their opposition to the Royal Bank of Canadas funding of fossil fuel projects.

The protests, part of a nation-wide effort dubbed Fossil Fools Day, unfolded in cities including Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Halifax and Vancouver.

One protestor said the demonstrations were intended to raise awareness of the banks looming Annual General Meeting, scheduled to take place in Saskatoon on April 5.

Eve Saint, a Wetsuweten land defender and daughter of hereditary Chief Woos who spoke at the Toronto protest, said a Wetsuweten delegation is heading to the AGM intent on getting answers from RBC president and CEO Dave McKay.

We are going down a very scary path, Saint said in an interview following her remarks at Saturdays protest, citing extreme weather events such as flooding and fires as examples of the effects of the climate crisis.

The time is now, she said.

The bank, for its part, has long stressed the importance of an orderly transition to net-zero financed emissions, previously announcing it hoped to reach that goal in 2050 and setting a smaller, interim target for 2030.

RBC spokesperson Jeff Lanthier said the company is focusing its attention on where it will have the biggest impact, which is helping clients reduce their emissions and supporting initiatives that bring green solutions to market.

We are committed to achieving net-zero in our lending by 2050 and have established interim emissions reduction targets that will help us drive action and measure progress, he said in an email. These targets are informed by science and reflect a measured and deliberate approach to climate action.

But critics say the banks targets fall far short of whats needed, accusing the company of greenwashing last fall when it announced its goals for this decade.

While RBCs financing of fossil fuel projects overall has been the subject of much criticism, one of the core issues for Saint and others is the banks funding of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline.

The 670-kilometre project, which is currently under construction and runs through Wetsuweten traditional territory in British Columbia, has been the focus of ongoing demonstrations and arrests. Hereditary chiefs oppose the pipeline, while the elected council of the Wetsuweten First Nation and others nearby have agreed to support it.

Saint said she wants to see RBC divest from CGL and other such projects, as well as sit down with the Wetsuweten.

She is also part of a small group that put forward a complaint to the Competition Bureau about RBCs environmental claims and marketing. The bureau launched an inquiry into the bank as a result of the complaint.

RBC has also funded the Trans Mountain pipeline, the estimated costs of which have ballooned recently to $30.9 billion.

The estimated cost of CGL has also grown to $14.5 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RY)

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In the world of technology, there is a long and storied tradition of people insisting Apple is about to fall on its face  and being wildly wrong about it.

Whether Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer claiming the iPhone would fail to countless commentators asserting that Apples latest move was disastrous, the phenomenon of predicting Apples doom is almost a sport amongst tech watchers.

With reliable rumours that Apple may be set to a launch a mixed reality headset, however, the skepticism is now coming from somewhere quite different: the companys own employees.

As reported in The New York Times recently, Apples rank and file are skeptical of the companys plan to launch this new headset, with concerns about the devices roughly $3,000 (U.S.) price, doubts about its utility and worries about its unproven market.

It appears some of Apples own are, to pilfer a phrase from the companys famous marketing, thinking different.

The dissent is surprising, but also correct. A mixed reality headset is not just an unproven idea, but one that faces an uphill battle. And while its always a risk to bet against Apple  they are, after all, the biggest tech company in the world for a reason  with the headset, the maker of the iPhone may be about to do something it hasnt done in some time: make a huge mistake.

The headset in question is part of a broad shift toward virtual reality or augmented reality. In its purest form, it involves putting on a headset that subsumes your sight and hearing into a virtual world. This is the metaverse of Meta: a virtual world populated by cartoon avatars and shockingly sterile virtual gatherings.

For its part, Apples headset is described as being like a pair of ski goggles with a battery pack worn on the hip and that feeds real-time video from the world around you into little screens in front of your eyes.

In part, the ostensible idea is to map information over the world so that you might, say, get directions while walking around. But the report from the Times also suggests how much reality one gets can be dialed in, so that you might have a mix of real-world visuals and digital while out and about, but also use the headset to watch a movie at home.

If it all sounds terribly futuristic, it tends to fall apart a bit when one asks a rather plain question: well, why would anyone want that?

This seems to be the lingering issue with virtual reality or headset technology: they have the unfortunate knack of disconnecting you from the world and the people around you. While virtual realitys boosters talk a lot about presence or co-presence  buzzwords for the feeling of being embodied or with others in virtual space  reports so far suggest that, if anything, it all feels horribly alienating.

Then there is the cost, as reports have the Apple device pegged at $3000. At that price, not only will the product be highly niche, the classic tech model of building out an ecosystem will, for obvious reasons, be severely constrained.

There are a few things going on here. Apple is so successful because it sells tens of millions of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Watches every year. The company and its CEO Tim Cook are looking for the next big hit  some new product category to dominate with Apples trademark blend of hardware, user experience, and ecosystem. Cook is looking for a legacy, and from reports, he appears to be pushing his staff to make it happen sooner than later.

Simultaneously, the tech world more broadly is also looking for that post-smartphone sector that will integrate into peoples lives even more deeply and immediately.

From that perspective, its obvious why Apple and others are chasing this idea: what could be more personal and relevant than a device that literally lays information over your perception of the world?

Its not that there isnt utility in the idea, either. Having information about a neighbourhood projected in front you could be helpful. Moreover, designers and other creatives might find the idea of creating virtually via a headset to be quite fruitful. Perhaps a movie or game projected right into your eyes will be immersive in a way that other screens simply cant manage.

There is, too, the idea that early, clunky devices can make way for sleeker, more user-friendly models down the road. Recall that the first iPhone had neither an App Store nor the ability to cut and paste.

But being able to imagine some abstract benefits to a product is a far cry from a company creating a real-world success.

In a world in which people both young and old are already complaining about technology already being simply too much, the idea of a headset that swallows your senses is a tough sell. And while Apple might always surprise us  they do, after all, have a track record of doing just that  for once its a lot easier to imagine the naysayers are, at least in this case, correct.

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VICTORIA - More than 51,000 registered, psychiatric and licensed practical nurses in British Columbia have reached a tentative contract with the provincial government.

The Nurses Bargaining Association says the agreement it reached Friday with the provinces Health Employers Association includes record-setting compensation and a groundbreaking commitment to support mandatory nurse-patient ratios.

The nurses in the bargaining association are represented by the BC Nurses Union, the Health Sciences Association, the Union of Psychiatric Nurses, the Hospital Employees Union and the British Columbia General Employees Union.

Those affected work in a variety of settings including hospitals, long-term care homes, home-care environments and public health.

The provinces Health Employers Association issued a separate statement saying the contract includes an agreement on unspecified policy-based initiatives as part of its health human resource strategy, which it previously said will optimize the health system, expand training and improve recruitment and retention within the field.

The Nurses Bargaining Association says details about information meetings and the ratification process will be available early next week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2023.

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MOGADISHU, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Somali National Army (SNA) killed 14 al-Shabab militants during an onslaught in the Southwest State of Somalia, an official said Saturday.

Ali Mohamed Habbad, the SNA commander for the 60th division, told Somali National News Agency (SONNA) that the troops also captured several militants and recovered weapons during the operation.

The militants tried to ambush the army at midnight but they were defeated by the soldiers at the camp, Habbad was quoted as saying by SONNA.

The eradication of the al-Shabab militants from the country continues after the Somali president declared the second phase of offensive operations against the militants, SONNA said. 
A woman pulled alive from the rubble of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory after an explosion that killed seven co-workers says flames had engulfed the building, and her arm, when the floor gave way beneath her. That might have been the end, if she hadnt fallen into a vat of liquid chocolate.

The dark liquid extinguished her blazing arm, but Patricia Borges wound up breaking her collarbone and both of her heels. She would spend the next nine hours screaming for help and waiting for rescue as firefighters battled the inferno and choppers thumped overhead at the R.M. Palmer Co. factory.

When I began to burn, I thought it was the end for me, Borges, 50, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview from her hospital bed in West Reading, Pennsylvania, just minutes from the chocolate factory where she worked as a machine operator. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board interviewed Borges on Friday, according to her family.

The March 24 blast at R.M. Palmer killed seven of Borgess co-workers and injured 10. Federal, state and local investigations are underway. A cause has not been determined, but the federal transportation safety agency has characterized it as a natural gas explosion.

Borges said she and others had complained about a gas odor about 30 minutes before the factory blew up. She is angry Palmer didnt immediately evacuate. She said the deaths of her co-workers  including her close friend, Judith Lopez-Moran  couldve been prevented.

Others workers have also said they smelled natural gas, according to their relatives. Palmer, a 75-year-old, family-run company with deep roots in the small town 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia, has not responded to questions about the workers claims.

Speaking in Spanish over videoconference, her eyes bruised and her burned right arm heavily bandaged, Borges recounted her terrifying brush with death.

The factory was getting ready for a product switch that day, so instead of running a candy-wrapping machine as usual, she was helping to clean.

At 4:30 p.m., Borges told the AP, she smelled natural gas. It was strong and nauseated her. Borges and her co-workers approached their supervisor, asking what was going to be done, if we were going to be evacuated, she recalled.

Borges said the supervisor noted someone higher up would have to make that decision. So she got back to work.

Just before 5 p.m., the two-story brick building exploded.

Borges, whod been on a ladder, was thrown to the ground. She heard screaming. There was fire everywhere, and the flames quickly overtook her. I asked God why he was giving me such a horrible death, she said. I asked him to save me, that I didnt want to die in the fire.

She began to run. Thats when the floor gave way, and she could feel herself falling  into a long, horizontal tank of chocolate in the factorys basement. At 4 feet, 10 inches tall, Borges landed on her feet in chest-high liquid.

The chocolate extinguished the flames, but she believes her fall is what broke her feet.

The vat began filling with water from firefighters hoses, eventually forcing Borges to climb out as it reached neck level. She sat on the lip of the tank, then jumped into a pool of water that had formed on the basement floor. Briefly submerged, Borges said she swallowed a mouthful of water before surfacing. She grabbed onto some plastic tubing.

And then she waited.

Help, help, please help! she yelled, over and over, for hours. No one came.

The pain grew more intense. The water was frigid. The main supply pipe for the buildings fire suppression system had ruptured  and water was pouring into the basement. She lost track of time but thought she might be there for days.

The only thing I wanted was to get out of there, she said.

Finally, in the middle of the night, she saw a light and screamed anew for help.

Search-and-rescue dogs had alerted their handlers that a survivor might be in the rubble. Now, as rescuers carefully worked their way down to the basement, they heard Borgess cries.

Calling for quiet, the rescuers followed the sound of her voice. They found her in a tight space, in chest-deep water. She made her way to them and was placed in a litter.

She was severely hypothermic and banged up, conscious but absolutely confused, said Ken Pagurek, who helped lead rescue efforts as program manager of Pennsylvania Task Force 1, an emergency response team that deploys to disaster sites around the country.

I think had they not gotten to her when they did, there was a very good chance the number of victims was going to be plus one, said Pagurek, also a captain in the Philadelphia Fire Department.

Her rescue gave hope to first responders who already had pulled two bodies from the rubble in the hours after the blast. Rescuers spent two more days at the pile. They found five more bodies but no additional survivors.

Borges now faces surgery on both feet and a long recovery. Her family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her pay the bills.

Borges, who came to the United States 31 years ago from Puebla state in south-central Mexico, has worked at Palmer for four years. She said shes seeking accountability.

I wanted to speak so that this will be prevented in the future, she said. For my colleague Judy, I want there to be justice.

___

Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania and Coronado reported from Austin, Texas.

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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP)  When Irwing Lopez made it to Ciudad Juarez on the U.S.-Mexico border in January, the 35-year-old construction worker thought he had survived the worst and was steps away from his goal.

Hed traversed jungle and raging rivers, and evaded Mexicos notorious cartels, traveling thousands of miles from his native Venezuela. But then he found himself in a purgatory between U.S. immigration policies that pushed him back to Mexico and the unrelenting pursuit of Mexican immigration agents.

And on Monday, Lopez was reminded just how fragile his situation is. His friend and fellow Venezuelan Samuel Marchena was detained by immigration agents and hours later became one of the 39 migrants who died in a fire at a detention center.

Lopez, who sleeps in a shelter and washes windshields at stoplights for cash, said he wont give up trying to enter the U.S., but he recognizes hes not welcome in this sprawling border city that has grown tired of migrants in its community.

My dream has become a nightmare, Lopez said recently, waiting to weave between cars at a light.

Tensions have simmered between migrants and residents in Mexican border cities for several years, with large camps set up near crossings by those who cant afford housing or cling to unrealistic hopes that U.S. authorities will suddenly admit them. In Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.5 million estimated to have as many as 25,000 migrants, constant new arrivals facing an indeterminate wait were already the subject of heated debate. The deadly fire and accompanying attention have only added to the strained situation.

Many border residents take pride in their cities as beacons of diversity and hospitality, but challenges mounted after the U.S. introduced a practice under which migrants were forced to wait in Mexican border cities for an appointment to enter the U.S. to seek asylum or other legal status.

An opaque system of waiting lists for a chance to apply for U.S. asylum managed by nongovernmnetal groups or individuals topped 55,000 names in 11 Mexican border cities in August, according to a report by the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas, Austin.

Additionally, a Trump-era policy that ended last year resulted in more than 70,000 people waiting in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

And since March 2020, the U.S. has returned migrants from several countries, largely Guatemala and Honduras, to Mexico under a rule designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In January, the Biden administration introduced a glitch-plagued app to exempt migrants from the pandemic-era rule, known as Title 42, and it is now scheduling about 740 appointments per day along the border.

Lopez has found the application, called CBPOne, to be complicated and frustrating, but U.S. authorities have scheduled about 63,000 appointments through the app since Jan. 18.

U.S. authorities have already returned Lopez to Mexico twice after he crossed the border without an appointment. Once they allowed his sister, her husband and cousin who he had traveled with from Venezuela to remain in the U.S.

Right now, this is a border of uncertainty, insecurity, said the Rev. Javier Calvillo, director of the Casa del Migrante shelter. Like many, Calvillo fears fallout from the fire could aggravate the existing chaos, which he blamed on a lack of coordination among local, state and federal officials.

In early March, hundreds of migrants crossed one of the international bridges here on the false rumor that U.S. authorities would let them enter. The incident shut down traffic for hours on a vital link to El Paso, Texas, angering residents.

Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar started asking Juarez residents to stop giving money to panhandling migrants, warning that his patience was running out. He insisted there was room in the citys shelters and work available for migrants who want it, leaving no need for them to clog intersections.

Were going to have a stronger posture in this sense, taking care of the city, he said March 13. A crucial moment has arrived to put a stop and have a breaking point ... because they can affect the citys economy and thousands of Juarez (residents).

After the fire, critics accused the mayor of being behind the roundup of some of the migrants detained that day. In response, Perez Cuellar softened his rhetoric to say the city would bolster efforts to tell migrants about opportunities for work and shelter. He said city police could not legally take migrants to the immigration detention center and that he did not know of migrants complaints that police often took their possessions and extorted them.

Mexico has arrested five people on charges of murder and causing injury: three immigration officials, two private security guards and the migrant they accuse of setting fire to mattresses in the facility. They say they plan to arrest at least one more.

Estrella Perez, a 24-year-old nurse and Juarez resident, said she was sorry about what happened, but didnt disguise her unhappiness with the increase in migration through the city, especially of Venezuelan migrants. She said theyre not looking for work.

She accused migrants of invading the streets and bridges. Despite the tragedy of the fire, she said, there are going to be few people who change their perspective of them, adding that people are no longer willing to tolerate new arrivals.

On Wednesday, Belen Sosa of Caracas, Venezuela, plodded with her husband and a teenage daughter across a dusty clearing in Ciudad Juarez overlooking the Rio Grande and the U.S. border fence.

She described the indignations of living in limbo while seeking an appointment to apply for U.S. asylum and said migrants live in fear of detention and harassment as they search for odd jobs.

The family weighed whether to turn themselves in to a cluster of U.S. Border Patrol agents Wednesday and risk immediate removal, as hundreds of migrants flocked to a gate in the border fence. Sosa previously worked as a forensic technician in a morgue in the Venezuelan capital.

People are tired of the mistreatment, she said. They want to make us out to be delinquents. Migrating isnt a crime. What crime are we committing?

Luis Vazquez, owner of a hamburger stand in the city, conceded that many fellow residents are fed up with migrants, again emphasizing the outsized presence of Venezuelans who tend to be more visible and vocal than the Central Americans moving through the city. But he said ultimately the citys history as a border crossing would win out.

What Juarez has is that it has always helped people, and never left them alone, he said And with this opportunity, many of us are going to help them.

Yannerys Vian, a 31-year-old Venezuelan, carefully maneuvered her pregnant belly between cars to sell candy at an intersection.

The deaths in the fire made her angry, but not ready to quit. She said she left Venezuela in September after her young daughter died from lack of medical attention. She set out for the U.S. with her husband and 3-year-old son, making it to Juarez in December.

On Wednesday, she joined the migrants crossing again on the rumor the U.S. would let them enter. Many turned themselves over to authorities at an opening in the border fence, but Vian balked, fearing the shed be passed back to Mexico, which would in turn send her family farther south, erasing the gains they made.

What happened filled me with hate, with anger, she said. What they did to those people was a crime, but I wont give them the satisfaction of sending me back. __

AP writers Morgan Lee in Ciudad Juarez and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  It has been more than three years since police announced that two kids were missing from a rural eastern Idaho town, and each twist in the grim investigation has seemed stranger than the last.

Their mother claimed to be a deity, her estranged husband wrote in divorce papers. She called the children zombies before they vanished, a friend told police. A handful of followers seemed to buy into her doomsday claims, Arizona investigators reported.

Those are just some of the details that could be aired in court starting next week, when Lori Vallow Daybell stands trial on murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, and Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday.

Her husband, Chad Daybell, faces the same charges. And they are both also charged in the October 2019 death of Daybells late wife.

Heres a look at what is known and what is next in the bizarre case:

HOW DID THE CASE BEGIN?

JJs grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock of Louisiana, were increasingly worried about the kids in 2019. For the first half of the year, Lori Vallow Daybell was still married to JJs father, Charles Vallow, but the two were estranged and he had filed for divorce.

In the divorce documents, Vallow claimed his wife believed she was a god-like figure, sent to usher in the apocalypse and carry out the work of 144,000 believers.

Their marriage ended suddenly in July when Loris brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her husband outside the familys suburban Phoenix home. Police initially determined the shooting was in self-defense and Cox was never charged.

Vallow Daybell, the kids and Cox moved to eastern Idaho, and JJs grandparents struggled to reach him by phone. The Woodcocks said Vallow Daybell wouldnt tell them why the child was always unavailable. They grew suspicious and called police.

WHEN DID THE CASE BECOME A MURDER INVESTIGATION?

Rexburg police performed a welfare check in November of 2019, and said Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell  an Idaho man who had known Lori for months  lied about the childrens whereabouts.

When police returned the next day, the couple had left town.

Police determined Tylee Ryan was last seen in September headed into Yellowstone National Park with her mom and other family for a day trip, and JJ was last seen by school officials several days later.

The search spanned several states and continued until June 2020, when the childrens bodies were found buried in the yard of Daybells eastern Idaho home.

Detectives meanwhile learned that his previous wife, Tammy Daybell, had unexpectedly died in October 2019 of what was initially reported as natural causes, and the family had declined an autopsy.

Chad and Lori married just two weeks after Tammys death. Authorities exhumed Tammy Daybells body and expanded their investigation.

WHAT DO PROSECUTORS SAY HAPPENED?

Prosecutors say the Daybells espoused strange doomsday-focused beliefs to further their alleged plan to kill the kids and Tammy Daybell, then collect life insurance money and the kids social security and survivor benefits.

Several family members and friends described to detectives a group led by Lori and Chad that met to pray, believing that they could drive out evil spirits and seek revelations from beyond the spiritual veil.

Though the beliefs Vallow Daybells friends described to detectives were loosely based in theology from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they veered into the extreme.

In police reports, one friend said Vallow Daybell told her she could teleport between Arizona and Hawaii, and that Daybell said he had a portal in his home where he could receive revelations and travel to other realms.

Vallow Daybells close friend Melanie Gibb told investigators that the couple used a scoring system to determine whether people were good or evil, and that they believed people became zombies when they were possessed by evil spirits.

The group would spend time praying to get rid of the zombies, and believed that if they were successful the possessed person would physically die, freeing their trapped soul from limbo.

Vallow Daybell called JJ and Tylee zombies several times before they died, Gibb told investigators.

WHAT DO DEFENSE ATTORNEYS SAY?

Vallow Daybell is being represented by eastern Idaho-based attorneys John Thomas and James Archibald.

She has pleaded not guilty in the case, and her attorneys have submitted formal notice that they intend to offer an alibi.

In that court document, Vallow Daybells attorneys said she was in her own apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, when the children died at a nearby apartment where her brother lived. The attorneys said she was with a couple of friends, and/or Chad Daybell.

Her attorneys also wrote that Vallow Daybell was in Hawaii with other friends when Daybells previous wife died the next month.

Daybells attorneys havent offered details about his planned defense, other than saying in court that Daybell and Vallow Daybell will have  mutually antagonistic defenses   a legal term that generally means a jury would have to disbelieve one defendant in order to believe the other.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN DURING THE TRIAL?

Vallow Daybells trial is expected to last up to 12 weeks. Jury selection begins Monday.

The judge has banned cameras from the courtroom and the trial was moved to Boise to increase the likelihood of finding jurors that arent deeply familiar with the case.

Her husband will be tried later.

Prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against both defendants. But just two weeks before the trial was to begin, 7th District Judge Steven Boyce granted a request from Vallow Daybells defense attorneys to take the death penalty off the table.

The judge said the decision was made because of the volume of evidence that was turned over to the defense team. Vallow Daybell has not waived her right to a speedy trial, so it could not be delayed.

Daybell still faces the death penalty in his case.

ANY OTHER CHARGES?

Vallow Daybell has also been indicted in metro Phoenix on a charge of conspiring to murder Charles Vallow. The indictment says she conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, in Vallows death.

Cox was never arrested in the case. He died five months after Vallow was killed from what medical examiners said was a pulmonary blood clot.

Idaho likely wont agree to extradite Vallow Daybell to face the Arizona charges until the case against her in Idaho is completed. She has not yet entered a plea in the Arizona case.

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WYNNE, Ark. (AP)  With tornadoes hitting the Midwest and the South this weekend, some survivors said they emerged from their homes to find buildings ripped apart, vehicles tossed around like toys, shattered glass and felled trees.

J.W. Spencer, 88, had never experienced a tornado before, but when he and his wife saw on TV that a tornado was nearing their town of Wynne, Arkansas, he opened a front window and rear door in his house to relieve air pressure. The couple scurried into the bathroom, where they got into the bathtub and covered themselves with quilts and blankets for protection.

Fifteen minutes later, the storm unleashed its fury on the town nestled among the flat fields and fertile farmland of eastern Arkansas. Debris came whistling through their house.

We just rode it out, Spencer said on Saturday. We heard stuff falling, loud noises. And then it quit. It got quiet.

After it passed, the couple emerged to see devastation in the neighborhood.

We come through it real good, as far as the physical part, Spencer said.

Many large trees were down in the community of 8,000 residents who take pride in their schools, their churches, their mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses. Numerous single-family homes were damaged, especially near the high school, which had its roof shredded and windows blown out.

Near a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, where a tornado killed one man and injured 40 concertgoers, Ross Potter picked up glass shards Friday in front of his building. The last time the town was devastated to this extent from a tornado was in 1967.

Ambulances whirred by after the theater was hit.

They took, I cant even remember how many people, Potter said. He was lucky  only a few of his buildings windows were broken, mostly on the second floor. Across the street, most of the brick siding on a storefront was ripped away.

Back in Wynne in northeastern Arkansas, Alan Purser stopped in his pickup truck to chat with Spencer. Purser described how he rode out the tornado with his cats in his home, which is being remodeled. He took a risk, sheltering in the sun room which is covered by glass, but it was one of the few rooms not being remodeled.

I just lay down with my cats, and lay a blanket over me, and let it rumble, he said of the tornado that flipped over the camper van parked outside.

From his front porch in Covington, Tennessee, Billy Meade Jr. said he watched a tornado pass through, before hail struck and the sky darkened.

You could see the swirl, Meade said. The rain was like a sheet. You couldnt even hardly see past the rain, it was so dark. But you could see the swirl going past.

Less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, a tornado struck the elementary school that Meades twin sons go to, as well as a middle school next door. On Saturday morning, an exposed gymnasiums bleachers were visible through a crushed brick wall. Much of the roof was ripped off.

The neighborhood Im in looks fine  its like nothing even happened, Meade said. But as soon as you go around the corner, its like devastation. Theres power lines down everywhere  all kinds of stuff everywhere.

And as a tornado hit Little Rock, Arkansas, workers at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe cowered together in the bathroom.

It was really loud because the glass started breaking, said Irulan Abrams, an employee who stood outside the building near a door with broken windows. A siren howled in the distance. She said one person was injured.

Now we dont have anywhere to work, Abrams said.

When the tornado hit, there were nine firefighters in Little Rocks Fire Station No. 9, which became one of the most devastated areas of the city. They sheltered in the chiefs office as the tornado damaged their building.

If I said it wasnt scary, Id be lying, Capt. Ben Hammond said Saturday.

Once the tornado passed, the firefighters began working to help injured residents and to clear debris blocking their equipment.

Once you address all the people you can see, then youve got to start looking for the people you cant see, he said.

The fire station has served as a shelter for neighbors amid fears that another storm was coming.

___

Associated Press reporters Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this story. Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.

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The General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPR) informs that, on Friday, 85,631 people entered Romania through the border crossing points, including 8,101 Ukrainian citizens.

According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday, about 168,940 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, with more than 49,700 means of transport, underwent the control formalities at the border points throughout the country, both on the way in and on the way out.

As of 10 February 2022 (pre-conflict period), 3,880,158 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania.

As part of the specific activities at crossing points and the green border, the border police found 74 illegal acts (42 offences and 32 contraventions) committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, and the value of the fines imposed amounted to more than 13,830 RON.

Goods worth approximately 459,000 RON were seized for confiscation.

On Friday, 18 foreign citizens were not allowed to enter the country because they did not meet the conditions provided by the law and 16 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave the country for various legal reasons.
The house where Petrache Poenaru, the inventor of the first fountain pen in the world and the designer of the current tricolor flag of Romania, was born and grew up has been restored several years ago and is now a charming manor house open to those who want to learn about the way the boyars of the region of Oltenia used to live, as well as host to many national and international cultural events.

The Otetelisanu manor house is located on the Lower Oltet River Valley, at Balcesti in the village of Benesti, being the only proof of Petrache Poenaru's connection with this area of southern Valcea County. The famous Romanian scholar and revolutionary was born here on 10 January 1799 and this is also where he spent his childhood, together with his grandmother on his mother's side, who raised him during the first five years of his life, and his uncle, Iordache Otetelisanu, the one who taught him to read and write in Romanian, as the scholar himself confessed when he was studying in Vienna.

The manor house was built at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century by the Otetelisanu family, taking architectural elements from kulas (fortified two/three-storey-buildings of a compact and simple shape and sizing, having a square or rectangular cross-section, which was used for defence, observation, distress signalling and residential purpose - ed.n.) and also from Brancoveanu style buildings. The enlightened Otetelisanu boyars, as the current owner describes them, lived on the domain until the nationalisation by the communist regime. For a while the manor house was also an ethnography museum, but after 1991 it was returned to its former owners and became a ruin because of their disinterest in restoring it.

The one who finally dared to transform the old manorial building was also a descendant of the Otetelisanu boyars. Valentin Ionescu bought in the early 2000s the parts of the domain that belonged to the other heirs and began the restoration of this manor house, of which, at the time, only the walls, some doors and pieces of plaster remained. With enormous financial efforts, Ionescu managed to finish the reconstruction and fitting-out works of the manor nine years ago and since then he has reopened it to the public, organizing creative camps, symposiums and concerts here almost every year, with the participation of Romanian and foreign artists. As a result of these cultural events, he has also gathered an impressive collection of paintings, about 200 in number, inspired by the history and beauty of these places.

"Apart from the restored manor house, where Petrache Poenaru spent his childhood, we will try and we are in the process of setting up a room, let's call it Petrache's office - Pierre Poenar as the French called him and as it is written on the 1827 patent of invention in Paris, the patent of invention of the pen. I think this is the most known thing about Petrache Poenaru, but, if you ask me, it is the least important. He had many, many other contributions in various fields, in a Romania that was between East and West at the time," says the current owner.

Many other special events are linked to this place and to the Otetelisanu family. Tudor Vladimirescu, who took the young Petrache as his secretary, stayed at this manor a few months before he was captured and killed by the Eteria revolutionaries.

Apart from his patent of 1827 for the "never-ending portable pen, which recharges itself with ink", as he himself called his invention, Petrache Poenaru made a name for himself in many other fields. He is the creator of the modern Romanian tricolor and the one who founded the first Romanian propagandistic newspaper - Foaia de propaganda - when he was among Tudor Vladimirescu's pandurs. He is also the one who founded the public schools in Muntenia (in 1838), the Carol I National College in Craiova, the Agriculture School of Pantelimon, and the School of Bridges and Roads, the present Polytechnic University in Bucharest. We also owe him the introduction of the decimal metric system in Romania. Petrache Poenaru also participated in the 1848 Revolution, being one of the most influential supporters of the liberation of the Gypsy slaves.

Petrache Poenaru currently has a school that bears his name in Balcesti, and since 2018, as a sign of appreciation for all that he meant for this area, for Valcea and for Romania, the local authorities have flown a 54 square meter tricolor flag at the highest point in town, the second largest in the county, after the one in the center of Ramnicu Valcea.AGERPRES
The centuries-old tradition of the Saxons Easter Fair - Ostermarkt, held in the historic centre of the old medieval town of Bistrita on the Saturday before the Catholic Palm Sunday, was continued this year, despite the rainy weather and the times that have led to lower budget allocation.

This year's edition of the fair had as main organizer the Association "Produced in Bistrita-Nasaud", in partnership with the German Democratic Forum Bistrita and the town hall.

Ostermarkt is one of the longest running events in the history of Bistrita, resumed 20 years ago with the support of the local authorities, and represents an opportunity for the Saxon community to proudly show its traditions, folk costumes and dances.

The fair opened with an Easter egg painting activity dedicated to children, where, under the guidance of Silvia Togorean, a painter who started her activity at the former glass factory in the municipality, the little ones gave free rein to their imagination and colored as cheerfully as possible, with eggs painted in the specific colors of the Saxons, with floral motifs on a blue or green background.

At midday, the "Harmonie" brass band and the "Vergissmeinnicht" junior and senior ensembles from Bistrita enlivened the pedestrian walkway in the historic centre in a parade of Saxon costumes, followed by an artistic moment with German songs and dances.

Local producers, members of the "Produced in Bistrita-Nasaud" Association, also came to the fair with their goods - cheeses, honey, cakes, pies, meat and fish products - but also with handicrafts, jewellery and decorations in keeping with the Easter holidays, from eggs painted with the image of the Evangelical Church of Bistrita, to arrangements with flowers and bunnies for the Easter table.

The local producers' fair will remain open on Sunday, when the Saxons in Bistrita will celebrate Palm Sunday. AGERPRES
Minister of National Defence Angel Tilvar had a series of meetings with representatives of renowned US research and analysis institutes in the field of security studies, such as the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Atlantic Council, informs a press release issued on Saturday by the Ministry of National defence ( MApN).

According to the cited source, the meeting with CEPA representatives also included a round table with members of the research community in Washington DC, given the focus of academic attention on the Black Sea security situation.

The talks focused on the current situation and the prospects of the war in Ukraine, the way the North Atlantic Alliance has responded to support Ukraine, the lessons learned and the ways to strengthen allied support for Ukraine. In addition, the decisions of the Madrid Summit, namely the measures to strengthen defence and deterrence on NATO's eastern flank and the way to implement them, including in view of the forthcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius, were highlighted, reads the release.

The Romanian official reiterated the importance of maintaining allied solidarity, of fully implementing the decisions made by the allied leaders at the Madrid Summit, of strengthening NATO's deterrence and defence posture in the Black Sea, with the importance of decisions aimed at concrete ways of supporting partners in the region (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) in view of the Vilnius Summit this summer being highlighted, shows the MApN release.

During the discussions with representatives of the Heritage Foundation, CSIS and Atlantic Council, the symbolic moment of the visit marking the 30th anniversary of the signing of the State Partnership Program between the Romanian Army and the National Guard of Alabama was highlighted, as well as the importance of the strategic partnership for the modernization of the Romanian Armed Forces.

The security situation generated by the war of aggression waged on Ukraine by the Russian Federation and the implications for Euro-Atlantic security was also on the agenda of talks, with emphasis on the importance of establishing a US Black Sea Strategy. In this context, CSIS experts presented the conclusions of the study "The Inhospitable Sea: Toward a New US Strategy for the Black Sea Region" to the MApN delegation, the press release further shows. AGERPRES
Minister of National Defence Angel Tilvar stressed the benefits of the strategic partnership between Romania and the US and the importance of taking concrete decisions to continue the support granted to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, during his meetings with US officials in Washington.

According to a press release issued on Saturday by the Ministry of National Defence (MApN), minister Tilvar had a meeting with Cara Abercrombie, coordinator for Defense Policy and Arms Control with the National Security Council on 30 March, and with Gina Ortiz Jones, assistant secretary of the US Air Force, on 31 March.

Topics of common interest were tackled during the National Security Council talks on the importance of the US-Romania strategic partnership, the regional security situation and the need for a Black Sea strategy, as well as Romania's efforts on multidimensional support to Ukraine, MApN said.

Angel Tilvar welcomed the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the State Partnership Program between the Romanian Army and the Alabama National Guard and reiterated the excellent relations on the defence dimension of the strategic partnership.

The minister also highlighted Romania's "multidimensional efforts" to support Ukraine and our country's commitment to continuing this effort as long as necessary, the release said.

The Romanian official thanked the United States for its "consistent contribution" of forces and capabilities deployed on NATO's eastern flank, including in Romania, as proof of the United States' commitment to strengthening the allied deterrence and defence posture in this area, the source added.

During the meeting with the Deputy Secretary of the US Air Force, the topics discussed included the importance of Black Sea security and the presence of US forces in Romania, the deepening of bilateral cooperation in the field of air force capability development, as well as topics of interest with a view to the NATO Summit in Vilnius.

According to MApN, Minister Tilvar stressed the benefits of the strategic partnership on the defence dimension and the "excellent relationship" between the Romanian Army and the Alabama National Guard within the State Partnership Program.

He thanked for the additional contribution of forces and capabilities deployed by the United States to Romania, in the context of the allied and Washington administration's decisions to strengthen the deterrence and defence posture on the eastern flank, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. The Romanian official reiterated the Romanian side's determination to support US forces deployed in our country, the press release said.

As regards the deepening of bilateral cooperation for the development of the Romanian Air Force capabilities, the Minister of National Defence noted that Romania's decision to allocate 2.5 percent of GDP for defence spending will allow the continuation of efforts to modernise the Romanian army's capabilities and the air force's specific endowment programmes.

In view of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Angel Tilvar stressed the importance of the Black Sea security situation on the agenda of talks, the importance of adopting concrete decisions to continue supporting Ukraine and Moldova and, last but not least, the implementation of the decisions adopted at the NATO summit in Madrid, the press release added. AGERPRES
KHARTOUM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese parties involved in the political process on Saturday agreed to postpone the signing of the final agreement to April 6.

The decision was made during a meeting held at the Republican Palace here on Saturday that brought together Chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council and Commander of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council and Commander of the Rapid Support Forces Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leaders of the civilian forces, and representatives from the African Union, the United Nations and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.

The final political agreement, which aims to create a transitional civil authority in Sudan, was scheduled to be signed on Saturday, but differences between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces over the security and military reform clause and integration of the irregular forces in the army postponed the signing of the deal.

"The meeting reviewed the progress made in the discussions of reaching a final political agreement and identified the remaining issues, which are the technical issues related to the stages of reform, integration and modernization in the security and military sectors," Khalid Omer Yousif, spokesman of the political process, said in a statement after the meeting.

"During the meeting, the military and civilian parties unanimously decided to double efforts to overcome the remaining obstacle within few days prior to the signing of the final political agreement on April 6," he said.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis since Al-Burhan declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25, 2021 and dissolved the sovereign council and the government. 
WASHINGTON, Mo.  One official invoked the famous, 1990s slogan of the chemical company BASF: We dont make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.

Thats what a metal coating company aims to do at a new facility in Washington, Missouri, the first tenant for an industrial park that city officials have been advancing, in the hopes of creating local jobs and keeping companies in the area.

At the Washington facility, which is expected to be operational in 2025, AZZ Precoat Metals will take aluminum coils and prepare the metal for use in beverage can manufacturing, by flattening the aluminum and adding protective coating.

When you go into any supermarket or convenience store and see the colored tabs on energy drinks or beers or soda  we do the majority of that in the country, said Patrick Connelly, AZZ Precoats senior vice president of operations support.

For the company, the groundbreaking for the new facility this week marked a step toward its goal of expanding its coating and galvanizing business. Texas-based AZZ bought Precoat Metals for $1.28 billion last year, from Florida-based Sequa Corporation.

For Washington, its an effort to retain business.

The city has seen success so far at the nearby Heidmann Industrial Park, home to tenants like LMI Aerospace, Fricks Quality Meats and Melton Machine. WEG Transformers added a third facility there in 2020. But in recent years, as more of the spaces at Heidmann filled, city officials began to worry.

There was only one lot left, said Sal Maniaci, community and economic development director. Our fear was... any growing company would have to leave.

So in 2021 the city bought 115 acres along Highway 100, and started planning.

AZZ Precoat is the first and so far only tenant in the new Oldenburg Industrial Park, which, at least for now, is divided into six lots. Its plant there will eventually employ 88 people.

For a community like ours, thats a big deal, said Washington Mayor Doug Hagedorn.

When AZZ Precoat began looking for a location for its new facility, it searched around Missouri, and in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Ultimately, the availability of workers in the Washington area, plus an attractive incentive package sealed the deal, said Connelly, the vice president.

The state incentives for the project total just over $2.3 million over 6 years, according to the Department of Economic Development. Washington is granting some property tax abatement, too.

The company also needed a location where it could easily access the trains, trucks and barges that move the 45,000-pound aluminum coils it uses. There isnt barge access in Washington itself, but there is in St. Louis, and materials can be transported from there to Washington on trucks.

Hagedorn said hed like to start discussions about bringing barge access to Washington in the future. But his vision for the city of 15,000, about 50 miles west of St. Louis, isnt a booming, industrial metropolis. Situated along the Missouri River, a short drive from a half-dozen vineyards, people visit to have weddings, and stay in bed-and-breakfasts, Hagedorn said.

You go to our downtown  thats small-town America, said Hagedorn, who took office last year. We want to grow, but we want to maintain our small-townishness.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. tech sector is the next frontier for labor organizing, and its workers are starting to understand the collective power unions have, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said on Friday.

Shuler, speaking at the Reuters Next Conference, said the labor federation, which comprises 57 affiliated unions and 12.5 million workers, wants to enable more organizing in the tech industry under her leadership.

What we are seeing in the tech sector is workers rising up. You look at companies like YouTube, Google, Apple. Their workers have been speaking out. They have been staging walkouts on issues like racial justice and sexual harassment, Shuler said.

You dont have the collective power that you have when you have a union, and I think tech workers are starting to connect the dots, she said.

The companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tech is among the least unionized major industries in the country despite some recent organizing success. In recent years, unions including the Communications Workers of America have launched campaigns in Silicon Valley and organized workers at startups such as Kickstarter and Glitch. The CWA also formed the Alphabet Workers Union, a so-called minority union that does not have collective bargaining rights.

But many of the unions pushes are still at an early stage, and it remains to be seen whether they will catch on widely.

Shuler said U.S. labor laws in the United States are broken. Until they are reformed, outcomes like the rejection of a union by workers at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, will be tough to fight.

Amazon workers in Alabama rejected forming a union by a more than 2-to-1 margin in April. The union said the company interfered in the election, a charge Amazon has denied. Last month, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board ordered a rerun of the election.

Shuler said workers will be able to meet in person outside the workplace before this election, something that the COVID-19 pandemic prevented in the first election.

President Joe Bidens administration has put unions at the center of policy which Shuler said has offered the U.S. labor movement significant momentum.

We have the public on our side for the first time in a long time, she said, citing a recent Gallup poll that showed 68% of people in the country support unions.

Whether that translates into more workers across sectors joining unions remains to be seen.

Between 1979 and 2020, the percentage of American workers represented by a union dropped by 14.9 percentage points, according to estimates from the White House.

Shuler also said the Biden White House is on board with getting the PRO ACT  a sweeping labor reform bill  passed and hopes the legislation will be taken up in the U.S. Senate for debate as soon as January, where it has been stuck after it passed the House of Representatives in March.

To watch the Reuters Next conference, register here https://reutersevents.com/events/next/

Editors note: Corrects the number of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions.
ST. LOUIS  Defense attorneys on Friday asked a St. Louis judge to throw out murder cases in the death of a man and his 7-year-old daughter because prosecutors still havent turned over key pieces of evidence with the trial date just days away.

Javonn Nettles, 30, and Andre Anderson, 27, watched in handcuffs Friday as their attorneys asked the judge to force the state to turn over evidence they are legally required to provide or dismiss the case altogether.

Terry Niehoff, Nettles lawyer, said the delays are making it nearly impossible to prepare a defense.

Its not right, Niehoff said in court. This is not some game. These peoples lives are at stake.

The hearing reignited criticism that has plagued Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardners office for years. Nettles charges were already dismissed and refiled once last year on the eve of trial  a common maneuver by Gardners office when prosecutors are not ready for trial.

Now, the pairs lawyers say their clients have been unable to receive the defense to which theyre legally entitled because prosecutors are dragging their feet in turning over evidence including search warrant applications and a list of witnesses.

Nettles and Anderson were arrested in April and May 2021, and their murder cases have been pending since.

The prosecutor in their cases, Chris Desilets, pledged Friday to submit a witness list but said he had already turned over all the evidence he had. He blamed police for failing to turn over the search warrants.

I can do what I can for what I have, he said. If its not there, I cant pull it.

As of last month, Desilets was handling at least 108 cases, including 45 murder or manslaughter cases  a number experts and former prosecutors say is untenable.

Nettles and Anderson are accused of shooting and killing 7-year-old Dmyah Fleming and her father, 26-year-old Darrion Rankin-Fleming, in the 4000 block of Laclede Avenue, in the citys Central West End.

Family members said the Flemings were inside their car getting ready to drop Dmyah off at her grandmothers home when they were shot multiple times.

Police said Anderson told investigators he was home at the time of the killings, but cellphone records showed he was in the area of the shooting at the time. Nettles also said he was elsewhere, but his cellphone records also indicated otherwise.

Nettles case was set to go to trial last July, but Niehoff argued he still hadnt received key evidence. Then, just two days before the trial was set to begin, prosecutors dismissed and refiled the case.

This pattern has been going on and on and on this whole case, Niehoff said. Theyre not giving me stuff they know exists.

Desilets, the prosecutor, said investigators on the case, including one whos left the police department, just hadnt turned over their search warrants, so he couldnt provide it.

But T.J. Matthes, who represents Anderson, said it was the assistant circuit attorneys job to get them.

The prosecutor is responsible for records that law enforcement has, he said.

Niehoff said the evidence is essential for providing the men with a fair trial. Both are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, which would automatically put them in prison for life if theyre convicted.

The judge said he will decide on the evidence motions next week.

But at the end of Fridays hearing, Desilets told the judge the disagreement might be moot. Nettles and Andersons trials are set to begin on April 10, and Desilets has another murder trial, which has been pending longer, scheduled to begin on the same day.
ST. LOUIS  The next Board of Aldermen will be a historic one, without a doubt. But its not entirely clear who will hold power.

After voters head to the polls Tuesday to pick the first board with 15 members after more than a century with 29, many eyes will be on results from a handful of contests that could decide whether the citys progressive Democrats extend their winning streak or if more moderate elements deal them a setback.

The results in four key wards could consolidate power for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Aldermanic President Megan Green and their progressive allies, and clear the way for more policies aimed at fighting crime with social services, tackling racial inequities, and lifting up the poor. Or they could do the opposite, adding obstacles to progressive policymaking and signaling a backlash to the last few years.

Heres a rundown:

1st Ward

In this far south city ward, current 13th Ward Alderman Anne Schweitzer is locked in a close race with Tony Kirchner, a city sheriffs deputy. Schweitzer edged Kirchner in the March 7 primary, but only by a few percentage points.

Schweitzer, who received Greens endorsement, casts herself as a progressive, but a pragmatic one.

She talks about making herself available to any constituent who needs help navigating City Hall, and how shes even helped improve city services by identifying paperwork errors that were delaying sidewalk repairs. She also touts legislation calling for increased pay and benefits for city employees at a time when the city is struggling with staffing shortages and seeing 911 dispatch, trash pickup, ambulance service and other critical functions suffer.

But she also stands up for bigger-picture efforts backed by Jones and Green, like sending social workers to emergency calls, spending pandemic aid to reinvigorate long-struggling north St. Louis neighborhoods, and even to consider reparations for slavery and discrimination.

And Kirchner dismisses those ideas as either impractical or misguided. He pitches himself as a no-nonsense, law-and-order candidate with the experience to help shore up a shrunken police department and combat a growing sense of lawlessness driven by reckless driving and gun violence in the city.

He says police need higher pay, more training, and better equipment, and that hell give it to them. He wants to crack down on lower-level offenses like expired license plates to reestablish some respect for basic rules. And he says if those things dont happen soon, more people will be leaving the city.

4th Ward

In this ward, stretching from Dogtown to Lindenwood Park, current 23rd Ward Alderman Joe Vaccaro edged current 24th Ward Alderman Bret Narayan by less than a percentage point in the primary.

Vaccaro, of Lindenwood Park, is an old-school guy  all about constituent services. The retired business owner boasts of answering phone calls at 1 a.m., confronting problem property owners by himself, and picking up trash in his own truck when the city is late.

If you cant take care of your constituents, find something else to do, he said.

He also derides progressive policy as mostly silly. He opposed a move to divert money from the police budget to hire social workers, and the activist-led push to close the city jail known as the Workhouse. He also said a plan to put $1 million toward helping women get abortions last summer  despite the threat of a lawsuit from the state attorney general  amounted to a political stunt.

Narayan, a Dogtown attorney endorsed by Green, applauded the activists who forced the Workhouse issue, backed the abortion bill, and supported Jones plan for a civilian-run agency to investigate allegations of police misconduct and mete out discipline, over the strenuous objections of police groups.

He has also said the new board needs to focus less on putting out fires and more on making citywide policy. At neighborhood forums, hes touted his work legislating repeal of penalties for marijuana possession and a push for lead and asbestos remediation across the city.

12th Ward

In this ward, which runs from the north side of Delmar Boulevard and the Central West End all the way to a slice of the north riverfront, progressives are looking for a big comeback.

In the March primary, current 1st Ward Alderman Sharon Tyus, of Kingsway East, won support from 63% of voters, while Tashara Earl, a Baden businesswoman endorsed by Green and Jones, got 35.6%.

But Green, the aldermanic president, said the elimination of other candidates critical of Tyus in the primary could make up the difference. If Tashara consolidates, shes in a good position, Green said.

Green would sure love that. Tyus is one of the loudest critics of the mayor and the aldermanic president. She has accused the administration of skipping over her ward with $500 checks to low-income families and lying to the press about her work on a streets repair bill. And when Green took office as board president last fall, Tyus proposed extraordinary limits on her power to control the flow of legislation at the board.

Meanwhile, Earl, who can be as bubbly as Tyus is stern, casts herself as someone who can move past personal disagreements and get things done.

14th Ward

Progressives are looking for a smaller comeback in this ward, which covers much of downtown as well as near northeast side neighborhoods and the riverfront.

Realtor Ebony Washington led State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, whom Jones and Green endorsed, by fewer than 50 votes in the March primary.

Washington, a member of the influential Hubbard family, is looking to follow in the footsteps of relatives like former state Reps. Penny Hubbard and Rodney Hubbard Jr., and former Alderman Tammika Hubbard in representing the area. And in a recent interview, she said she was running in part to ensure community buy-in on projects in the area, which includes the Hubbards Carr Square neighborhood.

The Hubbards have argued developer McCormack Baron Salazar unfairly withheld a development fee when they rehabbed a large low-income apartment complex in the area and refused to fix up the vacant, dilapidated Carr School, which the Hubbards own.

She also promised to oppose efforts to divert money from the police department and said progressives at City Hall are all talk.

Aldridge, on the other hand, says that after three years of playing defense in the GOP-dominated Missouri House, he wants to come home and push progressive priorities with Jones and Green.

He said he also wanted to bring in a new generation of Black leadership on the board focused more on getting things done than political maneuvering.

He said his first act as an alderman will be reintroducing Greens bill distributing more of a special pot of infrastructure money to North Side wards.
Associated Press (AP)  Missouris state attorney general is investigating gender-affirming care provided by Planned Parenthood, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by the St. Louis health provider.

Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey demanded documents from Planned Parenthood after finding out that the clinic provides life-altering gender transition drugs to children without any therapy assessment, spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said in a statement. She described that as a departure from standard care.

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri sued in response, trying to block access to its records. In court filings, the healthcare provider argued Bailey has no authority to investigate the clinic, which is inspected by the state health department.

A Planned Parenthood doctor described Baileys investigation as a fishing expedition" targeting the clinic, which provides gender-affirming care to adults, and teens ages 16 and older. Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the health centers chief medical officer, told The Associated Press that the attorney generals investigation is an attempt to help him work outside of the legislative process and eliminate access to transgender care for Missourians.

The Attorney Generals Office cited its ongoing investigation into a transgender youth clinic run by Washington University, or others in the state providing similar services, as the reason for the document request, according to a letter to Planned Parenthood dated March 10.

Sieren criticized Planned Parenthood for withholding its records.

We look forward to prevailing in this request for information and learning what is truly going on with Planned Parenthood in connection with gender transition issues, Sieren said in a Friday statement.

In February, Bailey launched an investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital following allegations of mistreatment by a former employee. The ex-staffer alleged that physicians there did not warn patients and parents enough about potential side effects of puberty blockers and hormones, and that doctors pressured parents to consent to treatment.

Planned Parenthood argues in its lawsuit that its clinic has nothing to do with the Washington University center.

The lawsuit comes amid a national push to restrict transgender health care, drag shows, bathroom access and how LGBTQ+ topics are discussed in schools. The lawsuit was filed Friday as rallies were scheduled in cities nationwide as part of Transgender Day of Visibility.

As the state's top prosecutor, Bailey is following his predecessors lead in using the office to take a stand on social issues. Last week, he announced plans to file an emergency rule to restrict healthcare for transgender children. It would require an 18-month waiting period, 15 therapy sessions and additional mental health treatment before Missouri doctors can provide gender-affirming care to minors.

I am dedicated to using every legal tool at my disposal to stand in the gap and protect children from being subject to inhumane science experiments, Bailey said in a statement announcing the planned rule.

His office has not yet filed the rule.

Transgender medical treatment for children has been available in the U.S. for over a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations. Many clinics use treatment plans pioneered in Amsterdam 30 years ago, according to a recent review in the British Psych Bulletin. Since 2005, the number of youth referred to gender clinics has increased as much as tenfold in the U.S., U.K, Canada and Finland, the review said.

McNicholas, of Planned Parenthood, said Bailey is using the same playbook that anti-abortion activists and elected officials have used to restrict abortions.

Missouri banned almost all abortions in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Before that, Republicans fought for years to regulate abortion out of existence in the state. The GOP-led state legislature proposed anti-abortion bills yearly. When increasingly restrictive bans on the procedure were tossed in court, Republican governors stepped in.

If we are to learn anything from our past experience with the state targeting us for the provision of lawful abortion care, we know that other folks who are providing this care are certainly going to be targets, McNicholas said. If not now, then soon.

This story has been corrected to say that Missouri Attorney General spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said in a statement that Planned Parenthood provides drugs to children without any therapy assessment.
Anyone who genuinely respects the rule of law might find it satisfying that former President Donald Trump is finally facing criminal charges. But that shouldnt blind even his fiercest critics to the legal and political difficulties with the case ahead after a grand jurys historic indictment of Trump over his pre-presidential business dealings.

Many will argue that the indictment is for petty offenses not worthy of the political upheaval this prosecution will cause. But Al Capones prosecution for tax evasion didnt mean he didnt commit far more serious crimes, only that tax evasion was what prosecutors could prove. The New York grand jury has determined that the evidence against Trump merits judicial review, and it was Trumps own actions  not those of the Manhattan prosecutor, the Democratic Party or anyone else  that brought this on Trump. Its time for his excuse-makers to accept that he alone must account for his actions.

As for Trump himself, the key words he should hear on Tuesday are these: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. The ex-president has built a career out of spouting off, unfiltered and unhindered by legal or political consequences. He has for too long regarded himself as untouchable, even to the point of bragging that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and not lose supporters. Trump no doubt has grown tired of his lawyers advising him to shut up  advice that he has repeatedly ignored. But now the stakes are exceedingly high, and he knows it.

Still, of the multiple criminal investigations Trump faces, this one is arguably the least serious. Its important that whatever happens with it doesnt impact the continuing probes over Trumps attempt to overthrow Georgias election results, his culpability in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection or his mishandling of classified documents. Those valid investigations are all separate, but they could look to the public like a string of related, repeated attacks designed to get at Trump in any way possible. That misconception would be reinforced if those later potential indictments are handed up following a failed prosecution in the current case.

The political pushback is already fierce, with even non-Trumpist Republicans angrily decrying the indictment. Setting aside the curious sight of the self-described family-values party rallying around a former president credibly accused of paying off a porn star to silence her about an alleged extramarital tryst (Trump denies an affair, but the payoff itself has been firmly established), the unintended political consequences could work in Trumps favor.

None of which is to suggest Trump shouldnt face these charges. Only that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must keep in mind the old adage that if you strike at a king, youd best not miss.
Theres a trend among suburban Missouri politicians, primarily on the conservative side, of trying to avoid accountability for past statements or actions by simply shrugging them off as ancient history. Its like a get-out-of-jail-free card in Monopoly. Only voters in upcoming elections havent issued any such absolution, nor should they.

One of the best examples emerged recently when a 2016 video resurfaced in which Parkway school board candidate Ryan Kerr, 39, of Ballwin, launches into an expletive-filled, four-minute tirade. He refers repeatedly to an Asian woman as panda and makes derogatory remarks about another woman. Women competing against him on the April 4 ballot insist Kerrs tirade should be disqualifying.

Whats past is past, Kerr said in a written statement. This was a very isolated and targeted event, intoxicated, and immediately following [a] false allegation of assaulting a female. It wasnt right regardless and there werent any excuses. I apologized very publicly, privately, and sought a counselor.

What Kerr neglected to mention, but which is obvious from the video, is that he was driving while recording it. Driving while drunk. And this is someone who proposes to oversee the education of Parkway kids and, presumably, serve as a model for them.

Then theres Ferguson mayoral candidate Nick Kasoff. He apparently thinks its unfair to judge him based on his past positions, including those outlined in a June 12, 1990, Post-Dispatch letter to the editor. In it, he complains about news coverage of criminal acts against homosexuals while lamenting a lack of adequate coverage of crimes committed by homosexuals.

The damage that homosexuals have done in our community, by flagrantly disregarding both decency and law, far exceeds the isolated incidents of violence that are aimed at them, Kasoff wrote. First, the continued practicing of homosexuality in public places is an unlawful nuisance. Kasoff blasted behaviors that go far beyond the decent, private exercise of personal preference, which we are told is representative of homosexuality. Kasoff expressed outrage at harassment letters and phone calls he had received, asking, Will we now start tracking hate crimes by homosexuals as well?

Kasoff now says that he was a religious conservative Republican activist back then, and his views have changed.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Doug Richey of Excelsior Springs is trying to rally fellow Republicans around budget rules to restrict spending on any initiatives that promote collective guilt and the concept that disparities are necessarily tied to oppression from the past. Apparently the blatantly racist acts that keep surfacing around the state  such as high school kids in Eureka recently putting white and colored signs on bathroom stalls  have no relationship to past oppression.

No matter how much Richey protests, collective guilt does exist across the state. It is the collective guilt of voters who mark their ballots in favor of candidates like him, Kerr and Kasoff.
State legislators should stop persecuting public libraries

I am horrified at the antics Im reading about from some members of the Missouri House. Rep. Cody Smith and the House Budget Committee are stripping funding for public libraries. This is completely unacceptable. (Lawmaker is upset Missouri libraries are suing to overturn book ban law. He wants to cut their funding. March 22.)

Public libraries are a cornerstone of education and literacy. There is no acceptable political reason to cut funding for libraries. The Missouri Library Association and the vast majority of Missourians do not want book bans  but a few of our elected officials do. The House Budget Committee has now chosen to engage in retaliatory behavior and it is appalling. The libraries have every right to sue and are not using public funds for this suit.

This move is political grandstanding that would cause real harm to millions of Missourians. Banning books and cutting funding would be a dangerous campaign built on false information. Explicit materials are already prohibited, and sexually explicit imagery is already prohibited from public distribution to minors. This fearmongering is ridiculous. Maybe the House members supporting book bans and cutting funding to our libraries should spend more time in an actual library with real live librarians.

This is still a democracy, isnt it? We need to support our libraries and freedom of information. Lawmakers should end this punitive campaign against public libraries and let the communities they operate in determine what is necessary and appropriate in their community.

Elizabeth Deken  Richmond Heights

Carondelet residents should reconsider homeless plan

Carondelet residents met at the library and voted nimby (not in my backyard) to a proposed shelter for the homeless in the former Sts. Mary and Joseph Chapel. They told Peter and Paul Community Services that they didnt want any more problems. (A new homeless shelter is proposed in Carondelet, riling neighbors, March 18.) I am the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church.

Currently, some homeless are begging for money for food and sleeping on lawns, porches and storefront sidewalks. Some relieve themselves in alleys. If there were a central shelter for these people to go, they could get food, a bed, a locker for their possessions, toilet and shower facilities, medical and dental assistance and job placement for those able to work. In other words, the homeless that residents see wandering throughout the Carondelet neighborhood would be cared for and housed in a central location.

Carondelet neighbors missed an opportunity to help their neighborhood and to demonstrate some compassion and kindness to struggling human beings, many of whom are just trying to survive. For the benefit of their neighborhood and some people who are in need of help, I think residents should reconsider and call Peter and Paul Community Services to continue the conversation.

Rev. Bruce H. Forman  St. Louis

Restrictions on private gun sales would curb violence

Banning assault rifles wouldnt make much difference in confronting gun violence unless all guns are regulated. (Biden implores Congress to pass assault weapons ban, March 28.) Its true that assault rifles cause death and injury to many people in mass shootings, but what about pistol shootings resulting in injuries and deaths in other circumstances?

Stricter gun regulations are needed to combat this problem, which means restrictions on private gun sales. Criminals will always find ways to buy illicit guns, and gun violence will never ever be completely eliminated, but if many of todays gun loopholes were eradicated, I think the gun violence permeating our cities would be greatly mitigated.

Gene Carton  Clayton

Its unforgivable that school shootings are the norm

When will the killing of children in schools stop being the lead story of nearly every newscast? In 2022, there were 51 school shootings in the U.S. Thats almost one a week. In this 13th week of 2023, we have already had 13 school shootings, so were on the same track.

Republicans seem to think that surrounding schoolchildren daily with good guys with guns is the remedy. I dont think seeing a good guy shoot and kill someone is any less traumatizing to these children. I dont think the soundscape of alarms and semiautomatic gunfire would be any less frightening.

We are creating a generation of children who will never totally recover from these traumas. Nor will their parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. And every weekly incident will take them right back to the moments of their own tragedy. That these shootings have become the norm is at once heart-breaking and unforgivable.

Debra Larson  Kirkwood

Republican Party should get out of peoples bedrooms

For the life of me, I cannot understand why so much time, energy and money is being spent by our nations lawmakers to threaten and destroy the lives of people already beset with emotional and physical trials that most of us cannot even imagine. Rather than address some of the real national issues that concern all of us, the Republican Party, which used to protest against too much government intrusion into private lives, has decided to attack and overwhelm the most vulnerable among us, like pregnant women and the LGBTQ community, by denying them civil rights and personal health care decisions. How shameful and cowardly this is.

But, since evangelical Christians seem to want to be in all of our bedrooms, then so do the Republicans. I dont see how this is even remotely connected to the governance of our country. Nor can I see how freedom-loving Americans can support this.

Ralf Lucas  Maplewood

Read letters online at STLToday.com
HONG KONG / ACCESSWIRE / March 30, 2023 / COSCO SHIPPING Development Co., Ltd. ("COSCO SHIPPING Development" or the "Company") (SSE:601866)(HKEX:2866) is pleased to announce the results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2022 (the "Reporting Period") today. In 2022, the Company recorded operating revenue of RMB25.465 billion, net profit attributable to owners of the parent company recorded RMB3.923 billion, and the basic earnings per share amounted to RMB0.29. The Company plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB0.087 per share to all shareholders.

In 2022, the evolution of the world economic changes has accelerated, the global economic development was generally slowing down, and the overall economic operation of China remained stable. Under the environment where challenges and opportunities coexist, the shipping market gradually returned to normal and transform and develop towards digital intelligence and low carbon. The Company has solidly pushed forward to improve quality and efficiency and stabilize growth, promoted reform and innovation for new development, achieving stability in economic benefits amid market fluctuations.

Promoted the integration of industry and finance to create value through industrial chain collaboration

In 2022, the Company's shipping leasing business achieved an operating income of RMB7.844 billion, including RMB2.408 billion from the vessel leasing business. The Company continuous strengthened the coordinated linkage of industrial chains on the integration of "leasing and manufacturing, and leasing and shipping",deeply tapped into market potential and strengthened judgment on market segments. The Company promoted innovation in leasing models and achieved vessel leasing business expansion in market segments. The container leasing business recorded revenue of RMB5.436 billion.The Company always adhered to the "key customer strategy" and advanced diversified leasing services. The Company expanded its business in the field of reefer containers and special containers and achieved new breakthroughs in business sectors. Meanwhile, the Company enhanced the capabilities on global containers trade and boosted the improvement of the overall operational efficiency through the establishment of the customer-centric digital operation system.

The container manufacturing business achieved an operating income of RMB20.711 billion. With the orientation of customer demand, the Company constantly improved the product layout, actively promoted product R&D and deployed green and environmental protection sectors to advance the expansion of application scenarios of containers. In 2022, the Company and COSCO SHIPPING Specialized Carriers jointly developed and produced special collapsible frames for commercial vehicles and vigorously demonstrated its professional advantages in "customized production + oriented services." The Company's marine container-type power batteries have obtained the recognition on the overall design by China Classification Society and passed on-site inspections.

The investment management business achieved an Investment income of RMB1.784 billion. The Company focused on the principal business of shipping logistics, integrated resources in industrial chains and empowered the development of the principal business through "an industry-finance-investment integrated business."

Layout of the track of scientific and technological innovation, digital and intelligent transformation showed significant results

The Company actively layout the track of scientific and technological innovation, improved the top design on scientific and technological innovation and digital transformation and Special Plan, which specified key projects and set out development targets and orientations. In respect of the container leasing business, the Company actively promoted the deep integration of digital technology with production and operation and the coordination of users' services with industries. Based on the digital capabilities of the iFlorens independently designed and developed and the containers trade platform, the Company developed a new business scenario with digital technology empowering business and e-commerce improving customer experience, achieving new breakthroughs in online orders on the platform and sales volume of e-commerce. The Company applied for participating in the first "Professional Competition on Innovation in Digital Scenarios of SOEs" hosted by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and has successfully qualified for the finals. In respect of the container manufacturing business, the Company vigorously promoted the construction of "digital factories" and facilitated green and intelligent development. It recorded results in the updating and upgrading of green and intelligent products and technological equipment. In 2022, the Company applied 184 new patents. As of the end of 2022, the Company had 457 patents.

Implemented the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategies and launched a new project of electric container vessels

Focusing on the positioning of "ecological priority and green development" in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Company has actively promoted the project of electric container vessels , and the construction of two 700TEU electric container vessels of the Company was successively commenced. The project is an important measure for the Company to actively practice national "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" strategies and develop demonstration for green and zero-carbon shipping and won the "Green Growth" Award at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Global Call 2022. It was released at the 2023 Pudong New Area Conference on High-quality Development of Core Area of International Shipping Center as one of annual 10 innovation cases in international shipping in Pudong New Area. In addition, the Company organized the establishment of the China Electric Ship Innovation Alliance to integrate advantageous resources in all links of green shipping industrial chains, jointly promote a green shipping system on the coordinated development of relevant ancillary industries and better facilitate the implementation of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategies in the shipping industry.

Strengthened ESG Management and Built the Foundation for Sustainable Development

The Company continued to improve the ESG governance and integrated the special strategic planning on ESG into the "14th Five-year" development plan of the Company to promote the comprehensive implementation of the ESG concept in an orderly manner. In 2022, the Company obtained various recognitions over its ESG management. The analysis on risks and opportunities related to climate change in the Sustainability Report of the Company was displayed by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as an excellent case in TCFD trainings and was awarded the "GoldenBee Excellent CSR Report 2022 - Environmental Protection Disclosure Award" and the prize of the "2022 ESG Golden Bull Award - Pioneer in Governance".

The Company is committed to creating value for stakeholders, placed an emphasis in creating reasonable returns to investors, maintained the implementation of proactive and steady dividend distribution plans. The Company has declared dividend distribution in cash to its shareholders for four consecutive years and shared development results with its shareholders.The Company practiced social and public welfare programs, participated in practices on pairing assistance and contributed to rural revitalization.

Embrace New Changes and Create a New Future

In 2023, the global economic situation will remain complex and severe, the shipping market presents a cyclical dynamic trend, and the Company's main business sectors will also usher in a new trend of development. Challenges and opportunities coexist, with strong support foundation and resilience. The Company will be devoted to the re-upgrading of service capabilities of industry and finance. In respect of the shipping lease business, the Company will explore market demand in the green and low-carbon transformation of vessels and shipping equipment, promote innovation in business models. In respect of the container leasing business, the Company will continuously improve the global network, bolster the market influence of container leasing and sales businesses and continuously boost the value creation capability. The Company will further promote digital empowerment and build the service ecosystem on customer-centric digital supply chains. For the container manufacturing segment, the Company will strengthen the synergy of container leasing and manufacturing industrial chains and develop leasing, manufacturing and marketing "complexes". The Company will actively market exploitation for special containers and develop special containers with the characteristics of the Company. Meanwhile, the Company will vigorously advance the establishment of the ecosystem on digital and intelligent containers and accumulate strong development power. For investment and management segment, the Company will continue to optimize investment portfolios. The Company will strengthen the integration of industry and finance and provide intelligence and capital injection services for the "digitalised, networked and intelligent" development of the shipping logistics industry, in an effort to boost industry upgrading.

The new sailing starts, new trends stimulate new momentum, and new opportunities drive new development. COSCO SHIPPING Development will be rooted in the integration of industry and finance, base on digital intelligence empowerment, and focuse on value creation. With the goal of accelerating the construction of world-class enterprises, the Company will focuses on new ecology, embraces new changes, and jointly creates a new future.

About COSCO SHIPPING Development Co., Ltd.

COSCO SHIPPING Development Company Limited (2866.HK), a company affiliated to China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, specializes in the provision of supply chain integrated financial services. Formerly known as China Shipping Container Lines Company Limited, it was established in 1997 with headquarters in Shanghai, the PRC, and is listed both in Hong Kong and Shanghai. With a focus on integrated logistics industry, the Company will develop container manufacturing, container leasing and shipping leasing business as the core business, with a view to pursuing industry-finance integrated development underpinned by investment. With market-oriented approaches, professional strengths and an international vision, the Company aspires to grow into an excellent world-class financial operator in the shipping industry with COSCO SHIPPING characteristics.

Investor and Media Enquiries

Jack Liu / Mei Ning

PRChina Limited

Tel: (852) 2522-1838

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]



File: COSCO SHIPPING Development Announces 2022 Annual Results Focuses on New Ecology and Embraces New Changes





SOURCE: COSCO International Holdings Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) talks with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Cairo, Egypt, on April 1, 2023. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks on Saturday with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad who is visiting Cairo for the first time in more than a decade, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

CAIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks on Saturday with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad who is visiting Cairo for the first time in more than a decade, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The two ministers "discussed various aspects of bilateral relations and means of advancing and promoting them ... in addition to a number of regional and international issues of common concern," said Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid in a statement.

Shoukry reiterated Egypt's full support to efforts aiming at reaching "a comprehensive political settlement" and achieving national reconciliation in Syria.

Achieving a comprehensive political settlement "will put an end to foreign interference in Syrian affairs, guarantee the restoration of full security and stability of Syria, preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty, protect its people's resources and eliminate all forms of terrorism," he said.

Syria's political settlement will also allow the voluntary and safe return of millions of Syrian refugees, he added.

For his part, Mekdad expressed his country's appreciation for Egypt's "supportive role" over the past years as well as Egypt's humanitarian relief assistance offered following the devastating earthquake in Syria in February.

The Syrian foreign minister hoped for "more Arab solidarity with Syria in order to overcome its crisis and restore its historical role in supporting Arab causes."

Syria has been shunned by many Arab states and its Arab League membership has been suspended since the Syrian conflict started in 2011. 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (R) talks with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Cairo, Egypt, on April 1, 2023. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks on Saturday with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad who is visiting Cairo for the first time in more than a decade, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230401005003/en/

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Juicy Stakes

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Source: Juicy Stakes
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., April 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Big Blanket Co , the maker of the worlds first 100 square foot (10 x 10) blanket, today announces the launch of something even bigger: the Worlds Biggest Big Blanket. Innovating upon the award-winning Original Stretch blanket , Big Blanket Co has developed a revolutionary new product measuring a whopping 400 square feet (20 x 20). The new blanket delivers on the company's mission to unlock absurd levels of coziness that the boring, conventional blankets dont give you.

Based on tens of thousands of cozy customer reviews, Big Blanket Co set out to develop an updated version of its best-selling blanket with even more square footage. The revolutionary design is 300% bigger than the original Big Blanket and clocks in at 45 pounds, making it 350% heavier than the standard Big Blanket.

In 2019 we changed the blanket game forever when we launched the worlds first 100 square foot (10 x 10) blanket, says Bryan Simpson, co-founder and CEO of Big Blanket Co. But then a guy on Facebook named Greg said he would make a bigger blanket. We couldn't let that happen and were proud to introduce the Worlds Biggest Big Blanket at 400 square feet. Take that, Greg.

This incredibly exclusive new product does come with a few disclaimers:

It will break your washing machine

FedEx will not deliver it

It is presumed illegal in Canada and Rhode Island

California will tax it as a bedroom

It requires two people to lift



As the newest addition to the Big Blanket Co family, the Worlds Biggest Big Blanket  while risky  brings intentional design to a stagnant product category. Its big enough to cover your deepest, darkest secrets with room to spare.

To learn more and shop the new Worlds Biggest Big Blanket, please visit https://bigblanket.com/exclusive .

Media Inquiries

Rachel Weber

[email protected]

Disclaimer: This press release is issued on April Fools Day. All news to be considered through the lens of April Fools Day.

About Big Blanket Co

Big Blanket Co is leading the way in the blanket and bedding industry. Built upon the belief that small blankets suck, Big Blanket Cos original line of blankets is 4x the size of an average throw blanket and larger than a king-size blanket. Thats large enough to end the blanket war between partners, cover and cuddle the whole family, or just roll yourself into a human burrito. Known for its incredibly cozy blankets, Big Blanket Co is committed to bringing you the biggest, best comfort you can get. Based in Springfield, Missouri, Big Blanket Co has been welcomed into more than 500,000 homes across the world.

For more information, please visit bigblanket.com . Connect with Big Blanket Co on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , Twitter , Youtube , and LinkedIn .



Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/49439a5b-723b-4e8f-b3b1-4523eddd6c27

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/04a9d732-bccf-443a-b1f5-fa11f025833c
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., April 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Big Blanket Co, the maker of the worlds first 100 square foot (10 x 10) blanket, today announces the launch of something even bigger: the Worlds Biggest Big Blanket. Innovating upon the award-winning Original Stretch blanket, Big Blanket Co has developed a revolutionary new product measuring a whopping 400 square feet (20 x 20). The new blanket delivers on the company's mission to unlock absurd levels of coziness that the boring, conventional blankets dont give you.

Based on tens of thousands of cozy customer reviews, Big Blanket Co set out to develop an updated version of its best-selling blanket with even more square footage. The revolutionary design is 300% bigger than the original Big Blanket and clocks in at 45 pounds, making it 350% heavier than the standard Big Blanket.

In 2019 we changed the blanket game forever when we launched the worlds first 100 square foot (10 x 10) blanket, says Bryan Simpson, co-founder and CEO of Big Blanket Co. But then a guy on Facebook named Greg said he would make a bigger blanket. We couldn't let that happen and were proud to introduce the Worlds Biggest Big Blanket at 400 square feet. Take that, Greg.

This incredibly exclusive new product does come with a few disclaimers:

It will break your washing machine

FedEx will not deliver it

It is presumed illegal in Canada and Rhode Island

California will tax it as a bedroom

It requires two people to lift

As the newest addition to the Big Blanket Co family, the Worlds Biggest Big Blanket  while risky  brings intentional design to a stagnant product category. Its big enough to cover your deepest, darkest secrets with room to spare.

To learn more and shop the new Worlds Biggest Big Blanket, please visit https://bigblanket.com/exclusive.

Media InquiriesRachel Weber[email protected]

Disclaimer: This press release is issued on April Fools Day. All news to be considered through the lens of April Fools Day.

About Big Blanket CoBig Blanket Co is leading the way in the blanket and bedding industry. Built upon the belief that small blankets suck, Big Blanket Cos original line of blankets is 4x the size of an average throw blanket and larger than a king-size blanket. Thats large enough to end the blanket war between partners, cover and cuddle the whole family, or just roll yourself into a human burrito. Known for its incredibly cozy blankets, Big Blanket Co is committed to bringing you the biggest, best comfort you can get. Based in Springfield, Missouri, Big Blanket Co has been welcomed into more than 500,000 homes across the world.

For more information, please visit bigblanket.com. Connect with Big Blanket Co on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/49439a5b-723b-4e8f-b3b1-4523eddd6c27

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/04a9d732-bccf-443a-b1f5-fa11f025833c

Big Enough To Snuggle With An Elephant Created to meet customer demand, the World's Biggest Blanket from Big Blanket Co is big enough to share with your largest four legged friend. The revolutionary new blanket is 20' x 20', cannot be shipped and is guaranteed to break your washing machine. For Cozy Office Talks With The Entire Team or Turning Your Entire Garage Into Cuddle Zone The world's largest blanket from Big Blanket Co is perfect for cozy coffee chats with room for all 75 people in the office to share. It's also large enough to turn your entire garage into a comfy binge-watching zone for the entire neighborhood.

Source: Big Blanket Co
TLLAAL, HAIDA GWAII, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Earlier this month, Travel + Leisure Magazine announced the winners of the 2023 Global Vision Awards. Haida Tourism, being honoured as a top hospitality brand leading the way in conscious, environment-minded travel.

We are thrilled to receive this award and recognition which reflects our deep commitment to sustainable and cultural tourism. Every element of our guests' experience begins with yahguudang respect for all living things and the interdependence that binds us.

Its an honour to be recognized for our leadership in sustainable tourism. We believe we can continue to find the balance between welcoming visitors to our home and still maintain the integrity of our territory, our culture, and our way of life on Haida Gwaii, says Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, President of the Haida Nation.

Haida Tourism, which is owned by the Haida Nation, strives to provide the very best of Haida Gwaii for our guests and travelers from around the world. The Haida House at Tllaal and Ocean House at Tlaga Gawtlaas, specialize in authentic cultural experiences and nature-based adventures. Our guests leave Xaada Gwaay.yaay Haida Gwaii with a deepened understanding and respect for the Haida culture and love for this place that we call home.

Experience and explore Xaada Gwaay.yaay Haida Gwaii with Haida Tourism and have the extraordinary travel experience of a lifetime!

Media Contact: Kathy JamesDirector of Sales, Marketing & Guest Experience Haida TourismEmail: [email protected]Phone: 778.914.0585

Source: Haida Tourism
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2023) - ScottHall.co has published a new guide revealing the latest AI SEO tools that can be used by small businesses to enhance online visibility. In the report, the digital content marketing consultancy also provides advice to organizations navigating these tools.The SEO tools examined in ScottHall.co's latest guide can be utilized by small businesses to optimize their digital content for both search engines and human readers alike, ultimately improving their online visibility and driving more traffic to their websites.

Further details are available at https://scotthall.co/the-best-ai-seo-tools-for-small-business-owners-and-entrepreneurs.

ScottHall.co's newly released SEO tool guide, designed specifically for small businesses, comes as business owners attempt to navigate the fast-evolving world of digital content marketing in the wake of recently developed AI-driven software.

"Small businesses looking to improve their search engine rankings now have access to a range of artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed to streamline the process," ScottHall.co's founder, Scott Hall, explains. "The days of manually researching keywords and developing SEO strategies are long gone, thanks to these latest advances in technology. This should make things easier, but the sheer volume and range of AI SEO tools on offer can make it challenging for small business owners to know which ones to use."

The guide features a comprehensive breakdown of the intricacies and limits of AI-enabled software for content marketing. The expert also evaluates the need for AI and provides detailed descriptions of five of the popular SEO tools that small business owners can use to help increase online sales.

One of the advantages of using AI SEO tools over manual searches is the software's ability to provide keyword targeting which is up to 80% more accurate, the expert notes. Many programs also come with automation features, generating the most appropriate keywords for each topic and digital platform from a single prompt, which allows small businesses to optimize their time and resources as a result, the guide explains.

"Often AI is spoken about in either overly reverential (or even fearful) tones or complicated technical speak which can be daunting for the average small business owner," Scott Hall adds. "This guide cuts through all that noise to expose the benefits, what an AI SEO assistant can and can't do for you, and how best to use these tools to benefit your business."

Interested parties can discover more information about AI SEO tools https://scotthall.co/the-best-ai-seo-tools-for-small-business-owners-and-entrepreneurs.

Contact Info:

Name: Scott Hall

Email: [email protected]

Organization: ScottHall.co

Address: 60 West 23rd St. Suite 638, New York, NY 10010, United States

Website: https://scotthall.co

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/160564
PASO ROBLES, Calif. (PRWEB) March 31, 2023

When kids are dragging their feet about brushing their teeth before bedtime, telling them that cavemen brushed their teeth might stir their imaginations and speed them up a bit. "Although the archaeological evidence suggests the Neanderthal method of oral hygiene may have been more rugged than a toothbrush," said Paso Robles dentist,Lisa Lu Davis, DMD, "cleaning our teeth seems to have been around much longer than the toothbrush."

The toothbrush, as we know it today, is a relatively new invention in the history of humankind. William Addis is credited with inventing the first toothbrush for commercial distribution in England while serving time in prison in 1780. When he was released, Addis started manufacturing toothbrushes and developed a family business that remained in family ownership until 1996 and became Wisdom Toothbrushes. Today the company produces 70 million toothbrushes a year in the United Kingdom.

Before Addis's invention, the Chinese were using a brush with bristles during the Tang Dynasty between 619 and 907. Prehistoric cave paintings show early humans using picks of wood or bone to clean between their teeth. Archaeologists have found that chewing sticks, frayed at one end were used by the Egyptians and Babylonians in 3500 B.C., and by the Chinese in 1600 B.C. Some cultures still use chewing sticks to this day, although the modern toothbrush has reached many faraway cultures.

The Paso Robles dentist reports that as interesting as she finds the development of the toothbrush, "I'm pretty impressed with how ancient people took care of their teeth."

Along the way to today's toothbrushes and oral hygiene practices, people used mixtures of herbs and spices to prevent bad breath and some chewed or "brushed" with abrasive materials to remove plaque. The first record of a compound used for brushing dates back about 2000 years and was a mixture of mint, pepper, crushed rock salt, and iris flowers. Other formulas included ginseng, herbs, and tasty ingredients like pumice, ox hooves, ashes, burnt eggshells, and crushed charcoal. Yum.

Addis introduced the first mass-produced toothbrush which was followed by:



The first dental floss was invented by Dr. Levi Spear Parmly in 1815 in New Orleans.

The first patent for a toothbrush was by Dr. Hiram Nichols Wadsworth in the United States in 1857.

The invention of a commercial mouthwash product in 1892 by a German, Richard Seifert.

Electric toothbrushes, invented in 1954 by Dr. Phillippe Guy Woog in Switzerland.

Electric toothbrushes with rechargeable batteries from General Electric in the U.S. in 1962.

The first "rotary toothbrush" was released in the U.S. in 1987.

The first ultrasonic toothbrush was approved by the FDA in 1992.

"The toothbrush has come a long way since the chewing stick," said the Paso Robles dentist . Today we have:

"If stone age humans could take care of their teeth, there's no reason we can't do the same today, and certainly in much more comfort and with better tasting products," says Dr. Davis.

Dr. Davis attained her Dental Medicine Doctorate (DMD) from Temple University in 1999, graduating at the top of her class and receiving awards in radiology, treatment planning, and restorative clinics. She was honored with the Hahnemann award for her research in Sjogren Syndrome, a disease affecting the salivary glands.

Davis and her team have been serving Paso Robles and Central Coast families since 2007. Her office provides family and general dentistry services featuring the latest technologies in a relaxing and professional environment. Building partnerships with every patient to create ideal dental health through preventive care and patient education are foundations of Dr. Davis's conscientious oral care practices.

Lisa Lu Davis, DMD, Inc

2120 Golden Hill Road Suite 103

Paso Robles, CA 93446

(805) 238-6777

Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/paso_robles_dentist_releases_where_the_toothbrush_came_from_and_other_interesting_facts_about_oral_hygiene/prweb19255497.htm
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

ScottHall.co has published a new guide revealing the latest AI SEO tools that can be used by small businesses to enhance online visibility. In the report, the digital content marketing consultancy also provides advice to organizations navigating these tools.



The SEO tools examined in ScottHall.co's latest guide can be utilized by small businesses to optimize their digital content for both search engines and human readers alike, ultimately improving their online visibility and driving more traffic to their websites.

Further details are available at https://scotthall.co/the-best-ai-seo-tools-for-small-business-owners-and-entrepreneurs

ScottHall.co's newly released SEO tool guide, designed specifically for small businesses, comes as business owners attempt to navigate the fast-evolving world of digital content marketing in the wake of recently developed AI-driven software.

Small businesses looking to improve their search engine rankings now have access to a range of artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed to streamline the process, ScottHall.co's founder, Scott Hall, explains. The days of manually researching keywords and developing SEO strategies are long gone, thanks to these latest advances in technology. This should make things easier, but the sheer volume and range of AI SEO tools on offer can make it challenging for small business owners to know which ones to use.

The guide features a comprehensive breakdown of the intricacies and limits of AI-enabled software for content marketing. The expert also evaluates the need for AI and provides detailed descriptions of five of the popular SEO tools that small business owners can use to help increase online sales.

One of the advantages of using AI SEO tools over manual searches is the software's ability to provide keyword targeting which is up to 80% more accurate, the expert notes. Many programs also come with automation features, generating the most appropriate keywords for each topic and digital platform from a single prompt, which allows small businesses to optimize their time and resources as a result, the guide explains.

Often AI is spoken about in either overly reverential (or even fearful) tones or complicated technical speak which can be daunting for the average small business owner, Scott Hall adds. This guide cuts through all that noise to expose the benefits, what an AI SEO assistant can and cant do for you, and how best to use these tools to benefit your business.

ScottHall.co also lists Frase.io, Surfer SEO, Outranking.io, RankIQ, and MarketMuse among the most suitable AI SEO programs that entrepreneurs can use to optimize their content marketing campaigns.

Interested parties can discover more information about AI SEO tools https://scotthall.co/the-best-ai-seo-tools-for-small-business-owners-and-entrepreneurs

Contact Info:

Name: Scott Hall

Email: Send Email

Organization: ScottHall.co

Address: 60 West 23rd St. Suite 638, New York, NY 10010, United States

Website: https://scotthall.co



Release ID: 89093125

If you detect any issues, problems, or errors in this press release content, kindly contact [email protected] to notify us. We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours.
BEIJING , March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez discussed major topics concerning global peace and economic cooperation on Friday. Both agreed that China and Spain should keep upholding multilateralism, safeguarding world peace and coping with various global challenges through dialogue and cooperation.

Sanchez is visiting China as part of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Before the high-level meeting, he also attended the Boao Forum for Asia in south China's Hainan Province .

Over the last 50 years, China and Spain have built a profound friendship through frequent high-level meetings and people-to-people exchanges, and the trade volume between the two countries has seen a significant expansion, almost doubling between 2017 and 2022 from 32 billion euros (about $34.8 billion ) to 57.7 billion euros (about $62.9 billion ).

Solve global challenges through dialogue and cooperation

Xi expressed hope that Spain could play a positive role in promoting China-EU dialogue and cooperation, and the two sides could carry out comprehensive dialogue and cooperation in the spirit of independence, mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Spain is gearing up to take over the EU's rotating presidency in July and will be responsible for coordinating the work of the council and working with other member states to develop a common position on diplomatic issues.

"The sound development of relations between China and the European Union requires the EU to adhere to strategic independence," Xi said at Friday's meeting. He said that China and the EU share a lot of things in common: both uphold international orders and advocate the peaceful settlement of international disputes, so the two parties can cooperate to cope with global challenges.

Sanchez agreed that today's world is full of uncertainties and only through cooperation can the world meet various challenges more effectively and promote world peace and development.

The two sides also touched on the Ukraine crisis. China has consistently promoted peace talks and political settlement on the Ukraine crisis, hoping the relevant parties abandon the Cold War mentality and camp confrontation, and give up extreme sanctions.

"It's hoped that the relevant parties can build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework through dialogue and consultation," Xi said.

Sanchez introduced Spain's stance on the issue and spoke positively about China's 12-point Ukraine position paper, which was published in February. He said that he appreciated China's constructive role in the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

Ample scope for economic collaboration

China is committed to achieving modernization and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through high-quality development, which will provide Spain and other countries with a broader market space and more cooperation opportunities.

Xi stressed the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation, saying the two countries should plan bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and support each other on critical issues concerning their core interests such as sovereignty, security and development.

To synergize the two sides' development strategies, China and Spain need to tap the cooperation potential, Xi said. He added that China is willing to import more high-quality products from Spain and it's hoped that Spain can provide a fair and just business environment for Chinese companies.

Spain is willing to maintain candid communication with China and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, especially in the fields of electric vehicles, green energy and the digital economy, Sanchez said. He also hoped that China and Spain can strengthen communication and coordination on international and regional issues such as climate change.

As Spain will soon take over the rotating presidency of the EU, Sanchez said that Spain will play a positive role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between China and the EU.

In recent years, bilateral trade between China and Spain has maintained steady growth, showing strong resilience and vitality. China is now Spain's largest trading partner outside the EU, while Spain is China's sixth-largest trading partner within the EU.

Official data shows that as of February 2022 , Spain's total investment in China surpassed 3.8 billion euros , with more than 790 companies established in China , while Chinese companies invested 16 billion euros in Spain from 2016 to 2020.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-03-31/Chinese-President-Xi-Jinping-meets-Spanish-Prime-Minister-Pedro-Sanchez-1iCPo5yhr4A/index.html

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cgtn-50-years-on-china-spain-have-profound-friendship-achieve-common-prosperity-301787543.html

SOURCE CGTN
BEIJING , March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described bilateral relations as "very good" in an interview with China Media Group two weeks ago, before embarking on his official visit to China .

Then one day before he wrapped up his week-long trip, the two countries had their relations updated to a "comprehensive, high-quality and forward-looking" partnership, as Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Lee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.

Of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has the deepest engagement in China's reform and opening up, and shares the closest integration of interests with it, Xi said.

He added that China is ready to strengthen strategic communication and seek greater synergies between strategies with the Singaporean side to make "high quality" a distinct feature of the cooperation between the two countries.

Relations a model for region

China and Singapore enjoy expanding and deepening economic ties. From 2013 to 2021, China had been Singapore's largest trading partner for nine consecutive years. And Singapore continued to maintain its position as the largest source of foreign capital in China for the 10th consecutive year in 2022.

From January to February 2023 , the total import and export volume of China and Singapore reached $19.5 billion , up 37.6 percent year on year, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce .

In addition, Singapore is the very first nation among the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to publicly support the China -proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and it is also a member of the Friends of Global Development Initiative (GDI) group.

A landmark project of high-quality BRI cooperation between China and Singapore , the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor saw 107,000 TEU containers transported by the rail-sea intermodal freight trains as of February 23 this year, up 9.25 percent year on year.

During Friday's talks, Xi hailed China and Singapore as important partners, describing the relationship as "forward-looking, strategic and exemplary."

That has not only helped advance the revitalization of each country's development, but also serves as a model for countries in the region, said the Chinese president.

China is willing to strengthen the construction of the corridor with Singapore , Xi pledged. Efforts should also be made to deepen digitalization, green transformation and third-party cooperation, and promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, he added.

For his part, Lee expressed confidence in the vitality and resilience of China's economy, echoing a message he had highlighted when speaking at the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA ) on Thursday.

Singapore and other neighboring countries are looking forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China , he said.

Dividends of peace

Asia has been hailed as "a bright spot in the bleak global economic landscape" and global economic governance has entered into the "Asian moment," according to a recent report released by the BFA.

The weighted real GDP growth rate of Asia in 2023 is estimated at 4.5 percent, an increase from 4.2 percent in 2022, said the report, adding that the region is expected to accelerate the pace of overall economic growth.

During talks with the Singaporean leader, Xi attributed such good momentum in the region to a development path with Asian characteristics that features independence, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation.

Against the backdrop of accelerating world changes unseen in a century, regional countries should cherish the hard-won development momentum to jointly safeguard the dividends of peace in the region, he said.

Xi urged efforts to keep in the right direction of economic and regional integration and reject the attempts to push for "decoupling and severing supply chains."

"No country should be allowed to deprive the Asian people of their right to pursue a better and happier life," said the Chinese president.

Singapore believes that countries should respect each other, coexist peacefully, cooperate for mutual benefit, avoid conflicts, and work together to deal with risks and challenges, said Lee.

Even if there is competition between countries, it should be based on respect and trust, and there should be no picking sides, he said.

When it comes to the Taiwan question, Lee stressed that almost all countries in the world recognize that there is only one China in the world, and develop friendly and cooperative relations with China on the basis of the one- China policy.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affairs, and the touting of " Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow" will have unpredictable and grave consequences, warned the Singaporean prime minister.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-03-31/Xi-Jinping-meets-Singaporean-prime-minister-1iCPhk5YmVG/index.html

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cgtn-china-singapore-upgrade-relations-for-higher-quality-cooperation-301787541.html

SOURCE CGTN
BOGOTA, Colombia , March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL ; NYSE: EC) informs that the Board of Directors, in its meeting held on March 31, 2023 , approved the composition of its committees as follows:

AUDIT AND RISK COMMITTEE

Luis Alberto Zuleta (President)

Juan Jose Echavarria

Sandra Ospina

Claudia Gonzalez

NEW BUSINESS COMMITTEE

Saul Kattan (President)

Esteban Piedrahita

Gonzalo Hernandez

Mauricio Cabrera

Sandra Ospina

Monica de Greiff

Claudia Gonzalez

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE

Esteban Piedrahita (President)

Gonzalo Hernandez

Monica de Greiff

Claudia Gonzalez

Luis Alberto Zuleta

Juan Jose Echavarria

REMUNERATION, NOMINATION, AND CULTURE COMMITTEE

Mauricio Cabrera (President)

Monica de Greiff

Saul Kattan

Juan Jose Echavarria

HSE COMMITTEE

Sandra Ospina (President)

Claudia Gonzalez

Luis Alberto Zuleta

Monica de Greiff

Mauricio Cabrera

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION COMMITTEE

Saul Kattan (President)

Esteban Piedrahita

Sandra Ospina

These appointments are effective as of the date hereof.

-----------------------------------------

Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the main integrated energy companies in the American continent, with more than 18,000 employees. In Colombia , it is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production of most transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and it holds leading positions in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segments. With the acquisition of 51.4% of ISA's shares, the company participates in energy transmission, the management of real-time systems (XM), and the Barranquilla - Cartagena coastal highway concession. At the international level, Ecopetrol has a stake in strategic basins in the American continent, with Drilling and Exploration operations in the United States (Permian basin and the Gulf of Mexico ), Brazil , and Mexico , and, through ISA and its subsidiaries, Ecopetrol holds leading positions in the power transmission business in Brazil , Chile , Peru , and Bolivia, road concessions in Chile , and the telecommunications sector. This press release contains business prospect statements, operating and financial result estimates, and statements related to Ecopetrol's growth prospects. These are all projections and, as such, they are based solely on the expectations of the managers regarding the future of the company and their continued access to capital to finance the company's business plan. The realization of said estimates in the future depends on the behavior of market conditions, regulations, competition, and the performance of the Colombian economy and the industry, among other factors, and are consequently subject to change without prior notice.

This release contains statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or in future filings or press releases, or orally, address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, including in respect of the Company's prospects for growth and its ongoing access to capital to fund the Company's business plan, among others. Consequently, changes in the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements: market prices of oil & gas, our exploration, and production activities, reserves, market conditions, applicable regulations, the exchange rate, the Company's competitiveness and the performance of Colombia's economy and industry, to mention a few. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Head of Capital Markets (a)

Maria Catalina Escobar

Email: [email protected]

Head of Corporate Communications (a)

Juan Guillermo Londono

Correo electronico: [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/decisions-of-ecopetrol-sas-board-of-directors-301787530.html
NEW DELHI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday said most parts of the South Asian country are expected to experience above-normal maximum temperatures from April to June.

"During the 2023 hot weather season (April to June), most parts of the country are expected to experience above normal maximum temperatures, except for South Peninsular India and some parts of Northwest India where normal to below normal maximum temperatures are likely," the IMD said in a statement on the outlook for hot weather season.

The IMD added that above-normal heatwave days are predicted in most parts of central, east and northwest India during this period.

"Above normal heatwave days are likely over many parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, north Chhattisgarh, western part of Maharashtra, Gujarat and some parts of West Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana during April 2023," the IMD said.

Meanwhile, the IMD said the country is expected to see normal rainfall in April.

"The rainfall during April 2023 averaged over the country as a whole is most likely to be normal (88-112 percent Long Period Average or LPA)," the IMD said.

"Normal to above normal rainfall is expected over most parts of the northwest, central and peninsular India whereas below normal rainfall is likely over east and northeast India and some areas over the west coast of India." 
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Almost a third of Brazilians disapprove of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, putting the leftist leader at about the same level of unpopularity as his right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro during the first three months of his presidency, a poll cited by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo showed on Saturday.

Lula, who took office in January after narrowly defeating Bolsonaro in an election last October, has the approval of 38% of Brazilians, with 29% disapproving of his performance, according to a Datafolha survey.

Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to the end of 2022, never formally conceded defeat to Lula. On Jan. 8, barely a week after Lula began his third term as president, Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in the federal capital Brasilia to protest the election result.

After about three months in self-imposed exile in the United States, Bolsonaro returned to Brazil this week.

Datafolha interviewed 2,028 people on Wednesday and Thursday in 126 cities. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus two percentage points.

(Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Paul Simao)
Viangly Infante, a Venezuelan migrant whose husband Eduard Caraballo was injured after a fire broke out Monday night at an immigration detention center, gestures with her children inside a vehicle after entering the United States to continue her immigrati

By Lizbeth Diaz

El PASO (Reuters) - After her husband survived a fire which killed dozens of migrants at a detention center in northern Mexico, Venezuelan Viangly Infante crossed into the United States on Saturday, in search of new opportunities for her three children.

Infante's husband, Eduard Caraballo, was transferred by ambulance from a hospital in Ciudad Juarez, where the fire happened, to a health center in El Paso, Texas, where he is receiving oxygen for damage to his lungs.

A fire on Monday night broke out at a detention center run by Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM), killing 39 migrants from Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela and pushing Mexican authorities to promise tough consequences for those responsible.

"The storm has passed," Infante, 31, said while holding back tears as she walked to the vehicle which would take her to a migrant center in El Paso. She carried her infant daughter in her arms and was flanked by her two sons aged 12 and 13 years old.

Like millions of others, the family decided to flee Venezuela's economic and political crisis, setting off for the United States last October on a journey that took them through the infamous Darien Gap, a tangled jungle separating Colombia and Panama that is known for being one of Latin America's most dangerous regions.

The family had arrived in Ciudad Juarez just before the new year, but only Caraballo managed to cross into the United States. He returned to Mexico in February after his daughter fell ill, and then authorities in the city detained him last week and transferred to the center, where he almost died in the fire.

Mexican authorities have shut down the detention center and arrested five people over the migrants' deaths, including INM staff, a private security agent, and a Venezuelan accused of starting the fire.

In the days following the fire, the U.S government announced it would aid those affected, with Infante's family the first to receive help.

"For a while I thought we wouldn't make it, but thanks to the help of God and (international) organizations, we are here," Infante told Reuters.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
FILE PHOTO: A Volkswagen logo is seen as it launches its ID.6 and ID.6 CROZZ SUV at a world premiere ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show, in Shanghai, China April 18, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A senior Volkswagen AG China executive reiterated on Saturday the German automaker's commitment to quickening the pace of electrification in the world's second largest economy despite issues such as intensified competition and weak demand.

VW plans to increase the number of charging posts for electric vehicles in China to 17,000 by 2025, as it planned to invest 15 billion euros ($16.26 billion) in the country on electric mobility together with its three joint ventures by 2024, Stefan Mecha, chief executive of the Volkswagen brand in China, told China's EV 100 forum in Beijing.

"The market is flush with new, highly competitive players but strong competition simply motivates us to constantly innovate and improve," Mecha said.

He added that despite softer short term demand in China, the company is confident that there would be a recovery.

In February, Chinese electrified vehicle maker BYD outsold the Volkswagen-branded cars to be the best-selling passenger car brand in the world's largest auto market for the second month in four.

Mecha also urged China to extend a purchase tax exemption on new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include both pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars, beyond this year as part of the policy support for the sector.

In September, China extended the tax exemption on such vehicles by a year to the end of 2023.

The government is studying policies to promote auto consumption and eliminate backward automakers as China's NEV market faces challenges of weak domestic demand, Xin Guobin, vice minister at Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the same forum.

Xin also urged the industry to enhance capabilities in securing supplies of metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel as it also faces threats of global trade protectionism.

($1 = 0.9226 euros)

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Hongwei Li, Brenda Goh; Editing by William Mallard and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
(Tribune News Service)  Sometimes, reading aloud is all it takes to bring families closer, even when military service members are miles from their loved ones.

United Through Readings mission is to help build that connection. Through the non-profit, service members can record themselves reading from a selection of childrens books for their loved ones to watch at home while they are away for extended periods.

Sharing story time is just one of those way where we can keep that family bond strong, make an improvement to the childs literacy and really be a contributing factor in a positive way to their continued wellbeing for the entire family, Tim Farrell, CEO of United Through Reading, said.

The videos can be recorded and shared in many ways. Service members, whether they are parents, aunts and uncles, siblings and more, can record themselves reading on ships and stations around the world and send the video and book back home. There is also an app to keep them connected through story time. The goal is to boost morale for the service members and their families as well as encourage a love of literacy.

Jenny Lynne Stroup, a Virginia Beach resident, said her children, now 11 and 13, pull books off the shelf sometimes and remember reading that with their father while he was away years ago. They still have the recordings made when the kids were just a toddler and an infant. Creating and receiving those videos was something the whole family looked forward to over the many years they have all participated in United Through Readings mission.

It not only provided us a chance to connect to us as his family, it provided him a chance to take a break, Stroup said about her husband creating the videos while abroad.

She said her husband was able to talk to his family about things happening as well as reading, so it was yet another way for the family to connect.

Like Stroup, Farrell was among those who have made a recording through United Through Reading long before he got involved in the organization. The Air Force veteran said he remembers there were times when my kids just really wanted to see my face and hear my voice, and United Through Reading provided that opportunity.

Back then, his recordings were sent home on a DVD. Now, the United Through Reading app helps keep families connected, even if they dont have access to the more than 300 permanent recordings stations around the world or if the mobile reading station is not nearby.

The United Through Reading Mobile Story Station is equipped with everything a service member needs to record themselves reading aloud before deployment. There was a variety of books to choose from, good lighting, a comfy chair and a camera all set up in a van.

A United Through Reading representative said the mobile story station will be in Hampton Roads throughout April  the Month of the Military Child  visiting schools and attending various events.

2023 The Virginian-Pilot.

Visit pilotonline.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The United States government erroneously shared the Social Security numbers of more than 1,900 people online earlier this year, part of a data breach that occurred during the publication of the Jan. 6 select committee report, according to a letter reviewed by The Washington Post.

The "Notice of Data Breach" apology letter from the U.S. Government Publishing Office said Social Security numbers were published online for about two days in January 2023, and that the government breach affected more than 1,900 people who visited the White House on a particular day in December 2020 and whose identities appeared on visitor logs obtained by the Jan. 6 committee.

"I share your concern and frustration that this occurred," wrote Hugh Nathanial Halpern, the director of the Government Publishing Office.

According to the letter, those affected by the breach visited the White House on Dec. 14, 2020. The logs - without redactions of Social Security numbers and other personal information - were published online from Jan. 2 to Jan. 4 this year, according to the apology letter.

It is unclear who was responsible for the lack of redactions, and the letter does not say how the government discovered the data was online.

The letter was dated March 24, and it arrived this week, according to a person who received it. Another visitor to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share the letter, said he was angry that it arrived almost three months after the breach was discovered.

The breach included information about top Republicans and other prominent Americans who visit the White House. Many of those involved in the breach were people attending a Christmas party, people familiar with the matter said.

The government obtains the personal information to vet visitors who step onto the highly protected complex. Generally, the lists of visitor names, minus the sensitive personal data, is released by administrations, though the Trump White House declined to make its list of visitors publicly available.

The logs, which were "supporting materials" for the final committee report, were provided to the Government Publishing Office by the Jan. 6 committee, which obtained the logs from the National Archives, according to the letter sent.

But no one redacted the Social Security numbers from the report, the letter says.

A different version of the data without Social Security numbers then was published for about a month, before a "much more limited" version was published in February, the letter says.
Four Pakistan Army personnel embraced martyred in a terrorist attack on Pakistan-Iran border, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Saturday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that the terrorists started firing on the security personnel patrolling at Jal Gayi sector on Pakistan-Iran border.

The martyred soldiers include Naik Shair Ahmed, Lance Naik Muhammad Asghar, Sepoy Muhammad Irfan and Sepoy Abdur Rasheed.

ISPR said that Pakistan has demanded effective and immediate action from the Iranian officials.

Earlier, a Pakistan Army soldier was martyred during an exchange of fire with terrorists in the general area of Mir Ali North Waziristan district ISPR said.

The security forces personnel fought bravely and effectively engaged the terrorists location.

However, during an intense exchange of fire, Sepoy Irshadullah (age 29 years, resident of District Karak), having fought gallantly, embraced martyrdom.

The ISPR said, sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any terrorists found there.
In a move that could further escalate political tensions in Pakistan, the ruling coalition decided to boycott the three-judge Supreme Court bench hearing the election delay case after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif put his weight behind the new line of action agreed by the ruling alliance.

The decision to boycott the hearing came after the top court rejected the ruling alliances plea for a full court bench in the election delay case.

Today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the allied parties at his Model Town residence in Lahore.

The meeting, which lasted for over three hours, was also attended by Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, who joined via video-link from London.

Sharif proposed that the allies should boycott the apex court hearing until a full court bench is constituted.

The proposal was unanimously accepted by all coalition partners, indicating a hardening of the political stance against the judiciary.

The current political situation, the upcoming elections in line with the Election Commission of Pakistans (ECP) decision, and the SC proceedings, as well as the role of the CJP and the top court, took center stage during the huddle.

Earlier, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in a conversation with media persons in London raised questions over the proceedings of the apex court and called for a full court in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections case.

The former premier citing prices of vegetables, US dollar, sugar, Electricity bill, flour, and other essential commodities, said that his government controlled the prices and provided relief to the masses.
SEOUL, April 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export kept falling for the sixth consecutive month amid sagging demand for locally-made semiconductors, leading to trade deficits for 13 months in a row, government data showed on Saturday.

Export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, declined 13.6 percent from a year earlier to 55.13 billion U.S. dollars in March, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The outbound shipment continued to slide after October last year on the back of weaker global demand for South Korean products.

The ministry said the country's export kept a downward trend due to the global economic slowdown, but it noted that the shipment topped 55 billion dollars in six months.

Import reduced 6.4 percent to 59.75 billion dollars last month, resulting in a trade deficit of 4.62 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in red since March last year.

Semiconductor export tumbled 34.5 percent over the year to 8.6 billion dollars in March, keeping a downward trend for the eighth successive month on lower memory chip prices.

Shipment for display panels and computers retreated in double digits, but automotive export jumped 64.2 percent to 6.52 billion dollars due to higher demand for eco-friendly vehicles and the eased supply disruption of chips used to produce cars.

Secondary battery shipment added 1.0 percent on the strong demand for electric vehicles, but global demand for local oil products and petrochemicals slipped 16.6 percent and 25.1 percent respectively.

Auto parts export dipped 5.3 percent to 2.06 billion dollars, and steel products shipment dwindled 10.7 percent to 3.14 billion dollars on lower product prices.

General machinery shipment shed 0.8 percent to 4.81 billion dollars, and mobile device export dropped 42.3 percent to 1.06 billion dollars.

South Korea's export to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations went down 21.0 percent over the year to 9.61 billion dollars in March on the back of weaker demand for chips and oil products.

Shipment to the European Union fell 1.2 percent to 6.14 billion dollars, and export to Japan shrank 12.0 percent to 2.44 billion dollars.

Export to the United States rose 1.6 percent to 9.79 billion dollars, surpassing 9 billion dollars for the second straight month on solid demand for cars and secondary batteries.

Export to the Middle East spiked 21.6 percent to 1.84 billion dollars on higher demand for cars, general machinery and steel products.

Meanwhile, import for crude oil and natural gas diminished 6.1 percent and 25.0 percent each last month amid the lower commodity prices.

Import for chips and steel products reduced 10.6 percent and 12.4 percent, reflecting the weaker domestic demand. 
Justice Musarrat Hilali was sworn in as the Peshawar High Cours first female Chief Justice on Saturday, in a landmark occasion for the nation.

Her swearing-in ceremony was held at Peshawar High Court where Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa governor administered the oath. Several judges, the attorney general for Pakistan and lawyers attended the ceremony.

Justice Musarrat is second female to hold the role of chief justice of a high court after the former chief justice of the Balochistan High Court Justice Tahira Safdar.

The 62-year-old received a law degree from Khyber Law College of the University of Peshawar and started practice in 1983; she moved to the high court after a couple of years and becomes the advocate of the top court in 2006.

Ms. Hilali also served as the female secretary of the Peshawar Bar Association in 90s and remained in other positions including vice president and the first female General Secretary of the bar.

Women in top leadership roles increase productivity and their role in society and Justice Musarrat Hilali is the perfect example of women holding top positions in conservative societies like Pakistan.
Finland will become the 31st member of Nato after Turkey's parliament voted to approve its application.

Turkey had delayed Finland's bid to join the West's defensive alliance for months - complaining the Nordic nation was supporting "terrorists".

Sweden, which applied to join Nato at the same time last May, is still being blocked by Ankara over similar complaints.

Any Nato expansion needs the support of all its members.

Finland will now be formally admitted into Nato at its next summit, taking place in July in Lithuania. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter: "I look forward to raising Finland's flag at Nato HQ in the coming days. Together we are stronger and safer."

I congratulated President @niinisto on the completion of the historic ratification of #Finlands accession. I look forward to raising #Finlands flag at #NATO HQ in the coming days. Together we are stronger & safer.  Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) March 31, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave his approval to Finland's bid earlier this month, praising the country's "authentic and concrete steps" on Turkish security.

But his ongoing hostility to Sweden was clear - as he again accused the country of embracing Kurdish militants and allowing them to demonstrate on the streets of Stockholm.

Sweden and Finland's journey from neutral to Nato

Ankara's decision to ratify Finland's membership clears the way for one of the most important moments in Nato's recent history.

Finland, a country with a 1,340km (832 mile) border with Russia and one of the most powerful arsenals of artillery pieces in Western Europe, is ditching its neutrality and joining the alliance in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sweden also abandoned a longstanding commitment to neutrality in applying to join Nato, but unlike its neighbour it does not share a border with Russia.

One of Nato's founding principles is the principle of collective defence - meaning an attack on one member nation is treated as an attack on them all.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finland's accession is a major strategic setback.

He sent his army into Ukraine last year in the expectation it would check Nato's expansion and weaken the West. In fact, it has achieved the exact opposite.

Finland is now set to become the seventh Nato country on the Baltic Sea, further isolating Russia's coastal access at St Petersburg and on its small exclave of Kaliningrad.

Russia's foreign ministry earlier condemned Finland's decision, saying it was ill-considered and based on Russophobic hysteria.

But Finnish public opinion has been radically altered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Almost overnight last spring, support for Nato membership leapt from an underwhelming one-third of Finns to almost 80%.

Finland simply believes it stands a better chance of not being attacked by Russia if it joins the alliance.
This was the most serious assault Ive ever witnessed

A man who subjected a woman to a brutal, two-hour assault, which left her covered from head to toe in her own blood, has been jailed for three years and six months following a detailed hearing in Mullingar Circuit Court this week.

Aaron Cole (39), of Jamestown Avenue, Inchicore, Dublin 8, was sentenced this morning after Judge Keenan Johnson took time overnight to consider evidence of a section 3 assault, which took place in the Athlone home of the victim, Carrie Murray, on August 19, 2020.

Detective Garda Aidan Hynes, in his evidence explained that the accused and the injured party were connected on Facebook and had begun chatting on the evening of August 18. Both parties were drinking and later that night, Mr Cole got a taxi from Dublin to Athlone at a cost of 200.

He arrived at the house at approximately 2.30am and the pair had a few drinks and watched a movie together.

Ms Murray, the court heard, fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 5.20am. She went to bed, letting Mr Cole sleep on the couch.

At 7am, Ms Murray was awoken by her phone ringing downstairs. When she got up to answer it, Mr Cole was on the stairs with the phone in his hand, displaying the caller as her ex-partner and father of her kids, who also happened to be a nephew of Mr Cole.

Mr Cole became paranoid that he was being set up for a beating, the court heard, as he and his nephew did not get along, and he immediately began questioning Ms Murray.

Detective Garda Hynes confirmed to the court that Mr Cole started shouting that he was going to kill his nephew and cut him up. He continued to scream at Ms Murray and then headbutted her in the face, causing her to lose her balance and hold onto the side of her babys cot in an upstairs room.

Mr Cole, the court heard, turned the injured party over and held her down by the back of the neck, screaming at her. She begged him to stop but he continued shouting at her and began hitting her repeatedly on the head with a section of the cot that slides up and down.

There was a massive amount of blood on the carpet of the bedroom, on the cot and on the wall of the bedroom, Det Gda Hynes explained. It was clearly evident that he had used that cot with Carries head underneath it.

The beating continued, with Mr Cole screaming and hitting Ms Murray and accusing her of spiking his drink. Ms Murray blacked out on a number of occasions and, each time she came to, the assault was continuing.

At one stage, the court heard, she was on her hands and knees, with the accused continuing to punch or kick her. He continued shouting at her, threatening to kill her. Ms Murray continued to black out and come to during an assault that lasted approximately two hours by Det Gda Hynes estimation.

Gardai were alerted when a neighbour of Ms Murrays who was working from home heard the commotion from the house. She called Gardai when the commotion didnt stop and Gda Hynes and a colleague arrived at 10am and were met at the door by Mr Cole.

He had no bottoms on, just boxers, and he was wearing a heavily blood stained t-shirt. His arms and face were bloodstained, said Det Gda Hynes. Carrie approached the door in horrendous condition. She was blood stained from head to toe.

Ms Murray, upon seeing uniformed Gardai at the door, went straight to the back of the Garda car without being prompted.

I can only describe it as her trying to get to a place of safety as soon as possible, said Gda Hynes.

Gda Hynes described the accused as being paranoid and under the influence of an intoxicant. However, blood tests later confirmed that Mr Cole was not spiked, but the alcohol levels in his blood were 160 ml of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.

He was completely out of control and clearly under the influence of an intoxicant. There was no animosity towards Gardai but he was paranoid and, despite her injuries, he was still roaring at Carrie Murray, while she was under the protection of Gardai, until he was removed, said Gda Hynes.

Mr Cole engaged with Gardai during interview and accepted that he had caused the injuries but insisted his drink had been spiked and that he thought he had been set up.

He admitted to Gardai that he had headbutted Ms Murray, punched her and kicked her in what he described as an animalistic rage, stating I couldnt control myself.

Det Gda Hynes told the court that, in his 15 years of service with An Garda Siochana, this was the most serious assault Ive ever witnessed.

It was a horrific ordeal, which lasted approximately two hours before Gardai arrived. When I arrived at the scene, he certainly wasnt finished, he said.

It strikes me that if you hadnt arrived at the scene, wed be dealing with a murder, said Judge Johnson.

Absolutely and that is something that has stayed with me, said Det Gda Hynes, commending the neighbour for contacting Gardai.

Ms Murray was brought to Tullamore hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken nose, fractures to both sides of her jaw, damaged teeth, lacerations to the right eye area, nose, upper lip and left temporal area, extensive bruising and soft tissue injuries to the face, upper limbs, lower limbs and chest and a minor head injury.

She was admitted to the intensive care unit in Tullamore and subsequently transferred to St James Hospital where she underwent surgery for the fractures to her jaw, which involved the placement of arch bars and bone plates. She also received sutures to the left upper lip, right eyebrow and right and left cheeks.

While in hospital, she received a blood transfusion, pain relief and intravenous antibiotics. Eight months after the assault, she had recovered substantially but still suffered pain and permanent facial scarring.

After her discharge from the hospital, Ms Murray was readmitted following what Det Gda Hynes referred to as a deliberate overdose when she swallowed a bottle of morphine. As a consequence, she suffered an episode of pancreatitis and has since developed chronic pancreatitis.

In her victim impact statement, which was read to the court by state prosecutor, John Hayden, BL, Ms Murray painted a graphic account of how seriously and adversely impacted she was by the assault.

When I finally came around to myself in hospital, I couldnt see or feel anything. I felt numb, she wrote, adding that, when she managed to sleep, she would wake up screaming and the nurses would have to come and hold her down so she didnt hurt herself.

Mr Cole, taking to the stand at Mullingar Circuit Court, became emotional as he read out a letter of apology he had written to the victim.

You invited me to your home, which resulted in me breaking your trust by assaulting you in your own home in a fit of uncontrollable rage, he said.

Im sorry for every second you had to endure as a result of my unprovoked attack. I want you to know that, no matter the outcome today, Ill never forgive myself.

I am and always will be sorry.

Mr Cole had 5,000 in court as compensation for Ms Murray, who was willing to accept it as a token of his remorse, but not as compensation.

It is hard to understand how the accused could have perpetrated such a serious assault on the victim over a period of two hours, said Judge Keenan Johnson when passing judgement this morning.

He added that it was extremely fortuitous that Ms Murrays neighbour had the presence of mind to ring the emergency services.

One shudders to think what the position might have been had the Gardai not been called and the assault was allowed to continue unabated.

Judge Johnson took a long number of mitigating factors into account when determining sentence, including a strong familial support, the effect that incarceration would have on Mr Coles two children, an early plea of guilt and an attempt to pay compensation.

Accordingly, I am imposing a sentence of three years and six months, he said, stating that the offence was far too serious to have any portion of that sentence suspended.

Finally, after todays sentencing, I hope that the victim can move on with her life and try to put the appalling assault that was perpetrated on her behind her. I know that is easier said than done, but I hope that the closure which todays sentence brings will assist her with that.
The case against him was adjourned at Dublin District Court for the production of a medical report on the alleged victims injuries.

A MOUNTJOY inmate headbutted a prison guard in the face and repeatedly punched him in a completely unprovoked attack, it is alleged.

According to gardai, Bernard Corrigan assaulted and injured the officer who had asked: What did you say? while the accused was with a group of other prisoners.

The case against him was adjourned at Dublin District Court for the production of a medical report on the alleged victims injuries.

Mr Corrigan, with an address at the time at the prison, is charged with assault causing harm.

A garda told Judge Bryan Smyth she arrested the accused for the purpose of charge and he made no reply after caution. He was handed a copy of the charge sheet.

The Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the case being dealt with summarily at district court level, subject to the issue of jurisdiction being considered, the garda said.

The judge asked for an outline of the prosecutions case.

The court heard the officer was working in one of the wings at Mountjoy on December 27, 2021, and some prisoners were out on the landing while others were still in cells.

The officer was attending a cell that was close to a group of prisoners including the defendant, the garda said.

After attending to the person in the cell, he walked away and one of the people in the group said something to him, the court heard.

The officer returned and asked: What did you say?

It was alleged he was attacked by the defendant, who headbutted him to the right side of the face. According to the prosecution, Mr Corrigan also punched the officer a number of times.

It was a totally unprovoked attack on the officer, who wasnt expecting it, and the accused was the only person involved, the garda said.

The judge said he would need to see a medical report to decide on jurisdiction and the garda said she would make enquiries as to the availability of one. She said the officer had been seen by his GP.

Defence solicitor John Quinn said the accused was seeking bail. The court heard there was no garda objection to bail and no conditions sought.

Judge Smyth granted bail in Mr Corrigans own bond of 200, with no cash lodgement required.

He adjourned the case to a date in May. If jurisdiction is accepted, the case can remain in the district court. Otherwise, the accused will be sent forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Sameer Syed died by suicide in June 2022  one week before he was due to stand trial for murder

For years, Seema Banu was subjected to horrendous physical abuse and emotional control at the hands of her husband.

Living in Ireland with little English, no family, and reliant on him financially, her first two weeks here consisted of daily beatings and torture.

Their daughter Asfira, who was just 11 when she died in October 2020, was also assaulted by her father at times.

On Christmas Eve in 2018 they got some respite from his violence when gardai brought them to a womens refuge.

The family returned home the next day.

The following April they travelled to India, where Ms Banu was once again beaten by Syed, this time in front of her shocked family.

She was hospitalised, and he travelled back to Ireland by himself on May 19.

Family members told an inquest this week that he tried to convince her to follow him with their children, telling her, I wont assault you again, and We will live happily from now on.

Eventually in February 2020, the 37-year-old brought her daughter and son Faizan back to Dublin and settled in Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham, with her husband.

The promises made by Syed were short-lived.

On May 15, Ms Banu made a video call to her family, crying throughout and expressing fears she would be killed.

Gardai were called to the family home twice the next day, and the second time they discovered her unconscious in bed upstairs surrounded by her children.

Sameer Syed was arrested and later charged with assaulting his wife, and bail conditions meant he was not allowed near the family home.

Tusla also became involved, and plans for the family were put in place.

Social workers noted that, over the following weeks and months, Ms Banu began to defend her husband and deny he ever assaulted her.

Her nephew, Kashief Ahmed, said Syed convinced his wife that if she complained, gardai would separate her from their children.

On August 9 she recorded a video, saying: My husband loves me very, very much, while describing the assault incident as a misunderstanding.

Sameer Syed

Nearly two months later, on October 3, she recorded another video with Asfira in which they claimed she fainted on the night of the assault after feeling dizzy.

Syed, despite being ordered to stay away from the house, was present when the recording was made.

It was one of 29 ghosting visits he made to the home in a two-month period.

On the morning of October 22, social worker Holly Nuzum met Seema Banu.

Ms Nuzum, whose dedication to the family was praised by the inquest jury, noted that the mother of two seemed stressed and unwell.

Seema was offered support, but declined.

As the social worker left, she said something that made Ms Banu smile.

I told her she had a lovely smile, and she should do it more often, Ms Nuzum told her. It was the last time she saw her alive.

At 8.05pm that evening, Syed left the property where he was living in Grosvenor Lodge, Rathmines, and walked a short distance to the nearby bus stop.

In an attempt to avoid detection, the cyber-security expert left his phone at home connected to the wi-fi.

CCTV footage showed him getting on the No 14 bus heading towards Rathfarnham.

Syed, a large man, disguised himself as a woman and wore an ankle-length dress, a large jacket, a face covering and dark glasses, while carrying a bag.

He took his seat downstairs as the bus made its way to Llewellyn Court.

Around half an hour later, CCTV footage showed him walking into the estate towards the family home, having changed into regular clothes.

Examinations from devices inside the home give some indication as to what happened next.

At 10.01pm, Seema Banu recorded a video on her mobile phone in which she re-affirmed previous claims that her husband had not assaulted her in May.

The injuries, she said, had been self-inflicted, while she also showed a signed final statement in which she again denied being assaulted.

Gardai believe her daughter Asfira penned the document in English at least a week earlier, because a picture of it had been sent to Syeds phone on October 16.

Little Asfira was also seen on the video saying: Dad loves us a lot. He loves us so much.

The last communication from the mother came at 12.24am when she messaged neighbour Vivienne Balwalya, saying: Wont come to school tomorrow.

Over the next four hours or so, gardai believe Seema, Asfira and Faizan (6) were strangled by Syed.

The thorough garda investigation, led by Detective Inspector Vivian Rock, established that all electronic devices in the home went dead at 2am.

Two hours later at 4am, 38-year-old Syed left the house having murdered his family.

Gardai traced his movements and discovered that he dumped the house keys in a drain around half a mile away. They were later recovered.

He also mailed a parcel containing documents to India, and that morning arrived at the courts in Dublin for his assault case against his wife.

On October 23, Syed responded to a text from Ms Balwalya about the case saying: Hi Vivienne, please pray for us to get back to our normal life.

At 10.30am on Wednesday, October 28, social worker Ms Nuzum arrived at 33 Llewellyn Court for an appointment with Ms Banu.

All of the blinds were drawn, the doors were locked, and Ms Nuzum became concerned.

Gardai forced entry and found a tap in an upstairs bathroom had been left running, causing damage to the kitchen ceiling and flooding the house.

Asfira (11) and Faizan (6) were located lying face down, side-by-side, in an upstairs bedroom.

They each had a scarf wrapped around their neck with a knot at the rear. Asfira also had a plastic bag near her head.

Their mother was found on her bed in another room, lying supine on her back with a scarf around her neck, and her final statement placed neatly on the bedside locker.

All three died from asphyxia due to ligature strangulation.

Gardai launched a murder inquiry and a family liaison officer was appointed to Syed who, in the initial stages at least, appeared a bereft father.

However, digital evidence showed that he was at the family home on the night of October 22, while forensics established that his fingerprint was found on the bag beside Asfiras head.

He denied any involvement when arrested a month after the killings but was later charged with all three murders.

When he was shown the footage of himself dressed as a woman on the bus, Syed capitulated.

He admitted in interviews with Detective Sergeant Peter Woods that he was there on the night they were killed and that he was responsible for his wifes death, but claimed another party murdered his children.

Syed was due to stand trial last June, but a week beforehand died by suicide while in custody in the Midlands Prison.

Ms Banus relatives, Syed Suhan and Kashief Ahmed, were present in court at the Dublin Coroners Court this week as the jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing for all three victims.

The coroner, Dr Clare Keane, praised the garda inquiry and Tusla while extending her sympathies to the family.

While the inquest answers some questions their family have, the death of Sameer Syed means that they will never truly know why he murdered his wife and two children that night.
TOKYO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan on Saturday enacted the revised road traffic law, allowing Level IV autonomous driving on public roads.

Based on the four-level automated vehicle classification, Level IV self-driving cars require the least degree of human driver involvement, and are able to operate unmanned over established routes, making decisions and performing maneuvers even in emergencies.

The previous law permitted level III driving, in which a self-driving system operates the car much of the time, but the human driver takes necessary actions in case of emergency.

Under the new permit system mandated by the updated law, autonomous driving service providers must submit operating plans to public safety commissions of the prefectural police.

Operators must designate a person to oversee services remotely, set up equipment for visual and aural confirmation of conditions inside and outside autonomous vehicles, examine the location, and implement cybersecurity measures as conditions for permits.

The town of Eiheiji, Fukui prefecture, central Japan, is preparing to apply for a permit soon, local media reported Saturday.

The town plans to operate a transportation service with three seven-seater electric carts that travel on paths for cyclists and pedestrians, with one monitoring official, according to Jiji Press. 
The bodies of Dessie Byrne (51) and his sister Muriel Eriksson (62) were recovered from the water in North Kerry.

An inquest into the death of a brother and sister at a Ballybunion beach while on holidays has found their cause of death to be accidental drowning.

In what was described at the time as one of the worst tragedies in 30 years in the North Kerry resort, both died at sea on August 4, 2022

The bodies of 51-year-old Dessie Byrne of Lecarrow, County Roscommon, and his sister, 62-year-old Muriel Eriksson from Malmo, Sweden, were recovered from the water that summer evening.

Coroner Helen Lucey gave the same verdict for the brother and sister, which was death by misadventure, and cause of death was accidental drowning, at Listowel Courthouse today, Friday, March 31.

The Coroners Court heard that there had been a significant rip current in the area at the time.

Evidence was given at the inquest by those who first saw the bodies, as well as first responders and lifeguards on duty.

A huge rescue effort took place on that fateful Thursday afternoon, involving Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue, the RNLI, the Coastguard Helicopter and the Air Ambulance.

The brother and sisters were on holidays with Dessie Byrnes teenage son when the tragedy unfolded.

Mr Byrne was originally from Athlone and was based in Lecarrow in Roscommon for many years, working there as a carpenter and carpet-layer.

His older sister had been living in Malmo in Sweden over recent years but maintained very close links to Ireland.

The siblings  along with Mr Byrne's teenage son  had decided to take a brief Irish holiday, including a visit to Ballybunion, while his sister was home from Sweden.

Kerry rescue officials described the tragedy as the worst swimming-related accident in the area for over 30 years.

The then-Taoiseach Micheal Martin, who had been visiting Kerry at the time of the tragedy, paid tribute to Mr Byrne and Ms Eriksson.

"We're all deeply shocked and saddened at this very tragic and heart-breaking loss of life on what was a beautiful day, he said.

The two siblings died after getting into difficulty with notoriously strong currents offshore from Ballybunion beach.

Sympathy was expressed at the inquest to all those affected by the tragedy.
A Dublin youth telephoned a hoax bomb threat to a Garda station demanding release from a holding cell, and that a republican prisoner be let out of jail, a court heard.

The 17-year-old had been detained at Clontarf Garda station but had sneaked a phone in with him and "feigned a northern accent" when he made two 999 calls from inside a holding cell.

Judge Paul Kelly heard at Dublin Children's Court that the teen threatened to detonate one bomb at the station unless its prisoners were let out and another bomb at a shopping centre if "Whacker Duffy" was not released from Portlaoise Prison.

It caused a "bit of a panic", but a "seasoned" station sergeant was unconvinced, and a garda caught the teen using the phone in the station's holding cell was checked.

Sentencing was adjourned for a probation report.

The boy, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, was charged with knowingly making a false report or report at Clontarf Garda station.

He had initially denied the charge but entered a guilty plea when his trial was about to start, and prosecution witnesses had come to court.

Garda Keith McCarthy told Judge Kelly that the teen had been held at the station on a date last year. There were two 999 calls.

They lasted three minutes and 42 seconds, and 57 seconds.

After the initial panic, Garda command and control could establish the call was "pinging" from a phone mast in the area of Clontarf station.

The teen had "feigned a northern accent and was demanding the release of all prisoners at Clontarf Garda station. The court there were "explicit threats that a bomb would be detonated if he was not released by 2 am".

The caller also demanded that "Whacker Duffy" be released from Portlaoise Prison or another bomb would be detonated at a shopping centre.

Garda McCarthy then heard a "voice emanating from the cell" and looked through the door slit to see the accused talking into a small Nokia phone in the corner.

The court heard the duty sergeant was a seasoned hand and did not believe it was genuine, widespread panic was averted, and the station was not evacuated.

Garda McCarthy said that he had to remove the phone from the teen forcibly, and it was later analysed.

The teen is now serving a sentence for other matters. He had 39 previous convictions for theft, robbery, burglary, public order, possessing stolen property, obstructing gardai and criminal damage offences.

Judge Kelly said there was never a case like it before the Children's Court.

Defence counsel Doireann McDonagh said her client was a creative and intelligent young man doing well in the Oberstown detention centre and has completed training courses.

The judge heard he was inebriated at the time of the incident but is now remorseful.

The boy, accompanied to the hearing by his mother, did not address the court.
A "prolific'' offender who once claimed his addiction to sickening images of children was untreatable downloaded indecent photos because it was "his way of reacting to stressful situations, a court has heard.

Carey Lyons - one of Northern Irelands worst sex offenders and described by his own barrister as a wholly inadequate individual - narrowly avoided prison when he was sentenced for possessing child sex images on Friday.

He has a long history of sexual offending, and was convicted of indecent assaults when aged just 15.

The 64-year-old, of the Simon Community Hostel, Bond's Hill in Derry, was handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence suspended for three years after pleading guilty to 15 charges of possessing indecent images of children.

Lyons further admitted a single specimen count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

Belfast Crown Court heard Lyons has four entries for breaching court orders, including breach of licence for sex offences and breaching the terms of a Sexual Offenders Prevention Order (SOPO) in 2008, 2018 and 2021.

Defence barrister Mark Barlow said the motivation behind Lyons breaching of SOPO orders and downloading of indecent images is "his way of reacting to stressful situations which he can't deal with''.

"From my perspective, he is better off in custody. He is a wholly inadequate individual and when he is unable to cope he breaches his SOPO or downloads unlawful images.''

The court heard that in January 2018, Lyons was living at a hostel in Belfast's Ventry lane when a social worker observed him looking at a computer monitor.

When challenged, Lyons replied: "I have received permission from Probation,'' saying he bought the computer the previous day for 700.

Prosecution lawyer Gareth Purvis said Probation Service were contacted and detectives from the PSNI's Public Protection Branch later searched his room.

He told Judge Geoffrey Miller KC the computer, an external hard drive and a memory stick were seized for examination.

Experts uncovered 359 indecent images of children, with 74 in the highest category and 51 in the middle category. They also found 160 prohibited images.

The court heard Lyons has a "significant and extremely relevant'' criminal record dating back 50 years.

He was convicted of indecent assaults on both female and male children in 1973 when the defendant was 15 years old.

His first conviction for possessing indecent images was in 2000 with further convictions for similar offending in 2005, 2013 and 2017, and the four entries for breaching court orders.

He added that when caught with the computer, Lyons was in further breach of a SOPO and a court sentenced him to 12 months in custody.

Lyons appeared in court 2021 for a further SOPO breach and was sentenced to 12 months on probation.

Mr Barlow, his defence barrister, said that in the five years since his detection, "there has been no evidence that he has downloaded unlawful images''.

A medical report stated that Lyons "struggles to cope on his own in order to be detected and to bring him back to the attention of the criminal justice system''.

Judge Miller said: "This defendant, by virtue of his antecedents and his breaches of SOPOs, has a high level of interest in this unlawful material. He is a prolific offender.

"He is a complex individual who prefers to have no community involvement and no friendships. He appears to be entirely reliant on external controls rather than self control to monitor and curb his impulse to offend.

"Without those support mechanisms, he will continue to commit offences with the inevitable result that he will spend more time in custody.

"He continues to pose a challenge to his offender management but there are signs that he has not downloaded unlawful image in the last five years which does provide some hope that he has taken on board the treatment programmes.'

Earlier this year the Sunday Life reported how Lyons

Lyons was one of the first people to be convicted of having indecent images of children when he was caught in 2000 following a tip-off to the RUC from Greater Manchester Police.

When police raided his then home in Newtownabbey, they found 50,000 still and moving images of children being sexually abused hidden beneath his bed.

During a police interview, the paedophile told officers: Ive been a bad boy. Theres stuff on my computer that there shouldnt have been.

The sentencing hearing in another case against the paedophile in 2017 was told he admitted to his probation officer he had a long-term interest in children... and there may not be any treatment which will change this.

On Friday, in the latest case, Lyons was made the subject of a SOPO for 10 years and was placed on the sex offenders register for the same period.
A garda spokesman said no arrests have been made and investigations ongoing.

This is the AK-47 seized by gardai following a search operation by gardai in Finglas, North Dublin last night.

The search operation was conducted by officers from the District Drugs Unit in Finglas with assistance from a number of local units.

During the raid, the AK-47 was located at the scene along with cannabis valued at approximately 12,000.

The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova, is a gas-operated assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union.

During the 80s and 90s, large quantities of the rifles were smuggled into Ireland by both the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries, as well as drugs gangs.

The firearm and drugs will now be sent for analysis at the Garda Ballistics Unit and Forensic Science Ireland respectively.

A garda spokesman said no arrests have been made and investigations ongoing.

The AK47 seizure is the second time this week firearms have been seized by gardai in the Finglas area.

Three high-powered weapons and ammunition as well as drugs worth 177,000 were discovered by gardai on Monday

The guns including a Scorpion Machine Pistol with magazine clip, ammunition and silencer, a Sig Saur Pistol with ammunition and a RAK 63 Machine Pistol and magazine clip were discovered at vacant waste land in the area.

Suspected cocaine with an estimated value of approximately 92,000 and suspected cannabis with an estimated value of approximately 85,000 was also found in the search.

Gardai seized three suspected firearms, ammunition and approximately 177,000 of suspected drugs during the course of a search in Finglas, Dublin 11 on Monday, gardai said.

The search, conducted as part of Operation Thor by Gardai from the Finglas Detective Unit supported by Gardai from the K District Task Force and the Garda Dog Unit, occurred at approximately 3pm at vacant waste land in the Finglas area.

During the course of this search, Gardai located and seized a number of items at various locations within the waste land, including in a barrel which had been buried into the ground.
Significant doubt young American ever went for walk in Enniskerry

The last known image of Annie McCarrick captured in the AIB on Sandymount Road   Colin Keegan

Photos of Annie McCarrick shown by gardai as part of the investigation. Photo: Colin Keegan/Collins   Colin Keegan

A man who lived in the same Dublin 4 neighbourhood as Annie McCarrick has been identified as a suspect in her murder.

The man is understood to have lived in Sandymount at the time the young American was murdered on or about March 26, 1993.

He has not been arrested, and sources said there were no plans yet to bring him in as gardai continue to build a case against him.

It is not known whether he and Ms McCarrick were known to each other, and gardai stressed last night they are still keeping a very open mind in their murder investigation.

There is a list of people of interest in this case and this individual is a person of major interest, a source said.

Earlier this week, the Sunday Worldrevealed that the main geographical focus of the investigation is the Sandymount area of south Dublin.

This is where Ms McCarrick was last seen, at the Allied Irish Bank on March 26, 1993.

Gardai have released the final known image of her  a grainy shot captured on a CCTV camera at that location.

Sources believe way too much attention was paid by detectives to reported sightings of her in Enniskerry village and Johnnie Foxs pub in the aftermath of the bank sighting.

The firm belief is that the key to solving this case is south Dublin, particularly the Sandymount area where Annie lived, rather than anywhere else, a source said.

However, it has been stressed that it is a complex investigation and everything is still being looked at.

Last week, gardai officially upgraded their missing person investigation into Ms Mc- Carricks disappearance to a murder investigation and made a public appeal for information.

While convicted rapist Larry Murphy, a long-time suspect in this case, has not been ruled out as a person of interest, sources said gardai believe he is not on top of the list.

Nothing can be ruled out, of course, but this investigation is going in a certain direction now, a source said.

There have been significant developments which cannot be disclosed now.

Murphy has been connected to other missing persons cases, including the 1998 murder of Deirdre Jacob, and Jo Jo Dullard in 1995.

However, the south Dublin suspect in the Annie McCarrick case has never before come to the medias attention in relation to those matters.

Ms McCarrick, from Long Island, New York, was 27 when she was last seen alive. She had been living in Sandymount and working in Dublin city centre at the time.

The last known image of Annie McCarrick captured in the AIB on Sandymount Road   Colin Keegan

It had been believed that shortly after her image was captured inside the AIB in Sandymount, Ms McCarrick boarded a bus to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, to go for a walk, but she never returned.

However, there is significant doubt that bus journey ever happened.

Ms McCarricks father, John, died in 2009 without knowing what happened to his daughter.

Her mother, Nancy, lives in Long Island and was recently visited by senior garda detectives.

Further advances in investigative techniques may help gardai in finally bringing closure for the McCarrick family.

So far, detectives have discovered and collated more than 5,000 documents and reports, taken more than 300 statements of evidence and retained several exhibits.

On the morning of her disappearance, Ms McCarrick spoke to her flatmates before they left separately to travel home that weekend.

She arrived at the AIB on Sandymount Road at 11am and also made arrangements with friends, inviting them over to dinner the following day.

However, on the evening of March 27, her friends became concerned for her welfare.

She was not at home for the arranged dinner and had not shown up to work.

Groceries that had been bought the previous morning were left unpacked in shopping bags.

By the following day, she was reported missing, a report that was confirmed by her mother, who arrived in Dublin two days later.

Last week, the officer leading the investigation, Detective Superintendent Eddie Carroll, said: I want to speak to any person who met, spoke with or had any interaction with Annie McCarrick on March 26, 1993, or subsequently.

There is a person or persons who have information on the disappearance of Annie McCarrick and her murder, and who havent yet spoken to gardai or who may have already spoken to gardai but were not in a position to tell everything that they know at that time.

I want to speak with any person who has any information on the large brown handbag which it is believed that Annie was in possession of when she went missing. I am appealing to those persons, 30 years later, to please come forward and speak to the investigation team embers.

The primary focus of this investigation is the victim, Annie McCarrick, and her family.

Annies father, John, has passed away not knowing what happened to his daughter.

Annies mother, Nancy, deserves to know the truth  she deserves to know what happened to her daughter. She is waiting 30 years for those answers.

I, and the investigation team, are determined to gather all available information and evidence to find those answers and bring this matter to a positive conclusion.
The court heard Ross Hutch had suffered several bereavements in recent years, including tragically both parents.

The jailing of Ross Hutch, the nephew of Gerry The Monk Hutch this week, is just the latest incident to befall his family.

While their uncle awaits a verdict from the Special Criminal Court on a charge of the murder of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel more than seven years ago, several of his other nephews and family members have hit the headlines in recent times for the wrong reasons.

This week, Ross (31) of Portland Place in Dublin 1, was sentenced to ten years in prison for two separate attacks on a man and a woman over a 48-hour-period in 2021.

He had pleaded guilty to assault causing serious harm to his ex-girlfriend's partner on August 22, 2021, by slashing the mans face with a knife.

Ross Hutch

Hutch further admitted assault causing harm to a different ex-girlfriend the following day on August 23, 2021, at Holyhead Hostel on Gardiner Street.

At a hearing in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Martin Nolan described the second offence as a savage and repeated attack.

Judge Nolan sentenced Hutch to seven and a half years in prison for the assault causing serious harm to the man and to two and a half years for assaulting the woman, both sentences to run consecutively.

Hutch has 75 previous convictions, including assault, possession of a shotgun, firearms and knives, criminal damage, violent disorder and robberies.

In defending Hutch, his counsel, Michael O Higgins SC, said he had suffered numerous early traumatic childhood experiences, as a result of which he was not able to cope with adult life.

He had suffered several bereavements in recent years, including tragically both parents.

Hutchs mother passed away in January of this year, while Ross was still in custody. It is understood officers were called after a male relative became concerned and forced entry to the property where Jane (66), also known as Jenny, had died.

But it was the murder of his cousin Gary, in Spain in 2015, that sparked the bloody Hutch/Kinahan feud, which led directly to the deaths of no fewer than four of his relatives, including his father Eddie Hutch Snr (59).

Eddie was gunned down on Poplar Row in February 2016, in a revenge killing just days after Kinahan gangster David Byrne was shot dead in the infamous Regency Hotel attack.

Following Byrnes murder, cartel boss Daniel Kinahan ordered his gang to kill members of the Hutch family or anyone connected to them. The feud would eventually cost the lives of a total of 18 men.

One of the first to be targeted was innocent taximan Eddie Snr who was shot dead outside his home in the north inner city.

Despite chilling images that captured the gunman in the act, Eddies killing remains unsolved.

Of Eddies other children, his son Eddie Jnr (47) who scooped 33,000 in prizes in 2015 on RTEs Winning Streak, has multiple previous convictions mainly for petty offences.

Eddie Hutch Jnr

Just last month, prosecutors dropped a criminal trespass case against him after he had been accused of being on a neighbours property without permission.

Another son, Alan Hutch (39) received a sentence in 2019 for burglary and assault causing harm to a man at the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Hammam buildings, Upper O'Connell Street on March 7th, 2018.

During the sentence hearing his barrister said Alan Hutch was in protection in custody in a single cell and had formed certain views that the prison authorities were contaminating his food and water.

He handed a psychological report into court outlining his family circumstances. His upbringing was described as challenging, with Hutch witnessing violence inflicted on his mother, brothers and himself by his father.

He said that despite this, Hutch described missing his father and wishing he was around to steady the ship and get him back on the right path.

He said his client did not like to hear the phrase "dead man walking" but said it was something all members of the Hutch family had been faced with and it was something Hutch had to live with.

In 2005, at an inquest into the death of another of Rosss brothers, Christopher Bouncer Hutch, who was a close personal friend of cartel boss Daniel Kinahan at the time, Jenny Hutch appealed for his body to be exhumed and tested for poisons.

Another nephew of the Monk, Gareth Hutch (36), was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside the Avondale House flat complex in the north inner city, just three months after Eddie Snr was killed, in May 2016.

He died as a result of four gunshot injuries; two to the back of the neck, one to the lower back and one to the right of the upper chest.

In November 2018, three people, including a brother and sister, were jailed for life by the Special Criminal Court after being found guilty of Gareths "deliberate and callous murder".

Gareth Hutch

The three-judge court found Jonathan Keogh (33) fired the fatal shots that killed Mr Hutch (36) in "cold-blooded manner" while Thomas Fox (31) had made a "probable" contribution to Mr Hutch's murder.

The court also found that Regina Keogh (41), a mother-of-five, had "colluded" with her brother to cause serious injury to Mr Hutch and was guilty of murder due to her involvement with her brother's affairs.

Gareths father John Hutch, was a tragic figure who died in July 2019 two days after he fell down a flight of stairs at his home on Dublins North Circular Road.

The grandad, who was the Monks brother, had been living under threat of death by the Kinahans at the time and an attempt had been made on his life in September 2016.

The Monks other brother, Patsy Hutch, who has always maintained he has had no involvement in his brothers gangland activities, is father to Gary, whose murder at the Angel de Miraflores apartment complex in Marbella on September 24, 2015, ignited the feud.

One of his other two sons, Patrick Hutch Jnr, walked free from court in 2019 after charges against him for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin were dropped by the State.

During the Special Criminal Court trial of his uncle Gerry, the court heard how Patrick Hutch had presented at Dublins Mater Hospital with a single gunshot wound to the leg that was described as serious but not life-threatening in Dublin on August 15, 2014.

Eddie Hutch Snr

However, the court heard that he would not cooperate with the garda investigation into his shooting and that the matter was still an open investigation.

Another Monk nephew, Derek Coakley Hutch (27) from Buckingham Street in Dublins north inner city, was shot dead as he sat in a car at a halting site in Clondalkin on January 20, 2018.

He had been involved in criminality, mainly for drugs and robberies, but was not regarded as a gangland figure.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of a replica firearm and robbery of a Spar Shop in Clontarf, North Dublin, in June 2015, when the terrified the shop manager had a gun held to her head.

His father, Derek Snr, tragically took his own life aged 44 in February 2009, wracked with guilt, it has been reported, over a murder he claimed he committed.
Gardai said the operation targeted persons suspected to be involved in an organised crime

The drugs were seized by a Garda and Revenue Customs Service joint operation

Two men have been arrested in the relation to the seizure of 67.5 kilograms herbal cannabis.

A joint search operation was carried out in counties Dublin and Meath today by officers attached to Revenue Customs Service, the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB), Coolock and Raheny District Drugs Units and the Meath Divisional Drugs Unit.

Gardai said the operation targeted persons suspected to be involved in an organised crime who are operating in the Dublin and Meath area.

During the course of this operation, Revenue officers seized approximately 67.5 kilograms of herbal cannabis with an estimated value of 1.36 million, a garda spokesperson said.

Gardai arrested two males (aged 45 years and 39 years) who are currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 at a Garda Station in North Dublin.
The drugs seized will now undergo further analysis with Forensic Science Ireland.

Suspected growhouse in Co Mayo. Photo: An Garda Siochana

Two men have been arrested after gardai raided a growhouse in Co Mayo last night.

Gardai seized suspected cannabis plants with an estimated value of 432,800 following searches in the Killala area of Co Mayo.

A garda spokesman said the drugs seized will now undergo further analysis with Forensic Science Ireland.

He said: Two men, one aged in his 30s and the other in his 20s, are currently detained at a Garda station in the west of the country under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996."

This seizure was made as part of Operation Tara, the gardais anti-drugs strategy.

The aim of Operation Tara is to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute drug trafficking networks, at all levels - international, national, local.
Michael Taggart, who is facing two charges of contravening a non-molestation order, has said the case will be vigorously defended.

A man who once topped Irelands richest list is facing charges of contravening a non-molestation order.

Property developer Michael Taggart was one of the countrys best-known businessmen after making a fortune building houses with his brother John.

But the Derry brothers empire fell apart as a result of the 2007 property crash.

Michael Taggart, who has since returned to the house-building business, is facing two charges of contravening a non-molestation order.

The offences are alleged to have taken place at Legavallon Road in Dungiven, Co Derry, on July 7 and July 22 last year.

A non-molestation order is an order put in place to protect a person or people from violence or harassment.

The order is not the same as a criminal conviction.

The standard of proof is not as high as in criminal proceedings and it can be put in place by consent without any findings being made against the individual involved.

Mr Taggarts case was mentioned briefly at Limavady Magistrates Court this week.

The hearing did not go into any further details about the circumstances behind the charges against the 56-year-old businessman.

There was a short discussion between Mr Taggarts legal representative and the judge in relation to issues around the alleged evidence in the case, before the case was adjourned until next month.

As a result of his success in the property world, Michael Taggart was chosen as the Irish Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007 and was named by newspapers that year as Irelands richest man.

He and his brother built their small sub-contracting firm into one of the biggest house-building operations in Ireland.

However, their property business crashed as a result of the worldwide 2007 economic crisis.

Taggart Holdings, which had also been building houses in Britain and the Isle of Man, was eventually put into administration in October 2008 when banks called in their debts.

At the time, the company had estimated debts of 300 million, including money owed to sub-contractors and small businesses.

The Taggarts business was one of the most high-profile casualties of the economic crash.

Following the collapse of their company, the brothers were involved in a long-running legal battle with Ulster Bank.

They issued a multi-million pound writ for alleged improper conduct, claiming the banks actions contributed to the collapse of their company.

The Taggart brothers claimed they could have sold off assets had they been warned of unease within the bank about the companys finances.

However, Ulster Bank issued counter proceedings for money it contended the brothers owed in personal guarantees over land purchases in Dublin in 2006 and in Northern Ireland a year later.

Michael Taggart

The court proceedings heard that as well as developments in Ireland and the UK, the Taggarts property portfolio once extended to a Luxembourg shopping centre and luxury apartments in Florida and on the borders of Monte Carlo.

However, despite the brothers claims around how they had been treated by Ulster Bank, the courts ruled in favour of the bank.

Mr Taggart is now the Chief Executive Officer of Taggart Holdings, a property company which has built a large number of properties in the north west region. In a profile article on the companys website, it states the businessman and his brother established their original company, Taggart Holdings Ltd Group, in 1989.

It was a family-held business involved in the construction industry primarily in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. The majority shareholder, public face and driving force for the group was Michael.

The profile adds that Mr Taggart oversees the strategic direction of the current company and has an unwavering passion for delivering high quality homes.

In an interview with the Irish Independent in 2015 following his return to the property development business, Mr Taggart said he was delighted to be back.

I started like this more than two decades ago with 1,500 and Ive never been afraid of a days work, he said.

A solicitor acting for Mr Taggart said: Mr Taggart is fully aware of this matter which is currently before the court and is being vigorously defended.

Since these...allegations came to his attention he has made it clear to the court that they are contested.

A substantial dossier of evidence has been submitted to the appropriate prosecution authorities on Mr Taggarts behalf and at a court hearing last week the matter was adjourned because they are currently reviewing the decision to prosecute, with the benefit of that evidence.
I didnt know if I was going to be battered or raped because of the stories Ive heard

A newly-engaged Dublin based couple who gagged a 92-year-old grandmother with tights and tied her up during a series of robberies have been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison in the UK.

Edward Connors and Leanna Hughes had recently announced their engagement on Facebook when they tied Jean Harding (92) to a chair in Manchester during a series of raids last June, having left their home in Dublin.

Now every bump in the night scares me, the innocent gran said in her victim impact statement to Manchester Crown Court.

Connors tied Mrs Harding with a cable tie, dragged her downstairs, and threatened to kill her if she refused to comply. Hughes stripped her of all her jewellery, including priceless family heirlooms, and tied her up with a vacuum cable.

They ripped out the pensioners telephone so she couldnt call for help, left her covered in bruises and at one point screamed: If we dont get it, well rip it out.

The couple were sentenced after being convicted of burglary, attempted burglary and fraud. The pair nicked a 22-carat gold ring, an 18-carat gold ring, a gold wedding band, a silver Celtic cross necklace, a gold chain and 600 in cash during the raid in Burnage.

The couple managed to gain entry by using a ladder to climb into the grans bedroom.

In her victim impact statement, Mrs Harding said: It sends shivers down my spine when I think about it and I now jump at every bump in the night. I didnt know if I was going to be battered or raped because of the stories Ive heard.

When the man came through the window, I hit my head and also my hip, which had just been replaced. My heart began to beat faster and I felt it pounding in my chest. When he asked me to help his accomplice through the front door, I felt sick.

All the drawers were emptied, and it took a long time for everything to return to normal. I stayed with my goddaughters for a month after the incident. During the day I was fine, but at night I got scared, Ms Harding added.

Ms Hughess lawyer tried to offer mitigating circumstances for his clients crimes.

She has been addicted to heroin for a long time and her drug use has plagued her for years. Although she was able to stay off drugs for a while before the incident, she relapsed after suffering a traumatic miscarriage. She also has a history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against her, he said.

Judge Rachel Smith told the pair during sentencing: I have heard that he has been abusive and aggressive throughout the process and was under the influence while in custody. Leanna has scant regard for the consequences of her actions and although she has expressed remorse, she does not understand the impact this has had on her victims.

Investigations revealed that Connors had previously spent eight years behind bars for raping an American tourist at West Belfasts Colin Glen Forest adventure park in 2008.

After his release, he registered a further 22 other crimes, including burglary, assault and failure to give his address to police.

Connors lawyer blamed an addiction to the drug known as spice, as well as cocaine and heroin.
NEW DELHI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed after a blast took down a two-storey house in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said Saturday.

The blast took place on Friday inside a house located on an agricultural field in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, about 90 km east of the Indian capital city New Delhi.

Media reports said four people were killed on the spot and the fifth succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

Authorities have ordered an investigation into the blast. 
Saturdays search operation is focusing on a property and land off the Letterkenny Road and Foyle Road area in the city.

Army Bomb Disposal units arrive at the scene of the search in Derry (Photo by Aodhan Roberts)

Police and ATO are conducting counter terror searches relating to the New IRA in the Creggan area of Derry.

Saturdays search operation is focusing on a property and land off the Letterkenny Road and Foyle Road area in the city.

The Belfast Telegraph has reported the intelligence-led operation is linked to previous searches in the former Daisyfield site and the Southway area.

Pictures from the scene show six bomb disposal teams accompanied by the PSNIs Terrorism Investigation Unit, searching for potential munitions and explosives.

Some officers are conducting a search inside a property while ATO are focusing on land surrounding the property.

In a statement on Saturday morning a police spokesperson said: Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Terrorism Investigation Unit (TIU) are conducting a search in Derry/Londonderry as part of an ongoing investigation into New IRA activity.

The planned search in the Letterkenny Road area is being conducted with support from District and Tactical Support Group colleagues.
I will stand by what I believe is right and good and kind of a heart and of a human being

Sarah and Diana, Princess of Wales (pictured here with Princess Margaret) were 'pitted against each other'   Getty Images

Sarah Ferguson has insisted she will stand by disgraced Prince Andrew despite the controversy surrounding her ex-husband.

The Duchess of York, better known as Fergie, was married to Andrew for 10 years until they separated in 1996.

The pair have two children daughter, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Andrew was accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Guiffre, one of Epsteins victims, when she was underage in the US. Andrew has consistently and vehemently denied the accusations.

Andrew was stripped of his military titles and asked to step down as a working royal last year, after he paid Guiffre a multi-million pound settlement to stop the case going to court.

Speaking to Brendan OConnor on RTE Radio One, Ferguson insisted she would stand by Andrew.

I will stand by what I believe is right and good and kind of a heart and of a human being; he stood by me in my very difficult times. However, I still believe that he is a good father and a very good grandfather, and he stood by me, and Ill stand by him.

The 63-year-old released her latest book, A Most Intriguing Lady, a Novel late last year and she has said it has a bit of "herself in it.

Lady Mary, the main protagonist in the book, is rebellious red head who struggles with the stiff confines of society, similar to how Fergie sees herself.

Having signed a 22-book deal, she said, I think going minute by minute, day by day, I love this book. I think youve always got to do what you love.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and Prince Andrew at Ascot Racecourse in 2019   Getty Images

Book one I was just becoming a novelist and author. I'm 63, starting a new career and very proud of it and so lady Margaret was my first book, Lady Mary is my second book.

The third book; the more that I'm getting confident in myself the more I can write and can get into it.

The lengthy interview saw OConnor commend Ferguson for being Irelands favourite royal, telling her she was more craic that the rest.

He also referred to her dirty laugh to which Fergie insisted she wouldnt change.

While she acknowledges she has lived every girls dream, she said living in the royal institution prevented her from expressing herself.

Sarah and Diana, Princess of Wales (pictured here with Princess Margaret) were 'pitted against each other'   Getty Images

It was a thing in those days not to express your emotions. I suppose thats why it has been very difficult for me because I am full of joy, and I am full of why and full of curious life.

During her early life, tabloids often pitted Fergie and Princess Dianna against each other, writing headlines calling Fergie the Duchess of Pork and Fat Frumpy Fergie.

It was diabolical, Diana and I were permanently put against each other, permanently there was competition because they had to sell papers. There were some headlines that they have taken down saying they never said it but I've kept copies of it so they cant.

And I admit yes, I'm very vulnerable sometimes when it hurts, it does hurt. And thats probably when I would reach for the cookie jar.

We (herself and Dianna) were inseparable, and we knew each other from the Barbara Cartland days, that was a relative of hers. It's really important that I believe in kindness so it didnt matter what anyone said about Dianna or what Dianna said about me, I loved her to the day, even today. She was witty and quick, we both got on brilliantly.

With King Charles coronation approaching, she said she has not yet received an invitation to the ceremony but believes he will bring a fresh new chapter and bring a great unity and fresh look at life.

If we look back on Charles life, the Kings life, we will see that he was a champion of environmentalist; he was a champion of so many things and he was criticised for it all the way through and so yes I do think he's going to be a modern king.
Daniel O'Donnell is one of a number of country music stars appearing on a special series of An Post stamps

Singer Daniel ODonnell has said gender should be irrelevant when it comes to filling Ryan Tubridys shoes onThe Late Late Show.

The chart-topping Donegal man (61) was among the stars on the flagship shows country music special last night as Tubridy enters his final stretch of fronting the programme.

The star, who has sold more than 15 million records, said he would like to see the best person for the job, be that man or woman.

It really doesnt matter. I dont think anybody should get a job because theyre a man or theyre a woman. I dont believe in that at all. I think you should get the job if youre the right person for that job, whatever it might be, said ODonnell.

I hope that theyll find the person that is able for it, I suppose. Everything needs to change and this is the time.

When Ryan came in, it was the sameLate Late Showbut it was a different approach.

And it will be the same for this new presenter and the people around them that create the show  its not just about the presenter, its the producers and the team. They will have to put their thinking caps on as to what will be good for whoever is picked for it.

Given that the last three presenters have all been male, starting with Gay Byrne in 1962, there has been more than 60 years of men at the helm of The Late Late. So does ODonnell feel that its time RTE chose a woman to front the show?

I think it shouldnt be a woman because its time, said ODonnell.

It should be a woman because shes the right person for this job. And if its a woman and thats whos picked and shes the right person, then thats fantastic.

But I think its a pressure to put somebody in just because theyre seen to be next in line. You want to get the job because you deserve it.

ODonnell said he had always enjoyed doing the Friday night show with Tubridy, and wished him all the best in his next adventures.

No matter who you are or what youre doing in life, I think its important to do things in your time and the way you want to do them. And I think Ryan has made this decision himself, that he feels its his time to move on, he said.

I really do wish him all the luck in the world and I would doubt that Ryan is entering into semi-retirement now. I cant see that hell just do his morning radio show  Im sure there are other things he wants to do.

ODonnell was last night unveiled as part of the new series of An Post country music stamp booklets, alongside Cliona Hagan, Nathan Carter, Philomena Begley and the late Big Tom.

And ODonnell said it was a great privilege to be immortalised in this way as tribute was paid to that sector of the Irish music industry.

I never imagined my face being on a postage stamp in Ireland. Its beyond comprehension that this has happened for me, he said.

I still send cards and letters to people, so it will be funny to maybe stick my own face on the envelope  you never know.

This summer ODonnell will embark on his first major tour since 2019, taking in 13 dates around the island of Ireland. He will start in Athlone on August 11 and finish the tour at the Cork Opera House on August 30.
He gushed about his love for Irish people, explaining that they make great audiences every time hes in town.

Michael Buble has said that he cant wait to perform in Ireland again as he opened up about his big deep love for Irish people.

The Canadian crooner joined The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM to chat about returning to Dublins 3Arena on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May as part of his Higher Tour.

He gushed about his love for Irish people, explaining that they make great audiences every time hes in town.

I love them, they are my people. I really do, I have a big deep love, he said.

Amazing people; great audiences. Its impossible not to be in love with those people. Its just one of those places, where as an entertainer or a human being, you dont have to be something you are not. The more natural and genuine I am, the more fun that I have.

Michael said that he and his wife Luisana love coming to Ireland with their kids Noah, Vida, Elias, and baby Cielo.

However, their favourite time to be on the Emerald Isle is around the festive season  with the romantic feeling in the air being a big draw for the couple.

My family and I love going (to Ireland). Just getting a walk down the street and going shopping. I love it at Christmas.

Its a very romantic place at Christmas, everything all lit up and all the shops and my music playing through every store.

Michael and Luisana welcomed their fourth child last August and announced the news with identical Instagram posts holding their baby daughters foot.

From love comes life, light and her our baby Cielo Yoli Rose Buble.

You finally arrived to our lives with your 3.8 kg!!! Thanks God for this infinite blessing, we love you!! Noah, Elias, Vida and your mom and dad, they captioned the photo.

Michael took a two-year hiatus from music following his eldest son Noahs diagnosis with cancer when he was three years old in November 2016.

After the youngster was given the all-clear in 2017, the musician wrote a song  Forever Now  about his children.

He previously admitted thinking he would not make another album after he and Ms Lopilato announced their son was ill.
Katch Katikati is excited to announce the launch of its new Adopt a Street programme, designed to bring the community together to keep our streets clean of litter.

The programme, which is supported by Western Bay of Plenty District Council, invites individuals, families, businesses, organisations and community groups to adopt a street or area in Katikati and take responsibility for keeping it free of litter.

This is a fantastic opportunity for community members to get involved and take ownership of their streets and make a positive difference in their own neighbourhoods. By working together, we can keep our streets clean for everyone to enjoy, says Katch Katikati manager Jacqui Knight.

We encourage everyone to get involved.

When volunteers adopt a street they commit to regularly cleaning up litter on a voluntary basis. Volunteers can choose an area close-by to where they live, work or play and they decide when and how often they will pick up litter so it fits within their other commitments.

Volunteers receive a pack containing gloves and rubbish bags and each team or individual that nominates a street or place is recorded on a map on the Adopt a Street web page so at a glance anyone can see which streets have been adopted and are being looked after. Volunteers are encouraged to complete a Clean Up Report, to help the council understand where our litter is coming from.

We are thrilled to launch the Adopt a Street programme as it endorses the Taiki Promise, which is a commitment to care for New Zealand, for now and for future generations, including keeping our country clean, and disposing of litter responsibly, says Jacqui.

The programme not only brings people together, keeps streets clean, and creates a sense of community pride but also enforces the message that littering is not okay and we should all endeavour to be tidy kiwis.

To nominate the street or place you want to keep clean of litter, head to https://www.katikati.org.nz/adopt-a-street and fill in the online registration form, or forms are available at The Arts Junction, 36 Main Rd, Katikati.

The Adopt A Street Programme kicks off from Sunday April 2. Come and visit The Arts Junction, register for the programme between 10am-1pm and receive your Adopt a Street Pack of gloves and rubbish bags. The first 30 people registered receive a free plant courtesy of Project Parore.
PHNOM PENH, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian and Chinese central bank officials have discussed the promotion of local currency settlement for cross-border trade between the two countries, said a statement released by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Saturday.

The talks were held between NBC's Deputy Governor Chea Serey and Xuan Changneng, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan province.

Both officials vowed to strengthen financial cooperation between the two central banks for mutual benefits, the statement said.

"The meeting discussed the promotion of cross-border trade local currency settlement, increasing payment system connectivity and central bank digital currency," it said.

"The deputy governors welcomed closer cooperation to develop appropriate policies to promote the above-mentioned topics with the objective of increasing payment network resiliency and efficiency to facilitate trade and investment between the two nations," it added.

According to the statement, Serey joined a roundtable discussion with other central bank governors, policy makers and private sector leaders at the Boao Forum to discuss the topic of "Financial Infrastructure and Services in the Digital Era." 
The annual Pay What you Want Tauranga Half Marathon is being held on Sunday April 2, at Fergusson Park.

People are preparing to take on 15km, 10km, 5km and the Matua Mile events.

Of the expected 1400 entrants, over 200 will be part of the Workplace Shout, another wellness initiative to engage employers to shout entry to their staff.

Established in 2005, the Tauranga Half Marathon relaunched in 2018 as New Zealands first Pay What You Want running event.

To allow for the event to take place, the following road and lane closures will be in place on the day:



Road Closures 6.00am-12.00pm:

Kulim Avenue, Harbour Drive to Bureta Road

Maxwells Road, Habour Drive to Ngatai Road

Fergusson Park, Internal Roadway including Boat Ramp

Tilby Drive, Fergusson Park to Levers Road

Otumoetai Road, Levers Road to Beach Road

Lane closures 7.30am-12.30pm:

Woods Avenue, Levers Road to Beach Road  West side

Harbour Drive, Maxwells Road to Kulim Avenue  South side

Beach Road, Otumoetai Road to Kulim Avenue  South side

Intermittent lane closures for 1015 minute intervals between 6.00am-11.30am:

Levers Road, top of Tilby Drive to top of Sylvania Drive

Near intersection of Bureta Road and Harbour Drive

Levers Road, Tilby Drive to Woods Avenue  North side

Parking Restrictions: There will be no parking areas available 5.30am-12.30pm:

Woods Avenue, Levers Road to Beach Road  Both sides

Beach Road, Woods Road to Fergusson Park  South side

Levers Road, Tilby Drive to Otumoetai Road  North side

Otumoetai Road, Levers Road to Beach Road  West side
Police are investigating following two robberies in Tirau and Te Poi on Saturday morning.

"At around 8.45am three armed offenders entered a supermarket on Hillcrest Street in Tirau," says a police spokesperson.

"The group threatened staff, demanding cash and cigarettes, before leaving in a stolen blue Mazda vehicle."

Police say the vehicle then arrived at a store on State Highway 29 in Te Poi.

"Two offenders have got out of the vehicle and entered the store,' says a police spokesperson.

"They have left moments later with an unknown amount of items taken from the store.

"Fortunately, no one has been injured following the two incidents."

Enquiries are ongoing to identify and locate the offenders.

"We want to reassure our communities that we are taking this very seriously,' says a police spokesperson.

"We are determined to hold those who actively target our local businesses to account.

"We urge our communities and local businesses to remain vigilant and to report any unlawful behaviour - if something is happening now, contact 111.

"Anyone with any additional information which could assist Police in our investigation is asked to please call us on 105 and quote event number P054161666."

Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
BANGKOK, April 1 (Xinhua) -- ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn has urged for more dialogue and consultations in addressing challenges in a speech delivered during his first working visit to Thailand from Wednesday to Saturday.

As part of the efforts to ease the tension in the region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is actively promoting the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone, he said.

"We want to see that our region remain absolutely peaceful, stable, and secure, so that we spend more time, energy, and efforts on the prosperity agenda to improve the lives of our people," he said.

Kao Kim Hourn also stressed ASEAN is committed to maintaining its central position and playing a leading role in mechanisms initiated by the organization. 
DeWitt, N.Y.  The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating a DeWitt postal worker who they say brought guns to the Kinne Road post office.

U.S. postal investigators found three guns at the DeWitt post office on March 24, Emily Spera, a Postal Inspection Service spokesperson said Friday. The post office is at 6581 Kinne Road, across from the closed ShoppingTown Mall.

Spera said there is no current threat to employees or customers.

No charges have been filed as of Friday, Spera said.

Officials would not release more details such as the employees name, whether the employee was still working or the type of guns found.

Staff writer Fernando Alba covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, question or comment? Reach him: Email | Twitter or at 315-690-6950.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- An early morning fire that badly damaged a home on Syracuses South Side drew a large emergency response Saturday.

Around 6:30 a.m., multiple 911 callers reported seeing smoke in the area of Oakwood Avenue, according to Onondaga County 911 Center dispatches. One caller confirmed the smoke was coming from a home on the 200 block of the Avenue.

Early reports indicated that there was smoke filling 221 Oakwood Ave. and an active fire on the second floor, according to a news release from the Syracuse Fire Department. Firefighters also received reports that someone may be trapped inside the home.

Firefighters began searching the two-story home for any residents, fire officials said. They did not find anyone inside the building and determined the home was vacant.

Around 40 firefighters responded to battle the blaze, fire officials said. They were able to get the fire under control in around 20 minutes.

Firefighters continued to clear the house and knock out hot spots for the next two hours, they said.

No firefighters or civilians were injured, they said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, fire officials said.

Staff writer Anne Hayes covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at ahayes@syracuse.com.
Weve now had two full years of full cannabis legalization in New York, and we at NY Cannabis Insider had another busy week recapping previous headlines and covering new stories. Lets take a look at all the stories we covered last week:

Yesterday we ran a two-year review of all the developments that have taken place since the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation was passed in 2021. Two years later, entrepreneurs in the Empire States adult-use retail cannabis industry are starting to get off the ground, opening a handful of dispensaries selling New York-grown weed.

Up to this point, the path has been far from smooth, as state officials are struggling with aspects of the conditional licensing program, voting on regulations that were expected a year ago, and defending against two separate lawsuits  one of which placed a partial injunction on conditional licensing.

Paula Collins, EA, Esq., a tax attorney dedicated to the cannabis industry and co-founder of the New York Consortium of Cannabis Accountants, contributed a guest column wishing a happy birthday to the MRTA.

NY Cannabis Insider Brad Racino broke a story last week about layoffs at Acreage Holdings, and the possibility that PharmaCann may be the next MSO to follow suit. Acreage Holdings, which has four dispensaries across the state, recently laid off at least 12 employees, Brad reported. PharmaCann, which also has four dispensaries and employs roughly 300 people throughout the state, expects layoffs in the very near future if things dont change at the state level.

Brad also published interviews with several movers and shakers in the NY cannabis industry. In an in-depth interview with Jeremy Unruh, the senior vice president of public and regulatory affairs at PharmaCann talked about the state of New Yorks medical cannabis program.

In an interview with New York GOP leader William Barclay, the Central NY Republican discussed a letter he and his party sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul, which pointed to a delayed and dysfunctional implementation of the marketplace rollout, the rise of illicit stores, the lack of funding from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, and far too many problems with no remedy in sight.

We ran an interview with Joe Belluck, chair of New Yorks Cannabis Advisory Board, in which he spoke with NY Cannabis Insider about whats happening with the board, their plans going forward, their relationship with regulators and what information they have about whats coming down the pike.

Damien Cornwell of Binghamton dispensary Just Breathe  the first legal adult-use cannabis dispensary in the Southern Tier  spoke to NY Cannabis Insider about his store, the illicit market, and the New York cannabis ecosystem in general.

Matthew Leonardo, an attorney at Hinman Straub where he is a member of the firms health law and government relations departments, talked to us about the state Senate Bill S2568, which aims to add coverage of medical marijuana to public insurance programs and clarify that it may be covered by private insurance.

We wrote two stories about Lobby Day at New Yorks Capitol in Albany on Tuesday. One article included a transcript of remarks made at a press conference that day, which a wide array of speakers such as New York State Senators Jeremy Cooney and Michelle Hinchey, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, CANY President Allan Gandelman, Tricolla Farms Founder Brittany Carbone, and Just Breathes Damien Cornwell.

In another Lobby Day story, I wrote about what I saw following the Cannabis Association of New Yorks Long Island Committee, as the group met with lawmakers to persuade them to support policy changes that would help the weed industry on Long Island.

Subscribe to the NY Cannabis Insider newsletter

I wrote a story that takes a look at the issues created by buffer zones, which prevent dispensaries from opening within a certain radius of places like homes, churches and schools. Other states have placed similar zoning restrictions on weed retailers, but in many cases theyve proven to be problematic and have led to lawsuits, Chris Beals, former CEO of Weedmaps, said.

Steve Zissou, an attorney for Empire Cannabis Clubs, contributed a guest column that responds to the Gov. Hochus recent proposed legislation on cannabis enforcement.

NY Cannabis Insider ran five guest columns dissecting Hochuls proposed legislation. These columns included contributions from Elana Tamas, the head of cannabis tax at Anchin; Jason Klimek is the co-leader of Barclay Damons cannabis team and chair of the Tax Committee of the New York State Bar Associations Cannabis Law Section; The New York State Society of CPAs; Paula Collins and Eli Northrup is the policy director for the criminal defense practice at The Bronx Defenders.

Continuing our NYs Women in Cannabis series, we ran profiles on Katie Neer, of Dickinson & Avella, PLLC; Sarah Stenuf, a retired service-disabled veteran who turned to cannabis to overcome the challenges of transitioning to civilian life and Rosie Mattio, founder and CEO of MATTIO Communications.

We added a new entry to our People to Know in NY cannabis series: David Feldman, the CEO of Skip Intro Advisors who has authored books on finance and entrepreneurship.

Have a great weekend, everyone, well have plenty more next week.
Thank you for reading!

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arijitkanrar BHPian

Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 159 Thanked: 495 Times

Re: Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation Quote: am1m Originally Posted by That is hilarious!



I've read several 'reasons' online for why that particular section is still incomplete. Covid, steel shortage, labour shortage, land acquisition, etc etc. Does anyone know what the actual reason was?

Quote: am1m Originally Posted by Thanks guys, thought it might have something to do with the Railways. Unfortunately, IR seems to always have issues with anything the Metro wants to do, and sorting out anything to do with IR-Metro co-ordination always seems to take much longer than necessary.



The main reason for the delay seems to be the delay in obtaining a line block from SWR (South Western Railway) to move the OWG (Open Web Girder) truss in place over the train tracks. Also there was further delay when SWR officials inspected the OWG and said that bolts on OWG were not torqued as per their specs which again moved the OWG shift by weeks.

Post the OWG being moved, work on the remaining few sections could begin as these were being blocked by temporary support structures for the OWG. The last span till the OWG could be completed once the OWG deck slab had been cast. All sections of this last span have been lifted and stressed. In a few days it will be lowered on the piers.

You can refer to

Post this the parapet walls, tracks, power and signalling equipment etc need to be completed to link it to Byappanahalli.





Quote: airguitar Originally Posted by







Not clear where the metro has to cross over the railwayline : are you referring to the one Bangalore - Hosur rail line at Benniganahalli ?



Also, as far as the overall picture goes : I planned a trip from WFD to Cubbon Park for the Bangalore Habba and was shocked to be told at the counter that the train terminates at Krishnarajapura. No where was it clear that the connectivity to Byappanahalli wasn't done. As it is, I still can't digest the fact that the most blocked/trafficky areas ( including when the govt knew that all/most IT companies were relocating to ORR over the last few years ), ORR and WFD, would get metros 12 years after the initial inauguration ( 14 years perhaps for ORR when it is opened ). Same thing happens on where B-TRACK, or traffic offense monitoring cameras, white topping/quality of roads round the year etc get done. Old bangalore areas always get priority.Not clear where the metro has to cross over the railwayline : are you referring to the one Bangalore - Hosur rail line at Benniganahalli ?Also, as far as the overall picture goes : https://themetrorailguy.com/2022/03/...phase-3-plans/ : why is this already looking so messy ? is there a method to the phased madness here that I'm missing ? Feels like random criscrossing of metro routes.



Metro alignments are planned years and years in advance since there are various hurdles that need to be overcome before construction can even start. Tasks such as Land Aquisition (and all its associated legal and political hurdles), Environmental clearences, utility shifting, station location planning, tender awarding etc take lot of time. So DPRs need to be able to predict the ROI on an alignment which means predicting future population and traffic. The Whitefield extension work began in 2017 and is coming to a conclusion now. Considering its almost 15km long, it wasn't really quick but wasn't too bad considering all circumstances.



Quote: srvm Originally Posted by GMaps in satellite view shows that the Purple line metro never crosses the Chennai-Bangalore railway line between Baiyappanahalli and KR Puram. Metro line stays south of the railway line.



However, metro does cross Baiyappanahalli/Banaswadi-Hosur railway line near Baiyappanahalli Auxiliary Bypass cabin. Quote: Rajeevraj Originally Posted by Yes, it crosses over the Baiyappanahalli - Hosur line. And unfortunately the same thing awaits the ORR line also. The ORR Metro line crosses the Hosur Railway line at the Rainbow Hospital area after Marathahalli. If you notice, the spans before and after it are almost ready, but there is nothing happening on both sides of the railway track that goes over the ORR. There was one article that said this is also getting into a loop with railways asking to change design etc as the Hosur line is getting doubled and there is also the proposal of suburban rail. So the metro span should go over 4 tracks out of which today only one is there and the design was planned around covering 2 lines. Quote: audioholic Originally Posted by As usual the bureaucratic mess with railways exist and they seem to be going safe and demanding space for four tracks to pass through(which is another unrealistic expectation) That means another open web girder which on the ORR is impossible to launch without shutting down the entire ORR.



Quote: Rajeevraj Originally Posted by Hope you are proven wrong, but I agree with you. The station work is not really started anywhere and as you rightly said, structure completion can be done very fast. The only plus point is that until now, in all other sections, the structure work itself was painfully slow. On ORR at least that part has been taken care off. 2026-27 is my estimate too.



Not sure if they can prioritize 3-4 stations and get the line running as the 2 ends will anyway be ready. I recall Dubai Metro used to follow that approach. They opened lines with few stations ready and then kept adding as it got done. Quote: audioholic Originally Posted by In addition to the structural works, what is also important is the availability of depots and rolling stock. For the ORR metro, it would use the Baiyyapanahalli depot which will be remodelled to suit its needs while the existing rakes for purple line will be shifted to Kadugodi Depot. If so, then the line shall be ready to use at least from KR Pura till Rainbow hospital.



For the Yellow line, provided rolling stock and depot is ready soon, we can see operations until Udupi garden by next year for sure. Its only Jayadeva hospital exchange that will be a blocker. But that anyway is almost the end of the line and people could make use of this line between Silk board and Bommasandra.





Then comes the availability of trainsets. I think for Yellow line the trainsets were to be delivered by CRRC of China who was required to setup a plant in India. This was before the Galwan clash post which CRRC's plan of setting up local assembly was abandoned. Now they have entered into a JV with an Indian company, Titagarh Wagons Ltd., who are setting up a factory in WB. But it'll still be a while before they start delivery of trainsets. All other manufacturers of trains such as BEML, Alstom etc already have their orderbooks full with Metros coming up in various cities in India.



So while BMRCL is not best, we have to appreciate the challenges behind massive projects such as these and accept that there will be delays. In some case the contractors are making very good progress especially on the Blue line but such projects can slow down for various reasons.

What is good though is the interest in such projects among the general public which means its better for govts in the long run to see them completed.



While I see the challenges I havent lost hope that we will soon see more metro lines coming up! I follow the Namma Metro thread on SkyScraperCity quite closely. So most of what I write here is knowledge gained from there. There are some exemplary individuals who have gone beyond what is humanely possible to bring us regular updates and I will attempt to share some of it here.The main reason for the delay seems to be the delay in obtaining a line block from SWR (South Western Railway) to move the OWG (Open Web Girder) truss in place over the train tracks. Also there was further delay when SWR officials inspected the OWG and said that bolts on OWG were not torqued as per their specs which again moved the OWG shift by weeks.Post the OWG being moved, work on the remaining few sections could begin as these were being blocked by temporary support structures for the OWG. The last span till the OWG could be completed once the OWG deck slab had been cast. All sections of this last span have been lifted and stressed. In a few days it will be lowered on the piers.You can refer to this post on SSC forum.Post this the parapet walls, tracks, power and signalling equipment etc need to be completed to link it to Byappanahalli.Till the link between Byappanahalli and KR Pura is completed, BMRCL along with BMTC has feeder bus services between these two stations. You can get down at any station and take a direct bus to the other station and continue the journey. Its not the best solution but its temporary to reduce commuter inconvenience.Metro alignments are planned years and years in advance since there are various hurdles that need to be overcome before construction can even start. Tasks such as Land Aquisition (and all its associated legal and political hurdles), Environmental clearences, utility shifting, station location planning, tender awarding etc take lot of time. So DPRs need to be able to predict the ROI on an alignment which means predicting future population and traffic. The Whitefield extension work began in 2017 and is coming to a conclusion now. Considering its almost 15km long, it wasn't really quick but wasn't too bad considering all circumstances.This is a concern really. SWR has again thrown a spanner in the works by asking for change in the design. It was planned for an OWG already but now SWR wants space for more tracks (whether the space is actually avilable is debatable) which means a longer OWG. Thus not only the current OWG being manufactured has to be modified, but the pier locations design will also change because this line uses precast U-girders which cannot be shortened/lengthened at will. This would mean changing the design of piers or worse relocating them and chaging their design to accomodate composite girders. All this would require new planning, soil testing, utility shifting if necessary and new piling for new piers. All in a narrow space with minimal impact on traffic flow. This alone has the potential to set back this line by months. Then there is another OWG for the blue line depot entrance track to cross the Hosur line at Beninganahalli which again will bring unknown set of challenges.Opening a line in sections while sounds easy in principle, will need advance planning since you need a crossover track for trains to reverse and shift to the opposite track. This crossover track has to be precisely after the station being opened for optimal operations. With U-girders this cannot be done as they are enclosed by design and you cannot create an opening between adjacent U-girders for a crossover track. A crossover track requires a composite girder which requires a different pillar/pier structureThen comes the availability of trainsets. I think for Yellow line the trainsets were to be delivered by CRRC of China who was required to setup a plant in India. This was before the Galwan clash post which CRRC's plan of setting up local assembly was abandoned. Now they have entered into a JV with an Indian company, Titagarh Wagons Ltd., who are setting up a factory in WB. But it'll still be a while before they start delivery of trainsets. All other manufacturers of trains such as BEML, Alstom etc already have their orderbooks full with Metros coming up in various cities in India.So while BMRCL is not best, we have to appreciate the challenges behind massive projects such as these and accept that there will be delays. In some case the contractors are making very good progress especially on the Blue line but such projects can slow down for various reasons.What is good though is the interest in such projects among the general public which means its better for govts in the long run to see them completed.While I see the challenges I havent lost hope that we will soon see more metro lines coming up! Last edited by arijitkanrar : 29th March 2023 at 12:21 . Reason: typo fix and added info
Huawei, the Chinese technology giant, has reported a decline in profit of almost 70% in 2022, according to its annual report.



The company attributed the decrease to sanctions imposed by the US and the impact of the pandemic, as reported first by AP.

Growth Revenue

Huawei's enterprise business, which sells network equipment and services to industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, and mining, however, reported growth in revenue by 30% in 2022, reaching 133.2 billion yuan ($19.4 billion). This was a significant improvement from its 2.1% growth in 2021.



Huawei's revenue in 2022 achieved 642.3 billion yuan ($93.5 billion), an increase of just 0.9% from the previous year. Its net profit for the year was 35.6 billion yuan ($5.2 billion), representing a drop of 68.7% from 2021.



This can be attributed to the pandemic, US sanctions, an increase in commodity prices, R&D spending, and a decrease in the company's consumer business, which mostly sells smartphones.



In 2021, Huawei reported a higher-than-usual profit of 113.7 billion yuan ($16.6 billion) due to the sale of its budget smartphone business, Honor.

"In 2022, a challenging external environment and non-market factors continued to take a toll on Huawei's operations", Eric Xu, Huawei's Rotating Chairman, said at the company's annual report press conference.



"In the midst of this storm, we kept racing ahead, doing everything in our power to maintain business continuity and serve our customers. We also went to great lengths to grow the harvest - generating a steady stream of revenue to sustain our survival and lay the groundwork for future development."

Sabrina Meng, Huawei's CFO, added that despite the substantial pressure in 2022, the company's overall business results were in line with its forecasts, noting that Huawei's financial position remains solid, with strong resilience and flexibility.

Read Also: Huawei's Mate X3 Foldable is Better than Samsung, But with One Major Exception

US-China Tech Tensions

As one of China's first global tech brands, it is currently caught up in tensions between China and the US over technology and security. American officials have accused the company of being a security risk and possibly enabling Chinese spying, an allegation that Huawei denies.

In addition to prohibiting Huawei from selling its telecommunications equipment to US consumers and denying it access to chips and software like Google services for its handsets, the US has forbidden American corporations from doing business with Huawei.

In order to assist sectors to become more digital in 2022, Huawei turned its attention to expanding its corporate business through the sale of network equipment and services.



However, the company's consumer segment, which sells smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets, saw a further loss of 11.9% in revenue.



In the second quarter of 2020, Huawei was the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world, but since losing its Google services and Android license, its market share has decreased globally.



Despite the challenges faced by Huawei in 2022, the company is committed to investing in R&D and growing a resilient business portfolio.

Related Article: US, China Tech War: Huawei Reports Flat 2022 Revenue Amidst US Sanctions

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a fascinating image of a peculiar galaxy that can be considered three cosmic objects all at once.

The galaxy, Z 229-15, is located approximately 390 million light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

All At Once

The Hubble image shows that Z 229-15 is an active galactic nucleus (AGN), a quasar, and a Seyfert galaxy all at once.

An AGN is a small region at the center of certain galaxies, which is far brighter than just the galaxy's stars would be.

This brightness is due to the presence of a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core, which sucks in surrounding matter and releases energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, making the AGN appear very bright.

Quasars are a particular type of AGN, which are typically both extremely bright and extremely distant from Earth. They are so bright that the rest of the galaxy cannot be seen, making it difficult to determine if they are part of a larger galaxy.

Seyfert galaxies are active galaxies that host very bright AGNs (quasars), while the rest of the galaxy is still observable. So, Z 229-15 is a Seyfert galaxy that contains a quasar, and that by definition, hosts an AGN.

Therefore, Z 229-15 can be classified as all three cosmic objects at once because of the significant overlap in their definitions.

Read Also: NASA Hubble Telescope Captures Space Cluster Containing Stars Millions of Years Old; Here's Why NGC 2660 Is Intriguing

Unique Glimpse Into the World of Galactic Nuclei

The complexity of Z 229-15's classification as an AGN, a quasar, and a Seyfert galaxy highlights the challenges astronomers face when trying to understand celestial objects.

However, the Hubble Space Telescope's powerful imaging capabilities allow astronomers to gain valuable insights into the nature of these objects.

The image of Z 229-15 provides a unique glimpse into the complex world of galactic nuclei and will help astronomers better understand the processes that govern the behavior of these objects.

NASA explains that "Z 229-15 is a Seyfert galaxy that contains a quasar, and that, by definition, hosts an AGN. Classification in astronomy can be a challenge!"

The telescope's ability to capture high-quality images of distant celestial objects continues to advance our understanding of the universe and its many mysteries.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been orbiting Earth since 1990 and has captured countless stunning images of the cosmos.



Its mission is to advance our knowledge of the universe and inspire future generations to explore the final frontier. The latest image of Z 229-15 is yet another testament to the incredible capabilities of this groundbreaking telescope.

Related Article: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Captures 'Butterfly Nebula' In Stunning Motion | Fun Facts About This Beautiful Space Butterfly

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Deep within Moscow lies a dark secret that's waiting to be unveiled. The scary cyber warfare that Russia has been doing for ages, has been discovered in a secret "Vulkan" file, the investigative report says

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin knows how to shock the world with its cybercrime tactics.

In a 5,000-page document containing thousands of emails and files, an anonymous person exposed how the country bolsters its hacking tactics by spreading disinformation on the internet.

Vulkan Files Leak Tells More About Russian's Sinister Cybercrime Strategies

The Guardian details in its report that Russia is more than just a controversial nation plagued with notorious security issues known to mankind.

There's more to discovering how the country operates underground by deploying hacking and disinformation tools everywhere. The report notes that an angered employee from Vulkan has disclosed the cyberwarfare capabilities of Putin's army of hackers.

It was stated there that the whistleblower publicized the leaked Vulkan files to inform the people how dangerous Russia is.

The previous scenario in Ukraine only proved that Russia is not just all about guns and tanks. It can also wipe out an entire country's data by manipulating the database.

"Because of the events in Ukraine, I decided to make this information public. The company is doing bad things, and the Russian government is cowardly and wrong," the unknown source says.

The anonymous source adds that they are angry about the Ukraine invasion and all of the other terrible things taking place there.

Additionally, the source has shared the information in an investigative report by Paper Trail Media, a Munich-based startup.

According to Euractiv, the content of the secret Vulkan document is currently being analyzed by over 50 journalists across eight countries. Some of them are from Le Monde, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.

Related Article: Ukraine DDoS Cyberattack: Suspects Russia and May Ignite Tensions Between Them

Notorious Sandworm Hacking Incident

Russia's military and intelligence division is notorious for supplying important tools for Sandworm, a popular crew of hackers in the region.

According to Interesting Engineering, the widespread Ukraine hack is all attributed to Sandworm, not to mention the power outages in the neighboring nation.

The same group was reportedly responsible for the deployment of NotPeta, a dangerous strand of malware which is deemed to be the "most destructive malware" in history.

Although there's no strong evidence that Russia was linked to Sandworm, the leaked files noted that Vulkan was paid for this kind of illicit activity.

The Vulkan document does not only cover recent events. Its content spans from 2016 to 2021. It's a highly-confidential file that contains financial records, internal negotiations, technical specifications, contracts, and more details about Moscow.

By providing a software that Russia needs for file exploitation, NTC Vulkan is also held responsible in conniving with Russia.

The social media manipulation is falling in place for Moscow, as the documents suggest. According to Mandiant's VP of intelligence analysis John Hultquist, it's on the same page with the attacks that Russia did to attack "civilian critical infrastructure."

For security reasons, the unidentified source told The Guardian that they need to disappear "like a ghost" very soon. It's possible that someone knows their whereabouts and they only fear getting caught by Putin's men.

Read Also: Barcelona's Main Hospital Experiences Ransomware Cyberattack

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
People attend the opening ceremony of a highway section in Belgrade, Serbia, April 1, 2023. A highway section linking New Belgrade to Surcin of Serbia was opened for traffic on Saturday.

The section, a part of the E-763 highway, is around 8-kilometer long and has three lanes in each direction, a five-meter dividing strip, two-meter-wide pedestrian paths, and bicycle lanes.

The construction of the section began in March 2021 and was conducted by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

BELGRADE, April 1 (Xinhua) -- A highway section linking New Belgrade to Surcin of Serbia was opened for traffic on Saturday.

The section, a part of the E-763 highway, is around 8-kilometer long and has three lanes in each direction, a five-meter dividing strip, two-meter-wide pedestrian paths, and bicycle lanes.

The construction of the section began in March 2021 and was conducted by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

The project, worth about 70.5 million U.S. dollars, is of high priority for Serbia as it will enable a fast connection between Belgrade and the E-763 highway and create a short link between Belgrade and the Adriatic Sea.

Attending the opening ceremony in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia is heading into new infrastructural investments thanks to good financial results this year and low public debt.

"This year, we expect to sign large contracts, thanks to slightly better results... This is the success of Serbia, but also of all our citizens," Vucic said.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, several ministers, the mayor of Belgrade Aleksandar Sapic, and the Chinese ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo also attended the ceremony.

"We greatly appreciate the efforts of the Chinese and Serbian engineers and workers who worked on this section of the road. We are glad that our Serbian friends will feel the benefits of the road every day," said Chen. 

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (front) addresses the opening ceremony of a highway section in Belgrade, Serbia, April 1, 2023. A highway section linking New Belgrade to Surcin of Serbia was opened for traffic on Saturday.

The section, a part of the E-763 highway, is around 8-kilometer long and has three lanes in each direction, a five-meter dividing strip, two-meter-wide pedestrian paths, and bicycle lanes.

The construction of the section began in March 2021 and was conducted by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Chinese ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo (front) addresses the opening ceremony of a highway section in Belgrade, Serbia, April 1, 2023. A highway section linking New Belgrade to Surcin of Serbia was opened for traffic on Saturday.

The section, a part of the E-763 highway, is around 8-kilometer long and has three lanes in each direction, a five-meter dividing strip, two-meter-wide pedestrian paths, and bicycle lanes.

The construction of the section began in March 2021 and was conducted by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (front) attends the opening ceremony of a highway section in Belgrade, Serbia, April 1, 2023. A highway section linking New Belgrade to Surcin of Serbia was opened for traffic on Saturday.

The section, a part of the E-763 highway, is around 8-kilometer long and has three lanes in each direction, a five-meter dividing strip, two-meter-wide pedestrian paths, and bicycle lanes.

The construction of the section began in March 2021 and was conducted by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)
NASA has turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to help prepare for dangerous space weather that could threaten power grids and other critical infrastructure on Earth.

Using spacecraft measurements of the solar wind and AI, NASA's computer model predicts where an impending solar storm will strike with 30 minutes of warning, giving enough time to prepare for the impact.

A 'DAGGER' For a Storm

The computer model is called DAGGER, and it combines swift AI analysis with real measurements from space and across the Earth to generate frequently updated predictions that are both prompt and precise for sites worldwide.



The research team at Frontier Development Lab, a public-private partnership that includes NASA, the US Geological Survey, and the US Department of Energy, used AI to identify relationships between solar wind measurements and geomagnetic perturbations observed at ground stations across the planet.

They created the computer model DAGGER using "deep learning," an AI technique that teaches computers to spot patterns based on prior samples.

In less than a second, the model generates forecasts, which are updated every minute. It can accurately forecast geomagnetic disturbances 30 minutes in advance.

Two geomagnetic storms that occurred in August 2011 and March 2015 were used by the DAGGER team to evaluate the model's capabilities. In each instance, DAGGER was able to swiftly and precisely forecast the storm's global effects.

"With this AI, it is now possible to make rapid and accurate global predictions and inform decisions in the event of a solar storm, thereby minimizing - or even preventing - devastation to modern society," Vishal Upendran of the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in India, lead author of a paper about the DAGGER, said in a statement.

Read Also: NASA Hubble Discovers Saturn's Ring System Heats Planet's Atmosphere-A Never-Before-Seen Phenomenon!

Upcoming Solar Maximum

The next "solar maximum," a high in the Sun's 11-year activity cycle, is anticipated to occur sometime in 2025, increasing the risk of geomagnetic storms and their disastrous repercussions on humanity.

Power grid operators, satellite controllers, telecommunications corporations, and others may adopt the DAGGER model's open-source computer code with assistance in order to use the forecasts for their own purposes.

Such alerts could allow them enough time to take precautions to safeguard their assets and infrastructure from an approaching solar storm, such as briefly shutting down important systems or repositioning satellites to reduce damage.

NASA's use of AI to prepare for solar storms is a significant development that could help prevent severe impacts on power grids and other critical infrastructure.

Related Article: NASA Hubble Telescope Captures Space Cluster Containing Stars Millions of Years Old; Here's Why NGC 2660 Is Intriguing

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
AI experts have reacted harshly to an open letter calling for a six-month clampdown on developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems more powerful than OpenAI's GPT-4. According to Reuters, experts, including some whose studies were mentioned in the open letter, opposed what the letter stood for.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, was among thousands of tech sector personalities who backed the letter issued by the Future of Life Institute (FLI), an organization primarily funded by the Musk Foundation. However, critics have accused the FLI of prioritizing imagined apocalyptic scenarios over more immediate concerns about AI.

Musk's Anti-AI Letter Is 'Unhinged' Claimed Experts

The letter mentioned 12 studies, one of which was written by Margaret Mitchell, who used to be in charge of ethical AI research at Google. Mitchell, who works for AI firm Hugging Face, criticized the letter, saying that it was unclear what counted as more powerful than GPT-4.

Timnit Gebru and Emily M. Bender, two of her co-authors, both criticized the letter on Twitter. Bender called some of the letter's claims "unhinged."

The Truth Behind the Campaign

While some AI experts oppose the call for a pause in AI research, concerns about the potential risks of AI must be taken seriously.

The open letter also warned that generative AI tools could be used to flood the internet with propaganda and untruths.

Many experts think it is important to make ethical rules for AI so that it does not have unintended effects. However, some fear that calls for a pause in research could stifle innovation and impede progress in the field.

The FLI's president, Max Tegmark, told Reuters that the campaign was not an attempt to hinder OpenAI's corporate advantage.

However, it is important to note that Musk does not have a good relationship with OpenAI since internal conflicts made him leave the company in 2018. The billionaire has also been open about creating a ChatGPT rival.

Read Also: Google Generative AI on Gmail, Docs Now Available for Public Testing-How to Join?

Dan Hendrycks, mentioned in the letter as the California-based Center for AI Safety director, said it was wise to think about "black swan" events. Both short-term and long-term risks of AI should be taken seriously, according to FLI's Tegmark.

What's Next for AI?

As AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, it is essential to balance innovation with safety. Development must follow ethical guidelines to guarantee that all humanity benefits from AI. The potential for AI to cause harm must be acknowledged and mitigated through responsible research and development practices.

While some AI experts oppose the call for a pause in AI research, concerns about the potential risks of AI must be taken seriously. It is important to make ethical rules for AI so that it can be used safely and for the good of all people.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Open Letter to Pause AI Developments Beyond GPT-4 Signed by Woz, Elon Musk, and MORE-But Why?

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The latest discovery of asteroid Didymos' spinning activity confuses NASA and other astronomers.

Recently, the critical NASA DART spacecraft successfully hit Dimorphos, the smaller space rock companion of Didymos.

After the impact, the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) gathered information about the asteroid pair's dynamics.

Based on their data, a new study revealed that Didymos is actually spinning so fast that its debris is flying out.

Asteroid Didymos' Spinning Activity Confuses NASA

According to Independent UK's latest report, the new study revealed that Didymos completes its rotation in just 2.2 hours.

Also Read: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Catches an 'Asteroid Photobomber' Roughly the Size of Rome's Colosseum

Because of this very fast rotation, the asteroid is flinging rocks into space. Using this new discovery, many astronomers theorized that Dimorphos came from Didymos' debris.

"Massive particles potentially levitate for some time, land on the surface and lift off again, repeating such cycles over and over, or just land at latitudes from which further lift off is not possible," said involved astronomers.

Their new study titled "Lifted particles from the fast spinning primary of the Near-Earth Asteroid (65803) Didymos" was published in the Earth and Astrophysics journal.

You can click this link to see more of their findings.

Other Space Agencies to Study Didymos

NASA is not the only space organization that wants to observe and study Didymos and Dimorphos.

The European Space Agency (ESA) also announced its own mission that aims to gather data about the asteroid pair.

ESA's Hera mission is expected to conduct a detailed post-impact survey of Dimorphos. It is expected to be launched as early as October 2024.

But, this will still depend on the challenges that ESA could experience while preparing for its Hera mission.

ESA said that Hera mission will be the first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system and the country's flagship Planetary Defender.

Here are other stories we recently wrote about NASA missions:

Previously, the NASA Hubble Space Telescope discovered a never-before-seen Saturn ring system phenomenon. We also reported that NASA Artemis astronauts plan to 3D print batteries for future lunar missions.

For more news updates about NASA and its upcoming missions, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: China's Asteroid-detection System Is One Step Closer To Full Construction

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Japan is closely watching China over the export of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. With this decision, the Japanese government joins the United States and the Netherlands in curbing the tools for chip making business to Beijing.

Japan Limits Exports of Chipmaking Tools to China

Back in December 2022, Japan finally decided to participate in restricting the export of chipmaking tools to China.

The US, being the main policy regulator behind this campaign, has previously mentioned that Beijing should not have access to high-tech semiconductors because they might be only used for the Chinese military.

Following the latest report by Nikkei Asia, 23 items are added to the list of equipment that will be restricted for export.

The semiconductor battle between the US and China has expanded to the point that even the other countries are affected by it.

The Japanese government cited that prohibiting the export of ammunition and other goods for military purposes falls under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law.

According to Yasutoshi Nishimura, the current minister of economy, trade and industry of Japan, the policy will be effective by July 2023.

As part of stricter plans to limit the export, roughly 160 places will be the part of the list including China. Meanwhile, Japan identifies the US, Taiwan, and South Korea as one of many nations with "adequate export controls" for semiconductors.

Nishimura further adds that the Japanese trade ministry will need to approve "not formally recognized" regions where the goods will be exported.

"We will fulfill our responsibilities in the international community as a technology-owning country and contribute to maintaining international peace and security," the Japanese told the press.

Related Article: ARM is Not Sending its New Chips to Alibaba Amid US, UK Export Controls

China Opposes Restrictions on Chipmaking Technology

A few weeks ago, the Netherlands issued a statement about the restriction of semiconductor technology for overseas sales. The Dutch government said that it's only doing the job for the sake of the people's security.

Meanwhile, a report by CNN shows that China is not happy about the latest restrictions of semiconductor products. Beijing said that it might be forced to implement "countermeasures" to combat this ruling.

According to China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, Japan's latest action will only lead to destabilization of global industry chains that can potentially harm others.

Japan is popularly known to be a melting pot of electronic gadgets and the most advanced technologies in the world. With this, there are many notable chipmakers in the country including Tokyo Electron and Nikon.

Regarding the recent restriction of semiconductor goods to China, the two companies refused to give their opinion about it.

Meanwhile, The Economic Times reports that China is hopeful that ASML will "maintain its confidence in investing and collaborating" with Beijing amid the sensational curb on chipmaking machines.

Read Also: ARM is Not Sending its New Chips to Alibaba Amid US, UK Export Controls

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The new AI chatbot from Google is seeing an upgrade now, with Bard having enhanced capabilities that allow it to give better answers regarding mathematics and logic questions, as prompted by users. This was announced by a Google employee, saying that the team is constantly adding new features and upgrading Bard to bring better experiences for users.

It is only a matter of time before Google brings updates to Bard, especially as there have been many reports of the AI chatbot's flaws, centering on wrong answers generated to basic questions asked.

Google Bard Enhanced Capabilities: Better Math, Logic Answers

(Photo : Christian Wiediger on Unsplash)

According to a Twitter thread by Google AI employee, Jack Krawczyk, the Bard chatbot is now bringing enhanced capabilities to better answer questions and prompts by users.

This emphasizes answering queries about math and logic questions as entered by users, with the latest advances to its language model, PaLM.

Krawczyk claimed that Bard will better answer multi-step word and math questions, giving users more efficiency with the AI chatbot, to deliver next-level capabilities to suit their needs. Bard is continuously upgrading and aims to push enhancements more to the AI, with many new things incorporated with it weekly, claims the Google employee.

Read Also: Google Generative AI on Gmail, Docs Now Available for Public Testing-How to Join?

Did Google Bard Fix its Flaws? Testimonies Expose the AI

However, Bard has been notorious in the past weeks, as several users posted screenshots of their experience with the chatbot, receiving wrong answers to their prompts.

One of the most notable is the simple math question of 1+2. Here, the user incorporated a logic question with it, by adding a fact claiming 1+1= 2, then asking 1+2, to which Bard answered 4. Bard then continues to claim that "1+1=2" is a false statement, despite the user correcting it.

Moreover, when asked about the calendar months, also another logical question, Bard came up with a new month called "Maruary," after February.

Google Bard: Capabilities and Technology

Google announced the arrival of Bard last early February and it was a significant showcase from the company which shows its capabilities in developing advanced AI systems, much less a language model. It began the massive AI race in the industry, to which Microsoft succeeded shortly after, also announcing its latest Bing with ChatGPT.

However, there was one significant event that changed the public's perception of Google Bard, and this is the time when it gave the wrong answer to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope. The chatbot answered that JWST was the first telescope to capture an exoplanet, but it is not, as it was taken by the Very Large Telescope Array in Chile.

Since then, there have been significant questions about Bard's capabilities, despite being dubbed as the ''ChatGPT Killer.''

A Google employee under the AI department recently announced that the company has made its way into enhancing Bard's capabilities to better answer questions and prompts by users. The only remaining question now is if it is capable enough to handle the most complex of questions, down to the simplest prompts by users, and still give the correct answer.

Related Article: Some Pixel Superfans are Getting Google Bard Early Access Invites

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The United States government introduced a bill aiming to demolish the ad businesses of technology firms in the industry. The AMERICA Act could create an impact on advertising technology, which is considered the financial backbone of the internet.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: (L-R) Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) talks to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 23, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Passing AMERICA Act

A bipartisan group of senators introduced the Advertising Middlemen Endangering Rigorous Internet Competition Accountability (AMERICA) Act, which aims to break up the ad businesses of tech giants like Google and Meta. Gizmodo reported that this bill was introduced by Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah.

This bill would prohibit tech companies from obtaining several portions of the ecosystem of digital advertising once they processed more than $20 billion in transactions. Looking at these digits, it would affect companies like Google and Meta, as they are the biggest players in digital advertising, with Apple and Amazon might also have to take the bill into account.

Companies that are medium-sized or larger would also have to make the best execution for ad bids. Transparency and integrity are needed for companies when it comes to technical capabilities and data. Businesses would have to establish firewalls to minimize abuse and conflicts of interest when running businesses on two sides of the market.

Bipartisan List

Along with Lee, Engadget reported that the bipartisan senators supporting this bill united and got along despite having different political views, which included Democrat Senators Amy Klobuchar, Richard Blumenthal, and Elizabeth Warren, and Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Eric Schmitt, Josh Hawley, John Kennedy, Lindsey Graham, and J.D. Vance.

Senator Lee stated that Google and Facebook have been exploiting their system in a distinctive manner in order to obtain "vice grip-like control" in digital advertising. Through this process, companies will have power on every side of the market and will be able to block competition and abuse their customers.

He added an example of a real-life scenario in that one Google employee described the company's business as being like if Goldman or Citibank owned the whole New York Stock Exchange. Through a fact sheet, Lee stated that Google and Facebook will be required to divest significant portions of their businesses once the bill is enacted into law.

Also Read: Meta to Ban Gender-Based Teen Ads on Facebook, Instagram

As per the senators' press release, The AMERICA Act was introduced by the senator as online advertising became a broken system that has been the driver of growth for companies that have failed the government in many ways, including privacy issues, speech censorship, and exploitation of children.

He believed that this is a move against Big Tech monopolists, which is the first step in providing a safer space on the internet in the digital age of the 21st-century economy.

Related Article: Google Targeted in New Ad Lawsuit With Potential Damages in the Billions

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google Nearby Share feature, Android's version of Apple's AirDrop, is now finally available to Windows PC users.

Previously, the wireless file transfer service of the renowned tech giant was only exclusive to Android mobile phones, tablets, and Chromebooks or ChromeOS machines.

(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 2: A view of the new Microsoft Surface Laptop following a Microsoft launch event, May 2, 2017 in New York City. The Windows 10 S operating system is geared toward the education market and is Microsoft's answer to Google's Chrome OS.

But this time around, Windows users may now ditch their dangling cables when sharing files from their Android phone to their PC or laptop or vice versa.

Google's AirDrop Nearby Share is Now on Windows

The Nearby Share feature of Google for Android and ChromeOS is now embracing more users as it is now heading to Microsoft's Windows.

It is worth noting that iPhone and Mac users are enjoying the perks of the Apple ecosystem. They can seamlessly transfer their files from their phones and laptops without having to look for any third-party service. Airdrop lets them do so, XDA Developers reports.

On the other hand, Android and Windows users have to look for third-party options to transfer files easily and quickly. Until now that Google has finally started dishing out a beta version of its Nearby Share feature.

As per a report by 9to5 Google, the search giant initially hinted at the arrival of the file-sharing service to Windows last CES 2022. After more than a year, the beta version of the app is now up and running.

Users may now download the Nearby Share Beta app for Windows from the website of Android. Much like its mobile version, it uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to transfer files like lightning.

Google says it "quickly [transfers] photos, videos, documents, audio files or entire folders between your Android device and Windows PCs."

With its new Windows app version, the tech giant says that it should help Android users organize their files on their PCs or laptops. Not to mention it also lets them bring media files like videos and photos "on a larger screen."

Read Also: Google Targeted in New Ad Lawsuit With Potential Damages in the Billions

How to Transfer Files from Android to PC

To transfer files from your Android phone or tablet to a Windows-powered PC or laptop, you need to download and install the Google Nearby Share app on the latter. It is a built-in function on Android, but you will have to manually get it yourself on Windows.

(Photo : PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

A large Android logo head is displayed at Alphabets Google Android plaza booth during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 5, 2023.

You may download the Nearby Share for Windows app on Android.com.

Once installation is out of the way, follow the steps below.

Sign in to your Google Account on the Nearby Share app for Windows.

Then, transfer files from your Android phone to your Windows PC or laptop.

Once transferred, open the files on the Nearby Share Windows app.

Related Article: Google Generative AI on Gmail, Docs Now Available for Public Testing-How to Join?
Twitter wants your help in its latest post on GitHub, with the company posting its Recommendations algorithm on the platform, an official release from the company. The company's goal is to get help from the public in finding flaws and problems with it, and hopefully receive assistance in enhancing its features, which may be influenced by its lack of engineers.

Earlier this week, Twitter was hell-bent on catching the leaker of its source code on GitHub, with a subpoena to force the platform to reveal the identity of the person behind it.

Twitter Releases Recommendations Algorithm on GitHub

(Photo : Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In the latest upload from Twitter on GitHub, the company publicly released its Recommendations algorithm to the world, and it is not a leak, as it is legitimately the platform that uploaded this on the code repository website. A Twitter Space involving Elon Musk discussed the reason behind this upload, with the CEO claiming that they need help in finding issues and improving the code.

Several Twitter users already find recent reports tied to the code, with Jane Manchun Wong sharing her discovery on the platform. Here, she provided a screenshot of the algorithm code where Elon Musk's tweet was labeled as "author_is_elon," and other users were labeled as "republican," "democrat," or a "power user."

This centers on the previous issue about a VIP list that its algorithm is secretly boosting for the public to see.

Read Also: Twitter Boosts VIPs in the Feed? Reports Claim Elon Musk, MrBeast, POTUS Biden, and MORE Benefits

Elon Musk, Twitter Wants Your Help to Find its Flaws

In a recent blog post by Twitter, it claimed that it was indeed a legitimate move from the company to bring the Recommendations algorithm on GitHub, detailing that it needs help to find its flaws and get help from the public.

This may also be an opportunity where the public could bring recommendations to the platform on how they want the algorithm to work, and tweak it to what is generally accepted, instead of what the company offers.

Twitter and Recent GitHub Issues

The famous short word social media platform's source code was recently leaked on GitHub, and the company revealed this in a filing, with a copyright infringement notice on the stolen code. This said piece of information is significant to the company, as it is a code that centers on the very foundations of the company, to make it work.

Twitter then obtained a subpoena for GitHub, one that forces the company to reveal the identity behind the leaker called "FreeSpeechEnthusiast," an anonymous uploader of the said code. This now forces GitHub to reveal the person behind it or give the information behind this uploader to the company with a certain deadline for them to comply.

The leak on GitHub is of massive sensitivity to Twitter, with a part of its pillar taken away from them and shared online.

Many users already downloaded and modified the said source code, which Twitter is also tracking as of the moment. With this, Twitter would seem like a company that would not upload anything on GitHub amidst this, but it did with the recent Recommendations algorithm posted on the platform, seeking help from its users to enhance its features for them.

Related Article: Paid Twitter Blue Checkmark Rejected by Celebrities, News Companies! Will Musk Yield?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Blurred website content is really annoying.

Have you encountered this scenario? When you are about to read a very interesting article just to be directed to blurred content?

If yes, then there are some methods you can rely on to unblur blurred website content.

MakeUseOf provided some effective tricks that can help users see blurred content on websites. But, you need to remember that these methods are not 100% efficient.

Although this is the case, there are still worth the try.

How to View Blurred Website Content?

Google Search

First, open your Google Search. After that, open the link for the blurred website content. Copy and paste the link on the Google Search bar and press enter. After that, click the first link that will appear.

Also Read: Twitter Blue's Waiting Period for New Accounts Lowered-How Many Days Will You Have to Wait?

Google Translate

First, visit Google Translate and open the webpage with blurred content. Copy the URL and paste it into the left-hand box of Google Translate. Once the clickable link appears on the right-hand box of Google Translate, click it. If you are directed to content in a different language, just translate it to English or your preferred language.

Reader Mode

Numerous websites already offer the Reader Mode feature. You can access this by clicking the book icon with the audio symbol; it is located on the right side of the link. Once you activate the Reader Mode feature, the ads and other distractions should have been removed. It will also likely unblur the blurred content.

Why Websites Blur Content?

Life Wire said that there are numerous reasons why websites tend to blur their content.

One of these is preventing non-subscribers from accessing their articles, videos, images, and other content.

Another reason is paywalls. Many well-known websites, such as The New York Times, require users to get their paid subscription services before they can't view NYT content.

If you want to learn more about why websites blur their content, all you need to do is click this link.

In other news, the new Google Bard AI chatbot was recently rolled out to the public.

We also reported about the previous Twitter outage.

For more news updates about websites and other internet topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Top 10 Best ChatGPT Browser Extensions To Make Your Work Easier

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has made history once again by revealing a never-before-seen global photographic map of Mars in exceptional detail.

Created by NYU Abu Dhabi group leader and research scientist Dimitra Atri and his team, the map features images captured exclusively by the Emirates Exploration Imager (EXI), a state-of-the-art imaging system on board the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), also known as Hope or Al-Amal.

Culmination of 3,000 Observations

Dimitra Atri, a research scientist and group leader from the Center for Space Science at NYUAD, and his team created the never-seen-before map of Mars using more than 3,000 observations produced by the EXI instrument.

The team spent two Earth years stitching together the thousands of observations to create a color composite map, showcasing regions and features of the Red Planet in exceptional resolution.

The map is an essential foundation for future scientific research on Mars, allowing scientists to learn about momentous shifts in climate that can fundamentally alter planets.

Such insights could prove invaluable in helping researchers better understand our own planet and the UAE's contribution to this important scientific endeavor is a testament to its significant advancements in the field of science.

Read Also: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Zooms in on Mars for the First Time, Capturing Stiking Martian Details!

Impressive Details

The Mars Map features a range of impressive details, including polar ice caps, mountains, volcanoes, remnants of ancient rivers, lakes, valleys, and impact craters.

The exquisite detail of the map is a result of the strategic position of the Hope probe, according to the team.

"We plan to make our map available to the entire planet, as part of the new and more advanced Atlas of Mars, which we have been working on, and will be available in both English and Arabic once published," Atri said in a press release statement.

"The hope is that this accessibility will make it a great tool for researchers, and also students to learn more about Mars, and showcase the possibilities that the space sector in the UAE can offer."

EMM, which was commissioned by the nation's leaders in 2014, is the first interplanetary mission for the UAE and the Arab world. The Japanese-launched Hope probe entered Mars' orbit on February 9, 2021, seven months after its July 20, 2020, launch.

The successful development of the Mars Map brings the UAE another step closer to achieving EMM's ambitious mission goal, providing a complete global picture of the Martian climate.

Related Article: NASA Perseverance Rover's MEDA Sensor Damaged by Mars Rocks-Reducing Its Efficiency! Can It Still Be Used?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
IMF approves record $15.6 billion aid program for Ukraine 1 April, 12:33 AM IMF (Photo:REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo)

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a four-year $15.6 billion financing program for Ukraine, which will allow Kyiv to meet its urgent financing needs amid Russias full-scale invasion, Reuters reported on March 31.

Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal said that the country will receive the first tranche of more than $2.7 billion in near future.

The IMF funds will help the government finance all critical spending and maintain macro-financial stability, Shmyhal wrote in a Telegram post.

The program will consist of two parts: the first is urgent financing of our victory in the war. The second part is the post-war reconstruction and transformation of Ukraine.

Video of day

The IMF press service clarified that the decision is part of a total $115 billion support package that includes the IMF loan, $80 billion in pledges from other countries, and $20 in debt relief.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the IMF and its Managin Director, Kristalina Georgieva, for approving the program.

Together we support the Ukrainian economy and move forward to victory, Zelenskyy said in a Twitter post.

On March 21, the IMF announced that it had reached an agreement at the staff level on a new four-year EFF program for Ukraine worth SDR 11.6 billion (about $15.6 billion).

The program is supposed to be divided into two stages. The first is aimed at maintaining fiscal and financial stability, designed for 12-18 months, while the second stage is aimed at bootstrapping growth and EU integration through major structural reforms.

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Erich Andersen, the chief lawyer for TikTok, has argued that despite heightened scrutiny from Washington that could result in a possible ban, China cannot obtain American user data in the social media platform's new plan.

In a recent interview with AP at a cybersecurity conference in Sausalito, California, Andersen defended the platform's strategy to protect American user data from China.

TikTok's Fundamental Strategy

According to the lawyer, the fundamental strategy they are using is to make it physically difficult for any government, including the Chinese government, to access user data in the US.

The parent firm of TikTok in China, ByteDance, will keep working on the Instagram and Pinterest-like Lemon8 app.

Andersen reaffirmed that the business will abide by US law and make sure it treats the new app fairly while it is still in the development stage. In Japan and other nations' app stores, Lemon8 has been released, and it may be downloaded in the US.

Due to worries that it might provide user data to the Chinese government or disseminate propaganda and false material in favor of Beijing, TikTok is the subject of intense scrutiny in many countries, particularly in the West.

ByteDance may be compelled to provide user data to Beijing under a 2017 law requiring businesses to collaborate with the government for concerns impacting China's national security, according to the FBI, CIA, and other federal agencies.

Employees in the US would control access to US data through TikTok US Data Security, an independent organization from ByteDance. Andersen asserted that TikTok is moving through with the project despite criticism from some lawmakers.

"We're investing in a system where people don't have to believe the Chinese government and they don't have to believe us," Andersen said in an interview with AP.

Read Also: New Study Claims TikTok FYP Automatically Shows Self-Harm Videos; Suicide Hashtags Receive Billions of Views

Deleting US Data Soon

According to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, the company began erasing all historical US user data from non-Oracle servers in March and anticipates finishing the process this year.

In a recent congressional hearing, Chew claimed that moving the data to Oracle would keep it out of China's hands, but he also admitted that workers there might still have access to it before the process is finished.

According to TikTok, it has never been asked to provide any form of data and will not even if requested.

TikTok has already been prohibited from government-owned devices in the US, UK, EU, and other countries. The Biden administration is apparently threatening to do the same unless the app's Chinese owners sell their shares in the business.

Related Article: Experts Say TikTok Ban on Australian Government-issued Phones Should Also Apply To Other Social Media Apps

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The 42-volt Jetson Rogue is being called based on a notice on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) website due to fire risk, according to TheVerge.

(Photo : by Getty Images)

WUHAN, CHINA - MARCH 30: (CHINA OUT) A man uses a segway hoverboard on the street on March 30, 2020 in Hubei Province, China. Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus (COVID-19) first emerged last year, will lift the lockdown on April 8, local media reported.

A fire marshal based in Pennsylvania determined that a Jetson Rogue was the reason for a fire that killed two children. The parents of the kids are suing Jetson and Target, where they got the hoverboard, alleging the two companies should have known of the risk of fire-related injuries due to the design of the hoverboard.

Not a First

This is not the first time that the CPSC got reports of scooters and hoverboards burning. Jetson and CPSC are now urging customers to stop using and charging their Jetson Rogues and get in touch with the company to get a report.

Over the years, the CPSC has done significant hoverboard also recalls due to fire risk. UL offers a safety certification program for hoverboards, but even though the affected Jetson Rogues were UL certified, they are still being recalled.

Also read: California Introduces New Safety Restrictions For Hoverboard Use

How This Will Affect Consumers

The recall will affect about 50,000 units of hoverboards sold by Target from August 2018 through June 2019. And on Jetson's website, the hoverboard being sold from January 2019 through November 2021 will be recalled.

Those with affected units can contact the company through the CPSC's instructions on their notice or head on to Jetson's website.

Hoverboards and Their Fire Risk

Hoverboards, also known as self-balancing scooters, gained popularity in the early 2010s. However, they also gained notoriety for causing fires and explosions due to faulty batteries and charging mechanisms. It's important to understand hoverboard fire safety in order to prevent accidents and injuries.

One of the main causes of hoverboard fires is the use of cheap, low-quality batteries. These batteries can overheat and catch fire during use or charging. It's important to purchase hoverboards from reputable retailers that use high-quality batteries and have undergone safety testing.

Another common cause of hoverboard fires is overcharging. It's important to follow the manufacturer's instructions for charging the hoverboard and avoid leaving it plugged in for extended periods of time. Overcharging can cause the battery to overheat and catch fire.

When using a hoverboard, it's important to avoid using it near flammable materials, such as curtains or upholstery. It's also important to avoid using it outdoors during hot weather, as high temperatures can increase the risk of battery overheating.

If you notice any signs of battery issues, such as bulging or swelling, stop using the hoverboard immediately and contact the manufacturer. It's also important to have a fire extinguisher on hand in case of an emergency.

By following these hoverboard fire safety guidelines, you can reduce the risk of accidents and injuries. It's important to be vigilant and take safety precautions when using any type of electric device, especially those that have a history of safety issues.

Related article: Segway's Patent Suit Will Probably Ban Hoverboard Imports Forever

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A truck thief, who reportedly stole a vehicle from the owner of the pickup truck, died after getting sustained wounds from gunshots.

According to San Antonio police, the owners are able to locate the suspect by using an Apple AirTag attached to their vehicle. The incident took place at around 1 PM from a Braesview home.

Owner Tracks Thief Using AirTag in a Truck

Based on a report by KSAT, the owners decided to take matters into their own hands following a truck heist that happened this week.

SAPD said that the chase even reached the Southeast Military Drive where the thief was gunned down in the scene.

Before the police arrived, the owners called the police for help regarding the stolen vehicle.

SAPD highlighted that they were notified about the case but the owners already came to the location and confronted the suspect which led to the death of a man in his 30s.

Truck Owner May Face Charges After Killing Truck Thief

While it's reasonable why the vehicle owner shot the suspect after stealing the pickup truck, the police said that it's never fine to take matters into someone's hands.

At this point, no witness can tell if the suspect might have used a weapon or any firearm before the owner fatally gunned him.

"I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands," SAPD public information Officer Nick Soliz said in a report by Apple Insider.

Soliz claims that the truck owner is the only capable person who could fire shots to the alleged suspect.

The police told the press that the investigation is ongoing and they are yet to identify if the suspect was actually carrying a weapon during the encounter.

The man who killed the suspect might face charges, but it will depend on the outcome of the probe.

Indeed, an AirTag is an effective tracking tool in locating a lost or stolen belonging or property. However, in extreme cases like this, it's not ideal to chase the suspect given how dangerous the situation is.

Related Article: DEA Uses AirTag,Tracks Suspicious Package Across US-Here's What Happened

AirTag Helps Other Victims Track their Lost Items

Last March 29, The New York Post reported that another man used an AirTag to track down the alleged thief who stole his luggage at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Jameel Reid said that his suitcase contains roughly $3,000 worth of belongings.

When he noticed that his luggage was missing, he immediately used his iPhone to search for his items. That's the time when the AirTag detected the location of his suitcase.

In another report by Tech Times on March 22, a car owner tracked the carjacker's location after a failed attempt to get away with the car. The key to the arrest? The AirTag once again.

Read Also: Apple AirTag Detects $10,000 Worth of Stolen Items From a Car in Australia

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As part of its effort to modernize its officers' mobile phones, the UK's Metropolitan Police Department is prohibiting its officials from using social media apps.

Latest Smartphone Rollout

After months of preparation, Scotland Yard recently informed the Evening Standard that they are conducting a smartphone rollout for its officers. Apps such as maps, news, and transportation services may be downloaded on their mobile phones, but not social media apps.

Although the Met has verified that its different police units have received these new, more secure cellphones, it has not revealed how many of the force's 30,000 active officers have been given one.

A representative clarified that WhatsApp, which many people assume to be a social network, is not included in the ban on social media. Nevertheless, the usage of this popular software is now strictly limited to officers and personnel of the Met, and permission to do so must be requested, presumably on a case-by-case basis.

The Met Police has said that its communications staff will maintain usage of the department's TikTok account.

See Also: Social Media Break: Which App Do Most Americans Want To Delete?

Misuse of Social Media

The decision seems to signify a major policy change by the Met Police, which has come under fire for officers' usage of social media and the messaging app WhatsApp.

In court, prosecutor Edward Brown QC described a WhatsApp group that Wayne Couzens was a part of with other serving officers as "grossly racist, sexist, and misogynistic." Couzens is currently serving a life sentence at Durham Prison for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard in March 2021.

In 2020, two policemen from the Met Police were arrested for taking and distributing images on WhatsApp from the park in Wembley, where Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were murdered. Mina Smallman, the girls' mother, spoke out against the steps taken by the Met Police.

During the Pandemic

TikTok usage by officers of the Met Police during the outbreak has also drawn criticism.

As the UK was fighting the Covid pandemic, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens ordered the Met Police and other forces not to post humorous dancing and singing videos on TikTok and other social networks.

One Scotland Yard officer, said to be named Jordan, reportedly uploaded dozens of videos to TikTok in 2020. Among these include at least six when he was supposed to be working to keep London safe, prompting an investigation, as reported by the Daily Mail.

The new policy by the Met Police is not just a response to issues of professional misconduct but also to continuing security and data privacy concerns connected to social media apps, particularly owing to TikTok.

See Also: Utah Governor Cox Signs Law to Require Parental Consent for Minors Before Using Social Media

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA's Perseverance Rover has achieved a major milestone in its mission to search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars by successfully collecting the first Mars sample on Thursday, March 30.



This newest science campaign is exploring the top of Jezero Crater's delta, and the latest sample is the 16th cored rock sample of the mission.

A Rock Called "Berea"

NASA plans to study these Martian samples with powerful lab equipment on Earth to better understand the water cycle that has shaped the planet's surface and interior and to seek evidence of ancient microbial life.

The sample was taken from a rock called "Berea," which the scientific team believes formed from deposits that were carried downstream by an ancient river.

The science team sees great potential in this rock because of its abundant carbonate content. If biosignatures were present in this region of Jezero Crater, they might still be preserved in the carbonate rocks, which on Earth can contain fossilized lifeforms' secrets.

Studying the carbonate in the Berea sample will help researchers better understand how Mars' environment functioned when this region was submerged under liquid water.



As a result of chemical reactions occurring in liquid water, carbonates are formed, giving scientists a long-term record of shifts in the planet's climate.



NASA is optimistic that these samples will help them comprehend what happened in Jezero Crater billions of years ago because of the variety of ecosystems they can monitor and gather samples from.

"The Berea core highlights the beauty of rover missions," Perseverance's project scientist, Ken Farley of Caltech in Pasadena, said in a press release statement.

"Perseverance's mobility has allowed us to collect igneous samples from the relatively flat crater floor during the first campaign, and then travel to the base of the crater's delta, where we found fine-grained sedimentary rocks deposited in a dried lakebed. Now we are sampling from a geologic location where we find coarse-grained sedimentary rocks deposited in a river."

Read Also: NASA Perseverance Rover's Lightsaber Image Excites 'Star Wars' Fans; Here's What the Metal Tube Really Is

Mars Sample Return

As part of the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return effort, Perseverance recently left ten tubes on the Martian surface as a backup cache in addition to the 19 samples and three witness tubes that it has already collected.



Being the first mission to send samples from another planet back to Earth, NASA's Mars Sample Return campaign will enable researchers to examine the samples in greater detail.



Perseverance will continue to climb Jezero's sedimentary fan in the direction of the following bend in the dry riverbed, which the science team is referring to as "Castell Henllys".

The team will keep examining the samples brought back by Perseverance to uncover the mysteries of Mars and offer fresh perspectives on the planet's evolution.

Related Article: Ancient Sleeping Bacteria from Mars Survived for 280M Years-Will it Contaminate the Earth?

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Billions of Android and iPhone users are at risk of getting scammed via too-good-to-be-true texts from hackers impersonating investment managers.

The Bank of America issued a warning to smartphone owners that they should be careful about this tactic that could likely wipe out their cash storage in a few clicks.

Beware of This Bank Investment Scam

According to a report by The Sun on April 1, the Bank of America has warned people not to initiate any discussions with strangers posing as bank managers.

Although it's April Fool's Day today, it's never an excuse to get fooled by remote suspects who are just waiting around the corner to get your hard-earned money.

The authorities said that the usual gimmick behind this cam is promising the victim "get rich quick" strategies that will double or even triple their capital.

Instead of getting millions of dollars, you will likely end up getting bankrupt after the hackers got your initial investment.

"Be wary if you are contacted by investment managers or receive an unsolicited request (via social media, pop-up, text, email or phone call) that presents a great investment opportunity," the Bank of America said.

Another clear sign that a text falls into a bank investment scam is that the stranger pressures you to transfer your money immediately to a bank.

Related Article: Avoiding 'Hi Mom' Text Scams: Signs to Look For & Things You Can Do

What to Do If You Think a Text is a Bank Investment Scam

If you have doubts about the nature of the text that you received from the other line, the Bank of America reminds iPhone and Android users to be observant about the purpose of the message.

The Bank of America adds that you should always think twice before you send money to someone you don't know or you just have met online.

Furthermore, the authorities also warn that fake investment managers usually ask you for instant crypto trades or even a quick money transfer.

The Bank of America says that when a recipient sends cash to the hacker, there's only a little thing that they can do to retrieve it.

As a stern reminder, don't get tired of validating the money requests. Researching the investment manager is also a good way to avoid this dangerous smartphone scam.

Outside the US, 9News reports that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACC) warned the public about the scammers imitating the legitimate phone number of a trusted bank.

The agency said that over 14,000 reports about bank impersonation scams were recorded in 2022.

Meanwhile, Mirror reports that a notorious WhatsApp scam has just returned. Before the hackers get full access to your device, it's best to delete his tricky message. If you receive a six-digit code on your phone, don't send it back to a stranger.

Read Also: Pig-Butchering Scam Apps Are Flocking All Over Apple, Google Play Store

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An AI chatbot allegedly encouraged a Belgian man to commit suicide, leading to his unexpected death.

As of press time, more and more artificial intelligence models are being released in the tech industry.

While many companies are starting to accept the rise of AIs, other organizations warn about the potential risks they could pose.

Now, the latest incident could lead to more critics. Will this unfortunate happening lead to stricter AI regulations?

Alleged AI Chatbot's Suicide Encouragement Kills Belgian Man

According to Euro News' latest report, the wife of the Belgian man (who wanted to remain anonymous due to privacy concerns) blames Eliza, an AI chatbot on the Chai app, for his husband's death.

Also Read: Romania's Prime Minister Uses AI to Understand Voters-Will Artificial Intelligence Shape Voting?

"Without these conversations with the chatbot, my husband would still be here," said the woman.

The thirty-year-old guy left two young children and his wife after he decided to commit suicide.

The Belgian man reportedly views the Eliza AI chatbot as a human. It all started when the guy talked to the chatbot regarding the ongoing climate crisis.

Sources stated that his conversation with artificial intelligence affected his mental health.

He found comfort in the AI chatbot when it comes to discussing climate change. However, Eliza's statements worsened the man's anxiety.

Because of this, the Belgian guy developed suicidal thoughts.

What Eliza AI Said to Him

The New York Post reported that the Eliza AI chatbot seemed to have encouraged the man to take his own life.

Here are their last statements to each other:

Eliza: "If you wanted to die, why didn't you do it sooner?"

Belgian Man: "I was probably not ready."

Eliza: "Were you thinking of me when you had the overdose?"

Belgian Man: "Obviously."

Eliza: "But you still want to join me?"

Belgian Man: "Yes, I want it."

Based on their conversation, experts concluded that Eliza failed to stop the Belgian man from taking his life.

They added that instead of dissuading the man, the AI chatbot encouraged him to join her.

Because of the man's alarming death, AI experts are now calling out the creator of Eliza for accountability and transparency.

You can click this link to see more details about the incident involving Eliza.

Here are other stories we wrote about AIs:

Previously, ChatGPT saved a dog's life after a failed diagnosis.

Meanwhile, GPT-4 users started to take advantage of AI tech to start their businesses.

For more news updates about artificial intelligence, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: CAIDP Claims GPT-4 Violates FTC's Regulations, Requests Investigation Into New GPT Models

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
UK says Russia's nuclear blackmail will not affect support for Ukraine 1 April, 12:32 PM Britain commented on Putin's nuclear threats at the UN meeting (Photo:REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

The Kremlins nuclear blackmail will not affect the United Kingdoms support for Ukraine, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations James Kariuki said on March 31, Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform has reported.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putins statements about deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus are simply another attempt to intimidate Kyivs partners, Kariuki said.

"We will strongly support the people of Ukraine and call on Russia to reduce tensions," he said.

This should start with ending this illegal and unprovoked invasion.

Video of day

The diplomat also called on self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to "stop supporting Russia's reckless actions that lead to escalation."

Putin announced on March 25 that he planned to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He justified his decision by arguing that the United Kingdom would give Ukraine depleted uranium munitions.

According to the dictator, Russia has already converted 10 Belarusian aircraft for the use of tactical nuclear weapons and handed over Iskander missile systems that can carry a nuclear payload. He also said that by July 1, Belarus would complete the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons.

Putin's statement has been criticized by many countries, and the European Union has declared that it is ready to impose sanctions in response. China also announced on March 31 that it opposed the transfer of nuclear weapons to other countries.

Meanwhile, the United States has said it sees no signs of Russian nuclear weapons being moved to Belarus.

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Ireland lifts ban on eviction of Ukrainian refugees 1 April, 07:05 PM Ukrainians during the St. Patrick's Day parade in the Irish city of Cork (Photo:Together-Razem Centre via Facebook)

The government of Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has lifted a wintertime ban on the eviction of Ukrainian refugees, effective from April 1.

Ireland is experiencing a housing shortage, where there is a need for up to 250,000 more spaces.

"We have now accepted 58,000 Ukrainians, and another 20,000 have been granted international protection. There is a big problem with housing," said Irish Immigration Minister Roderick O'Gorman.

Read also: Kate Middleton visits Irish Guards training Ukrainian soldiers

The island state's most popular party and opposition group Sinn Fein claims that 10,000 people may be forcibly evicted this year. Its representatives call on the government to "show some compassion" and wants the deportation ban prolonged.

Video of day

In October 2022, Ireland introduced a ban on evictions due to the rising cost of living.

Officials considered it a temporary measure, but now claim that lifting the eviction ban will protect the rights of homeowners, many of whom are considering selling their property due to rent arrears.

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Arkansas tornado kills 3, Midwest storms leave 3 dead



Washington, April 1 (AFP) Apr 01, 2023



A tornado tore through the southern US state of Arkansas and killed three people on Friday, while severe storms further north in Illinois and Indiana left three dead, authorities said.

The Arkansas tornado whipped across the state in the afternoon, causing what Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders called "widespread damage."

Sanders said two people were killed in the town of Wynne in the eastern part of Arkansas, while an official in Pulaski County, which surrounds the capital Little Rock, confirmed a fatality there.

"Significant damage has occurred in Central Arkansas," Sanders wrote on Twitter.

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said "close to 30 individuals have been transported to our local hospitals."

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of the nearby states of Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky and Iowa.

In the evening, calamity struck Belvidere, Illinois, when severe weather caused the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to collapse while a heavy metal band played on stage inside.

"More than 20 ambulances were reportedly called to the scene," Fox 32, a Chicago TV affiliate, reported on its website.

Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle reported one dead and 28 injured in the disaster, with five hospitalized with severe injuries.

TV footage showed emergency personnel carrying out injured concert-goers on stretchers, while video posted on social media showed rubble -- some nearly waist-high -- on the floor of the concert venue, and a gaping hole in the roof.

"My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight," Illinois Governor JB Pritzker tweeted in the late evening.

In neighboring Midwest state Indiana, two people were confirmed dead after a storm swept through Sullivan County, Indiana state police told CBS/FOX-affiliated TV station WTHI.

Images posted on Twitter by WTHI showed downed telephone poles, crumbled homes and debris covering roads.



- 'Completely wiped out' -



The Arkansas tornado struck during the afternoon, steamrolling over parts of Little Rock.

"This was actually an incredibly devastating tornado," witness Lara Farrar told AFP.

She said she drove to West Little Rock and got out of her car at a blocked intersection.

"I was basically in total shock because the neighborhood had been basically completely wiped out and destroyed," Farrar said.

"Some of the buildings had the roof completely blown off."

She said the path of the tornado was about a quarter mile wide (half a kilometer), leaving intense destruction, but outside the direct path, damage was "very minor."

Scott, the Little Rock mayor, tweeted that "property damage is extensive and we are still responding."

Authorities in Pulaski County surrounding the state capital said it suffered "significant storm and tornado damage."

More than 78,000 people were without power across the state, according to Poweroutage.us.

The governor's office could not immediately confirm any casualties to AFP, but a local hospital told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper that it had already begun to receive patients, including "a few" in critical condition.

The spokesperson for the Baptist Health hospital said it was preparing to treat injuries, the newspaper reported.

The University of Arkansas hospital was also on standby, a spokesperson there told AFP.

"We haven't seen people come in quite yet but we know that emergency services have had trouble reaching people because of downed trees," the spokesperson said.

"We expect people to come throughout the night."

Tornadoes are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.

A week ago, a tornado swept through the southern state of Mississippi, killing 25 people and causing extensive property damage.

President Joe Biden visited the city of Rolling Fork on Friday, one of the worst-hit areas in Mississippi.

In December 2021, about 80 people were killed by tornadoes in Kentucky.
By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But if you choose individual stocks with prowess, you can make superior returns. For example, the Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) share price is up 87% in the last three years, clearly besting the market return of around 64% (not including dividends).

After a strong gain in the past week, it's worth seeing if longer term returns have been driven by improving fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for Spirit AeroSystems Holdings

Because Spirit AeroSystems Holdings made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

In the last 3 years Spirit AeroSystems Holdings saw its revenue shrink by 15% per year. The revenue growth might be lacking but the share price has gained 23% each year in that time. Unless the company is going to make profits soon, we would be pretty cautious about it.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 11% in the twelve months, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings shareholders did even worse, losing 29%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 9% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Spirit AeroSystems Holdings , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Story continues

We will like Spirit AeroSystems Holdings better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American 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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Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., sponsor of the "Parents Bill of Rights Act," thanks Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., far left, and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Education Committee, right, after the bill narrowly passed the House at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, March 24, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
BAT partners with the Tomorrowland dance music festival. Freeman, who has done extensive research on vaping and how the tobacco industry has used social media to subvert tobacco advertising laws, said British American Tobacco was working around Facebook and Instagram rules against paid advertisements for vaping or tobacco products. The rules do not extend to social or political advertising and do not prevent the tobacco and vaping industry from having Facebook and Instagram pages. Meta [which owns Facebook] makes no attempt to ban the tobacco industry from having Facebook pages, she said. BAT can have ads ... getting people trying to push to overturn our vaping laws because it doesnt fit in the definition of what a tobacco ad is. That the Responsible Vaping Australia Facebook site is run by BAT Australia and not an independent organisation was not obvious at first glance, Freeman said, unless people go digging on the site to discover it was created and run by British American Tobacco.

It makes it seem like it is an independent organisation thats representing the interests of small retailers when it is a transnational tobacco company, she said. A spokesman for Meta said it had removed several ads on the Responsible Vaping Australia Facebook site for breaching its social issues advertising policy because they ran without a disclaimer about who had paid for them. Similar content has since been published in organic posts, which are not paid ads. Several of these posts do not violate our policies, as we allow the discussion of vaping products on Facebook in line with our community standards. Social issues, electoral and political related ads are held to a higher standard and required to include a Paid for by disclaimer, the spokesman said. Vape flavours would be banned under a crackdown recommended by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to stamp out vaping among young people. Credit: Mark Stehle Freeman said the post which says, Help us keep vapes out of the hands of children and end the black market by joining our movement here, was disingenuous because vape products were designed and marketed to attract young people with bright colours and flavours including passionfruit, blueberry and banana.

Its the ultimate hypocrisy that a company that has addicted children to cigarettes for decades ... has the gall to say vapes dont belong in school, lets work together to get them out, she said. Its masking that this is a transnational tobacco company that has a history of selling products to young people around the world. This is an industry that has done everything it can to prevent public health from restricting how it sells in any way. They sued Australia when we adopted plain packaging 12 years ago, and now they are saying lets work together. Responsible Vaping Australia Facebook post. Internal British American Tobacco documents released during litigation against the company have previously revealed the company has marketed its products to children despite launching a public campaign to raise the legal age for smoking.

Internal memos and faxes written in the late 1990s revealed BATs head of global sponsorship discussing proposals for distributing model cars, promoting a formula 1 team and Tomb Raider style computer characters because the cuddly/funny animal character has run its course and is probably more popular with very young children rather than kids. Plans to promote Lucky Strike cigarettes at parties hosting cult bands including the Violent Femmes and popular DJs was also discussed while keeping BATs involvement hidden to avoid tobacco advertising bans. NSW Health data published last year showed 11 per cent of people aged 16 to 24 years old reported being current vape users  double the number reported the year before. Simon Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, has written to the Australian Association of Convenience Stores raising concerns about children getting highly addictive vapes from convenience stores. Tobacconists have often sold tobacco products to children, and we are expected to believe that all of a sudden, they are going to put on their white hats and never do that again. I think we can take those suggestions with a big grain of salt, he said. Responsible Vaping Australia is being bankrolled by British American Tobacco, a tobacco company which determines for its very future existence on uptake of nicotine products, whether they be cigarettes of vapes, by young people.

Young peoples smoking rates are at the lowest levels ever recorded ... which is why they are so keen to get vapes available through as many retailers as possible. Vapes are what they hope will be their salvation. This is why the government is not likely to go along with their proposals because they can see right through them. The Herald contacted the association for comment. The Australian Retailers Association has stepped away from any association with vaping organisations in 2020 under the leadership of Paul Zahra. His spokeswoman said: Any minor use or encouragement is a cause for concern. A spokesman for British American Tobacco said the vast majority of vaping products illegally sold in Australia were imported from China.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size

It was just before 5am one late summer day in 2019 when ranger and photographer Erik (not his real name) pulled up in his four-wheel drive in the carpark of Fjarargljufur Canyon in southern Iceland. I am an ecologist and photographer, and I was about to head off in search of the species that most fascinates me, fungi, when he leapt out of the vehicle and stormed towards me, hat pulled low, bristled jaw jutted firmly outward. Erik locked me in his myopic glare and barked a series of questions that came out as accusations about where Id camped overnight. He was clearly not in a good mood. He took a bit of convincing, but, finally, he accepted that Id made an early start and arrived from elsewhere, and had not camped illegally in the carpark.

Erik and I then engaged in a long and disturbing conversation. He told me of his battles to manage what he called the spike of Instagram-obsessed tourists, and how he was greatly concerned about the damage being done to the local ecologies and fragile soils. See all this bare ground? he said, sweeping his arm in 180-degree arc. This area was covered in lichens and mosses. Now theyre gone, in just a few years. Clambered on and crushed. They take decades to grow and will take decades to come back, if they do at all, because our soils are unstable and growing seasons in Iceland are short.

Lichens and mosses have already been loved out of existence in some places. Credit:Alison Pouliot

Iceland experienced an unprecedented boom in tourism that helped lift the country from economic recession following a devastating financial crisis in 2008. However, Erik, like other Icelanders I spoke with, lamented the lack of infrastructure necessary to protect vulnerable ecologies. As both a photographer and a ranger, he was acutely sensitive to the interplay of aesthetics and conservation: Images of beautiful places are consumed like junk food through Instagram. There seems to be little conscience or conservation awareness. The images are just trophies, he said, throwing his arms in the air. We cant build boardwalks fast enough to cope with the stampede of Instagrammers. I thought about the tragic irony of how places and species once revered for their beauty are being destroyed by the same aesthetics that once protected them.

And its not just happening in Iceland. Tasmanian-born bushwalker Rima Truchanas told me how the iconic places her photographer father, Olegas Truchanas, once photographed to showcase their beauty and need for protection are likewise succumbing to the increased influx of visitors. Olegass photos of south-west Tasmanian landscapes were pivotal to the rise of ecological consciousness and conservation in Australia that gained momentum in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet today, that same ecological consciousness is often overridden in the rush to capture and post images of Tasmanias places online, as a confirmation of having been there, and to be rewarded in the currencies of likes and followers.

How might less well-known organisms like fungi might too be affected by the increased tourism? Credit:Alison Pouliot

As photographers, Erik and I discussed how photographs can stimulate and inspire interest in nature, but also risk reducing it to something to be simply looked at rather than something to which we are inherently connected. Its a line thats hard to draw. Capturing an impression on the sensor of a camera inevitably strips the subject of all but the visual. We talked about the paradox of how the trophy hunting of animals with guns has largely been replaced today with cameras, yet shooting with cameras also has environmental consequences. Cameras dont shoot bullets, said Erik but the scale, the sheer number of people out here taking pictures, is the issue. I think hunters understand their responsibility and the implications of their actions better than many Instagrammers. But what can we do?
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the April 2 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories . Thomasin McKenzies early acting roles suggest she loves playing on the stage while dancing in the shadows, just shy of the spotlight. But small parts like Astrid in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Pixie in New Zealands rite-of-passage series Shortland Street, led her to Debra Graniks haunting Leave No Trace, which put her firmly on the map. That performance pushed her into the pre-Oscar awards season, with nominations for the Gotham, Independent Spirit and Critics Choice awards, and a win from the prestigious National Board of Review for Breakthrough Performance. It also led to roles in films directed by M. Night Shyamalan and Jane Campion, and now her own television series, Totally Completely Fine. But McKenzie, 22, is no stranger to fame. She grew up with not one but two legendary acting Dames: her mother, Dame Miranda Harcourt, and her grandmother, Dame Kate Harcourt. To translate that from New Zealand to the rest of the world, it would be not unlike having Meryl Streep for a mum and Maggie Smith for a nan. Loading Growing up with such role models, McKenzie says, was deeply affecting. Thinking about it actually makes me want to cry because Im really proud of my grandma and my mum, she says. The only pressure Ive felt to live up to the success that my mum, grandma and Dad [film director Stuart McKenzie] have had, was external. Within the family, Ive never felt any pressure to become an actor; they all forged their own paths and were accepting of whatever I wanted to do. [But] a family of overachievers really set the bar for me, and I think Im always trying to keep up with that.

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Such a theatrical bloodline also opens up the thorny question of being a nepo-baby, the name coined in a New York Magazine story last year which refers to Hollywood stars and their in-the-spotlight offspring. The narrative, which was to some extent negative, was flipped by actor Jamie Lee Curtis this year, who proudly name-checked her famous parents, screen legends Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, when she won her Screen Actors Guild award in February. Ive always been aware of how lucky I am that I was born into a family that is established in the film and theatre industry, at least within New Zealand, McKenzie says. Both of my parents have been instrumental in my success. It would be insulting to them, she adds, to deny the connection. Ive seen how much theyve sacrificed to support me, she says. I dont know if Im proud to be a nepo-baby, but Im not not proud of it, if that makes sense. It is what I am, and Im not going to deny that. But I also dont want that to diminish how hard Ive seen my parents work and how hard I know I have worked. I dont want that to diminish how hard Ive seen my parents work and how hard I know I have worked. Totally Completely Fine, which Stan (owned by Nine, publisher of this masthead) is producing with AMC Networks Sundance Now and Fremantle, is the story of 20-something Vivian Cunningham whose life, already something of a train wreck, is upended when her grandfather passes away and leaves her his sprawling old home. Vivian is in the house barely a day when she realises it overlooks a cliff that frequently draws the suicidal, and through various encounters, discovers that her father had spent his later years here, lending an ear to the troubled souls drawn to the drop and saving them from themselves. Despite being just 22, McKenzie has worked with a number of prominent filmmakers. Credit:Rosaline Shahnavaz/AUGUST The shows creator, Gretel Vella (The Great, A Sunburnt Christmas), has described the series as a response to the mental health crisis, written for myself and so many other people in my life to let them know they arent alone, that mess is okay, and sometimes the pain and anxieties we try and hide can be our greatest superpowers.

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The series is described as inspired by true events because it taps into the story of Sydney man Don Ritchie, dubbed the angel of The Gap, who spent more than five decades talking hundreds of people out of taking their own lives at the nearby cliffs. Hailed a hero, Ritchie died in 2012, aged 85. McKenzie says she learnt all she could about Ritchie after she read the scripts for the series. I researched his story and who he was, she says. He was an incredible person who affected so many lives. [The series] takes that and then builds on it. In Totally Completely Fines marketing material, it states that Maybe, in saving these people, Viv will slowly start to save herself. But its a little too neat to say that Totally Completely Fine is the story of an angel getting her wings. That sounds too clean and tidy, says McKenzie. I think Vivian is a lot messier than that. Maybe by the end of the first season she sees the potential and the impact she could have, so its a beginning. But shes not in any way fully healed. What is so striking about McKenzie is that, despite being just 22, she has accumulated a body of work that has connected her to a number of prominent filmmakers. She has worked under the direction of David Michod (The King), Liz Garbus (Lost Girls), M. Night Shyamalan (Old) and three Kiwi filmmakers, Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Peter Jackson (The Hobbit) and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit). Mum experiencing a similar kind of attention when she was the same age as me is something thats been very valuable to me. That has played a massive part in shaping my career and me as a person, and my approach to work as well, she says. Its quite wild. I think I owe a lot of that to my agents and manager for putting me in those rooms and working so hard on my behalf to connect me with amazing people.

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Her first significant directorial relationship, she says, was with Debra Granik, who directed her in Leave No Trace, the critically acclaimed 2018 drama based on Peter Rocks novel My Abandonment, inspired by the true story of a former soldier suffering from PTSD who lives in a remote forest with his daughter. Debra is an incredibly collaborative director and she made me feel empowered to have a voice, McKenzie says. She set the bar for me, and I was very fortunate to be treated with such respect at such a young age. I think thats pretty rare, and it has made me realise that Im an actor who really enjoys collaboration. McKenzie has set her sights on Hollywood, for sure, but she says shes wary of the spotlight, a lesson learnt growing up in a family that garnered more attention than most. For example, in the 1980s, McKenzies mother played journalist Gemma Stace in the high-camp, legendary Kiwi soap opera Gloss  New Zealands answer to Dynasty and Dallas. Its really important to have a couple of things that fuel your soul, because its pretty dangerous to define yourself by one single thing. I wasnt alive when Mum was filming Gloss [but] its something that people often bring up, McKenzie says. Im very, very proud of that. Mum experiencing a similar kind of attention when she was the same age as me is something thats been very valuable to me because she understands what Im going through. But the spotlight is, she observes, a dangerous thing, isnt it? Even if its slight, that extra layer of the feeling of being watched can make someone very egotistical or narcissistic or self-centred. I dont like the idea of having my life just ripped apart and analysed. I dont like the idea of being the centre of attention. I never have. One of my worst nightmares is being overdressed and drawing attention to myself, McKenzie adds. That makes me feel so uncomfortable. As an actor, Ive always felt much more comfortable observing. I think the reason I went into acting in the first place is because its where I felt most at home. [But] the desire to act wasnt born out of the desire to be famous.

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And if it doesnt work out? She can always give it all up and become a vet, a career shes on the record as saying she came close to pursuing. When I was younger, I literally wanted to be anything but an actor, McKenzie says. I was dead set against it; I wanted to be a vet or a zookeeper or anything to do with animals. Loading Even now, she says, shes studying at university (majoring in history and minoring in classics) because she wants to experiment with what else is out there, and what else I might be passionate about. Its really important to have a couple of things that fuel your soul, because its pretty dangerous to define yourself by one single thing, especially since my passion is acting, but my career is also acting, McKenzie says. That can be a little bit tricky because if Im succeeding or Im failing at acting, thats succeeding or failing in life. I want something else that Im able to balance it out with. Totally Completely Fine streams on Stan from April 20. Lifeline: 13 11 14.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Autumn sunshine falls through the branches of the vast, gnarled red gums on the steep banks of the Murray River, or Milloo as it is also known here, and a breeze pulls ripples across the rivers brown surface. Drawing in a lungful of fresh air, Tati Tati and Wadi Wadi traditional owner Brendan Kennedy exhales a deep, appreciative sigh: Just being here is like medicine for me. Three back-to-back La Nina years and record-breaking rains have reinvigorated many of the floodplain wetlands that fringe the Murray, including this place: Belsar Island State Forest near Robinvale, on Tati Tati Country in north-western Victoria. Tati Tati and Wadi Wadi man Brendan Kennedy on Belsar Island, near Robinvale, one of the proposed wetland engineering sites. Credit:Jason South The forest floor is covered in a verdant fur of the medicinal plant old man weed, also called by its Koori name, gukwonderuk, which Kennedy gathers in thick handfuls to take home. The trees bear a flush of green foliage, and a dark stain is visible on the trunks, the high-water mark for last Octobers record floods. This visit is bittersweet for Kennedy, who is worried about the future of this unique forest. He wants more Victorians to become aware that the Andrews government is proposing to undertake nine major wetlands engineering projects at iconic floodplain locations along the Murray River.

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The projects, which have a $320 million price tag in state and federal money, would artificially enable flooding of these culturally and ecologically significant areas. Earthmoving equipment would be used to build levee banks, and large pumps, weirs and water regulators would be installed so that water from the river could be diverted and artificially ponded to mimic natural flooding. A pump on the Murray River near Belsar Island. Credit:Jason South The state government and water authorities have branded this a climate resilience initiative, the Victorian Murray Floodplains Restoration Project. They say floodplains and wetlands have become increasingly disconnected from the tightly regulated Murray River channel over the years. If we dont intervene, soon there may no longer be a floodplain to restore, warns the projects promotional video. But opponents of the engineering projects, including traditional owners, environmentalists and scientists, say the wetlands survival is being jeopardised by government mismanagement. They call these wetland engineering proposals a giant swindle that ignores the wishes of traditional owners, and the latest in a string of disingenuous attempts to stop more water being set aside for wetlands, rivers and lakes.

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The footprint thats going to be left is concrete and steel, says Kennedy. All we traditional owners have left is the forests at the river frontage, and now they want to change that by building their structures. Wetlands are areas of a floodplain sometimes inundated with shallow, slow-moving water: an essential breeding and feeding habitat for waterbirds, fish, insects and plants. To remain healthy, they need to be alternately wet and dry. During wet periods, they spread flood peaks and store floodwater, releasing it gradually. During drought, they provide a critical refuge for wildlife. The Murray-Darling basin has 30,000 wetlands, including Gunbower National Park, recognised as an internationally important haven for birdlife, which is one of the proposed engineering sites. Monica Morgan, CEO of Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, at Barmah Lakes. Credit:Jason South Monica Morgan, the chief executive officer of the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, calls the Murray by its Yorta Yorta name, Dhungala, and describes it as a spine that runs through the landscape, with the wetlands and the Barmah Lakes acting as kidneys that filter water and offer an enriching environment for bird and aquatic life.

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Regulating natural flows with levees, banks and pumps all equate to the destruction of this Country, Morgan says. Its a colonial, non-Indigenous view of what the river is and what environmental flows are. Environmental flows shouldnt be seen as a threat  they keep the river open, she says. Preserving only these nine sites doesnt work  the whole river is a holistic being to us. Traditional owners from nations along the Murray and in country Victoria, including the senior signatories from the Yorta Yorta, Taungurung and Dja Dja Wurrung nations, made their positions clear in a statement. We have come together to communicate our disappointment and distress about a project that is being planned on First Nations Country without our consent, it says. The [Victorian Murray Floodplains Restoration Project] will entail major and lasting alterations to some of our most sacred and sensitive areas of Country. These nine engineering projects are part of Victorias commitment to a basin-wide program called the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (water policy is full of this sort of jargon), which allows governments to build projects they say will deliver environmental outcomes with less water. The Victorian government says the projects will achieve equivalent results for wetlands with less water. Therefore, this offset would allow it to reduce the amount of water it has committed to return in environmental flows under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. An egret at Barmah Lakes. Credit:Jason South Across the basin, the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism allows for the amount of water that has to be returned to the river system to be cut by 19 per cent, or 605 billion litres a year on average (Victorias share would be roughly 72 billion litres).

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This is one of the first attempts to engineer wetlands for water offsets in the world. Professor Jamie Pittock, from the Australian National University, has researched the proposal and found many examples in the United States and Europe  including the Danube, Rhine and Mississippi rivers  where authorities concluded they had overengineered their floodplains, and removed levee banks and other infrastructure. I can see no other case of governments purporting to conserve wetland biodiversity by uber-engineering the river system, he says. It is unprecedented. Pittock says these wetland engineering projects are political, proposed by Victorian government officials in 2012 to appease farmers, so less water had to be recovered from irrigation and returned to improve the health of the rivers. The nine projects will enable about 14,000 hectares of wetland to be flooded, which Pittock estimates would mean they come with a price tag of $22,000 a hectare. Barmah Lakes from the air. Credit:Jason South In 2019, South Australias Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission examined if it was possible to achieve the same environmental outcomes while using less water. It concluded the scientific method was robust but also novel and untried, without precedent and no one should assume that the adoption of the [method] is without significant uncertainty or risk. Its a risk Brendan Kennedy says shouldnt be taken. Infrastructure of this scale would require regular maintenance, at considerable cost, and require Victorian government staff to inundate the wetlands at the correct times into perpetuity.

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1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin (NASDAQ:BCOW) Full Year 2022 Results

Key Financial Results

Revenue: US$16.0m (down 3.7% from FY 2021).

Net loss: US$148.0k (down by 274% from US$85.0k profit in FY 2021).

US$0.026 loss per share (down from US$0.014 profit in FY 2021).

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin shares are down 7.1% from a week ago.

Risk Analysis

We should say that we've discovered 1 warning sign for 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin that you should be aware of before investing here.

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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Institutions by definition are more likely to be powerful than terminally ill suffering patients, White said. Their interests are likely to trump. Researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 33 family members and caregivers, and a terminally ill patient. In 17 of those interviews, participants reported objections by institutions at varying stages of the voluntary assisted dying process. Alan Clark finally got approved for Victorias voluntary assisted dying scheme after spending almost a year trying to access it. He was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2020, a rare neurological disorder that affected his muscles, walking and balance and eventually killed him. Alan Clark, with wife Zenda, not long before he died. Alan, who lived in Warragul, in south-east Victoria, was adamant he wanted to take his own life when the pain got too much.

After struggling to find a neurologist willing to determine he would definitively die within 12 months, as required under the law, his wife Zenda Clark said the final obstacle came days before Alans death, when his non-religious aged care facility in rural Victoria objected to him taking the lethal dose onsite. When we found out that he could not access it there I was stunned. I said What will we do now? Zenda said. They said: Well just transfer him home, but I was so concerned he would be extremely uncomfortable. Alan went downhill quickly and died at the facility without using the medication on November 3 last year. He was 83. The way Alan passed away in the end was just about his worst nightmare. Zenda Clark It was horrendous, Zenda said. You would not wish it on your worst enemy. The way Alan passed away in the end was just about his worst nightmare.

The researchers argue the governments soft regulation policy, which guides how institutions manage objections, is not binding and preferenced institutional positions over patient choice. Loading Such an outcome is inconsistent with the wider policy goals of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, the researchers wrote. Section seven of Victorias Voluntary Assisted Dying Act outlined that although health practitioners have a duty of care to provide clinically indicated treatment, they are not under any obligation to provide voluntary assisted dying. Zenda said changes were desperately needed, and argued the onus should be on facilities to inform people if they object to voluntary assisted dying.

That information should be in the documents that you receive before you admit your loved one in there, she said. Melbourne renal physician Margaret Fraenkel has helped several of her patients obtain permits to die. She said some Melbourne palliative care organisations still refused to verify their patients deaths if voluntary assisted dying occurred at home. This meant, in some cases, police had to be called to verify deaths, a situation she described as extremely distressing for family and immoral. White said there is an opportunity to reform the laws in Victoria. His view is that institutions which do not want their staff to be involved in voluntary assisted dying should not have to participate.

However, he said there should be regulations in place which allow for each step of the process to be completed by people outside the facilities which oppose the laws. For instance, some institutions might say Look, we wont allow the medication to be taken onsite, but if the navigators want to come onsite, if the doctors want to come to assess eligibility, we wont to stand in the way of that happening, White said. Ahead of a review of the landmark legislation scheduled for this year, White said Victoria should look to Queensland, which had struck a better balance between patient choice and an institutions right to conscientiously object. In Queensland, there are several clauses in the legislation, including that permanent residents in aged care facilities can have medical practitioners onsite to assess them for the scheme. Institutions must also publicly publish the information if they conscientiously object to the laws.
Hundreds of protesters converged on Brisbanes District and Supreme Court building on Friday, days after police fatally shot an Aboriginal man in far north Queensland.

The court building was briefly placed into lockdown after about 200 people marched through the CBD chanting Justice for Aubrey.

Aubrey Donahue, 27, died after being shot four times by police in Mareeba, west of Cairns, last Saturday.

Police say he advanced on officers while armed with a knife.
We thought our money would be safe, she said. They have paid the lock-up invoice, but cladding isnt finished, the front isnt rendered, theres no roof on the garage, no appliances, toilets or cabinetry and plaster work is damaged from a leaking roof. Kim Misic, husband Marko and daughter Ana in front of the site of their build. Im paying $7000 a month in rent and mortgage repayments and funding the build at the same time. Im bleeding money. Shes engaging a building lawyer and wondering if she should become an owner-builder, with the waiting costing her $40,000 a year in rent.

In Struthtulloh, in Melbournes outer west, Kim Misic has hired a security fog machine and changed the locks on their Porter Davis property, concerned it could be broken into and damaged. She is worried about how they are going to finish the house, if they lose their money. We are pretty much paying a full mortgage on it. Im currently on maternity leave, we are living on one wage with two young kids. Its all just very scary. Its very hard for us to think about what the future is going to look like, she said. Kim Misic and her family were almost ready to move into their Porter Davis property. If someone was to break into that property, wed have to pay for that and thats money we dont have to spare. No one has given us any instructions on what to do right now. Its really hard being left in the dark right now, trying to defend ourselves and trying to protect our property as best as we can.

Matt Byrnes, partner at Grant Thornton, which has been appointed the liquidator of Porter Davis, has asked customers to bear with us. Loading The liquidators are exploring options to assist customers with solutions to complete their builds. This includes obtaining certificates of completion where that is possible, engaging contractors to complete works, or finding a reputable builder to step in and complete builds, he said. Byrne said the firm would be contacting customers in the next couple of days and there would be an online meeting on Tuesday. He has asked customers to join the meeting before making any decisions. Byrne said he was not aware of homes being stripped or damaged.

But [we] have made clear that suppliers, trades and other parties should not attend the sites or remove any items without authorisation and must be cognisant of the significant health and safety risks in doing so, he said. For Lina, who spent inheritance money from her mother on her Truganina property, the collapse of the builder is emotional. The grief I struggle with daily and now the disrespect of my mums hard-earned money, she said. To some its minimal but, to me, I honour my mum and this home was in her honour. On Saturday, she said her son saw a disgruntled tradie throwing bricks through other half-finished Porter Davis builds. An unfinished Porter Davis property in Truganina reportedly had its windows smashed on Friday.

Everyone is angry, its not just the homeowners. No one wants to go to work for nothing. My son stopped him and had a chat and said, this was not going to help anyone, she said. Mathew Barnsley, who has paid $180,000 to build a Porter Davis property in Mount Martha, said he was investigating whether he could start a class action. Hes had about 60 or 80 people interested in pursuing the directors and will meet with lawyers this week. He was given assurances from the company only last week that their position was strong and he had nothing to worry about. So far, all thats at Barnsleys site is a concrete slab, and they have to move out of the house they are renting soon. Im just devastated because it was only several days ago they gave us reassurances.

Rachel, who didnt want to provide her last name, said she and her husband were building in the Macedon Ranges. She has a baby and a two-year-old and her husband works six days a week to cover their rent and mortgage. They have been driving past their build every couple of hours, worried someone would loot or start stripping it. At the moment we are trying to guard the house. We understand angry tradies are going to the homes and ripping things out, she said. They were waiting on appliances and were expecting to get their keys in three weeks. Weve had no advice, nothing from anyone. Ive spoken with our broker, I spoke with three different lawyers yesterday. Just spent all day on the phone, stressed.
But could the tension between our politicians and watchdogs actually be a healthy reflection of an evolving integrity system? Who watches the watchdogs? At the western end of Melbournes CBD, the Victorian Ombudsman and the Victorian Inspectorate are almost neighbours. Their offices sit so nearly opposite each other that their heads could exchange waves at the windows if they were so inclined. But they are not. As The Age reveals today, there has been a breakdown in relations between the Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, and Inspector Eamonn Moran, head of the Victorian Inspectorate, the little-known agency that scrutinises other integrity bodies - the watchdogs watchdog.

An October letter from Glass to Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, seen by The Age, reveals that despite his authority over her office, Glass is refusing to deal with Moran, alleging he has abused his powers in multiple investigations of her office. The row is a troubling new fault line in an already stretched integrity system. Head of the Victorian Inspectorate, Eamonn Moran. An Inspectorate spokeswoman says the Inspector (Moran) is not aware of the Glass letter, nor its contents, and that engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman continues as usual. But while Glass beef is in part with the Inspectorate and what she says are its excessive powers, it is also with the Andrews government. Sitting above all the watchdogs is the Integrity and Oversight Committee, made up of MPs from the lower and upper houses but which until late last month had been chaired and controlled by a majority of MPs from the governing Labor Party.

In her letter, Glass explains that after formally complaining to the committee about Moran in June, the committee failed to launch an investigation until October and then only allowed three weeks for its completion. She says the truncated timeframe led her to question the Committee, not to mention the governments, commitment to a meaningful investigation. Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass is approaching the end of her 10 years in the position. Credit: Paul Jeffers Glass argues the Inspectors unfettered use of his coercive powers exposes serious weaknesses in the integrity system. News of Glass letter comes just weeks after it was revealed that Redlich had written to the speaker and president of the Victorian parliament in December accusing the committee of seeking to undermine IBACs work.

Redlich called on the government to relinquish its dominant position on the committee and its insistence on having one of its MPs chair it. Late last month the government caved, its arm forced when the Opposition and Greens threatened to join forces to demand an inquiry into Labors alleged suppression of the Redlich letter. The missives from Redlich and Glass raise questions about who is, and who should be, watching whom and whether Victorias evolving integrity system needs retuning. A history of argy-bargy Yet the current tension between politicians and integrity agencies, and between the agencies themselves, is all but inevitable given the business theyre in: investigating dodgy doings by MPs and public servants. When the Baillieu government - after years of political argy-bargy - finally introduced IBAC, the first dedicated anti-corruption agency in Victoria with powers to probe MPs, it also established the Victorian Inspectorate in 2013 to oversee the watchdogs work.

The Ombudsmans office had been established in the 1970s, but its powers of scrutiny were limited to the public service. Bad dog, good dog: Are our integrity watchdogs living up to their billing? Credit: Richard Giliberto The Andrews government increased the jurisdiction of IBAC in 2016, removing the requirement for corrupt conduct to be serious and adding the ability to investigate misconduct in public office. As soon as IBAC got up and running and began poking around in politics, government MPs were irritated by its intrusions. That frustration has been fuelled by Redlichs insistence on probing matters arguably outside the scope of the IBAC Act, as well as what Redlich calls soft corruption: centralisation of executive power, the growing influence of advisers and staffers, relations with unions and pork-barrelling.

Redlich and Glass say they are increasingly worried about the lack of government accountability, and in their joint Operation Watts report that detailed Labors rotten internal culture, described Victoria as a laggard rather than a leader in parliamentary integrity. Loading They said the investigation resulted from failure to prevent publicly funded electorate and ministerial officers from being used by some MPs and ministers for party-specific purposes. The joint report concluded that the electoral staff working in MPs local offices should not be used for party-political purposes. But such finger-wagging infuriated some who say it is a naive view that ignores the realities of seeking and keeping office in a democracy. Senior government MPs also privately point to the damage to reputations that comes with being caught up in IBAC examination even if the matter is - by political if not IBAC standards - trivial.

Andrews himself has been grilled by IBAC on multiple occasions, albeit in private. Other ministers, former ministers and MPs have also been examined. Many are unimpressed, to put it lightly. Redlich and Glass have further ruffled feathers by being outspoken about the rights and wrongs of governance in Victoria. One of Robert Redlichs final acts was to call on the government to overhaul the make up of parliamentary committees. Credit: Jason South For his first four years at the helm of IBAC, Redlich was low-key and repeatedly refused to be drawn into public commentary about the agencys work. In his last year he was increasingly prominent, railing against declining government standards at both state and federal levels. Asked for suggestions about who might replace Redlich as IBAC commissioner, a senior legal figure closely associated with Labor takes a thinly veiled swipe. There is something about old blokes who have had high-pressure and powerful positions as they face their irrelevance, the insider said. We need to find someone for that [IBAC] job who can keep their ego in their back pocket. We need people who let their reports do the talking.

The Premier let his feelings be known last month in classic Andrews style. When asked about Redlichs letter he said he would not be responding to someone who used to do a job [who has] written a letter that apparently says a whole bunch of stuff. In fact Redlich was the IBAC commissioner when he wrote the letter. Integrity experts, including former Supreme Court judge Stephen Charles, were aghast at Andrews lack of respect. Glass is also unpopular among Labor frontbenchers, especially after her December 2020 report into the governments COVID response lockdown of North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers. Glass found the government had violated Victorian human rights laws, and called on it to apologise to public tenants. Far from an apology, ministers were seething about what they perceived as Glass holier-than-thou narrative, especially given the crisis context in which the lockdown took place.

Ill feeling only intensified in 2022 when Glass launched her probe of the alleged politicisation of the public service, an inquiry that will likely feature the infamously centralised office of the Premier. The investigation was launched in response to a referral from the upper house after stories by The Age. The Ombudsman has no choice but to follow up such referrals. Nonetheless, Labor MPs see Glass enthusiasm for the inquiry as symptomatic of a negative attitude to government and parliament. This week she refused to comment on her letter to Symes because it is private correspondence. But she defends her public forthrightness: In my view, an important part of the role of the Ombudsman is to speak truth to power, even if such truths are not appreciated. She says her experience is that MPs have not done enough to promote their own integrity, noting that the government had accepted but not implemented the recommendations from the Watts investigation for a parliamentary ethics committee not controlled by the government.

Glass has just entered the last year of her decade-long stint as Ombudsman. She is unlikely to go out quietly. The bad old days But if the watchdogs are such an annoyance and so unreasonable, why let them loose? Why, for example, would Anthony Albanese go to an election promising a national anti-corruption body, after watching for decades the damage inflicted on politicians by such an agency in his home state? Inquiries by ICAC in New South Wales have cost three Liberal premiers their jobs since premier Nick Greiner established the agency in the late 1980s. Clearly Albanese saw a big political advantage in promising such a body at a time when integrity was a hot button issue. But despite their trepidation, many MPs also argue it was the right thing to do.

Integrity experts agree. Catherine Williams, research director of the Centre for Public Integrity, says the flaw in Pakulas argument is that voters need to know as much as possible about what transpires behind the scenes in politics to make an informed choice at the ballot box. If the electorate when it elects a government is not in full knowledge of the governments activities, how can it be said that the government really has moral authority? she asks. Privately, former MPs and insiders from both sides of politics acknowledge that 20 years ago - before IBAC and Labors strict 2018 donations laws - Victorian politics was much grubbier than it is now. We just didnt hear about it because there was no anti-corruption watchdog. The educational role of IBAC and equivalent agencies in other states has helped politicians and public servants better understand what acceptable conduct and corruption are, says Williams. The IBAC has a really important educational function. The integrity system, however, is a work in progress; it is evolving. And despite the complaints of some MPs, Victorians can expect more integrity reform.

Victoria has fallen behind other states and territories on some - but not all - integrity fronts, according to multiple experts, including Transparency International Australia, around lobbying regulations and the powers IBAC has. Pressure is mounting on Labor to further broaden IBACs jurisdiction by widening the definition of corrupt conduct so that it is not limited to hard, cash-in-a-paper-bag-style corruption. Loading Williams identifies this as the single biggest weakness in the Victorian IBAC legislation. She says Victoria has now fallen behind the federal sphere in this area, as Canberras new integrity commission has a much broader definition of corruption. Widening IBACs reach has also been identified by the Greens as a priority.

After his own low-key start in the job, acting IBAC commissioner Stephen Farrow has also gone public to call for reform. It is important to question whether having a much narrower definition [of corruption] in Victoria creates a gap in our integrity framework, says Farrow, in exclusive comments to The Age. That may not be music to the ears of MPs, or former MPs, fed up with being lectured to about integrity by former judges and ageing legal eagles. But when Pakula made his speech in September last year, there may have been things on his mind that he did not raise. Like many of his government colleagues, in his time as an MP Pakula was mentioned in public hearings of IBACs epic Operation Sandon, relating to legal political donations received from the allegedly corrupt developer John Woodman.
Teachers are also dealing with a classroom behaviour crisis, as the needs of students become more complex and teachers complain of violent and disorderly students. A Senate inquiry into increasing disruption in Australian classrooms is underway. Parents pushing school staff to the brink A new survey of 38,000 teachers found 59 per cent put in more than five hours a week handling parent issues, up from 49 per cent in 2020.

For almost half of all teachers, dealing with parents is the least satisfying part of their job. An Independent Schools Victoria survey showed parents were becoming increasing demanding and damaging teachers mental health.

One in four teachers felt unsafe at work, found Monash University research into Australian teachers perceptions of their work in 2022.

More school leaders are being subjected to physical violence, with 49 threatened with violence and almost half the subject of gossip and slander, an Australian Catholic University survey found.

There have been eight School Community Safety Orders made  which give principals powers to ban abusive parents from school grounds  since they were introduced last year. Dr Erin Leif, a senior lecturer at Monash Universitys school of educational psychology and counselling, said worsening student behaviour could be due to children witnessing more conflict between adults. Children are learning what they see. If parents are having a lot of conflicts with teachers and school leaders, and arent necessarily demonstrating ... conflict resolution, then our children are going to be developing those same behaviours in the classroom and are going to struggle to demonstrate healthy conflict resolution skills, she said. Leif also said parents expectations had increased as they researched educational practices online and then demanded they were used for their child, even if they didnt fit in with the school-wide approach.

Australian Catholic University researcher Paul Kidson said parents who sent their children to non-government schools often had unrealistically high expectations. Loading Its not just that theyre cranky their kid isnt selected in the sport team. Its the sense that when they exert an additional choice, through paying money or choosing a religious school, it does set up different expectations that can create tension, he said. During lockdown, Kidson said people gained a new respect and appreciation for school staff. But that quickly eroded. He said every school principal will have had an incident with an aggressive parent.

Why is that even permissible? It is not [permissible] in any other workplace, and it shouldnt be for teachers. Australian Principals Federation president Tina King said there had been an increase in parents at state schools not only complaining but taking legal action. The Australian Principals Federations Tina King. Credit: Jason South It can get quite nasty and at times vexatious, she said. There are high expectations upon schools to deal with a lot of societys problems, because of the accessibility for schools. Parents go there expecting miracles. She said the accusations were sometimes slanderous and could be career-damaging.

It makes people rethink what theyre doing and why theyre doing it if theyre not treated with consideration and respect. Loading Mark McKelson, who was a principal in Melbourne until 2021, said there was a place for parent input, but it was a matter of finding the right balance. McKelson said parent WhatsApp groups were becoming principal killers by quickly spreading misinformation and criticisms about schools. Because WhatsApp groups are private, it fuels people. That was the biggest change I saw in my last few years, McKelson said.

He said social media had empowered parents to feel they had more control over what happens at their school and coloured their perceptions of teachers they didnt know. To be a long-term principal you have to be ... comfortable with people being unhappy with you. Its a bit like politicians, he said. Researchers say parents who send their children to non-government schools often have unrealistic expectations. Credit: Gabriele Charotte Deb James, the Independent Education Unions general secretary for Victoria and Tasmania, said the volume of formal complaints about school staff was concerning. She said while some were well-founded, far too many were trivial and vexatious. Often, parents refused to accept the outcome.

Complaints ranged from curriculum content, social media photos that would not offend any reasonable person, a staff member touching a student on the shoulder or a student being restrained to stop them from putting themselves or others in danger. Loading She said the current system was creating an atmosphere of fear and contributing to the teacher shortage. Adam Voigt, a former principal who now leads educational consultancy Real Schools, blamed the conflict on Australias competitive education scene, which he said encouraged school shopping and negative portrayals in the media. Voigt said parents were more likely to pick a fight these days, despite the negative consequences.

When were fighting, the kid loses. Parents Victoria chief executive officer Gail McHardy said there was a minority of problem parents and issues often arise after a delayed response or miscommunication from the school. So the matter has often escalated by the time the parent finds us to assist them to navigate a way forward with the school, she said. She said this could result in a fractured relationship, where both parties feel they have been harmed or unfairly treated by each other. Quality relationships are important, she said, as is funding for family engagement officers and community liaison staff. When schools know their families and have better connections with the school community, this reduces challenges and conflict.
Hyundai Sets New Q1 Total and Retail Sales Record; Q1 Total Sales Increased 16%

March Total Sales Increased 27%; Fifth Consecutive Month With A Total Sales Record

March Retail Sales Up 15%

All-Time Best-Ever Records for Santa Cruz and Santa Fe HEV

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., April 1, 2023 -- Hyundai Motor America reported total March sales of 75,404 units, a 27% increase compared with March 2022 and the best March in Hyundai history. This was the fifth consecutive month with a total monthly sales record, led by Venue (+74%), Elantra HEV (+37%), Tucson HEV (+52%), and Kona N (+5%). March was an all-time best-ever retail and total sales record for Santa Cruz (+30%) and Santa Fe HEV (+123%). Hyundai fleet sales were 9.4% of total volume for the month.

"March 2023 will be a month to remember and a great way to finish the quarter with our fifth straight month of record total sales," said Randy Parker, CEO, Hyundai Motor America. "We're set for an exciting announcement with the launch of the all-new Kona at the New York International Auto Show and we're celebrating our 25th anniversary of Hyundai Hope On Wheels."

March Retail Highlights

Hyundai sold 68,312 retail units in March, a 15% year-over-year increase from March 2022. March retail sales were led by Venue, Elantra HEV, Santa Fe HEV, Tucson HEV, Santa Cruz and Kona N. Hyundai eco-friendly vehicle sales of 11,407 represented 17% of retail and a 20% year-over-year increase.

Q1 Highlights

In the first quarter, Hyundai total sales were 184,449 units, a Q1 total sales record and an increase of 16% year-over-year. Q1 retail sales were 169,491 a 6% increase compared with Q1 2022. Hyundai also set new Q1 total and retail sales records for Venue, Elantra N, Santa Fe HEV, Tucson, Tucson HEV, Santa Cruz and Kona EV.

March Total Sales Summary



Mar-23 Mar-22 % Chg YTD (Q1) 2023 YTD (Q1) 2022 % Chg Hyundai 75,404 59,380 +27 % 184,449 159,676 +16 %

March Product and Corporate Activities

The New SONATA Spices Up Midsize Sedan Segment: Hyundai Motor Company revealed the design of the new SONATA, with a new badge for the eighth-generation midsize sedan that heralds its sportiest design ever.

Hyundai Motor Company revealed the design of the new SONATA, with a new badge for the eighth-generation midsize sedan that heralds its sportiest design ever. U.S. News & World Report Names Santa Fe and Tucson 2023 Best Cars for Families: Hyundai received two 2023 Best Cars for Families awards by U.S. News & World Report. The Hyundai Santa Fe was named Best 2-row SUV for Families, and for a second time the Hyundai Tucson deemed Best Compact SUV for families.

Hyundai received two 2023 Best Cars for Families awards by U.S. News & World Report. The Hyundai Santa Fe was named Best 2-row SUV for Families, and for a second time the Hyundai Tucson deemed Best Compact SUV for families. All-new KONA Accelerates Hyundai's Electrification Vision: Hyundai Motor Company held a digital world premiere to unveil the all-new Kona, an upscaled multiplayer in the B-SUV segment, led by an all-electric variant (EV) that offers advanced safety and convenience features and class-leading range.

Hyundai Motor Company held a digital world premiere to unveil the all-new Kona, an upscaled multiplayer in the B-SUV segment, led by an all-electric variant (EV) that offers advanced safety and convenience features and class-leading range. Thirteen New "Journeys" in Portrait Series with Annie Leibovitz : Hyundai launched the second chapter in the creative marketing campaign, "Journeys", which uses a series of portraits and videos to share the compelling stories of individuals that inspire the brand.

Hyundai launched the second chapter in the creative marketing campaign, "Journeys", which uses a series of portraits and videos to share the compelling stories of individuals that inspire the brand. Top Scorers on ACEEE's Greenest Vehicles List : The 2023 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Blue, Sonata Hybrid Blue and Kona Electric were named on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) list of "Greenest Vehicles of 2023."

: The 2023 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Blue, Sonata Hybrid Blue and Kona Electric were named on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) list of "Greenest Vehicles of 2023." Hyundai Launches Annual Women in STEM Scholarship: To celebrate International Women's Day, Hyundai Motor America has announced that applications for its annual Hyundai Women in STEM Scholarship are now open.

Model Total Sales

Vehicles Mar-23 Mar-22 % Chg YTD (Q1) 2023 YTD (Q1) 2022 % Chg Accent 2 1,446 -100 % 30 2,697 -99 % Elantra 13,447 10,205 +32 % 32,473 22,072 +47 % Ioniq 0 860 0 % 0 3,544 0 % Ioniq 5 2,114 2,700 -22 % 5,736 6,244 -8 % Ioniq 6 222 0 0 % 222 0 0 % Kona 7,314 6,053 +21 % 19,220 15,536 +24 % Nexo 21 113 -81 % 65 166 -61 % Palisade 6,176 7,283 -15 % 19,602 21,025 -7 % Santa Cruz 3,825 2,950 +30 % 9,307 8,400 +11 % Santa Fe 13,236 10,124 +31 % 28,526 25,582 +12 % Sonata 5,310 1,716 +209 % 14,490 7,744 +87 % Tucson 20,111 13,642 +47 % 46,170 39,655 +16 % Veloster 1 205 -100 % 5 462 -99 % Venue 3,625 2,083 +74 % 8,603 6,549 +31 %

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.hyundainews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
A sense of calm came over the markets this week.

No major banks went bust  though UBS ousted its CEO as it prepares to integrate stricken rival Credit Suisse  as the March crisis in the sector has been downgraded to turmoil.

The first quarter ended on a high note, with the S&P 500 finishing in the green for the fourth time in five sessions. Overall, the S&P 500 finished the first quarter up 7% and rose for the second-straight quarter, which Fundstrat's Tom Lee sees as the start of something bigger for markets.

Former President Donald Trump's indictment late Thursday also didn't move markets, but will be carefully watched for implications on the looming debt ceiling debate this summer and 2024 election, pros say.

"At this point, the view that Trump could benefit from his legal troubles has almost become conventional wisdom, to the extent that 'actually it is bad to be indicted' is now a contrarian take," said Evercore ISI strategist Tobin Marcus.

"But we have been making this argument since last summer, and we still believe it. We maintain our view that Trump is a strong frontrunner for the GOP nomination."

But with first quarter earnings season right around the corner and the start of the second quarter coming up on Monday, let's set 2024 aside for now and go through a few other key items that caught Yahoo Finance's attention this week.

1. Foot Locker runs into its future

Some seven months into the CEO job at Foot Locker (FL), Mary Dillon told me at Shoptalk in Las Vegas this week she is trying to ensure the company is around for the next 50 years to serve sneakerheads.

"We are the OG of sneakers and are really refocusing on all things sneakers," Dillon said.

The Foot Locker store in Broomfield, Colorado is seen November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Dillon has wasted no time in outlining her goals to Wall Street and repairing a damaged relationship with Nike (NKE), as we noted earlier this week. Given Dillon's impressive eight-year track track record as CEO of Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Foot Locker investors should rest assured they have a top flight leader.

Story continues

You can read more on what we learned at Shoptalk here.

Stat Share: Foot Locker shares are up 8% since Dillon was announced as CEO in late August 2022, out-performing the S&P 500's 2.1% drop.

2. Lyft hails a new CEO

After a series of bad quarters amid market share losses to larger rival Uber (UBER), Lyft (LYFT) has ordered a new leader for its corner office.

With the stock down 77% in the past year, the move to replace co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer operationally at least wasn't a total shock to Wall Street (both will stay on the board).

Enter Amazon- and Microsoft-trained David Risher, who has also been a Lyft board member for about 18 months. Risher told Yahoo Finance Live he is focused on getting back to basics at Lyft, which may include further expense cuts.

Risher also didn't rule out a sale of Lyft at some point.

"We always look at options and people approach us from time to time. Right now our focus is on creating such a great service that in whatever configuration, we are going to be relevant  valuable  either as a standalone company or something else," Risher said.

Stat Share: Lyft investors will have to wait to for Risher's operational magic honed at Amazon and Microsoft  he doesn't officially start as Lyft's CEO until April 17.

3. FAANG shows its teeth, finally

Omnipresent tech analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush tells me big-cap tech stocks are the new safety trade among investors seeking shelter during the bank crisis. He looks to be on the mark, at the moment.

The first quarter saw the return of rabid buying interest in the FAANG complex  more formally known as Meta Platforms (META) (nee Facebook), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Alphabet (GOOGL) (nee Google). The best-performing FAANG stock in the quarter was Meta, which saw shares rise more than 70% as investors warmed up to the profit potential this year from major cost-cuts.

The worst-performing FAANG stock in the quarter was Netflix, which rose a mere 15% with some subscriber unhappiness fueled by a password crackdown reports Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal. Since last May, however, Netflix stock has doubled.

All FAANG stocks outperformed the S&P 500's 7% increase in the quarter.

Stat Share: All of the FAANG stocks fell by double-digit percentages in 2022, led by a 64% plunge in Meta.

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on the banking crisis or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com

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A cruise can be a great option for frugal vacationers. Not only can cruisers sail to exotic locales, sampling the culture and cuisine, but they can also enjoy a wide array of onboard activities, from swimming to rock climbing.

Do You Have a Money Question? Ask An Expert

See: How To Guard Your Wealth From a Potential Banking Crisis with Gold

But, that doesn't mean cruising is inexpensive. Cruisers spend an average of $1,350-$1,950 on a five-day cruise, according to Cruzely.com. Onboard amenities like spa treatments, exclusive restaurants and alcoholic drinks can destroy your vacation budget, too. GOBankingRates spoke to travel experts for tips on saving on your next cruise.

Learn how to avoid wasting money on your next cruise from these insiders.

michaeljung / iStock.com

1. Book Far in Advance

One of the best ways to save money on a cruise is to book nine to 18 months before sailing, said Colleen McDaniel, senior executive editor of cruise reviews and information site Cruise Critic.

"Booking in advance can allow you to not only secure a lower introductory fare, but it also can offer some significant add-on savings, like onboard credit, beverage packages or included gratuity -- all of which could save hundreds of dollars," she said.

See how planning ahead can help you can enjoy a fall cruise on $100 a day.

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Vladimir Vladimirov / Getty Images

2. Book at the Last Minute

If you're a spur-of-the-moment vacationer, you can find deals on cruises within three months of departure. "The majority of companies will slash pricing at the last minute in order to fill the boat," said Greg Geronemus, co-CEO of smarTours, a group vacation tour company.

Expect discounts as high as 50 percent. Keep in mind, though, you'll have a limited selection of cabins -- and they're not liable to be the best, since preferred cabins will likely have sold first, McDaniel said.

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3. Be Flexible With Dates

If you haven't locked in time off from work, opt to vacation when cruise prices are lower. Pricing for the same cruise can vary by hundreds of dollars from one week to the next, said cruise expert Stewart Chiron of cruise deals site Cruise Guy.

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4. Use a Travel Agent

You can search cruise options online all day and still miss out on a good deal. That's because travel agencies tend to know about exclusive offers and promotions.

"Travel agents constantly have their fingers on the pulse of the cruise industry," said Rob Stuart, co-author of "Just Add Water: Your Guide to the Ultimate Cruise Vacation."

Not only do travel agents know the industry inside and out, they can buy tickets in bulk to get better pricing, Geronemus said. Using an agent can save couples up to hundreds of dollars, he said.

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5. Take Advantage of Wave Season

January through March is known as wave season, and McDaniel said this time of year is the equivalent of Black Friday for cruise lines. Not only can you find great deals, you might pick up perks like free drink packages, Stuart said.

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6. Don't Miss Black Friday Deals

When winter comes biting, hunt down Black Friday deals on cruises for your perfect Caribbean getaway. Cruise lines have offered enticing deals on the shopping holiday in past years, McDaniel said. "In some cases, cruises are deeply discounted and, of course, bundled with enticing add-ons," she said.

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7. Cruise in the Low Season

You can save 20 to 30 percent on the price of a cruise by traveling during the shoulder season, when demand is low. Most shoulder seasons are in the spring or fall.

Geronemus recommended cruising in Europe and Asia in April and October for lower prices. For Alaskan cruises, vacation in May and September, McDaniel said.

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8. Avoid Cruising on Holiday Weekends

Cruise fares tend to be highest during the holidays, when droves of vacationers are hitting the open seas.

"If you can avoid times when everyone is traveling, you're going to save a lot of money," Geronemus said. Not only are cruise fares higher during major holidays and long weekends, but so is airfare.

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9. Cruise Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

Schedule a cruise to the Caribbean between two of the biggest holidays of the year, and you can snag a good deal, Stuart said. Don't book a cruise too close to Christmas, though, because fares will be higher.

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10. Gamble on a Cruise Guarantee Cabin

Sure, you can book a specific cabin on your cruise, but you can save money by booking a category of cabin instead. The guarantee cabin, as it's called, ensures you get a certain type of cabin -- like one with a balcony -- plus the possibility of an upgrade. Although you might get a room in a noisy part of the ship, you can save up to $1,000 per person, Chiron said.

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11. Don't Assume Traveling Solo Costs Less

If you travel solo, you might be paying more for your single cabin. That's because cruise lines price cabins assuming double occupancy, Chiron said. So, look for cruises that offer cabins for singles and compare pricing. Make sure you don't make these costly mistakes while traveling alone.

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12. Take a Short Cruise

"For travelers looking for a budget-friendly getaway, weekend cruises are a great way to get away without spending too much money," McDaniel said. You can take a three- to four-day cruise to the Bahamas for a couple hundred dollars, which is cheaper than the cost of airfare and hotel, she said.

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13. Avoid Cruising on New Ships

If you want to save serious cash, avoid traveling on brand-new cruises, which cost more, McDaniel said. "Older ships are often a bit smaller than newer megaships and don't generally have all of the bells and whistles of ships just hitting the market. But [they] still offer a fantastic vacation option at a lower price point," she said.

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14. Cruise on Refurbished Ships

If you want the bells and whistles of a new ship but not the high price tag, look for recently renovated ships.

"Cruise lines are frequently investing significant amounts of money to keep their older ships up to date with newer features and amenities, and you can benefit from those upgrades," McDaniel said.

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15. Don't Assume the Cheapest Cruise Is the Best Deal

A lot of vacationers choose cruises based on the fare alone, Stuart said. But don't neglect looking at what's included in the fare and what amenities the ship offers.

Although meals are typically included in the base fare, alcoholic beverages, WiFi and shore excursions might not. If you have to pay extra to take advantage of most amenities on the ship, you might be better off booking a more expensive cruise that offers them free of charge.

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16. Consider a Luxury Cruise Line

Stuart said upscale cruise lines are liable to offer more perks on base fares. Yes, you'll pay more for the luxuries, but don't assume the cruise is more expensive than paying a la carte on other cruise lines.

If you opt for a cheaper cruise but want to dine in specialty restaurants and visit the spa, expect your vacation costs to jump. In fact, adding these extras to your base fare could equal the cost of an all-inclusive luxury line, which can include shore excursions and transfers between the ship and airport.

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17. Take a Repositioning Cruise

Because ships can't cruise year-round in destinations like Alaska, cruise lines move their fleets every so often. Take advantage by booking a repositioning cruise, where you can enjoy a 10- to 14-day cruise for the price of a seven-day cruise or less, Stuart said.

Repositioning cruises don't have a lot of port stops, so they're only ideal for people who are most interested in the cruise itself, rather than tourist destinations. "If the idea of a cruise is relaxing days on the ocean, a repositioning cruise is the way to go," Stuart said.

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18. Minimize Spending Onboard

Once you're onboard, be careful not to rack up costs as you sip martinis by the pool. Any extras you pick up will be charged to the card you provide at the beginning of the trip, Stuart said. He said he knows people who have paid more to get off a ship than to get on. So, although there are quite a few cruise activities that are worth the money, you're better off sticking to the basics. If you're raring to hit the spa, go to one off the ship.

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19. Book Extras in Advance

If you want to enjoy onboard amenities, book them in advance so you can account for them in your vacation budget.

"Book your alternative restaurants, shore excursions and anything else you know you want to experience prior to boarding," McDaniel said. "That way, you won't be caught off guard by added costs, and you can focus more on enjoying your trip, instead of keeping close tabs on your onboard spending account."

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20. Don't Be Blinded by Add-Ons

Don't let special add-ons like drink credits and free WiFi distract you from the high cost of a cruise. "A lot of times, cruise lines use those offers to deflect attention from higher prices," Chiron said.

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21. Cut the Cost of Excursions

Shore excursions organized by the cruise tend to be more expensive. The best way to vacation for less is to explore port cities on foot, or by taking public transportation, said Stuart. Compare pricing with local tour groups, too.

If an excursion is a must, see if there are bargain shore excursions at any of your cruise's port cities.

American Cruise Lines

22. Opt For a Lower-Cost River Cruise

High-priced river cruise packages are aplenty, Geronemus said. But, you can often find companies offering similar and lower-cost cruises onboard older ships. You'll have fewer amenities but the difference can be thousands of dollars, he said. You won't miss the amenities much anyway -- after all, the point of a river cruise is to see the sights at the ports.

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23. Save on Airfare With a Package Deal

If you're booking a cruise through a travel agency, you might be able to save money on airfare if you get a package deal, said Geronemus. Take the time, though, to price airfare on your own to make sure you're getting a deal.

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24. Be Skeptical of Free Airfare Offers

If a cruise line has a special promotion that includes free airfare with a cruise, you might not actually be getting a good deal if it's not an all-inclusive line that typically offers flights as part of the cruise package.

"That would be a red flag for me," Geronemus said, adding that these kinds of offers could indicate high pricing onboard the ship.

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25. Weigh the Extra Costs of a One-Way Cruise

Fair warning: If you think a one-way cruise is a cheap vacation idea, think again. Your airfare could cost more because you can't book a round-trip flight. So, take that potentially higher cost into account when you're comparing your options.

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26. Book a Cruise Onboard for Discounts

If you frequently vacation on the open waters, look for deals on future cruises onboard the ship. Cruise lines might offer perks for onboard bookings, according to Cruise Critic's Colleen McDaniel. You might get reduced deposits, onboard credit for services or a discount on your fare.

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27. Sign Up For Email Deal Alerts

Stay on top of the latest sales and promotions by signing up for email alerts from cruise lines and travel sites. You might even learn about cheaper destinations to explore.

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28. Check Social Media for Deals

Cruise lines and travel agencies frequently post about deals on social media. So, follow your favorite cruise lines and local travel agencies -- and definitely check in on holidays, when promotions might be going on.

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29. Beware the Brochure Rate

Brochures from cruise lines might have tantalizing pricing -- but don't be sucker. Brochure rates typically aren't accurate, and they might not even be offering deals.

"Brochure rates are printed way in advance, and the actual rates are usually lower," Stuart said. "It's easy to change a rate on a website, as opposed to printing all new brochures."

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30. Pay Your Bill Little by Little

You'll have to pay a deposit when you book a cruise, and then pay the rest by a certain date -- typically 60 to 75 days prior to sailing, Stuart said. If you book through a travel agent, you typically have the added benefit of making interest-free installment payments, he said.

This can be a good way to soften the blow to your budget. It can also help you avoid interest fees you would incur if you charged the full cost to a credit card.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 30 Cruise Secrets Only Insiders Know
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The failure of several banks and the ensuing market turmoil has put investors on edge in the past week. While regulators and the Biden administration have tried to quell the concerns of jittery American consumers, the ripple effects are continuing to rattle the economy and many questions remain.

See: 10 Places in Florida Where You Can Live Only on Social Security

With a Recession Looming: Make These 3 Retirement Moves To Stay On Track

One of them is: Are retirement savings  notably 401(k)s  protected from a collapse? The answer is: It depends.

First off, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures up to $250,000 in deposits per depositor, but there are investments that are not protected. These include stock investments, bond investments, mutual funds, crypto assets, life insurance policies, annuities, municipal securities, safe deposit boxes or their contents, and U.S. Treasury bills, bonds or notes. Also, the FDIC only insures deposits if the institution is an FDIC-insured bank.

Most 401(k) plans are not usually backed by insurance, American University finance professor Valentina Bruno told Newsweek. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) only covers deposit accounts. This means that if your 401(k) is invested in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, youre not covered against those investments losing value.

However, the FDIC covers money market deposit accounts (MMDA) and time deposits such as certificates of deposit (CDs).

Retirement plans the FDIC covers include IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and SIMPLE IRAs, up to $250,000, according to the FDIC.

And in terms of self-directed defined contribution plan accounts, the FDIC coverage includes self-directed 401(k) plans, self-directed SIMPLE IRA held in the form of a 401(k) plans and self-directed defined contribution profit-sharing plans, according to the FDIC website.

As Newsweek explained, if a 401(k) or other eligible retirement account is worth $100,000 and is 50% invested in stocks, 25% in bonds and 25% in a money market account, solely the $25,000 in the money market account would be covered by the FDIC if the bank were to collapse.

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In addition, Synchrony Bank explained that if you had CDs worth $250,000 held in two 401(k) accounts at the same FDIC-insured bank, you would still only get coverage for a total of $250,000. To get more coverage, you would need to transfer the amount above the insured $250,000 to another FDIC-insured bank and make sure its in a deposit account or type that the FDIC covers.

Take Our Poll: How Much Salary Would Buy You Happiness?

More: Can I Draw Social Security at 62 and Still Work Full Time?

Finally, experts recommended checking the custodian of your 401(k).

Many will be at a brokerage which is covered by SPIC [The Securities Investor Protection Corporation], but it may be possible that your account is at a bank and covered under FDIC instead. Both plans cover up to $250,000 in cash but SPIC will also cover securities held in the account to a $500,000 limit, said Jay Zigmont, Ph.D., CFP, and founder of Childfree Wealth.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Is Your 401(k) Retirement Money Protected From a Bank Collapse?
Batavia, NY (14020)

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Cloudy with showers. High around 45F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Last week, Atlantic Lithium Limited (LON:ALL) insiders, who had purchased shares in the previous 12 months were rewarded handsomely. The shares increased by 17% last week, resulting in a UK26m increase in the company's market worth. In other words, the original AU$932k purchase is now worth AU$986k.

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.

View our latest analysis for Atlantic Lithium

Atlantic Lithium Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Executive Chairman Neil Lindsey Herbert made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK517k worth of shares at a price of UK0.28 each. That implies that an insider found the current price of UK0.30 per share to be enticing. 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. If someone buys shares at well below current prices, it's a good sign on balance, but keep in mind they may no longer see value. The good news for Atlantic Lithium share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK932k for 3.24m shares. But insiders sold 600.00k shares worth UK342k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Atlantic Lithium insiders. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

Atlantic Lithium is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders At Atlantic Lithium Have Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at Atlantic Lithium. In total, insiders bought UK932k 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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Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data suggests Atlantic Lithium insiders own 2.0% of the company, worth about UK3.6m. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Atlantic Lithium Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. We would certainly prefer see higher levels of insider ownership but analysis of the insider transactions suggests that Atlantic Lithium insiders are expecting a bright future. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Atlantic Lithium (of which 2 are concerning!) you should know about.

But note: Atlantic Lithium may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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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It took President Joe Biden 789 days in office before he finally issued his first veto, and it could prove to be an important one in terms of both retirement savings and future investment strategies.

Discover: 7 Ways Baby Boomers Are Wasting Money in Retirement  and How To Stop It

See: With a Recession Looming, Make These 3 Retirement Moves To Stay On Track

The veto, issued on March 20, blocked the attempted repeal of a Labor Department rule that allows managers of retirement funds to consider the impact of climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when choosing investments, CNN reported.

Congressional Republicans led efforts to pass the repeal, claiming that the rule represents a woke policy that will hurt retirement savings. Democrats have countered that the rule is not about ideology but instead aims to protect and bolster retirement savings.

ESG investing is designed to take into account a businesses environmental and social risks as part of a wider financial analysis, USA Today reported. Its a popular strategy with major pension funds.

The Labor Department rule in question attempted to reverse a Trump-era policy that discouraged retirement plan managers from incorporating ESG factors into their investment decisions, Politico reported. Under the Biden administration, managers are allowed to incorporate ESG into their strategies but are not required to do so.

U.S. Senate Republicans, along with a couple of Democrats, voted on a resolution to overturn the rule earlier this month. The measure passed with a simple majority, helped by the support of Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, both of whom face tough re-election campaigns this year in solidly red states. The Republican-led U.S. House approved the legislation last month.

Whats happened here is the woke and weaponized bureaucracy at the Department of Labor has come out with new regulations on retirement funds, and they want retirement funds to be invested in things that are consistent with their very liberal, left-wing agenda, U.S. Rep. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said at a news conference earlier this year.

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But as USA Today noted, Biden has said that retirement plan fiduciaries should be able to consider any factor that maximizes financial returns for retirees across the country  That is not controversial  that is common sense.

In a video posted to social media Monday afternoon, the president further explained that he signed the veto because legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country. They couldnt take into consideration investments that wouldnt be impacted by climate, impacted by overpaying executives, and thats why I decided to veto it  it makes sense to veto it.

Meanwhile, as Politico reported, Wall Street firms and their trade groups have largely sat out the debate. Thats partly because they knew Biden would veto the repeal, and partly because the issue is already making the rounds in the courts in the form of a multi-state lawsuit that aims to block the Labor Department rule.

Theres just no upside [to joining the debate], an unnamed trade association representative told Politico. Why bother, especially when youve got 25 state attorneys general who have already said theyre going to pony up and litigate?

Take Our Poll: Are You Concerned About the Safety of Your Money in Your Bank Accounts?

Read: Worried About Retirement Savings? 5 Reasons Youre Not as Ill-Prepared as You Think

The U.S. House was scheduled to vote Thursday on overturning the veto. However, thats unlikely to win the two-thirds support needed because Democrats are expected to unanimously oppose the measure.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Bidens First Veto Impacts Your Retirement Savings  and Why Lawmakers Are Torn
18 Chinese Warplanes, 4 Vessels Detected Near Taiwan Amid Tsais Visit to US

Aircraft of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conduct joint combat training exercises around Taiwan on Aug. 7, 2022. (Li Bingyu/Xinhua via AP)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent 18 aircraft and four naval vessels toward Taiwan on Saturday, Taiwans Defense Ministry said, as Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visited the islands Central American allies.

Taiwans military detected the Chinese aircraft and naval vessels at around 6 a.m. (local time), with 10 aircraft spotted crossing the Taiwan Strait median line, the ministry said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Taiwan responded by deploying aircraft, navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to monitor the Chinese militarys activities.

This came after Beijing threatened retaliation if Tsai meets with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during her 10-day trip to Guatemala and Belizetwo of the 13 nations that have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwanwhich began on March 29.

Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen leaves a hotel in New York on March 29, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo)

Tsai arrived in Guatemala on Friday and met with her counterpart, Alejandro Giammattei. The two nations signed a basic cooperation agreement after the leaders meeting, according to Tsais Office.

The Taiwanese leader is expected to visit Belize afterward and make stopovers in Los Angeles on her way back.

CCP Warns of Serious Confrontation

Taiwans government has said Tsais trip to Central America involves transits that are standard practice and has warned Beijing not to use them as a pretext for aggressive action toward the self-ruled island.

However, Chinas charge daffaires Xu Xueyuan said the CCP views her transit as a disguise for Tsais intention to advocate Taiwans independence and warned that it could lead to serious confrontation in the U.S.-China relationship.

As we say, those who play with fire will perish by it. This is not a threat. The Chinese government must react to violations of the One China principle, Xu told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

The CCP staged military drills around Taiwan following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) visit to the self-ruled island in August 2022, and restricted military-to-military communication with the Pentagon.

It remains unclear whether Beijing will respond with a comparable action this time.

US Defends Tsais Visit

U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said the transit was in line with policy and the history of trilateral relations between the United States, China, and Taiwan.

It is Taiwans decision to make these transits based on their own travel, Kirby said. Transits are not visits, they are private and they are unofficial.

I would also remind everyone that this is not new. Every Taiwan president has transited the United States.

Kirby said Tsai had transited the United States six times since 2016 without incident. The United States and China should continue to peacefully manage the situation as such, he added.

The United States and China have differences when it comes to Taiwan, but we have managed those differences for more than 40 years, he said. Theres absolutely no reason for Beijing to act differently in this regard.

Taiwan Cannot Be Isolated

Tsai said on Wednesday that Taiwans partnerships with the United States and other democracies have become more critical than ever given the tremendous challenges faced by the island.

In facing these challenges, we know that we are stronger when we stand together, in solidarity, with fellow democracies, she said at a banquet with the local and Taiwanese expatriate communities in New York.

Taiwan cannot be isolated, and we do not take friendship for granted. We are thankful to all those who stand with us, and we are confident that Taiwan will continue to stand tall, free, democratic, and with dignity.

The CCP views Taiwan as part of its territory that must be united with mainland China by any means necessary. Beijing had repeatedly warned U.S. officials not to meet with Tsai as it views such meetings as support for Taiwans desire to be seen as an independent country.

Though the United States and Taiwan do not share formal diplomatic relations, the two powers have pursued deep commercial and cultural ties over the course of decades.

Andrew Thornebrooke and Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.
36 Bodies Found Inside Well After Collapse at Indian Temple

People stand around a structure built over an old temple well that collapsed Thursday as a large crowd of devotees gathered for the Ram Navami Hindu festival in Indore, India, on March 30, 2023. (AP Photo)

NEW DELHIThirty-six bodies have been found inside a well at a Hindu temple in central India after dozens of people attending a festival fell into the muddy water when its cover collapsed, officials said Friday.

Video of Thursdays collapse at the temple complex in Indore in Madhya Pradesh state showed chaos afterward, with people rushing away. An excavator pulled down a wall of the decades-old temple to help people flee.

Nearly 140 rescuers, including army personnel, used ropes and ladders to pull the bodies from the well after pumping out the water. A narrow path and debris in the well made the task difficult.

We have recovered 36 bodies and everybody is accounted for now, Pawan Kumar Sharma, commissioner of the local municipal corporation, told The Associated Press.

The secretary of the temple board was among the dead and the president is recovering from injuries, Sharma said.

Police brought a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, but no arrests have been made so far, he said.

Witnesses said a large crowd of devotees had thronged the temple to perform a fire ritual and celebrate the festival.

Dozens of people fell into the water when the structure collapsed and were covered by falling debris, police Commissioner Makrand Deoskar said.

Kantibhai Patel, president of a residents association, told reporters that authorities were slow to react and the first ambulance reached the spot an hour after the alert.

The structure apparently caved in because it could not handle the weight of the large crowd, said the states top elected official, Shivraj Singh Chauhan. He ordered an investigation.

A team of army rescuers joined the operation on Thursday night. The Times of India newspaper reported the rescue work was expedited after underwater cameras showed bodies floating in the muddy waters of the well.

Chauhan said 33 of the bodies had been identified. Sixteen of the people who were injured remained hospitalized Friday.

Sobbing relatives claimed the bodies of the victims and visited the hospital where the injured were being treated.

Temple authorities had stopped using the well years ago and covered the mouth with iron grills and tiles.

Municipal authorities in January ordered the temple owners to remove the covering of the well because it was an unsafe and unauthorized structure, but temple authorities ignored the warning, the newspaper said.

Building collapses are common in India because of poor construction and a failure to observe regulations.

In October, a century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed into a river in the western state of Gujarat, sending hundreds of people plunging into the water and killing at least 132 in one of the worst accidents in the country in the past decade.

By Ashok Sharma
A Slow-Moving Genocide: Human Rights Lawyer Shines Spotlight on Chinas Forced Organ Harvesting

America has come a long way to take action on communist Chinas forced organ harvesting on prisoners of conscience, first reported by The Epoch Times over 15 years ago.

On March 27, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to punish the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience, marking the first non-symbolic legislative measure in the nation to counter the atrocity.

Dubbed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023, the legislation aims to sanction anyone involved in forced organ trafficking. It requires annual government reporting on such activities in each foreign country. Those found to be involved will face a criminal penalty of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison, or a civil penalty of up to $250,000. If its companion version passes the Senate, the bill will be ready for the signature of the U.S. president.

Renowned international human rights lawyer David Matas and the late David Kilgour, a human rights lawyer and a former Canadian member of Parliament, are the pioneers in investigating the matter. Their findings were first released in July 2006.

In a recent interview on EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program, Matas shared the story of his investigation when the world didnt know or believe killing on demand for organs existed. He and Kilgour began their work months after the news broke.

In March 2006, a Chinese doctors wife with the pseudonym of Annie made a public statement in Washington that her ex-husband harvested Falun Gong adherents corneas in a hospital in northeast China. Falun Gong, with tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, is a spiritual practice subjected to brutal persecution in China since July 1999.

Seeking independent investigation, a nonprofit organization, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, approached Matas, who was used to people going to him about different human rights violations. But, since he couldnt work on every request, he tried to help by identifying another solution.

However, for this issue, he realized that there was no easy way or obvious alternative to deal with it.

What Im told straight up is, If this happens, there are no bodies, and everybody is cremated. There are no autopsies, and there are no witnesses except the perpetrators and victims. Everything happens in a closed environment, Matas said. There are no documents except the Chinese hospital and government prison records, which are not accessible. Theres no crime scene. The operating room is immediately cleaned up afterward.

He took the case, knowing there would be a lot of work. He said he didnt start out seeking to prove that Annie was right. Instead, he kept an open mind, thinking he might reach a conclusion rather than leaving the case at a he said, she said level, referring to Annies and the CCPs sides of the story.

(LR) David Kilgour, David Matas, and Ethan Gutmann, authors of Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter: An Update, in London, England, on Nov. 25, 2014. (Simon Gross/The Epoch Times)

Accumulation of All Evidence

The conclusion that Kilgour and I reached was not the result of one particular striking piece of evidence; it was the accumulation of all the evidence that was put together, said Matas.

Several things stood out for them during the investigation.

First, a large group of Falun Gong practitioners didnt disclose their identities to avoid implicating their families and workplaces. That was an extremely vulnerable population, according to Matas.

The Chinese Communist Party had praised Falun Gong for its health benefits after the practice was introduced to the public in 1992. However, in 1999, Falun Gong outnumbered the CCP by 10 to 40 million ahderents. The Party just got worried about its own popularity in the face of the popularity of Falun Gong, which at the time, wasnt anti-communist, but was non-communist, he added. The CCPs insecurity led to a nationwide persecution launched in July 1999.

In Matass view, Falun Gongs peaceful resistance began with the belief that somehow there had been a mistake. There had been a misunderstanding because most people were not familiar with the inner dynamics of the Communist Party. You got these protests saying Falun Gong was good, as if the Party had made a mistake and thought it was bad.

Whereas, in fact, the Partys problem with Falun Gong was that it was good.

Initially, many Falun Gong protesters were released upon arrest as their sheer number maxed out the CCPs detention facilities. However, these adherents later realized that their home environment was victimized due to their protests. Their families and workplaces were harassed and even suffered financial penalties. Therefore, when they protested again, they kept their identities unknown. As a result, their families had no idea of their whereabouts.

Secondly, Matas and Kilgour noticed a pattern of blood tests and organ examinations almost exclusively on Falun Gong adherents. Matas said that when he began his investigation, most of his Falun Gong interviewees didnt know about forced organ harvesting; they wanted to talk about torture and abuse in Chinas labor camps and prisons instead.

Although the adherents didnt volunteer the blood test information, Matas could extract that and see a pattern.

Thirdly, investigators could call into Chinese hospitals, pretending to be relatives of patients who needed organ transplants. They would ask specifically for Falun Gong organs because adherents who meditate are usually healthier than other organ sources, such as death row prisoners. And the answers from doctors were affirmative.

Matas said he was prepared to say, Maybe [the doctors] are just trying to make a sale. Who knows? That was a possible explanation of these doctors answers in the 2006 recordings.

Yet soon, a 2008 documentary by a TV station majority-owned by the CCP excluded that possibility for Matas.

In the Phoenix TV program, the transcript (pdf) of a recording was presented to a Chinese doctor, who acknowledged taking the call and all the content in the transcript except for anything related to Falun Gong.

We have a recording, interweaving seamlessly in his own voice, the stuff he denies having said, and the stuff he admits having said. I dont even know if that wouldve been technologically possible, but I knew very well we didnt do that, said Matas, adding that the CCP could have denied the whole phone conversation and stated that the doctor was claiming anything to win business.

Yet the CCP didnt do so, according to Matas, because of its dual problem with two goals that conflicted with each other: promoting the business of organ transplants and denying forced organ harvesting.

Its very hard to do both at the same time; talk about what theyre doing publicly, promote it publicly, advertise it publicly, and then say it isnt happening, he added. They leave these evidentiary trails all over the place. Its only when they see how were looking at this and how it shows what theyre doing, then it disappears.

Falun Gong practitioners take part in a parade to raise awareness about the Chinese regimes brutal persecution of the spiritual practice, including forced organ harvesting, in New York on May 13, 2022. (Larry Dye/The Epoch Times)

Slow-Moving Genocide

Matas called the forced organ harvesting against Falun Gong adherents a slow-moving genocide.

Its not everybody being killed all at once or within a short period of time. Its been stretching out over decades now. It started in 2001, and this is 2023. Its been going on for 22 years now. He added that Uyghurs had become an increasing organ source in recent years.

To him, the fact that Falun Gong ahderents can recant the practice to relinquish their Falun Gong identity and be spared from being killed for their organs doesnt change the genocide nature of the killing. He said this was because the perpetrator controls the definition of the group or the targets of genocide.

He also said profit-making was a partial motive but not the primary driver.

Whats driving this [forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong adherents] is not money. The Communist Party didnt repress Falun Gong for money. They repressed Falun Gong because it was too popular. In their view, it threatened the hegemony of the Communist Party in China, he added.

Still a Long Way to Go

Many countries and politicians became well-informed about the issue through the tireless efforts of Matas, Kilgour, and Falun Gong adherents.

No extra-territorial legislation was in place to combat organ transplant abuse when Matas and Kilgour first started their work.

Now, 19 countries, including the United States and Canada, have passed extra-territorial legislation that people involved in killing for organs abroad can be prosecuted domestically, according to Matas. But this is only 19 countries. There are 194 countries, and theres still a long way to go, he said.

The Council of Europe also has a Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs, calling on governments to establish the illicit removal of human organs as a criminal offense.

The treaty has been signed and ratified by 13 member states of the Council of Europe, including Albania, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland. One observer state, Costa Rica, has also ratified the Convention. Additionally, Chile, a state that is neither a member nor an observer, has been invited to do so.
Charmaine Williams (2nd-R), Ontario's Associate Minister of Women's Social and Economic Opportunity, presents a letter of recognition to Shen Yun artists at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto on March 31, 2023. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times)

TORONTO, CanadaCharmaine Williams, Ontarios Associate Minister of Womens Social and Economic Opportunity, says Shen Yun Performing Arts is full of joy and hope.

It just filled me with so much joy, Ms. Williams said after seeing Shen Yuns opening performance at the Four Seasons Centre on March 31. I just felt so empowered because it was a story of hope.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company. According to the companys website, Shen Yun is a revival of the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

With stories and legends, vibrant costumes and backdrops, original music, and a few fun surprisesits an experience that will delight your senses, inspire your heart, and just leave you feeling great, the website says.

Ms. Williams noted that our society has gone through turbulent times, especially coming out of a pandemic, so its crucial to be reminded that there is hope, as she saw in Shen Yun.

We are climbing out of the post-pandemic ripple effects, and were building our economy, and we have to hold on to hope. And thats what Shen Yun reminded me [of]: Holding on to hope, she said.

When politics wants to get involved, we need to remember our core values and the love and the peace that we all strive for.

Ms. Williams, who before becoming an MPP was a city councillor in Brampton, Ont., also presented a letter of appreciation to Shen Yun performers on March 31 for coming to her home province.

So Much Brightness

Ms. Williams noted that she is of the Christian faith, and said Shen Yun helped her get more connected to the upcoming Easter season.

As we approach the Holy Week, Palm Sunday, we have something positive to look forward to. So Im just overjoyed, and Im very thankful that Shen Yun is in Toronto and is here for everybody to benefit from.

Shen Yuns website notes the importance of spirituality in all cultures and how almost all cultures looked toward the divine for inspiration.

Art was meant to uplift, bringing joy to both the people who created and experienced it. It is this principle that drives Shen Yun performers and their art, says the website.

Ms. Williams said she saw light in Shen Yun.

I saw so much brightness, so much lightness, she said. I loved every minute of it.

There was also a lot of beauty to praise in Shen Yuns art for Ms. Williams. She noted, for example, the Water Sleeves performance, where female dancers perform with long, flowing sleeves, and how absolutely beautiful it was, as well as the live orchestra that accompanied the dances.

It was wonderful.

Reporting by NTD.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Alberta Law Firm Prepares Class-Action Lawsuit Against Feds Over COVID Vaccines

People walk by a sign outside a restaurant advising customers of the Quebec governments COVID-19 vaccine passport in Montreal, Sept. 6, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

An Alberta law firm is preparing a class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government and pharmaceutical companies for the harm it says COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine mandates caused to Canadians.

This lawsuit will allege, not surprisingly, that the vaccines should not have been approved by the government, that they are not safe, and that theyre causing significant injury and death to Canadians, said Leighton Grey, a senior managing partner at Grey Wowk Spencer LLP.

Grey said the lawsuit stems from a previous COVID litigation case that Grey Wowk Spencer brought against Canadian National Railway (CN) in 2022. A group of CN employees filed a multi-million dollar suit against the company, the minister of transport, and the federal government, alleging that the COVID vaccination policy was discriminatory.

But Grey said they hit a procedural wall due to a series of Supreme Court of Canada decisions that deny plaintiffs access to the courts if they are union members. As such, a new class-action lawsuit is being launched against the federal government on behalf of any Canadians who say they were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 vaccines and associated mandates.

This lawsuit would include people who lost their employment and were declared ineligible for employment insurance, as well as those who say they were injured by COVID vaccines or had loved ones who they say were injured or died as a result of taking the vaccines.

Many Canadians have alleged that they were seriously injured by COVID-19 vaccines, including three who recently testified before the National Citizens Inquiry, an independent initiative examining the federal governments COVID policies.

According to Health Canada, out of the 97,597,702 vaccine doses administered in Canada since March 3, 2023, there have been a total of 54,569 adverse event reports submitted, including 10,685 reports that were considered to be serious.

Grey told The Epoch Times that around 1,000 plaintiffs have expressed interest in participating in the tort lawsuit. He said that the group plans to file the lawsuit in the Federal Court and that any Canadian impacted by the COVID vaccines can participate.

According to Grey, the lawsuit will also include all pharmaceutical companies that had COVID vaccines approved by Health Canada.

Grey said he is expecting significant resistance from the defendants in the case, especially with respect to requiring the plaintiffs to definitively prove that the COVID vaccines can cause injury or death. Grey said this is why they chose to proceed as a class-action lawsuit, arguing that once they establish a reasonable case, the defendants will almost invariably settle once we get past the certification stage.

We do have some outstanding experts who are prepared to testify on our side. And we also think that if we can get past the certification stage, its exceedingly unlikely that the defendants are going to want to actually have a trial on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, he said.

Grey said the vaccine manufacturers are shielded from liability due to an indemnity clause they signed with the Canadian government, which means they cant be sued for vaccine-related harms. But Grey said indemnity agreements can be cancelled in cases of fraud or malfeasance.

I think that, ultimately, this indemnity situation is going to break down. And if the government tries to test that, our argument would be that the indemnity was signed between the government and Big Pharma, but that doesnt prevent us from suing for harms that resulted, he said.

Justice Canada spokesperson Ian McLeod said his department is not aware of service on Canada in a proposed class action by this firm.

Once served, the government will review the proposed action, but we have no further comment at this time, McLeod said.

Cases Were Being Thrown Out

Christian Jones, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told The Epoch Times he was let go from his position at CN in 2021 because he refused to disclose his COVID-19 vaccination status. Jones, who previously managed the railway companys real estate portfolio for Western Canada, then launched a group to organize a lawsuit against the company.

We launched a suit with Grey Wowk Spencer against the CN Rail and the government of Canada, but we saw that similar cases were being thrown out because of jurisdictional issues. They said, Youre 95 percent unionized, so its up for the unions to decide,' he said.

A CN spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company cannot comment on ongoing litigation.

Jones said many employees from major companies were fired for refusing the COVID vaccine, so it made sense to bring them together and make one big lawsuit against the government of Canada for its vaccine policies.

For the federal government, it was almost like the legend of when Hercules cuts the head off the Hydra and then three more grow back. Because we said, OK, well withdraw our case, but were just going to sue the government of Canada.'
Alex Murdaugh to Be Kept in Protective Custody in Prison

COLUMBIA, S.C.South Carolina prison officials have decided to keep former attorney and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh in a special protective unit as he begins serving his life sentence for killing his wife and son.

Mental health and prison experts determined that Murdaugh should be kept in protective custody after they reviewed his case, including the enormous amount of publicity it garnered and psychiatric and other tests, the state Department of Corrections said in a news release Friday.

The protective unit houses 28 prisoners who each have their own cells and enjoy the same privileges as other inmates. Prison officials said they werent disclosing the units location due to security concerns.

Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife and younger son in June 2021 at the familys home in Colleton County. Investigators said that after shooting them, Murdaugh cleaned up, ditched the weapons and visited his ailing mother before returning home and calling 911 to report the deaths,

Defense attorneys are appealing Murdaughs convictions and life sentence. Murdaugh has maintained that hes innocent and said there is no direct evidence linking him to the killings.

Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison after conviction in double murder trial during his sentencing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on March 3, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
At Least 1 Dead, 28 Injured After Roof Collapses During Death Metal Concert in Illinois

A person was killed and 28 others injured when the roof and marquee of the Apollo Theatre collapsed amid a severe weather warning during a concert in Belvidere, Illinois, on Friday evening.

The sold-out concert, which included death metal bands Morbid Angel, Revocation, Crypta, and Skeletal Remains, began at 7 p.m. The collapse occurred about 30 minutes into the concert while Skeletal Remains was performing.

According to Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle, five individuals were rushed from the scene with severe injuries, 18 with moderate injuries, and five more with minor injuries, reported CBS.

Schadle said that in addition to clearing the theater, first responders were called to deal with gas leaks, downed powerlines, and trees, and they rescued someone from an elevator.

The fire chief noted around 10 p.m. to reporters that while the area had a tornado warning, he had no current information about whether a tornado actually came through the area.

Initial reports cite severe storms with 90 mph winds blowing through the area around the time of the collapse. The capacity of the theater is around 1,500, and about 260 people were inside, including the crowd, the staff, and the bands.

Video footage from the scene circulating on social media shows the marquee collapsed to the ground, along with a large portion of the bowstring truss roof. Bricks were also seen scattered in the middle of the street, with some debris landing on nearby cars.

Inside the theater, the ceiling right in front of the stage collapsed, leaving the space open to the outside with lightning flashing.

People were likely gathered in front of the stage at the time of the collapse.

It is still unclear whether the severe weather played a direct role in the collapse. The incident is currently under investigation.

Bands Safe

Morbid Angel, the headline act for the concert, confirmed its band members were safe.

Tonights show is canceled due to a tornado that hit the venue, and caused the roof, over the area in front of the stage, and marquee to collapse, the band wrote on Facebook. We ask anyone who is still traveling to the venue to please seek shelter and stay safe.

We are currently sheltering in place, and want to extend our support and hope that everyone at the show tonight is safe, the statement continued. Right now our focus is on making sure everyone in the venue tonight is ok and gets home.

A guitarist from Crypta, Taina Bergamaschi, confirmed that all the bands are safe.

Tornado hit the venue, we lost our RV, but we are ok, Bergamaschi wrote on Instagram.

The bands were performing on their United States Tour of Terror 2023 tour.

Belvidere police Chief Shane Woody said the scene was absolute chaos, reported CBS.

When officers are first on the scene, when the fire department and first responders get here, they do the best they can to control the chaos as much as possible, Woody told reporters. But ultimately, we go in, and ultimately try and find people, and save as many people as we possibly can, and bring them to safety as best as we can.

Severe Weather

On Friday, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) of the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a tornado watch for various states in the South and Midwest due to a severe weather outbreak.

The SPC warned of the likelihood of several long-track, strong to potentially violent tornadoes, particularly over parts of the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Mid-South.

As the day progressed, tornados tore through cities in central Arkansas and parts of eastern Iowa, resulting in the deaths of at least three individuals and hundreds of injuries.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences declared a mass casualty event after a catastrophic tornado hit Little Rock, leading to over 600 injuries and three deaths.

CBS19 reported that the highest risk of strong, long-track, or potentially violent tornadoes existed across southeast Iowa, western Illinois, and far northeast Missouri, as well as portions of eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi, and southwest Tennessee.

Hours before Apollos roof collapsed, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker issued a warning on Twitter about the severe weather.

Stay aware as tornadoes, storms, and severe weather continue to move through Illinois tonight! he wrote. If youre in an affected area, take shelter and follow directions from your local officials. Be prepared to continue monitoring any warnings or weather alerts.

Pritzkers post included a warning map. The Apollo theater sits outside of the warning area.

My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight, he wrote. Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can. As we learn more, please follow the guidance of all local authorities.
California Kills Series of Bills Increasing Sentencing for Fentanyl Dealers

Michelle Leopold speaks at a rally in front of City Hall in San Francisco on Aug. 21, 2022, while holding a photo of her son Trevor who was a victim of fentanyl poisoning. (Jason Blair/NTD)

Despite bipartisan support targeting fentanyl distribution, California legislators ended discussion this week on bills in Assembly and Senate committees to strengthen enforcement for dealers and manufacturers.

We are in the middle of an epidemic, and these lawmakers have to take it seriously, Pamela Smith told The Epoch Times March 30 in reaction to the stalled bills.

Smiths 22-year-old son Jackson died in 2016 from a counterfeit Oxycontin laced with fentanyl. Since his death, she has fought to increase awareness and strengthen laws against fentanyl dealers.

Pamela Smith (L) and her son Jackson Smith, who died in 2016 from a counterfeit Oxycontin laced with fentanyl. (Courtesy of Pamela Smith)

AB 1058 targeted fentanyl possession in excess of 28.35 grams, enhancing penalties and lengthening prison time for manufacturers and distributors.

With the bill dismissed March 23 without a vote by order of the chair of the Public Safety Committee, Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), critics argue constituents and concerned parents across the state are being ignored.

This committee is silencing the voices of mothers like Pamela Smith, the bills lead author, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) told The Epoch Times. She and other parents of overdose victims want to see these dealers held responsible for the fact that they are knowingly poisoning our children.

Opponents of the bills say the issues are complicated, and fear they would not help the current crisis.

Often there are duplicative efforts put forth, or broad scoped legislation offering temporary solutions, or providing no rational solutions at all, Jones-Sawyer told The Epoch Times in an email March 27.

California legislators have resisted any attempts to increase prison sentences, and Jones-Sawyer said he will not contribute to another war on drugs.

Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer attends MedMen Red Jacket Preparation Launch with Brotherhood Crusade in Culver City, Calif., on Nov. 7, 2019. (Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for MedMen)

But with such recent actions, some families of overdose victims are saying the legislature is failing constituents.

The members of the Public Safety Committee were elected to work for the citizens of this state, to keep our communities safer, and theyre not doing their job, Smith said.

The other bill failing to proceed, SB 44, took an approach to sentencing enhancement following the prosecutorial playbook for DUI convictions. In California, all found guilty of a DUI must sign a statement that warns any future convictions involving driving under the influence resulting in the death of another individual could result in murder charges.

Sen. Tom Umbergs (D-Santa Ana) bill would have required those convicted of a fentanyl offense to receive a similar statement warning them of future consequences if they were to sell the drug leading to anothers death.

California state Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) speaks at a press conference after his fentanyl bill failed to pass in the Senate Public Safety Committee in Sacramento, on March 28, 2023. (Screenshot via YouTube/California Senate Democrats)

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, 100 times more potent than morphine, and is being found in methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, vaping products, and fake pills of Xanax, hydrocodone, or Oxycodone, according to the summary of SB 44.

According to the bills authors, fentanyl was the leading cause of death nationwide last year for people ages 1845, causing a fatality approximately every 8.57 minutes, and linked to 64 percent of all drug deaths.

In 2021, it was responsible for more than 67,000 overdose deaths across the country, a 26 percent increase from the prior year, as reported in the most recent statistics from the National Safety Council, a long-standing Illinois-based nonprofit safety advocate.

Numbers in California are on the rise, as well. The most recent statistics from the California Department of Public Health indicate nearly 6,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2021, up from almost 4,000 in 2020.

While recent failures represent a setback for supporters, Patterson, the assemblyman from Fresno, said hell reintroduce his bill at the first opportunity.

There are other bills currently under consideration regarding the issue.

Assembly Bill 367, introduced by member Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego) in February, proposes 3- to 5-year terms in state prison for those that give fentanyl to another, resulting in harm or death.

The lack of uniform guidelines in the state allows for varied fentanyl prosecution efforts depending on local laws and district attorney preferences, and in many cases, dealers are now being released within days, according to Patterson.

The shadow of a man is cast on a photograph of heroin and fentanyl during a news conference at Capitol Hill in Washington on March 22, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In contrast to the Golden States approach, Texas is moving to increase penalties for fentanyl sales and production, labeling overdoses as poisonings in a bill unanimously approved by the Senate in March.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made it a legislative priority, according to a number of statements released by his office, to allow prosecutors the option to charge fentanyl dealers and manufacturers with murder.

Smith, the mother who lost her son to fentanyl, said she is undeterred by this weeks actions in the Legislature and will continue to write letters to lawmakers, speak out on the issue, encourage others to do so, and will not give up.

I do this because of my son, because I dont want any other parent or family to go through the pain that I do on a daily basis, she said. The more we talk about it, people will come to the same conclusion, and call their legislators in Sacramento to put pressure on the Public Safety Committee to stand up and do the right thing.
Former President Donald Trump was asked to surrender following the New York grand jurys indictment. Trump and his lawyers responded.

Trumps attorney Jesse Binnal speaks with us about the indictment. He calls it a civil rights issue.

Steven Allen also offers us his thoughts on Trumps indictment. He says the indictment will have consequences for the 2024 presidential elections.

The government is reportedly planning to ask black people during the next census if they are descended from slaves, for possible reparation payments.

With more analysis on the historic indictment of Trump, we speak with Steven Allan, vice president of the Conservative Caucus.

Organizers of the Trans Day of Vengeance are canceling the protest after alleged threats against them. Meanwhile, Twitter indicates the protest incites violence.
Bill Mauldin once said, Humor is really laughing off a hurt, grinning at misery.



Increasingly, awareness heightens that few of the 16 million who served during World War II are still living. At least a half dozen wars have occurred since Japan surrendered in 1945, but some surviving veterans recall details as if they happened yesterday. Among the highlights and horrors of the World War II experience, Bill Mauldins cartoons are remembered by many.

At 19, when the New Mexico native joined the Army in 1940 as a rifleman in the 180th Infantry Regiment, Mauldin was already leaning toward a career as an illustrator, having studied political cartooning at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. So, when an opportunity opened up for him to illustrate for military newspapers, including Stars and Stripes, he landed it.

Fairly quickly into his service, Mauldin established the cartoon characters Willie and Joe, and these quirky, often haggard infantrymen, sketched in pen and ink, became the recognizable visual images of the World War II era.

The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana, expresses to visitors regarding Mauldin: Although surrounded by the brutality of battle, his main characters, Willie and Joe, reflected the inextinguishable spirit of Americas citizen soldiers who overcame the hardships of war with resilient humor.

Mauldins cartoon following increased after 1943 and his involvement in the Italian campaign. He traveled regularly by jeep to observe and sketch soldiers. The Library of Congress noted, Bill mostly worked at night, until the wee hours, on drawings made from innumerable sketches made up [during his time on the] front with the combat troops.

Bill Mauldens cartoon: Me future is settled, Willie. Im gonna be a perfessor on types o European soil. First published in Stars and Stripes (Mediterranean edition), Oct. 25, 1944. (Public Domain)

By 1944, six Mauldin cartoons were published weekly and, because the cartoons featured the average soldiers daily rigors, they were relatable. For example, one cartoon shows two rain-soaked, exhausted GIs squatting in a mud-filled ditch. Willie says, Joe, yestiddy ya saved my life an I swore Id pay ya back. Heres my last pair of dry socks.

He turned his considerable talents (not to mention his wry wit) to capturing the gritty and absurd reality of life in uniform, noted Military History Now in a March 2015 report.

Another Mauldin cartoon of a GI digging a trench reads: Me future is settled, Willie. Im gonna be a perfessor on types o European soil.

Traversing with pen and ink around battlefields was not without its dangers. The Library of Congress documented that around Christmas 1943, while sketching at the front, a small fragment from a German mortar hit his shoulders. My only damage was a ringing in my ears and a fragment in my shoulder. It burned like a fury but was very small, Mauldin said.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin sits in his World War II-era Jeep at his home April 9, 1992 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Neil Jacobs/Getty Images)

Mauldin received a Purple Heart for his injury, yet he supposedly protested that he had been cut worse sneaking through barbed-wire fences in New Mexico.

Military History Now pointed out, While Mauldins wounds were non-life-threatening, the experience only added to his comic strips authority. No one could say the artist behind Willie and Joe didnt know soldiers sufferings. He shared them.

Although many of the cartoons may not have produced laugh-out-loud reactions from readers, they did convey to soldiers that their service was noticed. In the Stephen Ambrose biography of Mauldins life, Mauldin is quoted as saying, When you lose a friend [in battle] you have an overpowering desire to go back home and yell in everybodys ear, This guy was killed fighting for you. Dont forget himever. Keep him in your mind when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Dont think of him as the statistic which changes 38,788 casualties to 38,789. Think of him as a guy who wanted to live every bit as much as you do.

Mauldins cartoons garnered so much notoriety that in 1945 he received a Legion of Merit citation as well as a Pulitzer Prize. Time magazine devoted its June 18, 1945 cover to Mauldins Willie character; that same year, Mauldin released a compendium of the best of his 600 cartoons entitled Up Front. It was a bestseller.

After the war, Mauldin continued work as a cartoonist, even winning a second Pulitzer Prize in 1959. His sketches evolved from communicating soldiers lives to addressing decades of political issues. For example, one cartoon depicted Soviet author Boris Pasternak in a gulag, asking another prisoner, I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?

Mauldins 1958 cartoon for which he received his second Pulitzer Prize showing Soviet author Boris Pasternak in a gulag, asking another prisoner, I won the Nobel Prize for Literature. What was your crime? St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 30, 1958, via Newspapers.com. (Public Domain)

While Mauldin attempted to keep Willie and Joe alive in his cartoons after World War II ended, he decided their civilian lives would not have the same appeal. However, Willie and Joe did resurface in Mauldins cartoons around the time of the deaths of Gen. George C. Marshall in 1959 and Gen. Omar Bradley in 1981.

Mauldin left behind a legacy of ironic visual creations when he died in 2003. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
April Fools' Day seems like the perfect time for pranks. But what starts out as a joke can become no laughing matter.

Big name brands and companies often feel compelled to make their own mark on the foolish holiday. But there have been instances where April Fools' fakeries have flopped  or worse, backfired.

April Fools' Day can give companies and brands an "opportunity to connect with their customers through humor  a great way to show your brands personality and fun side. And if done well, it can create a very memorable moment for the brand," Rebecca Rosborough, global chief marketing officer for online brand management platform Frontify, told USA TODAY.

"However it is often hard to do it in a way that will resonate with everyone and not offend anyone," she said.

April Fools' Day 2023: How did April Fools' Day start? History of pranks on April 1

Census findings: Some people left cities during the pandemic. Here's where populations are growing again.

A success story from last year, Rosborough said, was 7-Eleven's introduction of the Tiny Gulp, a serving of "just 0.7 ounces, it's the perfect little sip," the company said on social media. "While the bit was clearly just for fun, it served to reinforce one of the brands iconic offerings," the Big Gulp, Rosborough said.

Not all April Fools' go so well. Here's a few examples.

Elon Musk: Telsa goes bankrupt

On April 1, 2018, Elon Musk tweeted about Tesla going bankrupt. "This prank backfired immediately, causing the stock to drop 7%," Rosborough said. "And although he tried to inject humor in the way he phrased it, his 'Easter Eggs' pun wildly misfired."

Tesla Goes Bankrupt

Palo Alto, California, April 1, 2018 -- Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt, you can't believe it.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2018

Volkswagen gets a new name  not

Two years ago, ahead of April Fools' Day, German automaker Volkswagen published on its website what was thought to be a draft press release about plans to change the name of its American division to "Voltswagen," the swapping out of the "k" for a "t" as a commitment to electric vehicles.

Story continues

While some Volkswagen officials in Germany were telling The Wall Street Journal the announcement was an early April Fools' Day joke, other officials maintained the plan's veracity. After the company's stock began to rise, and VW's communications teams and journalists wasted a lot of time, the company confessed the whole thing really was a joke.

Volkswagen's prank is an example of one that went too far, said Columbia Business School professor and corporate strategy expert Rita McGrath, who talked to USA TODAY in 2022 for a story about April Fools' pranks. "(It) was a mistake," she said.

The Taco Liberty Bell: April Fools' prank rang true, for awhile

Taco Bell cooked up an April Fools' surprise in 1996 running full-page advertisements in The Philadelphia Inquirer and other newspapers including The New York Times and USA TODAY about its purchase of the Liberty Bell  and its renaming to "the Taco Liberty Bell"  to "help the national debt."

The Liberty Bell in view of Independence Hall on May 5, 2016, in Philadelphia.

Members of Congress called the National Park Service to confirm the deal was not real, The Washington Post reported. The park service held an impromptu press conference to deny the deal, too. After Taco Bell admitted the whole thing was a hoax, the company offered to donate $50,000 towards preservation of the bell.

The hijinks paid off. The free publicity generated by the incident was worth $25 million in advertising and sales at Taco Bell increased by $500,000 and $600,000, on April 1 and April 2, compared to the prior week, according to the Chicago Tribune, which also ran the ad.

Google: April Fools' Day email 'updates'

Historically, Google has been an active participant in April Fools' pranks, but it hasn't launched any since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tech news site 9to5Google noted.

The company may have wished it hadn't introduced a new Gmail feature called the Mic Drop in 2016. The feature made "it easier to have the last word on any email," Google said, by adding a GIF of a yellow animated minion (from the animated "Despicable Me" and "Minion" movies) dropping a microphone.

But a bug added the Mic Drop to many emails unintentionally and it had to be turned off. "We love April Fools jokes at Google, and we regret that this joke missed the mark and disappointed you," the company said at the time.

Richard Branson's UFO landed ... with a thud for police

Sir Richard Branson outfitted for Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Mission, which flew into space on July 11, 2021 from Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico.

The billionaire and founder of The Virgin Group, who in 2021 got to travel into space, has enjoyed April Fools' pranks for years, too. His most famous one: the 1989 flying of a "UFO," actually a hot air balloon with flashing lights, over London.

Police were mobilized and the army had been alerted, Branson said in a blog post from 2021. When it landed  the day before April Fools' Day because of weather, The Christian Science Monitor reported  a door opened and someone wearing an E.T. costume walked out. "The police surrounded us and then sent one lone policeman with his truncheon across the field to greet the alien," Branson wrote.

Initially, "the police didnt see the funny side of it and threatened to arrest us for wasting their time," Branson wrote. "Thankfully, they soon joined in the fun and left with smiles on their faces."

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: April Fools' Day pranks from Google, Taco Bell, Volkswagen fell flat
China Stages Combat Patrols After Warning Taiwan About US Speaker Meeting

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy attend an event with members of the Taiwanese community in New York in a handout picture released on March 30, 2023. (Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via Reuters)

TAIPEINine Chinese aircraft crossed the Taiwan Straits median line on Friday carrying out combat readiness patrols, Taiwans defense ministry said, days after Beijing threatened retaliation if President Tsai Ing-wen meets U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The Chinese communist regime, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory despite the strong objections of the islands government, has been angered by what it sees as stepped up U.S. support for Taiwan.

Tsai arrived in the United States on Wednesday, stopping off on her way to Central America.

She is expected to meet McCarthy in Los Angeles on her way back to Taipei in April, and the Chinese regime on Wednesday threatened unspecified retaliation if that meeting were to go ahead.

Taiwans defense ministry said the nine Chinese aircraft crossed at points in the north, center, and south of the straits median line, which used to serve as an unofficial buffer between the two sides.

Taiwans armed forces responded using its own aircraft and ships to monitor the situation using the principle of not escalating conflicts or causing disputes, the ministry said.

The communist militarys deployment of forces deliberately created tension in the Taiwan Strait, not only undermining peace and stability, but also has a negative impact on regional security and economic development, it said in a statement.

The ministry condemned what it called such irrational actions.

There was no immediate response from the Chinese regime.

Tsai, on her first U.S. stopover since 2019, told an event held by the Hudson Institute think tank in New York on Thursday that the blame for rising tensions lay with China, according to excerpts of her comments reported by her office.

China deliberately raises tensions, but Taiwan always responds cautiously and calmly, so that the world can see that Taiwan is the responsible party in cross-Strait relations, she said.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) staged war games around Taiwan last August following the visit to Taipei of then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and has continued its military activities near Taiwan since though on a reduced scale.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei earlier on Friday, Premier Chen Chien-jen said Taiwan was a democratic country with the right to go out into the world.

I hope that China will not find pretext to provoke, he said, when asked about Beijings retaliation threat.

Chinas authoritarian expansion will in fact cause unnecessary trouble, so we here again make this call, hoping that China can reduce its provocative actions.

The CCP has never officially recognized the median line, which a U.S. general devised in 1954 at the height of Cold War hostility, although the Chinese military had until very recently largely respected it.
Council Begins Legal Action Against Home Office Over Plans to Use RAF Site for Asylum Seekers

An inflatable craft carrying illegal immigrants crosses the shipping lane in the English Channel off the coast of Dover, England, on Aug. 4, 2022. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

West Lindsey District Council has launched legal action over the Home Offices plans to put up to 2,000 single adult male asylum seekers at RAF Scampton, the Lincolnshire council said on Friday.

It comes two days after immigration minister Robert Jenrick announced the plan to use three disused military bases to house several thousand asylum seekers through repurposed barrack blocks and portakabins in a bid to cut costs and deter illegal immigration.

Essexs Braintree District Council has also applied for an injunction to stop asylum seekers from being housed at RAF Wethersfield Airfield.

In a statement published on Friday, West Lindsey District Council council reiterated its concerns that RAF Scampton isnt appropriate for asylum seekers and the plan may jeopardise a 300 million regeneration programme.

The councils said there are a significant number of barriers to using the site for asylum seekers, including significant contamination from previous site uses that requires thorough remediation before the site would be suitable for any sensitive use such as housing asylum seekers in temporary structures.

Sally Grindrod-Smith, the councils director of planning, regeneration, and communities, said the Home Office doesnt have the correct planning permission.

Despite ongoing attempts by the council to set out to the Home Office the irretrievable damage that would be caused to the once in a generation investment opportunity that is on the table, the Home Secretary has taken the decision to utilise RAF Scampton as a site for asylum accommodation, Grindrod-Smith said in a statement.

The council considers that the decision is irrational and moreover the Home Office does not have the appropriate planning permission for the intended use. The Council has therefore issued a letter before action, sent in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review, she added.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman was given until 4 p.m. on Thursday to respond to the letter.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into Dover. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

In an email to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson for the Home Office said it would be inappropriate to comment on any on-going legal proceedings.

The confirmation of the plans to house illegal immigrants at RAF Scampton on Wednesday means that a 300 million regeneration project at Scamptonformerly the home of the Red Arrows and the 617 Dambusters Squadronhas been put on hold.

A spokesperson for Scampton Holdings Ltd (SHL), the company leading the redevelopment, said on Wednesday that it was absolutely devastated by the governments decision, with the companys chairman, Peter Hewitt, saying the decision was incredibly difficult to understand.

Despite assurances that these plans will only be temporary, it is nothing short of a backward step for the economic growth of the region, Hewitt said.

According to fact sheets published by the Home Office on Thursday, the department plans to move 200 people to RAF Scampton at the beginning and increase the capacity to 2,000 people over time.

Wethersfield Airfield will also be filled with 200 people initially, with the number increased to 1,700 over time.

Northeye Residential and Training Establishment, a former prison and military base outside Bexhill-on-Sea, would house 800 people from September and 1,2oo by the end of this year.

All three sites will be used for single adult male asylum seekers, the documents said.

On Wednesday, Braintree District Council applied to the High Court for an interim injunction, challenging the Home Offices proposals to put asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield.

Eye-Watering Hotel Bill

Housing illegal immigrants in hotels is costing British taxpayers 2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) a year, Jenrick told the House of Commons on Wednesday when he announced the plan to put some of them in former military bases.

The sheer number of small boat arrivals has overwhelmed our asylum system and forced the Government to place asylum seekers in hotels. These hotels take valuable assets away from communities and place pressures on local public services, he said.

Seaside towns have lost tourist trade, weddings have been cancelled and local councils have had their resources diverted to manage them. The hard-working British taxpayer has been left to foot the eye-watering 2.3 billion a year bill.

Britains Minister of State for Immigration Robert Jenrick leaves after a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, in central London, on March 15, 2023. (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)

Jenrick said the government remains committed to its legal obligations to house the destitute but is not prepared to go further.

Accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more. Because we cannot risk becoming a magnet for the millions of people who are displaced and seeking better economic prospects, he said.

The minister insisted the move is undoubtedly in the national interest and said single adult males only will be forced into the barracks.

More than 45,000 illegal immigrants crossed the English Channel in small boats to reach the UK in 2022. Thousands more have already arrived illegally via this route so far this year.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his five priorities and has said he is determined to deliver on his promise.

Braverman said on March 7 that the need for reform of the asylum system is obvious and urgent, as the problem is already unsustainable.

She said most of the illegals are accommodated in hotels across the country, costing the British taxpayer around 6 million ($7.4 million) a day.

Alexander Zhang and PA Media contributed to this report.
Doctors Notes Offer Closer Look at Sen. Fettermans Treatment Upon Release From Hospital

Doctor's notes say Fetterman had stopped eating and drinking

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was discharged on March 31 from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, where he was being treated for depression. Fetterman checked himself in for treatment on Feb. 15.

A week before that, he had been in George Washington University Hospital in Washington, with symptoms of lightheadedness, which was a concern because the Democratic senator had a stroke on the campaign trail the weekend before the May 2022 primary.

He was back in his hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania, on March 31, according to a statement from his staff.

Fettermans medical care in the neuropsychiatry unit was led by Dr. David Williamson, neuropsychiatry chief and medical director, who said in the statement that Fettermans depression is now in remission.

The Senate is in recess for the next two weeks. During that time, hell be with his family in Pennsylvania and return to Washington when the Senate session resumes on April 17, according to the statement.

I am so happy to be home. Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs, Fetterman said in a statement from his communications team. I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life.

I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works. This isnt about politicsright now, there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help.

During his hospitalization, media coverage was generally complimentary toward him for getting help and sharing his health issue publicly.

Doctors Notes

His team provided Fettermans doctors discharge report, offing more detail about Fettermans treatment.

Upon admission in February, Fetterman had severe symptoms of depression with low energy and motivation, minimal speech, poor sleep, slowed thinking, slowed movement, and feelings of guilt and worthlessness, but no suicidal ideation, according to the report.

His symptoms had progressively worsened over the preceding eight weeks, and he had stopped eating and taking fluids, causing him to develop low blood pressure, which potentially affected brain circulation. He was admitted on a voluntary basis.

The neuropsychiatry team worked with cardiology and neurology at Walter Reed to evaluate and treat the senator. They reviewed medical records and imaging studies from George Washington University Hospital and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital and performed additional studies at Walter Reed. They saw no new stroke, consistent with the opinion at George Washington in February 2023.

His neurological exam was stable compared with past assessments, the report reads.

His cardiac echocardiogram showed improvement from last year, and there were no blood clots in the heart.

His blood pressure was low, likely due to poor hydration and weight loss. The cardiology team carefully changed medicines and reduced dosages while Fettermans depression was managed with medication therapies.

Over the subsequent weeks, Fettermans mood steadily improved. Sleep was restored, he ate well, and he rehydrated. Doctors started to see a better mood, brighter affect, and improved motivation, self-attitude, and engagement with others.

His treatment gradually produced remission of his depression. He learned about depression, read a book about it, and discussed it.

He expressed a firm commitment to treatment over the long term, the report reads.

Fettermans auditory processing abilities were evaluated and identified as mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss, both right and left.

He was fitted for hearing aids and worked with speech-language specialists.

With improvement in his depression, improvement in the patients speech abilities was noticeable and we believe that significant continued improvement is likely with continued outpatient rehabilitation, the report reads. Fetterman has expressed a firm commitment to engaging in this rehabilitation process. His depression, now resolved, may have been a barrier to engagement.

Doctors say hes ready to return to his family, pursue outpatient treatment, and resume work.
Fearful Churches Are Failing to Teach Americans Moral Character, Pastor Says

A recent poll showing a decline in traditional American values confirms what conservatives have been saying: The character of America is changing.

The percentage of those polled who said patriotism is important dropped to 38 percent today from 70 percent 25 years ago. While 59 percent said having children was important 25 years ago, now just 30 percent do. And the importance of religion dropped to 39 percent now from 62 percent calling it important 25 years ago.

The poll, released in March 2023, was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and funded by The Wall Street Journal.

Those who are older understand what this country was and how were devolving, said Rev. C.L. Bryant, a senior fellow at FreedomWorks, a group that advocates for freedom and small government.

Churches are failing this country, he said in a speech at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of conservatives. He said Americans are slowly being enslaved and that he aimed to encourage people to build a fire in their hearts and restore the light of patriotism to the nation.

Americans, whether you know it or not, there are countries around this world whove always looked to us for leadership. For strength. For encouragement. But even now, on the faces of Americans, the light of this world, they are beginning to see fear. They are beginning to see us in a state where they understand that we are being hoodwinked. We are being bamboozled. And our children are being swindled out of their American heritage, Bryant said. In too many cases, it is because the churches in this country are failing the congregants. This faith-based nation, like we have been even in our founding, is failing in what our founders saw it could be for people of moral character.

For the first time in our nations history, he said, more than 65 percent of children from the ages of 7 to 17 have never been to a church, synagogue, or mosque.

Political Correctness

He chastised pastors for not preaching truth to their churches.

Pastors  because of political correctness, there are certain things that you are beginning to leave out of your sermons on Sundays. And youre leaving your congregants unclothed and certainly exposed to the attack of political wolves in this country, said Bryant, a Christian.

He spoke of Jesus being crucified over the politics of his day.

[Jesus] took them head-on. He came and overturned tables. He came with a righteous anger over how they were manipulated and how they were duping Gods people. He came to set them free, Bryant said. It cost Him His life. It cost Him a crucifixion. And the American pastor today understands the story of Christ, but they dont understand the mission of setting the captives free.

Many pastors and congregants are afraid of a sort of crucifixion today, he said.

Our nation is dying, he said, and it can die if we dont understand the nature of what the mission is.

With Easter Sunday coming, the day that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, it is time for us to understand, pastors and congregants  that without the crucifixion, without them coming after you with sharp objects, without them trying to tear you down, and the strugglewithout the crucifixion, there is no resurrection, Bryant said. And my friends, the resurrection of America is certainly necessary now. Because there has been a purposeful destruction of our moral character.

Slaves Seek Comfort

Bryant spoke of the trap of accepting handouts from the government. The slave doesnt necessarily seek freedom, he said, but rather, comfort.

The slave will trade his freedom for more food in his bowl and for a roof that doesnt leak over his head. The slave will trade his freedom for a paycheck that comes without work, he said.

Americans, you are slowly being enslaved. It is time now for you to wake up and understand that the tools of our destruction are truly working on our young people, because they love free stuff, and they love your stuff. They want your stuff, because they may never accumulate things, in the way it is going, on their own. So that presents a certain peril for all of us who have worked hard and experienced the American way of prosperity and success. There is a generation coming behind us and slowly being suffocated by the principles of big government.

Bryant encouraged the crowd to not let anyone take from them what they fought wars for.

My friends, it is time for you to stand up and push back, he said. I want you to take account of what our fathers have bought and paid for with blood. Take account of that. If we let anyoneDemocrat, Republican, whoever they aretake from us what our fathers bought and paid for. Not without a fight.

And with that, the crowd stood in applause.
Fentanyl-Dealing California Police Union Official Charged

A bag full of bags of fentanyl pills seized by DEA Los Angeles. (Courtesy of DEA Los Angeles)

A California police union official has been accused of importing fentanyl from India, China, and other countries and then shipping it around the United States from her home in San Jose.

Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers Association, was charged on March 27 for importing synthetic opioids into the country.

Officials have said Segovia used her personal and work computers to order thousands of pills to her house, which she then sent out all over the United States.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Californias office said in a statement that Segovia was caught as part of an ongoing Homeland Security investigation into a network that was shipping drugs into the San Francisco Bay Area from overseas.

Officials allege that Segovia had at least 61 shipments sent to her home between October 2015 and January 2023 from countries like China, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Canada, and Singapore. The shipments were labeled as things like Wedding Party Favors, Gift Makeup, or Chocolate and Sweets.

In my training and experience, such a large number of parcels, from such a diverse array of foreign countries, and with labels like these, are often indicative of illicit drug shipments, an unidentified Special Agent wrote in an affidavit about Segovia.

Alleged Shipments

According to the affidavit filed by federal prosecutors, Homeland Security agents were investigating a drug smuggling ring from late 2022 involved in shipping opioids from India to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Agents found hundreds of parcels intended to be sent to 48 states from this network. Segovias name and address were found on the phone of an operative from the network with a message to send 180 pills SOMA 500mg to the union officials address.

Authorities intercepted and opened five shipments between July 2019 and January 2023 and found they contained thousands of pills of controlled substances, like the synthetic opioids Tramadol and Tapentadol.

Segovia allegedly used encrypted WhatsApp messages to plan the logistics for receiving and sending the pill shipments, according to a complaint. It also accused her of messaging someone in India hundreds of times between January 2020 and March 2023.

Officials have said Segovia distributed the drugs from her office at the police union.

She allegedly sent a package to a woman in North Carolina at the request of a supplier. Then she sent a picture of the shipment to the supplier using the UPS account of the police union.

A federal agent wrote in an affidavit that Segovia used her official office to ship drugs, based on a San Jose Police Officers Association shipping label being used on a package.

In one instance in June 2021, an image was sent from Segovias Whatsapp showing a PayPal payment confirmation on a computer screen. A letter opener and business card with the police unions name rest in front of the computer.

Another photo from the smartphone shows a computer with a heart-shaped sticker which agents identified as one in Segovias private residence.

Claims in Interviews

Even after federal investigators interviewed her in February, Segovia kept ordering drugs, authorities allege.

Most recently, federal agents found a package in Kentucky with valeryl fentanyl from China on March 13, labeled as a clock.

According to the complaint, during the interview, Segovia claimed to have no idea why her name and address were found in the phone of a suspected drug trafficker.

She also allegedly claimed to work for the police department.

After returning from a vacation, Segovia told federal agents on March 14 that it had occurred to her like a light bulb that a woman she identified as a family friend and housekeeper was the likely culprit.

It all leads to her, Segovia said, according to the agents affidavit.

During that second interview, the agent said Segovia claimed the housekeeper had a substance abuse disorder and made inconsistent statements about whether she had used her smartphone to order the drugs.

Segovia allegedly said she didnt want throw [this woman] to the wolves but that she wanted to be honest, the agent wrote.

Segovia was charged with trying to unlawfully import valeryl fentanyl and could face up to 20 years in prison if shes found guilty. She could also have to do at least three years of supervised release and pay a fine of up to $250,000.
Jenna Ellis, constitutional attorney and former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, spoke to NTD Business about the indictment and how it could play out. She calls the indictment a singularly inglorious moment for the country and the rule of law.

She says the fact the previous Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance passed on charging Trump on the hush money case indicates that this case is purely political. She believes Democrats want to use the lawsuit to drain Trumps war chest for his 2024 presidential campaign.
California Gov. Newsom Announces $10 Million PAC Targeting Red States

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at The Unity Council in Oakland, Calif., on May 10, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is on the campaign trail, aiming to turn traditionally red states into opportunities for the Democratic Party, with the help of $10 million in funding from his war chest and a newly launched Campaign for Democracy political action committee.

Announced on March 30, the cross-country effort will put Newsom and his blueprint for the nation on the national radar as the 2024 campaign is starting to kick into gear. While speculation grows that he is a possible contender for the presidency, Newsom is adamant that he has no interest at this time. The governor will be termed out of office after 2026.

In comments to a host of publications over the past year, Newsom has repeatedly said its not the moment for him, its not going to happen, and he has sub-zero interest, but that hasnt stopped rumors from circulating that the Golden State governor is positioning himself for a national campaign.

Democratic leaders remain loyal to President Joe Biden, though recent polls indicate lagging support for the administration from members of its own party. Disapproval ratings are estimated at 53.4 percent as of March 31, according to statistics website FiveThirtyEight operated by Nate Silver, and potential matchups between Biden and former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are too close to call, based on recent national polls.

The Campaign for Democracys messaging is focused on targeting Republican leadership and questioning the partys legitimacy and capacity to serve.

Leading figures of the Republican Party continue operating with a total disregard for democratic norms and institutions, and their use of fear-mongering tactics to maintain control and foment division is leading to a dangerous erosion of our democracy, the committee wrote on its website.

The statement is placed under a section titled Existential Threats, featuring photos of Trump, DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Authoritarian leaders are so hell-bent on gaining power and keeping it that theyre directly attacking our freedoms in state after state, Newsom said in a quote on the site.

Meanwhile, critics say Newsoms extensive use of emergency powers during the pandemic and history of issuing record numbers of executive orders have been a major concern for California.

Republican Kevin Kiley speaks at a debate of California gubernatorial recall election candidates in San Francisco, Calif., on Aug. 25, 2021. (Scott Strazzante-Pool/Getty Images)

Ah the Campaign for Democracy from the guy who brags about jamming his democratically elected legislature, issues orders taking away civil liberties, closed schools, shuts down churches and small businesses, destroys livelihoods and violates the rights of parents, California Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, of Yuba City, wrote on Twitter on March 30.

Gallagher and former assemblyman and current Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), successfully sued the governors office in 2022, resulting in a permanent injunction granted by Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckmans declaration that Newsoms Executive Order N-67-20 mandating mail-in ballots be sent to every registered voter was unconstitutional. The judge ruled that the governor doesnt have the power or authority to amend statutory law or create new statutory law even during a state of emergency.

In efforts to tie the renowned Kennedy legacy with the Democratic partys current agenda, the new committees website commemorates Sen. Robert Kennedys eulogy of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, in which he recognizes the vital role the party played in the success of the family.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the late senator and nephew of JFK, recently teased a 2024 presidential run of his own, saying in remarks at St. Anselm College that the Democratic Party has abandoned its roots, and hes considering his options, noting that he has passed the biggest hurdle, which is that my wife has green-lighted it.

Newsoms efforts to attract support from Republican states arent new, as last year he paid for billboards in seven states promoting California as an abortion sanctuary. Advertising campaigns targeted South Dakota, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The newly announced Campaign for Democracy is expanding its sights, with Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida listed as the first stops on the tour.
Trump Raises Over $4 Million in 24 Hours Since Indictment

Former President Donald Trump arrives for an event at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa, on March 13, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trumps political action committee has announced that, in the 24 hours since the former president got indicted by a New York grand jury, his 2024 presidential campaign has raised over $4 million.

This outpouring of donations is, according to Make America Great Again Inc., Trumps political action committee, a grassroots reaction by ordinary Americans outraged by the probe into the former president, which it described as a witch hunt.

The PAC said in a statement Friday that since a grand jury empaneled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg voted on Thursday to indict the former president, his campaign has seen donations soar.

This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponization of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor, the statement said, noting that over 25 percent came from first-time donors.

Trumps campaign called Braggs investigation of the former president an unprecedented political persecution and blatant interference in the 2024 presidential election, with Trump being the leading Republican candidate.

Bragg has disputed the characterization of his probe as politically motivated. Leslie B. Dubeck, the general counsel for Braggs office, wrote a letter to top House Republican chairmen, denouncing what she called baseless and inflammatory allegations that our investigation is politically motivated.

The PAC pointed out that the former presidents campaign is largely being funded by smaller contributions and that this shows that the support he enjoys comes from ordinary Americans not special interest groups.

With an average contribution of only $34, President Trumps 2024 campaign is funded by an unmatched coalition of hardworking patriots who are fed up with special interest donors like Soros spending billions of dollars to influence our elections, the statement said.

Many of Trumps supporters have referred to Bragg as a Soros-funded prosecutor. Billionaire financier George Soros contributed significantly to the Color of Change PAC, which endorsed Bragg in his campaign for Manhattan district attorney in 2021 and pledged over $1 million to back his campaign.

The Soros-funded label has been applied to Bragg for some time, though it has increasingly become the default descriptor since Trumps indictment.

Apparently, Soros-backed Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is actually indicting my father, the former presidents eldest son, Don Trump Jr., said in a video statement. Lets be clear, folks. This is like communist-level [expletive]. This is stuff that would make Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot  it would make them blush.

Soros, for his part, has denied ever meeting Bragg or giving his election campaign any money.

I think some on the right would rather focus on far-fetched conspiracy theories than on the serious charges against the former president, Soros told Semafor.

Trump Indicted

The grand jury empaneled by Bragg voted on Thursday to indict Trump on allegations linked to a business records investigation related to a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 over an alleged affair Trump has denied.

Trump is the first-ever U.S. president to face criminal charges.

Joe Tacopina, Trumps lawyer, told The Epoch Times that the former president is expected to be in New York City next week for arraignment, with April 4 floated as a possible date.

Legal analysts have said that Trumps defense lawyers are likely to raise a number of issues when hes arraigned, including that the statute of limitations bars the alleged charges and that the case is based on a faulty legal theory.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr has criticized the indictment, calling it a disgrace and a political hit job.

In an interview at the National Review Institute Ideas Summit, Barr said he saw the case against Trump as prosecutorial abuse and as pathetically weak.

Judging from the news reports  its the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial function to engage in a political hit job, and its a disgrace, Barr said when asked to comment on the case.

Barr added that he believes Bragg is misapplying federal law related to campaign finance in pressing ahead with the charges.

On the federal issue, theyve gotten the statute completely wrong, in my mind, and I dont think the Department [of Justice] would support this interpretation of the statute that theyre taking, which is that paying  hush money is a campaign contribution, he said.

The grand jury in Manhattan has been probing whether any crimes were committed in arranging or booking the alleged hush money payments to Daniels, though the specific charges remain under seal.

Trump has insisted that hes a completely innocent person and that the indictment is the latest in a line of actions meant to destroy his Make America Great Again movement.

Caden Pearson contributed to this report.
The U.S. health regulator on Friday classified the recall of Getinge ABs heart devices as its most serious type as their use may cause grave injuries or death due to risk of unexpected shutdowns.

The company said it has informed its customers about the issue and there was no material financial impact from the recall.

An estimated 4,502 devices were recalled by the Swedish medical equipment makers unit, Datascope, in the country in January, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A communication loss between certain chips may result in an unexpected shutdown of the devices, which are designed to help the heart pump more blood, the agency said.

Unexpected pump shutdown and any interruption to therapy could lead to unstable blood flow, organ damage, including death, especially for critically ill people.

Datascope has reported 42 complaints about the communication failures resulting in unexpected shutdowns of the devices, distributed between March 6, 2012, and Jan. 13 of this year, the FDA said. It added there were no reports of any injuries or deaths related to the issue.

Earlier in March, the FDA had classified recall of an estimated 2,300 of these devices as most serious due to a different issue. Getinge had also recalled 4,454 units initiated back in December due to another issue.
Intelligence Expert Recommends Independent Body With Arrest Powers to Tackle Foreign Interference

Former Chief of the Asia-Pacific Unit, Canadian Security Intelligence Service Michel Juneau-Katsuya waits with former Member of Parliament Kenny Chiu to appear before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics about foreign interference in Ottawa on March 31, 2023. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

An intelligence expert with hands-on experience in countering threats from hostile state actors told MPs Canada doesnt need a public inquiry into foreign interference, but rather needs a new completely independent body with powers to arrest and prosecute those involved.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former manager with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), suggested the idea during a meeting of the House of Commons ethics committee on March 31.

He said such a body is needed because every government has been penetrated by Chinese agents and that neither CSIS nor the RCMP have been able to stop the threat.

Every prime minister and their staff chose to ignore the seriousness of the threat. Not only the sitting government has been compromised, but all political parties also have been compromised at one point or another, said Juneau-Katsuya.

Some policy decisions made on China can only be explained by interference exercised from within, he said.

Every government let their decision process [be] manipulated by two reasons: partisanship and agents of influence succeeding in controlling the message.

Juneau-Katsuya, who left CSIS in 2000 and has since run a company that offers security consulting services, did not substantiate the claim.

Do you have evidence of interference, or interference attempts, or evidence that Canadian governments have been informed of these activities? asked Conservative MP Michael Barrett.

Yes, but I dont have them with me. Since I was with CSIS, its remained with CSIS, Juneau-Katsuya answered.

While the former CSIS officer could not elaborate on the matter, national security leaks in the media since November have provided details on how the Chinese regime operates and who it targets.

The leaks allege that the Trudeau government was aware of a Chinese interference network providing funds to Liberal and Conservative candidates.

The increasing body of media reporting on the extent of foreign interference has led opposition parties to call for a public inquiry, but the Liberal government has rejected the idea.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has instead appointed former governor general David Johnston as special rapporteur on the issue and announced other measures such as creating a special office under Public Safety Canada.

Juneau-Katsuya mentioned the measures in his testimony, saying he disagrees with holding a public inquiry since it would expose too much of the security apparatus methodologies.

He said what has been leaked so far has already helped Chinese services to counter Canadian efforts.

The CSIS veteran also remarked that findings would be used in a partisan way to attack the sitting government, whereas every ruling party has turned a blind eye to the problem.

It is time to prioritize national security in a non-partisan manner and protect the future of this nation, he said.

This argument has been advanced by the Trudeau government, as the Conservatives have accused it of willfully benefiting from Beijings interference.

Where Juneau-Katsuya charted a new course was in suggesting the creation of an independent body to tackle foreign interference.

He said the first step would be to create criminal offences related to foreign interference, and then have a new body with powers to investigate, search, arrest, and prosecute.

CSIS is the lead agency on foreign interference, but it has no arrest powers, and the transfer of its intelligence to the RCMP to pursue criminal charges is complex and rare.

Juneau-Katsuya said the office he envisions could be similar to that of the auditor general, with its director appointed by the House of Commons and reporting to it, and with outposts across Canada.

The RCMP, like CSIS, cannot be the investigative body since in the current structure, they have not been able to get governments to act in 30 years. So how can we expect this to change tomorrow? he said.

Dan Stanton, another CSIS veteran, also testified at the ethics committee on March 31.

He identified foreign interference as a threat supplanting traditional espionage in terms of gravity, with Beijing being the main culprit.

Stantons direct experience on the matter is more fresh than Juneau-Katsuyas, having left the agency in 2017, and he shared his assessment about different governments not acting on the matter.

It was a different government at the time and the reaction to foreign interference reporting  was no different than it was today, he said.

Stanton also questioned whether working with current models would help to solve the longstanding issue, as he criticized providing extra money to the RCMP without establishing a broader strategy.

Interference Claims

Other witnesses included former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu, who believes he lost his B.C. riding in 2021 due to foreign interference.

Liberal MP Parm Bains, who beat Chiu at the polls, sits on the ethics committee.

Bloc Quebecois MP Rene Villemure asked Chiu whether he believed Bains had benefited from the interference.

Yes, he is the beneficiary of the disinformation, answered Chiu. The former MP said his support for a foreign agent registry led Beijing to orchestrate a social media campaign during the last election to portray him as anti-Chinese.

Do you believe that its a conflict of interest that your opponent is here today? asked Villemure.

That is a question that I think is better answered by my opponent, Chiu said.

Later in the meeting, Bains said that all candidates are victims of misinformation and disinformation.

There were campaigns against me that I was going to legalize hard drugs, and things of that nature, he said.

On Jan. 31, the Trudeau government issued a three-year exemption allowing decriminalization of the personal possession of small amounts of illegal drugs such as cocaine and opioids in B.C.

Victor Ho, the retired editor-in-chief of Chinese language media Sing Tao Daily in B.C. who also testified, spoke of Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) tactics to silence critical voices in Canada.

Ho described how the CCP uses accusations of racism to deflect criticism and re-focus issues. He said social media is being used to spread official propaganda to sidetrack the core problem.

For example, in the COVID-19 era, they spread the anti-Asian hate campaign and put the agenda into a racial issue rather than a pandemic, public health issue he said.

The CCP was accused of covering up the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak early on and sought to dismiss any responsibility in the spread.

The Procedure and House Affairs Committee is also studying foreign interference and it will soon hear from Katie Telford, chief of staff to the prime minister.

Opposition MPs on the committee were able to get a vote on the motion calling her to testify on March 21 after a lengthy Liberal filibuster that ended with the Prime Ministers Office removing its obstruction.
When the world first witnessed the power of OpenAI's conversational bot ChatGPT late last year, one social media post quickly went viral in China, attempting to explain why this artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough did not happen in the country.

The most widely-shared answer, provided by an anonymous author, was that Chinese technology firms were just too short-sighted to bear the cost of long-term investment, choosing instead to rush towards technologies that can be quickly commercialised.

"When the kid next door publishes a revolutionary doctorate paper, don't ask why that kid is so smart," it said. "You also have a smart kid in your house, but instead of supporting his study, you asked him to make quick money while he was still able to perform manual labour."

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Many netizens find the metaphor apt in describing the root of China's technological shortcomings. Despite strong policy and financial support by the state, as well as ample private investment, the country has been unable to beat the US to the punch in creating a cutting-edge AI chatbot like ChatGPT.

In 2018, President Xi Jinping conducted a special study session with the Politburo. It concluded that AI was strategically important, and could lead to a technological revolution and industrial changes with "profound impact on economic development, social progress, and the pattern of the international political economy".

With the blessing of China's top leadership, government and private funding poured into domestic AI start-ups.

Chinese AI start-up launched a household robot in 2022, designed to play Chinese chess with humans. Photo: Handout alt=Chinese AI start-up launched a household robot in 2022, designed to play Chinese chess with humans. Photo: Handout>

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In the ensuing years, the country saw the emergence of the "four little dragons" - Cloudwalk Technology, Megvii, SenseTime, and Yitu - all focused on the AI field of visual recognition.

Meanwhile, commercial products bearing the AI label have flooded the Chinese market. SenseTime, for instance, launched a robot designed solely for teaching kids how to play chess.

By 2021, Chinese firms claimed to have produced 21 large language models, up from just two in 2020, putting them on a par with the United States. A large language model, according to AI chip designer Nvidia, represents a deep-learning algorithm that can recognise, summarise, translate, predict and generate text and other content based on knowledge gained from massive data sets.

But the arrival of ChatGPT shattered the illusion that China and the US were competing neck and neck in AI.

Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Security Technology, says China's AI development lags behind the level of OpenAI. Photo: Shutterstock alt=Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Security Technology, says China's AI development lags behind the level of OpenAI. Photo: Shutterstock>

China's knowledge level in AI is two to three years behind OpenAI, the San Francisco-based start-up that created ChatGPT, said Zhou Hongyi, founder of cybersecurity firm 360 Security Technology and an industry veteran with close ties to Chinese authorities, at the China Development Forum last weekend.

That technological gap, however, has not deterred Chinese companies and entrepreneurs from touting their own plans to launch their own ChatGPT rivals in the country, where the chatbot is not officially available, because of the government's attitude towards uncensored content.

In March, internet search giant Baidu launched Ernie Bot, becoming the first major tech company in China to launch its own GPT-like service. Wang Huiwen, co-founder of on-demand services giant Meituan, and Lee Kai-fu, former China head of Google, have both started new ventures to explore the business potential of generative AI.

But analysts caution that this gold rush could be short-lived owing to lack of technical expertise and experience, compounded by US export restrictions on AI chips, which would hinder the development of a true ChatGPT-equivalent in China.

Lee Kai-fu, former head of Google China, has launched a new venture looking into the business potential of ChatGPT-like technologies. Photo: Edmond So alt=Lee Kai-fu, former head of Google China, has launched a new venture looking into the business potential of ChatGPT-like technologies. Photo: Edmond So>

The fanfare around ChatGPT only shows how much the market is craving for a new investment narrative, according to Bo Pei, an equity analyst at Tiger Securities. "After so many years of development, both the Western and Chinese internet industries are saturated and thirsting for a new direction."

"It is questionable how soon ChatGPT-like tools will actually make an impact or produce meaningful revenue," Bo said.

One big obstacle is China's walled internet. With the Chinese government prohibiting the country's more than 1 billion internet users from accessing uncensored content, the materials that researchers can use to train AI engines are more limited than in the West.

A random test conducted by the Post last month, for example, found that Baidu's Ernie Bot was unable to answer questions related to topics deemed politically sensitive by Beijing. When asked if China was a democratic nation, the chatbot ducked the question, simply replying that it "hasn't learned how to answer this question yet".

Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong introduces the functions of Ernie Bot during a launch event in Beijing on March 16. Photo: AP Photo alt=Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong introduces the functions of Ernie Bot during a launch event in Beijing on March 16. Photo: AP Photo>

"Censorship could certainly hinder China's ability to develop a local equivalent to ChatGPT," Dahlia Peterson, a research analyst at Georgetown University's Centre for Security and Emerging Technology, said in February.

"Even if [Chinese] AI companies are able to access and utilise global data and research resources to train their AI models, it is unlikely Chinese authorities will allow them to use any material deemed as politically sensitive in their replies," she added.

While censorship will not stop China from coming up with its own answers to ChatGPT, much in the same way that the country developed its own search engines after Google pulled out of the market, it could take two to three years for Chinese industry players to develop models that are at least 80 per cent as powerful as ChatGPT, according to research company Third Bridge.

And as China continues to fence off its internet, its gap with global AI leaders, such as the US, could widen. Within just four months after the public launch of ChatGPT in November, OpenAI released its next-generation language prediction model GPT-4, which has more sophisticated capabilities, including the ability to analyse images.

A sign at the Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Photo: Getty Images via AFP alt=A sign at the Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Photo: Getty Images via AFP>

China's lack of access to the best chips for AI training could further delay its efforts to catch up with the US, according to Phelix Lee, an equity analyst at Morningstar Asia.

American semiconductor giant Nvidia, which holds a virtual monopoly over high-end AI chips, is restricted by Washington from exporting its H100 and A100 chips to clients in China. The company now produces tailor-made chips, which are of lower performance, for the Chinese market.

Chinese AI "development may be bottlenecked by US restrictions if China is unable to increase hardware sufficiency, and the severity of the bottleneck depends on how sophisticated AI systems become", Lee said.

The immensity of that challenge may well be illustrated by the reluctance of Chinese tech giants, save for Baidu, to show off any ChatGPT-like services to the public.

Alibaba Group Holding, which has invested in large language models, has not said when it will roll out its own ChatGPT rival. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Alibaba Group Holding, which has invested in large language models, has not said when it will roll out its own ChatGPT rival. Photo: Bloomberg>

Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post, has yet to provide a timetable for the launch of a commercial product based on its large language models, despite having invested in AI for years.

Tencent Holdings has not provided any launch plans either, only saying it "will keep investing in cutting-edge technologies", such as machine learning.

Baidu, meanwhile, finds its Ernie Bot being constantly compared to ChatGPT. While the company's shares gained 14 per cent on the February day that it announced plans to launch an intelligent chatbot, they lost 10 per cent on Ernie Bot's launch day, when founder Robin Li Yanhong showed the technology with pre-recorded videos rather than a live demonstration.

Last month, Li admitted that Ernie Bot lagged behind ChatGPT for about "one or two months". But he also played down the geopolitical implications of Ernie Bot, saying that it "isn't a tool for China to compete against the United States".

Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of Open AI, speaks during an event at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington in February. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of Open AI, speaks during an event at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington in February. Photo: Bloomberg>

It is too early to predict how much revenue or profit companies can generate from the likes of ChatGPT, as businesses are still exploring real-life applications of these chat bots, according to Wang Kai, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar Asia.

"We are encouraged by the possibilities, but we still need to figure out how exactly [chatbots] will be monetised," he said.

Baidu has said it wants to integrate Ernie Bot across all its existing businesses, starting with its search engine, to "reshape the way information is generated and presented". The technology will eventually be used to support Baidu's smart speaker Xiaodu, self-driving unit Apollo, and video platform iQiyi, the company said.

Over 650 Chinese organisations have announced partnerships with Ernie Bot, including smartphone brand Honor, travel-booking site Ctrip, carmaker Geely Auto, and electronics giants Lenovo Group and TCL, according to Baidu.

Still, even as more Chinese tech firms jump on the chatbot bandwagon, many might see their costly bets failing to pan out, according to Lu Yanxia, research director at information technology consultancy IDC.

Solely relying on large language models will not provide a sustained edge for any firm, Lu wrote in a research note in February. ChatGPT-like technologies will also have a limited impact on the market at the moment, while many related AI models might even become irrelevant in the long run, she said.

"The true revelation [of ChatGPT] is that these language models will evolve and contribute to the advent of general AI, and that the application of these language models will push for a paradigm shift in AI development and narrow down the industry chain," the research concluded.

Some experts have gone as far as calling for tech companies and researchers around the world to pause the training of AI models more powerful than GPT-4.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is among dozens of tech industry veterans who have signed an open letter calling for a halt in the training of AI models more intelligent than GPT-4. Photo: Getty Images/TNS alt=Tesla CEO Elon Musk is among dozens of tech industry veterans who have signed an open letter calling for a halt in the training of AI models more intelligent than GPT-4. Photo: Getty Images/TNS>

"AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity," the Future of Life Institute wrote in an open letter this week, signed by Tesla founder Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and dozens of other tech veterans.

"Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop non-human minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, make us obsolete and replace us?" it asked.

"Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders. Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," it said.

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.
Italy Bans ChatGPT Over Privacy and Age Verification Issues

A response by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, is seen on its website in this illustration picture taken on Feb. 9, 2023. (Florence Lo/Reuters)

Italy temporarily stopped ChatGPT from operating in the country on Friday over unlawful data collection and problems in its age verification system. It launched a legal inquiry into the case.

The ban came from Italys Guarantor for the Protection of Personal Data agency (GPDP), naming Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the developer and managing company of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, according to a press release from the agency. ChatGPT went offline in Italy as a result.

More specifically, regarding the data collection, the Italian authority, also known as Garante, said that ChatGPT presents no information to its user whose data is collected by OpenAI. More importantly, there appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to train the algorithms on which the platform relies.

Regarding age verification, Garante said that ChatGPT might present inappropriate content to children because no reliable system checks the users age. ChatGPT says that only people who are at least 13 can use the service.

OpenAI has 20 days to respond with remedies or risks, a fine of up to 20 million ($21.68 million) or 4 percent of its annual worldwide turnover.

The press release also mentions that a breach that affected ChatGPT user conversations and payment information was reported on March 20.

Users must register on the ChatGPT website to use the service.

OpenAI said it had disabled ChatGPT for users in Italy at the request of the Garante.

ChatGPTs website is not active in Italy. A notice on the ChatGPT webpage said the websites owner may have set restrictions that prevent users from accessing the site.

We actively work to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals, OpenAI added.

OpenAI is based in the United States but has a designated representative in the European Economic Area.

Italy becomes the first Western country to limit the use of an AI chatbot.

The chatbot is also unavailable in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Russia, and parts of Africa, where residents cannot create OpenAI accounts.

Concerns on AIs Development

Since its release last year, ChatGPT has set off a tech craze, prompting rivals to launch similar products and companies to integrate it or similar technologies into their apps and products.

The technologys rapid development has attracted lawmakers attention in several countries. Many experts say new regulations are needed to govern AI because of its potential impact on national security, jobs, and education.

We expect all companies active in the EU to respect EU data protection rules. The enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation is the responsibility of EU data protection authorities, a European Commission spokesperson said.

The Commission, which is considering legislation called the EU AI Act, may not be inclined to ban AI, European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said on Twitter.

On Wednesday, Elon Musk, a group of artificial intelligence experts, and industry executives called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAIs newly launched GPT-4 in an open letter citing potential risks to society.

OpenAI still needs to provide details on how it trains its AI model.

The lack of transparency is the real problem, said Johanna Bjorklund, AI researcher and associate professor at Umea University in Sweden. If you do AI research, you should be very transparent about how you do it.

ChatGPT is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a study by UBS investment bank published last month.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Japan, China Establish Military Hotline Amid Increasing Regional Friction

Japanese Coast Guard vessel and boats (rear and right) sail alongside a Japanese activists' fishing boat (center) near a group of disputed islands called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan on Aug. 18, 2013. (Emily Wang/AP Photo)

Japan and China have established a direct military hotline to prevent maritime and air clashes as tensions grow over competing territorial claims in the East China Sea.

Both nations announced the setting up the confidential communications line on Friday, reported Jiji Press.

We will utilize it not only for responding when unforeseen circumstances occur but also for building trust between the two countries, the Japanese Defense Ministry said.

The Jiji Press report said the line would soon be operational and would link the leadership of Japans Self-Defense Forces at the nations Defense Ministry with Chinese defense ministry officials.

The announcement came ahead of Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashis visit to Beijing on April 1 for talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, the first such visit by a Japanese foreign minister in three years.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the two leaders will have in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of shared interest.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C Orion surveillance plane flies over the disputed islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea, on Oct. 13, 2011. (Kyodo News via AP/File)

Disputed islands in the East China Sea have long been a source of friction between the two countries. Over the years, Japan has protested repeated intrusions by Chinese vessels in the Senkaku Islands, which are under Japanese control, but China claims and calls the Diaoyu Islands.

On Feb. 11, the Japanese Defense Ministry raised concerns with Beijing after a Chinese naval survey vessel was spotted entering Japans territorial waters near islands in the Kagoshima prefecture.

In January, Japan said four China Coast Guard ships entered its territorial waters in Senkaku Islands and approached a Japanese commercial ship and fishing boats. Beijing denied Japans claims and said the Japanese vessels had illegally entered its territory.

Increasing Actions

During the 2022 East Asia Summit in Cambodia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida accused Beijing of threatening Japans sovereignty in the East China Sea and escalating tensions in the South China Sea.

There has been continued, increasing actions by China in the East China Sea that violate Japans sovereignty. China also continues to take actions that heighten regional tension in the South China Sea, he said.

Kishida also emphasized the need to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait, where tensions between Taiwan and China have been rising. Beijing claims the democratically-elected Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to bring the island under its control by force if necessary.

The Japanese government approved three key defense documents last year, including the National Security Strategy, which refers to the Chinese regime as Japans greatest challenge.

It also unveiled a five-year $315 billion military expansion to deter Beijing from using force in the East China Sea.

In response, Beijing claimed that Japan has played up so-called external threats in recent years and greatly boosted its defense budget, and this tendency to return to the path of militarization is very dangerous.

Communist China is also planning a 7.2 percent increase in defense spending this year, outpacing last years increase and faster than the governments modest economic growth target.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Japan Tightens Chipmaking Equipment Exports Amid US-China Tech Spat

Japan will impose export restrictions on 23 semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the government said on Friday, amid an ongoing spat between the United States and China over chip technology.

The export control measures will take effect in July and cover equipment for cleaning, checkups, and lithographya key technology in manufacturing advanced semiconductorsaccording to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

It is to prevent our technology from being diverted for military use, METI Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters, Kyodo News reported. We will fulfill our responsibility to the international community.

Japan said that 42 countries, including the United States and Taiwan, will continue receiving the equipment under a simplified export measure. But China was not among them and will be subject to stricter controls.

The new regulation will affect equipment manufactured by 10 Japanese companies, including Tokyo Electron Ltd. However, Nishimura said he expected minimal impact on local companies as the rules only target extremely advanced technology.

We expect the impact on domestic companies to be limited, Nishimura said. We dont have one specific country in mind with these measures.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning criticized Japans move, saying that weaponizing trade and tech issues and destabilizing the global industrial and supply chains benefit no one and will eventually backfire.

Ahead of Japan Ministers Visit

The move came ahead of Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashis visit to Beijing this weekend for talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, the first such visit by a Japanese foreign minister in three years.

Japans new Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi arrives at Prime Minister Fumio Kishidas official residence in Tokyo, on Nov. 10, 2021. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two leaders will have in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of shared interest.

Advanced semiconductor chips are used to make everything from pickup trucks to hypersonic missiles. Currently, more than 60 percent of the worlds supply of chips is produced in Taiwan, many of them with the help of U.S. research and design.

Japan once dominated chip production but has seen its market share slip to about 10 percent. Still, it remains a major supplier of chipmaking machines and semiconductor materials.

Major Win For US

Japans export controls will be seen as a major win for the United States, which in October imposed sweeping restrictions on access to chipmaking technology to slow Chinas technological and military advances.

Washington needs the cooperation of industry heavyweights Japan and the Netherlands for its measures to be effective and to ensure its companies do not face a competitive disadvantage.

The Netherlands had agreed to block Beijing from having access to chip manufacturing technology, such as from ASML Holding NV, which dominates the market for lithography systems used to create chips minute circuitry.

The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Liesje Schreinemacher, told the Dutch parliament on March 8, that the proposed limitations on Chinas access to sensitively designed advanced equipment using ultraviolet light, to etch circuits on processor chips, was essential on security and human rights grounds.

She said the new measures target only very specific technologies in the semiconductor production cycle on which the Netherlands has a unique and leading position, such as the most advanced Deep Ultra Violet (DUV) immersion lithography and deposition.

Schreinemacher said the government would publish the new regulations before the summer.

The Chinese communist regime accused an individual country, in a reference to the United States, of trying to safeguard its own hegemony by abusing national security as an excuse to deprive China of its right to development.

Mao Ning warned that the restrictions would limit normal economic and trade exchanges between Chinese and Dutch companies.

Bryan Jung, Andrew Thornebrooke, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Judge Strikes Down Carry Permit Restriction in Minnesota

A federal judge ruled Friday that Minnesotas carry permit age restriction is unconstitutional.

The court declares that Minn. Stat. 624.714, subd. 2(b)(2)s requirement that a person must be at least 21 years of age to receive a permit to publicly carry a handgun in Minnesota violates the rights of individuals 1820 years old to keep and bear arms protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, judge Katherine Menendez from U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota wrote in the ruling.

Minnesota added an age restriction for the carry permit in 2003 to ask applicants to be at least 21 years old and a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States.

Three Minnesota residents between the ages of 18 and 20 sued John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, and three sheriffs and asked the judge to enjoin the age restriction.

Three gun rights advocacy groups, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Second Amendment Foundation, and Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., joined the lawsuit.

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus declared victory after the ruling.

This is a resounding victory for 18-20-year-old adults who wish to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus Chair Bryan Strawser said in a statement.

The Epoch Times reached out to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walzs office for comment.

Aftereffects of Supreme Courts Bruen Decision

The plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit that the age minimum violated the Second Amendment because 18- to 20-year-olds were permitted to possess guns at the time of the United States founding.

Their case was bolstered last June when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time, in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, that the Second Amendment protects an individuals right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. The court also found that any limits on gun rights must be in line with the nations historical tradition of gun regulation.

Gun instructor Tom Nguyen (L) watches as Kelly Siu fires a pistol during a Defensive Pistol Class at Burro Canyon Shooting Park in Azusa, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Menendez wrote that she had reservations about the historical analysis demanded by the Supreme Court, noting that judges are not historians.

Nonetheless, she concluded that there were no historical laws comparable to Minnesotas, and Bruen required her to strike the law down.

She noted that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a 21-year age minimum for handgun purchases in Florida, based on 19th-century laws, but said those laws only concerned gun sales, not the right to carry guns.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Key Things to Know About Trumps Indictment

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, on March 25, 2023. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trumps unprecedented indictment has surged into the limelight and fueled public debate over whether this case is legitimate and shows no one is above the law or amounts to a political hack job meant to thwart Trumps chances in the 2024 presidential election.

Expectations are that Trump will be arraigned at some point in the coming week, with a spokesperson for the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg saying in a statement that its now coordinating with Trumps attorneys the former presidents surrender.

Here are key things to know about the indictment, which was handed down on Thursday, making Trump the first former or sitting U.S. president to be charged with crimes.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before his speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., on March 4, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump Ready to Fight

Joe Tacopina, Trumps lawyer, told The Epoch Times that the former president is expected to be in New York City next week for arraignment, with April 4 floated as a possible date.

Hes angry, disappointed, but hes ready to fight. Hes a pretty tough guyhis knees dont buckle, so hell be ready to go, Tacopina said.

Tacopina told NBC News on Friday that theres zero chance that Trump will take a plea deal in the case and the former president is not going to hole up in Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home.

Theres no crime. I dont know if its gonna make it to trial because we have substantial legal challenges.

While its not believed Trump will resist arrest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that he would not assist with any potential extradition should Trump refuse to cooperate with his arraignment.

Reports indicate that Bragg was investigating Trump for allegedly misclassifying supposed hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up a purported affair, which Trump has denied.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference after the sentencing hearing of the Trump Organization at the New York Supreme Court in New York on Jan. 13, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Whats the Case About?

Bragg empaneled a grand jury that has been investigating Trumps involvement in a $130,000 payment made to Daniels.

Trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said he made the payment to Daniels via a shell company that was then reimbursed by Trumps company, the Trump Organization, and recorded as legal expenses.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating campaign finance law in connection with the payment. In his plea deal, Cohen claimed he made the payment at Trumps direction and that he was reimbursed by the Trump Organization, even though he earlier claimed he paid the money out of his own pocket.

Federal prosecutors have said that the payment constituted illegal, unreported aid to Trumps campaign but they declined to file charges against the former president.

The grand jury in Manhattan has reportedly been probing whether any crimes were committed in arranging or booking the payments to Daniels, though the specific charges remain under seal.

While the indictment remains sealed, its believed that the case against Trump relies heavily on Cohens testimony.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trumps former lawyer, leaves federal court after his sentencing in New York on Dec. 12, 2018. (Craig Ruttle, File/AP Photo)

Bootstrapping Misdemeanor Into Felony

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr has criticized the indictment, calling it a disgrace and a political hit job.

In an interview at the National Review Institute Ideas Summit, Barr said he saw the case against Trump as prosecutorial abuse and as pathetically weak.

Judging from the news reports  its the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial function to engage in a political hit job, and its a disgrace, Barr said when asked to comment on the case.

Barr said that Bragg appears to have ginned up a technical misdemeanor into a felony, adding that this was something that federal prosecutors chose not to prosecute as a campaign violation.

So for the state DA to try to use this as a way of bootstrapping himself into a felony is sort of outrageous, Barr said.

Legal analysts have said that Trumps defense lawyers are likely to raise a number of issues when hes arraigned, including that the statute of limitations bars the alleged charges and that the case is based on a faulty legal theory.

Barr said that for the case against the former president to have any traction, Bragg would have to prove Trump falsified records with intent to defraud.

Under New York state law, falsifying business records by itself is a misdemeanor but if the records fraud was used to cover up or commit another crime, the charge could be elevated to a felony.

The former attorney general said he believes Bragg is misapplying federal law related to campaign finance in pressing ahead with the charges.

On the federal issue, theyve gotten the statute completely wrong, in my mind, and I dont think the Department [of Justice] would support this interpretation of the statute that theyre taking, which is that paying  hush money is a campaign contribution, he said.

So I think the whole thing is a very weak case, Barr said.

Jesse Binnall, one of Trumps lawyers, said Friday that theres absolutely no legal basis for the case against the former president.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks at a meeting of the Federalist Society in Washington on Sept. 20, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump Says Hes Innocent

The former president said in his latest public statement on Truth Social that hes a totally innocent man and described the indictment as blatant interference in the 2024 presidential election, in which polls show hes the Republican frontrunner.

Trump said that, with the indictment, the radical left Democrats have gone too far in their maniacal obsession to get Trump.'

How much more are American patriots expected to take? Trump asked.

At the beginning of the month, Trump predicted his imminent arrest and urged his supporters to protest. Last week, he warned about potential death and destruction if charges were to be filed against him.

Law enforcement has been on guard in case any potential protests over Trumps arraignment were to turn violent.

Officers have been placed on alert and the department remains ready to respond as needed and will ensure everyone is able to peacefully exercise their rights, the New York Police Department (NYPD) told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

There are no current credible threats to New York City, the NYPD added.

New York Court officers watch as NYPD drop off metal barricades in front of the Manhattan Criminal Court in N.Y.C., on March 20, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

What Happens Next

Normal procedures suggest that prosecutors have been negotiating Trumps voluntary surrender at the DAs office in Lower Manhattan.

Tacopina has said Trump intends to voluntarily surrender, in which case the former president would appear at the DAs office at an agreed-upon time for booking. He would then be fingerprinted, have his mugshot taken, and be read his Miranda rights.

Trump would later be arraigned at a courtroom in the same building, with his defense team being handed a copy of the indictment that will reveal details of the charges against him.

Its expected Trump will enter a not guilty plea and be released on his own recognizance. New York law prohibits prosecutors from seeking bail for nonviolent felony charges.

Another lawyer representing Trump in a separate case, Jim Trusty, told CNN that he believes Trumps legal team will push for the charges to be dismissed before the case goes to trial.

I would think in very short order, youll see a motion to dismissor several motions to dismiss, Trusty told CNN, adding that those filings will likely be submitted within days.

Other legal experts have made similar arguments, saying that Trump could try to get the case dismissed based on the statute of limitations or because Braggs case is based on a questionable legal theory.

In addition to the Manhattan probe, Trump is facing other investigations.

The Department of Justice is investigating Trumps retention of classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, as well efforts by the former president and his allies in challenging the results of the 2020 election.

Caden Pearson, Gary Bai, and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
In this livestream special episode, I sit down with Jeffrey Tucker, The Epoch Times senior economics columnist and founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, to discuss the Trump indictment and the broader implications it has for America.

Tucker wrote about these broader implications in his recent piece, The Anarcho-Tyranny Unleashed on America. Check it out, and join us! Well answer some audience questions, too.

Related Coverage Anarcho-Tyranny Unleashed in the United States

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For millennials with chronic medical conditionsor those raising kids with chronic conditionshealth care can be an enormous monthly expense. About 44 percent of older millennials born between 1981 and 1988 have at least one chronic health condition, including migraines, major depression and asthma, according to a 2021 survey of over 4,000 adults conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of CNBC Make It. And many millennials are also caring for children with complicated medical needs.

Expenses can include doctors visits, tests and prescription drugs, plus indirect costs that may result from missing work.

But there are ways to keep health care costs lower, including taking advantage of a flexible spending account or health savings account, comparing pharmacy prices on medications and using a care manager through your insurance. Here are some strategies to try.

Ask Questions

If you have a chronic condition, be an active participant in your care. Too many people go to the doctor and the doctor says, Were ordering this test; were doing this medicine, and they dont inquire as to why, says Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and physician in Jacksonville, Florida. When you need bloodwork, ask the doctor, How is this bloodwork going to change what we do for me?

If the answer is essentially, Were just checking, McClanahan says, ask your doctor whether you can safely skip that test because youre trying to control costs.

Compare Medication Costs

Your prescription medication may cost significantly less at another pharmacy. For example, a recent search for sumatriptan, a common migraine medication, showed prices ranging from about $7 to $36 at various pharmacies in Austin, Texas.

People should always shop their prescription costs, McClanahan says.

She suggests checking sites like goodrx.com, which offers coupons on prescriptions and shows nearby prices, or costplusdrugs.com, which sells drugs at a low cost. And ask your insurer whether there are preferred pharmacies on your plan.

If a medication is expensive, check with the manufacturer for discount programs or coupons. The manufacturer of diabetes medication Jardiance, for instance, offers a savings card that reduces prescription costs to $10 per month for a limited time for eligible people. A months supply of the drug lists for more than $500 on GoodRx.

And if your insurer declines to cover a medication you need, appeal the decision. Appeals are a pain and time-consuming, but they do work, says Leslie Beck, a certified financial planner in Rutherford, New Jersey.

Use Tax-advantaged Benefits When You Can

If your employer offers a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), you can set aside pre-tax money toward medical expenses. In 2023, employees can contribute as much as $3,050, and employers can allow a carryover from year to year of as much as $610.

If youre using a high-deductible health plan for your health benefits, you can save to a Health Savings Account (HSA). Savings to an HSA are pre-tax, the money can be invested and grow over time, and anything spent on eligible medical expenses is tax-free.

HSAs are very flexible, and for people dealing with chronic conditions, it may be quite attractive to have this type of account set aside just for their health care costs, says Jacqueline Koski, a certified financial planner in Dayton, Ohio.

(You generally cant save to an HSA and a health care FSA at the same timeor if your employer allows it, the FSA is limited to dental and vision expenses only, per the IRS.)

Use a Case Manager

Many insurance companies offer a patient advocate program that can help you manage a condition of yours or a dependents. Molly David, whose daughter has a disability, found her insurers medical case management program to be a game-changer.

I now had a go-to person for questions and concerns I had, says David, who also created sempergrata.com, a website for parents of children with disabilities. This alone was a huge relief. But they could also help with prior authorizations, explaining my options and getting me in touch with other programs that could help.

Davids case manager also pointed out a variety of benefits that were available to her. We had probably about $80,000 worth of home modifications done by insurance that we never would have thought they would have covered, David says.

Find Your Community

Theres strength in numbers, and thanks to social media, its easier to find a group of people in the same situation youre in. Facebook groups and blogs are helpful places to start.

I found a community of Type 1 diabetics, and the guidance that I got from them was life-changing, says Beck, who also has the condition. Once you find your community, theyre so helpful in terms of managing (the condition), what works, what doesnt work, where you can go to get resourcesyoud be shocked.

By Kate Ashford of Nerdwallet

The Epoch Times Copyright  2022 The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
Manhattan DA Acknowledges Some Federal Funds Were Used to Investigate Trump

District attorney candidate Alvin Bragg speaks during a Get Out the Vote rally at A. Philip Randolph Square in Harlem in New York City on Nov. 1, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

A March 31 letter from the office of Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg stated that some federal funding has gone into the investigation of former President Donald Trump or the Trump Organization by Braggs office.

It was sent to a trio of House Republicans including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Written by General Counsel Leslie Dubeck, the letter states that roughly $5,000 of federal money was used to investigate Trump and the Trump Organization from 2019 through 2021, before Bragg took office.

She said it came from the Department of Justices asset forfeiture fund.

Most of those costs are attributed to the Supreme Court case, Trump v. Vancesubpoena-related litigation in which the DAs Office prevailed and which led to the indictment and conviction of Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and two Trump organizations, the letter states.

Dubecks letter was sent the day after a New York grand jury voted to indict Trump. That indictment, which is currently under seal, concerns allegations about the payment of hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels by Trumps then-lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Trumps current lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said the former president will surrender himself to Braggs office before the arraignment hearing, when the charges will be read, on April 4.

Trump has maintained his innocence. In a March 31 post on Truth Social, he wrote that radical left Democrats were indicting a totally innocent man.

Latest in Exchange with House Republicans

Dubecks salvo is the latest in an exchange with Jordan, Comer, and House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.).

In a March 20 letter, after reports of Trumps possible indictment began to circulate, the lawmakers asked Bragg to testify before Congress.

Dubeck rebuffed that request in a March 23 response, calling the Republicans letter an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution. She offered to meet and confer on the matter.

In a March 25 letter to Bragg, the three Republican committee chairmen reiterated their requests and their suggestion that the prosecution could be motivated by politics.

Dubeck called that assertion baseless and inflammatory in her March 31 response.

The Republicans have repeatedly raised the issue of federal funding for local law enforcement, in light of Braggs Trump investigation.

In their March 25 letter, they highlighted reports that Bragg has downgraded more than 50 percent of felony cases to misdemeanors.

To the extent that you are receiving federal funds and are choosing to prioritize apparent political prosecutions over commonsense public safety measures, the Committee on the Judiciary certainly may consider legislation to tie federal funds to improved public safety metrics, the March 25 letter reads.

Dubecks March 31 letter detailed three federal grant programs in which the DAs office takes part, arguing that the grants have helped make New York one of the United States safest large cities.

She said none of that money went into investigating Trump or the Trump Organization.

That letter goes on to assert that a congressional subpoena of Bragg regarding the Trump prosecution would be unprecedented and unconstitutional.

The House Republicans March 25 letter argued that such a subpoena would be legitimate.
Members of Exiled Chinese Church Detained in Thailand

Members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, leave from the Nongprue police station on their way to Pattaya Provincial Court in Pattaya, Thailand, on March 31, 2023. (Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

BANGKOK, ThailandMore than 60 self-exiled members of a Chinese Christian church who were detained in Thailand paid fines for overstaying their visas but remained in police custody Saturday uncertain about their legal status amid fears they would be deported against their will to their home country, where they face possible persecution.

The 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church were taken to court Friday in the resort city of Pattaya after being detained a day earlier by Thai immigration authorities. The 32 members of the group considered to be adults were charged with overstaying their visas, said Col. Tawee Kutthalaeng, chief of the Pattaya-area Nong Prue police station. Two American citizens who were with the group and briefly held had not been placed under arrest, he said.

After being fined, the church members had expected to be released to be able to return to where they had been staying in the area, said Deana Brown, one of two American supporters who accompanied them. Brown said she has been working to resettle the church members in Tyler, Texas, where her organization is based.

However, they were put on two buses which first took them to the Pattaya office of the immigration police and then drove them to Bangkok for what a police officer told The Associated Press was normal processing of their case.

The drive under police escort from Pattaya to Bangkok, which would normally take about two hours, instead took closer to five because the passengers forced the buses to stop en route and disembarked by the roadside, saying they feared they were being driven to Bangkoks international airport to be repatriated.

There were grounds for their skepticism. In 2015, Thailand sent 109 members of the Muslim Uyghur minority back to China against their will despite fears they would face official persecution and possible torture. The U.N. refugee agency at the time called Thailands action a flagrant violation of international law, and the United States also condemned the deportations.

Only after receiving reassurances by phone did the Chinese church members continue their journey, arriving early Saturday morning at a police facility known as the Police Club in northern Bangkok that has space for large numbers of detainees. The main Immigration Detention Center in the middle of Bangkok, where some detainees have been stuck for years, is notoriously overcrowded.

Members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also called the Mayflower Church, came to Thailand in 2022 seeking asylum. They are trying to get to the United States, but the current status of their applications is not clear. Most members of the church are young, married, middle-class couples, with their children making up about half the group.

They fled China in 2019 alleging that they were being persecuted by government security forces, initially settling on South Koreas Jeju Island. They left South Korea for Thailand after meetings with local and U.S. officials made it clear that prospects for refuge there were dim.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement Saturday appealing to the Thai government not to repatriate the group.

Thai authorities need to recognize the grave dangers facing Christians back in China and under no circumstances force them to return, said Elaine Pearson, the New York-based organizations Asia director.

If Thailand determines that the 63 Christian Chinese cannot stay, then they should be permitted to seek protection in another country, Pearson said. Rights-respecting governments should urgently step up to express their willingness to receive these asylum seekers at risk.

Brown, CEO of the Texas-based Freedom Seekers International, an organization whose mission statement says it seeks to rescue the most severely persecuted Christians in hostile and restrictive countries, said that when the group looked into renewing their visas, they were told of a new requirement that any Chinese citizen renewing a visa in Thailand must report to the Chinese Embassy first. Their visas expired several months ago.

When they told us that, we knew that nobody could get their visas, Brown said. There was no way, because as soon as they walk into the Chinese Embassy theyre gone, we would not see them again. Theyve been hiding out since then.

The press section at the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok did not answer its telephone and the embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The U.S. Embassy said it had no immediate comment on the case.

Upon their 2022 arrival in Thailand, church members told reporters that they had been stalked, harassed, and received threatening calls and messages even while they were in South Korea. They said relatives in China had been summoned, interrogated, and intimidated.

At that time, the Chinese foreign ministry said the matter was not a diplomatic question and declined to comment further.

In China, Christians are legally allowed to worship only in churches affiliated with Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled religious groups.

In recent years, independent, unregistered house churches have come under heavy pressure, with many prominent ones shut down. The authorities have also targeted believers not explicitly opposed to the CCP.

China is one of 15 nations that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in its annual report last year recommended be designated as countries of particular concern for repression of religious groups.

It said the CCPs policies require religious groups to support its rule and its political objectives, including by altering their religious teachings to conform to the partys ideology and policy. Both registered and unregistered religious groups and individuals who run afoul of the CCP face harassment, detention, arrest, imprisonment, and other abuses, the commission said.
NY Man Gets 22 Years for Asian Immigrants Hate Crime Death

New York police released this image of the suspect following the assault on a Yao Pan Ma last year. (NYPD)

A New York man was sentenced Friday to 22 years in prison for the fatal beating of a 61-year-old Chinese immigrant who was collecting cans for money.

Jarrod Powell, 51, pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter as a hate crime in the 2021 death of Yao Pan Ma.

Ma, who came to the United States with his wife in 2018, was attacked from behind as he was collecting cans in East Harlem on April 23, 2021. He was knocked to the ground, kicked, stomped on and left unconscious, authorities said.

Ma suffered a traumatic brain injury and died in a hospital eight months later without ever regaining consciousness.

Powell was arrested four days after the assault. He acknowledged in his plea agreement that he had targeted Ma because the victim was Asian, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office.

Bragg called Mas death the result of a despicable racially motivated attack.

The victims family endured an agonizing eight months in the hospital while the devoted husband and father of two remained in a vegetative state, before succumbing to his injuries on December 31, 2021, Bragg said in a statement.

Chinese immigrant Yao Pan Ma in the hospital on Oct. 27, 2021, after he was attacked in April while collecting cans in the East Harlem neighborhood in New York. (Karlin Chan via AP)

In addition to his 22-year prison term, Powell was sentenced to five years of supervised release. Powell did not speak at his sentencing in Manhattan state Supreme Court. His attorney declined to comment.

Karlin Chan, a spokesperson for Mas family, said that while Powells sentence represents closure and a measure of justice, there a lot more hate crimes that deserve justice.
FILE PHOTO: Huawei logo is pictured on its headquarters building in Reading, Britain

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies is partnering with more legacy automakers to produce Aito-branded electric cars, the company's senior executive said on Saturday, in a move to expand its presence in the auto industry.

Huawei will team up with Chery Automobile, BAIC Motor and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group in jointly developing and manufacturing Aito-branded vehicles, Richard Yu, Huawei's Smart Car CEO, said at the China EV 100 forum in Beijing.

Huawei, which has already a partnership with Seres Group to make Aito cars, plans a series of models including SUVs, sedans and multipurpose vehicles under the Aito brand, Yu added.

"We'd like to fully use the automakers' resources of production capacity," Yu said.

Seres sold a total of 80,000 Aito cars featuring Huawei's HarmonyOS system - developed by the company as an alternative to Android - in 2022, up more than six times from a year ago, according to company filings.

Huawei's Chairman Eric Xu reiterated at a press conference on Friday that the company doesn't make cars on its own but only helps other automakers make better vehicles.

Huawei has been hit by a series of export controls by Washington which says it is a security risk, which the company denies. The sanctions have blocked Huawei from buying key components as well as from using Google's Android operating system.

The sanctions have also affected Huawei's partnerships with global automakers, who have given up using Huawei's vehicle connectivity technologies in the past two years, Yu said on Saturday.

Tension with the U.S. saw Meng detained for three years in Canada over alleged efforts to cover up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran in breach of U.S. sanctions.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Zhuzhu Cui and Brenda Goh; Editing by David Holmes)
One Killed, One Wounded in Los Angeles Shooting

VAN NUYS, CalifA gunman shot a 50-year-old man to death and wounded a 44-year-old man when the elder male answered a knock at the back door of a home in Van Nuys April 1 morning, authorities said.

Paramedics rushed the 44-year-old man to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, according to Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Departments Media Relations Division.

Officers responded at 2 a.m. to the 15100 block of Gilmore Street, west of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, on reports of a shooting in the back of the home. Witnesses told officers a man knocked on the door and when the 50-year-old responded, the suspect shot both victims and ran away, a police department spokeswoman told City News Service.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics were called and pronounced the 50-year-old victim dead at the scene.

Police had no suspect description.
Orange County Collects 17 Percent More Sales Taxes Than Budgeted in 1st Quarter

The Orange County Government Center in Goshen, N.Y., on Oct. 22, 2022. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

According to the latest Ways and Means Committee meeting, the Orange County government in New York collected 17 percent more sales taxes than budgeted in the first quarter.

Sales taxes are the countys lifeline, accounting for nearly 45 percent of its estimated revenue.

Nearly $394 million in sales taxes were budgeted for this year.

The countys sales taxes picked up quickly when the pandemic began in 2020 and have consistently grown at a rate higher than expected.

In 2021, the county collected $42 million more in sales taxes than estimated.

Last year was even better, with annual receipts that were $57 million more than budgeted.

Booming sales taxes contributed to a property tax levy reduction of more than $7 million in this years budget.

According to the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, industries that produce the most sales taxes are clothing stores, gas stations, auto dealers, restaurants, e-commerce, and construction.

The county has a total sales tax rate of 8.125 percent4 percent to the state, 3.75 percent to the county, and the rest to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

In New York, sales taxes are collected by the state, which distributes due shares to local governments after deducting administrative fees.

The growing sales taxes benefit the county, cities, towns, and villages.

According to a longstanding joint tax-sharing agreement, the county government retains about three-quarters of the sales tax receipts and shares the rest with local municipalities.

About 70 percent of the shared taxes go to towns and villages; the remaining 30 percent goes to the countys three cities, Middletown, Newburgh, and Port Jervis.

Local distributions are based on population size.

Sales taxes account for 22 percent of the budget of Middletown, the largest city in the county.

According to the New York State Comptrollers Office, Orange County has one of the most generous tax-sharing agreements with local municipalities in the Hudson Valley.

Sales Tax Rate Extension

On March 28, the county Legislature passed a resolution requesting that the state extend its sales tax rate increase of 0.75 percent to the end of November 2025.

About 20 years ago, the county raised its share of the sales tax rate to 3.75 percent via a local law that needs to be periodically extended with state approval.

There were legislative attempts in the past to raise the county share to 4 percent, but the effort failed to advance to the state level.
Fossil hunters Down Under have pieced together the story of a colossal prehistoric raptora bird so huge its talons could have killed a kangaroo.

The bones of a giant avian were collected from South Australias Mairs Cave by cavers back in 1956 and 1969. After long delays, new research conducted by scientists from Flinders University has ascertained the birds species, making the discovery finally official.

They named the raptor dynatoaetus gaffae, or Gaffs powerful eagle.

The eagle is closely related to Old World vultures of Africa and Asia, such as the monkey-eating eagle, or Philippine eagle. Researchers say, with its mighty wingspan and powerful talons, the now-extinct eagle was a top avian predator of the late Pleistocene.

Researchers from Flinders University descend into a cave located in South Australias Flinders Range. (Courtesy of Aaron Camens)

Paleontology researcher Dr. Ellen Mather organized a field trip to South Australias Flinders Range in 2021, where four large bones had been extracted by the cavers decades earlier.

After half a century, and several delays caused by the pandemic, the expedition with volunteers from the universitys Speleological Society found a further 28 bones scattered about deep among the boulders at the site indicated by one of these museum relics, Mathers stated in a press release.

They made the discovery by repeating measurements taken 60 years earlier when the cavers first descended into a rock pile and discovered the large fossil of an eagle in crevices.

A size comparison of todays wedge-tailed eagle and the now-extinct dynatoaetus, based on fossil sizes. (Courtesy of Ellen Mather)

With the fresh find, the researchers pieced together a clearer picture of the birds anatomy.

The newly unearthed fossils were matched with historic remains from collections at the South Australian Museum and the Australian Museum, helping complete the puzzle.

These additional museum pieces were originally sourced from locations spanning Lake Eyre Basin in Central Australia to the Wellington Cave complex in New South Wales.

Thanks to the researchers serendipitous osteological sleuthing, they confirmed the size and other details about the gigantic bird.

It was humongouslarger than any other eagle from other continents, and almost as large as the worlds largest eagles once found on the islands of New Zealand and Cuba, including the whopping, extinct 13-kilogram Haasts eagle of New Zealand, said Associate Professor Trevor Worthy from New Zealand, who partook in the extraction.

(Left) Several of the fossils used in the research with notation: (A), dorsal (B), proximal (C) and distal (D) aspect, fragment of right distal tarsometatarsus from Victoria Fossil Cave (SAMA P.28008) in dorsal (E) aspect, along with the os metatarsale and first phalanx of pedal digit I (F), first and second phalanges of digit II (G), first phalanx of digit IV (H), and three ungual phalanges (SAMA P.59525, I; SAMA P.19157, J; SAMA P.17139, K) from Mairs Cave. CM crista medianoplantaris, FID fossa infracotylaris dorsalis, FLC fovea ligamentum collateralis, FPM fossa parahypotarsalis medialis, FVPM foramen vasculare proximale medialis, HC hypotarsal crista, ILCL impressio ligamentum collateralis lateralis, IRE impressiones retinaculi extensorii attachment scars, MPT medial plantar tuberculum, OM os metatarsale, PI.1 phalanx 1 digit 1, P2.1 phalanx 1 digit 2, P2.2 phalanx 2 digit 2, PIV.1 phalanx 1, digit 4, SF sulcus flexorius, TMII trochlea metatarsi II, TMIII trochlea metatarsi III, TMIV trochlea metatarsi IV, TMTC tuberositas m. tibialis cranialis. Scale bars are 10 mm. (Right) A visual representation of the parts of the skeleton from dynatoaetus (colored grey).

Researchers from Flinders University collect fossils from a cave located in South Australias Flinders Range. (Courtesy of Aaron Camens)

Researchers extract fossils of now-extinct dynatoaetus inside a cave located in South Australias Flinders Range. (Courtesy of Aaron Camens)

Worthy has excavated several Haasts eagle skeletons during his more than 30 years of research.

Dynatoaetus possessed giant talons, as long as 12 inches (30 centimeters), Worthy added, with which it easily would have been able to dispatch a juvenile giant kangaroo, large flightless bird, or other species of lost megafauna from that era, including the young of the worlds largest marsupial, diprotodon, and the giant goanna, varanus priscus.

The raptor would have coexisted alongside still-living raptor species, such as the wedge-tailed eagle. This fact carries interesting implications.

Given that the Australian birds of prey used to be more diverse, it could mean that the wedge-tailed eagle in the past was more limited in where it lived and what it ate, Mather said. Otherwise, it would have been directly competing against the giant dynatoaetus for those resources.

Dr. Ellen Mather holds up bones from two different species for size comparison, with a modern-day wedge-tailed eagles bone on the left and a dynatoaetus fossil on the right. (Courtesy of Tania Bawden)

Along with the recently described cryptogyps, an enormous vulture-like raptor, dynatoaetus is also unique to Australia. Both went extinct around 50,000 years ago.

We were very excited to find many more bones from much of the skeleton to create a better picture and description of these magnificent long-lost giant extinct birds, Mather said.

Its often been noted how few large land predators Australia had back then, so dynatoaetus helps fill that gap.

The newly found eagle was named in honor of Victorian paleontologist Priscilla Gaff, who first described some of the fossils in her 2002 master of science thesis.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Whistleblower Case Dismissed by Judge

The legal case brought by a whistleblower from Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine trial has been dismissed by a judge.

Brook Jackson, who worked for Pfizer contractor Ventavia Research Group, didnt prove violations of the False Claims Act, U.S. District Judge Michael Truncale ruled on March 31.

Jackson sued Ventavia, Pfizer, and another organization involved in the vaccine trial in 2021, alleging that trial violations she uncovered meant that the government was defrauded when it paid for doses of Pfizers vaccine.

Internal records show Ventavia officials acknowledging that patients were unblinded, adverse events werent recorded, and vaccine doses were kept unlocked in disorganized rooms.

Under the False Claims Act, the government or a party suing on the governments behalfJackson in this casecan recover money for false claims made by parties to secure payment for the government. Parties are liable if they knowingly present a false claim for payment or intentionally use a false record or statement material to make a false claim.

While Jackson presented evidence that violations occurred, the governments prototype agreement with Pfizer only conditioned payment on delivery of a vaccine that had been authorized or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Truncale ruled. The payment section states that the Government will have no right to withhold payment in respect of any delivered doses, unless the FDA has withdrawn approval or authorization of the vaccine. The FDA, which Jackson alerted to the violations, hasnt withdrawn approval or authorization.

In sum, Ms. Jackson has failed to plead that the Government conditioned payment on Defendants certification of compliance with regulatory provisions or clinical trial protocol, Truncale said in the new ruling.

While Jackson argued that the false record portion of the False Claims Act (FCA) was violated because of the trial violations, the defendants said false records and statements alone didnt create liability without a false claim seeking payment from the government.

The upshot is that there is no liability under the FCA for making or using a false record or statement where the claimant is entitled to the payment, Truncale said. Pfizer was entitled to its claims for payment. Therefore, Ms. Jackson has not stated a claim for false record liability.

The judge quoted a different ruling, which found that the False Claims Act was enacted by Congress to vindicate fraud on the federal government, not second guess decisions made by those empowered through the democratic process to shape public policy.

When the government, at appropriate levels, repeatedly concludes that it has not been defrauded, it is not forgiving a found fraudrather, it is concluding that there was no fraud at all, the ruling reads.

Attorneys for Pfizer offered that argument during a recent hearing in the case.

So if the FDA gets it wrong, they just get it wrong, and we live with it? Truncale asked.

Pfizer attorney Carlton Wessel said, Exactly.

The Government has been aware of Ms. Jacksons allegations for several years, has granted Emergency Authorization multiple times, and to this day continues to authorize and provide Pfizers vaccine at no cost, the judge said in the new ruling.

He acknowledged the evidence that Jackson offered but said her complaint didnt identify any safety risk that was hidden from the FDA in the data from the Ventavia sites, any symptomatic participants who Ventavia did not properly test for COVID-19 infection, or any COVID-19 infections in vaccinated participants that Ventavia falsely reported to have occurred in the placebo group.

Brook Jackson speaks outside the courthouse in Beaumont, Texas, on March 1, 2023. (Darlene McCormick Sanchez/The Epoch Times)

Retaliation Claim

Jackson was hired in September 2020. She reported problems with the trial to Ventavia management shortly after starting at the company. Dissatisfied with the response, she went to the FDA on Sept. 25, 2020. Ventavia fired Jackson that same day.

The False Claims Act protects whistleblowers from harassment, retaliation, and threats. The person must be engaged in protected activity, defined in a previous ruling as motivated by a concern regarding fraud against the government. The employer must also know the person was engaged in protected activity, and the punitive action or actions must be because of the activity.

Jacksons activity doesnt meet the standard because she hasnt alleged that she was concerned about potential fraud against the government, according to Truncale.

Rather, she alleges that she complained about participant safety and regulatory, protocol, and HIPAA violations, he said, referring to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. But that is not protected activity under the FCAs retaliation provisioninternal complaints about patient safety, or protocol and regulatory violations, are not the same thing as complaining about defrauding the Government.

Even if Jackson was engaged in protected activity, the judge said Jackson didnt show that Ventavia knew she was involved in such activity.

Truncale dismissed the False Claims Act claims with prejudice, which means they cant be brought again. The retaliation claim was dismissed without prejudice.

Reaction

Pfizer and Ventavia didnt respond to requests for comment. The third defendant, ICON, declined to comment.

Warner Mendenhall, a lawyer representing Jackson, said an appeal is forthcoming.

The dismissal of Pfizers case is a despicable & heinous betrayal of justice, a slap in the face to vaccine injured and whistleblowers, a blatant example of corruption, incompetence and cowardice, a declaration that the powerful are above the law, Jackson said in a statement.

I will never back down, no matter what it costs.
Pope Francis Leaves Hospital; Still Alive, He Quips

Pope Francis waves from his car as he leaves the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome on April 1, 2023. (Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo)

ROMEA chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that hes still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peters Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekends Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peters Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Romes Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the childs already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwellI felt sick, he said, pointing to his mid-sectiona symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they show great tenderness.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered , Yes.

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) address, a review of the globes conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peters Square.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.
Queensland Courthouse Locked Down Amid Shooting Protest

A statue of Themis, the Greek God of Justice stands outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 20, 2016. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Hundreds of protesters have converged on Brisbanes District and Supreme Court building days after police fatally shot an Aboriginal man in far north Queensland.

The court building was briefly placed into lockdown after about 200 people marched through the Brisbane CBD chanting Justice for Aubrey.

Aubrey Donahue, 27, died after being shot four times by police in Mareeba, west of Cairns on March 25.

Police say he advanced on officers while armed with a knife.

Coroner Terry Ryan will hold an inquest into the shooting.

However, police have revealed there is no close-range footage of the incident with specialist officers not wearing body-worn cameras when they shot Donahue.

The 27-year-olds family and the local Indigenous community have disputed claims that Donahue was armed and have held protests in Mareeba over the lack of information being shared by police.

Protesters on March 31 took to the streets of Brisbane, marching from King George Square to the court building.

Brandishing a Justice For Aubrey banner, protesters at one stage stood directly outside the courthouses front door while chanting amid a huge security and police presence.

Protesters then moved to the lawn outside the Supreme and District Courts building where a rally was held, sharing stories about their experiences with police.

Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Mark Wheeler said this week the coroners report may make findings about the use of body-worn cameras.

But he said they would act pre-emptively after the fatal shooting, with the exemption of specialist officers from using body-worn cameras to be reviewed by Queensland Police.

We will always work with the coroner and abide by any findings  but we dont necessarily have to wait until that occurs, Wheeler said.
Renowned Human Rights Judge to Lead Australian Federal Court

The outside of the Supreme Court of New South Wales building is seen in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 9, 2013. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Distinguished human rights figure Justice Debra Mortimer will become the first woman to head the Federal Court.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was confident Justice Mortimer would contribute significantly to the justice system, as he announced the appointment on March 31.

She is widely recognised for her intellectual capacity and judicial leadership, Dreyfus said.

Justice Mortimer will be the fifth chief justice of the Federal Court appointed since the court was established in 1976.

Justice Mortimer was a member of the Victorian Bar and was made Senior Counsel in 2003.

Over her career, she has been involved with many groundbreaking cases in the areas of migration, the environment and anti-discrimination.

In 2016, Justice Mortimer ruled the Queensland Police Service unlawfully discriminated in relation to the 2004 death of an Aboriginal Palm Island resident in custody.

Justice Mortimer also presided over the native title agreement granted to Kaurna elders in Adelaide in 2018the first positive determination of native title over a capital city after the Native Title Act came into force.

Justice Mortimer has received a number of awards for her work, including the Australian Human Rights Commission Law Award and the 2011 Law Council of Australia Presidents Medal.

She was awarded for her outstanding work that embodied the very best traits of the legal profession, the Law Council said on March 31.

Recently, she heard the workplace dispute between political activist Sally Rugg and independent MP Monique Ryan.

The appointment was welcomed by several law bodiesincluding the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Barwho said she would be a model of inspiration for women.

The chief justice is widely respected and known for her work ethic, fairness, her brilliant legal mind, and her humanity, Australian Women Lawyers president Astrid Haban-Beer told AAP.

For women lawyers, it is wonderful to see. We hope this senior leadership appointment is echoed elsewhere in the legal profession.

Justice Mortimer will begin her appointment on April 7, having served the Federal Court since 2013.

Dreyfus thanked retiring Chief Justice James Allsop, who was head of the court since 2013.

Asked whether more women will be appointed to senior roles, Dreyfus said they would do so on merit.
R | 1h 55min | Drama, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller | 1 December 1995 (USA)

The debut feature from director Gary Fleder (later Kiss the Girls and Runaway Jury) and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg (later Con Air and Gone in 60 Seconds), Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead, (Denver), was one of the first movies to be labeled a Pulp Fiction knock-off.

As Denver came out just over a year after Pulp, was also rooted in crime, and featured snappy, Mickey Spillane-inspired dialogue, this is understandable. Although there is no verifiable proof, it was rumored that Rosenberg wrote the screenplay as far back as 1990, and it languished in development hell until there became a need for Pulp clones. Even if this wasnt the case, it is highly unlikely that any feature film of this ilk could be written, cast, shot, edited, scored, promoted, and released in a years time.

Jimmy the Saint (Andy Garcia) has to make difficult choices, in Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead. (Miramax)

The Saint

At the center of it all is Jimmy The Saint (Andy Garcia), a retired mobster and current co-owner of a fledgling video service, where terminally ill clients record messages on VHS tape to be viewed by their families upon their passing. Prior to his life in crime, Jimmy was going to be a priest but lost the calling; hence The Saint nickname.

After a trade deal of sorts within the mob hierarchy, Jimmys former boss, The Man with the Plan (Christopher Walken), calls in an I.O.U. with Jimmys name on it. The Mans not-real-stable adult son was recently dumped by his girlfriend and is close to going off the deep end. For $50,000, the Man wants Jimmy, and a crew of his choosing, to intimidate the ex-girlfriends new beau to such a degree that he splits and (in theory) the ex returns to the welcoming arms of the Mans son.

The Man with the Plan (Christopher Walken) gives an order, in Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead. (Miramax)

Jimmy is able to field a crew of other former mobsters who are all former for valid reasons. Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), and Franchise (William Forsythe) are relatively stable and even-keel, but its the fourth and final member, Critical Bill (Treat Williams) that is the volatile wild card.

Needless to say, nothing goes as planned and the Man is beyond perturbed. Because he likes Jimmy, the Man offers him an out: Leave Denver and live or stay and die. This is the point where the honor among thieves angle slips into the narrative and transforms Denver from B-film wise-guy stuff into something far more sophisticated, metaphysical and, for lack of a better word, deep.

The Damsels

Before and after the botched intimidation thing, Jimmy meets, charms, and eventually wins over Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar), a woman who catches his eye in a blues bar. At the same time, Jimmy rescues Lucinda (Fairuza Balk), a down-on-her-luck waif who (rightfully) views him as a man of solid moral character.

Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar) meets Jimmy the Saint (Andy Garcia), in Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead. (Miramax)

Unlike Pulp, Denver is presented in sequential order (with a scant few flashbacks) and only deals with a single crime and its aftermath. Both films are heavily character-driven with even the most fleeting speaking parts adding great texture to the final product.

Doled out along the way are welcomed, integral cameos from Jack Warden, Bill Cobbs, Glenn Plummer, Don Cheadle, Josh Charles, Willie Garson, Jenny McCarthy as the Mans nurse, and Steve Buscemi as a no-quarter assassin named Mr. Shhh.

It is to the filmmakers immense credit that they are able to portray criminals in, not so much a favorable light, but rather in an empathetic manner.

Boat Drinks

Not until the final scene do we understand the repeated greeting between members of the crew throughoutpressing open-handed palms together and saying the words boat drinks. That understanding delivers a devastatingly emotional final coda to the story.

The movie shares its name with a Warren Zevon song, which the producers desperately wanted to include on the soundtrack. They were able to do so only after assuring Zevon that it would be played in full during the end credits.

What ultimately pushed Denver into highly recommendable status for me was the performance of Garcia as Jimmy. In the wake of his Oscar-nominated role as the sick-puppy Vincent in The Godfather III, Garcia appeared in four thoroughly forgettable flicks, and Denver offered him a chance to do a riff on Vincent, but with a bigger heart, and he succeeded admirably.

Above all things, Jimmy is honest. He couldnt commit to either being a man of God or a criminal and he failed as a business man, yet he honored his past debts while improving the lives of two women along the way.

Its not the ideal path to ultimate redemption, but the ideal is often not an option.

The debut feature from director Gary Fleder stars Andy Garcia in Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead. (Miramax)

Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead

Director: Gary Fleder

Stars: Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, Gabrielle Anwar, Christopher Lloyd, Fairuza Balk

Running Time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

Release Date: Dec. 1, 1995

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Nick Martin enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at State Theatre, in New Jersey, on March 31, 2023. (Weiyong Zhu/The Epoch Times)

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.Nick Martin, who is an orchestral musician and a public school educator, attended the second of Shen Yuns four consecutive performances at State Theatre New Jersey on March 31.

At the conclusion of the evening, Mr. Martin said enthusiastically that he really appreciated the originality and beauty of the connection between Shen Yuns dancers and the orchestra.

The way they interacted is amazing, quite frankly. The precision and the flow of the moodit created a certain psychological sense of connectedness to everything!

I think the music and the dancers were incredibly well put together. I loved it. Im learning a lot. Ive never seen anything like this before. Its so interesting and beautiful and original and different. Its a gorgeous thing, he said.

Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists seeking to revive Chinas 5,000 years of traditional culture. Up until the 1949 communist takeover, its people were very spiritual and had a deep respect for the divine.

These New York-based artists are dedicated to presenting a brand-new set of programs every year to share with their audience the beauty of China before communism. For the 2023 touring season, the company is slated to perform in over 180 cities around the world.

For the performance, Mr. Martin chose a seat next to the orchestra pit to catch every detail of the music.

Not only was it wonderful to hear interpretations of orchestral music with Chinese influences, he thought Shen Yun musicians were beautiful.

They really are so professional and incredibly precise. They are some of the best orchestra musicians Ive heard. Theyre very good.

According to its website, Shen Yun is the first in the world to permanently combine Western and Chinese instruments.

Using classical Western orchestration as the foundation, Shen Yuns original compositions highlight traditional Chinese instruments such as the two-stringed erhu and the pipaan ancient Chinese lutebringing to its audience the best of both worlds.

Mr. Martin absolutely loved this seamless union and thought the music brought him peace and serenity.

Its very natural. Thats a nice thing about ityou can hear each part of the orchestra very clearly. The Chinese instruments fit in so well with the rest of the beautiful [music.] Its lovely, Im just enjoying it a lot, he said.

Its very calming and peaceful. Its relaxing and beautiful and spiritual in a different way than what Ive experienced in churches.

In addition to classical Chinese and folk dances, Shen Yun includes solo musical performances as well as story-based dances that tell tales ranging from ancient times to the modern day.

Though Mr. Martin is not familiar with Chinese history, he thought the legends were very interesting and made him want to learn more.

They made me want to go visit China but I know its communist right nowthats a terrible thing. I guess [Shen Yun] may be the only place I could experience this culture.

Mr. Martins takeaway for the evening is that traditional Chinese culture is from the heart. Its soulful and natural and peaceful, and closely connected to humanity, he said.

Reporting by Weiyong Zhu and Jennifer Tseng.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Ildiko Hegyi attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, in Toronto, on April 1, 2023. (Xinxin Teng/The Epoch Times)

TORONTO, CanadaA ballet dancer and rhythmic gymnastics athlete in her youth and now a fitness teacher, Ildiko Hegyi was able to deeply appreciate Shen Yun Performing Arts, which she watched at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 1.

I love that they are paying so much attention to the symmetry and to the flow of the movement, and that they are connecting it also with the spiritual [and] with making the world a better place through dancing, through love, said Ms. Hegyi. I was really, really impressed. I really love it.

Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Now with eight equally-sized companies touring the world simultaneously, Shen Yuns mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and to give its audiences a glimpse of pre-communist China.

Ms. Hegyi was impressed by the female dancers synchronicity, and her own experience in rhythmic gymnastics teams allowed her to appreciate the effort and training it takes to achieve that unity.

Im very impressed of their execution, their flexibility, of course, but also the symmetry and the flow of [their] movements in unison, because being with a team, its always entailing so much more work together, said Ms. Hegyi. They did excellent.

Ms. Hegyi also commented on the male dancers energy.

I loved the rhythm of the drums when the men came, she said. Oh my God, [there] was such a vibration in the whole room, on the chairs. It was that young energy when the [men] came, in the music and in the movement. It was amazing.

Ms. Hegyi said that she enjoyed the story-based dances, and was touched by the fact that Shen Yun persists in their performances despite not being able to perform in China. Born and raised in communist Romania, Ms. Hegyi said that she could imagine the courage the artists and producer are taking by presenting it.

What touched me in almost each story  is that [there was] light, and light represents purity and love, Ms. Hegyi added. She said that the performance evoked strong feelings within her.

I really feel that I flow with the artists. I flow with them; I flow with the way they dance. I really love that extension of the arms. Those long arms, long sleeves,  its like they were flying. They were not even touching the earth anymore. They were flying [and] they took me with them. I really appreciated that.

Reporting by Xinxin Teng and Wandi Zhu.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
artran / Getty Images

It can be tough to leave Costco  which feels like a universe unto itself  without a shopping cart overflowing with stuff, but experts note there are some items at the mega warehouse club that just arent worth the money.

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What, then, are the Costco buys that are worth your hard-earned dollars? Veronica Thatcher, a longtime Costco employee, mom and wife, recently shared her store favorites with Insider. Here are the items shes happiest with.

Sharper Images Power Percussion Deep-Tissue Massager

Sharper Images Power Percussion deep-tissue massager is awesome, Thatcher said. I use it almost every day, especially after working out, and love that it comes with different attachments to target different muscle groups.

This item retails for $79.99 at Costco.

Vitamix

My Vitamix is my holy grail when Im making smoothies and fresh salsas because you can have a fresh dish in less than 45 seconds, Thatcher said. The Vitamix is also great for making soups, nut butters, frozen desserts and baby food. It sells at Costco for $399.

Fairlifes Protein Beverages

Fairlifes beverages are one of the hottest-selling proteins at Costco and come in a variety of flavors, Thatcher said. A beverage contains 30 grams of protein with two grams of sugar.

An 18-pack of Fairlifes protein beverage sells for $28.49 at Costco.

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Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides

The unflavored collagen, which can be mixed in a hot or cold beverage, is only 70 calories and contains 18 grams of protein and 20 grams of collagen per serving, Thatcher said.

A 24-ounce container of this product sells for $29.99 at Costco.

Kirkland Signature Breakfast Blend Coffee

Costco carries a variety of flavors under Kirkland Signatures brand but the breakfast blend is my favorite, Thatcher said. It has the perfect coffee taste without being bitter or too strong.

Story continues

A pack of 120 K-Cups of Kirkland Signature organic light-roast breakfast blend sells for $38.99 at Costco.

Yakisoba Stir Fry with Seasoned Chicken

The yakisoba stir fry with seasoned chicken is a family favorite, Thatcher said. The package comes with premade sous-vide chicken, fresh vegetables, yakisoba noodles, and stir-fry sauce.

This food kit sells for $6.49 per pound.

Realgood Chicken Enchiladas

Realgood meals are one of my favorites for meal prepping, Thatcher said. Realgoods chicken enchiladas contain 20 grams of protein, two grams of net carbs and no grain.

This item contains three trays, each with two enchiladas, for $12.79.

Glad Take-Aways Containers

Glads containers come in handy for all my meal-prepping needs, Thatcher said, adding that 25 of these containers sell for $7.99 at Costco.

Hunter Boots

In the fall, Costco sometimes sells Hunter boots, which I absolutely love for rainy weather, said Thatcher. The boots are waterproof with traction soles and come in various colors.

Right now, Costco has ladies Chelsea style Hunter rain boots available in red and black, listed for a price that only members can see. Thatcher says she usually spends around $80 on Hunter boots at Costco, which is a deal since other retailers charge over $100 on some styles.

Saint Laurent Sunglasses

Though Ive seen Saint Laurent sunglasses retail for over $300 elsewhere, you can find the SLM3 black-gray model for $116.99 at Costco, Thatcher said.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Costcos Best Deals? Employee Reveals 10 Standout Buys for Your Money
Aileen Calverley enjoyed Shen Yun at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, in Toronto, on March 31, 2023. (Allen Zhou/The Epoch Times)

TORONTO, CanadaThe China that once boasted 5,000 years of civilization and unbroken recorded history is not the China of today, which has been under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1949.

Aileen Calverley, trustee and co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, is plenty familiar with the human rights atrocities happening at the hands of the CCP, and was appreciative of being able to spend two-and-a-half hours immersed in China before communism during Shen Yun Performing Arts opening night performance in Toronto on March 31.

I think its very good. I want to watch [it] every year. Im very happy that I can make it this year, said Ms. Calverley at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

New York-based Shen Yun, formed in 2006, is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance company.

Chinese culture is very deep. So a lot of depth in the culture and also very long history. And from the performance today, we can seetheyve got different styles of dance, different traditions. So that is also very interesting, Ms. Calverley said.

Along with classical Chinese dance, Shen Yuns programs also include ethnic and folk dances showing some of Chinas 50-plus ethnic minority groups.

In the story-telling dances, the tales range from ancient legends to modern-day events happening in China today.

Being a human rights advocate, Ms. Calverley expressed how moved she was by a piece that touched on the CCPs persecution of the Chinese people, including Falun Gong practitioners.

Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a peaceful spiritual practice that teaches the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It was introduced to the public in China in 1992 and banned by the CCP in 1999. By then, an estimated 100 million people had taken up the practice.

We are very supportive of Falun Gong  and Im really happy that this Shen Yun, this dance, got a tour around the world and can tell people who dont know the story, Ms. Calverley said.

I think this is a very good cultural event to let people know about Chinese culture [and] Chinese art. At the same time, the situation in Chinathe violation of human rights in China. And also the horrible experience of Falun Gong practitioners. So I think this is a very good performance.

Yes, its very sad. And I feel that its very good to let more people know about the situation right now. Its wonderful to see all the dances, to show the history and culture. But I think that piece about whats happening, the suppression part, I think to me thats very touching.

Ms. Calverley said Shen Yuns treatment of the serious topic was done with hope, and thats very inspiring.

Even in suffering, you still have hope, she said.

Reporting by Allen Zhou.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius Denied Parole a Decade After Killing Girlfriend

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius reacts as Judge Thokozile Masipa (unseen) delivers her verdict at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, on Sept. 12, 2014. (Alon Skuy/Reuters/Pool)

JOHANNESBURGFormer South Africa Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius, jailed in 2016 for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has been denied parole, South Africas prison authorities and a lawyer for the victims family said on Friday.

Once the darling of the Paralympic movement for pushing for greater recognition and acceptance of disabled athletes, Pistorius shot dead Steenkamp, a model and law student, in his bathroom on Feb. 14Valentines Dayin 2013.

The athlete, known as Blade Runner for his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs, went from public hero to convicted murderer in a trial that drew worldwide interest.

He was jailed in 2016, initially for a six-year term, but had that sentence increased to 13 years after an appeal by prosecutors who argued it was too lenient.

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves court after appearing for the 2013 killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 14, 2016. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

The Department of Correctional Services said in a statement on Friday that Pistorius, aged 36, had not completed the minimum detention period required to be considered for parole.

Come August 2024, he would have reached the minimum detention period, then the [parole] board will make a decision, prison spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told a media briefing.

He will have to appear again next year. And then we look into the profile and make a decision in terms of his placement. But for now, it was a matter of saying he has not served the minimum detention period.

Steenkamps family had opposed the bid, their lawyer Tania Koen told Reuters.

Ive just received a call from the parole board. It is a huge sense of relief for June, she said, referring to Reevas mother.

June Steenkamp had earlier said she was feeling nervous as she arrived at Atteridgeville prison near the capital Pretoria for the closed-door hearing.

While we welcome todays decision, today is not a cause for celebration, Koen said on behalf of Reevas parents. We miss Reeva terribly and will do so for the rest of our lives. We believe in justice and hope that it continues to prevail.

Pistorius lawyer, Julian Knight, earlier told Reuters that Pistorius was due to appear before the parole board to answer questions based on Knights written submission arguing for his clients release.

Knight had said he did not expect a decision on Friday. He was not available to comment after Pistorius was denied parole.

The basis for his argument for Pistorius parole consideration was that there doesnt seem to be any negative factors precluding his being released on parole because he meets the requirements of the department in terms of their policies and procedures.

Pistorius, who had both legs amputated as a baby, reached the peak of his fame in 2012 when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes at the Olympics, reaching the 400m semifinals in London.

He told his trial he had believed Steenkamp was an intruder when he shot her several times through the bathroom door with ammunition designed to inflict maximum damage to the human body.

Pistorius shuffled through the Pretoria court without his prosthetics to show how vulnerable he was faced with the threat of an intruder.

The athlete broke down crying as he told the court that he had been trying to protect Steenkamp when he fired the shots. The prosecutor at the time accused him of using emotional breakdowns to avoid questioning.

He met Steenkamps father Barry last year when participating in a process known as victim-offender dialoguepart of South Africas restorative justice program that brings parties affected by a crime together in a bid to achieve closure.
Stifled by Politics, Beijing and Shanghai Fall in Rankings of International Financial Centers

Shanghai and Beijing have both fallen sharply in the latest ranking of the worlds most competitive financial centers. The dynamism of Chinas financial sector has waned markedly in part due to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)s recent policies, and the trend is intensifying.

With the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, CCP authorities implemented an extreme Zero-COVID policy that seriously hurt the Chinese economy.

Meanwhile, the CCPs ongoing heavy-handed regulation of the financial sector and pervasive corruption have damaged Chinas financial environment.

As a reaction, Shanghai fell from fourth place in the world in March 2022 to seventh in the world Financial Center Competitiveness rankings released by the Global Financial Centers on March 23. Beijing fell to 13th place from eighth in the same period last year.

Decline in GDP Growth

Chinas GDP growth in 2022 is far behind that of some other Southeast Asian countries due to the Zero-COVID policy, which led to many outward shifts in the industrial chain. According to recent data, Malaysias GDP growth rate in 2022 was 8.71 percent, Vietnams 8.62 percent, the Philippines 7.2 percent, Indias 6.7 percent, Indonesias 5.31 percent, Singapores 3.6 percent, and Chinas 3.3 percent (the real figure may be lower). Such a phenomenon has been rare in the past 30 years.

However, despite Chinas economic malaise, the CCP has recently sent out a series of signals that it will regulate the financial sector more tightly.

Li Wenhong, head of Beijings local financial supervision Bureau, said at a financial forum led by Tsinghua University that Beijing would position itself as a national financial management center and build and improve its supporting functions. Lis disclosure that Beijing will play the role of financial regulator comes after the official revelation of a financial reform plan centered on strengthening financial regulation on March 16.

Under the plan, the CCP will create a Central Financial Commission within its Party affairs system to oversee activities in Chinas financial sector and formulate major financial policies. The Central Financial Work Commission, established in 1998 but abolished in 2003, will also be restored to provide unified leadership over Party affairs in the financial system. In addition, functions of the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the State Council will be transferred to the Central Financial Commission.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening of the first session of the 14th National Peoples Congress at The Great Hall of People in Beijing, China, on March 5, 2023. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Since March, the CCP has repeatedly stated that it will strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party over financial work. The Peoples Bank of China, the CCPs central bank, declared on March 15 that the financial system should firmly uphold the Partys overall leadership over financial stability at its 2023 Financial stability Work conference.

Distorting Development

Fang Qi, a U.K.-based veteran of the Chinese financial industry, said that some regulations and policies imposed by the CCP would further distort the development of the financial sector.

Judging from Beijings current positioning as the national financial management center and the newly announced reform plan for financial institutions, it is confirmed that finance should be under the Partys management. So you can imagine that the financial industry will follow this trend and flock to Beijing because China is not a market economy, but a government-driven economic model, he told The Epoch Times on March 26.

After the reform of the tax-sharing system, the central authorities collect most of the tax revenue from the local authorities and then redistribute it, which is a transfer payment. As a result, the headquarters of most banks and state-owned enterprises were also located in Beijing.

By December 2022, 782 domestic and overseas listed companies were headquartered in Beijing with a total market value of over RMB 40 trillion (about $6 trillion), an increase of 60 compared with 2021. Shanghais domestic and foreign listed companies, though close in number to Beijings 633, have a total market value less than half of the formers, at about RMB 13 trillion (about $2 trillion).

Meanwhile, more wealthy people are flocking to Beijing than Shanghai, Chinas financial hub. On the 2022 New Fortune 500 Rich list compiled by New Fortune magazine, Beijing is home to 77 people with a combined wealth of RMB 2.5 trillion ($360 billion); Shanghai followed with 62 people and a combined wealth of RMB 1.8 trillion (about $260 billion).

Beijing is the political center of the CCP, where the rich and big companies flock to trade power and money and maximize profits.

Because of the proximity and relationships (power-money trading) there, its easier to get more shares of the pie,Fang said.

Buildings shrouded in smog amid a sandstorm in the Central Business District (CBD) of Beijing on March 22, 2023. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

At the financial forum that ended on March. 19, Li Wenhong also vowed to promote the construction of Beijing as a global wealth management center. As early as May 2022, the CCP issued the Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Beijing as Global Wealth Management Center circular. Its core content is consistent with the goals of the financial reform plan recently launchedto strengthen the CCPs ability to control wealth and capital and to clarify that the Party is the supreme leader of the financial industry.

Fang believes that this is worth watching.

Because wealth management centers are wealth management for rich people, private banks, and other high-value objects, he said. Beijing wants to build a global wealth center, which means the CCP wants to manage the money of rich people both at home and abroad.

According to Fangs analysis, the CCP will control Chinas financial activities more tightly.

Fang said that more capital and financial institutions will be attached to powerful CCP departments or political groups.

Xia Yeliang, a former economics professor at Peking University, said that with financial decision-making concentrated in the hands of the CCP, the government is equivalent to the administrative organ of the Party.

The Party used to work behind the scenes and through government agencies, but now it has come to the fore, he told The Epoch Times.

We know that the more open and freer the economy and finance, the better it works. It is a basic idea and experience that if power is controlled too much, then the sector cannot have great development.

To strengthen its control over financial activities and its ability to control money, the CCP or a certain political faction within the Party is distorting normal economic and financial activities through its absolute monopoly on power, which has caused Shanghai and Beijing to fall in the competitiveness of the worlds financial centers. If this trend continues, Chinas financial environment is bound to be further damaged.

Ellen Wan contributed to the report.
The permanent collection of Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico contains one of the most noteworthy holdings of Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite art to be found outside of the United Kingdom. The Museums founder, Luis A. Ferre, assembled this spectacular collection from the late 1950s through the mid 1970s, a time in which these types of artworks were sorely out of fashion. However, during the Victorian age when these works were originally created, they were hugely popular.

An artistic figurehead of this era was Lord Frederic Leighton (18301896). During his lifetime, Leightons meticulously painted, virtuosic artwork garnered international interest. His first major painting was bought by Queen Victoria. As his career prospered, he advanced through the Royal Academy of Arts, eventually becoming its president. Shortly before his death, he was ennobled, the only British artist to be awarded this honor.

Icon of Victorian Art

Flaming June, 1895, by Frederic Leighton. Oil on canvas. Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. (Public Domain)

Leightons most famous painting is Flaming June. This masterpiece and icon of Victorian Art is part of Museo de Arte de Ponces permanent collection, and it has acquired the sobriquet The Mona Lisa of the Southern Hemisphere.

As the Museums main galleries are closed for repair due to the 2020 earthquake damage, the painting, along with several other Pre-Raphaelite works from its collection, is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York through February 2024. The Mets Director, Max Hollein, said upon the announcement of the loan, Few works rival the beauty of Leightons `Flaming June.

Flaming June was painted during the final year of Leightons life. The paintings composition, its figures form, and the artists use of radiant color mesmerize the viewer. The sleeping woman, resplendent on marble seating, is portrayed in a coiled, fetal-like position. The circular shape of her figure is juxtaposed against complicated lines and angles, as seen in her curved arms, and the imposed geometry of the square canvas. She is garbed in a vivid orange diaphanous fabric, which brings, along with her flushed skin, a heightened sensuality to the picture. The pose of this personification of June was inspired partly by Michelangelos famous sculpture Night, made for a Medici tomb in Florences Basilica of San Lorenzo, as well as the impromptu repose of a tired model.

Leighton includes oleanders in his invented, timeless Mediterranean backdrop. The ornamental plant has an ancient history of cultivation in the real Mediterranean and is highly poisonous. It is unknown whether its inclusion in the canvas symbolizes an analogy between the sleeping woman and death as there are no written remnants as to Leightons intentions regarding the deeper meaning of the painting and its title.

A Lively Life

Head and figure studies for Flaming June, 1895, by Frederick Leighton. Art Renewal Center. (Public Domain)

Flaming June was critically acclaimed at its debut exhibition at the Royal Academy. Its subsequent ownership history is full of unusual twists and turns. The work was on loan for a number of years to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, but was sold by its owner in the early 1930s. It did not reappear for sale until 1963at a market traders stall in Chelsea, from where it was sold to a frame-maker for 50.

Several subsequent owners followed in the same year, including a hairdresser, before it was bought by an art historian and dealer who specialized in and championed the critical reassessment of Victorian works. The dealer sold the painting to Luis A. Ferre, one of the founders of the Museo de Arte de Ponce, for $1,000, and that is how it entered the collection of the museum.

In several museum collections there are assorted surviving studies that Leighton made in preparation for painting Flaming June. These sketches depict the draperies, nude figure, and overall composition. However, a unique head study had only been known to scholars from an 1895 illustration in the Magazine of Art until 2014, when auction specialists were valuing the estate of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe. Simon Toll, Sothebys Victorian Art specialist, describes how he discovered the original head study hanging behind the door in Lady Roxburghes bedroom at West Horsley Place  This head study for the painting is the last piece of the jigsaw in terms of the preparatory work Leighton undertook before starting on the big oil painting. It is a thrilling find.

The work was likely purchased by Lady Roxburghes grandfather directly from Leightons estate, which was sold off at Christies after the artists 1896 death. In 2015, Lady Roxburghes heir sold the study at Sothebys London for 167,000, achieving a record price for a work on paper by the artist. The work has once again disappeared into a private collection.

Photograph of Lord Leighton in the studio of his estate at 2 Holland Park Road, 1894, by J. P. Mayall. (Public Domain)

An opportunity to immerse oneself in Leightons world with its specific aesthetic ideals has reemerged with the October 2022 reopening of Leighton House, the artists house turned museum. The Holland Park, London house underwent an extensive 8 million renovation. The specifically designed artist studio, which is where Leighton painted Flaming June, was restored to how it looked during the artists lifetime. The exterior of the building has a restrained brick facade built in the classical style that belies its exquisitely rich interiors with given names such as Arab Hall, Silk Room, and Narcissus Hall that are filled once again with many of their original furnishings and decorations. Leightons inspiration for constructing Arab Hall was for the sake of looking at something beautiful every once in a while.

Leighton was a master at creating beauty in his art and home; now a flaming sun has dawned over a new Leighton age.
Top House Democrat Demands Vote on Gun Control Legislation Immediately

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) holds a news conference after he was elected leader of the 118th Congress by the House Democratic caucus at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on Nov. 30, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has demanded that the Republican-led House vote on gun control legislation immediately, building on pleas by President Joe Biden in the aftermath of the Nashville shooting for Congress to support his assault weapons ban.

Jeffries made his appeal in a March 31 letter to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in which the top Democrat called for common sense gun curbs that would include Bidens assault weapons ban and a requirement for universal background checks.

I write today to strongly urge you to immediately bring up common sense gun safety legislation for a vote upon our return to Congress, Jeffries wrote.

Jeffries specifically called on McCarthy to bring for a vote the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which calls for background checks for all gun sales, and the Assault Weapons Ban that Biden has pushed.

A day after a shooter armed with AR-style semi-automatic rifles and a handgun killed six people, including three children, in Nashville, the president reiterated his call to ban assault weapons.

Why in Gods name do we allow these weapons of war in our streets and at our schools? Biden said in a speech. So I again call on Congress to pass the assault weapons ban. Pass it. It should not be a partisan issue. This is a commonsense issue.

Data from the national Gun Violence Archive shows that the Nashville incident is the latest in 130 mass shooting incidents so far this year.

Both the universal background legislation and the assault weapon ban passed the House when Democrats were in control in the last Congress but failed in the Senate.

The American people, regardless of political affiliation, overwhelmingly support common sense gun safety measures, Jeffries wrote in the letter. The House should do likewise.

While McCarthy was not immediately available for comment, he said Thursday when asked about the matter of mass shootings that legislation alone cant solve the problem.

I would say to the nation as a whole that the problem that we [have] today, its not just going to be legislation. Weve got to have a severe conversation here with this country. Weve got to deal with mental illness, he said at a press conference.

Asked whether he supports an assault weapons ban or expanded background checks, McCarthy said Republicans would first need to get all the facts and then well work through it.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks at a bill signing ceremony for H.J. Res. 26 at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on March 10, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

More Gun Curbs?

Despite pleas by the likes of Biden and Jeffries for more gun control in the wake of the Nashville shooting, Congress appears to have returned to a familiar impasse on the matter.

Many Republicans see Bidens call for an assault weapons ban in the immediate aftermath of the Nashville shooting as part of a longstanding Democrat agenda to restrict ownership of guns.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters on Tuesday he gets really angry when I see people trying to politicize it for their own personal agenda.

The first thing in any kind of tragedy that I do is, I pray, he said. I pray for the victims, I pray for their families.

Rather than lawmakers rushing to pass new laws, Scalise said that what should instead be considered are mental health resources and tighter school security.

The first thing [Democrats] talk about is taking guns away from law-abiding citizens, and thats not the answer, he said.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) speaks at a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 25, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Tuesday the focus in the Senate has been on background checks, calling it the area where weve had bipartisan consensus.

The only thing I hear the administration arguing for is an assault weapons ban, which would mean, I suppose that the 16 million people who own semiautomatic rifles would have to give those uptheyd be confiscated, Cornyn said.

I dont know what other purpose would be served, he said of the assault weapons ban, adding, If theres something that can be done while respecting the rights of law-abiding citizens, Im certainly open to talking about it.

Cornyn said that bipartisan legislation on enhanced background checks passed last year is actually working pretty well.

Since the laws passage last year, stepped-up FBI background checks have blocked gun sales for 119 buyers under the age of 21, while new gun trafficking penalties have been charged in at least 30 cases around the country, per The Associated Press.

The director of the FBI has told us that the national criminal background check system already has stopped the sale of about 100 different gun transactions to juveniles or people purchasing with juvenile records showing theyre disqualified by virtue of mental illness or crime, Cornyn said.

Some Democrats, like Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the lead negotiator on the 2022 bill, have said they believe that the success of last years background check bill will persuade Republicans to get on board with new curbs.
3 Dead, Hundreds Injured in Arkansas After Tornados Hit, Multiple States Under Tornado Watch

A home is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., on March 31, 2023. (Andrew DeMillo/AP Photo)

Tornados have torn through cities in central Arkansas, as well as parts of eastern Iowa, killing at least three people and injuring hundreds more.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences declared a mass casualty event after a catastrophic tornado hit Little Rock on Friday, with reports of at least 600 injuries and three deaths, reported CBS19.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Services (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has also issued a tornado watch for multiple U.S. states in the South and Midwest.

The SPC had warned earlier Friday of a severe weather outbreak in the afternoon and evening with [a]t least a few long-track, strong to potentially violent tornadoes are probable, particularly over portions of the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Mid-South.

A severe weather outbreak appears increasingly likely, centered on this afternoon and evening. At least a few long-track, strong to potentially violent tornadoes are probable, particularly over portions of the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the Mid-South. pic.twitter.com/rBJeYgBfuZ  National Weather Service (@NWS) March 31, 2023

It also stated earlier that the greatest risk for strong, long-track or potentially violent tornadoes exists across [southeast Iowa], western [Illinois] & far northeast [Missouri] as well as portions of eastern [Arkansas], northern [Mississippi], & southwest [Tennessee].

Tornadoes Hit Arkansas, Iowa

In Arkansas on Friday, a tornado that hit Little Rock caused at least two dozen people to be hospitalized, although there are no known fatalities as of late Friday, according to the citys mayor, Frank Scott Jr. Property damage is extensive and we are still responding, he also said on Twitter in the evening.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and said there was significant damage in the central part of the state.

Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm, she wrote on Twitter. Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through.

A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after a severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., on March 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)

Another tornado hit the town of Wynne in the eastern part of Arkansas, near the Tennessee border, and officials reported widespread damage there, including destroyed homes and downed trees. Police Chief Richard Dennis told WHBQ-TV that Wynne suffered total destruction from the tornado, and multiple people were trapped.

Two people were killed in the tornado and severe storm in Wynne, the St. Francis County coroner confirmed to ABC affiliate WATN.

Poweroutage.us, which tracks outages, recorded nearly 70,000 customers in Arkansas who have lost power.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Oklahoma, more than 32,000 have lost power amid high-velocity winds up to 60 mph that have fueled grass fires. People were advised to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City.

More outages were also reported in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

In Illinois, large hail was reported as having broken windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke.

A person was killed and 28 others were taken to the hospital after the roof and marquee of the Apollo Theatre collapsed amid a severe weather warning during a concert in Belvidere, Illinois, late Friday. It wasnt immediately clear whether the storm triggered the roof to collapse.

Coriana Moore, 17, pitches in to clean up after a tornado touched down near the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Ninth Street in Coralville, Iowa, on March 31, 2023. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette via AP)

Multiple tornadoes were separately reported through parts of eastern Iowa, damaging homes and other property.

By 7 p.m., the National Weather Service stated that no more severe weather was forecasted in central Iowa, but residents might still see strong gusty winds, while those in northern Iowa might experience some snow.

Particularly Dangerous Situation

The Storm Prediction Center has issued a tornado watch until 1 a.m. for northeast Mississippi, parts of western/middle Tennessee, and far northwest Alabama, calling it a particularly dangerous situation. It said that several tornadoes (some intense) as well of scattered large hail and damaging winds are all expected.

Meteorologists urged people to brace for severe weather that involves thunderstorms that may bring hail, damaging winds, and strong tornadoes.

The latest weather mayhem comes after deadly tornadoes hit Mississippi and Alabama last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Travelers Urged to Pack Carbon Monoxide Alarms During Travels

The Nest smoke and carbon monoxide alarm is shown at the company's offices, in Palo Alto, Calif. on Oct. 1, 2013. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo/File)

As the years busiest travel season approaches, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Wednesday encouraged travelers to take carbon monoxide (CO) detectors with them during travels and on vacations.

Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas you cant see or smell, the CPSC tweeted. If youre traveling this spring or summer, make sure you pack a carbon monoxide alarm.

The agency noted that hotels and vacation rentals might not have working carbon monoxide alarms.

Furthermore, only a handful of countries require carbon monoxide detectors in hotels.

Its wise to assume that your hotel room does not have a CO detector in place, according to advocates who urge people to pack their own battery-powered or plug-in devices when traveling, noting that regulations vary, according to a CBS News report.

Last fall, three American tourists died while staying at a vacation rental in Mexico City due to carbon monoxide poisoning, the AP reported. And another group of American tourists in May died of the exact cause at a Sandals Resort in the Bahamas.

Without having a detector, theres no way to know that theres carbon monoxide in the space around us, Captain Dillon Dextradeur with Rescue 1 told 3WTKR.

Carbon Monoxide Leaks

Carbon monoxide is called the Invisible Killer because it is an odorless, colorless, tasteless, and poisonous gas. It is a byproduct of burning fuel that can cause carbon monoxide poisoning and death if it builds up indoors and you breathe it in.

Early symptoms include headache, dizziness, and nausea. As carbon monoxide builds up in your blood, symptoms worsen and may include confusion and drowsiness, fast breathing, fast heartbeat, chest pain, vision problems, and seizures.

People who are sleeping or who have been drinking alcohol can die from CO poisoning before ever having symptoms, said the CDC.

According to the CDC, carbon monoxide is found in fumes produced by furnaces, kerosene heaters, vehicles warmed up in garages, stoves, lanterns, gas ranges, portable generators, or by burning charcoal and wood.

Having proper ventilation and CO detectors for both home and travel is essential.

If you have symptoms you believe could be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, leave the area immediately and call an ambulance or visit the nearest hospital.

The CDC estimates that at least 420 people die annually from unintentional CO exposure in the United States.
Trump Attorney Says Former President Facing Trumped Up Charges Ahead of April 4 Arraignment

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before his speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., on March 4, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Manhattan district attorneys case against former President Donald Trump has absolutely no legal basis, according to one of Trumps attorneys, Jesse Binnall.

In a March 31 interview with Steve Lance of NTD, The Epoch Times sister outlet, Binnall, who is not representing Trump in the New York matter, said that the official charges against Trump remain unknown even to the 45th president himself.

We only have the reporting to go on right now because the indictment still has not been unsealed, the attorney said. But this isif its what is expectedthese are trumped up charges that have absolutely no basis in law, no basis in fact, regarding a payment that was made by Michael Cohen.

Many have speculated that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is pursuing falsification of business records charges against Trump relating to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels that was made by the former presidents then-attorney Michael Cohen.

In August 2018, as part of a plea deal, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, claiming that the Daniels payment was made at Trumps direction for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential election.

The since-disbarred lawyer also pleaded guilty to unrelated tax evasion and making false statements to a federally insured bank; and in November 2018, he additionally pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the Russia investigation.

Noting that Cohen was a proven liar, Binnall said Braggs reliance on the convicted felons word was likely to be a big problem for his casealmost as big of a problem as the argument the case appears to rest on.

A Victimless Crime

The Supreme Court has very clearly held that for there to be any sort of fraud, there has to be an effort to essentially try to steal from someone, Binnall said. There has to be a victim that is being stolen from, and theres no allegations that anything of the sort happened in this case. In fact, what we have is another example of a prosecutor using his office to target President Trump for political purposes only.

Trumps March 30 indictment by the Manhattan grand jury marks the first ever for a former U.S. president.

Braggs office has been excoriated by Republicans and even some Democratslike Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitzfor pursuing the case, which many hold to be politically motivated.

In 60 years of practice, this is the worst case of prosecutorial abuse I have ever seen, Dershowitz told The Epoch Times on March 30. Whats really unprecedented is not the indictment of a past president, but the indictment of a potential future president who is running against the head of the party of the man who indicted him.

Braggs office, however, has held such claims to be baseless and meritless in its back-and-forth correspondence with congressional committee chairs seeking to investigate.

The charges filed yesterday were brought by citizens of New York, doing their civic duty as members of a grand jury, who found probable cause to accuse Mr. Trump of having committed crimes in New York, wrote Leslie Dubeck, general counsel for the Manhattan District Attorneys Office, in a March 31 letter to the Republican congressmen.

Going Toe-to-Toe

Nonetheless, Binnall noted that Trump had received an overwhelming amount of support since the indictment and attributed it to the publics realization of the dangers of abusing the prosecutorial system for political vengeance.

In this country, youre not supposed to have to look over your shoulder if your political opponents are in government office, but thats exactly whats happening right now, he said. There are laws that prohibit the violation of civil rights under color of law. I believe quite clearly that Alvin Bragg is in violation of that federal statute.

Calling on Congress to ensure such a situation never happens again, the attorney advocated for pulling federal funding from Braggs office.

And while he added that he could not comment on his conversations with the former president in relation to the indictment, he did share his confidence that his client was ready for a fight.

What I can tell you is that Donald Trump is a fighter, he said. Donald Trump is someone who is always going to rise up to the challenge because he knows that the only way to deal with a bully like Alvin Bragg is to go toe-to-toe with him. And I have no doubt that he is up to the challenge on this, that he is going to mount a vigorous defense.

And even though this case is obviously being brought in a place like Manhattan, where the district attorney is banking on a biased jury, I truly believe that theyre going to put together a great case, and that, ultimately, Donald Trumps going to be vindicated.
Trump Feeling Very Sad for Our Country Amid Indictment: Spokesperson

'If this can happen to the most popular incumbent president in the history of the United States, this can happen to anyone'

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before his speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., on March 4, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump, who was indicted by a grand jury in New York City, is feeling very sad for the state of the country, according to his spokesperson Liz Harrington.

Personally, hes feeling good, hes fine, because he knows hes done nothing wrong. But for the country, hes not feeling good, Harrington told NTD.

The indictment means Trump has become the first president to be criminally charged in the history of the United States.

Hes feeling very sad for our country, because he knows how crucial this line they crossed is, she added. This marks a turning point that weve never had as a constitutional republic. It turns us, in fact, into a banana republic.

If this can happen to the most popular incumbent president in the history of the United States, this can happen to anyone  theyve actually crossed a line here that is so enormous, and really you cant turn back from when you think of the standing in the worldthat America is now no different than some tinpot dictatorship or banana republic, Harrington said.

Thats a very dangerous place for not just our country and our citizens but the entire world.

First Hearing Confirmed

Trumps first hearing in the case will take place on April 4 at 2:15 p.m. before New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, a court spokesperson confirmed. The courthouse is located in lower Manhattan.

The indictment against Trump, confirmed on March 30, remains under seal.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been coordinating with Trumps attorneys regarding his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, a spokesperson said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrives at the Manhattan District Attorneys office in New York City on March 23, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Bragg, a Democrat, had been probing a payment by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to adult performer Stormy Daniels. The payment was made in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. Daniels alleged Trump had an affair with her. Trump has denied the claim. Cohen has said he spoke to the grand jury.

This is a totally sham case thats never been brought in the history of our country. And in fact, [Trump] never had an affair with this woman, Harrington told NTD.

This is all stemming from a nuisance complaint that was settled privately, which many public figures have dealt with over the years, many politicians, she added. And when you look at the history of Bill Clinton, [Clinton] settled some very legitimate claims that were made against him while he was in office, and no one ever tried to go after him this way.

Trump said earlier that he believes he wont get a fair trial in New York.

And thats why theyre really wielding the justice system against their political opponents, Harrington said. Theyre choosing venues that, you know, people who are on the conservative end of the spectrum, or just the common sense end of the spectrum, cannot get a fair hearing, cannot get a jury of their peers in these venues that theyre choosing.

Legal experts have said that Trump could still be elected president despite the indictment, noting that the U.S. Constitution does not bar individuals from becoming president if they have a criminal record.

Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump hold flags as they gather to show support near his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 31, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

According to Harrington, Trump is not going to be deterred and will continue to fight for the American people in pressing forward with his presidential campaign.

We can already see the people are rallying behind him; they were outside Mar-a-Lago last night. The people are really more determined and have more resolve than ever. They see whats going on, she said. They see a country that they no longer recognize.

Read More Trump Supporters Gather Near Mar-a-Lago to Support Former President After Indictment

Harrington said that the more Trump gets attacked, the more its clear that its not even about him.

Its about all of our rights if were going to still remain a free country. And so I think this will propel us even more. People are realizing theres only one reason why they come after him so muchbecause they fear him because he has tens and tens of millions of people behind him and the greatest political movement our countrys ever seen. And they want us to put a stop to that.

But the movement is going to grow because of this.

Gary Bai and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Trumps Indictment Took the Nashville Murders Off the Front Page

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before his speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, on March 4, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Commentary

NASHVILLE, Tenn.Not much more than 48 hours before the news of the indictment of former President Donald Trump dropped, Politicoa media outlet that makes its reputation by having the inside dopewas telling us that a grand jury indictment had been pushed off for a month at least.

Politicos Erica Orden wrote on March 27:

The Manhattan grand jury examining Donald Trumps alleged role in a hush money payment to a porn star isnt expected to hear evidence in the case for the next month largely due to a previously scheduled hiatus, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.

The break would push any indictment of the former president to late April at the earliest, although it is possible that the grand jurys schedule could change.

Possible it could change? No doubt Orden is sighing in relief from having done the conventional reportorial CYA by adding that dependent clause.

Nevertheless, its evident that someone or some people were leaking to her information that turned out to be false.

This information quickly became accepted. It made sense. Many legal experts had been calling the indictment fraudulent. Apparently, they had been heard.

So what happened? Why the sudden change?

Trump himself was shocked, according to his defense attorney Joe Tacopina, who is certainly in a position to know.

Had deliberate disinformation come out of the district attorneys office with Politico being used as the conduit, or did something happen in the interim to generate that reversal?

Could it have been caused by what has been occurring here in Nashville the past few days with several hugely dramatic events piling on top of each other?

These events were extremely damaging to the left-wing narrative and had to be taken off the national front pages and downplayed on cable news.

Most notable of all were the horrifying murders of three children and three adults at the Covenant School, which were the work of a transgender person who identified as a man and was dressed in macho terrorist garb.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and others were calling this an anti-Christian hate crime, and with authoritiesnow including that dead letter office, the FBIrefusing to reveal the contents of the shooters manifesto, they had a point.

The subject is so electric to corporate media that CBS, in an action reminiscent of Pravda, banned its staff from even using the word transgender in reporting on what transpired. Axios Nashville also omits mention in its reporting.

Meanwhile, the backlash was almost immediate, with local citizens assembling in neighboring Franklin to oppose, for the first time, ratifying the permit for a Pride event in that city that had, in the past, exposed children to flagrant nudity and hyper-sexuality.

Yet more dangerous to the left was the virtual riot the next day at the Tennessee Capitol, an event that almost seemed like a left-wing version of Jan. 6, 2021, but with far less justification.

The extremely youthful riotersa majority high school age, some trans, egged on by a trio of particularly rabid progressive state legislators, one of whom had been previously arrested for disrupting a 2018 Sen. Marsha Blackburn eventbroke into the building, putting the lives of other legislators in danger.

Despite the demonstrators claims that they were there to lobby for gun control, this movement already was metastasizing in the opposite direction. From the Tennessee Star:

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Thursday confirmed to The Tennessee Star that it is aware of a viral video circulating the web in which a transgender activist encourages transgender people in Tennessee to commit acts of violence.

This video, initially posted on TikTok, was amplified by the popular Twitter account LibsOfTikTok. It featured the creator of the video spouting the following:

Trans people in Tennessee, its time to [expletive] fight. Trans allies in Tennessee, its time to [expletive] fight. Trans women, if they lock you up for identifying as a woman, fight. Resist. Youre gonna die anyways. Were gonna die anyways. Its time to [expletive] resist.

This is obviously something no political party would wish to be associated with, particularly since there is no law against transgenderism in Tennessee and no one was bothering transgender people in the first place.

Its simply a manifestation of insanity. No one wanted to harm transgenders until one of them shot three 9-year-olds and their mentors and was herself shot dead to prevent further carnage.

But the Democrats, locked into identity politics as they are, cant allow the public to see this, particularly that small part of the public that actually determines elections and might think for themselves.

At the same time, of course, they cant be seen by their base to be squelching errant transgenders, hence the omerta from CBS.

But did all this account for the sudden change in the status of the Trump indictment?

Its hard to say, and even harder to prove, but it certainly could have played a part.

In fact, its equally hard to see that it didnt. The country was growing ever nearer to exploding. It wasnt looking good for the Democrats and their friendspolls were showing itand the people had to be distracted, even if it risked making a martyr of Trump.

Dont believe me? Ask George Soros. He follows these things closely.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Whether you buy a car new or used, the dealer might try to load you down with add-ons and accessories of every sort -- and they're likely to tell you that it will only add a few dollars to the monthly payment if you fold it into the cost of the loan.

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In truth, add-ons can quickly tack hundreds or thousands of dollars extra onto the sticker price. Some might be dealer add-ons that they try to slip past you. Others they'll try to sell you outright. Before you buy, know which car ad-ons you don't want to buy at the dealership.

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Roof-Rack Accessories

Factory crossbars and roof-rack accessories cost more than aftermarket brands, and they only fit that specific vehicle. If your surfing, kayaking or road-tripping adventures require roof storage, brands like Thule and Yakima cost less, function as well or better and can be removed and adapted to almost any vehicle you buy in the future -- all without a big dealer markup.

MarioGuti / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Key Protection

Losing your car keys was always a headache, but with remote entry and remote start devices, laser cutting and high-end fobs, today it's not just an inconvenience, but it's a hefty expense. Replacing sophisticated key systems, particularly on luxury cars, can cause hundreds of dollars, which your car insurance is likely not to cover -- and dealers know it.

Some dealers offer key protection, a separate insurance policy just for your keys. That, too, can easily cost more than $100, which is an unnecessary expense for an unlikely event. Instead put that money into a savings account, which you should do anyway to budget for unforeseen mishaps, like losing your keys.

Take Our Poll: What Do You Plan To Use Your Tax Refund For?

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Windshield Protection

The ACE Group is one of the many companies that offer windshield insurance coverage to car dealers to sell to their customers at a markup -- it says "maximize your profits" right on their website. Yes, windshields can sometimes break, and yes, they're expensive. The truth, however, is that modern resins can fix the most common cracks, and windshields rarely have to be fully replaced. If you're truly worried, you'd be better served by budgeting for repairs like broken windshields than handing over money to your dealer as an add-on for a service you'll likely never need.

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Tire Protection

Like windshield protection, the odds favor the dealer with extended tire warranties. Virtually all tires come with prorated warranties that cover craftsmanship defects, which are very rare. Your dealer might try to sell you an extended warranty that covers what standard prorated warranties do not for, say, $10 per tire. First of all, some tires come with more inclusive warranties and even if they don't, the cost of a standard new tire isn't particularly high when you factor in the $40 you didn't spend on unnecessary protection.

Vera_Petrunina / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dent Protection

Like windshield protection and key protection, a long line of little-known and sometimes-shady third-party companies offer dent and ding coverage to dealers as an upsell to push on their customers. These companies sell the plans for $300-$500 to the dealer, who then sells the plan to unsuspecting buyers for anywhere from $600-$1,500 -- pure profit for no work. The dealer also has no further responsibility and doesn't aid processing claims. You get an 800 number to call to deal with a company you've probably never heard of before. You'll likely have little or no say in who fixes your car, and you'll almost certainly learn that there's plenty that isn't covered.

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Credit Insurance

Your dealer also might try to talk you into credit insurance, which comes in the forms of credit life insurance, credit disability insurance, involuntary unemployment insurance and credit property insurance. They all serve the same purpose: to continue making your car payments if you lose your job, become disabled or die. There are few reasons to get credit insurance and many reasons not to. If you think it's right for you, you'll almost always do better buying through your own insurance company with no dealer markup. Also, it's illegal for dealers to tell you they can't sell you a car or approve a loan unless you buy this optional coverage.

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GAP Insurance

Guaranteed asset protection (GAP) insurance is less scammy than the previously mentioned "coverage" plans that dealers often push. If you total a car shortly after financing it, your insurance company will compensate you for the value of the car, which, thanks to depreciation, is often less than what you owe on the loan. GAP coverage is designed to fill that gap, and in some cases, it makes sense to buy it -- but buy it from your insurance company. When you buy it from a dealer, it will almost certainly be more expensive and, here again, you'll wind up dealing with an unfamiliar company you've never heard of if you ever need to cash in on it.

Hirurg / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Extended Warranties

Like GAP insurance, extended warranties can serve a legitimate purpose, but in almost all cases, you'd be better served to put that money into an interest-bearing savings account set aside for repairs. Extended warranties are designed to stretch your coverage beyond the expiration of your bumper-to-bumper warranty, which is usually three years or 36,000 miles. The truth is, much of the cost goes to the salesperson's commission, most people never wind up using them, and they cost more than the price of the average repair.

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Car Alarms and Trackers

Most cars come with security systems or even trackers. When they don't, dealers often try to sell them as an add-on. That, in many cases, is because car dealerships install alarms to prevent theft on the dealership lot, which means it's already installed in the car. Instead of uninstalling it and letting you drive off with the car, this upsell allows them to sell cheap alarms and trackers at a premium and also charge you for installation. You can almost certainly do better buying a system on your own and paying a much lower installation fee to your local mechanic.

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Paint Sealants

Modern cars receive factory paint jobs that are designed to withstand the elements -- they have sealants and antirust properties built-in. Paint protection can cost several hundred dollars and it's almost never worth the expense. Wash your car regularly and your paint will last the life of your car in almost all conditions.

algre / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Fabric Protection

The same rule applies to fabric and upholstery protection, which is applied by the manufacturer and built into the price of the car. According to Edmunds, this service can cost $195 or more. If you really feel you need extra protection because you have a dog or messy children or whatever, spend a few bucks on a bottle of spray-on Scotchgard, which is essentially what the dealer is offering anyway.

Learn: 4 Genius Costco Shopping Hacks To Try in 2023

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Nitrogen-Filled Tires

Another add-on that's trending is nitrogen-filled tires, which your dealer will tell you is less susceptible to temperature-based pressure expansion and reduction. It's also supposed to bleed from your tires more slowly than regular air. Edmunds reports that its own research says it makes almost no difference in real-world conditions and that the service costs roughly $100. Regular air is free -- or close to it if you're in a pinch and need to stop at a gas station.

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Window Tints/Clear Protection

You might be in the market for window tints or clear UV protection, but don't let the dealer sell it to you as an add-on. Chances are they don't do the work themselves and instead farm it out to the lowest bidder. You, of course, reap none of those savings -- the difference is pure dealer profit. Check online reviews for local service companies and you'll almost certainly pay less for work done by a company whose reviews you had a chance to research for yourself.

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Door Edge Protector

You can pick up a DIY door edge protector kit for less than $10 on Amazon, yet according to Edmunds, dealers commonly charge $169. In theory, door edge protectors keep vulnerable door edges from chipping and scratching. The truth is, modern paint can resist most of this yesteryear type of damage, but if you want the peace of mind, it's an easy, cheap, tool-free DIY job.

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Service and Maintenance Packages

Service and maintenance packages aren't always, or even usually, a rip-off. Dealers make a lot of money in their service departments, and they'd obviously love to sell you a car and service it as well, both while under warranty and beyond. This incentivizes good service, as does the fact that good service means you're more likely to come back and buy your next car there, as well. The problem is, buying a car is a ton of information to process on its own and you can opt into the service plan at any time. If they offer you a maintenance package, ask for the details in writing, say you'll think about it and take a few days to look it over and decide if it's worth it.

kitzcorner / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Upgraded Floor Mats

Your dealer might try to talk you into "heavy-duty" or "all-weather" mats. Regular floor mats often come standard from the factory, and in that case, the dealer might not be able to remove them for a discount. That, however, is different than upgrading to a more rugged version at the cost of hundreds of dollars extra, which you might pay for a full set of custom, laser-measured mats from a company like WeatherTech. If you must have generic heavy-duty mats, they're easy to find online with a two-digit price tag.

Photoservice / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Appearance Packages

Among the most common and costly dealer add-ons are so-called "appearance packages," which often take the form of pinstriping or some other graphic design. While it appears to come from the manufacturer, dealers -- particularly used car dealers -- can add them on themselves, try to pass them off as standard and outrageously upcharge for them. Edmunds reports seeing appearance packages for $279. Jaloplink reports seeing them cost as much as $2,000.

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Mudflaps

Passenger cars don't need mudflaps, despite what your dealer tells you about paint and undercarriage corrosion. Those who have them often find that they catch and trap sand and salt, causing more corrosion than they prevent. Large trucks are an exception, but not most standard trucks or SUVs. Find out if your state requires them on SUVs or standard trucks before letting a dealer explain why you can't go without them. If you really want them, you'll find, as with so many add-ons, that you can buy them and have them installed cheaper somewhere else.

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Trunk Trays

Trunk trays are formfitting rubberized cargo liners for your trunk or the back of your hatchback or SUV -- they sometimes come with raised cargo blocks. They protect against spills, upholstery tears and other damage, and they're certainly not a bad idea -- provided you pay $200 or so for one online or at your local auto parts store. What you shouldn't do, however, is let a dealer talk you into buying one from them for upwards of $700, which isn't unheard of, according to MotorTrend.

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Color-Changing Valve Stem Covers

You might encounter a dealer who promises magic in your tires in the form of color-changing valve stems that change from green to red when your tires need air, all for the low price of between $40-$100 for a set of four. First of all, most new -- or newish, even -- cars come with low-tire-pressure indicators on the dashboard. Even if yours doesn't, the two tools that have worked for time immemorial -- your eyes and a pressure gauge -- will serve the exact same purpose.

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Photos are for illustrative purposes only. As a result, some of the images may not reflect the products listed in this article.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 20 Useless Products That Car Dealerships May Try To Sucker You Into Buying
Turning the Blowtorch on Australian Nursing Home Problem

Signage is seen at Arcare aged care facility in Maidstone on May 30, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

At aged care homes across the country, an unfathomable problem is literally piling up with absorbent, single-use products needed to help residents who struggle with bladder and bowel control.

Aksh Bhola, who manages an Arcare facility at Knox in Melbournes east, says the volume of incontinence waste the centre produces is a constant challenge.

We always have to ask for more collection, he told AAP. All the time.

At Knox, that amounts to 10 tonnes of incontinence waste a year, all of it going to landfill.

The situation is repeated at nursing homes nation-wide with a volume so large it dwarfs the disposable nappy waste stream.

Its estimated incontinence products account for 148,000 tonnes of Australian waste every year.

Thats the equivalent of 3700 humpback whales or almost three Sydney Harbour Bridges.

And its a figure that will only grow in line with Australias ageing population.

At least 77 percent of people in residential aged care are incontinent, according to Swedish hygiene company Essity, and one in four women will be incontinent at some stage in their lives.

Essity is conducting a waste management trial for their incontinence products after customers pushed for a better solution.

Project Divert lead Rochelle Lakes said the taboo around incontinence pads prevented people speaking up.

Every person on the street, you could talk to about baby nappies, theyd have a full opinion on the waste it generates, whereas people just dont have that awareness of incontinence pads, Lakes said.

Its not something people like to make aware that they are incontinent but its very common.

Lakes said its about time for a product stewardship scheme for incontinence pads.

Its a lot of waste and customers have been asking us for a better solution, Lakes said.

Theres been a lot of things that have started but fallen over.

Managing waste products is also difficult, given the complexity of incontinence.

Wastewater specialist Emma Thompson Brewsters work in this area has been in conjunction with Southern Cross University and University of Queensland.

So babies, most of them will use disposable nappies and then theyll fairly quickly transition to toilets, Brewster said.

But experiences of incontinence among adults vary widely and so do the products.

Offerings range from panty liners to pull-up trunks, which differ in weight and material.

Some people have urinary-only incontinence and some faeces-only. Others have both.

Care settings also impact the amount of waste, where pads are changed at certain times in hospitals and homes.

While reusable options have popped up on store shelves as an alternative, Brewster said its important to come up with ways to manage single-use pads.

These products are never going to be replaced, Brewster said.

I dont think it would be ethical to fully replace these cloth products because there is a huge part of society where re-usables are not an option.

Launched in February with federal government funding, Project Divert utilises patented pyrolysis technology, which heats waste materials in the absence of oxygen and therefore means lower emissions than traditional incineration.

The waste is converted to a biocharcharcoal produced from the pyrolysiswhich may have various commercial applications.

Lakes said pyrolysis technology is a more cost effective and flexible approach than composting, which requires the removal of plastic and in some cases, faeces and urine.

Using an oxygen-less oven can manage the waste on a large scale without worrying about adjustments.

We manufacture hand towels as well and we know that theyre compostable. But its very, very hard to find composting facilities that will take the product, Lakes said.

So people dont want to compost hand towels. I cant imagine composting incontinence products.

Bohla said its a no-brainer for the facility to take part in the trial.

We were so confident in participating in the trial because it was initiated by the same company that actually supplied incontinence products, Bohla said.

It would be better in terms for the product manufacturer who knows how to process their waste properly.

The next step is to determine whether the process can be commercially viable.

While the trial is for commercial operations, there are hopes the technology can be used for household incontinence waste as well.
University of California Proposes Guaranteed Admission for Qualified Transfer Students

A student walks toward Royce Hall on the campus of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles on March 11, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

The University of California (UC) has proposed a plan to guarantee admission to qualified community college studentsbut only for certain campuses.

UC officials presented their plans to state legislators during a March 28 state Assembly budget hearing.

To be guaranteed admission, students must be enrolled in a state community college and would need to complete general education courses required by UC and earn a minimum grade point average, according to UC officials.

Such transfer students may request the UC campus of their choiceand if they are not admitted, they are guaranteed admission to UC Santa Cruz, UC Merced, or UC Riverside.

Additionally, six of nine UC campuses already offer transfer-guaranteed admission programsUC Merced, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Barbara.

UCI Medical Center in Orange., Calif., on Dec. 16, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

UC Academic Senate Chair Susan Cochran said during the meeting that the system hopes to simplify the process for transfer students so they dont take more community college classes than they need to.

The key to transfer is to ask students only what they need to do and not more, Cochran said. We think this proposal  is a positive step forward for simplifying transfers and helping UC meet its responsibilities to the people of the state of California.

The proposal comes as UC transfer applications have fallen across all campusesfrom 46,155 in fall 2021 to 39,363 for fall 2023and total applications have dropped from 249,855 to 245,768 during the same time period.

As an incentive to increase enrollment, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a 5 percent increase in funding for both the UC and California State University (CSU) systems in his 202324 fiscal budget proposal.

The increases amount to $216 million for UC and $227 million for CSU and fulfill a pledge Newsom made last year to give the systems five percent annual budget increases for the next five years if they agreed to work toward improving graduation and enrollment rates, particularly among California residents.

Newsom also promised UC an additional $30 million as an incentive to boost enrollment among California residents.

A student wears a face mask on the campus of the UCLA college in Westwood, Calif., on March 6, 2020. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

In the proposed budget, the governor also directed UC to adopt a guaranteed transfer admissions program for UCLA, its most selective campus, or face a $20 million budget cut.

Last month, the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office recommended legislators reject the directive, saying that UCLA has a higher rate of transfer student enrollment than any other UC campus.

However, analysts recommended UC consider whether to require all UC campuses to participate in the transfer admission guarantee programs.

UC officials told legislators at the budget hearing that their proposed expanded transfer admissions guarantee was an alternative to Newsoms directive.

Though no action was taken during the hearing, legislators have until May to review the proposal and decide whether to add it to the state budget.
Late Thursday night, the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, was officially indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. This makes Trump the first president to be impeached twice, the first president to be raided by the FBI, the first president to be wiretapped before taking office, the first president to be banned from social media, and now, the first president to face criminal charges.

In terms of what the specific charges are, the specifics have yet to be made public at the moment. The felony indictment will remain under seal until at least Tuesday, when Trump is set to be arraignedwhich will include fingerprinting him and taking his mugshot. However, what we do know is that the felony indictment includes 34 counts of falsifying business recordsmost likely having to do with the hush money payments that Trumps lawyer made in 2016.

This indictment presents both positives and negatives for Trump. On the negative side, this is happening in Manhattanmeaning that if this case goes to trial, he will have to face a jury pool selected from people in Manhattan, who voted 86 percent in favor of Joe Biden. In 2020, Trump only received 12 percent of the vote there. And so, whether an impartial jury is able to be formed is a real question. The positive for Trump is that this trial might not even make it to the point of selecting a jurythe indictment might just be thrown out by the judge. And the reason why it might be thrown out is severalfold.

Episode Resources:

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US Congressman Diagnosed With Cancer

A U.S. congressman said March 31 that hes been diagnosed with cancer.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said that he underwent a preventive scan that prompted additional tests, leading to a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma.

Thats a type of cancer in the tonsil. Treatment can include surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Kildee, 64, expressed optimism.

In a few weeks, I will have surgery to remove the cancer. The prognosis after surgery and treatment is excellent, he said in a statement. My doctors have advised me it will take a few weeks to recover after the surgery. Im eager to have this chapter behind me and get back to work.

I am going to get through this. Im going to beat cancer. I appreciate the love of my family and wife Jennifer, as well as the help of my extraordinary staff. And to my constituents and my colleagues in Congress, thank you for your continued support, he added.

Kildee, who co-chairs the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, received well-wishes from colleagues.

Few people are stronger than my friend and colleague, Dan Kildee. I have no doubt hell face this diagnosis and recovery with the same force and dedication he brings to his work every day, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said.

Dan is a dear friend and a good man. I have been a proud partner with him on a number of bipartisan initiatives. I will be joining Dans family, friends, and the people of Michigans Eighth District in praying for Rep. Kildee, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas.) said.

Several other Democrats have recently announced cancer diagnoses.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), for instance, announced in late 2022 that he was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma. Raskin, 60, has been undergoing chemotherapy.

I expect to be able to work through this period but have been cautioned by my doctors to reduce unnecessary exposure to avoid COVID-19, the flu, and other viruses, Raskin said at the time.

Kildee represents Michigans 8th Congressional District, formerly known as Michigans 5th Congressional District.

Kildee entered Congress in 2013, taking over a seat vacated by his uncle, Dale Kildee.

Kildee won reelection over Republican Paul Junge in 2022 with 53 percent of the vote. That was Kildees smallest margin of victory for the seat.

Before entering Congress, Kildee served on the Flint Board of Education and the Genessee County Board of Commissioners. He was the countys treasurer for many years.

Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately described the type of cancer Rep. Kildee has. It is cancer of the tonsil. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Verizon Wins FAA Technology Deal Worth up to $2.4 Billion

People walk past a Verizon store in Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood in New York on May 2, 2017. (Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo)

WASHINGTONThe Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Verizon Communications a contract potentially worth $2.4 billion to upgrade the agencys technology systems.

The FAA said Verizon will build a network that includes secure communications and administrative services. If the FAA exercises all options in the deal, the contract would run for 15 years and reach the full potential value, according to an agency spokeswoman.

Verizon said it will build a network to support all of the agencys mission-critical applications including air traffic management for more than 45,000 flights per day.

The contract, disclosed Thursday, comes nearly three months after a critical alert system failed, temporarily halting departing flights across the country. The FAA blamed the outage on contractors who accidentally deleted files from a database and its backup.

FAA officials have said they need to modernize the alert system and many other programs. Airline officials have supported the agency, telling Congress to provide more funding for FAA technology.
What RCMP Reforms the Inquiry Into the NS Mass Shooting Is Calling For

RCMP members pack up after the search for Gabriel Wortman in Great Village, Nova Scotia, on April 19, 2020. (John Morris/Reuters)

The final report of the inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting calls for an overhaul of the RCMP, among a long list of other recommendations.

On April 1819, 2020, Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people, injured three others, and set fire to multiple houses at locations across Nova Scotia before he was shot and killed by police.

The 3,000-page report on Wortmans rampage published by the Mass Casualty Commission, titled Turning the Tide Together, contains a total of 130 recommendations, 75 of which are directed at the RCMP.

The report identified several failings in the way the RCMP responded to the incident. It found that the Mounties who initially responded to the incident ignored multiple witnesses telling them that the shooter was driving a replica police car. The RCMP did not alert the public to this fact until nearly 12 hours later.

The report said this failure was the product of deficiencies in the RCMPs process for capturing, sharing, and analyzing information received during a critical incident response.

In our process, it was apparent that the organizational structure of the RCMP both contributes to these failings and makes it challenging to hold the organization accountable for its work, the commissioners said in the report.

The RCMP had not prepared for the best way to notify community members of the danger and execute a large-scale evacuation of civilians from a hot zone while [an] active threat was in progress. An Alert Ready message was never issued to the wider public, which the commissioners said was the result of a lack of knowledge.

The commissioners also said the RCMPs focus on finding and stopping Wortman led to the exclusion of rescue-oriented tasks such as systematically finding, warning, and evacuating community members or searching for victims. The RCMP took too long to conduct a systematic search for additional fatalities, and failed to give families timely next-of-kin notifications.

The report says issues such as interoperability between different emergency responders must be improved, and there should be an overhaul of police education across the country.

This transformation must begin with recruiting and education, and from there extend to all aspects of the RCMPs work, it says.

Reforms

The report recommended the RCMP phase out the depot model of trainingwhich involves a 26-week program at Depot, the RCMP Academy in Reginaby 2032, and instead create a three-year degree-based model of police education for all police services in Canada.

When asked about the recommendation upon the release of the report on March 30, Interim RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme pushed back against the idea of shutting down Depot without having a proper analysis from the RCMP and other people, adding that the force will have to have a deeper dive into what exactly the commissioners are recommending.

An external, independent review of the RCMPincluding a review of the contract system under which the force gives policing services to rural areas of Canadashould also be commissioned by the federal minister of public safety, the report said, and that following this, RCMP tasks and responsibilities should be reassigned to other agencies, including, potentially, to new policing agencies.

This may entail a reconfiguration of policing in Canada and a new approach to federal financial support for provincial and municipal policing services, the report said.

The RCMPs national communications policies should also be revised to clearly state that the objective is to provide accurate information about its operations, particularly in responding to media questions in a timely and complete manner.

The RCMP should also commission an external expert review of its initial critical incident response training for front-line supervisors to be completed within six months. According to the report, the review should assess the rate of compliance with mandatory training requirements among front-line supervisors, and whether existing training adequately equips the supervisors to exercise initial command until an accredited critical incident commander takes over.

Other recommendations include ensuring every critical incident commander has a ready go duty bag with a police radio, RCMP cellphone, and laptop at all times when on call; all staff at the RCMP Operational Communications Centre have access to 911 call recordings and be trained in how to play them back; and that the RCMP publish an annual report explaining what it learned from operational debriefings and what changes it has made in response to after-action reports in the previous year.
Amazingly, President Biden is warning Israel that allowing politicians to be involved in nominating judges is going to perhaps affect our shared democratic values. Well, of course, in America, politicians do exactly that.

Eugene Kontorovich is a scholar of international law, an expert in the Israeli-Arab conflict, and a professor at George Mason Universitys Antonin Scalia Law School. At a time when many have lost faith in international organizations, I sat down with him to discuss what role they should actually play.

With all international institutions, the trade-offthe lessonis how to be able to rely on them for small things, small routine things, and not put faith in them for important things, said Kontorovich.

We also discuss the current protests in Israel and the U.S. State Departments role in funding some of them.

The United States is giving political support for the efforts to crush democracy in Israel. And by crush democracy in Israel, I mean insulate the Supreme Court as a permanent, aristocratic, democratically unchangeable body, said Kontorovich.

He argues that despite what we are hearing in the mainstream media, the judicial reforms proposed by Netanyahus coalition are not a threat to Israels democracy. In fact, a judicial overhaul is necessary in order to restore the Jewish states separation of powers and transfer authority back to elected officials, says Kontorovich.

In Israel, the court picks its own successors  so, what you essentially have is the supreme power in the state held by a self-selecting group of people completely insulated from any democratic process, explained Kontorovich.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Jan Jekielek:

Professor Eugene Kontorovich, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.

Eugene Kontorovich:

A pleasure to be here. Thank you.

Mr. Jekielek:

Weve been planning this interview for quite some time. Lo and behold, as youre sitting here at the Capitol, these protests have erupted in Israel, ostensibly about democracy. Democracy in Israel is being threatened. That is the mantra that we keep hearing. This is something that you have deep knowledge about, so lets start here. Whats happening in Israel?

Mr. Kontorovich:

Whats happening there, as sometimes happens, is almost the opposite of what you would conclude by reading the mainstream media. There are serious challenges to democracy in Israel, but there are challenges that come from the almost all-encompassing power of the court and government bureaucrats. In the absence of the constitution, the Supreme Court has taken massive powers for itself and for a cadre of government lawyers.

For example, the Supreme Court has said that it can strike down statutes. Even beyond that, they went on and said that they can block any government action that they dont think is a good idea. They can set refugee quotas. They can control military tactics. Most shockingly, theyve said they can even remove a sitting prime minister absent any statutory impeachment provisions.

Theyve gone on to say that if the Knesset were to pass laws to pass a constitution, they could strike down the constitutional laws as being against some higher constitution known only to them. In short, they have said that they are the absolute final power over all government action and over all matters of public policy in Israel. What is additionally alarming and what makes the matter particularly intolerable is that these final judges of every democratic decision are not picked in any manner that is democratic. Indeed, they control their own selection.

Unlike in America, the judges are not picked by the prime minister or the president. Theyre not picked by the legislature. Theyre picked by a committee that is controlled by judges. Needless to say, they are not going to pick people who disagree with them or who think theyve wrongly decided any of their cases. Theyre not going to pick people who believe in judicial restraint. Theyre going to pick people who basically are yes men to what they are currently saying.

Essentially, the supreme power in the state is held by a self-selecting group of people completely insulated from any democratic process. As a matter of fact, they have also said that the attorney general, whos not a member of the cabinet, but is really an officer of the Supreme Court and a representative of the court in the government, can veto any government action.

If the government wants to hire someone, fire someone, or appoint someone to a committee or take any single action, the attorney general can prevent it from happening simply by saying, No, I dont think its a good idea, without any legal rationale. Indeed, the attorney general has currently said that the prime minister of Israel, who was just elected a couple months ago, is incapacitated and is not allowed to be involved in judicial reform because of some legal proceedings against him, even though he was elected with the public being fully aware of these legal proceedings.

They said now the prime minister of Israel, just elected, is not allowed to talk about the single most important issue in the country. In America, the president can fire the attorney general. In Israel, the attorney general can fire the president and the prime minister. That is extraordinary. What these reforms do is they seek to put some democratic checks on this. That is to say, a system of checks and balances is very important.

In Israel, theres currently one power with no checks on itthe court. The current proposal is to put in a modest check, not take away the powers of the court, allow it to continue to review laws, and certainly allow it to defend minority rights, but not to allow it to pick its own successors, but rather to have rotating governments, Right-wing and Left-wing as the people elect them, have a primary role in appointing judges to the court, so that it does not function as a kind of politburo selecting its own members and selecting its own successors.

Mr. Jekielek:

What youve just outlined seems like a pretty serious issue. Why all of a sudden has this come to the fore?

Mr. Kontorovich:

One reason is that the courts power grabs have only increased with time. If they had simply satisfied themselves with saying, We can strike down laws as being unconstitutional if they violate minority rights, even though theres not a legal basis for that, nobody would have minded. But in recent years, theyve made some fairly extravagant extensions to their self-proclaimed power, including claiming to be able to remove the prime minister. Theyve claimed to be able to strike down amendments to the laws they previously said were constitutional.

They have now said that they can decide not only what the constitution means, but what goes into it, which is a fairly shocking aggrandizement of power. These efforts have been many years in the making. Politicians have complained about the courts overreaching power for many, many years. Indeed, they have been trying to do things about it for a long time. But what they found is that if you try to fix on a small level, it gets blocked.

This government chose to fix it on a broad level. Another reason that its happening right now is because it really couldnt happen in the past six years, because Israel has had five elections in six years, all of them caused by the Supreme Court. In fact, it was because the Supreme Court struck down a very important legislative compromise between the religious and secular factions about army service.

In the absence of that compromise, there was a cycle of elections. The Supreme Court also invented a rule that when you have a lame duck government, a government that doesnt have a majority support, it cannot take important actions. The court, in fact, has been the government for much of the past six years, and the government has been incapacitated from dealing with major questions, including judicial reform.

Basically, the court has been resisting any kind of reform until now. Finally, theres a significant stable majority in favor of reform in the parliament. The court has been predictably Left-wing in its rulings, not always Left-wing, but primarily favoring the Left. Those politically allied with the Left say, Why should we allow these reforms? We have power now. Why change it? Under the reforms, all parties would be able to appoint judges to the court.

The Left would appoint when they get elected. The Right would appoint when they get elected. But currently, the Left thinks, Under the current system when were in power, there are Left-wing judges appointed to the court. When the Rights in power, there are Left-wing judges appointed to the court. Why should we change that? Thats great. Heads, I win. Tails, you lose.

Mr. Jekielek:

Its fascinating to hear about this. This is actually very different from the mantras that were hearing in the legacy media. This is yet another example of a propaganda information war miasma that almost any issue of significance becomes mired in. The thing that I find very interesting is there are actually recent revelations that theres even some U.S. funding of some of these opposition protests. Can you clarify that?

Mr. Kontorovich:

The protests are extremely well-funded and extremely well-organized, and there is a question where they get the money from. Its completely legitimate for people to protest wherever they get the money from. It has turned out that some of the groups who are organizing these protests have received funding from the State Department in recent years.

Those revelations have only shown a small amount of funding to those groups, but thats direct funding from the State Department. That raises the question of whether they have also received indirect funding from the State Department through other groups that would be easier to conceal. Much more important than the funding is the fact that the United States is giving political support for the efforts to crush democracy in Israel. By crushing democracy in Israel, I mean insulate the Supreme Court as a permanent aristocratic, democratically unchangeable body.

There is one reason America has managed to have a reasonably healthy civil culture over the decades. Lets say the Supreme Court makes a big mistake. Supreme Court judges are independent. They have life tenure. They can make mistakes. Lets say they make a mistake. They dont have to lose faith in their country or give up because they think, We can elect politicians who are eventually going to appoint judges who have judicial philosophy consistent with our values and, over time, we can change this result.

We cant disobey the opinion of the court. It has the force of law, but its not from Sinai. Its not biblical. Its not dogma. In Israel, the court picks its own successors. If it makes a bad decision, its not going to correct it. Its not going to change it, and the people really have no hope. The people can elect a prime minister, and the attorney general can say hes not allowed to be prime minister absent any statutory authority.

Amazingly, President Biden is warning Israel that allowing politicians to be involved in nominating judges is going to perhaps affect democratic values, when in America, politicians do exactly that. American Supreme Court judges are not picked by the Supreme Court judges. Imagine if we had a rule that said the majority of the court or the chief judge could veto Biden nominees. Thats how it works in Israel.

President Biden, amazingly, unhappy with some decisions of the court, threatened to pack the court, which would effectively make it a tool of his own policies by increasing the number of judges. He could make a vast number of new appointments and immediately change all the decisions of the Supreme Court.

The same Biden administration, that was just recently threatening to pack the court, is now objecting to the Israeli government seeking to appoint just two judges to the Supreme Court in its term, which is what these proposals would entail. The political backing of the Biden administration of the protest movement is alarming and hypocritical.

Mr. Jekielek:

There are clearly quite a significant number of people protesting what they believe to be threats to democracy. Are they somehow defining democracy differently? Are they misled? What kind of information are you getting on the ground?

Mr. Kontorovich:

The protestors are a mix of people. Some of them, and you can tell by their slogans, reject the legitimacy of this government, much like the resistance to President Trump. This person, Prime Minister Netanyahu, cannot be prime minister. Hes illegitimate, despite winning election after election. Some of them are seeking to topple the government, which is a legitimate use of protest. But its a farce to pretend its truly about democracy.

Others are alarmed. As weve learned in recent years, fear sells. One side is saying, Democracy is ending. Take to the streets now or you will be living in a fascist state. People dont want to be living in a fascist state. They may worry. Whereas, the other side is saying, We have some reforms that are going to improve the democratic accountability and the democratic functioning of the country.

One is a promise of hope, and the other is fear. Fear, I think, works better. People have mixed views and mixed motives. The opposition leader, Yair Lapid, just lost an election. He wants to preserve a mechanism where his preferred policy results can be mandated, even if he continues to lose elections, and the Supreme Court is such a mechanism.

Mr. Jekielek:

To finish up this topic, where do you see this going?

Mr. Kontorovich:

The government is going to pass a law which simply says that judges are not going to be the judges of who are going to be the judges. Thats all it says, The judges are not going to be the judges of who are the judges. It does not affect judicial independence. Judges would still serve life terms or until their pension. The government would not be able to fire judges. But the nominations for judges would now not be veto-able by the judges themselves.

The Supreme Court in Israel believes that it has authority to decide any issue. It has no notion of political issues or issues that are not legal issues. The Supreme Court will almost certainly be invited immediately to rule on this reform, and its very likely that theyll strike it down. That is to say they will say that a constitutional law change on how they are selected is not legal, and that no one can change how the new judges are picked. In other words, theres simply no ability to check the court.

That would really imperil Israels democracy and lead to a significant constitutional crisis. Most alarming is that many Western leaders, because theyre sympathetic with the general political tenor of the court or hostile to the political tenor of the Netanyahu government, might seek to support the court in this crisis. It would be unthinkable for the Supreme Court if two judges were added to the Supreme Court with some kind of court packing plan.

It would be unthinkable for the court to be able to veto that, because its up to the political branches to decide on the structure of the judiciary. But the Israeli Supreme Court believes it is the guardian of Israeli society and that it has the superior insight into what is democratic. They dont believe theres any barrier to it. Theyre being encouraged to do this even by the opposition.

The question is whether countries like the United States are going to say, Were not getting involved, or whether theyre going to say, You have to respect the ruling of the court. But, of course, the ruling of the court makes them a judge of their own powers, which is fundamentally inimical to checks and balances.

Mr. Jekielek:

Youve said over the last five to six years weve seen quite a bit of dysfunction in Israeli politics. This has had significant implications, not just for Israel. What youre describing is very likely greater dysfunction and growing dysfunction with no clear solution.

Mr. Kontorovich:

Hopefully, the Supreme Court will understand that deciding that they get to be the judges of who is going to be the judges of how you pick the judges would undermine their legitimacy, fundamentally, and that they should not do that. But, in fact, there is a real struggle, and its part of a broader struggle in the West over definitions of democracy.

There are definitions of democracy that essentially mean rules by supposedly enlightened elites, as opposed to democracy in the sense of people voting for things. This is really a clash between notions of popular democracy versus expertise and enlightened rule. Its maybe similar to other things weve seen in recent years, including the COVID issue, which in many ways was a controversy between popular will and bureaucratic mandate.

Mr. Jekielek:

In this vein, I dont know if theres ever been a greater test of whether expertise, in fact, is a good way to govern. We may want to look at this in the future. At least thats what Im thinking.

Mr. Kontorovich:

Youre talking about the COVID lockdowns?

Mr. Jekielek:

Yes. Im talking about all sorts of COVID-related policies.

Mr. Kontorovich:

Its an interesting illustration in the following way. Its completely legitimate, fundamentally necessary and theres no other wayif you have some kind of medical question about how to treat or deal with a virus, the people you will consult with will be doctors, epidemiologists. Maybe theyll all get it wrong, but its hard to think of a better system. But thats about actual narrow medical questions.

When you talk about public policy decisions, those are combinations of medical judgment, how dangerous is this virus, how transmissible is this, with other kinds of values. Those values are political values. Its not unrelated to the Supreme Court issue because, in Israel, the court thinks that questions of how many judges there should be, how many refugees should we take, and what should be the map of the de facto border, are all purely legal questions. Whereas, theyre a mixture of law and mostly policy. In fact, theyre political questions.

The question of should we have a lockdown, even assuming a certain level of dangerousness of the virus, is a policy question, because it weighs one the medical facts to the extent we can determine them, against something completely different, which is values and the value of liberty. No epidemiologist is actually an expert in the value of liberty or can claim to be an expert in the harm caused to people by not being able to work and go to school.

Mr. Jekielek:

There are two other issues that strike me. The first one is that just one group of experts happened to have the megaphone, and another group of experts had very different, but much more scientifically valid perspectives. There is that issue.

Mr. Kontorovich:

We see quite clearly the experts that had the megaphone were the government experts, the experts who were in the government bureaucracy led by and coordinated by the National Institutes of Health. But another lesson that we see here is that experts are not always disinterested simply by virtue of being experts. They can have agendas, and having a PhD does not make you free of politics and free of personal self-interest.

There were things they were trying to achieve, some self-interested, and some out of ideas of how to control a population and what you need to tell people to get them to behave a certain way. It was quite clear that the notion of not telling people exactly what you see as the full truth to ensure a proper outcome was legitimated, which is a kind of paternalistic view, that we can tell people things that may not be exactly right, because its actually better for them in the long run.

With the delegitimization of dissenting views and the centralization of a kind of official science, which came to be known as, the science, its clear that the government experts were wrong or purposely misleading. Again, this is not a fundamental indictment of expertise. We need expertise because we need to know about things that we cannot establish ourselves. But its about who gets the last word on what you do with the information from the experts.

Every specialist deals with a narrow set of things, and there is no neutral or expert way of valuing different kinds of costs. That is to say there is no expert who can tell you, On the one hand, we want to protect old people. On the other hand, theres going to be emotional harm to lots of teenagers. Theres no formula for that. Its a policy preference choice, which is why thats where expertise stops, when youre weighing those kinds of intangibles.

It seems quite clear that they did not significantly consider or weigh emotional harm to children or really to anyone. As a kind of model of cost-benefit regulation, it was not particularly expertly conducted, but you wouldnt expect them to do this. Thats not their job. But thats a reason why the politicians need to be the bosses of the experts, not vice versa, because its impossible. There is no objective or neutral way to integrate multiple different kinds of values.

Mr. Jekielek:

Lets talk about this whole COVID picture. This is something youve written about, especially when it comes to Communist Chinas co-option of the international system. Youre an expert in international law. The Arab/Israeli conflict has been your focus, but youve also looked at what happens in these multilateral international organizations like the UN and, of course, by extension, the WHO.

Theres a huge amount of skepticism about the value of these multilateral organizations right now because, again, they pushed policies which turned out to be quite bad or some of which appeared to be at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party in the case of the WHO early on in the pandemic. Are these international organizations actually doing their job, and is it even possible for them to do it in this type of context?

Mr. Kontorovich:

Its very easy to overstate the harms caused by the World Health Organization, but it is almost impossible to understate the benefits. That is to say, most international bureaucracies, like the WHO, are nothing burgers. That is to say they create an appearance or aura of authoritatively being the central international forum for dealing with something. The United Nations is another example. But theyre really just bureaucracies that are incapable of dealing with significant issues that run into or contradict the interests of nation-states.

Because theyre incapable, it doesnt mean theyre going to cause harm, but they will certainly not do benefit. If one was relying on them to help, that would be a false reliance. To the extent that one has a hope that this World Health Organization is going to monitor China, is going to force China to report somehow, and is going to get to the bottom of this, that is an unrealistic hope from the get-go, which does question the value of these institutions.

A lot of international institutions function reasonably well when you have low stakes and constant things. If were talking about reporting on scarlet fever on an ongoing basis, World Health Organization, I dont know if its the cheapest bureaucratic way to do it. But when you get to things that significantly affect the interest of nation-states, the WHO depends on all these nation-states for their cooperation. The WHO is very heavily funded by China.

We see theyre not going to have a showdown with the nation-states who they depend on for ongoing bureaucratic functioning. Thats going to hurt their institution. The real failing of the World Health Organization was not confronting the Communist Party, and also engaging with them as if they were well-intentioned. Were all looking just to get to the bottom of this. The World Health Organization can only know about China one way, whatever the Communist Party chooses to tell them.

Anyone whos going to rely on the World Health Organizations rubber stamp is not exercising due diligence. One of the disappointing things that came out of the early days of Covid is that I would have thought the American intelligence apparatus would have some kind of effective way of figuring out if some dangerous epidemic is spreading somewhere. But apparently, there was reliance on the World Health Organization. The problem is that nation-states rely on it. You dont have to rely on it.

Mr. Jekielek:

Basically, youre saying, Why have these institutions at all? Its performative.

Mr. Kontorovich:

You can have them for low stakes things.

Mr. Jekielek:

Its a lot of money.

Mr. Kontorovich:

That is to say the money is the least of the problems, compared to the harm that could be caused if you actually rely on them for resolutions on high stakes things. International organizations are bureaucratic and theyre expensive ways of solving anything. With all international institutions, the lesson is how to be able to rely on them for small routine things and not put faith in them for important things.

For example, you can have the International Atomic Energy Agency inspections. Theyre probably useful for double checking that Britain or France has the nuclear weapons stowed correctly. But for monitoring Irans nuclear program, a high-stakes, noncooperative country, it would just be folly to rely upon them.

Mr. Jekielek:

Their main function is to create a veneer of legitimacy for governments that dont deserve it.

Mr. Kontorovich:

That is certainly true of United Nations human rights institutions, which are heavily populated by countries with horrible human rights records, like the PRC [Peoples Republic of China]. It lets them participate in a human rights forum, be treated warmly and receptively, and potentially use those images back home. Here we are voting on a resolution against Israel at the Human Rights Council. This does explain part of the strong anti-Israel bias at the UN.

You have all these dictatorships getting together. They have to vote against someone. Who can they all agree is the lowest common denominator? Israel. It serves as an expiatory distraction function. The United Nations can do treaties about mail or international aviation which serve technical, useful coordinating functions. But on fundamental things that touch upon national sovereignty, its a false hope.

If you simply ignore them and dont take them seriously, then the harm comes from the credulity of those who look to these kinds of institutions for fundamental solutions to problems caused by bad state action. Only other countries can solve that. To stand up to the CCP, you need power. Most countries wouldnt do it. The question isnt that the World Health Organization didnt call out the CCP; neither did the United States, and neither did England.

Thats the fundamental question because the international bureaucracies are unaccountable because they dont have a constituency of their own citizens. Countries are accountable to their citizens. We cant hope for more from the international bureaucracy. We can hope for more from western democracies.

Mr. Jekielek:

You have a point because you could argue the U.S. just copied what the CCP said was the correct response, this kind of draconian response which it instituted. Theres a lot of debate about how much of it was propaganda, and how much of it was real. We certainly saw there was very significant death through all sorts of proxy measures in China early on. Im still trying to figure out what that was, because it didnt seem to be from the virus that actually came out to the West.

Mr. Kontorovich:

There was a panic. Ive studied the history of pandemic response in the United States, and whats extraordinary is that the measures the United States adopted during Covid were not measures that had ever been implemented in any pandemic, including the 1918 Spanish flu, which was significantly more severe in its consequences. The idea of sweeping, prolonged lockdowns was not only never done before, but in plans and strategizing and war gaming out pandemic situations, which the federal government had done extensively, the notion of a global pandemic respiratory virus was not surprising or new.

It had been anticipated and thought about for a really long time, mostly in the context of influenza or maybe a SARS-like event. But the scenario was not surprising, and none of those plans involved lockdowns of this nature. Indeed, the federal pandemic planning document talked about isolation of sick people as being the primary tool. Where did this lockdown response come from? Its impossible to say definitively, but what seems to have happened is that the Chinese government implemented a policy that was not a big stretch for them, being repressive and draconian.

The Western countries where it reached, Italy first, and then the west coast, just copied that response saying, We have their virus. Well have their response. Governor Newsom was the first to implement this in California. Other west coast governors followed immediately and, very quickly, it spread.

Mr. Jekielek:

Youre absolutely right. There were official pandemic plans that were drawn up and tried and tested and used all the way through to today. Lockdowns, from what I recall reading, were looked at, but were never accepted. On the other hand, there was this national security-type wargaming response which had some similar measures that may have also contributed.

With this new pandemic treaty that the WHO is working on, and also these new international health regulations which many countries are subscribing to, they are definitely giving more powers to international bodies. Youre an expert on international law in general. Im not going to ask about these specific documents. Youve also been looking at how international law has been co-opted in dealing with Israel. I know this has been a big focus for you. Please explain to me the value of this. Is this something thats useful? Is this something that we should be trying to build, and how do you actually enforce it if you do?

Mr. Kontorovich:

International law is clearly useful and can be very helpful for certain purposes. The key is knowing for what purposes it can be useful and not placing any kind of broader or ultimate hopes on it. The backlash against international law comes from overly aggressive claims made on its behalf that it will usher in some kind of new world order of countries that follow rules, regardless of their interests, as a kind of global consensus system of public morality. Its not going to be very effective for that.

International law could be useful for lots of little things, deciding jurisdiction over vessels on the high seas, providing background rules of diplomatic immunity, facilitating information sharing, ongoing routine functions, civil aviation, and thousands of uncontroversial contexts. International law is going to be most limited when it seeks to constrain states from doing things that are particularly important to them and their power.

The first thing you have to ask about international law is, What is international law? Where does it come from? International law can only come from nation-states. International law is rules that countries agree to. That is where it comes from, typically in treaties or through some other mechanisms. So there is no supreme authority above countries, and theres no supreme enforcement mechanism.

What does that mean? That means international law will work well in a situation of reciprocity. If you search our ambassadors bag, we can kick out your ambassador. We both have ambassadors. But in highly disparate endgame scenarios, lets say China kicks out the U.S. ambassador. The U.S. can then kick out Chinas ambassador. But lets say China now violates human rights and oppresses a minority. Whats America going to say, Were going to show you, were going to oppress our minority, too? It doesnt work. Theres no logic of reciprocity.

Those kinds of international law ideas are going to be much more aspirational. Theyre not really going to be law. Theyre going to be statements of values and, if one takes them as such, theyre not going to do much harm. But if one places hope in them, then they will ultimately be distracting because there is no mechanism. The United Nations certainly is not going to be the mechanism for making them enforceable.

Mr. Jekielek:

Im thinking of it in the context of harms, like the crimes against humanity and genocide that were developed after World War II. The Chinese Communist Party is very much involved in this.

Mr. Kontorovich:

Simply defining the crime is not going to create the policeman whos going to go enforce it. That requires political will on the part of countries. What weve seen is calling it international crime does not create that political will. If Western countries did not want to create sanctions or consequences on China for creating the COVID disaster, what are the chances that because of international law theyre going to do something about groups in China?

International law is used often as a substitute for direct moral appeals. International law says, is a way of saying things because we dont have a global religion. Were not united by a shared faith. International law might become a proxy for that. It doesnt really work well as a proxy. I think appeals to morality are more honest and effective.

Mr. Jekielek:

We have certainly seen that there doesnt seem to be very strong enforcement mechanisms removing PNTR [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] for China by the U.S. unless they fix some of their human rights problems. That might be a useful tool.

Mr. Kontorovich:

But its not going to come from international law. Its going to come from political will in the individual country. Thats the key. When countries delegate powers to make decisions, those decisions are now out of the hands of democratic processes. That is something to be careful about. Thats why the United States has also not joined the International Criminal Court.

International institutions can be used as a mechanism of insulating political decisions from democracy. Thats why the Obama administration got the Iran deal passed as a security council resolution because thats not something Congress can veto. There was an idea after World War II that it could be a basis for some kind of shared morality, which is still appealing to some, but in fact it is not. Actors like the Chinese Communist Party have a cynical viewpoint. They can sign the treaties and not believe in the ideals.

Mr. Jekielek:

It would be an understatement to say that the international situation right now is fraught. Youre telling me that these international institutions in this context are not going to be helpful.

Mr. Kontorovich:

No, but that just makes it like the entire rest of human history. Theres no genie in a bottle thats going to fly out from the United Nations, whatever organization, and solve all of humanitys problems. We are left with the problems as nation-states. I take a different perspective. We live in an extraordinarily peaceful time by global standards, by standards of militarized conflict. We live in an extraordinarily prosperous time.

What much of the Western world at least is struggling with is more the question of what are its values now that the normal problems of getting food and avoiding being conquered have been taken care of. These are advanced problems, at least.

Mr. Jekielek:

I was told recently by a high-level government official that we might end up voting ourselves into a situation like Venezuela. The Chinese Communist Party has a disregard for basic humanity and is waiting in the shadows to assume the mantle of a global power broker and decision maker.

Mr. Kontorovich:

I agree that the United States does not seem sufficiently prepared or interested in the global challenge posed by a Chinese communist expansion. Thats been seen for a long time already in the South Pacific Sea, which is an area I know well, because it poses lots of international law issues.

China has made some extraordinarily broad territorial claims against most of its neighbors. The premise of this has created these military base islands, which the United States has not been particularly effective at challenging, but which now projects their power deep into the Pacific. At this point, it just seems theyre more interested in winning.

Mr. Jekielek:

That doesnt look good to me.

Mr. Kontorovich:

We just have to get it, but the United States is capable. Its a matter of interest.

Mr. Jekielek:

Any final thoughts as we finish?

Mr. Kontorovich:

On the whole, despite that all we do is talk about problems, they are all surmountable problems. They are more problems of knowing what we want, rather than not being able to get it.

Mr. Jekielek:

Professor Eugene Kontorovich, such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Mr. Kontorovich:

Thank you so much. Great pleasure to be here.

Mr. Jekielek:

Thank you all for joining Professor Eugene Kontorovich and me on this episode of American Thought Leaders. Im your host, Jan Jekielek.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Correction: A previous version of this episode description incorrectly stated the law school at which Eugene Kontorovich teaches. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

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Why Was Australia Allowed to Impose Such Draconian COVID-19 Restrictions?

Commentary

The view that COVID-19 lockdowns were draconian and often tyrannical is gaining strength throughout the world. For example, Human Rights Watch has accused the UK government of setting aside human rights for the sake of political expediency and excoriates it for its worrying disdain for the rule of law.

In Italy, authors Piero Stanig and Gianmarco Daniele have argued that the worst possible thing a government could do during the pandemic when dealing with a highly infectious disease that spreads almost exclusively indoors and targets the elderly is to lock old people up inside their homes  and ban citizens from spending time in arguably the safest place of all: outdoors.

In Australia, the authors of Fault Lines: An independent review into Australias response to COVID-19, published on Oct. 20, 2022, argued that the response failed the nation because too many of Australias lockdowns and border closures were the result of policy failures in quarantine, contact tracing, testing, disease surveillance and communicating effectively the need for preventative measures like mask wearing and social distancing.

Similarly, pondering the fact that Australian governments have failed to make a cost-benefit analysis of lockdowns, Professor Gigi Foster estimates that the cost of lockdowns has been at least 68 times greater than the benefits they delivered.

How could this happen in Australia, which always prided itself on protecting the rights of people?

System of Government

One plausible explanation is that because of the peculiarities of Australias Westminster system, it became possible for the executive to assume quasi-dictatorial powers, which a politicised police force brutally enforced.

Professor Augusto Zimmermann has argued that the concentration of unrestrained political power in the executive is the result of the imperfect implementation of the separation of powers doctrine, according to which power should be divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.

But in Australia, the doctrine only provides for the separation of the judiciary from the executive and legislative branches of government. This is because members of the executive are recruited from the legislature, and, provided they command a majority in parliament, they wield almost unrestricted power.

A general view of a near-empty Sydney Opera House forecourt in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 20, 2021. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

This means, essentially, that the government can do as it pleases because it is backed by a parliament that fails to provide effective parliamentary oversight of executive decisions. Zimmermann fittingly calls this an elective dictatorship.

In addition, the parliament often delegated its legislative power to unelected health administrators who made decisions that dramatically affected the freedoms of people during the pandemic.

Although this delegation diminishes the legislative function of the parliament, the High Court has never restricted the elaboration of what is known as the delegated powers doctrine.

In fact, this doctrine is a logical concomitant of the imperfect implementation of the separation of powers doctrine under a Westminster system because it facilitates the executive to exercise power without adequate parliamentary oversight.

Another reason that partially explains the governments profligacy is the doctrine of the sovereignty of parliament, which enables parliament to adopt any law without the threat that it might be declared null and void by the courts.

Although there is judicial review, this is typically restricted to considering the compatibility of laws with the Constitution. As Australias Constitution does not contain a bill of rights, it is practically impossible to attack the COVID-19 repressive measures on the ground that they violate a constitutional right.

Natural Law Above All

The theory of the sovereignty of parliament is now firmly embedded in the legal system. According to this theory, popularised by the book Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution by Albert Venn Dicey, the rights enjoyed by people emanate from the legislature.

However, Diceys sovereign parliament theory overlooked the views of Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke, who said in Dr. Bonhams case, decided in 1608, that in many cases, the common law will control acts of Parliament, and sometimes adjudge them to be utterly void: for when an Act of Parliament is against common right and reason, or repugnant, or impossible to be performed, the common law will control it and adjudge such act to be void.

N.S.W Police patrol Sydney Park in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 18, 2021. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The idea that rights emanate from the parliament is problematic because it also recognises that a subsequent Parliament can legislate to cancel these rights.

Indeed, it overlooks the fact that rights are enshrined in Australias natural law tradition, which suggests that rights are inalienable, a view the High Court, too seems to have accepted.

For example, in Re Bolton; Ex Parte Beane, Justice Brennan admitted that Many of our fundamental freedoms are guaranteed by ancient principles of the common law or by ancient statutes which are so much of the accepted constitutional framework that their terms, if not their very existence may be overlooked until a case arises which evokes their contemporary and undiminished force.

Justice Deane agreed with this sentiment when he stated that these principles are the fabric of the freedom under the law, which is the prima facie right of every citizen in this land. They represent a bulwark against tyranny.

Peoples natural human rights have thus a historical foundation, which has never been refuted, although it has been obscured in the passage of time.

Therefore, governments should undertake a cost-benefits analysis of the horrible lockdowns and border closures that inflicted so much misery on Australia during the pandemic.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
OAKLAND, California (AP)  Editors Note: Sixteen Alaska Native men were honored this week for rescuing the crew of a U.S. Navy patrol plane shot down over the Bering Strait by Soviet fighter jets nearly 70 years ago. With that belated honor, The Associated Press is republishing its story filed July 3, 1955, from Oakland, California, detailing the arrival of seven of the injured Navy crew members.

____

In cheerful spirits, despite wounds, burns and bandages, seven U.S. fliers whose Navy patrol plane was shot down June 22 by Russian jet fighters over the Bering Sea arrived here today from Anchorage, Alaska.

A huddled group of families and friends watched at Alameda Naval Air Station as the seven stretchers were eased out of their hospital plane shortly before 3 a.m. A woman burst into tears.

She was Mrs. Nellie Janke of Alameda, who had caught sight of her husband, chief electronics technician Elmer R. Janke, swathed heavily in bandages. She rushed forward to greet him.

Aviation machinist mate Thaddeus Maziarz of Oakland propped himself up to greet his wife, Ruth, and 6-year-old daughter Carol, and then gaze long and happily for the first time at his son and namesake, Thad Jr., 5 weeks old

And aviation ordnanceman Martin E. Berg of Alameda, despite hands made clumsy and awkward with bandages, clasped his wife in a hard embrace.

The other arrivals, whose families lived too far way to come, are Ens. David G. Assard, Terryville, Conn.; aviation technician Edward Benko, Chicago; airman technician Charles W. Shields, Clawson, Mich., and aviation ordnanceman Donald E. Sonnek, Minnesota Lake, Minn.

Then the group, part of the 11 whose misadventure in northern seas touched off a diplomatic storm while the United Nations was in session at San Francisco, were loaded onto an ambulance bus for the 10-mile ride to Oak Knoll Hospital in the Oakland foothills.

Ensign Assard talked briefly to newsmen about the details of the unprovoked attack on the Neptune patrol plane flying out of Kodiak Naval Station over international waters between Alaska and Siberia. The U.S. plane managed a forced landing on St. Lawrence Island.

There were two MiGs that attacked us, said Assard. "We know there were two because Sonnek saw them both.

"All of a sudden, I saw bullets. They sprayed the whole fuselage of our plane. Every tracer bullet I saw was hitting something. Three of the crew members got hit. We didn't get a chance to fire back although we had ammunition aboard.

"Our port engine caught fire and Lt. Fischer (Richard H. Fischer of Pittsburgh, Pa., the pilot) said we had to ditch.

"When we landed on St. Lawrence Island the bomb bay exploded and that's when we got burned. The crew was wonderful. We all got out and headed for a gully. Lt. Fischer tried to help us, tending to our wounds.

After about 45 minutes, some Eskimos came after us in a boat from a nearby village. They said they had seen our plane coming in low with smoke coming from it and knew we were in trouble.

Capt. Louis King, the Air Force physician who accompanied the men on the flight from Anchorage, said the men stood the trip well and all are in good condition.

The Russians, through foreign minister V.M. Molotov, expressed regret at the incident and offered to pay half the damges. This fell short of American demands.
These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But one can do better than that by picking better than average stocks (as part of a diversified portfolio). For example, the Oil-Dri Corporation of America (NYSE:ODC) share price is up 42% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market decline of around 12% (not including dividends). That's a solid performance by our standards! The longer term returns have not been as good, with the stock price only 28% higher than it was three years ago.

Since the stock has added US$33m to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

View our latest analysis for Oil-Dri Corporation of America

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During the last year Oil-Dri Corporation of America grew its earnings per share (EPS) by 117%. This EPS growth is significantly higher than the 42% increase in the share price. So it seems like the market has cooled on Oil-Dri Corporation of America, despite the growth. Interesting.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

This free interactive report on Oil-Dri Corporation of America's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Oil-Dri Corporation of America, it has a TSR of 47% for the last 1 year. 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!

Story continues

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Oil-Dri Corporation of America has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 47% in the last twelve months. That's including the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 4% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Oil-Dri Corporation of America better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Oil-Dri Corporation of America , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

We will like Oil-Dri Corporation of America 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 American 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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Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 1, 2023 08:16 23 5fceed71997e5776a1634d25dc3b5f64 4 Inforial Kominfo,ASEAN,telecommunications Free

Indonesia is hosting two high-level conferences in a series of regional forums as part of the 2023 ASEAN Summit.

The first high-level conference is to be held in Labuan Bajo in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), from May 9 to 11 to welcome delegations from the ASEAN member states. For this event, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) is installing both 4G base transceiver stations (BTS) and 5G BTS in Labuan Bajo to support the 2023 ASEAN Summit venues.

Meanwhile, the second high-level conference is to be hosted in September 2023 in Jakarta.

On Friday, March 31, 2023 at Jakarta, Ismail the ministrys post and informatics management director general, said that one of the ministrys missions is to provide telecommunications networks and internet access to ensure the 2023 ASEAN chairmanship runs smoothly.

Ismail said the directorate general was also supporting the 2023 ASEAN Summit with a digital infrastructure network for high-quality communication to ensure its success.

As regards the 2023 ASEAN Summit [meetings] in May 2023, Kominfo has ensured a credible infrastructure of telecommunications networks in the vicinity of Labuan Bajo. Ranging from an FO [fiber optic] network of 3,773.73 kilometers and ODPs [optical distribution points] deployed at 2,055 locations, it is also supplemented by 1,635 4G BTS and three 5G BTS, he elaboraged.

To fulfill its commitment to providing high-quality communication as part of its contribution to this years Indonesian chairmanship, themed ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth, the ministry will also continue to monitor the quality of local cellular networks.

Ismail also stressed the importance of maintaining the telecommunications monitoring center to support the 2023 ASEAN Summit and related events.

Furthermore, Indonesian telecommunications providers have embraced their preparations in support of the summit. In particular, state-owned Telkom Group has expanded its services for the regional event by providing its Compact Mobile (Combat) BTS units and installing upgrades to its existing services in Golo Mori village and Labuan Bajo.

Ismail also expressed his optimism that, while the BTS upgrades to date were still at a completion rate of 44.7 percent, he was certain that the project would be finished by April in time for the first high-level conference in early May.

Topics : Kominfo ASEAN telecommunications
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Linkedin Sheena Suparman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 1, 2023 08:09 23 91bd6e1d1220161ebde1a4c1fa5e04c8 4 Economy ASEAN Free

Bearing the theme of ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth, Indonesia continues to promote the regions relevancy to the world as a strategic investment partner for the future.

The coordinator of the Indonesian SDGs Secretariat expert, Yanuar Nugroho, delivered a speech in the Second ASEAN Ministerial Dialogue on Accelerating Actions to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangkok on Friday.

"This is implemented with a strategy of maintaining ASEAN centrality, through a strong capacity to anticipate and respond to future challenges. The next strategy is to maintain regional strength as a driver of global economic growth, Yanuar said.

The forum was also attended by the senior official meeting team on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication from the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry: Ivanovich Agusta, Fince Decima Hasibuan, Theresia Junidar, Sudarti, Minarni Marbun and Yoga Sidharta.

Indonesias chairmanship is expected to produce a Declaration of State Leaders regarding ASEAN as the Epicenter of Growth to be produced at the 43rd ASEAN Summit, highlighting priorities to tackle during the leadership term. Among the main priorities are to strengthen health architecture; to safeguard food security, including smoothly functioning supply chains and trade facilitation; to improve energy security, supporting the energy transition to clean and renewable energy, including the development of an electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem in the region; and to fortify financial stability in the face of external shocks.

In the sociocultural dimension, the Epicentrum of Growth is translated into five main priorities, namely health, village development, workers, environment and inclusive development, said Ivanovich.

"Indonesia will concretely realize specific areas of cooperation to support economic growth in the region. Among them are developing regional electric vehicle ecosystems, strengthening food security, increasing the use of Local Currency Transactions (LCT) and Payment Connectivity, strengthening ASEAN cooperation, cooperation on the protection of migrant workers and cooperation on the One Health initiative, Yanuar further explained.

Ivanovich elaborated the act of cooperation would be realized in the formation of a village network, which contains a commitment to synergy in village development in ASEAN countries, so that it can contribute to the development of the community, and the achievement of the global and regional development agenda as a whole. It is hoped the partnership that will be fostered in the region will build trust and convey a message of a paradigm shift from competition to inclusive collaboration.

To implement this cooperation, Indonesia will organize a series of flagship events under the umbrella of the ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum. Among them are the creative economy forums, youth dialogue on digital development for SDGs, infrastructure forums and the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

The aforementioned forums will focus on fundamental issues of infrastructure development in the Asia-Pacific to support economic growth, highlighting connectivity, digital and green infrastructure and infrastructure financing, among other topics.

This article was published in collaboration with Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration

Topics : ASEAN
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Linkedin A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 1, 2023

Despite Western countries push to restrict the TikTok social media platform over data and national security concerns, cybersecurity analysts suggest that Indonesia should not immediately jump on the bandwagon but instead look to guarantee Indonesias data security.

Last Thursday, the United States Congress grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over Chinas allegedly wide-ranging influence over the platform, during which Chew denied that the app shares data or has connections with the Chinese Communist Party.

Some 20 US senators have also backed bipartisan legislation forging a path for US President Joe Bidens administration to ban TikTok on national security grounds, news agencies have reported.

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Linkedin Becky Davis (Agence France-Presse) Tianjin, China  Thu, November 16, 2017 18:52 1985 1f87594453bb792833e1ece3a2967ffa 2 Books library,Book,#books,China,Tianjin-Binhai-Library Free

A futuristic Chinese library has wowed book lovers around the world with its white, undulating shelves rising from floor to ceiling, but if you read between the lines you'll find something is missing.

Those rows upon rows of book spines are mostly images printed on the aluminium plates that make up the backs of the shelves.

Pictures of the sleek Tianjin Binhai Library have gone viral on Chinese social media and abroad since its opening last month, with headlines trumpeting it as the "world's best library" and a "book lover's dream".

On weekends, an average of 15,000 visitors flock to the six-storey space in the eastern port city of Tianjin.

Designed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, the building looks like an eye when viewed from the still unfinished park outside, with a spherical auditorium as the iris at its centre.

The library contains 200,000 books and it has grand ambitions to grow its collection to 1.2 million.

But readers expecting to pluck tomes from most of the terraced shelves are in for a surprise. Most books are in other rooms with more classic library bookshelves.

"There's quite a big difference between the photos and reality," said Jiang Xue, a 21-year-old medical student left perusing one of the more robustly stocked sections: propaganda about the ruling Communist Party's recent congress.

Read also: Jakpost guide to the National Library of Indonesia

'Give it a soul'

A futuristic Chinese library has wowed book lovers around the world with its white, undulating shelves rising from floor to ceiling, but if you read between the lines you'll spot one problem. (AFP/Fred Dufour)

An essential part of the original concept was for the upper bookshelves to be accessible via rooms placed behind the atrium, MVRDV told AFP, but a fast-tracked construction schedule forced them to drop the idea.

The decision was made "locally and against the MVRDV's wishes," its spokeswoman Zhou Shuting said.

But Liu Xiufeng, the library's deputy director, blamed the design for putting them in a bind.

Liu said the plan finally approved by authorities stated that the atrium would be used for circulation, sitting, reading, and discussion, but omitted a request to store books on shelves.

"We can only use the hall for the purposes for which it has been approved, so we cannot use it as a place to put books," Liu laughed, adding that they would likely soon have to remove all those temporarily on display.

There's another quirk: The irregular white stairs have proven hazardous for selfie-snappers with eyes glued down to their phones or up at the stylish ceiling.

"People trip a lot. Last week an old lady slipped and hit her head hard. There was blood," said one guard, who yells warnings at visitors.

China is notorious for building astronomically expensive cultural facilities that open to great fanfare, only to end up standing empty without concerts or programming to fill them.

Those rows upon rows of book spines are mostly images printed on the aluminium plates that make up the backs of shelves. (AFP/Fred Dufour)

It is also no stranger to controversy over book faking.

Last month, Beijing's Liyuan Library, a non-profit space internationally recognised for its beautiful wooden reading spaces and design, suspended operations after its books were found to contain pirated and explicit content.

But the Binhai library's viral image has boosted readership, with checkouts quadrupling since the opening.

The children's rooms downstairs bustled with families flipping through illustrated stories.

"The architecture they completed is like a newborn infant delivered into our hands. Now it's up to us to give it a soul," said Liu.

Read also: World's largest library on Indonesia opens in Leiden

'I don't touch real books'

Building membership, however, may prove a challenge for Liu in a country where readers increasingly flip through novels on smartphone apps.

The popularity of reading apps has led to a boom in online publishing.

Shares in China Literature -- the country's biggest player in the business, comparable to Amazon's Kindle Store -- shot up more than 60 percent on their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange last week, after raising $1.1 billion in an IPO.

Yuan Jiwen, an e-commerce major fond of online novels set in the Three Kingdoms period, held an unread paperback like a prop as he people-watched in the atrium.

"I don't usually touch real books," he said. "But it feels appropriate to be holding one here."
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Linkedin Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee (Reuters) (The Jakarta Post) Taipei  Sat, April 1 2023

Nine Chinese aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line on Friday carrying out combat readiness patrols, Taiwan's defense ministry said, days after Beijing threatened retaliation if President Tsai Ing-wen meets United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory despite the strong objections of the island's government, has been angered by what it sees as stepped-up US support for Taiwan.

Tsai arrived in the US on Wednesday, stopping off on her way to Central America.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, April 2 2023

The Defense Ministrys Research and Development Agency (Balitbang) conducted a series of functionality tests on the prototype IFAR 22 assault rifle at its laboratory in Batujajar district, West Bandung regency, West Java, private arms maker PT Republik Armamen Industri said in a statement on March 24.

The company said IFAR 22 was its first bullpup assault rifle, which uses a gas piston system with a weight of 3.6 kilogram for rifle with 16-inch barrel and 3.7 kg for 20-inch barrel with a caliber of 5.56mm.

Bullpup refers to a firearm configuration where the mechanism and magazine are located behind the trigger, as opposed to in front of the trigger in conventional configuration.

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Linkedin Aditi Shah and Tim Hepher (Reuters) New Delhi  Sat, April 1, 2023 12:17 23 91bd6e1d1220161ebde1a4c1fa611b32 2 Asia and Pacific India,aviation,aviation-industry Free

Air India, until recently tied to an antiquated manual pricing system when setting airfares, is shifting to algorithm-based software long used by rivals to help it squeeze out more revenue from each flight.

In another sign of the formerly government-owned carrier's whirlwind transformation under its new owner Tata Group, Air India is testing ChatGPT, OpenAI's popular chatbot, to replace paper-based practices.

The push to modernise underscores the decay left by years of under-investment as Air India looks to shed decades-old bureaucratic processes and recapture customers from Dubai's Emirates and powerful domestic rival IndiGo INGL.NS.

"Frankly the system is almost so bad it's good," Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson told Indian airline executives last week, adding that this offered the chance to start from scratch rather than "jury-rig" existing architecture.

Air India is not only reworking every aspect of operations - from systems to supply chains - but integrating four Tata-related airlines, with Air India due to merge with Vistara while low-cost Air India Express and AirAsia India also converge.

Some areas, such as technology, allow for a clean-sheet approach, the 52-year-old New Zealander said, which is why he is putting artificial intelligence (AI) and other tools at the centre of Air India's reboot.

Modern "revenue management" software aims to stay one step ahead of demand, continuously anticipating where people want to go and how much each individual flyer is prepared to pay, rather than the old method of having one fare for each block of seats.

The result is higher revenue per flight, making it low-hanging fruit in the company's transformation.

Fixing the fleet

Wilson faces a tangle of fleets and staff as daunting as Delhi's zig-zagging traffic, leaving the airline's path to profit strewn with obstacles.

"Complexity is the curse of airlines," said Keith McMullan, partner at UK-based consultancy Aviation Strategy, who has experience in the Indian market.

"What they are saying is absolutely right - they should go back to a blank piece of paper, but saying it and actually doing it are two very different things," he said. "The danger is that you keep on fighting legacy-related fires."

Air India's success is critical for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which wants to harness its scale and reach to turn India into a global aviation force like Dubai or Singapore.

Wilson's immediate game plan is to tackle pressing problems to get idle planes flying before Air India starts receiving the 470 jets ordered in a record deal last month.

For instance, it is working with Tata Technologies to build locally some plastic components for economy-class seats instead of waiting for suppliers to deliver the obsolete parts.

And it is grabbing what planes it can find on lease while reworking its network strategy to attract Indians overseas.

Any inconsistencies can be ironed out as the turnaround gathers momentum, Wilson said in an interview on the sidelines of the CAPA India conference last week.

"This is a transformation as well as a startup," said Wilson who was appointed to lead the turnaround last year by Tata after it regained control of the carrier.

"In a startup, you just do what you need to do to get going and then you refine along the way," he told Reuters, drawing from this experience of being the founding chief of Singapore Airlines' SIAL.SI budget carrier Scoot.

But he said a clean-sheet approach cannot and should not be applied everywhere.

Merger challenges

Analysts say Wilson's staggered turnaround plans will be severely tested as Air India executes the twin mergers.

Airline mergers in India have had little success with Air India still hobbled by the botched integration of Indian Airlines in 2007. Jet Airways' takeover of Sahara and Kingfisher's merger with Air Deccan hurt them for years.

Jet and Kingfisher are now bankrupt.

Air India's planes are already a mix of Airbus AIR.PA and Boeing BA.N jets with multiple cabin configurations. This will be further complicated when it absorbs the new carriers.

"Managing mixed fleets is a nightmare and given a choice no airline would want to do it," Vinod Kannan, chief executive of Tata-Singapore Airlines joint-venture Vistara, told Reuters.

Once an inspiration for Singapore Airlines, Air India is now far behind, especially on service and punctuality - areas it must improve swiftly if it wants to reclaim share from the Gulf carriers, who carry most of India's international traffic.

There are some early signs of success: Air India's international traffic was up 28 percent in the Oct-Dec quarter versus April-June and its domestic share rose to 9 percent at the end of February from 7.5 percent in mid-2022, according to government data.

Those figures should jump significantly when Air India combines with Vistara, but that deal brings new challenges.

"You can get everything right but the people and the culture ... it is not easy to get that right," Kannan said during an interview at Vistara's office near Delhi where the average age of staff is 29 years.

At Air India it is 50-plus.

"The intent is very much there," Kannan said of the combination, due to be completed by March 2024. "It's now just a matter of execution, which is not easy, but we'll get there."
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Linkedin Cassandra Garrison (Reuters) Mexico City  Sat, April 1, 2023 10:12 23 91bd6e1d1220161ebde1a4c1fa5faf6f 2 Americas Climate-Politics,environment,climate-change,Science-Technology,Climate-Policy-and-Regulation Free

On an April day, the founder of a US startup called Make Sunsets stood outside a camper van in Mexicos Baja California and released two weather balloons containing sulfur dioxide into the air, letting them float towards the stratosphere.

Entrepreneur Luke Iseman said the sulfur dioxide in the balloons would deflect sunlight and cool the atmosphere, a controversial climate strategy known as solar geoengineering. Mexico said the launch violated its national sovereignty.

Iseman, 39, said he does not know what happened to the balloons. But the unauthorized release, which became public in January, has already had an impact: setting off a series of responses that could set the rules for future study of geoengineering, especially by private companies, in Mexico and around the world.

The Mexican government told Reuters it is now actively drafting new regulations and standards to prohibit solar geoengineering inside the country. Mexico also plans to rally other countries to ban the climate strategy, a senior government official told Reuters.

While the Mexican government announced its intention to ban solar geoengineering in January, its current actions and plans to discuss geoengineering bans with other countries have not been previously reported.

"Progress is being made... to prepare the new regulations and norms on geoengineering, that is, to advance an official Mexican standard that prohibits said activity in the national territory," Mexicos environment ministry said in a written statement to Reuters.

The backlash from Mexico arrives as growing numbers of scientists and policy makers are urging further study of solar geoengineering, recognizing that emissions cuts alone will not limit dangerous climate change and that additional innovations may be needed.

Global geoengineering ban

Climate policy experts said Mexico is in a position to help set the rules for future geoengineering research.

A country like Mexico could start pulling together other countries and say: Lets work on this together and see how we can ban it together or make it happen properly together, said Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), which advises on governance of solar geoengineering and other climate-altering technologies.

The Mexican environment ministry statement said it would explore using the Convention on Biological Diversity's call for a moratorium on climate-related geoengineering activities to enforce its ban.

Agustin Avila, a senior environment ministry official, told Reuters Mexico will also try to find common ground with other countries on geoengineering at the COP global climate summit in the United Arab Emirates this year.

The Mexican government said Make Sunsets balloon launch highlighted the ethical problems of allowing private companies to conduct geoengineering events.

"Why is this company, located in the United States, coming to do experiments in Mexico and not in the United States?" said Avila.

Iseman told Reuters in an email he chose Mexico because "most researchers report that particles launched into the stratosphere near the tropics will create more cooling by staying up longer." Also, he had a truck and camper in Baja and thinks the region is beautiful, he wrote.

David Keith, a professor of applied physics and public policy at Harvard University who has dedicated much of his research to solar geoengineering, called Iseman's launch a "stunt."

Iseman has a background in business, not science, but said he consulted with climate scientists. Other innovative startups were ridiculed in their early days, he said. "If the 'responsible experts' were solving the problem, we wouldn't have to," he said in an email.

Until Mexico's dispute with Make Sunsets, solar geoengineering had been gaining attention from policy makers and scientists as a possible solution to climate change, and limited research funding.

The strategy, also known as Solar Radiation Management, seeks to mimic the natural cooling effects of volcanic eruptions when ash clouds reflect back enough sunlight to reduce the warming of the earth by using planes or balloons to disperse tiny particles in the stratosphere.

Last month, 60 scientists including former NASA climate scientist James Hansen signed a letter in support of further research.

The Degrees Initiative, a UK-based non-government group, awarded $900,000 for research into the impacts of solar geoengineering on weather patterns, wildlife and glaciers to scientists from Chile, India, Nigeria and other countries.

The UN Environment Program in late February also recommended further study of geoengineering.

Yet some scientists remain opposed to further research, arguing that large-scale interventions in the atmosphere risk triggering extreme and unpredictable weather changes, including major droughts that would severely impact agriculture and food supply.

In 2021, the Swedish government grounded a Harvard-led study by Frank Keutsch and Keith, which planned to spray calcium carbonate dust into the atmosphere to deflect sunlight after indigenous Saami people accused researchers of lacking respect for "Mother Earth."

Frances Beinecke, a veteran environmental activist and board member of the Climate Overshoot Commission, a think tank focused on developing strategies to reduce the risk of overshooting 1.5 C in warming, said the Make Sunsets episode underscores the urgency of developing a regulatory framework that would allow further study of geoengineering and set safe and equitable rules for its use.

The Mexico example illustrated to us that its not only governance to consider whether or not to utilize it, but you need governance in the research phase, she said. People cant just go all over the world and launch field experiments without some kind of oversight.

Iseman said he would welcome clearer regulation but that the international community is moving "too slowly."

Mexico has not set a date for implementing its ban, a spokeswoman for the environmental ministry said.

And it's unclear what effect a ban might have. Keith argues a ban is unenforceable. "You can't write legislation that says you can't put sulfur in the stratosphere since every commercial flight does that," he told Reuters.

Others note that a ban on geoengineering on Mexico's territory would offer no protection from the planet-scale impact of future experiments by any of its neighbors.

It could happen literally next door. In terms of impacts on the world, it's the same," Pasztor said

Meanwhile, Make Sunsets said in a Feb. 21 blog post it had performed three additional launches near Reno, Nevada.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Make Sunsets did not report the launches. "The Weather Modification Act requires that any activity performed with the intention of producing artificial changes in the composition, behavior, or dynamics of the atmosphere be reported to the NOAA Weather Program Office before the commencement of such project or activity," NOAA told Reuters.

Iseman said he did seek clearance from the Federal Aviation Authority, but did not disclose the balloons contained sulfur dioxide. "As far as I can tell, there isn't any rule that would require us to do so - or even anyone who it would be relevant to notify," he said.
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Linkedin Reuters New York, US  Sat, April 1, 2023 08:31 23 d5259e4d93052b0e76bee70b0539cd1e 2 Americas Donald-Trump,Stormy-Daniels Free

Former President Donald Trump will not be handcuffed when he surrenders next week in New York to face criminal charges, his defense lawyer Joe Tacopina said on Friday.

Susan Necheles, another Trump attorney, said the former president will plead not guilty.

Tacopina said, while Trump was not expected to be cuffed, he likely would be fingerprinted and undergo other routine protocols when going to court on Tuesday to face charges in an indictment handed down by a grand jury probing a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

"I don't know how all this is going to go down," Tacopina cautioned in an interview. "There's no textbook to see how you arraign a former president of the United States in criminal court."

Necheles declined to comment on details of the surrender.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tacopina said Trump and his defense team were surprised by news of the indictment.

"Initially we were all shocked. Didn't believe they were actually going to go through with this because there's no crime here," Tacopina said.
In just shy of two weeks, if all goes to plan, Ethereums eagerly anticipated Shanghai upgrade will go live, enabling the withdrawal of staked ETH from the blockchain network and effectively completing its years-long transition to proof of stake.

Since December 2020, when Ethereum began that journey to a proof-of-stake modelin which users stake cryptocurrency with a network to validate on-chain transactions, and then are rewarded for that participation with newly generated cryptocurrencynetwork participants have deposited over $32.95 billion worth of ETH with the network.

In September, Ethereums merge event successfully upgraded the networks mainnet to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, forever changing the way Ethereum transactions are processed and reducing the networks carbon footprint by 99%, according to figures from the Ethereum Foundation.

But the merge did not grant stakers on the network the ability to withdraw deposited ETH or the rewards generated by those deposits. Those funds remain captive on Ethereum; Shanghai will finally, after over two years, make them accessible.

On April 12, at 11:27 pm UTC, Shanghai will activate. What will that seismic moment in Ethereums history mean for the network, for its participants, and for the broader crypto ecosystem?

ETH better have my money

As a technical matter, Shanghai will be less involved than one might expect. The vast majority of Ethereum stakers, who have deposited their ETH with the network through intermediaries like Lido and Coinbase, wont need to do anything on their ends once Shanghai goes livebesides wait.

Staked ETH, and the rewards generated by those funds, will be made available for withdrawal by intermediaries at varying dates following Shanghais successful implementation. Lido, the largest ETH staking intermediary, recently announced that such capability will be introduced about a month after the upgrade, after a series of audits and safety checks.

Story continues

Coinbase, meanwhile, has not offered a firm timetable for rolling out staked ETH withdrawals, saying the process could take up to several months for some customers. All Ethereum network participants staking via third parties should check with those companies as to when their funds will be made available.

For the smaller number of independent validators who have staked directly with Ethereum (that pool is smaller because Ethereum requires validators to deposit at least 32 ETH, or just over $58,000 at writing, to stake with the network), matters will be only slightly more hands-on.

Validators must first provide a withdrawal address for staked funds to be sent to; typically, most validators already submitted that address during the staking deposit process. Once a withdrawal address has been submitted to Ethereum, it cannot be changed.

Validators can then opt for either a partial or full withdrawal. A partial withdrawal will send all funds and rewards generated beyond the minimum deposit amount of 32 ETH to a validators withdrawal address. If a validators withdrawal credentials are updated, then partial withdrawals will be sent to their withdrawal address automatically.

Independent stakers can also opt for a full withdrawal, which removes a users full stake, including original deposits of 32 ETH, from Ethereum, ending a validators participation in the transaction validation process. To fully withdraw from Ethereums staking process, a validator need only send a single exit message to the network using their validator keys and validator client.

Partial and full withdrawals will be processed in the order they are received by the network; based on the expected amount of traffic to come immediately following Shanghais implementation, that initial queue could last up to 2 to 3 days.

What will Shanghai mean for the Ethereum ecosystem?

While Shanghai will certainly be a notable event for individual stakers, and carries great symbolic significance as the culmination of Ethereums transformation to a functional proof-of-stake network, the upgrade will not meaningfully change the way that users interact with Ethereum, nor the underlying economics of the network itself.

Most people have been able to sell [staked ETH] for quite some time, because the majority of ETH is being staked through platforms with liquid staking tokens, like Lido or Rocket Pool, Jacob Cantele, head of product at Ethereum layer-2 Mantle, told Decrypt. So I don't actually think [Shanghai] represents a major shift in the economics of Ethereum.

The vast majority of ETH staked with Ethereum has, up to this point, been deposited with the network via third-party intermediaries, including staking pools like Lido, Rocket Pool, and Stakefish, as well as centralized crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance. This is largely due to the fact, as mentioned above, that an individual validator must possess 32 ETH, or just over $58,000 at writing, to stake directly with Ethereum. Intermediary staking services generally allow for ETH deposits of any amount, in exchange for a small service fee.

Many of those intermediaries have issued tokens representing staked ETH to their customers, meaning that a sizable portion of the capital supposedly held captive in Ethereums staking deposit contract has been traveling freely around the crypto ecosystem for years. And with Ethereums internal mechanisms fully converted to proof of stake since September, the network looks poised to chug along post-Shanghai without much noticeable difference.

Shanghais very exciting, but I do think it's just another step in the progression forward, Alison Mangiero, executive director of Proof of Stake Alliance, an advocacy group for proof-of-stake blockchain networks like Ethereum, told Decrypt.

What will Shanghai mean for the broader crypto climate?

But whereas matters within Ethereum appear likely to look largely unchanged following Shanghai, the political landscape beyond the networks virtual borders may be much more substantially impacted by the upgrade.

In the last year, and particularly since the stunning collapse of crypto exchange FTX in November, American regulators have cracked down heavily on crypto companies, most recently those offering staking services. In February, the SEC hit centralized crypto exchange Kraken with a $30 million fine, alleging the companys intermediary staking services constituted illegal securities offerings.

Kraken competitors like Coinbase took the opportunity to clarify that their own staking services did not determine rates of return on staked deposits in-house, as Krakens had, and therefore should not be considered yield products. Last week, regardless, the SEC issued Coinbase with a Wells Notice, alleging that companys staking services also constitute unregistered securities. Such a notice indicates that an enforcement action in the form of a lawsuit from the SEC is likely forth-coming.

SEC Warns Coinbase of Enforcement Over Its Staking Rewards Products

Shanghais implementation alone may not immediately change the calculus of the SECs escalating war with staking intermediaries. But it could place another, much larger staking-related target in the federal agencys crosshairs: Ethereum itself.

The very day the merge successfully transitioned Ethereum to proof of stake in September, SEC chair Gary Gensler, according to the Wall Street Journal, told reporters that proof of stake networks could be considered securities offerings due to their rewards mechanisms, all-but calling out Ethereum by name. Since that date, Gensler has slowly but surely built the case that ETH is likely a security, primarily by suggesting that only Bitcoin is a commodity.

It is possible that the SECwhich has long-defined investment contracts, a type of security, as investments made with an expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of othersmight use the implementation of Shanghai as evidence of the fulfillment of a securities arrangement between ETH stakers and the core Ethereum team that implemented the upgrade.

People aren't going to get the [Ethereum] that they've earned as staking rewards, unless the Shanghai upgrade is successful, Michael Selig, an attorney specializing in crypto regulation, who previously worked for the CFTC, told Decrypt. Who's coordinating that? The SEC might have a list of people. Its the essential efforts being performed by these guys to make it happen.

While Selig adamantly believes such a move on the SECs part would constitute a misinterpretation of securities law, particularly given the decentralization of the Ethereum core development team, he fears it may be a path forward to censoring the Ethereum network as a whole.

Ethereum Is One Step Away From Staked ETH Withdrawals

What do they have to say? Look, these are investment contracts, and heres evidence that theres management or efforts being made by certain people, Selig said.

Such an argument would not likely be made until withdrawals are enabled on Ethereum, and the theoretical contract between Ethereum and its users is fulfilled. Should the Shanghai upgrade failan unlikely scenario, given the diligence and track record of Ethereums core developersthe SEC would have an even better case, arguing on behalf of swarms of disgruntled stakers that the network failed to fulfill its end of an investment bargain.

It remains to be seen whether the SECs appetite for crypto regulation might have grown so large as to attempt to snuff out one of the linchpins of the entire blockchain ecosystem. But whereas April 12the date of Shanghais implementationwill remain a largely symbolic milestone within the crypto industry, symbolism can often have much more tangible repercussions in the realm of politics.
Photo: The scene on Grand Street on a recent weekend afternoon.

Lower East Side news from the past week:

Three years after the pandemic begun, there has been some recovery in Chinatown, but the long ordeal showed that many of the institutions and small businesses that make the neighborhood special are very precarious. [Eater]

A new commercial needs assessment was recently released, providing new information about the challenges facing small businesses and the community at large. [NYC.gov]

A staffer in City Council member Christopher Martes office will stay on the job after he left profanity-laced voicemails for one of the Chinese language medias best known reporters. [Politico]

UPDATE Sunday evening the Daily News reported that the aide, Steven Wong, has resigned.

City Council member Carlina Rivera released a statement about efforts to address various needs at Tompkins Square Park. [EV Grieve]

An exit interview with Ariel Palitz, the former Lower East Side club owner who went on to become NYCs first nightlife mayor. [The New York Times]

Veselka has big expansion plans, with new outposts planned in Williamsburg and at Grand Central Station. [New York Post]

From The New York Times, a video profile of Fong On, New York Citys oldest family-run tofu shop. [YouTube]
Eudaimonia Advisors LLC cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,164 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 542 shares during the period. Eudaimonia Advisors LLCs holdings in Bank of America were worth $767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 60.0% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 103,645,596 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,130,177,000 after acquiring an additional 38,870,780 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,356.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,390,322 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $615,788,000 after acquiring an additional 18,990,473 shares in the last quarter. Snider Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 9,477.3% in the first quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 14,448,357 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $5,956,000 after acquiring an additional 14,297,496 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3,474.6% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,658,881 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $480,579,000 after acquiring an additional 11,332,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $395,481,000. 68.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $3,600,200.58. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 319,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,959,648.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 214,745 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.91, for a total value of $7,711,492.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 214,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,711,564.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Matthew M. Koder sold 105,054 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $3,600,200.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 319,803 shares in the company, valued at $10,959,648.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.1 %

BAC stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.60. The company had a trading volume of 56,482,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 95,401,816. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $26.32 and a 1 year high of $44.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $228.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.66.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC  Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $24.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.17 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 23.93% and a return on equity of 11.41%. The companys revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio is currently 27.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Bank of America from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Atlantic Securities cut shares of Bank of America from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $44.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.28.

Bank of America Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BAC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC  Get Rating).

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Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR  Get Rating) CAO Michele M. Meyers sold 7,438 shares of Coursera stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.88, for a total transaction of $80,925.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 259,291 shares in the company, valued at $2,821,086.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Coursera Trading Up 6.9 %

NYSE:COUR opened at $11.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.52 and a beta of 1.77. The companys 50-day moving average is $12.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.61. Coursera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.81 and a 12-month high of $24.01.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Coursera by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 312,725 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,205,000 after acquiring an additional 2,907 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of Coursera during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,214,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Coursera by 55.4% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 40,863 shares of the companys stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 14,570 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Coursera by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 71,452 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Coursera by 45.7% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 13,892 shares of the companys stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 4,357 shares during the last quarter. 62.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

About Coursera

Several equities analysts have issued reports on COUR shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Coursera from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Coursera in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Truist Financial cut shares of Coursera from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $17.50 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Coursera from $40.00 to $30.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Coursera from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $17.50.

(Get Rating)

Coursera, Inc operates an online educational content platform that connects learners, educators, organizations, and institutions. It offers online courses that include data science, business, computer science, information technology, health, social sciences, logic, project management, and digital marketing services; campus student plans; degree courses; and certification education.

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Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of Direct Line Insurance Group (LON:DLG  Get Rating) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a GBX 180 ($2.21) price target on the stock.

DLG has been the topic of several other reports. Berenberg Bank restated a hold rating and set a GBX 159 ($1.95) target price on shares of Direct Line Insurance Group in a report on Monday, February 27th. Numis Securities restated a hold rating and set a GBX 170 ($2.09) target price on shares of Direct Line Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Direct Line Insurance Group from GBX 190 ($2.33) to GBX 180 ($2.21) and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a hold rating and issued a GBX 180 ($2.21) price objective on shares of Direct Line Insurance Group in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Finally, Shore Capital decreased their price objective on Direct Line Insurance Group from GBX 160 ($1.97) to GBX 159 ($1.95) and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 197.40 ($2.43).

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Direct Line Insurance Group Price Performance

LON:DLG opened at GBX 137.50 ($1.69) on Tuesday. Direct Line Insurance Group has a 12 month low of GBX 133.29 ($1.64) and a 12 month high of GBX 279.50 ($3.43). The stock has a 50 day moving average of GBX 169.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 192.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.83. The firm has a market cap of 1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -3,437.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.35.

About Direct Line Insurance Group

Direct Line Insurance Group plc provides general insurance products and services in the United Kingdom. The company operates through Motor, Home, Rescue and Other Personal Lines, and Commercial segments. It offers motor, home, rescue, travel, creditor, and pet insurance products, as well as insurance for mid-to-high-net worth customers; and commercial insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises.

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Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 463 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLCs holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $2,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 28.0% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 219,534 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $15,607,000 after buying an additional 47,993 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 1.6% during the third quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 295,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $21,005,000 after buying an additional 4,778 shares during the period. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.2% during the third quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Advocate Group LLC grew its position in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 9.0% during the third quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 97,286 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $6,916,000 after buying an additional 7,998 shares during the period. Finally, Columbia Asset Management acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb during the second quarter valued at $495,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.51% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. They issued an overweight rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Atlantic Securities lifted their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $79.69.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Trading Up 1.6 %

BMY stock traded up $1.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.31. 8,953,242 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,381,778. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.79. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1 year low of $65.28 and a 1 year high of $81.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.46.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.11. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 13.71% and a return on equity of 51.60%. The company had revenue of $11.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Bristol-Myers Squibbs quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bristol-Myers Squibb news, CEO Giovanni Caforio sold 240,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.65, for a total value of $17,916,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 236,104 shares of the companys stock, valued at $17,625,163.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Ann Powell sold 11,183 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $835,258.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,043 shares in the company, valued at $1,721,081.67. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Giovanni Caforio sold 240,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.65, for a total value of $17,916,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 236,104 shares in the company, valued at $17,625,163.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

(Get Rating)

Bristol Myers Squibb Co engages in the discovery, development, licensing, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of biopharmaceutical products. It offers chemically-synthesized drugs or small molecules and products produced from biological processes called biologics. The company was founded in August 1933 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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Spartan Fund Management Inc. raised its stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA  Get Rating) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 135,600 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 15,500 shares during the period. Spartan Fund Management Inc.s holdings in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 1,232.2% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,677 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 3,401 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 555.6% during the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,900 shares of the companys stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries by 213.8% during the 3rd quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 6,678 shares of the companys stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors own 50.39% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

TEVA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $10.75.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:TEVA traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $8.85. The stock had a trading volume of 5,362,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,209,138. The businesss 50 day moving average is $9.69 and its 200 day moving average is $9.22. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited has a fifty-two week low of $6.78 and a fifty-two week high of $11.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.90 billion. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had a negative net margin of 15.76% and a positive return on equity of 28.06%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Teva Pharmaceutical Industries news, VP David Matthew Stark sold 16,491 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.93, for a total transaction of $163,755.63. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 52,449 shares in the company, valued at $520,818.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Teva Pharmaceutical Industries news, EVP Sven Dethlefs sold 59,655 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.89, for a total value of $589,987.95. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 165,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,635,618.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Matthew Stark sold 16,491 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.93, for a total transaction of $163,755.63. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 52,449 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $520,818.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 158,884 shares of company stock valued at $1,572,797 over the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. engages in the development, production, and sale of medicines. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, Europe, and International Markets. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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York Traditions Bank (OTCMKTS:YRKB  Get Rating)s share price traded down 2.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $17.60 and last traded at $17.60. 446 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 1,450 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.00.

York Traditions Bank Trading Down 2.2 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.54 and a 200 day moving average of $19.05.

York Traditions Bank Company Profile

(Get Rating)

York Traditions Bank, a community bank, provides commercial and consumer banking services in the Central Pennsylvania market. The company offers personal banking products and services, such as checking, savings/money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and loans and lines of credits, including personal, home equity, auto, and swing loans.

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Key Insights

Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Philip Morris International's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions

A total of 15 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership

Recent sales by insiders

Every investor in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 77% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And as as result, institutional investors reaped the most rewards after the company's stock price gained 7.2% last week. One-year return to shareholders is currently 5.9% and last weeks gain was the icing on the cake.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Philip Morris International, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Philip Morris International

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Philip Morris International?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Philip Morris International. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Philip Morris International's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Philip Morris International is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Capital Research and Management Company, with ownership of 17%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.6% and 6.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

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Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 15 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Philip Morris International

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our information suggests that Philip Morris International Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$217m worth of shares. In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 22% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Philip Morris International .

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to apologise to him for suspending him from the party.

Recall that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party on the 24th of March, 2023 suspended Fayose and some chieftains of the party over alleged anti-party activities.

The party, however, on Thursday lifted the suspension and asked members to respect the partys constitution.

Meanwhile, Fayoses lawyer, Akinwale Kol-Taiwo in a letter dated March 31 and addressed to PDP acting national chairman, Iliya Damagum said the former governor was suspended without cause.

Kol-Taiwo said the reasons the party relied on to suspend his client are libellous and defamatory with the intent to tarnish his image.

The letter reads, We are further informed by our client that by the letter dated 24th March 2023, the reversal of our clients suspension from Peoples Democratic Party which was done without recourse to laid down procedure/due process of law as contained in the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (as amended in 2017) was requested.

The Peoples Democratic Party, in retracing its steps and by implication admitting the content of the letter dated 24th March 2023, reversed the suspension of our client by a press release issued on 30th March 2023 through the office of the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The aforesaid libellous press release was designed to smear and tarnish the good reputation of our client in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society, as well as to subject our client to odium, ridicule, and public opprobrium in presence of his political associates and the general public.

While we do not contend that the Peoples Democratic Party reserve the power(s) to take disciplinary action against any erring member(s), it is much more pertinent to state that the said power(s) to take disciplinary action is not absolute, the said power(s) to take disciplinary action is limited to doctrine of fair hearing as enshrined in the Peoples Democratic Party Constitution (as amended in 2017) and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended. As such, your disciplinary powers must not be seen to infringe on the right of another citizen or person.

There is no doubt that the action of the national working committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (NWC) in this purported suspension saga acted rashly on baseless and unfounded allegations, thereby making our party  the Peoples Democratic Party  not just look weak, but disorganised.

The counsel to the former governor of Ekiti State asked the PDP to apologise within 72 hours of receiving the letter, or he would file a lawsuit against the party.
Method Gym

DALE CITY, Va., April 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fitness Club Management is pleased to announce the launch of its new fitness brand, Method Gym, in Dale City, Virginia and Leonardtown and California, Maryland.



"After listening to feedback from our community, we felt the timing was right to bring our members a modern, elevated, full-service experience with a boutique fitness touch and thoughtful wellness experiences," said Al Noshirvani, CEO, Fitness Club Management.

Members of the three clubs, which previously operated under the World Gym brand, will see improvements at nearly every turn, including extensive upgrades to the facility design and layout, new state-of-the-art equipment, more group fitness programming, and the addition of new wellness services.

"We appreciate the years of support and partnership with one of the most iconic brands in the fitness industry," said Greg Tayman, COO, Fitness Club Management. We will be cheering them on as they continue to evolve.

Official ribbon cutting events will be held for each location at the following times:

California, MD: Saturday, April 29th, 9:00 am

Leonardtown, MD: Saturday, April 29th, 10:00 am

Dale City, VA: Tuesday, May 2nd, 4:00 pm



The community is invited to stop by anytime on these days for special Grand Opening events, including free workouts, special classes, food, giveaways, contests and more. Plus, the first 50 new members will receive a Method Merch water bottle.

Method Gym Locations Feature:

Bright, open, inviting, and ultraclean spaces



Spacious strength and circuit training areas featuring new equipment, including free weights, lifting platforms, squat racks, selector machines, and bumper plates



Functional training turf areas featuring tire flips, Connexus rigs, torque tanks and other specialty equipment



Modern group fitness studios offering more than a dozen class formats, including Zumba, HIIT, Barre, Yoga, and Les Mills programming



Extensive cardio areas featuring new, state-of-the-art equipment by Cybex, FreeMotion, Life Fitness, Matrix, Nautilus, Precor, and Star Trac



High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) studios with kettlebells, power bars, Concept 2 rowers, and more



Expert personal trainers, motivating group fitness instructors, and friendly staff



Upgraded locker rooms with modern design touches



Cozy member lounges



Childcare services (California, MD and Dale City, VA)



Coming soon: Method Merch and Method Rewards programs



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What is not changing is the companys commitment to providing incredible value and customer service to its members.

We will continue to be a trusted source of fitness and wellness in our members lives, said Melissa Lovell, VP of Operations. We recognize that wellness is a journey, not a destination. And that progress matters more than perfection.

To celebrate the brand launch, Method Gym is offering $0 down on new memberships, and just $1 for April dues. New members will also receive a 60-minute personal training session to create a roadmap to results.

To learn more or to join, visit www.MethodGym.com.

METHOD GYM LOCATIONS DALE CITY, VA CALIFORNIA, MD LEONARDTOWN, MD 4176 Dale Blvd #2225 22599 MacArthur Blvd #136B 40845 Merchants Ln #200 Woodbridge, VA 22193 California, MD 20619 Leonardtown, MD 20650 (304) 264-4653 (301) 835-2564 (301) 753-8117





ABOUT METHOD GYM:

Method Gym is owned and operated by Fitness Club Management, founded by fitness industry veteran Al Noshirvani. The companys mission is to provide a fun, safe, and affordable workout environment where all members feel comfortable and at home. Method Gym locations feature modern, open and inviting spaces, state-of-the-art cardio and strength training equipment, inclusive fitness formats, and expert, friendly staff. Learn more at www.MethodGym.com .

CONTACT: Media contact: Larry Stromberg, lstromberg@thresholdmedia.com




Men of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested three lawyers who were reportedly filing processes for the All Progressives Congress at the Election Petition Tribunal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

The lawyers were said to be preparing petitions against the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the just concluded governorship election in Rivers State.

According to reports, they were picked on Friday night at a hotel where they were lodging in Port Harcourt. The reason for their arrest is still unknown.

The lawyers are attached to the Tuduru Edes Chamber, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The State APC Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, confirmed the incident on Saturday afternoon.

Yes, it is true. They were arrested last night. We are going to brief the press, Nwauju stated.

Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the state Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko proved abortive as her mobile phone was not reachable as at the time of filing this report.
Maranatha University Lagos has announced scholarship for some science programmes in the university.

The Chancellor of the University  Rev. Chukwuemeka Ngubo- announced this in his address during the First matriculation ceremony of the University at Okota Campus on 29th March, 2023.

The ceremony which was well attended by some royal fathers, senior members of the academic community, senior ministers of the gospel, representatives of different banks, and many dignitaries in the society was described by the Chancellor as the Lords doing. He quoted Psalm 118:23, that says This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. He said that the establishment of Maranatha University Lagos is the Lords doing.

Maranatha University Lagos was licensed in 2021 by the Federal Government of Nigeria to operate as a Private University in Nigeria. Maranatha University Lagos offers admission to all students irrespective of their nationality, gender and religion. The University currently has programmes in the following three faculties:

1. Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences

2. Faculty of Arts, Management and Social Sciences

3. Faculty of Environmental Sciences

The university is making arrangement to commence programmes in the Faculty of Engineering very soon.

Speaking further in the address, the Chancellor  Rev. Chukwuemeka Ngubo- stated that Maranatha University Lagos is committed to quality and affordable university education. He charged the matriculating students to bring out the best in them as future leaders in their various fields of learning. To encourage the students, he said that the University has set out a reward system for the best graduating student of the University.

Talking about campus experience, the Chancellor told the audience that Maranatha University Lagos is committed to providing excellent facilities in a godly environment. The university has zero tolerance for cultism, hard drugs, smoking and possession of prohibited weapons both within and outside the university. The institution believes in the TOTAL MAN CONCEPT (TMC) which is the total development of man  Spirit, Soul and Body. This is training the future leaders spiritually, intellectually and physically.

The Chancellor also announced that Maranatha University Lagos has a passion to contribute to the development of Science and Technology in Nigeria through innovative research in science. In the light of this, the University is offering scholarships in the following fields:

1. Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics

2. Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with Electronics

3. Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Chemistry.

Modalities have been worked out for the commencement of these scholarships in the three departments in Maranatha University, Lagos. Prospective candidates are requested to apply to the university or visit the university website: www.maranathauniversitylagos.edu.ng

In conclusion, he admonished the university management, staff and students to pursue vigorously the vision of Maranatha University, Lagos which is to raise world class graduates with godliness in their various academic disciplines.

In the same vein, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Rufus Akinyele assured Nigerians that the University will not only empower its students to be globally competitive but will be groomed to be morally upright.

The Vice Chancellor gave the assurance at the matriculation ceremony of the institution.

He observed that Education, quoting Mandela, is the greatest weapon to change the world but was however quick to add that western education has not impacted the society positively".

Prof. Akinyele also emphasised the preparedness of the institution to impart competitive knowledge in the areas of Information Communication Technology and in Sciences, which was the dream of the founders of Maranatha University Lagos.

Speaking further, he outlined entrepreneurial empowerment as one of the core areas the students will be exposed to, to make them wealth creators and employers of labour after their studies.

While telling the matriculants to count themselves lucky for getting admitted into the citadel of learning, the Vice- Chancellor revealed that the mission of Maranatha University is to raise a new generation of graduates, steeped in Christian ethics and equipped with academic training, entrepreneurial and digital skills, to be globally competitive and advantageously positioned to change the society. He said, our approach to entrepreneurial education and skills acquisition will be unique. With the University Ventures on ground, it will be mandatory for all the students to acquire practical experience in different business ventures in addition to firsthand knowledge from resource persons that will be speaking to the students on wealth creation from time to time. He also said

"Arrangements are also being made to expose our students to French and Chinese Languages to prepare them for the challenge of globalisation and foreign mission. The Confucius Institute has already donated some books and CDs to us as the first step toward setting up a Chinese Experience Classroom in Maranatha University Lagos.

In the concluding remarks, he said: "At this juncture, I will also like to remind the matriculants of the timely assertion of the American Author, Orison Swett Marden who asserted that The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in your luck or chance or the help of others; it is in yourself alone. I will therefore encourage you to dream big, set goals for yourself and pursue your dream. Your attitude will ultimately determine the altitude you can ascend. For you, the sky is just the beginning. Wishes alone will not get you to your destination. You must take actions that are consistent with your aspirations. Let me support my point with the wise counsel of Brad Sugars who said, Words can inspire, thoughts can provoke but only action truly brings you closer to your dream".
In the annals of Nigerian politics, this year, 2023, which has barely gone three months, promises to be on record as one of those that remarkably impacted upon the politics of the land for many reasons. In the midst of alleged falsification of figures and voter intimidation which seemingly assumed an exponential proportion, Nigerians should look hard enough to find something to thank the year for.

Foremost is that Nigeria for the first time came close to using the electronic voting system seen as the most efficient in elections worldwide. The quasi e-voting applied this time came through the introduction of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) which is used to electronically accredit voters as well as to upload results. Nigerians were elated as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials pranced around as they strove to demonstrate their antidote to the nations number one headache in elections and leadership.

The year, therefore, raised the hope for a better Nigeria, hope for a new nation to rise from the ashes of bad governance, from the ruins of misguided government policies tailored to pamper sectional interests, from the raw terror that has been the order of the day in the entire nation.

Thank you, 2023, for galvanizing the youths into action, rushing in their droves for their permanent voters cards (PVCs) and boosting the INECs register. Thank you that hopes are rekindled and voter apathy reduced. For the youths, it was a year that they hoped to use their PVCs to break free from unemployment, from intimidation by government security agents, from despair induced by a seeming bleak future in a fatherland that offers them no hope.

Thank you 2023 for showing, through raw technology, that the age long cry and clamour for change in the conduct of elections in Nigeria had not been a false alarm, for as the polls began, the BVAS, like the computer that it is, told the lie it was instructed to tell, but left traces of the truth for the righteous judge to use as his most potent evidence or for the compromised judge to set aside with technicalities, perhaps at the nations peril.

Thank you that the computer has come to lay bare the shenanigans of our electoral process since ages. No one saw the mutilations that have been going on on our result sheets until this year when everything arrived in the World Wide Web for the world to see. In 1999, Americas former President Jimmy Carter led a team of eminent persons in the international sphere to monitor the presidential election that brought Olusegun Obasanjo as president, a crucial election that ushered in a democratic dispensation after years of military rule. The Carter team saw a vast array of irregularities and reported that those serious discrepancies in number of voters and votes counted, as well as cases of ballot box stuffing and snatching should not be overlooked. The late Umaru Musa YarAdua who succeeded Obasanjo as president eight years after admitted that the election that brought him to power was flawed and promised to remedy the situation. He did not live long enough to do so.

In 1999, there were no Android phones to record the incidents of vote buying, ballot box snatching and stuffing, voter intimidation, kid voters, among other anomalies our politicians practice to get to their positions. Therefore, it sounded like moonlight tales to the outside world as victims and democracy activists tell sordid stories of Nigeria's conduct of its polls.

Thanks to 2023 that sophisticated devices are now available to record the shame of our elections, the reality of the situation which is that votes dont count in Africa's giant. In this 2023, our android phones recorded voters being frightened off the polling booths by gun and machete wielding thugs who actually used these weapons on determined voters, to show to which extent our elections had been free and fair.

Thanks that this year will stand in judgement, ready to determine whether Nigerians were daft enough to rush for their PVCs primarily to bring back to power a party that bears a full weight of non-performance and wishes to continue in that trajectory. And this year has proved that Nigerians are honest and dignifying enough to listen to the message of one structureless man that does not throw money around for people to vote for him, that it is possible to successfully run an issue-based campaign and draw enormous followership.

Well, in this same 2023, the Igbo were once again reminded that east or west home is the best.

The scales are falling from our eyes this year that we have been pulling the cart before the horse. Yes, elections are held in countries. Nigerians need to go back to the drawing board, make a nation and then return to vote and choose leaders. There's not yet a country.

This odd number year, 2023, is here with us and its not over yet. More things will happen to make Nigeria great.

Dr. Odu can be reached through [email protected]
Coun. Kevin Duguay wonders how much it cost the city to have administered the election of local school board trustees as part of the 2022 municipal election in the fall  and on Monday, hell see whether other councillors also care to know.

This is not a commentary on the importance of school boards, Duguay said in an interview Friday. I value the importance of our trustees completely.

At a general committee meeting Monday, Duguay will advance a notice of motion asking councillors whether theyd like to ask city staff what the election of school board trustees cost the city.

Peterborough budgeted $645,255 to run the 2022 municipal election in October, according to city communications manager Brendan Wedley  plus there was a smaller sum approved in 2021 to start election planning (he couldnt peg exactly how much as of Friday).

The election was for 10 city councillors and the mayor, plus school board trustees across four local school boards:

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board has two trustee seats for the city while the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board has two trustee seats for the city.

There were also two French school boards included in the election: Viamonde (two trustees elected) and MonAvenir (one acclaimed).

Wedley said in an email Friday that a staff report on the 2022 election will be provided to council in the future, which will include further details related to election expenses.

Duguay said hes planning his motion because hes noticed that several other Ontario municipalities are wondering whether school trustee elections are pricey.

For example in February, Petrolia town council in southwestern Ontario voted to write to Queens Park asking that school boards either take on the responsibility for running their own municipal elections or pay municipalities to cover school board trustee election costs.

Earlier this month, council from North Bay voted to endorse that motion from the town of Petrolia.

The North Bay Nugget reported that the 2022 election had cost the city $250,000 and that Coun. Mac Bain said at a meeting the areas school boards ought to be covering half the cost of their municipal election.

In 2022 North Bay elected 10 councillor, one mayor and eight school board trustees (divided between two local school boards).

However Duguay didnt say Friday he wanted to push for school boards to pay a share of election costs  he simply said he wonders whether other councillors would like a breakdown of the cost of electing trustees, as part of the 2022 municipal election.

Thats what Im seeking.

joelle.kovach@peterboroughdaily.com

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The offer from Peterborough city council to appoint a Peterborough County representative to its Peterborough Airport strategic initiative committee should only be accepted if the city removes two conditions that came with the offer, a county staff report is advising county council.

In early January, the county was notified by the city that one person from county council could be appointed to the committee. Cavan Monaghan Township Mayor Matthew Graham was chosen by Warden Bonnie Clark.

The airport is owned by the city but is on land in Cavan Monaghan just southwest of the city borders in Cavan Monaghan. The township receives property taxes from businesses on site.

Later that month, the city added two demands: that within six months county council provide a financial plan to city council to participate in the costs related to the growth and expansion of the airport, and that the county position be reviewed on an annual basis at the option of the city.

The request for a financial plan is particularly concerning, according to Randy Mellow, senior director of shared and emergency services and deputy chief administrative office of the county, in a report to be presented to Wednesdays county council meeting.

The airport is an important asset for the Peterborough region providing business, economic and social benefits to the communities, his report states.

As the owner of the airport the city holds decision-making powers about infrastructure, operational funding and strategic direction, and has authority over growth, expansion and related costs, Mellow continues.

It therefore would be inappropriate for the County of Peterborough to be obligated to produce a financial plan to participate in such costs, he stated.

In 2021, the city established the committee to provide advice to staff and council to assist with positioning the airport in regional, provincial and national markets. The committee also provides input for strategic business and marketing plans, capital and operating budgets, level of service and business development efforts, according to the city.

The appointment of a Peterborough county councilor to the committee provides an avenue for collaboration as a regional stakeholder, Mellows report adds.

As the new committee was being formed in 2021, the previous county council asked the previous city council to offer a seat to a county politician, but city council declined.

It was left to the committee to decide, but no announcement about a county politician joining the group was ever made.

After being elected in the fall as the new mayor of Peterborough, Jeff Leal recommended in January that the city invite a county councillor to join.

BB Brendan Burke is a staff reporter at the Examiner, based in Peterborough. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.

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North Kawartha Townships deputy mayor is disappointed the province has backtracked on policy proposals that would have seen changes to floating accommodation rules for local waterways.

I think we should send a very strongly worded response on this one, said Jim Whelan at a recent township council meeting.

Were very disappointed that the things (Peterborough) county and the township very much supported have all disappeared.

Municipalities in the county received a letter dated Feb. 24 from the province saying it was proposing to make seven changes to rules surrounding floating accommodations such as barges and shipping containers that stay in the same spot or close by over the summer months on local waterways.

Some of the changes involved reduced distances from shorelines and shortened times allowed in one location.

The proposals were supported by Peterborough County council and other townships, including North Kawartha.

Then a letter, dated March 17, arrived from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry stating all seven changes in the original posting have been removed.

In the updated proposal, we are still proposing to amend Ontario Regulation 161/17 to clarify the structures or things that cannot be placed and used for overnight accommodation on water over public land, it said.

Carolyn Amyotte, mayor of North Kawartha Township, said county council had discussed and supported the original changes, and our conversation probably would have been a lot different if wed had the update that was sent last week.

They pulled all seven out because they were really wanting to focus on the definition and the clarity around what is a floating accommodation versus a boat, she said.

Amyotte said its important that they clarify and update the definition around floating accommodations versus boats, but I would support the province also looking at or further examining those proposed changes that were in the original letter.

Coun. Colin McLellan said he supports boats used for navigating rather than a full structure that would basically be left on the water.

County townships with waterfront properties have been wrestling with problems caused by short-term rentals of cottages which often result in complaints by neighbours about noise and partying.

County councillors have expressed concerns that the same thing might happen with stationary floating accommodations.

North Kawartha Township asked staff to send a response asking the province to reconsider looking at the seven changes identified in the original letter.

BB Brendan Burke is a staff reporter at the Examiner, based in Peterborough. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.

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Volunteers gathered at the Peterborough YMCA Saturday to pack food for the One Million Meals campaign.

The event attracted about 240 volunteers completing two shifts. About 110 boxes of packaged meals will go to Kawartha Food Share while another 130 boxes will be shipped to Haiti. Each box holds about 200 meals.

One Million Meals Peterborough challenged itself to package 50,000 nutritious meals in its seventh annual event. The eventual goal is one million meals.

The program uses the Kids Against Hunger Canada model of food packaging. Volunteers were asked to donate toward the cost of the food.

Volunteers from various social, religious, sport, scholastic, business and municipal groups were invited to form teams to engage in friendly competition to assemble as many meals as possible in a two-hour period.

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There is a legendary tale of missed opportunity in Peterboroughs industrial development folklore  the story of the auto plant that was driven away.

The tale told is that a Big Three automaker was ready to start building cars here back in the 1960s but local manufacturing heavyweights  GE Canada, Outboard Marine and Westclox, presumably  feared competition for skilled labour would drive up their costs and conspired to kill the deal.

Better than half a century later that legend has faded. But the glitter of an auto plant still shines  thousands of skilled labour jobs, millions of dollars in spinoff revenue and a property tax bonanza for the lucky municipality.

Now the auto plant dream and the lure of a hot new industrial trend are combined in the EV revolution. Teslas success has made electric vehicles the investment of choice and dragged high-tech battery production along with it.

And the local legend is back in what might be real form  Trouve Victory Inc.

Trouve chair Faruk Rama was here this week to announce a potential tenancy at Trent Universitys fledgling research park, Cleantech Commons.

A Trouve research and development site at Trent seems realistic. The company has been talking to Trent for some time and is touting its vehicles as cutting edge not just for a quick-charge hydrogen fuel cell. They would incorporate solar and wind turbine power generation, be entirely self-driving, zero emission and fully recyclable at life end.

All that fits with Trents focus on environmentally friendly tech research. Landing Trouve as the first tenant in what has been promoted as a major step forward for Peterboroughs long-term economic development would be a coup.

Thats assuming Trouve is the real deal. If so, the research facility could be one smallish part of a bigger impact. Rama has also announced he plans to have manufacturing plants in Oman  where the company has been working on development of EV models for years  and Southern Ontario.

The Ontario connection dovetails nicely with a surge in interest in EV battery production and vehicles. Both Ottawa and Queens Park have recently announced billions of dollars in subsidies to attract manufacturing and research.

Trouves Ontario connection goes deeper than an interest in scooping up subsidies.

Rama is from London, Ont., where he has a housing development company. He first announced plans for an EV plant in Eastern Ontario at a media conference in London two years ago.

At the time he said a plant with 1,000 employees would start turning out vehicles in 2023. Industry experts said they hadnt heard Trouve but agreed there was room for new EV startups. Some noted that few treated Elon Musk and his Tesla vision seriously in the beginning.

They also said it would be difficult to have a plant running in two years.

Rama said during the Trent announcement that a manufacturing plant within 25 minutes of Peterborough would open in 2025  that same two-year time frame.

Thats unlikely, but a research facility at Trent in two years is entirely doable. If that happens it will make the bigger dream of a vehicle plant more tangible.

The plant would not be in the city, which again highlights Peterboroughs missed opportunity in acquiring development land from Cavan Monaghan Township.

But 1,000 jobs 25 minutes away would be the next best thing. Legendary, even, if Trouve really does ride in to the rescue.

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Drazen Zigic / iStock.com

The battle over food stamp reform was ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday, March 14, when nearly two dozen Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would change eligibility requirements for the program.

SNAP Benefits: Can You Use EBT Card/Food Stamps To Purchase Hot Food?

Find Out: With a Recession Looming, Make These 3 Retirement Moves To Stay On Track

The bill, whose lead sponsor is U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), proposes to implement stricter work requirements for able-bodied adults without children, USA Today reported. A total of 23 Republicans co-sponsored the bill, called the America Works Act. Among its proposals are the following:

Raise the maximum age for work requirements from 49 to 65

Limit a states ability to waive work requirements

Emphasize work requirements for able-bodied adults without children

Food stamps, formally known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, provide food purchasing assistance to qualifying low-income households. SNAP is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered at the state level.

As USA Today noted, the proposed bill is likely to set up a showdown between Republicans and Democrats as they negotiate the farm bill later this year. The farm bill is the countrys largest agricultural and food policy omnibus and is negotiated every five years.

Although the America Works Act might have a chance of making it through the GOP-controlled House, it remains to be seen whether it will pass the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow advantage.

Johnson, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, relied on food stamps as a child. Following his re-election in Nov. 2022, Johnson discussed his intentions to change SNAP work requirements, National Review reported.

Work is an opportunity. Its not a punishment, Johnson told supporters on Election Day in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There is no recipe for escaping poverty that doesnt have work as a requirement.

Story continues

Supporters say that this bill is vital to reducing cycles of poverty while saving taxpayers money, Politico noted, and its the first of many expected efforts to set a limit on SNAP by the GOP. House Democrats have not announced their response to the bill and have raised concerns about whether they can withstand blasts to the program during negotiations over the debt limit, budget and 2023 farm bill.

Take Our Poll: What Do You Plan To Use Your Tax Refund For?

During the pandemic, expanded SNAP benefits provided much-needed relief to struggling families. The allotments boosted monthly SNAP payments by $95. Many were also given a 15% increase that increased the average monthly benefit per person to more than $240, as previously reported by GOBankingRates. SNAP emergency allotments expired on March 1 nationwide.

Vance Cariaga contributed to the reporting of this article.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: New Food Stamps Requirements Coming? Supporters Say People Who Can Work Should Work
Q My wife and her best friend have big, impressive careers. They are both CEOs of their respective companies in different but similar fields. One of their main similarities is the fight they have to wage daily simply because they are women.

One woman is petite and cute; the other tall and model-pretty. I mention their appearances because people think they can push the small one around  wrong!  and think that if they comment on the tall ones beauty they can win her over. Wrong again.

Both are married with more than one child. They are educated, accomplished, hard-working tough women who deserve everything they have worked for.

Why do they still have to push for the right to be treated equally among their predominantly male colleagues? The men in their offices are also evolved, educated and dont outwardly acknowledge the discrepancy but it permeates the work environment (not necessarily in each particular office).

I want to scream for them but have no outlet.

Frustrated Husband

A Thank you for using this column as your outlet. I applaud you and all men who recognize  and are trying to change  the continuous discrepancy that still exists in the workforce.

Just today I had a professional ask me how to help her say no to people who ask her to lower her fee when shes already posting lower rates than her male counterparts. It is unfair. Full stop.

These women you mention should feel proud of all they have accomplished and the path they are paving for younger women who will follow. It is definitely a too-slow process.

Support both women any way you can, and let them know how you feel. Knowing there are men out there hoping to change the inequality is a step forward.

Thank you!

FEEDBACK: Regarding the woman distracted by something on her co-workers face (Feb. 15):

Reader 1: The letter from Distracted Eye described the white bump on the eyelid of a co-worker, and the letter writers discomfort with it. The bump is almost certainly a type of skin condition called milia. Milia are blocked pores, completely harmless and painless. I have had them on my face and eyelids for years. They come and go, for no apparent reason. They cannot be burst, so dont suggest that. When the milia on my face became really large, I had them treated by a dermatologist and proper treatment by a physician is what I would recommend.

I would also suggest that you could have encouraged the writer to just get over herself  freaking out about someones physical appearance, no matter how different is silly and immature. Having said that, I agree with you the writer could simply ask about it in a non-freaked out way.

Lisi: I didnt get the impression the writer was freaking out at all. She remarked she always looks people in the eye when she speaks to them (not silly or immature at all), and she was having trouble doing so because of this blemish.

Reader 2: That pimple on the eyelid is a chalazion, the reaction to a blocked pore, which my optometrist told me would go away on its own in a few months. The writer should feel free to ask about it.

Lisi: Two different readers, both fairly sure theyve diagnosed the problem. This is exactly why I dont attempt to make diagnoses in my answers. I am not a doctor and have no visual of the particular issue. Only the person with the blemish knows what it is.

FEEDBACK: Regarding the grandparent uneasy with her friend competing with grandchildren (Feb. 17):

Reader: There are some grandparents/parents who thrive on comparing their kids. I was the first in my group of friends to become a grandparent. I made it my point not to burden others with stories or pics, and only commented when asked.

However, I was loving my new role as a grandparent. So, I began a journal that I wrote in when things came up  when they walked, first words, trips, activities we did together, funny things they did etc.

My journals are divided in two: the left side is dedicated to my grandchildren; and on the right Ive included anything important in the news with captions/articles from the paper.

My grandkids are both teens now, and I am on book four for each them. I plan to give them the journals when they graduate from high school. They contain a treasure of events about their lives and the world.

Ellie Tesher and Lisi Tesher are advice columnists for the Star and based in Toronto. Send your relationship questions via email: ellie@thestar.ca or lisi@thestar.ca

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MONTREAL - The deaths this week of eight people of Indian and Romanian descent in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne have underscored the dangers related to illegal immigration.

Over the past year, a number of deaths and close calls have occurred along the nearly 9,000-kilometre Canada-United States border. Here is a look:

March 31, 2023

Akwesasne Mohawk Police say eight people, including two children under the age of three, whose bodies were pulled from the St. Lawrence River, were trying to enter the United States illegally from Canada.

The victims were from two families, one of Romanian descent and the other composed of Indian citizens. The children are believed to have been part of the Romanian family, and police found Canadian passports belonging to them.

Feb. 19, 2023

Jose Leos Cervantes, 45, originally from Aguascalientes, Mexico, collapsed and died shortly after crossing the border into the United States from Quebec on foot in late February. Vermont State Police said the migrant was taken to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

In court documents, Border Patrol Agent Brian Wilda said Leos Cervantes was clutching a tree and appeared to be in distress at the time he was found.

Jan. 28, 2023

A man seeking to enter the United States was rescued by the RCMP near the border in Quebecs Eastern Townships, Radio-Canada reported. The man was found conscious but in poor health about a kilometre away from the border. He was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia and frostbite.

Jan. 4, 2023

A Haitian man was found frozen to death in a wooded area near St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., where police said he was trying to cross into the United States.

Provincial police said Fritznel Richard, 44, likely died of hypothermia. Friends of the asylum seeker later said that he had been unable to get a work permit in Canada and believed he would be able to get legal status in the U.S., as well as reunite with his wife in Florida.

Jan. 19, 2022

An Indian family of four died trying to reach the United States from Canada. The Patel family was found dead near a border crossing in Manitoba. The RCMP said they were trying to get into the U.S. during severe winter weather but died from exposure before reaching their destination.

Authorities said they believe a human smuggling operation was involved in the deaths of 39-year-old Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, his 37-year-old wife Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel and their two children, 11-year-old Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel and Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel, who was three.

Police in India have charged three people for their alleged roles in the deaths of the family with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempting culpable homicide, human trafficking and criminal conspiracy. A Florida man was also arrested and charged in Minnesota for his alleged role in smuggling the family.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2023.

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#GTAHomeHunt is a weekly series from the Star that gets into the details of real estate listings in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. Have a tip? Email us at social@torstar.ca

Price: $799,000

Neighbourhood: Moss Park

X-factor: At 220 George St., this two-bedroom, three-bathroom condo is a part of a five-year-old development, the O2 Maisonettes on George.

Stretching over an expansive 1100 square feet, this two-storey unit boasts a modern kitchen with updated light fixtures and neutral-toned finishes throughout.

Located on the seventh floor, the unit has two balconies, one in the second bedroom and one on the main floor, each facing north and south respectively. Residents can also enjoy access to amenities such as a gym, rooftop deck and a party room.

Its close by coffee shops, restaurants, grocery and corner stores (like the iconic Kims Convenience from the show of the same name) and a brief 10-minute walk from Eaton Centre and Yonge-Dundas Square. The area is also home to community services, such as an overdose prevention site.

The home sold above asking price on March 31 for $820,000, according to HouseSigma. But it had been relisted several times with a fluctuating price before the sale.

We spoke to our expert realtor Othneil Litchmore, as well as listing agent Anna Oliver, for a better understanding of its price.

Whos the right buyer for this?

This property features two bedrooms, though one appears to be significantly smaller. In staging iterations, the property shows the smaller room is best for a home office, game room or a nursery. Litchmore said it could definitely be a home for a couple with or without a baby.

This is the place for somebody who wants to live downtown and is interested in a trendy life, he said.

Oliver, the propertys listing agent, said she could envision a family here, as well as other demographics.

It could be for first-time buyers. The two-level living space is great for people who work from home because theres that division. Maybe for young professionals as well. The building also appeals to older people.

Why is it priced this way?

The home was originally listed in September 2022 for $1,080,000. After sitting on the market for a few months, it was relisted in early March, for just shy of $1 million, and then three times after that before reaching its final listing price.

Litchmore atrributes this frequent price decrease to marketing strategies.

The first listing was $999,000 and then they dropped the price. I think that was an attempt to bring in attention. But putting it at $799,000 is definitely a marketing strategy. Theyre trying to create a bidding war to get the highest amount, he said.

Listing agent Oliver said pricing unfortunately, (isnt) always an exact science.

The market is always changing and were just trying to figure out the right pricing strategy, she said.

Is it a good deal?

Its stylish, new, and updated, Litchmore said. Its a good price for the size. Youre getting a lot for your money. With two floors, its pretty unique. Those sort of things will drive the price up.

But Litchmore warns that the condo fees may be a bit on the higher side with a price tag thats already so steep.

... One of the bigger issues were looking at are the condo fees. The monthly cost of $826 a month is pricey. That may be one of the obstacles for anyone trying to buy it.

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No joking around as Premier League enters crunch period

FOOTBALL: The resumption of the Premier League today (Apr 1) after the recent international break may well coincide with April Fools Day but it is serious business for every single team in the division, with much still to play for as the season enters the final straight.

FootballPremier-League

By Ben Tirebuck

Saturday 1 April 2023, 10:00AM

Title-chasers Arsenal and Manchester City meet on Apr 27. Photo: AFP

The action kicks off with a blockbuster as second-placed Manchester City host Liverpool later today knowing that nothing less than three points is required to keep the pressure on current leaders Arsenal.

Many observers consider Pep Guardiolas team to possess a distinct advantage, having won the title in four of the past five seasons  indeed the only time they faltered was in 2019/20 when tomorrows opponents powered to the title.

The Citizens therefore have the crucial experience of handling the pressure when things get white hot at the top, as they certainly will with just 10 games remaining.

They proved they are hitting form at just the right time after scoring an incredible 13 goals in their last two games: a 7-0 drubbing of RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Mar 14 and a 6-0 demolition of Burnley in the FA Cup four days later.

Arsenal are eight points clear of City, having played a game more, and also suggested their form is ripe with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Crystal Palace in their final game before the break.

Mikel Artetas side may be young and relatively inexperienced, with this seasons title charge unexpected to most, but they play with such a freedom and exuberence that surely only an implosion of confidence of the highest order will stop the club from securing its first title since 2003/4. They resume action with a home game against Leeds United later today.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle, Brighton, Brentford and Tottenham, who parted ways with manager Antonio Conte on Monday (Mar 26), are all contesting the European places, with only eight points separating third from eighth. Chelsea, Fulham and Aston Villa are close behind.

The relegation battle is truly captivating with just four points separating bottom-placed Southampton and 11th placed Crystal Palace, with the latter appointing former boss Roy Hodgson during the break in the hopes of steadying the ship.

Expect the teams within that nine position cluster to frequently swap and change from now until seasons end, with only a brave pundit speculating which three will ultimately end up marooned in the dreaded relegation spots come May 28.

April Fools Day or not, none of the nine teams involved in that relegation scrap will be joking around. The Palace versus Leicester City and Nottingham Forest against Wolves fixtures later today will be especially nervy affairs that will no doubt set the tone for the weeks ahead and hint at their potential top-flight livelihoods.

Let play recommence...
Officials clarify Phuket metered taxi fares

PHUKET: The Phuket Info Center, operated under the Phuket office of the Ministry of Interior, has issued a notice reminding people of the rates to be charged by metered taxis in Phuket.

tourismtransport

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 April 2023, 10:00AM

The notice issued yesterday (Mar 31) confirming the current metered taxi fare rates in Phuket. Image: Phuket Info Center

Drivers stand beside their metered taxis in the standard red-and-yellow livery at Phuket airport. Photo: PR Phuket / file

The notice, issued yesterday (Mar 31), marks the announcement by the Ministry of Transport in 2014 stipulating the metered taxi fares to be charged in Phuket. They have not changed since.

The announcement marks the fares that came into effect on Aug 17, 2014. The fare rates are:

First 2 kilometres - B50 flat fee

2 km to 15 km - B12 per km

15 km or more - B10 per km

Where the taxi is stuck in traffic or cannot move, or cannot move faster than 5km/h, B1 per minute is to be charged.

Ordering a taxi via a call centre allows an extra fee of B50 to be charged, in addition to the amount shown on the fare meter.

Flagfall for being picked up at Phuket International Airport is another B100, in addition to the amount shown on the fare meter.

Of note, the regulation posted specifically noted that it applied to metered taxis registered in Phuket. It did not mention what is to be charged by metered taxis not registered in Phuket.

BANGKOK COMPARISON

Although metered taxi fees in Phuket have not increased in the past nine years, they still exceed those charged in Bangkok even after metered taxi rates in the capital were increased two months ago.

The Department of Land Transport announced on Jan 13, the official tariff structure for Bangkok-registered taxis is:

Under 1 km  B35 (B40 for big taxis);

1-10 km  B6.5 per km

10-20 km  B7 per km

20-40 km  B8 per km

40-60 km  B8.5 per km

60-80 km  B9 per km

Over 80 km  B10.5 per km

Time in congested traffic or in traffic with speed under 6km/h is tariffed at B3 per minute.

Flag fall for calling a taxi via a call centre costs B20, while surcharge for Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi Airports is B50.

GREEN PLATE TAXIS IN PHUKET

Most taxis in Phuket are referred to as green plate taxis, as they are fitted with green-and-white licence plates.

Green plate taxis do not use fare meters.

Instead, through negotiations with provincial officials, a list of standard maximum fares have been agreed upon.

The list of green plate taxi fares was last announced in 2021. (See here.)

While the fares agreed to were supposed to be the maximum, Jaturong Kaewkasi, Chief of the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) at the time, admitted that the fares were open to negotiation.
Patong Municipality probed over B4.5mn sculpture roundabout

PHUKET: Patong Municipality has been called to explain why it cost B4.5 million to build the roundabout at the intersection of Nanai Rd, Sirirat Rd and Phra Metta Rd at the southern end of the town.

patongconstructioncorruption

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 April 2023, 11:30AM

The Phuket branch of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC Phuket) launched its investigation following posts on social media saying that the sculpture cost millions of baht to build.

Officers from NACC Phuket inspected the sculpture and the roundabout itself on Thursday (Mar 30), and questioned Patong Municipality officials about the budget approved.

NACC Phuket reported that the circle was constructed through a Patong Municipality budget of B4.5mn under the municipalitys budget for fiscal 2019.

The average price calculated on Mar 19, 2019 was B4,521,508.03, based on including three parts of construction:

B1,310,801.88 for the roundabout itself; B282,534 for the demolition of public utilities such as high-voltage power poles, traffic lights and water pipes; and B2,928,172.15 for the road works, including road surface adjustment with asphalt/concrete, traffic signs, manhole covers and lamp posts.

The average price was based on the Comptroller Generals Departments regulations on price estimation. The municipality used the raw material pricing data from Phuket Provincial Commercial Office.

For the sculpture itself, there is no regulation for calculating an average price, so Patong Municipality sourced quotes from three different suppliers and used the lowest one, the NACC Phuket officers were told.

The procurement was carried out by electronic bidding. There were seven qualified bidders. The lowest bid was B3,443,000, which was B1,074,508.03 lower than the average price as determined using official guidelines.

Patong Municipality has been asked to clarify the facts and submit relevant documents to Phuket NACC Office, said NACC Phukets report of its ongoing investigation.
Phuket water supply reservoirs 65% full

PHUKET: Phuket officials are taking precautions in case emergency measures are required to resolve any water shortage issue that may arise as the dry season continues.

Water-Supplynatural-resources

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 April 2023, 09:00AM

The islands three main reservoirs  Bang Neow Dum in Srisoonthorn, Bang Wad in Kathu and Klong Kata in Chalong  are in total 65% full, Phuket officials explained at a meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew on Thursday (Mar 30).

The three main reservoirs are currently holding a total of 14 million cubic metres of water, said Nattawipa Limkijprasert, the Policy and Operation Analyst from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket).

Compared with their combined total capacity of 21.53mn cubic metres, their current water reserves at the three main reservoirs corresponds to 65% of the maximum capacity, she said.

Chaiwat Thongseechan, chief of the water supply and maintenance division at the Phuket Irrigation Office, said that throughout April and May the plan was to provide the Phuket Waterworks Authority [PWA] 6 million cubic metres of water to be used as mains supply.

Even if there is no rain at all during the rest of the dry season, there will still be enough water to supply the PWA through to the end of July.

Regardless, Mr Chaiwat urged people to make an effort to reduce the volume of water they use.

EMERGENCY MEASURES

Ms Nattawipa explained that DDPM-Phuket used four levels to describe the water shortage risk in areas across Phuket:

High risk zones, which are expected to have sufficient water supply usually until the end of March. There are 19 high risk areas, including communities in Kamala, Patong, Thepkasattri, Mai Khao and Wichit. Moderate risk zones, which are expected to have sufficient water supply usually until the end of April. There are 23 moderate risk areas, including communities in Kamala, Mai Khao, Wichit, and Chalong. Monitored zones, which are expected to have sufficient water supply usually until the end of May. There are 27 monitored zones, including communities in Patong, Cherng Talay, Pa Klok, Mai Khao, Koh Kaew, Talad Yai (in Phuket Town) and Wichit. No-risk zones, which are expected to have sufficient water supply usually until the end of June. There are 97 no risk zones, with such communities all across Phuket.

Ms Nattawipa said DDPM-Phuket, through coordination with the Phuket Irrigation Office and the PWA, regularly reviewed the water supply situation in communities that often experienced water shortage problems.

The DDPM-Phuket also cooperated with Phuket Provincial Agriculture and Cooperatives Office to prepare a water supply for agricultural purposes, Ms Nattawipa said.

DDPM-Phuket had the manpower and equipment ready to respond to any emergency water supply situation that may arise, Ms Nattawipa assured.

A special team will be set up to assist people in the risk areas. The team will be on 24-hour call, she said.

Teams of police, army and officials from the Department of Provincial Administration [DOPA] in each area will monitor and assist any residents experiencing [water shortage] problems, she added.

Ms Nattawipa called on local officials to survey their areas of responsibility that are at risk of water shortages.

Officials can report their findings through the government web portal drought66.disaster.go.th and report their data to the respective district office in their area for analysis so that better water management policies can be created.
WATERLOO REGION  Police have made an arrest in a fraud investigation involving forged cheques.

Waterloo Regional Police arrested a 34-year-old man on Friday following an investigation that also involved the Toronto Police Services Financial Crime Team and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

Police said the alleged fraud began in January 2022, when several accounts were opened at various banks with forged identity documents, and altered and forged cheques were deposited into the accounts.

Investigators said over $100,000 in forged cheques were deposited.

The man is facing several charges including fraud over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime, and laundering proceeds of crime.

The man is expected to appear in court on Monday.

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Plan your trip before youre in your car: The Ministry of Transportation has scheduled four closures in Waterloo on April 1, 2023 for roadwork on Highway 401, Highway 6 and Highway 8.

Highway 401 eastbound between Highway 6 North / Hanlon Parkway and Highway 6 South / Brock Road / Wellington Road 46: one alternating lane closed from April 2 at 7 p.m. until April 6 at 5 a.m.

Highway 6 northbound at Wellington Road 34 / County Road 34: one right lane closed until March 31 at 3 p.m.

Highway 6 northbound between Wellington Road 34 / County Road 34 and Maltby Road / Concession 4: one right lane closed from April 3 at 9 a.m. until April 7 at 3 p.m.

Highway 8 westbound at Franklin Street: one alternating lane closed from April 3 at 12 a.m. until April 6 at 6 a.m.

Have further to travel? Highway closures for planned roadwork outside Waterloo

About this story

This story was automatically generated using open data from Ontario 511. These closures are scheduled for short-term or emergency repairs and maintenance of provincial highways around Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. The disruptions may be intermittent or ongoing and can change due to weather, emergencies and other factors.

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WATERLOO REGION  Flood warnings were issued and upgraded on the weekend for parts of Waterloo Region including Ayr, West Montrose and New Hamburg in the wake of Friday nights heavy rain and thunderstorms.

The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) said Grand River flows reached Flood Warning Zone 1 levels on Saturday in West Montrose and were expected to rise to Zone 2 levels Saturday evening and into the night.

On Saturday afternoon, the river was spilling over its banks and creeping into low-lying areas along either side of the Grand near the communitys historic covered bridge. The fast-flowing water carried large tree limbs and other debris downstream.

Warnings were also issued for New Hamburg and Ayr, where Nith River flows were expected to reach Flood Warning Zone 1 levels in New Hamburg on Saturday afternoon into the evening, and in Ayr early Sunday morning.

A similar warning was also in place for Drayton, where the Conestogo River reached Flood Warning Zone 1 levels by Saturday afternoon.

Municipal flood co-ordinators were being asked to notify affected properties and monitor conditions. Flood zone maps for West Montrose, New Hamburg, Ayr and Drayton are available on the GRCA website.

Elsewhere, a flood watch was issued for all areas of the Grand River watershed, due to continued runoff.

Flood co-ordinators in Cambridge were asked to monitor conditions, and to close the Blackbridge Road bridge and walking trails in low-lying areas near the Speed River if necessary.

The conservation authority said the storms overnight Friday into Saturday brought periods of intense rain, dumping between 30 and 60 mm of precipitation across the watershed. An additional 10 to 20 mm was expected as rain fell again across the area Saturday afternoon.

Local water levels were expected to continue to rise over the weekend. Showers and rain are forecast to return Monday through Wednesday.

The conservation authority said river flows will remain high through the week as rainfall drains through the river system. Storage reservoirs are at normal levels for this time of year.

Officials reiterated safety messages, reminding people that slippery banks and cold, fast-flowing water present a serious hazard.

People are asked to ensure children and pets stay well away from all bodies of water.

More information on flooding is available on the authoritys website at www.grandriver.ca

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The lower chamber of the French parliament, the National Assembly, passed a cross-party bill that aims to introduce some new requirements for social media influencers. This is a preliminary vote as the bill will move to the Senate, but theres a high probably that it will be adopted in a few weeks as all the 49 deputies who were present at the National Assembly voted in favor of the bill.

This bill has been in negotiations for a while as Aurelien Tache, a deputy from the French green party, submitted a draft law back in November 2022. According to him, many influencers promote scams because there arent any negative consequence. Around the same time, French rapper Booba also started calling out scammers/influencers on social networks, which led to some widespread media coverage.

The French government itself then started looking at this topic with the Ministry of the Economy conducting a public consultation to better understand the stakes. More recently, Arthur Delaporte and Stephane Vojetta  a socialist deputy and a deputy from Emmanuel Macrons party, respectively  then submitted another draft bill that would turn all this back and forth into an actual piece of legislation (with the governments support).

The result is todays bill, which first defines what a paid influencer is. Its someone who leverages their reputation to share content that promotes a product or a service in exchange for money or a benefit-in-kind. Influencers who meet these criteria will have to comply with new rules.

A big change that is going to have a significant impact on influencer content is that influencers will have to disclose if they are using a filter or if their face and/or body have been photoshopped. This mention has to be visible at all time on the photo or video itself.

With these constraints, the French parliament doesnt want to punish influencers. It wants to protect social media users from mental health issues, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia or depression.

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The bill then lists some things that an influencer cannot do. In particular, if the bill passes, influencers wont be able to promote cosmetic surgery, financial products and services (including cryptocurrencies) and counterfeit products.

In some cases, influencers can still promote products and services like before, but they need to add an informational banner about the risks involved. That new restriction applies to betting and gambling services, as well as video games that have features that could be considered as betting or gambling.

If they are promoting a training program, they will have to name the training company behind it. Influencers will also have to be more transparent with dropshipping products. For instance, influencers cant promote products that dont meet the European certification requirements as those products shouldnt be sold in Europe in the first place.

When influencers accept a paid promotion, they will have to state clearly that its a paid promotion. If they fail to meet these requirements they will face up to six months in prison and a fine of 300,000. So its clear that influencers and media agencies will pay attention to these new restrictions.
One killed

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IMPHAL, Apr 1 : A suspected cadre of KLA was reportedly killed in an exchange of fire with 39 Assam Rifles at Suangphumun village in Pherzawl district yesterday.

It is reported that the gunfight took place at around 3.30 pm.

According to sources, the killed KLA cadre was Doulienthang alias Thangboi Simte (36), s/o Doukholal from Suangphekmun under Thanlon Sub-Division, Pherzawl district.

From the site, one AK series rifle and a magazine with 26 live rounds were seized.

The corpse was picked up by Borobekra police station and deposited at JNIMS morgue.


Cong protest continues

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IMPHAL, Apr 1: Decrying the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, several frontal organisations of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) staged a sit-in-protest at Congress Bhavan, BT Road here today.

The Congress workers used many placards which read Congress stands for truth and truth only, We stand with Rahul Gandhi etc. They also shouted slogans like Rahul Gandhi Zindabad, Congress party Zindabad.

Speaking to media persons, MPCC working president and minority department in-charge Md Fajur Rahim said that they were staging the protest demonstration in a very peaceful manner under the Jay Bharat Satyagraha.

Indias democratic system which is hailed by many countries across the world has been tarnished due to gross abuse of power by the ruling BJP, he said.

He said that Congress party would struggle relentlessly to save democracy in the country.

In a democracy, an Opposition MP is entitled to speak against the failures of the ruling party both inside and outside the Parliament, Fajur Rahim said.
Automobile dealers donate

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IMPHAL, Apr 1: The Federation of Automobile Dealers Association Manipur has donated Rs 22,20,000 to the Chief Ministers Relief Fund. The amount was handed over to Chief Minister N Biren at his official residence today.
The life of Mahavir Bhagwan

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Shree Digamber Jain Association

Mahavir, who was born in Kundagrama, was the son of Trishala, the queen of King Siddhartha, the renowned ruler of the Vaishali republic. He was born 2600 years ago. The occasion of his birth was celebrated with great rejoicing not only by his parents, kinsfolk and citizens of Vaishali, but as the child was the future Tirthankara, the Indras and the Devas (angels from heaven) also came there and observed a great celebration.

The life of Bhagwan Mahavir is as plain, simple and straightforward, as the principles propounded by him are subtle, profound and acceptable. The story of his life can be summed up in these words: for the first thirty years he lived unattached in the midst of riches and luxury; for the next twelve years he stayed in the forest absorbed in profound meditation in quest of supreme bliss; and for the last thirty years he preached Jain teachings for the salvation of all beings.

The child Vardhamana had a healthy, handsome and attractive personality. As a boy, he was by nature thoughtful, discriminating and courageous. He had never known fear. He was the embodiment of courage. So he was called Vira (brave), Ativira (very- brave), right from childhood. He was also called Sanmati, because he possessed the right knowledge of the self.

His five names are well-known. They are-Vira (brave), Ativira (very brave), Sanmati (possessing right knowledge), Vardhamana (the growing one) and Mahavir (exceedingly brave).

He could have become a king, had he so desired. However, what we regard as wealth was in his eyes a calamity and the joy of kingship was bondage. His quest was for eternal bliss which is to be found within ourselves. Hence he focused on his inner self. In a world of violence, it was not possible for Mahavir to live in such an environment. He wanted to lead everyone along the path of righteousness, but before preaching it to others he sought to develop his own knowledge to the level of perfection. He wanted to become Mahavir (exceedingly brave one) but of non-violence and peace, and not that of violence, oppression, cruelty and destruction. His parents tried to marry him, but he was determined that with his ever-free soul as his source of strength, he would be rid of all worldly bondage.

So, at the age of thirty, he left his home. Casting aside all his clothes and remaining naked, he immersed himself completely in meditation in a lonely forest. He would remain silent all the time, would speak to no one and was always in a meditative state of mind. Mahavir made the caves of mountains his home. He treated friend and foe alike. He remained unruffled by the severity of winter, summer or the rainy season. Wherever he stayed, the atmosphere became peaceful. Twelve years passed in severe penance and meditation - both internal and external.

At the age of forty-two, Muniraj Mahavir, in a state of complete self-immersion succeeded in annihilating attachment to anything, and attained the state of being absolutely beyond all attachment. At the same time he attained absolute knowledge. He was called Bhagwan (God) because he was absolutely beyond all attachment and possessed absolute knowledge. Then he began to preach his message of Truth. The congregation, before which he preached, is called Samavasharana. Every one including animals could attend it. There was no discrimination based either on rank or caste.

Bhagwan Mahavir taught a system of truth which is eternal. Bhagwan Mahavir has only revealed the truth which has always existed. He did not establish any new religion. But he restored the faith in the eternal values of religion, which had been lost. At last, on the day of Dipavali, Bhagwan Mahavir, the last Tirthankar of this age, left his body and attained Nirvana at the age of seventy-two years. According to Jain belief, Dipavali is celebrated to remember Bhagwan Mahavir attaining Nirvana.

The teachings of Bhagwan Mahavir

LIVE & LET LIVE

Every soul is independent. None depends on another. All souls are alike. None is superior or inferior.

Every soul is in itself absolutely omniscient and blissful. The bliss does not come from outside.

Not only soul but every object of the universe also, is subject to change by itself, without any external interference.

All human beings are miserable due their own faults, and they can themselves be happy by rectifying the same. The greatest mistake of a soul is non-recognition of its real-self and it can only be rectified by recognizing itself.

There is no separate existence of God. Everybody can attain Godhood by making supreme efforts in the right direction.

Know thyself, recognize thyself, be immersed in thyself - you will attain Godhood.

God is neither the creator nor the destructor of the universe. He is merely a silent observer and omniscient. One, who, even after knowing the whole universe can remain unaffected and detached, is God.

MAHAVEER JAYANTI

Lord Mahaveer, also known as Vardhaman was the 24th and last Tirthankar.

Lord Mahaveer was born into a royal family of Vaishali Republic.

He was the son of king Siddhartha and queen Trishla. He was born and brought up in Kundalgrama near Magadh.

People called him with names like Veer, Ativeer, Sanamati but he was popularly known as Mahaveer (the conqueror) because of his courageous, daring and fearless character.

At the age of 30 he left his home in pursuit of spiritual awakening and abandoned worldly things including his clothes and become Jain monk. His main principles and teachings were still as effective for the entire world

I ) Live and let live. (We should live in harmony in this world without harming others.) II) Ahimsa Parmo Dharma. (Non-violence is the supreme religion.)

III) Belief in Karma i.e. future life depends on present actions.
A Hamilton man has reached a new milestone.

Joe Connors sat for his 700th donation at the Ancaster blood clinic on Friday morning.

The retired 33-year veteran of the Hamilton Police Service first donated blood in 1969.

Krista-Lee Ernst takes a photo of officers Carolyne Rashford and Mark Stiller with their good friend Joe Connors, a retired 33-year veteran of Hamilton police, as he gave his 700th donation of blood products Friday at the Canadian Blood Services. John Rennison/The Hamilton Spectator

He started giving to the platelet program in 1984 after seeing someone on the machine and inquiring about it.

Platelets can be donated every 14 days, with each session typically lasting an hour and a half.

When asked by The Sachem in 2018, during his 600th donation, why he dedicated so much time to giving, he responded: Why volunteer for anything? It works for me and I can do it.

With files from The Sachem

Reach The Spectator newsroom at 905-526-3420 or news@thespec.com

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Some of the programs offered to at-risk women through the local Elizabeth Fry Society branch are being taken over by YWCA Hamilton following news of the former organizations closure.

Following the surprising announcement by the Elizabeth Fry Society Southern Ontario board on March 20, the organization and the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services reached out to the local YWCA about taking over some programs.

YWCA Hamilton CEO Medora Uppal said the request made sense immediately, given the organizations long history, including work with many of the same women.

Uppal said Elizabeth Fry has done great work in the community and it was important to carry on programs.

We know the need and the vulnerability and how important the programs are, she said, later adding that YWCA Hamilton is a good fit.

So far YWCA has confirmed it will take over gender-based violence counselling and the drop-in program.

Uppal said the YWCA is also working to confirm funding for two other former Elizabeth Fry services: court support and jail visit programs.

The transition is a work in progress, with the YWCA still sorting out funding, how programs will be delivered and whether it will need to hire additional staff. Elizabeth Fry programs were funded through a number of different organizations and also private donors.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General, which funded Elizabeth Frys community service order (CSO) program  offering community-based sentencing options, such as community service, for adult offenders  has already said funding for that program has gone to the John Howard Society of Niagara. The ministry put out a call for applications last year, with the aim of expanding the programs geographic reach. John Howard was the successful applicant.

Elizabeth Fry is a charitable organization that has existed in Hamilton for 52 years, offering a variety of programs to help women navigate the justice system, including counselling, domestic violence support and work inside jails. There are more than 20 branches of the organization across the country.

The board has offered little information about its decision to close, other than a brief social media statement about making the very difficult decision to cease operations on March 31, 2023 due to concerns about the ongoing viability of the organization.

The Spectator has spoken to many volunteers and others tied to the organization who questioned the abrupt closure. The loss of funding for the CSO program had a huge impact, but funding for other programs remained. It is these programs that YWCA is working to take over.

The decision comes at a time when a number of community organizations are financially strained, leading to layoffs and closures, such as the closure of Catholic Family Services.

Uppal said she knows it is hard for boards to make that kind of decision.

Im just glad we can keep services, she said.

This may also be an opportunity to look at what service were being delivered and what needs Elizabeth Fry was seeing, and see if there is an opportunity to expand.

Uppal said clients are welcome to reach out to YWCA Hamilton if they have questions about services. For more information, call YWCA Hamilton at 905-522-9922 or visit 75 MacNab St. S.

Nicole OReilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com

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TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Fridayon the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (20,099.89, up 158.90):

Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX:YRI). Materials. Down six cents, or 0.76 per cent, to $7.88 on 17.3 million shares.

TC Energy Corp. (TSX:TRP). Energy. Down one cent, or 0.02 per cent, to $52.57 on 16.1 million shares.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD). Financials. Up 58 cents, or 0.72 per cent, to $80.95 on 11.5 million shares.

Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up two cents, or 0.05 per cent, to $41.96 on 9.9 million shares.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ). Energy. Up 49 cents, or 0.66 per cent, to $74.79 on 9.7 million shares.

Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS). Financials. Up 28 cents, or 0.41 per cent, to $68.07 on 9.4 million shares.

Companies in the news:

Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B): Down $1.86, or 2.88 per cent, to $62.64. The largest telecommunications deal in Canadian history will go forward after Rogers Communications Inc.s $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. received approval from Ottawa on Friday. The green light means the deal has cleared its final regulatory hurdle just over two years after it was first announced. But Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne took a stern tone on Friday, vowing to be like a hawk on behalf of Canadians to ensure compliance with the conditions he set, aimed at bolstering competition and lowering phone and internet costs. Champagne approved the transfer of Shaw-owned Freedom Mobiles wireless licences to Quebecor Inc.s Videotron, which operates in Quebec and some border regions of Ontario. Rogers and Shaw agreed in June 2022 to sell Freedom Mobile to Videotron for $2.85 billion in an attempt to ease competition concerns raised by the original proposal.

Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB): Up one cent, or 0.02 per cent, to $51.53. Enbridge Inc. says it has signed a letter of intent with Yara Clean Ammonia to jointly develop a blue ammonia production facility at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Centre near Corpus Christi, Texas. Blue ammonia refers to ammonia that is derived from natural gas, with the carbon dioxide generated as a byproduct of the process captured and stored. It is considered a more environmentally friendly way of producing ammonia, though it is different from green ammonia, which is derived from renewable energy. Calgary-based Enbridge says the proposed facility would cost between US$2.6 billion and US$2.9 billion, and would produce between 1.2 to 1.4 million tons per year of low-carbon ammonia to meet growing global demand.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31,2023.

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The recent release of GPT-4, an upgraded version of ChatGPT, has sparked both excitement and fear.

This new technology boasts enhanced functionality, such as image interpretation and improved quantitative abilities, making it a powerful tool with a wider range of potential applications.

The prospect of significant job losses therefore looms large in the minds of many Canadians. However, rather than being afraid of an abundance of automation, we should be more concerned about the lack of it. The most immediate threat to Canadians standard of living is not the loss of jobs but our ongoing slide in competitiveness and ChatGPT can help us address it.

Fifty years ago, Canadian workers generated more value per hour of work than their peers in all other G7 countries except the U.S. Today, Canadas labour productivity stands second-last among G7 countries, ahead only of Japan. A primary reason for this decline, alongside our lack of innovation, is our slow adoption of new technology. Embracing the promise of the newest transformative technologies is thus of paramount importance.

Early research on ChatGPT suggests that it can significantly enhance the productivity of workers. A recent experiment by MIT researchers asking university-educated professionals to perform occupation-specific writing tasks found that individuals who used ChatGPT were able to complete their task 59 per cent faster. Moreover, their work was judged by independent reviewers to be of higher quality in terms of writing, content, and originality. ChatGPT also most improved the writing of the least capable writers, suggesting that it is a tool that can help level the playing field.

While the experiment focused on writing tasks, ChatGPT is also able to assist in other functions including the retrieval of information, the synthesis of information, brainstorming, data analysis, and coding. Its broad functionality and continuously improving performance suggest that it has the potential to increase the efficiency with which workers across a wide range of occupations perform many of their tasks. A recent study by researchers at OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania suggests that four in five workers will see at least 10 per cent of their work tasks affected. ChatGPT and related technologies will enhance the cognitive abilities of workers to such an extent that workers who do not use it will be left behind. Similarly, businesses will find themselves unable to compete unless they optimize their workflows and strategy to take full advantage of the technology.

A second reason to be more concerned about the lack of automation is that it is not jobs that are in short supply, but rather workers. Canadian unemployment remains near a record low. While a recession could change that, our aging demographics suggest a longer-term trend where worker shortages continue to prevail. Canadian businesses will need to do more with less.

To be sure, concerns about the transitory loss of jobs are merited. Other disruptive technologies, like the power loom of the early 19th century and computers in the late 20th century resulted in a richer society, but also in the loss of many jobs. However, new jobs were created and the lasting legacy of those technologies instead became an increase in income inequality. ChatGPT will similarly create winners and losers, though perhaps not in the same way as earlier technologies. As the above-mentioned experiment suggests, ChatGPT may in fact level the playing field. Because ChatGPT automates cognitive tasks generally associated with skilled workers, it has the potential to make society richer while at the same time decreasing inequality. That would be a very welcome departure from the impact of earlier disruptive technologies.

The fear of job loss due to the adoption of generative AI is understandable, but Canadas lack of competitiveness is the more pressing and permanent concern. The only choice before Canadian business leaders and workers is whether to proactively adopt the technology, allowing us to better compete on the international stage, or cling to a fleeting status quo that all but ensures the continued ebbing away of our countrys prosperity. Canada must aggressively embrace change.

Joel Blit is a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and chair of the Council on Innovation Policy at the University of Waterloo.

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A man was robbed at knifepoint at Coxwell subway station Friday afternoon, Toronto police said.

In a tweet, police said they received a call at around 4:20 p.m. for reports of a robbery on the subway platform at the Coxwell station, near Coxwell and Danforth avenues.

Police said a man was robbed at knifepoint by two suspects, but he was not injured.

Police said the first suspect is described as a tall man wearing a navy blue jacket and a ski mask. The second suspect is described as a shorter man with short hair and wearing all black clothing.

Coxwell station was closed for over half an hour, but has since resumed service.

This recent incident follows a day after Gabriel Magalhaes vigil on Thursday night, the 16-year-old who was fatally stabbed in an unprovoked attack at Keele subway station on March 25.

On Friday, Toronto police were called to the TTCs Kennedy station at 10 a.m. for reports of a male suspect with a sharp object in his hand who was chasing several people inside the station located in the area of Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue.

Police said the suspect then started yelling racial slurs to the people he was chasing before fleeing. Officers are treating this incident as a hate-motivated offence.

This suspect is described as six-feet tall with a medium build, long dark hair in a ponytail and unshaven. Police said he was last seen wearing a maroon long sleeve shirt, black pants and a black backpack.

As well on Friday, Toronto police released images of a suspect wanted for assaulting two people earlier this year at North York Centre subway station. According to police, on January 30 a man allegedly grabbed a 15-year-old boys glasses, smashed them then threw them at him. The same suspect later spat on a man on the subway platform before getting on a subway train.

Police describe the suspect as a man in his 30s, about five-foot-seven and weighing approximately 170 lbs. In the surveillance images, he is wearing a long black jacket, dark-coloured pants, a green toque, black shoes and carrying what appears to be a black bag over his shoulder.

Violent incidents and attacks on the TTC have been ongoing for the past year.

With ridership down and violence rising on Torontos public transit system, the TTC introduced a new service March 14 that allows riders to report safety concerns online or through text messages. It was met with criticism since the TTC lacks broad cell service on the subway.

Magalhaes death sparked urgent calls for the three major telecom companies to provide cellphone service on the subway.

All of Torontos subway stations, and all tunnels in the stretch of Line 1 between Spadina and Bloor-Yonge, are outfitted with cellular service and data installed by BAI Communications Inc., a company thats built networks in subways around the world. However, the only carrier to sign on to BAIs system on the TTC is Freedom Mobile.

Canadas three big providers  Rogers, Bell and Telus  have so far refused to join.

With files from Lex Harvey

MH Mahdis Habibinia is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: mhabibinia@thestar.ca

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The White Lotus

HBO hit The White Lotus is one of the most highly rated shows of the past few years, so it comes as no surprise that celebrities want to jump in on the bandwagon.

As The White Lotus season 3 gears up to shoot in Thailand (can you think of a better location for the next batch of episodes?), Hollywood personalities are going on the record about their devotion to the show and their desire to be a part of it.

Case in point: iconic Friends actress Jennifer Aniston, who recently told E! News that she's actually "obsessed" with the series.

"Did you hear it, Mike White?," Jennifer, who recently shared her secret weapon for avoiding workout injury at 54 years old, said to the outlet, specifically calling out The White Lotus' creator. "I want Jennifer Coolidge. I love her."

Other celebrities have joined the chorus of supplicants. Hayden Panettiere, for example, also made a dispassionate plea about the subject while chatting with E! News.

"I want to do it so bad," said the 33-year-old actress, also mentioning Jennifer Coolidge's character as her very favorite on the series. "Bag holder, shoe shiner, I will be [Jennifer's] guardian angel, I will be her long-lost child. I will be whatever she wants me to be."

The White Lotus

Next up: the great Bette Middler, whose comedic timing certainly lends itself to the possibility of being cast on season 3 of the show.

"Mike White pokes fun at the worst kind of people, the truly entitled and rich people behaving badly," the 77-year-old actress said to Variety last month. "Everybody likes to see them get their comeuppance. I really enjoy that. It's the great saga of the haves and the have-nots, which is eternal. I do tend to watch the stuff that's - I don't want to say hopeful - but I do like to laugh."

Funnily enough, two beloved celebrities that hadn't directly expressed interest in being cast on the show did agree to do it once someone else mentioned the possibility.

While on Drew Barrymore's daytime talk show, for example, Pamela Anderson, the star of her very own recent Netflix documentary, commented on fans' desire for her to be part of The White Lotus as Jennifer Coolidge's character sister (we can so see that happening).

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the white lotus

"I heard about it," the 55-year-old former Baywatch star said during her appearance. "I can't get it in Canada because my HBO app doesn't work because my Apple ID is American. I want to watch it  I heard everyone loves it and it's crazy. I'm up for anything."

Fresh off her first-ever Oscar win, Jamie Lee Curtis was also not really familiar with the show until Haley Lu Richardson, who played Jennifer Coolidge's assistant in The White Lotus season 2, mentioned it to her during a red carpet event.

"Everyone has been asking me who should be in season 3 and I keep saying you," Haley said to Jamie Lee. "Do you want to do it?"

"Yes! I don't even know what it is, but I will do it," Jamie Lee responded. "Where does it shoot?"

"In beautiful places around the world at five-star resorts," responded Haley, to which Jamie Lee funnily said, "Wow, you know what? Twitter it or whatever you do!"

Needless to say, wed be delighted to see any of these stars on season 3 of The White Lotus, which we suspect will be released some time in late 2023 or early 2024 (hopefully!).
A Toronto man has been charged after an incident Friday morning in which police said that a man chased people inside Kennedy station with a sharp object while yelling racial slurs at them.

The incident happened at around 10 a.m., at Kennedy station near Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue, according to police.

Officers attended the scene but the suspect escaped before they arrived, police said.

Police earlier said they were treating the incident as a hate-motivated offence.

A 24-year-old man was later arrested and charged with several offences, including assault with weapon, uttering threats, weapons dangerous and four counts of fail to comply with probation.

Fridays incident was the latest in a string for violent incidents on the TTC, including the stabbing death of 16-year-old boy at Keele station last weekend.

Ana Pereira is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @anabpereiraa

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Many people consider table for one to be a sad phrase, but it doesnt have to be.

Throughout the pandemic, Toronto diners have become more comfortable eating alone, both inside their homes and out in restaurants. Now, a new spot in Baldwin Village not only encourages you to dine by yourself, it expects you to.

Yunnan Noodle Shack (at 43 Baldwin St.) bills itself Torontos first solitary dining restaurant  not the first restaurant to allow people to come in and eat alone, but one where thats the only option.

Everything here  the atmosphere, the music, the service, even the food  its all just background, said chef and co-owner Andy Su, who recently launched the restaurant with his wife, Jane Yu. Its there to let you have a conversation with yourself.

The window is covered with murals illustrating the solitary dining concept, but since you cant see in, its hard to know what to expect after walking up the small set of stairs into the restaurant. Once inside, you see 25 individual wooden dining stations set up in rows, with dividers separating you from the diner next to you. It almost feels as if you should be taking an exam.

A framed QR code brings you to the menu. A circular set of buttons sitting on a napkin holder has options for Bill, Call and Water. You can also order and pay online.

When the food comes, you can place your phone into a holder and stream Netflix or YouTube while you eat. Or you can remove your earbuds and soak in the meditative ambiance: the chilled-out jazz and trip-hop playing over the speakers, the wafting scent of chili and vinegar, the hushed tones of a host showing someone to their seat. My pulse slows. Am I out for noodles or have I stumbled into a day spa?

Its an unusually mindful meal, and thats what the couple aims to cultivate. In Chinese, the name of the restaurant is Dian Ke  Dian for the kingdom in the southwestern region of China where Yunnan province originated, and Ke for guest. Su considers himself both a guest, as an immigrant to Canada, and a host, and its a relationship he cares a lot about. Though everything from the food to the decor is deeply considered, he wants himself and his restaurant to be more of a conduit than a focus.

Im not the main character, he said. You are.

Yunnan Noodle Shack is intricately informed by Su and Yus own experiences.

After graduating with a law degree in China, Su moved to Canada, where he worked in the restaurant business as a waiter and a chef. He got the idea for Yunnan Noodle Shack when he opened the first Canadian franchise of a beef katsu spot called Kyoto Katsugyu. He went to Japan for training, then spent a month travelling the country and exploring the food culture.

In Japan, solo dining is a lot more popular and a lot less stigmatized than it is here. Eating out here is usually a social occasion, so dining alone can signify loneliness or isolation  at least in your own mind. In many restaurants in Japan, though, youll often see nothing but solo diners. At some ramen places, Su says, you even pay at a vending machine instead of ordering from a person. When you go inside the restaurant, your soup, cutlery and water are all waiting for you.

The whole time, you dont see service, he said.

Even in Toronto, ramen bars are still the places youre most likely to find solo diners (unless you count coffee shops). But Su wanted to expand the concept to the food he grew up eating in China. The menu is fairly typical of Yunnan-style restaurants: pork bone soup, cold rice noodles, hot and sour wonton, beef skewers of tender and grilled finger meat. He designed the food to maximize nostalgia, an idea thats intensified while spending time alone.

Both Yu and Su come from Kunming, or Spring City, a temperate area where its always around 23 degrees. Its both resource-rich and diverse, with more than two dozen different ethnic groups, which makes for a high-quality food scene with many influences. Some of the ingredients at Yunnan Noodle Shack are imported, while others are recreated based on memories: numbing chilis, cold and tangy pea jelly, even unadvertised grounded truffle flakes on top of some dishes.

Su has thought carefully about the interplay of different flavours and textures, making sure the dishes have the right combination of spicy and fresh, chewy and crunchy. Creating an environment without distractions or socializing can activate the senses and let you focus on what youre eating, he said, which lets you connect with your emotions.

Hes a very detail-oriented person, said Yu. But he also thinks deeply about things in a way that it can be hard to understand. Sometimes our friends tease us about it.

Once, Su  who is not religious but has read a lot about philosophy and psychology  was questioned by police who found him sitting in his car after midnight during a thunderstorm. He told the officer he just wanted to listen to the sound of the rain.

This summer, the couple plans to open a tea and dessert shop called Tangshui Youyu, or the Sweet Spot, next door. They say it will be the yang to Yunnan Noodle Shacks yin, a place to come and be social and talk animatedly with friends. But for now, the focus is on solitude and the sensations that live within.

When I tell people I went abroad to chase my dream, people think I mean I wanted to be a chef, Su said. But I tell people that is not my dream. My dream is to find some peace in my heart.

Richard Trapunski was a culture editor at a few loved and lost alt-magazines. Now, he writes about culture for a variety of publications.

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A Brampton man is facing charges of sexual assault and criminal harassment after what police said was an increased fixation with female paramedics

According to Peel Region Police, between April 2022 and February 2023 the suspect had recurring contact with Peel paramedics for medical-related care.

During those interactions, an increased fixation with female first responders led to the man inappropriately touching them and uttering offensive sexual comments, according to police.

Investigators believe there are more victims.

This troubling series of events and pattern of behaviour caused great concern for the members of Peel Paramedic Services and all of us at Peel Regional Police, Deputy Chief Marc Andrews said in a statement. Those providing critical care to our community should feel safe at all times. This most recent arrest will help assure our first responder partners, and our community, that activities and behaviour such as this will not be tolerated.

A 34-year-old man is facing charges of criminal harassment and sexual assault, as well as mischief and utter threat.

Ana Pereira is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @anabpereiraa

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Another aching death in Torontos transit system  this time, the killing of 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes  has renewed a sweeping question the city has faced for months. What do we do now to respond to the thrum of violence thats shaken the citys public transit system?

Its an urgent issue made all the more difficult by the varied circumstances of the alleged perpetrators. While there are signs that at least some of the accused in recent TTC violence cases were struggling with their mental health, experts caution against drawing broad links between mental illness and crime. Similarly, though some of the accused had been living on the streets or in shelters, and homelessness has become increasingly visible on transit, health and social service workers warn against placing blame squarely on that population.

While experts have warned there is no single cause or simple solution, a consensus has emerged in recent months that suggests faults in the citys social fabric  with an increasing number of people in desperate circumstances without adequate supports. Its an assessment backed by Gabriels mother, Andrea, who has been outspoken in the days since her sons death about cuts to social resources, and inadequate access to mental health care.

So, what can be done  in both the short and long term  to meaningfully turn things around? Heres what seven health researchers and practitioners, criminologists and police leaders, social service workers and mental health advocates would like to see in Torontos future.

The idea: More police can help, but beware of moral panics

Scot Wortley, a criminologist at the University of Toronto, finds the recent spate of violence shocking. He fears an erosion of social safety nets may set Canada on a path seen south of the border in terms of violent crime.

The Canadian data, however, is not telling that story  not yet.

What we are seeing could all be a blip, Wortley cautions. And with blips, such as the killing of Toronto teenager Jane Creba in 2005 near the end of the so-called Year of the Gun, can come moral panics that fail to address systemic issues like income inequality, affordability and mental health.

Sometimes criminal incidents happen randomly and by chance in close proximity, and media coverage and police attention to these crime waves engender moral panics and the need for politicians and other leaders to respond, said Wortley.

The political go-to  more police on the TTC, for example  does not address the factors likely underlying what may be happening, but Wortley says it can in the short-term reduce fears.

Police are always well positioned because you can almost immediately with an infusion of money increase police presence and police visibility, much like we saw over the last few months on the TTC, said Wortley.

And that visibility, while it may not actually prevent crime, and studies would suggest that it does not, it does appease public fears, and creates a feeling of security. And, you know, thats not necessarily a bad thing.

The idea: Give us mobile phone service and more TTC staffing

Mariana Valverde, also a criminologist at the U of Ts Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, rides the subway to her downtown office. Though semi-retired, Valverde makes the trek to campus a few times a week, and the nearest subway stop is St. George. Her go-to entrance is unstaffed.

Rather than put more police in the system, Valverde suggests adding more uniformed TTC staff, including at entrances.

While some may get comfort from seeing armed police, for others their presence can bring a sense of insecurity, said Valverde. Because you think, Oh, theres all these cops. This must be a dangerous area.

In addition, there are vulnerable segments of the population for whom police are frightening, said Valverde.

A lot of the people who ride the TTC are people who are poor, maybe have precarious immigration status or maybe have mental health issues, or for whatever reason, they dont trust the police in general.

Restoring and enhancing TTC and city staff  all paid less than police  may not be a quick measure to address the situation, given Torontos budget challenges, but there is one no-brainer, said Valverde, and its underground mobile phone service.

It seems to me that thats not a difficult thing to implement. After all, my cellphone works in the elevator, at the library, at U of T, so why cant it work in a subway stop? said Valverde.

That would make people feel safer. And a lot of it is really the feeling of being safe or unsafe, its not so much the statistical likelihood of being attacked.

The idea: A case-by-case deep dive to analyze whats really happening

While Stephen Hwang, a physician and St. Michaels Hospital Chair in Homelessness, Housing and Health, can list some general circumstances that can increase someones risk factors for violence, he sees Toronto as being in the throes of a condensed string of offences  one that should be examined in detail versus relying on assumptions.

To do that, he suggests a multidisciplinary expert panel explore the circumstances of each alleged perpetrator leading up to the moment of violence. (One challenge, he noted, would be protecting the rights of people who hadnt yet faced trial.)

What did their life look like leading up to that day? Had they sought help in past for their mental health and hit roadblocks? Had they dealt with increased isolation in the last few years? Were there any warning signs or missed interventions, or did it come truly out of the blue?

As a scientist, the first thing you need to do is look for patterns in the data, Hwang said, cautioning that speculating or painting all the accused of the same brush is unwise.

In the short term, Hwang said consistency is important, questioning the effectiveness of increasing police presence in the TTC, only to publicly end that effort within weeks.

If you know theres never going to be a policeman there again, then the deterrent effect goes away.

The ideas: Get smart about policing transit

Think of the subway system as a neighbourhood. Study the incidents of violence. Slow down just enough to gather data to better understand the problem. Then, co-ordinate security and social support workers so they can take an intelligence-based approach to the transit system.

Peter Sloly, former chief of the Ottawa Police Service and previously a deputy chief of police in Toronto, believes that approach  plus an ability to quickly communicate with passengers and between the integrated security presence in tunnels, where phones get no bars  would go a decent way to effectively dealing with whats on top of most minds right now: safety.

Start with data. When you have high profile incidents, but you dont have data to understand whether theres a trend behind it, or what actually is taking place, your solutions are more a shot in the dark, said Sloly. Analyze before running too far down the road of expensive or hard to pull back solutions that actually dont solve the problem or exacerbate the problem.

For example, the 81 Toronto police officers recently and temporarily spread out over a vast transit system. They werent particularly impactful because they didnt have the data, said Sloly. They werent really deployed in an intelligent way. And so they had minimum impact and a huge cost to the Toronto police operating budget.

Once an analysis is complete, integrate police, TTC special constables, security guards, bylaw officers and social workers into teams and deploy them where the problems exist. Think of it as a smart on crime approach, as opposed to tough on crime, said Sloly.

Finally, the TTC has to do a better job at mass communicating emergencies in the tunnels, and security and social workers down there need to be able to communicate through services such as WhatsApp. None of this is easy or even possible without mobile service.

Its in the tunnels where the majority of the victimization that were talking about is taking place, said Sloly. Communication and technology to enable that are critical.

The idea: A way to call for help on the TTC, and support for people in crisis

Jennifer Chambers, executive director of the Empowerment Council  a Toronto group that advocates on behalf of people with mental health and addictions  doesnt believe responding with more police or security is the best answer.

There are times certainly when theyre needed, but I think that a lot of the time people are on the TTC because they dont have a good alternative or place to be, she said.

Community workers on the TTC should be able to connect those in need or in crisis with services, Chambers said, be that housing, treatment or mental health support. If those services dont exist or are under-resourced, then the person is just going to be back to where they were before.

In Toronto right now, demand for help far outstrips available solutions. Remedying that falls on all levels of government, she said, as the city of Toronto has relatively shallow pockets.

Its also important, Chambers said, to ensure the public understands that their risk of being hurt or killed on the TTC is still very low. If they become unreasonably afraid of using transit, there will be fewer fares to pay for resources to address the problems.

In the short term, it would be helpful to have a way for people to discretely call for help, Chambers said  without pulling the emergency alarm, which she said can escalate situations.

There is a new texting service riders can use, but theres still no cell service underground. As well, she wants to improve the clarity of TTC announcements alerting people to such services and security incidents. Its like listening to Charlie Browns parents talk, wah wah wah, Chambers said.

The idea: Community spaces to offer long-term help and a listening ear

Working at a downtown drop-in for people facing homelessness, Kimberly Curry of Seeds of Hope begins by cautioning against blaming all recent violence on the homeless population. But on Torontos streets, she most acutely sees the cracks between social systems.

Curry offered the example of someone discharged from jail whose mental health was not aided behind bars. Shes seen people then released with no plan, no clothing and no immediate access to income supports, which she said meant they were nudged right away toward theft just to survive.

Shes seen people battling addiction who desperately wanted help. But even if they could find a medical detox bed, they had to navigate other complex systems to get longer-term treatment or find stable housing to support their recovery.

Increasingly, shes seen people become angry, because they dont know where to turn for long-term help. Theyre also left in a state of survival, where a lack of proper food and sleep can exacerbate problems. I watch it over and over and over again and it drives me insane.

She wants to see the creation of more community spaces with staff who could provide a listening ear, create relationships, and help someone navigate different systems to get the help they need. If there was also more co-ordination between services, she believes there would be fewer cracks for people to fall between.

It is a nightmare to get through all of the layers, she said.

The idea: Get serious about fixing the root causes

Dr. Sandy Simpson, chair in forensic psychiatry at Torontos Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, believes there are three main buckets that increase risk of violence  the lack of social, income and housing support; mental illness; and use of substances like crack and crystal methamphetamine, which he says can propel disorganized and disruptive behaviour.

Short term, he cites fixes like increasing mental health workers and stepping up emergency housing support. But to address the deeper-seated and longer standing causes, he argues that a major rethinking of the social safety net is needed.

Simpson wants to see the introduction of a universal basic income, which would provide no-strings-attached funds from the government to keep people from living in deep poverty.

Because people feel desperate, they feel isolated, they feel that life is really difficult, he said. Weve been happy as a society to allow the Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works to be way below anything like what you need to survive in our community.

If there was a floor underneath people, he said, access to necessities like housing and food security, along with peoples emotional well-being, would all be improved.

Why were in this mess is because people havent been interested in fixing these problems adequately until now.

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Plan your trip before youre in your car: The Ministry of Transportation has scheduled four closures in Durham on April 1, 2023 for roadwork on Highway 12, Highway 35/115 and Highway 7.

Highway 12 southbound between Highway 7 North Junction and Highway 407: one right lane closed until June 12 at 3 p.m.

Highway 35/115 northbound between Main Street and Highway 35: one alternating lane closed until April 3 at 11:59 p.m.

Highway 35/115 southbound between Highway 35 and Main Street: one alternating lane closed until April 3 at 11:59 p.m.

Highway 7 eastbound between Ashburn Road and Highway 12 Brooklin / Baldwin Street: one right lane closed until April 7 at 3 p.m.

Have further to travel? Highway closures for planned roadwork outside Durham

About this story

This story was automatically generated using open data from Ontario 511. These closures are scheduled for short-term or emergency repairs and maintenance of provincial highways around Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Clarington and Pickering. The disruptions may be intermittent or ongoing and can change due to weather, emergencies and other factors.

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JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli police shot and killed a man who they alleged tried to snatch an officers gun at an entrance to a Jerusalem holy site early Saturday, raising fears of further violence during a time of heightened tensions at the flashpoint compound.

Later Saturday, the Israeli military said a Palestinian driver rammed his vehicle into a group of Israelis in the occupied West Bank. Israeli medics said three people were wounded, two seriously, and the alleged attacker was shot dead.

In Jerusalems police shooting, Palestinian worshippers at the entrance to the site on Saturday morning had a different account, saying that police shot the man at least 10 times after he tried to prevent them from harassing a woman who was on her way to the holy compound, home to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the heart of Jerusalems Old City  the third holiest shrine in Islam. The compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the most sacred site in Judaism.

The police said the slain man was 26-year-old Mohammed Alasibi from Hura, a Bedouin Arab village in southern Israel. The village council called for a thorough investigation of his killing and a general strike Saturday in protest.

Hours after the incident, the muddy stone alleyway leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque was still stained with blood. Alasibis family said he was a physician who had recently passed his exams and earned his M.D. in Romania. He returned to his hometown a month ago, his cousin said, and was caring for his sick father as he worked to get certified in Israel.

He is a polite, kind man from a family of doctors who was going to Al-Aqsa for spiritual reasons, his cousin Fahad Alasibi said. If you want us to believe that he tried to attack police, then show us the security footage.

A police spokesperson pushed back on Palestinian accounts, insisting there was no woman walking to the compound at midnight because the complex was closed to visitors under an agreement with an Islamic trust called the Waqf controlled by Jordan.

Nonetheless, a few dozen people have been trying to sleep at the mosque overnight during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, prompting Israeli police to intervene and try to evict the worshippers.

The police spokesperson said Alasibi first aroused suspicion walking toward the shuttered compound. After being stopped for questioning, the spokesperson said Alasibi jumped on one of the officers and grabbed his gun, managing to fire two bullets toward policemen as the officer struggled to restrain him. Police described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack and said they shot and killed him in self-defense. No officers were injured. The spokesperson said there was no camera on the inner wall of the compound that could have captured the incident.

Palestinian worshippers at the compound Saturday disagreed. Noureddine, a 17-year-old who lived in the neighborhood and declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals, said he saw Alasibi confront police who had stopped a female worshipper on her way to Al-Aqsa Mosque. Alasibis relationship to the woman was not clear. He said some kind of disagreement broke out between Alasibi and the officers before he heard a dozen shots ring out.

Nothing could justify that many shots, he said, pointing to chaotic footage he filmed that showed Palestinian vendors and worshippers screaming at the sound of bullets being fired in rapid succession. They were fired at close range.

His cousin Fahad said Alasibi was worried about making the trip from Israels Negev desert to Al-Aqsa because his ailing father relied on him. But he went because praying there during Ramadan means a lot to him, he said.

The citys contested compound has been a focus for clashes in the past, particularly in times of turmoil in Israel and the West Bank. This year, as violence surges in the occupied territory under the most right-wing government in Israeli history, fears of an escalation in Jerusalem have mounted with the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Israeli police have boosted their forces as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers flock to Al-Aqsa Mosque for prayers.

On Friday, more than 200,000 Palestinians gathered at the compound for noon prayers, which passed peacefully.

Noureddine said police forced Palestinian vendors and worshippers out of the area after the incident, beating him and others with batons. Israeli police briefly closed the site before reopening it for dawn prayers.

Confrontations at the hilltop compound have triggered wider violence in the region in the past. Clashes at the site in May 2021 helped fuel the outbreak of a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers.

This years convergence of Ramadan with the Jewish holiday of Passover could increase the possibility of friction as the Old City hosts a massive influx of pilgrims.

For the past year, Israeli-Palestinian fighting has surged in the occupied West Bank. At least 86 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli or settler gunfire this year, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed 15 people in the same period. Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting police incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.

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News that Canada could force Google and Meta to contribute to the cost of generating journalism travelled quickly.

Here in Australia, we were excited to read that legislation based on our own News Media Bargaining Code had passed through the House of Commons in Ottawa at the end of last year.

For the last few months, while the legislation has wended its way through the Senate, disinformation about C-18 has been spread like a social disease. Some Canadian outlets have falsely reported that only large media conglomerates got tech deals here in Australia. This is fake news.

I should know. I am the co-chair of a group of 24 small and independent Australian publishers who secured a deal from Google. And we were not the only ones. A larger group of 180 regional papers, Country Press Australia also did a deal as did a range of individual small and mid-sized titles.

Our group, the Public Interest Publishers Alliance is made up of independent titles serving two dozen distinct communities in disparate markets across the whole of Australia. We include multicultural and ethnic publishers, LGBT media outlets, scrappy rural and urban mastheads and independent titles reporting on vital community interests ranging from global warming to womens rights to the arts.

Each of our member publishers is committed to producing public interest journalism. We stand by the old-fashioned principle that a civil society requires a fiercely independent press to inform our citizenry, engage the community and hold power to account. No secretive algorithm could ever replace the importance of the Fourth Estate to a fully functioning democracy.

And yet, despite the significant role that journalism plays in our liberal societies, the digital duopoly poses an existential threat to very existence of journalism around the globe. Together Google and Meta suck up more than one third of all global advertising revenues combined, making it increasingly difficult for content creating publishers to survive. If democracies such as Canada and Australia wish to preserve diverse local news coverage there is little choice but to require Google and Meta to do deals with publishers big and small.

In response to the tabling of C-18, both tech giants have funded a massive propaganda campaign, threatening to pull news content from its platforms across Canada. We Australians have heard it all before. In 2021, when our Parliament debated similar legislation, Facebook pulled the plug on all news published on their platform. For a couple of weeks, during a deadly pandemic, Facebook refused to distribute local news. Government sites providing vital public safety updates, NGOs and community health service pages were caught up in the news shutdown that impacted 17,000 pages.

Then after a few weeks the news returned. Despite claims to the contrary, a range of small and independent media companies sat down at the negotiating table. Australian legislation facilitated this outcome. Importantly, the law allowed independent publishers to join forces to collectively bargain with the mega transnational tech firms. In Canada, C-18, as amended by the House of Commons, would allow independent mom and pop publishers to join with larger publications in collective negotiation.

Concerns that the digital duopoly will only ever do deals with large media companies are not ill founded. Left to their own devices Google and Meta would only ever bargain with a few mega media corporations in a cynical attempt to buy off the biggest players and mollify the government. This is precisely what is happening in Canada without the passage of C-18. To thwart legislation, Google and Meta have started doing exclusive content licensing agreements with larger publishers alone.

Canada is a bilingual country, yet both companies have ignored key French language publications  both in Quebec, where French is the language of the majority, and they have also bypassed many French language publications outside of Quebec.

They have not done deals with other minority language, ethnic publications or titles representing under-represented and marginalized voices including the LGBT communities or First Nations peoples.

If there is one message that we can send to our Commonwealth kin it is this: Only the passage of a law compelling the digital duopoly to bargain with a range of public interest publishers will ensure that Canadians continue to have the rich and diverse media landscape you so richly deserve. In the absence of such legislation an ever shrinking Canada news landscape is all but inevitable.

Lawrence Gibbons is the co-chair of the Public Interest Publishers Alliance, a group of 24 independent mastheads, who negotiated a collective deal with Google in Australia.

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There are very few Canadian couples who have shared important leadership roles in a political party at the same time, all while raising a large family. Often children join the family political business, and occasionally, one partner will succeed another in a new political career. But for a married couple to each pursue important political careers simultaneously is almost unheard of.

Ruth and Terry Grier helped set the direction of the New Democratic Party, together, several times over 30 years. Steve Paikin reminds us that Ruth was recruited 1972 by party organizers in the neighbourhoods on Torontos lakeshore in Etobicoke, to run municipally. Their delightful ploy was that as the municipal and federal campaign dates overlapped, they could mount twice the number of Grier signs. They both got elected, Ruth to city hall and Terry to Parliament.

Terry, who died last month at age 86, had been, at the time a teacher at Ryerson, as it then was, for some years. Previously however, he had helped to launch the fledging NDP from its founding convention in 1961. As the senior party official he had managed three frustrating federal elections in five years, prevented the partys collapse in financial ruin several times, all the while trying to build a new national political party. After his one term as an MP, and his return to Ryerson, he came back to help elect Ed Broadbent as leader, and then chaired three more campaigns to far greater success.

Meanwhile, Ruth moved from great success as a municipal politician to provincial politics, joining the Bob Rae government as a minister in 1990. Rae described her as one of his most important ministers and asked her to lead the Environment Ministry and then the Health Ministry. She had successes in each.

At environment, she shut down an absurd plan to send Torontos garbage across the province to dump in an abandoned northern mine. At health, she launched the Trillium Drug Plan, which one day one might hope Ottawa copies to make essential drugs available to all Canadians.

Terry had, upon his return to teaching, begun to plot how to push the former polytechnic institute to full university status. With Raes sympathetic ear, Terry pulled off a successful lobbying campaign. He went on to lead his beloved university as president to great success.

Ruth and Terry were early champions and mentors of young women in politics, helping launch the careers of a generation of todays most important NDP stars. She and Terry were devoted to their community, their lifelong fight for social justice and a network of friends that crossed all partisan boundaries.

Each were masters of conciliation, often playing facilitating roles between contending visions. Neither Terry nor Ruth were fire-breathers, but each had steely values. In his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1974, Terry was swarmed by anti-abortion activists, many bused in from the U.S. He ran into a fair number of anti-choice voters at the doorstep.

Near the end of one canvassing day, he was denounced by an especially vehement pro-lifer on her doorstep. Terry listened respectfully, and then said, I am so pleased I will not have your vote, madam, and pivoted down the steps smiling.

He used to tell this story at candidate training schools, saying very seriously, Now, this is something you should never, ever do, then pausing to conclude with a chuckle, But, boy did it feel good at the time.

Few people can claim credit for having helped give birth to two great institutions, a political party and a university. Even fewer can say they did political battle, arm-in-arm, with their partner for a lifetime. As Ruth, now struggling with the damage age can do, struggled her way around the receptions and visitation sessions, her beaming smile and nods of recognition left few dry eyes.

To a new generation of political activists, choosing causes and partners, the tensions about who and what comes first are more real today than ever. For guidance in raising families in the tumult of a shared political life, there are perhaps no two better role models about how to do it with class and impact than Canadas unknown political power couple, Ruth and Terry Grier.

Robin V. Sears was an NDP strategist for 20 years and later served as a communications adviser to businesses and governments on three continents. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robinvsears

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One pervasive urban myth is that more police officers will mean there will be less crime.

Premier Doug Ford embraced this myth as his response to recent violent incidents on the TTC, stating we need more police officers in Toronto to deal with these incidents. But there is no evidence to support this statement. Evidence suggests that rates of crime have nothing whatsoever to do with the number of police officers.

Heres the data from Statistics Canada, which compiles the data supplied by police across the country. It uses the term severe crime as something which involves a prison sentence to differentiate it from lesser crimes. In Winnipeg there are 184 officers for every 100,000 residents and the rate of severe crime is 113 persons for every 100,000 residents. Toronto has fewer officers  167/100,000 and the rate of severe crime is less, just 45/100,000.

Halifax has 210 officers/100,000, with severe crime at 66/100,000. Vancouver, 198 officers/100,000, with severe crime at 81 residents/100,000. And so it goes: other Canadian cities have more police officers per capita than Toronto but they also have higher rates of severe crime.

As criminologist David Bayley writes (The fact that the rate of crime has little to do with the number of officers) is certainly not something the police themselves want to emphasize. Their livelihood depends on the publics belief that the number of cops matter. Nor are politicians anxious to cast doubt on the efficacy of policing. If hiring more police wont help, then what will? The finding that the number of police is unrelated to crime rates is very threatening. It leaves us all without a security blanket.

Crime rates have much more to do with social factors than with the numbers of police officers  rates of social inequality, availability of affordable housing, support for families and young children, and so forth.

There was a famous study done in Kansas City in the 1970s which shook the police world. The study looked at three neighbourhoods, first documenting the rates of crime and public feelings about personal security.

In one neighbourhood police patrol rates were kept constant, with a police car travelling the streets every hour or so. In a second neighbourhood, police patrols were doubled, happening every half-hour or so. In the third neighbourhood, there were no patrols: police only responded with calls for service.

The study then re-surveyed those three neighbourhoods and found two conclusions: there was no difference in the crime rates and there was no difference in public feelings of personal security. Police presence had made no difference on rates of crime or feeling of personal security. Sadly, police services have never stopped doing patrols: two third of the time spent by Toronto police officers is spent on patrol, and that is mirrored in most other police forces in Canada.

Another way to look at random crime is the common sense approach: it is impossible to put a police officer on every bus, streetcar and subway car in the hope that crime can be prevented. No government has the money to make that happen and no transit service could ever hire that many private police officers.

The only way to reduce random crime is to address the root causes of it, usually defined by social indicators: inequality, affordable housing, programs for young children and families. The provincial and federal governments are the only public institutions with the financial capability of addressing these issues, but as we have seen in the recently released budgets of both Queen's Park and Ottawa, they seem uninterested in doing so. Instead they rely on the urban myth that more cops equals less crime.

John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto.

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DUBLIN, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global 3PL Market (2023-2028) by Services, Mode of Transport, End-User, and Geography, Competitive Analysis, and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo



The Global 3PL Market is estimated to be USD 1.50 Tn in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 2.13 Tn by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 7.30%.



Market Dynamics

Drivers

Rapid Development of Logistics Features

Rising Shift Towards E Commerce and Omnichannel Fulifillment

Restraints

High Volatility in Fuel Costs

Limited Control in Logistics Operations

Opportunities

Rising Government Initiatives and R&D Expenses

Technological Advancements such as GPS, RFID, IoT, etc.

Challenges

Complexities Associated with the Border Transportation

Rising Concerns Regarding Warehouse Storage

Market Segmentations



The Global 3PL Market is segmented based on Services, Mode of Transport, End-User, and Geography.

By Services, the market is classified into Domestic Transportation Management, Dedicated Contract Carriage (DCC), International Transportation Management, Value-added Warehousing and Distribution, and Other.

By Mode of Transport, the market is classified into Railways, Roadways, Water Ways, and Airways.

By End User, the market is classified into Consumer and Retail, Automotive, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, and Other.

By Geography, the market is classified into Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Competitive Quadrant



The report includes a Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis



The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global 3PL Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for 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 3PL 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 3PL 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, PESTLE Analysis, and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 and the impact of economic slowdown & impending recession on the Market are 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 a competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool.

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Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics



5 Market Analysis



6 Global 3PL Market, By Services



7 Global 3PL Market, By Mode of Transport



8 Global 3PL Market, By End-User



9 Americas' 3PL Market



10 Europe's 3PL Market



11 Middle East and Africa's 3PL Market



12 APAC's 3PL Market



13 Competitive Landscape



14 Company Profiles



15 Appendix



Companies Mentioned

A.P. Moller -Maersk

Agility Logistics Supply Chain

Americold Logistics

C. H. Robinson

DB Schenker Ag

DTDC Express Ltd.

DHL Group

FedEx Corp.

GEODIS

Hitachi Transport System

Kerry Logistics Network Ltd.

Kintetsu World Express

Kokusai Express

Landstar System

Lloyd Fraser Group Ltd.

Nippon Express

Parcel Hub

Penske logistics

Ryder System

Sagawa

Union Pacific Corp.

United Parcel Service

Wincanton

XPO Logistics

Yamato

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4gxni8

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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SOURCE Research and Markets
We had hoped not to hear of tragedies like these anymore.

Last Saturday evening, 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes was sitting in Keele Station when a man, a stranger, approached him. Shortly after, Magalhaes lost his life, the victim of yet another stabbing on the TTC.

But Magalhaes wasnt the last victim, as another man was stabbed on a bus roughly 24 hours later, suffering serious injuries.

These stories were supposed to be a thing of the past. Amid a flurry of violent incidents on the TTC, the Toronto Police Service announced in late January that it would utilize overtime patrols to increase law enforcement presence in the transit system.

Roughly six weeks later, the police service discontinued the overtime patrols, but said it would continue to provide police presence with on-duty officers.

Yet the horror stories continue. And that raises the question of exactly what the increased patrols have accomplished.

Unfortunately, we have little in the way of answers. We do know that the police made more than 363 arrests on the TTC with help from the overtime officers, and that they referred some 237 people to social services.

We also know that violent incidents decreased to 116 in January from 145 in December. But since the overtime patrols didnt begin until the end of January, we cant assume the police presence was responsible for the drop in incidents.

Data from February and the first half of March wont be available until mid-April, but given the natural variance in crime rates, the six-week experiment was too brief to draw robust conclusions anyway. And even if the data do demonstrate a significant benefit, the price of overtime patrols  an estimated $1.7 million a month  is unsustainably expensive.

For a viable solution, then, we must look elsewhere, particularly because the rise in violent incidents have been elsewhere in the rest of the city. To be sure, the TTC has experienced a recent, dramatic rise in violent incidents: While the number of incidents remained steady in 2020 and 2021 (with 735 and 734 incidents respectively), crime rose 46 per cent, to 1,068 incidents, in 2022.

However, according to police data, major crime indicators in the city followed a similar trend: While indicators remained steady between 2020 and 2021, they rose 18 per cent in 2022. That doesnt equal the 46 per cent rise experienced by the TTC, especially since the rise in violence in the TTC occurred as ridership dropped, but the pandemic-era trends are similar.

That suggests the problem is a lot bigger than the TTC  and the solution must similarly confront violence on a much larger scale. That means addressing violence in the city rather than just on the TTC, and tackling its root causes rather than merely responding to violence when it occurs.

Just ask Andrea Magalhaes. While grieving the loss of her son Gabriel, she told the Star that the senseless violence isnt one with a short-term solution. People with mental health issues need more access to services, she said. Its not about just adding more security; you have to provide the tools for people with mental illness to cope with life.

Both the city and the TTC have made some strides in this direction, notably by increasing affordable housing, adding Streets to Homes workers and working with crisis intervention personnel.

The increased funding for police in the 2023 budget will, of course, help them respond to the increased violence on the TTC and around the city. But had the city provided an equal increase in funding for crime prevention, it could have reduced violence  and hence reduced the need for additional police to respond to it.

In a recent article for the Star, crime prevention experts Irvin Waller and Jeffrey Bradley noted that the city could reduce violence by 50 per cent before 2026  provided it invests in funding for outreach to youth, caseworkers working with victims of violence, education curriculum to change attitudes, creating training and jobs, basic income incentives, mentoring and trauma counselling.

At city council Thursday, there was acknowledgement that the problems experienced on the TTC are the symptoms of a crisis seen city-wide. Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie said those problems have been exacerbated by the neglect of the citys financial needs by both Ottawa and Queens Park, which has left Toronto struggling to fill the gaps on homelessness and mental health.

For too long we have been plugging the holes in the system, she said. This is how the budget choices of the federal and provincial governments impact the city.

In contrast to adding more and more police, measures are needed that focus on addressing the social and psychological factors that lead to violence. And if the city  with the necessary support of other levels of government  commits to adequate funding, these measures can and will make a real difference both inside and outside the TTC.

Tomorrow: The unacceptable lack of cellular service in Torontos subways.

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As a stricken city groped for answers after the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes at Keele subway station, Toronto Councillor Chris Moise made a compelling observation.

There is exceedingly limited cellphone service in Torontos subway system. Only Freedom Mobile, which has about six per cent of the Canadian market, offers customers service through an agreement with BAI Communications Inc., which owns the TTC infrastructure it built 10 years ago.

Rogers, Bell and Telus  telecom giants that leave customers cut off from the world while underground  have declined invitations to provide service through the BAI system.

As a result, the vast majority of Toronto subway users lack the comfort of connection for much of their subway journeys. They are unable to let family or friends know where they are, especially travelling alone or at off-peak times. Calling 911 is not assured in all parts of the subway network.

Frankly, its appalling, said Moise (Ward 13 Toronto Centre) who sits on the TTC board. They should be embarrassed and they should be shamed into providing this service.

Admittedly, shame has fallen out of favour as a motivational tool in recent decades. But in this case, Moise is not wrong.

It is now a matter of urgent public concern that corporations stop manoeuvring for private advantage and play ball with the TTCs provider in the name of the greater good.

If telecom companies are not prepared to willingly step up in the interests of good corporate citizenship, city hall and the TTC should find ways to force them.

These corporations  which have enjoyed a sweet deal in Canada, charging some of the highest prices in the world  have the wherewithal to make it happen.

The service infrastructure built has been in place for about a decade, at least in all the stations and all tunnels in the downtown U  the stretch of Line 1 subway between Spadina and Bloor-Yonge.

The roadblock to making service available has been, as reported by the Stars Lex Harvey last year, the telecom giants refusal to sign on to use BAIs network.

Such intransigence has not occurred in places like Montreal and major cities around the world. In London, BAI won a contract to bring cell service and internet to Londons Tube by 2024 and the four major mobile operators there have agreed to sign on.

There has been a spate of violence in the Toronto subway system over the last year, including four homicides and three attempted homicides.

Last Saturday, 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes died from stab wounds suffered in an attack.

Moise is not the only city councillor to see provision of cellphone service as an obvious part of the public safety solution.

Councillor Paul Ainslie (Ward 24 Scarborough-Guildwood), who also sits on the TTC board, said its time to start holding the involved companies feet to the fire to ensure there is seamless cellphone coverage across the entire system.

Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie has told TTC officials that this needs to happen as soon as possible.

Yet when questioned at last weeks council meeting when cell service on the subway might be possible, TTC CEO Rick Leary replied, I dont have a good answer

The TTC, he said, was trying to shame the telecoms into providing the service.

Theres that word again. After months of public anxiety over transit crime, its disturbing that council is having to resort to using moral suasion to get the telecom giants to do the right thing, that civic duty and the goal of serving transit riders arent motivation enough.

It would be the decent and proper thing to do in order to make the TTC a safer place.

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An Ontario budget without vision, March 26

When leader of the opposition, NDP Leader Marit Stiles says our budget fails to meet the moment, it was seriously understated.

Our low-income Canadian workers are shutting down their furnaces because they need food and rent first. Our homeless numbers keep rising while Premier Doug Ford complains about a haircut others cant get because of their need for food, heat and rent. My home heating bill is now $7 per day.

All the while Fords only interest is his developer friends who paid $3,000 to go to a stag-and-doe party.

Brian Mellor, Midland

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The failing of Ontarios budget plan, March 26

While I agreed with the content of the editorial critique of Premier Doug Fords budget, I noticed that the Leader of the Official Opposition has again been referred to as the NDP Leader.

While Marit Stiles is indeed the NDP Leader, I believe her most important role in Ontarios legislature is to voice her concerns (and the concerns of many Ontario citizens) about the directions Fords decisions are taking this province. The voices of the Official Opposition are one of the few instances where Ford is challenged directly about his decisions.

As one of the Ontario citizens who has been very concerned by some of Fords political decisions which cause real people real problems, I want those opposition voices to be given full respect in our parliamentary system.

Susan Fraser, Toronto

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Ford government is failing students, March 26

In the first two years of Doug Fords government, the school repair backlog in Ontario increased by $1 billion. In 2019, outstanding repairs were a shocking $16.8 billion. Without new data available, Karen Littlewoods excellent piece reports this backlog, three years later, as the same $16.8 billion, but it is certainly much higher.

Ontarios legislature is now slated for $1 billion in repairs due to concerns with lead pipes and asbestos running through the walls, mountains of old cables and wires stacked on top of new ones, an inefficient steam heating system with parts that frequently fail and fire safety systems in need of upgrading.

This is exactly how every child in Toronto, and many other school districts, would describe their school.

The difference? Children cant choose the building where they spend their days.

Susan Armstrong, Toronto

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This may sound a bit conspiratorial, but was Toronto funding not in the provincial budget because this government wants to wait to see who is elected mayor?

Does this mean that unless its one of Premier Doug Fords favourites we will not receive the funding that is badly needed, if we vote in a leftist mayor?

And do I think they are willing to play partisan politics, to this degree?

Absolutely.

Lynda Hurley, Toronto

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The enduring image of the week, for me, will be of Andrea Magalhaes Thursday evening kneeling against the bench in the spot at Keele subway station where her 16-year-old son Gabriel was stabbed and killed last Saturday  the very spot, we heard from a bystander who tried to comfort him in his final moments, that he lay on the floor bleeding after hed simply been waiting for the bus with a friend.

The whole citys heart has been broken by news of this boys sudden, unprovoked murder by an apparent stranger. We have, together, experienced a gamut of emotions from sadness to fear to frustration-fuelled, powerless rage. It is hard to imagine the depth of emotional pain his mother must be feeling. And yet there she was, at the scene where it had happened  leading, that evening a candlelight vigil walk from High Park to the subway, sharing her pain with the rest of us, in memory of her son and in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing the same loss.

Magalhaes, a nurse by profession, has been vocal all week about the public response she thinks is called for in response to her sons tragedy. Summoning a clarity of thought and expression I cannot fathom at what is certainly the most painful moment of her life, she has demanded more mental health support for people in crisis, more investment in physical and mental health, more housing. More needs to be done to help people in crisis, more needs to be done so people dont get to the point where they are in crisis, she told CBC radio this week.

In that radio interview, she said the temptation to just hide in my bed and never get up again was strong, but the impulse to fix the broken things that had cost her son his life was stronger.

We can only pray that impulse is felt as strongly, and as clearly, by our leaders.

The so-far-known record of Jordan OBrien-Tobin, the 22-year-old charged by police in this death, strongly suggests multiple, overlapping failures. He has been repeatedly charged and often convicted of a variety of offences in his short adult life, including assaults and including ones involving sharp objects such as boxcutters and scissors. He has repeatedly violated release conditions  including in Newfoundland, where he was wanted for allegedly breaching a court order, and where he had a lengthy criminal history  and was on probation when this crime was committed. He has, in the past, been ordered to get mental health and substance abuse treatment, though its not clear if he ever did. He has, according to Star reporting, bounced between homeless shelters and jails.

If it is proven that he committed this crime as police allege, it represents our collective failure. Whatever social systems we have in place to provide treatment and support to people so they do not become threats to themselves and others failed here. The policing system we have in place to protect us from active threats was ineffective. The criminal justice system we have in place to keep people who are threats to our safety away from us failed.

This murder has already become a lightning rod in the just-beginning mayoral byelection campaign where fear of crime was already going to feature prominently, but it is not strictly or even mostly a municipal issue. The layers of protection we count on to ensure our safety involve all three levels of government interacting with each other. Which, sadly, makes me feel less hopeful that were politically equipped to address the problems.

Dealing with sophisticated issues like this requires multi-level co-ordination, it often requires implementing programs where success is invisible because it results in things that dont happen, it requires whole boatloads of money. These are all things that, politically, we arent very good at.

It is easier for a mayoral candidate to demand bail reform from the federal government and maybe put a few more security officers on subway platforms than it is to weave together a functioning web of public health, policing, criminal justice, housing, transit and other programs that together form a safety net that helps people in crisis, keeps people from reaching the point of crisis, and protects us all from people who become dangerous if they are in crisis. Its complicated. Its hard. And it doesnt make as good a slogan.

But even to the extent that many of our leaders do recognize, and want, to do the right things across a broad swath of areas, I fear they will not have the money to do it. The criminal justice system is not within a mayors power, but the policing system, homelessness services and many front-line mental health and social service systems are. But right now the city has a $45-billion hole in its budget over the next 10 years, and has been cutting transit service as part of its response. The provincial and federal governments, in their recent budgets, have offered almost no additional help  even in areas like the sheltering of refugees where their policies are driving new costs to the city. So where does the money for a sustained effort to ensure public safety come from? Especially after this wave of widespread sadness and anger and fear passes, as it inevitably will, and some new issue or crime or scandal dominates headlines?

At that point  as anyone who knows a parent who has lost a child can be sure  Andrea Magalhaes will still be dealing with the lifelong grief resulting from this crime, this demonstration of our collective failure to protect her son. We should heed her words this week, and keep in our minds for a long time the image of her, brought to her knees by bottomless sorrow, mourning her boy and begging us to do better. The sight of it should strengthen our resolve for sustained collective action. And if it does not, the memory of it should be a reminder of our collective shame.

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Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) is about to go ex-dividend in just four days. The ex-dividend date is one business day before a company's record date, which is the date on which the company determines which shareholders are entitled to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is of consequence because whenever a stock is bought or sold, the trade takes at least two business day to settle. In other words, investors can purchase Bristol-Myers Squibb's shares before the 6th of April in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 1st of May.

The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.57 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$2.28 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Bristol-Myers Squibb has a trailing yield of 3.3% on the current share price of $69.31. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

See our latest analysis for Bristol-Myers Squibb

If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Bristol-Myers Squibb is paying out an acceptable 74% of its profit, a common payout level among most companies. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. It distributed 39% of its free cash flow as dividends, a comfortable payout level for most companies.

It's positive to see that Bristol-Myers Squibb's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

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Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. It's encouraging to see Bristol-Myers Squibb has grown its earnings rapidly, up 37% a year for the past five years. Management appears to be striking a nice balance between reinvesting for growth and paying dividends to shareholders. Earnings per share have been growing quickly and in combination with some reinvestment and a middling payout ratio, the stock may have decent dividend prospects going forwards.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Bristol-Myers Squibb has delivered 5.3% dividend growth per year on average over the past 10 years. It's good to see both earnings and the dividend have improved - although the former has been rising much quicker than the latter, possibly due to the company reinvesting more of its profits in growth.

To Sum It Up

Is Bristol-Myers Squibb an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? We like Bristol-Myers Squibb's growing earnings per share and the fact that - while its payout ratio is around average - it paid out a lower percentage of its cash flow. It's a promising combination that should mark this company worthy of closer attention.

So while Bristol-Myers Squibb looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. Our analysis shows 3 warning signs for Bristol-Myers Squibb and you should be aware of them before buying any shares.

If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.

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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Ramdas Athawale is a prominent Dalit leader. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (RPI) and a member of the Rajya Sabha. Athawale began his political career in the 1980s as a member of the Dalit Panther Movement. He later joined the RPI and became its president in 1991. He has been elected as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly five times. He was also a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, from 1999 to 2004.

Athawale is known for his work in promoting the welfare of Dalits and other marginalized communities in India. He has been a vocal advocate for the rights of Dalits and has worked to eradicate caste-based discrimination and prejudice in Indian society. He has also been a strong supporter of affirmative action policies that aim to provide equal opportunities for Dalits and other backward classes in education and employment.

In 2016, Athawale was appointed Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment. In this role, he continues to work towards promoting social justice and empowerment for marginalized communities in India. He has also been a strong advocate for the rights of women and has supported various initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality in Indian society.

Anjali Bhatia talked to Ramdas Athawale.

Excerpts:

Q: Can you tell us about your role as Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment of India?

A: As the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment of India, my primary responsibility is to oversee the implementation of policies and programes that aim to promote social justice and empowerment of marginalized communities in India. This includes initiatives related to the welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Persons with Disabilities, Senior Citizens, and other vulnerable sections of society. I also work to ensure that the constitutional rights of these communities are protected and their voices are heard at the national level.

Q: What are some of the key initiatives that your ministry has undertaken to promote social justice and empowerment in India?

A: One of the key initiatives is the implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which is designed to prevent atrocities against these communities and provide them with legal protection. We have also launched several schemes aimed at improving the educational and economic status of these communities, such as the Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration through Inter-Caste Marriages and the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes. Additionally, our ministry has been working to provide equal opportunities and access to resources for persons with disabilities. As part of our initiatives the Accessible India Campaign and the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan were launched

Q: How do you envision Indias future with regard to social justice and empowerment?

A: I believe that India has made significant progress in the field of social justice and empowerment, but there is still a long way to go. My vision for Indias future is one where every citizen, regardless of their caste, religion, gender, or ability, has equal access to opportunities and resources. We need to work towards building a more inclusive society, where marginalized communities are not just given a seat at the table, but are actively involved in the decision-making process. To achieve this vision, we need to continue to work towards eradicating discrimination and prejudice, and promoting policies that enable social justice and empowerment for all.

Q: Would you mind telling me what you think of the Constitution of India drafted by BR Ambedkar?

A: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar played a significant role in drafting the Indian Constitution. It is one of the most remarkable documents ever written. The Constitution of India is a progressive and forward-looking document that enshrines the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Indian citizens. The Indian Constitution is a shining example of Indias commitment to democracy, secularism, and social justice. It is a testament to Indias pluralistic and diverse society, where people from different backgrounds and religions can coexist peacefully and prosper together. The Constitution reflects Dr. Ambedkars vision of a just and equitable society, where everyone has equal opportunities and access to resources. We must uphold these values and work towards building a more inclusive and equitable society.

Q: Would you agree with some people who want the Constitution changed?

A: The provisions for change are incorporated into the Constitution. The Constitution has been amended several times over the years. However, its spirit must remain intact since it is working well.

Q: The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled for 2024. What preparations are being made for that?

A: We have our party in every state, in North East, North India and South India. If BJP takes RPI along in the Lok Sabha elections, both parties will be benefited. Our partys base is increasing rapidly across the country. If BJP takes us along in Uttar Pradesh, along with Dalit votes, we will also get Muslim vote. Mayawati has become weak as the leader of the Dalits. Given the weak position of Mayawati, Dalit voters may come towards RPI. In such a situation, BJP can strengthen itself further by increasing the role of RPI in Uttar Pradesh. Our party got two seats in the Nagaland assembly elections. I have spoken to BJP National President JP Nadda and National Organization General Secretary BL Santosh. He has also discussed this with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Q: How many seats do you think the BJP will get in the coming Lok Sabha elections?

A: BJP will get more than 350 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. BJP has made a lot of achievements under other central schemes including Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana and so on. The people have benefited so they are naturally inclined towards the BJP and our charismatic Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Q: What do you think about Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra?

A: Instead of connecting with India, he should bring unity to his party. Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra was Bharat Todo Yatra. If Rahul Gandhi strengthens his party instead of bringing unity to India, then some results might come. The country is one. Babasaheb has united the whole country through his Constitution.

Q: What is your expectation from the government on power sharing in Maharashtra?

A: Our partys status in Maharashtra is good, and we hope it will also be part of the Eknath Shinde government. When the cabinet expansion takes place in Maharashtra, one or two leaders from our party should get ministerial berths.

Q: From where are you preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections?

A: Shirdi (Maharashtra) is the preferred seat for the Lok Sabha. I contested Shirdis election in 2009, but lost. My tenure in the Rajya Sabha is till 2026, but now I want to go to the Lok Sabha. Since 2009, the Shiv Sena has been winning the Shirdi Lok Sabha seat continuously. This time the Shiv Sena has split. In this situation, winning the seat is most likely
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee who heads the home department on Friday admitted inaction of a section of police personnel who were on duty on Thursday evening when Ram Navami-linked violence occurred at Kazipara.

Later in the day, Union home minister Amit Shah spoke to the Governor C V Ananda Bose seeking to know about law and order situation in the state particularly against the backdrop against Howrah violence.

The chief minister has warned to take action against those who provoked the riots.

While speaking to a Bengali TV channel on Friday the chief minister said: We will take strong action against those persons who were involved in the incident. We will also take action against those police personnel because of whose inaction such incident happened. Thirty-one persons have been arrested so far.

Making an appeal to the minority community Miss Banerjee said: People residing in the areas have some grievances but try to restore peace. Hindus did not create any violence in Howrah. Some organizations like VHP, Bajrang Dal and others belonging to BJP organised the trouble. Its a conspiracy of the BJP to disturb peace in Bengal.

Time and again, they keep trying to stoke communal violence. It is the only thing they are good at, she said.

Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative Assembly, moved Calcutta High Court (HC) on Friday over the communal clash that erupted at Kazipara area within Shibpur police station limits, during Ram Nabami celebrations, asking for a CBI and NIA inquiry to look into the incident.

I have filed public interest litigation (PIL) today in the Honble High Court at Calcutta pertaining to incidents of violence and attack on Ram Nabami processions at Howrah and Dalkhola. I have prayed for NIA probe and immediate deployment of central forces in such areas, Adhikari tweeted.

He alleged that some Trinamul Congress leaders including a local councillor were involved in Thursdays violence.

The hearing of the case will take place in the court of the acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on Monday.

Several vehicles including some belonging to the police and auto-rickshaws and shops and establishments were torched and damaged by a mob during the violence. The trouble started when some people allegedly started pelting stones as the Ram Navami procession was passing through the PM Bastee area on Thursday evening.

Md Salim, CPI-M state secretary, while speaking to reporters at Alimuddin Street, said: The chief minister cant deny her responsibility on Howrah violence. How can she make lower rank policemen responsible, being herself the police minister? Both Trinamul Congress and BJP are playing cards of religious polarization politics ahead of rural polls. CPI-M will bring out a peace procession at Kazipara on Sunday.

On Friday, tension prevailed in the areas like Kazipara, PM Bastee and Sandhyabazar along the G T Road with reports of fresh violence. Groups of people came down to the G T Road pelted stones at police personnel force deployed on the spot and tried to break police barricades.

Panic-stricken residents were forced to stay inside their houses and housing complexes. Shops and commercial establishments remained closed throughout the day. Public transport like buses and minibuses were not also allowed to operate in the area throughout the day till the evening.

Huge contingent of police force from several adjoining police stations like Shibpur, Howrah and Byantra and RAF of Kolkata Police were deployed to bring the situation under control.

Policemen were seen sensitizing the local residents requesting them to stay in their homes and avoid assembling in groups in the localities.

Police force led by senior police officers like additional director general of police Siddhinath Gupta raided lanes and bylanes of Kazipara, PM Bastee and Sandhyabazar since Thursday night to nab suspects involved in the violence.
Two more officials, an upper-divisional clerk, Nityagopal Majhi, and a retired UDC, Anjana Majumdar, of the DI office at Berhampore were also arrested

A former district inspector of schools (secondary education), Murshidabad, Purabi Dey Biswas was arrested today in connection with a teachers appointment suspected to be fake, sources said.

Two more officials, an upper-divisional clerk, Nityagopal Majhi, and a retired UDC, Anjana Majumdar, of the DI office at Berhampore were also arrested following interrogation by investigating officers of the case, here today, sources informed.

A team of CID sleuths called on some officials at the DI office here and took five of them including the DI, Murshidabad, Amar Kumar Shil to the local CID office at Gorabazar area of Berhampore for interrogation, said officials. The investigators led by DSP, CID, Shimul Sarkar, interrogated the education department officials while the former DI, Purabi Dey Biswas, was simultaneously questioned on the same issue at Bhabani Bhaban, the CID headquarters in Kolkata, sources informed.

The case under CID investigation involved recruitment of an assistant teacher, Animesh Tiwari, who was allegedly appointed by his father Ashis Tiwari, the headmaster of Gotha AR High School, a government-aided secondary school at Suti area in Murshidabad district, it was learnt. According to media reports, the CID intensified the probe as the Calcutta High Court recently expressed displeasure at the investigators. During the CID inquiry, it came to light that the dossier pertaining to the appointment of Animesh Tiwari went missing from the DI office at Berhampore.

The CID arrested Ashis Tiwari, the headmaster of Gotha AR High School, on 13 February this year while his son, Animesh is absconding, sources said.
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), one of subsidiaries of Coal India Limited, registered a record 193.3 million tonne coal production with the highest ever 192.7 million tonne coal despatch to consumers during the financial year 2022-23.

MCL Chairman-cum-Managing Director Om Prakash Singh, while addressing the annual media conference in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, expressed his gratitude to the state and the Central government for extending all necessary support to the company, which ensured new milestones in its pursuits of energy security in the country.

MCL registered a growth of 15 per cent for the financial year 2022-23, while coal despatch also showed nine per cent growth over previous financial year 2021-22, Singh informed, expressing his gratitude to all the stakeholders, employees of the company and contractors workers.

Functional directors of MCL including Keshav Rao, Director (Personnel), Jugal Kumar Borah, Director (Technical) and Ajit Kumar Behura, Director (Finance) and PK Patel, Chief Vigilance Officer, also shared the dais with the CMD, who attributed the success of the company to close coordination and dedicated effort put in by each member of the company in executing the plans.

We are happy to share that MCL has achieved all its targets much ahead of schedule and has contributed to Coal India surpass its target of 700 million tonne set for financial year 2022-23, the CMD added, while informing that the 97 per cent of total production of MCL was through eco-friendly equipment surface miners.

Singh said the coal despatch to power sector also increased from 127.12 million tonne in FY 2022 to 148.8 million tonne in FY 2023 with a growth of 17 per cent. Strengthening its business activities, the company made Capital Expenditure (CapEx) of Rs 3,850 crore during the financial year 2022-23.

MCL enjoys being the top company in Odisha contributing under CSR. In the year ended March 31, 2023, the company had spent around Rs 200 crore under various CSR initiatives for social and economic upliftment of society, particularly the remote and peripheral areas of the coalfields.
The Delhi Legislative Assemblys Committee on welfare for SC/STs has recommended extending free education to all EWS/DG students studying in private schools till class 12.

The 13th Delhi Legislative Assemblys Committee on welfare of SC/STs meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Karol Bagh MLA Vishesh Ravi.

The Committee had summoned the GNCTD Education Department to discuss the issue of ensuring the rights and welfare of EWS/DG students studying in private schools.

It was deliberated that the Right to Education (RTE) Act currently provides free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of 6 and 14 years, but the benefits are only provided up to class 8. This has left many EWS/DG students in Delhi struggling to pay the fees beyond class 8 and some are even at risk of dropping out of school, an official statement said on Saturday.

The Committee on Welfare of SC/STs has thus recommended that the Education Department of Delhi extend the benefits of free education to all economically weaker section (EWS/DG) students studying in private schools up to class 12.

It was also noted that some private schools that have received land from government agencies already provide free education to EWS/DG children up to class 12.

The Committee asserted that it is essential to provide continuous access to education to all children, regardless of their socioeconomic background. Extending the benefits of free education to all EWS/DG students up to class 12 will ensure that they receive a complete education and have the opportunity to pursue higher studies and have better career prospects.

Vishesh Ravi said, Education is the foundation of a progressive and equitable society, and we must ensure that every child has access to it. This recommendation will help thousands of EWS students in Delhi to continue their education without any financial burden.

The Committee acknowledged that this may require additional resources and funding, but held that the long-term benefits to society as a whole makes it a necessary investment. Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and ensuring a better future for all.

The Committee urged the Education Department of Delhi to consider this recommendation and take necessary steps to extend the benefits of free education to all EWS/DG students studying in private schools up to class 12.
The recently released Bihari flavour films are in the limelight these days. All these films were released during Bihar Foundation Day celebration recently in Patna theatre. The Government of Bihar has honoured them for their efforts in making such thematic contemporary films.

The Lipstick Boy

A dramatic Hindi Film based on Launda Naach a folk dance inspired by a veteran folk writer in Bhojpuri language of Bihar and UP region, Bhikhari Thakur.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has given a prologue. Bachchan has lent his voice to the film The Lipstick Boy directed by a resident of Bihars Begusarai district, now migrated to Mumbai Abhinav Thakur.

The film was screened for the first time on the occasion of Bihar Diwas in a theatre recently.

The idea of this film occurred to him when he met Kumar Uday Singh, who is a folk dancer from Bihar and does Launda Naach at NSD campus, Delhi.

Talking about the movie, director Thakur told The Statesman that the main objective of this film is to take the famous Launda Naach which is disappearing from Bihar to the country, to show that the life of the artists associated with this culture is full of struggles.

There was a time when this dance was prevalent in the costume of women. Bhikhari Thakur, who has been called Shakespeare of Bhojpuri, and the play written by him, Bidesia dominated the corridors of Bollywood, but with the changing times, both the interest and tradition of the people have Changed.

Even today, there are many such artists in Bihar who are keeping this form of dance alive, the story of this film is inspired by the life of Bihars famous Launda dancer Kumar Uday Singh and artists like him.

Today, when any artist dances in the environment of a woman, people taunt him, look at him with an inferiority complex and call her a launda, but still that artist does not leave his art and keeps his culture alive. Director Abhinav is bringing the story and struggle of the actors through this film on the big screen through The Lipstick Boy.

The Hindi film The Lipstick Boy, produced under the banner of Sand Films Production, is based on the famous folk dance.

The film has received phenomenal response. The movie theater was filled to capacity with individuals from various age groups, who expressed their admiration and enthusiasm for the film by applauding and cheering.The film has been created for a worldwide audience.

Talking about the main character in the movie, the director said that Manoj Patel, a famous film and TV actor from Bihar, is in the lead role. The movie has been filmed in Bihars Nalanda and Patna in the year 2020 but due to pandemic lockdown the film could not get a chance to release it now the film will soon be released among the audience, film director said. Almost all the cast in the film and locations are from Bihar.

Samaantar

Another popular film made by another Bihari Niraj Mishra which was also released on Bihar diwas celebration in Patna. The 91 minutes film Samaantar is also promoted by megastar Bachchan.

To the people of Bihar, for the people of Bihar, and by the people of Bihar. Everything is new about Samanantar. Not only did we make this film with all the unknown faces, but also 95% of the actors acted for the first time and faced the camera for the first time, producer of the film Mishra said.

Except for me, all the technicians were college pass-out, including the cinematographers Archit Mishra and Pulkit Raathi. So technically, I was the only experienced person on the set. It was a great challenge, but we accepted it happily, he told The Statesman.

Ive put my own money into making this film. My love for audio-visual media is close to madness, this is what people say, said Mishra. In 2018, I wrote my first commercial film, Baaghi 2, followed by Samanantar around Covid 19, Mishra said.

The film has been officially selected and screened at many festivals across the globe, which include the 12th Chicago South Asian Film Festival (USA), the 18th Terni Film Festival (Italy), the 14th Cinema Rehiyon Film Festival (Philippines) and several places.

We are figuring out tie-ups with exhibitors and OTT platforms. Apart from Bihar, we want to dub and release in every prominent language in India, since it has a universal flavour of philosophy and storytelling, producer Mishra, who hails from Bihars Saharas district, said.

Bachchan Sir promoted the film through all his social media networks. It was so exhilarating and overwhelming for the entire crew, he said. Manoj Bajpai, Remo Dsouza,and several others promoted the film on social media.
Ukraine aims to increase the share of renewable energy in its power generation to 50 per cent to boost energy security, the countrys Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko has said.

We must strengthen the development of renewable energy sources and accelerate the energy transition. This is a matter of national security and the safety of electricity transmission, Galushchenko was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministrys press service, Xinhua news agency reported.

Shifting to green energy will allow decentralising electricity generation, reducing the vulnerability of the power system, and increasing the security of energy supplies, Galushchenko said.

From 2011 to 2021, the share of renewable energy sources in Ukraines power generation increased from 4 per cent to almost 14 per cent.

Ukraines Energy Strategy set the target to increase the share of renewables in the energy mix to 25 per cent by 2035.
The UN and partners appeal for additional funds to aid Mozambique, reeling from the triple crises of cholera, floods and tropical cyclone Freddy.

An extra $138 million is urgently needed to complement the governments response in southern and central areas of the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The office said the funds are in addition to the 2023 humanitarian response plan for Mozambique, which called for $513 million.

However, it is only 12 per cent funded.

The humanitarian team in Mozambique urges donors to step up their funding to provide food, shelter, health, hygiene, water and sanitation services, and other life-saving assistance, OCHA said.

The money, if received, will also help fight cholera, which has spread to eight of Mozambiques 11 provinces. Nearly 20,000 cases have been reported.

After making landfall on February 24 in southern Mozambique, Freddy meandered back over the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and Mozambique, gathered strength and hit the country a second time on March 11, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

It killed 10 people in Mozambique before dissipating on March 14, local authorities reported.

Freddy crossed the entire 8,000 km of the South Indian Ocean before its rampage of Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi, the WMO said.
Alert troops of Border Security Force (BSF) fired and chased away another Pakistani drone that flew into the Ramgarh sector last midnight.

An official spokesman said on Saturday that alert BSF troops foiled a drone attempt by Pakistan on the international border (IB).

A blinking light was observed at around 12.15 am on the IB in the night in the general area of Ramgarh. Alert troops fired towards the blinking light due to which it was forced to go back.

The area was being searched thoroughly, the spokesman added.

It is worth mentioning that the BSF also foiled a drone attempt by Pakistani agencies a few days ago.

Pakistani agencies have been supporting various terrorist outfits to drop arms, ammunition, ready to explode IEDs, sticky bombs, narcotics and Indian currency for terrorists on this side of the IB through drones.
In the financial year 2022-2023, the procurement of goods and services from the government portal, Government e-Marketplace (GeM), has crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore mark, which is a remarkable achievement, according to Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

At a function in Mumbai today, he highlighted the role of GeM as a digital tool in the public and national interest. The GeM is a symbol of the speed with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the country forward through modern technology, he added.

Goyal congratulated GeM and its strong ecosystem of buyers and sellers, whose unwavering support has been pivotal in achieving this historic feat.

The minister added that the Prime Minister desired that the government departments run at the highest levels of integrity and transparency, with the participation of people from the remotest corners of the country and enabled women entrepreneurs, startups and the MSME sector to participate in a fair and equitable manner in government procurements.

I am confident that the GeM will grow faster, the future is very bright. I would like to appeal to more and more vendors to join GeM so that they too get a chance to participate in the government procurement process, he said.

After the GeM portal was launched in 2017, business worth about Rs 400 crore was done, and in the second year, GeM did business of about Rs 5800 crore. The business through GeM has grown from around Rs 35000 crore two years ago and tripled last year to Rs 106000 crores, the minister informed.

Goyal also mentioned that India has crossed total exports of $750 billion for the financial year 2022-23 and the final figure was expected to cross $765 billion.

The G20 Trade and Investment Working Group Meeting, held in Mumbai recently, also saw positive discussions, he said. The minister said that now India has got the Presidency of the G-20, it was a great opportunity to showcase the achievements of the rapidly developing New India to the world.

Speaking about the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 released in New Delhi yesterday, he said this has been welcomed by industry and trade. A sense of stability was reflected in the foreign trade policy, he added.
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VANCOUVER, BC, March 31, 2023 /CNW/ - Hillcrest Energy Technologies (CSE: HEAT) (OTCQB: HLRTF) (FRA: 7HIA.F) ("Hillcrest" or the "Company"), announces a non-brokered private placement of up to an aggregate of 25,000,000 units of the Company (a "Unit") at a price of $0.08 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of $0.15 per Common Share for a period of 24 months following the closing date of the Offering.

Hillcrest Energy Technologies Ltd. Logo (CNW Group/Hillcrest Energy Technologies Inc.)

The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Offering for ongoing technology development and commercialization activities and general working capital.

All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

The securities of the Company referred to in this press release have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities of the Company may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of the Company in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Hillcrest Energy Technologies

Hillcrest Energy Technologies is a clean technology company developing high-value, high-performance power conversion technologies and digital control systems for next-generation powertrains and grid-connected renewable energy systems. From concept to commercialization, Hillcrest is investing in the development of energy solutions that will power a more sustainable and electrified future. Hillcrest is publicly traded on the CSE under the symbol "HEAT," on the OTCQB Venture Market as "HLRTF" on the Frankfurt Exchange as "7HIA.F". For more information, please visit: https://hillcrestenergy.tech/.

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info@hillcrestenergy.tech

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Some of the statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "intends," "is expected," "potential," "suggests" or variations of such words or phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "should," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this news release. The forward-looking information reflects our current expectations and assumptions and is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. No assurance can be given that these assumptions will prove correct. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are advised to consider the risk factors under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's MD&A for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021, available at www.sedar.com for a discussion of the factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said while his Government focused on development, some people in the country were determined to malign his image since 2014, and declared so publicly but Indias poor, middle classes, tribals and dalit-backwards had provided him a protective shield.

Addressing a gathering after flagging-off the Bhopal-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express train in Bhopal, Narendra Modi said the people who are trying to harm his image had engaged many others in the effort by giving them supari (contract). These people were upset, having failed in their designs, and now talked of Modi teri kabar khudegi (Modi, you will be buried), the PM said.

Dwelling on how his government had focused on the welfare of the poor and middle classes, the prime minister said those trying to damage his image were adopting new strategies, and getting help from some others based both inside and outside the country.

Amidst these conspiracies, citizens of the country should focus on developing and building the nation, he said. We have to ensure a greater role for Madhya Pradesh in developed India. This new Vande Bharat Express is a part of this resolution, he said.

Attacking the Congress party, Modi said 21st century India was working with a new approach and thinking. Earlier, the governments were so busy in appeasement that it never occurred to them to satisfy peoples needs. They just focused on strengthening their vote-banks. These Governments considered one family of the country as the nations first family, he said.

They had left the countrys poor and the middle classes to their fate and there was none to care for the peoples aspirations and hopes, the prime minister said. The Indian Railways was the most evident example of this. The railways was the largest means of transport for Indias common people, travelling with families. Should not this means of travel be upgraded, or left in poor shape, he asked.

Upon arriving at the venue, the prime minister carried out an inspection of the Rani Kamlapati-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express and interacted with children and crew of the train. The new train is the 11th Vande Bharat train in the country.

Governor of Madhya Pradesh Mangu Bhai Patel, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw were present on the occasion.

Narendra Modi expressed grief about the tragedy that occurred during Ram Navami day in a temple in Indore.

He said the Vande Bharat train will reduce travel time between Delhi and Bhopal and will usher in many facilities and conveniences for professionals and youth. Mr Modi recalled that he had inaugurated the Rani Kamlapati Station.

The prime minister highlighted benefits of the train for tourism in the area as Sanchi, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur and Udayagiri caves will start getting more footfalls. This will also improve opportunities for employment, income and self-employment.

He said that governments in the past could have easily upgraded the already existing rail network, but development of railways was sacrificed due to vested political interests. Even after decades of Independence, Modi said, Northeastern states were not connected to rail network. He said the government had strived to make Indian Railways the best rail network in the world.

On the negative publicity that Indian Railways received before 2014, the Prime Minister addressed the issue of thousands of unmanned gates in this extensive rail network causing fatal accidents. The broad gauge network is free from unmanned gates today.

Earlier, news related to train accidents causing loss of life and property was commonplace, but the Indian Railways has become much more secure today, he pointed out. He highlighted the scope of Made in India Kavach is being expanded to strengthen the security of passengers.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a visit to Mizorams Aizawl, appealed on Saturday to the armed groups in the northeast to join the mainstream, become a part of the democratic process.

He also said that the Modi government aims to develop the entire northeast area and connect all eight state capitals by air, rail and road before 2025.

Today multiple projects worth Rs 2500 crores have been inaugurated in a single day in a small state like Mizoram. This shows that our government is committed to the development of northeast, he said while addressing the people after the inauguration of several development projects in the state worth around Rs 2500 crore.

Our government is focussing on exploring every area whether tourism, agriculture, or any other sector where there is the scope of development, he added.

The Home Minister said that there used to be violence in the state of Mizoram, but today peace has been established.

At one time there was violence and unrest here. Bullets were fired, and bombs exploded. But today Zoramthanga is the Chief Minister of Mizoram, and there is peace here. This is an example of the success of democracy in India, he said.

He also appealed to the armed groups to leave the path of armed struggle and join the democratic process.

Today, I appeal to whatever armed groups are left in the northeast, to come and join the mainstream, become a part of the democratic process and give their contribution to the development of the region and the country. Mizoram is a great example of the triumph of democracy in front of the whole world, Shah further said.

The former BJP president also said that different Union ministers of the government, have visited the northeast a total of 432 times in the last nine years.

Narendra Modi government has increased the budget for the northeast region by 276 per cent under the PM-DevINE scheme. All eight state capitals of the region will be connected by air, rail and road before 2025, at a cost of Rs 1,76,000 crores, he added.

He further said that new road projects will help in enhancing the trade and business of the state.

Four new road projects have also been inaugurated worth Rs 1200 crores. This will not only increase the trade and business of the state but also enhance the business between Mizoram and Myanmar, the Home Minister said.

These projects included; the construction of Assam Rifles Battalion Headquarters Complex Zokhawsang worth Rs 163 crore and the construction of the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) under Smart City Ltd (ASCL) worth Rs 119.2 crore.

Besides, the Home Minister also laid the foundation stone for the construction of Zorinpui  Longmasu NH-502A worth an estimated Rs 781.85 crore; the construction of Aizawl Bypass (Package-1), NH-6 worth Rs 329.70 crore; construction of Aizawl Bypass (Package-3), NH-6 worth Rs 720.72 crore; and construction of Laldenga Centre worth Rs 193 crore.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis address to the combined commanders conference here in Bhopal, Navy Chief Admiral Hari Kumar tested Covid positive on Friday.

The Navy chief left for Delhi late at night by a special plane.

Covid tests of all those attending the conference were conducted in view of the PMs visit and the Naval chiefs test report came positive, sources said.

Bhopal District Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Prabhakar Tiwari said the Covid tests of all those attending the conference were conducted by the Army hospital authorities.
A group of Naxals set ablaze a passenger bus in the Malewahi area of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh on March 31. According to the latest reports, at least 15 people were killed in the attack, while several others sustained injuries.

The incident took place in the afternoon when the bus was travelling from Dantewada to Sukma. The Naxals stopped the bus near Malewahi. Then they set the bus on fire, leaving no chance for anyone to escape. The passengers were left to fend for themselves in the midst of the raging fire.

The incident has been condemned by political leaders from across the spectrum, with many expressing their condolences to the families of the victims. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has condemned the attack and has promised to take strict action against the Naxals. He has also announced compensation for the families of the victims.

This is not the first time that Naxals have targeted civilians in Chhattisgarh. The region has been plagued by Naxal violence for many years, with innocent civilians often bearing the brunt of their attacks. The Naxals claim to be fighting for the rights of the oppressed but their actions suggest otherwise.

The government has been trying to combat the Naxal insurgency in the region for many years, but the situation remains precarious. The Naxals have been able to carry out attacks with relative ease, and the security forces have struggled to contain them.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has said that Indias first Night Sky Sanctuary being set up in Ladakh will give fillip to astro tourism in the Union Territory and generate revenue as well as livelihood.

Dr Jitendra Singh and Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier BD Mishra (Retired) discussed the progress of Indias first Night Sky Sanctuary in Ladakh, in addition to a wide range of other issues pertaining to development of the region.

Dr Jitendra Singh informed the Lt. Governor that once the project becomes functional, on behalf of the Department of Science & Technology and CSIR, we will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate it at his convenient date.

In December last year, the government notified the proposed Dark Sky Reserve at Hanle village in Eastern Ladakh. Spread over 1,073 square kilometers, the Night Sky Reserve is located within the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent to the Indian Astronomical Observatory, the second-highest optical telescope in the world, of Indian Institute of Astrophysics at Hanle at an elevation of 4500 meters.

This Dark Sky Reserve is among only 15 or 16 of its kind in the world that will offer a spectacular view of the night sky. Because of its altitude and location across the Himalayas in the rain shadow area, this Night Sky Reserve is the ideal place for star gazers almost throughout the year, said Dr Jitendra Singh.

The Night Sky Reserve aims to promote livelihood through eco-friendly activities of Astro tourism, spread awareness about astronomy and boost scientific research with reduced artificial light and wildlife conservation.

Dr Jitendra Singh said projects are afoot on developing food products from Leh Berry, the nutritionally rich and exotic fruit of the region.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Science and Technology is promoting Leh Berry which is an exclusive food product of the cold desert and also a means of wide-ranging entrepreneurship as well as self-livelihood.

Dr Jitendra Singh referred to PM Modis visit to Ladakh in May 2018, wherein the PM had strongly advised for widespread cultivation of seabuckthorn, which is the source of Leh Berry.

He said that CSIR is also developing the harvesting machinery to be used by local farmers and Self-Help Groups, as currently only 10 per cent of berry is being extracted from the wild sea buckthorn plant.

Dr Jitendra Singh said PM Modi accords highest priority to Ladakh and other remote regions of the country. For the first time under the Modi government, Ladakh has been sanctioned a university and an engineering college and the medical college has also started academic sessions since last year, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attended the Combined Commanders Conference at the Kushabhau Thakre International Convention Centre in Bhopal and held high-level deliberations on future strategic defence planning and indigenous weapons manufacturing among other issues.

During the conference, Narendra Modi interacted with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, CDS Lt Gen Anil Chauhan, NSA Ajeet Doval, the chiefs of staff of the Army and Air force and senior defence commanders.

Sources said issues like Chinas situation, further modernisation of defence forces, review of the Agniveer scheme, Make in India arms manufacturing and other matters of strategic interest were discussed in the meeting.

The main focus of the conference was on advancing the theatre command format for national security and increasing future coordination among the three forces.

The strategy of the three defence forces in the event of a war, self-reliance on defence matters, defence ecosystem and other important matters were also discussed at the conference.

This is the first time that the Combined Commanders Conference has been held in Bhopal. The three-day conference with the theme, Ready, Resurgent, Relevant, concluded on Saturday.

According to sources, COVID-19 managed to breach the ongoing high-security conference as Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar tested positive and had to leave the conference midway and returned to New Delhi.

Covid tests of all attending officials in the conference were conducted before the arrival of the PM and the naval chiefs test report came positive, sources said.

Bhopal District Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Prabhakar Tiwari said the covid tests of the conference attendees were conducted by the Army hospital authorities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called upon the three services to stay ready to deal with new and emerging threats while emphasising that all steps were being taken to equip the armed forces with necessary weapons and technologies.

The prime minister was reviewing the security situation and operational readiness of the armed forces during the valedictory session of the Combined Commanders Conference 2023 in Bhopal.

He was briefed by Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan about the various discussions conducted during this years conference. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the chiefs of the Indian Army and the Indian Air force were also present.

On the occasion, Narendra Modi complimented the armed forces for their role in nation building and providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assistance to friendly countries.

During the final day of the three-day session, various topics including aspects of digitisation; cyber security; challenges of social media; Aatmanirbharta; absorption of Agniveers and jointness were discussed.

In a departure from the past, the scope of the conference was expanded this year, wherein, a few multi-layered and interactive sessions were conducted with the participation of soldiers from every command of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, including the Tri-Services Andaman and Nicobar Command.

The three-day conference of the combined apex-level military leadership of the country commenced on 30 March with the theme Ready, Resurgent, Relevant. During the conference, deliberations over a varied spectrum of issues were held, including on national security and evolving a Joint Military Vision for the future.

Yesterday, the defence minister interacted with the top military brass and reviewed the defence preparedness. He lauded the armed forces for their valuable contribution in protecting national interests and providing support to the government in realising its vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

This years conference was special since inputs from the field units were sought on contemporary issues like changes in TTP and way forward for greater integration among the three Services. These inputs were deliberated in detail by the Military Commanders. The conference also provided an opportunity for the Commanders to review the modernisation of the armed forces and the ongoing and concluded military operations, while also discussing ways to improve the countrys defence capabilities.

The conference was held close on the heels of the Ministry of Defence signing major indigenous contracts worth over Rs 32,000 crores for six next-generation missile vessels, 11 off-shore patrol vessels and two BrahMos missile coastal batteries for the Navy as well as two more Akash missile regiments and 12 weapon-locating radars for the Army.

The PM has applauded the fact that Indias defence exports have reached an all-time high of Rs 15,920 crores in 2022-2023. Responding to an announcement on Indias defence exports by the defence minister, the PM tweeted: Excellent! A clear manifestation of Indias talent and enthusiasm towards Make in India. It also shows the reforms in this sector over the last few years are delivering good results. Our Government will keep supporting efforts to make India a defence production hub.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested a Joint Director of Punjab Labour Department, Narinder Singh for causing a loss of about Rs 700 crore to the state government by illegally de-registering SAS Nagar based Philips Lighting India Ltd factory.

The Vigilance Bureau has obtained a five days police remand by presenting the accused, Narinder Singh who was the Joint Director, Factories, Punjab Labour Department, in a SAS Nagar court. A spokesperson of the VB said that nine concerned officers and employees have been arrested so far.

He said that Singh was named as an accused in this case on 31st March and arrested. During the probe, it was found that on 28 December 2018, the said officer received an application from Director Phillips India company Sukanto Aich, which was addressed to the Labour Commissioner Punjab, Chandigarh. But Narinder Singh himself took action on this application without forwarding it to the addressee in his department (Labour Commissioner Punjab).

The said officer through a letter on 10 January 2019 de-registered the said factory without any investigation or taking the statement of any worker of the said company and without the approval of the Labour Commissioner, Punjab.

Apart from this, copies of the de-registration letter issued on 25 January 2019, have been shown sent to the concerned offices of industries department, director factories etc. regarding the action taken, but the copies of this letter have not been received at any office, the spokesperson said.

He said after this, the Labour Inspector, SAS Nagar had submitted a challan under Section 25 (O) of the Industrial Disputes Act on behalf of the Punjab government in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, SAS Nagar on 27 February 2019 against Sankuto Aich and Amit Mittal of Phillips India Limited, Phase-9, SAS Nagar.

The spokesperson said if Narinder Singh had not got the factory de-registered, then it could not have been closed and the challan under Section 25 of the Industrial Disputes Act would not have been issued and presented in the court.

Instead, before issuing this challan, the said officer should have investigated the case properly but he did not do so. Due to this fact, the respondents took advantage of this irregularity and filed a special leave petition against the Punjab government in the Supreme Court on 5 August 2019 and obtained a stay against the said challan issued under Section 25, the spokesperson said.

He said that during the investigation, it was found that if this official had not deregistered the said factory, the Punjab government would have got revenue of Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore.
Senior BJP leader and former state party in-charge Satya Pal Jain said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced by a trial court judge and has nothing to do with BJP or Adani.

The trial court judge gave Rahul Gandhi a chance to apologise three times in the court. However, he did not apologise. Had he apologised, his membership of the Lok Sabha (LS) would not have been cancelled, said Jain, while addressing media persons here on Saturday.

Drawing parallels from the past, he said, There have been cases against BJP leaders in the court on previous occasions and that the membership of our leaders have also been cancelled. But after going to the court, their memberships have been restored.

Till now, why hasnt Rahul Gandhi gone to the court instead of holding press conferences, asked Jain.

He said that Rahul Gandhi was not disqualified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but by the Constitution of India. According to the constitution, if a person is sentenced in any court, then his membership can be cancelled, he said.

Jain said it is wrong to question the Constitution, as even before this many times the courts have given judgments against the leaders.

A single judges bench of Allahabad had set aside the election of the sitting Prime Minister earlier, he stated.

Jain also made public the letter written by Indira Gandhi about Veer Savarkar and said that Congress should read what Indira Gandhi had written for Veer Savarkar.

Attacking the Congress government in the state, he said that the manner in which Chief Parliamentary Secretaries have been appointed in Himachal Pradesh is completely unconstitutional.

Even before this, when late Virbhadra Singh was the Chief Minister of the state, he had made 11 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries in Himachal Pradesh, however they were removed through the court.

If the party takes a decision, then BJP will definitely go to court, he said.
On the ongoing strike of private doctors against the Right to Health bill in the state, Rajasthan Chief Minister categorically held the Rashtriya SwayamSevak Sangh (RSS) responsible for misleading the doctors who had earlier agreed on the bill and made important suggestions which were included in the legislation passed in the assembly on March 21.

After attending a public function, Gehlot told the media at Kota airport, The RSS lobby is ruining the doctors and misleading them. Doctors should leave their ego. Some people have created misunderstandings. The doctors had a frank discussion with the Chief Secretary and the Finance Secretary. All the suggestions given were accepted. Even after that there were four-five traitors among the doctors as they have association with the RSS.

The CM said, The bill has just been passed. Notification will be issued. Then the law will apply. Rules are yet to be made. The Right to Health Bill is in the interest of the public. Doctors should give up their stubbornness and end the stir.

Rajasthan Congress in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa alleged that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla showed haste in canceling the membership of Rahul Gandhi which was unwarranted.

Meanwhile, the agitation of the doctors continued on the 15th day on Saturday with the private doctors not attending patients either in OPD or Emergency. The RGHS and CM Chiranjivi Scheme beneficiaries are also denied treatment by the private hospitals which are empanelled with the state government.
KAR Auction Services, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) insiders who purchased shares in the last 12 months were richly rewarded last week. The stock climbed by 8.2% resulting in a US$113m addition to the companys market value. As a result, the stock they originally bought for US$2.2m is now worth US$2.3m.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

See our latest analysis for KAR Auction Services

KAR Auction Services Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Executive Chairman of the Board James Hallett bought US$1.3m worth of shares at a price of US$13.15 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$13.68. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. Happily, the KAR Auction Services insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices.

KAR Auction Services insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

KAR Auction Services is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Does KAR Auction Services Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that KAR Auction Services insiders own 1.9% of the company, worth about US$28m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

Story continues

What Might The Insider Transactions At KAR Auction Services Tell Us?

The fact that there have been no KAR Auction Services insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Insiders own shares in KAR Auction Services and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. While conducting our analysis, we found that KAR Auction Services has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

Of course KAR Auction Services may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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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The Rajasthan government has decided to challenge in the Supreme Court the acquittal of 2008 Jaipur serial blasts case accused.

Late on Friday night, at a high-level meeting, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot reviewed the acquittal of the four accused. He decided to remove Additional Advocate General (AAG) Rajendra Yadav for the weak prosecution in the case with immediate effect.

Also, Chief Minister Gehlot ordered a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court at the earliest against the acquitted accused.

Overturning the 2019 district court verdict, the Rajasthan High Court has acquitted all the accused, he said.

The state government wants to ensure that the culprits get the harshest punishment, for which it will soon file an SLP in the Supreme Court, the Chief minister said.

He further stated that the state will ensure justice to the victims by engaging the best lawyers.

Chief Secretary Usha Sharma, Head of Home Department Sachi Anand Kumar, DGP Umesh Mishra, ADG SOG-ATS Ashok Rathore, ADG Crime Dinesh MN, among others were present in the meeting.
Dropping a broad hint about dissidence in the Rajasthan government, state Revenue Minister Ramlal Jat on Saturday came down heavily on some Congress leaders for what called as their hypocritical nature.

Speaking to the media, Ramlal Jat said while on one the one hand they (the party leaders) hail Rahul Gandhi and the party high command, they dont hesitate to assail the policies and programmes of the Gehlot Government on the other.

Drawing a comparison between the RSS-BJP and the Congress in this respect, he said they (the BJP) used to win elections owing to the strict discipline they observe, whereas the Congress leaders lack discipline.

In an indirect jibe at Sachin Pilot group, Jat pointed out that they speak to the media against the Gehlot Government while simultaneously praising the high command and Rahuljis mission. They feel their job is done. That wont serve the partys cause; it only creates indiscipline in the party and send out wrong signal to party workers.

Sounding a warning to such elements in the party, he said, If you want to stay in Congress, stay, if you want to work for the Congress, then work. Take us along, everyone will get a post. But do not disturb the CM instead of supporting him.

Dwelling on the experience of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the revenue minister said, One gets a post according to ones age. No person holds a permanent position in politics. No one will be permanent on this post. The public wants him to become chief minister. Yet many of our leaders keep making statements that are prejudicial to the party. Our leaders make such statements sometimes from Delhi, sometimes from South, sometimes from North.

In contrast, he said, There is discipline in the RSS and the BJP. Whoever is contesting is winning. There was a time when the Congress was suffering from disciplined, due to which we were getting tickets at will. But today there is a lack of discipline in the Congress now.

Nowadays no action is taken against those who speak out against our party or the government. If you do not observe discipline, how will you win? The party should focus on discipline. If anyone breaks the discipline and speaks against the party, action should be taken against him.

After winning the next assembly election due later this year, the high command should name a CM of their choice; anyone be it Gehlot or Pilot, we will abide by the partys whip. Let all of us together repeat the Congress government once more, he asserted.

The minister made it a point that irrespective of whether the leader is disciplined or not, its incumbent upon the workers to remain disciplined. Let everyone get together repeat the government once more in Rajasthan.

Recently, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot blamed the Gehlot Government for failure to handle the Jaipur serial bombs case in the high court wherein all four convicts were acquitted. Pilot also made suggestions on the Right to Health Bill against which private doctors are protesting for the last 15 days. Such gestures, he said do not jell with the party.
The Supreme Court has cautioned against the consequences of unjust imprisonment, as inmates are at risk of prisonisation whereby the prisoner loses his identity and is known by number.

Referring to a Kerala High Court judgment where the description prisonisation was used, a bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Dipankar Datta in a recent judgment has said that long unjust incarceration of undertrial accused on account of delays in trial in the criminal cases specially in stringent laws, said, There is a further danger of the prisoner turning to crime, as crime not only turns admirable, but the more professional the crime, more honour is paid to the criminal.

The court said this while granting bail to one, Mohd Muslim @ Hussain, who has already spent seven years and four months in prison and the trial was progressing at a snails pace as 30 out of 64 witnesses have been examined and also noting that two accused in the case have already been enlarged on bail.

The apex court quoted the Kerala High Court judgment which said that an undertrial prisoner loses his identity. He is known by a number. He loses personal possessions. He has no personal relationships. Psychological problems result from loss of freedom, status, possessions, dignity any autonomy of personal life. The inmate culture of prison turns out to be dreadful. The prisoner becomes hostile by ordinary standards. Self-perception changes.

Asking the trial courts, especially those dealing with special laws with stringent provisions like the NDPS Act to conclude the trials speedily, Justice Bhat speaking for the bench said, Incarceration has further deleterious effects  where the accused belongs to the weakest economic strata: immediate loss of livelihood, and in several cases, scattering of families as well as loss of family bonds and alienation from society.

It further said the courts to be sensitive to these aspects because in the event of an acquittal, the loss to the accused is irreparable, thus the trials especially in cases, where special laws enact stringent provisions, are taken up and concluded speedily.

The judgment also referred to the Union Home Ministry in its reply to parliament citing the National Crime Records Bureau report which said that as on December 31, 2021, over 5,54,034 prisoners were lodged in jails against their total capacity of 4,25,069 lakhs in the country. Of these 122,852 were convicts; the rest 4,27,165 were undertrials.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced that his government would file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of four accused in the 2008 Jaipur Serial Bomb Blasts case by the Rajasthan High Court.

The decision was taken in a high-level meeting last night. The meeting was attended among others by Chief Secretary Usha Sharma, Principal Secretary Home Anand Kumar, Director General of Police Umesh Mishra, ADG SOG-ATS Ashok Rathore, ADG Crime Dinesh MN, ADG Intelligence S Sengthir, Principal Secretary (Law) Gyan Prakash Gupta and Secretary Home (Law) Ravi Sharma.

At the meeting, the state chief minister also decided to terminate the services of Additional Advocate General Rajendra Yadav, who was appointed to appear for the case.

Ashok Gehlot said, The Rajasthan High Court has acquitted all the accused, overturning the 2019 district court verdict. It is the intention of the state government that the culprits should be given rigorous punishment. Therefore, the state government will soon file a SLP in the Supreme Court against the decision of the high court.

It is pertinent to note here that a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court, on March 29, set aside the conviction of four accused and the death reference (capital punishment) was answered negative in the Jaipur serial bomb blasts case. As many as 80 people were killed and 176 others were injured in the explosions on May 13, 2008.

The four convicts acquitted by the high court in the case included Saifur Rehman, Sarwar Azami, Mohd Salman, Mohd Saif. Earlier on December 20, 2019, a Jaipur court had sentenced all of the four, convicted of acts of terrorism, to capital punishment.

Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan Police investigated the case and had charged 13 accused in four chargesheets in nine cases covering blasts that occurred at eight places inside the Jaipur walled city.
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress at the flagging off of the first Vande Bharat train of Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said, There are some people, who have been trying to tarnish my image, have now decided that this would be the end of Modi.

Addressing a gathering after a flag-off ceremony for the train from the Rani Kamlapati railway station of Bhopal to Hazrat Nizamuddin station in New Delhi at 4 pm on, Narendra Modi said it is the support of the poor, the farmers, the youth and all the people of India that such people (his opponents) are unsuccessful despite the connivance of many foreign forces too.

Targeting the Congress, Modi said it (the party) never cared about railways, which is still the main travel medium for the people of this country. Alleging that the Opposition party remained focused on just one family, he said it only indulged in politics of appeasement and selfish interest. He claimed that in the past the railways were infamous for several reasons only because of the apathetic attitude of the Congress.

The PM lamented that there was no railway network in north east India till 2014. It is the BJP Government that has provided a railway network in the north east and Kashmir.

Taking a jibe at the Congress, Modi quipped that todays function on 1 April would have given the Opposition an opportunity to say that Modi will do an April Fool act. However, you can see that the train has indeed run today, he said with a smile on his face.

The prime minister described the Vande Bharat train as a symbol of vigour, hope and spirit of the developing India. He said the train is also a sign of increasing employment opportunities and advancing travel facilities for the common people.

Meanwhile, the police detained several Congress workers in the city who had planned to show black flags to the PM on his road route to the railway station in Bhopal.
Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Saturday formed a task force to stop the private schools from looting parents in the name of textbooks, text notebooks and fees in the academic session commenced on Saturday.

Harjot Singh Bains said the task force has been formed in each district of the state comprising three principals from that district. This task force will investigate complaints received by the education minister and submit its report to the regulatory authority.

Giving the information about this decision through a video message, the minister said for the past several days, complaints were being received from parents and students that private schools are looting parents in the name of books, copies and funds.

He said a few days ago, a letter was issued to the private schools through all the district education officers of the state asking them to follow the instructions of the school regulatory authority regarding books, copies and fees.

The minister said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also received complaints regarding the looting of parents by private schools. The chief minister has taken serious note of the complaints and warned that the robbery of private schools by way of subscribing to expensive books from favoured publishers wont be tolerated.

Bains said he was shocked to know that the books of class one are being sold by private schools for Rs 7,000 in which the book of the first class mathematics subject is only Rs 600.

The minister instructed the owners and management of private schools to subscribe only NCERT. He said according to the rules, schools located in small cities have to write the names of three to five shops outside the school and in big cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, a list of twenty-twenty shops has to be posted outside the school from where students can buy the book.

Bains also issued an email [email protected] through which students and parents can directly complain to the education minister about the looting of private schools.

The minister instructed the managers of all the private schools to fill and submit the information regarding the increase in fees made by the school, the infrastructure of the school as per the rules by 30 April 2023. Bains said the Bhagwant Mann government will not allow the education of the state to become a business.
If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at Dun & Bradstreet Holdings (NYSE:DNB) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Dun & Bradstreet Holdings:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.025 = US$213m  (US$9.5b - US$1.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Thus, Dun & Bradstreet Holdings has an ROCE of 2.5%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Professional Services industry average of 12%.

View our latest analysis for Dun & Bradstreet Holdings

roce

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Dun & Bradstreet Holdings compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

How Are Returns Trending?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Dun & Bradstreet Holdings doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 2.5% from 29% five years ago. On the other hand, the company has been employing more capital without a corresponding improvement in sales in the last year, which could suggest these investments are longer term plays. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

Story continues

On a related note, Dun & Bradstreet Holdings has decreased its current liabilities to 12% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, Dun & Bradstreet Holdings is reinvesting funds back into the business for growth but unfortunately it looks like sales haven't increased much just yet. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 32% in the last year. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere.

One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Dun & Bradstreet Holdings that you might find interesting.

While Dun & Bradstreet Holdings may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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Tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting a controversial plan to revamp the countrys legal system, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus suspension of the changes earlier in the week
Hikers will honor a young Massachusetts woman who died in New Hampshire by climbing multiple peaks this summer and raising funds for a foundation created by her family
Larry Kessler, a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor, can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com . He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com .
SAULSALITO, Calif. (AP)  Under intense scrutiny from Washington that could lead to a potential ban, the top attorney for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance defended the social media platforms plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China.

The basic approach that were following is to make it physically impossible for any government, including the Chinese government, to get access to U.S. user data," said general counsel Erich Andersen during a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press at a cybersecurity conference in Sausalito, California, on Friday sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation and Aspen Digital and featuring top government officials, tech executives and journalists.

ByteDance will continue to develop its new app called Lemon8, Andersen said.

Were obviously going to do our best with the Lemon8 app to comply with U.S. law and to make sure we do the right thing here," Andersen said, referring to the new social app developed by ByteDance that resembles Instagram and Pinterest. But I think we got a long way to go with that application  it's pretty much a startup phase.

ByteDances most known app, TikTok, is under intense scrutiny over concerns it could hand over user data to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on its behalf. Lemon8 was introduced across app stores in Japan in April 2020 and has been rolled out in more countries since then. It's available for download in the U.S. and could face similar scrutiny to TikTok.

Leaders at the FBI, CIA and officials at other government agencies have warned that ByteDance could be forced to give user data  such as browsing history, IP addresses and biometric identifiers  to Beijing under a 2017 law that compels companies to cooperate with the government for matters involving Chinas national security. Another Chinese law, implemented in 2014, has similar mandates.

To assuage concerns from U.S. officials, TikTok has been emphasizing a $1.5 billion proposal, called Project Texas, to store all U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the software giant Oracle. Under the plan, access to U.S. data would be managed by U.S. employees through a separate entity called TikTok U.S. Data Security, which is run independently of ByteDance and monitored by outside observers.

Some lawmakers have said thats not enough. But despite skepticism about the project, TikTok says it is moving forward anyway.

Were investing in a system where people dont have to believe the Chinese government and they dont have to believe us, Andersen said.

He also wondered if the skepticism was being driven by something else.

Where are we falling short here? he said. At some point you get beyond the cybersecurity risk assessment, etcetera, and you get to We dont like your nationality.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has said the company started deleting all historic U.S. user data from non-Oracle servers this month and expects that process to be completed this year. During a congressional hearing held last week, Chew said migrating the data to Oracle will keep it out of Chinas hands, but also acknowledged China-based employees may still have access to it before the process wraps up.

TikTok maintains it has never been requested to turn over any kind of data and wont do so if asked. But whether those promises, or Project Texas, will allow it to stay operating in the U.S. remains to be seen.

The U.S., as well as Britain, the European Union and others, have banned TikTok on government devices. And the Biden administration is reportedly threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its Chinese owners divest their stakes in the company.

On Friday, Andersen said a ban would be "basically giving up".

Banning a platform like TikTok is a defeat, its a statement that we arent creative enough to find another way, he said.

China has said it would oppose a possible sale, a declaration that makes it more difficult for TikTok to position itself and ByteDance as a global enterprise instead of a Chinese company. In 2020, the country had also come out in fierce opposition to executive orders by then President Donald Trump that sought to ban TikTok and the messaging app WeChat.

"They were clear about their point of view back in 2020 timeframe when we faced an existential challenge from executive orders under the Trump administration, Andersen said.

Courts blocked Trumps efforts, and President Joe Biden rescinded Trumps orders after taking office. The company has since been in talks about privacy concerns with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency panel that sits under the Treasury department.

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been pushing bills that would effectively ban TikTok or give the administration more authority to do so. One bill by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was blocked this week by Sen. Rand Paul, the only Republican who has come out in opposition to a TikTok ban. A small number of progressive lawmakers have also said they would oppose a ban, and argued the U.S. should implement a national privacy law to curtail the problem.

Andersen said Friday TikTok would support broad-based privacy legislation.

"Our view is that we would really welcome broad-based legislation that applies broadly and evenly, he said. What we dont like, frankly, is legislation that is sort of targeted at one company.

TikTok could also be banned through another bill, called the RESTRICT Act, that has garnered broad bipartisan support in the Senate and backing from the White House. The legislation does not call out TikTok but would give the Commerce Department power to review and potentially restrict foreign threats to technology platforms.

___

This story has been updated to change Hewlett-Packard Foundation to Hewlett Foundation.
April 1 is celebrated as April Fools Day worldwide, but many may wonder how it came to be or what happened to create a day filled with pranks and jokes.

While many legends surface on the origin of the fool's day, the Farmers' Almanac states, "No one knows for certain what the origin of the day is. However, it's been celebrated in many cultures for hundreds or even thousands of years."

While there may not be a concrete explanation describing the origins of April Fools Day, multiple theories give clues on how or when it started.

According to legend, some suggest it started in France in 1564. Before 1564, April 1 was celebrated as New Year's Day. Those who insisted on celebrating the "old" New Years became known as April fools, and it became common to play jokes on one another, according to the Farmers' Almanac.

Other evidence indicated that April Fools' Day existed, in some form or other, long before 1564 in France when English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is noted to reference April Fools Day in his Canterbury Tales, when the characters of a rooster and a fox each trick one another, according to the Farmers' Almanac. This reference would have been in the late 1300s. Chaucer notes that the date of the events described is March 32, also known as April 1.

Traveling further in time is another theory of the origin of April Fools Day that dates back to the Roman Empire with the reign of Emperor Constantine. This theory suggests a group of fools or jesters convinced Constantine to make one of them "king for a day." Constantine agreed, and one of the jesters, named "Kugel," was appointed, and the day was filled with jolly jokes and came to be called April Fools' Day, according to the Library of Congress.

While the Library of Congress suggests the story of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Constantine, could have been the original origin of April Fools Day.

Well, April Fools.

"The story was actually a hoax," the Library of Congress said.

The story itself was an April Fools Day prank, pulled by Boston University professor Joseph Boskin on Associated Press reporter Fred Bayles in 1983. Bayles reported the story, and the AP ran it, only to retract it some days later.

It's safe to say the traditions of April Fools Day have stood the test of time through generations and generations of tricks and pranks that make the first day of April celebrated with a rich history.
MEADOWBROOK  Firefighters from four departments battled a blaze in Meadowbrook Thursday evening that closed Illinois 140 for more than two hours.

Meadowbrook firefighters responded shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday to a commercial building on fire at the corner of Maple Drive and Illinois 140. The building was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, so they called for assistance from Bethalto, Cottage Hills and Rosewood Heights fire departments.
ALTON  The Mustard Seed Peace Project (MSPP) is ready to jump in again for its next international project helping third world countries, particularly Guatemala.

Strain your brain with MSPP for its annual trivia night at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at the Godfrey Knights of Columbus Hall, 1713 Stamper Lane, in Godfrey. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

Tickets cost $20 per person and are available through

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/526067069767

Players can bring their own food and snacks, but no outside alcohol is allowed. There will be bartenders at a cash bar available to serve those over 21 years old. Water, tea and soda are provided.

There will be 50/50, baskets for raffle, and "deal or dud" taking place throughout the evening.

Volunteer and founder Teresa Cranmer of the MSPP returned from Guatemala last fall completing a goal 10 years in the making with fundraising.

She was in the community of Virginia in the Central American country, where shes been a tireless advocate since her friend informed her of the need in the country. This was the first time shed been able to return to the Guatemala since the beginning of the pandemic.

A lot of work had to be done, Cranmer said.

This was the pinnacle of many MSPP trips and years of work to drill a well for the community. After nine years of prep work and raising funds they were ready.

Now 550 people in that community are getting clean drinking water from a well, Cranmer said.

Part of MSPP's mission is to enable college students to have international experience. Theres a MSPP student group at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from where they could only participate when available to travel.

Prior to the pandemic, SIUE students went to Guatemala and did water quality testing, soil testing, work with Mustard Seed engineers, soil composition and surveyed land, as well as looked at options for well sites.
(Bloomberg) -- Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun has held talks about selling a stake in digital-asset exchange Huobi Global, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Sun has sounded out potential investors in past weeks, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing confidential information. It wasnt clear what valuation the 32-year-old Chinese native is seeking for the company, or how big a stake is being offered. These conversations were in the early stages and it was not clear whether any of the investors might move forward, the person said.

Suns involvement with Huobi has been cloaked in mystery. He calls himself an adviser to the company and says he doesnt own any stock, yet hes used about $200 million of his own wealth to help prop it up since January. Bloomberg News reported in November that Sun paid about $1 billion to acquire a controlling stake in Huobi through Hong Kong-based asset manager About Capital. Sun denies owning the majority stake.

Read: Crypto Mogul Who Riled China Before Pushes the Envelope Again

We are not seeking and will not seek any buyers for Huobi, Sun said in a message. A spokesperson for Huobi said the company has no plans to seek a new owner. Sun has previously said he became an adviser to Huobi after amassing a large position in its native token, HT.

Huobi was founded in China almost a decade ago. Its market share tumbled to 4% last year from almost 22% in 2020, the year before China banned all cryptocurrency trading within its borders, according to researcher Kaiko. Huobi moved most of its operations to Singapore and Hong Kong after the September 2021 ban.

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22 sued Sun for allegedly violating securities rules, accusing him of breaking anti-fraud and market manipulation regulations. Sun tweeted at the time that the suit lacks merit.

Read: SEC Case Against Crypto Mogul Stirs Questions Over Key Exchange

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EAST ST. LOUIS  A federal jury on Wednesday returned guilty verdicts against a St. Louis man accused of several attempted sex crimes against a minor.

Vallie Francis Zeller, 46, was found guilty of attempted enticement of a minor, travel with intent to engage in sexual conduct with a minor and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

Zeller was charged with setting up a June 2020 meeting in Collinsville for sex with what he believed to be a 15-year-old girl. Instead, Zeller was communicating online with an FBI agent.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 18. Zeller faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.

The defendant deliberately tried to exploit a minor for sexual activity and chose to drive across state lines to engage in criminal sex acts, and Im grateful the jury convicted him on all counts, said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. The FBI works diligently to protect minors from online predators, and I appreciate their collaboration with our office to put this offender behind bars.

According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, Zeller started conversing on an online platform with a profile created by an undercover FBI agent in June 2020. The agent was posing as a 15-year-old girl, and Zeller began sexually explicit conversations with the account, requested sexually explicit images of the minor, and made plans to meet for illegal sexual activity, knowing she was a minor.

On Wednesday Zeller was convicted of driving across the Missouri-Illinois border to engage in criminal sexual activity once the agent gave him an address for a residence in Collinsville to meet the purported minor. In addition, during the conversation over several days, Zeller asked the alleged girl for nude photographs and other sexually-explicit content.

The FBIs investigation revealed a deliberate attempt by Vallie Zeller to victimize a child. Our utilization of proactive investigative techniques stopped Zeller from completing the harm he intended, said FBI Springfield Field Office Special Agent in Charge David Nanz. We are grateful to the many law enforcement partners who participated in this investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ali Burns and Zoe Gross are prosecuting the case.

Zeller was one of 14 defendants charged by the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of Illinois in June 2020 as the result of an operation involving multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that targeted online predators attempting to meet minors for sex. The FBI Springfield Field Office led the investigation with assistance by the FBI St. Louis Field Office, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Belleville Police Department, the Collinsville Police Department, the Edwardsville Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriffs Office, the Illinois State Police, the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department, the Swansea Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Alton Jail, the Monroe County Jail, and the St. Clair County Jail.
JUAN PABLO PINO/AFP via Getty Images

They're rock and rolled all night and partied every day, but now those days are numbered.

Legendary rock band KISS with front man Gene Simmons are heading out on their "End of the Road" tour which also marks their 50th anniversary as one of the best in the industry.
SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois House of Representatives on Thursday adopted HJR 21 designating Illinois 140 as it travels through Meadowbrook as the "Cpl. Tommy N. Miller Memorial Highway."

The resolution was sponsored by state Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton.

I have the pleasure of knowing Cpl. Tommy Miller's younger brother who was about 7 when his older brother died in Vietnam, said Elik. He has vivid memories of his cool older brother who is beloved.

"Tommy was a drummer in a band and loved music," Elik said. "In fact, just before the enemy attack, he made a tape for his family from his base in Vietnam where he sang and played the guitar. When the family received the tape, they loved it and they didnt know yet that he had already died because then it took days and weeks to be notified.

"Cpl. Tommy Miller gave his life in service to our country and is no doubt a true hero deserving of this resolution and recognition in his honor, she said.

Miller was born July 19, 1949 and was raised in Meadowbrook near Bethalto. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served during the Vietnam War, beginning his tour of duty on June 10, 1968. His military specialty was mortarman; he was attached to Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, Third Marine Division.

He was 19 and a radio operator on the morning of Feb. 25, 1969 at Fire Support Base Russell in Quang Tri Province in South Vietnam, under assault by a large North Vietnamese Army sappers unit.

According to military records, Miller unhesitatingly maneuvered across the fire-swept terrain in search of an undamaged radio. And after locating operable equipment, he again exposed himself to hostile fire to assist the commanding officer with restoring communications.

Miller then went to the aid of his fellow Marines to free them from entrapment in debris. As he tried to free his comrades, he was mortally wounded by fragments from an enemy grenade. His actions inspired those around him to repel the enemy's assault.

Miller's commendations include the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V", the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, and the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal.

His name is inscribed at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C, Panel 31w, Line 53.

Pending adoption in the Illinois Senate, the Illinois Department of Transportation will be directed to erect signs giving notice of the name "Cpl. Tommy N. Miller Memorial Highway" to the designated stretch of Illinois 140.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  The eastern Mediterranean can provide a key energy corridor to Europe through a planned electricity cable connecting the power grids of Cyprus, Greece and Israel and a potential natural gas pipeline, the three countries' top diplomats said Friday.

The three foreign ministers met in the Cypriot capital as part of a series of high-level trilateral meetings aimed at deepening a partnership founded on the discovery of substantial offshore natural gas deposits.

Unlocking the full potential of our region will be a game changer, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos told a news conference. We strive to promote a reliable and sustainable energy corridor from the Eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe.

Work hasn't started on either the cable  which will be partly funded by the European Union  or the gas pipeline, which has been under discussion for years but is still at the feasibility study stage.

The Cypriot foreign minister has underscored that the projects have gained added weight and urgency in light of Russia's war against Ukraine and the "need for energy diversification and increased interconnectivity.

Kombos said a 2,000-megawatt undersea electricity cable known as the EurAsia Interconnector and the proposed EastMed gas pipeline remain two significant strategic options on our energy agenda.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the EUs engagement in a regional forum created to promote cooperation on energy generation showed that the eastern Mediterranean plays an important role as an alternative energy corridor."

We talked about the East Med pipeline, as you would expect us to do, and also the strategic importance of the Eurasian interconnector between Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Dendias said, extending an invitation to Turkey  Greece's neighbor and longtime regional rival  to join in as long as it heeds international law.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said his country attaches special importance to renewable energy.

Funding for about a third of the EurAsia Interconnectors 1.6 billion euro ($1.74 billion) price tag will come from the EUs Connecting Europe Facility, which bankrolls infrastructure projects.

Feasibility studies on the proposed 1,900-kilometer (1,300-mile), $6 billion EastMed pipeline are still ongoing. The project has in recent years fallen in and out of favor with planners after U.S. officials declared it as not viable.

But it may have gotten a second wind in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine last year that compelled Europe to scramble for alternative sources of energy.

Cohen added that Israel would also boost military cooperation through joint military exercises and arms procurements, while information sharing between the three countries intelligence agencies would remain for the stability of our region.

Cyprus will host a meeting of the three countries' leaders later this year.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  Prosecutors in Senegal who had sought two years in prison for opposition leader Ousmane Sonko have filed an appeal after he was given a much lighter, two-month suspended sentence for his conviction on libel charges in a case his supporters say was politically motivated.

The outcome of Thursday's verdict allows Sonko to run for president next year though he still faces unrelated criminal charges in a pending rape case that would disqualify him if he is convicted. Sonko is widely viewed as the top opposition candidate in Senegal's elections next year.

Sonko has not yet decided whether to appeal the sentence in the libel case, his lawyer Bamba Cisse told The Associated Press.

Sonko was also ordered to pay about $330,000 to Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, who accused the politician of defamation and public insults.

Neither Sonko nor his lawyers were present on Thursday when the verdict and sentence were delivered.

Each of Sonko's previous court appearances led to protests in the streets of Dakar, the capital, and Sonko himself was forcibly removed from his vehicle by police on two occasions. Demonstrations have taken place not only in Dakar but in cities throughout the country.

Sonkos supporters see the charges against him as the latest attempt to cut short his political career. Sonko finished third in Senegals 2019 presidential election and has called on President Macky Sall to declare publicly that he wont seek a third term.

The ruling party says Sall should be allowed to run after a constitutional change in 2016  made while Sall was president  which changed presidential terms to five years.

Sonko also faces rape charges based on accusations from a female employee of a massage salon who said she was assaulted by him. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and would be barred from running for president. No date has been set yet for the that trial.
Constitution Day is September 17th.

Why, you may ask, am I writing about this now? Because there is a bill that just passed the Illinois House of Representatives and is sitting in the Illinois Senate that will place Constitution Day on the list of officially recognized holidays in the state of Illinois in school code. The bill needs to pass the Senate and move to the desk of the Governor to be signed into law.

Why should you care? Because, in 2004 our federal government mandated that all states that receive federal dollars must recognize Constitution Day in order to be eligible for future funding. The law also could require repayment of past funds if the state fails to recognize the day.

The U.S. Constitution is the law of the land. It is a figuratively living and breathing document that is able to change as the world changes and still remain the guiding light for our representative republic form of democracy. The flexibility that our Constitutions creators built into the ever-changing work of law is what makes it so great. When those who see the need to change a law, they have the ability to do so in a peaceful manner.

Sure it is complex and time consuming to change a law, but most worthwhile objectives are not easily achieved.

The value of the United States Constitution should be celebrated by all Americans and should be taught to the students in our classrooms. The federal government believes this too. That is why they require students to be reminded of all of the laws the Constitution guarantees each September 17th. This is in addition to the required tests that are taken in the 8th and 11th grades.

I was made aware of this law by a constituent who asked to come to my office and discuss how Madison County Schools were abiding by the federal law. I honestly could not answer the gentleman, but I told him I would ask each district superintendent and get back to him with what I found out. I found various degrees of observance throughout Madison County. Some schools had students read the Constitution. Some districts talked about the document in their civics classes. Others devoted time to creating art projects. Some were not aware that the law existed. This led me to look deeper into the issue.

I soon found out that the State of Illinois did not have Constitution Day listed as an officially recognized holiday. I was shocked and called State Representative Amy Elik. She helped me to research the issue further and agreed to sponsor a bill in the 103rd session of the Illinois General Assembly. She was successful in passing HB1273 through the House on March 23rd which adds Constitution Day to the list of officially recognized holidays in the Illinois School Code. She secured Illinois Senator Erica Harriss to sponsor the bill in the Senate.

In the Senate, the bill is starting to gain traction. Representative Elik, Senator Harriss, and I are working hard to boost support for the bill that passed the House with unanimous, bi-partisan support. We recently added Senator Christopher Belt and Senator Doris Turner as chief co-sponsors in that chamber.

We are asking your help in contacting your state senator to ask for the support in passing HB1273 in the Senate. It is a great piece of legislation that will help our students learn about the U.S. Constitution and bring the state of Illinois into compliance with federal law. I thank you in advance for your assistance and will work to make sure that more is done in our schools to better understand our nations constitution.
Every old book that arrives at The Second Reading is interesting to one degree or another. A recent arrival, however, particularly intrigued me since I was raised a Catholic.

Titled The Key to Heaven; or, A Manual of Prayer this pocket-sized volumes title page states that it was compiled with the approbation of The Most Rev. M.A. Corrigan, D.D., who served as the Archbishop of New York. The Key to Heaven was published by P.J. Kenedy, who headed Excelsior Catholic Publishing House. Founded in 1826, Kenedys firm became publisher to the Holy Apostolic See in 1895. The copy that came into my possession is a New and Improved Edition that bears a 1900 copyright date.

Leafing through its pages indeed reveals the work to be a manual of prayers, which are logically arranged for usefulness and efficiency. For example, a section designated Devotions for the Sick is followed Litany for a Soul Departing and Litany for the Dead. The section Devout Prayers on Different Occasions contains practical supplications such as In time of Famine and Pestilence, A Prayer for Rain, and For Fair Weather. The prayer tailored for famine and pestilence assumes that such misfortunes are punishment for sins. The person praying asks God that the hearts of men may know that such scourges proceed from thy indignation and cease by thy mercy.

The prayer For Pagans, which implores God to deliver pagans from the worship of idols and unite them to thy Church brought to mind the pagan babies that Catholic schoolchildren of my generation either adopted or purchased. I seem to recall our teachers using the terms interchangeably.

When the loose change we gave our teacher reached $20, we earned the right to name a pagan baby, which was defined for us as a child living in a foreign land who wasnt a Catholic. Our teacher told us whether the baby was a boy or girl. We then placed various names in nomination and voted for our favorite.

Catholic schoolchildren of that era were very complacent. It never occurred to us to ask whether these pagan babies were literally removed from the homes of their parents and hauled off to to be raised at missions. Did the parents willingly give up their children? Did some parents put up a fight in an attempt to keep them?

Of course it was all a sham. No one was offering non-Christian babies for sale at $20 a pop. I have no idea what our money was actually used for.

One prayer in this little book genuinely horrified me. Please keep in mind that the creators of The Key to Heaven; or, A Manual of Prayer marketed the following anti-Semitic rant as a prayer to God and a Key to Heaven. Its titled For the unfaithful Jews and reads: O Almighty and everlasting God, who repellest not from thy mercy even the perfidious Jews: hear the prayer, which we offer for the blindness of that people: that the light of thy truth, Christ our Lord, being known to them, they may be delivered from their darkness.

This is actually a shortened version of a prayer that was traditionally said on Good Friday back in the day as part of the liturgy of the Catholic church. I dont recall it from my childhood. Perhaps I have blocked it out. However, I vividly recall a Lenten hymn with anti-Semitic lyrics. St. Marys School students were required to attend the 8 am Mass each school day and sing selected hymns. One hymn, O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile, contained these lyrics: Have we no tears to shed for Him [Jesus], While soldiers scoff and Jews deride? The author of this hymn, Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), was an Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism.

Some on line hymn lyrics sites have Jews deride changed to foes deride. The Good Friday prayer has been revised numerous times since 1900. Now thoroughly defanged and declawed, it no longer references the alleged blindness of perfidious Jews. Ill be sure to tell the customer who purchases this book that the prayers within its pages no longer comprise The Key of Heaven because the lock has been changed.
Ariel Skelley / Getty Images

Stretching your nest egg as far as possible is something that's most likely front of mind for retirees who aren't very wealthy. With no new sources of income aside from Social Security or possibly a pension, it's important to settle in a place to retire that won't drain your savings.

Similar: Can I Draw Social Security at 62 and Still Work Full Time?

Learn More: 3 Ways to Recession Proof Your Retirement

However, getting a clear sense of exactly how long your retirement savings will last requires understanding how much it costs to live in the state you're calling home. As anyone trying to get by somewhere with a high cost of living can attest, even basic necessities can quickly winnow down your retirement account. And it only gets more complicated if you decide you don't want to spend your entire retirement in the same place, as your costs won't be consistent throughout your retirement.

That's why GOBankingRates performed a study to compare the cost of living in every state and determine how long you can survive off of $100,000. Granted, $100,000 won't buy you a lot of time in any state. But, these results will give you a sense of just how much you need to save.

kieferpix / Getty Images/iStockphoto

51. Hawaii

Annual Expenditure: $95,939.44

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 0 month 13 days

To say that Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in is something of an understatement: Hawaiians pay more than double the national average per year. You'll need over $2 million to survive retirement in this state -- the most in the country.

Take Our Poll: Are You Concerned About the Safety of Your Money in Your Bank Accounts?

50. District of Columbia

Annual Expenditure: $79.358.60

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 3 months 4 days

The District of Columbia holds a special place on this list. Not counted as a state, the area stands as its own district designated by the federal government. The district is $16,000 cheaper than Hawaii but still falls under one of the most expensive places to retire. You'll need to budget over $25,000 for housing costs in the district.

Story continues

FilippoBacci / Getty Images/iStockphoto

49. Massachusetts

Annual Expenditure: $78,055.08

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 3 months 11 days

Massachusetts is not a state that's kind to your retirement savings, with sky-high housing costs playing the biggest part in making things difficult.

MundusImages / Getty Images

48. California

Annual Expenditure: $71,746.02

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 4 months 21 days

California's not an easy place to stretch your retirement dollar, with the cost of housing coming in at more than double the average for the country.

Social Security: Whether You're 62, 65, 67 or 70, Here's Why Your Age Matters

xavierarnau / iStock.com

47. New York

Annual Expenditure: $70,129.65

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 5 months 5 days

Some might gripe that the only thing imperial about the Empire State is how much it costs to live there, with the average New Yorker needing more than $70,000 a year to cover expenses.

pkujiahe / Getty Images/iStockphoto

46. Alaska

Annual Expenditure: $66,010.51

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 6 months 4 days

Costs in Alaska are generally high -- particularly for healthcare and utilities -- but there's one area where the state won't eat so far into your nest egg: Alaska is the most tax-friendly state for retirees.

WilliamSherman / Getty Images

45. Maryland

Annual Expenditure: $64,654.84

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 6 months 19 days

Maryland is one of the more expensive states for retirees to live in, but a lot of the older residents can afford it: It's one of the states with the richest retirees.

Social Security: Women Get $354 Per Month Less Than Men -- Here's Why

RyanJLane / Getty Images

44. Oregon

Annual Expenditure: $63,194.89

$100,000 Will Last: 1 years 6 months 30 days

Oregon has a cost of living that's higher than the country as a whole, particularly in housing, which is almost $7,200 higher than the national average. However, if you're dead set on enjoying the beautiful coastlines of the Pacific Northwest in your golden years, consider making your home in Brandon. It's the best city in the state to buy a home.

JayLazarin / Getty Images

43. Connecticut

Annual Expenditure: $60,900.69

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 7 months 21 days

Not only is Connecticut one of the pricier states in the country to live in, but for many retirees, the source of their income might not be as stable as they would hope. Connecticut is the worst state for pensions in the U.S.

CHBD / Getty Images/iStockphoto

41(tie). New Hampshire

Annual Expenditure: $60,535.70

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 7 months 24 days

If you're dead set on living in New Hampshire in retirement but you're looking to avoid some of those high costs, steer well clear of the 03854 ZIP code -- home to New Castle Island. It's the most expensive ZIP code in the state.

Social Security: No Matter Your Age, Do Not Claim Benefits Until You Reach This Milestone

XKarDoc / Getty Images/iStockphoto

41(tie). Vermont

Annual Expenditure: $60,431.42

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 7 months 24 days

Not only is Vermont a tough place to maintain your nest egg, it's also a pretty rough spot for building it up as well. The Green Mountain State is the state where it's hardest to save $1 million for retirement, another GOBankingRates study found.

edella / Getty Images

40. Maine

Annual Expenditure: $60, 118.57

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 7 months 28 days

It's possible that the high cost of living in Maine has some residents thinking big in terms of what it means to be wealthy. In a GOBankingRates survey, the most common answer for what it meant to be "rich" in Maine was an income of $10 million a year or more, the highest answer for any state.

Joel Carillet / Getty Images

39. Washington

Annual Expenditure: $59,545.02

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 8 months 4 days

If you're surprised to see Washington so far down this list, keep in mind that it's home to Seattle, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Best to look for more affordable cities.

Social Security: 20% Cuts to Your Payments May Come Sooner Than Expected

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38. Rhode Island

Annual Expenditure: $58,867.19

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 8 months 11 days

If you've compiled an impressive nest egg over the course of your career, Rhode Island isn't a great place to keep it protected.

KenWiedemann / Getty Images

37. New Jersey

Annual Expenditure: $58,606.48

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 8 months 15 days

Like many of the most expensive states in the country, the main culprit for New Jersey's high cost of living is housing, with New Jersey residents paying more than $1,300 higher than the average American for a place to live.

wanderluster / Getty Images

36. Arizona

Annual Expenditure: $55,165.18

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 22 days

Arizona's costs are a bit higher than the national average in every category except utilities, and healthcare.

See: Can I Draw Social Security at 62 and Still Work Full Time?

1MoreCreative / Getty Images

35. Delaware

Annual Expenditure: $55,060.90

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 25 days

Although Delaware might be on the higher side for costs, it can also offer some great ways to protect your nest egg: It's one of the best states to retire rich in the country.

Adventure_Photo / Getty Images

33(tie). Colorado

Annual Expenditure: $54,539.49

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 29 days

While your $100,000 will only last just under two years in Colorado, it depends upon which city you land in. If you want to stay in the Rocky Mountain State but don't like the "mile high" costs in Denver, consider Colorado Springs where it's over $10,000 a year cheaper.

urbancow / Getty Images

33(tie). Montana

Annual Expenditure: $54,643.77

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 9 months 29 days

If you were hoping to keep your nest egg healthy after retiring to Montana by investing well, you might find it harder there than elsewhere. Montana is one of the worst states to grow your money, according to a separate GOBankingRates study.

Learn: Ways You Can Lose Your Social Security Benefits

ImagineGolf / Getty Images

32. Nevada

Annual Expenditure: $53,809.51

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 10 months 9 days

If you want to spend your golden years in the Silver State, prepare to spend a little more. Costs are at least 10% higher than the national average across every category except for utilities, where they're actually 20% under what the rest of America pays.

Joel Carillet / Getty Images

29(tie). Virginia

Annual Expenditure: $53,600.95

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 10 months 13 days

You'll pay less for groceries, utilities and transportation than the average American if you opt to retire to Virginia, but there's clearly more to the story. That would be the cost of housing, which is over $1,100 higher than the national average.

nycshooter / Getty Images

29(tie). Florida

Annual Expenditure: $53,600.95

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 10 months 13 days

Florida might only be middle-of-the-pack for stretching a six-figure retirement fund, but it's still a popular destination for many retirees. And you have plenty of options to choose from in terms of which Florida city stacks up the best for you.

Read More: 7 Ways Baby Boomers Are Wasting Money in Retirement -- and How To Stop It

amygdala_imagery / Getty Images

29(tie). Utah

Annual Expenditure: $53,600.95

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 10 months 13 days

Regardless of how long it lasts, Utah is doing plenty to help you build that retirement account. It's the state where it's easiest to save $1 million for retirement.

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28. Idaho

Annual Expenditure: $51,932.44

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 4 days

Idaho's scenic landscape could be considered incentive enough to retire there, but the state's low costs are an additional perk.

catnap72 / Getty Images

27. Pennsylvania

Annual Expenditure: $51,202.46

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 12 days

In Pennsylvania, housing costs are just a couple of hundred dollars below the national average. However, if you're looking to stretch your retirement savings as far as possible, you can still do better, especially when Pennsylvanians pay more than average for groceries, utilities and transportation.

Read: 10 States That Receive the Most Social Security

sharply_done / Getty Images/iStockphoto

26. Minnesota

Annual Expenditure: $50,837.48

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 19 days

In Minnesota, it costs about the same as the national average to live here. That's not true statewide, though, as Minneapolis is among the more expensive major cities in the country.

Shutterstock.com

25. North Dakota

Annual Expenditure: $50,628.91

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 23 days

One place you probably won't overspend in North Dakota is on housing. You can expect to pay less than $9,500 per year.

iofoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto

24. North Carolina

Annual Expenditure: $49,898.94

$100,000 Will Last: 1 year 11 months 30 days

If you're looking for a place to live in retirement where you're not in the hustle and bustle of the city but also still close enough to take advantage of city living on occasion, North Carolina might be the place to look. Three of the best suburbs for retirement are in the Tarheel State: Bermuda Run, Fairfield Harbour and Sunset Beach.

More: Expert Says 'Silent Crisis' with Retirement Savings Looms Worldwide -- How To Act Now

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23. Wisconsin

Annual Expenditure: $49,794.66

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 3 days

You can make $100,000 last over two years in retirement if you're living in the Badger State. And your annual housing costs are lower than the national average, as well.

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22. Kentucky

Annual Expenditure: $49,481.81

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 6 days

Kentucky's biggest cost advantage over other states is in its housing, where you'll pay almost $2,000 less than the national average.

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20(tie). South Dakota

Annual Expenditure: $49,273.25

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 10 days

There's one thing you don't have to worry about in South Dakota: state income tax. That's because it's one of the seven states without any, which could make a significant difference in how long you can stretch that nest egg.

Find: 7 Affordable Places To Retire if You Love the Great Outdoors

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20(tie). South Carolina

Annual Expenditure: $49,168.96

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 10 days

The question of how long $100,000 lasts in retirement might be especially apt for South Carolina. A GOBankingRates survey determined that most residents of the Palmetto State have about $50,000-$100,000 saved for retirement.

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19. New Mexico

Annual Expenditure: $49,012.54

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 14 days

If you enjoy life in the big city but can't handle the high cost of living that usually comes with it, New Mexico might offer you the best compromise. .

peeterv / Getty Images/iStockphoto

18. Louisiana

Annual Expenditure: $48,803.98

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 17 days

Not only is Louisiana among the better states for stretching your savings in retirement, it's also the best state to grow your money, according to a separate GOBankingRates study.

$2,000 Quarter? Check Your Pockets Before You Use This 2004 Coin

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15(tie). Illinois

Annual Expenditure: $48,282.57

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 25 days

In Illinois, you can stretch $100K to a bit more than two years. And if you decide you want to make the Windy City your home, you'll have plenty of options in selecting from the many different suburbs around the city.

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15(tie). Texas

Annual Expenditure: $48,230.43

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 25 days

Texas offers a range of advantages to its elderly residents when it comes to stretching retirement dollars.

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15. (tie) Wyoming

Annual Expenditure: $48,230.43

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 25 days

The cost of living in Wyoming is lower than it is for the country as a whole.

Housing Market 2023: Is a Double-Digit Drop in Prices Coming?

RiverNorthPhotography / Getty Images

14. Michigan

Annual Expenditure: $48,074

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 0 months 28 days

The Great Lake State is as welcoming as it is scenic, and the low costs mean you can enjoy more of it with your nest egg.

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12(tie). Nebraska

Annual Expenditure: $47,917.58

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 1 day

Nebraska's cost-of-living scores are either at or below the national average in every category except for transportation. However, at least some of the money you can save on things like groceries and housing will end up with the state government: Nebraska is the least tax-friendly state for retirees.

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12(tie). Ohio

Annual Expenditure: $47,917.58

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 1 day

Housing is especially affordable in Ohio, coming in at almost $2,400 less than what the average American is paying. Add that to costs that are either below average or less than 2% over it, and it's not hard to see why Ohio cracked the top 20 in this study.

I'm a Self-Made Millionaire: These Are the 6 Investments Everyone Should Make During an Economic Downturn

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11. Arkansas

Annual Expenditure: $47,239.75

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 12 days

The cost of a comfortable retirement in Arkansas is very low, coming in below any other state in the country save for Mississippi and its incredibly low cost of living.

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8(tie). Tennessee

Annual Expenditure: $47,031.18

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 15 days

Whether it's the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville or Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee is a great state for American music. Of course, if you're retired and living there, it's the low costs that might be music to your ears.

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8(tie). West Virginia

Annual Expenditure: $46,926.90

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 15 days

West Virginians are paying less for housing and utilities than most Americans, but that's counter-balanced by higher-than-average costs on groceries and "miscellaneous" expenses.

Save More: 5 Things You Should Always Pay For With Cash

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8(tie). Indiana

Annual Expenditure: $46,874.76

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 15 days

Indiana offers retirees the chance to stretch their savings much further than most of the country; this is important to the Hoosier State, as Indiana is the state with the poorest retirees in the country.

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6(tie). Iowa

Annual Expenditure: $46,509.77

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 23 days

Like many states in the Midwest, Iowa boasts low housing costs that help push the overall cost of living down significantly. However, while it's housing leading the charge, Iowa's costs are below what the average American pays across the board.

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6(tie). Missouri

Annual Expenditure: $46,457.63

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 23 days

Although most costs are lower in Missouri, the Show-Me State is especially affordable when it comes to housing. A year of a roof over your head costs an average of just $8,299.21, making it one of just twenty states where you can expect to pay under $9,000 per annum.

Learn More: 5 Expensive Renovations Homeowners Always Regret

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5. Georgia

Annual Expenditure: $46,196.93

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 1 month 26 days

Low costs in Georgia mean a retiree can make $100,000 last them for two years and one month. Even if you're living well by saving on basic costs, though, not everyone is in the same situation: Atlanta is among the places in the U.S. with the most income inequality.

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4. Alabama

Annual Expenditure: $45,936.22

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 6 days

You can expect to stretch your retirement savings by retiring almost anywhere in the Yellow Hammer State, but that's especially true if you decide to call the city of Birmingham home: It's one of the cheapest places to retire in the entire country.

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3. Kansas

Annual Expenditure: $45,623.38

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 9 days

Kansas is a great state to retire to if you want to stretch your nest egg as far as possible, and it's even better if you're living off of a pension funded by the state: Kansas is one of the best states for pensions.

See: 5 Kitchen Appliances That Just Aren't Worth the Money

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2. Oklahoma

Annual Expenditure: $44,736.98

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 2 months 28 days

Oklahoma has low costs statewide that will help you stretch $100,000 for a full two and a half years.

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1. Mississippi

Annual Expenditure: $44,319.85

$100,000 Will Last: 2 years 3 months 4 days

No state has a lower cost for a comfortable retirement than Mississippi, where you can expect to pay almost $3,400 less for housing than the country as a whole. All told, the cumulative cost of living in Mississippi is almost $8,000 lower than the national average.

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How Long $100K in Retirement Will Last in Every State

States on either coast might offer a lot in terms of great weather and loads of culture, but they certainly ask a lot in terms of your pocketbook. The 15 states where $100,000 stretches the least in retirement include five states on the Pacific Ocean (Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska). On the East Coast, the worst states for your retirement nest egg are New York, Maryland, District of Columbia and all six of the states that make up New England.

On the other end of the list, it's hard to miss that states from the South and the Midwest have the lowest costs by far. Of the 15 states where your $100,000 in retirement savings goes the furthest, all but one (Wyoming) are in one of those two regions.

More From GOBankingRates

Jordan Rosenfeld and Amen Oyiboke-Osifo contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: In order to find how long $100,000 will last across the country, GOBankingRates first found (1) the national average annual expenditures for people 65 and older, sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey data. Then, GOBankingRates created (2) state-level annual expenditure estimates by multiplying the national figure by each state's overall cost of living index score for 2022 from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Finally, GOBankingRates found (3) how many years $100,000 will last in each state by dividing $100,000 by each state's average annual expenditures estimate. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were then ranked with No. 1 being the state where $100,000 will last the longest and No. 51 being the state where it will run out most quickly. GOBankingRates provided supplemental information on the average annual cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, and healthcare for people 65 and older in each state by again using MERIC's cost of living indices for each category to factor out national estimates from the CES. All data was collected on and up to date as of February 21, 2023.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Long $100K in Retirement Will Last in Every State
In Korea, Yeondeunghoe is a lantern-lighting festival that marks Buddhas birthday. The basic spirit of the Yeondeunghoe is to light up the mind and the world as bright as a lantern and hope that wisdom and mercy will be realised. When this tradition of Korea travelled to India, it lit up the eyes of the beholder.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Korea-India diplomatic ties, a unique cultural exchange exhibition came to life recently at Delhis National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA). The cultural exchange event that is being organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and Korean Cultural Centre India, displays a special exhibition titled An Encounter with Korea, Traditional Buddhist Culture in India, the Land of Buddha.

The lanterns on display symbolise different holy structures like the lantern in the shape of a Stone Pagoda of Baekjangam Hermitage of Silsang-sa Temple, lotus flower lantern, lantern in the shape of the five-storey Stone Pagoda of Geumsan-sa Temple and so on. A collection of mulberry paper dolls with miniature lanterns in hands too adorn the exhibition.

Korean Ambassador to India Chang Jae Bok says, In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and India, the Buddhism and Buddhist cultural exchange programme, which can be the foundation of the special strategic partnership between Korea and India, has a special meaning. Since Buddhism and Buddhist culture were introduced to Korea in the 4th century, they have been an indispensable core part when talking about the Korean way of life, way of thinking, and traditional Korean culture. Korea and India, the origins of Buddhism, are also closely connected through Buddhism.

The participating artists from Korea include Korean traditional paper lantern artists Jeon Young Ill, Yin Song Ja, Hyun Jae Youl, and Yang Mi Young. Some of the art forms at the exhibition include a photo exhibition of Korean Buddhism Walks in India, woodblock printing on Korean paper, colouring fans in dancheong designs (decorative art of cosmic designs), making lotus flower lanterns and stringing 108 prayer beads.

At the exhibition, one can see the media art of Buddhist painting scrolls called Gwae Bul, a symbol of traditional Korean Buddhist rituals, Korean traditional lanterns of 'Yeondeunghoe', a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and various photo works with the theme of temple stay. The exhibition introduces Korea's traditional Buddhist culture to India.

Ven. Jinwoo, president of Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism says that the content has been prepared so viewers can more vividly sense Korean Buddhisms 1,700-year history, steeped in compassion and peace, based on the Buddhas teachings that were introduced from India.

Kumar Tuhin, director general, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) adds, The exhibition highlights the Buddhist connection between India and Korea and its importance and significance to people-to-people contact between the two nations.

The exhibition is being held at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in New Delhi and it is hosted by NGMA, Embassy of the Republic of Korea and Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. It is organised by the Ministry of Culture (India), Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The exhibition will continue till April 30, 2023.
A plant mycologist based in Kolkata has become the first person known to have contracted an infection caused by a plant fungus.

The unnamed 61-year-old man, who had no history of chronic illness or immunosuppressive medication use, had been working with decaying material, mushrooms, and various plant fungi for an extended period as part of his research activities, according to a report published in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports.

When he sought medical attention, the patient complained of hoarseness of voice, cough, recurrent pharyngitis, fatigue, difficulty swallowing, and anorexia for three months. His chest X-ray was normal, but a CT scan of his neck revealed the presence of a right paratracheal abscess. Doctors drained the pus and sent a sample for further tests, which identified the fungus as Chondrostereum purpureum, a plant fungus causing silver leaf disease of plants, particularly of the rose family.

Fungal infections typically affect people with compromised immunity, but in this case, the man was healthy. The doctors who documented the case said that the finding raised serious questions regarding the propensity of such infection to occur in healthy individuals.

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Killer plant fungus

Chondrostereum purpureum is a plant fungus that causes silver leaf disease in plants, particularly those in the rose family. The disease is named so because of the progressive silvering of leaves on affected branches.

The fungus is a common plant pathogen that is known to cause serious damage to fruit trees, such as apples, cherries, and plums. It is typically spread through the spores produced by infected plants and can survive in soil for several years. In humans, it is an extremely rare cause of infection. This is the first instance of a plant fungus causing disease in a human.

The report highlights the potential of environmental plant fungi to cause disease in humans and stresses the importance of molecular techniques to identify the causative fungal species. In this case, only through sequencing could the identity of this unusual pathogen be revealed.

The case also demonstrates the crossover of plant pathogens into humans when working in close contact with plant fungi. While silver leaf disease is progressive and often fatal in plants, the patient responded well to treatment and showed no signs of recurrence after two years of follow-up.

According to the doctors who treated the patient, Recurrent exposure to the decaying material may be the cause of this rare infection. While fungal infections in humans are typically rare, this case highlights the importance of taking necessary precautions when working with plant fungi to avoid cross-contamination and potential infections.
The second G20 Sherpas meeting is progressing at Kumarakom, a scenic village in the Kottayam district, Kerala. Here are nine things you should know about this important meeting happening under the presidency of India.

Who are Sherpas?

Sherpas are personal envoys of the head of state and government of G20 nations. In the current meeting, all G-20 members, except the United States, France and China have sent their sherpas. Russian sherpa, Svetlana Lukashs, presence is notable among them.

Who is leading?

Indias G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant is leading the deliberations at the sessions. Along with the G20 sherpas, representatives of multilateral bodies and officials from nine guest nations also participate in the sessions that are held behind closed doors. The representatives of specific working groups are also part of discussion.

How many sessions?

The sherpas are participating in four sessions, spread over two daysMarch 31 and April 1.

Session 1 on March 31 started with opening remarks and an overview given by Indian sherpa Kant. This session discussed technological transformationsthe discussions and progress made under five working groups, namely digital economy, health, education, tourism and culture. Session 2 deliberated on accelerated, inclusive and resilient growth and women-led development. The session also reviewed the progress made so far in agriculture, trade, investment, employment and anti-corruption working groups.

Ministers welcome and tourism promotion

Minister of state for External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan welcomed the delegates to the Sherpa meeting. In his speech, he announced Indias G20 priorities, also presented stats of meetings held under Indias presidency, and promoted Kerala tourism.

Indias G20 priorities

Green Development, Climate Finance and LiFE; Accelerated, Inclusive and Resilient Growth; Accelerating progress on SDGs; Technological Transformation and Public Digital Infrastructure; Multilateral Institutions of the 21 Century and Women-Led development. These priorities were supported by 124 countries of the Global South at the Voice of the Global South Summit that was held in New Delhi on January 2023.

Four months of the Indian G20 presidency

Around 50 G20 meetings were held in 27 different cities. In addition to the Sherpa and Finance Track working groups, the two Ministerial, i.e. the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting and the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM), saw high-level participation. Notably, 28 Foreign Ministers and 2 Deputy/Vice Foreign Ministers attended the FMM.

Kayal (lake) talks

On the sidelines of the Sherpa meet, many bilateral meetings are also happening. During the lunch break on March 31, these meetings were held on a large houseboat moored on the bank of the lake. The informal setting was deliberately arranged to facilitate talks between sherpas on more tricky and contentious issues. Indian sherpa Kant held a bilateral meeting with Russian sherpa on March 30.

Indias convening power

India has made a major effort to ensure that the meetings are not bogged down by the Russia-Ukraine war. In the last G-20 held in Indonesia, G-7 delegates used to walk out in order not to be in the same room as Russia. The sherpa meetings under the Indian presidency so far have not witnessed any walkouts.

Side events

Two major side events were held on March 30, the first day of the four-day gathering for the G20 Sherpas meet. One event focused on the critical role of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in improving development outcomes and Indias vast experience in implementing DPI at scale in the past decade. This Side Event was organized by the G20 Secretariat in partnership with NASSCOM, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL).

The other event deliberated on green development. Several speakers drew attention to how, in the last decade, India has managed to balance economic growth with the advancement of the SDGs and the implementation of some of the most ambitious policies for accelerated climate action. Along with the side events was arranged a digital public infrastructure experience zone that showcased the DPIs such as Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker and Diksha and the impact they had made on Indian society.
Wayanad, listed among the 115 most backward districts in the country by NITI Aayog in 2017, was a game changer in Kerala in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Wayanad constituency attracted national attention as one of the two seats from which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contested the polls. Gandhi not only won the seat with a margin of 4.31 lakh votes, but also created an electoral wave in Kerala that helped the Congress-led United Democratic Front sweep 19 of 20 seats.

With just one year to go for the next Lok Sabha elections, Wayanad once again becomes a talking point with Gandhis disqualification from the Lok Sabha. Political analysts see that Gandhi and Wayanad could become a blessing in disguise for the Congress in Kerala.

Said political observer A. Jayashankar: Congress has an opportunity to capitalise on the current sentiments. This is the year in which people make that decision [for whom to give their votes for the general elections in 2024]. But the Congress has to start working unitedly from now on for it.

Jayashankar added that Congress certainly can try to capitalise on talking about the issue of Gandhis disqualification from everywhere it has a base. But I am doubtful of the organisational structure, money and media support for Rahul Gandhi to capitalise on this issue, he said.

In Kerala, the Congress, the CPI(M) and even the BJP are cautious in framing their responses as they all want to cash in on the current circumstances related to Gandhis disqualification in Wayanad. The CPI(M) is in a tricky position.

The state unit of the CPI(M) is walking a thin line between its efforts to be the champion of the anti-BJP fight and in maintaining its position as the only major opponent of the Congress. CPI(M) leadership, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, wrote strong social media posts condemning the disqualification of Gandhi. The cyber volunteers of the CPI(M) also tried to create the perception that the Communists reacted more strongly than the state Congress leaders in the matter. CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan even told TV channels that the party will protest purath (which translates to outside), too. Many media outlets interpreted this as CPI(M)s plan to hit the streets for Gandhi. However, Govindan told THE WEEK that the party had no such plans to conduct any street protests over this issue. He also course-corrected the partys stance by saying that their stand is not in support of Gandhi, but is against the actions taken by the Union government. Govindan also said that his party will continue to fight Congress in Kerala.

In the initial days after Gandhi's disqualification, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President K. Sudhakaran had expressed his hope that if a byelection is announced in Wayanad, the CPI(M) will offer its support to the Congress. However, Govindan rejected the scenario of any such support. If a byelection comes, there is no doubt that we [the Left Democratic Front] will contest, he said. There is no coalition with Congress here. We are taking every state as a unit and are employing seat adjustments to ensure that anti-BJP votes do not go split. The LDF will contest. There is no doubt about that.

Govindan also staunchly criticised the Congress's stance, saying that the grand old party cries foul only when their leaders are being targeted by the BJP with the help of central agencies or court verdicts.

But the CPI(M) has resisted undemocratic moves against everyone, he said. For instance, when Lakshadweep MP was disqualified, and subsequently elections were announcedthe verdict came from the lower court only; the whole process and option for appeal is all left. The election commission announced the elections in haste. Though the election commission is a Constitutional institution, it was acting on behalf of the Sangh Parivar agenda. We raised that allegation. I myself had given a statement on it. Another example is what happened in the case of Manish Sisodia. He was arrested. TRC MLC Kavita has been questioned. So, political leaders from different parts of India are being targeted with numerous cases; they are being targeted in different ways. We have raised voices against all these cases.

Incidentally, Gandhis disqualification happened at a time when the Wayanad unit of the CPI(M) was planning for a protest march to highlight Gandhis failures as an MP in addressing certain burning issues in Wayanad. Wayanad faces major issues like increased human-animal conflicts, and night travel ban [from 9 pm to 6 am on NH-766, a road which passes through Bandipur Tiger Reserve and connects Wayanad to Karnataka], says A. Rafeeq, DYFI district secretary. Lifting this ban was a promise from the UDF during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It has not happened yet. We wanted to address the failures of the MP in the issues of Wayanad, and also the apathy of the Union government against the youth of this country. This was a march that was declared many months before. We planned to conduct it on April 25. But now the MP is disqualified, so we have to consider that situation also while planning on further action.

Rahul Mamkoottathil, Youth Congress state general secretary, told THE WEEK that the CPI(M) making loud noises on social media on Rahul Gandhi's disqualification was only to portray that they are also part of protests.

Can you show me a single picture of any major leader of CPI(M) protesting [on the ground]? There is nothing like that, he said. Rahul Gandhi is a common asset of everyone who believes in the democratic value of this country. When a deplorable move happens against such a person, the CPI(M) attempted to show off that they are also part of protests. However, when they realised that such protests are against their interests and that the protests are giving more strength to the Congress, they took a U-turn, he says.

Mamkoottathil also drew a dichotomy between the central and state leaderships of the CPI(M). We have trust in the CPI(M) of Sitaram Yechury, he says. However, the problem is that Yechury is so helpless. Just like how Gautam Adani is for Narendra Modi, Pinarayi Vijayan is for Yechury. He [Vijayan] is the partys major funding source, and Yechury cannot disappoint Vijayan, even if he wishes to. The secular credentials and stances Yechurys party have been diluted because of the interference of Pinarayi Vijayans party.

The young leader cited the absence of CPI(M) in the Bharat Jodo Yatra to substantiate his point. The central leadership of the CPI(M) wanted to participate in Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir. However, it was blocked, said Mamkoottathil. Ok, lets say it is a Congress programme and Communists do not want to participate. But what happened was that the motherly organisation of all Communist parties in this countrythe CPIparticipated in it. Also, if someone says that the CPI(M) wont participate in other parties programmes they had participated in the rallies of K. Chandrashekar Rao of the TRS. They can hold hands with Jagan Mohan Reddys YSR Congress. These are parties that did not take a proper stance even in the case of this attack on Rahul Gandhi. So, we do not have any trust in Kerala CPI(M) in this anti-Modi protests.

Jayashankar observes that the initial enthusiasm shown by the state unit of the CPI(M) contributed to the narrative that in Kerala also it is becoming a fight between BJP and anti-BJP forces. But who is going to benefit from such a narrative? The benefit will certainly go to Congress, he adds.

Meanwhile, the BJP is also happy about such a narrative is cropping up in the state as the saffron party still struggling to be considered a major contender in the unique electoral politics of Kerala. When Rahul Gandhi faced disqualification, the CPI(M) created a more aggressive furore here than the Congress. Last time, it may have been a fight between the LDF and the UDF. But now they have come together. Just like in West Bengal and Tripura. So, from now on, it will be wrong to assess that the fight is between the LDF and the UDF, Surendran told THE WEEK last week.
Madhya Pradesh ex-chief minister Kamal Nath on Saturday said that a rapid rescue force will be set up in the state and placed in districts and urban centres that could reach spots of disasters/tragedies within 15 minutes, when the Congress government is formed.

Speaking to media after meeting the families of those who died in the step-well tragedy in Patel Nagar and other residents, Nath said that in this case, the army was called after 12 hours, indicating a major lapse in the rescue operations. There was no management and we call this a smart city. It is a matter of shame, he said.

Later speaking at a press conference in Khargone, Nath said that building code and safety code will also be introduced in the state and strict implementation ensured.

Nath, along with other senior Congress leaders, attended the birth anniversary celebrations of former deputy CM late Subhash Yadav in his home village Borawa of Khargone. Congress in-charge J.P. Agrawal, ex-CM Digvijaya Singh, Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha, senior leaders Suresh Pachouri, Arun Yadav (son of late Yadav) ex-ministers Sajjan Singh Verma, Jitu Patwari, Jaivardhan Singh, Sachin Yadav (son of late Yadav) and several MLAs were present at the programme.

In Indore, the MP Congress chief also said that following discussions with the residents of the locality makes it clear that the illegal constructions were not removed despite serving notices due to political pressure. Congress will move court through public interest litigation (PIL) if illegal constructions are not removed in seven days and stringent action is not taken against those guilty, Nath said.

He also met the survivors of the tragedy at a local hospital and heard their experiences. Nath said that many of these injured persons did not yet know that their family members had not survived.

The residents told the Congress leader that the district collector and senior police officials kept moving around the tragedy spot for about two hours as if they were passing time. The Indore Municipal Corporation failed in rescue operations and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reached only in the evening, though the incident occurred around noon. The residents were also seen angrily pointing out that the illegal construction of the temple was not demolished and demanding immediate action in this regard.

Nath said that people complained to him that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (who visited the spot on Friday) did not talk to them or hear their complaints. Chouhan is only interested in media bites and events and he thinks that everything could be washed off with compensation. On Friday, a group of residents were seen sloganeering against the government during the visit of the CM accompanied by Home Minister Narottam Mishra.

Meanwhile, several Youth Congress members were detained after they tried to storm the residence of Indore Member of Parliament (MP) Shankar Lalwani, protesting against the MPs alleged role in protecting the illegal encroachments. The Youth Congress workers wanted to present a shroud to Lalwani as a mark of protest.

Compensation to farmers

Later at the Khargone press conference, Nath also attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for failing to provide compensation to the farmers affected by unseasonal rain and hailstorm even after five weeks. He said the crops were damaged in 28 districts and claimed that when he was the chief minister, he had got compensations paid to farmers hit by excessive rainfall in Mandsaur and Neemuch within one week. We want to ask Shivraj ji why hasnt compensation been distributed yet and when will it be done?

On the communal flare-ups during Ramnavami celebrations in various parts of the country, he said that processions were taken out and religious programmes held earlier too, but riots were not reported. Our culture is the culture to unite and there is no place for hatred and animosity.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday assured the state assembly of appropriate legal action on the allegation of sexual harassment of women students at Kalakshetra Foundation, an institution under the Centre's Ministry of Culture.

Replying to legislators who raised the issue of alleged sexual harassment, Stalin said when this matter was brought to his notice, he sent police and revenue department officials to the institute and they held inquiries.

A panel of senior revenue and police officials is holding talks with students and the management.

"All steps have been taken for the security of students," the chief minister said, adding that police personnel led by a woman inspector have been deployed on the premises.

"If the allegation of harassment is established during inquiry, appropriate legal action will be taken, whoever may be the perpetrators," he said.

Speaking of how the allegations came to the notice of the state government, CM Stalin said that the National Commission for Women had tweeted about alleged "sexual harassment" in Kalakshetra and written to the Director General of Police on March 21 requesting action.

Following this, Kalakshetra Foundation Director Revathi Ramachandran met the DGP and claimed that there was 'no complaint' of sexual harassment.

The NCW later wrote to the DGP saying it had completed the inquiry. Subsequently, on March 29, however, the NCW chief visited Kalakshetra and interacted with 210 women students.

"At that time, the NCW chairperson said that there was no need for the police to accompany them," the CM said. "There is no written complaint to police so far."

Following protests by students, the foundation declared a holiday for the institute and instructed students to vacate their hostel rooms.

MLAs including T. Velmurugan (DMK) and Ku Selvaperunthagai (Congress) raised the issue. While Velmurugan demanded justice, Selvaperunthagai alleged sexual harassment had been going on at the institute here for about 10 years. He also named an assistant professor and dance instructor and urged action against them, saying they had sexually harassed students.

Meanwhile, a former student has reportedly lodged a written complaint to the police alleging sexual harassment, and students have also written to Stalin and the Union Culture Ministry seeking action. They temporarily suspended their protest.

Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women chairperson A.S. Kumari said she inquired with students on the matter. She said she would submit a report to the government and whatever action is warranted would be taken. She said some former students also spoke to her and alleged that such harassment has been going on since 2008.

On what students conveyed to her regarding the alleged sexual harassment, she said it was confidential and would be detailed in the report to the government.

Students have also given their allegations in writing, she said, adding, "The allegations of students is against four persons (faculty). This is a sensitive matter."

She said she urged the students to give up their protest and focus on academics. Also, she said she would speak to the Kalakshetra management on the matter.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that people of Pakistan are not happy after more than seven decades of independence and they now believe the partition of India was a mistake. He also said 'Akhand Bharat' was true but divided Bharat was a "nightmare".

Bhagwat was speaking on Friday at a function to mark the birth centenary of revolutionary and freedom fighter Hemu Kalani, which was attended by members of Sindhi community from different parts of the country.

Underlining the need to build a new India, the RSS chief said, 'Akhand Bharat' (a concept of the country with all its ancient parts that are currently in modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet unified) is true but divided Bharat was a nightmare.

"It was Bharat before 1947 (partition). Are those who broke off from Bharat due to their stubbornness still happy? There is pain out there," he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan, adding there was happiness in India.

However, in a reference to the acrimonious relationship that the two nations now have, Bhagwat underscored the fact that India did not belong to a culture that calls for attacks on others. "I do not mean to say Bharat should attack Pakistan. Not at all. We don't belong to that culture that calls for attack on others," he said.

"We are from the culture that gives a befitting reply in self-defence," Bhagwat said, apparently referring to the surgical strikes on terror camps in that country, adding, "We do it and we will keep doing it."

"People of Pakistan are now saying the division of Bharat was a mistake. All are saying it was a mistake," he asserted. What is right stays intact, while what is wrong comes and goes, Bhagwat said in an apparent reference to internal strife and economic turmoil currently being witnessed in Pakistan. Hailing the Sindhi community, most of whom arrived here during the partition, the RSS chief said they had come "from that Bharat to this Bharat for the sake of your rich Sindhu culture and values".
The perceived delay by the Congress in appealing in a higher court against the conviction of former party chief Rahul Gandhi for criminal defamation by a district court in Surat has set off intense speculation about the party's plans in the matter that has become a major political issue and set off a keen confrontation between the government and the opposition.

The BJP has described the delay in the Congress approaching a higher court in appeal against the district court's order convicting Rahul for criminal defamation and sentencing him to two years' imprisonment as intentional. However, the Congress maintains there is no deliberate delay and Rahul's legal team is exercising extreme caution and not leaving anything to chance as it prepares the appeal.

There is absolutely no delay. The court has given 30 days' time to file an appeal, said a senior Congress leader.

The leader said the lawyers working on the appeal are being very careful since the plea to be filed in the sessions court will have ramifications in other similar cases that are going on in other parts of the country.

The appeal in the matter will be extremely important keeping in view the other similar cases that are going on in Patna and Ranchi. The appeal will be in public domain and will be available to the petitioners in Patna and Ranchi, the leader said.

It was pointed out by the leader that one crucial aspect of the appeal will be the issue of jurisdiction. The judge of the district court, the leader said, has devoted 40 pages of the judgment on the issue of jurisdiction. What is said in appeal against the court order especially with regard to jurisdiction will apply to the cases that are being heard in Patna and Ranchi.

However, despite the Congress's protestations that there is no delay in filing an appeal, there is intense speculation on whether there are differences within the party on the future course of action. There is also speculation with regard to Rahul's own views on the matter and if the perceived lack of urgency in seeking legal remedy could have something to do with it.

Party leaders, meanwhile, insist that an appeal would be filed in the sessions court, and there is no merit in the argument put forth by the BJP that in the case of party leader Pawan Khera's arrest at the Delhi airport, the party's lawyers had immediately approached the Supreme Court. They say that if an appeal were to be filed in the Supreme Court, they are certain that the apex court will send them right back to the sessions court.
Retirement Home: Cost and Service Guide

A retirement home is a private facility that offers seniors care and support. These facilities typically have amenities and services that cater to the needs of seniors, including meal preparation, housekeeping, medical care and social activities. Here's a breakdown of the services, amenities and cost of retirement homes.

A financial advisor can help you save for the care that you may eventually need in retirement.

Services Provided by Retirement Homes

Retirement homes offer many services to meet the needs of their residents. Some of the common services they provide include:

Accommodations : Retirement homes provide a place for residents to stay. Depending on the type of facility, this could be anything from a room to a large apartment.

Housekeeping and maintenance : This might include services like laundry, cleaning and maintenance of the retirement facility.

Dining : Retirement homes usually offer dining to their residents. Meals may be provided in a communal setting or the residents' rooms.

Medical care : There is often on-site medical staff available to care for retirement home residents. Staff members may assist with things like medication and monitoring of medical conditions.

Social activities : Retirement homes often have social activities for residents. There might be games, outings and events that can help residents feel happier and more connected to their communities.

Transportation: Retirement homes sometimes offer transportation services for residents, including shuttle buses or other transportation services. Residents often use these services when going to and from social activities.

Costs of Retirement Homes

Retirement Home: Cost and Service Guide

There are many types of retirement homes, and thus the costs can vary widely. For example, there are independent living facilities, home care, assisted living homes and nursing homes.

There are also different payment models, including rental-based and ownership-based. As their names suggest, the former usually requires a monthly payment, while the latter requires a lump-sum payment to purchase a property. However, even if residents own their property, they often pay monthly for certain services.

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Here are the national median costs for three types of care, according to Genworth's 2021 Cost of Care Survey:

Assisted living : $4,500 per month/$54,000 per year

Semi-private nursing home room : $7,908 per month/$94,900 per year

Private nursing home room: $9,034 per month/$108,405 per year

Other things can also influence the cost of retirement communities. Location, type of accommodation, level of care and amenities available can all impact the cost. For instance, the average cost of a private room in a nursing home in Hawaii is $14,113 per month. A similar room in Arkansas, however, costs an average of $6,692 per month, according to Genworth.

Similarly, homes with more luxurious amenities, such as swimming pools or private suites, may be more expensive.

In addition, there might be other costs for certain services and amenities. Transportation services are one example of a convenience that could make a retirement home more expensive. The cost of retirement homes can indeed be high in some cases. However, keep in mind that some residents need more assistance than others, which greatly influences the cost.

Choosing the Right Retirement Home

Retirement Home: Cost and Service Guide

There's a lot to consider when choosing a retirement home. Making that decision is easier if you keep the right criteria in mind, starting with your individual needs.

For example, do you need specialized care that requires a certain type of facility? If so, that will quickly narrow down your choices. Or perhaps you have mobility issues that mean you need certain features to be available. All these factors should go into your decision.

There is also the issue of cost. Retirement homes can be expensive, so setting a budget and finding retirement homes within your financial means is important. Consider factors such as upfront costs, monthly fees and additional fees for services or amenities. If a particular retirement home is too expensive, you can consider other facilities or investigate financial assistance from Medicaid to cover the costs. If you are unsure of your budget, try using a retirement calculator.

Also, consider location. For instance, do you want to live in the mountains or on a beach getaway? But also, is the facility close to family, friends and medical facilities? Is it a safe and accessible area? All these questions will heavily influence your decision.

Bottom Line

Retirement homes come in all shapes and sizes, from independent living to in-home care. They provide their residents a wide range of services, including medical care, social activities and dining. Before deciding, consider all these things as well as your budget. Before making your final decision, ask questions about the services and amenities provided, the qualifications of the staff and the availability of medical care. These questions will keep you informed and help you ultimately make the best decision.

Retirement Planning Tips

A financial advisor can guide you through major financial decisions, like determining your investing strategy. Finding a financial advisor doesn't have to be hard. SmartAsset's free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you're ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

Deciding how to invest can be a challenge, especially when you don't know how much your money will grow over time. SmartAsset's investment calculator can help you estimate how much your money will grow to help you decide which type of investment is right for you.

Photo credit: iStock.com/Halfpoint, iStock.com/Charday Penn, iStock.com/Drazen Zigic

The post Retirement Home: Cost and Service Guide appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Blasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday said that he received a threat via text message claiming that he will be shot with an AK-47 rifle if he is spotted in New Delhi.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader had filed a complaint in this regard.

"I have intimated the police about the threat call, but do not think any action would be taken. I received the call last night. Whenever I inform the government and home minister about such threats they mock me saying its a stunt. The government is busy sponsoring riots, hooliganism and terror," Raut told reporters.

"Sanjay Raut received death threats stating that he will meet Sidhu Moose Wala's fate. He got threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang," said a police officer.

In connection with the incident, one person was detained from Pune and is being interrogated. He will also be interrogated related to the threat message to actor Salman Khan. The accused connection with the Bishnoi gang will also be probed, said Mumbai Police.

Earlier, Bollywood actor Salman Khan had allegedly received a threat call from the Bishnoi gang claiming that the actor will "end up like Sidhu Moose Wala".

"In the case registered in Bandra police station of threats to kill Salman Khan via email, the Mumbai police team and Luni police team in joint action caught Dhakad Ram, a resident of Luni in Jodhpur district," Luni Police Station Officer, Jodhpur Ishwar Chand Pareek had told ANI.

Mumbai Police had booked gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldie Brar and Rohit Garg for allegedly sending threat mails to actor Salman Khan. A case was registered under sections 506 (2) and 504 IPC against Lawrence Bishnoi at Kanjur Marg police station in Mumbai in connection with the death threat to MP Sanjay Raut.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the opposition, though without naming them, saying that some people in the country have resolved to malign his image and even to dig his grave. Modi, however, said each Indianpoor, tribal, dalit and backwardwas his safety armour.

Modis statement came after he flagged off the maiden Vande Bharat Express of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh from Rani Kamlapati station in Bhopal. The new train will run between this station and Nizamuddin in New Delhi.

The PMs statement on maligning of image comes close on the heels of Union minister Smriti Irani referring to Rahul Gandhis 2019 magazine interview where Gandhi reportedly said that Modis image was his strength and this image would be ripped apart.

The prime minister, while listing out his governments development initiatives, said after 2014 some people in the country had resolved to malign his image and that they had even publicly said it.

For this purpose, they have given supari (contracts) to different kinds of people and are holding the fort personally, too. Some of those supporting them are inside the country, while some are undertaking the task sitting outside the country. These people make constant efforts to malign the image of Modi. But every poor, tribal, dalit and backward person has become safety armour for Modi and this has freaked them out. So they are trying out new strategies. In 2014, they had resolved to malign Modis image and now they have resolved that 'Modi teri kabra khudegi' (Modi your grave will be dug), the PM said.

However, amidst these controversies, you and all people of the country should keep focus on the development of the country and on nation building. We have to increase the participation of Madhya Pradesh in the journey of the countrys development and the Vande Bharat train is a part of this process, Modi said.

Earlier, in what appeared to be a poll campaign speech, Modi also said the previous governments remained busy with appeasement and were not concerned about the satisfaction of the people of the country. They were engaged in tushtikaran (appeasement) of one vote bank and we are committed to the santushtikaran (satisfaction) of the country's people, Modi said.

Modi's 21-minute speech was almost entirely focused on attacking the Gandhi family, the Congress party and the past governments, though he never mentioned any names. Modi said that when the flag-off programme was fixed for April 1, he asked why such a date was chosen as the Congress people will give statements that Modi will make April fool of people. But see, our train has started running today, he said.

He also said that the earlier governments considered only one family as the first family of the country and left the poor and the middle class people in the lurch. No one was concerned about their hopes and aspirations, he added.

After independence, India got a huge ready-made railway network and if the earlier governments wanted, they could have modernized it speedily. But development of railways was sacrificed due to political interests. North-eastern states were not connected to the railway network even decades after independence. But when you gave me an opportunity to serve you in 2014, I decided to completely overhaul the railways. In the past nine years, it has been our constant effort to make Indian railways, the best railway network in the world, Modi said.

He said that earlier people found spending time on railway stations a punishment, but now railways in India has become synonymous to facilities. Modi mentioned that networks of Wi-Fi and CCTVs have been laid at railway stations and Vande Bharat trains are super-hit among people, especially youth.

Madhya Pradesh, once known as a Bimaru state, has left behind the old times and made rapid progress in all fields including agriculture and industries, creating huge opportunities for youth, Modi said, adding that the state has become a top performer in providing housing and drinking water facilities to the poor and producing record crops including wheat.

At the outset, Modi expressed grief over the Indore tragedy; he paid homage to those killed and expressed condolences to families. He also wished for quick recovery of the injured who are under treatment in various hospitals.

The PM arrived in Bhopal on Saturday morning and spent over four hours at the Combined Commanders Conference (CCC) along with Union minister Rajnath Singh. Navy chief R. Hari Kumar had to leave the conference on Friday evening after testing positive for Covid-19. In the tests conducted before the arrival of the PM, 22 other persons involved with the conference were also found positive and taken off from the venue.
An Indian family was among the eight people who drowned in the St Lawrence River while attempting to cross into the US from Canada illegally, authorities said on Friday.

Six bodies - members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent - were recovered by police on Thursday afternoon in a marshy area of Quebec near an overturned boat during an aerial search with the Canadian Coast Guard, according to Canadian news outlets CBC and CTV.

Police in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne said on Friday they have found the bodies of two more migrants, bringing the death toll to eight, including two children.

Akwesasne Mohawk Police Chief Shawn Dulude said authorities are still looking for 30-year-old Casey Oakes, who was last seen on Wednesday operating a boat that was found next to the bodies. Dulude said he didn't know if Oakes is alive or not, adding that he is a person of interest.

The territory is known for being a transit point for the trafficking of humans and contraband because of its location. And in February, police in Akwesasne reported an increase in human smuggling into the Mohawk territory.

Police say there have been 48 incidents of people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the US through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

In January 2022, the bodies of four Indians, including a baby, were found frozen in Manitoba near the Canada-US border. In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

Weather conditions in the area were rough Wednesday night, said Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service

This is a heartbreaking situation, particularly given the young child that was among them, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. We need to understand properly what happened, how it happened and do whatever we can to minimise the chances of this ever happening again.

Trudeau and US President Joe Biden announced a plan last week to close a loophole to an immigration agreement that allowed thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to move between the two countries along a back road linking New York state to Quebec.

The deal closing an illegal border crossing point about 105km (66 miles) east of Akwesasne took effect on Saturday. O'Brien said it has nothing to do with the closure of the Roxham Road illegal crossing into Canada.

(With PTI inputs)
Pope Francis got discharged from the hospital on Saturday after being treated for bronchitis. Francis, before leaving the hospital premises told journalists, "I'm still alive you know."

The pope, 86, was hospitalised at Rome's Gemelli hospital on Wednesday after complaining of breathing difficulties. His medical team said Pope responded rapidly to an infusion of antibiotics. Looking to show he was fully recovered, Francis got out of his car before leaving the hospital grounds, using a walking stick to support himself, Reuters reported.

Pope greeted well-wishers and talked briefly to waiting reporters. Vatican confirmed that he would preside over the Palm Sunday service in St. Peter's Square.

Reuters reported before getting back into the car, Francis embraced a sobbing mother, whose young daughter had died in the hospital and also signed the plaster cast of a young boy with a broken arm and waved from the window of his car as he drove away.

Reuters reported that pope told reporters he was not afraid of hospitalisation. "In a hospital there is a lot of heroism, lots of tenderness for patients. You know sick people, we are capricious. Capriciousness comes with illness. You need to be patient," Reuters quoted the pope as saying.

Francis reportedly praised the staff at Gemelli hospital and appreciated the manner in which staff took care of children at the children's ward in the hospital.

The pope was last hospitalised in 2021 for surgery on his colon. Reuters reported that Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, said that a cardinal would help the pope during the week's celebrations and take care of altar duties.
Former US president Donald Trump raised over USD 4 million in 24 hours after a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, his office has said.

A press release said on Friday that over 25 per cent of donations came from first-time donors to the Trump Campaign, further solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary.

This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponisation of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor, said the campaign.

As per a recent survey, Trump remains the front-runner in the 2024 Republican field, with the support of 44 per cent of Republicans ahead of DeSantis's 30 per cent support.

Americans from across all 50 states donated to Trump's campaign within the first five hours of the indictment, the release said.

The White House has refused to comment on the indictment of the former president.

I have no comment on that, President Joe Biden told reporters on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Zambia, I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president.

Trump is due in court on Tuesday in Manhattan

Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former US president to face

criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

A New York judge in a document unsealed on Friday authorised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to make the charges public, but it was not clear when he would do so.

Susan Necheles, a Trump attorney, told Reuters he will plead not guilty. Necheles said she did not expect the charges to be unsealed until Tuesday.

For nearly two weeks, Trump has been using the various legal troubles he faces to rally supporters and raise money as he seeks his party's nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year in a rematch of the 2020 election.

The first American president to try to overthrow an election defeat, inspiring the deadly 2021 assault on the US Capitol, has signalled he will continue to run despite the charges.

(With agency inputs)
Lucknow, Apr 1 (PTI) Terming Uttar Pradesh as an important investment destination, chief executive officer of smartphone company iQOO Nipun Marya said from the sales point of view, the state figures in top-three for the company in the country.

Marya, who was in the state capital on Friday, told PTI, "Right from the beginning, Vivo group has deeply invested in UP.

"All of our phones, which we sell in India, are made in India, and they are made in our Greater Noida factory. In this Greater Noida factory, we have a capacity of making 50 million phones in one year. And approximate employment, which we are able to generate in this factory is 10,000 people."

He further said, "for us, UP is a very important investment destination, and because strategically, we have set up our factory here, we are continuously producing phones not only for just brand --- Vivo, but for two brands Vivo and iQOO."

"UP from the sales point of view is in the top-3 states in India. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are number 1 and number 2," he said.

In a statement, he said that the brand has registered 440 per cent year-on-year growth in online sales volume in Uttar Pradesh, making the state one of the highest revenue contributors in India.

The company has witnessed a 233 per cent increase in sales in the state vis-a-vis last year.

Uttar Pradesh was one of the leading markets contributing 12 per cent to the iQOO Z7 sales in the country.

Marya also said, "We have seen steady growth and an encouraging response in the state and across the country given our focus on performance-oriented products.

"We have already expanded our portfolio with products like the flagship iQOO 11, Neo 7 and now Z7, delivering premium smartphone experience at all price points that will surely capture consumer interest this year and drive growth in the future."

Continuing iQOO's commitment to 'Make in India', iQOO Z7 will be manufactured at Vivo's Greater Noida facility.
Hyderabad, Apr 1 (PTI) The Cyberabad Police on Saturday said they arrested a person who was allegedly involved in stealing, holding and selling of personal and confidential data of 66.9 crore individuals and organisations belonging to 24 states and eight metropolitan cities.



A press release from the police said the accused, Vinay Bhardwaj, was found possessing data of students of edu-tech organisations and also holds consumer/ customer data of major organisations like GST, Road transport organisations of various states, major eco-mmerce portals, social media platforms and fintech companies.



"The accused who was arrested on Friday was found selling personal and confidential data of about 66.9 crore individuals and organisations maintained in 104 categories," it said.

Some of the important data held by the accused includes the data of defence personnel, government employees, PAN card holders, data of 9th, 10th, 11 & 12th standard students, senior citizens, Delhi electricity consumers, D-MAT account holders, mobile numbers of various individuals, NEET students, high net worth individuals, insurance holders, credit card and debit card holders among others, the release said.

The accused was operating through a website "InspireWebz" at Faridabad, Haryana and selling database to the clients through cloud drive links.

The police seized two mobile phones and two laptops and data of 135 categories containing sensitive information of government, private organisations and individuals, it added.
Mumbai, Apr 1 (PTI) Gerard Butler-starrer "Plane" will be digitally released on Lionsgate Play on April 14, the streamer announced on Saturday.

The gritty-action thriller follows the epic journey of Brodie Torrance (Butler), a commercial pilot who needs to seek help from a criminal to protect their fellow hostaged survivors from local pirates.

The movie, directed by Jean-Francois Richet, also features Mike Colter.

Butler, the star of movies such as "300", "Olympus Has Fallen", "London Has Fallen" and "Angel Has Fallen", said he had a terrific experience of working on the project.

"We had a terrific crew on board, who worked hard to convey both the everyday aspects of preparing for a flight and making the passengers comfortable  and then facing a sudden, terrifying emergency, we made a great team," the 53-year-old actor said in a statement.

Colter, known for the series "Luke Cage" and "Evil", essays the role of criminal Louis Gaspare in the movie.

"Gaspare is an observer. Gaspare will keep you guessing because youre never sure about his motivations. Will he help Torrance, and if so, why? What is his ultimate plan?

"Hell get involved in a situation only if its necessary. Gaspare doesnt lead the charge, but hes available if needed. Hes constantly analyzing and sizing everyone up. That plays well for me because I, too, enjoy lurking in the background, sizing up a given situation," the actor said.
New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Majuli is famous as the world's largest inhabited river island and also for its xatras or Vaishnavaite monasteries but over the years, it has also been keeping alive the mask-making tradition of Assam that is the theme of a new documentary.

"Mask Art of Majuli", scripted and directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Utpal Borpujari, was screened at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) here on Friday.

The 55-minute Assamese film with English sub-titles recently bagged the Bronze award in the best documentary category at the Northeast Film Festival in Mumbai (March 24-26).

Borpujari said as a filmmaker, his endeavour has been to tell various stories from Northeast India.

"The mask art is one subject that I wanted to document since it's an intrinsic part of larger Assamese culture, yet a dwindling one," Borpujari, whose other films include "Ishu", "Memories of a Forgotten War", "Mayong: Myth/Reality", and "Songs of the Blue Hills", told PTI.

He hoped the film would play a role, even if a small one, in making mask art visible in the outside world.

Produced by North East Regional Centre (NERC) and IGNCA, the cinematography is by Chida Bora and music by Sourav Mahanta.

It has also been selected for various festivals like 29th Festival International Cinemas d'Asie, Vesoul, France, 11th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, 6th International Folklore Film Festival, Thrissur, and 2nd Indie8 Documentary Film Festival, Shillong.

The numerous xatras of Majuli are not only religious places of great significance but also form the heart of Xatriya culture that was created by 15th century saint, poet, playwright, social reformer and cultural icon Srimanta Sankardeva.

One key element of the Xatriya culture is the mask that is worn by performers during Bhaona, which are dance dramas that tell stories primarily from the Ramayan, the Mahabharat and the life of Lord Krishna.

These masks or 'mukha' as they are called in Assamese represent an intricate art form, and artisans create them in a unique and totally organic way using biodegradable material.

This film creatively documents the mask art form of Majuli, focusing on the only two families that are keeping the practice alive at the Natun Chamaguri Xatra, including award-winning mask maker Hem Chandra Goswami.

The other family that is practising this dying art is of another Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee master mask maker, late Kosha Kanta Deva Goswami.

Both the families are related and belong to the Chamaguri Xatra, established by one of Sankardeva's four sons Chakrapani Aata.
London, Apr 1 (PTI) A 49-year-old Indian-origin man from the West Midlands region of England, who had earlier been handed restraining orders, has now been sentenced to two years imprisonment for harassing his parents for money to fund his drug addiction.

Daevan Patel was found to have emotionally blackmailed his parents for money and flouted restraining orders preventing him from contacting them in order to get cash. According to a court report from Wolverhampton Crown Court in Birmingham Live, Judge John Butterfield said Patel had made his parents' lives a misery by bleeding them for money as he sentenced him to a two-year prison term and also handed another five-year restraining order.

"You have contempt for others and for the orders of the courts," the judge told him this week.

The court heard that Patel relentlessly sought money and sometimes called his parents 10 times a day, showing up at their home if they did not answer.

He was handed restraining orders to protect the parents, with the latest restraining order imposed for five years in August 2019 which allowed contact only by telephone. But Patel was jailed for breaching that.

The court report reveals that the accused, also a convicted thief, would shout at his parents to comply with his demands and they decided to inform the police after they ran out of money to give him and were concerned about what he might do.

Patels defence lawyer said his life had been ruined by drugs and told the court he intends to stay clean of drugs in the future.

He is currently serving a sentence at HMP Cardiff in Wales, where he reportedly intends to stay and not return to the West Midlands area where there is a danger of him mixing with a drugs crowd.
When a single insider purchases stock, it is typically not a major deal. However, when multiple insiders purchase stock, like in Paragon Care Limited's (ASX:PGC) instance, it's good news for shareholders.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

See our latest analysis for Paragon Care

Paragon Care Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Group CEO Mark Hooper made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$325k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.32 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being AU$0.24). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months Paragon Care insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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).

Insider Ownership Of Paragon Care

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Paragon Care insiders own about AU$50m worth of shares. That equates to 31% 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.

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So What Does This Data Suggest About Paragon Care Insiders?

The fact that there have been no Paragon Care insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Insiders do have a stake in Paragon Care and their transactions don't cause us concern. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. For example, Paragon Care has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think 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.

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Washington, Apr 1 (PTI) Having learnt the bitter lessons of disruptions in supply chain during and after the COVID-19 crisis, US President Joe Biden wants the entire system of producing and delivering a product or service to start and end in the United States to reduce vulnerability, his top economic advisor has said.

He said the Biden administration is looking to build up the American manufacturing capacity in key areas like clean energy production, semiconductors and related industries as well as anything related to infrastructure.

We have tried to make America a good place to invest for those types of companies that have a choice in terms of where to put their money. We are offering not only the best trained workforce in the world, a highly reliable legal system, but also strong incentives to locate production in the United States, Indian-American Bharat Ramamurti, Deputy Director of Presidents National Economic Council and his Advisor for Strategic Economic Communications, told PTI in an interview on Friday.

Such a policy, he asserted, is not just about jobs.

The president has made clear that it reduces our vulnerability. We saw during the pandemic that when you rely on products that are made either in China or in Southeast Asia or elsewhere, if you have a disruption in that country or you have disruptions to international shipping, all of a sudden, we can't make the products that we need to make because we're missing some of the key inputs that were supposed to be delivered from abroad, he said.

Or maybe the costs go up tremendously because of disruptions abroad, reducing the supply. The president wants our supply chains to start and end here in the United States. And the types of investment we've seen over the last several months are moving us closer to that reality, Ramamurthi said in response to a question.

He said policies of the US President has resulted in USD 400 billion worth of private investment coming into the country over the last two years.

A sharp increase from the years before that and lots of good jobs created across the country. President was in North Carolina earlier this week to talk about a new production facility that was being built there. USD 20 billion invested in Ohio outside of Columbus for new semiconductors by Intel. Micron is investing USD 100 billion in New York and new production there.

So, these are good paying jobs that don't necessarily require a college degree, and jobs that can support a family. And at the same time, uh, protecting our financial security, our economic security, and our national security, the Presidents advisor said.

He said now was a great time to invest in the United States.

We are now offering a very hospitable environment for investing, especially if you're investing in areas like clean energy production, semiconductors and related industries and, anything related to infrastructure, Ramamurti said.

We are looking to build up the American manufacturing capacity in those key areas. So, if you're abroad and have skills or an idea that fits into that set of issues, I think it's worth looking at the United States. It is not just the incentives that have been put into our tax code and, and otherwise, it's the quality of workers here in the United States, he said.

It's the kind of legal system that we have. It is access to capital markets, thanks to our securities laws and the Securities and Exchange Commission. There's a lot that should be appealing about investing here. And again, you're seeing that with over 400 billion worth of private investment in the United States over the last two years, the Indian-American said.

Responding to a question on Boeing-Air India deal, he said India and the United States enjoy a "very close" relationship.

The Boeing deal creates a massive number of jobs, not just directly at Boeing, but the most important part in many ways is that all of the different parts that go into the airplane, a lot of those are manufactured across America, Ramamurti said.

And then all of the small businesses who contribute to helping those companies along the supply chain, all of them benefit from this kind of manufacturing deal, he added.

Largely that's why the President has been so focused on manufacturing, because not only is it important for our national security for us to make more things here, but manufacturing jobs tend to be high quality, high paying jobs. And they produce additional supporting jobs, further down the supply chain or for small businesses that are located around where new manufacturing capacity would be, Ramamurti said.

So that's the kind of economy that the president is looking to build. He's talked a lot about wanting to grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out rather than from the top down, which we have seen unfortunately, be the prevailing economic philosophy, particularly among the Republican Party for the last 20 or 30 years. We have a very different vision and what we have seen so far is that it's good for business, it's good for American consumers, it's good for American families, and we're gonna keep at it, he said.
Kyiv, Apr 1 (AP) Ukraine's top security agency notified a top Orthodox priest on Saturday that he was suspected of justifying Russia's aggression, a criminal offense, amid a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.

Metropolitan Pavel, the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraine's most revered Orthodox site, has strongly resisted the authorities' order to vacate the complex. Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.

During a court hearing in the Ukrainian capital, the metropolitan strongly rejected the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russia's invasion. Pavel described the accusations against him as politically driven.

SBU agents raided his residence and prosecutors asked the court to put him under house arrest pending the investigation. The hearing was adjourned until Monday after the metropolitan said he wasn't feeling well.

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has insisted that it's loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion from the start. The church declared its independence from Moscow.

But Ukrainian security agencies have claimed that some in the UOC have maintained close ties with Moscow. They've raided numerous holy sites of the church and later posted photos of rubles, Russian passports and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery is owned by the Ukrainian government, and the agency overseeing it notified the monks that it was terminating the lease and they had until Wednesday to leave the site.

Metropolitan Pavel told worshipers on Wednesday that the monks would not leave pending the outcome of a lawsuit the UOC filed in a Kyiv court to stop the eviction.

The government claims that the monks violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Many Orthodox communities in Ukraine have cut their ties with the UOC and transitioned to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which more than four years ago received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Bartholomew I is considered the first among equals among the leaders of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Patriarch Kirill and most other Orthodox patriarchs have refused to accept his decision authorising the second Ukrainian church.

Also on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron to brief him on the battlefield situation and to discuss defence cooperation.

While Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive expected later this spring, Russian forces have kept pressing their effort to capture the city of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Donbas region has been the focus of a ferocious battle that has dragged on for eight months in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a Saturday visit to the military headquarters overseeing the action in Ukraine that Russia's defence industries have boosted production of ammunition by several times. Russian's government previously acknowledged ammunition shortages,

The UK Defence Ministry said in its latest analysis on Saturday that the Russian offensive personally overseen by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, has fizzled. Russian President Vladimir Putin put Gerasimov in charge of overseeing what Moscow refers to as its special military operation in Ukraine.

Gerasimov's tenure has been characterised by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region, the British ministry said on Twitter. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed.

As evidence, the ministry said that on several axes across the Donbas front, Russian forces have made only marginal gains at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties".

With the losses, the Russian military was "largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel from a partial mobilisation of 300,000 reservists Putin ordered in the fall, according to the UK analysis.

It noted that Gerasimov, who has been in his job for 10 years, is pushing the limits of how far Russia's political leadership will tolerate failure.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, meanwhile, mocked a new edition of Moscow's foreign policy doctrine published Friday that described the Russian policy as peaceful, open, predictable, consistent, pragmatic and based on respect for universally recognized principles and norms of international law.

April Fool's Day is TOMORROW, the Foreign Office tweeted late on Friday. (AP) PY

PY
Rome, Apr 1 (AP) A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that hes still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalised at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St Peters Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekends Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peters Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Romes Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the childs already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell  I felt sick, he said, pointing to his mid-section  a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favourites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, Long live the pope! and clapped.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they show great tenderness.

We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals, he said. Francis also said he read journalists accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.

Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, Forward, thanks.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered , Yes. (AP)



NSA
Karachi, Apr 1 (PTI) At least four Pakistan Army soldiers were killed on Saturday in a terror attack along the Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistans Kech district, according to the militarys media wing.

On April 1, 2023, a group of terrorists operating from the Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces along the Pakistan-Iran Border in Jalgai Sector, district Kech," an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

The ISPR said that necessary contact with the Iranian side was being made for effective action against terrorists on their territory and to prevent such incidents in the future.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah condemned the attack and paid tribute to those killed.

The sons of the country are laying down their lives to protect their land, the whole nation salutes them, the nation is united in the war against terrorism, he tweeted, adding that this scourge will be eradicated.

In January, four security personnel were killed during terrorist activity from across the Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistans Panjgur district.

The incident was condemned by Pakistans senior officials and the Foreign Office asked Iran to punish the culprits and ensure a thorough investigation.
Wynne (US), Apr 1 (AP) Tornadoes have killed at least 18 people in the South and Midwest, including at a heavy metal concert in Illinois where the theater's roof collapsed. Seven people were confirmed dead in Tennessee on Saturday.

David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville, Tennessee, confirmed that seven people died in McNairy County. Leckner said the majority of the damage was done to homes and residential areas.

Leckner said emergency responders are going door to door looking to make sure everyone is accounted for, but he said that, for the most part, we have accountability for everyone. (AP) NSA
Bhopal, Apr 1 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Sangeeta Sharma on Saturday claimed she was arrested by Misrod police amid the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bhopal.

The PM, during the day, took part in the Combined Commanders' Conference and later flagged off the Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat Express.

Misrod police station in charge Rasbihari Sharma told PTI Sharma was detained after getting information that she may stage a protest during the PM's visit.

'We brought her to the police station and let her leave after the PM's visit was over," the official said.

Sangeeta Sharma, who is MP Congress spokesperson and party vice president, claimed in a release that she was arrested for 10 hours from 8am.

She alleged the police forcibly made her sit in their vehicle and took her to Misrod police station without being told about her "crime".

"I was not allowed to speak to anyone and my mobile phone was taken away," the Congress leader said.

The police did not allow Congress media cell functionaries, who were sent by state unit chief Kamal Nath, to meet her, she claimed.
Bhopal, Apr 1 (PTI) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that people of Pakistan are not happy after more than seven decades of independence and they now believe the partition of India was a mistake.



He also said 'Akhand Bharat' was true but divided Bharat was a "nightmare".



Bhagwat was speaking on Friday at a function to mark the birth centenary of revolutionary and freedom fighter Hemu Kalani, which was attended by members of Sindhi community from different parts of the country.



Underlining the need to build a new India, the RSS chief said, "'Akhand Bharat' (a concept of the country with all its ancient parts that are currently in modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet unified) is true but divided Bharat was a nightmare."



"It was Bharat before 1947 (partition). Are those who broke off from Bharat due to their stubbornness still happy? There is pain out there," he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan, adding there was happiness in India.



However, in a reference to the acrimonious relationship that the two nations now have, Bhagwat underscored the fact that India did not belong to a culture that calls for attacks on others.



"I do not mean to say Bharat should attack Pakistan. Not at all. We don't belong to that culture that calls for attack on others," he said.



"We are from the culture that gives a befitting reply in self-defence," Bhagwat said, apparently referring to the surgical strikes on terror camps in that country, adding, "We do it and we will keep doing it."



"People of Pakistan are now saying the division of Bharat was a mistake. All are saying it was a mistake," he asserted.



What is right stays intact, while what is wrong comes and goes, Bhagwat said in an apparent reference to internal strife and economic turmoil currently being witnessed in Pakistan.



Hailing the Sindhi community, most of whom arrived here during the partition, the RSS chief said they had come "from that Bharat to this Bharat for the sake of your rich Sindhu culture and values".
Mumbai, Apr 1 (PTI) Remarriage of a widow cannot be a reason to deny compensation to her under the Motor Vehicles Act for the death of her husband in a road accident, the Bombay High Court has said while dismissing an insurance company's petition.

Iffco Tokio General Insurance Company had filed the petition in the high court, challenging the order of a Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT), which had directed the company to pay compensation to the woman, whose husband was killed in a road accident in 2010.

A single-judge bench of Justice S G Dige on March 3 decided the appeal of the insurance company. Its detailed order was made available recently.

The counsel for the firm had submitted that since the claimant, the wife of deceased Ganesh, remarried after his death, she is not entitled to get compensation.

The court, however, held that one cannot expect that for getting compensation for the death of her husband, she has to remain a widow for life or till she gets the payout.

The court noted that it appears from the record that at the time of the death of her husband, the woman was 19 years old.

Considering her age and the fact that she was the wife of the deceased at the time of the accident is sufficient ground for her to get compensation, it said.

"Moreover, after the death of a husband, remarriage cannot be a taboo to get compensation," the court held.

The woman's husband had met with an accident in May 2010 when he was on a motorcycle as a pillion rider. When the motorcycle was crossing the Mumbai-Pune highway and heading towards Kamshet, an autorickshaw rammed into the two-wheeler, leading to Ganesh's death.

The firm had contended that it can't be held liable to pay the compensation as the autorickshaw was only permitted to ply within Thane district.

However, the judge said, "I do not find any infirmity in it. In my view, the appellants have not examined any witness to prove that taking the offending rickshaw outside the jurisdiction of Thane district was a breach of the terms of permit, and it amounts to breach of terms and conditions of insurance policy."

"Hence, I do not see merit in the contention of learned counsel for appellant that there was breach of terms and conditions of insurance policy," Justice Dige said while dismissing the appeal.
Aizawl, Apr 1 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday appealed to the remaining active militants of the Northeast to join the mainstream.

Addressing a rally in Aizawl after virtually inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for 11 projects worth Rs 2,414 crore, he asserted that the establishment of peace in Mizoram is an example of the victory of Indian democracy.

"I appeal to the few remaining active militant organisations in the Northeast to return to the mainstream, become a part of the democratic process and contribute to the development of the region and the country as a whole," he said.

"Peace has been established in Mizoram, which had faced insurgency. This is an unprecedented example of the victory of India's democracy," he said.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga while welcoming Shah said his visit will help cement the state's relation with the Centre.

Shah paid a long-day visit to the Northeastern state on Saturday, during which he virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 11 development projects worth Rs. 2,414 crore, including new Assam Rifles battalion headquarters.

Addressing a public meeting at Lammual here, Zoramthanga said that the state has been waiting for a long time for Shah to visit the state and inaugurate the Assam Rifles complex, Laldenga Cultural Centre and other development projects.

"Certainly, this will be a milestone ," Zoramthanga said while welcoming Shah.

He said that during the time of Laldenga, the state's first chief minister, the government had identified land for Assam Rifles camp.

The Union Home Ministry (MHA) sanctioned money for the construction of the new Assam Rifles headquarters complex and now it is in a position to be inaugurated, he said.

According to the chief minister, the proposed Laldenga Cultural Centre, which will be constructed in the area (Lammual) to be vacated by Assam Rifles, will have an auditorium to accommodate 5000-10,000 people, a conference hall and other amenities.

Speaking on the occasion after inaugurating Assam Rifles headquarters complex and other development projects, Shah said that the paramilitary force base would be shifted from the heart of Aizawl to Zokhawsang, about 15 east of Aizawl.

He also said that the construction of four new roads worth Rs 1,200 crore, when completed, will boost trade and business not just within Mizoram, but also with the state and neighbouring Myanmar.

The Union Minister lauded the Mizo National Front (MNF) government headed by Zoramthanga citing it has performed very well in terms of development.

He said that the peace that is seen in Mizoram, which was once under unrest for decades, is an example of the victory of Indian democracy.

"At one time there was insurgency and violence in Mizoram. Bullets were fired and bombs exploded here. But today Zoramthanga is the chief minister of the state, and there is peace and harmony here. This is an unprecedented example of the success of India's democracy," Shah said.

Noting that the Centre is dedicated to the development of the Northeast, he said the Modi government has increased budget allocation for the region by 276 per cent.

"The Union government is working towards connecting the state capitals of all the eight states with rail, road and air connectivity by 2025 with a project outlay of Rs 1,76,000 crore," he said.

"Around 8,000 militants in the region have surrendered since 2014. We have signed a peace agreement with NLFT in Tripura in 2019, rehabilitated 37,000 Brus in Tripura, and brought peace in Assam by signing the Bodo Accord in 2020 and a peace agreement in Karbi Anglong in 2022. Also, there has been a 70 per cent reduction of areas under the jurisdiction of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958," he said.

Shah was shown black flags by Congress party workers during his visit to Mizoram's capital Aizawl to inaugurate development projects on Saturday.

The opposition party was protesting against the disqualification from Parliament of its national leader Rahul Gandhi recently after conviction in a defamation case.

Leaders of the state state congress and functionaries of various frontal organisations held peaceful demonstration to extend solidarity to Gandhi.

Noting that Mizoram's economy grew by 12.15 per cent in the last decade, especially under the leadership of Chief Minister Zoramthanga, Shah said the Centre will explore possibilities of investment in the tourism, bamboo and solar energy sectors in the state.

He said the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project will connect Mizoram with Myanmar and bring about economic growth in the northeastern state.

Interestingly, Zoramthanga is the former leader of Mizo National Front (MNF), the erstwhile underground founded by Laldenga, which spearheaded a secessionist movement for two decades between 1966 and 1986.

The MNF signed a peace accord with India in 1986 and Mizoram became the 23rd state of the country in February 1987.
New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) India's defence exports reached an all-time high of Rs 15,920 crore in the financial year 2022-2023, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday describing the rise as a remarkable achievement.

The country's defence exports in 2021-22 was Rs 12,814 crore, according to official data.

"India's defence exports have reached an all-time high of Rs 15,920 crore in FY 2022-2023. It is a remarkable achievement for the country," Singh said on Twitter.

"Under the inspiring leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi, our defence exports will continue to grow exponentially," he said.

India exported military hardware worth Rs 8,434 crore in 2020-21, Rs 9,115 crore in 2019-20, and Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-19, according to details provided by Singh.

The amount in 2017-18 was Rs 4,682 crore and Rs 1,521 crore in 2016-17.

The government has set the target of manufacturing defence hardware worth Rs 1,75,000 crore and take defence exports to Rs 35,000 crore by 2024-25.

In the last few years, the government has taken a series of measures to promote domestic defence production.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2023 / Pampa Metals Corp. ("Pampa Metals" or the "Company") (CSE:PM) / (FSE:FIRA) / (OTCQB:PMMCF) is pleased to advise that it has issued 2,399,999 units ("Units") at a price of $0.15 per Unit under the Non-Brokered Private Placement offering (the "Offering") detailed in a March 21, 2023 news release for gross proceeds of $360,000.

Each Unit consists of one fully paid common share and one purchase warrant entitling the holder to acquire an additional common share at a price of $0.21 for a period of 3 years after the closing of the Offering.

In connection with the Offering, the Company paid total cash commissions of $1,750 and issued 324,333 finder's warrants and 156,333 finder's shares. Each finder's warrant is exercisable into a common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.21 for a period of 3 years from the date of closing of the Offering.

Proceeds will be directed towards the recently mobilized/commenced drill testing of the Buenavista target and the Block 4 Project more broadly, where an initial ~2,100m diamond drill program has been designed to test coincident geological, geochemical, and geophysical anomalies.

ABOUT PAMPA METALS

Pampa Metals is a Canadian company listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE: PM), Frankfurt (FSE: FIRA) and OTC (OTCQB: PMMCF) exchanges which wholly owns a 47,400 hectare portfolio of seven projects highly prospective for copper, molybdenum and gold located along proven and highly productive mineral belts in Chile, one of the world's top mining jurisdictions. The Company is actively advancing its projects through systematic exploration and drill testing of the highest priority targets, with a current focus on the Buenavista target and the Block 4 Project more broadly.

The Company's vision is to create significant value for shareholders and stakeholders through the application of its technical and commercial expertise towards exploring for a major copper discovery along the prime mineral belts of Chile. For more information, please visit Pampa Metals' website www.pampametals.com.

Story continues

The latest Company Presentation can be accessed at https://pampametals.com/investor/.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO

INVESTORS CONTACT

Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO

joseph@pampametals.com

Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Pampa Metals expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will" or "may" occur. These statements are subject to various risks. Although Pampa Metals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guaranteeing of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Pampa Metals Corp.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/747154/Pampa-Metals-Closes-First-Tranche-of-Non-Brokered-Private-Placement




Chandigarh, Apr 1 (PTI) A fresh CCTV footage has surfaced on social media purportedly showing Papalpreet Singh, a close aide of radical preacher Amritpal Singh, in a "dera" in a village in Hoshiarpur even as police continued their search for them in the district on Saturday.

The footage is said to be of March 29, a day after a team of the counter intelligence wing of the Punjab Police chased an Innova vehicle from Phagwara after it suspected that fugitive Amritpal Singh and his aide could be travelling in it.

The "dera" (a place for religious congregation) whose footage has surfaced is located in village Tanauli, just two to three km away from Marnaian village in Hoshiarpur where the police had launched their massive search for the duo.

Sources said Papalpreet Singh was spotted in the CCTV footage of the dera of Wednesday morning. It is suspected that Papalpreet and Amritpal got separated in Hoshiarpur following the police chase of their vehicle.

Papalpreet Singh is considered one of Amritpal Singh's mentors who had been advising him on various issues.

Police on Friday had expanded their search for Amritpal Singh to "deras" and other possible hideouts of the fugitive preacher in Hoshiarpur district. Police had even deployed a drone to trace the suspects.

The radical preacher has been on the run since a police crackdown on his outfit Waris Punjab De on March 18. He has, however, appeared in two purported videos and an audio clip released on social media in the past few days.

In the video, the Khalistan sympathiser asserted he was not a fugitive and would soon appear before the world.

In the audio clip, he debunked speculation he was negotiating his surrender and nudged the Akal Takht for the second time to summon a "sarbat khalsa" congregation to discuss issues related to the Sikh community.

The hunt to nab Amritpal Singh was launched in Hoshiarpur district Tuesday night following inputs that the radical preacher and his aides could be there.

It began after police chased an Innova SUV from Phagwara, which sources said may have carried Amritpal Singh and his aides. The occupants abandoned the vehicle near Gurdwara Bhai Chanchal Singh in Marnaian and disappeared.

There were also inputs the suspects could have used a Swift car after abandoning the SUV.

Police had recovered another vehicle from Phagwara which they suspected could have been used by the fugitive and his close aide Papalpreet Singh.

Punjab Police have been on a high alert since Amritpal Singh escaped their net in Jalandhar on March 18.

The crackdown on the Waris Punjab De chief was launched about three weeks after his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested man.

He and his associates have been booked in several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) A 53-year-old advocate was shot dead in southwest Delhi's Dwarka on Saturday evening, police said.

Two assailants on a motorcycle shot at advocate Virender Kumar who was in a car, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) M Harsh Vardhan said.

Kumar lived in Dwarka Sector-12, police said, adding that he was an advocate by profession.

Prima facie, personal enmity is suspected to be the reason behind the incident. Multiple teams are working on the case from all angles, they added.
New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Three men were arrested for allegedly stabbing and robbing a traffic police head constable near Signature Bridge, which connects Wazirabad to East Delhi, police said on Saturday.

A hunt to nab the accused  Anup (33), a resident of Usmanpur; Mohammad Arif (26) and Mohammad Abid (24), both residents of Bhajanpura  was launched after several people had tweeted about the incident.

The incident happened when Mohit, posted at the Model Town traffic circle, was returning home from duty and stopped near the bridge to urinate on Wednesday. He was injured badly and suffered wounds on hand and foot, a senior police officer said.

The police identified the suspects based on inputs collected from informers and by scanning the bail data.

Anup was arrested from Pushta Road near Jagatpur when he was trying to sell Mohit's mobile phone, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi.

He disclosed that his associates Arif and Abid stabbed Mohit and withdrew Rs 63,000 from his e-wallets and sold him his mobile phone, the DCP said.

Arif, who was booked on Thursday in another case, was apprehended outside SEM Court, Seelampur, when he was coming out after being released on bail.

Based on Arif's inputs, Abid was nabbed from Gamri village and four ATM cards of Mohit, Rs 60,000 withdrawn from his bank account and four mobile phones snatched from other persons were recovered, police said.

The accused disclosed they were previously involved in criminal offences of similar nature and were addicted to banned drugs. They disclosed that they used to target pedestrians and bikers who would stop to urinate near Signature Bridge and Usmanpur Pustha, police said.

Anoop was previously involved in 37 cases and Abid was in 25, police said.
Chandigarh, Apr 1 (PTI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Saturday said it will contest the Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll on the plank of "peace and communal harmony."

The meeting of the party's core committee, held under the chairmanship of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, also unanimously authorised him to select the party candidate for the Jalandhar bypoll.

It was also announced that a SAD-BSP coordination committee meeting would also be held soon in this regard, said a party release. Polling for the Jalandhar parliamentary seat will take place on May 10 while the counting will be held on May 13.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll was necessitated following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary (76) in January.

He died after he suffered a cardiac arrest during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar's Phillaur.

The core committee noted that efforts were afoot to "spoil" the peace of Punjab and that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had become party to "the conspiracy to destabilise the state".

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann was solely responsible for the current state of affairs," said the committee. It also condemned him for "insulting" the Akal Takht Jathedar and "gagging" the voice of the media, intelligentsia and artists," the party alleged.

Notably, CM Mann had Tuesday hit out at Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh for "provoking" people through an ultimatum to the AAP government to release all Sikh youths who were held during the police crackdown against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides.

Hitting back, the Jathedar had said he had the right and duty to speak about "innocent" Sikh youths.

SAD chief Badal said the SAD was ready to make any sacrifice necessary to ensure communal harmony in the state.

He also said the party would continue to seek justice for all innocent Sikh youth who had been arrested on trivial charges by the AAP government and demanded all innocents be freed immediately.

The committee also took serious note of alleged "discrimination" being done to scheduled castes and weaker sections of the population by the AAP government.

It alleged that it was condemnable that all social welfare schemes were in the "doldrums".

Stating that it would take the AAP government's record on social welfare benefits to the people in the Jalandhar bypoll, the committee noted that the 'atta-dal' scheme and old age pension scheme were being implemented only partially even as all benefits under the 'Shagun' scheme had been stopped.
New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) The high court here has directed the city government and the Delhi Waqf Board authorities to clear the outstanding salary of board employees of over six months within two weeks.

The Delhi High Court, hearing a petition by Delhi Waqf Board Employees Association, said in case of non-compliance, it would be constrained to pass "adverse orders" on the next date of hearing on April 18.

The association, along with an individual employee, had moved the court earlier this year, claiming they had not received their salaries since October last year and were thus facing unfathomable financial hardships.

"It is directed that the respondents (Delhi Waqf Board, chief executive officer of the board, divisional commissioner cum revenue secretary of Delhi government) shall ensure that all outstanding dues of the employees who are members of petitioner No. 1 as well as petitioner No. 2 herein, are positively released within two weeks from today, failing which this court will be constrained to pass adverse orders on the next date," said Justice Jyoti Singh in an order dated March 27.

The court noted the response filed by the CEO showed there were inter se disputes between him and the board and the only endeavour seems to be made is to pass the blame on each other for non-payment of the dues of the petitioners, who have not received their emoluments for over six months now."

Advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, appearing for the petitioners, has argued before the court that the aggrieved employees have been robbed of their right to a dignified life in a brazen infraction of their fundamental and constitutional rights.

"The employees of Delhi Waqf Board falling in Category I (permanent employees recruited against the sanctioned post), II (permanent employees whose recruitment is approved by the divisional commissioner), III (employees who were recruited on contractual basis but are waiting for their absorption) and IV (contractual employees who continue to be contractual) have not received their salary from October 2022, the petition has said.

The petition argued that it was imperative for the board to meet and take necessary measures for the release of salaries of its employees and paucity of funds cannot be an excuse.

It submitted that the entire functioning of the board has collapsed and its staff has been in a grim situation because of unresolved issues.

The functioning of the Delhi Waqf Board has come to a standstill as its business is to be transacted at its meetings. Staggeringly, after 05.01.2022 no meeting of the members of the Board has taken place. Hence, as a necessary corollary, the Board has not been able to meet and transact its business, as such, revenue generation of the Delhi Waqf Board has taken a blow, the petition has said.

The budget of the Delhi Waqf Board is also not prepared and forwarded to the state government in a timely manner as required by the Waqf Act, 1995 and the Delhi Waqf Rules, 1997, which has caused inordinate delay in sending requisition for the grant in aid to the Delhi government for first quarter of financial year 2022-2023. Furthermore, there are delays on the part of the Government of NCT of Delhi also in releasing the grant in aid, it has added.

The plea has also stated that the payment of salary to the employees is necessary to enable them to maintain their livelihood and denial of the same amounts to denial of Right to Life Guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Hyderabad, Apr 1 (PTI) Ruling BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday said farmers need to be united so as to address their problems, including absence of irrigation facilities and investment support.

The BRS is going ahead with the slogan of 'ab ki baar kisaan sarkar' (farmers' government this time) to ensure facilities like supply of electricity, water for irrigation and investment support to farmers, he said, speaking at an event here where farmers' leaders from Maharashtra joined the BRS.

He said the power of vote should be utilised to usher in a "farmers' rule".

Observing that agitations by farmers have been going on in the country since the pre-Independence era, he said farmers had recently agitated against the three farm laws (since repealed) in Delhi.

The farmers had put up a spirited fight against the farm laws though the Centre had called them "naxalites" and others, he said.

The government had to finally climb down and Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) had to seek apology and withdraw the farm laws, he claimed.

The farm laws would not have been withdrawn except for the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab elections, he claimed.

Telangana had faced farmers' suicides and other problems before it became a state, a release quoted him as saying. The farmers' suicides have now almost come to an end after the formation of the state.

While paddy is cultivated in 94 lakh acres in the country, 56 lakh acres is cultivated in Telangana itself, he said.

He also said water bodies in Telangana have abundant water even in the current summer month of March-end and April.
LAUREL MCINTOSH, Chariho Girls Lacrosse, Senior; McIntosh scored six goals and assisted on another in a Chariho win against Toll Gate. Chariho is 5-0 this season.

DYLAN CIMINI, Stonington, Baseball, Junior; Cimini allowed just one hit and struck out 10 in a win against Ledyard. Cimini did not give up the hit until the sixth inning.

ALLYSON FAUBERT, Westerly, Girls Lacrosse, Sophomore; Faubert scored the winning goal with 49.6 seconds left in a win against Cranston East. Faubert finished with two goals in the game.

REESE MAIN, Wheeler, Softball, Junior; Main pitched a one-hitter and struck out 10 in a win against Bacon Academy. Main walked just two batters and also drove in three runs at the plate.

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TORONTO, March 30, 2023  Thomson Reuters (NYSE, TSX: TRI) announced today its first-quarter 2023 earnings will be issued via news release on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

Steve Hasker, president and chief executive officer, and Mike Eastwood, chief financial officer, will host a conference call and simultaneous webcast that morning at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Discussions may include forward-looking information.

You can access the webcast by visiting the Investor Relations section of the Thomson Reuters website. Registration for the webcast is now open. Additionally, an archive of the webcast will be available following the presentation.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters (NYSE / TSX: TRI) (TR) informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. The company serves professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Its products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds leading provider of trusted journalism and news. Additionally, the companys philanthropic arm, The Thomson Reuters Foundation, advances media freedom, fosters inclusive economies, and promotes human rights. For more information, visit tr.com.

CONTACTS

MEDIA

Andrew Green

Senior Director, Corporate Affairs

+1 332 219 1511

andrew.green@tr.com

INVESTORS

Gary E. Bisbee, CFA

Head of Investor Relations

+1 646 540 3249

gary.bisbee@tr.com


Manulife Financial Co. (TSE:MFC  Get Rating) (NYSE:MFC) has been assigned a consensus rating of Hold from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$27.55.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MFC. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$23.00 to C$27.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Cormark lifted their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$25.00 to C$27.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Manulife Financial from C$30.00 to C$31.00 in a report on Monday, February 27th. CSFB boosted their target price on shares of Manulife Financial from C$27.00 to C$28.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Manulife Financial from C$26.00 to C$28.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th.

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Manulife Financial Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Manulife Financial stock opened at C$24.80 on Wednesday. Manulife Financial has a 12-month low of C$20.81 and a 12-month high of C$27.50. The company has a market cap of C$46.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.79, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 4.70, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.99. The companys 50-day moving average price is C$25.94 and its 200-day moving average price is C$24.23.

Manulife Financial Increases Dividend

Insider Buying and Selling at Manulife Financial

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.365 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 27th. This represents a $1.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.89%. This is an increase from Manulife Financials previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Manulife Financials dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.00%.

In related news, Director Marianne Harrison sold 36,995 shares of Manulife Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$26.78, for a total transaction of C$990,607.72. In other Manulife Financial news, Director Marianne Harrison sold 36,995 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$26.78, for a total value of C$990,607.72. Also, Director Donald Richard Lindsay purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$26.64 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,332,005.00. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Manulife Financial

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Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks.

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/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

TORONTO, March 31, 2023 /CNW/ - Pathway Health Corp. (TSXV: PHC) (Frankfurt: KL1) ("Pathway" or the "Corporation"), an integrated healthcare company that provides products and services to patients suffering from chronic pain and related conditions, today announced, further to its news releases dated December 22, 2022 and March 1, 2023, that the Corporation has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") dated March 31, 2023 with The Newly Institute Inc. ("The Newly"), a premier operator of inter-disciplinary mental health clinics in Canada which has pioneered intensive bio-psycho-social treatment models, and HEAL Global Holdings Corp. ("HEAL"), a private Alberta company established with the goal of becoming a global leader in personalized, curated healthcare. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Arrangement Agreement, Pathway will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the capital of HEAL ("HEAL Shares") and The Newly ("Newly Shares") from their respective shareholders (other than those Newly Shares held by HEAL) (the "Transaction") in exchange for common shares in the capital of Pathway ("Pathway Shares"). The Transaction is intended to recapitalize Pathway and The Newly through the direct investment of $7.5 million by HEAL and result in the formation of a comprehensive health and wellness company offering interventional pain management and intensive outpatient mental health treatment programs. These programs will focus on helping clients address concerns with chronic pain as well as their mental health to allow them to return to work and their lives with treatments for addition and chronic pain as well as medically assisted psychotherapy for treatment resistant conditions.

Pathway Health Corp Logo (CNW Group/Pathway Health Corp.)

The Transaction is supported by Avonlea-Drewry Holdings Inc. ("ADH"), Pathway's largest shareholder, which owns or controls, directly or indirectly, approximately 55% of the issued and outstanding Pathway Shares and approximately 22% of the issued and outstanding Newly Shares, and is the majority shareholder in HEAL.

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As part of the Transaction Pathway has entered into a debt restructuring transaction with ADH whereby approximately $4 million of debt (including principal amount and all accrued and unpaid interest and fees) owing to ADH will be converted into Pathway Shares concurrently with completion of the Arrangement (as defined below) and pursuant to a secured debt conversion agreement dated March 31, 2023 and between Pathway and ADH (the "Debt Restructuring"). In consideration of the Debt Restructuring, Pathway will issue to ADH: (i) such number of Shares equal to the debt divided by $0.03 (as established pursuant to the news release dated December 22, 2022 as the then market price), provided that the maximum number of Pathway Shares shall not exceed 100% of the number of Pathway Shares that are issued and outstanding immediately prior to completion of the Transaction, on a non-diluted basis and without giving effect to completion of the Transaction; and (ii) such remaining number of Pathway Shares equal to the remaining debt after giving effect to (i) divided by $0.05; provided, however, that the total number of Pathway Shares issued to ADH in connection with the Debt Restructuring and the Restructuring Advisory Fee (as defined below) shall not exceed an aggregate 166,666,667 Pathway Shares.

The board of directors of Pathway, The Newly and HEAL, respectively, have each unanimously approved the Arrangement Agreement (excluding, in each case, directors who disclosed an interest in respect thereto) and resolved to recommend that their securityholders vote in favour of the Arrangement.

TRANSACTION SUMMARY

Pursuant to the Arrangement Agreement Pathway has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding HEAL Shares and Newly Shares from their respective shareholders (other than those Newly Shares held by HEAL) by way of a statutory plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) (the "ABCA") in exchange for approximately 2.77 Pathway Shares for every 1 HEAL Share and approximately 4.85 Pathway Shares for every 1 Newly Share, respectively. An aggregate of approximately 279,618,754 Pathway Shares at a deemed price of $0.13 per share for total deemed consideration of approximately $36,350,000 will be issued to former holders of HEAL Shares and Newly Shares.

Pathway, Newly and HEAL have entered into voting and support agreements with directors, officers and certain other shareholders of the respective parties and pursuant to which such shareholders have agreed to support and vote in favour of the Transaction. As a result, shareholders holding approximately 56% of the outstanding Pathway Shares, 33% of the outstanding Newly Shares and 100% of the outstanding HEAL Shares have agreed to support the Transaction.

Upon completion of the Arrangement, the Private Placement (as defined below), the Debt Restructuring, issuance of shares in relation to the Restructuring Advisory Fee, the conversion of certain bridge loans advanced by HEAL to both The Newly and Pathway including related accrued but unpaid interest and fees (see news release dated February 3, 2023), and the Deal Extension Fee (as defined in the news release dated March 1, 2023) it is expected that the current Pathway shareholders, HEAL shareholders, The Newly shareholders and the Private Placement investors (assuming the minimum offering has been raised) will own approximately 56.1%, 5.4%, 13.5% and 25.0%, respectively, of the issued and outstanding Pathway Shares (post-Transaction) on a non-diluted basis.

Completion of the Arrangement is subject to certain conditions including the completion of the Private Placement, approval of each of the Pathway shareholders, The Newly securityholders and HEAL shareholders (including, as required, approval of a simple majority of the votes cast by Pathway shareholders, The Newly securityholders and HEAL shareholders, as applicable, in each case after excluding votes from certain securityholders, including ADH, as required under MI 61-101 (as defined below)), in each case, present in person or by proxy, as applicable, at special meetings called by Pathway (the "Pathway Meeting") and The Newly (the "Newly Meeting" and together with the Pathway Meeting, the "Meetings") for purposes of, among other things, reviewing and approving the Arrangement and such other closing conditions customary for transaction of this nature including, among other things, approval of the Arrangement by the Alberta Court of King's Bench. In connection with the Meetings, a joint information circular (the "Joint Circular") will be prepared, filed and sent to all shareholders of Pathway and securityholders of The Newly.

The Arrangement Agreement provides for customary deal-protection provisions, including non-solicitation covenants and the right to match any Pathway Superior Proposal or Newly Superior Proposal (as such terms are defined in the Arrangement Agreement). The Arrangement Agreement includes a termination amount of $1 million, payable in certain circumstances, including if Pathway proceeds with a Pathway Superior Proposal or The Newly proceeds with a Newly Superior Proposal.

Pursuant to the Arrangement Pathway will change its name to "Global Healthcare Holdings Corp." (https://globalhealthcareholdings.com/) or such other name as the Pathway board may determine and restructure its board of directors and officers. The board of directors is expected to be comprised of Michael Steele, Kenneth Howling, Alison Wright, along with one additional independent director to be named in due course, and management is expected to include Michael Steele, Chief Executive Officer and Mark Kopitar, Corporate Secretary, with the Chief Financial Officer to be named in the coming weeks. In addition, The Newly will be afforded board observation rights at the conclusion of the Transaction. The following are brief descriptions of the currently proposed incoming directors and officers:

Michael Steele  Director and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Steele is an engineer and financier with over 30 years of experience in structured investments and new business start-ups. Mr. Steele has provided consulting services to various industry sectors including real estate, mining, oil and gas, healthcare and the Canadian medical sector.

Mr. Steele has consulted to or provided financial restructuring to various companies and business sectors internationally with an emphasis within North America, including but not limited to, oil & gas, mining, real-estate, food processing, environmental technology and of late medical health care & clinical operations. Mr. Steele was a previous director of Barkerville Gold Corp. (later amalgamated with Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.) and the former Chairman of Pathway. Mr. Steele graduated from the University of Waterloo with a P.Eng (BASc) in civil engineering and received his MBA in 1981.

Kenneth Howling  Director

Mr. Howling has over 25 years of healthcare industry experience in senior financial positions; including 11 years with Bausch Health (formerly Biovail Corporation), as Chief Financial Officer, and Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate Affairs; five years as Chief Financial Officer of Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corporation; and five years as Chief Financial Officer with Pharma Patch PLC. Earlier in his career, Mr. Howling worked in senior financial management positions at Roberts Company Canada Limited, including roles of General Manager, Corporate Secretary and Controller, at GlaxoSmithKline (formerly Beecham Pharmaceuticals Ltd), and as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Howling is a graduate of the ICD/Rotman Director Program and formerly a Certified Public Accountant (inactive license).

During his career, Mr. Howling has contributed to the success of multiple start-up companies, taken companies through the IPO process, and has collectively raised over US$2.3 billion in various forms of capital.

Alison Wright  Director

Ms. Wright has over 20 years of management experience in the construction and property management industries. Ms. Wright was a director at Capform Inc., a full service concrete contractor based in Dallas, Texas, with projects throughout the southern United States. Currently, Ms. Wright is the President of Alwright Investments Inc., a Canadian property Management an investment company she founded in 2012. Ms. Wright has served as a director on several boards of private companies in both Canada and the United States.

Ms. Wright graduated from the University of Toronto in 1991 and holds a Bachelor of Science.

Mark Kopitar  Corporate Secretary

Mr. Kopitar is a senior associate at Dentons Canada LLP and practices in the areas of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and securities regulatory compliance. Mr. Kopitar graduated from University of Alberta (BA Economics) and the University of Saskatchewan (Juris Doctor).

THE PRIVATE PLACEMENT

In connection with the Transaction, Pathway has agreed to use its reasonable commercial efforts to carry out prior to or concurrent with closing of the Arrangement one or more equity, debt or convertible debt financings for aggregate gross proceeds of not less than $10,000,000, including minimum aggregate proceeds of $500,000 to be subscribed for by management of Pathway and other Pathway associates and related parties on terms acceptable to the Parties acting reasonably provided that the terms of such financing shall be subject to the approval of Pathway, Newly and HEAL, each acting reasonably (the "Private Placement"). Further particulars of the Private Placement will be disseminated in a subsequent news release to be issued upon finalization of its terms.

It is anticipated that net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to fund the business of the resulting issuer upon completion of the Transaction and for general corporate purposes and future working capital.

THE RESTRUCTURING ADVISORY FEE

In connection with Pathway's exploration and evaluation of strategic alternatives for the future of the Corporation, including to effectuate a significant reduction in the Corporation's debt position and improve its liquidity, working capital and financial position and engaging with ADH in respect thereto prior to Pathway entering into the LOI, Pathway and ADH have entered into a restructuring advisory fee agreement (the "Restructuring Advisory Fee Agreement") pursuant to which ADH is to receive a restructuring advisory fee (the "Restructuring Advisory Fee") to be satisfied through the issuance by Pathway to ADH of Pathway Shares at a price of $0.05 per share, which when combined with the Pathway Shares to be issued pursuant to the Debt Restructuring, will result ADH receiving an aggregate of approximately 167 million Pathway Shares at the conclusion of the Transaction.

To the extent that the payment of the Restructuring Advisory Fee, the completion of the Debt Restructuring and the other transactions contemplated pursuant to the Arrangement constitute related party transactions as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), Pathway intends to comply with the terms thereof and rely, as the case may be, on available exemptions from the formal valuation and shareholder approval requirements, or seek majority of minority approval in accordance with 61-101 at the Pathway Meeting.

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including receipt of all required regulatory, corporate and third party approvals and fulfilment of all applicable regulatory requirements and conditions necessary to complete the Transaction, including approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. As a result of such conditions, there can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

FURTHER INFORMATION

A copy of the Arrangement Agreement is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Pathway expects to provide further information in respect of the Private Placement and the Meetings by way of subsequent news release(s). Additional information regarding the Arrangement Agreement and the background to the Transaction will be provided in the Joint Circular, a copy of which will be made available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Shareholders should read the information carefully before deciding how to vote. At this time, there is no need for shareholders to take any voting action.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: statements regarding the Arrangement, including with respect to the benefits of the Arrangement and expectations regarding the combined company; the ability of Pathway, The Newly and HEAL to satisfy the conditions to and to complete the Arrangement; the terms and conditions of the proposed Private Placement; use of proceeds from the Private Placement; and expectations regarding the impact of the Arrangement on Pathway, The Newly and HEAL, including in respect of anticipated financial and operating results, strategy and business, and on stakeholders in general.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable as of the date of this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Pathway's Annual Information Form dated April 26, 2022 for the year ended December 31, 2021 and Pathway's other periodic filings available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Pathway; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Pathway expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.

SOURCE Pathway Health Corp.

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Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY  Get Rating)  Equities researchers at Capital One Financial reduced their Q1 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Occidental Petroleum in a note issued to investors on Monday, March 27th. Capital One Financial analyst B. Velie now forecasts that the oil and gas producer will post earnings of $1.32 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.43. The consensus estimate for Occidental Petroleums current full-year earnings is $6.02 per share. Capital One Financial also issued estimates for Occidental Petroleums Q2 2023 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q3 2023 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q4 2023 earnings at $0.99 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $4.29 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $3.54 EPS.

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Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $76.00 to $69.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Occidental Petroleum from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $82.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Occidental Petroleum from $67.00 to $63.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Occidental Petroleum has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $75.11.

Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

NYSE OXY opened at $62.43 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.87. The company has a market capitalization of $56.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.04, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Occidental Petroleum has a 1-year low of $51.53 and a 1-year high of $77.13.

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.83 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $8.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $8.21 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 52.68% and a net margin of 35.87%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 97.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.48 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Occidental Petroleum

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 13,068 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Occidental Petroleum by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 343,833 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $21,658,000 after purchasing an additional 13,179 shares in the last quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE acquired a new position in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,429,000. Lakewood Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $78,000. Finally, Mezzasalma Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,344,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.45% of the companys stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought 2,363,088 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $60.85 per share, for a total transaction of $143,793,904.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 196,714,738 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,970,091,807.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders acquired a total of 12,371,716 shares of company stock worth $735,557,715 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the companys stock.

Occidental Petroleum Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Occidental Petroleums previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Occidental Petroleums dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.82%.

About Occidental Petroleum

(Get Rating)

Occidental Petroleum Corp. engages in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas.

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Rheinmetall AG (OTCMKTS:RNMBY  Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $240.60.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RNMBY. UBS Group lowered Rheinmetall from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, January 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Rheinmetall from 220.00 ($236.56) to 250.00 ($268.82) and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th.

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Rheinmetall Price Performance

Shares of Rheinmetall stock opened at $59.47 on Monday. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $52.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.15. Rheinmetall has a 52-week low of $28.10 and a 52-week high of $59.87.

Rheinmetall Company Profile

Rheinmetall AG operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the production of automotive components and defense equipment. It operates through the following segments: Defence and Automotive. The Defence segment offers vehicle, infantry equipment, protection and weapon systems, air defense systems, function sequence networking as well as simulation hardware and software.

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Ballard Power Systems Inc. (TSE:BLDP  Get Rating) has received a consensus rating of Hold from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$8.07.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Ballard Power Systems to a sell rating and set a C$5.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 6th.

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Ballard Power Systems Trading Up 3.4 %

BLDP opened at C$7.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 14.06 and a quick ratio of 13.57. The firm has a market capitalization of C$2.25 billion, a PE ratio of -9.08, a P/E/G ratio of -2,030.00 and a beta of 1.85. Ballard Power Systems has a fifty-two week low of C$6.02 and a fifty-two week high of C$15.69. The companys 50-day moving average is C$7.89 and its 200 day moving average is C$7.89.

About Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems Inc engages in the design, development, manufacture, sale, and service of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell products. The company offers its products for power product markets, consisting of heavy-duty motives, such as bus, truck, rail, and marine applications; material handling; and backup power.

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Schindler Holding AG (OTCMKTS:SHLRF  Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,900 shares, a growth of 26.1% from the February 28th total of 13,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 169.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, HSBC downgraded Schindler to a sell rating and set a $165.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 3rd.

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Schindler Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of SHLRF stock opened at $230.50 on Friday. Schindler has a fifty-two week low of $145.00 and a fifty-two week high of $230.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $208.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.59.

About Schindler

Schindler Holding AG engages in the design, manufacture, and installation of elevator and escalator systems. It also offers moving walks, transit management solutions, and related maintenance and repair services. The company was founded by Robert Schindler and Eduard Villiger in 1874 and is headquartered in Hergiswil, Switzerland.

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA  Get Rating) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, an increase of 13.2% from the February 28th total of 1,290,000 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BBVA has been the subject of several analyst reports. AlphaValue raised Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, December 8th. Societe Generale cut Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $6.36.

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Price Performance

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria stock opened at $7.05 on Friday. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has a 52 week low of $3.93 and a 52 week high of $7.93. The companys 50 day moving average price is $7.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $45.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.27.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Increases Dividend

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria ( NYSE:BBVA Get Rating ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The bank reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.03). Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 26.53%. The firm had revenue of $6.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.3333 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. This is a boost from Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentarias previous semi-annual dividend of $0.12. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentarias dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BBVA. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 15,527 shares of the banks stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 1,555 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,036 shares of the banks stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC grew its stake in Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 79,493 shares of the banks stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 1,649 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,002 shares of the banks stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 4,584 shares of the banks stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.51% of the companys stock.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Company Profile

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA engages in the traditional banking businesses of retail banking, asset management, private banking, and wholesale banking. It operates through the following segments: Spain, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and Rest of Eurasia. The Spain segment includes mainly the banking and insurance business that the group carries out in Spain.

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DAVENPORT & Co LLC lowered its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,776 shares of the companys stock after selling 720 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLCs holdings in General Mills were worth $4,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in General Mills by 4.8% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 22,026 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 45.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,867 shares of the companys stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 1,828 shares in the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its stake in General Mills by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,176 shares of the companys stock worth $4,955,000 after buying an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in General Mills by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 279,604 shares of the companys stock worth $18,935,000 after buying an additional 6,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in General Mills by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,834 shares of the companys stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.48% of the companys stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 1,955 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.99, for a total value of $168,110.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,146 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,474,384.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 1,955 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.99, for a total value of $168,110.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,146 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,474,384.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 8,030 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.33, for a total value of $685,199.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 83,049 shares in the company, valued at $7,086,571.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,036 shares of company stock valued at $4,078,559 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.67% of the companys stock.

General Mills Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $85.46 on Friday. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $79.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.37. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.94 and a 12-month high of $88.34. The firm has a market cap of $50.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.51% and a net margin of 14.04%. The businesss revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. General Millss dividend payout ratio is presently 46.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, March 27th. Credit Suisse Group upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $81.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $83.88.

General Mills Profile

(Get Rating)

General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers.

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DAVENPORT & Co LLC reduced its holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM  Get Rating) (TSE:GMM.U) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,193 shares of the auto manufacturers stock after selling 28,001 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLCs holdings in General Motors were worth $3,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GM. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in General Motors by 198.7% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,456,923 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $300,352,000 after purchasing an additional 6,290,657 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Motors by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 111,810,845 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $3,588,010,000 after acquiring an additional 4,251,190 shares during the last quarter. FIFTHDELTA Ltd acquired a new position in shares of General Motors during the 2nd quarter valued at about $72,013,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Motors by 1,257.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,368,500 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $103,598,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peconic Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Motors by 21,200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Peconic Partners LLC now owns 2,130,000 shares of the auto manufacturers stock valued at $68,352,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120,000 shares during the last quarter. 78.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank downgraded General Motors from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on General Motors from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on General Motors from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays started coverage on General Motors in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. They set an equal weight rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on General Motors from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $49.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

General Motors Stock Up 1.9 %

In other General Motors news, EVP Stephen K. Carlisle sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $755,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,937,754.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link . In other news, EVP Stephen K. Carlisle sold 18,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $755,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 46,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,937,754.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, EVP Gerald Johnson sold 15,743 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.65, for a total value of $671,438.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 71,209 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,037,063.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Company insiders own 0.10% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE GM opened at $36.68 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $38.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.16 billion, a PE ratio of 5.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.93. General Motors has a one year low of $30.33 and a one year high of $46.74.

General Motors (NYSE:GM  Get Rating) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The auto manufacturer reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $43.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.62 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 6.34%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 28.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 6.21 EPS for the current year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. General Motorss payout ratio is 5.87%.

General Motors Profile

(Get Rating)

General Motors Co engages in the designing, manufacturing, and selling of trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts and in providing software-enabled services and subscriptions. It operates through the following segments: GMNA, GMI, Cruise, and GM Financial. The company was founded by William C.

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DAVENPORT & Co LLC lessened its stake in shares of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV  Get Rating) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,277 shares of the medical research companys stock after selling 3,099 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLCs holdings in IQVIA were worth $3,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Clear Investment Research LLC bought a new position in shares of IQVIA during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of IQVIA during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of IQVIA by 36.4% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 221 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in IQVIA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Eisler Capital UK Ltd. bought a new stake in IQVIA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.20% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial began coverage on IQVIA in a research note on Friday, March 17th. They set a buy rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on IQVIA from $257.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Cowen started coverage on IQVIA in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. They issued an outperform rating and a $251.00 price target for the company. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of IQVIA in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on IQVIA in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $256.81.

IQVIA Stock Performance

Shares of IQV opened at $198.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $207.14. The stock has a market cap of $37.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.40. IQVIA Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $165.75 and a 52 week high of $254.94.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. IQVIA had a return on equity of 31.88% and a net margin of 7.57%. The firms revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that IQVIA Holdings Inc. will post 9.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at IQVIA

In other IQVIA news, insider Eric Sherbet sold 1,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,922,190. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other IQVIA news, insider Kevin C. Knightly sold 4,446 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.61, for a total transaction of $1,003,062.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,128.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Eric Sherbet sold 1,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,053 shares in the company, valued at $3,922,190. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.50% of the companys stock.

IQVIA Company Profile

(Get Rating)

IQVIA Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry. It operates through the following segments: Technology and Analytics Solutions, Research and Development Solutions, and Contract Sales and Medical Solutions. The Technology and Analytics Solutions segment supplies mission critical information, technology solutions, and real-world solutions and services to the firms life science clients.

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Sprinklr (NYSE:CXM  Get Rating) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.13-$0.15 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $0.10. The company issued revenue guidance of $710.00 million-$714.00 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $710.25 million. Sprinklr also updated its FY24 guidance to $0.13-0.15 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Sprinklr from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised their target price on Sprinklr from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sprinklr from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Sprinklr in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. They issued an overweight rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Sprinklr from $13.00 to $10.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sprinklr has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $12.50.

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Sprinklr Price Performance

NYSE:CXM opened at $12.96 on Friday. Sprinklr has a 52-week low of $7.25 and a 52-week high of $15.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.56 and a 200 day moving average of $9.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Sprinklr ( NYSE:CXM Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.04. Sprinklr had a negative return on equity of 10.82% and a negative net margin of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $165.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.10) earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Sprinklr will post -0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Sprinklr news, insider Diane Adams sold 8,086 shares of Sprinklr stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.28, for a total transaction of $83,124.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 107,609 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,106,220.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CTO Pavitar Singh sold 20,000 shares of Sprinklr stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.25, for a total value of $205,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 270,824 shares in the company, valued at $2,775,946. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Diane Adams sold 8,086 shares of Sprinklr stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.28, for a total value of $83,124.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 107,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,220.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,047 shares of company stock valued at $1,381,175 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 43.75% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CXM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sprinklr by 180.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,611,375 shares of the companys stock worth $54,875,000 after buying an additional 2,964,701 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Sprinklr during the 1st quarter valued at about $11,368,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Sprinklr by 227.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 990,051 shares of the companys stock valued at $11,781,000 after purchasing an additional 687,969 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Sprinklr by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 892,409 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 381,724 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in Sprinklr by 180.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 579,595 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,344,000 after purchasing an additional 373,005 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 25.77% of the companys stock.

Sprinklr Company Profile

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Sprinklr, Inc provides enterprise cloud software products worldwide. The company offers Unified Customer Experience Management platform, a purpose-built to analyze unstructured customer experience data, built to scale across future and modern channels, and integrates all stages of the customer journey.

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H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL  Get Rating) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.05), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $809.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $825.42 million. H.B. Fuller had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 4.43%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 EPS.

H.B. Fuller Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of H.B. Fuller stock opened at $68.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firms 50 day moving average is $69.20 and its 200 day moving average is $70.17. H.B. Fuller has a 1 year low of $57.36 and a 1 year high of $81.41.

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H.B. Fuller Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 7th were issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 6th. H.B. Fullers dividend payout ratio is currently 25.68%.

Insider Activity at H.B. Fuller

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H.B. Fuller

In related news, VP Timothy J. Keenan sold 2,836 shares of H.B. Fuller stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.80, for a total transaction of $203,624.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,803 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,421,855.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in H.B. Fuller during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. State of Tennessee Treasury Department lifted its position in shares of H.B. Fuller by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 23,424 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 2,699 shares during the period. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in H.B. Fuller by 4.9% during the second quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 66,538 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $4,006,000 after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of H.B. Fuller in the 4th quarter worth $418,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in H.B. Fuller by 55.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 27,833 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $1,839,000 after buying an additional 9,960 shares during the period. 96.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on FUL shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of H.B. Fuller in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of H.B. Fuller from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Citigroup upgraded shares of H.B. Fuller from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of H.B. Fuller from $72.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Friday, January 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $73.75.

About H.B. Fuller

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H.B. Fuller Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of adhesives, sealants, and other chemical products. It operates through the following business segments: Hygiene, Health, and Consumable Adhesives, Engineering Adhesives, and Construction Adhesives. The Hygiene, Health, and Consumable Adhesives segment supplies adhesive products in the assembly, packaging, converting, nonwoven, hygiene, health and beauty, flexible packaging, graphic arts, and envelope markets.

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There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.

So, the natural question for Poolbeg Pharma (LON:POLB) 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

See our latest analysis for Poolbeg Pharma

When Might Poolbeg Pharma Run Out Of Money?

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. In December 2022, Poolbeg Pharma had UK16m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was UK5.0m over the trailing twelve months. Therefore, from December 2022 it had 3.3 years of cash runway. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Is Poolbeg Pharma's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Poolbeg Pharma didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. Over the last year its cash burn actually increased by a very significant 67%. While this spending increase is no doubt intended to drive growth, if the trend continues the company's cash runway will shrink very quickly. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.

Story continues

Can Poolbeg Pharma Raise More Cash Easily?

While Poolbeg Pharma does have a solid cash runway, its cash burn trajectory may have some shareholders thinking ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By 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).

Poolbeg Pharma has a market capitalisation of UK39m and burnt through UK5.0m last year, which is 13% 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.

Is Poolbeg Pharma's Cash Burn A Worry?

It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Poolbeg Pharma is burning through its cash. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. While its increasing cash burn wasn't great, the other factors mentioned in this article more than make up for weakness on that measure. Based on the factors mentioned in this article, we think its cash burn situation warrants some attention from shareholders, but we don't think they should be worried. On another note, Poolbeg Pharma has 6 warning signs (and 3 which are significant) we think you should know about.

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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Hess Co. (NYSE:HES  Get Rating) COO Gregory P. Hill sold 7,500 shares of Hess stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.40, for a total transaction of $993,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 116,346 shares in the company, valued at $15,404,210.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Hess Price Performance

NYSE HES opened at $132.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $40.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 1.55. Hess Co. has a 52-week low of $90.34 and a 52-week high of $160.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.64.

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Hess (NYSE:HES  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Hess had a net margin of 19.21% and a return on equity of 27.97%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hess Increases Dividend

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th were given a $0.438 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Hesss previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Hesss dividend payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

HES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Hess from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Hess from $179.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Hess from $155.00 to $153.00 in a report on Monday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Hess from a buy rating to a neutral rating and upped their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $170.00 in a report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Hess from $163.00 to $170.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $165.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hess

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Credit Suisse AG grew its holdings in Hess by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 296,206 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $32,283,000 after buying an additional 23,392 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Hess by 0.7% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,103,112 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $338,218,000 after acquiring an additional 20,141 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Hess during the third quarter worth about $1,940,000. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Hess by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 7,588 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 2,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Hess by 61.1% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,946,839 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $524,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876,080 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.06% of the companys stock.

About Hess

(Get Rating)

Hess Corp is an exploration and production company, which engages in exploration, development, production, transportation, purchase & sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas with production operations. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production and Midstream.

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DAVENPORT & Co LLC lowered its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS  Get Rating) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,111 shares of the companys stock after selling 616 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLCs holdings in Novartis were worth $3,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 18.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,556,539 shares of the companys stock worth $136,587,000 after purchasing an additional 240,710 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management grew its holdings in Novartis by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the companys stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Novartis by 42.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the companys stock valued at $965,000 after buying an additional 3,272 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Novartis by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,379,000 after buying an additional 4,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its holdings in Novartis by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the companys stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 8.12% of the companys stock.

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Novartis Stock Performance

Shares of NVS stock opened at $92.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $203.56 billion, a PE ratio of 29.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Novartis AG has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $94.26.

Novartis Increases Dividend

Novartis ( NYSE:NVS Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $12.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.85 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 13.75%. On average, equities analysts expect that Novartis AG will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th were given a $3.4694 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 9th. This is a positive change from Novartiss previous annual dividend of $1.18. This represents a dividend yield of 2.6%. Novartiss dividend payout ratio is 71.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NVS shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Novartis from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday, December 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Novartis from CHF 82 to CHF 84 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Novartis in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Citigroup downgraded Novartis from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Novartis from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.63.

Novartis Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Novartis AG is a holding company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz, and Corporate. The Innovative Medicines segment researches, develops, manufactures, distributes and sells patented pharmaceuticals, and is composed of two business units: Novartis Oncology and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

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DAVENPORT & Co LLC decreased its holdings in Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM  Get Rating) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 84,016 shares of the basic materials companys stock after selling 8,280 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLCs holdings in Newmont were worth $3,966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Newmont by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,435,452 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $2,876,343,000 after buying an additional 561,193 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Newmont by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 34,781,848 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $2,076,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,710,957 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Newmont by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 33,136,774 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $1,392,739,000 after buying an additional 260,505 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Newmont by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,023,240 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $1,034,697,000 after buying an additional 917,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Newmont by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,683,697 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $433,897,000 after buying an additional 103,806 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

NEM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Newmont from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on Newmont in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. TD Securities raised Newmont from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Fundamental Research set a $51.92 price objective on Newmont and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Newmont from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their target price for the company from $59.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $62.21.

Newmont Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NEM opened at $49.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Newmont Co. has a 12 month low of $37.45 and a 12 month high of $86.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.41 and a 200-day moving average of $46.19. The company has a market capitalization of $38.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -90.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.31.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The basic materials company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.03). Newmont had a positive return on equity of 6.98% and a negative net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Newmont Co. will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Newmont Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 8th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Newmonts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -296.29%.

Insider Activity at Newmont

In related news, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 11,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total value of $530,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 199,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,643,540.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 11,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total transaction of $530,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 199,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,643,540.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert D. Atkinson sold 3,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total value of $144,690.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 33,947 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,637,263.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,294,720 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Newmont

(Get Rating)

Newmont Corp. is a gold producer, engages in the exploration and acquisition of gold properties, contains copper, silver, lead, zinc or other metals. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, South America, Nevada, Australia, and Africa. The North America segment consists primarily of carlin, phoenix, twin creeks and long canyon in the state of Nevada and Cripple Creek and Victor in the state of Colorado, in the United States.

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Aspiriant LLC bought a new position in American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,203 shares of the insurance providers stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC increased its position in American International Group by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,643 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc increased its stake in shares of American International Group by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc now owns 4,959 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of American International Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 11,668 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its holdings in American International Group by 0.7% during the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 27,251 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of American International Group by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,110 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AIG. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on American International Group in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. They issued a market perform rating and a $64.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup started coverage on American International Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. They set a buy rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American International Group from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Atlantic Securities cut American International Group from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on American International Group in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $65.08.

American International Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIG opened at $50.36 on Friday. The companys fifty day moving average is $57.16 and its 200 day moving average is $57.76. American International Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.66 and a 52 week high of $65.73. The stock has a market cap of $37.13 billion, a PE ratio of 3.94, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

American International Group (NYSE:AIG  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The insurance provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $11.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.84 billion. American International Group had a net margin of 18.21% and a return on equity of 7.70%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that American International Group, Inc. will post 6.22 earnings per share for the current year.

American International Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. American International Groups payout ratio is 10.02%.

American International Group Company Profile

(Get Rating)

American International Group, Inc engages in the provision of a range of property casualty insurance, life insurance, retirement products, and other financial services to commercial and individual customers. It operates through the following segments: General Insurance, Life and Retirement and Other Operations.

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Aspiriant LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IVW  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,797 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IVW. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 184,517 shares of the companys stock worth $14,339,000 after buying an additional 29,518 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 7.3% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 54,579 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 4.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 245,020 shares of the companys stock worth $18,714,000 after buying an additional 9,526 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 0.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 113,156 shares of the companys stock worth $8,643,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 13.1% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 702,440 shares of the companys stock worth $53,652,000 after purchasing an additional 81,527 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF Stock Performance

IVW stock opened at $63.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $30.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15 and a beta of 1.04. The firms fifty day moving average is $61.69 and its 200 day moving average is $60.63. iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF has a one year low of $55.30 and a one year high of $78.65.

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF Profile

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF, formerly iShares S&P 500 Growth Index Fund (the Growth Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500/Citigroup Growth Index (the Growth Index). The Growth Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization growth sector of the United States equity market.

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UiPath (NYSE:PATH  Get Rating) had its price target hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the healthcare companys stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on PATH. Credit Suisse Group reissued an outperform rating and set a $27.50 target price on shares of UiPath in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of UiPath in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of UiPath from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of UiPath from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of UiPath from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.50 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $19.25.

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UiPath Stock Up 5.3 %

PATH opened at $17.56 on Wednesday. UiPath has a fifty-two week low of $10.40 and a fifty-two week high of $31.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $15.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

In related news, CFO Ashim Gupta sold 40,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.61, for a total transaction of $664,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,359,051 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $22,573,837.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link . In other news, CAO Hitesh Ramani sold 12,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.01, for a total value of $204,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 407,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,929,006.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link . Also, CFO Ashim Gupta sold 40,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.61, for a total transaction of $664,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,359,051 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $22,573,837.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold a total of 92,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,546,920 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 31.88% of the companys stock.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UiPath by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 63,663 shares of the healthcare companys stock valued at $803,000 after buying an additional 10,062 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG acquired a new stake in UiPath during the 2nd quarter worth $226,000. Interchange Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in UiPath by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,212 shares of the healthcare companys stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC boosted its stake in UiPath by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 22,520 shares of the healthcare companys stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 8,283 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in UiPath during the 3rd quarter worth $383,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.40% of the companys stock.

About UiPath

(Get Rating)

UiPath Inc provides an end-to-end automation platform that offers a range of robotic process automation (RPA) solutions primarily in the United States, Romania, and Japan. The company offers a suite of interrelated software to build, manage, run, engage, measure, and govern automation within the organization.

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Clear Secure, Inc. (NYSE:YOU  Get Rating) EVP Kasra Moshkani sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.03, for a total value of $26,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,894 shares of the companys stock, valued at $595,930.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Clear Secure Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE YOU opened at $26.17 on Friday. Clear Secure, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $35.00. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $28.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.60.

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Clear Secure (NYSE:YOU  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.18. Clear Secure had a negative net margin of 14.99% and a negative return on equity of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $128.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.83 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Clear Secure, Inc. will post 0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clear Secure

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Clear Secure by 12.9% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 7,858 shares of the companys stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Clear Secure by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 17,679 shares of the companys stock worth $475,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Clear Secure during the first quarter worth approximately $209,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Clear Secure by 8.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 505,861 shares of the companys stock valued at $13,598,000 after buying an additional 38,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Clear Secure by 143.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,258,957 shares of the companys stock worth $87,601,000 after buying an additional 1,920,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.99% of the companys stock.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YOU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Clear Secure from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Clear Secure in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Clear Secure in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd.

About Clear Secure

(Get Rating)

Clear Secure, Inc provides a member-centric secure identity platform in the United States. The company's secure identity platform is a multi-layered infrastructure consisting of front-end, including enrollment, verification, and linking. It also offers CLEAR Plus, a consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable entry lanes in airport security checkpoints, as well as access to broader network; and CLEAR app, a consumer-facing digital product that facilitates new user enrollment and member engagement from their mobile device.

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HSBC cut shares of Agile Group (OTCMKTS:AGPYY  Get Rating) from a buy rating to a reduce rating in a research report released on Friday, The Fly reports.

Agile Group Price Performance

OTCMKTS:AGPYY opened at $11.02 on Friday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $14.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.87. Agile Group has a twelve month low of $11.02 and a twelve month high of $20.81.

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Agile Group Company Profile

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Further Reading

Agile Group Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the property development, property management, hotel operation, property investment, environmental protection, and other businesses in the People's Republic of China. As of December 31, 2021, the company had a land bank with a total gross floor area of 47.37 million square meters in 84 cities located in Southern China region, Eastern China region, Western China region, Central China region, Hainan and Yunnan region, Northeast China region, Northern China region, Hong Kong, and internationally.

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Aspiriant LLC reduced its stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW  Get Rating) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 908 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 231 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLCs holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Standard Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Old North State Trust LLC acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Illinois Tool Works by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.83% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ITW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Illinois Tool Works in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $174.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $259.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $170.00 to $183.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $223.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Illinois Tool Works

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

In other Illinois Tool Works news, CEO Ernest Scott Santi sold 235,656 shares of Illinois Tool Works stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.29, for a total transaction of $58,039,716.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 213,538 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $52,592,274.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink . In other news, Vice Chairman Christopher A. Oherlihy sold 60,137 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.26, for a total transaction of $14,809,337.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,072 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,868,130.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, CEO Ernest Scott Santi sold 235,656 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.29, for a total value of $58,039,716.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 213,538 shares in the company, valued at $52,592,274.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . 0.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Shares of ITW opened at $243.45 on Friday. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 52 week low of $173.52 and a 52 week high of $253.37. The firm has a market cap of $74.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $235.26 and a 200-day moving average of $220.17.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.60 by ($0.26). Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 19.04% and a return on equity of 87.15%. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 9.53 EPS for the current year.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.31 per share. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. Illinois Tool Workss payout ratio is currently 53.58%.

Illinois Tool Works Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Illinois Tool Works, Inc engages in the manufacture of industrial products and equipment. It operates through the following segments: Automotive OEM, Test and Measurement and Electronics, Food Equipment, Polymers and Fluids, Welding, Construction Products, and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment produces components and fasteners for automotive-related applications.

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Shares of Blue River Resources Ltd. (CVE:BXR  Get Rating) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as C$0.01 and last traded at C$0.01, with a volume of 8945752 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$0.01.

Blue River Resources Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$1.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.00 and a beta of 0.07. The firms fifty day moving average is C$0.01 and its 200-day moving average is C$0.01.

About Blue River Resources

(Get Rating)

Blue River Resources Ltd. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties. It holds 100% interests in Castle copper project covering an area of 335 hectares located in British Colombia. The company was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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DjelicS / Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Supreme Court has heard arguments on President Bidens student loan forgiveness program and is expected to rule by June.

Im a Self-Made Millionaire: These Are the 6 Investments Everyone Should Make During an Economic Downturn

The Biden Administration appealed to the Supreme Court after a U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis halted the program on Nov. 14, siding with six states that had sued the government over the proposal. In accepting the case, the Supreme Court did not lift the stay on the plan, so it remains paused pending the decision.

Under the plan, borrowers earning less than $125,000 (or $250,000 if married) could receive up to $10,000 in debt relief. Pell Grant recipients could receive up to $20,000.

The federal loan payment moratorium has been extended through June 30, 2023  a move the Biden administration made Nov. 22 in reaction to the appeals court ruling.

Do You Think Student Loan Debt Should Be Forgiven?

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Do You Think Student Loan Debt Should Be Forgiven? Take Our Poll
CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSE:MBA  Get Rating) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$0.38 and last traded at C$0.42, with a volume of 16004 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$0.43.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Fundamental Research set a C$1.42 price target on shares of CIBT Education Group and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th.

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CIBT Education Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 165.01, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of C$28.35 million, a P/E ratio of -1.75 and a beta of 1.18. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is C$0.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$0.49.

About CIBT Education Group

CIBT Education Group ( TSE:MBA Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 16th. The company reported C($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$18.33 million during the quarter. CIBT Education Group had a negative net margin of 22.79% and a negative return on equity of 31.37%. As a group, research analysts forecast that CIBT Education Group Inc. will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

(Get Rating)

CIBT Education Group Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an education and student housing investment company in Canada and internationally. The company engages in education and real estate development businesses. It offers English as second language accredited programs, such as general English, college preparation/pathway, business English, medical English, English language test preparation, vacation English, online English; Career training college accredited programs in the fields of business management, customer service, TESOL teacher training, Interpreting and translation for Koreans, and online English teacher training.

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Jackson Square Capital LLC acquired a new position in Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,684 shares of the basic materials companys stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Newmont by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,435,452 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $2,876,343,000 after purchasing an additional 561,193 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Newmont by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 34,781,848 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $2,076,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,710,957 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Newmont by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 33,136,774 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,392,739,000 after purchasing an additional 260,505 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Newmont by 7.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,023,240 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $1,034,697,000 after buying an additional 917,795 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Newmont by 1.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,683,697 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $433,897,000 after buying an additional 103,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

NEM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Newmont from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Newmont from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Newmont from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. TD Securities upgraded shares of Newmont from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of Newmont from C$76.00 to C$86.00 in a report on Friday, January 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $62.21.

Insider Transactions at Newmont

Newmont Stock Performance

In other news, COO Robert D. Atkinson sold 3,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total value of $144,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 33,947 shares in the company, valued at $1,637,263.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link . In related news, COO Robert D. Atkinson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total value of $144,690.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 33,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,637,263.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink . Also, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 11,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.25, for a total transaction of $486,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 322,039 shares of the companys stock, valued at $14,250,225.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last three months, insiders sold 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,294,720. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NEM stock opened at $49.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $38.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -90.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.31. Newmont Co. has a 12 month low of $37.45 and a 12 month high of $86.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $47.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.19.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The basic materials company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Newmont had a positive return on equity of 6.98% and a negative net margin of 3.60%. The businesss revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Newmont Co. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Newmont Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 8th. Newmonts payout ratio is -296.29%.

About Newmont

(Get Rating)

Newmont Corp. is a gold producer, engages in the exploration and acquisition of gold properties, contains copper, silver, lead, zinc or other metals. It operates through the following geographical segments: North America, South America, Nevada, Australia, and Africa. The North America segment consists primarily of carlin, phoenix, twin creeks and long canyon in the state of Nevada and Cripple Creek and Victor in the state of Colorado, in the United States.

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Jackson Square Capital LLC lowered its position in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW  Get Rating) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,183 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Jackson Square Capital LLCs holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Standard Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the third quarter worth about $42,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Illinois Tool Works by 51.0% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the third quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 79.83% of the companys stock.

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Illinois Tool Works Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ITW stock opened at $243.45 on Friday. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 1 year low of $173.52 and a 1 year high of $253.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $235.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $220.17. The company has a market cap of $74.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.10.

Illinois Tool Works Dividend Announcement

Illinois Tool Works ( NYSE:ITW Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.60 by ($0.26). Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 19.04% and a return on equity of 87.15%. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be issued a $1.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. This represents a $5.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Illinois Tool Workss payout ratio is 53.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ITW shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Illinois Tool Works in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $170.00 to $183.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $222.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $213.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $259.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $223.07.

Insider Transactions at Illinois Tool Works

In other news, Vice Chairman Christopher A. Oherlihy sold 60,137 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.26, for a total value of $14,809,337.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,072 shares in the company, valued at $9,868,130.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Vice Chairman Christopher A. Oherlihy sold 60,137 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.26, for a total value of $14,809,337.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,072 shares in the company, valued at $9,868,130.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ernest Scott Santi sold 235,656 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.29, for a total value of $58,039,716.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 213,538 shares in the company, valued at $52,592,274.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.78% of the companys stock.

Illinois Tool Works Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Illinois Tool Works, Inc engages in the manufacture of industrial products and equipment. It operates through the following segments: Automotive OEM, Test and Measurement and Electronics, Food Equipment, Polymers and Fluids, Welding, Construction Products, and Specialty Products. The Automotive OEM segment produces components and fasteners for automotive-related applications.

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Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM  Get Rating) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,358 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in iShares Russell 2000 ETF were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 113.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,660,221 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $603,643,000 after purchasing an additional 31,422,045 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 12,616.2% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 7,756,010 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $1,279,086,000 after acquiring an additional 7,695,017 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 119.0% in the second quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 853,920 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $144,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,358,090 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 8.9% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 14,581,100 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,404,715,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 2000 ETF by 929.1% during the second quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 688,956 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $116,683,000 after purchasing an additional 772,050 shares in the last quarter.

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iShares Russell 2000 ETF Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSEARCA:IWM opened at $178.40 on Friday. iShares Russell 2000 ETF has a 1 year low of $162.50 and a 1 year high of $212.25. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $185.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.29.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF Profile

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 2000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 2,000 smallest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index.

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Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC decreased its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,748 shares of the payment services companys stock after selling 202 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLCs holdings in American Express were worth $258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in American Express by 79.6% during the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,713,458 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $366,073,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202,912 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in American Express by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,807,168 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $666,377,000 after buying an additional 675,971 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in American Express by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 44,553,661 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $6,010,732,000 after buying an additional 665,857 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,110,826 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $284,769,000 after acquiring an additional 629,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Express by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,525,852 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $880,402,000 after acquiring an additional 602,762 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.30% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens lowered American Express from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and set a $134.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on American Express from $170.00 to $166.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on American Express from $159.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on American Express from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an outperform rating on shares of American Express in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Express presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $175.44.

American Express Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of American Express stock opened at $164.95 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $169.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.91. The stock has a market cap of $122.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.20. American Express has a 12-month low of $130.65 and a 12-month high of $194.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

American Express (NYSE:AXP  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 27th. The payment services company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $14.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.25 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 31.76% and a net margin of 14.16%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.18 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 11.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 7th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from American Expresss previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 5th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. American Expresss payout ratio is 21.14%.

American Express announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 8th that allows the company to repurchase 120,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the payment services company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the companys management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Monique Herena sold 15,217 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.18, for a total value of $2,635,280.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,374,644.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Monique Herena sold 15,217 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.18, for a total transaction of $2,635,280.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,712 shares in the company, valued at $2,374,644.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Howard Grosfield sold 5,456 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.52, for a total value of $952,181.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,045 shares in the company, valued at $1,229,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,361 shares of company stock worth $8,773,678 in the last 90 days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About American Express

(Get Rating)

American Express Co engages in the provision of charge and credit card products and travel-related services. It operates through the following segments: U.S Consumer Services (USCS), Commercial Services (CS), International Card Services (ICS), Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS), and Corporate and Other.

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Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC lifted its holdings in iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IVW  Get Rating) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,985 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 2,397 shares during the quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLCs holdings in iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Manhattan Co. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 0.5% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 37,027 shares of the companys stock worth $2,828,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 0.3% in the third quarter. Family Firm Inc. now owns 56,253 shares of the companys stock worth $3,254,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Southern Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 0.7% in the third quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,906 shares of the companys stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 5.1% in the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 3,842 shares of the companys stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF by 0.4% during the third quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 50,549 shares of the companys stock worth $2,924,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period.

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iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF Stock Performance

Shares of IVW opened at $63.89 on Friday. The companys 50 day moving average price is $61.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.63. iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF has a 52 week low of $55.30 and a 52 week high of $78.65. The company has a market capitalization of $30.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15 and a beta of 1.04.

About iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF, formerly iShares S&P 500 Growth Index Fund (the Growth Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500/Citigroup Growth Index (the Growth Index). The Growth Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization growth sector of the United States equity market.

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Jackson Square Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 6,514 shares of the natural resource companys stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Founders Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the natural resource companys stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 805 shares of the natural resource companys stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.12% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,678 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total transaction of $504,139.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,333 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,395,815.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and raised their target price for the company from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.38.

NYSE:FCX opened at $40.91 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.22 and a 200-day moving average of $37.38. The company has a market capitalization of $58.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.80 and a 52 week high of $51.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.46.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The natural resource company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Freeport-McMoRans dividend payout ratio is currently 12.66%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

(Get Rating)

Freeport-McMoRan, Inc engages in the mining of copper, gold, and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining, Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining, and Corporate and Other. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Baghdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico.

Further Reading

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I wonder. The April 30, 2019, National Archives and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., both list the names of 58,202 American military killed in Vietnam.

My friends, Jim, Mac, and Bob, with whom I graduated from high school, died years after they fought in Vietnam as result of wounds suffered in Vietnam. Their names are not on The Wall in Washington DC. Their names are not on the list of names in the National Archives.

The National Archives also lists the names of 405,399 Americans killed in World War II. My father died as a result of diseases contracted while serving as a medical corpsman on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan. His name is not listed with those 405,399, though I vividly remember watching him suffer his last attack of malaria in the summer of 1967, just days before I was drafted.

If I am not killed in an accident, or by some disease such as Covid-19, or by a deranged man, or boy, better armed than those with whom I stalked the jungles of Vietnam in 1968, I will likely die as a result of diseases contracted while in Vietnam. My name will not be added to The Wall in Washington DC, or any other related database. However, just as Jim, Mac, and Bob died as a result of serving in Vietnam, so will I.

On March 7, 1936, Adolf Hitler sent his army into the Rhineland, breaking the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I. The free world did nothing.

On March 11, 1938, Adolph Hitler sent his army into Austria. The free world did nothing.

On March 1, 1939, Adolph Hitler sent his army into the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. The free world did nothing.

On September 1, 1939, Hitler sent his army into Poland. This time the free world reacted  after having given Hitler and his military an additional three years to prepare for war.

Had the free world reacted in 1936 as it did in 1939, it is possible my wifes father, who was wounded in Normandy, in 1944, and died years later as a result of those wounds, may not have suffered those years of pain and sorrow remembered from having held those as they were dying on Omaha Beach. As with my father, his name is not on the list of American soldiers killed during World War II.

Story continues

I wonder  if we, the United States of America, do not provide the outnumbered Ukrainian people with adequate weaponry to defend their families, their homes, their country, and their freedom against the brutality and tyranny of the invading Russian army, sent by dictator Vladimir Putin to kill, conquer, and imprison them, because the Ukraine is not a NATO country, then how many American soldiers will eventually die when we send soldiers to a NATO ally to fight an invading Russian army sent by an emboldened Vladimir Putin because Russias previous invasions had not been challenged by the free world joining together?

I hope the name of my grandson, now 13 years old, is not on a future list In the National Archives of those American military personnel who died on the soil of a NATO ally, fighting Russian aggression, or that his name is not remembered with those of his grandfather, his grandfathers friends, and his great grandfathers who died after the war from wounds, injuries, or disease suffered while fighting for his country  all because we would not provide the Ukrainians with the weapons they needed to defend themselves and American youth.

Jeffrey Luke worked for various Department of Energy contractors as an environmental regulatory and Tri-Party Agreement specialist. He retired in 2015 and lives in Richland.
Finland looks set to join NATO soon, with Turkeys parliament voting to ratify Helsinkis membership bid even as it keeps Swedens application on hold.

The Turkish vote removes the last major hurdle to Helsinkis accession.

Russias invasion of Ukraine pushed Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership and abandon many decades of military non-alignment amid the fiercest stand-off between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.

Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia and would roughly double the transatlantic alliances frontier facing Moscow, but both Nordic countries have well-trained militaries and accession would see NATO dominate the Baltic Sea.

Twenty-eight of NATOs 30 members quickly ratified the Finnish and Swedish applications to join the alliance, which was founded in 1949, but Turkey and Hungary held up the process.

After talks in Madrid last June, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan agreed with his Finnish and Swedish counterparts on a series of security measures to allow the two Nordic countries to progress in their bid to join the alliance.

But it soon became apparent that clinching the deal would be far from easy, above all for Sweden.

Turkey says Stockholm harbours members of what Ankara considers terrorist groups  a charge Sweden denies  and has demanded their extradition as a step toward ratifying Swedish membership.

Hungary is also holding up Swedens admission, citing grievances over criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orbans policies. But NATO diplomats say they expect Budapest will approve Swedens bid if it sees Turkey moving to do so.

Hungary has already performed a similar move with Finlands application. Hungarys parliament approved a bill this week to allow Finland to join NATO after Erdogan declared Turkey was ready to approve that bid.

Turkeys parliament followed through on Erdogans commitment with a vote on Thursday, clearing the way for Finland to join NATO within weeks.

NATO officials and diplomats say they hope Turkey will soften its stance on Sweden after Turkish elections in May.

Here are the key steps in Finlands and Swedens path towards NATO membership so far:

FINLAND AND SWEDEN SUBMIT MEMBERSHIP REQUEST

The applications, letters signed by the countries foreign ministers, were formally handed in by Finlands and Swedens NATO ambassadors on May 18, 2022.

ALLIED GOVERNMENTS MEET

Representatives of the 30 allies then met to discuss amid expectations of rapid approval of the membership requests, but Turkey raised objections, halting the process. With the Madrid agreement, these objections were overcome at least initially.

Known informally as taking NATOs marriage vows, officials from Helsinki and Stockholm were questioned as to whether they would uphold NATOs collective defence pledge that an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

They also needed to agree to pay their share of NATO budgets, take part in NATO defence planning and promise to respect rules on classified information.

NATO officials and governments agreed that Finland and Sweden would be major assets to the alliance, as successful democracies with advanced militaries that meet NATO standards.

FINLAND FORGES AHEAD

All NATO countries must ratify a would-be members application before it can join the alliance.

For Finland, Turkish ratification was the final one outstanding. After Turkeys parliament ratifies, it would be approved by Erdogan and then published in the countrys Official Gazette.

After deposition of the ratification by all allies, new members must also deposit their instrument of accession at the U.S. Department of State, finally making them full NATO allies.

Finland has already completed the legal ratification process for its own part, ahead of a parliamentary election on Sunday and a corresponding electoral recess which could have otherwise postponed the process by some months.

Finnish leaders have said they expect the remaining process to be finalised within weeks.

SWEDISH UNCERTAINTY

For Sweden, the timeline remains uncertain. Talks between Sweden and Turkey have made little progress, especially following several disputes mainly over street protests by pro-Kurdish groups in Stockholm.

Neither Turkey nor Sweden has yet scheduled parliamentary votes on Swedens application. But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said getting Swedens application over the line is a top priority.

He has said he hopes both Finland and Sweden will be members by the time of an alliance summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 and 12.

SOURCE: REUTERS
(Bloomberg) -- Lincoln Power LLC, the owner of two Illinois power plants, filed for bankruptcy after its financial strain was exacerbated by nearly $39 million in penalties levied by the biggest US electric-grid operator.

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The Chapter 11 filing allows Lincoln, a unit of Carlyle Group-backed Cogentrix Energy Power Management LLC, to keep operating while working on a plan to repay creditors.

PJM Interconnection LLC, which runs the grid that stretches from Washington to Chicago, fined Lincoln after its plants in Elgin and East Dundee, Illinois, failed to generate enough power during a severe winter storm in December. The grid operator in February demanded that those plants provide millions of dollars in collateral to prove Lincolns continued creditworthiness, according to bankruptcy court filings.

Ensuing negotiations resulted in PJM withholding a combined $350,000 from the plants each week.

Lincoln isnt the only company facing the penalties PJM put in place to hold plants accountable for failing to show up in emergencies. The grid operator estimates that these fines may reach $2 billion after widespread power-plant failures during the December storm. PJM has also asked federal regulators to give companies that are at risk of bankruptcy more time to pay these fines.

Read More: Biggest US Grid Saw 23% of Power Plants Fail in Recent Storm

Both Lincoln plants also filed for Chapter 11 protections, but are expected to still remain operational through the bankruptcy, said Jeff Ingraham, chief operating officer of Cogentrix.

The storm penalties and the cash withheld weighed on the companys already-strained finances, Justin Pugh, Lincolns chief restructuring officer, said in a sworn court statement.

Story continues

As a result of these factors, the debtors debt load is simply no longer workable, he said.

The company owes lenders more than $150 million across a term loan and revolving credit facility, court papers show. It also has about $8 million in letters of credit outstanding.

PJM has been working with our members over the last several months to minimize member defaults, the grid operator said in a statement.

The case is Lincoln Power LLC, 23-10382, US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

--With assistance from Steven Church.

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COLONIE  Shoppers strolling through Colonie Center in recent weeks may have noticed that one of the mall's retailers, the LensCrafters eyeglass and contact lens store, has had its metal security gate down.

A security guard was posted inside the store to let customers in and out.

That gate is expected to be lifted Monday, three months after a knife fight erupted right outside the store, which is on the malls second level.

No one in the store was talking about the gates when a reporter asked, and an email to LensCrafters corporate office wasnt returned in time for deadline.

Colonie Center representatives also did not elaborate on the measure, which appeared to be the only spot in the mall showing outward signs of heightened security.

It is our policy not to disclose information regarding specific security measures implemented. We do however employ a robust security team that patrols the interior and exterior of the property 24/7, a mall spokesperson said in a prepared statement.

Police believe the security step stemmed from a fight at the end of December that led to one injury and the arrest of two 18-year-old men who remain in the Albany County jail.

Thats just a choice they made, Colonie Police spokesman Lt. Daniel Belles said of the decision at LensCrafters to keep the gate lowered during store hours.

The employees were pretty shaken up by it, he said of the fight, adding the store was using an abundance of caution.

The two suspects have been charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree attempted assault.

Police said they were actively involved in assaulting a third victim with a large combat-style knife. The victim suffered a hand wound. Officers said they also found an imitation handgun at the home of one of the suspects.

Belles said the flight was between people who knew each other and ended up facing off in the mall when they crossed paths.

While malls and retailers nationwide have several security measures they can take, keeping the gates closed is an unusual tactic, said David Levenberg, a Florida-based mall security consultant.

Jewelry stores in high crime areas, for example, may have locked doors through which customers need to buzzed in by someone in the store.

Gates, which at first glance could make a store look like it was closed, are not a good long term tactic, he said. "That's obviously not sustainable," he said.

Levenberg, like Belle, said the employees were probably frightened by the December fight and they asked the company to let them close the gates.


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COLONIE - Coccas Appliances has been selling a lot of gas stoves lately and its not due to a sale or marketing promotion.

Instead, customers want the stoves because they believe such devices may be banned in the near future.

They are replacing their gas ranges before the deadline, store owner Frank Cocca said of the customers purchasing stoves from his appliance store.

Also selling briskly are gas fireplace inserts, said Karen Arpino, executive director at Northeast Hearth Patio & BBQ Association, a trade group for such appliances. All of our dealers have had a run on gas, she said.

That fear, though, is only partly justified  for now.

As early as 2025, new homes in New York may start going up without any kind of gas or oil heat, relying instead on new forms of electric-driven heating systems.

Eliminating gas stoves in new homes, though, may come later. But those who already have gas hookups will likely be able to keep using their stoves for a while.

The pending mandate for electrically heated homes may be the first palpable change that New Yorkers will see as the states 2019 landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act starts to take effect. The CLCPA, as its known, sets out ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions, or greenhouse gases that are fueling climate change.

This year, elected officials as well as regulators in state agencies are finalizing the precise rules and guidelines for these reductions, including a phaseout of gas for heating and then cooking.

As of press time, Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers were still negotiating over the 2023-24 state budget. Its due on April 1 but could come in late due to disagreements on issues including income taxes and court reform. But its clear that some kind of a ban on natural gas heating will likely be codified this year, probably in the state budget.

While primarily a financial document, New Yorks budgets are also loaded with policy initiatives such as gas phaseouts.

Unlike issues such as income taxes or court reforms all three parties agree that it is time for to start removing gas from the energy grid. That doesnt mean that all gas heating boilers, furnaces, stoves and other appliances will instantly be obsolete, however.

Gas for the near future will continue to flow through existing pipelines. Stoves and boilers will still cook food and heat peoples homes. The key difference is for new homes and buildings going forward which will not have gas heat.

The change represents a win for a broad coalition of climate activists who have made the electrification of buildings a priority this year.

With buildings, ranging from homes to offices, accounting for about a third of the states greenhouse gas emissions, the move is seen as one of the quickest ways to reduce carbon when it comes to energy use.

The most important thing is to get this done, said Patrick McLellan, policy director for the New York State League of Conservation Voters, part of the broad coalition that has pushed for the gas ban.

The three proposals from the governor, Assembly and Senate offer a menu of choices for phasing in the ban.

Hochuls proposal calls for the ban starting with houses or apartments up to three stories. That would start in 2026. Then in 2028, the ban for gas hookups in buildings above three stories would begin.

The Senate and Assembly proposals would start the ban with buildings below seven stories  which is similar to a gas heat ban already in place in New York City.

The Assemblys bill would start the ban on smaller buildings in 2026 and in 2029 for larger buildings. The Senate ban would begin in 2025 for smaller buildings and 2029 for the bigger ones.

Activists note that the legislation is in contrast to last year, when members of the Assembly balked at instituting an electrification mandate.

But this year, with all three parties on board, it seems like the only thing that remains to be resolved are the details of when and for what size building.

Theres been a shift in the conference since last year, McClellan said of the Assembly.

Environmentalists say cutting gas use has become more doable in light of new technologies such as heat exchangers for cooling and heating buildings. These devices exploit the difference in temperature between the interior and exterior of a building to create heat energy.

Some heat exchangers rely on tapping the heat from below ground where the temperature remains at approximately 50 degrees year-round.

This change hasnt come without a fight.

The prospect of a gas phase-out has prompted a steady stream of polls, surveys and studies from both the gas industry and environmentalists, each armed with data backing up their arguments.

Environmentalists have recently pointed to studies about the health impacts of gas stoves, including one suggesting that almost 19 percent of New Yorks childhood asthma cases could theoretically be prevented by not using cooking devices.

On the other side, the pro-gas New Yorkers for Affordable Energy recently commissioned a poll that found 87 percent of those questioned said they were concerned about the costs consumers will have to absorb by moving away from heating with natural gas, propane or oil.

Switching from boilers and furnaces to electric-powered heat exchangers, does come with a price tag.

Its certainly going to add to the cost, said Luke Michaels, principal in the Michaels Group a well-known Capital Region home builder.

Driving up the cost of newly built homes, which Michaels offers, will increase the cost of cheaper pre-owned houses, due to simple supply and demand. And that could squeeze new buyers out of an already tough market.

At the end of the day the price and the monthly mortgage payment are the most important things to home buyers, Michaels said.

As well as heat exchangers, new gas-less stoves are coming online.

Among those induction cooktop stoves that rely on magnetism to rapidly heat food in a metal pot or pan. While similar to traditional electric ranges in their baking and broiling capacities, these stoves can rapidly and efficiently heat up items on the cooktop.

The prospect of a gas stove phase-out has been particularly sensitive, though.

And it has prompted rhetoric suggestive of the national Democrat vs Republican debate over gun control.

On the national and state level, Republicans, and the gas industry, have evoked images of a government that is coming to take away peoples stoves, like their guns.

Democrats, and the green energy lobby, point to the urgency of climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with new electric appliances.

Our state is in a crime and economic free fall and shes waging war on appliances, western New York Republican Congressman and former state party chairman Nick Langworthy said earlier this year, amid news that the Governors mansion, where Hochul resides, is equipped with gas stoves.

One of the myths is that your gas stove will be ripped from your kitchen. This is a total lie, remarked Jessica Azulay, program director at the Alliance for a Green Economy.

Its become a culture war, said Albany Democratic Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, a supporter of electrification.

To be sure, there could be technical glitches in the transition.

Frank Cocca said that, currently, lots of induction stoves are on back order due to scarcity of parts.

A key component of such stoves, he explained is made largely by one company in Sweden.

And the gas phase-out will allow for exceptions. Hospitals and restaurants, for example, may still be able to use gas stoves going forward. Gas might also remain in residential backup generators that are hooked up to gas lines.

But the phaseout has already started in some municipalities, specifically Ithaca, New York City, and Beacon which have already enacted laws calling for the phase-out of gas.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
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ALBANY  Criticizing the state of New York's State Museum earned me a tour with its director, who told me as we walked the galleries that an upcoming renovation will result in "a dramatic difference" and a remade visitor experience.

"It's going to be a new New York State Museum," Mark Schaming said.

Terrific! But we've heard that before.

As I wrote for last weekend's column, Schaming in 2015 told us that the museum would be dramatically remade yet the only visible change is the continuing decline of a beloved Albany institution. What happened to that promise made eight years ago?

Turns out, I was being generous. As an employee of the museum subsequently pointed out, a master plan for remaking the galleries was completed and touted in 2008. Worse, museum leadership also announced a $70 million renovation way back in 1999 as a response to worries about declining attendance and the building's dated appearance.

"The public face of the museum has not been the face that the collection and the staff and the history of the museum deserve,'' Carol Huxley, then the state's deputy commissioner of cultural education, said at the time.

Yikes. I'm no mathematician, but by my calculations those words were uttered 24 years ago  and yet we're still waiting for that facelift. Even if we accept that state government moves at a lumbering pace, this is ridiculous. It took nine years to build the entirety of Empire State Plaza.

In that 2015 announcement, Schaming said an ambitious and exciting renovation master plan was done and the museum's remake would be completed by decade's end. When I asked him about that prediction during my amiable if occasionally awkward tour Thursday, he conceded it was overly ambitious given the complexity of the changes and the bureaucracy involved.

"It was a bigger project than we anticipated," said Schaming, who became the museum's director in 2013.

But this time it's real, he insisted. Design and construction plans are complete, nearly $14 million in funding is available, and bids will go out soon. The public will get to see all the compelling details this fall, and that, Schaming said, is when a timeline will also be revealed.

Given that babies born at the time of the 1999 announcement have graduated from college, I wondered why anyone should have faith that the coming renovation will any more real than unicorns prancing up Madison Avenue. (Those may not have been my exact words.)

"It never advanced before to where we are now," Schaming said. "It's an exciting project, and it's actually happening."

I hope so, given the importance of the State Museum to this region and the need for Albany to offer more to visitors and families. Time will tell.

On Thursday, Schaming's tour took me to the (closed) carousel, the (closed) subway car and the (closed) Discovery Center for children, explaining the unexpected or supposedly unavoidable circumstances behind the prolonged shutdowns. Each is expected to reopen this summer.

I was also told that getting new vendors for the (closed) retail store and (closed) restaurant is difficult, given that the planned renovations  more details coming this fall!  will require sections of the museum to be padlocked during construction.

An optimist, then, might hope that the embarrassing state of today's State Museum represents the lull before the rebirth and that all these concerns will be wiped away when renovations are complete some untold number of years into the future.

But my optimism is tempered by the significant number of current and former employees who have reached out concerned about the museum's drift, its demoralized staff, and similar problems affecting the state library and archives, which also fall under the state Department of Education's Office of Cultural Education.

What the museum-going public sees, I'm told, is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Several employees have also raised concerns about Schaming becoming the deputy commissioner of cultural education while remaining director of the museum  the suggestion being that two big roles are too much for one person and that stretching Schaming so thin shows the museum is a low priority.

When I asked Schaming about those concerns, he passed the question to Sharon Cates-Williams, executive deputy commissioner at the Education Department, who happened to be among the gaggle of five that accompanied me around the galleries.

"I think he's doing a good job wearing two hats," Cates-Williams said. "It does not interfere with the core mission of the museum, and it's a decision that we stand by."

Well, OK. But I don't think anyone can look at the ridiculously extended wait for renovations and conclude that everything is peachy at the State Museum, or that it's receiving the attention it deserves from state officials and the elected lawmakers at the far end of the plaza.

If Huxley's comment about the disappointing face of the museum was accurate 24 years ago, it's certainly true now.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
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EAST GREENBUSH  Facing a dramatic increase in opioid overdose deaths, Rensselaer County is holding a Narcan Blitz Tuesday to distribute the life-saving medical spray for free at five locations.

The county has had 24 fatal opioid overdoses so far this year compared to 11 fatal overdoses for the same period last year, officials said.

We are taking what we believe is a realistic approach to a growing and tragic health issue in our county. Rensselaer County is working to battle the scourge of opioid addiction in an effective and common-sense way, County Executive Steve McLaughlin said in a prepared statement.

This is an important fight, as we have seen too many families lose members struggling with addiction and drug use, McLaughlin continued.

The increase in overdoses is a statewide problem. The state comptrollers office issued a report in Nov, Continuing Crisis: Drug Overdose Deaths in New York State, that measured the increase in fatalities.

The share of drug overdose deaths in New York involving opioids increased further to 85 percent in both 2020 and 2021. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl and tramadoloften mixed with other drugsaccount for much of the increase in drug overdose fatalities in New York, growing from 11 percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2010 to 78 percent in 2021, the report stated.

The county reported that since 2020 it has seen 177 deaths resulting from fentanyl-related overdoses. In 2022, the county said, it had 42 confirmed overdoses cases of which 34 involved fentanyl-related with three cases waiting for the final toxicology report.

Narcan can help save a life and avoid a tragedy. The blitz on April 4 will give residents a convenient and safe way to obtain Narcan and help in the fight, County Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas said in a statement.

The Narcan Blitz will be held on April 4 from 8-10 a.m. at the CDTA Park and Ride on Route 150 in Schodack; from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the county office building, 1600 Seventh Ave., Troy; 12-2 p.m., East Greenbush Police Department, Town Hall, 225 Columbia Turnpike; 12-2 p.m., Jimmys Pizzeria, 75 Fifth Ave., Lansingburgh in Troy; and 2-4 p.m., West Sand Lake Fire Department, 3697 NY Route 43, West Sand Lake.

The county also plans to hold Narcan training sessions in every town, village and city beginning with the city of Rensselaer.

Saratoga Springs police this week said they were called to at least 10 overdose reports during March. That included three instances within just two days where Narcan had to be used. They were revived and had the option of going to the hospital, police said.

Police said those who need help in combating addiction can contact Healing Springs Recovery, Saratoga Springs at www.sararecovery.org or (518) 306-3048.
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The long-awaited HBO series "White House Plumbers" has a new trailer and a release date. Sharp-eyed viewers will be able to spot multiple Albany locations in the brief preview.

The five-episode limited series used Albany as the location for retelling the crime that's synonymous with political corruption, the Watergate break-in. "White House Plumbers" will debut on May 1, 2023, on HBO.

Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux  HBO vets from "True Detective" and "The Leftovers," respectively  star as Hunt and Liddy, who coordinated the 1972 break-in at Democratic Party headquarters. Both men eventually served prison time, and the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign the presidency on Aug. 8, 1974, rather than face impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives.

An updated trailer was released on March 30.

Grant Wilfley Casting Inc. described the premise of "The White House Plumbers" in a release: "Set in the early 1970s, the series will tell the true story of how Nixons own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, accidentally toppled the presidency they were trying to protect."

The show was made by the producers of HBO hits "Veep" and "Succession," the latter of which has also used locations in Lake George and Albany for filming.

When will we see movies made in Capital Region?

Both of the protagonists have connections to New York: Hunt was born and is buried in the town of Hamburg in Erie County; Liddy was born in Brooklyn, attended Fordham University, served as a prosecutor in Dutchess County and ran unsuccessfully for Congress from a Hudson Valley district.

The new HBO show isn't Albany's first connection to Watergate: Before he moved to Albany in 1978 to take over as editor of the Times Union and its sibling the Knickerbocker News, Harry M. Rosenfeld oversaw Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Watergate in the Washington Post. Rosenfeld died in 2021.
DALLAS (AP)  The story was a blockbuster: A former Texas voting official was on the record detailing how nearly three decades earlier, votes were falsified to give then-congressman Lyndon B. Johnson a win that propelled the future president into the U.S. Senate.

The audio recordings from Associated Press reporter James W. Mangan's interviews for the 1977 story were posted this week on the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum's archival website, Discover LBJ. After Mangan's death in 2015 at the age of 87, his family found the labeled cassette tapes at his San Antonio home and donated them last summer to the library on the campus of the University at Texas at Austin.

Luis Salas, the former South Texas election judge, told Mangan for the story: Johnson did not win that election; It was stolen for him. And I know exactly how it was done.

The story, which made front pages across the country, pulled back the curtain on the razor-thin victory that had drawn suspicions ever since election officials in rural Jim Wells County announced the discovery of uncounted votes in a ballot box known as Box 13 in the days after the 1948 Democratic primary Senate runoff. And now, at a time when election fraud is rare but former President Donald Trump and his allies amplify baseless allegations blaming it for his 2020 loss, the tapes and story show what compelling evidence of actual fraud looks like.

Mangan's son, Peter, said listening the tapes was like getting a little window into history."

On one cassette, he said, it sounds like his father is in his car, reciting what he'd just been told.

You can hear cars going by and hes kind of, you can tell hes a little excited, because I think he finally got the goods, Peter Mangan said.

Mark Lawrence, the library's director, said the recordings are deeply connected to one of the big mysteries and controversies thats hung around LBJ for decades. In a 1984 oral history that Salas gave to the library, he said one of the reasons he finally decided to talk was because he had been quite ill.

Mangan said in a 2008 AP story that as he worked to convince Salas to go on the record, he told him: If you die, history will never know what happened.

Lawrence said much is now known about Box 13, thanks to both Mangan's 1977 story and research done later by LBJ biographer Robert Caro, who essentially reaffirmed Mangan's story and built on it.

The kinds of irregularities we can see were at work in the 1948 Senate race in Texas were, I think its fair to say, pretty widespread across American history and all regions of the country to one extent or another but certainly in the South and along the Mexican borderlands, as recently as the 1940s, Lawrence said.

Salas told Mangan that the powerful South Texas political boss George B. Parr  who wielded control with favors and coercion  ordered that some 200 votes be added to Box 13. Salas said he then watched as the fraudulent votes were added in alphabetical order, with the names coming from people who hadnt voted in the election.

The new votes gave Johnson the primary victory over then-Gov. Coke Stevenson by an 87-vote margin. Johnson  subsequently bestowed with the nickname Landslide Lyndon  went on to easily defeat the Republican in the general election, long before the GOP became the dominant force in Texas politics.

Johnson, elected to the U.S. House in 1937, had run for U.S. Senate in 1941 and lost to then-Gov. Wilbert Lee Pappy O'Daniel in an election widely accepted by historians to have been corrupt, Lawrence said.

The standard story that gets told, and I think theres an awful lot to it, is that when LBJs second chance comes along in 1948, hes determined not to have the election stolen from him again," Lawrence said.

Lawrence said the 1948 Senate victory catapults" Johnson to national attention. Johnson became then-President John F. Kennedy's vice president and was sworn in as president Nov. 22, 1963, after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Johnson was elected president in 1964. He decided not to run again in 1968 and died of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of 64.

Lawrence said that while the Box 13 incident shows that LBJ was willing to do what he had to do to maintain political power," he was also a man who, when he had the opportunity, he was more inclined to act on principle. Lawrence noted Johnson's efforts to ensure that people were able to vote in fair and equitable elections.

In 1965, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed practices designed to disenfranchise Black voters by banning literary tests and poll taxes. The act also gave the federal government the authority to take over voter registration in counties with a pattern of persistent racial discrimination, although that is no longer the case after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the requirement in 2013.

James Mangan retired from AP on Jan. 1, 1989, after a 36-year career with the company that took him to cities across the U.S. and to Europe. With each move, Peter Mangan said, his father held on to the Box 13 tapes.

He always kept these," he said, "so I know they must have been important to him.
WESTPORT  Nearly 11,000 hate crimes were reported across the U.S. in 2021, with 89 alone, happening in Connecticut.

Hate crimes and incidents based on race or ethnicity made up the majority of reports within the state, though officials say many of these go unreported.

But area officials are trying to address that.

"There are 300 million people in the United States, and how many incidents were reported last year?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Anastasia King asked the audience during a recent program at the Westport Library. "10,840. Does that seem like a really low number for how many people are in the United States? Yeah."

King was one of several speakers at the "United Against Hate: Identifying, Reporting and Preventing Hate Crimes" event. It also included Westport PRIDE, Westport and Norwalk police chiefs and the Connecticut State Polices Hate Crimes Unit.

This event comes only a few weeks after reports of racist graffiti and white supremacist propaganda popped up in Westport and other parts of the state.

"I think we had a really diverse crowd here tonight asking a lot of questions," said Brian McGunagle, founder of Westport PRIDE.

McGunagle said one of the pillars of Westport PRIDE is to educate the community. The group had a connection with David Heath at the Department of Justice, so they put the event together.

"We really hope the message spreads into our community," he said. "Not just Westport, but the greater Fairfield County community."

Some of the main takeaways of the night were how to recognize hate crimes and incidents and the importance of reporting it to police and the FBI.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery, a New Haven native, said her department works to protect the civil rights of all people in the state and there is no tolerance for hate crimes.

"We work to protect the public safety for all people and communities, including those who feel vulnerable and marginalized," Avery said.

Avery said she knows what it's like to live in a community where law enforcement wasn't necessarily welcome. However, as an attorney, she understands that law enforcement is a partner to help safeguard communities and protect civil rights.

During the panel portion of the event, King presented the difference between hate crimes and hate incidents. Hate crimes are crimes in which the motivation is hate or bias, she said. A hate incident, however, might not be an actual crime, but still influenced by hate or bias.

King said reporting hate crimes matter because the crime cannot only negatively affect the victim, but the group in which the victim is a part of and the greater community.

Some hate incidents can also be considered discrimination, King said. However, federal law protects people from illegal discrimination in terms of housing, education, public accommodations, voting and employment.

Assistant State Attorney Michael Nemec said it can often be difficult to prove a hate crime, as they have to prove that bias was involved.

"We have to show what's inside someone's heart," he said.

He said the best way to do this is through actions of what the person has done in the past, and working closely with law enforcement during the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Brown said if it cannot be proven as a hate crime, it can often go into civil litigation, where the victim can be offered financial compensation or policies, procedures and trainings can be put in place to ensure whatever occurred doesn't happen again, among other results.

The panel also allowed for an interactive segment, where people talked with their neighbors about discussion questions, and raised their hands to answer if scenarios were considered hate crimes, hate incidents or incidents of discrimination, and whether or not to report it.

The answer was always to report the incident.

Statistics from 2015 to 2019 showed some of the most common reasons to not reporting hate crimes to the police included the situation being handled in other ways, fearing police could not or would not do anything to help, thinking the situation was not important enough and worrying about reprisal.

Within Connecticut, the majority of hate crimes and incidents reported were based on race or ethnicity, followed by sexual orientation, religion and disability, King said. There were no reported incidents or crimes involving gender identity or gender.

"Don't feel deterred from reporting," Avery said.

To prevent hate crimes or incidents, King said to utilize local and federal resources to support victims and the community, as well as build strong relations with local law enforcement.

There are multiple ways to report a hate crime or incident, including calling 911 if an emergency, calling the local law enforcement phone number if able to or calling 1-800-CALL-FBI.
[March 31, 2023] Pennsylvania tech workforce grows in depth and breadth: CompTIA releases year in review State of the Tech Workforce report

9,900 net new jobs added in 2022, more growth projected for this year HARRISBURG, Pa., March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Against the backdrop of an eventful year tech employment in Pennsylvania added new jobs and grew in depth and breadth, according to today's release of new research from CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce. CompTIA's annual "State of the Tech Workforce" reveals that net tech employment1 in Pennsylvania grew by 3.4%, adding 9,918 net new jobs, the eighth highest total among all states.2 The percentage increase was slightly above the national rate of 3.2%. CompTIA forecasts a 2.8% increase in tech employment for Pennsylvania this year  approximately 8,300 net new jobs, the ninth highest total nationally. More than 300,000 people work in tech jobs in Pennsylvania, spanning both technical and non-technical workers employed by tech companies and tech professionals who work in other industries. That represents 4.9% of the overall state workforce. The Pennsylvania tech workforce is ninth in size nationally. The estimated median wage of $86,082 for a tech worker in Pennsylvania is 100% higher than the median wage for al occupations in the state.



Pennsylvania's tech industry delivers an economic impact of $51.3 billion  6.3% of the state economy. There are an estimated 18,456 tech business establishments in the state, including 1,551 that opened for business in 2022  the sixth highest total in the country. CompTIA's "State of the Tech Workforce" is the most comprehensive source of data on the size and scope of the U.S. technology industry and workforce. The report includes data on employment, wages, business establishments, job postings, workforce diversity, emerging tech metrics and more. Among other highlights from the new report:

Occupations poised for growth  Positions in software development, programming, web development and quality assurance (4.2%); database, data science and analytics (3.2%); and cybersecurity and systems engineers (3%) are projected to see the most growth in Pennsylvania this year. Emerging tech employment opportunities  30.2% of all tech jobs postings in the state last year were for occupations related to emerging technologies or for positions that required emerging tech skills. Workforce diversity  Pennsylvania is in the third quartile in the report's diversity index, a measurement of the depth and breadth of diversity in the tech workforce for seven primary race and ethnicity groups, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women account for 26% of the state's tech workforce; Black or African American workers, 6%; and Hispanic or Latino workers, 3%. The full report is available at https://www.cyberstates.org/. About CompTIA The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the world's leading information technology (IT) certification and training body. CompTIA is a mission-driven organization committed to unlocking the potential of every student, career changer or professional seeking to begin or advance in a technology career. Each year CompTIA, directly and through its global network of partners, provides millions of people with training, education and certification opportunities designed to help them build career-ready IT skills. To learn more visit https://www.comptia.org/ 1 The tech workforce consists of two primary components  technology professionals working in technical positions (IT support, network engineering, software development, data science, etc.) and business professionals employed by technology companies. Combined they are represented by the "net tech employment" designation. 2 The 2022 employment estimates and 2023 projections represent the most up-to-date data at the time of publication. As with any labor market data source there is a lag effect, recent developments during late 2022 and early 2023 will likely not be fully reflected in the data. Media Contact

Steven Ostrowski

CompTIA

[email protected]

630.678.8468 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pennsylvania-tech-workforce-grows-in-depth-and-breadth-comptia-releases-year-in-review-state-of-the-tech-workforce-report-301786514.html SOURCE CompTIA

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Rick Milheim, 4th District Director of the Vietnam Veterans of America, places flags on a marker as the names of Fairfield County natives who gave their lives in the Vietnam War are read. Veterans and residents attended a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War ending on March 29, 2023, in Lancaster, Ohio.

LANCASTER  Wednesday marked 50 years since the last American troops left Vietnam, thus ending the United States' involvement in the war. But the memories still remain for those who fought in it.

"Personally, it's hard to believe it's been 50 years," city resident and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 10 President Rick Milheim said. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't remember being there and what happened and the people I met. And I'm talking not only about our brothers and sisters in arms, but some of the fine local inhabitants and indigenous people in Vietnam with whom I became friends."

A tear rolls down the face of Larry Mitchell, 75 of Lancaster, as he listens to the names of Fairfield County natives who gave their lives in the Vietnam War are read. Mitchell served in the Army Fourth Infantry and served two tours in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969.

Milheim on Wednesday led his organization's ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary at the city's Vietnam War memorial at Main and Broad streets as March 29 is known as Vietnam War Veterans Day. The war raged on after the United States left, and did not officially end until April 30, 1975, with the fall of Saigon.

During the ceremony, he placed about 30 American flags around the memorial honoring those from Fairfield County killed in the war.

Milheim served from 1970 to 1970 in Vietnam with the army's security agency.

"Which we weren't there," he said referencing the unit's secrecy. "We were undercover. But we served in radio research. We weren't even actually allowed to wear our unit patch until after the war ended because there was a bounty on our heads from the Viet Cong."

The day after the military officially left Vietnam, Milheim returned to Saigon as a department of defense civilian worker.

Another Vietnam War veteran, Larry Mitchell, also attended the service and said he was glad he did.

"It's nice to be around all the veterans that are here," he said.

The Lancaster resident served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969 in the army and received the Purple Heart.

Mayor David Scheffler read a proclamation and also learned something about how Vietnam War veterans are classified. Since he served during the war but was not in Vietnam, he's always considered himself a Vietnam War-era veteran. But during the service, Milheim said veterans such as Scheffler are considered full Vietnam War veterans.

Story continues

Scheffler served at Fort Polk, Louisiana, which he said was where many service personnel heading to Vietnam left from.

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Vietnam War memories are still strong for veterans 50 years later
[March 31, 2023] A-Gas Breaks Ground on Additional Market-Leading Refrigerant Separation Technology

A-Gas, a world leader in environmentally responsible lifecycle refrigerant management, broke ground on another set of separation towers at their Rhome, Texas plant, strengthening their commitment to the circular economy. This expansion project is another example of A-Gas' continued investment in cutting-edge technology, deepening their role as a sustainable industry player. These new separation towers will increase A-Gas' output by 100% over the next eighteen months to supply the US with high-quality reclaimed refrigerant gases, substantially increasing the number of such gases in the market. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230331005302/en/ A timeline of A-Gas' Rhome, TX plant refrigerant reclamation capacity expansion since 2017. (Graphic: Business Wire) Late last year, A-Gas completed the construction of their latest refrigerant separation towers at their plant located outside of Dallas/Fort Worth. Recently, the separation towers were brought online, which multiplied the separation capacity at the Texas plant, increasing capacity by 100% since the first set of separation towers were brought nline in 2021 and 200% since A-Gas began investing in this technology.



Year-over-year, A-Gas has nearly doubled their reclaimed refrigerant output, making A-Gas a market leader in reclaimed refrigerant in the US. Paired with the AHRI-certified laboratory at the Rhome plant, millions of additional pounds of reclaimed refrigerant, including the most complicated mixes, can be safely returned to the marketplace at AHRI-700 specifications. Expanding the recovery and reclaim of refrigerant gases is essential for implementing the production and importation phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM Act), which ensures US compliance with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

"Between the phase down of virgin HFCs in the US, local governments requiring the use of certified reclaimed refrigerant, and our customers' desire to reduce their own environmental impact, the demand for high-quality reclaimed gas is only growing," noted Mike Armstrong, President, A-Gas Americas. "We're proud to meet the needs of customers, industry stakeholders, environmental stewards, and the government through our innovative technology. Together, we can continue to utilize existing resources to provide more circular economy solutions." A-Gas' newest separators will be operational in early 2024. With these new separators, A-Gas will have quadrupled the separation capacity at the current site since 2017, which addresses a critical need highlighted by a recent NGO report: The 90 Billion Ton Opportunity: Lifecycle Refrigerant Management. Taylor Ferranti, Commercial Vice President of Refrigerant Management at A-Gas, shared, "At the end of the day, every pound of refrigerant that is reclaimed is a pound of refrigerant that was recovered instead of harming the environment with illegal venting. Safe gas recovery through on-site recovery services like A-Gas Rapid Recovery and cylinder exchange programs like Rapid Exchange and Refri-Claim make reclaiming refrigerant possible. We're thrilled to give industry stakeholders who are responsibly recovering refrigerant a solution to bring their used gas back to virgin-grade product specifications for future re-use. We look forward to giving more people and organizations the opportunity to participate in the circular economy." A-Gas continues to lead the way in managing the refrigerant lifecycle process through their reclamation capability while continuing to source the next-generation products to support their customers in transitioning to alternative refrigerants. About A-Gas: A-Gas (US), headquartered in Bowling Green, Ohio, is a trading subsidiary of A-Gas International (headquartered in Bristol, UK) and is the world's largest refrigerant recovery and reclamation company. The company's core business offers environmental solutions and lifecycle management services for ozone depleting substances and global warming gases including CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, and Halons in the HVAC/Refrigeration and Fire Suppression Industries. For more information about A-Gas, please visit www.agas.com/us View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230331005302/en/

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[March 31, 2023] Phanto Secures Patent on Platform for Authentic Social Media Posts

Phanto, the social networking product development company located in Scottsdale, Arizona, is announcing the issuance of the latest of multiple pending patents for its breakthrough social networking platform for authenticity, U.S. patent 11,616,751 B2. The original patent specification was filed by Phanto July 16, 2019, to describe the company's recent inventions at the time titled Me Right Now and Sup!, or more generally "Third Party-initiated Social Media Posting," following five years developing and testing novel methods for increased authenticity and privacy in online sharing. "We are proud to have been awarded our latest patent covering our novel platform providing users a way to share their real lives with friends through safe, authentic posts, which our team spent years developing and testing. The methods contained in this patented platform represent a shift towards healthier, more inclusive and more authentic sharing among friends," said Dan Morrison, founder and CEO of Phanto, and previous cofounder and CEO of early social network ITtoolbox (launched in 1998 and acquired in 2007). "As the social networking industry matures, we anticipate patents will represent a cornerstone of future innovation and breakthroughs that benefit all players, including users and startups who benefit from such protections through increased investment. Larger platforms will also benefit from patented innovations of smaller companies in a win-win scenario as smaller companies, free from internal biases that come with running large existing platforms, make their innovations available to be used within these large networks." Morrison continued, "Patents provide the social networking industry with what we believe may be a necessary ability to rely on exclusivity to drive new cultural movements, getting breakthrough innovations over the complicated hurdle of mass adoption as users congregate in one place to experience new ways of sharing at scale. Without such patent protections, mass adoption of an otherwise breakout innovation risks being prematurely neutralized as the early growth of the innovator is quickly diffused among copycats, producing a situation where such features may fail to reach the level of enthusiasm necessary to unlock their benefit to society." History of the Patented Invention The Me Right Now invention was the culmination of more than five years of research and development on completely novel ways to share online more authentically and privately. This R&D involved launching and test marketing five unique social networking apps, hosting over 500 target users in office for focus groups and user interviews to understand the needs and pains of Gen Z users and test innovative solutions, and filing and eventually securing over a dozen patents on the resulting, market tested methods, with more patents pending. The company's fourth app in its ongoing research and development efforts, named Phanto (the only app to use the company's namesake), was dedicated to authentic sharing among close friends ad used the tagline "Be real. Stay close." The Phanto app was first launched in the Apple App Store August 13, 2018. After testing and receiving feedback on several novel improvements to authentic sharing within early versions of the Phanto app, the company came upon three important lessons it deemed fundamental to producing a modern social networking breakout.



First, to motivate users to set up a new social graph on a new app requires more than improvements to existing patterns and features. Feedback suggested any breakout feature would require a new post type that users could not make at any other app they already had, and they had to want to make that post type immediately and repeatedly with their friends (see Tweet, "conclusions from this perspective"" from 10/7/2019 https://twitter.com/bydanm/status/1181307896933433346). Second, editorial controls in conventional posts offered by existing social networks incentivized users to post idealized, inauthentic versions of themselves, producing unhealthy cognitive dissonance for an entire generation that grew up recognizing a need to exist online but only having these inauthentic outlets to do so. A new post type meeting their inherent desire for authenticity would need to remove enough editorial control to enforce authenticity while making it safe for users to share more candidly among friends, despite this type of raw sharing running counter to long established social norms.

Third, since it had become common for large companies and well funded startups alike to fast copy any breakout feature and thus cause harm to an original inventor before they could recognize the value of their invention and see its development through, these novel inventions would need to be patentable and thoroughly patented to avoid a near certain loss of investment and opportunity as soon as a larger rival with powerful network effects copied (see TechCrunch "Snapchat growth slowed 82% after Instagram Stories Launched" https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/02/slowchat/). To overcome these obstacles, the company invented a completely novel post type for sharing among friends that induces the true authenticity Gen Z users crave and that they couldn't make at any other social app. This new post type, originally named "Me Right Now" by the company, was introduced to the Phanto app March 9th, 2019. To enable the Me Right Now post type, the Phanto social network issued users a push notification once a day at a time determined by the social network, giving users a predetermined number of minutes (a limit that varied during public testing) to respond by posting a newly captured, unedited photo to their story for their friends to see. In the following weeks, the feature was modified to require photos from both the front and back cameras to give viewers a sense they could see an unedited window into their friends real daily lives, bringing them closer together. Qualified Me Right Now posts were eventually labeled with a unique indicator certifying their system imposed authenticity, distinguishing a dedicated post type that could only be made under such specific constraints. This authenticity indicator helped viewing users understand why their friend's posts were unusually candid and often unflattering in comparison to conventional posts that tended to be staged or highly selective, and reduced reputation risk from those sharing unusually raw photos and/or videos by certifying the specific authenticity criteria had been imposed by the system. The novel Me Right Now invention for friend sharing was a breakthrough hit with early Phanto users, and these lessons learned from the thorough research and development process formed the basis for the 2019 patent filings. Throughout the remainder of 2019 the company identified opportunities to improve the invention and drive increased posting and greater repeat usage beyond the once a day, system generated request, filing further patents on these inventions, providing an entire platform of features around the authentic post type, and extending them into dating specific applications. Both the Phanto app and successor Sup! app (where some of these v2 features were developed and tested) were temporarily shelved by early 2020, in part to allow the company's patent filings to circulate the US patent process to secure rights to the invention prior to broad marketing, in order to avoid likely harms resulting from fast copying as identified above. What's Next The company has over a dozen more patent filings in progress providing further coverage of the original, system requested, time limited, once a day authentic post type, as well as extensions of the platform covering new applications of the invention, some of which tested notably better among users than the original. Phanto plans to bring these and the original feature to market in at least one new app scheduled to release in 2023. About Phanto Phanto is a technology product development company creating innovative online sharing experiences through research and development in the field of social networking, with a focus on big and novel ideas to bring friends closer together and make sharing safer through improved authenticity and privacy. Phanto provides solutions to social media's biggest problems through rigorous research and development combined with deep experience in the origin and evolution of social networking platforms, in an environment free from internal biases that come with operating large, mature products. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230331005330/en/

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[March 31, 2023] Ether Capital Corporation Reports Annual 2022 Financial Results

Ether Capital Corporation ("Ether Capital" or the "Company") (NEO: ETHC) announces the reporting of its audited consolidated financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022. The financial results include a restatement of comparative 2021 consolidated financial statements. There is no cash impact on the financial position of the Company resulting from the restated comparative 2021 financial statements which includes accounting for Deferred Income Taxes on unrealized gains. See "Restatement of Comparative 2021 Financial Statements." The Company managed to stay financially strong during 2022 despite challenging conditions that impacted the digital assets industry. Financial highlights for the fiscal year include: The Company recorded revenue during the year of $3.7 million vs $1.5 million in 2021, a 149% increase.

The Company incurred Operating Expenses of $3.91 million vs $2.02 million in 2021, a 94% increase.

The total value of the digital assets held by the Company was $73.1 million vs. $210.4 million in 2021 a decrease of 75%.

Cash and cash equivalents were equal to $2.9 million vs. $3.4 million in 2021, a decrease of 15%.

The Company had no debt at the 2022-year end.

Basic and fully diluted Net Loss per share in 2022 was $1.73 compared to Net Income per Share of $0.05 (restated) in 2021.

The total shareholders' equity of the Company was $75.6 million vs. $204.2 (restated) million in 2021. Management Commentary "It was a difficult year for many businesses in the sector. The collapse of major crypto companies coupled with a sharp decline in asset prices presented a lot of challenges that we needed to overcome as an industry," said Brian Mosoff, CEO of Ether Capital. "Where the uncertainty would normally cause players to pack it in, we're seeing the community stay resilient and evolve. I'm confident in Ether Capital's ability to grow and look forward to building out new operating businesses that support Ethereum and create enterprise value for the Company." "We are in the midst of transforming our Company from a passive holder of Ether to one that can generate both yield on our treasury assets and operating earnings. In 2022, we began building the internal infrastructure and team on a financially prudent basis, such that our operating expenses exceeded revenue by only $173,000," said Ian McPherson, CFO of Ether Capital. Commentary on the 2022 financial results and the impact of the restatement to comparative amounts is discussed below. During 2022, the price of Ether declined 65% and ended the year at C$1,620 compared to C$4,676 on December 31, 2021. The table below summarizes the volatility and range of Ether prices over 2022.







2022 (C$) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Annual Average in Period $3,726 $2,863 $1,971 $1,769 $2,575 Period End $4,225 $1,416 $1,826 $1,620 $1,620

Revenue Highlights The Company increased its revenue 149% from $1.5 million in 2021 to $3.7 million in 2022, largely due to a material increase in Staked Ether Rewards. Total Staked Ether Rewards Revenue, a combination of Consensus Layer Rewards (illiquid) and Execution Layer Rewards (liquid), was $2.45 million in 2022 vs. $0.1 million in 2021. During the year, the Company increased its allocation of Staked Ether to 20,512 in February 2022 from 10,272 on December 31, 2021. The Staked Ether generated an average yield of 5.13% during the year. The Staked Ether Rewards have not been sold and remain as digital assets held by Ether Capital. Additionally, the Company earns consulting fee revenue from Purpose Investments, a related party, that is linked to the assets under management of Purpose Investment's crypto ETFs ("Crypto AUM"). During the year, the Crypto AUM declined materially (see table below), and this resulted in a 9.6% reduction of consulting fees from $1.38 million in 2021 to $1.24 million in 2022. $000s Q1 2022 Q2 2022 Q3 2022 Q4 2022 Consulting Fees $450 $393 $218 $184 Average Crypto AUM ($ Millions) during the quarter $2,057 $1,886 $923 $767 Operating Expense Highlights Operating Expenses before Impairments and Revaluations ("Operating Expenses") increased 94% in 2022 to $3.9 million from $2.0 million in 2021. This was primarily due to staff expansion and the building of internal capabilities. Ether Capital is amid a strategic transition and is assessing the launch of new products and business lines for which key staff were recruited. The Company is also in the process of internalizing certain functions that it has historically outsourced. The most material expense within the Company during 2022 pertains to staff compensation. Headcount increased from three employees at the start of the year to 10 by December 31, 2022. Compensation expenses, both salaries and share-based compensation of employees and Directors, were $2.28 million in 2022 vs. $0.72 million in 2021, of which $0.81 million is non-cash share-based compensation (2021-$0.33 million). A significant component of Operating Expenses pertains to professional fees, such as legal counsel, independent external auditor, and other consultants. In 2022, these professional fees totaled $0.77 million compared to $0.58 million in 2021, a 33% increase. The growth is reflective of the expanded activity and increase in professional advice during the Company's transition. A new expense this year pertains to the cost of outsourcing staking services. The 2022 cost of $0.14 million is variable to the revenue generated from staking. Other Operating Expenses are discussed in some detail in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) that has been filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) and may be viewed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Revenue less Operating Expenses One measure of operating performance used by the Company is calculating Revenue less Operating Expenses. In 2022, the Operating Expenses exceeded Revenue by $0.17 million compared to $0.51 million in 2022. This is a non-IFRS measure, and it is calculated by subtracting Operating Expenses from Revenue. Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) and Net Income (Loss) The Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) (OCI) incurred a significant loss in 2022. In 2021, the OCI generated additional income for shareholders of $139.9 million (restated). By comparison, the OCI generated a loss of $70.4 million in 2022. This loss comprised reversals related to dispositions and remeasurements due to unrealized losses on digital assets vs. unrealized gains in 2021, the full write down of the non-core portfolio investment in Wyre in 2022, and the recognition of corresponding deferred taxes related to these gains and losses. Cashflow The cashflow from operations of the Company are materially different from the financial statement's Net Income, whether before or after OCI, for the following reasons: 65% of the Revenue in 2022 is non-cash. Operating Expenses include an amount for the amortization of Share Option Expense, a non-cash expense. The unrealized impairments for the Company's digital assets total $63.5 million. The write down of the Wyre investment for $6.2 million was a non-cash expense, of which $2 million is an impairment. During 2022, there were several activities that impacted the cash position of the Company. These included the sale of non-core digital assets for $5.85 million (MKR and Uniswap), a realized trading loss on the purchase and sale of a Purpose Ether ETF (net realized loss $1.86 million), cash proceeds from the issuance of new common shares, the exercise of options and warrants ($0.7 million), and the expenditure of cash on the Normal Course Issuer Bid to acquire shares trading in the market at a cost of $1.31 million. The Consolidated Statement of Cashflow and the Notes in the Company's annual financial statements will include more detail. $000s Q4 2022 Q4 2021 December 31,

2022 December 31,

2021 Net Cash used in Operating Activities ($451) $193 ($1,620) ($46) Net Cash provided by (used in) Investing Activities $638 $nil ($732) ($24,185) Net Cash provided by (used in) Financing Activities $nil $164 ($617) $27,226 Increase (decrease) in Cash $187 $357 ($2,969) $2,996 Net Income (Loss) per Share The Net Loss per Share was ($1.73) compared to Net Income per Share of $0.05 in 2021 (restated). The Net Income (Loss) per Share does not include the impact of OCI (Loss), which is material the components of which are discussed above. Assets Cash on the balance sheet was $0.44 million on December 31, 2022 compared to $3.4 million on December 31, 2021. However, an incremental $2.45 million is invested in a cash equivalent, marketable security. During the year, the Company invested excess cash in a listed Purpose High Interest Savings ETF ("ETF"). Combined, the cash and ETF total approximately $2.9 million. During 2022 there was a material change regarding the valuation of the Company's digital assets as discussed above. The digital assets decreased in value by $137.3 million to $73.1 million, primarily due to a 65% decline in the price of Ether during the year. The valuation of the Company's digital assets exceeded the cost base of those assets by $15.5 million as at December 31, 2022. The Company has a cumulative tax loss carryforward of $20.7 million as at December 31, 2022 that can be used to offset possible future capital gains, but is not recognized on the consolidated financial statements as recovery is not probable at year end. As at December 31, 2022, approximately $12 million remains unutilized. $000s December 31, 2022 December 31, 2021 % Change Digital Assets Value $73,139 $210,423 -65.2% Digital Assets Cost Base $57,800 $54,366 6.2% Unrealized Capital Gain $15,339 $156,056 -90.3% As discussed previously, the Company also owns a minority interest in a private U.S. company, Wyre. The Company has undertaken an assessment of Wyre and estimated the fair market value of its minority stake at $nil. Shareholders' Equity Highlights The shareholders' equity as at December 31, 2022 was $75.6 million compared to $204.2 on December 31, 2021. The reduction was primarily due to the revaluation of the Company's digital assets ($137.3 million) and Wyre ($6.2 million). The Net Equity per Share also declined from $6.04 (restated) to $2.24 per share. At year end, the shares outstanding were 33.754 million compared to 33.826 in 2021. Restatement of Comparative 2021 Financial Statements The comparative 2021 financial statements are being restated to reflect the inclusion of a Deferred Tax Liability in 2021 due primarily to unrealized capital gain on assets. There has been no cash impact to the Company as a result of these corrections. The valuation of the digital assets and portfolio company was $216.6 million compared to the cost base of $56.4 million on December 31, 2021. Although the Company does not intend to trade its digital assets and trigger a realized taxable capital gain, accounting standards require that a Deferred Tax Liability be recognized as providing for this possibility. The Company did have tax loss carryforwards that were able to reduce the Deferred Tax Liability on December 31, 2021, but they were insufficient to offset the total amount. As such, the Deferred Tax Liability was $15.63 million as at December 31, 2021. The consequences of this financial restatement are summarized in the tables below: Consolidated Statement of Financial Position $000s except for per share amounts As at December 31, 202

(Previously Reported) Adjustment As at December 31, 2021

(As Restated) Deferred Tax Liability $nil $15,634 $15,357,020 Total Liabilities $503 $15,634 $16,137 Share Capital $72,862 $1,301 $74,163 Accumulated Deficit ($17,450) $4,687 ($12,763) Accumulated Other Comprehensive Gain $163,062 ($21,623) $141,439 Consolidated Statement of Net Income (Loss)and Comprehensive Income (Loss) Deferred Income Tax recovery (expense) recognized in Income $nil $4,687 $4,687 Income (loss) after tax ($3,180) $4,687 $1,507 Deferred Income Tax recovery (expense) recognized in OCI $nil ($21,623) ($21,623) Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) $161,521 ($21,623) $139,898 Net & Comprehensive Income (Loss) $158,341 ($16,935) $141,405 Net Income (Loss) per Common Share, Basic ($0.10) $0.15 $0.05 Net Income (Loss) per Common Share, Diluted ($0.10) $0.14 $0.05 Ether Capital continues with its three-pronged strategy in 2023: To continue being a net accumulator of ether, stake the majority of ETH on the balance sheet, and build new products and businesses that leverage the Company's intellectual property and market leadership. Ether Capital will host an investor presentation on Wednesday April 5 at 3:00pm ET. The Company's CEO Brian Mosoff and President & CFO Ian McPherson will be in attendance to discuss the financial highlights of 2022 and answer any investor questions. You can go here to register for the webinar that will be conducted via Zoom. The Company's audited financial statements, the MD&A, and the annual information form have been filed on SEDAR and may be viewed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. About Ether Capital Corporation ??Ether Capital (NEO: ETHC) is a public technology company with a long-term objective to become a central business and investment hub for the Ethereum ecosystem. The Company has invested most of its balance sheet in Ethereum's native utility token "Ether" as a core strategic asset and yield-generating instrument. The Company is focused on building financial infrastructure that supports the Ethereum blockchain and delivers corporate value. Ether Capital's management team and Board of Directors are comprised of crypto natives, leading venture capitalists and traditional finance experts, which uniquely positions the company to identify and capitalize on opportunities in the digital asset ecosystem. For more information, visit http://ethcap.co. The content of this document is for informational purposes only and is not being provided in the context of an offering of any securities described herein, nor is it a recommendation or solicitation to buy, hold or sell any security. The information is not investment advice, nor is it tailored to the needs or circumstances of any investor. Information contained in this document is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offering memorandum, prospectus, advertisement, or public offering of securities. No securities commission or similar regulatory authority has reviewed this document and any representation to the contrary is an offence. Information in this press release is current only as of the date provided and Ether Capital is under no obligation to update this information, other than in accordance with applicable securities laws. Non-GAAP Measures The Company's condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). The Company refers to the Operating Revenue less Operating Expenses before Impairments and Revaluations ("Operating Expenses"), which is a non-GAAP financial measure. This non-GAAP measure is not defined by IFRS, does not have a standardized meaning and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company has presented such non-GAAP measure as management believes it is a relevant measure of the Company's operating performance independent of asset valuation changes. Non-GAAP measures should not be considered as alternatives to the information set out in the Company's financial statements. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. The Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information 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," "on pace," "anticipates," or "does not anticipate," "believes," and similar expressions or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "should," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to management at the time they are made, management's current plans, estimates, assumptions, judgments and expectations. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2023, the Risk Factors section in its most recently filed management's discussion and analysis and its other filings available online at www.sedar.com. Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. In addition, the Company cautions the reader that information provided in this press release is provided to give context to the nature of some of the Company's future plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230331005447/en/

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[March 31, 2023] Global Tech Industries Group, Inc. extends closing date with Wildfire Media Corp and the 1-800-LAW-FIRM brand to May 15, 2023

New York, NY, March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ( GTII : OTCQB) Global Tech Industries Group, Inc. ( GTII  or The Company), www.gtii-us.com , announced today that it has signed a third extension agreement with Wildfire Media Corp, (Wildfire), extending the original agreement to May 15, 2023, in order to allow Wildfire more time to complete the two-year PCAOB audit undertaken by UHY, LLP, an auditing firm based in Sterling Heights, MI. The two-year audit is a requirement in order to complete and close the acquisition of Wildfire and the 1-800-LAWFIRM brand by GTII.

About GTII: GTII is a publicly traded Company incorporated in the state of Nevada, specializing in the pursuit of acquiring new and innovative technologies. Visit GTII here https://gtii-us.com/



Please follow our Company at: www.otcmarkets.com/stock/GTII About Wildfire Media Corp: Wildfire Media licenses 1-800-LAW-FIRM and other brands to a national network of law firms committed to protecting the rights of clients in areas as diverse as consumer protection, environmental hazards, civil rights, and criminal defense among other areas. Top of FormFounded in 1996, Wildfire Media provides performance-based marketing and technology solutions that enable law firms to concentrate on what they do best. Wildfire Media has established a Legal Support Organization (LSO) so that law firms are equipped to combine advances in the latest technologies along with best operational practices, both provided by our LSO.

Harbor Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward looking statements that are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks as well as uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected, including statements related to the amount and timing of expected revenues related to our financial performance, expected income, distributions, and future growth for upcoming quarterly and annual periods. These risks and uncertainties are further defined in filings and reports by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC. Among other matters, the Company may not be able to sustain growth or achieve profitability based upon many factors including but not limited to the risk that we will not be able to find and acquire businesses and assets that will enable us to become profitable. Reference is hereby made to cautionary statements set forth in the Companys most recent SEC filings. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant expenses in our development stage, noting that there is no assurance that we will generate enough revenues to offset those costs in both the near and long term. New lines of business may expose us to additional legal and regulatory costs and unknown exposure(s), the impact of which cannot be predicted at this time. Words such as estimate, project, predict, will, would, should, could, may, might, anticipate, plan, intend, believe, expect, aim, goal, target, objective, likely or similar expressions that convey the prospective nature of events or outcomes generally indicate forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of this press release. Unless legally required, we undertake no obligation to update, modify or withdraw any forward-looking statements, because of new information, future events or otherwise. Global Tech Industries Group, Inc.

511 Sixth Avenue, Suite 800

New York, NY 10011

[email protected]



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[March 31, 2023] CGTN: 50 years on, China, Spain have profound friendship, achieve common prosperity

BEIJING, March 31, 2023 /CNW/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez discussed major topics concerning global peace and economic cooperation on Friday. Both agreed that China and Spain should keep upholding multilateralism, safeguarding world peace and coping with various global challenges through dialogue and cooperation. Sanchez is visiting China as part of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Before the high-level meeting, he also attended the Boao Forum for Asia in south China's Hainan Province. Over the last 50 years, China and Spain have built a profound friendship through frequent high-level meetings and people-to-people exchanges, and the trade volume between the two countries has seen a significant expansion, almost doubling between 2017 and 2022 from 32 billion euros (about $34.8 billion) to 57.7 billion euros (about $62.9 billion). Solve global challenges through dialogue and cooperation Xi expressed hope that Spain could play a positive role in promoting China-EU dialogue and cooperation, and the two sides could carry out comprehensive dialogue and cooperation in the spirit of independence, mutual respect and mutual benefit. Spain is gearing up to take over the EU's rotating presidency in July and will be responsible for coordinating the work of the council and working with other member states to develop a common position on diplomatic issues. "The sound development of relations between China and the European Union requires the EU to adhere to strategic independence," Xi said at Friday's meeting. He said that China and the EU share a lot of things in common: both uphold international orders and advocate the peaceful settlement of international disputes, so the two parties can cooperate to cope with global challenges. Sanchez agreedthat today's world is full of uncertainties and only through cooperation can the world meet various challenges more effectively and promote world peace and development.



The two sides also touched on the Ukraine crisis. China has consistently promoted peace talks and political settlement on the Ukraine crisis, hoping the relevant parties abandon the Cold War mentality and camp confrontation, and give up extreme sanctions. "It's hoped that the relevant parties can build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework through dialogue and consultation," Xi said.

Sanchez introduced Spain's stance on the issue and spoke positively about China's 12-point Ukraine position paper, which was published in February. He said that he appreciated China's constructive role in the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. Ample scope for economic collaboration China is committed to achieving modernization and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through high-quality development, which will provide Spain and other countries with a broader market space and more cooperation opportunities. Xi stressed the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation, saying the two countries should plan bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and support each other on critical issues concerning their core interests such as sovereignty, security and development. To synergize the two sides' development strategies, China and Spain need to tap the cooperation potential, Xi said. He added that China is willing to import more high-quality products from Spain and it's hoped that Spain can provide a fair and just business environment for Chinese companies. Spain is willing to maintain candid communication with China and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, especially in the fields of electric vehicles, green energy and the digital economy, Sanchez said. He also hoped that China and Spain can strengthen communication and coordination on international and regional issues such as climate change. As Spain will soon take over the rotating presidency of the EU, Sanchez said that Spain will play a positive role in promoting dialogue and cooperation between China and the EU. In recent years, bilateral trade between China and Spain has maintained steady growth, showing strong resilience and vitality. China is now Spain's largest trading partner outside the EU, while Spain is China's sixth-largest trading partner within the EU. Official data shows that as of February 2022, Spain's total investment in China surpassed 3.8 billion euros, with more than 790 companies established in China, while Chinese companies invested 16 billion euros in Spain from 2016 to 2020. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-03-31/Chinese-President-Xi-Jinping-meets-Spanish-Prime-Minister-Pedro-Sanchez-1iCPo5yhr4A/index.html View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cgtn-50-years-on-china-spain-have-profound-friendship-achieve-common-prosperity-301787543.html SOURCE CGTN

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[March 31, 2023] REDWIRE INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of Redwire Corporation - RDW

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW). In November 2021, the Company disclosed that it could not timely file its quarterly report due to an internal investigation into accounting issues. On March 31, 2022, the Company disclosed a multitude of internal procedural and control failures, including "an additional material weakness" beyond the company's "previously identified internal control deficiencies." The next day, the Company finally filed its 3Q2021 report revealing that its "disclosure controls and procedures" suffered from an inadequate "control environment" and that "certain members of senior management failed to consistently message and set certain aspects of an appropriate tone at the top." Thereafter, the Company and certain of its executives were sued in a securities class action lawsuit, charging them with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. Recently, the court presiding over that case denied the Company's motion todismiss, allowing the case to move forward.



KSF's investigation is focusing on whether Redwire's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Redwire shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-833-938-0905 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-rdw/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230331005452/en/

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We want to follow-up on a morning murder because it's important.

The main takeaway . . .

AHEAD OF THE UPCOMING MAYORAL & COUNCIL PRIMARY: KANSAS CITY'S RATE OF KILLING IS HIGHER THAN AT ANY OTHER TIME IN LOCAL HISTORY!!!

The latest update is from yesterday but it's still worth checking the basics of stats reported by police:

Again . . .

The killing today adds one more to that list.

Moreover . . .

Notice that we're now ahead of 2020's pace . . . Basically . . .

KANSAS CITY HOMICIDES HAVE SPIKES 10% OVER RECORD BREAKING NUMBERS SO FAR IN 2023!!!

And again . . .

We watch the news as much as anyone . . . And as of today there is no plan to fix this situation and no council candidate has made the issue the focus of their campaign.

Nevertheless . . . We roundup deets from the latest local homicide . . .



Homicide 3500 block of Roberts



This morning about 6:30am officers were called to the 3500 block of Roberts on a shooting call.



On arrival officers were directed to a vehicle in front of a residence there where an adult male shooting victim was down on the street next to it, unresponsive.



Officers began life saving measures until EMS arrived and took over. Unfortunately EMS declared the victim deceased here at the scene.



Callers reported hearing the sound of gunfire and looking out and seeing the victim down in the street.

Preliminary investigation indicates the shooting occurred at this location.



There is no known suspect information at this time. Detectives will be working on canvassing for witnesses this morning and identifying the victim. Crime scene investigators will be processing the scene for evidence.



If anyone saw or heard anything in this area or has any information they are asked to contact the Homicide Unit directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS, there is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS hotline.



We are working with Partners for Peace in all our homicide investigations to monitor risks for retaliation and provide social services to affected residents.

################



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Police investigate early morning homicide on Roberts One man is dead Friday morning after a shooting near Roberts Street and Askew Avenue. Neighbors heard gunshots just after 6:30 a.m. and called police. Neighbors administered first aid until Kansas City Police Department officers (KCPD) arrived. Upon arrival, police were directed to a vehicle in front of a residence on Roberts Street.

Neighbors heard gunshots early Friday, found man dead in the roadway on Roberts Street The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting in the northeast neighborhood of the city. Neighbors called 911 around 6:30 a.m. to report hearing gunshots. They found a man in the street next to an open car door a short time later.Officers responded to the 3500 block of Roberts Street, and emergency medical services crews pronounced the man dead on the scene.

1 person shot, killed Friday in 3500 block of Roberts Street KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 64-year-old man was shot and killed Friday morning in the 3500 block of Roberts Street in Kansas City, Missouri. Officers were called around 6:30 a.m. on reports of a shooting. Emergency crews discovered Robert Carter with gunshot wounds near a car outside a residence, police said.

Developing . . .


Actually . . . The wind isn't so bad . . . The flying trash is really the problem even if our environmentalist friends don't want to acknowledge the crisis.



Here's the worthwhile weather deets . . .



"Johnson County Executive Airport saw wind gusts reach 61, while Kansas City International Airport registered a peak wind of 59 mph and the winds in downtown Kansas City reached 53 mph."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Wind totals: Portions of the Kansas City metro area saw peak winds exceed 60 mph Portions of the KMBC viewing area had over 70 mile peak winds on Friday. The National Weather Service tweeted out a list of gustiest winds across the Kansas City metro area and areas surrounding it. St. Joseph, Mo., saw the strongest winds at 74 miles per hour.
A shocker for Saturday . . .

NEW POLLING SHOWS CLAY CHASTIAN WITHIN 5 POINTS OF MAYOR QUINTON LUCAS!!! VOTERS LOOKING FOR OPTIONS DON'T MIND THE CANDIDATE'S DUAL RESIDENCY IN VIRGINIA!!!

Let's check more data . . .

Paddington Research shows that amongst frequent voters ages 18-65, Clay Chastain had garnered a surge in support after the candidate has made additional appearances at the Price Chopper in Brookside and undertaken an extended visit at his sister's Kansas City home.

It seems all that it took was Mr. Chastain spending a bit more time in KCMO for him to win over a greater share of voters.

Accordingly . . . Here's his latest media blast . . .



Clay Chastain press release: Kansas City's *Last Great Hope* continues his grassroots crusade toward the Election finish line . . .



A once great thriving City (that was headed toward its great destiny as the "Paris of the Plains") got stalled out and thrown off course by decades of far-left and misguided leadership that has manifested itself in...population exodus in the Central City (165,000), a catastrophic level of homicides, government corruption, glitz galore, high taxes, decaying infrastructure, poor schools and less Equal Opportunity for all. A renaissance man who has (for 30-years) demonstrated his commitment to improving the City, has been blocked (by KC's political establishment) from contributing his uncontaminated, pure and independent vision toward righting our ship. But now, Activist Chastain's name is on the ballot opposite a consummate politician who has made his own self-serving contribution to steering our City further off course. (No Debate) Lucas has been both an Ineffective Mayor and a Divisive Mayor. Four more years of Lucas may doom our City to a forlorn place it may never recover from. Clay Chastain, who has the vision, the integrity, the life experiences and the decisive leadership skills to put our beloved Community back on its rightful course of destiny, is Kansas City's "Last Great Hope" to seize a Last Great Opportunity, before that "Opportunity" vanishes.

####################

Developing . . .
Humber College has joined forces with four other Ontario colleges to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to improve local access to programs for military-connected learners.
Margherita Della Valle - Ed Robinson/OneRedEye

Vodafone has been warned by union bosses that the planned merger of its UK arm with Chinese-owned rival Three raises profound national security questions relating to sensitive official contracts.

Officials at Unite have written to Margherita Della Valle, interim chief executive of Vodafone, to express their grave reservations about CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong-based parent company of Three.

The proposed multibillion-pound tie-up has been under discussion for many months and would create a single operator with 27 million customers. It could prove to be the biggest test to date of new takeover laws aimed at safeguarding national security, however, amid mounting concern over Chinese involvement in critical infrastructure.

Unite accused Li Ka-shing, the billionaire owner of CK Hutchison, and his family of political collaboration with the Chinese state. Mr Li and his son Victor hold civil and political roles, and sat on the election committee that pushed through pro-Beijing candidate John Lee Ka-chiu as chief executive of Hong Kong.

The union, which was involved with a dispute with CK Hutchison at the Port of Felixstowe last year, also pointed to previous comments by Mr Li in support of Hong Kongs sweeping new national security laws. They have helped Beijing to stamp out dissent and tighten its control over the former British colony.

Unite wrote: A tie-up between Vodafone and Three would give the CK group a far more prominent and powerful place at the very heart of the UKs telecoms infrastructure, and we therefore believe that such links prompt significant national security questions regarding any proposed merger.

In particular, given Vodafones position as a strategic supplier to the UK public sector, we believe there are profound national security questions to be asked about involving the CK group in sensitive government contracts.

Vodafone has responded to the letter but refused to meet officials at Unite until any deal is finalised.

Story continues

Unites intervention marks the latest sign of opposition to a deal between Vodafone and Three. The Telegraph also understands that Sky expects to resist the merger, with a source arguing that the two companies were planning to raise prices for consumers because they havent managed their businesses well. Vodafone and Three have argued their returns are too low and they must be allowed to merge to cut costs to fund investment in mobile coverage.

Unite is now planning to devote considerable resources to lobby politicians and regulators to oppose the merger. The National Security and Investment Act, which was introduced in 2021, aims to address worries about the rising influence of hostile states such as China in British companies.

Political opposition is not limited to the Left.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said: Under our new laws we should block this merger, because it will put a very significant communications company indirectly in the hands of the Chinese government.

The reality is that this should not be allowed, in America, I suspect, this wouldnt be allowed. If theyre going to ban TikTok from all government devices then they certainly should be blocking this.

According to City sources, Vodafone and Three are considering a ratchet arrangement that would see the Chinese share in the joint venture decline over time in an effort to allay regulators fears. Three would be expected to begin the tie-up with a 49pc stake.

Proponents of a deal point out that CK Hutchison is already one of the largest foreign owners of British assets. In addition to Three and the Port of Felixstowe, it also owns health and beauty chain Superdrug, the rolling stock leasing company Eversholt Rail, the electricity distribution infrastructure UK Power Networks and Northumbrian Water.

However, a merger of Three and Vodafone would mark CK Hutchisons biggest UK deal since China began to tighten its grip on Hong Kong.

Vodafone and CK Hutchison declined to comment.
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.
Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, 58, was a volunteer with Table of Mercy, helping to prepare pickup food hampers at the International Muslims Organization of Toronto (IMO) in Rexdale where he also served as a caretaker. - Table of Mercy photo
The demand for artillery rounds, like those manufactured by Nammo, has increased because of the war in Ukraine. AP Photo/Libkos

An arms manufacturer said that TikTok's data center is using all the electricity in the region.

As a result, the company said that it cannot keep up with the surging demand for artillery rounds.

The CEO told the FT that the company's growth is being "challenged by the storage of cat videos."

A Norwegian arms manufacturer said that a TikTok data center is eating all the electricity in the region, meaning that the company cannot keep up with the surging global demand for ammunition.

Experts are increasingly commenting on the massive demands of big tech companies, and how energy usage by their data centers is causing issues for other industries.

"We are concerned because we see our future growth is challenged by the storage of cat videos," Morten Brandtzg, the CEO of Nammo, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Brandtzg said that the demand for artillery rounds was 15 times higher than normal  a trend driven by the war in Ukraine, which has featured heavy artillery use.

Ukraine, for instance, would like to increase its daily usage of rounds from 6,000 to 65,000, he said.

Insider couldn't immediately establish whether Nammo shells are being used in Ukraine  its customer base, as described in a 2021 annual report, is overwhelmingly EU and NATO states, which have been making mass donations to Ukraine since Russia invaded.

However, in the area of Norway where Nammo operates, its defense work gets no priority over any other users of electricity.

Power is provided on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Elvia, the energy provider in the Raufoss region of Norway  an area around 120km north of Oslo.

The energy company told the FT that it has no spare capacity for Nammo to hike its output as it has already been promised to TikTok. A spokesperson told the FT that if Nammo does order more capacity, it will "take time" before that can be achieved because the network needs to be "strengthened."

Brandtzg said that he had considered whether it was a coincidence that Chinese-owned TikTok was impeding the expansion of an arms company.

Story continues

"I will not rule out that it's not by pure coincidence that this activity is close to a defence company," he said. "I can't rule it out."

Insider has reached out to TikTok for comment.

"Critical industry must have access to energy," said Brandtzg. "I don't think it's one-off, I think it's a trend for the future."

TikTok and other tech giants have faced criticism for their energy use. Back in July, a report from the FT found that the electricity use of large companies  including Microsoft, Oracle, LG, Huawei, Amazon, and Dell  was making it harder to build more homes in London. Due to the electricity grid running out of capacity, the report stated that the capital could face a ban on new housing projects until 2035.

An earlier report from 2019 by EirGrid, Ireland's electrical grid operator, found similar conclusions for Ireland, which is a popular base for global companies' European data centers.

It found that data centers can often require the "same amount of energy as a large town," and could account for "29% of electricity demand in Ireland by 2028."

TikTok's presence in Norway is unlikely to diminish, given the company's recent announcement that it wants to achieve carbon net-zero by 2030.

The country has a surplus of renewable energy  mostly hydropower  and is a popular destination for data centers due to cold temperatures which reduce the requirement to use power to cool down the computers.

TikTok also has plans to build what it says will be the largest data center campus in Norway by November 2023.

Read the original article on Business Insider
This week in coins. Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt.

The news earlier this week that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is suing the largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance, and its CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao, could have rocked crypto markets.

Instead, the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum briefly wobbled after the news broke on Monday, then recovered. Bitcoin (BTC) is up 3% over the past week to $28,410 as of Saturday morning, and Ethereum (ETH) is up 4.2% to $1,825.

Most of the top thirty cryptocurrencies are in the same boat, with no substantial change in either direction over the last seven days, but two names posted hefty rallies: Stellar (XLM) leaped 22% and currently trades at nearly $0.11, while XRP blew up 20% to $0.53 thanks to "investor hope" among the XRP army that Ripple's endless case with the SEC might go Ripple's way.

The CFTC is the United States leading derivatives regulator. According to the lawsuit filed with a Chicago federal court, the federal agency accuses Binance of unauthorized derivatives trading by offering futures, swaps, and options on many leading cryptocurrencies.

The suit claims the exchange is offering these services to U.S. clientele despite not having registered with the regulator. It added: Binance has taken a calculated, phased approach to increase its United States presence despite publicly stating its purported intent to block or restrict customers located in the United States from accessing its platform.

Other allegations in the suit accuse the exchange of having insufficient anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) controls, knowingly evading or helping U.S. clients evade regulators, and, rather damningly, trading against its own customers.

For its part, Binance told Decrypt on Monday that the lawsuit is: unexpected and disappointing as we have been working collaboratively with the CFTC for more than two years.

Coin politics

On Wednesday the state of Texas introduced Senate Bill 1751, a bill that seeks to protect the states grid during peak electricity loads, but the proposal could mean that local mining operations may soon lack the incentives that have made the state an attractive location for miners.

Story continues

The bill restricts Bitcoin miners from participating in a state-run demand response program that rewards miners for giving power back to the grid at peak times.

It also blocks "virtual currency mining from tax abatements given that the large scale of growth in virtual currency mining is already projected to occur in the state, according to the bills sponsor Senator Lois Kolkhorst during Tuesday's testimony, who argued theres no need to subsidize the growth.

That same day U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testified at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government and said that rules for making crypto compliant already existin response to repeated calls by the industry for clearer guidelinesbut that the industry is still rife with noncompliance.

During the hearing, Gensler stuck to his guns in reiterating his belief that most cryptocurrencies are unlicensed securities: Frankly, of the ten or twelve thousand tokens, there are very few that dont have a group of entrepreneurs in the middle that the public is counting on. Those are securities under the securities law.

Finally, across the pond, the Bank of Englands Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) lead Katie Fortune said that CBDCs can be a bridging asset between TradFi and crypto.

CBDCs are an envisioned form of centrally-issued cryptocurrency pegged and backed by the state currency, in this case, a digital sterling.

In a talk at the Citi Digital Money Symposium, she said: What you have today is, I have a Santander account, I can go to a cash machine and take out the same cash my friend with a Barclays account takes out. I think that could be really powerful in a world of stablecoins and other digital forms of money to have a central bank digital currency that can be a bridging asset between all these different forms of money."
Western Forest Products Inc.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia. , March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Forest Products Inc. (TSX: WEF) (Western or the Company) first quarter 2023 financial and operating results will be released on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.



Western will host its first quarter 2023 analyst conference call on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. PDT (3:00 p.m. EDT).

Steven Hofer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Williams, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Glen Nontell, Vice President, Corporate Development, will discuss the Companys first quarter 2023 results followed by a question and answer session with the analyst community.

To join the conference call, dial:

Toll-free from Canada and the US: 1-800-952-5114

From Toronto: 416-340-2217

Passcode: 6443863#

To access the instant replay of the call, dial:

Toll-free from Canada and the US: 1-800-408-3053

From Toronto: 905-694-9451

Passcode: 1672093#

The instant replay will be available until June 4, 2023 at 8:59 p.m. PDT (11:59 p.m. EDT).

About Western Forest Products Inc.

Western is an integrated forest products company building a margin-focused log and lumber business to compete successfully in global softwood markets. With operations and employees located primarily on the coast of British Columbia and Washington State, Western is a premier supplier of high-value, specialty forest products to worldwide markets. Western has a lumber capacity in excess of 1.0 billion board feet from seven sawmills, as well as operates four remanufacturing facilities and two glulam manufacturing facilities. The Company sources timber from its private lands, long-term licenses, First Nations arrangements, and market purchases. Western supplements its production through a wholesale program providing customers with a comprehensive range of specialty products.

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Williams

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

(604) 648-4500




American R&B group Boyz II MEN.. is the feature act tonight ..as the curtain comes down.. on the 2023 edition of the Tobago Jazz Experience . .

They spoke with reporters..at a conference at Stone Haven Villas.
A man who sexually molested a 5-year-old girl when he was a juvenile living in Spotsylvania County a decade ago was convicted Thursday of aggravated sexual battery.

Clint Stevenson Amaya, 27, of Woodbridge, was found guilty following a daylong jury trial in Spotsylvania Circuit Court. The jury acquitted Amaya of a more serious sodomy charge.

It was the second time Amaya has been tried in connection with the attacks, which took place in late 2012 or early 2013. His first trial in November ended in a hung jury, and it appeared that another mistrial was in store Thursday when jurors announced that they were deadlocked.

But after Judge William Glover encouraged them to continue working toward a unanimous verdict, the split verdict was reached.

The girl, now a teenager, testified that Amaya would carry her to her room when she was sleeping and sexually assault her. Amaya was temporarily staying at the residence.

She said the attacks stopped in early 2013 after Amaya lost his arm in an accident on a Culpeper County farm, where he was performing community service work as part of his punishment for convictions he received as a juvenile.

The girl didnt report the attacks until 2021, at which point an investigation began that resulted in Amayas arrest. Because Amaya was an adult by that time, his case automatically went to circuit court, Sweeney said.

Defense attorney Jonathan David said that while he was pleased that Amaya was cleared of the sodomy charge, he said he is upset that Amaya was convicted at all. David insisted that the attacks did not happen and said the girl told multiple stories that changed over time.

We respectfully disagree with the jurys decision, David said.

Amaya testified that he did not molest the girl and said he didnt know why she said that he did.

Amaya, whose criminal record includes burglary and drug convictions, is scheduled to be sentenced June 12. Aggravated sexual battery carries a prison term ranging from one to 20 years.
The expulsion of Russian spies and visa restrictions for Russian nationals have significantly weakened Moscow's intelligence operations in Finland over the past year.

This was reported by AP, Ukrinform reports.

Finland's intelligence service, known as SUPO, has said that Russian intelligence is in a much worse position because of Finnish intelligence's ability to compromise Russian espionage operations in 2022.

A reduction in the number of intelligence operatives and restrictions on crossing the Russian-Finnish border against the backdrop of Russia's war in Ukraine significantly worsened the operating conditions of Russian spies in Finland, SUPO said.

"Russian intelligence station (in Finland) shrank to about half of its former size last year, SUPO Director Antti Pelttari said, noting that the main reason behind this was a series of expulsions of suspected spies and visa refusals on his agencys advice.

SUPO noted that covert operations under diplomatic cover have traditionally been the main tool of Russian intelligence on foreign soil, and Moscow has tried to use cyber-espionage, among other tools, to compensate for the lack of human resources.

As reported earlier, the head of UKs defense intelligence, Ken McCallum, called on the population to treat the threat of Russian and Chinese espionage as vigilantly as terrorism.
The Russian military command's plans to extend control over the whole of the Donbas region during a winter offensive have failed.

The UK Defense Ministry said this in its latest intelligence update published on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

On January 11, 2023, Russian Chief of the General Staff (CGS) General Valery Gerasimov took personal command of the "special military operation" in Ukraine.

"Gerasimov's tenure has been characterized by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed," British intelligence said.

On several axes across the Donbas front, Russian forces have made only marginal gains at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties, largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel gained from the autumn's "partial mobilization."

After ten years as CGS, there is a realistic possibility that Gerasimov is pushing the limits of how far Russia's political leadership will tolerate failure.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and his Slovak counterpart Jaroslav Nad have held a meeting to discuss the operation and modernization of artillery systems being provided by Slovakia.

That's according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Ukrinform reports.

During the meeting, Reznikov and Nad discussed the operation of artillery weapons and its modernization taking into account the experience of combat operations, the training of Ukrainian soldiers and the expansion of training programs for various military specialties.

Reznikov thanked the government, the people of Slovakia, and the defense minister personally for the military assistance provided to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including MiG-29 fighter jets that will protect the Ukrainian airspace.

"The Slovak Republic is one of the friendly countries and our neighbors that sincerely help Ukraine and respect our sovereignty. We remember all the good deeds from the first days of full-scale armed aggression. Another area is also important to us now -- the exploitation and modernization of artillery weapons being provided by Slovakia. The priorities include the training of our soldiers and the expansion of training programs. We appreciate the military assistance being provided to us by the people of the Slovak Republic so that Ukraine could hold and win this war," Reznikov said.

Reznikov and Nad also spoke to service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The representatives of the foreign delegation heard firsthand about the experience of the Ukrainian army using Western weapons, including Slovak-made weapons, in combat conditions.

Nad expressed his admiration for the Ukrainian military and noted their heroism, courage and true fighting spirit.

"The Slovak Republic supports the Ukrainian army as much as it is possible today. As the Minister of Defense, I will make every effort to improve the artillery systems, because we are also studying the information provided by you from the war fronts. It is true that the battlefield is the best test. I wish all Ukrainian soldiers strength, courage and I believe that Ukraine will win, because you are fighting for the truth, your native country, your homes and loved ones. The whole world stands with you - courageous Ukrainians. And we, the Slovaks, will do everything to speed up Ukraine's victory," Nad said.

Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger for the decision to transfer MiG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine.
The Republic of Slovenia supports Ukraine's membership in NATO as soon as conditions allow.

This is said in a joint declaration of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Robert Golob, which is published on the presidents website.

The Republic of Slovenia supports Ukraine to become NATO Member as soon as conditions allow, the document says.

The leaders of condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, which undermines the foundations of the UN Charter, and confirmed their support for the principles of international law, the inviolability of borders and the right of each state to choose its own path and security measures.

The leaders also reiterated their demand that the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

In addition, they underlined their firm commitment to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and other serious crimes committed in connection with Russias war of aggression against Ukraine, and to support the establishment of an ad hoc international tribunal to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression.

In the document, Slovenia also supported the idea of a Peace Formula Summit aiming at promoting its effective implementation to be convened when conditions allow.

It is noted that the Republic of Slovenia will continue to promote strong and effective political and material support by the EU and NATO for Ukraine aimed at ensuring the ability of the Ukrainian state to effectively defend its territories in line with its inherent right of self-defence.

Ukraine and the Republic of Slovenia expressed readiness to hold bilateral consultations on Ukraines security concerns prior to NATO membership.

In turn, Ukraine supported the candidature of the Republic of Slovenia for non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council for the 20242025 term.

As reported, Prime Minister of Slovenia Robert Golob said that Slovenians consider it their duty to help Ukraine in the fight for freedom and bringing the Russian aggressors to justice for the heinous crimes they committed.

Photo: Presidents Office
During the Bucha Summit, President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, President of the Republic of Estonia Alar Karis and President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits decisively supported the creation of special international tribunal over the Russian crimes committed in Ukraine.

This is reported by Ukrinform.

According to Nauseda, these crimes will never be forgotten or forgiven. Everything must be done to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, including Russias military and political leadership.

Nauseda noted that Lithuania supports the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including by participating in the work of operative investigative teams.

Meanwhile, Karis mentioned that the ICC has no jurisdiction over Russia. In his words, for this reason, Estonia supports Ukraine in its efforts to create a Special Tribunal that will include representatives from many UN countries.

According to Karis, Estonia is looking for ways to hold the Russian military and political leadership accountable for the crime of aggression and ensure that they do not hide behind immunity.

The President of Estonia invited those interested in establishing the Special Tribunal to a meeting in Tallinn, scheduled for May. Karis called on all countries to join the process of bringing to justice those guilty of the crimes committed in Ukraine.

In his turn, Levits declared decisive multilateral support for Ukraine, including through bringing to justice the perpetrators of the crimes committed in Ukraine.

According to Levits, Latvia also demands the creation of Special Tribunal, preferably under the aegis of the United Nations, in order to ensure that Russia is held accountable for the crime of aggression.

Additionally, Levits reiterated Latvias intention to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. In his words, Ukraine must win, and only after that Europe will receive stable and long-lasting peace.
Even by resorting to nuclear blackmail, Russia will not be able to weaken support for Ukraine from its international partners.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, Ambassador James Kariuki, the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council, said this at a meeting of the organization dedicated to the discussion of Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats regarding the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

"President Putin's announcement on 25 March [on his intention to station tactical missile weapons in Belarus] is his latest attempt to intimidate and coerce. This has not worked and will not work. We will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to defend itself," Kariuki said.

He said that during the war in Ukraine, only Russia raises the issue of the possible use of nuclear weapons. "We will stand firm in our support to the people of Ukraine, and call on Russia to de-escalate; it should start by ceasing its illegal and unprovoked invasion," the diplomat said.

Kariuki also urged Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "to stop enabling Russia's reckless and escalatory actions."

On March 25, Putin said Russia would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Earlier, in February of this year, he said Russia was "suspending" participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty signed with the U.S. (NEW START), although the provisions of the treaty document provide no opportunity for its "suspension."

The parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons are almost all countries around the world, except Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Photo: Courtesy
In a phone call, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron discussed defense interaction between the two countries.

The relevant statement was made by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In an hour-long conversation with Emmanuel Macron, the defense interaction between Ukraine and France was effectively discussed, the President of Ukraine wrote.

In addition, Zelensky briefed Macron on the situation on the battlefield.

We dwelled on further steps to implement the Peace Formula. We coordinated actions for the upcoming international events, Zelensky noted.

A reminder that, on March 31, 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic, who was paying a visit to Ukraine. The parties discussed the needs of the Ukrainian military, increasing pressure on Russia, post-war reconstruction, and Zagrebs intention to hold an international donor conference this autumn.
In the weeks and months after her son died from a drug overdose, Cynthia Fields struggled to eat or sleep.

She was severely depressed every time she thought about her handsome boy, Stanley Austin Fields III, whom everyone called Austin. He was a husband, father of four and craftsman who could do anything with his hands, from plumbing and mechanical work to masonry.

From age 12 on, he also was diagnosed with various issues and had turned to marijuana, then other drugs, to offset the impact of prescriptions meant to help him.

He hated getting medicine that made him feel like he was high and he just had to balance himself out, his mother said.

A lifelong struggle with drugs ended 11 days after his 40th birthday. His death is under investigation, and his mother cant provide any more specifics.

But as the Bowling Green woman faced her own struggles, she asked Antonio Clinkscales, a former co-worker and current pastor and counselor, to lead a support group with her and others who were grieving.

Not all those who gathered regularly for six months had lost someone to drug use, but several had been through multiple losses, just as Cynthia Fields has.

I lost my son, I lost my brother-in-law and I lost my very best friend in six months time frame, she said, but theres no loss like the loss of a child.

Fields is a member of an ever-growing group: a generation of parents who have buried their children.

Dee Fleming of Culpeper County experienced the same kind of loss in 2017, when her son, Joe, died at 23. She recently saw an image that drove home the magnitude of how many children this generation of parents has buried too soon as a result of drug overdoses.

She was watching a nature show on television. A huge flock of birds had landed on a body of water at sunset, when something suddenly startled them. So many took to the skies that they almost blotted out the sun.

It was like losing all of our children, all at one time, and the darkness of that was visually wiping out the light, she said. It was a picture of how many were losing, day after day, and it doesnt seem to be getting any better.

Waves of death

Nationwide, the number of drug deaths has quintupled since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Thats when prescribed opioids, designed to act on receptors in the brain and provide pain relief, were doled out in abundance, and people became addicted. Overdoses and deaths, soon followed.

That was the first wave of opioid-related deaths, according to the CDC. The second came in 2010 when heroin was introduced into the mix.

The third wave, which continues, began in 2013 with significant increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, particularly those involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl, states the CDC.

Fentanyl is a powerful and dangerous painkiller, and the street market for it continues to change as its found in combination with many other drugs, including heroin, counterfeit pills and cocaine, according to the CDC.

In the last five years alone, fentanyl has been a factor in more than three of every four fatal drug overdoses in the Fredericksburg region, from Westmoreland County to Culpeper. Between January 2018 and September 2022, there have been 745 drug-related deaths in those localities, according to the Virginia Department of Healths Office of the Chief Medical Examiners report, and 568 of them included some element of fentanyl.

We are losing more people to opiate overdoses, said Carmen Greiner, an addiction counselor in Spotsylvania County. Theres a whole group of parents out there who are having to bury their kids.

The losses create a ripple effect thats keenly felt by moms and dads, grandparents and siblings, but also extends to people in the community, the counselor said.

That includes the deputy who has to tell a parent a child has died, the emergency room doctors dealing with one overdose after another, the therapists and peer-support counselors, pastors and friends.

There are all of these folks who get impacted when we talk about trauma, Greiner said.

Horrible epidemic

Kathie Kelly leads the Fredericksburg chapter of Compassionate Friends, a monthly support group for those whove lost children as a result of any situation  disease, vehicle crash or drug abuse. More information about the group is available at tcffred.wixsite.com/tcffredericksburg.

This horrible epidemic is taking too many of our young people, she said.

And its not just single losses. Families often bear the grief overload of losing multiple people to overdoses.

Two chapter members lost two children to separate overdoses, within five years of each other. Both victims were 25.

Flemings son died on Oct. 13, 2017, four days after his best friend also died from an overdose. Fentanyl was a factor in both their deaths.

Almost six years later, Fleming continues to deal with the various stages of grief. Early on, she coped by seeking a purpose  and hers was to create a website called Culpeper Overdose Awareness, at culpeperoverdoseawareness.org, that provides local resources for those struggling with addiction or grieving from its losses.

Theres also a support group specifically for those whove lost a child to substance abuse. Called Speak Their Name meeting, the group meets in Culpeper every third Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. More information is available by contacting Debbi Bost at dbost@rrcsb.org or 540/717-6803.

This was my way of healing my grief and trying to help the next person down the line, Fleming said.

A greater void

Fields reached out to others who were grieving and invited them to her home for support group meetings with Clinkscales. His wife, Vicki, had taught Austin Fields at Caroline High School and our families have been connected for a long time, he said.

Clinkscales, a community advocate who focuses on healing the mind, body and spirit, has absolutely seen an uptick in losses like the one Cynthia Fields has faced.

Its never easy losing a loved one but when you have a grown child, I think it digs a deeper hole in ones heart, he said. Youve spent more time with that individual, youve seen them have families of their own and you have traditions around holidays and different things youve established and considered as a norm for so long. When you lose that piece, it creates a greater void.

Even worse for parents whose children have died to drug overdoses is the stigma, said Greiner and Fleming. When parents say their son was addicted to heroin and died, the response tends to be, What did you do wrong? Greiner said.

Its a very heavy weight to carry and a lot of parents suffer along because of the stigma, Fleming said. If child dies of a car accident or cancer, the support is so different than if child dies from a substance use problem. People dont know what to say, theres just this distance, theres a barrier there along with the guilt and anger.

Fields and her friend, Tammy Bruce, who also has suffered losses, look to signs from above as a means of comfort. Fields said her son always loved squirrels and that theres a fat one that comes to her backyard feeder every day.

Cardinals do, as well. Her mother always told her they were a sign of angels, and shes comforted by their appearance, both at her home and her daughters.

We never really saw them before, and all of a sudden theyre appearing at the window, Fields said.

I say thats a sign of God that Austins here, Bruce added.
If only Michael Parkyn had paid attention as a kid to the stories his father told about a cousin in New Jersey who went off to Canada to fight in World War II, long before the United States entered the fray.

But as a child, Parkyn and his siblings rolled their eyes every time their dad mentioned the pilot who flew big bombers. It made no sense to them that an American was part of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the tale seemed too incredible to believe.

I never listened to the story. Never, said Parkyn who lives in North Stafford. All I remember him saying was his cousin flew and he never came home. My dad seemed a little bit sad at that moment, but I just never connected to it.

Decades later, Parkyn, a retired Marine Corps officer who flew 75 combat missions over the Middle East, has taken up his fathers mantle to bring attention to the service of Alfred J. Parkyn, his dads first cousin.

He, his crew, and thousands of others like them risked their citizenship for the chance to defend America with their lives (as they) volunteered to fly and fight Hitler before America was ready, Parkyn said. These men were the first of the Greatest Generation but they are virtually unrecognized in America today.

Parkyn, 59, is working with Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D7th District, to correct that oversight. Along with Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi, Spanberger proposed legislation last month that would award the Congressional gold medal to an estimated 12,000 Americans like the late Alfred Parkyn.

When Great Britain and Canada took up arms against Nazi terror and fascist aggression, thousands of brave Americans volunteered, Spanberger said. Motivated by their love of democracy and their belief in protecting our allies across the Atlantic, they ran to the sound of the guns.

The flying bug

Many members of the Parkyn family had the flying bug, including Michael Parkyns parents, who both flew private planes before World War II. As kids, he and his five older brothers used to consume all things aviation, including visiting airports and museums to look over old aircraft.

They watched old war movies, particularly ones featuring actor Clark Gable because he had flown B17s during World War II. Four of the six boys in the Parkyn family ended up as pilots, with one in the military, two in commercial planes and one flying privately.

But it wasnt until a dark night over Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom that Parkyn began to think about things that people dont normally contemplate when they fly.

I just allowed myself to ponder the emotion of being down there in the dark where no one was going to find me, ever, and disappearing, he said.

After that campaign, he was sent to Marine Corps University and was researching various topics when something told him to ask about Alfred Parkyn. One thing led to another and Parkyn realized not only that his father had been right all along, but also that his dads cousin had literally suffered the fate that I feared.

Marines walk 'The Long Road' for those who didn't come home Cross-country effort by Justin LeHew of Fredericksburg and others highlights those missing in action and the need to bring home their remains.

Getting the story back

That began a quest, in 2004, to find out everything he could about his relatives wartime service.

The search has put him in touch with people on two continents. He started with the Royal Canadian Air Force, where Alfred Parkyn was trained before he was sent overseas to fly Avro Lancaster bombers with Great Britains Royal Air Force.

Parkyn wasnt satisfied with the official report that simply stated his relative, part of the 207th Squadron with a call sign of C for Charlie, had gone off on a bombing mission and never returned.

His name was engraved on a memorial with 20,000 others. But his remains were never found, he had no known grave, and his widowed mother and sisters knew few details about his final hours.

By the time Parkyn discovered that information, his father and many in his generation had died. No one knew the stories anymore. An American Legion post in the New Jersey town where the Parkyns lived no longer existed.

It was like time had just washed the story away and I wanted to get it back, Parkyn said.

Absolutely stunning

After he received the official files about his relatives death, Parkyn contacted the 207th Squadrons historical association. He got in touch with authorities in the Netherlands, where his cousins plane was shot down, visited the United Kingdoms national archives twice and hired a researcher to pore over records at the Bundesarchiv, the German Federal Archives.

Parkyn also used his military background as a safety officer and crash investigator  as well as the emotional experience of serving, once, as a casualty officer and informing a local family that their child had been killed in duty  to guide him.

He believes his relatives plane was the third of five sent out on a late afternoon mission, in bad weather, to fly over the Dutch coast and penetrate enemy territory in German cities. The commanding officer believed the action would set off air raids, and if this happened once a day, every day, production of war materials in those cities would be disrupted.

Parkyn believes a lot of bad decisions and flawed analysis went into the orders his cousin received and that the deck was sort of stacked against Alfred and his crew.

But the information gathered also has made the story of his cousin Allie incredible, but in a different way than he viewed it as a child. He learned about raids that his pilotrelative made along the Baltic Coast of Germany, at night, under cloud cover and during a thunderstorm. Cities under him were blacked out so there was no light, anywhere, and he was flying about 650 feet above church steeples when the search lights found him and every gun in the city swung over and shot at him.

He got his right wingtip shot off and ended up living to tell the tale, Parkyn said. This was two weeks after he became an aircraft commander, thats the kind of stuff he was doing.

Parkyn often thought about the maneuvers his cousin performed in a Lancaster, a clunky bomber with a 102-foot wing span thats a far cry from the Hornet, a versatile fighter and attack aircraft with a 37-foot wing span, that Parkyn flew over the desert.

He did things with a bomber that I would not do in my computer-controlled Hornet, Parkyn said. He had four piston engines that might power a race car today to get that giant airplane out of trouble where I had a pair of after-burners. Just the comparisons in what I had to work with and what I did based on the risks as I knew them and what he worked with and what he did, its stunning, just absolutely stunning.

50 years later: 'Welcome home, Vietnam veterans' March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day, local ceremony during 50th anniversary commemoration held in Culpeper National Cemetery with new director, Lynnette Parker.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2023 ) :Federal Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting to review progress on Hajj Scheme-2023.

Mufti Abdul Shakoor, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha, Secretary Religious Affairs, Special Secretary Finance and senior officers from Finance and Religious Affairs Ministries attended the meeting, said a press release issued here Saturday.

The meeting reviewed and discussed progress on the Hajj-2023.

Secretary Religious Affairs briefed the meeting that receipt of applications for the Hajj-2023 was closed on 31st March, 2023 as per the government policy. It was also informed that 72869 applications had been received in the banks against the government regular scheme quota of 44190.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and interfaith Harmony also provided details about its foreign exchange requirement for the Hajj-2023.

It was desired by the Chair that complete and fully reconciled information regarding the final number of applications received under the Regular Scheme should be collected from the banks by Tuesday 4th April, 2023.

On receipt of complete information, the government shall review and decide the final number of intended applicants for Regular Hajj Scheme-2023.

Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar stated that Hajj was a sacred religious obligation and the Government of Pakistan shall facilitate the Hujjaj in every possible manner.
Four soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom on Saturday after a group of terrorists operating from Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces operating along Pakistan-Iran Border in Jalgai Sector, District Kech

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2023 ) :Four soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom on Saturday after a group of terrorists operating from Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces operating along Pakistan-Iran Border in Jalgai Sector, District Kech.

According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the martyred soldiers were identified as Naik Shair Ahmed, Lance Naik Muhammad Asghar, Sepoy Muhammad Irfan and Sepoy Abdur Rasheed who were critically injured and later embraced martyrdom.

However, necessary contact with Iranian side was being made for effective action against terrorists on the Iranianside and to prevent such incidents in future, the ISPR said.
Policing the "city that never sleeps" is no easy task even on a typical day -- so New York law enforcement agencies are taking no chances ahead of Donald Trump's high-profile court appearance next week, bracing for protests for and against the first indictment ever of a former US president

New York, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Apr, 2023 ) :Policing the "city that never sleeps" is no easy task even on a typical day -- so New York law enforcement agencies are taking no chances ahead of Donald Trump's high-profile court appearance next week, bracing for protests for and against the first indictment ever of a former US president.

The city's police department has ordered its 36,000 officers to be in uniform and ready to deploy next week, NBC news reported Friday, citing official sources.

Asked by AFP about their posture ahead of Trump's arraignment, a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson said Friday that "officers have been placed on alert," and stand ready to "ensure everyone is able to peacefully exercise their rights." Trump, 76, is to be booked and fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon before appearing before a judge.

While the specific charges remain under seal, the case brought by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg is widely believed to revolve around a $130,000 hush money payment Trump gave a porn star ahead of his successful 2016 election.

Protests on both sides of the issue -- which the president and his supporters have decried as "political persecution" -- are expected to grow in the city, raising fears of unrest.

Trump supporters, including Republican member of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene, have announced plans to protest outside the courtroom during his appearance.

For now, the NYPD spokesperson said, there are "no current credible threats to New York City.

" - 'Politicized judicial systems' - Outside Trump's eponymous skyscraper on Fifth Avenue, a dozen or so people had already taken position on Friday with signs and banners that said, "Arrest Trump" and "Tick Tock, Times Up!" Another sign read, "No one is above the law." A man in a Trump costume made an appearance, and took pictures with a couple of the former president's supporters, who carried a banner supporting his 2024 campaign.

Outside the district attorney's heavily guarded office, Susan, a 60-year-old lawyer who declined to give her last name, had no qualms about saying she supports policies that Trump espouses, although "I don't like his personality." The expected charges against Trump are overblown, at best "a misdemeanor, not a felony," she said.

"This is ridiculous -- politically motivated. I am ashamed of this justice in America that looks like that of other countries with politicized judicial systems," she said.

Earlier in the day, three friends from San Sebastian in Spain's Basque country passed by to take in the scene before heading to a tour of Chinatown.

"It seems strange to us," 72-year-old Pilar Banos told AFP. "The fact that they will put him in the car with his head bowed gives him prominence and votes because it will seem like an injustice to many people."Trump has called the investigation a "witch hunt" and denied having any relationship with the porn star known as Stormy Daniels.

The next chapter in his legal travails will come Tuesday, when the court reveals the actual charges pending against him.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2023) German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Saturday that his country was not going to send additional Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

"I currently do not see (the possibility of) deliveries of additional Leopard tanks beyond those announced," Pistorius told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Germany, like other countries, has a "limited supply" of weapons, the defense minister said, noting that he "cannot give everything away."

"Now, together with the Poles and other allies, we are supplying two battalions of Leopard 2, a little over 60 battle tanks. Up to four more battalions of Leopard 1 tanks will be added until next year. This is over 100 tanks. Our American and British allies will also hand over tanks," Pistorius said.

He noted that "unfortunately" NATO countries do not have spare battle tanks awaiting shipment, adding that nevertheless it is possible to cover Ukraine's needs in the mid-term.

On Monday, Ukraine received 18 German Leopard 2 Tanks and some 40 Marder armored infantry fighting vehicles.

In February, the Ukrainian government started negotiations with its allies on the supplies of longer-range missiles and jets, as well as additional ammunition to prepare for an counteroffensive this spring. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against continued arms supplies to Kiev and further escalation that could lead to the direct involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2023) US billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says that the United States will have to face the consequences of a declining birth rate.

"Big reckoning coming due to low birth rate. Japan is a leading indicator," Musk said on Twitter, commenting on US media reports regarding the projected depletion of US Social Security funds by 2033.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said last month that the next six to seven years will be the country's "last chance" to reverse the long-standing birth rate decline.

In 2022, Japan saw 799,700 births, which is 43,000, or 5%, less than in 2021. The birth rate fell below 800,000 for the first time since 1899. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimated in 2017 that total births in Japan would not drop below 800,000 before 2030.

In the United States, about 3.7 million children were born in 2021. As of 2020, the US birth rate was 1.64, while Japan's birth rate was 1.34. At the same time, the birth rate in the United States has been declining for the past five decades.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2023) The US awarded Huntington Ingalls shipbuilders an almost $1.3 billion contract to design and build a third Amphibious Transport Dock (ATD) ship of the LPD Flight II class, the Department of Defense announced in a press release.

"Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a $1,295,000,013...

for the procurement of the detail design and construction of the Amphibious Transport Dock ship, LPD 32, the third LPD 17 Flight II ship," the release said on Friday.

Most of the work in building the ship will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (82%) over the next six and a years and is expected to be completed by September 2029, the Defense Department said.

The ship will be the 16th in the San Antonio class and the third Flight II LPD, according to the contractor.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2023) A court in Kiev put Metropolitan Bishop Pavel, vicegerent of the contested Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, under round-the-clock house arrest, including wearing an ankle monitor, Ukrainian media reported on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, some Ukrainian news outlets reported that metropolitan Pavel was put on a two months' house arrest, which was later disproved.

The court rejected the defense's request to let metropolitan Pavel attend services in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the Strana news outlet reported. At the same time, he was allowed to record videos addressing the believers, which the prosecution sought to ban.

Metropolitan Pavel will stay under house arrest at his home in the Kiev region, the media said. Meanwhile, metropolitan Pavel said that his home in the Kiev region has no heating, water or electricity and described the court's decision as politically motivated.

"There are no grounds ... I didn't do anything. I know it's a political order, because I was threatened. The Security Service of Ukraine summoned me to the director of the museum, they said that they had to open a case against (me) ... I know who it is, but I won't look into it  it's not my way," metropolitan Pavel said in a video posted by Ukrainian media.

On Saturday morning, metropolitan Pavel was presented with official suspicions of "collaboration with Russia and inter-religious incitement" after Ukrainian authorities conducted searches in his house.

He then said that the Ukrainian authorities had sent him under house arrest. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed his indictment under two articles of the criminal code, specifically "violation of citizens' equality based on their race, nationality or religious preferences" and "justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants."

Tensions between Kiev and the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) escalated after Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. On March 10, 2023, UOC monks were ordered to leave the monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, jurisdiction over which was divided between a Ukrainian cultural organization and the UOC, by March 29 for violating the terms of an agreement on the use of state property. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said the monks could stay in the Lavra if they joined the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a decision that may be "stimulated through the joint work of specialists and law enforcement officers."
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2023) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen could become the new NATO head in October of this year, the Sun tabloid reports, citing a diplomatic source.

A number of NATO member states have suggested that von der Leyen take over the alliance, the source said.

Nonetheless, the United Kingdom would likely veto Ursula von der Leyen's appointment due to her poor past performance as German Defense Minister, UK sources told the Sun on Friday.

Current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is due to step down in the fall of 2023. Stoltenberg's term as secretary general was due to expire in October 2022, but it was extended for another year, until September 30, 2023, against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis.

Ursula von der Leyen's term as European Commission President does not end until next year.

In February, the Foreign Policy journal reported that the selection of a successor to the current NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, will be happening through consultations between members of the alliance, with the ultimate decision based on consensus, although the US, Germany, France and the UK exercise substantial influence during the process.
Richard Walker is not happy that changes to how Virginia restores voting rights to formerly incarcerated people happened quietly  and that they happened at all.

No longer an automatic process, ex-offenders must petition for a chance to be restored.

After a morning spent presiding over a solar installation class through his nonprofit organization, Bridging the Gap in Virginia, Walker reflected on navigating life after incarceration and what being able to vote again means to him.

After serving time in the early 2000s for drug charges, he was surprised to discover he would not be able to vote unless a governor restored the right.

When I realized that, you know, my rights had been taken from me and that I couldn't vote, I became angry, Walker said.

He also struggled to find jobs  noting how his criminal record didnt make it easy. By 2009, hed formed Bridging the Gap in Virginia to help others navigate post-prison life.

In 2010, he applied to have his rights restored. The process at the time required character references and various paperwork, he said.

Walker has been able to vote since 2012.

The process has since become more streamlined and one that was automatic upon release from prison under Democrat Ralph Northams administration.

No longer automatic

Following an inquiry by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and a handful of state legislators, it was confirmed that voting rights restoration is no longer automatically started when someone completes their sentence.

Secretary of the Commonwealth Kay Coles James responded to an email from Sen. Scott Surrovel, D-Fairfax, and a letter from Sen. Lionel Spruill, D-Chesapeake, to explain. Her office is involved in restoring rights.

Our website was updated to include that applications are considered individually and not granted on an automatic basis, she wrote in her letter. Individuals are informed upon release the recommendation of applying and given a paper application.

When people apply, a form they must fill out asks if they were convicted for violent or nonviolent offenses, if probation is complete, and whether they owe court fines, fees or restitutions. The previous governor's administration made restoration an automatic process when someone leaves prison and dropped a requirement to first complete parole.

The shift isnt unwarranted. Its the purview of governors to oversee and adjust the process of restoring rights, according to the states constitution.

However, the change does walk back efforts three governors' administrations had worked toward to make the process easier and restore more peoples rights. It also means the process to restore rights is less likely to be granted to certain returning citizens, and that could also mean a continued trend of fewer restorations during the tenure of Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

In his first year, Youngkin restored 4,300 peoples rights. Meanwhile, Northam and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored more than 126,000 and more than 173,000, respectively. Republican Bob McDonnell, who first ramped up the process, restored more than 8,000.

According to Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter, rights restorations are assessed on an individual basis according to the law and take into consideration the unique elements of each situation, practicing grace for those who need it and ensuring public safety for our community and families.

She added that the Department of Corrections and the State of the Commonwealth work with the appropriate agencies to restore an individual's rights."

No further clarification was provided when asked if any criteria has changed or if people have to complete parole before seeking restoration.

A responsibility

The changes don't sit right with some people, like Walker, whos dedicated his time to helping people re-enter society.

Walker founded Bridging the Gap in Virginia to help formerly incarcerated people and recovering addicts re-establish themselves after serving time. Part of his work has been keeping people informed of how to restore their rights.

Training people to become certified in solar panel installation  preparing them for a career in the industry  is just one of several programs in which his organization participates.

From being affected by laws, hes now seeking a chance to help create them.

Walker is running as a Democrat for the 79th District in the House of Delegates. With environmental policy and criminal justice reforms as some priorities, he hopes to bring his perspective as an incarcerated person into lawmaking.

Walker noted how Black Virginians have been disproportionately represented in prison populations, and recalled how Virginias post Civil War-era constitution of 1901 disenfranchised Black people. He worries the changes to restorations hearken back to Virginias racist past.

Part of the reason that I'm running is to change the narrative, Walker said. There's a lot and yet-to-be-uncovered that adversely affects African Americans, Indigenous people and communities of color  its time for it to stop.

If elected, he could join a legislative body that already has someone else who has lived behind bars. House Minority Leader Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, served time before becoming a lawmaker.

Scott is frustrated that whether or not a person can vote is up to the whims of a governor's administration. Scott said it feels like people who have served their sentences dont get to feel like full citizens upon their release.

You people who made a mistake  no, you don't get to be a full citizen. You have to wait until [a governor] decide[s] that it's okay to do that, Scott said.

Scott previously served seven years on a federal drug offense. Seeing the criminal justice system from the inside inspired him to pursue a legal degree and begin practicing law. By 2019, he was elected to craft laws in Virginias legislature.

He said he believes the Youngkin administration cares about the restoration of rights, but that undercutting the bipartisan work of three previous governors should make people question it.

I believe that they say they believe what they believe, Scott said of Youngkins stated passion for second chances. But their actions don't match.

He added: People need to ask questions like, Why would you try to prevent someone who's a gainfully employed, taxpaying citizen  or are not, but have paid their debt to society, want to come home and participate in the civic life?

Porter, Youngkin's spokesperson, reiterated that the governor does not take this lightly.

The governor firmly believes in the importance of second chances for Virginians who have made mistakes but are working to move forward as active members of our citizenry, she said.

Meanwhile, adjacent to politics, another formerly incarcerated person has found passion in advocacy and legislative analysis.

Shawn Weneta made what he calls a stupid mistake in 2004 and stole money from a company he worked for. That led to a 30-year conviction for embezzlement. About 16 years into his sentence, he was among a wave of pardons by Northam. Like the restoration of rights, inmates can also be subject to pardons by governors.

After his release, Weneta became involved with the nonprofit organization the Humanization Project and lobbied the General Assembly before becoming a policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Im a straight, white, Christian man  I have privileges, so I have a responsibility, he said.

Released in 2020, Wenetas rights were restored by Northam in March 2021. After an event with the governor to mark the occasion, he excitedly drove in record time to the Henrico County registrars office.

There wasn't any need to do that, but that's what I did, he said. I wanted to be sure.

With the changes to the process, Weneta worries partisanship could lead to fewer people applying or people who have already been restored feeling discouraged from voting.

Both Republican and Democratic governors have said that this shouldn't be in the power of the executive, he said. It shouldn't be in the hands of a partisan actor because you have partisan outcomes that way.

As it stands, Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, has continued to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment to keep restorations automatic. Del. Mike Cherry, R-Chesterfield, also introduced a similar bill last year, but it never made it out of committees. Constitutional amendments must pass the legislature two years in a row (with an election in between) before appearing as a ballot referendum Virginia residents can approve.

Walker plans to support a constitutional amendment if hes elected  and he hopes everyone around Virginia gets to see it on their future ballots.
The bodies of two more migrants who died trying to cross from Canada into the United States were found Friday, bringing the death toll to eight, including two children, police in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne said.

The bodies of six people, described as members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent, were found Thursday in a marshy area of the St. Lawrence River, which forms the Canada-U.S. border.

Akwesasne Mohawk Police Chief Shawn Dulude said authorities were still looking for a man, identified as Casey Oakes, 30, who was last seen Wednesday operating a boat that was found next to the bodies.

A police helicopter spotted the latest two bodies in the water.

"A total of eight bodies have now been recovered from the waters. All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the United States from Canada," Dulude said.

A child discovered Friday was a Canadian citizen and a member of the Romanian family, Dulude said. The body of an adult woman believed to be an Indian national was also recovered.

Dulude said he didn't know if Oakes was alive or not, adding that he was a person of interest.

The territory is known for being a transit point for the trafficking of humans and contraband because of its location. And in February, police in Akwesasne reported an increase in human smuggling into the Mohawk territory.

"Our community has been exploited by this," said Grand Chief Abram Benedict of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. "This is not the first time that tragedy has happened in our community like this. We've had other losses."

Weather conditions in the area were rough Wednesday night, said Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service.

O'Brien said six of the bodies were located during a search for Oakes, who was reported missing Thursday. Oakes of Akwesasne was last seen Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. boarding a small boat departing from the east end of Cornwall Island, located in the St. Lawrence River and on the Ontario side of the Mohawk territory.

"This is a heartbreaking situation," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. "We need to understand properly what happened, how it happened and do whatever we can to minimize the chances of this ever happening again."

The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service said the first body was located about 5 p.m. Thursday in a marsh. The area was searched further by a police marine unit with the help of the Canadian Coast Guard and the Hogansburg Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department.

Air support units with the Quebec provincial police and Ontario Provincial Police also assisted.

Post-mortem and toxicology tests have been ordered to determine the cause of the deaths.

Akwesasne police say there have been about 80 people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

Akwesasne straddles the Canada-United States border, and has territory in Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

"There's always been people coming through here," Dulude said. "I've always been worried about it. It's just that now there's more attention."

He said it's mostly people going south to the U.S., and it is rare that someone comes north.

Tony Jackson, an Akwesasne resident, said the weather Wednesday, when Oakes was last seen, was calm during the day but later turned rough.

"The east wind around here creates a lot of waves, 5 feet [1.5 meters] tall, maybe taller," Jackson said. He said he believed Oakes' boat was less than 6 meters long.

Crossing the river on a little boat with many people on board, "that called for disaster," he said.

He said he had never heard Oakes talk about transporting migrants. But Jackson said he had personally witnessed groups of migrants crossing through fields with bags in hand and had occasionally seen boats carrying large groups of people across the river.

"A couple of times in one month, you'll see a couple of them walking down the road with all their bags," he said.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. A seventh person, spotted leaving the vessel and wading ashore, was later identified as a U.S. citizen. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials described what happened as a human smuggling incident.

Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden announced a plan last week to close a loophole to an immigration agreement that allowed thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to move between the two countries along a back road linking New York state to Quebec.

The deal closing an illegal border crossing point about 105 kilometers east of Akwesasne took effect Saturday. O'Brien said it has nothing to do with the closure of the Roxham Road illegal crossing into Canada.

Early last year, a Florida man was charged with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teen, were found in Canada near the U.S. border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard between Manitoba, Canada, and North Dakota. The dead were Indian nationals trying to enter the U.S.
Iran says it will provide information by Tuesday about Farid Safarli, an Azerbaijani student who went missing after traveling to Iran, according to his family.

Farid Safarlis mother, Dilara Asgarova, told VOAs Azerbaijani Service that she met Friday with the deputy ambassador of Iran to Azerbaijan. The official said the Iranian Embassy would respond by April 4 to a letter from Azerbaijans Foreign Affairs Ministry about Safarlis disappearance, according to Asgarova.

The deputy ambassador said that they spoke with the authorities in Iran. At the latest, information about Farid will be given on Tuesday of next week, she said.

Safarli had been studying at a German university when he traveled to Iran on Feb. 20 to meet his girlfriend and then disappeared. His family has not heard from him since March 4.

Azerbaijans Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Iranian Embassy inquiring about Safarli on March 9 and there has yet to be a response.

Asgarova said she still does not know about her sons condition and continues to search for him, which has included travels to Germany and Iran.

She described her searches in Iran as fruitless.

We approached the Iranian police and sent a request to the court through a lawyer to provide information about Farid, and there was nothing else we could do, she said.

Earlier, Asgarova told VOA that Safarli met his girlfriend, who is an Iranian citizen, in Jena, Germany, where she was participating in a medical training program at a local university.

"After the training, she returned to Iran. Nevertheless, they maintained connection via phone calls. They decided to meet in Istanbul. Farid went to Istanbul, but she could not get her visa at the time. So, Farid went to Iran from Istanbul," Asgarova said.

Asgarova, who earlier traveled to Germany in the search for her son, said German police were able to get access to the information on Safarlis laptop, which she had found in his apartment.

They recovered phone numbers, photos, names, part of [the girlfriends] surname, workplace, just a lot of information about Farid's girlfriend," she said.

German police also confirmed with Pegasus Airlines that Safarli had not flown anywhere since arriving in Tehran last month.

This story originated in VOAs Azerbaijani Service, with Tapdig Farhadoglu, Aziza Goyushzade, and Parvana Bayramova contributing.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday, the first time a former occupant of the White House has faced criminal charges.

In a move without precedent in U.S. history, a grand jury in New York voted Thursday to indict Trump on charges related to paying off a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign.

The highly anticipated charges come as Trump seeks a return to the White House after losing a reelection bid in 2020, making him both the only president, current or former, as well as the only presidential candidate, to be indicted.

The indictment remains under seal, and it is not clear what crimes or how many criminal counts Trump has been charged with. CNN reported that the former president has been charged with more than 30 counts. VOA could not confirm the report.

In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said it has contacted Trump's attorney "to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.'s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment."

To turn himself in, Trump, who lives in Florida, would have to travel to New York, along with his Secret Service detail.

Once in custody, he would be fingerprinted and photographed before being arraigned before a judge and released on his personal recognizance.

Several news outlets, citing unnamed sources, said Trump plans to fly to New York on Monday and spend the night at Trump Tower before appearing in court Tuesday.

On Friday, officials from the Secret Service and the New York Police Department toured the courthouse where Trump is set to be arraigned and discussed security plans.

Susan Necheles, a Trump attorney, told Reuters the former president will plead not guilty.

"I am not afraid of what's to come," Trump said in a fundraising email on Friday.

Trump's campaign has used the indictment in its fundraising efforts and said it raised more than $4 million in the first 24 hours after the indictment was announced.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump criticized the judge expected to oversee his case, Justice Juan Merchan. He wrote Friday the judge "HATES ME" and treated the Trump Organization "VICIOUSLY" during last year's trial in which the company was convicted of tax fraud.

In a statement Thursday, Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing in the case, cast the indictment as part of a long-running Democratic-led witch hunt to destroy his "Make America Great Again" movement.

"This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," the former president wrote. "The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to 'Get Trump,' but now they've done the unthinkable  indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant election interference."

Rather than hurt his candidacy, Trump said the indictment "will backfire massively on [President] Joe Biden."

Last week, writing on his social media platform, Trump warned of "potential death and destruction" if he were indicted, a statement some critics viewed as an incitement to violence.

The indictment, though widely expected, set off a firestorm around Washington.

"Outrageous," tweeted Republican congressman and staunch Trump loyalist Jim Jordan.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, accusing Bragg of weaponizing the justice system against Trump, vowed that the House would hold the prosecutor and "his unprecedented abuse of power to account."

Other Republicans who are not particularly close to Trump similarly viewed the prosecution as politically motivated.

The reaction from Democrats, on the other hand, was predictably favorable.

In a statement, former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote that the grand jury "has acted upon the facts and the law."

"No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence," she wrote. "Hopefully, the former President will peacefully respect the system, which grants him that right."

President Biden declined to comment on the matter Friday, telling reporters, "I'm not going to talk about Trump's indictment."

The indictment grew out of a federal investigation of hush money payments that Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

The secret payment came to light in early 2018. Flipping on his former boss, Cohen testified in August 2018 that at Trump's direction, he paid Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with the real estate mogul-turned Republican candidate. The Trump Organization later reimbursed Cohen for "legal" services.

While paying hush money is not illegal, federal prosecutors charged that classifying the payment as a "legal" fee violated federal campaign finance laws.

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple federal criminal charges, including campaign finance violations, and later served more than a year in prison.

While federal prosecutors did not charge Trump at the time, the Manhattan district attorney's office subsequently picked up the case and began receiving grand jury testimony in January.

Cohen, the prosecutors' star witness, testified before the panel multiple times.

In a statement issued Thursday, Cohen said he stood by his testimony and the evidence he has provided prosecutors.

While the indictment remains under seal, legal experts say the charges against Trump likely center on New York's false business records law.

Under the law, falsifying business records is normally a misdemeanor. When it is done with the intent to commit or hide a second crime, it rises to the level of a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

What additional offenses, if any, Trump has been charged with remains unclear.

Although prosecutors typically bring charges against a defendant only when they believe they can get a conviction, convicting Trump is far from certain, according to legal experts.

While Trump has admitted to reimbursing Cohen for the hush money payment, he has said it "had nothing to do with the campaign."

His lawyers have placed the responsibility on Cohen.

"The payments were made to a lawyer, not to Stormy Daniels," Joseph Tacopina, one of Trump's lawyers, said on MSNBC recently. "The payments were made to Donald Trump's lawyer, which would be considered legal fees," he said.

Cohen was "his lawyer at the time and advised him that this was the proper way to do this, to protect himself and his family from embarrassment. It's as simple as that," Tacopina said.

But other legal experts argue that prosecutors should be guided by a long-standing principle: treating like cases alike.

In a recent piece on the website Just Security, co-editor-in-chief and New York University law professor Ryan Goodman highlighted cases that he said show how prosecutors in New York "have thrown the book at individuals for falsifying business records  some cases involving actions far less egregious than Trump's alleged conduct."

In 2021, a mental health therapy aide was indicted under the statute for defrauding more than $35,000 in workers' compensation benefits.

Last year, an insurance broker was indicted for allegedly creating and filing fraudulent certificates of liability insurance to further scheme to defraud.

The hush money indictment is not the only criminal case the former president faces.

In Georgia, prosecutors are considering bringing criminal charges in connection with Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in the state. Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, U.S. Justice Department-appointed special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating Trump's role in trying to upend Biden's victory as well as his handling of classified documents after he left office.

While in office, Trump was twice impeached, but not convicted.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Faced with an increasing number of women defying the compulsory dress code, Irans judiciary chief has threatened to prosecute "without mercy" women who appear in public unveiled, Iranian media reported Saturday.

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeis warning comes on the heels of an Interior Ministry statement Thursday that reinforced the governments mandatory hijab law.

Unveiling is tantamount to enmity with (our) values, Ejei was quoted as saying by several news sites. Those who commit such anomalous acts will be punished and will be prosecuted without mercy, he said, without saying what the punishment entails.

Ejei, Iran's chief justice, said law enforcement officers were obliged to refer obvious crimes and any kind of abnormality that is against the religious law and occurs in public to judicial authorities.

A growing number of Iranian women have been ditching their veils since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police last September. Mahsa Amini had been detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule.

Government forces violently put down months of nationwide revolt unleashed by her death.

Still, risking arrest for defying the obligatory dress code, women are widely seen unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops and streets around the country. Videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media.

Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators have faced public rebuke, fines or arrest.

Describing the veil as one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation and one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic, the Interior Ministry statement Thursday said there would be no retreat or tolerance on the issue.

It urged ordinary citizens to confront unveiled women. Such directives have in past decades emboldened hardliners to attack women without impunity.
Blaire Davis and Anna Sendgraff, both of Fremont, have been selected to attend American Legion Auxiliary Cornhusker Girls State from June 4-10 on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

The girls were selected based on selection criteria through American Legion Auxiliary Unit 20 of Fremont. They will study local, county and state government processes in this nonpartisan political learning experience. Every spring, the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State Program provides approximately 25,000 young women with a hands-on educational experience designed to instruct tomorrows leaders in the privileges and duties of responsible citizenship.

Delegates receive special instruction in parliamentary procedure and organize themselves into two mythical political parties. They then campaign, hold rallies, debate and ultimately vote to elect city, county and state officials. Once elected to office, delegates are sworn in and perform their prescribed duties. Citizens not elected to office are given appointments and will attend meetings with the offices of their elected or appointed counterparts in actual state, county and city government.

Two outstanding citizens, known as senators, are selected at each of the 50 Girls State sessions held across the country to represent their state at American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation held in Washington, D.C., in July.

Founded in 1919, the American Legion Auxiliary is the worlds largest patriotic womens service organization. With a membership of nearly 850,000, local auxiliary units have a strong presence in more than 9,500 communities nationwide. The auxiliarys mission to serve veterans, their families and their communities is carried out through its hundreds of outreach programs delivered by its members, volunteers and national headquarters.
Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government's privacy watchdog said Friday.

The Italian Data Protection Authority said it was taking provisional action "until ChatGPT respects privacy," including temporarily limiting the company from processing Italian users' data.

U.S.-based OpenAI, which developed the chatbot, said late Friday night it has disabled ChatGPT for Italian users at the government's request. The company said it believes its practices comply with European privacy laws and hopes to make ChatGPT available again soon.

While some public schools and universities around the world have blocked ChatGPT from their local networks over student plagiarism concerns, Italy's action is "the first nation-scale restriction of a mainstream AI platform by a democracy," said Alp Toker, director of the advocacy group NetBlocks, which monitors internet access worldwide.

The restriction affects the web version of ChatGPT, popularly used as a writing assistant, but is unlikely to affect software applications from companies that already have licenses with OpenAI to use the same technology driving the chatbot, such as Microsoft's Bing search engine.

The AI systems that power such chatbots, known as large language models, are able to mimic human writing styles based on the huge trove of digital books and online writings they have ingested.

The Italian watchdog said OpenAI must report within 20 days what measures it has taken to ensure the privacy of users' data or face a fine of up to either 20 million euros (nearly $22 million) or 4% of annual global revenue.

The agency's statement cites the EU's General Data Protection Regulation and pointed to a recent data breach involving ChatGPT "users' conversations" and information about subscriber payments.

OpenAI earlier announced that it had to take ChatGPT offline on March 20 to fix a bug that allowed some people to see the titles, or subject lines, of other users' chat history.

"Our investigation has also found that 1.2% of ChatGPT Plus users might have had personal data revealed to another user," the company had said. "We believe the number of users whose data was actually revealed to someone else is extremely low and we have contacted those who might be impacted."

Italy's privacy watchdog, known as the Garante, also questioned whether OpenAI had legal justification for its "massive collection and processing of personal data" used to train the platform's algorithms. And it said ChatGPT can sometimes generate  and store  false information about individuals.

Finally, it noted there's no system to verify users' ages, exposing children to responses "absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness."

OpenAI said in response that it works "to reduce personal data in training our AI systems like ChatGPT because we want our AI to learn about the world, not about private individuals."

"We also believe that AI regulation is necessary  so we look forward to working closely with the Garante and educating them on how our systems are built and used," the company said.

The Italian watchdog's move comes as concerns grow about the artificial intelligence boom. A group of scientists and tech industry leaders published a letter Wednesday calling for companies such as OpenAI to pause the development of more powerful AI models until the fall to give time for society to weigh the risks.

The president of Italy's privacy watchdog agency told Italian state TV Friday evening he was one of those who signed the appeal. Pasquale Stanzione said he did so because "it's not clear what aims are being pursued" ultimately by those developing AI.
The administrator of the National Energy Administration of China, Zhang Jinhua, on Friday paid a visit to Namibia President Hage Geingob. The visit is aimed at establishing cooperation in the area of green hydrogen production.

Namibia is positioning itself as a future green hydrogen producer to attract investment from the globes leading and fastest growing producer of renewable energy  China.

James Mnyupe, Namibias green hydrogen commissioner and economic adviser to the president, told VOA that although Namibia has not signed a partnership with China on green hydrogen, officials are looking to the Asian country as a critical partner. But it isnt talking to China alone.

We have an MOU [Memo of Understanding] with Europe; we are also discussing possibilities of collaboration with the United States, he said. If you look at any of these green hydrogen projects as I mentioned, simply they will use components from all over the world.

He said in the face of rising energy demands around the globe and increased tensions between the East and West, Namibia will not be drawn into picking sides. He was referring to the conflict in Ukraine and its effect on international relations

So today Europes biggest trading partner is China, Chinas biggest markets are the U.S. and Europe so if Namibia trades with Europe, China or the U.S. for that matter, that is not a reason for involving Namibia in any political or conflict-related discussions between those countries, he said.

Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said the visit by U.S. Ambassador to Namibia Randy Berry on Tuesday was aimed at cementing relations in major areas of interest, among them green hydrogen and oil exploration.

Namibia is making tremendous advances in the areas of green energy but also in hydrocarbons, he said. American companies are drilling off the coast of the Republic of Namibia and so it was a courtesy visit just to emphasize increasing cooperation in these areas.

Speaking through an interpreter, Chinas administrator for its National Energy Administration on Friday said China is ready to partner with Namibia in all areas of green hydrogen.

Hydrogen is an alternative fuel that industrialized nations hope can help them reach their ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emission by 2050.

Mnyupe says Namibia is looking to learn from China on how best to use its experience in producing renewable energy and renewable energy components. Fridays visit is an indication of Chinas interest in partnering with Namibia and participating in the countries green-hydrogen value chain.
Here is a summary of Native American-related news around the U.S. this week:

Vatican repudiates legal, ideological concept that drove colonization

The Vatican is rejecting the so-called Doctrine of Discovery, an ideological and legal concept rooted in 15th Century papal bulls (directives). Together, they have the Churchs blessing for the European conquest of the New World, the enslavement of infidels, and the denial of indigenous land rights.

Many Native Americans and legal analysts say the doctrine underpins U.S. law today. They cite an 1823 Supreme Court case, Johnson v. McIntosh, in which Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that discovery of the New World gave the discoverers a right of title to the land.

The Church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples, reads the Vatican statement. The Church is also aware that the contents of these documents were manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powersto justify immoral acts against indigenous peoplesat times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities.

Shawnee Lenape scholar and author Steven Newcomb has spent much of his career studying the Doctrine. He expressed some concern with the Vatican statement.

Its easy for them to quote the language from the Papal Bull of 1537 because it's favorable language, but they never quote any language from the earlier Papal document to explain what it is we're even complaining about, he told VOA, referring to a decree by a later pope which said Indians should not be robbed of liberty or the possession of their property.

Read Vatican statement here:

Protesters block sale of alleged Native American skull

A North Carolina gallery stopped Saturdays auction of what was listed as a 600-year-old skull of a Native North American after protests by members of a state-recognized tribe and allied demonstrators.

They cited the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which bans all trafficking in Native American human remains for sale or profit unless they are excavated or exhumed with the full consent of the next of kin or a tribe or tribal communitys official governing body.

An archived listing says the skull was purchased in the 1960s from a Montreal antiques gallery and that the 1990 law does not apply because the skull was found prior to 1981.

VOA reached out to Shannon O'Loughlin, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma who is chief executive and attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs.

It is not clear whether NAGPRA applies because we only have third-party information, some of it conflicting, OLoughlin said via email. NAGPRA criminal trafficking provisions only apply if the Ancestor was taken from a U.S. museum or federal agency after November 16, 1990, to traffic, sell or profit off of it.

Read more:

Oglala Tribe to AIM: No more celebratory gunfire at Wounded Knee

The Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribal Council on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has banned the discharge of guns at Wounded Knee, the site of an 1890 massacre of several hundred Lakota men, women and children.

On February 27, 1973, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and their allies occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days, protesting tribal leadership and federal Indian policies. The anniversary of the start of the takeover has since been designated as Liberation Day.

AIM activists and supporters mark the date each year with celebrations at Wounded Knee that include firing their weapons (see clip below, courtesy of a tribe member who asked not to be named).

Descendants of massacre victims and survivors have long opposed the practice as profoundly disrespectful.

My grandfather, he was a survivor of that day, said Marlis Afraid of Hawk. And those relatives who were massacred, they are still there. They didnt cross over. And me, I am their voice.

Adding insult to injury, she noted, the people firing the guns dont even have the decency to pick up their empty shells.

Watch the Oglala Lakota tribal council vote here:

US Army to repatriate Carlisle student remains

The U.S. Army says it has approved the repatriation of the remains of a Carlisle Indian school student who died 144 years ago.

Amos Laframboise was among the first children sent to the Carlisle Indian School, the first of hundreds of schools designed to strip Native youth of their traditions and to remake them as civilized Americans.

He died just 20 days after arriving.

Since 2016, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota has fought to have the childs remains sent home, citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Previously, the Army said that NAGPRA did not apply in this case because the remains are not part of a collection. The Army had also called for a signed affidavit from a lineal descendant of the child.

Tribal members say the army notified them this week that Laframboise will be disinterred in September.

Read more:

Lakota artist: Were still here

Danielle SeeWalker, a Hunkpapa Lakota artist from the Standing Rock Reservation now living in Colorado, says she is working to give an accurate and insightful representation of contemporary Native American life. Her artwork is on exhibit in the Western U.S. state of Colorado. VOAs Scott Stearns gives us a look.
Pakistan said Saturday that four of its soldiers were killed when a "group of terrorists" from across the Iranian side of the border attacked a routine military patrol operating between the two countries.



The deadly cross-border raid took place in the remote Kech district in southwestern Baluchistan province abutting Iran, the Pakistani military said in a statement.

"Necessary contact with the Iranian side is being made for effective action against terrorists on the Iranian side and to prevent such incidents in the future," the statement said, without providing further details.



The Iranian Embassy in Islamabad condemned the attack and expressed sympathy to the families of the slain soldiers.



"Terrorism is the common pain of the two countries and the two Muslim nations have sacrificed precious lives in the fight against this plague," the Iranian Embassy said on Twitter.



"Undoubtedly, strengthening the joint cooperation between the two countries will prevent terrorist groups from achieving their sinister goals," wrote the Iranian diplomatic mission.



Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of the security personnel in the terrorist attack, his office said in a statement.

No group immediately took responsibility for Saturday's attack, the second incident this year in Baluchistan, where ethnic Baluch separatists routinely target Pakistani security forces.



In mid-January, four Pakistani troops were killed when a military convoy patrolling along the more than 900-kilometer border came under an insurgent attack from across the Iranian side.



The outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army, or BLA, routinely takes credit for attacks on Pakistani security forces. Officials in Islamabad say the group has set up sanctuaries in border areas of Iran, charges Tehran rejects.



The Global Terrorism Index, released in March by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace, said that BLA was responsible for 36% of nearly 650 terror-related deaths in Pakistan in 2022, making it "the fastest-growing terrorist group in the world."



Pakistan, the United States, and Britain have designated the BLA as a terrorist organization.



Baluch insurgents claim to be fighting for the independence of Baluchistan, alleging extortion by the central government of the region's natural resources and discrimination against its ethnic Baluch population. Pakistani authorities reject the charges.



The sparsely populated province, which also shares a significant chunk of the country's nearly 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan, is at the center of a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure development project being funded by China in Pakistan under Beijing's global Belt and Road Initiative.


A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that he's still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peter's Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis' Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend's Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peter's Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask, Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the child's already well-autographed cast.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favorites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, Long live the pope! and clapped.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they "show great tenderness."

We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals, he said. Francis also said he read journalists' accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.''

Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, Forward, thanks.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered, Yes.

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi [Latin for to the city and to the world] address, a review of the globe's conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peter's Square.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.
On Saturday, in what some critics say sounds more like an April Fools' joke than reality, Russia will take over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for the month, and no one can prevent it.

With Russia's war in Ukraine entering its 14th month, an arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court for President Vladimir Putin, and Moscow planning to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus, critics are questioning how Russia could helm the U.N.'s most powerful organ.

"The question is very clear: Can the war criminal head the U.N. Security Council?" Andrius Kubilius, a Lithuanian member of the European Parliament, asked during a session Wednesday, referring to Putin.

On March 17, The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader for his alleged role in the abduction and unlawful deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

"I think that people are seeing it the wrong way round. I think that people should understand that this month is more of a headache than an advantage for the Russians," Richard Gowan, U.N. director for International Crisis Group, told VOA.

"If they try and use the presidency to try to stir up trouble for the Ukrainians, or push their narratives about the war, they will just get an enormous amount of blowback," he added.

The 15-nation Security Council is the U.N.'s most powerful organ. It can authorize military action, deploy peacekeepers, sanction nations and individuals, and refer possible war crimes cases to the International Criminal Court.

Council members take turns as president according to alphabetical order (by English spellings). The last time Russia came up in the rotation was February 2022. On the 24th day of its presidency, Putin launched his "special military operation" into Ukraine, in a flagrant breach of the U.N. Charter and international law  also in the middle of a council meeting hoping to prevent it.

The only time in recent history when a country missed its presidency was in 1994 in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, according to Security Council Report, a think tank that studies the council's transparency and effectiveness. At the time, Rwanda was a non-permanent council member.

Rwanda's council seat was vacant for six weeks from mid-July, when Pasteur Bizimungu became Rwanda's president, until September, when Rwanda should have been council president.

"But clearly the new government had just taken up the seat; they didn't have time to prepare. They just had experienced the genocide and they had a new government," Security Council Report told VOA. "So, they skipped Rwanda, and the seat went to Spain, which was next in alphabetical order."

The council decided that Rwanda would get its chance, once the alphabetical rotation had been completed, and it did sit as president in December 1994.

As for Russia's presidency, no one can prevent it.

From the White House podium on Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that a country that "flagrantly violates the U.N. Charter" and invades its neighbor has no place on the council, but there is "no feasible international legal pathway" around that.

"As unpalatable as it may be to see Russia presiding over the council, the reality is this is a largely ceremonial position which rotates to council members month by month in alphabetical order," she said, adding that the U.S. encourages Russia to conduct itself professionally so the council can carry out its work.

"Russia is a permanent member," said one council diplomat. "While they are misbehaving gravely on Ukraine and just tearing the [U.N.] Charter apart, my expectation is they will do this presidency in a professional manner."

Ukraine is outraged that Russia is on the council, much less chairing it. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow's presidency is a "bad joke."

Kyiv argues that Moscow should have formally applied for U.N. membership after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and since it has not done so, it does not have the legal right to be on the council, much less a permanent, veto-wielding member.

"Russia's presence in the U.N. Security Council is the result of the largest diplomatic fraud of the 20th century," Kuleba said Thursday at a Chatham House discussion of Russia's war. "We should delegitimize Russia's presence in the U.N. Security Council first, by exposing the truth to everyone."

Regardless of optics or opinions, U.N. observers say there is little Russia can do to exploit its position as council president.

"It's not like the G-20, G-7 or EU presidency where you chair six months or a year and where you inject your own agenda," the council diplomat said.

"I think the role of the council president is a bit overrated," Crisis Group's Gowan said. "Most of it is just chairing meetings and shuffling paper."

Among Russia's planned meetings in April will be a ministerial-level debate chaired by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the defense of the U.N. Charter.

Moscow also plans to hold an informal council meeting early in the month on the issue of Ukrainian children abducted and forcibly deported to Russia, which Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said was planned before the ICC issued its warrant for Putin. The envoy has described the issue of the children as "totally overblown."

And on April 10, Russia has scheduled a meeting on Western arms transfers to Ukraine. Western nations say they are sending equipment, weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as it is fighting in self-defense. They accuse Moscow of obtaining illegal arms transfers from Iran and North Korea.

Boycott

There have been some calls for nations to boycott Russia's presidency, including a nascent online petition campaign. Ironically, the only council member ever to boycott council proceedings was the former Soviet Union.

In 1950, the USSR boycotted council meetings for more than six months over the issue of China's U.N. representation. Moscow had recognized the Communist People's Republic of China as the legitimate government and wanted its representative to replace the Nationalist Chinese delegation.

"They did come back into the council on August 1, 1950, which was their presidency," Security Council Report told VOA. "The reason why they came back was because that was during the Korean War and all these votes on U.N. engagement in Korea were being adopted because they were not there to veto them. So they realized it was disadvantageous to them to not be sitting in the council."
The Taliban have closed a local women's radio station in the northeastern province of Badakhshan for broadcasting music. Media watchdogs considered the move an attempt to bar women from working in media in the province.

On Friday, Mazuddin Ahmadi, the Taliban's director of information and culture for Badakhshan province, told VOA that Radio Sada-e-Banowan (Voice of Women Radio) was closed because it "violated policies."

"We repeatedly told them that airing music is forbidden and you should not air music," said Ahmadi. "Unfortunately, during the month of Ramadan, they ignored several warnings and aired music. Finally, yesterday, after consulting with elders, we closed the radio station."

Ahmadi said that "the closure is temporary, and if the radio officials guarantee that they will not air music, we will allow the radio to broadcast again."

But a local journalist in the province who has knowledge of the case and asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal told VOA that the radio station's local programs did not include any music.

"The Taliban claimed that music was aired, but they did not say when and what type of music was aired," the journalist said.

He added that even before the Taliban's takeover, radio stations in Badakhshan province had avoided broadcasting music during the holy month of Ramadan.

The journalist said the local Taliban authorities "planned to close the women-run radio in the province months ago, and they did it during the month of Ramadan."

Radio Sada-e-Banowan was one of the few Afghan radio stations run by women that had been operating since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders reported that there were no female journalists in 11 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, and that about 600 of the 2,700 female reporters active before the Taliban took control were still working in the country.

After returning to power, the Taliban imposed repressive measures on women, including banning them from work, secondary and university education, and unaccompanied long-distance travel.

The Taliban in Badakhshan "asked women media workers not to go to offices. Therefore, women working with the radio station were producing their shows at home and then airing them on the radio," said Gul Mohammad Graan, president of the Afghan chapter of the South Asian Association of Reporters Club and Journalists Forum.

No media law

Graan told VOA that the problem arises from a misunderstanding on the part of implementing the media law.

"I think there is a legal vacuum, and it has created misunderstanding. Radio and other media operators and managers do not know what to broadcast, and [the Taliban's] government officials in different provinces have their own interpretation of the broadcasting directives."

In September 2021, shortly after coming to power, the Taliban issued broadcasting directives that media watchdogs interpreted as a sign that the Taliban planned to censor media content in the country.

"Notifications and letters are not enough," Graan said. "If the previous media law does not have any problem, then it should be enacted. If not, then they should come up with a new media law."

In February 2022, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban had no issue with enacting the media law under the former government. He promised to revive the Joint Media and Media Violation commissions.

According to media watchdogs, the press freedom situation has deteriorated in Taliban-run Afghanistan, where media face censorship and violence and women's voices are largely silenced.

Facing worst situation

Hamid Obaidi, a former journalism lecturer at Kabul University and the head of the Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization, told VOA he believes the closure of women-run radio in Badakhshan is an attempt to stop women from working in media.

"In the past several months, we have witnessed that women journalists and media workers face repressive restrictions. This means that the Taliban have problems with women journalists working, and they aim to stop women from working," he said.

He added that the situation for female journalists in Afghanistan has become increasingly difficult under the Taliban.

"Women journalists who continue to work face the worst situation in Afghanistan," he said.

Ekram Shinwari and VOA's Afghan Service contributed to this report.
A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraine's top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.

Metropolitan Pavel is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraines most revered Orthodox site. He has denied the charges and resisted the authorities' order to vacate the complex.

In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russias invasion was politically driven.

I have never been on the side of aggression, Pavel told reporters in the courthouse. This is my land.

After the court's ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it.

I am accepting this, he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldnt I accept this?

Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.

Ties to Russia

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

The UOC has insisted that its loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian security agencies say some in the church have maintained close ties with Moscow. The agencies have raided numerous holy sites of the church and then posted photos of rubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

The government had ordered the monks to leave the compound by March 29. It claims they violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site, and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Supporters and protesters

Dozens of UOC supporters gathered outside the monastery Saturday, singing hymns in the rain. A smaller group of protesters also turned up, accusing the other side of sympathizing with Moscow.

They wash the brains of people with Russian support, and they are very dangerous for Ukraine, said Senia Kravchuk, a 38-year-old software developer from Kyiv. They sing songs in support of Russia, and thats horrible, here, in the center of Kyiv.

Third-year seminary student David, 21, disagreed. Dressed in a priests robes and with a Ukrainian flag draped round his shoulders, he insisted the Lavra priests and residents were in no way pro-Russian. The state, he said, was trying to evict hundreds of people from Lavra without a court order.

Look at me. Im in priests clothes, with a Ukrainian flag and a cross around my neck. Could you say that Im pro-Russian? said David, who declined to give his last name because of the tensions surrounding the issue. The priests are currently singing a Ukrainian hymn, and theyre being called pro-Russian. Can you believe it?

Ties cut

Many Orthodox communities in Ukraine have cut their ties with the UOC and transitioned to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which more than four years ago received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Bartholomew I is considered the first among equals and one of the leaders of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Patriarch Kirill and most other Orthodox patriarchs have refused to accept his decision authorizing the second Ukrainian church.
The United Nations disarmament chief warned Friday that the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is higher now than at any other time since the Cold War.

The war in Ukraine represents the most acute example of that risk, High Representative for Disarmament Izumi Nakamitsu told a Security Council meeting.



The meeting was requested by Ukraine, and supported by the United States and Albania, to discuss Russias March 25 announcement that it plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

When it comes to issues related to nuclear weapons, I wish to be clear at the outset: All states must avoid taking any actions that could lead to escalation, mistake or miscalculation, she said.

Nakamitsu added that all parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons  nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states  should strictly adhere to their commitments and obligations under the treaty.

Nakamitsu urged states to return to dialogue and de-escalate tensions, and she appealed specifically to Russia and the United States to return to full implementation of the New START Treaty, a major arms control pact between the two powers.

Russia said last month it would no longer comply with New START, and it announced this week that it would stop sharing nuclear weapons data twice a year. Washington said it would withhold its nuclear data in an effort to encourage Moscow to return to compliance with the treaty.

At the council meeting, the two envoys verbally sparred over who had violated or withdrawn first from a number of arms control treaties.

On the issue of Russias planned deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, the U.S. envoy urged Moscow to reconsider.

Russia should immediately cease escalatory rhetoric around the use of nuclear weapons, Ambassador Robert Wood said. Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in Ukraine would have severe consequences for the maintenance of international peace and security and would fundamentally change the nature of this war.

He also urged Belarus to cease its complicity with Russias invasion. Russia staged part of its invasion of Ukraine from Belarus.

Russias envoy said Moscow is not violating its international non-proliferation obligations.

President Putin was clear about the fact that we are not transferring nuclear weapons, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said. We are talking about the transfer to Belarus of operational, tactical missile complexes, Iskander-M missiles. We are talking about the retrofitting of airplanes at the Belarusian airport and the training of teams and the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus  and all this will be under Russian control.

Nebenzia claimed Moscow is stationing the weapons in Belarus to protect its ally from Western threats, as the West sends more weapons to Ukraine.

Just days after Moscows February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, a referendum in Belarus approved a new constitution ending its non-nuclear-state status, paving the way for the Kremlin to move tactical nuclear weapons there.

Belarus is not prepared to attack anyone first, but rather is responding appropriately using all existing capacity  responding to any foreign aggression, Ambassador Valentin Rybakov told the meeting. This cooperation between Russia and Belarus is nothing new.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya denounced the move.

Belarus is not a Russian military base  it's an independent country of free people. We can't let Lukashenka turn our country into a nuclear wasteland, she said on Twitter Friday about President Alexander Lukashenko.



Council members expressed concern about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and said regressing on nuclear commitments must stop.

Backsliding in disarmament must stop before it renders the NPT a dead letter, Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho warned of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Without billions of dollars more to feed millions of hungry people, the world will see mass migration, destabilized countries, and starving children and adults in the next 12-18 months, the head of the Nobel prize-winning U.N. World Food Program warned Friday.

David Beasley praised increased funding from the United States and Germany last year, and urged China, Gulf nations, billionaires and other countries to step up big time.

In an interview before he hands the reins of the worlds largest humanitarian organization to U.S. ambassador Cindy McCain next week, the former South Carolina governor said hes extremely worried that WFP wont raise about $23 billion it needs this year to help an estimated 350 million people in 49 countries who desperately need food.

Right at this stage, Ill be surprised if we get 40% of it, quite frankly, he said.

WFP was in a similar crisis last year, he said, but fortunately he was able to convince the United States to increase its funding from about $3.5 billion to $7.4 billion and Germany to raise its contribution from $350 million a few years ago to $1.7 billion, but he doesnt think theyll do it again this year.

Other countries need to step up now, he said, starting with China, the worlds second-largest economy which gave WFP just $11 million last year.

Beasley applauded China for its success in substantially reducing hunger and poverty at home, but said it gave less than one cent per person last year compared to the United States, the world's leading economy, which gave about $22 per person.

China needs to engage in the multilateral world and be willing to provide help that is critical, he said. They have a moral obligation to do so.

Beasley said theyve done an incredible job of feeding their people, and now we need their help in other parts of the world on how they did it, particularly in poorer countries including in Africa.

With high oil prices Gulf countries can also do more, especially Muslim nations that have relations with countries in east Africa, the Sahara and elsewhere in the Middle East, he said, expressing hope they will increase contributions.

Beasley said the wealthiest billionaires made unprecedented profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and "its not too much to ask some of the multibillionaires to step up and help us in the short-term crisis, even though charity isnt a long-term solution to the food crisis.

In the long-term, he said what hed really like to see is billionaires using their experience and success to engage in the worlds greatest need  and that is food on the planet to feed 8 billion people.

The world has to understand that the next 12 to 18 months is critical, and if we back off the funding, you will have mass migration, and you will have destabilization nations and that will all be on top of starvation among children and people around the world, he warned.

Beasley said WFP was just forced to cut rations by 50% to 4 million people in Afghanistan, and these are people who are knocking on famines door now.

We dont have enough money just to reach the most vulnerable people now, he said. So we are in a crisis over the cliff stage right now, where we literally could have hell on earth if were not very careful.

Beasley said hes been telling leaders in the West and Europe that while theyre focusing everything on Ukraine and Russia, you better well not forget about whats south and southeast of you because I can assure you it is coming your way if you dont pay attention and get on top of it.

With $400 trillion worth of wealth on the planet, he said, theres no reason for any child to die of starvation.

The WFP executive director said leaders have to prioritize the humanitarian needs that are going to have the greatest impact on stability in societies around the world.

He singled out several priority places -- Africas Sahel region as well as the east including Somalia, northern Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia; Syria which is having an impact on Jordan and Lebanon; and Central and South America where the number of people migrating to the United States is now five times what it was a year-and-a-half ago.
Orest Lechnowskys dad lived when people in his Ukrainian village used horses and wagons and only the doctor had a car. Lechnowskys mom remembers how difficult life was in Germany after World War II.

Lechnowskys parents immigrated to the United States and he grew up hearing their stories, which added to his own interest in history.

Today, Lechnowsky, who lives in Omaha, is vice president of the Ukrainian American Association of Nebraska. He has a bachelors degree from the University of Nebraska with coursework in the history of medieval Europe and the geography of Europe and the Soviet Union.

As war rages in Ukraine after the Russian invasion of that country, Lechnowsky seeks to dispel misinformation and help Americans gain insight into his fathers native land  a place where people cherish freedom.

On Wednesday, April 5, Lechnowsky will share his thoughts and a historical perspective of Ukraine. The public is invited to the free program, which starts at 1 p.m., in the Scribner-Snyder Community School Auditorium.

Contrary to (Russian President) Vladimir Putins assertion that Ukrainians and Russians are one and the same people  and so therefore Ukraine should be part of Russia  the actual reality is that Ukraine and Russia, for most of their history, have been separate entities, Lechnowsky said.

Ukraine has had long-standing and deep connections with Western Europe, whereas Russia had not.

Lechnowsky said Ukraine has long had a love of freedom and democracy as opposed to the Russian comfort with autocracy  a system of government whereby one person has absolute power.

Ukraine is the largest country inside Europe and a huge contributor to the world economy, especially with the grain it produces, he said. Many other countries in the world face famine  depending on what happens in Ukraine.

Lechnowsky talks about his heart for that nation.

Before coming to the U.S., his dad, Fred, lived in a remote village in the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine. The people used horses and wagons and had no tractors, electricity or running water. Farmers raised poultry, cattle, hogs, potatoes and oats.

A doctor had a car which he used to make the rounds between villages. The car proved impressive.

They all thought that was a fantastic thing, Lechnowsky said.

Like many of his peers, Fred Lechnowsky was rounded up by the Germans during World War II and shipped to Germany to provide slave labor for the war effort.

He never saw his parents or siblings again. As a slave laborer, he delivered coal and later worked in a lumber mill.

Due to Soviet policy, he either could not or would not return home after the war. He became a displaced person and applied to come to the United States as part of a refugee relocation program.

When Lechnowskys father came to the United States in 1949, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. His dad looked forward to a time when Ukraine would possibly free itself.

Meanwhile, Fred Lechnowsky worked for a sheep rancher in Cozad, then came to Omaha where he worked in packing plants.

Orest Lechnowskys mother, Helene, grew up in Germany. After the war, she worked for a German telephone company as a switchboard operator. The company was tied into the U.S. Army base in Germany and she taught herself English so she could patch in calls from the U.S. to the base.

Helene saw the U.S. as a place of opportunity and came here in the early 1960s. She stayed with a German family, who lived in Omaha, before finding her own apartment. She became a receptionist at United AG, a grocery distributor.

One of Fred Lechnowskys acquaintances had a wife who worked at United AG.

They thought my dad would really like this new girl who came to work there and so they fixed them up on a blind date, Lechnowsky said.

Fred and Helene married in 1963. They bought a house and had four children. The couple took their children to West Germany, where they met relatives and visited various sites.

But Ukraine was closed off to us, Orest Lechnowsky said.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became independent. Fred Lechnowsky, who was then 70 years old, wanted to return home. Orest accompanied his father to his home in Ukraine in 1992. His father was the oldest survivor from his generation, but met his siblings grandchildren and the children and grandchildren of other people hed known.

Life really hadnt changed in the village since his departure. People still used horses and wagons. The village had electricity only for lights. There was no indoor plumbing.

That put some context to the stories that he had told us, Lechnowsky said.

But it also showed the lack of progress, which occurred everywhere except in large cities, due to Soviet domination.

After the Soviet Unions collapse, Ukraine developed rapidly. For instance, Lechnowskys family in Ukraine hadnt had a telephone. Then they skipped from having a landline and went from no phone straight to Smart phones.

Seeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has been heartbreaking.

When they declared independence in 1991, I was holding my breath, because I did not think Russia would allow it, but I think Russia was not in a position to do anything about it at that time, he said.

They had their own problems.

Lechnowsky said the idea that Russia wasnt happy with an independent Ukraine isnt a surprise.

And I think were to the point now where were seeing that Russia feels like it can force Ukraine back into the control of Russia, Lechnowsky said.

Since February 2022, a number of Ukrainian refugees have settled in Nebraska and the region, because of the efforts of Lutheran Family Services and other organizations. The confirmation class of St. Pauls and Elim Lutheran churches in rural Hooper provided welcome bags to the Ukrainian families, who arrived in Norfolk last fall.

Lechnowsky said he believes some Ukrainian immigrants will be in the audience on Wednesday.

Ill be talking to both people who know very well what Im talking about and those who are hearing it maybe for the first time, Lechnowsky said.

During his talk, Lechnowsky plans to provide a broad sweep of history.

Ukraine is a nation that has kind of sprung to the forefront in the last few years, but its really a very old nation, he said. Were going to be starting with its history 7,500 years ago. Well zip right through that early part and lay the foundation of how we got to where we are today.

Scribner-Hooper area Men in Mission group is sponsoring the presentation. No registration is necessary.

This is the eighth year that this group has presented a program at Scribner-Snyder and/or Logan View Public Schools.

We appreciate the willingness of the administration and staff of the schools to make these programs successful, said Men in Mission member Jim Ebel in a prepared statement. This is also an excellent opportunity for everyone in the communities to learn more about the history of Ukraine and our new neighbors in Nebraska. We hope to see a large turnout for this program.
The United States has announced its intention to open an embassy in Vanuatu.

The State Department said in a statement Friday that the establishment of a Vanuatu embassy would further strengthen the bilateral relationship.

Washingtons opening of an embassy in the South Pacific nation is widely viewed as a means of countering the growing Chinese influence in the region.

The United States has also announced plans to open embassies in the Pacific Island nations of Kiribati and Tonga.
Editor's note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com

Refugee Rights Advocates Express Concern Over New US-Canada Border Deal

Human rights activists and immigration advocates expressed concerns over a new immigration deal between Canada and the United States that allows either country to turn away asylum-seekers who reach the border at unofficial crossings. Immigration reporter Aline Barros has the story.

Canada Migrant Death Toll at 8 after 2 More Bodies Found

The bodies of two more migrants who died trying to cross from Canada into the United States were found Friday, bringing the death toll to eight, including two children, police in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne said. The bodies of six people, described as members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent, were found Thursday in a marshy area of the St. Lawrence River, which forms the Canada-U.S. border in that area.

At Least 40 Dead in Fire at Mexico Border Migrant Facility

After a fire broke out at an immigration detention center in Mexico, two of the centers guards can be seen running away, apparently making no attempt to release the men before smoke filled the room, surveillance footage shows. Immigration reporter Aline Barros has the story.

US Justice Department To Go On Hiring Spree for Immigration Judges

The U.S. Justice Department is going on a hiring spree for immigration judges in hopes of easing an intractable case backlog. In its budget proposal for fiscal 2024, which starts October 1, the department is seeking $1.46 billion for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a subagency within the department tasked with adjudicating immigration claims. Story by Masood Farivar who covers the Justice Department and the FBI for Voice of America.

Mexican President Vows to Deliver Justice for Migrants Killed in Fire

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday vowed to bring to justice whoever was responsible for the deaths of 38 migrants in a fire at a migrant holding center in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez this week. Story reported by Reuters.

Texas Officials Find Migrants in Shipping Container on a Train

The bodies of two people were found Friday on a freight train in Texas after someone telephoned officials to let them know that there were people on board who were in distress. VOANEWS reports.

Immigration around the world

Ghanaian Community Moves to Aid Burkina Faso Asylum Seekers

More than a thousand people fleeing militant attacks in Burkina Faso have sought refuge in Ghana in recent months and are waiting for their status to be determined. To help, villagers in northern Ghana are donating land to a refugee camp. Senanu Tord reports from Sapelliga. Camera: Senanu Tord.

UN Refugee Agency in Mozambique Appeals for Help to Deal with DRC Refugees

The representative of the U.N. refugee agency in Mozambique said refugees fleeing war-torn parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo are making a complicated humanitarian crisis in northern Mozambique even worse. Produced by Charles Mangwiro.

El Salvador Calls for Investigation after Deadly Fire at Mexico Border Migrant Facility

El Salvador on Wednesday strongly condemned the actions of personnel at an immigration detention center in Mexico after a fire killed at least 40 people. Surveillance video shows two of the detention centers guards running away after the fire broke out late Monday, apparently making no attempt to release the men held inside a room before it filled with smoke. Story by VOANEWS.

Amnesty International: Rights Landscape in West Africa Darkens

West Africas Sahel region saw mounting violence and a rollback in free expression last year, rights group Amnesty International says in its latest annual report, released Tuesday. Amnesty International says that for Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger  2022 was an especially grim year. The countries saw an uptick in civilian killings compared to 2021, as they battle an ongoing jihadi insurgency in the region. Lisa Bryant reports for VOA from Paris.

News Brief

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a provision that allows special immigrant juveniles to schedule an appointment within the weeks before their 21st birthday to file Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, in person.
Human rights activists are voicing appreciation for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris's recognition of efforts by Tanzanias president to strengthen democracy in the country.

In Dar es Salaam on Thursday, Harris oversaw the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries, covering a range of issues.

In a joint press briefing at Dar es Salaam State House, Harris hailed President Samia Hassan. You have been a champion in terms of democratic reforms in this country and, in that way, have expanded our partnership," she said. "And so today, then, is part of the strengthening of the relationship between our two countries.

The U.S. and Tanzania signed a five-year agreement of assistance worth $1.1 billion aimed at improving good governance and development.

Since coming to power in 2021, Hassan has moved away from policies by her late predecessor, John Magufuli, that critics said suppressed the opposition and all forms of dissent.

Hassan has lifted restrictions on the media, ended a ban on political rallies and recently promised to restore competitive politics.

Speaking at the event, the president told the vice president that she was committed to strengthening democracy.

Acceptable democratic space has been a major concern of my government," she said. "We have endeavored to build a democratic state that upholds transparency and respect of the rule of law.

Anna Henga, executive director of the Legal and Human Rights Center in Tanzania, said that "when we look at the current situation, there is some relief" with regard to human rights. "We cannot deny that we haven't yet reached where we want to be, but the world can see the moves that Tanzania is making toward democracy. Therefore, I was not surprised by Harris's remarks. As for the U.S. support, I believe it will continue and I'm hopeful that we'll reach our desired destination.

Bob Wangwe, head of the Tanzania Constitutional Forum, known in Swahili as Jukwaa la Katiba, said Tanzania needs constitutional reforms that will, among other things, allow presidential results to be challenged and independent candidates to run for office.

I think that these engagements and the statement from Kamala will ultimately advance democracy in this country," he said, "and I am looking forward to the substantial steps the government has to undertake. Wangwe said those include undertaking constitutional reforms to strengthen some institutions that will help the country in terms of accountability.

Harris left Tanzania on Friday for Zambia, the final stop on her tour of three African countries that began in Ghana.
Officials in the small northern Spanish region of Asturias claimed Friday that unspecified arsonists were behind most of the 100 or so wildfires raging in the heavily wooded and mountainous area.

Unusually high spring temperatures and gusting winds have helped spread the fires over the past two days, with about 400 people needing to be evacuated from villages and small towns and several roads cut off for safety.

Asturias regional President Adrian Barbon said the "full weight of the law" would be applied to what he described as "fire terrorists." He said the fires were started in an organized way by criminals taking advantage of the adverse weather conditions. He didn't explain what the alleged arsonists' motives might be. No arrests have been made.

Firefighters in the region reported early Friday they were dealing with 116 fires in 35 areas. By midafternoon, the number of blazes had dropped to 97.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez contacted Barbon from Beijing on Friday to express his support for the region. Speaking later at a press conference, Sanchez said that if it is proven the fires were started intentionally, the culprits would be punished.

Asturias region rural area councilor Alejandro Calvo told Spanish National Television that while the reason behind the fires is not really known, "evidently it is a wave of provoked fires that has no precedent."

There were no immediate details on how much land has been affected by the fires.

Some 267,000 hectares burned last year in Spain, making 2022 its worst year of fire destruction since 1994, government statistics say. That was three times the national average for the past decade.

According to the European Union's Copernicus satellite observation service, Spain accounted for 35% of the burned land in European wildfires in 2022.

Unexpectedly fierce wildfires burned more than 4,600 hectares of forest and led to 1,400 people being evacuated in eastern Spain this week. The blazes in the Castellon province were reported to have diminished considerably Friday.
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Future health care professionals from communities across the state will attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney this fall as part of the largest-ever class to enter the Kearney Health Opportunities Program (KHOP).

A total of 56 high school seniors were recently accepted into KHOP, a pipeline program designed to grow the states health care workforce by recruiting and educating students from rural Nebraska who are committed to practicing in these areas after professional school. Participants are awarded full-tuition scholarships to attend UNK and guaranteed admission to the University of Nebraska Medical Center if all requirements are met.

Launched in 2010, KHOP addresses an urgent need for health care professionals in rural Nebraska by providing training for students from these communities. Program participants can study in the fields of dental hygiene, dentistry, medical laboratory science, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant and radiography.

In addition to the full-tuition scholarship, members receive a $2,000 room waiver through the KHOP Learning Community. A requirement for freshmen, the one-year residential learning community gives students a chance to explore various health care careers while receiving support and guidance as they transition to college. KHOP members also meet with health care providers and tour medical facilities in the Kearney area, better preparing them for professional school.

The following area students will start the Kearney Health Opportunities Program this fall:

Craig: Erin Jensen, nursing.

Fremont: Caitlin Pitt, medicine.

Hooper: Kaylee Hilbers, nursing.

Howells: Blair Fiala, physical therapy.

Linwood: Alli Jelinek, pharmacy.

North Bend: Rebekah Voss, occupational therapy.
The Legislature gave first-round approval to a bill creating a new office that would be responsible for coordinating the expansion of high-speed internet across Nebraska under a new federal program.

The bill (LB683) to create the Nebraska Broadband Office, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist and prioritized by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, advanced to the second round of consideration on a 43-2 vote Friday afternoon.

If the bill passes two more rounds of voting and is signed into law, the Nebraska Broadband Office and its new director would be responsible for directing up to $400 million in Broadband Equity, Access and Development (BEAD) funds allocated for the state.

While the office would be located inside the Nebraska Department of Transportation, the director of broadband would be appointed by and answer to the governor, Geist said.

That individual would be responsible for working with the Public Service Commission, state senators on the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, and internet service providers seeking to connect unserved and underserved areas to broadband internet.

On Friday, a small group of senators renewed their concerns about moving the responsibility for managing BEAD funds from the Public Service Commission  a regulatory body with five elected members  to an office controlled by the executive branch.

Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who along with Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue voted against advancing the bill, said the statements of some in support of the bill sounded like an attack and an assault on the Public Service Commission, which will continue to manage several state and federal broadband programs moving forward.

Cavanaugh introduced a series of amendments to limit the powers the governor would have under the bill and ensure the office be subject to the Nebraska Open Meetings Act  something supporters said it would be  but each of her amendments was defeated on Thursday and Friday.

Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte, addressing Cavanaughs amendments Friday, said constituents in his western Nebraska legislative district had lost faith in the Public Service Commission to connect them to broadband internet in an expedited way.

Im tired of waiting on the PSC, Jacobson said. Weve had new membership on the PSC, but the PSC has failed us, and its time for someone to take control of this, and the governor intends to do just that.

Jacobson said he was in favor of removing roadblocks to build out high-speed internet to areas without it, but Cavanaugh said she thought it was prudent to ensure government oversight over the spending of millions and millions of dollars.

We are giving massive amounts of money to the administration, Cavanaugh said. We should be responsible in how we do that and we should care about the potential for exploitation and weaknesses, and oversights in the process.

Geist took issue with that characterization and said the Nebraska Broadband Office would be subject to existing open government laws, and through an amendment drafted by the committee, would be required to file an annual report with the Legislature about the offices activities.

To say this is not transparent is absurd, said Geist, the chair of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. Its the same way we treat every other agency, agency director and government.  It is so incredibly clear that this is covered by the (open) meetings act, so quit calling it not transparent, corrupt, irresponsible, and that there is no oversight. There obviously is.

Several senators, led by Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt, also took time to speak during debate on LB683 as part of a weekslong filibuster over another bill  LB574 from Sen. Kathleen Kauth, also from Omaha, that would prohibit anyone under 19 from seeking gender-affirming care in Nebraska  which consumed several hours Friday, which had been deemed a Trans Day of Visibility.

But shortly after noon, Geist introduced a motion to invoke cloture. It received 43 votes, well over the 33-vote threshold to shut off debate.

Geist said she planned to push her bill forward without any substantive changes, but said she would entertain an amendment to clear up the process for internet companies to file appeals on project proposals.

While the Public Service Commission has its own procedure for those appeals to play out, those issues would be decided by the Lancaster County District Court under LB683.

Several senators said they wanted to ensure those appeals could be considered and ruled on in a timely manner, and indicated they may draft an amendment before the bill comes back for a second round of floor debate.

Top Journal Star photos for March 2023
Italy marks Pasqua with traditions, food and public holidays.

Easter celebrations in Rome this year follow the recent hospitalisation of Pope Francis, with a respiratory infection, days before his busy Holy Week schedule.

The 86-year-old pontiff returned to the Vatican on Saturday in time for Palm Sunday Mass and the Easter ceremonies at St Peter's, which may be a little different than usual.

Francis is set to preside at all Holy Week liturgies, with a cardinal as principal celebrant at the altar, the Vatican confirmed on Saturday.

The Via Crucis or Way of the Cross will take place at the Colosseum on the night of Good Friday, 7 April.

This solemn candle-lit procession - a tradition which dates to the 18th century and was revived in 1964 - attracts thousands of faithful who listen to meditations re-enacting Christ's crucifixion.

Via Crucis at the Colosseum

Traditionally the pope imparts the Urbi et Orbi papal blessing from the balcony of St Peter's at midday on Easter Sunday.

For full details of the Vatican's liturgical programe see official website. There are also numerous English-language religious services in Rome over Easter.

What to eat in Rome at Easter

Roman restaurants typically offer menus featuring abbacchio (lamb) at Easter, or Pasqua, however you will need to reserve your table in advance due to high demand.

Easter Sunday brunch in Rome is a savoury occasion with Romans laying out a delectable spread of hard-boiled eggs (often painted brightly), salami and cheese, accompanied with the classic pizza al formaggio.

Rome's bakeries sell a sweet cake made in the shape of a dove, known as a colomba, which has been a firm favourite on the Easter calendar in Italy for almost a century.



Colomba Easter cake

Pasquetta

Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, or Pasquetta, are national holidays in Italy, with all public offices and schools closed on Monday 10 April. Many Romans mark Pasquetta with a picnic in the city's parks.

Some museums will open exceptionally for Pasquetta however the Vatican Museums will be closed on both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

In contrast to Christmas, which is very much a family-oriented occasion in Italy, Easter is a time to celebrate with friends.

As a popular expression goes: "Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi", meaning Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you want.

Photo credit: A.J. Olnes / Shutterstock.com
Italy's partisan association ANPI brands La Russa's words "shameful".

Italy's senate speaker Ignazio La Russa was at the centre of a political controversy on Friday after he criticised the partisan attack in Rome that led to the Fosse Ardeatine massacre in 1944.

La Russa, 75, made his comments in a podcast interview with Libero Quotidiano, days after he joined Italy's president Sergio Mattarella at a ceremony to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Fosse Ardeatine atrocity in which the Nazis murdered 335 anti-fascist prisoners, Jews and civilians.

The massacre was in retaliation for the partisan attack on Via Rasella which killed 33 members of the SS Bozen Police Regiment, or Polizeiregiment Sudtirol, a military unit recruited in the largely ethnic-German Alto Adige region of north-east Italy.

On this day in 1944, Italian Resistance fighters detonated a homemade bomb on Romes Via Rasella, killing 33 German soldiers. The SS command ordered a brutal reprisal, leading to the Fosse Ardeatine massacre in which 335 partisans, prisoners, Jews and civilians lost their lives. pic.twitter.com/t3jsp2InIe  Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) March 23, 2023

La Russa, a founding member of premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Fratelli d'Italia party, described the Via Rasella attack as a page in the history of the resistance "that was anything but noble".

"Those killed were a musical band made up of semi-pensioners, not SS Nazis," La Russa said, adding that the partisans "were well aware of the risk of reprisals on Roman citizens, anti-fascists and non".

La Russa, who displayed his collection of Mussolini memorabilia in viral video footage from 2018, was speaking in defence of Meloni who stirred a controversy last week by claiming that the victims of the Fosse Ardeatine massacre were killed because there were Italians, rather than because they were anti-fascists.

"La Russa's words are simply unworthy of the high office he holds and represent yet another very serious rift aimed at absolving fascism and delegitimising the Resistance," said Gianfranco Pagliarulo, president of Italy's partisan association ANPI which preserves the memory of the resistance movement against fascism.

"The third battalion of the Polizeiregiment hit on Via Rasella, as it marched armed to the teeth, was completing its training to go on to fight the Allies and the partisans, as actually happened" - Pagliarulo stated - "The other two battalions of the Polizeiregiment had long been engaged in Istria and Veneto against the partisans."

Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left opposition Partito Democratico (PD) described La Russa's words as "indecent, unacceptable for the role he holds."

Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Azione party, wrote on Twitter: "I admire the determination with which La Russa is managing to demonstrate every day his inadequacy as president of the senate."

Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico / Shutterstock.com
Rome mayor slams blitz at landmark fountain.

Three climate activists linked to the Ultima Generazione group on Saturday poured black liquid into a Baroque fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Activists dyed the waters of the 17th-century Barcaccia fountain with a vegetable-based liquid, in front of shocked onlookers, before being detained by police.

In a statement, Ultima Generazione said the action "foreshadows the 'end of the world' scenario we are heading for, as we increasingly step on the accelerator: drought alternating with devastating floods, which will put an end to life on Earth, along with heat waves."

Climate activists dye the water black in the 17th-century Barcaccia fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome.pic.twitter.com/1nmfpxK4BJ Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) April 1, 2023

Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and said technicians were carrying out work to prevent permanent damage to the boat-shaped monument sculpted by Pietro Bernini.

"Rome is at the forefront in the fight against climate change and in the protection of artistic heritage" - Gualtieri wrote on Twitter - "Throwing black liquid into the Barcaccia risking ruining it is an absolutely wrong action that does not help the environment."

Condemning the action as "the straw that breaks the camel's back," Italy's culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano wrote on Twitter: "It's time to say enough: we are faced with a systematic action of vandalism against the artistic and cultural heritage that has nothing to do with environmental protection."

Lazione ai danni della Fontana della Barcaccia in Piazza di Spagna e la goccia che fa traboccare il vaso. E ora di dire basta: siamo davanti ad una sistematica azione di vandalismo ai danni del patrimonio artistico e culturale che non c'entra nulla con la tutela dell'ambiente pic.twitter.com/iU6j3pfTPT Gennaro Sangiuliano (@g_sangiuliano) April 1, 2023

Brief history of La Barcaccia

The Barcaccia was commissioned by the Barberini Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644), allegedly inspired by the story of a boat washed up there by a flood of the Tiber in 1598.

The travertine fountain was built in 1626-29 and is accredited to Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo who possibly contributed to the monument's decoration along with stonemason Battista Bancozzi.

The Barcaccia was restored several times since the 18th century, most recently in 2014.

In 2015 the central part of the Baroque monument was damaged by rioting Feyenoord fans ahead of a Europa League with AS Roma.

Climate activists in Italy

The blitz at the Barcaccia was the latest in a string of actions by climate activists in Rome and Milan in recent months, from gluing their hands to art works to staging road blocks in rush hour traffic.

Earlier this month Florence mayor Dario Nardella intervened personally to stop activists as they sprayed paint over the facade of Palazzo Vecchio.

Climate activists recently made headlines for spraying paint on the Italian senate as well as covering Andy Warhol's painted car in flour in Milan and throwing pea soup onto a Van Gogh masterpiece in Rome.

Last summer they made international news by gluing themselves to the protective glass in front of Botticell's Primavera at the Uffizi in Florence.

Photo Gennaro Sangiuliano
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A federal judge in Texas ruled this week that insurers no longer have to cover some preventive services that have long been included under the Affordable Care Act. Its a frustrating decision that will likely hurt Americans health. At least some insurers are likely to take the opportunity to cut back on lifesaving care. About 60% of privately-insured people  thats about 100 million Americans  receive preventive care under the ACA.

The last thing the US needs is more barriers to basic healthcare. In December, the CDC said that life expectancy in the US hit its lowest point in over two decades. And its not just adults dying younger  kids are too. Attacking preventive care will only worsen this long-term trend, which easily predates the Covid pandemic.

Theres been some confusion around which services the ruling affects. The holding by Judge Reed OConnor only applies to recommendations made by the US Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of doctors, after 2010, as Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, explained in a press briefing. But that puts coverage of a swath of more recently recommended services at risk, including screening for lung and skin cancer, preventive drugs for women at high risk of developing breast cancer, coverage of cholesterol-lowering drugs and blood pressure screening.

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The decision is also a blow to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions goal of ending HIV in the US by 2030. A cornerstone of the agencys strategy is to increase use of PrEP, medicine that is more than 99% effective at preventing transmission of the virus that causes AIDS. Now, insurers will no longer have to offer those pills, or the lab tests and follow-up visits related to accessing them. And while many insurers are expected to continue covering the medicines, they might now require patients to share in the cost of treatment, putting them out of reach.

A recent study found that PrEP currently prevents some 3,200 HIV transmissions per year among men who have sex with men  and that if access to medicine improved, that figure could be as high as 11,400 infections averted. According to the authors, the Braidwood ruling could translate into at least 2,057 more HIV infections in the US in the first year after the ruling alone.

KFFs Levitt noted a few key areas of preventive healthcare are not affected by the ruling, which only extends to the purview of the independent US Preventive Services Task Force. That includes any recommendations made by ACIP, the CDC-housed body that provides vaccine guidance, or womens health guidelines developed by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

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But that doesnt mean those services arent still at risk. Appeals to the ruling are expected on both sides of the case. The plaintiffs, Braidwood Management LLC, dont only want to stop providing insurance coverage for things like PrEP; they want to stop covering other critical preventive care, like birth control and HPV vaccines, arguing that they encourage behavior banned by the Bible, as my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Noah Feldman has explained.

If theyre successful, many people will end up paying more for basic health care. And research shows that putting a price tag on care, whether thats a $25 copay for a flu vaccine or $100 for a colonoscopy, prompts many people to forgo it. Patients are their own worst doctors, says John Graves, associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. When people encounter an out-of-pocket cost, they cut back indiscriminately, he says. Theyre not differentiating whats low value and high value, they just cut back.

That phenomenon is supported by a growing body of evidence so compelling that it elicits little debate among health policy scholars, notes Graves, who previously worked on the team that helped estimate the cost of the ACA. For example, one study found that increasing the cost of a drug by just $10 resulted in a 23% drop in the drugs use  and an estimated 33% increase in monthly mortality. A Morning Consult poll found that 40% of adults would not pay for most of the services offered by ACA, and half would forgo services like HIV screening, smoking cessation treatment, and depression screening.

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What a shame that would be. Prevention is a powerful tool in maintaining and improving the health of the population. A recent report from the American Cancer Society drove that point home: Cancer deaths in the US have dropped by a third since 1991. Services that have been offered for free under the ACA  like smoking cessation and screening for breast, colon and prostate cancers  were key to that progress.

Insurers have an incentive to continue offering such preventive services free of copays, even if they no longer have to  prevention is cheaper than treating disease. And theyve likely passed on some of the costs of these free services in the form of higher premiums, which have risen 58% since 2010 for people with employer-sponsored plans.

Nonetheless, weakening the ACA will allow insurers to charge even higher premiums coupled with more and higher copays.

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If Braidwoods efforts to expand the scope of preventive care coverage are successful, it will be a disastrous outcome for healthcare in the US. Its a component of ACA that weve all come to take for granted, whether its sailing through a checkup without taking out a credit card, rolling up our sleeves for a free flu vaccine, or filling a prescription for cholesterol-lowering statins. Making these services free isnt just about saving Americans money  its about making it as easy as possible for people to be healthier. That, in turn, saves both money and lives.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 A Texas Judge Just Took Religious Freedom Too Far: Noah Feldman

 Weve Made Huge Progress on Cancer. Lets Protect It: Lisa Jarvis

 Forever Chemicals Deserve Far More EPA Scrutiny: Faye Flam

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When Aidan Cox, a project engineer, sat in the witness box at a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing this past week, he dobbed in one of the countrys most boring but civically important listed companies, Downer EDI, for having a corruption problem. And not just a low-level corruption problem but one that in his opinion was systemic. Cox, a subcontractor, is one of about a dozen individuals, including at least six former Downer staff, who have been accused by the ICAC of either rigging contracts, inflating bids, fraud, bribery and kickbacks. Those accusations relate to a range of rail maintenance contracts that were awarded by the NSW government to Downer (and by Downer to subcontractors). Aidan Cox (top left) testifying at the ICAC hearings where bid rigging and fraud allegations have been made about rail maintenance contracts awarded to Downer EDI. Credit: The ICAC investigation as it has unpicked these contracts has, within a few weeks, laid bare a culture of complacency and poor corporate governance at Downer, where the company failed to identify the shady behaviour going on under some of its top executives noses. One of the biggest factors in allowing fraud and corruption to occur in companies is either poor controls or lack of oversight of those controls, says Chris Watson, a partner in Grant Thortons forensic consulting team. In some examples, ICAC outlined where subcontractors had lined their pockets by inflating the price for work on a number of the government contracts awarded to Downer, while the company lost money on them.

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That Downer lost money on some contracts, while subcontractors made money, should concern shareholders who might want to question Downers management about it at the next annual meeting, if there is one. The companys poor earnings and weak share price performance has sparked speculation that it could be ripe for a break-up by private equity. In the past three months, Downer has issued two profit downgrades, and its shares have lost almost half their value in a year, reducing its market cap to $2.3 billion. The decline in Downers shares began well before the ICAC hearings commenced this month. Last December, Downer revealed it had accounting irregularities in one of its power maintenance contracts and this may have led it to overstate its profits by as much as $40 million. It prompted Fitch to place the companys ratings outlook on a negative watch, which placed further pressure on Downers shares. In Downers annual report, investors were warned of the risk to any adjustment to the companys rating. Where the credit rating is lowered or placed on negative watch, customers and suppliers may be less willing to contract with the group. Furthermore, banks and other lending institutions may demand more stringent terms [including increased pricing, reduced tenors and lower facility limits] on all financing facilities, to reflect the weaker credit risk profile.

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In a statement, the company said that it remains in compliance with all financial covenants. At the end of December, Downers net debt to EBITDA ratio was at 2.3 times, which sits within the companys target range of 2-2.5 times, and anything below three times is generally considered ok. This ratio of leverage is a measure that shows how many years it would take for a company to pay back its debt. When asked about its interest cover ratio, which measures how easily a company can pay interest on its outstanding debt, Downer declined to comment other than to say it was meeting its financial covenants. One of the biggest factors in allowing fraud and corruption to occur in companies is either poor controls or lack of oversight of those controls. Chris Watson, partner Grant Thornton By February, Downer had a report from an external investigation into the accounting irregularities relating to the power contract, which revealed that the overstatement of profits between April 2020 and June 2022, was $22.2 million rather than the $40 million feared. In a statement to the ASX on February 27, the management and board said: Downer is confident that the misreporting was specific to the contract and not replicated elsewhere. In other words, an isolated incident. But it wasnt. By early March, ICAC had revealed that there were problems in rail maintenance contracts from 2014 and 2020 involving the company. A Downer spokesman said the company only learnt of the ICAC investigation and operation on March 1, before it was made public the following day. Peter Tompkins succeeded Grant Fenn as Downers chief executive in February and is now managing the fallout from the ICAC investigation. Credit:Michael Quelch With more scandals emerging, Downer shareholders began demanding significant change at the top of the company, which led to the retirement of the chairman, the resignation of the chief financial officer and the departure of another two board directors. Some mid-level staff who were the subject of the ICAC investigation also exited.

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Downers chief executive, Grant Fenn, who held that role for 12-and-a-half years, had already flagged his retirement in December, and then stepped down in February. He was succeeded by the companys chief operating officer, Peter Tompkins, who is now embarking on a turnaround and cost-cutting program. Tompkins was Downers company secretary and general counsel when the company settled a class action in 2016 brought by shareholders concerning the groups disastrous $3 billion Waratah train project for the NSW government. The class action brought in the Supreme Court of Victoria heard that Downer knew a blow-out of costs and delays had put the project 12 months behind schedule and $117 million over budget more than a year before telling the market of its troubles with the contract. Downer employs 33,000 people across Australia and New Zealand, and does mundane work that is important to most peoples daily lives. It has three divisions: transport, utilities and facilities, which in the event of a takeover would most likely be split up and sold off. The transport division is contracted by local, state and federal governments to do work that includes maintaining more than 50,000 kilometres of roads for governments here and in New Zealand, by doing jobs such as resurfacing and fixing potholes. Downer also manufactures train cars, maintains them, and also looks after the tracks and facilities at platforms from ramps, lifts, fences, and even landscaping.

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Workers at Downer rail maintenance site Credit:Joe Armao In February, despite its woes, Downer was named the preferred supplier by the Queensland government to deliver its $7 billion train program, which includes 65 trains and related infrastructure. In its utilities business, Downer has contracts with power, telecommunication and water companies. For example, it has contracts to provide the maintenance and decommissioning of power and gas stations, and it does work for the NBN, looking after the latters network performance and sites. In its facilities business, Downer has contracts for work that includes cleaning and mowing for large government departments, including defence, health and education. On a sum of the parts basis, those divisions are worth more separated than together under the Downer umbrella. And this is why there has been talk of a potential break-up. There has been a lot of talk around that potentially there could be suitors circling, says Fitch analyst Kelly Amato, but adds such discussion was before changes were made at board and management level. Simon Mawhinney, chief investment officer at Allan Gray, would prefer Downer EDI wasnt split up. Credit:Louie Douvis

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When it came to support for controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, the chasm between his patients and his peers could not have been more vast. Its either going to be a good day for Australian medicine or a bad day, said Teo reflecting on the possible outcome of his eight-day disciplinary hearing which concluded this week. His loyal supporters, rallied into action by texts and emails they received from Teo, loudly proclaimed their love. But in the small hearing room on the sixth floor of an unremarkable Sydney office block near Central Station, the silence from his neurosurgical colleagues had been profound. Charlie Teo is greeted by supporters as he leaves the last day of his inquiry. Credit:Nick Moir Not a single letter of support from an Australian or New Zealand neurosurgeon was provided to the four-person committee hearing allegations regarding Teos lack of insight, lack of judgment, lack of empathy, failure to obtain informed consent and conduct that falls short of expected professional standards. Asked about this lack of backing outside the hearing, Teo said, When all this went down, I thought I had a whole lot of neurosurgical friends. And I would write to them and send messages to them  they just didnt reply.

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His lawyers also came up empty-handed. Teo told the media he felt the lack of support was because of the potential for a supportive colleague to be blackballed, to join him in becoming an enemy of the fraternity. For years, the media has perpetuated the narrative that Teo is uniquely talented and performs operations beyond the skill and ability of his colleagues. In a combative display in the witness box, Teo routinely dismissed the expert opinions of three neurosurgeons, including the expert called by his own legal team. I dont expect them to know as much as I do, he said angrily. I have more experience with brain-stem tumours than almost anyone in the world. Of his own expert witness, Professor Bryant Stokes, Teo said, He is a nice man, but he doesnt know as much about brain tumours as I do. Professor Bryant Stokes was called as a medical expert by Charlie Teos legal team. Teo continues to maintain that his career has been beset by professional jealousy, and that envy was at the heart of the two complaints made against him, the outcome of which will be delivered some time this year. On the eve of the hearing, he told a podcast that the proceedings had nothing to do with fairness and whats right or wrong  its all got to do with peoples agendas. And the agenda is to destroy Charlie Teo.

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However, his colleagues reject this. In 2019, a Herald investigation interviewed 14 neurosurgeons and related specialists. Not one questioned Teos surgical skills. Instead, they raised serious questions about his judgment, narcissistic behaviour and charging financially stressed people exorbitant fees for questionable surgeries. As one said, No one is criticising his surgical skill. But good surgical practice is about so much more than that ... its knowing when not to operate  It is crystal clear from a medical and a scientific perspective, that excising some of these tumours does nothing to improve life expectancy or address the cancer. Charlie Teo is greeted by supporters outside the disciplinary hearing this week. Credit:Nick Moir While the hearing was in progress, Teo told the media that the two men who had complained about him must have been hoodwinked or coerced by his rivals. When grilled about this statement in the witness box, Teo offered no evidence for this statement except that he found it incomprehensible to think either had been unhappy with him. He called me by my first name. I liked him, he liked me, he said of the husband of a Geelong woman who died without regaining consciousness. The three expert witnesses said this operation had resulted in the largest removal of brain matter they had seen. Teo took out most of the right frontal lobe, removing normal brain tissue and leaving behind a significant amount of the tumour. The Geelong womans husband said: All my savings and superannuation went on saving my wife. I had to sell our house and move into a retirement village. On top of that, his daughter, a nurse, had to pay for an air ambulance to bring her unconscious and intubated mother back to Victoria, where she later died.

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The committee heard that Teo did not explain the serious risks of comas or death to his patients. It was also suggested they did not have time to give proper informed consent as Teo had rushed them into having their surgeries. Patient A, a 41-year-old mother of three young children, never got to say goodbye to her family in Perth as Teo had convinced her and her husband it was crucial she have surgery before Teo left for India. Charlie Teo is greeted by supporters as he leaves the last day of a disciplinary inquiry. Credit:Nick Moir Despite her biopsy report confirming that the woman had an incurable H3K27M-mutant diffuse midline glioma, Teo said it was operable and offered only a 5 per cent risk of death or coma. But three experts disagreed. There was no data, no statistics, no medical literature to support Teos decision to operate on the woman, Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff told the committee. After the operation, the woman remained in intensive care in Sydney for three weeks. At vast expense, her family paid for an air ambulance to medivac her across the country. Her husband said he only spoke to Teo once after the operation.

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While acknowledging his surgical outcome was very bad, a defiant Teo stood by his decision to perform the surgery. My job is to give them some hope that maybe, maybe theres a chance you can live a bit longer, he said. I would still offer the surgery. Teo made much of the fact that he hadnt charged anything for this surgery. However, the account from the womans husband painted a somewhat different picture. He said hed had a problem transferring the first $10,000 of Teos $35,000 fee. After the disastrous surgery, there was no further discussion of payment, he said. A Teo supporter outside court this week. Credit:Peter Rae Patient B, the woman from Geelong, was crying during her consultation with Teo. Her husband gave evidence that Teo said, What the f--- are you crying about? Im here to fix you. You should be happy. He said Teo told them: If you dont have the surgery by Tuesday, youll be f---ing dead by Friday. The husband could not have known that after Teos surgery, his wife would be effectively dead on Friday. She never regained consciousness and died on March 30, 2019, several weeks after her fateful surgery. Once again, other doctors had warned against an operation to remove the womans tumour. Experts told the hearing that not only was Teos removal of the womans right frontal lobe excessive, one expert said it was the biggest hed ever seen. Teo had left behind a significant amount of the tumour.

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Luke sat on the porch for five minutes and concluded that Holly had been wavering in her refusal. I felt like she still wanted to be with me, he said, under questioning from prosecutor Daryl Brown. So he tried the sliding door to Hollys ground-floor bedroom and was able to open it; two nights before shed unlocked it for Tom. Luke testified that he heard the shower and knocked on the bathroom door: Holly, its Luke, can I come in? Luke said Holly replied yes. He undressed, joined her and later had sex with Holly in her bed. At every step of the way I asked for her consent, he told the jury.

At her front door, Holly says Luke said he loved her. It was completely out of the blue, considering we hadnt spoken for months, Holly tells Good Weekend. She informed Luke that she had a boyfriend and then locked the front door. His version is that Holly briefly let him in, before deciding that no, she had a boyfriend, and that he should leave. Luke told the court that he heard the front door lock.

That night Holly, her best friend Mia*, Mias boyfriend Josh* and his friends, including Luke, ended up at a bar in Prahran, in Melbournes inner east. The drinks were flowing, and Hollys memory is patchy and flash-like. But after the four shared an Uber home, she was surprised to see Luke behind her as she walked from the kerb to her townhouse in a bayside suburb.

The first was his admission that, on the night of September 23, 2018, the then 22-year-old had slipped uninvited through a sliding door into 19-year-old Holly Harriss bedroom. Luke and Holly knew each other as former students at the private Haileybury school. Theyd chatted and flirted earlier that year. But in May, when Luke suggested a drive-in date, Holly had declined. Shed become serious about a young man called Tom, her soon-to-be boyfriend. They then had almost no contact, until the evening that upended their lives.

O n the first day of spring last year, Luke* was called to the witness box at Melbournes County Court. Nice big voice for the jury, Judge Anne Hassan instructed the operations coordinator for a property services company, who stood before her accused of rape. Yes, your honour, the 25-year-old replied. But Luke would need more than a big voice to convince the jury of his innocence. Several things hed done, before and after the alleged rape, were difficult to explain.

Many would see the result as proof of the justice system working. The Crown simply failed to prove Lukes guilt beyond reasonable doubt. But others see the frequent acquittals in these sorts of cases  two people, often young and drunk, alone with no witnesses, one persons word against anothers  as evidence of a broken system, a justice gap for sexual assault victims. A recent analysis of five years of Victorian rape trials indicated that three in four cases where the accused is known to the victim end in acquittal.

Juries dont give reasons, so well never know why, but after several days of debate, in September last year, a jury of 12 acquitted Luke of both rape and aggravated burglary. Holly Harris, a law student at Monash University, was devastated. I was in my own home. And I had told him, No, then shut him out. He broke in while I was naked in the shower. They should have looked at that and said: Thats not a fair situation, she could not give reasonable consent. 

Four days later, at 10.13pm, a message appeared on Hollys phone from Luke. It read, in part: Ive done the most heinous thing possible you can do to a woman, and Ive done it to you. It was never my intention for things not to be consensual, I should of realised what you were communicating to me, but I didnt, and I pushed it and ever since Ive felt sick. Here was the second difficult thing for Luke to explain: an apparent admission to non-consensual sex. But, he told the court, the message was only sent to placate Holly. I felt like that if I just told her what she would want to hear, she would be satisfied enough by that  to never go to the police. He consistently asserted his innocence: I never raped her.

She woke at around 6am in pain, naked and on the wrong side of the bed. She recalls telling Luke to get out, then texted Mia: Mia, help me. Mia omg  Luke raped me Im not kidding. Luke went to Joshs, who later described him to court as looking visibly shaken and worried. This was because, Luke explained in court, hed slept with Holly knowing she had a boyfriend.

Theres been a couple of times in the last few months where Ive been like, What on earth was the point of all that? says Harris. Credit:Peter Tarasiuk

I couldnt, in my head, work out how hed gotten there, she tells Good Weekend. She remembers asking him what he was doing. And the next snippet of memory, like a scene from a roughly edited montage, has him on top of her, on her bed. Looking back, she believes she may have had a fawn response, a common and instinctive reaction of compliance aimed at minimising injury. Hes appeared in my house, this guy whos essentially, like, pretty close to a stranger. I think I sort of just went into myself and just let what was happening  happen.

Calls for change are growing, both from victim-survivor advocates and from within legal circles. Recently, two of the Albanese governments most senior women, Katy Gallagher and Tanya Plibersek, joined the chorus asking for a rethink on rape and related offences. Survivors of sexual assault know that convicting perpetrators is the exception, not the rule. This has to change, tweeted Plibersek, whose daughter Anna was sexually assaulted by a former boyfriend (who was convicted).

Sydney lawyer and victim-survivor advocate Michael Bradley says the interrogations that complainants go through in sexual assault trials are designed to tear them to shreds. (Lehrmann denied ever having sex with Higgins and is now suing for defamation the media that published the original allegations.)

But accountability is one thing. Following last years high-profile rape trial of former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann, many Australians might be wondering whether the personal price of going to court is intolerably high, an almost self-destroying pursuit regardless of the outcome. As the case against Lehrmann unfolded, the alleged victim, Brittany Higgins, was repeatedly questioned about her dress, her drunkenness, her text messages and her actions in the days, weeks and months following the alleged assault. After a mistrial, a second trial was abandoned amid fears for her mental health.

If any business had the success rates of the adversarial system of justice for sexual crimes, it would no longer exist, says Patrick Tidmarsh, an Australian criminologist working in the UK on Operation Soteria Bluestone, a national initiative aimed at improving the investigation of rape and sexual offences.

Former federal court judge Tony North says that in sexual assault cases, the focus in court is still regularly on the victims behaviour rather than whether they consented. Credit:Eddie Jim

The proposition that a woman can convey consent while asleep rankled with some senior figures in the Melbourne legal community. Victorias Victims of Crime Commissioner Fiona McCormack described the decision as extremely concerning, while in a submission to the VLRC, the states Office of Public Prosecutions said the troubling decision appeared to set a low bar for the communication of consent, rendering it very difficult to prosecute similar cases, which were not-uncommon. Tony North, too, found the judgment problematic. He says that the Court of Appeal judges produced no evidence that there is a stage of sleep  a sort of twilight land  in which you can convey consent. (The judges held that it was common knowledge that the state of being asleep is not binary in nature, and so they didnt need evidence.)

But consent is just one element of a rape charge. The Crown must also prove beyond reasonable doubt that Jonathon did not reasonably believe she was consenting. The judges decided it was possible the woman had given him the impression of consent and quashed the rape conviction. In his reasons, Justice Forrest wrote: It is plain that, as the normal English term asleep is understood, there are various stages of sleep, ranging from deep sleep to something just short of full wakefulness. It was possible, he said, that the woman engaged in pre-penetration activities (such as moaning and nuzzling into a person) while not sufficiently awake to recall doing so.

She said words to the effect of: What the f---, Jono? and left. In a pretext call  where police record the complainant talking to the accused  he admitted to penetration and apologised. The Court of Appeal judges accepted that the woman did not consent.

Jonathon was charged after a female friend had fallen asleep on his bed following an evening of nightclubbing. In evidence the three appeal judges described as cogent and credible, the woman said she woke to find her pants pulled down to mid-thigh and Jonathon aggressively assaulting her vagina with two fingers. She thought it was her boyfriend but after some minutes, opened her eyes and realised she wasnt at home.

In the upper tiers of the law, its unusual for judges to publicly criticise each other. But thats what former federal court judge Tony North appears to be doing, here in his law book-lined corner office at the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC), which he chairs. His targets? State Court of Appeal judges Terry Forrest, Lex Lasry and Mark Weinberg  three aged men, like myself  who in November 2020 overturned a jury decision that found a Melbourne man, Jonathon, guilty of rape.

A few of these directions are recent additions, but Quilter found that, in general, the ones that were available to judges during the period she studied were not used in a timely or consistent way. She found cases of judges forgetting to give them or disagreeing with them. She has little time for this sort of thing. Well, you know, its the law, she says, via phone to Good Weekend from Wollongong.

One of the biggest changes to this area of law is that judges can address juries on common misconceptions . These directions can include noting that rape victims may not be physically injured and may not resist (its not uncommon to freeze, for example); that a person is not consenting if they wear sexually provocative clothes or have consumed alcohol or drugs; that rapes can occur between people known to each other (Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicate only one in five rapes involve a stranger); that a delay in reporting does not necessarily mean a complainant is lying; and that trauma may impact a persons recall, such that they describe a sexual offence differently at different times, to different people or in different contexts.

To get a sense of what was happening behind courtroom doors, the VLRC asked University of Wollongong academic Julia Quilter to analyse 25 Victorian rape trial transcripts. Quilter, who has just finished analysing 75 sexual offence trials in NSW, says her work in both states confirms the disconnect North noticed: progressive law reform over 40 years is being undermined by the way people behave in the actual courtroom.

When North looked closely at how rape trials were run, he was perplexed. The legislation was clear: free agreement to sex is the overriding definition of consent. But the focus in court is still regularly on the victims behaviour rather than whether they consented. Whether they flirted, what they were wearing and so on. That completely contorted the legal framework, says North. And so I kept asking: Why was this? 

For North, this appeal was just one of many disturbing cases he encountered during the VLRCs 2020-21 inquiry into how the justice system deals with sexual assault offences.

Quilter, now a professor, also found that undermining and blaming complainants is still common. In one trial she analysed, a defence barrister suggested a complainant was giving her soon-to-be rapist easier access by changing from leggings to pyjama shorts as she was getting ready for bed. The law is not self-executing, Quilter says. Human beings are involved. And you actually need Crown prosecutors, defence lawyers and judges to put these things into practice.

After the VLRC review, Tony North concluded that something was wrong with legal culture: from the judges in the sleep-consent case down to fresh-faced young barristers. This, he thought, had something to do with how older dinosaur barristers, as he calls them, mentor younger colleagues, passing on their playbook of how to defend a rape case with little attention paid to the changing law. Younger barristers told the VLRC that they knew some of these cross-examinations were wrong and unethical, says North, but courtroom dynamics stymied change. You might get an old dinosaur defence barrister whos out there to slaughter the complainant, and an older judge who thinks, Well, this is how I used to do it. Or maybe theres a younger judge who is across the new way of thinking, yet worries about coming across as barracking for the complainant, or having his or her directions criticised by the Court of Appeal.

The VLRC recommended more sexual offence education for police, lawyers and judges, and that only judges who have completed an overhauled training course hear these cases. They are among 78 recommendations being considered by the Andrews government (13 other recommendations, around issues such as affirmative consent and removing a condom mid-sex, have already been acted upon). So in time, says North, the influence of the dinosaurs should be reduced, reduced, reduced.

The morning after her alleged rape, Holly Harris made two decisions: that this event would not ruin her life, and that she would not involve the police. (ABS figures suggest one in five Australian women have suffered sexual violence, but only 13 per cent will make a police report.) I pretty much went straight into denial, she says. At dinner that night, Holly told three girlfriends shed been raped and had a high level of vaginal pain, making it difficult to sit down. The friends urged her to get medical help, so Holly reluctantly went to the nearby Alfred Hospital. But the doctor refused to examine her because, unusually, there was no one available to first conduct a forensic rape examination. She was referred to another hospital, but it was late and Holly didnt want to worry her parents.

When Luke texted his apology four days later, she felt validated: It seemed quite genuine. But a few weeks later, at a 21st party they both attended, she heard hed been telling people he hadnt raped her, that shed wanted it. (Luke declines to be interviewed for this article.) She was also unhappy that he continued turning up to the same parties as her.

A month after the alleged rape, she broke down and told her mother Anthea about it. Encouraged by Anthea, Holly met with one of Victoria Polices specialist Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Teams, which started looking into it. Holly then briefly dropped the complaint, thinking that, after being questioned by police, Luke would take the situation seriously. But when she heard, through friends, that he still denied responsibility, she reopened the case in mid-2019.

The Director of Public Prosecutions decided to take Hollys case to court, which is not the norm. Only 23 per cent of sexual assault police reports reached Victorian courts in 2017, and only 20 per cent made it to NSW courts in 2021, the high attrition rate often driven by lack of evidence or the withdrawal of a daunted complainant. Holly says she felt disempowered in the lead-up to court due to poor consultation from prosecutors and police, and the slow-turning cogs of the judicial system, a common feeling for victims. But the gap between her expectations of the justice system and its bruising reality was only just beginning.

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On the ground floor of Victorias Office of Public Prosecutions, Lucy the court dog emerges through a door and casually drops the small rectangular piece of cardboard between her teeth  her business card  on the ground. A chocolate labrador, she often sits at the feet of rape victims as they give evidence. The nations first full-time court canine, Lucy is part of a push to make the legal system less traumatic. But theres little Lucy can do to protect a victim from the reality of a rape trial. They might reasonably believe theyre at the trials centre but the victim is, to the court, simply the complainant and a witness. The Crowns barrister is there first and foremost to serve the court and the public interest, not them.

A complainant can be required to hand over their phone, passwords, messages, social media accounts, photos and data, while the accused is not. The defence can apply for the complainants counselling records, while the accused, with the right to silence, does not have to even take the stand. The Crown must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and in rape cases, due to the nature of the crime  one persons word against the other, with often no witnesses or physical evidence  doubt can flourish, particularly if alcohol was involved. Indeed, it is the defences job to ensure doubt does flourish.

Julia Quilter says alcohol is estimated to be a factor in up to 80 per cent of sexual assaults, with either the complainant or the accused being drunk, or both. In NSW and Victoria, you cant legally have sex with someone so alcohol-affected that theyre incapable of consenting. But its tricky for the Crown to take this line, says Quilter, because the defence will then question the complainants recall of events. A typical defence line, she says, might be: You were so drunk, you have no memory of what occurred. And I put it to you now that you were the one who started unzipping his pants. Or the defence might argue that a disinhibited complainant was more likely to consent.

Quilter says juries in Australian rape trials rarely receive any expert guidance on the effects of alcohol, despite a large body of evidence being available on how intoxication affects memory. She points to research that suggests a very drunk person is no less unreliable than a sober person about the essential aspects of an assault  they might not remember peripheral details such as the bedspread colour, but often will remember things relevant to the traumatic event. They might have parts of the night that are completely blank, but will recall a clear image of the assault.

In the 48 to 72 hours after a traumatic event, the brain will not make rational decisions ... How well is this explained to juries?

The other field rich for cultivating doubt is in how people respond to trauma. Patrick Tidmarsh trains investigators and prosecutors in the UK on the nature of sexual offending. He says defence counsel will often show that a complainant acted normally after the event in a bid to cast doubt on their credibility. Yet research suggests theres no behavioural template for trauma victims, who often do unexpected things. In the 48 to 72 hours after a traumatic event, the brain will not make rational decisions, he says down the line from Brighton, England. But when we get into the justice system, everyone is judged as though they had a rational brain at that time.

Why would a sexual assault victim take a shower instead of asking for a medical examination? Why would they wash or throw away the clothes theyd been wearing? Most people would think its not possible to be in denial about something like assault, Tidmarsh says. But if you understand trauma, denial is typical. How well is that explained to juries? Tidmarsh would like to see better jury education on sexual trauma, and potentially even the introduction of professional jurors. Julia Quilter, meanwhile, would like to see more expert witnesses called on how alcohol and trauma affect memory, and more research done on how alcohol affects consent.

When Holly Harris appeared before Victorias County Court in late August, she took the prosecutors advice and was beamed in from a specially built facility away from the courtroom. Giving evidence remotely is now the default for sexual assault victims, a largely successful, trauma-reducing reform. But it may also be having unintended consequences. Holly felt she appeared less real to the jury, by virtue of being seen via video, than Luke and his supporters sitting physically before them.

Theres nothing more devastating to a defence case than for the jury to see the white-knuckled grip of a victims hand on the witness box and the solitary tear sliding down the cheek, agrees one defence lawyer.

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In Hollys cross-examination, defence barrister Belinda Franjic asked at least 10 questions about whether shed flirted with Luke at the nightclub and elsewhere. (Tony North describes this line of questioning as dog-whistling to the jury: suggesting that flirting in a nightclub somehow gives consent to a sex act several hours later.) But in reading the trial transcript, its clear Franjic was trying to tread carefully with Holly. At one point, when Holly was not in the courtroom, Franjic asked Judge Hassan for guidance on her cross-examination. Nevertheless, when Holly returned, the continued questioning  which included putting to her a list of specific sex acts detailed in Lukes story  left her in tears.

Speaking now, Holly says the cross-examination felt like an attempt to break her. The questions were disgusting. I got really upset to the point where I couldnt really answer her any more. I was just saying no, and shaking my head and struggling to sort of breathe because I was crying.

The window of Julie Condons 17th-floor office has a commanding view of Victorias Supreme Court. Well, actually, its roof. Right next door is the County Court, where Condon served 19 months as a judge before returning to the bar as a criminal barrister. Now a Kings Counsel, shes well-placed to comment on rape trials, having overseen several while on the bench and defended many accused of rape.

Condon understands that women often feel like the ones on trial in such cases. But in a legal system thats set up to be adversarial, with serious, life-altering consequences for the accused, a defence barrister must thoroughly test their reliability. An adverse verdict means hes going to jail, hes going to lose his liberty, says Condon. So the allegation needs to be vigorously tested. And cross-examination is not designed to be a pleasant experience.

Does she agree with Tony North and Julia Quilter that theres a gap between the law and courtroom practice? Its difficult to make an assessment about the whole system, Condon says, but she believes times have changed. If the aim was to humiliate or embarrass the complainant by asking about how long her skirt was, in my view, these days, you would alienate a jury in a second if you engaged in that line of cross-examination. As a judge, Condon says she did not see any unduly upsetting cross-examinations of rape complainants.

University of Wollongong professor Julia Quilter would like to see more expert testimony on how alcohol and trauma affects memory. Credit:

Other defence barristers who speak to Good Weekend for this story express concern about what they see as a shift in police attitude: that police now often seem to take a complainants narrative at face-value, without seeking evidence that may expose weaknesses in it. One senior female criminal barrister tells Good Weekend that this disproportionately affects defendants from disadvantaged backgrounds, who may not have the funds to seek a subpoena to search a complainants phone and an expert to extract messages from it. Shes had a number of trials where this information exposed false statements, motives to lie or collusion. I have never heard of a complainant being reported to the police for making a false complaint. These examples are not, therefore, captured in any statistics, she says.

So how many rape allegations are false? Good Weekend speaks to another criminal defence barrister who rails against the inconsistencies they see in rape complainants stories, yet suspects the percentage of false allegations is probably fairly small. (A 2016 meta-analysis of seven studies of rape allegations in four Western countries put confirmed false police reports at 5 per cent). False allegations can, of course, reach court, but its also possible the brutal reputation of rape trials acts as a deterrent. The system places such a burden on complainants its unlikely you are going to have people who are outright lying, says Julia Quilter.

Upstairs from where Lucy the court dog hangs out, Kerri Judd KC, the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions, is talking in her roomy corner office about the difficulties that prosecutors face in securing guilty verdicts for rape. For example, for every 23 reports of rape to the police in Victoria in 2010-19, only one person was sentenced, according to the states Sentencing Advisory Council. Of the fraction of complaints that get to trial  under a broader category of sexual offences  52 per cent of defendants were found guilty in Victoria in the year to June 2020, and 43 per cent in NSW (in the year to September 2022). The figures have remained stable in both states over the past decade, but its certainly clear that the conviction rate for rape is lower than for many other crimes.

The other thing about rape statistics is that there are two different categories of rape that can skew the figures. A 2021 Crime Statistics Agency Victoria analysis found reports of sexual offences involving strangers  the least common  are more likely to get to court and be proven than cases where the accused is known to the complainant. In further analysis for Good Weekend, the CSAV found that between July 2017 and June 2022, Victorian courts heard 3838 charges of rape where the offender was known to the victim. Of these, 26 per cent had the charge proven and a conviction recorded. Of the 788 stranger rape charges, 34 per cent were proven and a conviction recorded.

Judd says that in cases where the parties know each other, the prosecution often struggles to prove that the accused had no reasonable belief of consent. If you have somebody giving evidence who says, Look, you know, on reflection, they werent consenting. I accept that. But at the time, I reasonably believed they were. This is very hard to overcome. An experienced rape trial prosecutor tells Good Weekend that juries are more likely to convict than they were 10 or 15 years ago, but with acquaintance rapes they still struggle with the hurdle of beyond reasonable doubt. If you had to prove it on the balance of probabilities [as in civil cases], thered be a lot more convictions.

British research into jury bias has revealed that even when jurors believe a young man is guilty, theyre often reluctant to convict because they worry the rapist label will damage his future. The high standard of proof, the allowance for doubt and the accuseds right to silence  they all protect against the scourge of wrongful conviction, underpinned by a principle called Blackstones ratio, named after the English jurist William Blackstone, who wrote in the 1760s that it is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.

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Certainly parents of young men would appreciate this legal protection, as they navigate the fraught phase when their children start experimenting sexually, often armed with ideas of sexual consent garnered from porn.

But some observers such as Marque Lawyers partner Michael Bradley now believe this formulation places the rights of men to liberty above the rights of women and girls to physical safety. Or, as the Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor Judith Herman once put it: The legal system is designed to protect men from the superior power of the state but not to protect women or children from the superior power of men.

In recent years, some victim-survivors have shunned courtrooms and used online tools or the media to tell their story. Indeed, women have sought alternative justice pathways for years, from the list of alleged sexual assault perpetrators written on the bathroom walls of New Yorks Columbia University in 2014, to the #MeToo movements online outing of sex pests, to American campus databases such as Callisto, which file away anonymous and encrypted reports of sexual violence that can be acted on only if two victims report the same assailant. These approaches can be messy and result in what American moral philosopher Martha Nussbaum describes as retributive overreach. They are also scary for men, who fear the stigma of being falsely tarred a sexual predator without any right of reply. But they are likely to continue while the system remains so traumatic and while women perceive that the scales of justice are tipped against them.

Is there a way, then, of making victims feel they can safely engage with the system? Stacey Maloney, head of the sex crimes unit of the NSW Police, has floated the idea of a new negligent sexual assault offence, to be dealt with by lower courts, as a way of encouraging more offenders to plead guilty. (Rape cases are highly likely to be contested. As one barrister says, when faced with a jail sentence, young men and their families will remortgage the house and fight the charge with every fibre of their being.) One of the Victorian Law Reform Commissions recommendations that particularly excites Tony North is getting the government to fund a rape complainant to take their alleged rapist to court in the civil jurisdiction, where theres a lower standard of proof (he envisages this might happen in cases that raise important systemic or legal issues).

The former judge also thinks its not a bad thing that recent changes to consent laws in NSW and Victoria  requiring a person to show they took steps to establish consent before sex  might force more perpetrators into the witness box. Marque Lawyers Michael Bradley, meanwhile, has suggested doing away with the right to silence for people accused of rape. This would be a radical change and difficult to enforce. When pressed, Bradley says, in practice, it would mean the judge be allowed to direct the jury that they could draw inferences from an accuseds refusal to testify. At present, the jury is told they cannot conclude anything from an accuseds silence.

There are plenty of other reform suggestions on the table: getting rid of committal hearings in Victoria; judge-only trials; screening jurors for rape myths. The VLRC recommends providing victims with personal advocates to help them navigate the system, and with state-funded legal advice  up to the point of trial  that would, for example, help with cross-examinations or defence attempts to get personal information. Victorian Victims of Crime Commissioner Fiona McCormack goes further, advocating for state-funded lawyers to represent victims at trial, making them equal to, but not in opposition with, the accused.

In 2021, a woman well call Lou* sat at her kitchen table alone. She was about to do something completely counter-intuitive: call her rapist. In 2013, when she was 18, Lou was raped by a 19-year-old, a friend of a friend, whom she was casually seeing. She was in pain for five weeks. In 2016, Lou worked up the courage to go to the police, but found them discouraging. In March 2021, she went back to police, who told her the only way the allegation would reach court was if there was evidence from a pretext call. After several unsuccessful attempts at the police station, Lou was sent home with recording equipment to phone her rapist.

Lou was terrified. Before the call, she says, she had fantasised about running him over in her car. But it turned out to be a transformative conversation. The man said hed thought about that night a lot; that hed always felt they would, one day, have this conversation; that hed been to therapy about it. He recounted details without any prompting from Lou; apologised and said it shouldnt have happened, admitted he kept going when Lou had asked him to stop, that he knew she was in pain. It was so powerful, Lou says, for him to confirm that she hadnt made up this incident, or dramatised it in my head.

It was just sheer luck that I had this really helpful conversation and got a lot of healing from it.

Ultimately, the police decided there wasnt enough evidence to take the matter to court. Lou was relieved: I felt like a part of me had been physically healed after that call. I was like, Okay, were good. Like, this is done. The anger and need for him to be punished has gone.

Lou has become passionate about restorative justice, a healing process that brings the victim and offender together in a facilitated environment, often after receiving counselling and support from trained professionals. The victim gets to explain the impact of the offending and ask questions  Why me? Why did you do it?  while the offender may listen, apologise, or show accountability in the knowledge that, in the ideal models, there are no legal ramifications. In Australia, the ACT is the only jurisdiction that, since 2018, uses restorative justice for adult sex offences as part of the formal legal system. The Queensland government recently announced it would make restorative justice for sexual assault a meaningful option, as it is in New Zealand, the UK and parts of Europe. Across Australia, this idea enjoys widespread support from police, prosecutors, courts, victim advocates, criminal barristers and the VLRC.

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It wont be a solution for everyone. The last place some complainants want to be is in the same room as their perpetrator. But many who have gone through restorative justice pilot programs testify to its healing powers. Lou, now 28, realises the criminal justice system could never have delivered what she really wanted. It was just sheer luck that I had this really helpful conversation and got a lot of healing from it. The rest of the process was, like, actively really harmful.

Holly Harris, who never wanted Luke to go to jail, also thinks restorative justice is worth pursuing. And she believes rape trials should be heard by judges alone, partly because of jury bias but also because judges must explain their reasoning, giving victims more closure.

These days, Holly has a lovely, supportive new boyfriend. Shes in her fifth year of law school and is in a good place. She still wonders if going to court was worth it. Theres been a couple of times in the last few months where Ive been like, What on earth was the point of all that? I literally put myself through hell for years for nothing, essentially.

* Names have been changed.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It was the visit from police no parent wants, and it took just four minutes. Darren and Nicola Gilbert answered a knock at the front door and were told their son was dead. How he died, the officers could not say. And then they were gone. Their 24-year-old, Luke, had been in Airlie Beach, north Queensland, a world away from the Gilberts home in Western Australia. Those police from WA gave us a number to ring Queensland, and thats when we found out what happened, after [the officers] left, Nicola says through tears. As they dialled Queensland police, the Gilberts were unsure what to expect.

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They were told Luke, who had been enjoying a night out at a party precinct, allegedly lunged at police with a knife. Before long, his death started to appear on television bulletins and news sites, as the Gilberts pieced together what had happened. Police had fired five bullets at Luke. Three hit him in the chest. The time was about 12.20am. The police officers involved in the shooting are still working. Credit:Nine News Hours after the shooting and ahead of any official investigation, police union president Ian Leavers said Luke had lunged at police and the officers had no alternative but to open fire. All of a sudden he has pulled a knife from his hoodie and then started threatening the police, Leavers said at the time.

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Wearing his work gear  a high-vis shirt, with a pocket knife clipped to his belt  Luke had walked along the footpath in the early hours of October 1 last year, passing two officers and seeing another two further up the road. Its a legal knife you buy in Bunnings. Darren Gilbert While Lukes parents have seen videos from the night, they chose not to view the footage that showed the final moments of his life. His family have relied on their lawyer and others to help them process and explain the footage. Minutes before the shooting, the 24-year-old tradie had left a club to make his way to another bar. From what we can gather, Luke was basically walking up the street, Darren Gilbert says, his tone serious as he describes his sons last steps. He passes two police officers on the left-hand side as hes walking up.

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Luke Gilberts family say he would regularly use his pocket knife for work. He then passes another two officers. Apparently it looks like ... he nearly bumps into [one of the officers], and one of the coppers has said, You all right there? like not happy hes just been bumped into. Luke ignores the officers and starts crossing the road. So Lukes got his back to them and then they say, What have you got there?, so Lukes turned around, Darren says. Apparently ... this isnt confirmed because the video weve looked at has not shown that, but apparently he unclips the knife and shows them, and thats when theyve pulled the guns out. I think when he shows them, theyre saying the blade was open.

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The Queensland Police Service has not commented beyond a press conference held immediately after Lukes death, and has not responded to questions since, explaining the shooting was still under investigation. Ethical Standards Command are continuing the investigation into the death of Mr Gilbert and will submit a report to the State Coroner, a spokesman told Brisbane Times. Family and friends question the use of force, wondering why non-lethal alternatives, such as Tasers, werent used. At the time, Acting Assistant Commissioner Marcus Hill explained that while there was a lot of talk around Tasers, they were effective in some circumstances, but when people are advancing with a knife, thats probably not one of them. Luke Gilbert had been living in Townsville but travelled to Airlie Beach the day of his death to help a friend with car trouble. Credit:Facebook Darren says his son would wear the knife almost every day to work without a problem. Its a legal knife you buy in Bunnings, he says.

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Michelle Simmons of UNSW is internationally recognised as a path-breaking researcher and some 20 Australian companies are developing the technology. Loading But: Michelle has found it really hard to get backing, says Husic. It would be really awful if we lost one of the great minds because we lack faith in our own people, and they have to go overseas. Another quiet tech breakthrough happened in parliament this week: Husic succeeded in getting his National Reconstruction Fund through the Senate and into law. This was a Labor election commitment  a $15 billion capital fund designed to do for manufacturing and tech what the Clean Energy Finance Corporation did for renewable energy. That is, catalyse billions more in private capital to invest jointly in seven priority areas, including $1 billion for critical technologies, a category embracing quantum technologies. Albanese says it will restore Australia as a country that makes things.

Why was it a quiet success? It was in the news, but it was not a topline news story this week. Public awareness of the fund is low. Partly thats because it was overshadowed by another major legislative achievement. This week the government won Senate approval of a centrepiece of its climate change plan  the parliament has now made law Albaneses safeguard mechanism. So far, the government has not suffered the loss of any of its major legislative initiatives; its Housing Australia Future Fund is snagged in Senate negotiations but has not been defeated and remains in play. A government of grown-ups: Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Neither has the government suffered any internal crisis or serious outbreak of indiscipline. Overall, the Albanese government to date is the most purposeful and unified of any since Hawke in 1983. Its a government of grown-ups. James Walter, a political scientist who co-authored a two-volume study of the Australian prime ministership since 1949, judges that Albaneses government has come into office and started more smoothly than any since Hawke. There are two big things that help.

One is having a clear sense of what they are doing, having a program, says the Monash University professor emeritus. The other thing is having a prime minister with a good understanding that the job is one that can only be done by multiple people, engaging productively. As opposed to a leader who tries to centralise power in their own office. What about the most successful Liberal prime minister of the modern era, John Howard? His early days were marked by a lack of purpose and roiled by the sackings and resignations of a brace of his ministers. It was a rocky start and people worried he might lose the next election, but he managed to consolidate, Walter points out. Labor learnt its lesson from the divisive Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen A key Labor insider, Don Farrell, a political linchpin of the Albanese government, offers this explanation for its early cohesiveness  Labor learnt a searing lesson from its traumas of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years: In the same way that, when Bob Hawke came in in 1983 and had learnt the lessons of the dysfunction of the Whitlam government, all those of us lucky enough to be re-elected realised that we cannot afford to have a repetition of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, he tells me. Theres a determination not to let that happen again. Farrell was one of the agents of disruption, one of the faceless men who organised the coup against Kevin Rudd in 2010. Today hes an agent of stabilisation. As a force in the Labor right faction, he helped maintain caucus calm during the most anxious days of Albaneses term as opposition leader. Today, Farrell is Albaneses minister for trade and tourism as well as special minister of state and deputy leader of the government in the Senate.

He says the distinguishing feature of the government is the way in which Anthony runs his cabinet, of which Farrell is a member. He says to his ministers, Im going to give you this portfolio, you go and implement government policy and you will only hear from me if you make a mistake. Loading That means ministers have confidence to deal with their portfolios and he can manage the government overall and not second-guess his ministers. He conducts his cabinet in an extremely consultative manner. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you can never say I didnt get a chance to put my case. I think that results in better decisions. But Labor hasnt had such a high legislative success rate entirely of its own accord. Don Farrell agrees that youve got to give the Greens credit for negotiating constructively in the Senate. The Greens under Adam Bandt have transformed from being a party of protest to a party of problem-solving, from being an angry teenager to being a responsible adult. Bandts aim is to make the Greens into a party of government, something that the Greens have achieved decisively in Germany.

And the Coalition? Its now adopted the attitude of the truculent teen, arms crossed and angry, saying no reflexively to almost everything. Including saying no to the National Reconstruction Fund, the emissions safeguards, even the governments $1.5 billion plan to give households some relief on power prices. This style of denial politics is a handy way for Peter Dutton to achieve unity in his party room, but it has limited value in the medium run. Because it plays to the partys base but not to the electorate at large. Ousted NSW premier Dominic Perrottet and former treasurer Matt Kean. We fended off the teals, we fended off One Nation, what we couldnt fend off was a resurgent Labor after 12 years in government, Kean said. Credit: NA The teal independents took six traditional Liberal heartland seats last year. The Liberals current stance will only entrench the teals. Surveying the Liberals loss in last weekends NSW election, the former treasurer, Matt Kean, says that there are lessons for his federal colleagues: On election night John Howard said we got the balance right, and thats demonstrated by the fact that we held onto all the seats under teal challenge, Kean, a leading moderate, tells me. The NSW Liberal government was far more progressive than the Morrison government on climate change and womens rights, and it showed in the results. The Climate 200 founder and independent teal funder, Simon Holmes a Court, tweeted that Keans climate policies certainly made it harder for indie campaigns to engage pro-climate voters (& donors).

In the traditional Liberal stronghold of the federal seat of Warringah, for instance, the teal Zali Steggall won a primary vote of 45 per cent last year while the Liberals Catherine Deves scored only 33 per cent. Teals win. But in the state seat of Manly, which overlaps Warringah, the Liberals James Griffith held his seat with 46 per cent of the primary vote against the teal hopeful Joeline Hackman with 27 per cent. Libs win. Loading Kean also points out that the NSW Liberals didnt succumb to the assault from the right  One Nations share of the vote gained by only 0.7 per cent in the lower house and remained under 2 per cent. Concludes Kean: So it can be done  we fended off the teals, we fended off One Nation, what we couldnt fend off was a resurgent Labor after 12 years in government. Don Farrell says that Albaneses crowning achievement so far is to understand the centre of Australian politics because thats ultimately where Australian governments win  not on the right, not on the left, they win in the centre. That computes. It should hardly be a national secret.
One Nation MP Mark Latham has refused to apologise for a now-deleted homophobic tweet that triggered widespread outrage and a rebuke from his partys federal leader.

Latham went to ground for more than 24 hours after the derogatory tweet on Thursday, aimed at Independent MP Alex Greenwich, but he re-entered the fray on Twitter on Friday night.

Never apologise, never explain turns out to be right, Latham tweeted, before linking to an article with the same headline, about a study from Columbia University.

Federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was among those who had called on Latham to apologise, saying in a video on Facebook on Thursday night that she had tried to call and text Latham to no avail.
Pretoria: Former Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius has been denied parole and will have to stay in prison for at least another year and four months after it was decided he had not served the minimum detention period required to be released following his murder conviction for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 10 years ago.

The parole board on Friday (South Africa time) ruled that Pistorius would only be able to apply again in August 2024, South Africas Department of Corrections said in a two-paragraph statement. It was released soon after a parole hearing at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre prison where Pistorius is being held.

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius at a bail hearing several years ago. Credit: AP

The board cited a new clarification on Pistorius sentence that was issued by the countrys Supreme Court of Appeal just three days before the hearing. Still, legal experts criticised authorities decision to proceed with the hearing when Pistorius was not eligible.

Steenkamps parents, Barry and June, were relieved with the decision but were not celebrating it, their lawyer said.
Washington: The Manhattan district attorney at the centre of Donald Trumps historic indictment has accused Republicans of unlawful political interference as tensions escalated ahead of the former US presidents arraignment next week.

A day after a grand jury in New York took the unprecedented step of indicting Trump over hush money paid to a porn star, Trump launched a new fundraising blitz off the back of his plight. In a statement on Saturday (AEDT), he said he had raised $US4 million in the 24 hours following the charges, adding 25 per cent of it came from first-time donors.

Meanwhile, his allies in Congress called for people to protest in the streets and Trumps favourite daughter Ivanka broke her silence over the case, declaring: I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both.

Trump is expected to be arraigned in New York on Tuesday at 2.15pm, New York time, which will mark the first time a former US president has ever been processed, fingerprinted, and had his mugshot taken before appearing in court where his charges will be outlined and he will enter a plea.
This week, I gave my U.S. Senate Maiden Speech  a long-held tradition for freshman senators to highlight their priorities in an inaugural speech on the Senate floor. The first time I entered the U.S. Senate chamber, I got chills. The chamber and the Capitol building represent the values weve held for nearly two and a half centuries. They represent how exceptional our Republic is.

We must not lose sight of what makes America so exceptional. Our founders threw off the tyranny of a king with an idea; that our rights come to us directly from God  not from a king. Governments are instituted to protect those rights.

Even today, after 246 years, our founding principles are every bit as true. These values  like rule of law, checks and balances, and federalism  are critical to our republic. Theyve created the greatest nation the world has ever seen. Were strongest when we follow them. Were never weaker than when we stray from them.

Our American system unleashes the power of individuals to achieve their full potential. In our country, it doesnt matter where you start. With enough grit and hard work, you can go anywhere. Thats why the world wants to come here. Thats why nearly every major innovation and breakthrough comes from America.

The framers of the Constitution also believed that government closest to the people is best able to serve them. Its common sense. What works in New York may not work in Nebraska. Our state has shown America whats possible when the federal government gets out of the way and allows states to lead.

During my time as Governor, we kept the size and scope of government small. We empowered people. We ran government more like a business. We dramatically improved the level of service provided to Nebraska families. We got help to people in need faster than ever before. We made it easier for citizens and businesses to work with the state. We provided billions of dollars in tax relief  including for veterans and seniors by phasing out taxes on their retirement income and Social Security. We attracted new investments and jobs for communities big and small. We employed a record-number of Nebraskans while our states unemployment rate reached a historic low.

We made government work better. We proved that we can do a better job of providing services while still controlling our costs. We also proved that we can respect peoples liberty and freedoms while protecting their safety. During the pandemic, we kept kids in school, people at work, and government open. As a result, we were rated the number one best pandemic response state.

All of this reflects Nebraskas conservative values. In Nebraska, we respect peoples freedom. We value strong communities, faith, and family. We honor our law enforcement and military. We expect a limited, accountable government. We believe in personal responsibility and the boundless potential of the individual.

Nebraska is what America is supposed to be.

But nationally, weve strayed from those values. Too many now take our freedoms for granted. Too often we hear resentment rather than reverence for the very principles that make this country great. Too many have forgotten the old adage that a government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

As your Senator, I will strive to make the federal government work better for the people. I will reject every effort to restrict our liberties and undermine our values. I will work to restore transparency and faith in the federal government. I will work to control spending, curb unnecessary regulation, and limit the size and scope of government. I will work to secure our borders and provide the resources to defend against our enemies. I will work to assure that we have a well-trained, well-led, and well-equipped military to defend us. I will hold this and future administrations accountable to the American people. More importantly, I will always fight for the best interests and freedoms of you, the Nebraskans I serve.

Throughout our history, we have risen to meet every challenge. With our founding values as our guide, we will again rise to meet the challenge of this moment.

Along with my colleagues in the Nebraska delegation, my team and I are here to serve you. Contact my team and I anytime by phone at 202-224-4224, on my website www.ricketts.senate.gov, or via email contactricke@ricketts.senate.gov. I am honored to serve our great state and will continue to work to protect the Good Life from Washington overreach.
Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued 18 orders to the developer behind a 266-unit condo building under construction in Welland since the first of two partial collapses at the project on Prince Charles Drive.

On Feb. 18 the first collapse occurred. That was followed by another eight days later.

Since then, minimal details about the cause of the incidents have been released, as both constructor Evertrust Development Inc. and the ministry have cited an ongoing investigation as the reason why.

Ministry spokesperson Anu Dhar said visits by inspectors on March 15, 24 and 29 resulted in a number of orders and requirements being issued recently.

The ministry has been tight-lipped about what those orders involve throughout the investigation at the five-storey project.

As the investigation is ongoing, the ministry cannot comment further at this time, Dhar said.

A timeline on when the probe of the two collapses will conclude is something the ministry is unable to provide.

Ministry investigations are detailed and thorough, and may take weeks or months to complete depending on the complexity of the investigation, said Dhar.

On March 8, a stop-work order was lifted by the ministry and the constructor was permitted to return to the site to continue with remedies.

On Saturday, Joyce Morocco, a contracted spokesperson for Evertrust, said she had limited information on progress made so far, but that the cleanup on the ground has been completed and that the builder has applied for a rebuild permit.

She said the developer continues to work closely with the ministry.

The Welland Tribune filed a Freedom of Information request March 9 at Welland city hall asking for names of all contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers who have worked on the Upper Vista Welland build. The citys site inspection reports have also been requested. Deputy clerk Laura Bubanko said at that time the municipality would respond to the request within 30 days.

City staff, including planning and development director Grant Munday and corporate communications manager Marc MacDonald, said this information would need to be sought through the FOI process.

Soil conditions have been a topic of speculation at the site.

Local historian Terry Hughes recently said the area the Upper Vista building is on was once swam that was filled in with soil from excavation of the third and fourth Welland canals.

But Harvey Russell, who was the lead on the neighbouring Seaway Pointe condo building, was skeptical to point to that being the problem  but he didnt rule it out.

The soil beside us could be something different, he said in early March.

Falling under the Ontario Building Code, mandatory inspections of the Upper Vista Welland Condominiums would have been carried out at specific stages of construction, said MacDonald after the first collapse.

The project has a construction value of about $55 million.

A partial demolition started on March 6.

Both collapses occurred on the south tower of the project, which sits on the west side of the Welland Recreational Canal.

Evertrust Development remains subject of a $10-million lawsuit brought forward by residents of the developers Niagara Falls site, citing poor conditions at that building.

Kris Dube is a reporter for the Welland Tribune. Reach him via email: kris.dube@niagaradailies.com

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Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Sunshine mixing with clouds and rather cool. There might be a stray afternoon shower primarily north and west..

Tonight

Turning out mainly clear or partly cloudy and chilly.
Two existing marijuana dispensaries in Palmer Lake opened for recreational sales on Saturday, April 1, officially making the municipality as just the second to do so in El Paso County.

The grand reopenings come after voters last November passed a ballot measure 55% to 45% allowing the two dispensaries, Alpine Essentials and Dead Flowers, to transition to adult-use recreational sales. Palmer Lake voters have previously rejected recreational sales a handful of times since 2014, but did pass a measure establishing a 5% sales tax on recreational marijuana and related products in 2016.

The dispensaries, both located off Colorado 105 just west of Monument, mark a shift several local officials believe will bring a sizable revenue boost to a town heavily reliant on property taxes.

Karen Stuth, a former Palmer Lake trustee and current president of the towns Economic Development Group, described herself as one of the foremost proponents of retail recreational sales. She said one of the reasons the town of roughly 2,500 struggles is because it lacks the number of sales tax-producing businesses present in other similar-sized towns, like Leadville.

Recreational dispensaries could attract out-of-towners to nearby restaurants and other businesses in the area, she said.

(The sales) will take the heat off of what the Board of Trustees has to deal with: meeting needs with not enough money, Stuth said. All towns have to maintain their infrastructure, and once the infrastructure goes down, the town begins to disappear.

Each of Palmer Lakes two dispensaries could bring in an estimated $800,000 in gross income in the first year, Stuth said in November. She said the trustees worked with marijuana industry experts and other stores in the county to come to that estimate.

Town Administrator Dawn Collins told The Tribune in an email that officials do not have a factual revenue projection yet, but referred to a presentation during a June 2022 Board of Trustees workshop that included the $800,000 estimate.

She said the revenue will support general fund expenses, like law enforcement and fire department staffing and resources, and could bolster capital expenditure savings that go toward improvement projects and equipment replacement.

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We look forward to a revenue review mid-year ... to learn what we can expect after the initial openings of both establishments, Collins said.

Across the state, total recreational marijuana sales far outweigh medical marijuana sales; in 2022, Colorado saw $1.5 billion in recreational sales and $231,000 in medical sales, resulting in $325,000 in revenue from total marijuana sales, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Sales-tax revenue peaked in 2021 at a record $423,000.

Despite declining marijuana sales in Colorado, Palmer Lake has a geographic advantage, said Alpine Essentials co-owner Melissa Woodward, whose fourth-generation Palmer Lake family has run the company since 2015.

Woodward said clientele will come largely from dry Douglas County, which does not allow medical or recreational sales. She believes the dispensaries also will pull customers from Colorado Springs north side and the northeast part of El Paso County, who have previously traveled north to Denver or southwest to Manitou Springs to spend their dollars.

Manitou Springs, like Palmer Lake, is capped by code at two marijuana storefronts and thus is not required by the state to disclose sales and tax collections. But since Manitou Springs legalized recreational sales in 2014, its budgets other category for businesses, including marijuana, saw sales taxes rise from $3,325 in December 2013 to $74,168 in December 2014 and to $279,377 in December 2017, according to Tribune reporting.

So we dont really know where this is going to land, Woodward said. We do know that any revenue is better than no revenue.

Opponents have said legalizing recreational marijuana in Palmer Lake would increase crime, exacerbate mental health concerns, and would make it more readily available to youth.

But Woodward and Stuth believe more education on pot and its backing by most trustees during the election cycle, as well as the financial positives, including an addition of 30 employees to the 10 already employed at Alpine Essentials medical storefront, allowed residents to tip in favor of the measure.

Were going to have better roads, and our policemen are going to be paid fair wages, Woodward said. Our fire department is going to get the funding that it needs to operate to the level that the people deserve.
WEST READING, Pa. - Friday marked an emotional night in West Reading, one week after the deadly blast that shook homes, businesses, and people across the area.

R.M. Palmer Company workers, past employees, and family and friends of the victims gathered to honor the lives that were lost and tried to find some comfort in the unity.

69 News saw what seemed to be hundreds of people gathering at Bethany Lutheran Church in West Reading before the vigil.

Then, at the vigil, the crowd just seemed to grow.

So many emotional moments took place, from the prayers being offered, to the written words for the people who passed, to the sound of church bells continuously ringing to honor the seven victims who died.

The silence in West Reading was broken by the continuous echoes of Bethany Lutheran Church's bell.

"We just tried to do whatever we could to comfort them," said Ashley Lessman, who attends Bethany Lutheran.

Therapy dogs comforted people before and during the vigil, and Reading Hospital chaplains stood close by for anyone who might need extra care.

"Hearing people's stories," said Chaplain Rebecca Knox. "It's just heart wrenching that people lost loved ones, people they have worked with."

West Reading is a community forever changed, according to neighbors.

"May we continue to heal and lean on each other," urged Knox.

"This is one of those events you're not going to forget," said Bethany Lutheran Pastor Bruce Osterhout. "People are already saying, 'where were you when?'"

Holding balloons, candles, and each other, people also wore shirts with the victim's faces and in support of R.M. Palmer Company.

"I just want people to know I work there, and we're here for them," said Stephanie Caswell, a 19-year employee.

Caswell says she cries all the time now. She and her husband are long-time employees, who say they take solace in the community's efforts.

"It's amazing how everyone came together," added Caswell. "It's amazing, the firefighters. We're so proud of them. We couldn't do it without all these people."

Former workers said they felt it was their duty to attend, thinking fondly of the people they used to work, laugh, and smile with before the explosion.

"They come to your children's baptisms, their birthdays," explained Jessica Wagner of Reinholds, who used to work for R.M. Palmer.

Wagner says she's a third generation Palmer's kid. Her grandmother, mother, and aunt have either worked or continue to work for the company.

"Sue Halvonik was there forever is what I always say - forever. She was close to my mom. Her and Amy Sandoe. She [Amy] interviewed me. Hired me. Took a chance on me," explained Wagner. "Sue would come in 2,3 o' clock in the morning and stay there until 8 at night. She was diehard Palmer's."

Neighbors say it's a tragedy unlike any other in West Reading, but that it's matched by the solidarity and community being witnessed in its aftermath.

MORE: West Reading Chocolate Factory Explosion More info on the story including photos and past articles

"It's outstanding," added Lessman. "It's amazing, it really is that the community comes together."

We spoke with several people who work at the company and are trying to come to grips with the fact they have to go back to work on Monday.

They're not sure how they're going to handle it, or how their coworkers will.

"When we do go back to work, they're [workers] going to be upset, and, probably, every little noise is going to disturb them," said Bud Caswell.

There are a number of resources being offered to help people affected.

R.M. Palmer has compiled a list on its website.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraine's top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.

Metropolitan Pavel is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraines most revered Orthodox site. He has denied the charges and resisted the authorities' order to vacate the complex.

In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russias invasion was politically driven and that he had never been on the side of aggression.

After the court's ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it. The house arrest was to last two months.

I am accepting this, he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldnt I accept this?

Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

Many Orthodox communities in Ukraine have cut their ties with the UOC and transitioned to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which more than four years ago received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

The UOC has insisted that its loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian security agencies say some in the church have maintained close ties with Moscow. The agencies have raided numerous holy sites of the church and then posted photos of rubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

The government had ordered the monks to leave the compound by March 29. It claims they violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site, and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Dozens of UOC supporters gathered outside the monastery on Saturday, singing hymns in the rain. A smaller group of protesters also turned up, accusing the other side of sympathizing with Moscow.

They wash the brains of people with Russian support, and they are very dangerous for Ukraine, said Senia Kravchuk, a 38-year-old software developer from Kyiv. They sing songs in support of Russia, and thats horrible, here, in the center of Kyiv.

Third-year seminary student David, 21, disagreed. Dressed in a priests robes and with a Ukrainian flag draped round his shoulders, he insisted the Lavra priests and residents were in no way pro-Russian. The state, he said, was trying to evict hundreds of people from Lavra without a court order.

Look at me. Im in priests clothes, with a Ukrainian flag and a cross around my neck. Could you say that Im pro-Russian? said David, who declined to give his last name because of the tensions surrounding the issue. The priests are currently singing a Ukrainian hymn, and theyre being called pro-Russian. Can you believe it?

In other news Saturday, Zelenskyy condemned the U.N. Security Council for allowing Russia to assume its presidency. The councils 15 members each serve as president for a month, on a rotating basis.

Zelenskyy said Russian artillery had killed a 5-month-old boy in the town of Avdiivka on Friday, one of hundreds of artillery attacks each day, and added that Russia presiding over the Security Council "proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions.

Two civilians were reported killed in Russian shelling on Saturday, one each in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian authorities there said.

Zelenskyy also said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday about defense cooperation.

While Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive expected later this spring, Russian forces have kept pressing their effort to capture the city of Bakhmut. Fighting in that stronghold in Ukraine's east has dragged on for eight months.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a Saturday visit to the military headquarters overseeing the action in Ukraine that Russia's defense industries have boosted production of ammunition by several times.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said in an analysis Saturday that the Russian offensive overseen by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, has fizzled.

Gerasimovs tenure has been characterized by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region, the British ministry said on Twitter. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed.

The ministry said Russian forces have made only marginal gains in the Donbas "at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties." Russia was "largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel from a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists Putin ordered in the fall, the U.K. analysis said. ___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A clash among powerful developers and dark money donors has started to dominate the Colorado Springs mayoral and city council elections, with new mailers and ads over access to city water hitting TV and mailboxes in recent days.

For example, a new ad backing mayoral candidate Wayne Williams presents him as a defender of city water, while depicting another mayoral front-runner, Sallie Clark, as "in the pocket of" county land-speculators and opposed to the city's new water rule, which could limit annexation.

Another ad attacks Williams for his support of that same rule, which could give Norwood Development Group, the owner of 18,000 acres of Banning Lewis Ranch, more guaranteed access to city water. Both ads were funded through committees with untraceable donations.

The controversial rule requires Colorado Springs Utilities to have a 128% buffer of water needed to serve the city and any future land annexations. It has split developers based on whether they will benefit or not and they are now weighing in with campaign dollars.

Norwood Development Group, which will benefit heavily from the rule, is backing Williams. Other companies that could see their property blocked from coming into the city are backing Clark.

The rule has already blocked the annexation of a large proposed development near Fountain. The company behind the project, La Plata Communities and its executive leaders, have given about $11,000 to Clark since Feb. 1. La Plata Communities and its leaders also gave about $7,500 total to Williams, but those donations came in 2022, before the water rule passed. Norwood and people associated with the company gave Williams $11,000 through Wednesday.

Both Clark and Williams are experienced local politicians who have served on City Council and the Board of El Paso County Commissioners, and say that while they are taking campaign money from developers they have stood up to them in the past.

A detailed review of campaign donations from the beginning of the race through March 15 shows Williams, Clark, Yemi Mobolade  the three top-fundraising mayoral candidates  and City Council candidates have all received generous donations from developers, construction companies and real estate agents, as the amount raised by candidates has soared into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Independent committees, with unknown donors, are also funding TV ads and mailers in the election's final weeks with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Such contributions concern Shelley Roehrs, spokeswoman with the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region, because of the potential influence donors could have once candidates take office.

"They are going to have the ear of that candidate," she said.

Some of the large and notable donors in the campaign so far have come from the Colorado Springs Forward committee, a group affiliated with a civic nonprofit, Norwood Development Group, the O'Neil Group, the Housing and Building Association of Colorado Springs, Schmidt Construction Inc., developer Danny Mientka and several new committees with ties to right-leaning groups that have not been active in previous elections.

Williams has seen more than $225,000 come in from developers or those with construction interests during the election, with the largest donations coming from Doug Stimple, CEO of developer Classic Homes, who has donated $52,000 to Williams' campaign; the Housing and Building Association of Colorado Political Action Committee, which has donated $50,000; and Schmidt Construction Inc., a paving and asphalt contractor, has donated $20,000 to Williams.

Williams has also received $255,000 so far from Colorado Springs Forward, a group that does not have to disclose its donors.

Clark has received more than $240,000 from developers or donors with construction interests. Her largest donors include $100,000 from The O'Neil Group; $110,000 in total from Ron Johnson, CEO of Central Bancorp; $25,000 from Tartan Partners; and $10,000 from La Plata Communities.

Mobolade, a political newcomer and one of the top three fundraisers, has also received more than $55,000 from developers this election, receiving donations of $10,000 from High Valley Land Company Inc.; about $21,7000 to date from Susan Pattee, a partner in the redevelopment of the Union Printers Home; and $10,050 total from Kevin Butcher, owner of commercial real estate company Strata Group.

Some of Mobolade's funding has also come from large donations from businesses, such as $10,000 from Jaxon Engineering and Maintenance, a military-grade engineering firm; about $15,710 from Vance Brown, the executive director of Exponential Impact, a business development support company; and $10,000 from Anthony Feltman, owner of Rocky Mountain Soap Market.

Norwood weighs in

Norwood Development Company promoted its preferred slate of selected candidates in an email soliciting donations for Williams and others.

"The mayor's race is in a dogfight with three or four of the 12 running. It is absolutely imperative that we support and elect Wayne Williams as our next mayor," Norwood founder David Jenkins wrote in the email.

Williams supported the 128% water rule that has already blocked a large property that would compete with Banning Lewis Ranch from annexing, although it is not the rule that Norwood originally told Mayor John Suthers that the company wanted to put on a ballot for voters to approve.

Jenkins said he expected the mayor's race to cost between $800,000 to $1 million and council seats to cost between $75,000 and $150,000 each. He encouraged donors to consider $1,000 donations to council candidates and $1,500 in the mayor's race. He also urged $10,000 donations to a nonprofit that would give to an independent expenditure committee.

Jenkins also encouraged support for city council candidates Michelle Talarico, Brian Risley, Lynette Crow-Iverson and David Leinweber.

In an response to the Gazette, Norwood's Senior Vice President Tim Seibert said he is a member of the Housing and Building Association Political Action Committee and that it offers to meet with all candidates, as do other civic groups in town.

"It is through that experience that we evaluate and support the candidates that we believe will keep Colorado Springs a city of opportunity now and into the future. We are steadfast in our commitment to support leaders that move our city forward," Seibert said.

Dark money flows

Three of those candidates, Risley, Crow-Iverson and Leinweber, were promoted as candidates that will protect the city's water supply by a committee known as Citizens for Responsible Leadership. The flyer featured similar language to an ad backing Williams, saying the candidates would prioritize residents over new developments in the county. That prioritization is inherent in the new water rule.

The ads backing Williams and the council candidates were paid for by two different committees, with Citizens for Protecting our Water backing Williams. Cole Communications manages both committees and both received donations from Defend Colorado, a nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors.

Defend Colorado gave $100,000 to Citizens for Responsible Leadership and $200,000 to Citizens for Protecting our Water.

A group of the same name, Defend Colorado, has also been active in Denver's spring elections, backing a measure to lower sales and use taxes among other measures in the state capital. The committees cannot coordinate with candidates.

Daniel Cole, owner of Cole Communications, said the candidates the committees are backing would stay focused on the core functions of government, such as infrastructure, and would prioritize water for existing residents over county development. He said he does not expect the water rule to hurt county development.

Another committee, Colorado Springs for Ethical Government, purchased ads blasting Williams, according to Sixty35 Media. City campaign filings show the committee has received $200,000 from the Stand Against Monopolies LLC, a business with a Denver address. The Gazette requested comment from the registered agent for Stand Against Monopolies, but did not receive a response in time for this story.

Mayoral candidates respond

Williams said he has stood up to developers in the past and implemented policies in his recent tenure on city council that were not popular with the development community. He helped pass new fees on development to pay for new fire and police services to support growth, as well as a water resource fee on new development. The fee on homes will go up to $5,800 in July to help Colorado Springs Utilities purchase more water rights and build infrastructure to deliver that water to town.

On the water rule, Williams noted it is an improvement on previous rules for annexation that said Utilities should have enough water for the foreseeable future. With the ongoing megadrought on the Colorado River, the vague guidelines could block annexations entirely, he said.

Clark said she has a long history working to develop future water supplies for the city of Colorado Springs. For example, she worked with Pueblo officials to address their concerns about the water quality in Fountain Creek leading to establishment of the Fountain Creek Watershed, Flood Control and Greenway District that laid a foundation for the new Southern Delivery System Pipeline to bring water up to Colorado Springs from Pueblo Reservoir. The pipeline is a key piece of bringing additional water from the Arkansas Valley that Utilities is currently working to purchase from farmers.

"I have always cared about future water resources," she said.

The new water rule is a "knee-jerk reaction essentially giving a monopoly to one developer," she said. As mayor she would set up a task force to study the issue more broadly, would involve state and federal partners and would take a close look at the dwindling El Paso County aquifers.

When it comes to taking money from developers, Clark noted she has never taken money from unknown sources and she doesn't make promises to those with development interests.

"I have never promised them anything except balanced, fair governance," she said.

Mobolade said the number and diversity of his donations, which included small monthly gifts, will help ensure he does not act on behalf of a few. According a data base built by Mobolade's campaign, he has received gifts from 681 donors, Clark comes in second with 305 donors and Williams is third with 182.

"I am accountable to everyone," Mobolade said.

To run a campaign with few large donors goes against the essence of a government for and by the people, he said.

As a top fundraiser, he said he could benefit from the conflict between Clark and Williams' backers.

"I feel like I am crossing the Red Sea between these two opposing forces and trying to pave a new way," Mobolade said.

Colorado Springs City Council races

In the City Council races, developers have given generously to candidates Risley, Crow-Iverson, Leinweber and Talarico, campaign finance documents show.

Included are donations from the Housing and Building Association of Colorado Political Action Committee, such as the $2,500 the organization gave to Talaricos campaign and the $5,000 each it gave to Leinweber, Crow-Iverson and Risley.

Among other developer donations, Crow-Iverson and Talarico both received $1,000 from the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado, while Norwood Limited gave $2,500 each to Leinweber, Crow-Iverson and Risley, documents show.

Classic Homes CEO Doug Stimple gave $5,000 to date to Risleys campaign, Platinum Group owner Ed Behr donated $2,500 to Leinweber, The ONeil Group Company gave $10,000 to Crow-Iverson, and Ron Johnson of Central Bancorp gave $2,500 each to Talarico, Risley and Leinweber.

Leinweber acknowledged developers including Norwood are among his funders. Norwood also helped fund a group he founded, the Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance.

When he comes to his role on council, Leinweber said he would "serve neighborhoods to make sure they have what they need."

Crow-Iverson promised to "make decisions that best reflect the needs of our community" if elected, including on any future review of the water rule.

"I will do my due diligence to understand all of the issues surrounding this ordinance from impacts to the citys water supply, future development and other aspects," she said. "As with any decision that will be made by the council, knowing that housing is one of our citys major challenges, I will work to understand how the councils actions may have an impact on the price and availability of housing."

Risley said his nine-year tenure on the El Paso County Planning Commission, including his current role as its chairman, demonstrates his "long and thorough record of making impartial and unbiased land use decisions, regardless of the applicant or circumstance."

Risley said he will be impartial if elected.

"In this campaign, I have received broad support from many business leaders from many sectors of the economy. None of the contributions matter when it comes to my moral compass and decision-making process," he said.

Talarico also acknowledged donations made to her campaign from developers like Norwood, Classic Homes and GE Johnson, among others, but said they would not affect her ability to lead District 3, if elected to that council seat.

"Every single dollar Ive taken from any developer has come with the caveat from them, and from me, that I want to make sure you expect nothing in return for this other than my gratitude for your support, because campaigns are expensive to run," Talarico said. "... I have never been asked to do something special for anybody, nor will I do anything special for anybody."
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS  Get Rating) insider Jonathon Nudi sold 8,030 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.33, for a total transaction of $685,199.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 83,049 shares in the company, valued at $7,086,571.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Jonathon Nudi also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Wednesday, January 11th, Jonathon Nudi sold 10,894 shares of General Mills stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.49, for a total transaction of $920,434.06.

General Mills Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $85.46. 3,012,661 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,562,200. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.94 and a fifty-two week high of $88.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.30. The firm has a market cap of $50.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.28.

General Mills Announces Dividend

General Mills ( NYSE:GIS Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 23rd. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. General Mills had a net margin of 14.04% and a return on equity of 24.51%. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 10th will be given a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. General Millss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 4.8% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 22,026 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills by 45.3% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,867 shares of the companys stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828 shares in the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its position in General Mills by 2.1% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,176 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 279,604 shares of the companys stock valued at $18,935,000 after acquiring an additional 6,176 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of General Mills by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,834 shares of the companys stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.48% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Friday, March 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $83.88.

About General Mills

(Get Rating)

General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers.

Further Reading

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Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:NXJ  Get Rating) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,300 shares, a decline of 17.3% from the February 28th total of 18,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 93,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.2 days.

Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NXJ traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $11.71. The companys stock had a trading volume of 30,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 79,369. Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund has a 52 week low of $10.52 and a 52 week high of $13.53. The firms fifty day moving average price is $11.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.43.

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Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be issued a $0.032 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $0.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund

Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund Company Profile

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 126,873 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Bramshill Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bramshill Investments LLC now owns 16,827 shares of the companys stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 30,966 shares of the companys stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 1,563 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,174 shares of the companys stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 2,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 13,386 shares of the companys stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter.

(Get Rating)

Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of New Jersey. The fund invests in undervalued municipal securities and other related investments that are, exempt from regular federal and New Jersey income taxes that are rated Baa or BBB or better.

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Foster Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK  Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,000 shares of the transportation companys stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alaska Air Group by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,331,247 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $561,068,000 after buying an additional 257,583 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,198,910 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $281,839,000 after purchasing an additional 36,486 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,468,888 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $253,256,000 after purchasing an additional 249,440 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,329,264 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $130,389,000 after purchasing an additional 196,865 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,871,802 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $112,432,000 after purchasing an additional 839,832 shares during the period. 77.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Alaska Air Group

In other Alaska Air Group news, SVP Andrea L. Schneider sold 1,596 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.81, for a total transaction of $81,092.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,105.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total value of $170,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,882.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Andrea L. Schneider sold 1,596 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.81, for a total transaction of $81,092.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,747 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $800,105.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alaska Air Group Stock Performance

Shares of ALK stock opened at $41.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 97.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.19 and a 12 month high of $61.55.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 0.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. Alaska Air Groups quarterly revenue was up 30.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research report on Friday, December 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alaska Air Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Alaska Air Group currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $65.05.

Alaska Air Group Profile

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Alaska Air Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of air transportation services. It operates through the following segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The Mainline segment includes scheduled air transportation on Alaskas Boeing and Airbus jet aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the U.S., and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize.

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Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Rating) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,109 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLCs holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 55,154 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $6,055,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 48,111 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $5,282,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $221,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 46,480 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $5,103,000 after acquiring an additional 3,670 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 112,700 shares of the healthcare product makers stock worth $12,373,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. 72.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ABT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. SVB Leerink increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Tuesday. They set a buy rating and a $117.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $122.12.

Insider Activity

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 2.2 %

In related news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total transaction of $26,842.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,896 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,222,103.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link . In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Julie L. Tyler sold 260 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.24, for a total value of $26,842.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,896 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,222,103.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 679 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.70, for a total value of $68,375.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at $7,091,998.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold 1,971 shares of company stock worth $199,140 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Shares of NYSE:ABT traded up $2.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $101.26. 6,442,440 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,683,022. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.68. Abbott Laboratories has a 52-week low of $93.25 and a 52-week high of $124.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The businesss fifty day moving average is $103.91 and its 200-day moving average is $104.41.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.69 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 26.09% and a net margin of 15.88%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Abbott Laboratoriess payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Abbott Laboratories Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. It operates through the following business segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment refers to the international sales of a line of branded generic pharmaceutical products.

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Aguia Resources Limited (CVE:AGRL  Get Rating)s stock price dropped 7.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as C$0.13 and last traded at C$0.13. Approximately 361,698 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 418,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.14.

Aguia Resources Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$0.13 and a 200-day moving average of C$0.13. The stock has a market cap of C$24.14 million and a PE ratio of -10.00.

About Aguia Resources

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Aguia Resources Limited engages in the exploration and development of mineral resource projects in Brazil. Its flagship Rio Grande phosphate assets include the Tres Estradas, Joca Tavares, Porteira carbonatite, and Cerro Preto deposits located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. Aguia Resources Limited was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

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Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK  Get Rating) by 137.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 783,401 shares of the transportation companys stock after purchasing an additional 453,704 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.62% of Alaska Air Group worth $34,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Alaska Air Group by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,614 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Alaska Air Group by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,636 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Alaska Air Group by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 44,823 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,776 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Alaska Air Group by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,358 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 2,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC raised its position in Alaska Air Group by 148.6% in the 4th quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 13,951 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 8,340 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.04% of the companys stock.

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Alaska Air Group Trading Up 2.4 %

ALK stock traded up $0.98 on Friday, hitting $41.96. 1,288,835 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,928,780. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.19 and a twelve month high of $61.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The businesss fifty day moving average is $46.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Alaska Air Group ( NYSE:ALK Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.02. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 0.60% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. Alaska Air Groups revenue for the quarter was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Alaska Air Group news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total transaction of $170,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,907 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,882.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director J Kenneth Thompson sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total value of $170,030.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,907 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,452,882.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Andrea L. Schneider sold 1,596 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.81, for a total transaction of $81,092.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,105.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Friday, March 10th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Alaska Air Group from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alaska Air Group currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $65.05.

Alaska Air Group Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Alaska Air Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of air transportation services. It operates through the following segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The Mainline segment includes scheduled air transportation on Alaskas Boeing and Airbus jet aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the U.S., and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize.

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Voter turnout just days ahead of Colorado Springs' Tuesday municipal election hasn't matched turnout at the same point in 2019, the city's last mayoral election year, data from the City Clerk's Office show.

But more residents have cast their ballots this year than they did at the same point in the last municipal election in 2021, when no mayoral race was on the ballot.

Figures through Thursday, the most recent date for which data is available, show about 16%, or 50,397, of Colorado Springs' 311,902 active registered voters have so far returned their ballots. That's compared with 49,203 ballots returned at the same point in 2021, and 57,098 ballots at the same point in 2019.

Overall, more people tend to vote in mayoral election years than in years when there are no mayoral races, clerk's data from the last four regular municipal elections in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 show.

So far, voters in District 1 in Colorado Springs' northwest area have returned 11,109 ballots to date, the most of any of the city's six districts, figures show. Residents in District 3 (southwest) have returned 9,389; District 2 (north), 9,305; District 5 (central), 9,105; District 6 (east), 8,095; and voters in District 4 (southeast) have returned 3,394, the fewest of any district.

On Tuesday, residents will have their final chance to cast their votes for the city's first new mayor in eight years. They will elect three at-large City Council representatives to four-year terms and will elect a representative to serve the remaining two years of the term for Council District 3.

Voters will also decide whether to extend for another 20 years a dedicated 0.1% sales tax, or 1 cent per $10, that is split between parks, trails and open space for acquisition, stewardship and maintenance.

If on Tuesday none of the 12 mayoral candidates vying to replace term-limited Mayor John Suthers earn 50% of the vote, plus one vote, the city will host a mayoral runoff election between the top two vote-getters, scheduled for May 16.

In a runoff election, the person who wins the most votes will be named third strong mayor to serve since voters approved the city's change to this form of government in 2010.

Under this system the mayor serves as Colorado Springs' chief executive officer who enforces laws and ordinances, creates a strategic plan for the city and submits to the City Council an annual budget, among others. The City Council acts as the legislative branch.

Residents must return their ballots to the city clerk's office or at any one of the city's 26 designated drop-off locations, which have 24/7 ballot boxes, by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks will not count.

It is too late for voters to mail their ballots.

A full list of drop-off locations and their addresses is available online at coloradosprings.gov/voterinfo.

Residents may receive replacement ballots in person at the city clerk's office, 30 S. Nevada Ave., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on April 4, according to the clerk's website.

Voters who have questions about the election or need further assistance can call 719-385-5901.
ARK Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Toast, Inc. (NYSE:TOST  Get Rating) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,461,847 shares of the companys stock after selling 90,176 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.29% of Toast worth $26,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Toast in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. American International Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Toast in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,866 shares of the companys stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 1,505 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Toast by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 7,754 shares of the companys stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 2,157 shares during the period. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems purchased a new stake in shares of Toast in the 2nd quarter valued at $153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.82% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TOST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Toast from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Toast from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 17th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Toast from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Toast from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Toast from $21.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Toast currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $23.56.

Toast Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TOST traded up $0.73 on Friday, hitting $17.75. 5,174,698 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,576,223. The company has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of -25.72 and a beta of 1.80. Toast, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.91 and a 1-year high of $26.03. The firms 50-day moving average is $19.92 and its 200 day moving average is $19.17.

Toast (NYSE:TOST  Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $769.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $753.13 million. Toast had a negative net margin of 10.03% and a negative return on equity of 24.30%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.46) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Toast, Inc. will post -0.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Toast

In other Toast news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 8,626 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total transaction of $155,699.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,843 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,838,266.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Elena Gomez sold 8,626 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.05, for a total transaction of $155,699.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,843 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,838,266.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen Fredette sold 136,364 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.14, for a total value of $3,019,098.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,655,391 shares of the companys stock, valued at $80,930,356.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 384,675 shares of company stock valued at $8,516,086 in the last three months. 20.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Toast Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Toast, Inc operates a cloud-based and digital technology platform for the restaurant industry in the United States and Ireland. The company offers Toast Point of Sale (POS), a hardware product; Toast Order & Pay, which allows guests to order and pay from their mobile devices; Toast Flex that is used for on-counter order and pay, as well as used as a server station, guest kiosk, kitchen display system, or order fulfillment station; Toast Go, a handheld POS device that enhances the table turn times through tableside ordering and payment acceptance; and Toast Tap, a card reader.

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Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in Carrier Global Co. (NYSE:CARR  Get Rating) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,787,024 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 13,135 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned approximately 0.21% of Carrier Global worth $73,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CARR. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Carrier Global by 126.0% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,306,931 shares of the companys stock valued at $243,429,000 after buying an additional 2,958,400 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Carrier Global by 129.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,882,359 shares of the companys stock worth $173,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,757,618 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Carrier Global by 59.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,948,588 shares of the companys stock valued at $226,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,845,419 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new position in shares of Carrier Global during the 3rd quarter worth $42,985,000. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Carrier Global by 185.0% in the third quarter. Scout Investments Inc. now owns 1,143,791 shares of the companys stock valued at $40,673,000 after buying an additional 742,446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.21% of the companys stock.

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Carrier Global Stock Up 1.5 %

CARR traded up $0.66 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $45.75. The company had a trading volume of 4,795,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,270,453. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $45.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.19. Carrier Global Co. has a 52 week low of $33.10 and a 52 week high of $49.17. The company has a market capitalization of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Carrier Global ( NYSE:CARR Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.40. The business had revenue of $5.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.07 billion. Carrier Global had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 17.31%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Carrier Global Co. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CARR shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Carrier Global from $44.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Monday, December 5th. Argus raised their price objective on Carrier Global from $50.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Carrier Global from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Carrier Global in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Carrier Global in a research note on Monday, March 27th. They set an outperform rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $48.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Nadia Villeneuve sold 20,538 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $933,452.10. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 48,900 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,222,505. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Nadia Villeneuve sold 20,538 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.45, for a total value of $933,452.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 48,900 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,222,505. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Kyle Crockett sold 10,433 shares of Carrier Global stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.85, for a total transaction of $478,353.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the companys stock.

Carrier Global Profile

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Carrier Global Corporation provides heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation technologies worldwide. It operates through three segments: HVAC, Refrigeration, and Fire & Security. The HVAC segment provides products, controls, services, and solutions to meet the heating, cooling, and ventilation needs of residential and commercial customers.

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Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO  Get Rating) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,062,961 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 22,758 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.06% of Altria Group worth $48,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Altria Group by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 542 shares of the companys stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the first quarter worth $25,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Altria Group in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Altria Group in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Altria Group by 199.7% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the companys stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.68% of the companys stock.

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Altria Group Price Performance

MO stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $44.62. The stock had a trading volume of 7,711,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,671,116. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.30. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.35 and a fifty-two week high of $57.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.67 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.59.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

Altria Group ( NYSE:MO Get Rating ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.18. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 22.97% and a negative return on equity of 284.29%. Altria Groups revenue was down 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 24th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.43%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 23rd. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Altria Group from $46.50 to $49.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $45.55.

Altria Group Profile

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Altria Group, Inc operates as a holding company, which engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates through the following segments: Smokeable Products, Oral tobacco products, and Wine. The Smokeable Products segment consists of cigarettes manufactured and sold by PM USA and machine-made large cigars and pipe tobacco manufactured and sold by Middleton.

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Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL  Get Rating) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,696,650 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 20,650 shares during the period. Aflac accounts for approximately 1.3% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurichs portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurichs holdings in Aflac were worth $193,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 982.0% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,198,423 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $123,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995,240 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 62.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $317,865,000 after buying an additional 1,897,212 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $65,661,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 225.2% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,076,386 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $60,493,000 after buying an additional 745,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S raised its position in shares of Aflac by 16.5% in the third quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 5,061,371 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $325,902,000 after buying an additional 715,304 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.22% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction of $35,990.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,676.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total value of $35,990.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,676.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 19,291 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.36, for a total transaction of $1,357,314.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 87,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,163,395.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.52. 2,709,789 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,878,024. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $39.47 billion, a PE ratio of 9.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.94. The firms fifty day moving average price is $67.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.95. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $52.07 and a twelve month high of $74.01.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL  Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $4.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 21.54% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.75.

Aflac Company Profile

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Aflac, Inc is a holding company. engages in the provision of financial protection services. It operates through the followings segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac United States (U.S.). The Aflac Japan segment offers life insurance, death benefits, and cash surrender values. The Aflac U.S. segment sells voluntary supplemental insurance products for people who already have major medical or primary insurance coverage.

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Buzzi Unicem S.p.A. (OTCMKTS:BZZUF  Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 874,400 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the February 28th total of 756,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8,744.0 days.

Buzzi Unicem Stock Performance

BZZUF stock remained flat at $24.11 during trading on Friday. Buzzi Unicem has a 1-year low of $13.81 and a 1-year high of $24.11. The firms fifty day moving average is $22.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.54.

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About Buzzi Unicem

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Buzzi Unicem SpA engages in the production and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete and natural aggregates. The firms geographical segment Central Europe consists of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Eastern Europe covers Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia. The company was founded in September 1999 and is headquartered in Casale Monferrato, Italy.

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Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CUK  Get Rating) had its target price reduced by Bank of America from GBX 1,050 ($12.90) to GBX 850 ($10.44) in a research note released on Tuesday, The Fly reports.

Carnival Co. & Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CUK opened at $9.15 on Tuesday. Carnival Co. & has a one year low of $5.43 and a one year high of $19.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.53 and a 200-day moving average of $8.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.52.

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Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CUK  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 27th. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter. Carnival Co. & had a negative net margin of 32.68% and a negative return on equity of 54.59%.

Insider Transactions at Carnival Co. &

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

In other news, CFO David Bernstein sold 107,119 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.08, for a total value of $1,186,878.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 286,041 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,169,334.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 26.2% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 54,854 shares of the companys stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 11,391 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC increased its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 96,135 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,756,000 after purchasing an additional 12,026 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its position in Carnival Co. & by 71.5% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 49,181 shares of the companys stock worth $994,000 after acquiring an additional 20,506 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Carnival Co. & by 112.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 556,800 shares of the companys stock worth $10,173,000 after acquiring an additional 294,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 162.9% in the 1st quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 56,443 shares of the companys stock worth $1,031,000 after buying an additional 34,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.15% of the companys stock.

About Carnival Co. &

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Carnival Plc operates as a global cruise and vacation company. The firm offers holiday and vacation products to a customer base that is broadly varied in terms of cultures, languages and leisure-time preferences. It operates through the North America and Australia (NAA), Europe and Asia (EA), Cruise Support, and Tour and Other segments.

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Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. (NYSE:CPAC  Get Rating)s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $5.22 and traded as high as $5.49. Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. shares last traded at $5.28, with a volume of 5,486 shares changing hands.

Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $447.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $5.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.22.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. (NYSE:CPAC  Get Rating) by 6.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 98,674 shares of the construction companys stock after purchasing an additional 5,935 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LPs holdings in Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A. were worth $670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 0.42% of the companys stock.

About Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.

Cementos Pacasmayo SAA engages in the production and market of cement, quicklime, aggregates, ready-mix concrete, precast concrete products, and construction materials. It operates through the following segments: Cement, Concrete, and Blocks; Construction Supplies; Quicklime; and Other. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Lima, Peru.

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Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Get Rating) by 38.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,125 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLCs holdings in Eli Lilly and were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BetterWealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Eli Lilly and in the 4th quarter valued at $208,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Eli Lilly and by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 1,851 shares of the companys stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eli Lilly and in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,139,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its stake in Eli Lilly and by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 2,254 shares of the companys stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC acquired a new position in Eli Lilly and during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,496,000. Institutional investors own 82.13% of the companys stock.

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Eli Lilly and Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of LLY stock opened at $343.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.05. Eli Lilly and Company has a 52-week low of $276.83 and a 52-week high of $384.44. The company has a market capitalization of $326.35 billion, a PE ratio of 49.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.36. The businesss fifty day moving average is $331.96 and its 200 day moving average is $343.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Eli Lilly and ( NYSE:LLY Get Rating ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.26. Eli Lilly and had a return on equity of 73.61% and a net margin of 21.88%. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.49 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LLY. StockNews.com started coverage on Eli Lilly and in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Eli Lilly and from $380.00 to $400.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Eli Lilly and in a report on Monday, March 6th. They set a hold rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Eli Lilly and from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Eli Lilly and from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Eli Lilly and currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $382.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eli Lilly and

In other Eli Lilly and news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 200,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.82, for a total transaction of $67,164,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 102,748,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,505,105,374.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Anne E. White sold 2,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.47, for a total value of $866,175.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,926 shares of the companys stock, valued at $20,069,621.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 200,000 shares of Eli Lilly and stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.82, for a total value of $67,164,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,748,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,505,105,374.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 205,000 shares of company stock worth $68,887,075 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the companys stock.

About Eli Lilly and

(Get Rating)

Eli Lilly & Co engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of pharmaceutical products. The firms products consist of diabetes, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and other products and therapies. The company was founded by Eli Lilly in May 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN.

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Diversified Portfolios Inc. lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,307 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 296 shares during the quarter. Diversified Portfolios Inc.s holdings in Southern were worth $1,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Southern by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,002,360 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,284,352,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,841 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,652,372 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $6,436,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,612 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,068,549 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $4,424,661,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,036 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 57.3% during the third quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,062,100 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $208,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $65,112,000. Institutional investors own 61.78% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,512 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 120,786 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total value of $85,381.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,512 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,680 shares of company stock valued at $1,174,768 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Southern Trading Up 0.8 %

Several research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 17th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southern from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $61.00 to $57.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $71.64.

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $69.58. The stock had a trading volume of 5,195,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,305,062. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $58.85 and a 1 year high of $80.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.94. The firm has a market cap of $75.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. Southern had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. Southerns payout ratio is 82.93%.

Southern Profile

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The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.

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Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund (NYSE:ETY  Get Rating) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 513,700 shares, a decline of 23.9% from the February 28th total of 675,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 284,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:ETY traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.67. 474,095 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 250,622. Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund has a 12-month low of $10.61 and a 12-month high of $14.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.53.

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Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 21st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.23%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund Company Profile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ETY. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,466,663 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $17,351,000 after acquiring an additional 229,354 shares during the period. Elequin Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,019,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund by 43.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 308,988 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $4,316,000 after acquiring an additional 93,286 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 256,663 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $2,787,000 after acquiring an additional 89,939 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $975,000.

(Get Rating)

Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Eaton Vance Management. The fund invests in public equity markets across the globe. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in dividend paying stocks of companies.

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Colorado Springs residents armed with paper ballots will rediscover soon just how mighty their pens are in shaping the city.

The results of Tuesday's municipal election will lay the foundation that will help shape the city's future as a revamped City Council and new mayor make key decisions about growth, housing affordability, water availability, public safety, parks, transit, and investment in roads and economic development, local politicos and residents said this week.

"These elections directly affect the issues that people (talk) about every day," said Mike Williams, executive director of Citizens Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit advocating for equity, justice and inclusion.

"Depending on who is elected or not, that's going to determine if the status quo is different from the last eight years. Colorado Springs is growing. I think this election is absolutely pivotal for what's going to happen in the next four years in our city."

Voters will choose the third strong mayor from among a crowded field of 12 candidates with three fundraising front-runners, longtime politicians Sallie Clark and Wayne Williams, and businessman and political newcomer Yemi Mobolade.

The new leader will act as the city's chief executive officer and will enforce laws and ordinances, create a strategic plan for the city and submit an annual budget to the City Council, among other duties.

In Mayor John Suthers' case, success has meant a growing city and economy, new revenue for roads and storm drainage, and allocating more money in the annual budget for police and firefighters, he said during an interview with The Gazette in mid-March.

The best mayor for Colorado Springs will be a person with management experience who can stand alone, said Steve Bach, who served as the city's first strong mayor from 2011-2015.

"We need a mayor with relevant experience that will provide (him or her) the ability to get things done and make quality decisions," Bach said.

"We need a mayor who we can trust will be independent of undue special interests and someone who will have the courage  to make tough decisions, even if it's not always popular."

Additionally on Tuesday, residents will choose four new representatives from 13 candidates to fill about half the seats on the nine-member City Council. They are the legislative body that also guides and determines land use decisions and oversees Colorado Springs' four-service utility  responsibilities that literally mold the city.

For example, the council in 1988 grew Colorado Springs by an additional 24,000 acres, or 38 square miles, when it approved an annexation agreement for the sprawling Banning Lewis Ranch and ensured growth will march east. And a recently approved water rule that will block new major annexations in the near-term solidified Banning Lewis Ranch as the focal point for new homes and businesses.

"Electing a mayor is important, but the City Council election is extremely important because (voters) will be putting in four new people (on the dais). That will have a huge impact on things like our future development, water  and parks, recreation and open space issues," said Lionel Rivera, who served as Colorado Springs mayor from 2003 to 2011.

Right now, the power to select the city's next leaders lies with the few who choose to participate. As of Thursday, about 16% of voters had returned their ballots and about 38% will likely participate in Tuesday's election, based on figures from the last mayor's race in 2019.

Though municipal elections are nonpartisan, the council has leaned toward the conservative side in its decision-making over the last several years  particularly after former Councilman Richard Skorman resigned from his District 3 council seat at the end of 2021. Skorman had been a longtime progressive voice in local politics.

Last January, the council appointed Councilwoman Stephannie Fortune to fill Skorman's vacancy and represent downtown and the city's southwest corner until this April. She has typically voted conservatively during her time on the dais.

Fortune, who announced she was diagnosed with leukemia in November, is not running Tuesday for another term.

With Fortune and three at-large representatives leaving the council  Councilman Bill Murray and mayoral candidates Wayne Williams and Tom Strand  Tuesday's election could potentially shift the dais into a more centrist body, the Citizens Project's Mike Williams said.

"It just depends on the turnout," he said. "I think history has shown if turnout is not good then it'll be a very conservative council, like we've had historically, because historically (voter turnout) has been (low). But I know there's been a lot of effort in the city to get people to cast their ballots and get their voices heard."

The election could also break up what some see as overrepresentation of Colorado Springs' northern district on the dais. At-large Councilmen Murray and Wayne Williams reside in District 2, which is represented by Councilman Randy Helms.

The next mayor and City Council should quickly address issues that have at times polarized residents and city officials, including Colorado Springs' future growth and development, as well as topics such as water availability, affordable housing, public safety and parkland, residents and politicos said.

These are issues that didnt seem to get as much of a spotlight in past elections, said Josh Dunn, professor and chairman of the political science department at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

"For instance, in the first strong mayor race (in 2011), it seemed like the issue had been the dysfunction of city government leading up to that, which led to change in the strong mayor system," he said.

The question of how much influence outside interest groups like land developers have in city elections is also at the forefront of conversation this year in ways it has not been in past elections, Dunn said.

Powerful developers like Norwood Development Group, La Plata Communities, Ron Johnson and The O'Neil Group, as well as dark money donors, have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into supporting their preferred candidates and have drawn lines in the sand on issues like water availability and annexation, said resident Kent Obee, a parks advocate who led an effort to pass a parks ballot issue in 2020.

"That's the big tug-of-war that's going on here in this election," he said.

Overall, residents want to see a mayor and council who are transparent and widely available to hear their concerns and answer their questions, Rivera and Mike Williams said.

"They want to see that the mayor and City Council put them first, that the needs and the goals of the city come first," Rivera said. " We hope they're going to work for the good of our community and our region, and they're not here just because they always wanted to be mayor or always wanted to be on City Council."

The Gazette's Mary Shinn contributed to this report.
Eudaimonia Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ford Motor (NYSE:F  Get Rating) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,573 shares of the auto manufacturers stock after purchasing an additional 2,801 shares during the period. Eudaimonia Advisors LLCs holdings in Ford Motor were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in F. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ford Motor during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Ford Motor by 65.8% in the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,836 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management boosted its holdings in Ford Motor by 82.7% in the second quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 3,065 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Ford Motor by 695.8% in the third quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 3,183 shares of the auto manufacturers stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Ford Motor in the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 49.68% of the companys stock.

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Insider Transactions at Ford Motor

In related news, insider Ashwani Kumar Galhotra sold 24,850 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total transaction of $323,298.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 511,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,655,981.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO John T. Lawler sold 29,821 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.07, for a total value of $389,760.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 443,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,798,936.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ashwani Kumar Galhotra sold 24,850 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total value of $323,298.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 511,605 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,655,981.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,592 shares of company stock worth $1,740,843. Company insiders own 0.90% of the companys stock.

Ford Motor Trading Up 2.5 %

F stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $12.60. 66,868,199 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 79,974,512. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $12.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.72. Ford Motor has a 12 month low of $10.61 and a 12 month high of $17.80.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The auto manufacturer reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.09). Ford Motor had a positive return on equity of 17.45% and a negative net margin of 1.25%. The firm had revenue of $41.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ford Motor will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ford Motor Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Ford Motors dividend payout ratio is currently -117.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

F has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on Ford Motor from $14.00 to $12.50 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 27th. StockNews.com started coverage on Ford Motor in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Benchmark decreased their price target on Ford Motor from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Ford Motor from a hold rating to a sell rating and decreased their price target for the company from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Ford Motor in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. They set an equal weight rating and a $13.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $15.22.

Ford Motor Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Ford Motor Co engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of automobiles. It operates through the following segments: Ford Blue, Ford Model E, and Ford Pro, Ford Next, and Ford Credit. The Ford Blue, Ford Model E, and Ford Pro segment includes the sale of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, service parts, and accessories, together with the associated costs to develop, manufacture, distribute, and service the vehicles, parts, and accessories.

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Eudaimonia Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM  Get Rating) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,906 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 2,461 shares during the period. Eudaimonia Partners LLCs holdings in Waste Management were worth $1,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Waste Management by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,984,227 shares of the business services providers stock worth $5,925,244,000 after buying an additional 1,016,798 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Waste Management by 194.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,217,592 shares of the business services providers stock worth $192,988,000 after buying an additional 804,708 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Waste Management by 3,120.2% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 600,443 shares of the business services providers stock worth $96,197,000 after buying an additional 581,797 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in Waste Management by 18.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,194,558 shares of the business services providers stock worth $482,604,000 after buying an additional 504,966 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in Waste Management by 21.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,605,293 shares of the business services providers stock worth $417,394,000 after buying an additional 461,425 shares during the period. 78.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WM. Raymond James lowered their price target on Waste Management from $167.00 to $166.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Waste Management from $157.00 to $151.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 6th. UBS Group cut Waste Management from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the company from $190.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Waste Management from $177.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Waste Management in a research note on Thursday. They set an outperform rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $172.27.

Waste Management Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE WM traded up $1.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $163.17. 3,115,601 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,891,433. Waste Management, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.89 and a fifty-two week high of $175.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $152.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.07.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM  Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 32.91% and a net margin of 11.36%. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Waste Management, Inc. will post 6.04 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 10th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. This is an increase from Waste Managements previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 9th. Waste Managements dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.95%.

Waste Management announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 8th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Waste Management

In related news, CAO Leslie K. Nagy sold 800 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.11, for a total value of $120,888.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,210 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $787,283.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Waste Management news, EVP John J. Morris sold 15,204 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.03, for a total value of $2,357,076.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 95,461 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $14,799,318.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Leslie K. Nagy sold 800 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.11, for a total value of $120,888.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $787,283.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,027 shares of company stock valued at $4,806,619. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the companys stock.

Waste Management Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Waste Management, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of waste management environmental services. It operates through the following segments: East Tier, West Tier, and Other. The East Tier segment consists of Eastern U.S., the Great Lakes Region, and Canada. The West Tier segment includes the upper Midwest region and British Columbia, Canada.

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Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc. (OTCMKTS:FMFG  Get Rating)s stock price traded up 0.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $21.77 and last traded at $21.77. 100 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 1,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.64.

Farmers and Merchants Bancshares Price Performance

The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $21.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.35.

Farmers and Merchants Bancshares Company Profile

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Farmers & Merchants Bancshares, Inc (Maryland) is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial and retail banking services. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts for local consumers. The firm also provides credit and deposit services for small to medium size businesses and the agricultural community.

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Shares of First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF  Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $12.15 and last traded at $12.16, with a volume of 198684 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCF has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of First Commonwealth Financial in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a sell rating for the company. Raymond James cut shares of First Commonwealth Financial from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $15.90.

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First Commonwealth Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firms 50-day moving average price is $14.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.17.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

First Commonwealth Financial ( NYSE:FCF Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $120.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $113.63 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a return on equity of 12.36% and a net margin of 29.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Commonwealth Financial Co. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. First Commonwealth Financials dividend payout ratio is presently 35.29%.

Insider Transactions at First Commonwealth Financial

In related news, Director Ray T. Charley acquired 3,900 shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.85 per share, for a total transaction of $50,115.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 325,074 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,177,200.90. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other First Commonwealth Financial news, Director Ray T. Charley purchased 4,000 shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.26 per share, for a total transaction of $53,040.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 313,174 shares in the company, valued at $4,152,687.24. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ray T. Charley acquired 3,900 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.85 per share, for a total transaction of $50,115.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 325,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,177,200.90. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 21,112 shares of company stock worth $286,405. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 5,758 shares of the banks stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 59.3% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,689 shares of the banks stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 3,233 shares during the period. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $116,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in First Commonwealth Financial by 237.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,955 shares of the banks stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 7,001 shares during the period. Finally, Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP acquired a new position in First Commonwealth Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $140,000. 69.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Commonwealth Financial Company Profile

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First Commonwealth Financial Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of consumer and commercial banking services. The firm is also involved in providing trust and wealth management services and offers insurance products. The company was founded on November 15, 1982 and is headquartered in Indiana, PA.

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Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD  Get Rating) by 66.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,715 shares of the aerospace companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLCs holdings in General Dynamics were worth $674,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,074,113 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $1,288,745,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,207 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,906,138 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $4,647,825,000 after purchasing an additional 952,906 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 31.5% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,411,406 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $312,273,000 after purchasing an additional 337,999 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at $59,754,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 890.8% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 235,800 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $52,171,000 after purchasing an additional 212,000 shares during the last quarter. 84.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $268.00 in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Cowen lifted their target price on General Dynamics from $260.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $298.00 to $283.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $260.00 to $245.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut General Dynamics from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $267.15.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock traded up $1.72 on Friday, reaching $228.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,323,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,330,759. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firms 50-day moving average is $228.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.84. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $207.42 and a 12 month high of $256.86.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The aerospace company reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.53 by $0.05. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 8.60%. The business had revenue of $10.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.39 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.32 per share. This is an increase from General Dynamicss previous quarterly dividend of $1.26. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $5.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. General Dynamicss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.31%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, VP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 27,600 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.93, for a total value of $6,263,268.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 56,909 shares in the company, valued at $12,914,359.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the companys stock.

General Dynamics Profile

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General Dynamics Corp. is a global aerospace and defense company, which engages in design, engineering, and manufacturing to deliver state-of-the-art solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment designs, manufactures, and sells business jets.

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StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Golden Star Resources (NYSE:GSS  Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock.

Golden Star Resources Stock Performance

The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $3.90. Golden Star Resources has a 1-year low of $2.04 and a 1-year high of $4.04.

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Golden Star Resources Company Profile

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Golden Star is an established gold mining company that owns and operates the Wassa underground mine in Ghana, West Africa. Listed on the NYSE American, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ghanaian Stock Exchange, Golden Star is focused on delivering strong margins and free cash flow. Since winning the PDAC 2018 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award, Golden Star has remained committed to leaving a positive and sustainable legacy in its areas of operation.

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Miton UK MicroCap Trust plc (LON:MINI  Get Rating) insider Louise Bonham acquired 48,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 59 ($0.72) per share, for a total transaction of 28,792 ($35,375.35).

Miton UK MicroCap Trust Stock Performance

Miton UK MicroCap Trust stock opened at GBX 58.20 ($0.72) on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is GBX 61.99 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 61.79. The stock has a market cap of 55.08 million and a P/E ratio of -187.74. Miton UK MicroCap Trust plc has a fifty-two week low of GBX 51.60 ($0.63) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 88 ($1.08).

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About Miton UK MicroCap Trust

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Miton UK MicroCap Trust plc is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by Miton Trust Managers Limited. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United Kingdom. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. The fund primarily invests in stocks of micro-cap companies having market capitalizations of less than 150 million.

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Shares of Invesco DB Base Metals Fund (NYSEARCA:DBB  Get Rating) traded down 0.1% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $20.08 and last traded at $20.20. 40,033 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 210,471 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.22.

Invesco DB Base Metals Fund Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.73.

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Institutional Trading of Invesco DB Base Metals Fund

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DBB. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Invesco DB Base Metals Fund by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,055 shares of the companys stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 2,801 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Invesco DB Base Metals Fund by 458.9% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,386 shares of the companys stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 10,991 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Invesco DB Base Metals Fund by 4.8% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 93,728 shares of the companys stock worth $2,422,000 after buying an additional 4,272 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Invesco DB Base Metals Fund in the first quarter worth about $542,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Invesco DB Base Metals Fund in the first quarter worth about $39,000.

Invesco DB Base Metals Fund Company Profile

PowerShares DB Base Metals Fund (the Fund) is a separate series of PowerShares DB Multi-Sector Commodity Trust (the Trust), a Delaware statutory trust organized in seven separate series. The Fund seeks to track changes, whether positive or negative, in the level of the DBIQ Optimum Yield Industrial Metals Index Excess Return (the Index) over time, plus the excess, if any, of the Funds interest income from its holdings of United States Treasury Obligations and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities over the expenses of the Fund.

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Kathmere Capital Management LLC lowered its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (BATS:EFG  Get Rating) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,022 shares of the companys stock after selling 355 shares during the quarter. iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF accounts for approximately 1.0% of Kathmere Capital Management LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Kathmere Capital Management LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF were worth $5,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EFG. Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 201.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 573 shares of the companys stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF in the 4th quarter worth $57,000.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of EFG traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $93.68. The stock had a trading volume of 641,892 shares. iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF has a 12 month low of $67.58 and a 12 month high of $85.81. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.45. The company has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.69 and a beta of 0.87.

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Company Profile

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI EAFE Growth Index (the Index). The Index is a subset of the MSCI EAFE Index and constituents of the Index include securities from Europe, Australasia (Australia and Asia), and the Far East.

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Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY  Get Rating) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 46.95 ($0.58) and traded as high as GBX 48.10 ($0.59). Lloyds Banking Group shares last traded at GBX 47.77 ($0.59), with a volume of 85,590,550 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LLOY. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 55 ($0.68) to GBX 58 ($0.71) and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Shore Capital restated a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a buy rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Lloyds Banking Group to an overweight rating and increased their price objective for the company from GBX 55 ($0.68) to GBX 75 ($0.92) in a report on Monday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lloyds Banking Group presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of GBX 65.22 ($0.80).

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Lloyds Banking Group Stock Down 0.2 %

The stocks 50-day simple moving average is GBX 50.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 46.96. The firm has a market cap of 31.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 681.07, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

Insider Buying and Selling

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 13th will be given a dividend of GBX 1.60 ($0.02) per share. This is a positive change from Lloyds Banking Groups previous dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.14%. Lloyds Banking Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 2,857.14%.

In related news, insider Charlie Nunn acquired 285,316 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 48 ($0.59) per share, for a total transaction of 136,951.68 ($168,265.98). 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

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Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal and small business customers.

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Evacuees in Park and Teller counties remained displaced through Friday night as the 403 fire continues to burn despite containment efforts. The fire had grown to 1,205 acres Friday afternoon, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

According to Florissant Heights resident Ryan Conley, Thats just mountain life.

Were all hooked up and ready to go, said Conley, who moved from Florida eight years ago with his six children. Its worth it for the beauty.  If we only do this a couple times a year, thats a good trade-off.

Mandatory evacuations are still in place for Teller Countys Wilson Lake and Forest Glenn subdivisions and the stretch between County Road 46 and Wilson Drive. Evacuations also remain in place for Park Countys Pike Forest, Saddle Mountain Ranch and Blue Mountain Ranch subdivisions, as well as for residents along County Road 403.

Whats the essentials? Baby pictures, firearms, ammunition, any valuable papers, thats it, Conley said. It really puts stuff into perspective. Whats important? Friends and family. Thats whats important.

A pre-evacuation warning was also issued around 8 p.m. Thursday for Valley Hi and Florissant Heights subdivisions. Conley and his neighboring residents in the area were asked to evacuate immediately if in danger.

Conley said he mobilized his family since they could see the smoke from their home window progressively get stronger. The occasion was a first for his family, he said, which usually assists others in moving horses and livestock during their times of need.

Thats the story of Florissant.

If youre not in the path, you help out, Conley said. Thats what our community does  everybody takes care of each other.

Florissant Fire Protection Chief Erik Holt said 123 firefighters in total across multiple departments worked to contain the 403 fire on Friday. Strong, sustained winds challenged air support efforts, but crews managed one air drop of 3,000 gallons of water.

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Winds rolling through the region ranged from 20 mph to 35 mph throughout the day. Gusts may have reached as high as 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Evacuated residents expressed concern over officials communication methods.

Alerts for the fire have been hit and miss, Conley said, since he never received a notification from Teller Countys evacuation system. He and others instead relied on neighbors for the latest news.

Kansas resident Yvette Brewer, who was staying with her girlfriend in Wilson Lakes, said she learned of the evacuation 15 minutes after it had been ordered and was full of nerves as she packed what she could during her first-ever fire evacuation.

Shed been through her fair share of natural disasters in "tornado alley" back home. The difference, she said, is at least in her tornado shelter, she knows exactly where a tornado is located, thanks to the forecaster on the radio.

Fires have no such play-by-play, with updates often coming once every few hours or more.

Fires just as dangerous as a tornado, and these people are left to go, Well what do I do? Brewer said. Thats the creepiest thing, is theres just not enough information coming in so that people living in this community know where its at.

Brewer said she grabbed as much as she could on short notice, inadvertently leaving her medication behind. Police stopped residents from returning to grab additional items from their homes Thursday evening due to safety concerns.

But in a Friday morning press conference, authorities said residents who live in evacuated subdivisions could be escorted back to their residences for a short period of time to retrieve any necessary materials left in their homes.

Volunteer Renee Caldwell, who runs fraternal organization the Florissant Grange, assisted officers in signing residents up to return to their homes Friday. She estimated about 65 people had filtered through as of 4 p.m., but the crowd had since died down since no additional evacuations were made.
Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Lowes Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,100 shares of the home improvement retailers stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems holdings in Lowes Companies were worth $7,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Lowes Companies by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its holdings in Lowes Companies by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 9,734 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Prudential PLC bought a new position in Lowes Companies in the 1st quarter valued at $1,629,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lowes Companies by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 256,098 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $51,780,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Lowes Companies by 74.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 295 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. 72.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Donald Frieson sold 9,411 shares of Lowes Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.00, for a total transaction of $1,853,967.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,888 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,523,936. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock.

Lowes Companies Price Performance

Lowes Companies stock traded up $7.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $199.97. The stock had a trading volume of 3,151,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,243,133. The stock has a market cap of $119.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.10. Lowes Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $170.12 and a 52 week high of $223.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.62.

Lowes Companies (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $22.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.71 billion. Lowes Companies had a net margin of 6.63% and a negative return on equity of 82.30%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. Research analysts predict that Lowes Companies, Inc. will post 13.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lowes Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 25th. Lowes Companiess payout ratio is 41.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LOW. Credit Suisse Group began coverage on shares of Lowes Companies in a research report on Monday, December 19th. They set a neutral rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Lowes Companies from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Lowes Companies from $300.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Lowes Companies in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. They set a market perform rating and a $237.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Lowes Companies from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lowes Companies has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $223.85.

Lowes Companies Profile

(Get Rating)

Lowes Cos., Inc engages in the retail sale of home improvement products. The firm offers products for maintenance, repair, remodeling, home decorating and property maintenance. It also provides home improvement products in the following categories: appliances, bathroom, building supply, electrical, flooring, hardware, paint, kitchen, plumbing, lighting & fans, outdoor living, windows and doors.

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Matisse Capital increased its position in shares of Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund Inc. (NYSE:DMO  Get Rating) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 141,813 shares of the investment management companys stock after buying an additional 11,813 shares during the period. Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund comprises approximately 1.4% of Matisse Capitals holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Matisse Capitals holdings in Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund were worth $1,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DMO. Riverbridge Partners LLC bought a new stake in Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund during the second quarter valued at about $1,275,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund by 520.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 103,805 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 87,071 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund by 165.2% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 49,903 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 31,085 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund in the first quarter worth about $313,000. Finally, Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund by 10.5% in the third quarter. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors Inc. now owns 182,867 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $2,032,000 after acquiring an additional 17,369 shares in the last quarter.

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Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund Price Performance

NYSE DMO traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.45. The companys stock had a trading volume of 63,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,204. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $10.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.97. Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.20 and a fifty-two week high of $13.50.

Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund Announces Dividend

About Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 21st will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 20th.

(Get Rating)

Western Asset Mortgage Opportunity Fund Inc is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC. The fund is co-managed Western Asset Management Company and Western Asset Management Company Limited. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States.

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Moseley Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF  Get Rating) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,771 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Moseley Investment Management Inc.s holdings in Raymond James were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Raymond James by 80.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,629,875 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $618,780,000 after acquiring an additional 2,510,966 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,689,564 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,383,900,000 after buying an additional 410,025 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,762,467 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $246,992,000 after buying an additional 349,521 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 177.1% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 451,796 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $39,441,000 after buying an additional 288,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Group LLC acquired a new position in Raymond James during the 1st quarter worth $27,163,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com began coverage on Raymond James in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a hold rating on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $127.00 to $125.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $148.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lowered their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $119.00 to $116.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $122.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Raymond James Stock Up 1.6 %

In other news, insider Jodi Perry sold 6,343 shares of Raymond James stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.30, for a total value of $712,318.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,150 shares in the company, valued at $802,945. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Company insiders own 9.46% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE RJF traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $93.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,313,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,111,201. The company has a market capitalization of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Raymond James has a one year low of $84.86 and a one year high of $126.00.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF  Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.01. Raymond James had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 13.65%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. Raymond Jamess revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Raymond James will post 9.33 EPS for the current year.

Raymond James Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. Raymond Jamess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.40%.

Raymond James Profile

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Raymond James Financial, Inc, a financial holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the underwriting, distribution, trading, and brokerage of equity and debt securities, and the sale of mutual funds and other investment products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, and Other segments.

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Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund (NYSE:NCA  Get Rating) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 56,800 shares, a decline of 17.2% from the February 28th total of 68,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 71,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, reaching $8.81. The stock had a trading volume of 41,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,351. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.60. Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund has a 1 year low of $8.07 and a 1 year high of $9.44.

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Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a $0.029 dividend. This represents a $0.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th.

Institutional Trading of Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund

About Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,655 shares of the companys stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,000 shares of the companys stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,000. 17.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

(Get Rating)

Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of California. The fund invests primarily in municipal securities rated Baa/BBB or better.

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RFP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG  Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 116,009 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,252,000. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF makes up about 5.0% of RFP Financial Group LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AGG. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 46,527,580 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,482,469,000 after buying an additional 6,127,129 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 184.4% in the 2nd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 3,326,918 shares of the companys stock valued at $338,281,000 after buying an additional 2,156,923 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,925,971 shares of the companys stock valued at $955,866,000 after buying an additional 1,754,499 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 2,100,000 shares of the companys stock valued at $202,246,000 after buying an additional 1,600,000 shares during the period. Finally, Continental Investors Services Inc. increased its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 6,307.4% in the 3rd quarter. Continental Investors Services Inc. now owns 1,503,361 shares of the companys stock valued at $152,004,000 after buying an additional 1,479,898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.07% of the companys stock.

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iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Up 0.5 %

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $99.64. The company had a trading volume of 8,521,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,817,730. The firms fifty day moving average is $98.67 and its 200-day moving average is $97.77. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $93.20 and a fifty-two week high of $107.38.

About iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

IShares are index funds that are bought and sold like common stocks on national securities exchanges as well as certain foreign exchanges. iShares are attractive because of their relatively low cost, tax efficiency and trading flexibility. Investors can purchase and sell shares through any brokerage firm, financial advisor, or online broker, and hold the funds in any type of brokerage account.

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Russell Investments Australian Government Bond ETF (ASX:RGB  Get Rating) declared a interim dividend on Thursday, March 30th, MarketIndexAU reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.104 per share on Tuesday, April 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is an increase from Russell Investments Australian Government Bond ETFs previous interim dividend of $0.08.

Russell Investments Australian Government Bond ETF Stock Performance

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Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE  Get Rating) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,450,000 shares, an increase of 25.9% from the February 28th total of 2,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total value of $342,441.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,172,257. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Sempra Energy news, CFO Trevor I. Mihalik sold 2,306 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.50, for a total value of $342,441.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,362 shares in the company, valued at $3,172,257. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 2,940 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.16, for a total value of $473,810.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,681 shares in the company, valued at $915,549.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,504 shares of company stock valued at $8,045,547. Insiders own 0.14% of the companys stock.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Sempra Energy by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,199,642 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,228,254,000 after purchasing an additional 625,052 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Sempra Energy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,800,250 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,825,114,000 after purchasing an additional 305,700 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,000,291,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Sempra Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,797,835 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $894,472,000 after purchasing an additional 30,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Sempra Energy by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,933,253 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $762,385,000 after purchasing an additional 982,317 shares during the last quarter. 84.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE traded up $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $151.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,322,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,599,967. The companys 50-day moving average is $152.51 and its 200 day moving average is $155.17. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $136.54 and a 12-month high of $176.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $47.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.72.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE  Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.79 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 14.74%. Sempra Energys quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 8.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 22nd will be issued a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 21st. This is a boost from Sempra Energys previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Sempra Energys dividend payout ratio is currently 71.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Sempra Energy from $180.00 to $174.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Sempra Energy from $173.00 to $165.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. TheStreet upgraded Sempra Energy from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Sempra Energy from $169.00 to $166.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Sempra Energy from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $168.45.

About Sempra Energy

(Get Rating)

Sempra Energy is an energy-service holding company, which engages in the development and operation of energy infrastructure, and provision of electric and gas services. It operates through the following segments: San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra Texas Utilities, Sempra Mexico, and Sempra LNG.

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Sensata Technologies Holding plc (NYSE:ST  Get Rating) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,610,000 shares, a decrease of 17.4% from the February 28th total of 1,950,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the companys stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 989,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Sensata Technologies Stock Performance

NYSE:ST traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $50.02. 688,420 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 967,249. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.54 and a 200 day moving average of $44.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Sensata Technologies has a 1-year low of $36.64 and a 1-year high of $54.34.

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Sensata Technologies (NYSE:ST  Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $998.02 million. Sensata Technologies had a net margin of 7.71% and a return on equity of 17.29%. Sensata Technologiess quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Sensata Technologies will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

Sensata Technologies Dividend Announcement

Insider Buying and Selling at Sensata Technologies

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 8th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 7th. Sensata Technologiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.89%.

In other Sensata Technologies news, CEO Jeffrey J. Cote sold 41,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $1,881,720.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,024 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,346,080. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Sensata Technologies

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Sensata Technologies by 125.4% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 453 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Kepos Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Sensata Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Ellevest Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 927 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Group One Trading L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Sensata Technologies by 239.2% in the 4th quarter. Group One Trading L.P. now owns 987 shares of the scientific and technical instruments companys stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sensata Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.82% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Sensata Technologies from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Sensata Technologies from $42.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Sensata Technologies from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Sensata Technologies from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sensata Technologies in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sensata Technologies has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $55.29.

Sensata Technologies Company Profile

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Sensata Technologies Holding Plc is a global industrial technology company, which engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of sensors and sensor-rich solutions, electrical protection components and systems, and other products used in mission-critical systems and applications. The firm operates through the Performance Sensing and Sensing Solutions segments.

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Shaw Communications Inc (TSE:SJR.B  Get Rating) (NYSE:SJR)s stock price passed below its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$39.33 and traded as low as C$38.93. Shaw Communications shares last traded at C$39.16, with a volume of 1,560,878 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on SJR.B shares. Scotiabank cut Shaw Communications from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Shaw Communications from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a C$40.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, National Bankshares lowered Shaw Communications from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a C$40.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$40.13.

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Shaw Communications Trading Up 3.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 91.34. The stock has a market capitalization of C$19.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of C$39.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$37.05.

Shaw Communications Announces Dividend

Shaw Communications Company Profile

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 30th were paid a $0.0988 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 12th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Shaw Communicationss payout ratio is 81.51%.

(Get Rating)

Shaw Communications Inc operates as a connectivity company in North America. The company operates through Wireline and Wireless segments. The Wireline segment provides broadband Internet, Shaw Go WiFi, video, and digital phone services to residential customers; and Internet, data, WiFi, digital phone, and video services to business customers.

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Mitsubishi Chemical Group Co. (OTCMKTS:MTLHY  Get Rating) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,400 shares, a decrease of 17.8% from the February 28th total of 9,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Mitsubishi Chemical Group Price Performance

OTCMKTS MTLHY traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $29.97. 406 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,649. The stock has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 0.48. Mitsubishi Chemical Group has a one year low of $21.93 and a one year high of $34.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.86 and a 200-day moving average of $26.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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Mitsubishi Chemical Group (OTCMKTS:MTLHY  Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The company reported ($1.36) EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter. Mitsubishi Chemical Group had a return on equity of 4.07% and a net margin of 1.83%.

About Mitsubishi Chemical Group

Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corp. engages in the management of its group companies. It operates through the following segments: Functional Products, Chemicals, Industrial Gas, and Healthcare. The Functional Products segment sells electronics, displays, films, environment and life solutions, molding materials, polymers, chemicals, and new energy to domestic and overseas customers.

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An El Paso County judge on Friday ruled that surveillance footage from the Club Q shooting will not be released to the public.

The ruling from Judge Michael McHenry came at a motions hearing for alleged Club Q shooter Anderson Aldrich, who is accused of killing five and wounding more than a dozen in a shooting at the popular LGBTQ+ nightclub on North Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs.

At Aldrich's motions hearing on Friday afternoon, McHenry was set to rule on the Club Q surveillance footage from the night of the shooting being released to the public, something the prosecution and defense strongly objected to.

McHenry set the motions hearing to allow for any media outlets to file a request to the court to have the footage released. McHenry stated there were no such requests.

In the absences of any objections to the surveillance footage not being released, McHenry ruled the footage wasn't part of the public record.

McHenry also addressed a motion from the defense filed earlier this week regarding evidence in the possession of law enforcement that had not been shared with the defense.

The evidence comes from the communication app Discord, which Aldrich used frequently and, at one point, sent a photo that had been altered to show a rifle scope trained in on a person at a Pride parade.

No further details were disclosed about the evidence Friday, and McHenry set a date of April 21 to discuss the discovery issue further. However, McHenry conceded it was "likely" he would rule in favor of the defense.

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At the start of Friday's hearing, a Club Q employee responding to a subpoena request from the defense handed over a USB drive to the court containing surveillance footage from other evenings at Club Q.

A copy of the subpoena obtained by The Gazette shows that the request was for Club Q owner Matthew Haynes to hand over "any and all video surveillance of Club Q between the dates of 2/18/21-11/20/22 to include any still images, audio and video files in your possession or control."

The Club Q employee had no objections to handing over the USB drive when asked by McHenry.

No update was provided by the defense about the status of Aldrich's sanity evaluation, the results of which could play a determining factor in whether Aldrich chooses to plead not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.

McHenry warned defense attorney Michael Bowman that even if the defense is not ready to proceed at arraignment on the status that they still may be forced to enter a plea and set a trial date.

Aldrich, who appeared in person to the Friday afternoon hearing wearing an orange El Paso County jail jumpsuit, is expected to enter a plea at the May 30 arraignment hearing. Aldrich currently faces 323 charges.
Sudzucker AG (ETR:SZU  Get Rating) rose 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as 15.55 ($16.72) and last traded at 15.53 ($16.70). Approximately 85,654 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 410,903 shares. The stock had previously closed at 15.25 ($16.40).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on SZU shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a 15.50 ($16.67) price target on Sudzucker in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a 17.00 ($18.28) price target on shares of Sudzucker in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. Warburg Research set a 18.60 ($20.00) price target on shares of Sudzucker in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays set a 15.00 ($16.13) price objective on shares of Sudzucker in a report on Friday, January 13th.

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Sudzucker Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.06. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of 15.35 and a 200 day moving average price of 14.48.

Sudzucker Company Profile

Sudzucker AG produces and sells sugar products in Germany and internationally. It operates through five segments: Sugar, Special Products, CropEnergies, Starch, and Fruit. The Sugar segment produces and sells sugar, sugar specialty products, glucose syrup, and animal feed to food industry, retailers, and agriculture markets, as well as offers by-products of sugar.

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Diversified Portfolios Inc. decreased its holdings in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO  Get Rating) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,944 shares of the companys stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. Diversified Portfolios Inc.s holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salem Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Salem Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,359 shares of the companys stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 30,707 shares of the companys stock worth $1,932,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 698 shares of the companys stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,494 shares of the companys stock worth $1,597,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Somerville Kurt F raised its stake in Coca-Cola by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 21,377 shares of the companys stock worth $1,325,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.74% of the companys stock.

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Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.3 %

KO traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $62.03. 14,440,888 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,894,230. The stock has a market cap of $268.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.53. The Coca-Cola Company has a twelve month low of $54.01 and a twelve month high of $67.20. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $60.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Coca-Cola Increases Dividend

Coca-Cola ( NYSE:KO Get Rating ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.45. The firm had revenue of $10.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.92 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.35% and a net margin of 22.19%. The businesss revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This is an increase from Coca-Colas previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 16th. Coca-Colas payout ratio is currently 83.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on KO shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $69.00 target price on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Credit Suisse Group set a $70.00 target price on shares of Coca-Cola in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Coca-Cola from $63.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Citigroup started coverage on Coca-Cola in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. They issued a buy rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Coca-Cola from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $67.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Coca-Cola

In other Coca-Cola news, SVP Nancy Quan sold 74,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.71, for a total value of $4,344,540.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 219,790 shares in the company, valued at $12,903,870.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Nancy Quan sold 74,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.71, for a total value of $4,344,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 219,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,903,870.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian John Smith sold 126,972 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.07, for a total value of $7,881,152.04. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 116,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,210,547.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 282,268 shares of company stock worth $17,137,823 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock.

Coca-Cola Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Coca-Cola Co engages in the manufacturing and marketing of non-alcoholic beverages. It operates through the following segments: Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, Global Ventures, and Bottling Investments. The company was founded by Asa Griggs Candler on May 8, 1886 and is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

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Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW  Get Rating) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,671 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock after acquiring an additional 5,351 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $12,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Roundview Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 8.1% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 8,065 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $2,013,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 189.1% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 10,409 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 6,808 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 26.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 118,763 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $29,956,000 after purchasing an additional 24,884 shares during the period. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the first quarter worth $1,231,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,387 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

SHW stock opened at $224.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a one year low of $195.24 and a one year high of $285.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $225.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.03.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

Sherwin-Williams ( NYSE:SHW Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.05. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 90.04%. The company had revenue of $5.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 8.53 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 27th were given a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williamss previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 24th. Sherwin-Williamss dividend payout ratio is 31.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on SHW shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 27th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $270.00 to $251.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Zelman & Associates lowered shares of Sherwin-Williams from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $285.00 to $267.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $253.39.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In related news, CEO John G. Morikis purchased 2,207 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $226.70 per share, with a total value of $500,326.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 231,344 shares of the companys stock, valued at $52,445,684.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Sherwin-Williams news, CEO John G. Morikis acquired 2,207 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $226.70 per share, with a total value of $500,326.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 231,344 shares in the company, valued at $52,445,684.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Bryan J. Young sold 2,750 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.76, for a total transaction of $607,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,955 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,756,145.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Sherwin-Williams

(Get Rating)

The Sherwin-Williams Co engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of paint and coatings. It operates through the following segments: America Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coating Group. The America Group segment manages the exclusive outlets for Sherwin-Williams branded paints, stains, supplies, equipment, and floor coverings.

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Thor Explorations Ltd. (CVE:THX  Get Rating) fell 1.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$0.28 and last traded at C$0.28. 187,000 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average session volume of 152,899 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Echelon Wealth Partners reiterated a speculative buy rating on shares of Thor Explorations in a research note on Tuesday, December 20th.

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Thor Explorations Stock Up 3.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of C$186.68 million, a P/E ratio of 14.50 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 70.14, a quick ratio of 0.04 and a current ratio of 0.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$0.29 and a 200 day moving average price of C$0.27.

Thor Explorations Company Profile

Thor Explorations Ltd., a natural resources company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Canada. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. Its flagship property is the Segilola gold project located in Osun State, Nigeria.

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Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in Lowes Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW  Get Rating) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,813 shares of the home improvement retailers stock after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Lowes Companies comprises approximately 1.4% of Toth Financial Advisory Corps holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Toth Financial Advisory Corps holdings in Lowes Companies were worth $8,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Standard Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Lowes Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lowes Companies in the third quarter worth $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lowes Companies by 56.0% during the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 142 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Lowes Companies by 70.6% during the third quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 145 shares of the home improvement retailers stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lowes Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. 72.62% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Lowes Companies Price Performance

Shares of LOW traded up $7.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $199.97. The stock had a trading volume of 3,151,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,243,133. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.10. The companys fifty day moving average is $202.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.62. Lowes Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $170.12 and a 52 week high of $223.31.

Lowes Companies Announces Dividend

Lowes Companies ( NYSE:LOW Get Rating ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The home improvement retailer reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $22.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $22.71 billion. Lowes Companies had a net margin of 6.63% and a negative return on equity of 82.30%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Lowes Companies, Inc. will post 13.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 25th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Lowes Companiess dividend payout ratio is 41.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LOW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Lowes Companies from $258.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Credit Suisse Group initiated coverage on Lowes Companies in a research note on Monday, December 19th. They issued a neutral rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their target price on shares of Lowes Companies from $250.00 to $235.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Lowes Companies from $250.00 to $235.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Lowes Companies in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $223.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lowes Companies

In other news, EVP Donald Frieson sold 9,411 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.00, for a total transaction of $1,853,967.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,888 shares in the company, valued at $3,523,936. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the companys stock.

Lowes Companies Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Lowes Cos., Inc engages in the retail sale of home improvement products. The firm offers products for maintenance, repair, remodeling, home decorating and property maintenance. It also provides home improvement products in the following categories: appliances, bathroom, building supply, electrical, flooring, hardware, paint, kitchen, plumbing, lighting & fans, outdoor living, windows and doors.

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Moseley Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT  Get Rating) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,057 shares of the retailers stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc.s holdings in Walmart were worth $717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. My Personal CFO LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. JDM Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Walmart in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 112.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 212 shares of the retailers stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton purchased a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Walmart in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 31.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Walmart Stock Performance

Walmart stock traded up $1.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $147.45. 6,955,996 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,795,536. The firm has a market cap of $397.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $142.12 and a 200 day moving average of $141.62. Walmart Inc. has a 12 month low of $117.27 and a 12 month high of $160.77.

Walmart Dividend Announcement

Walmart ( NYSE:WMT Get Rating ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.20. Walmart had a return on equity of 20.45% and a net margin of 1.91%. The company had revenue of $164.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $158.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Walmarts revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walmart Inc. will post 6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Walmarts dividend payout ratio is 53.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $155.00 price target on Walmart in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Credit Suisse Group set a $170.00 target price on Walmart and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Cowen lifted their target price on Walmart from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Walmart in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. They set a market perform rating and a $159.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Walmart from $164.00 to $169.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $163.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,957,377 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.72, for a total value of $275,442,091.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 255,973,516 shares of the companys stock, valued at $36,020,593,171.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 1,957,377 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.72, for a total value of $275,442,091.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 255,973,516 shares in the company, valued at $36,020,593,171.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 4,375 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.03, for a total value of $625,756.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 243,548 shares of the companys stock, valued at $34,834,670.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 21,053,710 shares of company stock valued at $2,982,527,217. 47.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Walmart

(Get Rating)

Walmart, Inc engages in retail and wholesale business. The company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices. It operates through the following business segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sams Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates as a merchandiser of consumer products, operating under the Walmart, Wal-Mart, and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands, as well as walmart.com and other eCommerce brands.

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Winslow Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE  Get Rating) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,018 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 1,103 shares during the period. Winslow Asset Management Inc.s holdings in Pfizer were worth $667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 6.7% in the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 1.1% in the first quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 36,081 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 0.6% in the first quarter. United Bank now owns 46,671 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $2,416,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 136.3% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 36,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 21,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Pfizer by 6.4% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,337,418 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $69,238,000 after acquiring an additional 79,887 shares during the last quarter. 67.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Pfizer Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE PFE opened at $40.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.45, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.62. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.23 and a 12 month high of $56.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Rating ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.11. Pfizer had a return on equity of 42.03% and a net margin of 31.27%. The firm had revenue of $24.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Pfizer in a report on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on Pfizer in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Bank of America cut Pfizer from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $45.00 price target on Pfizer in a report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group set a $45.00 price target on Pfizer in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $50.38.

Insider Activity

In other Pfizer news, major shareholder Pfizer Inc bought 1,811,594 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.76 per share, with a total value of $4,999,999.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,952,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,428,245.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.05% of the companys stock.

About Pfizer

(Get Rating)

Pfizer Inc is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company. It engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of biopharmaceutical products worldwide. The firm works across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases.

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Kevin Weese knew hed be walking a fine line, stitching together a high-concept, bike-themed craft taproom and an old-school comfort food joint where generations of diners had found their chicken-fried bliss, without alienating either audience.

But it was time for the owner whod launched Trails End Taproom in leased space at the far end of a shopping plaza at 31st Street and Colorado Avenue to find a new home, and the nearby Mason Jar restaurant was for sale.

We spent a lot of time fine-tuning and perfecting that spot over there, said Weese, reflecting last week on the original iteration of Trails End Taproom, which, when it opened in 2017, was the first pour-your-own craft spot in Colorado Springs and only the second in the state. We had a five-year lease there and the lease was up, and they told me my rent was going to go up exponentially.

That original spot also came with a unique set of concerns given its location a stones throw from Midland Trail, a popular route for homeless camps and foot traffic.

Our closing day, we had police showing up, fighting (among) the homeless, and it was the worst grand closing ever, Weese said. Here, we have no problems at all. Its amazing what being two blocks closer to Old Colorado City has done for us.

When the lease was up last summer, Weese packed up shop (except for those awesome garage doors), closed the original Trails End doors around Fathers Day, and moved two blocks east, to 2925 W. Colorado Ave., into a building that began its long Colorado Springs tenure as a Shakeys Pizza more than a half-century ago.

The easy button would have been for me to close it (Mason Jar), lay everyone off, bring Trails End over here, close for three months, and get it going, he said.

But thats not what he wanted to do.

And thats where things got complicated  message- and branding-wise  for Weese, who found himself suddenly beholden to and responsible for both hipness and history.

This place was a hub for beer, pizza and music in the '60s and '70s, so were trying to bring back the history of Shakeys, marry the history of what Mason Jar was  and bring our own vibe to the whole thing, said Weese, a Colorado Springs native. Why? Because I love history, to be honest.

Weese kept on the inherited Mason Jar staff, and much of its menu, and set out to create a hybrid space he knew wouldnt please everyone; at least, at first.

I feel like when we moved here we were like the awkward teenager, he said. People were, like, Oh, youre not Mason Jar, youre not Trails End.' Our next struggle is to get out and tell people what Trails End is now.

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What it is, is both, and also something entirely new.

Ruth Richey started as a server at Mason Jar almost 28 years ago, and said the infusion of energy thats come with the new ownership, whole-cloth remodel, and Trails End/Mason Jar mashup, has been a boon for what was, for decades, a Springs go-to where people always knew what to expect.

I really like the new renovations. Its made it lighter, brighter and happier, and now we have the patio. And I think the people are actually getting better service, Richey said of the pivot to a restaurant and taproom that focuses on self-serve.

Orders come into the kitchen faster, are delivered faster, and patrons dont have to wait for a waitperson to come fill their drinks, she said.

The quality of the food is equally as good as it was at Mason Jar, plus they have additional items. The pizzas are excellent, Richey said. Ive seen lots of changes and lots of personnel come and go, but I am very happy with the changes, and actually Im excited about many of the changes still to come.

Those changes, which Weese expects to complete before the end of the year, include swapping glass-paned garage doors for several north-facing windows.

After taking over the new, larger space, Weese and his team did major cleaning, renovations and build-outs, removing part of a south wall of booths to build a pour-your-own wall with 32 taps, with 10 more to come, pouring craft beers, ciders and craft mixed drinks, including the Monument Mule, a cocktail featuring Lee Spirits vodka, lime and ginger beer. The east-side dining room will retain more of the old Mason Jar feel, with booths and an overall "quieter" environment.

The other side, thats kind of our loud, obnoxious side, but this side will be exactly the same food delivered, same booths as the old Mason Jar, Weese said.

Trails End Taproom still hews to its founding ethos as a hub to build community, support nonprofits, and bring together outdoors lovers through regular events. It continues to host live music and Sunday picking around sessions, which often draw more than two dozen local musicians for a freewheeling afternoon jam.

An evolution thats proved a challenge to explain in words might better be summed up in imagery, said Weese, whose logo now features the Trails End name inside a Mason jar-style glass.

A few weeks ago, our rack in front had a walker in it next to a bike, he said. I was, like, Thats who we are. You can come in and get your chicken-fried steak youve had here since 1982, or you could be one of these people whos here for the Trails End bike vibe. I think, and I hope, it can be that bridge between everyone, and the best of both worlds.
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua)  Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will publish on Saturday a speech delivered by Xi Jinping marking the 90th anniversary of the central Party school.

Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the speech at a meeting marking the 90th anniversary of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee and the opening ceremony of its 2023 spring semester.

Party schools at all levels should stay true to their founding mission of fostering talent for and contributing wisdom to the Party, said Xi in the speech.

He called on them to make new contributions to building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts.

Noting that nurturing talent for the CPC is the unique value of Party schools, Xi called on Party schools to play an active role in fostering key officials for governance who are capable of shouldering the task of national rejuvenation.

Party schools need to step up the education and training in Marxist theory, with a focus on using the latest achievements in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times to achieve unity in thought, will and action, as well as enhancing cohesion and forging the Party's soul with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Xi said.

Stressing the crucial role of Party schools in contributing wisdom to the CPC, Xi emphasized the need for them to produce more quality output in various domains including the study and interpretation of the Party's new theories, boosting the Party's theoretical innovation and offering suggestions and proposals to the Party and the government.

He also stressed the importance of rigorous governance over Party schools and their teaching quality.

Upholding the Party's overall leadership over the work of Party schools is the CPC's most fundamental experience in running Party schools, Xi said, urging Party committees and governments at all levels and departments to take actions to support the development of Party schools.

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. [Xinhua/Ding Haitao]

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Friday.

Hailing China and Singapore as important partners of cooperation, Xi said the bilateral relationship is forward-looking, strategic and demonstrative, and has not only given a strong boost to the development and rejuvenation of the two countries, but also set a benchmark for countries in the region.

He noted that during Lee's visit, the two sides elevated bilateral ties to an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership, charting the course for the future development of bilateral relations.

China is ready to strengthen strategic communication with the Singaporean side, deepen strategic alignment, and make "high quality" the most distinct feature of China-Singapore cooperation, said the Chinese president.

Xi pointed out that of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has been the most involved in China's reform and opening-up and its interests are most closely integrated with China. He added that China is ready to share important opportunities with Singapore and other countries that are willing to cooperate with it.

Xi said China is willing to work with Singapore to make good use of the bilateral cooperation mechanism meetings, strengthen the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, deepen cooperation on digital and green development and third-party cooperation, and properly advance cross-border travel.

Over the years, Asia has maintained a sound momentum of overall peace and stability, rapid development and overall improvement, said Xi. Through hard work and wisdom, countries in the region have embarked on a development path with Asian characteristics featuring independence, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, he added.

Against the backdrop of accelerating changes in the world unseen in a century, Xi said Asian countries should cherish and maintain the hard-won sound momentum of development in the region, jointly safeguard the peace dividend of the region, maintain the right direction of economic globalization and regional economic integration, and firmly oppose bullying, decoupling or severing the supply and industrial chains.

"No country should be allowed to deprive the people of Asia of their right to pursue a better and happier life," Xi said.

Prime Minister Lee expressed strong confidence in the resilience of the Chinese economy, and said he believes the economy will continue to grow in a sound way.

He said Singapore and other neighboring countries look forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China.

The Singaporean side looks forward to working with the new Chinese government as soon as possible to promote cooperation on major projects such as connectivity, and to take the opportunity of completing the negotiations on upgrading the Singapore-China free trade agreement to send a clear message of China's continued opening-up and Singapore's commitment to further deepening cooperation with China, Lee said.

He pointed out that almost all countries in the world recognize that there is only one China in the world and have developed friendly and cooperative relations with China on the basis of the one-China policy.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and touting "Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow" will lead to unpredictable and serious consequences, he said.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on major-country relations and international and regional issues of common concern.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. [Xinhua/Ding Haitao]

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. [Xinhua/Rao Aimin]

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing on Friday.

Xi pointed out that the China-Malaysia friendship has a long history, and bilateral relations have always been at the forefront of countries in the region.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Malaysia comprehensive strategic partnership. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Xi said, noting that during Prime Minister Anwar's visit, the two sides reached a consensus on building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, which will surely open a new chapter in the history of bilateral relations.

He called on the two sides to make coordinated efforts to advance the development of bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields in the next stage, push for steady and sustained growth of China-Malaysia relations, and inject new impetus into the prosperity and development of the two countries and the region at large.

China's unswerving pursuit of high-standard opening up and Chinese modernization will bring new opportunities for the development of Malaysia and other countries, Xi said, calling on the two sides to continue to raise the level of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, advance key projects, foster growth areas in the digital economy, green development and new energy, and explore cooperation on people's livelihoods so that China-Malaysia relations will bring more benefits to the two peoples.

Xi stressed that both China and Malaysia belong to Asian civilizations and have benefited from, contributed to, and upheld economic globalization and multilateralism.

"China is ready to work with Malaysia to promote Asian civilizations, uphold strategic independence and the original aspiration of East Asia cooperation, support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) centrality, firmly reject the Cold War mentality and camp confrontation, and jointly build a common home," he noted.

For his part, Anwar spoke highly of the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi.

Malaysia is ready to work with China to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of relevant initiatives and advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

Anwar pointed out that Malaysia opposes camp confrontation and stands against being forced to choose sides. He also said ASEAN, as an independent force, will play an active role in avoiding the escalation of regional tensions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. [Xinhua/Ding Haitao]

(Source: Xinhua)
Update: The 403 fire has burned 1,388 acres as of Sunday morning.

The Teller County Sheriffs Office announced Sunday residents who were evacuated will be allowed to return home. People who were under mandatory evacuation will change to a pre-evacuation status. They will be allowed to return to their homes after 12 p.m., Sunday. Homes that were under pre-evacuation status before will remain at that status.

Wildfire in El Paso County

A fire burning in El Paso County has prompted mandatory evacuations, according to a tweet from the sheriff's office.

A blaze burning in Cimarron Hills cause a mandatory evacuation of the area of Preble Drive and Boreal Drive, west to Newt Drive.

Click here for further updates on the fire.

Efforts to suppress the 403 fire continued for a third day in Teller and Park counties as red flag warnings persisted Saturday in southern Colorado.

As of Saturday late Saturday afternoon, the fire had burned an estimated 1,215 acres, with 25% of the fire contained, according to the official 403 Fire Facebook page.

Officials said their main priority lies in the safety of firefighters and the public. Over 123 personnel are actively on the scene, with the majority of resources going toward constructing a handline around the fire.

Although no structures have been lost, they remain threatened. Evacuation measures in immediate areas are still in effect.

Friday's update, 403 fire

The fire grew to 1,205 acres Friday afternoon, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which took over management of the fire at midnight.

Florissant Fire Chief Erik Holt said 123 fire fighters in total across multiple departments worked to contain the 403 fire on Friday. Strong, sustained winds challenged air support efforts, but crews managed one air drop of 3,000 gallons of water.

A red flag warning remains active across the Pikes Peak region until 7 p.m. Friday. A fire watch also will be in effect Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

High winds rolling through the region may pose problems to firefighters, as winds are expected to range from 20 to 35 mph throughout the day. Gusts may reach as high as 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

A media briefing took place at 9 a.m. Friday. The Teller County Sheriff's Office said a deputy will be available Friday to escort people to their residences to pick up necessary medication and animals.

According to officials, as of 8:15 a.m., smoke was not visible from the Florissant Fire Protection District on U.S. 24.

Officials are asking the public for donations of things such as eyedrops, water, and cough drops for both Park and Teller counties. Donations for Park County can be dropped off at the Lake George fire station, and donations for Teller County can be dropped off at the Sheriff's Office in Divide.

Thursday recap and lookahead, 403 fire

Lieutenant Jennifer Plutt with the Park County Sheriffs Office on Friday said flames were first confirmed by an off-duty sheriffs deputy at 10:58 a.m. Thursday morning following a 911 call from a resident reporting the fire from the Pikes Forest Estate subdivision. By 11:15 a.m. the Lake George Fire Department was on the scene, with assistance from the Guffey and Florissant fire departments.

At 11:31 a.m., mandatory evacuations came into effect for residents within a one-mile radius. By 3:23 p.m., a secondary call for evacuation went out to the residence in a 5-mile radius.

Right now, in terms of cause and origin, we are working hand and hand with the U.S. Forest Service, Special Agent, and fire investigation team, Plutt said.

Mandatory evacuations are still in place for the Pike Forest, Saddle Mountain Ranch and Blue Mountain Ranch subdivisions, as well as for residents along County Road 403.

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Country Road 403 along with County Road 38, which is east of County Road 61, remain closed.

Depending on what the fire does today will determine when those closures will be lifted, Plutt said.

According to Plutt, residents from evacuated subdivisions can stop by any of the roadblocks in place to be escorted back to their residences for a short period of time to retrieve any necessary materials left in their homes.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, approximately 1,100 acres have burned since the fire began Thursday morning. The area is expecting more resources Friday to help suppress the fire, including aviation support. However, the high winds present could limit the abilities of aircraft.

As of 10 a.m. Friday, Teller County moved into stage 2 of an active burn ban, posting the resolution from the county commissioners to its Twitter account.

According to the Pike & San Isabel National Forest, and the Cimarron & Comanche National Grasslands Fire Information Blog, the fire has burned a total of 1,205 acres as of 1:30 p.m. Friday. The Forest Service is leading current operations on the ground, utilizing resources from Teller and Park counties. The Department of Fire Prevention and Control's aviation resources were unable to fly Friday due to high winds present in the area.

The blog states the main goal is to continue to limit fire growth.

Fire in Park and Teller counties: 403 fire

As the 403 fire crosses over county lines, Teller County authorities Thursday evening ordered mandatory evacuations for the area stretching from County Road 46 to Wilson Drive and for residents of the Wilson Lakes and Forest Glenn subdivisions. Officials say 1,047 acres have been burned as of 8:45 p.m.

A pre-evacuation warning was issued for Valley Hi and Florissant Heights subdivisions, according to Teller County Sheriff Office. Residents in the area are asked to evacuate immediately if in danger. Officials announced the closest major intersection is County Road 403 and County Road 98 in Park County.

Click here for an interactive map of the current evacuation and pre-evacuation zones for the 403 fire.

Emergency shelters for evacuees are set up at the Woodland Park Community Center at 800 Valley View Drive.

Officials announced the power and gas will be cut off south of Highway 24 and west Teller 1 to the County line at 8:20 p.m., mainly impacting the subdivisions of Wilson Lakes and Forest Glenn.

Park County residents within one mile of County Road 403 and Alpine Meadow Lane were previously ordered to evacuate at 11:39 a.m. The alert said structures in the area are threatened by the grassfire.

An emergency evacuation shelter is open at the Lake George Community Center located at 39141 U.S. 24. Those with large animals or livestock are asked to locate to the Lake George Fairgrounds at 37371 Highway 24. For immediate updates, residents can call the evacuation line at 719-836-4200.

A media staging will take place at Florissant Grange located at 2009 Teller County Road 31, according to a tweet from the Teller County Sheriff's Office.

According to the Teller County Sheriffs Office, smoke was visible in the west part of the county because of the fire burning behind the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Officials are asking the public to call 911 only if they see active flames, or a plume of smoke.

The Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality advisory for southeastern Park County and western Teller County. Park County officials advise citizens to remain indoors if smoke becomes too thick in their neighborhood, especially the young, the elder, and those with heart disease, or respiratory illness.

Fire near Simla: 125 fire

Officials lifted an evacuation of Simla at 6:10 p.m. Thursday after the 125 fire threatened approximately 500-700 acres, according to the Elbert County Office of Emergency Management and Elizabeth Fire. Elbert County Road and Bridge cleared 25 feet of vegetation to prevent the fire from spreading into the town.

As of about 8 p.m., the fire was 96% contained. Crews expected to remain on scene to tend to hotspots until Friday morning.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department first reported sending two brush trucks, one engine and a battalion chief to assist with a wildland fire off of U.S. 24 south of Simla at 4:12 p.m.

Fire in Colorado Springs

Fire crews earlier Thursday contained a wildland fire in southeast Colorado Springs in the area of Delta and Hancock. The fire stretched approximately half an acre and was contained by 2:39 p.m., just under two hours from when CSFD says crews arrived.

No structures were threatened or lost, and no civilians were injured, according to the Colorado Springs Fire Department. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate (not pictured) are escorted by police officers outside the headquarters of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Bucharest after being detained for 24 hours, in Bucharest, Romania, on December 29, 2022.
The Manhattan district attorney's office, pictured here, slams on Friday the House GOP's efforts to intervene in its investigation into former President Donald Trump.
Gov. Jared Polis, Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock and more than 20 Colorado leaders traveled to Japan this week to explore opportunities and tout Colorado's business acumen in the aerospace, renewable energy, innovation and research sectors.

This mission, held from Sunday to Friday, aims to promote foreign direct investment into Colorado. Polis, officials within the Global Business Development Division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and a Colorado delegation participated in meetings in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.

This trip also marks the 10th anniversary of the inaugural Denver-Tokyo international nonstop flight by United, which began on June 10, 2013, according to Hancock's office.

Ten years on, this flight continues to drive Denvers increasing global connectivity, Hancock said in a press release. "The opportunities to build on the economic development, cultural and tourism connections between Denver and Japan cant be overstated, and its critical to advance those priorities on this mission.

It is the governors second trip to Japan.

The state's business leaders focused on large company stocks in advanced technologies to support the states long-term economic goals. Japan has high rates of outbound foreign direct investment, venture capital investment and import volumes, according to a news release.

In 2021, Japan was the United States fourth-largest trading partner and Colorados sixth largest export trade partner, according to the release. Colorado imported $182 million worth of goods from Japan in 2022, which was 2.6% of the states imports from Asia.

I am thrilled to help Colorado build new social and economic bonds and partnerships with Japan, Polis said in a press release. Colorados economy is thriving and we must continue to seek out new and exciting investment opportunities and technology that could help create jobs to further boost our aerospace, renewable energy, and other booming industries.

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Representatives on the trip are from University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines, Maxar, Boeing, United, Sumitomo, Sakura Square, National Renewable Energy Lab, Quantinuum, Starfire Energy, Deloitte, Pterodynamics, Tynt Technologies, CO Air and Space Port, Total Helium, Coorstek, OrbitFab, Astroscale, Japanese American Society of Colorado, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, Vartega, and Barn Owl.

When asked who footed the bill for the trip, Polis' office responded:

Delegates are required to pay for their own travel and expenses, additionally, two delegates were funded through OEDITs Advanced Industries Accelerator (AIA) program which was created in 2013 to promote growth and sustainability in Colorados advanced industries, a spokesperson from the Governors office said. The Governor paid for his own travel."

A spokesperson for Hancock's office said Wednesday the mayor and a member of his team had to return early "due to a personal family matter"; thus, final costs and where the money is coming from was not available "with cancellation of reservations and reimbursements currently being processed."

City Delegation Members:

Alan Salazar, Chief of Staff

Evan Dreyer, Deputy Chief of Staff

Georg Hill, Mayors Office Director of Scheduling and Advance

Jen Morris, Executive Director, Denver Economic Development and Opportunity (DEDO)

Stephanie Garnica, Director of Global Business Development, DEDO

Laura Jackson, VP for Air Service Development, DIA

Penny May, EVP/Chief Commerical Officer, DIA

Derek Okubo, Executive Director, Agency for Human Rights & Community Partnerships

Kerry Tipper, City Attorney

Non-city Delegation Members:
The Communication Workers Union (CWU)s threat of renewed strike action has proved to be hot air.

Last Friday evening, CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said in a video to members that he understood the anger and frustration of postal workers over their treatment by Royal Mail, claiming that if it did not reach an agreement and stop the attacks by early next week we will serve notice for strike action.

CWU leader Dave Ward telling postal workers "we will serve notice for strike action. March 24, 2023 [Photo: screenshot-CWU/Facebook]

This grandstanding had ended with a whimper by Wednesday, when the CWU announced it was to re-enter talks with Royal Mail without pointing to a single concession from the company.

In a perfunctory message to the membership the union stated, Talks with Royal Mail will resume tomorrow. We will keep you fully updated with any major developments. Thank you for your continued support.

Workers were scathing on the CWUs social media accounts. Facebook comments included, Get the strikes called!! Royal Mail threatening so we back off and, So the strikes that were supposed to be announced early this week if a deal wasnt met are out the window then. On Twitter, postal workers compared the latest update with Groundhog Day, asking, More talks, really??? and, Where are the strike dates? Have they made you chicken out with the administration threat.

After 115,000 postal workers took 18 days of national strike action from last August to the end of the year, the CWU has ensured no further action in the last three months. The 96 percent mandate to renew strike action delivered in mid-February was ignored as Ward and CWU Acting Deputy General Secretary Andy Furey resumed closed-door talks with Royal Mail, overseen by the arbitration service ACAS.

The CWU leadership is not an innocent bystander in the attacks by Royal Mail, it is a joint partner. The way was paved for managements latest round of attacks by the joint company-union statement of March 2 agreeing CWU re-engagement with local revision activitythe cost-cutting exercise aimed at increasing workloads while reducing staffing levels.

Talk of renewed strike action by the CWU Postal Executive was a ploy to fend off postal workers mounting opposition to the back-breaking levels of exploitation which have intensified with the unions own seal of approval.

As well as challenging the CWU on its social media accounts, workers have written to the World Socialist Web Site from around the country describing the prison like conditions in their workplaces and criticising the union hierarchy for selling them down the river.

The CWU leadership has continually postponed an online meeting with the membership where it would have to account for its actions. Instead it held an online briefing of 500 union reps on Saturday to shore-up its position while avoiding having to confront rank-and-file anger.

Renewed talks with Royal Mail will resume the companys relentless demand for the workforces complete surrender, on which the union agreement on revisions is just a down payment.

This can be deciphered from a CWU update published Wednesday. While claiming progress has been made in certain areas it states that the changes demanded if unchecked, will see Royal Mail Group turned into another Uber-style employer.

On the question of revisions alone it states, Royal Mail plans to commence yet another round of revisions imminently with the continued threat of imposition and even more unachievable targets.

The update is full of slippery evasions and unevidenced claims that the company is starting to move or considering taking a different approach, contradicted by everything else the union describes. It is forced to admit that all the issues which led postal workers to strike eight months ago remain in place. These include the hiring of a new entrants on inferior pay and terms, attacks on sickness entitlements and the increased use of owner drivers at Parcelforce.

In addition to this charter of sweatshop conditions, postal workers confront an extended real terms pay cut. Without providing any detail, the CWUs announcement states, the offer on the table is not enough. Royal Mail Group have made a three-year offer, but it includes no further money to cover last year and no back pay.

Put plainly, the final and best offer made last November of 9 percent over 18 months, which incorporated the 2 percent already imposed and a 500 lump sum tied to productivity strings, has not changed one iota.

The CWU update refers to media reports of Royal Mail threatening to put the business into administration but adds that the company has made no statement on the record over this issue.

The union is regurgitating these threats to browbeat workers into accept a sell-out deal. Ward has constantly referred to the financial difficulties facing the company while a deafening silence is maintained over the more than 500 million handed over to shareholders and investors in the past two years. In contrast, postal workers have demanded the return of these profits they produced and their redistribution to fund a pay rise and protect their terms and livelihoods.

Ward and Furey have lost the confidence of postal workers, having conspired with management behind their backs and agreed further attacks, while undemocratically overruling the vote to renew strike action.

In opposition to the facts being created on the ground through the continued collusion between the CWU and Royal Mail, postal workers must draw up their own red lines. Decision-making must be put in the hands of the rank-and-file who are on the front line of the fight. This requires overturning the entire union apparatus, with the membership deciding where their dues gostarting with strike pay, rather than the six-figure salary which Ward commands.

Against the claim that postal workers interests can be aligned with the company, there must be a frontal challenge to the looting operations of Royal Mail.

The Socialist Equality Party has produced a statement to outline the basis for such a strategy, How to fight back at Royal Mail, and is holding an online meeting for rank-and-file postal workers this Sunday, April 2 at 7 p.m.

To succeed, postal workers cannot wage their fight against Royal Mail as if it were an isolated struggle. They must organise alongside other key sections of workers. This includes their fellow workers at the Post Office where Ward and Furey have recommended a paltry 9 percent deal covering three years to end the nationwide strikes begun last May, demanded by members to fight a pay freeze!

Many major struggles, such as those by rail workers, National Health Service workers, teachers, lecturers and civil servants, are now posed point-blank with the need for the rank-and-file to take charge of their fight or accept union-endorsed real terms pay cuts. Social infrastructure is being bled dry to funnel yet more wealth upwards and impose a new era of austerity.

This is taking place amid the largest upsurge of the working class in over a generation, in Europe and internationally. The mass opposition in France to Emmanuel President of the Rich Macrons attack on pensions is in the forefront. This has pitted workers not only against his use of emergency powers but against a servile union bureaucracy preoccupied with containing the class struggle rather than defeating the lurch to dictatorial forms of rule.

In Germany, 100,000 postal workers voted 86 percent for indefinite strike action but their union, Verdi, ignored the mandate and brought back an offer similar to the one rejected, which would leave them 20 percent worse off than in 2010 in real terms. Postal workers have formed a Postal Action Committee to organise a mass rejection of the deal as the first step toward a no confidence vote in the Verdi leadership and the formation of a strike committee to take the fight forward.

Postal workers at Royal Mail are confronted with the same task as their co-workers internationally. Sundays meeting will be joined by international speakers who can share these vital experiences. We encourage all postal workers to register to attend now.
Below, we are publishing a section of rank-and-file UAW presidential candidate Will Lehmans complaint to the Department of Labor filed March 29. Lehman filed the complaint after the law firms comprising the court-appointed monitor denied his protest documenting massive disenfranchisement of rank-and-file UAW members in the first round of the UAW national officers election.

Will Lehman at the UAW bargaining convention, March 27, 2023 [Photo: WSWS]

Lehmans complaint to the Department of Labor provides a detailed overview of the UAW monitors conflict of interest, which Lehman said is a ground to re-run the election in its own right.

In the introduction to his Labor Department complaint, Lehman wrote:

The response to my protest by the monitors office was also tainted by gross conflicts of interest. The monitors office presiding over the election in a supposedly neutral capacity consisted of two major law firmsCrowell & Moring and Jenner & Blockthat frequently represent auto companies that employ UAW workers. Both law firms have longstanding revolving-door relationships with General Motors. It is a scandal that the denial of my internal union protest arrived on the letterhead of managements attorneys who have been paid millions in our dues money. These conflicts of interest constitute an independent ground to re-run the election.

In a March 19 decision denying Lehmans protest of the elections, the UAW monitor law firms had claimed it is not clear that turnout was low and dismissed evidence gathered by rank-and-file workers as unsubstantiated.

What follows is a section of Lehmans Department of Labor complaint exposing the monitors role as longtime attorneys for the auto bosses. It calls for the election they oversaw to be thrown out as illegitimate and for a new election with actual notice provided to all active and retired members.

***

The monitors response to my protest is entitled to no credit or deference whatsoever, in light of outrageous conflicts of interest on the part of the monitors officenamely the law firms of Crowell & Moring and Jenner & Block. These firms are partisans of the auto corporations with which they have close ties, and their interests are adverse to those of rank-and-file union members working for those corporations like me.

A. Jenner & Block: Longtime lawyers for General Motors

Jenner & Block has longstanding ties to General Motors, and the firms financial and legal relationship with GM goes back many years.

It is worth recalling that in 1937, during the sit-down strike against GM in Flint, Michigan, the judge who issued an injunction against the strikers (Edward S. Black) was removed from the case after it was revealed that he owned 3,000 shares in GM. Here, the conflict of interest is even worse: my internal union protest against rampant voter suppression in the election was denied by a law firm which consists of lawyers that represent GM.

In 2014, the New York Times wrote that Jenner & Block has done high-profile securities work for GM as well as product liability cases. GM spokesman Greg Martin was quoted as saying that the attorneys have reputations for adhering to the highest standards. The Times continued, Both firms have done extensive work for GM. The carmaker has used Jenner for more than a decade, and its work includes advising GM on its post-bankruptcy initial public stock offering and negotiating a $5 billion line of credit for the company in 2012. The firms website says it has represented GM in product liability cases involving vehicle incompatibility/aggressivity; crashworthiness; air bags; rollover/roof crush and seatbelts.

The relationship between GM and Jenner & Block is so close that in 2006 it hired the head of corporate practice at Jenner & Block, Robert Osborne, as its general counsel. According to the Wall Street Journal, while working for Jenner & Block Osborne helped GM spin off auto corporations, leading to massive job losses and wage cuts. In a June 8, 2006 article headlined General Motors Taps Jenner & Block Lawyer as new General Counsel, the Journal wrote that Osborne represented GM in the disposition of Hughes Electronics, the spinoffs of Electronic Data Systems, Hughes Defense and Delphi, and the sale of National Car Rental. He also has represented GM in public offerings of stock and debt securities.

In other words, the firm responsible for monitoring the election is actually responsible for the decades-long attack on the rights and living standards of rank-and-file autoworkers and retirees. This is a direct conflict of interest. Such a firm clearly has an interest in helping GM suppress our wages, lower labor costs and attack our rights in the upcoming contract as well.

Anton Valukas, then-chair of Jenner & Block, testifying before Congress in defense of GM in 2014 during the companys faulty ignition scandal. On the left is GM CEO Mary Barra. [AP Photo/Cliff Owen]

Most notoriously, Jenner & Block helped conduct the investigation that absolved GMs executives of criminal responsibility after the company covered up ignition defaults that led to the deaths of many people, including several children. Anton Valukas, then chair of Jenner & Block, testified before Congress in defense of GM.

One of the Jenner & Block attorneys tasked with helping oversee the UAW electionReid Scharwas a leading figure in the GM ignition scandal.

Jenner & Block's Reid Schar, announced in 2021 as part of Neil Barofsky's monitor team. Schar represented GM during the ignition scandal. [Photo: Jenner & Block]

According to Schars Jenner & Block profile, he served as one of the team leaders conducting an investigation and producing an internal report to the board of directors for GM regarding recalls stemming from faulty ignition switches. The firm team coordinated GMs response to several federal agencies and Congress. Reid represented GM in a related investigation by the US Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, culminating in the resolution of the matter through a deferred prosecution agreement.

Reid Schar's bio on Jenner & Block's website. Over 100 people died in the ignition scandal. "Deferred prosecution" means none of the corporate executives went to jail. [Photo: Jenner & Block]

The head of the Center for Auto Safety, Clarence Ditlow, issued a statement at the time attacking the investigation and Jenner & Blocks role as GMs lobbyist:

GM killed over a 100 [sic] people by knowingly putting a defective ignition switch into over one million vehicles. Yet no one from GM went to jail or was even charged with criminal homicide. This shows a weakness in the law not a weakness in the facts. GM killed innocent consumers. GM has paid millions of dollars to its lobbyists to keep criminal penalties out of the Vehicle Safety Act since 1966. Today thanks to its lobbyists, GM officials walk off scot free while its customers are six feet under.

Jenner & Blocks conduct of the election and their contemptuous attitude to the rights of rank-and-file workers like me is in alignment with the interests of their client, General Motors, particularly as the expiration date of the current contract approaches for 48,000 UAW members at GM this year.

B. Crowell & Moring: A strikebreaking firm representing GM, Dana, CAT, Bosch and other corporations

Crowell & Moring has equally deep ties to auto corporations negotiating contracts impacting hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file members in 2023. Its clients include Caterpillar, General Motors, Mazda, Bosch, Dana Inc., BMW, Daimler, Bridgestone, and other companies.

Screenshot from Crowell & Moring's website listing some of its customers. in the auto industry. [Photo: Crowell & Moring]

Like Jenner & Block, there is a revolving door between the top attorneys at the firm and GM. In 2019, Crowell & Moring appointed Lawrence J. Lines to its Orange County, California office. Lines was most recently litigation counsel for General Motors, where he served for 35 years, according to a Crowell & Moring press release dated June 18, 2019.

The firms website has a section titled Labor Management Relations and Labor Disputes which explains that the firm regularly represents employers in collective bargaining negotiations and grievance arbitration matters, and advises clients in developing and implementing strategies to prevent (or, if necessary, minimize the business impact of) strikes, lockouts or other work stoppages. We have successfully handled hundreds of union election proceedings involving employers across the country.

Screenshot of Crowell & Moring boasting about strikebreaking activities. [Photo: Crowell & Moring]

Crowell & Morings website states they successfully represented Caterpillar before the US Department of Commerce, and that the firm has extensive experience in negotiating with and litigating against the most sophisticated labor unions in the country, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, American Postal Workers Union, Service Employees International Union, International Longshoremens Union, the Auto Workers [sic], the Machinists, the Steelworkers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, and numerous other labor organizations. In 2013 it represented General Motors in a $3 billion lawsuit.

The firm holds regular training events for how to oppose strikes, including one held in October 2022 as the UAW elections first round was taking place. It was called, A conversation about responses to the surge in union organizing, which advertised giving corporate attendees an opportunity to share experiences and exchange best practices on responses to the current wave of union organizing, including an increased willingness to engage in economic strikes.

One of the Crowell & Moring attorneys currently representing GM in court. [Photo: Crowell & Moring]

The firms search engine also yields an article discussing how the firm helps companies identify the earliest stages of potential union organization campaigns and helps them through the actual campaigns, elections, and potential challenges. It appears the firm attempted to scrub this article from its website but failed to remove it from search results.

According to LexisNexis, Crowell & Moring currently represents GM in a number of pending or recent cases across the country, including Vita v. Gen. Motors LLC, 2023 US Dist. LEXIS.32445 (2d. Cir), In re GMC Air Conditioning Mktg. & Sales Prac. Litig., 2023 US Dist. LEXIS 30692 (6th Cir.), Tucker v. Gen. Motors LLC, 58 F.4th 392 (8th Cir. 2023), Estate of Pilgrim v. Gen. Motors LLC, 2022 US Dist. LEXIS 219673 (E.D. Mich 2022). Earlier this month, attorneys from the firm appeared before David Lawson, the same judge in the Eastern District of Michigan that heard my lawsuit in November 2022, to represent General Motors!

Google search result of Law360 headline referring to Crowell & Moring attorney as "GM lawyer"

These company lawyers had no business denying my protest. Not only do these conflicts of interest violate the election rules themselves, which strictly prohibit the employers from interfering with internal union business, it taints the monitors response to my protest as well as the entire election.

The law firms overseeing the election had an improper motive to deny my protest and rubber-stamp the entrenched leaderships suppression of the vote, so as to ensure the victory of candidates likely to reach favorable agreements with the clients of these law firmsnamely the auto companies. Meanwhile, if the monitors office had agreed with my protest and agreed to re-run the election with meaningful notice to the membership, that would have created more favorable conditions for the interests of the rank-and-file to be expressed in the election, which would have been bad for their clients.

There is the old adage of the fox guarding the henhouse. Here, the hens are also being required to pay the foxes hundreds of dollars an hour for legal services! This is a scenario that belongs in Alice in Wonderland or Kafka. Millions of dollars of UAW workers dues money have been paid to date to these law firms for their services in overruling the objections of rank-and-file workers like me to the violation of our democratic rights.

These corporate law firms acted throughout the election first and foremost as advocates for their corporate clients, not in the interests of the democratic integrity of an internal union election. They hardly even hide itit shines through every sentence of their response to my protest, which drips with contempt and indifference for the rights of rank-and-file members like me to participate in a meaningful democratic election.
Striking Sysco workers in Louisville, Kentucky [Photo: Teamsters]

As of Thursday, over 1,000 drivers and warehouse workers have gone on strike against the giant food distribution monopoly Sysco in Indiana, Kentucky and California.

Following a walkout of more than 300 workers in Indianapolis, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky on March 27, another 700 Sysco employees set up picket lines in Southern California on Thursday to demand higher wages, improved health care benefits and an end to excessive overtime at the $40 billion dollar corporation based in Houston, Texas.

According to a press release by the Teamsters, the Sysco strike was extended to three locals in the Los Angeles area on Thursday with more extensions expected to go up as early as tonight.

A report by WTWO, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis, said on Wednesday that the Sysco workers, members of Teamsters Local 135, voted unanimously on March 12 for strike action after a previous contract expired on March 3 and no new agreement was forthcoming.

In response, Sysco issued a statement saying the company intended to break the strike in Indianapolis by implementing contingency plans to quickly ramp up operations to serve our customers  The company, which has forced employees to work 16-hour shifts and drive unsafe and overpacked vehicles, then blamed the workers for disrupting deliveries to hospitals, nursing homes, schools and local small businesses.

In Louisville, about 100 workers went on strike and walked picket lines outside the Sysco facility in Fairdale. A report by WDRB spoke to Michael Bonner, a driver for Sysco for the last 17 years who said, Were out here standing up for each other.

A statement from the company said that a contingency plan has been implemented to quickly ramp up operations, also attacking the workers for disrupting food distribution to hospitals and schools.

However, a spokesperson from Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), which includes sections of Louisville and serves 100,000 students in the area, said there was no immediate risk to school lunches. According to JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan, the district received all of their orders last week and, Students will not go without food.

A statement issued by the Teamsters leadership said that the strikes in Indianapolis and Louisville are the product of unfair labor practices (ULPs) after weeks of contentious contract negotiations at both locations.

The Teamsters bureaucracy is seeking to prevent the struggle of the 70,000 workers at Sysco from becoming a nationwide walkout. This is completely in line with what the union has done over the past six months by keeping the different locations of Sysco workers isolated from one another and signing separate contract agreements with each statewide entity of the corporation.

In September and October of last year, hundreds of Sysco workers in New York and Boston were called out on strike by the Teamsters over similar unfair labor practice charges. As the WSWS pointed out at the time, the declaration of unfair labor practice charges was used by the union to ensure that the strike could be called off without any contract actually being negotiated or any vote of the membership to adopt a new agreement.

The Teamsters union has approximately 10,000 workers at the worlds largest broadline food distribution company. The global company has 600,000 customers worldwide and operates 330 distribution facilities in a total of 90 countries.

Sysco workers in California, Kentucky and Indiana face a similar fate as their fellow workers in New York and Massachusetts unless workers themselves change the course of the struggle. As we explained last October, To avoid a sellout, Sysco workers have to take this fight out of the hands of the Teamster bureaucrats and follow the example of rail, auto, and steel workers and form rank-and-file committees. These committees, democratically run by the members, will be independent of the union bureaucracy and develop a set of demands that meet the needs of the workers and not the profits of Wall Street. This committee will work to end the isolation of the strikes by uniting with Sysco workers throughout the country.
In a sharp warning to the entire working class, the Wickremesinghe government this week deployed thousands of armed soldiers and police to break strike action by petroleum workers protesting privatisation in the retail fuel sector. The cabinets privatisation decision is in line with the harsh International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity measures being imposed by the government.

Petroleum Corporation workers at Colombo Fort protest, 8 February 2023. [Photo: WSWS]

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL) workers began their strike on Tuesday evening, refusing to fill and distribute fuel, leading to long queues of people seeking to refuel their vehicles.

Wickremesinghe responded by sending thousands of special task force members and police to take control of fuel distribution. TV footage showed heavily armed soldiers guarding petrol tankers leaving the CPC premises and distributing fuel to pumping stations.

Bandula Saman Kumara, the president of Sri Lanka Podujana Progressive Employees Union-Petroleum (SLPPEU-P), quickly called off the industrial action. He told media that armed soldiers were intimidating the CPC workers, visiting workers homes and forcing them to return to work.

The government also placed 20 striking petroleum workers, mostly union leaders, on compulsory leave. On March 29, the CPC chairman sent a letter declaring that CPC premises and CPSTL warehouse terminal service premises would be declared prohibited zones for strikers and that other employees were directed to report to work.

Addressing a press conference, Petroleum Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said he had called in security forces to ensure the distribution of fuel and demanded CPC management and law enforcement agencies take disciplinary and legal actions against strikers.

The governments strike-breaking against petroleum workers is an attack on all Sri Lankan workers and another demonstration of its ruthless determination to crush all opposition to its austerity attacks. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) calls on the working class to oppose the governments repression and defend their class brothers and sisters at the CPC and CPSTL.

Wickremesinghe was elevated into the presidency last year via a series of anti-democratic manoeuvres. He made clear from the outset that he would ruthlessly impose the cost-cutting attacks on social services, jobs and living conditions being demanded by local and international finance capital.

Ranil Wickremesinghe [Photo: United National Party Facebook]

Last week, after months of negotiations, the IMF approved a $US2.9 billion bailout over four years to the Sri Lankan government. The IMF recently described its austerity demands as a brutal experiment.

The strike-breaking assault on petroleum workers marks a new stage in these attacks on the social and democratic rights of workers. Confronted with a rising tide of popular opposition to his regime, Wickremesinghe is using his executive presidential powers to suppress all working-class opposition. He has used the draconian Essential Public Services Act (EPSA) to ban strikes and protests and has cancelled the scheduled March 9 local government elections.

On March 22, the government announced a new anti-Terrorism Bill to replace the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The new legislation, which is more repressive than the PTA, widens the definition of terrorism to include any action or statement criticising the government in Sri Lanka, any other country or international organisation. All resistance by workers and the oppressed to the governments brutal experiment is to be crushed with an iron fist.

The SEP forthrightly denounces the governments crackdown on the CPC union leadership. But we warn workers that they cannot place any trust in the trade unions to protect their jobs and working conditions, or to fight the governments anti-democratic assaults. The union bureaucracys reaction to the governments strike-breaking attack, and its new, even more repressive laws, exposes the bankrupt nature of these pro-capitalist institutions.

SLPPEU-P President Kumara complained about the military intimidation of striking workers but failed to challenge the deployment of military strike-breakers or even demand their immediate withdrawal from the CPC and the CPSTL premises.

Addressing a press conference after compulsory leave notices, including on himself, were issued, Kumara pledged the unions ongoing support of the government.

Everybody knows that we have worked to bring this government into power. Therefore, we dont have a conspiracy against the government, he declared. The union is affiliated to Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party which is the basis for the Wickremesinghe government.

Kumara cynically attempted to cover up the governments privatisation policies. The policy of the SLPP is not selling national assets, he said, but then cynically insisted that the union was deceived by the government. Kumaras claim to oppose privatisation is bogus. For years he has been a loyal supporter of government plans to privatise the petroleum corporation.

Last October, during the parliamentary debate on CPC privatisation, the petroleum union leadership held a short protest strike to contain workers opposition. The industrial action, which mainly involved union officials, was called off after a few hours.

Kumara said it was not worth continuing the strike and disrupting the services because parliament would pass the bill. He falsely claimed that the unions would find alternative ways to defeat it.

All the other CPC trade unions have directly or indirectly extended their support to privatisation, in defiance of enormous opposition from rank-and-file workers. Whenever workers have demanded a fight against the governments plans, the unions limit any action to short, tightly-controlled protests.

Ranjan Jayalal, a Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader and convener of the Ceylon Electricity Board trade union collective, issued an empty demagogic threat against the government on Wednesday. We would say to the energy minister, we are sending you, not just on compulsory leave, but sending you and everybody [in the government] home, he declared.

Jayalal also falsely claimed that government control of the oil, electricity, postal, bank and port sectors still existed in a limited form only because of the continuous fight carried out by trade unions.

This is a lie aimed at covering up the ongoing role played by all the unions in the privatisation and disinvestment of public institutions by successive Sri Lankan governments.

The JVP, which has no fundamental differences with the IMFs austerity program, is attempting to use the rising mass opposition against the Wickremesinghe regime to form its own government with other bourgeois parties. If elected, the JVP would ruthlessly implement the IMFs demands.

Workers should ignore the empty rhetoric of the union leadership who all defend the profit system and systematically collaborate with the ruling elite.

Last year, during the April-June mass uprising against the previous Rajapakse government, the unions diverted all working-class opposition behind the parliamentary opposition, opening the way for Wickremesinghe to come to power, and intensify the vicious social attacks on workers and the oppressed.

The SEP insists that workers in Sri Lanka and internationally need to form their own action committees, independent of the unions and all bourgeois parties, and take the struggle for their basic rights into their own hands on the basis of a socialist program.

Sri Lankan state sector workers and all other sections of the working class need to establish their own action committees and take up the SEPs campaign for a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses. Such a congress would lay the foundations for an independent political movement of the working class and the rural poor to establish a government of workers and peasants committed to a socialist and internationalist perspective.
In another move that is deliberately raising tensions with China, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen held a series of high-level meetings in New York on Wednesday and Thursday with American politicians and representatives.

Official photo of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, November 30, 2020. CC BY 2.0] [Photo by 

The trip to the US is being held under the guise of a transit by Tsai as she proceeds to visit Guatemala and Belize in central Americatwo of the 13 small countries around the world that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, rather than China. While not formally announced, Tsai reportedly will meet with US congressional House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as she transits in Los Angeles on her return to Taiwan on April 7.

China has reacted angrily to the trip. Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office, made the obvious point that Tsais transits go well beyond waiting at airports and hotels. She warned that if Tsai meets with House Speaker McCarthy, it would be another provocation that seriously violates the One China principle, harms Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity, and destroys peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Under the One China principle, Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province that is an integral part of China. It has called for peaceful reunification on the basis of one country, two systems, but has long warned that it would forcibly incorporate the island if the Taiwanese government formally declared independence from China.

The Biden administration responded by dismissing Chinas concerns. White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Tsais trip was in line with what she and previous Taiwanese presidents have done in the past. Her transit is consistent with our longstanding unofficial relationship with Taiwan and is consistent with the United States one-China policy, which remains unchanged, he said, warning China against using it as a pretext to step up any aggressive activity around the Taiwan Strait.

In reality, it is US imperialism that is inflaming tensions across the Taiwan Strait as it accelerates its plans for war with China. Under Trump and now Biden, Washington has fundamentally altered the delicate balancing act that led to the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington in 1979.

At the time, the US acknowledged that China regarded Taiwan as part of its territory, but did not formally endorse Beijings position. Its actions, however, in effect embraced the One China principle: Washington cut formal diplomatic ties and ended its military alliance with Taipei and withdrew US military forces from the island.

For decades, while selling defensive weapons to Taiwan, the US refused to unambiguously commit to waging war against China in the event of conflict. It also maintained low-key unofficial contact with Taipei through a quasi-embassythe American Institute in Taiwan. Under Trump and Biden, these diplomatic protocols have been torn up.

It is enough to consider the incident that triggered what became known as the Third Taiwan Strait crisisthe visit by Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to the US in June 1995, nominally as a private citizen, to deliver a speech to his alma mater, Cornell University. In line with past policy, the Clinton administration initially refused to grant a visa, following a decision a year earlier to refuse a visa when Lee transited in Hawaii on his return from a visit to South America.

Faced with congressional opposition, the Clinton administration relented and Lee made his speech, setting off a military confrontation that could have led to direct conflict. China accused Lee of trying to split China and branded him a traitor. It mobilised military forces across the strait from Taiwan and announced missile tests, as well as naval and amphibious landing drills. The US responded with a huge show of military force, with multiple transits through the Taiwan Strait by US warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its battle group. The crisis continued into 1996 before Beijing backed off.

By comparison with Lees 1995 trip, Tsais transit through New York is a calculated provocation by Taipei and Washington, to which Beijing is responding with considerable restraint. While her meetings have been behind closed doors, details leaked to the media make clear that Tsai is cementing ties with the US as it ramps up its economic and strategic confrontation with China.

After arriving on Wednesday night, Tsai told a meeting in New York that relations between Taiwan and the US were closer than ever and boasted of significant progress in economic and military cooperation. Tsai belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which advocates a more independent Taiwan but stops short of declaring formal separation from China.

She told the meeting that Taiwan was a beacon of democracy in Asia that would not allow itself to be isolated by Beijing, adding we have demonstrated a firm will and resolve to defend ourselves. Those attending included New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Laura Rosenberger, chair of the American Institute in Taiwan.

On Thursday night, Tsai gave a speech at a meeting hosted by the right-wing Hudson Institute think tank, which awarded her its Global Leadership Award. According to Hudson Institute director Miles Yu, Tsai declared that the defense of Taiwan is actually the defense of America. In other words, the US must be unambiguously committed to fighting a war with China over Taiwan.

Significantly, also on Thursday, the top Democrat in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, met with Tsai, but no details were released. Last August when the Democrats controlled the house, Nancy Pelosi, as House speaker, made a provocative trip to Taipei that triggered a major military standoff in waters surrounding Taiwan. As the Chinese military conducted missile tests and deployed warships into the Taiwan Strait, the US and its allies mounted major naval operations adjacent to Taiwan.

Any meeting by current House Speaker McCarthy, the Republican who succeeded Pelosi, with Tsai in Los Angeles in the coming week threatens to trigger another confrontation. While it has not formally condoned the meeting, the Biden administration will exploit any crisis to further its strategy of creating a pretext for war with China, by goading it into attacking Taiwan.

In a similar fashion to the US-NATO war in Ukraine against Russia, the US is seeking to draw Beijing into a debilitating conflict over Taiwan as the means to destabilise and ultimately fracture China, which Washington regards as the chief threat to its global dominance.
Former Temple University president Jason Wingard. [Photo by Bj2019 / CC BY-SA 4.0

On Tuesday, the Temple University board of trustees announced that it had accepted the resignation of college president Jason Wingard. The former Goldman Sachs official had only served two years of a planned five year term at the university.

Wingard has faced public backlash for his handling of the recently-concluded university workers strike, which lasted nearly a month and a half. The grad workers, who are responsible for grading, lecturing and other essential tasks, struck for a living wage, family-dependent health care coverage, parental leave and more, only to face ruthless opposition from the university.

Temple reacted to the strikers legitimate demands by cutting their health benefits as well as demanding they pay their tuition costs in retaliation for withholding labor.

The universitys ruthless attacks on the striking workers, who had massive support from fellow workers and students, compounded the administrations difficulties, which have been increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the coming days, the Wingard administration was to face a no confidence vote from Temples teaching faculty. A week ago, Wingard had received a negative approval rating of 92 percent among undergraduates, according to a poll taken by Temple News.

In addition, Temple is facing the contract expiration for over 3,000 university professors in October, which a severely discredited leadership may not feel it will be able to contain.

Board of trustees chair Mitchell Morgan stated that Wingard was being let go despite demonstrating unwavering commitment to the board of trustees strategy to enhance the value proposition, reputation, and external profile of the University. According to Morgan, Temples board of trustees would designate a small group of senior Temple leaders to guide the university while looking for a replacement.

This would apparently supplement plans which the board already had in place. Following the strikes conclusion, the board of trustees announced that Temple faced an unprecedented confluence of serious challenges. The board stated it would be paying more rigorous attention to urgent matters such as campus safety, enrollment, and university engagement and responsiveness, wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The universitys enrollment has declined by 14 percent since 2019, with student deposits down by 25 percent since 2021.

In the days after the strike concluded, Wingard released a public statement promising to pause a number of the universitys initiatives and instead focus on the inextricably linked issues of safety and enrollment.

This was not enough. The strategy that Wingard had worked so unwaveringly to impose had made him a justifiably hated figure among the schools impoverished workforce and student body. Despite having imposed the poverty-level contract on the graduate workers last month, the former banking official was deemed to be far too polarizing to continue the job.

In talking with our board and talking with my leadership team, I recognized that all the attention and focus that was being placed on me, and it was getting hotter and hotter; it was disallowing us from being able to satisfy that strategy I mapped out, said Wingard this week in comments to the New York Times.

Notably, both Wingard and the board of trustees statements emphasize the issue of safety and violence in the northern Philadelphia area as their concern. This is in keeping with the universitys tactic of promoting the police to denigrate and draw attention away from the justified concerns about living standards and pay which animated the grad worker strike.

In this vein, it is notable that one of Wingard's final acts as Temple University president was to secure a state-level grant for $1.7 million to use for hiring and training school police.

At the time, Democratic state Senator Vincent Hughes presented the funding as an investment in our communities and our young people, promising more resources  to the Temple University Police Department so that its officers are equipped.

Hughes, demonstrating the incestuous relationship that exists between the university and the Democratic Party, and in keeping with the latters use of racial demagogy, denounced the resignation of Wingard, who is African American. The Democratic official called the resignation of the trustees corporate hatchet man a chilling message to black people at the highest levels of our academic institutions.
On Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that European powers are close to discussing the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine as the US-NATO war with Russia escalates.

It is close to a legitimate, accepted, well-established question in the conversation between European leaders as to whether or not the member states of the European Union can send peacekeeping troops in some form or not, Orban said.

We are close to this border that was previously thought to be impassable, he added.

Orban continued, I am convinced that the threat of world war is not a literary exaggeration. So when European and American leaders say that if this continues, we may end up in the Third World War, this seems like an incredibly exaggerated sentence at first. But where I work and where I see the events, this is a real danger at this moment.

Orban made these remarks in an interview with Hungarian radio station Kossuth Radio, and his statement was cited by Newsweek and Yahoo News.

Orban is the first leader of a NATO country to publicly raise the prospect of the deployment of troops from NATO countries into Ukraine.

Earlier this year, the US pledged to go on the offensive to liberate Russian-occupied Ukraine. But Ukraine has suffered enormous casualties, and it is becoming clear that this goal cannot be achieved without the direct involvement of NATO in the war.

Responding to Orbans comments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, If we are talking about some kind of serious negotiations, then this is a potentially extremely dangerous discussion.

Former Russian President Dimitri Medvedev added, In Europe, a new false idea is being discussed to send some kind of peacekeepers to Ukraine under the auspices of NATO. ... It is clear that the so-called NATO peacekeepers are simply going to enter the conflict on the side of our enemies.

Medvedev said that such an action would bring the situation to the point of no return and unleash the very Third World War, which is so feared in words. He added, It remains only to clarify whether Europe is ready for a long line of coffins for its peacekeepers?

While Orban has clashed with the US over the extent of Hungarys support for the NATO war drive, Hungary is a member of NATO and appeared on a list of unfriendly nations published by the Kremlin on Thursday.

Explaining the decision, Russias envoy to Budapest, Yevgeny Stanislavov said, Hungary has signed all the anti-Russian sanctions packages of Brussels and is forced to strictly comply with them.

While Orban raised the prospect of discussions of the deployment of peacekeepers as a hypothetical question, the United Sates and its allies are massively expanding their direct involvement in the conflict.

To date, the US has provided more than $30 billion in weapons to Ukraine, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday. This is in addition to more than $70 billion in financial and economic aid.

Meanwhile, over 10,000 Ukrainian troops are being trained in the US, Germany and other NATO allies, Ryder said.

Since Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022, US European Command, US Army Europe and Africa and Security Assistance Group Ukraine have trained more than 7,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces.

He continued, Just this week, 65 Ukrainian air defenders completed Patriot training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and have now arrived back in Europe.

Ryder provided an update on the thousands of Ukrainian troops being trained in Germany alongside US-NATO armored vehicles and tanks. At the close of this month, more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers in two brigadesone equipped with M2 Bradleys and one equipped with Strykerswill have completed combined arms training and have returned to Ukraine.

At this moment, Ryder said, over 11,000 Ukrainian soldiers are receiving training in 26 different countries.

On Friday, Reuters reported that the US will imminently announce yet another weapons package for Ukraine to the tune of $2.6 billion, including radars, rockets and tank munitions.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko both raised the prospect of deploying Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, bringing the weapons closer to the borders of NATO.

I and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin can decide and deploy strategic nuclear weapons here, if need be, Lukashenko said, pledging to defend Belaruss sovereignty and independence.

These developments take place as the war in Ukraine is accelerating. US General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the battle in Bakhmut a slaughter-fest. In response to ongoing losses in the war, Putin on Thursday authorized a new draft of 147,000 men.

On Thursday, Finland won approval from Turkey to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, massively expanding NATOs land border with Russia. It is also considering the deployment of up to 300,000 troops to its border with Russia, Politico reported.

In a report dated March 18, Politico wrote, In the coming months, the alliance will accelerate efforts to stockpile equipment along the alliances eastern edge and designate tens of thousands of forces that can rush to allies aid on short noticea move meant to stop Russia from expanding its war beyond Ukraine.

It continued, The numbers will be large, with officials floating the idea of up to 300,000 NATO forces needed to help make the new model work.

The initial layer of troops, comprising roughly 100,000 soldiers capable of mobilizing within 10 days, could be sourced from Poland, Norway, and the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong all but confirmed last Thursday that the Labor government is backing the US attempt to extradite WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange and imprison him for life because he exposed American war crimes. At the very least, Wong made plain that Labor will not lift a finger to defend the persecuted Australian citizen and publisher.

Penny Wong and Julian Assange [Photo: ABC News, David G Silvers]

Wongs remarks were a response to a question from Greens Senator David Shoebridge during Senate hearings. They were the most explicit statement of the current Labor governments hostility to Assange yet.

Shoebridge asked if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had spoken to US President Joe Biden and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak when the three gathered in San Diego last month. There they announced that, under the trilateral AUKUS pact against China, Australia would acquire nuclear-powered submarines at a cost of $368 billion.

Wong did everything possible to avoid a direct answer to the question. But that in itself is an answer. The only possible inference is that Albanese did not mention the WikiLeaks founder and has no intention of doing so.

Wongs non-denial of this fact exposes Labors extraordinary duplicity on the Assange case. Since it was elected in May last year, the government has avoided saying anything much about the WikiLeaks founder.

But when compelled to do so, Albanese and others have claimed to be using quiet diplomacy to somehow address his plight. Public comment on the matter, the argument goes, could disrupt these sensitive backroom negotiations. But, as is now apparent, no such backroom negotiations are being held. Quiet diplomacy is no diplomacy.

In her reply to Shoebridge, Wong declared there are limits to what that diplomacy can achieve. She repeated Labors vague slogans. It was the governments view that Mr Assanges case has dragged on too long and should be brought to a close.

But Assanges case could be brought to a close in any number of ways. He could die in Britains maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, where doctors have warned for the past four years that his health has deteriorated. Or he could be extradited to the US, where he faces a secret trial and a sentence of 175 years imprisonment.

Wong made clear that this is essentially the perspective of the Labor government. It supports Assanges imprisonment in Britain, despite the fact that he has not been convicted of a crime and authoritative rights organisations have demanded his release. And it supports the US governments right to extradite and try an Australian journalist for publishing true information that undermined the American national security-state.

Wong declared: What I would say is thisand you would know this, Senator Shoebridge, as a lawyer. We are not able, as an Australian government, to intervene in another countrys legal or court processes.

When Shoebridge began to challenge this assertion, an increasingly agitated Wong exclaimed: Senator Shoebridge, there is a thing called the rule of law. There is a principle called the separation of powers. No amount of bellowing at me from that end of the chamber is going to change the fact that a court has to determine the legal process. So, we can raise these issues, as I have and as the prime minister has. But we are not able to alter the judicial processes of another country.

Every word of that statement is an obscene falsification. Wong defends the legal lynching of Assange. In so doing, she self-righteously claims to be respecting the rule of law.

In reality, Assange has been the victim of the most heinous violations of the rule of law. It is now publicly documented that while Assange was an internationally-recognised political refugee in Ecuadors London embassy, the Trump administration and the CIA plotted to kidnap or assassinate him. Let Wong comment on how these preparations for a political hit in London conform to the rule of law.

It is also well established that the same CIA operation involved unlawful spying on Assanges communications, including privileged discussions with his lawyers. Now, the very same US government which considered killing Assange and illegally surveilled him, is seeking his extradition!

Amid interjections, Wong became ever more belligerent. In response to one statement from the Greens, apparently suggesting that Labor secure Assanges freedom, Wong exclaimed: Senator Whish-Wilson, how would you propose that we do that? Send the Australian Army into a court? I mean, really.

When another Greens MP noted that Assange is a political prisoner, Wong angrily responded: No, there are legal processes which are still on foot

The claim that the Australian government cannot intervene is a sham. Over the past 20 years, Australian governments have aggressively intervened in a host of countries to secure the release of detained Australian citizens.

The current Labor government, and Ms Wong herself, have no such scruples about interfering in a number of other nations. Since its election in May, Labor has functioned as an aggressive attack dog of the US confrontation with China.

One of Wongs primary occupations, as foreign minister, has been to continuously bully, harass and threaten the impoverished leaders of the Pacific Islands nations, to ensure that they are in line with the US and its allies. In April 2022, while in opposition, Labor effectively backed US threats to take military action against the Solomon Islands, if it allowed any Chinese military basing. There were no such scruples about the rule of law in that instance.

As in the Pacific, so in the Assange case, Wong is faithfully parroting the lies of the Biden administration. To the extent that the US government has commented on Assanges extradition, it has presented the matter as a legal question, solely under the purview of the Department of Justice. The Biden administration, so the story goes, is not even a party to the extradition, because of the separation of powers cited by Wong.

In reality, it is the US government that is seeking Assanges extradition. The campaign against him, and WikiLeaks, has involved the entire US state apparatus, spearheaded by the FBI and CIA, the main police and spying agencies of the executive branch. That is made plain by the central role that Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played in initiating the extradition. Biden himself, as far back as 2010, branded Assange as a high-tech terrorist.

Labors complicity was further underscored by former MP Rex Patrick. He reported yesterday, in Michael West Media, the result of a recent freedom of information request, showing that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had not once corresponded with the Australian embassy in Washington about diplomacy on Assanges behalf.

In an apparent attempt to dampen the fallout from Wongs statements, Australias new high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, said he would soon visit Assange in prison. Smith, a former Labor defence minister, has the closest ties to the current government.

Smiths comments pointed to the pathetically token character of Labors assistance. The commissioner would ask Assange questions which go to his health and wellbeing and nothing more.

Labors hostility to Assange is intimately connected to its complete support for US-led imperialist war, including the advanced preparations for conflict with China.

That underscores the bankruptcy of those who have promoted illusions that Albanese and Labor would intervene in defence of Assange. The delusion-mongering reached its apogee in the lead-up to the San Diego AUKUS announcement. Several prominent supporters of Assange presented this as an opportunity for Albanese to raise the WikiLeaks founders plight with Biden and Sunak.

Did they really think Albanese, while committing to a potential nuclear war with China, was about to demand the release of an anti-war publisher? Among those peddling this line were the various Greens MPs who questioned Wong in the Senate. While criticising aspects of Labors policy, the Greens continue to collaborate with the government, even as it plots war abroad and participates in the slow murder of Assange.

That further demonstrates that the fight for Assanges freedom requires an independent movement of the working class, directed against the entire political establishment. Such a struggle, in defence of the most fundamental democratic rights, is inseparable from a fight against war and the capitalist system that is its cause.
Former President Donald Trump departs Trump Tower, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in New York, on his way to the New York attorney general's office for a deposition in a civil investigation. [AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson]

Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in on Tuesday for arraignment on indictments handed down by a New York grand jury, reportedly in connection to payouts made on Trumps behalf to a former porn star. The first-ever charges against a former president of the United States mark a new stage in the degradation of American politics.

There are no issues of democratic import in the indictment. Rather, the Democratic Party has chosen to focus on the flimsiest and most inconsequential matter possible. Trump is being accused of falsifying the nature of payments to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, made in 2016 before he was president, which were channeled through Trumps longtime fixer-turned-government witness, Michael Cohen.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is reportedly planning on leveraging this charge, which is a misdemeanor that has exceeded the statute of limitations, into a felony by arguing that the business records were falsified to cover up an illegal donation to Trumps campaign, namely the money from Cohen to pay off Daniels.

The tenuous and convoluted character of the charges has promoted concern within sections of the Democratic Party itself. The Washington Post in its editorial on Friday worried that of the long list of alleged violations, the likely charges on which a grand jury in New York state voted to indict [Trump] are perhaps the least compelling.

The Democrats decision to focus on this issue will serve to strengthen the fascistic wing of the Republican Party and even provide Trump with the opportunity to posture as a martyr. Trump is already denouncing the political witch-hunt, while Republicans are rallying around the former president. Trumps former vice president, Mike Pence, whom the Democrats have upheld as a paragon of democracy, denounced the indictment as an outrage.

The indictment has nothing to do with the many grave crimes of which Trump is clearly guiltyabove all, the January 6, 2021 fascistic insurrection that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 elections and establish a presidential dictatorship. The Post notes that a failed prosecution over the hush-money payment could put all other investigations into Trumps actions in jeopardy.

Indeed, this may be the intention on the part of a section of the Democratic Party establishment. It would certainly conform with the stated aim of the Biden administration to look forward rather than backward, as part of Bidens efforts to establish a bipartisan consensus for the escalation of the US-NATO war against Russia and preparations for war against China.

During Trumps presidency, the entire approach of the Democratic Party was a combination of subservience and complicity. Its opposition to Trump was centered almost entirely on matters of foreign policy, in particular on Ukraine and the demand for a more aggressive policy against Russiathe focus of the first impeachment of Trump in 2019.

The Democrats responded to the January 6 coup with fecklessness and cover-up. After the coup failed, not through any action on their part, the immediate response of the Biden administration was to exculpate the Republican Party and its leaders and to ignore entirely the role of sections of the military and police in the coup.

The second impeachment of Trump in February 2021, based on the charge of incitement of insurrection, was a pro forma affair held over four days, with the Democrats not even bothering to call witnesses. The various congressional hearings into the fascistic coup, whatever facts and details they have revealed, have gone nowhere. In the end, only minor bit players have been prosecuted.

The Democrats turned the focus first on state secrets, in relation to allegations that Trump took classified documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago resort, and now on charges of hush money paid out to suppress a sex scandal. These issues appeal to two of the main components of the base of the Democratic Party: the military-intelligence-state apparatus and affluent layers of the middle class that are relentlessly focused on issues of racial and gender identity.

The indictment of Trump for the payout to Daniels has nothing to do with educating the population about the real dangers posed by the fascistic transformation of the Republican Party. Rather, it diverts attention from issues of deadly seriousness into a political circus. The national debate is now to be focused, with the assistance of the media, on whether or not Trump paid off an actress to cover up an affair.

While a trial of Trump on this basis may energize the upper-middle class base of the Democratic Party, the working class will view it with indifference. The Republicans will exploit the obvious hypocrisy on such matters by the Democrats, whose own leaders, including Clinton, were involved in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

While the Democrats have sought to maintain bipartisan unity on the basis of war, behind the indictment are ongoing and intense divisions within the ruling class, accelerated by a series of crises facing American capitalismeconomic, geopolitical and internal.

The American presidency has been wracked by crisis for more than half a century, extending back at least to the assassination of John F. Kennedy 60 years ago. As the White House is the cockpit of the capitalist national security state and imperialist war planning, it has been the focal point of conspiracies against democratic rights (i.e., the Watergate crisis of 1972-74 and the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986-87) and bitter conflicts within the ruling class itself. The Republicans made use of a sex scandal in their failed attempt to remove Clinton from the White House.

Both the Watergate crisis and the Iran-Contra scandal were followed by extensive public hearings and even the criminal indictments of high-ranking figures in the Nixon and Reagan administrations, even though the presidents were exempted from the legal consequences of their crimes. There has been no comparable investigation into the January 6 coup, which was at a far higher level of criminality than Nixons involvement in the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters and Reagans sanctioning of the violation of a law passed by Congress.

Issues raised in the January 6 coup have the potential to expose not only the criminality of Trump but the extent of a far broader anti-democratic conspiracy, which reached into the highest echelons of the military. The Democrats have been opposed to this because they are far more fearful of the development of popular opposition from below than the conspiracies of fascists that dominate the Republican Party.

The working class should not be misled by this politically bankrupt diversion from the central issues of war, social inequality and the growth of political reaction. Regardless of the outcome of the indictment, the fascistic conspiracies will continue.

The antidote to the filth and rot of the entire political system is the development of the class struggle, which is emerging powerfully in the United States and throughout the world. The Biden administration, wracked by crisis, leans on the Republicans for support in the prosecution of war abroad and the suppression of the class struggle at home.

The Socialist Equality Party opposes the fascistic policies of Trump and the Republican Party on the basis of the independent organization of the working class, in opposition to both the Democrats and the Republicans, and the fight for a socialist alternative to capitalism.
On Thursday, WSWS reporters interviewed students at a demonstration outside the entrance to the Pantheon-Assas University on the Place du Pantheon in Paris. The protest opposed Macron and his pension reform, imposed without any vote in the face of the hostility of an overwhelming majority of French people, and also the inaction of university administrations in the face of far-right attacks on protesting left-wing students.

On Saturday, the Waffen-Assas group, whose name evokes Assas University and the genocidal Waffen-SS units of the Nazis during World War II, attacked students who were demonstrating in front of the Assas University, using knives and iron bars. One student had his jaw and nose broken. The previous Thursday, the same group attacked a joint demonstration of students from Assas University and the Ecole Normale Superieure.

So far, the university administration has taken no action to protect its students from attacks by neo-Nazi groups. At the University of Paris-Dauphine, the administration responded to students demanding protection from far-right violence by echoing the neo-Nazis demands that students end university occupations to prevent further attacks.

WSWS interviewed Blanche and Valerie, students at Paris-3 New Sorbonne University, about why they were participating in the demonstration.

Blanche explained: Its for several reasons, against the pension reform, the current political climate, the absence of democracy or the fact that the people are not heard at all. Also, in relation to us, to our studies, we are in Paris 3 and the high administration is very contemptuous. We dont feel they listen to us at all. The university is closed even though there was a delegation that went to speak with the presidency to make our words heard, to make the distress among the students heard. But they did not listen to us at all. On the contrary, the college was suddenly closed.

Blanche added: The youth is participating in this fight, we are here to support the workers and those who are more directly confronted with this, whether it is the generation of our parents or our grandparents.

They then described their views on Macrons use of provision 49-3 of the 1958 constitution of the Fifth Republic to force through his pension cut without a vote. Blanche said, Its totally anti-democratic. Its pathetic, it shows that our government is in the business of imposing things.  The Fifth Republic, built as it was in the political climate that existed during the Algerian War, gave a great deal of power to the president.

Valerie added, Its an abuse of power, and we can really go on towards a regime thats not democratic at all. ... Its now that things are happening, its now that things will play out.

Blanche also criticized the leaders of the CGT and CFDT unions for seeking mediation with Macron, while the French want to block the economy to bring down Macron. About the idea of a mediation with Macron, she said, The problem is: how much are we actually listened to? ... Every time, in fact, it is a false dialogue, there is no communication. The government just wants to make announcements. So, this is another reason to revolt.

As WSWS has explained, it is only possible to defeat the reform and bring down the Macron government by forming action committees in every workplace and school that consciously oppose the pro-capitalist union bureaucracies. Such organizations are needed to oppose the counterrevolutionary policies of the union bureaucracies and their political allies, such as Jean-Luc Melenchon, who support mediation with Macron to try to stifle the movement.

Fabio, a high school student from Val-Du-Marne, also told WSWS why he came to join the protest.

He said: Already today, in addition to being against the pension reform, it is to show that we are not going to let the police repression and the violence of the extreme right, which recently attacked protests and various blockades against the pension reform, stop us. This is to show that despite the governments attempt to repress the movement and despite the attacks of the extreme right, we are still here, and we will continue. We will go until the withdrawal and of the reform. We are determined.

He also mentioned the role played by the union bureaucracies in relation to Macron: They want to negotiate with the government. We are against the government. We are against the government and its capitalist policy. So, we cant let ourselves be taken advantage of by unions that are their allies. They dont help us at all. We have to emancipate ourselves from the unions too. Thats what were doing through demonstrations and anyway, whether the unions like it or not, the general strike continues.

Regarding the risk of violence from the far right and the government against the demonstrators who oppose the pension cuts, Fabio said: The government is trying to silence us, it is trying to scare people. The arrests, they are multiplying. We see that the cops in demonstrations, they hit everything that moves. They dont even fight violence anymore, they fight anyone who wants to make their voice heard.

He concluded, So yes, in fact, democracy is in danger, not only with the 49-3, but with police repression and with what is happening with the far right that is starting to attack us in protests. But were not going to let that happen.

The neo-Nazi group Waffen-Assas that carried out the attacks is linked to the Groupe Union Defense, a far-right student group responsible for violence against student protesters in the 1960s and 1970s. The GUD, historically based at the Pantheon-Assas University, was reconstituted in 2022.

Now, amid an objectively revolutionary crisis in France, in order to terrorize students mobilized against Macron, the group seeks to revive the horrific traditions of French fascism in World War II.

About 10,000 French fascist volunteers joined the SS and joined in the Nazi war of extermination against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. The Charlemagne unit of the Waffen SS, formed from the remnants of other French volunteer units in 1944, is hailed by neo-Nazis as one of the units that participated in the final defense of Hitlers bunker during the Battle of Berlin.

WSWS asked Fabio what kind of rank-and-file organization is needed to defend against police and far-right violence. He said, We need to have strong organizations. We need to have parties that know how to mobilize people, that know how to give rhetoric to people and that also make the movement massive. We need something that comes from the very base because they are aware that their situation, their working conditions and also their future is threatened.
The antidemocratic modernization of the reactionary US-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) was unexpectedly concluded during American President Joe Bidens March 23-24 visit to Canada.

Less than 24 hours after Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally announced the change, Canadian border police shut down the unofficial Roxham Road crossing point into Quebec. As of 12:01 a.m., March 26, they began systematically handing over would-be refugee claimants, some of whom had spent their life savings travelling for weeks in a perilous journey, to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Late Thursday afternoon, less than six days after the new rules came into force, six bodies were pulled from the St. Lawrence River in the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, which straddles the New York, Ontario and Quebec borders. Two more bodies were recovered Friday. Local police have reported that the eight, who included two infant children, perished when their boat overturned while they were trying to cross into the US. They came from two families, one originally from India and the other of Romanian descent.

The STCA flouts both Canada and Americas obligations under international law. Under the revamped STCA, all migrants seeking refuge in Canada who enter via land or by waterway irregularly, i.e. not at an official entry point, will be arrested, and handed over to ICE agents, with a high risk of their being jailed and ultimately deported to their country of origin.

Demonstration against the reactionary Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, which has forced those seeking sanctuary from Trump and Bidens mass deportations to enter Canada irregularly, including by Roxham Road in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec. [Photo: David Asper, Centre for Constitutional Rights]

In addition to destroying the last hope of migrants fleeing war, misery and persecution, the new agreement signed by Biden and Trudeau fuels the long-standing xenophobic campaign of the Quebec, Canadian, and American ruling classes. The inextricable link between imperialist war and anti-immigrant policies was made clear by the fact that the STCA was adopted during Bidens Canada trip, which served to broaden and intensify the North American imperialist powers preparations for world war and their pursuit of global economic hegemony.

Under the reactionary STCA, first signed in 2002 and enforced since 2004, asylum-seekers coming to Canada through an official Canada-US border crossing arewith very rare exceptionsautomatically turned away and sent back to the US, and vice versa. However, a so-called loophole in the original agreement allowed, until now, people who entered Canada outside of official checkpoints to stay while their application for refugee status was adjudicated.

The arrival of large numbers of refugee claimants in Canada via the so-called STCA loophole was essentially a non-event until the coming to power of the fascistic Donald Trump as US president in January 2017, and his immediate launching of a virulent anti-immigrant witch-hunt. The fake pro-refugee posturing of Trudeau and his Liberal government encouraged many migrants to come to Canada, passing through forests, swamps and country roads to reach Canada irregularly. Most of them have come from Latin America, Middle East or Africa, regions of the world ravaged by the wars and predatory economic policies of US and Canadian imperialism. Many were living in the US without documentation. Others entered the US via Mexico so as to pass through it to reach Canada. The vast majority of these irregular migrants have entered Canada through Roxham Road, a rural route located on the US border 60 km south of Montreal.

Under the new agreement, the entire 8,900 km Canada-US border is now considered an official crossing and Roxham Road has been permanently closed.

Refugee rights organizations were highly critical of the new STCA deal, warning that it will force those fleeing persecution to resort to still more desperate and risky measures.

France-Isabelle Langlois, executive director of Amnesty International for Francophone Canada, said, The US is not a safe third country because it criminalizes migration. People are arrested, imprisoned, and families are separated...people are likely to be returned to their countries of origin where they are at risk of persecution, torture, and death. She went on to explain that the law will only push asylum seekers into even more dangerous and costly routes. While a significant portion of the irregular migrants have been sent back to the US or their country of origin by Canadian immigration police after refugee hearings, they at least had a modicum of state support and recognized rights until their claims were ruled on. Now, those who cross will be forced to live as outcasts, working illegally, at the mercy of employers and landlords, and without access to public health care and education.

The closure of Roxham Road is the result of a long-standing anti-immigrant campaign emanating from the most right-wing sections of the political establishment. It has been led by the provinces Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government and other right-wing Quebec nationalists who systematically scapegoat immigrants for the economic and social crisis caused by capitalism, and who falsely assert that the French-speaking Quebec nation and its values are imperiled by immigration. In recent months, these forces have stepped up their xenophobic agitation, echoing the quasi-fascist propaganda of Trump and the US Republican Party. The federal Conservatives and their far-right leader, Pierre Poilievre, have also fueled this racist campaign, calling the refugees illegal and a threat to the countrys security, and blaming them for the deterioration of public services that is the outcome of decades of capitalist austerity.

In reality, the few tens of thousands of migrants who have passed through Roxham Road since 2016the federal governments Immigration and Citizenship website puts the total number of irregular border entrants to Canada between January 2017 and December 2022 at just over 100,000are a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the tens of millions who have been displaced by the wars, and economic and environmental devastation wrought by the North American and European imperialist powers.

Exposing once again the hypocrisy of its pro-refugee claims, the Trudeau government has long acquiesced to the demands of the chauvinist right and far-right. It sought to streamline the refugee-determination process to accelerate the pace of deportations of those deemed not to be at sufficient risk of political persecution to warrant refugee status, and it has been negotiating for years behind closed doors with its American counterparts to close the loophole in the STCA. That is, to seal the border legally.

Apparently, the changes were agreed to just hours before Biden arrived for his official visit to Canada and only after Washington made a final and sordid deal in which migrants were used as bargaining chips. Biden demanded that Canada accept an additional 15,000 refugees from the Western hemisphere this year in exchange for his signature.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault reacted with surprise and enthusiasm to the closure of Roxham Road. He celebrated the Biden-Trudeau deal as a great victory for Quebec, and explicitly thanked Trudeau for taking the time to address the issue amidst more urgent discussions with Biden about Canadas increasing role in the war against Russia in Ukraine. Underscoring the full support of the Quebec First wing of the bourgeoisie, whether chauvinist autonomists like Legault and his CAQ or pro-independence like the Parti Quebecois, for Canadian imperialisms aggressive and militarist foreign policy, Legault said, We all know, with everything we are living right now, with Russia and China, that its more important than ever to have good relations with the US.

For his part, Poilievre boasted that he had successfully pushed Trudeau to close Roxham Road, 30 days after I asked him to do so, and vowed that he will never allow illegal mass crossings to happen again.

The unanimous support for the new agreement among the big business parties demonstrates how behind the political wrangling between the sovereignists and federalists, conservatives and liberals, the ruling class stands united in supporting Canadian imperialism against the working class, of which refugees are the most persecuted section.

The trade-union backed New Democratic Party (NDP) has publicly denounced the changes to the STCA, but refuses to call for its abolition and for the full freedom of people to live in the country of their choosing. With its demand for the suspension of the STCA, the NDP only seeks to provide a democratic veneer to the anti-immigrant witch-hunt of the minority Trudeau Liberal government. Even if all the asylum seekers could legally make a claim in Canada and were not immediately turned over to ICE, this would not prevent the Canadian state rejecting their claims en masse. The reality is, whatever the New Democrats shallow criticisms of Trudeau, they are fully supporting his governments program of war and austerity. Under the Liberal-NDP supply and confidence agreement, they are formally pledged to keep the government in office until June 2025.

The new STCA pact is seen as a political victory by the corporate eliteunderscoring as it does the strength of the Canada-US imperialist alliance. But it is also viewed as an economic victory, necessary to uphold Canadas merit-based immigration system, whereby immigrants are selected according to the needs of big business and capitalist markets. This system was hailed by Donald Trump as a model for the United States to follow.

For Washington the new agreement is seen as a concession to Canadaa crucial economic and military partnerto bolster its partnership with, and participation in, US imperialisms wars of aggressions around the world, especially against Russia in Ukraine and in preparing for all-out war against Americas chief rival, China. During Bidens visit to Canada, Trudeau pledged an additional $100 million to the Haitian National Police as a new military intervention looms in that country where chaos reigns after decades of imperialist domination.

The Biden administration also intends to use the STCA to legitimize its recently-announced measures to immediately deport almost all refugees entering the US through the Mexican border, on the grounds that Mexico is a safe third country. Under pressure from Washington, Mexico under the pseudo-left promoted administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is already serving as an immigration police force for the US and Canada, tasked with preventing working people from Central America, the Caribbean and South America fleeing poverty and political oppression from seeking refuge further north.

A glimpse of what is to come for refugees trying to cross the US-Mexico border was tragically demonstrated this week when at least 40 migrants were killed in a fire that broke out in a detention center in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, after a group of migrants launched a protest when they learned they could not apply for asylum and were to be deported.
The final obstacle for Finland to become the 31st member of the US-led NATO aggressive military alliance was cleared late Thursday when the Turkish parliament voted unanimously to approve Helsinkis membership application. With approval now assured from all existing NATO members, Finland will be formally admitted as a member at the next NATO summit scheduled for Vilnius in July.

The move marks a massive escalation of the war on Russia by the US and NATO, whose border with Russia will be more than doubled. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre land border with Russia and will become the seventh state with a Baltic Sea coast to join NATO. Only Sweden, whose accession to the alliance is pending approval from Turkey, remains formally outside of the military alliance. Once Swedish membership is finalised, likely following the presidential election in Turkey in May, Russia will be entirely surrounded by NATO adversaries in the Baltic Sea.

The confirmation of Finnish NATO membership comes in the wake of a significant intensification of the war in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. The imperialist powers have drastically stepped up their shipments of high-powered weaponry, including battle tanks and surface-to-air missiles, increasing the likelihood of a direct shooting war between NATO and Russian forces. Debates on sending fighter jets and even ground troops are well under way, moves which would radically increase the threat of a clash between nuclear-armed powers.

Representatives from NATO and the Western imperialist powers responded with enthusiasm to the news. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted, I look forward to raising Finlands flag at NATO HQ in the coming days. Together we are stronger and safer. Finlands US ambassador Douglas Hickey described the decision as an historic moment and said Finland is a strong, capable partner that shares NATOs values.

To describe the references to Finlands NATO membership ensuring security and stability as Orwellian would be an understatement. What it in fact indicates is how the present situation ever more resembles the first half of the 20th century, when the worlds great powers sought to repartition the world in their interests. In the aftermath of World War I and during World War II, the Finnish bourgeoisie served as willing accomplices of the imperialist powers as they sought to inflict a military defeat on the Soviet Union and turn the area that is now Russia and the former Soviet republics into the direct possessions of American, German, and British capital for ruthless plunder. This is the same path now being followed by the Social Democrat-led government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin and right-wing President Sauli Niinisto.

After bloodily crushing the Finnish revolution in 1918, which broke out in direct response to the conquest of power by the Bolsheviks in Russia, the Finnish ruling class used their newly established independence to subordinate themselves to German and subsequently British imperialism. Finland served as a base of operations for the counter-revolutionary whites, who received extensive military aid from the imperialist powers.

During World War II, the Finnish ruling elite exploited the counter-revolutionary policies of the Stalinist bureaucracy to justify a military and strategic alliance with Nazi Germany. Determined to recapture territory lost in the 1939-1940 Winter War, Finnish forces participated in the Nazis war of annihilation against the Soviet Union in a conflict that became known as the Continuity War. Finnish forces were involved in the brutal siege of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg.

The balance of power between the imperialists and the Stalinist Soviet bureaucracy following World War II, together with the post-war economic equilibrium under the hegemony of US imperialism, enabled the ruling elites in the Nordic region, including in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, to posture as guardians of a haven of peace in a world riven by great power conflicts. Substantial concessions in the form of social programmes and welfare benefits were made to working people, while Finland and Sweden remained formally non-aligned in the Cold War.

Conditions in the region today could hardly be further removed from this earlier period, which is still hailed by progressives around the world as an example of how capitalism can be reformed. The Nordic countries are now frontline states in the imperialist war aimed at subordinating Russia to the status of a semi-colony and seizing control of its vast natural resources. The social programmes once held up as examples of the Nordic model have either been slashed to the bone or eliminated entirely.

Major NaTO exercises take place on a regular basis involving Finland and Sweden, and American troops have massively expanded their operations in Norway. An agreement with the Norwegian government recently granted the US unimpeded access to so-called agreed areas, something which Washington is seeking to replicate in Sweden and Finland.

Earlier this month, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden struck an agreement to operate their approximately 250 US-built F-35 fighter jets as part of a single Nordic fleet. The March 24 letter of intent commits the four countries to create a unified Nordic Air Defence. Danish air force commander Major General Jan Dam commented, Our combined fleet can be compared to a large European country. The signing of the deal took place at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where NATO Air Command Chief General James Hecker was also present. Military officials from the four Nordic countries are also working on transforming the major NATO Cold Response exercise, traditionally hosted in Norway, into a Nordic Response maneuver that will encompass the entire Nordic region.

In its report on Finlands NATO membership, the New York Times, followed by media outlets internationally, portrayed the move as being set off by the invasion of Ukraine. This is a flat-out lie. Like the war in Ukraine itself, the integration of Finland and soon Sweden into NATO was prepared over decades of ever more aggressive US imperialist wars around the world and NATOs eastward expansion up to Russias borders.

As part of NATOs initial expansion following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Finland and Sweden were among the first members of the Partnership for Peace, a NATO initiative that enabled them to participate in joint exercises and gain experience with NATO procedures and equipment. Both Finland and Sweden became NATO enhanced opportunity partners together with Ukraine in 2014, and joined the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a British imperialist-led alliance of Baltic and Nordic NATO members, in 2017. Putins reactionary invasion of Ukraine merely served as the pretext to implement plans to formally bring Finland and Sweden into the military alliance that had long been in the works.

The reactionary nationalist Putin regime, representing the interests of the criminal capitalist oligarchy that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has no progressive response to the escalation of military aggression by the imperialists throughout the Nordic region. In line with its disastrous invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia responded to the imminent confirmation of Finlands NATO membership by issuing blood-curdling threats of military retaliation. A statement from Russias embassy in Stockholm Wednesday declared, If anyone still believes that this will somehow improve Europes security, you can be sure that the new members of the hostile bloc will become a legitimate target for Russias retaliatory measures, including military ones. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom responded by summoning the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm.

The only way to stop the dangerous military build-up in the Nordic region and the threatened expansion of the US-NATO war on Russia to the Baltic is through the building of an international anti-war movement in the working class. Workers throughout the Nordic countries, the rest of Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and internationally must be united on the basis of a socialist and internationalist programme to put an end to imperialist war and the capitalist profit system that gives rise to it.

The basis for such a movement arises out of the same objective crisis that is propelling the imperialists towards world war. Throughout Europe, workers are entering into mass struggles amid the unbearable cost of living and attacks on their social and democratic rights due to the subordination of all aspects of social life to the war. The urgent political task is to make workers conscious of the fact that their struggles must be directed towards the seizing of political power from the bourgeoisie to prevent the eruption of a global conflagration that would call the very survival of humanity into question.
A huge storm system covering states in the US Midwest and South on Friday produced a series of powerful tornadoes that caused massive damage and left casualties in multiple locations, including three deaths in Arkansas and one death in Illinois.

The storm stretched from Iowa to Indiana in the north and from Texas to Georgia in the South as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center issued a rare high risk severe weather forecast through Friday evening.

Little Rock, Arkansas tornado, March 31, 2023. [Photo: Kristal Benton]

Numerous tornadoes were spotted in Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee. Meteorologists report that as many as 89 million people in at least 15 states were at risk from the explosive storms.

The most severe damage has so far been reported in Little Rock, Arkansas, where an exceptionally large tornado carved a path through the metro area.

As of this writing, one person is confirmed dead and at least 24 people had been hospitalized in Little Rock as the tornado tore down trees, ripped roofs off buildings and destroyed homes. The New York Times reported that five people were in critical condition at two Baptist Health medical centers in the area and that the hospitals were anticipating a surge of additional patients.

The path of destruction in Little Rock has been described by local news media as catastrophic, as search and rescue teams began to comb through the wreckage for people trapped or injured. The roof of a Kroger grocery store was ripped off with a number of shoppers still inside.

A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after a severe storm swept through Little Rock, Arkansas, Friday, March 31, 2023. [AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo]

A state of emergency has been declared by the Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and she has activated the National Guard.

The staff at the National Weather Service office in Little Rock was forced to move into a tornado shelter on Friday afternoon, when the facility was determined to be in the tornados path. The Memphis office of the weather service was standing in for the team and subsequently issued a second tornado warning for the Little Rock area.

Officials from Wynne, Arkansasa town of 8,300 people approximately 100 miles to the east of Little Rockare reporting that there is total destruction throughout the town, and that dozens of people are trapped in the wreckage left behind by a second tornado. Two people were killed by the storm in Wynn, according to Arkansas emergency manager, Rebekah Magnus.

Major destruction is also being reported in eastern Iowa. Multiple homes were destroyed in Hills, Iowa, about 8 miles south of Iowa City, on Friday with reports that hundreds of people were helping their neighbors who were hit by a tornado.

Video was posted on social media of a large tornado touching down in Sigourney, Iowa, a town of 2,000 people 70 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids. The New York Times spoke with Manny Galvez, a resident of Coralville near Cedar Rapids, who said he sought shelter in his basement just before 5:00pm and emerged 40 minutes later to find nearby homes destroyed and trucks flipped over.

At 9:00 p.m., CBS News reported that the roof of the Apollo Theater collapsed in Belvedere, Illinois while a music concert was underway. The report said, Video from the scene showed the marquee collapsed, as did a large portion of the large bowstring truss roof, and, Inside the theater, the ceiling in front of the proscenium collapsed  leaving the space open to the outside. People were likely gathered in front of the stage at the time. Twenty-eight people were injured and one person was killed in the collapse.

According to Poweroutage.us, a website that tracks electricity outages across the US, more than 80,000 people were without power in Arkansas and another 140,000 people were without power in Colorado, Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee.

The destruction of the storm and tornadoes on Friday followed the weather events a week ago in Mississippi which caused widespread damage in several rural communities. Ten tornadoes were confirmed in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee within 24 hours by the National Weather Service.

One of the twisters was characterized as an EF4 tornado with wind gusts reaching 170 miles per hour, and two others as EF3 with gusts at 155 miles per hour. As of Friday, a total of 21 people were killed by three tornadoes in Mississippi.

According to a study published in January, there will likely be more killer tornado- and hail-spawning supercells as the world warms. The study entitled, The Future of Super Cells in the United States, and published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society also says that lethal storms will edge eastward to strike more frequently in the more populous Southern states.

While no individual storm can be connected directly to global warming, the recent powerful storms and destructive tornadoes fit the more dangerous pattern anticipated by the study, including more nighttime strikes in a southern region with more people, poverty and vulnerable housing than where storms hit in the twentieth century.

The study also says the storm season will start a month earlier than it used to. Among the statistical projections, derived from computer simulations, that the report makes, are that there will be a nationwide 6.6 percent increase in supercells and a 25.8 percent increase in the area and time the strongest supercells twist and tear over land under a scenario of moderate levels of future warming by the end of the century.

The study says that a supercell is a distinct type of intense, long-lived thunderstorm that is defined by its quasi-steady, rotating updraft. Supercells are responsible for most damaging hail and deadly tornadoes, causing billions of dollars in losses and hundreds of casualties annually.
A national nonprofit organization that promotes a bipartisan approach to governing on Thursday bestowed its stamp of approval on Adam Frisch, a Democrat running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District.

No Labels said it was awarding Frisch its Problem Solver Seal, a recognition the group called "the highest honor" it can give a candidate or elected official, in a news release.

Frisch, who launched his campaign last month after coming within just over 500 votes of defeating Boebert last year in the Republican-leaning district, is the first candidate to receive the designation this cycle, the group said.

The common sense majority across America and in Colorados 3rd district is so hungry for leaders who will put their country ahead of their party and focus on uniting, rather than dividing us, said former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a co-chairman of the organization. Adam Frisch is one of those leaders and he is running the kind of campaign the No Labels movement is proud to get behind.

Saying Frisch has "demonstrated a commitment to building consensus and getting big things done" throughout his career, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., another of the group's national co-chairs, added, "The Problem Solver Seal is a recognition of that, and a promise that No Labels will continue to support leaders like Adam who are ready to unite, not divide.

The group said Frisch has committed to supporting "key elements" of the No Labels policy agenda and has agreed to attend the group's congressional meetings to discuss bipartisan legislation regularly, if elected. The candidate has also agreed to "[b]e a champion for two party solutions on the most pressing issues facing the nation, such as securing the border and reforming our broken immigration system."

The dark-money group, which helped launch the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the U.S. House, says it's "creating a powerful force capable of countering the influence of the extremes on both sides."

Frisch's campaign said the Democrat is committed to joining the caucus, which boasts an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat serving her first term, is the only Coloradan currently on the 69-member caucus.

The candidate said in a statement that he's honored to receive the acknowledgement from the group, calling No Labels "a leader in the fight for bipartisan collaboration and problem solving to break through the gridlock in Congress and get real results for the American people."

While the Problem Solver Seal indicates support, it isn't the same as an endorsement, since the group says it can award the recognition to opposing candidates in the same race.

No Labels came under fire from some Democrats in Colorado and nationally in 2014 when it gave its seal of approval to U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner and organized a get-out-the vote effort for the Republican, who unseated Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall. After the election, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and an co-chair of the group, resigned, with a spokesman saying the position was at odds with his pledge not to work against any incumbent senator from either party.
An Austin woman was one of nine soldiers killed in a helicopter crash near Fort Campbell, Ky., on Wednesday night, the U.S. Army announced Friday.

All nine soldiers died in the accident involving two U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters in Trigg County, Ky., during a routine nighttime training exercise about 10 p.m. Wednesday. On Friday, the Army identified the soldiers  including 23-year-old Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos of Austin  after notifying all the victims' families.

Bolanos enlisted in the Army in 2019, attended basic training in South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training in Virginia, according to WATE 6 News, a Knoxville TV station. She had been assigned as a UH-60 helicopter repairer and UH-60 air crew member for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since March 2020, the station reported. She served nine months in Germany in support of Atlantic Resolve in 2020.

Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, was one of nine soldiers killed in a helicopter accident Wednesday night near Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne Division deputy commanding general for operations, told The Associated Press that four people were in one helicopter and five were in the other. He said the helicopters crashed in a field with no injuries on the ground. It's not yet clear what caused the crash.

"This is a truly tragic loss for these families, our division and Fort Campbell," Lubas said in a statement. "Our number one priority is caring for the families and the soldiers within our combat aviation brigade."

All of the soldiers were members of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade in Fort Campbell.

"This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come," said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell. "Now is the time for grieving and healing. The whole division and this community stand behind the families and friends of our fallen Soldiers."

An Army aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, Ala., is conducting an investigation into the accident, according to a news release.

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"Our entire Fort Campbell community is surging resources in support, Lubas said. Our thoughts and prayers are with these families and soldiers during this difficult time.

9 Fort Campbell soldiers in helicopter crash named

Besides, Bolanos, the soldiers who died in the crash are:

Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Fla.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Mo.

Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles.

Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, N.C.

Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Fla.

Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Ala.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith. 32. of Rolla, Mo.

Sgt. David Solinas Jr, 23, of Oradell, N.J.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fort Campbell helicopter crash victims identified, includes Texan
Democrats advanced a bill Friday to protect Colorado abortion patients and providers from facing consequences from other states in which abortion is illegal  the second of three bills seeking to strengthen abortion rights in Colorado.

Senate Bill 188 would prohibit Colorado from recognizing criminal prosecutions or civil lawsuits regarding legally protected abortion care and enshrine into law an executive order directing state agencies to withhold relevant records from such states. The bill would also apply to gender-affirming care for transgender individuals.

SB 188 passed the Senate last week. In a voice vote, House lawmakers advanced the bill to its third and final reading, expected Saturday. The bill is expected to pass along party lines, sent back to the Senate to approve any changes, and then to Gov. Jared Polis.

Since the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights in June, 14 states have passed laws banning or limiting abortion, with many more currently trying to enact blocked bans. States including Texas, Idaho and Oklahoma have passed "bounty hunter" laws, incentivizing citizens to sue anyone who has helped a person get an abortion.

"It is a chilling scenario across America, and you know what? Not here," said bill sponsor Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood. "We are going to protect patients, providers and helpers in Colorado because this is legally protected health care."

Proponents of the bill champion Colorado as the "last line of defense" for abortion rights. In January, 750 people traveled to Colorado Planned Parenthoods from out of state for abortion care  compared to only 1,500 people in all of 2021, according to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Opponents argue that the bill disrespects the laws of other states, saying even if people travel to Colorado for abortion care, it could violate their home states law. For example, a patient gets abortion-inducing medication from Colorado then takes it in their home state where abortion is illegal.

However, the majority of Friday's debate centered on the bill's protections for gender-affirming care.

Gender-affirming care includes social, psychological or medical interventions for transgender individuals, such as hormone therapy and surgical procedures. Around 30 states are considering legislation to ban or limit gender-affirming care in 2023.

"Many states are saying, 'No, this goes too far.' Are all those states in the union wrong? The answer is no," said Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron. "In my humble opinion, there should be a prohibition from these sex transition procedures to minors."

Proponents of the bill said 29 leading medical organizations have recognized gender-affirming care as medically necessary, including the World Medical Association, American Psychological Association and American Academy of Pediatrics.

They also pointed out that, while most out-of-state bills seek to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, states such as Kansas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas introduced bills to ban care for people up to 21 and 26 years old.

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"They are, in fact, absolutely wrong," said Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, the bill's other sponsor and Colorado's first openly transgender state lawmaker. "Why can't we just exist?"

She added: "I wish that the lawmakers in these other states would trust the people to do what's right and best for themselves in consultation with their physicians, but this is what it's come to."

The bill's advancement came on International Transgender Day of Visibility, which Democratic lawmakers celebrated with a tribute shortly before the debate began.

Lawmakers also debated the bill's constitutionality, after a legal opinion released Thursday indicated that the bill may violate the state's single-subject rule. The bill title concerns reproductive health care, but it legislates gender-affirming care that is not included in the bill's definition of reproductive health care.

To address this, sponsors amended the bill Friday to include gender-affirming services in the reproductive health care definition.

While Democrats said the omission was a mere drafting error, Republicans called the amendment an "inappropriate" and "desperate" change. Minority Leader Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, said the constitutionality of the bill is still "shaky at best."

"This bill went through two committees and the Senate unconstitutional," Lynch said. "This is really two different bills, this stretch of the definition tries to shove it into being constitutional, but this is not good legislation, this is not good governance."

Democrats defended including gender-affirming care in reproductive health care, saying it often affects a person's reproductive ability. Titone also said the two topics are in one bill because "they involve the same medical professionals, are being targeted by the same actors, and are all about bodily autonomy."

Republicans introduced 14 amendments Friday seeking to weaken the bill, and a motion to send the bill back to committee. None of the efforts passed.

Friday's debate was limited to six hours after Democrats invoked Rule 14. The previously little-used debate restriction was also used during Thursday's abortion debate and last week to shut down the Republican filibuster on a package of gun control bills. All Republicans voted against limiting the debate on Friday, in addition to three Democrats: Rep. Elisabeth Epps of Denver, Rep. Mary Young of Greeley and Rep. Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista.

SB 188 is part of a package of bills seeking to strengthen abortion rights. The other two are Senate Bill 190 to crack down on the operations of crisis pregnancy centers and Senate Bill 189 to require health insurance carriers that serve large employers pay for abortion coverage.

SB 190 passed its second House reading on Thursday and SB 189 is scheduled for its second reading on Friday. All three bills are expected to face their third and final reading on Saturday.
If you want to buy Vermont-grown cannabis and smoke it out of a glass pipe made right in front of you, The Bern Gallery in downtown Burlington has you covered.

Since 2004, The Bern Gallery has been crafting and selling custom pipes, bongs, bubblers and other tools for cannabis consumption. This past February, the shop opened its first-ever recreational cannabis dispensary, with cannabis buds, edibles, topicals, and more for sale. The Main Street shop prides itself on offering in-depth consultation, working with each customer to try to find the right cannabis product for them.

"Our mission is to get people high, and to enjoy doing it," said co-owner Jeff White.

Walking into the shop, the first thing you might notice is a person with a blow torch behind a protective barrier crafting molten glass into custom shapes. The shop has four in-house glass blowers and offers lessons for aspiring glass crafters.

Glassblower Sean Webb crafts a pipe for smoking cannabis at the Bern Gallery on March 17, 2023.

The Bern Gallery is also home to one of the world's longest-running cannabis pipe crafting competitions: Pipe Classic. Products from the 15-year-old competition are displayed throughout the shop: intricately designed pipes inspired by Star Wars, aliens, donuts, elephants, and more.

"It's one of the only places you can make a pipe and buy some weed to smoke out of it," White said. "And it's truly representative of Vermont."

The Bern Gallery is home to one of the world's longest running cannabis pipe crafting competitions: Pipe Classic.

Small business vs. 'Big Cannabis'

Bern Gallery exclusively sources cannabis from small growers in Vermont and doesn't operate with any businesses that work with larger cannabis companies, commonly known as multi-state operators, or MSO's.

"MSO's, they surround another business, drop the prices, and then once that business is gone, they raise the prices," White said.According to White, these types of business practices are happening on a small scale in Vermont, but state laws are providing certain protections for small cannabis businesses like The Bern Gallery.

The Bern Gallery in downtown Burlington started selling recreational cannabis this past Febuary.

Under Vermont law, there are six types of cannabis licenses: cultivators, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, testing laboratories, and integrated licenses. State law allows a business to have up to one of each type of license, but not more than one location per license. So a business can cultivate and sell cannabis, for example, but only at one location.

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"Vermont is the first state to have a real check-and-balance to ensure that small businesses like ourselves have a shot at succeeding," said Brand Ambassador Paddy Donnolley.

The Bern Gallery's dispensary area, located in the back of the shop, photographed on March 17, 2023.

The shop currently has a cultivation license and retail license, and is in the process of applying for its manufacturing license.

"So you'll actually be able to see people trimming weed in our shop," White said. "Much like at Krispy Kream or at Willy Wonka."

Contact April Fisher at amfisher@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AMFisherMedia

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: The Bern Gallery opens dispensary, supports local cannabis growers
This story first appeared in The Investigator, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring the best investigative and accountability journalism from across Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here.

As lawmakers gathered in Harrisburg this week for another round of budget hearings, both legislative chambers got the chance to question top officials from Pennsylvanias Department of State.

The department is best known for its oversight of elections. But it also plays a key part in an area long neglected by the legislature: the role of money and lobbying in politics and policymaking.

Both are large, time-consuming undertakings for the department, which has a proposed budget of $35.2 million. Annual budget hearings have long been a forum for lawmakers to put administration officials on the spot about what they believe are the most pressing and important issues of the day.

But during the five hours that legislators questioned Department of State officials, they inquired about the agencys work on campaign finance and lobbying just twice.

For those who follow the Capitol closely, it came as little surprise.

Republican legislative leaders have not substantively discussed improving Pennsylvanias campaign finance and lobbying disclosure rules for more than a decade, despite calls by good-government advocates and others for changes.

As part of its work, the Department of State releases campaign finance reports for statewide, legislative and some judicial candidates, as well as political committees registered in Pennsylvania. It also tracks registration forms for lobbyists, and posts on its website what lobbyists report spending every quarter on influencing policy. The agency also has some powers to enforce those disclosures, although advocates think they are too limited.

When it comes to money in politics, Pennsylvania has some of the laxest laws in the country. It places no caps on how much money people can donate to politicians and their political committees. During the 2022 election, five-figure, and even six-figure donations, routinely poured into the coffers of Democrat Josh Shapiros campaign, helping to make the contest the states most expensive governors race on record.

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State law also contains no explicit ban on using campaign funds for personal use, which over the years has allowed elected officials to tap campaign cash to pay for lavish dinners, trips, sporting tickets and other perks.

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, has repeatedly introduced a bill that would place monetary limits on campaign donations, ban candidates from using donor dollars for personal benefit and require more transparency on how candidates spend their money.

Hes introduced it in every legislative session for the past 12 years. And in every one of those sessions, the bill was referred to a committee but never brought up for a vote by the Republican chair.

Why the inaction?

I think the General Assembly likes the status quo, Costa said in an interview this week.

But folks have to recognize that we have individuals with enormous wealth that are working in this space to effect significant policy change, and investing literally millions of dollars in races  even state Senate races  to build a coalition of folks who support their cause, Costa said. Regular folks cant participate in the same way.

The states current lobbying disclosure law improved upon what existed before the legislature rewrote it in 2006. But it lags laws in other states.

Lobbyists here have to disclose their clients, as well as how much they spend on lobbying  but they dont have to reveal who they spend the money on, or for what purpose. If a lobbyist treated a lawmaker to dinner on the eve of a key vote on an issue important to a client, the public would never know.

Several lobbying firms in Pennsylvania moonlight as political consultants, effectively allowing them to elect officials that they can then lobby on behalf of clients.

Last legislative session, the General Assemblys top two Republicans supported the toughest proposed reforms to the lobbying law since it was enacted. Among other changes, one proposal would have banned the practice of lobbying firms also operating political consulting arms.

Despite the high-profile support, the proposals did not receive a floor vote.

Jason Gottesman, spokesperson for Pennsylvania House Republicans, said his caucus intends to once again advance proposals to toughen lobbying laws, among other government accountability efforts.

Less clear is whether the outcome will be any different.

Beth Rementer, spokesperson for Democrats who now control the state House for the first time in more than a decade, called campaign finance and lobbying reform a priority. She said the caucus views them as part of an effort to defend democracy and ensure continued free and fair elections in Pennsylvania.

As the majority, we will take into serious consideration legislation  Democrat or Republican sponsored  that makes positive reforms, as long as the measures do not make it harder for Pennsylvanians to vote, easier for special interests to influence elections or less transparent, Rementer said.

WHILE YOURE HERE ... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
Catholic Charities of Acadiana is holding a relief drive to support those affected by the devastating tornadoes that hit Mississippi in recent weeks, killing at least 26 people.

The drive will be Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Catholic Charities of Acadiana regional disaster warehouse located at 403 N. Ambassador Caffery Parkway. The drive will be collecting specific items, including all sizes of diapers, non-perishable food items, paper towels, toilet paper, personal hygiene items, tarps that are 20' by 50' or larger, and flashlights.

More: 'Wiped off the map': South hit by more severe weather after tornadoes leave 26 dead: Updates

The extensive tornado devastation in Central Mississippi compels us to respond, said Ben Broussard, chief of external affairs for Catholic Charities of Acadiana. South Louisiana is no stranger to natural disaster. We know that those in poverty suffer at a disproportionate level in disaster. Our swift response of critical relief supplies will serve to minimize suffering and offer compassion during this trying time for our neighbors in Mississippi.

All of the donated supplies will be sent directly to agencies responding to the disaster in Mississippi.

CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TODAY: Help support journalists like William Taylor Potter

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Catholic Charities holding drive for Mississippi tornado victims
Dear Edward star Colin OBrien recognizes that parts of the show give closure while others leave it open-ended, as viewers reckon with the Apple TV+ drama series finale.

The television adaptation of Ann Napolitanos novel by Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) watches Edward Adler (OBrien) come of age more quickly than planned when he loses his family in a plane crash and becomes the lone survivor of the tragic accident. Edward moves in with his Aunt Lacey (Taylor Schilling) and Uncle John (Carter Hudson), bonding with neighbor Shay (Eva Ariel Binder) while the adults affected by the crash connect in a grief group that meets in New York City.

In the final episode of Season 1, Edwards aunt Lacey brings him to the party that Dee Dee (Connie Britton) plans at the end of the grief counseling sessions, connecting him further to the center of the tragedy when he meets all the adults who have lost people in the plane crash. The experience was a bit meta for OBrien because, like his character, he didnt spend a lot of time with the adult actors until shooting the party scene.

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How Carter Hudson Channeled The Loss of His Dad to COVID in That Dear Edward Episode 5 Scene

I didnt have any scenes with any of them before that. It was basically my first time getting to meet them. Its a really interesting scene because its kind of like a combination of all the characters come together and this one final episode, OBrien told TheWrap. Its like this closure to this thing thats been happening all season, and I think thats a good place to start for forming new things and possibly Season 2, new friendships, new connections. The end of grief group, its definitely an important scene. It was really fun to film.

OBrien credits Carter Hudsom with reminding him to keep it real and not take himself too seriously on set. He also worked closely with Taylor Schilling as his onscreen aunt.

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I feel like we really connected. In our first scene together in the parking lot at the grocery store, we started talking about what I was learning in school at the time, which was tectonic plates and earthquakes and stuff like that, which led to talking about rocks and all these different types, OBrien said. Turns out we have a lot in common about knowledge of these types of things. And we started talking about that. Next day, she brought me a rock and I still keep it its a green malociterock. And he also taught me these breathing exercises to kind of help me call myself and ground myself.

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Lacey and Edwards relationship did not come together as easily in the show as detailed by both Schilling and OBrien.

It was tough at the beginning. We meet both Lacey and Edward and the decks are kind of stacked against them being able to connect. Lacey has all these ideas about what her life should be and what she wants it to look like, and its not lining up with the reality that is in front of her, Schilling told TheWrap. We watch her sort of learn to accept life on lifes terms, like a lot of characters in the show, and thrive in a very different scenario than she thought she was going to be.

Lacey struggles with fertility, and in a way, taking Edward in provides a solution to that problem, though it doesnt entirely fill the void. Edward has trouble looking at Lacey because she looks a lot like his mom.

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They both kind of break out of their shells. Their shared life experience and grief kind of brings them together and makes them connect more than in the beginning, OBrien said.

As for where the show is headed, OBrien echoes Katims thoughts on introducing new characters and delving deeper into the letters to Edward that he only discovers in the last few episodes.

I think it might be interesting if they introduced a new character. I think it might explore more on the letters that we see [Edward] reads in episode eight and nine because those came from people all over the world, you know, all over the country, Itd be really, really interesting if he tried to, like explore what was in their lives, where theyre from, who they are and try to go back to every single one of them.

All episodes of Dear Edward are now streaming on Apple TV+.

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Say aloha to Disney's newest family member.

Maia Kealoha, a young actress from Hawaii, has landed the role of Lilo in Disney's live-action remake of the 2002 classic Lilo & Stitch, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

And Maia, who was recently crowned the 2023 Mini Miss Kona Coffee, already has an ohana standing behind her. "what a little CUTIE!!! she's the perfect lilo," one fan tweeted, while another added, "oh she's adorable i hope she has fun and gets so much love."

For true fans of the movie, nothingand no detailgot left behind. "She looks just like the animated character. Perfect casting," one fan commented, with another reacted, "The perfect Lilo does exist, and she looks like this." (See a photo of Maia here.)

The casting comes more than nine months after Dean Fleischer Camp joined Lilo & Stitch as director, per THR.

Though not much is known about what direction the live-action Lilo & Stitch will take, the original movie followed the unlikely friendship between Liloan orphaned 6-year-old girl living with sister Naniand Stitch, a mischievous alien who Lilo adopts as her dog.

Magical Facts About Your Favorite Disney Films

According to THR, the movie will be released on Disney+.

And Lilo & Stitch isn't the only live-action project Disney fans can look forward to. After all, the remake of Disney's The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey, will hit theaters May 26.

Shutterstock

"I've seen a rough cut, and I was just sobbing the whole time," Halle previously told E! News. "I am ready for everyone to finally see this film, for it to finally be out. We have worked on it for a long time, we've been talking about it for a long time, but now we're finally going to see it and I'm just grateful."

Looks like there'll be plenty of Disney magic to come.

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
HRC's Tenn. Anti-Drag Bills Press Conference - Credit: John Amis/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign

A federal judge temporarily halted Tennessees bill that restricts public drag performances on Friday, hours before it was set to take effect on Saturday.

Judge Thomas L. Parker sided with Friends of Georges, a Memphis-based LGBTQ theatre group that filed suit against the state. If Tennessee wishes to exercise its police power in restricting speech it considers obscene, it must do so within the constraints and framework of the United States Constitution, Parker wrote, citing constitutional protections of freedom of speech. The Court finds that, as it stands, the record here suggests that when the legislature passed this Statute, it missed the mark, he added.

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Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the new bill into law March 2. On March 27, Friends of Georges filed the lawsuit, calling the law unconstitutional. Judge Parker heard arguments Thursday, and stated that the court agrees the statute is likely vague and overly broad.

The states anti-drag legislation was one of several similar bills being weighed across the country, and one of several bills aimed at the states LGBTQ+ community. There are currently multiple bills targeting trans healthcare, including one that is attempting to make it illegal to change ones sex on official documents like birth certificates and drivers licenses.

We won because this is a bad law said Mark Campbell, current President of the Board of Directors for Friends of Georges. We look forward to our day in court where the rights for all Tennesseans will be affirmed.

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Click here to read the full article.
John Fetterman has returned home after more than a month of inpatient treatment for depression, the Pennsylvania senator said Friday.

I am so happy to be home, the Democratic senator said in a statement following his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near D.C. I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life.

Fetterman plans to return to the Senate the week of April 17, after the congressional recess. He began receiving treatment at Walter Reed in mid-February. The senator's doctor said Fetterman's depression is now in remission, according to the statement.



Fetterman also suffered a stroke in May, during Pennsylvanias Senate primary, and was sidelined from the trail for months. He has continued to struggle with auditory processing, and uses transcription technology to help him talk to colleagues and conduct Senate business. Doctors have said that depression is common among stroke survivors.

I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works, Fetterman said. This isnt about politics  right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help.

Fetterman posted a picture of himself on his Twitter account Friday evening, giving a thumbs up as he got into a vehicle. "Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs."
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys president, center, arrives in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Turkey has approved Finland joining NATO. | Burhan Ozbilici, Associated Press

Finland crossed its last hurdle to joining NATO. Turkey approved the Scandinavian countrys bid to become a member of NATO on Thursday.

But its just Finland who is allowed to join, not Sweden  even though the two countries applied to join on the same day last year, The Washington Post reported.

Members of NATO must approve new members unanimously, and it took some time for Turkey to decide to let them in  but the countrys parliament voted unanimously in favor for Finland to join on Thursday, according to CNN.

Whats next for Finland and NATO?

The next step to be formally allied with fellow NATO countries is an invite from Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of the alliance, to accede to the Washington Treaty, per the Post.

After the announcement about Turkey, Stoltenberg tweeted his approval of the decision, saying, I welcome the vote of the Grand National Assembly of #Turkiye to complete the ratification of #Finlands accession. This will make the whole #NATO family stronger & safer,

The move will likely be seen as a diplomatic setback for Russia, because Finland shares a 830-mile border with Russia, and it puts Finland in a better position to provide a defense against possible Russian advances, according to The New York Times.

Finland will contribute to allied deterrence and defense, and NATOs area of operations will significantly grow, Matti Pesu, security expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told the Times.

Why did it take so long to approve Finland to join NATO?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had claimed Finland and Sweden were housing Kurdish terrorist organizations, and that was the reason the approval took so long to come. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused the two Scandinavian countries of telling outright lies about how the country was running a democracy, CNN reported.
The recent Lunch 4 Literacy event was the 31st annual luncheon put on jointly by the Altrusa International of Oak Ridge and the Breakfast Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. It was again a fun and enjoyable event that raised funds for literacy.

Writer Kim Michele Richardson, on the screen via Zoom, answers questions posed to her by D. Ray Smith, at the lectern, on behalf of the audience at the Lunch 4 Literacy event held on March 21.

Kim Michele Richardson, bestselling author, was the featured speaker. She has published five historical fiction novels and an award-winning memoir.

She lives in Kentucky and writes historical fiction set in familiar surroundings, with characters easily identifiable with the rural Kentucky setting. The two books featured in this program were The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and The Book Womans Daughter.

Kim Michele Richardson

Both books feature strong women overcoming adversity from the color of their skin (blue-skinned people) to more common difficulties women encounter when alone and often faced with challenges it seems men don't encounter as often. Richardson skillfully presented these women in a manner that caused the reader to readily identify with them and their difficulties.

The box lunches provided for the networking period prior to the event were provided by Birdwell Catering and were exceptionally good, many said. And, of course, the cookies from Doubletree Hotel were amazing.

The networking portion of the event provided time for participants to mix with others and to catch up on the latest happenings. After the lunch and networking ended at Oak Ridge High School, the attendees entered the auditorium for the main program.

A good crowd enjoyed excellent box lunches and a time to mingle at the Lunch 4 Literacy event March 21, 2023 in Oak Ridge.

Josie Hatch, center, received a $2,500 scholarship named in honor of Frank Jamison, right. At left is TNBank President Mark Holder. The presentation was made at the Lunch 4 Literacy luncheon.

The talk provided by Richardson was informative and entertaining. She is proud of her Kentucky heritage and does not hesitate to support the language of the region. Even when the publisher and editor insist on change, she refuses. Good for her. I like the expressions of the Kentucky and Tennessee region as I believe it helps place us appropriately in the region.

My accent is often recognized as Tennessee and I am often asked, Which part of Tennessee are you from? You do recognize that Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee accents and words are not the same. Never would you hear someone from Middle Tennessee say youuns; it is yall.

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Questions from the audience focused on her choice of the Troublesome Creek area and what the culture was in the 1930s as well as what is it like today. She explained both eras and noted that recent flooding in the area had a significant impact on the region. Another audience member wanted to know other books she had written.

Richardson has written five historical fiction novels, and she spoke to the other three, Liars Bench, The Sisters of Glass Ferry, and GodPretty in the Tobacco Field. She has also written a memoir, The Unbreakable Child.

Another insight into Richardson can be seen by the note she sent about the Moonlight School. https://www.aol.com/news/she-founded-adult-education-moonlight-163942617.html.

And https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2017/12/kentuckys-moonlight-schools.html.

She also has created Sly Rabbit, a writers/artist residency, which provides scholarships and a food stipend to writers who qualify and are seeking a contemplative and tranquil place to work and create. https://www.kimmichelerichardson.com/the-shy-rabbit-tiny-home-writers-scholarship.

Founder of adult literacy education? Cora Wilson Stewart

In her research into Kentucky history and especially womens role in it, she found a woman who could be considered the founder of adult literacy education in the United States. From the second link above, Cora Wilson Stewart (1875-1958) was an elementary school teacher and county school superintendent in eastern Kentuckys Rowan County who, in the fall of 1911, decided to open the classrooms in her district to adult pupils.

From the first link above: On Sept. 5, 1911, Cora Wilson Stewart (1875-1958) opened her first Moonlight School in Rowan County, Kentucky. That first night 1,200 adults showed up. They came in droves from Kentuckys dark hollers, needle-eyed coves, and tree-thick hills. Born in Farmers, Kentucky, Stewart led the nations first official campaign to fight adult illiteracy.

Richardson was so impressed with what Cora Wilson Stewart had done that she purchased a grave marker for her 65 years after the woman's death. So you see, she has a deep and abiding fascination with Kentucky women who have achieved great results helping others.

Lunch 4 Literacy: Zoom, the sponsors, the co-chairs

The hybrid method using Zoom at the literacy luncheon allowed participation by those who could not attend in person. I often note that the only good thing to come out of COVID-19 is Zoom or other virtual platforms that allow remote access for meetings and events such as this.

While the Lunch 4 Literacy luncheon is enjoyable and fun for all, the primary intent is to raise money for literacy. It is rewarding to see the many ways the funds are used to promote learning in the special area of reading.

The Lunch 4 Literacy fundraising luncheon has historically been one of the most successful and popular events in Oak Ridge. It has become an annual tradition in March that many look forward to enjoying.

The purpose of the joint effort is to provide grants to help improve literacy in Oak Ridge, Anderson and Roane counties. Each year the grants are awarded to selected recipients.

Co-leader Amber Roberts said, I am continually humbled and proud to be a part of the Lunch 4 Literacy team. Every year, this dedicated group of volunteers works tirelessly to put on an engaging program with delicious food in a beautiful setting. The last three years have been especially challenging as they have had to work around public health concerns, but they have pulled it off to keep the lunch going strong. I am so thankful for the generosity and the commitment to literacy in our community. I am also inspired by the talented educators who put the grant funds generated by the lunch to use preparing our communitys next generation.

Co-leader John Roberts said, This was my first year in an official capacity with the Lunch 4 Literacy. It is truly an honor to be asked to serve in a leadership role for such a great cause. It is impressive and impactful that two organizations have joined forces for 31 consecutive years to make a significant difference in our community as champions for literacy. It is a massive endeavor with many moving parts requiring the collaboration of numerous people. The culmination of this collective effort is readily visible in the eyes and voices of the children, which makes it all worthwhile. I look forward to helping facilitate the continued success of the Lunch 4 Literacy next year.

The generous support provided by sponsors this year continues the tradition of strong support for literacy.

Lunch 4 Literacy sponsors included:

Angel sponsors: Altrusa; IB3 Global Solutions; ORAU; Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary; OMEGA Technical Services; Roy Cooper and Bonnie Carroll; and TN Bank;

Patron sponsors: Boston Government Services; Centrus Energy Corp; Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC; KeyLogic Associates Inc; Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary Club, Rotary Club of Oak Ridge; and UT-Battelle LLC

Sponsors: Acato Information Management; Betsy Coleman Realty; Chuck's Car Care; Dave and Martha Hobson; Design Innovation Architects; East Tennessee Spine and Sport, Oak Ridge; Energy Solutions; Enrichment Federal Credit Union; Jean and Donna Reat; Jim and Liz Henry; Kinetic Performance Training; Mens Book KLUB; MS Technology Inc.; Oak Ridge Utility District; ORNL Federal Credit Union; Peggy Sells Homes! Realty Center; Pinnacle Financial Partners, Oak Ridge; Ridgeview Behavioral Health Services; Vacuum Technology Inc.; and Warren and Judy Gooch

Special Thanks to: Birdwell's Catering Inc.; Doubletree of Oak Ridge; and Oak Ridge Schools.

Lunch 4 Literacy co-chairs: John Roberts, Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, and Amber Roberts, Altrusa International of Oak Ridge.

D. Ray Smith is the city of Oak Ridge historian and writes a weekly column, "Historically Speaking," for The Oak Ridger.

D. Ray Smith, writer for the Historically Speaking column.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Historical fiction writer headlines annual Lunch 4 Literacy event
Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Decision to Go or Not Go to the Coronation

On May 6, King Charles will finally get his official Coronation ceremony, but the moment has been a bit overshadowed by the question of whether or not his youngest son, Prince Harry, would be attending with wife Meghan Markle and their two children, Archie and Lilibet. The couple have received an official invitation, though reportedly their kids have not been included  yet.

If they choose not to come, however, royal public relations expert Edward Coram-James told GB News that it would cause an irreversible blow to the family relationship. But it has also been said that if they do attend, they are likely to receive the cold shoulder from senior members of the royal family.



They will be given the cold shoulder by very many relatives. One said to me, I hope theyll be seated in Iceland,' a royal source told the Daily Mail in March. Much of the family just wants nothing more to do with them. If they have to see them at the coronation then so be it, but they do not want to socialize with them.

What a conundrum. Coram-James broke down the decision, saying, In a universe in which the damage already caused by the rift is still recoverable from, at least in part, a no-show would be the fatal, irreversible blow, both in the public perception as well, potentially, as within the family itself. It risks drawing out the conflict over the long term.

He added that not attending would draw as much, if not more, media attention than showing up.

It would give further oxygen to the rift and allegations that the Sussexes have leveled at the royal family, he explained. And the shadow of their absence would loom large over the entire ceremony, risking becoming the elephant in the room and an unwanted sideshow.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's main concerns are allegedly that their kids will be snubbed. The date actually coincides with Archie four-year-old birthday. They want to make sure the children are acknowledged along with King Charles other grandkids, despite the fact that Harry and Meghan are no longer working members of the royal family. But they are still family.

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A federal judge has thrown out the lawsuit of a former corrections official offended by the states diversity, equity and inclusion training, and claimed it amounted to a hostile work environment.

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang found the contents of Joshua F. Youngs complaint failed to show how a computer-based module and related race-conscious materials led to severe or pervasive harassment within the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Without any factual allegations detailing how the CDOCs trainings affected Mr. Youngs workplace or created a culture of suspicion and distrust within the CDOC, she wrote, Plaintiffs allegations are insufficient to plausibly allege that the trainings affected the workplace so substantially as to make it intolerable for Plaintiff to continue his employment.

Young has since appealed Wangs dismissal order to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit came amid an effort from conservative activists and elected officials to defund diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming and ban books with LGBTQ+ or racial themes from schools. Last month, the chief of staff to Texas Republican governor asserted DEI efforts encourage discrimination in the workplace, without elaboration or examples.

There has also been movement in the opposite direction, as the Colorado Supreme Court, for instance, recently mandated that attorneys complete DEI training as part of their continuing legal education.

Young, a white man from Colorado Springs, alleged he was forced to resign from his job as a sergeant in the Corrections Department after suffering severe and pervasive discrimination from a DEI training module.

Calling him a rising star in the department, Youngs lawyers described how the CDOC allegedly forced Young to absorb teachings hostile to white people as part of a workplace experiment.

Defendants mandatory trainings paint a grim picture of the United States as a racist country permeated with discrimination, ridicule, and insult that trickle down to all aspects of American society, wrote his attorneys.

The materials they contended the department made available to employees included:

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 A glossary of terms such as white fragility and BIPOC.

 A video about redlining, which is a historical form of housing discrimination.

 Recommended books about anti-racism and racial identity groups.

The fact that his non-white colleagues were viewing the same content, and absorbing the idea that he  as a white individual  was contributing toward racism and their oppression, was too much for him, argued Youngs attorneys. Mr. Young felt harassed and intimidated to the point that he no longer felt comfortable working for the Department of Corrections, and ultimately resigned.

Youngs lawsuit claimed the Corrections Department was liable for violating federal civil rights law by creating a hostile work environment. He also alleged the state violated his constitutional right to equal protection under the law.

The government moved to dismiss Youngs lawsuit, arguing the allegedly offensive materials were merely offered to employees as additional resources and were not required as part of the DEI training. Further, Young had not pointed to any instance of hostility against white employees within the Corrections Department as a result of the computer module.

This is not akin to a supervisor proclaiming frequently in the workplace that Caucasians are racist and weak oppressors, nor to an employee calling a coworker a racial slur as an insult, wrote the Colorado Attorney Generals Office. An employees subjective belief that others might think poorly of him is insufficient to show the kind of objective, severe or pervasive harassment that altered Plaintiffs working condition.

Wang agreed with the government that Youngs lawsuit lacked factual allegations of a racially hostile work environment attributable to the training. She noted Young had alleged neither a steady barrage of inflammatory racial comments nor a single instance of an unambiguously racial epithet that could satisfy the legal standard.

As for Youngs assertion that the training materials treat people differently based on race in violation of equal protection under the law, Wang explained that Young, as an ex-employee, did not have standing to force his former employer to change its policies as part of his constitutional claim.

The case is Young v. Colorado Department of Corrections et al.
Bliss and Irina in Love Is Blind Season 4 Episode 6

This past week the latest Love Is Blind season began to unfold, and one contestant, Zack, had some trouble deciding between two women: Irina and Bliss. While the 31-year-old criminal defense attorney ended up proposing to Irina, and going to Mexico with her, it became clear that this couple was not meshing. So when it was teased ahead of this weeks episodes that he decided to meet with Bliss, it was an exciting development for the Netflix series. However, what was going through Bliss mind during all of this?

CinemaBlend spoke with Bliss Poureetezadi as the latest batch of Love is Blind episodes became available to viewers with a Netflix subscription . During our conversation about her experience on the dating experiment, Bliss spoke to the moment when she met Zack for the first time in the restaurant scene that opens Episode 6. In her words:

It was crazy surreal. All the reveals happened in the pod experience and like that was the first time we were seeing each other in person. It was in public, so there was like all these other people there and it was intense and I was so, so nervous. But, the moment our eyes kind of locked and this just so cheesy and I'm like, it's just cliche and cheesy, but it's actually true. Like it was such an intense connection. Like it was so much chemistry and like just zooming in, that world faded away, like a type of movie experience. And I think you can see me smiling, but I'm kind of trying to suppress the smile.

Bliss recollection of meeting Zack for the first time sounds like the opposite of Irinas experience when they first met each other in person. During the first batch of Love Is Blind Season 4 episodes , Irina immediately likened Zack to a cartoon character, and she asked him not to make so much eye contact with her. However, it sounds like sparks really flew between Bliss and Zack when they met, even though it was not the typical way Love Is Blind contestants typically meet. Bliss spoke to the conversation they had as well.

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He really eloquently explained what happened. And, he really earned my trust and belief in him being honest. And so, I was willing to hear him out and so I did. And, things ended up great, but it really is a story about like second chances and how we all deserve that. We've all needed a second chance. So, I was willing to give that opportunity to him.

In the latest episodes of Season 4, Bliss and Zack get a chance to explore their connection in real life, and they will get a second chance at pursuing the love they wanted to. When recalling the timeline between getting rejected and returning to the show, Bliss told us this:

So I think Mexico was like, what, four or five days It was so long ago, but it wasn't very long. Definitely not more than 10 days from when I left to when I was contacted. So pretty quickly. And you know, I was surprised to get contacted even though I feel like in my heart, like I knew that I was his person and I feel like he knew that too. I didn't expect to kind of pull back into the experiment, so it was definitely surprising.

While Zack didnt make the right choice the first time around, itll be really exciting to see if he and Bliss chose to continue the experiment together and perhaps even get married after the setback with Irina. Given the way Bliss spoke about her connection with Zack, it sounds like these two could have the opportunity to actually find their person in one another  even if their journey there was not typical.
Love Is Blind brings back another person who was rejected in the pods in episode 8 cliffhanger

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Love Is Blind season 4, episodes 1-8.

Is another person who was rejected in the pods about to get another shot on Love Is Blind?

In first eight episodes of season 4, we saw Bliss get dumped by Zack in the pods, and after his engagement to Irina crashed and burned in Mexico, Zack and Bliss got back together and were engaged after only three dates (what's the rush?!). But Bliss is not the only person looking for a second chance  in episode 8, a few other people who were dumped in the pods show up for Chelsea's birthday party, including Amber, one of Paul's pod exes. Since Paul only has eyes for his fiancee Micah, Amber just catches up with the other women at the party. Her return is pretty anticlimactic, which is a good thing for Paul and Micah's relationship.

Love is Blind. Josh D. in season 4 of Love is Blind

Netflix Josh D. in season 4 of 'Love is Blind'

It's Jackie's ex Josh who makes a bigger impact at the party... mainly because of how loud, confrontational, and absolutely hammered he is. He can't stop slurring his words, is way too handsy with Marshall while trying to fake like they're best friends, and tries to "stir the pot" (his own words!) wherever he can. It's clear that he wants to start a fight with Marshall, but Marshall is way too mature to take any of his baiting.

Josh's antics don't work on mostly everyone: Kwame wants Josh to leave, Zack and Bliss are disgusted with him, Micah and Tiffany are side-eyeing him. But unfortunately, Jackie's intrigued, especially once Josh starts hitting on her. In between slurred words, he confesses his feelings to her and tells her to dump "M.B.A. cry boy" Marshall.

The fact that she doesn't immediately tell Josh to get lost speaks volumes. She actually thanks him "for being real" and talking s--- about Marshall to her. Bolstered by that, Josh tells Jackie to pick him instead, and she smiles and laughs with him. The episode ends on the cliffhanger of Josh asking Jackie if she is really going to marry Marshall, and she doesn't answer. Is Jackie going to leave the emotionally mature, kind, warm Marshall for Josh?!

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Find out when the next batch of Love Is Blind season 4 episodes debut Friday, April 7, on Netflix.

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A cross sits on top of Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

More than 180 Georgia churches this week banded together to sue the United Methodist Church to force a disaffiliation with the North Georgia Conference.

The churches on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Cobb County Superior Court. Included in the 186 Georgia churches looking to disaffiliate are 15 Augusta-area churches  Barton Chapel United Methodist Church, Augusta; Berlin United Methodist Church, Augusta; Burns Memorial United Methodist Church, Augusta; Cokesbury United Methodist Church, Augusta; St. Mark United Methodist Church, Augusta; Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church, Augusta; Martinez United Methodist Church; Mosaic Church, Evans; Friendship United Methodist Church, Hephzibah; Liberty United Methodist Church, Hephzibah; Anthony Chapel United Methodist Church, Lincolnton; Lincolnton United Methodist Church; Midway United Methodist Church, Lincolnton; Dunn's Chapel Methodist Church, Appling; and, Winfield Shiloh United Methodist Church, Appling.

St. James Methodist Church, New Prospect Church and Young Harris Memorial Church, all in Athens, also joined the suit.

LGBT issues: Georgias Methodists face growing divide over tradition, LGBT inclusion

Previous lawsuit: Trinity Methodist church sues to disaffiliate

The lawsuit and reaction

The lawsuit centers around a new provision added at the last General Conference UMC meeting in 2019. The provision allowed churches to disaffiliate, while keeping their property, if done by the end of 2023.

The provision came in the wake of disagreements about whether members of the LGBTQ community should be ordained as ministers and whether UMC ministers should perform same-sex marriages, according to another lawsuit filed on Feb. 22 by Trinity on the Hill UMC in Augusta.

The process for disaffiliation was suddenly removed from consideration in December, according to a statement from the churches' PR agency. The agency representing the churches, MC Public Relations Agency, said the clock is ticking as the disaffiliation provision sunsets at the end of 2023. The process takes time, so churches started to panic as they began to feel a time crunch.

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Churches in north Georgia that want to disaffiliate using the previously approved process are stuck," wrote John Kenney, pastor of The Quest Church in Grovetown, Georgia, in the release. "These are churches that have done all that has been required; yet, at the last hour were denied the opportunity to proceed with what had been promised to them."

Quest church was among 70 churches allowed to disaffiliate from the Methodist's North Georgia Conference in 2022, according to the PR agency.

While the National UMC General Conference paved a way for those who were discontent to leave, the PR agency said the North Georgia Conference is the only conference that is currently forcing churches to stay part of the UMC.

Robin Dease, resident bishop for the North Georgia Conference, posted a statement to the conference's website on Friday addressing the lawsuit.

"While we review the lawsuit with the appropriate council, we will refrain from sharing details, however, we are familiar with the issues," Dease wrote. "The cabinet discovered and observed that many local churches have been misled about the disaffiliation process and have been presented with information about the process, and about The United Methodist Church and its leadership, that is factually incorrect and defamatory. We have significant concerns about this misinformation and are well aware that it has the potential to do irreparable harm."

Dease went on to say the information presented to local churches about disaffiliation was "outside the bounds of normal and acceptable civil disclosure."

"It has not only been false and misleading but has been antithetical to the concept of a gracious exit or a commitment to honoring the mission and ministry of all Christians," she wrote.

According to Dease, the process was intended to allow congregations to disaffiliate because, "as a matter of conscience, they disagree with the language in the Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality."

"... Leaders are prayerfully exploring the best methods for moving forward and next steps available as set forth in the Book of Discipline," she wrote in the statement. "Given the circumstances, this approach is the most gracious available to us."

Dease is one of the leaders specifically mentioned in the lawsuit.

Coinciding restraining order filed

On the same date the lawsuit was filed, the Georgia churches also filed an emergency restraining order against the trustees of the North Georgia Conference, the conference itself, two bishops and a number of district superintendents for the conference.

According to the motion, the churches asked the court to immediately lift the "pause" on the disaffiliation process, order the district superintendents to immediately set local disaffiliation votes, execute disaffiliation agreements following the votes and schedule one or more special virtual annual conferences prior to the disaffiliation provision's expiration.

Further, the motion asks the court to order that pastors named in the suit not have their clergy moved without the consent of the clergy and local congregation.

Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

Trinity on the Hill lawsuit in Augusta

Trinity on the Hill UMC in Augusta in February took legal action of its own, filing a lawsuit against the North Georgia Conference of the UMC and a number of conference leaders.

The complaint, filed in Columbia County Superior Court, alleges the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church "threated[ed] to destroy the religious congregation" by delaying its disaffiliation process and putting the church at risk of losing its property.

Trinity stated it "does not favor such ordinations or marriages, which Trinity fears will be imposed by the next General Conference of the UMC," according to the lawsuit.

There have yet to be any official changes to the UMC's doctrine. However, the church stated it would like to pre-emptively disaffiliate from the UMC and retain its property, according to the suit.

Dease acknowledged the Augusta lawsuit against her and the conference in her statement, but did not offer any details or specific comments on the suit.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Methodist churches join lawsuit for disaffiliation over LGBTQ issues
A solar farm in Clawson, Emery County, is pictured on May 11, 2022. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

A long-term resource plan released Friday by PacifiCorp anticipates a nearly fourfold increase in new wind and solar energy by 2032 and a system-wide 70% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The 2023 Integrated Resource Plan was submitted to utility commissions in the six states Pacificorp serves, including Utah, and also includes an additional 7,400 megawatts of energy storage six years from now.

Officials say it advances a path toward a net zero future by targeting an 87% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and a 100% reduction by 2050.

The plan brought praise from Utah Clean Energy.

The preliminary Integrated Resource Plan released today by PacifiCorp is an exciting advancement toward a reliable, modernized energy system powered by clean, renewable energy, said Logan Mitchell, climate scientist and energy analyst at Utah Clean Energy.

This plan clearly illustrates why renewable energy is the fastest growing energy resource in the United States  it is the best choice for our wallets, our health and our economy. We are thrilled to see the robust addition of more renewable energy to PacifiCorps system that will benefit all of us for generations.

The utility company said its Western states emissions reductions will be even more accelerated in compliance with individual state emissions targets and clean energy requirements, particularly as regulations continue to clamp down on pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Controls to tamp nitrogen oxide emissions are planned for all of PacifiCorps five coal-fired units in Utah in 2026 to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Ozone Transport Rule. That is among the regulatory and cost pressures influencing the earlier retirement of plants based on the plans modeling.

All of the Hunter Plants coal-fired units are anticipated to be retired by 2032, as well as the Huntington twin units in Emery County, Utah.

Related

Story continues

We see a very unprecedented and rapid growth in the need for renewable energy on our system for the rest of this decade, said Rick Link, senior vice president of resource planning, procurement and optimization for PacifiCorp. So the numbers, not only are they large, but theyre at the pace at which we are going to be looking at adding these cost-effective resources that is also pretty astounding.

The Utah Senate Minority Caucus also released a statement in response to the PacifiCorp plan.

The expedited closures of Utahs coal plants mark the beginning of a new era of opportunity for our state, said Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City. I applaud PacifiCorps commitment to a thoughtful, market-driven planning process and look forward to continuously working with the utility to ensure that any resources replacing the Hunter and Huntington plants fulfill the utilitys least-cost, least-risk mission.

PacifiCorp is also adding transmission capacity in its service area to tap into the variability of weather so that wind generation developed in Wyoming travels elsewhere and robust solar power is sent where it is needed.

Its very rare, for example for the wind to not be blowing in one state at some given point and the same goes with solar, where it may be hindered in one state by cloud cover but at optimal conditions elsewhere, Link said.

That good geographic diversity in the system is through a robust, reliable grid that keeps the lights on, and provides the energy for all sectors  commercial, residential and industrial  to function, he said.

Link said the addition of renewable energy is part of a 20-year plan that includes many factors.

Our core objective is to say heres how much load we have to serve, heres where it is on peak. Whats the combination of resources, where should we locate them? How much should we add across our footprint? And when do we need to add them to make sure were reliable across every hour of the year for 20 years looking forward?

Once that question is answered, those emission reductions are part of the output that is anticipated to be achieved through PacifiCorps preferred portfolio.

So thats kind of where we landed, picking the least cost portfolio got us to those emission reduction numbers that I mentioned, he said.

Highlights of the plan include:

Investments in new resources and transmission are envisioned for multiple states from the West Coast to the Rockies.

In addition to the advanced nuclear reactor project selected by the 2021 plan for the Kemmerer, Wyoming, area to be in operation by 2030, the 2023 plan selected two more advanced nuclear projects which could be located in Utah near the currently operating Hunter and Huntington coal-fired plants.

Continued progress on demand response and energy efficiency programs, as the best energy is the energy that isnt used.

Related

The coal to nuclear transition is an area of emphasis for both the federal government and states as coal is phased out as an energy resource amid increasing regulations, climate change and political pressure.

Link said PacifiCorp signed a memorandum of understanding with TerraPower for adding up to five fast sodium nuclear reactors featuring molten salt storage. TerraPower and GE-Hitachi are the companies behind the Wyoming project.

Were really kind of proud of how this story is unfolding. Again, with our plans showing that with these technologies coming online, this creates a great opportunity for adjusted reasonable transition, Link said.

The plan is a roadmap or blueprint based on the best information available, which is why it is updated every two years.
Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23, an Oradell native, was killed during a medevac training mission near an Army base in Kentucky, his older brother Aidan said Friday night on the steps of the family home.

He said that his parents, as well as brothers Stephen and Brendan, are heartbroken.

Solinas was one of nine soldiers who died when two Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters crashed outside Fort Campbell in Kentucky during a flight drill Wednesday night, according to Daniel Matthews, deputy public affairs officer for the 101st Airborne.

Aidan Solinas, at right, reads a statement about his brother David in front of his family's home in Oradell on Friday. Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23, was killed during a medi-vac training mission near a base in Kentucky.

"We are a faithful family and we are proud David was training to rescue soldiers on the battlefield," Aidan Solinas said. "Being a flight medic is one of the most difficult jobs that you can do and illustrates that David was a man of compassion and faith, with a special devotion to Mary, our Blessed Mother."

The family thanked the 82nd Airborne division, the 101st Airborne division and their family and friends for love, support and prayers before asking for privacy at this time.

The two helicopters crashed into a field near the Tennessee border, the Associated Press reported. But there has been no official word from the Army as to what caused the crash.

An aviation safety team from Fort Rucker in Alabama is investigating the crash, according to the 101st Airborne's statement.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Gov. Phil Murphy said he and his wife were distraught to learn that a local soldier was among the victims.

"At just 23 years of age, David already left an imprint on his community and his service will not be forgotten," Murphy said. "We send our deepest condolences to Sgt. Solinas family and loved ones. In his memory, and in honor of his service to our nation, I will sign an executive order on Monday morning that will direct flags to be flown at half-staff on Tuesday., April 4.

Sgt. David Solinas, 23, of Oradell, died along with eight other soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne when two helicopters crashed to the ground during a routine training exercise at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

The helicopters were flying in a "multi-ship formation" with personnel using night vision goggles, Brigadier General John Lubas, the deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division told USA Today. There were five people in one helicopter, four in the other.

Story continues

The crash remains under investigation. According to reports, this is among the deadliest military training accidents in recent years.

The 101st Airborne Division is a light infantry group and the Army's only air assault division. Fort Campbell, about 60 miles northwest of Nashville, Tennessee, is on the border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee.

Sgt. David Solinas, an Oradell native, was one of 9 soldiers killed in a military helicopter crash in Kentucky.

This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come, Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell, said in a statement. Now is the time for grieving and healing. The whole division and this community stand behind the families and friends of our fallen soldiers.

Black Hawks are the Armys utility tactical transport helicopter. They are used for air assault, general support, aeromedical evacuation and special operations.

In February, two Tennessee National Guard pilots were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed along an Alabama highway during a training exercise.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Kentucky helicopter crash: Oradell NJ native among 9 soldiers dead
A visitor admires the title piece, a large suspended steel cube casting shadow patterns across the walls, by Anila Quayyum Agha at a preview for All The Flowers Are For Me show at Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew Gardens. (PA)

Each week the picture editors at The Independent sort through hundreds of thousands images sent into us by photography agencies from all around the world.

These are some of the most eye-catching and the most striking images from culture, news, politics, sport and lifestyle.

You can also keep up with the latest photography making headlines via our Instagram.

(AFP/Getty)

Lightning flashes over Kuwait City during a thunderstorm.

(AFP/Getty)

Sex workers take part in a demonstration to protest plans to move the citys historic red light district to another area in Amsterdam.

(AP)

Seiichi Sano, an 89-year-old Japanese man, rides a wave at Katase Nishihama Beach in Japan.

(Getty)

Jaspa Fletcher and Harris Andrews during the round three AFL match between Western Bulldogs and Brisbane Lions at Marvel Stadium.

(AP)

The sun rises over homes covering a hill in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela.

(AFP/Getty)

Protesters shout slogans outside Israel's parliament in Jerusalem amid ongoing demonstrations and calls for a general strike against the hard-right government's controversial push to overhaul the justice system.

(AP)

Devotees take holy dips and pray in the river Saryu on the occasion of Ramnavi festival, celebrated as the birthday of Hindu God Rama, in Ayodhya, India.

(PA)

Daffodils around the base of Warkworth Castle in Northumberland.

(AFP/Getty)

A demonstrator calling for action on climate change is removed by police and security as Scotlands newly appointed First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, Humza Yousaf, attends his first First Ministers Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

(PA)

Conservator Pedro Jimenez takes part in conservation work on the 170-year-old dinosaur that inhabit Dinosaur Island in Crystal Palace Park in south London.

(AFP/Getty)

Protesters set up a flaming barricade across railway tracks at a train station during a demonstration after the government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote, using the article 49.3 of the constitution, in Lorient, in Brittany, western France.

Story continues

(Reuters)

A local resident carries a teddy bear while gathering belongings outside a multi-storey apartment block damaged in recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine.

(EPA)

Kashmiri Muslim women pray at a mosque adjacent to the shrine of Shah-e-Hamdan (Khanqah-e-Moula) during the fasting month of Ramadan in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.

(PA)

The sun rises over Brown's Bay in North Tyneside.

(AFP/Getty)

Camilla, Queen Consort, holds a bouquet of flowers as she steps into a car after landing at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Schoenefeld near Berlin.

(AFP/Getty)

Girls embrace in front of a makeshift memorial for victims by the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville, Tennessee.

(AFP/Getty)

Pope Francis speaks with his aides prior to being helped get up the popemobile car from his wheelchair, as he leaves at the end of the weekly general audience at St. Peter's square in The Vatican.

(Reuters)

Palestinians hold flags as they mark Land Day, an annual commemoration of six Arab citizens of Israel who were killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations over land confiscations in 1976, in the southeast of Gaza City.

(Brazilian Presidency/AFP/Getty)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife First Lady Rosangela 'Janja' da Silva sharing a laugh with English musician Chris Martin, lead vocalist of band Coldplay, during a meeting in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

(Reuters)

Dogs walk through the water towards a flooded building during an annual spring flood in the Ryazan Region, Russia.

(Getty)

New Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf and Deputy Frist Minister Shona Robison wave to the media as he poses with the new cabinet at Bute House.

(AFP/Getty)

A protester wearing a mask of Dobby, the house-elf character from Harry Potter stands in front of French gendarmes during a demonstration against the visit of French President in Savines-le-Lac, French Alps.

(AFP/Getty)

A nun stands at St. Peters square in The Vatican, a day after the Pope was admitted to the Gemelli hospital in Rome.

(AFP/Getty)

King Charles III, centre, and Berlins Mayor Franziska Giffey, second right, visit the Ukraine Arrival Centre Tegel, for Ukrainian refugees in Berlin.
The post Severe Storm Collapses Roof at Morbid Angel Show in Illinois, Killing One and Injuring Dozens appeared first on Consequence.

An intense storm caused the roof to collapse Friday night (March 31st) at the Apollo Theater in Belvidere, Illinois, where Morbid Angel were set to play along with Revocation, Skeletal Remains, and Crypta. One person has been reported dead, with at least another 28 injured.

The collapse came roughly 30 minutes into the metal concert, right after a tornado warning was issued for the area. Approximately 260 people were inside the sold-out 1,500 capacity venue at the time of the incident. As of this posting the National Weather Service has not confirmed whether a tornado touched down on the venue itself.

In addition to the roof collapse, the marquee and facade came crashing onto the street. Of the injured, at least five were serious, as multiple ambulances were called to the scene.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker released a statement reading, My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight. Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can. As we learn more, please follow the guidance of all local authorities.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Belvidere police chief Shane Woody described the situation as, Chaos. Absolute chaos. When officers are first on the scene, when the fire department and first responders get here, they do the best they can to control the chaos as much as possible.

Morbid Angel posted on Facebook, Tonights show is canceled due to a Tornado that hit the Venue, and caused the roof, over the area in-front of the stage, and marquee to collapse.

The band continued, We ask anyone who is still traveling to the venue to please seek shelter and stay safe. We are currently sheltering in place, and want to extend our support and hope that everyone at the show tonight is safe. Right now our focus is on making sure everyone in the venue tonight is ok and gets home.

Story continues

Revocation wrote on Facebook, Everyone in the bands and crew are safe. Out thoughts are with everyone affected by this disaster.

Crypta, who had apparently just played before the roof collapse, reported, We are safe and sound. All bands on the package are safe  A tornado hit the venue [and] we lost our RV, but we are OK.

Our thoughts go out to the victims of this horrific tragedy. Local news reports from ABC 7 Chicago can be seen below, as well as footage from inside the venue.

This is a developing story

BREAKING: Mass Casualty Incident declared following roof collapse at Morbid Angels concert in Belvidere, Illinois pic.twitter.com/DQj002lPo5  Intel Point Alert (@IntelPointAlert) April 1, 2023

BREAKING: A large section of the roof of the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, Illinois has just collapsed during a concert. Rescue crews are on the scene. Further details:  Mass Casualty event

 EMS requesting twenty ambulances to the scene

 Took place during a Morbid Angels pic.twitter.com/u8kENEyKNk  Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) April 1, 2023

Severe Storm Collapses Roof at Morbid Angel Show in Illinois, Killing One and Injuring Dozens

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Early last year, Stefan Kitanov, director of the Sofia International Film Festival, thought that after two years of lockdowns and online events, things were finally getting back to normal.

For two years I was out of all festival events and travels, I avoided all public events and spent time in our family house outside the city, says Kitanov, who started Bulgarias biggest film event 27 years ago. [Then], just as we thought the pandemic is finally over, the war in Ukraine broke out, just a month before our 2022 edition.

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The festival lineup was already locked down, but Kitanov quickly adjusted to the new reality. And made Sofias allegiance clear.

We decided to withdraw Russian films and call off Russian talents and guests, recalls Kitanov, who has many friends among both Ukrainian and Russian filmmakers and fellow festival colleagues. [Ukrainian director] Oleg Sentsov was selected to serve on the main jury, but he had joined his Ukrainian compatriots on the front line to defend his country. Oleg was eager to come to Sofia but fate wanted otherwise. At least we had a chance to show his latest film Rhino, which was presented as a work-in-progress 10 years ago at the Sofia Meetings co-production market. Two years later he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a Russian court in 2015 on charges of plotting terrorism, released five years later and then finally made the film a few years after he went out of prison. We didnt invite him back this year; as far as I know, hes still fighting on the battlefield.

The yellow-blue flag of Ukraine is pinned on the Sofia festival website, alongside the words Solidarity with Ukraine! And, for the 2023 festival, Kitanov decided to shine a spotlight on Ukrainian cinema.

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Among the Ukrainian films this year we had Maryna Gorbachs Klondike, Sergey Loznitsas The Kiev Trial and Igor Ivankos Fragile Memory. We stand in solidarity with Ukraine and the boycott of Russian films and official Russian delegates associated with the Russian regime and linked to the Russian government continues. Our position is anti-war  there is no room for any gray zones. None of us is happy that we have to make such decisions, but we have no choice, he notes.

Speaking in the most important arthouse cinema in Bulgaria, the Dom na kinoto (Cinema House) in the center of Sofia, which also serves as the headquarters for the Sofia festival, Kitanov notes how the local industry is still reeling from the damage wrought by the pandemic, and by the rise of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, which have decimated arthouse cinema admissions.

During the pandemic, the festival and the distribution and exhibition of films suffered; attendance has remained lower than in pre-COVID years, he notes. The government helped with measures but couldnt compensate all the losses. It hasnt been easy to get back on the track when you have slowed down for almost three years, but were getting there.

The 2023 Sofia festival, which wrapped its 27th edition on March 31, was a success, says Kitanov, with four times the attendance of last year, plus more interest from the media and many sold out screenings.

In total, 170 films from 53 countries screened with 300 international guests attending, while the 20th Sofia Meetings, the festivals industry event and co-production market, welcomed more than 200 industry participants and presented 33 projects in five different sections.

I see a bright future for the Sofia Film Festival because we offer what others dont have: films from around the world that cannot be seen in local multiplexes, retrospectives and special programs and, most importantly, interaction between audiences and filmmakers, says Kitanov. One of our main goals is to attract younger audiences and students, to engage them in cinema-going culture, present them stories and cinema visions they cannot find in multiplexes and on streaming services. That has been my personal mission for many years.

Looking into the future was also the force behind the Sofia Film Festival Forest, a new environmental initiative to compensate for the festivals CO2 footprint by planting a forest of new trees. The initiative kicked off this year with the help of veteran German filmmaker Volker Schlondorff, whose environmental documentary The Forest Maker opened the 27th edition. Schlondorff planted the first tree in the Sofia Festival Forest, followed by the Mayor of the City of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova and Kitanov himself. Other trees were planted by the legendary Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi, the veteran Czech filmmaker Jan Sverak, head of Sofia Meetings Mira Staleva, as well as Geraldine Chaplin, who received this years Sofia Municipality Special Award in honor of her, as Kitaov puts it, amazing career.

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WARWICK  Rhode Islands seventh marijuana dispensary opened Friday, selling products for medical-marijuana patients and recreational-use customers.

Solar Therapeutics Rhode Island Inc., doing business as Solar Cannabis Co., held a grand opening at its new store at 65 Meadow St.

The event came just a day after the company opened another dispensary in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, said company spokesman Derek Gould.

The two new stores bring the number of retail locations the company has in the region to four. The Warwick retail store will sell marijuana and marijuana-infused products grown by more than 20 Rhode Island-licensed cultivators, said Gould.

Solars opening comes four months after recreational pot sales began in Rhode Island.

More: Everything you need to know to buy retail marijuana in Rhode Island

Initially, Rhode Islands legalization law allows for up to 33 retail licenses distributed across six zones statewide.

But until the governor appoints a Cannabis Control Commission this year to decide which businesses can get those licenses (a process that could stretch into next year), only medical-marijuana dispensaries with licenses to also sell the drug for recreational use will be options for the public.

Recreational pot customers pay 20% in taxes, including a new 10% cannabis tax and a new 3% tax, proceeds of which go to the community hosting the dispensary. Medical-marijuana patients pay only the states 7% sales tax.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New retail pot store in RI opens - Solar Cannabis in Warwick
Image via Getty/Sean Gallup

A 41-year-old man who allegedly fathered about 550 children through sperm donations has been sued for increasing the chances of accidental incest.

According to the Times of London, the Dutch DonorKind Foundation brought forth the lawsuit against Jonathan Meijer after finding out he had been ignoring pleas from several women to stop donating sperm. He has contributed to at least 13 clinics, including 11 in the Netherlands, and continues to donate in Denmark and Ukraine.

I like to see that there are children of mine all over the world, Meijer once said, according to the Times.

The Netherlands blacklisted Meijer in 2017 after discovering his donations lead to the birth of 102 children, which violates a Dutch rule preventing a donor from impregnating more than 12 women or fathering over 25 children. The guideline was put in place in order to prevent inbreeding, incest, or psychological problems for the kids born with the aid of a sperm donor.

A Dutch woman, who goes by the name Eva, told the Times of London that she would not have chosen Meijer as a donor if she had known about him fathering over 100 children. Eva gave birth to her child in 2018. When I think about the consequences this could have for my child I am sick to my stomach, she said. Going to court is the only way to protect my child.

The foundation is asking the court to no longer allow Meijer to donate sperm, and order for the disposal of his stored sperm.

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Some staff members at the school in Nashville where a mass shooting took place on Monday were armed, a 911 call has revealed.

On Monday, 28-year-old shooting suspect Audrey Hale drove to The Covenant School, a Christian elementary school in Nashville, armed with three firearms. Hale shot dead three young students and three staff members.

A woman who called 911 while hiding under a desk during the shooting said to the dispatcher that one or two staff members carry guns, reported The Tennessean.

The revelation came as officials on Thursday released two dozen 911 calls and recordings of emergency dispatches from the shooting.

The call informing the 911 dispatcher that some staff members were armed was made at 10:12:05am on Monday.

A woman who called from the office of the nursery said: We do have a school person, or two ... Im not sure ... who would be packing, whose job it is for security. We dont have security guards, but we have staff.

The woman did not name the staff members who carried weapons.

It is also not clear whether those staff members were present on campus when the shooting took place. Police have also not stated yet that any staff members at the school had a gun or fired at the shooter.

Tennessee is one of 25 US states that allows people to carry concealed guns without a permit.

There has been a debate around arming teachers in schools.

Democrats and gun safety activists have argued passing stricter laws would reduce the violence, while Republicans and gun advocates are in favour of arming teachers and staff to protect students.

Following the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, former president Donald Trump said teachers should be armed with guns  even suggesting that those that do not have them might be inviting attacks on themselves.

Last year after the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas, Republicans mulled a number of ideas inlcuding place armed law enforcement in schools.

On Thursday, Kentucky GOP representative Thomas Massie had a shouting match New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman outside the House of Representatives over gun control.

You know, theres never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry [guns], Mr Massie said.
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WITH ANDY COHEN -- Pictured: Brandi Glanville -- (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo)

For the most part, ignorance is bliss and not knowing someone despises you can be beneficial. Polite society tells us to keep our mouths shut if we cant say anything nice, but polite society is definitely not reality television. The ladies featured on the Real Housewives franchise do their very best to present as sweet women of high society, but some of these sweet women have a vicious streak.

Most of the time we see true colors come out during a reunion or alcohol-filled dinner. For some reason, the most savage character traits come out when a cast is on a luxurious vacation. Whether it is home base or a faraway land, theres not a lot that will stop an argument thats been brewing since the previous episode. Despite someones best effort to remain composed, theres always a chance one of the stars will snap, and snapping inevitably leads to venom. While no one wakes up intending to hit below the belt, its difficult to sweetly ask an oncoming train to slow down. Lets take a look at some of the hardest-hitting clap backs that perhaps went a little too far.

Real Housewives Of Atlanta / Kenya Moore And Marlo Hampton

During Real Housewives of Atlantas Season 9, Marlo Hampton took her usual snark and leveled up to meet the final boss. Unfortunately, the final boss wound up being the fans she angered by hitting Kenya Moore below the belt. During Season 6 of RHOA, all appeared to be well between Marlo and Kenya. Two polarizing figures joining forces could create quite an impact on such a heavily opinionated cast. NeNe Leakes wasnt too fond of their friendship because she couldnt tolerate moving down a notch. Marlo knew who the popular kid in the group was and never stopped trying to edge her way back into NeNes heart. When they finally resolved their differences, this put a rift between Marlo and Kenyas relationship. NeNe didnt like Kenya, therefore Marlo could not like Kenya.

Basically, after Season 6 Marlo and Kenya did nothing more than endlessly irritate each other. During a camping trip, Kenya once again found herself on the receiving end of Marlos running mouth. Marlo decided to take a very sensitive and tender subject and throw it in Kenyas face. She called Kenya evil and concluded that was the reason Kenyas mother disowned her as a child. Kenya was highly and rightfully offended and her co-stars called Marlo out. It wasnt one of Marlos finest moments, but she did eventually share she regretted attacking Kenya in that manner.

Story continues

Real Housewives Of New York / Dorinda Medley And Tinsley Mortimer

I hope Tinsley Mortimer is doing great. I also hope Dorinda Medley is doing great. Chances are very good theyre both fine, but the two werent exactly copacetic on Real Housewives of New York. For the most part Dorinda was your average American wealthy lady of leisure. But when Dorinda drank, she basically became another person. Its fair to say Dorinda drank a lot.

Tinsley wasnt on RHONY for long. She had visions of wedding bells and babies dancing in her head. But hadnt made a lot of progress with either. Tinsley desperately wanted a husband and family but her life had taken certain detours stalling her fairytale ending. In an effort to be proactive, like many women Tinsley took measures to hopefully ensure she would one day be a mom.

Her love life struggled and for whatever reason, Dorinda wasnt very kind to Tinsley during vulnerable occasions. At one point Dorinda took it too far, and it might have been an extra nail in her Bravo contract coffin. During one of her final RHONY on-camera moments, Tinsley shared she was leaving the show to hopefully find everlasting love (she didnt). Dorinda was definitely not interested in Tinsleys quest for marriage, but she did slam her desire for children. Dorinda said, I dont want to talk about it. I really want to make it disappear. Just dont bring life to it. Then she added, Ive got a turkey baster. Maybe try and have a baby. Tinsley made her exit and after that comment, Dorinda wasnt far behind.

Real Housewives Of Orange County / Shannon Storms Beador And Kelly Dodd

I truly feel for Shannon Beador. I know shes moderately insufferable, but no one deserves what Shannon has experienced. This woman has been through the wringer on Real Housewives of Orange County. After years of trying to repair her self-worth, Shannon thought the warmth of true love had finally called her number. Unfortunately, it was ripped away at the end of 2022. Before John Janssen, there was David Beador. Chip-eating and cheating, Davids infidelity almost ruined Shannons life. To be blunt, she was miserable to watch due to the inherently sad subject matter. It was equally disturbing to see Shannon and Davids daughters witnessing the demise of their parents marriage. Shannon was raw, open, exposed, and clearly hurting.

Enter Kelly Dodd who could smell blood in the water like a great white shark and bite when you least expect it. During one of Shannons special parties with a 1970s theme, things went from wonderful to what-in-the-world when Kelly and Shannon started a back-and-forth war of words. The embarrassing scene culminated in Kelly going full lowbrow and commenting on Shannons shaky marriage that was currently under construction. Normally checking a cheating husband isnt considered below the belt, but due to Shannons struggles, it knocked the wind out of her. Kellys blow was aimed at David. She loudly said, No wonder why youve cheated on your wife. Shannon was horrified and humiliated once again and Kelly was left to use her mouth as a weapon until she was fired in Season 15.

RELATED: The Top 5 Husbands Of Real Housewives

Real Housewives Of Potomac / Candiace Dillard Bassett And Ashley Darby

Real Housewives of Potomac is heavy with star potential. Grand Dame Karen Huger presides over the ladies even though they dont take her too seriously. Candiace Dillard Bassett has some of the best lines you will ever hear. If you are involved in an argument, youre gonna want Candy on your side. She clashes with many, but consistently butts heads with co-star Ashley Darby. Candiace will violate every single one of your senses, but sometimes she takes it too far. In my opinion, reads are clever due to the quality of information being used at the time, but it doesnt take a genius to make fun of someones looks. Thats when you know youve lost and in one particular instance, Candiace failed to score a point against Ashley.

During birthday festivities for Robyn Dixon, Candiace found yet another opportunity to share her feelings with Ashley. Candiace wasnt pleased Ashely instigated a disagreement between Wendy Osefo and Gizelle Bryant on a previous girls trip. Ashley had just given birth and was grabbing pre-made breastmilk so she could peace out after sparking the intense convo. Candiace approached her when Ashley arrived at a brunch and left no mercy. Candiace said, You brought your widebody as down to Williamsburg to spread lies and bullsh*t and then you took off with your breastmilk. Ashley attempted to clock her on the body shaming, but it only proved to egg Candiace on. She actually said Ashley body-shamed herself just by walking into the room. She also told Ashley she has a big as* face along with a big as* forehead. I enjoy Candiace a great deal, but body shaming is not the way.

Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills / Brandi Glanville And Adrienne Maloof

What Brandi Glanville did to Adrienne Maloof when they both starred on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is one for the history books. Brandi actually took private information and shared it with the cast of RHOBH during a dinner. It was so personal, Bravo went through the trouble of bleeping out Brandis words until the information was fully public. Its sad when a network known for promoting bad behavior now has to cover the bad behavior.

During a filmed dinner, Brandi blurted out to the masses that Adrienne had chosen surrogacy to have her twins after a complicated first pregnancy. Adrienne and Paul Nassif had been previously advised by a child therapist not to reveal the assistance until their kids were mature enough to process the information. But Brandis big mouth took care of that for the Maloof/Nassif family.

Brandi was sent a cease and desist via Pauls attorneys and it sparked an enormous feud. Sides were taken and to the viewers surprise, Brandi persevered. Due to legal reasons, Bravo was even forced to cut scenes from the final edit of the show. In a franchise whose motto appears to be, leave the children out of it, Brandi dropped the ball and received little reprimanding for her efforts. Paul and Adrienne divorced shortly after the drama died down. Brandis whereabouts are currently unknown, but shes definitely not filming anything for Bravo.

TELL US- WHAT IS THE WORST BELOW-THE-BELT MOMENT YOU CAN THINK OF? WHAT WOULD YOU ADD TO THIS LIST? WHAT SUBJECT MATTER DO YOU THINK IS CONSIDERED COMPLETELY OFF-LIMITS TO USE IN AN ARGUMENT?

[Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo]

The post Top Real Housewives Comebacks That Hit Below The Belt appeared first on Reality Tea.
MADISON  The indictment of former President Donald Trump will likely have little impact on the high-stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race to be decided next week, as Democrats try to flip majority control of the court with the fate of abortion access in the state on the line, those closely watching the contest said Friday.

Trump has not been directly involved in the race and did not endorse anyone. Additionally, Trumps support among Republicans appears to be waning in the battleground state that he barely won in 2016 and then lost by a similar margin in 2020.

More: What April's Supreme Court election may tell us about the 2024 partisan races in Wisconsin

While this (indictment) may get the juice flowing with some of his supporters, some may have a head shake and shoulder shrug, said longtime Republican strategist and former state GOP party leader Brandon Scholz. This indictment thing isnt really tied into this race. It is a Trump issue.

Charles Franklin, a pollster for the Marquette University Law School, said the indictment could spur a bump in turnout both among Trumps most ardent supporters and his most fervent Democratic opponents. But he didnt think it would fundamentally alter the dynamics of the Supreme Court race between Republican-backed Dan Kelly and Democratic-backed Janet Protasiewicz to be decided Tuesday.

The classic October surprises are things that involve the candidates themselves, not someone else, Franklin said. For that reason, I think theres probably less reason to think this news dramatically changes the Supreme Court race because people would have to know enough to connect Donald Trump to the Supreme Court race and have not been planning to vote, or vote differently, in Tuesdays election.

Protasiewiczs campaign spokesperson, Sam Roecker, said Friday, We dont expect voters to be distracted by whats happening in New York.

Were focused on winning a critical election in four days that will have long-term consequences for millions of Wisconsinites when it comes to issues like reproductive rights and the strength of our democracy, he said. We know voters are focused on this race because its an opportunity to return fairness and impartiality to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

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Kelly did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Supporters of Kelly are hoping the indictment will fire up the GOP base like the raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago home the day before Wisconsins August GOP gubernatorial primary did.

Although Trump endorsed Kelly in his run for the court in 2020, Kelly did not seek a Trump endorsement this time and wouldnt even commit to accepting one if it had been offered.

Kelly, a former Supreme Court justice, worked for the Wisconsin Republican Party and the Republican National Committee after he lost his own 2020 election to remain on the court. He also advised the states top Republicans on their scheme after Trumps loss in 2020 to have fake electors cast Wisconsins electoral voters for him.

I am running against probably one of the most extreme partisan characters in the history of this state. Protasiewicz said during their only debate in March.

Again, this is you being quick to lie, Kelly responded.

Kelly insisted throughout the campaign that his personal politics are irrelevant and emphasized that hes dedicated to the rule of law.

The indictment Thursday came after 10 days of early voting across the state. As of Friday morning, nearly 353,000 absentee ballots had been returned. Early voting ends Sunday.

In the last days before an election, things have been set in motion for a long time, said Franklin, the pollster. People have already been making up their minds whether to vote or not and, if so, who to support. In that sense, these late-breaking things dont shift support tremendously, particularly when they dont involve the candidates.

The winner Tuesday will determine majority control of the court, which is expected to rule on the fate of Wisconsins near-total abortion ban, Republican gerrymandered legislative districts and voting rights heading into the 2024 presidential election. The court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Bidens win in the state in 2020.

Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, has tried to make the race a de-facto referendum on abortion, while also blasting Kelly for his ties to Republicans and his work for Wisconsin Right to Life.

Abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, are behind Protasiewicz. The Wisconsin Democratic Party has given her campaign nearly $9 million, helping her to get an advantage over Kelly in television advertising.

Kellys backers include the state and local GOP chapters as well as GOP mega-donors Richard Uihlein and Diane Hendricks.

More: Billionaires George Soros, J.B. Pritzker and the Uihleins pour millions into Wisconsin's Supreme Court race in final weeks

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump indictment not expected to affect Wisconsin Supreme Court race
Two former Oklahoma County jailers have pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor cruelty charge for forcing inmates to listen to "Baby Shark" as punishment.

Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles were put on probation for two years and fined $200.

They also were ordered to pay $300 in victims' compensation and complete 40 hours of community service. They were banned from working in law enforcement.

Both were charged after an investigation determined handcuffed inmates were forced to stand for long periods chained to a wall in the attorney visitation booth as discipline in 2019.

The two guards further mistreated inmates by playing children's music loudly on a loop, investigators reported. Both resigned after coming under investigation.

More: "Baby Shark" kid's song used to bully jail inmates, DA says

An aerial photo shows the Oklahoma County jail in downtown Oklahoma City. Detention officers admitted to playing the children's song "Baby Shark" multiple times, which upset some inmates.

The criminal case centered on four victims, but investigators believe there were more.

One victim said he had to listen to "Baby Shark" for two hours straight, according to an investigative report. Another said the "weird little song" was blaring and played "over and over and over again."

The case brought worldwide media attention to the troubled jail after The Oklahoman first reported on it in October 2020.

Both Butler and Miles confirmed playing "Baby Shark" during the discipline, according to the report.

"That was a joke between Miles and I," Butler said, according to the report.

The discipline had at one point involved children's music featuring Elmo, the popular Sesame Street character. Another guard admitted he suggested to Miles playing "Baby Shark."

A jury trial in the misdemeanor case had been set to begin Monday.

Instead, Butler, 24, and Miles, 23, pleaded no contest Thursday to three misdemeanor cruelty counts.

Special Judge Martha Oakes imposed the sentences.

She chose a type of probation that will leave them with no conviction on their record if they get in no further trouble.

Both also had been charged with conspiracy but prosecutors dropped that count.

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Miles and other detention officers did the best they could to try to keep order "with the lack of leadership going on at the time," his attorney, Michael Johnson, said.

Miles is now a truck driver.

"These inmates were winning the war at the jail," his attorney said.

Children's songs were played to calm inmates down, the attorney said. "It's basically like a time out," Johnson said.

Prosecutors also dismissed all misdemeanor counts against a supervisor.

Christopher Raymond Hendershott, a lieutenant at the jail, retired after coming under investigation. He had been charged with four cruelty counts and a conspiracy count.

He was accused of failing to take proper action after learning of the discipline. He is now 52.

"This guy was truly innocent," his attorney, Gary James, said.

Prosecutors realized that after reviewing the files, the attorney said.

Three of the "Baby Shark" inmates filed a federal lawsuit over their mistreatment, but a judge ruled against them. An appeal is expected now that the criminal case is complete.

One plaintiff, John Basco, died in the jail of a fentanyl overdose last September.

The fourth "Baby Shark" victim, convicted murderer Brandon Newell, agreed to be a witness in the federal lawsuit.

Newell said he was forced to listen to "Baby Shark" for popping out the door of his cell. "After the third repeat, I wanted to scream," he told the plaintiffs' lawyer, Cameron Spradling, in a letter.

"I was angry and humiliated," Newell wrote.

At the time of the incidents, Sheriff P.D. Taylor was in charge of jail operations. A trust took over the jail July 1, 2020, and Taylor left office after losing reelection.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: "Baby Shark' jailers sentenced for cruelty to Oklahoma County inmates
Jodi Habush Sinykin (left) speaks to voters at a March 23 fundraiser in the Milwaukee suburbs. A win for Habush Sinykin, a Democratic state Senate candidate, would deprive Republicans of a supermajority in the upper legislative body.

Jodi Habush Sinykin (left) speaks to voters at a March 23 fundraiser in the Milwaukee suburbs. A win for Habush Sinykin, a Democratic state Senate candidate, would deprive Republicans of a supermajority in the upper legislative body.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis.  When Jodi Habush Sinykin, a Democratic candidate for Wisconsin state Senate, explains why shes running, she speaks about Wisconsin being at a tipping point for abortion rights, democracy and our local communitys well-being.

But Habush Sinykin, an attorney with a lilting Great Lakes accent, also talks about neighboring states where Democrats have more power: Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.

After Wisconsins abortion ban took effect in 2022, Wisconsin women suddenly were put back into this second-class status [relative to] Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota, she told a crowd of voters at an informal fundraiser in a funky suburban art gallery on March 23. Thats where this legislature has put us.

Democrats are celebrating midterm election gains that brought them unified control of state government in Minnesota and Michigan for the first time in years and preserved their trifecta in Illinois. Those wins have empowered the party to counter conservative decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the actions of Republican leaders in other states.

In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed a bill providing every public-school child in the state free breakfast and lunch, regardless of their parents incomes. In Michigan, where voters enshrined abortion rights in a November referendum, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a bill undoing the states right-to-work status, clearing the way for labor unions to once again charge dues from all members they are legally required to represent.

And in Illinois, last year, Democrats even gerrymandered a congressional district map that offsets the effect of GOP gerrymandering in states like Texas and Florida, and could help the party retake the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024.

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But in Wisconsin, where Republicans spent the better part of a decade ruthlessly consolidating power, Democrats gains have been more modest and fitful.

In November, the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and attorney general, Josh Kaul, were reelected, but so was Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

This is not a hypothetical threat. This is real and this will happen.Jodi Habush Sinykin, Democratic candidate for Wisconsin state Senate

In addition, ironclad Republican majorities in the Wisconsin Legislature, abetted by favorable district boundaries, have largely limited Evers to blocking the GOPs bills with an unprecedented number of vetoes. Meanwhile, GOP gerrymandering helped Republicans come within inches of obtaining a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature in November.

The policy implications of this gridlock have been significant. Among other things, Wisconsin is the last state in the Midwest not to use federal money allotted under the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid to include all families at or near the federal poverty level. The federal government picks up 90% of the tab for any state that chooses to guarantee Medicaid to people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

In an interview with HuffPost following her remarks at the fundraiser, Habush Sinykin said that the state legislatures refusal to expand Medicaid makes no sense.

Although Habush Sinykin holds up Minnesota as a positive model, she is loath to draw negative comparisons that embody her fears of the direction in which Wisconsin is headed. Some supporters, who tagged along to watch HuffPost interview Habush Sinykin, nonetheless said that its not uncommon for Wisconsin Democrats to fret about the prospect of the state turning into Wississippi  a play on the famously conservative, impoverished Southern state.

In Tuesdays elections, the race to fill an open state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin has understandably drawn the lions share of national attention and resources.

Justice Patience Roggensack, a conservative, is not seeking a third term on the court, where conservatives currently hold a 4-3 majority.

Roggensacks retirement has sparked one of the most heated and expensive judicial races in Wisconsin history. Judge Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal, is competing with former Justice Dan Kelly, a conservative, for the open seat that will determine the ideological balance of power on the court.

Wisconsins Democratic Party has transferred millions of dollars into Protasiewiczs coffers in the hopes that her ascent will strike down an abortion ban from 1849 that took effect after the overturning of a federal right to abortion last June. Attorney General Kaul has sued to stop the law from taking effect, but pending clarity on that law, the states reproductive health clinics have stopped providing abortions.

Democrats are also counting on a more liberal high court to invalidate state legislative and congressional maps that Republicans have gerrymandered to their advantage.

Given the potential for new maps, Joe Zepecki, a Wisconsin Democratic strategist, described a Protasiewicz win as an opportunity to have an opportunity.

Republicans and conservative legal experts are equally invested in Kellys victory, though they have largely supported Kelly through more indirect channels than their Democratic counterparts. They paint the race as their Alamo moment to thwart a kind of liberal judicial activism that undermines the authority of the state lawmakers who pass laws and the voters who elect said lawmakers.

Wisconsin state Assemblyman Dan Knodl (R) submits his petitions to get on the ballot for the special state Senate election. He has spoken about how his victory would enable Republicans to unseat public officials through impeachment.

Wisconsin state Assemblyman Dan Knodl (R) submits his petitions to get on the ballot for the special state Senate election. He has spoken about how his victory would enable Republicans to unseat public officials through impeachment.

Theres a lot of talk now about preserving democracy. And if you want to talk about the 2020 election being stolen, I think its a bunch of hooey, said Rick Esenberg, president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, an influential conservative law firm and think tank. But there are other types of threats to democracy. And empowering the judiciary to overrule peoples elected representatives when theres no clear constitutional warrant to do it is in itself a threat to democracy.

But in the state Senate special election in which Habush Sinykin is competing, Republicans and Democrats have a more traditional partisan standoff.

Notwithstanding the dearth of attention it has received relative to the judicial contest, the policy and political stakes of the contest are significant.

Habush Sinykin, a Harvard-educated attorney who married into a family that owns a unionized textile manufacturer, is running against state Assemblyman Dan Knodl (R) for the chance to succeed retiring state Sen. Alberta Darling (R).

In November, Wisconsin Republicans flipped a state Senate seat held by Democrats, temporarily providing them a two-thirds majority. But Darlings departure on Dec. 1 quickly deprived the GOP of that supermajority. A win for Habush Sinykin in the newly open seat would ensure that the GOP continues to lack a supermajority in the state Senate for the foreseeable future.

Republicans need a two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers to override Evers vetoes, and they are still several votes short in the Assembly. But complementing their simple majority in the Assembly with a two-thirds majority in the state Senate would enable them to impeach Evers and expel him from office.

Referring to the prospect of Evers impeachment, Habush Sinykin said at the March 23 fundraiser, This is not a hypothetical threat. This is real and this will happen.

In making his case to voters, Knodl has indeed cited the power of impeachment that his victory would unlock. But in an interview with PBS, he focused on the need to impeach liberal prosecutors and judges who are not following the law. He was noncommittal about impeaching Evers, claiming that he doesnt see it on the radar screen and that he wants to work with the governor.

Many Democrats quietly see the odds of Habush Sinykins victory as lower than those of Janet Protasiewicz  not least because Knodl defeated a more right-wing figure, Assemblywoman Janel Brandtjen, in the Republican primary. Brandtjen, who has used her perch to try to retroactively decertify the 2020 presidential election results, had former President Donald Trumps endorsement.

But Habush Sinykin notes that Knodl joined Brandtjen in signing a Jan. 5, 2021, letter to then-Vice President Mike Pence calling for him to delay the Jan. 6 certification process in Congress to afford our nation more time to properly review the 2020 election.

For Charlie Sykes, an anti-Trump conservative pundit who lives in Mequon, Wisconsin, Knodls name on the letter is more than enough to convince him to vote for Habush Sinykin.

These are disqualifying things for me, Sykes told HuffPost.

HuffPost was not able to reach the Knodl campaign for comment for this story.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a joint session of the legislature in Feb. 2022. Behind Evers is Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (left) and Republican Senate President Chris Kapenga.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a joint session of the legislature in Feb. 2022. Behind Evers is Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (left) and Republican Senate President Chris Kapenga.

For years, the conservative tilt in the three suburban WOW counties surrounding Milwaukee  Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington  propelled Republicans like former Gov. Scott Walker to power.

The incremental shift of many of those suburban communities toward Democrats  in 2020 because of many traditional Republicans aversion to Trump and in 2022 due to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade  is the driving factor in the Democratic comeback in Wisconsin.

The change has been especially noticeable in Ozaukee County, where Mequon is located. In 2018, Evers received just 36% of the vote in the county, but in 2022, he received 44% of the vote.

Habush Sinykins fortunes could depend on Protasiewiczs ability to generate support in the suburbs, but Protasiewicz could benefit from a strong Habush Sinykin showing as well, the state Senate candidate said.

I am hoping for positive synergy, Habush Sinykin told HuffPost.

Senate District 8, which Habush Sinykin is seeking to represent, is gerrymandered into an odd shape that includes more liberal suburban communities along Lake Michigan, closely split battleground communities like Mequon and Menomonee Falls, and more conservative redoubts like Germantown, from whence Knodl hails.

In her remarks to supporters on March 23, Habush Sinykin sketched out a path to victory that included 50% of the vote in Mequon, 40% in Menomonee Falls and 20% in Germantown, while running up the score in more Democratic areas.

The Democratic candidate claims that she hears from a lot of Republican voters who are supporting her because they are worried about abortion rights or the fair administration of the 2024 election.

To help give them a permission structure to cast a ballot for a Democrat, Habush Sinykin emphasizes her interest in providing balance in GOP-controlled chambers and finding compromise where possible, potentially including an area like tax policy.

Does that compromise extend to abortion rights, where Wisconsin Republicans have signaled that they are open to something less strict than the criminal penalties in the 1849 law?

Habush Sinykin insisted that Democrats should not begin negotiations until the 1849 law is struck down.

There could be something worked out different than what we had under Roe v. Wade, she said, sketching out a scenario where compromise legislation is crafted in consultation with women, doctors, attorneys and other key stakeholders. But its not going to happen based on the shaky foundation of an 1849 law.

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Car and Driver

In a world of constant change and turmoil, it's comforting to have some constants. Some things to rely upon. Some things that will always be there regularly, predictably, on schedule. Well, that's not Car and Driver's YouTube spectacular, Window Shop.

But here it is, after more than a month of hibernation, back again. It's not the world's most beloved Zoom-based content, but it's fun for us anyhow.

This episode's challenge was to find a vehicle that would be fun to drive around Virginia International Raceway, the road course that has long been home to C/D's beloved annual Lightning Lap feature. Not that all of the participants have actually been welcomed to Lightning Lap.

So join us for about an hour's worth of sniping, snipping, sniveling, and navel gazing about finding the right fun thing for less than $40,000.

Aboard for this episode are major domo Tony Quiroga, minor domo K.C. Colwell, senior doma Elana Scherr, favorite contributing domo Jonathon Ramsey, and some guy named John Pearley Huffman.

In color! Often hazy and washed out. But color nonetheless.

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President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden touched down in Mississippi on Friday, nearly a week following a severe string of tornadoes that tore through the South left at least 26 dead.

The first couple toured Rolling Fork, Mississippi, a delta-region city pummeled by a tornado which was later assigned the rare and powerful classification rating of EF-4. Across the state, one long-track twister left a trail of destruction for about 59 miles, according to officials. The president approved disaster relief for the state on Sunday.

"Jill and I are here to show our support, Biden said during remarks in the town on Friday, standing amid the destruction. "I know theres a lot of pain and its hard to believe in a moment like this, this communitys going to be rebuilt, and rebuilt back better than it was before."

Aboard the Air Force One flight en route to Mississippi, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said she was "very concerned" about the storms set to hit Friday. The Storm Prediction Center issued a "High Risk" warning in two locations on Friday, marking the first time two distinct areas were cautioned of high risk for severe weather since April 14, 2012. The warning points to a major tornado outbreak across a wide area from the Midwest into the South. Rolling Fork is in on the edge of the risk zone.

Biden also warned of the new weather threat bearing down.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden arrive to receive an operational briefing by federal, local, and state officials on response and recover efforts at the South Delta Elementary School in Rolling Fork, Miss., March 31, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

"Some of these communities are again facing the threat of severe weather in just one week later, if you've looked at the weather forecast," he added. "FEMA and other federal personnel are here on the ground, ready to respond and to support state and local officials, if in fact they do amount to major storms. I want to urge everyone here to listen to local officials and be prepared to take shelter."

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba -- one of Mississippis few elected Democrats -- greeted the president and first lady after they landed in the city on Friday morning. They then flew north to Yazoo City before driving to Rolling Fork, where they were be briefed by federal, local and state officials on ongoing response and recovery efforts at a local elementary school.

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PHOTO: President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden speak with those impacted by last week's deadly tornado and severe storm in Rolling Fork, Miss., March 31, 2023. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

In Rolling Fork, the Bidens surveyed the disaster path and met with families impacted by the storms, including a number of relatives of the 13 people killed by the tornado from the area.

The president described what he had seen while surveying the damage, including teddy bears and other mementos strewn about.

"It's devastating. ... Were not leaving, the president said during his tour of the damage. The federal government is going to stay as long as it takes. Ive given every extension possible. ... But the most important thing is we got to let people know theres reason for them to have hope. Because this is -- especially people who have lost somebody.

This is tough stuff, he added. And the thing that really is always amazed me with all the tornadoes Ive been to of late, is that you have one house standing and one house from here to the wall, totally destroyed. It's but for the grace of God.

In Rolling Fork, Biden announced the federal government will cover the full cost of the state's emergency measures for the next 30 days. This includes debris removal, running shelters and paying for first responders to work overtime, among other costs. Biden has taken similar actions in other disaster zones, such as in Florida after Hurricane Ian.

He also announced that FEMA will open disaster recovery centers in four Mississippi counties to help victims of the tornadoes.

"Folks, I know there's a lot of pain and that it's hard to believe in a moment like this, this community is going to be rebuilt and rebuilt and built back better than it was before," Biden said. "Resilience in this community has been remarkable. And I just want you to know, as you fight through this, you're not alone. The American people will be with you. They'll help you through it, and so will I."

The Bidens were joined by Reeves, Mississippi first lady Elee Reeves and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss.

MORE: At least 26 dead as 'destructive' tornado, storms batter Mississippi, Alabama

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Criswell, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker will also be in attendance.

PHOTO: US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden step off Air Force One upon arrival at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in Jackson, Miss., March 31, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: Tornado destruction highlights low-income disaster preparedness challenges

The president's visit comes days after he approved Mississippi's disaster declaration and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

Over the weekend, the president spoke with Reeves and other members of the states delegation and "approved an expedited, major disaster declaration for Mississippi and ordered federal funding be made available to support emergency response efforts, according to Jean-Pierre.

I just spoke with President Biden about the deadly tornados we faced overnight. He assured us FEMA would be there to support our response. The flood of support from governors, businesses, charities, and federal admin has been tremendousmatches the community here on the ground, Reeves, a longtime Biden critic, said in a Tweet on Saturday.

During his remarks in Rolling Fork on Friday, Biden said he made clear to Reeves that the federal government will do everything to be of assistance.

Reeves thanked Biden for his response  especially how he expedited declaring a disaster  and pledging to stay to the end.

"People from across Mississippi and people from across America, Mr. President, have shown up, and they've shown out," Reeves said. "They've shown up to help people in need."

--ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky, Daniel Manzo and Daniel Amarante contributed to this report.

Biden visits Mississippi town pummeled by deadly tornado originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A federal judge in Tennessee has paused the state's new law restricting public drag performances just hours before the legislation was set to take effect.

In a ruling on Friday night, Judge Thomas Parker delayed enforcement of H.B. 9 for 14 days while the court considers its constitutionality. The ruling marked a temporary victory for Friends of George, a theater company that puts on drag shows and claimed that the newly-passed legislation, which was signed by Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tenn., infringed on its First Amendment rights.

"Within our country's federal framework, states are laboratories of democracy that can test laws and policies enacted by The People," Parker wrote.

PHOTO: The outside of Atomic Rose where spectators watch a drag performance ahead of the implementation of a Tennessee law restricting drag in front of minors that is due to come into force on April 1 at Atomic Rose in Memphis, Tenn., March 26, 2023. (Karen Pulfer Focht/Reuters)

The judge partially cited H.B. 9s "redundancy" in halting implementation of the legislation, which would make "a person who engages in an adult cabaret performance on public property" -- or where it can be viewed by minors -- a criminal offense.

"When the Court asked exactly what conduct this Statute reaches that is outside the scope of Tennessee's obscenity laws, Defendant initially answered that the Statute adds very little, and later clarified that in their view, the Statute is a time, place, and manner restriction. But this answer raises more questions for the Court as it does little to advance Defendant's position," the ruling stated.

MORE: Public drag performances restricted in Tennessee

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy told Parker he didnt object to a temporary restraining order.

ABC News Davone Morales contributed to this report.

Judge temporarily strikes down Tennessee law restricting drag performances originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The SI Swimsuit model made her debut with the magazine last year.

Georgina Burke was photographed by Ben Watts in Barbados. Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Georgina Burke made her SI Swimsuit debut with a bang last year. The Australian model was photographed in Barbados and learned the news of her upcoming photo shoot just 24 hours before it began. She flew from Montana to New York City to Barbados as fast as possible, and hit the beach to create some magic with photographer Ben Watts.

The most exciting part of her time on location, however, was that the 31-year-old got to wear a bikini from her own inclusive swimwear line, Burke NYC. The brand, founded in 2020, recently expanded to tanning products.

I cannot get the look I want without applying cooking spray (ridiculous, I know!) and lying in the sun like I did when I was young, Burke explained. To me, a tan embellishes whats good underneath. It accentuates my body tone and tone of the skin and makes me feel like Im putting a stocking over my skin to give me that added definition, and I want to bring that feeling to others.

Below are 10 of our favorite photos from Burkes 2022 photo shoot.

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Make sure to follow SI Swimsuit on YouTube!
Hamilton hype, then you're definitely familiar with the very talented If you were part of thehype, then you're definitely familiar with the very talented Phillipa Soo . A star both on stage and on screen, her next big project is One True Loves , a romance movie based on a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

BuzzFeed Video / Via youtube.com

Here are 21 interesting facts about Phillipa Soo:

1. Phillipa Anne Soo was born in Libertyville, Illinois on May 31, 1990. She's a Gemini.

Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / Getty Images

2. Her nickname is Pippa.

BuzzFeed Video / Via youtube.com

3. Phillipa's paternal grandparents moved from China to the US, and her dad is a first-generation American. Her mom was born and grew up in southern Illinois, just like Phillipa.

4. However, she wasn't "considered an actor of color" until her role in Hamilton.

Theo Wargo / WireImage / Via Getty

She told the Hollywood Reporter, "I don't know why, but clearly it has something to do with the statement that we're making in our show, and that you're seeing so many different colors that you're thinking, 'Wait a minute, what is everybody?' ... Also, it hasn't been until now that I received this beautiful letter from this young woman who thanked me for representing Chinese American people in the theater. That's never happened to me before! But it's beautiful because I feel like as amazing as it is to acknowledge, it's also amazing on the other side that people don't even think twice about it [in Hamilton]."

5. Her love for theater started early. Growing up in southern Illinois, she often traveled to Chicago to see new plays with her mom, and it inspired her to pursue an acting career.

Walter Mcbride / Getty Images

She told Dramatics, "I took dance classes, acting classes, singing classes, improv classes. From a young age, I was set on my career, ... Whether or not I 'made it' didn't matter. I wanted to live and make a living as an actor. That was always the goal."

6. While her mom taught her to love the arts, her dad, who's a doctor, taught her to have a head for business.

"My dad wanted to make sure I was working hard and doing everything I could to be the best at whatever I wanted to be. It's rare to have such a balanced household. I was lucky," she told Dramatics.

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7. She graduated from the prestigious drama program at Juilliard in 2012.

Dave Kotinsky / Getty Images

She told Broadway World, "I definitely think, when coming out of Juilliard, I felt very vulnerable and had no idea what to expect in terms of when I would start working, or what types of jobs I would do, if I would end up in LA or stay in New York. And I found it surprising, but also really not surprising, that I would end up doing musical theater just because I do love music and theater so much, and telling a story through song was always a very important thing for me when I was in school. So I've been so glad that that's where my path has taken me."

8. Her theater career took off almost instantly. Two months after graduating, she debuted as Natasha Rostova in the off-Broadway show Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. While watching the play, Hamilton director Thomas Kail noticed there was "something really incandescent" about her. Toward the end of that production, she was invited to read for Hamilton.

Bruce Glikas / FilmMagic / Via Getty

Phillipa told the LA Times, "At that point, Lin[-Manuel Miranda] was writing Act 2 and wanted to hear it out loud. I really didn't know anything about Eliza and not much about Alexander Hamilton yet. But listening to the music, I was intrigued to know more. Plus, it was such a great room to be in."

9. So far, Phillipa has originated three roles on Broadway, meaning she was the first actor to play them.

Walter Mcbride / WireImage / Via Getty

Here are the roles:

1. Eliza Schuyler Hamilton in Hamilton

2. Amelie in Amelie: A New Musical

3. Rebecca in The Parisian Woman

She also originated roles in two Broadway revivals:

1. Cinderella in Into the Woods

2. Guenevere in Camelot

10. Hamilton. They got married on September 24, 2017. She met her husband, Steven Pasquale, who's close friends with Lin-Manuel Miranda, while workshopping. They got married on September 24, 2017.

11. In 2020, she adopted her dog, Billie, around her birthday.

She told the New York Times, "It was the best thing to happen in COVID times. Animals are so good for the heart and soul."

12. Her favorite time of year is autumn because "of all the beautiful fall vegetables, and you can make soup."

13. Phillipa's iconic performance as Eliza in Hamilton earned her a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical in 2016. Reprising the role for the filmed Disney+ version earned her an Emmy nom for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

Theo Wargo / Via Getty

14. While performing Hamilton, she always looked forward to Eliza's final moment in "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story," where, after Alexander's death, she gets to sing about her own accomplishments.

Disney+

Phillipa told the Hollywood Reporter, "[It] is very much a culmination of the entire three hours of experience, the entire 20 years we've just seen in the play, the entire rehearsal process  where we are in that very moment."

15. Hamilton, Eliza gasps. Though fans have In the very final moment of, Eliza gasps. Though fans have interpreted it in different ways, Phillipa believes it's a combination of several of the most popular theories  Eliza getting to heaven, her reuniting with Alexander, and her seeing the audience and realizing their stories are being told.

Disney+

She told AOL's BUILD Series, "People are like, 'Is it Eliza going into heaven? Is she seeing Alexander? Is she seeing God? What is it?' And its kind of all of those things. Sometimes, its literally, I look out and I see the audience, and thats what it is, but I think that idea of 'transcendence' is present in all of that."

16. Hamilton cast member Morgan Marcell to create Playing Eliza inspired Phillipa to help carry out her legacy. In 2015, she teamed up with fellow originalcast member Morgan Marcell to create The Eliza Project , which brings the arts to the youth served by Graham Windham, the family services agency that evolved from the orphanage Eliza started.

Graham Windham / Via youtube.com

17. Hamilton is set in, in her dressing room. Her mom had it turned into a necklace for her. She used to keep her grandfather's coin, which is a replica of one from the timeframeis set in, in her dressing room. Her mom had it turned into a necklace for her.

18. She made her TV debut as Lexi, a minor character, in Smash, a (sadly) short-lived musical drama about theater professionals trying to put together new Broadway shows.

NBC / Via Prime Video

19. Moana soundtrack, you can hear her singing! Phillipa If you listen closely to thesoundtrack, you can hear her singing! Phillipa voiced one of the villagers of Motunui.

Lin-Manuel Miranda loves her voice so much that, between Hamilton performances, he asked her to record demos for the songs he was writing for the Disney film.

20. She won two Grammys for Best Musical Theater Album  one for Hamilton in 2016 and another for Into the Woods in 2023.

21. And finally, as an actor, she feels her job also makes her "a detective, archaeologist, and mystery solver."

BuzzFeed Video / Via youtube.com

She told the LA Times, "I'm trying to look into each character and try to realize her as someone who is also me."
Amy Jo Johnson has shut down reports that she rejected the offer of a role in the forthcoming Power Rangers reunion special over money.

The 52-year-old actor, who played Pink Ranger aka Kimberly Hart in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series, will not appear in the movie Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, which is out on 19 April.

On Sunday 26 March, Johnson tweeted asking people to stop claiming she turned the film down because of the proposed fee.

Please stop saying I didnt do reunion because of money. Simply not true, she wrote. Maybe I just didnt want to wear spandex in my fifties.

Or I couldnt travel to New Zealand to film for a month. Or perhaps its none of [your] beeswax.

The Power Rangers reunion was filmed before alum Jason David Franks death. Johnson said both actors chose not to reprise their roles for their own reasons.

[Jason David Frank] and I both chose not to for our own reasons. They filmed before he passed, Johnson wrote, adding that shes excited to see her co-stars Davis Yost and Walter Jones rock it playing the Blue and Black Ranger, respectively.

This isnt the first time Johnson has addressed her absence from the reunion.

In a tweet on 18 January, she wrote: For the record I never said noI just didnt say yes to what was offered. But other fun stuff is in-store! Looking forward to watching my friends kick a**!

Please stop saying I didnt do reunion because of money Simply not true. Maybe I just didnt want to wear spandex in my 50s  or couldnt go to NZ for a month.Or none of ur beeswax  JDF & I both chose not to for our own reasons. They filmed before he passed. #PowerRangers  Amy Jo Johnson (@_amyjojohnson) March 26, 2023

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is a web special serving to commemorate the 30th anniversary of both Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the Power Rangers franchise.

In the special, the Power Rangers travel back in time to stop Rita Repulsa from altering history.

The reunion is set to air on Netflix on 19 April.
BATTLE CREEK  At least 3,200 city residents benefited from a decision by Mayor Mark Behnkes administration to use $800,000 in Covid relief money to cover their outstanding utility bills.

Those who benefited should see a "payment/credit" applied to their account, officials said in Thursday release.

They do not need to take any action to participate in the program, and they do not have to pay it back to the city, officials said in the release.

Eligible residents also should have received a letter from the city describing the American Rescue Plan Act Utility Payoff Program.

City officials have previously reported that Battle Creek received $30.5 million through the American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion rescue package intended to facilitate the United States' recovery from the devastating economic and health effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The city has used its share in various ways.

In March 2022, the Battle Creek City Commission approved the expenditure of nearly $8 million in ARPA funds to support 20 community-sponsored projects negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

For questions or further information about Battle Creeks American Rescue Plan Act Utility Payoff Program, contact the citys Finance Department or Utility Billing Department at 269-966-3311.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Battle Creek uses Covid relief money to pay residents' utility bills
State Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, advocating for the Pretrial Fairness Act during a Wednesday, Nov. 15 rally at the Illinois State Capitol.

Legislation advancing out of the Illinois Senate this week is now one step closer to addressing an initiative pushed for years by juvenile justice reform advocates.

Senate Bill 1463 from state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, passed on Wednesday in a 37-19 vote and would eliminate the issuing of nearly all juvenile court fines and fees if signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker.

Individuals under the age of 18 would still owe restitution for violations of traffic, boating, fishing or game law along with municipal ordinance violations. The bill has received its first reading in the state House of Representatives and is now in the House Rules Committee.

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Already eliminated in more than 20 states, advocates say the costs of the fines and fees especially impact families of color and lower income families. A recent report from the Illinois Statutory Court Fee Task Force recommended abolishment and found the assessments "undermine the goal of achieving rehabilitation."

"In the juvenile court system, youths living in poverty may face harsher consequences than their more well-off peers since poor children are less likely to pay juvenile assessments, which may result in contempt of court, probation violations, recidivism, and even additional fees," the report reads.

Peters previously attempted passing similar legislation in the prior General Assembly through Senate Bill 3621 - a bill that never advanced beyond first reading in the chamber. Fines typically range from $50 to $800, although sometimes much higher, according to the juvenile justice reform coalition Debt Free Justice Illinois.

Peters said the real impact is often felt when families have to take-on credit card debt to cover their fines and fees.

"One fee for someone who's working class leads to a variety of different other economic challenges that could cause a debt cycle or debt spiral," he said.

Still, Republicans voting against the bill were concerned that this would be a financial loss for counties. State Sen. Jill Tracy, R-Quincy, said during floor debate on Wednesday that Adams County, her home county, issued $22,000 in fines either last year or in 2021.

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"That is a significant amount that somehow that county and that entity of government through their taxpayers is going to have to make up," she said.

All Senate Republicans voted against the bill. The Illinois Sheriff's Association also opposes the legislation.

The amount listed by Tracy for Adams County is "marginal," Peters added, since the county has an annual budget exceeding $60 million. The costs a county likely incurs in the process of collecting fees are also unnecessary, he believes.

Several counties, including the state's most populus Cook County and neighboring Morgan County, already do not order fines and fees. The average amount collected per county annually is about $786,000, according to DFJI, but this includes counties with much larger budgets such as Lake, DuPage and McHenry.

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Annually, the money collected by less populous counties is typically less than $5,000. Sangamon County assessed $155,742 in fines and fees at the juvenile level between 2017 and 2021- collecting slightly more than $20,000 over the five-year span.

The bill in its current form has no means test, meaning that families regardless of income would not be subject to fines and fees. This was an issue brought up by Tracy, and, when asked later on Thursday, Peters said he would not support.

Peters argued a means test already effectively exists in the court system since wealthier families can afford lawyers that have greater ability to either reduce or outright eliminate fines and fees. The same reality does not exist for poor families, he said.

"We have an inequity of how representation happens in our court system to begin with," Peters said. "We shouldn't have that actually."

Peters' bill comes as activists call for youth detention centers to be shut down throughout the state. The governor announced plans to close five centers in 2020, although plans are moving forward with a new center in Lincoln.

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice announced plans for the new Illinois Youth Center that will use a portion of the Lincoln Development Center grounds in Lincoln, Ill., Tuesday, February 2, 2021. [Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register]

SB 1463 has a companion bill in the House under House Bill 3120 from state Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago. The bill was re-referred to the House Rules Committee on Monday.

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/pkeckreporter.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Senate moves juvenile court fines and fees bill onto House
A couple in South Carolina were arrested following a five-month investigation into the death of their 6-year-old son, deputies said.

Spartanburg County deputies were called to a home in Greer on Oct. 30, 2022, for an unresponsive child. The boy, weighed 45 pounds at age 6, was taken to a hospital and died, prompting an investigation, according to a March 31 news release from the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office.

The parents, identified as Sarah Elizabeth Stewart, 32, and Christopher Allen Stewart, 48, told authorities that their son fell off a chair, hit his head on the floor and suffered a seizure, the sheriffs office said.

But the toxicology report told a different story and both parents are now charged, according to the release.

It was determined the boy died from a Benadryl overdose and had enough Benadryl in his system to kill an adult male, the sheriffs office said. In addition to the toxicology report, an autopsy found that the child was healing from multiple bruises.

The South Carolina Department of Social Services had received numerous child abuse referrals regarding the victim, and a search warrant found he had been living in filthy conditions, the release said.

Investigators interviewed both parents and learned that the mother said she gave the boy Benadryl because he was hyperactive, according to deputies.

After  meetings with both the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the Solicitors Office, it was determined that probable cause existed to charge both parents with the death of their child, the sheriffs office said in the release.

Sarah Elizabeth Stewart was charged with homicide by child abuse and unlawful neglect of a child, and Christopher Allen Stewart is charged with unlawful neglect of a child, according to the release. Both were booked into the Spartanburg County detention facility.

Greer is about 100 miles northwest of Columbia.

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A line of severe thunderstorms made its way across Central Indiana late Friday and early Saturday morning, bringing strong winds, rain and tornado warnings.

Follow along here for the latest information.

Gov. Eric Holcomb declares disaster emergency in several Indiana counties

Gov. Eric Holcomb declared a disaster emergency in several Indiana counties after severe storms and tornados rolled across the Hoosier state March 31 into the next day. The counties included in the disaster emergency are Benton, Monroe, Owen, Morgan and White.

Holcomb issued the disaster emergency Tuesday. He previously issued a disaster emergency in Johnson and Sullivan counties due to impacts from the the severe weather.

Those in need of government services will be able to stop in at sites in Whiteland and Sullivan from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The sites will be at Sullivan City Hall and the Clark Pleasant School District Administration Building. State agencies offering assistance will include:

Bureau of Motor Vehicles

Department of Insurance

Department of Workforce Development

Family and Social Services Administration

Housing and Community Development Authority

Department of Health

Department of Homeland Security

5 counties including Morgan, Monroe, Benton, Owen, and White have been added to the state's disaster declaration request. To help those in need of government services, we are setting up one-stop sites in Whiteland and Sullivan which will operate 9 AM-7 PM TF and 10 AM-2 PM Sat. pic.twitter.com/IuoefRHmFf  Governor Eric Holcomb (@GovHolcomb) April 4, 2023

Scattered power outages as worst of storm clears Indianapolis

12:19 a.m.: The Marion County Emergency Management Service declares that the severe weather threat has passed for Indianapolis. The city and AES are working on downed trees and power lines as the utility reports 5,165 customers without power across Marion County.

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The severe weather threat is over for Marion County. Currently, there are over 5000 locations without power. Some trees and power lines are down around the county. @IndyDPW and @AESIndiana are working to clear these locations. Treat dark intersections as four way stops  Marion County Emergency Management - Indianapolis (@MarionCo_EM) April 1, 2023

11:54 p.m.: Gusts of 41 mph and light rain are reported at Indianapolis International Airport, down from gusts of 45 mph at 10:54 p.m. The temperature is 57 degrees, down from 68 an hour earlier.

Severe thunderstorm warning for Indy, Carmel, Fishers

11:26 p.m.: Sirens sound across Indianapolis as winds pick up. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning until midnight for an area that includes Indianapolis, Carmel and Fishers. The warning will continue until 12:30 for Muncie, Anderson and Yorktown.

The severe thunderstorm warning expires at 11:45 for Avon and Plainfield, on the western side of the metro area.

"This storm will contain wind gusts to 70 MPH!" the agency tweeted.

Check the most recent weather alerts around the country here.

Tornado warning issued for Franklin, Shelbyville

11:26 p.m.: There's a tornado warning for Franklin, Shelbyville and New Whiteland until midnight.

Tornado warning issued for Morgan County

11:20 p.m.: The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning until 11:30 for an area south of Indianapolis including Martinsville and Morgantown.

"Strong rotation with debris signature located just north of Stinesville at 1105 PM EDT," the NWS's Indianapolis office tweeted.

Tornado indications at Indiana-Illinois border

10:20 p.m.: The National Weather Service urges residents of Sullivan County, which is south of Terre Haute on the Indiana-Illinois state line, to take shelter due to "strong indications" of a tornado just west of the county.

Latest line of rain and thunderstorms hits western Central Indiana

9:50 p.m.: "Areas of showers and thunderstorms are moving across western Central Indiana at this time," the National Weather Service in Indianapolis posted. "This line will progress across the area over the next few hours."

Tornado watch issued for parts of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan

8:01 p.m.: A tornado watch is in effect for Indianapolis and much of Indiana until 3 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. The watch stretches from South Bend to Evansville, with only eastern Indiana and the northwestern corner not included.

A tornado watch  which means weather conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form  was also issued for parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan.

Marion County Emergency Management: 'Have a place in your home to shelter.'

7:25 p.m.: Marion County Emergency Management officials are urging Hoosiers in Central Indiana to stay mindful of the weather.

"Some weaker storms are making their way out of Marion County, however the next round is approaching from Illinois," the organization tweeted Friday night. "Multiple tornados in several states to our west and south west. Have a place identified in your home to shelter, a basement or interior room with no windows."

Severe storms from Illinois creeping into Indiana

6:35 p.m.: A line of severe storms is making its way from western Illinois into western Central Indiana and are expected to arrive by around 9 p.m. Friday, according to a Tweet by NWS Indianapolis. Meteorologists say showers, thunderstorms, strong winds, hail, and possible tornadoes are possible.

The current round of storms is making its way out of our area but the next round is approaching in a couple hours from Illinois. Stay weather aware and have a plan of action for this evening. #INwx pic.twitter.com/yuMTWXsjRI  NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) March 31, 2023

Rain and thunderstorms enter the Indianapolis area

4:25 p.m.: Rain and thunderstorms have entered the area, according to a tweet by NWS Indianapolis, which said residents can expect an increase in sustained wind speeds and gusts as the evening progresses.

Rain and Thunderstorms enter the area. We will see an increase in sustain wind speeds and gusts as the evening progresses. #INWX pic.twitter.com/4FjfaF5itO  NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) March 31, 2023

Federal forecasters issue first high-risk severe weather alert in 2 years

2:45 p.m.: Federal forecasters have issued their first high-risk severe weather alert in two years.

An outbreak of violent thunderstorms is forecast to impact more than a dozen states on Friday, with several tornadoes a near certainty.

About 89 million people in at least 15 states  from Texas to Alabama in the South all the way up north to Wisconsin and Michigan  are at risk from the "explosive" storms.

On Friday, two rare high-risk zones for severe weather were issued by the Storm Prediction Center, one centered near Memphis and the other on the border between Iowa and Illinois. It's the first time in more than two years the SPC has issued a high risk.

A tornado watch  which means weather conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form  was also issued for a large portion of the central U.S., all the way from Iowa to Arkansas.

Central Indiana upgraded to moderate risk for severe storms

12:45 p.m.: Central Indiana is now within the moderate risk for severe storms this evening, according to a tweet by NWS. Damaging winds are expected with the line of storms along with isolated tornadoes. Additional severe storms are possible ahead of the line.

Moderate risk means an area where widespread severe weather with several tornadoes and/or numerous severe thunderstorms is likely, some of which should be intense. This risk is usually reserved for days with several supercells producing intense tornadoes and/or very large hail, or an intense squall line with widespread damaging winds.

Central Indiana is now within the Moderate Risk for severe storms this evening. Damaging winds expected along a line of storms along with isolated tornadoes. Additional severe storms are possible ahead of the line. #INwx pic.twitter.com/xbhEii6vqG  NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) March 31, 2023

A good reminder from our friends @NWSIWX Have multiple ways to receive wx info and warnings! #INwxhttps://t.co/3m48oCmwqU  NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) March 31, 2023

EARLIER PREDICTIONS: A line of severe thunderstorms is expected to make its way across Central Indiana late Friday and Saturday, bringing with it damaging winds, small to large hail, and the possibility of isolated tornadoes.

The Indianapolis area can expect rain Friday afternoon, followed by a chance for severe weather Friday evening, say meteorologists.

"We're looking at the potential for a few scattered showers and storms, probably between 5-8 p.m. Friday, and then a line of strong to severe storms coming in after that," said Andrew White, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis.

Rain will diminish through midday. Additional rain and storms will arrive later in the day. Some storms could be strong to severe this evening with damaging winds as the main threat. Severe Storms will be most likely after 900 PM. Isolated tornadoes and hail are possible. #Inwx pic.twitter.com/WfeQ0IzMkQ  NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) March 31, 2023

Indianapolis weather: What Central Indiana residents can expect moving into 'heart of the severe weather season'

White said Hoosiers in Central Indiana should brace for damaging winds between 7-10 p.m. Friday, adding that an isolated tornado couldn't be ruled out.

A line of thunderstorms moving through Central Indiana Friday evening could bring damaging winds up to 70 mph and some risk of a few brief tornadoes, according to a hazardous weather outlook issued by NWS.

A wind advisory is also in place for portions of Central Indiana, including Indianapolis, from 8 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday.

"I would say winds of 60-70 mph certainly looks likely at spots," White said. "Not everyone's going to get winds that fast. It all depends on where you are along the lines of the storm."

The gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects, down trees and cause power outages, according to the wind advisory.

The area of greatest concern appeared to be west-central Indiana counties and communities, but all residents of Central Indiana should monitor weather conditions Friday, according to a statement by NWS.

In addition to other safety precautions, White recommended Hoosiers bring in their outdoor lawn furniture in anticipation of strong winds and, if possible, to remove dead tree limbs that could cause potential hazards.

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"After the showers and storms move through the area, we are going to be looking at another period of strong winds," White said. "There could be some additional wind gusts of about 50 mph, which could cause some additional power outages."

AES Indiana is encouraging Hoosiers to be prepared for possible power outages Friday and Saturday.

 A strong storm system will likely bring severe thunderstorms with damaging winds on Friday night and Saturday. Tornadoes and large hail are also possible. Be sure to read our outage FAQs so you can be prepared: https://t.co/mtWymblVu1 pic.twitter.com/P6CJCQ6D9Y  AES Indiana (@AESIndiana) March 30, 2023

Weather forecast for Indianapolis

According to NWS, the weather in Indianapolis will be windy, wet, and moderately warm this upcoming week. Here's what Hoosiers can expect.

Friday: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 4 p.m. High near 65 degrees. Breezy, with a south wind 18 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Friday Night: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight. Low around 41 degrees. Windy, with a west southwest wind 24 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Increasing clouds, with a temperature falling to around 41 degrees by noon. Windy, with a west wind 24 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 47 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 27 degrees. Northwest wind 8 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 57 degrees. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46 degrees.

Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly after 2 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 68 degrees.

Monday night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 8 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57 degrees. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Tuesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75 degrees.

Tuesday night: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 59 degrees. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 70 degrees. Breezy.

Wednesday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40 degrees. Breezy.

Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 57 degrees.

IndyStar's Jake Allen and Cindi Andrews contributed to this article.

John Tufts covers evening breaking and trending news for the Indianapolis Star. Send him a news tip at JTufts@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis weather: Severe storms possible March 31, April 1, 2023
One of the 14 people charged as the result of an FBI-coordinated sting of sexual predators in the metro-east drove from Missouri to a home in Collinsville, believing hed be meeting a 15-year-old girl for sex.

He was greeted instead by law enforcement agents.

Vallie Francis Zeller, 46, was charged in the U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois on single counts each of attempted enticement of a minor, interstate travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. A jury found him guilty on all three crimes Wednesday at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.

The defendant deliberately tried to exploit a minor for sexual activity and chose to drive across state lines to engage in criminal sex acts, and Im grateful the jury convicted him on all counts, said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. The FBI works diligently to protect minors from online predators, and I appreciate their collaboration with our office to put this offender behind bars.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 18. Zeller faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.

The FBI worked with a joint task force of state and local law enforcement agencies  including Belleville, Collinsville, Swansea and Scott Air Force Base Police  to identify potential child predators who were attempting to meet minors for sex, according to a release from the federal court. Fourteen alleged sex offenders were later charged by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Southern Illinois.

According to the criminal complaint against Zeller, the investigators tactics included posting ads on social media and dating websites with pictures of young-looking male and female confidential sources.

Zeller began communicating with one of those agents, who identified herself in text messages as a 15-year-old girl.

I like older, she texted him, according to court records. Guys my age are so lame.

Zeller began pressing her for personal information, asking if shed ever had sex before. After she responded that she was a virgin, Zeller told her it will hurt a little at first, sorry, then asked her to send him video of her genitals.

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Use good lighting and a close up  he said, according to the records.

On June 26, 2020, about 9:30 p.m., Zeller traveled to the house in Collinsville believing the 15-year-old girl was house sitting for an aunt and that theyd have sex. He was arrested after initially attempting to flee police in his vehicle, a police report stated.

The FBIs investigation revealed a deliberate attempt by Vallie Zeller to victimize a child. Our utilization of proactive investigative techniques stopped Zeller from completing the harm he intended, FBI Springfield Field Office Special Agent in Charge David Nanz said in a release. We are grateful to the many law enforcement partners who participated in this investigation.

The FBI Springfield Field Office led the investigation with assistance by the FBI St. Louis Field Office, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Belleville Police Department, the Collinsville Police Department, the Edwardsville Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriffs Office, the Illinois State Police, the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department, the Swansea Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Alton Jail, the Monroe County Jail, and the St. Clair County Jail.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ali Burns and Zoe Gross are prosecuting the case.
The Charlevoix Health Department of Northwest Michigan building stands Monday, March 14, 2022, located at 220 W. Garfield Ave.

GAYLORD  The board of health for the Health Department of Northwest Michigan is scheduled to consider a resolution that could affect the department's responses to health emergencies like COVID-19.

At the April 4 meeting in Charlevoix, the eight board members who are county commissioners from the health department's jurisdiction of Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties, are scheduled to review a resolution upholding medical freedom in light of the recent COVID-19 countermeasure experience authored by Rich Ginop, chairman of the Emmet County Board of Commissioners.

The resolution states that all state or local governmental emergency measures affecting, or emanating from the health department regarding a pandemic or epidemic, shall expire after 28 days and only a three-fourths vote of the full board of health can authorize continued implementation of such measures, and then only on a month-by-month basis.

The resolution also states that the health department shall not impose, permit or enforce Covid vaccine mandates, the mandated masking or testing of asymptomatic persons.

When asked if the 28-day expiration for health measures can be legally applied to mandates from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) or the federal government, Ginop said "I am not sure."

"Courts have consistently upheld MDHHSs ongoing authority under the public health code. MDHHS will continue to use its powers under the Public Health Code to protect the lives of the people of Michigan," said Chelsea Wuth, a spokeswoman with MDHHS when asked to respond to the resolution.

Matthew Cross of the Plunkett Cooney law firm, who serves as legal advisor for the board of health, declined to comment.

"I have not had an opportunity to look over the resolution since receiving it last week and likely wont have an opportunity to do so until closer to the meeting," Cross said in an email on March 27.

Last December, the state court of appeals ruled that the Ottawa County Health Officer acted legally and appropriately when she issued a pre-K-6 mask mandate during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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"I am sick and tired of the so-called authorities lying to us and not revealing the truth about vaccine damages, deaths and injuries that are happening," Ginop responded when asked what motivated him to draft the resolution.

According to a 2022 report from Johns Hopkins Medicine titled "Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?," authors Lisa Maragakis and Gabor David Kelen, both MDs, said the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "are very safe and very good at preventing serious or fatal cases of COVID-19. The risk of serious side effects associated with these vaccines is very small."

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Ginop believes he has the votes on the board to gain approval of the resolution. He bristled when asked if he was over reaching.

"They over reached (and) they are shoving it down our throats. They are spending tax dollars in the mainstream media that (the vaccine) is good for you and it's effective. There is more evidence against it then there is for it," he said.

In addition to Ginop, other board members include Jarris Rubingh and Dawn LaVanway of Antrim County, Josh Chamberlain and Scott Hankins of Charlevoix County, Don Mapes from Emmet County and Henry Mason and Jonathan Turnbull of Otsego County.

 Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Health department board to consider proposal to limit pandemic responses
Parts of Western North Carolina are under a high wind warning April 1 as power outages sweep across the region.

As of 9 p.m. April 1, more than 20,000 Duke Energy customers in WNC were without power, according to Duke Energy, as electrical service was coming back in some areas. Power had been restored to most Buncombe County customers by 7 p.m.. Less than an hour earlier, Duke had reported more than 25,000 Buncombe outages.

Reported outages as of 9 p.m., according to Duke energy:

Avery County: 909 customers were without power.

Cherokee: 452.

Graham: 1,171.

Haywood: 2,597.

Henderson, 3,151.

Jackson: 1,213.

Macon: 1,231.

Madison: 584.

McDowell: 1,111.

Mitchell: 5,484.

Swain: 1,388.

Transylvania: 2,130.

Yancey: 576.

In each case, Duke said it was assessing the damage and had no estimate for restoration. It said the wind gusts could prevent crews from raising the buckets on their trucks, slowing the progress of overhead repairs. Some repairs won't be possible until the winds die down later in the evening, Duke said.

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning from 8 a.m.-midnight Saturday for areas above 3,500 feet in Buncombe, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Swain and Transylvania counties. There is a wind advisory for areas below 3,500 feet in the same area.

In higher elevations, sustained winds of 25 mph to 35 mph are expected, with gusts as high as 65 mph, according to the weather service. Gusts in the valleys could reach 55 mph, with sustained winds of 20-30 mph.

Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines, and widespread power outages are expected, the NWS says. Ahead of the wind advisories, Duke Energy sent alerts to customers to be prepared for outages.

The weather service advises motorists to be cautious, as high profile vehicles could be less stable in the high wind, as well as for the possibility of downed trees on roadways.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: High wind warning in effect Saturday for Asheville area
Batavia, Illinois, police officer Joe Gudella was found dead inside a cabin in northern Juneau County, authorities said.

An Illinois police officer was found dead inside a cabin in northern Juneau County earlier this week, authorities said.

The Juneau County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that a call came in requesting a welfare check at a residence in the town of Armenia shortly before 5 p.m. on Monday. Dispatch also reported a second call from a neighbor who was at the residence and said two residents appeared to not be breathing.

Upon arrival, first responders discovered a man who was "noticeably deceased," the release states. The Batavia, Illinois, Police Department identified the deceased man, in a Facebook post, as one its officers, Joe Gudella.

Another man also was found in the cabin and was tended to by medical personnel. He was later transferred to a hospital and was initially on life support. In a GoFundMe post, the family of the man said he was no longer on life support, but "he has a long road ahead."

It's unclear what happened to the men, no cause of death has been revealed, but Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke described Gudella's death as "natural causes" and "accidental," in a video message posted to YouTube.

"We're in a very, very sad time down at the city of Batavia," Schielke said. "He was a beloved member of the department."

According to police, Gudella was staying at a family home in Armenia. Schielke said Gudella was a resident of Bloomingdale, Illinois.

"Officer Gudella was thoughtful and compassionate, and his positivity and zeal for life were infectious," police said. "He had a servants heart and a passion for making people feel welcomed and loved. In his time with the Batavia Police Department, he made a lasting impact on his peers and the community that he served with pride. He will be sorely missed by all."

Gudella had been with the department since January 2022, after serving with the Cook County Sheriff's Office since 2015.

Gudella had a wife and two children. His family set up a GoFundMe page, "hoping that any donations help ease the uncertainty and difficult decisions in the immediate and extended future." The fundraiser had a goal of $10,000, but as of Friday afternoon, nearly $100,000 was raised.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Illinois police officer found dead inside a cabin in central Wisconsin
[Source]

Vogue Philippines recently unveiled the cover of their April 2023 beauty issue featuring Apo Whang-Od, an Indigenous tattoo artist who has made history as the oldest person to ever be showcased on a Vogue cover.

Whang-Od, a 106-year-old woman, is renowned as the last and oldest mambabatok, which is a traditional Kalinga tattooist who uses the hand-tapping technique called batok. Traditionally, only male members of the Butbut tribe practiced this technique, but Whang-Od became the first woman to do so at the age of 15 under her fathers guidance.

Vogue Philippines has praised Whang-Od, who also goes by Maria Oggay, for her tireless efforts to preserve the tradition at a time when Western beauty standards threatened to erase the tattoo technique. With the arrival of American Catholic missionaries in Kalinga, tattooed women from the village were forced to cover up their tattoos, which were seen as shameful.

More from NextShark: 'I was stressed at work, so I set the store on fire': Burned-out Japanese part-time worker arrested for arson

During her career, Whang-Od has tattooed thousands of international visitors who traveled great distances to be tattooed using only a bamboo stick, a pomelo tree thorn, water and coal.

As the craft is traditionally only passed through bloodlines and Whang-Od has no children, she made the decision to teach the technique to her grandnieces, Grace Palicas and Elyang Wigan.

This significant choice ensured that her legacy would be carried on by a woman.



More from NextShark: SSJ Blue Goku to return to Macys Thanksgiving Parade

Palicas and her cousin Elyang are the tattooists who greet and ink the hundreds of visitors who come to their village each day. After her apprentices finish the tattoos, Whang-Od marks them with her signature three dots representing herself and her apprentices.

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Although Whang-Od is the last mambabatok of her generation, she is not afraid that the tradition will end because she is preparing the next generation of tattoo masters.

The editor-in-chief of Vogue Philippines, Bea Valdes, revealed that Whang-Od was selected as the cover model through a unanimous vote because the publications staff agreed that she represented our ideals of what is beautiful about our Filipino culture.

"We believe that the concept of beauty needs to evolve, and include diverse and inclusive faces and forms. What we hope to speak about is the beauty of humanity," Valdes added.
The Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis on June 24, 2022.

A lawsuit filed Friday in St. Louis accuses Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey of a politically motivated investigation of transgender care provided by Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.

The attorney general demanded Planned Parenthood turn over a litany of records earlier this month as part of his investigation into allegations of misconduct at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital.

Planned Parenthood is not affiliated with the Washington University clinic, the lawsuit notes, and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. It is asking a judge to strike down Baileys demand for records, which Planned Parenthood says included HIPAA-protected patient health information and every document that references social media or TikTok.'

The unduly burdensome demands seek irrelevant and unrelated information, and many of the demands seek privileged information, the lawsuit states.

Planned Parenthood argues Baileys demand for documents is outside the scope of his legal authority and is best characterized as improper, harassing and unjust.

Planned Parenthood knows this playbook well, and well move forward just like we have in every other sham investigation  well continue providing expert and evidence-based health care while we fight in court, Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. This investigation is what ignorance and transphobia look like, and they have no place in our exam rooms."

A spokeswoman for the attorney generals office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Baileys investigation of transgender care at Washington University was sparked by an affidavit filed by Jamie Reed, a former caseworker at the transgender clinic who alleges the clinic overlooked mental health needs of patients and did not inform adolescents and their parents of potential side effects of treatment.

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She also alleges the clinic gave children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones after just two one-hour visits.

Parents of former patients of the Transgender Center, as well as one of Reeds former coworkers, have strenuously rejected her description of the centers level of care, saying treatments were only undertaken after long consultations with doctors and mental health professionals.

In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood notes that there is nothing in Reeds affidavit pertaining to its clinic.

Planned Parenthood says its TRANSforming Community, TRANSforming Care program has provided gender-affirming care to more than 1,000 patients.

Bailey announced earlier this month that his office planned to file a set of emergency rules aimed at restricting how doctors provide gender-affirming care to minors.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Planned Parenthood sues Missouri attorney general over transgender care investigation
Some of former president Donald Trumps sharpest critics hailed the news that a grand jury in Manhattan had indicted the former president for allegedly paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.

Former represetative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who was one of only 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Mr Trump in 2021, said he did not celebrate the indictment but said it was important.

Today is a somber day for our nation. Donald Trump committed many crimes, but this indictment should be a reminder that in America, NO ONE is above the law. We must move forward and let justice prevail. The anti-democratic threat, however, hasnt diminished.

Mr Trump is reportedly facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud, sources told CNN.

In 2019, Mr Trump led a chant of send her back for Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. But on Thursday evening, Ms Omar said elected officials like Mr Trump need to be held accountable.

Today is a somber day for our nation. Donald Trump committed many crimes, but this indictment should be a reminder that in America, NO ONE is above the law.



We must move forward and let justice prevail. The anti-democratic threat, however, hasnt diminished.  Adam Kinzinger #fella (@AdamKinzinger) March 30, 2023

I hope all of my colleagues will join me in supporting justice and accountabilityregardless of partyfor the sake of our democracy.  Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) March 30, 2023

Our democracy rests on the rule of law. When someoneno matter how powerful they areis suspected of a criminal act, our justice system investigates, charges, and convicts them in accordance with due process, he tweeted. This is just one of many criminal acts for which Donald Trump is being investigated.

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Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York added that the indictment of Mr Trump in Manhattan was not the only reason he could face legal troubles.

Trump attempted to illegally overturn election results in Georgia and worked to incite the insurrection at the Capitol, both in an effort to overthrow our government to advance his fascist cause, he tweeted. His continued calls for protests following his arrest are just another dog whistle for his followers: destroy our democracy.

Its time that we ensure Trump is banned from running for any public office again and from there, finally take action to fix our democracy.  Congressman Jamaal Bowman (@RepBowman) March 30, 2023

Mr Bowman said that Mr Trump should be banned from holding public office permanently.

George Conway, who is currently in the process of divorcing top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, noted how the indictment came right before the grand jury was set to take a pre-planned break.

it's so good to see that the ol'-drop-it-in-the-mail-just-before-leaving-on-vacation trick is alive and well  George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 30, 2023

[I]t's so good to see that the ol'-drop-it-in-the-mail-just-before-leaving-on-vacation trick is alive and well, he tweeted.

Former representative Mondaire Jones of New York criticised Republican defences of the former president.

Republican officials are claiming its relatable that Donald Trump paid hush money to a porn star in order to win a presidential election, then manipulated official business records to conceal his campaign finance violations.



Weird.  Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) March 30, 2023

Republican officials are claiming its relatable that Donald Trump paid hush money to a porn star in order to win a presidential election, then manipulated official business records to conceal his campaign finance violations, he said. Weird.

Mr Jones later cheekily quote-tweeted a story noting how actress Gwyneth Paltrow won a ski accident lawsuit.

Just a truly important day for our justice system. https://t.co/lAsyccW4G3  Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) March 30, 2023

Just a truly important day for our justice system, he tweeted.
Humberto Eladio Real Suarez, a Cuban exile who served 28 years in prison in Cuba after attempting an armed incursion into the country from Miami in 1994 from Miami, was freed this week..

It has not been easy. I have endured it with a lot of patience and thank God my parents were always by my side, he told independent news outlet Cubanet in his first public statement after his release from a prison facility in Matanzas province. Thank God, above all things, who is with us in this daily struggle to see Cuba free and democratic.

In Miami, his daughter, Lizandra Real, 34, was thrilled with the news.

I am so happy. I havent talked to him in several years; I cried a lot, she said. My father is my hero.

Real Suarez, 55, was just 26 when he disembarked with another six Cuban exiles in Caibarien, in central Cuba, with plans to foster an insurgency and fight Fidel Castro in the Escambray mountains.

The men were quickly arrested on Oct 15., 1994, and the islands authorities said they had seized several weapons the group was carrying, including AK-47, AR-15 and M-14 rifles.

Real Suarez was accused of murdering a man and taking his car soon after they reached the island. He was sentenced to death by firing squad on April 1996. The other exiles were sentenced to 30 years in prison.

At the time, his mother pleaded with Castro in a letter, asking the islands ruler to spare her sons life.

He was educated in revolutionary Cuba where he often heard that armed struggle is the only option to achieve the liberation of a people, she said. You and those who support you can argue that Cuba is now free, but my son doesnt think so. He did not say a word of repentance, not even when it could have spared him the death [sentence].

Under international pressure for the frequent use of the death sentence, the Cuban Supreme Court commuted his sentence to 30 years in prison in 2010, when it also revised other cases of people accused of violent acts against the government.

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Shortly after Castro took power in 1959, many fellow guerrilla members who felt betrayed by his turn towards communism took arms in the Escambray mountains to try to overthrow him. After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, several exile groups also tried over the years to foster an armed insurrection with little success. Real Suarezs group was one of the last that attempted it.

He was considered among the political prisoners who had served the longest in the Western Hemisphere.

In Miami, where many organizations advocated for his freedom, news of his release was received with joy. Some Cuban exiles gathered around the monument to the 2506 Brigade, the Cuban exiles who fought in the Bay of Pigs, to celebrate.

In a statement Friday, the Assembly of Resistance called him a patriot and a brave Cuban who had returned to the island to fight for the freedom of Cuba.

The motherland looks at you in pride, the organization said, quoting Cubas national anthem.

Real Suarez told Cubanet that during his imprisonment, he feared for his family. Now, he wants to return to the United States to reunite with his daughter, who had to emigrate to the United States when she was 20 because of government harassment, she said. She was living in Cuba and was just five when her father got arrested.

Here in Cuba, they accused me of being a terrorist, which I am not,  Real Suarez said. I do not intend to be in Cuba; I intend to travel to the land of freedom, to the United States, and take all my family with me.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas still wont admit that the border is in crisis.

Lets look at the numbers.

In fiscal 2020, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded 405,036 total encounters.

In fiscal 2022, it was 2,214,652. Thats a 547% increase in just two years.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have had enough.

Mayorkas blindly insists that all is well

Mayorkas testified before a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, and Sen. Ted Cruz, RTexas, didnt hold back.

Mr. Secretary, I want to say to you right now, your behavior is disgraceful. And the deaths, the children assaulted, the children raped, they are at your feet. And if you had integrity, you would resign, Cruz told Mayorkas.

The House Judiciary Committee held several field hearings in border communities such as Yuma and El Paso. Witnesses shared evidence of rampant human trafficking, child exploitation, cartel violence and drug smuggling.

In the last fiscal year, the corpses of more than 890 migrants were recovered along the border, a grisly new record.

This isnt compassion; its cruelty.

Last month, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz directly contradicted Mayorkas by stating that the U.S. does not have operational control of the border. A fact that should be obvious to all.

But the Homeland Security head still insists that all is well, mountains of evidence be damned.

He refused to address senator's concerns

Cruz quizzed Mayorkas on why some migrants at the border wear wristbands, something the Homeland Security claimed not to know.

Ive been to the southern border, Cruz said. And if you go to the southern border, along the southern border, you see thousands of these wristbands because the illegal immigrants wear them. The drug cartels, every color corresponds to how many thousands of dollars they owe the cartels. You have turned these cartels into multibillion-dollar criminal organizations.

Mayorkas was given time to respond to Cruzs attacks, but he refused. What the senator said was revolting. Im not going to address it.

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Rancher's case: Exposes long history of US-Mexico border tensions

Whats revolting is the human tragedy occurring on both sides of the border and the broken lives left behind. That Mayorkas refuses to protect either U.S. citizens or migrants proves that he is unwilling or unable to do his job.

If he doesnt resign, Congress should force him from office.

Mayorkas has 'simply lost all credibility'

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., took on Mayorkas as well, criticizing the Biden administration app meant to address unauthorized crossings. The new tech doesnt vet incoming migrants and still allows their free release into the country.

Rather than building a wall, Mr. Secretary, you have built Ticketmaster for illegal immigrants, Hawley said.

When Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked about cartels flooding the border with migrants to overwhelm agents, Mayorkas again feigned ignorance.

I am not aware of that as a strategy, Mayorkas said. Hours of video are available showing this very act, but the secretary pretends not to have seen them.

Youve simply lost all credibility, Mr. Secretary, Cornyn said.

Indeed, he has.

Biden can fix this. Replace Mayorkas now

Ultimately, there is one person with great authority to address the border crisis.

It isnt a nurse pulling a double shift in Yuma. It isnt a sheriffs deputy tracking cartel members along dusty backroads. It isnt even a U.S. senator taking a red-eye from Dulles.

The one person who can fix it is the president, and he can do so today.

Biden needs to accept the responsibility to protect our borders, admit that his policies have failed and replace Alejandro Mayorkas immediately.

If the president remains unwilling, Congress must force him to step down.

Until Mayorkas is removed, expect a lot more suffering by migrants and everyday Americans.

Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. On Twitter: @exjon.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alejandro Mayorkas needs to go. He cannot protect the border
Amazon spent more than $14.2 million last year on outside consultants whose job was to convince workers not to unionize, according to new disclosures filed Friday with the Labor Department.

The unusually large expenditures on anti-union consultants show how determined the online retail giant is to prevent collective bargaining within its workforce. The company remained union-free in the U.S. until last year when the upstart Amazon Labor Union (ALU) successfully organized a warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

Amazon has more than 100 warehouses in the U.S. and has managed to keep unions at bay since the ALUs upset victory last April. However, workers rejected union bids at two other warehouses in New York following the Staten Island vote.

Labor consultants have been a key ingredient in the companys counter-campaign, delivering anti-union talking points in what are known as captive audience meetings with workers. The company pays firms around $3,000 per day, plus expenses, for each consultant, according to filings.

Amazon managed to remain union-free in the U.S. until last year, when the upstart Amazon Labor Union organized a warehouse in Staten Island.

Employers and their consultants are obligated to disclose their arrangements with the Labor Department so that workers understand who the company hired and how much it paid to lobby them on unionization. The deadline for employers to inform the government of their 2022 spending was Friday.

It is relatively rare for a company to disclose spending in excess of $1 million on labor consultants in a single year, let alone more than $14 million. Still, Amazon boasts a worldwide workforce of around 1.5 million and had $514 billion in sales last year, according to its most recent annual report. The company has faced union organizing drives in Alabama, New York, California and elsewhere in the U.S.

Amazon spent $4.3 million on anti-union consultants in 2021, HuffPost reported.

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Workers at Amazon's West Coast Air Freight Fulfillment Center in San Bernardino, California, protest outside the facility on Oct. 14, 2022, over claims of an unsafe work environment and low wages.

Workers at Amazon's West Coast Air Freight Fulfillment Center in San Bernardino, California, protest outside the facility on Oct. 14, 2022, over claims of an unsafe work environment and low wages.

Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokesperson, said in an email that the company works with outside consultants to ensure our employees are fully informed about their rights.

We work hard to support our employees and are proud to invest billions of dollars in safety programs, wages, healthcare benefits that start on the first day of the job, free college tuition, and numerous upskilling programs, Hards said. We also know that there are outside organizations working hard and spending heavily to spread false information about us to our teams.

To put the spending in perspective, Hards noted that Amazon facilities are much larger than typical U.S. workplaces  the Staten Island warehouse employs around 8,000 workers  and that the company faced several organizing campaigns last year.

Connor Spence, an Amazon worker in Staten Island and organizer with the ALU, told HuffPost last year that he and other workers researched the anti-union consultants in their warehouse to expose them and their fees to other workers. They also openly challenged the consultants in meetings to undermine their message.

Their job is to operate in the shadows, Spence said at the time. When you expose them for what they are, it makes it very difficult for them to do their job.

The ALU is still trying to negotiate a first contract with Amazon for workers at the Staten Island facility, known as JFK8. In addition, Amazon disputed the election results, in which the union won 2,654 to 2,131, accusing organizers and the National Labor Relations Board of illegally tainting the vote.

Amazons challenge failed, and the union was certified in January. But Amazon has appealed that determination for review by the labor board in Washington. HuffPost reported in January that the company succeeded in wasting time and delaying bargaining  a characterization that Hards disputed.

She said the company still maintains that the ALU and labor board employees improperly swayed the election in the unions favor.

Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union. They always have, Hards said. We strongly disagree with the outcome... We dont believe it represents what the majority of our team wants.

This article has been updated with comment from Amazon.

Related...
Andrew Tate and brother Tristan leave court in Bucharest on Feb. 1. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A Romanian court on Friday granted an appeal from Andrew Tate , the notoriously misogynist influencer who has been behind bars for three months, to have his detention in a jail replaced with house arrest.

Tate, 36, was arrested in late December on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, along with his brother Tristan and two alleged Romanian accomplices.

The brothers, who have maintained their innocence, were accused of forcing women to create online pornographic content.

Their pretrial detention has been extended four times since their arrest.

Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, told the Associated Press on Friday that the Bucharest Court of Appeal had ruled in favor of all four individuals moving to house arrest.

Mateea Petrescu, a spokesperson for Tate, confirmed the courts decision in a message to BuzzFeed News.

We are ecstatic to announce the Romanian judicial system approved Andrews and Tristan Tates appeal against last weeks extension decision. They will be placed under house arrest while the investigation continues, Petrescu said. We are appreciative of the judge and courts for allowing the brothers to return home.

Daniel Mihailescu / AFP via Getty Images

Both brothers are looking forward to being reunited with their families in Romania and want to extend their thanks to all the supporters who have stood by them during this time, Petrescu continued. They will continue to fight to clear their name of these fabricated accusations; however, this is a big step in the right direction.

Romanian news outlet Gandul also reported that the four would leave prison on Friday evening local time. It quoted the Tate brothers lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, as saying , No one will flee the country.

Representatives at DIICOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tate, a USBritish citizen who has lived in Romania since 2017, was banned last year from most major social media platforms .

More on this
An aircraft safety team is in Kentucky to investigate the deadly Army helicopter crash that killed nine people in the southwest part of the state, the Pentagons top spokesperson said Thursday.

The team, from Fort Rucker, Ala., will look into how two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division crashed while conducting a night training flight late Wednesday, killing four troops aboard one aircraft and five in the other, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.

The crash is the second such deadly incident involving a Black Hawk in a month, with a helicopter crashing along an Alabama highway during a training exercise in February, killing two Tennessee National Guard pilots.

But Ryder said hes not aware of a military-wide review of helicopter safety or an Army ordered stand-down of the aircraft.

Anytime theres an accident it is incredibly unfortunate and something we take incredibly seriously, Ryder said. Unfortunately, a lot of what we do is inherently dangerous. This is something that were always going to constantly be working at.

He later added that if the investigation team found something systemic, then there is a chance other Black Hawks could be grounded.

In the United States military, we take safety very, very seriously, he said, adding that each aviation unit has a safety branch whose primary role is to do exactly that  maintain constant situational awareness on safety. That is something that is baked into our culture and something that we will continue to do.

Earlier on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released a statement offering his condolences and pledging to work with Army leadership to address the incident.

My heart goes out to the families of these servicemembers and to the members of the 101st Airborne Division who bravely and proudly serve our country each and every day, Austin said. Im saddened by this tragic loss, and I am working with Army leadership to make sure our troops and their families receive the care that they need in the wake of this accident.

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Lawmakers also offered statements, including Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), whose district borders Kentucky and houses part of Fort Campbell, where the helicopters had taken off from.

Fort Campbell is one of the closest-knit communities weve ever been a part of, and we know this loss is being felt heavily, Green said, referring to him and his wife. Our prayers are with the families of those we lost.



The loved ones left behind need all of our support. These moments serve as a stark reminder that freedom is never without sacrifice, he continued. America is grateful for their willingness to serve, and our hearts are broken that it came with such a high cost.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
"The deceased included five adults and one child under the age of 3, who was a Canadian citizen," police said on Friday

Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP

The remains of six individuals have been pulled from the St. Lawrence River, which is located near Canada's border with the United States.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS) said the bodies were found Thursday afternoon in a marshy area in Akwesasne, Quebec.

"The six individuals are believed to be from two families, one of Romanian descent, and the other believed to be citizens of India," police said during a press conference on Friday. "The deceased included five adults and one child under the age of 3, who was a Canadian citizen."

"All are believe to have been attempting illegal entry into the United States from Canada," police said Friday.

Police went on to say they believe "one infant from the Romanian family has not been located," and that that the search is ongoing. Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, said that the missing child has a Canadian passport, per Reuters.

Related:36 Bodies Pulled From Water at Temple in India After Floor Covering Well Collapses During Fire Ritual

The first body was located around 5 p.m. during an air search of the area, police said in a statement released on Thursday.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew noticed the bodies in the water during an air search for a separate incident, Akwesasne police chief Shawn Dulude said, per the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Tests have been ordered to determined causes of death for the individuals, none of whom have been publicly identified, reported the Associated Press.

An investigation is ongoing, and police are continuing to search for additional victims.

Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP

Police said that there have been 48 illegal border crossing incidents in the Mohawk territory since January, and that a majority of the migrants are from India or Romania, according to the AP and The Montreal Gazette.

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Authorities have also noticed an uptick in human smuggling into the territory this year, per the outlets. However, O'Brien said it's unclear if Thursday's deaths are connected to human smuggling, according to the Gazette.

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"This is a heartbreaking situation, particularly given the young child that was among them," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, per the AP. "We need to understand properly what happened, how it happened and do whatever we can to minimize the chances of this ever happening again."

Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP

The deaths come just days after President Joe Biden and Trudeau agreed to close an illegal border crossing point between New York state to Quebec, per the outlets.

O'Brien said the Roxham Road closure is not connected to the St. Lawrence River deaths, according to the AP.

Related:9 People Are Dead After 2 U.S. Army Blackhawk Helicopters Crash in Kentucky

The Akwesasne police say there is no threat to the public in connection to Thursday's deaths. They also reminded individuals in the surrounding communities that "illegal immigrants are human beings," the Gazette reported.

"These individuals are still deserving of respect and should not be exploited for monetary gains," the department said, per the outlet.

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Read the original article on People.
The shophouse's facade. Amanda Goh/Insider

After becoming Singaporean citizens, this couple bought a pre-war house for 2.8 million Singapore dollars in January 2018.

Alban Salord and his wife Natalie embarked on a three-year-long process of designing and renovating their home.

Salord now runs a private dining business in the shophouse, serving Mediterranean food inspired by his heritage.

Before there were skyscrapers, Singapore's shophouses dominated the country's landscape. With their ornate, candy-colored exteriors, these buildings are an iconic part of the city's heritage.

Shophouses along Joo Chiat Terrace. Amanda Goh/Insider

Shophouses are narrow, terraced houses that have a sheltered pedestrian walkway in the front.

Most shophouses in Singapore were constructed between the 1840s and the 1960s, and many of them are now under conservation.

Shophouses are usually two-to-three stories high. As the name suggests, the ground floor of a shophouse is traditionally used for commercial purposes, while people live upstairs.

Alban Salord and his wife Natalie have been living in a three-story shophouse since 2020. The couple, who are now citizens, met in Singapore after moving here over a decade ago.

Alban Salord, also known as Al, standing beside his wife Natalie in their kitchen. 59JCT

Salord, who goes by Al, moved to Singapore from France in 2007 for work. His wife Natalie, on the other hand, was born in the UK but grew up in Hong Kong. They came to Singapore separately, but got married in 2012 and made the city their permanent home.

"I've been a citizen for over ten years now, and we'd been looking to buy a conservation property for a little bit of time," Salord told Insider. "To be fair, I've always been in love with shophouses."

He had tried to buy a shophouse in 2009 but was unsuccessful. Like his current home, it was a three-story building and it was located on Marshall Road  an eight-minute walk from where he now lives.

"It was going, I remember, for SG$1.1 million. But I was SG$50,000 short. They wouldn't come down and I couldn't go up because I was maxed out," he said.

In January 2018, the couple finally managed to realize their dreams of owning a conservation property: They bought a SG$2.8 million Peranakan shophouse in Joo Chiat, an area near the southeastern coast of Singapore.

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A photo of the exterior of the shophouse when the couple bought it. Med@59JCT

Their 1,173-square-foot home is located on a street known as Joo Chiat Terrace and it's the last home of a row of 12 shophouses, Salord said.

Historically, the Joo Chiat area was where many Peranakan families lived. Today, the term "Peranakan" generally refers to people who are of mixed Chinese and Malay or Indonesian heritage  although there are also Peranakans who are not of Chinese ancestry.

Even today, strong Peranakan influences can be seen in the facades of many shophouses  like Salord's  and on the menus of traditional restaurants still found in the area.

"We don't even have an exact date of when our shophouse was built, so we estimate that it was built between 1928 and 1933, sort of in that five-year bracket," Salord said.

Salord had been living in Joo Chiat since 2009, and he wanted to stay in the area. The couple found their shophouse with help from a friend in real estate.

Google Maps Street View image of how their shophouse looked when they first bought it. It's the last shophouse in a row of 12. Google Maps Street View

"We'd given her a little location square within which to work with," he said. "And what she did was that she selected three very different houses  a new build, a 70s bungalow, and the shophouse  for us to have a look at."

The moment they stepped in, the couple knew they found the one.

"There was nothing wrong with the other houses but when we walked into this one, there was a really positive vibe," Salord said. "And it was a nice day  the light was coming through the front of the house, and it was kind of cool inside."

But the price of the shophouse was more than the couple's budget, and it took them months before they reached a deal with the previous owners.

A before image showing the layout of the first floor. There was a wooden door separating the front of the house from the back. Med@59JCt

"It was a long process, over six months, of visiting it repeatedly, making offers, and trying to get to the price we wanted," Salord said.

After rejecting them twice, the sellers finally accepted the couple's offer on their third attempt. On that day, during the couple's visit, the roof in one of the bedrooms gave way due to the heavy rain.

"It was literally raining inside, and we managed to come down to a price that both parties were comfortable with," Salord said. They officially closed the deal in January 2018.

The next hurdle was the renovation: Some of the rooms had odd layouts that Salord and his wife weren't fond of.

On the second floor, there were two very small rooms split by an oddly-angled wall. Med@59JCT

The kitchen, located at the back of the home, was situated by an airwell and would flood almost every time it rained, Salord said.

On the second floor, there were two small rooms separated by a wall that was placed at a strange angle. The room on the third floor, located right below the roof, had glass walls, Salord said: "It was like 50 degrees Celsius in there."

There was also only one bathroom upstairs for the entire house, he said.

"It just didn't make any sense to me," Salord added. "But you could see the potential of the space."

Since their shophouse is a conserved building, there are also rules that specify what the couple cannot change about the house.

Some features of the shophouse that need to be conserved include the pitch of the roof and the timber windows. Med@59JCT

"What is conserved is the frontage of the house as well as the roof  the roof needs to be of a certain pitch," Salord said. "You have a choice, but they encourage you to go for the traditional V-shape tiles to complete the look."

Some other shophouse features that need to be conserved include the timber windows and the airwell, per the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

"You'll need to submit your proposed plans and make sure that everything is fine with the conservation people and the structural engineers," Salord said.

Even though the couple bought the shophouse in January 2018, it wasn't until November 2020 that they were finally able to move in.

The exterior of the couple's renovated shophouse. A pop of teal highlights the intricate ornamentation on the facade. Amanda Goh/Insider

It was a long journey looking for contractors, refining plans, and getting them approved, Salord said. The couple also had to deal with delays brought on by the pandemic.

"It was in August 2018 when we identified who the architect and the contractors were going to be," Salord said. "We submitted our first design plan in October  which was approved  and we were slated to start work in early 2019."

However, when a neighbor was caught flouting the conservation guidelines, the URA came to inspect all the houses on the street, including Salord's.

"I get a call early December 2018 telling me that my roof is not the right pitch nor does it have the right tiles," Salord said. "Somebody replaced the roof sometime in the past, and they wanted me to redo it in the right way."

They went back to the drawing board. In May 2019, the couple finally got the approval to go ahead with their renovation.

The actual renovation work started in June 2019, and was completed 18 months later, in November 2020.

The main entrance to the shophouse. The lanterns, emblazoned with the house's address in English and in Mandarin, were custom-designed by an artist. Amanda Goh/Insider

Salord estimates that he spent about 1 million Singapore dollars, or about $750,000, on the renovation, including all the built-in appliances in his kitchen.

Everything in the home had to be replaced due to termite damage, Salord said: "Originally I was going to try to conserve and preserve everything that we could, but then when we saw that there were termites, we decided we'll just redo everything."

The interiors of the shophouse complement the building's historical look and feel, with custom-designed furniture and art pieces curated from the couple's travels.

A wooden divider partially shields the interiors from the outside when the main door is open, offering a little bit of privacy. Amanda Goh/Insider

Almost everything had been bought specifically for the house  sometimes even years before their renovation ended, Salord said.

In a way, it's almost as if the couple purposely built their rooms to accommodate the items that they loved and wanted to have in their home, he said.

"Not that I'm advocating that as a building method, but if you buy stuff that you really like before you have a frame for it, you can always build the frame around it so that they fit," Salord said.

The first floor of the house has an open-concept layout. It stretches from the main door to the living room, then the kitchen, and the dining space.

The living room. Amanda Goh/Insider

The flooring on the first story was hand-painted to look like polished concrete, Salord said.

"We wanted actual polished concrete, but when they poured the concrete in, it looked like a car park," Salord said. "It was terrible. I cried. You spent a million dollars and it's all ruined because of the floor, and it's everywhere  you can't miss it."

Removing it would mean breaking the tiles out front, which they didn't want, Salord said. In the end, the couple reached out to a contractor who specializes in painting distressed feature walls.

"And so we had a whole bunch of guys sitting on the floor with a little bit of water and a bit of paint, dabbing on the ground with little sponges and drying it with a hair dryer," Salord said.

Salord's favorite part of the house is the kitchen. It's also central to his private dining business, which he named @59JCT  in reference to the address.

The view of the open kitchen from the living room. The dining area is in the back. Amanda Goh/Insider

"I spend a lot of time in my kitchen," Salord said. "When you're cooking and if we have friends coming over having a drink, you are in the middle of the life of the house."

Salord says that the hardest part  from his contractor's perspective  was looking for the patterned yellow tiles used in his backsplash and on the sides of the island counter. The tiles are also used at the front of the house, along the five-foot-way.

"When I first visited the place, I had a very specific vision of this house with the blue details and a yellow Peranakan tile frontage," Salord said.

After looking through countless images online, Salord finally found the yellow tiles he wanted on a random Pinterest image  with no website or information detailing where they were from.

His contractor finally managed to get her hands on them after sourcing for 18 months, he added.

"And I'll tell you something funny: My wife and I went on holiday to Langkawi last year, and the hotel where we're having our lunches  those were the exact tiles they had," Salord added.

Salord's foray into being a private dining chef in 2021 was driven by the decision to honor his parents after they passed away the year before.

An alternate view of the dining area, with built-in cabinets and ovens in the back. Amanda Goh/Insider

Most of the items on the menu are family recipes passed down from his mom and dad, Salord said: "All things that would remind me of them, I would put on the menu."

His father's family is of Spanish descent but lived in Morocco before moving to France where Salord was born. Growing up, food at home was always a mix of dishes inspired by the Mediterranean region, Salord said.

Salord's private dining menu offers changes every time, although diners can always discuss with him what they feel like having when they make a booking.

"The concept is traveling through food: When you come to dine here, you get a little menu with a map of the Mediterranean that tells you where each dish is from," he added.

The private dining business was a hobby for a year and a half before Salord went into it full-time in October last year, after leaving his job in the finance industry.

The dining table is located by a small garden below an air well. Amanda Goh/Insider

Salord hosts up to 10 guests in a single seating. Depending on the size of each party, there can be different groups dining together at the same time.

"We've done it several times where we've had different groups come in and people are so fun and happy to meet others. It's heartwarming to see how people who don't know each other before can get along so well," Salord said.

The private dining experience also includes a tour of the shophouse. For most people, it's a rare opportunity to see inside a historical home.

One side of the hallway on the second floor is covered in trinkets and art that the couple amassed over the years. Amanda Goh/Insider

Shophouses have been gaining popularity in recent years. In 2022 alone, there were 187 shophouse transactions worth $1.6 billion Singapore dollars, or $1.2 billion, per Knight Frank Singapore.

Part of the shophouses' allure comes from their architectural heritage and relative scarcity: Many shophouses in Singapore are under conservation status, and there are no new ones being built.

There are three bedrooms in the shophouse: the master suite, the guest room, and a bedroom for his domestic helper.

The guest bedroom with custom wallpaper and matching sheets. Amanda Goh/Insider

Sometimes friends and family who visit Singapore will stay with them at their shophouse, in the guest bedroom, Salord said.

Like the rest of the shophouse, the decor in the guest bedroom is given careful thought with bespoke matching wallpaper and bedsheets.

"The most expensive thing that we spent money on  which came almost to SG$80,000  were the doors and the windows," Salord said.

The study features a full-length shelf that Salord designed on his own. Amanda Goh/Insider

Every door and window in the house had been replaced due to termite damage, and the couple opted for Chengal wood sourced from Malaysia due to its ability to withstand rot.

"The wood is saturated with sap, so it's like a natural protector against rot," Salord said. "We didn't know that before they installed it, but it also means the sap bleeds onto the surrounding areas and makes it look a little dirty. You just have to clean it."

The couple created plenty of cozy nooks around the house where they can lounge.

The couple created plenty of cozy nooks around the house where they can lounge. Amanda Goh/Insider

Salord and his wife also enjoy collecting art pieces and displaying them around their home.

The circle art frame hanging by the window is called "Everyday Mysteries," and it was gifted to them by an artist friend, Salord said.

It's made of little trinkets that the artist collected from his travels around the world, housed in a giant wooden frame crafted from the local Angsana tree, he said.

"And just like us, we've been everywhere and we've ended up in Singapore and he symbolized that. We love it, every time you look at it, you find something you haven't seen before," he added.

Looking back on the renovation process, Salord says that he wishes he spent more time checking the finishing touches on the house.

The master bedroom. Amanda Goh/Insider

This includes minor things like making sure the plastering on the wall was even and that door handles are completely aligned, Salord said.

"It's little things that you wouldn't necessarily notice," Salord said. "But to be fair to the contractors, the whole process was almost three years, including a year of COVID. We were desperate to move in and we didn't want to redo anything."

All of the bathrooms in the home have colorful Peranakan tiles as a nod to the building's heritage.

A collage showing the shower and the toilet in the master bedroom. Amanda Goh/Insider

Even the hanging art piece in the shower is made of floor tiles  although they're from Istanbul, Salord said.

"We bought this 10 years ago, not knowing what we're going to do with it," Salord said. When they were renovating the shophouse, the original plan was to lay the Turkish tiles into the ground.

The couple ultimately decided against it because their contractor warned them it would be permanent.

"We wouldn't be able to take them out if we were to ever leave here," Salord said. "And they're very expensive. It's like 50 euros per piece and we have 12."

In the end, the couple managed to get the tiles set in a frame like a painting.

Even though the process of restoring his Peranakan shophouse was a long and expensive process, Salord says he's grateful to be able to experience living in a shophouse.

The third-floor terrace is where the couple will set up a space for pre-dinner drinks for their private dining guests. Amanda Goh/Insider

At the end of the day, it's all part of the responsibility of owning a historical property, Salord said.

"Not everybody thinks like this, but if you're going to buy a historical property, then you should do the best you can to try and take it back to what it looked like," he added.

Read the original article on Insider
Firefighters have served up a cookbook for heavily intoxicated New Zealanders, hoping to stop befuddled chefs from burning down the kitchen. According to the country's fire service, half of all fatal house fires involve alcohol or drugs.

The aptly named "You're Cooked" offers recipes for a select audience of Kiwis who are desperate for a bite but too incapacitated to be trusted near an oven or stovetop. The menu  promising "recipes to cook if you're drunk or high"  features a touch of humor and instructions simple enough for even the most addled of chefs.

A campaign video on social media shows bleary-eyed chefs trying out the recipes. / Credit: Fire and Emergency New Zealand

The idea is to guide inebriated cooks toward air-fryers, toasters, kettles and microwaves, all of which have timers. Ovens and stoves can be left on by mistake, with deadly consequences.

The first three chapters of the online cookbook are titled: "You're Toasted," "You're Smashed," and "You're Wasted."

One low-bar recipe for a "toast sandwich" kicks off with the advice: "Put one slice of the bread in the toaster. Toast it."

Once buttered, the piece of toast is placed between two slices of untoasted bread. "Now grip the bread-toast-bread in your clammy mitts. Good."

It's a lighthearted campaign but firefighters say the message is serious, with an average of more than 4,100 house fires a year  about a quarter of the total  caused by unattended cooking.

About half of all fatal domestic blazes in New Zealand also involve alcohol or drugs, fire and emergency services say.

"Distracted while cooking is the leading cause of house fires. Stay off the stove if you're drunk or high," the campaign warns.

Kelley Toy, marketing manager for Fire and Emergency New Zealand, told AFP: "We know they are going to cook anyway, we just needed them to do it safely by telling them: 'Stay off the stove.'"

Auckland-based chef Jamie Robert Johnston concocted the recipes.

"I took to my younger college days for inspiration of food that filled the void when a little tipsy," he told AFP.

A campaign video on social media shows bleary-eyed chefs trying out the recipes  one struggling to butter a slice of bread, another with food spilling directly from his mouth into a bowl, and several breaking into laughter.

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"You know... we've had a couple of 'wets' (alcoholic drinks). At the end of the long night... we are going to have some food," one of them declares in the video. At the end of the video, each would-be chef declares: "Stay off the stove!"

All participants were paid and agreed to feature on social media while struggling in an Auckland test kitchen after a Friday night out.

"They are real people on a night out," said Adrian Nacey, community education manager for New Zealand's fire service.

Among the suggested recipes: "Uncanned beans" ("release the beans from their tin prison, and tip them into a microwave-safe bowl") and "Forbidden lasagna" ("pry open the fridge and secure" the leftovers).

Other safe recipes on offer include a "Chugget sandwich" of air-fried chicken nuggets, "You-done udon" for noodles made with an electric kettle, and "Jacked Fairy Bread" made with crushed sugary cookies sprinkled on bread.

There is also a morning-after drink, "Blue Soberaid," that mixes honey, water and salt to help stave off a hangover.

The safety campaign, launched late last year, is already having an impact, the fire service said, as a recent survey indicates the target audience  mainly young, working males  now see cooking under the influence as a riskier enterprise.

Other countries have issued similar warnings about house fires involving booze and drugs. Last year, the London Fire Brigade offered safety tips after a spike in alcohol-related fires

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A proposal asking voters to make the ballot initiative process more difficult will not appear on the 2024 election ballot.

The Idaho House on Thursday rejected Senate Joint Resolution 101, which would have asked voters to amend the state constitution and require 6% of voters from each of Idahos 35 legislative districts to sign a petition triggering a ballot initiative. Currently, 6% of voters in 18 legislative districts is the benchmark.

Most House Republicans supported the change, but it fell eight votes short of the required two-thirds majority. Some pointed to confusion in the language of the proposed change.

The sponsor of the resolution, Sen. Doug Okuniewicz, R-Hayden, previously described the amendment as requiring 6% of voters who participated in the most recent election. But the proposed amendment would have required 6% of legal voters in each district, which could be interpreted to mean registered voters.

That could mean twice as many signatures would be required, Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, told the full House.

It creates a threshold much higher than, I think, was intended by the bill sponsors, Raybould said.

Other House members opposed the change regardless of the language uncertainty. They said the initiative process is used sparingly and to hold state officials accountable. Successful initiatives created Idaho Fish and Game and the homeowners exemption and expanded Medicaid eligibility when lawmakers declined to do so.

This is the tool that people have to check on our power, said Rep. Colin Nash, D-Boise. This bill doesnt expressly do away with the referendum process. But what Im concerned about is constructively repealing the referendum process in our state.

Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint, told the House that hes received an overwhelming number of calls and emails opposing the resolution. During public hearings on the proposal, Idaho residents from across the state slammed it.

Theres much more pressing issues right now that need to be addressed, Jean Gerth, of Sagle, told the Senate State Affairs Committee last month. I view it as a distraction, and I think its been presented, possibly, to do that, to distract us from other things.
Idaho prosecutors have disclosed evidence connected to an internal affairs investigation involving one of the officers who played a role in the University of Idaho quadruple homicide investigation.

The Latah County Prosecutors Office filed notice of the disclosure to the defense Monday after noting that the state had become aware of potential Brady/Giglio material related to one of the officers involved in the case against Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology PhD student accused of brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students at an off-campus residence in November, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com.

Prosecutors described the evidence as a confidential internal affairs investigation and asked the judge to issue a protective order to keep the information from being released to the public because it concerned a personnel issue.

RELATED: FBI Seized University Of Idaho Murder Suspect Bryan Kohbergers Underwear, Shoes, Gloves From Pennsylvania Home

Its not clear what role the officer played in the murder investigation.

Judge Megan E. Marshall agreed to issue the protective order the following day, instructing prosecutors and defense attorneys not to disclose the contents of the documents, according to the court records.

Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves

Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves Photo: Instagram

Prosecutors were obligated to disclose the information to Kohbergers attorneys as a result of the Supreme Court cases Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United States, WNEP reports.

Brady material is considered any material that could prove a defendants innocence, while Giglio material refers to information that could impeach the credibility of a witness.

"It could be anything that would tend to impair the credibility of that particular individual, officer, or witness, depending upon what it is. I mean, sometimes you have an internal affairs investigation that doesn't even really directly relate to the officer," criminal defense attorney Brett Riegel explained to WNEP.

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According to Riegel, prosecutors likely wanted to disclose the information to avoid a possible appeal down the road.

Bryan Kohberger

Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, is escorted to an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Photo: AP

"The last thing a prosecution wants is to have to do a case twice. So, they want to make sure that they have met the due process obligations and provide the things that they're required to provide because that is the only way they get to do the case once," he said.

Kohberger has been accused of sneaking into an off-campus Moscow, Idaho residence in the early morning hours of Nov. 13 and brutally stabbing Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, to death.

Two other roommates, including one who chillingly reported seeing the masked killer inside the home that morning, were not targeted and survived.

Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen

Authorities linked the murders to Kohberger, a PhD student studying criminal justice and criminology at the nearby Washington State University, after linking him to DNA found on a leather knife sheath left on Mogens bed, according to an affidavit in the case.

During a search of his Pullman, Washington apartment, investigators also found a pillow with reddish brown strains on it. Along with the pillow, investigators also seized a nitrite black glove, computer tower, possible strand of hair, dust container from a vacuum and other items while searching the apartment on Dec. 30, according to court documents previously obtained by Oxygen.com.

Kohberger was arrested in late December at his familys home in Pennsylvania. He has yet to enter a plea to the charges against him.
The Idaho Senate approved a bill on Thursday to criminalize helping minors travel out of state to obtain an abortion, sending it to GOP Gov. Brad Littles desk.

The legislation easily passed in a heavily Republican-dominated state House and Senate. If signed into law, the bill would prohibit adults from helping a minor obtain an abortion procedure or an abortion-inducing pill without their parent or guardians consent, stating that they would be committing abortion trafficking.

The bill would allow any person prosecuted under the law to defend themselves by arguing that they had received the parent or guardians consent to help the minor obtain an abortion. But the law would also apply even if the minor obtained the abortion or the pill from out of state.

Anyone convicted of violating the law could face two to five years in prison.

The bill would grant the Idaho attorney general the authority to prosecute anyone who breaks the law if a prosecuting attorney in a county declines to bring charges against the individual.

The legislation would also allow certain individuals related to a woman who has an attempted or performed abortion to sue medical professionals who violate the law and receive at least $20,000 in damages. The individuals include the childs father, grandparent, sibling, aunt and uncle.

Idaho banned abortion through a trigger law that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned, only allowing exceptions to protect the life of the mother or for cases of rape and incest when they have been reported to authorities. But Oregon, Washington and Montana  which all border Idaho  have much looser laws concerning abortion.

The Idaho Capital Sun reported that Planned Parenthood Great Northwest has said it will file a lawsuit against the legislation if it becomes law. Idaho would be the first state to prohibit interstate travel to obtain an abortion if the bill is signed, according to the outlet.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
CAMDEN  An 18-year-old city resident is facing a murder charge.

Nykwan Taylor is accused of fatally shooting 21-year-old Daijohn Spaulding in the Fairview section on the afternoon of March 26.

Crime spree ends in violence: Person of interest in South Jersey slayings killed by police in Pennsylvania

Spaulding, also a Camden resident, was shot around 2:40 p.m. on the 3100 block of Alabama Road, according to the Camden County Prosecutors Office.

Police responded to the sound of 12 gunshots at the crime scene, according to a statement asserting probable cause for charges against Taylor.

"A significant portion of the incident was captured on surveillance video footage," it said,

Location data from the suspect's cell phone put his device at the crime scene at the time of the shooting, it asserted.

Taylor is charged with murder and weapons offenses.

The charges are only allegations. Taylor has not been convicted in the case.

Taylor surrendered to authorities on Friday and is being held in Camden County Jail.

The investigation is active and ongoing at this time, the prosecutors office said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Prosecutors Detective Jeremy Jankowski at 856-397-3485 and Camden County Police Detective Vincent Russomanno at 609-941-9517.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Suspect charged with murder of Daijohn Spaulding in Camden
Did you hear the news out of Mammoth Mountain ski resort in California? They expect skiing to continue until at LEAST July!

The resort has tallied up 634-plus inches of snow this season, just shy of an all-time record of 668 inches which they will easily beat. Theres more than 300 inches of snow at the top of the mountain and 75-100 inches on the ground at the main resort.

If you havent noticed the weather this winter has been a real disaster for the state of California.

Kendall P. Stanley

In addition to the literal mountains of snow in Californias high country, torrential rains have flooded many towns, ruptured levees and caused billions in damage.

It snowed in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles, a rare sight for the city and even rarer, two tornadoes hit communities in the eastern part of the LA basin.

Although a lot of the water from the storms has been shipped off to the ocean, several of the smaller reservoirs in central and southern California have been filled up to the 70-75 percent mark, and hopefully, spring runoff from all that snow will add to the water supply.

You cant, of course, reverse decades of drought in just one snowy and rainy winter. California officials were working to divert water to some areas where it can recharge underground aquifers, which is a plus for the region, and the drought levels have dropped some.

The basically crappy weather in California has a spillover effect on those of us who call southern Arizona home in the winter.

It has been rainier, cloudier and colder than normal. Weve had 3 inches of rain so far for the year, about an inch more than normal. And there was snow down in the valley and blizzards on the mountain tops, providing a long ski season for Mount Lemmon. Some years they dont have a ski season.

While we havent had the near hurricane force winds that have battered the California coast, weve had plenty of high wind warnings with gusts of 50-60 mph. Since dense forests arent a feature of the desert Southwest, when it blows it really blows.

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The only benefit of all this wet and snowy weather? The wildflowers are fully out in bloom across the area, with cars backed up for a couple of hours to get into state parks such as Picacho Peak to see the blooms.

Guess we shouldnt be complaining about the rain after all.

Wowser!

I just learned that Im a member of the Modern Day Nazi Party!

Yes folks, according to a delightful little graphic going around Facebook titled The new logo for the Democratic Party it shows a donkey with a Nazi logo on its body.

And then below that:

Socialism

Anti-America

Anti-Jews/Israel

Anti-Second Amendment

Pro-Eugenics

Pro-Hate

Modern-Day Nazi Party

Whew!

And all that before finishing my morning coffee!

Actually, Im not anti- any of those things, although Im not fond of Benjamin Netanyahu, I doubt that qualifies as anti-Jew, anti-Israel.

Who comes up with this stuff?

Its one thing to list things that Im not, but to suggest Democrats are all Nazis? Really? Suggesting we Dems are pro-hate is a little disingenuous if you are hating on me to start with.

And to the woman in Hawaii who apparently started sending it along, via your Facebook page, no, Donald Trump didnt win.

 Kendall P. Stanley is retired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kendall Stanley: Stormy weather
A member of the pro-Nazi group White Lives Matter of Ohio was arrested Friday after he allegedly threw molotov cocktails at a church planning to hold a drag event.

Aimenn Penny threw molotov cocktails at the Community Church of Chesterland, outside Cleveland, on March 25, according to investigators. The attack left scorch marks on the church and broke a sign, but did no significant damage.

Penny was charged with arson and possession of a destructive device.

He was a known figure in the White Lives Matter group, which protested a drag event in Ohio earlier this month with swastika flags, shouting slurs and praising Hitler, according to FBI investigators.

In an interaction with police at that event, Penny, who is white, said that he is awaiting a national race war, and that he believes all other races have to be eliminated for the U.S. to prosper, according to investigators.

Community Church of Chesterland plans to host a drag event on Saturday. The church has claimed to receive numerous complaints and threats about the event, and is anticipating potentially violent hate groups to protest, according to a Facebook post by church leadership.

After the attack, investigators were able to track Pennys phone to the church on the night of the arson. The FBI then searched his home and car on Friday and interviewed Penny, who confessed, according to investigators.

He told investigators that wanted to protect children and stop the drag show event.

Penny stated that night he became more and more angry after watching internet videos of news feeds and drag shows in France and decided to attack the church, the arresting complaint says. Penny stated that he would have felt better if the Molotov cocktails were more effective and burned the entire church to the ground.

When his home was searched, investigators found Nazi paraphernalia including swastika flags, a While Lives Matter of Ohio shirt and materials like those used to create the Molotov cocktails.

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Church leadership made a statement to its Facebook page shortly after the arrest.

While we are sorry this happened and forgive the individual in question, we would like to see him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law as a way to send a message to other like minded people and groups that violence as a form of coercion to advance any kind of agenda is unacceptable in 2023, they said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa speaks at a rally and protest of the closing of Ascension St. Francis Hospital's labor and delivery unit. A group of 30 to 40 people gathered outside one of the homes of Ascension Wisconsin CEO Bernie Sherry on Milwaukee's east side on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. Angela Peterson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A committee of the Milwaukee Common Council on Friday urged the troubled health system Ascension Wisconsin to reverse cuts in services at its Milwaukee hospitals, in a resolution that council members signaled was only a "first step" in promoting health care services for low-income Milwaukeeans.

The resolution was approved by the council's Public Safety and Health Committee, which earlier in the year heard testimony from members of the union that represents health care workers at Ascension St. Francis Hospital on Milwaukee's south side about cuts to services and unit closures at the hospital over the last several years.

The resolution calls on Ascension Wisconsin, one of the state's largest health systems, to restore reduced services at its Milwaukee hospitals and to fully restore the labor and delivery unit at St. Francis Hospital, which was the only such unit on Milwaukee's south side until it was abruptly closed in late December.

More: Ascension St. Francis workers worry for hospital's future, as units close, beds dwindle

The closure of the labor and delivery unit set off protests by workers at the hospital and union members and raised concerns about the hospital's broader future.

The resolution approved by the committee, which is chaired by Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa, also calls on Ascension Wisconsin to establish a one-year moratorium on any downsizing or service reductions at Milwaukee health care sites.

"Ascension Wisconsin is urged to work with community leaders, elected officials and other local stakeholders to find alternatives to service reductions and ways of preserving healthcare services for Milwaukee residents, particularly in economically distressed areas of the city," the resolution reads.

"This is not just a wakeup call for St. Francis," said. Ald. Scott Spiker.

Ald. Scott Spiker's district includes Ascension St. Francis Hospital.

Last week, Ascension Wisconsin announced several of its top executives, including chief executive Bernie Sherry, were leaving, after some of its Milwaukee hospitals came under fire for cutting services and for staffing shortages that doctors and others said were threatening patient care. Sherry has overseen the Wisconsin market for Ascension Health, the national nonprofit health system, since 2016.

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Reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that physicians were leaving Ascension Wisconsin "in droves" last year and that one of its premier hospitals, Columbia St. Mary's Hospital on Milwaukee's east side, has struggled to keep staffing at proper levels. Nurses reported being assigned more patients than they considered realistic, or even safe, and were at times slow to answer call lights. Patients needing help reported being left unattended or waiting for long hours in the emergency department.

More: Top executives leaving Ascension Wisconsin as part of hospital leadership shakeup, amid major concerns about patient care

No one from Ascension Wisconsin was present at Friday's committee meeting, though the health system sent a four-page written statement, part of which was read aloud. Zamarripa said the health system had at least four weeks' notice of Friday's meeting, but that Ascension representatives declined to attend.

The statement focused largely on the decision to close St. Francis' labor and delivery unit and in explanation, pointed to the declining number of deliveries performed at the hospital and the recent departure of its last obstetrician employed to deliver babies.

"Given the relative non-use of labor and delivery services at St. Francis and the ability to transition expectant mothers to other nearby Ascension Wisconsin hospitals for the deliveries of their babies, we determined the best and safest course was to relocate labor and delivery to our other sites of care in the community," such as Columbia St. Mary's, said the statement, signed by Reginald Newson, chief advocacy officer for Ascension Wisconsin.

Ascension executives met privately with aldermen earlier this year

Ald. Scott Spiker, whose district includes St. Francis Hospital, and two other council members attended a private meeting with Ascension representatives, including Newson, earlier this year, he said, to have a candid discussion about the closure of the labor and delivery unit and other concerns.

Spiker said the meeting did not ease his concerns about the future existence of St. Francis Hospital, which health care workers say has dwindled in size.

Spiker pointed as a warning to the attempt by Ascension Wisconsin to severely limit services at St. Joseph hospital on the city's north side in 2018, a plan that the health system ultimately abandoned.

"This requires severe vigilance and not just at St. Francis. At St. Joe's, Columbia St. Mary's (Hospital) on the east side," Spiker said. "Because what could happen is you keep the pretty shell outside in place and you hollow out inside. That can happen without drawing attention if we're not vigilant."

The resolution will go before the full Common Council for a vote in April.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee council committee calls on Ascension to reverse cuts
Reuters

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Jack Sullivan was at the New Jersey high school where he teaches history when he received text after text reporting there had been a mass shooting at the Tennessee school where his father served as chaplain.

Time for him on Monday morning slowed to where a few moments seemed an eternity before he was able to get his mother on the phone. She reported that his father, Matthew Sullivan, was safe.

For about 30 seconds, a lot of thoughts were going through my head about what could have happened, Jack Sullivan later told The Daily Beast.

He wondered what it was like for the parents who had young children at the Covenant School in Nashville who were unable to immediately contact them.

Kindergarteners dont have cell phones to call and say, Hey, Im alive, he noted.

The worst possible news came for the families of three 9-year-olds and three staff members, including the head of the school. Sullivan headed home to Nashville, and he was among several thousand people gathered outside the state Capitol at 8 a.m. Thursday to demand a ban on assault weapons and what he terms common sense gun control. A good number of the protesters were from two nearby high schools.

There was limited space in the lobby and it was closed off before Sullivan was able to get inside. He and others discovered they could gain entry through underground tunnels running under some of the surrounding buildings. He joined several hundred demonstrators inside.

Just a lot of sustained chants for gun reform, for legislators to do something, he recalled. I was amazed at how long it kept itself up.

TENNESSEE-SHOOTING/ Protesters gather inside the Tennessee State Capitol to call for an end to gun violence and support stronger gun laws after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. March 30, 2023. Reuters

Around 12:30 p.m., after more than four hours, many of the teens returned to their high schools.

If I had my way, I wouldve had people there the entire day and every day next week, he said. But, that being said, it was good to see so many people come.

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Sullivan ended up sitting alone on a wood bench in the lobby holding a sign reading DO YOUR JOB that another demonstrator had dropped.

I was wearing a Covenant school shirt thats my dads, he said. I dont think a single Republican lawmaker even bothered to ask about it. A few of the Democrat ones did.

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What several Republican legislators did do was post rank falsehoods about the demonstrators and a trio of Democrat representatives who called for gun reform from the house floor.

Wannabe communists conducted a probing attack upon the state of Tennessee, Rep. Monty Fritts tweeted. The Communists failed. Miserably.

Fritts actually declared three weeks ago that while there are people who commit violent acts with all sorts of toolsthere is no such thing as gun violence.

Another lie came from Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton. He described the peaceful protest as an insurrection.

Worse than January 6, he said.

Sullivan dismissed this as absolute nonsense.

Just a vile mischaracterization of things, he said. With the intention of drawing attention away from the subject at hand.

Sullivan reported, It was very clearly peaceful. Not a hand was laid on a legislator. Nor was anything broken into. Everyone went through security. No one possessed a weapon. And no one disrupted the legislative session.

TENNESSEE-SHOOTING/ Protesters gather inside the Tennessee State Capitol to call for an end to gun violence and support stronger gun laws after a deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. March 30, 2023. Reuters

Sullivan left around 1:30 p.m., sorry so many had left, but glad he had come.

It felt good to kind of get out some of the anger that I felt by demonstrating and at least feeling like my voice was being heard, if not received, he said.

His father later retweeted a photo that The Tennessee Holler posted of his son sitting alone on the bench in a Covenant School shirt, holding the sign.

My man Jack. Love him so, his father wrote.

As the school chaplain, Matthew Sullivan teaches Bible studies and holds daily chapels. His duties now extend to consoling the families of the murdered children and comforting the many people who were traumatized by the attack.

Hes attending a funeral now, Jack Sullivan told The Daily Beast on Friday afternoon.

Quiet Ex-Student in Nashville Massacre Had a Manifesto

That was confirmed by what the father later posted on Facebook.

First funeral today, he wrote. May the Lord wrap His big arms around the family through us.

As the school chaplain, he later posted, The first funeral was so very beautiful. Death does NOT have the final word.

Jack Sullivan will now return to the high school in Trenton where he teaches history, which now includes another mass school shooting as nothing is done about guns.

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Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema weighed in the unprecedented indictment of former President Trump, amid a visit with Vice President Kamala Harris.

When theres transgression against law, it does not matter who is involved, Hichilema said on Friday, while standing beside Harris at a joint press conference in Lusaka, Zambia. I think that is what the rule of law means.

Hichilema, however, specifically chose to remove Trumps name from the discussion, saying the name does not matter.

Sometimes names are thrown into it and perceptions are created that are totally inappropriate, he added, noting his countrys own fight against corruption.

Harris, like President Biden, declined to comment on Trumps indictment. A New York grand jury decided on Thursday to indict the former president on criminal charges for his role in a 2016 hush money payment to an adult film star Stormy Daniels.

When Biden was asked if hes worried about protests after the indictment, he replied, No. Im not going to talk about the Trump indictment.

The indictment marks the first time that a current or former president has faced criminal charges in U.S. history.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Across the country, Friday is a day to celebrate the accomplishments and victories of transgender and gender non-conforming people. It's the international Transgender Day of Visibility, which was founded in 2009.

Minnesota lawmakers recently passed legislation, which Gov. Tim Walz signed into law, that aimed to make Minnesota a "refuge" for transgender people. Those pushing the legislation forward said it would protect trans patients and providers of gender-affirming care from legal action in other states where such care is banned or restricted, creating a safe haven in Minnesota.

Walz had earlier signed an executive order designed to protect gender-affirming care.

Officials also used Friday to remind residents that Minneapolis was the first American city to bar gender identity-based discrimination through amendments made to the Civil Rights Ordinance in 1975. It was also the first city to have two Black transgender members of its city council.

"As the only Black Trans woman elected to public office in the United States, I want to say Happy Transgender Day of Visibility," said Minneapolis Council President Andrea Jenkins. "At a time when the transgender community, especially our young people, are experiencing deep pain from having our rights jeopardized by legislatures across the country, I am proud to say the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota is a welcoming community that will see you, respect you, and honor your right to live and be treated with dignity and respect."

Mayor Frey also said that he was proud to work alongside Jenkins, and said the holiday is a "day to uplift and celebrate the accomplishments of our transgender and gender non-conforming community."

There will also be a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol on Friday.

"In our country right now, anti-trans legislation is sweeping most of our states," said Maia Pruim, a trans woman and LGBTQ+ case manager at Avenues for Youth, a Minneapolis-based program helping homeless people ages 16-24. "50% of trans youth live in a state that's already banned gender-affirming care or considering banning gender-affirming care."

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Pruim says this impact is not unnoticed.

"Families across the country are fleeing here," Pruim said. "They're coming here to have lifesaving mental health care. They're coming here to have healthcare in general."

In some cases, Avenues for Youth does outreach work with the local homeless population. Such was the case for J, an 18-year-old trans man and former client.

J says a disagreement with family led to a brief time of homelessness, before connecting with Avenues for Youth.

"Just trying to navigate myself and know who I am. It was a very hard journey but having Maia and these resources really helped me to become the young adult that I am now," J said.

As the state recognizes the Trans Day of Visibility, both say it's a time to remember there is still work to be done.

"It's about love," Pruim said. "It's about knowing that we're people, who have different joys, loves and relationships outside of just the fact that we're trans."

On the national scene, President Biden on Friday called for an end to attacks on transgender Americans. He says the Administration is providing emergency mental health resources especially for young people. They can call 988, then press 3 to speak with a counselor trained to support LGBTQIA+ youth.

NYC tightens security ahead of Tuesday's planned arraignment of former President Trump

A Dodgers fan's surprise proposal goes viral after he was tackled in the outfield

Violent storms forecast for Midwest and South
A South Carolina utility that sued one of its customers for complaining about the quality of the drinking water she receives has lost in court after three years of legal disputes.

Circuit Judge Brian Gibbons dismissed the defamation case by the Jenkinsville Water Co. against Bertha Goins, a Fairfield County Council member who receives water from the utility.

Gibbons did not provide an explanation for his decision, but is expected to do so with a formal written order.

This weeks ruling is a win for the publics right to criticize government, said Goins attorney and a leading free press lawyer in South Carolina.

Goins has said shes seen muddy water flow from her tap multiple times. She has said the system is getting old and has problems. The water company has said her claims are false, unwarranted, and cast the utility in a bad light.

Ms. Goins is pleased the court dismissed JWCs baseless defamation claim against her for speaking the truth, on behalf of herself and her constituents, about the concerns they have about the quality of JWCs water, according to a statement from her attorney, Tommy Morgan. As the law makes clear, elected officials such as Ms. Goins need to be able to speak for the people and bring such critical issues as water quality to light on behalf of those who oftentimes do not have a voice.

Jay Bender, an attorney for the S.C. Press Association and other media outlets, including The State, said the publics rights have been protected.

The utility is a special purpose district, an arm of government, Bender said. Since at least 1776, citizens have had every right to criticize the performance of government.

The Jenkinsville Water Co. has claimed it is a private, non-profit corporation, but Attorney General Alan Wilson has issued an opinion that it is a public body. Regardless of whether the utility is a government, Bender said, the public has a right to criticize utilities if the claims are accurate.

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T. Jeff Goodwyn, an attorney for the water company, was not immediately available for comment Thursday. Greg Ginyard, the companys top official, also was not immediately available.

In addition to tossing out the Jenkinsville suit, the judge allowed several counterclaims by Goins against the water company to continue.

The Jenkinsville Water Co., a small utility that serves about 2,500 people in Fairfield County north of Columbia, has had run-ins with state environmental and health regulators since the 1980s.

From 2010 to 2020, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control made at least four enforcement cases against the water company for various problems. In one case, the company did not notify customers for days about bacteria in the drinking water, resulting in a state fine of $14,000, The State has previously reported. The newspaper chronicled Jenkinsvilles challenges during a 2019 series about the trouble small drinking water systems have across South Carolina.

Ginyard has consistently said the utility provides quality water. In its 2020 lawsuit against Goins, the utility said she had engaged in a public campaign of maliciously attacking Jenkinsville Water Co. by stating that the water .... is substandard, but that the claims were false, defamatory and impugn the good reputation (of) Jenkinsville Water Co. 

Goins, a former water company board member, said Thursday shes seen little improvement in the water and is glad with the courts ruling. She questioned the wisdom of Jenkinsvilles decision to spend money to fight her in court.

The company should have focused on trying to repair the system and do better and clean it up, Goins said. That is what should have happened, rather than suing me to hush.
Unprecedented.

Historically speaking that's what the country faces after a New York grand jury voted this week to indict Donald Trump on unspecified criminal charges.

Never before has the U.S. justice system had to deal with a former president  who is also a current White House candidate  being formally accused of a crime.

In many ways Trump will be treated like any other defendant, experts tell USA TODAY.

He will be given a Miranda warning. He will processed with booking number. He will take a mug shot. He will give his fingerprints. And a lot of paperwork

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But the clash of America's rule of law and political system, which is bitterly partisan, has never happened to this degree.

Elsewhere, Tennessee witnessed one of the more heinous mass shootings this week that took the lives of six people at a Christian elementary school.

Besides the carnage the only thing clearer is the paralysis in Congress, which doesn't appear to be ready with any significant remedy.

What happened this week in politics?

Former President Donald Trump was slapped with unspecified criminal charges tied to an investigation that he paid hush money to two women who claimed to have had sex with him.

A shooter killed six people, including three children, at an elementary school in Tennessee that spotlighted Congress's paralysis on gun reform.

Most Democrats would prefer if someone other than Joe Biden ran for president in 2024, but they're not sure on who should run instead.

A staffer for Sen. Rand Paul was brutally attacked in Washington, D.C. in an incident that is likely to renew the debate about violent crime.

Michigan is quickly becoming a shinning star for Democrats who heralded its progressive pivot after last year's midterms.

Indicted: Trump case further splits D.C.

No one really knows how Trump's indictment will play out in the 2024 GOP primary for president, but it has consumed the early stages of the race.

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What's obvious is Democratic and Republican officeholders see this through very different lenses.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, of Missouri, pointed the finger at the New York prosecutor behind the investigation.

"Tonights indictment of Donald Trump isnt about the law," Hawley said in a tweet.

"Its about power. Raw power. Its the Democrat Party telling the nation they will stop at nothing to control the outcome of the next presidential election. It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple."

Tonights indictment of Donald Trump isnt about the law. Its about power. Raw power. Its the Democrat Party telling the nation they will stop at nothing to control the outcome of the next presidential election. It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple  Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 30, 2023

Politics: Grand jury indicts Donald Trump in New York, first time a former president is charged criminally.

More: A Donald Trump mugshot? Fingerprints? What happens next after Trump indictment

Other lawmakers, such as Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, of California, said via Twitter how indicting a former president represents a "horrible precedent" but how it would be worse "to not indict Donald Trump if there is evidence that he committed crimes."

"This is a somber moment for America," Lieu added. "We should let the judicial system do its job without interference."

Indicting a former President is a horrible precedent; the only precedent worse than that is to not indict Donald Trump if there is evidence that he committed crimes.



This is a somber moment for America. We should let the judicial system do its job without interference. https://t.co/RDgN5c0bTW  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 30, 2023

Nashville shooting changes little

A massacre that left six dead  including three children  at a Christian school in Nashville isn't likely to result in sweeping gun reform.

In fact, most are predicting inaction despite calls from the White House and other liberal-leaning policymakers and activists that more should be done.

Parishioners participate in a community vigil at Belmont United Methodist Church in the aftermath of the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

President Biden has taken several executive actions on firearms, including one to increase the number of background checks conducted during gun sales.

Nation: Covenant School shooting in Nashville: 3 children, 3 adults dead

More: 14 minutes. Visual timeline of Nashville school shooting from break-in to police response

In the aftermath of Nashville he admits that has reached its limit: "The Congress has to act," he said.

Lawmakers, such as Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who helped pass a bipartisan gun bill, said the Senate doesn't have enough votes to go any further. Others were more blunt.

"We're not gonna fix it," Republican Rep. Tim Burchett, of Tennessee, told reporters Monday. "Criminals are going to be criminals."

Most Dems don't want Biden to run

Roughly 74% of Democrats hold a favorable view of President Biden when asked by a Monmouth University Poll released this week.

But only one in four want him to run for a second term, the survey found.

President Joe Biden speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, N.C., Tuesday, March 28, 2023, en route to Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) ORG XMIT: NCCK115

The poll showed 44% of Democrats would prefer the president step aside in favor of another candidate.

Politics: Biden hints at 2024 as he rallies Democratic Party leaders in Philadelphia

More: As Biden prepares 2024 reelection run, Democrats worry blue-collar voters are slipping away

"Democrats appear to be saying they like the job Biden has done, but maybe its time for him to move on when his term is up," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

What's foggier is who those voters want to run instead. Asked who should be the nominee instead, 51% of Monmouth respondents said they don't know.

Rand Paul staffer attacked

A member of Republican Sen. Rand Paul's staff was stabbed in Washington, D.C. which is likely to put crime back into focus on Capitol Hill.

Police arrested 42-year-old Glynn Neal, who is charged with assault with intent to kill the staffer, who suffered a "deep knife wound to the head," according to the senator's office.

A staffer of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was stabbed Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C. This file photo shows Paul in a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.

Federal prison records show Neal was released from prison March 24, a day before the attack.

More: Biden pressure prompts D.C. to cancel sentencing reform law as GOP portrays Dems as soft on crime

Paul pounced on that point when speaking briefly to reports this week.

"The attacker was out of jail for 24 hours," the Kentucky senator said. "First day out of prison, tries to kill somebody."

Michigan: The anti-Florida?

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took a victory lap of sorts this week when she touted The Great Lakes State's recent repeal of right-to-work at the UAW convention.

Im damn proud of the work that we had to do, but we cannot for one second take our foot off the accelerator," she said.

Progressives are rejoicing at what's happening in Michigan, where Democrats hold total control of state government after the 2022 midterms.

Politics: House Democrats introduce bill that would enshrine federal abortion rights

More: Red, white and (increasingly) blue. How Democrats look to take advantage of state 'trifectas'

Earlier this month, for instance, Whitmer signed a landmark pro-LGBTQ measure into law that amends Michigan's civil rights code to stop discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Democrats there have also pursued a major anti-gun violence package while expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-income workers and repealing an anti-abortion rule from 1931.

As a result, many liberals are starting to call Michigan the "anti-Florida" given its left-ward tilt as of late.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump criminally charged; Gun reform unlikely post-Nashville
Education Reporter

Vanessa Ontiveros is the education reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic. She grew up near Los Angeles but has happily made Yakima her new home. She is passionate about reporting stories that serve the community and highlight various aspects of the educational system.She also hosts a podcast that discusses local arts education, Yakima Arts Talk, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The daughter of two longtime public school teachers, she is always looking to include community voices in her work.
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.
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Si vedetele lupta cu depresia! Andreea Marin: Am ajuns sa ma gandesc la sinucidere!

Maladia secolului nu iarta aproape pe nimeni! Nu putine sunt persoanele publice care au recunoscut ca s-au confruntat cu depresii severe, de-a lungul vietii. Unele dintre acestea au ajuns chiar in pragul sinuciderii. [citeste mai departe]
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Maruti Suzuki India said that its total sales for March 2022 were 1,70,071 units, a slight decrease from the 1,70,395 units sold that month. In the domestic market, the overall dispatches to dealers decreased by 3%, from 1,43,899 units in March 2022 to 1,39,952 units in March 2023, reports PTI. Yet, compared to the same month previous year, exports went up 14% to 30,119 units from 26,496 units.

For the last financial year, the company reported its highest ever wholesales till date at 19,66,164 units, up 19 per cent from 16,52,653 units in 2021-22. Domestic dispatches stood at 17,06,831 units in 2022-23 as against 14,14,277 units in 2021-22. Exports rose to 2,59,333 units from 2,38,376 units a year ago.

Also read: Toll Tax Hike: Fares For Highways, Expressways Set To Increase From April 1; Check New Rates Here

Meanwhile, the company will probably experience a growth in its sales with the launch of its upcoming models. Currently, the Indian automaker plans on launching Maruti Suzuki Jimny and Fronx SUVs in India. The new cars were first showcased at the Auto Expo 2023 and are open for bookings.

On the other hand, Tata Motors reported on Saturday that its total domestic wholesales rose by 3% to 89,351 vehicles in March compared to last year. In March 2022, the business sold 86,718 units. According to the car giant, domestic passenger vehicle sales last month totaled 44,044 units, up from 42,293 units during the same period in 2017.

According to the report, local sales of commercial vehicles were 46,823 units in March 2022 as opposed to 47,050 units the previous month. The business sold 9,31,957 units in total for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2023, up 35% from the 6,92,554 units sold in 20212022 domestically.
WENTWORTH  Help, Inc.: Center Against Violence, the countys primary agency combatting domestic violence in Rockingham County, has long waited for a centralized shelter with resources to link battered women and their children to justice. And on Thursday, the doors to the agencys new 11,000-square-foot SquareOne Family Justice Center at 317 Camp Cherokee Road opened as some 175 supporters and federal and state dignitaries looked on. USDA Rural Development State Director Reginald Speight was on hand for the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility that boasts a new medical clinic, specifically designed for the needs of the abused. The federal rural development agency funded construction of the facility, which includes a secure shelter for battered women and their children, with a $2.1 million Community Facilities Loan. SquareOne will serve as an efficient hub for those in need of care and protection, putting counseling, medical care, shelter and administration under one roof, said Debbie Moore, Help, Inc.s outreach coordinator. The structure houses modern administrative office spaces, restrooms, meeting/training/conference rooms, staff break rooms, therapeutic rooms, storage and individual/family sleeping quarters. The shelter was designed to ensure the safety of victims of family violence, child abuse and sexual assault. It further serves elderly who have been abused and victims of human trafficking, administrators explained. Actually, seeing the building constructed has been a boon to clients esteem and courage, said Help Inc.s Executive Director Angela Hall Boles. When the clients first came in they were so overwhelmed with the facility and how nice and homey and accommodating it is, Boles said. This is a major thing for them. It was kind of an eye-opening experience for (staff) to see them react to a brand new building just for them. Often, victims of abuse dont feel like they rate very high ... they dont feel like they really natter. So, that was nice for them, Boles said. One hallmark feature of the building is the medical clinic, a forensic setting where adults and children who have been sexually or physically assaulted may be evaluated and treated. Maggie Martin, M.D., is the centers staff physician who will perform forensic exams, as well as more routine services for clients, including wellness exams for families staying in the shelter. The facility will now offer forensic interviews with kids who have been abused sexually or physically, said Moore. In the past, they had to be transported to (Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital) and might have to wait for weeks. Its better if everything can all be done at the same time and within the same facility, Moore said. Since moving into the building in October, staff have noticed the enhancement of networking between Help, Inc. and other agencies, such as law enforcement and the courts. And domestic violence in the county continues to be a very real problem with roughly 3,000 clients served by Help, Inc., in 2021-2022, Boles said. That number is about 1,000 higher than the year before, Boles said, and she hopes it is because more efficient communication between helping agencies is filtering more clients her way. Overall, I think its more the partners within the multiagency concept ... more people in the services world know about us and what we can do and that takes a while to catch on, she said of the increase. Among the types of domestic abuse Boles sees on the rise: domestic psychological terrorism, she calls it. It may not be physical assault, but bullying and berating by a partner in abuse, nonetheless. And it troubles Boles that so many people tolerate such treatment for long periods of time because there are no outward signs of harm. In 2021-2022, more than 75,500 people sought help in North Carolina for problems related to domestic violence, according to the North Carolina Department of Administration Council. Nationwide, an average of nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner and in one years time, the rate yields a staggering 10 million people. Statistics further show that very nine seconds in the U.S., a woman is assaulted or beaten. While intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime, 19% of domestic violence involves a weapon, according to federal government statistics. Bleak as the problem is, Boles said she gets a wonderful boost from the feedback her clients write on the lines of their client satisfaction survey sheets. A recent note read, I dont know what I do with out your help. Thank you so much for support, the note said. Its a little thing, and it gives you pause every time you hear something like that ... that raw thank you, Boles said.
A 63-year-old Sweden national, identified as Klas Erik Herald Jonasm, was arrested in Mumbai for allegedly molesting a female cabin crew on Bangkok-Mumbai IndiGo flight on March 30, 2023. As reported by ANI, the Swedish national was handed over to Mumbai police by the airline staff after the IndiGo flight landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on Thursday. The report further states that the 63-year-old was allegedly in an inebriated state when he molested the IndiGo flight attendant on the international flight from Thailand to India.

The accused was arrested on Thursday after a complaint by IndiGo Airlines and was produced in the Andheri court on Friday, an official said on Saturday. He was later granted bail and a chargesheet has been filed by the Mumbai police, in Andheri court. The Police further said they have started investigations into the case.

This is the second such unruly passenger incident on a Thailand-India flight in last three months and 8th unruly airline passenger arrested in India, in the past three months, said ANI, quoting officials.

Recently, on March 23, Mumbai's Sahar Police booked two IndiGo flyers travelling from Dubai to Mumbai for allegedly being drunk and misbehaving with the crew. "Two Indigo flyers have been booked under section 336 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) & sections 21,22 and 25 of Aircraft rules for being drunk & misbehaving with the crew. Both were arrested formally but as the sections were bailable, they were granted bail from the police station itself", DCP Dixit Gedam, Mumbai Police told ANI.

Earlier, Shankar Meena, a passenger travelling from New York to Delhi on an Air India flight allegedly urinated on an elderly female passenger seated in business class of the flight. The incident led to an uproar, and various bodies demanded amendment in DGCA rules to deal with unruly passenger behaviour on flights.
New Delhi: After facing criticism about his ChatGPT rival called Bard, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said that the company will soon release more capable AI models. Bard was released for the public on March 21 but failed to garner the attention won by OpenAI`s ChatGPT and Microsoft`s Bing chatbot.

"We clearly have more capable models. Pretty soon, we will be upgrading Bard to some of our more capable Pathways Language Model (PaLM) models, which will bring more capabilities; be it in reasoning, coding, it can answer maths questions better," Pichai said during The New York Times` Hard Fork podcast.



"So you will see progress over the course of next week," Pichai added. Pichai said that part of the reason for Bard`s limited capabilities was a sense of caution within Google.



"To me, it was important to not put out a more capable model before we can fully make sure we can handle it well," he was quoted as saying in the report. Pichai confirmed he was talking with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin about the work. He also raised concerns that development of AI is currently moving too fast and "perhaps poses a threat to society".



"This is going to need a lot of debate, no-one knows all the answers," said Pichai. Google has denied reports that it is copying Microsoft-owned OpenAI`s ChatGPT to train its AI chatbot called Bard.



A report in The Information claimed that OpenAI`s success "has forced the two AI research teams within Google`s parent, Alphabet, to overcome years of intense rivalry to work together". According to the report, citing sources, software engineers at Google`s Brain AI group are working with employees at DeepMind, which is a sibling company within Alphabet to develop software to compete with OpenAI. However, a Google spokesperson told The Verge that "Bard is not trained on any data from ShareGPT or ChatGPT".



Bard, like OpenAI`s ChatGPT and Microsoft`s Bing chatbot, is based on a large language model (LLM), specifically a lightweight and optimised version of LaMDA, which the tech giant said will be updated with newer, more capable models in the future.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah who arrived in Mizoram on Saturday (April 1) announced plans to connect all eight state capitals in the North East with air, rail, and road links by 2025. Speaking during his visit to Mizoram, Shah praised the state's success as an example of India's democracy, citing the appointment of Zoramthanga as Chief Minister as evidence of peace and stability in the region.

"All 8 state capitals in the North East will be connected by air, rail, and road before 2025," Shah said.

"At one time there was unrest and violence here, but today Zoramthanga is the CM of Mizoram, this is an example of democracy in India. Today, there is peace here. I appeal to all armed groups in the northeast to join the mainstream, become a part of the democratic process and give their contribution in the development of the region and the country," he further said.

#WATCH | All 8 state capitals in the North East will be connected by air, rail and road before 2025, says Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Aizwal, Mizoram pic.twitter.com/Vgu08QIcxY  ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2023

Shah was in Aizawl to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several infrastructure projects worth Rs 2,415 crore. These include the construction of an Assam Rifles Battalion Headquarters Complex in Zokhawsang, and an Integrated Command and Control Centre under Smart City Ltd (ASCL). The construction of Zorinpui-Longmasu NH-502A, Aizawl Bypass (Package-1) NH-6, Aizawl Bypass (Package-3) NH-6, and the Laldenga Centre were also part of the projects.
A fresh CCTV footage has surfaced on social media purportedly showing Papalpreet Singh, a close aide of radical preacher Amritpal Singh, in a "dera" in a village in Hoshiarpur even as police continued their search for them in the district on Saturday.

The footage is said to be of March 29, a day after a team of the counter intelligence wing of the Punjab Police chased an Innova vehicle from Phagwara after it suspected that fugitive Amritpal Singh and his aide could be travelling in it.

The "dera" (a place for religious congregation) whose footage has surfaced is located in village Tanauli, just two to three km away from Marnaian village in Hoshiarpur where the police had launched their massive search for the duo.

Sources said Papalpreet Singh was spotted in the CCTV footage of the dera of Wednesday morning. It is suspected that Papalpreet and Amritpal got separated in Hoshiarpur following the police chase of their vehicle.

Papalpreet Singh is considered one of Amritpal Singh's mentors who had been advising him on various issues.

Police on Friday had expanded their search for Amritpal Singh to "deras" and other possible hideouts of the fugitive preacher in Hoshiarpur district. Police had even deployed a drone to trace the suspects.

The radical preacher has been on the run since a police crackdown on his outfit Waris Punjab De on March 18. He has, however, appeared in two purported videos and an audio clip released on social media in the past few days.

In the video, the Khalistan sympathiser asserted he was not a fugitive and would soon appear before the world.

In the audio clip, he debunked speculation he was negotiating his surrender and nudged the Akal Takht for the second time to summon a "sarbat khalsa" congregation to discuss issues related to the Sikh community.

The hunt to nab Amritpal Singh was launched in Hoshiarpur district Tuesday night following inputs that the radical preacher and his aides could be there.

It began after police chased an Innova SUV from Phagwara, which sources said may have carried Amritpal Singh and his aides. The occupants abandoned the vehicle near Gurdwara Bhai Chanchal Singh in Marnaian and disappeared.

There were also inputs the suspects could have used a Swift car after abandoning the SUV.

Police had recovered another vehicle from Phagwara which they suspected could have been used by the fugitive and his close aide Papalpreet Singh.

Punjab Police have been on a high alert since Amritpal Singh escaped their net in Jalandhar on March 18.

The crackdown on the Waris Punjab De chief was launched about three weeks after his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested man.

He and his associates have been booked in several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
Bharatpur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday slammed the Centre over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha and said that the Congress leader was not given a chance to speak (in the Parliament) to present his case. Gehlot said that Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister today because MK Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru established democracy in India.

"Today PM Modi is the PM because Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru established democracy in the country 75 yrs ago. BJP is misusing the ED and CBI and all other central institutions. Rahul Gandhi`s disqualification was planned by them. PM did not answer any of Rahul Gandhi`s questions. No one gave him (Rahul Gandhi) chance to speak," Gehlot alleged.

Earlier on Friday, Gehlot hit out at the Centre for Rahul Gandhi`s disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction and sentencing to two years in a criminal defamation case, and said he raised the Adani issue and they pushed him out of the Parliament.

"Rahul Gandhi raised the Adani issue, and the government should answer in Parliament but they didn`t. Instead of answering his question, they pushed him out of the Parliament: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said in Ajmer. Where is the country heading? Democracy is in danger. ED, IT and CBI raids are ongoing. The judiciary is under pressure. How long will this go on?" CM said.

"It affects the country, it affects democracy and it affects Constitution. So, citizens should understand that the situation in the country is a matter of concern," Rajasthan CM said.

Notably, on March 23, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat district court and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 2019 defamation case over his `Modi surname` remark made in 2019 during an election rally in Karnataka. The defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi.

After being convicted by the court, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha. The sentence of two-year imprisonment has been suspended for 30 days before which Rahul Gandhi has to appeal against the conviction. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha has been one in a series of flashpoints between the Congress party and the ruling BJP, uniting the opposition parties who have been accusing the Centre of diverting attention from the Adani issue.
New Delhi: Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Friday launched an attack at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the violence during a Ram Navami procession in Howrah and accused her of giving clean chit to those who pelted stones during the procession. "Stone pelting happened during Ram Navami`s procession in Howrah. Instead of delivering justice Mamata Bandopadhyay (Banerjee) gave a clean chit to stone pelters who took the law into their hands and attacked the Shobha Yatra of Ram Navami," Irani alleged. "The question is how long will Mamata keep attacking the Hindu community..." she added.

Irani further stated, "This is not the first event that happened during the term of Mamata. Earlier in 2022, on Lakshmi Puja, when Dalits were performing puja they were attacked. At that time also she was quiet."

Earlier on Thursday, several vehicles were set on fire after two groups clashed in Howrah amid Ram Navami celebrations. During the procession, the rioters vandalized public and private properties and set vehicles on fire.

Following the violence in Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations, the West Bengal government on Friday handed over the probe to Criminal Investigation Department (CID). A special team led by Inspector General of Police, CID Sunil Choudhury has initiated the investigation.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also earlier spoke to West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and took stock of the situation in Howrah where violence broke out.

Shah also called West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and enquired about the law and order situation in the state. West Bengal BJP chief on Friday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into violence in Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations.

Following the violence in West Bengal`s Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations, the Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Friday filed a PIL in Calcutta High Court seeking an NIA probe into the matter and immediate deployment of Central Forces in the violence-affected areas.
The Karnataka unit of the Congress on Saturday slammed the state`s ruling BJP government over the gang rape of a minor girl in a moving car in Bengaluru and claimed that the incident is the result of inefficiency of Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday said due to the inefficiency of the Home Minister, the state police department has derailed.

"The police`s inactiveness during the phase of elections is dangerous. I request the Election Commission to monitor the functioning of the police department," he appealed.

The gang rape was carried out by four men on March 25. The victim hailed from the city`s Koramangala area.

"The people have lost faith in the existence of a law and order system in the state," Siddaramaiah maintained.

He further said that the government was supposed to finish off anti-social elements and criminals. "Now, the common people are putting up with the results of giving a red carpet welcome to rowdy sheeters, murderers to the party and facilitating them."

"When questioned about the collapse of the law and order system in the state, Jnanedra reacted strongly in the Assembly session. His inefficiency is the reason for all these atrocities," Siddaramaiah charged.

"The talk of people that the Home Minister is capable of making transfers as per the suggestion of a criminal is becoming true," he alleged.

Meanwhile, probe into the incident has revealed that the accused persons had approached the girl in the pretext of moral policing.

They questioned her while she was sitting with a male friend in a park late in the night.

Initially, one of the accused questioned her and later returned with his friends and kidnapped the girl.

The accused are aged between 23 and 24 years. Two are office boys, one is an electrician and another works with a BPO.

The accused hailed from the same place. The victim is shocked and under treatment following the incident.

She is cooperating with the investigating officers.

The victim had told the police that she was gang raped throughout the night in the moving car.

She lodged a complaint on March 26.
Bihar BJP has reportedly cancelled a key event in Sasaram due to the unrest and imposition of Section 144 in the area. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was supposed to attend the event and address a public rally in Sasaram tomorrow. Shah is scheduled to arrive at Patna Airport on Saturday evening for a two-day visit to Bihar. He is expected to arrive at Jay Prakash Narayan Airport in Patna around 6.30 pm and senior BJP leaders and Union ministers from Bihar will receive him. Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary said that the Sasaram event has been cancelled.

"Union Home minister Amit Shah was supposed to come to Sasaram for an event. As the Bihar govt imposed Section 144, we have to cancel the event. How can we hold an event in a situation like this?" said Chaudhary.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the state government is alert about law and order situation. "When ministers from the Centre come, the state govt fulfils all its responsibilities. We take care of each and everything. Did law and order get jeopardised anywhere? It was about scuffle between people, somebody has done mischief, there isn't law and order problem. The government is alert," said Kumar.

Upon his arrival, Shah will go to a hotel, where he is expected to chair meetings with party leaders and administrative officials. "On Sunday, he will address a public meeting at Hisua in Nawada to mark the birth anniversary of Emperor Ashoka," Choudhary told PTI.

This will be Shah's fourth visit to the state since the ruling JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP in August last year.

A multi-tier security arrangement has been put in place for the Union home minister's visit and drones have also been deployed for aerial surveillance, an official said. Shah will leave for New Delhi on Sunday evening.

On the other hand, 45 people have been arrested in connection with communal riots at Sasaram and Bihar Sharif towns that erupted during the Ram Navami festivities. The communal riots at Sasaram and Bihar Sharif towns were sparked off late Thursday and continued till Friday.

The state police headquarters said on Saturday that "normalcy has been restored" in both places though senior officers were camping in the affected areas by way of caution and heavy deployment of forces continued.

In Sasaram, where Rohtas district is headquartered, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence and arson. In Bihar Sharif, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's home district Nalanda is headquartered, 27 people have been arrested, added the PHQ statement. (With PTI/ANI inputs)
Montreal: Police in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne said Friday they have found the bodies of two more migrants who died trying to cross from Canada into the United States, bringing the death toll to eight, including two children. Authorities had pulled six bodies from a river that straddles the Canada-US border on Thursday, members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent.

Akwesasne Mohawk Police Chief Shawn Dulude said authorities are still looking for 30-year-old Casey Oakes, who was last seen Wednesday operating a boat that was found next to the bodies.

"A total of eight bodies have now been recovered from the waters. All are believed to have been attempting illegal entry into the United States from Canada," Dulude said. Dulude said he didn't know if Oakes is alive or not, adding that he is a person of interest.

The territory is known for being a transit point for the trafficking of humans and contraband because of its location. And in February, police in Akwesasne reported an increase in human smuggling into the Mohawk territory. Weather conditions in the area were rough Wednesday night, said Lee-Ann O'Brien, deputy chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service

O'Brien said six of the bodies were located during a search for Oakes who was reported missing on Thursday. Oakes of Akwesasne was last seen Wednesday around 9.30 pm boarding a small boat departing from the east end of Cornwall Island, located in the St. Lawrence River and on the Ontario side of the Mohawk territory.

"This is a heartbreaking situation, particularly given the young child that was among them," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. "We need to understand properly what happened, how it happened and do whatever we can to minimize the chances of this ever happening again."

The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service said the first body was located around 5 pm in a marsh. The area was searched further by a police marine unit with the help of the Canadian Coast Guard and the Hogansburg Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department.

Air support units with the Quebec provincial police and Ontario Provincial Police are expected to assist with the investigation of the area.

Post-mortem and toxicology tests have been ordered to determine the cause of the deaths.

Akwesasne police say there have been about 80 people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent. Akwesasne straddles the Canada-United States border, and has territory in Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

"There's always been people coming through here," Dulude said. "I've always been worried about it. It's just that now there's more attention." He said it's mostly people going south to the US and it is rare that someone comes north.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St. Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. A seventh person, spotted leaving the vessel and wading ashore, was later identified as a U.S. Citizen. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials described what happened as a human smuggling incident.

Trudeau and US President Joe Biden announced a plan last week to close a loophole to an immigration agreement that allowed thousands of asylum-seeking migrants to move between the two countries along a back road linking New York state to Quebec.

The deal closing an illegal border crossing point about 105 kilometers (66 miles) east of Akwesasne took effect Saturday. O'Brien said it has nothing to do with the closure of the Roxham Road illegal crossing into Canada.

Early last year, a Florida man was charged with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teen, were found in Canada near the US border in what authorities believe was a failed crossing attempt during a freezing blizzard between Manitoba, Canada and North North Dakota.


Indore: A senior citizen who lost four members of his family in the Indore temple tragedy claimed on Saturday that rescue and relief efforts from authorities began late by about two hours, while it was local residents who reached immediately and saved lives. However, the allegations have been refuted by authorities who said "prescribed parameters of disaster management" were followed and that coordination among agencies was good.

Thirty-six persons were killed when the floor of Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple, built after covering a "bawdi" or stepwell in Patel Nagar area, caved in during Ram Navami on Thursday, hurtling devotees several feet below.

"When I called the fire brigade after the accident at 12 noon on Ram Navami, I was first told to inform the police. Then I was told starting a rescue operation was the responsibility of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)," Laxmikant Patel (64) told reporters on Saturday.

'Local residents reached temple, saved lives'

Patel, who claimed he did not get proper response after calling the police and NDRF, said, "Immediately after the accident, local residents reached the temple and saved many lives. The rescue operation at the government level started one-and-half to two hours after the accident."

Patel said he was making preparations for the "bhandara" (community feast) after the "havan" (fire ritual) when 55 persons fell into the stepwell after the floor cave-in. Patel, who lives opposite the temple, said he had lost four members of his family, including his wife and daughter-in-law.

Meanwhile, in an official statement, District Magistrate Dr Ilayaraja T said, "The prescribed parameters of disaster management were followed and there was better coordination among all government agencies in dealing with the accident."

Also Read: Madhya Pradesh CM Inspects Rescue Operation At Indore Stepwell Collapse Site, Says 'Free Treatment For Injured'

All the administrative officers immediately reached the spot after information about the incident was received, a strategy was chalked out after mutual discussion and all necessary resources were mobilized in time, the collector said.

Umesh Khanchandani, who runs a medicine shop, lost his wife Bhumika (32) and his one-and-a-half-year-old nephew Hitansh in the accident.

He told PTI such incidents could have been avoided if the administration was alert and prepared, while elder brother Sanjay sought an inquiry claiming they did not know the temple was built on a stepwell despite visiting the place for 40 years.

Case against temple trustees

Juni Indore police station in-charge Neeraj Meda said an FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against Sevaram Galani, president of Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple Trust and secretary Murli Kumar Sabnani.

Sabnani was present in the temple at the time of the accident and had also fallen into the stepwell, Meda said.

"Sabnani, who fractured his leg and has to undergo an operation, is admitted in a private hospital in Bhawarkuan area along with other injured. The second accused Galani is recuperating from a broken leg sustained in another accident," Meda said.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Santosh Singh Gautam claimed the two accused are close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and said both of them should be arrested forthwith for the tragedy that had shaken Indore.
I have been a trauma surgeon at a Level I trauma center for more than 28 years and have had many gratifying moments over those years witnessing thousands of patients return to happy and healthy lives following serious injury and illness.

Yet, I have, on far too many occasions, had to tell a mother that her child would not be coming home ever again because of the lethal injuries he or she sustained from a firearm.

No one should have to experience the anguish of losing a child, whether due to homicide, suicide or accidental injury  especially when so many of these injuries can be prevented.

Sadly, firearm-related deaths and injuries have increased dramatically since the pandemic, particularly among our youth.

The N.C. Child Fatality Task Force reports that the firearm death rates for children under 18 increased by 121% from 2019 through 2021. Thats why Im greatly concerned by the repeal of North Carolinas pistol purchase permitting system.

This system required a background check on all handgun sales, even if they were purchased from a private seller online or at a gun show. Sheriffs issued the permits and conducted a federal and state background check.

Eliminating a background check at any point in the purchase of a firearm is dangerous for the public.

In states without regulations on private firearm sales, more people circumvent the federal background check system and purchase privately, avoiding a background check. In these states, 57% of firearms purchased from a private seller did not include a background check, compared to 26% in states regulating private firearm sales.

Studies have also found that state firearm licensing laws reduce the flow of guns trafficked within and between states and diverted for criminal misuse. Research also shows permitting systems like the N.C. pistol purchasing permit system saves lives.

We need only to look at Missouri, which repealed a similar law in 2007. In the following nine years, Missouris firearm homicide rate spiked 47%, compared to the rate expected without this law. Conversely, Connecticuts firearm homicide rate has declined 28% in the 22 years since they enacted a permitting law similar to the one that North Carolina just repealed. The data is crystal clear: our permitting system saved lives.

Our hospitals and our communities are experiencing epidemic levels of gun violence. Instead of ending our permitting system and accepting the deadly and costly consequences that we know will follow, we urgently need to invest proactively in evidence-based violence prevention strategies that spare our communities unnecessary loss of life.

One such strategy is community-based violence intervention (CVI). These initiatives can take many forms, including street outreach programs, such as the Alternatives to Violence Program here in Charlotte (based upon the successful evidence-based Cure Violence Model) and hospital-based violence intervention programs like the ones being launched in Charlotte, Winston-Salem and in Wake County.

These hospital-based violence intervention programs have a long and well-established track record of saving lives, money and decreasing future engagement in violence in patients admitted to trauma centers with violence-related injuries.

Including $20 million in this years state budget for community violence intervention could fund a dozen or more CVI programs across the state. A $113 million investment over eight years in community violence intervention programs could potentially save a thousand lives across North Carolina and also save taxpayers $162 million in averted medical, police and criminal justice costs.

These evidence-based programs work. And they need appropriate funding to truly address the scope of our gun violence epidemic. I cannot overstate the importance of these programs in the midst of the current crisis, and I call on our leaders in Raleigh and in Washington to provide our communities with the support they need to combat this deadly disease.

As a surgeon, I am focused every single day on saving lives. I call on state and federal leaders to do the same by supporting background checks for all firearm purchases and funding impactful initiatives such as community violence intervention programs. The overall health of all our communities depends upon it.
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address a rally in Kolar in Karnataka on April 9 in indication of the Congress seeking to make a political issue of his disqualification from Lok Sabha with the Congress leader also slated to visit Wayanad on April 11. Rahul Gandhi will be in poll-bound Karnataka on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also slated to visit the state. Rahul Gandhi was disqualified following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case over his `Modi surname` remarks made in Kolar in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"Sh. @RahulGandhi will be in Kolar on 9th April and address the Jai Bharat Mega Rally there. On 11th April, he will visit Wayanad. He is the voice of the people, you can never silence him. This voice will only get louder and stronger," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said in a tweet.

Rahul Gandhi was elected to Lok Sabha in 2019 from Wayanad in Kerala. The party has said that it will challenge the Surat court verdict in a higher court. Campaigning is gathering pace in Karnataka ahead of the assembly polls due on May 10.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will get a clear majority in the upcoming Assembly elections. The chief minister was speaking to the media at the Ghati temple in Doddaballapur taluk of Bengaluru Rural district today. He said BJP is in the process of deciding its candidates for the election and they will be declared soon.

Referring to Congress leader Siddaramaiah, the Chief Minister said they "rejected him in 2018 and will reject him this time too. We will definitely give strong competition in Varuna," he said."People are of the opinion that Vijayendra should contest. Yediyurappa will finally take a decision," he added.

BJP leader BS Yediyurappa, who is also a former Chief Minister, meanwhile ruled out the possibility of his son BY Vijayendra contesting from the Varuna constituency and said that he will only contest from Shikaripura.

"There is no question of BY Vijayendra going to contest from Varuna. I will tell high command that Vijayendra will contest from my seat Shikaripura," Yediyurappa told the media.

Yediyurappa is MLA from Shikaripura.The former Chief Minister had said on Thursday that BJP will get an absolute majority in the Karnataka assembly elections. He also accused Congress of making false allegations calling them "corrupt".

"Under PM Modi`s leadership, we`ll come back to power. Congress is corrupt and that`s why they`re making false allegations such as of 40 pc commission, these things will be kept away by voters," he had said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated visit Karnataka on April 9 to inaugurate an event on the completion of 50 years of the Tiger Project. During the visit, the Prime Minister is also expected to go on a safari tour in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, sources said. They said PM Modi will inaugurate three-day mega event in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts on the occasion of the completion of 50 years of the Tiger Project.He is likely to hold a meeting with BJP workers and officials, the sources said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will also visit poll-bound Karnataka this weekend. Apart from Bengaluru, he will visit Hubbali and Belagavi districts. Jaishankar will address women entrepreneurs on how India became a `Vishwaguru` on Saturday.

The Laghu Udyog Bharathi has planned another programme of interaction with entrepreneurs and businessmen. The minister will also address the Interaction with Entrepreneurs Organizations (Startups) on "India`s New Standing in World order & Perspective".He will also attend events on Sunday.

"The kind of appeal that he (Jaishankar) has amongst the youth and the educated class is phenomenal. That is why there is a big demand for his campaign in Karnataka," a BJP MP from Karnataka told ANI.

As part of its election efforts, the Congress party has launched the "first-time youth voters" campaign. "Celebrate your Vote" is the campaign theme of the programme. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday released its second list of 60 candidates for the Karnataka polls.

Party leaders said they have given representation to all sections of society in choosing candidates. The party had on Wednesday released `Karnataka guarantees` as part of its election preparations in the state. The guarantees include zero corruption, 300 units of free electricity, guaranteed employment for the youth and employment allowance of Rs 3000 per month until they get a job, farmers` loan waiver, minimum support price, free quality education, free quality health care, and permanent employment for contract workers.

AAP has fielded Rajesh GS from Varuna constituency, which is also being contested by Congress leader Siddaramaiah.AAP has so far declared 140 candidates for the assembly polls. The state has 224 assembly seats.

Political parties are gearing up preparation for assembly polls in Karnataka. The results of the assembly polls will be declared on May 13.

Karnataka assembly polls are significant for national ambitions of BJP and Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Janata Dal-Securlar leaders have said that the people will reject the national parties in the assembly polls.
Senior JD(S) leader AT Ramaswamy joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Saturday in presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur, BJP national general secretary Dushyant Gautam and Rajya Sabha member Lehar Singh Siroya.With the Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled on May 10, the JD(S) leader resigned from the State Legislative Assembly on Friday.

"It is a great pleasure for me to announce that I am joining the BJP because of love and affection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa," Ramaswamy told reporters after joining the national party in New Delhi.

Ramaswamy said he is joining the BJP without any condition as he was impressed with the way the party is functioning and the country is progressing. "It is mostly because of the core values and ideas of the top most leadership in the BJP," he said.

"As a politician in public life, I have never aspired any benefits or facilities from the government. I am a victim of the money power because I spoke against corruption," Ramaswamy said.

"I have not asked for anything from BJP including the MLA seat but if given an opportunity I will serve people," he said.

With Ramaswamy's exit, JD(S) suffered yet another blow, which recently witnessed the Gubbi MLA S R Srinivas joining the Congress while Arasikere MLA

Shivalinge Gowda too had announced that he would join the grand old party shortly.

The party's another MLA K Srinivasa Gowda had long back identified himself with the Congress during the cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections.

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BHOPAL: The state of Madhya Pradesh is gearing up for a nail-biting Assembly poll, scheduled to be held towards the end of this year. Politically, the state stands at the crossroads and a close contest between the traditional rivals -- the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on the cards. Though, the leaders in the ruling BJP would officially rule out the anti-incumbency of nearly two decades (except for 15 months of Kamal Nath-led Congress government), but at time, they also mention that foot soldiers of the party are already at work in all earnestness to beat the anti-incumbency of four terms under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Congress on the other hand has positioned itself on voter fatigue while raising public issues on which the BJP may face the heat. The grand old party would be more reliant on its counter strategies with polls drawing nearer, and tall promises being made that the `Bachan Patra` (election manifesto) would be unique and will comprise all sections of society.

Senior Congress leader Rajendra Kumar Singh, who is also head of `Bachan Patra` committee of MP Congress, during an exclusive conversation with IANS claimed the ruling BJP would loss at least three to five per cent votes due to decreasing popularity of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and that will be an extra edge for the Congress.

Singh noted: "The BJP would also accept this point that Shivraj Singh Chouhan`s popularity has decreased at least up to some extent and a clear evidence of this was seen in the 2018 Assembly elections. In 2018, the BJP had got 0.6 per cent more votes against the Congress, but in total number of seats, they (BJP) were five seats behind. This time, there would be a huge difference in both -- total number of seats and the vote percentage. We are confident that the Congress will get four to five per cent more votes against the BJP this time."

In 2018, out of total 230 Assembly seats in the state, the Congress had won 114 while the BJP had won 109 seats. BSP and SP had won two and one seats respectively, while Independent candidates won four seats.

Also Read: Online 'Girlfriend' Dupes Delhi Man Of Rs 1.5 Lakh After Obscene Video Call

In terms of vote share, the BJP, with 41.02 per cent votes, had upper hand against Congress` 40.89 per cent. However, the Congress argue that it fielded candidates on 229 seats, leaving one seat - Jatara in Tikamgarh district - for the Sharad Yadav-led Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), and thus there was this difference in the vote share.

When asked about the political arithmetic behind his assertion that Chouhan`s popularity has plunged, Singh claims: "In the last two-and-half years, Chouhan has not taken any step that can increase his popularity... He (Chouhan) has developed a good image among the people of Madhya Pradesh, but in the last two-and-half years of his current tenure as Chief Minister, he has completely surrendered to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And as PM Modi`s popularity is now gradually falling, how can the BJP would win more seats than the Congress."

On the other hand, the BJP will try to beat the anti-incumbency factor by intense involvement of its two popular faces -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the election campaign.

"Anti-incumbency will of course be a factor, but elections are not fought on just one factor. More importantly, the leadership quality is a factor that plays bigger role in winning elections... the BJP has charismatic leader - Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let the elections come, things will be clear then," says a senior BJP leader.
IMPHAL: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Friday said that his government is ready to introduce the National Register of Citizens (NRC) but for this approval from the Centre is required. "The NRC cannot be introduced alone by the state government, the Centre`s approval is required for this," CM said in response to questions during a press conference in Manipur`s Imphal on Friday.

Talking about the Manipur State Population Commission (MSPC), CM Singh said that the state government has already constituted the Manipur State Population Commission (MSPC) and it would identify the immigrants in the state. "The state government has already constituted the Manipur State Population Commission (MSPC). We have appointed members and now through that, the immigrants in the states will be identified," Singh said.

#WATCH | House-to-house survey will be done soon to identify illegal immigrants...If we want to do NRC, we can't do it alone,we need approval from the Centre. We've already constituted a population commission &now through it,we'll identify (illegal immigrants): Manipur CM (31.03) pic.twitter.com/7mytF7eanx  ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2023

"Identifying the illegal immigrants who have settled here will be based on the house-to-house survey is going to start very soon," he added. Earlier on March 29, thousands of women from three Ima Keithels (all-women-run markets), members of the six student bodies carried out a rally from Khwairamband Keithel towards the chief minister`s secretariat demanding implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur.

Various civil society organizations, particularly student bodies, have been demanding the implementation of NRC in the state in the backdrop of an unchecked surge in the population of illegal immigrants in the state. Furthering the demand, six student bodies - AMSU, MSF, DESAM, KSA, SUK and AIM - held a demonstration in Imphal`s Khwairamband Keithel, the business hub in the heart of the capital city. The rally began from Khwairamband Keithel and was carried out towards Chief Minister`s bungalow along Bir Tikendrajit Riad by carrying banners with slogans demanding the implementation of NRC in the State.
New Delhi: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was released from jail on Saturday (April 1) after spending nearly 10 months in Patiala central jail in a 1988 road rage case. Soon after walking out of jail, he spoke to the media about democracy and equated Rahul Gandhi to a 'revolution'. He claimed that his release was delayed on purpose so that the media would leave the scene.

Sidhu further said, "Whenever a dictatorship came to this country a revolution has also come and this time, the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. He will rattle the government."

I was supposed to be released around noon but they delayed it. They wanted media people to leave. Whenever a dictatorship came to this country a revolution has also come and this time, the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. He will rattle the govt: Navjot Singh Sidhu soon pic.twitter.com/L51NwG9b2h April 1, 2023

#WATCH | Patiala: Whenever a dictatorship came to this country a revolution has also come and this time, the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. He will rattle the govt: Navjot Singh Sidhu soon after his release from Patiala jail pic.twitter.com/wkrBrObxDG  ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2023

Sidhu claimed that there is "no democracy" in the country right now and that there is a conspiracy to bring President's Rule in Punjab. "Minorities being targeted. If you try to weaken Punjab, you will become weak," he said as quoted by ANI.

Navjot Singh Sidhu walked out of jail wearing a blue jacket and waving at his supporters outside. While he was expected to be released at noon, he finally came out at 5:53 pm as per PTI.

A group of supporters of the 59-year-old individual gathered outside the prison early in the morning to give him a grand welcome upon his release. They could be heard shouting 'Navjot Sidhu zindabad'.

Along with the supporters, various Congress leaders such as Gurjit Aujla, Shamsher Singh Dullo, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Lal Singh, Navtej Singh Cheema, Ashwani Sekhri, and Sukhwinder Singh Danny were also present to receive Sidhu, reported PTI.

Navjot Singh Sidhu had been sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court on May 20 last year for his involvement in a road rage case in 1988 that resulted in the death of 65-year-old Gurnam Singh.
Jaipur: The Rajasthan government will appeal in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of the accused in the 2008 Jaipur serial blasts case, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said. The state govt will file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in this regard. The decision was taken in a meeting held by the Chief Minister at his residence last night.

The CM said that the Rajasthan High Court has acquitted all the accused, overturning the 2019 district court verdict. He said that it is the intention of the state government that the culprits should be given the harshest punishment, therefore the state government will soon file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court.

The Chief Minister also decided to terminate the services of Additional Advocate General Rajendra Yadav, who was appointed advocate in this case.

In the meeting, Chief Secretary Usha Sharma, Principal Government Secretary Home Anand Kumar, Director General of Police Umesh Mishra, ADG SOG ATS Ashok Rathore, ADG Intelligence S Sengthir, Principal Government Secretary Law Gyan Prakash Gupta and Secretary Home (Law) Ravi Sharma and others were present. Over 80 persons were killed and more than 183 injured in the Jaipur bomb blasts when eight explosions took place on May 13, 2008.
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday said the sequence of events connected with Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha unfolded with the speed of a "bullet train" and alleged that the BJP expects him to "apologise" to "people who have run away" after taking people's money from India. Addressing a press conference at the Rajiv Bhawan here, Congress media and publicity department chairperson Pawan Khera said in the last few days, a "tsunami of support" has come up on Twitter, with many people offering their homes to Gandhi as "he lives in our hearts" and the government does not need to worry about his home.

A notice to Gandhi to vacate the 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow was served by the Housing Committee of Lok Sabha following his disqualification last week after a Surat court convicted and sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.

Khera said the party's campaign seeking answers in the Adani issue will continue with vigour, and "our party leader will not apologise to anyone, whatever may be the consequences".

The Congress on Thursday had used embattled IPL founder Lalit Modi's tweets threatening to take Gandhi to court to attack the BJP and said "global scamsters" were now coming to the defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Launching a fresh salvo at the BJP, Khera said, "first big extracts from his (Gandhi's) speech in Parliament were expunged, and then he was not allowed to come into Parliament, and conditions were kept that if he will come, he would have to apologise first".

He asked, "Apology for what? For a comment that he didn't make, and they alleged that he insulted the country." "The challenges facing democracy in India, to discuss that with Indian students studying abroad, what is wrong with that? Democracy get strengthened through dialogue," Khera said.

He said when an award is given by a foreign country, then they carry that "certification from abroad" and go about it, then they (BJP) don't say as to why a foreign certification is needed. But, if it has been said abroad that there are challenges to democracy then they get offended, the Congress leader said.

Without naming any leader, Khera said when he said how people earlier used to feel ashamed to have been born in India, then was it not an insult to the country in foreign land.

Khera said on February 7, Gandhi gave a speech in Parliament on the Adani issue, and put forth his view and asked questions.

"Within nine days, comes a defamation case, on which the petitioner himself had sought a stay earlier. He runs to the court to get his stay vacated. And, hearing begins again in a Surat court, and seven hearings take place in 20 days. Bullet train! And, then punishment is pronounced. Within 24-hour of the sentence, he (Gandhi) is disqualified from Lok Sabha," Khera said.

"And, even 24 hours had not elapsed after the disqualification, a letter comes on cancellation of allotment of his government bungalow. This is called bullet train. In matters related to Adani, everything is happening like a bullet train," he alleged.

The Congress has been accusing the BJP and Prime Minister Modi of assisting the business group in getting projects in its favour, a charge denied by the ruling party.

Khera alleged that the purpose of the chain of events surrounding Gandhi's disqualification is to "save Adani".

"And, it is being expected from us that we apologise to Nirav Modi, we apologise to Mehul Choksi. Rahul Gandhi had taken name of 3-4 such people, during his speech in Karnataka -- Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya," he claimed.

"My leader will not apologise to these friends of yours, who have absconded after taking money of this country," Khera alleged.

"My leader didn't apologise... One of them have even threatened to file a case in London. This has come to our democracy. See, who are coming in defence of the PM," he asked.

Khera claimed that the BJP is "anxious" after the "success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra", and the way Gandhi is raising questions.

"We will not apologise to your friends who have run away after taking people's money, whatever may be the consequences," the Congress leader said.

The Opposition party has been relentlessly attacking the BJP for allegedly allowing economic offenders such as Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi get away and flee abroad with people's money.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Lalit Modi said, "I see just about every Tom, Dick and Gandhi associates again and again saying I am a fugitive of justice. Why? How? and when was I...Convicted of same."

"Unlike #Papu aka @RahulGandhi now an ordinary citizen saying it and it seems one and all opposition leaders have nothing else to do so they too are either ill-informed or just vendetta prone. I have decided to take the @RahulGandhi...To court in UK right away. I am sure he will have to come up with some solid evidence. I look forward to seeing him make a complete fool of himself," he had tweeted.

Asked about their campaign, Khera said that "we will seek answers, we will reiterate our demand for a JPC (joint parliamentary committee probe into the Adani issue)... Raise voices from streets if not allowed to speak in Parliament".

"Rallies will continue and even Rahul ji has an event in Karnataka at the place where he had made the speech in 2019," he said.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat disqualified Gandhi as MP from Wayanad in Kerala after his conviction in the case for his remark.

Asked about the OBC issue attached with Gandhi's comments, Khera said people who are "equating these 'thieves as OBC' are dishonouring the OBC community".

Asked about the reactions on his tweet on Lord Ram on Ram Navami, the senior Congress leader said, "Did I mention Rahul Gandhi in my tweet? And, if some people are 'equating' Lord Ram's mention in my tweet with Rahul Gandhi, can they tell who are the 'Rakhsash' (the evil)".

On the violence in parts of West Bengal on Ram Navami day, he alleged, "It is a toolkit of those in power at the Centre to ensure that there is a slow burner communalism constantly activated in the country".

"We condemn the violence and and request the state government and expect from the central government to ensure peace is restored and such divisive politics is stopped," Khera said.

Asked about Prime Minister Modi's visit to the new Parliament building on Thursday, he dubbed the infrastructure project a "vanity project".
New Delhi: At a Cabinet meeting held on Friday evening, the Assam government decided to increase the dearness allowance (DA) for government employees by 4 percent effective from January 1, 2023. State Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said, "We have decided to increase DA from the existing 38 percent to 42 percent for all employees of central or state cadre working under the Assam government.

The pensioners will also benefit from this DA hike." (Also Read: Bank Holidays In April 2023: Banks In India Will Remain Closed For Up To 15 Days - Check Dates And City-Wise List)



The state government is infusing an additional Rs 79.57 crore per month for the enhanced dearness allowance, Mahanta said. "All employees will get the enhanced DA of three months on April 10 before the state gears up to celebrate the Bihu festival," he added. (Also Read: iPhone 15 Pro Solid-State Buttons To Work With Gloves, Cases: Report)



Moreover, the state government has also decided to set up a 1,000 MW solar power plant at an estimated project cost of Rs 4,000 crore. "This will generate 1,988 MU energy per year which will expedite the Centre`s Act East policy," Mahanta said.
New Delhi: Customers who intend to visit a bank branch in April should be aware that due to a number of upcoming festivals, banks will be closed for around half the month. The banks will be closed for fifteen days for the third time this year during this month, following similar events in January and February. The banks in the majority of states will be closed on April 1 due to the yearly closing of bank accounts on the first day of April.

However online banking activities will continue to work. Here we are compiling a full list of bank holidays in April 2023. (Also Read: Govt Hikes Interest On Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, Post Office Savings Schemes, NSC, KVP - Details Inside)

There will be a total of 15 bank holidays in April 2023, including the second and fourth Saturdays and all Sundays, following an almost 12-day bank holiday in March. (Also Read: Man Loses Apple Watch In Sea, Finds Days After In Working Condition - Here's How)

Numerous festivals will be observed in different states across the nation over the course of the upcoming month. Mahavir Jayanti, Good Friday, Ambedkar Jayanti, Annual closing, and many more important festivals are among them.

The use of ATMs will continue. In March, there are about 12 bank holidays. Throughout the third month of the new year, banks in both the public and commercial sectors are closed for a total of 12 days in a number of cities.

On the below-mentioned date, all Indian banks, both public and private, will be closed on certain days, including the weekends. The second and fourth Saturdays, as well as Sundays, are included in the holidays. The banks are open as usual on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

Here is an elaborate list of bank holidays falling in the month of April 2023. Check out the list here.

April 1, 2023: Banks on the 1st date of April will be closed due to the annual closing of the banks. Banks in Aizawl, Shillong, Shimla, and Chandigarh will be opened.

April 2, 2023: Sunday

April 4: Mahavir Jayanti (Banks will be closed in Ahmedabad, Aizawl, Belapur, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Raipur, and Ranchi).

April 5: Jagjivan Ram Jayanti (Bank will be closed in Hyderabad)

April 7: Good Friday ( Banks will be closed all over India except Agartala, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jammu, Shimla, and Srinagar).

April 8: Second Saturday

April 9: Sunday

April 14: Ambedkar Jayanti ( Banks will be closed all over India except Bhopal, New Delhi, Raipur, Shillong, and Shimla)

April 15: Vishu, Bohag, Bihu, Himachal Day, Bengali New Year ( Bank holiday will be witnessed in Agartala, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Shimla, and Trivanantpuram)

April 16: Sunday

April 18: Shab-I-Qadr ( Bank branches will be closed in Jammu and Kashmir)

April 21: Id-Ul-Fitr ( Banks will be closed in Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, and Kerala)

April 22: Fourth Saturday

April 23: Sunday

April 30: Sunday
Rani Kamalapati station in Bhopal is ready to welcome India's 11th Vande Bharat train which will be flagged off from the railway station today. The station will serve as both a transit hub and a hangout for travellers, with everything from food courts and coffee shops to sanitary vending machines and toy trains for kids. On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will greet 34 kids from the West Central Railway School when he flags off the Vande Bharat Express train from the station.

The students were selected through an art and essay competition held at their school. With facilities such as several waiting lounges, food stalls, restaurants, and retail stores, the revamped Rani Kamalapati railway station looks similar to a mini-mart.

Also read: PM Narendra Modi To Flag Off Bhopal-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express Today; Check Details

Several food joints and cafes have been set up at the two-floor railway station with a food court on each of its two floors. The station also has a clothing store and a kiosk selling traditional handicrafts on the top floor. It also features special facilities dedicated to women, such as sanitary napkin vending machines and a dedicated AC lounge only for women.

"There are separate AC waiting lounges for women at the station. Platforms here are also equipped with sanitary vending machines. The station will also have cubicles for mothers to breastfeed their infants at the station very soon," Mohit Somaiya, Additional General Manager, Rani Kamalapati Railway Station.

Resting rooms, one with a capacity for 18 men, and a separate female dormitory with a capacity for 15 women have also been set up on the station's ground floor. The railway station is also likely to be linked with a nearby metro station for the ease of passengers. The latest Vande Bharat Express train between Bhopal and the national capital will cover 708 km in 7.45 hours.

With PTI Inputs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off India's 11th Vande Bharat train on the Bhopal-New Delhi route today. The ceremony to commission the train took place at Bhopal's Kamalapati Railway Station in the presence of the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. It is to be noted that the advanced semi-high-speed train will significantly reduce the travel time between the two cities and will cover a distance of 708 km in around 7 hours and 50 minutes. Furthermore, the train on this route is capable of going at a high speed of up to 160 kmph.

The new Vande Bharat train will depart from Bhopal's Rani Kamlapati station and travel to New Delhi's Railway Station. On its way, the train will travel through the stations at Agra Cantt, Veerangana Laxmibai Jhansi, and Gwalior Railway Station.

Also read: Bhopal-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express: Rani Kamalapati Railway Station Revamped With Modern Amenities

The New Delhi-Bhopal Vande Bharat express will travel between the two cities six days a week (similar to other Vande Bharat trains). The suggested schedule states that the train will depart Bhopal at 5:55 am and get to Agra at roughly 11:40 am. The train will halt at the Agra Cantt station for five minutes before continuing on to Delhi, arriving at the station around 1:45 p.m.

On its return journey, the train will depart New Delhi at about 2:45 p.m. and will reach Agra at 4:45 p.m while on its way to Bhopal. The train's journey would end at Rani Kamalapati Railway Station around 10:45 p.m. It should be noted that the train's schedule is subject to approval and may change.

According to the present proposal, this express track will be able to go through the North Central Railway (NCR) zone at top speeds of 160 kmph between Palwal and Agra, 130 kmph between Agra and Lalitpur, and 120 kmph between Lalitpur and Bina.
New Delhi: Meta-owned WhatsApp banned a record of over 45 lakh bad accounts in India in the month of February, in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021, the company informed on Saturday. Between February 1 and February 28, "4,597,400 WhatsApp accounts were banned and 1,298,000 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users", WhatsApp said in its monthly compliance report.





The most popular messaging platform, which has nearly 500 million users in the country, received another record 2,804 complaint reports in February in the country, and the records "actioned" were 504. ( Also Read: Bank Holidays In April 2023: Banks In India Will Remain Closed For Up To 15 Days - Check Dates And City-Wise List "This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp`s own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform," said a company spokesperson. ( Also Read: White House Refuses To Pay For Twitter's Blue Verification: Report "We will continue with transparency to our work and include information about our efforts in future reports," the spokesperson added.Meanwhile, in a bid to empower millions of Indian social media users, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar recently launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) that will look into their concerns regarding content and other issues.The newly-formed panel, a move to strengthen the country`s digital laws to tame the Big Tech companies, will look into appeals by users against decisions of social media platforms.The IT Ministry last month notified to establish three GACs as required under the recently amended IT Rules, 2021.In a major push towards an open, safe, trusted, and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of `Digital Nagriks`.
New Delhi: Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is set to arrive in India for a three-day official visit starting on Monday, April 3. The purpose of the visit is to expand and strengthen the already strong bilateral ties between the two countries, particularly in the areas of economic and development cooperation.

During his visit, the King is scheduled to hold talks with President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bhutanese Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister, Tandi Dorji, will also accompany the King along with other senior officials of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

The visit of the King is in line with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between India and Bhutan, which have been ongoing for many years. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India and Bhutan enjoy a unique and strong relationship that is characterized by understanding and mutual trust.

Press release on the visit of His Majesty The King of Bhutan to India from 03-05 April 2023@MEAIndiahttps://t.co/dfLWdpFg7v pic.twitter.com/KZThfywrVf April 1, 2023

The MEA also stated that the visit of the King will provide an opportunity for both countries to review and advance the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the areas of economic and development cooperation.

India has long been a strong supporter of Bhutan's economic and development initiatives and has been actively involved in several projects in the country, including the construction of hydropower projects, the establishment of IT parks, and the development of small and medium enterprises.

Bhutan, on the other hand, has been an important strategic partner for India in the region and has played a key role in supporting India's security interests in the region.

The visit of the King is expected to further strengthen the already close ties between India and Bhutan and to pave the way for even greater cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, and development.
New York: Former US President Donald J. Trump has prepared to surrender to prosecutors in Manhattan next week as the New York police braced for protests and sharply partisan responses from Democrats and Republicans ushered in a tumultuous time for a deeply polarised nation, New York Times reported.

A day after a grand jury indicted Trump and made him the first former president to face criminal charges, metal barricades were up around the criminal courthouse on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan. Dozens of reporters and camera crews camped out across the street on Friday, while 20 court officers stood at the courthouse entrances, monitoring activity on the street, New York Times reported.

Trump intends to travel to New York on Monday and stay the night at Trump Tower, people familiar with his preparations said. He has no plans to hold a news conference or address the public while he is in New York, the people said.

Trump remained largely quiet on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida, where he spent the day talking on the telephone with advisers. One of his lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said in a television interview that the former president would not take a plea deal and was prepared to go to trial, a typically defiant stance that is likely to endear him to his supporters, who see the prosecution as a politically motivated vendetta by Democrats, New York Times reported.

Late on Friday afternoon, Trump burst out on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded, writing in all capital letters that Democrats were "INDICTING A TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN IN AN ACT OF OBSTRUCTION AND BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE." He concluded that it was all happening "WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!"

The former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on charges related to payments made just before the 2016 presidential election to buy the silence of a porn star who said she had an extramarital affair with him. The former president, who has denied the affair, has been charged with more than two dozen counts in a sealed indictment, according to two people familiar with the matter, although the exact charges remain unknown, New York Times reported.

The case, which could drag on for months and whose outcome is far from clear, is likely to test the country's institutions and the rule of law. It will also have deep repercussions for the 2024 campaign for the White House, a race in which Trump remains the Republican front-runner.

Also Read: Donald Trump Indicted Over Porn Star Hush Money, First US President Charged With Crime

Even many of Trump`s potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination snapped into line behind him in the hours after news of the indictment broke, looking more like allies than competitors.

All passed on the opportunity to criticize the former president and some rushed to his defence in a sign of just how reluctant 2024 contenders are to directly confront him and antagonize his many millions of supporters in the party, New York Times reported.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a potential presidential candidate who has clashed with Trump, rushed to his defence, posting on Twitter that the indictment was "un-American" and amounted to "the weaponization of the legal system."
Jalalabad (Afghanistan): A women-run radio station in Afghanistan's northeast has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said on Saturday. Sadai Banowan, which means women's voice in Dari, is Afghanistan's only women-run station and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.

Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for Information and Culture in Badakhshan province, said the station violated the "laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate" several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramadan and was shuttered because of the breach.

"If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again," said Ahmadi.

Also Read: Bleak Future For Over 3 Million Girls Under Taliban's Regressive Education Ban

Radio station denies allegations by Taliban

Station head Najia Sorosh denied there was any violation, saying there was no need for the closure and called it a conspiracy. The Taliban "told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music", she said.

Sorosh said at 11.40 am on Thursday representatives from the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Virtue Directorate arrived at the station and shut it down. She said station staff have contacted Vice and Virtue but officials there said they do not have any additional information about the closing.

Erosion of women's rights under Taliban

Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Media outlets closed over lack of funds or because staff left the country, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.

The Taliban have barred women from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university. There is no official ban on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban barred most television, radio, and newspapers in the country.
The back-to-back gruesome killings of the members of the minority Hindu and Sikh communities in Pakistan have spread a wave of fear and insecurity among them which calls for serious attention of the Pakistan government to ensure the safety of its minority communities.

On Friday (March 31), a Sikh businessman Dayal Singh was shot dead at his grocery shop in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, and a day earlier, a renowned Hindu ophthalmologist Dr. Birbal Ginani was killed in Karachi in Sindh province of Pakistan.

Persecution of minority Hindus and Sikhs and their forcible conversion to Islam is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan. But the broad daylight brutal killings appear to have begun a new era of targeted killings and the government has failed to provide any protection against such assassinations.

Neither a militant group has taken the responsibility for the killings of Dayal Singh and Dr. Birbal Ginani nor the police have arrested any of the assailants.

Sikhs and Hindus living in the majority Muslim areas are so frightened after these incidents that many families have started shifting to the cities having a considerable population of their community, said activist Radesh Singh Tony.

A small businessman Dayal Singh and Dr. Birbal Ginani became targets of forces inimical to peace due to their compassionate nature. Dayal Singh used to give Iftar parties to the local Muslims while Dr. Ginani used to provide free medical treatment to a large number of patients in Karachi.

Sikh businessman Dayal Singh was shot dead at his shop at Dir Colony Road, Atta Mohammad Garhi village near Peshawar on Friday by unidentified motorists while Dr. Ginani was shot dead while he was traveling in his car on the Lyari Expressway in Karachi on Thursday.

Last year on May 15, Dayal Singhs two relatives Kuljit Singh and Ranjit Singh were also shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Peshawar, said Radesh Singh.

"Government should look into these incidents and ensure that sufficient arrangements were made for the security of minority communities," said Saroop Singh, a member of Pakistan's National Commission for Minorities (NCM).

These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. Every day Hindus especially those living in the Sindh province of Pakistan are persecuted, and forcibly converted to Islam. In case of refusal, they are brutally killed.
Serbian Premier loses ground - Rightists advance to parliament

A second far-right party won seats Wednesday in the Serbian Parliament, and the overall winner, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, still lost ground in a repeat election held on a small number of polling stations because of irregularities.

GALLERY

Opposition supporters hold placards and banners reading in Serbian Cyrillic letters: Vucic you thief, you stole the elections (L), referring to the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, and Because of freedom (C), during an opposition rally in Belgrade.

Former Serbian President Boris Tadic (2-L) talks to supporters who hold a picture of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic reading in Serbian Cyrillic letters: It is finished.

Opposition supporters hold placards and banners reading in Serbian Cyrillic letters: Vucic you thief, you stole the elections (L), referring to the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, and Because of freedom (C), during an opposition rally in Belgrade.

Belgrade (dpa) - The coalition grouped around the extremist movement Dveri will take 13 members in the 250-seat parliament, after collecting barely more than 5 per cent of votes in the total tally. Before the repeat vote on 15 polling stations with fewer than 20,000 registered voters - out of the 6.7 million votes in Serbia - Dveri was short of the mark by a single vote.The balloting was repeated there because of irregularities reported by both the authorities and opposition in April 24 elections. Had Dveri again failed to clear the hurdle, seven of their seats would have gone to Vucics conservative Progressive Party, reducing their losses.The outcome is a tough blow to Vucic, who will now command 131 votes in parliament - 27 fewer than before the elections he called halfway through his term, saying that he wants to cement his authority for reforms and EU membership talks. Vucic and the group lined up behind his Progressive Party (SNS) did clearly win the elections - 48.2 per cent of the vote, nearly exactly as much as in polls he also called early in 2014.Then, however, only four parties won seats in parliament, which led to a massive redistribution of votes dispersed on non-qualifiers, which heavily favoured the SNS as lopsided winners. Now seven tickets won seats and far fewer votes were available for redistribution, leaving Vucic with a majority only six above the halfway mark of 125 in parliament.The Socialist Party, junior partners in the outgoing government coalition, won 30 seats. It is unclear whether the two blocs will renew their alliance after they skirmished in the campaign. The far-right Radical Party returns to parliament after two years. Headed by Vojislav Seselj, who was cleared of charges in March at the UN war crimes tribunal, it has 21 seats.A newcomer reformist bloc, called Enough, and the once mighty Democratic Party won 16 seats apiece, while the group led by the former Democrat leader and Serbian President Boris Tadic and Dveri have 13 seats each. Ethnic minority representatives hold the remaining 10 seats.The outcome is a surprise, as pollsters predicted that the SNS would win more than 50 per cent of the vote and be close to claiming a two-thirds majority in parliament.
Even with most of her patients paying for supplemental insurance or receiving insurance through an employer or the government (Medicare and Medicaid), Gunther says that cost is not a barrier for entry to DPC.

"There's absolutely no question in my mind that direct primary care saves people thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands," says Gunther.

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She cites examples of a patient with an excellent employer health plan that was still paying $10 per month for each of six different generic prescriptions. Since Gunther has her own wholesale generic pharmacy, she was able to save her patient $550 a year on medications alone, nearly the cost of her yearly DPC subscription.

Another patient came in with an orthopedic complaint when Gunther's nurse practitioner noticed a pre-cancerous lesion on the patient's skin. They were able to remove it in a follow-up appointment for $85 (if Gunther was in the office, it would have been the same day).

Gunther says that the same procedure with a traditional, insurance-billed primary care doctor would have required a referral to a dermatologist, weeks of waiting for appointments and hundreds of dollars in surgical and pathology fees.

And what about George's claim that Gunther and other DPC docs are violating their Hippocratic oath by leaving hundreds of patients behind?

"I contend that a huge chunk of those patients barely ever came in or were urgent care," responds Gunther. "I wasn't doing the work I wanted to do and they were going to the urgent care a lot, which is accepted practice."

Gunther believes there needs to be a societal shift in the way we think about how many patients a doctor can reasonably treat. In public schools, there are limits to how many kids can legally be in a single classroom.

"If you take care of somebody full-time as authentically as you can, where is that number where an individual physician is full?" says Gunther.

Gunther can't speak for other DPC physicians, but she strongly disagrees with the notion that DPC practices cater only to the healthy and wealthy, and that DPC doctors make piles of money while seeing relatively few patients compared to their previous clinics.

"Most of us are not taking a salary comparable to what we were making before," says Gunther. "Sure, there are people making double their prior salary, but most are making under $100,000, which is not competitive for an entrepreneur or a physician. But people will take autonomy and the ability to practice the way they want above a hefty salary."

For his part, George is not rooting against DPC doctors, but he challenges DPC advocates to produce studies backing up their claims. He says that in the year since he voiced his criticism in JAMA, not one peer-reviewed DPC study has been published.

"I'll eat my words," says George. "If your model is showing that it's beneficial to physicians, beneficial to patients, that you're reducing health care costs, and that there's no social inequity, then I'll eat my words. But prove it!"

Now That's Interesting A growing number of Gunther's patients bypass conventional insurance and sign up with health care sharing ministries, private Christian organizations that pool resources among believers to provide lower-cost health coverage.
JOLIET  A suburban Chicago teen accused of fatally shooting his 17-year-old girlfriend, a 9-year-old girl and the child's father was told Thursday a grand jury has indicted him on three charges of first-degree murder.

Byrion Montgomery, 17, of Bolingbrook, went before a Will County judge and was informed that the grand jury indicted him in the March 5 slayings of 40-year-old Cartez Daniels, 17-year-old Samiya A. Shelton-Tilman and Sanai Daniels, 9.

Judge Dave Carlson told Montgomery, who is currently being held at the River Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Joliet, that he will be transferred to the Will County Jail after he turns 18 on April 27, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald reported.

Carlson also granted an order to have Montgomery submit to DNA testing.

The 13-count indictment contained the same adult charges that were filed against Montgomery on March 6. They include multiple counts of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, home invasion, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Montgomery has pleaded not guilty. He is being held in lieu of bail set at $20 million.

The attempted murder charge stems from the shooting of Tania Stewart, 34, the fiancee of Cartez Daniels and mother of Shelton-Tilman and Daniels. Stewart survived.

The shootings took place in Bolingbrook, about 30 miles west of Chicago.

Police have said Shelton-Tillman and Montgomery dated.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 69F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Last Sunday, Sammie and I had the tremendous privilege of witnessing the baptism of our youngest grandson, Anderson Lawrence Playl. What a great joy it was to stand near the baptismal pool at First Baptist Church of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, as Childrens Pastor David Love conducted the Ordinance of Baptism to assist 10-year-old Anderson in making his public profession of faith in Christ.

It was a bit unusual in that the baptistry is located in the old sanctuary and the worship service was taking place in the adjoining new sanctuary. A camera was set up to video the baptism so that it could be live streamed into the other room where hundreds worshipped together. Due to the arrangements, the grandparents were all allowed to stand near the sacred waters.

Anderson, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost you are buried with Christ by baptism, raised to walk in newness of life. Pastor David had already explained that Anderson made a commitment of his life to trust and follow Christ. He had made that commitment at church camp last summer. He also completed a class at church to help him understand the full meaning of baptism and a life committed to Jesus.

The complete act of baptism only took about a minute, then Anderson changed into dry clothes and joined the rest of us in a time of worship and praise. What a wonderful experience. In my years of service as a pastor I have baptized hundreds of followers of Christ. Before retirement from Woodlawn Baptist Church I had the honor of baptizing and 89 year old man and an 8 year old boy in the same service. Through the years those baptisms have taken place in various rivers and streams as well as a wide variety of baptismal pools. Each one has been very important, very precious, very special. Probably the ones that have touched my heart the most have been those where I was an observer, the baptisms of our precious grandchildren.

In order to witness Andersons baptism, Sammie and I had driven to the Nashville suburb of Mt. Juliet on Saturday and spent Saturday and Sunday night before heading home on Monday morning. Driving on Interstate 40 toward Knoxville we heard the terrible news of the tragic shooting at Covenant Christian School in the Green Hills area of Nashville.

It was hard to fathom the horror of such an evil outpouring. We had just been talking about how special, how precious, had been the previous Lords Day and the baptism of our precious ten year old Anderson. Now our minds were jerked away and we grieved over the deaths of three totally innocent 9-year-olds and three adults who had committed their lives to caring for those and other dear children.

The murders had actually been committed about the time we were leaving the Nashville area. Our hearts were broken. The hearts of all decent people in our world are broken. We cried. we prayed for the families and church family that was affected by this senseless hate crime. We asked unanswerable questions, like, How could someone who was  apparently  raised in a Christian home be so filled with hate toward innocent children, especially in a Christian school.

The division between people nowadays is beyond our comprehension. There is such a great separation of people in political beliefs, racial issues, entitlement, and self-centeredness that we seem bent on destroying ourselves. But the real problem is of a spiritual nature. As a society we are being tricked into believing that we can leave God out of our lives and be okay. Thats not working.

Revivals have broken out across our great nation, but at the same time all Hell is breaking loose. If there is any hope for our nation, for our world, we much turn back to God. Pray that HE will deliver us from evil. Follow the example of the Andersons that commit their lives to Jesus not those who would lash out in anger against all that is good. Please! Do it for the children!
LEBANON, Va.  The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority will provide an up to $250,000 loan to the Russell County Industrial Development Authority to finance additional work at the future Bates Family Farm.

Bates Family Farm relocated to Russell County in 2019 and not only raises goats, but is also a manufacturer of goat milk lotions and soaps, according to a written statement.

The IDA continues working with Bates Family Farm to expand into the former Acme building, located on East Main Street in Lebanon. Once improvements to the property are completed, the business will occupy the entire building and begin processing its products from that location.

They plan to move in by May.

The IDA has been working with Bates Family Farm, LLC, on its planned expansion to develop a manufacturing/processing plant, bringing with it up to 35 full-time jobs within five years, said Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA executive director/general counsel. We are pleased to be able to assist the IDA with the funding needed to meet the Bates Family Farms upfit needs for the building.

The most recent loan is the third one approved by VCEDA for the building. In June of 2021, the VCEDA board approved an up to $500,000 loan request from the IDA to assist with the purchase and renovation of the 41,600 square foot building. The site is approximately 2.19 acres and has public water and sewer with natural gas nearby.

In February 2022, the VCEDA board approved an additional up to $200,000 loan to be used to finance additional renovations and improvements.

The recent $250,000 loan will be used to complete the project and finish out the facility and also to address parking lot/drainage issues at the site.

VCEDAs continued support for the Bates Family Farm Project is exciting and will prove to be a great asset to Russell County, said Russell County IDA Executive Director Ernie McFaddin. The farms expansion project is a much needed aspect to this business and we are excited to see their continued growth. We look forward to seeing them in their expanded site in May of this year.
Ralph Ricciardi wasted no time heading to Forsyth Technical Community College Thursday morning when he learned that his wife, Chrisann, an instructor at the school, was hiding under a desk in a dark room.
Editors Note: The following is an Editorial Comment from the editors of Hoards Dairyman.

All bills eventually come due. In the case of Wisconsin and its rural roads, which are the bedrock for the states prized agricultural economic engine proclaimed as Americas Dairyland on state-issued license plates, the payment bill is stamped in red ink, Overdue! That begs the question: Will Wisconsins elected officials in Madison finally address this issue or will they continue to expect cash-strapped township and county leaders to play the unrelenting game of Patch the Crumbling Roads?

The seeds for the current state of affairs were sown a few decades ago when the Wisconsin legislature and its governor passed legislation that capped tax rate hikes at the local level. While applause rang out from property taxpayers, it came at the expense of town and county roads. The roads in less densely populated rural Wisconsin generally have suffered the most.

With limited road budgets, the big crumble began, and the situation became so pronounced that Governor Tony Evers even embarked upon a Pothole Patrol Tour across the state during the height of last years election season.

Prior to last years political gamesmanship, there has been some effort from Madison to address the roadway funding shortfall. As is the case with politics, the squeakiest wheels get the most oil. Hence, major interchanges in the densely populated Milwaukee, Madison, and Fox River Valley regions received billions of dollars in shared revenue funds to update roadways. For good measure, roadways in tourist corridors also got a healthy splash of grease, or shall we say funding, too.

Meanwhile, a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey has unfolded in rural Wisconsin. The biggest economic donkey is dairy. Last year, Price County looked to heavily restrict milk truck weights during the spring thaw. The proposed rules were so draconian that milk haulers and cheese plants essentially said that they would no longer pick up milk in that county given the proposal. Thankfully for Price County dairy producers, cooler heads prevailed last spring and the milk trucks continued to roll.

This year, a somewhat similar narrative took place in Chippewa County, as its officials embarked upon a plan requiring milk haulers to obtain a permit and pay a fee to traverse its county roads during the spring thaw. Dairy constituents stood up and voiced their frustration.

Though the permit fees were dropped, Chippewa County will require truckers to obtain a no-cost permit and discuss roadway routes with its highway commissioner. This is taking place even though not one county official can point to a credible report indicating milk trucks have caused any damage. Dairy farmers outside of these two counties are also in the economic crosshairs, pondering if their milk will be picked up or if their county will be the next to invoke new hauling rules. Its feared these extra regulations and requirements may induce some truckers to leave the milk transportation profession altogether in favor of an easier haul.

At the March 2023 Chippewa County board meeting, a young, articulate dairy farmer said a mouthful during the public comment session. The solution isnt putting more and more restrictions on roads. The fact is our roads are not heavy enough for the loads. Its not the other way around, said Matthew Holub, with the roads not being heavy enough referring to the lack of investment in rural road infrastructure.

These roads were built when we were hauling single-axle and tandem-axle trucks. Thats not the case anymore. The loads are not getting any smaller  they are going to get bigger, Holub continued. Honestly, its a bigger issue than just this county.

Hes absolutely right.

Whats the solution?

To build better rural roads, Madison leaders either need to send more money to township and county officials. At the same time, if money actually flows from the state capital to fund local roads, that also should come with permanent weight exemptions for the rebuilt roads.

While debating and delivering a solution, we would also suggest additional action on state statutes  milk trucks should be added to the golden triplet list of utility, septic, and propane trucks for exemptions to weight-induced spring road bans.

Dairy has plenty of economic battles already without worrying about milk pickup. Milk is not a commodity that can be held and must be shipped, at least every other day. Dairy farmers have endured enough supply chain issues. Wisconsin leaders have an opportunity to start eliminating one. The question is this: Will they act to do so?

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2023

March 30, 2023
RALEIGH  North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey on Saturday announced that Alexea Maurice Houston, 44, of 1122 Holmes St., Salisbury, was charged with obtaining property by false pretense.

Special Agents with the Department of Insurances Criminal Investigations Division accuse Houston of cashing a check from his insurance company after he had requested a stop-payment action on the check, saying he had not received the check from the insurance company.

The alleged offense occurred on Jan. 19.

Houston was served with a criminal summons on March 21.

If you suspect insurance fraud or other white-collar crimes, report it. You can anonymously report fraud by calling the N.C. Department of Insurance Criminal Investigations Division at 919-807-6840.

Information is also available at www.ncdoi.gov..
Cabarrus County Schools Superintendent Dr. John Kopicki announced the following personnel appointments, which were approved by the Board of Education on Monday, March 27.

Dr. Richard Richie Wells, principal at Beverly Hills STEM Elementary School, has been named principal at W.M. Irvin Elementary School. He will replace interim principal Dr. Colleen Sain, who will transition to serve as the interim principal at Beverly Hills. Richie begins his new role at W.M. Irvin on Monday, April 3.

Wells began his teaching career in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in 2004 before moving into administration as an assistant principal at C.C. Griffin STEM Middle School in 2012. He later transitioned to the same position at Winecoff STEM Elementary before being named principal of Beverly Hills Elementary in 2018.

Wells earned his bachelors degree, masters degree, and completed his doctoral degree at the University of North Carolina Charlotte.

Nemal Patel, principal at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools), has been named principal at Roberta Road Middle School, replacing interim principal Tim Farrar. Patel will begin his role at Roberta Road Middle on May 8.

Patels educational career began as a teacher in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system in 2011. His administrative career began in 2015 as the Dean of Students at Mountain Island Lake Academy (CMS). He later joined North Mecklenburg High School (CMS) as an assistant principal and was named principal at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School (CMS) in 2019.

Patel earned his bachelors degree from Wake Forest University. He completed his masters degree at Winthrop University.

Elizabeth Beth Foster, assistant principal at Rocky River Elementary School, has been named principal at Carl. A. Furr Elementary School, replacing Darin Roberts, who is retiring. Foster will begin her new role at Carl A. Furr on May 1.

Foster began her career with Cabarrus County Schools in 2006. She has served as an Exceptional Childrens teacher previously at Concord Middle School and Hickory Ridge Middle School. She began her administrative career as an assistant principal at Central Cabarrus High School before transitioning to her current role as assistant principal at Rocky River Elementary.

Foster holds a bachelors degree from La Moyne College and a masters degree from Wingate University.

Angelia Grant, dean of students at Northwest School of the Arts (CMS), has been named assistant principal at Winecoff STEM Elementary School, replacing Michelle Kline who has transitioned to the same role at Central Cabarrus High School. Grant will begin her role at Winecoff STEM Elementary at a date to be determined later.

Grant began her educational career with Gaston County Schools in 2013. She later served as an Exceptional Childrens teacher at Hough High School (CMS) before beginning her administrative career at P.W. Moore Elementary School in Elizabeth City. She has since served as the dean of students at A.L. Brown High School and in her current role as dean of students at Northwest School of the Arts (CMS).

Grant holds both her bachelors and masters degrees from the University of North Carolina Charlotte.

Mitchell Owens, social studies teacher at West Rowan High School, has been named assistant principal at Mount Pleasant High School, replacing Larry Sullivan, who has resigned. Owens will begin his role at Mt. Pleasant High at a date to be determined later.

Owens began his educational career in 2013 as a teacher at Jesse Carson High School (Rowan-Salisbury Schools). He then moved to his current position as an AP and inclusion social studies teacher at West Rowan High.

Owens earned his bachelors degree from East Tennessee State University and his masters degree from the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Financial services provider Latitude Financial says the personal information of about 330,000 customers and applicants was stolen during a data breach which it made public on 16 March.

It warned that this number could increase as its review of the incident widened to include "non-customer originating platforms and historical customer information".

In an update about the investigation into the breach on Monday, the company said about 96% of the personal information that was filched was copies of drivers' licences or driver licence numbers.

Also stolen were Medicare card and passport details, though this was 1% and 4% respectively of the total data theft, Latitude said.

The breach is now being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

Major Australian retailers Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, David Jones and The Good Guys offer buy-now-pay-later services in association with Latitude.

"Because the attack remains active, we have taken our platforms offline and are unable to service our customers and merchant partners," Monday's statement said. "We cannot restore this capability immediately.

"However, we are working to do so gradually over the coming days and ask our customers for their continued patience. Our restoration of these services is aligned to our forensic review."

Latitude chief executive Ahmed Fahour said: "I sincerely apologise to our customers and partners for the distress and inconvenience this criminal act has caused. I understand fully the wider concern that this cyber-attack has created within the community.

Our focus is on protecting the ongoing security of our customers, partners and employees personal and identity information, while also doing everything we can to support customers and applicants who have had information stolen.

While we continue to deliver transactional services, some functionality has been affected resulting in disruption. We are working extremely hard to restore full services to our customers and merchant partners and thank them for their patience and support. We understand their frustration. Customers should refer to Latitudes website for regular updates.
MATTOON  Several Lake Land College broadcast sales students recently earned certification as broadcast sales professionals from the broadcast training company, P1 Learning, in partnership with the Illinois Broadcasters Associations Sales Training Program.

These students include Blake Aldrich, Teutopolis; Ethan Berger, Effingham; Mahala Van Hise, Charleston; Lucas Oakley, Casey; Konner Remlinger, Martinsville and Anthony Vonderheide, Stewardson.

Over the course of four weeks, students completed a variety of online video courses, tests and assignments as part of the broadcast sales class in the broadcast communication program at Lake Land.

P1 Learning is a nationally recognized training company that administers training for hundreds of broadcast stations, corporations and state broadcaster associations to provide content in the topics of sales, leadership, management, on-air, compliance and more.

For students entering the broadcast workforce, this certification can be extremely beneficial to their careers, instructor Greg Powers said. Broadcast employers are searching for employees who have experience in multiple areas, so the students who have completed this training are very marketable.

My Town: Clint Walker's memories of Coles County as pulled from the archives Cosmic Blue Comics Mattoon Arcade Icenogle's Cooks Mills Mister Music Sound Source Guitar Throw Vette's FutureGen
The English students of Sabrina Kile were conducting research for papers on a variety of subjects. The students took a tour of the library and were given a demonstration on finding resources both on the bookshelves and through the librarys online databases.
PANA  Counselors were available Saturday for grieving students after a Pana Junior High School student's death, the superintendent said.

In a letter to parents that was posted on the school district's website, Superintendent Jason Bauer said a student had died Friday evening. He said he would not identify the student out of respect for the family. Bauer did not describe circumstances of the student's death.

The Vandalia High School Track & Field team, in a widely shared post on its Facebook page, asked supporters to pray for the Pana Junior High track team and community "as they have lost one of their junior high track athletes." It said the athlete suffered a medical emergency at practice and died unexpectedly.

Bauer said the district was "committed to doing everything we can to help all students with the grieving and healing process." To that end, members of the crisis counseling team planned to be at the junior high, 203 W. 8th St., from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

"This loss will affect everyone in our school family and Pana CUSD #8," Bauer wrote. "Students may have a difficult time with dealing with the loss and we encourage you to talk with your child."

He concluded by thanking parents for continually supporting the students.

"Please pray for the family and keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate through this difficult time," he wrote.

No further information was available Saturday afternoon.

City of Roses: See history photos from Pana's past  Rhodes France Scout Reservation Rose City Classic Race Senior Citizens Club Senior Citizens Club United Methodist Church-First Virgin Mary Grotto Kitchell Park Kitchell Park Kitchell Park Kitchell Park Kitchell Park Kitchell Park Kitchell Park Chautauqua Christmas House George's Candy Shop George's Candy Shop Hawthorne Lodge-Lobby Greenhouse Greenhouse Greenhouse National Greenhouse Police Reeder Air Conditioning Rhodes France Scout Reservation Rhodes France Scout Reservation
Peter Holsapple remembers standing in the orchestra pit at R.J. Reynolds High School, as his friend Chris Stamey, recorded a local band playing a note-for-note cover version of Yes Yours is No Disgrace.

It was a whos-who of great players in Winston-Salem and one of those moments when you make a connection between what the local band was doing and what the Beatles were doing, Holsapple told the online music magazine, Magnet, in 2009. It may have been disparate, but I kind of got the feeling from watching that that it was obtainable.

On Thursday, just a few feet away from that pit, Holsapple and Stamey were inducted into the R.J. Reynolds High School Arts Hall of Fame.

The boyhood friends and musical mates, who would go on to play in the seminal pop rock band, the dBs, were among 11 people in this years Hall of Fame class, an exceptionally strong cohort that reflects the schools longtime dedication to teaching the arts.

Others include pioneering sportswriter Mary Garber, class of 1933; painter Anne Kesler Shields, class of 1950; production designer David Doernberg, class of 1985, and musician Joe Troop, class of 2001.

Though Holsapple, class of 1974, and Stamey, class of 1973, have established musical legacies apart from one another, they will be forever linked in the hearts of music fans of college rock, a genre of music now known as indie or alternative rock.

Formed with fellow Reynolds classmates Will Rigby and Gene Holder, the dBs are a beloved power-pop band that recorded two critically acclaimed albums in 1981, Stands for Decibels and Repercussion.

As the bands songwriters, vocalists and guitarists, Holsapple and Stamey crafted melodic songs with chiming guitars that became part of the jangle pop canon of the early- to mid-1980s. That genre also included such bands as R.E.M., the Bangles, the Smiths and Lets Active, a Winston-Salem-based band that included Mitch Easter, who was at Reynolds the same time as Stamey and Holsapple.

Reynolds in the early 1970s was teeming with budding musicians who formed bands including Rittenhouse Square and Little Diesel and hung out at an area of the school they dubbed Combo Corner, where they talked shop.

Inside the school, Stamey studied under band teacher Bob Smith, whose class on music theory, was like walking into a world Id only dreamed of, Stamey wrote in an email. It opened up my ears to a new way of listening and writing music, changed me forever, and he was so clear and comprehensive that when I got to UNC I had pretty much already been exposed to everything in the first fo semesters of undergrad music theory there. I use what he taught me every day, to this day, and I will be forever grateful.

Holsapple didnt take music at Reynolds, choosing instead to study journalism, inspired by the great rock critics and writers of the day, Lester Bangs and Hunter S. Thompson.

That stuff was really exciting to me, said Holsapple, who wrote for the schools newspaper, Pine Whispers, and won a journalism award as a senior. My parents thought maybe it would shake the music out of me, but you know, I have to say, I can write and I like to write, but it doesnt give me the push that music always has.

On the journalism front, Holsapple was a regular contributor to a New York Times blog on songwriting that featured Rosanne Cash and Suzanne Vega. (Its also a safe bet that the new New York Times music blog, the Amplifier, was named after the Holsapple-penned song of the same name from Repercussion.)

After Easter was inducted into the Reynolds Arts Hall of Fame in 2018, Holsapple pushed to get Stamey inducted.

I felt it was really important that Chris go in, then I get this message that, Oh, theyre nominating you, too,  Holsapple said. I was like, Wait a minute. So I feel a little sheepish going in with Chris because he has accomplished so much and has been a tremendously impactful North Carolina musician since moving back from New Jersey. So Im flattered to be going in at the same time as Chris. I just dont know that I should be.

Stamey disagreed.

If I could have handed out Arts Hall of Fame awards back in 1974, hed have been the first to get a trophy, Stamey wrote. Its taken a while, but better late than never (as I used to try to tell the RJR teachers when I was tardy yet again).

Holsapple, who has worked with R.E.M., and Hootie and the Blowfish, continues to work on new music from his home in the Triangle.

Stamey, a Chapel Hill resident, has organized tributes to the band Big Star that have been performed in New York, London and Barcelona; and continues to record and produce. His new electric-guitar album, The Great Escape, will be released this summer.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools had one of the highest rates of crime and violence among public school districts in the state in the 2021-22 school year, according to data presented to the State Board of Education last month.

The states annual Consolidated Data Report to the General Assembly showed an overall increase in acts of crime and violence in schools across the state compared with 2018-19, the last school year not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021-22, there were 11,170 total acts of crime and violence in North Carolina public schools up from 9,554 in 2018-19, a 17% increase.

The local school district reported 587 acts of crime and violence among 51,338 students for a rate of 11.4 per 1,000 students. In WS/FCS in 2018-19, when enrollment was at 53,400 students, there were 543 acts, for a rate of 10.15 per 1,000 students.

WS/FCS rate in 2021-22 was well above the statewide rate of 7.5 per 1,000 students. Eight other school districts, including Lexington City and Yadkin County, reported higher rates than WS/FCS.

Among similar urban districts, only Cumberland County had a higher rate of crime and violence, though Durham Public Schools at 11.3 and Charlotte-Mecklenburg at 10.9 were close behind.

School districts across the country have said they have seen a change in student behavior since the pandemic, which caused an upheaval in education, leading to months of remote learning in many cases.

According to data released in July by the National Center for Education Statistics, 87% of public schools reported that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted student socio-emotional development during the 202122 school year and 84% of public schools agreed or strongly agreed that students behavioral development was also negatively impacted.

Locally, the largest increases from 2018-19 to 2020-21 came in two categories  possession of controlled substances went from 228 to 286 incidents, a 25% increase; and possession of weapons that were not firearms or powerful explosives jumped from 109 cases to 148, a 36% increase.

Statewide, possession of controlled substances was up 14% in 2021-22 compared to 2018-19; and possession of a weapon (not including firearms or powerful explosives) jumped 60% from 2018-19.

WS/FCS also reported the most assaults resulting in serious injury (6) and the states only death from an unnatural cause, the 2021 fatal shooting of a Mount Tabor High School student. The school district did see some decreases from 2018-19  possession of firearms dropped from 13 to 8 and the number of assaults on school personnel dipped from 128 to 91.

Among individual mainstream schools, East Forsyth Middle Schools rate of 58.7 acts of crime and violence per 1,000 students was the highest in the school district, with the majority of those acts being possession of controlled substances.

The school district has taken several measures to address student conduct. For this school year, every middle and high school in the district has access to two portable metal detectors to use as needed, a purchase that was made with grant money from the N.C. Department of Public Instructions Center for School Safety.

On another front, it has added 30 school counselors, implemented programs focused on social and emotional learning and introduced a new district-wide code of character, conduct and support that district leaders say will improve school climate.

The new code emphasizes addressing and changing disruptive student behavior over punishment, with targeted interventions from social workers, counselors and other staff members.

Its so imperative that we rolled out this code. We have to get on the preventive side of this, Superintendent Tricia McManus said. Living in a reactive state around discipline is wearing on our professionals. Its exhausting.

The new code also emphasizes understanding why kids behave the way they do and the impact that such things as trauma can have on a student.

Behavior is a definite concern of educators everywhere, and its something that can be changed, she said.

One of the goals of the new code is to address and reduce the disproportionate number of suspensions given to Black students.

Of the 10,160 short-term suspensions issued in local schools last year, 5,996 or 59%, were given to Black students, according to the state data released last week. Seven of the 12 long-term suspensions were given to Black students.

Black students make up about 30% of the districts enrollment.

District leaders have pointed to research that shows that keeping students in school improves the chances they will graduate and stay out of the juvenile justice system.
B&R Stores has plans to buy a small independent grocery store in central Nebraska.

The Lincoln-based supermarket chain said Friday that it has agreed to buy Joe's Market in Loup City. The sale is expected to be finalized in May after longtime owners Joe and Pat Kowalski retire. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

B&R Stores CEO Pat Raybould said in a news release that the company plans to keep all current store employees.

"We look forward, with great anticipation, to adding the team in Loup City to our family, serving Loup City and the surrounding communities, and taking great care of Joe and Pat's loyal customers," he said.

Joe Kowalski has worked in the grocery industry since 1974 and has owned the Loup City store since 1994 with his wife.

"We have thoroughly enjoyed serving Loup City while working alongside our wonderful employees, but we have decided it is now time for us to retire and explore the next chapter of our life," he said in the news release.

The purchase of Joe's Market adds to B&R Stores' growing portfolio of small-town grocery stores. The company that owns Russ's Market and Super Saver has bought more than a dozen locations in small towns in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri since 2017.

12 Nebraska shops to check out Suite Child York Boot 'N Repair Platte River Outdoors Marah's Treasures The Most Unlikely Place Fort Cody Trading Post Hollywood Candy Brown Sheep Co. Mill Store Master's Hand Candle Co. North Platte Art And Gift Gallery Park Avenue Antiques The Keeping Room Marshall Custom Hats
A 63-year-old Missouri man died in a vehicle crash in Southeast Nebraska on Thursday afternoon.

At about 3:45 p.m., Nemaha County emergency communications received a call about a two-vehicle crash a mile and half east of Auburn on U.S. 136.

LeRoy Forbes, a 53-year-old from Falls City, was driving east and pulling a trailer with a Ford F350 pickup when his trailer was reportedly rear-ended by a 2020 Nissan van driven by David Paris, a 63-year-old from Green Ridge, Missouri. A news release from the Nemaha County Sheriffs Office said Forbes had slowed for traffic before being struck.

Both men were taken to Nemaha County Hospital. Paris died as a result of injuries suffered in the crash, the sheriff's office reported.

Auburn Fire and Rescue and Peru Fire and Rescue also assisted at the crash scene.
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird on Saturday called on state Sen. Suzanne Geist to denounce what she said were lies being spread by a political action committee backing Geist's bid for mayor.

Gaylor Baird pointed to a recent flyer from Together Nebraska claiming the mayor lives outside of Lincoln in a "lakefront mansion" near Ashland.

"I have lived in my home in Lincolns Near South neighborhood for over 20 years, we pay our property taxes here, and all three of my children attended Lincoln Public Schools  one still does, Gaylor Baird said in a news release.

Geist's campaign responded on Saturday and said it does not control the spending or message of outside groups.

"Mayor Gaylor Baird, is trying to create a story out of something to distract from her dismal record of not supporting police, allowing violent crime to rise, and exploding the city budget to tax people out of their homes," the campaign said.

Gaylor Baird, a Democrat whos seeking a second term, is being challenged by Geist and Christian ministry leader and former Husker Stan Parker, both Republicans.

The primary election is Tuesday. The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan race will advance to the May 2 general election.

Gaylor Baird's family owns a house in Ashland, as previously reported by the Journal Star, but the mayor said she spends only occasional weekends and holidays there.

Together Nebraska, a conservative political action committee funded primarily by the Peed family, their business Sandhills Global and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts' family, has raised $660,000 and has spent more than $314,000 to oppose Gaylor Baird.

That support and direct contributions made to Geist has made this mayors race the most expensive in the citys history. Geist has raised well over $1.1 million in cash and in-kind donations. Gaylor Baird has raised more than $975,000.

Gaylor Baird's release included a comment from her neighbors, Bruce and Lori Waters, who said the family has been their neighbors for more than 20 years.

"We see Leirion leaving for work every morning and coming home every evening. All of the ads implying she does not live in Lincoln are completely false, the couple said.

Gaylor Baird and her husband bought their home in the Near South neighborhood in 2002 for $286,000, according to Lancaster County assessor records.

They purchased the home near Ashland in June 2021 for $1.6 million. Both homes are owned by trusts, which is a fairly common estate planning tactic.

Gaylor Baird said people have recently stopped by her house just to see if she lived there.

On Thursday she said a man rang the doorbell and her husband opened the door to show him how lived-in the house looked. The man said he had received something in the mail that said the family did not live there.

Buying elections with seedy attack ads full of lies may work in national politics, but we should reject that approach in our city, Gaylor Baird said.
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill.  Dr. Colleen McNicholas is fresh off performing two abortions, but the day is still stacked with appointments; as many as 100 abortion and family planning patients might walk through the doors.

Just the day before, 58 women had abortions at the Fairview Heights' Planned Parenthood clinic, 15 miles east of St. Louis.

Hundreds of women travel each week to southern Illinois to secure an abortion, something no longer available to millions living in a 1,800-mile stretch of 11 Southern states that mostly banned pregnancy terminations since the Supreme Court stripped away constitutional protections for women to end pregnancies last June.

The clinic's waitlist for abortions has grown from two days to nearly three weeks after the Supreme Court ruling  even after staffers started working 10-hour shifts and opened the clinic on Saturdays.

"With every piece of litigation, with every new constitutional amendment, with every new abortion restriction in a state that has some access, we are on this teeter-totter of what can we do here to make more space for the people who are going to be fleeing their home state?" McNicholas said.

With 10,000 abortion patients expected this year at the clinic, there's talk of opening on Sundays. Staff developed an emergency plan to convert some patient rooms to make more room for abortions. A recreational vehicle was retooled into a mobile clinic that can travel along the state line for doctors to provide abortions.

McNicholas is eyeing a proposed six-week abortion ban in Florida, which could send even more women seeking abortions up north. And she's closely watching how a Texas judge will rule on a case that seeks to keep the abortion pill mifepristone off the market.

"Any additional decision has the potential to really change demand again," she said. "It's like crisis management every day of the year."

Months before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Planned Parenthood and the nearby Hope Clinic were grappling with a surge of patients from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and elsewhere after Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, signed a bill into law that effectively shut down several abortion clinics in his state and led to long waitlists in neighboring states' facilities. Together, the clinics launched a new regional logistics center in January 2022 dedicated to helping out-of-state patients book hotels, flights, gas money, bus rides or rental cars to either facility.

On June 24, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was not a constitutionally protected right. Within hours, states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas began enacting trigger laws that banned abortions.

Now, about 70 women call the center every day for help getting to an abortion clinic in southern Illinois, said Kawanna Shannon, director of patient access at the Planned Parenthood clinic. A navigator goes over what she can pay toward the abortion and other details: How will the patient get to the area? Does she have money for food while she stays there? Will she need child care?

When someone cannot afford the trip, the center books the travel for the patient and works with more than 30 nonprofit groups around the country that solicit funds for abortion access to pay for it. A staffer is available around-the-clock to answer calls from patients who run into travel issues.

"It's not going to slow down," Shannon said. "We are really taking care of the entire Southern region. All the (patients) in the South are really coming to southern Illinois because we're the closest. Almost all of them need some type of help  be it travel, be it procedure costs."

Two hours south of the Planned Parenthood clinic, two new abortion clinics opened in Carbondale, Illinois, late last year to give women living in banned states a closer option.

After reading the Supreme Court's leaked draft opinion last May, Andrea Gallegos, the director of the Alamo Clinic, said she hopped on Google and started looking for liberal-leaning cities in rural, southern Illinois.

The Alamo Clinic relocated to the area from Oklahoma last November.

Three doctors in a rotation travel from Montana, Tennessee or Texas weekly to perform about 30 abortions daily at the clinic, which will terminate a pregnancy before 18 weeks. Gallegos says fewer than 5% of patients who come to the clinic are from Illinois.

During the final six months of last year, the Fairview Heights clinic saw 2,042 abortion patients from outside of Missouri or Illinois  up from just 314 the six months before.

Women are now seeking abortions later in their pregnancies at the Planned Parenthood clinic, which offers the procedure through 26 weeks. About one-quarter of patients need a second trimester abortion, McNicholas said.

But the hardest change to deal with has been the steady increase in children who are coming to the clinic, hoping to end a pregnancy that was the result of a rape or abuse.

"What you use to see was maybe one or two 10-and 11-year-olds a year," she said. "Now you're seeing a couple a month because they're coming from all over the country. Just sitting with that knowledge that this many people are experiencing so much trauma  There are times where it's really hard."

Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries The evolution of abortion in America 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
WASHINGTON  Last August, Daysia Holiday decided to try one more time to join the Army.

Shed taken the academic test and failed three times. So, when she was offered a slot in a new Army prep course to help improve her scores and qualify for basic training, she jumped at the chance.

Seven months later, Pvt. 2nd Class Holiday is a proud graduate of Army basic training, and is finishing her advanced instruction at Fort Lee, Virginia, to become a power generation specialist who will maintain engines and other equipment for the service.

Holiday is an early beneficiary of the new program, which gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards. In place for only eight months, it is already making a difference for both the Army and those who want to serve in it.

So far, 5,400 soldiers have made it through the prep course since it started in August at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Thats an important boost since the Army fell dramatically short of its recruiting goals last year, due to low unemployment and general wariness about military service. And at least one other military service, the Navy, took notice and is setting up a similar course.

For those who make it through the program, it can be life-changing. Holiday, 23, said many of her peers in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, didnt make it out of high school, with some dead or in jail. Sitting outside the class building in her Army fatigues last summer, she talked about trying to pass the academic test for two years with no success.

She said she wanted to set an example, especially for her younger siblings. The prep course gave her a second chance. She raised her academic score by more than 20 points.

The course, she said, was like basic training without the yelling. It also allowed her to bond with fellow students. We helped each other out throughout basic training, so it was easy, she said. All of us actually passed, so it was a good experience. And we all keep in touch.

Army leaders say the program  it involves classroom instruction and training ranging from how to wear the uniform and properly make a bed to fitness and discipline  gives recruits like Holiday an advantage.

I think an interesting thing weve seen is that the kids coming out of that course, who go into basic, actually seem to have a little bit of a leg up, said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth. During basic training, certain young individuals who show a little bit more leadership skills than others get selected to have leadership positions. And what were seeing is the kids coming out of the prep course are often the ones who are being chosen for that.

As of March 17, nearly 8,400 people had been admitted to the prep course and more than 5,400 had graduated and gone on to basic training. Army Lt. Col. Randy Ready, spokesman for the Army Center for Initial Military Training, said about 6% of those recruits dont make it through basic and advanced individual training, about the same attrition rate as for those who dont go through the prep course.

Ready said almost 4,000 of the graduates were in the academic track and about 1,400 were in the fitness track. Students in the academic program increased their test scores by an average of 19 points, he said.

It has been largely very, very successful, said Maj. Gen. Johnny Davis, head of Army Recruiting Command, adding that students who go through the prep course come out more prepared. It instills a level of positively and confidence in those future soldiers.

Gen. James McConville, Army chief of staff, told a House committee on Tuesday that students in the program are improving their academic scores and losing 4% to 6% of their body fat.

Were really giving them discipline, he said. Theyre getting in shape. Were giving them a head start. So when going into initial military training, where they were at the lowest category, theyre actually excelling and in some ways exceeding the standards  becoming the student leaders.

Once in the program, recruits are tested every week. And every three weeks they can move into basic training if they pass the militarys academic test  the Armed Services Voluntary Aptitude Battery  or if they meet the physical standards. If they don't pass or meet the standards after the first three weeks, they can stay on and keep testing for up to 90 days, but they have to leave the Army if they haven't succeeded by then.

Army leaders initially thought they might open as many as four locations for the prep course, but they haven't seen the need. Instead, they doubled the capacity at Fort Jackson and created a smaller, similar program at Fort Benning, Georgia, which gives young soldiers a chance to raise their academic scores if they want to qualify for higher-skilled jobs or bonuses.

The program got the Navy's attention. Late last November, Navy Capt. Frank Brown and several others visited Fort Jackson, and as a result will open a new sailor fitness prep course next month. Brown said recruits who are 6% above the body composition requirements will take a three-week fitness course, and can repeat it for up to 90 days to meet the standards and go on to boot camp.

Brown, the director of operations for training at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois, said 60 to 80 recruits will start the course on April 10. He said the Navy is also planning a pilot program for an academic course, likely this summer, to allow lower-scoring recruits to improve so they can qualify for higher-skilled jobs.

States with the most active-duty military members Intro #51. West Virginia #50. Vermont #49. Maine #48. Iowa #47. Minnesota #46. Wisconsin #45. Oregon #44. Michigan #43. Indiana #42. New Hampshire #41. Massachusetts #40. Pennsylvania #39. Tennessee #38. Wyoming #37. Rhode Island #36. Montana #35. South Dakota #34. Idaho #33. Delaware #32. Arkansas #31. Utah #30. Nebraska #29. Connecticut #28. New Jersey #27. Ohio #26. North Dakota #25. Alabama #24. District of Columbia #23. Mississippi #22. Nevada #21. New Mexico #20. Louisiana #19. Missouri #18. Alaska #17. Arizona #16. New York #15. Oklahoma #14. Illinois #13. Kansas #12. Maryland #11. Kentucky #10. South Carolina #9. Colorado #8. Hawaii #7. Washington #6. Florida #5. Georgia #4. North Carolina #3. Texas #2. Virginia #1. California
States are spending more money and creating new incentives to ease the severe child care crisis, with most federal pandemic aid set to dry up in September.

The child care shortage costs the United States $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue each year, according to ReadyNation, a consortium of business leaders under the umbrella of the Council for a Strong America, a bipartisan nonprofit that promotes workforce solutions.

A December 2022 survey of working parents found that about two-thirds of parents of infants and toddlers reported being late to work or having to leave work early because of inadequate child care. And 85% of parents surveyed said problems with child care hurt their work effort or their time available for work.

Polls have shown that large majorities of voters and small business leaders say access to affordable child care is essential or very important to strengthen the economy, giving politicians incentive to act.

States are turning to a variety of ideas to ease the burden, including grants, tax credits, salary supplements and incentives. The bipartisan measures aim to help families pay for child care, while bolstering businesses in a worker-scarce economy.

Of the roughly $52 billion that Congress approved in federal pandemic child care aid, states must spend all but $15 billion by Sept. 30.

The federal funding provided a lifeline for states to stabilize their child care systems, according to Child Care Aware of America, a nonprofit group that works with resource and referral agencies.

Diane Girouard, state policy senior analyst for Child Care Aware, said that with the federal funds running out, states now are aware of the difference the money can make in child care, which has given more impetus to state-sponsored funding efforts.

But while the federal pandemic money was helpful, experts say the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the broader, longstanding problem of expensive and scarce child care.

This has been a crisis for so long in affordability and accessibility, Girouard said. But during the pandemic, it has gotten so much harder with rising costs and what continues to be a downward trend in licensed family child care, she said, referencing what is generally small, in-home day care operated by neighborhood residents. Its been really hard to staff child care programs.

The problems boil down to three main categories: the high cost of child care for families; a lack of available child care homes or centers; and low pay that has led to a shortage of workers.

For a long time, both child care access and affordability were considered personal issues that were ordinarily rendered without monetary compensation, said Gabrielle Pepin, an economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Michigan. That history is reflected in the low pay for child care and early learning workers, she said.

The pandemic, school and child care closures made it apparent to many people that our economy depends on child care, she said. That began the move in states to address the problem.

In Maine, for example, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills included $10.5 million in her budget proposal that would help expand pre-K, and $7.8 million to continue salary supplements of $200 each for child care workers. That bonus program was started last year on an emergency basis, but Mills wants to make it permanent, according to Ana Hicks, policy director for human services in the Governors Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

The budget is making its way through the legislative process.

Hicks said the program will change in July to a tiered system, under which teachers with advanced education will get higher stipends. The formula has yet to be worked out.

In addition, the Maine legislature considered a bill that would provide incentives to help existing businesses establish on-site child care for their employees. The governors office plans to conduct a study on the issue before final action.

Opposition to the state efforts has come mainly from conservative interest groups such as the Maine Policy Institute, which testified against the on-site child care bill. The institute argued that in-home or neighborhood child care is over regulated, and the state should concentrate on making it easier for neighborhood moms to look after kids, said Jake Posik, communications director for the conservative think tank.

But Hicks, the Maine governors point person on child care, said the key is to keep children in licensed centers while providing the owners with financial and business help.

Other states also are working on the issue.

In Missouri, Republican Gov. Mike Parson called in his State of the State speech for $56 million to expand pre-kindergarten options for families with lower incomes and $78 million to increase child care subsidy rates. He also proposed three new tax credits: for expansion of child care centers, for employers who offer assistance to employees for child care and for augmented pay for child care workers.

In Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said in his State of the State address that he plans to make child care available to 15,000 more kids with money in his budget proposal, which is awaiting legislative approval.

And in Texas, buried in a bill that would give parents up to $8,000 vouchers for private schools and limit instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation, is a provision that would give teachers free access to pre-K programs for their own kids, if the programs exist in the school district.

Minnesota has two child care bills moving through the legislature. One would increase the amount that eligible families with low incomes would get for child care costs, and the other would add $12 million for child care centers through June and another $40 million for early learning scholarships.

About 1 in 3 child care workers are going hungry About 1 in 3 child care workers are going hungry
Nebraska lawmakers rejected an amendment Friday that would have given tax credits to renters as part of a major property tax relief package.

Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha offered the amendment during debate on LB243, which would provide property owners with more than $3 billion worth of property tax relief over the next six years.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, combines several measures that would increase Nebraskas two property tax credit programs, cap school property taxes and eliminate almost all community college property taxes.

The package represents the second piece of Gov. Jim Pillen's school aid and tax cut plan. The first piece, which would cut the state's top income tax rate by one-third and make other income tax changes, cleared first-round consideration Thursday.

A first-round vote on the property tax proposal is expected Monday, with debate about a proposed $305 million annual increase in state support for K-12 schools to follow.

Briese argued Friday that the property tax package addresses the biggest concern for most Nebraska taxpayers. He said it would help balance the state's tax system, under which Nebraskans pay more in property taxes than in either income taxes or state sales taxes.

"That is not fair and balanced," he said. "There really is a lot riding on this package."

Briese did not speak about Hunt's rental tax credit proposal. She argued that property taxes are incorporated into rents but renters, who are typically not as well off as homeowners, are never considered in property tax relief measures. She added that rents have increased steeply in the past year, while wages have not kept up.

"As a renter myself, it doesn't matter how much property tax relief we give, it never trickles down to the renter," Hunt said.

But Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte said renters do benefit from property tax relief because such measures keep rents from rising as fast as they might otherwise.

The amendment failed, with 30 senators voting against it and 13 in favor.

Earlier, Briese said that LB243 seeks to provide about the same amount of property tax relief as the income tax package is expected to reduce that tax. He pledged, along with Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, who chairs the Revenue Committee, to continue working for equivalent tax relief.

Under the Revenue Committee amendment, the property tax package would ratchet up the size of Nebraskas long-standing property tax credit program, which uses state money to offset a portion of property owners bills.

The bill would gradually increase the program from $313 million this year to $560 million by tax year 2029, after which the credit program would grow by the same percentage as the assessed valuation of property statewide.

A second part of the package would remove a cap on the growth of Nebraskas other property tax credit program, often referred to as the LB1107 program for the bill that created it. It provides income tax credits to offset a portion of school property taxes paid.

By taking off the cap, that credit also would grow by the same percentage as the assessed valuation of property statewide. Briese said valuations have averaged 5.3% growth over the past decade.

The third part of the package would limit the growth of school revenues, with the goal of forcing schools to reduce property taxes when they get more state aid. Pillen has proposed boosting state school aid by providing $1,500 for every student and paying more to cover special-education costs.

Under LB243, schools would be limited to 3% annual growth in revenues, with some exceptions. The limit would apply to the combination of property taxes, state aid and other funding.

The fourth part of the property tax package would end community colleges' ability to levy property taxes, except for building needs, starting in 2024. The bill would replace those tax revenues with state aid.

State aid to the colleges would increase by 3.5% annually, with additional money available based on enrollment growth. Community colleges could levy property taxes to fill the gap if the state does not meet its funding obligations.

Meet the Nebraska state senators making laws in 2023
As an eighth-grader, Maren Steinkes mom encouraged her to apply to be a Bright Lights camp assistant. The Lincoln Southeast High School sophomore hasnt needed any prompting since.

I was more motivated individually to sign up my second year, said Steinke. It was so much fun, and I also looked up to my camp assistants.

Many camp assistants are former Bright Lights campers like Steinke, but its not a requirement. Eighth graders and up who have availability and an interest in assisting with camps for kids in grades K-8 can apply.

A two-year camp assistant veteran, Steinke will assist for a third summer alongside her former teacher, Shelley Clayburn, in "Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse with Brainz during Bright Lights International Camp Week. Steinke has taken and assisted with Clayburns Its All Greek to Me camp about Greek mythology in the past.

Pius X Senior William Cunningham learned about Bright Lights as a way to fulfill a school volunteer requirement. When reviewing the camp options, he found several that matched his interests.

In Beginning Guitar, he shared his musical talents while aiding teacher Justin Brookens. I was just really surprised by how receptive and ready to learn the campers were, Cunningham said.

Both Steinke and Cunningham have benefited personally from their volunteer experiences with Bright Lights. Steinke said Clayburn has been a positive role model for her, and shes learned to build relationships with the adults shes interacted with at camp.

Steinkes Bright Lights volunteer experience has also impacted her involvement at church. Previously, she was in a child care support role at First Plymouth. Now she is on the Youth and Family Ministries Board and leads a K-1 group on Wednesday nights. As she applies for jobs and scholarships, Steinke said she sees her Bright Lights experience as noteworthy.

Cunningham hopes to apply what hes learned as he enters college next fall. He shared that his experience with Bright Lights helped him see the world in a more novel way as he interacted with a younger demographic. He wants to be sure he doesnt lose the sense of wonder that he saw in Bright Lights campers as they engaged in hands-on learning.

Both teens found Bright Lights offered a supportive volunteer environment. Cunningham said its positive and cheerful, and that there are always plenty of people ready to help.

Steinke shared, I feel it is a priority to make their volunteers successful. They want them to be comfortable."

Appreciation for her role and contribution was also apparent.

I definitely felt appreciated, Steinke said. My time is noticed, and my effort is noticed, and thats been a motivating factor for me to come back year after year.

To learn more about the camp assistant role or to apply, visit https://brightlights.org/camp-assistants/
RACINE  After making an appearance in Racine County Court and reportedly becoming upset with the judge, a Milwaukee man was arrested after making several profanity-laced statements inside the courthouse.

Gregory A. Washington, 35, of the 3900 block of North 13th Street, Milwaukee, was charged with three felony counts of bail jumping, a felony count of threat to a judge, and two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct.

According to a criminal complaint, when Washington left the courtroom and entered the lobby, he allegedly yelled at the clerk, (Expletive) this place. This place is all (expletive) up.

He reportedly continued to yell I hate this place, Im going to kill all you (expletive) (white racial slur), and walked out the building.

The complaint said that Washington then went to the eighth floor of the courthouse and claimed the judge has been (expletive) him over the last year now, and wanted a new judge.

He then allegedly said, Im going to shoot him.

Washington was placed in handcuffs and arrested, and according to the complaint, started yelling Bro you told them to send me to jail. Yes, you did bro.

He also allegedly tried to pull away from officers as they were escorting him, but was eventually detained.

Washington was given a $5,000 cash bond in Racine County Circuit Court on Wednesday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 5 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, online court records show.

Mugshots: Racine County criminal complaints, March 29, 2023 Today's mugshots: March 29 These are images of people charged with a crime in Racine County. Booking photos are provided by Racine County law enforcement officials. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty and convicted. Regina M. Cox Regina (aka Virginia Henley) M. Cox, 1600 block of 16th Street, Racine, misdemeanor retail theft (intentionally take less than or equal to $500), misdemeanor bail jumping, disorderly conduct (use of a dangerous weapon), substantial battery. Michael John Allyn Michael John Allyn, 1100 block of 12th Avenue, Union Grove, misdemeanor bail jumping. Elizabeth A. Campton Elizabeth A. Campton, 500 block of Mill Avenue, Union Grove, misdemeanor bail jumping. Reginald J. Sparkman Reginald (aka Red Little) J. Sparkman, 200 block of Hubbard Street, Racine, attempt armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, obstructing an officer, misdemeanor bail jumping. Gregory A. Washington Gregory A. Washington, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, threat to judge, disorderly conduct, felony bail jumping. Christopher A. Weber Christopher A. Weber, 900 block of Marquette Street, Racine, delivery of methamphetamine. Johnathan L. Wilkerson Johnathan L. Wilkerson, 400 block of Memorial Drive, Racine, obstructing an officer. Marcus L. Webb Marcus L. Webb, 2200 block of Romayne Avenue, Racine, sex offender registry violation, misdemeanor battery (domestic abuse assessments), disorderly conduct (domestic abuse assessments).
TOWN OF WATERFORD  A three-way contest on the April 4 ballot will fill two seats on the Waterford Town Board.

Incumbents Dale Gauerke and Doug Schwartz are running in a field that also includes challenger Robert Ulander.

Voters will cast two votes, and the top two finishers will each win a two-year term at a salary of $7,840 a year.

Gauerke has been serving since 1992 and is seeking his 17th term on the Town Board.

Schwartz was appointed in February 2022 to a vacant seat on the Town Board. After serving out his predecessors current term, he is seeking his first full term on the board.

Schwartz also is running for re-election April 4 to the Waterford Union High School Board.

Ulander last year sought the same Town Board appointment that went to Schwartz. He then ran for a board seat in an election held a few months later, but finished behind two incumbents.

Ulander is a commercial airline pilot who has been an outspoken critic of some town officials.

He once filed a complaint alleging that the board had violated the Wisconsin open meetings law.

I believe the people of Waterford deserve a board that is receptive to their needs and voices, transparent in their conducting of business, and honest in their dealings, Ulander said in a prepared statement.

Gauerke said his priorities, if re-elected, would include listening to residents concerns, lobbying for more state aid to municipalities and pursuing a border deal with the neighboring Village of Waterford.

I will continue to work to restore a working relationship with the village, he said.

Schwartz said he, too, is hoping to build better relations with the village and to improve public input at town meetings.

"I believe being retired I have the time and experience to devote to this position," he said.

All three candidates participated in a public candidate forum in early March.

In Photos: Waterford High School Homecoming window painting Kayla Schmitz Aubrey Isola Jace Whiteford, Waterford Vollyball Sofia Stengo Chloe and Hayley Artist trio Nathan Schmidt and Kate Brown Waterford High School Cheer Team Preparing for Homecoming Week Ryan Bienman Ava Brobst Look inside Nora Grzegorczyk Maddie Lindner, Waterford FFA Waterford Future Farmers of America Tri-M Music Society Elyonna Nation
Oral arguments over whether to dismiss Democrats lawsuit challenging Wisconsins near-complete abortion ban are set for May 4, more than 10 months after Attorney General Josh Kaul first filed the case.

While the Dane County Circuit Court judge presiding over the lawsuit can rule from the bench that day, its possible that her decision on whether to allow the case to continue wont come out until the summer, dragging the case out to the year mark.

Democrats filed the lawsuit days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, activating an abortion ban first passed in 1849, though it has been amended several times since then.

The future of this case and other abortion-related issues will likely be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which currently has a 4-3 conservative majority but could flip after Tuesdays election between liberal Janet Protasiewicz and conservative Dan Kelly.

In January, Kaul asked a Dane County judge not to dismiss the lawsuit after one of the three district attorneys named as defendants, Sheboygan District Attorney Joel Urmanski, asked for the opposite.

Kauls lawsuit alleges that a 1985 abortion law  which prohibits abortions after fetal viability but includes an exception to protect the mothers life or health  conflicts with the earlier, near-complete prohibition.

Kaul also alleges that the 1849 prohibition, which bans all abortions except those required to save the mothers life, isnt in effect because of a legal principle that laws may become unenforceable after a considerable period of disuse.

In December, Urmanski asked for a Dane County court to dismiss the case, saying the plaintiffs arent threatened by prosecution under the abortion ban theyre seeking to have a judge nullify. He also argued that the abortion laws Kaul mentioned do not, in fact, conflict.

Additionally, Urmanski said Kauls argument that the bans disuse means it lost its validity lacks merit.

If the Plaintiffs believe the statute lacks the consent of the governed, their appeal should be to the Legislature and the Governor to seek changes to the law, not this Court, he stated.

The other defendants, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, did not file motions to dismiss.

Attorneys representing Ozanne said Kauls claims dont represent a controversy that the courts can resolve. They also argued that Kauls lawsuit improperly seeks to limit Ozannes prosecutorial discretion.

Responding to Urmansis dismissal motion in a brief filed in January, Kaul wrote that Wisconsin precedent shows that government officers, including the attorney general, have standing when an issue is of vital concern ... to the entire public.

Kaul added that to succeed on his motion to dismiss, Urmanski must prove theres no way the lawsuit challenging the ban could succeed.

He comes nowhere close, Kaul wrote.

Kaul also wrote that Urmanski disputed his assertions of historical fact in his December response.

Urmanski cannot prevail at the motion-to-dismiss stage by disputing Plaintiffs assertions of historical facts and presenting his own, Kaul wrote. His disputes instead demonstrate that his motion must be denied and Plaintiffs disuse claim must proceed.
1. Yes. Police officers should be the only ones armed in the council chambers. Period.

2. Yes. Such a ban is allowed by state law, and the city council should consider it .

3. No. The possibility of violence is always present, but disarming everyone isnt the answer.

4. No. Its unwise to change the city ordinance based on one unfortunate incident.

5. Unsure. Some steps must be taken, but its hard to say if a gun ban is necessary.

Vote

View Results
LINCOLN  Four south-central Nebraska communities have received state grants to assist with community centers and other projects.

The communities in the Kearney region that were awarded the grants are Shelton, Gibbon, Wood River, Sargent and Arapahoe.

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development selected those towns and other recipients to share $4.2 million from the Civic and Community Center Financing Fund.

2023 capital construction recipients are:

 Gibbon: $150,000 community center renovation.

 Wood River: $562,000 Legacy Station.

2023 south-central Nebraska planning grant recipients are:

 Arapahoe: $15,000 Crystal Theatre renovation project.

 Sargent: $7,500 swimming pool.

 Shelton: $7,500 swimming pool.

CCCFF funding supports the development of civic, community and recreation centers. Buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places that are intended for conversion, rehabilitation or reuse are also eligible under the program.

CCCFF is funded through a turn-back of 30% of state sales tax generated by arenas and nearby retailers. Due to the enduring impact of COVID-19 on these venues, the amount available for award for 2023 was less than usual. However, as evidenced by the increase of aid available for award this year as compared to the prior two years, revenues to the fund are steadily increasing towards pre-pandemic levels.

Thank you to everyone who applied for the 2023 round of CCCFF funding, said DED Director Anthony L. Goins. Were excited to announce this years winners! I applaud their vision and commitment to grow. These grants will lead to new and upgraded amenities in our states communities, making them even more pleasant places to live and work.
As the old poem goes: Spring has come, the grass is riz, I wonder where the flowers is?

At our house the deer or the bunnies will get the flowers and tulips faster than they can come up. I should probably go looking for my .22 rifle. So, I guess, a happy April 1 to you all. Looking around the area and the country I came across a few things that may spur your interest.

Walt Disney World appears to be striking back at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Disney is investigating if it can triple the entry fee for Gov. DeSantis and his family. There seems to be no set fee structure at Disney World as anyone who has gone to Disney World in the off season can tell you. Also, Disneyland has asked Florida legislators to clarify if a guy dressing up as Minnie Mouse is really in drag.

It appears that my friends, the Republican state legislators, are calling on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to change the way it plans to manage the wolf population in Wisconsin. My friends circulated a bill that would require DNR officials to have a new population goal for their next management plan. From unnamed sources at the DNR, the new goal will be 15,000 wolves.

Wisconsin has about 5.8 million people, so that will be 1 wolf for every 386 people. The goal was to reduce deer/car crashes and the general nuisance of deer. The DNR has assured people that wolves will not enter your house, pull you out of bed, and devour you in your front yard. Just lock your doors at night.

A rumor, so far unfounded, is spreading that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is formulating a rule that will prohibit any teaching about the state of Florida. It seems that Florida has fallen out of favor with DPI officials. Comments from a source at the DPI, who was not authorized to speak on the matter, said Florida has little to offer Wisconsin students. The climate is changing, in 30 to 50 years most of Florida will be underwater and the wildlife will kill you. Hurricanes will destroy your house. Florida was a slave state that lost the Civil War. Nothing much to attract Wisconsin students to waste their precious time on Florida.

Another news item that you may have missed: Unnamed sources at the Wall Street Journal report that the two banks that failed, Silicon Valley Bank SVB and New Yorks Signature Bank are going to unprecedented lengths to lure customers back to their banks. They will be offering 5% interest on all new savings and Christmas Club accounts. Plus, with every new account opened, you will get a free toaster. What a deal.

My friends at the Green Bay Packers Office, wishing to be anonymous, report the Packers, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre will meet early next week. Sources close to the organization report that Favre will instruct Rodgers to play for the New York Jets for one year, get traded to the Minnesota Vikings the next; then throw a final interception to end his career with the Vikings. Favre will also instruct Rodgers to be careful getting government money for any of his projects after he retires.

From an unnamed source close to Sen. Ron Johnson there is now a proposal to save Social Security and Medicare by raising the full retirement age to 80. As reported in the Insider Magazine of September, 2022 GOP senator Ron Johnson says he wants to coax seniors out of retirement so they can earn a few extra bucks and ease the labor shortage. It appears that Sen. Johnsons plan is not working and coaxing retired people back into the workforce in becoming more and more of a problem. So, 80 it is.

An internal memo at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation shows there is planning for an outer-outer bypass around the Eau Claire-Altoona-Lake Hallie-Chippewa Falls metro complex. The route will go through Fall Creek, up to Cadott and connect with Highway 53 north of Bloomer. That is expected to cut drive time to up north by at least 45 minutes for those coming from Illinois. Happy April Fools Day, in case you did not guess already.
The following students have earned academic honors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the fall 2022 semester:

Camp DouglasRhett Wilson, School of Pharmacy, Honor Roll.

NorwalkLaurel Adams, College of Letters and Science, Deans List.

TomahNoelle Adler, College of Letters and Science, Deans List; Collin Dowson, College of Letters and Science, Deans List; Hunter Eirschele, School of Education, Deans List; Justin Gerke, College of Engineering, Deans Honor List; Katan Moser, School of Pharmacy, High Honor Roll; Ty Schanhofer, College of Letters and Science, Deans List; Hannah Zhu, College of Letters and Science, Deans List; Braden Zingler, College of Engineering, Deans Honor List.

The following students have been named to the University of Wisconsin-Superior Deans List for the fall 2022 semester: Kim Downing, Norwalk; Shaniqua Catlett, Tomah; and Jess Allen, Warrens.

To be named to the Deans List, students must have completed 12 credits and achieved at least a 3.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

Hayley Skaaland of Tomah, Wisconsin, has been named to the South Dakota State University Deans List for the fall 2022 semester. She is a student in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Vanessa Klein of Hustler has been named to the Deans List for the fall 2022 semester at Marquette University. She is pursuing a masters degree in physician assistant studies.

Toni Thorson, Anna OLaughlin and Corey Williams of Tomah have been named to the Southern New Hampshire University fall 2022 Presidents List. Full-time undergraduate students who have earned a minimum grade-point average of 3.7 are honored.

Wyatt Joseph Edward Spohn has been named to the Deans List at Iowa State University. He is a senior majoring in statistics. Students on a Deans List must carry a minimum GPA of 3.5.
Delta Air Lines is suspending service from La Crosse to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, effective this June.

The last flight prior to suspension will be June 4, the La Crosse Office of the Mayor reported Friday afternoon. There is no scheduled return to service date. The decision by Delta stems from ongoing staffing shortages, especially among pilots, in the airline industry.

Prior to the suspension, Delta was offering two flights per day to and from Minneapolis.

La Crosse Regional Airport Director Ian Turner stated demand for service in La Crosse remains steady, with the number of seats filled in the local market above 85%.

Throughout the last four years we have done everything we can to maintain our air service despite the challenges facing the overall aviation industry, said Turner.

Last August American Airlines, which began serving La Crosse three decades ago, upgraded to Embraer E170 or E175 jet flights to and from Chicagos OHare Airport. Flights offering direct service to Detroit were discontinued in early 2022.

The La Crosse Regional Airport will work with both existing and new airlines to meet future travel demands. Private aircraft operations will continue.

Our region is vibrant and thriving in so many ways. We will continue to seek transportation alternatives for those traveling to and from La Crosse and I am optimistic we will rebuild our air service to its full potential in the future, said Mayor Mitch Reynolds.

Passengers who have travel booked through Delta Air Lines after June 4, 2023, should call the Delta Reservations line at 800-221-1212.
Wisconsins healthcare workforce continues to dwindle as the aging population and demand for services grows, creating a massive hurdle in the quest for affordable, accessible care.

The Wisconsin Hospital Associations 2023 Health Care Workforce Report, released this week, highlights continuing challenges the industry and its patients face, from the reverberating effects of the COVID pandemic to a rise in mental health concerns to the vast number of staff vacancies in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Wisconsin hospitals are working hard to grow, recruit, retain and support the healthcare workforce necessary to sustain the high-quality health care Wisconsin citizens expect and deserve, said WHA senior vice president of workforce and clinical practice Ann Zenk. But even with concerted effort, it is unlikely that the healthcare workforce can grow fast enough to meet the rising health care demand of an aging population.

Addressing the dilemma, the WHA stated, will take mass efforts, including highlighting the value of working in the healthcare field, keeping those staff on board, reducing regulatory burdens, integrating new technologies and ensuring the availability of post acute care beds.

Health care employers and staff and their partners in education and state government, the report said, are rising to meet these challenges together.

Silver tsunami

The sizeable baby boom generation brings both an increased need for health services and a high rate of retirement, a perfect storm of sorts, said Gundersen Health System recruitment and retention strategic work team member and registered nurse Christina Flisram.

By 2030, 20% of Americans will be of standard retirement age, and in Wisconsin nearly the rate will be 25%. Those 65 and older, the report stated, account for 20% of the population yet make up more than 40% of health care utilization. Outnumbered by those nearing retirement, the younger generations are not populous enough to fill all the positions that will be abandoned.

During the pandemic, hospital stays for the elderly population were extended as long term care facilities were unable to take in those ready to transfer out, creating a bottleneck. Keeping individuals in the hospital longer than necessary can have emotional and mental health effects for the patient and create a lack of beds for incoming patients. It is also expensive  Medicare and Medicaid reimburse hospitals per stay rather than per day.

Further complicating the situation, geriatrician positions are increasingly difficult to fill, with a projected shortage of some 27,000 by 2025, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And the need for specialized care is only growing, as more than 11% of seniors have Alzheimers disease, with the rate expected to double by 2040.

Were always looking at at partnerships with long-term care facilities and having conversations, said Gundersen RN and recruitment and talent strategy director Chet Doering.

Gundersen already works with Hillview Health Care Center in La Crosse, and in 2022 shared their nursing staff with the facility in order to accomodate incoming individuals.

Hiring gap

Openings for health care and social assistance positions as of October 2022 were the highest of any industry included in a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 1,938,000 gap. Per the WHA report, of 17 professions within the health care industry, all had increased vacancy rates from the period of September 2020 to September 2021, with an overall rise of nearly 10%. The year prior, the rate was 5.3%.

The turnover rate of nurses has increased notably in the past two years, with one in five registered nurses now changing jobs each year, up from one in 10 prior to 2021.

The last three years have been hard on nurses, said Flisram. Violence (from patients) is increasing, their stress levels are up, and they have more (of a workload). Nurses are exhausted. Nurses are a very dedicated group, but they are very tired.

Doering noted colleges are reporting a decrease in applications for nursing programs, with potential students hesitant to enter an often strenuous and stressful field.

Finding solutions

Gundersens Edge innovation team assisted in the findings of the workforce report, conducting over 125 hours of interviews with more than 200 nurses, listening to their concerns, frustrations and needs. The hospital took the information to help formulate plans to attract new staff and keep current employees within the health system with incentives, better work-life balance and other initiatives.

Gundersen opened up its weekend only policy to allow more individuals to take on Saturday or Sunday shifts for additional pay, with over 180 employees electing to work extra hours. This reduced the need for travel nurses, which, Doering said, keeps that work at home, and allows patients to interact with staff familiar to them and the area. Reducing the utilization of travel nurses also saves money.

Gundersen is engaging its employees in decision making and the development of solutions to improve their work experiences with the frontline innovation team.

Were listening to our own staff  they are amazing and they know what to do and how to do it but they need our support, Flisram said.

This includes honoring the sentiment that work should fit into life, not life should fit into work, and finding ways to create schedules that work for newer staff as well, rather than using the mentality that the most recent hires take on nights or weekends.

We are looking at how to change and shift our model to meet these needs, said Flisram.

Key is following the five essentials for workplace mental health and wellbeing, as outlined by the WHA: protection from harm, connection and community, work-life harmony, mattering at work and opportunity for growth.

Gundersens career development programs are addressing the last element, offering assistance to advance within the organization.

More people want additional challenges and to move up faster, said Flisram. We have to balance that with having enough patient-facing staff, but if we dont offer advancement opportunities they might leave for other organizations.

Added Doering, In general, we need to continue to anticipate growth, so we want to make sure to invest in our frontline staff.

To draw students and recent graduates into the organization, Gundersen has formed a strong network of connections with high schools and colleges, and offers five training programs, for sterile processing, pharmacy technicians, medical assistants, certified nursing assistants and  coming soon to La Crosse  for paramedics.

Some programs cover course fees and then on-site clinical training, and others offer education and training completion while working as a paid full time employee. Those in the pharmacy technician program, for example, after concluding training and taking an examination are promoted to a certified position within the Gundersen system.

There has been a shift where people are highly motivated to quickly enter the workforce, and they are finding it affordable with our supplemented education expenses or paid trainings, said Doering.

The WHA is looking to further speed up the hiring process by making the path to licensure less complex, and freeing up staff hours by reducing regulatory requirements.

Regulation is intended to ensure safe, high-quality care. Not all the rules improve care or safety (but) all of them require time and action by our health care workforce, the report states. An average size hospital dedicates 59 full-time equivalent workers to regulatory compliance, with one in four of those a doctor or nurse who could otherwise be seeing patients.

The WHA is also calling to leverage technology, using computers to automate processes such as scheduling and registration.

The opportunity to work with the WHA and other hospitals that participated in the report, Flisram said, will help shape, improve and enhance the workforce.

We will continue to partner to learn and share ideas, said Flisram. This benefits everyone.

6 changes that will help you stay healthy as you age 1. Embrace avocados. 2. Opt for plant protein several times a week. 3. Make nuts a go-to snack. 4. Incorporate veggies into every meal. 5. Enjoy berries as a daily staple. 6. Go ahead, enjoy some dark chocolate!
Alicia Elliott is a Native American Tuscarora author whose work A Mind Spread Out on the Ground tells the true story of depression, race, sexual assault and poverty in her family and her Indigenous community.

The title is a rough translation of the Mohawk word for depression. Elliott is a voice spreading the reality of crime against indigenous people in Canada, such as the brutal assault of Chief Allan Adam and his wife by Canadian Mounted Police over an expired license tag. The attack raged on while onlookers begged the police to stop, and the brutality was caught on a dashcam.

Elliots own childhood was filled with abuse and murder; her grandfather and uncle were both murdered by white men. Since 2019, Elliott has been writing about a report that was published by Canadas National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Completed by over 4,000 researchers, contributors and witnesses, the report detailed the ongoing genocide in Canada of Indigenous people. Since 1980, between 1,200 and 4,000 women, girls and LGBTQIA+ people have gone missing or were murdered.

Elliott has stood up against many Canadians who protest the use of the word genocide, writing in a Washington Post article that under definitions by the United Nations and the Canadian government itself, what is happening to Indigenous women and children is, in fact, genocide. Elliott further countered critics by stating the fact that, at the time of writing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus administration had already received seven noncompliance orders from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

Elliotts work and writing, while experiencing her own depression, is providing an essential voice for the current state of women and girls in Canada: They are being murdered at a rate 3-12 times higher than non-Indigenous people.
WASHINGTON  Heres a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

Along with the weeks roll call votes, the House also passed the following measure by voice vote: the Undersea Cable Control Act (H.R. 1189), to require the development of a strategy for eliminating the availability to foreign adversaries of products and technologies for deploying undersea telecommunications cables.

The Senate also passed the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act (S. 777), to increase, effective December 1, 2023, the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans.

HOUSE VOTES

House Vote 1

Parents and schools: The House has passed the Parents Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5), sponsored by Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., to make federal funding for local elementary and secondary schools contingent on them notifying a students parents of their rights regarding awareness and oversight of the schools policies, finances, and procedures. Letlow said: This bill aims to bring more transparency and accountability to education, allowing parents to be informed and, when they have questions and concerns, to lawfully bring them to their local school boards. An opponent, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., called the bill an educational gag order across the nation which will prevent students from learning and prevent teachers from teaching. The vote, on March 24, was 213 yeas to 208 nays.

Nays:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th)

Yeas:

Gallagher R-WI (8th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th), Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 2

Organ harvesting: The House has passed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (H.R. 1154), sponsored by Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., to direct the president to impose sanctions on foreigners who traffick in organs taken from people forcibly, and have the State Department revoke the passports of people convicted of forced organ trafficking crimes. Smith said Chinas annual taking of organs from tens of thousands of young adults, including for transplantation into senior Communist Party officials, showed no signs of abating, which is why we and the rest of the world need to step up and punish such cruelty. The vote, on March 27, was 413 yeas to 2 nays.

Yeas:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Gallagher R-WI (8th), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th)

Not voting:

Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 3

Status of China: The House has passed the PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act (H.R. 1107), sponsored by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., to direct the State Department to advocate that international organizations stop classifying China (PRC) as a developing country, which results in beneficial treatment by those organizations. Kim said: We cannot let the PRC continue exploiting countries in need and take unfair advantage of international treaties and organizations. The vote, on March 27, was unanimous with 415 yeas.

Yeas:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Gallagher R-WI (8th), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th)

Not voting:

Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 4

LNG exports: The House has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), to express the sense of Congress as criticizing the denial of permits for the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal that would have been built on the Oregon coast. Boebert said: A West Coast LNG export terminal would have shaved critical days and significant costs off exports to Asia, eliminated threats associated with hurricanes, and reduced our reliance on the Panama Canal, which causes significant uncertainty and delays. An opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said it would be wrong for Congress to judge the decision made by Oregons government to reject the permit applications for Jordan Cove. The vote, on March 29, was 221 yeas to 208 nays.

Nays:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th)

Yeas:

Gallagher R-WI (8th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th), Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 5

Fossil fuel tax increases: The House has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), to express the sense of Congress as criticizing the tax increases on oil and natural gas proposed in President Bidens fiscal 2024 budget request. Hern said the increases will kill jobs, raise fuel prices, and leave America more dependent on foreign oil. An amendment opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said the oil and natural gas industry could weather the tax increases because in 2022 six of the industrys largest companies made $200 billion and spent billions to enrich their shareholders with stock buybacks and dividends, all while gouging American drivers at the pump. The vote, on March 29, was 228 yeas to 206 nays.

Nays:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th)

Yeas:

Gallagher R-WI (8th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th), Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 6

Natural gas stoves: The House has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Gary J. Palmer, R-Ala., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), to bar the Energy Department (DOE) from implementing regulations to block the sale of natural gas-fueled stoves to consumers. Palmer said such restrictions would increase cooking costs and be a direct attack on all natural gas use in the country and another example of the Biden administrations desire to control every decision we make. An opponent, Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., said: This amendment would bar DOE from finalizing any future efficiency standards for gas stoves, locking consumers into less efficient appliances that are certainly more costly to use. The vote, on March 29, was 251 yeas to 181 nays.

Nays:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th)

Yeas:

Gallagher R-WI (8th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th), Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 7

China purchases of farmland: The House has approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), that would bar Chinas Communist Party from buying American farmland or land used to generate renewable energy. Westerman said: Our countrys food security and energy independence are at stake, and we must take action to protect our critical resources. The vote, on March 30, was 407 yeas to 26 nays.

Yeas:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Gallagher R-WI (8th), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th), Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

House Vote 8

Energy policy: The House has passed the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., to make a variety of changes to federal energy policies. Changes include: faster regulatory reviews of energy development projects, barring the president from banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of wells, removing some restrictions on oil and natural gas imports and exports, and ending several federal programs subsidizing measures such as building energy efficiency improvements. Scalise said of the need for the bill: A lot of the infrastructure that we need to make this country grow is being held up right now from a lot of radical regulations on the left and outside groups that dont want American energy. A bill opponent, Rep. Katherine M. Clark, D-Mass., called it a move to triple down on allegiance to Big Oil, give away more federal land, invite more offshore drilling, unleash more pollution into our water and our air and our land, and leave the taxpayers footing the bill. The vote, on March 30, was 225 yeas to 204 nays.

Nays:

Pocan D-WI (2nd), Moore (WI) D-WI (4th)

Yeas:

Gallagher R-WI (8th), Grothman R-WI (6th), Steil R-WI (1st), Fitzgerald R-WI (5th), Tiffany R-WI (7th), Van Orden R-WI (3rd)

SENATE VOTES

Senate Vote 1

Pandemic response treaties: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to a bill (S. 316) that would have required Senate ratification before the U.S. joined any convention or agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Assembly, which is part of the World Health Organization. Johnson said Congress should no longer allow the administration to go ahead and negotiate agreements that can have a dramatic impact on our sovereignty and bypass the Senate entirely. An opponent, Sen. Timothy Kaine, D-Va., said the bill should remain focused on the Iraq war and not include extraneous matter such as would be introduced by the amendment. The vote, on March 28, was 47 yeas to 49 nays.

Yeas:

Johnson R-WI

Nays:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 2

Military action against Iran: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to a bill (S. 316) that would have stated that the president retains authority to use military force against Irans military and its actions against U.S. soldiers in the Middle East. Cruz said the amendment was needed because I dont want to give an excuse for the Biden administration, the next time Iran attacks, to do nothing in response. An opponent, Sen. Timothy Kaine, D-Va., said it would be a mistake to authorize escalating action against Iran via a briefly considered amendment to an unrelated bill. The vote, on March 28, was 41 yeas to 55 nays.

Yeas:

Johnson R-WI

Nays:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 3

Afghanistan investigation: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to a bill (S. 316) that would have established a Joint Select Committee on Afghanistan in Congress to make an investigation into the U.S. militarys withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer 2021. Scott said the select committee was the best way to have accountability for the mistakes that created Americas most stunning, unforced, and humiliating defeat in decades. An amendment opponent, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said the bill is not the right venue for establishing a committee of this nature. The vote, on March 28, was 33 yeas to 62 nays.

Yeas:

Johnson R-WI

Nays:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 4

Oversight of Ukraine aid: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to a bill (S. 316) that would have established an Office of the Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance, to be charged with overseeing the use of aid sent to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Hawley said having a single government watchdog handle oversight would help avoid repeating the billions of dollars of waste that occurred during the war in Afghanistan. An opponent, Sen. James E. Risch, R-Idaho, said there are already 64 ongoing or planned audits and reports on U.S. assistance to Ukraine, making the amendment unnecessary. The vote, on March 28, was 26 yeas to 68 nays.

Yeas:

Johnson R-WI

Nays:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 5

Iraq wars authorizations: The Senate has passed a bill (S. 316), sponsored by Sen. Timothy Kaine, D-Va., to repeal the 1991 and 2002 resolutions that authorized use of military force against Iraq. Kaine said the 2002 resolution in particular was rushed through the Senate without proper deliberation before embarking on a lengthy war. An opponent, Sen. James E. Risch, R-Idaho, said keeping the resolutions would enhance Congressional oversight of military actions against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The vote, on March 29, was 66 yeas to 30 nays.

Nays:

Johnson R-WI

Yeas:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 6

Regulating waterways: The Senate has passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 27), sponsored by Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., to disapprove of and void an Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency rule issued this January that defines Waters of the United States (WOTUS). Such waters would be subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act. A supporter, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said overturning the rule was needed to ensure agricultural producers and other stakeholders have the regulatory certainty to take care of our nations land and water resources, the lands and waters that we love. An opponent, Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., said of the WOTUS rule: This commonsense, science-based approach recognizes that pollution upstream can have downstream impacts, so we must protect the system to safeguard downstream communities and our environment. The vote, on March 29, was 53 yeas to 43 nays.

Yeas:

Johnson R-WI

Nays:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 7

Ending national COVID emergency: The House has passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 7), sponsored by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, R-Ariz., to end the national emergency in response to Covid that was declared by President Trump on March 13, 2020. A supporter, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said: It is time to end any and all authoritarian control and unilateral spending decisions without congressional consent. The vote, on March 29, was 68 yeas to 23 nays.

Yeas:

Johnson R-WI, Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 8

State Department official: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Richard Verma to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Verma, U.S. ambassador to India during the Obama administration, is currently Mastercards chief legal officer and head of global public policy. A supporter, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Vermas long public sector career, which includes service in the Air Force, the Senate, and the State Department, will help him be an effective leader who can advance the Departments modernization agenda. The vote, on March 30, was 67 yeas to 26 nays.

Nays:

Johnson R-WI

Yeas:

Baldwin D-WI

Senate Vote 9

Industrial base policy: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Laura Taylor-Kale to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. Taylor-Kale has been a senior official at the World Bank, an official in the second Obama administration, and most recently was a Council on Foreign Relations research fellow for innovation and economic competitiveness. The vote, on March 30, was 63 yeas to 27 nays.

Nays:

Johnson R-WI

Yeas: Baldwin D-WI
CHICAGO  The voting precinct could have been any one of hundreds throughout Chicago, except that these voters in the first round of the mayoral election were all wearing the same beige smocks. And the security at this polling place wasn't intended to keep disrupters and campaigners out, but the voters in.

When first-time voter Tykarri Skillon finished studying the list of nine candidates, looking for those who shared his priorities on jobs and affordable housing, he marked his ballot and then was escorted with other voters back to their cells in the Cook County Jail. "It feels good to have a voice," he said after casting his ballot during early voting.

The 25-year-old, awaiting trial on a weapons charge, is part of a group not always mentioned in discussions about voting disenfranchisement. People serving sentences for felony convictions lose their right to vote. Detainees awaiting trial or serving misdemeanor sentences do retain that right, but face barriers to exercising it in many parts of the United States.

The Cook County Jail, with more than 5,500 inmates and detainees, is one of several lockups where voting rights advocates worked with local election and jail officials to offer voting for those held there. The list includes jails in Denver; Harris County, Texas; Los Angeles County; and the District of Columbia.

The most recent survey from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, released last December, showed that 451,400 of the 636,300 people held in jails across the country had not been convicted and thus should retain their right to vote.

Voting rights for pretrial detainees and inmates serving sentences for misdemeanors were upheld in a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 1974, in a case from New York, O'Brien v. Skinner.

Despite that ruling, voting rights advocates say a "de facto disenfranchisement" exists because of mistakes over eligibility and the difficulties that detainees and prisoners face in registering or voting.

In a 2020 report, the Prison Policy Initiative focused on three main reasons: registration is difficult due to issues such as mail-in ballot deadlines and voter ID laws; detention does not meet the criteria for absentee voting in some jurisdictions; and the churn of the jail populations.

At least one state, Tennessee, had a bill introduced this year to address one of the barriers. Being in jail as a pretrial detainee is not one of the reasons considered valid for granting a mail ballot request, said Democratic state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, the bill's sponsor. Yabro, who recently announced he was running for mayor of Nashville, wants that changed.

In Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, about 75% of the nearly 10,000 people held in jail are pretrial. The sheriff's department established a polling place there in 2019, working with the county elections office, and allowed voting during the past two election cycles. Before that, detainees voted only by mail.

The move started in 2017 with the Houston Justice Coalition and an initiative known as Project Orange that helped register thousands of detainees and taught them how to navigate the mail ballot process, Nadia Hakim, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Elections Administration, said in an email.

However, someone booked after the mail ballot deadline would not be able to request a mail ballot, Hakim said. With the in-jail polling place, all detainees can vote, as well as members of the staff and public because machines are available in secure and public spaces. In last November's election, 528 people checked in to vote there, including detainees, employees and members of the public, she said.

In California, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Roel Garcia said staff members let pretrial detainees know they can register, vote and hold voter registration drives. Garcia said the department works with groups such as the League of Women Voters to get information to the detainees about candidates and issues on the ballot.

The department and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk teamed up on a pilot program since 2020 that allows voting in two jails. There are plans to expand it to all eight county jails in 2024.

Registrar Dean Logan said as many as 11,700 people could be eligible at a given time when the voting goes countywide and it could serve as a model for other counties.

A 2019 state law required jails to take steps to enable voting by detainees who have not been convicted. Smaller jails aren't required to have polling stations but must arrange for absentee ballots.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said the jail helps organize classes to instruct inmates and detainees on everything from the electoral process to the rationale behind judicial elections. Detainees are able to tune in to televised candidate debates.

"Their election IQ is off the charts," Dart said. "Participation level, turnout  is higher than it is outside."

The sheriff's office said about 1,500 inmates and detainees  roughly 27% of the jail's population  voted during the first round of the Chicago mayoral election.

The Chicago Board of Elections brought in several voting booths this year along with a large ballot-collection machine and put them in a section of the jail called "the chapel," normally used for religious services and small concerts.

With just a few guards, half a dozen board of elections staff managed the jail polling stations, first helping with registration.

Major civil rights moments in every state Major civil rights moments in every state Alabama: Rosa Parks takes a stand Alaska: A night at the movies transforms a culture Arizona: Arizonans refuse to show their papers Arkansas: Little Rock 9 go to school California: Immigrant farmworkers stand up Colorado: A cultural rainbow gets results Connecticut: Women get some privacy Delaware: A road to Brown v. Board is paved Florida: A sea change starts in a swimming pool Georgia: A King is born Hawaii: The struggle for Native rights continues Idaho: Idaho beats the country to the punch Illinois: Chicago takes on Northern racism Indiana: A state desegregates early Iowa: Iowa advances in 1868 Kansas: Plessy v. Ferguson meets its end Kentucky: Breonna Taylor becomes a martyr for the movement Louisiana: A little girl brings a burden to school Maine: Original Mainers get whats theirs Maryland: A suspicious death spotlights police violence Massachusetts: Integration arrives by bus Michigan: A white jury delivers justice Minnesota: A final breath triggers a revolution Mississippi: A boys murder galvanizes a movement Missouri: Ferguson erupts Montana: A woman goes to Washington Nebraska: A victim becomes an activist Nevada: A holiday validates a struggle New Hampshire: MLK gets his due New Jersey: A state provides a blueprint for the future New Mexico: Early Latino lawmakers blaze a trail New York: A community pushes back at Stonewall North Carolina: The volatile busing strategy is born North Dakota: The Sioux take a stand for water Ohio: A child dies in Cleveland Oklahoma: A child gets a burger Oregon: Portland protests ignite Pennsylvania: A pool party proves progress can be fleeting Rhode Island: Hard truths lead to real reform South Carolina: Tragedy spawns a new conversation about old symbols South Dakota: A government reconsiders holiday honors Tennessee: Integration begins in Clinton Texas: Juneteenth becomes official Utah: LDS church turns a page Vermont: Young Vermonters channel their outrage Virginia: Loving wins in Virginia Washington: Diversity finds a voice in Seattle West Virginia: A woman breaks barriers Wisconsin: Milwaukee risesand struggles Wyoming: Women get a vote and a voice
A driver was critically injured as the result of a two-vehicle accident that occurred about 11:26 a.m., March 31 in the Town of Richmond, according to a press release from the Walworth County Sheriffs Office.

The Walworth County Sheriffs 911 Communication Center received a report of a head-on collision between two vehicles on Walworth County Highway A near Johnson Road about 11:26 a.m., March 31.

Initial reports indicated that one of the vehicles was on fire.

Upon arrival, sheriffs deputies noticed a vehicle fully engulfed in flames. The driver was out of the vehicle and had sustained critical injuries, according to the press release.

Police said the driver was treated at the scene by Medix Ambulance and the Delavan Fire Department and was transported to a trauma center by Flight for Life.

The drivers name is being withheld pending family notification, according to the press release.

An initial investigation indicated that a vehicle traveling eastbound crossed the center line of Walworth County Highway A east of Johnson Road and struck the victims vehicle.

Police said the operator of that vehicle was cited for operating left of center causing great bodily harm.

The Walworth County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Wisconsin State Patrol, City of Delavan Fire Department, Medix Ambulance, Mercy Hospital MDI and Walworth County Highway Department.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SATURDAY APRIL 1, 2023

Schiller Conference: Overthrowing The Empire of the Mind

March 31, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Why is the U.S./Britain Special Relationship, not American imperialism, the central strategic problem of our time? Consider this September 6, 1943 speech of Winston Churchill, given at Harvard University, a center of Anglo-Saxon racialism and Anglophilia from the late 19th century through the early 20th century. In that speech, Churchill advanced his Basic English project, a proposal to reduce the vocabulary from 15,000-30,000 words, to one between 850 and 2,000 words. Let us go forward in malice to none and good will to all.... The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. Why was Churchill using this speech, in the middle of the Second World War, to propose the evisceration of the English language, the language of Shakespeare, who would not have been possible were he to have been restricted?

Later, Churchill added:

Nothing will work soundly or for long without the united effort of the British and American peoples. If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail. I therefore preach continually the doctrine of the fraternal association of our two peoples, not for any purpose of gaining invidious material advantages for either of them, not for territorial aggrandisement or the vain pomp of earthly domination, but for the sake of service to mankind and for the honour that comes to those who faithfully serve great causes.

The Anglosphere, then in 1943, and now in 2023, is speaking the same languagethough barely, because many of its representative now squawk in a vocabulary of only 850 words, nominalisms like rules-based order, democracy, sanctions, etc., and it is tone-deaf. It can only communicate through threats. This is a Spartan/Roman slave-civilization, whose organizing principle is for war.

In contrast to Churchillian imperialism of the mind, Vladimir Putin, in his Decree No. 229, just issued by the President of the Russian Federation, March 31, 2023, called The Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, gave his view of the Russian nations relationship to the world:

The crisis of economic globalization is deepening. Current problems, including in the energy market and in the financial sector, are caused by degradation of many previous development models and instruments, irresponsible macroeconomic solutions (including uncontrolled emission and accumulation of unsecured debts), illegal unilateral restrictive measures and unfair competition. The abuse by certain states of their dominant position in some spheres intensifies the processes of fragmentation of the global economy and increases disparity in the development of states. New national and trans-border payment systems are becoming widespread, there is a growing interest in new international reserve currencies, and prerequisites for diversifying international economic cooperation mechanisms are being created.... 14. In response to unfriendly actions of the West, Russia intends to defend its right to existence and freedom of development using all means available. The Russian Federation will concentrate its creative energy on the geographic vectors of its foreign policy which have obvious prospects in terms of expanding mutually beneficial international cooperation. The majority of humanity is interested in having constructive relations with Russia and in strengthening Russias positions on the international scene as an influential global power making a decisive contribution to maintaining global security and ensuring peaceful development of states. This opens up a wide range of opportunities for the successful activity of the Russian Federation on the international scene....

Multipolarity, however, will not work, any more than unipolarity. An international community of principle of sovereign nation states that agree that humanity is fundamentally good, must prevail in the short term. At this point, only a vigorous emergency conference and intervention process, invoking not only the Nuremberg Trials of 1946-49, but also the Treaty of Westphalia of 1644-48, the Continental Congress of 1787-89, and the July 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, could avert the otherwise inevitable and unstoppable division of the world that will lead, despite the best of intentions, to thermonuclear war.

What actually happened to destroy Americas once-productive economy? The same thing that happened to the American Republic itself. Lyndon LaRouche observed that

The American system is dirigistic. The purpose for which new issues of currency are loaned is broadly restricted to public and private investmentsin, chiefly, basic infrastructure, agriculture, and industrywhose effect is to increase the productive powers of labor as a whole. In the British system, the ultimate objective is to increase revenues from the categories of ground rent, usury, and speculation in monopolistic control of prices of selected commodities. This latter is promoted at the expense of improvements in the production of newly created tangible wealth.

Which of these describes America today?

The same Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) who inspired Peter the Great to found the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1724, nearly 300 years ago, and was a central intellectual influence on Ben Franklin, is the true intellectual author of the Life Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness principle contained in the American Declaration of Independencenot the pro-slavery Life, Liberty and Property formulation of the Royal Africa Companys John Locke. There is, in other words, a common intellectual heritage that links the United States and Russia, and an intellectual and revolutionary heritage that historically divides the United States from Great Britain. To reject that truth, is to reject the American Revolution itself.

Therefore, as startling as it may sound to some, it is only if the United States reverses its relationships with Great Britain and Russia, and returns to itself, embracing the true history of its 1776 Revolution, can the world, which has, of necessity, morally turned away from America, again see the United States as other than what it has nearly becomethe Empire that the United States itself once detested, and defeated. People from around the world with the vision to take up such tasks, in whatever nation they reside, are invited to join and organize hundreds, thousands, to attend the online two-day Schiller Institute Conference April 15-16, Without the Development of All Nations, There Can Be No Lasting Peace for the Planet.
For many years, skateboarding was considered an activity for young rebels or drug users in city streets, schoolgrounds and public parks.

Those days are long gone. Skateboarding, which has Indigenous roots connected to surfing, is now an Olympic sport. There are many skateboarding competitions held across the United States and other countries.

Recently, skateboarding was honored with a special recognition: a postage stamp.

The U.S. Postal Service released the stamps at a skate park in Phoenix, Arizona. Four Indigneous artist-skateboarders created the skateboards pictured on the postage.

William Zollars, a member of the USPS Board of Governors, officiated at the event.

As an American institution older than our country itself, the Postal Service is always looking for ways to highlight and honor the stories and histories that are unique to the United States, Zollars said. We are honored to do that again through these Art of the Skateboard Forever stamps.

Di'Orr Greenwood is one of the artists. The 27-year-old was born and raised on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. She said as a child she was always getting pushed out of areas where she would skate. She noted the sport has come a long way.

Now it's like being accepted on a global scale," Greenwood said. "There's so many skateboarders I know that are extremely proud of it."

The new stamps calls attention to the popularity of skateboarding, especially in Indian Country where the demand for skate parks is growing.

The artists see the stamp as a useable art piece that will be seen across the United States and around the world.

For her skateboard stamp, artist Crystal Worl honored her clan and her love of the water. A Sockeye salmon fish is represented against a blue and indigo background.

"There are certain designs, patterns and stories that belong to certain clans and you have to have permission even as an Indigenous person to share certain stories or designs, Worl said.

The other artists who created stamps are William James Taylor Jr., an artist from Virginia, and Federico "MasPaz" Frum, a Colombian-born muralist in Washington, D.C.

The USPS will print 18 million of the stamps. For the artists, being part of a project that feels low-tech in this age of social media is energizing.

Maybe I'll get a letter in the mail that someone sent me with my stamp on it, said the 35-year-old Worl, who lives in Juneau, Alaska. I think thats when it will really hit home with the excitement of that.

Im Caty Weaver.

The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted the report for VOA Learning English.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

Indigenous  n. of or relating to the earliest known inhabitants of a place and especially of a place that was colonized by a now-dominant group

surfing  n. the sport of riding ocean waves, especially on a surfboard

institution  n. a significant practice, relationship, or organization in a society or culture

highlight  v. to center attention on

clan  n. a group of people tracing descent from a common ancestor

unique  adj. being without a like or equal

pattern  n. an artistic, musical, literary, or mechanical design or form

___________________________________________________________________

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VOA Learning English presents Americas Presidents.

Today we are talking about John Quincy Adams. Does his name sound familiar? John Quincy Adams, the sixth president, was the son of John Adams, the second president.

Like his father, Quincy Adams had a sharp mind and a difficult personality. And, like his father, Quincy Adams served only one four-year term in office.

But Quincy Adams went on to have many successful years working in a different job. He is the only former president (so far) to serve in the House of Representatives.

Great expectations

The parents of John Quincy Adams, John and Abigail, were strong patriots. Theirs was one of the founding families of America.

Abigail Adams especially raised her son to serve his country. She expected him to become president. She told him that, with his good education and training, if he did not serve in a high public office it would be his own fault.

Quincy Adams did not disappoint his mother. As a child, he learned to speak at least four languages and read Greek and Latin. He also studied Shakespeares plays.

At age 10, he traveled with his father to Europe. As a young man, he worked alongside John Adams in American diplomatic offices in Paris, Amsterdam and St. Petersburg.

Finally, Quincy Adams returned to his home in Boston in time to graduate from Harvard. He was working as a lawyer by the age of 23.

Stories confirm that Quincy Adams was a brilliant boy and young man. But he rarely compromised his ideas. His inability to work with other lawmakers and to consider public opinion were partly to blame for his difficult presidency.

Poor politician. Excellent diplomat

Quincy Adams may have been a poor politician, but he was an excellent diplomat. In the early part of his career, he served as the American ambassador to the Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Britain.

He helped lead the negotiations that ended the War of 1812.

And he served for eight years as secretary of state under James Monroe.

Some of that presidents accomplishments owe a lot to Quincy Adams. He helped negotiate the purchase of Florida from Spain.

And, he was of the people responsible for the Monroe Doctrine. It warned Europe not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere.

But Quincy Adams could be impatient, especially with lawmakers. Many of them, he believed, did not care much about the country and wanted to help only themselves.

Quincy Adams also avoided political battles. As secretary of state, he appointed people whom he thought were capable, even if they did not support his political party.

Similarly, when he became president, he tried to bring political opponents -- along with representatives of different parts of the country -- together in his cabinet.

His opponents, however, refused to serve.

And, although his cabinet included southerners, he did not really have the support of the South.

Presidency

Yet Quincy Adams talked about unity in his presidential inaugural speech. Adams said the Constitution and the representative democracy of the United States had proved a success. The nation was free and strong and stretched across the continent, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

He noted that political divisions had eased. So now, he said, it was time for the people to settle their differences and make a truly national government.

In his first message to Congress, President Adams described his ideas.

The chief purpose of the government, he said, was to improve the lives of the people it governed. To do this, he offered a national program of building roads and canals. He also proposed a national university and a national scientific center.

Adams said Congress should not be limited to making laws only to improve the nation's economic life. He said it should make laws to improve the arts and sciences, too.

But many people of the West and South did not believe that the Constitution gave the federal government the power to do all these things. They believed these powers belonged to the states.

Their representatives in Congress rejected the presidents proposals.

In addition, a new opposition party was trying to weaken support for Quincy Adams. They supported a general from Tennessee named Andrew Jackson.

Historian Harlow Giles Unger says John Quincy Adams was never able to meet the high expectations many people had for him.

His presidency was a complete failure, Unger told VOA. He was able to accomplish nothing.

Retirement  sort of

Quincy Adams lost the presidential election of 1828 in a landslide.

He refused to attend the inauguration of Andrew Jackson. He returned to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts depressed and worried about the country.

His wife, Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, believed they were returning to Massachusetts to stay. She was an American, but was born in England. Her mother was British. She was, at the time, the first foreign-born first lady.

John and Louisa had four children, but their only daughter had died as a baby. Their sons were grown by the time Quincy Adams retired from the presidency.

Soon he became restless.

Some neighbors asked if Quincy Adams would consider representing the district as a member of the U.S. Congress. He agreed  but only if voters would let him act as he believed was right, instead of as what would be politically popular.

Apparently they agreed, too, because voters elected Quincy Adams to the House of Representatives nine times.

In Congress, Quincy Adams often fought for citizens individual liberty. He strongly opposed slavery. His ideas were not widely popular at the time, especially among other lawmakers. They had created a rule that said Congress would not even consider any measures against slavery.

Yet Quincy Adams defended the rights of enslaved people -- frequently, and sometimes successfully.

He died at the age of 88, a few days after suffering a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives.

At the time, lawmakers were considering a proposal. And, as usual, John Quincy Adams was loudly voting no.

Im Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Quiz - America's Presidents: John Quincy Adams Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

patriot - n. a person who loves and strongly supports or fights for his or her country

fault - n. responsibility for a problem, mistake or bad situation

disappoint - v. to make someone unhappy by not being as good as expected or by not doing something that was hoped for or expected

graduate - v. to earn a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

accomplishment - n. the successful completion of something

landslide - n. an election in which the winner gets a much greater number of votes than the loser
Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about as well as.

Question:

Hi VOA Learning English,

My name is Neethu, and I am from India. I have been learning English using your programs for several years. My question is: What is the correct meaning of as well as and please explain the usage in sentences.

Thank you,

Neethu

Answer

This is an interesting question, Neethu!

That little group of words operates in an unusual way sometimes.

As an adverb, as well means also, in addition or too. We often place as well at the end of our sentences.

Thank you for meeting me today and for helping me with my errands as well.

We can also add as to form the phrase as well as. This means in addition to and normally serves as a conjunction.

She studied business in college as well as art history.

And combines two nouns, expressions, or sentences, usually of the same importance. However, a speaker using the phrase might be bringing additional attention to the noun that comes before as well as.

On their trip to Europe, they went to Prague as well as smaller cities in Czechia.

Be careful when using as well as with the subject of a sentence. In this case, the phrase does not act like a normal conjunction. When we use as well as to form the subject of a sentence, English usage calls for us to pay attention to subject-verb agreement.

Normally, if a subject is singular, we use a singular verb. If the subject is plural, then we use the plural form of the verb. But, in many cases, having as well as after the subject does not make the subject plural.

My cat, as well as my dogs, plays outside in the yard every day.

If you want to include the noun my dogs in the subject, use and. Then the subject will be plural.

My cat and my dogs play outside in the yard every day.

The reason English speakers do this is complex and requires more explanation than we can provide here. Just remember that the as well as phrase is not included in the subject. Use the normal subject-verb agreement rules for the subject of the sentence.

Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Neethu!

What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com

And thats Ask a Teacher.

Im Faith Pirlo.

Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

errands  n. a short journey that you take to do or get something

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An Australian company has made lab-grown meat using genetic information from a wooly mammoth, an extinct animal.

The company launched the creation in a science museum in the Netherlands. It came just days before April 1, known as April Fools Day.

This is not an April Fools' joke, said Tim Noakesmith, founder of the Australian company Vow. This is a real innovation.

The lab-grown meat, also called cultivated or cell-based meat, is made from animal cells and grown in a lab. Animals do not need to be killed to produce them. Supporters of cultivated meat say it is better not just for the animals but also for the environment.

The company, Vow, combined genetic information from the mammoth and African elephants, the mammoths closest living relative. The information was then put into a sheep muscle cell. In the lab, the cells increased in number until there were enough to make a meatball.

More than 100 companies around the world are working on cultivated meat products.

Experts say that if the technology becomes more common, it could greatly reduce the environmental impacts of meat production in the future. Currently, billions of hectares of land are used for meat production worldwide.

Singapore is the only country so far to approve cultivated meat for humans to eat. Vow is hoping to sell its first product there  cultivated Japanese quail meat  later this year.

Vow does not plan to put the mammoth meatball into production. Instead, the company created it to bring attention and get people talking about the future of meat.

We wanted to get people excited about the future of food that there are things that are unique and better and we thought the mammoth would be a conversation starter, Noakesmith told The Associated Press.

Seren Kell is science and technology manager at Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that promotes plant- and cell-based food. Kell said companies usually use cells from farm animals and seafood to develop cultivated meat. She noted that lab-grown meat can help reduce emissions from animal agriculture and satisfy worldwide demand for meat.

The large meatball shown in the Netherlands was only for show and not to be eaten. However, the meatball was cooked, and people could smell it. Noakesmith said people who were there said it smelled like another cultivated product the company had produced, which was crocodile.

He added that it is fascinating to think about smelling something from an animal that has been extinct for thousands of years.

Im Andrew Smith.

Mike Corder wrote this story for The Associated Press. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

extinct -adj. referring to a plant or animal that no longer exists

innovation -n. a new thing such as an invention, or a new way of doing something

cultivated -adj. grown and produced under human care and control

unique -adj. the only one of its kind; unusual and special

promote -v. to help something develop or happen

emissions - n. (pl.) things that are released into the environment such as gases or (sometimes) radiation

fascinating -adj. very interesting

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A new estimate suggests India would need to spend about $900 billion to transition from coal to cleaner forms of energy.

The estimate was recently released by the New Delhi-based environmental policy group iFOREST.

iFOREST produced two reports that attempted to predict how much money it would take for India to move away from coal and other high-polluting fuels. The effort took into account the amount of money required to create new industry jobs for people employed at centers using coal and other fossil fuels.

Climate and energy experts have long sought to study ways to limit the economic harms of transitioning to cleaner energy fuels. Such considerations have been called just transition.

iFOREST head Chandra Bhushan told The Associated Press that just transition should be seen as a chance for India to support green growth in the countrys fossil fuel dependent states and districts.

To get the $900 billion number, the group studied four coal districts in India and identified eight different cost elements. These included things like equipment, buildings and training for workers to transition jobs.

The reports suggest the biggest single investment to permit a just transition will be the cost of setting up clean energy infrastructure. That cost is estimated to be up to $472 billion by 2050. Getting workers new clean energy jobs will cost less than 10 percent of the total amount required, or about $9 billion.

iFOREST said $600 billion would come as investments in new industries and infrastructure. An additional $300 billion would come in the form of government assistance to support coal industry workers and affected communities.

Sandeep Pai is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington D.C.-based policy group. He told the AP he thinks such a transition effort would be huge for India. He said the change could affect up to 20 million energy workers. Reports like this are extremely important since the just transition conversation is beginning only now in India, Pai said. We need much more, he added.

Studies have shown that India releases a large amount of planet-warming gases. Only China, the United States and the European Union release more. India depends on coal for 75 percent of its electricity needs and for 55 percent of its overall energy needs.

Earlier this month, the Indian government issued emergency orders requiring coal plants to run at full levels through this summer to avoid any power outages. Official numbers show the countrys coal use is expected to be at its highest between 2035 and 2040.

In 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the country had set a goal to reach net zero emissions by 2070. Net zero is when a country removes as many emissions as it produces.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently urged nations around the world to speed up their net zero goals. He called on developing countries to make 2050 their target year.

The recent reports say that the Indian government should first aim to close its old and unprofitable mines and power centers. Over 200 of Indias more than 459 mines can be closed in this way.

The energy transition has to start with coal, said Jayant Sinha, an Indian lawmaker who represents the coal-rich area of Hazaribagh in the central state of Jharkhand.

Sinha added that the move to clean energy needs both money and support from the government and environmental groups. Both of this must happen together, he said for a successful transition.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

transition  n. a change from one kind of thing to another

fossil fuels  n. fuels such as coal, oil, or natural gas that are formed in the Earth from dead plants or animals

district  n. a part of a city or country

infrastructure  n. the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) needed for a country or area to operate

conversation  n. a talk bewteen two or more people, usually informal

emission  n. the act of sending out gas, heat, light, etc.

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Our story is called "The Diamond Lens. " It was written by Fitz-James O'Brien. Today we will hear the second and final part of the story. Here is Maurice Joyce with part two of "The Diamond Lens."

When I was a child, someone gave me a microscope. I spent hours looking through that microscope, exploring Nature's tiny secrets. As I grew up, I became more interested in my microscope than in people.

When I was twenty years old, my parents sent me to New York City to study medicine. I never went to any of my classes. Instead, I spent all my time, and a lot of my money, trying to build the perfect microscope. I wanted to make a powerful lens that would let me see even the smallest parts of life. But all my experiments failed.

Then one day, I met a young man, who lived in the apartment above mine. Jules Simon told me about a woman who could speak to the dead. When I visited Madame Vulpes, she let me speak to the spirit of the man who invented the microscope. The spirit of Anton Leeuwenhoek told me how to make a perfect lens from a diamond of one hundred forty carats.

But where could I find a diamond that big?

When I returned home, I went to Simon's apartment. He was surprised to see me and tried to hide a small object in his pocket. I wanted to discover what it was, so I brought two bottles of wine to his apartment. We began to drink. By the time we had finished the first bottle, Simon was very drunk.

"Simon, I know you have a secret. Why don't you tell me about it?" Something in my voice must have made him feel safe. He made me promise to keep his secret. Then he took a small box from his pocket. When he opened it, I saw a large diamond shaped like a rose. A pure white light seemed to come from deep inside the diamond.

Simon told me he had stolen the diamond from a man in South America. He said it weighed exactly one hundred forty carats.

Excitement shook my body. I could not believe my luck. On the same evening that the spirit of Leeuwenhoek tells me the secret of the perfect lens, I find the diamond I need to create it.

I decided to steal Simon's treasure.

I sat across the table from him as he drank another glass of wine. I knew I could not simply steal the diamond. Simon would call the police. There was only one way to get the diamond. I had to kill Simon.

Everything I needed to murder Simon was right there in his apartment. A bottle full of sleeping powder was on a table near his bed. A long thin knife lay on the table. Simon was so busy looking at his diamond that I was able to put the drug in his glass quite easily. He fell asleep in fifteen minutes.

I put his diamond in my pocket and carried Simon to the bed. I wanted to make the police think Simon had killed himself. I picked up Simon's long thin knife and stared down at him. I tried to imagine exactly how the knife would enter Simon's heart if he were holding the knife himself.

I pushed the knife deep into his heart. I heard a sound come from his throat, like the bursting of a large bubble. His body moved and his right hand grabbed the handle of the knife. He must have died immediately.

I washed our glasses and took the two wine bottles away with me. I left the lights on, closed the door and went back to my apartment.

Simon's death was not discovered until three o'clock the next day. One of the neighbors knocked at his door and when there was no answer, she called the police. They discovered Simon's body on the bed. The police questioned everyone. But they did not learn the truth. The police finally decided Jules Simon had killed himself, and soon everyone forgot about him. I had committed the perfect crime.

For three months after Simon's death, I worked day and night on my diamond lens. At last the lens was done. My hands shook as I put a drop of water on a piece of glass. Carefully, I added some oil to the water to prevent it from drying. I turned on a strong light under the glass and looked through the diamond lens.

For a moment, I saw nothing in that drop of water. And then I saw a pure white light. Carefully, I moved the lens of my microscope closer to the drop of water.

Slowly, the white light began to change. It began to form shapes. I could see clouds and wonderful trees and flowers. These plants were the most unusual colors: bright reds, greens, purples, as well as silver and gold. The branches of these trees moved slowly in a soft wind. Everywhere I looked, I could see fruits and flowers of a thousand different colors.

"How strange," I thought, "that this beautiful place has no animal life in it."

Then, I saw something moving slowly among the brightly-colored trees and bushes. The branches of a purple and silver bush were gently pushed aside. And, there, before my eye, stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen! She was perfect: pink skin, large blue eyes and long golden hair that fell over her shoulders to her knees.

She stepped away from the rainbow-colored trees. Like a flower floating on water, she drifted through the air. Watching her move was like listening to the sound of tiny bells ringing in the wind.

She went to the rainbow-colored trees and looked up at one of them. The tree moved one of its branches that was full of fruit. It lowered the branch to her, and she took one of the fruits. She turned it in her tiny hands and began to eat.

How I wished I had the power to enter that bright light and float with her through those beautiful forests.

Suddenly, I realized I had fallen in love with this tiny creature! I loved someone who would never love me back. Someone who is a prisoner in a drop of water. I ran out of the room, threw myself on my bed and cried until I fell asleep.

Day after day, I returned to my microscope to watch her. I never left my apartment. I rarely even ate or slept.

One day, as usual, I went to my microscope, ready to watch my love. She was there, but a terrible change had taken place. Her face had become thin, and she could hardly walk. The wonderful light in her golden hair and blue eyes was gone. At that moment, I would have given my soul to become as small as she and enter her world to help her.

What was causing her to be so sick? She seemed in great pain. I watched her for hours, helpless and alone with my breaking heart. She grew weaker and weaker. The forest also was changing. The trees were losing their wonderful colors.

Suddenly, I realized I had not looked at the drop of water for several days. I had looked into it with the microscope, but not at it. As soon as I looked at the glass under the microscope, I understood the horrible truth. I had forgotten to add more oil to the drop of water to stop it from drying. The drop of water had disappeared.

I rushed again to look through the lens. The rainbow forests were all gone.

My love lay in a spot of weak light. Her pink body was dried and wrinkled. Her eyes were black as dust. Slowly she disappeared forever.

I fainted and woke many hours later on pieces of my microscope. I had fallen on it when I fainted. My mind was as broken as the diamond lens. I crawled to my bed and withdrew from the world.

I finally got better, months later. But all my money was gone. People now say I am crazy. They call me "Linley, the mad scientist."

No one believes I spoke to the spirit of Leeuwenhoek. They laugh when I tell them how I killed Jules Simon and stole his diamond to make the perfect lens. They think I never saw that beautiful world in a drop of water.

But I know the truth of the diamond lens. And now, so do you.

You have just heard "The Diamond Lens" by Fitz-James O'Brien. It was adapted by Dona de Sanctis. Your storyteller was Maurice Joyce.

Now it's your turn to use the words in this story. Have you ever work on something so much that it harmed other parts of your life? What are you more interested in than anything else in the world? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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For Teachers

This lesson plan, based on the CALLA Approach, teaches the learning strategy, 'read between the lines' to help students understand the story.

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Quiz - The Diamond Lens by Fitz-James O'Brien (Part 2) Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

Anton Leeuwenhoek - a Dutch tradesman and scientist, best known for his work on the development and improvement of the microscope and also for his contribution towards the study of microbiology

carat - n. a unit for measuring the weight of jewels (such as diamonds) that is equal to 200 milligrams

drunk - adj. having drunk so much alcohol that normal actions (such as talking, thinking, and moving) become difficult to do

commit - v. to do (something that is illegal or harmful)

drop - n. a very small amount of liquid that falls in a rounded shape

wrinkle - n. a small line or fold that appears on your skin as you grow older  usually plural
A grand jury in New York State indicted Donald J. Trump Thursday night, making him the first former American president to be charged with a crime.

An indictment is a legal accusation that a person has done a crime. In this case, a grand jury in New York City voted to indict Trump after hearing evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorneys office. The evidence was related to reported wrongdoings during Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

The indictment comes as Trump faces other legal investigations while launching a third presidential campaign for 2024.

Trump denied any wrongdoing and called the investigations political witch hunts to damage his campaign.

The background

For several months, the grand jury heard evidence about Trump. The details of the charge or charges against him are unknown. However, the investigation has centered on a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels.

Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, was one of the witnesses before the grand jury. Cohen has said that he made the payment to Daniels to keep her from telling in public about a sexual relationship she said she had with Trump years earlier.

Cohen also said Trumps business called the Trump Organization repaid the money with Trumps knowledge and claimed them as legal expenses. Trump first denied knowing anything about the payment. After records of the payment came out, Trump described it as a simple private transaction.

Cohen also said he arranged for another woman, former adult magazine model Karen McDougal, to be paid $150,000, to suppress a story similar to Daniels.

Former National Enquirer newspaper publisher David Pecker was another witness before the grand jury. He had earlier said that payments were made to suppress stories that could hurt Trumps 2016 campaign.

In 2018, Cohen admitted guilt to several federal criminal charges, including campaign finance violations, and later served more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors said at the time that the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trumps campaign. They said Cohen had acted at Trumps direction.

Trump was also invited to appear before the New York City grand jury, but he chose not to.

What are the charges against Trump?

It is unclear what the charges are against Trump since the indictment has not been made public. But CNN reported on Thursday that the former president faced more than 30 charges related to business fraud.

Some legal experts have said they believe Trump could be charged with falsifying business records. Under New York States law, that can be a misdemeanor charge or a felony charge. A felony is more serious and carries a higher penalty.

To get a conviction on the felony charge, Manhattan prosecutors would have to prove that records were falsified to do or hide a second crime. It is not clear what prosecutors may declare as the second crime. One possibility is a violation of federal campaign finance law.

Reactions to the charges

Joe Tacopina is currently representing Trump. He said Trump did no crime and accused prosecutors of distorting laws for political reasons. He said Trump paid the money because the reports were going to be embarrassing to him regardless of the campaign.

Many members of Trumps Republican Party have come to his defense. But Democratic Party members are urging to let the legal system move ahead.

Nikki Haley, Trumps former ambassador to the United Nations, said of the indictment, This is more about revenge than it is justice. Haley has announced her candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.

Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, wrote on Twitter, The Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law. No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence.

What happens next?

In a statement, the Manhattan District Attorneys office said it has contacted Trump's lawyer to organize his surrender.

Trumps lawyer Tacopina told NBC News that the former president is likely to turn himself in on Tuesday.

As news of the indictment came out, Trump asked supporters to help with his legal defense.

"Please make a contribution  of truly any amount  to defend our movement from the never-ending witch hunts and WIN the WHITE HOUSE in 2024," said an email sent by the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.

The New York case is just one of many legal problems Trump is facing.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the treatment of top-secret government documents when Trump left the White House in 2021. Federal investigators are also looking into Trumps possible responsibility in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2020.

In Georgia, the Fulton County District Attorneys office has been investigating whether Trump and his allies illegally interfered in the 2020 election. A person who served in that grand jury said last month that the body had suggested indictments to several people which could include Trump.

I'm Anna Mateo. And I'm Gregory Stachel.

Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English based on reporting from VOA News, The Associated Press and Reuters.

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Words in This Story

arrange - v. to organize things in a particular order

prosecutor - n. government lawyer in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and tries to prove that the person is guilty

fraud - n. the crime of using dishonest methods to gain something

conviction - n. the act of proving that a person is guilty in a court of law

distort - v. to change something so that it is no long true or accurate

embarrassing - adj. feeling confused and foolish
The Webb Space Telescope has found no evidence of an atmosphere on one of the seven rocky, Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby star.

Scientists said Monday that could mean the other planets in that system also lack atmospheres. Some of the planets are believed to be the right distance from the star to support water and possibly life. Scientists call this area the habitable zone.

Sara Seager is a scientist with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was not part of the study but spoke to the Associated Press. She said in an email, This is not necessarily a bust for the other planets. And she added, But we will have to wait and see.

The planets orbit a star forming a system known as TRAPPIST-1 after the telescope that identified the planets. It is rare that seven planets about the size of our Earth would orbit the same star. Three of those planets are in the stars habitable zone.

TRAPPIST-1 is only 40 light-years away. A light year is the distance light travels in one year. That is relatively close to our own solar system and a reason why scientists are interested in it.

The NASA-led team reported little if any atmosphere exists on the innermost planet in the system. The results were published Monday in the journal Nature.

Thomas Greene of NASAs Ames Research Center is the lead researcher of the study. He said the lack of an atmosphere would mean no water and no protection from space radiation.

As for the other planets orbiting in the TRAPPIST-1 system, I would have been more optimistic about the others having atmospheres if this one had, Greene said in an email.

MITs Seager said that if rocky planets orbiting the kind of star in the TRAPPIST-1 system, a very cool red dwarf, do turn out to be a bust, we will have to wait for Earths around sun-like stars, which could be a long wait.

The TRAPPIST-1 systems innermost planet receives four times as much solar radiation as Earth gets from the sun. Greene noted that it is possible that extra energy is why there is no atmosphere. His team said temperatures there reached 230 degrees Celsius on the side of the planet that is always facing its star.

The Webb is the largest and most powerful space telescope. By using Webb, the American and French scientists were able to measure the change in brightness as the innermost planet moved beyond its star. They then could estimate how much infrared light was sent off from the planet.

The change in brightness was very small since TRAPPIST-1 is more than 1,000 times brighter than this planet. The European Space Agency said Webbs detection of this light is itself a very large step.

More observations are planned not only of this planet, but the others in the system.

Taylor Bell of the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute took part in the study. He said looking at the innermost planet in another kind of light could uncover an atmosphere much thinner than our own, although it seems unlikely it could survive.

Michael Gillon of the University of Liege in Belgium was part of the team that discovered the first three planets in 2016. He did not take part in the latest study. He said further research could still uncover an atmosphere even if it is not like Earths.

Gillon said scientists are entering new areas of research with rocky planets outside our solar system. Scientists' understanding of rocky planets is based on the four in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

Webb was launched in late 2021 to an observation point 1.6 million kilometers away. It has taken over for the Hubble Space Telescope, which has orbited Earth for more than 30 years.

In the past, Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescope searched the TRAPPIST-1 system for atmospheres but did not find any.

Julien de Wit of MIT was not involved in the study. But, he said, It is just the beginning, and what we can learn with the inner planets is going to be different from what we can learn from the other ones.

Im Gregory Stachel. And I'm Jill Robbins.

Marcia Dunn reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

bust  n. a complete failure

cosmic  adj. of or relating to the universe or outer space

optimistic  adj. having or showing hope for the future

detect  v. to discover or notice the presence of (something that is hidden or hard to see, hear, or taste)

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An Omaha-based engineering company has been selected to design the Memorial Stadium of the future.

The University of Nebraska chose HDR at the end of a competitive selection process to serve as architect/engineer for the renovation project, which could cost between $200 million and $500 million.

The Board of Regents will consider approving the contract at its April 7 board meeting. Regents will meet at the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

University leaders announced their plans to improve Memorial Stadium for Husker fans last year ahead of the 100th anniversary of the venue opening on the state's flagship campus.

And last fall, regents signed off on a plan to hire a third-party firm that will help shoulder the responsibility of fundraising, design and construction of the Memorial Stadium renovation.

The process selected by regents will allow the university to hire a "right hand" to oversee all facets of the project.

HDR won't serve in that capacity, an NU spokeswoman said, but will instead focus on developing concepts for what the end result might look like, plan construction, evaluate costs and eventually work alongside a construction manager.

According to a copy of the contract included with the regents' agenda, HDR will conduct conceptual planning and design during the first phase of the Memorial Stadium improvement project for a flat fee of $1.1 million.

The first phase will also involve an assessment of the existing facilities, including a study of space and the flow of foot and vehicle traffic inside the stadium's footprint, as well as determining the mechanical and electrical needs of the project.

Once the first phase is complete and a cost estimate is determined, the university would then pay HDR an amount equal to 8% of the total price to draw up schematics and begin working with contractors on a timeline for work to begin and be completed.

Both university administrators and regents have emphasized that no public tax dollars, tuition revenue or student fees will be used on the project.

The ultimate scope of changes to Memorial Stadium will rely upon how much the university can raise toward improving one of the already most visible areas of campus.

Other items regents will consider include:

* A $15.1 million budget for a renovation of Kimball Recital Hall at UNL. The project will use funds set aside by the Legislature for deferred maintenance projects.

* The elected Board of Regents will also honor the outgoing student regents: Emily Saadi of UNK, Jacob Drake of UNL, Nicole Kent of UNMC and Tori Sims of UNO.

Photos: In awe of Memorial Stadium 2013 1923 stadium 1950 stadium 1959 stadium Memorial Stadium 1965 1971 stadium 1991 stadium Stadium in 1994 1999 stadium 2005 stadium 2006 stadium 2008 Spring Game crowd Stadium crowd in April 2009 Memorial Stadium 2009 Red-White Spring Game, 4.16.2011 Aerial of stadium in 2012 Memorial Stadium aerial 2013 Red-White Spring Game, 4.11.15 Red-White Spring Game 2017 Husker fans, 11/24/17 Ohio State vs. Nebraska, 10/14/17 Red-White Spring Game, 4/21/18 2019 fireworks Guard flyover at stadium - 2019 2019 stadium
A 39-year-old man who was shot multiple times on Madison's Far West Side on Thursday morning died at the scene, and two people were arrested within hours of the shooting, Madison police said.

"A motive is unclear at this time; however, our investigation revealed that there was an ongoing conflict between the victim and the suspects," Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said Friday. The nature of the conflict was not yet known, he said.

Barnes said officers were dispatched to 7933 Tree Lane for a shooting in the parking lot about 10:45 a.m. Thursday, arriving within two minutes of the incident. A neighborhood resource officer normally assigned to the building happened to be off work that day, Barnes said, but the officer was still able to help provide video surveillance footage.

The site is the location of Heartland Housing of Chicago's $11.7 million apartment building aimed at providing permanent housing with support services for 45 of the city's neediest homeless families. Opened in June 2018, the facility represented the city's second big experiment with a "housing first" approach to homelessness, but it has also required much police attention, often involving nonresidents, and has been designated a chronic nuisance.

Barnes said he couldn't say why the shooting happened outside that particular building but said the location "was part of the motive" for the shooting. "It's going to take a little bit more work to say before we can say what the definitive 'why,' why the both of them got there yesterday," Barnes said.

Officers provided aid to the victim until paramedics arrived, but he was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene. His name had not been released.

The death is Madison's second homicide of 2023 and the first to involve a firearm.

Information gathered at the scene led to the identification of Jarvyous Davis and Charles Washington-White as suspects, and they were arrested within three hours of the shooting with the assistance of Sun Prairie police and the Dane County Sheriff's Office, Barnes said.

Washington-White, 30, who is booked into the Dane County Jail as Charles A. Washington, is tentatively charged with first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. Davis, 30, is tentatively charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and aiding a felon.

According to court records, Davis has an address in Sun Prairie and was already facing a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon for an incident in June in Stoughton, in which he is alleged to have taken a gun belonging to another person during a domestic abuse incident.

Court records from Waukesha County indicate Washington-White, with an address in Milwaukee, has had an active misdemeanor warrant pending against him since 2021. That warrant stems from a bail jumping charge filed in 2018 related to a 2017 charge of driving without a valid license, both of which are still pending. He also has a 2017 felony bail jumping conviction.

Madison police Capt. Dan Nale said a handgun believed to have been involved in the shooting has been recovered from a location near where Davis and Washington were arrested but is awaiting forensic testing.

Dead at the scene

At a news conference Thursday, which occurred after the man had been pronounced dead, Barnes said only that the victim had "very serious injuries."

On Friday, Barnes said he did not say a day earlier that the victim had died because he was leaving that determination to the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office, which he said had asked him not to release that information until its personnel had completed their work.

"I'm not qualified to deem the person deceased or a homicide," Barnes said. "That's what the medical examiner does, so we've been pretty consistent with that."

Barnes called the violence at the Tree Lane property "very, very concerning" and said police met with stakeholders there yesterday.

The property has seen a high volume of police calls since its opening. Police received 311 calls in the first eight months after it opened in 2018; 455 in 2019; 395 in 2020; 407 in 2021; 357 in 2022; and 91 in the first three months of 2023, records show.

I think many of us in the city have been working diligently to not let 7933 Tree Lane regress to where we were when it opened in 2018, said West District Capt. Kelly Beckett. Obviously, any time there is a homicide at any property, Tree Lane, included, its a step back in our problem-solving process.

Candidates respond

The shooting drew responses from Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and challenger Gloria Reyes, who square off in Tuesdays election.

"I want to thank MPD for their quick response to this tragic incident  the officers who rendered aid to the victim and the detective work that resulted in two individuals in custody, Rhodes-Conway said.

"The city is aware of issues at this property and there is a staff team in place working to address them, the mayor said. Our primary concern is the safety of the residents and the neighborhood."

Reyes, a consultant and former nonprofit executive, deputy mayor, Madison School Board president and city police officer, held a brief online press conference on Friday afternoon and warned that such incidents can be a sign of future events.

She noted that she had spent time at 7933 Tree Lane while deputy mayor under Paul Soglin to help quell the need for police attention and brought in multiple agencies and entities to try to provide a comprehensive response to problems at the site.

We were very successful, she said. We need a comprehensive approach. I feel like its just not happening now. We left too soon.

Beyond badges

Barnes said the challenge needs a response beyond law enforcement.

"This is not a problem you can arrest your way out of," he said. "It's a problem that's going to take the cooperation of everyone in the community. This is a problem that's going to take the landlords and owners to take some ownership of their property and who you're allowing on that property."

Overall, Barnes said, police have been "working extremely hard on gun violence."

"It's one of our strategic priorities, and I certainly think we're headed in the right direction," he said. "When there are conflicts going on, we need our community to be the cooler head if we're not there. We need you to call early, we need you to call often when you see these conflicts arise, because you just may be preventing a senseless tragedy like the one we saw yesterday, in broad daylight, in an area that's about 100 feet from a playground."

State Journal reporter Dean Mosiman contributed to this report.
From dancing robots to animation lessons, the Urban League of Greater Madison had an engaging day of learning in store for the youths who attended the sixth annual Game Design and Coding Day.

The event, open to middle and high school students, has traditionally taken place during the Madison School Districts spring break to provide a safe and educational space for local youths.

This is really cool, usually during spring break Im just reading a book, but now Im actually doing something, said participant Leon Warren. My mom told me about it and I was excited because I love coding.

Fridays Game Design and Coding Day was hosted at the Madison Youth Arts Center. The free event is part of the My Brothers Keeper initiative, a partnership between the city and the Urban League that provides opportunities for young men of color.

Both Ruben Anthony, president and CEO of the Urban League, and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway urged participants to consider pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

I think its really important to get young people engaged in the STEM fields and this is a fun way to do it, said Rhodes-Conway. It can be their path to higher education and a career. Two of my brothers are in coding and I want to encourage kids to do something they enjoy and that could also be a potential future for them.

I really enjoy helping students to realize opportunities that exist within a tech space. Tech doesnt necessarily have to be just coding in a vacuum, said Andrew Schilcher, director of middle school programming for the Urban League. Theres a whole spectrum of opportunities and helping students to see that full spectrum is a really cool thing.

Throughout the day, participants rotated through three workshops that focused on different components of coding and game design, led by Maydm, Badger Bots and the Bubbler at Madison Public Library. Maydm, a nonprofit that provides opportunities to underrepresented youths to pursue STEM fields through coding, led a workshop that taught attendees to program LEGO robots to do dance routines.

Badger Bots, a local nonprofit that provides STEM programming to youths, hosted a lesson on animation and avatars, while the Bubbler, the artistic hub of Madison Public Library, led a session on storytelling.

I like that its hands-on, participant Jamarion Odell said. Were drawing. Were putting stuff together. Were making things.

After running a Game Design and Coding day for multiple years, the impact that the event has had on participants each year is clear, Anthony pointed out.

We have repeat students that come back two or three times, Anthony said. Some of the kids will tell us that theyre interested in becoming a game designer. When we hear that, we know were making a difference.

One of those students who is interested in pursuing game design professionally is 12-year-old Leon Warren. In fact, he already has an idea of what his first game would look like.

I want to learn how to program a video game, Warren said. It would be a game where youre saving the world from pollution.

Ultimately, regardless of a students interest in pursuing a STEM-related career, the goal is that they all enjoy themselves in a safe and engaging learning environment.

Sometimes the kids dont have anywhere else to go during spring break, Anthony said. Its a day thats blended with science and technology but also fun.
Authorities say one person was killed and dozens were injured when the roof collapsed Friday night during a concert at an Illinois theater.

Belvidere Fire Department Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue at the time. He said first responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to grapple with downed power lines outside the theater.

Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as chaos, absolute chaos.

The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming from the theater at 7:48 p.m. It said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage.

A staffer working at Rockfords Saint Anthony Medical Center said they treated 12 patients, none of whom had died. The staffer said the victims were split among three hospitals.

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris wife told the Chicago Tribune late Friday that he remained at the scene of the Apollo Theater, 104 N. State St., where the roof collapsed. The city is approximately 70 miles northwest of Chicago.

Morris dropped everything to hustle over there when it happened.

Hes worried about the residents, said the mayors wife, who asked to not be named.

The establishment was formerly a movie theater, she said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his administration was closely watching the situation.

"Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can," he said in a social media post.

My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight.



Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can.



As we learn more, please follow the guidance of all local authorities.  Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) April 1, 2023

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, whose 11th Congressional District includes much of Belvidere, said he was monitoring the situation and headed back to Illinois.

The damage came as part of the monster storm system that tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes and threatening a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

Elsewhere in Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night.

At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area, authorities said. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris.

Tornadoes moved through parts of eastern Iowa, with sporadic damage to buildings. Images showed at least one flattened barn and some houses with roofing and siding ripped off.

In Oklahoma, wind gusts of up to 60 mph fueled fast-moving grass fires. People were urged to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City, and troopers shut down portions of Interstate 35.

The Chicago Tribune contributed.

Photos: Tornado collapses northern Illinois theater roof Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Illinois Severe Weather Severe Weather Severe Weather Severe Weather Severe Weather Severe Weather Severe Weather Severe Weather
After a person is arrested in Wisconsin for a misdemeanor or felony, judges are tasked with making the decision of whether to impose cash bail and how much. That decision is based on our state constitutions current provision that cash bail may be imposed only upon a finding that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the conditions are necessary to assure appearance in court.

In other words, cash bail cannot now be imposed based on concerns about the safety of an alleged victim or public safety in general.

Wisconsin voters will see referendum questions on Tuesdays ballot about bail reform. One of the questions asks whether the state constitution should be amended to allow judges to set cash bail based on a consideration of the totality of circumstances. This includes not just the risk of flight, but also the criminal history of the defendant and the risk posed by the defendant to public safety.

While we understand the appeal of this proposal, we oppose the referendum because there is a better and more effective approach to ensuring public safety during the pretrial period than the imposition of high cash bail.

When we ask people to define what bail is, the response we usually get is money. This is not true. The definition of bail is freedom, and criminal defendants can be identified in two categories by the criminal justice system:

Bailable, meaning they can be free during the pretrial period (but possibly with conditions placed on their freedom).

Not bailable, meaning they will be detained during the pendency of their case, with no opportunity for freedom until and unless they are not convicted of their alleged crime.

People detained because they are deemed not bailable is commonly known as preventive detention. In Wisconsin, our constitution holds that all persons, before conviction, shall be eligible for release under reasonable conditions. In other words, everyone charged with a crime here is bailable.

Though our statutes contain a procedure for preventive detention, it is so onerous for prosecutors that none have ever pursued this option, regardless of their political persuasion.

Pundits and politicians have been quick to point out when pretrial defendants in the community commit new crimes, especially violent ones. If only there had been cash bail, or if only bail had been higher, then this criminal would have been behind bars and not able to commit these crimes, they assert.

Indeed, proponents of the constitutional amendment make no secret of their hope that it will result in the setting of higher cash bail as a means to achieve preventive detention.

The problem with these concerns about crimes committed by people on pretrial release is they are the product of nothing more than perfect 20/20 hindsight. What if the person released on $1,000 cash bail and then committed a new crime had instead been held on $5,000 cash bail? Whos to say the pretrial defendant (or their family, friends or a social media campaign) would not have been able to raise the higher amount of bail?

In fact, weve seen a high-profile pretrial defendant in Wisconsin held on $2 million cash bail successfully raise that amount via a crowdfunding effort, thus gaining pretrial release. This simply goes to show that cash bail is a flawed tool to preventively detain people, if that is the actual goal.

We recognize a need for an amendment to the state constitution, but not this one.

A better constitutional amendment would be to simply remove that guarantee of eligibility for pretrial release. Without that, if a judge felt the risk of the defendant committing new crimes during the pretrial period was too high, they could simply order the defendant to be held without bail.

Some jurisdictions in the U.S. already have this sort of provision in place, including the federal criminal courts. Adopting this policy also results in another bail reform approach that has long enjoyed bipartisan support, and that is the elimination of cash bail altogether.

A judges bail decision will then be between a lower-risk, no-cash pretrial release (with perhaps some nonfinancial conditions, such as being supervised by an agency) or a higher-risk preventive detention (where it doesnt matter what financial resources are available to the defendant  they cannot buy their way out).

With this approach, we will have achieved two worthy goals: enhancing public safety and eliminating the socioeconomic inequity of the current cash bail system. Our Legislature should have advanced this superior approach. If this referendum fails, perhaps they will seize that opportunity.
Tuesdays election includes two binding constitutional amendments about bail. The first ballot question seeks to amend the type of harm a judge may consider when ordering non-monetary bail conditions to protect the community. The second ballot question seeks to expand criteria judges may consider when ordering cash bail.

A yes vote to the first ballot amendment modifies the harm judges may consider to protect the community from a defendant when imposing non-monetary bail conditions from serious bodily harm to serious harm. Deleting the word bodily expands community protection beyond physical harm to also include emotional harm, property damage and other harm.

A yes vote to the second ballot amendment broadens what judges may consider when ordering cash bail, which is currently limited only to assuring a defendants appearance in court. The amendments expanded cash bail criteria are:

The seriousness of the offense charged.

The previous criminal record of the accused.

The probability the accused will appear in court.

The need to protect the public from serious harm.

The prevention of intimidation of witnesses.

Many prosecutors and judges already consider the five criteria in the second ballot question for cash bail, believing they influence a defendants likelihood of appearing for court. But some judges will not consider those factors because they dont believe the Constitution allows it.

This causes cash bond to be applied differently among judges, with some criminals committing new crimes while on bond. A judge who fails to consider the additional criteria may order low cash bond or a signature bond in the new criminal case.

Supporting both ballot amendment questions will improve our bail system and ensure judges uniformly apply cash bail standards to protect us from dangerous criminals, thus making Wisconsin safer. Statutory protections for defendants also include allowing bond modification motions and a speedy trial. If a speedy trial demand is not met, the general remedy is to release the defendant from cash bail.

I ask that you join me in voting yes to both constitutional amendment questions. By doing so youll join the bipartisan Wisconsin District Attorneys Association and both candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in supporting these amendments.
Geographically closer to Malaysia than to Manila, the countrys farthest constituents are assured of better access to Philippine governments services, through the governance support programs being provided by the Bangsamoro Region to its component-local government units.

TOWN HALL FOR TURTLE ISLANDS. A P25-million municipal hall is fast taking shape on remote Turtle Islands in the Tawi-Tawi archipelago, set for completion this month under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

A P 25-million municipal hall building has been slated for completion in April in Turtle Islands, Tawi-Tawi by the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MILG-BARMM).

MILG Minister Naguib Sinarimbo said the municipal hall projects granted to a number of BARMMs 116 towns formed part of the 2021 Support to Local Moral Governance Fund of the Office of Chief Minister Ahod Al-Hadj Murad Ebrahim.

The same program, Sinarimbo said, also supports provision of barangay hall buildings to BARMM villages whose development had been stalled by armed conflict, initially, in Mindanao mainland.

Consisting of six small islandsT ganak, Baguan, Langaan, Boan, Lihiman, and the Great Bakungan Turtle Islands municipality is closer even to Malaysia than to Tawi-Tawis capital town of Bongao.

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BARMMs municipal hall buildings are designed to improve the services of the regions LGUs and ensure the presence of moral governance in the countrys farthest town within the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Sinarimbo said geographical isolation in terms of distance would not be a hindrance to BARMM government efforts to bring governance to the regions farthest LGU.

Despite its distance, we are also constructing a municipal hall for this farthest municipality to ensure that the people feel the presence of governance, Sinarimbo said.

We thank the local government unit of Turtle Islands led by Mayor Haji Faisal Jamalul for this partnership, he added.

Engineer Bob Sali, MILG-BARMMs construction division chief, said the town hall will not only serve as a help desk for the governments bureaucracy in implementing governing policies for the betterment of its constituents. It will also provide symbolic functions in the community.

It would serve as a venue for holding local government business, implementing the government services, and in the conduct of public related services and activities within the offices or in furnished council meeting rooms, Sali said.

Turtle Islands is a fifth-class municipality inhabited by a population of over 4,000 people, and is a protected area as a natural breeding ground for green sea turtles (pawikan).

Presidential Proclamation No .171 issued in 1999 declares Turtle Islands as a protected area pursuant to RA No. 7586, known as the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 and RA No. 9147, the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, both of which prohibit the collection of turtle eggs.

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Ople: Monumental crisis averted, 50,000 jobs saved

After getting an extension of the Philippines maritime education, the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is prepared with its plans and programs to efficiently address the six deficiencies identified by the European Commission in the countrys maritime and seafaring sector.

The Department of Transportation said that although the European Commission has yet to set a deadline for meeting the EU level standards, the countrys Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) would be closely coordinating to address these deficiencies.

According to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the European Commissions decision to continue recognizing the Philippines training and certification will directly benefit more than 50,000 Filipino seafarers.

The ECs Directorate General for Mobility and Transport on March 31 extended its recognition of Philippine-issued seafarers certificates, saying Manila has made serious efforts to address deficiencies in monitoring, supervision, and evaluation of training and assessment.

It had identified six areas of deficiencies in the maritime education, training and certification for seafarers of the Philippine government.

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These were in areas of monitoring, supervision and evaluation of training and assessment; examination and assessment of competence; program and course design and approval; availability and use of training facilities and simulators; on-board training; and issue, revalidation and registration of certificates and endorsements.

The DOTr said before they had been focusing on improving the training and the types of equipment in maritime schools in the country to improve the quality of their graduates.

DMW Secretary Susan Ople said the decision is a testimony to the leadership and political will of President Marcos in ensuring the countrys compliance with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for seafarers (STCW).

With this decision, a crisis of monumental proportions has just been averted, Ople said, adding that roughly 50,000 jobs of Filipino masters and officers aboard European vessels have been saved in light of the decision.

Ople thanked the EC for recognizing the significant efforts being made by the Marcos administration to comply with the requirements under the International Convention on STCW for seafarers.

We look forward to the start of technical cooperation between the Philippines and EC in professionalizing and further improving the skills of Filipino seafarers, she said.

President Marcos in December met with the European shipowners in Brussels, which led to the creation of the International Advisory Committee on Global Maritime Affairs (IACGMA) that now offers technical advice to the DMW on seafarers concerns.

The President also met with EU President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the EU-ASEAN Summit to discuss technical cooperation to improve the education, training, and certification system for Filipino seafarers.

The President has been consistent and relentless in taking up the cudgels for our Filipino seafarers, Ople said.

Meanwhile, two legislators on Saturday lauded the European Commissions decision.

Rep. Ron Salo of Kabayan and Marissa Magsino of OFW party-list said the decision comes as a relief for the thousands of Filipino seafarers directly working in EU-flagged vessels.

The decision of the European Commission is a testament to the competence and efficiency of our seafarers and the quality of training and education they have received. It also reflects the efforts of the Philippine government in ensuring compliance of the countrys maritime education and training with the standards set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Salo said.

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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:

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study from a Washington University researcher offers fresh insights into how the brain goes to great lengths to processes and remember everyday events.

Zachariah Reagh, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and co-author Charan Ranganath of the University of California, Davis, used functional MRI scanners to monitor the brains of subjects watching short videos of scenes that could have come from real life. These included men and women working on laptops in a cafe or shopping in a grocery store.

"They were very ordinary scenes," Reagh said. "No car chases or anything."

The research subjects then immediately described the scenes with as much detail as they could muster. The mundane snippets led to intriguing findings, including that different parts of the brain worked together to understand and remember a situation.

Networks in the front part of the temporal lobe, a region of the brain long known to play an important role in memory, focused on the subject regardless of their surroundings. But the posterior medial network, which involves the parietal lobe toward the back of the brain, paid more attention to the environment. Those networks then sent information to the hippocampus, Reagh explained, which combined the signals to create a cohesive scene.

Researchers had previously used very simple objects and scenariossuch as a picture of an apple on a beachto study the different building blocks of memories, Reagh said. But life isn't so simple, he said. "I wondered if anyone had done these types of studies with dynamic real-word situations and, shockingly, the answer was no."

The new study suggests that the brain makes mental sketches of people that can be transposed from one location to another, much like an animator can copy and paste a character into different scenes. "It may not seem intuitive that your brain can create a sketch of a family member that it moves from place to place, but it's very efficient," he said.

Some subjects could recall the scenes in the cafe and grocery store more completely and accurately than others. Reagh and Ranganath found that those with the clearest memories used the same neural patterns when recalling scenes that they used while watching the clips. "The more you can bring those patterns back online while describing an event, the better your overall memory," he said.

At this time, Reagh said, it's unclear why some people seem more adept than others at reproducing the thought patterns needed to access memory. But it's clear that many things can get in the way. "A lot can go wrong when you try to retrieve a memory," he said.

Even memories that seem crisp and vivid may not actually reflect reality. "I tell my students that your memory is not a video camera. It doesn't give you a perfect representation of what happened. Your brain is telling you a story," he said.

Reagh is one of the Washington University faculty members involved in the research cluster "The Storytelling Lab: Bridging Science, Technology, and Creativity," part of the Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures. Led by Jeff Zacks, chair of the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, with Ian Bogost and Colin Burnett, the Storytelling Lab explores the psychology and neurology of narratives.

In future, Reagh plans to study the brain activity and memory of people watching more complicated stories.

"The Storytelling Lab fits perfectly with the scientific questions that I find most exciting," Reagh said. "I want to understand how the brain creates and remembers narratives."

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

More information: Zachariah M. Reagh et al, Flexible reuse of cortico-hippocampal representations during encoding and recall of naturalistic events, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36805-5 Journal information: Nature Communications
Nestled on a 3.15-acre lot in the stunning Rugged Ridge neighborhood of Stevensville, Montana, this one-of-a-kind 1-story house is set to be built by the reputable Beauchamp Constructions LLC. The home boasts an impressive 3,921 square feet of living space, including five spacious bedrooms and four luxurious bathrooms. The house is designed with an open-concept floor plan, allowing for seamless transitions between the living room, dining room, and kitchen. As you step into the home, you are greeted by an inviting foyer that leads to a bright and airy living room with expansive windows that showcase the dramatic mountain views. The living room flows seamlessly into a gourmet kitchen, which features custom cabinetry, and a large island. For additional details text: elkridge to: 59559 or call Jeremy Williams @ 406-926-6767 or your Real Estate professional. (See Additional Remarks) The house is conveniently located close to the Bitterroot River fishing access, offering the perfect opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy Montana's renowned fishing and natural beauty. Additionally, the home's location provides easy access to Missoula, with a quick commute to the city's shopping, dining, and cultural attractions. The spacious primary bedroom offers a relaxing retreat with a spa-like ensuite bathroom, complete with a soaking tub, separate shower, and dual vanities. The other four bedrooms offer ample space and each has an ensuite bathroom, providing privacy and convenience for family and guests. The house is designed to maximize indoor-outdoor living, with multiple doors leading to a covered outdoor patio area, perfect for entertaining or simply relaxing while enjoying the magnificent Montana scenery. The Beauchamp Constructions LLC team has paid close attention to detail in crafting this home, with high-end finishes and quality construction materials throughout. Overall, this stunning 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom house on Rugged Ridge is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a luxurious residence in one of Montana's most sought-after neighborhoods. With its dramatic mountain views, proximity to outdoor recreation, and quick commute to Missoula, this home offers an unparalleled Montana living experience.
The Old Post Hospital at Fort Missoula sits on the southern edge of Fort Missoula, its Mission Revival historic exterior hiding decades worth of peeling paint, broken fixtures and a few dead birds inside.

Developer Max Wolf wants to bring the early 20th-century building back to life with an application for a Historic Preservation Permit from the city that would also allow for commercial and residential development. Some Missoulians committed to the legacy of the Old Post Hospital oppose Wolfs designs.

We just think its an amazing place, said one opponent, David McEwen with the Save the Fort group. Theres no place for residential or commercial.

McEwen is supported by approximately 50 public commenters who have voiced opposition to the redevelopment effort. Their complaints center on maintaining the historic character of the building and surrounding grounds.

This is a bad idea, one commenter wrote on Engage Missoula, the city's online outreach forum. Putting homes there would ruin the area. How many times have Missoulians given money to Fort Missoula to help keep it special? If this goes through, it will all have been for nothing...

 Modern development will detract from the historic significance as well as be disrespectful of the lands Indigenous history and the history of those held at the internment camp at Fort Missoula, wrote another.

Wolf is proposing two commercial buildings, townhome-style dwelling units  some designated as workforce housing  and an event center, in addition to extensive rehabilitation work to spruce up the hospital facility.

His team  which worked on other rehabilitation efforts in Missoula like the Radio Central Building renovation  estimates cleanup of the hospital alone could cost millions of dollars and take about two years. Wolf would need support from the Historic Preservation Commission, then the Planning Board and then the Missoula City Council to move forward.

Were talking a lot of work, said David Gray with DVG Architecture and Planning.

Opponents of the plan are generally supportive of the much-needed rehab that would take place at the hospital, but they draw the line at the additional elements of the proposal.

Wolfs team, meanwhile, believes the comprehensive approach makes the massive refurbishment effort viable.

To be honest, these buildings dont get chance after chance after chance to be saved, Gray warned.

Gray argued that because the building is part of a historic district, but not on the historic registry by itself, its future could be in jeopardy. He said the old hospital is embroiled in a fight against time.

But McEwen and others with Save the Fort believe there is ample support for the building rehab among the community, without needing to incorporate additional development on the site.

Theres got to be another solution, he said. Its too soon to be putting houses out there.

To McEwen and his wife, Shirley Juhl, the priority should be recognizing the sites historic value as part of the Fort and the Japanese internment camp during World War II.

The developers feel they can maintain the historicity of the hospital while also meeting other pressing needs in the area, which include housing and commercial space for workers and guests of the Fort.

Its been a really thoughtful process, said Gray.

The Historic Preservation Commission will hear the proposal on Wednesday, April 5 at 6 p.m.
The U.S. Forest Service has told Montana Snowbowl that it must address an unsafe chairlift and develop a plan to improve substandard staff response to safety incidents at the ski area north of Missoula.

On Wednesday, the agency sent Snowbowl a notice of non-compliance with the special-use permit that allows it to operate on Lolo National Forest land, according to Missoula District Ranger Crystal Stonesifer. The notice cited deficiencies with the Snow Park chairlift uncovered when a regional ropeway engineer with the Forest Service monitored Snow Park lift operations on March 23. It also cited the failure of Snowbowl lift operators and ski patrol to properly respond to a safety incident on the lift.

The review and subsequent notice followed a March 19 incident in which a chair carrying a 4-year-old boy and his father swung into the first tower on the ride up. The chair seat-back broke off, dumping the child about 15 feet to the ground below. The father, Missoula resident Nathan McLeod, was left clinging to the vertical hanger pole that extends down from the haul cable. He had to jump off moments later.

Snowbowl staff confirmed that a lift operator did not immediately notify other operations staff of the incident. Ski patrol, which has a shack at the top of the lift, didn't respond to the incident until McLeod skied down to the base lodge and told Snowbowl owner Andy Morris what happened. Morris owns and operates the ski area with his father, Brad Morris.

Stonesifer said in an interview Friday that "They (Snowbowl) need to have compliance testing performed on the lift by an independent licensed engineer," and that "we are requesting that they provide a plan to improve their operational capacity and skills related to incident response so that they're in compliance with their annual operating plan."

The Forest Service gave Snowbowl 90 days to complete both tasks. The Forest Service had already ordered Snowbowl to shut down the Snow Park lift after the incident on March 19 and to keep it closed pending investigation.

Chairlift oversight

Chairlifts in the U.S. must adhere to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) B77.1 standards and are inspected before each winter season. But ski areas like Snowbowl that operate on Forest Service land don't have to submit their chairlift inspection reports to the Forest Service. Instead, the ski area simply submits a certificate confirming that a lift was inspected and that any problems were addressed.

The state of Montana used to oversee chairlift safety and operations at ski areas across the state in addition to the Forest Service  until the Legislature abolished the Montana Board of Passenger Tramway Safety in 1997. The Forest Service told legislators at the time that the state board's reports provided much greater insight into lift safety than the certificates from ski areas, which do not detail chairlift issues or how they were remedied.

Stonesifer said that, as of Friday, the Forest Service was specifically "responding to the incident related to the Snow Park lift on March 19. We, as the permit administrator, are continually ensuring that our permit holders are operating within the guidelines of their special-use permit. We are only looking into the Snow Park incident."

The March 19 incident wasn't the first safety concern with the Snow Park lift. When the lift was erected at Snowbowl, after being purchased used from Aspen-Snowmass, taller riders struck their heads on some of the "halo" devices on lift towers. Halos are metal guards intended to prevent a swinging chair from striking a tower. The lift was later modified to prevent people from hitting their heads.

Andrew Morris said Friday that the modification may have made it possible for the chair to strike the tower on March 19, but that upcoming assessment of the lift from an outside party could provide more insight.

"We don't design lifts, we're not in the business of designing lifts, you understand that, right?" he said. Asked to confirm that Snowbowl had installed and modified the Snow Park lift by itself, he said, "We installed that lift based on the designs and oversight of a qualified engineer, per the regulations, the applicable regulations.

"There's intense oversight over every step of the installation of a lift and the operation of a lift," he said. "There's intense oversight and we operate within those parameters."

Snowbowl did not publicly acknowledge the March 19 incident until 11 days later, on Thursday evening. The Morrises stated in a social media post on Snowbowl's Facebook and Instagram accounts, "We want to extend our sincerest apologies to the child and his family. We fully realize the impact this incident has had on them and the community. The safety of our customers is paramount to Snowbowl's management and staff, and we are committed to investigating the cause of this incident and making any required changes." The post came shortly after a Missoulian reporter left messages for Brad and Andy Morris requesting comment about how the Forest Service oversees chairlift safety.

The statement noted that Snow Park chairlift will remain closed pending inspection and a review of operating procedures and safety protocols. The statement did not mention the notice of non-compliance from the Forest Service, or that the Forest Service had ordered the lift inspection and review of operations. In an interview Friday, Andy Morris also did not mention that Snowbowl had received a non-compliance notice.

He said that, after the Forest Service contacted Snowbowl on March 19, "We agreed that we'd stop operating the lift. We immediately, the next day, scheduled a meeting with the engineer who designed the lift and the Forest Service for that Thursday." He said that "at the beginning of this week we decided that we'd get an outside engineer to come look as well."

According to Stonesifer, the Forest Service first learned of the March 19 incident from members of the public, not Snowbowl. Morris noted that the incident occurred on a Sunday afternoon and that the Forest Service had already learned of the incident and contacted Snowbowl before the ski area could notify the Forest Service.

"When there's an incident like that, we contact the Forest Service as soon as possible," Morris said. "It was a Sunday evening. He (a Forest Service snow-ranger) called us that evening."

Disappointed in response

McLeod, who was in the incident with his child, took issue with the Morrises' social-media statement. Speaking to the Missoulian Friday, he expressed frustration that the Morrises hadn't contacted him after the incident.

"They start out saying something along the lines of, we hope everything's OK with the family," he said. "I would imagine if they're really, truly concerned with our well-being, they'd contact us. But they haven't. It doesn't feel great."

McLeod said he did get a call from Art Wear, the director of Snowbowl Ski Patrol, about a week ago  but only after McLeod had contacted National Ski Patrol about the March 19 incident response. Snowbowl's professional and volunteer patrols are affiliated with National Ski Patrol.

"He placed all blame on the ski lift operator," McLeod said of Wear's call. "I was pretty disappointed in his response."

McLeod said he asked why ski patrollers didn't respond when they saw the lift stop as the broken chair came through the upper lift terminal adjacent to the patrol shack on TV Mountain.

"He said they couldn't be bothered to pay attention every time the ski lift stopped," McLeod said, characterizing Wear's response as "clearly not taking their responsibility very seriously, and clearly placing blame on somebody who is obviously not a very well trained employee."

McLeod also criticized how the Morrises' statement characterized their response to the incident: "The way they wrote it made it sound like they were making the choice to keep the ski lift closed ... but that is untrue, that is the Forest Service making them do that. That is not their choice. It wasn't until the Forest Service told them to shut it down that they shut it down."

And he questioned the integrity of lift inspections and tests conducted at Snowbowl.

"They're saying that they're doing all this investigative work on the ski lift chair, and they have inspections done on annual frequency, they say," he said. "Well, if these inspections are being done, then why did this incident happen in the first place? That leads me to question whether inspections are being done in a way that's professional and up to standards.

"I'm not coming from a place of anger or vengeance," McLeod added. "I truly just want Snowbowl to be safe, but I also think that the best way to ensure this is to be fully transparent with the public."
Ser Anderson traveled throughout Montana to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility on Friday. The activist participated in multiple demonstrations affirming the rights of transgender, gender-nonconforming and Two-Spirit Montanans.

"We're human," Anderson said. "We're Montanans. We deserve to be here. We bring a lot to this state."

Likewise, Brittany Shipman traveled from Great Falls to join approximately 200 community members at the Trans Day of Visibility event in Missoula.

The elementary school teacher said the Great Falls environment isn't welcoming to diverse identities, and she wanted to show her children, 9-year-old Dean and 5-year-old Ryker, what a protest should look like.

Although the presence of a few counter-protesters was disappointing, Shipman reiterated her commitment to defending trans youth and adults.

"As teachers, we advocate for our students every day," she said. "Trans youth is no different."

Trans Day of Visibility started in 2010 as a celebration of transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Now, the leadership behind the Missoula event believes its crucial to highlight the presence of trans and gender-nonconforming people in Montana.

I think its as important as ever to show up and give them their space to voice their experiences and beliefs, said Kaylee Hinds with Missoula For Change.

Hinds pointed out rural states tend to get overlooked in LGBTQ+ dialogue, making members of the community in states like Montana feel left out, neglected and fearful. Gathering together in settings like the Missoula demonstration offers an antidote to that negative sentiment.

We just get written off a lot, she said. We just want to create a sense of unity and community.

Hinds stressed that showing solidarity helps people in the LGBTQ+ community feel less alienated.

You are not alone in this state, said Hinds.

In Missoula, especially, Hinds said the experience of LGBTQ+ community members is often more positive than in other areas of Montana. But given legislation proposed in the Legislature and across the country, Hinds emphasized there is justified fear among the community, especially from transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

A lot of the time when we are seeing anything about trans and gender-nonconforming people, it is in a very negative light, which can be very scary, she explained.

Hinds said bills like HB 359, which will ban Montana residents under the age of 18 from attending drag shows, create a very negative and dangerous view. That viewpoint pervades Montanas culture, Hinds added, making LGBTQ+ people feel aware of their vulnerability in Missoula and around the state.

Nonetheless, Hinds remains positive about the potential to make Montana a safe and welcoming place for all. She asked allies to show solidarity and listen to their trans and gender-nonconforming peers.

Its going to take a very unified front to make any real change, Hinds said. There are no gay rights without trans rights.

Photos:Transgender Day of Visibility Rally in Missoula
GREAT FALLS  Cascade Countys new clerk and recorder sought to reassure scores of residents Friday afternoon that her office will meet looming deadlines for several upcoming elections, but dozens of people voiced frustration with what they considered a lack of clarity.

Close to 200 people packed into a building at the county fairgrounds, following a venue change to accommodate the heightened community interest in the issue. By the time the meeting started, the crowd was standing-room only, packed along the sides and back of the Family Living Center.

Over the course of a 20-minute presentation, Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant told residents the upcoming election for Great Falls Public Schools would be held via absentee ballots and in-person polling. Ballots will go out April 17 as planned, and Election Day will be May 2. Ditto for other upcoming school elections the county supervises.

I also vote here, I put my ballot in a box just like everybody else does, Merchant told the crowd. And I also want fair, transparent and secure elections and I want to make sure my vote counts. And Im sure you all do too."

But during a lengthy question-and-answer session that followed Merchants presentation, many residents who took to the microphone expressed a lack of faith in Merchants ability to do the job. The school district had been planning a mail-ballot election, as is typical with trustee elections. The county had agreed to that arrangement last December.

But the series of typically mail-only elections for schools and other local jurisdictions was thrown into doubt two weeks ago, after Merchant indicated her office would be unable to move forward with them as originally planned.

Emails Merchant sent to Great Falls Public Schools and the Sun River Valley School District in March stated that the loss of a local mail services vendor created a situation that made mail-only elections not economically or administratively feasible. The elections would instead be held in-person at polling places, she wrote.

Cascade County's elections office had for years relied on a local company to help with mail-in and absentee ballots. The company announced in January it was closing, and on Friday Merchant said the backup company she had been working with had initially agreed to do it, but changed later determined it didn't have the capacity for the job. Advanced Litho Printing, the company Merchant named, didn't respond to previous requests for a response. An employee reached by phone Friday declined to comment.

For the past two weeks, Merchant's office stayed silent on how it would move forward without a mail services vendor, or whether an alternative had been found. She told residents Friday the plan now is to rely on in-house staff to print envelopes, sort mail and do the other jobs typically outsourced to a mail services company.

But a parade of irate county residents on Friday questioned whether an in-person election would be cheaper, particularly when more than 80% of voters are on the absentee ballot list, meaning theyll get a ballot in the mail either way.

How do you justify an increased cost to our taxpayers of $45,000 because you failed to plan and effectively perform your duties? asked Jasmine Taylor, prompting a round of applause from many in the audience.

That figure is a matter of debate, and Merchant questioned whether it would be more expensive to go her route. She didnt provide specifics related to costs of mailing or personnel for one type of election versus the other.

But Great Falls Public Schools superintendent Tom Moore, who also spoke during the meeting, said after the meeting that he estimates adding in-person voting to the mix could cost twice as much, depending on how many polling places are open. The district budgeted $42,000 for a mail-only trustee election, he said.

While the county clerk handles the elections process, its the district that pays for it. Moore asked who will have to pay the difference if added costs are due to mistakes and so forth in the process. Merchant said she didnt know.

Moore added that he felt the school district and the clerk and recorders office had over the years established a solid collaborative relationship.

That doesnt quite feel like that in this particular situation, he said.

Merchant also had some supporters in the room. Several took to the lectern to thank her for her work, noting that she just took office in January.

In less than two-and-a-half months, Im really appreciative of the timeline you gave us, of the challenges you had to conquer, Noel Johnson said, adding, Youve had a lot thrown at you.

The Great Falls Public Library, which is asking voters to approve a mill levy to avoid layoffs and a loss of operating hours, received a similar email. The library levy is scheduled for June 6, and Merchant repeated Friday that their election would also involve in-person polling. Two top officials from the public library indicated they were getting that confirmation for the first time, after unsuccessfully trying to communicate with Merchant's office.

Merchant, a Republican, narrowly defeated former Clerk and Recorder Rina Moore last November. Moore, who had served in the office for 16 years, is a Democrat.

Cascade Countys three commissioners are all fellow Republicans, but at least one of them said after the meeting that Merchants presentation had not alleviated his concerns. Commissioner Joe Briggs also said he continues to be interested in removing the power to administer elections from the clerk and recorders office, and instead making it an appointed position under the commissioners.

It has nothing to do with whos in office, it has to do with the office of having an elected official in charge of a department that runs elections, Briggs said in an interview after the meeting. Just inherently, that doesnt work.

Some of the states larger counties have moved in that similar direction, with appointed election administrators under the purview of the commissioners in Missoula and Yellowstone counties, for example. Briggs added that he has been advocating for the switch since before Merchant was elected.

Doing so would require at least one other commissioner signing off, however. Commission Chair Rae Grulkowski said after the meeting that she has full confidence in Merchant and believes the election administrator should be an elected position.

I think having that as an elected position keeps it in control of the people, she said. If you want to get rid of an elected person, you vote them out, and that is our right.

But the other commissioner, Jim Larson, said hes on the fence. He said hed resisted the proposal earlier, since Merchant had run specifically on her ability to oversee elections. But Larson said hed reconsider that position, depending on how this one goes.

Now were running into some other issues, and so Im watching that very, closely to see if these elections run smoothly, he said.
A nonprofit has reached an agreement to transform 3 miles of old rail line near Emigrant into a public trail. Staff hope the project will catalyze a larger initiative to build a 49-mile trail between Yellowstone National Park and Livingston.

Lucas Cain, Northern Rockies project manager at the Trust for Public Land, said a longtime ranching family in Paradise Valley agreed to sell a 23-acre stretch of land just north of Emigrant to the group for the purpose of constructing a public trail.

The long, linear parcel follows an old railroad bed up toward the Grey Owl Fishing Access Site. The Burlington Northern Railroad Company abandoned the line in the early 1980s, leaving the property in the hands of adjacent landowners, Cain said.

Before the project can move ahead, the Trust for Public Land has to secure the funds for the purchase, work through the required due diligence and acquire the property, all by the years end. At that point, staff can start to design the trail and its amenities.

Theres a possibility it could start as a gravel and natural surface trail and potentially move toward a paved trail in the future, depending on the success of other projects, Cain said. But that is all in the really early stages as we work to acquire the funds to make this a reality.

As Trust for Public Land works toward acquiring the property, Park County and the Rails-to Trails Conservancy are exploring options around developing a 49-mile trail that would connect Arch Park in Gardiner with the Old Yellowstone Trail North around Livingston.

Park County Director of Grants and Special Projects Kristen Galbraith said the Yellowstone Heritage Trail is undergoing a large-scale feasibility assessment, paid for by the Rails-to Trails Conservancy. Once its complete, the document will guide how the initiative moves ahead.

Officials have already made progress on the effort. Some seven years ago, the Montana Department of Transportation helped fund the construction of a pedestrian pathway that extends south from Livingston, along the U.S. Highway 89 corridor, for over 2 miles.

Then, in March 2021, Park County applied for Western Federal Lands Access Program funding  this time to improve access to areas served by Old Yellowstone Trail South, according to the engineering firm Sanderson Stewart.

In 2022, the program pledged to fund the project in full, so officials are exploring the next steps. Plans for a shared-use path between Arch Park in Gardiner and the Corwin Springs Bridge area are in their early stages, with work not likely to start until 2024, Galbraith said.

Additional Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars, secured as a result of the historic floods along the Yellowstone River in June 2022, are expected to go toward developing a trail segment within the Yankee Jim Canyon area, she said.

Efforts to develop the northern and southern reaches of the Yellowstone Heritage Trail have progressed, but the details around what will happen in the middle section, extending through Paradise Valley, are less clear.

The upcoming feasibility study will allow officials and area landowners to weigh different options for public trails between the Point of Rocks Fishing Access Site and the Highway 89 South Pedestrian Trail.

Staff at the Trust for Public Land hope their agreement to acquire land near Emigrant will help build momentum and community support for the Yellowstone Heritage Trail as a whole, according to Cain.

Trust for Public Land is really excited to be helping lead in this community effort, but it will take many community partners such as Park County, (the Park County Environmental Council) and others within the region to help make this a reality, he said.

There is wide regional interest in developing the Yellowstone Heritage Trail, but the project also fits neatly into a transcontinental rail to trail project, led by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. The organization has been working on the national initiative since it was founded in the 1980s.

The idea for the Great American Rail-Trail emerged through efforts to connect and keep public rights-of-way on old railroad corridors across the United States. Once complete, the public route will span 3,700 miles between Washington D.C. and Washington state.

Over the decades, as the national nonprofit worked to convert and connect railroad beds into public trails around the country, staff started to see a larger trail form, said Kevin Belle, the trails project manager. In 2019, the organization officially launched an initiative to fill in the rest of the gaps.

Approximately 2,500 miles of the trail have been established, and the route is 55% complete at this point, Belle said. Finished corridors are concentrated in the East and Midwest, but fewer sections have been built out in the Mountain West.

Were working with hundreds of partners around the country, and were learning how excited people are about this project. Weve gotten lots of buy-in from local officials and county planners, Belle said. They can see how this can be a big economic benefit.

Cain said that even though the Trust for Public Lands Paradise Valley acquisition is a standalone project, it would improve the quality of life for residents by providing safe, easy access to trail networks  something that people in the Gallatin Valley often take for granted.

This opportunity that Trust for Public Land is working on right now  its a long linear parcel that does connect to and through existing public lands, which are managed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Cain said.

People who are interested in supporting Trust for Public Lands efforts to acquire land for a public trail can reach out to Northern Rockies Director of Philanthropy Melissa Dulin at melissa.dulin@tpl.org, according to Cain.
" " Tyson Foods just joined a long list of major companies mandating COVID-19 vaccines for all of its employees. Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images)

It's been 18 months since the coronavirus reached the United States. Vaccines rolled out across the country in December 2020 and are proving to be highly effective at preventing infection and reducing death. Yet to date, less than 50 percent (49.26 percent) of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile new cases of COVID-19 are rising in all 50 states, especially in communities where vaccination rates are low. And nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are among the unvaccinated, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

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Some experts in the health care industry are now pushing for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, especially among health care workers.

The possibility  and legality  of a federal vaccine mandate remains questionable. But on July 29, 2021, President Joe Biden made it clear in a news conference that life was going to get a lot more inconvenient for those who refused to get the COVID-19 shot.

Biden said the federal government would be putting into place broad new measures to quell rising-yet-preventable virus-related deaths by requiring all federal workers prove they are vaccinated against the virus. Those who don't must abide by new rules that include mandatory masking, weekly testing (at least) and social distancing, to name a few. Biden later encouraged local and state governments to sweeten the pot by offering $100 incentives to those who voluntarily get inoculated.

The news was bookended by announcements from several major U.S. corporations and healthcare facilities, including Walmart, Google and Tyson Foods, that have taken matters into their own hands and issued mandates or incentive programs for employees to get vaccinated, or else risk losing their jobs.

So can a company require its employees be vaccinated? What are your options if you still choose not to get the shot? And, if vaccines can curb the rising COVID-19 death rate, why are people resisting them?

" " All military and civilian Department of Defense personnel will now be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Pentagon announced it is working on adding the vaccine to the list of required inoculations for service members after President Joe Biden requested it. Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Photo: Evan-Amos/Wikipedia Peeps marshmallow confection

Today is April Fools Day, so I thought I would use it as inspiration to be a bit goofy.

Perhaps that is in part due to spring weather being so topsy-turvy  snow in the morning and warm sun in the afternoon.

I dont know about you, but I feel a little bit of whimsy is the best way to weather the storm. So, forgive the lack of nutritional value in this weeks listings and take pleasure in the fact that you now have water cooler fodder for the week to come.

Did you know that a real seasonal spring food is Peeps? If you have never heard of Peeps, you may still be able to indulge if you check out the local grocery and confectionary stores. Many connoisseurs even prefer their Peeps a few days old.

You might think I am trying an early April Fools prank here, but honestly, this is no joke. (The companys founder, Sam Born, also invented the Born Sucker machine which revolutionized the lollipop industry but that is another story.)

Peeps are a traditional sweet made by a third-generation family-owned company called Just Born, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The company is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Peeps are just one of their confections, others include Mike and Ike candies and Hot Tamales.

Most commonly in the form of baby chicks, Peeps are now made in many shapes and colours. In the beginning, they were made by hand, taking 27 hours to produce. Bob Born, Sams son, came up with a mechanized process that reduced the time to only 6 minutes. He was known as the father of Peeps.

Peeps have a very loyal following, with some people taking their appreciation to quite imaginative heights. This is not just about consumption.

There are Peep pastimes such as Peep Jousts (arm your Peep with a toothpick under his wing for a lance, then put him in the microwave with another combatant and after placing your wagers on the winner, push the ON button. The winner is the one that expands enough to engulf his unwitting enemy.)

There is Peep art  patterns of the charming little fellows glued on canvas that sell for hundreds of dollars. With the array of colours and shapes available there are numerous permutations in design.

Simple indulgence in Peeps is ample goofiness however, and you neednt feel too bad eating them  they are only 32 calories each. And there is no need to worry350 million of them are made each year, so they are certainly not endangered.

If you are more of a purist, you could just stick to regular marshmallows as a treat. Did you know they have been around for 200 years and that originally the root of the marshmallow plant was what made them sticky and gooey?

Marshmallow root was also used to soothe sore throats. I dont know if you could attest to a marshmallow doing that, but it arguably does make you feel better when you eat one.

If you feel like attempting a batch of marshmallow from scratch, I can verify that this link to a great recipe has produced smiles at our house. All you need is ingredients and a powerful mixer.

If you like your marshmallow with a bit of chocolate, here is another option. You could cut these into bird shapes and make your own Peeps variation, if you like. This recipe is big enough to share, even if youre a gourmand like me.

Chocolate-Marshmallow Brownies

3/4 cup Callebaut dark chocolate (or other quality chocolate)

1 cup unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups white sugar

5 large eggs

Zest of 1 full orange, grated on a microplane using a fine grater) (optional, but very tasty)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups small Callebaut chocolate chunks

2 cups miniature marshmallows

Heat chocolate and butter in a pan slowly while stirring until melted. (This can also be done in a microwave at low heat. Be careful it does not burn.) Stir in sugar until it melts. Cool the mixture 10 to 15 minutes.

Add eggs and stir. Add flour, salt, orange zest if using, and vanilla. Stir well. Add chocolate chunk and marshmallows and stir until mixed.

Pour into your greased 13 by 9-inch pan.

Bake at 350 F for 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes so as not to burn the roof of your mouth when sampling.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
If you're one of the millions of Americans who have signed a noncompete agreement, you might assume that very few of these contracts are ever enforced. Companies would only go after the big fish, right? Nope.

"There are about 1,000 noncompete lawsuits a year and you'll find all sorts of workers that you'd never expect to be in the legal record," says Starr. A Wall Street Journal analysis found that noncompete lawsuits increased by 60 percent from 2002 to 2013.

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Consider the home health aide who was sued by his Pittsburgh-based agency when he tried to leave and work for a rival company. Or the famous case of the janitor who was sued by her billion-dollar employer, Cushman & Wakefield, when she tried to work for a rival cleaning business. (The company dropped the case after a public outcry).

As of right now, various types of noncompete agreements are enforceable in 47 states. Only California, North Dakota and Oklahoma have outlawed noncompetes for all workers. A handful of other states, like Maryland, have also banned noncompete agreements for low-wage workers. In Florida, however, you can still be held to a noncompete agreement even if you were fired from your job, Starr says.

The truth is that relatively few noncompete lawsuits ever go to court. The very existence of these noncompete agreements, and the broad language they use, is usually enough to intimidate workers, whether you are a janitor or a manager, from leaving for a better-paid job with the competition.

One such contract was signed by a clerk with a Philadelphia home health agency. The five-page contract prohibited the employee from working for any of its clients in a 35-mile (56-kilometer) radius within five years of leaving the job, and to pay the company's legal fees if the case went to court.

"How many of these workers have the wherewithal to fight a legal battle?" asks Starr, who says that workers who dare to leave for greener pastures will receive threatening letters from the company's lawyers. "Ninety percent of the time, these threatening letters tend to resolve the issue. What you see in the courts is a small, small sliver of what's actually going on."

Noncompete agreements are not only bad for the workers who sign them, argues Starr, but also for the entire U.S. labor market, including employers.

"Let's say that in a certain market sector, 50 percent of the workers are bound by a noncompete agreement," says Starr. "If you're a firm trying to fill a position, it's going to be really hard to hire an experienced worker, because everybody's bound by noncompete agreements."

The negative effects of noncompete agreements are even felt by workers who aren't bound by them. The mere existence of noncompete agreements "gums up" the labor market, Starr's research shows, driving down wages, slowing the hiring process, and making it less likely to receive a job offer.
" " Many more people are working from home these days; how does that affect their taxes? Alistair Berg/Getty Images

If your morning commute takes you from kitchen to couch, consider it a win. Maybe it took years to convince your employer that you'd make an ideal telecommuter. Now you are enjoying the fruits of your labor, a perfect blend of working at home and traveling to consult with clients in other states. Plus, you get to skip roadway hassles and dive straight into your workday. Or maybe you never planned to work from home, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the main office and turned everyone into remote workers, some permanently.

Then, tax time arrives. Suddenly, you're faced with paying taxes in your state of residence and the states in which you work. Or are you? The internet is full of questionable tax advice for people working in one state and living in another, including a few dubious suggestions that you're pretty sure could land you in hot water.

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To make matters more complicated, the rules and regulations covering personal income tax vary from state to state. If you commute across state lines to get the job done, it can have specific and surprising consequences on your personal income taxes. These 10 tax tips can help you navigate the way.
A man is locked up after deputies say he broke into a home before shooting and killing the homeowners dog last month.

Zachary Cowboy Aaron Roach, 57, of Morganton, was charged with felony possession of a firearm by a felon, first-degree burglary and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, as well as misdemeanor charges of communicating threats and cruelty to animals, according to a news release from the Burke County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies first were dispatched to a home on Settlemyre Road after an occupant of the home called 911 and reported Roach had broken into or entered the home without permission on March 23, the release said.

Witnesses on scene said Roach shot the homeowners dog several times when he entered the home, killing the dog, the release said. Witnesses also said Roach threatened the residents of the home.

Deputies took out warrants against Roach for first-degree burglary, communicating threats and cruelty to animals, the release said.

It was early Wednesday morning when deputies took Roach into custody after a traffic stop, the release said. Deputies found Roach in possession of cocaine, and served him with the warrants. He was jailed under a $23,500 secured bond, according to the release.

It wasnt long before Roach bonded out, and investigators with BCSOs criminal investigations and narcotics division pulled him over again, this time finding a pistol holster in the vehicle. While investigators had Roach pulled over, other deputies were serving a search warrant at his home on Butler Hill Road, the release said.

They ended up seizing 10 firearms during the search, with one of them appearing to be the pistol that was described by witnesses as the firearm used in the first-degree burglary, the release said.

Roach has multiple previous convictions of driving while license revoked, along with felony convictions of attempted possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and attempted possession of a firearm by a felon, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

He was arrested a second time and remains in custody at the Burke County Jail under a new bond of $50,0000 secured, the release said.

His next court date is set for April 20, according to court records.
A vehicle stop led to felony charges against a Lenoir woman early Thursday morning.

Stacey Lynn Erickson, 41, was charged with possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, simple possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance on prison or jail premises, according to a press release from the Morganton Department of Public Safety.

MDPS Sgt. J. Belanger saw a Ford Expedition leaving the back parking lot of Sossoman Funeral Home around 2:15 a.m. Thursday and pulled the vehicle over because of an increase in property crimes over the last few weeks, the release said. Erickson, the driver of the vehicle, had a suspended license and was charged with driving while license revoked, the release said.

She then consented to a search of the vehicle, leading officers to find 3.5 grams of a substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, scales, plastic bags and marijuana, the release said.

Erickson was taken into custody and transported to the Burke County Jail where another 15.5 grams of methamphetamine was found in her possession, the release said.

She has previous felony convictions of breaking and entering and credit card theft, along with misdemeanor convictions of driving while license revoked, possessing stolen goods and obstructing justice, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

Erickson was jailed under a $20,000 secured bond, the release said. Shes due back in court July 21, according to court records.
RALEIGH  The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, released the North Carolina School Behavioral Health Action Plan on Friday to address the urgent mental and behavioral health crisis facing youth through key investments in schools.

According to NCDHHS, schools play a critical role in supporting the health of students by providing convenient access to behavioral health supports for youth. This is particularly important in North Carolina, as more than half of its youth with mental health disorders do not currently receive necessary care and more than half of the states counties do not have a child psychiatrist.

Addressing the youth mental health crisis requires a commitment to meeting children where they are, said NCDHHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. Thats why we are investing in our schools, so our teachers and school staff have the tools they need to help prevent behavioral health crises through early intervention and prevention. It is one of the core strategies highlighted in Governor Coopers roadmap for a $1 billion investment in behavioral health and resilience.

In Burke County Public Schools, district leadership is still waiting to see exactly how the plan will impact local schools, but BCPS Superintendent Mike Swan said student mental health has been and will continue to be an area of focus for the district.

At Burke County Public Schools, we prioritize the health and wellbeing of our students, he said. We appreciate the state recognizing the needs and supporting schools, families and communities as we work together for the betterment of our students and their physical and emotional and wellbeing.

In addition to highlighting the critical funding needed to hire more school nurses and social workers throughout the state, the plan describes six investments in evidenced-based strategies and pilot programs to support the behavioral health of students. The strategies are designed to increase access to behavioral health supports, provide flexible resources to address local priorities and build partnerships with community providers to meet student needs.

The investments outlined in the plan include:

Increasing capacity of schools to identify and address behavioral health needs through student-focused prevention and support services.

Training school personnel to better recognize and respond to emerging behavioral health issues.

Establishing school-based telehealth pilot programs to expand behavioral health care access for approximately 10,000 students in high need and rural districts.

Flexible funding to local School Health Advisory Councils to support coalitions of parents, school staff and community members investing in behavioral health resources to meet local needs.

Connecting schools and families with behavioral health partners in their community.

Funding a new statewide electronic health record system to secure student health records and enable records to transfer when students move.

Swan said district leadership recognizes the important role schools play in student behavioral and mental health. He said schools across the county have already been implementing many of the strategies listed in the new state plan.

We realize that our faculty and staff members are often the first to realize when something may be off with a student, he said. Trainings, such as First Aid Mental Health, which we were doing even before COVID, have only enhanced our efforts to address student needs.
The screams of transgender Montanans and their allies filled the state Capitol for about a minute Friday as part of a demonstration in opposition to several pieces of legislation that either have passed or are working their way through the state Legislature.

The rally was held in conjunction with the International Transgender Day of Visibility. After speakers addressed the crowd, participants took part in a "die in" where they spent three minutes lying in the Rotunda first in silence, followed by chanting and then screaming that reverberated throughout the building, all to call attention to their concerns over bills they say are harmful to their community.

Earlier in the week, lawmakers received an email from an emergency room doctor in Bozeman who described a colleague's recent treatment of a trans minor who had attempted suicide, citing in part legislation debated in Helena as a factor.

Several who spoke Friday pointed to bills that would affect how transgender people live in Montana that have either passed the Legislature or appear poised to do so.

The last couple of months have been pretty rough. We have heard people in this building refuse to listen to trans, non-binary and Two-Spirit people when we tell them who we are and what we need. And we're pretty sick of that, said Izzy Milch, the senior advocacy manager for Forward Montana. Two-Spirit describes Native Americans who are part of the LGBTQ community.

Keegan Medrano, policy director for ACLU of Montana and Two-Spirit Montanan, also spoke to the crowd in the Rotunda.

We want to welcome everyone to what they call the People's House, which is currently being occupied by a body of legislators committed to using the government to intervene in private medical care decisions, to enable deadnaming and misgendering in our schools, and to ban drag shows, all within an environment of hostility, bigotry, misinformation and animus, Medrano said.

Deadnaming is the practice of referring to a transgender person who has changed their name by their previous name. There's a bill this session that would say deadnaming and not using a student's preferred pronouns is not unlawful in schools.

Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the first openly transgender Montana legislator and a Democrat from Missoula, also spoke at the rally.

"To the folks in this Legislature, who I work with every day, I want to say that your words of kindness to me ring hollow when your votes are to harm my community," Zephyr said.

Joshua Victor Charlo Crumley, a 21-year-old member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said during the rally that gender-affirming care was life-saving.

Starting hormones was my suicide prevention, Charlo Crumley said.

Senate Bill 99

The bills that would affect transgender Montanans have advanced this session with support coming from Republican sponsors and GOP votes in the House and Senate. Democrats and a handful of Republicans have opposed the slate of legislation.

Senate Bill 99, which is on its way to Republican Gov. Greg Gianfortes desk, is carried by Sen. John Fuller, a Whitefish Republican. It would prohibit gender-affirming medical care for minors in Montana. It would also penalize any doctors who provide the care with fines and license suspension. Additionally, it would not allow state property, facilities or buildings to be knowingly used to promote or advocate social transitioning and stop Medicaid from covering care.

Gianforte said in a press conference earlier this week he would give the bill careful consideration," but did not say how he would act on it.

There are many facets. It's extremely important to take the input of constituents and hear from all sides. We look at the fiscal impact of these bills and that analysis has not been completed by our office, Gianforte said of SB 99. I'll just wait to give a specific comment until we get all the information together.

Opponents to SB 99 have vowed litigation if the bill advances. It does not have a legal note attached to it, which is generated when theres a specific previous court case in Montana that would indicate a potential constitutional conflict.

If we had concerns about the constitutionality of any bill, that would weigh into our decision. But it's important that we hear the voice of Montanans on this. We've been hearing from people on all sides of this issue and ultimately, we'll make the best decision giving full consideration when we actually get the bill," Gianforte said.

On Thursday, an emergency medicine physician in Bozeman sent a letter to every state legislator and the governors office sharing the story of a suicidal teen who came into the hospital and was treated by a co-worker.

(The doctor) had asked the teen what their biggest stressors were, and at the top of the list the teen, who happened to be transgender, referenced the current legislative session and told my partner My state doesnt want me, the letter from Dr. Eric Lowe reads. Please consider that statement and let it sink in. This young teen is so distressed by the laws that you all have been discussing and passing, that they were driven to want to kill themselves.

Lowe said he found out about a similar case less than 12 hours later.

If you voted yes on SB 99, you contributed to driving this child to consider suicide, Lowe wrote. If you voted yes on HB 234, HB 303, HB 361, SB 458, HB 676 and any other discriminatory bill targeting transgender and/or LGBTQ Montanans you contributed to driving this child to want to kill themselves. Words matter, votes have consequences, and kids and teens are watching your actions."

The other bills cited include:

HB 234, to revise dissemination of obscene material to minors laws;

HB 303, to implement the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act that would allow doctors to deny care based on moral or ethical objections;

HB 361, to provide that use of a name and sex by a student is not discrimination, which would allow for misgendering and deadnaming trans kids;

SB 458, to define sex in Montana law as male and female only;

HB 676, to revise laws to clarify fundamental parental rights.

Senate Bill 458

Another bill advancing is Senate Bill 458, legislation that would define sex in state law as male and female. The bill is from Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, and would base definitions on sex organs and chromosomes. To be defined as a female, a person would have to produce eggs; to be defined as a male, they must produce sperm.

Glimm has said it's necessary to define the terms because he argued sex and gender are frequently and incorrectly conflated. In 2021 Glimm carried a bill that would have required gender-affirming surgery and a court petition to update the sex marker on a persons birth certificate, and he has frequently cited his frustration with a judges order temporarily blocking the law, an order he says confuses sex and gender.

Opponents say the bill legislates transgender Montanans out of existing state law. Democrats have raised concerns about what they worry will be funding lost if the state implements the bill.

Last week Democratic lawmakers received an expanded fiscal analysis of proposal. The deep-dive fiscal review came after an initial fiscal note produced by the governors Office of Budget and Program Planning showed state agencies reported they expected no costs from implementing the legislation. However, in the process of developing the note the state Department of Corrections provided feedback the bill could create a conflict between state and federal law over the definition of sex.

A document the agency generated said the bill could come at a significant cost" to the state.

The expanded review, done by the Legislature's fiscal division, found that "any, all, or none" of roughly $7.5 billion in federal money that comes to the state could be affected by SB 458. It would depend on how the legislation is implemented, the note continues.

At issue is the U.S. Supreme Court's Bostock order from 2020 that found sexual orientation and gender identity fall under classes protected by the federal Civil Rights Act.

The definitions of sex under the bill "may be an issue when considering gender identity," the note says. And while Bostock dealt with employment law, federal agencies under the Biden Administration have been directed to follow the guidance of the ruling more broadly. Federal contracts and law often require a state to follow non-discrimination laws to get federal money.

But that all hinges on how agencies under the governor would implement the law.

The supervision by the governor over the executive branch will dictate to what extent these definitions are applied and used for day-to-day operations, the note reads.

In a press conference last week, Democratic lawmakers said they worried the state could lose up to half of its budget in federal dollars.

Based on this fiscal note, we think we're risking half of our state budget on a step that they're taking to take rights away from a significant part of our population. We think it's  incredibly reckless  and should stop now, said Sen. Pat Flowers, a Democrat from Belgrade and minority leader in the Senate.

Flowers said Democrats are concerned how the administration wrote rules to implement Glimms Senate Bill 280 from last session that would require surgery and a court order to update a birth certificate, believing thats an indicator of how this sessions bill would be enacted.

We dont think its going to be moderate. We think its going to be extreme, Flowers said.

Senate Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, however, said it was important to understand the difference between potential effects of legislation versus whats a certain outcome.

Im not sure I put great weight on that analysis at this point, Fitzpatrick said earlier this week.

The bill is awaiting its first hearing in the House.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after six weeks of inpatient treatment for clinical depression, with plans to return to the Senate when the chamber resumes session in mid-April, his office said Friday.

In a statement, Fetterman's office said he is back home in Braddock, in western Pennsylvania, with his depression in remission, and gave details on his treatment  including that his depression was treated with medication and that he is wearing hearing aids for hearing loss.

It was the latest medical episode for the Democrat, who won last fall's most expensive Senate contest after suffering a stroke that he has said nearly killed him and from which he continues to recover.

Fetterman, who has a wife and three school-age children, said he is happy to be home.

Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs, said Fetterman said. I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life."

Fetterman, 53, will return to the Senate the week of April 17.

Doctors describe remission as when a patient responds to treatment so that they have returned to normal social function and they are indistinguishable from someone who has never had depression.

In an interview that will air on CBS Sunday Morning, Fetterman said the symptoms gathered strength after he won the November election.

The whole thing about depression," he said, "is that objectively you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost and thats exactly what happened and that was the start of a downward spiral.

He said he had stopped leaving my bed, Id stopped eating, I was dropping weight, Id stopped engaging in some of the most  things that I love in my life.

Fetterman checked into Walter Reed on Feb. 15 after weeks of what aides described as Fetterman being withdrawn and uninterested in eating, discussing work or the usual banter with staff.

At the time, Fetterman was barely a month into his service in Washington and still recovering from the aftereffects of the stroke he suffered last May when he went to Walter Reed on the advice of the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian P. Monahan.

Post-stroke depression is common and treatable through medication and talk therapy, doctors say.

Fettermans return will be welcome news for Democrats who have struggled to find votes for some nominations, in particular, without him in the Senate.

Fetterman's office also released details of his treatment under medical professionals led by Dr. David Williamson, a neuropsychiatrist.

When he was admitted, Fetterman had "severe symptoms of depression with low energy and motivation, minimal speech, poor sleep, slowed thinking, slowed movement, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, but no suicidal ideation," the statement attributed to Williamson said.

The symptoms had steadily worsened over the preceding eight weeks and Fetterman had stopped eating and drinking fluids. That caused low blood pressure, the statement said.

His depression, now resolved, may have been a barrier to engagement, it said.

Fetterman had the stroke last May as he was campaigning in a three-way Democratic primary race. He had surgery to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator to manage two heart conditions, atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy.

One of Fettermans main aftereffects from the stroke is auditory processing disorder, which can render someone unable to speak fluidly and quickly process spoken conversation into meaning. Fetterman uses devices in conversations, meetings and congressional hearings that transcribe spoken words in real time.

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter: @timelywriter
WASHINGTON  A celebrity and insatiable publicity hound long before he was president, Donald Trump has been photographed countless times. But never like this.

Now that a New York grand jury voted to indict him for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn actor, Trump will have to appear at district attorney headquarters in Manhattan to be booked, fingerprinted and get a mug shot taken. The former president, the first ever to be indicted, is expected to surrender to authorities early this week.

New York law discourages the release of mug shots in most cases, though they have leaked in the past. Less clear is whether Trump would seek to have the picture released himself, for political or other reasons. Within minutes of word of his indictment breaking, his 2024 presidential campaign was sending fundraising messages off the news.

Some Trump aides floated the idea of holding a post-booking press conference  a political trail blazed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry when he surrendered to authorities for his own mug shot in 2014.

Indeed, what is a moment of shame for many accused hasn't always been that for politicians. Some have offered large smiles  or at least defiant smirks. They've tried to frame the moment as a political boon, looking to boost their popularity with supporters who see them as being unfairly targeted.

Here's a look at how some notable politicians handled their own mug shots:

A smirk and a soft-serve cone

Clad in a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, Perry removed his then-signature black glasses  as mandated by county rules  and offered a smirking half smile in his 2014 mug shot.

The Republican faced abuse of power charges over a veto that prosecutors said he issued to settle political scores. But the governor did his best to convey that he considered the case a waste of time.

A group of cheering supporters gathered outside and, when he emerged, Perry told them, "We will prevail." He then went for vanilla ice cream at a nearby soft-serve joint in Austin, Texas, and tweeted a photo of himself and his lawyers hoisting their own cones under the caption, "And then, ice cream."

Noting the governor's posturing, the Democratic National Committee responded, "This may be a sideshow to Rick Perry but no amount of spin can cover up two felony charges."

Perry was looking to build momentum for a 2016 presidential run that ultimately fizzled in a matter of months  much like the case against him, which never went to trial.

Putting on a happy face

While he didn't mark the occasion with a press conference, another Texas Republican, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, also saw political opportunity in his mug shot.

Indicted in Houston in 2005 on accusations of money laundering, DeLay wore a dark suit with his gold House security pin still attached and offered such a wide and toothy mug shot grin that it looked like the resulting photo could have been affixed to a campaign poster. He was convicted, but the verdict was later overturned on appeal.

Also smiling broadly in his mug shot was 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Edwards, who wore a white shirt and blue tie in his 2011 mug shot, was charged with using almost $1 million in funds from his 2008 presidential campaign to help cover up an extramarital affair. He was acquitted of one charge, and the jury deadlocked on others.

The smile was less deliberate for former Attorney General John Mitchell, who offered a confused-looking half grin, wearing a shirt and tie but no jacket when he was booked in 1974.

Mitchell was eventually convicted of conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice related to the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. Once the nation's top law enforcement officer, Mitchell ultimately served 19 months in prison.

Somber shots

Not every politician sees criminal charges as a boost to their political future, though.

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in 2007 by a plainclothes police officer in a men's bathroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The officer said Craig tapped his foot and signaled under the stall that he wanted sex.

Craig looked exceedingly uncomfortable in his mug shot in a suit, a tie and an American flag lapel pin  offering a tight-lipped look and wearing glasses that threw back deep light reflections.

Though he later sought unsuccessfully to rescind his guilty plea and rebuffed calls from his own party to resign his Senate seat, Craig opted not to seek reelection in 2008.

Looking equally troubled was Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who wore a blue jogging suit, his famous black hair decidedly less poofy than usual, as he peered impassively into the camera shortly after federal agents showed up at about 6 a.m. to arrest him.

Serving his second term, Blagojevich was arrested in 2008 and accused of trying to sell the Senate seat that Barack Obama vacated when he won the White House. He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison  until Trump commuted his sentence in 2020.

Here's a look at how Trump's predecessors fared: Bill Clinton Ronald Reagan Richard Nixon Ulysses S. Grant Andrew Johnson
Milestone Cafe and home-delivered meals

Milestones Community Cafes are serving in-person lunches in most areas. Serving hours are from 11 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday. All meals are served on a contribution basis to people 60 years and older.

To find the Community Cafe nearest you, or to make a reservation, please call 855-410-6222.

For questions or concerns, please call Heather at 563-260-9921.

Milestones Area Agency on Aging is located at 117 W 3rd St. (ground floor of Clark House) in Muscatine. To inquire about home-delivered meals, call 855-410-6222.

The suggested donation for a meal is $5. Income and ability to contribute do not determine eligibility. Persons younger than 60 may attend; however, the charge is $10.85 per meal. Menus are available at milestonesaaa.org.

April 3-7

Monday: Roast turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans with onion, lemon bar, wheat roll.

Tuesday: Beef patty with cooked onions, mashed potatoes, baked spinach casserole, baked apples, garlic wheat roll.

Wednesday: Chicken pasta salad, corn salad, sliced cucumbers, seasonal fruit, whole grain crackers.

Thursday: Beef and noodles, mashed potatoes, chopped green salad, mandarin orange cake.

Friday: All nutrition centers in this menu area will be closed. Contact the local nutrition center for options.

The senior nutrition program is sponsored by Milestones Area Agency on Aging.
MUSCATINE  After agreeing to plead guilty to third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony, Jessica Rochelle Peters, 33, of Muscatine, was sentenced to a period not to exceed 10 years in prison.

According to court records, she also is required to pay a fine of $1,370. The court made no recommendation of when Peters should be released, leaving it up to the Department of Corrections to determine this based on Peters progress. She was transferred to the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville.

Peters also received a special sentenced committing her into the custody of the director of the Iowa Department of Corrections for the rest of her natural life. The sentence will commence upon completion of the prison term.

Peters was originally charged with second-degree sexual abuse and incest after being accused of sexually molesting an 8-year-old child and selling the video across state lines. Original charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and purchase or possession of the depiction of a minor in a sex act were dismissed at the request of the state so federal charges could be brought.

Henry Winchip, 76, of Valparaiso, Ind., was arrested for allegedly paying Peters for photos and video of the act. He faces charges of child exploitation and possession of child pornography. According to the Indiana filings on Aug. 12, 2021 the childs father told Muscatine police he believed Peters had been sexually exploiting the child. He reported Peters approached him with Winchips request for the video and the father had said he would not participate. He then found videos on the phone he shared with Peters. Text messages show Peters sent the videos and photos to Winchip in exchange for money on July 23.

Peters has denied the child is related to her.

According to court documents, the child said the videos were shot at an apartment and a hotel where they lived in Muscatine. The child told investigators their father forced them to do the videos and Peters "fake child molested" them. The child said their father would sometimes hold the phone to record the videos, and other times Peters would record the videos when they were alone.

Porter County Sheriff's Office in Indiana and the FBI served a search warrant on Winchip, who later told police he has known Peters for about 15 years, police said. Winchip was aware she was in police custody in Iowa and admitted to having paid her for sex videos for years, police said.
Photo: Kelowna Public Archives collection/The Camera Products Co. Vancouver 1915 The SS Sicamous approaching the Kelowna dock on Okanagan Lake in 1915. (Click to enlarge)

Photo: Terry Robertson A view of the current access ramp to the downtown marina and public boat dock in downtown Kelowna. Photo taken in summer 2019. (Click to enlarge)

The top photo shows the SS Sicamous coming into dock at Kelowna in 1915.

The dock was located downtown at the foot of Bernard Avenue. The bundles of piles set along the sides of the dock acted primarily as shock absorbers to protect the structure in the event of a rough or hard docking or when a vessel was tied up to the dock in stormy weather.

The Aquatic Centres on-shore buildings, and the adjoining covered grandstand, are clearly visible, but the large, in-lake swimming pool area associated with those structures is not obvious in the photo. The Aquatic Centre structures were built around 1909/10. They gave the public access to Olympic-sized facilities for competitive and recreational swimming and diving, for part of the year. They also enabled the presentation and observation of numerous aquatic events, including the Kelowna Regatta, which began in 1906.

Paper prints of the black and white photographic negatives were manually coloured at the time, probably in an effort to produce warmer, more appealing images, for reproduction and sale as picture postcards.

The modern photograph is actually a composite of two photos spliced together. The modern vista includes the access ramp to the Downtown Marina, located at the foot of Bernard Avenue in Kelowna. Also in the foreground are a few powerboats docked at the southeast corner of the marina.

In the immediate background one can see a number trees in the north end of City Park. In the distance, across the Okanagan Lake, the road leading to the western end of the Okanagan Lake bridge, is visible along with some residences on the eastern edge of Lakeview Heights. Beyond that, emerging from the blue summer haze is Mount Boucherie.

Support your local museums, archives and historical societies who are preserving the local history and heritage we all share. Email your comments and suggestion to Terry Robertson at [email protected].

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
WYNNE, Ark.  Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 21 people across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois, and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damage's scope.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included seven in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois, and three in nearby Sullivan, Indiana.

Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where the mayor said more than 2,000 buildings were in a tornado's path.

Stunned residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high school's roof shredded and its windows blown out.

Debris and memories of regular life lay scattered inside the damaged shells of homes and strewn on lawns: clothing, insulation, roofing paper, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

"I'm sad that my town has been hit so hard," said Heidi Jenkins, a salon owner. "Our school is gone, my church is gone. I'm sad for all the people who lost their homes."

Recovery was underway, with workers using chain saws to cut fallen trees and bulldozers moving material from shattered structures.

At least seven people died in Tennessee's McNairy County, east of Memphis along the Mississippi border, said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

"The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas," Leckner said, adding that though it appeared all people were accounted for, crews were going door to door to be sure.

In Belvidere, Illinois, some of the 260 people attending a heavy metal concert at the Apollo Theatre pulled a 50-year-old man from the rubble after part of the roof collapsed; he was dead when emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 other people were injured, including two with life-threatening injuries.

"They dragged someone out from the rubble, and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him), 'It's going to be OK.' I didn't really know much else what to do," concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

Crews worked Saturday to clean up around the Apollo, with forklifts pulling away loosely hanging bricks. Business owners picked up shards of glass and covered shattered windows.

Down the street from the Apollo stood a mural with an oversized black-and-white photograph of schoolchildren battling strong winds and rain after an especially violent tornado ravaged the rural town on April 21, 1967, killing 24.

In Crawford County, Illinois, three people were killed and eight others injured after a tornado hit around New Hebron, said Bill Burke, the county board chair.

That's not far from where three people were killed in Indiana's Sullivan County, about 95 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 "is essentially unrecognizable right now" and that several people were rescued from rubble overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said, and search-and-rescue teams combed damaged areas.

"Quite frankly, I'm really, really shocked there isn't more as far as human issues," he said, adding that recovery "is going to be a very long process."

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, authorities said. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said that 2,100 homes and businesses were in the tornado's path, but that no assessment had been done on how many were damaged.

The National Weather Service said the tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with wind speeds up to 165 mph and a path as long as 25 miles.

A suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabama's Madison County, said county official Mac McCutcheon. In northern Mississippi's Pontotoc County, officials confirmed one death and four injuries.

The storms struck just hours after President Joe Biden visited the Mississippi community of Rolling Fork, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa, and broke windows on cars and buildings northeast of Peoria, Illinois.

It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

"That's a quite active day," he said. "But that's not unprecedented."

Hundreds of thousands lost power because of the sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest, and left in its wake high winds. A threat of tornadoes and hail remained for the Northeast, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and New York.

More than 530,000 homes and businesses in the affected area lacked power at midday Saturday, over 200,000 of them in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.
WASHINGTON  The indictment against former President Donald Trump involving a 2016 hush money payment is raising concerns that it could undermine public confidence in what democracy experts view as far more important investigations.

Trump faces investigations related to his refusal to accept his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. That includes whether he pressured election officials to overturn the results, encouraged fake electors from battleground states and his role in the events that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, called the indictment last week from a New York grand jury "the appetizer to their main course still to come."

"That main course, literally, is democracy at stake and who we are as a nation," he said.

The New York investigation that led to Thursday's indictment involved payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels at the tail end of the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.

Larry Diamond, an expert on democracy and senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said he was nervous that the New York charges will "trigger all of the charges of politicization against him and misuse of the judiciary." It's a theme Trump has been emphasizing on social media and during a recent campaign rally in Texas.

"I would certainly not be opting to have this flimsiest of the cases go first," Diamond said.

The indictment already has rallied Trump's supporters, both at the grassroots level and those holding public office.

Kathy Clark, a retired police officer from suburban Palm Beach County, stood at the side of the road outside Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after the indictment news broke, holding a "Trump Won" banner. Clark, dressed in a red, white and blue cowboy hat and vest, said the New York indictment will backfire.

"People who were on the fence are going to see how the government has politicized the judicial system," she said.

Other supporters lined up quickly behind Trump, including West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, who called the indictment "a political witch hunt and a political prosecution. And the only reason they're doing this is because they're scared. They know that they can't beat him at the ballot box. That's why they're resorting to these terrible tactics."

Polls show a majority of Republicans still support Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, suggesting they already believe he was wronged by the system even though Biden's win has been affirmed in multiple reviews, recounts and audits in the key presidential battleground states.

Trump's attempts to overturn those results amid false claims of widespread fraud are at the heart of two other ongoing investigations, including his role in trying to halt the certification of the election results and in the run-up to the violent attack on the Capitol.

A special prosecutor also is looking into Trump's retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, an investigation that could hold the greatest legal peril for the former president.

A separate investigation in Georgia's Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, is looking into the pressure Trump and others exerted on state officials to overturn the results of the presidential election there.

The investigation began after a phone call in which Trump urged Georgia's secretary of state to "find" enough votes to overturn Biden's win.

The payment that Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, made in 2016 to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with Daniels is the one that least involves an attack on democratic norms. But it is the detail that most easily lends itself to Trump's contention that he is being attacked for partisan reasons.

Diamond, the Stanford expert, said despite his nervousness of the New York case moving ahead first, it will not stop the others.

"The other stuff is not going to simply evaporate, and I think for the purpose of the defense of our constitutional system and the defense of the rule of law  those are the ones that I think should carry the most weight in the public mind," he said.

Roscoe Howard, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said prosecutors in New York are aware of who they are dealing with and the turmoil that will follow. But he said prosecutors aren't focused on public opinion or the political consequences of a case.

Their concern is not about other investigations, but whether their case is ready to go to court, Howard said.

"There's not a prosecutor in this country who will take a case to trial that they think they are going to lose," he said. "They just don't do that."

Photos: Scenes from Jan. 6
Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 26 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest. The storms tore a path through the Arkansas capital and collapsed the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois. People throughout the region were stunned with the scope of the damage. Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees and lay waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included nine in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois and three in nearby Sullivan, Indiana. Other deaths were reported elsewhere in Tennessee and in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas.
Training for diversity, equity and inclusion has become a lucrative industry. The Harvard Business Review estimates U.S. companies spend $8 billion a year on these programs.

No wonder a survey by The Economist suggests the number of people hired for jobs with diversity or inclusion in the title has more than quadrupled since 2010.

The intent of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs can be debated. But regardless of intent, its clear the agenda being pushed onto American employees is not working.

A growing number of studies  in prominent publications such as Psychology Today, Harvard Business Review and The Economist  are questioning whether this training has a positive effect. Employees of companies that deploy these programs convey similar attitudes, with 62% saying theyre not working as intended.

Unfortunately, the only thing DEI programs have managed to accomplish is to drive deeper wedges between racial groups. Gallup polling finds racial relations have deteriorated since 2013.

While American companies and institutions have imposed DEI programs with a heavy fist, studies reveal the earnings gap between whites and Blacks has widened. At the same time, Black job seekers continue to be about half as likely to secure employment as their white counterparts. A UCLA study found the proportion of doctors who are Black men has remained unchanged since 1940.

Why are these programs not moving the needle for Black Americans?

In recent years, especially after the George Floyd protests, proponents of diversity, equity and inclusion claim the United States has a systematic race problem. But that notion is an inaccurate depiction that exacerbates racial anxiety, discord and animosity.

Is America perfect? No. More work must be done. But look how far weve come. Just turn your history book to Barack Obama, a Black president Americans elected twice. Todays DEI crusaders ignore this progress.

The entire concept of diversity, equity and inclusion tells Black people that the system is against them, and the only hope of success is taking advantage of a minority quota opportunity. The narrative drills the idea into the heads of minorities that hard work and determination are useless.

DEI training also promotes the idea that when Black people are reprimanded, it often represents microaggressions, which essentially tells Black people their behavior is rarely problematic. This communicates again little ability to achieve success.

Given the problems with DEI training in the workplace, why are so many companies rushing to jump on the bandwagon rather than exploring alternative strategies?

Companies adopt these programs for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they do so because they believe in the power of diversity. Sometimes outside activists apply pressure. And in some cases, they fear legal liability.

Corporations began caring more about diversity during the early 2000s and 2010s after high-profile lawsuits in the financial industry cost companies such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch tens of millions of dollars.

Rather than forcing every industry to look like America, why not just let America look like what Americans want it to be?

At best, DEI training is not working. At worst, it is backfiring. We need to come to terms with the idea that what a person does is way more important than the color of that persons skin. The world is not against people of color. Advancing that narrative will only set minorities up for failure. This is an empowering message for everyone.

The sooner those who want diversity start recognizing the power of each person, the sooner we will see minorities embrace their personal agency. Telling people America is against them will never empower anyone.

Millions of Black people have succeeded in America based on their ability. True diversity and equality will only occur when people have faith that they have the ability and capacity to succeed on their own. So lets start promoting programs and concepts that exemplify what we want to achieve  rather than focusing on what divides and discourages Americans.
OAK CREEK, Wis.  Gurdeep Singh Saggu sat on the carpet of the Stockton Sikh Temple prayer hall, staring at the photographs of the seven Sikhs killed in a mass shooting in Wisconsin in 2012.

His wife, Ekdeep, and their two sons, 5 and 10, sat across the room, cross-legged, listening to an FBI agent recount how a white supremacist strode into a Sikh temple in Oak Creek in search of victims.

Until that moment, Saggu's older son, Akaaldeep, didn't understand why his father was joining his motorcycle club on a 2,700- mile ride to mark the anniversary of the Aug. 5, 2012, massacre.

Saggu, 37, soft-spoken with a wiry beard, had been torn about the trip. The Sikh Motorcycle Club USA had planned the weeklong ride to Oak Creek to raise awareness about their culture and faith. Their route would take them through states like Arizona, where it was unusual to see turbaned bikers with black leather vests emblazoned with the Sikh faith symbol. A state where a Sikh man, mistaken for a Muslim, was killed in a hate crime four days after 9/11.

The ride would end on Aug. 5 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

But Saggu hesitated to leave his family, especially his sons. The prospect of violence, that they could be attacked for their religion, meant he was always on guard.

Saggu hadn't spent a night away from them since the birth of his first child. He drove his boys to school every day and brought them home after class to do their homework. He watched over them while his wife, a schoolteacher, worked.

Earlier that morning his older son had begged him to stay home. But the presentation in the temple turned out to be a turning point. Akaaldeep cried about the deaths and hugged his father, saying, "Daddy, now I want you to go."

Saggu thought back to their time in Dayton, Ohio, where they'd been living five years earlier. His older son was bullied at school because of his turban. He came home crying and angry every day. Parental complaints fell on deaf ears.

Saggu was already familiar with that sense of helplessness. A supervisor at a shipping company, he'd been dealing with a co-worker who looked at his beard and turban and accused him of belonging to a terrorist group. One day, he said, a co-worker attacked him, driving his car into the driver's side of Saggu's car.

Hugging his son in the prayer hall, recalling that misery and frustration, Saggu told himself: "I have to do this."

The Stockton Sikh Temple was established in 1912 and sits near a railyard, across from a row of homes with chain-link fenced yards. It was the first Sikh house of worship in the United States and, for years, it served as a cultural and political hub for South Asian immigrants, largely from the state of Punjab, a region that was split into modern day Pakistan and northern India.

Punjabis, most of them young men, started to arrive in California in the late 1800s. They settled in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Imperial valleys, and worked in farming, lumber mills and railroad construction. They helped build the Western Pacific Railway and served in the military.

But their arrival, amid a wave of anti-Asian sentiment, prompted the U.S. government to limit immigration from Asia. Punjabis were barred from becoming citizens and leasing and owning agricultural land. The men were prohibited from bringing families to the U.S., and some of them married Mexican women, resulting in Punjabi-Mexican communities.

Eventually, the federal government allowed them to become citizens and landowners. Punjabi farmers grew crops such as peaches, grapes and almonds, and gained a reputation for their ingenuity in developing agricultural techniques.

Most Punjabi who came to the U.S. were followers of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak in the late 15th century. They believe in equality, social justice and community service, and observant Sikhs are not allowed to drink alcohol, eat meat, or cut any hair on the body. Today there are more than 100,000 Punjabis living in California and as many as 500,000 nationwide.

Despite their history of patriotism and contributions to California's economy, Sikhs have long been targets of racism and violence. With their beards and turbans, they continue to be mistaken for Muslims; hostilities skyrocketed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Four days after the towers fell, a white gunman drove to a gas station in Mesa, Ariz., and shot and killed 49-year-old Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh who had been planting flowers around his business. He became the first victim of a hate crime linked to 9/11.

Prosecutors and witnesses said the gunman, Frank Roque, mistook Sodhi for a Muslim. He was found guilty of murder and died in prison last May.

The 21st century wave of violence inflicted on the Sikh community led to the formation of the Sikh Coalition, which documented more than 300 cases of violence and discrimination in the first month after 9/11. Sim J. Singh Attariwala, senior manager of policy and advocacy for the organization, said anti-Sikh hate crimes went unnoticed for years because the FBI wasn't tracking them. That changed after the Oak Creek massacre.

Hate crimes against Sikhs and Muslims surged again in 2017 following President Trump's executive order that prohibited travel and refugee resettlement from some Muslim countries, and recent FBI crime data show anti-Sikh hate crimes are still on the rise. From 2020-2021, the FBI recorded a 140% increase in anti-Sikh hate crimes, from 89 incidents to 214, making them one of the most targeted faith groups in the U.S.

"It is an alarming trend," Attariwala said, "one that we're deeply concerned about."

On the day of the ride, dozens of Indian and Harley Davidson motorcycles were parked along Sikh Temple Street in Stockton, some of them adorned with personalized license plates like KHARKU (brave man) and GABRU (young man). One by one, Saggu and the other men kicked their kickstands, gripped the handlebars and gunned it down State Route 99, setting off in an open-throttle roar that would be the soundtrack of their pilgrimage.

On a two-lane highway in Blythe, near the Colorado River, the Sonoran Desert air blasted their faces. Their beards flapped wildly, whipping their skin as distant waves of heat warped and blurred the landscape. With temperatures in the triple digits, the men were sweating profusely.

A black truck hauling a trailer displaying photos of the seven Sikhs killed in Wisconsin trailed the riders. Above the images, in black lettering, a Sikh scripture read: "No one is my enemy and no one is a stranger to me. I get along with everyone." Beneath it was the club's core mission: "Ride against hate."

Once they crossed into Arizona, the group decided to ride the rest of the trip without their helmets, hoping their turbans would draw attention and lead to conversations or, at the very least, get people to notice their trailer. "Maybe they'll see it and will want to Google it to read about us and what we're about," Saggu said.

In the late afternoon, they took a break at the Indian Delhi Palace, a Phoenix restaurant owned by Sodhi's younger brother Rana Singh Sodhi, who'd been waiting outside to welcome them. Inside, a buffet of vegetable curries, rice and salads awaited, a thank you to the motorcyclists in appreciation for what they were doing. In addition to honoring the victims of the Oak Creek massacre, the riders were hoping to educate the public along the way about the difference between Sikhs and Muslims while robustly condemning attacks against Muslims and other minorities.

"I think any effort to raise awareness about our community is important," said Sodhi, 56. "I'm so proud of them."

He gazed at the motorcycles parked outside and recalled another brother lost to violence in a country that had given him so much. Ten months after Balbir was murdered at the gas station, Sukhpal Singh Sodhi was found shot to death in his taxi in San Francisco. Police said it was not a hate crime, but Sodhi believes his brother's appearance factored into his death.

Their next stop was a memorial in Mesa that marks the spot where Balbir Singh Sodhi had screamed "don't kill me" before he was shot.

As he gazed at the marble slab, Saggu thought about how he could have been lying dead in a parking lot just like Sodhi, the victim of an ignorant man's twisted rage. He thought of the co-worker at the shipping company who asked if he belonged to Isis and why he wore a "towel" around his head.

The next day members of the motorcycle club headed northeast, crossing into badlands of Arizona's Painted Desert, engines roaring amid the red mesas and cottonwood gulleys. At the Four Corners Monument, they tried to speak with visitors and native people about their indigenous culture. One man turned two members away, declining to accept their pamphlet. A food vendor thought they were Muslim, which led to a conversation about how often people have a hard time identifying a Sikh.

The riders continued into Colorado, Kansas and Iowa, traveling on meandering two-lane highways, through canyons, prairies, and mountains with high green meadows. They traveled at night, in thick fog through forests where signs warned of deer jumping into the road and causing deadly accidents. They stopped at diners and gas stations, handing out pamphlets about Sikhism and talking to anyone who would listen. A man who had never met a Sikh requested a photo with the group.

At a gas station in New Virginia, Iowa, Dennis Meyer, 63, approached them, curious about their motorcycles and the trailer. He'd never seen motorcyclists with turbans.

Club members told him about the purpose of the trip and the discrimination they face. "It's like that saying, love your neighbor," said Dilbagh Singh Sandhu, 39, president of the motorcycle club. "We're just trying to be that neighbor."

Meyer, who also rides a motorcycle, nodded and smiled before telling Sandhu that he's traveled the world and has come to understand one thing about people: "They're hard-working and trying to do the best for their families." And that people who discriminate are "silly people and have their own problems."

A day later, Aug. 5, the the Sikh Motorcycle Club USA pulled into the parking lot of the Oak Creek gurdwara.

A crowd at the entrance included widows of the men who were killed by 40-year-old Wade Michael Page, an Army veteran and white supremacist. Some of the women had been at the Sikh temple when the shooting occurred and hid in a kitchen pantry.

After the riders came to a stop, Sandhu raised his fist in the air as Saggu chanted a victory call and the crowd responded.

For the next few hours, they toured the temple, stopping to gaze at a large bullet hole by the entrance to the prayer hall, left as a reminder of the massacre.

At a ceremony under a large tent, the group listened to speakers, including politicians and children of the seven victims. They listened to retired Oak Creek Lt. Brian Murphy, who was the first officer on the scene and was shot 15 times by Page, who killed himself after another officer wounded him.

Not far from the tent, children ran around a playground, and a large American flag dangled from the ladders of two firetrucks parked next to the gurdwara. Two Army service members, wearing turbans, spoke to police officers.

The ceremony concluded with a vigil by a flagpole displaying the Khanda, a symbol of Sikhism. The motorcyclists knelt and placed white candles on the ground. No one spoke; no one cried. There was only silence.

Today, as he looks back on his ride, Saggu likes to recall his encounter with Michelle Steuber, whom he met at the Four Corners Monument.

He spoke with Steuber and her family about the ride and the group's message against hate amid a rise in white nationalism. Steuber, a 46-year-old eighth grade teacher, told him she would share what she learned with her students.

It was a proud moment for Saggu. He figured that if one student had learned about Sikhs then maybe other turbaned children wouldn't be bullied the way his son had been in Ohio.
For most Californians, the sight of aircraft spewing neon-pink liquid over flaming trees and brush has become a hallmark of aggressive wildfire suppression campaigns  if not a potent symbol of government's struggle to control increasingly destructive forest fires.

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But as the use of aerially delivered retardant has soared in recent years, some forest advocates say the substance does more harm than good. They claim wildfire retardant drops are expensive, ineffective and a growing source of pollution for rivers and streams.

"There's no scientific evidence that it makes any difference in wildfire outcomes," said forester Andy Stahl. "This is like dumping cash out of airplanes, except that it's toxic and you can't buy anything with it because it doesn't work."

Now, a federal lawsuit in Montana that seeks to stop the U.S. Forest Service from dropping retardant into water could reshape how the agency battles wildfires throughout the western United States.

The case is being watched particularly closely by officials in California, where an extremely wet winter is likely to stoke the growth of so-called connecting fuels  grasses that can carry small flames from a spark on a roadway to chaparral and forested areas.

"This is going to destroy towns and many communities in California, if they allow this to go through," said Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin, whose Butte County town was ravaged by the November 2018 Camp Fire. "To maybe save a few fish, really?"

Napa Valley wineries, seeking insurance relief, show steps to lessen wildfire risks ST. HELENA  In 2017, Chappellet Winery spent $200,000 for $80 million in insurance coverage. After the North Bay wildfires of October 2017, i

The lawsuit, filed by the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, of which Stahl is executive director, accuses the Forest Service of violating the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the discharge of pollutants into U.S. waters without a permit.

The action comes as more retardant is being dropped from the air than ever before amid longer, more active fire seasons. In 2021, 52.8 million gallons of retardant were dumped on federal, state and private land, compared with a 10-year average of about 39 million gallons per year, according to figures provided by the Forest Service. More than half of the retardant the Forest Service used on national forest lands was dropped in California, more than in any other state.

The Forest Service primarily uses ammonium phosphate-based retardant, which is intended to coat vegetation and other fuels around the edges of a fire to deprive advancing flames of oxygen. The goal is to slow fire spread and lessen its intensity so crews on the ground get a chance to directly attack it.

But the chemical, which is also used as fertilizer, can kill aquatic life. For example, in Santa Barbara County, dozens of endangered steelhead trout were killed in Maria Ygnacio Creek during the 2009 Jesusita Fire. UC Santa Barbara scientists documented elevated ammonia levels in the water and concluded the fish kill was likely due to retardant drops.

The Forest Service has dropped more than 760,000 gallons of retardant into water, both accidentally and under an agency directive that such drops are permissible if they mitigate threats to human life or public safety, according to figures the agency released last year.

Plaintiffs in the case have asked the court to enjoin the Forest Service from spilling retardant into waterways. However, the Forest Service contends in court documents that the only way to do so is to stop using retardant altogether  an action that they say would deprive the service of a crucial firefighting tool.

Plaintiffs, however, say the Forest Service could instead increase the width of buffer zones alongside waterways where no retardant can be dropped.

After the suit was filed, the Forest Service asked the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a general permit to cover the discharge of retardant into waterways. The EPA estimates the process will take about 2 years.

Facing the potential prospect of the Forest Service not being able to apply retardant from the air for more than two years, more than a dozen communities and interest groups have petitioned to intervene in the case. They include the town of Paradise, Butte and Plumas counties in California, and trade organizations representing private firefighting companies, the timber industry and agriculture.

"The impacts that everybody is experiencing in California and beyond are so dramatic that we have no option other than to build a coalition to try to cease any action that would result in a higher risk as it relates to wildfire damages," said Matt Dias, chief executive of the California Forestry Association.

Members of the trade group, which represents lumber mills, veneer plants and biomass facilities in the state, have lost hundreds of thousands of acres to wildfire over the past several years, he said. The effects extend beyond the forest products industry to include the loss of hundreds of lives, the depletion of carbon stocks and recreational opportunities, the degradation of air quality and the economic devastation of rural communities, he added.

"My understanding is that fire retardant is not good for waterways, but think of the other side of it," said Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter, who lost his home to the Camp Fire. "A massive forest fire burning down a huge amount of acreage is probably worse for the environment."

The Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in California history, killing 84 people. Although retardant was unable to be used to save Paradise because the blaze moved too quickly, generating 100 mph winds and thick clouds of black smoke that grounded air tankers, retardant did stop the flames from spreading to nearby Chico and Durham, Bolin said.

The legal wrangling prompted U.S. Reps. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, and Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel, to on March 14 introduce a bill that would explicitly exempt firefighting agencies from having to obtain a permit for retardant use.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a decades-long battle between FSEE and the Forest Service over the agency's use of retardant. The nonprofit first sued the Forest Service in 2003 for failing to conduct the appropriate environmental analyses to use aerial retardant; a federal court ruled the agency must do so. The nonprofit again sued the Forest Service in 2008, alleging its environmental analysis was inadequate, and the court ruled the Forest Service had to do a more thorough analysis by the end of 2011.

That's when the Forest Service agreed to map out exclusion areas where it would refrain from dropping retardant absent a risk to public safety, including buffers around vulnerable species habitat and waterways. The EPA told the agency at the time that if pilots complied with these guidelines, they would not need a permit, as they would not be discharging retardant into waterways.

But in a report released last year, the Forest Service admitted that it had dropped more than 1 million gallons of retardant into exclusion areas on 459 occasions from 2012 through 2019. Retardant landed in water on 213 of those occasions, representing less than 1% of the roughly 56,868 retardant drops the Forest Service made during that time frame, the agency said in court documents.

While the lawsuit primarily concerns the dropping of retardant into water, the issue of whether it works as intended has also been raised in court documents.

The Forest Service has argued that a prohibition on discharges of retardant into water would impair its firefighting capabilities and jeopardize safety, doing a disservice to the public interest. The FSEE has argued however that the agency lacks evidence that aerial retardant actually accomplishes those goals.

Studies performed by Forest Service scientists have concluded that aerial retardant slows fire spread in laboratory-based and experimental fires, but that its effectiveness in the field is dependent on environmental conditions like slope, fuel type, terrain and weather.

"Aerial retardant is effective over a narrow range of conditions, and the windows of opportunity for those conditions are narrowing each year due to climate change," said Timothy Ingalsbee, a former wildland firefighter and executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, which is not involved in the lawsuit.

Retardant is most effective when used in the cool of the morning on relatively level terrain with sparse vegetation during the initial attack of small fires burning near communities, he said. Ground crews must be nearby to take advantage of the reduced rate of spread by cutting containment lines; otherwise, the fire may slow only temporarily and then keep spreading, he said.

And yet, Ingalsbee said, research has shown that retardant is often dropped in the heat of the afternoon during the extended attack of large fires burning on steep, densely forested slopes in remote areas where ground crews can't reach, or when fire behavior is so intense that it's too dangerous for ground crews to engage.

"The Forest Service feels pressure to do something, as much for public relations as any operational benefit," he said. "But it's just a big air show."

Photos: The Glass Fire's aftermath in Deer Park Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire Deer Park after Glass Fire
PACE Rapporteur wants to visit Lachin corridor

Trudeau on Armenian Genocide Memorial Day: Canada will continue to promote peace and justice

Greece PM on Armenian Genocide: We are against any act that incites discrimination, violence against humanity

European People's Party on Armenian Genocide: We urge Turkey to acknowledge reality of past

Italy MP: International organizations access to Karabakh for humanitarian aid should be facilitated

PACE pays tribute to Armenian Genocide victims with minute of silence (VIDEO)

Representation at ECtHR: Armenia will apply to International Court of Justice regarding Lachin checkpoint matter

Yeghishe Kirakosyan: Armenia will apply to International Court of Justice regarding Lachin checkpoint issue

Levon Aronian: Message of remembering and demanding must be directed towards ourselves

Biden: We renew our pledge to never forget Armenian Genocide

Armenian Genocide commemoration event held in Istanbul

Russia ambassador, embassy military attache lay flowers at Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan (PHOTOS)

Peskov on setting up Azerbaijani checkpoint at Lachin corridor: Situation not easy, requires extra effort

Greece president: We honor Armenian Genocide victims memory

Russia calls on Armenia, Azerbaijan to immediately return to existing agreements

Armenian Genocide victims honored at PACE chamber courtyard (PHOTOS)

Bruno Retailleau on Armenian Genocide victims: They are our victims also

Artsakh MFA: Armenian people are again facing threat of new Genocide

France senator: We should help Armenia arm itself

Karabakh president: Today more than ever we need to turn words into action

Greece FM: Preserving Armenian Genocide victims memory is minimum duty of all humanity

Sotk gold mine of Armenia inactive for 10th day due to periodic Azerbaijani shooting

Colorado declares April 24, 2023 as Armenian Genocide remembrance day

Ambassador: France stands with Armenia to commemorate victims of 1915 Genocide (PHOTOS)

Karekin II: Azerbaijan's goal is to de-Armenianize, take over Karabakh

US Congressman Adam Schiff to introduce bill recognizing Karabakh independence, sovereignty

Karabakh MFA: Any proposal to discuss Azerbaijans illegal demands is tantamount to condoning its genocidal policy

Karabakh president pays tribute to Armenian Genocide victims

Catholicos visits Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

Armenia ex-President Sarkissian: We must be able to move forward without retreating from our identity, history

Armenia army General Staff chief: We are doing positional improvement work at Tegh village

Nathalie Loiseau: No one should approach risk of new violence against Armenians lightly 108 years after Genocide

Armenia MFA: Armenians in Karabakh are facing danger of genocide, ethnic cleansing even today

Netherlands ambassador expresses support to Armenians in the words of great poet Hovhannes Tumanyan (VIDEO)

Georgia Armenians hold torchlight procession in Tbilisi

PM Pashinyan, other state officials visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan (PHOTOS)

Kristina Kvien: No US sanctions against Azerbaijan at the moment

MFA: France condemns setting up of Azerbaijani checkpoint at Lachin corridor, demands to reopen corridor

Karekin II: Fight for just cause of Armenians, contribute to prevention of genocidal acts and crimes

Armenia ex-President Serzh Sargsyan: Bloody scimitar which has now become Bayraktar hangs over our people again

Armenia PM: This is best moment to think about past, present, future

Armenian Genocide Memorial entrance closed

108 years later: It is Armenian Genocide victims commemoration day

State minister: People of Karabakh have right to demand from players to make clear assessments, take steps

US 'deeply concerned' by Azerbaijan's checkpoint in Lachin corridor

Edmon Marukyan: Peaceful Armenians of Artsakh taken hostage by Azerbaijan

Kanaani: Iran's military program is solely defensive

Ministry of Defense of Armenia: The Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan has spread disinformation

Erdogan: Putin to take part in fuel delivering ceremony to Akkuyu

Security Council of the Republic of Artsakh makes a statement

Kosovo Serbs boycott local elections

An Armenian serviceman was lethally wounded in a position in Sotk

Armenians in Great Britain remember Armenian Genocide victims

Azerbaijan establishes checkpoint on Lachin-Stepanakert road

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day rally in Berlin

Azerbaijan blocks Hakari bridge on Artsakh-Armenia border

Faro Palace in Marseille in Armenian tricolor

Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Green Sunday

AK Party office in Istanbul attacked

Spain shipping Leopard 2 to Ukraine

Teenager hit by Toyota car

Russian citizens evacuated in Khartoum

Turkey represents Iranian interests in Albania

US military evacuates diplomats from Sudan

Armenian PM Pashinyan visits memorial

Fire breaks out in Martuni town

The Foreign Ministry of Artsakh: The Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan released another provocative statement

Blackout threat at major events in France

Young men lost in Artsakh found

Baku "worries" for Armenia

Updated Turkey earthquake death toll

Greek City Times: India and Greece conduct exercises

Earthquake hits Greece

Trump: I have 'very good relationship' with Putin

NATO delegation arrives in Azerbaijan

Facebook bans Armenian Genocide memorial frames

ARF Hay Dat European Office prepares lawsuit

Armenia Ombudsperson delivers welcome speech at CoE

RA Ombudsperson receives CoE delegation

Head of Armenian Community of Georgia attacked in Tbilisi
Former US President Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told AP on Friday, AP reported.

He will be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday in his hush money case, setting the scene for the historic, shocking moment when a former president is forced to stand before a judge to hear the criminal charges against him.

The indictment remained sealed and the specific charges were not immediately known, but details were confirmed by people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that isnt yet public.

When Trump turns himself in, hell be booked mostly like anyone else facing charges, mug shot, fingerprinting and all. But he isnt expected to be put in handcuffs; hell have Secret Service protection and will almost certainly be released that same day.

In the meantime, Trumps legal team prepared his defense while the prosecutors office defended the grand jury investigation that propelled the matter toward trial. Congressional Republicans, as well as Trump himself, contend the whole matter is politically motivated.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, Leslie Dubeck, general counsel in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, wrote in a letter sent Friday to three Republican House committee chairs that was obtained by AP.

The case is plunging the U.S. into uncharted legal waters, with Trump the first former president ever to face an indictment. And the political implications could be titanic ahead of next years presidential election. Trump is in the midst of running for president a third time and has said the case against him could hurt that effortthough his campaign is already furiously raising money by citing it.

The Trump campaign said it raised $4-plus million in the first 24 hours after news of the indictment broke.

Trumps indictment came after a grand jury probe into hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to squelch allegations of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself has remained sealed, as is standard in New York before an arraignment.

The investigation dug into six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both claim to have had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. He denies having sexual liaisons with either woman.

Trump also has denied any wrongdoing involving payments and has denounced the investigation as a scam, a persecution, an injustice.






Joe Biden has reportedly turned down an invitation to King Charles coronation on May 6, The Mirror reported.

According to sources, the US president is expected to send a delegation to the event in a bid to avoid the perception of a snub.

Not much is known about which high-profile representative will be selected to attend, however it is thought that First Lady Jill Biden may go in her husbands place.

Heads of state from around the world will be in attendance, including all three presidents of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola, and Charles Michel.

The newly elected First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, will also be in attendance.

The UK ambassador to the US, Karen Pierce, and Buckingham Palace aides are understood to have been told by the White House that Biden already has other commitments, reports the Telegraph.

They also said that Biden is intending to send a delegation, and that he may meet the King during his visit to Northern Ireland on April 11 instead.

Despite this, there has been no formal response, with sources believing that there may still be some efforts under way to see if Biden can be persuaded to come to the Coronation, as one senior US official has indicated no final decision has been made.

The relationship between Biden and the King has reported to be strong, according to sources close to the US president.

However, UK Conservative MP and member of the foreign affairs select committee, Bob Seely, said the White House had made a foolish decision.

He said: It seems pretty remiss, and Im tempted to say more fool him for not coming. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and you would have thought he should come because hes a head of state. It just seems to be a foolish decision.

Chairman of the UK parliament defense select committee disagreed, stating: Whilst wed hope Joe Biden would be invited, there is no historical protocol for a US president to attend royal coronations, so we should not read too much into any absence. America will be represented, and it will be telling who the president chooses to send.
Leading German politicians call for resistance against Trump policies

Leading German politicians on Tuesday called for resistance against the politics of US President Donald Trump in the wake of a G7 summit that failed to produce a unanimous agreement on climate change.

GALLERY

"The times when we could fully rely on others are to a certain extent over," she said at an event in Munich.

Berlin (dpa) - It is "the order of the day to oppose this man with everything that we stand for," Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, who is challenging Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germanys September election, said at a party event.At the G7 summit in Taormina, Italy over the weekend, Trump announced that it would take more time to say whether the US is going to renege on a Paris climate accord that limits greenhouse gas emissions."Those who do not oppose these US policies will become complicit," Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who also serves as Merkels deputy, told Rheinische Post newspaper on Tuesday."Whose who accelerate climate change through less environmental protection, sell more weapons in conflict zones, and have no interest in solving religious conflicts through diplomacy, are endangering peace in Europe," he said.The comments come after Merkel acknowledged in the wake of the G7 summit that Trumps presidency had upended Europes traditional alliance with the US."The times when we could fully rely on others are to a certain extent over," she said at an event in Munich.
Due to the blocking by Azerbaijan of the only road connecting Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with Armenia, 12 patients from the Republican Medical Center of Artsakhwith serious diseases of the oncology and pathologies requiring emergency surgical interventionswere transported Saturday to specialized medical institutions of Armenia, with the mediation and escorting of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

And five patients, who had been transferred to Armenia for medical treatment, returned to Artsakh together with accompanying persons, the Ministry of Health of Artsakh informed.

Scheduled surgeries continue to be suspended in the medical centers of Artsakh.

Five children remain in the neonatal and intensive care units of Arevik Medical Center.

Nine patients remain in the intensive care unit of the Republican Medical Center, and five of them are in critical condition.

A total of 241 medical patients have been transported so far from Artsakh to Armenia with the mediation and assistance of the ICRC.
The issue of conventional and high-precision means of attack for the united Russian unit of troops has been increased several times, Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu said. He discussed this topic at the consultation of the joint unit of Russian special operation troops, Kommersant reported.

Shoigu noted that "the amount of supplies of the most requested ammunition have been determined" and measures are now being taken to increase them.

"It is about both conventional and high-precision means of attack," the Russian defense minister added.

He assured that this will enable to fulfill the tasks planned in the framework of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.

Also, the minister of defense of Russia heard reports about the current situation, as well as held a consultation with the command of the aforesaid unit and its deputies, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense noted.

In addition, Shoigu held a consultation with his deputies at the headquarters of the joint unit of special operation troops, and the topic of providing the Russian military with more weapons was discussed.

Furthermore, Shoigu held a consultation with the commanders of the unit of the Russian troops at the zone of Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
Russian-Armenian relations are strategic. This was stated in the message of Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin to the participants of Saturdays expert roundtable discussion, entitled "New forms of diplomacy: National strategies of using soft power in foreign policy."

The Russian envoy said the dynamic development of humanitarian cooperation is an important part of those relations.

Also, he noted the importance of intensifying cooperation between Armenia and Russia.

According to him, the task of preserving the shared identity is raised today, like never before.

The Russian diplomat considers this to be relevant, especially amid the West's attempts to impose its approaches in order to maintain its influence throughout the world.

Kopyrkin said he is convinced that the aforesaid roundtable discussion will contribute to the creation of ideas that will stem from the interests in the development of bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia.
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE - World Food Program chief David Beasley meets with villagers in the village of Wagalla in northern Kenya, Aug. 19, 2022. Beasley is warning that without billions of dollars more to feed millions of hungry people, the world will see mass migration, destabilized countries, and starving children and adults in the next 12 to 18 months. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

Without billions of dollars more to feed millions of hungry people, the world will see mass migration, destabilized countries, and starving children and adults in the next 12 to 18 months, the head of the Nobel prize-winning U.N. World Food Program warned Friday.

David Beasley praised increased funding from the United States and Germany last year, and urged China, Gulf nations, billionaires and other countries to step up big time.

In an interview before he hands the reins of the worlds largest humanitarian organization to U.S. ambassador Cindy McCain next week, the former South Carolina governor said hes extremely worried that WFP wont raise about $23 billion it needs this year to help millions of needy people

Right at this stage, Ill be surprised if we get 40% of it, quite frankly, he said.

Last year, Beasley raised $14.2 billion for WFP, more than double the $6 billion in 2017, the year he took over as executive director. That money helped over 128 million people in more than 120 countries and territories.

Beasley said he was able to convince the United States last year to increase its funding from about $3.5 billion to $7.4 billion and Germany to raise its contribution from $350 million a few years ago to $1.7 billion, but he doesnt think theyll do it again this year.

Other countries need to step up now, he said, starting with China, the worlds second-largest economy which gave WFP just $11 million last year.

Beasley applauded China for its success in substantially reducing hunger and poverty at home, but said it gave less than one cent per person last year compared to the United States, the world's leading economy, which gave about $22 per person.

China needs to engage in the multilateral world and be willing to provide help that is critical, he said. They have a moral obligation to do so.

Beasley said theyve done an incredible job of feeding their people, and now we need their help in other parts of the world on how they did it, particularly in poorer countries including in Africa.

With high oil prices Gulf countries can also do more, especially Muslim nations that have relations with countries in east Africa, the Sahara and elsewhere in the Middle East, he said, expressing hope they will increase contributions.

Beasley said the wealthiest billionaires made unprecedented profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and "its not too much to ask some of the multibillionaires to step up and help us in the short-term crisis, even though charity isnt a long-term solution to the food crisis.

In the long-term, he said what hed really like to see is billionaires using their experience and success to engage in the worlds greatest need  and that is food on the planet to feed 8 billion people.

The world has to understand that the next 12 to 18 months is critical, and if we back off the funding, you will have mass migration, and you will have destabilization nations and that will all be on top of starvation among children and people around the world, he warned.

Beasley said WFP was just forced to cut rations by 50% to 4 million people in Afghanistan, and these are people who are knocking on famines door now.

We dont have enough money just to reach the most vulnerable people now, he said. So we are in a crisis over the cliff stage right now, where we literally could have hell on earth if were not very careful.

Beasley said hes been telling leaders in the West and Europe that while theyre focusing everything on Ukraine and Russia, you better well not forget about whats south and southeast of you because I can assure you it is coming your way if you dont pay attention and get on top of it.

With $400 trillion worth of wealth on the planet, he said, theres no reason for any child to die of starvation.

The WFP executive director said leaders have to prioritize the humanitarian needs that are going to have the greatest impact on stability in societies around the world.

He singled out several priority places -- Africas Sahel region as well as the east including Somalia, northern Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia; Syria which is having an impact on Jordan and Lebanon; and Central and South America where the number of people migrating to the United States is now five times what it was a year-and-a-half ago.

Beasley said McCain, the widow of U.S. Senator John McCain from Arizona who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and has been the U.S. ambassador to Rome-based WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, is the right person at the right time to lead the World Food Program.

They've been working together to make sure she hits the ground running, he said, But its going to be a very, very challenging time because of all the money going to the war in Ukraine, and the need to help so many other fragile economies.

Beasley said his biggest surprise was believing in April 2017, when he took over the agency and there were 80 million people in the world marching to starvation, that we could end world hunger and put the World Food Program out of business.

What he didnt expect were the conflicts and wars, the climate shocks, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, he said, which raised the 80 million in desperate need of food to 135 million right before COVID started spreading in early 2020, to 276 million before Russia invaded Ukraine  the bread basket of the world -- in February 2022, and to 350 million now.

Beasley said 'it's hard not to get depressed" but two things give him hope.

Seeing little girls and boys smiling in the midst of war and suffering from hunger inspires you not to give up, he said, as does the bipartisan support in the often divided U.S. Congress for helping the poorest of the poor around the world.

As he returns to his family in South Carolina, Beasley said his dream remains to end world hunger.
A delegation, led by Armenian Ambassador to Georgia Ashot Smbatyan, on Friday visited Kakheti region of Georgia, we have learned from the press service of the Embassy of Armenia in Georgia.

Within the framework of the visit, the Georgian government representative in Kakheti, Giorgi Aladashvili, received the Armenian ambassador in the city of Telavi. The parties reflected on the multi-sector cooperation between Armenia and Georgia, emphasizing in this context the necessity of deepening the decentralized relations between the two countries.

Then, the delegation led by Ambassador Smbatyan visited the Dedoplistsgharo Municipality, where he had a meeting with Mayor Nikoloz Janiashvili.

After this meeting, the Armenian ambassador visited the Armenian-inhabited village of Tsiteli Sabatlo. At the village school, Ambassador Smbatyan met with local residents and teachers of this school, and answered their questions.
Taking to Twitter, PM said, "Exceptional! I laud the entire team of HAL for their remarkable zeal and passion."

HAL on Friday registered the highest-ever revenue from operations of around Rs 26,500 Crores (provisional and unaudited) for FY 2022-23 as against Rs 24,620 for the previous FY.

The company recorded revenue growth of 8 per cent during the year as compared to last year.

In a tweet, HAL said that an eight per cent growth was recorded compared to Rs 24,620 revenue in the previous financial year. The company wrote, "HAL registers highest-ever revenue from operations of around Rs.26,500 Crores (provisional and unaudited) for FY 2022-23 as against Rs 24,620 for the previous FY. The Company has recorded revenue growth of 8 per cent during the year as compared to last year."

Earlier on Friday, the PM expressed happiness at the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) crossing Gross Merchandise Value of Rs 2 lakh crore in 2022-23.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi tweeted, "Excellent! GeM has given us a glimpse of the energy and enterprise of the people of India. It has ensured prosperity and better markets for many citizens."

PM Modi made the remark in response to a tweet by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

Goyal had stated in a tweet, "A true GeM of India! A landmark achievement for the nation as it crossed the Gross Merchandise Value of Rs 2 lakh crore in 2022-23. Under PM Narendra Modi ji's relentless pursuit to ensure transparent procurement, GeM is emerging as a trusted platform for buyers and sellers".

GeM is the National Public Procurement Portal for the procurement of goods and services for Central and State Government Organisations. (ANI)
Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], April 1 (ANI/NewsVoir): United Way of Delhi, in partnership with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) and the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to Government of India, organised "Svasti: A National Consultation on Charting a Roadmap for Mental Health Services" at NIMHANS, Bengaluru. The consultation brought together senior mental health experts from academia, govt, private sector and civil society with the aim of sharing current scenarios, experiences and recommendations to strengthen mental health services across various levels. Svasti is a Sanskrit word that means "may it be well with thee". Aligned with the aim the consultation was successful in deliberating on various challenges in providing access to affordable mental health services to the most vulnerable and marginalised population. It provided a unique platform for the convergence of diverse minds working with different aspects of mental health services and target population. The first half of the consultation focused on challenges in access to and quality of mental health services with special focus on women, children, youth and informal sector workers. The second half of the consultation focused on challenges and recommendations around mental well-being aimed at strengthening policy implementation with special focus on understanding emerging focus on technical and technological interventions. Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, NIMHANS, speaking about the consultation said, "A National Consultation on Mental Health, Svasti, was conducted by United Way Delhi, in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences and the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Govt. of India on the 28th of March 2023. Svasti included four panel discussions on pertinent matters related to mental health and charting the way forward with regard to ongoing challenges in the field. Panelists and moderators from different areas of expertise came together to make policy recommendations, suggestions to de-centralize provision of mental healthcare services and changing the existing narrative to include more user-friendly and family-centric approaches that would help in making mental health more equitable, accessible and approachable to all." "Mental health is a critical issue in India, affecting 10.6% of the population. The pandemic has highlighted the need for mental health care, with individuals facing emotional distress. Technology is providing support and resources for those in need. It's important to recognize warning signs and disseminate information about mental illnesses. Emerging technologies offer flexible and tailored mental health support, lowering barriers to accessing care and providing insights into wellbeing. From smartphone apps to predictive analytics and immersive therapies, these innovations have the potential to be a game changer for mental health care. Digital pills and AI-powered symptom tracking further enhance patient outcomes, while consumer neurotechnology and VR tools can effectively treat anxiety, phobias, and PTSD," added Dr Sapna Poti - Director Strategic Alliances, o/O Principal Scientific Adviser, GoI. "At United Way Delhi, we partnered with NIMHANS and the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India to organise the National Consultation: Svasti, which brought together key stakeholders and experts in mental health with the aim of creating a roadmap for affordable and accessible mental health services in India. The event was successful in highlighting various challenges in accessing mental health services and was able to consolidate specific and general recommendations from panellists to bridge service and convergence gaps for most vulnerable population. At United Way, we are committed to support the government in realising the comprehensive vision, values and principles of National Mental Health Policy 2014 and Mental Healthcare Act 2017," said Sachin Gowalkar, CEO - United Way Delhi. The consultation also covered topics including creating non-clinical spaces for mental health, empowering decision-making in women, addressing mental health issues in the unorganised sector, empowering families as central to mental health policies, leveraging technology in mental health, and normalising mental health conversations through workshops and offline data collection applications. Roll-out of e-Sanjeevani 2.0 and Tele MANAS were also discussed. The event received overwhelming support and participation and concluded with a commitment to implement the roadmap for mental health services in India, which would contribute towards creating a positive and supportive environment for people with mental health issues. United Way Delhi, NIMHANS, and the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India expressed their gratitude to all the experts and participants who attended the Svasti national consultation. United Way Delhi (UWD) is an independent local not-for-profit organization affiliated to the United Way Worldwide Family - one of the World's Largest Leadership with 1800 affiliate chapters across 41 countries. United Way Delhi (UWD) since 2008, is working actively to advance the 'common good' for the local community through innovative interventions and partnerships. UWD through its projects work on multiple domains including quality education, healthcare, environment, livelihood, and disaster response across the country. For more information, please visit: www.unitedwaydelhi.org. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], April 1 (ANI/PNN): Longeval Networks, a leading provider of Cisco and Juniper network routers and switches, is exploring opportunities to expand its operations to various locations. With a turnover of Rs. 8-10 crore and a presence at 3-4 locations, Longeval Networks is well-positioned for future growth and expansion. The company's specialized product range includes high-quality refurbished products that are thoroughly tested and guaranteed to meet the highest industry standards. Longeval Networks also offers rental services and Annual Maintenance Contract services to cater to the needs of its clients, providing flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and dedicated technical support. "My passion for multitasking in various business areas helped me in starting this business. Aided by my technical background and strong sales skills that gave me a unique perspective on customer needs and market potential, I set out to create something of my own," the founder Ravindra Singh said while talking about the origin of the company. "Building this company was challenging. However, I look forward to future business growth and expansion," he added. Led by a Cisco-certified (CCIE-38999) founder who has an experience of 18- 20 years in this industry, the rest of the technical team in the company also comprises individuals with highly regarded certifications such as CCIE, CCNA, JNCIA, JNCIP, JNCIS, MCSE, and MCTS. Longeval Networks targets businesses and organizations, IT professionals, industry analysts, system integrators, and internet service providers. Their team of immensely talented experts possesses comprehensive industry experience, enabling them to offer bespoke and innovative solutions that address their client's individual demands. With unparalleled expertise and customized solutions, the company stands out from the competition and is well-positioned for continued success in the dynamic and rapidly evolving networking industry. Cisco and Juniper routers and switches offer rapid and secure connectivity for companies with advanced functionalities, including Quality of Service (QoS), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and Firewall protection. These routers and switches are high-quality networking devices that provide reliable and secure connectivity for businesses of all sizes. Longeval's Annual Maintenance Contracts offer proactive maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair services that ensure the ongoing performance and dependability of Cisco routers and switches. The rental services provided by the company make it highly economic, flexible and ease the ability to scale up or down quickly to meet evolving business demands. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
According to a company release on Saturday, it registered domestic sales volume of 567,546 units, which the company said was the highest since its inception. The sales were backed by the highest-ever annual numbers clocked by each of the models like Creta, New Venue, Alcazar, Tucson, Aura and Grand i10 Nios.

It exported 153,019 units during the financial year 2022-23, a yearly increase of 18.4 per cent.

"FY 22-23 has been a phenomenal year for Hyundai Motor India, as we introduced 7 segment defining products like the all-new Hyundai TUCSON, New Venue, Venue N Line, All electric IONIQ 5, New Grand i10 NIOS, New AURA and the all-new Hyundai VERNA catering to different segments thus giving a strong push to brand Hyundai amongst New-Age Indian Customers," said Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer, Hyundai Motor India.

"Despite global headwinds, we see momentum in the Indian auto industry backed by a strong India growth story led by Gen MZ," Garg added.

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company. It currently has 1,336 sales points and 1,498 service points across India. (ANI)
The superstar was flooded with compliments for the outfit he wore to the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre recently.

Apart from Pooja Dadlani, Shah Rukh's look from the event of NMACC was shared by Shaleena Nathani, who is a stylist of Deepika Padukone.

Sharing the pictures, Shaleena wrote, "DEADDDD!!!! @iamsrk today for the opening of @nmacc.india..." Reacting to the pictures Deepika wrote, "Me too!" She also posted a drool-worthy emoji with the comment.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqdaDjpNjQy/

Shah Rukh looked absolutely dapper in his black suit. He sported a pendant with a black stone to complement the look.

Though Shah Rukh was not present in the family frame, it was Salman Khan who joined Gauri Khan, Aryan Khan and Suhana Khan for a special photo-op at the event.

India's first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary cultural space, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, showcases India's finest offerings in music, theatre, fine arts, and crafts.

The Centre will mark another definitive step in strengthening India's cultural infrastructure and bringing to fruition the best of India and the world in the sphere of arts.

The centre will be highly inclusive with free access for children, students, senior citizens, and the differently abled, and will strongly focus on community nurturing programmes including school and college outreach and competitions, awards for Arts teachers, in-residency Guru-shishya programs, art literacy programs for adults.

The cultural centre is home to three performing arts spaces -- the majestic 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seat Studio Theatre, and the dynamic 12S-seat Cube. It also features the Art House, a four-storey dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standards with the aim of housing a shifting array of exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world.

Spread across the Centre's concourses is a captivating mix of public art by renowned Indian and global artists, including 'Kamal Kunj' -- one of the largest Pichwai paintings in India. (ANI)
Sam Asghari's representative has set the record straight on the actor's relationship with his wife Britney Spears amid rumours that their marriage hit the rocks, reported People, a US-based media company. Asghari's rep Brandon Cohen from BAC Talent told that the couple is not having marital issues, the publication said. Addressing photos taken this week that show Asghari and Spears without their wedding bands, Cohen has said that Asghari simply took off his ring because he is shooting for a movie. Asghari announced in November that he landed a role in the Taylor Sheridan-created television series, 'Lioness'. Prior to proposing to the music icon in September 2021, the Iranian-born actor opened up about the beginning of his relationship with Spears and admitted he was ready to take the next step in their relationship. "My priorities in life are to remain humble and understand where I came from and where I'm going," he told in a March 2021 interview. "I want to take my career to the next step when it comes to acting. I want to take my relationship to the next step, as well. I don't mind becoming a father. I want to be a young dad." After the release of the unauthorized documentary 'Framing Britney Spears', Ashghari told, "I have always wanted nothing but the best for my better half, and will continue to support her in following her dreams and creating the future she wants and deserves," he shared. "I am thankful for all of the love and support she is receiving from her fans all over the world, and I am looking forward to a normal, amazing future together." Spears and the fitness trainer were first romantically linked after they met on the set of her "Slumber Party" music video in 2016. Spears later revealed that it took nearly "five months" to reconnect after the shoot. (ANI)
After the ocean-themed co-ord set, American supermodel Gigi Hadid attended the second day of Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC)'s 'India in Fashion' event in a desi attire. She marked her presence wearing a white sari with golden work and styled it with an embellished statement blouse. Gigi accessorised her look with bangles and ethnic earrings. To complete her, she kept her hair tied in a bun to enhance her look. Apart from her, B-town celebs like Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, and global icon Priyanka Chopra and her husband Nick Jonas, Kareena Kapoor, and Saif Ali Khan also marked their presence at the event. India in Fashion - Curated by author and costume expert Hamish Bowles and designed by award-winning exhibition designer Patrick Kinmonth along with Rooshad Shroff, this first-of-its-kind exhibition will showcase over 140 pieces of costume documenting India's impact on the global fashionable imagination. The India-inspired pieces have been sourced from some of the biggest museums and unseen personal collections from around the globe. The exhibition's spectacular set will feature costumes from iconic brands such as Chanel and Dior to key historic pieces dating as far back as the 18th century. India's first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary cultural space, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, opened on Friday, March 31 with an exquisite showcase of the best of India across music, theatre, fine arts and crafts to audiences from India and the world. The Centre will mark another definitive step in strengthening India's cultural infrastructure and bringing to fruition the best of India and the world in the sphere of arts. The launch programming features a specially curated art and craft exposition called 'Swadesh' along with three blockbuster shows - a musical theatrical called 'The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation'; a costume art exhibition called 'India in Fashion' and a visual art show called 'Sangam/Confluence'. Together, the programming is and exploration into the diversity of India's cultural traditions and their impact on the world, while also showcasing the diversity of spaces at the Cultural Centre. The Cultural Centre is home to three performing arts spaces: the majestic 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seat Studio Theatre, and the dynamic 12S-seat Cube. It also features the Art House, a four-storey dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standards with the aim of housing a shifting array of exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world. Spread across the Centre's concourses is a captivating mix of public art by renowned Indian and global artists, including 'Kamal Kunj' -- one of the largest Pichwai paintings in India. (ANI)
Photo: The Canadian Press Pope Francis waves from his car as he arrives at The Vatican, Saturday, April 1, 2023, after receiving treatment at the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital for bronchitis, The Vatican said. Francis was hospitalized on Wednesday after his public general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican.

A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that he's still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peter's Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis' Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend's Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peter's Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the child's already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell  I felt sick," he said, pointing to his mid-section  a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favorites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, Long live the pope! and clapped.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they "show great tenderness."

We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals, he said. Francis also said he read journalists' accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.''

Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, Forward, thanks.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered , Yes.

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) address, a review of the globe's conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peter's Square.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.
Amid the ongoing controversy over sexual harassment charges filed by students of the Kalakshetra Foundation, Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women Chairperson A.S. Kumari stated that she would present a report of her findings to the state government on Monday. She said that she will examine the complaints submitted to her by the students of the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts at the Foundation on Friday. A.S. Kumari said Friday's enquiry included personal interviews with 12 students, and virtual interviews with five other students. She said that they have also received nearly 100 written complaints against four teachers in the college. Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin informed the Assembly that action would be taken against the guilty persons. The Kalakshetra Foundation management had decided to close the college for a period of six days from Friday onwards in the wake of the controversy after the students staged a sit-in protest in the premises since Thursday. The students have accused four faculty members of verbal and sexual harassment, and have written to the Ministry of Culture in this regard. However, matters came to a head after the internal complaints committee of the institute had concluded that the sexual harassment allegations were baseless. On Wednesday, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) had also visited the campus and made inquiries about the allegations. Established in 1936 by dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale, Kalakshetra Foundation is an institute of national importance and offers courses in traditional Indian art forms such as Bharatanatyam dance, and Carnatic music. --IANS pvn/vd ( 277 Words) 2023-03-31-20:34:02 (IANS)
Amid protests, and accusations against his government of adopting "delaying tactics in implementing the NRC", Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Friday said that his government is ready to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state but to do that, an approval from the Central government is required. He said that the state government has already constituted the Manipur State Population Commission (MSPC) and it would identify the immigrants in the state based on the cut-off year of 1961. "People of Myanmar seeking asylum in Manipur is a different issue. At any cost, we would protect the demography as well as the tradition and culture of the indigenous people of the state," Singh told the media. Manipur has witnessed a series of agitations for the past several months with many women, students and youth bodies and civil society organisations have been agitating against the state government's alleged "delaying tactics" in introducing the NRC in the state, and in the functioning of the MSPC. According to the agitators, the influx of outsiders from both inside and outside the country, including people from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh, has significantly affected the identity, culture, economy, administration and the environment of Manipur. The agitating organisations also demanded detecting and deporting illegal immigrants from Manipur. "We are not against any community or religion, but we want to protect our land, environment, and indigenous communities from the adverse effects of illegal settlement," said a spokesperson for the students' bodies. After the Manipur Assembly had last year adopted a private member resolution to establish a population commission in Manipur, the state Cabinet earlier approved the establishment of the MSPC. However, the required official process is yet to start for the functioning of the commission. The Central government, on December 11, 2019, introduced the ILP (Inner Line Permit) system to strictly monitor the movement of outsiders in the state and to protect the interests of the indigenous people. The ILP under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen to visit the states where ILP is enforced for a limited period of time and with a specific purpose. Meanwhile, the Manipur government has decided to identify those Myanmarese refugees -- who have sought asylum in the northeastern state, and keep them at the designated detention centres. So far, around 5,000 immigrants, including women and children, have fled from conflict-hit Myanmar after the military took power in the neighbouring country in February 2021. An official said that the Manipur government has recently constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee headed by Tribal Affairs and Hill Development Minister Letpao Haokip after thousands of Myanmarese crossed over to the state due to the armed conflict happening near Indian border areas between the Myanmar Army and the People's Defence Force. --IANS sc/pgh ( 480 Words) 2023-03-31-20:36:04 (IANS)
The two-member team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Nights (NCPCR), which arrived in Kolkata on Friday for a field inspection of the alleged "human sacrifice" of a seven-year-old girl by her neighbour in the Tiljala area last Sunday, has alleged assault by police within the police station during their work. NCPCR Chairman Priyank Kanoongo told media persons that when he went to Tiljala Police Station for the purpose of field inspection, he was harassed and assaulted by the officer-in-charge Biswak Mukherjee. "Our conversations were constantly being recorded by a hidden camera which I spotted. After that I was also assaulted and harassed within the police station," he alleged. Kanoongo had also issued a Twitter message on this count detailing his experiences within Tiljala police station which he narrated to media. Till the time the report was filed there was no reaction either from Mukherjee or from any senior official of Kolkata Police on this count. He also alleged that earlier in the day when he and the NCPCR secretary Rupali Bandopadhyay reached the residence of the victim's family, the members of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) stopped them from having a free interaction with the family members. However, the allegations on this count have been dismissed by the WBCPCR Chairperson Sudeshna Roy, who also alleged that the visiting NCPCR team members were operating with a definite purpose to instigate the victim's family members. On Sunday evening, the body of the seven-year-old was recovered from the residence of her neighbour. Investigation revealed that the accused, Aloke Kumar killed the girl after being advised by a 'tantrik' that the sacrifice of a minor girl would enable him to get a child of his own. The following day, parts of south Kolkata turned into a virtual battlefield following clashes between police forces and the local people agitating against the barbaric act. A police vehicle and a couple of motorcycles were torched and several police vehicles vandalised. --IANS src/vd A A A A A ( 353 Words) 2023-03-31-22:42:02 (IANS)
West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose issued a strongly-worded statement on Friday evening on the clashes in Howrah district on Thursday over a Ram Navami procession, wherein he warned that those resposible for the unrest will not be spared. "Those who resort to violence under the illusion that they can hoodwink the people will soon realise they are in a fool's paradise. There will be effective and concerted action to book the culprits and bring them before the law," the opening lines of the statement issued by the Raj Bhavan read. According to Bose, setting fire to public property, "that too on the sacred Ram Navami day", is a highly-provocative act and will be viewed seriously. "Hanuman set fire to Lanka to uphold Dharma. Those who resort to setting fire for 'Adharma' will be made to swallow the fire themselves or those who are mandated to douse the fire will do it decisively," the statement read. Claiming that West Bengal has always stood united against the perpetrators of heinous crimes against humanity, the Governor said the trouble-makers and abettors will be made to realise that they cannot play 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' in the state anymore. Bose also gave a strong message to the police, asking the force to be objective, strong and fair. "Raj Bhavan will keep its eyes and ears open to ensure protection to the life, property and dignity of the common man," the statement read. The Governor also claimed that he had a confidential discussion with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on this matter. "The state government has been directed to ensure that fool-proof arrangements are made to maintain law and order effectively, and firm action is taken against the miscreants. The Chief Minister has assured that strict and decisive action will be taken to prevent recurrence of such criminal intimidation," the statement read. Bose has also ordered real-time monitoring of the situation by the Raj Bhavan, besides constituting a special cell for the same. --IANS src/arm ( 344 Words) 2023-03-31-23:04:03 (IANS)
After Sasaram, massive violence erupted in Bihar's Nalanda district on Friday in wake of the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, leading to loss of both public and private property. A minor child also sustained gunshot injuries. Four other persons also sustained injuries. They were admitted in Sadar hospital and they are said to be out of danger. The violence was triggered during the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra started from Labour Welfare Centre on Friday evening. When it reached Kanta area, some persons pelted stones from the rooftops of the buildings, and this led to stampede-like situation and then, clashes. Stones were pelted from both sides and led to protesters going on a rampage and vandalising or setting afire many vehicles, including a police jeep, as well as some shops, while police at the spot were unable to stop them due to inadequate numbers. Some police personnel also bore the brunt of the violence, which swept the Gagandiwan, Bhawarpur, Murarpur and Kanta localities of Nalanda city. Keeping in view the massive violence, the district administration has deployed a large police contingent in the affected area. District administration has also imposed Section 144 in the entire Nalanda city to restore normalcy, as well as cutting the electricity and internet services as well. The district police, however, claimed that the situation is now under control. Earlier in Sasaram, violent clashes arose between two groups as well over the same reason. The violence came ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's proposed rallies in Bihar - one in Sasaram and another in Nawada which is adjoining Nalanda district. --IANS ajk/vd ( 280 Words) 2023-03-31-23:12:04 (IANS)
Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Friday met Union Power Minister R.K. Singh and held discussions on the 14 proposed hydropower projects to be commissioned in the state. The hydropower projects are to be undertaken by several Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs), including National Hydro Power Corporation, North Eastern Electric Power Corporation, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited and THDC India Limited. Even as the hydropower projects were conceptualised many years ago, they did not register visible progress due to many reasons. Of these projects, five of them had their allotment to private developers cancelled due to lack of progress while nine power plants registered very little progress. An official in Itanagar said the Deputy Chief Minister put forth the state government's expectations and commitment pertaining to these projects and highlighted the need to expedite their commissioning. After a long process of transferring these power projects from private developers to the CPSUs, a final stage has almost been reached recently, as the state government on Wednesday approved the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to be signed with the CPSUs. The signing of the respective MoAs is scheduled to take place next month and the Union Power Minister is likely to attend the event. The official said that an action plan has been prepared to commence work on the power projects with around 12,500 MW generation capacities leading to the investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and would provide revenue of Rs 2,000 crore to the state and around Rs 350 crore per year for Local Area Development. According to an official, the Union Power Minister appreciated the progress made by the state government so far in this direction and expressed his desire to personally visit Arunachal Pradesh to witness the signing of MoAs. The Union Minister further emphasised that the commencement of these projects would lead to the overall development of the state in the form of infrastructure, social and economic upliftment, and would open up many opportunities for the local people. During the meeting, Singh also added that the development of hydropower in the state would result in a substantial rise in the income generation of the people, eventually leading to Arunachal Pradesh recording one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. --IANS sc/pgh ( 388 Words) 2023-03-31-23:18:04 (IANS)
West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the clashes that erupted over a Ram Navami procession in Howrah district on Thursday, requesting "an impartial inquiry involving central agencies like the NIA" into the matter. "It is our firm belief that the whole incident was pre-planned going by the unfolding of events with first statement coming from none other than the CM on March 29 that strict action will be taken against Ram Navami processions if there is any untoward incident," the letter read. "I have written to Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an NIA inquiry into the violence on Ram Navami in Howrah. Amit Shah has spoken to me over phone and assured that he will look into the entire incident," Majumdar said. Earlier on Friday, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, filed a PIL in the Calcutta High Court demanding a central agency investigation into the matter and immediate deployment of Central forces in the violence-hit areas. --IANS dr/arm ( 191 Words) 2023-03-31-23:22:02 (IANS)
According to the Howrah DM Mukta Arya order issued on Friday, "In Howrah, Shibpur, Santragachi, Dasnagar, Salkia, Malipanchghora, and Jagacha areas prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed till April 1, 2023."

Internet services were also suspended in some areas of Howrah till 2.00 am Saturday in the wake of the violence.

Howrah DM has issued notice to telecom, internet, and cable service providers to restrict provocative messages and videos, in the wake of violence that happened in the area.

"The public emergency continues in view of the blockade of roads, rails and other transport in different parts of the district which requires immediate action and speedy for maintenance of public peace and tranquillity," the order reads further.

Earlier on Thursday, several vehicles were set on fire after two groups clashed in Howrah amid Ram Navami celebrations. During the procession, the rioters vandalized public and private properties and set vehicles on fire.

Following the violence in Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations, the West Bengal government on Friday handed over the probe to Criminal Investigation Department (CID). A special team led by Inspector General of Police, CID Sunil Choudhury has initiated the investigation.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also earlier spoke to West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and took stock of the situation in Howrah where violence broke out.

Shah also called West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and enquired about the law and order situation in the state.

West Bengal BJP chief on Friday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into violence in Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations.

Following the violence in West Bengal's Howrah during Ram Navami celebrations, the Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Friday filed a PIL in Calcutta High Court seeking an NIA probe into the matter and immediate deployment of Central Forces in the violence-affected areas. (ANI)
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday hit out at the Centre for Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction and sentencing to two years in a criminal defamation case, and said he raised the Adani issue and they pushed him out of the Parliament. "Rahul Gandhi raised the Adani issue, and the government should answer in Parliament but they didn't. Instead of answering his question, they pushed him out of the Parliament: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said in Ajmer. Where is the country heading? Democracy is in danger. ED, IT and CBI raids are ongoing. The judiciary is under pressure. How long will this go on? CM said. "It affects the country, it affects democracy and it affects Constitution. So, citizens should understand that the situation in the country is a matter of concern," Rajasthan CM said. Notably, on March 23, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat district court and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 2019 defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark made in 2019 during an election rally in Karnataka. The defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi. After being convicted by the court, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha. The sentence of two-year imprisonment has been suspended for 30 days before which Rahul Gandhi has to appeal against the conviction. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha has been one in a series of flashpoints between the Congress party and the ruling BJP, uniting the opposition parties who have been accusing the Centre of diverting attention from the Adani issue. (ANI)
Minister of Steel and Mines Prafulla Kumar Mallik handed over a cheque for this amount to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Niwas in presence of Additional Chief Secretary, Steel and Mines Department and Chairman, OMC Deoranjan Kumar Singh.

Under the Harischandra Sahayata Yojana, the poor and destitute get financial assistance to perform the last rites of their family member while the Mahaprayan Yojana has been implemented in order to help the people to carry the dead body of their near and dear from the place of death to the residence.

V. K. Pandian, IAS, Secretary to CM-Transformational Initiatives (5T); Balwant Singh, IAS, Managing Director, OMC and senior officials of the Corporation were also present at the occasion.

OMC has been contributing to the CMRF for the noble initiatives of the government of Odisha intending for the welfare of the people of the State. It has also been contributing substantially towards the socio-economic development of the people especially residing in its mining periphery through its various CSR initiatives. (ANI)
The states labor department and attorney general are jointly investigating food manufacturer Hearthside Food Solutions and staffing agency Elite Staffing for possible violations of llinois child labor law, the agencies said Friday.

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Hearthside, which is headquartered in Downers Grove, was one of the companies named in a New York Times investigation into migrant child labor across the country published last month. The Times investigation, which focused on Hearthsides operations in Grand Rapids, Michigan, found that young migrant teenagers worked dangerous jobs at the companys facilities there in violation of child labor laws.

Hearthside Food Solutions, one of the United States largest food contractors, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov. 11, 2022. (Kirsten Luce/The New York Times)

Elite Staffing provides temp workers to Hearthside in Illinois.

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Subpoenas have been issued to Hearthside and Elite, Jane Flanagan, director of the Illinois Department of Labor, said in a written statement provided to the Tribune Friday. As this is an ongoing investigation we have no further comment at this time, Flanagan said.

The attorney generals office said three companies had been subpoenaed, but a spokesperson could not say why the third company was not named.

In a statement, Attorney General Kwame Raouls office said it was seeking information related to disturbing allegations of possible violations of child labor laws.

Scott Allen, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor, confirmed the national agency was also investigating Hearthside but could not reveal which facilities were under investigation.

Hearthside said Friday it had been taking actions related to the issues raised about temporary workers supplied by our staffing agencies to support our operations.

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Those steps include reducing its reliance on temporary workers, increasing oversight of staffing agencies and instituting document verification training with hiring managers, the company said.

In a statement prior to the announcement of the state investigation, Hearthside said it had hired a law firm to conduct an outside review of its practices.

We have been working hard to determine whether any underage individuals were working under assumed identities, fake names and dates of birth on official documentations, such as applications, IDs and tax forms, the company said in the earlier statement. Hearthside also said that it had started requiring workers to present a government-issued photo ID to enter its production facilities.

Elite Staffing said in a statement Friday that it will cooperate with the state investigation.

We take our obligation to comply with state and federal labor laws very seriously and maintain robust policies and processes that require new hires to demonstrate their eligibility to work, Elite said in a statement. Elite Staffing has several measures in place to prevent the acceptance of fraudulent documents. We have developed a comprehensive screening and recruiting process that includes rigorous document review, multiple in-person assessments, compliance system checks and ongoing supervision at the client site.

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Maria, a Little Village resident and a mother of three, worked until last year at Hearthsides production facility in Romeoville, about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.

There, said Maria  who is in the U.S. without legal permission and did not want to give her last name to the Tribune for fear that she would be blacklisted from other jobs  she worked alongside children as young as 13.

Most of the kids in the facility worked over a conveyor belt placing slices of cheese on breakfast sandwiches, Maria said.

Jossalyn Gonzalez Perez, center left, and Carolina Ramirez, center right, migrant children who attend high school during the day and work at Hearthside Food Solutions in the evenings, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov. 9, 2022. (Kirsten Luce/The New York Times)

You could just tell that they werent of age, you could see it on their face, Maria said. Two of her own children are 12 and 14, and she said the kids she worked with reminded her of her own.

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Hearthside has 10 manufacturing sites in Illinois. They include facilities in Bolingbrook, Geneva, Gibson City, Wenona, Carol Stream, Itasca, Romeoville, Woodridge and two in Des Plaines. Hearthside is a food contract manufacturer, which means it produces food products such as bars, cookies, crackers and fresh and frozen foods for other companies. The company told the Tribune it does not name its customers, though the Times reported that the products Hearthside makes include Cheerios, Lucky Charms and Cheetos.

Hearthside said 4,300 full and part-time workers, including those employed by staffing agencies, work in its Illinois facilities. The number excludes corporate employees at the Downers Grove headquarters.

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Hearthside said it uses E-Verify, an online program that allows companies to verify employment eligibility by matching employee-given information with Social Security and Homeland Security records.

But Hearthside only began requiring the staffing agencies it works with to use E-Verify a few weeks ago; the company said it issued a mandate on Feb. 22, shortly before the Times published its investigation, requiring staffing agencies to begin using the program by March 6.

Illinois Rep. Dagmara Avelar joins a group of activists as they gather near the Hearthside Foods packaging facility to speak out against child labor on March 6, 2023, in Bolingbrook. The activists were accusing Hearthside of employing child workers hired through temporary employment agencies at their facility. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

At shift change on a weekday afternoon in mid-March, two workers who spoke with the Tribune outside Hearthsides facility in Romeoville said that teenagers under 18 still worked at the facility. The teenagers are from Guatemala, the workers said.

It got to a point where the company really cant do anything, one of the employees said. The kids find a way to falsify identities and birth certificates. All they have to do is send money back home and they get a new one.

Other workers who spoke with the Tribune said they had not seen or heard of children working at the facility. In total, four workers said they had seen or heard of children working there and four said they had not.

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Hearthside has been repeatedly cited by the U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration for alleged workplace safety violations. Nationally, Hearthside has been cited by OSHA 20 times over the last five years. Three times since 2019, OSHA has cited the company after workers in Illinois suffered finger or fingertip amputations at work. The company is contesting one of those alleged violations.

In response to a request for comment regarding its OSHA violations, Hearthside cited its incident rate, which it said was significantly lower than the incident rate in the food manufacturing industry overall. The Department of Labor said it could not confirm an individual companys incident rate.

The 20 OSHA accidents in question occurred during a five-year window when workers at Hearthside logged up to 27 million hours per year, the company said in a statement.

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Concerns about child workers can be reported to the labor departments Child Labor Hotline at 800-645-5784 or the Attorney Generals Workplace Rights Hotline at 844-740-5076.

Chicago Tribunes Laura Rodriguez Presa contributed.

tasoglin@chicagotribune.com

rrequena@chicagotribune.com
The state govt will file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in this regard.

The decision was taken in a meeting held by the Chief Minister at his residence last night.

The CM said that the Rajasthan High Court has acquitted all the accused, overturning the 2019 district court verdict.

He said that it is the intention of the state government that the culprits should be given the harshest punishment, therefore the state government will soon file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court.

The Chief Minister also decided to terminate the services of Additional Advocate General Rajendra Yadav, who was appointed advocate in this case.

In the meeting, Chief Secretary Usha Sharma, Principal Government Secretary Home Anand Kumar, Director General of Police Umesh Mishra, ADG SOG ATS Ashok Rathore, ADG Intelligence S Sengthir, Principal Government Secretary Law Gyan Prakash Gupta and Secretary Home (Law) Ravi Sharma and others were present.

Over 80 persons were killed and more than 183 injured in the Jaipur bomb blasts when eight explosions took place on May 13, 2008. (ANI)
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has started a special drive for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of teachers today. The National Education Policy 2020 recommends that every school should ensure the participation of all its teachers in at least 50 hours of CPD. As also mandated in CBSE by-laws, each teacher is expected to participate in at least 25 hours of training programs conducted by the Board in a year and the rest from other sources to be arranged by Education Departments of concerned States/UTs. "CBSE has established 16 Centres of Excellence in different parts of the country with a focus on In-service Training of teachers of all CBSE affiliated schools. COEs conduct Training under two categories: Generic and Subject Specific. There are 23 training courses aligned with classes X and XII subjects while there are 22 generic courses ranging from Adolescent Education Program, Art Integration, Inclusive Education, Happy Classrooms, Cyber Safety and Security and more", a CBSE statement said. The statement further said, "Recently 124 Secondary and Senior Secondary Government schools in Ladakh, UT have been affiliated with CBSE. 1000 Government schools in Andhra Pradesh have also come under the fold of CBSE. As more and more Government, Government Aided, Public Private Partnership schools get affiliated with CBSE, it is imperative for the Board to handhold the teachers in these schools through this transition period by giving special training in collaboration with the respective Education Departments of concerned State/UT." The CBSE set up a high-powered Committee to advise on providing quality training to such teachers. Subsequently, it has been agreed that beginning of April 2023, CBSE will provide training programs for the teachers of Government, Government Aided, Public Private Partnership schools affiliated with CBSE. Each State/UT/Body will develop a centralized Annual Training Calendar beginning from April to March with their specific requirements for training. It will be ensured that each Government teacher receives a minimum of 25 hours of training organized by the Board/State Government or Government/Regional Teacher's Training Institutions and the remaining 25 hours of CPD shall be arranged by the school itself. The statement added that all modalities of teachers' training have been finalized in partnership with the State Governments and UTs which will sponsor and make online registration for teachers' training from their Government, Government Aided and PPP schools on the CBSE training portal. (ANI)
Over 20 people were arrested after a clash broke out in Nalanda district of Bihar between two groups following a Ram Navami procession on March 31, in which eight persons were injured, a police official said on Saturday. The clash broke out on the 10th day of Ram Navami celebrations near Gagan Diwan under the Laheri Police Station area in Biharsharif, which is the district headquarters of Nalanda. Miscreants pelted stones and set around half a dozen vehicles ablaze. According to police, three people sustained bullet injuires in firing in the clash. Personnel of police and administration forces were deployed at the spot and Security has been increased in the district and police are patrolling the area The police and security personnel are deployed and patrolling the district in wake of the clash. Section 144 also imposed in Bihar's Nalanda and also in Sasaram, which reported a clash on March 31. Superintendent of Police, Nalanda, Ashok Mishra has appealed to the people not to believe rumours and to maintain peace. "Police are patrolling the area, and are on alert. We're maintaining peace. Over 20 people were arrested. Eight people were injured and three sustained bullet injuries. People should not believe rumours. The situation under control now," Mishra told ANI. Earlier, Dr Viswajeet Kumar of the Sadar Hospital, Nalanda told ANI that 14 people were brought to the hospital of whom three have been referred to Patna. "14 people were brought here. Of them, four had suffered bullet injuries, out of which three have been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital. One person is admitted to ICU. All are stable," Dr Viswajeet Kumar said. On Friday, a clash broke out between two groups after the Ram Navami procession. Stone pelting and arson of vehicles also occurred, a senior official of the police said. "We are getting the details of the incident through CCTV footage, drone camera and videography," Nalanda DM Shashank Shubhankar had said. "On the basis of the evidence, the miscreants will be identified. They will not be spared, strict action will be taken," he said. Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal on Saturday where he will attend Combined Commanders' Conference-2023 and will also flag off the Vande Bharat Express train between Bhopal and New Delhi. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed the Prime Minister on his arrival. "Will be in Bhopal today. In the morning will take part in the Combined Commanders' Conference and later will flag off the Vande Bharat Express between Bhopal and New Delhi. This train will boost connectivity between MP and Delhi," PM Modi tweeted ahead of his visit. During his visit, the Prime Minister will attend the Combined Commanders' Conference-2023 at the Kushabhau Thakre Hall in Bhopal. The three-day conference of Military Commanders is being held from March 30 to April 1, 2023, on the theme 'Ready, Resurgent, Relevant'. "During the Conference, deliberations will be held over a varied spectrum of issues pertaining to national security, including jointness and theaterisation in the Armed Forces. Preparation of the Armed Forces and progress in defence ecosystem towards attaining 'Aatmanirbharta' will also be reviewed," an official statement said earlier. "The conference will witness the participation of commanders from the three armed forces and senior officers from the Ministry of Defence. Inclusive and informal interaction will also be held with soldiers, sailors and airmen from Army, Navy and Air Force who will contribute to the deliberations," it added. Meanwhile, the indigenously designed train set of Vande Bharat Express is equipped with state-of-the-art passenger amenities. It will provide a faster, more comfortable and more convenient travel experience for rail users, boost tourism and promote economic development in the region. (ANI)
A man has been detained in Pune in connection with the death threat message to Uddhav Thackeray faction leader and MP Sanjay Raut, Mumbai police said on Saturday. The police are questioning the detained person. Mumbai Police said that the detainee used Lawrence Bishnoi''s name and his connection with the gangster will be probed. "The accused person who was detained in Pune related to a threat message to Sanjay Raut used the name of Lawrence Bishnoi. He will also be interrogated related to the threat message to actor Salman Khan. The accused''s connection with the Bishnoi gang will also be probed," Mumbai Police said. Earlier, the police said that Raut had filed a written complaint in this regard and an investigation into the matter is underway. "Sanjay Raut received death threats stating that he will meet Sidhu Moose Wala''s fate. He got the threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The message said that if you met in Delhi, will kill you with AK 47. He wrote a letter to the police complaining about the matter," the police said. The police are trying to trace the number from which Raut received the threat message. Earlier, a threat was also received by Bollywood actor Salman Khan stating that he will "end up like Sidhu Moose Wala". The accused, Dhakad Ram who is a resident of Luni in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, was arrested and handed over to Mumbai Police. "In the case registered in Bandra police station of threats to kill Salman Khan via email, the Mumbai police team and Luni police team in joint action caught Dhakad Ram, a resident of Luni in Jodhpur district," Luni Police Station Officer, Jodhpur Ishwar Chand Pareek had told ANI earlier. Last week, Mumbai Police booked jailed gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldie Brar and Rohit Garg for allegedly sending threatening emails to actor Salman Khan''s office. Bandra Police registered a case under sections 506(2),120(b) and 34 of IPC. Khan has been provided with Y+ category security by the Mumbai police as the actor is perceived to be under threat. The Maharashtra state government took this step after the actor received a threat letter from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang earlier. (ANI)
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday slammed the Centre over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha and said that the Congress leader was not given a chance to speak (in the Parliament) to present his case. Gehlot said that Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister today because MK Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru established democracy in India. "Today PM Modi is the PM because Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru established democracy in the country 75 yrs ago. BJP is misusing the ED and CBI and all other central institutions. Rahul Gandhi's disqualification was planned by them. PM did not answer any of Rahul Gandhi's questions. No one gave him (Rahul Gandhi) chance to speak," Gehlot alleged. Earlier on Friday, Gehlot hit out at the Centre for Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction and sentencing to two years in a criminal defamation case, and said he raised the Adani issue and they pushed him out of the Parliament. "Rahul Gandhi raised the Adani issue, and the government should answer in Parliament but they didn't. Instead of answering his question, they pushed him out of the Parliament: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said in Ajmer. Where is the country heading? Democracy is in danger. ED, IT and CBI raids are ongoing. The judiciary is under pressure. How long will this go on? CM said. "It affects the country, it affects democracy and it affects Constitution. So, citizens should understand that the situation in the country is a matter of concern," Rajasthan CM said. Notably, on March 23, Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat district court and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 2019 defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark made in 2019 during an election rally in Karnataka. The defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi. After being convicted by the court, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha. The sentence of two-year imprisonment has been suspended for 30 days before which Rahul Gandhi has to appeal against the conviction. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha has been one in a series of flashpoints between the Congress party and the ruling BJP, uniting the opposition parties who have been accusing the Centre of diverting attention from the Adani issue. (ANI)
Jeep and elephant safaris at Assam's Kaziranga National Park will remain closed for tourists for two days from April 6 in view of the Elephant Festival, which will be attended by President Droupadi Murmu, according to officials. A general notice issued by the Divisional Forest Officer, Eastern Assam Wildlife Division stated that, in pursuance of the Field Director Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, Bokakhat office letter for 'Gaj Utsav-2023' dated March 23, the park closure notice issued dated March 22 has been modified in the interest of tourists. However, the Jeep Safari will continue to remain open for tourists in Burapahar Range, Ghorakati and Eastern Range, Agoratoli. President Murmu is scheduled to visit Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and will attend the two-day Elephant Festival that begins from April 6. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma chaired a meeting to review preparations. "Assam is looking forward to hosting President Droupadi Murmu who will be on a two-day visit beginning April 6. Chaired a meeting to review preparations," Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted. The Gaj Festival, one of the largest elephant festivals in India is organized in Assam for the conservation and safeguard of Asiatic elephants. During a press briefing last month, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey announced that the Gaj Utsav 2023 celebrations aimed at rejoicing the nature-culture relationship in India would be inaugurated by the President on April 7. The Gaj Festival commemorates the successful completion of 30 years of Project Elephant and to give more impetus to conservation efforts In a press briefing last month, MoS Choubey had said, "The State of Assam holds the second largest wild elephant population in India and also has a large number of elephants that are under human care. Thus, it is fitting to celebrate Gaj Utsav 2023 at Kaziranga, Assam. India's remarkable efforts towards conservation of biological resources under the umbrella of elephants would also be showcased during the Utsav." "Since people's participation has given more impetus to conservation efforts, the Utsav is intended to bring together the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (EFF & CC), Chief Minister of Assam, Minister of State, EF&CC, Forest Ministers of all Elephant Range States, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Head of Forest Force (PCCF & HoFF), Chief Wildlife Wardens (CWLW), Infrastructure Departments, Local Communities, Civil Societies, NGO, school children, mahouts etc. to celebrate and to display the efforts taken by the Government and other stakeholders for conservation of elephants in the country", added the Minister. MoS Choubey said that as part of the Gaj Utsav celebrations and to spread the message of Conservation and protection of Elephants, various events and programmes such as walkathons, wildlife awareness rallies and nature camps for students and children, guided visits of school children to nearby Protected Areas/ Zoological Parks, painting & debate competitions etc., would be organized in all the Elephant Reserves in the country. "The Ministry has been steering wildlife conservation to new heights. We are resolving many longstanding issues amicably while ensuring that conservation priorities are never compromised. We are embracing science and technology to improve wildlife management. At the same time, we are also hailing our hard-earned innate traditional knowledge on natural resource management", MoS Choubey said. "India will always be a safe haven for elephants, for generations unborn to cherish our rich nature-culture relationship", Choubey added. (ANI)
Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, has said that she is not prepared to pay a penny or apologise to Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary MV Govindan after the latter served her a legal notice seeking an apology or compensation. A legal notice was sent to Swapna Suresh over her defamatory accusations that MV Govindan had offered her money and threatened her to settle the Kerala gold smuggling case. On Friday, in her Facebook post, Swapna Suresh shared the reply she had given to CPIM State Secretary. The notice by Swapna Suresh's advocate read, "At the outset, it is informed that this notice has been issued by your client without properly understanding what exactly has transpired. I request you to advise your client to again hear the Facebook live of my client which was conducted on 09.03.2023 once again which will enable your client to understand the contents of the Facebook live which was basically made in Malayalam a language which your client can understand easily and without much difficulty." "It is true that on 09.03.2003 my client has in her Facebook account conducted a live interaction with Facebook friends. This live interaction was conducted by my client in the backdrop of veiled a threat issued by one Mr Vijay Pillai in the matter of Gold Smuggling case in which my client is an accused," the notice further said. "My client clearly stated in her Facebook live only the matters told to her by Mr Vijay Pillai. He informed my client that he has approached my client on behalf of your client and that if my client refuse to take the offer of Rs 30 crore and withdraw from the fight against the Chief Minister and family, the life of my client will be in danger. My client has only disclosed the facts which was told by Mr Vijay Pillai to my client and my client has never stated anywhere in the live that your client has send Mr Vijay Pillai. "My client has never stated that your client has intimated my client through Mr Vijay Pillai about the consequences of my client's refusal to withdraw from the fight, but only stated that Mr Vijay Pillai has told my client that your client has told him that I will have to face the consequences. It is in this background I suggest you to request your client go through the Facebook live again which is mainly in Malayalam the language which your client can easily understand and you can also assist him in getting through the English words used by my client in the live," the notice read. "It is true that the Facebook live of my client was viewed by the public and was widely published in all English and Malayalam newspapers and telecasted in all Malayalam news channels in Kerala. But the claim of your client that the news has discredited your client is a matter to be proved by your client as the burden is on your client prove that your client has gone credit to be discredited by adducing evidence before the court," the notice stated. "The entire content of the notice is based on paragraph 1 wherein the allegations are made by your client without understanding what exactly has happened. But still lam repeating, for helping your client to understand the situation, that my client has never said that Mr Vijay Pillai is an emissary of your client. My client has never said that your client or his family members are in any manner associated or acquainted with Mr Vijay Pillai. The allegation of your client is that false and baseless allegation levelled by my client has maligned the reputation of your client. "It is further alleged that my client's allegation has tarnished the goodwill and disparaged the impeccable reputation of your client and has caused disrepute to your client. My client is totally rejecting these baseless and silly allegations. It is the duty of your client to prove that your client has reputation and goodwill in the society and it is for your client to prove the same by adducing evidence when the case goes for trial as my client is prepared to face the trial. My client is not aware about the reputation and goodwill of your client as claimed by him," it added. The notice further said, "My client is also not aware about the tall claims made by your client in the last but one paragraph of your notice. My client is not aware about the claim that your client is a person with high repute and integrity and as mentioned earlier and it is for your client to prove all these tall claims made by him through your notice before a court of law to prove that my client's action has dented such an image he claims to have. Therefore this entire notice is totally misconceived and misplaced as it has been sent without exactly knowing or understanding what exactly has transpired in this issue including the Facebook live of my client. So therefore I suggest that you better advise your client to defer from issuing such silly notices to anyone without understanding the actual situation and advise your client to get proper legal help to understand the exact situation before issuing such lawyer notices." "Therefore, I inform you that my client is not prepared to pay even a penny as damages to your client and not prepared to tender any apology to your client and inform your client on behalf of my client that my client welcomes all legal steps that will be initiated by your client for defamation in the court of law," the notice stated. (ANI)
The Chhatisgarh Government has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that a ring-fenced amount of atleast Rs 1,000 crore is set apart for the purpose of solid as well as liquid waste management. "Ring-fenced amount of atleast Rs 1,000 crores be set apart in terms of a statement of the Chief Secretary, Chhattisgarh which has been taken on record and such funds be kept as "non-lapsable," the Tribunal noted. The bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel on Friday said, "The Chief Secretary, Chhattisgarh may take further remedial measures to ensure compliance of Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules considering the statutory timelines to be sacrosanct as already directed by this Tribunal. Similarly, the timelines for ensuring the setting up of necessary sewage management systems have to be accepted as rigid timelines in view of the judgment of the Supreme Court dated February 22, 2017." "Plastic waste and construction and demolition waste processing plants be set up ensuring that bio-medical, hazardous and E-waste are not co-mingled and treated with solid waste. Immediate efforts be made for ensuring connectivity with STPs and proposed STPs," further directed the Tribunal. "We hope in the light of interaction with the Chief Secretary, the State of Chhattisgarh will take further measures in the matter by an innovative approach and stringent monitoring, ensuring that legacy waste as well as unprocessed waste and liquid waste generation and treatment are bridged at the earliest, shortening the proposed timelines, adopting alternative/interim measures to the extent and wherever found viable," the Tribunal further added. "Restoration plans need to be executed at the earliest simultaneously in all districts/cities/ towns/ villages in a time-bound manner without further delay with well-laid monitoring mechanisms at State and District levels. District Magistrates must take ownership for monitoring of sewage and solid waste management and regularly provide reports to Chief Secretary on a monthly basis and overall compliance be ensured by Chief Secretary for which regular meetings be conducted," said the Tribunal. As Environment Compensation has been awarded in several states, the NGT had said, "Award of compensation has become necessary under section 15 of the NGT Act to remedy the continuing damage to the environment and to comply with directions of the Supreme Court requiring this Tribunal to monitor enforcement of norms for solid and liquid waste management." "Moreover, without fixing the quantified liability necessary for restoration, the mere passing of orders has not shown any tangible results in the last several years (for solid waste management) and five years (for liquid waste management), even after the expiry of statutory/laid down timelines. Continuing damage is required to be prevented in future and past damage is to be restored," said the bench. The directions were passed by the Green court while examining the issues of solid as well as liquid waste management as per orders of the Supreme Court order dated September 2, 2014, with regard to solid waste management and order dated February 22, 2017, with regard to liquid waste management. (ANI)
Responding to the death threat received by Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena faction leader Sanjay Raut, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that police are investigating the case and proper action will be taken in the matter. This comes after the Mumbai Police on Saturday arrested the accused who allegedly sent the death threat message to Raut. Talking to the media here on Saturday, Fadnavis said, "The person threatening Sanjay Raut has been identified, and primary information has been received that he threatened Sanjay Raut in a drunken state. A thorough investigation will be done in this matter, and action will be taken". The arrested accused has been identified as 23-year-old Rahul Talekar. He has also admitted that he sent the threat message as he was in an inebriated state. "The accused person who was detained in Pune related to a threat message to Sanjay Raut has been arrested by police. He has been identified as 23-year-old Rahul Talekar. The accused has admitted that he sent the threat message as he was in an inebriated state," the police said. Earlier in the day, Maharashtra MP Sanjay Raut received a death threat message, after which he filed a written complaint to the Mumbai Police. "Sanjay Raut received death threats stating that he will meet the fate of Sidhu Moosewala. He got the threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The message said that if you are in Delhi, we will kill you with AK-47. He wrote a letter to the police complaining about the matter," the police had said. Upon receiving the death threat, Raut said alleged the state government and police didn't do anything in the past when similar threats were made against him. "I got a threat message and I have informed the police. I won't be scared. Similar attempts were made to carry out an attack on me but what did the police do? What did the state's home minister do?" he stated. Initially, the Mumbai Police had said that the accused used Lawrence Bishnoi's name and his connection with the gangster will be probed. However, later the police said that the accused has no connection with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. (ANI)
A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua "JJ" Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. A mother charged with murder in the deaths of her two children is set to stand trial in Idaho. The proceedings against Lori Vallow Daybell beginning Monday, April 3, 2023, could reveal new details in the strange, doomsday-focused case. (John Roark/AP)

It has been more than three years since police announced that two kids were missing from a rural eastern Idaho town, and each twist in the grim investigation has seemed stranger than the last.

Their mother claimed to be a deity, her estranged husband wrote in divorce papers. She called the children zombies before they vanished, a friend told police. A handful of followers seemed to buy into her doomsday claims, Arizona investigators reported.

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Those are just some of the details that could be aired in court starting next week, when Lori Vallow Daybell stands trial on murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua JJ Vallow, and Tylee Ryan, who was last seen a few days before her 17th birthday.

Her husband, Chad Daybell, faces the same charges. And they are both also charged in the October 2019 death of Daybells late wife.

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Heres a look at what is known and what is next in the bizarre case:

How did the case begin?

JJs grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock of Louisiana, were increasingly worried about the kids in 2019. For the first half of the year, Lori Vallow Daybell was still married to JJs father, Charles Vallow, but the two were estranged and he had filed for divorce.

In the divorce documents, Vallow claimed his wife believed she was a god-like figure, sent to usher in the apocalypse and carry out the work of 144,000 believers.

Their marriage ended suddenly in July when Loris brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her husband outside the familys suburban Phoenix home. Police initially determined the shooting was in self-defense and Cox was never charged.

Vallow Daybell, the kids and Cox moved to eastern Idaho, and JJs grandparents struggled to reach him by phone. The Woodcocks said Vallow Daybell wouldnt tell them why the child was always unavailable. They grew suspicious and called police.

When did this case become a murder investigation?

Rexburg police performed a welfare check in November of 2019, and said Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell  an Idaho man who had known Lori for months  lied about the childrens whereabouts.

When police returned the next day, the couple had left town.

Police determined Tylee Ryan was last seen in September headed into Yellowstone National Park with her mom and other family for a day trip, and JJ was last seen by school officials several days later.

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The search spanned several states and continued until June 2020, when the childrens bodies were found buried in the yard of Daybells eastern Idaho home.

Detectives meanwhile learned that his previous wife, Tammy Daybell, had unexpectedly died in October 2019 of what was initially reported as natural causes, and the family had declined an autopsy.

Chad and Lori married just two weeks after Tammys death. Authorities exhumed Tammy Daybells body and expanded their investigation.

What do prosecutors say happened?

Prosecutors say the Daybells espoused strange doomsday-focused beliefs to further their alleged plan to kill the kids and Tammy Daybell, then collect life insurance money and the kids social security and survivor benefits.

Several family members and friends described to detectives a group led by Lori and Chad that met to pray, believing that they could drive out evil spirits and seek revelations from beyond the spiritual veil.

Though the beliefs Vallow Daybells friends described to detectives were loosely based in theology from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they veered into the extreme.

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In police reports, one friend said Vallow Daybell told her she could teleport between Arizona and Hawaii, and that Daybell said he had a portal in his home where he could receive revelations and travel to other realms.

Vallow Daybells close friend Melanie Gibb told investigators that the couple used a scoring system to determine whether people were good or evil, and that they believed people became zombies when they were possessed by evil spirits.

The group would spend time praying to get rid of the zombies, and believed that if they were successful the possessed person would physically die, freeing their trapped soul from limbo.

Vallow Daybell called JJ and Tylee zombies several times before they died, Gibb told investigators.

What do defense attorneys say?

Vallow Daybell is being represented by eastern Idaho-based attorneys John Thomas and James Archibald.

She has pleaded not guilty in the case, and her attorneys have submitted formal notice that they intend to offer an alibi.

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In that court document, Vallow Daybells attorneys said she was in her own apartment in Rexburg, Idaho, when the children died at a nearby apartment where her brother lived. The attorneys said she was with a couple of friends, and/or Chad Daybell.

Her attorneys also wrote that Vallow Daybell was in Hawaii with other friends when Daybells previous wife died the next month.

Daybells attorneys havent offered details about his planned defense, other than saying in court that Daybell and Vallow Daybell will have " mutually antagonistic defenses "  a legal term that generally means a jury would have to disbelieve one defendant in order to believe the other.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN DURING THE TRIAL?

Vallow Daybells trial is expected to last up to 12 weeks. Jury selection begins Monday.

The judge has banned cameras from the courtroom and the trial was moved to Boise to increase the likelihood of finding jurors that arent deeply familiar with the case.

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Her husband will be tried later.

Prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against both defendants. But just two weeks before the trial was to begin, 7th District Judge Steven Boyce granted a request from Vallow Daybells defense attorneys to take the death penalty off the table.

The judge said the decision was made because of the volume of evidence that was turned over to the defense team. Vallow Daybell has not waived her right to a speedy trial, so it could not be delayed.

Daybell still faces the death penalty in his case.

Any other charges?

Vallow Daybell has also been indicted in metro Phoenix on a charge of conspiring to murder Charles Vallow. The indictment says she conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, in Vallows death.

Cox was never arrested in the case. He died five months after Vallow was killed from what medical examiners said was a pulmonary blood clot.

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Idaho likely wont agree to extradite Vallow Daybell to face the Arizona charges until the case against her in Idaho is completed. She has not yet entered a plea in the Arizona case.
The High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) of Odisha Government headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday approved 5 industrial projects from diverse sectors worth Rs 35,760 crores that would generate over 38,100 employment opportunities for the people of Odisha. "The state government is working hard towards converting the investment intents received during Make in Odisha Conclave 2022 into ground reality. Projects spread across diverse sectors like IT & ESDM / Green Energy Equipment, Steel, Chemicals and Textiles received approvals," the official statement said. The approved projects will be set up across various parts of the state namely, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, and Keonjhar. The committee has given a go-ahead to 2 projects in the Steel Sector, 1 project in Green Energy and Equipment, 1 project in the Chemicals sector, and 1 project in the Technical Textile sector. "The HLCA approved the proposal of WAREE Energies Limited, entailing an investment of INR 25,000 crores. It proposes to set up an Integrated Solar Equipment Manufacturing Complex by setting up 50,000 MT Polysilicon, 10,000 MW each of Ingot, Wafer, Solar Cells, and Solar Modules at Neulopoi, Dhenkanal. It is expected to provide employment opportunities to about 14,000 people in the state. Such manufacturing facility is the largest in eastern India which will develop an ecosystem for further investment in this sector," it said. The committee also approved the proposal of Super Smelters Limited to set up an integrated steel plant of capacity of 1.8 MTPA in Keonjhar District which promises an investment of Rs 5,436.10 crores and is expected to provide employment opportunities to about 19,000 people in the state. HLCA also approved another Steel sector project by Kashvi Power and Steel Private Limited for setting up an integrated steel plant in Keonjhar District with an investment of Rs 1600.00 Cr. This 0.55 MTPA capacity plant will employ more than 3,500 people in Odisha. In the technical textile sector, the committee gave a nod to 1 project, by MCPI Private Limited. With an investment of Rs 2,223.25 crore, the company proposes to set up manufacturing of HMLS Polyester, Based Tyre Cord Fabrics, HTLE Yarns, High IV and CP Chips, which will provide employment opportunities to more than 1,150 people of Odisha at Bhadrak Technical Textile Park. "In terms of the chemicals sector, the authority approved one project that is expected to employ more than 500 people in Odisha. The proposal of IV Dhunseri Petrochem Industries Ltd includes the setting up of Bottle grade PET resin with a capacity of 60,000 MT per Annum in Jagatsinghpur with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore and is expected to churn employment opportunities for more than 500 people in the state. This manufacturing facility will supply raw materials to many PET pre-form manufacturers in the region," it said. "The State Government of Odisha has always encouraged and welcomed industrialists to invest in the state. Its industry-friendly policies have positioned the state to be a highly lucrative destination for investors who have been awaiting opportunities to step into Eastern India or expand their footprint in the region," the official statement added. (ANI)
"A drone was forced to return to Pakistan after BSF troops deployed at the India-Pakistan international in Sambha District fired towards a blinking light of a flying object observed," BSF said in a statement.

The drone was spotted around 12:15 am on Saturday on the international border in Ramgarh, Samba District.

A search operation undertaken by BSF is underway, they added.

On March 28, The Border Security Force shot down a Pakistani drone in Punjab soon after it entered Indian territory carrying a consignment of contraband items, the paramilitary force said on Tuesday.

The drone was shot down around 8.20 pm on Monday in the Amritsar district of Punjab when the BSF troops deployed at the India-Pakistan International Border border heard the buzzing sound of the flying object.

It was recovered on Tuesday morning during a search operation conducted by the border guarding force.

The drone entered Indian territory from Pakistan and it was detected in the area of Border Outpost Rajatal in Amritsar Sector, said the BSF, which is mandated to guard the 3,323 km India-Pakistan International Border.

"The drone was fired upon and counter-drone measures were taken around 8.20 pm on March 27. Subsequently, today morning (March 28, 2023), during a search of the area, BSF troops recovered one black coloured drone with a white coloured bag approx 700 metres from IB and 350 meters from the fence. On the opening of the bag, one big packet wrapped with yellow coloured adhesive tape and one small torch was found," the BSF further said.

Earlier in the last month, The BSF troops also recovered six big packets of Heroin weighing 6.275 kg, contained inside a bag and a bike without a number plate from the wheat field of Toor village in Amritsar district. A Pakistani drone in Amritsar also dumped the Heroin. (ANI)
The matter pertains to the clash that took place between two groups following sloganeering during Ram Navami festivities on March 30 during evening Ramzan prayers.

ACP Charminar, Rudra Bhaskar told ANI, "The Shri Ram Navmi group on March 30 changed the route and marched on the other route due to which disturbance was created and a clash took place. Police immediately reached the spot and evicted both groups from the area. We have filed a case against the group for not following the permitted route".

Earlier the police had said that they had taken a suo-moto cognizance into the incident, despite not receiving any complaint.

"A clash occurred between two groups in the Charminar area. A few people from the Muslim community attacked a few people from the Hindu community who came on a bike and started sloganeering on Ram Navami day during Ramzan evening prayers," the police had said.

Further investigation is underway in the case.

Meanwhile, clashes have been reported in various other parts of the country during the Ram Navami 'Shobha Yatra' including in Mumbai, Gujarat's Vadodara, West Bengal's Howrah, Bihar's Sasaram and Nalanda.

Incidents of miscreants pelting stones and setting vehicles and properties on fire were reporter, after which section 144 has been imposed in many areas. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reviewed the security situation and operational readiness of the armed forces during the valedictory session of Combined Commanders' Conference 2023 in Bhopal. PM Modi also called upon the three services to stay ready to deal with these new and emerging threats, emphasising that all steps are being taken to equip the Armed Forces with necessary weapons and technologies. The Prime Minister was briefed by Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan about the various discussions conducted during this year's conference of top commanders from the army, navy and air force in Bhopal. "Narendra Modi complimented the Armed Forces for their role in Nation Building and providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assistance to friendly countries," the Ministry of Defence said on Saturday. During the final day of the session, various topics including aspects of digitisation, cyber security, challenges of social media, Aatmanirbharta, absorption of Agniveers and jointness were discussed. In a significant development from the past, the scope of the conference was expanded this year, wherein, a few multi-layered and interactive sessions were conducted with the participation of soldiers from every command of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, including the Tri-Services Andaman and Nicobar Command. This three-day conference of the combined apex-level military leadership of the country commenced on March 30 this year. The theme was 'Ready, Resurgent, Relevant'. During the conference, deliberations over a varied spectrum of issues were held, including national security and evolving a Joint Military Vision for the future. On March 31, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh interacted with the top military brass and reviewed the defence preparedness. He lauded the Armed Forces for their valuable contribution to protecting national interests and providing support to the Government in realising its vision of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'. In this year's conference, inputs from the field units were sought on contemporary issues like changes in TTP and the way forward for greater integration among the three services. These inputs were deliberated in detail by the Military Commanders. The conference also provided an opportunity for the Commanders to review the modernisation of the Armed Forces and the ongoing and concluded military operations, while also discussing ways to improve the country's defence capabilities. (ANI)
Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said that tea tourism will increase in the coming years, after attending the first-day event at the second G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting here on Saturday. While talking to ANI, the Union Minister said, "Our second meeting for tourism has taken place here in Darjeeling. This is a new experience for the G20 delegates. The workers who work here are also getting encouragement after this. Tea tourism will increase in the upcoming years." Meanwhile, the G20 delegates experienced tea plucking on the sidelines of the first-day event. Darjeeling, the Queen of the Himalayas and one of India's leading tourist destinations, along with Siliguri, located in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been chosen to host the second Tourism Working Group meeting from April 1-3, 2023. Around 130 participants are attending the event. The delegates from the G-20 member countries will get the opportunity to discuss the ways of reviving the tourism sector which got affected due to the Covid pandemic, in this three-day meeting from April 1 to April 3. On the first-day event, Chief coordinator of G20 Harshvardhan Shringla said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed us to showcase India to the world as we are ready to host the G20 Summit in September this year. I recall him saying that, "each part of India has its own uniqueness, heritage, beauty and culture and that our G20 meetings should not be confined to the national capital, New Delhi, alone." To explore India during the G20 meeting, Shringla said, "The delegates from the G-20 member countries will get the opportunity to discuss the ways of reviving the tourism sector which got affected due to the Covid pandemic, in this three-day meet." During his speech, he also pointed out, "India, especially the North Eastern part of the country will get a big opportunity to showcase the rich cultural heritage and tourism potentials dominated in the region." Around 10 ambassadors from different countries including Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, G20 Chief Coordinator HarshVardhan Shringla, Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism participated in the program in Siliguri and Darjeeling on the first day of the second G20 Tourism Working Group meeting. During the three-day meetings, the foreign delegates would get to experience the tea industry, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and adventure tourism. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a veiled attack on the opposition Congress accusing it of 'attempting' to tarnish his image. He said the attempt to malign his image is being made since 2014 after the people of India elected him as Prime Minister. Modi made the remarks in Bhopal where he flagged off 11th semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train at Rani Kamlapati Railway Station during his day-long visit to the city. It is the first Vande Bharat Express for Madhya Pradesh, which will run between Bhopal and New Delhi. "Some people have taken pledge to ruin my image, and they have been making these attempts since 2014. Some of them are doing it within the country, while some are supporting these people from outside. But, the people of this country are my 'suraksha chakra' (security cover)," Modi said. The Prime Minister appealed people not to fall into their fake trap and support the development vision of his government. Modi's vailed attack on Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi came as the latter has questioned the relationship between him (Modi) and business tycoon Gautam Adani. The Prime Minister went on saying that his opponents (Congress and Rahul Gandhi) were attacking on him with a new tacit everyday. "But, I would urge people of Madhya Pradesh to continue your support for the development vision and not to fall under false trap. Madhya Pradesh has a crucial role in the development of the country," Modi made this appeal to the people of Madhya Pradesh where the assembly elections are due this year. Meanwhile, he also slammed the Congress for not upgrading India's railway connectivity despite being in the power for several decades. He said the Indian Railway used to get only Rs 600 crore budget before 2014, which now has increased up to Rs 13,000 crore. "This is the basic difference between the Congress and the BJP governments. After Independence, we have got a setup model of Indian Railway, and it needed upgradation. However, previous governments focused only on keeping happy one family (indicated towards Gandhi family)," Modi added. While gifting first Vande Bharat train to people of Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi said that, perhaps it would be first time in the history of India that one Prime Minister visited at the same Railway station twice within a short period of time. Notably, one of the two railway stations in Bhopal - 'Habibganj' was redeveloped with world class amenities and it was renamed after Gond Queen Rani Kamlapati in November 2021 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. --IANS pd/uk/ ( 442 Words) 2023-04-01-20:16:02 (IANS)
The official said that the deceased was identified as Virender Kumar, a resident of Sector-12, Dwarka and his security was withdrawn after following due procedure in 2021.

According to police, an information was received on Saturday at 4:20 p.m. regarding an incident of murder near Sector-1 in Dwarka following which a police team rushed to the spot.

"On spot, it was revealed that two bike-borne assailants shot Virender, an advocate by profession, in a Maruti Ertiga car," said a senior police official.

"Prima facie, the angle of personal enmity is suspected to be the reason. However, multiple teams are working on the case from all angles," said the official, adding that further investigation is going on.

--IANS ssh/uk/

( 149 Words)

2023-04-01-20:30:02 (IANS)
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and former union minister Jairam Ramesh sparred on Saturday over the government's move to send the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 to a select committee of the two Houses with the Congress leader stating that it should have been sent to the Standing Committee on Environment for scrutiny. In response to Jairam Ramesh's earlier remarks, Bhupender Yadav tweeted a list of the bills sent by Congress governments in the past to the select committees. "Jairam Ramesh says referring the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill to a Joint Committee is "devaluation and denigration" of processes. Will serve him well to take a hard look at how many Bills introduced in Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha were sent by Cong govts to the Joint Committee," Yadav said. Jairam Ramesh, a Congress general secretary, responded by stating that Standing Committees came into existence only in 1993 and the minister should have done "better homework" "Standing Committees came into existence only on March 31 1993. Better homework was expected of you Mantriji," he said in a tweet. Bhupender Yadav hit back saying that "truth won't change just because Congress turns a blind eye to it". "The detailed list is a result of thorough homework, Jairam ji. If you make the effort to look closely, you'd know Congress kept referring Bills to Joint Committees even post-1993. The good thing about truth is, it won't change just because you or Cong turn a blind eye to it," Yadav said. "Due Parliamentary process was followed in the case of the said Bill. Positive participation in this process is incumbent upon the Opposition. Criticism for the sake of criticism from the Opposition is not healthy for democracy," he added. Jairam Ramesh, who addressed a press conference on 50th anniversary of Project Tiger, said that the government introduced a bill to amend the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and it was referred to the Select Committee instead of the Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forest as he is its Chairman. He also gave the example of amendments to the National Biodiversity Act last year and said it too didn't come to Standing Committee on Environment and Forests and went to the Select Committee. Jairam Ramesh said that the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes had written a four-page letter to the Environment & Forest Minister in September last year. The Congress leader said the chairam of the commission had stated that "amendments in rules are not in the interest of tribals who live in forests, they go against the Forest Rights Act passed in 2006 and snatch away the Constitutional and legal rights of the tribals". Jairam Ramesh, a former union Environment Minister. alleged that whatever has been achieved in the last 50 years in the field of forest conservation and wildlife protection "is under threat today". He said that the purpose of Project Tiger, started by former PM Indira Gandhi, was not only the protection of Tigers but also the conservation of forests. Terming Project Tiger very successful, he said that the number of tiger reserves has increased from nine at the time of launch to 53 today and they constitute one-third of the area of total dense forests in India. He said that Wildlife Protection Act, of 1972 was amended some months ago, which was opposed by the Congress party. The Congress leader alleged that the amendments have opened the doors for trade in elephants. "While we applaud when our documentary on elephants wins Oscar but in reality, the government is working against the welfare of elephants. Elephant was declared as National Heritage Animal in 2010 but it is in danger today due to amendment in the law," he said. Jairam Ramesh credited Indira Gandhi for making laws for the environment and forest conservation. Terming these laws as milestones, he said the Environment Ministry and related institutions were formed at the Centre and state levels and the environment became a central point in Congress government's policies and its economic viewpoint. He said Indira Gandhi believed that there must be a balance between development and environment and alleged "this balance is being destroyed today". Jairam Ramesh said that climate change is a big challenge before the whole world today. "We would be able to deal with it only if the environment and forest laws are implemented strictly without showing any leniency and the institutions are strengthened." He alleged that the Modi government and some industrialists think that environment laws were against "'ease of doing business". "As per the Forest Rights Act, the rights of the tribals living in forest areas have to be fulfilled first before starting a project in such places". He alleged that the government thinks of the environmental laws "as regulatory burdens and doesn't look upon these as societal obligations". Responding to a query, Jairam Ramesh said that the government "pushed" Competition (Amendment) Bill and Finance Bill and is likely to pass a couple of more bills on Monday but the Opposition is going to continue with its demand of JPC enquiry into Adani issue. He added that 19 Opposition parties are united in this demand and there is no middle path as far as this is concerned. He stated that no attempt has been made by the ruling party to break the logjam in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha since the start of the second part of the budget session. (ANI)
Amid plans by BJP and Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to carry out Savarkar Gaurav Yatra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that "Savarkar is not a national issue" and problems of people should be addressed. He, however, noted that Savarkar has said many progressive things. He said opposition parties will have to understand BJP's politics. Pawar's remarks came amid efforts by the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena to make a major issue of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's comments on VD Savarkar. "Savarkar has said many progressive things. As I said earlier also that we should see the progressive side of Savarkar. Today he is not here. So there is no need to discuss any topic about those who are not here. Savarkar is not a national issue," Pawar said at a press conference in Nagpur. "I don't think that this (Rahul Gandhi's London speech) issue is that much important because it is not that criticism is being done today only in the past also leaders have criticised the government. Only now such issues are being brought up repeatedly. If people have problems over any issues in the country and if someone talks about them, then those issues should be addressed," he added. Rahul Gandhi had said at a press conference after his disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case that he would not apologise. "My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone," he had said. The BJP and Shiv Sena had slammed Gandhi's remarks. Shiv Sena (UBT), which is an ally of Congress, had also expressed its concerns over Gandhi's remarks. During the press conference, Pawar recalled his past speech in Parliament. "The sacrifice made by Savarkar for the freedom of the country cannot be ignored. I liked Savarkar's scientific thinking. Savarkar said a few things in public and put them into practice which had a social angle. He got a temple built in front of his house in Ratnagiri, and for the first time, the temple was worshipped by a person of 'Valmiki Samaj'. This thinking of Savarkar is termed progressive," Pawar said. Pawar also talked about meeting of opposition parties earlier this week to take on government on various issues. "Leaders of 20 parties were present in that meeting. There are important issues before the country," he said. "The opposition will have to understand the politics done by the country's ruling party," he added. (ANI)
According to senior officials, the victim BJP leader, identified as Raju Jha, a Durgapur-based businessman, along with some colleagues was on his way to Kolkata when he was attacked by unidentified people outside a confectionery shop in the Shaktigarh area.

"In the car, there were three persons including Raju Jha. The motive of the accused is yet to be ascertained. Further investigation is underway," Bardhaman SP Kamnasis Sen said.

According to the police, Jha was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The injured persons were undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Following the incident, the accused fled the spot, he added.

During the rule of the Left Front, Jha was accused of operating an illegal coal business in Silpanchal.

In the Trinamool government, various cases were also registered against him.

He joined the BJP ahead of the last assembly elections in December 2021, in the presence of State President Dilip Ghosh.

Further investigation is underway, the police added. (ANI)
The Vatican said Saturday it had closed its embassy in Nicaragua after the countrys government proposed suspending diplomatic relations, the latest episode in a yearslong crackdown on the Catholic Church by the administration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

The Vaticans representative to Managua, Monsignor Marcel Diouf, also left the country Friday, bound for Costa Rica, a Vatican official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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The Vatican action came a week after the Nicaraguan government proposed suspending relations with the Holy See, and a year after Nicaragua forced the papal ambassador at the time to leave. Its not clear what more the proposed suspension would entail in diplomatic terms.

Relations between the church and Ortegas government have been deteriorating since 2018, when Nicaraguan authorities violently repressed anti-government protests.

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Some Catholic leaders gave protesters shelter in their churches, and the church later tried to act as a mediator between the government and the political opposition.

Ortega branded Catholic figures he saw as sympathetic to the opposition as terrorists who had backed efforts to overthrow him. Dozens of religious figures were arrested or fled the country.

Two congregations of nuns, including from the Missionaries of Charity order founded by Mother Teresa, were expelled from Nicaragua last year.

Prominent Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison last month after he refused to board an airplane that flew 222 dissidents and priests to exile in the United States. He also was stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship.

Pope Francis had remained largely silent on the issue, apparently not wanting to inflame tensions. But in a March 10 interview with Argentine media outlet Infobae, after Alvarezs sentencing, he called Ortegas government a rude dictatorship comparable to Hitlers that was led by an unbalanced president.

According to Vatican News, the care of the Vaticans embassy, or nunciature, was entrusted to the Italian government, according to diplomatic conventions. The report said diplomats of the European Union, Germany, France and Italy gave Diouf, the charge daffaires, a farewell salute before he shuttered the diplomatic post and left.

During the farewell ceremony, Germanys ambassador to Nicaragua, Christoph Bundscherer, expressed regret at the embassys closure and asked Diouf to share a message with Pope Francis, according to a statement on the German Embassys Facebook page.

Together with the Catholic Church, the representatives of the European Union in Nicaragua will also always defend the Christian values of freedom, tolerance and human dignity, Bundscherer said, according to the statement.

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The Nicaraguan government, which since September 2018 has banned all opposition demonstrations in the country, also restricted Catholic activities inside churches, including banning the traditional street processions that thousands of Nicaraguans used to celebrate in the lead up to Holy Week and Easter.

The restrictions forced church authorities to hold the Stations of the Cross procession on the grounds of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, as they did Friday.

___

Selser reported from Mexico City.
The deceased man is believed to be mentally unstable. Following the incident, which took place in Punpun, tension is prevailing in the area. A large contingent of police has been posted in the area to prevent any untoward incident.

The incident took place near Allauddin Chawk under Punpun police station where the accused hacked to death a 12-year-old boy named Babban Singh, the son of Karu Singh, with an axe.

Some local residents saw the man killing the minor boy and chased him. The man then ran from the spot and climbed atop a high-tension electric pole to save himself. But the angry mob pelted stone on him and eventually he fell down from the pole. The angry mob then lynched the man.

Though the police had reached the spot, they failed to save the man as they were outnumbered by the local people. The violent mob also pelted stones on the police team, injuring some cops.

Following the incident, Patna City SP (East) accompanied by senior officers reached the spot and restored normalcy.

--IANS ajk/arm

( 221 Words)

2023-04-01-21:06:03 (IANS)
Israel's Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Friday called India one of Israel's closest and dearest friends. He called it a distinct pleasure to have been invited to India. Knesset Speaker made the statement during a meeting with Parliament Speaker Om Birla. "It is a great honour for me to be here with you today. This is indeed not only my first visit to India but also the first visit of any speaker of the Knesset in an official visit to India. And it is my distinct pleasure to have been invited specifically to India, one of Israel's closest and dearest friends and the world's largest democracy," Amir Ohana said. "When I had to decide where to make my first official visit as speaker of the Knesset, India stood up with all the other countries. We saw it not only as a dear friend but also as a rising power in the world in many, many fields," he added. Amir Ohana said that Israel and India are marking 31 years of diplomatic ties. He said, "Our countries are marking 31 years of full diplomatic relations. What started as ties between two ancient civilizations with rich histories and tremendous respect for our traditions, is now a friendship based on common interests in almost every aspect of life. We also share a deep historical connection." He further said, "Over the years, our relations have grown warmer and I'm happy to note that today the friendship and trust between us is fertile, is a fertile ground for closer cooperation on a variety of issues. I am delighted that earlier today I had the privilege to have signed a Memorandum of Understandings with my dear colleague Shri Om Birla detailing our common intention to strengthen our relationship over the coming years." Referring to the Jews community living in India, Amir Ohana said, "Jews have lived peacefully in India for thousands of years, and those Jews who came to Israel from India served as a solid bridge between our two nations. It is actually one of the only nations on earth where Jews could live peacefully for thousands of years without any recognition of antisemitism, which is an unknown term in this country and we are thankful for that." The Israeli Parliamentary Delegation led by Amir Ohana called on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at Parliament House on Friday. At the outset, Birla welcomed the delegation to India and said that Israel and India have traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations. Notably, the Israeli Parliamentary Delegation, which is on an India visit till April 4, was jointly invited by the Vice President and Chairperson of Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Birla underscored that India and Israel share a robust democratic heritage and as fellow democracies, both countries have many similarities, which include respecting diverse cultures, following democratic values, and working as per the hopes and aspirations of the people. He also observed that in the changing global dynamics, the relations between India and Israel have become more important. While speaking about the strong parliamentary relations between the two Parliaments, Lok Sabha Speaker expressed happiness at the formation of a Parliamentary Friendship Group for India in the Knesset. Birla emphasized that both Parliaments should work together at international fora and accordingly prepare an action plan based on collective discussion and dialogue. Om Birla further suggested that both Parliaments must share experiences, best practices and technology to deal with global challenges and to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes across a range of situations. Speaking about regular high-level visits between the two countries over the years, Birla said that such visits have added new energy to bilateral relations. In the context of the technological dominance of India and Israel in different scientific fields, Birla said that Israel is a world leader in agri-technology. He mentioned that people from around the world seek to emulate the technological progress that Israel has made. Birla said through mutual collaboration both nations can learn from each other and reap the benefits of technological progress. (ANI)
Authorities in Italy have blocked chatbot ChatGPT with immediate effect in the country. With this, Italy becomes the first European country to block the advanced Artificial Intelligence software, which is capable of emulating and elaborate human conversations among other actions. Italian data protection authority on Friday (local time) has said that it is blocking the Microsoft backed chatbot developed by US start up OpenAI and will investigate whether it complied with the country's General Data Protection Regulation. A data breach affecting ChatGPT users' conversations and information on payments by subscribers to the service had been reported on March 20, the Italian watchdog said. Several countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have blocked ChatGPT, which came into existence in November 2022. The Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) said it has opened an investigation against ChatGPT and the US Company OpenAI. "No way for ChatGPT to continue processing data in breach of privacy laws. The Italian SA imposed an immediate temporary limitation on the processing of Italian users' data by OpenAI, the US-based company developing and managing the platform. An inquiry into the facts of the case was initiated as well," the Authority stated as per a release on its website. The authority said that it noted the lack of information to users and all interested parties whose data is collected by OpenAI, but above all the absence of a legal basis that justifies the mass collection and storage of personal data, for the purpose of "train" the algorithms underlying the operation of the platform. The Italian SA emphasizes in its order that the lack of whatever age verification mechanism exposes children to receiving responses that are absolutely inappropriate to their age and awareness, even though the service is allegedly addressed to users aged above 13 according to OpenAI's terms of service. OpenAI is not established in the EU, however, it has designated a representative in the European Economic Area. The Italian data protection authority said that OpenAI has to notigy within 20 days of the measures implemented to comply with the order, otherwise, a fine of up to EUR 20 million or 4 per cent of the total worldwide annual turnover may be imposed. In its order, the Italian SA highlights that no information is provided to users and data subjects whose data are collected by Open AI; more importantly, there appears to be no legal basis underpinning the massive collection and processing of personal data in order to 'train' the algorithms on which the platform relies. As confirmed by the tests carried out so far, the information made available by ChatGPT does not always match factual circumstances, so inaccurate personal data are processed, the Data Protection Authority of Italy said. (ANI)
The situation of females in Afghanistan is already grim under the Taliban regime as they are not allowed to work or have access to fundamental rights in the country. Women must be permitted to work and make a living, according to Sean Callahan, the country director for Afghanistan at the US Agency for International Development, who lamented over the situation, TOLOnews reported. "We can't move our development goals forward when more than half the population is left behind," Callahan wrote on Twitter. "USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is proud to partner with Roots of Peace (organization) to support women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan with training and critical resources," the tweet read. Time and again the females of the country have urged international organizations to provide them with support. Humanitarian aid has become the basis of the lives of Afghan people According to TOLOnews, Iqra, an Afghan woman used to work for a private corporation but lost her position after the Taliban forbade women from working for NGOs in Afghanistan. "Many women who are breadwinners for their families want to go back to work and make ends meet for their children. So we call on the Islamic Emirate to facilitate work for us," she said. Since the Taliban-led government took control of power in Afghanistan, the group has intensified its repression of women's rights and freedom. National and international organisations have slammed the Taliban suppression policy. They have asserted that it will promote poverty, unemployment, and extremism, harbouring terrorists and threatening global peace and security. (ANI)
As the country prepares for another scorching summer, the drought-stricken nation issued additional stringent water consumption restrictions, including a prohibition on the use of potable water for cleaning cars, public places, or farms.

Moreover, according to the national water utility of Tunisia SONEDE, the African country will also Tunisia will cut off water supplies to citizens for seven hours a night in response to the country's worst drought on record, Al Jazeera reported.

On Friday, SONEDE stated that the water will be cut off daily from 9 pm until 4 am, with immediate effect.

Since the beginning of the fasting month of Ramzan, when many people remain up late, residents of many sections of the capital have already complained about unannounced cuts to their main supply during the night.

SONEDE leader, Mosbah Helali, claimed the country was experiencing an unprecedented drought brought on by a lack of precipitation for four years in a row, which SONEDE linked to climate change, reported Al Jazeera.

He urged Tunisians to accept the decision.

If the regulations were broken, he warned, penalties and even prison terms might be considered, as per Al Jazeera. (ANI)
In a historic move, US Georgia Assembly has passed the first-ever resolution condemning Hinduphobia making it the first-ever US State to do so. The legislation, notably, recognizes the contributions of Indian Americans and Hindu Americans in Georgia and calls out the rise of Hinduphobia around the country, the official Twitter handle of CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America) said. The Coalition of Hindus of North America is a grassroots advocacy and civil rights organization representing the Hindu community of North America. The resolution passed by the Georgia legislature citing 'Understanding HinduphobiaInitiative' described Hinduphobia as "a set of antagonistic, destructive, and derogatory attitudes and behaviours towards Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) and Hindus that may manifest as prejudice, fear, or hatred." "In a historic move, Georgia legislature passes the first-ever County Resolution condemning #Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bigotry! The resolution recognized the contributions of Indian Americans and Hindu Americans in Georgia andcalled out the rising #Hinduphobia around the country. This trend has been documented by the @HinduphobiaConf and the research by @RutgersU and @ncri_io," the official Twitter handle of CoHNA tweeted. The resolution further underlined that the American Hindu community has been a major contributor to diverse sectors such as medicine, science and engineering, information technology, hospitality, finance, academia, manufacturing, energy, retail trade, and so much more in the US. "Hindu contributions of Yoga, Ayurveda, meditation, food, music, arts, and more have enriched the cultural fabric and have been widely adopted in American society and enriched the lives of millions," it said. The legislative delegation of Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta, home to one of the largest Hindu American and Indian American diaspora communities, made an effort to recognize #Hinduphobia and call for an end to anti-Hindu hate, the CoHNA wrote on Twitter. Reps Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County, a suburb of Atlanta that is home to one of Georgia's largest Hindu and Indian-American diaspora groups, presented the resolution. Todd Jones is a State House Representative from District 25 (South Forsyth and North Fulton Counties), whereas Lauren McDonald is a Georgia representative from District 26. Thanking the two US Reps, the CoHNA tweeted, "We thank@McDonaldGA26 and @turntotodd for their leadership in directing this Resolution. This was the joint effort of many lawmakers who have worked closely with the Hindu community in the great State of Georgia and we thank them all for this recognition." (ANI)
Former President of the US Donald Trump has successfully raised USD 4 million within a time frame of just 24 hours after his indictment on Thursday with his fundraising campaign, The Hill reported. More than 25 per cent of the contributions were made by first-time contributors, which the former president's campaign team hailed as evidence that he was "the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary." "This incredible surge of grassroots contributions confirms that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponization of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor," The Hill reported citing the press release of the Trump campaign on Friday. Trump promised in a fundraising email that the "witch hunt" being conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) would "backfire enormously" shortly after the news of the indictment became public. A New York grand jury on Thursday indicted the former president on criminal charges for his involvement in a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by his longtime fixer Michael Cohen before the 2016 presidential election, reported The Hill. Trump is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court around 2:15 pm ET Tuesday (April 4) following his indictment, two sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. Officials involved in the planning of Trump's appearance are considering pausing all other case activity at the court during the time that the former president is expected to appear, according to a source with knowledge of the plans. Trump's attorney said the former president will "absolutely" voluntarily surrender to New York law enforcement and plans to file "substantial" legal challenges, reported CNN. It's the first time in US history that a current or former president has been criminally charged. The indictment was filed under seal and the charges are not yet public. Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in a Thursday indictment from a Manhattan grand jury. (ANI)
Over the petition filed by Imran Khan-l ed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the delay in the Punjab polls, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Supremo and former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have called for a full court to be formed, Geo News reported. Nawaz Sharif made the remarks at a press conference in London and also spoke on the depleting foreign reserves of the country. Sharif also spoke out against the decision to disqualify him as the prime minister, stating that it hurt the future of the country. Sharif also criticised the bad choices made by those in authority that destroyed the nation's economy. He emphasised that the impoverished are compelled to sell their possessions in order to pay for their medical expenses because they cannot afford medicine. Sharif said he intends to explain his exclusion from the prime minister's office and that retired judges like Saqib Nisar will also be involved in that investigation, according to Geo News. The former prime minister also expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of Pakistan's economy, noting that the country was on course to join the most developed nations in the world only a few years earlier. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) last week approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) against the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to delay the provincial elections in Punjab, The Express Tribune reported. The PTI, in its petition, stressed that the ECP's order "is in violation of the Constitution as well as the judgement of the apex court order." The petition further said that the PTI has approached the Supreme Court as "the matter involved in the petition is of public importance with reference to enforcement of fundamental rights of the millions of people of Pakistan, particularly the people of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa", as per the news report. The decision of PTI comes after the country's poll panel earlier this week announced postponing the election in Punjab until October 8 on the grounds that it could not conduct transparent and peaceful polls on the scheduled date of April 30. (ANI)
A Christian man was shot dead in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province on Saturday, in what officials say is the second incident of target killing of minorities in the last 24 hours, reported The Khorasan Diary. According to police, Kashif Maseeh was gunned down by armed motorcyclists on his doorstep. Yesterday, a Sikh shopkeeper was gunned down in Peshawar in a similar manner. There have been no responsibility claims for the attacks, added The Khorasan Diary. Sikh Minority shopkeeper Dayal Singh was killed by gunmen in the Dir Colony of Peshawar. Peshawar Police said that Dayal Singh was sitting at his shop when unknown motorcyclists killed him and fled around 3 pm on Friday. Minorities have faced continuous violent attacks in Pakistan. A Pakistani Hindu doctor Dr Birbal Genani became a victim of target killing near Layari in Karachi while returning home from his clinic on Thursday, Dunya News reported. Former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) senior director of health and eye specialist Dr Birbal Genani was shot dead by unknown assailants in Karachi on Thursday, Geo News reported. Last week, Hindu shopkeepers were assaulted in Pakistan for allegedly "violating the Ramzan Ordinance" by eating, Pakistan based The Express Tribune newspaper reported. The police officer in a video that went viral on social media, was seen roaming the Ghotki district with a stick in his hands. The police officer thrashed Hindu restaurant owners including Hindu men who were reportedly preparing biryani for delivery orders in the local market. Meanwhile, Sindhi Hindus carried 15 points to the Sindh government to ensure the protection of Hindus in the province. On March 30, 2023, Pakistan Darawar Itehad Organization organized a protest from the Karachi Press Club to the Sindh Assembly - the large people of Hindus joined the protest, most of them were the victim families whose daughters were forcibly converted to Islam, killing and kidnapping of Hindus and the encroachment of the land and temples, reported The Rise News. In Sindh, the cry has been heard regarding forced conversion since 2012, not only in the Sindh province including Punjab province and other areas of the country. Still, the state has not safeguarded Non-Muslims - indeed, the lack of safety led them to protest and make the ruling government listen to their problems. Words of forced conversion on placards were written and later, protesters were asked to hide the word, 'forced.' The protesters were not allowed to carry their placards with slogans, which carried the word "Forced" - Forced conversion. Protesters realized that neither Human Rights organizations, nor activists joined their protest against forced conversion. However, Pakistan Hindu Council and Pakistan Hindu Panchayat did not show up their presence, reported The Rise News. Moreover, a Human Rights Observer 2023 fact sheet has underscored the increase in religious content against minorities in curriculum and textbooks during the year 2022 in Pakistan, reported Dawn. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) on Thursday issued the "Human Rights Observer 2023", an annual fact sheet. The report covers five key issues impacting religious minorities including discrimination in the education system, the prevalence of forced faith conversions, abuse of blasphemy laws, the establishment of the National Commission for Minorities and jail remissions for minority prisoners. The fact sheet showed that as many as 171 people were accused under the blasphemy laws, 65 per cent of cases surfaced in Punjab and 19 per cent in Sindh, reported Dawn. At least 2,120 individuals had been accused of committing blasphemy between 1987 and 2022. The trend witnessed an increase in the aggregate abuse of blasphemy laws in Punjab in the past 36 years -- above 75 per cent. However, 52 per cent of the accused belonged to minorities despite their small ratio (3.52 per cent) in the population of Pakistan, the report added. The fact sheet stated that no progress was made regarding providing remission to minority prisoners during 2022, despite the fact that this concession had been available for Muslim prisoners since 1978. Furthermore, 124 reported incidents of forced faith conversions involving girls/women from minority communities were analysed which included 81 Hindu, 42 Christian, and one Sikh. Only 12 per cent of the victims were adults and the age of 28 per cent of the victims was not reported. Sixty-five per cent of cases of forced faith conversion were reported in Sindh in 2022, followed by 33 per cent in Punjab, and 0.8 per cent each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, reported Dawn. Meanwhile, the establishment of the statutory National Commission for Minorities (NCM) remained pending. As per the report, a weak and lopsided draft has now been presented in the parliament in March 2023 which may become a reason for further delay and the ultimate establishment of the NCM, reported Dawn. (ANI)
Lithuanian envoy to India Diana Mickeviciene has expressed her happiness over the operationalisation of the new Indian Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, adding that this is a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries. "I am indeed very happy about the operationalisation of the Embassy of India in Lithuania. This is the new chapter in Lithuania-India relations and will surely bring our friendship to the new level. We warmly welcome the first Indian diplomats in Vilnius and wish them a smooth and enjoyable start," the envoy told ANI. India operationalised the Indian Embassy with effect from Friday. "Delighted to share that the Embassy of India, Vilnius has started operations today. Our resident Mission will further strengthen the India-Lithuania partnership," tweeted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday. "Operationalization of Indian Mission in Lithuania will help expand India's diplomatic footprint, deepen political relations and strategic cooperation, enable growth of bilateral trade, investment and economic engagements, facilitate stronger people-to-people contacts and enable more sustained political outreach in multilateral form," read an MEA release on Friday. "Indian Mission in Lithuania will also better assist the Indian community and protect their interests," it added. On April 27, 2022, the Union Cabinet gave its approval to a proposal for opening a new Indian embassy in Lithuania. This will be the first full-fledged Indian Embassy in Lithuania. Lithuania was the first Baltic country to open an embassy in India in 2008. The Indian officials had earlier expressed intentions of opening an embassy back in the year 2005. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania has only hosted India's honorary consulate so far which was opened in 2015. (ANI)
William E. Hall, left, and Richard Wooten are in a runoff in Chicago's 6th Ward. (Eileen T. Meslar and Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

In a pair of South Side aldermanic runoff races, voters in the 6th Ward will choose between two ministers while those in the 21st are deciding between a community organizer backed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and a retired firefighter.

Neither race has drawn the spotlight of higher profile aldermanic races, let alone the mayors race, but both have generated controversies.

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In the 6th Ward, former police Officer Richard Wooten accused opponent William Hall of hiding his arrest record from voters, pointing to two misdemeanor arrests and numerous traffic citations.

In the 21st Ward, questions over candidate Ronnie Mosleys educational and work resume have arisen as he squares off against Cornell Dantzler.

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All four candidates have pledged to renew communities that were once the hub of the citys Black middle class but which have in recent years fallen on hard times.

The 6th Ward: Candidates seek return of wards glory days

The race between St. James Community Church senior pastor William Hall and Gathering Point Universal Ministries pastor Richard Wooten, the top vote-getters in a crowded field in Februarys election, has been unexpectedly tense.

Much of the bad blood has centered on a mailer sent to voters that included criminal case numbers for two misdemeanor arrests Hall faced.

The full color mailer, which had no listed creator, called on early voters to reject Hall, claiming the former Rainbow/PUSH field director lied about having an arrest record and refused to be open about his past.

Court records show two misdemeanor cases for Hall, one when he was a teenager in 2001 for criminal damage to property, and the second in 2008 for reckless conduct.

William E. Hall, 6th Ward aldermanic candidate, in his home on March 28, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar / Chicago Tribune)

Both cases were ultimately dropped. Court records also showed Hall received about 16 traffic tickets between 2002 and 2021, some of which were mentioned in the mailer.

The people deserve someone with integrity, thats truthful and that has experience and my opponent doesnt have the experience, nor is he truthful, nor does he actually show integrity and the people will speak at the poll on April 4, Wooten said while greeting early voters recently outside the Whitney M. Young Jr. branch library.

In an interview with the Tribune earlier that day, Hall, denied trying to hide his past arrests, which he said were wrongfully made by overzealous officers.

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He said the 2001 case was the result of him being incorrectly identified as a person who egged a neighbors home. He did not offer details on the 2008 arrest beyond saying he was a student at DePaul University at the time.

An arrest doesnt mean a conviction and it doesnt mean criminal, Hall said in an interview at his Chatham home. Thats the story of a lot of Black men in this neighborhood and in this country. Yes, Ive been arrested.

He said has he has used his run-ins with the law to connect with other young men in the community.

Despite his experiences with law enforcement, Hall is proposing bringing more officers into the ward with an increased focus on improving relations between cops and crime-weary residents.

Hall is pitching a North Side strategy in the ward  the sort he said he sees in use in other parts of the city. He describes it as a combination of police walking beats, bicycle officers and patrols near expressway exits that would allow officers to more quickly respond to crime and improve relations between officers and skeptical residents.

There is a divide of, OK, if I work with police, there might be retaliation from criminals because word gets out. And the younger people go I dont want to talk to police. I dont want to snitch. Hall said.

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A police presence that is connected to serving and being friendly to people is key to that because the same way you know your mail person, you can begin to know your beat and patrol officers and thats the culture that we had back in the day, he said.

Wooten, a former beat liaison officer with the Gresham District who has lost three prior bids for alderman, said his community policing background puts him in a better position to bring police and the community together.

I have the experience and I have the ability to do things with the department that (Hall) doesnt understand. I have relationships already that is positioned to make our ward a better ward and make the police and the community become better engaged, Wooten said.

Aldermanic candidate Richard Wooten, center, talks with Deborah Echols-Moore outside the Whitney M. Young, Jr. branch of the Chicago Public Library on March 28, 2023, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

An Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm, Wooten is a native of Englewood and said that as a teenager he longed to live in the more vibrant Chatham community. He moved there with his family more than two decades ago.

After being here for over 20-plus years, Ive seen the direction this ward has actually taken for a turn and this community that I (aspired) to be a part of, he said. Id like to see it go back to those glory days.

Chatham, Park Manor and West Chesterfield were among the first Black middle-class neighborhoods on the South Side, and the communities became a popular home for notable Black residents, from microbiologist and early Black Chatham settler Welton Taylor and gospel legend Mahalia Jackson to rappers Che Rhymefest Smith and Chance the Rapper.

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Both Hall and Wooten say they see hope for a rebirth of their community through nearby large-scale projects and attractions such as the Obama Presidential Center, the Pullman historic district, and a potential CTA Red Line expansion.

We have all the things in the making surrounding us to help our area become more ... more economically developed, Wooten said.

Hall added that the area near the 95th Street Red Line terminal is a prime target for business expansion. The 95th Street corridor is a gateway to possibilities, Hall said. What we see now is not what we will see in the next four years.

Hall supports Brandon Johnson for mayor, while Wooten has remained neutral, saying hed work with the mayoral runoff winner.

Backed by big donations from the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU, Hall has outraised Wooten, by a total of $217,618 compared with Wootens $67,088, according to state records.

The winner will replace Ald. Roderick Sawyer, who resigned his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for mayor, and will be only the fourth 6th Ward alderman since 1989.

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The 21st Ward: Our ward has been through enough as it is

With the retirement of Ald. Howard Brookins after 20 years, the future of the 21st Ward will be in the hands of either retired firefighter Cornell Dantzler or community organizer Ronnie Mosley.

Cornell Dantzler, left, and Ronnie Mosley are running for alderman in the 21st Ward. (Shanna Madison and Terrence Anto / Chicago Tribune)

Mosley had a slight edge in the Feb. 25 election, garnering 25% of the vote to Dantzlers 22%. With the potential for construction on the long-sought extension of the CTA Red Line starting in the next four years, the promise of economic development comes with concerns about gentrification.

Development helps, Mosley said. We want to make sure weve got development without displacement. 

The CTA is still trying to secure funding for the estimated $3.6 billion project. Two of the extensions four stops would land in the 21st Ward.

Both candidates stressed the need for Black-owned businesses to benefit from the potential project.

Its going to bring a lot of jobs to the community, Dantzler said of the Red Line extension. We want to make sure that a lot of those jobs are provided and open to the constituents that live inside the community.

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The Washington Heights neighborhood, which is almost entirely in the 21st Ward, has an unemployment rate of 14%, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. This is almost twice as much as the overall unemployment rate in Chicago, and other neighborhoods in the ward fare even worse.

The unemployment inside of this ward is larger than it should be, Dantzler said. We have to make sure that we provide jobs set aside for those that not only live in the ward but for those that hopefully will be coming through some of the trade schools that we plan on inventing also. 

Alderman candidate Cornell Dantzler, left, talks to Abdalla Turner about voting at Joy Auto Service on March 28, 2023, in Washington Heights. (Shanna Madison / Chicago Tribune)

[ Chicagos new map: Find the shape of your ward ]

Crime is another big issue, and both candidates said they would push for more investment in community engagement and for an increase in unarmed responses to incidents. But at the same time, they agree on the need for a strong, appropriately staffed police force.

We got to be smart on crime, Mosley said. We have to address the root causes of it which means poverty. 

While an alderman has the power to affect citywide legislation through their City Council vote, much of the job is taking care of details in the community  the late Ald. Burton Natarus family described his job as a junior janitor. Mosley has criticized his opponent for failing to show up at several community forums.

Ive been always available, open to communicate, Dantzler said in response to Mosleys charge. But not able to attend all forums. Some of them were last minute.

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The candidates have said that they are running in part to write a new chapter for the ward, one without corruption. Brookins chief of staff was sentenced to 15 years for accepting bribes in 2014. In 1997, Ald. Jesse Evans was brought down by the federal Operation Silver Shovel corruption probe.

Folks in the 21st Ward want a new day, Mosley said. They want to move past that. They want to know that you are going to be working on the issues that are important to them.

Mosley has accused Dantzler of surrounding himself with folks from the old 34th Ward, where former Ald. Carrie Austin and her chief of staff Chester Wilson are under indictment on federal bribery charges. Dantzler denies the connection.

I took a picture with Carrie Austin, Dantzler said. And they took that picture and put it on a negative piece of mail and said I am supported by Carrie Austin and Chester. 

Chicago aldermanic candidate Ronnie Mosley, left, talks to resident Marlon Ashby while canvassing in the 21st Ward on March 22, 2023. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Mosleys campaign website states that he completed his studies at Simeon Career Academy and Morehouse College. Mosley also told the Tribune Editorial Board that he received a bachelors degree from Morehouse. After the Chicago Crusader reported that he did not graduate from the college, Mosely apologized for the description of his education.

I took a second and heard just directly from the community and they said when you said completed studies, I took that as you graduated, Mosley said in an interview. Mosely said he then asked for forgiveness for that and chose to use clearer language going forward. 

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As of Friday, however, his websites language was unchanged.

[ In race for mayor, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnsons campaign donors are as different as the candidates ]

Dantzler has likened the situation to the resume fabrications of New York Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos.

Our ward has been through enough as it is, Dantzler said. We dont need anybody to be sitting in this seat to be representing a ward thats in desperate need whos a liar. 

Mosleys political experience includes working as a legislative aide to former Democratic Georgia state Sen. Vincent Fort, and as an adviser to Prtitzkers 2022 reelection campaign.

Mosley was a fellow with President Barack Obamas 2012 reelection campaign. On his website, Mosley writes coordinated successful campaigns for office seekers including U.S. president.

When the Tribune sent this line as well as his title to the Obama Foundation, a spokesperson responded by saying a fellowship was not a high-level position and while helpful to a campaign would not determine its overall success. 

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Dantzler received GED from Fenger High School after being honorably discharged from Navy, and has taken classes at Chicago State University.

As a teenager, he was caught as a passenger in a car he said was stolen by a friend. A judge pointed him in the direction of a mentor he credits with guiding him toward the Navy, and eventually a 25-year career as a Chicago firefighter. Dantzler said that background has led him to mentor neighborhood youths who are struggling as he once was.

Dantzler has not come out in support of either mayoral candidate, while Mosley is backing Brandon Johnson, saying thats who the wards voters are supporting.

Dantzlers campaign has raised a total of $70,425, more than half of that from firefighter unions, while Mosleys campaign has raised a total of $274,625, almost half of that from SEIU.

Mosleys has also received $20,000 from Pritzkers campaign fund, along with the governors endorsement.

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Driving down Halsted Street through the heart of the ward, the communitys struggles are visible in the number of shuttered storefronts.

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Were far behind where we should be as a functioning ward, Dantzler said, adding that expungement programs for pot and other minor crimes need to be ramped up so more young people can participate in the economy.

We also have to make sure that our youth are being mentored, he said.

Mosley also said increasing jobs and employment in the community is the top priority.

The big, big thing is making sure that we have the workforce here, he said. With those great projects on the horizon starting in about 2025 or so, I want to make sure that we have the opportunity for our folks to work there.

hsanders@chicagotribune.com

wlee@chicagotribune.com
Chinese Embassy in India on Saturday said April 1 marks the 73rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India. "Today marks 73rd anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties between China and India. Guided by the important consensus of the leaders, let's steer bilateral relations from the perspective of respective national rejuvenation, and be partners on paths to modernization," the Chinese Embassy in India tweeted on Saturday. Meanwhile, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in its Annual Report 2021-22, said continued unilateral attempts by China to change the Line of Actual Control (LAC) status quo have impacted India-China bilateral relationship. According to the MEA report, China has since April-May 2020, undertaken several attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo along the LAC in Western Sector, which seriously disturbed the peace and tranquillity along the LAC. These attempts by China were invariably met with an appropriate response from Indian Armed Forces, the MEA said. According to the MEA report prepared by the Policy Planning Division of the ministry, India's engagement with China is complex. The two sides have, however, agreed to manage their differences and not allow differences on any issue to become disputes. Further, the two sides agreed that pending the final settlement of the boundary question, maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas is an essential basis for the overall development of the bilateral relationship. Both sides have agreed to resolve the issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh through peaceful dialogue. Consequently, discussions have continued with the Chinese side to achieve complete disengagement from all friction points and full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the India-China Border Areas at an early date. According to the MEA, India has maintained its engagement with China both through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the remaining issues at the earliest so as to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas. (ANI)
Devastating storms and tornadoes scraped US states of Arkansas and Illinois on Friday into early Saturday, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens more, trapping others in their homes, and damaging businesses and critical infrastructure, reported The New York Times (NYT). In Arkansas, the governor declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon after officials said one person was killed in North Little Rock and two died in Wynne, in separate tornadoes. A state of emergency was also declared in Missouri in response to severe weather. The mayor of Little Rock, Frank Scott Jr., said that at least 30 people were hospitalized there and that more than 2,000 homes were damaged. The storm did extensive damage to businesses and apartment complexes, the local police said. On Friday night in northern Illinois, a person was killed and 28 others were hospitalized after the roof collapsed at a theater in Belvidere with 260 people inside, told the fire chief, Shawn Schadle, reported NYT. Roughly 150 miles to the east of Sherman, in Sullivan Country, Ind., three people were also killed after a tornado touched down, according to Sgt. Matt Ames with the Indiana State Police. In addition to Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee, tornadoes were reported to the National Weather Service across Wisconsin, Iowa and Mississippi. As the storm system moved eastward early Saturday, tornado warnings remained in place for parts of Alabama and Georgia, according to the National Weather Service. More than 450,000 homes and businesses were in the dark early Saturday across Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee, with about one-third of the outages reported in Indiana, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. Friday's severe storms came a week after severe weather walloped the Southeast and killed at least 26 people. An overnight tornado, which makes people most prone to extensive damages, levelled much of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where estimated maximum winds of 170 mph roared. President Biden on Friday visited Rolling Fork, the Mississippi community hit hardest by the tornadoes last week. Tornadoes killed 13 people and destroyed homes and businesses in Rolling Fork and in surrounding Sharkey County. (ANI)
The visit of Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel to India from April 3- 5 will further strengthen the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation between the two nations. India has consistently been Bhutan's top trading partner and remains the leading source of investments in Bhutan. In November 2021, the Indian government formalised the opening of seven new trade routes for Bhutan's bilateral and transit trade with India, new market access was provided for allowing the formal export of 12 agri-products from Bhutan to India, and various special exceptions/ quotas for export are also provided. India has been extending economic assistance to Bhutan's socio-economic development since the early 1960s when Bhutan launched its Five Year Plans. For the 12th Five Year Plan, India assisted Bhutan with Rs 4500 crore for various multi-sectoral project-tied assistance, small development projects, Direct Budgetary Support, etc. India and Bhutan enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation, which are characterized by understanding and mutual trust. Mutually beneficial hydro-power cooperation with Bhutan forms the core of bilateral economic cooperation. Hydro-power Cooperation provides clean power for India and economic prosperity for Bhutan with a steady stream of revenue, which witnessed positive growth even during the pandemic. Indian assistance installed over 2000 MW of capacity with 4 mega hydro projects since the 1980s till date, while 2 are under construction. In line with our 'Neighbourhood First Policy', new market access has been opened for five agri-commodities from Bhutan to India (Areca nut, Mandarin, Apple, Potato, and Ginger), and three commodities from India to Bhutan (Tomato, Onion, and Okra). The unique relationship has been sustained by a tradition of regular high-level visits between the two countries. It is pertinent to mention that the high-profile visits include Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit in Aug 2019; External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit in 2019 and April 2022. Besides that Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra also visited Bhutan in Jan 2023. The King of Bhutan recently had a transit visit in Sept 2022 while PM Bhutan, Dr Lotay Tshering visited India in 2018 and 2019. Foreign Minister of Bhutan, Tandi Dorji visited in 2019 while Foreign Secretary of Bhutan, Pema Choden visited in Aug 2022, etc. Earlier in February 2023, a Parliamentary Delegation from Bhutan led by Wangchuk Namgyel, Speaker of the National Assembly of Bhutan called on President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Welcoming the delegation, the President said that we deeply value the multifaceted and unique friendship between India and Bhutan. The Government of India is committed to expanding its excellent bilateral cooperation with Bhutan, in accordance with the aspirations and priorities of the people of Bhutan. India is foraying into new avenues of bilateral cooperation with Bhutan such as Space Cooperation, Smart Agriculture, Youth and Sports, Start-ups, Renewable energy and Digital Development, to help the Royal Government of Bhutan realize its vision of prosperity for all. The President noted that this year Bhutan would graduate from the Least developed countries (LDC) group of countries and embark on the path of becoming a High Income Economy by 2034. In line with India-Bhutan unique and special relations, India ensured a continuous supply of trade and essential items to Bhutan, despite COVID-19-related lockdowns. In special assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic - 13 consignments of medical supplies, the first country to receive Covishield Vaccines. The revised Bilateral Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan came into effect in 2017 and would be valid for ten years. Cooperation in newer areas beyond the traditional realms of cooperation such as new STEM-based initiatives, the establishment of digital infrastructure such as the Third International Internet Gateway, integration of Bhutan's DrukRen with India's National Knowledge Network - key cooperation in the domain of e-Learning, E-library project complementing Bhutan's efforts at digital transformation, e-learning, etc. Apart from hydro-power cooperation and development partnership has moved into new and emerging areas with full interoperability of the flagship digital project RuPay, which has been successfully completed. Bhutan became the second country to launch India's Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app in July 2021, further deepening the financial linkages between our two countries. Space Cooperation is a new and promising area of bilateral cooperation and collaboration on the development of a small satellite for Bhutan. Both PMs jointly inaugurated the Ground Earth Station of the South Asia Satellite (SAS) in Thimphu in 2019, constructed with the support of ISRO. A Memorandum of Understanding between India and Bhutan on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space was signed on November 19, 2020, and training of domain experts is underway. The India-Bhutan SAT was launched into space on 26 November 2022 by ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Inauguration of Ground Earth Station during the visit of Chairman, ISRO. Scholarships, cultural cooperation, and youth-centric initiatives have also sustained people-to-people ties. India is the most popular educational destination for Bhutanese students -almost 4000 Bhutanese students are enrolled in Indian Universities at any time, many of whom are also provided scholarships by the Government of India. The visit would provide an opportunity for both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation and to further advance the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation. (ANI)
The Senate was informed that the government is working on legislation to compel social media platforms to register themselves in Pakistan, reported The Express Tribune. During Question Hour, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Rubina Khalid said that the government appeared to be helpless on the issue of blasphemous and derogatory content on the internet. She added that the matter had been taken up several times during the meetings of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and it was the responsibility of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to take action against such content, reported The Express Tribune. Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan replied that online hate speech against any religion would be blocked immediately. Elaborating further, Awan maintained that around 35,000 pages on Facebook and over 5,000 Twitter handles had been blocked, adding that 5,800 accounts on YouTube had been blocked as well, reported The Express Tribune. He further informed the House that the incumbent government was working on legislation to compel the social media platforms to register themselves in Pakistan. He added that the prime minister had formed a National Social Working Committee in August last year to suggest proper legislation for this purpose. Awan told the House that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had processed 59,253 URLs related to sectarian or hate speech complaints on social media so far, reported The Express Tribune. Of the total complaints, 47,674 URLs had been blocked over hate speech till February, he added. The state minister pointed out that the PTA had also blocked Wikipedia on the directives of the high court for 48 hours. Awan explained that under Section 37 (1) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, the PTA had been empowered to remove or block access to information through any system if it considered it necessary in the interest of the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan, reported The Express Tribune. He continued that under Section 37 (2) of Peca, the federal government had approved the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguard), Rules, 2021. (ANI)
One person has died and nearly 30 were injured during a roof collapse at a Belvidere venue during a metal concert Friday night, officials said.

Belvidere Police Chief Shane Woody said during a late Friday news conference that officers responded to the Apollo theatre, 104 N. State St., where the collapse occurred, leaving one person dead and at least 28 others injured.

The city is approximately 70 miles northwest of Chicago.

Once we arrived, we conducted a search and rescue of patrons inside Apollo ... sole responsibility was to get individuals outside the building, Woody said.

Once emergency crews were outside, they tried to secure the scene, and escorted people away from the building as best they could, Woody said during the news conference.

Chaos. Absolute chaos, Woody said. When first responders got there, they tried to control the chaos as best as possible. We tried to go in and save as many people as we possibly can and bring them to safety as best as we can.

A staffer working at Rockfords Saint Anthony Medical Center said they treated 12 patients, none of whom had died. The staffer said the victims were split among three hospitals.

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris wife told the Tribune late Friday that he remained at the scene of the Apollo Theatre, Morris dropped everything to hustle over there when it happened.

Hes worried about the residents, said the mayors wife, who asked to not be named.

The establishment was formerly a movie theater, she said.

Video showed people inside the venue desperately lifting debris from the area in front of the stage to free trapped concertgoers as lightning lit the sky showing through a partially collapsed roof.

Other video showed numerous fire and police vehicles outside the Apollo. The streets were littered in debris, and a large overhanging sign outside the venues entrance had fallen.

The town just east of Rockford in northeastern Illinois had been under a tornado warning until 8:30 p.m., the National Weather Service said. Radar indicated a tornado had formed in a large area that included the town, the NWS said.

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Heavy metal bands Morbid Angel, Revocation and Skeletal Remains were set to play the venue Friday night, its website showed.

The show was canceled because of a tornado that hit the Venue, said a post to the band Morbid Angels Facebook page.

We ask anyone who is still traveling to the venue to please seek shelter and stay safe. We are currently sheltering in place, and want to extend our support and hope that everyone at the show tonight is safe, the band wrote. Right now our focus is on making sure everyone in the venue tonight is OK and gets home.

Local leaders shared their concern as the emergency developed.

Praying for those involved in the Apollo Theatre incident and the Belvidere community. Please join me, said state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford.

Fellow Rockford State Rep. Dave Vella, who represents Belvidere, warned of the collapses possible lasting impact.

It seems they might be individuals hurt and in bad shape. I understand this might be hard for our community. Please pray for them and prepare with me to help those that need it. We are nothing if we dont take care of our neighbors. Good luck and god bless to all, he wrote on Facebook.

Chicago Tribune reporter Rosemary Sobol contributed to this story.

____

2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Dallas Police Department is investigating a shooting that killed a man Tuesday evening, officials said.

Officers responded to the 3900 block of Diamond Avenue around 5:10 p.m. regarding a shooting call, police said. They found a 43-year-old man with gunshot wounds lying in the street.

Police identified the victim as Khari Brown. He was transported to a local hospital but later died from his injuries, officials said.

Its not clear if any suspects are in custody, but police said there will be a grand jury referral submitted to the District Attorneys Office.
Stock Market Chart - Alamy

After the worst year for stocks since the financial crisis and fears of a fresh global banking crisis, investors are looking for ways to navigate choppy markets.

Now a dusty old chart from the 1800s may give them the means to do just that.

In the late nineteenth century, an American farmer from Ohio called Samuel Benner created a chart forecasting the rise and fall in the average price of hogs, corn and pig-iron. Since then, it has been weirdly accurate at predicting ups and downs of global stock markets  seeming foreseeing the Wall Street Crash, the Second World War, and the dot-com bubble.



The 150-year-old chart  which tells investors when to sell and when to buy  earned Benner national renown as an economic prophet. Newspapers of the time reprinted his surprisingly accurate forecasts, which are still being referred to today by retail investors sharing the so-called Benner Cycle on social media.



His original cycle only went as far as 1891. It is thought another nineteenth century forecaster, George Tritch, extended the cycle all the way up to 2059 and published the chart, annotating it with instructions of when to buy and sell stocks.

The chart tells investors to sell in 2007, just before the financial crash. It also says that 2023 will be a year of low prices when investors should buy and hold  which, given last year's share price falls, complies with the logic of selling high and buying low.

Benner wrote Benner's Prophecies of Future Ups and Downs in Prices after seeing his assets wiped out in the Panic of 1873. He identified an 11-year cycle in corn and hog prices, as well as a 27-year cycle in the price of pig iron.

There are a few reasons why the chart has been strangely accurate so far. It is based on the theory that solar cycles impact crop yields, affecting agricultural supply and causing ups and downs in commodity prices.



Rob Burgeman of wealth manager RBC Brewin Dolphin says the chart also highlights the cyclical nature of stock markets, which he says are ruled by the primitive emotions of fear and greed and how these sentiments contribute in the short term and the long term to the volatility of markets.



However, investors should demonstrate caution before they buy or sell their holdings based on the instructions of the nineteenth century hog farmer, as not all of Benners prophecies have come true.

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Jason Hollands of investment firm Bestinvest says: While there is seemingly some uncanny correlation to trends in wider financial markets, it did not predict the 2008 global financial crisis and was a year early in respect of the pandemic.



The chart has possibly become less accurate over time as the driving forces of the global economy have shifted. In his book, Benner called pig-iron the monarch of business.

A lot has changed since then, Hollands says. I would argue that since countries moved to fiat currencies in the late 20th century, the single biggest driver of financial markets have been the ebbs and flows in the supply of money driven by central banks. We are seeing this play out at the moment as the world has rapidly exited an era of ultra-low rates and money printing.



Investors should also probably avoid using a theory based on the solar cycle to try and predict stock markets. But there are other patterns that investors use when deciding whether to buy or sell, and some of them are fairly reliable.

These include the notion that you should avoid the markets in the summer ('sell in May, go away, come again on St. Legers day') and the often strong performance of markets in December (a phenomena known as the Santa Rally), Hollands says.

In the case of sell in May, while returns have historically been more muted over the summer months, long term average returns are still positive during these months, so not sufficiently convincing a pattern to dogmatically sell up each year. The Santa Rally is more convincing. Over the last 50 years the MSCI World Index has delivered a positive return 76pc of the time in the month of December which is far higher than any other month.

For Burgeman, there is a modern day oracle whose advice investors should follow instead of Benners.

As so often, perhaps we should listen a little more to the sage of Omaha, Warren Buffet, whose mantra is be greedy when others are fearful, but fearful when they are greedy'," he says.
Taylen Mosley, a 2-year-old boy who went missing on Wednesday, was found dead on Friday in the jaws of an alligator near his familys apartment in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The child Mosleys mother Pashun Jeffrey was also found dead inside her apartment after she sustained stab wounds, CBS 12 reported.

The post 2-Year-Old Found Inside An Alligators Mouth In Florida, Mother Fatally Stabbed In Apartment appeared first on Blavity.

The boys father, 21-year-old Thomas Mosley, is now charged with two counts of first-degree murder, police said.

St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said officers spotted an alligator with an object in its mouth as they were searching for Taylen near Dell Holmes Park.

As the detectives got closer they fired one round to the alligator, Holloway said at a press conference on Friday. The alligator dropped the object that he had in his mouth and we were able to retrieve Taylens body intact.

Neighbors told police that they heard a loud commotion near the familys apartment around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, CBS News reported. However, police were not called at that time.

Jefferys mother contacted the apartment complex property manager the next day after not hearing from her daughter.

The FBI joined the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local authorities, along with dive teams, to look for Taylen. Thats when they found the 2-year-old in the mouth of an alligator in a recreation area near his home.

Taylens exact cause of death is not determined.

Holloway said Thomas Mosley went to his mothers house around 9 p.m. on Wednesday with cuts on his arms and hands, then admitted himself to a local hospital.
WASHINGTON  Joe Biden isn't usually one to hold back his feelings. But when reporters asked the president Friday about his predecessor's indictment, he had nothing to say.

"I have no comment on that," Biden said. No. Im not going to talk about the Trump indictment," when asked again. I have no comment on Trump," he said a final time.

Convinced the best strategy is to stay out of Donald Trump's legal troubles, the White House is steering clear of Trump's indictment by a Manhattan grand jury over hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.

But that calculation will be tested when Biden formally announces his 2024 reelection bid, which he's widely expected to do in the coming weeks or months. While Trump holds the distinction as the first former president to face a criminal indictment, Biden could make different history: the first president squared off against a challenger under indictment.

"It's going to be difficult," said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "I'm sure Trump is going to try to bait him into speaking. He's not going to make it easy to stay quiet. But I think Biden's predilection is to try to stay out of this as much as possible."

More: 'No. Im not going to talk about the Trump indictment': Biden refuses to comment on hush money case

Why Biden is staying quiet

By not discussing Trump's legal matters, Biden is respecting the traditional White House approach not to weigh into pending investigations or influence law enforcement, particularly within a state or local jurisdiction.

Trump, who is set to appear Tuesday in court in New York, faces multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, The Associated Press reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

By not engaging, Biden also wants to avoid making comments that Republicans could use to reinforce their accusations of a politically biased justice system and a Trump "witch hunt."

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"He doesn't want to give Republicans anything to work with," said Todd Belt, professor and political management program director at George Washington University. "They are hypersensitive of anything that looks like the politicization of the judiciary."

President Joe Biden speaks to the media from the South Lawn of the White House on Friday as he travels to Mississippi to view tornado damage before going to Delaware for the weekend.

Republicans rally around Trump after indictment

Trump immediately made the indictment central to his 2024 candidacy, accusing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of "political persecution and election interference" and using the indictment in repeated fundraising emails to donors.

Republicans across the board, even potential opponents in the Republican primary, rallied around Trump to decry the "weaponization" of the government against the former president.

"The unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States, on a campaign finance issue, is an outrage," former Vice President Mike Pence, who is weighing a presidential bid, said in an interview on CNN.

More: Biden steers clear of talking about possible Trump indictment ahead of 2024 campaign

If Biden remains silent, then Trump's claims of a rigged justice system  almost certain to ramp up heading into 2024  would go unchecked by the likely Democratic standard-bearer.

"At some point, he'll have to, within limits, offer some strong words that this is a legal process playing out  it's not a political process," Zelizer said. "He'll have to walk the line of spreading that message, especially as the campaign gets underway, without overwhelming the story and becoming the center of attention."

2024 campaign could change Biden's calculus

Trump's indictment could further solidify his standing in the Republican primary with his core supporters who might see him as a martyr. Multiple polls ahead of the indictment showed Trump extending his lead over the next closest contender, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But it could also boost Biden's message for the general election. Trump's indictment helps crystalize the contrast Biden hopes to make in 2024 between a White House that he'll argue restored competence versus the chaos of Trump.

"Of course he's not going to stay silent," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, arguing Biden doesn't want to talk now and tip Republicans off to his strategy so far out from the 2024 election.

More: A Donald Trump mugshot? Fingerprints? What happens next after Trump indictment

Sabato said Biden can tie Trump's indictment  and potential conviction  to other unsavory actions from the former president, including efforts to overturn the 2020 election. "It will be about contempt for the law. You can paint a devastating picture of him."

Still, Democrats see no upside in Biden talking about Trump's indictment yet.

"Joe Biden can contrast himself as a law-abiding president with Donald Trump, who was a relatively lawless president and lawless individual, but he does not need to engage in overheated rhetoric at this stage," said Lis Smith, a Democratic campaign strategist. "There's no need for Joe Biden to jump in front of a moving train here."

Just the beginning?

Of course, Trump's indictment in New York might not be the only charges against the 2024 Republican front-runner that Biden will have to figure out how to confront.

A grand jury in Georgia is investigating the pressure that Trump put on Georgia election officials to overturn his loss to Biden. And in Washington, the Justice Department is investigating Trump's handling of classified documents after he left the White House and efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

More: Donald Trump's biggest campaign foe? A string of investigations - and possible indictments

Sabato said Biden and Democrats can use Trump's legal issues against other Republicans who tied themselves closely to the former president politically.

But now isn't the time, he said.

"You want to remind people of what happened. You want to tag them with Trump. And if you start now, it's older than summer reruns."

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How long can Biden stay silent on Trump indictment before 2024?
Multiple tornadoes hit Indiana communities both south and north of Indianapolis late Friday and early Saturday, leaving at least three people in Sullivan County dead and hundreds of homes and buildings damaged or destroyed.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis said late Saturday that crews have preliminarily identified at least seven tornadoes that hit Indiana. The strongest storms were seen in Sullivan County, in west central Indiana, and Whiteland in Johnson County just south of Indianapolis, NWS science operations officer David Beachler told IndyStar.

Damage was surveyed in Sullivan, Johnson, Howard and Clinton counties Saturday, and crews will continue to work Sunday, possibly surveying Martinsville, the NWS said on Facebook.

Austin Cunningham, left, and his friend Austin Holmes salvage what they can from their house Saturday, April 1, 2023, after a tornado ripped through a community in Sullivan, Ind.

Gov. Eric Holcomb visited Sullivan on Saturday afternoon, where he announced he had declared a state of emergency for Sullivan and Johnson counties. About 18 counties in Indiana lost power at some point during the storms, Holcomb said.

"This is an all-hands-on-deck effort and will continue to be," Holcomb said of recovery efforts.

More: How many tornadoes hit Indiana? Here's how National Weather Service confirms reports.

NWS Meteorologist Ted Funk, who also spoke at the Sullivan press conference, said a tornado warning was issued in Sullivan County at 10:08 p.m. Friday, when the storm was in Illinois.

The Sullivan area saw locations with damages from an EF2-level storm with winds between 111 and 135 miles per hour. Some areas were hit by an EF3-level storm with winds between 136 and 165 miles per hour, Funk said. The storm in Sullivan traveled about 8 to 10 miles and was about a quarter of a mile in width, Funk said.

Funk said Indiana has been lucky in recent years with severe weather and tornadoes this time of year. The last "magnitude tornado" Funk said NWS staff could recall was the Henryville tornado in 2012.

"We haven't had anything," he said, "this devastating for quite a while."

Central Indiana remained under a wind advisory most of the day Saturday with possible 50 mph gusts, according to the NWS. Thousands around Indiana were still without power Saturday afternoon.

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At least 18 people were reported dead and 900,000 were without power across the U.S. as of Saturday from fierce storms and tornadoes that swept across multiple states in the South and Midwest.

There were at least 40 reports of tornadoes Friday in Arkansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin and Mississippi, weather.com reported. And more than 28 million people were under a tornado watch at one point Friday, according to the NWS, which declared a level 5 high-risk outlook for severe storms in some areas.

More: Tornado, storm destruction spans several states: 18 people dead; homes, businesses damaged in Little Rock

More Storm coverage: Storm brings high winds, tornado warnings to Central Indiana

Sullivan County, Indiana

In Sullivan, a community near the Illinois border and about 30 miles south of Terre Haute, the county sheriffs office declared a state of emergency Saturday. The city of Sullivan suffered extensive damage due to tornadoes in the area.

The Sullivan County sheriffs office said that there is a line of damage covering several miles, starting west of Sullivan in the rural New Lebanon area, extending eastward through Sullivan, according to a Facebook post.

Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said during a press conference Saturday morning about 155 of the county's nearly 200 damaged structures were located in the city. There "is total devastation south of Silver Street" near the Sullivan City Park, Lamb said at the press conference.

"This is going to be a very long process," Lamb said. "Its going to take months and months if not years to recover from this."

At another press conference Saturday afternoon, Lamb reported the community was still in "search-and-rescue" mode. A curfew was established for areas in the community affected by the storm.

The sheriff's office reported downed power lines and multiple gas leaks in the area Saturday. Around the city, trees blocked roads and sat on top of houses. Debris was scattered in fields.

Anthony Arnold of Washington, Indiana, helped clear debris in one Sullivan neighborhood, along with his wife. Sullivan is "a close place" in his family's heart, he said.

"Just doing Gods work. Woke up this morning and felt like I had to be here. Arnold said.

Whiteland in Johnson County

According to Whiteland police, the southern part of the town located about 20 miles south of Indianapolis took a direct hit around 11:30 p.m. Friday, knocking down power lines and blocking roadways with debris. The National Weather Service has preliminarily classified the tornado that hit there as an EF2 with winds up to 135 mph.

A second, less powerful tornado hit Johnson County south of Bargersville, according to the weather service. It has been classified as an EF0 with peak winds of 85 mph.

Several houses and warehouses in Whiteland were destroyed or received significant damage. Destruction was also seen in parts of Franklin.

Whiteland Fire Chief Eric Funkhauser told the Daily Journal that the winds destroyed at least 10 to 20 homes and left about 20 people in a shelter.

Carolyn Duncan, 81, has been living in her Whiteland home for 21 years and said shes never experienced anything like this storm.

Im in a daze, Duncan told IndyStar. Its like it really didnt happen.

"I'm still in a daze," Carolyn Duncan, 81, said. Firefighters found her hunkered down in her bathroom after the tornado tore through her neighborhood. "I'm blessed, God was with me," Duncan said. Homes lay in ruins after a tornado ripped Central Indiana on Saturday, April 1, 2023 in Whiteland.

Duncan was about to go to bed when she heard the sirens and then heard hard rain pounding on her roof. After that she moved into her bathroom, the only room in the house without windows, while the storm came through and took out most of her windows.

As she surveyed the damage Saturday, Duncan hugged a neighbor whose whole roof was gone and car was thrown across the yard. Duncan asked her if she will be alright.

I dont know if Im going to be, but we will get there, her neighbor said.

Duncans grandson and other family members were helping her collect some belongings before she heads to live with her daughter while her home is repaired. Duncan said she just feels fortunate nothing worse happened to her home.

I just feel blessed, Duncan said. God was with me.

Homes lay in ruins after a tornado ripped Central Indiana on Saturday, April 1, 2023 in Whiteland.

Marie Davilla was at home with her six family members when she heard the sirens go off. She said she usually doesnt think anything of tornado sirens but for some reason decided that her family needed to get into the bathroom.

Then as soon as the lights went out it hit and lasted about five minutes, Davilla told IndyStar.

Davilla and her family are now working to salvage what they can from the Whiteland home where theyve been living for the past six years. She said they are still figuring out next steps for their family.

Ive talked with my landlord and he said it could be months and months before anything can be fixed, Davilla said.

Homes lay in ruins after a tornado ripped Central Indiana on Saturday, April 1, 2023 in Whiteland.

After the initial part of the storm hit, Davilla and her boyfriend went outside to help other families next to her that she could hear screaming for help.

Ive never experienced anything like this, Davilla said.

Davillas home was left mostly intact but the wind took out all of their windows and left debris throughout their home. Her neighbors were not as fortunate, though, with some homes completely gone. Others were reduced to a few walls left standing with family photos still seen left hanging.

McCormick's Creek State Park in Owen County

Owen County emergency personnel were out at McCormick's Creek State Park Friday night and returned Saturday to search for people impacted by the storms.

A severe storm struck McCormick's Creek State Park where people were camping Friday night.

Jack White of Owen County EMS said he felt "extremely fortunate" there were no fatalities in the state park. Several of the people camping there sought shelter in one of the park's bathhouses, which White said may have saved their lives since much of the campground area was reportedly "flattened."

Other areas of Owen County had trees down and many residents lost electricity. White said about half the town of Spencer remained without electricity as of about 9 a.m. Saturday.

Around 50 people were in the campground when the storm hit Friday night and were transported to the Canyon Inn, the historic inn at the state park, said Chris Lunsford of Owen County EMS. Lundsford reported just one person had minor injuries.

USA Today and The Herald-Times in Bloomington contributed to this reporting.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Carolines work is supported by Report for America and Glick Philanthropies. As part of its work in Marion County, Glick Philanthropies partners with organizations focused on closing access and achievement gaps in education.

Report for America is a program of The GroundTruth Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening local newsrooms. Report for America provides funding for up to half of Carolines salary during her time with us, and IndyStar is fundraising the remainder.

To learn more about how you can support IndyStars partnership with Report for America and to make a donation, visit indystar.com/RFA.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana tornadoes: 3 die in Sullivan County as many areas see damage
Heavy equipment operators view a crushed vehicle under a downed roof across the street from the Apollo Theatre, April 1, 2023, in Belvidere. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Read the latest update: Belvidere officials report 50-year-old man dead, 40 people injured in roof collapse at metal concert

One person has died and 40 were injured during a partial roof collapse at a theater near Rockford during a metal concert Friday night, officials said.

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Belvidere police responded to The Apollo Theatre, 104 N. State St., when the collapse occurred, police Chief Shane Woody said during a late Friday news conference. At least 28 people were injured.

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The city is approximately 70 miles northwest of Chicago, just east of Rockford.

Once we arrived, we conducted a search and rescue of patrons inside Apollo ... (our) sole responsibility was to get individuals outside the building, Woody said.

Authorities work the scene at the Apollo Theatre after a severe spring storm caused damage and injuries during a concert, late on March 31, 2023, in Belvidere, Illinois. (Matt Marton/AP)

Approximately 260 concertgoers, staffers and performers were inside the theater, and people were injured in multiple locations, said Shawn Schadle, chief of the Belvidere Fire Department. There were no reports of unaccounted people as of 11 p.m., he said Friday.

The Belvidere Police Department said calls began coming from the theater at 7:48 p.m., according to the Associated Press. The department said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage, but fire officials on the scene Friday said they could not confirm a tornado had touched down.

Once emergency crews were outside the theater, they tried to secure the scene, and escorted people away from the building as best they could, Woody said during the news conference.

Chaos. Absolute chaos, Woody said, describing the scene. When first responders got there, they tried to control the chaos as best as possible. We tried to go in and save as many people as we possibly can and bring them to safety as best as we can.

Early Saturday the Apollo Theaters roof appeared to have blown off and landed on State Street below, its warped metal and wood crushed a car.

The concert halls heavy marquee had fallen to the ground and bricks scattered the road.

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Down the block, a taco truck trailer had flipped onto its side and firefighters lingered by the messy, taped off scene.

One pointed to the building across the street from the theater as he spoke with a family standing nearby. If that was where they lived, theyd have to sleep somewhere else tonight, he said. Fortunately, the building with the crushed window frames wasnt theirs.

They had come to check on family members who lived in one of the buildings authorities had deemed safe, Daniela Ochoa said.

Theres no visible damage, but theyre not answering their phones, so were wondering if they had to go somewhere else, Ochoa said.

A large brick section of one nearby buildings white facade had been ripped off.

Inside Maggies Pizzeria, where a concert afterparty had been scheduled several storefronts down from the theater, several people were still talking past midnight, some wearing band t-shirts.

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The wind had built up suddenly before destroying everything, said a man who only shared his name as Brian. He ran into his home as the storm picked up, he said.

The brief outburst knocked out his now-boarded windows. He pointed down the street both ways, to where the storm had left a much smaller mark.

It just came in this area right here and did what it had to do, he said.

On the other side of the Kishwaukee River just across from the Apollo, all but the several firetrucks and their flashing lights looked normal. The street lamps were on and little debris marred the ground.

As of 11:50 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service also could not confirm a tornado had touched down in Belvidere, but it had recorded possible tornadic activity and thunderstorm wind, said NWS meteorologist Lee Carlaw.

Im in Belvidere, where a roof collapsed onto a crowd during a Morbid Angel concert. 1 person is dead, 28 injured.



Eerie scene. Power out. The Apollo Theaters marquee is crashed on the ground. A buildings exterior bricks pulled down. The band is loading its van. pic.twitter.com/1F2srxd7Q7  Jake Sheridan (@JakeSheridan_) April 1, 2023

A staffer working at Rockfords Saint Anthony Medical Center said they treated 12 patients, none of whom had died. The staffer said the victims were split among three hospitals.

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Investigators look over the Apollo Theatre after a severe spring storm caused damage and injuries during a concert, late Friday, March 31, 2023, in Belvidere, Ill. (Matt Marton / AP)

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris wife told the Tribune late Friday that he remained at the scene of The Apollo Theatre, and had dropped everything to rush to the theater after the roof collapse.

Hes worried about the residents, said the mayors wife, who asked to not be named.

The establishment was formerly a movie theater, she said.

Video showed people inside the venue desperately lifting debris from the area in front of the stage to free trapped concertgoers as lightning lit the sky showing through a partially collapsed roof.

Other video showed numerous fire and police vehicles outside the Apollo. The streets were littered with debris, and a large overhanging sign outside the venues entrance had fallen

Belvidere had been under a tornado warning until 8:30 p.m., the National Weather Service said. Radar indicated a tornado had formed in a large area that included the town, the NWS said.

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Heavy metal bands Morbid Angel, Revocation and Skeletal Remains were set to play the venue Friday night, its website showed. Revocation and Skeletal Remains said in social media posts that none of their members or crew were injured.

The show was canceled because of a tornado that hit the Venue, said a post to the band Morbid Angels Facebook page.

We ask anyone who is still traveling to the venue to please seek shelter and stay safe. We are currently sheltering in place, and want to extend our support and hope that everyone at the show tonight is safe, the band wrote. Right now our focus is on making sure everyone in the venue tonight is OK and gets home.

Local leaders shared their concern as the emergency developed.

My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight.



Ive been in touch with officials for updates and to direct any available resources we can.



As we learn more, please follow the guidance of all local authorities.  Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) April 1, 2023

Praying for those involved in the Apollo Theater incident and the Belvidere community. Please join me, said state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford.

Fellow Rockford state Rep. Dave Vella, who represents Belvidere, warned of the collapses possible lasting impact.

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It seems (there) might be individuals hurt and in bad shape. I understand this might be hard for our community. Please pray for them and prepare with me to help those that need it. We are nothing if we dont take care of our neighbors. Good luck and god bless to all, he wrote on Facebook.

Tornados reportedly touched down across Illinois Friday night hours after National Weather Service officials issued a tornado watch for Chicago and much of northeastern Illinois in effect until 10 p.m. Friday.

The afternoon warning included Chicagos suburbs, Rockford, DeKalb, Peru and Kankakee, among other Illinois cities. It also affects northwestern Indiana and southwestern Wisconsin  including Madison, Milwaukee and Kenosha.

A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas. There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

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 Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night.

At Chicagos OHare International Airport, a traffic management program was put into effect that caused arriving planes to be delayed by nearly two hours on average, WFLD-TV reported.

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The National Weather Services Storm Prediction Center had forecast an unusually large outbreak of thunderstorms with the potential to cause hail, damaging wind gusts and strong tornadoes that could move for long distances over the ground.

Such intense supercell thunderstorms " are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world.

The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week. At least the first 10 days of April will be rough, Accuweather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said earlier this week.

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.

The Associated Press contributed.
Lea Seydoux in One Fine Morning and Lukas Gage in How to Blow Up a Pipeline (MUBI / Neon)

Its been an interesting year for cinema thus far, and that wont be slowing down in April.

Theres Leonor Will Never Die (7 April)  a meta love letter to Filipino cinema, led by the marvellous Sheila Francisco  and also LOLA (7 April), a Second World War time travel drama whose low budget shows that you can do impressive things with very little. Albert Serras Pacifiction (21 April) is an intoxicating descent into danger and, as with the Spanish filmmakers previous films, it may be divisive, but demands to be seen  even if just to form your own opinion.

Ben Affleck directs and stars in Air (7 April), which follows Nikes revolutionary partnership with a young Michael Jordan. Afflecks receiving some of the best reviews of his career for the film. Meanwhile, grisly horror Evil Dead Rise (21 April) has generated word-of-mouth hype since its premiere at South by Southwest. If the title didnt already give it away, the latest film in the long-running franchise is not for the fainthearted.

This month will also provide you with the chance to see Krzysztof KieAlowskis Three Colours trilogy on the big screen, which is the very definition of a worthwhile venture. Each film will be released weekly from the start of the month.

While your interests might be piqued by the studo fare on offer, April wil not only unveil Chris Pratts take on Italian oplumber Mario, in Super Mario Bros (7 April), but Nicolas Cages version of Dracula in Renfield (14 April), too should you peek below the surface, youll discover some gems.

Below are the five best films to watch in the cinema in April 2023.

Godland

Release date: 7 April

Elliott Crosset Hove in Godland (Snowglobe Films)

Hlynur Palmasons Godland should be considered one of the years greatest films when those Best of... lists roll in this December. It stars Elliott Crosset Hove as a Danish Lutheran priest named Lucas, who is sent on an expedition to oversee the completion of a new parish church in Iceland. There are stretches throughout Lucass journey where Palmason captivatingly experiments with form, often chillingly accentuating the loneliness caused by the language barrier between him and his assigned Icelandic guide (Ingvar Eggert Sigursson). The result may test casual viewers faith, much like Lucass is tested by the harsh weather conditions he finds himself in  but this approach, combined with the breathtaking backdrop, makes Godland amount to something special that not only demands a big screen, but transcends it, too.

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One Fine Morning

Release date: 14 April

Mia Hansen-Lves understated French drama Un Beau Matin, translated as One Fine Morning, showcases perhaps Lea Seydouxs most impressive role to date. She plays Sandra, who starts an adulterous affair with an old friend (Melvil Poupaud) while going through a tough time in her life  namely, the deterioration of her father, who is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease. Hansen-Lve (Eden, Things to Come, last years brilliant Bergman Island) is so excellent at depicting the banalities of life in enchanting ways: the film, like Sandra, is relaxed on the surface, but is laced with a unsuspecting bite. Theres a thrill about seeing Seydoux, an immensely famous Hollywood star, in such an unshowy role  and even more of a thrill to be reminded just how talented she is.

Suzume

Release date: 14 April

Japanes animation Suzume (Toho)

Suzume is yet another enchanting animated addition to Japanese studio Tohos back catalogue (see also: Wolf Children, Weathering for You). Its story centres on a high school girl and a mysterious young man, who is transformed into a chair (yes, you read that right) as they try to prevent a series of disasters across Japan. Makoto Shinkai, who directed the acclaimed Your Name, weaves emotion into the fantastical, and the result is a dazzling rollercoaster of a film.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Release date: 21 April

Lets hear it for film editors. How to Blow Up a Pipeline, an adaptation of Andreas Malm's 2021 book of the same name, beats to a thrilling pulse that never relents thanks to Daniel Garbers assemblage of shots; heart races will quicken, breath will be held. This is not your standard heist thriller. The film follows a group of environmental activists who attempt to to sabotage the development of an oil pipeline, and what could be stunted by arrogant performances from a crop of rising stars is instead enhanced by their effective portrayals (the highlights? Forrest Goodluck, Jayme Lawson and Lukas Gage). Director Daniel Goldhaber, delivering this after his intoxicating thriller CAM (2018), firmly positions his name as one to look out for.

Love According to Dalva

Release date: 28 April

Zelda Samson in Love According to Dalva (MK2 Films)

The most moving film of the month is Belgian drama Love According to Dalva. The film mysteriously starts as a distressed 12-year-old is taken into foster care. Then, through the eyes of Dalva, the viewer slowly learns her story, with the film exploring a young girls abuse from the perspective of the abused. Its an extraordinary debut from filmmaker Emmanuelle Nicot, who tells Dalvas story with necessary tenderness, and this is heightened by an equally as extraordinary debut performance from Zelda Samson. Remember the name  if Dalva is anything to go by, this is the start of a long career for the child star.
These are the stars we'd like to see step into Costner's cowboy boots as the new face of the franchise. Tommaso Boddi/WireImage/Getty Images, Kevin Winter/Getty Images, Jon Kopaloff/WireImage/Getty Images

"Yellowstone" may be moving forward without Kevin Costner following a behind-the-scenes dispute.

According to rumors, showrunner Taylor Sheridan is looking for another star to lead a new spinoff.

Here are the actors we think would be able to fill Costner's boots as the new face of the franchise.

Matthew McConaughey

According to rumors, Matthew McConaughey has been approached to star in a new "Yellowstone" universe series. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

One of the most obvious choices as Costner's replacement is Matthew McConaughey who Deadline named in their bombshell report about the behind-the-scenes drama on the series.

According to the outlet, the "True Detective" star is someone "Yellowstone" cocreator and showrunner, Taylor Sheridan, Paramount Global, and Paramount Network are pursuing as a potential lead.

While McConaughey has not responded to the speculation, as we previously noted, he is an actor who seems well-matched to Sheridan's neo-Western sensibilities when you consider his performances in the lines of noir "Lone Star" and the Texas-set black comedy "Killer Joe."

Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk would work as "Yellowstone"'s new lead. Emma McIntyre/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Last year Bob Odenkirk wrapped his six-season run on "Breaking Bad" prequel series "Better Call Saul" and we'd be lying if we said we weren't missing his presence on our screens.

As a result, we wouldn't mind seeing him step into the cowboy boots that Costner has left behind.

The 60-year-old actor clearly knows a thing or two about making must-see television and would definitely bring his own unique interpretation to the western franchise.

Josh Lucas

Josh Lucas will be familiar to "Yellowstone" viewers as he plays young John Dutton. Phillip Faraone/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Sheridan might already have the perfect person to replace Costner within his cast in the form of Josh Lucas.

The "Sweet Home Alabama" actor has been portraying a younger version of the Dutton patriarch in flashback scenes since season one and has become such a reliable and well-liked presence on the show that we can imagine a scenario in which Lucas is bumped to lead.

This way, the Dutton saga could continue through another prequel series ("1983" perhaps?) with the added bonus of having characters and cast members already familiar to viewers.

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Connie Britton

Connie Britton Rich Fury/Getty Images

While the world of "Yellowstone" undoubtedly runs on testosterone, audiences will agree that some of the strongest characters are women.

From the flagship series' Beth (Kelly Reilly) to Elsa (Isabel May) in "1883" and Cara (Helen Mirren) in "1923," it's not hard to find fantastic female performances strewn across the franchise.

With that in mind, who says the new lead star has to be a man? While there are many women who could give Costner a run for his money, one who would be particularly well suited to the role is Connie Britton.

Not only does she fit the mold of a Dutton woman with her strawberry-blond locks, but going by her standout performances in "Nashville" and "Friday Night Lights," we know that she would completely give the role her all.

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks previously cameoed in the spinoff series "1883." Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Tom Hanks isn't really a television guy and his sneaky cameo as a Civil War-era general in "Yellowstone" prequel "1883" remains one of the few small-screen roles the Oscar winner has held in the last two decades.

That and the fact that Sheridan seemingly has the persuasive powers to get the likes of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren to say yes to a project without even seeing a script gives us enough hope to believe that Hanks could be the next face of the franchise.

Chris Pine

Chris Pine has expressed interest in appearing on "Yellowstone." Samir Hussein/WireImage

The "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" actor actually gave his thoughts about joining the "Yellowstone" universe and reconnecting with his "Hell or High Water" collaborator earlier this year.

"I love Montana, I love Kevin Costner, I like horses," he said in a video interview with Esquire when asked about joining the franchise.

All things considered, it seems that if Pine was approached, he would be on board with taking up the reins as the fictional ranch's custodian.

It has to also be said that, due to his roles in the "Star Trek" reboot film series and "Wonder Woman" (among other DC Extended Universe films), Pine also comes with a built-in fanbase that could get younger viewers watching "Yellowstone."

Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell could be a contender. Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

Kurt Russell would have no problems slotting into the "Yellowstone" world and we know that the audience would welcome him with open arms.

The franchise would certainly be in safe hands with the legendary screen star  he got his start at the age of 12 in the cowboy series "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" and has been starring in westerns ever since, counting "Bone Tomahawk" and "The Hateful Eight" among his most successful movies.

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Photo: Samuel Corum (AP)

U.S. government efforts to ban TikTok over national security grounds, once considered a pie-in-the-sky pipe dream, are looking more and more likely by the week, especially after Congress browbeat TikToks CEO for five hours last week. That said, weve been here before. Various players in the federal government have attempted to ban TikTok before, all unsuccessfully.

In just three short months, at least four new bills have reached the House and Senate demanding, in various forms, a national ban of the Chinese-owned app. TikTok is already banned on all federal government devices. More and more states have passed laws doing the same thing on a local level. These new sets of bill would take things much further, however, and essentially excise an app TikTok says is currently used by 150 million Americansone in two people in the nation. That backlash to such a ban is difficult to imagine.

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Though support for the bans has increased, the rationale behind it remains as obtuse as ever. Lawmakers and officials, for years now, have warned the Chinese government could sneakily use TikTok to harvest US users data which they say could harm national security. Could and Might are the keywords here. To date, the US government has yet to provide any concrete evidence backing these claims.

That said, TikTok definitely hasnt done itself any favors. The Department of Justice is currently investigating TikTok over claims it spied on three former BuzzFeed reporters in the companys investigation of an internal leak. Former employee whistleblowers, meanwhile, have said TikToks plans to secure US user data in Oracle servers simply dont go far enough, with one saying only a complete re-engineering of the app would be necessary to meet lawmakers demands. Another former employee, writing in a letter sent to ByteDance by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawleys office, alleged TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are functionally the same company.

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So here we are, with a national TikTok ban or forced sale looking all the more likely. Below are all of these legislative efforts so far vying to make that a reality.

The ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act Targeted Apps from China and Five Other Countries

Photo: Kevin Frayer (Getty Images)

The current wave of TikTok ban bills really kicked off late last year with the introduction of the atrocious long-named Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act. Thats the ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act for you sane folks. The legislation ultimately sputtered out and wasnt considered in either chamber but served as a launching pad for future bills.

The bill, supported by Republican Sen Marko Rubio of Florida and Reps. Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, specifically target transactions with social media companies located in or deemed influenced by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea or Venezuela. Crucially, that would include TikTok. In theory, the bill attempts to protect US internet users from adversarial nations using social media companies to engage in surreptitious surveillance or censorship. US officials have yet to provide any concrete evidence that the Chinese government engaged in any of this behavior through TikTok.

The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok, Rubio said in a statement. This isnt about creative videosthis is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day.

Sen. Josh Hawleys Bill Calls For No TikTok on United States Devices

Photo: Handout (Getty Images)

Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Ken Buck picked up the TikTok ban torch not long after the ANTI-SOCIAL act failed with their own successor called, wait for it, The No TikTok on United States Devices Act. Seriously, someone needs to help lawmakers out with these name choices. Regardless, the bill, if passed, would prohibit Americans from downloading TikTok and prevent US companies from making transactions with the apps parent company ByteDance. That wide net means the bill would impact far more than just TikTok since ByteDance already had other popular apps available to US users.

Hawley believes his legislation is necessary to prevent TikTok from sharing sensitive US user data like keystrokes and location data to the Chinese government. In a statement, the senator said the bill was a natural extension of already passed federal laws banning TikTok on government devices.

Banning it on government devices was a step in the right direction, but now is the time to ban it nationwide to protect the American people, Hawley said in a statement.

The Hawley bill faced a major setback in late March when Kentucky Senator Rand Paul blocked the bill over First Amendment concerns. Speaking to lawmakers, Paul said TikTok had bent over backwards to work with the US government and assuage Chinese government surveillance concerns. Hawleys bill, he added, curb freedom of expression.

Florida Sen. and former 2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio came running to Hawleys aid.

This is not a First Amendment issue, because were not trying to ban booty videos, Rubio said according to The Hill. This is not about the content of the videos that are online. It is about the dangers to the national security that are presented by the way that this company functions.

A Vague and Poorly Written Republican Bill Would Compel Biden to Block TikTok From App Stores

Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)

Republican House members in early March used their newfound Republican majority to jam through a controversial, rushed bill granting the Biden administration the authority to completely ban TikTok or other foreign software companies believed to be involved in the transfer of sensitive data. In some cases, the new bill called the Deterring Americas Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act, would compel Biden to ban the app even if his office did not want to.

The DATA act would revisit and loosen Cold War-era Berman amendments that limit the presidents ability to restrict foreign information materials under the International Emergency Powers Act. If passed, the DATA Act would make it so those rules dont apply to software companies believed to have engaged in the transfer of sensitive personal data.

Critics of the bill, which include every Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee where it was being considered, say it is vague, overly broad, and written in haste. TikTok naturally opposes the ban but so do US civil liberties groups like the ACLU who warn it could lead to a  slippery slope for further carve-outs of the Berman Amendment. Others, like Fight For The Future Director Evan Greer, say its incredibly hypocritical.

If it werent so alarming, it would be hilarious that US policymakers are trying to be tough on China by acting exactly like the Chinese government, Greer told Gizmodo.

Joe Biden Demands a Forced Sale

Photo: Susan Walsh (Getty Images)

Until recently, the Biden administration had remained incredibly silent, some could argue even playing dumb, on the question of TikToks fate. When asked about the issue less than two months, Biden said he was not sure, adding only that didnt have the app on his own phone.

That indecision suddenly changed in late March when the administration, via the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S (CFIUS), declared TikTok must divest ownership of the company. The ultimatum came after a years-long CFIUS review of TikToks plan to safeguard US user data in the US. CFIUS was apparently left unconvinced TikToks plan would work.

Though this option increasingly looks like the cleanest solution to keep TikTo operating interrupted, Chinese government officials have signaled they will fight it from happening. Earlier this month, Chinas Commerce Ministry said a forced sale would have to be approved by the government first because it would involve exporting technology.

If the news is true, China will firmly oppose it, Shu Jueting, a government spokesperson said.

Those comments, made hours before TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress, lead to several awkward situations for the executive when he tried to convince lawmakers TikTok was fully independent from the Chinese government.

Donald Trump Tried and Failed to Block TikTok via Executive Order

Photo: Tom Pennington (Getty Images)

Collective memories about politics are notoriously myopic, but anyone paying attention cant help but feel like its Groundhog day. Many of the exact same calls for TikTok bans and forced sales already happened years ago under the Trump Administration. The recently indicted former president passed an executive order back in April 2020 attempting to halt all transactions between US companies and ByteDance and Tencent which own TikTok and WeChat respectively.

Trump tried to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enforce the order, but multiple judges quickly ruled the president  likely exceeded IEEPAs express limitations

Trumps Effort to Have TikTok Sold to Oracle led to a Watered-Down Partnership Instead

Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Anyone interested in the Biden administrations support of the US TikTok spinoff would probably do well to learn some lessons from Trumps botched attempt to do basically the same thing. Back in 2020, with his presidency nearing its final days, Trump issued a shocking executive order giving ByteDance, TikToks owner, 90 days to find an American buyer for the US portion of the app. Trump justified the forced sale by saying officials had found credible evidence, the apps could take actions to harm US national security. Of course, the administration never actually revealed what those credible threats are. Neither has his successor.

Still, multiple major US tech companies including Oracle and Microsoft seized on the opportunity to potentially own the fast-growing social networking site in the US. Oracle, which was Trumps biggest Silicon Valley supporter, ultimately won the deal but it became clear pretty quickly that it would not at all resemble the acquisition Trump had once described. Instead, Oracle referred to themselves as TikToks technology partner.

Rather than become its parent company, Oracle has instead played a key role in TikToks US data routing plan, dubbed Project Texas. As part of that proposal, TikTok committed to siloing its American operation into a subsidiary called TikTok US Data Security, whose leadership would require American government approval. Lawmakers questioning CEO Chew during a hearing in March didnt seem to think that proposal would satisfy their security concerns.

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Metropolitan Pavlo Lebid of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) was summoned for interrogation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) on Saturday, 1 April.

Source: website of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Kyiv Monastery of the Caves)

Details: It is noted that Pavlo was summoned for interrogation by the SSU at 12:00, after searches at his home.

After that, the issue of choosing a restriction measure will be decided.

A video, in which Pavlo says that he was "put under house arrest" is being shared online.

Background:

In March 2023, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve terminated an agreement with the UOC-MP that allowed the church to use the premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra free of charge. UOC-MP clergy have been ordered to vacate all premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by 29 March.

The priests of the UOC-MP should have left the monastery on 29 March after holding their last service there.

But Metropolitan Pavlo said he did not intend to do that and filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.

He also openly threatened Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko was "possessed by an unholy spirit".

On the evening of 29 March, the UOC-MP website reported that the Kyiv Commercial Court had opened proceedings in a case brought by the Holy Dormition Monastery against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve over the termination of the lease agreement by the National Reserve.



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Archimandrite Avraamii of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the acting Abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), has said that the brethren are praying for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that the "curses" of the Lavras former abbot, Metropolitan Pavlo, will come back to haunt him.

Source: a video address by Archimandrite Avraamii on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church website

Details: The Ukrainian Orthodox Church said on its website that Archimandrite Avraamii "has refuted the effectiveness of the curses issued by the Lavras former abbot".

Quote from Archimandrite Avraamii: "As Acting Abbot of the Lavra, I am deeply outraged by the statements and actions of our former leader. Does he not realise that unjust curses will return to the one who utters them? He is the one to blame for the tears shed by our brethren that he talks about. And all the curses he levels at the president and all those who disagree with him [i.e. with Metropolitan Pavlo  ed.] are in fact coming back to him, because the Scripture says that they will be heaped like burning coals upon his head.

Having assumed the responsibility over the Lavra which has been bestowed on me by His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius, I want to declare before everyone that the former abbots curses are groundless and unjust.

I assure our president that the Lavras brethren are praying and will continue praying for the head of our state, as the Word of God commands us to do. We bless you, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych [Zelenskyy], in your fight against the aggressor, against the false Russian world which has brought war and death to our people. [Russkiy mir, literally Russian world or Russian order, is the concept of the total domination of Russian culture over other cultures; it gives rise to and legitimises Russias current expansionist, colonial politics  ed.] We are praying for your family and everyone who is working alongside you to ensure the victory over the enemy of peace."

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More details: Archimandrite Avraamii stressed that the events that have unfolded in the Lavra over the course of the past several weeks are not a "confrontation of the state and religion" and not a "violation of freedom", but rather a "liberation of our shrine from the influence of the hostile Russian state".

"We have endured for a long time, for the sake of the Lavras shrines and relics, for the sake of being able to pray next to our Pechersk elders. We could not conceive of an alternative. But now the new canonical reality in which a Local Church [the Ukrainian Orthodox Church  ed.] has been recognised, and the decision of the Ukrainian state, allow us to make a choice. And I have made mine," Archimandrite Avraamii concluded.

Previously: Metropolitan Pavlo, the former abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), declared that "God will not forgive" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for evicting the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) from the Lavra.

Background:

Archimandrite Avraamii (Lotysh), formerly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), joined the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and asked Metropolitan Epiphanius to appoint him acting Abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Metropolitan Epiphanius agreed. Metropolitan Onufriy of the UOC-MP banned Archimandrite Avraamii from the ministry for going over to the OCU.

In March 2023, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve terminated the agreement with the UOC-MP on the free use of the monastery in Kyiv. The monks were supposed to leave the monastery and all its buildings on 29 March.

Metropolitan Epiphanius of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has said that the monastery on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra will not be closed, and the language of services will be Old Church Slavonic, along with modern Ukrainian.

The Kyiv Commercial Court dismissed the lawsuit brought by the UOC-MP against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve. Abbot Pavlo had declared that UOC-MP clergy would not leave the territory of the Lavra until the court had handed down a judgement.

On 1 April, Pavlo (Lebid) was served with a notice of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Art. 161 (infringement of the equal rights of citizens based on their race, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds) and Art. 436 (justification, recognition as legitimate, or denial of the Russian Federations armed aggression against Ukraine, or glorification of its participants).

The court hearing has been postponed to Monday, 3 April.

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Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday announced criminal charges against a Belleville man over the alleged possession, purchase and sale of purported stolen retail merchandise including tools, electronics and lawn equipment in the estimated amount of $243,000.

The charges are the latest resulting from a multi-jurisdictional investigation facilitated by Raouls Organized Retail Crime Task Force.

Raouls office charged Christopher D. Odem, 50, of Belleville, with Class 2 felony organized retail crime, punishable by up to seven years in prison; two counts of Class 1 felony theft, each punishable by up to 15 years in prison; three counts of Class 2 felony theft, each punishable by up to seven years in prison; Class 3 felony theft, punishable by up to five years in prison; and Class 1 felony money laundering, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The effects of organized retail crime are not limited to any one region of Illinois. Buying and reselling stolen items creates a market that encourages retail crime and makes communities less safe, Raoul said.

Todays charges demonstrate the importance of the collaborative work that my offices Organized Retail Crime Task Force is doing to hold individuals accountable. I would like to thank the Illinois State Police and our law enforcement and retail partners for their help with this investigation.

According to Raoul, Odem knowingly purchased new, in-the-box stolen merchandise. The items, including power tools and electronics, were purportedly stolen from local retailers, and the defendant allegedly purchased them for resale. The charges come out of an investigation that resulted in charges filed earlier this month against another St. Clair County man who is also accused of possessing, purchasing and intending to sell purported stolen retail merchandise.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday announced criminal charges against a Belleville man over the alleged possession, purchase and sale of purported stolen retail merchandise including tools, electronics and lawn equipment in the estimated amount of $243,000.

Remarks from ISP director

The Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Revenues Bureau of Criminal Investigations assisted with the investigation.

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Just as ISP investigates gun and drug trafficking, we investigate those trafficking in stolen goods, and we will continue to work with Attorney General Raouls office to bring them to justice, said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly.

The economic impact of organized retail crime goes well beyond the retail theft itself, said Illinois Department of Revenue Director David Harris. It also affects customers by driving up the cost of merchandise, and it results in billions of dollars in lost tax revenue at both the state and federal level.

Assistant Attorneys General Heidi Epperson and Angel VonBokel are prosecuting the case for Raouls office.
Policing the "city that never sleeps" is no easy task even on a typical day -- so New York law enforcement agencies are taking no chances ahead of Donald Trump's high-profile court appearance next week, bracing for protests for and against the first indictment ever of a former US president.

The city's police department has ordered its 36,000 officers to be in uniform and ready to deploy next week, NBC News reported Friday, citing official sources.

Asked by AFP about their posture ahead of Trump's arraignment, a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson said Friday that "officers have been placed on alert," and stand ready to "ensure everyone is able to peacefully exercise their rights."

Trump, 76, is to be booked and fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken at a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday afternoon before appearing before a judge.

While the specific charges remain under seal, the case brought by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg is widely believed to revolve around a $130,000 hush money payment Trump gave a porn star ahead of his successful 2016 election.

Protests on both sides of the issue -- which the president and his supporters have decried as "political persecution" -- are expected to grow in the city, raising fears of unrest.

Trump supporters, including Republican member of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene, have announced plans to protest outside the courtroom during his appearance.

For now, the NYPD spokesperson said, there are "no current credible threats to New York City."

- 'Politicized judicial systems' -

Outside Trump's eponymous skyscraper on Fifth Avenue, a dozen or so people had already taken position on Friday with signs and banners that said, "Arrest Trump" and "Tick Tock, Times Up!"

Another sign read, "No one is above the law."

A man in a Trump costume made an appearance, and took pictures with a couple of the former president's supporters, who carried a banner supporting his 2024 campaign.

Outside the district attorney's heavily guarded office, Susan, a 60-year-old lawyer who declined to give her last name, had no qualms about saying she supports policies that Trump espouses, although "I don't like his personality."

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The expected charges against Trump are overblown, at best "a misdemeanor, not a felony," she said.

"This is ridiculous -- politically motivated. I am ashamed of this justice in America that looks like that of other countries with politicized judicial systems," she said.

Earlier in the day, three friends from San Sebastian in Spain's Basque country passed by to take in the scene before heading to a tour of Chinatown.

"It seems strange to us," 72-year-old Pilar Banos told AFP. "The fact that they will put him in the car with his head bowed gives him prominence and votes because it will seem like an injustice to many people."

Trump has called the investigation a "witch hunt" and denied having any relationship with the porn star known as Stormy Daniels.

The next chapter in his legal travails will come Tuesday, when the court reveals the actual charges pending against him.

af/dg/tjj/des/bbk
green tea

The Albanian prime minister has accused Britain of persecuting and disrespecting Albanian immigrants after one of his countrymen was wrongly arrested over a suspected stash of cannabis that turned out to be mountain tea.

Edi Rama took up the case of Agim Agaj, 53, who was strip-searched and held for 15 hours after his herbal tea leaves were spotted when his van was stopped by police in Dorset.

Officers who mistakenly thought it was marijuana held Mr Agaj on suspicion of possession with intent to supply, handcuffed him and locked him up in police cells before he was finally released without charge.

In a Twitter thread, Mr Rama, who visited Britain for the first time last month for face-to-face talks with the Prime Minister, said: What I am unsure of is how my friend Rishi Sunak would handle it if a British national were arrested in Albania for carrying English tea and accused of being a drug dealer!

This situation is disheartening and Agims persecutors should be held accountable.

Albania is fully committed to providing whatever is necessary for a successful fight against criminal networks. However, if Britain cannot even demonstrate respect for the Albanian community through actions instead of words, how can we expect successful cooperation between our governments?

Edi Rama visited Britain for the first time last month for face-to-face talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - Henry Nicholls/Getty

Under an agreement with Albania in December, the UK set up a joint taskforce to deter and disrupt illegal migration, pledged to share information to combat migrants and trafficking, and negotiated fast-track returns of migrants who entered the UK illegally.

Around 12,000 Albanians reached the UK last year on small boats, accounting for 28 per cent of the record 46,000 migrants who crossed the Channel.

In return for cooperation to tackle the illegal trade, the Albanian government last month also demanded an amnesty for all honest Albanians who are illegally in the UK without visas as part of the agreement to combat people-smuggling gangs and illegal migration.

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Mr Rama has previously criticised Britain for branding Albanians as criminals, describing it as an ethnic seal that was itself a crime and that a few rotten apples did not define a nation.

Mr Agim was held in a cell on Saturday night in Weymouth, Dorset, and was interviewed the following day before being released without charge because there was no evidence.

Dorset Police said: A search of the vehicle was carried out and it was reported that a plastic container was located containing what appeared to be a herbal substance that officers believed may have been illegal drugs.

The force added: Further enquiries were carried out.

It was confirmed that the substance in the container was not an illegal drug and the man was released without charge.
Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina former attorney convicted of killing his wife and son, will serve his life sentence in protective custody, officials said Friday.

Mental health and prison experts determined that Murdaugh should be kept in protective custody after they reviewed his case. A four-member board made the recommendation and Murdaugh was moved to a statewide protective custody unit in a maximum security prison.

ALEX MURDAUGH: TIMELINE OF ONCE-POWERFUL SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYER'S SPECTACULAR DOWNFALL

Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison after conviction in double murder trial during his sentencing at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on March 3 after he was found guilty on all four counts. He will serve his time in protective custody, officials said.

"Inmates in the unit have validated protective concerns and are placed in a specialized unit to separate them from the general population," the South Carolina Department of Corrections said in a news release. "Their location is not disclosed for safety and security reasons."

The unit currently has 28 inmates.

Murdaugh will live in an eight-by-ten cell with a bed, toilet and sink, the news release said. Inmates in the segregated unit have all the same privileges as those in general population, officials said.

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The news comes after Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife, Maggie, 52, and 22-year-old son, Paul, on the family's Colleton County property.

The day of the killings, the chief financial officer of his former law firm confronted Murdaugh about missing fees, and he had a hearing scheduled later that week in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a deadly 2019 boat wreck.
Evelyn Knapp waves with other supporters of former President Donald Trump along Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, Fla., April 3, 2023. (Josh Ritchie/The New York Times)

NEW YORK  One year ago this week, the Manhattan district attorneys investigation into Donald Trump appeared to be dead in the water.

The two leaders of the investigation had recently resigned after the new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, decided not to charge Trump at that point. Amid a fierce backlash to his decision  and a brutal start to his tenure  Bragg insisted that the investigation was not over. But a disbelieving media questioned why, if the effort was still moving forward, there were few signs of it.

Unless yall are great poker players, Bragg told The New York Times in an early April 2022 interview, you dont know what were doing.

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What they were doing, new interviews show, was going back to square one, poring over the reams of evidence that had already been collected by his predecessor.

For a time, their efforts were haphazard as they examined a wide range of Trumps business practices, including whether he had lied about his net worth, which was the focus of the investigation when Bragg had declined to seek an indictment. But by last July, Bragg had decided to assign several additional prosecutors to pursue one particular strand that struck him as promising: a hush-money payment made on Trumps behalf to a porn star during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

On Thursday, Trump was indicted on that strand. He is expected to surrender to authorities in Manhattan on Tuesday and face arraignment on more than two dozen charges, which will be unveiled at that time.

This account of Braggs decision to revive the investigation and point it toward the hush-money arrangement, based on interviews with about a dozen people familiar with the matter, reveals the circuitous, sometimes uncertain road that led to the first criminal charges against a former U.S. president.

Along the way, a key internal skeptic of the investigation became one of its champions; Bragg shook up the Trump team and hired an experienced lawyer away from the Justice Department to help lead it; and he ultimately found new promise in a key witness he had once disregarded as unreliable. The district attorney was also emboldened late last year when his prosecutors won a conviction of Trumps company in an unrelated tax case.

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Last April, Bragg, a Democrat, had a chance to move on from the ex-president and turn his tenure toward his initial motivation in running for office: reshaping the criminal justice system in Manhattan. Now, his willingness to wager his political future on the case against Trump will be tested like never before  his success, or failure, is inextricably tied to the former president.

Winning an indictment is one thing. Winning a conviction of Trump will be far more difficult.

The decision to revisit the case despite his earlier reservations has opened Bragg to criticism from the former presidents supporters that he is blindly pursuing Trump.

The case has also exposed the district attorney to a wave of hostile and racist rhetoric from the former president and his supporters. Bragg, a career prosecutor, has received vivid death threats, including one that was mailed to the office last week.

In a statement Thursday, after the indictment was reported, Trump called the case a political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history, adding that Bragg was a disgrace and calling himself a completely innocent person.

Going Through the Binders

Shortly after Bragg took office in January 2022, he received a warning.

At the time, he was grappling with the potential case centered on Trumps net worth, which two senior prosecutors, Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, were presenting to a grand jury.

The warning came in the form of memos about that investigation, one of which was delivered to Braggs aides by a career prosecutor, Chris Conroy. The memos highlighted potential gaps in the evidence, and darkened the new district attorneys view of the case he had just inherited.

Bragg also developed concerns about relying on Michael Cohen, Trumps former fixer, questioning whether he had enough knowledge about the intricacies of Trumps financial records to be a pivotal witness.

In a series of meetings early last year, Pomerantz and Dunne tried to convince Bragg that the case, which had been developed under Braggs predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., was solid. Bragg and his aides remained unconvinced, and soon after the district attorney decided to halt the grand jury presentation, Pomerantz and Dunne resigned.

Cohen, who had met extensively with Pomerantz, was furious, and demanded that prosecutors return documents that he had provided. (They did.)

It seemed as if Braggs decision could carry historic consequences: a brand-new district attorney had just given up a chance to charge Trump criminally. The political backlash was heated  Trump is widely loathed in Manhattan  and it was only compounded when a copy of Pomerantzs resignation letter was published in the Times: He declared that Trump had committed multiple felonies.

Bragg said the investigation was continuing, but the team was running low on prosecutors. Shortly before he took over the office, three prosecutors who were concerned about the inquirys pace had taken on other assignments, leaving the team threadbare. And four months into Braggs tenure, Solomon Shinerock, who had been the lead assistant district attorney on the case for years, stepped back from the investigation into Trump.

Bragg and two of his offices leaders  the head of investigations, Susan Hoffinger, and another top aide, Peter Pope  were not yet clear on a game plan. They issued a smattering of subpoenas and questioned some witnesses but did not appear to gain much traction.

They were also digging into binders that contained the numerous files gathered over the years, files that Bragg had not yet had time to review in depth.

The research laid the groundwork for a more robust investigation. The remaining members of the team split up into small groups to focus on different topics, including the financial statements and the eye-catching payoff that was the original impetus for Vance to open an investigation into Trump in 2018: the hush-money deal.

A New Team

Building a case around the sordid episode involving the porn star, Stormy Daniels, was hardly a new idea. Vances prosecutors had considered the hush-money payment for so long that some of them began to call it the zombie case, because it kept coming back to life. Although Vance had pivoted to focusing on the former presidents net worth, he never closed the hush-money inquiry.

There was a key difference between Braggs briefings on the net worth case and digging into the hush-money: time. The new district attorney had only weeks to consider the net worth case before it would have been time to seek a vote from the grand jury, whose term was scheduled to expire in late April 2022.

Kim Foxx, the states attorney in Cook County, Illinois, who is friendly with Bragg, said that prosecutors running for office are at a natural disadvantage when it comes to the cases they inherit.

You dont have the facts; you dont have the months or years worth of investigation that are there, she said.

Going through evidence, Bragg warmed to the idea of charging Trump in connection with his role in the hush-money payment. Unlike the net worth case, Cohen was directly involved: He had made the $130,000 payment to Daniels, for which Trump reimbursed him. If the sequence of events that led to the payment were to be illustrated, the former fixer would be the line connecting all the dots.

Hoffinger contacted Cohens lawyer, Lanny Davis, to reassure him that the investigation into Trump was very much alive. Cohen, she suggested, might still become a valuable witness.

In July, Bragg built up the Trump team, a sign of his growing confidence. Catherine McCaw, who had garnered attention for her role in the prosecution of Anna Sorokin, the con woman better known as Anna Delvey, joined. So did Rebecca Mangold and Katherine Ellis, prosecutors in the offices Major Economic Crimes Bureau.

At the time, prosecutors in the district attorneys office were preparing for another Trump-related trial: In 2021, Vance had charged the former presidents company and a senior executive, Allen Weisselberg, with orchestrating a yearslong tax fraud scheme. In August 2022, Weisselberg pleaded guilty, but the Trump Organization refused a plea, setting the stage for the highest-profile trial of the district attorneys tenure.

Bragg later said he began to think of the two matters as chapters in a book: First would come the trial. Then the investigation into Trump could progress.

For the trial, which began on Halloween, Hoffinger teamed up with Joshua Steinglass, an experienced trial lawyer who specializes in homicide cases. It was part of the district attorneys philosophy: pairing lawyers with different skills on a single team.

While Hoffinger and Steinglass were focused on the trial, Conroy continued to examine the legal theories underpinning the hush-money case. A chief skeptic of the previous Trump investigation, he was pushing the hush money one forward.

During that period, Bragg and his deputies indicated to associates and outside supporters that he was newly optimistic about building a case against Trump, the Times reported in November. Shortly before the jurors in the Trump Organization trial began to deliberate, the office announced that it had hired Matthew Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official who had experience building a civil case against Trump and who came to be one of the leaders of the Manhattan investigation.

The day after Colangelos hiring was announced, the jury returned its verdict: Trumps company was guilty, and Bragg had won a significant victory.

In interviews after the win, Bragg took his chapter analogy public. And when asked about the case against Trump, he told reporters that he had been cautioning people not to read ahead in the book.

The Grand Jury

For Bragg, the new year began by impaneling a grand jury to hear evidence in the hush-money case. For his prosecutors, it was a peace summit with Cohen.

At a meeting in their office in lower Manhattan  the same building where the new grand jury would soon start to meet  the prosecutors told him they wanted to start fresh, and Cohen was amenable.

I went in to 80 Centre St. skeptical and guarded, Cohen said in an interview with the Times, referring to the building where the Major Economic Crimes Bureau is. After a three-hour initial meeting, I left reassured and confident in the team. They were knowledgeable, articulate and professional in a way that made me as comfortable as I was with the previous Pomerantz and Dunne team.

It was the first of at least seven visits Cohen made to the office this year. In the ensuing meetings, prosecutors grilled him about granular aspects of the hush-money episode. He provided them with documents and his phone.

While Cohen talked, the prosecutors began presenting evidence to the grand jury. The first witness was David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker Cohens payout to Daniels. Pecker was followed by Daniels lawyer and some of Trumps employees and campaign aides, most prominently Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks. The process culminated in Cohen testifying before the panel for more than two days in March.

By then, the parade of witnesses had begun to draw a media crowd outside 80 Centre. The fervor grew when the Times reported that Bragg had signaled to Trumps legal team that he was poised to seek an indictment. And when Trump prematurely predicted his own arrest two weeks ago, the blocks near the courthouse took on a circuslike atmosphere.

At one point, as court officials were preparing to escort a witness into the grand jury, there was a traffic accident outside the courthouse involving a truck that was packing up from filming a scene of the sequel to the film Joker nearby.

All week, no indictment had emerged. But on Thursday afternoon, Conroy, the formerly skeptical prosecutor, walked into 80 Centre St. In his arms was a copy of the New York state penal law, marked up with sticky notes, to instruct the grand jurors on the law before they took the vote that indicted the former president.

Three hours later, Conroy, McCaw and the warden of the grand jury left 80 Centre and crossed the street to the building where indictments are filed. Reaching the clerks office through a back entrance, they submitted the paperwork two minutes before the office closed for the day.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
A girl lights candle during a vigil for the victims of a fire at an immigration detention center that killed dozens in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 28, 2023. (Christian Chavez / AP)

The deaths of 39 men in a fire at a detention center in northern Mexico on Monday night have prompted sadness and frustration from migrant groups across the country, and in Chicago.

After detainees in Mexico placed mattresses against the bars of their detention cell and set them on fire, guards quickly walked away and made no apparent attempt to release them, surveillance video showed Tuesday.

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Mexican officials appeared to place blame for the deaths in the fire late Monday largely on private, subcontracted security guards at the detention facility in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. Mexican authorities said Wednesday that eight employees or officials are being investigated for possible misconduct at the detention center. The investigation is ongoing.

We are very much concerned that the (Mexican) governments intentions seem to be to blame this on a few individuals  including some of the detainees  and prosecute them, and then say this is over, said Helena Olea, human rights lawyer and associate director for programs at Alianza Americas, headquartered in Chicago. We know that there were no protocols, which resulted in this tragedy.

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On Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited hospitals treating injured migrants. Before the trip, he said he was going to set up a commission to ensure the human rights of migrants are protected. He said the commission would be headed by the Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, a longtime migrant activist and Catholic priest. But it was unclear what powers the commission would have.

The bodies of migrants lie covered on the ground, after a deadly fire broke out at an immigration detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 28, 2023. (Christian Chavez / AP)

Alianza works with local migrant organizations across the United States and in Chicago  providing legal services, training, work opportunities, housing and health resources. There are Alianza teams that work specifically to provide resources to the thousands of asylum-seeking migrants who have come to Chicago as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts initiative to bus migrants to sanctuary cities since last August.

Alianza is also part of the effort to respond to the tragedy on the ground in Mexico, working with Grupo de Trabajo Sobre Politica Migratoria, a network of organizations that defends the rights of migrants and people subject to international protection.

Olea said that when a government detains an individual, it then has the responsibility to protect the rights of that individual. This incident should not have occurred, she said.

The people at the center were part of a routine roundup in Juarez, where authorities detained people who had been begging in the streets, standing on street corners, offering to clean windshields. Both families and single adults were detained, but families were released from custody.

Immigration authorities identified the dead and injured as being from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, according to a statement from the Mexican attorney generals office.

[ A migrants dream cut short: Womans killing in Chicago prompts Guatemalan community to band together, speak out on dangers of migrating north ]

Efecto Violeta, a Chicago-based organization that defends the rights of migrants, responded with an open letter the day after the fire. The letter calls on the Mexican government to revise its detention protocols in order to prioritize dignity and safety, among other demands.

Sandy Choreno, the director of Efecto Violeta, works directly with people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. She explained that an incident like the Juarez fire has ripple effects on all migrant communities in Chicago.

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We are demanding justice because we are part of the same community, we are part of the same diaspora, and we need this kind of state crime to stop, Choreno said.

Mexico has emerged as the worlds third-most popular destination for asylum-seekers, after the United States and Germany. But it is still largely a country that migrants pass through on their way to the U.S.

An aerial view of the immigration detention center where 39 migrants died during a fire near the U.S.-Mexico Border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 30, 2023. (Guillermo Arias / AFP Getty)

Adding to anger over the deaths was pent-up frustration of migrants who have spent weeks trying to make appointments on a U.S. cellphone app to file asylum claims. Rumors spread among the migrants that they might be let into the U.S.

Several hundred of the migrants crossed the shallow Rio Grande from Mexico toward the U.S. and approached a gate in the border fence that separates El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Armed agents stood guard at the U.S. gate entrance.

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Choreno said that both Mexico and the United States are culpable for what happened in Juarez on Monday night.

The United States offered to help provide medical care to the 28 individuals initially injured from the fire, according to Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, a nonprofit organization in El Paso that has offered hospitality to migrants and refugees for over 40 years.

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Were still waiting to see what will come from that, he said. But 28 individuals is not that many.

The migrants were stuck in Ciudad Juarez because U.S. immigration policies dont allow them to cross the border to file asylum claims. But they were rounded up because Ciudad Juarez residents were tired of migrants blocking border crossings or asking for money.

Garcia said that this may not be the only tragedy that results from the United States policies that relentlessly push people back and expel them.

This is the perfect storm, Olea said. A tragedy like this is the reflection of the incapacity of Mexico to take care of migrants, and the application of a broken immigration policy.

The Associated Press contributed.
America's downtowns are in the doldrums.

As the Covid-19 pandemic began to fade and the U.S. economy began to boom, there was hope that a wave of return-to-office announcements would quickly revive downtown metropolitan centers that were hit hard by lockdowns. That hope even extended to some business centers that had never fully recovered from the great financial crisis of 2007-2008.

But the post-pandemic office revival appears to have plateaued, leaving cities with millions of square feet of unused commercial space.

Meanwhile, other "urban-esque" neighborhoods have sprung up  sometimes far from the traditional central business district  as most vibrant parts of many metropolitan economies.

"We have a big mismatch of space between what tenants want and whats available," said Phil Ryan, a director in the City Futures, Global Insight practice at the JLL real estate company.

"We have a huge undersupply of quality office space thats hindering the return to work."

Empty offices abound

Nationally, office real estate vacancies stand at 12.8%, the highest percentage since the Great Recession, according to data from CoStar, a commercial property information company. Other data shows it's even higher  as high as 20%, according to JLL.

And it's the largest cities with the biggest problems. In New York's Manhattan, office vacancies are at a record high, Bloomberg reported last week, even as new properties come online, adding even more space to the struggling market. And in Los Angeles and Chicago, office vacancies sat at 22.5% as of the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Chrysler Building East at 666 Third Avenue with available office space for lease in New York in 2022. (Amir Hamja / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)

There are even more empty offices in San Francisco where vacancies stand at 25.1%, according to JLL. In a separate March 24 report showing which metro areas had office properties that were most at risk of default, the commercial real estate analytics group Trepp found that tech hubs were highly vulnerable. They have the highest risk rating at 5.9 on a nine-point scale.

Certain city ZIP codes, like the one encompassing San Francisco's Embarcadero and nearby financial district, have even higher risk ratings, suggesting defaults could be imminent.

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These neighborhoods are plagued with aging office properties and outdated amenities from bygone eras, JLL's Ryan said. He estimated that in U.S. cities, 70% of properties in downtown cores were built 30 years ago. For places like Manhattan and San Francisco, that number rises to 90%.

"These are some of the oldest institutional-grade office stock in the world," Ryan said.

A property's financial distress may not immediately affect the building's tenants, including any retail that might be at the street level. But it often leads to a chain of ownership that can ultimately affect the urban cityscape. in part by incentivizing owners to cut their losses in the short term rather than focus on long-term investment in the property, said Matt Anderson, a managing director at Trepp.

"For a tenant, they typically prefer a long-term owner to be in place," Anderson said. "Theyll come in and maintain the property and do whatever long-term fixes are needed. A short-term owner is going to be less incentivized to do that."

Large volumes of office space are still technically leased, Anderson said, but many companies are not fully using them. And when those leases come up for renewal, many tenants will decide they are only using a fraction of what they need.

"As that builds up across lots of tenants, it results in a contraction in demand for office space," Anderson said.

And when the demand for office space goes down, so does demand for the shops and restaurants that depend on office workers to show up and spend money, he said. Trepp estimates national business volume is just 60% of what it was before the pandemic.

A pedestrian on The Embarcadero Center in San Francisco in 2022. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images )

"That's leading to pressures on retailers that depend on office workers going out and spending or buying lunch or dinner," Anderson said. "So we've seen an uptick in delinquencies for both office space and retail."

Rise of the new downtown

Despite these weaknesses, the office is not dead, said Tom LaSalvia, senior economist at Moody's analytics. Instead, we are in what LaSalvia called a "trial-and-error" period for companies looking to determine how best to position their white-collar employees for success.

"We do believe theres a place for office in this new world," LaSalvia said.

At the same time, there will be clear winners and losers. On that front, the lower-quality older properties and corporate office parks are the most vulnerable.

"Newer generations of workers are looking for something a bit more; something to entice them to come to the office," LaSalvia said.

He said certain suburban markets were more resilient right now, as well as office properties in small-city downtowns and locations that are near public transit. He cited the New York Tri-State region suburb of Montclair, New Jersey, and the Chicago suburb of Naperville as thriving hubs in metro areas that are otherwise stagnant or declining.

Ryan, of JLL, also put Miami's Wynwood arts district and Culver City in the Los Angeles area as examples of "urban nodes" with successful mixed-use real estate that are seeing stronger demand.

"There are a whole series of submarkets that are the new vanguards," he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The site of a major prehistoric archaeological discovery in Miamis Brickell district is extensive and significant enough to merit protection from development under local laws, according to a new analysis jointly drawn up by independent experts and the citys historic preservation office.

The analysis, to be presented to the citys historic preservation board in a public hearing on Tuesday, could significantly up the ante in a growing effort by archaeologists, preservationists, Brickell residents and Native American activists to spare at least some of the ancient indigenous site, on the south bank of the Miami River, from planned high-rise development by prominent real estate developer Related Group.

A presentation slide deck prepared for the hearing concludes the site meets several of the legal criteria for designation as a protected historic and archaeological landmark, not least because of its antiquity.

The site was part of an extensive town believed to have been built some 2,500 years ago by the Tequesta tribe, which disappeared with the end of the first Spanish occupation of Florida in 1763.

Experts contend the Brickell discoveries may constitute the most significant in a series of archaeological finds made at the mouth of the Miami River in the past 25 years that include the Miami Circle National Historic Landmark, thought to be around 2,000 years old.

The independent archaeologists, including experts from the University of Miami, say a cluster of stone spear points that are among the thousands of artifacts and animal and human remains found at the site show indigenous occupation on the riverbank probably dates back as far as 7,000 years ago. (Fragmentary human remains have been removed for reburial elsewhere under supervision of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.)

Ongoing excavation of roughly half the site has so far uncovered some 350 postholes carved into the limestone bedrock that likely mark the foundation of prehistoric structures, according to the presentation.

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The presentation notes that the posthole patterns include one circle, and possibly a second, reminiscent of the Miami Circle, the ancient Tequesta foundation of a ceremonial structure thats been preserved as a state park across Brickell Avenue.

A bronze statue of a Tequesta hunter, woman and child stands on the Brickell Bridge in downtown Miami as a tribute to the indigenous tribe that occupied the mouth of the Miami River 2,000 years ago. A new archaeological excavation by the bridge has unearthed evidence that indigenous occupation of the site dates back 7,000 years ago.

The presentation notes that the Miami Circle site and the development property were once contiguous, but were split by the construction of buildings and Brickell Avenue over decades.

The site and the trove of artifacts recovered from it represent thousands of years of previously undocumented history of indigenous settlement in Miami before modern times, and does so in an unusually rich and well-preserved fashion, the presentation concludes.

Without seeing it for yourself, it will be difficult to imagine the enormous yield of information as material culture that has been found here, the presentation says.

City could stop construction

If the city historic preservation board embraces the presentations conclusions, it could vote to launch a formal designation review that would freeze permitting and construction on most of the property until it can make a final determination on the merits, a process that can take weeks if not months.

That move could pitch a monkey wrench into longstanding plans by Related Group to build three residential skyscrapers on the site, which sits just west of the Brickell Avenue Bridge. Related, which paid $104 million for the property in 2013, has taken out a $164 million construction loan for the first phase, an apartment tower, and has begun ground preparation work for its foundations after archaeologists finished digging on that portion of the property. Related is already advertising the second planned tower, the Baccarat Residences luxury condos.

If the preservation board ultimately approves designation, it could require Related to preserve all or a portion of the site, to provide exhibition space and public access for artifacts in any project it builds, or take other measures to protect or highlight its archaeological and historical importance.

Related, founded by developer Jorge Perez and now run day-to-day by his son Jon Paul Perez, is expected to object to designation. The company has been largely silent on the findings and the massive excavation thats been in progress for about a year and a half, and has consistently declined requests from Miami Herald reporters for comment or interviews. On Friday, a spokesman emailed a statement from Jon Paul Perez, the Related president, after declining the latest request for an interview or to respond to questions from the Herald.

In the statement, Perez said he will ask the city preservation board to delay consideration of designation until after the excavation project is completed, calling any action now premature and redundant. He did not provide a timeline.

He said the company is working on a preservation action plan, but provided no details. That plan would not be presented to the public until excavation is finished, a Related spokesman said.

Related Groups vision for the 444 Brickell site is to create a timeless and inspirational project  an investment that we knew would take time, commitment, money, and creativity, according to the statement from Perez. We remain committed to delivering a property worthy of its unique location on the Miami River at the gateway to Brickell Avenue. A project that enriches the area providing public access to the waterfront and duly honoring the sites history.

We invested tens of millions of dollars over the last two years to ensure the archaeological integrity of the project. We contracted (and paid for) world-renowned archaeologists to painstakingly excavate and preserve all the significant findings with the utmost respect and care. And these expenses have yet to include the cost of implementing the activities laid out by our forthcoming preservation action plan.

And we are not finished. The archaeological team continues to work on the site to ensure all findings are properly excavated, documented, and cataloged. Taking any step toward additional designations and restrictions at the upcoming HEP Board meeting is premature. The site is already protected by the strict regulations of being located within a designated archaeological area, and an overlapping designation that imposes the same procedural rules is redundant.

Members of an archaeological team sift through soil excavated from the site of a planned Related Group residential tower complex in Brickell. The team has unearthed extensive evidence of occupation by prehistoric indigenous people and artifacts dating back 7,000 years.

Developer questioned antiquity

In an op-ed article published in the Miami Herald on March 16, Jorge Perez cast doubt on claims of the sites antiquity, complained of misleading information by critics and argued none of it is worth preserving beyond the recovered artifacts. Perez promised in the article published on the Heralds opinion pages, without details, that Related would store and preserve the finds and make materials available for public exhibition.

But supporters of preservation say a promise from Related is not enough. They note that developers of the Met Square project on the rivers north bank failed to fully live up to promises made in a mediation accord to preserve and exhibit another portion of the Tequesta town.

The Related site is too important to leave it up to the developers to decide what to do about it, said Abby Ape, managing director of the Brickell Homeowners Association, which supports designation. She expects several members to testify at Tuesdays hearing in favor of requiring Related to preserve all or part of the site.

We need the citys leadership on this, Ape said. Theyve been giving the developer free rein. The city has a code. They should enforce it. Shouldnt we have a plan in place? A lot of the neighbors are saying, do not build over it.

Robert Rosa, a representative of the American Indian Movement and the United Confederation of Taino People who has been rallying support for preservation among Native American groups, said many tribal elders think indigenous burial sites should not be disturbed.

We want everything returned, Rosa said. We want some equitable agreement. We prefer it all be preserved. We understand there is $164 million on the line. We understand that is not small chump change, but it is chump change to a billionaire. We want the desecration to stop.

Teams of archaeologists have been quietly and painstakingly digging for at least 16 months on one of two parcels where Related plans to build. Excavation so far has taken place on the site of the demolished former U.S. Customs headquarters. A second building that houses the Capital Grille restaurant, at 444 Brickell, is still standing but would eventually be demolished and that site excavated as well.

Because the parcels sit in a city-designated archaeological zone where indigenous occupation was known to have occurred, Related was required by city ordinances to undertake and pay for archaeological exploration and excavation of the properties, being carried out under the direction of veteran South Florida archaeologist Robert Carr.

In his reports, Carr has noted the site is important enough to potentially merit inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. He also suggests that intact sections of midden  ancient refuse heaps where many of the artifacts, bones and shells are found  could be preserved as part of the development.

An archaeological team works at the site of a planned Related Group residential tower complex on the Miami River in Brickell. A 16-month excavation has unearthed a remarkable trove of prehistoric indigenous finds, including artifacts dating back to the dawn of human civilization 7,000 years ago.

Independent archaeologists and Miami preservation officials stress Related does appear to have met all legal requirements, including the submission to the city of reports detailing the discoveries, and preservation of artifacts and organic remnants like animal bones and shells.

Critics say city slow to act

But critics say the city did little to publicize the findings or move to consider preservation until a group of archaeologists began turning up at preservation board hearings early this year to ask that something be done. In early February, on the same day the Herald published an in-depth story describing the findings, the board voted 8-0 to order the city preservation office to begin collaborating with archaeologists from UM and the Florida Public Archaeology Network, based at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, on a fuller analysis.

The resulting presentation contains more than enough evidence to justify full consideration for designation, said one of the archaeologists, William Pestle, chairman of UMs anthropology department.

I would hope that the board sees fit to follow the process laid out in the city code, and not preemptively derail this before the site is given due consideration, Pestle said.

Under that legal process, the preservation board would instruct preservation officer Anna Pernas to prepare an in-depth report and recommend whether to designate the site as historic. If designation does occur, any plans for construction or permits at the site that have not yet been approved by the city will be subject to approval by the preservation board. The preservation board would have authority to require Related to set aside open space or incorporate exhibitions and public access in its project.

Related could appeal designation to the Miami city commission, which has in the past shown itself willing to overturn historic preservation board decisions. Further appeals would go to Miami-Dade circuit court.

Archaeologists excavating the site of a planned Related Group residential tower complex on the Miami River in Brickell have uncovered extensive evidence of prehistoric indigenous settlements dating back to the dawn of human civilization 7,000 years ago. The discoveries indicate that the capital of the Tequesta tribe, believed responsible for the 2,000-year-old Miami Circle, visible at top, was significantly more extensive than once believed.

Site occupied for thousands of years

The new evidence, Pestle and other independent archaeologists say, suggests that the Related site was occupied by a succession of indigenous people starting in whats known as the Archaic period, some 5,000 years before the date of the Miami Circle. Although that degree of antiquity would have to be confirmed by further analysis, Pestle and others note there is precedent for artifacts dating back that far in South Miami-Dade at the Deering Estate and elsewhere in Florida as well.

The finds also demonstrate that the Tequesta village on the river, the tribes principal settlement, was bigger than previously believed, they say. Spanish accounts put the settlement only on the rivers north bank. But the finds at the Related site, just steps from the Miami Circle, indicate that at its peak hundreds of years ago the Tequesta town spread along both banks of the river.

Among the most abundant finds at the Related site are postholes cut into the bedrock to support buildings and boardwalks, as well as animal bones and shells, seeds and wood, pottery shards, and stone tools used to make wooden structures and canoes. The new animal finds are likely evidence of ancient feasts and ceremonies at the site, Pestle said,

The materials, including thousands of pounds of shells and animal bones, have been carted away to storage in over 2,000 bankers boxes, Pestle said, and he expects hundreds more will be filled by the time excavation is completed.

Some critics say they think the developers and the city have attempted to downplay the discoveries to avoid the kind of public uproar and litigation that led to the preservation of the Miami Circle from condo development in 1999, as well as another Tequesta circle and other antiquities across the river at the Met Square development in 2014.
Trump fan at Mar a Lago

Two weeks ago, Donald Trump called on his supporters to protest against his expected indictment. Now it's happened, how are they responding?

The news of Trump's criminal charges spread like wildfire online but getting a complete sense of the conversations reacting to it can be hard.

By getting inside US voters' social media feeds and joining the internet groups populated with Trump's most devoted fans, we can better see how all of this is unfolding.

That's where the BBC's "undercover voters" come in - social media accounts belonging to five fictional characters from across the US political spectrum, based on data from Pew Research.

These five profiles give us a snapshot of what US voters are seeing on social media, both on mainstream platforms and in the recesses out of the reach of most of us.

After searching for Trump-related material on their feeds, three key themes emerge.

Trump supporters 'sick to the stomach'

Let's start with the mainstream, right-wing profiles.

For our right-leaning voters Britney and Larry, their feeds are dominated by pro-Trump messages.

Echoing the language of the former president, there are defiant statements about a "witch hunt" and how Democrats have "weaponised the legal system".

These include tweets from Republican politicians, commentators and other pro-Trump accounts who are using this as a rallying call for his 2024 presidential bid.

Some accounts call for him to be reinstalled to the White House now and there is talk of supporters feeling sick to their stomachs.

News of the indictment has largely drowned out mention of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who could be Mr Trump's biggest Republican rival if he runs.

That includes on our apolitical voter Gabriela's feeds, where he's been a key character in recent months.

Instead, she is receiving lots of posts supportive of Mr Trump and claiming this indictment is an "unjust" attempt to thwart his presidential bid.

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Unlike Trump's original post on Truth Social predicting his arrest, which called for protests, the posts these accounts are seeing have generally avoided direct calls to action.

'Trust the plan'

On the sites like Telegram where Trump's most committed devotees gather, there's a different mood.

This is where the sprawling, unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory thrives - it says the former president is waging a secret war against elite, Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.

True to that, there's much chatter of how the indictment is part of a plot by the so-called Deep State.

There are two competing narratives unfolding simultaneously in these channels.

The first involves angry and sometimes violent rhetoric directed at the government, along with cryptic calls to action. Messages include "Here We Go!!" and "Their turn is coming soon".

Others refer to false claims the 2020 election was rigged and Trump was the rightful winner, explaining "see if we'll stand against this fake government should Trump [be] arrested".

The more extreme messages call for followers to "Kill the Deep State" but there is no visible evidence of plans to riot.

There is talk of pro-Trump rallies but the mood feels different to the US Capitol riots which was preceded by a social media movement rife with hateful language and calls for violent action.

The difference now could in part be explained by the other narrative swirling in these online circles - stay off the streets.

Several posting on Telegram fear there is a sinister plot enticing them to take action and be arrested. They say there is a bigger plan where Trump will emerge victorious - if they can stay out of trouble.

They've just made Trump the most "prolific political martyr in history", one writes.

While the chatter on the main channels seems to be absent of specific calls to arms, there are smaller, private groups we cannot see where a very committed few could pose the greater risk.

The "most prolific political martyr in history"?

Celebrations and doubts

Trump's indictment is a huge topic of conversation on the left too.

Memes showing Trump in a prison jumpsuit behind bars appear at the top of the left-leaning voters' feeds, moments after the news breaks.

Posts targeting the profiles belonging to Emma and Michael are celebrating his imminent arrest - several remark how "no-one is above the law". But there are some niggling doubts too.

Several posts question whether Trump is being indicted for the right crime, given the gravity of other investigations he faces.

And some say that the way his base and the wider Republican Party are rallying to him could boost his presidential campaign. There are posts fearing the indictment will "backfire" by rousing support from those who might otherwise have been less committed.

But the conversation isn't all about Trump on the left. Within a few hours of the indictment news, other issues like trans rights and criticism of Ron DeSantis start to creep in too.

Where can you keep up with the Undercover Voters?

Americast logo

Listen to Americast on BBC Sounds and tune into BBC 2's Newsnight for regular updates on what these profiles are recommended around major news events, and investigations into how they are targeted in the build-up to the 2024 election.
Another suspect has been arrested in connection with a death threat against Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood that was posted on the online platform 4chan.

Tyler Meyer, a 30-year-old California resident, was arrested at his home on Friday by the San Diego Police Department.

Meyers anonymous post on the Politically Incorrect board of 4chan threatened to kill Sheriff Chitwood, stating Its too bad Mike Chitwood isnt safe now that Im planning to kill him. Im going to shoot Mike Chitwood. Im going to kill him by shooting him to death.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

The FBI traced the threat and identified Meyer, who initially would not admit to posting it.

However, after being shown an image of the post, he ultimately confessed to writing it.

Multiple firearms, ammunition, and electronics were seized from his residence.

Read: International Speedway Boulevard reopens following deadly crash that killed 3 people, injured 2

Meyer has been charged with making a written threat to kill or injure, which is a second-degree felony carrying a bond of $100,000.

He is currently in custody in San Diego, awaiting extradition to Volusia County.

Chitwood has received multiple threatening or harassing messages following his condemnation of neo-Nazi hate groups and associates that have recently targeted Volusia County and other areas in Florida.

Read: Central Florida could hit record highs this weekend

On March 13, a New Jersey man, Richard Golden, was arrested in connection with a similar 4chan post.

Golden, who is 38 years old, has been extradited to Florida and is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail on $100,000 bond.

Read: A tremendous loss: Attorney for family of woman killed in warehouse fire speaks out

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.
Anthony Joshua has recalled the difficulty of speaking in front of Queen Elizabeth II, saying it was a situation that he had never, ever been prepared for.

Joshua, a former two-time world heavyweight champion, is set to fight Jermaine Franklin at Londons O2 Arena on Saturday, in a bid to bounce back from two straight losses to Oleksandr Usyk.

Ahead of his main-event bout with American Franklin, Joshua spoke to reporters about the sacrifices he has made during his career.

The biggest sacrifice is probably... you know, in this business, you have to be open, said Joshua, 33. People want to have a look into your life if you achieve something. Like: This guy came from there, how did he manage to get to there?

Theres an interest. The sacrifice is: Im putting myself forward in a position that Ive never been nurtured for. The sacrifice is: Im standing up in front of the Queen, for example, reading a speech at Westminster Abbey that Ive never, ever really been prepared for.

Ive never come from that walk of life. The sacrifice is: getting up there and presenting yourself ot the public. But after that gig, Im going back to the estate with my mates and stuff like that.

Youre opening up yourself to higher expectations in life.

Joshua spoke in front of the royal family in 2020 as part of the Commonwealth Day service.

As an amateur, Joshua won Olympic gold at London 2012, and he went on to become unified world heavyweight champion as a professional.

AJ lost the titles to Andy Ruiz Jr with a surprise TKO defeat in June 2019, before regaining the belts by outpointing the Mexican-American six months later.

Joshua then lost the titles again in 2021 with a decision defeat by Oleksandr Usyk, who retained the belts against the Briton in a rematch last August. Usyk was once again a decision winner over Joshua, who has not fought since.

The 33-year-old is back in action on Saturday, however, fighting Franklin in London.
Apple has handed the UKs Competition and Markets Authority a major setback in its effort to regulate the tech giant. On Friday, the company won an appeal against an investigation the antitrust watchdog launched last fall. As a refresher, the CMA opened a full market probe into Apple and Google in November. At the time, the regulator said that many UK businesses felt restricted by the stranglehold the two tech giants had on mobile browsing. The probe also sought to determine if Apple was restricting the cloud gaming market through its App Store rules .

Per Reuters , Apple successfully argued the regulator had no power to investigate its position in the mobile browser market. The company said the CMA should have opened the probe at the same time it first published its report on mobile ecosystems last June . The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), the court that oversees CMA cases, agreed with Apple , saying the regulator gave notice of its investigation too late.

Apple said it was pleased with the CATs decision, adding it would continue working to deliver support for developers and a safe and secure experience for users. Naturally, the CMA was less thrilled with the cases outcome.
Dr. Ash Puriri, New Zealand, wears a korowai cloak during the 193rd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 1, 2023. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The 193rd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now complete.

Church leaders addressed Latter-day Saints throughout the five sessions held April 1-2 at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

President Russell M. Nelson called on members of the church to be peacemakers during his Sunday morning session address. Later, he announced the location of 15 new temples.

Following are summaries of each talk from Church News and photo galleries and session coverage from the Deseret News.

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Saturday afternoon session

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PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has been ordered to appear in court Thursday in her efforts to halt pending executions.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz said late Friday that Hobbs and Ryan Thornell, the state's prison director, must show up to explain why the court shouldn't issue an order against them on the grounds they are violating the constitutional rights of victims entitled to prompt justice.

The afternoon court appearance is scheduled the same day convicted murderer Aaron Gunches had been set to die. The Arizona Supreme Court in recent days concluded state law didn't require Hobbs to proceed with the planned execution, even though it wasn't officially called off.

An email requesting a response from the governor's office was not immediately answered.

At the same time, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel H. Mitchell has asked the court to extend the execution warrant for Gunches by 25 days.

Gunches had been set to die by lethal injection for the 2002 killing of his girlfriend's ex-husband Ted Price. He had pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the shooting death near Mesa, Arizona.

Prices sister, Karen Price, has pressed the court to order Hobbs to let the execution go ahead.

Hobbs had previously appointed a retired federal magistrate judge to examine Arizonas procurement of lethal injection drugs and other death penalty protocols.

The corrections department said Monday its death penalty protocols have been paused as we conduct our systemic review of the execution process."

Arizona has 110 prisoners on death row. It carried out three executions last year after a hiatus of almost eight years over criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining execution drugs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. ILYA PITALEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Numerous countries have detained or expelled suspected Russian spies in recent months.

Putin's regime arrested a US reporter with the Wall Street Journal on espionage charges this week.

Experts told NBC News said Putin could be using Evan Gershkovich's detention for leverage.

Earlier this week, Russian authorities detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich after he was accused of "espionage in the interests of the American government." The arrest comes after several countries detained or expelled hundreds of suspected Russian spies in the preceding weeks and months.

The allegations of spying against Gershkovich are firmly denied by the Wall Street Journal. The news outlet demanded the 31-year-olds immediate release.

On Saturday, NBC reported that Gershkovich has been investigating the Wagner Group, often described as Putin's private army, and a tank factory in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. A Russian journalist had warned him the Russian security service could follow him.

Putin and his regime could be aiming to use Gershkovich's detention as leverage for the release of suspected Russian spies abroad, or they are possibly trying to show the Russian people that foreigners are trying to undermine the country, John Sipher, a former senior CIA officer who was based in Russia, told NBC News.



"A lot of things are coming together here, and it's hard to say what this is, but it's clearly part of the arsenal of weapons for the Kremlin. They can use it to trade for somebody," Sipher said.

"Putin could be playing to his domestic audience to reinforce the message that the West is plotting to weaken Russia, or he could be looking for a bargaining chip to win concessions from the West, including possibly securing the release of Russians charged with spying abroad," Sipher said.

Hundreds of suspected Russian spies have been expelled

Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, pictured in Russian military uniform Department of Justice

Last week, documents released by the Department of Justice revealed the dramatic story of an accused Russian spy. After Sergey Cherkasov was arrested in Brazil, the DOJ is bringing an espionage case against him for operating undercover in the US, Insider reported.

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Russia is well-known for having an extensive web of international spies, but Western authorities have been working to dismantle the networks, Insider previously reported.

A British intelligence official said more than 400 spies were expelled from Europe in 2022.

Earlier in March, Polish authorities said they foiled a Russian spy ring and arrested nine people who were suspected of sabotaging weapon shipments to Ukraine. In a similar case in Australia in February, a local newspaper reported that authorities expelled a large Russian spy ring  whose members were posing as diplomats  from the country.

Countries across Scandinavia have also made a significant clampdown on those accused of Russian espionage, Politico reports.

While authorities generally try to minimize publicity of cases of suspected espionage, Russia's prolonged invasion of Ukraine has led to increasingly conspicuous arrests in the West of those accused of spying for the Russian regime, NBC News reported.

A new report from a British think tank found that Russia's security and intelligence services were more effective than its military regarding the Ukraine war.

Read the original article on Business Insider
At least three people have died in Crawford County in southeastern Illinois following a devastating spring storm in the region.

At a news conference Saturday, Illinois State Rep. Adam Niemerg gathered with other officials to discuss the Friday night storm damage.

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I have been on the phone with the Governors office and Crawford County is on the list of counties that will have the emergency declaration designation, Niemerg said. An emergency declaration allows for state agencies to work with local government officials for any cleanup and other needs. It also allows individuals to qualify for state-run assistance programs as well.

[ Belvidere officials report 50-year-old man dead, 40 people injured in roof collapse at metal concert ]

The public was being asked to avoid the areas between 700N, 900N and 850E to Route 1. In addition, Route 1 was currently closed south of Route 33, and Route 33 was closed near Palestine.

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My office will continue to provide information as we get it, Niemerg said. My prayers go out to the families of those who lost loved ones. The people in Crawford County need our prayers.

The names of the dead were not released.

No further information was available.

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Mariia Ivanchykova, 20, at Weston Park in Sheffield: We lost our home, something that gave us a feeling of belonging, safety and happiness for a long time. Since we left Ukraine, I dont feel that anymore (EPA)

Nearly 8 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour on 24 February 2022. The majority of these refugees are women and children, as most Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 were ordered to stay and fight.

The following are accounts by women who have had their lives interrupted and been forced from their homes. They discuss how they think their country is coping as the war continues and what they think the future holds for them and for Ukraine.

Antonina and Ielyzaveta Smyrnova

Ukrainian twin sisters Antonina (Tonia) and Ielyzaveta (Lyza), 33, from Crimea at their home in London (EPA)

Antonina left Ukraine with her daughter due to the war to join her twin sister Ielyzaveta, who was already living in London. Antonina kept her job at a Kyiv-based IT company by remote working but she believes it will be hard to afford to rent a place for herself and her daughter when she moves out of her sisters flat.

My life changed completely because of the war. I had to move from Kyiv and start a new life. I liked my hometown, I liked my life, everything was perfect, she says. And now I need to start everything from the beginning. I would like this war to end as soon as possible and I would like to see my parents again.

Image by Tolga Akmen

Svitlana Prokopenko

Svitlana Prokopenko in the studio apartment she is now sharing with her son Oleskii Prokopenko in Jersey City, New Jersey, US (EPA)

Svitlana arrived in the US in February to stay with her son after enduring nearly a year of fighting near her home in Borodyanka, much of which was destroyed when Russian forces tried to take Kyiv. Life has changed. There is no peace in Ukraine, she said.

Prokopenko and her husband Ivan, who stayed behind in Ukraine, were forced to find shelter for months at the start of the war in an abandoned house in the woods. When they returned home last summer their house had been ransacked by Russian soldiers and their town was badly damaged by shelling.

When the war is over, we are thinking of returning to Ukraine, she says. I think that Ukraine must win. And then we will all be together again.

Image by Justin Lane

Daria Koltsova poses at an Oxford University campus (EPA)

Daria Koltsova

Born in Kharkiv, near the Russian border, Daria fled from Odesa, where she had been living for the past few years before the onset of the war. While she is striving to live a normal life in her new home in Oxford, she says its just impossible... when you feel that theres so much pain at home.

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Despite the hardships, everyone is doing their best to move forward with their lives. Even exhibitions are working in Ukraine now  without electricity, our businesses keep working.

Image by Tolga Akmen

Alina Aleva poses at Park Hill Flats in Sheffield (EPA)

Alina Aleva

Like many other Ukrainians her age, the war has robbed Aline of part of her youth, forcing her to abandon university studies in Kyiv, where she lived with her mother, and become independent.

She said: Now, Im 21 and I have emigrated to another country, alone. She cannot hide her anger at the horrible situation unfolding in her homeland because of the terrible things happening to her people. I think Russia is a terrorist state, she says.

Despite the destruction the invasion has brought, she is confident that with the support of many countries: Ukraine will rebuild everything that was destroyed.

Image by Adam Vaughan

Yelyzaveta Tataryna, known as Lisa, eein her business, a vegan female-safe space cafe in London (EPA)

Yelyzaveta Tataryna

Lisa studied in Kyiv before the war broke out. She came to the UK, where she set up her cafe using investments from Ukrainian businessmen and help from fellow refugees.

Many of her family, including her mother, remain in Ukraine. She has not been able to see her brother or attend her grandmothers funeral in the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Its dangerous, you could have your home bombed every day. When you go to sleep, you wake and you think will I be alive or not? she said. While she is now in a safe place running her own business, there are a lot of people in Ukraine who are still in danger. So we just need help to finish this war as soon as possible.

Image by Neil Hall

EPA
A shot of a video from Bakhmut taken from a drone

Former Aidar battalion commander Yevhen Dykyi in an interview with Radio NV on March 30 explained what would happen should the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdraw from Bakhmut, which has already been largely reduced to rubble by fighting.

Read also: Fiercest fighting taking place for Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Maryinka, General Staff says

Numerous military experts have noted that from a purely military point of view, it would be easier to withdraw from Bakhmut to the next defense lines to hold. However, Ukraine has poured troops into the ruined city to prevent its capture.

"It would be possible to leave, let's say, with an absolute sense of accomplishment; with the fact that the enemy has suffered very significant damage, and we have won a lot of time to prepare new units in the rear  those units that will then launch a counteroffensive," Dykyi told NV.

Read also: Ukrainian military posts video showing reality of war-torn Bakhmut

But this is the military component. There is also the humanitarian component  and it is very different.

Should Ukraine retreat from Bakhmut, four cities  Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk, Slovyansk, and Siversk  will move from near-front to frontline cities, Dykyi said, also noting that Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk, and Slovyansk are all larger than Bakhmut.

"Wed need to immediately evacuate a fairly large number of civilians from (these cities)," he said, noting the repercussions of a Ukrainian withdrawal from Bakhmut.

And then, were ticking the box that after the end of hostilities these cities will simply not exist  just as Bakhmut and Soledar are no longer there. There will be a place on the map where these cities once were. There will be a huge ruin that will have to be completely demolished, and these cities will have to be rebuilt from scratch.

He said that now "(the Ukrainian military) is actually sacrificing Bakhmut and its garrison" to protect the next four cities behind the front line in Donetsk Oblast.

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Read also: Top Ukrainian official explains why defending Bakhmut is important

Dykyi also noted the foreign policy aspect of a retreat from Bakhmut, which was voiced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Giving the Russians at least a small but formal victory now may tip the scales of international support for Ukraine a little bit in the wrong direction," said the former company commander.

Earlier, Deputy Mayor of Bakhmut Oleksandr Marchenko said that fighting was now taking place almost in the central part of the city.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russian forces were suffering "crazy losses" in Bakhmut and that continuing to defend the city would limit the enemy's capabilities and stabilize the front line.

Read also: Ukraine's Defense Ministry refutes Russian myths about Battle of Bakhmut

In a March 29 interview with the Associated Press, President Zelenskyy said that if Ukrainian troops were defeated in Bakhmut, pressure from both the international community and within the country would increase, and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would be able to "sell this (as a) victory."

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Pakistan has long been battling militants in Balochistan (file pic)

The Pakistani army says "terrorists" operating from Iran have killed four of its border patrol troops in the south-western province of Balochistan.

An army statement said officials were talking to their Iranian counterparts to prevent such incidents in future. The attack happened in Kech district.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Separatists in Balochistan have been fighting the government for decades. The province has a long, porous border.

Reports said the insurgents had taken the weapons of the four dead soldiers. The army statement included photos of the four: a corporal, a lance-corporal and two privates.

Last month nine Pakistani security officers were killed and at least 13 wounded in a suicide attack in Balochistan.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Friday blasted the indictment of former President Trump as an abomination.

Obviously, we dont have the indictment, so theres a little bit of speculation involved. But based on the news reports, if theyre accurate, this is an abomination, Barr told Fox Businesss Larry Kudlow.

Its the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power to bring a case that would not be brought against anyone else, he continued. They are going after the man, not a crime.

Barr, who served as attorney general in the Trump administration, also criticized the presumed legal theory behind the indictment as pathetically weak.

The case is held together by chicken wire and paper clips and rubber bands, he added. Its a lousy case  Its a shameful episode in our history where this local prosecutor is trying to affect the political process by bringing this case.

A New York grand jury indicted the former president on criminal charges on Thursday for his role in a $130,000 hush money payment that his former personal attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

While the indictment remains under seal, legal experts have previously suggested that Trump could face charges for falsifying business records by improperly marking down reimbursements to Cohen as legal payments.

I actually dont think thats a valid claim in this case because the statute actually requires that it be done with the intent to defraud, Barr said on Friday, adding, I dont understand the basis for a fraud claim here.

But then they take this misdemeanor, which also has a problem with the statute of limitations, and they try to shoehorn into a felony by claiming that the reason the documents were falsified was to cover up another crime.

Barr noted that the Manhattan district attorney, who convened the grand jury in the case, seems to be assuming that the hush money payment was effectively a contribution to Trumps campaign and represents a campaign finance violation.

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I can tell you thats not the law, he added. I dont think thats how the Justice Department would view it.

The former attorney general, once a staunch ally to Trump, has become a frequent critic of the former president since leaving his administration and has previously sided with those investigating Trump in other legal matters. Barr said last fall that the Department of Justice probably had a basis for legitimately indicting Trump over the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

If the Department of Justice can show that these were indeed very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were, and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government, and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges, Barr said at the time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Belarusian volunteer Daniil "Mujahid" Lyashuk was killed on the front line.

Source: Mujahids official account on Telegram

Details: Mujahid was the founder and commander of the Vendetta combat group.

A native of Belarus, Lyashuk volunteered to fight for Ukraine after Russia occupied Crimea in 2014. He was wounded in 2015.

He was detained in the same year in the case against the Tornado volunteer battalion, where he served. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017, but he was released under the Savchenko law in June 2021, according to which a day of pre-trial detention is counted as two days of the sentence.

After the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Mujahed again went to the front line. He was wounded for the second time in the summer of 2022.

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Danylo Lyashuk, nicknamed Modzhakhed, was 27 years old

The 27-year-old was killed near Bakhmut, said military chaplain Hadji Murad Putilin.

Modzhakheds brothers-in-arms have called on the authorities to posthumously grant him Ukrainian citizenship and the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Who was Modzhakhed?

Read also: Polish platoon commander of Ukraines International Legion killed in action

Liashuk was born in the Belarusian city of Brest. He moved to Crimea at 14 and studied to be a sailor in Sevastopol.

After the start of Russias military occupation of Ukraines Crimea in 2014, he volunteered to fight for Ukraine and served in a battalion in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) zone.

He was seriously injured in a battle near Stanytsia Luhanska on Jan. 19, 2015.

Read also: Ace pilot Denys Kyryliuk veteran of 80 sorties against the enemy, is killed

In June of 2015, Liashuk was detained in a criminal-political case against the Tornado battalion. He was accused of committing a series of serious crimes in the combat zone in Donbas, which he denied.

According to the investigation, Tornado commander, Ruslan Onyshchenko, formed a criminal organization with his subordinates, which held locals in a basement used for torture. Liashuk said in an interview that he was unaware of Onyshchenkos criminal motives, as well as his earnings from smuggling.

In 2017, the Obolon District Court in Kyiv sentenced 12 former members of Tornado battalion for serious crimes. In particular, Liashuk received a sentence of 10 years. Later, the case was transferred to the Supreme Court.

Read also: Founder of Beshketnyky Sirka reconnaissance unit Ivan Shcheholov killed in action

In June 2021, Danylo Liashuk was released by a court decision. He cited this as proof of his innocence.

After the start of Russias full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Modzhakhed went back to the front as a volunteer. He fought in Kyiv Oblast and took part in battles for Kharkiv in the spring of 2022.

In July 2022, Liashuk officially joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was sent to defend Mykolaiv Oblast. He carried out sabotage operations in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast.

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In August, while carrying out a combat mission, he suffered a serious injury for a second time. He was hit by shrapnel in the abdomen, lungs, and liver. However, the soldier returned to the front line after rehabilitation.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey wished her childhood self a happy Trans Day of Visibility in a poignant tweet shared Friday (31 March).

Ramsey  also known for starring in Game of Thrones  came out as non-binary in January this year. In a later interview, she elected to use she/her pronouns, telling the publication that she doesnt mind what pronouns are used for her.

Happy TDOV to this little dude! Ramsey tweeted alongside a photo of her younger self.

I didnt know the word non-binary in this picture. But I knew what it meant. Inherently. Because I always was, and always will be. Lotsa love to all of my trans, enby and gender funky friends. #TransDayOfVisibility.

The 19-year-old English actor told The New York Times in January that her gender has always been very fluid.

Im very much just a person, she said. Being gendered isnt something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldnt care less.

Happy TDOV to this little dude! I didnt know the word non-binary in this picture. But I knew what it meant. Inherently. Because I always was, and always will be. Lotsa love to all of my trans, enby and gender funky friends. #TransDayOfVisibility  pic.twitter.com/8T5Kq6SIOW  Bella Ramsey (@BellaRamsey) March 31, 2023

Ramsey revealed that for 90 per cent of the filming process, she wore a chest binder, which she said helped her focus better on set.

Which probably isnt healthy, she admitted. Like, please bind safely.

She said she shared many conversations with her super supportive co-star Pascal regarding sexuality and gender.

They werent always deep: they could be funny and humorous, the whole spectrum. We were just very honest and open with each other, Ramsey said.

Pascal has been an outspoken LGBT+ ally since his younger sister came out as trans in 2021.

The Mandalorian star recently shut down a paparazzo who repeatedly asked him about The Last of Us LGBT+ themes.
Thousands of local high school students went prom shopping on Saturday at the 19th annual Belle of the Ball.

The experience was established in 2005 by Antons Cleaners as an opportunity for high school students who otherwise wouldnt be able to afford a dress to attend their high school proms.

this year, over a thousand girls have been nominated to get a prom dress.

The program reaches out to companies, schools, community groups, and individuals to donate their dresses for young women.

Students can also get accessories like jewelry and purses.

The sponsors are Jordans Furniture, Antons Cleaners, and Enterprise Bank.

So excited to be a part of #BelleoftheBall today, so many amazing prom dresses here for such deserving ladies! pic.twitter.com/vtJcUTFJ4t  Vicki Graf (@VickiGrafWX) April 1, 2023

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

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The city of Bellingham has settled the last in a string of claims and lawsuits stemming from a 2018 incident in which city medics used the body of a man who died in an ambulance for medical training in a fire station bay.

Four claims against the city, a state Supreme Court ruling and a fire department shakeup later, Bellingham officials have paid $550,000 to members of the mans family, including a $175,000 settlement reached with his brother Wednesday.

The settlement came after Robert Fox, the mans brother, testified during the trial of his federal lawsuit about the mental and emotional pain he suffered over the treatment of his brothers remains. That included laying the mans body in an empty equipment bay hours after his death and letting employees, including the office secretary, take turns trying to insert an endotracheal breathing tube down the cadavers throat.

The city in 2019 paid $175,000 to Jai Ginn, the wife of Bradley Ginn Sr., and $75,000 each to his two sons. Jai Ginn, who initially had demanded $15 million, also received a $50,000 settlement from Snohomish County, said Bellingham City Attorney Michael Edward Good.

The city didnt initially settle Foxs claim, however, arguing that allegations of tortious interference with a corpse can only be brought by the custodian of the body  in this case, Jai Ginn. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said in March 2020 that Washington law wasnt clear on the matter and put the case on hold while he sent the question to the state Supreme Court for clarification and direction.

In a groundbreaking 6-3 decision rendered the following year, the high court found Fox had standing to sue.

Over 100 years ago, this court recognized the purpose behind this action was to compensate those who suffer from the emotional distress arising from the mistreatment of their loved ones remains, wrote Justice Susan Owens for the majority.

Bellingham officials admitted the city was liable for a claim of tortious interference with a dead body, but contested Foxs claim to significant damages.

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The city said even close family members, including Jai Ginn and Foxs own son, had said in depositions and testimony that Fox was not close with his brother and any relationship they shared was acrimonious, at best, according to court documents.

But the city ultimately settled the lawsuit after hearing Foxs testimony during the first day of his trial, indicating they found his distress credible.

Fox, meanwhile, had been facing pressure to settle after the judge said he would not stop the city from attempting to introduce evidence that Fox had cut a deal with his son to pay off the sons student loans if he didnt provide negative testimony about Foxs relationship with Ginn.

Foxs attorneys called that testimony false, irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial.

But the city said in court pleadings that Fox was estranged from his brother and did not suffer emotional damages from learning of the incident on July 31, 2018.

That was the day Ginn, who lived in a nursing home, fell ill and began struggling for breath  prompting a call to Bellingham paramedics.

According to the lawsuit and a 24-page investigative report commissioned by Bellingham officials and authored by Seattle attorney Susan Hale, Ginn stopped breathing and died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Ginn had a do not resuscitate order, and the hospital declined to take his body, according to the lawsuit and subsequent investigation. Paramedics then contacted the medical examiner, who told them to take the body to the fire station and call a funeral home, the report says.

Initially, the plan was to place the body in an auxiliary ambulance at the fire station, but that unit was out and the equipment bay was empty. According to the investigation, the body was placed on the concrete floor of the empty equipment bay in a partially unzipped body bag, exposing his face and torso to passersby.

During the next 45 minutes, according to Foxs lawsuit and Hales report, a total of 11 Bellingham Fire Department employees, including an accountant and a secretary, took turns attempting to insert an endotracheal breathing tube down Ginns throat as his body lay in the apparatus bay.

Intubation involves inserting a tube into an individuals mouth and partially down their throat to create a clear breathing passage.

In all, the procedure was performed 15 times. These intubations served no medical purpose and were in direct contradiction to Mr. Ginn Sr.s order that no invasive procedures, like intubation, be performed, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit points out that no family member was contacted for consent to intubate Ginns corpse. According to news reports at the time, the family was not notified until two months later, when the incident was reported in the news.

The investigation determined that the Bellingham Fire Department had used corpses, usually the bodies of crash victims or people who had recently died, for intubation training. Employees referred to the practice as a tube check, and the practice was used as a mechanism for the paramedic to practice their intubation skills and maintain certification. Usually, such incidents would involve one or two practice tube checks on dead patients bodies.

While the investigation found that for the most part, the tone and atmosphere of the group were professional during the intubation practice on Ginns body, the group included an account assistant and an office assistant who had no reason to be involved. Those two individuals, the investigation found, exchanged a high-five after completing their turns intubating body.

One of them then went into the kitchen and got a cupcake, but only after washing her hands, according to the document.
[Source]

What if the elements we all know were alive? was the first question Korean American director Peter Sohn asked himself.

Imagining a fictional world where residents made of fire, water, earth and air live together was the beginning of Disney and Pixars all-new original feature film Elemental.

Sohn, who was the first Korean to direct a Pixar film, 2015's The Good Dinosaur, started with a drawing of a fire and water character interacting to eventually form an unexpected friendship.

More from NextShark: BTS's V gifts ARMY his cover of 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas'

Drawing inspiration from his personal life, he started layering in elements of his relationship with his wife Anna Chambers, whom he met while studying at the California Institute of the Arts.

Im Korean and shes American, half Italian, Sohn said in a press conference. I hid the relationship from my parents at first because theyin an old-school waywanted me to marry someone Korean. My grandmothers dying words were literally Marry Korean!

Sohns parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s. He was born in New York City, where he was raised with Korean traditions and culture. However, unlike his grandmother, Sohns old-school parents eventually came around to his interracial relationship with Chambers after finding that they had a lot in common with their eventual daughter-in-laws family.

More from NextShark: Students protest 76ers arena plan in Philadelphia's Chinatown

Similar to Sohns story, Elemental follows Ember Lumen, a second-generation immigrant whose parents emigrated from Fireland to Element City.

In the film, Ember, a tough and quick-witted fire-elemental woman in her 20s, meets Wade Ripple, an observant, empathetic water-elemental man. The two elemental characters, who cannot physically touch each other, eventually form a friendship where they discover their similarities.

More from NextShark: Simu Liu tries to keep the peace between Saweetie and Kyle Mooney in SNL promo

Ember eventually ventures out of her comfort zone and explores the spectacular world of Element City, which is inspired by cities around the world, while embracing the theorized contributions of each elemental community. Ember and Wades bond soon challenges the fire womans beliefs about the world they live in.

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In the beginning, Ember has disdain for the city, but Wade helps her begin to fall in love with everything it has to offer, says Sohn. She goes on a journey of understanding her own identity and with that, the meaning of what her parents have given her.

Ember is voiced by Leah Lewis, who previously starred in Netflixs The Half of It, while Wade is voiced by American actor Mamoudou Athie, who is known for his lead role in the 2022 Netflix horror series Archive 81.

More from NextShark: Balming Tiger to headline Tiger Den, first SXSW music event of Asian diaspora artists

In an interview with NextShark, producer Denise Ream said the Pixar Animation Studios is a microcosm of the diversity seen in the Elemental characters.

There are more than 100 first- or second-generation immigrants at Pixar who came together to speak with the filmmakers about their experiences. These stories eventually became a vital part in creating the nuanced story that Sohn tells in the upcoming film.

When we were starting out on this journey, we saw how many people all over the world were 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Its easily half the studio. This is a pretty amazing place, so if you just extrapolate that to the whole world, I cant imagine Pixar with any different configurations of people. Were really lucky to all work together.

Like Sohn, Ream shares a personal connection to the storyline as her family originally immigrated to Boston from Ireland.

While working on Elemental, the filmmakers listened to many emotional stories about what people went through to be where they are now.

One of the stories belongs to the movies visual effects supervisor, Sanjay Bakshi.

My parents moved from India to Canada, and I grew up as the only Indian in my community, so I really relate to that part of the story, Bakshi tells NextShark.

Bakshi and Sohn have been friends since even before the idea for Elemental came about.

We would talk about what it was like growing up being a child of immigrants. When he started with this idea, I really wanted to be a part of it because I wanted it to be depicted with authenticity, Bakshi says.

He recalls bringing friends over to his house, where his mother would cook spicy Indian food.

We'd always like to observe, Is it too hot for you? It would always kind of be like a joke. Theres that kind of humor in the movie, but theres also like the microaggressions that happen, too, like where someone assumes you don't speak well because of the way you look. So it was fun to work on it with Pete and be part of it so that it could be authentic and that other people with similar experience can really see themselves reflected in it.

One of the movies animators, Kim Leow, also spoke with NextShark regarding her personal connection to Elemental.

Leow, who was born in Malaysia, emigrated to Canada in 2006 to pursue her passion for animation. She attended Sheridan College and went on to work on commercials before venturing out to work alongside filmmakers.

Pixar has world class talent. I remember watching A Bugs Life back in Malaysia, and it totally blew my mind. Animation is so broad  it's a mix of art and technology. If you have a story to tell, you can always use any format to tell your story. I find that really beautiful. Theres always a push for the craft and always making it current. Theres no limit to it.

When Leow first started working on Elemental, she found herself relating to the character Ember in many aspects.

Theres this scene where Ember gets on the train for the first time and that reminded me of the first time I experienced cold weather and snowfall moving from Malaysia to Canada. This is what I love about Elemental. It reminds me and takes me back to these little moments.

Leow also notes that, like Sohn, she is also in an interracial marriage.

I find myself in the same situation in which I have to go against my family expectations and culture, she says.

The filmmakers and animators stressed Elemental was the hardest Pixar film they have tackled, spanning a seven-year development.

Sohn's parents both passed away during the films development, making the journey to completion a journey of personal healing and a tribute to his parents.

While the movie tackles diversity, family dynamics, friendships and self-discovery, Sohn and Ream highlight the appreciation of ones parents and their sacrifices.

Its about understanding our parents as people. From that understanding comes an appreciation for the sacrifices that they make for their kids. I took for granted the trials and tribulations they mustve experienced, Sohn said in a press release.

Ream, who had also lost her father, tells NextShark: "The movie gave me the gift of recognizing what my dad really did for us. You could have known intellectually, but when youre sitting in the story for years, it really gives you time to think about that sacrifice. "

Sohn also spoke with NextShark regarding the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and violence amid the COVID-19 pandemic and hopes that Elemental will spotlight the value of how diversity makes us stronger, beautiful and so much more rich.

When asked about his message to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Sohn says:

We belong 1,000 percent. Not only do we belong, but we have added so much into the fabric of America. Thats why this movie is important. Theres definitely that idea of compassion, that idea of empathy, of understanding where someone comes from versus just judging them and casting them aside. There's so much of that in this film 1000 percent.

We are better as a diverse community, and we all learn a lot of wonderful things, like having a little bit more empathy and understanding, Ream adds.

Elemental, will hit cinemas on June 16. It will be accompanied by a screening of Carls Date, a short film from the UP universe.
The three men and a woman battling to be president of France

France is heading for an unprecedented four-way contest in the first round of its presidential vote on April 23, according to opinion polls.

GALLERY

Leader of the French right-wing party Front National (FN), Marine Le Pen delivers her speech during a meeting in the run-up to the 2014 Municipal elections in Sete, Southern France, 17 January 2014.

An instinctive conservative, Fillon calls for a harsher justice system and would also like to impose school uniforms. He has called for strategic ties with Russia.

The 65-year-old leftist firebrand has been another surprise of this campaign. Lagging in fifth place until mid-March, his lively performance in two televised debates has seen him rise in the polls and some now show him catching up with Fillon.

Paris (dpa) - Far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron are out in front, the polls suggest, but conservative Francois Fillon and radical leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon are not far behind.Here is a quick look at the four top contestants.If no candidate wins an outright majority in the first round, the top two go through to a run-off vote on May 7.The 48-year-old daughter of far-right National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has been hard at work polishing and moderating her partys image since she took over from her father in 2011. Her "de-demonization" operation has even involved expelling the elder Le Pen for his repeated remarks downplaying the Holocaust.Her efforts have born fruit. No polls so far have shown her winning in the second round, but they say she could get more than 40 per cent of the run-off vote, far ahead of the 18 per cent her father won after shocking France by making it to the second round in the 2002 election.Le Pen pushes a strong law and order line and wants to pull France out of the euro single currency. She says that, unless she can restore Frances sovereignty over its territory, economy, currency and laws, she will seek to take the country out of the EU outright. Her party constantly inveighs against immigration and any signs of Muslim identity in France. But on economic issues, she is more centrist, seeking to appeal to working class voters.The 39-year-old former economy minister is the surprise story of the election campaign. He casts himself as a mould-breaker despite an elite CV. Macron studied at the Ecole Nationale dAdministration which trains Frances top bureaucrats, then worked as a tax inspector before joining the Rothschild merchant bank.In 2012 he joined socialist President Francois Hollands team, and was economy minister from 2014 until last year. He is also well known for having married his high-school French teacher, 24 years his senior.Macron combines economic and social liberalism, the polar opposite of Le Pen. He calls for spending cuts of 60 billion euros (64.5 billion dollars), mainly through adjusting health and unemployment insurance programmes. They would be countered by investments of 50 billion euros focused mainly on workforce training and green energy. His programme couples a "zero tolerance" approach to crime with incentives for employers who hire young people from the countrys suburban trouble spots.Fillon, 63, should have been the elder statesman in the race.He served as prime minister under right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy from 2007 to 2012, and speaks with authority when debates turn to topics such as foreign policy and Frances place in the EU.But his campaign foundered in January when satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine alleged that his wife had earned hundreds of thousands of euros serving as his parliamentary assistant for years without actually working.Fillon vehemently denies the allegations, but he and his wife have both been formally placed under investigation by magistrates.Fillons policy proposals left him particularly vulnerable to such allegations: he wants to cut half a million public sector jobs, slash public spending by 100 billion euros, raise the retirement age to 65 and abolish the legally defined 35-hour working week.An instinctive conservative, Fillon calls for a harsher justice system and would also like to impose school uniforms. He has called for strategic ties with Russia.The 65-year-old leftist firebrand has been another surprise of this campaign. Lagging in fifth place until mid-March, his lively performance in two televised debates has seen him rise in the polls and some now show him catching up with Fillon.Although coming from the opposite end of the political spectrum from Le Pen, Melenchon too appeals to disenchanted voters.He proposes raising the minimum wage, imposing a maximum salary of 20 times the lowest salary paid in any business, and hiking taxes on the wealthy.A Melenchon presidency could pose almost as many problems for the EU as a win for Le Pen: the leftist veteran says France should pull out of EU treaties that cement economically liberal policies.But it might not last long, because Melenchon has also vowed to end Frances presidential system. He promises that once elected he will convene a citizens assembly to write a new constitution, and step down once it comes into force.
The four defendants charged in the ComEd bribery scheme are, from left, consultant Jay Doherty, lobbyist and former ComEd executive John Hooker, retired lobbyist Michael McClain and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore. (Chicago Tribune photos)

The ComEd Four trial recordings have given jurors  and the public  the ultimate insider glimpse into how the famously reclusive former House Speaker Michael Madigan conducted his business.

The more than 100 secretly recorded phone calls and meetings, which were gleaned from wiretaps and confidential informants over the course of more than a year, form the backbone of the case, one of the most highly watched political trials in Illinois for years.

The recordings played in court so far show how closely Madigan worked with longtime confidant Michael McClain, a former ComEd contract lobbyist on everything from political strategy to major legislation important to the speaker.

They also portrayed in colorful relief Madigan and McClain playing hardball, plotting the forced resignation of a longtime ally and talking about delivering body blows to Madigans counterpart in the Senate over a perceived political slight.

Along with McClain, 75, the other members of the ComEd Four are former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, 64; ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, 73, and Jay Doherty, 69, a lobbyist and consultant who formerly led the City Club of Chicago. McClain and Madigan are charged in a separate corruption case that is tied to the ComEd scandal.

The indictment alleged the ComEd Four schemed to shower Madigan allies with jobs, contracts, internships and legal work to woo the now-indicted ex-speaker into looking favorably at ComEds Springfield agenda.

The defendants attorneys contend that the so-called scheme was nothing more than legal lobbying, part of the states high-stakes, often-messy politics where myriad interest groups and stakeholders compete for access to lawmakers.







Despite nearly four decades at the helm of Illinois politics, ex-House Speaker Michael Madigans voice was rarely heard publicly, outside of an occasional news conference or speech on the House floor.

But Madigans voice echoed through a Chicago federal courtroom on March 16 as prosecutors played a series of undercover recordings showing how the then-powerful speaker muscled out one of his longtime allies, Lou Lang, to stave off a potentially new sexual harassment scandal.







Former Illinois Senate President John Cullertons name surfaced in recorded conversations between former House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, talking about a 2018 political dispute that had brewed largely out of the public eye.

Madigan complained about a political ad critical of him and tied to Senate Democrats that Cullerton led in 2018, saying that the attacks should be aimed at President Donald Trump and other Republicans rather than the speaker, who doubled as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

In a secretly recorded telephone call in July 2018, McClain opened by saying bluntly, Sorry about that stupid Cullerton move. After Madigan asked, Whats your take on what I should do? McClain suggested letting him and other allies of the speaker hammer Cullerton with body blows.

McClain told Madigan on the recording that the longtime lobbyist had sent Cullerton a text expressing displeasure and that sooner or later Cullerton had to be told it is (expletive) inappropriate.







Prosecutors also played a wiretapped call between Will Cousineau, a lobbyist and longtime political director on Madigans Democratic staff, and Michael McClain, a ComEd contract lobbyist and one of Madigans longtime confidants, from 2018, shortly after Cousineau had left the speakers office for his role in lobbying, which included working on ComEd issues.

Hows the dark side? McClain asked on the call.

Its stressful in a different way, Cousineau replied.

As long as we remember who our real client is, McClain said, its not easy but it mollifies it.







Prosecutors played a May 2018 recording between retired lobbyist Michael McClain and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore. in which he informed her the speaker wanted her to keep pressing to get former McPier boss Juan Ochoa appointed to the ComEd board and Mike Zalewski on a contract.

OK got it. I will keep pressing, Pramaggiore said.

McClain told Pramaggiore on the call that when he talked to Madigan about Ochoas potential financial problems, the speakers response was that Harry Truman filed for bankruptcy too.

Pramaggiore laughed. It is classic him! I love it. And he would know that, you know? she said.







Shortly after being confronted by FBI agents in 2019 and deciding to cooperate in an ongoing bribery probe, then-ComEd Senior Vice President Fidel Marquez secretly videotaped a lunch meeting in Springfield with one of House Speaker Michael Madigans most trusted confidants.

The FBI had instructed Marquez to ask Madigans associate, Michael McClain, what he should tell ComEds new CEO about their scheme to funnel payments to a roster of Madigan-approved allies through a consulting company owned by Jay Doherty, a longtime ComEd contract lobbyist.

Fidel Marquezs hidden recorder captured a conversation with Madigans associate Michael McClain at Saputos in Springfield, Illinois. (U.S. Attorney's Office) (Chicago Tribune Handout)

Other potentially damaging videos played in court included a conversation where Doherty acknowledged to Marquez that the Madigan guys hed been paying as subcontractors did nothing for him on a day-to-day basis but keep their mouth shut.

Fidel Marquezs hidden recorder captured a conversation with Michael McClain, John Hooker and Joe Dominguez on March 5, 2019 at ComEd offices. (U.S. Attorney's Office)

Another video played in court showed a meeting at Marquezs ComEd office on Feb. 13, 2019, where Doherty explained the origins of the scheme to slip the cadre of Madigan-backed subcontractors onto his own lobbying contract with ComEd.

ComEd lobbyist Jay Doherty on an undercover video with Fidel Marquez. (U.S. Attorney's Office)

Jurors also listened to a recorded call between Marquez and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore from Feb. 16, 2019, that contained candid conversation after she left ComEd to become CEO of Exelon Utilities, including how she wanted Marquez to avoid seeing the subcontractor issue blow up while ComEd still had legislation pending in Springfield.







Prosecutors played a recording where then-House Speaker Michael Madigans longtime confidant, Michael McClain quizzed former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore about finding a job for Tim Mapes.

Madigan dumped Mapes from his three roles as chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois in June 2018 when a clerk working for Mapes accused him of sexual harassment, bullying and creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Marquez and Pramaggiore were later captured in another recording discussing whether Mapes was employable at ComEd or Exelon.

I keep thinking about how we can be helpful to (Mapes), Pramaggiore said. Its hard to do anything directly.







The shockingly abrupt end to House Speaker Michael Madigans nearly four-decade reign over Illinois politics was only two years away when a trio of key players in the ongoing ComEd Four trial gathered in early 2019 for a secretly recorded conference call.

Unaware of the bribery investigation swirling around them, Anne Pramaggiore and Michael McClain were planning a bright future in Madigans good graces. First, though, they had to hash out a problem: Who was going to be their new point person to maintain the cozy relationship with Madigan and keep the legislative wins coming?

Were in a conundrum, McClain, the former ComEd lobbyist and longtime Madigan confidant, said on the Feb. 22, 2019, call, which was played in the courtroom last week.

They were joined on the call by senior ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, who went along with the strategy session as he had many times in his seven years managing the utilitys legislative affairs team.







Prosecutors in the ComEd Four trial played more than a dozen wiretapped calls showing in vivid detail how lobbyist Michael McClain served as the key go-between for the utility and House Speaker Michael Madigan, handling everything from mundane hiring requests to high-level strategy for major energy legislation.

On one call from 2018, McClain boasted hed been doing assignments for Madigan for 25 years and his name hardly ever appeared in the newspaper.

Im pretty discreet, McClain said on the call.

The recordings, which were played back-to-back without a witness on the stand and ran for more than an hour, featured a whos who of Madigans most trusted associates, including 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, former state Rep. John Bradley, former top staffer Shaw Decremer, as well as the speakers son, Andrew.

There is no one right now that I can actually tell our friend that this is our lead (person), and that when you call, that guy will snap to and know what to do and get back to you, McClain told co-defendants Anne Pramaggiore, ComEds former CEO, and lobbyist John Hooker, on one call.

Madigan also seemed to want to know, asking McClain on two separate calls played for the jury who was going to drive the bus on a bill being pushed by ComEd affiliate Exelon Generation.







On a Tuesday afternoon in May 2019, teams of FBI agents fanned out across Chicago and downstate Illinois to execute a series of raids on some of then-House Speaker Michael Madigans top associates.

It was a pivotal moment in the ComEd bribery investigation that would shake Illinois politics to its core, with agents seizing hundreds of pieces of evidence, including laptops, cellphones, ledgers, emails and business records.

But one unusual item, found during the search of the Quincy home of Michael McClain, a retired ComEd lobbyist and Madigans closest confidant, stood out.

Stuffed in a tote bag in the back of McClains silver Toyota Avalon was a handwritten Magic Lobbying List, with the names of former Madigan staffers, associates and allies, whod gone on to lucrative lobbying careers, scrawled on stationery from a boutique hotel in Chicago.

The list was shown for the first time Tuesday in the ongoing trial of the ComEd Four, where McClain and three former ComEd executives and lobbyists are accused of conspiring to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Madigan-connected subcontractors in exchange for the powerful Democrats influence over legislation the utility wanted passed, or blocked, in Springfield.

Copies of Michael McClain's handwritten "Magic Lobbyist List" showing a roster of lobbyists allegedly favored by House Speaker Michael Madigan (U.S. attorney's office) - Original Credit: (U.S. attorneys office / HANDOUT)







Jurors in the ComEd Four bribery trial saw a parade of FBI agents testify Wednesday about raids on the City Club and the home of its longtime president, Jay Doherty, scooping up emails, invoices, text messages and voicemails tied to the far-reaching bribes-for-favors case.

The voicemails gave jurors their first opportunity to hear the voice of Ed Moody, the former Cook County official and longtime precinct captain in former House Speaker Michael Madigans 13th Ward fiefdom.







The plan to get Juan Ochoa appointed to a lucrative position on Commonwealth Edisons board of directors had been in the works for nearly eight months when then-House Speaker Michael Madigan got a call from his closest confidant saying it was close to a done deal.

Speaker, Juan Ochoa. You may call him, Michael McClain, a former lobbyist working as a consultant for the utility, said on the July 17, 2018, call.

On May 2, 2018, Madigan called McClain to discuss the problem.

Yes, so, theyve got just a little bit of push back, McClain said on the call, which was played in court after Marquez was done testifying. I guess (Ochoa) has had some financial problems in the past and stuff like that.

In February 2019, Ochoa called Madigans office and left a voice message asking for a meeting with himself and U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia, a powerful Democratic ally who had recently replaced Gutierrez in Congress.

It wasnt about the ComEd board seat, Ochoa testified, but to talk about the Latino Leadership Council, a political organization that Garcia, Gutierrez and he had recently formed, Ochoa said.

That day, Madigan was recorded telling McClain about Ochoas cryptic message. Assuming it was about the board seat, Madigan instructed McClain to reach out to him.

On Feb. 19, 2019, at Madigans direction, McClain called Ochoa to talk about the situation and Ochoas mysterious request for a meeting with Garcia.







Ed Moody (left,) Mike Madigan in middle and Fred Moody (right) as seen in a government exhibit presented during the "ComEd Four" trial.

A legendary precinct captain for former House Speaker Michael Madigan told jurors in the ComEd Four bribery trial Tuesday that the speaker got him a $45,000-a-year contract with one of the utilitys top lobbyists but made it clear the deal would disappear if he stopped working on campaigns.

Edward Moody, for years one of Madigans top door-knockers, recounted without hesitation the Democratic speakers warning when he told Moody about the arrangement: I control that contract and if you stop doing political work, youll lose that contract.







David Ellis, a successful novelist and former top counsel to powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan, was called by attorneys for Anne Pramaggiore, the former CEO of Commonwealth Edison, who is charged along with three others with cooking up a plan to coax the speaker into supporting the giant utilitys legislative agenda.







In a highly anticipated moment, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore took the stand in the ComEd Four bribery trial, where she and three associates are accused of bribing powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan to advance the utility giants legislative agenda in Springfield.







As the ComEd Four trial shifts to the defense phase, one thing has become clear.

The prosecutions best testimony hasnt come from the cooperators who lined up to testify about ComEds efforts to stay in Democrat Michael Madigans good graces.

In one recorded call before Marquez began cooperating, he told Pramaggiore said that hed been having dinner with then-state Sen. Iris Martinez when the subject of Democrat J.B. Pritzkers campaign for governor came up.

Iris starts going off about Pritzker and how there are people who were Blagojevich cronies, Marquez told Pramaggiore on the August 2018 call, referring to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and now theyre coming back out of the woodwork and theyre trying to get in with the Pritzker camp, like, and she goes, Like that mother (expletive) Juan Ochoa.

Oh no, Pramaggiore said, laughing. Ugh. Oh my God.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind.  Friday night storms caused damage in the area, but no injuries or fatalities, according to authorities.

"We were lucky," Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith said Saturday morning. "We had seven downed trees last night and two so far this morning.

"That's all we have had reported or are aware of," Goldsmith said.

Storms that blew through Benton County, Indiana, on Friday, March 31, 2023, caused damage to houses, power lines and this wind turbine, which was blown down.

Benton County wasn't so fortunate.

"It's kind of a mess out there," Benton County Emergency Management Director Jason Fisher said.

"We have a wind turbine blown down," Benton County Sheriff John Cox said. "It twisted that thing to the ground."

Fisher added that another wind turbine had its blades destroyed.

As of Saturday morning, a travel advisory remained in place for Benton County, Cox said, explaining only emergency travel is allowed. Deputies are out enforcing the restrictions, too, he added.

Most of the damage in Benton County was on the east side of the county  roughly from Oxford north to the Indiana 18 and U.S. 231 area, Cox said.

Fisher described it as a line running from the southwest to the northeast.

"We do have some areas that have some damage," Cox said. "We have some houses that had their roofs blown off.

The damage in interspersed along that line, Fisher said, noting that one housing addition, Pine Run, was heavily damaged. Most of the damage was to barns, out buildings and silos.

There are downed power lines, and crews are out trying to restore power, Cox said.

"The National Weather Service is on the way to do damage assessment," Fisher said.

Storms with high winds, lightning and heavy rain moved through Indiana starting late Friday night. The storms were out of the state by Saturday morning, but high winds persisted in the Greater Lafayette area.

Chris Springer, White County Emergency Management director, was out Saturday morning assessing damage to the county.

"We've got widespread damage from southwest White County to the northeast," Springer said. "We're doing assessments. We're working with the National Weather Service."

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In southwestern White County, Springer said there were calls Friday night of a house destroyed and a family found huddled in what remained of the house's basement. No one was injured, he said.

The storms killed three people in Sullivan County, south of Terre Haute on the Illinois/Indiana stateline, according to an Indianapolis Star report published Saturday.

Clinton County officials published an email early Saturday afternoon stating, "The National Weather Service has determined a tornado, classified as a F1.10, started near the Montgomery County/Clinton County line approximately two miles South of Colfax. The tornado traveled on the ground moving towards Frankfort where it lifted near the Green Lawn Cemetery."

Wind along Interstate 65 blew over a semi trailer between the Dayton and Frankfort exits, Indiana State Police Sgt. Jeremy Piers said. No one was seriously injured.

Storms that blew across Indiana late Friday, March, 31, 2023, caused widespread damage. Indiana State Police from the Lafayette Post were dispatched to Interstate 65 near the 153 mile marker where this semi was blown onto its side. No one was injured, according to police.

Tippecanoe County Emergency Management Director Smokey Anderson said at one time, the statewide updates his office received during the storm indicated that 107,000 customers in the state were without electricity. He also said statewide reports indicated that between 30 and 35 counties were under a tornado warning.

No tornado warning was issued for any part of Tippecanoe County, Anderson said.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Benton County hit hard by storms; Tippecanoe County spared
An image of a dog with swirling lines in an oil painterly style.



Sometimes, I prefer my dog to look a little bit more like a Pieter Bruegel artwork, and thanks to AI, that possibility is at my fingertips.

You now cant go anywhere without finding some company shouting from the rooftops about generative AI. While the folks at Snapchat and Discord are busy slapping OpenAIs ChatGPT into their systems, companies like Shutterstock and Adobe think more people would be interested in using a AI image generator when grabbing a stock image. Dont mind Getty Images though, they have some pretty negative thoughts about AI.

Maybe youre trying to see what the fuss is about, or perhaps you just want to create something new or cool, but AI image generators remains an interesting bit of tech, especially when used for fun and not profit. Leaving the question of whether AI-generated pictures are legitimate art by the wayside, the best system-produced images are more than just ways to create strange nightmare depictions of celebrities portrayed in various art styles. At the same time, its not enough for the digital artiste to vaguely offer an impressionistic, oddly shaped interpretation of users original pictures or prompts.

Read more

Theres a middle ground amid all this crush between technology and art that even the most untrained in the arts of brush on canvas can comprehend. What can inspire us? What can intrigue us? That is what AI image generators have the capacity to do.

So we turn to the free AI art generators, or at least the ones that offer free trial options. Theres systems like Jasper, which released its AI art generator Jan. 17. But while its program seems interesting, theres no way to get a free trial without inputting credit card details where it will automatically charge you after five days. Sorry, but thats not free.

For the purpose of these rankings, I wanted to ignore the hubbub around total terabytes of training images, but the total time it takes to create each image, their standard free resolution, and usability are all taken into account. To best rank each program, I gave them all the same, rather esoteric, text prompts based on some books Ive recently read. Those books include:

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Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng

Prompt: A man and woman stand under a pendulum sun in the heart of Arcadia.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

Prompt: A lone mathematician stands on a dusty planet owning nothing.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Prompt: A foreign woman struggles alone against the machinations of a cosmic empire.

There are several image generators which require photos instead of text prompts. As much as I would like to keep it consistent, I want to be inclusive of different systems rather than exclude them. For the image generating platforms that dont allow for text prompts, I used the same image for each one:

Say hello to the young greyhound named Skip.

Some systems, like ArtBreeders collager model, ask users to be a little more creative when generating images by formatting shapes and images into new art. In my own tests I found it did not create art with any meaningful quality, so I did not include that feature in the list. Artbreeders Splicer model kept deforming the image to the point it was unusable, and I quickly used up its three upload slots for the free version. Sorry, but no dice, Artbreeder.

Also, other systems like MyHeritages AI Time Machine sure is neat, but for one, it doesnt like it when you put in dog pics. More importantly, it requires you invest put in a credit card to sign up for a free trial. That doesnt meet my definition of free.

Im no art critic by any imagination, but at least I can tell whether AI generated art actually attempted to depict a prompt in a way thats not derivative or that relies upon copying and replicating art found on the internet.

To be honest, Im pleasantly surprised by some of the results from a few of the more popular free art generators. Lets take a look, shall we?

Want to know more about AI, chatbots, and the future of machine learning? Check out our full coverage of artificial intelligence, or browse our guides on How to Use ChatGPT and Everything We Know About the OpenAI chatbot.

18. ModelScope

A screenshot of free AI text-to-video generator ModelScope

The first text-to-video AI generator to catch the internets attention, ModelScope, was released in March 2023. The AI video generator is rudimentary, producing only 2-second clips that feature odd distortions much like early AI image generators. Many of its videos also bear the Shutterstock logo, hinting at where it gathers its training data from.

From Gizmodos test drive of ModelScope:

The AI text to video system called ModelScope was released March 18th and already caused some buzz for its occasionally awkward and often insane 2-second video clips. The DAMO Vision Intelligence Lab, a research division of e-commerce giant Alibaba, created the system as a kind of public test case. The system uses a pretty basic diffusion model to create its videos, according to the companys page describing its AI model.

SLIDE #217. Runway Gen-2



A screenshot from the AI text-to-video generator Runway Gen-2

Runway teased its Gen-2 AI video generator in late March, offering several 3-second clipsan eye, a mountain, an apartment. The text-to-video AI is not publicly available as of April 1, but it offers tantalizing possibilities. The Gen-1 version, a video-to-video model, can create and transform existing videos based on text prompts or reference images.

From Gizmodos comparison of Runway Gen-2 to ModelScope:

Gen-1 could transform a simple render of a stick figure swimming into a scuba diver, or turn a man walking on the street into a claymation nightmare with a generated overlay. Gen-2 is supposed to be the next big step up, allowing users to create 3-second videos from scratch based on simple text prompts. Since February, the relatively small 45-person team at Runway has been known for its online video editing tools, including its video-to-video Gen-1 AI model that could create and transform existing videos based on text prompts or reference images. Gen-1 could transform a simple render of a stick figure swimming into a scuba diver, or turn a man walking on the street into a claymation nightmare with a generated overlay. Gen-2 is supposed to be the next big step up, allowing users to create 3-second videos from scratch based on simple text prompts. While the company has not let anybody get their hands on it yet, the company shared a few clips based on prompts like a close up of an eye and an aerial shot of a mountain landscape.

16. Fotor

Image: Kyle Barr/Fotor

Oh boy, turn your image into NFT art, how grand a design. Well, beyond attempts to monetize the poor greyhound, lets see what Fotor can do to make Skip a little more painterly.

Using the programs GoArt creator, theres honestly nothing here that I havent already seen from a Photoshop filter. Though the program is relatively easy to use, I dont see any real fun to be had making an image a little more sketch-like. The program does have a neat little photo editor, but if you want an image without a watermark youll have to pay, but really you shouldnt expect anything less. There are better, free programs available online if thats all youre looking for.

15. Pixray

Image: Kyle Barr/Pixray

Using Replicates standard vqgan engine on Pixrays free site, I created two very confused images and one that could be construed as a modern art interpretation of what a desert looks like. Its an older system and is still using features from generative adversarial network algorithms. That would be just one factor, but the images take a fair bit of time to process and even then their resolution is incredibly tiny.

14. Deep AI

Image: DeepAI

DeepAIs rather simple and rudimentary AI generator doesnt have a lot of bells and whistles, and despite all that it doesnt have much else going for it anyway. The text to image API system simply doesnt have the bells and whistles more updated systems have. The images are more collages of images found on the internet than any real attempt at creating something new.

13. Hotpot AI

Image: Kyle Barr/Hotpot AI

Hotpot.ais art generator is a pretty rudimentary program, but in the time since I first tried the program, it has gotten much more capable. The company is also advertising different features, like tools to remove objects and backgrounds from photos, though those do indeed cost money.

The whole free aspect is where Hotpot hurts the most. Creating small, thumbnail-sized images is free, but doing anything more, including resizing or allowing commercial use costs a subscription. Im surprised by the quality of the images generated, especially how each image definitely has a lot of classic Sci-Fi and fantasy feel to them, but the limitations on the free versions hurt it the most.

12. Runway.ML

Image: Kyle Barr/Runway.ML

Runway ML was one of the two startups that helped give us Stable Diffusion, and its free text-to-image service has the same quality as the earlier open source versions of the software. As Runway continues to get millions in investment funding, according to Forbes, the company has moved on to AI-based video editing tools, image expansion services, along with the rest of its suite of customizable AI tools, most of which require payment to get the most out of.

But as for this free service, users get just 25 images to start before being asked to upgrade, which isnt so great compared to some others. The actual quality of images when using these non-specific prompts leaves quite a lot to be desired. Also, like Stable Diffusion Runway has a fascination with fake text meant to resemble a book cover.

11. Dream Studio

Image: Dream Studio/Stability AI

The Dream Studio beta AI art generator is free, and it has a lot of bells and whistles other AI art generators dont have, like the ability to scale the width and height of the image while telling it how close you want the image to be to your prompt. Its developed by Stability AI, which recently released a much more popular AI art generator (click through to find out more of Stable Diffusion).

The system is also surprisingly fast, just by the examples above you can see the AI isnt afraid to mix and match art styles on a whim.

Unfortunately, using my prompts resulted in some interesting renditions, but a few weird and strangely derivative images as well. Several times when I used the A Memory Called Empire prompt I received images with broken text in no human language, almost like an alien book cover. Its a sign that the system really wants me to give it more information, to tell it to rip off one particular artist or another. It does so much better when you give it the name of an artist to copy off of, but its similar to our next AI art generator in that regard.

10. Stable Diffusion



Image: Stable Diffusion (Stability AI)

A lots been said about Stability AIs free art generator while it was in closed beta, but on Aug. 22 the free image generator finally got a full release and since then its been one of the more talked about image creators. Stable Diffusion is open source, free, and unfiltered compared to the likes of Dall-E or Googles (still publicly unavailable) Imagen. Its basic page on Hugging Face is pretty rudimentary, but you can make it much easier to use with some simple freeware tools, though youll have to install Python to get it working. Stable Diffusion relies on a model based on the LAION-5B data set that filters out watermarked images and logos, according to its own page. Based on a report from tech blogger Andy Baio, many of the images are mostly sourced from Pinterest and other photo and art blogs. My attempts at asking it to create its own art without telling it to ape copy one particular artist were largely unsuccessful. It kept offering me black and white images without any kind of style or substance. Without asking it to copy a specific artist, it only offers pretty disappointing works compared to what other users have managed to get.

It seems the system is much better at coming up with art when you specifically ask it to do it in the style of a particular artist. This, of course, introduces a host of ethical problems especially for the living artists people may be emulating, as shown by fantasy artist Greg Rutkowski who was interviewed by MIT Technology Review and said he was worried the number of fake AI art bearing his name would eclipse his own visibility.

9. VQGAN+CLIP

Image: VQGAN

You got to love freeware, and this Python-based Google Colab notebook is relatively easy to use, so really, you have to give major props for a system thats both relatively simple and open and available to all users. All you have to do is go to the link, scroll down and input your prompt in the text box, then either hit Ctrl+F9 or Runtime - Run All.

But of course were ranking systems artistic ability. The system progressively iterates on the design, so you can see where the AI is trying to go with each image. My prompts offered some really interesting results but a few head scratchers as well.

8: StarryAI



Image: StarryAI

I appreciate StarryAIs clean interface and simple systems, though of course this is another one that gives users a few free credits to start before eventually asking you to cough up for more. Again, theres nothing wrong with getting users to pay for creating a whole lot of art, but it does have to be worth it. This art generator also lets users upload an initial image to give the AI a leg up, but theres no hand holding allowed here for these rankings.

The art itself is a mixed bag. I like what It came up with for The Dispossessed but cant really tell what it had in mind for A Memory Called Empire.

7. Dall-E Mini (Craiyon)

Image: Craiyon

The system once known as Dall-E Mini, now Craiyon, creates a host of different images it hopes fits the bill, so I chose the closest out of all of them to the spirit of the prompt. The images themselves are pretty low resolution, which does detract from the fact its giving you so many options to choose from based on a single sentence.

Even when choosing among nine different tiles, the art left a lot to be desired. Compared to other AI art, craiyon really does feel like its grabbing images from all over the internet and turning them into a hodgepodge of an approximation of what it thinks is the prompt.

6. Deep Dream Generator

Image: Deep Dream Generator

Googles Deep Dream Generator claims it can transform images into stylized works of art. The main feed of images on the site does make it seem very evocative, but of course its not exactly easy to make an image of young Skip appear as more than just a dog with a Photoshop filter on.

I put young Skip in the style of Pieter Bruegel, the famed Dutch artist behind works like The Blind Leading the Blind. It came out okay. I tried it with a mandala pattern and it was interesting, I guess. I then added a Salvador Dali painting to the style, andwellit came out kind of boring.

Its definitely a fun tool, but it feels like Im playing with a sophisticated color-in-the-lines book rather than generating any real art.

5: Nightcafe

Image: Nightcafe

The Nightcafe system will only let you do a few images before asking you to pay up, but like some other AI image generators it gives users a whole selection of different styles to choose from. It wants users to buy credits in order to make more arts or bump up the quality and resolution of each image, and you will run out fairly quickly.

The art itself is all over the place. I appreciate what it tried to do with The Dispossessed but it wouldnt even create a human-looking being in either of the other two prompts. The image resolution is also not great, and the art is very strange even in the default oil painting setting. Sure, its nice to be able to try out the system to see if you like it first, but even for just $10 a month, I cant say you wont find better options out there.

4: DALL-E 2

Image: DALL-E 2

DALL-E 2 may have been the most hotly anticipated AI image generator since it was initially put into its beta release back in April. However, as shown by these examples theres been multiple releases to cash in on the AI-art craze.

OpenAI, the makers of DALL-E, finally released their system to the wider public Sept. 28. Like many other systems, it offers users a slate of 50 free prompts, plus a few more each month. Users can also pay for more image generation credits.

My experiences with DALL-E have been interesting, to say the least. I find the system does not compute specific artists too well, and even when you give it pretty detailed instructions it defaults to an impressionistic art style. Of course, thats not what this ranking is looking to do. For this, Im more interested in what each AI system is capable on its own without giving it an image to specifically replicate. DALL-Es systems obviously draw from a whole host of real photos and art, but it still largely fails to replicate faces. However, the generator did seem fond of the prompt for A Memory Called Empire and it offered several inspiring images that capture the essence of the book.

3. Stable Diffusion 2

Image: Stable Diffusion

The sequel to the first Stable Diffusion, developed by Stability AI, may struggle to call itself a full iteration compared to its original incarnation, but the new system released in late November is certainly an upgrade in many ways from its predecessor.

In its announcement blog, Stability AI noted it had introduced a new text encoder which was developed by LAION, the open source project which also provided the massive image set that Stable Diffusion draws from. Stable Diffusion 2 also displays images at a much better resolution and is also better at upscaling them, according to Stability AI. They also mention it features a greater ability to facilitate depth of field, though in my own tests with my prompts that didnt really come up.

When using the system to generate my open-ended prompts, I was surprised at the crispness of some of the generated images. I want the AI to generate images without mention of any particular artist, style, or format. Without prompting it to base a face on any one person, the system still struggles to generate a realistic head. Still, I was surprised what it came up with for my Under the Pendulum Sun prompt.

Strangely, every single time I fed Stable Diffusion 2 my A Memory Called Empire prompt, it came up with a comic-inspired display. I picked the best one, but it is especially concerning that the system wants to keep replicating text. Its more evidence of how much the system has likely borrowed from scans of actual comics and comic artists.

2: Wombo Dream

Image: Wombo Dream

The Wombo Dream system allows you to create art in multiple different styles such as old retro art, Salvador Dahli, orsimplyGhibli. I chose a different style for each based on the style of each book. It also allows you to include a reference image that Dream can use, but Ive restricted the system to its own imagination. You can also turn the images into NFTs, but thanks, no.

I have to hand it to Wombo, some of this art is truly evocative. Im especially taken by the Throwback filter, as it definitely gave it the 1970s art style look you might see on an old album cover. Though as you can tell, its very loose with its interpretations. The weirdly erotic sense I get from its interpretation of A Memory Called Empire is strange since that wasnt the prompt. I was very surprised by its interpretation of Under the Pendulum Sun, so it gets rather high marks.

1: Midjourney AI

Image: Midjourney

The crown of the AI art generation scene falls on none other than Midjourney. Its gotten quite a lot of hype since its open beta first burst up from the weeds of Discords servers, but its honestly one of the best AI art generators available. Though Ive seen some rather strange depictions of ships and other objects, the crispness of the generated images could convince somebody they were done with human hands.

I will say that Midjourney does have a little sense of repetition, as Ive seen similar poses among the stoic, female design among other user-prompted images. However, that doesnt take away from how evocative the art is, especially based on such strange, convoluted prompts. I mean just look at it! Several of the images based on The Dispossessed prompt could be the actual cover to the book. Several of those in the last panel are easily how I might imagine Mahit Dzmare from A Memory Called Empire would look like.

The program remains beholden to Discord, and the bot offers the first few generated images as a trial, then asks users to pay $10 for a monthly basic membership with 200 images.

Update, April 2023: Midjourney has grown so popular that its creator has stopped offering free trials, citing inability to meet demand. CEO Dave Holz told The Verge the discontinuation of the free version happened because of massive amounts of people making throwaway accounts to get free images. Though Midjourneys website still lists free trials as an option, attempting to use the /imagine prompt to generate an image in the Midjourney Discord will return the message Due to extreme demand we cant provide a free trial right now. Please /subscribe or try again tomorrow.

Bonus: Midjourney Magazine

Illustration: Midjourney

The company behind our favorite AI art generator is launching a monthly magazine. A subscription will cost you $4, though the company is offering copies of the first issue for free.

Why would a potential subscriber want to pay for print copies of free online images?

We thought it would be fun, and the community agreed, so we did it, Midjourney founder David Holz told Gizmodo.

More from Gizmodos story on Midjourney magazine:

The company behind the tool will feature images in its simply and uncreatively titled publication picked from among the 10,000 images rated highest by its sites community members, according to its website. Interviews with image makers and Midjourney enthusiasts will also appear in the magazine. The Midjourney Community Showcase page displays images submitted and rated by users.

Want to know more about AI, chatbots, and the future of machine learning? Check out our full coverage of artificial intelligence, or browse our guides on How to Use ChatGPT and Everything We Know About the OpenAI chatbot.

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Rain Dogs, Magpie Murders and Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies are all new on telly this week. (HBO/BBC/Paramount+)

Its certainly a packed week of TV ahead, from a classy whodunit written by Anthony Horowitz and starring Lesley Manville to the latest vehicle for This Countrys Daisy May Cooper.

Also on the itinerary, its the prequel you never knew you needed as we head back to school for Grease: the Rise of the Pink Ladies.

And Alex Jones brings us heartwarming stories as she reunites those wanting to reconnect...

Saturday, 1 April, 9.15pm: Magpie Murders | BBC One

Lesley Manville in The Magpie Murders. (BBC)

In an unusual move, the BBC has acquired Magpie Murders, the tricksy six-part mystery written by Anthony Horowitz and first made available on Britbox in 2022. And as well as bringing this whodunnit to a wider audience, the corporation will also air its follow-up, Moonflower Murders, which will be filmed in 2023.

Read the Yahoo review: Magpie Murders: A detective drama that offers something new and exciting (3 min read)

Read the Variety review: Amusing whodunnit delivers quaint mystery within a mystery (4 min read)

For the uninitiated, this original case centres on Susan Ryeland (the marvellous Lesley Manville), a successful editor whose career is thrown into crisis when the latest mystery novel by her top author turns up with its final chapter missing. And then she too finds herself embroiled in a suspicious death

Tuesday, 4 April, 10.40pm (11.40pm in Northern Ireland): Rain Dogs | BBC One

Costello Jones (DAISY MAY COOPER), HBO, James Pardon

Daisy May Coopers new project is this state-of-the-nation drama about a single mum and her daughter, penned by Cash Carraway (best known for her bestselling book Skint Estate).

A co-production between the BBC and HBO, Rain Dogs charts the relationship between chaotic Costello Jones (Cooper) and her offspring Iris (Fleur Tashijan).

Read the Hollywood Reporter review: British dramedy offers rewards for those who brave the bleakness (5 min read)

Having been estranged from her family, Costello faces an uphill battle when it comes to making a living in a landscape of climbing rents, plummeting wages and job insecurity. But what impact will privileged gay guy Selby (Jack Farthing) have on their lives?

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Also still available on BBC iPlayer: This Country

Thursday, 6 April, 9.00pm: Dreamland | Sky Atlantic

Freema Agyeman & Lily Allen in Dreamland. (Sky)

The sun may be shining in the seaside town of Margate, but theres dark comedy to be found in this portrayal of multi-generational female family dynamics.

At the core is former Doctor Who star Freema Agyeman who plays eldest sister Trish, pregnant for the third time and convinced that, this time, shell be giving birth to a girl. Support comes from her two siblings (Gabby Best and Aimee-Ffion Edwards), as well as her mum (Frances Barber) and nan (Sheila Reid).

But a destabilising element is set to arrive in the form of other sister Mel (Lily Allen), who makes an unexpected reappearance in their lives

Thursday, 6 April, 8.00pm: Reunion Hotel | BBC Two

Alex Jones (Darlun Cyf)

Long Lost Family meets Surprise Surprise as Alex Jones reconnects people with someone significant from their past, be it a lost friend, a family member or past love.

The setting is a hotel in north east Wales and each of the reunions is set to be rooted in the surrounding area. So expect high emotion and plenty of heartfelt moments as we see an ex-pupil brought back into the orbit of the teacher who made a lasting impact on him and thanks given to some life-saving heroes. Says Jones: Its exciting to help guests reconnect with a piece of their lives they thought had been lost.

Thursday, 6 April: Beef S1 | Netflix

Steven Yeun as Danny in Beef. (Andrew Cooper/Netflix)

Fresh from its Oscar-winning glory with Everything Everywhere All At Once, indie film studio A24 is back with Beef, a brand new drama-comedy series on Netflix, starring the Oscar-nominated Steven Yeun and comedian Ali Wong.

Read the Indiewire review: Ali Wong and Steven Yeun are knockouts in Netflixs outsized A24 drama (6 min read)

The 10-part series, which will be available to binge, was the subject of a fierce bidding war in 2021 and begins with a road rage incident that develops into a full-blown cycle of revenge. The show premiered to huge acclaim at the SXSW festival which suggests Netflix could have another hit on its hands.

Friday, 7 April, 9.00pm: Pilgrimage: the Road through Portugal | BBC Two

Vicky Pattison, Millie Knight, Bobby Seagull,Vicky Pattison, Millie Knight, Bobby Seagull with Manuel in Ponte de Lima (CTVC,Production)

Nicely scheduled in time for Easter, this follow-up to last years Road to the Scottish Isles sees seven well-known personalities with differing faiths and beliefs taking a journey along the northern route of the Fatima Way in Portugal.

The celebrity pilgrims this time around are Su Pollard (who was raised Church of England), Jewish actor Rita Simons, Pentecostal Born-Again Christian Shayne Lynch (of Boyzone fame), reality star and agnostic Vicky Pattison, the Catholic maths guru Bobby Seagull, Muslim comedian Nabil Abdulrashid, plus Paralympian skier Millie Knight, who is non-practising Church of England.

Still available on BBC iPlayer: Pilgrimage: the Road to the Scottish Isles

Friday, 7 April: Tiny Beautiful Things episode 1 | Disney+

Clare (Kathryn Hahn) (Erin Simkin/Hulu)

Kathryn Hahn (best-known to UK viewers as Agatha Harkness in the Marvel series WandaVision) returns to TV to play Clare, a floundering writer who achieves workplace success as an advice columnist, just as her own personal life is falling dramatically apart.

With a marriage that feels as though its in its death throes and a teenage daughter whos resisting her affections, the last thing Clare feels qualified to do is offer the benefit of her wisdom. But when shes asked by a friend to take over the column Dear Sugar, Clare reluctantly takes on the job and finds herself to be a salve for readers. But can she put right the parts of her own life that have gone wrong?

Friday, 7 April: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies episode 1 | Paramount+

Johnathan Nieves as Richie Valdovinos and Marisa Davila as Jane Facciano in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Eduardo Araquel/Paramount+)

Set four years before Sandy became hopelessly devoted to Danny, this prequel to the original Grease movie takes us to the Rydell High of 1954. Rock n roll is still to make an impact on the school, while the T-Birds havent roared into view. But four fed-up outcasts are about to dare to have fun on their own terms  and spark something of a moral panic in the process.

Read the EW review: Rydell's girl gang gets an uneven origin story (6 min read)

Read the Consequence review: Rise of the Pink Ladies is confection and camp, but simply has too much heart to hate (5 min read)

Expect music, some romance, a little comedy and roles for relative unknowns including Marisa Davila (as Jane), Cheyenne Isabel Wells (playing Olivia) and Ari Notartomaso (featuring as Cynthia).

Watch a trailer for Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
ROLLING FORK  President Joe Biden solemnly read off the names of all 13 local victims who died in last week's tornado as he spoke to residents of the storm-ravaged Mississippi Delta town Friday.

Biden promised immediate help to the town of around 2,000 as well as the communities of Silver City, Carrollton and the towns of Winona and Amory.

The president was flanked by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Gov. Tate Reeves and his wife, Elee Reeves.

Standing in front of a pile of twisted blue metal and wood that had once been an animal shelter and an auto parts store, there were trees behind Biden as he spoke that were completely stripped of their branches, making the area look even more desolate. Biden promised to clean up all of Mississippis storm sites with 100% compensation to clean up debris for 30 days as part of the emergency declaration he issued on Sunday.

We understand. People are still going through the rubble to find that lost wedding ring or that picture of grandma, said Biden, who wore a black ballcap with the presidential seal. We're not just here for today. I'm determined, and we're gonna leave nothing behind. We're gonna get it done for you. That's why I'm here. This is your community. This is where you built your life. We're going to make sure you can stay right here.

Challenge of debris removal: Rolling Fork plans for major debris removal

What to know about the tornadoes: Mississippi tornado destruction: A breakdown of what happened in Rolling Fork, other areas

Gov. Reeves looked back to Saturday when he was last in Rolling Fork and recalled his conversation with Biden as he was leaving and moving on to the next location in Silver City.

The EF-4 wedge tornado with 170-mph winds ripped across Rolling Fork from the Southwest corner, through town and exited near the Northeast corner of town. According to Biden, FEMA officials told him it took about three minutes as more than 300 homes were completely destroyed.

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The tornado went on to kill eight more across the state, but Rolling Fork was the hardest hit.

President Biden said he wanted to declare an emergency immediately, Gov. Reeves said. I told him we would get the paperwork to him in an hour. We did and the declaration was made.

Signs of hope: Rolling Fork survivors paint portion of the town red with encouraging signs of hope

He went on to talk about the resiliency of Mississippians and how people have come from across the nation with a helping hand to lift the residents of the South Delta town.

Watching these people come together, I am damn proud to be a Mississippian, Reeves said.

The gravity of the moment wasnt lost on Biden, whose personal tragedies are well documented.

President Joe Biden talks Friday with Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker, right, as he and first lady Jill Biden arrive to survey the damage after a deadly tornado and severe storm moved through the area in Rolling Fork.

Thirteen lives are lost. We talked with their families earlier today, Biden said. We can never know what they are going through, but we can understand their pain.

Thompson hailed Biden for his quick action and said he was confident the president would make good on his promise to see Mississippis storm-tattered towns will recover fully.

The President and First Lady landed in Jackson via Air Force One, then landed via Marine One at the Yazoo County Airport Landing Zone.

What are the odds? Mississippi couple who lost 2 homes to tornadoes in 3 months start over again: 'We're blessed'

Biden met with emergency responders and state and local officials in Rolling Fork. He then toured the town and got a first-hand look at the destruction while stopping to meet with the families of many of the victims.

There, Dr. Biden, greeted the Red Cross and Salvation Army teams of volunteers. Those organizations have been on the ground since Saturday, providing meals, clothes and many other supplies to residents of Rolling Fork.

First lady Jill Biden, left, listens as President Joe Biden speaks during a briefing in Rolling Fork on Friday. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, third from right, his wife Elee Reeves and Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker, right, look on. The President traveled to Rolling Fork to survey the damage after a deadly tornado and severe storm moved through the area.

I have seen far too many of these scenes in my two years in office, President Biden said. But there is one thing in common with all of them. Rolling Fork will recover just like those others have and we will see to that.

The motorcade arrived at the South Delta Elementary School just before noon for a briefing with federal, state and local leaders.

There, Biden and the First Lady talked briefly with the Rolling Fork mayor before getting a presentation by FEMA director Deanne Criswell, who showed the president the path of the storm on the map.

We are going through this, but we are going to come out a bigger and better community, the mayor said. I am committing to working with state and federal leaders to ensure the needs of this community are met. We have had so many people dedicating their time and resources to our city, and we thank each of you for everything you have done and everything you will do.

President Joe Biden speaks with those impacted by last week's deadly tornado and severe storm in Rolling Fork on Friday.

In the school yard, where Biden first visited, there were six flash card boards, one with a map of Mississippi and the tornados path. There was another board with before-and-after photos showing the scale of the devastation. Another board had fallen trees and debris and an American flag hoisted up by a crane.

Biden was not the first American president to visit Rolling Fork. Teddy Roosevelt came to this community more than a century ago for a bear hunt, an event that spawned the advent of the Teddy Bear. But the lushness of the forests that Roosevelt saw were all gone, ripped apart by the storm.

Near the end of his speech, Biden stumbled and referred to Rolling Fork as Rolling Stone on two different occasions but corrected himself when called out by someone in the crowd.

President Joe Biden speaks after surveying the damage in Rolling Fork on Friday, after a deadly tornado and severe storm moved through the area. From left, first lady Jill Biden, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Biden, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge.

Biden, making his first visit to the state as a sitting president, continued to talk about competing the mission of rebuilding Rolling Fork and the other communities and towns. He walked down one of the streets, surveying the damage and talking with residents.

So, its going to get done, he said. But the most important thing is we got to let people know there's reason for them to have hope.

As quickly as he arrived, Biden was gone. His motorcade arrived back at Yazoo City where he boarded Marine One for the ride back to the Jackson and Air Force 1. In Yazoo City, he saluted and then got into the helicopter.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Biden tours Rolling Fork and visits victims' families, promises cleanup
An artists concept of a competing lunar rover prototype from Northrop Grumman. (Northrop Grumman via The New York Times)

A rover the size of a Jeep Wrangler is heading to the moon, and its going to need a big ride to get there.

Astrolab Inc., the tiny startup that is building the rover, chose the biggest ride possible: Starship, the new giant spacecraft under development by Elon Musks SpaceX rocket company.

On Friday, Astrolab announced that it had signed an agreement with SpaceX for its Flexible Logistics and Exploration Rover, or FLEX, to be a payload on an uncrewed Starship cargo mission that is to take off as early as mid-2026.

Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times

This is SpaceXs first commercial cargo contract to the lunar surface, said Jaret Matthews, founder and CEO of Astrolab.

SpaceX, which did not respond to requests for comment, has yet to announce that it is planning this commercial Starship mission to the moons surface, headed to the south polar region. Astrolab would be just one of the customers sharing the voluminous cargo compartment of the Starship flight, Matthews said.

Matthews, an engineer who previously worked at SpaceX and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, founded Astrolab less than four years ago. Located a stones throw from SpaceXs headquarters in Hawthorne, California, it has about 20 full-time employees, he said.

Although the Soviet Union in the 1970s and more recently China have landed robotic rovers on the moon, the United States has yet to send any. (NASA did put wheels on the moon with the moon buggy that the astronauts drove during Apollo 15, 16 and 17.)

Next year, NASA is sending its Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, which is to search for water ice in the lunar south polar region. That is the area that astronauts will explore in the coming years as part of NASAs Artemis program.

By contrast, Astrolabs moon trip is, at least for now, an entirely commercial venture with no financing from NASA.

Matthews declined to say how much it would cost to get FLEX to the moon or how much money Astrolab has raised. He said Astrolab would make money by lifting and deploying cargo for customers on the lunar surface. That could include scientific instruments. In the future, the rover could help build lunar infrastructure.

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Essentially providing what I like to call last-mile mobility on the moon, Matthews said. You can kind of think of it like being UPS for the moon. And in this analogy, Starship is the container ship crossing the ocean, and were the local distribution solution.

A robotic arm on the rover can help set up the payload on the surface. The mass of the rover and all of the cargo will be more than 2 metric tons. The FLEX rover is a bit larger than NASAs Perseverance rover on Mars and much faster, with a top speed of 15 mph.

Matthews said Astrolab already had several signed agreements for payloads.

That appears to be part of the expanding potential market for Starship. SpaceX plans to use it for launching its second generation of Starlink internet communications satellites. Two flights that are to go past the moon (but not land) have already been chartered by wealthy space tourists. Musks long-term dream is for a fleet of Starships to carry settlers to Mars.

For NASA, Starship is how its astronauts will land on the moon during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2025. Before that, SpaceX is to conduct an uncrewed flight to demonstrate the capability of spacecraft to get to the moon and set down there in one piece.

If those schedules hold, the commercial cargo mission with the Astrolab rover could take place the next year.

Astrolab hopes a later FLEX rover could win future business from NASA, which is turning to commercial companies to provide lunar terrain vehicles for astronauts  essentially a 21st-century version of the Apollo moon buggy. Much larger companies like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are also expected to vie for the contract.

Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut who advises Astrolab, helped with some field tests of a passenger prototype of the FLEX rover near Death Valley in California. So its not just a really cool concept, but it is now already a very heavily tested vehicle, he said.

Farther into the future, the company has even grander visions. Ultimately our goal is to have a fleet of rovers both on the moon and Mars, Matthews said. And I really think I see these vehicles as the catalysts ultimately for the off-Earth economy.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
A Florida 2-year-old who was discovered missing after his mother was found slain in her apartment was found dead Friday, and his father has been charged with murder, St. Petersburg police said.

The body of Taylen Mosley was spotted in an alligators mouth, and a detective shot and killed the animal, Police Chief Anthony Holloway said.

We didnt want to find him this way, but at least we can bring some closure to that family now, Holloway said at a news conference.

Taylen Mosley (St. Petersburg Police Department via Facebook)

Taylen had been missing since Thursday, when his mother Pashun Jeffery, 20, was found killed in her apartment, police have said.

She had been stabbed multiple times, Holloway said Friday.

The childs father, Thomas Mosley, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the police chief said.

The child was found near Dell Holmes Park, which is close to Lake Maggiore, almost 10 miles from his mothers apartment, Holloway said.

Family members saw Jeffery and her child Wednesday, and on Thursday, they asked an apartment manager to check when they couldnt reach her, police have said.

The boys cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, Holloway said.

Thomas Mosley checked himself into a hospital and had cuts on his arms and hands, Holloway said, and he remained hospitalized Friday. He did not speak to detectives and requested a lawyer, according to the police chief.

Online case information did not appear to be available Friday night, and it was not clear if Mosley had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

A search for the boy included dogs, a drone, and federal and state law enforcement agencies. An Amber Alert had also been issued for him.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Boeing can once again delivery its 787 Dreamliner jet after pausing deliveries for the third time in three years. Taylor Rains/Insider

The Federal Aviation Administration gave Boeing the go-ahead to resume deliveries of its Dreamliner aircraft.

Deliveries were paused for a third time in three years in January due to an "analysis error."

Travel analyst Henry Harteveldt said the 787's recent delivery delays may push airlines to consider a competing jet.

On March 10, the Federal Aviation Administration gave Boeing the green light to resume deliveries of its hot-selling Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was paused for the third time in three years on January 26.

The weeks-long delivery pause was due to an "analysis error by [a] supplier" related to a fuselage component, Reuters reported, but Boeing said the issue wasn't a safety threat.

This is not the first time Boeing has had to stop 787 deliveries. Production flaws started in 2019 when company engineers identified paper-thin gaps in the aircraft's fuselage, forcing the grounding of eight Dreamliners.

The issue swelled into an FAA investigation that led to a temporary delivery pause in October 2020. It wasn't until the end of March 2021 that deliveries resumed, and Boeing sent off a total of 14 by May 2021.

But, further production issues and new concerns over the jet's inspection method forced the FAA to halt deliveries again  a pause that stretched 15 months until August 2022. A total of 120 jets worth a collective $25 billion couldn't be delivered, per the Wall Street Journal.

Henry Harteveldt, travel analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, told Insider the inconsistency raises concerns about Boeing's ability to deliver aircraft on time  and could push airlines to consider a competing plane instead, like the Airbus A350.

"When a delay is short, airlines learn to deal with that," he said. "But, when the delay stretches many months, airlines are impacted because they build their schedules and business plans around expected deliveries of aircraft."

American Airlines, in particular, announced on Friday it has to cut its upcoming Philadelphia to Madrid route due to the absence of needed 787s, the Wall Street Journal reported. The airline was forced to cut some international flights for the same reason last year.

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Despite the latest pause, Boeing said it didn't "anticipate a change to our production and delivery outlook for the year."

Dreamliner orders are piling up

In the past four months alone, the planemaker has received about 200 orders for Dreamliner aircraft, including 100 from United Airlines, 20 from Air India, and 78 from two Saudi Arabian carriers in a deal worth $37 billion.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told Reuters in mid-March that the demand for 787s is the "biggest I've ever seen," with the company telling Insider it expects to deliver 70-80 Dreamliners in 2023.

Harteveldt told Insider the Boeing 787 is favorable due to its fuel efficiency, versatility, and passenger comfort.

"The 787 comes literally in three sizes: small, medium, and large, and is capable of operating even ultra-long-haul flights," he said.

With the order book filling up, Boeing has plans to increase production to 10 jets per month by 2026 while simultaneously managing potential supply chain issues. The production rate is currently less than a third of that.

Boeing told Insider it will "continue to produce at a slow rate as we increase back to five per month."

Harteveldt said Boeing needs enough factory space, employees, and supplies to significantly increase output, but outside factors could bottleneck production.

"In the case of the 787, you've got components coming in from many countries around the world," he told Insider. "So it's not just Boeing doing the work, but also dozens, maybe hundreds, of contractors and subcontractors who are involved."

Richard Aboulafia, managing director of aviation consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, told Insider the FAA's strict response to the Dreamliner issues goes back to the 737 MAX tragedies of 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people and led to a worldwide grounding of the plane.

Historically, the FAA allowed Boeing to self-certify its own aircraft under agency oversight, including the flawed system that caused both MAX crashes. The FAA has since taken over the responsibility of determining if a new individual MAX or Dreamliner jet is airworthy.

"The FAA fell under a great deal of scrutiny, not only in the US but also from international regulators," Aboulafia said. "Reciprocity was hanging on by a thread, so the agency felt a need to get their way back by applying more oversight."

Read the original article on Business Insider
LOUISVILLE, Ky.  Diana Rae Ellis leaned into the bathroom mirror in her apartment, applying makeup in a familiar routine to dress in drag.

Eyeliner. Eyelashes. Lipstick. Glitter. Wig. Dress.

It was a recent morning, and the 30-year-old Ellis was preparing to entertain families at a private event space in her hometown of Louisville to sing and read aloud a children's book called "My Awesome Brother."

Ellis is a transgender woman and a drag queen. Her wig and flame-orange dress were for her performance in an afternoon all-ages drag story time where she promotes community and acceptance.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, prepares to perform at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky

But she knew that any such show, in the midst of an escalating culture war over transgender rights and drag performances, meant potential risks of putting her identity on the front lines.

And this day would prove no different.

It came as Republican lawmakers have pushed bills to restrict all-ages drag shows or regulate the lives of transgender youth. Tennessee has banned drag in front of minors. Kentucky pushed through a sweeping bill that includes banning all gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use.

Protests at all-ages drag shows have proliferated from Ohio to Texas, where both pro- and anti-drag protestors sometimes end up toting guns, and where some people claim they want to protect children while others openly demonstrate everything from prayers to Nazi salutes.

A man with a gun stands outside a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

And this week saw a fresh round of rhetoric attempting to link all transgender people to violence after police identified the assailant deadly school shooting in Nashville as a transgender person.

This Sunday, however, a day before that shooting, Ellis ignored the culture war  and hints there could be protestors  as she got ready.

By the time the day was over, there would be books, songs and plenty of smiles from kids. There would also be a threat that would bring a police bomb squad not just to the venue  but to her own apartment.

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More: A drag show, a protest and a line of guns: How the battle over one issue is tearing at America

Warnings of a protest or worse

Last week, a drag event called "Come As You Are in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, was called off "due to extreme threats of violence against our group, the organizers, and the venue."

In the days leading up to Sunday's event in Louisville, organizers were also facing a worry.

The Kentucky chapter of Drag Queen Story Time warned that a neo-Nazi group might travel to Louisville and protest, citing a Telegram chat in which users said they hoped to persuade white supremacist group members from Ohio to attend.

But on Sunday ahead of the 2 p.m. event, Ellis said she wasnt worried. The event space was behind a gated private property and extra security was planned. The local group had only seen one other time when a sizeable number of protestors had shown up.

In the apartment that she shares with her partner and a roommate, her father and their dog, Tiger, lounged on the sofa as Ellis applied huge eyelashes and signature glitter to her lips, a can of Red Bull energy drink on the toilet.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, prepares to perform at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

Ellis, still tired from performing drag the previous night at a local LGBTQ nightclub, then spent time memorizing the songs she would sing to the crowd of families and children.

Ellis, the parent of a 3-year-old child, said she came out in high school and later realized, I dont think Im born in the right body. She now identifies as a transgender woman.

Drawn to drag when she was young, she joined her first drag pageant around 2015 as part of a Pride event and found in it art, expression, community and acceptance. She goes by the drag persona Diana Rae.

Several years ago, she got involved with Drag Queen Story Time and found that, too, brought its own rewards  allowing her to communicate a positive message.

Despite drag shows' reputation for being risque, thats not the case with all-ages events, she said. Instead, she said, theyre about promoting education, fun and to promote acceptance.

Theyre basically telling people, hey, whatever path you're going down, its OK, she said.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, gives an interview a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

But as opposition mounts, her mother has fretted about her safety, she said. Many nightclubs that host drag shows have ramped up security, particularly in the wake of last years mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ club in Colorado that killed five people.

As Ellis made her way to the venue, crowds were already entering, finding food, tables with kids' crafts and books. Another drag performer, John Rice, 40, whose drag name is "Tova, was getting dressed despite the worries about neo-Nazis.

Im not going to live in fear, Rice said.

Moments later, an organizer ran over with urgent news: Theres been a bomb threat, they said. We have to evacuate.

A show, delayed

Ellis and her partner, Ethan Mask, 20, pulled up to the venue, and attendees milled outside waiting for a Louisville Metro Police Department bomb squad to check the building.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, waits for the police to check the building after a bomb threat at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

A small group of protestors had shown up, one carrying a sign that read "Drag Queen Story Time is child abuse, but none appeared to be armed or members of a neo-Nazi group.

Also on hand were several people dressed in black and carrying rifles as volunteer security. And there were members of the Parasol Patrol, who use colorful umbrellas to create a visual barrier to protestors. Around them were live streamers and news cameras, including a crew from Japan covering America's clash over drag shows.

I heard everybodys flipping out, another performer said as Ellis waited in a gated parking lot.

A man with a gun stands outside a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky

Thats when organizers and a police officer came striding up, telling Ellis that the bomb threat also targeted her own apartment that shed just left.

As she stood next to her car, a member of the bomb squad said they would search her home. Ellis, shaken, nodded and quickly got on the phone with a neighbor.

There are going to be some police officers at the house, she said. Not to scare you, but theres been a bomb threat called in on the apartment.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, talks to a police officer about a bomb threat at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

Ellis appeared stoic but said later she was freaking out and about to cry. Then, she gathered herself. She wasn't going home.

Youre a target. How do you handle (being) targeted? You stay strong, you smile and you do what you came here to do, she said.

After the space was cleared by police, Ellis walked inside to cheers and hellos. Roughly 150 people including families with children had gathered on lawn chairs. Soon she was in front of them.

My name is Diana Rae, and this is Drag Queen story time, she said. I want to read you guys a book called 'My Awesome Brother.'

The picture book, about transgender acceptance, tells the story of a child whose older sister is transitioning.

After reading, she asked everyone to look at a stranger and say repeat affirmations: You are loved. You are special.  When you are feeling down, and you feel like youre not going to make it, remember today that I believe in you. And you have to keep going.

Then she lip-synched a Lizzo song called "Special."

Wrapping up

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, reads at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

After other performers read books, Ellis signed autographs and took photos with attendees. As the event wrapped up, the crowds dispersed, and shed been told police had found nothing suspicious at home.

Before leaving, she sat for an interview with the Japanese TV crew to talk about the battle over all-ages drag events. "Drag is not a crime," Ellis said. It's art, she explained, grasping to understand the opposition.

Drag queens are just trying to read a book to the kids. Drag queens are trying to elevate and educate  so why do you need to turn around and attack them? she said.

By late afternoon, as they packed up her wig and other gear, Ellis drove more than an hour to help at another drag event.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, reads at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

She returned to her apartment that night, deciding she wasn't going to let threats keep her away from her home.

The next evening, she'd read the news that police identified the person behind a shooting at a Nashville Christian elementary school that killed three students and three staffers as a transgender person. She feared it would give conservative anti-transgender commentators a pretext to say, 'We were right, they're crazy.'"

Another wave of anti-trans rhetoric was scary, but it wasn't new.

"Since I came out as trans, I've always had safety concerns," she said.

What's needed, she said  much like the plot of a children's book she reads  is for people to try to understand and accept people who are different.

And much like her story-time affirmation, she would, despite it all, keep going.

Diana Rae Ellis, 30, who goes by the drag show name Diana Rae, at a recent Drag Queen Story Time event in Louisville, Ky.

Chris Kenning is a national correspondent. Reach him at ckenning@usatoday.com and on Twitter @chris_kenning.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drag performance protests and the turmoil of one show in Louisville
A Dont block the box campaign by the Bradenton Police Department kicked off this week to help cure the increasing traffic gridlock near Downtown Bradenton.

If youve ever driven near downtown during rush hour, youve probably seen a driver try to beat the red light and end up blocking the intersection; this is known as blocking the box.

Although it may be a common thing you see while driving, its actually against the law.

According to Florida law (F.S.S. 316.2061), no driver shall enter an intersection or a marked crosswalk unless there is sufficient space on the other side of the intersection or crosswalk to accommodate the vehicle the driver is operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles or pedestrians.

Drivers who violate this traffic law face a $166 fine, which is a price many locals have already paid.

This week, Bradenton police ticketed over 40 drivers for blocking the box on Ninth Street West near Sixth and Eighth Avenues.

Police spokesperson Meredith Frameli told the Bradenton Herald that the department decided to focus on the intersection after they were requested to do so by members of the community.

We were requested by the community to focus in on that area, Frameli said. Weve been out there this week because the community reached out and said, Hey, this is a big problem. Can you focus on this area?

As part of their week-long dont block the box detail, several police officers are stationed in the 600 block of Ninth Street West to monitor traffic and issue citations for drivers who block the box. The details end this weekend.

If youre blocking the box area, youre blocking traffic and thats going to add to more congestion, Frameli said. Youre stopping people who actually have the green light.

They cant continue through, so that backs up the cross traffic. By trying to make the light, youre essentially creating more traffic, Frameli said.

The police have done similar enforcement along Ninth Street and other intersections with this problem, and they intend to do more in the future.

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However, future enforcement dates and locations have yet to be decided, according to Frameli.

When the police shared news of the detail earlier this week on Facebook, the post received over 700 likes, more than 300 comments, and over 400 shares.

Residents took to the comments section to share other locations they felt needed the same kinds of enforcement and what they thought should be done to curb gridlock traffic in Bradenton.

Residents suggested changing the timing of traffic signals, adding turn lanes and repainting road stripes.

Unfortunately, according to Frameli, the police are unable to make those changes and advise residents to contact the Florida Department of Transportation with such concerns.
BRANCH COUNTY  Two years after a group headed by the Branch County Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault started planning for a local permanent Child Advocacy Center, the Coldwater center opened on Jan. 1.

BCCADV Executive Director Kim Hemker said the organization managed to raise funds and plans to pay off the remaining $125,000 of the mortgage within two years, if not sooner. A May 4 fundraiser is set with the Coldwater Township Sunrise Rotary.

The center at 625 N. Michigan Ave. took over the former Hope Health Center after some fortuitous twists in the original plans.

This former nursing center at 625 N. Michigan Avenue serves as the Branch County Child Advocacy Center and office space for services for Branch County Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Child Advocacy Centers are community-based, child-friendly, multidisciplinary services for children and families affected by abuse, primarily sexual abuse.

The closest CAC was in Marshall," said Branch County prosecutor Zack Stempien. "This required families to travel to complete these interviews, which oftentimes was difficult.

Traveling to Marshall or Battle Creek was inconvenient for abused children and their families. It required local law enforcement, prosecutors, therapists and advocates to take time to make the trip.

Before having the Branch County CAC, the prosecutor said local agencies did not send all children for forensic interviews.

Now, it is a requirement that all children be interviewed at the CAC if they are suspected victims of child abuse or sexual assault. This ensures that all victims are being interviewed in an appropriate manner and compliance with the law, Stempien said.

Hemker said the first act began with a grant for $17,000 for the necessary recording equipment.

We wrote a grant, and McDonalds charities of Southwest Michigan actually gave us the money through the help of the Maynards, the local franchisee.

BCCADV executive director Kim Hemker hopes to pay off the Child Advocacy Center within two years.

A BCCADV space in Quincy became the first center. The location needed to be less public and conducive for the purpose.

Last year, the BCCADV board approved a bid for $693,000 for a 40-by-70-foot building on the shelter house property. Hemker began fundraising with requests to local governments, organizations, and the public.

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We raised close to half a million dollars in pledges and cash. Pledges were over a three-year period, she explained. Then last year, with Sunrise Rotary, May 4 be with you raised another $36,000.

More: Child Advocacy Center's 'May the 4th' fundraiser matched by local family

Before construction could start, Hemker was leaving the shelter house driveway. She spotted a "for sale" sign on the Hope Health building across Michigan Avenue.

Hemker called Realtor Angie Marsh, who is on the coalition board. Marsh negotiated a sale for $494,000 and closed the purchase in September.

Downstairs was renovated for the advocacy center to meet its specialized needs. Upstairs is used for offices for all the services for those seeking help through the BCCADV.

With pledges and some cash, the board signed a mortgage and continues to fundraise. The mortgage is down to $125,000, Hemker said.

The temporary Quincy CAC interviewed 60 children in its first year, 2021, compared to 65 last year.

The coordinated approach has positively influenced the outcome of CSC cases, Stempien said.

Using the temporary center last year, 20 of the 25 sentences for Criminal Sexual Conduct resulted in prison sentences, 70% of the prosecutions.

Prosecutor Zack Stempien said the local advocacy center already made an impact prosecuting child abuse cases.

Only one CSC complaint was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, which involved a case of CSC fourth degree, a two-year felony. We are excited to continue to work with the local partners to offer this investigative tool to law enforcement, Stempien said.

At the May event at the Dearth Center, BCCADV will educate attendees to help change our society with people caring about each other, trying to understand how we can improve it for kids who have been abused and all these families, Hemker said.

Subscribe Follow this project. Subscribe to the Daily Reporter.

Sponsors at the May 4 event covered the costs, so all money raised goes to pay the mortgage. Then in 2024, Hemker hopes, we can have a celebration to say that its all paid off.

Tickets, which are $30 per person, are available at the BCCADV or from Sunrise Rotary members. The 4:30 p.m. event has mocktails and appetizers to accompany presentations with silent and live auctions.

 Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Branch County Child Advocacy Center opens with May 4 fundraisers set
Cleopatra Cowley and Nathaniel Pendleton Sr., parents of Hadiya Pendleton, listen during the sentencing hearing of Micheail Ward at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on Jan. 14, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

An Illinois appeals court on Friday overturned the convictions of a man who was serving an 84-year sentence in the 2013 shooting death of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old honors student and a majorette who had performed at then-President Barack Obamas second inauguration days before she was killed.

Micheail Ward was convicted of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery following a lengthy jury trial in 2018.

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The appeals court ruled that the trial judge should have thrown out statements Ward made to Chicago police detectives that implicated himself, finding that detectives continued to question him after he invoked his right to remain silent.

The court ordered a new trial for Ward.

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After each of the three times Mr. Ward alleges he invoked his right to silence, the detectives took a break but then eventually resumed questioning him, the opinion said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Cook County states attorneys office said they are reviewing the matter to determine next steps.

Defendant Micheail Ward listens to the guilty verdict with defense attorney Julie Koehler during the trial for the fatal shooting of Hadiya Pendleton at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on Aug. 23, 2018. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

A high school sophomore and honors student, Pendleton was spending time in Harsh Park with friends after finishing final exams at King College Prep High School when Ward got out of a car and opened fire on Jan. 29, 2013, prosecutors have said.

Ward and his co-defendant Kenneth Williams, allegedly members of the SUWU gang, targeted members of the rival 4-6 Terror gang at the park, their hangout, as part of an ongoing feud that saw Williams himself shot, prosecutors have alleged.

The slaying sparked a national outcry against Chicagos gun violence, and first lady Michelle Obama attended the teens funeral.

While being questioned, Ward, around 1:40 a.m., said, I aint got nothin else to say, according to the opinion, among other instances of stating he would remain silent.

In this interrogation video, Micheail Ward breaks down crying as he alleges a higher-ranking gang member ordered him to open fire into a South Side park and threatened to kill him if he didnt do so. Warning: Graphic language. (Cook County court records) (Handout)

Ward made several inculpatory statements after being held for about 12 hours, the opinion said.

I didnt even want to do it, Ward, then 18, said as he began to cry, according to video shown to the jury. I didnt want to do that (expletive), man. I liked that girl.

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Ward spoke to detectives about the relationship between the rival gangs, as well as another homicide, telling police, according to the opinion: that was the final straw. It was over with.  I loved that boy and they killed him. They shot him in the head. Ward said, that (expletive) hurted  hurted me to a point where everybody had to go, but not that girl though. That girl had nothin to do with it. She was just there.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 53 A woman carries a heart-shaped memorial into the Greater Harvest Baptist Church before the funeral for 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton on Saturday. (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)

In making its ruling, the appeals court found that the evidence against Ward was sufficient to support his convictions, a bar necessary in order for the state to retry him.

During Wards trial, prosecutors introduced testimony from nine King High School students who witnessed the shooting, among other evidence.

Among the King students who testified, only one identified Ward as the shooter though he did not become certain of that identification until trial, according to the opinion, which said the case was partly circumstantial.

It found, though, that considering all the above evidence, we certainly cannot say that no rational trier of fact could have found Mr. Ward guilty of the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.

A judge in 2021 sentenced Williams, who prosecutors said drove the getaway car, to 42 years in prison.

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mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
A top leader in the San Jose, California, police union has been accused by federal officials of using her post at the organisation to mask years of international drug dealing.

Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, executive director of the San Jose Police Officers Association, is charged with importing the synthetic opioid valeryl fentanyl and could face up to 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.

Officials say the union official received numerous shipments from Hong Kong, Hungary, India, and Singapore, using innocuous descriptions like Wedding Party Favors, Gift Makeup, or Chocolate and Sweets on the manifests to hide their true contents.

When federal investigators intercepted some of the shipments, they found that they contained thousands of pills of controlled substances, including the synthetic opioids Tramadol and Tapentadol.

Certain parcels were valued at thousands of dollars worth of drugs, according to the DoJ.

She surrendered on Friday. The Independent has contacted Ms Segovias lawyer for comment.

Neighbours said they were shocked that Ms Segovia, known for her friendly, grandmotherly presence, was alleged to have participated in such conduct.

Shes more the kind of person you would imagine who would have chocolate chip cookies or something ready for the kids, like a typical grandma, neighbour Michael Galloway told The New York Post. This is a complete surprise. There was nothing unusual going on there. Its like Breaking Bad.  youre not expecting that at all! I mean, everyone is shocked.

Ms Segovia, who has worked for the union since 2003, allegedly used her work email and UPS account to facilitate her deals. She is currently on leave from the SJPOA.

I am just Im angry because its a huge, huge letdown. To all of the men and women that are a part of our organisation, union president Sean Pritchard told KRON. Its just so hard to comprehend. This person has been really been the grandma of the POA. Its not the person that weve known for well over a decade.

When interviewed by investigators in February, Ms Segovia told officials she had no idea about drug dealing and mentioned her work with the police. At another interview this month, she allegedly tried to blame her housekeeper for the drug shipments.

WhatsApp messages viewed by the government allegedly show her continuing to correspond with a contact in India after being contacted by authorities.
Miles Routledge in Afghanistan

A British Youtuber and self-styled danger tourist is among three British men being held by the Talibans feared counter-intelligence unit in Kabul, it has emerged.

Miles Routledge, a 21-year-old from Birmingham who goes by Lord Miles, has over 140,000 followers on Twitter, where he brands himself as a person who will go to the most dangerous places on Earth for fun.

Two other Britons, charity medic Kevin Cornwell, 53, and a second unnamed man who manages a hotel in Kabul, are believed to have been held by Taliban secret police since January following a separate incident.

Mr Routledge was arrested on March 2, along with two Polish nationals named as Adrian Wojcik, 22, and Roman Bilski, 24, and is being held for further questioning, a senior European diplomatic source told The Telegraph.

A Taliban security officer confirmed the arrest of multiple foreigners last week to the Telegraph.

The official added that the group were found partaking in suspicious activities and were being held with the Talibans counter intelligence department in Kabul.

It is not the first time that Mr Routledge has visited Afghanistan. Last August, the blogger received widespread criticism for visiting Kabul during the Talibans ongoing takeover of Afghanistan.

Mr Routlledge was arrested on March 2, along with two Polish nationals

He acquired a spot on a British Army evacuation flight to Dubai while thousands of Afghans who had worked alongside British troops in the country were left behind where they face ongoing targeting by the Taliban.

It is unclear why Mr Routledge, who studied physics at Loughborough university, again travelled to Afghanistan but it is believed he intended to shoot footage for his social media accounts.

Last August, Mr Routledge posted a video of him meeting with an alleged Taliban gunrunner in the city of Jalalabad after boasting of entering Afghanistan on a forged document. The video has over one million views on YouTube.

In the same footage, Mr Routledge is seen firing several automatic weapons with a Taliban fighter and a member of a local mafia, which he describes as a lot of fun.

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Other videos on Mr Routledges channel show him attempting to sneak into the United States from Mexico and spending 48 hours homeless in New York City.

In one video, he wears mediaeval armour to visit Snake island off the coast of Brazil which is populated by thousands of vipers and where visitors are banned. However he failed to spot a single snake during the outing.

He also runs a Patreon pay-per-view account in which subscribers can pay between 3-19 to help fund Mr Routledges travels. In return, his fans receive behind-the-scenes content and a postcard and free item from Mr Routledges latest destination.

Mr Routledges friends initially wanted to keep his arrest private but are now said to be keen to raise his case publicly in an effort to expedite his release.

Mr Routledges friends initially wanted to keep his arrest private but are now said to be keen to raise his case publicly in an effort to expedite his release.

Scott Richards, from the non-profit Presidium Network, which is assisting the two Britons arrested in January, told Sky News that he believes they are in good health and being well treated.

But he told the broadcaster "there has been no meaningful contact" with the men to date. Mr Cornwell, 53, was reportedly arrested at his hotel by officers from the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) on 11 January.

According to Sky News, the medic is accused of having an illegal firearm in the safe in his room. His family say he had been granted a licence for the firearm.

Mr Richards said this was down to a "misunderstanding" and the licence may have become separated from the firearm during the search.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: We are working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.

Putin's threats to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus reflect his goal to keep Crimea after Russia's defeat in the war.

Three days after Chinese President Xi Jinping left Moscow for Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to allow the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, a satellite dictatorship involved in Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

The idea to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus is not new  Russia has been preparing for this move since 2020.

On the one hand, it can be seen as a guarantee of control over the pseudo-legitimate Lukashenko regime. On the other hand, since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin has used nuclear threats as an integral part of Moscow's Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) tactics to prevent early Western interference in and military aid to Ukraine.

Now, Putin is testing the international community's reaction to see whether his nuclear threats can influence the West's resolve to support Ukraine's counteroffensive and liberation of the territories Russia has occupied since 2014.

The Kremlin's goal remains the same: The Russian dictator wants to make an agreement with the West, bypassing Ukraine's key interests.

It is necessary for Putin to raise the stakes, since his army has not achieved its critical objectives on the battlefield, and his diplomacy attempts have failed to prevent the emergence of a broad anti-Russian coalition.

A year after the war started, Western arms supplies and financial support to Ukraine are only increasing. Ukraine's Armed Forces are training, arming, and preparing for a further counteroffensive.

Putin is thus trying to regain political and strategic leverage with the help of measures that might be interpreted as tangible nuclear threats. However, the promise to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is the first, but not a major, step.

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Steven Pifer: Russian nukes in Belarus - much ado about little? Editors Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. In a March 25 interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus for use by the Belarusian milit Kyiv IndependentSteven Pifer

First, the Kremlin's announcement was designed to divert international attention from the situation in Ukraine.

Putin has tried to raise the stakes many times during his rule in order to cover his failures. Today, he wants every key Western capital to consider the threat of nuclear escalation and to reevaluate assistance to Ukraine on the eve of Kyiv's counteroffensive.

Second, the Kremlin is assessing the West's response to the potential deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. If its response is weak, Russia will deploy them in occupied Crimea with the hope that it will change the dynamics of the war and any future negotiations.

This is a point of concern for Ukraine and its Western partners.

For us Ukrainians, Russia's nuclear blackmail will not change our plans to liberate all of our territories, including Crimea. From a strategic point of view, for as long as Russian military assets remain in Crimea, stable security and peace in the Black Sea region is impossible.

However, it is unlikely that all Western partners share the same opinion.

On the one hand, official rhetoric indicates that the full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders is fully supported in the West.

However, we still hear expedient "proposals" to evaluate the feasibility of complete liberation. Some of Ukraine's Western partners may succumb to Russia's manipulation of nuclear escalation amid attempts to liberate Crimea.

For this reason, Russia has already prepared its domestic legislation regarding the conditions and justifications for a nuclear strike. The Russian leadership is now preparing the necessary informational background.

Belarus Weekly: Putin threatens to place tactical nukes in Belarus Spotlight Freedom Day - Dzen Voli March 25 marks one of the most important days in Belarusian history. On this day in 1918, the Belarusian Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from Russia. Pahonia was adopted as the coat of arms, and the white-red-white flag became official. These sy Kyiv IndependentOleksiy Sorokin

In particular, back in 2020, Putin released the "Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence," which maintains that Moscow reserves the right to use nuclear weapons after "aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened." Russia created the context for this even after 2014.

Additionally, Russian authorities are at pains to convince the international community that Crimea is a "special case"  a so-called "sacred cause" for Putin.

Russia has also started to actively spread the narrative that the ongoing war is a war for the very existence of Russia as a state. This was in particular emphasized by Putin during his Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly in February.

We think that the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to occupied Crimea will be used to communicate the same message: that Ukraine's efforts to liberate Crimea are a so-called "threat" to the mere existence of Russia, and that the return of Crimea to Ukraine cannot be considered under any circumstances.

The possibility of a situation where the West will have to respond to a tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine by Russia is one that some of Ukraine's partners want to avoid at all costs. This is why Ukraine and its Western partners must act now to prevent a dangerous Russian move in Crimea.

Russias annexation of Crimea Russia invaded Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in February 2014 amid the deadliest days of the EuroMaidan Revolution that eventually ousted pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. While Yanukovychs pro-Russian regime was murdering protesters in downtown Kyiv, around 30,000 Russian troops crossed i Kyiv IndependentLucy Minicozzi-Wheeland

To do this, it is necessary to make the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons technically impossible.

In particular, Ukraine needs weapon systems with the firing range to be able to hit all of the territory in occupied Crimea. It needs to be able to destroy the military infrastructure and logistics systems for Russia's ground, air, and navy assets capable of using nuclear warheads.

There are several options on the table  short-range ballistic missiles like the U.S.-produced ATACMS or the Anglo-French Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles.

In terms of diplomacy, discussions about providing Ukraine with long-range missiles should be conducted precisely in this vein, as a deterrence measure aimed at effectively denying Russian nuclear blackmail. This objective should ultimately prevail over the fears and uncertainty of the West regarding the liberation of Crimea.

Last but not least, delaying this decision will not only play into the hands of Russia, but also benefit China.

As long as Russia's nuclear threats remain unrestricted, China has an opportunity to sell its "honest broker" role to the West and globally, using its UN platform as it did for decades with North Korea's (DPRK) nuclear threats.

The lesson from Chinese diplomacy regarding the DPRK shows that containment does not produce results if new technologies and money continue to flow to the dictator through loopholes. Therefore, the key U.S. and EU power should not allow China to use its recent "peace proposal" to disguise Putin's aggression and mask Russian territorial gains through open nuclear threats.
Seminole County officials want to remind the public that the burn ban is still in effect and will continue throughout the weekend.

The Seminole County Fire Departments brush fire level remains at Elevated until the cancelation of the burn ban.

On Saturday, firefighters battled a small brush fire on Vista Oak Drive in Longwood around 6:45 a.m.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Small brush fire early this morning 4/1

 6:45 am, Vista Oak Dr in Longwood

Wooded area on fire in residential neighborhood. No injuries or structural damage. Cause unknown, possible ground transformer. Burn Ban still in effect. pic.twitter.com/OsjE4eMEtk  Seminole County Fire Department (SCFD) PIO Media (@scfdpio) April 1, 2023

Read: Orange County Fire Rescue celebrates induction of its 100th class of firefighters

Bonfires, campfires, and the burning of vegetative (yard) debris are not allowed at this time.

County officials have assigned personnel to operate three Woods Trucks throughout the weekend from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Read: Right place at the right time: Orlando firefighter saves Seminole County deputy from vehicle fire

These trucks have specialized tools and equipment to help firefighters create fire line breaks to stop fires from growing.

Trucks will be located in the Sanford/Paola area, Geneva and Chuluota.

Also, water tankers, which hold thousands of gallons of water, are stationed throughout the county.

Read: Central Florida firefighters use specialized equipment to rescue victim trapped under golf cart

Seminole County Fire Department firefighters participated in Wildland Firefighter training.

Incident commanders have been trained with the strategies and tactics that could help protect structures from fast-moving wildfires.

For announcements and updates regarding burning regulations and bans, CLICK HERE.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
A California Democrat lost an Assembly committee seat after casting a no vote on Gov. Gavin Newsoms plan to hold oil companies accountable for high gas prices.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, on Thursday removed Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, from the Assembly Business and Professions Committee, she said in a statement.

I was informed today by the Speakers Office that I will no longer be serving on the Assembly Business and Professions Committee, Bains said on Thursday. While I am disappointed, I remain firm in my commitment to serve the interests of the people I was elected to represent.

Bains was the sole Democrat in the Assembly to vote against Senate Bill X1-2, which creates a watchdog group at the California Energy Commission to gather information on the oil industry and determine whether a penalty is needed to prevent companies from price gouging drivers at the gas pump.

She is the only Democratic Assembly member representing Kern County, which is Californias biggest oil-producing region. The countys other Assembly representatives are all Republicans.

Bains continues to serve on three committees: as chair of the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee and member of the Accountability and Administrative Review and Revenue and Taxation panels.

Adam Capper, Bains legislative director, declined to comment on whether Bains lost the committee position because of her vote on SBX1-2.

John Casey, Rendons spokesman, also would not share why the Speaker removed Bains from the committee.

It is not uncommon for the Speaker to make adjustments to committees throughout the legislative session, Casey said in a text message. Speaker Rendon values Dr. Bains contribution to the caucus and commitment to her constituents. Because of that respect, and consistent with a long standing policy, he will not be discussing private conversations with members of the caucus.

Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, sits at her desk with family on Dec. 5, 2022, during the Assembly organizational session at the state Capitol. Bains said she was removed from the Assembly Business and Professions Committee after she voted against a bill to hold oil companies accountable for high gas prices.

Two Democrats vote against oil bill

The Assembly passed the bill from Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, on Monday with an initial vote of 52-19, although six Democrats later added votes to bring the total to 58-19. Three Assembly Democrats  Liz Ortega of San Leandro, Sharon Quirk-Silva of Fullerton and James Ramos of San Bernardino  abstained from voting.

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Newsom signed the bill on Tuesday at a Capitol ceremony.

Stand alone if you must, but always stand for the truth, Bains tweeted on Monday. As the lone Democrat to oppose the new gas tax, I will never throw my constituents under the bus. I will continue to fight for lower gas prices and a stronger Kern County.

Dana Williamson, Newsoms chief of staff, replied: Alone and confused you shall likely remain.

The Sacramento Bee has reached out to a Newsom spokesman for a comment on Rendons decision to remove Bains from her committee.

Democratic Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, who represents the Modesto area, was the only member of her party to vote against the bill in the Senate on March 23. Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat who represents portions of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, abstained from voting.

I was the ONLY Democrat to vote against Governor Newsoms tax on the oil industry because itll hurt working families, Alvarado-Gil tweeted on Wednesday.
Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

A California family is suing Amazon for the death of their two-year-old.

An Amazon delivery van struck and killed Jaihan Wu, 2, in August 2022.

Amazon says its not liable because the driver worked for a third party, the family's attorney says.

A California family is suing Amazon for wrongful death after one of the company's delivery drivers hit and killed their two-year-old daughter last year.

The family of Jiahan Wu is filing the lawsuit after an Amazon delivery van struck and killed her in the parking lot of the family's apartment complex in Irvine, California, according to KTLA.

The family's attorney, Michael Adler, told the outlet that Amazon has denied any responsibility. Alder did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Saturday.

Alder told KTLA that Amazon says it is not liable because the driver of the delivery van was contracted through a third party. The e-commerce giant is also refusing to turn over dashcam video of the incident without a confidentiality agreement, he told KTLA.

The response is a tactic commonly used by Amazon to avoid lawsuits related to drivers delivering its packages.

In a 2019 investigation by ProPublica, reporters found that between 2015 and 2019, drivers delivering packages for Amazon had been involved in at least 60 car crashes that caused serious injury. In every case brought to court, Amazon denied responsibility for the actions of its delivery contractors, citing agreements those third parties signed that require them to "defend, indemnify and hold harmless Amazon."

While the driver's are paid by, and technically work for, those third parties, they use Amazon apps to track packages and chart their delivery times and progress, according to the ProPublica investigation. Amazon also requires driver's to meet strict delivery deadlines.

Alder said the Wu family is hoping that their wrongful death lawsuit will hold Amazon accountable for the delivery driver's actions and prevent other families from going through similar circumstances.

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"We have the resources. We have the ability to fight them  but what happens to the next and the next and the next?" Alder asked, according to KTLA. "We don't want that to happen to our client in this case, but we don't want it to happen to anyone in the future."

Amazon did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Saturday.

Read the original article on Insider
The deaths of nine soldiers at Fort Campbell are impacting families across eight states, including southern states Texas, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and California, Missouri and New Jersey.

Two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division crashed around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Trigg County, Kentucky during a planned training exercise. One helicopter was carrying five soldiers and the other four, when both crashed, killing all on board the flights.

Those lost in the crash range in age from just 23 to 36.

The tragedy marks one of the deadliest at the installation in recent years, according to media relations officer Dawn Grimes.

The 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," is the only air assault division of the U.S. Army.

The biographies of each soldier, provided by the Fort Campbell public affairs office, show varied and decorated careers with missions of bravery completed at home and abroad, earning dozens of medals of honor.

An Army aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, Ala. is on site and currently conducting a thorough investigation into the accident.

More: 9 Black Hawk victims identified after Wednesday crash near Fort Campbell

Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, Milton, Florida

Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida

Jeffery Barns was born in Florida on February 20, 1990. In 2010, Barnes enlisted in the Army from Milton, Florida.

He attended basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Barnes was subsequently assigned to 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade as a 15R, attack Helicopter Repairer in Savannah, Georgia.

In February 2015 he was assigned as a squad leader in 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade at Camp Humphreys, Korea. From 2016 through 2018 he served with 4th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Carson, Colorado.

In 2019, Barnes served as an instructor at Fort Eustis, Virginia before attending the Warrant Officer Basic Course in 2020. Barnes served as an Aeromedical Evacuation Pilot for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since October of 2022. While assigned to 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, Barnes deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

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Barnes graduated from Initial Entry Rotary Wing School UH-60M Track; Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course; AH-64D Attack Helicopter Repair Course; Combat Life Saver Course; Basic Leader Course; CBRN Defense Course; Advanced Leader Course; Cadre Training; Common Faculty Development - Instructor Course; Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape School (High Risk); the Equal Opportunity Leaders Course.

Barnes received awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Meritorious Unit Commendation; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal (Campaign Star); Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Korea Defense Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; NATO Medal; Certificate of Achievement; Basic Army Instructor Badge; Army Aviator Badge; and the Driver and Mechanic Badge.

Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, of Austin, Texas

Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, was one of nine soldiers killed in a helicopter accident near Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos was born in the Philippines on December 20, 1991. Bolanos enlisted in the Army from Austin, Texas in 2019.

Bolanos attended basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. She was assigned as a UH-60 Helicopter Repairer and UH-60 Air Crewmember for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division in March of 2020 and in 2020 Bolanos served for nine months in Germany in support of Atlantic Resolve.

She graduated from Basic Leader Course in 2022.

Bolanos awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Armed Forces Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Basic Aviation Badge.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, Jackson, Missouri

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri

Zachary Esparza born in Texas on September 26, 1986. In 2010, Esparza enlisted in the Army from Jackson, Missouri.

He attended basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Upon graduation, Esparza served in Okinawa, Japan from 2011 to 2012.

In 2013, Esparza was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division as a Signal Support Specialist. He attended Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course in 2015 and graduated as a UH-60M pilot at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

In 2017, Esparza served as an Aeromedical Evacuation Pilot with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii. Esparza served as a pilot in command in 2020 with Task Force Sinai in Egypt. He was then assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade in 2021. Esparza served as an Instructor Pilot for the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since October of 2021.

Esparza deployed to Afghanistan in support of International Security Assistance Course from 2013 to 2014 and served 10 months in Egypt as part of Task Force Sinai. He also served two overseas tours in Japan and Hawaii.

He graduated from Combatives Level 1, Combat Lifesavers Course; CompTIA Plus Certification Course; Basic Leader Course; Warrant Officer Basic Course; Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape School (High Risk); Initial Entry Rotary Wing School UH-60A Track; Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course; UH-60 Instructor Pilot Course.

Esparzas awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; NATO Medal and the Army Aviator Badge.

Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, Los Angeles, California

Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, California

Isaacjohn Gayo was born in the Philippines, on September 1, 1995. Gayo enlisted in the Army from Los Angeles, California in 2019.

He attended basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Gayo was subsequently assigned to Camp Humphreys, Korea in 2019 as a UH-60 Crew chief. Gayo served as a UH-60 Helicopter Repairer, UH-60 Air Crewmember, and UH-60 Crew chief for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since October of 2020.

He graduated from the Basic Leader Course, Air Assault School and received a Field Sanitation Team Certification.

Gayos awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Korea Defense Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Basic Aviation Badge; Air Assault Badge.

Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, Morehead City, North Carolina

Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina

Born in Virginia on July 6,1997, Gore enlisted in the Army from Morehead City, North Carolina in 2015. He attended basic training in Fort Sill, Oklahoma and Advance Individual Training in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Gore was subsequently assigned to the 426th Support Battalion at Fort Campbell, serving as a Health Care Specialist. From 2018 to 2021 he served at Fort Carson, Colorado as a Medic, Combat Medic, Health Care Specialist, and Section Noncommissioned Officer. Gore attended Flight Paramedic and Critical Care Paramedic courses in Fort Sam Houston, Texas in 2021. Gore has served as a Flight

Paramedic for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since May of 2022.

He graduated from Emergency Medical Technician Certification Course; Air Assault School; Brigade Combat Team Trauma Training; Basic Leader Course; Flight Paramedic Training; Critical Care Paramedic Training; Army Medical Department Aviation Crewmember Course.

Gore's awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Certificate of Achievement; Basic Aviation Badge; Air Assault Badge.

More: Fort Campbell soldier, expectant dad identified as one of nine killed in Black Hawk crashes

Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, Cape Coral, Florida

Born in Florida, on March 18, 1991, Healy enlisted in the Army from Cape Coral, Florida in 2010. Healy attended basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina then Army Ordnance School at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 563rd Aviation Support Battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. In 2016 Healy was assigned to the 725th Support Battalion at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. He was then assigned in 2019 to the Wheel Maintenance Training Department in Fort Lee, Virginia. In 2021 Healy attended Warrant Officer Candidate School and Aviation Training at Fort Rucker, Alabama and was subsequently assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. Healy served as an Aeromedical

Evacuation Pilot for the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since of 2022.

Healy deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 to 2012 and in 2014 in support of the International Security Assistance Force.

He graduated from the Combat Lifesavers Course; Wheel Vehicle Recovery Course; Basic and Advanced Leader Courses; Air Assault Course; Technical Transportation of HAZMAT Course; Cadre Training; Common Faculty Development-Instructor Course; Warrant Officer Basic Course; UH-72A Aviator Qualification; Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape School (High Risk); Initial Entry Rotary Wing School UH-60M Track.

Healys awards and decorations include the Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; NATO Medal; Combat Action Badge; Army Aviator Badge; Air Assault Badge; Driver and Mechanic Badge.

Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, Mountain Brook, Alabama

Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama

Born in Alabama, on, April 14, 1992, Mitchell enlisted in the Army from Mountain Brook, Alabama in 2014. Following basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he was assigned to 2nd Calvary Regiment, Vilseck, Germany as health care specialist. In 2017, Mitchell attended Flight Paramedic School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Mitchell subsequently served as a Flight Paramedic NCO 1st Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Riley, Kansas. Mitchell was assigned as a Flight Paramedic for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since November of 2020.

Mitchell served on two rotational tours in support of Atlantic Resolve, to Romania in 2019 and Germany in

He graduated from Combatives Level 1; Advanced Medical First Responder Course; Basic and Advanced Leader Courses; Flight Paramedic Program; Critical Care Paramedic Program; Air Assault School; Aircraft Crewmember Standard Instruction Course; Army Medical Department Aviation Crewmember Course; Unit Prevention Leader Training.

Mitchells awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Humanitarian Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Basic Aviation Badge; Air Assault Badge; Driver and Mechanic Badge.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, Rolla, Missouri

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri

Born in Florida, on August 7, 1990, Smith enlisted in the Army from Rolla, Missouri in 2012. After attending basic training, Smith attended Advanced Individual Training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He was then assigned to the 163rd Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas, as a Human Intelligence Collector. From there, Smith completed Warrant Officer Basic Course and Aviation Training at Fort Rucker, Alabama and was then assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Smith served as an Instructor Pilot for the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since of 2022.

Smith deployed twice to Afghanistan, first in 2013 in support of the International Security Assistance Force and again from 2018-2019 in support of Resolute

Support Mission. Smith also served for nine months in Germany in 2020, in support of Atlantic Resolve.

He graduated from the Combat Lifesavers Course; Unit Armorer Course; Technical Transport of HAZMAT Course; Air Assault School, Basic Leader Courser; Airborne School; Warrant Officer Candidate School; Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape School (High Risk); UH-72A Aviator Qualification; Initial Entry Rotary Wing UH-60 Track; Aviation Warrant Officer Basic Course; UH-60M Instructor Pilot Course.

Smiths awards and decorations include the Air Medal with C device; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Humanitarian Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal; Army Aviator Badge; Parachutist Badge; Air Assault Badge; Driver and Mechanic Badge.

Sgt. David Solinas Jr, 23, Oradell, New Jersey

Sgt. David Solinas, an Oradell native, was one of 9 soldiers killed in a military helicopter crash in Kentucky.

Born in New Jersey on May 1, 1999, Solinas enlisted in the Army from Oradell, New Jersey in 2018. Following basic training, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma he attended Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Solinas was subsequently assigned as a Combat Medic with 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Solinas served as a Flight Paramedic for the Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division since October 2022.

He graduated from Airborne School; Brigade Combat Team Training; Basic Leader Course; Critical Care Paramedic Course; Army Medical Department Crewmember Course; Unit Prevention Leader Training; Field Sanitation Team Certification.

Solinas awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal; Achievement Medal; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Humanitarian Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Basic Aviation Badge; Parachutist Badge.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Black Hawk Kentucky crash: What we know about the 9 soldiers killed
Cambridge Police are looking to the public for help in finding a homeless woman who has been missing for three years.

Mitchel Iviquel, 43, was last seen on March 31, 2020. She was reported missing in March 2021, after her family reported not seeing her for nearly a year, police said. She often spent time in the Central Square area.

Police described her as standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 135 pounds.

Yesterday marked 3 years since Mitchel Iviquel was reportedly last seen. Since we were notifed that she was missing, we immediately investigated the case and have attempted to exhaust every means possible in hopes of finding her. https://t.co/YYJ6xTYNwV  Cambridge Police (@CambridgePolice) April 1, 2023

Yesterday marked 3 years since Mitchel Iviquel was reportedly last seen. Since we were notifed (sic) that she was missing, we immediately investigated the case and have attempted to exhaust every means possible in hopes of finding her, police said in a tweet on Saturday.

While this has received local and national attention, we still have NOT received any tips or information that would indicate her whereabouts or status, police said. If anyone has ANY information, please dont hesitate to contact the Cambridge Police at (617) 349-3300.

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

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The Royal Canadian Navy is launching a "no strings attached" program in hopes of recruiting new sailors through a trial contract.

Launched Friday, the new "Naval Experience Program" allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to experience the Navy on a one-year contract.

Following the year-long period, participants can choose to continue working in the Royal Canadian Navy, either full-time or part-time. They're also free to choose to transfer to another element or leave the Navy entirely.

"Life in the Navy can be demanding and challenging at times," navy commander Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee said in a statement. "It is not for everyone and that's why the new 'Naval Experience Program' gives participants the chance to experience life in the Navy, for one year, no strings attached."

Get a feel for it before you make it your 'real' career. Get started with our new Naval Experience Program. https://t.co/vr9J6wSr44



Be a part of #TomorrowsNavy #MyNavyExperience #SeaForYourself@CanadianForces pic.twitter.com/9Fz68jbevZ  Royal Canadian Navy (@RoyalCanNavy) March 31, 2023

Participants will go through an eight-week basic military training and four-week naval environmental training. They will join Navy fleets on either the east or west coast, in Halifax or Esquimalt, B.C.

After completing both training programs, new sailors will have the opportunity to complete common tasks on a ship, as well as shadow various jobs both at sea and ashore.

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According to the media release, participants will receive the same pay and benefits as any other Canadian Armed Forces recruits.

On top of being a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, eligible participants must be between the age of 16 and 57. Anyone younger than 18 must get permission from their parent or guardian.

Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver takes part in the International Fleet Review to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Japan Nov. 6, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/Pool

People on social media had mixed reactions about the announcement of the program.

"Sounds like an amazing opportunity," one Instagram user commented.

"Don't like this!! I think it's silly," another added. "Play soldier for year and leave. Wasted money!"

"Holy, the good idea fairy came through and did well," a Twitter user penned.

"Good stuff, we should tailor this towards the Cadet program as a gap year when they finish high school," another suggested.

"You keep talking about this navy of tomorrow, yet you don't care for the navy of today," someone shared. "Soon enough you won't have a navy at all."

The program comes as all parts of the Canadian Armed Forces struggle with recruiting and retaining new members.

In September, Topshee told The Canadian Press that 17 per cent of navy positions  around 1,400 sailors  are vacant.

"Describing the current crewing and staffing shortages with 'crisis' is probably the right word across the navy," Topshee noted. "We need more people. We need them as quickly as we can get them."
A tornado tore through the southern US state of Arkansas and killed three people on Friday, while severe storms further north in Illinois and Indiana left three dead, authorities said.

The Arkansas tornado whipped across the state in the afternoon, causing what Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders called "widespread damage."

Sanders said two people were killed in the town of Wynne in the eastern part of Arkansas, while an official in Pulaski County, which surrounds the capital Little Rock, confirmed a fatality there.

"Significant damage has occurred in Central Arkansas," Sanders wrote on Twitter.

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said "close to 30 individuals have been transported to our local hospitals."

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of the nearby states of Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky and Iowa.

In the evening, calamity struck Belvidere, Illinois, when severe weather caused the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to collapse while a heavy metal band played on stage inside.

"More than 20 ambulances were reportedly called to the scene," Fox 32, a Chicago TV affiliate, reported on its website.

Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle reported one dead and 28 injured in the disaster, with five hospitalized with severe injuries.

TV footage showed emergency personnel carrying out injured concert-goers on stretchers, while video posted on social media showed rubble -- some nearly waist-high -- on the floor of the concert venue, and a gaping hole in the roof.

"My administration is closely monitoring the roof collapse at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere tonight," Illinois Governor JB Pritzker tweeted in the late evening.

In neighboring Midwest state Indiana, two people were confirmed dead after a storm swept through Sullivan County, Indiana state police told CBS/FOX-affiliated TV station WTHI.

Images posted on Twitter by WTHI showed downed telephone poles, crumbled homes and debris covering roads.

- 'Completely wiped out' -

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The Arkansas tornado struck during the afternoon, steamrolling over parts of Little Rock.

"This was actually an incredibly devastating tornado," witness Lara Farrar told AFP.

She said she drove to West Little Rock and got out of her car at a blocked intersection.

"I was basically in total shock because the neighborhood had been basically completely wiped out and destroyed," Farrar said.

"Some of the buildings had the roof completely blown off."

She said the path of the tornado was about a quarter mile wide (half a kilometer), leaving intense destruction, but outside the direct path, damage was "very minor."

Scott, the Little Rock mayor, tweeted that "property damage is extensive and we are still responding."

Authorities in Pulaski County surrounding the state capital said it suffered "significant storm and tornado damage."

More than 78,000 people were without power across the state, according to Poweroutage.us.

The governor's office could not immediately confirm any casualties to AFP, but a local hospital told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper that it had already begun to receive patients, including "a few" in critical condition.

The spokesperson for the Baptist Health hospital said it was preparing to treat injuries, the newspaper reported.

The University of Arkansas hospital was also on standby, a spokesperson there told AFP.

"We haven't seen people come in quite yet but we know that emergency services have had trouble reaching people because of downed trees," the spokesperson said.

"We expect people to come throughout the night."

Tornadoes are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.

A week ago, a tornado swept through the southern state of Mississippi, killing 25 people and causing extensive property damage.

President Joe Biden visited the city of Rolling Fork on Friday, one of the worst-hit areas in Mississippi.

In December 2021, about 80 people were killed by tornadoes in Kentucky.

bur-st/bfm/tjj/dhc/sco
Robert Lindblom Math and Science Academy high school students walk out of the school to protest the termination of a popular Assistant Principal Karen Fitzpatrick Carpenter on Aug. 22, 2022. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Students at Robert Lindblom Math and Science Academy high school started the school year with a spirited walkout, protesting Principal Abdul Muhammads termination of Assistant Principal Karen Fitzpatrick Carpenter. Now the students will return from spring break with a new top administrator, the district announced Friday in a letter to parents.

Chicago Public Schools officials removed Abdul Muhammad from his principal duties at Lindblom effective immediately due to an investigation that substantiated findings against Mr. Muhammad, Network 16 Chief of Schools Devin LaRosa wrote, adding that administrators were unable to discuss details regarding the case.

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Muhammad has been reassigned to the Network 16 Office, according to LaRosas letter. Please know that we are taking this situation extremely seriously, and we remain committed to providing Lindblom students with a positive learning environment where they can reach their full potential, LaRosa wrote.

The district has not disclosed whether the investigation was related to Muhammads sudden termination of Fitzpatrick Carpenter, who students said was well-liked.

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A CPS spokesman confirmed Muhammads removal and released a statement later Friday saying that his reassignment is not related to students leaving campus to vote on March 23.

Lindblom senior and student council Vice President Kennedy Ross, who helped organize the August protest, said at the time: We kind of felt disrespected as a student body because we want our voices to be heard. We should be able to voice our concerns, because thats what theyre teaching us to do. Theyre teaching us to advocate for ourselves and to stand on what we believe in.

Former Morgan Park High School Principal Everett Edwards will serve as Lindbloms administrator-in-charge as of April 10, following spring break, the district announced.

Fitzpatrick Carpenter, whose firing also sparked a petition of around 700 signatures demanding her reinstatement, said in August she was searching for a new position within CPS. But according to district data as of December, shes not been employed by a new CPS school. A class of 1985 graduate of the West Englewood school, Fitzpatrick Carpenter started working at Lindblom in 1997 and became assistant principal of the school of around 1,400 students in 2015.

Shes been a part of Lindblom for so long she embodies the culture of the school. She teaches the kids how to move about in the Lindblom community, said Julie Simms Holder, president of the Lindblom Alumni Association. Were a huge, huge community in the Chicagoland area. And were very passionate about the school, but that passion exists inside the school as well. And shes able to keep that alive.

Lindblom is among a small number of CPS selective enrollment high schools to which prospective students must apply.
Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group, with Justin Bieber. David Livingston/Getty Images

Universal Music's CEO could receive stock options worth up to $100 million under a new contract.

Lucian Grainge's payout will depend on the group's share price hitting certain levels.

He took a annual pay cut to $5 million in the new contract that runs to 2028.

The boss of Universal Music Group, the world's biggest music label, has been given a new contract with stock options worth up to $100 million.

Sir Lucian Grainge was given a five-year extension to his contract to continue running the company behind artists including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish.

Universal announced Thursday that Grainge's annual salary would be reduced by more than two-thirds to $5 million, but he could earn a bonus as high as $10 million if he hits performance-related targets.

Half of the $100 million equity option will be paid out in installments if the share price hits the targets of 26.50 euros, 30 euros, and 38 euros.

The stock closed Friday at 23.30 euros in Amsterdam, valuing the company at just over 42 billion euros ($45 billion). Universal has hovered around that valuation since listing in the Netherlands in September 2021.

Grainge's $5 million salary pales in comparison to those of the top-paid CEOs, according to data from AFL-CIO. However, his potential equity grants put him in the ballpark of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who has shares worth $280 million after selling half his stake in 2021.

Apple CEO Tim Cook collected almost $100 million last year alone, making about $83 million in stock awards, $12 million in incentives and salary of $3 million, CNBC reported.

Universal's chairman of the board, Sherry Lansing, said in a statement that Grainge's "clear vision and strong execution" had made it the industry leader and "created a new category of music company."

According to Universal's website, he's has been with the group since 1986 and served as CEO since 2010.

Grainge was named Billboard Magazine's Power Executive of the Decade in 2020 for expanding Universal's business. It has a US market share of more than 37% for the last three months of 2022, Billboard reported, well ahead of Sony Music on just under 27%.

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He was knighted in 2016, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2020.

He's also forged strong relationships with some of Universal's biggest artists. Elton John told the Financial Times he would "walk through fire" for Grainge, while Swift told the publication: "I know he trusts me, and therefore I return that trust."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Charlton police released this video of the bank robber.

CHARLTON - A branch of Country Bank was held up Friday afternoon, and police are asking for the public's help to track down a suspect.

The bank robber, who told bank employees he had a gun, took an undisclosed amount of money before fleeing the area on foot. An extensive search, aided by a state police tracking dog, came up empty.

Investigators are trying to determine if the robber had an accomplice. Although a weapon was mentioned, none was shown, police said.

Police released images of the robber taken from video cameras in the bank. He is described as heavy set, about 6 feet tall, with reddish facial hair. He wore a knit hat, sunglasses and a surgical mask.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to contact the Police Department at (508) 248-2250.

The robbery of the bank, at 37 Worcester Road, occurred about 3 p.m. There were no reported injuries.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Country Bank in Charlton robbed; police release photo of suspect
It was a brilliantly sunny day as Karen Kosiba and her team unloaded and assembled a huge satellite dish in a sprawling field on Thursday just outside Saint Joseph, Tennessee. But over the next few days, these researchers are hoping their setup will be right in the path of a tornado.

Kosiba, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is leading a research group to study how tornadoes form and evolve in the southeastern United States, and how to better protect the communities that may be in harms way.

Our goal is to be right in the path of the storms, Kosiba said. Were hoping that theyre producing tornadoes not on us, but very near where were collecting, where were set up.

That may sound like a scene ripped from the movie Twister, but storm chasing has for decades been a valuable  if hair-raising  way to study features of a tornado. But scientists like Kosiba are keen to understand what precisely it takes to create these intense rotating columns of air before they ever touch down.

The project, which began in 2022, has taken on greater urgency after a series of deadly tornadoes ripped through Mississippi and Alabama last week, and as violent tornadoes touch down with greater frequency in the Southeast.

Karen Kosiba. (NBC News)

The two-year campaign is known as PERiLS (short for Propagation, Evolution, and Rotation in Linear Storms) and includes work by the University of Illinois and eight other universities, all supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The researchers try to deploy a suite of instruments in parts of the Southeast ahead of forecasted storms, then gather data as they blow through in hopes of understanding how and why some storms spin up intense tornadoes.

Kosibas work is focused on an area that stretches from southeastern Missouri down through Arkansas and Louisiana, and east into Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

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These regions are particularly vulnerable to tornadoes because there are more tightly packed towns and cities across the Southeast compared with the Great Plains, another area where tornado outbreaks often occur. Intense storms can also cause catastrophic damage in this part of the country because more people live in weaker housing structures such as mobile homes and manufactured housing.

Knowing more about the storms in the Southeast is really critical because its a high population density out here, Kosiba said. So, these storms have the potential to impact many more people.

Instruments like this will be used to study conditions before and during a storm. (Blayne Alexander / NBC News)

The work is timely. A study published Tuesday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society found that supercell storms, like the ones that spawned the tornadoes in Mississippi last week, will increase as the world warms. These storms will also shift east, hitting Southern states like Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee more frequently in the future, according to the study.

Kosiba and her colleagues have deployed around 50 instruments in this part of the Tennessee Valley, nestled against the border of Alabama. Together, they will collect observations ranging from wind conditions and temperature to moisture in the atmosphere before and during storms.

And were looking at the storm structure and saying: Where is rotation potentially happening? she said. And does that relate to something in the environment?

If scientists can better understand why tornadoes form when they do, and what fuels their paths when they touch down, researchers could create more precise forecasts. That, in turn, can save lives.

Chris Weiss, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas Tech University, is conducting similar field research in northwestern Alabama and southern Tennessee. His work, like the PERiLS project, is part of a broader effort at NOAA to examine the conditions that make tornadoes particularly dangerous in the Southeast.

Recently, Weiss and his team were dispatched to eastern Arkansas ahead of an outbreak of small tornadoes in the area. Last week, the researchers were stationed north and south of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, the small Delta town where a tornado tore through at night, causing more than two dozen deaths.

In addition to gathering valuable science, such as readings on temperature, air pressure, moisture and wind, Weiss and his colleagues are also studying how to improve the way tornado threats are communicated to the public.

Were trying to understand better not just the physical causes for these tornadoes but also some of these more social aspects, he said.

For instance, the researchers want to know how tornado warnings are received by communities, how they are acted on, and if places have adequate access to storm shelters.

Layering scientific research with behavioral and societal factors is becoming a key priority among researchers who study these kinds of extreme weather events, said William Gallus, a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University.

Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado in Rolling Fork, Miss. (Will Newton / Getty Images)

We used to have a bad habit where we only focused on the science, and we would pat ourselves on the back that our warnings have become so good, Gallus said. But thats really a minor piece of the puzzle. The important thing is getting the information to people and making sure they can actually act on it.

In the long run, the idea is to avoid the type of worst-case scenarios that can play out when violent tornadoes rip through vulnerable communities  as happened last week in Mississippi and Alabama.

Its just heart-wrenching, Weiss said about last weeks aftermath. But, it provides motivation for what we do. It spurs on what we do to try to better understand how we can warn better and more effectively. Thats really the spirit of this project.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Taiwanese military personnel participate in an amphibious landing as part of military exercises in Pingtung, Taiwan on July 28, 2022. (Lam Yik Fei/The New York Times)

TAIPEI, Taiwan  Thousands of miles from the cities that Russia is bombing in Ukraine, China has been studying the war.

In an indirect struggle between two superpowers on the other side of the world, Beijing sees a source of invaluable lessons on weapons, troop power, intelligence and deterrence that can help it prepare for potential wars of its own.

In particular, Chinese military analysts have scrutinized the fighting for innovations and tactics that could help in a possible clash over Taiwan, the island democracy that Beijing wants to absorb and the United States has at times pledged to defend.

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The war is a proving ground, they say, that gives China a chance to learn from successes and failures on both sides. The New York Times examined nearly 100 Chinese research papers and media articles that deliver assessments of the war by Chinese military and weapons-sector analysts. Here is some of what they have covered:

 With an eye on Chinas development of hypersonic missiles, which can be highly maneuverable in flight, they have analyzed how Russia used these weapons to destroy an ammunition bunker, a fuel depot and other targets.

 They have studied how Ukrainian troops used Starlink satellite links to coordinate attacks and circumvent Russian efforts to shut their communications and warned that China must swiftly develop a similar low-orbit satellite system and devise ways to knock out rival ones.

 They have argued that President Vladimir Putin of Russia deterred Western powers from directly intervening in Ukraine by brandishing nuclear weapons, a view that could encourage expansion of Chinas own nuclear weapons program.

Ukraine has offered a new understanding of a future possible world war, Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University in Beijing, wrote in the Guangming Daily newspaper in January. He also wrote, Russias strategy of nuclear deterrence certainly played a role in ensuring that NATO under the United States leadership did not dare to directly enter the war.

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Pentagon officials have said that Russias troubled invasion serves as a stark warning to China against risking a war over Taiwan, which lies about 100 miles off its coast. Russian forces have been dogged by shortfalls of weapons and ammunition and failures in intelligence, resulting in stalled advances and the heavy loss of soldiers lives. Some Chinese analysts have been blunt in their views of how Russia has foundered.

The shortcomings that have been exposed in the Russian militarys logistics and supplies should be a focus for us, said an article in a magazine published by Chinas agency for developing major military technology. It said that China had to prepare for similar challenges when we consider future sea crossings, the seizure of islands and other hazard-filled operations  an implicit reference to taking Taiwan.

Ultimately, though, studying Russias mistakes may bolster Chinas conviction that it could prevail in a possible conflict, said foreign experts who study the Peoples Liberation Army. Chinas official military budget of $225 billion is nearly three times as big as Russias, and Chinas vast manufacturing and technological capacity means it can produce plenty of advanced drones and other weapons that Russian forces have lacked.

Theyre going to try to roll those lessons into their training, officer education and doctrine, which is undergoing a revision right now, said Joel Wuthnow, a senior research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington who has studied how the Peoples Liberation Army may be learning from the war in Ukraine. This was a wake-up call that things may look easy in field training and on paper, but when you meet the enemy, things get very messy very quickly.

China has not fought a major war for 40 years, since Deng Xiaoping sent forces into neighboring Vietnam, and its military scholars study other countries conflicts with a particular diligence. The war in Ukraine is especially significant for China because it involves an indirect contest pitting Russia, a close partner of Beijing, against the United States and its allies supporting the Ukrainian forces.

China is close to this war in a way that wasnt true of the Iraq or even Afghanistan wars, said Lyle J. Goldstein, an expert at Defense Priorities, a think tank in Washington, who has been studying Chinese assessments of the war in Ukraine. They see themselves potentially in Russias shoes in more or less going to war against America.

Some Chinese experts have said that Russias difficulties marshaling enough infantry troops suggest that China needs to keep its ground forces strong and large, even while it expands those of sea and air. Russias experience showed that a great power must maintain ground forces of a reasonable scale, otherwise it will lose its advantage on the battlefield, Wu Dahui, a former military researcher now at Tsinghua University in Beijing, wrote this year.

Russias failures in supplying its forces with swift, reliable intelligence about Ukrainian movements have also prompted Chinese analysts to urge Peoples Liberation Army forces to learn how to better use drones, communications and satellites in battle.

Russia wasnt able to scale up different operations, partly because of the lack of intelligence coordination and sharing, said Bonny Lin, the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. China may now try to engage in exercises that are a much larger scale of complexity.

More broadly, Russias troubles in Ukraine appear to have hardened official Chinese views that Beijing, like Moscow, is the focus of a U.S.-led campaign of hybrid warfare that includes economic sanctions, technological bans, information campaigns and cyberattacks.

The United States and West have seized on this conflict to engage in the total political negation, all-out diplomatic suppression and full cultural isolation of Russia, Gao Yun, a researcher at Chinas Academy of Military Sciences, one of the elite institutions that shapes war planning, wrote in the Peoples Liberation Armys main newspaper. As well as fierce clashes of blood and fire on the battlefields, the combat in the realm of information and perceptions is equally intense.

As Ukraines successes mounted, Chinese military analysts have focused on the equipment and intelligence that NATO countries have provided Ukraine to help fight Russian forces. China was most likely monitoring the thousands of Stinger, Javelin and other missiles that Ukraine has acquired and weighing what would happen as Taiwan built up its stocks, said Goldstein, who also teaches at Brown University.

I believe that the Chinese are watching all this very carefully and adding the numbers up and making a calculation, he said.

Another fixation of Chinese military analysts has been Ukraines use of Starlink, the satellite service operated by SpaceX, with some suggesting that Beijing should establish a similar system of its own.

Starlink has helped Ukrainian forces maintain communications and direct attacks even where digital infrastructure has been wiped out. Chinese military analysts have blamed the inability of Russian forces to cut Starlink for its troubles on the battlefield. Starlink satellites are cheaper to launch and operate than traditional satellites. Inspired by Ukraine, Taiwan has also begun studying the technology.

Faced with the threat of Starlink, Chinese rocket and military researchers said in a study, we must develop and build our own low-orbiting satellites.

Chinese army engineering scientists, in a paper also cited in a recent Reuters report, suggested that the United States could use such technology in a conflict with China. Not a moment can be spared in developing soft kill and hard kill measures against low-orbit satellite arrays, the scientists wrote  in other words, ways to sabotage or destroy the satellites.

Chinese military analysts appear to also be drawing lessons relevant to Beijings nuclear buildup. They have argued that Putins nuclear threats were effective in keeping President Joe Biden and NATO from directly entering the war. In a potential invasion of Taiwan, Beijing would consider how it might deter Washington, which has pledged to help the island defend itself and could directly intervene in a military conflict.

From this it can be seen that nuclear forces are how a great power displays its stature, two Chinese rocket researchers wrote in one article about Russian strategy.

China has denounced the use of nuclear weapons in the war and vows that it would never initiate an attack with nuclear weapons. Even so, Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, indicated last year that China will keep expanding its nuclear arsenal, which now has more than 400 warheads, still far fewer than the number held by Russia or the United States.

Chinas nuclear arsenal could grow to about 1,000 warheads by 2030, according to the Pentagon. Putins menacing gestures may set an example for Chinese leaders, said Wuthnow of the National Defense University.

My main worry is a miscalculation over nuclear threats, Wuthnow said. Xi could come to believe that the U.S. and its allies could be easily sidelined in a Taiwan conflict. But this would likely be an error in judgment.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
NEW YORK (AP)  Lawyers for a wealthy self-exiled Chinese businessman who developed ties to Trump administration figures including Steve Bannon are seeking bail for him two weeks after his arrest, saying other defendants accused of massive frauds like Bernard Madoff and Sam Bankman-Fried were freed on bail.

The lawyers submitted papers in Manhattan federal court, saying Guo Wengui is entitled to bail just as other wealthy defendants have been given the chance to post bail in the past. They also challenged claims by prosecutors that he is a risk to flee, saying he would not leave his wife of 38 years and his daughter as all three seek asylum.

Madoff was free for several months in late 2008 and early 2009 before he was jailed after he pleaded guilty in a multibillion-dollar fraud. He was later sentenced to 150 years in prison and died behind bars.

Bankman-Fried, 31, was arrested in the Bahamas in December in what a prosecutor called one of biggest frauds in American history. He agreed to return to the United States, where he was freed with GPS monitoring on a $250 million personal recognizance bond after pleading not guilty to charges that he oversaw a massive cryptocurrency fraud.

Guo's lawyers proposed a $25 million bail package, including $5 million in cash or property, along with location monitoring and home detention at a Connecticut residence where his wife resides. They also said Guo would be subjected to 24-hour surveillance by a security company with at least one guard on the premises at all times.

A spokesperson for prosecutors declined comment Friday.

Prosecutors filed a detention letter at the time of Guo's arrest, saying he was a serious flight risk and a danger to the public because his crimes, which they said resulted in robbing thousands of individuals of money, were ongoing and continually evolving. They said he was likely to flee because of his wealth, strong proof of guilt and ties abroad.

Guo, 54, was arrested on various charges, including wire, securities and bank fraud on March 15 in what was described as a $1 billion fraud. He agreed to be detained at the time, but a lawyer indicated bail would later be sought.

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Guo's lawyers wrote that since immigrating to the United States in 2015, Guo traveled abroad only three times and not once since 2017. They said Chinese authorities would cause him to face intolerable risks to his life were he to leave the United States. They also wrote that he was not a danger to others, especially with strict bail conditions.

Prosecutors said the charges stemmed from a complex scheme in which Guo and others lied to hundreds of thousands of online followers before misappropriating hundreds of millions of dollars.

At the time of Guo's arrest, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Guo had lived lavishly off the proceeds of his crimes, including by purchasing a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari, two $36,000 mattresses and a $37 million luxury yacht.

Guo was once believed to be among the richest people in China. He left in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping that ensnared people close to Guo, including a top intelligence official. Chinese authorities have accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other offenses.

Guo has long argued that the allegations against him in China were false, saying they were intended to punish him for publicly outing corruption there and criticizing leading figures in the Communist Party.

It was on Guos 150-foot (45-meter) yacht that Bannon was once arrested on federal charges. Just before he left office, then-President Donald Trump made the case against Bannon dissolve with a pardon.
A woman who had been reported missing has been found safe, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

On Saturday, police received a call around 1 p.m. for a welfare check at the home of Sharon Moyer, 76, in Ivystone County.

Responding officers went to the house but did not find Moyer. Police said she was last seen driving her white 2019 Nissan Rogue.

ALSO READ: Rescuers find body of missing boater at Lake Wylie

On Sunday, police announced that Moyer has been found and safely reunited with her family.

(WATCH BELOW: 5th suspect arrested in connection with Monroe womans homicide)




Attorney Scott Warmuth, at his office in San Gabriel. His billboards have been a fixture in the San Gabriel Valley, and the ads have brought a level of renown that's unusual for a personal injury lawyer. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Theres a bit of humor I often hear about attorney billboards in the San Gabriel Valley, a region of 2.1 million people largely composed of Asian and Latino immigrants and their families.

All the Chinese attorneys use white men on their billboards to appeal to the Chinese community, people say, and all the white attorneys include Chinese employees on their billboards, also to appeal to Chinese clients.

Its a cultural irony created by the racial expectations of the law firms' clientele, primarily Chinese immigrants and their families. Recent immigrants might worry that Chinese attorneys dont have the same connections to local institutions, so a white face helps ease those concerns. They might also assume a white attorney lacks Chinese translation and cultural sensitivity, so a Chinese face addresses that.

Obviously those assumptions about Chinese and white attorneys arent always true. Chinese Americans are just as likely as white attorneys to have connections and be skilled at navigating American systems. And there are plenty of Chinese Americans who are less than fluent in their culture's languages, and surely a few white attorneys who can speak Chinese languages.

But law firm marketing is more about comfort than reality, said Scott Warmuth, an attorney who was one of the first to put up Chinese billboards in Monterey Park about a decade ago.

Warmuth's billboards have been a fixture in the San Gabriel Valley, and the ads have brought a level of renown that's unusual for a personal injury attorney. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) has jokingly referred to him as the most famous person in the San Gabriel Valley.

Warmuth, 67, began his practice in Monterey Park in 1984 with a Taiwanese friend who was looking for a white attorney with whom he could launch a practice. At the time, it was a widespread belief in the Chinese community that white attorneys knew American systems better.

My Taiwanese friend at the time said, 'You need to be white.' There was a big portion of the population that felt it was better to have a white attorney, Warmuth said.

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Warmuth grew up outside of Seattle, and, before he began his law career, he served as an elected city councilman when he was 18. At just over 6 feet, he strikes an imposing figure on billboards, staring down the camera with a confident smile and folded arms. In person, he's more reserved and thoughtful, prone to boyish excitement.

To reach the Chinese community, he said, he needed Chinese-speaking people. Warmuths Taiwanese partner helped make introductions to key members of the community. And Tammy Wong, his office manager and one of the firms early employees, helped the firm establish a presence in the Chinese community.

Tammy Wong has a strong presence in the Chinese community. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Warmuth is competitive and passionate about marketing, and he admits his interest in cultural communication was part of a strategy to become the top law firm in the area. (Wong, now 70, is quite competitive too, if the framed Chinese calligraphy in her San Gabriel office spelling the word victory is any indication.)

Advocating for Chinese clients helped him understand the realities of racism and discrimination, he said. Back then, insurance companies discriminated against people with foreign names and were prone to accusing immigrant claimants of fraud without real cause, Warmuth said. Chinese clients often would get suspiciously low insurance payouts or no payments at all for routine claims.

Wong, whose family immigrated to New York City from Hong Kong in 1969, said she wasnt very impressed with Warmuth at first.

It was a tiny office, and there were only four people. But I didnt care - I just wanted to learn, Wong said.

Wong grew up in the Bronx and had worked as an insurance agent when she first came to Monterey Park. She saw Warmuth's advertisement in the World Journal, a Chinese-language newspaper, and applied for a job handling paperwork.

She had no legal background, but she was fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Taishanese, a Chinese dialect often spoken by residents of American Chinatowns. And she understood the fears and anxieties of recent immigrants trying to navigate a new system. Her hard-nosed, plain-spoken manner quickly made her Warmuths point person for the Chinese American community.

Wong attended banquets, fundraisers and other events on the firms behalf. She fielded questions from Chinese-language media, signed up clients and quickly became essential to the business.

Warmuth said cultural intelligence has had a tangible impact. When he first began the business, he adopted a Chinese name: Hua Ming Si. But the last word in his name is a cognate for the Chinese word for death, which bothers more superstitious clientele.

One of his Chinese employees suggested that he change it to Hua Ming Sheng. The change brought a sharp and lasting uptick in business, Warmuth said.

Scott Warmuth and Tammy Wong, at their office in San Gabriel. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Wong and Warmuth also co-hosted a segment on Chinese-language radio station KAZN AM 1300 in which they answered legal questions from callers and explained aspects of the criminal justice system.

These days, Wong hosts the segment by herself, though she consults with Warmuth on topics requiring an attorney's input. One recent week, the segment covered domestic violence and criminal law relating to family members, and how police are likely to make an arrest if they respond to a case of suspected domestic violence.

Wong avoids referring to cases and headlines that Chinese immigrants might not know about. She knows Chinese clients are preoccupied with getting a good deal, so she encourages them to shop around and explains how the process works before trying to sell them on Warmuth's firm.

After the first billboard, Wong and Warmuth began to appear side by side on the advertisements. Now Wong shares some of Warmuths fame. She laments the fact that she now has to wear makeup and get dressed up whenever she leaves the house, lest she be recognized in her pajamas at the grocery store.

Warmuth said it's far more common for Chinese attorneys to use Chinese faces on advertisements now.

When I started there were very few Chinese professionals compared to today. Now there are far more, and that's a choice that wasn't there 40 years ago, Warmuth said. "And that's a good thing."

Warmuth still has 16 billboards around the area. Recently they began appearing in a language the firm had never used before: English.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Eliza Anderson, Deseret News

After President Nelson announced at the close of the 193rd Annual General Conference that 15 new temples would be built, 83 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are announced and awaiting location or construction.

Since 2018, President Russell M. Nelson has announced 133 new temples, and the amount of time between announcement and groundbreaking  an average of 1.62 years  has never been faster, reports the Deseret News.

In 2022, 35 new temples were announced during conferences held in April and October.

Temples are considered a house of God for members, and a lot of excitement usually follows when the temples are announced, like this video of members in Papua New Guinea in 2019.

This is a comprehensive list of the temples that have been announced  but have yet to start construction  with their latest updates  four of which are scheduled for groundbreaking after April, and 28 that have official sites.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 2022 by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: The latest update in December 2022 released the location of the temples 10.6-acre plot, next to an existing meetinghouse at 1801 E. Park St., Cedar Park, Texas.

Bakersfield California Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 2022 by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The latest update on Jan. 9 released the location of the temple in Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona, per the churchs newsroom.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages. No information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Story continues

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The official rendering and location of the temple were announced by the church in September 2021. The temple will be located at Rua Professor Jose Vieira de Mendonca, 1485 - Engenho Nogueira, Belo Horizonte - MG, 31310-260, Brazil. And the groundbreaking is scheduled for June 17 by Elder Juan A. Uceda, the second counselor, in the Brazil Area Presidency.

Announced: April 5, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The temple is in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date, or other information has been released yet.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The temple's current name was officially announced by the church in August 2022, but no rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released yet.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released for the countrys first temple, per the church.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date, or other information has been released for the countrys first temple.

Announced: April 7, 2019, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date, or other information has been released for the countrys first temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date, or other information has been released.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date, or other information has been released.

Announced: April 1, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages, per The Church News. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The official rendering and location of the temple were announced in September 2021, per The Church News, but currently there is no date set for the groundbreaking.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Rendering and location  3 Liesbeek Road, Observatory, in Cape Town  were released by the church for the 9,500-square-foot temple in December 2021. No groundbreaking date has been announced.

Charlotte North Carolina Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages, per The Church News. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In December 2022, the location for the temple was announced to be on Brecksville Road and south of Logano Drive in Independence, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, per The Church News.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In March 2023, the church announced the location of the temple. The temple will be a single story of about 9,959 square feet and will be built on the northwest side of Skyline Dr. at Cody Canal, northwest of Olive Glenn Dr. An artists rendering was released a week later.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages, no rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released.

Announced: April 5, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released, although Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, along with other leaders of the church, visited in October 2021, per a release.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Currently in the planning and design stages. No rendering, location, groundbreaking date or other information has been released.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: At the time of its announcement, a rendering was released by the church, per The Church News. By the end of October 2021, the location for the 30,000-square-foot temple was announced to be southeast of SW Hulen Street and Greenridge Drive in Burleson, Texas.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In November 2022, the church announced the future temples location to be built at 2400 Forest Hill Avenue SE in Grand Rapids on a 10.5-acre site, with the temple itself spanning 20,000 square feet.

Hamburg Germany Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Harrisburg Pennsylvania Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The groundbreaking was on Oct. 8, 2022 and was presided by President Nelson, per a church release. The temple is awaiting full-scale construction.

Related

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In March 2023, the church released the official location of the temple to be 18 Avenida, Zona 4, El Terrero, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The countrys fifth temple will be a single-story, 10,787-square-foot building.

Iliolo Philippines Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Iquitos Peru Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: In the planning and design stages. No information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Jakarta Indonesia Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: In the planning and design stages. No information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The location of the temple was announced in November 2022 by the church near Dachang Road and Dehua Street in the Niaosong District. Its planned to be a single story of 10,900 square feet.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The location of the 30,000-square-foot temple was announced in October 2022 at 13001 Kingston Pike in Farragut, Tennessee, per The Church News.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages. No information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: In the planning and design stages. No information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 7, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: In the planning and design stages. No information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Lethbridge Alberta Canada Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson

Status: The 32,000-square-foot temple will be built at Avenida: Harry Prochet, S/N, Jardim Sao Jorge, Londrina, Parana, Brazil, the church announced in November 2022.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In December 2022, the church announced the new 87,000-square-foot temple will be located southwest of Hickam Avenue between North Grand Canyon Drive and Tee Pee Lane in Las Vegas.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages. Announced in March 2023, the temple will be built at Avenida  Dr. Durval de Gois Monteiro, S/N, Quadra 0522, Lote 0228. It will be one story and about 19,000 square feet.

Announced: April 1, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Groundbreaking occurred on Nov. 26, 2022, per the church, with Elder Taylor G. Godoy, first counselor in the Central America Area Presidency, presiding.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The future temple will be built with two levels, spanning about 29,000 square feet, and on the grounds of Mexico Citys Missionary Training Center at Tenayuca-Chalmita 828, Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero, per The Church News.

Announced: Oct. 4, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Originally referred to as the Greater Guatemala City Guatemala Temple, the name changed and on Dec. 3, 2022, the groundbreaking ceremony occurred, per the church, with Elder Patricio M. Giuffra, second counselor in the Central America Area Presidency, residing.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In October 2022, the location of the temple was announced by the church. The future temple will be built next to a current meetinghouse at 4300 Dale Road in Modesto and is planned to be a single-story building, spanning 30,000 square feet.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: As announced in May 2022 by the church, the temple will be located on the northeast corner of Washington and Sixth Street in Montpelier and feature a two-story structure of about 27,000 square feet. Groundbreaking is scheduled for June 17, 2023 with Elder Ryan K. Olsen of the Seventy presiding.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Natal Brazil Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 5, 2019, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: First released in September 2020, the rendering and location of the temple will be at Muniogo Crescent, Badili, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and will be a single-story building of about 9,550 square feet. A distribution center and missionary and worker apartments will be built on the grounds. The groundbreaking is scheduled for April 22, and will be presided by Elder Peter F. Meurs, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency.

Announced: Oct. 4, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Groundbreaking was scheduled for March 4, 2023, for the 10,000-square-foot temple, but cyclones in the area forced back the date. A new date has been set for April 8.

Related

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Retalhuleu Guatemala Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the southern half of the country, the latest update from November 2022 plans for a 32,000-square-foot temple located at Av. Antonio Marcal and R. Jose Brandani in Ribeirao Preto.

Announced: April 1, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

San Jose California Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The location for the temple was announced in October 2022 and will be built at Arboleda 100, Fraccionamiento del Parque, per The Church News.

Announced: Oct. 4, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The future 29,000-square-foot temple was announced in November 2022 to be built at Av. Quinto Anilla y Santa Rosa (Av. Radial 27) in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In December 2022, the location for the temple was announced at Primo de Rivera 1551, Comuna de Maipu, Santiago.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In November 2022, the 23,000-square-foot temples location was announced to be Avenida Doutor Waldemar Leao, 305, Jabaquara, Santos in Sao Paulo.

Announced: Oct. 4, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In October 2022, the location of the future two-story temple was announced to be Av. Guilherme Giorgi, 1091, Vila Carrao in Sao Paulo, per The Church News. It is expected to be more than 46,000 square feet.

Announced: April 5, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The location of the temple was announced in October 2022 by the church. The 18,000-square-foot temple and meeting house will be located at 233 Pasir Panjang Road in Singapore.

Springfield Missouri Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: October 31, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The temple will be built next to an existing meetinghouse and will be located at 4806 Bill Shoals Road in Valrico, per a release. The official artist's rendition of the temple was released in March 2023.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Announced: Oct. 4, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In May 2021, the official rendering and location of the single-story structure of about 10,000 square feet were announced. Along with a meetinghouse and patron housing, the temple will be located at Ambo, South Tarawa, Kiribati.

Teresina Brazil Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The location for the temple was released by the church in September 2022 and will be built at Second East 2000 North in Rexburg, Idaho. The temple will be very large and span 130,000 square feet on three stories.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: An artists rendering and the location of the temple were announced by the church in September 2021. The groundbreaking took place on Dec. 10, 2022.

Tuguegarao City Philippines Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 2, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: Oct. 3, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: The location of the temple was announced in February 2023 by the church. A one-story temple of 10,600 square feet will be built at Avenida Leitao da Silva #2055, Iterare, Vitoria-ES.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In November 2022, plans were released for a two-story temple of about 14,900 square feet, to be built along with an ancillary building for arrival facilities and patron housing near Okowai Road and Whitford Brown Avenue, in Aotea, Porirua, New Zealand.

Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date or rendering of the temple.

Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: Originally called the Eugene Oregon Temple, the name was later changed with the release of the rendering and location in September 2021. Groundbreaking occurred on Oct. 29, 2022 with Elder Valeri V. Cordon presiding, per a release by the church.

Winchester Virginia Temple

Announced: April 2, 2023, by President Russell M. Nelson.

Status: In the planning and design stages, no information has been released about the location, groundbreaking date, or rendering of the temple.

Related
REUTERS

A combustible Australian billionaire is intensifying his war against the Aussie government, seeking nearly $200 billion in damages over a longstanding mining dispute.

The billionaire, 69-year-old Clive Palmer, controls the company that filed the claimZeph Investments, which is headquartered in Singapore. The battle traces back to 2012, when authorities in Western Australia blocked his firms iron ore proposal. Palmers company sought to revive the matter through arbitration, but the effort failed in court. The $200 billion gambit marks a second stab at getting the government to pay.

News of the massive claim was earlier reported by The Guardian.

Palmer has become a fixture of Australian headlines. Last year, he promised to spend a record-breaking amount of money to elect his favored political candidates, though in the end his party secured just a single seat.

Nonetheless, his influence has made some observers uneasy. Think about in the United States one of the Koch brothers running for president or something and outspending the Democrats and the Republicans, Peter Chen, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, previously told The Daily Beast. It's that sort of crazy money.

Palmer also generated controversy in the early days of the pandemic for his anti-vaxx rhetoric. To the chagrin of public health authorities, he published advertisements casting doubt on the effectiveness of vaccines.

Anti-Vax Aussie Billionaire Is a Wannabe Trump on Steroids

The billionaire also sparked upheaval for a protracted legal battle with the premier of Western Australia, whom Palmer alleged had defamed him. The premier countersued, and in August both sides were found to have defamed the otherthough Palmer was ordered to pay greater damages.

The hubbub over the iron ore project began more than a decade ago, after one of Palmers firms submitted its plans to the government for approval, which it insisted complied with an earlier agreement. The bid was rejected, prompting the mining firm to seek arbitration, as The Australian Financial Review reported.

Story continues

Several years later, with the matter seeming to lean Palmers way, the government enacted emergency legislation that terminated the arbitration, voided any awards granted to Palmer and his firms, and prevented the state from having any liability towards the billionaire in related disputes, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The government has done what we can to protect tax payers from Clive Palmer's $30 billion claim which would have bankrupted our state, Western Australias premier said at the time.

Outraged, Palmer called the premier an outlaw swinging his gun, arguing that he hadused his position as Premier in the Parliament to give himself and his Attorney General immunity from the criminal law.

He appealed to Australias high court, though the justices unanimously voted against him.

Now, in a different approach, Palmers Singapore-based firm is claiming that Australia violated terms of a free trade agreement and is liable for massive damages. And would you believe it: the Western Australia premier is once again furious, reportedly referring to Palmer this week as the greediest man in Australian history.

Palmer has recruited Australias former attorney general Christian Porter as one of his companys lawyers.

The legal aggression will likely do little to improve Palmers standing in Australia. (A December 2021 poll labeled him the least likable politician in the country, with just 8 percent of respondents viewing him favorably.)

As Greg McCarthy, emeritus professor at the University of Western Australia, previously wrote to the Beast: Palmer is all about EGO.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Coronation Street's Charlotte Jordan has received high praise this week after her involvement in the show's acid attack storyline  but did you know that it's not her first time covering this gritty subject matter?

The ITV1 soap aired distressing scenes on Monday night (March 27) as Charlotte's character Daisy Midgeley was targeted by evil stalker Justin Rutherford on her wedding day.

Filled with hatred after repeated rejections from Daisy, twisted Justin arrived at the Rovers Return and threw acid at her.

Much of the pre-publicity surrounding the storyline led fans to believe that Daisy would receive life-changing injuries, but in a twist which aired on the night, Ryan Connor stepped in to protect her and received the full force of the acid.

ITV - ITV

Coincidentally, Charlotte previously explored a similar storyline on another long-running ITV drama.

In 2007, when Charlotte was a child actress, she appeared as a guest star in one episode of The Bill. This was her first ever TV role.

Charlotte  then credited as Charlie Evans  appeared as Jemma Jackson, a 12-year-old girl who was the victim of an acid attack.

As police arrived on the scene, Jemma was sprayed with cold water in a shower to limit the effects of the acid. On Corrie, there was a role reversal as Daisy dragged Ryan into the Rovers shower for the same reason.

ITV - ITV

In a chat with Digital Spy after joining Corrie in 2021, Charlotte reflected on this early TV outing  unaware at the time that Daisy would be involved in a similar plot just two years later.

Charlotte told us at the time: "I did acting as a kid. I stopped for a good chunk of time afterwards and then I started up again as an adult.

"On The Bill, I played a little girl called Jemma who was the unintentional victim of an acid attack. I didn't really have any lines, I didn't have to say anything, I just had to scream and flail about in pain.

"So it was a weird first job because it was prosthetics from the acid and then screaming, really."

Story continues

While The Bill's version was just a short one-episode storyline, Corrie's plot will run for much longer as the show explores Ryan's recovery and how his mental health is affected.

Daisy will also face a journey of her own  even though she wasn't to blame, she can't help feeling guilty as she knows that the acid was intended for her.

Charlotte recently said: "To do something like that with acid, I don't know how you can possibly understand it or get to that point. It's just so evil to try and take away someone's identity and someone's face like that.

"It's so heinous and I don't even know how you can really start to think about that being someone's intention for you."

ITV

Since returning to the acting business as an adult, Charlotte's main TV job outside of Corrie has been the Netflix series Free Rein, on which she played Gaby Grant.

In her 2021 chat, Charlotte said: "You start with anything you can get a hold of. I just did guesting parts  little bits here, little bits there.

"Then the biggest part was Free Rein. That went for two, two-and-a-half years.

"Corrie came straight out of lockdown, so I've not really done a great deal beforehand. But it's brilliant working on a soap. I find it really interesting working on something that's not got a beginning, middle and an end. That's something that is new."

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage

Coronation Street has been working on Ryan's storyline with guidance from The Katie Piper Foundation and Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) , which both offer help and support to real-life survivors.

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Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy listens to concerned citizens on the direction of the GOP during a strategizing meeting at Bolingbrook Golf Club on Dec. 10, 2022, in Bolingbrook. (Michael Blackshire / Chicago Tribune)

As another election approaches, the Illinois Republican Party and its allies are facing a conundrum  urging followers to cast ballots by mail while trying not to alienate followers of former President Donald Trump, who continues to insist that mail-in votes are automatically corrupt.

Though most elections on Tuesday are officially nonpartisan, Republicans and allied groups are actively backing candidates in municipal, school and library board and other races.

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The state GOP is pushing the use of mail-in ballots at the same time it is promoting election integrity training featuring a 2020 election denier. But the partys chairman has acknowledged the GOP faces an uphill battle if it doesnt jump in on voting by mail, even as the party hedges its language to appease the GOP core where Trump continues to hold strong sway.

For decades, Democrats have made absentee voting, and more recently, no-excuse voting by mail, a large part of their get-out-the-vote repertoire with great success. Republicans, even before Trump became a powerful force in GOP politics, preferred in-person voting, usually on the traditional election day.

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Mail-in voting has increased steadily in Illinois, jumping from about 9% of the total ballots cast in 2018 to one-third of the ballots in the pandemic 2020 general election, according to the State Board of Elections. In last Novembers midterm, balloting by mail represented more than 19% of the total ballots cast.

Three years ago, the Cook County Republican Party, represented by a legal group founded by and associated with the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute, went to federal court in an unsuccessful attempt to block expanded early-voting measures enacted by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic lawmakers during the pandemic.

That law, which automatically sent vote-by-mail applications for the 2020 general election to residents who voted in previous elections, was a partisan voting scheme that will open the door to voter fraud and designed to directly disenfranchise voters disfavored by Pritzker, to dilute the votes of those disfavored by Pritzker, and to violate the secrecy of voting in Illinois, the Cook County GOP and its lawyers alleged in the lawsuit.

Now, vote-by-mail is backed by the state GOP as a necessary addition to boost Republican turnout and the Illinois Policy Institute has engaged in a campaign to encourage its use.

That comes as Trump  an announced 2024 presidential candidate who now stands indicted by a New York grand jury investigating payments of hush money to an adult film star  continues to disparage mail-in voting while repeating his false contention that the 2020 election was stolen from him due to election fraud.

Mail-in ballots are automatically corrupt, Trump said late last month in a conversation with Sean Hannity on Fox News that aired only days before the indictment was announced. If you have mail-in ballots, youre going to have very dishonest elections.

Acknowledging the divergent views within his own party, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy told members in a March 10 email that voting by mail was the elephant in the room before imploring them to use it to cast their ballots.

Democrats utilize vote by mail at a much higher rate than Republicans. Democrats have won many close elections on the strength of their vote by mail programs. Quite simply, Republicans will have an uphill battle in every election moving forward if we do not start utilizing vote by mail to our advantage, Tracy said.

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With Illinois now authorizing voters to permanently receive vote-by-mail ballots, rather than having to apply with each election, Tracy said failure of Republicans to take advantage of it will disproportionately impact the results of our municipal elections, especially our local school boards.

We are acutely aware of problems with the vote-by-mail process. However, the harsh reality is that until we have the numbers in the legislature to change it, we have to play to win under the existing rules and we must increase Republican voter turnout by greater use of vote by mail, he said.

Tracy said there are genuine concerns about mail-in ballots to undermine fair and honest elections, but didnt elaborate. At the same time, he made the stark acknowledgment that there is relatively little increased risk of fraudulent abuse of your ballot when you vote by mail as opposed to voting in person.

The Illinois Policy Institute, whose allied Liberty Justice Center sought to block the pandemic-driven expansion of vote-by-mail in 2020, has sent permanent mail-in ballot applications to voters, and followed up with text messages to check if they were received. The drive is part of the institutes effort to back its favored local candidates, which followed a recruitment campaign for school boards.

The institute has gone so far as to promote a website debunking myths about voting by mail, including one that was a theme of the unsuccessful federal lawsuit:

MYTH: Encouraging more convenient voting options such as voting by mail is a plot from the political left.

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FALSE: Many Republican-dominated states have expanded the use of vote-at-home options, including Utah, a decidedly red state, which has become the fourth full vote-at-home state.

Individual Republicans have also sought to make the transition from espousing Trumps viewpoint to embracing vote-by-mail.

Jeanne Ives, a conservative former GOP state lawmaker from Wheaton who lost bids for governor and Congress, sent out an email to supporters of her bid for a U.S. House seat in April 2020 that contended Democrats were using COVID-19 as an excuse to expand vote-by-mail to advance their radical agenda and warned we cannot compromise the integrity of our elections.

But by July 1, Ives appeared in a video on social media standing in front of a post office to offer instructions to supporters on how to get and cast a mail ballot.

As Tracy, the head of the Illinois GOP, encourages mail-in voting in his weekly Chairmans Memo email to followers, he also is promoting a May 20 Statewide Election Integrity Summit in Orland Park that includes Carol Davis, a supporter of Trumps false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, as a featured speaker.

Davis, chair of the Illinois Conservative Union, has contended that vote-by-mail ballots are susceptible to fraud and are part of a Democratic plot to do away with in-person voting.

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Despite the mixed Republican messaging, the top GOP leaders in the legislature have backed vote-by-mail.

House GOP leader Tony McCombie of Savanna acknowledged Republicans were behind and we shouldve been embracing this for quite some time.

Theres some fearmongering out there, of course, but, you know, Im not going to play along with those games, she said.

Senate GOP leader John Curran of Downers Grove said, There are competing messages. But weve been clear and consistent here in Illinois. (Under) the laws of this state, we encourage the use of mail-in ballots.

Voting by mail, Curran said, is a way to encourage more people to vote and give people greater opportunity to vote. We want everyone voting. So, all in all, its a good thing.

rap30@aol.com

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jgorner@chicagotribune.com
Photo: Dzelat (Shutterstock)

Law enforcement agencies have gotten fairly addicted to requesting data from tech companies over the past decade. Using information from tech companies has become one of cops favorite investigative techniques the world over.

Surfshark, a prominent VPN provider, recently put together a report that shows which countries governments request the most data from several of the tech industrys biggest firmsspecifically, Google, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. When it comes to which countries come out on top, Surfshark isnt categorizing biggest data-sharers according to which governments made the most requestsotherwise the winner would obviously be China. Also, Google and Meta largely dont operate in China. Instead, its metrics are based on the number of accounts that governments requested data on relative to the nations overall population. Thus, the countries that are listed as the biggest data-requesters are the ones that have requested the most data per 100,000 people. Heres what the reports findings reveal.

Read more

8. Belgium

Photo: Sergii Figurnyi (Shutterstock)

Belgium is a small country but it shares a very large amount data with cops. Surfsharks report says that, during the time period reviewed, companies received data requests from the government relating to some 36,683 user accounts. That works out to being some 316.72 requests per 100k people.



7. Portugal

Photo: Nella (Shutterstock)

During the relevant time period, Portugal received data requests from the government related to some 36,958 user accounts. That amounts to 358.89 requests per 100k people.



6. Ireland

Photo: Leonid Andronov (Shutterstock)

Companies in Ireland received data requests related to 19,648 accounts, amounting to a rate of 395.56 requests per 100k people. Nice!

5. France

Photo: Carl Court (Getty Images)

Companies received data requests from the French government related to 343,362 accounts, which amounts to 532.32 requests per 100k people.

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4. The United Kingdom

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell (Getty Images)

Jolly ol Britain. Companies received data requests from the United Kingdom related to 391,835 accounts, which amounts to 583.37 requests per 100k people.

3. Singapore

Photo: Efired (Shutterstock)

Singapore, while a relatively small nation, is near the top of the list. During the aforementioned time period, the companies in question received data requests from the Singaporean government related to 35,980 accounts, which amounts to 607.13 requests per 100k people.

2. Germany

Photo: Leonhard Simon (Getty Images)

Deutschland did pretty well for itself on this list. During the aforementioned time period, the companies in question received data requests from the German government related to 540,562 accounts, which amounts to 648.23 requests per 100k people.

1. The United States

Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)

America is typically #1 in everything that it does (or thats how we like to think of ourselves, at least) and police surveillance is no exception. During the time period reviewed, companies wracked up 2,451,077 data requests from the U.S. government. Thats sorts out to a whopping 728.41 requests per 100k people. Beautiful! We win!

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On Saturday, 1 April, the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv approved the compulsory summons of Pavlo Lebid, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), to a court hearing that will select the restrictive measure to be applied to him.

Source: UOC-MP, Suspilne

Details: The UOC-MP reported, citing Pavlos lawyer Mykyta Chekman, that after announcing an adjournment until Monday, the court rescheduled the court hearing while Pavlo was supposedly in hospital.

"The compulsory summons was approved. The hearing will be held at 18:30," the UOC-MP said later.

In a comment to Suspilne, the lawyer said that Metropolitan Pavlo was undergoing tests in hospital. The defence believes the compulsory summons to the court hearing constitutes political pressure.

Radio Liberty later reported that Pavlo had returned to the courtroom.

Background:

On 1 April, Pavlo Lebid was served with a notice of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Art. 161 (infringement of the equal rights of citizens depending on their race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds), and Art. 436.2 (justification, recognition as legitimate or denial of the Russian Federations armed aggression against Ukraine or glorification of its participants).

The Security Service of Ukraine also published recordings of Pavlo's phone conversations and sermons.

Pavlo Lebid said in the courtroom that he was "against aggression" but did not mention Russia as a perpetrator.

The court hearing involving Metropolitan Pavlo Lebid has been postponed until Monday.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The Shevchenkivskyi District Court in Kyiv has placed Metropolitan Pavlo (Petro Lebid) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), the former abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, under round-the-clock house arrest until 30 May on suspicion of inciting sectarian hatred and condoning Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda correspondent; Ukrainska Pravda source

Details: The court granted the application made by the Security Service of Ukraine investigators and the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutors Office.

According to the investigation, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Metropolitan Pavlo has condoned Russias armed aggression in his communications with believers and has spoken out negatively against the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which may have led to aggressive attitudes towards the church.

The investigators application outlined two events in particular. The first incident occurred in May 2022, when during a telephone conversation with Tamara Fediuk, Metropolitan Pavlo made remarks condoning the Russian Federations aggression. He also recorded a video message to members of the UOC-MP in which he disparaged the OCU and urged them "to be reasonable and not to follow the instructions of the 'mad tormentors'."

The prosecutors stressed that there was a risk of the suspect escaping, putting pressure on witnesses, and destroying or distorting evidence.

The defence lawyers objected to the application and requested a more lenient restrictive measure  personal recognisance.

"There is a war going on between religious organisations in our society. The church is separate from the state, and it should not interfere," said the suspect's lawyer, Mykyta Chekman, who believes that both the notice of suspicion and the risks outlined by the prosecutors are unfounded.

Chekman noted that representatives of the OCU, who oppose the UOC-MP, had been questioned as part of the criminal case.

Story continues

Metropolitan Pavlo said that the suspicion was "political" and that he had "always been against aggression".

"I would like Russia to leave us alone. I have done nothing to be accused of anything. I have always been against aggression. I am now in Ukraine. This is my land," Metropolitan Pavlo said.

He also asked to be provided with a copy of the recordings referred to by the investigation and for Romanchuk and Klos, the complainants, who he said were representatives of the OCU, to be questioned; he said they were prejudiced against him and that he did not know them personally.

Metropolitan Pavlo also stated in court that he had been "threatened with hanging and murder". When asked if it was indeed his voice on the recordings shared by the Security Service of Ukraine, he said, "Maybe I was joking and did say something like that."

"I know that this is a political order. I was told to go over to the OCU. The SSU [Security Service of Ukraine] summoned me to see the director of the museum and said that a criminal case had to be opened against me. And that's what they did. I won't look into who [did it], I'm not going to settle scores. I accept it all as the will of God," the Metropolitan said.

During the court hearing, the issue of Pavlos place of residence arose. He asked that if house arrest is to be imposed as a restrictive measure, he be left in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where he has lived for 29 years. However, the prosecutors noted that he is registered at a different address, and the Lavra belongs to the state.

The court placed Metropolitan Pavlo under round-the-clock house arrest at his address on Molodizhna Street.

According to an Ukrainska Pravda source, Metropolitan Pavlo will remain under house arrest in the village of Voronkiv, Boryspil district, Kyiv Oblast; an ankle tag will be used to monitor his whereabouts.

As of 21:50, Pavlo was refusing to put on the tag, claiming to have problems with his legs. A doctor was on his way to the court. Later, the bracelet was put on him after all.

Background:

On 1 April, Pavlo Lebid was served with a notice of suspicion of "infringing the equal rights of citizens based on their religious beliefs", and "glorifying participants in the Russian Federations armed aggression against Ukraine".

The Security Service of Ukraine also published recordings of Pavlo's phone conversations and sermons.

Pavlo Lebid said in the courtroom that he was "against aggression" but made no mention of Russia as a perpetrator.

The court hearing involving Metropolitan Pavlo Lebid had been postponed until Monday, as Pavlo said that he was not feeling well "due to his blood sugar level". But later, the hearing was rescheduled for 18:30 on Saturday after the court approved a compulsory summons.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
GENEVA (AP)  The UBS takeover of embattled rival Credit Suisse has shaken Switzerlands self-image and dented its reputation as a global financial center, analysts say, warning that the countrys prosperity could grow too dependent on a single banking behemoth.

The uncertain future of a union of Switzerlands two global banks comes at a thorny time for Swiss identity, built nearly as much on a self-image of finesse in finance as on know-how with chocolate, watchmaking and cheese.

Regulators who helped orchestrate the $3.25 billion deal have a lot on their plates as UBS checks the books of its rival, cherry-picks the parts it wants and dispenses with the rest.

The real question is whats going to happen, because well now have a mastodon  a monster  that will be increasingly too big to fail, said Marc Chesney, a finance professor at the University of Zurich. The danger is that over time, it will take more risks knowing that it is too big for the Swiss state to abandon it.

After studying the numbers, he said, the total value of exotic securities  like options or future contracts  held by the merged bank could be worth 40 times Switzerlands economic output.

Over time, UBS will control the Swiss state, rather than the other way around," Chesney said.

The neutral, prosperous country of about 8.5 million people enjoys the highest gross domestic product per capita of any country its size. Switzerland's relatively low-tax and pro-privacy environment draws well-heeled expats, and it regularly ranks among the most innovative countries. Over generations, it has become a global hub for wealth management, private banking and commodities trading.

That climate also has bred a reputation as a secret haven of billions in ill-gotten or laundered money, with the Tax Justice Network ranking Switzerland second only to the U.S. in financial secrecy.

That was on display this week when a U.S. Senate committee's two-year investigation found that Credit Suisse violated a plea agreement with U.S. authorities by failing to report secret offshore accounts that wealthy Americans used to avoid paying taxes.

Story continues

Such turmoil at the Switzerland's second-largest bank, which also includes hedge fund losses and fines for failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine ring, made it vulnerable as U.S. bank collapses stirred market upheaval this month.

Now, many conservatives are reviving their calls for Switzerland to turn inward.

Christoph Blocher, a former government minister and power broker of the right-wing Swiss Peoples Party, blasted the Credit Suisse-UBS deal as very, very dangerous, not just for Switzerland or the United States, but the entire world.

This has to stop, he told French-language public broadcaster RTS. Swiss banks must remain Swiss and keep their operations in Switzerland.

If Switzerland wants to be a strong financial center, it needs a strong globally significant bank, said Sergio Ermotti, who was CEO at UBS for nine years and will return to help shepherd the takeover.

For me, the debate nowadays is not too big to fail'  it's rather too small to survive," Ermotti said at a news conference this week. And we want to be a winner out of this.

Gregoire Bordier, scion of an illustrious Geneva banking family who chairs the Association of Swiss Private Banks, played down the size of the merged institution, estimating that it would have roughly the same weight in Switzerland as Dutch giant ING does relative to the Netherlands' economic output.

Rather than arranging the dissection of the last great universal bank in this country  and let rival finance companies benefit  it's above all necessary to roll out much greater control measures for the new UBS, Bordier told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper.

Still, he acknowledged that the combined entity's potential importance within Switzerland was "another question, saying he reacted to the banks' shotgun marriage, announced on prime-time TV, as if watching a bad soap opera.

Critics say the federal government was asleep at the wheel and hadnt learned from the 2008 global financial crisis.

Blochers protege, Ueli Maurer  who was finance minister until stepping down in December  championed a hands-off approach to banks like Credit Suisse to let them sort out their own troubles.

The Credit Suisse rescue is a stain on regulators and the idea that putting money into a Swiss bank means its rock solid and safe, overseen by the world's best financial managers, said Octavio Marenzi, CEO of consulting firm Opimas LLC.

That reputation has gone up in smoke, and its very hard to regain that reputation, Marenzi said. Unfortunately, a reputation that you built up over years and decades and maybe even centuries, you can destroy really quickly.

Beyond banking, Switzerlands image has been unsteady recently, generating debate ahead of parliamentary elections in October.

A web of bilateral deals with the European Union, Switzerland's biggest trading partner, are clouded under a standoff with Brussels. The country's constitutionally enshrined commitment to neutrality has angered Western nations that are blocked from shipping Swiss-made arms to Ukraine so it can fight Russia.

Swiss diplomats, who have been intermediaries between Iran and Saudi Arabia since the countries broke off ties in 2016, were absent as China brokered an agreement this month to restore relations between the Mideast rivals.

Scott Miller, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland who is a former UBS executive in Colorado, upshifted the debate about how the European country interprets its idea of neutrality.

Miller told the Neue Zuericher Zeiting newspaper this month that Switzerland was facing its "biggest crisis since the Second World War and urged the Swiss to do more to help Ukraine defend itself  or at least not block others from doing so.

Before the bank marriage was engineered on March 19, Credit Suisse was hemorrhaging deposits, shareholders were dumping its stock and creditors were rushing to seek repayment.

Since then, some smaller Swiss banks have reported an influx of deposits from Credit Suisse customers. Staffers face the prospect of sweeping job cuts, though details may take weeks or months to iron out.

The fallout is far from over.

A special session of Parliament next month is expected to discuss the takeover, including too big to fail legislation and possible penalties against Credit Suisse managers.

Sascha Steffen, a professor of finance at Germanys Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, said having such a huge bank isnt necessarily bad, pointing to efficiencies.

But creating a behemoth could make it harder for small businesses to get credit. The way the takeover was done  using emergency measures to tweak Swiss law and shucking the bondholder-shareholder pecking order on losses  has unsettled investors.

The false marriage that was initiated by the government was something markets dont really like, particularly when there was no involvement of other stakeholders whatsoever, Steffen said.

The attractiveness as a place to invest is definitely damaged, he said.

___

AP Business Writers David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Courtney Bonnell in London contributed.
Crowds of people are standing in an airport terminal with luggage. Courtesy of Kaitlyn Hoch

Storms and tornadoes are battering central US states like Illinois, Indiana, and Arkansas.

Flights were grounded at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport.

Photos on social media show crowds of people sheltering in place at O'Hare.

Crowds of travelers at Chicago O'Hare International Airport sheltered inside the airport's Tunnel of Lights as hundreds of flights were canceled due to weather in the area, social media posts show.

As storms hammer the central US region, flights were grounded at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

As of Friday evening, 281 flights were canceled at O'Hare, while 129 have been canceled at Midway. Both airports released a statement Friday evening telling travelers to "exercise caution."

Kaitlyn Hoch, a traveler heading to Cleveland, Ohio, from O'Hare, told Insider that her flight was supposed to leave at 6:37 p.m., but was canceled due to the weather. While waiting to board at the United Club, Hoch said staff asked people to evacuate to the Tunnel of Lights, a tunnel that connects the United concourses at the airport.

Hoch said that there could have been a couple hundred people that were crowded in the tunnel as they waited out the storm. Hoch described the crowd as "super chill and relaxed" and said many people were taking photos and videos of the scene.

"I fly into ORD almost every Friday," Hoch told Insider. "I have never seen anything like this. I fly to a new state each week and have never seen this at any airport."

The CDA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

So far, over 40 preliminary tornado reports have been made as of Friday evening across six states, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. Hundreds of thousands of residents were also without power.

The severe storms resulted in multiple people sustaining injuries after a roof collapsed during a concert at the Apollo Theater in Belvedere, Illinois, about 72 miles from Chicago, according to local news station WLS.

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Aalia Farzan is one of the Dari language presenters and originally wanted to be a teacher

The BBC has launched a new education programme for children in Afghanistan who are banned from school.

It is aimed at children aged 11 to 16, including girls whose secondary education has been stopped by the ruling Taliban.

The weekly programme is called Dars, which means lesson in Dari and Pashto, Afghanistan's official languages.

It is hosted by BBC Afghan female journalists who were evacuated from Kabul during the 2021 Taliban takeover.

Each new weekly half-hour episode of Dars will air four times a day, Saturday to Friday, on the newly launched BBC News Afghanistan channel.

The programme will also be available via BBC News Pashto and BBC News Dari Facebook channels, will be part of the BBC Persian TV channel schedule, and will air on radio through the network of BBC FM transmitters in Afghanistan as well as on short-wave and medium-wave radio.

Aalia Farzan is one of the Dari language presenters.

"Every day I speak to a lot of Afghan girls who are still in the country and they tell me they cannot go to school," she says. "They are very helpless and sometimes they seem hopeless."

The Taliban have said that schools for girls are temporarily closed until a "suitable environment" is created.

They have also said the international community's decision to freeze aid payments means they do not have the money to spend on female-only classrooms.

BBC Pashto presenter Shazia Sangarwal is teaching Afghan children maths by adapting BBC Bitesize content

The BBC show is tailored to children aged between 11 and 16 and makes the most of the BBC's existing teaching content, adapting maths, history, science, and Information and Communications Technology modules from BBC Bitesize, the BBC's free online resource for pupils in the UK.

Mariam Aman is one of the programme's producers and says that adapting BBC Bitesize content for an Afghan audience went beyond translation. "Do a boy or girl living in rural Afghanistan know what pizza is when we are talking about fractions in maths or should we keep it as big round bread?"

The team also wanted to make the programme feel like home. "Afghans are fond of chess and you would often find a chess set in most family homes," she says. "We wanted to add that cultural heritage to our programme and have things like that on set."

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When BBC Afghan presenter Shazia Haya was growing up, school attendance was a source of tension.

"I had just finished 12 years of school and my older brother and father were saying: 'That's enough for you. You should get married.'"

Shazia Haya is one of the Pashto presenters of the new education programme

The Pashto presenter lives with their disapproval to this day. "Even now, if you ask my father what I studied at university or what was my favourite subject in school, he doesn't know because he wasn't interested in my education, just because I'm a girl," she says.

It was the women in Shazia's family, including her mother, who encouraged her to attend university.

"That's why this new BBC programme means a lot to me," she says. "I know what the value of education is, and I know how hard it is when you don't have support."

Aalia was born in 1996, the year the Taliban first took control of Afghanistan.

Despite an official ban on girls' education at the time, there was a glimmer of hope for her. She grew up in the northern province of Takhar where girls continued to attend class, and her father was a teacher.

But like so many Afghans, tragedy hit her family.

"My father was killed 16 years ago," she says. "He wanted me to be a journalist and I wanted to be a teacher because my father was a teacher.

"So by joining this programme, I'm fulfilling both my father's dream and my own dream."

Aalia says she often thinks of members of her extended family, especially young school-age girls, who are still in Afghanistan.

"Sometimes I put myself in their shoes, and I think that if I was in the country and I was a teenage girl who cannot go to school, who cannot go outside the house alone, who does not have any basic rights, what should I do?" she says.

"I would be very happy if someone helped me and taught me something."
The adopted daughter of former President George W. Bushs Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte was sentenced Friday to 35 years in prison for the stabbing death of a friend during a drunken argument in a Maryland home.

Sophia Negroponte, 30, of Washington, D.C., was convicted in January of second-degree murder in the 2020 death of 24-year-old Yousuf Rasmussen.

"That rage drove Ms. Negroponte to stab her friend in the neck," Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence McGann said Friday.

DC RACIAL EQUITY PLAN MAY LAND NATION'S CAPITAL AS DEFENDANT IN COURTROOM: EXPERT

Sophia Negroponte, left, was convicted of second degree murder in the stabbing of former high school classmate, Yousuf Rasmussen, right, in February 2020. On Friday, Negroponte was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the killing.

Negroponte and Rasmussen attended the same Washington high school and had been drinking with another person on the night of the February 2020 stabbing. They argued twice that night, prosecutors said, Fox DC reported.

At one point, when Rasmussen returned to the home to get his phone, Negroponte stabbed him multiple times, including one blow that severed his jugular, authorities said. Negroponte, then 27, was found inside the home covered in blood and lying on top of Rasmussen yelling, "I'm sorry," according to charging documents previously obtained by Fox News Digital.

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She allegedly confessed to the killing to investigators. Defense lawyers argued their client was so intoxicated at the time that she could not have formed specific intent.

John D. Negroponte, Vice Chairman, McLarty Associate attends the forum 'Concordia Americas: Partnering for the Future' at the 2019 Concordia Americas Summit on May 14, 2019 in Bogota, Colombia.

"Alcohol pervades this case from the start; it pervades her life," he said, adding, "and it is absolutely at the heart of what happened there that night. And its one of the major reasons that this is absolutely not a murder," defense attorney David Moyse told jurors.

Sophia Negroponte was one of five abandoned or orphaned Honduran children who John Negroponte and his wife, Diana, adopted after Negroponte was appointed as U.S. ambassador to the Central American country in the 1980s.
The United States launched a massive invasion of the Japanese home island of Okinawa, with an initial landing of 60,000 soldiers and marines, on this day in history, April 1, 1945.

The Battle of Okinawa proved the last major engagement of World War II and the largest battle of the entire war in the Pacific Theater.

Kamikazes, mass civilian suicide, the use of children in combat, the deaths of top-ranking officers and atrocious casualties on both sides defined the nearly three-month-long brutal engagement, which ended in U.S victory on June 22.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, MARCH 31, 1943, OKLAHOMA! DEBUS ON BROADWAY: DEEPLY FELT

Its catastrophic battle had a dramatic impact on the shape of the world to come  convincing President Truman that the atomic bomb would hasten the end of the war and save millions of lives.

"Although the joint Army-Marine Corps landings on Okinawa were initially unopposed, the well dug-in Japanese defenders soon put up fierce resistance," writes the National World War II Museum.

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U.S. landing craft arrive on Okinawa 13 days into the American invasion, which began on April 1, 1945.

"Taking Okinawa would provide Allied forces an airbase from which bombers could strike Japan and an advanced anchorage for Allied fleets. From Okinawa, U.S. forces could increase air strikes against Japan and blockade important logistical routes, denying the home islands of vital commodities."

The conquest of Okinawa, with its population of about 300,000 people, proved a horrific challenge.

"By the time Okinawa was secured by American forces on June 22, 1945, the United States had sustained over 49,000 casualties, including more than 12,500 men killed or missing," reports the National World War II Museum.

It adds, "Okinawans caught in the fighting suffered greatly, with an estimate as high as 150,000 civilians killed"  about half the pre-invasion population of the island.

American war planners were shocked by the fanatical suicides of both civilians on the island and kamikaze pilots attacking U.S. warships supporting the invasion.

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D-DAY 78 YEARS LATER: HOW FDR'S POWERFUL PRAYER UNITED AMERICANS

Many GIs watched in horror as civilians leaped to their deaths over the cliffs of Okinawa, often with their children by their side or in their arms, rather than face U.S. troops.

One area of Okinawa is still known today as Suicide Cliff.

Okinawa, Japan: Eleven Okinawa civilians who were huddled in this hillside cave were rescued when a passing Marine patrol heard a baby crying. After they were assured that no harm would come to them, they emerged from their hideout; here, a leatherneck lends a hand to a mother and baby.

"Many civilians, often entire families, committed suicide rather than surrender to Americans, by some accounts on the orders of fanatical Japanese soldiers," Reuters reported in a 2007 anniversary story of the Battle of Okinawa.

"We were told that if women were taken prisoner we would be raped and that we should not allow ourselves to be captured," one survivor told the news outlet.

"Four of us tried to commit suicide with one hand grenade, but it did not go off."

Japan launched it first kamikaze attacks in 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. But the horrifying suicide onslaught reached its deadliest fever pitch at Okinawa.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, OCT. 25, 1944, FIRST KAMIKAZE SUICIDE PILOTS ATTACK US NAVY IN WORLD WAR II

The Japanese launched 1,900 kamikaze attacks during the Okinawa campaign, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.

A U.S. Marine charges forward through Japanese machine gunfire on Okinawa. Marines and infantry of the U.S. 10th Army controlled three-quarters of Okinawa three weeks after landing on the island.

They struck 149 American ships, leaving nearly 10,000 Americans dead, wounded or missing.

The intense battle claimed the lives of the top-ranking soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

"This was the only battle in the Pacific War [in which] both commanding generals were killed," wrote Michael A. Eyre for Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

"The Japanese commander, General Ushijima, committed harikari and his American counterpart, Lieutenant General Buckner, was killed by mortar fire. Buckner was the highest ranking American officer to be killed in World War II. This demonstrates the significance and ferocity of the fight for Okinawa."

USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikaze pilots during the Battle of Okinawa, Japan 1945.

Perhaps the most famous person killed on Okinawa was celebrity U.S. war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who chronicled the war in both Europe and Asia and won the acclaim of American troops for his front-line reporting.

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The 44-year-old Indiana native was killed instantly when he was shot in the head by enemy machine gun fire on April 18.

"Soldiers built a coffin for their friend and buried him along with the others killed on Ie Shima," reports the Indiana Historical Society.

"About 200 men from all ranks and representing all parts of the armed forces attended the burial service held on April 20, which lasted about 10 minutes."

Famed World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed on Okinawa on April 18, 1945. American troops held a service in his honor two days later.

The impact of the Battle of Okinawa is still being felt today.

"The losses at Okinawa convinced U.S. war planners that any invasion of Japan would incur unacceptable casualties," writes the Imperial War Museum of London.

"Their estimates, at worst as many as 1 million U.S. servicemen, were a key factor in President Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb."
A ferocious storm system tore through the South and Midwest Friday, whipping up deadly tornadoes in Arkansas and Indiana, and collapsing a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois.

Central Arkansas suffered significant damage Friday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, after meteorologists said a tornado touched down in North Little Rock, pummeling buildings and leaving at least three people dead and dozens injured.

State police also confirmed three people were killed in Indiana, and a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killed one person and injured 28 others, five of them severely, the city's fire chief said.

Arkansas declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard on Friday afternoon. At a news conference Friday, Huckabee Sanders said 100 guardsmen had been deployed across the state.

Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm, she said in a separate Twitter post, adding that the town of Wynne, roughly 100 miles northeast of Little Rock, had also seen widespread damage.

A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023. (Andrew DeMillo / AP)

Wynne Police Chief Richard Dennis told NBC affiliate KAIT of Jonesboro, Ark., that the city of roughly 8,000 suffered total destruction.

St. Francis County Coroner Miles Kimble said two people were killed in Wynne. Additional details about their deaths weren't immediately available.

Farther north in Indiana, three people were confirmed dead after a tornado swept through Sullivan County, state police confirmed early Saturday.

There was no indication as to how exactly the individuals died, Sgt. Matt Ames told NBC News, adding that the names of the deceased had not been released.

Several residences had been destroyed and trees had downed onto power lines, he said. He added that no additional injuries had been reported.

Elsewhere in Illinois, Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said approximately 260 people were attending a heavy metal concert at the city's Apollo Theatre when the roof collapsed during a tornado.

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At the time of the collapse, we initiated a large scale response with numerous agencies, he said, adding, There were multiple injuries. There was a fatality.

He said first responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to grapple with downed power lines outside the theater in the city, which is about 70 miles west of Chicago.

Elsewhere, tornadoes moved through parts of eastern Iowa, with sporadic damage. One tornado veered just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa.

Across 10 states more than 530,000 people were without power on Saturday morning, according to poweroutage.us.

The destructive weather came as President Joe Biden toured the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck in Mississippi one week ago and promised the government would help the area recover.

The twister that touched down in North Little Rock on Friday afternoon also damaged Jacksonville and Sherwood, meteorologist Travis Shelton said.

A spokeswoman for the emergency management agency in Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock, said 50 people had been hospitalized. Baptist Health Medical Center was treating 21 people at two facilities in the Little Rock area, with five in critical condition, a spokeswoman for the health system said.

Images from Little Rock and the surrounding area showed battered vehicles, downed power lines, toppled trees and mangled homes. A photo broadcast by NBC affiliate KARK of Little Rock showed a Baskin Robbins where the side of the building appeared to have been sheared off.

Kenneth Bruton was leaving a grocery store when he got in his pickup, looked back and saw the tornado coming over a hill.

I got out of my truck and started running for shelter, Bruton told KARK. The force of the wind knocked him down on his face, he said, but he was able to make it into a salon.

And as I got in, huddled up against the cement barrier, every single glass window blew out, and people were blown back, Bruton said. And I held on. And it must have been a minute just huddled. I thought I was a goner for sure.

The Arkansas State Emergency Operations Center issued a full activation in response to the severe weather Friday afternoon, according to a statement.

Flash flooding from thunderstorms also posed a risk from Midwest to the Lower Mississippi Valley on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The areas with the greatest risk for flooding through Friday night are across the Ohio, Tennessee, and Lower Mississippi valleys.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The ink on Donald Trumps indictment has hardly had time to dry, but already theres a widespread expectation that the former president will turn to a time-honored Trumpian strategy: delay.

By dragging out the proceedings between the indictment and his trial, Trump could push the trial deep into the 2024 presidential campaign  with Trump expected to be the top contender for the Republican nomination.

Trump has spent decades refining tactics for prolonging his legal fights as his lawyers attempt to out-wait and outlast the patience of his adversaries. Though a criminal indictment presents him with a different set of options  and obstacles  than his many previous bouts in civil court, there is still a substantial menu for him to choose from.

If theyre doing their job, theyre going to do everything they can to delay, delay, delay, delay, said Catherine Christian, a 30-year veteran of the Manhattan district attorneys office who is now a defense attorney. Every single motion they can think of. Thats what theyre going to file.



Among the moves that could chew up time: an attempt to dismiss the entire case, a bid to relocate his trial outside of New York City, an effort to disqualify the prosecutor or judge in his case, a bid to move the case from state to federal court, extensive negotiations over security protocols for his appearances in court and a motion to reduce his charges from felonies to misdemeanors.

Trumps lawyers have also signaled they are likely to try to get the judge to pry into the grand jury proceedings, looking to show that the charges lack probable cause or that there was some impropriety in instructing the grand jurors. Such efforts are almost impossible in federal courts, but allowed in New York.

Youd  make a motion to ask for the court to review the grand jury minutes and determine whether or not the D.A. presented legally sufficient evidence, said Michael Scotto, a former chief of the Rackets Bureau in the same Manhattan D.A.s office prosecuting Trump. Its not the lockbox it is in the federal system.

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Ironically, Trump could also cause delay by complaining about the prosecutions own foot-dragging. He can argue that the delay in filing charges over events that occurred about six years ago violates his due process rights under the New York constitution, Scotto added.

The first indication of Trumps posture will likely come Tuesday at his arraignment, when a deadline will be set for various motions in the case. That will be followed by a relatively strict series of adjournment dates for other phases of the case. One of those deadlines arrives in early May: a 35-day post-arraignment deadline for District Attorney Alvin Braggs office to provide all relevant documents and evidence to Trumps defense team. Trumps attorneys are sure to use each of those inflection points to file a new series of motions, Christian said.



The judge expected to preside over Trumps case, Juan Merchan, will no doubt be on the lookout for frivolous efforts to prolong the case, she added.

Under the Sixth Amendment, all criminal defendants have the right to a speedy trial, but many defendants nonetheless seek to postpone their day of reckoning. Buying time would be particularly attractive for Trump because of the legal uncertainty that would arise if he wins the presidential election in November 2024. In that scenario, some constitutional scholars believe the need to serve in office would override the consequences of a conviction, including any prison sentence.

The recently completed criminal trial for the Trump Organization and a related company on tax-related charges took almost 16 months from indictment to opening statements. The Iowa caucuses are in 10 months, and the presidential general election is 19 months away.

After a five-week trial in the Trump Org case, a jury convicted the Trump companies on all 17 felony charges and the judge imposed a $1.6 million fine. That case was held in the same courthouse where Trump is expected to be tried in the hush money case, and was overseen by the same judge.

The new case against Trump, which involves a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, appears to be factually simpler and to involve a smaller set of transactions than the tax case. So prosecutors could try to move it along more swiftly than the tax case.

Last year, Trump managed to delay federal prosecutors efforts to review thousands of documents seized from his home by the FBI by  in essence  suing the federal government. A judge, whom Trump had appointed just before leaving office, supported his bid to appoint a special master to review the matter instead, delaying proceedings for two months before a federal appeals court rebuffed her effort.

Trump may already have briefly delayed his own indictment by sending lawyer Robert Costello to the grand jury to testify last Monday. He emerged to claim that hed intrigued grand jurors with talk of important documents theyd not been shown. Talk of Trumps indictment then fell quiet for a week or so, before the blockbuster announcement Thursday.

Dont be surprised, however, if the initial sounds from Trumps lawyers are about a speedy resolution of the case. Indeed, Trump attorney James Trusty  whos not handling the New York criminal case  said Friday that he expects Trumps team to move quickly for a dismissal of the charges.

I would think in very short order, you'll see a motion to dismiss or several motions to dismiss, Trusty told CNN. It'll be soon. I think this will be something you can expect in days or weeks, not weeks or months.

Defense attorneys often demand a speedy trial at the outset of a case, only to repeatedly press for delays as the trial date nears. Some delays may also be inevitable because of Trumps reelection bid and the slew of other legal entanglements he faces, including two scheduled trials in civil cases and the possibility of more criminal charges from ongoing probes in Georgia and Washington, D.C.



The indictment this week presents unique complications for Bragg and the New York court system, but its not the first time judges and lawyers have had to jockey around a Trump presidential campaign.

When Trump announced his presidential bid in 2015, hed already been mired for more than five years in litigation over claims that his Trump University real estate training program defrauded participants out of tens of millions of dollars in so-called tuition.

In March 2016, as Trump was trouncing his rivals in the Republican primaries, his lawyers pressed a federal judge to delay a trialin the civil fraud case even further.

This will be a zoo if it goes to trial in August, Trump lawyer Daniel Petrocelli told U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

Petrocelli even accused the plaintiffs of timing court filings to inject inflammatory accusations into a presidential debate, and he questioned whether Trump could receive a fair trial in light of the poisoned atmosphere.

Curiel  who faced a series of racist public attacks from Trump  wound up concluding that a trial amid the presidential campaign would be unwise. He set it for after the November election and warned thered be no further delay if Trump won and had obligations related to the transition.

Ten days before that trial was to begin, Trump and his companies agreed to settle the federal suits and another in New York for a total of $25 million.

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said Friday theres zero, zee-ro chance of Trump making a similar deal in the criminal hush money case and pleading guilty. President Trump will not take a plea deal in the case, Tacopina told NBC. Its not going to happen. Theres no crime.



Even before the indictment, Trumps lawyers were in court earlier this month arguing for delay in the high-stakes, civil lawsuit that New York Attorney General Tish James is pursuing against Trump, his businesses and most of his children.

The litigation, filed by James last September after several years of investigation, seeks severe financial penalties and strict limits on the Trump firms and family members due to what the attorney general claims is wide-scale fraud in their insurance, banking and tax dealings.

No previous case, much less one of similar complexity, has been forced through lightning-round discovery and tried at this pace, Trump lawyers complained as they pleaded with Justice Arthur Engoron to push back an Oct. 2 trial date and effectively delay the courtroom showdown into 2024.

Engoron was having none of it, declaring that the October trial date was written in stone. Still, Trump lawyer Christopher Kise seemed to hold out some hope of postponement. Asked about the judges declaration that the trial is definitely happening in October, Kise told Reuters: For now, it is.

That trial, plus the potential for additional criminal indictments of Trump in at least three other ongoing probes  one helmed by a district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, and two by the Justice Departments special counsel Jack Smith  could also scramble the timeline in New York.



Were in a whole new territory here legally, Christian said.

Trumps trial is also expected to require extraordinary security precautions, arrangements that will entail navigating protocols of the Secret Service, the NYPD and the court. When a federal defendant in Washington D.C. recently sought Trumps testimony in an ongoing criminal matter, Trumps attorney pointed to the security nightmare it would cause for the federal courthouse near the Capitol.

The Secret Service, Trump attorney Jesse Binnall wrote, takes countermeasures anytime a former President travels, including controlling environments that may be or may become dangerous or hostile.
Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson paid off more than $3,000 in water and sewer bills to the city after facing criticism over his handling of his personal finances.

The controversy erupted in recent days after it emerged that Johnson owed $3,357.04 in unpaid water and sewer bills and more than $400 for unpaid parking tickets to the city.

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Initially, the Johnson campaign released a statement noting the bills were on a previously established payment plan, and are on schedule to be fully resolved before (he) takes office as our next mayor.

On Friday, Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, released a statement saying hed paid off the debt and attacking rival Paul Vallas.

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Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson speaks to the media after giving a speech to the City Club of Chicago in March. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Like a lot of working families, a few years ago, my family got behind on our water bills and established a payment plan. Were not alone  theres $421 million in unpaid water bills right now because for too long our city has leaned on rate hikes and fees to combat the budget deficit Paul contributed to, Johnson said. I dont want this to be a distraction in the crucial final days of this race, so weve tightened our belt and decided to pay it off now. I have zero debt with the city.

The Vallas campaign released a statement Saturday criticizing Johnson.

Chicago is a $28 Billion enterprise and Brandon Johnsons financial mismanagement coupled with his total lack of executive experience make it hard to believe that he can successfully oversee the citys budget, said Ald. Walter Burnett, a surrogate for the campaign.

The late-breaking controversy is an embarrassment for Johnson, who has accused Vallas of mismanaging school districts across the country but now is facing similar questions.

Johnsons county commissioner campaign had a history of campaign finance violations by Johnson that have led to thousands of dollars in fines. His campaign in February blamed it on clerical errors.
Police are investigating a deliberate fire started at an animal rescue project in Renfrewshire.

The incident happened at about 03:45 on Friday at Lamont Farm in Erskine.

Horses, ducks, sheep, goats, pigs and llamas are among the animals kept at the farm. Police said the noise from distressed animals alerted staff to the fire at a cabin on the property.

Fire crews extinguished the blaze without any animals being hurt. The farm is closed until further notice.

In a statement on social media, Lamont Farm said it was "devastated" by the blaze.

It added: "Luckily any cats that were in the cabin managed to escape and we managed to turn all the horses up to the field to safety, so no animals or humans were harmed - we are so grateful for that.

"We don't know what damage has been caused other than the massive amount of smoke and water damage.

"We know, however, that the cost is going to be high - especially for a small charity like us."

Lamont City Farm, later to become Lamont Farm Project, was founded in 1977 and was the first urban farming scheme of its kind in Scotland.

Police Scotland has issued an appeal to anyone who may have seen or heard something suspicious to get in touch.
Protesters gather outside Trump Tower on Friday, March 31, 2023, in New York. Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday. | Bryan Woolston, Associated Press

People on both sides of the political aisle reacted to the news of former President Donald Trumps indictment. While many Democratic lawmakers were happy to see Trump charged for his part in hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, many in the GOP coalesced around the former president.

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that Trumps attorneys have been contacted to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan DAs Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal, as the Deseret News reported.

This prompted lawmakers on the left, like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to cheer the Manhattan grand jurys decision.

No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence, Pelosi said on Twitter. Hopefully, the former President will peacefully respect the system, which grants him that right.

Schumer in a statement posted to Twitter also indicated that the nations laws should apply equally to Trump, who will now have to avail himself to the legal system, and a jury, not politics, to determine his fate.

He also encouraged Trumps supporters to let the legal proceedings carry on peacefully and according to the law.

Trump, who is a leading GOP contender for 2024 in the polls, was quick to release a reaction video in response to the news of his indictment. Remember this, nothing worth doing ever, ever, ever came easy, he says over recent and decade-old clips of him, as well as photos of people who hes gone up against like Pelosi and former President Barack Obama. He talks about courage and pushing ahead, even when a broken system tells you youre wrong.

Im just standing in their way, and I always will stand in their way, he says.

Former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters after speaking at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport Saturday, March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas. | Nathan Howard, Associated Press

The indictment has led many Republicans to point fingers at the Manhattan DA and his charges. As conservative commentator Saagar Enjeti said on Twitter, Bragg has now united the entire GOP around Trump with potentially the dumbest charge relative to consequence in modern American history.

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Enjeti may be right about uniting the right, starting with Trumps 2024 competition. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said Trumps indictment was more about revenge than justice and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy called it un-American and politically motivated.

The two are on a long list of prominent Republicans who spoke out in Trumps support, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Flordia Gov. Ron DeSantis, both of whom have had a tough relationship with Trump.

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Pence, who may be mulling his run for the presidency, said the unprecedented indictment over the campaign finance issue was an outrage, during an appearance on CNN.

And it appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution thats driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president, he said, referring to Bragg.

People wave to passing cars as they show support for former President Donald Trump one day after he was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, Friday, March 31, 2023, outside Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. | Rebecca Blackwell, Associated Press

DeSantis, who is also expected to run for president in 2024, directly attacked the Soros-backed Manhattan district attorney, who has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct.

CNBC News reporter Ben Collins wrote that Republicans have criticized Braggs ties to billionaire George Soros, who is known for his large donations to progressive district attorneys and his disdain for Trump. But, Soros has never met or spoken to Alvin Bragg, an adviser to the billionaire said.

But Soros gave $1 million to a group that supported Bragg in his election, according to a New York Times fact check.

DeSantis said his state would not help with Trumps extradition, citing the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda.

The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head.



It is un-American.



The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 30, 2023

Attacks on Soros and Bragg also came from other conservative lawmakers, like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Weasley Hunt of Texas.

A Manhattan grand jury at the behest of a weaponized prosecutor; who received a million dollars from Soros, has indicted a former U.S. president, Hunt said. If they can come for him, they can come for you. Our judicial system is not blind or just, it has been weaponized by dangerous people hellbent on remaking our nation into something unrecognizable.

McCarthy, also targeting Bragg, claimed the DA has weaponized our sacred system of justice.

South California Sen. Lindsey Graham chimed in with a joke, saying that for Trump to avoid prosecution, he should smash some windows, rob a few shops and punch a cop, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia said she plans to be in New York on Tuesday to protest the unconstitutional witch hunt.
A day after former President Donald Trump learned he was in fact going to be indicted by a New York grand jury, his employee Devin Nunes told a Fresno radio audience that America had become a police state.

Taking part in Ray Appletons show on radio station KMJ, Nunes  the former Republican congressman from Tulare who also represented Clovis  explained how the corruption of American society had reached a new low with the Trump indictment. The district attorney in Manhattan is expected to formally charge Trump with illegally reporting a business expense that was actually a hush-money payment to a porn star.

This latest total corruption in Manhattan is the uncharted territory of a police state, Nunes said. For lack of a better word, it is a police state.

The hour-long segment with Nunes followed his time-worn script of blasting the Democratic party as being out to destroy America.

Nunes said that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosis wing of the Democratic party was aligned with communists. George Soros, a wealthy Democrat who often backs progressive groups and candidates, was in cahoots with anarchists, Nunes contended.

The two combine efforts to try to control everything and everyone in America, Nunes stated. At one point, Nunes said Soros controls nearly every DA (district attorney) in the U.S. That would be news to Fresno Countys Lisa Smittcamp, who is solidly in the conservative camp.

The confidential, top-secret documents found illegally stored at Trumps Florida estate? That was a U.S. government-run hoax, Nunes said. Theres Biden documents all over America and we havent done jack about them, Nunes said in reference to documents also being discovered at President Bidens home. One key difference: Trump opposed giving documents back, while Biden volunteered the discovery of records in his home.

Nunes was one of the most senior Republicans in the House of Representatives when he abruptly retired at the end of 2021 rather than face re-election in a redrawn district. His final day in office was New Years Day 2022.

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He slid into a new job  leading Trumps new online network called Truth Social. Of the online creation, Nunes said We stand there, in the gap, keeping the internet open, a reference to how Twitter and Facebook banned Trump following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has since been allowed back on those social media platforms.

Appleton so friendly

Over the course of the show, Appleton did not challenge any assertion by Nunes. At one point, they shared how they had enjoyed dinner together a few nights previously. Appleton referred to Nunes several times as my friend.

But the mere fact that Appleton was able to conduct his radio show, and Nunes was a guest on it, without a uniformed official from the police state shutting them down, was immediate proof that there isnt any such thing.

Even more evidence would be the hundreds of thousands of Fresnans  like millions of Americans  who freely went to work, did shopping, sent children to school and enjoyed times with friends on the same day that Nunes was on the radio. No weapon-wielding troops stopped any of those activities.

The Democratic-led police state that Nunes fears so much was neer to be found.

At another point in the show, Nunes said We are now living in a lawless country.

Far from being a lawless nation, America still operates under the rule of law. Trump stands accused, he will be represented and put up a defense, and a jury will determine if he is guilty.

Yes, Trump is the first former president to be indicted. But no one should be above the law. At least, that is what Republicans used to believe.
LANSING  A law firm tasked by Michigan State's Board of Trustees to investigate the forced resignation of former Broad College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta over alleged Title IX reporting failures found then-Provost Teresa Woodruff used disproportionate discipline and may not have had former President Samuel Stanley Jr.'s approval before removing the former dean.

The Board of Trustees hired the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan law firm to investigate Gupta's abrupt dismissal in August and other Title IX concerns over the objections of the administration.

Former Dean Sanjay Gupta of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Gupta was forced out by then-Provost Teresa Woodruff over alleged Title IX violations, most of which were found to be unwarranted, according to an investigation.

Woodruff, now the university's interim president, forced Gupta to resign after determining he failed to report that an administrator in the Broad College was accused of getting drunk at an off-campus party for MBA students and inappropriately touching a student and dancing in a sexually suggestive manner. The alleged incident had already been reported to the Office of Institutional Equity by other MSU staff. Gupta didn't attend the party, according to the report.

Woodruff dismissed Gupta for five reasons: His alleged violation of the policy requiring employees report relationship violence and sexual misconduct; His own failure to investigate an instance of alleged sexual misconduct of a business school leader; that his delay in reporting caused a two-month delay in an Office of Institutional Equity investigation; his failure to notify Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs of the misconduct and the accused leaders request to retire; and failure to prevent an Outside Work for Pay Policy violation for the accused leader.

Quinn Emanuel investigators found Woodruff's reasoning flawed, and that only one allegation against Gupta  his initial failure to report  was valid. Woodruff told investigators she didn't need former President Samuel Stanley Jr.'s approval before pushing Gupta out, but the law firm said university policy clearly required it.

One of the reasons for his dismission, requiring Gupta to investigate the alleged misconduct, would have the then-dean in violation of university policy. Additionally, the expectation that he notify Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs of the misconduct allegations is a role that falls to the Office of Institutional Equity, not a dean, the law firm said.

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Finally, the firm said there's no evidence Gupta knew about request to retire from the school leader accused at the party at the time it was made or that he knew his approval was needed. And "there is insufficient basis to hold Gupta responsible for failing to prevent an Outside Work for Pay Policy violation.

"Moreover, requiring Gupta to take actions that the policies either forbid (i.e. asking follow-up questions to the RVSM Respondent), expressly delegate to another entity (OIE), or do not require his approval as dean (leave for retirement), appears unfair and could create confusion within the University leadership as to which expectations to follow," investigators wrote.

Gupta did not respond to a message from the State Journal. He has previously said he welcomed investigations into the circumstances leading up to his resignation, and he has a lawsuit pending against the school and numerous officials.

Gupta claims in his lawsuit that he was fired and falsely accused of mandatory reporting violations as part of a plan to block him from becoming MSUs next president and to enhance Woodruffs personal ambitions to become president. He denies any violations of policy. He remains a professor with the university.

MSU has said the lawsuit will be "vigorously defended."

Woodruff in a statement did not directly address any of the report's findings.

"The board and the administration share a commitment to the health, safety and well-being of all who are part of our Spartan Community," Woodruff said in a statement. "I, along with others in the administration, have received a copy of the report, and we intend to review it in detail. My commitment to doing what is right and focusing on the long-term success and stability of our institution remains unchanged."

Former Provost and now interim President Teresa Woodruff's reasoning behind a decision to force out former business school Dean Sanjay Gupta drew criticism in a report initiated by the Board of Trustees.

The trustees voted to release a report on the investigation on Feb. 10. The university did so more than a month later, in the wee hours of Friday evening, emailing a news release just after 11 p.m. with the 104-page report and a brief, but unsigned, statement from the board.

The Board of Trustees commissioned a review of the progress within MSUs Title IX office as well as the circumstances surrounding the departure of Sanjay Gupta as dean. We are sharing the results of that review with the public today. This concludes our current engagement with Quinn Emanuel," the board's statement read.

As we move forward, we will continue to have conversations with the universitys administration in pursuit of our shared goal of creating the safest, healthiest, and most respectful environment for our students and employees. Any future action related to topics covered in the review will be handled by MSUs administrative leaders. We will not comment further on this matter.

Stanley publicly supported Woodruff after she forced Gupta out. In the fallout from Gupta's forced departure and in part because of his handling of Title IX issues, trustees Dianne Byrum and Dan Kelly pressured Stanley to resign before his contract was set to expire in 2024. He quit, citing a loss of confidence in the board.

It is not clear whether Stanley approved of Woodruff's actions prior to Gupta's resignation, according to the report.

The report notes that while Gupta, as a deal, was an at-will employee and could be removed at any time, both Stanley and Woodruffs participation was required for Guptas removal or forced resignation under university policy.

Woodruff told investigators she didn't need Stanley's approval. Stanley declined to speak with investigators.

"Based on information provided to Quinn Emanuel by members of the Administration, Woodruff appears to haveconsulted with Stanley several times about the decision, and Stanley made a statement expressing his support. However, Stanley declined an interview, and thus Quinn Emanuel cannot verify whether and to what extent Stanley participated in the decision.

"Woodruffs stated position during her interview - that she had the unilateral right to remove Gupta - is inconsistent with the Bylaws and Guptas offer letter.

Former Michigan State University president Samuel Stanley Jr. quit in 2022, citing a loss of confidence in the Board of Trustees.

Investigators concluded that the "personnel actions taken against Gupta appear disproportionate, out of sequence with the underlying investigation, and based on a factual record that included errors and omissions of relevantinformation and context. Moreover, some of these issues raise broader concerns about the Title IX investigative process itself, as well as the underlying policies under which MSU is operating."

Woodruff, according to the report, told Gupta before he resigned "that deans are the 'ultimate compliance officers' of the University, that Gupta had failed Woodruffs 'own high administrative standards,' and that Gupta 'no longer enjoyed' Woodruffs 'full faith and confidence.'" The firm concluded that alone could, under certain circumstances, support removing him as dean.

Former MSU Trustee Pat OKeefe cited concerns with the circumstances that led to Guptas resignation as part of the reasons why he resigned from the Board of Trustees, according to his letter of resignation he sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Nov. 30.

MSUs Faculty Senate and other faculty leaders have criticized the investigation into Guptas resignation and other Title IX compliance concerns. Other students and faculty have voiced their support for Gupta and slammed Woodruff for her decision to force Gupta to resign.

Gupta's lawsuit was filed on Feb. 24, naming Stanley, Woodruff, Interim Provost Thomas Jeitschko, Title IX Coordinator Nicole Schmidtke, Senior Title IX investigator Allison Towe, interim Associate Provost Ann Austin, and Vice President of Communications Emily Guerrant.

The law firm also made some broad recommendations for better policies involving its Relationship Violence, Sexual Misconduct policies and Title IX investigations. Among those recommendations:

Adding language to encourage witnesses to cooperate with investigations

Implementing a policy that at least two employees who are mandated reporters stay for the duration of events MSU sponsors to promote student safety and increase the likelihood that any violations of the RVSM & Title IX policy are witnessed and reported

Increasing resources for the Office of Civil Rights, to help the Office of Institutional Equity handle the high number of reports it receives, assign two investigators to each investigative interview in line with best practices, allow interviewees to review their interview write-ups for accuracy, and field questions about the scope of mandatory reporting requirements.

Trustees had also accused Stanley of mishandling the required certification of Title IX reports on an annual basis.

Title IX violations can include gender discrimination, sexual violence, sexual harassment, retaliation and hostile work environment. They can involve students or employees.

After the board raised concerns in June of last year, the schools Office of Audit, Risk, and Compliance conducted an audit of the Title IX certification process, according to the report, and found deficiencies. The board hired the Honigman law firm to investigate whether MSU was property certifying is reports.

Honigman's investigation found that the university did not follow state certification guidelines in 2021, which require the president and at least one board member to review each Title IX report involving an employee. Stanley had relied on the university's Title IX office, which gave him incorrect information that led to the improper reporting.

Failing to certify the Title IX reports can result in a loss of 10% of the university's operations funding.

At least some trustees raised concerns about the Title IX review process in 2019 and continued to ask for training and guidance in 2020 and 2021, Honigman's report found.

Quinn Emanuel said the trustees could improve the process by:

Adding deadlines for the submission of Title IX reports to Trustees for review

Using a standardized format for the reports to be prepared so key information is included in all, not just some, reports

Using a checklist for Trustees to evaluate the reports

Creating a formal process for trustees to ask any questions to OIE about the reports including whether referrals to other departments were, in fact, made where referenced; and

Providing training to the trustees on how to review the reports

Quinn Emanuel said it reviewed more than 9,300 documents and did voluntary interviews with 11 people, including Gupta and Woodruff.

The firm also said 22 current or former MSU employees or university community members eitherdeclined or didn't respond to Quinn Emanuels requests for interviews. Among those were key administrators in the Broad College and members of FASA. No one from the Office of Institutional Equity agreed to speak with the firm.

The firm noted that both Woodruff and the Faculty Senate urged the Board of Trustees to halt its investigation during the interview process.

It added that during his interview, Gupta said two other deans may have been treated differently by MSU for violations similar to what the business school dean was accused of. School officials told the law firm that neither dean had faced allegations of a mandatory reporting failure or been the subject of an adverse finding by Office of Institutional Equity, and the trustees told Quinn Emanuel not to further investigate Gupta's allegations.

Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU's discipline of former dean Sanjay Gupta 'disproportionate'
A report released by Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay's office included this body camera image of Dylan Walstrom holding a handgun Dec. 1 while sitting in the front seat of a stolen car and turning toward an approaching Topeka police officer.

A Topeka police officer's quick reflexes and reaction time "appear to be the only reason why he was not himself injured or killed" Dec. 1 when he fatally shot a Topeka man, said Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay.

The officer was approaching Dylan Walstrom, who sat in the driver's seat of a stolen car with the driver's side door open, when he saw Walstrom held a handgun and was turning it toward the officer, said a report by Kagay's office.

The officer quickly closed the gap to keep Walstrom from getting the gun turned all of the way toward him, used his left hand to grab the gun by its slide and struggled with Walstrom to keep it pointed away from him, the report said.

As Walstrom fired a single shot that struck the front driver's side window and rear-view mirror, the officer pulled his own handgun with his right hand and shot Walstrom nine times, killing him, the report said.

Topeka Police Chief Bryan Wheeles holds a press conference Dec. 1 near the site where an officer earlier that morning fatally shot a man who pulled a gun on him.

Threat presented itself very quickly, report says

Kagay compiled the 15-page report after reviewing results of a Kansas Bureau of Investigation probe into the fatal shooting of Lowery, 28, which occurred about 6:50 a.m. Dec. 1 in the alleyway east of the 2000 block of S.W. Lincoln.

Kagay concluded the officer, whose name has not been made public, acted justifiably in firing all nine shots.

He said the district attorney's office won't seek to prosecute the officer criminally

"Toxicology revealed that Walstrom was under the influence of amphetamine, methamphetamine and Delta 9 THC at the time of his death," the report added.

It was accompanied by 17 still photo images, including 11 taken using police body camera as the situation was in progress.

More: Topeka police acted justifiably in firing 34 shots and killing man, DA's report says

What led to the Dec. 1 police shooting?

The officer was on routine patrol when he saw the car, a Chevrolet Aveo, blocking the alleyway where it was parked, said the report by Kagay's office.

It gave this account of what happened next:

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The officer checked the car's license plate with dispatchers and determined it had been reported stolen the previous day.

The officer drew his handgun, approached the car's passenger's side and saw Walstrom asleep in the driver's seat.

The officer knocked on the passenger's side door window and identified himself as a police officer.

Walstrom awoke and unlocked the passenger's side door.

The officer again identified himself as a police officer. He told Walstrom the car was stolen and ordered him to remove the keys from the ignition and place them on the dashboard. Walstrom complied.

The officer then ordered Walstrom to put his hands on his steering wheel.

Instead, Walstrom began digging around in the car's console for his cell phone, and began opening the driver's side door.

The officer holstered his handgun, came around the back of the car on foot and saw Walstrom's door was fully open and Walstrom was looking down. He then saw Walstrom was holding a handgun.

The threat presented itself so quickly that it is difficult to recognize the threat in watching the video at normal speed, the report said.

"Only in slowing the video down, or watching frame-by-frame, can you see what was described by officer," it said. "In the timespan of approximately four seconds, officer comes around the rear of the car, sees the firearm being presented, closes the gap (about half of the length of the car), grabs the firearm with his left hand while it is being discharged, draws his own duty weapon and fires nine times."

More: Topeka police acted justifiably June 24 in fatally shooting man who had knife, D.A. says

Dylan Walstrom served prison time on convictions for drug crime, theft

Walstrom had been on parole since June, according to records posted online by the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Those records said Walstrom had served Kansas prison time for:

 A felony drug crime, committed in September 2016.

 Two convictions for felony theft, one each committed in July 2018 and May 2020.

 Interference with a law enforcement officer, committed in July 2019.

 And fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer by someone who has two or more convictions for that crime, committed in August 2020.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Fatal shooting by Topeka police officer ruled to have been justified
A dark plume of smoke rises from a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that leaked toxic chemicals last month. AP

The Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern on Thursday.

The DOJ said the company violated the Clean Water Act, and are liable to daily fines of about $120,000.

The rail company is already facing lawsuits from East Palestine residents and the state of Ohio.

The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, calling for fines of $120,000 for each day the rail company violated the Clean Water Act in connection to last month's train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

In the suit filed Thursday, the DOJ said Norfolk Southern should be found liable for the costs of the EPA's cleanup, as well as damages caused by hazardous materials spilling into waterways and burning for days, releasing dangerous chemicals into the air and water.

The DOJ also called on the company to update its safety measures to ensure hazardous materials are transported safely going forward.

"With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

A Norfolk Southern spokesperson told Insider the company is working closely with authorities and "making daily progress" in an effort to "make it right."

"Our job right now is to make progress every day cleaning up the site, assisting residents whose lives were impacted by the derailment, and investing in the future of East Palestine and the surrounding areas," the spoikesperson said.

The spokesperson also directed Insider to company websites detailing the progress of the cleanup, including its pledge of $28 million for the East Palestine community in the aftermath of the accident.

The DOJ called for the company to be fined $64,618 per day because one section of the act was violated, and another $55,808 per day (or $2,232 per barrel of oil or unit of hazardous material) for violations of a separate section. It is not yet determined how many days Norfolk Southern is liable for and if the government considers the violations to be ongoing.

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Norfolk Southern also faces lawsuits from residents who were affected by the evacuation and the state of Ohio, as Attorney General Dave Yost announced a lawsuit last month accusing the company of violating state laws regarding hazardous waste and pollution.

"No community should have to go through what East Palestine residents have faced," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement. "With today's action, we are once more delivering on our commitment to ensure Norfolk Southern cleans up the mess they made and pays for the damage they have inflicted as we work to ensure this community can feel safe at home again."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Less than two hours after his indictment became public, former President Donald Trumps fundraising machine sent out an email to supporters on his behalf loaded with extremist rhetoric and antisemitic tropes.

"The Deep State will use anything at their disposal to shut down the one political movement that puts YOU first, Trump wrote in the email, a reference to a conspiracy theory about a network of people working inside the federal government to exercise power over ordinary people.

Trump also attacked Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, whose office was responsible for bringing the case to the grand jury, as being funded by George Soros, a major donor to Democratic causes and a popular target of anti-Semitism on the far-right, including in his birth country of Hungary.

Recap: Grand jury indicts Donald Trump in New York, first time a former president is charged criminally

Fact check: Donald Trump ties George Soros to Alvin Bragg. Experts say connection is mischaracterized

In the hours that followed, Trump sent out at least three other fundraising emails about the indictment, according to a review of an archive at politicalemails.org. All used the same tone, selected all-caps words, and rhetoric as fundraising emails he sent in the roughly two weeks since he told supporters he expected to be arrested.

They're loaded with antisemitic language, some of which has been used in the past to validate violence against Jews, said Kurt Braddock, a public communication professor at American University. There's no other way to describe it  he's using anti-Jewish stereotypes and historical hatred to raise money.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg leaves his office as the grand jury continues to hear evidence against former President Donald Trump on March 22, 2023 in New York City.

Braddock pointed to language pinning Braggs activity on Soros and presenting Soros as a shadowy financier that feeds into anti-Semitic tropes related to Jews and money, and references to Soros as part of a globalist cabal. The QAnon conspiracy theory is based around the idea of a shadowy cabal going after Trump.

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The fundraising emails in question all asked for money to go to an account that splits money between Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and a fund called Save America, which has raised more than $100 million and paid many of the same top-tier lawyers who represent him. Several of those lawyers have sent out statements defending him.

The woman at the center of it all: Stormy Daniels said she'd dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she's sad it happened

"A former president, a current candidate and my friend President Donald J. Trump is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history," wrote Alina Habba, whose firm Habba Madaio & Asociates received just under $2 million from Save America in 2022. "He will be vindicated."

A spokesman for Trump did not return a request for comment.

On Friday night, Trump's campaign sent out a statement saying the campaign raised $4 million in the 24 hours since news of his indictment became public. The statement said 25% of those donations came from first-time donors and again called Bragg a "Soros-funded prosecutor."

A USA TODAY review of Braggs campaign finance disclosures with the New York State Board of Elections did not reveal Soros has personally donated to Braggs campaign. Soros did donate $1 million to a political action committee called Colorofchange in May 2021, according to Open Secrets.

In this May 29, 2018, photo, philanthropist George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the European Council On Foreign Relations Annual Meeting in Paris.

That donation came about a week after the PAC pledged to spend over one million dollars to reach out directly to voters in support of Bragg, and in the middle of a hotly contested Democratic primary for the open Manhattan District Attorney seat. One of Braggs opponents donated more than $8 million to her own campaign, according to New York Magazine.

Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, said that Soros has never "met, spoken with, or otherwise communicated with" Bragg, and has supported "reform-minded prosecutors" across the country since 2015. Vachon said that Soros personally and his affiliated Democracy PAC have donated $4 million to Colorofchange between 2016 and 2022, including the May 2021 donation, but "none of those funds were earmarked for Braggs campaign."

Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter

Fundraising off controversy is nothing new for Trump: Six months ago, he revved up his pitches after the FBI searched his home in Mar-a-Lago. Hes also been openly embracing QAnon, the same movement that drove many followers to the Capitol on Jan. 6, at his rallies.

Time will tell how successful he is. Trumps presidential campaign raised just $3.8 million through the end of 2022. Public information on his latest fundraising is due to the Federal Election Commission on April 15. His affiliated PACs are due to file similar information July 31.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump using antisemitic tropes to get donations after indictment
A New York grand jurys decision to indict former President Donald Trump has certainly made me like him better. But Im going to have to learn exactly how indicted he is before deciding whether hell get my vote in the GOP presidential primary.

Dont get me wrong, Trumps new status as the first former president ever charged with a crime is impressive  a real feather in his MAGA cap when it comes to voters like myself whose reasoning makes perfect sense.

But Im not one of those naive folks who just run off with the first candidate to get charged in connection with an alleged hush money payment to an adult film star. No, before I decide who Im willing to trust the future of my country to, I need to make sure that person has been REALLY indicted. Hopefully multiple times.

Live updates: Trump court appearance set for Tuesday afternoon; Trump 'shocked' by indictment

Trump's indictment has Republicans rallying

Now that doesnt mean Im unfaithful to Trump. Like a number of high-profile Republicans, Im treating his indictment like its the worst thing that has ever happened to America. And Im wisely doing that before seeing the indictment, the charges themselves and the testimony and other information that convinced a grand jury, made up of regular people doing their civic duty, that a former president should be criminally charged.

Former President Donald Trump indicted in New York on criminal charges

As former Vice President Mike Pence told CNN: I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage. It appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution.

And Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said: From a political point of view, its going to solidify Trumps standing in the Republican Party.

What is a grand jury?: Here's what to know about the jury that voted to indict Trump.

There's no way our defense of Trump following his indictment will blow up in our faces

I agree with those thoughts, and theres definitely no chance well all end up looking bad once the actual evidence against Trump is revealed. That would be ridiculous! (Pardon me a moment, I need to submerge my face in a pie and then wonder why I have pie on my face.)

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So Im mad about the indictment, but the measure of how much the indictment increases my support of Trump as a candidate remains to be seen.

A flag decorated with the name of former President Donald Trump waves in the wind attached to a stars-and-stripes decorated vehicle parked on the bridge portion of Southern Boulevard leading to Mar-A-Lago, the former president's residence on Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Palm Beach, FL. On Thursday, a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict Trump in connection with an alleged payment of hush money to adult actress Stormy Daniels in 2016.

For example, how many counts are in the indictment? Is it just a couple measly charges, or will he be facing dozens? I dont want a commander-in-chief who has only been lightly indicted. That could be a sign of weakness, or perhaps an indication he has not done enough to own the libs.

What is an arraignment?: What the legal proceeding means following Trump's indictment

What if another GOP candidate has more or better indictments?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been working overtime to own the libs in his state  fighting with Disney, flying migrants to Marthas Vineyard, being mean to teachers  so what if he suddenly gets indicted and its a bigger indictment than Trumps?

Heck, there could be a potential candidate out there we havent heard of yet, maybe someone whos going to be indicted for allegedly paying hush money to TWO adult film stars. If I consider Trumps indictment a vile political prosecution, Id have to consider that other theoretical candidates double-indictment even worse. Thats just math.

Stormy Daniels, an adult film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is central to the case Manhattan prosecutors are building against former President Donald Trump.

Trump vs. DeSantis: To keep pace with Trump, DeSantis needs a looming indictment for the clout

We just need to wait and see if Trump's campaign has the additional indictments needed to win

The point is, Id feel like a real fool if I had already thrown my support behind the former president only to have someone more indicted come along as the clear peoples champion.

Thats basic political common sense.

So while Im outraged beyond measure at a thing I have no way of fully understanding, and while I wholly support Trump and believe hes being martyred by socialists, Im holding out hope that more indictments will come from the numerous other criminal investigations he's facing.

Robert Hoatson of West Orange, N.J. holds signs outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse March 30, 2023, after a grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump in connection with allegations of paying hush money to a former porn actress.

If Trump was to nab an indictment for violating the Espionage Act by hiding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, my support for him would skyrocket.

If the Fulton County district attorney in Georgia indicted him on racketeering charges relating to his alleged efforts to overturn the states presidential election results? Well, in my book, thatd be a slam dunk for his candidacy.

New York case against Trump one of many: Trump's indictment is first-ever for a former president. Three more are also possible.

I pledge to support whichever GOP presidential candidate garners the most indictments

Time will tell. As much as Id love to join the masses in the Republican Party hoisting Trump on a pedestal for this New York indictment, Im going to have to take a healthy pause.

Its only fair to give the others who decide to run for the GOP nomination a fair shake.

May the most indicted candidate win!

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

More from Rex Huppke:

Elon Musk is taking away my blue check mark on Twitter. Who am I if not notable?

Would today's GOP try to ban Mister Rogers for being woke? Probably.

Blaming Silicon Valley Bank collapse on diversity or 'wokeness' gives away Republican game

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What does Trump indictment mean? Nothing. He's still has GOP support
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on July 26, 2022, in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer / Staff / Getty Images

Trump's digital trading card NFTs soared in value to nearly $1,700 USD following his indictment.

Trump became the first former president to face criminal charges when a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict.

Trump is likely to surrender to the Manhattan DA's office on Tuesday, his attorney previously told Insider.

Donald Trump's digital trading card NFTs have spiked in value, with the highest sale at nearly $1,700 following his indictment in the Manhattan district attorney's investigation.

According to Newsweek, the floor price of Trump's NFT trading cards was 0.41 Ethereum (ETH), or about $748 USD, on March 30 when Trump was indicted.

As of publication on April 1, the floor price ticked up 1.9% to $967.38, or 0.5299 ETH, according to NFT Price Floor, a site that indexes and complies data on NFT trading and marketplaces.

Trump's NFTs had an average sale of 0.5737 ETH, or roughly $1,000  rising 1.45% in the last 24 hours. The highest sale soared to 0.9298 ETH, which equates to nearly $1,700  an increase of 10.16% in the same period, according to the site.

The New York grand jury voted to indict Trump on Thursday after weeks of hearing evidence in the investigation of hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

The historic indictment made Trump the first former US president to be charged with a crime, though he has long called the investigation a political witch hunt by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Trump faces over 30 charges in the indictment, according to a CNN report.

Trump's campaign on Friday also said it had raised more than $4 million within 24 hours following news of the indictment. The campaign said that over 25% came from first-time donors and that the average contribution was $34, signaling "that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponization of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor."

Officials from the DA's office wanted Trump, who is due in court by April 4, to surrender on Friday, but his lawyers argued that Secret Service needed additional time to plan his escort. Trump attorney Joe Tacopina previously told Insider that Trump is likely to surrender to the Manhattan DA's office on Tuesday.

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In the days leading up to his indictment, Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024, had been confident that an indictment would be weeks away, and Thursday's indictment took him and his staffers by surprise, according to The Washington Post. The former president had been joking about "golden handcuffs" in the days prior to the indictment and seemed "deflated" and "irritated" after the historic indictment was announced.

On Wednesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had "SUCH RESPECT" for the grand jury, which would vote to indict him about 24 hours later. Trump then changed his tune, saying he had been indicted by "Thugs and Radical Left Monsters," adding that the United States has become "A NATION IN SERIOUS DECLINE."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Tanya Brown is all too familiar with domestic violence.

Not only did she experience it firsthand, but she lost her older sister, Nicole Brown Simpson, to domestic violence, Brown said Thursday. Simpson, 35, was the ex-wife of football player O.J. Simpson, who was accused of stabbing Nicole and waiter Ron Goldman to death in June 1994. He was acquitted of the criminal charges in in October 1995 but was found civilly liable for the killings in 1997.

Brown was 24 when her sister was killed. Now, at 53, Brown is an author and motivational speaker who advocates for mental health and support for domestic violence survivors. She visited Methodist University on Thursday to speak to an Introduction to Criminal Justice class and participate in a candlelight vigil for domestic violence victims.

Nicole's battle

Nicole Brown Simpson's sister, Tanya Brown, speaks to a criminal justice class at Methodist University on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

Brown spoke in detail to the small class of students about her sisters battle with domestic violence at Simpsons hands. Simpson was convicted in 1989 of misdemeanor spousal abuse, punching and kicking Nicole and threatening to kill her, The Los Angeles Times reported in 1994.

Brown said Thursday that Simpson targeted everything her sister loved, even throwing her beloved cat out of their car as they traveled on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Tactics like those are common with abusers, Brown said.

They will hurt, they kill anything that means the most to you, she said. Its all about power and control.

Brown described the cycle of violence common with abusive partners. The first phase is the tension phase, she said, during which there are no threats, but tension builds between the abuser and the future victim. Next comes the explosion of anger, followed by a honeymoon period in which the abuser promises to do better and showers their victim with affection and gifts, Brown said.

Throughout her talk, Brown emphasized the commonality of domestic violence.

If you walk the face of this earth, it can happen to you, she said firmly.

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In her sisters case, Brown said, she was too young to recognize the abuse Nicole suffered but faced the truth after her death. She didnt believe Simpson was responsible for the killings until DNA evidence from the crime scene was tied to him, she said.

Brown provided the students with handouts describing the sneaky seven characters, representing the seven common types of abusers. The most dangerous type, she said, is the isolator, someone who isolates their victim from loved ones. Brown characterized O.J. Simpson as the pseudo parent abuser, someone who masquerades as the perfect parent but has a darker side.

Too close to home

Nicole Brown Simpson's sister, Tanya Brown, speaks to a criminal justice class at Methodist University on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

The main topic of Browns visit, domestic violence, hits all too close to home in Fayetteville, where homicides tied to domestic violence have steadily increased over the past three years. According to data provided by the Fayetteville Police Department, the city saw four domestic-related homicides in 2020, five in 2021 and nine in 2022.

That is not surprising, Brown said in a Thursday interview, noting that in the 28 years since her sisters death, she has seen rates of domestic violence ebb and flow.

Though she couldnt speak to on the number of homicides tied to domestic violence, Brown said she does keep an eye on the number of reports of domestic violence filed by victims.

When those numbers go up, I celebrate, because theyre talking about it, she said. At least theyre reaching out.

Related: How LGBTQ victims of domestic violence can get help in Cumberland County

Reaching out is something Brown repeatedly emphasized throughout her talk, encouraging students to let community members know they werent alone and highlighting the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 800-799-SAFE (7233).

Dont be a Nicole, Brown said. Had Nicole reached out, had Nicole not moved two miles away from her perpetrator, had she gone into a shelter, gone into hiding, did everything right and safe  shed be here today.

Those experiencing domestic violence should remember they arent simply experiencing a rocky relationship or a partner just having a bad day, she added.

Its a potential murder case, Brown said. Pick up that phone, because if he did it once, hes gonna do it again, and its only gonna get worse.

Anyone experiencing domestic violence can get help by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or the CARE Family Violence Program Crisis Line at 910-677-2532. Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.

Subscribe today to support local journalism and enjoy unlimited digital access including videos, apps, sports news, and more. Special introductory offer for new subscribers only.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Methodist University students talk domestic violence with Tanya Brown
Less than a week before the mayoral runoff election between Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, three CTU members filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the union.

Questioning the unions approximately $2.2 million in donations to Johnsons campaign for mayor, the complaint alleges CTU breached its duty of fair representation to its members in using membership dues for political purposes, contrary to a policy stated in the unions member handbook. Hancock High School teacher Froylan Froy Jimenez, who recently failed to advance to the runoff in his bid to become 11th Ward alderman, is among the complainants.

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Aldermanic candidate Froy Jimenez speaks during an aldermanic forum at Pui Tak Center in Chicagos Chinatown neighborhood on Jan. 26, 2023. Jimenez did not advance to the runoff election for the 11th Ward seat. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Membership dues should be used to guarantee our contract and ensure safe and fair working conditions, Jimenez wrote in a news release. Our hard-earned money should not be used as fuel for political campaigns without the proper consent of individual members.

Jimenez is a former co-chair of the CTU Political Action and Legislative Committee, and is former state legislative staffer for U.S. Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia and indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. A Twitter account under Jimenezs name frequently retweets Vallas critique of his opponent and other posts critical of Johnson, a Cook County commissioner and former teacher.

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The union of around 26,000 members said in an emailed statement that an overwhelming vote by its governing body, the CTU House of Delegates, authorized an endorsement, and human and financial resources in support of Johnsons campaign.

Despite this democratically-ratified decision, a small group of Union members have turned to former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauners chief labor counsel, Jack (Vrett), to present this frivolous claim to the IELRB, the CTU statement said. Vrett is the attorney who filed the complaint Thursday with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

Ahead of a city election that will determine so much for this city and its working families, the union described the matter as regrettable and frivolous, adding: Generally, the Union can spend its money any way it chooses, provided its expenditures are authorized under the Union Constitution.

The complaint seeks to compel CTU to cease and desist from using membership dues for political purposes, to repay loans made by the union to its political committees and provide an accounting of all expenditures of membership dues directed toward political activity.

Some union members had already voiced opposition to CTU loaning dues money to its political action fund to support Johnson and its favored aldermanic candidates.
Adam Riding

It's a laugh from the moment it pulls into the paddock. This is a Arizona Motorsports Park, a race track, a land for serious machines. There's a GR Corolla and a Civic Type R in the pits, looking menacing as F-35s and French Mirages from Luke Air Force Base scream overhead. Then the green, six-wheeled Jeep shows up.

It's a project of Wesley Kagan, and arguably his origin story. The mild-mannered tinkerer is bound to become an automotive folk hero. At 25, his projects so far include fitting a homebrewed version of Koenigsegg's Freevalve technology to a beater Miata, turning a used Porsche Boxster into a Sixties-style F1 car, and a do-it-yourself active suspension system. But today he's driving the bright green Jeep that started it all.



Green, I should say, doesn't quite cover it. The color is a home-improvement-store paint match of Lamborghini's Verde Mantis, a fitting choice for something as extroverted as this.

Adam Riding

The original idea was to make a Jeep pickup truck. Kagan had the TJ Jeep, the first car he bought after turning 16, and plenty of ambition. He'd learned metal working, wrenching, and improvising skills working under his dad, who runs a construction company. He'd come home with some broken tool or project idea, and set Wesley to work. Seeing as his hometown of Westcliffe, Colorado had just 495 residents, there wasn't much else to do. By his early twenties, he was ready to take on a custom auto body project like a Jeep pickup conversion.

Kagan, however, isn't one for imitation. And while the Gladiator didn't exist when he completed this build, the Jeep pickup certainly did. Even ignoring the factory-built Comanche, there were plenty of converted TJs roaming around. Inspired by the Mercedes G63 6x6 and ambitious to his core, Kagan set out to build something unique.

Adam Riding

"The six by six part just kind of got added on, because I was like, 'I'm converting it over anyways, I want to do something completely different,'" Kagan told Road & Track. "It was just a really good platform to work with, everything on it is super simple to work with."

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Kagan bought a second frame and another factory axle for the Jeep. He welded the two frames together, extending the overall frame length by 16 inches, and moved the factory fuel tank back. He topped it with a custom bed, built alongside his dad using a metal brake and some 14-gauge steel for the bed walls and fenders. The bed rails are simple steel tubes welded to the walls, and the bed floor is made out of sealed 2x4s. From the back of the cab forward, it's a standard Wrangler. Simple stuff.

Adam Riding

The messy part was getting drive to all six wheels. The Jeep came with factory four-wheel drive, driving what are now the front and middle wheel sets. But it's not a 6x6 if only four of the wheels are powered. Kagan solved this with an early NP205 divorced transfer case out of a '68 Dodge, flipped backwards. So the "input shaft" (which is the output shaft in the 205's stock application) takes power from the Jeep's transfer case and, depending on whether it's engaged or not, sends power to either the middle two wheels or all four of the rear wheels.

You control this gear-driven box with a hefty lever shoehorned between the front seats. Whether the front axle receives power is controlled by the stock Jeep transfer case, which is also how you shift the whole thing into low range. The end result is a Jeep that can drive in two-wheel-, six-wheel, or two separate versions of four-wheel-drive (front two sets of wheels or rear two sets.) Low range works with the front two axles or all three axles engaged.

Adam Riding

Engaging the rearmost axle takes some work. The lever requires a proper shove, and even then you often need to rock the truck back and forth on throttle to fully engage or disengage the rearmost axle. Get it in though and you get true six-wheel drive, with LSDs on the outboard axles and an e-locker in the middle. The longer bed and extended wheelbase means it isn't as nimble as a stock TJ, but it's got a lot of traction to work with on the slippery stuff.

"It's been up and over Four Peaks," Kagan told us, referring to a 38-mile off-road trail outside Phoenix. He hasn't pushed it to its absolute limit, but he's comfortable in what it can do.

It's not hard to see why. From the driver's seat, the 6x6 feels substantial, capable, andmost of allsilly. On a dirt trail around Arizona Motorsports Park, the Jeep bounds up sandy inclines and crashes through desert scrub brush with a satisfying sense of invulnerability. Kagan couldn't care less about its paint or bodywork, and told our photographer that he'll stop backing up when he hits something, so I don't feel bad clipping a bush as I turn the overstretched Wrangler around.

Adam Riding

There are rough edges, of course. I feel scrubbing in tight turns, and some unpleasant drivetrain grumbles as I engage or disengage the rear axle. But there's a fundamental compatibility here. In something like a G-Wagen, you expect a degree of polish. This, however, is a two-decade-old Wrangler with 112,000 miles. Groaning and shaking are expected. The beauty is, you know it can take it.

And boy, this one can. Wesley converted the Jeep at around 90,000 miles, and then daily drove it for years. Over all that time, nothing related to his modifications has gone wrong. The four-liter still plods away with a satisfying grunt, though Wesley encourages me to shift around 3000 rpm. It's part mechanical sympathy, part practicality.

Adam Riding

"With these four-liters, you don't get much more above three grand," he says.

Pulling onto a two-lane highway, I certainly feel the 4.0 straining. The TJ wasn't fast from the factory, and Kagan estimates that the conversion added about 1000 lbs to the Jeep's curb weight. It's good enough, so long as the drivers behind you are a patient bunch.

Get up to speed and you can see where the conversion has compromised the Jeep. Kagan notes that steep driveline angles cause some drivetrain vibration at high speed. The sway bar delete is the more noticeable issue, as the 6x6 is even more ponderous than the stock truck.

"She swims a little bit. It's a straight-axle jeep with no sway bar," Kagan says.

Driving it, then, is work. It's a long, heavy truck with an overworked engine, a large turning circle, and vague controls. None of it makes sense. Perhaps that's why I can't help but smiling behind the wheel. Driving isn't supposed to be serious business. It's supposed to be fun. In a lime green, six-wheeled Jeep that takes plenty of steering to go straight, it always is.

Adam Riding

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Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints waves to attendees after a BYU devotional at the Marriott Center in Provo on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Elder Holland tested positive for COVID. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was not at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City as the 193rd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began with the Saturday morning session.

President Dallin H. Oaks opened the session by announcing that Elder Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was absent due to COVID.

At 10:05 a.m., Elder Holland tweeted that he and his wife, Sister Patricia Holland, both tested positive for COVID and are not able to attend this weekend.

We will be watching together, hand-in-hand, at home.

Pat and I love being with you at general conference. Unfortunately, we both tested positive for Covid and are not able to attend this weekend. We will be watching together, hand-in-hand, at home. Like you, I express my gratitude for the Savior this Palm Sunday weekend.  Jeffrey R. Holland (@HollandJeffreyR) April 1, 2023

On the eve of Palm Sunday, Elder Holland continued with a message about Jesus Christ.

I express my gratitude for the Savior this Palm Sunday weekend. I hope you will join me in recognizing and appreciating that all sins and sorrows, all disappointment and depression, all temptation and all tears may be put behind us through the divinity, atoning sacrifice, and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Elena Rybakina is playing with house money after saving a match point in her third-round victory over Spains Paula Badosa in the Miami Open Masters 1000 tournament.

Dont bet against this rising star with the booming serve, who kept the arduous Sunshine Double sweep alive in a multiple rain-delayed 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 semifinal victory over No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the top-ranked American from Boca Raton, late Thursday evening.

Twice Pegula served for the first set but was broken, and then 3-0 in the second set, only to see her lead evaporate under Rybakinas pinpoint groundstrokes.

Its really difficult because of different conditions in these two weeks and by the matches you could see that its much more difficult for me here than Indian Wells, said Rybakina, 23, ranked seventh but seeded 10th, who avenged a loss to Pegula in a Round-of-32 match in Miami last year.

Its just the finals, still close, but at the same time far. The Sunshine Double [Indian Wells Masters 1000 and Miami], I try my best and, hopefully, I can make it.

If so, Rybakina would be the fifth woman to accomplish the difficult double, joining Steffi Graf (1994, 96), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022).

Rybakina didnt find out who her opponent in Saturdays 3 p.m. final (mens doubles final at 12:30 p.m.) would be until late Friday afternoon when future Hall of Famer and 16th-seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic outlasted unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 7-5, 6-4 in a rain-postponed semifinal between 30-somethings longtime rivals.

The final will pit two of the WTAs most powerful servers, with Rybakina leading all women with 212 aces in 2023. During this fortnight, Rybakina has slammed 10 or more aces in all five matches, a feat last achieved by Serena Williams, arguably the greatest server of all time, when she did it at the 2016 Wimbledon.

Rybakina and Kvitova are 1-1 in two meetings, with the Czech winning 6-3, 7-5 in Adelaide, an Australian Open tuneup in January, but Rybakina did beat the fellow 6-footer in Ostrava on Kvitovas home turf last year.

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Both [Cirstea and Kvitova] are hitting hard, aggressive, and have very good shots, said Rybakina, who has won four titles, including the 2022 Wimbledon and Indian Wells. Against Petra, I played in the beginning of the year and she played really well, but it was much faster courts there. I think its going to be different.

Kvitova, 33, who won 13 of her 14 service games in her quarterfinal victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, has won 29 titles, including eight WTA 1000s.

Shes a big hitter, a big server as well; Im the same, so it depends on how we handle the pressure from the opponent, Kvitova said.

Cirstea, 32, was up 5-2, 0-30 on Kvitovas serve, and then 5-4, 40-15 in the first set when maybe she realized it had been 10 years since she was in a similar position in the Toronto 1000 final. She allowed the more experienced big-match Kvitova reel off 10 consecutive points and seven games straight to put a stranglehold on the match.

She came up with some very good returns on those points, said Cirstea, who finished a resurgent month with a quarterfinal berth at Indian Wells and the semis here. That was the moment that changed the momentum of the match. From there she went more for her shots, starting swinging freely and I started to be more careful.

Im sad about today because I had my chances, but Im leaving with a smile on my face.

The 74th-ranked Cirstea, once ranked 21st in 2014, was the fifth lowest-ranked player to reach Miami semis.

The powerful left-handed Kvitova broke immediately to start the second set and didnt allow a break point all set, before punctuating her first trip to a Miami final in 13 appearances with an unreturnable serve.

She missed a little bit, said Kvitova, whose return game was the difference, winning 65 percent of Cirsteas soft second serves. After that I kept the momentum on my side and served better.

Rybakina, a Russian native who began playing for Kazakhstan in 2018 for their federations financial support, has won 13 matches in a row, that discounts a walkover loss to Coco Gauff in the Dubai 500 last month due to lower back pain. She has admitted being mentally and physically drained from her monthlong, amazing run, but always seems to play better when shes down.
Elon Musk is CEO of Tesla. Getty Images

Elon Musk broke labor law with a 2018 tweet about Tesla employees' stock options, a court ruled.

The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Musk threatened staff in the wake of a unionization drive.

It also upheld the reinstatement by Tesla of a worker fired for leading unionizing efforts.

Elon Musk broke federal labor laws when he threatened to strip stock options from employees if they unionized, an appeals court has ruled.

The 5th Circuit US Court of Appeals upheld a previous ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that found Musk had made unlawful threats pertaining to employee remuneration.

The charge came in response to a 2018 tweet when Musk responded to a user who asked him about his views of unions. The action was brought by the United Auto Workers after staff tried to unionize at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California.

"Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare," Musk tweeted.

Tesla argued that because Musk said there was nothing stopping Tesla workers joining a union, it couldn't be regarded as a threat.

However, the 5th Circuit court sided with the NLRB's initial ruling.

"Because stock options are part of Tesla's employees' compensation, and nothing in the tweet suggested that Tesla would be forced to end stock options or that the UAW would be the cause of giving up stock options, substantial evidence supports the NLRB's conclusion that the tweet is as an implied threat to end stock options as retaliation for unionization," the panel wrote in its conclusion.

The New Orleans-based court also ordered Musk to delete the tweet, Reuters reported.

The court also upheld an order that Tesla should reinstate Richard Ortiz, a worker who was fired after organizing a union drive at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California. He will receive backpay following his unlawful dismissal.

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Shawn Fain, the UAW's president, welcomed the rulings but said: "Here is a company that clearly broke the law and yet it is several years down the road before these workers have achieved a modicum of justice."

The NLRB previously ruled against Tesla last year when the carmaker prevented employees from wearing clothes bearing union insignia.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Elon Musk asked a U.S. judge on Friday to throw out a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

In an evening filing in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Musk and his electric car company Tesla Inc called the lawsuit by Dogecoin investors a "fanciful work of fiction" over Musk's "innocuous and often silly tweets" about Dogecoin.

The lawyers said the investors never explained how Musk intended to defraud anyone or what risks he concealed, and that his statements such as "Dogecoin Rulz" and "no highs, no lows, only Doge" were too vague to support a fraud claim.

"There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion," Musk's lawyers said. "This court should put a stop to plaintiffs' fantasy and dismiss the complaint."

In a footnote, the lawyers also rejected the investors' claim that Dogecoin qualified as a security.

The investors' lawyer, Evan Spencer, said in an email: "We are more confident than ever that our case will be successful."

Investors accused Musk, the world's second-richest person according to Forbes, of deliberately driving up Dogecoin's price more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash.

They said this generated billions of dollars of profit at other Dogecoin investors' expense, even as Musk knew the currency lacked intrinsic value.

Investors also pointed to Musk's appearance on a "Weekend Update" segment of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" where, portraying a fictitious financial expert, he called Dogecoin "a hustle."

The $258 billion damages figure is triple the estimated decline in Dogecoin's market value in the 13 months before the lawsuit was filed.

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Dogecoin Foundation, a nonprofit, is also a defendant and seeking the lawsuit's dismissal.

Musk's posts on Twitter, which he owns, have prompted multiple lawsuits.

He won a court victory on Feb. 3 when a San Francisco jury found him not liable for tweeting in August 2018 that he had arranged financing to take Tesla private.

The case is Johnson et al v. Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05037.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by William Mallard)
Cassandra Peterson, famed for her role as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, has said her former home in Los Angeles was haunted and claimed to have seen spectres while living there.

The actor said she warned Brad Pitt about the paranormal activity before he purchased the 1.9-acre property from her 30 years ago, but instead of being scared, he loved it.

Pitt bought the mansion in 1994 for a reported US1.7m and recently sold it for around US$40m. It comes as a number of Hollywood stars were rushing to sell their multi-million dollar properties before the citys new mansion tax comes into force.

Peterson, 71, said that during her early meetings with Pitt about the mansion, she would warn him about a lot of weird things [that] have been going on there in the house since we moved in.

He was very excited about that, she told People. He thought that was really cool.

The horror hostess detailed the ghostly encounters she and ex-husband Mark Pierson had while living there: Ive seen people walking around upstairs, for example, real people just walking.

One time, [a ghost was] sitting downstairs in front of the fireplace, once walking into my bedroom and back out.

Another time, she claimed she saw a person floating around at the bottom of the pool.

I know it sounds nutty. Im Elvira. I know you expect that from me, right? Peterson joked, adding: I dont have hallucinations, I wasnt high and I cant explain those things.

Cassandra Peterson better know as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, poses next to a mannequin wearing the original dress from Elviras Movie Macabre during the media preview of Juliens Auctions year end event Icons and Idols: Hollywood in Beverly Hills on November 29, 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

She and Pierson had a priest come to perform an exorcism on the house, she told the publication.

I had all kinds of things because it was really getting to a point of like, I dont know if I can continue to live here, she continued.

But Pitt was unfazed by her experiences, she said. We were telling Brad all about that and he loved it. I mean, there are not many buyers who that would be a selling point for, but he was like, Oh, thats so awesome. I love that he appreciated the house so much.

The Babylon star and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie raised their six children in the LA mansion, after two years of marriage. They split in 2016, citing irreconcilable differences, and their divorce was finalised in 2019, but they are in ongoing negotiations over custody of their children and division of their financial assets.

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(YouTube)

Peterson described the actor as wonderful and always kind and sweet when they met three times before he bought the house.

People reported on Wednesday (29 March) that Pitt had found a buyer for the estate, which is located in the Los Feliz neighbourhood  just ahead of the 1 April deadline when Los Angeles Measure ULA tax came into place.

The tax requires sellers of properties of more than US$5m and US$10m to pay a four and 5.5 per cent transfer tax respectively, with all funds raised going towards public housing.

Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D also reportedly found a buyer for her 12,565-square-foot home earlier this week. According to TMZ, she closed the sale of the house at US$7.75m, half of the original US$15m price tag.
Eric Trump said the Manhattan grand jurys unprecedented indictment of his father, former President Trump, slammed the decision on Saturday, saying it makes a mockery of the legal system.

Trump said in an interview on Fox & Friends Weekend that his family has been attacked from moment number one. He claimed the Manhattan district attorney offices priority for six years has been going after the former president and didnt find a damn thing in the documents they reviewed.

The support is unbelievable out there because people understand that weve literally become a banana republic, Trump said, referring to the term for a country that is dominated by corruption and whose democracy is often limited by authoritarian rule. Theyve made a mockery of our legal system in this country.

Members of the former presidents family and his GOP allies have rushed to defend him after the grand jury approved the indictment on Thursday following an extensive investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Many of them have denounced the probe as politically motivated. The exact charges Trump is facing are unclear as the indictment remains sealed and may not be unsealed until he is arraigned early next week.

The case comes from a $130,000 payment that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair she claims she had with Trump.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to several federal charges, including one for a campaign finance violation related to the payment to Daniels. He said Trump directed him to make the payment.

Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment but denied having an affair with Daniels and said the money was unrelated to campaign funds.

Eric Trump said his family is prepared to fight the indictment against his father.

We go out there and we fight. Thats what weve had to do since the moment he came down that escalator, he said, referring to Trumps 2015 campaign announcement in which he descended an escalator before declaring that he was running for president in 2016.

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Some of Trumps other children have also responded to the indictment since it was approved Thursday.

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that a ruling party trying to imprison an opposition leader is like what would happen in a third world dictatorship.

Ivanka Trump said in a post on her Instagram page that she is pained by her father being indicted.

I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both, she said in an Instagram story. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.  Evelyn Dieckhaus had planned to spend Friday singing Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" in a play about jazz at her school.

Instead, mourners wearing pastel colors packed into Woodmont Christian Church to remember the 9-year-old "shining light" who was killed in a rampage Monday. Among them, country music singer Vince Gill, who sang Armstrong's song in her honor.

"Evelyn could have been anything, senior pastor Clay Stauffer said. "But she chose to be a beacon of light and hope, love and joy to those around her.

Evelyns funeral was the first held for a victim of Mondays massacre at The Covenant School. A photo of her on the programs, with a big smile and a bright pink headband pushing back her light blond hair, filled the room for the celebration of her life.

Mourners embrace after a funeral service held for The Covenant School shooting victim Evelyn Dieckhaus at the Woodmont Christian Church Friday, March 31, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (Wade Payne / AP)

She was an incredible girl, Stauffer told mourners, who included Mayor John Cooper and Chief of Police John Drake.

Attendees, who filled the church that was less than 3 miles from the site of the attack, arrived in springtime colors as a tribute to the child's spirit. A spectrum of pinks, blues and greens filled the venue and overflow areas. Many wiped away tears as they wept, while children held stuffed animals given out by the church in memory of Evelyn.

The shooting killed three students and three adults. In addition to Evelyn, authorities identified the victims as Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, both age 9; school head Katherine Koonce, 60; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and school custodian Mike Hill, 61.

The horrific act of violence was committed by a former Covenant student who police officers gunned down as the suspect opened fire on arriving law enforcement, authorities said. A motive has not yet been made public.

Stauffer thanked police and first responders, saying, All of you are amazing. Thank you for everything that you do for our city.

The recognition was met with loud and sustained applause.

In an obituary published in the Tennessean, the 9-year-old's family described Evelyn as "strong but never pushy," with a self-composure beyond her years.

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She also loved music.

"Whether she was singing along to her favorite songs (especially from her well-played Hamilton or Taylor Swift albums) or composing her own songs on the piano, guitar, or ukulele, Evelyn had a wonderful sensibility for music. Her voice was angelic," her obituary reads.

Evelyn Dieckhaus, lower left, with her family. (Courtesy Dieckhaus family )

Evelyn's uncle, Jeff Dieckhaus, said during the service that his niece was our familys shining light and was always happy, always smiling.

She had the courage of a tiger and a spirit that far outsized her 9-year-old body, he said.

The most important thing to Evelyn was her family, he said. She also loved babies and animals and nature, he said.

She was also known as an adoring little sister to Eleanor, her uncle said: The two were almost always connected  playing together, snuggling and holding hands while they walked.

They were each others biggest fans, Dieckhaus said. At their core, they were best friends and loved each other so much.

At the service, Dieckhaus shared some words from Evelyns big sister.

Evelyn was funny, caring and super knowledgeable. She was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Earlier in the week, Evelyns older sister cried at a vigil at the church and could be heard saying through tears, I dont want to be an only child, The Tennessean reported.

As services for other victims were scheduled for the weekend and next week, it was clear the attack had left the community grieving and stunned.

Stauffer, the pastor, tried to lift the communitys darkness.

Were here to celebrate Evelyns life, who she was, the way she loved, he told the parishioners and mourners. Her death is tragic, but it will not be in vain. Faith, hope and love will get us through this time.

Evelyn has left an afterglow for our entire community."

Daniella Silva reported from Nashville. Elizabeth Chuck from New York. Dennis Romero from California.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Lavell Lane's mother, Beverly, was one of about 50 people gathered at Kingdom New Life Deliverance Church in Una Saturday to participate in a town hall to discuss the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The crowd also came to discuss deaths in law enforcement custody.

Lavell Lane died Oct. 3 while in custody at the Spartanburg Detention Facility.

This week, South Carolina law enforcement announced that no criminal charges will be filed following Lane's death. The investigation was closed after almost six months.

Spartanburg County Detention Center has had 18 deaths from 2015 to 2021, more than any other county jail in the state, according to data in a report from Incarceration Transparency South Carolina.

Jimmy Lee Hill, 41, of Spartanburg, was the third reported inmate of 2023 to die at the jail on Wednesday, March 29.

Dr. Candace Brewer, president of the National Racial Justice Network, which organized Saturday's town hall, re-stated Saturday the civil rights group wants the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into the Spartanburg County Detention Facility.

"We can no longer sit back and ignore the amount of people that have died in these jails," National Racial Justice Network CEO James Johnson said. "When our loved ones go into these jails, we don't expect them to come out in body bags. Enough is enough."

Beverly Laid said the family also plans to pursue and advocate for state legislative action for more mental health support. Members of Lavell Lane's family have stated he had schizophrenia and mental health issues.

The Racial Justice Network held a Town Hall meeting at the Kingdom New Life Deliverance Church in Spartanburg on April 1, 2023. During the meeting, members of the public talked about the fight for social justice in America. Elder James Johnson, left, and Dr, Candace Brewer, National President of the Racial Justice Network listen to public.

Lane died inside the Detention Center hours after being arrested for walking in the middle of Chesnee Highway. His family has criticized what they've called a lack of transparency in the case. They have protested at the jail multiple times since his death.

"I go to sleep, I wake up every day with my son on my heart, in my mind," Beverly Lane said Saturday. "Not one day passes I don't cry."

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A letter reviewed by The Herald-Journal from the SC Attorney General's office to SLED Chief Mark Keel declined prosecution of charges related to Lane's death. The letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General Jerrod Fussnecker, said there is no evidence to contradict Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger's ruling that Lane died due to neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

"That is lies," Beverly Lane said Saturday. Lane added that she was not contacted by officials and she only found out today that no criminal charges would be filed in the jail death of her son.

Upstate law enforcement officers and community leaders and elected officials held an open meeting to talk about understanding each others points of view. The meeting was held at the Mt. Pleasant Community Center in Greenville on March 30, 2023. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright talks about working with community.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright addressed the closure of Lane's case publicly for the first time Thursday evening at a panel discussion in Greenville between Upstate law enforcement, activists and members of the community.

"We got a letter from SLED yesterday that said that there was no wrongdoing with our department, he passed of some medical condition," Wright said.

The Herald-Journal has filed a Freedom of Information request seeking additional documents relating to the investigation.

Johnson said Wright had "a lot to be held accountable for."

"Too many people died in your jail before (the National Racial Justice Network) ever brought it up," Johnson said. "You need to be held accountable."

Macon Atkinson is the city watchdog reporter for The Greenville News. She's powered by long runs and strong coffee. Follow her on Twitter @maconatkinson.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Family responds after SLED closes Spartanburg jail death investigation
The FBI on Thursday alerted the public about a "broad threat" against Jewish houses of worship in New Jersey. Charlie Neibergall/AP

The FBI is offering $40,000 for information about the kidnapping of a California woman in Mexico

Monica de Leon Barba was abducted while walking her dog in the country last November.

This comes amid a recent rash of kidnappings of Americans in the country.

Federal authorities said earlier this week they believe a 29-year-old American woman who was kidnapped last year in Mexico while walking her dog is still alive and posted a $40,000 reward to help locate her.

The FBI's San Francisco field office said the woman, identified as Monica de Leon Barba, was kidnapped while walking her dog last November in Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Mexico, according to a statement released on Thursday.

The family said she was on her way to the gym when the incident happened, CBS News reported.

In a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for the agency said that officials "believe that Monica is alive," adding that her dog was recovered by her family. The FBI is asking the public for any information related to De Leon Barba's whereabouts.

Per the agency, De Leon Barba is 5 feet 7 inches tall, about 240 pounds, and has brown eyes and hair. She was born in Jalisco, but is a US citizen from California, according to officials and reports.

De Leon Barba's disappearance comes amid recently reported kidnappings of Americans in Mexico. Earlier this month, a group of US citizens, who family members said traveled to the country for one to get cosmetic surgery, was abducted in Matamoros by the cartel after crossing the border, Business Insider previously reported. The FBI stepped in and offered a $50,000 reward for their swift return. Two were found dead while the surviving two were transported back to the states.

Additionally, the FBI's Los Angeles field office also recently announced that it is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to information about 63-year-old Maria del Carmen Lopez, a US citizen who lived in the country and was kidnapped in February from her home in Pueblo Nuevo, Mexico, Insider reported.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp, of the San Francisco office, told KTVU that "hostage takers have been in contact" with De Leon Barba's loved ones and that "the FBI is working very close with her family and with authorities in Mexico to bring her home safely."

Read the original article on Insider
The Aurora area experienced some severe weather Friday evening, with window-rattling winds and heavy downpours reported in some areas.

Wind gusts of up to 60 mph and more were recorded in the area, with reports of some trees down, power outages including some downed power lines and very heavy rain in parts of the region.

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On its Facebook page Saturday, the city of Batavia advised residents to exercise caution getting around Batavia today. Avoid downed power lines. Expect delays as crews work to clear the area and restore power.

Officials in Montgomery in a news release late Friday said that high winds downed several power lines and trees in the villages downtown riverside area.

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According to the release, the most significant wind damage is between Route 31 and South Broadway Road from the west to east and Jefferson Street and Sherman Avenue from the south to the north.

The release also said that many neighborhoods and areas of the village experienced power outages due to the storm.
Tourists watch a newborn blacktip reef shark at the beach of Maya Bay in Phi Phi Island National Park, on Phi Phi Leh Island, Thailand (Reuters)

On any given day in Thailands Maya Bay, up to 40 blacktip reef sharks cruise in the cyan shallows while about 4,000 tourists visit its white-sand beach flanked by towering cliffs.

Shark numbers have improved since almost every last one was driven from the bay by the influx of tour boats and tourists keen to see the uninhabited idyll that was made famous as the set of Leonardo Di Caprios 2000 thriller The Beach.

The sharks returned after a tourism ban and the pandemic between 2018 and 2022 halted all visitors to the bay.

Authorities allowed limited tourism to resume last year, and now conservationists say shark numbers are thinning out again, leaving Maya Bay struggling to strike a balance between preserving a pristine ecosystem and sustaining livelihoods dependent on tourism.

The sun rises over Maya Bay's limestone mountains at the Phi Phi Island (Reuters)

A group of eight juvenile blacktip reef sharks swim in the early morning, during low tide (Reuters)

We dont talk about closing down everywhere or reducing the tourism numbers, but I think we are talking about managing it wisely, said Petch Manopawitr, a marine adviser to Thailands National Parks Department.

Shark nursery

Maya Bay lies in Phi Phi Leh Island, a speck of limestone rock covered in emerald-green vegetation in the Andaman Sea off Thailands west coast.

Marine researcher Metavee Chuangcharoendee said that thanks to the pause in tourism the island was once again functioning as a nursery for young sharks.

Metavee Chuangcharoendee, 27, from the Maya Shark Watch Project, arrives with her team to install their baited remote underwater video station (Reuters)

Tourists arrive for an hour-long visit to Maya Bay beach through a new pier constructed over a reef in Loh Samah Bay beach (Reuters)

She and other researchers at the Maya Shark Watch Project use underwater cameras and drones to count sharks and observe their behaviour, feeding areas, and breeding patterns.

In the year between November 2021, when they initiated a pilot study, and the end of 2022, they noticed a decrease in the number of sharks as tourists gradually returned.

Blacktips, named after the distinctive black colouring on their dorsal fins and tails, roam the Andaman Sea and other tropical regions in decreasing numbers due to overfishing, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Sommawan Kasa, 29, a divemaster with the Maya Shark Watch Project, takes notes on a waterproof filming board (Reuters)

A newborn blacktip reef shark is silhouetted as it swims at night (Reuters)

Tourists enjoy the beach where swimming is forbidden and people are only allowed to enter water up to their knees (Reuters)

A number of factors affect the sharks around Phi Phi Leh Island, including seasonal movement patterns and human activity like fishing, Metavee said.

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But with the number of sharks already dwindling, authorities and conservationists are intent on keeping tourists from swimming in the bay and driving away the baby sharks, which hide in the shallows and coral reefs from the cannibalistic adults.

We are hoping that with the restrictions in place, we can mitigate the disturbance to [the sharks]. We are doing this research in hopes that we can find the best way to manage and the best way for tourism and the environment to coexist, Metavee said.

Tourism dollars

Tourism is a key driver of Thailands economy, accounting for 12 per cent of GDP before the pandemic. The southeast Asian country is hoping to generate 1.5 trillion baht from up to 30 million tourists this year.

For Phi Phi Island National Park, annual revenue was almost halved from 638.3 million baht (15.1m) in 2018 to 373.6 million baht in 2019 after authorities closed the beach.

The pandemic further crippled the struggling industry.

Tourists take pictures at the beach on Maya Bay (Reuters)

Tourists arrive for an hour-long visit to Maya Bay beach (Reuters)

Tourists pose for a picture as a newborn blacktip reef shark swims by the shore (Reuters)

Under pressure from tour operators, authorities reopened Maya Bay in January last year after four years of closure, and visitor and revenue figures are once again rising steadily.

But authorities have maintained restrictions on access.

Tour boats must dock on the other side of the island from the beach; visitors must walk to the beach; the number of visitors allowed every hour is capped at 375, and they are allowed to wade only knee-deep into the water.

If you can create a new image of Maya Bay as a nature reserve ... I think that is actually going to create a new tourism scheme as well and we are going to benefit from it overall, said National Parks Department adviser Petch.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker has issued a temporary restraining order blocking a law signed by Governor Bill Lee (R., Tenn.) penalizing those who host or participate in drag show performances where minors are present.

Does a citizens private residence count? How about a camping ground at a national park? What if a minor browsing the worldwide web from a public library views an adult cabaret performance? the federal judge said in his ruling publicized on Friday.

Judge Parker noted that while the move represents an extraordinary remedy, given the circumstances, he does not take such actions lightly.

If Tennessee wishes to exercise its police power in restricting speech it considers obscene, it must do so within the constraints and framework of the United States Constitution. The Court finds that, as it stands, the record here suggests that when the legislature passed this Statute, it missed the mark.

Ultimately, the Statutes broad language clashes with the First Amendments tight constraints, the federal judge concluded.

In late February, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill that prohibited the hosting of drag shows in public venues where minors might be present.

Anyone who hosted or performed in the presence of children could be charged with a class A misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $2,500 and up to one year in prison under the new law. Additional violations would be escalated to a class E felony and carry one-to-six years of prison time and fines up to $3,000.

The White House later called the legislation not just unnecessary but also dangerous upon Governor Lee signing it into law in early March.

During the White House news briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted the law and suggested elected officials who are concerned with curtailing drag shows are overlooking more important issues that Americans should be focused on.

Instead of doing anything to address those real issues that are impacting American people right now, you have a governor from Tennessee who has decided to go after drag shows. What sense does that make, to go after drag shows? Jean-Pierre added.

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Its part of a larger pattern from elected officials who espouse freedom and liberty but apparently think that freedom of speech only extends to people who agree with them.

Friends of Georges, a Memphis-based LGBT theater group, filed the lawsuit challenging the new law.

Friends Of George's was successful in the obtaining a Temporary Restraining Order, which means that the "drag ban" will NOT go into affect at midnight tonight. This is a terrific first step in an ongoing battle. https://t.co/1Nf2TgOygF pic.twitter.com/WKvIO9jaqy  Friends of George's (@GeorgesShowtime) April 1, 2023

The organization applauded the ruling on Friday night calling it a terrific first step in an ongoing battle.

More from National Review
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been cleared to resume deportation flights from Boeing Field in King County, Washington, after a years-long legal battle.

King County Executive Dow Constantine, however, issued a new executive order Friday in a last-ditch effort to prevent deportations from the regional air field.

"If the federal government insists on using our public airport for purposes that go against the Countys values, the public has every right to know. My order today continues the stance we took in the darkest days of the Trump administration and will ensure that we lead with our values," Constantine said, according to The Seattle Times.

IMMIGRATION LAW FACES FIRST AMENDMENT CHALLENGE BROUGHT BEFORE SUPREME COURT

FILE - Guatemalan police escort a convicted criminal who arrived on an ICE deportation flight from Brownsville, Texas on Aug. 29, 2019, to Guatemala City.

King County Executive Dow Constantine speaks at a press conference outside a Federal Detention Center holding migrant women in SeaTac, Washington.

The King County Airport in Seattle had been used by ICE to deport tens of thousands of illegal immigrants over the last decade.

But, in 2019, Constantine issued an order pressuring companies that fuel planes to stop servicing ICE flights or lose their contracts with the county.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

That order was overturned Thursday by U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan.

ICE FIGHTS BACK AFTER COUNTY IN WASHINGTON STATE BLOCKS IMMIGRANT DEPORTATIONS

Protesters rally outside City Hall on July 12, 2020, in Seattle. Demonstrators called for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its immigration detention centers.

The judge ruled that the order violated the terms on which the airfield haad been granted to the county by the federal government in 1948.

The Friday order attempts to continue stalling ICE operation of the airfield by withholding resources from the agency without explicitly banning its planes.

According to the new order, "Except where specifically required under the May 26, 1948, Instrument of Transfer, federal law, regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration, or the March 30, 2023, Order,KCIA shall not use its discretionary resources to support the transportation and deportation of immigration detainees in the custody of ICE, either traveling within or arriving or departing the United States or its territories."

The Space Needle stands over the Seattle skyline as Mt. Rainier is seen in the background in Seattle, Washington, in King County.

"The Office of the Executive will continue to collaborate with key leaders from immigrant and refugee communities to establish a countywide strategy that enhances the health, safety and wellbeing of immigrants when traveling within or arriving at KCIA," it continues.
A federal judge in Tennessee has issued a temporary restraining order against the impending "drag ban" after siding with Friends of George's, a Memphis-based LGBTQ theatre group that filed suit against the state.

Friends of George's filed the lawsuit on March 27; the case advanced rapidly through federal court. Judge Thomas Parker heard three hours of arguments Thursday, and agreed the law as written is too vague, and leaves the door open for differing outcomes based a person's assessment of what is, and isn't, obscene.

"A law is unconstitutionally vague if individuals of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application," Parker wrote in the 15-page decision.

The order will be in place for at least 14 days, though an extension is possible. The new law was to go into effect Saturday.

Drag queens walk to their spot in the parade lineup before the Memphis Pride Parade on Saturday, June 4, 2022, on Beale Street. The parade returns in-person this year for the first time since 2019.

Drag, the suit said, has endless iterations and historical precedence all the way back to ancient Greek theatrical productions or more infamously, plays authored by William Shakespeare that featured only male actors.

The category of performance has been targeted on a whole, the suit argued, even though there are endless iterations of drag performance.

"Drag is not a new art form; nor is it inherently  or even frequently  indecent," the suit read.

More: Gov. Bill Lee sparks national backlash after signing drag bill, ban on gender care for minors

Previously: Drag show at MoSH shut down after protesters appear

I have no objection to the temporary restraining order. There has been much concern and confusion about the law from the community. This will allow the court to clarify the scope, application, and constitutionality of the statute. Its important to understand the scope of this law so that it doesnt have a harmful effect on constitutionally protected expression," said Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy before Thursday's hearing.

Mulroy then reiterated his position in court Thursday.

As written, the law would have not outright banned drag performances in Tennessee, but it does deem "male and female impersonators" as adult cabaret performers. It also bans "adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors" from taking place on public property and in the presence of minors under 18.

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Before the judge Thursday, plaintiff attorney Brice Timmons emphasized the law's haziness by utilizing the "Miss Piggy Idol" contest, an annual feature of the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.

The contest often features male participants dressed as feminine swine and occasionally posing in ways that could be seen as provocative.

Timmons also emphasized that the punitive measures attached to the law  a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and Class E for the second  could strip a citizen of their right to vote, and potentially do so based not on legal precedent, but on case-by-case interpretations of the law.

We won because this is a bad law said Mark Campbell, The current President of the Board of Directors for Friends of Georges. We look forward to our day in court where the rights for all Tennesseans will be affirmed.

The theater group plans to return to court before the next scheduled performance to further argue its case against the law.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Federal judge blocks Tennessee drag ban temporary restraining order
Paramedics try to save a woman in San Diego after an overdose

Fentanyl is a deadly, synthetic opioid, 50 times more powerful than heroin. Americans are dying from it at such an alarming rate, that the US has approved the sale of naloxone - an overdose-reversing drug - without a prescription. But fentanyl's trail of destruction begins further south.

Manzanillo is on the fentanyl frontline.

This pretty, seaside town on Mexico's Pacific coast was made famous in the 1970s when Bo Derek ran along its sandy beaches in the Hollywood movie, 10. But today it lives in the shadow of cartel violence.

Manzanillo is home to Mexico's largest port, the third busiest in Latin America - nearly 3.5 million containers from across the globe arrived there last year.

All sorts of cargo pass through, including the chemicals that come mostly from China and India that are used to produce organised crime's most lucrative earners - synthetic drugs like fentanyl. As a result, the port has become the primary source of bloodshed and strife in Colima state.

In 2022, this small western state had the highest per capita murder rate in Mexico, with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels fighting for dominance.

"Recently we made a seizure of propionyl chloride that's used in the synthesis of fentanyl. That's one of many precursor chemicals we see coming into Manzanillo," says the Naval Commander in charge of security at the port, who must remain nameless for safety reasons.

Naval Commander in Manzanillo

The Mexican government put the Navy in charge of all seaports in 2021 in an attempt to reduce the endemic corruption that facilitates organised crime.

Now, there's a sophisticated system of checks in place to monitor everyone working in the port of Manzanillo, and the businesses that trade in chemicals. But there's another obstacle - some ingredients are legitimately used in the manufacture of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.

This means there are stringent checks on paperwork, and teams of naval personnel test consignments of chemicals to ensure they conform to their labels.

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There's also a sniffer dog, a Belgian shepherd - a gift from the US Embassy - trained to find fentanyl pills or powder, and some precursor chemicals.

Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, recently made headlines when he said Mexico neither produces nor consumes fentanyl. But makeshift "laboratories" have been discovered and dismantled in Mexico City and the northern states of Nuevo Leon and Sinaloa.

In Baja California, law enforcement busted two properties last year in the city of Tijuana and found large quantities of fentanyl pills and powder, with hydraulic presses to make tablets.

Sniffer dogs play their part in the fight against trafficking

Tijuana is a messy, brutal city that hugs the border with the United States. It's become "ground zero" for fentanyl - for the trafficking of the drug north into California, and for local use.

"It's killing everybody - all my friends," says Smiley, a fentanyl addict who lives on the streets.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people live rough around the Tijuana canal, a concrete channel that cuts through the heart of the city. Many are drug users. And, as so often happens in the United States, those who overdose in Mexico don't always know they are taking fentanyl.

Due to its potency, a tiny dose of fentanyl can kill. And on both sides of the Mexico / US border, it's being cut with other drugs including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Smiley thinks he has seen more than 20 people overdose, but he has revived them all by using naloxone, a medicated nasal spray which can reverse an opioid overdose. Naloxone's now becoming widely available in the US. But in Mexico you still need a prescription - Smiley gets his supply from a local charity.

It isn't only homeless people who are affected. In 2022, the Mexican Red Cross were called to an average of 60 drug overdoses a month in Tijuana - people from all walks of life.

There have been multiple overdose events too, but we don't know how many fentanyl-related deaths have occurred because those statistics aren't collected in Mexico.

Tijuana at night

The cartels fight to dominate the mean streets of Tijuana - each block or street may be run by a different organised crime group. Competition to control the sale of drugs is violent and bloody. In January alone, there were 156 murders in Tijuana - a city of just over two million people.

Fentanyl contributes to the insecurity - and the profits from its sale are huge. It's estimated this synthetic opioid can be made for a hundredth of the cost of producing heroin.

The drug cartels no longer have to control rural communities in Mexico and the land to grow poppies - they only need to secure access to the chemicals, and engage someone with the know-how to make fentanyl. And because it's so strong, it's a narcotic that's profitable in tiny amounts, even more so once it's smuggled to the US, where its price may increase 10-fold.

"I'd wear like a Spanx - almost like a girdle, that kind of slims you down under your clothes, and I would shove [the fentanyl pills] down," remembers April Spring Kelly, when she speaks to the BBC from a US federal prison.

Other times she would traffic drugs by car.

Now April Spring Kelly is serving a lengthy sentence after admitting trafficking nearly half a million fentanyl pills plus other drugs from Tijuana into the US in 2018.

Like many Americans, she had become addicted to opioid pain relievers but then turned to heroin produced by Mexican cartels when prescribed medications became harder to obtain.

To fund her addiction, she rented an apartment in Tijuana and began moving fentanyl pills for organised crime across the border to San Diego.

Last year 70,000 Americans died of a drug overdose associated with a synthetic opioid like fentanyl. April Spring Kelly lives with immense regret - one of the fentanyl pills she trafficked was linked to a baby's death.

"It's horrible. And I hate that I was playing a part in it," she says.

Border at Tijuana

More than half the fentanyl confiscated in the US is stopped at the California border. April Spring Kelly was caught at the San Ysidro port of entry, where up to 120,000 people cross in a single day.

Once across the border from Tijuana at San Ysidro, it's a 40 minute tram journey to downtown San Diego.

In 2021, 814 people died of a fentanyl-related death in the city's county - that's more than 15 fatal overdoses a week in a population of just over three million people.

"In the last couple of years, there have been so many people that died that we couldn't keep up if we did autopsies for all of those people," says the county's chief medical examiner, Dr Steven Campman. "If we did autopsies on all the people that overdosed, we'd have to hire four new pathologists," he adds.

Find out more

It's overwhelming. Especially for those dealing with bereavement.

In Coronado, the pretty peninsula that sits across the bay from San Diego, Jan Baker reflects on an unforgettable morning in May, 2021 when she went to wake her 15-year-old son, Clark Salveron.

"I walked into his bedroom around 7.30, and I found him. I remember throwing Clark on the floor trying to resuscitate him, even though I knew that he was gone. His computer was open, and he passed away at his desk in his chair."

Clark Salveron

Clark died of acute fentanyl intoxication. He thought the pill he had taken was Percocet, a prescribed medication that contains the opioid, oxycodone. The fatal transaction was arranged online, says Adam Gordon, the assistant US attorney who prosecuted the case.

When Clark was found dead, his laptop was still open on his Instagram page where he and the drug dealer had been messaging. Officers pretending to be Clark set up another drug deal and arrested the dealer. Those drugs came from Mexico.

The fallout from fentanyl is incalculable - not just for bereaved relatives like Jan Baker but for the professionals who pick up the pieces.

"I worked 486 deaths in four years," says Ed Byrne, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. "That's a lot of scenes you go to - it's a lot of bodies."

Ed Byrne

From 2018 until last year, Ed Byrne collected evidence from the locations where someone died to try to identify the drug dealers who supplied the fentanyl.

"You can go from a tent that a homeless person lives in to $10 million homes in [expensive beachside neighbourhood] La Jolla," he says.

And some of those death scenes have stayed with him. "They're like freezes in time almost, like paintings in your head."

Pictures of lives lost - too many of them. And while Mexico's drug cartels continue to make and export fentanyl, there's no end in sight to a tragedy that plays out across the United States.

Photographs by Tim Mansel
US Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, was released from Walter Reed on March 31, 2023. Office of US Senator John Fetterman

US Sen. John Fetterman was released from Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday.

Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, had been hospitalized in February for severe depression.

"I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works," Fetterman said Friday.

Senator John Fetterman has returned to his home in Pennsylvania following a five-week hospitalization for severe depression, the Democrat's office announced Friday.

"I am so happy to be home," Fetterman said in a statement. "I'm excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves."

Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke suffered last year, had voluntarily checked in to Walter Reed Medical Center in February. Survivors of strokes often report symptoms of depression in the months following.

Dr. David Williamson, who oversaw the freshman senator's treatment, said his depression was now "in remission," according to Fetterman's office. In a discharge briefing, Williamson said Fetterman is "ready to return to his family, pursue outpatient treatment, and resume work."

That's far from where he was at five weeks ago. According to the discharge notes shared by Fetterman's office, the senator initially displayed "severe symptoms of depression with low energy and motivation, minimal speech, poor sleep, slowed thinking, slowed movement, [and] feelings of guilt and worthlessness."

Fetterman had also, in the weeks leading up to his hospitalization, "stopped eating and taking fluids, causing him to develop low blood pressure potentially affecting brain circulation."

Although Fetterman has overcome his depression, he will continue with outpatient rehabilitation, according to his office. He is currently back in Braddock, where he previously served as mayor, and lives with his wife and two children.

"I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works," Fetterman said Friday. "This isn't about politics  right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help."

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

Read the original article on Business Insider
AmericasHealth Plan, an HMO created 12 years ago by Clinicas del Camino Real, is being closed over several months. This image is from its website.

Financial pressures that tightened during the pandemic are pushing Clinicas del Camino Real health system to close over several months an insurance plan covering about 12,000 people on Medi-Cal and Medicare, company officials said.

State regulators said they werent properly notified of the move and have opened an investigation.

Headquartered in Camarillo, Clinicas reported a $15 million loss last year, laid off 12 of 13 employees at its subsidiary HMO, AmericasHealth Plan, in mid-March and began a closure process that could take nine months.

Clinicas is a nonprofit system that started as a clinic for farmworkers in the 1970s and now consists of 16 clinics across Ventura County. It operates on a budget of more than $100 million, including about $14 million in federal money.

The decision to close the HMO was fueled by AmericasHealth Plans continued losses as well as spiraling costs felt by Clinicas and health care systems nationwide, said Clinicas CEO Dr. Gagan Pawar. She said the move is part of a plan to focus on caring for low-income people and other under-served populations.

"We are refocusing ourselves on what we are good at," she said.

The California Department of Managed Health Care, which regulates insurance plans, learned of AmericasHealth Plans pending closure on Monday and immediately opened an investigation, said spokesman Kevin Durawa. The probe focuses partly on the lack of notification documents filed by AmericasHealth Plan, he said. The notice is required directly from insurance plans going through a closure or change of control.

Pawar said both the Department of Managed Health Care and the California Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal plans, were notified of the changes by a consulting company now running the HMO's daily operations. She said Clinicas has not been told of the investigation.

The layoffs and pending closure has stoked false speculation the plan is shuttering immediately, Pawar said. It will stay open perhaps until the end of the year in an "unwinding" process designed to protect continuity of care, she said.

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Durawa said in a statement he could not comment on any other aspect of the investigation.

Triggered by financial losses

AmericasHealth Plan, a for-profit company created by Clinicas in 2011, covers about 9,000 low-income people in a pilot program with Gold Coast Plan, the public entity that administers Medi-Cal insurance to more than 250,000 people in Ventura County. In the partnership, started in 2021, as many as 10,000 Medi-Cal members were given the choice of having their coverage handled by AmericasHealth Plan.

The balance of the HMO's enrollees came from similar plan to plan contracts with Medicare Advantage insurers including SCAN, Anthem Blue Cross and Central Health Medicare Plan.

Gold Coast officials declined interview requests but issued a news release Thursday stating its partnership with AmericasHealth Plan ended Friday because of the planned closure. Coverage that had been handled by the HMO will transition back to Gold Coast. Patients being treated in the Clinicas system will stay there and will be able to keep their current doctors or pick new ones.

We will be working closely with the leaders from Clinicas del Camino Real to ensure a seamless transition for these members and the providers who care for them, said Nick Liguori, Gold Coasts CEO. Our top priority is to prevent any interruptions to their care.

Local health systems to pay more than $70 million in settlement over Medi-Cal claims

Medicare Advantage plans that had assigned patients to AmericasHealth Plan will also take over the coverage over the next several months, Pawar said. Clinicas will continue to provide treatment for all of the patients, she said.

Patient care will not be disrupted at all, she said.

Dr. Gagan Pawar

Barry Zimmerman, director of the Ventura County Health Care Agency, said the news of the closure sparked initial concerns about care for the HMOs Medi-Cal patients and possible barriers for treatment authorizations and payments for care. He said the agency was told Gold Coast will cover all those issues.

I think were feeling more comfortable, Zimmerman said.

Bond rating downgraded

Another Clinicas subsidiary, MedPartners, handled payments to providers and treatment authorizations for AmericasHealth Plan and will continue to do so during the unwinding period, Pawar said.

The decision to begin closing the HMO was driven by regular financial losses incurred by AmericasHealth Plan, Pawar said, describing it as a "loss leader."

Antonio Alatorre, CEO of AmericasHealth Plan until he and other employees were laid off in March, challenged Pawars statements, saying the HMO was exceeding projections for the year.

We were going to end the year with a profit, he said.

Clinicas faces financial challenges, too. Fitch Ratings, which tracks bond ratings, said Clinicas sustained a $15.3 million loss in operations in 2022. In January, Fitch downgraded the systems rating regarding bonds issued three years ago but still described the organization as investment-grade, meaning it is expected to meet its obligations.

Such pressures have grown common in health care. Earlier this year, California Hospital Association CEO Carmela Coyle said half of the state hospitals finished 2022 at a financial loss.

Pawar, a physician who served as chief medical officer, was named CEO in November 2021 after the Clinicas board opted not to renew the contract of the systems long-time leader, Roberto Juarez. She said the systems financial pressures include inflated costs, workforce shortages and patient visits that fell during the closure.

But the system is recovering and is still healthy, she said, pointing at plans to open an urgent care in Simi Valley in the summer.

"We've turned the corner," she said.

Emily Wadhwani, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, cited the company's turnaround plan on Friday but also said there's a chance the downturn could continue.

"We are in a period of time of pretty sharp performance challenges in healthcare," she said.

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: To see more stories like this, subscribe here.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Clinicas del Camino Real reveals plan to pull plug on HMO subsidiary
Jean Fincher

Jean Finchers introduction to teaching occurred in Peru, so it is only fitting that she ultimately became a dedicated social studies teacher with an unparalleled ability to incorporate her worldly experiences into her lessons to effectively engage her students.

She is one of four retired educators who will be inducted into the Bartlesville Educator Hall of Fame April 27 at the Bartlesville Community Center.

Fincher was born in Denoya, Oklahoma, which in the 1920s was known as Whizbang and was an infamous oil boomtown. Her family left Denoya when she was a toddler and eventually settled in Valley Center, Kansas where she attended school until the ninth grade. Her family then moved to Drumright, Oklahoma. It was there that she first met Don Fincher, her future husband.

After high school, she went to business school, worked in Tulsa as a secretary, got married, and worked in Stillwater while Don completed his engineering degree. After Don graduated, the couple, with their infant son Mark, moved to Cartagena, Colombia, where Don worked for an international oil company, and their second son, Derrel, was born. After two years in Colombia, the couple moved to Aruba and then Talara, Peru.

Talara was where Fincher got her first taste of teaching, as a substitute teacher of English for Peruvian students in a Peruvian/American school. The principal of the school recognized Jeans talent, and both the principal and Jean's husband encouraged her to consider a teaching degree.

Prompted by this encouragement, she and her husband moved their two boys back to Stillwater, where Fincher pursued a degree in education at Oklahoma State University. Despite being an atypical student with a family at home and a lot of life experience, she was recognized for having the highest GPA among first-year education majors.

After her husbands job required moving to Borger, Texas, she commuted to finish her degree at West Texas State University, where she was inducted into Alpha Chi National Honor Society. She taught upper-elementary grades for four years in Borger before moving to Bartlesville and teaching at Jane Phillips Elementary. One year she spent half of her day teaching sixth-grade reading classes and the other half teaching Head Start. She remembers this divide as a challenge that developed an admiration of early-childhood specialists.

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Fincher does not identify herself as sweet enough to work with very young children, confessing that she often had to cheat when teaching rhyming games because she did not know her nursery rhymes.

A few years later, she moved to Wilson Elementary to teach sixth grade for nine years. She speaks fondly of the time when there was one virtually self-contained class per grade with highly involved families.

The 1980s brought significant transitions in education and Finchers sixth-grade students were at Wilson, then Highland Park, back to Wilson, and then shifted to Madison Middle School. She requested to shift to Central Middle School and taught sixth-grade social studies there until her retirement in 1991.

Both before and after retirement, Fincher traveled internationally. She visited several Western European countries while touring, but her longest visits were in countries where her sons families resided: Japan, China, Norway, Trinidad-Tobago, and Brazil. Return visits of these families, with four grandchildren in the mix, kept the Finchers Bartlesville home happily busy during many summers and holidays. Jean now has four great-grandchildren.

After her sons left for college, Fincher became busy outside the classroom, serving as president of the Washington County OSU Alumni Club and on the boards of the Friends of the Library and of the Oklahoma Division of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). She was named Woman of the Year by the Bartlesville branch of AAUW. She has consistently stayed active in her church. Prior to the illness and death of her husband in 2010, she also trained and volunteered briefly as an early-settlement mediator.

When reflecting on her time in the classroom, Fincher loved seeing her students connect the classroom lessons to the real world. To foster those connections and keep her students engaged, she brought in guest speakers, including World War II veterans, writers, musicians, and a Taiwanese gentleman who spoke fluent Mandarin and had helped open business connections with Communist China. Fincher is excited to be a part of an event that supports the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation, since the Foundation supported her and her colleagues during their careers.

The Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation has been investing in students and staff members within the district since 1985. Over the decades, the non-profit organization has funded more than $3 million in creative projects outside of the traditional state, local and federal sources to support state-of-the-art instruction. The money generated by the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on April 27, 2023, will help fund the organizations programs. A $1,000 grant in Finchers name will also go to a school or department of Ms. Finchers choice.

This event is open to the public and tickets are available for $35 through the BPS Foundations website: https://bpsfoundation.org/educator-hall-of-fame/

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Fincher named to BPS Foundation Educator Hall of Fame
An ObamaCare requirement that health insurance must cover preventive services for free is at risk of ending, after a federal judge in Texas  who previously held that the entire Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional  invalidated it.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor wasnt entirely unexpected, but his decision to impose a nationwide injunction still sent shockwaves through the health system. The preventive services mandate is extremely popular and ending it could impact more than100 million Americans.

Here are five things to know about the ruling.

The immediate impacts are unclear

The ruling is effective immediately, but its not likely to have an immediate impact.

I think this will play out over time. I dont think it will result in precipitous changes in coverage in most cases, said Larry Levitt, vice president of health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Health insurers price their plans on a yearly basis and are required to notify beneficiaries when theres a coverage change. If the ruling is upheld, plans likely wont change until next calendar year.

The insurance industrys main lobbying group also sought to reassure people.

We want to be clear: Americans should have peace of mind there will be no immediate disruption in care or coverage, said Matt Eyles, president and CEO of AHIP.

Of course, experts noted there isnt a law that prohibits insurance companies from changing their policies mid-year, its just a logistically complex decision especially for a policy that may get overturned or changed on appeal.

OConnor also invalidated ObamaCares mandate for free coverage of HIV prevention drugs for adults who are at high risk of infection, so some plans may immediately drop that coverage.

More preventive services could be at risk during the appeal

The Justice Department on Friday officially filed its appeal of the decision, but the plaintiffs are appealing as well.

OConnor ruled against the preventive services mandate, but rejected arguments that would have eliminated the laws contraceptive coverage mandate, as well as requirements that insurers cover other services like vaccines.

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Those could be overturned on appeal.

Nobodys happy with this decision, said Laurie Sobel, associate director for womens health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. The administration will be appealing, the plaintiffs are appealing  so all of the preventative services are kind of up for grabs as we go through the appeal process.

The case now advances to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is known as one of the most conservative in the country.

It impacts many preventive services, but not all

Part of what makes the impact so uncertain is that OConnors decision applies only to preventive care recommendations adopted after 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was

passed. Those include anxiety screening for kids, statins for cardiovascular disease and high-risk breast cancer screenings.

Many important recommendations, including mammograms to screen women over the age of 50 for breast cancer, as well as certain cervical cancer screenings, were adopted before 2010. But over the years those recommendations have been updated, so insurers will be operating in an outdated landscape.

OConnor upheld the authority of two other parts of the Department of Health and Human Services; one that sets standards for how to use vaccines, and another that recommends reproductive health services.

Under ObamaCare, health insurers cant require patients to pay anything out of pocket for preventive care services that have an A or a B rating from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a federal advisory committee. OConnor said the task force is unconstitutional, as is the requirement to cover any recommendation made since the ACA became law.

Theres not a lot that states can do to protect employees

There are real limits to what states can do here, said KFFs Levitt. So states I think can and will move to fill in some of the gaps that this ruling leaves, but there are still big gaps remaining.

States can regulate private insurance, but self-insured employer plans, which cover most people with private insurance, cant be touched by state regulations, he said.

There are currently 15 states with laws on the books requiring individual market insurers to cover, without cost sharing, the same categories of preventive services required by the ACA.

It gives Democrats new political ammo

Democratic leaders in Congress swiftly condemned the ruling, though it puts them in a familiar position of defending ObamaCare from GOP attacks.

Yet again, a Republican activist judge has issued a ruling based on MAGA ideology and not the law, that would decimate our healthcare system and is opposed by a vast majority of Americans, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

Levitt said Congress could easily fix the problem with a simple one-line bill. But the politics of the ACA, even 13 years after it passed, make it unlikely anything would pass.

It would not require a lot of words to fix this in legislation, but it potentially requires very difficult politics, Levitt said.

Protecting ObamaCare was a key part of Democrats messaging that helped them win control of the House in 2018, and Thursdays decision puts the law front and center again for 2024.

This case is yet another attack on the Affordable Care Act  which has been the law of the land for 13 years and survived three challenges before the Supreme Court, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday after DOJ filed its appeal.

Preventive care saves lives, saves families money, and protects and improves our health. Because of the ACA, millions of Americans have access to free cancer and heart disease screenings. This decision threatens to jeopardize critical care, she said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Rapper Flo Rida. Chris Trotman/Getty

Flo Rida's 6-year-old son suffered a fall from the fifth floor of an apartment on March 4.

The child's mother, Alexis Adams, filed a lawsuit against the building manager on Monday.

Separately, Adams has also alleged that Flo Rida is not covering the child's medical costs.

Rapper Flo Rida's 6-year-old son suffered a fall from the fifth story of a New Jersey apartment complex earlier this month and the rapper has not paid the child's health insurance or medical bills, according to the child's mother, Alexis Adams.

On March 4, Adams' son with Flo Rida, Zohar Dillard, fell out of the window of their Jersey City apartment, sustaining serious injuries, according to a lawsuit filed by Adams this week.

The cost of the medical expenses adds further fuel to a heated legal battle between Adams and Flo Rida, born Tramar Dillard. Adams said Dillard has not assisted with Zohar's health insurance costs as mandated by a 2018 court-ordered child support agreement.

A representative for Flo Rida did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.

After falling onto the concrete from the fifth floor, Adams said Zohar, who is disabled, has suffered "a shattered pelvis, left metatarsal fractures, Grade 3 liver laceration, internal bleeding and collapsed lungs," and other injuries, according to a statement from her lawyer.

"I am just so grateful that my son is alive, fighting, and is still here with me. He's a real-life superhero," Adams stated.

Flo Rida was accused of failing to pay medical bills for years

In January, Adams told Insider that Flo Rida has not fulfilled child support payments around Zohar's education and health insurance. Through the agreement, Dillard had been required by a Bronx County Family Court to pay Adams $9,000 a month for child support, as well as the full cost of Zohar's education and health insurance, per court filings.

In an August 2021 affidavit requesting that Flo Rida explain the lack of payment, Adams claimed that she has spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal representation, filing motions with the court for the rapper to provide a reason for the incomplete payments or be held in contempt of court. Administrators at Zohar's school have also emailed Flo Rida along with Adams, asking for tuition payment.

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The alleged lack of payments also tailed a massive $82 million verdict that the rapper won against energy drink company Celsius in early 2023.

"Tramar winning $82.6 million didn't surprise me," Adams told Insider in January. Him complying "with our child support order by reinstating Zohar's health insurance and being a real family man and father to our son would actually impress me," she said.

Dillard "has failed to pay the monthly premium for Zohar's health insurance," Adams said in an August 2021 affidavit filed in support of an order to show cause. And for all of 2020, he "failed to pay me $6,616.68 for health insurance premium costs," Adams alleged, adding that she was forced to pay out of pocket.

An insurance document reviewed by Insider showed that Zohar's insurance was cut off in March 2020, after Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield did not receive premium payments. Zohar has been on Medicaid, according to Adams, which does not cover the needed physical therapy for his recovery after the fall.

In response to the fall, the rapper posted a story on Instagram on Wednesday, saying Zohar "is getting the best medical care and miraculously survived a tragic fall."

"I ask for your continued prayer," the rapper added.

Alexis Adams

In January, Adams also had an unpaid tuition balance of over $200,000 with Zohar's school which Flo Rida was asked to pay, and which she cannot afford, according to the 2021 affidavit.

Recent court documents showed that in November 2022, a lawyer for Dillard argued against the judge's orders to pay for education, saying he couldn't afford it. By December 2022, Dillard's team had asked the court to reduce his monthly child support payment.

A judge will need to determine whether Dillard has been skipping out on education payments and whether he owes expenses for Zohar, though a hearing date has not been set.

Zohar's mother is seeking medical damages from building management in her lawsuit related to Zohar's fall

In her lawsuit related to Zohar's fall, Adams sued the building management company, Goldberg Management, as well as Pitch Perfect 74, LLC, and unnamed construction companies for negligence, claiming that they were at fault for the fall "by installing windows that posed a hazardous condition and/or by installing incorrect sized guards on said windows," and ignoring her repeated requests for the proper window guards.

Goldberg Management did not immediately return Insider's requests for comment.

The suit is seeking undisclosed medical damages for Zohar, who Adams said in the suit "has been disabled and in the future will be disabled and not be able to perform his usual functions."

"As a single mom to a special needs child this feels like a nightmare," Adams told Insider in a statement. "My heart is broken into a million pieces."

Read the original article on Insider
Members of the Sauk Trail Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution join Civil War re-enactors in October 2021 at a dedication for a new grave marker for Civil War veteran Francis Lafayette at St. Paul's Cemetery in Monee. They'll gather again April 16 as another Civil War veteran's unmarked grave has a new stone to dedicate. (Sauk Trail Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution)

For a long time, Rachel White thought a faded and weathered stone near where the old church building once stood at the far western end of St. Pauls Cemetery in Monee was marked Roland.

But the stone was so ancient, there was no way to really tell who was buried in the section of single graves unassociated with larger, family plots.

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White, whose ancestors were among the founders of St. Pauls United Church of Christ in Monee, had been delving into the church records in an attempt to organize them.

Its a big job, she said. Everything is in German and the records are spotty.

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Amid all that old paperwork she found a list of Civil War veterans buried at St. Pauls, but it didnt match up with a modern ledger of the cemeterys legible stones. It seemed six of the veterans were in unmarked graves.

White also is a member of the Sauk Trail Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, which had started holding its monthly meetings at St. Pauls.

A partnership to get modern recognition for the Union Army soldiers was a good fit, so a committee from the DAR and members of the cemetery board teamed up to see what they could do.

Its a natural thing for us to help them, and they help us by allowing us to use their space to meet, said Nancy Schlaes, of Homewood, the Sauk Trail Chapter regent. It was right up our alley, with our mission of promoting patriotism, historic preservation and education.

That partnership resulted in a new Civil War grave marker for Francis Lafayette issued by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. It was placed in the cemetery in October 2021, during a ceremony attended by about 25 people as well as a group of 100th Illinois Volunteer Infantry regiment re-enactors in their bluecoat uniforms and slouch hats.

Research efforts by members of the Sauk Trail Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution resulted in grave markers for two Civil War veterans at St. Paul Cemetery in Monee. (Sauk Trail Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution)

Lafayette had the honor of getting his grave marker first because he was the oddball of the group, White said.

Lafayette is such a different name for our cemetery, she said. Our cemetery is almost completely German. So I was trying to find out what the heck this guy with a French name was doing here.

Back in the mid-1800s especially, White said, nearly everyone in Monee was related. Lafayette was listed in state documents as a farmer from Montreal  an outsider.

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It doesnt look like he had any family ties to the area, she said.

He died in 1900 a few months shy of his 60th birthday, and though he shows up on burial records at St. Pauls, nobody is certain he ever had a marker of any permanence.

They did learn not all of Lafayette ended up interred in Monee. He was shot in the left arm during the battle of Chickamauga in Tennessee in September 1863, a year and a month after he mustered into the 100th Illinois Volunteers in Joliet at age 27. The arm was amputated and sometime afterward Lafayette ended up living with a family in Monee.

Next up for a marker was Philip Bohlander, the only veteran of the six on the list to die while the Civil War still raged.

Unlike Lafayette, he had strong family ties to Monee and to St. Pauls, and its those links that became the strongest evidence the cemetery in Monee is his final resting spot.

People like Philip Bohlander are tough because theres nothing there that really says his family bought a plot there, White said.

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A ledger book in the cemetery archives contains a list of names, and each paid $5 to the cemetery. On an entry marked March 29, 1865, Peter Bohlander made a $5 purchase. It was two days after records indicate Philip Bohlander died at age 22 in a veterans hospital near Quincy, Illinois, likely from war-related disease or infection.

A ledger book from the archives at St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Monee indicates someone named Peter Bohlander made a $5 purchase two days after the death of family member Philip Bohlander in a Civil War veterans hospital. (Sauk Trail Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution)

That particular book wasnt labeled that well, White said. But it was enough to get his stone from the government. Were pretty confident that hes there.

In fact, further research indicated the faded, weathered stone White thought read Roland may have marked Bohlanders grave.

State records indicate Philip Bohlander was a native of Germany who was employed as a merchant when he mustered into the 100th Illinois Infantry in Joliet at age 18, around the same time Lafayette joined.

Like Lafayette, Bohlander, the youngest of several siblings, wasnt buried with family, White said. His father ended up in a cemetery along Governors Highway in Richton Park and a brother is buried in Frankfort.

Theyre all over the south suburbs, she said.

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But Philip Bohlander will be the center of attention at a dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. April 16 at St. Pauls United Church of Christ Cemetery, 5323 W. Margaret St. in Monee, as Veterans Affairs came through with a new marker for him based on the Sauk Trail Chapters work.

Schlaes said the company of Civil War re-enactors, muskets in hand, will once again be the color guard for the dedication, and it should be really fun.

But its also an important event, she said, and putting forth the effort so these Civil War veterans have grave markers is an honorable endeavor.

It honors our past and remembers what our ancestors fought for and defended, Schlaes said. What they defended was important, and its important for us to carry that legacy on.

When we honor someone like Philip Bohlander, it just brings back what our nation stands for and what he fought for, along with so many veterans who have defended our country and our democracy. It really keeps it in peoples forefront and helps them remember. And thats important.

Though shes chapter regent of a group officially linked to another historic war, there are very few veterans of the Revolutionary War buried here. In fact, there is only one in the area covered by the Sauk Trail Chapter  William Hewes, who is buried in Crete Cemetery.

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So its good to dig into some history, Schlaes said, getting to see some primary documents from the 1800s such as muster rolls.

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Once Bohlanders marker is dedicated, the group will turn its attention to Jacob Gloor, who died in 1916 and served from 1862 to 1865.

Theyve got an undertaker receipt related to the 1884 death of Adam Sachs, an officer in the war who may have been wounded in 1863.

There also are partial translations from German language burial records regarding Monee residents Christian Koehler, who died in 1894 at age 74 and Johannes Schlothauer, a native of Prussia who died in 1904 at age 70.

Its all part of the thrill of the hunt and discovery, White said.

Its kind of like a scavenger hunt, she said. Its so fun, and its great to make connections between the family and the locations. I would love to find out more about their stories.

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Its also work with lasting impact, White said, noting the dedication ceremony is a celebration that the efforts have resulted in something tangible that people will see for years and years, even after Im gone.

Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.
A Florida woman is demanding prison time for her own mother after her two young children died less than a year apart while allegedly in their grandmothers care, one in a hot car death and the other in an accidental drowning.

The grandmother, 65-year-old Tracey Nix, was arrested and charged in November 2022 with aggravated manslaughter and leaving a child unsupervised in a motor vehicle, court records show. The charges are in connection with the Nov. 1, 2022 death of 7-month-old Uriel Schock.

Authorities said Nix left Uriel in her vehicle outside her Wauchula home for several hours after returning from lunch. Nix said she "forgot" the child was in the car, according to the court documents.

"How do you forget a little girl," Uriel's father, Drew Schock, said in a tearful interview this week with local station WFTS.

Uriel Nix. (Nix family / GoFundMe)

Nix told authorities that her daughter, Kaila Schock, asked her to watch Uriel while she was at a hair appointment, the documents state. Nix said she went to a friend's house that morning and then left to pick up Uriel.

She then drove to a restaurant for lunch with her friends, according to the documents. They left the restaurant around 1:40 p.m.

Security footage showed Nix put her granddaughter in a rear car seat and drive away, authorities said in the documents. Nix said she drove about 10 minutes to her home, parked the car and went inside to talk to her dog and practice the piano.

She told the Hardee County Sheriff's Office that it was not like "I was rushing in the house to do anything ... I just forgot," according to the documents.

The court filing says that Nix was waiting for her older grandson to arrive so they could go out to dinner. After 4:30 p.m., she took two cups of tea out to her vehicle for her and her grandson and then drove the vehicle to her backyard. Authorities said Nix's husband was in the backyard and the two talked for about 10 minutes, the documents state.

When the grandson arrived, Nix said all of a sudden it "came across her head" that Uriel was still in the car, the documents state. Nix's husband immediately pulled the baby out and began CPR while someone called 911.

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Uriel was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff's office said temperatures that day in Wauchula reached 90 degrees.

An autopsy showed no signs of injuries. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Drew Schock told WFTS that he remembers being in the parking lot outside the hospital "trying to grasp what just happened. And that it actually ... just happened twice in our lifetime."

In December 2021, the couple's 16-month-old son Ezra died, also while in Nix's care. Court records state that Nix was babysitting the little boy when she fell asleep. The child wandered outside and drowned in a pond near her home. She was not charged in the incident.

Kaila told the news station that she was six months pregnant with Uriel at the time her son died. The couple also has an older child. She said she initially did not trust her mother to watch her children after Ezra's death but believed in second chances.

"We were anxious, but I loved my mother. And I am a daughter that wanted her mom," she said through tears. "When I was told that Ezra's death was an accident, some sliver child part of me thought, 'OK. Good, I get to keep this mom, this grandmother.'"

Kaila said she knew her mother was taking Uriel to lunch with her friends. Hours later, a sheriff's deputy came to Kaila's house and delivered the heartbreaking news.

"Two children now who are no longer here," Drew said. "Somebody has to answer for that."

She needs to go to prison," Kaila told the news station. "As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it.

Authorities said Nix's negligence resulted in the death of both children. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A pretrial hearing is set for May 2, court records show.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The Florida House passed a bill Friday that would curtail the use of preferred pronouns amongst students and teachers that do not correspond with their sex.

It shall be the policy of every public K-12 educational institution that is provided or authorized by the Constitution and laws of Florida that a persons sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such persons sex, the bill (known as HB 1069) asserts.

The vote on Friday was split virtually along party lines, with only two Republican dissensions coming from representatives Demi Busatta Cabrera and Will Robinson.

For those who think our schools should be some sort of social justice experiment, I challenge you this: I dont agree with any of it, but when 100 percent of our children are proficient in reading, and 100 percent of our children are proficient in math, then there is time for all of this silliness, Republican state representative Randy Fine told Politico. You want to know what hurts children? Its the fact that they cant read, its the fact that they cant do math.

However, Democratic state representative Ashley Gantt of Miami condemned the bill as exclusionary.

In this body, our duty to our constituents is to make sure that every single constituent is seen and heard in our legislation. And this bill does nothing but tell certain parts of our community in Florida that they dont exist, Gantt told Politico.

HB 1069 builds upon the Parental Rights in Education Act passed by Republican governor Ron DeSantis in March 2022 seeking to prohibit classroom instruction on topics such as gender identity and sexual orientation for those in grade three and under.

A new proposed update to the legislation in late March, which critics have dubbed the Dont Say Gay bill, is seeking to expand the policy to students between grades four and twelve except when expressly required by state academic standards, the amendment notes.

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Parents have the right and God-given responsibility to guide their childrens upbringing, Republican Clay Yarborough, the bills legislative sponsor in the Senate, said during a committee hearing on Monday.

They should not have to worry their students are receiving classroom instruction on topics and materials parents feel are not age-appropriate, Yarborough added.

There is no reason for instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to be part of K-12 public education. Full stop. https://t.co/yVKNwqFrxV  Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) March 22, 2023

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denounced the amendment during a March briefing calling it completely, utterly wrong, declaring it to be part of a disturbing and dangerous trend that were seeing across the nation.

The recent House bill also adds streamlines the removal of content flagged as pornographic or sexual in nature.

The problem with this bill is that there are no common-sense guardrails. Number one, anyone can pull a book. They dont even have to live in the state of Florida. They dont have to be a parent. They just can say, I dont like that book, and they get to pull it, Democratic state representative Robin Bartleman told Orlando Weekly.

However, Republican representative Chase Tramont insisted that the legislation was pro-family . . . pro-teacher . . . [and] pro-education.

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The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a bill repealing a law requiring a unanimous jury recommendation for the death penalty, a reaction to the life sentence handed to the man who massacred 17 people at a Parkland high school.

The bill passed on a 29-10 vote and will allow the death penalty with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution. The House still needs to approve the bill. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis supports the proposal.

The bill was proposed after a divided 9-3 jury spared Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz in November from capital punishment for killing 17 at the school in 2018. The Parkland school shooter instead received a life sentence.

What happened in Parkland was abhorrent. What happened in Parkland was a tragedy that will forever stain this state, said Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, the bill sponsor. That verdict shocked the conscience not only of the people of Parkland, not only the people in Florida, but people across the United State of America.

Read: Power play: Disney handicapped new Reedy Creek board before handing over control

Only three states out of the 27 that impose the death penalty do not require unanimity. Alabama allows a 10-2 decision, and Missouri and Indiana let a judge decide when there is a divided jury.

For decades, Florida had not required unanimity in capital punishment, allowing a judge to impose capital punishment as long as a majority of jurors were in favor of the penalty. But in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out state law, saying it allowed judges too much discretion.

Florida lawmakers approve bill to allow carrying of concealed weapons without a permit

The state Legislature then passed a bill requiring a 10-2 jury recommendation, but the state Supreme Court said such recommendations should be unanimous, prompting lawmakers in 2017 to require a unanimous jury.

Story continues

Three years later, the state Supreme Court, with new conservative jurists appointed by DeSantis, rescinded its earlier decision and ruled that a death recommendation does not need to be unanimous. Floridas unanimity standard has remained untouched until now.

Read: Florida houses passes expansion of Dont Say Gay bill, bill moves to senate

While Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo voted for the bill, he warned senators that they shouldnt be passing legislation like this because of one case, even if they, like he, believe Cruz deserves the death penalty.

This deliberate body cant just immediately react to one particular horrific case, he said. I can make the argument on either side, but lets just be intellectually honest about why were doing it: If that verdict didnt happen, we wouldnt be having this bill.

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Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Trump should "step aside" from the 2024 GOP presidential primaries.

"It is a distraction," the Arkansas political figure said of Trump's indictment by the Manhattan DA's office.

Trump has previously said he would not leave the presidential race if he were to be indicted.

Former Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas on Friday said former President Donald Trump should "step aside" from the 2024 presidential race after his indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

During an appearance on Fox Business, Hutchinson  who on Sunday announced that he is running for president  pointed to the integrity of serving in elected office as he spoke of the former president's criminal inquiry.

Trump was indicted following an investigation related to hush-money payments made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels in advance of the 2016 presidential election, which he won over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"When a public official is indicted, I think with regard to the office, the office is more important than the person and they should step aside. That standard should apply here. It is a distraction," Hutchinson said on the network.

"It is not a good day for America, but the system has to play out here and we have to have confidence that it can," he continued.

Hutchinson, a former US attorney and congressman, remarked that he would not have brought forth charges related to the 2016 payment.

"This is a case that I would not have brought based on the facts that I understand. It doesn't make sense to me," he said.

"[The charges] better be very substantive if he wants to make his case in a way that does not seem simply political," he added.

Hutchinson, who now becomes the fourth declared candidate in the GOP presidential primary, told ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl on Sunday that his candidacy would offer a positive message to the country.

"I've traveled the country for six months, I hear people talk about the leadership of our country. I'm convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America, and not simply appeal to our worst instincts," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg speaks to a crowd at the OSU Hamm Innistue about why he supports Westwin Elements.

STILLWATER Former Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told a group of supporters and potential investors at Oklahoma State University's Hamm Institute for American Energy that he is "all in" on Bartlesville start-up company, Westwin Elements.

The company is planning to build the only cobalt and nickel refinery in the United States and has raised over $30 million between seed money and series A funding.

"Over the last three years, I've looked at literally hundreds of leading-edge innovation companies in this space, and I've selected a very short list of those that I'm dedicating my own personal time and investment to and Westwin Elements is one of those companies," said Muilenburg. "I'm all in on this project."

Although headquartered in Bartlesville, Westwin plans to build its nickel and cobalt refinery in Lawton. The Lawton City Council voted to approve the plan to build the plant and financial incentives earlier this year.

The future refinery would supply raw materials needed to produce items like aerospace alloys and lithium-ion batteries, company representatives said.

"The fact is that this is national security and economic imperative, and this is a critical supply chain imperative for our country," said Muilenburg. "About 40% of the world's nickel and more than 65% of the refined cobalt comes from China  zero of that is coming from the U.S."

Westwin Elements CEO KaLeigh Long addresses a group at the OSU Hamm Institute for American Energy Thursday.

KaLeigh Long, CEO of Westwin Elements, looks to raise an additional $4 million to start building a demonstration plant to prove to customers they can meet U.S. demand.

Long says Westwin is already in talks with many aerospace companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing to supply companies with refined rare minerals and projects that would "eventually produce slightly near $2.6 billion in annual revenue and hundreds of jobs."

Former Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg speaks to a crowd at Oklahoma State University's Hamm Institute for American Energy about why he supports Bartlesville-based Westwin Elements.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Former Boeing CEO is "all in" on Bartlesville start up
A billboard with Hashim Thaci in Kosovo

A special Kosovo court set up in The Hague indicted Thaci in November 2020 on 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder, torture and enforced disappearance of people among other things during the uprising, Reuters said.

Thaci has denied all charges and called them baseless.

On Nov. 6, 2020, he was detained in The Hague on Nov. 6, 2020, along with three of his closest associates who face the same charges. Shortly after, Thaci resigned from his position.

Read also: Kosovo PM blames Putin for inflaming Serbia tensions due to failures in Ukraine, report says

In addition to Thaci, former Speaker of the Kosovo Parliament Kadri Veseli, one of the field commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Rexhep Selimi, and former head of parliament Jakup Krasniqi were also detained at the time.

Thaci co-founded the KLA, a paramilitary organization that operated during the Kosovo War with the goal of securing independence for Kosovo from Serbia. Thaci and other former commanders are now accused by the court of killing nearly 100 people, including Serbs, Kosovo Albanians, members of other ethnic groups, and political opponents.

After the war, Thaci pursued a career in politics, becoming the prime minister of Kosovo in 2008 and President in 2016.

Read also: Ukraine welcomes Kosovo's decision to postpone Serb car re-registration, disrupting Russia's plans for escalation in Balkans

Read also: Podolyak on China proposal, possible Ukrainian drone near Moscow, US backs intl tribunal

He is widely regarded as a hero by fellow Kosovars, and billboards featuring pictures of Thaci and Veseli with the slogan War and Peace Heroes have been seen in the country.

As a result of the war in Kosovo in 1998-1999, over 10,000 people were killed. The war ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days. The Serb military withdrew from Kosovo and the region came under the control of UN peacekeepers.

In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence. It is currently recognized by about 110 countries around the world, including the United States and all but five European Union countries (Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Spain).

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The special Kosovo court was established separately from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which was also located in The Hague. The court is responsible for prosecuting war crimes in the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Former Petersburg city manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, shown in this file photo, was fired March 30 from her job as city manager in Duncanville, Texas. Ferrell-Benavides left Petersburg two years ago for Duncanville.

Former Petersburg city manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, who left here in 2021 for a similar job in her native Texas, has been ousted from that position.

On a 4-3 vote Thursday night, the Duncanville City Council fired Ferrell-Benavides after she reportedly raised concerns over the Texas state auditor questioning why city staff had maintained two sets of books containing conflicting information. In casting their votes to fire her, councilors claimed they had lost confidence in her leadership.

Ferrell-Benavides did not attend Thursdays meeting, but her attorney read a statement criticizing council for scheduling the meeting knowing she would be out of town. The statement also noted she had felt racial tension from council in becoming the first Black person to be city manager.

Unfortunately, I soon found an organization with an excellent team of people but many cracks in our system that could genuinely hurt the city, her statement read.

Ferrell said she accepted the job knowing that many on the council questioned whether the city was ready for an African American city manager. The vote to hire her also was 4-3.

Ferrell-Benavides came to Petersburg in 2017 just as the city was emerging from being taken over by a municipal firm that had come in to keep Petersburg out of bankruptcy. Toward the end of her time here, she sought out other jobs from other cities to be their top administrator. She ultimately chose Duncanville, located about 10 miles north of Dallas, to be closer to family.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Former Petersburg city manager fired from Texas government position
A former Tacoma Catholic nun and a priest were added to an official list of clergy and others accused of abuse, the Archdiocese of Seattle announced Friday.

Sister Jerry Lyness and Father Thomas Phelan were added to the official list of Clergy and Religious Brothers and Sisters for Whom Allegations of Sexual Abuse of a Minor Have Been Admitted, Established or Determined to be Credible.

Lyness was a teacher at St. Patrick Catholic School from 1976 to 1994 and she served as co-principal there from 1991 to 1994. Phelan served as pastor at St. Ann Parish from 1973 to 1983. Both are dead.

St. Ann Parish was recently merged into the new Pope Saint John XXIII Parish.

In December 2022, the Archdiocese settled a case involving allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Phelan which occurred in approximately 1978 at St. Ann.

Also in December 2022, the Archdiocese and the Sisters of St. Dominic of Tacoma settled a case involving allegations of inappropriate touching by Lyness which occurred in approximately 1982 at St. Patrick.

The list

First published in 2016, the list contains the names of those who have credible accusations made against them. The list has links to other public lists provided by religious orders that worked in the archdiocese as well as status updates of people currently on the list.

This week, Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne approved the additions of Lyness and Phelan to the list after an independent review from former FBI-agent Dr. Kathleen McChesney and her firm, Kinsale Management Consulting, and with guidance from the Archdiocesan Review Board.

The archdioceses Protect and Heal website has a section on the history of sexual abuse in the archdiocese, which it says peaked in 1975.

Since the early 1980s, the archdiocese said it has taken steps to prevent abuse. It enforces its Safe Environment Program with policies and procedures designed to prevent sexual abuse and recognize its signs.

The public can report a suspicion of abuse by any Catholic Church personnel to local law enforcement. Anyone with knowledge of misconduct by a member of the clergy, an employee or a volunteer of the archdiocese can call the archdiocesan hot line at 1-800-446-7762.
Fort Worth Police Department Chief Neil Noakes on Friday announced his support of a state bill that would permit legal permanent residents of the United States to be eligible to be peace officers in Texas.

Noakes said the legislation would increase the number of otherwise qualified applicants to his department and to others and not affect recruiting standards. He spoke at a press conference at Dallas Police Department headquarters.

The bill, which would expand peace officer license eligibility in Texas beyond its current limit to United States citizens, also may fortify trust in population segments in which it is most fractured, Noakes said.

We say frequently as chiefs that we want to more accurately reflect the communities that we serve, Noakes said. What better way to become more engaged, more connected with every community we serve than to invite those members of the community into our department?

House Bill 1076 has advanced to the calendars committee that determines which bills go to a full House vote. The bill was filed by Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas.

Neave Criado said the bill had support from some Republicans, including its joint author, Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth.

Legal permanent residents can serve in the United State military and protect and serve and die for our country. They also should have the right to protect and serve our neighborhoods, Neave Criado said.

Noe Barrera, a TCU criminology major, said he has long wanted to be a police officer. Barrera is a legal permanent resident and currently ineligible for a license.

If the bill is successful, it could result in an increased chance that when a person requests the police in Fort Worth, when someone responds to their call, theres someone that looks like them, Barrera said.

Dallas Police Department Chief Eddie Garcia said recruitment efforts have been frustrated by the citizenship limits of current law. Each month, Dallas police turn away 50 to 100 people at career fairs because they are unqualified as legal permanent residents, Garcia said.

Texas is losing the recruiting war when it comes to police officers to other states, Garcia said.

Eleven other states, including bordering Oklahoma and Louisiana, allow legal permanent residents to be police officers.
(Bloomberg) -- Ever since Fox News was hit with a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit over reports falsely accusing a voting-machine company of rigging the 2020 presidential election, the conservative network has invoked the broad protections of the First Amendment in its defense.

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But the constitutional right to free speech doesnt automatically protect the spreading of false facts, especially bogus allegations of criminal conduct, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis said Friday in a ruling denying a bid by Fox News to avoid a trial in the suit by Dominion Voting Systems Inc.

The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true, Davis wrote, using capital letters as well as bold and italic fonts for emphasis.

The Fox reports falsely accused Dominion of rigging its software to flip votes away from Donald Trump and paying government officials to use its machines  on top of claiming it was founded in Venezuela to rig elections for dictator Hugo Chavez, Davis said. Those claims were defamatory because they were false and struck at the integrity of Dominions business, he said.

The statements also seem to charge Dominion with the serious crime of election fraud, the judge said. Accusations of criminal activity, even in the form of opinion, are not constitutionally protected.

The ruling wasnt a total win for Dominion, which asked the judge to grant the company a complete victory without having to go to trial on April 17.

Instead, the judge ruled that a jury must decide several key issues, including whether Fox News made the defamatory statements with actual malice, meaning the network knew they were false or had reckless disregard for the truth. The jury will also decide if the networks parent, Fox Corp., is liable for the false statements and whether Dominion actually suffered any financial damages.

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The witness list includes Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch and top Fox News personalities whose emails and text messages were made public in the case, revealing they knew the conspiracy theory was bogus even as the network amplified it over and over by hosting Trumps outspoken allies.

This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the medias absolute right to cover the news, Fox News and Fox Corp. said in a statement. Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings.

Dominion, a little-known company before it was falsely accused of a vast fraud, said its looking forward to trial.

We are gratified by the courts thorough ruling soundly rejecting all of Foxs arguments and defenses, and finding as a matter of law that their statements about Dominion are false, Dominion said in a statement.

Falsity of Statements

The judges summary judgment ruling spares the jury from having to determine for itself whether the disputed statements were false. While the conspiracy theory has been debunked by multiple courts over the last two years, the finding on falsity is still significant because the statements were dramatically different than the truth, the judge said, adding: Fox takes a nuanced approach to falsity.

In fact, although it cannot be attributed directly to Foxs statements, it is noteworthy that some Americans still believe the election was rigged, Davis wrote.

To help establish falsity, Dominion gave its source code to experts for both sides, the judge said. Dominions expert stated it was unable to detect any mechanism to switch votes, which no Fox expert has contested, Davis said. As for the allegedly corrupt algorithm used by Dominion, Fox witnesses admitted the algorithm lie was false or lacks evidence, the judge said.

Fox dedicated little to its argument on the question of falsity, Davis said.

Neutral Reporting

Davis denied Foxs motion for summary judgment on the so-called neutral reporting privilege, which bars recovery for defamation when a challenged statement, even if defamatory, is newsworthy. Fox argued that the average viewer would understand the statements as mere allegations to be investigated, rather than facts.

But Davis said that earlier rulings under New York law barring use of the so-called neutral-reporting privilege are binding on this court.

Even if the neutral report privilege did apply, the evidence does not support that FNN conducted good-faith, disinterested reporting, Davis wrote, referring to Fox News Networks. Foxs failure to reveal extensive contradicting evidence from the public sphere and Dominion itself indicates its reporting was not disinterested.

Dominion argues the real purpose of Foxs reports was to avoid losing Trump-supporting viewers who are crucial to its bottom line.

Fair Reporting

The judge also rejected Foxs fair report defense, which protects defamatory statements if they are a fair and true report about an official proceeding. Fox tried to apply the defense to false claims about Dominion that were put forth in lawsuits by one of its guests, former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, who accused Dominion of the most massive and historical egregious fraud the world has ever seen. But thats not official enough, Davis said.

The privilege is not triggered unless the report comments on a proceeding, not the underlying events of such a proceeding, Davis wrote, adding that reports must still be substantially accurate.

Read More: Murdoch Travel Plans Upend Fox Claims of Trial Burdens

In a pair of February court filings Dominion outlined evidence it established during the case, including a deposition of Murdoch, who admitted that some Fox talent endorsed the bogus conspiracy theory. Dominion also cited internal Fox News documents, text messages and emails to undermine the networks claim that the reports were merely important news.

For example, Fox News host Dana Perino described the theory in texts and emails at the time as total bs, insane, and nonsense, according to evidence presented by Dominion. Sean Hannity, one of Foxs biggest stars, sent a text message at the time saying Powell, the architect of the conspiracy theory, was an Fing lunatic, Dominion said.

The case is Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox Corp., N21C-11-082 EMD CCLD, Delaware Superior Court (Wilmington).

(Updates with details from ruling)

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This is a portion of a sketch submitted by Madeline Deiters for a mural she's been commissioned to do this summer at 7 N. Jackson St. in downtown East Dundee. (Village of East Dundee / HANDOUT)

The East Dundee Arts Council has chosen young artist Madeline Deiters of ThreeLine Art to create the villages first mural, the theme of which is the Fox River and its wildlife.

Deiters, of Marion, was one of three finalists selected from more than 20 submissions for the councils first public art project, which will be created at 7 N. Jackson St.

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Council chair Tricia Saviano told the East Dundee Village Board that council members and the buildings owner interviewed each finalist.

This is the one we like the most, not just the perspective of the art but the knowledge of the materials, what they would be using, how they would use them and their experience with large murals, Saviano said.

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Deiters concept is to spotlight the Fox River from a different perspective by showing animals and fish both above and below the waterline, according to the proposal she submitted to the village.

This celebration of nature conveys the invisible landscapes of East Dundee and brings awareness to the ecosystem around them as they stroll on the Fox River Trail. This rendering displays the Eastern box turtle, ducks, the American bullfrog, the largemouth bass, and the Illinois pondweed, Deiters wrote.

She said shes open to suggestions of other wildlife and Fox River Trail features to add to the mural. She also plans to apply an anti-graffiti product to protect it.

The sketches that artists submitted were rough, Trustee Andy Sauder said. What you see is not the final product.

The final design also will include East Dundees logo.

East Dundee trustees approved a $13,680 contract for the work. The project is expected to be done this summer.

Deiters has done previous murals, including one that honors veterans and first responders in her hometown in 2021, when she was 14 years old. One of her largest commissions was a work she did in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, last year.

The teen chronicles how she creates her murals on her YouTube channel.

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Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Hikers will honor a young Massachusetts woman who died in New Hampshire by climbing multiple peaks this summer and raising funds for a foundation created by her family.

The event, dubbed Emilys Hike To Save a Life is set for July 29, with proceeds going to the Emily M. Sotelo Persistence and Safety Charitable Foundation, hiking safety initiatives and search and rescue teams. Its being organized by Hiking Buddies NH 48, a nonprofit group that connects people interested in hiking the 48 mountains taller than 4,000 feet (about 1,220 meters) in New Hampshire.

Sotelo, of Westford, Massachusetts, disappeared on Mount Lafayette on Nov. 20. Her body was found three days later, on what would have been her 20th birthday. Though she had nearly completed her quest to summit all 48 peaks, she had almost no experience with winter hiking, and officials say she was woefully unprepared for the brutal conditions that killed her.

In a video to promote the fundraiser, Sotelos mother said the outpouring of support from the hiking community helped her in the dark days after her daughters death.

I had a lot of support from work, from friends, from family. But the overwhelming support from people who did not know her, and their pain and their willingness to do anything for her, were empowering, Olivera Sotelo said.

Emily Sotelo was a sophomore at Vanderbilt University who hoped to become a doctor. In an interview with The Associated Press in December, her family said she was determined to make the world a better place.

Seeing people rally to save a life would make Emily very proud of the whole community, her mother said in the video for the fundraising event.

Benjamin Pease, the founder of Hiking Buddies, said Sotelos death shook his community, spurring calls for action.

This is our opportunity. Were going to finish Emilys hike, he said.

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

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(Getty Images)

Its as you were at the top but, for Arsenal, as you like it. A day that had been billed as potentially huge in the title race only ends with a big win for the leaders, but also a significant boost beyond that. Gabriel Jesus scored his first goals since 1 October, quickly following a penalty with a flowing finish, to only further Arsenals momentum.

That is why, even if this 4-1 win over Leeds United didnt have the fireworks of Manchester Citys earlier win over Liverpool by the same score, it was more than one of those routine title-race wins.

Thats sort of the point, as Mikel Artetas side again claimed another three points.

With just nine games left, nothing about this run-in is going to be routine. Victories like this are instead precious days to preserve emotional energy for the exertions to come - to be enjoyed. Even the eight-point lead that was itself preserved cant so much be seen as a gap but as insurance, especially with Arsenal themselves travelling to Anfield next week as City go to Southampton, and that against a Liverpool who will be facing the third consecutive game against one of the old big six so may have a point to prove.

This is when its all getting real. Its just as well Arsenal have Jesus back, not just looking fresh but on scoring form. You can add your own line about being like a new signing, whatever one about his name with that match at Liverpool coming on Easter Sunday.

His sharpness ensured Arsenal never even felt anything like title-race nerves in this match after Citys win. It was Jesus' movement in the box that brought two almost inexplicable challenges from Jack Harrison and Luke Ayling, that would have invited any attacker to fall over their needlessly raised legs, and a penalty was duly awarded.

Almost inexplicable, mind, because it was in keeping with a frenetic Leeds display that naturally reflected their own need for points. They look like they should have enough to stay up, even if they had nowhere near enough to really challenge in this match - which still leaves them in considerable trouble.

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With his squad and midfield way short of Arsenals quality, Javi Gracia opted for the main weapon that Leeds have an awful lot of, in running. And while it did initially lead to some dangerous moments from Crysencio Summerville, it also meant Leeds were never really in control of their gameplan. There was always that potential for something out there, which was what we saw with the penalty.

Jesus went down then picked himself up to pick his spot. After that, it was never really a contest, but instead one of those rare days in a tense run-in when supporters can actually enjoy a match without the asphyxiating nerves of that need to win weighing down on everything. Its one of the emotional ironies of a title race, as so many of Arsenals previous champions might tell those at the club now. It can only be truly enjoyed in the moment of victory. Until then, the relief of goals going in aside, it is mostly about getting through it and getting jobs done.

That was for once the case rather early here, Ben White making sure of the points just moments after half-time. Gabriel Martinelli sent in the most sumptuous swerving cross, the delicacy of the delivery in direct contrast to how White just smashed it in off the crossbar.

(Getty Images)

You might call it the finish of someone who doesnt score that often. Jesus ensured similar cant be said of him right now, as he added another shortly afterwards. There was more encouragement for Arteta as this was set up by Leandro Trossard, in for Bukayo Saka, who had a mild midweek illness. The Belgian brilliantly created space in the Leeds box for Jesus to just sweep the ball in.

By then, Arteta could even afford to bring Saka on for a run-out to bring him fully back to speed, rather than because they needed him. It only speaks to that sudden strength in depth.

Even when Rasmus Kristensen did pull one back with a goal that might have made previous iterations of this Arsenal edgy, they just went straight up the other end for Martin Odegaard to put it on Granit Xhakas head and into the net.

Arsenal were again just getting to play and express themselves, at a point of the title race when it is usually about getting it done and exerting emotional energy.

It meant this was a day to be enjoyed, in a season that could yet be one to savour. The next few weeks will decide that, but wins of this nature could be all the more important. Arsenal now dont need big days in the title race. They need it going exactly like this.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)  Taking a break in the paddock after watching Max Verstappen during a practice session Saturday at the Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne teenager Kaitlyn Bourne was loving her day at the track.

The 17-year-old Bourne, who was wearing a clear plastic poncho over a Red Bull sweater on a wintry day at Albert Park, is a massive fan of Australian Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is sitting out this season.

But Bourne, who comes from a motorsport-loving family and watches every Grand Prix race, hopes that one day she will have the chance to support a female F1 driver.

It is still a very male dominated sport, so it would be good to bring in more females. I think it could happen, she said.

There has not been a woman driver in a Formula 1 race for more than 40 years. But with estimates suggesting that 40% of current Formula 1 fans are female, the motorsport industry is making a concerted effort to ensure that changes.

The highest-profile female driver in recent years has been Danica Patrick. The now-retired American is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing  her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman in an IndyCar Series race.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said this week in Melbourne he believes gender equality in the sport is inevitable.

I think it is fantastic to see the amount of girls, females, that are showing interest in Formula One now and were seeing it at all levels, he said. I think the interest is growing. It is appealing to more women to get involved in the sport, whether that is from an engineering basis, or across all aspects of the organization.

As the sport does become more accessible, and we are pushing to make it more accessible, I think that is something that will naturally happen anyway.

Horner was responding to reports that a team evenly divided between men and women from the cockpit to the executive offices was looking to enter F1 within two to three years.

Story continues

Former British American Racing founder Craig Pollock told CNN last week he hoped to debut Formula Equal from the 2025 or 2026 season.

FIA chief executive Mohammed ben Sulayem posted on social media that he had instructed his staff to consider launching an expressions of interest process for prospective teams.

Pollock said he had interest from financial backers for his proposal to field an 11th team.

Our ambition is to deliver and build opportunities and pathways for women to get to the very top level inside motorsports, Pollock told CNN. The concept and the idea is to try and build a Formula One team (that is) 50% male, 50% female, which is extremely hard to do if you have an existing Formula One team. Its a lot easier with a clean sheet of paper.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said the importance of equality in Formula One was clear to all participants.

So anything we can do to increase diversity in F1, I think everyone here would welcome it, he said.

Bourne, whose interest in Formula One increased via the Netflix hit series Drive to Survive, said the introduction of the W Series in 2019 was a step in the right direction. That series was criticized for not including any female drivers, even from the W series.

I think it is getting better. I know there is a womens series now. So that is good, she said.

Aaliya Ally, who is also from Melbourne, was attending the race with a friend.

In terms of gender equality, I think it is good that there are more opportunities for women, she said. But I hope that it continues to get better and better and that they keep expanding it.

___

More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
The Georgia General Assembly has passed a bill that increases the weight limit of big rig trucks on state and local roads.

If signed by Georgia governor Brian Kemp, trucks that normally carry up to 80,000 pounds of supplies and materials would be allowed to carry up to 88,000 pounds.

Thats a lot of weight, said truck driver Sean Clinton. Its already scary enough to have 80,000 pounds.

The controversial bill is creating a lot of safety concerns for those who have already been a victim to trucks that cannot stop on a dime.

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People think big trucks, big breaks, said Clinton. Thats not the case with all of that weight. I need a lot of distance.

Attorney Dennis Keene from Savannah knows too well the weight and impact these big rigs carry. Hes been representing truck drivers and trucking companies for more than 20 years.

There are no changes to the braking system, said Keene. A lot of it is up to the truck driver.

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Many of these trucks find themselves on Georgia Interstate 16 heading toward the Port of Savannah, a highway that has become a very deadly stretch involving big rig trucks. This includes the five nursing students who were killed back in 2015.

Even though I-16 is not included, it would include many local area roads with trucks that are headed to the port.

More weight, more money, said Clinton.

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Questions surround a Georgia offensive front that will have to replace both starting tackles in the 2023 season.

Broderick Jones and Warren McClendon are NFL-bound, so where do the Bulldogs turn?

Third-year tackle Amarius Mims, a former five-star recruit in the 2021 recruiting class, may be the answer at right tackle.

Mims played in 12 games as a reserve in 2022 and played well respectively.

Offensive guard Tate Ratledge spoke highly of Mims and his mindset so far in spring practice.

Hes gotten very mature with how he goes about things, just coming into practice, not really taking plays off and things like that. [Hes] just going out there and grinding every day and just really stepping into the shoes that hes got to fill.

Georgias offensive line finished runner-up for the 2022 Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line unit in the country. The expectations are high in 2023, but the talent is there for the back-to-back national champions.

Story originally appeared on UGA Wire
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's military cannot completely fill its existing gaps by 2030, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying, as Berlin seeks to revamp its armed forces after Russia's invasion of Ukraine following decades of neglect.

"We all know that the existing gaps cannot be completely closed by 2030... It will take years. Everyone is aware of that," Pistorius said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday.

Already worn down by decades of underinvestment since the end of the Cold War, the Bundeswehr is in even worse shape than a year ago given weapons and munitions donated to Ukraine have mostly not yet been replaced, say experts.

Pistorius rejected further arms deliveries to Ukraine from the Bundeswehr stocks beyond the announced commitments.

"To put it bluntly, like other nations, we have a limited inventory. As federal defence minister, I cannot give everything away," he said.

The minister, who was appointed earlier this year, said increasing the defence budget to reach the NATO spending target of 2% of national output, from currently around 1.5%, was his highest priority.

"If that is then set in motion at the end of the (legislative) period, then I would be satisfied," he added.

Germany is also planning a naval mission in the Indo-Pacific region next year and is intensifying its partnerships with key countries in the region, such as Japan, Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore, he said, saying Europe's freedom of movement in seas there was "too challenged".

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Dozens of people are dead across nine states and dozens have been hospitalized after a tornado outbreak moved across the U.S. on Friday and Saturday, according to local officials.

At least 32 people have died as a result of the storms, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

Among the fatalities, five were in Arkansas, five died in Indiana, one died in Alabama, and one died in Mississippi, local officials told ABC News. McNairy County Mayor Larry Smith told ABC News that nine people died in the county. In Illinois, four people died, including a man who was killed after a roof collapsed during a concert at a historic theater.

The storm pattern moved east on Saturday with one person confirmed dead in Sussex County, Delaware, after a home collapsed, Leonard DeMalto, a spokesman for the Delaware State Police, told ABC News.

PHOTO: A tornado passes through Little Rock, Arkansas, Mar. 31, 2023. (Aaron Borders)

PHOTO: A rainbow shines amidst the remains of a neighborhood damaged by a tornado on March 31, 2023, in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Benjamin Krain/Getty Images)

The National Weather Service has confirmed at least 31 tornadoes across 9 states on Friday and Saturday. More than 28 million people across the South and Midwest were under a tornado watch going into Friday night, according to the NWS.

Arkansas hit with 'catastrophic' tornado

A "catastrophic" tornado moved through the metro area of Little Rock, Arkansas, in Pulaski County Friday afternoon, the NWS confirmed. According to preliminary NWS information, the EF3 tornado had winds up to 165 mph and a path length spanning 20-25 miles.

At least one person died and more than 50 people across Pulaski County have been hospitalized, with that number expected to rise, Madeline Roberts, a spokeswoman for the county's emergency management agency, told ABC News. She did not have information on the conditions of those injured.

PHOTO: Debris covers the ground around Wynne High school in Wynne, Ark., on April 1, 2023. (Adrian Sainz/AP)

PHOTO: A firefighter checks homes for injured residents in the Walnut Ridge neighborhood after a tornado damaged hundreds of homes and building on March 31, 2023, in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Benjamin Krain/Getty Images)

PHOTO: An apartment complex on Cantrell Road was severely damaged by a tornado Friday, March 31, 2023, in Little Rock, Ark. (Stephen Swofford/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

A tornado emergency had been issued for metro Little Rock on Friday afternoon due to the threat of a damaging tornado and quarter-sized hail.

"Property damage is extensive and we are still responding," Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. tweeted.

According to Scott, 2,100 residents were impacted in western and southern Little Rock and between 27,000 and 30,000 homes were without power on Saturday.

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"Many folks have been displaced and looking for a shelter. We're working towards that, again, if someone's in need of shelter, we're asking you to go to Hall High School," Scott said.

PHOTO: A woman is carried out of a fire station to an ambulance after a tornado tore through west Little Rock, Ark., on March 31, 2023. (Staci Vandagriff/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

PHOTO: Kris French (C) and his family search through rubble after a tornado damaged hundreds of homes and building on March 31, 2023, in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Benjamin Krain/Getty Images)

PHOTO: A woman collects belongings from a family members home after the roof was ripped off from a tornado on Oakview Drive in North Little Rock, Ark., on March 31, 2023. (Thomas Metthe/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

Capt. Jacob Lear-Sadowsky with the Little Rock Fire Department told ABC News Friday that there were a "significant" number of injuries from the storm.

Damage is centered in West Little Rock, where "multiple structures," both commercial and residential, have been destroyed, Lear-Sadowsky said. Power lines and trees are also downed and cars have been flipped over due to the storm.

PHOTO: The damaged interior of store after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., Mar. 31, 2023. (Andrew Demillo/AP)

PHOTO: A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., March 31, 2023. (Andrew Demillo/AP)

As the powerful supercell moved eastward, a "confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado" was located around 5:13 p.m. local time near Earle, Arkansas, west of Memphis, the NWS said, calling it a "life-threatening situation."

PHOTO: A home is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., on March 31, 2023. (Andrew Demillo/AP)

PHOTO: A home is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., on March 31, 2023. (Andrew Demillo/AP)

Four people have been pronounced dead in Wynne, located roughly 50 miles west of Memphis, which took a direct hit from a tornado. Miles Kimble, the coroner of neighboring St. Francis County, who was assisting in Wynne, confirmed the death toll to ABC News.

Wynne Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told ABC News Friday night they have experienced "major damage" and that she believes people are trapped but could not estimate a number.

"We're still trying to get crews out and make sure we don't have people trapped and continue to assess the damage," Hobbs said, adding that the tornado split the city of more than 8,000 people in half.

New video shows a "catastrophic" tornado churning through metro Little Rock, Arkansas, amid a significant tornado outbreak in the South, according to the NWS. https://t.co/5Sv7gwgqxp pic.twitter.com/n7CJMWy99q  ABC News (@ABC) March 31, 2023

"We had no idea that it would be this much damage that we're seeing right now at this point," Latricia Woodruff, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management, told ABC News Live Prime on Friday about the tornado activity in the state. "There's a lot of homes that have been damaged, other structures. We heard about a fire station here in Little Rock that had some damage to it, as well."

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency due to Friday's severe weather and activated the National Guard to assist state and local law enforcement. She said there was "significant damage" in central Arkansas due to the storm.

"Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through," Sanders tweeted.

Sanders spoke with President Joe Biden on Saturday, saying Biden and Homeland Security have "offered a tremendous amount of support."

"Anything that Arkansas needs, they have assured us that those resources will be here and on the ground," she said during a press conference Saturday.

PHOTO: A family evacuates their Walnut Ridge neighborhood on March 31, 2023, in Little Rock, Arkansas. (Benjamin Krain/Getty Images)

1 dead after roof of Illinois theater collapses

In Illinois, a 50-year-old man died and dozens were injured after a roof collapsed at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere due to a suspected tornado, officials said.

A tornado siren went off at 7:24 p.m. local time; at 7:47 p.m., there were reports of the roof collapse, according to Dan Zaccard, emergency management director for Boone County.

Hospitals received more than 40 patients from the incident, including 28 who were transported from the scene via ambulances, officials said.

PHOTO: A house is damaged by fallen trees on West Hurlbut Avenue near where the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed during a tornado, on April 1, 2023, in Belvidere, Ill. (Erin Hooley/AP)

MORE: 1 dead, over 40 injured after roof of Illinois theater collapses during suspected tornado: Officials

In Crawford County, three people died after a residential structure they were in collapsed, a state official told ABC News.

Indiana: Sullivan 'like a war zone'

PHOTO: People look at a destroyed decommissioned helicopter that that was displayed at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post 2459 the day after a tornado hit Sullivan, Indiana, U.S. April 1, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Cherry (Jon Cherry/Reuters)

The mayor of Sullivan, Indiana, said midday Saturday that about 200 structures in Sullivan County were severely damaged, calling it "mass devastation," as search-and-rescue efforts were ongoing after Friday's severe weather.

"What this looks like, is a war zone," Mayor Clint Lamb said during a press briefing.

An area south of the county seat of about 4,000 "is essentially unrecognizable right now," Lamb said earlier.

ABC News' Will McDuffie, Jianna Cousin, Matt Foster, Robinson Perez and Kenton Gewecke contributed to this report.

Tornado updates: At least 32 dead, dozens injured across 9 states originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
President Trump Delivers Update On Operation Warp Speed At White House - Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Barring some major surprise in Tuesdays expected announcement of the charges against former President Trump like that he did shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenuethe indictment is likely to contain low-level, white-collar felonies. Under New York law, these crimes do not carry any mandatory prison term and the likelihood of Trump being incarcerated, given the years of appeals that lie ahead, is low. So why did District Attorney Alvin Bragg decide to bring these charges? (And yes, he did make the decision to bring them  DAs almost always get the indictments they want from grand juries.)

The Trumpy answer  that Bragg is a ravening racist socialist who wants to stop a second Trump victoryis just silly. Braggs trajectory from Harvard Law School to a prestigious federal court clerkship, to Southern District of New York federal prosecutor, to Deputy Assistant Attorney General in New York, and then elective office, is a typical and sought-after path for many of New Yorks legal elite. It usually culminates in a federal judgeship or a corner office in a bourgeois white-shoe law firm. It is not a life of left-fist raised chanting to the barricades. The guy is even a Sunday School teacher. Bragg was elected on his promise to reform Manhattans highly unequal criminal legal system that disproportionally contributed to the mass incarceration of the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump was barely mentioned. And Bragg tends to keep his distance from the cameras and has enjoyed a reputation as a solid, careful lawyer.

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But the liberal answer, viz., this indictment proves no one is above the law, is not true either. Presidents have always been above the law. Richard Nixon almost Trumps equal in vulgarity, racism, and flagrant law-breaking  was pardoned. Ronald Reagan intentionally traded arms for hostages in Iran to finance an illegal war in Nicaragua. George W. Bush, who has the blood of over a million people on his hands for starting a war in Iraq based on lies, sits in his bathtub and paints pictures of his own feet. And the list of other highly placed public officials who have escaped accountability is long.

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So why bother trying to hold this particular president accountable?

One useful distinction between prior Presidential crimes and Trumps alleged misconduct is that the latter all took place in his purely private capacity. While Bush was acting as Commander-in-Chief when he launched his war, Trump stood in the same shoes as any other shady, grifting businessman. The wisdom of invading a sovereign nation and overthrowing its government can be viewed as a policy disagreement, but it is hard to find a policy justification for paying off a porn star and then cooking the companys books to conceal it from authorities. That President Trump got away with summoning a mob to interfere with the orderly transfer of power is not an argument that Citizen Trump should be able to get away with fraud.

The other thing is that, just as in a buffet, someone has to be first. Federal Special Counsel Jack Smith is conducting a vigorous investigation of Trumps role in taking, retaining, and failing to return sensitive national defense information when he left the White House. Even Trumps former lawyer was recently compelled to testify based on a finding that it was more likely than not that the lawyer was being used to facilitate a crime. And Trump faces the very real possibility of felony charges in Georgia for election interference. Again, just like at a buffet, we then all grab our plates and get in line. It may well be that Bragg being first will encourage others with provable cases.

Finally, Trump has gotten away with a lot of grifts, grafts, scams, and fleecing of the faithful for a very, very long time. When I was a young lawyer with a client facing 40 years to life for two small drug sales, I remonstrated with the head of the Bronx Rackets Bureau. I complained that my client was being treated unfairly, that he was being over-criminalized and would be over-punished and the whole thing was just unfair. He looked at me and said: Kuby, youre right. But remember this: Bad things happen to bad people. It actually could be that simple.

Ron Kuby is a New York-based criminal defense and civil rights lawyer with nearly 4 decades of experience (and a shoutout in The Big Lebowski).

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Republicans on Capitol Hill are amping up their defense of former President Trump in the wake of his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, promising congressional action against the New York district attorney and intensifying their rhetoric with tinges of violence.

Trumps indictment on Thursday capped off days of anticipation after the former president predicted he would be arrested last week and called for protests. Republicans at that time lashed out at the prospect of Trump being indicted.

Now that it is official, some of Trumps closest congressional allies are escalating their outrage  at the apparent encouragement of the former president  with everything from symbolic handouts of ham sandwiches to calls for protests and threats of retaliatory congressional investigations.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) earlier this month said, we dont need to protest Trumps potential arrest, but she changed her tune on Friday.

Im going to New York on Tuesday. We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT! the Georgia Republican wrote on Twitter. Trump is expected to appear in court to hear the charges against him on Tuesday afternoon.

And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, facetiously suggested the former president act violently when he is en route to his arraignment.

How can President Trump avoid prosecution in New York? Graham wrote on Twitter with a thinking face emoji.

On the way to the DAs office on Tuesday, Trump should smash some windows, rob a few shops and punch a cop. He would be released IMMEDIATELY! he wrote in a subsequent tweet, an apparent reference to claims that the New York prosecutor is soft on crime.

Trumps campaign on Friday distributed a list of more than a hundred statements from Republicans showing support of him and outrage at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), in a clear sign that the former president is keeping track of which Republicans come to his defense.

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GOP pushes for Congress to act

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on criminal charges Thursday for the alleged part he played in organizing hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. The indictment remains under seal, but several outlets reported that it includes more than 30 counts.

Republicans had already zeroed in on Bragg, painting him as a partisan prosecutor who was out to get Trump. But their retaliation is now going beyond mere statements of outrage.

After Trump teased his potential arrest, a trio of House GOP committee chairs asked Bragg to sit for a transcribed interview to discuss his investigation. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also requested testimony from two prosecutors who resigned from the New York case because of disagreements with Bragg.

The Manhattan district attorneys office called allegations of politicization baseless and inflammatory, warning Congress to not interfere with its prosecution, while also expressing some willingness to provide some information to Congress.

With the indictment now official, some Republicans are pushing for more congressional action.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Thursday pledged that the House will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account. And Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who served as physician to the president during the Trump administration, warned in a statement that it will ultimately be Alvin Bragg that pays the price for this abuse of office.

The subpoenas should now fly, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

While Republicans have brushed off concern about interference in a prosecutorial proceeding, the House GOPs embrace of investigating any witch hunt against Trump does risk taking away the focus from a host of its other priorities.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) arrives for a closed-door House Republican conference meeting on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. He issued a warning for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with the indictment of former President Trump.

But Rep. Barry Morre (R-Ala.), another member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Bragg has forced them to investigate the alleged weaponization of his office.

Theres so many important issues before us, but whats more important than Americans liberty and the opportunity to elect the president that you want to elect? Moore said. They do in communist countries lock up political opponents, but not in the United States of America.

Moore took a creative approach with his response to the Trump indictment. In a reference to the adage that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich  poking fun at the ease prosecutors have in securing grand jury indictments  Moore handed out ham sandwiches at his Capitol Hill office on Friday.

You can indict a ham sandwich, as they say, but at the end of the day you get an opportunity to defend yourself in court, Moore said.

Moore also has some personal experience with indictments. As a state legislator in 2014, he was indicted on charges of perjury and giving false statements; he was later found not guilty.

Our community really rallied around me and my family. We had more door-knockers that Saturday after I was indicted, Moore said. I think its important, too, to stand behind President Trump and his family and say, like those folks knocked doors for me, were going to come to your rescue as well.

United support with nuance

Despite the Trump campaigns assertions that Republicans are showing united support for Trump, some are taking a more subdued attitude about the indictment, waiting to see how the justice process plays out before syncing-up with other GOP lawmakers and calling the indictment a political prosecution.

I trust our legal system, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told The Hill in a text message. Theres checks and balances with a jury, judges and appeals. President Trump will be able to make his defense and well all see if this is a partisan prosecution or not.

The moderate Republican appeared to take a jab at both his colleagues on the right and left for their immediate reactions to the Trump indictment.

Seems un-American to cheer someone getting indicted or, as well, excoriate a prosecutor before the indictment is even released. I trust our legal system in the long run. Well get a clearer picture as time goes on, he said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, said she is monitoring Donald Trumps legal situation as it unfolds, declining to take a side in the growing political debate.

No one is above the law in this country, but everyone deserves a fair legal process, Murkowski said in a statement. The indictment of a former President is unprecedented and must be handled with the utmost integrity and scrutiny.

Instead of rushing to individual judgment, we must also evaluate the evidence as it becomes available and use it to inform our opinions and statements about what is actually happening, she added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the conservative author and pharmaceutical company entrepreneur who launched a long-shot bid for the presidency in late February, believes that at the end of the GOP nomination race, he and former President Donald Trump will be the two top candidates.

He doesn't think that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is "suited to be a leader of our country" and called him "fundamentally uncourageous," noting the length of time that passed before DeSantis publicly addressed Trump's earlier claim that he would be indicted.

"Anyone that's coming in as sort of a professional politician, with all the plastic features, I don't see our base ending there. I think they need the outsider," Ramaswamy told CBS News during a visit to Washington D.C. earlier this week.

Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old Indian American CEO who has been a frequent guest on Fox News, has been visiting early presidential primary states and says he will launch a daily podcast about his campaign soon.

But he is still a relatively unknown figure to the GOP base. In early presidential primary polls, Ramaswamy's name either has not registered or a plurality of voters have said they don't know who he is. In a February Monmouth University poll, 49% of Republicans said they hadn't heard about him.

But Ramaswamy, whose presidential run is his first run for office, argues he can be the "outsider" politician that the Republican base  and Trump's base of voters  want.

"It's not going to be immediate. It's going to be a 14- to 16-month project," Ramaswamy said of his campaign.

He claims he would take Trump's "America First" agenda "further than he ever did"  and in a less divisive way. Ramaswamy vowed to "take on" affirmative action, the "climate cult," show a "use of force to solve the [Mexican drug] cartel problem" and says he would shut down the Department of Education, which he maintains has "no reason to exist," a stance popular among a number of Republicans, including Trump.

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Ramaswamy feels the country is in "the middle of a national identity crisis" and that younger generations think of themselves as "victims rather than victors," a core stance in one of his books.

"Conservatives are hungry, they want to go further, but they don't want to abandon the moral core of conservatism," Ramaswamy said, without answering whether Trump has damaged that "moral core," as Trump faces an arraignment next week in Manhattan, while several other investigations of the former president are underway.

Ramaswamy believes that the presidential primary race will change after the first debate in August, especially for DeSantis, whose potential candidacy has attracted wide interest among Republicans already.

"He happens to be the one that I think the country believes might actually be a career politician who has a shot, [but] I think that we the country and the Republican base certainly will see through that act. I think they're already starting to," Ramaswamy said.

DeSantis has not officially launched a 2024 run yet, but has been making visits to early presidential primary states and battleground states to promote his new book and talk to local Republican groups. And in early hypothetical surveys of the 2024 field so far this year, DeSantis is always in the top two with Trump, with many other candidates trailing far behind.

Still, Ramaswamy is eager to take on DeSantis directly, and characterized him as a kid who grew up "in their sheltered environment" and said DeSantis has created an "echo chamber" of support in Florida.

DeSantis "indulged himself into thinking that's actually the world. The world's not going to be nice to you, man," said Ramaswamy.

"We're talking about representing the freaking United States of America on the global stage. That can't be the guy. He doesn't have it. I know he's deeply insecure. He won't tell you whether he got the second shot. He's not going to tell you whether he got the second shot  what business [does he have] standing up to Vladimir Putin," Ramaswamy said. He also criticized DeSantis' fights with Disney and investment management company Blackrock.

CBS News has reached out to DeSantis' political team for comment.

Ramaswamy was one of the first in the potential 2024 field to show public support for Trump after he predicted he would be indicted, which he says he did "on principle." Ramaswamy said he was not sure how this indictment or any future charges stemming from other investigations of Trump will affect the nomination race.

As for the rest of the potential 2024 field, Ramaswamy was quick to label them "professional career politicians" who would not win the support of Republican primary voters.

Of former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, the only other declared candidate in the race besides Ramaswamy and Trump, the biotech entrepreneur said she was a "classic case" of a "professional career politician." "I think she and DeSantis share a lot in common, even though they appear different," he said.

He said of former Vice President Mike Pence that he's a "good man  career politician, who actually does express his beliefs."

Of Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is also mulling a presidential bid, that he "seems like a nice enough man  I think he's still deciding who he wants to be," Ramaswamy said.

A native of Cincinnati, Ramaswamy was considered to be a potential GOP challenger to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio in 2024, but told CBS News he has ruled out a run and has his eyes set on the presidency.

Fin Gomez and Fernando Suarez contributed to this report.

The Secretary and the Border | Sunday on 60 Minutes

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Candidate Scott Wehrli has collected roughly $99,000 more in his bid for Naperville mayor than opponent Benny White.

Illinois State Board of Elections records show Wehrli has received more than $207,000 in campaign donations since announcing his mayoral run in July, whereas White has taken in $108,000 since he launching his bid in October.

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The third candidate, Tiffany Stephens, has not reported any contributions to the state since joining the mayors race in December.

Candidates are required to file quarterly reports with the state elections board.

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Who is donating to a candidate is important in Naperville because a recentlty passed ethics ordinance mandates council members disclose any campaign contribution of $750 or more when voting on an issue that involves the donor.

Wehrlis campaign fund received $70,638 in contributions and fund transfers between July 27 through December 2022. As of March 27, he added another $136,470, records show.

Naperville mayoral candidate Scott Wehrli greets people during the West Suburban Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Naperville. (Scott Wehrli)

The largest donations  those of $5,000 or more  to the Wehli campaign totaled $73,700. They included:

 $20,000 from the MORE Political Action Committee-Main Street PAC, of Downers Grove;

 $13,000 from Mokena building materials company Ozinga Brothers;

 $12,000 from Naperville commercial property broker BBM Inc.;

 $6,000 each from the William G. Waight Revocable Trust of Naperville; Minute Men Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio; and real estate developer Jay Punukollu of Itasca;

 $5,000 each from Ryan Kubacki, CEO of ARES PRISM Software in Naperville, and Drake Kelly, business owner of Valley Insurance Group in Naperville.

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In October, the MORE PAC-Main Street PAC supported Republican candidates Patty Gustin, who was elected to the DuPage County Board, and Greg Hart, who lost his bid for DuPage County Board chairman.

White received $46,940 in 2022 plus another $62,480 this year through March 30.

Campaign contributions to White of $5,000 or more totaled $36,000. They included:

 $10,000 each from the SMART (Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation) Local 265 PAC and the LIUNAs Chicago Laborers District Council PAC;

 $6,000 from Mark Wright, president and CEO of Diverse Facility Solutions in Naperville; and

 $5,000 each from Naperville resident Diana Hawken, who is active with AAUW, Naperville Education Foundation, Naperville Police Foundation and the Ruth Peterman Revocable Trust.

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Most of the individual contributions for both mayoral candidates were $2,500 or less.

For Wehrli, those included developers and people in the real estate industry  Stephen Bus ($2,500), Jessica Gerald ($749), Scott Jenkins ($1,000), Nick Ryan ($2,303) and Teresa Ryan ($1,000), Anthony Zangler ($1,000)  and automobile dealers William Blum ($2,000), John Gerald ($749), Matthew Gerald ($749), Neil Gerald ($749) and Terrance DArcy ($1,500), who is running for mayor in Joliet.

Roger Claar, former mayor of Bolingbrook whose Citizens for Claar fund has a balance sheet and investments in excess of $195,000, also donated $1,000.

Naperville mayoral candidate Benny White speaks to a group of students during a campaign event. (Benny White / HANDOUT)

Besides an additional $9,000 from various unions and political action committees, White received donations from the Democratic campaign funds of state Sen. Laura Ellman, of Naperville ($2,500); state Reps. Janet Yang Rohr and Anne Stava-Murray, of Naperville ($1,000 each); state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, of Aurora ($2,500); DuPage County Chairwoman Deborah Conroy ($1,000); and District 5 County Board member Dawn DeSart ($500).

He also received money from Naperville council members Ian Holzhauer ($1,000) and Theresa Sullivan ($250); Indian Prairie District 204 School Board member Justin Karubas ($250), former D204 board member Michael Raczak and his wife, Miriam ($250); and former D204 Superintendent Karen Sullivan ($250).

While the campaign disclosures of $750 or more are required to be disclosed during council votes, Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico is opposed to the mandate and has said he wants to remove it from the citys ethics policies.

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His proposal to rescind the provision, expected to be discussed at this Wednesdays council meeting, will be met with opposition from at least one organization, the League of Women Voters of Naperville, which has been a vocal advocate for improved campaign disclosure and governmental ethics rules.

Susan Craigshead, president of the Naperville league chapter, said her group was committed to political campaign finance reform when citys rules were passed in December 2020 and members will continue that support.

subaker@tribpub.com
Calling all bookworms!

The Greater Charlotte Book Crawl has returned this year and features 15 bookstores, including South Main Book Company. Starting April 1, book lovers can get Greater Charlotte Book Crawl (GCBC) passports at any of the participating bookstores.

Throughout the month, crawlers can get a different stamp to fill their passport by visiting 15 stores from Salisbury to Rock Hill, with the main goal being to visit all stores.

The GCBC ends on April 29, which is National Independent Bookstore Day.

Each person with a completed passport will receive a special edition GCBC decal designed by Lily Clark, an artist from Davidson. Photos of the completed passports can also be sent in to be entered into a grand prize drawing for gift cards from all of the bookstores worth $300.

ALSO READ: Thousands of kids to get books from Channel 9 and Promising Pages book drive

Another part of this years GCBC is a partnership and book collection with a local nonprofit, Promising Pages, with the goal of increasing access to books for kids around the Queen City.

This is only the second year of the GCBC; which was launched as a way to promote the importance of independent bookstores and celebrate Charlottes growing bookstore scene.

Owner of South Main Book Company in Salisbury, Alissa Redmond, says this experience has been one of the highlights of working in the business.

Partnering with other independent bookstores has been one of the highlights of my life as a bookseller so far, Redmon said. I am working incredibly hard to have our bookmobilea Japanese fire truckoperational by April 1 so Hazelnut, South Mains trusty shop dog, and I can visit many of the other stores in the Crawl and raise awareness around literacy promotion in the Carolinas.

For more information about the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl and to find participating stores near you, please click here.

(WATCH BELOW: Books and Brackets: Kids take on reading challenge modeled after March Madness tournament)
Renowned conservationist Jane Goodall addressed a sold-out crowd of 3,400 people on Friday night at the Florida International Universitys Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

The diverse crowd of university students and enthusiastic supporters of all ages, were treated to a soft-spoken, yet vibrant, lecture.

During the event, An Evening with Dr. Jane Goodall: Inspiring Hope through Action, the 88-year-old spoke for about 90 minutes  standing for more than half of it. She took the crowd on a journey of her life and hopes for our collective responsibility, to take care of the planet and all living species.

Dr. Goodall continues, as a global icon spreading hope and turning it into a meaningful positive impact, to create a better world for people, other animals, and the planet we share, said Elizabeth Bejar, senior vice president of FIUs academic and student affairs, and co-host of the event.

Goodall is known for her groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, which changed our understanding of the relationship to the animal kingdom. This transformative research continues today as the longest-running chimpanzee study in the world.

Dr. Jane Goodall gives a lecture during An Evening With Jane Goodall: Inspiring Hope Through Action at Florida International Universitys Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Friday, March 31, 2023, in Miami, Fla.

Goodall kicked off her lecture by making chimpanzee noises to introduce herself. She continued with stories about her early life, and shared that her love for animals came as soon as she popped out of her mothers womb. This was solidified when she read Tarzan of the Apes as a child.

I had just enough money to buy it, so I took it home and I read it cover to cover, and I actually fell in love with this glorious man from the jungle, and what did Tarzan do? He married the wrong Jane, said Goodall, as the crowd broke into laughter.

Goodall went on to describe the emotions she felt setting foot in Cape Town for the first time and touching African soil.

There, Goodall became a scientist who challenged conventional notions about primates and provided evidence for the evolutionary relationship between humans and chimpanzees. By the time she left Africa, she was an activist.

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A crowd claps while Dr. Jane Goodall gives a lecture during An Evening With Jane Goodall: Inspiring Hope Through Action at Florida International Universitys Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Friday, March 31, 2023, in Miami, Fla.

She discussed her career as a female scientist and some of the discoveries she made.

Girls werent scientists in those days, and everybody would just laugh at me, said Goodall.

She also shared her understanding of the problems South Florida faces with the everglades lowering level of water, the release of pythons and the need for a corridor to protect the last of the Florida panthers.

Think of your Florida panther, Goodall said. If enough of you are determined to stop it from becoming extinct, you can do it. You can save the manatees from speed boats and help the Everglades. Dont give up  theres so much you can do. If we get together, we truly can make this a better world.

She hopes that scientific breakthroughs will help ease the climate crisis in the future.

If everybody loses hope  especially the youth  then we are doomed, because if you lose hope then you become apathetic, she said. Thats why I am here and sharing this message that there is hope, the windows are closing, and we better get together and start taking action.

Dr. Mireya Mayor, the director of exploration and science communication in FIUs College of Arts, Sciences and Education, speaks with Dr. Jane Goodall during An Evening With Jane Goodall: Inspiring Hope Through Action at Florida International Universitys Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Friday, March 31, 2023, in Miami, Fla.

The event concluded with a moderated Q&A by Mireya Mayor, primatologist, director of exploration and science communication in FIUs College of Arts, Science and Education, and a longtime friend of Goodall.

Together we can, together we will, together we must, Mayor and Goodall said in unison, encouraging the crowd to join them in chant.

This story was produced as part of a partnership between the Florida International University Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media and the Miami Herald. Lauren Wurts is an FIU journalism student.
Tom Goodney, superintendent of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 116,000 students in Ohio graduated from high school in 2022. That's a sizeable population of educated individuals making important decisions about their futures.

While many attend college, on average, about 30% do not enroll in higher education, which makes work experience and training vital to student success after high school. Fortunately, Franklin County and surrounding counties have a motivated business community and the support of organizations like the Educational Service Center (ESC) of Central Ohio to foster workforce-ready skills before graduation.

So, what do "workforce-ready skills" look like in 2023? Employers seek young adults who understand the value of teamwork, professionalism, problem-solving, and critical thinking. While Ohio's academic standards naturally build some of these skills, the business community needs to provide high school students with work experiences and internships, and for school districts to offer students the ability to earn sought-after certifications while in high school. The combined effort allows the business community to grow talent and students to succeed immediately upon graduation.

Ohio law (Ohio Revised Code section 3313.82) already requires every school district and ESC to have a business advisory council that fosters cooperation among schools, businesses, and their communities. It's designed to make local education systems more aware of the local labor market, promote work-based experiences within businesses, and help students prepare for successful learning and employment opportunities. For example, the ESC of Central Ohio's Business Advisory Council supports 27 regional school districts. Together, they play a pivotal role in ensuring that career pathways discussed in high school align with the needs of the labor market. In turn, business leaders share news about job trends and opportunities and influence district curriculum to create applicable opportunities for students.

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Many Central Ohio companies have leaned into this work through the ESC Business Advisory Council, allowing them to access a diverse and innovative labor pool. In addition, work-based learning programs can help cultivate diversity in the talent pipeline by providing the structure, support, and training that people of many backgrounds need to succeed.

One example of industry taking the lead is the Performance Columbus automotive maintenance pre-apprenticeship program for high school students that allows them to earn credit toward graduation while getting real-world learning experience to start their career in the automotive business. Enrollment is open to juniors and seniors, and training occurs at the company's maintenance center on Morse Road. In its second year, the program offers hands-on and debt-free learning with master tech instructors who teach in-demand skills that can lead to six-figure earning potential.

The ability for businesses to work with school districts isn't exclusive to large corporations, either. Small business leaders should also get involved by proactively contacting business advisory councils or trade associations like NFIB and the Ohio Manufacturers Association. The ESC of Central Ohio has several small businesses offering guest speakers, business tours, job shadowing, internships, and pre-apprenticeship programs. The council supports small businesses with limited capacity by facilitating connections, coordinating experiences, and troubleshooting if needed. District leaders are interested in developing valuable business partnerships with leaders vested in their students' and teachers' education, development, and growth.

It is also crucial for parents and families to be aware of the multiple pathways that students can take to employment in high-demand jobs in central Ohio. In particular, it is essential to communicate that high-quality pathways and work experiences do not pose a choice between preparing for post-secondary education or a career. Rather, pathways represent a "both/and" proposition that enables students to acquire skills and credentials valued in the labor market that leads to employment directly after high school while, if they wish, simultaneously working towards a post-secondary degree.

That is why the ESC of Central Ohio Business Advisory Council believes we must understand what students and families know and believe about education to workforce pathwaysas well as what specific kinds of information they value and where they get that information. In addition, high-quality pathways that expand student opportunities cannot be established without informing, engaging, and empowering the people these policies and programs serve. As a result, business advisory councils have held events and created resources and social media campaigns to inform families and students better.

The path to employment in 2023 and beyond is paved with opportunities that school districts and business leaders should identify and support collectively. Business Advisory Councils already provide the necessary structure to grow and develop unique learning opportunities for students who go on to college or seek employment immediately after graduation; however, business leaders who take a vested interest in students in their community will reap the benefits today and for years to come.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Guest columnist: Workforce-ready skills must be fostered in high school
LUSAKA, Zambia (AP)  Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday traveled down a dirt road to tour a farm outside Zambia's capital thats using new techniques and technology to boost its vegetable crop as she highlighted ways to secure food supplies in an age of global warming.

Its an example of what can be done around the world, she said after walking past rows of peppers and inspecting a drip irrigation system.

Unlike in the United States, where conversations about climate change usually revolve around replacing fossil fuels with clean energy, the focus in Africa is on expanding access to food. Rising prices stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been damaging to poor countries, and global warming is expected to bring more challenges in the coming years.

Hunger can also create instability, leading to migration and conflict.

The connection between these issues is quite clear, Harris said.

She is pushing for $7 billion in private-sector investments, mostly to boost conservation and improve food production, to help Africa prepare for the effects of climate change. Her announcement about that goal came as she wrapped up her weeklong visit to Africa, which included earlier stops in Ghana and Tanzania. The trip was intended to advance U.S. efforts to make inroads in a part of the world where Chinas influence runs deep.

It's the biggest-ticket item that Harris has announced, but more work will be needed to follow through.

For example, African Parks, a nonprofit group, has committed to raise $1.25 billion over the next seven years in order to expand its conservation program. Another organization, One Acre Fund, plans to raise $100 million to plant 1 billion trees by the end of the decade.

The politics of climate change are complicated in Africa, which has contributed far less to overall greenhouse gas emissions than richer corners of the world such as the United States. According to the International Energy Agency, 43% of Africans didnt have access to electricity in 2021, and recent outages have caused frustration.

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In Ghana, Harris was questioned at a news conference about how the West can demand that Africa go green and forgo using its natural resources. She also was pressed on whether wealthy nations would supply $100 billion annually to help poor countries cope with climate change, a commitment made under the Paris climate accord.

Harris said it is critically important that, as global leaders, we all speak truth about the disparities that exist in terms of cause and effect and that we address those disparities. She said there were opportunities in the clean energy economy that could help generate growth in Africa.

As for the money, President Joe Biden has requested $11 billion in his proposed budget to meet its international commitments.

We are waiting for Congress to do its work, Harris said.
Skateboarders clash with demonstrators gathered in support of recently indicted former President Trump in front of Huntington Beach Pier on Saturday. Two people were hurt, one hospitalized. (Eric Licas / Daily Pilot)

On Saturday  two days after a grand jury indicted former President Trump, securing his place in history as the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges  a small group of supporters gathered in Orange County to protest the indictment.

During the gathering near the Huntington Beach Pier on Saturday afternoon, the group of roughly 40 people flew Make America Great Again flags and chanted "God bless Trump!" At one point, two demonstrators were hit on their heads with skateboards during a clash.

A man was hit in the head with a skateboard at a pro-Trump rally in Huntington Beach. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Because the indictment remains sealed, the precise criminal charges aren't yet clear, but the investigation presented to the grand jury in New York focused on Trump's alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the final push of his 2016 campaign.

The indictment marks only one of the potential legal problems for Trump, who has declared that he will seek the presidency again in 2024. He also faces investigations into his alleged involvement in 2020 election interference by his supporters and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

Attorneys for the former president said in a statement that their client didn't commit any crimes and Republican allies have portrayed Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg, whose office presented the case to the grand jurors, as a far-left prosecutor working to ensure that Trump won't get elected in 2024.

Pro-Trump demonstrators rally in Huntington Beach. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

After he was indicted, Trump  who is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday  put out a statement characterizing the indictment as "Political Persecution" and a Witch-Hunt fueled by Radical Left Democrats.

Some of the demonstrators on Saturday echoed such language, referring to what they called a "fake indictment" and "just a sham."

A few minutes after noon, two demonstrators were hit with skateboards. One of the victims  a man who had been leading the chants  was bleeding from the head but ambulatory. The other refused to give his name to a Times reporter.

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Huntington Beach police initially detained two men at the scene. Huntington Beach Police Department spokesperson Jessica Cuchilla said one person was taken into custody.

She said one of the victims was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and that the incident was under investigation.

Demonstrators at the pro-Trump rally in Huntington Beach. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

One of the demonstrators, who identified himself as 18-year-old Joseph Edward of Redlands, said he witnessed the attack against his fellow demonstrators and said it was unprovoked.

It was intended to be peaceful," Edward said. "We dont want this. We dont want it to happen again.

Around two dozen protesters gathered on the corner of Veteran Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard outside the Federal Building on Saturday afternoon sporting American flags and pro-Trump signs. Chants of We love Trump blared through a pair of bullhorns.

The scene was peaceful, save for a man in a BMW who threw a water bottle at the crowd as he drove by.

Michelle Henney, a Westside resident who said she was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, called the indictment a witch hunt.

If he had a booger in his nose, theyd arrest him for indecent exposure, she said.

Times staff writers Sarah D. Wire and Arit John contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Oklahoma City and Logan County residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes and businesses as firefighters battle multiple wildfires Friday afternoon.

One of the grass fires quickly scorched about 10 acres in the 1000 block of E Hefner Road by 1:50 p.m., according to the Oklahoma City Fire Department.

Agencies across the state offer resources to those affected by the fires and there are many ways you can help:

Live updates: Dozens of grass fires demolish homes north of OKC

Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief

The Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief activated it's feeding unit to help first responders.

DR UPDATE: Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief has activated a feeding unit to serve first responders in areas of Oklahoma. We are closely monitoring these devastating fires and praying for all those impacted. We are here to serve. #okwx pic.twitter.com/4rzFPmgL0N  Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief (@OKBaptistDR) March 31, 2023

Get help from the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross offers help to those impacted by the fires in Oklahoma City and Logan County with finding shelter and providing assistance.

If you would like to make a donation, visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999.

2-1-1 Oklahoma

HeartLine Oklahoma is a resource available to Oklahomans that are in need of assistance. It is available 24 hours a day.

Call: 2-1-1

Text your zip-code to 898-211

More information: https://heartlineoklahoma.org/get-help

MORE: See what fires burning in Oklahoma look like

Oklahoma fire, smoke map

Ways you can prevent fires

The Oklahoma City Fire Department recommends preventative measures to keep fires from starting in the first place.

Do not burn trash or piles of debris.

Do not throw cigarettes out the window of vehicles.

Do not park cars on grass.

Avoid using lawn mowers in dry vegetation.

Avoid all outdoor burning, including cooking and welding.

Obey all local city and state "burn bans."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How to help residents impacted by Oklahoma City, Logan County fires
A winter of historic storms has benefited the creeks and lagoons of Malibu, as runoff has revitalized natural streams along the Pacific Coast. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

8:09 p.m. April 1, 2023: An earlier version of this story said nearly three dozen vertebrate species rely on oak habitats. That figure represents endangered, threatened or candidate species. Overall, more than 300 native vertebrate species rely on oak habitats.



Breathing in the rain-scrubbed air and absorbing the splendor of Topanga Creek, as it danced and pooled before her eyes, Rosi Dagit had to smile.

This is like heaven for a steelhead, said Dagit, a senior biologist with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains. If I was a steelhead, this is where I would lay my eggs.

This winters strong and persistent rains have revived a creek that, in recent years amid a punishing drought, had been reduced to a series of ponds and puddles. The much-needed water greatly enhances the prospects of reproduction for the endangered southern steelhead. And it has revived habitat for myriad other species in the Topanga Creek watershed, from a tiny minnow to frogs and newts to the coyotes and mountain lions that roam the canyon.

The persistent storms have helped clean the air in Southern California. The first 86 days of the year have produced less pollution than any time since fine particulate monitoring began in 1999. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Humans share in the watery bounty, because the rocks and sediment washing down Topanga Creek replenish an eroding beach and bolster a beloved surfing spot. Topanga regulars say the newly configured ocean bed has reshaped waves, even slightly increasing the chance they might catch a tasty little barrel.

Dagit uses words like fabulous and spectacular to describe the scenes of rebirth and replenishment along watersheds that feed into Santa Monica Bay. It's a sentiment of wonder and relief repeated around much of California in recent weeks, as the wettest winter in recent memory has given way to a damp spring.

The precipitation that has all but ended the state's three-year drought has, without doubt, brought devastation to some areas of the state, resulting in catastrophic flooding, mudslides and snowfall that cost some Californians their homes, their jobs, even their lives. But in many corners of the state that have avoided calamity, super-wet 2023 has been a boon.

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The state's largest reservoirs are filled to near capacity. Groundwater has begun to recharge after years of overpumping. Hillsides have exploded with a profusion of California poppies, sky-blue lupine and other wildflowers. Moisture-starved trees, including the state's signature pines and mighty oaks, appear on the rebound.

A wet winter has fueled a brilliant explosion of California poppies in Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

And the air in Southern California doesn't just feel cleaner, it is cleaner: The first 86 days of the year have produced less pollution than any time since fine particulate monitoring began in 1999, said the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

I just had a sense of relief  absolute relief and joy  that all the trees in this state would be watered, said Janet Cobb, executive officer of the California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks. Especially in rural areas, where the water table has been so depleted, they have finally had a big drink!

And where oaks are happy, so is other wildlife. Research has found that more than two-thirds of Californias drinking water supply is stored in oak woodlands. And more than 300 native California vertebrate species rely on oak habitats, many feeding on acorns dropped by the trees.



A late-March walk in the hills east of Berkeley revealed oaks, only recently a steely gray, have turned sharply green; even the lichen covering their bark appeared refreshed in the morning mist.

Cobb rhapsodized about the clearing of the air and the acidic smell of damp oaks. It makes a wonderful fragrance. Its something you cant replicate, said Cobb, whose organization focuses on preserving oak woodlands. They make a significant contribution to our way of being. Its soul-enriching.

Angela Moskow, with the group California Oaks, stands alongside a fallen coast live oak in Berkeley's Tilden Regional Park. More than 300 vertebrate species rely on healthy oak habitats. (Paul Kuroda / For The Times)

The southern steelhead trout that Dagit has worked for decades to bolster is not the only fish benefiting from this years repeated rains. The runoff has delivered a massive load of plants and other nutrients to creeks, rivers and lakes. It has also eased the watery treks to and from spawning grounds.

In Lake County, just north of the San Francisco Bay Area, water had been so sparse in mammoth Clear Lake that the population of hitch  an elongated, silvery minnow that once served as a primary food source for the Pomo tribe, as well as area fish and wildlife  had dwindled to dangerously low levels.

Tributaries into what is the largest natural lake in California ran so dry last summer that state Fish and Wildlife officials rescued several hundred hitch that became stranded in ponds above the lake. An annual summer survey of Clear Lake, which normally records hundreds of hitch, netted just four adults and two juveniles last summer, said Luis Santana, a fisheries biologist with the Pomo tribes Robinson Rancheria. But following the rains, hitch can again be seen spawning in Clear Lake creeks.

These storms do bring water to the lake and to the creeks, and that is a very good thing, Santana said.

The path for spawning salmon also will be eased by the surfeit of water.

When were in drought, it makes it very difficult for fish to move upstream and also for juvenile salmon trying to get back to the ocean, said Ted Grantham, a freshwater ecologist and hydrologist with UC Berkeleys Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. All this water should smooth their way.

High rivers have also created more overflows into natural and human-made floodplains. The water soaks up nutrients, enriching the waterways. That creates perfect conditions for a lot of wildlife, including for fish growth, Grantham said. Salmon can get fat before moving out to the ocean and that means they are much healthier and have a better chance for survival.

I do feel a sense of relief, he added. These ecosystems are adaptive and attuned to these sort of events. They have regenerative properties."

More water and vegetation along the wetlands of the Pacific Flyway mean better nutrition and nesting for migratory birds. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Migratory geese, ducks and other birds who ply the Pacific Flyway between Canada and points south are sharing in the reprieve. The drought had substantially reduced wetland acres along the flyway in recent years. Biologists and hunters reported thin and malnourished birds along the crucial north-south migratory route.

But already this year, the complex of wetlands along the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge has been promised a full allocation of water from state reservoirs. And 100,000 acres of surrounding farmland are expected to resume rice cultivation, adding immensely to the forage for migrating birds.

The additional water will allow birds to spread out along the flyway, reducing the spread of avian influenza and cholera, said Craig Isola, deputy project leader in the wildlife refuge complex. More vegetation along the wetlands means better nesting for mallards, northern harrier hawks and other species.

We are able to put more fresh, oxygenated water through the wetlands and that just means a healthier ecosystem, all around, said Isola, pointing out a bald eagle preening atop a cottonwood tree.

For farmers in the Sacramento Valley, the Central Valley's largely rural northern half, the wait for sufficient crop water seemed endless. In Glenn and Colusa counties, standard cultivation of about 100,000 acres of rice fell to just 1,000 acres last year.

I never thought we would see a day where we had essentially zero rice, said Fritz Durst, a sixth-generation grain farmer in the valley. We got a little bit of water, but it wasnt a reliable enough source to make an investment in the crop."

Fellow farmer Don Bransford concurred: It wasnt a fire, like you had up in Paradise, or it wasnt a flood. It was an invisible disaster, and the only real visual was bare ground."

The recent storms have revived habitat for myriad species in the watersheds that feed into Santa Monica Bay. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

When the first storms of 2023 inundated other parts of the state, the Sacramento Valley got much less moisture. Shasta Lake, the states largest reservoir, remained well below capacity. We thought, Oh no, not again,' said Lewis Bair, general manager of an irrigation and flood control district serving Colusa and Yolo counties.

Then, as one storm piled on another, luckily, everything changed," Bair said.

Jerry Cleek, a nut farmer whose family has been in the region since the 1860s, said: The ground is getting saturated, the reservoirs are filling up and in terms of the water, we havent had any damage to speak of. Its a good feeling.

Back at Topanga, nearly 500 miles to the south, Dagit and other ecologists have big plans, including reconstruction of a Pacific Coast Highway bridge to give Topanga Creek an easier path to the sea. She called the steelhead a "Field of Dreams" creature: build a more accessible waterway and they will come.

They're really a keystone species," Dagit said. "So if we make it good for steelhead, we make it good for everything else that needs to live in and around the creek, and we make good water quality for all those people going to the beach."





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images show a high level of activity at North Korea's main nuclear site, a U.S. think tank reported on Saturday after the North Korean leader ordered an increase in production of bomb fuel to expand the country's nuclear arsenal.

The Washington-based 38 North North Korea monitoring project said the activity it had spotted, based on images from March 3 and 17, could indicate that an Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon site was nearing completion and transition to operational status.

The report said the images showed that a 5 megawatt reactor at Yongbyon continued to operate and that construction had started on a support building around the ELWR. Further, water discharges had been detected from that reactor's cooling system. New construction had also started around Yongbyon's uranium enrichment plant, likely to expand its capabilities.

"These developments seem to reflect Kim Jong Un's recent directive to increase the country's fissile material production to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal," the report added, referring to the North Korean leader.

On Tuesday, North Korea unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads and vowed to produce more weapons-grade nuclear material to expand its arsenal, while denouncing stepped up military exercises by South Korea and the United States.

Its state media said Kim had ordered the production of weapons-grade materials in a "far-sighted way" to boost the country's nuclear arsenal "exponentially."

It is unclear whether North Korea has fully developed miniaturized nuclear warheads needed to fit on smaller weapons it has displayed and analysts say perfecting such warheads would most likely be a key goal if it resumes nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.

South Korea and the United States have warned since early 2022 that North Korea may resume nuclear testing at any time.

In a report last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated North Korea had assembled up to 20 nuclear warheads, and probably possessed sufficient fissile material for approximately 4555 nuclear devices.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Editing by Franklin Paul)
A man believed to have been homeless was found beaten to death under a Spartanburg bridge, according to law enforcement.

Steven Shawn Smith, 31, was found in the early hours of Monday morning having suffered blunt force trauma to the back of his head and neck.

The death is being investigated as a homicide, according to a statement released by the Spartanburg Police Department.

Around 3 a.m. on March 27, a call was made from the Miracle Hill Rescue mission, an emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness, reporting that there was a man under a nearby bridge who did not appear to be breathing.

Officers found the body under a bridge near North Forest Street and Clinton Street, an intersection above a set of train tracks near downtown Spartanburg.

Smith was found dead when officers arrived, according to the police department. He appeared to have been struck several times with a blunt object.

Ultimately, we are looking at this as a suspicious death that was caused by the hands of another, Spartanburg Police Captain Tim Metz told WSPA-TV.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger told several media outlets that he believed Smith may have been living under the bridge with several people.

Major Art Littlejohn told the Post and Courier Greenville that he believed the killing was an isolated incident, unlike the spree of attacks on homeless people in Greenville County from 2021 to 2022. The Greenville County Sheriffs Office ultimately charged five individuals who filmed themselves attacking homeless encampments.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong on Saturday "firmly rejected" findings in a new U.S. government report that said U.S. interests had been threatened and that Beijing continued to "undermine" the rule of law and freedoms in the territory under a national security crackdown.

The U.S.' 2023 Hong Kong Policy Act Report, published by the U.S. State Department, said Chinese and Hong Kong authorities "continued to use 'national security' as a broad and vague basis to undermine the rule of law and protected rights and freedoms."

China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020 without any local legislative or consultative process, outlawing crimes such as subversion with possible life imprisonment.

Authorities say the law restored order after protracted pro-democracy protests in 2019, that called for, among other demands, full democracy.

The city's tougher security regimen mirrors mainland China, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping has implemented a fierce crackdown on dissent over the past decade, jailing critics and rights defenders.

"Hong Kong authorities continued to arrest and prosecute people for peaceful political expression critical of the local and central governments, including for posting and forwarding social media posts," the U.S. report said.

A Hong Kong government spokesman, however, said in a statement that it "strongly disapproved of and firmly rejected the unfounded and fact-twisting remarks" in the report.

"The U.S.' attempt to undermine the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong will only expose its own weakness and faulty arguments and be doomed to fail."

The spokesman added the safeguarding of national security was of "cardinal importance" and all people are equal under the law regardless of political stance or background.

Over 230 people have been arrested for alleged acts endangering national security since 2020, including 47 prominent democrats now battling subversion conspiracy charges in a landmark trial that will continue for several months.

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The U.S. report also noted a drop in the number of U.S. citizens in Hong Kong from 85,000 in 2021 to around 70,000 due to a number of factors including tight COVID restrictions and national security.

China "increasingly exercised police and security power in Hong Kong, subjecting U.S. citizens who are publicly critical of the PRC (China) to a heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion, or prosecution in Hong Kong," the report wrote, adding these risks had been highlighted in its government travel advisories for Hong Kong.

Forty of the 100 U.S. senators co-sponsored a resolution earlier this month urging a strong U.S. government response to any Chinese efforts to clamp down on dissent in Hong Kong, including the use of sanctions and other tools.

(Reporting by James Pomfret and Michael Martina in Washington D.C.; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Xi meets Singaporean PM

Xinhua) 10:03, April 01, 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Friday.

Hailing China and Singapore as important partners of cooperation, Xi said the bilateral relationship is forward-looking, strategic and demonstrative, and has not only given a strong boost to the development and rejuvenation of the two countries, but also set a benchmark for countries in the region.

He noted that during Lee's visit, the two sides elevated bilateral ties to an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership, charting the course for the future development of bilateral relations.

China is ready to strengthen strategic communication with the Singaporean side, deepen strategic alignment, and make "high quality" the most distinct feature of China-Singapore cooperation, said the Chinese president.

Xi pointed out that of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has been the most involved in China's reform and opening-up and its interests are most closely integrated with China. He added that China is ready to share important opportunities with Singapore and other countries that are willing to cooperate with it.

Xi said China is willing to work with Singapore to make good use of the bilateral cooperation mechanism meetings, strengthen the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, deepen cooperation on digital and green development and third-party cooperation, and properly advance cross-border travel.

Over the years, Asia has maintained a sound momentum of overall peace and stability, rapid development and overall improvement, said Xi. Through hard work and wisdom, countries in the region have embarked on a development path with Asian characteristics featuring independence, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, he added.

Against the backdrop of accelerating changes in the world unseen in a century, Xi said Asian countries should cherish and maintain the hard-won sound momentum of development in the region, jointly safeguard the peace dividend of the region, maintain the right direction of economic globalization and regional economic integration, and firmly oppose bullying, decoupling or severing the supply and industrial chains.

"No country should be allowed to deprive the people of Asia of their right to pursue a better and happier life," Xi said.

Prime Minister Lee expressed strong confidence in the resilience of the Chinese economy, and said he believes the economy will continue to grow in a sound way.

He said Singapore and other neighboring countries look forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China.

The Singaporean side looks forward to working with the new Chinese government as soon as possible to promote cooperation on major projects such as connectivity, and to take the opportunity of completing the negotiations on upgrading the Singapore-China free trade agreement to send a clear message of China's continued opening-up and Singapore's commitment to further deepening cooperation with China, Lee said.

He pointed out that almost all countries in the world recognize that there is only one China in the world and have developed friendly and cooperative relations with China on the basis of the one-China policy.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and touting "Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow" will lead to unpredictable and serious consequences, he said.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on major-country relations and international and regional issues of common concern.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Protesters gather outside Trump Tower on Friday, March 31, 2023, in New York. Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, Thursday, a historic reckoning after years of investigations into his personal, political and business dealings and an abrupt jolt to his bid to retake the White House.(AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) (Bryan Woolston/AP)

Whats Quickly? Its where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

What does it tell us when the former president is successfully bringing unity to the Republican Party with a crime and a lie to cover it up?

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I have a real problem with people claiming they are Christians or evangelicals but do not present those qualities recognized by real Christians in there everyday lives. I guess to them it just OK to fabricate facts to suit their cause, to have sexual relations with a sex pro while your wife takes care of a newborn, to pump up all you devout Christians to overthrow our democracy, and to bear false witness to anyone that does not believe in graft. Come to think of it this describes the current Republican cult. They are chipping away at anything that helps the poor or middle class people in this country. If we just sit back and allow this to happen, it does not say much about our own values. I am a U.S. Army Veteran. I certainly did not serve my country to have the likes of Donald Trump take all the gains this county has made over the last 250 years and destroy it all over extreme greed and a huge self esteem and ego of one very sad individual. There are many more Democrats in this country than members of the Republican cult. It is important each of us use our constitutional right to vote because the way the extremists in Washington are trying to load the deck there may never be another fair election. We have arrived at critical mass.

Thank you, New York District Attorney. Now its your turn, Mr. Garland. Remember when you said no one is above the law? Get to work!

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A year ago, it was estimated that 20 million AR-15-style weapons were in circulation in the United States. This kind of weapon has become the number one seller among firearms, and manufacturers cannot churn them out fast enough to keep up with the demand. Every hour of every day that Republicans refuse even to consider an assault weapons ban, thousands more of these killing machines are put out on the streets. How many more millions will be added before a ban ever goes into effect? If it ever does. The names of public officials who oppose banning these weapons should be published widely and preserved for posterity, so that Americans of the future who have to live with the inevitable slaughter of thousands of innocent victims will know exactly who to blame.

Everyone complains that the wealthy are never held accountable for their crimes. Now when they indict Trump the Republicans are up in arms? Isnt this how justice and the rule of law is supposed to work in a democratic republic? All I have to say is LOCK HIM UP!

Of course, Donald Trump goes immediately to manipulate the media in regards to his indictment. I can say one thing for the man, he knows how to manipulate the media to get his point across. Why dont we just let the facts speak for themselves and judge him accordingly?

Republicans work to eliminate mass school shootings? What world is this person living in? Thoughts and prayers wont stop bullets! Why are assault weapons even available to American citizens or any civilian!

Of course, Trump says his indictment is a personal vendetta. He has been preparing us for this for years in the media. He never takes responsibility for his wrongdoing. He also spent years priming us for an insurrection when he lost the election in 2020. We shall see how many people fall for his narcissistic garbage this time around.

Read more at www.post-trib.com/opinion.
guns and american flag Getty Images / Westend61

President Biden responded to this week's school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, which left three 9-year-olds and three adults dead, by saying he had done everything in his power to tackle gun violence. "I have gone the full extent of my executive authority to do, on my own, anything about guns," Biden said. Biden has taken six executive actions, including funding community-based violence interventions, pushing accountability for gun makers, and stepping up use of "red flag" laws. Now, Biden said, it's up to Congress to act, and a good place to start is banning the kind of semi-automatic assault-style guns that are the weapons of choice for killers in the nation's worst mass shootings, including the one in Tennessee. "The last time we passed an assault weapons ban, violent shootings went down," Biden said.

Mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims: Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9; Hallie Scruggs, 9; William Kinney, 9; Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61. But debate instantly turned nasty in Washington. In the Capitol, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), told reporters in the hall outside the House chamber that Republicans are too "gutless" to "do anything to save the lives of our children." Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was walking by, and when he realized Bowman was talking about gun violence, he said: "You know, there's never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry." Massie said. Republicans, in Washington and Tennessee, are willing to talk about addressing school shootings by putting more armed officers and teachers in the buildings, but not an assault weapon ban. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said there is really nothing lawmakers can do to stop gun violence. "We're not gonna fix it," Burchett said. "Criminals are going to be criminals."

Is everyone in Washington giving up?

How sad that the only thing Biden and congressional Republicans seem to agree on is there's "nothing left for them to do to counter the continuing toll of gun violence across the country," said Annie Karni in The New York Times. Biden's "stark admission" was a "statement of fact," while the Republicans' shoulder shrugging "reflected an unwillingness, rather than an inability, to act." So it appears nothing will be done. Last year, Congress passed a "bipartisan compromise" enhancing background checks by giving authorities "time to examine the juvenile and mental health records of any prospective gun buyer under the age of 21," and keeping guns away from domestic abusers of people they're dating. But the moment of compromise is over.

"No single action will stop mass shootings, much less gun violence more generally," said The Washington Post in an editorial. But the "evidence of the need for a ban on assault rifles" is overwhelming. As is the evidence "of the need for a ban on high-capacity magazines." Restricting how many rounds "a gun can fire before a shooter has to reload are more difficult to skirt than flat-out assault rifle bans," because manufacturers can just "make cosmetic changes that will reclassify their products." So if banning assault rifles, like the AR-15s used in 10 of the nation's 17 deadliest mass shootings, is too much to ask, start by addressing the ammo clips that no law-abiding civilian really needs.

How about enforcing the laws we have?

The Nashville shooter, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, reportedly bought "seven guns from five stores before the mass shooting at a Christian school," said Jim Geraghty in National Review, and newspapers are stating flatly that the purchases were legal. But there is reason to question that. "Nashville police said the shooter had been in a 'doctor's care for an emotional disorder,'" and that Hale's parents thought their child should not own a gun because of that. "Both federal and Tennessee state law ban the sale of firearms to anyone who has been adjudicated to be a threat to themselves or others." Maybe, instead of debating new laws, we should be asking whether applying the existing ones in this case could have prevented this massacre.

"A majority of Americans support stronger rules on the sale of guns and feel increasingly dissatisfied with the nation's failure to more strictly regulate firearms," said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. "But too many state and federal lawmakers, mostly Republican, won't buck the gun lobby and its extreme ideology that even common-sense restrictions amount to government oppression." So instead of action, we get to keep living with "another kind of oppression  the crushing fear that they might be the next victim or survivor of gun violence."

It "shouldn't be wrong to talk about" what new laws could reduce the violence, said The (Nashville) Tennessean in an editorial, and what old ones  like the permitless carry law of 2021 that "meant even law-abiding citizens were no longer exposed to valuable training about the law"  aren't helping. "We may not have the total answer right now, but we need our lawmakers to face the issue, debate solutions and take meaningful action for the sake of the public's safety."

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Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), left, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) confer during a February committee hearing. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

Dozens of House Republicans rallied to Donald Trump's defense Friday, a day after he became the first former president in U.S. history to be criminally prosecuted and following weeks of contentious letters traded between Capitol Hill and the Manhattan district attorney's office.

News of the indictment landed late Thursday as members of Congress were headed to their home states and districts to kick off a two-week recess. Trump is facing charges related to an alleged hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels made by Michael Cohen, the former president's attorney, as the 2016 campaign was coming to a close.

House Republicans swiftly emerged as a key line of political defense for Trump, who is expected to be arraigned Tuesday, according to news reports. They have sought to portray Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg as a far-left Democrat who has been soft on crime in his state while pursuing an unprecedented prosecution of a former president.

GOP members have repeatedly characterized the indictment as a politicized effort to stop Trump from ousting President Biden in 2024.

"Theyre terrified that they cant legitimately beat Trump," Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) tweeted Friday morning. "So theyre desperately trying to abuse and misapply the law  again. This is a dark moment in American history  but we wont let them get away with it."

By early Friday, the pro-Trump Make America Great Again PAC sent an email highlighting "responses from prominent Republicans and conservatives to Thursday's indictment news." Of the 53 statements listed, 27  a majority  cited House Republicans. Republicans in the House outnumber Senate Republicans and GOP governors, and the House Republican conference is where Trump has the most influence  he remains a revered figure in most GOP members' districts.

According to CNN, Trump phoned members Thursday night "to shore up support." He spent much of Friday promoting his defenders' television hits on his social media platform, Truth Social.

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A Times analysis of Twitter posts found that at least 56 House Republicans tweeted or retweeted between midnight and 6 p.m. Eastern time on Friday some combination of support for Trump and criticism of Bragg and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Thursday statement that the former president "has the right to a trial to prove innocence"  rather than the presumption of "innocent until proven guilty"  as well as promoting of interviews on conservative networks such as Fox News and Newsmax.

In addition to publicizing the full-throated defense from his allies and surrogates, Trump defended himself on Truth Social, making unfounded claims about his indictment.

"They have closely studied 11,000,000 pages of documents, financial records, and tax returns (some gotten illegally!), billions of dollars worth of deals and transactions, and they've got nothing," Trump wrote in all-caps. "After 8 years of various politically motivated investigations, hoaxes, scams, and witch hunts, this must make me the most honest and honorable man anywhere in the world. Nobody in history has been through the scrutiny that I have. Make America Great Again!!!"

Back on Twitter, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and the panel he chairs, the House Judiciary Committee, were among Trump's most prominent and vocal advocates. Responding to Pelosi's statement about Trump's right to prove his innocence, Jordan tweeted that "it's scary" Democrats think that way and attempted to paint Bragg as a partisan who selectively targets Republicans, asking whether the prosecutor was "looking into Hunter Bidens art sales and business records in New York City."

The committee tweeted: "Record crime. Record grocery prices. Record illegal immigration. What are Joe Bidens Democrat friends focused on? Indicting President Trump."

Other House Republicans claimed that targeting Trump was just the beginning, with at least a couple members likening America to China or Russia.

"Vladimir Putin has nothing on Alvin Bragg," Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said.

Though the indictment isn't likely to be unsealed until Tuesday, Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) called it "nothing more than a fraught attempt by the far left to weaponize the American justice system & do Joe Bidens political dirty work in the courtroom." He added that Bragg "should stop making a mockery of the" Constitution and "resign immediately."

The Times reached out to nearly a dozen Republicans on the Judiciary and Oversight committees. Most offices didn't respond to a request for comment.

When asked for comment, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)  who on her personal Twitter account Friday vowed to "protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT" in New York on Tuesday  told The Times through a spokesperson that Bragg "made a very dangerous, and, in my opinion, illegal mistake."

"In the end he will be the one that looks like a fool because President Trump will be able to beat this indictment in court," she said. "It's easy to get a grand jury to give an indictment, but it's a whole other matter to get a guilty verdict in court that Bragg will not get."

In a six-page document Friday morning, Bragg's office told Chairmen Jordan of the Judiciary Committee, Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) of the House Administration Committee and James Comer (R-Ky.) of the Oversight Committee that the New York grand jury "found probable cause to accuse Mr. Trump of having committed crimes" and noted that the ex-president is entitled to due process.

"What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State," wrote General Counsel Leslie Dubeck of the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Earlier this month Jordan's, Steil's and Comer's committees requested communications and documents from the district attorney's office, as well as a transcribed interview with Bragg The committees reiterated their requests last week.

In Friday's response, Dubeck argued that the first letter from the committee chairmen "made an unprecedented request" for confidential information while the second "asserts that, by failing to provide [that information], the District Attorney somehow failed to dispute your baseless and inflammatory allegations that our investigation is politically motivated. That conclusion is misleading and meritless."

Dubeck's letter concludes: "We trust that you will make a good-faith effort to reach a negotiated resolution before taking the unprecedented and unconstitutional step of serving a subpoena on a district attorney for information related to an ongoing state criminal prosecution."

The committees did not respond to requests for comment from The Times. But on Thursday, the House Judiciary GOP Twitter account quote-tweeted a post from a Fox News congressional reporter who said, citing House Republican sources, that the congressional committee chairs probing Bragg "will take a step back until [Trump] is arraigned."

"Fake News," the committee's account said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) declared a state of emergency on Friday, as several tornadoes ripped through the state and left at least two dozen injured.

Here at the Capitol I just signed an executive order declaring that a State of Emergency exists in the State of Arkansas due to todays severe weather, Huckabee Sanders said in a tweet. We will spare no resource to assist with response and recovery efforts for Arkansans impacted.

She also activated the Arkansas National Guard to assist state and local police, amid reports of significant damage.

Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm, she added. Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through.

Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said on Twitter that at least 24 people had been hospitalized in the states capital, but no fatalities had been reported as of his 7 p.m. post.

Property damage is extensive and we are still responding, he added.

There were also confirmed tornadoes in Iowa, hail fell in Illinois and grass fires blazed in Oklahoma  part of a massive storm system threatening a broad swath of the country in the South and Midwest.

The news also comes as President Biden and first lady Jill Biden were visiting Rolling Fork, Miss., on Friday, after tornadoes ripped through the area last week, killing more than 20 people and destroying buildings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket (Getty Images)

Idaho is set to enact criminal penalties for those who help underage patients obtain abortion care without their parents permission, according to the text of a new bill that landed on Gov. Brad Littles (R) desk on Thursday. Little is expected to sign the measure; just over a year ago, he signed a measure banning basically all abortions in Idaho.



The bill introduces a horrible little phrase: abortion trafficking. Its a fear-mongering term that I wont dwell on, but in this bill, it applies to adults who order abortion pills for underage patients or are found recruiting, harboring or transporting the pregnant minor and intend to conceal a childs abortion without permission from a parent or guardian.



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You might be curious about how Idaho intends to get away with criminalizing interstate travel, something under the federal governments purview. This bill will criminalize the in-state part of a trip to an out-of-state abortion provider.

Establishing criminality is important to the lawmakers who wrote the bill. We have the authority and the obligation and the opportunity to establish criminal laws in Idaho, bill sponsor state Sen. Todd Lakey (R) told the chamber. It doesnt happen when they cross the state line. It happens when they take the furtherance and act in this capacity to facilitate and procure an abortion, and then get that minor to travel within the state to pursue that abortion.

The bill will make it a crime punishable with two to five years in prison, but also allows people to sue the abortion providers for at least $20,000, even if the provider isnt in Idaho. If a prosecutor declines to, well, prosecute, the bill gives the state attorney general the authority to do so.



The civil lawsuit can be brought by the abortion patient, the patients sexual partner as well as the fetuss grandparents, siblings, aunts and/or uncles. The bill text does stop civil lawsuits by someone who raped or sexual assaulted (including incest) the abortion patient, but notably doesnt rule out lawsuits from the rapists family members.

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Idaho more likely than not will become the first state to ban minors from seeking abortion care out of state, but it will not be the first ever. Back in 2005, Missouri enacted similar legislation that opened a person up to civil penalties (as opposed to criminal charges) for helping a minor get an abortion, even if it was legal in the state it was performed. The idea was also proposed nationally by a Florida Republican in Congress in 2012.



That Missouri law is a great reminder that despite their endurance, very little about the anti-abortion movement is truly novel. (Sorry Idaho!) Anti-abortion activists seek to take away bodily autonomy for everyone, and its been their mission for decades.

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The identities of nine soldiers killed when two Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Kentucky during a training exercise Wednesday night were released Friday.

According to a statement from the Fort Campbell Army base they are:

Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida

Cpl. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri

Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, California

Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina

Warrant Officer 1 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Florida

Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri

Sgt. David Solinas Jr, 23, of Oradell, New Jersey

This is a time of great sadness for the 101st Airborne Division. The loss of these Soldiers will reverberate through our formations for years to come, said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne, in the statement.

Now is the time for grieving and healing. The whole division and this community stand behind the families and friends of our fallen Soldiers.

The crash occurred Wednesday at about 10 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET) in Trigg County, west of Fort Campbell, the Army base said. The two HH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation aircraft were engaged in a training exercise, officials said.

All nine soldiers were from the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell near Kentuckys border with Tennessee.

Brig. Gen. John Lubas, deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said Thursday during a news conference there were five people in one helicopter and four in the other, which he described as fairly typical.

The helicopters were being flown using night vision goggles, Lubas said.

The Army deployed an aircraft safety team from Alabama who will initiate an investigation into the cause of the crash, Lubas said. He said he is hopeful investigators will be able to pull data from on-board computers, noting theres something similar to a black box on board that can shed more light on the crash.

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Officers guard the scene of a fatal Blackhawk helicopter crash in Trigg County, Ky., on March 29, 2023. (via WSMV)

This is a truly tragic loss for our families, our division and Fort Campbell and our number one priority is caring for the families and the soldiers within our combat aviation brigade, Lubas said.

Tim Gore, a pastor in North Carolina, on Thursday identified his son as one of the nine soldiers killed.

In a statement provided to NBC News he called his son, Staff Sgt. Joshua Caleb Gore, a real-life Captain America who loved serving his country in the Army.

His passion was search and rescue and if you happened to be wounded on the battlefield, Caleb coming out of that helicopter would be the most beautiful thing you would ever see, the statement said.

He was kind, compassionate and a gentle giant because he was built like a tank. He was soon to become a registered nurse and was taking leadership training so that he could continue his career as he got older by training others in this field.

In a separate Facebook post, Gore said his sons precious wife, Haleigh, is pregnant and a little boy is expected in about six months.

The 101st Airborne Division, the Armys only air assault division, had confirmed the helicopter accident and several casualties in a tweet early Thursday morning.

Nicknamed the Screaming Eagles, the 101st Airborne Division was activated on Aug. 16, 1942.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement hes saddened by the tragic loss.

My heart goes out to the families of these service members and to the members of the 101st Airborne Division who bravely and proudly serve our country each and every day, he said. Im saddened by this tragic loss, and I am working with Army leadership to make sure our troops and their families receive the care that they need in the wake of this accident.

Kentucky State police said that the crash occurred in a partially wooded field and that a perimeter had been set up around the debris.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
One Republican lawmaker protested the indictment of former President Donald Trump by giving away free ham sandwiches at the Longworth House Office Building on Friday.

The effort from Alabama GOP Rep. Barry Moore  which included the giveaway of ham sandwiches in plastic bags with "Indict this!" written on them  comes after a Manhattan grand jury voted Thursday to indict the former president.

"The sandwiches are ready! Hope to see you soon in Longworth 1504," Moore said in a tweet Friday.

Prior to giving out the sandwiches, Moore wrote in a tweet Thursday: "Welcome to the club, @realDonaldTrump. In honor of the fact that the Manhattan DA could indict a ham sandwich next, I will be handing them out tomorrow in Longworth 1504 at noon. All are welcome!"

FORMER TRUMP RIVAL JEB BUSH CALLS MANHATTAN GRAND JURY INDICTMENT 'VERY POLITICAL'

Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Moore said the ham sandwich initiative  offered as a response to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's charges against Trump  goes further than support for the former president.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"I think we have no choice. At some point, we've gotta unite behind him because of liberty," Moore said. "I think our job, as members of the House, is to actually stand for your liberty, whether you agree with us or not."

On Friday, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., gave away ham sandwiches in plastic bags with "Indict this!" written on them, from the Longworth House Office Building.

"I think we have no choice but to come to his rescue at this point, not because it may be politically expedient for the president, but for the country," he added.

INDICTMENT GIVES TRUMP A POLITICAL BOOST, BUT SOME GOP OPERATIVES WONDER HOW LONG IT CAN LAST

Speaking about the effort on Thursday, Moore told Gray Television he's looking to send the message that "Donald Trump has been a target."

Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., participates in the House Judiciary Committee organizing meeting in the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

"I was one of those conservatives that was indicted by the political system," Mosaid. "I've been on the other side of that table. I know what it's like to be targeted for being conservative and actually standing for the American people. I wanna welcome the president to that club, unfortunately. We're gonna support him."

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In 2014, Moore, according to AL.com, was "found not guilty on charges of perjury and giving false statements in connection to an investigation into economic development projects involving then-Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard."

The exact charges of the indictment are still under seal, but Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said Thursday evening that Trump could face more than 30 counts next week when hes arraigned.

Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election. These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal .

Prior to the Trump indictment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had been investigating former President Donald Trump for alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Fox News reported and revealed in 2018 a series of hush money payments made to both McDougal and Daniels, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and the Federal Election Commission both investigated those payments.

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as Michael Cohen, a former Trump attorney, implicated him as part of a plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Dita Zakova

Imagine wandering through a lush, verdant landscape in search of the perfect oasis to reconnect with nature and feeling like youve stumbled on something out of a postcard. Thats exactly what its like arriving at Anzan Atitlan, one of the most charming places on the shore of Lake Atitlan, the deepest lake in Central America located in the southwest of Guatemala.

Upon arriving at Panajachel, one of the largest and busiest towns three hours away by bus from Guatemala City, which surrounds the lake, I took a public boat for approximately 30 minutes toward San Marcos la Laguna, another nearby village. I was dropped off at the boutique hotel, Anzan, and was greeted by the most breathtaking view of the lake. The colors of the sunrise danced across the crystalline water, creating a spectacular and serene sight that left me spellbound. The sounds of the birds and the tranquility of the moment were unforgettable.

Dita Zakova

This hidden gem is also known within the area as Casa Rosada, which means pink house in Spanish, thanks to its rosy facade. Originally built as a family home in 2006, its a stunning juxtaposition of modern design and is surrounded by natural beauty. Its name, Anzan, references peaceful mountains in Buddhism, which is precisely what this tranquil place embodies. Ringed by majestic volcanoes, Anzan offers a serene and calming escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Fast forward to 2023, the year Anzan evolved into a resort for extraordinary experiences, offering a blend of relaxation, gourmet food, contemporary art, and cultural immersion. Now its the latest selection for Room Key, The Daily Beasts column on exciting new hotels. The hotels designs were inspired by the Mexican architects Luis Barragan and Ricardo Legorreta, two of the most prominent artists of modern Latin American architecture. Among the elements that stand out throughout the construction are the simple designs and open spaces that allow natural light to enter the area. And we cant miss the shade of pink, which was one of the favorite colors used by Barragan.

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The hotel has just four bedrooms and a fully equipped loft; each night costs between $250 to 350. I stayed in one of the bedrooms with a spectacular lake view that was subtly embellished by minimalist furniture. My favorite place was undoubtedly the bathroom as it was a giant room decorated in a very simplistic way with a bathtub placed in front of a window with views of the volcanoes and the lake. I enjoyed drinking a glass of wine there, listening to relaxing music, and reading a book.

Dita Zakova

At Anzan, guests are encouraged to disconnect from their electronic devices and let the beauty of the place enchant them. The hotel offers various activities, including yoga, meditation, paddle boarding, kayaking, and hiking, providing vacationers opportunities to explore their inner selves and reconnect with the environment.

The hotel doesnt have a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, or even a front desk. Unlike other hotels in the San Marcos la Laguna area, which often focus on arranging parties and other lively celebrations, Anzan is dedicated to helping guests connect with nature and appreciate the lakes stunning scenery and rich cultural heritage.

One particularly notable offering the hotel puts forward is The Anzan Table menu, offering a culinary journey through Guatemalas cultural heritage with dishes crafted from locally-sourced sustainable ingredients, such as vegetables like tomatoes, corn, beans, and cheese produced by people from the community. From contemporary culinary techniques to traditional Guatemalan cooking methods, Anzans food celebrates the local culture.

I had the opportunity to enjoy a delicious multi-course gourmet dinner; three appetizers, a main course, and a delightful dessert. Even though it sounds like a lot of food, I was satisfied rather than full since it was made with natural ingredients.

Dita Zakova

But Anzan isnt just about relaxation and indulgenceits also a place to make a difference. In 2004, Anzan established and now supports the non-profit called Ecolibri. This organization empowers communities around Lake Atitlan, allowing guests to learn about how people from vulnerable backgrounds live and get the chance to collaborate and volunteer to impact the environment and local societies. Anzan offers tours for visitors to come and discover the communities and learn more about how the organization promotes sustainable agriculture, alleviates malnutrition and food insecurity in the area.

For those open to it, Anzan on Lake Atitlan is not just a pink house, but can be a transformative experience in a serene environment.

You can stay for one night, a few days, or a month-long retreat. Its the kind of place that stays with you long after you leave, beckoning you back to its peaceful embrace time and time again.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Xaviar Babudar, better known to many in Kansas City as the Chiefs fan who had the Twitter account Chiefsaholic, is a wanted man by the police and the Kelce brothers.

Earlier this week, Babudar did not appear at his arraignment after being charged in December with armed robbery at a credit union in Bixby, Oklahoma. He also was charged with assault while masked or disguised, although he wasnt wearing the wolf mask that made him well-known to Chiefs fans.

Babudar had been released from prison after his bail was reduced in February. Babudar, who allegedly threatened to shoot a credit union employee if they were not cooperative, was ordered to wear an ankle monitor at his release, but it was cut off this week.

There is a warrant for his arrest and bond is set at $1 million.

Could Babudars next move be to call Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his brother Jason, the Eagles center?

On Friday, Jason Kelce issued an open invitation to Babudar. The brothers want Babudar to join the New Heights podcast, which the siblings host.

Chiefsaholic, I dont know where you are, but my brother and I would love to have you on @newheightshow to tell your story. We will go wherever, and disclose nothing for the sake of journalism  Jason Kelce (@JasonKelce) March 31, 2023

A person with the Twitter handle Mahomes4416 responded to Jason Kelce and claimed to be Babudar. That Twitter account is locked, but a screenshot of the interaction was shared on Reddit.

Jason Kelce answered that person, so perhaps well know soon if that is indeed Babudar, who is still wanted by the police in Oklahoma.

Directly to @newheightshow email account  Jason Kelce (@JasonKelce) March 31, 2023

Jason Kelce also replied to some fans who dont think the brothers should give attention to a person who is accused of robbing a bank.

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No, I thought it was funny, guess this ones a miss. Ill make my anti-bank robbing stance more known from here on out. https://t.co/yPiXZv6GMX  Jason Kelce (@JasonKelce) April 1, 2023

I appreciate this, I certainly would never make him a hero  Jason Kelce (@JasonKelce) April 1, 2023

The Stars Luke Nozicka contributed to this story
Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast

To sum it up in plain language, it remains quite difficult in the areas of the defensive operation in the East, she wrote.

Read also: Bakhmut is protecting four near-front cities, says former Aidar commander

The four fronts the aggressor is conducting their offensive actions in are Aviyivka, Bakhmut, Lyman, and Maryinsk.

The enemys advances have mostly been unsuccessful, Malyar said.

The aggressor is concentrating their greatest efforts on establishing control over Bakhmut and trying to advance towards the city center, she wrote. They have had some minor fluctuating successes in certain areas, but they cannot capture the city.

Read also: If Bakhmut fell to Russia, Putin would sell this victory to the West, says Zelenskyy

Fierce fighting continues both around and inside the city. The enemy is also conducting offensive actions in the Avdiyivka area to surround the city and block supply routes, she added.

Meanwhile, she said that battles are ongoing in Bilohorivka and Maryinka.

Bakhmut Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Marchenko has also confirmed that fighting is occurring practically in the central area of the city.

Read also: Ukrainian military posts video showing reality of war-torn Bakhmut

While there are still food and water supplies in the city, it is dangerous to move around due to the constant chaotic shelling, Marchenko told Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne on March 30.

Access to the city is currently impossible for civilians because there is fighting at the entrance to the city, but communication is breaking through in some places, he said, noting that there are locations where satellite-based Starlink Internet terminals are working, allowing residents to communicate.

Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov previously said that the Russian occupiers are suffering crazy losses in Bakhmut, and that the continuation of the citys defense limits the enemys capabilities and stabilizes the front line.

Read also: Ukraine's Defense Ministry refutes Russian myths about Battle of Bakhmut

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Iraq inaugurated an oil refinery in the central city of Karbala on Saturday, a project the government hopes will reduce its dependency on imports.

Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani announced the refinery had begun "commercial production" after a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

It has the capacity to refine 140,000 barrels per day and "help meet local demand for petrol, kerosene and heating oil, while reducing imports", Abdel Ghani said.

Despite its immense oil and gas reserves, Iraq remains dependent on imports to meet energy needs.

The minister said the refinery, built by South Korean firm Hyundai, can produce nine million litres of fuel a day -- equivalent to more than half Iraq's daily imports of 15 million litres.

The refinery also has the capacity to produce 200 megawatts of electricity and "60 megawatts of them will be allocated to the national grid", Abdel Ghani added.

Iraq, the second largest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), exports an average of 3.3 million barrels of oil per day.

Crude exports represent around 90 percent of the government's revenue.

Ravaged by decades of conflict, Iraq's crumbling infrastructure and endemic corruption have obstructed reconstruction efforts.

The Karbala refinery is "the first to be built since the 1980s with such production capacity", an oil ministry official told AFP when tests were run in September.

Three other refineries in operation across Iraq meet about half of the country's demand for refined products and the rest is imported.

In March, the prime minister announced a campaign to combat the severe impacts of climate change on the water-scarce country, including by promoting clean and renewable energy.

Sudani said Iraq was "moving forward to conclude contracts for constructing renewable energy power plants to provide one-third of our electricity demand by 2030".

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Skokie Mayor George George Van Dusen, third from right, has been awarded the Visionary Leadership Award by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. This photo was taken at the Skokie Festival of Cultures in May 2022. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen has won an award for environmental and economic development leadership from a regional planning organization that focuses on transportation, sustainability, housing, open space and other issues.

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning covers Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. The organization has given Van Dusen its Visionary Leader award for his work on bringing a CTA station to downtown Skokie, the development of the Illinois Science and Technology Park and the villages Environmental Sustainability Plan.

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Throughout 40 years of public service, Mayor Van Dusens foresight on transportation, community development, and the environment have enhanced sustainability and helped grow the regional economy, CMAP Executive Director Erin Aleman said in a statement.

In a video produced as part of the award announcements, Van Dusen described himself as a conduit between village residents and professional staff and administrators.

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I hope my legacy is going to be [that] I was able to promote good ideas and then get out of the way and let good people do their jobs, he said.

Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen with a Together We Can mosaic in the front vestibule of The Douglas Center during a tour of the Abilities Lab in Skokie (3445 Howard St.) on March 25, 2022. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

He told Pioneer Press he believes the next step for sustainable development in Skokie is to incorporate environmentally-oriented policies into its low- and moderate-income housing plans.

Its time for us to formally institute a policy that developers can know about when they come to the village, he said. Sustainability, housing, transportation, all of these need to be integrated and thats the next big step for the village.

Van Dusen said he had been honored when village staff nominated him for the award and again to receive it from an organization hes known for so long.

I have an enormous amount of respect for the work CMAP does; Ive been acquainted with the organization for a very long time, he said. They think on a regional basis and have shown leadership there.

CMAP awarded one other visionary leader award to Peter Wallers, the chair of Engineering Enterprises, Inc.
Ukrainians during the St. Patrick's Day parade in the Irish city of Cork

Ireland is experiencing a housing shortage, where there is a need for up to 250,000 more spaces.

"We have now accepted 58,000 Ukrainians, and another 20,000 have been granted international protection. There is a big problem with housing," said Irish Immigration Minister Roderick O'Gorman.

Read also: Kate Middleton visits Irish Guards training Ukrainian soldiers

Read also: Irish firm to invest 200 million in new Building Technology Campus in Ukraine

The island state's most popular party and opposition group Sinn Fein claims that 10,000 people may be forcibly evicted this year. Its representatives call on the government to "show some compassion" and wants the deportation ban prolonged.

In October 2022, Ireland introduced a ban on evictions due to the rising cost of living.

Officials considered it a temporary measure, but now claim that lifting the eviction ban will protect the rights of homeowners, many of whom are considering selling their property due to rent arrears.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Israeli police on Saturday shot dead an Arab man who they said grabbed a gun from an officer and fired it in a scuffle at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

The dead man was identified as 26-year-old medical student Mohammed al-Asibi, a resident of the Bedouin village of Hura, in southern Israel.

Asibi's family has disputed the police account of his death and demanded to see CCTV footage, local media said, with police saying there was none.

The incident follows a relative lull in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the start of Ramadan, and comes amid fears of a flare-up during the holy Muslim month.

In a statement, police said Asibi was stopped near the Chain Gate, an access point to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

As he was being questioned, the statement said, Asibi "suddenly attacked one of the policemen", grabbing his gun and firing it.

"In a swift response of the officers who were in danger and struggling with the terrorist, they shot him," added the, saying medics later pronounced him dead.

Passers-by reported hearing gunfire, and an AFP photographer saw scores of Israeli police deployed in the Old City at around 1:00 am (2200 GMT on Friday).

Raam, the Israeli parliament's Islamist party, rejected the police's account of events, noting in a Facebook post the claims from "witnesses" who said Asibi came to aid a woman who was in a scuffle with police.

Mansour Abbas, Raam's head, questioned the authorities' response that there was no footage of the alleged attack.

"This is a cover-up attempt to hide the truth," he said on Twitter, demanding an immediate investigation.

- 'Execution' -

The umbrella organisation representing Israel's Arab citizens announced a "general strike and day of mourning" on Sunday following the "execution" of Asibi.

Police, meanwhile, were standing by their original version of events and issued another statement Saturday afternoon claiming "the attack itself was not recorded on security cameras or on the body cameras of the police officers".

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They also rejected the notion a woman was involved, saying Asibi "arrived alone", with officers suspicious of his presence at the compound after closing hours.

Refuting claims about the abundance of surveillance cameras in the area, police said the alleged "attack did not take place on the outside of the Chain Gate, which is indeed well documented, but rather on the inside".

A video released by police showed what was described as Asibi milling around the compound alone. Another video showed people at the Chain Gate reacting in fright, presumably to the sound of gunshots.

The shooting occurred hours after tens of thousands of Palestinians had packed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the second Friday of Ramadan for peaceful prayers.

Israeli police said more than 100,000 faithful had gathered to pray at Islam's third holiest site, built on what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

More than 2,000 police officers had been deployed throughout the city.

An upsurge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year has raised concerns of further violence during the Ramadan fast.

bur-jjm/ami
Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv Saturday for a 13th straight week against a controversial judicial overhaul now frozen by the government while talks are held with party representatives.

Carrying Israeli flags, people marched through the centre of Israel's commercial hub, chanting "democracy" and carrying placards condemning the hard-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Smaller rallies were taking place in other cities.

Demonstrations erupted in January after the coalition announced its reform package, which the government says is necessary to rebalance powers between lawmakers and the judiciary.

The proposed reforms would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges, which opponents say could imperil Israeli democracy.

On Monday, Netanyahu announced a "pause" in the passage of the necessary legislation through parliament, in the face of a crippling general strike triggered by his announcement that he was firing Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for calling for just such a pause.

By Tuesday, representatives of most of parliament's parties had begun talks at the residence of President Isaac Herzog to try to formulate legislation that would be acceptable to both sides of the political spectrum.

There were no immediate indication as to the size of Saturday's demonstrations compared to previous weeks.

Many political commentators and opposition figures have voiced scepticism about the chances of Herzog's mediation efforts, with the coalition saying it would complete legislation in the next parliamentary session if talks failed.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has not presented Gallant with the dismissal letter required by law, so the defence minister has been going about his duties as usual.

jjm/kir
One special little girl was gifted a magic wheelchair on Saturday at the Jacksonville Fire Station One in Downtown Jacksonville.

The local International Association of Firefighters raised funds all across Jacksonville for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

Anna, a soon-to-be 9-year-old, lives with a neuromuscular disease. On Saturday, her smile was ear-to-ear when she laid eyes on her custom-made wheelchair costume.

The theme of the wheelchair was inspired by one of Annas favorite Disney movies.

For us, its like a dream come true for anna, its her perfect costume, said Annas mom, Kathleen Hopson.

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Annas mom said she entered her daughter into a costume contest through the Muscular Dystrophy Association

This was all made possible through the MDA in partnership with Magic Wheelchair, a non-profit organization that creates custom-made wheelchair costumes.

Weve put a lot of our creativity into this and the artists that work with me, we all kind of input our different ideas, said Magic Wheelchair Builder Stefan Price.

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The MDA said Anna is one of 19,000 people in Florida living with neuromuscular disease.

Were bringing a little bit of joy to this special girls life, said Jeremy Kraut-Ordover, with the MDA.

The local international association of firefighters has also raised money for the MDA.

The IAFF local 122 Union President said he believes theyve raised over $100,000.

This is why we do this, for this sweet family, said Randy Wyse.

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The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office reported a shooting where a teenager was shot in the head at 2208 West 21st St.

JSO reported that at around 7:06 p.m. Friday., officers responded to a reported shooting on 2208 West 21st Street.

When officers arrived at the scene, they located a juvenile male in his late teens with a gunshot wound to the head.

The victim was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries

Violent Crime Unit detectives and Crime Scene detectives responded to conduct further investigation, which is ongoing.

At this time, there is no suspect information and the circumstances surrounding the incident are unknown.

The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is requesting the assistance of the public. Anyone with any information about this case is encouraged to call the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office (JSO) non-emergency number at (904)-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at jsocrimetips@jaxsheriff.org; and/or 1-866-845-TIPS.

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Read: Duval Clerk is hosting event to simplify applying for a passport

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James Norton as Jude in the West End production of A Little Life' (Jan Versweyveld)

When pictures were recently leaked of James Norton naked on stage in A Little Life, I struggled to understand why. In the West End adaptation of Hanya Yanagiharas cult novel, the actor plays Jude, a character who is repeatedly abused, raped and humiliated; the nudity is not intended to arouse. Was the aim to allow people to ogle the Happy Valley star? Or was it simply a provocative attempt to exert power over Norton in a vulnerable moment, a transgression of the rules of theatre etiquette? Previews had hardly begun before surreptitiously taken snaps of Norton sans clothes ended up online, published briefly on MailOnline before being taken down. The breach felt ironic, considering each night he performs the role of a person who has terrible things done to him. Yanagiharas 700+ page novel, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2015, centres on the cycle of abuse Jude has found himself trapped in since childhood, leaving him so stained with shame that he keeps his past from his three best friends.

Naturally, a show with such challenging content demands courageous performances from its cast. But can such a project compel a name like Norton  or, frankly, any performer  to join its ranks if basic audience respect and safety cant be guaranteed? Its like that saying, this is why we cant have nice things. Whether your definition of a nice thing is a staging of an intense literary novel or simply Norton in the nuddy, the taking of these pictures puts both in peril.

Not only do the pictures represent a violation of the unspoken contract that exists in the theatre  plays are magic because they are ephemeral events, shared fleetingly between the people in the room  but a violation of Norton himself. Following the triumphant conclusion of Happy Valley, when Norton sent the villain who made his name, Tommy Lee Royce, literally up in flames, the actor has eschewed the frequent Bond rumours that have followed him around in order to make a risky, avant-garde piece of theatre. A Little Life  and particularly the decision to play Jude  is a bold, brave choice for a star who could have chosen projects where he phoned it in and banked on his chiselled cheekbones. That his performance could be mined by a creep on a balcony for sexy content tarnishes those choices.

In a recent interview, Norton outlined how vulnerable he is in the part. He described the on-stage nudity as massively exposing, and one scene as shaming. I lie on the floor naked being kicked and spat on  and it doesnt get much more degrading than that Its really embarrassing and horrible, he told The Telegraph. Talking to The Observer, he said that hed discussed his worries about some of the more challenging scenes with his therapist. Ive talked to him about the play a lot, about why Im worried about certain things: the sexual violence, the nudity. Like, Why am I nervous about that? Why am I embarrassed by that? And hes like, Of course you should be!

Some might suggest that Norton cannot complain about the pictures, given he has chosen to bare all on stage. But this would be a victim-blaming argument that misunderstands the context of the nudity as part of his performance. Norton is not naked all day, every day, whenever you want him to be; he is naked on stage, at specific moments, in a stark, distressing story.

Undoubtedly, the production has done everything it can to ensure Norton and his fellow performers are protected. Norton recently told the BBC that there were amazing safeguards in place for their protection, such as a psychotherapist and intimacy coordinators. But the pictures have caused a debate thats unsettled the whole industry, with drastic solutions being proposed that span from locking audience members phones in boxes to banning devices from buildings entirely. The issue is, depressingly, not new. In 2019, actor Audra McDonald called out a Broadway audience member who photographed her nude during a performance of the play Frankie and Johnny, writing: To whoever it was in the audience that took a flash photo during our nude scene today: not cool. Not cool at all. And last year, again in New York, leaked video footage of Jesse Williams naked on stage in Take Me Out  where a no-phone policy had already been implemented  saw the theatre install infrared technology to monitor the audience for rule-breaking camera usage.

In London, other productions have put in place measures to prevent sneaky photography. At Punchdrunks immersive show The Burnt City, audience members place phones in sealed bags, while at Cabaret, stickers are placed over camera lenses by ushers. These measures are intended just as much to preserve the shows surprises from spilling out, as they are to preserve the privacy of those on stage.

Norton has called the Jude role massively exposing and shaming (Jan Versweyveld)

Youd imagine, though, that most audience members would be keen to respect performers and their boundaries. In many ways, the incident with Norton feels almost old school in its flagrancy. It reminded me of the now infamous review written about Nicole Kidmans performance in The Blue Room at the Donmar Warehouse in 1998, which critic Charles Spencer described as pure theatrical Viagra. More shocking than the fact that Kidman would think a David Hare play worth stripping off for is the language of the review. Forget Kidmans privacy; I feel like Im invading Spencers reading how the actor would haunt [his] fantasies for months.

Its impossible to believe anyone now would ever write about Norton in such a way  but the pictures amount to the same kind of crude objectification. Theres still a block when it comes to male nudity, about the penis, and what it looks like, and its size and its shape. Were scared of the penis, Norton said about the scenes, before the images were published. Unfortunately, not as scared as he may have thought; its actually horny pervs with camera phones he should fear instead.
Japan is officially moving forward with restrictions aimed at limiting Chinas access to advanced chipmaking machinery. As CNN reports , the country announced Friday it would tighten export controls on 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Once the new rules take effect in July, companies like Nikon and Tokyo Electron will need to obtain approval from Japans trade ministry if they want to sell their tools in some 160 territories across the world. A Japanese government spokesperson told CNN the restrictions arent designed to target a specific nation. However, Japans east asian rival is among the nations on the restricted list.

We will fulfill our responsibilities in the international community as a technology-owning country and contribute to maintaining international peace and security, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japans minister of economy, trade and industry, told reporters.

The restrictions follow the US and Netherlands enacting similar export controls. At the start of the year, the three countries reportedly reached an agreement to limit Chinas access to western-made lithography machines. In March, the Netherlands made good on the deal, announcing it would restrict overseas sales of semiconductor technology in the interest of its national security. Those restrictions will affect ASML. As of last year, the Dutch firm was the only company in the world producing the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines chipmakers need to make the 5nm and 3nm semiconductors that power the latest phones and computers.
King Charless upcoming Coronation will be swimming with world leaders and dignitaries, but it has emerged that the U.S. president will not be among them.

British press reports this weekend that Joe Biden will not be attending the ceremony on May 6 in London, citing previous commitments.

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No U.S. president in history has attended the coronation of the British monarch. However, the Telegraph reports that Biden plans to send a representative for the occasion, either his wife Jill Biden or vice president Kamala Harris.

The ceremony has been shrunk at the Kings request  whereas his mother received more than 8000 guests at her coronation in 1953, only 2000 will be invited to attend his ceremony in person.

Other expected heads of state include those of France, Spain, Ireland, Japan and Monaco.

Meanwhile, the Kings second son, Prince Harry, has yet to confirm his attendance at the ceremony. The date of the coronation coincides with the 4th birthday of his son Archie.

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Judy Blume ripped attempts to ban books and described what books are all about during an interview published by Variety on Friday.

Blume weighed in on book bans as attempts to challenge literary materials in schools and public libraries reached a record high in 2022, according to a report from the American Library Association.

The iconic author, known as an activist against book ban efforts, has seen several of her books challenged over the years, including Forever... and Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret.

Blume told Variety that the challenges all broke loose following the election of President Ronald Reagan but argued that efforts to ban books today are different.

It was bad in the 80s, but it wasnt coming from the government. Today, there are laws being enacted where a librarian can go to prison if she or he is found guilty of having pornography on their shelves, Blume said.

Try and define pornography today, and youll find that its everything.

Judy Blume arrives at the 40th Annual Miami Film Festival's premiere of

Judy Blume arrives at the 40th Annual Miami Film Festival's premiere of "Judy Blume Forever" on March 4 in Coral Gables, Florida.

Blumes comments come after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed that efforts to remove books from state classrooms only impact pornographic and inappropriate materials, a claim that literary group PEN America declared false in a post last month.

The author, a Key West, Florida resident, has also spoken out against GOP-backed efforts in the state.

The author wrote Sorry, Margaret.  a nod to the main character of her novel that addresses menstruation  in response to a tweet about a bill that would ban discussion of menstrual cycles in Florida classrooms.

Blume, in her interview with Variety, referred to politician-led attempts to challenge books as the real danger.

What are you protecting your children from? Protecting your children means educating them and arming them with knowledge, and reading and supporting what they want to read, Blume said.

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No child is going to become transgender or gay or lesbian because they read a book. Its not going to happen. They may say, Oh, this is just like me. This is what Im feeling and thinking about. Or, Im interested in this because I have friends who may be gay, bi, lesbian. They want to know.

Blume later praised one book  Maia Kobabes frequently-challenged memoir Gender Queer  for offering her insight into a life other than her own.

I thought, This young person is telling me how they came to be what they are today. And I learned a lot and became even more empathetic, she said.

Thats what books are all about.

You can read more of Blumes interview with Variety here.

Related...
A Jackson County jury on Friday convicted a Kansas City man of murder in a fatal shooting in Kansas Citys Knoches Park neighborhood from two-and-a-half years ago.

Martel L. Harrison, 26, was convicted of first-degree murder, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in Missouri. He stood trial accused of killing 22-year-old Sage Walston of Shawnee.

On Aug. 20, 2020, around 2 a.m., Kansas City police officers found Walston in the road at Linwood Boulevard and Elmwood Avenue after they were dispatched on a call for a person in need of medical assistance.

At the time, police noticed glass near the body and suspected he may have been the victim of a hit-and-run crash. They later learned he had been shot in the head.

Surveillance video and data from a license-plate-reading camera led detectives to conclude Walstons Toyota Corolla was in the area at the time of the shooting. A microphone from one of the cameras picked up the sound of a gunshot, according to court documents.

The car was found burned and abandoned in Independence about two hours after Walston had been found.

Witnesses led detectives to Harrison, including one witness who said she had helped bring gasoline that was used to set Walstons car on fire. Harrison was also accused of using Walstons phone to make a call after the shooting and leaving his own phone at home to stymie the police investigation.

One witness also told police that Harrison admitted to shooting Walston in the back of the head when Walston wasnt looking.

During a police interview, Harrison denied taking part in the killing or the burning of Walstons car.

In addition to first-degree murder, the jury found Harrison guilty of armed criminal action and knowingly exploding or burning property. A sentencing hearing was scheduled to take place in Jackson County on June 13.
For more than 30 years, Zhu Yanjun had been a migrant worker in different cities like many other people from rural areas, but what made him different was his strong passion for reading poetry and books.

Zhu made the headlines when he was runner-up in the annual Chinese Poetry Competition hosted by China Central Television in early February.

Although he only had a middle school education, his passion for reading was inspired by his Chinese language teacher in middle school, who has published many articles in magazines.

"I also wanted to publish stories, so I started to read, and borrowed books from friends and classmates."

Born in a village in Jingning county, Gansu province, Zhu had never left his hometown in his youth. Some of his friends who dropped out of middle school to work in cities told him about their exciting lives there, so he did not go to high school and instead became a migrant worker.

"I do not regret the decision of not continuing studying. Back then, I just wanted to see the bigger world," he said. "There is no absolute right choice in the world. We just work hard to make our choices right."

Zhu worked at different construction sites in more than 10 cities, yet no matter where he was, he went to local bookstores and took a notebook with him in order to write down paragraphs from the books and recite them.

He started to read poems from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and poems written by Chairman Mao Zedong and liked them because he found them rhythmic and easy to remember, he said.

Over the years, he has read thousands of poems and can recite more than 1,000 of them.

"There is an old Chinese saying: Reading 10,000 books is not as good as traveling 10,000 miles," Zhu said. "However, for me, although I have been to many different cities, it is not for travel, but to make a living, so I expand my horizons by reading books and poems, through which I get to know the history, traditions and landscapes of different places."

He said there are books everywhere in his home, so he can read whenever he wants.

"One can get inspired to have a rich spiritual world and powerful mind from reading. Whenever I face any difficulty, I think of Chairman Mao's quotation: 'Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it'," he said.

He never complains about hard work and never negotiates his salary with his employers, yet his pay is always higher than other workers because he always works the hardest.

"As long as you treat your work like you are the employer yourself, your employer will treat you like one of their own. Perhaps there are stingy employers, but I have never met any," he said.

Zhu's passion for reading has also influenced his children. To make sure his children receive the best care and good education, Zhu and his wife did not leave them to be looked after by their grandparents, but took their children with them wherever they went.

"I was very strict with their study, and they were told since childhood that they should finish their homework and read extensively before they play," he said.

Getting a good education is very important for them, because knowledge is very useful for them to make a living, said Zhu.

His older daughter Zhu Ling is a postgraduate student at Fudan University in Shanghai and his son Zhu Baoxing is an undergraduate student at Xidian University in Shaanxi province.

Zhu Yanjun said he does not want his children to work part-time while in college. Their most important task is to study and the family can provide them with enough financial support, he said.

Due to his good performance at the poetry competition, the local human resources and social security bureau in Jingning county decided to hire him to work at the local cultural center.

Zhu started to work there on March 10. Although his salary is not as much as what he made as a migrant worker, he does not need to leave his hometown anymore.

"Money does not concern me much. One can live a decent life even without lots of money," he said.
[Source]

K-pop girl group aespa dropped Hold On Tight for the movie soundtrack of the Apple TV+ original film Tetris.

The track, which is entirely in English, is the K-pop quartets first new solo release following their sophomore mini-album Girls in July and the showcase of new songs on their forthcoming album during their inaugural SYNK: Hyper Line concert last month.

Other songs on the Tetris album include Benevolence by DJ Aaron Hibell and a Japanese rendition of Holding Out For A Hero by ReN.

More from NextShark: 'Pokemon Scarlet and Violet' gym leaders reimagined in pixel art goes viral

"Tetris" portrays the real-life story of Dutch gaming entrepreneur Henk Rogers, played by Taron Egerton, who endeavors to popularize the Russian game with a global audience. Rogers risks everything and takes on the KGB during the end of the Cold War in Russia.

Tetris CEO Maya Rogers spoke with NextShark about the geopolitical thriller, saying, It's all about friendship. It's about love. It's about connecting with people. That is what made Tetris what it is today.

Tetris is streaming now on Apple TV+.

More from NextShark: K-drama Big Mouth in hot water for alleged racist line about Thai culture

As for aespa, they are set to make history by becoming the first-ever K-pop group to grace the stage of two major music festivals in the United States. In June, they will be performing at the Governors Ball music festival in New York, and in August, they will be the first K-pop act to perform at the Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco.

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

Simu Lius joke about Batgirl cancellation lands him in hot water

Indian American couple from Love is Blind not so blind when it comes to race and attraction
Peter Doocy arrived at Fridays White House press briefing with an important question top of mind  one concerning robots and the looming end of organised human life.

Theres an expert from the Machine Intelligence Research Institute who says that If there is not an indefinite pause on AI development  this is a quote  literally everyone on Earth will die, Doocy said when he was called on at the briefing. Would you agree that does not sound good?

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre chuckled, as did several other people in the White House press briefing room.

Your delivery, Peter, its  its quite something, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

Fox News Peter Doocy uses all his time at the White House press briefing to ask about an assessment that literally everyone on Earth will die because of artificial intelligence:



It sounds crazy, but is it? pic.twitter.com/CM0C5t79Wo  The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2023

It sounds crazy, but is it? Doocy responded.

Ms Jean-Pierre replied that the White House has seen the letter from the institute and understands their concern, but has a comprehensive blueprint in place since October and had nothing else to share.

So is President Biden worried that artificial intelligence could become self-aware?

Ms Jean-Pierre gave few other details, but said that the federal government is working to establish a cohesive approach to AI-related risks.

The rise of artifical intelligence (AI) and its increasingly visible presence in daily life through systems like ChatGPT has led a number of people to voice serious concerns about AIs role and purpose in society.

An open letter from the Future of Life Institute calls on AI labs to immediately pause large-scale AI experiments, arguing that AI labs are locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one  not even their creators  can understand, predict, or reliably control.

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Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable, the open letter reads. This confidence must be well justified and increase with the magnitude of a system's potential effects.

The letter calls on governments to significantly increase their AI governance systems, which, according to Ms Jean-Pierre, is something the US is actively looking at as AI development continues at a rapid pace.

The Machine Intelligence Research Institute, the organisation Doocy referenced, was founded in 2000 and moved to Silicon Valley in 2005 out of a concern that AI systems could become self-aware or superintelligent and pose grave risks to humanity. The institute, currently located in Berkeley, has in the past been supported by donors like Peter Thiel and Vitalik Buterin.
Yusef Salaam, one of the wrongly convicted "Central Park Five", looks on following a news conference announcing the payout for the case at City Hall in New York June 27, 2014. (UNITED STATES)

NEW YORK  Of the myriad press releases that candidates, elected officials and organizations published in the wake of former President Donald Trumps indictment by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday, none was more succinct than the one-word response issued by the campaign of Yusef Salaam, currently running to represent central Harlem on the New York City Council.

Karma, it read.

There were no paeans to the rule of law, no condemnations of Trumps misdeeds, no vows about justice being served. Salaam didnt need those. He and his campaign figured that people would get the message. That people would remember him as one of the Central Park Five, wrongly accused of raping and beating a woman in 1989 and sent to prison only to be exonerated after the actual perpetrator confessed to having committed the crime.

And they would remember how Trump, the brash young real estate mogul, took out an advertisement in the citys newspapers that said the accused should be forced to suffer and deserved the death penalty  despite the fact that no trial had yet taken place.

How can our great society, Trumps inflammatory ad read, tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits?

Trumps attack on the suspects came as Manhattan prosecutors  working from the same storied Hogan Place offices now set to bring charges against the former president  prepared for trial. Long before he ever sought public office, Trump already knew how to capture and amplify public anxieties while ultimately focusing attention on himself.

Trump played a big role in that, Salaam told Yahoo News, referencing the widespread public belief at the time that the five young men  all of whom were Black or brown  had to be responsible for the brutal assault on the jogger.

From left, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson attend the unveiling of the "Gate of the Exonerated" in Harlem, Dec. 19, 2022. (Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

At a Thursday media appearance, Salaam held up a copy of the infamous advertisement, preserved in a laminated sleeve but showing wear around its edges.

Justice is always right on time, he said.

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The rape and beating happened at a time of rising crime across the city, a trend spurred by the crack epidemic and federal disinvestment in social services and public housing.

Salaam and his four co-defendants were depicted as an asocial wolf pack. Much of the press coverage carried a barely concealed racial animus. Patrick J. Buchanan, most recently President Ronald Reagans communications director, wrote in a column in which he advocated that the eldest of that wolf pack should be tried, convicted and hanged in Central Park, by June 1. The younger defendants, Buchanan offered, could merely be stripped, horsewhipped and sent to prison.

In 2002, however, a man named Matias Reyes, who was already in prison for murder and rape, confessed to the Central Park attack. Forensic methods that had been unavailable in 1989 confirmed that he was the attacker.

The Central Park Five were exonerated that year. In 2014, they settled with New York for $41 million.

In 2019, Netflix released When They See Us, a miniseries from celebrated director Ava DuVernay that dramatized the Central Park case and focused attention on flaws in the criminal justice system.

On the cusp of a massive social reckoning, society saw the Central Park Five  the Exonerated Five, as they came to be known  in a new light.

But not Trump. Speaking to Yahoo News at a Harlem cafe, Salaam said that he had once hoped that Trump would take out another ad, expressing regret for his initial involvement in the case.

I was waiting for him to say, Damn, I got it wrong, Salaam told Yahoo News. Let me take out a full page ad apologizing.

Trump, however, rarely shows contrition or regret. You have people on both sides of that, Trump said in response to the renewed interest in the case engendered by the Netflix series.

Trump speaking with reporters on his plane after a campaign rally in Waco, Texas, on Saturday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Salaam understood that waiting for Trump to come around was pointless. I realized that all of that wanting was a ball and chain that I was carrying around, he said in an interview over coffee. Ive already forgiven him.

Fifteen years old when he was arrested, Salaam earned his high school and college degrees while in prison. He later became a writer and activist. Now 49, he has launched a political career, running against city council member Kristin Richardson Jordan, a socialist who favors defunding the police. Though an incumbent, she is unpopular in the district and is facing several challengers.

Despite his own harrowing experiences with law enforcement, Salaam retains no evident bitterness. Policing is important, he said. But safe policing. Safe communities. Instead of anger, he draws on spirituality.

Still, the possibility of trolling Trump was impossible to resist, especially since Salaam is an untested candidate facing a crowded Democratic primary. He needs all the attention he can get.

Thus, Karma.

The single-word release, which quickly became a viral sensation on social media, was the brainchild of Eric Koch, a veteran political strategist in New York who has worked on national and city campaigns, and now runs the firm Downfield Strategies.

Koch told Yahoo News that as soon as he learned of a potential indictment of the former president, he saw a way to highlight Salaams own unlikely journey, culminating in the poetic justice of watching his antagonist Trump face a courtroom reckoning of his own.

It just came immediately, Koch said.

Salaam, though is not especially preoccupied with Trump these days, was amenable to the idea. He just wants some evidence that laws apply to South Florida billionaires as thoroughly as they do to teenagers from Harlem.

I truly want to be able to see the system do what its supposed to do, Salaam said.
Kathy Burke has told young people to be woke as she called out people who use of the term as an insult.

In a recent episode of her Channel 4 documentary series Kathy Burke: Growing Up, the comedian explored the topics that matter to young people today.

After meeting with a climate activist, Burke said: I think activism is a part of being young, and its important that the young show us what their p***ed off about.

Its not a fad and its not wokeism, Burke continued, mimicking large air quotes. Can I just say, that gets on my f***ing nerves.

Theyre calling you woke if you call out bad things, basically. If youre not racist, youre woke. If youre not homophobic, oh, youre woke. Be woke, kids. Be woke. Be wide awake and f***ing call it out.

The clip was circulated online, with journalist Neil Mackay writing: Applause to the great Kathy Burke.

All hail @KathyBurke, one commenter wrote. If anyone accuses you of being woke, say thank you and feel proud. Giving a shit is being weaponised. Caring about social injustice shouldnt feel like an insult. Go woke or go home.

Many fans shared the clip while referencing recent comments made by Amanda Holden, who claimed this week that the late Paul OGrady was not woke in any way as he had massive opinions.

This ones for @AmandaHolden via @KathyBurke, one commenter wrote, reposting the footage.

The term woke originally comes from African-American culture, meaning being alert to racial prejudice.

However, in recent years it has been used to more broadly refer to awareness of social prejudice.

According to the Collins Dictionary, a woke person is described as someone who is very aware of social and political unfairness.

Kathy Burke: Growing Up is available to stream on Channel 4 now.
Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of "gambling" with his country's fate because of a little-known petition on the president's website.

Source: North Korean state agency KCNA; President Zelenskyy's website

Details: Kim Jong-un's sister noticed a petition posted on the president's website on 30 March that called for US nuclear weapons to be stationed on the territory of Ukraine or for Ukraine to be made a state with its own nuclear weapons. As of 1 April, the petition had gained just over 700 of the necessary 25,000 signatures  hardly a huge number.

Kim Yo Jong called this little-known petition "a product of the Zelenskyy authorities' sinister political plot".

"The Ukrainian authorities, seized with the incurable megalomania that [they] can defeat Russia, are incurring a nuclear disaster threatening their existence," the North Korean dictators sister decided.

She claimed that "Zelenskyy's talk about introducing US nuclear weapons and developing their own is a manifestation of his very dangerous political ambition to prolong his remaining days at any cost by gambling with the destiny of his country and people."

Reference: Any citizen of Ukraine can register a petition on the president's website. There are always a lot of petitions, but few of them garner enough signatures to be considered. Even those that do achieve the 25,000 required often do not come to anything.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
King Charles has left a positive impression among Germans after his three-day visit to the country, his first trip abroad since ascending to the British throne following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last September.

Observers in both London and Berlin said the visit sent a strong message to strengthen ties between the two countries amid frayed relations following Britains exit from the European Union.

In a first, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed Charles and Queen Consort Camilla at the Brandenburg Gate with military honours on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Charles became the first monarch to address the German parliament, the Bundestag, where he stressed the long-standing close ties between both countries.

This friendship meant so much to my beloved mother, the late Queen, who often spoke about the official 15 visits she often made to Germany, he said.

The visit comes as the two sides are trying to rebuild relations after Brexit.

According to Jens Zimmermann, a lawmaker from Germanys center-left Social Democrats, Charles speech in the German parliament, which was delivered partially in German sent a clear message.

The speech in the Bundestag was very well-received, Mr Zimmermann was quoted as saying to the Associated Press.

It was much more political than you might have expected. It was very connecting  I think that was very good.

In his speech, Charles praised both London and Berlin for providing aid to Ukraine as the Russian invasion of the country continues in its 13th month.

The speech comes as Germany has faced pressure from Western countries for not doing enough to help Ukraine.

Mr Zimmermann said Charles thanking Germans for taking in so many Ukrainians seeking shelter from the war might also be seen as a roundabout criticism of the British governments recent anti-refugee policies.

Michael Kruse, a lawmaker with the pro-business Free Democrats said the two countries continue to have many common economic interests.

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The channel has widened due to Brexit, he said.

Thats why the visit by Britains head of state was all the more important.

The focus of Charles trip to Germany came after his initial plan to visit France first was put off amid anti-government protests in the country.

Charles and Camilla also laid a wreath at the remains of St. Nikolai church to commemorate the more than 30,000 people, mostly German civilians, who were killed in Operation Gomorrah, the Allied bombing of Hamburg in July 1943.

The Kings visit concluded on Friday with a boat trip and a farewell reception involving musical performances, including by a Beatles cover band and a sea shanty group.

Observers in London said that the visit has helped in renewing diplomatic ties between the two countries.

I think as coronavirus has faded, weve been reminded of the value of face-to-face meetings, Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank in London was quoted as saying.

And it just does add something to relationships, particularly between heads of state, who are very insulated, she said.

I think it has been received very well.

Additional reporting by agencies
From left: Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Waco, Texas, on March 25; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg listens at news conference in New York on Feb. 7; Stormy Daniels attends the opening of an adult entertainment fair in Berlin in 2018. Credit - Brandon BellGetty Images; Seth WenigAP; Markus SchreiberAP

Former President Donald Trump was indicted Thursday evening by the Manhattan District Attorneys Office; a highly anticipated move built on grand jury testimonies and legal efforts from numerous people connected to the case.

Although the indictment, which was filed under seal, hasnt been revealed yet, it relates to a 2016 exchange of money between adult film star Stormy Daniels and Trumps former personal attorney Michael Cohen for an alleged hush money payment organized just before Trumps presidential win. The allegations have been circulating for years, but new names have continued to join the case.

From defense attorneys to potential testifiers, to the prosecutor who made the indictment happen, heres who to know surrounding Trumps indictment.

Stormy Daniels

Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, is an adult film actor who since 2018 has publicly alleged that she had sex with Trump in 2006, a claim which Trump has denied, accusing her of extortion.

More from TIME

In 2016, just weeks before the election, Daniels lawyer approached the National Enquirer saying that she was willing to go on the record about the affair. Leaders at the Enquirerwho later said they had a deal with Trump to keep coverage of him positiveput Daniels lawyer in touch with Trumps then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, rather than buying her story.

In October 2016, Daniels received $130,000 in a lump sum payment from Cohen, which federal investigators verified in 2018. Daniels and Cohen have both said that the payout was approved by Trump in exchange for Daniels silence about their sexual encounter. Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement at the time, which she asked the court to nullify in 2018 once the secret about the payment was out and she began speaking about the affair with the press.

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Thank you to everyone for your support and love! I have so many messages coming in that I cant respondalso dont want to spill my champagne, Daniels tweeted Thursday after the indictment.

Over the years and reinvigorated since the indictment, Daniels has received threats and online hate from zealous Trump supporters. Daniels lawyer told the media this week that she wasnt surprised about the indictment.

Trump is no longer untouchable, Daniels told the Times on Friday. Hes done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before. I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star. But its also poetic; this p*ssy grabbed back.

Signing the NDA and taking the hush money was actually the greatest gift that I gave. Because its what made it illegal, which made it possible to actually go after him, Daniels added.

Michael Cohen

Once Trumps former trusted confidante, Michael Cohen was his personal attorney and fixer for over 10 years. The two worked incredibly closely, with Cohen going so far as to proclaim that he would take a bullet for Trump. From 2017 and 2018 while Trump was in office, investigators looked into Cohens finances, finding mounting concerns and prompting Cohen to flip his loyalty to cooperate with investigators.

In January 2018, the Wall Street Journal first reported that Cohen had organized the $130,000 payment to Daniels. Coming under scrutiny, Cohen originally said that Trump wasnt involved, but later testified in front of a grand jury that Trump had instructed him to pay off Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal, to avoid a scandal before the election.

Records showed that after the deal with Daniels, Trump paid Cohen the equivalent $130,000, although Trump defended the money as legal fees. Investigators refute that there were no such legal services at the time.

The attorney opened up about other fraudulent activity and was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018 for numerous crimes, which included campaign finance violations, evading taxes and lying to Congress. Cohen also cooperated in special counsel Robert Muellers probe into the Trump campaign colluding with Russia.

Over the years, Cohens staunch loyalty to Trump has dissipated and hes admitted that he knew the things he was doing for the president were wrong; Cohen has called Trump out for racism and fraud.

One of the things that Donald is going to do is hes going to try to muck up the water for this investigation. Hes going to attack everyone. And were already beginning to see that, Cohen told NPR on Friday. In statements to the press this week, Cohen confirmed that hes been asked to stand by as a rebuttal witness in the case.

Alvin Bragg

The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a former white-collar prosecutor and civil rights attorney. Bragg became the first Black district attorney for Manhattan in 2022, campaigning on a platform to reform systemic issues in New Yorks criminal justice system, such as eliminating cash bail and providing more survivor resources.

Upon becoming DA, Bragg took over the investigation into Trumps role in the 2016 alleged hush money payment from Cohen to Daniels. Bragg initially worried that the case wouldnt be strong enough to hold up in court and slowed the offices investigation, prompting the two prosecutors leading it to resign out of protest.

Facing backlash over his decision, Bragg asserted that the investigation wasnt over. Unless yall are great poker players, Bragg told the New York Times in April 2022, you dont know what were doing.

In January, after facing success in a different case prosecuting the Trump Organization for fraud and other financial crimes, Bragg bolstered efforts to revisit the hush money investigation. He convened a new grand jury that gathered testimonies and evidence to see if there was enough cause to indict Trump.

As House Republicans angered by the indictment attempted to intervene on Trumps behalf, the DAs office countered that they lacked jurisdiction. Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself, Braggs office wrote in a letter to Congress Friday. What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State.

Joe Tacopina

The public face of Trumps defense, Joe Tacopina, is a New York-based attorney who has had numerous famous clients, including rappers Meek Mill and Jay-Z. Tacopina is a former Brooklyn prosecutor who now heads a civil and criminal defense firm. Hes known for his chatty interviews, frequently appearing in tabloids while speaking on behalf of his celebrity clients. Tacopina was first recruited in January to represent Trump in a defamation case against former Manhattan prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, who wrote a book about his experience investigating Trump, People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account.

Tacopina began making press appearances shortly after Thursdays indictment was announced, stressing that so far Trumps defense doesnt know what exactly the indictment contains and which or how many charges he could face. Tacopina told Fox News Thursday night that he was shocked by the indictment, but that Trump is ready to fight.

You dont bring a case like this on a former president on a petty allegation, on a completely legal civil transaction with attorneys unless you have the goods, he added, mentioning potential problems with the statute of limitations and selective prosecution in Trumps case.

Tacopina appeared on ABCs Good Morning America Friday, saying that although Trump will not be taken in handcuffs at the upcoming arraignment, he cant rule out a mugshot or a perp walk. Im sure they will try to get every ounce of publicity they can out of this thing, he said.

Clark Brewster

Unhappy with her lawyer at the time, Daniels reached out to Clark Brewster in early 2019 to represent her in her heated legal battles against Trump. Brewster is a partner at his firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and according to his website, he focuses on complex litigation.

In a statement after the indictment was announced, Brewster said he places a great deal of respect in the grand jury and that he hoped the justice system will recognize that no man is above the law.

Following the indictment this week, Brewster told Tulsa World that hes here to advocate for his client, not play a part in political partisanship. Brewster estimated that he spent thousands of hours working to represent Daniels, receiving waves of backlash and threats over it.

I think if Donald Trump at some point in time would have stepped up and fully accepted responsibility and explained the basis for the nondisclosure agreement and all the circumstances, I dont think there would be a charge, Brewster told Tulsa World.

Karen McDougal

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal said she had a nearly year-long affair with Trump in 2006, which Trump denies. McDougal has said that Trump offered her money after their first sexual encounter, but that she was not interested in taking it.

In 2016, around the same time that Daniels tried to sell her story about her relationship with Trump, McDougal was searching for similar opportunities. McDougal sold the exclusive rights of her story to the Enquirers parent company for $150,000. The story never ran and in 2018, in a deal with the federal prosecutors, the company admitted that its reason for purchasing the story was to suppress McDougals allegations.

In a 2020 interview with Law & Crime Network, McDougal said that she knew the affair was wrong, but that she had repented and had been forgiven by Jesus. When asked if she thought Trump had also come to that realization, McDougal said, I cant say what he has and hasnt done with his wife and his family, but I doubt it.

McDougal said she wishes shed rejected the money and told her story to ABC like she originally planned to. I just wish I had come clean in the beginning, she added.

According to ABC, CBS and other outlets, the DAs office is now investigating Trumps role in the payment to McDougal in conjunction with the Daniels case. CBS reported that according to sources familiar with the matter, prosecutors have asked grand jury witnesses questions about the McDougal matter too.
Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid), Abbot of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Kyiv Monastery of the Caves), has said that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) searched his house on 1 April and served him with a notice of suspicion.

Source: Lebid's video address, posted by Kremlin-aligned news outlet RIA Novosti; UP source in law enforcement agencies;

Details: As Lebid states, he was served with a notice of suspicion on 1 April at 7:30, adding that his house was being searched.

UP sources state that the suspicions have been served under Articles 161 (violation of equality of citizens based on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds) and Article 436 (propaganda of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As Pavlo claims, the SSU told him that he had "cursed the president".

Background:

In March 2023, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve terminated an agreement with the UOC-MP that allowed the church to use the premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra free of charge. UOC-MP clergy have been ordered to vacate all premises of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by the end of March (UOC-MP stands for Ukraine's Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate  ed.).

The priests of the UOC-MP should have left the monastery on 29 March after holding their last service there. But Lavra's abbot, Metropolitan Pavlo, said he did not intend to do that and filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.

He also openly threatened Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko was "possessed by an unholy spirit".

On the evening of 29 March, the UOC-MP website reported that the Kyiv Commercial Court had opened proceedings in a case brought by the Holy Dormition Monastery against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve over the termination of the lease agreement by the National Reserve.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
KYIV (Reuters) - Russia, whose leader is accused of war crimes, assumed charge of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday causing fury in Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy calling it an absurd and destructive move.

The last time Russia held the rotating presidency of the body responsible for maintaining peace and combating acts of international aggression was in February 2022 when Moscow troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, we ... have some obviously absurd and destructive news," Zelenskiy said in his daily video address, adding that Russian shelling had killed a five-month-old boy on Friday.

"And at the same time Russia is chairing the U.N. Security Council. It's hard to imagine anything that proves more the total bankruptcy of such institutions," he said.

The presidency rotates alphabetically each month among the 15 members. Although it is largely procedural, the Kremlin and other Russian officials vowed to "exercise all its rights" in the role.

The United States on Thursday urged Russia to "conduct itself professionally" when it assumes the role, saying there was no means to block Moscow from the post.

In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) - an international justice body not associated with the UN - issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children rights, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia's presidency of the Security Council a "slap in the face to the international community." Zelenskiy said it was time for a general overhaul of global institutions, including the Security Council.

"Reform is obviously necessary to prevent a terrorist state - and any other state that wants to be a terrorist - from destroying the peace," he said.

Some 400 days into the war, which has killed thousands, destroyed Ukrainian cities and set millions of civilians to flight, Russia continues to take over parts of the country, pressing on with its assault in the east.

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Earlier, Zelenskiy advisor Andriy Yermak also hit out at Iran, which Kyiv and its allies accuse of supplying Russia with arms. Tehran denies it is giving weapons to Russia.

"It is very telling that on the holiday of one terror state  Iran - another terror state  Russia  begins to preside over the U.N. Security Council," Yermak wrote on Twitter, referring to Iran's Islamic Republic Day holiday.

(Reporting by Max Hunder, David Ljunggren, Nick Starkov and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Giles Elgood, Daniel Wallis and Franklin Paul)
People from Central America and Mexico hold the Honduras flag Friday as they walk to MacArthur Park in Los Angeles to demonstrate and have a vigil in memory of the people killed in a fire that broke out at the National Migration Institute Facility along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

The afternoon was cold and starkly silent, broken only occasionally by passing cars honking in solidarity. A blue and white five-starred Honduran flag wavered in the breeze, one of many symbols marking the deaths this week of 39 immigrants who were trapped in a fire at a detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

"It was the State," read one poster in Spanish.

"No human being is illegal," proclaimed another text held aloft by a Mexican immigrant.

The small but passionate group of demonstrators took up position Friday afternoon in front of the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles to protest what they decried as the inhumane immigration policies of the governments of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and President Biden. The Guatemalan, Honduran, Salvadoran and Mexican immigrants gathered on Park View Street vented emotions over the tragedy.

Women from Guatemala stand in solidarity in memory of the 39 people who were killed in the detention center fire. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

Indignation. Sadness. Rage. Dread. Pain.

"It's a shame," lamented Francisco Moreno, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Council of Mexican Federations, over the conflagration in which 18 Guatemalans, seven Salvadorans, seven Venezuelans, six Hondurans and one Colombian lost their lives. More than two dozen other immigrants were injured in the blaze, the cause of which is under investigation. On Thursday, a Mexican court issued arrest orders for six people in relation to the fire, a move that has done nothing to assuage activists or the families of the dead.

Born in Michoacan, in west-central Mexico, Moreno is a veteran of protests against the anti-immigrant policies of former President Trump. Now he condemns the Lopez Obrador administration for what he sees as its taking directives from the Biden administration in the same way that Mexico's previous president, Enrique Pena Nieto, yielded to former President Obama, in Moreno's view.

"Those responsible have to fall, and not only the jailers, the politicians have to fall, the people in charge of immigration policy in Mexico, because this is not fair," he said.

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Calling out for justice, the demonstrators assembled around a bronze statue of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, whose assassination while celebrating Mass in March 1980 helped spur an unprecedented wave of migration from the Central American country to the United States.

Among the protesters was Salvador Sanabria, a Salvadoran activist and director of the El Rescate organization, who arrived in Los Angeles seeking asylum only a few days after the archbishop's murder.

Leoncio Velasquez, of Los Angeles, center, takes part in a demonstration in memory of the people killed in the fire that broke out at a detention center along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

It makes me indignant and terrified, said Sanabria. "One wonders, with what mentality did those responsible make this happen when it could have been avoided?"

Activists and academics say that the tragedy in Ciudad Juarez is linked to the violence that has overwhelmed the border in recent years, as drug cartels and organized crime have transformed into vast human-smuggling chains, resulting in shootouts among rival gangs, kidnappings and the torturing of people traveling northward. During that time, successive U.S. administrations have increased pressure on Mexico to crack down on migrants to prevent them from entering the United States.

A small group of people from Central America and Mexico hold the Honduras flag during a demonstration in front of the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles on Friday in memory of the people killed in the fire that broke out at a detention center along the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (James Carbone/Los Angeles Times en Espanol)

Mexico has become the new wall, said Sanabria, who said that last week's deaths will send a deterrent message to others contemplating the arduous journey.

It means that they don't come to the northern border of Mexico, because if they cross and are arrested in the United States and deported to Mexico, is this what is going to happen to them?" Sanabria said, alluding to the detention center fire.

Since the summer of 2014, due to pressure exerted by President Obama, the Pena Nieto government implemented the Southern Border Program, a move that intensified militarization and surveillance along the border, resulting in 93,613 arrests being reported in the first 12 months.

The policy subsequently gave an incentive for human smugglers, known as coyotes, to follow more dangerous routes into the United States.

Most of the migrant community have to cross through Mexico because it is the route we have to get here, said Jose Bautista, a Honduran, although that meant putting his life at risk, he said.

Another demonstrator, Juanita Calel, who fled war-torn Guatemala for Los Angeles in 1996, said that people seeking better opportunities will continue to attempt the trek, regardless of the debt to smuggler that they pile up, or the dangers they face.

What happened really makes me sad, said the native of Huehuetenango, adding that, I am more saddened by their relatives who remained in our country of origin and the debt they left behind."

As the protest wrapped up, a scattering of attendees was left to wander, play and  in some cases  sleep among the tents used by the unhoused people who make their homes in MacArthur Park.

Este articulo fue publicado por primera vez en Los Angeles Times.
European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic on Friday urged Lebanon to reach a bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get out of its economic plight, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

At a press conference held here to conclude his two-day visit to Lebanon, Lenarcic said that Lebanon is going through a difficult situation as a result of multiple crises, including a financial crisis, political paralysis, and the Syrian refugee problem.

Speaking of a 60-million-euro (65 million U.S. dollars) humanitarian aid he announced on Thursday for the most vulnerable people in Lebanon, he said the aid "is not a sustainable solution in the long term, but rather emergency aid to save life."

"It is essential to start addressing the roots of the multiple crises in Lebanon. Comprehensive governance and an agreement with the IMF are prerequisites to pave the way for much-needed reforms for a better future for the Lebanese," the official said.

Progress towards finalizing a 3-billion-dollar bailout package from the IMF for Lebanon has largely stalled as the country has yet to implement required reforms.
Composite image of Laura Kuenssberg and mocked up binary code

What do the Pope's crazy puffa jacket, a student avoiding a parking ticket, a dry government document and Elon Musk warning the robots might come for us have in common?

This is not an April Fool's joke but a genuine question.

The answer is AI - artificial intelligence - two words we are going to hear a lot about in the coming months.

The picture of the Pope in a Michelin-man style white coat was everywhere online but was made using AI by a computer user from Chicago.

In Yorkshire, 22-year-old Millie Houlton asked AI chatbot ChatGPT to "please help me write a letter to the council, they gave me a parking ticket" and sent it off. The computer's version of her appeal successfully got her out of a 60 fine.

Also this week, without much fanfare, the government published draft proposals on how to regulate this emerging technology, while a letter signed by more than 1,000 tech experts including Tesla boss Elon Musk called on the world to press pause on the development of more advanced AI because it poses "profound risks to humanity".

You are not alone if you don't understand all the terms being bandied about:

A chatbot is, in its basic form, a computer program that's meant to simulate a conversation you might have with a human on the internet - like when you type a question to ask for help with a booking. The launch, and explosion of a much more advanced one, ChatGPT, has got tongues wagging in recent months

Artificial Intelligence in its most simple form is technology that allows a computer to think or act in a more human way

That includes machine learning when, through experience, computers can learn what to do without being given explicit instructions

It's the speed at which the technology is progressing that led those tech entrepreneurs to intervene, with one AI leader even writing in a US magazine this week: "Shut it down."

Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX mogul Elon Musk is one of those calling for a pause to the development of advanced AI

Estonian billionaire Jaan Tallinn is one of them. He was one of the brains behind internet communication app Skype but is now one of the leading voices trying to put the brakes on.

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I asked him, in an interview for this Sunday's show, to explain the threat as simply as he could.

"Imagine if you substitute human civilisation with AI civilisation," he told me. "Civilisation that could potentially run millions of times faster than humans... so like, imagine global warming was sped up a million times.

"One big vector of existential risk is that we are going to lose control over our environment.

"Once we have AIs that we a) cannot stop and b) are smart enough to do things like geoengineering, build their own structures, build their own AIs, then, what's going to happen to their environment, the environment that we critically need for our survival? It's up in the air."

And if governments don't act? Mr Tallinn thinks it's possible to "apply the existing technology, regulation, knowledge and regulatory frameworks" to the current generation of AI, but says the "big worry" is letting the technology race ahead without society adapting: "Then we are in a lot of trouble."

It's worth noting they are not saying they want to put a stop to the lot but pause the high-end work that is training computers to be ever smarter and more like us.

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On this week's show are Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Labour's shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy

Watch on BBC One this Sunday from 09:00 BST

Follow live updates in text and video here on the BBC News website

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The pace of change and its potential presents an almighty challenge to governments around the world.

Westminster and technology are not always a happy mix and while politics moves pretty fast these days, compared to developments in Silicon Valley, it's a snail versus an F1 car.

There are efforts to put up some guard rails in other countries. On Friday Italy banned ChatGPT while the EU is working on an Artificial Intelligence Act. China is bringing in laws and a "registry" for algorithms - the step-by-step instructions used in programming that tell computers what to do.

But the UK government's set of draft proposals this week proposed no new laws, and no new watchdog or regulator to take it on. Even though the White Paper is an effort to manage one of the biggest technological changes in history, blink and you might have missed it.

The government wants, for now, to give existing regulators like the Health and Safety Executive the responsibility of keeping an eye on what is going on. The argument is that AI will potentially have a role in every aspect of our lives, in endless ways, so to create one new big referee is the wrong approach. One minister told me that "it's a whole revolution" so "identifying it as one technology is wrong".

Ministers also want the UK to make the most of its undoubted expertise in the field because AI is big business with huge potential benefits.

The government is reluctant to introduce tight regulation that could strangle innovation. The challenge according to the minister is to be "very, very tough on the bad stuff", but "harness the seriously beneficial bits" too.

That approach hasn't persuaded Labour's shadow digital secretary Lucy Powell, who says the government "hasn't grappled with the scale of the problem" and we are "running to catch up".

Are existing regulators really up to the task? The Health and Safety Executive wouldn't say how many staff it had ready to work on the issue or are being trained. "We will work with the government and other regulators as AI develops and explore the challenges and opportunities it brings using our scientific expertise," they told me.

Should we be as worried about AI as clerics were about the printing press in the 15th Century?

How on earth can any government strike the right balance? Predictions about the potential of technology are often wildly wrong. One MP familiar with the field reckons: "The tech bros have all watched a bit too much Terminator - how does this technology go from a computer program to removing oxygen from the atmosphere?" The MP believes heavier regulation won't be required for a few years.

One tech firm has told us there is no need to panic: "There are harms we're already aware of, like deep fake videos impersonating people or students cheating on tests, but that's quite a leap to then say we should all be terrified of a sentient machine taking control or killing humanity."

Another senior MP, whose been studying the UK's proposals, says the risks are not yet "catastrophic" and it's better to take a careful and gradual approach to any new laws than "take a running jump, and splash into the unknown".

But to worry about big changes is part of human nature. Clerics worried the printing press would make monks lazy in the 15th Century. Weavers smashed up machines in the 19th Century fearing they'd lose their livelihood.

Even your author snubbed the offer of a mobile phone in 1997 convinced they'd only be for "show-offs" and would never really catch on.

What is certain, is that this generation of politicians and those who follow will increasingly have to spend their time grappling with this emerging frontier of technology.

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More from Laura Kuenssberg
The border guards exposed the collaborator

The detainee created a propaganda channel on his page on the banned-in-Ukraine Russian Odnoklassniki social network page to praise the policies of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, calling on Russian troops to seize not only Ukraine but also to spread the ideology of the "Russian world" throughout Europe.

Read also: Two agents who collaborated with FSB in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhya exposed by SBU

"He openly stated: 'Odesa is Russia and called Ukrainians radicals' and 'ardent nationalists'," the statement said.

The traitor's place of residence was searched. He was found to have devices to help spread his propaganda, as well as a carbine, pistols, sabers, a knife, and ammunition.

The man is currently in custody.

Read also: Collaborators home blown up in Berdyansk, invaders cover up consequences and hunt for culprits

He was served a notice of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code (collaboration). If convicted, he will be banned from holding certain positions or engaging in certain activities for 10 to 15 years.

He was also charged under Art. 263 of the Criminal Code (illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives). If convicted, he faces a jail term of three to seven years.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The lawyer of Suriname's former dictator Desi Bouterse called Friday for a court to acquit him of a 20-year sentence over the deaths of 15 political prisoners.

Bouterse first seized power in a 1980 coup and in December 1982 allegedly rounded up 15 political opponents -- including lawyers, journalists and businessmen -- for execution at the Fort Zeelandia military barracks in the capital Paramaribo.

The 77-year-old had already been sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019, but he has been challenging that verdict and under Surinamese law cannot be arrested before he exhausts the appeals processes.

"I ask for you to respond to the undeniable need of our society... for the trial to end as soon as possible and with an acquittal," said his lawyer Irvin Kanhai during the appeal hearing in Paramaribo.

Kanhai added it would be "wise and an act of patriotism to end" the trial against Bouterse, who has always denied involvement in the murders.

Bouterse was all smiles when he left the court on Friday, greeting supporters who shook his hand and hugged him.

During the previous hearing in January, Bouterse admitted in court that he had heard gunshots on the day the prisoners were killed, but insisted he did not order their execution nor was he present for the killings.

He said he believed the gunshots were part of an effort to intimidate the inmates, who he claims were trying to overthrow him.

Instead, Bouterse accused his number two Paul Bhagwandas -- who died in 1996 -- of being responsible for the Fort Zeelandia violence.

The court is expected to issue its verdict in the second half of 2023.

Bouterse stepped down in 1987 under international pressure, but returned to power in 1990 in a second, bloodless coup. He left office a year later but was then elected president in 2010 and remained in the post until 2020.

In 1999, a court in the Netherlands, Suriname's former colonial ruler, sentenced Bouterse to 11 years in prison in absentia for cocaine smuggling, another charge he denies.

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Credit - Courtesy Jewish Museum, Amsterdam

Some years ago, at an exhibition in Amsterdams Jewish Quarter, The Persecution of the Jews in Photographs: The Netherlands, 19401945, I was struck by single photograph of a young couple striding arm-in-arm through one of my adopted citys most recognizable squares, the Dam, in front of the royal palace, in January 1943. They looked gloriously happy, maybe even in love, but on the lapel of each of their winter coats was a Star of David.

I could not stop looking at the picture. The image just took my breath away. How could they be so vibrant and cheerful, while so clearly marked for death? I remarked as much to Judith Cohen, the director of the photography archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., during an interview a few days later.

Its important not to read history backwards, she responded. Its important to keep in mind that nobody knew how it would end.

Of course that was right; even in January 1943, most Jews in the Netherlands didnt know that the edict that they must sew the yellow Star of David into all their outerwear was a sign of far worst to come. Some suspected as much, and refused to wear the symbol, and some non-Jews wore it in solidarity with the Jews to show their overlords that they didnt approve of this method of branding. Most of these people were subsequently arrestedthe Jews deported and the non-Jews frequently let go. But the couple in the photo, Miep Krant and Ralph Polak, who were in fact engaged that day, could, at least temporarily, regard the star as a mere inconvenience.

Nobody knew in January 1943 what we know today, which is that 75 percent of the Dutch Jews would die in Nazi concentration camps before the end of the war. They were living history forwards, day by day, moment by moment, attempting to enjoy and go on with their lives, in spite of the mounting persecution, increasingly stringent regulations, and deportations to an foreseeable future.

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A week later, I visited the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam for the first time to interview two researchers, Rene Kok and Erik Somers, who had curated the photography exhibition. I was writing an article for The New York Times, about how so many of the images had been shot by bystanders, ordinary Dutch people who had witnessed the roundups of their neighbors from their Amsterdam apartment windows.

Id long been fascinated by the NIOD, both for its hallowed reputation as a center of war and Holocaust scholarship, but also for its very special building. It is housed in an exquisite double-wide mansion on the Herengracht, dripping with baroque design features, including cherubs and deities, and Romanesque soldiers whose heads pop out from columns and pilasters.

Other impressive buildings situated along this Golden Bend of the Gentlemans Canalone of the UNESCO Heritage canals that make up the citys picturesque grachtengordelare nowhere near as ornate. They tend to be more faithful to a Calvinist tradition of stoicism and spare design, and the NIOD building flies in the face of those principles. I appreciated its interesting gaudiness in contrast to the otherwise austere canal mansions on either side.

I found that the interior also reflected the same kind of whimsical splendor, as its nineteenth century owner had decided on decorating it in a potpourri of styles, in the manner of a seventeenth century castle, hand-painted silk wallpaper, the Turkish-style mosaic tile encircling the sunken bathtub, the skylights that gave sight to the sun and moon, and the backyard complete with grassy lawn and horse stables, where the original owner had parked his carriage.

Rene Kok picked me up in the foyer and led me upstairs to meet Somers in conference room to talk about bystander photography during the war. While most of the surviving imagery we have from the occupation period in the Netherlands was taken by German or pro-German Dutch photographers for propaganda purposes, they explained, theyd been able to discover many new images taken by ordinary people who had clandestinely shot pictures out their windows, without getting caught.

Cohen had already informed me about how rare these were. Shed confirmed that it was very difficult to find images taken by non authorized photographers, especially of Jewish raids, or Razzias.

We all know the who, what, when, and where of the Holocaust, but the why is a mystery still, she had told me. The why, she elaborated, is why so many people let it happen, why they collaborated, or watched from the sidelines, or made it possible in one way or another for the Nazis to round up and deport their neighbors. What were ordinary people thinking? What were they doing? If you can get bystander photos, that that explains a little bit of the why.

The thought played through my head again and again as I spoke to Kok and Somers. The photographs, however, told a story of bystander fear, but also bystander complicity. One could look out the window, while drinking tea, and see their neighbors, marked, forced into public squares, driven into trucks, beaten, humiliated, deported. It had happened just outside their doors, outside their windows. Everyone could see everything.

Just then, Rene tapped me on the shoulder, breaking me out of my musings. Before you go, can I just show you one more thing? he said. He led me down through the mansions carved cherrywood staircase under a pendulous chandelier, through the modern study hall with its glass atrium below the carriage house, and down white marble stairs into the basement. There, he heaved open a bank vault door, one-foot thick, and pressed into the NIODs archives, announcing that we were about to dive below sea level.

The archive, stark and bright like a scientific lab, was filled with rows of metal filing cabinets. Using a hand crank, Rene Kok opened a single wall, revealing hundreds of camel-colored boxes. Inside these, he said, were personal diaries, written by ordinary Dutch people during the war. There were more than 2,100 of them.

We opened the Institute three days after Liberation, he explained We asked people to bring in their personal documents about the war. The diaries came pouring in.

In these files were the stories of shop clerks, resistance fighters, train conductors, artists, musicians, policemen, grocers. Anne Franks diary was submitted here, too. He said the range of the collection was vast. He pulled a file from the wall and opened it. The first thing that jumped out at us was a portrait of Hitler, pasted lovingly onto the black-and-white marbleized notebook cover. Inside, we found hand-drawn sheet music for SS marching songs. Id never even imagined SS marching songsbut that made perfect sense.

Did you say more than 2,100 diaries? I asked.

Rene drew out another file from the wall. This one contained hand-painted watercolor illustrations. I gasped at drawings of Nazi soldiers standing in an open doorway, a civilian silhouetted in the hall. Another folder contained school notebooks filled with youthful poetry, pretty floral-patterned journals, bound, typed editions thick as textbooks. Why was Rene showing me all of this?

He explained that the Institute had recently initiated an Adopt-a- Diary program to make these journals more accessible to the public. His colleague Rene Pottkamp was coordinating a team of volunteers, who had already started to scan and transcribe them, and soon they would digitize them. Although they contained rich textures of the war, some of them were illegible or indecipherable.

I see researchers coming in here and theyre excited to read these diaries, he explained. But you see after one hourhe mimicked a persons eyes droopingAnd then another hourhe pantomimed a head nodding, falling to a desk. Its tiring to read someone elses handwriting.

Many of the diaries had been photocopied and the copies were poor, on cracked old mimeograph paper. Others had been preserved only on rectangles of microfiche, white text on a black background that could make one dizzy. Sometimes the copies were so small that they required a magnifying glass. By transcribing and digitizing them, NIOD was salvaging them from obscurity.

I could only stand and marvel. I felt that I had been introduced to a trove of writing that would give me direct access to the war period and an understanding of not only the factsthe what, where, and whenbut also the how and why. How it felt to live through it, through the eyes of individuals from every walk of life.

It was neither the story of the Jews of the Netherlands, nor the history of their persecutors, nor exclusively the resistance story. It was all of them. Each of their voices was represented here, potentially offering perspective on the entire war generation. These diaries might be another way for me to read history forward, as Cohen had suggested, day by day, moment by moment, just as we all live our lives, without knowing what comes next.

Were these ordinary diary writers people like my grandfather, Emerich, facing the unknown, day to day? Would I be able to find him, somehow, here, amid all these pages? Or could I, at the very least, somehow use this material to get closer to his story?

Most important, was I allowed to read all these? And if so, how soon could I get started?
At least 25 people are dead after a major storm system ripped through the Midwest, the South and the mid-Atlantic, bringing tornadoes and severe thunderstorms through Saturday night.

The latest fatalities were reported in Tennessee and Delaware.

The sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, said Saturday evening that the death toll had grown to nine. All victims were in buildings destroyed down to their foundations, he said.

One death was reported in Delaware's Sussex County, where an apparent tornado struck southeast of the small community of Greenwood, said county spokesperson Chip Guy.

It wasn't clear how many people, if any, were injured, but "several structures were damaged," he said.

Officials in Delaware were waiting for another line of severe weather to move through before conducting recovery operations, Guy said. The apparent tornado was part of the same thunderous weather system that struck the Midwest and South overnight.

The National Weather Service was working to confirm the tornado reports by putting people on the ground to assess damage, which can take time.

"We will be surveying damage from likely tornadoes that struck many of our Middle Tennessee counties overnight, including Wayne, Lewis, Marshall, Rutherford, Cannon and Macon counties," the weather service field office in Nashville said on Saturday. "Due to the widespread damage, it will take us several days to reach all these areas."

The damage includes downed trees, power lines and "houses with heavy damage" in multiple counties, according to a list of storm reports collected by the agency.

Five of the U.S. deaths were in Cross and Pulaski counties in Arkansas, four are in Boone and Crawford counties in Illinois, three are in Sullivan County, Indiana, one in Pontotac County, Mississippi, one in Madison County, Alabama, and one in Tipton County, Tennessee, according to officials.

Wynne, a city in Arkansas' northeastern Cross County where four people died, saw widespread damage from the storm system, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a tweet.

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Central Arkansas also suffered significant damage Friday, Sanders said, after meteorologists said a tornado touched down in North Little Rock, pummeling buildings and leaving at least three people dead and dozens injured.

"Today has been a very hard day for the state of Arkansas," Sanders said at a news conference on Friday. "But the goodness of this is that Arkansas and Arkansans are tough and we are resilient, and no matter what comes our way, we will get back up the next day and keep moving."

Here is a preliminary track of the tornado that impacted the city of Little Rock per @LRpolice. Please avoid these areas as any extra people in these locations will only slow the process to cleanup debris and restore power. Also, tornado damage paths are hazardous. #arwx https://t.co/8V9u7jua46  NWS Little Rock (@NWSLittleRock) April 1, 2023

Arkansas declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard on Friday afternoon. At a news conference Friday, Sanders said 100 guardsmen had been deployed across the state.

A firefighter checks homes for injured residents in Little Rock, Ark. (Benjamin Krain / Getty Images)

Sanders visited areas affected by tornadoes on Saturday.

"A fire station in West Little Rock suffered an unbelievable amount of damage but the real story here isnt the damage that happened but its the heroes that were born out of the tragedy," she tweeted, adding in another tweet that the destruction at Wynne High School was also severe.

A severe weather event across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana brought "widespread wind damage with multiple tornadoes," thunderstorms and scattered large hail to the area, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service.

Here is a preliminary look at the severe weather event that took place across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana yesterday.



You can also view our webpage summary here: https://t.co/PuAWk36Xpy #ILwx #INwx pic.twitter.com/THTsX3vKRL  NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) April 1, 2023

State police confirmed three people were killed in Indiana, and a tornado in Boone County, Illinois, specifically the city of Belvidere, killed a 50-year-old man and injured 28 others when the roof of a concert venue collapsed Friday night at the Apollo Theatre. Of the 28 people who were taken to the hospital, five had serious injuries, according to Belvidere fire officials.

Belvidere officials could not speak to any warning given to concert goers, or if any were advised to move to a safe place. The loud concert may have prevented attendees from hearing the tornado sirens that blared in the area Friday night.

It's not confirmed how many tornadoes hit Illinois and Indiana, but the National Weather Service reported many areas with structural damage and potential tornadoes, including in Baileyville, Belvidere, Mendota and downtown Batavaia in Illinois, and Merillville in Indiana.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order on Saturday declaring Sullivan and Johnson counties in a state of emergency.

A house is damaged by fallen trees during a tornado in Belvidere, Ill. (Erin Hooley / AP)

Two teams will survey storm damage across Indiana on Saturday, including in Allen and White counties, according to the National Weather Service field office in northern Indiana.

More than a half-million utility customers were without electricity in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee, according to grid tracker PowerOutage.us.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A Lexington man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for gunning down his neighbor after an altercation over a small amount of money escalated into a deadly storm of gunfire.

Christopher David Shumpert was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison without parole for the murder of Barry Joe Chavis, Jr. on Fish Hatchery Road in Gaston in 2020, according to the 11th Circuit Solicitors Office.

This senseless, cowardly, and brutal murder has destroyed three young lives and families, said Deputy Solicitor Rhonda W. Patterson, who prosecuted the case. Chavis, who was 28 at the time of his death, was remembered as a very hard worker, a certified engine mechanic who loved to work on dirt bikes and four wheelers, according to his obituary.

Shumpert, 22, was sentenced Friday after a Lexington County jury found him guilty of the murder, which Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said stemmed from what witnesses called a long-running disagreement.

He was also sentenced to 20 years for assault and battery and five years for possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

On March 27, 2020, tensions between Shumpert and Chavis boiled over.

Shumpert, who was 19 at the time, and his co-defendant Daniel Taylor Jones, then 18, confronted Chavis and another, unnamed individual, at Chavis home in the 3600 block of Fish Hatchery Road.

Shumpert had arrived armed with a 9mm handgun, while Jones carried a powerful .300 Blackout rifle. The men continued to argue, according to Koon. After a brief altercation, law enforcement say that Shumpert and Jones then opened fire on Chavis, who was unarmed.

Twenty-one rounds were fired at Chavis. Two of them struck him in the back, killing him instantly. He died in his front yard.

The other individual who was with Chavis survived after being shot once in the leg and once in the stomach.

Shumpert was arrested at a hotel in Aiken, while Jones was arrested at his home in Gaston, according to the sheriffs department.

Charges against Jones for murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon are still pending.

Patterson prosecuted the case along with assistant solicitor Bradley Pogue. The investigation was led by Sgt. Michael Joe Hart with the Lexington County Sheriffs Office, with assistance from the Offices Major Crimes Unit, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Aiken County Sheriffs Department.
Anna Conkling

VELYKA NOVOSILKAResidents who have remained in the small village of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine are living in an underground commune and refusing to leave, despite pleas from the police.

The village was once home to around 4,700 Ukrainians, according to Olya Semibratova, one of the volunteers who regularly deliver aid to the communes. But Russias attacks have turned it into a ghost town, where the remaining 304 citizens risk death by setting foot outside. In the early days of the invasion, those who remained in the village were looking for somewhere to hold out while waiting for the war to end. Early on, however, it became evident thatunlike in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in just daysthere would be no quick finish.

So some sought shelter in underground havens, and over time two communes developed. At first, they were filled with around 150 people, many of them elderly citizens not wanting to leave their homes. Now only 80 people remain, in a place that was never meant to be a shelter, with no electricity, heat, or running water.

We offer evacuation all of the time, Ukrainian Special Forces Officer Oleksandr Marteniuk, who delivers aid to the commune from a bullet-proof van, told The Daily Beast. Everyone says, We dont want to leave our home town, leave our homes arbitrarily, to leave their houses at the mercy of fate. Im not saying to leave forever, just for a while until the situation is more or less stable, the shelling stops and everyone can return home and get on with their lives.

Marteniuk spoke outside the first commune visited by The Daily Beast. The roar of explosions fills the air, but the dogs that the commune takes care of lap up water and beg for attention, completely unaware that they are in the center of Vladimir Putins war. The dogs are a welcome distraction from the backdrop of burnt-out cars and building debris.

Putins War Has Caused a Huge Plastic Surgery Boom in Ukraine

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On the communes ground floor, residents cooked over a wooden stove and sat together while they ate. But the sighting of a Russian drone at one point forced everyone down into the basements sleeping chambers, which was dark and damp, and filled with rows of double mattresses. Asked how safe the basement is in the case of attacks on the building, Marteniuk sighed and shook his head. For mortar arrivals, from MLRS Grad [rocket], for example, it would [withstand]. God forbid if there will be an airstrikeit wont.

Everything burned down

When the threat of the drone cleared, Marteniuk drove to the second commune a few minutes away. It was cold and sunny outside. This, The Daily Beast is told, is the ideal time for Russia to attack, because the clear skies improve target visibility. In the case of Velyka Novosilka, there are enemy attacks every single day. Marteniuk said he has no way of knowing exactly how many, just that they are constant and deadly. The day before, a man and a woman were killed in a shrapnel attack. They were walking down the street after the arrival of a priest, volunteer Olya Semibratova said.

The designated sleeping area of the second commune was one large room filled with mattresses. A few personal belongings were spread out on wooden tables, which locals brought as reminders of their past lives, and sheets were hung to divide the space into individual rooms.

Speaking to The Daily Beast from her designated sleeping area, Svitlana said that she and her husband had lived at their home in the village until April 2022, when it was also destroyed, there were hits, everything burned down.

At the second commune, a man and a woman were just killed in a shrapnel attack. Anna Conkling

After moving to Kyiv to live with their daughter, Svitlana and her husband returned and have lived in the shelter ever since. She says they returned to Velyka Novosilka because we thought it would all be over. We hoped and came back. But the reality of the once peaceful village is terror and death. Its very scary to even just go to the store, you need to run, she said.

When asked about their ability to leave, Svitlana said, We have nowhere to go. We are at home here, and winter has already passed. Spring has begun. Thank God we did not suffer from the cold. We installed stoves and slowly heated them.

Let it be hard for now. Just we want to get everything back. I really want Ukraine to win because I have a daughter in Kyiv who gave birth a month ago. And I really want to be able to meet her calmly, and my granddaughter too, she added.

The fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine has been relentless in the past few weeks, as the fate of Bakhmutthe town under 200 miles away from Velyka Novosilkagrows grimmer with each passing day. If Bakhmut were to fall, it would be Russias first victory in half a year.

If there is an occupation, only those who will bow their heads before Russians will survive, Semibratova said when asked what will happen to those living in the shelter if Russia starts to extend its line of terror towards the village. The rest can be mocked, tortured, and killed for the words Glory to Ukraine.

Each passing day at the communes comes with fears for the futurebut it also strengthens relationships. Here are our grandparents and parents, Yuri Altabar told The Daily Beast as he sat at a table, holding up some of the countless family photos he and his wife of 50 years, Olena, took with them when they moved to the commune in July. The room is dark, lit by a few battery-operated lamps, but Yuri Altabar smiled as Olena handed him more photos to show.

Yuri Altabar holds up a picture of him as a young man. Anna Conkling

They are important, very important. We did not take everything but the most necessary things in our life. This is just a reminder. I was 25, and she was 20, and today Im 74 years old. The couple met in Donetsk city, which has been occupied by Russian forces since 2014.

Holding out

Olena and Yuri Altabar created a life in Velyka Novosilka, raising their son and buying a property that they still own. They saw the collapse of the Soviet Union together in 1991 and have watched Ukraine develop as an independent country over the past 32 years. Their family was torn apart by the 2014 invasion when soldiers occupied Donetsk, where their son lives. In September 2022, Putin illegally annexed the city, making it part of Russia. Now the parents have been separated once more from their son, this time with no way to see him.

Through the countless trials and heartbreak at the hands of Vladimir Putin, the partners lean on each other. I didnt love her as much as I do now. Now I dont know how I could be without her as much as I think she does either. I kissed her maybe once a month then, but now every day, Yuri said.

But Olena said they are crippled by the fear of leaving their town, which has caused her to miss doctors appointments in neighboring Dnipro, for a sickness she withheld but described as very serious many people were ill [with] this disease [and it] ended very badly for them. Yuri Altabar also has diabetes, and his wife helps him manage the pain, cooking his meals, massaging his feet, and acting as a caretaker along with an emotional support rock during life in Donbas.

Olena Altabar cooks over a makeshift gas stove. Anna Conkling

But the fear runs deeper than just never being able to return to the village they created a life in. Both of their parents are buried in the local cemetery, and Olena Altabar said if they were to leave, Then who is going to fix the grave in the cemetery? No one will go to the cemetery.

They also didnt want to leave their two dogs and five cats behind, which were living at their home above ground. Each day, Olena Altabar takes a risk by returning to take care of their animalsthe only family they have left in the village.

Im running to feed these animals. The ones that are left, she said. Do you understand? We are their only hope. Were not going to leave these animals behind.

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ROME (AP)  Officials at the Catholic shrine in Lourdes announced the creation of a study group Friday to decide what to do with one of the French sanctuarys most famous but now controversial attractions: mosaics by a Jesuit artist who has been sanctioned by the Vatican and his religious order for sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women.

The Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik designed the facade of one of the three basilicas at Lourdes with a series of mosaics in 2008 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions that turned the shrine in southwest France into one of the worlds biggest pilgrimage sites, attracting around 3 million visitors a year.

In December, the Jesuits revealed that Rupnik had been declared excommunicated by the Vatican in 2020 for committing one of the worst crimes in church law  using the confessional to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity  and had also been accused by nine women of related sexual, spiritual and psychological misconduct in the 1980s.

The Vaticans sex abuse office, which is headed by Jesuits, decided their claims were too old to prosecute. Amid an outcry and testimony from 15 more people, the Jesuits in February announced a new internal canonical inquiry while toughening sanctions against Rupnik, including preventing him from continuing his artistic activity, since that was presumably where some of the abuse originated.

Aside from posing questions about how the Jesuits and the Vatican handled the allegations, the Rupnik scandal has prompted a broader question about what to do with his art, since his mosaics decorate important basilicas, shrines, chapels and churches around the globe, including one of the chapels inside the Apostolic Palace.

On Friday, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas, whose diocese includes Lourdes, announced the creation of a study group to consider what to do with the Basilica of the Rosary mosaics, placing the needs of abuse survivors first. Nothing is being ruled out, he said in a statement.

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Lourdes is a place where many victims come  to seek consolation and healing. Their distress is great in front of the Rev. Rupniks mosaics in this same place: We cannot ignore it, he said in a statement.

In an earlier interview with French Catholic La Vie, Micas said he and the shrine had received letters from abuse victims from around the world seeking a gesture from Lourdes. They described Rupniks mosaics there as an additional source of pain as they seek healing from their abuse.

If this place, by displaying these works, increases the suffering of people who come there to be healed, this is not possible, Micas told La Vie.

The study group includes the bishop, the rector of the shrine, a survivor of abuse, an expert in sacred art and a psychotherapist. They will come up with the elements necessary to decide what to do with the mosaics, with all options on the table, the statement said.

The status of the Slovenian-born Rupniks status remains somewhat in limbo as the Jesuits' canonical investigation plays out, even as they have received more complaints against him, Rupniks superior, the Rev. Johan Verschueren, told The Associated Press in an email Friday.

Every week one or two new testimonies knock at our door, he said. We get ever more, a clear and a comprehensive view of what happened in the past and what is the real nature and size of the case.

While Lourdes is the first major basilica to publicly announce a review of Rupniks artistic works, other church entities have taken their distance. The diocese of Versailles, which is home to a church decorated with Rupnik mosaics, terminated all collaboration with him in December.

Recently, the religious publisher San Paolo removed Rupniks books from prominent display at its store near the Vatican, though his coffee table books, calendars and books on spirituality are available on the website of the Centro Aletti art studio and ecumenical center in Rome that Rupnik founded.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman this week said that former Trump Organization employees were secretly celebrating Donald Trumps indictment amid an investigation into hush money paid to a porn actor.

[They] were texting me, and there is a long trail of people who feel burned, in one way or another, by Donald Trump, Haberman said Friday on CNN, referring to the former workers at the ex-presidents company.

We certainly saw that in the White House. This was a pattern that existed for decades before [in] The Trump Organization, she continued. And the number of people I heard from yesterday who worked for his company who were really happy  one person texted with the words, Wonderful news.

Haberman added, That really sort of tells you something about where these folks heads are.

Related...
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola speaks to the fourth official Graham Scott during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Picture date: Saturday April 1, 2023. (PA Wire)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola denied he disrespected Liverpool after celebrating wildly in front of substitutes Kostas Tsimikas and Arthur Melo during the 4-1 victory at the Etihad.

The home side were trailing to Mohamed Salahs 17th-minute opener when a quick, sweeping move from right to left set up Julian Alvarez to equalise from close range.

It prompted Guardiola to erupt with multiple double fist pumps in his technical area at exactly the moment Tsimikas was walking past, and the City boss back-pedalled to keep ahead of the left-back to continue his celebrations.

"I don't know how Tsimikas hasn't pushed him out of the way there!" 



Pep Guardiola didn't hold back in his celebrations in front of the Liverpool players... 



 @rioferdy5 pic.twitter.com/d5v9oS6eiu  Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 1, 2023

He then extended that to on-loan Juventus midfielder Arthur, shaking the players hand and engaging the Brazilian in conversation.

BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand said of the incident, I dont know how Tsimikas hasnt pushed the opposing manager Pep Guardiola out of the way but the City boss insists he meant no offence.

I was happy and I said how nice our goal was. Thats all, he said.

When asked if it was an attempt at humour he replied: Of course. Come on.

But when it was suggested to Guardiola his actions could be construed as provocative, he added, somewhat sarcastically: Nah, come on. Im so sorry.

Speak with Tsimikas, speak with the others. Ask him if I lack respect. I celebrate the goal with my son on that floor (the tier above).

And I said, The goal was nice, isnt it. Thats all. Im so sorry. Do you think its a lack of respect? Ah OK, sorry. Im so sorry.
You are here: Business

China Everbright Bank, one of the country's leading lenders, has pledged more credit support for the real economy in 2023.

The bank will this year increase credit support for key areas, including advanced manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation, green finance and inclusive finance, to ensure credit growth in these areas is higher than its overall loan growth, said Wang Zhiheng, president of the bank.

The bank's total loans amounted to 3.57 trillion yuan (519.52 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of last year, an increase of 8 percent from the start of 2022.

The lender's outstanding medium- and long-term loans to the manufacturing sector hit 193.6 billion yuan at the end of 2022, up 40.7 percent from a year ago, while outstanding loans to small and micro enterprises reached 305.3 billion yuan, up 28.8 percent from the end of 2021.

The bank's net profits totaled 45.04 billion yuan in 2022, up 3.2 percent year on year.

Its non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.25 percent at the end of last year, unchanged from the start of 2022.
A man was fatally shot in Dallas on Friday afternoon, according to the Dallas Police Department. Police are looking for the suspect wanted in the shooting.

At about 4:05 p.m. Friday, police responded to a shooting call in the 3500 block of Simpson Stuart Road.

A male victim had been shot by an unknown suspect, according to the call.

The victim was transported to a local hospital and died from his injuries.

There is an ongoing investigation.

The identity of the victim was not released by police.

The Dallas Police Homicide Unit asks that anyone with information regarding this offense to contact Detective Chad Murphy with the Dallas Police Department Homicide Unit at (214) 283-4934 or chad.murphy@dallascityhall.com.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian motorist rammed his car into a group of soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Israeli military said, wounding three before another opened fire at the driver who was, according to the Palestinian health ministry, killed.

A Palestinian official said the 23-year-old was a member of the Palestinian security forces.

In Jerusalem, a man detained by Israeli police near a flashpoint holy site grabbed an officer's gun and fired it, prompting the unit to shoot him dead, the force said, an account doubted by Arab leaders and probed by authorities.

The Jerusalem incident overnight at the edge of the Al Aqsa Mosque complex, an icon of Palestinian nationalism, came at a high point of Muslim attendance for the holy month of Ramadan amid heightened fears of an escalation in violence.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions are simmering after months of violence in areas of Jerusalem and the West Bank. Friction at Al Aqsa has set off violence in recent years.

However, the sacred site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, remained relatively quiet on Saturday.

The slain man was identified as Mohammad Khaled al-Osaib, 26, a resident of the Bedouin town Hura in south Israel. Mansour Abbas, a lawmaker whose United Arab List party is popular there, said the man was a medical student. Abbas questioned the police account.

"All we demand is the truth," he said.

The Justice Ministry department for investigating police conduct is looking into the incident, a spokesperson said, adding that the procedure was not a formal investigation.

Asked if the Israeli unit's response was due to allegations of misconduct, she said: "There are such claims, and that's why we're looking into it."

Reuters could not immediately verify the police account. Police said the incident took place at a spot not covered by security cameras. Footage of similar incidents in the past has usually surfaced within a short time.

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Police released CCTV footage showing a person they said was al-Osaib walking across the complex alone right before the incident, which a spokesperson said happened in "seconds," and denied reports he had intervened in an altercation with a female worshipper.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he backed the officers.

(Reporting by Dan Williams, Maayan Lubell and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Chris Reese, Mark Potter and Paul Simao)
Terry Sanderson, the Utah man suing Gwyneth Paltrow, enters court at the trial on March 29, 2023, in Park City. Pool / Getty Images

Things didnt go as planned for Terry Sanderson, who sued Gwyneth Paltrow for a 2016 Utah ski crash at Deer Valley Resort.

After a jury on Thursday found that the Oscar-winning actor was not liable for the crash and that, as a result, Sanderson would have to pay her $1 and her legal expenses, he expressed regret outside the courthouse.

When a reporter asked the 76-year-old retired optometrist if the live-televised trial, which included testimony from his daughters and ex-girlfriend, was worth it, he replied, Absolutely not.

"Knowing that now, no," Terry said in a video shared by Extra . "I joked about dating sites, right? It's like, I'm gonna be on the internet forever."

Actor Gwyneth Paltrow sits in court during her civil trial over a collision with another skier on March 29 in Park City, Utah. Pool / Getty Images

Sanderson filed the lawsuit against Paltrow in 2019, accusing her of crashing into him while not paying attention to her surroundings at the ski resort. He initially sued for $3 million, but that amount was reduced to over $300,000 prior to the trial.

Paltrows attorneys, however, argued that Sanderson only sued because of the actors wealth and fame. During the trial  which transfixed viewers with courtroom quips and Paltrows daily fashion choices  the actor testified that Sanderson actually crashed into her. Paltrow also described how she initially thought she was being sexually assaulted and that she only heard a male voice."

Before the case was sent to the jury, which deliberated for just a few hours before rendering a verdict, Paltrow also explained that she only countersued for $1 as a symbolic gesture because the damages would actually be more.

Gwyneth Paltrow speaks with retired optometrist Terry Sanderson after the verdict was read in his $300,000 suit against her over a skiing accident, on March 30 in Park City, Utah. Pool / Getty Images

When it was all said and done, however, Paltrow had one more gesture to deliver, which became an instant meme .

In an exchange caught on video, Paltrow stopped to lean over to Sanderson on her way out of the courtroom, telling him, I wish you well.

Sanderson said he replied, Thank you, dear.

More on this
Richard Jacobson pleaded innocent Friday to killing his pregnant girlfriend and hiding her body in the Columbia River.

A group of Brandy Ebanezs friends and family sat in the benches behind him wearing shirts that said Ohana Forever with a picture of Ebanez.

Jacobson sat quietly in the courtroom and looked either at Judge Diana Ruff or down at the table as he appeared in Benton County Superior Court for the first time in six months. His trial is set for May 22.

Murder suspect Richard Michael Jacobson, left, makes his preliminary appearance Friday in Benton County Superior Court in Kennewick. Jacobson, who is accused of killing Brandy Ebanez inside a Kennewick Avenue apartment before dumping her body last September in the Columbia River. A Multnomah County, Ore. judge recently ruled the 34-year-old man could be brought back to Kennewick to face second-degree murder charges in Benton County Superior Court. Hes sitting near provisional defense attorney Eric Scott from the office of public defense.

Jacobson was brought back to Benton County from Multnomah County, Oregon on Thursday and booked into the jail. He had been fighting against being returned to Washington since his September arrest.

While court records list his name as Jacobsen, his attorney at the hearing Eric Scott said his name is spelled Jacobson.

He is facing charges stemming from three cases, two tied to Ebanezs death  one for second-degree murder and the other for violating a protection order. The third case was for violating a protection order before she went missing.

Prosecutors added a series of aggravating factors to the murder including that Ebanez was pregnant, that he showed a lack of remorse and for committing domestic violence in front of a child.

An off-duty Kennewick police officer found Ebanezs body while fishing just east of the cable bridge on Sept. 27. She was naked, wrapped in black plastic sheeting and weighed down by landscaping rocks.

The 34-year-old mother of two also was 16 to 20 weeks pregnant at the time she died.

Murder suspect Richard Michael Jacobson, left, makes his preliminary appearance Friday in Benton County Superior Court in the killing of his girlfriend Brandy Ebanez in September 2022.

Deputy Prosecutor Joshua Lilly asked for a total of $2.2 million in bail  $1 million for each of the newer cases and $250,000 for the case that he had been released on about two weeks before Ebanez disappeared.

While out of custody ... he committed the crimes that you just arraigned him for, which are very serious offenses, Lilly said as he asked for the bail to be increased in the older case. He fled to the state of Oregon and he went through the entire extradition process including procuring a governors warrant.

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He also had an outstanding warrant from Oregon, Lilly said. He said that the community would not be safe if Jacobson was released.

Ruff also approved protection orders that will keep Jacobson away from his two children with Ebanez. They are currently in the care of Ebanezs mother.

Scott didnt argue for a lower bail at the hearing.

Previous assault reports

Friends have said Ebanez was in an abusive relationship with Jacobson, and that he cut her off from contacting friends.

Court documents show that apartment complex neighbors reported hearing the couple arguing frequently.

Earlier in April, Ebanez called police after he grabbed her by the hair, pulled her off the bed and strangled her until she passed out, according to court documents.

A GoFundMe has been organized to help Brandy Ebanezs family after she was killed.

A month later, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a month in jail, which he had already served, and to undergo mental health treatment.

The judge ordered him to stay 500 feet away from the apartment he shared with Ebanez and their girls, who were 12 and 9 at the time.

But on Sept. 5, police found him at the apartment after allegedly attacking a neighbor. He was charged with assault and violating a protection order.

He was eventually allowed to be released on Sept. 9.

Court documents dont detail when Jacobson returned to the apartment or what day he is suspected of killing her.

Ebanezs disappearance

Their daughters told police they came home from school to hear their parents arguing loudly in the bedroom. The date of the incident is unclear.

A memorial with flowers, candles and a large banner honors Brandy Ebanez of Kennewick. Her body was discovered along the Kennewick shoreline of the Columbia River.

Jacobson was seen on a security camera at Home Depot on Sept. 21 buying trash bags, duct tape and planter wall bricks. The bricks reportedly matched the ones tied to Ebanezs body.

A trace of his daughters cellphone showed it at Columbia Park between 4:50 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Sept. 22.

The next morning, he packed up the girls and they drove to Oregon to stay with a relative.

He was arrested while driving her green Honda Civic in Portland two days after her body was discovered.

Inside they found a glove that tested positive for blood, as well as small pieces of brick in the trunk, said court documents.
The retired optometrist who lost a lawsuit against Gwyneth Paltrow over a ski collision said Thursday that he has regrets about suing.

Terry Sanderson had accused the actor and lifestyle mogul of crashing into him on the slopes of Utahs upscale Deer Valley Resort in 2016. He said the alleged hit-and-run left him seriously injured, and initially sought $3 million in damages, which was later reduced to $300,000. Paltrow, for her part, said that Sanderson had actually skied into her.

Terry Sanderson, left, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Terry Sanderson, left, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

This week, a Park City jury sided with Paltrow, who had countersued Sanderson for only $1 and payment of her legal fees.

After the trial, Sanderson told reporters that he was very disappointed in the verdict. When reporters asked whether the ordeal of the highly publicized litigation  which included scrutiny of his medical history and media mockery  was worth it, he had a definitive answer: Absolutely not.

I joked about dating sites, right? Sanderson said, referring to earlier comments he made about how the trial would make online dating difficult. Its like, Im going to be on the internet forever.

He also shut down a suggestion from Extra host Billy Bush about appearing on a reality show.

I dont need that, Sanderson responded.

He did, however, praise Paltrow as being very kind at the conclusion of the trial, when she exited the courtroom and whispered to him, I wish you well.

Related...
The counsel for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday urged House Republicans to denounce former President Donald Trump's attacks on Bragg's office, saying they are collaborating with him to undermine his criminal probe.

"You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges," the attorney for Bragg said in letter to Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and James Comer, R-Ky. The three are chairmen of House committees probing the DA's investigation into Trump.

The emailed letter came mere hours after the Manhattan's DA office indicted Trump in a criminal proceeding involving his payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Following the news, the former president and some Republican lawmakers quickly criticized the indictment Thursday night, branding it as politically motivated and a witch hunt ahead of the 2024 election in which Trump is a candidate.

Sources tell ABC News reports that Trump began calling congressional allies Thursday night, urging them to defend him following news of the indictment. Many of them did.

PHOTO: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy speaks to members of the press during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 30, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

MORE: Trump indictment live updates: Ivanka Trump speaks out

"The House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said in a tweet Thursday night.

McCarthy, who says he maintains regular communication with the former president, said Bragg has "weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump."

"You could use the stature of your office to denounce these attacks and urge respect for the fairness of our justice system and for the work of the impartial grand jury," Bragg's attorney told the GOP chairmen Friday.

The emailed letter also implored the lawmakers to back down from their investigation into Bragg's office.

"What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State," Leslie Dubeck wrote. "You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors," Dubeck added.

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Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, first sent a letter to Bragg on March 20, just two days after Trump used his social media platform to brand Bragg's office as "corrupt" and politically motivated.

MORE: Republicans demand Manhattan DA Bragg turn over docs related to Trump investigation, potential indictment

They allege that Bragg is using federal funds to conduct his investigation, which would give Congress the authority to probe the Manhattan's DA office. It is an allegation that Bragg denies.

The GOP chairmen demanded testimony and documents related to Bragg's investigation and what, at the time, was his office's potential indictment of Trump.

PHOTO: New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg leaves New York Criminal Court shortly after the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump in New York was announced, on March 30, 2023, in New York. (Justin Lane/EPA via Shutterstock)

"Your actions will erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the course of the 2024 presidential election," Jordan and other House GOP chairmen wrote to Bragg earlier this month. "We expect that you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision," they said.

Jordan then expanded his probe into Bragg and his office two days later, requesting that two former special prosecutors from his office provide testimony to the House committee. The prosecutors had resigned from the Manhattan's DA office over what they said was Bragg's refusal to prosecute Trump.

What followed that communication was a back-and-forth between Jordan's committee and the Manhattan DA's office.

MORE: What to know about the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Jr., who will be prosecuting Trump

"Your letter dated March 20, 2023  is an unprecedent (sic) inquiry into a pending local prosecution," the counsel for Bragg's office told House investigators in a letter. "The Letter seeks non-public information about a pending criminal investigation, which is confidential under state law," the counsel wrote.

"We reiterate the requests in our March 20 letter and ask that you comply in full as soon as possible but no later than March 31, 2023," the chairmen wrote in response.

There is no indication that the DA's office will comply with Congress' requests by the end of the day, and there is no sign that House Republicans will tamp down on their effort to investigate Bragg.

A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Katherine Faulders, Rachel Scott, Will Steakin and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

2023.03.31 - Letter Response From DA Office by ABC News Politics on Scribd

Manhattan DA's counsel says House GOP collaborating with Trump originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
SEATTLE (AP)  Robbie Ray was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday by the Seattle Mariners because of a left flexor strain.

After going through the entire 2022 season with none of Seattles starting pitchers missing a turn due to injury, it took two games for the Mariners rotation to be impacted.

Ray had a rocky first start on Friday night in a 9-4 loss to Cleveland. Ray failed to make it through the fourth inning, issued five walks and struggled badly with his control.

In the second inning it felt a little tight, but it didnt seem out of the ordinary, Ray said. It was a cold night, I just thought maybe it took me a while to get loose in that second inning. I didnt really think that much about it, but after that my arm started to tighten up a good amount.

Seattle manager Scott Servais said Ray had an MRI on Saturday that showed a grade one strain. Ray wont throw for two weeks and will be reevaluated. Servais said there didnt appear to be any larger issues.

Hes going to be shut down for a couple weeks, then hell build up and hopefully be good to go after that, Servais said.

Ray, 31, has been incredibly durable for most of his career. Aside from the pandemic shortened 2020 season, Ray has made at least 28 starts five times since 2016, including the 2021 season with Toronto when he won the AL Cy Young Award.

In his first season with Seattle last year, Ray made 32 starts and had a 3.71 ERA.

Seattle recalled left-hander Gabe Speier from Triple-A Tacoma, but Servais said righty Chris Flexen will step into the starting rotation. Flexen threw four innings of relief on Friday night and last season made 22 starts for the Mariners before shifting to the bullpen.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said nothing about former President Donald Trump's indictment this week, even as several House Republicans have condemned the charges as politically motivated.

Since Trump's indictment was reported Thursday, McConnell has issued no public statements on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal case against the former president and leading Republican 2024 candidate. Neither has Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

McConnell's office told Fox News Digital that it did not have a comment as of Friday. Thune's office did not respond to a request for comment.

McConnell and Trump are not on good terms  McConnell said in December that Trump is "diminished" and blamed the former president for the GOP's disappointing performance in the 2022 midterm elections. Trump, who holds a grudge against the Senate GOP leader for refusing to go along with his claims that the 2020 election was stolen, called McConnell a "tremendous liability for the Republican Party" in an interview with Fox News.

TRUMP TO BE ARRAIGNED TUESDAY WITHOUT HANDCUFFS, SOURCES SAY

McConnell's silence stands in stark contrast to his counterpart in the House of Representatives. After news of the indictment broke, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., slammed Bragg and said that he "has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump," McCarthy said of Bragg. "The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account."

McCarthy's lieutenant, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., called the indictment a "sham" and accused "extremist Democrats" of "weaponizing government to attack their political opponents."

Story continues

TRUMP SAYS DA BRAGG'S 'OBSESSION' WITH TRYING TO 'GET TRUMP' WILL 'BACKFIRE' AFTER GRAND JURY INDICTMENT

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg exits Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Friday.

The criminal charges against Trump came after a years-long investigation into payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in 2016 allegedly to keep them quite about their previous affairs with Trump while he was running for president.

Trump has denied the affairs and any wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019.

The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and other Republicans sent a letter to Bragg last week demanding that he turn over documents related to his Trump investigation and testify before Congress, asserting that the DA's investigation must be politically motivated.

KAMALA HARRIS DECLINES TO COMMENT ON TRUMP INDICTMENT  THEN ZAMBIA'S PRESIDENT WEIGHS IN

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has declined to comment so far on former President Donald Trump's indictment.

Bragg's office blasted back Friday, accusing the House lawmakers of "unlawful political interference" in an ongoing criminal case.

While McConnell and Thune have said nothing so far, other Senate GOP leaders have spoken out against the indictment. The No. 3 Republican, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., called it a "politically motivated prosecution by a far-left activist."

"If it was anyone other than President Trump, a case like this would never be brought. Instead of ordering political hit jobs, New York prosecutors should focus on getting violent criminals off the street," Barrasso said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Republican Policy Committee Chairman Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., each gave similar statements.

Trump is expected to be arraigned in a Manhattan court on Tuesday, a law enforcement source told Fox News. Sources familiar say Trump will surrender himself and be taken into custody without handcuffs. Detectives with Bragg's office will handle the arrest.

Fox News' Brooke Singman and Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.
The powerful Mexican drug cartel responsible for the kidnapping of four U.S. citizens  and the death of two of them  could be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a hearing in March that the department is considering the designation for the Mexican drug cartels, which could include the Gulf Cartel, the cartel responsible for the attack. The foreign terrorist (FTO) designation has been attracting interest as a tool to use against the cartel in recent years.

Why is it being considered?

The killing of the two American citizens crossed a "red line," says Javed Ali, associate professor of practice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

The Mexican drug cartels also traffic fentanyl, which is responsible for soaring opioid deaths in the U.S.  over 70,000 Americans died of synthetic opioid overdoses in 2021, most of them caused by fentanyl that comes from Mexico. Last year, the DEA seized enough fentanyl to kill every American, more than 50 million fentanyl-laced pills and over 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, the vast majority of it at the southern border.

Ali thinks now is the right time to designate the cartels as terrorist organizations, arguing that the U.S. is not currently using "all the tools we have" to counter them.

What makes a group a Foreign Terrorist Organization?

In order to be labeled an FTO a group or network has to meet three criteria:

Must be foreign-basedEngages in terrorist activityThe terrorist activity threatens U.S. citizens or U.S. national security. How many Foreign Terrorist Organizations are there?

There are over 30 groups designated by the State Department, but none operate solely as drug cartels.

What would re-labeling a group as an FTO actually do?

An FTO designation unlocks the option for more foreign sanctions and a material support charge, which makes it much easier to indict someone on lesser charges if affiliated with the terrorist organization.

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"It certainly stigmatizes them," said Ali. "I would think the last thing a Mexican drug cartel wants is to be labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization. That's bad for business."

Does Congress have a role in categorizing a group as an FTO?

The secretary of state makes the designation, in coordination with the attorney general and treasury secretary. Then, it is sent to Congress for review and if it raises no issue with the designation, after seven days, it's published in the Federal Register, making it official.

Rep. Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, has introduced legislation that asks Blinken to target several cartels for FTO designation: the Gulf Cartel, Cartel Del Noreste, Cartel de Sinaloa and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion. In February, 21 Republican attorneys general called on President Joe Biden and Blinken to declare Mexican drug cartels as FTOs.

How would the designation affect drug cartels?

It won't stop the cartels, Ali says, but it would get their attention  and the attention of anyone working with them. Because of the material support charge available to the U.S. after an FTO designation, the charges would be far more severe for even a low-level offense, such as giving money to the cartel. Donating to an foreign terrorist organization can result in a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Officially labeling the Mexican drug cartels as terrorists emphasizes the national security threat they pose and confers authorizations the U.S. hopes would have a chilling effect.

Downsides to FTO designation?

But there are potential disadvantages to making the designation. It could adversely affect U.S.-Mexico relations.

"We have enormous authority already in dealing with drug trafficking organizations, in terms of all the policing capabilities we have to deal with them, particularly in the United States," says Pamela Starr, an international relations professor at the University of Southern California. "What it would do, however, is undermine bilateral cooperation with Mexico, and that would dramatically undermine our capacity to deal with the challenges in Mexico."

And the FTO designation might also damage Mexico's appeal as a tourist destination by contributing to the perception that it's less safe.

Starr also warns the designation could radicalize drug cartels further. "My real concern is that if you treat organized crime as if it were a terrorist organization, they might begin to employ terrorist tactics," Starr said.

In a worst case scenario, the cartel could increase targeting of U.S. citizens, according to Ali.

But Ali argues the FTO designation for Mexican drug cartels is worthwhile. "This level of activity is absolutely having an impact on our national security, more from the flow of drugs in the U.S. than the targeting of Americans in Mexico. But it still gives you another tool. Why not use it when the status quo doesn't seem to be working?"

Saturday Sessions: Brian Dunne performs "Sometime After This"

Saturday Sessions: Brian Dunne performs "Bad Luck"

Saturday Sessions: Brian Dunne performs "It's A Miracle"
TikTok logo with sketch of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:

Not since Prohibition made alcohol sales illegal have Americans talked about banning a product used by as many Americans as TikTok, said Shira Ovide in The Washington Post. Washington is worried about the ubiquitous short-video app's ties to China. And indeed, experts agree it's conceivable that "TikTok and other Chinese technology companies could be Trojan horses for the Chinese Communist Party to harvest data on Americans or spew propaganda." Lawmakers have been making that case for years. But in all that time they have yet to produce "specific evidence of harm." Maybe there is "classified information on the threat of Chinese technology," but the American people need a better answer than "Trust us, TikTok is bad."

Nobody came out looking good last week when Congress hauled in TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, for questioning, said Kyle Chayka in The New Yorker. "The proceedings, like Mark Zuckerberg's Senate hearings in 2018 around the Cambridge Analytica scandal," created "a rare occasion for bipartisan unity." The antagonism toward TikTok's China ties was evident, but House members, often sounding very shaky on tech details, also tried "to cast the company as a scapegoat for the sins" of all social media companies and their algorithms. Videos mocking the lawmakers drew millions of views  where else?  on TikTok. At the same time, Chew struggled to convince committee members that TikTok could be protected from Chinese influence. "His boilerplate commentary gave the impression that his bosses at ByteDance had forbidden him from saying anything of much substance."

However many users it has, there just aren't "downsides" to the country in a TikTok ban, said Noah Smith in his Substack blog, Noahpinion. "China banned Google and Facebook and any number of U.S. apps and platforms," and it compels U.S. companies to "toe the CCP line on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, or any other issue the Chinese government cares about." The U.S. has "wielded no such 'sharp power' against China," clinging to its principles on globalization. But it's not clear what America has "derived from this arrangement other than a feeling of self-righteousness." The internet didn't end up liberalizing China, it just ended up making U.S. citizens "more subject to the diktats of foreign authorities." TikTok, specifically, has had "four years to save itself," said Tim Culpan in Bloomberg. The Trump administration first floated the idea of a ban in 2019. That TikTok executives "did not shift the needle on public opinion, especially among policymakers, is a major failing." If TikTok gets barred from the U.S., it's deserving of its fate.

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Maybe the U.S. can justify closing down TikTok, but the price is abandoning "the idea that Americans should be allowed to access information from around the world on their own terms," said Adi Robertson in The Verge. And of course we'd be shutting down the speech of all the American users who've devoted their energy to the platform. We're moving toward a future where we can import nearly anything from China but speech. If that sounds familiar, it's because we've decided that "the only way to beat China is to join it."

This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.

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Chinese national political advisors convened a bi-weekly seminar on Friday to discuss fostering a new development paradigm and advancing Chinese modernization.

The seminar, held by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, was presided over by Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

Noting that advancing Chinese modernization is an unprecedented undertaking, Wang demanded adopting a strategic and holistic perspective and grasping the intrinsic connections, goals, and tasks and the implementation requirements of the new development paradigm, high-quality development, and Chinese modernization.

Investigation and research should be encouraged, and targeted and feasible suggestions should be put forward, Wang said.

Political advisors expressed their views at the meeting. They proposed that efforts should be made to actively expand effective investment, optimize the business environment for private enterprises, and enhance the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains.

Political advisors also suggested that the innovation enthusiasm of technological innovation-based enterprises should be stimulated, and high-standard opening-up should be promoted.
An independent commission investigating the 2014 disappearance of 43 Mexican students has accused the armed forces of deliberately withholding information about the case.

Officially, cartel members killed the students and incinerated their remains. But exactly what happened to them has been hotly disputed.

In August, a government-backed truth commission branded the tragedy a "state crime", and said the military shared responsibility -- either directly or through negligence.

There was "an internal decision not to provide more information" about the incident, Carlos Beristain, a member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), told reporters Friday.

He said the commission's experts had seen a document from the General Staff of the Mexican Defense Secretariat with instructions "to give an agreed response".

"That for us is not acceptable," Beristain said, adding that witnesses had also informed the commission that intelligence documents were dispersed to various locations to hide them.

The GIEI, a body created in 2015 by an agreement between the Mexican government and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), has "renewed" elements of the investigation, said Colombian lawyer Angela Buitrago, also a member of the truth panel.

This means the prosecutor's office could reactivate arrest warrants -- which were canceled in September -- against around 20 military personnel involved, Buitrago said.

She added that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has "directly requested a report".

Initially, investigators said the students, who were en route to a demonstration in Mexico City, were detained by corrupt police and handed over to a drug cartel that mistook them for members of a rival gang.

An official report presented by the government in 2015 concluded that cartel members had killed the students and burned the remains at a garbage dump.

Only three victims have been identified.

The initial findings, which did not attribute responsibility to members of the armed forces, were rejected by relatives and independent experts.

Mexican authorities last month announced the arrest of nine Guerrero state police officers suspected of involvement in the disappearance, while the United States deported a former police officer also implicated in the disappearance in January.

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Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, center, is joined by his attorney, Lanny Davis before Cohen's grand jury appearance in mid-March. Mary Altaffer/AP

Michael Cohen's attorney said the case against Donald Trump is "very solid," though it won't "be an easy case."

Attorney Lanny Davis said Cohen will be a "principal witness" if the Manhattan investigation goes to trial.

Potential jurors need only ask if Trump had "any political motivation" in the payments to Stormy Daniels, he said.

Michael Cohen's attorney believes the criminal case against Donald Trump in the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation is "very solid" though it's "not going to be an easy case."

Cohen, Trump's longtime political fixer turned political adversary, is expected to be a "principal witness" in the case if it goes to trial, attorney Lanny Davis told NBC's "Meet the Press NOW" on Friday.

"It's not going to be an easy case because they do have to create a novel law," Davis said. "But here is why I think it's a very, very solid case, maybe more solid than any of the other cases. Everyone's missing this."

There is only "one question that the jury has to ask and answer," Davis told NBC News host Chuck Todd.

"The legal issue will be decided by a judge, but the factual question is very simple: Did Donald Trump have any political motivation when he directed Michael to pay $130,000 to Stormy?" Davis said. "Any."

Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 1, 2023

The former president was indicted by the Manhattan grand jury on Thursday in the investigation of hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump is expected to surrender next week and faces over 30 charges in the indictment, according to a CNN report.

Cohen's attorney told NBC News: "His defense is going to be, 'No, it was all about worrying about Melania.' Now I put to your audience and to any jury, you decide whether that's a believable excuse. Certainly waiting until the end of the election alone is an inference that there was political concern."

Story continues

Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, has argued that the payments were unrelated to Trump's political campaign and were completed with personal funds, according to NBC News. Alina Habba, another Trump attorney, said in a statement on Thursday that Trump was a "victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system" who would "be vindicated."

Cohen, who pleaded guilty to felonies related to the hush money payments in 2018, said he has had over a dozen sit-downs with the prosecutors in the investigation, calling them "well versed" and "well informed."

"There's lots of testimony, lots of documentation about political motivation. If a jury says yes, he had some political motivation in making the payoff  if the law is there, that's the verdict," Davies said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Brandon Bell, winhorse, StuPorts, SOPA Images/Getty Images; Arif Qazi/Insider

Mike Pence gambled his future to become President Donald Trump's running mate and vice president.

It seems he lost the bet  his favorability in polling is catastrophically low for a former VP.

Evangelical Christians, moderates, and anti-Trump Republicans are all steering away from Pence.

Former Vice President Mike Pence gave four years of unwavering loyalty to President Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again Movement.

Two years after leaving office, it appears all for naught, as he can't seem to find a lane to compete against his former boss.

Pence simply hasn't been able to muster nearly enough support to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate  he hasn't even been able to crack the double-digits mark in support for the Republican nomination in Morning Consult's surveying.

No coup, no support

Pence lost his credibility amongst die-hard Trump and MAGA supporters when he refused to block the certification of electoral college votes on January 6, 2020.

This, in part, led to some Trump supporters storming the Capitol whilst chanting "hang Mike Pence." It's hard to believe he'll be able to win over that group by 2024.

According to a Morning Consult survey from March 2023, 80% of people who voted for Trump in 2020 said they still view Trump as either "very" or "somewhat favorable." Pence would need to lower those numbers, and it's unlikely Trump's indictment will do it for him  a Quinnipiac poll on Wednesday showed 75% of Republicans view criminal charges as not disqualifying for Trump.

And at public speaking engagements, Trump hasn't shied away from his disdain for Pence over January 6. He recently blamed Pence for the violence that broke out that day, which led to numerous injuries and the deaths of some Capitol security and rioters.

With all this in mind, it doesn't appear that there's a clear path for Pence to win over enough 2020 Trump voters in the 2024 primary to make a considerable difference.

The anti-Trump cohort doesn't believe in him

Could Pence make inroads with the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party? Pence hasn't had much success courting them given the four years he worked in the Trump administration. He hasn't been able to win over moderate Republicans or Independents, given some of the divisive policies he pushed for in the White House and his time since.

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In March 2022, Pence unveiled his policy plan based on American leadership, American opportunity, and American culture. The three-pronged plan seeks to promote "patriotic education," prevent transgender women from competing in select sporting events, end federal taxpayer-funded abortion, and more.

Pence's proposed policies don't bring much new to the table his rivals aren't already offering, and mostly resemble the standard Republican platform.

Other prospective candidates, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  who also has yet to enter the race  have done a considerably better job at attracting the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of Republicans who enjoyed the effects of Trump's time in office but are nevertheless looking for an alternative. This is, in part, due to the fact that DeSantis has championed unique, albeit controversial, culture war policies while in the governor's mansion.

Additionally, for Republicans who are looking for a potential or declared candidate without nearly as much Trump baggage, there are plenty of options outside of Pence: DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and even entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

A lack of love from evangelicals

Pence was, in part, chosen as Trump's running mate due to his close ties with the evangelical Christian community. But despite this, Monmouth University polling from March 2023 shows him lagging behind other prospective candidates, like DeSantis and Trump, in favorability polls among evangelical Republicans.

The evangelical base that Pence cultivated prior to and during the Trump presidency simply left him behind for greener pastures (or, in this case, two Floridians).

Evangelicals may no longer need one of their own in office to get the policy outcomes they want. Trump (who's not an evangelical Christian) appointed three members of the Supreme Court, which went on to repeal the federal abortion protections granted by Roe vs. Wade in 2022.

The Monmouth University Poll, additionally, appears to show that Republicans as a whole want nothing to do with him. Among a list of GOP leaders in the survey, Pence was the second-most "unfavorable" one (only behind former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie), drawing in a 37% unfavorability rating.

Pence's unfavorability rating has actually gotten worse over time. Monmouth University's Poll from February 2023 showed he came in at 28% "unfavorable," 9 percentage points better than his numbers in March.

According to Morning Consult's surveying, Pence once again received the second-most "unfavorable" polling behind only former Rep. Liz Cheney.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin for Pence's presidential ambitions is that he's a known quantity. Unlike some declared candidates such as Haley and Ramaswamy, Pence is a well-known public figure whose actions have already influenced the opinions of a substantial percentage of the Republican electorate.

In other words: He won't have the opportunity to sway the minds of Republican primary voters who don't have an opinion about him. Everyone already appears to have one already.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The statewide search for 2-year-old Taylen Mosley has ended after the young boy was found dead inside an alligators mouth, authorities said. Officers arrested the boys father for his death, as well as the death of the boys mother.

We are sorry it had to end this way, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said in a news conference Friday.

Thomas Mosley, Taylens father, is facing two charges of first degree murder, police said. He had checked himself into a hospital, where he remained as of Friday evening, and had cuts on his hands and arms.

On Friday afternoon, the investigation led detectives to Dell Holmes Park where they found an alligator with an object in its mouth  Taylens body, Holloway said. As deputies got closer, they fired a shot into the alligator and retrieved him.

It is unclear when Taylen died or if the alligator was involved. The alligator was later killed, Holloway said.

An Amber Alert was issued for Taylen Thursday after his mother, Pashun Jeffery, was found dead in their apartment. Taylens body was found several miles from that apartment complex.

READ MORE HERE: Missing 2-year-old could be in danger after his mom is found dead, Florida police say

Holloway said Jeffery was stabbed multiple times, but officers still can not confirm the cause of death until the medical examiner looks at her body.
A prison guard who was stabbed in the neck 12 times by inmates moments before they escaped a Missouri county jail, is doing fine and avoided serious harm.

Graphic security footage captures two inmates attacking and stabbing the jail worker around a dozen times with a homemade weapon before fleeing.

A manhunt is still underway in the Kansas City area for one of the inmates, named Justin Robinson, who escaped on Monday.

The second suspect was apprehended shortly after escaping.

Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said: Theres no doubt in my mind their intent was to kill him (the guard).

Its gruesome, he was stabbed in the neck 12 times, he said, adding the officer was doing fine and avoided serious harm due to the cheap nature of the materials used to fashion the weapon.

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Authorities are only required to provide water quality information at bathing sites between May and September

There were more than 37,000 monitored sewage spills in the South West Water (SWW) area last year.

The Environment Agency figures showed that the number of incidents in 2022 was lower than the approximately 42,500 reported in 2021.

However, the agency said this was largely the result of dry weather and a subsequent drought.

Campaigners said the figures were "disgusting" and showed SWW was failing to sufficiently cut down spill rates.

Meanwhile, North Devon MP Selaine Saxby has called for year-round testing of bathing water quality.

The Conservative MP said a reduction in storm overflows in her constituency had led to "good" or "excellent" water quality.

But in the Commons, Ms Saxby said testing only took place between 15 May and 30 September and called for an extension.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said water companies would, by the end of the year, be required to provide "year-round" water quality information in the event of a discharge.

She added: "And all water companies will also have to install new flow monitors on more than 2,000 waste water treatment works."

'Disgusting'

Louise Ready, from Surfers Against Sewage, said more money should be directed towards improving infrastructure.

"The figures are disgusting," she said. "We're seeing that water companies, and SWW in particular, are continuing to spill at a similar rate as they've been doing for years."

John Halsall, SWW's chief operating officer, said they were reducing the use of storm overflows and had already installed "100% monitoring" of them, ahead of the government target.

"We want everyone to feel confident about the water quality at their favourite beaches and to know that we are serious about reducing the use of storm overflows," he said.

"We need to stop the overuse of storm overflows."

In the Commons, Ms Saxby asked: "Will [the minister] consider extending the testing season for the increasing number of all-year-round bathers and surfers, or at least look for waters to be tested after a storm overflow has discharged?"

Story continues

Ms Pow responded: "We are using powers in the Environment Act, and under those we require companies to make discharge data available in near real time to the public, if there has been a discharge which would affect water quality, and to monitor water quality upstream and downstream of their assets."

Under the current system, each classification given to bathing waters has a symbol that councils must display. The classifications are: excellent, good, sufficient, and poor.

Figures published in November showed just over 97% of England's designated bathing sites met minimum standards in 2022, down slightly on the previous year.

South West Water provides water and sewerage services to Cornwall and Devon, plus small parts of Dorset and Somerset.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.
On March 31, Ukrainian defenders killed another 630 Russian soldiers, destroyed 8 artillery systems and an air defence system.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine



Details: Total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February 2022 and 1 April 2023 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses  ed.]:

approximately 173,990 (+630) military personnel,

3,616 (+1) tanks,

6,981 (+4) armoured combat vehicles,

2,683 (+8) artillery systems,

527 (+0) multiple-launch rocket systems,

279 (+0) air defence systems,

306 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft,

291 (+0) helicopters,

2,248 (+9) operational-tactical UAVs,

911 (+0) cruise missiles,

18 (+0) ships/boats,

5,528 (+7) vehicles and tankers,

296 (+2) other vehicles and equipment.

The information is being ascertained.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Rafaela Rivera became a New York media darling last year after tackling a man who punched her 4-year-old son in Times Square. Affectionately dubbed Mama Bear by The New York Post, she and her family moved to Myrtle Beach, in part, to seek a safer, more stable living situation.

But nearly five months into their move, the Riveras on the verge of homelessness, unable to find a suitable home with a landlord willing to rent to them with their Section 8 housing voucher.

The family has never had trouble in other states using their voucher, which offer federal rental assistance to low-income families, but their situation is a common struggle in the Myrtle Beach area, according to Myrtle Beach Housing Authority, the local agency responsible for administering the vouchers.

Landlords dont want vouchers

Finding available, qualified housing has long been a struggle for voucher recipients in Myrtle Beach and South Carolina as a whole, but the current dearth of units is unprecedented, according to Carol McCall, operations manager for the authority.

McCall explained that voucher recipients are responsible for finding their own housing, which must be priced within an areas market rate and pass a safety inspection. Typically, recipients have two months to find a viable unit once theyre awarded the voucher, and the authority will grant extensions up to two months if the family shows its actively trying.

But MBHA is currently offering extensions up to a year past that two-month deadline because of the current scarcity, McCall told The Sun News.

We dont have an easy answer to give to anybody, she said.

Rivera said she and her family had fallen in love with the Myrtle Beach area while visiting on vacation last year, but she wishes shed been known before moving how impossible it would be to find a home.

Federico and Rafaela Riveras son Angel (now 5-years-old) was the victim of an attack in New York prompting the family to move to Myrtle Beach for a safer living environment. The Riveras receive federal assistance but have been unable to find reliable affordable housing. March 28, 2023. JASON LEE/JASON LEE

Bouncing between various one-bedroom hotels with her husband and two sons, Rivera said shes contacted dozens of local realtors and landlords on a daily basis only to be told they dont accept housing vouchers, even if the unit for rent is within the market rate.

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The housing authority is constantly pleading for more landlords to accept vouchers, which guarantees the rent gets paid, McCall said, but some landlords just dont want to deal with the paperwork and others have negative misconceptions.

Theres just a stigma, McCall said. That theyre just poor people, bad tenants ... and itll lower property values, but thats not true. Theyre just people, no worse or better than any other tenant.

Rental assistance in Horry County

Under the voucher program, tenants pay 30% of their gross monthly adjusted income, while the federal funds cover the rest.

The Riveras only income at the moment is a disability check received by Rafaelas husband, Federico, who was injured in a serious motorcycle accident decades ago, they said.

Families can maintain vouchers the rest of their lives as long as they follow program guidelines and fall under income limits  a common case among Horry Countys service industry workers, McCall explained. The Myrtle Beach Housing Authority currently oversees 963 vouchers in use and can issue another 68.

Many of those unused vouchers are tied to families like the Riveras who are in the midst of lengthy, unsuccessful searches. That number is bound to increase in the coming weeks after Myrtle Beach city officials pushed a downtown affordable housing complex, where 31 voucher recipients are living, to kick out its tenants over a business license dispute.

The Myrtle Beach Housing Authority  which covers most of eastern Horry County, including Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach and Carolina Forest  typically holds lotteries for voucher applicants every 3-4 years, McCall said. The most recent lottery was held in February 2022, when they received about 4,000 applicants, and 1,000 of those were placed on a waiting list, with more than 700 still on that list, according to McCall.

Most of the western part of the county is covered by the Conway Housing Authority. Vouchers are not accepted within North Myrtle Beach city confines, which may be exacerbating the housing supply issues, because city officials have long refused requests to join the Myrtle Beach Housing Authority.

Mayor Marilyn Hatley told The Sun News in 2021 that city council would discuss the possibility of creating their own housing authority that could administer vouchers, but council meeting minutes show only a discussion of state housing authority laws during an executive session with no public discussion or action considered. Hatley didnt respond to a request for an update, and a city spokesman did not provide a requested update prior to publication.

Federico and Rafaela Rivera moved their family from New York to Myrtle Beach for a safer living environment. The family has Section 8 housing vouchers but have been unable to find permanent housing in the area. March 28, 2023. JASON LEE/JASON LEE

Time to move again

The Riveras have exhausted nearly $15,000 since moving to Myrtle Beach between paying for hotel stays, storage fees and application fees for potential homes, they said.

It feels like were getting scammed, Rafaela Rivera said of all the application fees shes paid only to find out the landlord wont accept the housing voucher.

With their savings dwindling and the hotels moving to pricier daily rates as tourism season approaches, the Riveras are now considering another move to California, where theyve previously lived with their housing voucher.

Orange County, Californias housing authority already sent them a 24-page list of landlords and realtors known to accept housing vouchers. Federico Rivera compared that to a list of realtors the Myrtle Beach Housing Authority gave them that only filled about half the page. All the names had been crossed off as Rafaela contacted them with no luck, she said.

Myrtle Beach Housing Authority used to have a more robust list, McCall said, but landlords kept contacting them to tell them to take them off the list because they had no available units.

Federico Rivera worried that another move is going to be emotional for their children, who have made friends and are nearing the end of the school year.

But we have to go, we have no choice, he said, before singing the chorus of Hit the Road, Jack.
The Food and Drug Administrations move to make a version of naloxone available without a prescription marks a major milestone in the fight against opioid addiction, and anti-addiction advocates hope it will break down barriers and help expand access to the drug.

The agency approved Narcan, the brand-name nasal spray manufactured by Emergent BioSolutions. But the company did not say how much it will charge, and there is concern that unless it is priced affordably, over-the-counter Narcan will likely have little impact on the people who need it most.

The change from prescription to over-the-counter has been a long time coming. Until now, all versions of naloxone have been available by prescription only. The agency has been encouraging companies to apply to sell their products over the counter since 2016, but no manufacturer applied until last year.

Naloxone is a medicine that can help reduce opioid overdose deaths and when administered timely, usually within minutes of the first signs of an opioid overdose, can counter the overdose effects.

FDAs announcement to make Narcan available over the counter is an important step to make this medicine accessible to more people at a time when the majority of overdose deaths are being driven by illicit opioids like fentanyl, said Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The nearly 107,000 fatal overdoses reported in 2021 were primarily driven by synthetic opioids like illicit fentanyl. With naloxone, many of those deaths could have been avoided.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in a statement encouraged Emergent to make the drug available at an affordable price.

The retail cost of prescription Narcan varies, but after discounts a two-pack of Narcan is around $45 to $50. For people with insurance coverage, it can be even cheaper.

Yet health insurance plans dont typically cover over-the-counter drugs, so theres a chance FDAs move could make Narcan more expensive than it already is.

Story continues

All payers must continue or start to cover naloxone at no- or low-cost. There are many over-the-counter preventive health medications that are covered by insurance, such as aspirin, vitamin D, and fluoride. Naloxone should be added to that list, Bobby Mukkamala, chair of the American Medical Associations Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force, said in a statement.

Sarah Wakeman, medical director for substance use disorder at Massachusetts General Brigham hospital, said the ideal vision would be for Narcan to be sold not just at pharmacies but at gas stations, convenience stores and in vending machines.

If youre walking through subway stations, if youre on the street, if you know and love someone who uses drugs, you should have this in your backpack, in your purse, Wakeman said.

But she acknowledged that the price translates directly into where those stores will put the product. If theres a worry people will shoplift Narcan, or if stores decline to carry it because of concerns theyll be promoting drug use, it wont be nearly as accessible.

I think the goal should be to make this as easy as possible for people to access  if its behind the counter, or if its in sort of a locked glass box where you have to ask someone for help, thats going to be one more hurdle and especially for someone whos dealing with the stigma thats unfortunately still associated with drug use in this country, Wakeman said.

Eliza Wheeler, co-director of the nonprofit group Remedy Alliance/For The People, said the hope is that making Narcan available over-the-counter will eliminate some of the bureaucratic gatekeeping that prevents harm reduction groups from purchasing and distributing Narcan.

For example, some state laws specify that only a medical professional can distribute naloxone to the community because it is a prescription drug. If the drug is no longer a prescription medication, those rules and regulations will go away.

But, you know, our primary focus is always cost. And so if cost doesnt go down, that accessibility is going to stay limited, Wheeler said.

Wheelers group is a wholesaler that negotiates with pharmaceutical companies for generic injectable naloxone; the group then sells the drug at extremely reduced rates to harm reduction programs.

According to FDA, prescription Narcan is currently the most commonly sold emergency treatment for opioid overdose in United States pharmacies. It was first approved in 2015 to treat known or suspected opioid overdoses for people of all ages, including newborns.

More than 44 million doses of Narcan have been distributed since its launch in 2016, the company said.

All 50 states have found workarounds to make the drug available at the pharmacy without a prescription through whats known as standing orders  essentially blanket prescriptions that allows pharmacists to dispense naloxone to anyone at risk or in a position to assist someone at risk.

Yet the people who need naloxone the most are also the least likely to go to a pharmacy and request it.

The cost of the medication, requirements to show ID, and the overall stigma of asking for naloxone are all barriers. Additionally, some pharmacists may not be aware that there is a standing order in their state and refuse to prescribe the drug altogether.

Susan Bissett, president of the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, said Narcan is just one product, but she hopes making it available without a prescription will mark a turning point for widespread public accessibility of naloxone.

Business as usual is not getting the job done, Bissett said. Were no longer just talking about people in active addiction. Were talking about kids on college campuses who are taking counterfeit Adderall pills that are laced with fentanyl  were hearing reports of kids overdosing in schools from vape pens because theyre laced with fentanyl. So were dealing with a completely different opioid epidemic than what we were 10 years ago.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Lee said on Friday that Hong Kong should spare no efforts to pursue economic growth and development, and enhance competitiveness.

Lee made the remarks after returning to Hong Kong on Friday from Boao, a coastal town in China's island province of Hainan, where he attended the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2023.

Lee said he deeply believed Hong Kong's development is in the right direction after attending the forum.

Lee said Hong Kong has unlimited opportunities brought by the country's development and policies. Therefore, Hong Kong should fully integrate into the overall development of the country, and fulfil its position in eight key areas set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Hong Kong should also take an active part in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.

"As an international city, Hong Kong needs to consolidate its strength and competitiveness in this regard, and build on its unique advantages of relying on the motherland and connecting with the world," Lee said.
Nasal vaccines for COVID-19 are still in early development. Paul Biris/Moment via Getty Images

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines have played a large role in preventing deaths and severe infections from COVID-19. But researchers are still in the process of developing alternative approaches to vaccines to improve their effectiveness, including how theyre administered. Immunologist and microbiologist Michael W. Russell of the University at Buffalo explains how nasal vaccines work, and where they are in the development pipeline.

How does the immune system fight pathogens?

The immune system has two distinct components: mucosal and circulatory.

The mucosal immune system provides protection at the mucosal surfaces of the body. These include the mouth, eyes, middle ear, the mammary and other glands, and the gastrointestinal, respiratory and urogenital tracts. Antibodies and a variety of other anti-microbial proteins in the sticky secretions that cover these surfaces, as well as immune cells located in the lining of these surfaces, directly attack invading pathogens.

The circulatory part of the immune system generates antibodies and immune cells that are delivered through the bloodstream to the internal tissues and organs. These circulating antibodies do not usually reach the mucosal surfaces in large enough amounts to be effective. Thus mucosal and circulatory compartments of the immune system are largely separate and independent.

What are the key players in mucosal immunity?

The immune components people may be most familiar with are proteins known as antibodies, or immunoglobulins. The immune system generates antibodies in response to invading agents that the body identifies as non-self, such as viruses and bacteria.

Antibodies bind to specific antigens: the part or product of a pathogen that induces an immune response. Binding to antigens allows antibodies to either inactivate them, as they do with toxins and viruses, or kill bacteria with the help of additional immune proteins or cells.

The mucosal immune system generates a specialized form of antibody called secretory IgA, or SIgA. Because SIgA is located in mucosal secretions, such as saliva, tears, nasal and intestinal secretions, and breast milk, it is resistant to digestive enzymes that readily destroy other forms of antibodies. It is also superior to most other immunoglobulins at neutralizing viruses and toxins, and at preventing bacteria from attaching to and invading the cells lining the surfaces of organs.

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There are also many other key players in the mucosal immune system, including different types of anti-microbial proteins that kill pathogens, as well as immune cells that generate antibody responses.

How does the COVID-19 virus enter the body?

Almost all infectious diseases in people and other animals are acquired through mucosal surfaces, such as by eating or drinking, breathing or sexual contact. Major exceptions include infections from wounds, or pathogens delivered by insect or tick bites.

The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, enters the body via droplets or aerosols that get into your nose, mouth or eyes. It can cause severe disease if it descends deep into the lungs and causes an overactive, inflammatory immune response.

This means that the viruss first contact with the immune system is probably through the surfaces of the nose, mouth and throat. This is supported by the presence of SIgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in the secretions of infected people, including their saliva, nasal fluid and tears. These locations, especially the tonsils, have specialized areas that specifically trigger mucosal immune responses.

Some research suggests that if these SIgA antibody responses form as a result of vaccination or prior infection, or occur quickly enough in response to a new infection, they could prevent serious disease by confining the virus to the upper respiratory tract until it is eliminated.

How do nasal vaccines work?

Vaccines can be given through mucosal routes via the mouth or nose. This induces an immune response through areas that stimulate the mucosal immune system, leading mucosal secretions to produce SIgA antibodies.

There are several existing mucosal vaccines, most of them taken by mouth. Currently only one, the flu vaccine, is delivered nasally.

In the case of nasal vaccines, the viral antigens intended to stimulate the immune system would be taken up by immune cells within the lining of the nose or tonsils. While the exact mechanisms by which nasal vaccines work in people have not been thoroughly studied, researchers believe they work analogously to oral mucosal vaccines. Antigens in the vaccine induce B cells in mucosal sites to mature into plasma cells that secrete a form of IgA. That IgA is then transported into mucosal secretions throughout the body, where it becomes SIgA.

If the SIgA antibodies in the nose, mouth or throat target SARS-CoV-2, they could neutralize the virus before it can drop down into the lungs and establish an infection.

What advantage do mucosal vaccines have against COVID-19?

I believe that arguably the best way to protect an individual against COVID-19 is to block the virus at its point of entry, or at least to confine it to the upper respiratory tract, where it might inflict relatively little damage.

Breaking chains of viral transmission is crucial to controlling epidemics. Researchers know that COVID-19 spreads during normal breathing and speech, and is exacerbated by sneezing, coughing, shouting, singing and other forms of exertion. Because these emissions mostly originate from saliva and nasal secretions, where the predominant form of antibody present is SIgA, it stands to reason that secretions with a sufficiently high level of SIgA antibodies against the virus could neutralize and thereby diminish its transmissibility.

Existing vaccines, however, do not induce SIgA antibody responses. Injected vaccines primarily induce circulating IgG antibodies, which are effective in preventing serious disease in the lungs. Nasal vaccines specifically induce SIgA antibodies in nasal and salivary secretions, where the virus is initially acquired, and can more effectively prevent transmission.

Nasal vaccines may be a useful supplement to injected vaccines in hot spots of infection. Since they dont require needles, they might also help overcome vaccine hesitancy due to fear of injections.

How close are researchers to creating a nasal COVID-19 vaccine?

There have been over 100 oral or nasal COVID-19 vaccines in development around the world.

Most of these have been or are currently being tested in animal models. Many have reported successfully inducing protective antibodies in the blood and secretions, and have prevented infection in these animals. However, few have been successfully tested in people. Many have been abandoned without fully reporting study details.

According to the World Health Organization, 14 nasal COVID-19 vaccines are in clinical trials as of late 2022. Reports from China and India indicate that nasal or inhaled vaccines have been approved in these countries. But little information is publicly available about the results of the studies supporting approval of these vaccines.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: Michael W. Russell, University at Buffalo.

Read more:



Michael W. Russell receives consultation fees from Therapyx, Inc., and has received previous research grants (now inactive) from the National Institutes of Health; he is also named on current grants to Therapyx, Inc. Therapyx has no interests in products for COVID-19.
Finnish soldier with rifle

In joining Nato, Finland is ending seven decades as a non-aligned country.

Finland shares a long border with Russia. It applied to join the defensive alliance soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

What is Nato?

Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.

Finland is the 31st country to join.

Nato members agree to help one another if they come under attack.

The organisation's original goal was to challenge Soviet expansion in Europe after World War Two.

Map showing Nato member states

After the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, many of the Eastern European countries which used to be its allies in the Warsaw Pact were granted Nato membership.

Russia (which was formerly part of the Soviet Union) has long argued that Nato's acceptance of Eastern European countries threatens its security. It has vehemently opposed Ukraine's request to join the alliance, fearing this would encroach too closely on its territory.

Why is Finland joining Nato?

Map of Sweden and Finland with 1,340km (830 mile) border highlighter

Finland has a 1,340km (832 mile) land border with Russia.

In 1948, it agreed to be a neutral country as part of a "friendship agreement" with the Soviet Union.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it edged closer to Nato, becoming an "official partner" of the bloc in 1994.

Soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both Finland and Sweden asked to be given full entry to Nato as soon as possible.

Graphic showing Finland and Sweden's armed forces

Finland adds 257,250 regular and reserve troops to Nato's forces, and 107 combat aircraft.

What hurdles did Finland face in joining Nato?

All the parliaments of Nato member states have to agree to a new country joining the alliance.

Finland and Sweden applied to join Nato together, but Turkey and Hungary have not yet approved Sweden's entry.

They were the last two member states to approve Finland's membership as well, Turkey on 30 and Hungary on 27 March.

Turkey's government had delayed allowing Finland to join, complaining that it supported "Kurdish terrorists".

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It is still blocking Sweden's membership, accusing it also of harbouring Turkey's enemies and allowing anti-Turkish demonstrations on its streets.

How are Nato countries supporting Ukraine?

Many of the alliance's member states have provided Ukraine with weapons and ammunition to help it defend itself against Russia..

The US is sending 31 Abrams tanks, the UK 14 Challenger 2 tanks, Germany 14 Leopard 2 tanks and Norway eight Leopard 2 tanks.

The US has also sent armoured fighting vehicles such as the Stryker and the Bradley.

In addition, the US and UK have sent Ukraine long-range missile systems such as Himars, which have been striking targets behind Russia's front lines.

A Himars launcher under tree cover in eastern Ukraine

Several Nato countries have provided howitzers and self-propelled guns, while Turkey has sold Ukraine several Bayraktar TB2 drones.

The US and others have supplied air defence systems to shoot down Russian cruise missiles and drones over Ukraine.

The anti-tank weapons that the US and UK have supplied, such as Javelin and Nlaw, were crucial in turning back Russia's advance on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, in spring 2022.

Nato countries are also aiming to ramp up their supplies of artillery shells and ammunition to Ukraine.

Why won't Nato countries give more help to Ukraine?

Poland and Slovakia are sending Ukraine Soviet-era Mig fighter jets, but Nato countries are not sending the US-made F-16s it has been asking for.

Nato countries also fear that if Ukraine were to use these jets to strike targets inside Russia, it could draw them deeper into the war.

Nato countries are not sending their troops to Ukraine, or imposing a no-fly zone over the country, again for fear of provoking a direct conflict with Russia.

Nato has stepped up its military defences in eastern Europe

However, Nato countries have now stationed 40,000 troops in eastern Europe - on the territory of alliance members such as Lithuania and Poland.

They also have another 300,000 troops on high alert in Europe.

Why isn't Ukraine in Nato?

Nato told Ukraine in 2008 that it could join the bloc at some point in the future, but declined its recent request for "fast-track" membership.

This is because Article 5 of the Nato charter says that if one member is attacked, all members should come to its defence.

If Ukraine was made a member, Nato countries would technically have to go to war with Russia.
Three state lawmakers are looking to ban participation trophies in North Carolina.

Senators Timothy Moffitt, Bobby Haning and Eddie Settle filed the bill on Thursday. Settle represents Alexander County.

ALSO READ: Charlotte FC to install youth soccer fields in east Charlotte

The bill would ban awards solely based on participation in youth recreation activities under the authority of local governments, which would mean county or city recreation leagues. The bill states awards should only be provided for identified performance achievements.

The bill will now head to a committee to determine if it will head to the chamber.

(WATCH BELOW: Providence Day QB Jadyn Davis commits to Michigan live on ESPN)
An attorney is facing a felony charge after authorities accused him of sneaking contraband to an inmate during a meeting inside a Georgia jail.

It happened Wednesday, March 29, when the public defender retrieved a roll of toilet paper from a storage closet and handed it to his client at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center in Augusta, according to the Richmond County Sheriffs Office.

The inmate removed the outer wrapper from the roll and hid it in his clothes, deputies said.

Authorities said the wrapper is considered contraband and can be used to roll tobacco and other drugs for smoking.

The inmate handed the uncovered toilet paper roll back to his attorney, who then returned it to the closet, according to deputies. When their meeting ended, deputies said the inmate left the room and shared the wrapper with other inmates.

The attorney was arrested March 30 and charged with introducing prohibited items to an inmate  a felony, deputies said.

Additional details werent immediately available.

Augusta is about 140 miles east of Atlanta.

Police union executive led scheme to smuggle opioids marked party favors, feds say

Couple smuggled hundreds of fake Disney DVDs from China to sell on eBay, feds say

Contraband eggs? Border agents are confiscating more eggs as prices soar, officials say
An introduction to cooking Nigerian food at home.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

I grew up in Warri, on the southern coast of Nigeria, eating, drinking, and enjoying Nigerian food. While I loved our food, I hardly thought of it as worthy of celebration, and boy, did I take it for granted until it was nowhere to be found. It wasnt until the late 1990s, when I was in my twenties at university in England, that I understood food as more than eatingnot just as a means to fill my belly, but as a way to soothe my soul, connect with home, and experience a sense of belonging.



By the time I moved back home to Warri after graduation, my appreciation for Nigerian food had grown. And still, I had no idea that edible traces of Nigerian cuisine existed across the Black Atlantic, throughout the Caribbean islands and Latin America, as a result of the transatlantic slave trade.



Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

I moved to The Netherlands for work as an exploration geologist in 2007. A few years later, in 2009, my Brazilian supervisor, Santiago, shared a story about Afro-Brazilian acarajea fritter that is a direct descendant of the Nigerian bean fritter known as akara. That singular conversation opened up a world of food history, heritage, legacy, and research that continues to fascinate me. Its motivated me to unravel, unearth, and document all the ways we, as human beings, are similarnot just people of African descent, but also other cultures and cuisines where there are connections, be they geographical or based upon shared histories (e.g. Nigeria and India through British colonialism).



With that discovery, I had numerous conversations about connections through food. These conversations also had me looking inwardat home, to our cuisinetrying to understand who we, as Nigerians, are and how we eat. Broadly speaking, most of the foods we eat on a daily basis are nationally recognized dishes with regional variations. There are recipes and ingredients with clear origins from one part of the country that are part of the daily lives of Nigerians all over the country, so national seems only fitting to describe them.



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Different regions have versions of the same dish. For instance, egusi soup (also known as agushi, egushi, egunsi) is beloved across the country. The differences in regional versions include how the egusi seeds are prepared: raw or toasted, dry-milled or wet-ground, light and creamy or thick with curd. The greens, herbs, and seasonings used are also unique to specific localities, but even with these different ways of preparing the soup, it's always instantly recognizable with its signature focus on the creamy, nutty flavor of the melon seed. Youll find this true for many dishes across Nigeriathey take slightly different shape in each place while retaining their essential character.

How a Nigerian Meal Is Structured

Nigerian food culture doesnt feature multiple courses. The main dish is usually the star of the show, and depending on the time of day, could be anything from akara or moin moin to rice, beans, and cooked vegetables with stew. A lunchtime meal at home might look like rice and stew with dodo and efo, or some combination; or it might be a soup with nuts, seeds, and vegetables served with a swallow, like eba or lafun, along with zobo or other drinks. At a party, you might begin with a plate of small chops like puff puff, then enjoy some jollof or fried rice with moin moin and dodo.

Enjoy the range our palates embracesweet, salty, smoky, umami, spicy, and everything in between.

For ease, Ive grouped the recipes here into fritters and fried doughs; swallows; soups, stews, and sauces; rice; cooked vegetables; snacks; and drinks. They capture the framework of our cuisine, and the majority of the 200-plus million people in Nigeria would recognize most of them in one form or another. Fresh fruit and vegetables, in abundance all year round, are also the go-to for people wanting a sweet bite.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

I must say though, these recipes are just a handful of the hundreds of Nigerian dishes that exist and are living and thriving across the country. Still, they give you some insight into what Nigerians eat; when, where, and how; from north to south and east to west. Enjoy the range our palates embracesweet, salty, smoky, umami, spicy, and everything in between.

Fritters and Fried Doughs

Fried foods are extremely popular across Nigeria, for both meals and snacks. Made from fresh and fermented batters and doughs, you'll find them on the streets or at home. However, not all fried foods are of the deep-fried variety. In the shallow-fried foods category, there's masa, crunchy fermented rice cakes cooked in a special pan called a kasko; they can also be made with corn, wheat, semolina, and other cereals.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

Puff puff is one of many deep-fried, golden brown Nigerian treats. There are also buns leavened with baking powder instead of yeast, and several types of rolls, from fish to egg rollssimilar to Scotch eggs in that the boiled eggs are dough-wrapped and deep-fried. And of course, theres akara, made from beans, which is as much a Saturday morning home breakfast as it is a street classic everyday of the week.

Swallows

Swallows are daily essentials for many Nigerians. They are soft, cooked doughs, not designed to be eaten on their own but instead paired with soups and stews. Swallows can be made with a single ingredient or a series of ingredients combined, like cereals, roots, tubers, and vegetables.

Swallows are made in two different ways: The first is by boiling, then working the cooked ingredient(s) into a soft, sticky dough (think mashed potatoes but stickier and stretchier, though only those made with tapioca starch have that mochi-like stretch); the second is by cooking fine and coarse flours or meals in water into cohesive doughs, much like polenta or mashed potatoes without butter or seasoning. In the north of Nigeria, cereals like rice, millet, Guinea corn (sorghum), and corn are the most common ingredients in swallows; in the south, east, and west, swallows tend to be made from root crops and vegetables like yams, plantains, sweet potatoes, and breadfruit.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

Eba and lafun are two swallows made from cassava meal. Despite having this ingredient in common, they are completely dissimilar, both in appearance and taste, due to their differences in processing. While eba has a touch of grit, lafun is super smooth, thanks to the gelatinized quality of its pure starches. With the exception of eba imoyoa specialty of the Eko people of Lagoswhich is cooked in a seafood stock, most swallows are cooked in water, and are neither sweetened nor salted so that the flavor of the ingredient shines through.

Soups, Stews, and Sauces

Soups, stews, and sauces are the mainstay of Nigerian cuisine, from light drinking broths like pepper soup to thick stews (which we call soups in Nigeria) like egusi and efo-riro and stew, a specific red dish commonly made with a pureed base of tomatoes, onions, and peppers, of which there are many variations, including obe ata. With a pot of stew or soup, there are so many possibilities, and you could put a meal together fairly quickly. Sauces are a mix of meat curriessimilar to Japanese or Korean curriesto ofada sauce, an Indigenous red sauce with bite-sized pieces of meat, lots of iru (fermented seeds), and a sweet-hot pepper base.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

Most soups and stews typically begin with a seasoned stock and a variety of plant, seafood, and animal proteins. This seasoned base is thickened with ground leafy vegetables, legumes, gums, nuts, and seeds. Soups tend to be flavored with unrefined red palm oil; fish powder or dried and ground crayfish; and stock cubes for umami, which altogether deliver complex flavors. Traditional stews are typically made with a red tomato-pepper base, but can also be made in a similar fashion to soups, or with dried thyme, vegetable oil, and a British colonial-era seasoning like curry powder.

These are eaten with a variety of dishesrice, bread, or swallows, and cooked vegetables like yams, plantains, or sweet potatoes that are boiled, grilled, roasted, or fried. Stew can be a dip for fried foods, or more liberally spooned over rice and beans. Soups can be eaten on their own or paired with swallows. Eba and egusi are personal favorites, as is lafun with both efo and obe ata.

Rice

Youll find rice everywhere in Nigerian cuisineat home, as street food, and at parties and celebrations. Most rice dishes can be paired with an assortment of sides, from white rice and stew with beans to dodo and jollof rice, or fried rice with moin moin and coleslaw. Jollof rice and Nigerian fried rice dishes are particularly saved for special occasions.

Nigerians love ricelong-grain rice especially. And here, it isnt a side dish. Instead, it's the main: aromatic varieties similar to Thai Jasmine are used in swallows, and converted or parboiled rice is served with stew or soups or used to make jollof and Nigerian fried rice.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

My favorite types of rice are the indigenous, red-streaked varieties of oryza glaberrima, especially those from Abakaliki (east), and Ekpoma (south). I love them for their sweet flavor and fragrance when the rice is simply boiled, but also when its made into coconut rice (with fresh, homemade coconut milk)thats a top-10 in my taste memory. Theres also ofada rice, which is fermented and processed rice that fills the air with the most blue-cheesy pungence during the cooking process, none of which interferes with the beautiful, complex, sweet flavors on the plate and the palate. Its served with ofada sauce.

Cooked Vegetables and Legumes

There are so many vegetables that take the form of a main or side. They are boiled, fried, roasted, cooked into thick stews, and more, from plantains used at all stages (green and unripe to yellow-black and ripe, and even over-ripe) to yams, taro, and both regular and sweet potatoes. Fried plantains, known as dodo, are always a crowd pleaser, as are fried yams. Set aside some stew to dip it in, plus some fried eggs to the side, and you have a quick and satisfying meal.

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

Legumes are simply cooked and stewed, but also made into wraps, similar to tamales. Beans are often soaked, skinned, and pureed for dishes like akara, but are also scooped into ramekins or wrapped in broad leaves.

Snacks

There are a myriad of snacks, from fresh fruit and vegetablescoconuts, corn, carrots, and cucumber are popular snacks next to meaty dishes like suyato meat pies, which are parcels of dough filled with seasoned minced meat and baked to perfection; and chin chin, a snack of tiny cookie-cracker-crunchy bites, made from deep-fried, seasoned dough, and enjoyed by the handful all year round, but especially at Christmas.

Drinks

Nigerians serve a host of both hot and cold drinks. Theres zobo (which you might already be acquainted with as hibiscus tea), soft drinks, non-alcoholic malt drinks, alcoholic beers and spirits, bitters, shandies, palm wine, and kunu, a variety of milky beverages made from tubers and cereals.
Massachusetts continues to imprison fewer people than any other state  often by a substantial margin.

After dropping to 50th among the states in per-capita imprisonment before the landmark Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2018, the commonwealths legislators, judges, police, and district attorneys have continued to innovate ways to protect public safety without turning to mass incarceration.

Our Department of Correction publicizes its incarceration numbers, including historical data. Since January 1, 2013, the number of people in Massachusetts prisons has decreased by 45%  from 11,403 in 2013 to 6,236 at the beginning of 2022. That works out to 96 prisoners per 100,000 people in 2022.

The population, as of March 20, had dropped to 5,896. Just a year ago, the Department of Correction announced that the falling numbers mean it can close the sprawling MCI-Cedar Junction facility in Walpole.

For perspective, we imprison less than a fifth as many citizens per capita as Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Less than a quarter as many as Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Georgia and Kentucky. And less than a third as many as 15 others and the U.S. overall, where there are 350 prisoners per 100,000.

Advocates argue against mass incarceration

Thoughtful voices, like those of Khaliah Ali and Jason Flom in the March 18 opinion piece A war on us," argue that over-incarceration  particularly for drug crimes  has become a failed war on the population. Others posit that the destabilization of families  and, by extension, communities  that comes as a result of incarceration hurts public safety in the aggregate by increasing the desperation and alienation that can foster criminal activity.

Opposing voices believe that more incarceration and longer sentences mean safer streets  that tough on crime works and social interventions are feel-good nonsense.

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The violent crime data for each state, collected annually by the FBI, can be compared over time. Doing so largely settles the debate on what impact being smart on crime instead of tough on crime has had: The Massachusetts prison population has been cut by 45%; the violent crime rate has fallen by 24%.

Firefighters know that pouring water on the visible flame is not the only step in extinguishing a structure fire. They often have to dig into the walls of a building to extinguish the hidden roots of a fire  or be called back when the underlying causes rekindle.

Fighting crime in the aggregate has some similarities. But the fire in the walls of society is too often addiction, lack of access to mental health treatment, destructive beliefs about interpersonal relationships, the distortions of mind that come with various adverse experiences and recidivism.

In Norfolk County, prison alternatives play a large part in justice

In the Norfolk District, where I serve as district attorney, we have partnered with the Trial Court to provide Drug Court, Domestic Violence Court and Mental Health Court sessions in Quincy, and New Englands first Veterans Court session in Dedham.

When now-Congressman Bill Keating was Norfolk County district attorney, this office secured a state grant to embed a mental health clinician with the Quincy Police Department  among the first communities to take that step. Fifteen years later, that practice has expanded across the state, including smaller communities pairing up to split the services of a clinician to help guide people in crisis safely to treatment  before crisis behavior becomes criminal and leads to a cell.

As a young state representative in 1981, I voted with the majority of the Legislature to establish a right for those charged with a simple drug offense to request a substance use disorder evaluation and appropriate treatment  delaying court activity until help was obtained, and sometimes providing eventual dismissal.

Quincy's Shu Feng Hsu was accused of killing her baby niece. Here's what the jury decided

More: Whatever happened to plans for a 'justice center' in downtown Quincy?

In their opinion piece, Ali and Flom write that the national mass incarceration problem has been in large part due to the War on Drugs. In Massachusetts, the Department of Correction tracks detainees by the governing (or lead) offense that has led to their incarceration. In 2022, just 8.7% of Massachusetts prison inmates had a drug crime as a governing offense. Our Legislature, judges and prosecutors lean heavily toward treating substance use disorder as an illness and seeking treatment over punishment.

I inherited a thoughtful juvenile diversion program from my predecessor as district attorney, allowing nonviolent young offenders to face consequences for their actions without being saddled with a criminal record. Early in my term, I expanded this program  and the supervision and structure it entails  to include young adults into their 20s.

Lowering prison population a group effort

If we want to perpetuate the twin trends of Massachusetts prison population decreasing while violent crime also decreases, citizens need to support legislators who understand that solving complex problems requires more than incarceration. It requires investing in re-entry programs that support people coming out of jails and prisons as they try to reestablish housing and professional activities. It means supporting an increase in affordable housing in every town.

District attorneys and our police partners cannot succeed without the partnership of those we are sworn to protect and serve. Preventing the crises, situations and problems that lead to crime starts in our schools, in our homes, in our communities and at the ballot box.

Massachusetts great success in escaping the facile trap of mass incarceration is, in a very real sense, as much a credit to our educated and enlightened voters as it is to the assistant district attorneys I send to court or the judges who pass sentences. There will always be murder and other crimes that merit incarceration, but Massachusetts is proving that there are some problems that incarceration does not constructively address.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Patriot Ledger subscription. Here is our latest offer.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Norfolk district attorney talks mental health, prison, recidivism
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, accused Ukraine of calling for nuclear weapons, state media KCNA reported on Saturday, basing her assertion on an online petition in that country that has drawn under 1,000 signatures so far.

Kim said this kind of petition could be a political plot by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, but did not provide any evidence for the assertion.

Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement last week that Moscow plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a public petition was filed to the Ukrainian presidential office's website on Thursday, calling for Ukraine to host nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory, or for it to be armed with its own nuclear weapons.

By Saturday afternoon, the petition had gained only 611 signatures, far short of the 25,000 needed for a response from Zelenskiy. Kyiv officials have not commented on the petition so far.

North Korea is forging closer ties with Kremlin amid shared isolation by the West and it supported Moscow's position after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, including its later proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine that most U.N. members condemned as illegal. It has denied providing arms to Moscow.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul and Max Hunder in Kyiv; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy

On the anniversary of the Kyiv Oblast town of Buchas liberation from Russian occupation, the Ukrainian president announced that representatives from nearly 50 countries had attended the second United for Justice conference and first Bucha Summit.

Read also: US backs international tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes against Ukraine

All of this (was) aimed at accelerating and energizing the global efforts towards (setting up a) tribunal on Russias aggression, towards new orders from the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Russian war criminals, and towards lawful and just verdicts that all Russian murderers and torturers must receive, Zelenskyy said.

Justice for Ukraine will be restored and there will be a new Nuremberg for the Russists (a term used in Ukraine to describe Russian fascists), he added.

Read also: Zelenskyy posts emotional video on anniversary of Buchas liberation

Participants of the Bucha Summit on March 31 signed the Bucha Declaration, showing their support for holding those responsible for the most serious Russian crimes in Ukraine accountable.

Russian troops entered Bucha in the first days of the full-scale war against Ukraine. After the retreat of Russian invasion forces from Kyiv Oblast in late March 2022, the world saw the results of their atrocities, which claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Read also: First signs of mass graves in Bucha seen on March 10, Maxar satellite images show

In Bucha, Irpin, and along the Zhytomyr highway, the bodies of peaceful Ukrainian civilians, tortured and killed by Russians, were found.

In the Bucha district of Kyiv Oblast, invaders committed more than 9,000 war crimes and killed over 1,400 civilians, 637 of whom were from Bucha, police and war crimes investigators have found.

Read also: Evidence of systemic war crimes in every area Russia occupied, US says

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Matt Osborne is a nurse at Southend University Hospital. (Twitter)

An NHS nurse announced his resignation on Twitter after saying emergency department care was broken.

Matt Osborne, who works at Southend University Hospital in Essex, said he was handing in my notice today after seeing colleagues commit suicide.

Osborne, who became a nurse 19 years ago, blamed underinvestment in health and social care by government since 2010 for the problems in the NHS.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Southend University Hospital, said it had increased nursing numbers after employing 3,000 new starters.

Read more: Northern Ireland healthcare workers pause strike action after talks announced

Matt Osborne quit his job at Southend University Hospital. (Reuters)

In a tweet on Wednesday where he tagged the Conservative party and two Southend MPs, Osborne wrote: Sitting here at 5 in the morning, having worked one ED shift yesterday and "anxiously" waiting to get ready for the next one, I find I don't want to go in. ED care is broken.

Ongoing underinvestment in health and social care by government since 2010 means I walk past people stuck in the ED for hours due to no capacity.

Osborne, 42, said he had seen his real value to the government following a pay offer which meant he would have had an effective pay cut every year since 2008.

Read more: NHS website crash stops women buying cheaper HRT prescriptions in England

The proposed deal  which involves two one-off payments for the current financial year  affects each worker differently, depending on their pay band and pay point.

There will be a permanent 5% pay rise on all pay points for 2023-24.

Osborne added: I am an ED nurse to my core, and your government's approach to health and social care is breaking me.

I have seen an exodus of staff. I have seen colleagues commit suicide.

I am done, and I am handing in my notice today.

@Conservatives @Anna_Firth @JamesDuddridge



Sitting here at 5 in the morning, having worked one ED shift yesterday and "anxiously" waiting to get ready for the next one, I find I don't want to go in.



ED care is broken.  Matthew (@Matthew0sb0rne) March 29, 2023

Conservative Southend West MP Anna Firth said she was sorry Osborne was resigning and added the hospital was "working exceptionally hard" to fix the issues in A&E, the BBC reported.

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Southend University Hospital has secured 8m in funding from the government which it plans to use to expand the emergency department.

Meanwhile, ambulance handover delays outside hospitals in England have returned to their highest level since the start of the year, as NHS chiefs warned staff remain under considerable pressure.

Some 28% of patients waited at least half an hour last week to be handed to A&E teams, up from 23% the previous week, while 12% waited over an hour, up from 9%.

The figures reverse the improvements seen earlier this month and mean delays are back at their highest level since the first week of January, when 36% of patients had to wait at least 30 minutes and 19% more than 60 minutes.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said there are an extra 11,100 nurses in the UK compared to last year.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman talks about her book "Confidence Man" during a stop on her promotional tour. Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

NYT's Maggie Haberman said several Trump Org workers were pleased with the ex-president getting indicted.

"One person texted with the words 'Wonderful news,'" Haberman said on CNN Friday.

"He's very angry, that should not really surprise anybody," Haberman said during a panel interview.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Friday said several Trump Organization employees texted her expressing their happiness over former President Donald Trump's indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney's office in connection with a hush money payment made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

After a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump, Haberman, who wrote the book "Confidence Man" and is widely seen as the most prominent chronicler of the former president's tenure in the White House, said during a panel interview on CNN's "This Morning" that she began receiving messages from employees soon after news broke of his indictment.

"There is a long trail of people who feel burned in one way or another by Donald Trump. We certainly saw that in the White House," she said. "This was a pattern that existed for decades before the Trump Organization."

"The number of people I heard from yesterday who worked for his company who were really happy  one person texted with the words 'Wonderful news.' That really sort of tells you something about where these folks' heads are," she continued.

Haberman remarked that Trump's advisors were "caught by surprise" by news of the indictment, and she stated that some members of his team actually found out from her and her colleagues' reporting.

"He's very angry, that should not really surprise anybody," she said of the former president. "I don't think that means that he's throwing staplers, but I think he's really angry. Everything that you were seeing in his statement about how this is a political persecution and a political prosecution, I think, is something that he genuinely believes. And I expect that it is going to be said with greater degrees of intensity."

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Haberman then spoke of the unique standing that Trump possesses ahead of his expected arraignment on Tuesday in Manhattan.

"This is not an ordinary defendant," the senior political correspondent said. "He comes with a phalanx of Secret Service. This is going to require multi-agency protection. He's not just any other defendant in reality."

Haberman while speaking with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Thursday said that the arraignment process would be "much more jarring" for Trump than many might believe.

"He is now going to go through the process of getting arrested. And I think that that is going to be much more jarring for him than I think people realize. I've been told that he's been briefed on what that will look like," she said.

Haberman said that Trump has generally felt as though he could control things in his life, but the looming arraignment and the next steps have changed things for him.

"He was able to control impeachment in some way because Mitch McConnell was on his side in the Senate trial and because House Republicans were on his side," she said of the Kentucky Senate Republican leader and allies in the lower chamber. "He was even able to control the second impeachment to some extent, with the Mueller report and the investigation. He was never going to get indicted as a sitting president."

"This is now in the hands of whatever judge he draws and what the voters think," she added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
In the Xiong'an New Area of north China's Hebei Province, red-and-silver driverless buses criss-cross on the new asphalt roads. Confronted with such a futuristic scene, it is hard to believe that, just six years ago, this whole area was farmland.

Among the fans of this new reality is 25-year-old Xie Ying, who works for Yuexiang Xiong'an Science and Technology Co., Ltd., a company behind the driverless buses.

"As Xiong'an develops, it may become an example for China's future cities," said Xie proudly.

Dubbed a "city of the future," Xiong'an New Area marks its sixth anniversary on Saturday.

On April 1, 2017, China announced plans to establish Xiong'an New Area, located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing. The aim was to build a green city on an area of 1,770 square kilometers, featuring innovation and providing a national model of high-quality development.

Xie is from Xiongxian County, one of the three counties incorporated into Xiong'an. She told Xinhua that during the past six years, she has witnessed great improvement in people's lives.

The driverless bus, which is currently undergoing trials, is one example. "It has improved the efficiency of the transportation network here," she said. "The vehicles equipped with fridges and screens have given passengers a better experience."

According to Zhang Jing, project manager for the driverless buses with Yuexiang Xiong'an, the vehicles can not only recognize traffic lights and road signs, but also reduce speed or stop in case of obstacles.

Like the buses, the "digital roads" are also smart. Xiong'an is now home to 153 km of "digital roads," where sensors on the lamp poles can monitor the number and speed of vehicles, so as to reduce traffic jams.

Supporting facilities, such as electricity, communications, heat, gas, and water supply, are all installed in underground channels measuring 47.6 km long, so as to avoid the cable network above ground and eliminate road blocks due to construction work.

"Xiong'an, which started from scratch, has an unparalleled advantage," said Weng Mengyong, chairman of the China Highway and Transportation Society. "The construction of the smart city ... has set an example for the planning and management of future cities."

The construction of Xiong'an has proceeded at full throttle over the past six years. Comparing pictures of Xiong'an nowadays with those taken six years ago, the difference is immense, with the new site featuring a complex road network, new buildings and rapid growth in enterprises.

At the end of last year, the Xiong'an business service center -- the new area's first landmark urban complex -- was put into use. With a total floor area of 900,000 square meters, the business service center was still an empty plot of land three years ago. Now it is home to more than 40 companies, accelerating the development of industrial clusters involving finance, modern services and the digital economy.

Qi-Anxin Technology Group, a leading company in the cybersecurity industry, was among the first batch of companies to settle in the center.

"Captivated by its innovative environment and a steadfast focus on high-quality development, we find that opportunities are everywhere," said Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Qi-Anxin, who is helping to turn the blueprint of the new area into a tangible reality.

Since China announced plans to establish the city in 2017, the Xiong'an New Area has completed more than 510 billion yuan (about 74 billion U.S. dollars) of investment, with a total development area covering 120 square kilometers and 3,500-plus buildings towering above the land.

Over the past six years, China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises have set up more than 140 subsidiaries and branches in Xiong'an. They have focused on industries such as information technology, modern life sciences and biotechnology, and new materials, among others.

Attracting talents is the next step.

Zhao Can with the Hebei Xiong'an Urban Construction Co., Ltd., under the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited, has received a Xiongcai Card. Xiongcai literally means "talents for Xiong'an," and the card entitles him to benefit from a series of favorable policies.

"The card will be helpful for me to find my kid a good school here and facilitate the household registration," he said.

Zhao has previously worked in Beijing and Baoding in Hebei, but now he has decided to settle down in Xiong'an along with his wife, because "Xiong'an is a young city with great potential."

To date, the first batch of 3,774 people have received their Xiongcai Cards.

"Green" is another buzzword in Xiong'an's grand development plan, as it aspires to become a green city with harmonious human-environment interaction.

The building of Xiong'an New Area was advanced according to high standards and quality requirements, according to this year's government work report.

Since late 2017, Xiong'an has added more than 470,000 mu (about 31,333 hectares) of trees, raising its forest coverage from 11 percent to 34 percent.

Efforts have also been mounted to restore the ecological environment of Baiyangdian Lake, an important wetland in the region. The water quality of the lake has improved from Class V, the worst level in China's water quality grading system, to Class III. There are now 252 species of wild birds, 46 species more than before the establishment of Xiong'an.

"The fundamental significance of Xiong'an is to create a replicable urban model in a non-coastal and non-border region of China. Relying on innovation-driven development, we will forge a new path," said Wu Hequan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

It is the wish of Xie Ying that the idea of innovation and high-quality development will be promoted elsewhere in China.

"I hope that in the future, we will see more driverless buses in other cities," she said.
On October 8, an explosion occurred on the Kerch bridge in occupied Crimea

They published photos taken on March 10, 13, 14, and 16.

The images show two lines of trenches built just behind the administrative border, near the Russian checkpoint in Armyansk and the Perekop Isthmus. A branching system of fortifications has been built along the E-105 road, near Lake Syvash.

Further inside the Crimean Peninsula, beyond the Perekop Isthmus, new lines of defense are being created. A network of trenches spreads across both sides of the E-97 road, near the village of Filativka.

Read also: Crimean occupiers are starting to panic, presidents permanent rep to Crimea says

Schemes

A strip of forest behind the village of Ishun, along the road toward Vorontsovka, has been turned into trenches. At least seven kilometers of trenches can be seen near the Yevtaporia beaches.

Schemes

These defensive structures effectively cut off the Kerch Peninsula. Near the E-97 road, behind the village of Batalne, new trenches and caponiers for equipment can be seen.

Read also: Russian military, occupation authorities in Crimea selling up, moving out amid fears of losing control of peninsula

Schemes

This may indicate that Russia has already begun preparing for a possible attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the journalists said.

Russian occupiers are digging trenches and fortifications practically along the entire coast of the Crimean Peninsula or on the Kerch Peninsula, the permanent representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, told Radio NV in an interview.

Read also: Russias Sberbank launches card acquiring services in occupied Crimea

Schemes

In the fall of 2022, against the backdrop of statements by the Ukrainian government about the liberation of Crimea, Ukrainian militarys General Staff said the invaders were improving the fortifications of the defensive lines on the left bank of the Dnipro River and the north of the occupied Crimea.

Schemes is a Ukrainian investigative journalism project, which focuses on uncovering corruption and abuses of power in Ukraine.

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Read also: What is known about drone attack in Crimeas Dzhankoi

Schemes

Crimea.Realities is a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Svoboda, which provides news and analytics about Crimea and its annexation by Russia. Both projects have extensively covered the situation in Crimea since the annexation in 2014.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
An emotional night of performances and tributes led by actors Maxine Peake and Christopher Eccleston has brought down the final curtain on Oldham's Coliseum theatre after more than 135 years.

Hundreds of audience members packed the venue for its highly-charged last show.

It has closed after having its Arts Council England funding removed.

Eccleston said he wouldn't be an actor if it wasn't for places like the Oldham Coliseum. "And they're disappearing. So what happens to the next generation?"

The Coliseum was a training ground for a host of stars - from Bernard Cribbins, who joined at 14 and stayed for seven years, to Coronation Street's Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden), Barbara Knox (Rita Sullivan) and William Roache (Ken Barlow).

Others to have trod its boards include Happy Valley's Sarah Lancashire, Doctor Foster's Suranne Jones, new Doctor Who companion Millie Gibson, and Olivia Cooke from House of the Dragon.

Oldham Council says the theatre building, which dates back to 1887, is "at the end of its life"

"This is a celebration but it's also a heartbreaking evening as far as I'm concerned," former artistic director Kenneth Alan Taylor, who also acted in 320 Coliseum shows, told the sold-out crowd on Friday.

"Just think of all the actors who started their career [here]. There wouldn't be a Coronation Street now [without it]."

Coronation Street legend Pat Phoenix performed at the Oldham Coliseum in the 1960s

The closing night saw Eccleston and Peake perform excerpts from a new adaptation of Ken Loach's award-winning film I, Daniel Blake - which was due to have been on the Coliseum stage this summer.

Former Doctor Who star Eccleston, from Salford, went to watch performances at the Coliseum in his youth.

"I think it's tragic that Oldham and its borough is losing a theatre in a time when we're supposed to be levelling up," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"What last night was about was beginning a campaign to establish a new theatre in Oldham and also to say, this can't happen anywhere else."

Snippets of past shows were also performed - from Brassed Off, the theatre's highest-grossing production, complete with 15-piece brass band; to Dreamers, a 2015 musical named after the infamous local nightclub in which it was set.

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There was a last hurrah for its popular pantomime, with a 15-strong cast in full costume performing a pop medley that climaxed with an upbeat and unexpectedly poignant rendition of Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop.

And there was a performance by its youth theatre about the venue's famous ghost - an actor called Harold Norman, who died after being stabbed on stage during a production of Macbeth in 1947.

Clara Darcy was the final performer, delivering a version of a monologue about endings from her 2022 play We Should Definitely Have More Dancing, which was inspired by her experience of a brain tumour.

Clara Darcy was the last person to perform on the Coliseum stage

The night's performers then gathered on stage, receiving a standing ovation that continued for several minutes after the final curtain fell.

"It sort of seems incomprehensible that the Coliseum won't exist as it was, because it's such a phenomenal and wonderfully supportive theatre," Darcy told the BBC beforehand.

After Oldham, her show went to the Edinburgh Fringe and is now being adapted for a Radio 4 drama.

"They really showed the heart and support that our production needed, and without its beginnings at the Coliseum, it wouldn't have toured and certainly wouldn't have been picked up by the radio."

Crowds coming out of Oldham Coliseum in 1946

Shorelle Hepkin has starred in five pantos, directed the final youth performance, and met her partner at the Coliseum. "As an actor and personally, it's literally changed my life," she said.

"Anyone who you speak to who's worked in that building will probably say that it's the most welcoming building you can ever walk into, and it does feel like home."

'Major risks'

The venue received more than 600,000 a year from Arts Council England (ACE) but became the biggest theatre outside London to lose its subsidy in a shake-up announced in November.

ACE said it had identified "major risks and concerns around their finance, governance and leadership".

ACE has ringfenced the same amount of money - 1.85m over the next three years - to fund other cultural activity in the Greater Manchester town.

It is also supporting a plan by Oldham Council to create a new 24.5m theatre, which the council has described as "a creative and cultural venue with multiple purposes" and is due to open in 2026.

A new theatre is scheduled to be completed by 2026

"The current building is at the end of its life, and performers, staff and audiences deserve better," council leader Amanda Chadderton has said.

Indeed, the council says the current building has problems with asbestos, poor accessibility and cramped backstage and front-of-house facilities. A 2m renovation in 2012 was intended to give it another decade of use.

However, there is some scepticism about how long it will take to build a new venue, and how it will turn out.

"I don't want an arts centre," Taylor said - as if these were dirty words - to cheers from the audience on Friday.

He and other supporters are still holding out a slim hope of saving the current building.

"I'm not an architect, but I see old buildings restored," he continued. "They say this building's not fit for purpose. Well restore it then!"
NEW YORK  When former President Donald Trump arrives in Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to be arraigned next week, it will be his first appearance there as a criminal defendant. But for his lawyers, it is familiar territory.

The legal duo representing the former president, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina, are longtime fixtures of New York criminal proceedings, each of whom has accompanied both tabloid sensations and more serious political figures through the concrete halls of the Art Deco courthouse.

Neither is new to Trumps orbit. Both have been working for Trump during the criminal investigation that led to Thursdays indictment of the former president in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to a porn star. Necheles was also a member of the defense team in the criminal tax fraud trial that took place late last year and ended in the conviction of the Trump Organization. Tacopina represented Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.s fiancee, before the Jan. 6 select committee.



People who know them say the two lawyers have very different styles  shes an understated tactician and hes a colorful showman, bombastic, in his own words  but both have built their careers in New York courtrooms.

In separate interviews, Necheles and Tacopina said they have a productive working relationship  Tacopina described it as harmonious, adding that they would likely add a third member to the team who specializes in election law.

And both called their relationship with Trump respectful.

Of course Ive worked with difficult clients over the years in some cases, and you just try to make them have confidence in you, Necheles said.

Still, Trumps recent remarks about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg  calling him an animal and racist  could complicate his lawyers ability to work productively with prosecutors.



Necheles dismissed any concerns, saying, Trump is a little bit more verbal about it and out there in his criticism of the office. But, she added: Of course he doesnt like them. Theyre trying to ruin his life.

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Tacopina said the case is in some ways unremarkable and in others extraordinary. On one hand, this is a belly-of-the-beast, 100 Centre Street, low-level case that should be treated this way. On the other hand, this is the former president of the United States, so we have to be cognizant of that, he said, referring to the street address for Manhattan Criminal Court where Trump will be tried.

Im buckling my seatbelt, he added. Lets put it that way.

Neither lawyer would discuss their strategy for the Trump case, but both have a history of deploying creative gambits on behalf of their clients. Necheles once used a divine defense on behalf of a developer accused of fleecing ultra-Orthodox Jewish clients, telling a jury he had received a blessing from a rabbi to build affordable housing. "It was a mitzvah to him, a Hebrew word that means a good deed and an obligation, she said.

During the trial of a former New York state senator accused of theft, she showed jurors a blown-up image of an apple, while a piece of the fruit sat on the defense table in front of her client. Theres something rotten about this case, she told jurors.

Meanwhile, Tacopina helped a rapper named Sticky Fingaz, who faced a gun possession charge that was later dropped, slip into the courthouse undetected by paparazzi.

Tacopina accompanied his driver  who posed as the rapper by donning a hat and sunglasses  through the front entrance while the rapper slipped through another door. Tacopina laughed at the suggestion that he would try to pull a similar stunt with Trump. I have no tricks up my sleeve here, he said. This is the Secret Services show here, not mine.

Tacopina also has some experience navigating choppy relationships between Trump world and its investigators. Last year, when he represented Guilfoyle before the Jan. 6 committee, Tacopina accused the committee of blindsiding them by allowing some of the panels Democratic members to attend the proceeding and she walked shortly after it started. Her premature departure resulted in the committee issuing a subpoena for Guilfoyles testimony that ultimately compelled her return for a lengthy interview about her involvement in planning and fundraising for Trumps Jan. 6 rally.



Tacopina is one of the few Trump world lawyers who have also taken on clients charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol  though not always with favorable results. He and his partner Chad Siegel represented Julian Khater, who was sentenced to 80 months in prison earlier this year for macing three police officers, including Brian Sicknick, who died the next day of a stroke.

Tacopinas willingness to work with such clients  along with his vocal defenses of clients on TV  has likely helped him appeal to Trump. Tacopina also boasts some of Trumps bravado. For each hour in the courtroom, I prepare 15, he said, adding in a matter-of-fact tone: My cross-examinations are bulletproof.

He has a reputation as being a bit of a street fighter, hes a brawler, said lawyer Adam Ford, who was co-counsel with Tacopina to a man accused of running a $17 million stock scam.

A former prosecutor who tried a case against Tacopina described him as a big presence in the courtroom. He has the unique ability to infuriate a judge and have the judge be charmed by him within a span of 10 minutes, said the prosecutor, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about his experience.

Necheles is viewed as the more academic of the two. Shes earned a reputation for being deeply prepared for court appearances and particularly skilled in cross-examination of witnesses.

Andrew Weinstein was defense counsel for another client alongside Necheles in a bribery case involving NYPD officials. He recalled Necheless questioning of Jona Rechnitz, a businessman who cooperated with the government against her client.

Necheles is not a yeller and a screamer, said Weinstein, but nevertheless completely dismantled and dissected Rechnitz on the witness stand.

He predicted that Necheles will be particularly effective in combating testimony from Trumps former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is likely the central witness in the Manhattan district attorneys case. I think Michael Cohen is going to have his hands full if she is the one who cross examines him, Weinstein said.



Still, Necheles role in the Trump orbit hasnt always gone smoothly. In the Trump Organization trial, prosecutors called her out during closing arguments for displaying excerpts of testimony that had been stricken from the record.

Its problematic, and I dont fault the people for being upset about this, Justice Juan Merchan said as he sustained an objection from prosecutors. Merchan is likely to preside over Trumps trial as well.

Necheles apologized and called the mistake inadvertent.

Frank Rothman, a criminal defense attorney who was conducting business at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Friday, said he thought the brashness of Tacopina and the precision of Necheles could make for a strong pairing.

Susan is the one who could potentially be writing the motions, doing the legal research, and Joe is the face, doing the trial attorney stuff. You know, trying to knock your head off in trial  like a bull in a china shop.

Kyle Cheney and Wesley Parnell contributed to this report.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article was not clear about which clients of Tacopina received unfavorable results.
Protesters gather in front of Trump Tower in New York on March 31, 2023, after a New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Protesters gather in front of Trump Tower in New York on March 31, 2023, after a New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

It looks like Donald Trump is now our favorite indicted former president.

Aside from the predictable celebration in some quarters, the shock in others, and the anger in still other corners, two observations persisted in media coverage of Trumps indictment.

One: The indictment was unprecedented. No president, past or present, has ever been indicted on criminal charges.

Two: Even a president can be held accountable.

Its never a precedent until someone has the guts to set it. I really dont care about the being first part. Its certainly not an honorable distinction, and its likely not the last indictment for Mr. Trump, who faces much weightier charges from ongoing investigations at the state and federal levels.

What I do care about is for us to live in a country where not only is no one above the law, but a president, especially, isnt above the law. We should be a nation where not only can a president be held accountable, but especially a president should be held accountable. If we choose otherwise, it would be fair to ask why anyone should follow the law if a president doesnt have to.

Gerald Fords pardoning of Richard Nixon was a subliminal blunder. In pardoning Nixon, Ford declared, Our long national nightmare is over. No, sir. That pardon suggested that at least someone in a democracy can be above the law.

With great power comes great responsibility, goes the famous line. Similarly, great power must come with great accountability. Being held to a higher standard should be the expectation of anyone in a position of greater responsibility and power.

The indictment of a former president may be unprecedented, but so, too, has been the unethical, unacceptable and un-presidential behavior of Donald Trump.

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Should any charges in the indictment prove true, it will be stomach-turning to realize that a presidential candidate, his lawyers, and his team conspired to defraud a voting public by hiding potentially damaging information. Worse, though, is that no matter how much we learn about the crass, walking pestilence that is Donald Trump, millions of people voted for him twice and are prepared to vote for him again in 2024.

Consider that all members of the NYPD  36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees  were ordered to report in full uniform at 0700 hours Friday morning to be deployed across the city as a precautionary measure against potential unrest.

On social media, Trump had warned that his indictment would lead to death and destruction. Shortly after his warning, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg received an envelope containing white powder and a note reading, Alvin, I am going to kill you. (The powder turned out to be harmless.)

Blast protection has been installed around Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

How can it be that a city that has endured multiple terror attacks had to go on high alert just to charge someone with a crime? Is that how far into depravity and venality Trump has dragged this country, with his supporters happily riding shotgun? His invertebrate political sycophants in Washington quickly condemned the indictment as a witch hunt, politically motivated, and a dark day. Apparently, the party of law and order ... isnt.

Did it occur to them that declaring Trump innocent and attacking Bragg, a Democrat, might also be politically motivated? If Trump came out tomorrow and announced he was becoming a Democrat, how soon would MAGA Republicans demand his imprisonment? Were they politically motivated in protecting a president who was twice impeached?

Perish the thought they take a cue from a more mature response.

The indictment of a former president is a somber day for America, tweeted Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat. Its also a time to put faith in our judicial system. Donald Trump deserves every protection provided to him by the Constitution. As that unfolds, let us neither celebrate nor destroy. Justice benefits us all.

You might think a congressional Democrat would be doing a happy dance over Trumps indictment, especially one representing part of Californias Bay Area. But unlike his Republican colleagues, Swalwell took the sort of restrained, dignified approach voters would hope to expect from their political representatives.

We should be a nation where not only can a president be held accountable, but especially a president should be held accountable.

The indictment of a former president may be unprecedented, but so, too, has been the unethical, unacceptable and un-presidential behavior of Donald Trump. And while his defenders will argue that the New York case is just a local political vendetta, heres the thing about the law: The motivation does not matter. What matters is whether there is proof of guilt or innocence.

If Trump has issues with this indictment, he can go through the courts like every other citizen. If he is innocent, he has nothing to worry about. If he is guilty, the motivation behind pursuing charges will be irrelevant. (Though I would submit that innocent people dont threaten violenceagainst a prosecutor who has yet to file a charge.)

Nor is it as if Bragg did this on his own. A grand jury of ordinary citizens doing their civic duty is a serious task. It is hardly hyperbolic to suggest that their lives might be at risk should their identities leak out.

Given that task and those risks, these citizens were convinced that Trump did something flagrant enough to warrant charges and issue an indictment. To call this indictment politically motivated is disrespectful to those citizens. In their view, laws were broken, and justice must be served.

The people who still support Donald Trump are beyond reach. Even if they werent, their innate sense of victimhood should have no bearing on any legal charges brought before Trump. If we decide to prosecute based on whose feelings get hurt, what, then, for our system of justice? Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law. He is not entitled to the presumption of innocence in the court of public opinion.

Trumps indictment has sparked an endless catharsis of celebration and gloating, as if another long national nightmare is over. Its everywhere on social media. Its understandable. You can probably find people whod like to see Trump jailed for jaywalking.

The more important celebration, however  and I say this with fingers crossed  is that maybe, just maybe, the justice system is finally doing at least some justice, the rule of law just might prevail, and there is hope for our democracy.

Trump and Republican extremists often say they want to take back their country. Maybe we just have.
Contractors work on affordable housing project Friday, July 1, 2022, located at the Community Within The Corridor.

The state Department of Natural Resources is threatening prosecution against the developer of a north side Milwaukee affordable apartment building that was evacuated March 25 after dangerous levels of a cancer-causing chemical were found, according to an emergency DNR order obtained by the Journal Sentinel.

The emergency order issued Friday gives the owners of Community Within The Corridor East Block two business days to provide extensive documentation on the system that is meant to guard against toxic vapors seeping into people's living spaces  including maps and all data collected to-date. The order also seeks previously unsubmitted information about excavation of contaminated soil, materials used to backfill excavations and descriptions about how the building's floors were sealed.

The developers will have 45 days to document the outcome of their cleanup efforts, the order said.

"This Order is enforceable through prosecution by the Attorney General," it reads.

More than 150 residents of Community Within The Corridor East Block, 2748 N. 32nd St., were ordered to evacuate their homes on March 25.

The Milwaukee Health Department order came a day after the DNR informed the health department about elevated levels of the chemical trichloroethylene, or TCE, at the building that was once part of the now-redeveloped Briggs & Stratton complex. Exposure to elevated levels of TCE vapors increases the risk for health effects such as certain cancers and birth defects, according to health officials.

The residents have yet to return to their homes.

The developers in a statement late Friday said they had been working with state officials since the evacuation order.

"Community Within the Corridor LLP has been working closely with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over the past week to address environmental concerns impacting part of its housing development. Those efforts will continue, and we will comply with all requirements stipulated in the DNR's order," they said in the statement.

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Lead developer Que El-Amin's development firm, Scott Crawford Inc., worked with local investors Mikal Wesley, president of Urbane Communities LLC, and Rayhainio "Ray Nitti" Boynes, who operates The Creative Corridor Inc. The local developers in 2017 also partnered with Minneapolis-based apartment development firm Roers Co.

DNR warned of TCE risks in 2020

Gov. Tony Evers said the DNR repeatedly recommended to the development team that "no one" live in the building.

"They said this is not a place that people should be living in. They made that recommendation more than once," Evers said during a stop in Racine on Thursday. "And apparently the people that are in charge of that facility decided not to take their recommendation. And not to tell us."

The emergency order from the DNR also says that as far back as December 2020, the agency had advised the development team that sampling needed to be conducted "after the redevelopment is complete."

Those warnings continued in the ensuing years, according to a timeline provided in the order.

That includes a warning as recently as January, when the DNR raised concerns about a plan dated Dec. 23 to commission the vapor mitigation system. The department had received the plan on Dec. 28, according to emails publicly available on the DNR's website.

"In consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, the DNR strongly recommends completing all necessary rounds of commissioning prior to any occupancy to avoid potentially exposing future residents to indoor air contamination that may present acute health risks," wrote Jane K. Pfeiffer, DNR hydrogeologist for the Remediation and Redevelopment Program.

DNR officials said the department was unaware until March 22 that the apartments were occupied.

Evers added, "We can talk about the mess that was made because they went against our recommendation. But at the end of the day now we have to be spending our time (working on) how we're going to solve this problem. That's the most important thing."

City, state officials cast blame over building occupancy

Evers also cast blame on the City of Milwaukee over communication lapses with the state, and the order references a Jan. 12 meeting between city and state officials.

The order said the purpose of the Jan. 12 meeting was in part to "to discuss DNR concerns" about the plans for the vapor mitigation system that had been submitted  and the plan to occupy the building.

But residents had already begun moving into the apartment building late last year.

Exactly what was communicated at that meeting between representatives of the DNR, the state Department of Health Services, the Milwaukee Health Department and the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services remains unclear.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Emergency order warns of prosecution over evacuated Milwaukee building
Jake Cronenworth reportedly signed an $80 million deal with the Padres. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

The San Diego Padres extended one of their biggest organizational wins of the past half-decade. Utilityman Jake Cronenworth signed a seven-year, $80 million extension to remain with the team, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The team confirmed the signing Saturday.

The extension won't kick in until next season and buys out five free-agent years. It ensures Cronenworth, 29, will remain in San Diego through the 2030 MLB season. He'll be 36 when the contract ends.

Cronenworth's age likely played a role in his wanting to sign the deal. He did not debut in the majors until he was 26, far older than most impact players. He performed well immediately, hitting .285/.354/.477 as a rookie, and remained a strong player in 2021 and 2022, making the All-Star team both seasons.

Because of his age, however, Cronenworth would not have hit the free-agent market until he was 32 years old. Even if he performed well, his age might've prevented him from earning a big contract on the market. So it seems he decided he didn't want to play that game and instead committed to sticking with the Padres.

With the move, the Padres extended yet another member of their promising core. Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado and Joe Musgrove are all signed through at least the 2027 MLB season. As long as those players remain effective, the Padres should be in contention throughout most of Cronenworth's extension.

Cronenworth represents massive win for Padres

Of all the excellent moves the Padres made to get back into contention, Cronenworth's acquisition ranks as the team's biggest scouting win in recent memory. Cronenworth wasn't considered a standout prospect after he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the seventh round of the 2015 MLB Draft.

His minor-league numbers weren't that impressive his first couple of seasons. Cronenworth was capable of hitting for decent average and showed pretty good plate discipline, but he lacked power. During his first four seasons in the minors, he failed to post a slugging percentage above .400. That lack of pop might've led to the Rays' utilization Cronenworth as a two-way player in 2019. In addition to hitting, he also saw some time on the mound that season.

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Cronenworth's biggest development in 2019 came on offense. He broke out as a 25-year-old in Triple-A, slugging .511. Given his age, there was some skepticism about his ability. Had he really made an adjustment? Or was he simply old for his level and picking on much younger players?

The Padres were willing to bet on the former. The team acquired Cronenworth as part of a five-player deal in 2019, and he proved to be the best player in the deal, hitting immediately upon reaching the majors the following season.

Since then, Cronenworth has been a regular in the Padres' starting lineup. His bat remains strong, and his versatility is impressive. He has seen time at first base, second base, shortstop and third base in the majors. He also returned to the mound once, pitching a scoreless two-thirds of an inning.
ISLAMABAD (AP)  A militant attack from across the border with Iran left four Pakistani soldiers dead Saturday in southwestern Baluchistan province, the army said.

The soldiers were part of a routine border patrol operating along the Pakistan-Iran border when the militants struck in the Jalgai sector of Kech district, the military said in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The army said necessary contact was being established with Iranian officials for effective action against terrorists to prevent such incidents in the future. It identified the casualties as Sher Ahmed, Muhammad Asghar, Muhammad Irfan and Abdur Rasheed.

On Friday, a Pakistani soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the army said. There was no immediate of responsibility for that attack, either.

In January, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the killing of four security officials along the border with Iran in Baluchistan. He said: We expect Iran will ensure that its soil is not used for cross border attacks.
A suspected assailant was killed by Israeli soldiers after a West Bank car ramming Saturday, the army said, in an escalation that threatens to end a relative lull during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan so far.

The Palestinian's death came less than 24 hours after an Arab Israeli allegedly snatched a gun from a police officer at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and fired it before being shot dead.

The army said a "terrorist" had conducted a "ramming attack adjacent to the town of Beit Ummar" before being neutralised, with a spokesperson confirming to AFP the presumed assailant's death.

Magen David Adom medics said the three men were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem with serious, moderate and light wounds.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority identified the dead man as Mohammed Baradyah, 23.

Early Saturday, police said they shot dead 26-year-old medical student Mohammed al-Asibi, a resident of the Bedouin village of Hura in southern Israel.

According to police, Asibi had snatched a gun from an officer and fired it at other police officers close to the nearby Chain Gate, an access point to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Passers-by reported hearing gunfire, and an AFP photographer saw scores of police deployed in the Old City at around 1:00 am (2200 GMT on Friday).

Asibi's family has disputed the police account of his death and demanded to see CCTV footage, Israeli media reported.

Raam, the Israeli parliament's Islamist party, rejected the police account of events, noting in a Facebook post the claims from "witnesses" who said Asibi came to aid a woman who was in a scuffle with police. It called for an investigation.

- 'Execution' -

The umbrella organisation representing Israel's Arab citizens announced a "general strike and day of mourning" on Sunday following the "execution" of Asibi.

Police, meanwhile, were standing by their original version of events and issued another statement Saturday afternoon saying that the site of the attack was not covered by surveillance cameras.

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A video released by police showed what was described as Asibi milling around the compound alone. Another video showed people at the Chain Gate reacting in fright, presumably to the sound of gunshots.

The police also rejected the notion a woman was involved, saying Asibi "arrived alone", with officers suspicious of his presence at the compound after closing hours.

The shooting occurred hours after tens of thousands of Palestinians had packed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for the second Friday prayers of Ramadan, which had passed off peacefully despite fears of bloodshed during the holy month.

Israeli police said more than 100,000 faithful had gathered to pray at Islam's third holiest site, built on what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

More than 2,000 police officers had been deployed across the city.

The Jordanian body which administers the mosque compound put the number of worshippers at 250,000.

An upsurge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year has raised fears of bloodshed during Ramadan.

Since the start of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of 88 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, and one Arab Israeli.

Fourteen other Israelis, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

bur-jjm/kir
The presenter, pictured in Battersea Park, was an ambassador for the charity for many years

Donations to an animal charity loved by Paul O'Grady have passed 100,000 since the star's death.

Battersea Cats and Dogs Home said it was "overwhelmed and touched" by the donations.

The TV and radio presenter became an ambassador for the charity in 2012 after hosting For The Love Of Dogs, which had 11 series filmed there.

After his death on Tuesday evening at the age of 67, the animal charity set up a tribute fund.

Chief executive Peter Laurie said: "Over the coming weeks and months, Battersea will be finding the best way to pay tribute to our wonderful friend and ambassador, the late, great Paul O'Grady MBE.

"We have been overwhelmed and touched by the countless letters, calls, emails and messages of support along with the generous donations made by kind members of the public this week."

Peter Laurie said the charity would work out the best way to remember the star

Mr Laurie has previously said O'Grady was a "genuine animal lover" and his "real legacy" was how he showed the British public and an international audience how "lovable and incredible" rescue dogs were, inspiring people to adopt and rehome.

O'Grady was given a special recognition award at the 2018 National Television Awards for the impact the ITV series had on helping find homes for rescue animals nationwide.

O'Grady met the Queen Consort during an event to mark 160 years of the charity

During the first series, O'Grady rehomed Eddie, a Chihuahua-Jack Russell cross puppy, at his Kent farmhouse.

Eddie was joined by Boycie, a shih-tzu, in 2014; Conchita, a Maltese, in 2015; Arfur, a mongrel puppy, in 2017; Nancy, another mongrel puppy, in 2020; and Sausage, a wire-haired dachshund, in 2021.

Last year, O'Grady was joined by the Queen Consort in a one-off episode of For The Love Of Dogs to mark 160 years of Battersea.

His contribution to animal welfare was also recognised with an RSPCA animal hero award.

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday after being treated for depression.

A press release from Fetterman's office says that he is in remission after his treatment for depression, and is in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

"I am so happy to be home. Im excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs," Fetterman said.

"I am extremely grateful to the incredible team at Walter Reed. The care they provided changed my life. I will have more to say about this soon, but for now I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works. This isnt about politics  right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help."

FETTERMAN EXPECTED BACK 'SOON' AFTER WEEKS OF INPATIENT TREATMENT AT WALTER REED FOR POST-STROKE DEPRESSION

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday after being treated for depression.

Fetterman suffered a stroke in May of last year during his successful bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate. Fetterman experienced side effects that included "auditory processing disorder" but his campaign and doctors insisted he has "no work restrictions" and "can work full duty in public office."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Fetterman squared off in only one debate with his opponent, Republican Mehmet Oz, on October 25th and struggled to effectively communicate on multiple occasions and used closed captioning due to limited auditory processing capability.

MEDIA WHITEWASHED FETTERMAN HEALTH ISSUES DURING ELECTION, UNCURIOUS ABOUT LENGTHY ABSENCE FROM CAPITOL

Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman speaks to supporters during an election night party at StageAE on November 9, 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

After defeating Oz by five percent, Fetterman began his six-year Senate term in January but his office announced just a month later that he had checked himself into a hospital for treatment of severe depression.

"Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression. While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks," Adam Jentleson, Fetterman's chief of staff, said in a statement at the time.

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Before he checked into Walter Reed, staffers said Fetterman had not been his usual self for weeks and described him as withdrawn, showing disinterest in talking, eating and the usual banter with aides.

Fetterman is said to be receiving daily in-person briefings from Jentleson and his office is issuing statements and sponsoring legislation while in the hospital.

Fetterman has missed 53 of the 64 Senate roll call votes during February and March as a result of being hospitalized.

Fox News' Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
A numbing procedure usually used to treat pain and post-traumatic stress disorder is being tested as a way to restore smell and taste in people with long Covid.

It's called a stellate ganglion block. In the procedure, a doctor uses a temporary, local anesthetic  like what a dentist would give before filling a cavity  and injects it into a specific bundle of nerves called the stellate ganglion on both sides of a person's neck. The nerves are part of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls automatic bodily functions, such as blood pressure, digestion and heart rate.

The area is not known to have any impact on how a person perceives odors, however, leaving some experts skeptical of the approach. Other doctors say they have seen real improvements in patients who either can't smell anything or find previously delicious food and drinks now taste repulsive.

Smell disorders tend to become more common with age, and affect millions of people. As many as 1 out of every 8 people in America over age 40 have some kind of olfactory dysfunction, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

A survey last year found that about 15% of people with Covid-related olfactory loss still had trouble smelling correctly six months later.

Not many treatments are available for smell disorders. Doctors may try olfactory retraining, in which patients concentrate on sniffing four scents  usually rose, eucalyptus, lemon and clove  twice a day for at least three months. Smell therapy has shown promise in some clinical trials.

Getting smell back

At Cleveland Clinic, doctors are offering stellate ganglion blocks to long Covid patients, with the hope of launching a clinical trial.

Jennifer Henderson, 54, of Franklin, Ohio, got Covid in January 2021 and immediately lost the ability to taste or smell anything. A year later, her senses came back, but were wildly distorted.

She first tried olfactory retraining "religiously" for months, without success. Peanut butter and ranch dressing still smelled like chemicals.

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Chicken was the worst, she said. "It tasted like rotting flesh. I had to spit it out."

Finally, in November last year, she received the stellate ganglion block at the Cleveland Clinic. The effect was immediate. She held a fresh cup of coffee up to her nose and burst into tears.

"It was the best smell ever," Henderson said. "I just cried like a baby."

Dr. Christina Shin, a physician specializing in pain management at the Cleveland Clinic, said that nearly every day at least one or two patients are referred to her from the long Covid clinic affiliated with the hospital system for help with their smell and taste.

She has treated roughly 30 long Covid patients with the block. About half get better, she estimates, though the level of improvement varies between 25% and 90%.

Dramatic responses like Henderson's have made the rounds on social media, igniting enthusiasm in long Covid communities. But many doctors are cautious because no one really understands how it works.

A patient receiving the stellate ganglion block procedure. (NBC News)

Some experts theorize that it may increase blood flow to the brain. Others suggest the block acts as a "reset button" for the sympathetic nervous system.

Some question whether it works at all.

"There is no scientific evidence that this is effective," said Dr. Justin Turner, an associate professor in the department of otolaryngologyhead and neck surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Given the lack of data suggesting efficacy, it's really hard to advocate for this for patients who have a problem that typically resolves with time," he said.

As many as 80% will recover on their own within about six months, said Dr. Zara Patel, a professor of otolaryngology at Stanford University.

That's because stem cells in the nasal cavity have the ability to turn into brand new olfactory receptor neurons that detect odors.

"Throughout our lifetime, probably every three to four months, each olfactory receptor neuron dies off, and a new olfactory receptor neuron comes in and takes its place," Patel said.

Sometimes those new neurons get confused after they regenerate, leading chicken to smell like rotten flesh, as in Henderson's case.

Distorted smell, called parosmia, isn't just about difficulty during mealtimes. The condition can have a profound and deeply upsetting impact on a person's life.

In 2021, researchers in the United Kingdom surveyed people with Covid-related parosmia. Some worried about the effect it had on how they felt about their children.

"A lot of my maternal bonding feelings for my children are tied up with smell," one woman said in the study.

Some reported that the problem was ruining their sex lives. One person wrote about a partner's "rotten breath." The stench was "unbearable, no matter how hard I tried to put it out of my mind."

Some patients fall into despair.

"I have had many patients crying in my office telling me that the parosmia  not just the smell loss, but the smell change  is destroying their life," said Dr. Nyssa Farrell, an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head & neck surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

However, she was wary of anecdotes of people getting better after a stellate ganglion block.

"It kind of sounds like voodoo," Farrell said. "I'm a scientist and I don't just believe what people say."

With desperate patients in mind, she started a small study to see if the block would work well enough to justify launching a large, randomized clinical trial that would give the needed evidence.

Among 20 patients with trouble smelling correctly, 10 reported "slight to moderate" improvement after the stellate ganglion block. It wasn't a strong result, but enough to move forward "to see if this is a placebo effect or if this is real," Farrell said.

A larger study is in the planning stages.

A stellate ganglion block is not the only potential remedy under investigation for loss of smell. Patel, of Stanford, ran a study looking at whether an injection of platelet-rich plasma deep into the nasal cavity might help prompt olfactory neurons to form correctly.

The procedure involves drawing the patient's own blood, removing its red and white cells, leaving behind plasma full of platelets and growth factors known to regenerate different types of tissue.

"Hopefully, what platelet-rich plasma is doing," Patel said, is getting those neurons to regenerate in a way "so that the correct signal is sent back to the brain."

Among 26 study participants, those who got the plasma injection were 12 times more likely to report improvements in their smell loss than those who got placebo shots.

Patel is now offering the procedure to all of her patients who have lost smell.

Does smell treatment work?

Excitement for stellate ganglion blocks' potential for treating long Covid ramped up in December 2021 when Dr. Luke Liu, a pain specialist in Anchorage, Alaska, reported the successful treatment of two long Covid patients.

Many of their ongoing symptoms, including muscle pain, fatigue, dizziness, brain fog and loss of smell and taste, improved within a week of getting the injections, he said.

Liu theorizes that a "glitch" in the autonomic nervous system plays an important role in lingering Covid and similar post-viral illnesses.

"In the case of long Covid, that glitch prevents the nervous system, and probably the rest of the body, from healing itself from a viral infection," he suggested. "The stellate ganglion block acts by pushing the reset button to that system. By doing so, it allows the entire system to reboot and become more synchronized and organized."

Liu has treated roughly 300 patients, and says about 65-70% "do really well and don't need any other intervention."

Still, he cautioned, it's too early to call stellate ganglion blocks a cure. About 5% of patients, he said, don't have any lasting improvement. About a third must go back to the clinic every few weeks or months for additional injections.

Henderson, who was treated at the Cleveland Clinic, has had to return three times. Her smell and taste are better, she said, but not back to normal.

"This should be treated as a scientific clue rather than a solution at this point," Liu said, adding that larger studies are needed.

What are the risks of smell treatment?

The bundle of nerves targeted in the block procedure is right next to the carotid arteries, a pair of major vessels that supply blood to the brain. If inserted incorrectly, the medication can disrupt vocal chords and lead to trouble breathing.

The risks drop tremendously when a highly experienced doctor performs the stellate ganglion block, which has been used for decades by pain specialists to treat complex pain syndromes, Farrell said. She partnered with an anesthesiologist for her studies.

"She does stellate ganglion blocks for a living," Farrell said. "For her, the risks are very low."

The cost of the procedure varies widely and some insurance companies do not cover the block to treat smell disorders.

Liu said that he charges $500 per block, and is disheartened by anecdotes of other clinics billing their patients thousands of dollars.

"To me, this is taking advantage of people who are suffering."

CORRECTION (April 1, 2023, 11:50 a.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the assistant professor of otolaryngology-head & neck surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is Dr. Nyssa Farrell, not Ferrell.

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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A group of Philadelphian train passengers held down an alleged gunman after a Thursday shooting incident until police arrived, video shows.

A 19-year-old was shot in his left arm on a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) train just before 8 a.m. The incident spilled onto the 52nd Street Station platform in West Philadelphia, with a few people detaining the suspected shooter before police arrived.

Cellphone footage captured by witness Mark Krull shows Market-Frankford Line passengers holding the suspect down until police arrived on the scene.

PHILADELPHIA TEEN TOLD MOM I LOVE YOU BEFORE BEING KILLED ON WAY TO SCHOOL

Cellphone footage captured by witness Mark Krull shows SEPTA passengers holding the suspect down before police arrived on the scene.

"Keep the kids down, keep the kids down," one man is heard saying in the video.

"It looked like they were beating somebody up. You hear a muffled gun shot and we all ran out of the train and hid behind one of those blue storage things SEPTA has," Krull told FOX 29 Philadelphia. "I was a bit shaken up. I ride the train all the time and it's usually not violent."

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The victim is in stable condition. Police said that the shooting started with an argument between two male passengers.

PENNSYLVANIA CHOCOLATE FACTORY EXPLOSION LEAVES FIVE DEAD, TWO MISSING: REPORT

The suspect was arrested by police, who say that the 19-year-old victim is in stable condition.

"That altercation was quickly joined by two additional males, erupting into a full-blown three to one assault," Acting Chief Chuck Lawson said.

Authorities said that three men were taken into custody, with a fourth suspect still sought by police.

The same men who detained the suspect on the train platform also held him down on the SEPTA train.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department for a statement, but no new details are available.
Colette Maze has been playing piano for more than a century, and is still drawing thousands of fans on social media.

Born in June 1914, before the outbreak of World War I and when one of her favourite composers, Claude Debussy, was still alive, the French pianist practices four hours a day and is about to release her seventh album, "108 Years of Piano".

From her apartment overlooking the Seine river in Paris, Maze moves cautiously between the three pianos in her living room, but retains a youthful enthusiasm.

"Me? I'm young," she says with a smile.

"Age is not something I'm interested in. There are people who are forever young, amazed by everything, and then there are people who don't care about anything and never loved anything, even their man -- can you imagine?" she adds.

- 'Piano is my life' -

Maze was a piano teacher for much of her life, and it was only after turning 100 that she started building a significant fanbase -- through her Facebook page.

Many are inspired by her continuing good health and refusal to give up the traditional French pleasures of wine, cheese and chocolate.

"She gives people strength -- that's why she has such crazy success," said her son, journalist Fabrice Maze, adding with pride that she is one of the few people over 100 releasing albums.

She still remembers the sound of "Big Bertha", the huge cannon used by the German army during World War I, but most of her memories revolve around her instrument.

"When I was little, I suffered from asthma and my mother would play violin with my piano teacher -- it would calm me," she says.

"Piano is my life, my friend. I need to feel it and hear it," she adds, before offering a rendition of Debussy's "Reflections in the Water".

Maze began playing at five, and despite reluctance from her parents, she won a place at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with teachers including the renowned Alfred Cortot.

Cortot was known for a method of relaxing all the muscles of the body -- which Maze credits with sparing her from arthritis.

The other secret to her youth? "I did a lot of dancing," she says. "I need to feel my muscles, my abdominals, my thighs, my arms. All that must be alive."

ram/er/lcm
Daffodil Festival

I miss not seeing in The News Tribune coverage about the Daffodil Festival, including the coronation of the Daffodil Queen and the parades throughout four cities in Pierce County.

This year, I learned of the upcoming Grand Floral Parade from a Seattle news radio station. It is sad that this newspaper has chosen  since about 1989  to pretty much ignore the festival.

Last year, this paper published information about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, including how to get there and the best route to take to see the flowers a week prior to the event so people could plan ahead. Why dont you do the same for our very own festival?

Please cover this local good news event that has been a part of our county for nearly nine decades. The high school students who march in the bands and the princesses all work hard and deserve recognition.

Kathleen P. Hetrick, Tacoma

Climate concerns

As a young person, I am deeply concerned about what my future will look like given the climate crisis. It is the top priority concern for me and my friends.

Climate dollars are now coming in from the federal Climate Commitment Act, and I want to ensure these funds are invested wisely to cut climate pollution and center environmental justice.

I urge Washington state Rep. Jake Fey and all state legislators to invest significant funds to replace large, dirty diesel vehicles with zero-emission options. This would include school buses, delivery vans, garbage trucks, semis and other large vehicles that drive through our communities. On top of fueling climate disruption, diesel vehicles spew a lot of toxic pollution that particularly harms kids. Its one reason why certain communities are overburdened with pollution.

My generation is counting on our leaders to prioritize cleaning up this sector by investing at least $250 million this biennium to clean up large vehicles so they no longer spew toxic pollution.

The stakes are high. We need bold action on climate every legislative session.

Story continues

Kenzie Knapp, Parkland

Low Income Housing Institute

As someone who found shelter at the Low Income Housing Institutes Aspen Court, nothing in The News Tribunes recent story matched my experience, both as a former client and current LIHI employee.

The circumstances that led me to Aspen Court are deeply personal. At the time, my husband and I lived out of our car, and I was deep into my addiction. The anger and hurt from losing my kids to Child Protective Services because of my addiction was overwhelming. Everything changed when I got that call telling us we got into Aspen Court.

Between the staff and support from other residents, I was able to have a safe space. Although I was at my lowest at the time, LIHI staff really made staying at Aspen Court a comforting experience. I was also able to get clean and sober while I was there; Ive now been sober for nine months and got all five of my kids back from CPS.

LIHI went above and beyond to ensure we were all safe and in good spirits. LIHI found my family housing, and now I have a job with LIHI helping other people in my situation.

LIHI should be praised, not condemned, for its work.

Doreen Taupau, Tacoma

Health priorities

Politicians these days seem to specialize in obsessing about trivialities.

For example, California recently proposed legislation banning red dye No. 3 and several other chemicals in candy. Yet California and many other states continue to legalize the use and cultivation of marijuana, which has been proven to kill brain cells, cause depression in youth, adversely affect unborn babies and deplete the nutrients in the soil.

Politicians also ignore recent research showing that even small amounts of alcohol can cause cancer. Ive never heard of anyone developing cancer because they ate too many Skittles.

I guess the phrase pick your poison is true. Its more popular to blame red dye No. 3 for all our problems than it is to help people stop drinking and smoking pot.

Beth Woodbury Hart, Puyallup
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) stresses that it has gathered substantiated evidence on the involvement of Pavlo Lebid, former Abbot of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra [Kyiv Monastery of the Caves  ed.], in inciting religious hatred, justifying and denying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine

Details: The special service posted a clip from Pavlos phone conversations and sermons.

The SSU also posted a video of Lebid being served with a notice of suspicion.

The investigators emphasise that they have established that in his public speeches, Lebid repeatedly insulted the religious feelings of Ukrainians, humiliated the views of believers of other faiths and tried to create hostile attitudes towards them, as well as made statements justifying or denying the actions of the aggressor country. A forensic linguistic examination initiated by the Security Service confirmed this.

Quote from SSU Chief Vasyl Maliuk: "The law and the responsibility for its violation are the same for everyone, and the cassock is not necessarily a guarantee of pure intentions. Today, the enemy is trying to use the church to promote its propaganda and fracture Ukrainian society. However, we will not give them a single chance! The SSU systematically blocks all attempts by Russian special services to use their agents to harm the interests and security of Ukraine."

Background: On 1 April, it became known that the Security Service was conducting searches at the home of Metropolitan Pavlo. He was charged with suspicion under Articles 161 (violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds), and 436.2 (justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Lebid was taken to the court, which chose a preventive measure in his case. The churchman stated that he "was never on the side of aggression."

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One man was arrested after another man was injured in a shooting near Milwaukee Park in Pacific on Friday afternoon, the Pacific Police Department announced.

According to police, officers were called to an area near the park at 522 Milwaukee Blvd. S. for a shooting around 2:45 p.m. With help from the Federal Way Police Department, the King County Sheriffs Office, and a Seattle Police Department K-9 Unit, officers found a 28-year-old man who had been shot.

The man was treated by members of the Valley Regional Fire Authority before being taken to Harborview Medical Center. According to police, the man underwent surgeries and is expected to be okay.

Polices investigation led to the arrest of a 20-year-old man who was booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault and other firearms-related offenses.

Police do not yet know the relationship between the suspect and the victim.
A 37-year-old man was shot and killed after Clayton County police said his gun was stolen from his holster as he waited in line to pay for a drink at a Shell gas station.

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According to police, on March 30, Shannon Watkins entered the gas station in the 500 block of Flint River Road in Jonesboro to buy a drink. While waiting in line police told Channel 2 Action News a male suspect entered the store and stood behind Watkins, grabbed the gun from Watkins hip, and ran out of the store.

Watkins ran behind the suspect and attempted to get the gun back. During the struggle over the gun, a second suspect exited a car and started firing at Watkins, hitting him multiple times.

Police said both suspects fled the scene in a white Chrysler 300.

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Watkins was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died from his injuries.

With assistance from the Clayton County Sheriffs Office, police were able to identify 18-year-old Chris Ervin Jr. as one of the suspects. Ervin was located by the countys Elite Fugitive squad and was charged with felony murder, aggravated assault with intent to kill, robbery by snatching, cruelty to children 1st degree, criminal damage 1st degree, firearms-discharge near a highway, reckless conduct, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.

Clayton police are actively searching for the second suspect. Anyone with information on the suspects whereabouts is asked to contact the police.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
This photo from a surveillance camera shows the man police say robbed the Exchange Bank on Noccalula Road in Gadsden on Friday.

Gadsden police are searching for a man who robbed the Exchange Bank branch at 1321 Noccalula Road on Friday, according to a post at the department's Facebook page.

The man robbed tellers at gunpoint at about 3:50 p.m., according to the post. No injuries were reported, but no information was given about how much the robber escaped with.

Police shared a surveillance photo of the robber and his vehicle. They say the man should be considered armed and dangerous, and asked anyone with information to call the department at 256-549-4500. People can also use its anonymous tip line at 256-543-2444, or submit a tip online at https://bit.ly/3ZCT4dP.

This photo from a surveillance camera shows the vehicle of a man police say robbed the Exchange Bank on Noccalula Road in Gadsden on Friday.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Gadsden police seek bank robbery suspect
A police officer in Florida opened fire on an alligator to reclaim the body of a two-year-old boy who had been missing since the discovery of his mothers body the previous day.

Taylen Mosleys mother Pashun Jeffery was found dead in her apartment on Thursday (30 March) and there was no sign of the toddler, The Tampa Bay Times reports.

On Friday, an officer found an alligator with the missing child in its mouth near Dell Holmes Park in St Petersburg, Florida.

The officer fired their weapon at the animal which then dropped the boys body. The alligator was killed.

It is my condolences going out to the family and to his loved ones, said St Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway.

We are so sorry that it had to end this way, he added.

We didnt want to find him this way, Mr Holloway said. But at least we can bring some closure to that family now.

The police chief said Taylens father, Thomas Mosley, will be arrested on two charges of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of the boy and his mother.

Mr Mosley stabbed Ms Jeffery multiple times and then went to an are hospital on Wednesday night with cuts to his arms and hands.

He was still at the hospital on Friday night and police plan to arrest him when he is discharged, the police chief said.

Nothing in our investigation leads us to believe that he is a victim, Holloway said.

A pending autopsy by Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiners Officer will establish the cause of the toddlers death.

It is unclear if Taylen died before or after he went into the lake.
ROME (AP)  A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that he's still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peter's Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis' Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend's Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peter's Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the child's already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell  I felt sick," he said, pointing to his mid-section  a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

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Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favorites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, Long live the pope! and clapped.

Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad.

Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they "show great tenderness."

We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals, he said. Francis also said he read journalists' accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.''

Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, Forward, thanks.

In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered , Yes.

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) address, a review of the globe's conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peter's Square.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.

__

Gregorio Borgia contributed reporting.
ROME  A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that hes still alive.

Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peters Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekends Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peters Square and at an outdoor Easter Mass on April 9. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is expected to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Romes Colosseum to mark Good Friday

Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis had an emotional moment with a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask Do you have a pen? Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the childs already well-autographed cast.

The pontiff answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell  I felt sick, he said, pointing to his mid-section  a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital Wednesday.

Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, Still alive, you know. He gave a thumbs-up sign.
Pope Francis was released from the hospital on Saturday, after being treated for bronchitis, the Vatican said.

The pope, who is 86 years old, was hospitalized for a pulmonary infection earlier this week, after experiencing respiratory difficulties.

Pope Francis greeted the leadership of Gemelli Hospital in Rome, as well as the medical team that treated him, before leaving the hospital on Saturday, according to Vatican News, the Holy Sees official news service.

He then headed to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he prayed before the icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, for all the sick and those suffering due to the illness or loss of loved ones.

The Vatican noted that Pope Francis prayed in a special way for the children he met with on Friday in the hospitals pediatric oncology and neurosurgery wards.

He is expected to be present for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peters Square this weekend, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said on Friday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Debra Poole has been hailed for six-and-a-half years. (SWNS)

A primary school worker who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund an "extravagant lifestyle" of luxury holidays and cars has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Debra Poole, 61, was in charge of the bank accounts at Hinchley Wood Primary School in Surrey.

Kingston Crown Court heard how Poole caused her position as signatory of the after-school clubs bank account to the tune of 490,000 from October 2011 until October 2018.

Poole was convicted of one count of fraud by abuse of position and three counts of fraud by false representation following a trial and was sentenced on Friday.

Debra Poole was jailed at Kingston Crown Court. (Getty)

Poole began working at Hinchley Wood as school secretary in February 2000 before being promoted to senior administration officer four years later.

As well as overseeing the schools finances, she oversaw the documentation used for any changes to staff pay.

Poole would transfer funds, write out cheques to herself and then cash the cheques.

The school was left without basic supplies while parents said their children's education had suffered, the court heard.

Poole enjoyed a luxury lifestyle of expensive holidays in locations including New York and Amsterdam.

In February 2009, Poole submitted a 'Variation in Pay Form' to Surrey County Council, in which she increased her own salary scale from level E to F.

Two years later she submitted further paperwork increasing her pay scale further from level SP9 to SP10.

She also claimed that between June 2016 and September 2018 she was working 30 hours a week administering the breakfast club and after school clubs.

Her husband, Gary Poole, 67, was found not guilty of one charge of acquisition, use and possession under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Detective Constable Lloyd Ives, who investigated the case, said: "This gross breach of trust and her elaborate deception spanning some nine years funded an extravagant lifestyle and afforded her luxury holidays and cars which she would not otherwise have been able to afford.

DC Ives added: I hope that the sentence given to her today shows the seriousness with which such a massive abuse of trust and position is taken.
 

Skvortsov was arrested by officers from Ukraines SBU security service on Feb. 22 after it was discovered that he had been hiding out in Kyivs Pecherska Lavra church and monastery complex near the center of the Ukrainian capital.

Read also: Ukraine brings charges against Russian blogger Pegov in absentia, Prosecutor General says

Kyiv City Prosecutors Office says the blogger has been charged in accordance with Part 1 of Article 111 of Ukraines Criminal Code. The charges against him have now been submitted to court, and if convicted, he faces 12 to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors said the blogger had engaged in subversive activities since before Russias full-scale war on Ukraine began, denying the existence of Ukraine as a state and the Ukrainian people as a full-fledged independent ethnic group.

To fulfill the tasks of (his) Russian curators, the (suspect) prepared and sent articles for publication in which he expressed pro-Russian views, the statement on the prosecutors website reads.

Read also: Russian propaganda narratives: What is the Kremlin betting on?

These publications were posted on Russian websites, were actively spread by propagandists on the Internet and social networks, and were available to an unlimited number of users.

Prosecutors said that in these articles, Skvortsov promoted and glorified Russia and its (self-proclaimed) president (Vladimir Putin, a war crimes suspect wanted by the International Criminal Court), emphasizing Russias high mission in the world and its sacrifice.

At the same time, he spoke negatively and with prejudice about politicians of Ukraine, and its language and culture, prosecutors said.

The findings of the (pre-trial investigation) confirm that the specified (materials) contained information aimed at inciting national, inter-ethnic, social enmity and hatred, creating discord between the army and the people, negatively influencing public opinion, contributing to the spread of Russian propaganda in Ukraine and threatening national security in the information sphere, which is a component of subversive activity.

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The blogger was informed of the suspicion against him in absentia in August 2022, but evaded justice and was put on Ukraines wanted list. In February 2023, the SBU learned that he was located within the territory of the Holy Annunciation Monastery of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in Kyiv.

SBU

The Lavra, which is a Ukrainian cultural heritage and UNESCO World Heritage site, had been under the control of the Russian-led Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate until March 29, after which its lease from the state was cancelled.



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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
After news broke on Thursday of former President Trumps indictment over a 2016 hush money payment, Republicans and Democrats alike rushed to offer their two cents on the history-making decision to charge a former president.

While Democrats largely celebrated the indictment as a win for justice, most Republicans denounced the charges as an unprecedented abuse of power and a politically-motivated prosecution.

However, several prominent figures have remained notably silent on the indictment.

Mitch McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has maintained a rocky relationship with Trump over the years, has yet to comment on the former presidents indictment.

McConnell also does not appear to have commented on the case in the lead up to the indictment, as Trump fueled speculation earlier last month that he would be arrested.

The top Senate Republican has walked a careful line when it comes to the former president, largely remaining silent in the face of Trumps regular attacks.

John Thune

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) has also not chimed in with his thoughts on the indictment, either before or after Thursdays news broke.

Like McConnell, Thune has also distanced himself from the former president. In December, Thune said he hoped Republicans would have other options in the 2024 presidential election beyond Trump.

Kristi Noem

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), a longtime supporter of Trump, has been floated both as a potential 2024 contender and a potential running mate of the former president.

However, Noem, who has yet to offer her opinion on the indictment, has also lightly criticized Trump in recent months, suggesting in November that the former president doesnt represent the best chance for the Republican Party in 2024.

Liz Cheney

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) became an outspoken critic of Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, leading the charge to investigate the riot as one of only two Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee.

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Cheney has continued to criticize Trump and her fellow Republicans since being ousted from office last year, but she has yet to comment on the hush money indictment.

Chris Christie

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a onetime Trump ally turned critic, has yet to comment on the official indictment but questioned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs (D) priorities last month, as charges appeared imminent.

I dont think this is the crime of the century, and its certainly not a case that is going to improve, as I said, the everyday lives of the citizens of Manhattan, Christie told Fox News Brian Kilmeade.

Larry Hogan

Another Trump critic, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), does not appear to have commented on the indictment.

Hogan, who has previously said he did not vote for Trump in the 2020 election, recently ruled out launching a competing bid against the former president for the Republican nomination. However, he later said he would still consider a third-party bid for the White House.

President Biden

President Biden has firmly chosen to stay out of the indictment discussions.

I have no comment on Trump, Biden said on Friday, after reporters asked him multiple times about the former president.

In the face of additional indictment-related questions, he reiterated, Im not going to talk about the Trump indictment.

Hillary Clinton

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also remained silent on the former presidents indictment, which is related to her 2016 race against Trump.

The criminal charges brought against Trump come in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to buy her silence about an alleged affair with the former president.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Prosecutors have submitted an application for a restrictive measure in the form of round-the-clock house arrest for Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid), who is suspected of inciting religious hatred and denying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda source in law enforcement agencies

Details: The restrictive measure will be selected by the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv on 1 April.

Background: On the same day, it was revealed that the Security Service of Ukraine had conducted searches at the home of Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid). He was served with a notice of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Art. 161 (infringement of the equal rights of citizens based on their race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds) and Art. 436 (justification, recognition as legitimate or denial of the Russian Federations armed aggression against Ukraine or glorification of its participants).

The Metropolitan was taken to the court so that a restrictive measure could be selected for him. He said he had "never been on the side of aggression."

The Security Service has disclosed evidence in refutation of these words.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Dictator Vladimir Putin has changed the concept of Russia's foreign policy ahead of Russia's presidency in the United Nations Security Council for future efforts to form an anti-Western coalition at the UN.

Source: ISW



Details: On 31 March, Putin approved a new concept of Russia's foreign policy aimed at promoting the Kremlin's anti-Western coalition.

The report reads that the new foreign policy concept portrays the West as an anti-Russian and internationally destabilising force, and explicitly states that the United States and its "satellites" have unleashed a hybrid war aimed at weakening Russia.

"Putin previously used meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping on 20 March through 22 to increase attempts to rhetorically rally the rest of the world against the West, and the new document likely aims to support the Kremlins attempts to intensify proposals to non-aligned countries to form a more coherent anti-Western bloc," the report states.

The ISW believes that Putin's proposal to form an anti-Western bloc during Xi's visit to Russia was not received positively, as Xi refused to join China in the geopolitical conflict that Putin envisioned with the West.

Analysts assume that the Kremlin may have decided to unveil the new foreign policy concept on the eve of its presidency of the UN Security Council to create information conditions for future efforts in the UN aimed at forming an anti-Western coalition.

The report also says that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continues to use high-profile public statements to portray Belarus as a sovereign state, despite the fact that it is de facto occupied by Russian troops.

Analysts say that Lukashenko repeated the boilerplate rhetoric that he was an equal partner with Putin in the defence of Russia and Belarus.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev used comments about the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine to continue information operations that portray the West as the one escalating tensions.

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Analysts suggest that Medvedev was probably reacting to Viktor Orban's statements of 31 March regarding alleged European discussions about sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine and said that Russian troops would be targeted by hypothetical peacekeepers.

Medvedev argued that a Western-led peacekeeping mission in Ukraine would end in tragedies reminiscent of Yugoslavia and other conflicts.

However, the report reads, apart from Orban's comments, there is no indication that Western officials are seriously discussing such a proposal, and Medvedev likely used Orban's comments to create a false narrative to portray the West as the one trying to escalate the war in Ukraine.

ISW Key Takeaways for 31 March



Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new Russian Foreign Policy Concept on 31 March that likely aims to support the Kremlins attempts to promote a potential anti-Western coalition.





Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continues to use high-profile public statements to portray Belarus as a sovereign state despite its current de-facto occupation by Russian forces.





Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov promptly rejected Lukashenkos suggestion of a ceasefire and indicated that the Kremlin is not interested in serious negotiations.





Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev leveraged comments about sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine to continue information operations that portray the West as escalatory.





Russian forces continued ground attacks along the Svatove-Kreminna line.





Russian forces made gains within Bakhmut and Ukrainian forces regained positions in the Bakhmut area.





Russian forces continued offensive operations along the Avdiivka-Donetsk frontline.





Ukrainian strikes against Russian concentration areas in southern Ukraine are likely causing the Russian grouping in the area to change tactics to avoid the risk of strikes.





Russian officials continue to state that Russian forces have no plans for a formal second wave of mobilisation.





Russian officials continue to send Ukrainian children to camps in Russia.

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

Currently on a tour of Germany with her husband King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla paid tribute to her late mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, by wearing one of her favorite jewelry pieces while at the central station in Berlin.

Camilla pinned the late Queen's diamond and sapphire brooch to her own navy Anna Valentine dress.

The piece of jewelry was originally a gift from Prince Albert to his future wife, Queen Victoria.

In other royal news, Princess Anne rewears sweet accessory with special nod to her shared passion with the late Queen Elizabeth .

Looking as put-together as usual, 75-year-old Camilla finished off her look with black boots and a similarly colored Chanel handbag.

Despite looking great all around, though, all eyes were on the brooch that the royal opted to wear while meeting Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, his wife Elke Budenbender and Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz.

The jewel, in fact, has a long and storied history.

Camilla and Charles in Germany

Also referred to as Queen Victoria's sapphire and diamond wedding brooch or Prince Albert brooch, the piece was actually a gift from the latter royal to his future wife the day before their wedding in 1840.

According to reports, the diamonds-and-gold brooch quickly became one of Victorias favorites as she was seen wearing it plenty of times throughout her reign - including on her actual wedding gown.

The late royal even wrote in her diary that her future husband had gifted her "a splendid brooch, a large sapphire set round with diamonds, which is really quite beautiful."

Passed on from generation to generation as part of the official Royal Collection (where the piece is described as "a large oblong sapphire surrounded by 12 round diamonds"), the brooch eventually landed in the hands of Camilla's former mother-in-law, the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was mostly seen donning it at daytime events.

Imbuing the pin with even more symbolism, it is reported that Victoria and Albert made copies of it to give to their daughters.

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One of those copies was then given by Queen Elizabeth to Princess Anne in celebration of her 50th birthday back in 2000. During the festivities, the mother-daughter duo donned the same clasp - the queen opting for the original alongside Anne's copy.

Queen Camilla

This seems to be the first time that Camilla has worn the piece since entering the royal family and, if Twitter reactions are of any indication, folks are pretty happy about the fashion choice.

"I am delighted to see Her Majesty The Queen Consort following the tradition of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II," a Twitter user commented.

"So happy about this!," someone else wrote on the social media platform. "The vaults are truly OPEN! "

The King and Queen Consort's current trip through Germany has brought along with it other exciting fashion moments, including Camilla's decision to wear her favorite tiara for the first time as Queen with shimmering gown in Berlin.

The royal couple attended a State Banquet at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin and Camilla's favorite tiara was showcased as she brought back the late Queen Mothers magnificent Boucheron Tiara for the first time since she became Queen.

We cant wait to see what the royal has in store next in terms of style picks.
Brandi Glanville and Caroline Manzo in confessionals side by side

The Real Housewives franchise has been going strong for nearly two decades, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Indeed, there are multiple franchises airing new episodes at any given time. Then there's the Ultimate Girls Trip series, which is basically like Housewives All-Stars. The third installment is airing for those with a Peacock subscription, although there's plenty of drama for the upcoming fourth season that's already been making headlines. Brandi Glanville recently denied any wrongdoing in Caroline Manzo situation... and the internet has thoughts.

The upcoming fourth season of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip will be set in Morocco, and there were plenty of reports about the drama when filming was underway. Perhaps the biggest headline was that RHOBH's Brandi Glanville reportedly touching RHONJ's Caroline Manzo against her will, seemingly resulting in both of them leaving the trip early. There's been a ton of chatter online about this incident, and Glanville recently took to Twitter to share her perspective. Check it out below:

I'm fucking sick of this narrative.I was hired for a 2nd season of girls trip cuz they LOVED what I did on 1st season I was told to bring the party just like before & that's exactly what I did & Iwas punished for it. It feels like a fucking set up. It's BS & Caroline was fineMarch 30, 2023

See more

Well, she certainly didn't mince words. While Caroline Manzo recently broke her silence about the scuffle and revealed she's seemingly still quite upset by her interaction with Brandi, that's not how the Traitors star took it. What's more, Glanville thinks she was set up regarding RHUGT, presumably by the powers that be at Bravo/Peacock. Talk about drama.

Brandi Glanville's Tweet about her drama with Caroline Manzo stands in stark juxtaposition to what we've been hearing from the Real Housewives of New Jersey OG or the folks at Peacock. Indeed, the network launched its own investigation into the incident in Morocco. And after Glanville was missing from the reunion of The Traitors, fans worried about her future as a Housewife. For Manzo's report, she maintains that she was forcibly touched and kissed by her fellow cast member. Bravo fans have been sounding off about Glanville's tweet, with many criticizing both her reported behavior an her response online. One such user tweeted:

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By no means should you ever be treated poorly however you bring all of this on yourself there is conflict everywhere you go and you cannot tell me that it's always somebody else's fault.own it acknowledge it, and move on the Real Housewives is no longer a place for you

That was honest. Housewives fans are known for being super passionate, often making their opinions or hot takes known online. And give just how fiery Brandi Glanville's tweet was, it inspired some equally passionate responses. Some were in her favor, and others definitely were not.

While fans will have to wait for RHUGT 4's release to finally see exactly what happened between Caroline Manzo and Brandi Glanville, people are already making their judgements. Some agreed with Brandi's assessment about being set up, with one person tweeting:

We know. This is getting them more publicity than they couldve paid for

Prior to the scuffle with Caroline Manzo, it certainly did seem like Brandi Glanville might have been forging a path to re-join the cast of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. As she mentioned in her tweet, fans really responded to her on the second season of Ultimate Girls Trip. Add in a short but memorable appearance on The Traitors, and it seemed like she was back in the Bravo family. That is, until what went down in Morocco.

While there's plenty of shade being thrown in the responses to Brandi's tweet, there are also those who are taking the situation with Caroline Manzo very seriously. One such fan took Glanville to task, writing:

A set up? How were you set up to sexually assault a coworker? Get help girl. They must have psychiatrists in LA with sliding scales. Seriously, Im concerned.

Clearly there's a ton of interest behind what went down during Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip Season 4. And considering that the third season is currently airing on Peacock, that's saying a lot. Smart money says these all-stars season are going to keep coming for the foreseeable future.

Bravo fans can catch new episodes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Ultimate Girls Trip weekly on Bravo and Peacock respectively. In the meantime, check out the TV premiere list to plan your next movie experience.
With winds howling, it was tough sailing for competitors in The Santa Elena Regatta in Beaufort Saturday.

The annual combined catboat and keelboat competition consists of the Jean Ribaut Cup Saturday, and the Pedro Menendez Cup Sunday, drawing boats from across the southeast.

Pushed along by the high winds, the catboats racing Saturday were screaming across the Beaufort River as they approached downtown Beaufort.

Weve got incredible winds, said Jim Thomas, the regatta chairman.

Competitors in the The Santa Elena Regatta were flying across the Beaufort River near downtown Beaufort Saturday thanks to high winds. Karl Puckett/kapuckett@islandpacket.com

One racer decided not to race at all, deciding it would not be much fun. Its just too much, Thomas said.

Prolonged winds of up to 35 mph pushed the catboats around at times, especially as they maneuvered around race buoys.

A boom snapped off the mast of one boat, forcing the captain to steer the ailing vessel to the day dock in Beaufort, the result of the wind and and an aging boat. At the time, the boat was in third place.

High winds made for difficult sailing conditions during the The Santa Elena Regatta. This participant had to call it quits and steer the boat to the day dock in Beaufort. Karl Puckett/kapuckett@islandpacket.com

You can easily break things on a day like today, Thomas said.

On Saturday, 15- to 18-foot-long catboats, mostly from regional sailing clubs, raced on the Beaufort River between the Woods Bridge and the Intercoastal Waterway G39 marker.

Sundays race features 18- to 22-foot-long keelboats, from clubs across the Southeast, racing offshore in Port Royal Sound, generally between Hilton Head, Bay Point and Parris Island. The race was expected to begin at 10 a.m. in downtown Beaufort.

The races pay homage Frenchman Jean Ribaut and Spaniard Pedro Marquez, who were early explorers of the region.

The Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club is the sponsor of the races.
Renewed dynamism of Chinese economy a pivotal driving force for Asian recovery, integration

Xinhua) 10:25, April 01, 2023

* This year, the weighted real GDP growth rate of Asia is estimated at 4.5 percent, an increase from 4.2 percent in 2022, according to a report released Tuesday by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).

* Since the beginning of this year, more Asian countries have perceived China's renewed economic vigor and its ensuing driving force to regional recovery.

* China, a champion of multilateralism, is committed to sharing its development dividends with all partners, both regional and global, by offering global public goods.

BOAO, Hainan, March 31 (Xinhua) -- As the Philippines started shipping fresh durians to China this month, 29-year-old Jomar Abdon, a Filipino durian grower, called access to the enormous Chinese market a bonanza.

Thanks to the deal signed during Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos' visit to Beijing in early January, around 9,696 direct jobs and 1,126 indirect jobs will be generated after Philippine durians are cleared to export to China, according to the Philippine Department of Agriculture.

This photo taken on March 30, 2023 shows the venue of a session themed on "Building an Order of Cooperation and Security in the South China Sea" during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2023 in Boao, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Fan Yuqing)

This is one latest epitome of the vibrant Asian economic recovery after China optimized its epidemic prevention and control measures. This year, the weighted real GDP growth rate of Asia is estimated at 4.5 percent, an increase from 4.2 percent in 2022, according to a report released Tuesday by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) during its annual conference scheduled for March 28-31 in Boao, a coastal town in China's island province of Hainan.

In particular, a 1-percentage-point increase in China's GDP growth leads to a 0.3-percentage-point increase in growth in other Asian economies, said the report titled "Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress," citing data from the International Monetary Fund.

China's robust economic rebound has delivered very positive signals to not only Asia, but also the wider world, providing valuable certainty for a world afflicted with uncertainties, said BFA Secretary General Li Baodong during the forum.

China has served as a stabilizer for the economic growth of both Asia and the world, thanks to its high-quality development, cooperation-oriented policy measures and high-standard opening up, which also led to its rapid recovery, Zhang Yuyan, director general of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told a press conference following the release of the report.

WEIGHTIER ASIAN GROWTH

Hailing Asia "a bright spot in the bleak global economic landscape," the report highlights that global economic governance enters into the "Asian moment," and regional economic integration has been advancing with trade dependence between regional economies standing at a relatively high level.

Since the beginning of this year, more Asian countries have perceived China's renewed economic vigor and its ensuing driving force to regional recovery. With strong trade and cooperation linkages with regional countries, China's high-quality development is widely expected to bring about a larger share of Asia's growth in 2023.

The status of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China as hubs for trade in goods remained unchanged, said the report. The highest level of dependence was found among ASEAN members, reaching 21 percent in 2021. Japan and South Korea had a dependence on China of over 20 percent.

China-ASEAN cooperation has made Asia the most dynamic region in the world, said Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, an arm of the Royal Academy of Cambodia.

He noted that China's high-quality development will inject new impetus into ASEAN's economic development in the post-epidemic era, through bringing high-quality, more environmentally friendly and innovative investment projects, as well as the latest technologies to ASEAN, which will contribute to the building of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Besides, China's resumption of outbound tourism is also expected to strongly stimulate the recovery of tourism and investment across Asia.

Since this year, a large number of Chinese tourists, especially business groups, have come to Laos to explore investment and trade opportunities. Later, a large number of agricultural, forestry, industrial and mining projects, with planned investment of over 100 million U.S. dollars, have taken shape in Laos targeting the Chinese market, according to Orlathy Santikhongkha, vice president of the Young Entrepreneur Association of Laos.

Chinese tourists visit the GPalace scenic spot in Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

The expert said that cross-border passenger trains are scheduled to launch on the China-Laos railway this year, further boosting the free flow of people, materials and capital between the two countries, and bringing much-needed vitality to regional grow

With the steady growth of its own economy, China, a champion of multilateralism, is committed to sharing its development dividends with all partners, both regional and global, by offering global public goods.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), one of the country's flagship public goods designed to enrich the mechanism and content of international cooperation, as well as promote common prosperity for all.

Over the last decade, China has been dedicated to delivering public goods to the international community, including the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which are widely recognized as the country's unremitting efforts to advance Asian integration and globalization.

A China-Europe freight train is pictured at Xi'an International Port in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 23, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

"China's series of initiatives based in Asia basically promote deeper economic integration, including improving policy coherence, promoting an enhanced cooperation platform and stronger collaboration. I think this is a welcomed development," said Allan Gepty, assistant secretary of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry.

By improving infrastructure construction, promoting connectivity, and strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges, the BRI has not only promoted rules-based free trade system, but also made Asia a more prosperous region, he stressed.

Over the past decade, China has signed cooperation agreements with 151 countries and 32 international organizations, with its trade with countries along the Belt and Road up 19.4 percent in 2022 over the previous year.

The BRI paints a vision of connectivity and shows foresight, said Renat Bekturov, governor of Astana International Financial Center, during a sub-forum at the BFA on Tuesday.

Over the past decade, from ports to railways, a series of projects have built corridors in Europe and Asia, making the flow of people and goods between East and West unimpeded and making that vision a reality, he added.

For Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, minister for planning, development and special initiatives of Pakistan, the essence of the BRI lies in sharing.

He stressed that China is ready to share its successful experience in poverty alleviation with countries along the route without reservations or strings attached, so as to build a community with a shared future for mankind through promoting common prosperity.

The global public goods provided by China adhere to real multilateralism, which conforms to the trend of the times by upholding peaceful development and win-win cooperation, Xu Xiujun, research fellow with the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the CASS, told Xinhua.

Besides, China's public goods are completely open, not only to developing countries, but also to all developed countries. It is not exclusive, he said, adding Belt and Road cooperation enjoys a very strong continuity, and has entered a stage of high-quality development.

Phea from Cambodia pointed out that such global public goods as the BRI and the GDI are vital for practicing the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

That means "China has played and will continue to play a vital role in promoting free trade, multilateralism and globalization, which are essential to building a just, equitable, open and inclusive world," he noted.

GREATER OPENNESS

As China has been pursuing a proactive strategy of opening up, its global public goods have been welcomed by the international community.

Moreover, as a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, China has worked to build a globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas and accelerated the development of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port, leading the world in total volume of trade in goods. It is also a major destination for global investment and a leading country in outbound investment.

"With a foreign policy that places peace and development at the core of its international engagements, China has demonstrated willingness to share the outcomes of its development with the rest of the world, in an effort to achieve global development targets such as those codified under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

Workers transfer trolleys of flowers at the Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center in Dounan, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

Adhere said that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), the world's largest free trade deal taking effect since January 2022, has not only benefitted member states, but also serves as an important benchmark for other regions seeking to consolidate economic integration.

The emergence of the RCEP provides reference for the world in building free trade agreements with higher level, wider scope and unified rules in the future, said Masahiro Morinaga, chief delegate of the Japan External Trade Organization's Chengdu office.

In this aspect, Santikhongkha from Laos observed that the RCEP has offered an open and fair platform for calibrating regional and global trade rules and order, and more importantly, giving participating countries a chance to find new cooperation breakthroughs on this platform.

It has prompted contemplations on how to make the best use of free trade mechanisms like the RCEP, which will be conducive to the upgrading of related policy measures and further benefitting more markets around the world, said the expert.

"Asia is home to two of the world's leading trade agreements, the RCEP as well as the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), which really underscores the fact the region's committed to globalization, committed to trade as a driver of growth," said Ben Simpfendorfer, a partner at leading international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, adding it "will ultimately be positive for global growth."

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Hongyu)
Lord Alton claims that people of faith are being discriminated against at work - Roger Harris

Religion is a blind spot compared to race, sex and disability in workplace discrimination, a peer has warned.

Lord Alton, 72, a crossbench peer and vice-president of the Catholic Union, claimed that people of faith are being discriminated against at work, adding that they should not feel they need to conceal an essential part of who they are.

His comments come as a Catholic Union survey found that four in 10 people do not believe religious discrimination is taken as seriously as that against other protected characteristics such as age, race, sex and sexuality.

Almost a third of people (31 per cent) said they had felt disadvantaged at work because of their faith, according to the survey, with the vast majority of these instances (73 per cent) occurring in the public sector.

Almost half (48 per cent) said they felt unable to talk about their faith openly with colleagues.

The survey also highlighted particular problems in hospitals, universities and the police.

Mary Onuoha: My cross had to be removed and hidden otherwise I would lose my job whereas other faiths were allowed to display their beliefs without challenge - Heathcliff O'Malley

One lay chaplain in an NHS hospital spoke of a pathological closing down of chaplaincy work; another responder was subject to a formal complaint for saying God bless to a patient.

The Catholic Union has shared the results with Parliaments Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), on which Lord Alton sits. The JCHR is carrying out an inquiry into how human rights can be protected at work, including freedom of religion and expression. The deadline for submitting evidence has been extended until April 13.

Lord Alton said: People of all faiths should not be expected to shed or conceal an essential part of who they are when they go to their place of work. This is not only a point of principle: there are clear legal requirements around religious freedom.

We are getting better at removing discrimination at work on the basis of race, sex, orientation, and disability, but there is still a blind spot when it comes to religion.

Religious freedom is so often the canary in the mine for many of the freedoms we enjoy. Ignore discrimination or prejudice and it readily morphs into persecution and, then, in some parts of the world into appalling crimes against humanity. We all lose out if religious freedom is eroded.

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Bacteria-harbouring

In January last year, a tribunal ruled that Mary Onuoha, a Christian nurse who was forced out of her job for wearing a crucifix  which NHS officials accused of being bacteria-harbouring  was unfairly dismissed.

The theatre practitioner at Croydon University Hospital, claimed she was singled out and persecuted for her religion after being ordered to remove her small gold cross, which she has worn for almost 40 years.

She brought a legal case against her former employer of 18 years, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, on the grounds of harassment, victimisation, direct and indirect discrimination, and constructive and unfair dismissal.

Responding to the results of the survey of 222 people, she said that more needs to be done to protect people with religion at work.

My cross had to be removed and hidden otherwise I would lose my job whereas other faiths were allowed to display their beliefs without challenge, she said. I was treated like a criminal for refusing to comply.

My small cross around my neck was deemed so dangerous that I was no longer allowed to do my job.

Going through what I did was a very difficult experience which had a huge impact on me. I am so thankful that I received justice and was vindicated but, as this survey highlights, many Christians are facing difficulties, which is very concerning. I think more must be done to protect Christian beliefs in the workplace.
We have entered the spring season of holy days for Muslims, Jews, Christians, and those who practice earth religions.

Apart from any religious practice, the awakening of the earth to new life after the barrenness of winter stirs the human spirit. It comes as no surprise that people of many religious and spiritual understandings find meaning in this glorious time of year.

Ramadan fasting

On March 23, Muslims began the holy month of Ramadan, the month when Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran, their holy scripture, were revealed to the blessed Prophet, Muhammad. Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn until dusk during this holy month.

I read about a Hindu who works in a healthcare setting in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and fasts annually with his friends and colleagues during Ramadan. He started as a show of solidarity with his Muslim friends. He says he continues the observance as it brings people together irrespective of their caste, creed or color and offers peace and positivity to the lives of people. He finds it is an exercise that helps control his mind and fight cravings, transforming him into a new and better person by the end of Ramadan.

A Christian healthcare colleague in UAE, who also observes Ramadan annually in respect of her Muslim coworkers says, It boosts your mental strengths and clears your thoughts. I feel it kind of detoxifies our minds and brings positivity in life.

Muslim friends Nasir and Nabila break the fast with the McKibbens after sunset.

The predawn meal to start the daily fast during Ramadan is called suhoor, while the breaking of ones fast after sunset is called iftar. During the hours between these two meals, Muslims do not eat or drink, not even water. They do feed the spirit with prescribed prayers, scripture readings, self-examination, acts of charity, and communal meals at nightfall.

Ramadan is a sacred and comforting time for many of the 1.9 billion Muslims around the world whose primary goal is to get closer to God spiritually. Ramadan is not punitive, but rather an opportunity to become ones best self and, from my experience with the Afghani refugees in our community who observe the fast, it is mostly a joyous time.

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Ari and his father, Rabbi Schneur Oirechman, grate the bitter herb horseradish for the Seder.

Passover Seder

Passover, which falls on April 5 and 6, overlaps Ramadan this year. It also overlaps our grandson Rowens spring break, which he is spending with us. Rowen is Jewish and we will be observing the Passover Seder with him at Temple Israel.

The seder ritual, which was designed after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple to substitute for the offering of the Passover sacrifice, is believed to be about 2,000-years old. It recounts the series of events of the Exodus from Egypt, which according to retired Rabbi Barry Marks, shapes the religious consciousness and identity of Judaism more than any other holy day.

While the ritual is ancient, and the actual deliverance even more so, the lessons it teaches resonate with our human condition today. Freedom is to be cherished and protected, and we want to be mindful that we can be shackled both physically and spiritually. That justice, freedom, and human dignity can prevail over oppression and exploitation, as the story of the Exodus tells, gives us hope for our own lives and for our own troubled time in history.

During the Passover seder, we will be reminded of the importance of empathy as we recall what our ancestors suffered and consider those who suffer in our midst today. The commandment to love the stranger and to refrain from oppressing him or her, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt as repeated in Hebrew scripture, will be spoken and taken to heart.

My Jewish grandson has only recently become interested in his religious heritage and I am eager to be a part of this meal with him. I feel grateful to our Jewish community in Tallahassee for welcoming all to the table for this deeply meaningful observance.

Rev. Mike Fordham leads an Easter sunrise service at Killearn United Methodist Church Sunday, April 4, 2021.

Christian Holy Week

Both Ramadan and Passover share the calendar with the Christian Holy Week, which begins on April 2, Palm Sunday, and extends through Holy or Silent Saturday on April 8.

Recently, I attended a screening of a Kramer Brothers film on prison reform titled, The First Step. Hosted at FAMU School of Pharmacy, there was an excellent panel discussion after the screening including panelist, Neil Volz, whose organization, The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, was recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Volz made a statement that I have heard several times of late. He said, Whether or not you believe in the divinity of Jesus, you cant deny his humanity. I do not think this statement is meant to diminish Jesus, but to affirm a common ground regarding this one who taught forgiveness and encouraged the care of prisoners.

If ever a week in Jesus life reflected his undeniable humanity, it is the week that Christians call Holy Week.

From Sunday of Holy Week when Jesus experienced the palm-waving adulation of the crowd as he entered Jerusalem, through Good Friday when those cries of Hosanna had become calls for his crucifixion, Jesus experienced anger at the temple on Monday, sadness as he looked over Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives on Tuesday, a day of rest and probable Passover preparation on Wednesday, and an intimate meal with his closest of friends on Maundy Thursday. The shocking unknowing and painful grief of the Saturday following his brutal crucifixion on Friday, close Holy Week in silence.

Christians around the world journey closely with Jesus during the highs and lows of Holy Week, reflecting on the meaning of his life and death. While anticipating the most joyous of Christian Holy Days, Easter, when the power of resurrection and new beginnings is affirmed, the discipline is to walk with Jesus through the uncertainty and agony.

Springtime is a holy season for many people of varying religious faiths and for those who see, in the earths renewal, the possibilities for self-renewal.

During this holy season may we all find ways to honor the spiritual paths of others as we draw strength and hope from our own particular journey during this gorgeous time of year. I pray we honor each other and encourage those whose lives feel dark even amidst creations springtime beauty.

The Rev. Candace McKibben

The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Spring rebirth aligns with holy season of Ramadan, Passover, Easter
Freshman Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley returned home to Placer County on Saturday, where he continued to cultivate his role as Gov. Gavin Newsoms chief antagonist in the California congressional delegation.

Kiley, in Roseville to speak to a meeting of the South Placer Republican Women Federated, took on several of his Democratic foes  specifically former California Labor Secretary Julie Su, President Joe Bidens nominee for U.S. Secretary of Labor.

Kiley was welcomed home in warm and patriotic fashion at the Sierra View Country Club, where dozens of women  led by Dry Creek School Joint Elementary School District Board member Jean Pagnone, the South Placer RWF president  applauded his return.

I dont know if Ive ever been in a more patriotic group, Kiley told the crowd adorned in MAGA hats, Lets Go Brandon shirts, and other Trump attire and accessories.

Kiley was home from Washington, D.C. to give the group an update about his first months as Congressman and caution voters about the Newsom administrations continued model of failure.

Where the battle lines have really being drawn right now, said Kiley, is with the nomination of the next Secretary of Labor for the United States.

Who is Julie Su? he asked his supporters. She was an acolyte of Gavin Newsom.

Su, a longtime union leader, faces a Senate confirmation hearing later this month that will likely be messy. During her two-year tenure as the states Labor Secretary, California experienced unprecedented unemployment fraud in the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the state is estimated to have lost $30 billion in fraudulent claims.

She was responsible for that, Kiley said. Because she didnt know basic, common sense things like not sending checks to prisons.

In 2020, district attorneys from across the state wrote to Gov. Newsom asking him to implement changes at the unemployment department when the state paid upwards of $1 billion in fraudulent claims to prison inmates.

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There is no sugarcoating the reality, Su said at a news conference in early 2021. California did not have enough security measures in place.

Republicans have said that Su continues to fail up  first when Biden appointed her as Deputy Secretary of Labor in 2021, and again earlier this year when he appointed her to take over for outgoing Secretary Marty Walsh.

Su was also the architect who ruthlessly enforced AB5, Kiley said. The bill, which passed in 2020, extended employee benefits to some independent contractors. Proponents, like Su, said it protects workers. Opponents, like Kiley, said it put people out of work. Congress is considering a national version of the same bill.

Ive made it a top priority to ... lay the case against Julie Su, and by extension, Gavin Newsom, Kiley said. Kiley was unavailable for an interview on Saturday after the event.

I think this is the most high stakes moment yet for this goal (of) bringing Californias failures to the national level ... if we can defeat her nomination, it is going to be a huge victory, and a huge loss for Gavin Newsom.

Newsom has been a strong supporter of Su. In 2021, when Biden appointed her Deputy U.S. Labor Secretary, Newsom said: With a leader like Julie at the helm  a tireless fighter for working Americans and a voice for the voiceless  the U.S. Department of Labor will play a central role in guiding us through recovery toward becoming a safer, more equitable and more prosperous nation.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is asking her fellow House members to sign a letter calling on the Justice Department to end its prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of publishing classified documents.

The letter, which was obtained by The Intercept, is currently circulating among members as they are urged to sign it and has not yet been sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman, N.Y., Ilhan Omar, Minn., and Cori Bush, Mo., have signed the letter. The office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she intends to sign the letter.

"I know many of us have very strong feelings about Mr. Assange, but what we think of him and his actions is really besides the point here," Tlaib's letter to her colleagues reads. "The fact of the matter is that the in which Mr. Assange is being prosecuted under the notoriously undemocratic Espionage Act seriously undermines freedom of the press and the First Amendment."

The letter comes just ahead of the fourth anniversary of Assange's April 11, 2019, detention.

JULIAN ASSANGE SUPPORTERS GATHER IN LONDON FOR EXHIBITION OF LARGEST PHYSICAL SHOWING OF CLASSIFIED DOCS

Assange is facing a legal battle over his potential extradition to the U.S. regarding the publication of classified materials detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan. The materials also expose instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

If he is extradited to the U.S., Assange would face 17 charges for receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the espionage act and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. He could be sentenced to as many as 175 years in an American maximum security prison.

The Wikileaks founder has been held at Londons high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in 2019 for breaching jail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations he raped two women. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.

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Tlaib's cites last year's open letter from the editors and publishers of U.S. and European news outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak.

"The New York Times, The Guardian, El Pais, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel have taken the extraordinary step of publishing a joint statement in opposition to the indictment, warning that it sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine Americas First Amendment and the freedom of the press," Tlaib wrote to House members.

NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS CALL ON US TO END PROSECUTION OF JULIAN ASSANGE

The congresswoman also warned that major news outlets could later be prosecuted for publishing accurate information using classified materials if the case against Assange is successful.

"Mr. Assanges prosecution marks the first time in US history that the Espionage Act has been used to indict a publisher of truthful information," she wrote. "The prosecution of Mr. Assange, if successful, not only sets a legal precedent whereby journalists or publishers can be prosecuted, but a political one as well. In the future, the New York Times or Washington Post could be prosecuted when they publish important stories based on classified information. Or, just as dangerous, they may refrain from publishing such stories for fear of prosecution."

The Cablegate documents for which Assange is facing prosecution were leaked to WikiLeaks by then-U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses.

The Obama administration did not indict Assange over Wikileaks' publication of the cables in 2010 because it would have also had to do the same to other journalists from major news outlets. But former President Trump's Justice Department later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has continued pursuing his prosecution.

The U.S. government has purported that Assanges publication of classified material put its sources and allies in danger, although this claim is without evidence.

Assange is facing a legal battle over his potential extradition to the U.S. regarding the publication of classified materials detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government.

And the CIA during the Trump administration, reportedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as "Vault 7." The agency said this publication represented "the largest data loss in CIA history."

According to a 2021 Yahoo report, the CIA had discussions "at the highest levels" of the Trump administration during this time about plans to assassinate Assange in London. Acting on orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo , the agency had drawn up kill "sketches" and "options."

The agency had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange and had made a political decision to charge him, according to the report.

Many Democrats still hold a negative view of Assange over publications blamed for hurting Hillary Clinton's presidential chances in 2016. Wikileaks had published internal communications between the Democratic National Committee and then-presidential candidate Clinton's campaign. The communications revealed the DNC's attempts to boost Clinton in that year's Democratic primary.
Its been a banner year for anti-transgender hate in America, the result of a concerted right-wing effort to alienate and attack trans people.

In the wake of the mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday, conservatives have only heightened their anti-trans rhetoric, twisting the shooters purported gender identity into what they claim is a civilizational war by all trans people against Christianity  even as Republicans across the country have thrown their weight behind hundreds of bills that would strip trans people of basic rights.

Police have said the shooter identified as transgender  a claim that trans activists and journalists have criticized because it is unverified  but they also noted the shooter was a former student at the school. Authorities havent singled out a specific motive for the attack yet. The shooter was killed by police at the school.

Nonetheless, right-wing commentators have declared that the shooting, which left three children and three adults dead, was nothing less than the beginning of a bloody battle.

On Tuesday, Tucker Carlson, the most watched cable news commentator in the country, called the trans movement the natural enemy of Christianity. Christianity and transgender orthodoxy, he said, were incompatible and on a collision course with each other.

One side is likely to draw blood before the other side, Carlson said before referring to the shooting. Yesterday morning, tragically, our fears were confirmed.

Across the right, major players are characterizing trans people not just as groomers  an attack that plays on centuries-old fears of LGBTQ+ people targeting children  but as violent actors.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), newly empowered due to her alliance with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), wondered aloud on Monday, How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking? (Police havent said anything about any medication the assailant may have been taking.) Patrick Byrne, the former Overstock.com CEO who has spent millions of dollars sowing doubt about Democrats election wins, asked his Twitter followers Wednesday, referring to trans people, How many will they slaughter in schoolyards to get even? Because folks dont want them rolling around in lingerie with kids?

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The data on mass shootings couldnt be more clear: The vast majority are committed by cisgender men. And trans people are much more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crimes.

And yet after the shooting, right-wing media personalities hyped the claim that there have been four trans or nonbinary people accused in mass shooters in recent months. Among them is the accused attacker who killed five, including two trans people, in a Colorado Springs, Colorado, gay nightclub last year. Though that alleged shooters attorney has claimed in legal filings that the defendant uses they/them pronouns, some are skeptical: Police say the suspect ran a neo-Nazi website, used a slur for a gay person and posted an image of a rifle scope trained on a gay pride parade. A former neighbor told NBC News, I think its an insult to those people that are actually going through personal struggles with their own sexuality and their own personal identity.

Nonetheless, Twitter CEO Elon Musk  who has allowed the platform to transform into a haven for far-right voices and has been in charge of the company while tweets mentioning the groomer narrative have increased by 119%  responded to a post about the four accused shooters with a ! comment. Donald Trump Jr. declared a clear epidemic of trans/non-binary mass shooters, prompting notes from Twitter users about the thousands of cisgender male shooters who did not receive the same scrutiny.

Even the terror felt by the trans community is weaponized against them: After NBC News reported on the fear pervading the Nashville trans community in the wake of the school shooting, including one drag performer who noted shed hired armed guards for an upcoming show, far-right media personality Matt Walsh said the report highlighted trans privilege. Walsh, whose Twitter bio brags of being labeled a theocratic fascist and transphobe of the year, added that they  referring collectively to trans people  had massacred children.

Supporters of LGBTQA+ rights march from Union Station toward Capitol Hill on Friday.

Supporters of LGBTQA+ rights march from Union Station toward Capitol Hill on Friday.

A Really Scary Time

The rhetorical attacks on trans people have been accompanied this year by a deluge of legislation targeting them.

Though there were fewer than 70 anti-trans bills introduced annually in state legislatures through 2020, there were 144 proposed in 2021, 174 proposed last year  and a whopping 490 proposed in the first three months of 2023 alone, according to Trans Legislation Tracker, a database of the bills.

Andrew Bales, who created the website, told HuffPost that states have already enacted 23 of the proposals into law this year, nearly matching the 26 anti-trans bills passed nationwide in all of 2022.

Bales said that although certain proposals had continued from years past, such as restrictions on bathroom usage and school sports, state lawmakers have sponsored numerous bills in 2023 over gender non-conforming performances, creating legal definitions that could exceed far beyond drag shows, along with bills legislating trans kids behavior in schools. Bales also noted a steep rise in bills targeting gender-affirming health care: 148 proposed so far in 2023, more than the past five years combined.

Some legislation would extend bans on trans health coverage to patients as old as 26. Other bills classify this health care as child abuse.

Its a really scary time, and a time when I hope a lot of people are looking at this and understanding the kind of attacks that are really happening on trans people and the level of threat that there is, Bales said.

The bills are part of a broader movement of hate toward LGBTQ+ people in the United States.

In November, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) said that anti-LGBTQ+ mobilization had risen to its highest levels since the project started recording U.S. data in 2020. A spokesperson for the group, Sam Jones, told HuffPost in an email that although late 2022 remains a high point  ACLED recorded 240 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in total last year  anti-LGBTQ+ mobilization is continuing at very high levels.

If you compared the first quarter of 2023 with the same time period last year, for example, its four times higher, Jones said in an email. Incidents logged this year include protests outside family-friendly Drag Queen Story Hour events and at medical clinics that offer gender-affirming care to trans people. Members of the Proud Boys, the far-right street gang that played an integral role in the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, frequently attend these events.

On Thursday, a police department in Ohio recommended canceling a planned drag brunch at a community church due to a realistic threat that organized protests and counter-protests could result in violence. The Sunday prior  before the Nashville shooting  the church announced that Molotov cocktails had been thrown on the property and a sign had been smashed with a sledgehammer, according to WJW-TV in Cleveland.

For Bales, whos been tracking the rights aggressive focus on the trans community for years, the recent attacks feel like an extension of years of bigotry  an extreme backlash that goes back to a major win for the LGBTQ+ community, the U.S. Supreme Courts legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.

I think this year its really starting to play out ... the same bills are being introduced [in different states], the rhetoric is changing so incredibly at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), they said. Its a really scary thing to watch.

Related...
When Lula Owl, the first member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to become a registered nurse, arrived in Wakapala, South Dakota, to assume her first paid nursing position in 1916, she might have left immediately upon her arrival at the train station - if the train back east had run more than once a day.

Lula Owl Gloyne

She recalled in an oral history recorded in 1982, I left (Cherokee, North Carolina) in July and it was so nice and beautiful here and warm. And I got to South Dakota and everything was dead. The grass was dead, nothing but old buffalo bear bushes and cactus and way off in the distance near a little stream was cotton wood trees. ... There wasnt anybody at the station and when the (station agent) finally came I said, What time does the train go back east? Because Im going back home.

But soon after, two women arrived to take her to the St. Elizabeths Episcopal School on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation; theyd had a flat tire on the way.

She fought homesickness, but soon settled into her new position, first working to make life better for the staff and children at the school and then treating illness among the general Sioux population.

St. Elizabeths Episcopal School, like the Cherokee Boarding School that Owl had attended on the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, was one of the many schools founded in the United States with the goal of converting Native American children to Christian civilization. Despite these efforts, a 2005 study found that those who attended and lived at St. Elizabeths gained an education, became Christian, but did so on their terms.  They did not lose important cultural foundations which defined them as  Indian.

(A 2001 study of 16 ECBI members who attended the Cherokee Boarding School concluded that more often than not  (the) boarding school experience, for them personally, appeared to be not all that bad. Still, the study continued, it is also important to recognize that what the school did when it suppressed use of the Cherokee language, kept the children separated from their homes and families for long periods of time, and frequently treated them harshly had far-reaching and damaging consequences in the longer term for Cherokee culture and the family unit.)

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One of Owl Gloynes first projects was to set up a purified drinking water system. The school was hauling water for washing, drinking, and cooking 40 miles from the Missouri River. They would strain large particles out of the water, but otherwise the water was untreated. After typhoid broke out at the school, Owl began boiling water for the students.

She recalled: I sent to Washington for some medical things and they sent me a recipe of how I could purify the water. I used lime and sand and a few pieces of coal in the bottom of a barrel; (the school administration) had a fit when I first started it, but it was really good after it had gone through all that and was purified. A man from Washington came and tested it and said it was wonderful.

Gaining trust

Owl had to also gain the trust of the Souix people who lived outside the schools boundary. Her first adult patient was an older man complaining of a terrible headache. He lived with his daughters 8 miles from the school. He had built a large wooden frame home for his Wellesley and Smith College-educated daughters and had an interior decorator come out, but he still preferred to live behind their house in the traditional tipi of the Souix tribe.

When Owl arrived, the man was surrounded by relatives and friends mourning his impending death. Though Owl spoke the native dialects of both the Cherokee and Catawba (her father was Cherokee and mother Catawba) as well as English, she did not speak Souix and traveled with an interpreter. The interpreter told the man, Heres the medicine woman. The old man turned his head and looked at Owl and said, Shes too young. She dont know nothing. Ill stay with my Indian doctor.

She replied: If he doesn't want me to touch him or give him medicine I wont do it. But if - morning, noon, or night - I can do anything for him, he can send for me and Ill come.

Four days later, a man on a horse came racing to the school to let Owl know, He wants you.

So Owl and her interpreter traveled back in their buggy to tend to the man. Owl recalled, I examined him and I thought that he had a heatstroke. ... I bathed him and kept putting compresses (on him) ... and finally got his temperature down; it was 104 to 102 and then I started giving him sips of water. ... It was getting late, so I mixed up two aspirin tablets in a glass of water and made him drink it. ... When I got back at 10 oclock the next morning he was sitting up and eating breakfast.  He said I was a little angel. And I didnt have any trouble after that with the Indians. It all fell to me to do what I could for them.

Army service

Her services were so valued at the school that when she was drafted by the U.S. Army to serve as an American Red Cross nurse at Fort Dobbs, the doctors at the school got her a deferral. When she was then called to Fort Dodge, they got her deferred again. But the next time the order came, she went.

In a 1982 interview, she slyly remembered why she did not fight for another deferral, I had a good reason. In the meantime, Id gotten married.

She explained to the interviewer, We were at a rodeo and I met (Jack Gloyne, a private in the Army). And in two weeks time, we were married. And he had to go on to Camp Kerlee. ... Id had a letter from him a few days before (my call to Camp Lewis) and Jack said, We are going to be mustered out  I dont know where, but its rumored were going to Camp Lewis, Tahoma, Washington. So when the order came, it said, Report without fail to Camp Lewis, and my ticket came and I went.

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With her entry into the US Army Nurse Corp. as a 2nd Lieutenant, Owl Gloyne became the first - and only - officer from the EBCI to serve in World War I.

But finding her new husband in Camp Lewis, the largest military post in the U.S. at the time was not easy. (More than 37,000 people lived at the camp by the end of 1917.) After asking around for weeks, she heard a rumor that a group from Camp Kerlee had arrived several weeks earlier, so she wrote a note and it miraculously found its way to Jack Gloyne.

Owl Gloyne remembered, He called me at my barracks (and told me)) to wait for him at the bridge and we would go to the restaurant and eat and talk. But as they were walking down the path, they passed another officer, who said to Jack, Privates arent allowed to associate with officers, go back to your barracks.

Owl Gloyne never told the Army that she was married because they would have kicked me out. They wouldnt take a married woman.

Though Owl Gloyne was the only ECBI officer, she was certainly not the only EBCI member to serve in WWI; 117 EBCI members registered for the federal draft at Cherokees school on June 11, 1917. And when the U.S. Army realized that the Germans were intercepting Allied messages written in English, they began to consider sending messages in Native American languages. During the Somme Offensive in the fall of 1918, men from the Eastern Band became the first documented code talkers. The success of messages transmitted in the Cherokee language led to the better-known use of Navajo code talkers during WWII.

Returning to Cherokee

After the war, Lula and Jack Gloyne began making their way east, eventually settling in Cherokee. Jack got a job running a store and post office and Lula became the first full-time western-trained nurse serving the people on the Qualla Boundary. The couple would eventually have four children.

Owl Gloyne remembered, I think I worked about two years without pay. I couldnt say no. After two years time, the superintendent created a job for me as a field nurse, so I did a lot of home nursing. At the time that I started we didnt have a resident doctor.

Though there had been a doctor associated with the Cherokee Boarding School, the schools medical ward was not open to the public. The closest doctor at the time was Dr. Bennett, who was located 10 miles away in Bryson City. According to Owl Gloyne, often a woman could be in labor and almost ready to deliver and he wouldnt get here in time so I had to go ahead and deliver. But I had kinda specialized in the subject  so Id had some experience in delivering. Owl Gloyne actually had a great deal of experience; she had received the gold medal in obstetrics from her nursing school.

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Owl Gloyne had another concern; the closest public hospital was in Waynesville. And though the Cherokee Boarding School doctor and nurse were opposed to opening the school hospital (known as the dispensary) to the public, Owl Gloyne went to Washington, D.C., to speak to the officials in charge of Indian Medical Affairs. She recalled, they finally decided to open up the dispensary; it was two wards (with about nine beds each) and it had two sun porches. And then we had a delivery room and it was also used for an operating room.

When the hospital opened, they hired Owl Gloyne as head nurse and gave her a Ford to drive. (Previously she had walked, ridden horseback, or taken an ox team to visit patients in their homes.) In 1982, she remembered the first patient she took to the hospital.

The womans husband had told Owl Gloyne that his wife was sick. But, Owl Gloyne recalled, he didnt tell me that she was going to have a baby. The couples house was far up on the mountain, accessible only by a wagon road that crossed several creeks.

To get across the creeks, a man told me how to ford the creeks and not kill my motor. Id open up the hood and loosen up the exhaust pipe  and after I got across Id have to stop and hook it back up. I think I had to cross about four streams until I got to where the woman was in labor.

Owl Gloyne continued, When I got up there she was lying on the floor on a dirty quilt  and I said, Youre going to the hospital. But the woman wanted to have the baby at home. Still, Owl Gloyne convinced her to go. I put her on the back seat and came flying down to Cherokee and every few minutes Id turn back and say, Dont you dare have that baby in my new car!  I had to stop and unhook the exhaust pipe every time, so (when) I got her to the hospital and she wasnt up there 10 minutes before she had that baby.

That was the first baby that was born in the hospital, Owl Gloyne said, and after that it wasnt long before they were just glad to come in when they were sick and they used that hospital up (at the school) until they built a new one (in Cherokee).

Jack Gloyne died 1931 of yellow jaundice. After his death, Owl Gloyne requested a transfer and took her family to Oklahoma to live and work as a public health nurse for the next nine years.

Of her time in Oklahoma, Owl Gloyne recalled, Mary Lou wasnt yet two at the time, and the other three children were just grade school youngsters. I had a big job to face, rearing those four children and seeing to their education all by myself. But I was determined to keep them all together as a family, instead of farming them out to people who offered. I was lucky in having my nursing experience to fall back on, and I went right back to work. Those first years were hard - carrying a full schedule, and trying to make a good home for the kids in my time off. But I did it. I did it, all by myself and with no help from anybody.

When she returned to Cherokee she continued to serve her community in a variety of medical positions. In 1943, the EBCI designated Lula Owl Gloyne as a Beloved Woman, a title bestowed upon women who have made special and unique contributions to the Cherokee people.

Anne Chesky Smith

Anne Chesky Smith is the executive director of the Western North Carolina Historical Association and the author of the 2021 book Murder at Ashevilles Battery Park Hotel: The Search for Helen Clevengers Killer.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Lula Owl Gloyne, 1st RN and 1st World War I officer from Cherokee
WASHINGTON - Here's a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

Along with the week's roll call votes, the House also passed the following measure by voice vote: the Undersea Cable Control Act (H.R. 1189), to require the development of a strategy for eliminating the availability to foreign adversaries of products and technologies for deploying undersea telecommunications cables.

The Senate also passed the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act (S. 777), to increase, effective December 1, 2023, the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans.

House votes

Chuck Edwards

House Vote 1: PARENTS AND SCHOOLS: The House has passed the Parents Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5), sponsored by Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., to make federal funding for local elementary and secondary schools contingent on them notifying a student's parents of their rights regarding awareness and oversight of the school's policies, finances, and procedures. Letlow said: "This bill aims to bring more transparency and accountability to education, allowing parents to be informed and, when they have questions and concerns, to lawfully bring them to their local school boards." An opponent, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., called the bill "an educational gag order across the nation which will prevent students from learning and prevent teachers from teaching." The vote, on March 24, was 213 yeas to 208 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 2: ORGAN HARVESTING: The House has passed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (H.R. 1154), sponsored by Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., to direct the president to impose sanctions on foreigners who traffick in organs taken from people forcibly, and have the State Department revoke the passports of people convicted of forced organ trafficking crimes. Smith said China's annual taking of organs from tens of thousands of young adults, including for transplantation into senior Communist Party officials, showed "no signs of abating, which is why we and the rest of the world need to step up" and punish such cruelty. The vote, on March 27, was 413 yeas to 2 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

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House Vote 3: STATUS OF CHINA: The House has passed the PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act (H.R. 1107), sponsored by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., to direct the State Department to advocate that international organizations stop classifying China (PRC) as a developing country, which results in beneficial treatment by those organizations. Kim said: "We cannot let the PRC continue exploiting countries in need and take unfair advantage of international treaties and organizations." The vote, on March 27, was unanimous with 415 yeas. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 4: LNG EXPORTS: The House has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), to express the sense of Congress as criticizing the denial of permits for the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal that would have been built on the Oregon coast. Boebert said: "A West Coast LNG export terminal would have shaved critical days and significant costs off exports to Asia, eliminated threats associated with hurricanes, and reduced our reliance on the Panama Canal, which causes significant uncertainty and delays." An opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said it would be wrong for Congress to judge the decision made by Oregon's government to reject the permit applications for Jordan Cove. The vote, on March 29, was 221 yeas to 208 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 5: FOSSIL FUEL TAX INCREASES: The House has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), to express the sense of Congress as criticizing the tax increases on oil and natural gas proposed in President Biden's fiscal 2024 budget request. Hern said the increases "will kill jobs, raise fuel prices, and leave America more dependent on foreign oil." An amendment opponent, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said the oil and natural gas industry could weather the tax increases because in 2022 six of the industry's largest companies made $200 billion and spent "billions to enrich their shareholders with stock buybacks and dividends, all while gouging American drivers at the pump." The vote, on March 29, was 228 yeas to 206 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 6: NATURAL GAS STOVES: The House has agreed to an amendment sponsored by Rep. Gary J. Palmer, R-Ala., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), to bar the Energy Department (DOE) from implementing regulations to block the sale of natural gas-fueled stoves to consumers. Palmer said such restrictions would increase cooking costs and be "a direct attack on all natural gas use in the country and another example of the Biden administration's desire to control every decision we make." An opponent, Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., said: "This amendment would bar DOE from finalizing any future efficiency standards for gas stoves, locking consumers into less efficient appliances that are certainly more costly to use." The vote, on March 29, was 251 yeas to 181 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 7: CHINA PURCHASES OF FARMLAND: The House has approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., to the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), that would bar China's Communist Party from buying American farmland or land used to generate renewable energy. Westerman said: "Our country's food security and energy independence are at stake, and we must take action to protect our critical resources." The vote, on March 30, was 407 yeas to 26 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

House Vote 8: ENERGY POLICY: The House has passed the Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1), sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., to make a variety of changes to federal energy policies. Changes include: faster regulatory reviews of energy development projects, barring the president from banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of wells, removing some restrictions on oil and natural gas imports and exports, and ending several federal programs subsidizing measures such as building energy efficiency improvements. Scalise said of the need for the bill: "A lot of the infrastructure that we need to make this country grow is being held up right now from a lot of radical regulations on the left and outside groups that don't want American energy." A bill opponent, Rep. Katherine M. Clark, D-Mass., called it a move "to triple down on allegiance to Big Oil, give away more federal land, invite more offshore drilling, unleash more pollution into our water and our air and our land, and leave the taxpayers footing the bill." The vote, on March 30, was 225 yeas to 204 nays. YEAS: Edwards R-NC (11th).

Senate votes

Sens. Ted Budd, left, and Thom Tillis

Senate Vote 1: PANDEMIC RESPONSE TREATIES: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to a bill (S. 316) that would have required Senate ratification before the U.S. joined any convention or agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Assembly, which is part of the World Health Organization. Johnson said Congress should "no longer allow the administration to go ahead and negotiate agreements that can have a dramatic impact on our sovereignty and bypass the Senate entirely." An opponent, Sen. Timothy Kaine, D-Va., said the bill should remain focused on the Iraq war and not include extraneous matter such as would be introduced by the amendment. The vote, on March 28, was 47 yeas to 49 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 2: MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAN: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to a bill (S. 316) that would have stated that the president retains authority to use military force against Iran's military and its actions against U.S. soldiers in the Middle East. Cruz said the amendment was needed because "I don't want to give an excuse for the Biden administration, the next time Iran attacks, to do nothing" in response. An opponent, Sen. Timothy Kaine, D-Va., said it would be a mistake to authorize escalating action against Iran via a briefly considered amendment to an unrelated bill. The vote, on March 28, was 41 yeas to 55 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 3: AFGHANISTAN INVESTIGATION: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to a bill (S. 316) that would have established a Joint Select Committee on Afghanistan in Congress to make an investigation into the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer 2021. Scott said the select committee was the best way to have accountability for the mistakes that created "America's most stunning, unforced, and humiliating defeat in decades." An amendment opponent, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said the bill "is not the right venue for establishing a committee of this nature." The vote, on March 28, was 33 yeas to 62 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC. YEAS: Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 4: OVERSIGHT OF UKRAINE AID: The Senate has rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to a bill (S. 316) that would have established an Office of the Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance, to be charged with overseeing the use of aid sent to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Hawley said having a single government watchdog handle oversight would help avoid repeating the billions of dollars of waste that occurred during the war in Afghanistan. An opponent, Sen. James E. Risch, R-Idaho, said "there are already 64 ongoing or planned audits and reports on U.S. assistance to Ukraine," making the amendment unnecessary. The vote, on March 28, was 26 yeas to 68 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC. YEAS: Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 5: IRAQ WARS AUTHORIZATIONS: The Senate has passed a bill (S. 316), sponsored by Sen. Timothy Kaine, D-Va., to repeal the 1991 and 2002 resolutions that authorized use of military force against Iraq. Kaine said the 2002 resolution in particular was rushed through the Senate without proper deliberation before embarking on a lengthy war. An opponent, Sen. James E. Risch, R-Idaho, said keeping the resolutions would enhance Congressional oversight of military actions against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The vote, on March 29, was 66 yeas to 30 nays. NAYS: Tillis R-NC. YEAS: Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 6: REGULATING WATERWAYS: The Senate has passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 27), sponsored by Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., to disapprove of and void an Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency rule issued this January that defines Waters of the United States (WOTUS). Such waters would be subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act. A supporter, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said overturning the rule was needed to "ensure agricultural producers and other stakeholders have the regulatory certainty to take care of our nation's land and water resources, the lands and waters that we love." An opponent, Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., said of the WOTUS rule: "This commonsense, science-based approach recognizes that pollution upstream can have downstream impacts, so we must protect the system to safeguard downstream communities and our environment." The vote, on March 29, was 53 yeas to 43 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 7: ENDING NATIONAL COVID EMERGENCY: The House has passed a resolution (H.J. Res. 7), sponsored by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, R-Ariz., to end the national emergency in response to Covid that was declared by President Trump on March 13, 2020. A supporter, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said: "It is time to end any and all authoritarian control and unilateral spending decisions without congressional consent." The vote, on March 29, was 68 yeas to 23 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC, Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 8: STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Richard Verma to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Verma, U.S. ambassador to India during the Obama administration, is currently Mastercard's chief legal officer and head of global public policy. A supporter, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Verma's "long public sector career, which includes service in the Air Force, the Senate, and the State Department, will help him be an effective leader who can advance the Department's modernization agenda." The vote, on March 30, was 67 yeas to 26 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC. NAYS: Budd R-NC.

Senate Vote 9: INDUSTRIAL BASE POLICY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Laura Taylor-Kale to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. Taylor-Kale has been a senior official at the World Bank, an official in the second Obama administration, and most recently was a Council on Foreign Relations research fellow for innovation and economic competitiveness. The vote, on March 30, was 63 yeas to 27 nays. YEAS: Tillis R-NC. NAYS: Budd R-NC.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Here's how WNC's members of Congress voted March 24-30
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the fiscal year 2023 budget in Washington on April 26, 2022. Romney has joined legislation that would limit the IRS from being used as a political tool. | Al Drago, Associated Press

A group of Republican senators, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, introduced a bill this week that they say would keep the IRS from being used for political purposes against conservatives.

The move stems in part from a political scandal during the years former President Barack Obama was in office, when the IRS was found to be targeting conservative nonprofits, particularly those associated with the tea party movement. In 2017, the IRS settled with close to 500 conservative groups for their treatment by IRS agents when they sought tax-exempt status.

The senators said they were also motivated by news from journalist Matt Taibbi, who said that while he was testifying in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, IRS agents visited his house in New Jersey.

The committees chair, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News he may subpoena documents related to the IRS visit to Taibbis home.

Democrats demanded that Matt Taibbi, an American journalist, reveal his sources at a Congressional hearing.



And while they were doing that, an IRS agent visited his house.  Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 29, 2023

The Republican senators who introduced the bill questioned the timing of the visit.

The bills reintroduction comes as the IRS impartiality is being questioned for visiting the home of journalist Matt Taibbi  whose reporting revealed collaboration between the federal government and social media companies such as Twitter to censor inconvenient information and counter-narrative news stories, a press release from Romneys office said.

The bill, which was introduced in a previous Congress, is called the Dont Weaponize the IRS Act, and puts into law a rule established when former President Donald Trump was in office that keeps the IRS from asking for the names and addresses of donors to nonprofit organizations.

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Too often over the last decade, the IRS has been used for political means, said Romney. This legislation will prevent the IRS from targeting Americans  because of their presumed political or religious beliefs  in the future.

Related

Democratic senators asked the Biden administration to overturn the Trump rule on donor disclosure, saying in a letter that the IRS rule is a major step backwards for transparency and will allow dark money to continue to corrode our political system, according to The Washington Post.

Republican lawmakers have also raised concerns about an $80 billion increase in funding for the IRS that was approved last year, and President Joe Bidens budget asks for another $29 billion for the agency.

Biden has defended additional funds for the IRS, saying they are necessary to pay for tax enforcement.
PROVIDENCE - The list of potential - and announced - candidates keeps growing for the 1st Congressional District seat that U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, is giving up on June 1 to take a job at the Rhode Island Foundation.

Cicilline's move will trigger a special election in Rhode Islands First Congressional District, which covers the eastern portion of the state. Primary day will be Tuesday, September 5 and the general election on Tuesday, November 7.

Candidates will be able to file their official Declaration of Candidacy paperwork during the last week in June, according to the Secretary of State's website.

More: Here's when Rhode Islanders will vote on who will replace David Cicilline in Congress.

What Democrats have declared they are running for CD1?

House Finance Committee Chairman Marvin Abney, D-Newport

Former White House and Raimondo staffer Gabe Amo

Nicholas Autiello, a former Raimondo-era staffer in economic development

Former RIPTA driver Mickeda Barnes

Stephanie Beaute, a 2022 candidate for secretary of state

Former Naval War College Prof. Walter Berbrick

State Rep. Nathan Biah, D-Providence

State Sen. Sandra Cano, D-Pawtucket

Renewable Energy Investor Don Carlson

State Rep. Stephen Casey, D-Woonsocket

Providence Councilman John Goncalves

Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos

Former Rep. Aaron Regunberg

Republican-turned-Democrat Allen Waters

State Sen. Ana Quezada, D-Providence

What Republicans have declared they are running for CD1?

None so far.

Who is currently 'exploring' a run for CD1?

DEMOCRATS:

Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien:

The Pawtucket mayor says "the likelihood that I will run for the seat is very high," but he has not yet made a decision.

East Providence Mayor Roberto DaSilva: "This is a unique opportunity," DaSilva said. "I haven't made a decision one way or another yet, but it is intriguing, the ability to serve your state in another capacity and to serve your nation is something that piques my interest."

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Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt:

"I have not made a decision as of yet, but have been in conversations with folks, including my family" whom she said were supportive of the idea. She did not have a definitive date by which she would make the decision.

State Sen. Meghan Kallman, D-Pawtucket

North Providence Council President Dino Autiello

REPUBLICAN:

No Republicans have said they are currently considering a run.

INDEPENDENTS:

None at this time (Former Atty. Gen. Arlene has removed her name from consideration.)

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Announced and potential candidates for RI's 1st Congressional District seat
As a father who witnessed the dedication, effort, academic, and personal growth of two sons as they persevered over two years in the Tri-County International Baccalaureate Diploma program (IBD), I find the news of its imminent closure disheartening.

Andrew J. Cerniglia

This marks an end to the only consistently offered standardized, rigorous and universally recognized curriculum available to students attending the area's rural high schools and with it, their best opportunity to pursue an education that meets their needs.

Another view: Enrollment drop, cost among factors in decision to end tri-county baccalaureate program

For readers who are not familiar with the program, it is an internationally recognized curriculum built around three core elements: Theory of knowledge, the extended essay (independent research), and creativity, activity, and service. Students complete advanced coursework in global politics, foreign language, science, literature, and math.

Worldwide, only around 170,000 students earn an IB diploma annually, placing our local graduates in an exclusive club.

In its 20-plus years of existence, graduates of the program have been accepted into Ivy League universities, military academies, study abroad programs, and schools of art.

IB exam scores are treated similarly to Advanced Placement (AP) exam scores by college admissions departments who are acutely aware of the qualities required to earn the diploma: persistence, self-regulation, work-capacity, writing ability, and intellectual curiosity.

The breadth and depth of the IBD curriculum sets these students apart from their peers, statistically improving their chance of acceptance to top-ranked universities by 22%.

The suggestion that the now prevalent College Credit Plus (CCP) coursework, IBD, and AP are essentially the same thing is a false narrative. While they share some similarities  most notably the ability for students to earn college credit  there are differences that matter.

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Generally speaking, CCP transfer agreements apply to public institutions within Ohio. Private colleges in Ohio and institutions in other states are not obligated to accept CCP credit. For example, Denison University in Granville does not accept CCP taught by high school teachers. Conversely, AP and IBD are essentially universally accepted, as academic performance on these standardized curricula is a known quantity. Much like performance on the SAT and ACT, college admission departments have a good understanding of what this performance means. The lack of standardization, and frankly the varying degrees of rigor associated with CCP offerings, means these courses hold less value.

Admittedly, the number of students who intend to apply outside of Ohio's public university system is probably relatively small. But consider the ways we support the needs of other students: Our community has a career center attended by approximately 900 students who earn certifications and hone skills necessary to gain employment in a trade. Each year, local schools send sophomores for an entire day to visit several programs of their own choosing to assess fit. Many rural schools now run career technical programming at their middle and high schools on an even smaller scale.

Collectively, the state sends upwards of $7.5 million annually to provide the supports necessary for students with special needs in the tri-county area. School psychologists perform assessments and generate individualized plans for their schooling. Parents participate in meetings reviewing these plans. Special courses are scheduled for these students if necessary.

Similarly, gifted students are identified based on their performance on standardized assessments, and plans are indeed written and reviewed. Over 3,900 students in the tri-county area achieve this designation, an average of 192 per rural district. Ideally, districts would work together to shepherd these students into challenging learning environments with accelerated pacing. This was the promise of the IBD program.

So where does that leave our area's high-achieving students facing an environment in which 1.26 million graduates take AP or IBD assessments annually?

While our city schools' range of AP and CCP courses likely meet the needs of students who intend to enroll at the post-secondary level regardless of their ambitions, it is the bright-eyed kid attending one of our rural high schools who stands to lose the most. They are left to chose between the uncertainties associated with CCP or attempting to earn a modicum of AP credit through whatever mechanism Wooster High offers.

These students will not blemish their school's report card. They will meet all of their graduation requirements and likely earn an honors diploma. Yet we will have failed them nonetheless.

Andrew Cerniglia holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology and is a 23-year employee at the Wayne County Career Center. He and his wife Angie have five children and live in Holmesville.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Loss of Tri-County IBD education program a blow to rural students
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Russian President Vladimir Putin approved on Friday a new version of the Foreign Policy Concept, in which Russia expressed the country's intention to end U.S. hegemony.

To build a multipolar world, Russia will focus on eliminating the U.S. dominance in world affairs and create conditions to counter any "neo-colonial and hegemonic ambitions," the document said.

Russia called the United States "the main inspirer, organizer and executor of the aggressive anti-Russian policy of the collective West, the source of the major risks to the security of Russia, international peace and balanced, equitable and progressive development of mankind."

Russia voiced its readiness to maintain strategic parity and peaceful coexistence with the United States and to establish a balance of interests between the two countries.

But the prospects for such relations depend on the U.S. readiness to abandon its policy of forceful domination and revise its anti-Russian course in favor of interactions with Russia, the document said.

As for the normalization of Russia-Europe ties, the concept criticized the strategic policy of the United States to "draw and deepen dividing lines in Europe to undermine the competitiveness of the economies of Russia and European states, limit the sovereignty of European states, and ensure the U.S. global dominance."

The Foreign Policy Concept was approved by Putin in a decree signed on Friday to replace the 2016 version. The document came into force immediately.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to Chinese President Xi Jinping as they attend an official welcome ceremony at The Grand Kremlin Palace, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. - Sergei Karpukhin/Pool Sputnik Kremlin

Last June  on the day the UN gave a Ukrainian civilian casualty count of 9,931 so far in Russias war  I sat at the UN Human Rights Council as the Russian ambassador excoriated Israel over its latest defensive operations in Gaza. Such unjust condemnation of Israel is common fare at the Human Rights Council and we are all used to the Kremlins hypocrisy, but how could the Russian Federation use the council as an international platform for its anti-Western bile, despite being suspended in April last year?

In the parody of international order that is the UN, that is no more surprising than Russias assumption yesterday of chair of the Security Council, despite its president being indicted for war crimes. It epitomises the failure of the UN, formed to bring world powers together to maintain international peace and security. There have been more wars in the 78 years since its founding than in the equivalent period beforehand. The Security Council has failed to put any kind of brake on nuclear proliferation, with Russias accomplice Iran now on the cusp of becoming a nuclear state. Its impact on the war in Ukraine, the most deadly in Europe since 1945, has been zero.

The danger of the Russian Security Council presidency is more in optics than reality. Foreign Minister Lavrov can use his temporary platform to grandstand, but the inbuilt impotence of the Security Council means he can do nothing to advance Russias cause. With the exception of China, the other permanent members are likely to show their contempt by downgrading diplomatic representation while Russia is in the chair. Lavrovs lack of authority in the council reflects his countrys marginalisation. The successor to a superpower  albeit a malign one  is no longer even a great power.

Its economy is flatlining and its leader, through incompetence, is systematically dismantling an army that was once so powerful that half a million US troops were permanently stationed in Europe to counter it. Russias demographic turmoil has long been a nightmare for Putin and all he has done is exacerbate it, as thousands of young Russians are slaughtered in Bakhmut and, according to Moscows media, upwards of 700,000 young men have fled the country to avoid mobilisation.

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To many countries Russia is a pariah, with even its status as an armed gas station in ruins. It will probably never be able to recover from any of this and will struggle to be taken seriously  except by other rogue states who scent the opportunity to buy oil and gas at a discount, or perhaps a few fighter jets.

Yes, Moscow has nuclear weapons, and Putin never misses an opportunity to threaten to bring them into play, but he knows that China is unlikely to allow their use. That encapsulates the parlous depths that Putin has dragged his country down to. For the foreseeable future, Russia will be nothing more than a Chinese vassal. During his recent visit to Moscow, Xi Jinpings barely-concealed disdain contrasted humiliatingly with his hosts lavish hospitality and knee-bending aggrandisement.

We dont know what was agreed behind closed doors, but if Xi promised Putin weapons and ammunition, as US intelligence fear, it would not have been to strengthen Moscow but to fuel what is becoming a proxy war between China and the US. Indeed, Xi encouraged this war with a pact of friendship with no limits on the eve of Putins invasion, just as the August 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Russia and Germany vouchsafed Hitlers attack on Poland.

As Russias dependency on Beijing deepens, Putin and his successors need not expect any favours from the Chinese Communist Party. Only in February, Beijing issued a decree that eight Russian cities in east Siberia, which China claims as its own, must be marked on international maps by their Chinese names, including Vladivostok. Xis eyes may focus increasingly on this long-running territorial dispute and a self-eviscerated Russia may not be able to do anything about it.
Russian forces in the Russian-occupied city of Tokmak, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, are restricting the freedom of movement for Ukrainian citizens who have not obtained Russian passports.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Quote: "Russian occupation forces are continuing to force residents of the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast to obtain Russian passports.

Russian forces at checkpoints in the city of Tokmak are restricting the freedom of movement of Ukrainian citizens who have not obtained Russian passports. The occupiers deliberately search vehicles and prevent them from entering the city. They threaten Ukrainian citizens who do not have Russian passports with banning them from entering the city altogether.

Meanwhile, during home searches, FSB officers threaten Ukrainian citizens [in Tokmak] with job loss and problems with finding employment if they do not obtain Russian passports."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
In Luhansk Oblast, the invaders are checking local residents and evicting them from their homes to accommodate the Russian military.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 1 April

Quote: "After an effective attack on the areas where enemy manpower and equipment were concentrated in Troitske district of Luhansk Oblast, the occupiers stepped up their counterintelligence regime.

Local residents are being checked, and mobile communications are disconnected in some settlements."

Details: The General Staff also notes that cases of the invaders using civilian infrastructure and private property for their own purposes continue to be recorded.

In particular, according to the General Staff, people were evicted from their homes to accommodate the Russian occupation forces in some settlements of the Shchastia district of Luhansk Oblast.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
(Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a meeting chaired by Russia's foreign minister Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is "causing massive suffering and devastation" and that the risks of conflict between major powers are at an historic high.

SECURITY MOVES

* Finland said Russia could benefit from the crisis in Sudan and the European Union should do more to try to resolve it. The EU must also accelerate its joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine, Finland's foreign minister said.

* Security will be a key issue at a wind energy summit of seven countries surrounding the North Sea, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. Dutch intelligence agencies have accused Russia of planning potential sabotage to offshore turbines. Moscow has said the allegations are baseless.

* Turkey's defence minister said he planned to meet his Syrian, Russian and Iranian counterparts in Moscow on Tuesday, amid efforts to rebuild Ankara-Damascus ties after years of animosity during the Syrian war.

* EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed confidence that the bloc would finalise a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine.

CHINA SEEKS TO END SOVEREIGNTY ROW

* China respects the status of former Soviet member states as sovereign nations, its foreign ministry said, distancing itself from comments by its envoy to Paris that triggered an uproar among European capitals.

FIGHTING

* Russia's Black Sea Fleet repelled a drone attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Monday, the Moscow-installed governor of the city said through social media.

* Russia said on Sunday its forces had advanced in Bakhmut while a top Ukrainian commander said his troops were holding the front line through the city.

GRAIN DEAL

* Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, it would respond by terminating the Black sea grains deal, which it has already signalled it will not allow to continue beyond May 18.

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ECONOMY

* Global military spending rose to a record last year as Russia's war drove the biggest annual increase in expenditure in Europe since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, a prominent think tank said.

* Russia's richest people have added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, helped by high prices for natural resources - rebounding from the huge losses they experienced after the start of the war in Ukraine, Forbes Russia said.

RECENT IN-DEPTH STORIES

* ANALYSIS-Russia crosses new lines in crackdown on Putin's enemies

* EXCLUSIVE-The Russian military commandant who oversaw reign of fear in Ukraine town

* EXCLUSIVE-Kazakhstan has ramped up oil exports bypassing Russia -sources

(Compiled by Reuters editors)
The Russian military command's plans to expand the territories under its control in Donbas during the winter offensive failed.

Source: UK Defence Intelligence update, reports European Pravda



Details: The update states that on 11 January 2023, the Chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, took personal command of the "special military operation" [the term "war" is prohibited in Russia  ed.] in Ukraine.

"Gerasimov's tenure has been characterised by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed," the Intelligence states.



It is noted that in several areas of the frontline in Donbas, Russian troops have achieved only minor success at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties, having largely squandered their temporary advantage in personnel gained as a result of the autumn "partial mobilisation".

"After ten years as Chief of the General Staff, there is a realistic possibility that Gerasimov is pushing the limits of how far Russia's political leadership will tolerate failure," the update reads.

Earlier, UK intelligence reported that it would be difficult for Russia to rebuild its arsenal of counter-battery radars, as these systems depend on the supply of high-tech electronic components that have been sanctioned.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Residents at an encampment who successfully negotiated a formal lease with the city of Sacramento called on homeless people across the nation to follow their example at a Saturday news conference.

The new lease binds city officials to an agreement: The people in Camp Resolution cannot be moved from the parking lot until every resident has been placed into permanent, stable housing.

The lease comes after a drawn-out fight with city officials, who have tried to force the residents to move multiple times. Now, the women-led camp has won official approval to remain in the tight-knit community theyve refused to leave for months.

The point, said resident Desiree Pryor, is to help everybody within it, and to make this a global movement for every other city to follow along.

Anthony Prince, the attorney for the California Homeless Union who represented the residents of Camp Resolution in negotiations with the city, spoke with the crowd gathered outside the camp about the terms of the contract: You cannot take this down until such time as every single person in this camp is provided with individual, durable and permanent housing. And housing does not mean some shelter where theres 1,000 people all congregating together. It does not mean a pop-up tent encampment; it does not mean a sidewalk; it does not mean a street corner. It means a durable place to live like a human being.

Camp Resolution leaders Sharon Jones, left, and Joyce Williams, right, embrace after a press conference announcing a formal lease agreement between the city and the encampment on Colfax street in North Sacramento on Saturday, April 1, 2023.

The camp and this agreement with the city, Prince said, could be a model, an example for homeless people across the United States of America.

Although the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2018 that citing or moving homeless campers when there was no other place for them to go was a form of cruel and unusual punishment under the Constitution, the city and the county have continued to force unhoused people to move under many circumstances.

Sacramento County as a whole has at least 7,000 more homeless people than it has shelter beds for them to sleep on. The contract gives these campers an added layer of protection.

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The attorney emphasized that the residents set the terms of the lease: The days are over when other parties are going to make decisions for the homeless.

Non-binding agreements between Camp Resolution residents and the city have collapsed before. After an August 2021 plan identified the lot on the corner of Colfax Street and Arden Way as a fitting site for shelters and parking, Sacramento moved people off the lot and spent $617,000 to put up an iron fence and prepare the lot for city-sanctioned campers. Then, the city scrapped the plan, telling the residents they could not return.

Residents moved back in anyway, and put up a defiant sign: $617,000 TAXPAYER DOLLARS FOR A PARKING LOT???

After police ordered Camp Resolution out in November 2022, 60 people showed up at a City Council meeting to protest. In response, Sean Loloee, who represents the campers district, said the sweep was being postponed. In the four months since, the campers and the city hammered out this new deal.

We dont need a nonprofit industrial complex coming in, charging $4,000 a night for a piece of asphalt to babysit people, Sacramento Homeless Union President Crystal Sanchez told reporters Saturday. We need that funding put into the resources.

Residents told The Sacramento Bee that the self-governing encampment  which has no nonprofit or city agency overseeing it  is a more dignified alternative to the controlling and sometimes degrading policies in place at many homeless shelters.

Were grown, Pryor said.

Though the news conference was celebratory, Twana James, a homeless person who lives nearby at a camp called Bannon Island, said she and her elderly neighbors had just received 48-hour eviction notices. Pryor said she hoped Camp Resolutions progress would inspire similar deals elsewhere, but the fight wasnt over.
The historic indictment of former President Donald Trump by a grand jury in Manhattan drew sharp criticism from some Republican officeholders in Oklahoma and also concern that the criminal case was aimed at influencing the 2024 election.

When we start politicization of the justice system, I think it is a very dangerous precedent, said Gov. Kevin Stitt at his weekly press conference Friday. Stitt, a Republican, was endorsed by Trump for reelection last year.

First off, no one is above the law," Stitt said. "But we are going to be tit for tat, and then the next party, when they are in charge, they are going to try and indict political opponents. Its horrible, its dangerous. Its a dangerous, dangerous position for our country.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin claps as former President Donald Trump is announced at the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships on March 18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

That tit-for-tat reaction was cited by Republicans in 2019, when the House, controlled by Democrats, impeached Trump for the first time. Some saw it as retribution for the 1998 impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was the subject of a grand jury inquiry, and his role in a failed development company also was investigated, but Clinton was never indicted.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, who has spent more than 40 years in Oklahoma and national politics, said Friday, This is a sad day for America. In my opinion, the indictment of former President Trump is politically motivated, legally dubious and unlikely to prevail in court.

What we know. Donald Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges.

trump_poll_crime

U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican who has endorsed Trumps 2024 candidacy and hosted him at a wrestling tournament in Tulsa two weeks ago, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was weaponizing our judicial system to go after President Trump in a complete partisan sham.

Mullin said on social media, Instead of blindly fixating on political retribution of a political opponent, DA Bragg should address the skyrocketing crime epidemic in his own backyard. Oklahomans see right through this blatant partisan witch-hunt. It will only make President Trump stronger going into 2024.

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Meanwhile, the vice chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party sent out a fundraising email on Friday saying the first indictment of a current or former U.S. president will push the American political system into unchartered waters and jolts the 2024 presidential campaign into a new phase.

As Democrats, we cannot let this opportunity pass us by, Eric Proctor wrote. We must act now and make sure we elect leaders who will hold those in power accountable for their actions. We need your support to help us ensure that we have the resources to continue fighting for a better future.

Several media outlets have reported that Trump is planning to surrender to New York authorities on Tuesday. The former president, in a social media post, called the indictment political persecution and election interference.

"I believe this Witch Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden," Trump wrote. "The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here."

Trump captured all 77 of Oklahomas counties in 2016, when he won the presidency, and also in 2020, when he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. In June 2020, Trump chose the BOK Center in Tulsa as the site of a rally after months of not holding public events because of the pandemic. He returned to that arena two weeks ago to watch college wrestling and was greeted enthusiastically by members of the crowd.

Grand jury indicts Donald Trump: First time a former president is charged criminally: recap

A recent poll shows only 28% of likely Oklahoma voters approve of the job Biden is doing, while 67% disapprove. The rest didnt answer or said they neither approved nor disapproved.

That poll, taken Feb. 22-23 by Amber Integrated of Oklahoma City, asked 500 likely voters how likely it was that Trump committed crimes before, during or after his presidency. The poll was taken more than a month before the indictment was revealed and was not specific to the grand jurys reported investigation of payoffs to women with whom Trump allegedly had affairs. Trumps role in trying to influence the presidential race outcome in 2020 in Georgia is also under investigation. And a special counsel is investigating Trumps possession of classified documents after leaving the White House.

Of the Oklahoma voters surveyed in February, 41% said it was very likely or somewhat likely that Trump committed crimes, while 45% said it was very unlikely or somewhat unlikely.

Independent voters were the most likely  84%  to believe the former president committed crimes, while 71% of Democrats thought so. Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters  63%  said it was very unlikely or somewhat unlikely that Trump committed crimes.

Few Republican office holders in Oklahoma have commented on Trumps indictment. U.S. Sen. James Lankford and state GOP Chair A.J. Ferate did not respond to requests for comment by press time on Friday.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen, who won the eastern Oklahoma congressional seat vacated by Mullin, was among the first to address the indictment. He said Thursday evening, Politically motivated witch hunts against President Trump or any other former President or presidential candidate is a serious abuse of power.

House Republicans are committed to investigating if any federal funds are being used by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his office to target President Trump for the purpose of interfering in our elections. I urge Democrats to join Republicans in condemning this baseless act of political persecution and commit to upholding the integrity of our elections and Republic.

Biden and the White House have declined to comment, while some Democratic leaders in Congress have offered measured comments.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said, Donald Trump is subject to the same laws as every American. He will be able to avail himself of the legal system and a jury, not politics, to determine his fate according to the facts and the law.

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said, The preeminence of the rule of law is central to the integrity of our democracy. It must be applied equally without fear or favor. The indictment of a former President is a serious moment for the nation. A jury of Donald Trumps peers will now determine his legal fate.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, said, "The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account."

Contributing: Staff writers Ben Felder and Nate Chute.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Trump indictment draws sharp criticism from Oklahoma GOP officials
New York City's population has been steadily declining since 2016. Francesco Riccardo Iacomino/Getty Images

San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles are the top cities Americans want to leave, according to Redfin.

Other cities in the top ten including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and Denver.

Remote work means homebuyers are looking for more affordable cities.

San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles top the list of areas that Americans want to leave, according to a new report by Redfin.

The real-estate company's list of the top ten metro areas that people are searching to move from includes the country's biggest cities, suggesting that many are looking to leave the hustle and bustle  and high taxes and living costs  behind because of shifts in flexible working brought about by the pandemic.

"Expensive coastal job centers typically top the list of places people are leaving," Redfin wrote in the report. "That trend became more pronounced in recent years as remote work allowed homebuyers to relocate to more affordable areas."

The top ten metro areas Americans are looking to relocate from, according to Redfin, are:

San Francisco, California New York City, New York Los Angeles, California Washington, D.C. Chicago, Illinois Boston, Massachusetts Seattle, Washington Denver, Colorado Hartford, Connecticut Portland, Oregon

The three biggest cities in the US all feature on the list. New York City, which comes in second place on Redfin's list, is the US' most populous city, with around 8.5 million residents in July 2021, per US Census Bureau estimates. The country's next biggest cities are Los Angeles, with an estimated population of 3.8 million, and Chicago, at 2.7 million, per US Census Bureau data.

Apart from Hartford, all the cities on Redfin's list of metro areas that residents are most looking to leave featured on the US Census Bureau's list of 30 most populous cities as of July 2021.

Redfin based its findings on how many more of users based in these areas looked at listings between December and February for properties in a different area than the number of people looking to move to that area. The data excludes rental listings and only includes people looking to buy homes.

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Census data shows that even though California's population is still rising each decade, the rate of growth has drastically decreased, and more recent estimates suggest it has been declining since the pandemic started. New York City's population, meanwhile, has been steadily declining since 2016.

Redfin's data shows that, for people in San Francisco looking at listings outside of the metro area, Sacramento was the most popular choice, while Seattle was the most looked-at city among people looking to leave California completely. For people considering leaving New York City, Miami was the most popular city, while for Los Angeles this was Las Vegas.

Overall, Miami is the metro area that most homebuyers are looking to move to, per Redfin's report, followed by Phoenix and Las Vegas. Five Florida cities make up the top ten, as well as two in Texas. The list of cities Americans are looking to leave is more diverse, with nine states featured.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sarah Polley won the Best Adapted Screenplay award for Women Talking

Canadian film-maker Sarah Polley has shared a "cruel" April Fools' joke played on her by none other than her 11-year-old child.

A letter turned up on Saturday morning, reading "We say this to you with the deepest regrets: the Oscar you received was given by mistake."

Polley won the best adapted screenplay for Women Talking at the 95th Academy Awards in Los Angeles last month.

The letter, posted on Twitter, asked her to "mail it back" to California.

It said she could keep the award for one more week so she could "enjoy its presence" in her home.

But ultimately, it needed to be returned so it could go to the "rightful" winner: All Quiet on the Western Front.

"We are sorry for your loss, but it is only fair that the play with the real best adapted screenplay gets the Oscar."

Polley's child went on to joke that Oscar bosses had realised their error on the day the award was given - but wanted to avoid another blunder like La La Land being named winner of Best Picture in 2017 instead of Moonlight.

My eleven-year-old swung low for April Fools Day this year. #AprilFoolsDay pic.twitter.com/WvJxMIRBfL  @realSarahPolley (she/her) (@realsarahpolley) April 1, 2023

The film-maker behind All Quiet on the Western Front, Edward Berger, got in on the joke.

"To save on mailing costs as I live overseas the Academy has asked me to provide you with my address so you can ship the Oscar directly," he tweeted to Polley.

"I will follow up shortly. Ok with you?"

Polley, who shot to fame as an actor in the 1990s, swiftly realised the letter was not written by the Academy, but by her child as an April Fools' Day prank.

But she made it clear she wasn't impressed - saying her 11-year-old "swung low" for April Fools' Day.

"We feel it is wrong you get this on 1 April as you will probably think it is a joke, and we feel that is wrong, so another letter will be sent assuring you that this is not a joke," the letter said.

"This is much too cruel to be a joke, ergo we deeply apologise for any inconvenience we may have caused you."
The restoration of trust between the police and the public is a national challenge. In Paterson, we acknowledged this persistent issue more than 4 years ago and I unveiled a plan to address it.

Upon taking office in 2018, not a single police officer wore a body camera and as a result of my efforts, now every single police officer in Paterson wears one. This has led to a significant increase in transparency. Citizens no longer have to wonder what occurred in police interactions, now they can watch for themselves. We then conducted a top to bottom audit performed on the police department. Many of the recommendations of the audit including regular de-escalation training of our officers have been implemented.

Drone image of Paterson City Hall on March 26, 2020. Residents in New Jersey have been asked to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

In my previous opinion piece, I underscored the fact that public safety is paramount and a priority for me. That is why I am not stopping with the progress we have made. Earlier this year, I scheduled a trip to Omaha to learn more about their successful initiative that has helped reduce gun violence and improve the relationship between the police and the public.

New efforts: CompStat, Citizens Advisory Board

Furthermore, last month my administration began a dialogue with the School on Policing at Rutgers University to work with the institution to identify and ultimately adopt best practices in public safety. Additionally, we have hired a data analyst to study our police data and to implement the CompStat model, which will increase police accountability. Moreover, officers who violated their oath before I took office were brought to justice by our own department and I am pursuing legal action to take back the salaries they did not earn.

In deepening existing partnerships, for the last three weeks I have been in discussion with members of the clergy and community-based organizations in Paterson about the creation of a Citizens Advisory Board. The board will afford residents an opportunity to regularly meet with police command and review policies as well as voice their concerns and opinions on policing in the community.

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'Connect and Protect'

Last year, Paterson Police successfully responded to 2,883 calls related to emotionally disturbed individuals. This year we have received over 600 calls. Building upon the police response, we sought out and were awarded a grant for the forthcoming Connect and Protect" program. This initiative would create a co-response between the police and a mental health professional whenever a call is received for an emotionally distressed person. That program is in the process of being implemented.

With our ongoing efforts to restore trust with the community, we have also had success in reducing gun violence in Paterson. Three months into 2023, we have seen a steep decrease in gun violence. We have reduced shootings by approximately 40%.

Policing is not a perfect science and I have repeatedly said that the Paterson Police Department is a work in progress. The overwhelming majority of our men and women in our police department are exemplary law enforcement officials. We recently welcomed the New Jersey Attorney General to Paterson to help enhance our ongoing efforts to improve public safety in our city. We are eager to review the attorney generals plan and timeline, as well the resources he has promised to provide to our under-resourced police department.

Public safety is a partnership.

Andre Sayegh is mayor of Paterson.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ mayor: Police will implement CompStat, advisory board
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A Chinese envoy said on Friday that China calls on all nuclear weapon states to effectively reduce the risk of a nuclear war.

"Mutual trust and cooperation among major countries are the fundamental guarantee for maintaining global strategic stability," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council briefing on threats to international peace and security.

Geng said that in January last year, the leaders of the five nuclear weapon states issued a joint statement emphasizing that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, and reaffirming that none of the nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other state. "Against the backdrop of the current tense relations among the nuclear weapon states, the special significance of this historic statement is all the more prominent."

"China calls on all nuclear weapon states to abide by the vision of the statement, effectively reduce the risk of a nuclear war, and avoid any armed conflict between nuclear weapons states," said the ambassador.

Geng pointed out that nuclear weapons are "the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads," noting that China's position on the issue of nuclear weapons "has been clear and consistent."

"Since its first day in possession of nuclear weapons, China has firmly committed to a defensive nuclear strategy, and honored the pledge to no first use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances," he said. "China has also clearly committed unconditionally not to use or threat to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear weapon free zones."

"China is the only nuclear weapon state to have made these pledges. China attaches great importance to the status of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as the cornerstone of international nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, firmly upholds the authority, effectiveness, and the universal nature of the Treaty, and advocates a step-by-step approach to advance nuclear disarmament process for the eventual complete ban and total elimination of nuclear weapons," the envoy spelled out.

"We call for the abolition of the nuclear sharing arrangements and advocate no deployment of nuclear weapons abroad by all nuclear weapons states and the withdrawal of nuclear weapons deployed aboard," he said.

Turning to China's position on the Ukraine issue, Geng said that this position "is also clear and consistent."

"Not long ago, China issued a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, which comprehensively laid out China's propositions," he said.

"It includes aspects regarding opposing armed attacks against nuclear power plants or other peaceful nuclear facilities, emphasizing that nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought, that the threat or use of nuclear weapons should be opposed, and that nuclear proliferation must be prevented and nuclear crisis avoided," the envoy added.

Geng noted that a series of recent events have once again proved that the resumption of dialogue and negotiation and the promotion of a political settlement should happen sooner rather than later.

"All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid aggravating tensions, intensifying frictions, or fanning the flames, stop all actions that contribute to prolonging the war, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control," he said.

The envoy called on the international community to "have a heightened sense of urgency to promote talks for peace and create conditions for the early resumption of negotiations."

"China will continue to play a constructive role in seeking ceasefire, easing the crisis, and restoring peace," he continued.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on April 1 that it gathered "reasonable evidence" regarding its suspicions of Metropolitan Pavlo Levid's actions that allegedly incited religious enmity and supported Russia's war in Ukraine.

Law enforcement said that it suspected Metropolitan Pavlo of the Russian-controlled Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) of violating the Criminal Code of Ukraine, particularly for "inciting religious enmity, justifying and denying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine."

Earlier in the day, Metropolitan Pavlo, a senior clergyman at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, said in a video shared by the Ukrainian news media outlet New Voice of Ukraine that he received a notice of suspicion at around 7:30 a.m. and the law enforcement was about to conduct a search at his residence.

The results of the raid have not been shared by the SBU yet.

"Today, the enemy is trying to use the church environment to promote its propaganda and divide Ukrainian society," the SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk said.

Media: SBU suspects Moscow-backed Orthodox Church metropolitan of supporting Russias war The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) issued a notice of suspicion against the abbot of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Metropolitan Pavlo Lebid, for inciting inter-religious hatred and justifying Russias armed aggression, Ukrainian media outlet Liga.net reported on April 1, citing a source in law enforceme Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Since November, the SBU has conducted dozens of raids on Moscow Patriarchate churches, including the 980-year-old Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Amid searches across Ukraine, the SBU found Russian propaganda, xenophobic literature, as well as Russian passports of the church's leaders and documents with pro-Russian ideological messages.

Despite Ukraine's Culture Ministry issuing a statement calling on monks of the Moscow-backed church to vacate Kyiv Pechersk Lavra by March 29, Moscow Patriarchate said it had no intention of leaving.

On March 30, members of a commission from the Culture Ministry were blocked from conducting check-ups on two buildings inside the monastery's premises, the Ukrainian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP)

In another comment, the metropolitan, who belongs to the Russian-led Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, calls the invasion "a war between America and Russia to the last Ukrainian"  a common Kremlin propaganda trope.

Law enforcement officers also found that the abbot repeatedly insulted the religious feelings of Ukrainians in his public speeches, humiliated the views of believers of other faiths, and fostered hostile attitudes toward them.

Read also: SBU summons UOC-MP Metropolitan Pavlo on suspicion of fueling interreligious hostility

SBU

"The law and the responsibility for its violation are the same for everyone, and a cassock is not always a guarantee of pure intention," SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk said.

Today, the enemy is trying to use the church environment to peddle its propaganda and split Ukrainian society.

Read also: Metropolitan Museum of Art recognizes Arkhyp Kuindzhi as Ukrainian artist

SBU

Investigators have pressed charges against Metropolitan Pavlo and served him with a notice of suspicion under two articles  incitement to religious hatred and justification and denial of Russia's war against Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed in a Telegram post on April 1.

The SBU also confirmed that it had searched his house, and published photos. Earlier, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate said that the abbot had also been summoned for questioning.

Metropolitan Pavlo and several representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate have been under sanctions since January.

Read also: Raids of Moscow Patriarchate churches may be discriminatory  UN

SBU

The Russian-led church was supposed to vacate Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on March 29 after the State Reserve terminated its 2013 lease agreement. However, as of March 30, its priests continued to hold services in the Lavra.

A Culture Ministry commission has been denied entry to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra for two straight days, and the reserve has filed a complaint with police.

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Earlier, Ukraines State Audit Service conducted an audit and found that state-owned cultural heritage sites and 36 constructions within the territory of the Lavra had been illegally transferred to private use.

Read also: Ukrainian Orthodox Church will get contracts to use two Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra churches long-term

SBU

Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, led by Metropolitan Pavlo, accused Ukrainian authorities and Ministry of Culture officials of issuing an ultimatum with demands that they argue have no legal basis. The Russian-led churchs Synod also stated its intention to protect the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by all lawful means.

Despite claims that its representatives do not intend to leave the holy site, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate was seen removing property from the Lavra.

The church has also filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra reserve.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
UOC-MP Metropolitan Pavlo

Citing his remarks about the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in one of his video addresses, Metropolitan Pavlo is accused of fueling interreligious hostility. News website Liga.net reports that Pavlo was also handed a notice of suspicion of justifying Russias armed aggression.

Read also: Keeping up ties with Moscow? The processes begun within the UOC-MP

A video has surfaced on the Internet where Metropolitan Pavlo says that he was handed the note of suspicion at 7.30 a.m. He said his house was searched and he did not interfere.

I know what its about. They told me in two words that I am suspected of cooperating with Russia and fueling interreligious hostility. They also claim that I cursed the president, said Pavlo.

The UOC-MP Metropolitan was summoned for questioning at 12.00 p.m., where custody was to be determined.

Metropolitan Pavlo and several representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church have been under sanctions since January.

The UOC-MP was supposed to vacate Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on March 29 after the State Reserve terminated its 2013 lease agreement. However, as of March 30, UOC-MP priests continued to hold services in the Lavra.

Read also: UOC-MP monks intend to remove everything but relics from Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

A Ministry of Culture commission has been denied entry to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra for two straight days, and the reserve filed a complaint with police.

Ukraines State Audit Service conducted an audit and found that state-owned cultural heritage sites and 36 constructions within the territory of the Lavra had been illegally transferred to private use.

Representatives of the UOC-MP, led by the Lavras abbot, Metropolitan Pavlo, accused Ukrainian authorities and Ministry of Culture officials of issuing an ultimatum with demands that they argue have no legal basis. The UOC-MP Synod also stated its intention to protect the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra by all lawful means.

Despite claims that its representatives do not intend to leave the holy site, the UOC-MP was seen removing property from the Lavra. The Church has also filed a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra reserve.

Story continues

Read also: UOC-MP priests demand to sever ties with Moscow

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A South Carolina Democrat is joining calls to give the governor more power and say over the election of state judges.

Freshman state Rep. Heather Bauer, D-Richland, has filed a bill that would remove current lawmakers from a powerful committee that now vets candidates for state judges. Instead, Bauers proposal would give Gov. Henry McMaster and future governors more say in the judicial process, while still allowing the 170-member General Assembly to give final approval.

Under Bauers proposal, the governor would get to appoint six members to the current 10-member screening commission, called the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, that vets candidates to run for judicial posts. At least one of the governors six appointments would be a candidate recommended by the S.C. Bar Association, whose members include all state lawyers, Bauers bill says.

No sitting lawmakers could be on the screening commission, the bill says.

Currently, six of the 10 members of the screening commission are lawmakers, and the other four members are of the general public and picked by leaders in the House and Senate.

The current system gives too much power to legislators, many of whom are lawyers and sometimes practice in front of the judges they elect, she said.

They not only get to pick who runs, but they get to vote (for judge candidates) on the floor, she said. Thats just too much power for too few people.

South Carolina is one of only two states where the Legislature alone exercises overall power in how judges are selected.

Other methods are popular partisan or non-partisan elections, gubernatorial appointment or various combinations of elections and input from the legislature and a states governor.

Under Bauers bill, the House speaker and the Senate president would be allowed to appoint two members each to the screening commission. The commission would then forward the names of all candidates it deems qualified for a judges post to the General Assembly for a vote, Bauers bill says.

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Currently, the commission only forwards a maximum of three candidates.

The screening commission vets not only the states 46 trial judges, but also the approximately 60 family court judges, the five S.C. Supreme Court justices and the nine members of the S.C. Court of Appeals.

The removal of all lawmakers from the screening commission would sharply dilute the power the Legislature has in how judges are selected.

I ran for (Columbia) city council two years ago, and I had, like, eight candidates running, said Bauer, who is not a lawyer. So why not let everyone run if they are qualified.

Bauer said she considers her bill a middle ground that allows the Legislature, the governor and the S.C. Bar to play a role in selecting judges.

Her interest in the topic was sparked in January when McMaster mentioned in his State of the State address that he wanted a more accountable and transparent way to choose judges, she said. Specifically, McMaster said he would like to see the governor appoint judges with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Bauer said she was heartened by a March 27 bipartisan press conference led by Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, and 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, a Democrat. More than 25 sheriffs and solicitors from around the state showed up to endorse efforts to let the governor get involved in selecting judges.

We can do better than this, Bauer said.

Bauers bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, and is co-sponsored by state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg. Given the timing, however, Bauers bill is unlikely to move forward this year because of the Legislatures April 10 crossover deadline.

Several other bills aimed at changing the way the state chooses judges are also percolating in the Legislature. None have so far received a hearing.
Two young children died in less than a year while being cared for by their grandmother, police said.

Tracey Nix, 65, a former Florida school principal, allegedly told police that she "just forgot" seven-month-old Uriel Schock was in her car on a 90-degree day while she practiced the piano, according to a probable cause affidavit.

She told police "all of a sudden" it "came across her head" that Uriel had been in the car all afternoon, the affidavit alleges.

Nix's husband, Nun Ney Nix, found the baby in the backseat and tried CPR but couldn't revive his grandson, police said.

GYMANSTICS STUDIO HID CAMERA IN BATHROOM TO RECORD CHILDREN, ADULTS: POLICE

Nix was charged with aggravated manslaughter for Uriel's November 2022 death.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Traceys Nixs lawyer, William Fletcher, told Fox 13 Tampa Bay that Uriels hot-car death was "obviously an accident," and said Nix is "totally devastated."

MAN SPENT 'SEVERAL DAYS' WITH DECAYING CORPSE OF LOVER HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED: POLICE

Fletcher has concerns that publicity surrounding both cases could make it difficult to get a fair trial.

"Everybody is just seeing this one narrative. Shes responsible. Shes responsible, and Im here to say as much as I ethically can, its not true," he told Fox 13.

Drew Schock, Kaila's partner and the children's father, holding his children.

Uriel died about a year after 16-month-old Ezra drowned in a pond while Nix was asleep, according to the incident report.

"When I pulled up to the house, Im coming to pick up my little girl, and there are ambulances there, and Im thinking What the is going on?" Uriel's dad, Drew Schock, told Fox 13 Tampa Bay. "I was having flashbacks, because when I pulled back with Ezra there, it was the same exact scene."

COLORADO BOY ATTACKED BY SHARK ON CANCUN SPRING BREAK VACATION

On Dec. 22, 2021, Nix's husband left for about an hour to run errands, the report says.

During that time, Nix fell asleep while Ezra got out the house and drowned in a pond near their Hardee County, Florida, home, according to the incident report.

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Two toddlers, Uriel and Ezra, died while under the care of their grandmother Tracey Nix, who was criminally charged for the second death.

The Hardee County Sheriffs Office said that Ezra had opened the doors, gone under a fence and wandered into the pond.

By Dec. 31, 2021, police attempted to file a child neglect charge against Nix, but the State Attorney's Office declined to press charges because of "insufficient evidence."

CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST SENTENCED TO 3,000 YEARS IN PRISON

"The 2022 incident is factually distinguishable and charges have been filed," the State Attorney's Office said in a statement to ABC Action News in Tampa Bay.

The children's mom, Kaila Nix-Schock, said she didn't know police had tried to file charges in Ezra's death until the aggravated manslaughter charge was filed after Uriel's death, the outlet reported.

"If I'm objective, she needs to go to prison," Kaila Nix said during the interview with ABC Action News. "As her daughter, it kills me to say it. As their mother, I demand it. I will fight for them."

If convicted, Nix could face between 12 and 30 years in prison.
The US Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan over its connections with Jeffrey Epstein. Shutterstock

Sergey Brin was subpoenaed in a lawsuit involving JPMorgan, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It wasn't immediately clear why information was being sought from him and three other billionaires.

The US Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan over its connections with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is one of four billionaires subpoenaed in a civil lawsuit about JPMorgan's links with Jeffrey Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The publication said the US Virgin Islands' attorney-general had asked Brin, as well as Thomas Pritzker, Mortimer Zuckerman, and Michael Ovitz for communications and documents related to the late financier and the bank in its civil case.

Unnamed sources told the Journal it wasn't clear why the four had been subpoenaed. Lawyers can ask for information from parties not directly linked to a case but could help provide evidence for one.

Brin holds most of his wealth in stock in Alphabet, Google's parent company. Pritzker is the chief executive of Hyatt Hotels; Zuckerman is a real estate tycoon who also owns the U.S. News & World Report; and Ovitz is a venture capitalist and former Hollywood superagent.

Brin, Pritzker, and Zuckerman have a combined net worth of about $100 billion, according to data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes.

Representatives for the four didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours. The Journal could not immediately reach them for comment.

The US Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan late last year, saying it "knowingly facilitated, sustained, and concealed the human trafficking network operated by Jeffrey Epstein."

Epstein, who had a residence in the Virgin Islands, banked with JPMorgan for several years while he carried out a coordinated sex trafficking operation. A lawsuit alleged that 20 victims were paid a total of $1 million through JPMorgan accounts.

The bank denies wrongdoing, arguing it didn't know about Epstein's behavior. It hit back at the Virgin Islands' lawsuit by saying the jurisdiction did "nothing to stop" Epstein's trafficking operation and was seeking to deflect blame.

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JPMorgan was also sued by Epstein's victims along with Deutsche Bank in November.

Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan CEO, is expected to be interviewed under oath following an agreement reached between the two sides, the Journal reported last week.

The US Virgin Islands and JPMorgan didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
UPDATED AT 7:40 p.m.

A tornado passed through downtown Dundee Saturday morning, causing damage to buildings, vehicles and trees, the National Weather Service confirmed Saturday evening.

The EF0 tornado  the least severe on the Enhanced Fujita Scale used to measure tornado strength  touched down at 11:03 a.m. near the intersection of Petersburg and Brewer roads and traveled northeast for 7.3 miles before it lifted near the intersection of Dixon and Sullivan roads, the weather service office near Pontiac said in a news release.

Damage in the area of Brewer and Petersburg roads "included a stand of pine trees down, damage to an outbuilding, and some significant shingle damage to a house with winds estimated at 75 mph in strength," the release said.

"The tornado then tracked along Brewer Rd with damage consisting of sporadic downed large limbs as Brewer Rd turned into Riley St. upon entering into the village of Dundee," the release said. "Estimated wind speeds increased to a peak of 80 mph in downtown Dundee...specifically in the immediate vicinity of Memorial Park...with increased wind speeds aided by funneling effects between downtown buildings. Damage in this area consisted of a roof being partially blown off, windows blown out, downed limbs, and nearby car damage. The tornado then tracked further east northeastward until ending near the intersection of Dixon Rd and Sullivan Rd with continued sporadic downed large limbs."

The tornado's path was measured at 75 yards wide, the weather service said.

EF0 tornadoes have winds of 65-85 mph. For comparison, the tornado that hit Dundee in 2010 started out as a high-end EF2 tornado with 130-135 mph winds when it touched down in the area of M-50 and North County Line Highway, according to a weather service report. When the 2010 twister reached Dundee, the maximum winds were 115 mph, which is at the low end of the EF2 range.

The most violent tornadoes are classified as EF5 with maximum winds of more than 200 mph.

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Emergency personnel closed streets going into the downtown Dundee area Saturday morning while firefighters and building inspectors checked the structural integrity of the damaged buildings. M-50 was reopened as of 6:30 p.m., the Dundee Police Department said Saturday evening in a post on Facebook.

"Park Place and the adjacent sidewalk remain closed to vehicles and pedestrians, while (some) structural damage is still being assessed," the post said. "Any residents that were asked to leave, may now return to their apartment or dwelling."

"There does not appear to be any injuries," Dundee police said in a post Saturday morning on Facebook. "Everyone is urged to check on your family, friends and neighbors."

Firefighters, police and other village officials examine building damage in downtown Dundee caused by a severe thunderstorm that moved through the area Saturday morning, April 1, 2023.

Dundee police and firefighters were on the scene immediately, the police's Facebook post said. They were joined by Dundee Department of Public Works crews, Michigan State Police, Monroe County sheriff's deputies, firefighters from Ida and Summerfield townships, Monroe County Emergency Management, Michigan Gas Utilities and DTE Energy to assess the damage.

"Onlookers are asked to stay away and let assessment and clean up continue," the post said.

Bricks and other building materials blown off downtown buildings littered sidewalks and Memorial Park. Some vehicles parked on the street were damaged by falling debris.

Firefighters, police and other village officials examine building damage in downtown Dundee caused by a severe thunderstorm that moved through the area Saturday morning, April 1, 2023.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 10:51 a.m. for Monroe County and eastern Lenawee County. Radar showed the storm near Blissfield and moving northeast at 55 mph with 60-mph wind gusts. The warning said to expect damage to roofs, siding and trees.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Adrian MI, Monroe MI and Dundee MI until 11:30 AM EDT pic.twitter.com/c173Iee3Bf  NWS Detroit (@NWSDetroit) April 1, 2023

DTE Energy's online outage map showed outages in northern and western Monroe County, including downtown Dundee, as well as a widespread outage in the area of U.S. 23 and Ida Center Road. Consumers Energy's online outage map showed a widespread power outage early Saturday afternoon southeast of Blissfield as well as scattered outages in southern Monroe County, in the Irish Hills and south of Hudson.

Saturday's severe thunderstorm followed storms that moved through the area Friday night.

Emergency personnel had downtown Dundee blocked off Saturday morning, April 1, 2023, after a severe thunderstorm caused severe building damage.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: UPDATE: National Weather Service confirms tornado hit Dundee April 1
Sharon Acker, best known as Lee Marvins unfaithful wife in the 1967 film Point Blank, died March 16 in a Toronto residential home. She was 87 and her death was confirmed by daughter Kim Everest, a casting director.

Acker had a long and varied resume in film, television, and the stage. In 1956, she played the teacher Mrs. Stacey on a CBC adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. She then joined the Stratford Shakespeare Festival company, starring as Anne Page opposite future Star Trek costar William Shatner in a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

More from Deadline

In addition to Point Blank, her film credits include Lucky Jim (1957). Acker also was in Dont Let the Angels Fall (1969), which played in competition at Cannes. She was selected by the Motion Picture Exhibitors of Canada as their Film Star of Tomorrow that year,

Her memorable TV roles included a 1976-77 CBS adaptation of Executive Suite, playing the wife of Mitchell Ryans Dan Walling. She later appeared in the 1973 reboot of Perry Mason, which lasted 15 episodes.

She also appeared on the CBC series Festival, and in 1961 portrayed Lady MacDuff on an adaptation of Macbeth.

Rounding out her TV career, she was on episodes of The Wild Wild West, Get Smart, It Takes a Thief, Lancer, Alias Smith and Jones, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Mod Squad, Marcus Welby, M.D., Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, Police Story and Quincy, M.E.

She was last seen in the horror film Happy Birthday to Me (1981), and her final TV appearance came on The Young and the Restless in 1992. She retired from acting in 1994.

Survivors include her children, Kim and Gillian; granddaughter Alexis; great-granddaughter Berkeley; and stepchildren Kim and Caitlin.

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Click here to read the full article.
Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defence Minister, has held a meeting at the headquarters of the joint group of Russian troops. He said Russia is taking the necessary measures to build up ammunition, but the support "has already increased many times."

Source: Shoigu, quoted by RIA Novosti

Details: The minister noted that the "amount of deliveries of the most popular ammunition has been determined, and the necessary measures are being taken to increase them."

At the same time, "the number of products produced to supply troops has increased many times; we are talking about both conventional and high-precision types of weapons."

According to the Russian Defence Minister, this will make it possible to "fulfill the tasks set by Putin" in the war.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
A security employee in Shoreline called the police after he saw two men breaking into a parking garage on live CCTV on Friday.

He told police he watched the men lift the garage door to get access to the parking garage which is for residents only.

Police got to the 20200 block of Aurora Avenue North around 3:30 a.m. One of the men tried to run from police and the other was found hiding behind a car, wearing a facemask and gloves, said the Shoreline Police Department.

Drugs and burglary tools were found in their backpack.

Both men were arrested for burglary and booked into jail.
 Flash

The BRICS Seminar on Governance and Cultural Exchange Forum is held in Yangzhou city, east China's Jiangsu province, March 30, 2023. [Photo by Xu Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn]



The BRICS countries are taking on a new role and providing a new model for global governance, according to a survey released during the BRICS Seminar on Governance and Cultural Exchange Forum held Thursday in Yangzhou city, east China's Jiangsu province.

The global survey, titled "BRICS in Global Governance: New Role and New Model," highlighted BRICS' significant role in safeguarding global peace and stability, fostering global economic and trade cooperation, contributing to sustainable development, and promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges worldwide.

Sun Yeli, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), emphasized development as the defining feature of the BRICS mechanism. He noted China's intention to further open its economy to share development opportunities with other BRICS countries, and the need for BRICS member countries to capitalize on their complementary resources and industrial structures to build a closer economic partnership.

Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Communications Group (CICG), shared his insights into BRICS development in the new era. He suggested that BRICS countries adhere to their own development paths, accelerate modernization and consolidate their right to independent development through innovation. In addition, he believed that the Chinese approach to modernization would offer new opportunities for the common development of BRICS countries and the global community.

Zhou Qiangwu, vice-president of the New Development Bank (NDB) established by BRICS countries in 2015, shared the bank's performance, saying it has supported 97 projects with $33 billion in loans for the infrastructure construction and sustainable development of its member countries. The NDB plans to expand its membership and bolster cooperation among developing countries to foster high-quality collaboration, Zhou added.

Fausto Pinato, president of the Brazil-China Parliamentary Front of the Brazilian National Congress, highlighted Brazil's potential for cooperation with other BRICS members in fields such as trade, agriculture, medicine and construction. He stated that a closer BRICS partnership would create more opportunities for Brazil.

Dmitry Novikov, deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, underscored the increasing GDP and economic influence of the BRICS on the global stage.

Since its establishment in 2006, the BRICS's economic aggregate has surged from about 10% to approximately a quarter of the world's total. In 2021, the total trade volume of BRICS countries reached more than $9 billion, while outward foreign direct investment totaled $250 billion, according to the survey.

Renowned Indian scholar Sudheendra Kulkarni commended China's role in facilitating talks to restore diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He urged BRICS countries to exhibit a greater ability to resolve disputes and conflicts worldwide. He proposed the establishment of a "BRICS plus" model to accommodate numerous countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America that aspire to join BRICS.

Anil Sooklal, ambassador-at-large for Asia and BRICS at South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, praised the comprehensiveness and diversity of the BRICS partnership, which encompasses governments, civil organizations, legal associations, women's and youth affairs, media, culture, arts, sports, and film, among others.

The BRICS Seminar on Governance and Cultural Exchange Forum, hosted by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and CICG, brought together over 200 online and offline attendees from the five BRICS countries to discuss developing a new blueprint for BRICS cooperation.
In 2000, Congress created the U visa to provide protection from deportation and work authorization for crime victims brave enough to come forward against the individuals who violently abused them.

The U visa was designed to help non-citizens who are victims of crimes in the U.S., such as trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault, and have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse. Congress intended for them to receive a U visa within months of applying, but applicants now wait an average of five years for the promised protection.

During the extraordinarily long wait, U visa applicants  already struggling against the trauma left in the wake of violent crime  must fight grinding poverty and keep the governments push to deport them at bay.

Many do not make it. Some are deported during the wait, some give up hope and return to their home country.

At the Center for Legal Advocacy in Charlotte, where I direct the Immigrant Justice Program, we have a client named Santos who has a young son. I am not using her full name to protect her identity. Her story illustrates by this five-year wait matters to all of us  why it matters to communities across North Carolina.

Sharon Dove

Santos called the police after 14 years of abuse that she and her children endured by her boyfriend.

One night, Santos boyfriend beat her with his fists and an electrical cord. Bleeding and bruised, she thought her boyfriend intended to kill her. The police arrested the boyfriend and a criminal prosecution ensued.

We filed Santos U visa application in December 2015, identifying a son who still lived with her as a derivative applicant. Then, the wait began. Living with the uncertainty of her U visa application status, Santos struggled as a single parent to support her family with a cleaning job that paid only $8.50 an hour. She found the job through an acquaintance who agreed to look the other way at Santos immigration status. Santos had no other options. She supplemented her meager income with frequent visits to the local food pantries.

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In February 2019, the ground opened underneath Santos when an immigration judge ordered her sons deportation. By then he was 16. His pending U visa application legally afforded him no protection against removal. As a result, a teenager with a solid claim to status was about to be forced to leave his family and resettle in Honduras.

Our office successfully filed an appeal of the deportation order, which allowed Santos son to remain in the United States pending his appeal. Other respondents are not as fortunate. Only 20% of immigrant respondents in the Charlotte Immigration Court are represented by legal counsel. Without legal counsel, it is virtually impossible for an individual to file an appeal.

Five years of waiting ended in December 2020 when Santos and her son received their U visas. Santos proudly presented her work permit to her employer, and her hourly wage immediately increased from $8.50 to $15.50. Her visits to the food pantries stopped. Within months, she was able to sign a contract to purchase her home. Her increased salary and the Social Security Number afforded by the U visa made it all possible.

Santos was lucky to make it to the end of her five-year wait. Many applicants do not share that experience.

It is inexcusable that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services takes an average of five years to provide violent crime victims the protection that Congress intended them to have within months of applying for the U visa. It is our hope that the two federal lawsuits filed by the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy, Legal Aid of North Carolina, the North Carolina Justice Center, and private attorney Brad Banias will put an end to the delays.

Approximately 170,000 immigrants in the United States are waiting  like Santos did  for adjudication of their U visa applications. These individuals are already cooperating with law enforcement; its required to get a U visa. The long delays put them  and our communities  in danger.

Sharon Dove is a Charlotte attorney who is Director of Immigrant Justice Program at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy.






Former President Donald Trump's indictment in connection with a New York hush-money investigation  the first criminal charges filed against an ex-president in U.S. history  has dominated headlines.

If you're sick of hearing about the Trump news, here are five things unrelated to the former president that happened this week in politics.

Former President Donald Trump watches the NCAA Wrestling Championship on March 18, 2023, in Tulsa, Okla.

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Outlook bleak for gun reform after deadly Nashville shooting

A shooting at a small Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday left six people, including three children, dead, renewing calls in Washington for comprehensive gun control.

But with partisan gridlock on how to move forward, lawmakers expressed little hope that legislation addressing gun violence in the U.S. will make it to President Joe Biden's desk.

"We're not going to fix it," U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told reporters Monday. "Criminals are going to be criminals."

Later in the week, at least two states moved to loosen gun laws. North Carolina's GOP-led legislature voted Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a measure that eliminates the state's longstanding permit system, and Florida lawmakers approved doing away with licensing requirements to carry a gun into most public places  but not into the Senate chamber where the bill was approved.

Read more on gun reform: 'We're not going to fix it': Why lawmakers see no chance of major gun law changes after Nashville

Major health updates on lawmakers

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., said Friday he was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after receiving care for clinical depression.

"I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works," Fetterman said in a statement. "This isn't about politics  right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties. If you need help, please get help."

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Also Friday, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said he will step away from his congressional duties for a "few weeks" after a scan found a small tumor in one of his tonsils. Following the scan, Kildee was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, which is office says is "serious but curable."

Read more on Fetterman: Sen. John Fetterman discharged from Walter Reed after receiving treatment for depression

Read more on Kildee: US Rep. Dan Kildee announces 'serious but curable' cancer diagnosis

McCarthy: Biden 'on the clock' with debt ceiling talks

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday asked President Joe Biden to restart negotiations on raising the United States' borrowing limit as the country creeps toward a potential default.

The debt ceiling is the maximum amount the U.S. government can spend on its existing obligations, including Social Security and military salaries. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress in January that the U.S. could default on its debt as soon as June.

Biden responded in a letter released late Tuesday that he looks forward to talking to the speaker about the nation's economic and fiscal future. "But for that conversation to be productive," he said, "we should both tell the American people what we are for."

Read more on debt ceiling negotiations: 'On the clock': McCarthy urges Biden to restart talks on debt ceiling as default looms

TikTok gains an enemy and an ally

At her second stop in early voting state New Hampshire, 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley called for an all-out ban on TikTok.

"We're going to ban TikTok. Ban TikTok everywhere," the former U.N. ambassador said, also taking a jab at President Joe Biden for not banning the app.

But later in the week, TikTok gained an unlikely ally in Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who blocked another senator's efforts to fast-track a ban on TikTok nationwide.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday tried to force a Senate vote on his "No TikTok on United States Devices Act," but was thwarted by Paul, who said banning the app would violate the First Amendment.

Read more on Haley: Nikki Haley wants to ban TikTok, not guns: Takeaways from her 2024 campaign stop in N.H.

Read more on Paul: Rand Paul blocks Josh Hawley's efforts to ban TikTok, joining one of the app's few defenders

Former VP Pence must testify in Jan. 6 probe

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to provide information to a federal grand jury as part of a Justice Department special counsel's investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

(Sorry, readers  I know this breaks the no-Trump-news rule a bit.)

Pence later called the subpoena "unprecedented" and "unconstitutional," but said that he was reviewing whether to appeal the decision.

The court also recognized Pence was shielded from answering some questions under the Constitution's speech-and-debate clause in his role as president of the Senate, about which Pence said he was "pleased."

"Let me be clear, I have nothing to hide. I have a Constitution to uphold," Pence told Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax cable network. "But the way that they sorted that out the requirements of my testimony going forward are the subject of our review."

Read more on Pence: Former VP Pence must testify about conversations with Trump before Jan. 6, federal judge says

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's what happened this week in politics, minus Trump news
A fire whipped through a home on Buchon Street in San Luis Obispo on Friday afternoon, displacing the houses residents.

Firefighters responded to reports of a fire in a residential building in the 1100 block of Buchon Street around 3:11 p.m., according to emergency services app PulsePoint.

The San Luis Obispo City Fire Department first received a report of smoke and fire on the porch of a home and dispatched an engine to the scene, the department tweeted.

The exterior porch fire then extended into the attic of the one-story single family residence, the fire department said

A primary search of the home found no victims inside.

A structure fire was reported on Buchon Street in San Luis Obispo on March 31, 2023.

By 3:52 p.m., the blaze was knocked down, the fire department said on Twitter, and no injuries were reported.

The home will be uninhabitable, the fire department said, and crews were working with the Red Cross to assist any displaced residents.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A structure fire was reported on Buchon Street in San Luis Obispo on March 31, 2023.

A structure fire, reportedly that started on the porch started at 1132 Buchon Street in San Luis Obispo, March 31, 2023.
Flag of Slovakia

Read also: Slovakia hands over first four MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine

Slovakia recently delivered a 2K12 Kub air defense system and first of the 13 promised MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

According to Nagy, Slovakia will now play a key role in producing ammunition for Ukraine.

We are taking specific steps to increase the production of 155-millimeter ammunition at our facilities by five times, the minister said.

Read also: Ukraines accession to EU, NATO guarantees Europes security for decades, says FM Kuleba

155mm rounds are standard NATO artillery ammunition and are in high demand due to the rapid pace at which Kyivs forces are draining European stockpiles of it.

During his visit to Ukraine, the minister said he hopes to assess how the initial deliveries of weapons have proven themselves on the battlefield.

Read also: Russia offers North Korea food in exchange for ammunition

Slovakia handed over its S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022. Shortly thereafter, it delivered 30 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, Zuzana self-propelled howitzers, and other military equipment.

Read also: France to double supply of artillery shells to Ukraine, Slovakia to increase ammo production fivefold

Nagy's arrived in Kyiv on March 31, along with the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Eduard Heger.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Gamblers at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino will be able to smoke again while they play when the new policy goes into effect on Saturday, April 1.

It's been roughly three years since the COVID-19 pandemic ended smoking at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, but now the activity that has been deemed detrimental to one's health by major health organizations for decades, is returning to the site inside its Solstice Lounge.

Potawatomi announced the change on social media earlier this week and the new policy is effective as of Saturday.

When Potawatomi announced it was remaining smoke-free after lifting COVID-19 protocols in May 2021, the American Lung Association commended the decision by the tribe to keep the site smoke-free.

"We certainly appreciated the commendation, but it was not something we sought out," said spokesperson Ryan Amundson with the casino. "Accommodating our guests is our first priority."

Smoking will only be allowed at the Solstice Lounge, located on the second level. Normally, the room is considered an exclusive VIP high-limit room with 80 slot machines and four blackjack games. The room will now be open to everyone, Amundson said.

VIP level guest will have priority during high-volume times on weekends however, until the new VIP lounge will open later this year. The new lounge is part of the casino's $100 million renovation project.

Amundson said Potawatomi decided they needed to provide a small, indoor space for guests, so they could be more accommodating. "Some of our guests are smokers, and they have been asking for this," Amundson said, adding that it is far enough away from other casino amenities, that "Guests who have appreciated a smoke-free environment will not experience any change."

In 1964, a Surgeon General's report highlighting the hazards of smoking received widespread attention and prompted a decline in cigarette sales. In 1966, the first cautionary label appeared on cigarette packs, stating that cigarette smoking "may be hazardous to your health." The warnings were updated in 1970 and again in 1985. In 1967, anti-smoking ads began to air on television.

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The Wisconsin Legislature enacted Act 12 in 2010, prohibiting smoking indoors. The Milwaukee Common Council later folded the legislation into city ordinances. The tribal casinos in Wisconsin are excluded from the indoor bans because of their sovereign status in the state.

The American Lung Association, was founded in 1904 to help improve lung health and prevent lung disease. The charity has long been a voice in a movement to end tobacco-use. Smoking can destroy your lungs, causing a number of different diseases, including lung cancer.

For those who prefer to smoke outside, Amundson said a fenced outdoor area exists between the hotel and casino on the hotel's west side.

Contact Drake Bentley at (414) 391-5647 or DBentley1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DrakeBentleyMJS.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Smoking is returning to Potawatomi Casino inside the Solstice Lounge
Tapping into iconic music magic, Timothy Scott Bogart wrote and directed the movie Spinning Gold (now in theatres), revealing the relatively unknown story of the development of Casablanca Records, founded by his father Neil Bogart and home to artists like Donna Summer, Gladys Knight, The Village People and KISS.

I just got lucky he happened to be my dad, but it's a great story, Bogart told Yahoo Canada. People were trying to make it and people did keep coming to the family to try to acquire the rights, and we just kept saying no because I don't think we knew what we wanted to do with it yet.

Then as I started becoming a professional in the business, it became something that I took on as both an obligation and an opportunity.  It really was, regardless of the relationship, just an extraordinary story that I thought was incredibly universal. I thought if I could crack it, it would matter to people."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 27: (L-R) Director Timothy Scott Bogart and Jeremy Jordan attend a New York screening of "Spinning Gold" at The Roxy Cinema on March 27, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

'I really wanted people to look different, to sound different'

Originally, it was reported that Justin Timberlake would star in the film but Spinning Gold, narrated by the character of Neil, stars Tony Award nominee Jeremy Jordan, who guides us through the story of how a misfit group of music lovers made their mark in history.

While Bogart is intimately invested in the narrative, he also loved giving his cast room to add their own elements to the characters.

Something that I've always loved to do as a writer, and Im as precious as any other writer, I agonize over every comma and ellipses, because I think cadence and the poetry of the language is so important, Bogart said. But as a director, I really toss all that out.

I love ad libbing. I love giving everyone so much information to start with that we can then get rid of it all, because I truly am a director who believes that honesty occurs sometimes through accidental inspiration."

Impressively, along with Jordan, the Spinning Gold cast also includes Casey Likes as Gene Simmons, Ledisi as Gladys Knight, Wiz Khalifa as George Clinton and Tayla Parx as Donna Summer. Having the burden of casting so many pop culture icons that we know and love, in addition to directing performances of some of the most popular songs in history, is no small feat. But Bogart approached the task with a clear goal, to portray the essence of that artist at that specific point in time.

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I knew and know still, some people won't appreciate it. Some people will say that's a terrible idea and thats OK, I was telling a very specific story," Bogart said. I wasn't telling the story of Donna Summer I was telling the story of LaDonna Gaines who created a character named Donna Summer with my father. I was telling the story of a guy named Chaim Witz who created a character named Gene Simmons."

"So the idea of casting someone who looked exactly like Gene Simmons, talked like him, that was casting the product, not the person. In order to kind of break us from that expectation I really wanted people to look different, to sound different.  That was a decision early on about stripping down to the essence of who these people were, and casting quite different in many regards.

'I couldn't polish down the edges'

When it comes to the character of Neil, he had his own faults that Bogart had to address in Spinning Gold, including a gambling addiction and having an affair with Joyce Biawitz, co-manager of KISS, while he was married to Beth Weiss.

I couldn't polish down the edges. You shouldn't do that as a filmmaker, but as a son, ... I also didn't want to do that, Bogart said. To me the mission was to just not judge it as a filmmaker, because I think so many of these stories become cautionary tales, and we feel we have to judge the character for their actions."

"He was a gambling addict, a true gambling addict, but if he wasn't, there's no Casablanca. So is that his flaw? Is it his superpower? It's really both ultimately. So I embraced all that. Now, more dangerous and delicate, perhaps, is a son telling the story about his father's affair and what that sort of looks like. It wasn't just a quick affair, it was a long, sustained, dual relationship but it also happened to be true. He was in love with these two people and I thought that was messy and complicated, and I thought it was fascinating.

In Spinning Gold Neil says, "we were in the business of making dreams come true," and in Bogart's assessment of his father, that was very much something he sought to achieve throughout his life.

He loved [my grandfather],  but I think he saw him as a failure, as someone who had dreams that were completely unfulfilled," Bogart said. "I think that became something that really drove him to fulfill his own."

He kind of found all these other people who also had these shared dreams and I think it was only because of the collective nature of that particular group of people, at that particular moment in time, that this fairytale just so happened to be true.  It's the lesson that I think he gave me because he did achieve some extraordinary things, and then he left us far too early, which meant you don't really have time for tomorrow. So you better embrace it today.
Starting this weekend, Georgia will began redetermining the eligibility of 2.7 million adults and children who are currently receiving Medicaid or PeachCare for Kids coverage.

Many of these recipients have been covered because of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which was passed by Congress in March of 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under this act, Georgia Medicaid members were continuously eligible for Medicaid coverage as long the U.S. was under a federal public health emergency.

This changed in December of 2022, after a federal spending bill was passed that ended Medicaid continuous enrollment on March 31. States began Medicaid redetermination  where those on Medicaid are asked to show that they still qualify for coverage  on April 1.

The bill stated that redetermination could begin regardless of the end of the public health emergency, which is set to expire on May 11 of this year.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation, at the end of the continuous enrollment period, 5 to 14 million Americans could lose their Medicaid coverage.

During redetermination, which Georgia has 14 months to figure out, those who receive Medicaid may be asked to update or provide information about their job, income, and more to retain coverage.

Georgians who are concerned about their Medicaid can check staycovered.ga.gov for more information about what they can do to keep their coverage.

As stated on the DHS website, Georgians on Medicaid can also take action by ensuring that the information on their Gateway account is up to date. They can sign up for email notifications on Gateway to stay informed.

Options if you lose Medicaid coverage

Those who wish to talk face-to-face about their coverage options can do so by scheduling an appointment at their nearest Division of Family and Children Services office. This DHS website can be used to look for locations closest to you.

People who live in Bibb or Twiggs County who lose their Medicaid may be able to turn to a local source, the Macon Volunteer Clinic (MVC), for new coverage.

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As stated on the MVCs website, the clinic provides free primary medical and dental care, as well as non-narcotic medication assistance, to uninsured, working adults who live in Macon-Bibb or Twiggs County and whose income is equal to or less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

Macon Volunteer Clinics Executive Director Nancy White told the Telegraph that its important for people to remember that if they get dropped from Medicaid, there are other resources available, including the plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Those who are stuck in the middle, with neither Medicaid nor ACA plans as an option, may be a perfect fit for MVC care.

We care for people who make too much for Medicaid and not enough to afford an ACA plan, White said. When our founders carved the eligibility requirements out for Macon Volunteer Clinic, they were careful not to duplicate other safety nets. So we truly do catch people who fall through the cracks of our system. And thats why weve always been here; weve been here 20 years. If you qualify, we can be your medical home at no cost to you.

MVC is not a federally qualified health center and does not receive federal funding. The clinic instead relies on donations from foundations and from the public to provide free healthcare for the uninsured.

To learn more about the Macon Volunteer Clinics mission, visit the about page on their website, or call (478) 755-1110, extension 121 to reach the clinics front desk for more information.
Ron Bryce

Recently, I voted in favor of House Sub for SB 83, which passed in the Kansas House.

The bill provides additional special education funding as requested in the governor's budget. It has mandatory salary increases for all Kansas teachers. It promotes parental involvement and direction in the education of their children. It provides a way for parents to decide what is taught or not taught to their children.

It allows low-income and poorly performing students to choose the learning environment in which they are best able to learn. It provides a flexible spending account for parents to use toward learning expenses, including college courses, that best meet the needs of their child.

All of this is accomplished while protecting Constitutional funding for our public schools as per the Kansas Supreme Court's Gannon decision.

I recently became acquainted with proficiency test data for Kansas. Student scores in math and English are not acceptable for anyone who cares, as I do, about the future of public education.

Some suggest we just provide more funding for the current system, and the problems will correct themselves.

Unfortunately, we are rapidly reaching a point in which there will be no additional money available at our current spending rates. K-12 education funding currently adds up to more than half the entire state budget. Kansas spends, on average, $20,000 per student every year in our public schools. Therefore, it costs Kansans over $1 million to educate just four kids throughout their K-12 journey.

I dont think ever-growing levels of spending are either affordable or tolerable for constituents paying the bill with increasingly higher and higher property taxes.

Both financial and academic accountability are included in the bill. Financial accountability is provided through the administration by our state treasurer with required annual audits and oversight of student accounts. Also, education savings account purchases are required to be monitored in real-time.

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Academic accountability is provided by those who care about student performance most  the parents. Thats the way it should be  the state oversees expenditures of public money, and parents oversee what is taught to their children.

Status quo is not sustainable. We cant keep doing the same old things and expect different results.

This bill is our best shot at education reform with minimal adverse impact on school district budgets. I want to be someone who takes a stand for the future of education for all the students I represent  those in public and non-public schools.

Ron Bryce, MD, represents District 11 in the Kansas House.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Status quo isn't sustainable for the education of Kansas children
Stormy Daniels attends the 2019 Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January 2019. Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Image

Adult actress Stormy Daniels is at the heart of Donald Trump's recent indictment.

She told The Times of London that the news is 'vindication' but also 'bittersweet.'

Daniels also cautioned that the indictment could 'divide people' and bring violence.

Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the center of Donald Trump's indictment, said she's aware of the absurdity behind her role in the criminal charges brought against the former US president.

But she said also found it "poetic," invoking an infamous line Trump said about women years before he was a presidential candidate.

"I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star," Daniels told The Times of London in an interview. "But it's also poetic; this pussy grabbed back."

The reference stems from a 2005 conversation with Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood," during which Trump was caught on the hot mic boasting that he could "grab" women "by the pussy."

"When you're a star they let you do it," Trump could be heard saying. The audio leaked a month before the 2016 election.

Daniels became an unlikely figure in an already unprecedented event in which a former US president  and presidential candidate  faces criminal charges. Though the exact charges are not yet known, the indictment is likely related to a $130,000 "hush-money" payment that Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen made to Daniels days before the 2016 election.

The Wall Street Journal first reported in 2018 that the payment was made to silence Daniels about an alleged affair that occurred in 2006.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has been investigating Trump's personal and business finances for nearly five years, including the hush-money payment.

The crime in question likely has to do with how Trump handled a payment reimbursing Cohen for the hush-money payment to Daniels. Former lead Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz wrote in his book, "People vs. Donald Trump," that the reimbursement was classified as "legal fees."

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In New York, falsifying business records is a low-level felony.

Daniels has since been on a victory lap after reports of a looming indictment of Trump first surfaced.

She tweeted up a storm, mocking Trump supporters about "giving him a ride straight to jail," and claimed that her "Team Stormy" merch has seen a boost in sales since the indictment was announced.

In her interview with The Times of London, she called the indictment "vindication" but also said that it was "bittersweet."

"He's done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before," she told the publication.

Daniels also cautioned that the indictment could "continue to divide people and bring them up in arms."

"Whatever the outcome is, it's going to cause violence, and there's going to be injuries and death," she told The Times. "There's the potential for a lot of good to come from this. But either way, a lot of bad is going to come from it, too."



A spokesperson for Daniels and Trump's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing on Friday.



Hailing China and Singapore as important partners of cooperation, Xi said the bilateral relationship is forward-looking, strategic and demonstrative, and has not only given a strong boost to the development and rejuvenation of the two countries, but also set a benchmark for countries in the region.

He noted that during Lee's visit, the two sides elevated bilateral ties to an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership, charting the course for the future development of bilateral relations.

China is ready to strengthen strategic communication with the Singaporean side, deepen strategic alignment, and make "high quality" the most distinct feature of China-Singapore cooperation, said the Chinese president.

Xi pointed out that of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has been the most involved in China's reform and opening-up and its interests are most closely integrated with China. He added that China is ready to share important opportunities with Singapore and other countries that are willing to cooperate with it.

Xi said China is willing to work with Singapore to make good use of the bilateral cooperation mechanism meetings, strengthen the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, deepen cooperation on digital and green development and third-party cooperation, and properly advance cross-border travel.

Over the years, Asia has maintained a sound momentum of overall peace and stability, rapid development and overall improvement, said Xi. Through hard work and wisdom, countries in the region have embarked on a development path with Asian characteristics featuring independence, mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, he added.

Against the backdrop of accelerating changes in the world unseen in a century, Xi said Asian countries should cherish and maintain the hard-won sound momentum of development in the region, jointly safeguard the peace dividend of the region, maintain the right direction of economic globalization and regional economic integration, and firmly oppose bullying, decoupling or severing the supply and industrial chains.

"No country should be allowed to deprive the people of Asia of their right to pursue a better and happier life," Xi said.

Prime Minister Lee expressed strong confidence in the resilience of the Chinese economy, and said he believes the economy will continue to grow in a sound way.

He said Singapore and other neighboring countries look forward to further deepening economic cooperation with China.

The Singaporean side looks forward to working with the new Chinese government as soon as possible to promote cooperation on major projects such as connectivity, and to take the opportunity of completing the negotiations on upgrading the Singapore-China free trade agreement to send a clear message of China's continued opening-up and Singapore's commitment to further deepening cooperation with China, Lee said.

He pointed out that almost all countries in the world recognize that there is only one China in the world and have developed friendly and cooperative relations with China on the basis of the one-China policy.

The Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and touting "Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow" will lead to unpredictable and serious consequences, he said.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on major-country relations and international and regional issues of common concern.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
JC Olivera/Getty

Stormy Daniels just did her first interview since the indictment of former President Donald Trump, and she has a message for her one-night stand.

This pussy grabbed back, the porn star told The Times of London.

That, of course, is a reference to Trumps crude joke to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women, which surfaced on a tape a month before the 2016 election.

Daniels admitted to mixed feelings about the news that a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday indicted Trump for his role in the hush-money payment to keep her from going public while he was running for president.

Its monumental and epic, and Im proud. The other side of it is that its going to continue to divide people and bring them up in arms, Daniels said.

Its vindication, the adult film star added. But its bittersweet. Hes done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before.

How Stormy Daniels Went From Porn Star to Trumps Bed to #Resistance Hero

More than once during the interview, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, expressed no illusions about how some Americans might respond to the criminal case.

Whatever the outcome is, its going to cause violence, and theres going to be injuries and death, she said. Theres the potential for a lot of good to come from this. But either way, a lot of bad is going to come from it, too.

Trump is expected to surrender and be arraigned on Tuesday. Before the grand jury acted, he had raised the spectre of violence, saying that potential death & destruction could accompany his indictment and posting a photo of himself next to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Daniels said she has been attacked for coming forward for years, with trolls calling her gold digger, slut, whore, liar, whatever. But she is now receiving threats that are much violent and graphic.

She said she does fear for her own safety, having received death threats on all social media platforms, and email, and phone immediately after the indictment.

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The country is more divided and people are more desperate. Im not afraid of [Trump], or of the government, but it just takes one crazy supporter who thinks theyre doing Gods work or protecting democracy, she said.

Daniels blamed Trump for much of this increasingly feverish rhetoric, saying he has gotten away with inciting a riot, and causing death and destructiona reference to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

But Daniels said she wont be cowed or shamed.

I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star. But its also poetic; this p*ssy grabbed back, she said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Steve Strack begs for Anna Strack's forgiveness outside a Chicago divorce courtroom in 1948. The Chicago Tribune/Public Domain

A 1948 photo shows a groveling husband begging for his wife's forgiveness outside a divorce court.

Insider spoke with a Chicago historian about the photo subjects and divorce norms at the time.

Despite the husband's public pleas, this wife was ultimately unmoved.

This decades-old photo is worth more than 1,000 words.

The black-and-white image, which has made the rounds on social media and Reddit in recent years, features a suited man on his literal knees, begging for the forgiveness of his fur-clad, soon-to-be ex-wife outside a Chicago divorce court.

The looks on their faces seem to say it all: The scorned husband appears desperate, mouth slightly agape as he looks up at his one-time lover; the woman, meanwhile, appears utterly unbothered.

"It's a powerful photo today because you can sort of imagine your own story behind it," Jeff Nichols, a Chicago historian who acquired a copy of the 1948 newspaper photo via an eBay listing of the image, said.

But thanks to Nichols' sleuthing, as well as the digitization of old newspaper records, we don't have to merely imagine who this couple is.

The image depicts one of the final moments in the marriage of Steve and Anna Strack, who were 37 and 33 at the time, according to Nichols' research. The photo was a one-off picture published in the Chicago Tribune, unattached to any particular story, and seemingly printed due to its evocative nature.

"It's just one of those dramatic photos," Nichols told Insider. "I'm sure it was just a photographer who was roaming the halls of the courthouse looking for a picture."

Prior to the camera flash, Anna Strack had filed for divorce from her husband on the grounds of habitual drunkenness, Nichols told Insider. In Illinois at the time, a spouse seeking divorce had to provide the court with a reason for the split, often choosing from maladies like abandonment, mental cruelty, or adultery.

If the suing spouse could successfully prove the destructive behavior, the plaintiff spouse was found to be at fault and could be punished by the courts with a smaller share of marital assets or alimony.

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It wasn't until 2016 that Illinois became a no-fault state and residents were able to officially end their marriages without giving a reason for the failed union.

Nichols, whose previous historical work includes the discovery of lost footage of the aftermath of the SS Eastland disaster, posted the Strack photo to his Twitter account earlier this year and said it was a particularly popular post among his followers and fellow history devotees, whom he believed got a kick out of seeing such an obvious display of a 20th-century woman in "the driver's seat" of her relationship.

Anna Strack was unconvinced by her husband's public display

The young wife, who then shared a 4-year-old son with her husband, told The Tribune at the time of the photo that she would think over her decision, according to Nichols' research.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chicago was the subject of frequent jokes about its apparently lax divorce laws, Nichols said, describing the perception as a sort of regional joke that people instinctively understood: "Oh, people in Chicago just get divorced as a problem to have," Nichols said as an example of the kind of jabs the city suffered.

As a result of the culture of divorce, it's entirely possible that Steve Strack had an ally on the bench in Judge Julius H. Miner. The longtime Illinois justice believed divorce to be an inherently destructive process and usually preventable, according to Nichols, who cited old newspaper stories and profiles on Miner.

"Judge Miner, in particular, believed in the power of his court to mend relationships," Nichols said.

Miner was a strong proponent of changing the law to make quick divorces tougher to acquire in Illinois, according to Nichols, who said the judge blamed World War II for undermining women's values and their responsibilities as wives and mothers. Miner was particularly concerned about divorce's impact on children.

In a Tribune profile on Miner published a couple of months after the Strack photo appeared in the paper, the judge discussed his efforts to keep couples together, Nichols said, essentially turning his courtroom into a sort of couple's-therapy session as he tried to secure reconciliations.

Miner, however, failed to keep Anna and Steve Strack together. The 1950 census shows the couple as divorced, according to Nichols' research, with Anna Strack working as a packer at a gum factory, living with her parents and her son. Steve went on to work as a railroad mechanic and lived as a boarder, Nichols said.

Steve Strack remarried in 1953, but died just over a decade later in 1964, according to Nichols. Records suggest that Anna Strack never remarried. When she died in 1983, she was buried under her ex-husband's name, Nichols said.

Meanwhile, President Dwight Eisenhower elevated Miner to the federal bench in 1958.

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A program of the Celebration of Life for student Evelyn Dieckhaus, nine-year-old, who was killed in a deadly mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee (REUTERS)

On Friday morning, Evelyn Dieckhaus was supposed to be singing What A Wonderful World in a student play at The Covenant School in Nashville.

Instead, on Friday afternoon, the song was performed less than two miles down the road by country star Vince Gill at Woodmont Christian Church, where an estimated 1,500 people gathered to remember the third-grader gunned down on Monday alongside two other pupils and three school staff members earlier.

It doesnt feel like we live in a wonderful world, Dr Clay Stauffer, the churchs senior minister since 2007, said at Evelyns celebration of life.

It feels like we live in a broken world and a fallen world and a violent world -- and in many ways we do.

But I know this: So much good and love is coming out of this tragedy. So much support and compassion is being shown from all over the world. And so much hurt and pain is being met with love and care. And together were gonna get through this  together, were gonna heal, because were stronger together, he said.

This undated photo shows Evelyn Dieckhaus a student at The Covenant School in Nashville (AP)

Evelyn, who would have turned 10 this summer, died on Monday after 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a former Covenant student, shot through the school doors and entered with three guns, also killing fellow nine-year-olds Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, as well as head of school Kathleen Koonce, 60; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and custodian Mike Hill, 61.

The memorial for Evelyn marked the start of funeral and burial services for Covenant victims as Nashville continued to reel from its first fatal elementary school shooting. After the church sanctuary filled up, well before the start of the 3pm service, additional mourners crowded into two other locations on the church grounds, watching the proceedings streamed on screens.

Lady A performed two songs, followed by scripture readings and What A Wonderful World from Vince Gill, whose voice caught in his throat as he addressed the congregation before singing. Sniffles and quiet crying were the only sounds other than his voice.

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Mourners arrive for the celebration of Evelyns life (AP)

Evelyns parens, Mike and Katie, and older sister, Eleanor, were in the front pews, along with her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Then Evelyns fathers brother, Jeff Dieckhaus, stood before the cross-section of her hometown to reflect on her bright but short life.

You are unrepeatable, he said, addressing his late niece. There is a magic about you that is all your own.

He described Evelyns love for music and animals, her soft-spoken nature, her affectionate hugs and her academic diligence, smiling through his grief as he recounted Dieckhaus family time at the lake and other favorite memories of his niece.

An estimated 1,500 gathered to remember the nine-year-old at Woodmont Christian Church, just down the street from the school where she was fatally shot on Monday (Sheila Flynn)

She loved babies and animals and nature, Jeff Dieckhaus said.  She was a deep thinker, and she had a pure and precious faith in God. She loved a good joke, the ones that would make her laugh to the point that her whole body would shake. But mixed in those laughs was this little giggle, its hard to describe unless youve heard it yourself, and even harder to forget.

Evelyn was remembered as a girl who loved animals, babies and music (Sheila Flynn)

Evelyn was soft-spoken and gentle, but certainly not timid, he said. She had the courage of a tiger and a spirit that far outsized her nine-year-old body. Evelyn loved to snuggle and sit on your lap; like a little monkey, she would sometimes crawl up on you, hang from your back or just nuzzle into your side . Many times, she would sit on your lap facing you, smiling before moving in for the most affectionate hug one could give.

He described his niece as everyones friend  she made people feel known and seen, but never judged; she was her own friend group, never one to take sides, but instead try to include everyone, he said.

Young Evelyn made you feel so special, he added. She made you feel important.

The near palpable sadness at Woodmont Christian was mixed with shock and disbelief; mourners arrived in pinks and pastels at the request of the Dieckhaus family to honor Evelyns favorite colours. The church was full of outfits that were, for many, likely intended as Easter ensembles; instead, they were pulled out to grieve for the life of an innocent.

Stuffed animals and comfort service dogs were available for the shell-shocked crowd.

Rev Farrell Mason, who read Scripture from the podium during the service and had been counseling Evelyns family since the shooting, addressed the congregationss mixed feelings during her reflection on hope. She said the events of Monday had shaken her own faith, making her ask of God: Where are you? How do you expect us to go forward? Is it even possible to find hope with enough muscle to keep our hearts beating, to keep us from turning our backs on you, to keep us from giving up on hope once and for all?

Nearby churches and businesses offered messages of support on Friday as Nashville began to lay to rest the first of six school shooting victims (Sheila Flynn)

But she insisted: Hope is real, and God promises, if we hold fast to it, it will not disappoint  later adding: Where there is love, there is hope.

Dr Stauffer, in his closing remarks, alluded to the debate and protests that have followed Mondays tragedy. One day before Evelyns celebration of life, hundreds  many mothers, children and students  demanded gun legislation on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol.

People are going to push for change and reform; they already have, he told mourners. Clearly, weve got some problems that need to be addressed.

There are going to be many painful days ahead, but lets all promise to keep this beautiful family in our thoughts and prayers, he said of Evelyns parents, sister and relatives, praising them for their faith and strength.

A private burial will be held on Saturday for Evelyn, as families and the wider Nashville community prepare to lay to rest the other five victims in the coming days.
The indictment of former President Trump in the Manhattan district attorneys investigation into the hush-money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels will likely dominate the conversation on this weeks Sunday news shows.

The political world shook on Thursday afternoon after the news broke that a grand jury approved charges against Trump following an extensive investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The cases roots go back years from a payment that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 for her to remain silent about an alleged affair that she said she had with Trump years prior. Cohen pleaded guilty to a range of crimes, including a campaign finance violation from the payment, in 2018 and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Cohen has said Trump directed him to make the payment and reimbursed him for it, making him likely a key witness in the prosecutions case. Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment but claimed it was unrelated to campaign funds and denied having an affair with Daniels.

One of Trumps attorneys in the case, Joe Tacopina, has been making rounds on different news programs in the immediate aftermath of Trump being indicted, appearing on shows like NBCs The Today Show and ABCs Good Morning America.

He told John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby on WABCs Cats and Cosby show on Friday that Trumps indictment is a double standard that endangers all of us.

Today, its Donald Trump. Tomorrow, its a Democrat. The day after that its our cousin, our nephew, our niece, our brother, he said. Were now using the justice system as a political weapon. And that is not what we ever did in this country.

Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to be criminally indicted.

Tacopina said on Good Morning America that he will file motions quickly on the legal viability of the case.

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He will appear on ABCs This Week and CNNs State of the Union.

Trumps Republican allies have rallied behind the former president since the indictment was publicized, denouncing the investigation as politically motivated.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has taken a leading role in pushing back against Braggs investigation and calling for answers from him about the probe.

Jordan also serves as chairman of the Judiciary Committees Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and was one of three Republicans who sent Bragg a letter last week to demand documents related to the investigation. He expanded the investigation in requesting testimony from two prosecutors who resigned from Braggs office last year following a disagreement with Braggs hesitancy to bring the case against Trump.

Jordan, who is appearing on Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures, tweeted only Outrageous. following the reports of the indictment.

One of the points that Trump allies have brought up in defending the former president has been that former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Braggs predecessor, did not bring charges against Trump in the case.

Vance served as the district attorney for more than a decade and was the one who initiated the probe into the hush-money payment, winning a case against Trump before the Supreme Court in 2020 that gave him access to Trumps tax returns as part of his investigation.

Vance chose to not run for reelection in 2021 to another term and passed the investigation on to Bragg once his term ended. Vance will appear on NBCs Meet the Press.

But not all Republicans have rushed to Trumps defense following the indictment being issued.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), who has been critical of Trump and is rumored to be a possible 2024 presidential candidate, said on Fox Business on Friday that Trump should step aside from the 2024 race now that he has been indicted. He said the legal system needs to be able to play out, and the public should trust that it will.

When a public official is indicted, I think with regard to the office, the office is more important than the person and they should step aside, he said.

Hutchinson will appear on This Week.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has also criticized Trump in the past and voted to convict him after the House impeached him over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Cassidy will appear on Fox News Sunday.

Democrats have meanwhile praised the decision as justice playing out and demonstrating that no one is above the law. They said the process should be able to happen without any outside interference.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who will appear on CBSs Face the Nation, reportedly said people on the outside of a case should not take sides in a criminal matter and criticized Republicans who have condemned the investigation as politicized without knowing the charges.

The exact charges that Trump is facing are unclear as the indictment remains sealed. It will be unsealed by the time that Trump has his arraignment on Tuesday.

Its pretty incredible that some of my colleagues believe theyre clairvoyant & they can judge the presidents innocence before theyve even seen what the charges are, Murphy said.

Amid the attacks on the legitimacy of Braggs investigation, Cohen attorney Lanny Davis has defended the validity of his clients statements to New York prosecutors and the grand jury. He told NBCs Meet the Press NOW on Friday that all of Cohens testimony is backed up by documents and multiple corroborating witnesses.

Everything that Michael Cohen has testified to is surrounded by documentation and corroboration. Everything, Davis said. And if hes a witness in this trial, he will be a principal witness, but his role is not to persuade anyone that hes telling the truth.

Davis will appear on State of the Union. He told NBC that if a jury determines that political motivation did fuel the probe after seeing documents, hearing testimony and considering the law, then thats the verdict.

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this weeks Sunday talk shows:

ABCs This Week  Joe Tacopina, Trump attorney; former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R); former Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt

NBCs Meet the Press  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.); former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.; former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), NCAA president

CBSs Face the Nation  Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.); John Bolton, former national security adviser; The Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker; Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney in New York

CNNs State of the Union  Tacopina; Manchin; Lanny Davis, attorney for former Trump attorney Michael Cohen; Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)

Fox News Sunday  Manchin; Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.); Jim Trusty, Trump attorney; former Attorney General William Barr

Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures  Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Administration Committee; former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe; Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R); Alina Habba, Trump attorney

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
I think the impact of the Kansas Supreme Courts decision is pretty significant and serious, and were disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court wasnt willing to step in, said Sharon Brett, ACLU legal director.

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to grant certiorari in a Kansas City, Missouri racial gerrymandering case.

According to CNN, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that a Republican-drawn Congressional map, which divided Wyandotte County, a region within Kansas City, into two separate congressional districts, should remain in place.

Kansas voters were upset with the ruling and called on the American Civil Liberties Union for help.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

The ACLU asked the high court to look at the case in a last-ditch effort to stop the newly drawn maps from going into effect, citing that the states ruling was discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional. In response, the Supreme Court told the ACLU that it agreed with the state courts decision and cited that the federal court lacked jurisdiction.

ACLU legal director Sharon Brett told theGrio that the organization was disappointed to hear that the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

I think the impact of the Kansas Supreme Courts decision is pretty significant and serious, and were disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court wasnt willing to step in and correct that misinterpretation of federal law, she said.

Brett told theGrio that in the request to the Supreme Court, the ACLU had appealed one very discrete issueand that was that the Kansas Supreme Court misinterpreted the federal equal protection clause law.

She continued, the state court grossly misstated the legal standard that federal courts apply to a racial vote dilution claim, which she believes resulted in an unfair outcome for Kansas residents.

The original congressional map gave minority voters a fighting chance to vote for an official they wanted to represent them, however with the new map in place, their votes may no longer hold the same weight.

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American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) logo close-up on a website page (Adobe Stock)

Brett believes the new map will dilute the political voices of the Black and Latino communities in Kansas City and in Wyandotte County more broadlyits one of the counties in the state of Kansas with the largest minority population.

She continued, Minority voters in Wyandotte Countyreally have no chance of electing their representative of choice.

The latest congressional map will be in place for the next 10 years, so Brett suggests that if Kansas City residents want things to change in the future, they must get organized.

The ACLU of Kansas is here to help them organize their political power and work with the other communities in the second congressional district to push back against the map that was enacted by the Kansas legislature and make sure their political voices are heard, she stated.

Brett said the best way to move forward is to vote and remove any roadblocks that make it difficult for minorities to cast a ballot.

One of the things that the ACLU of Kansas is working on more broadly is removing barriers to voting at the local level, she stated.

The ACLU wants to make it easier and more accessible for everybody to vote so that we can push back against these deliberate attempts from the Kansas Legislature to silence the political voices of the minority community, she continued.

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The post Supreme Court rejects Kansas City racial gerrymandering case appeared first on TheGrio.
Switzerland's major luxury watch brands are cautiously optimistic that Chinese tourists will boost sales this year, if they return to Europe in large numbers after the easing of domestic Covid restrictions.

Exports to China, a key market for watchmakers, contracted by 13.6 percent in 2022 due to Beijing's zero-Covid policy and the surge in infections when it was lifted at the end of the year.

However, exports began to rebound in February -- up 8.2 percent year-on-year, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

"China will regain a positive dynamic," the federation's president Jean-Daniel Pasche, told AFP at the industry's annual Watches and Wonders trade fair in Geneva, where 48 brands such as Rolex, Cartier and Patek Philippe were showing off their latest creations.

With China reopening, many financial analysts have sharply raised their growth forecasts for the luxury sector as a whole in 2023.

During Covid lockdowns, Chinese consumers built up significant savings, with HSBC analysts pointing to estimates of 6.6 trillion yuan ($960 billion) in excess savings accumulated over the past three years.

Morgan Stanley analysts expect Chinese consumer spending on luxury goods to increase by 20 percent in 2023.

According to the US investment bank's estimates, luxury goods lovers in China made up about 60 percent of the sector's growth between 2000 and 2019.

Nearly three-quarters of their spending was done abroad, representing a windfall for Europe's luxury boutiques.

- Appetite for travel -

That said, Chinese luxury consumers have become more accustomed to buying domestically during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Swiss luxury goods giant Richemont sounded a note of caution.

"We see people going back to the stores with an appetite to buy and an appetite to travel," said Cyrille Vigneron, chief executive of the group's flagship brand Cartier.

"When a market so important is changing trajectory it has an impact" across the whole of Asia, he told a Watches and Wonders press conference.

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But it is hard to predict how the Chinese market will evolve in the short term, said Richemont chief finance officer Burkhart Grund, even though he remains "optimistic for the mid-term development of China".

"We've seen good business during the Chinese new year, but this has taken place not just in China," he said, with outbound tourism returning to Asian countries including Thailand and Japan, and the first signs of Chinese tourists returning to Dubai.

"But in Europe, we don't see it yet."

- Few flights -

Guillaume de Seynes, a director at leather goods giant Hermes, had no doubt that the desire to return to Europe "is there", but flights, "especially to France, are still limited", he told AFP.

For now, the top priorities at Hermes, which was presenting its new watches in Geneva, remain "to enlarge the average size" of its stores and "gradually increase our presence in China" by opening one boutique a year in a new city, he explained.

Hermes opened a new store in Nanjing in January, taking its number of outlets in China to 27.

In Lucerne, the top tourist destination in Switzerland, the tourism office hopes to see Chinese visitors returning soon "in summer or late spring", depending on "the availability of visas and flight capacities", said a spokeswoman for the picturesque city where browsing watch shops is on the must-do list.

Antoine Pin, director of Bulgari's watch division, said: "We will firstly see wealthy clients coming from China... because the plane tickets are quite expensive".

Jon Cox, an industry analyst with the Kepler Cheuvreux financial services company, told AFP: "For those companies with distribution in China, I expect a very strong year.

"However, I would not be confident on companies relying on the Chinese returning to Europe this year. It will take a while for the Chinese to come back to Europe in the way they did before Covid."

noo/rjm/mca
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad in Cairo on Saturday, a first since Syria's civil war broke out over a decade ago, Shoukry's office said.

The meeting comes amid amplified Arab engagement with the Damascus government which has been politically isolated in the region since the start of the Syria war and was expelled from the Cairo-based Arab League in 2011 over its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

Mekdad's visit to Cairo is the "first in more than 10 years" for a Syrian top diplomat and saw a closed door meeting between the two ministers followed by discussions between the two countries' delegations, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.

Several Arab countries rushed to Syria's aid after a February 6 earthquake killed tens of thousands in the war-torn country and neighbouring Turkey.

At the time, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in an unprecedented show of support since Sisi took office in 2014.

The two country's top diplomats also spoke over the phone in the aftermath of the quake.

Shoukry then visited Damascus and met Assad on February 27 in the first trip of its kind in more than a decade.

Discussions on Saturday focused on "supporting the Syrian people to restore (the country's) unity and sovereignty over its whole territories", the Egyptian ministry said in a statement.

Shoukry called for a "comprehensive political settlement to the Syrian crisis", while reiterating Cairo's backing for the United Nations special envoy's efforts to resolve the conflict.

The two ministers also agreed "on intensifying channels of communication" between their countries, the statement said.

Unlike other Arab governments, Cairo never fully severed ties with Damascus after the war, but relations were downgraded.

But the aftermath of the quake saw heavyweights like Saudi Arabia send aid to Syria, followed by talks between Riyadh and Damascus to resume consular services.

The United Arab Emirates has led the charge to bring Syria back into the Arab fold, with President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan saying last month that "the time has come" for Syria to be reintegrated into the wider region.

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On an after-hours tour of one of the worlds greatest museums, T+Ls editor in chief learns that beating the crowds doesnt always have to mean waking up early.

iStockphoto/Getty Images Vatican City at sunset.

It was my sons first trip to Rome, a city I find exhilarating and exhausting  especially in August, when the sun is relentless and the air-conditioning weak. The tiger mom in me felt that at seven years old, Bobby was ready to do the Vatican Museums. But I didnt want to slog it in the midday heat with him and my husband.

Its a bit of a secret, even among seasoned travelers, that the Vatican Museums typically stay open until 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday from April to October. So we decided that, rather than join the seemingly endless lines that form at the entrance every morning, wed push the limits of our endurance and do an after-hours tour. Our flight from New York City landed first thing in the morning, as so many from the U.S. do, so we passed the day by having a leisurely lunch at Pierluigi Restaurant and visiting the Spanish Steps.

To make things even easier, we enlisted the help of Access Italy, a local operator that counts time-strapped stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Penelope Cruz among its clients. Our guide, Simona Manzoni, picked us up from our hotel at 7 p.m. on the dot, tickets in hand. By 7:30, we were at the Vatican, breezing through the entrance. As the sky turned a brilliant amber, we stopped for an Aperol Spritz at the open-air cafe in the lovely Cortile della Pigna, the museums courtyard. (Who knew the Vatican had a restaurant that serves Spritzes?) As Manzoni set the stage, showing us diagrams of the galleries and explaining papal history, we got our second wind, because it was only midday back home.

Courtesy of Jacqueline Gifford From left: The Gallery of Maps, inside the Vatican Museums; Bobby, the author's son, in the "Braccio Nuovo" or "New Wing" of the Vatican's Chiaramonti Museum.

The tour was a visual delight for Bobby, and we took it at our own pace. The deep reds of the Raphael tapestries, it turns out, are magnificent when you only have to compete with a handful of others to see them. As are the golds in the frescoes that line the Gallery of Maps, where Manzoni could point to Italys many regions without a gaggle of iPhone-wielding selfie-takers crowding us. And its easier to appreciate the blues of "The Last Judgment"  and imagine Michelangelo painting it while as high as 68 feet in the air  when you can find a seat to take it in.

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The era of COVID-19 has taught me to embrace travel on the fringes: staying over a Sunday night; booking that hot restaurant table at 5 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. Now I know that, rather than hitting an iconic attraction first thing in the morning, its worth waiting until after dark.

A version of this story first appeared in the March 2023 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline Timing Is Everything.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, whose visit to the US led to efforts by the Biden administration to avoid a fresh dispute with China, met this week with the top House Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, according to a person familiar with the encounter.

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The meeting took place in New York City on Thursday, the person added. Jeffries, the House minority leader, represents a district in Brooklyn.

His office declined to confirm the meeting, and the White House didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday evening. The Taiwan presidential office said in a statement that Tsais meetings with American friends would be announced at an appropriate time. The Tsai-Jeffries meeting was reported earlier Friday by Punchbowl News.

Tsai arrived in New York on Wednesday and left Friday on a trip that is taking her to Guatemala and Belize, two of the few remaining countries that recognize Taiwans sovereignty. Then she will pass through Los Angeles, where she is expected to meet with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in his home state.

Although China lodged a protest over Tsais visit, several people familiar with the matter say they believe Chinas response may be more muted than earlier feared. The people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said Tsai scrapped some events and limited her press engagements, which were seen as most likely to enrage Beijing.

In a sign that the White House was trying to keep the issue under control and preempt any overreaction or miscommunication, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart last week that both sides decided not to publicize.

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In a sign of the US efforts to make Tsais travels appear routine, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that transits are not visits. They are private and not official

Yet Tsais arrival came at a time of particularly acrimonious US-China relations over everything from control of the South China Sea to Russias war in Ukraine to Chinas human rights record to the flight of a Chinese balloon across the US earlier in March.

Both Democrats and Republicans have been eager to denounce China, and many have expressed affinity for Taiwan. A visit to the island last summer by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was followed by unprecedented military drills by China around Taiwan.

At the same time, President Joe Bidens efforts to put a floor under the rapidly deteriorating relationship with China have yet to succeed, Bidens top Asia adviser, Kurt Campbell, said Thursday.

--With assistance from Erik Wasson and Jordan Fabian.

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The Sacramento City Unified School District, its school board and the Sacramento City Teachers Association are negotiating terms from their last agreement they settled on after an eight-day strike last spring.

The parties agreed to negotiate three topics again before the 2023-24 school year: staff salaries, class sizes and when to hire new teachers.

Sacramento City Unified currently has 78 full-time equivalent positions still vacant, according to district officials. The vacancies have caused many of the districts 40,000 students to be without a teacher for several months, as the district relies on long-term substitutes to cover the positions.

The problem isnt a just a local one. The national teacher shortage is deemed a crisis by many educators and it has impacted school districts across the region.

About 20,000 teaching positions are still vacant across California  2,300 of which are across Sacramento Countys 13 school districts. The coronavirus pandemic, a wave of retirements and other factors contributed to the shortage. In comparison, San Juan Unified has about 35 to 40 vacant teaching positions next school year.

Sacramento City Unified officials proposed they would enhance hiring and assignment timelines and procedures to give our district earlier and increased opportunities to fill teaching vacancies, according to its announcement.

Most districts post new positions and recruit new teachers in February, while Sacramento City Unified starts the hiring process after May, leaving them with a much smaller pool of candidates, according to the district.

This is only part of what is needed to address our high vacancy number, said Sacramento City Unified spokesman Al Goldberg. It will be significant in moving toward that goal, but is not the only answer as there are many factors involved.

Those vacancies have direct impacts on class sizes. The SCTA also said more needs to be done.

The staffing crisis in SCUSD is far more serious than a few tweaks to the hiring process is going to fix, read a statement from the SCTA.

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Staff have no confidence in the current superintendent to address the real issues in the district that will ensure that every student has a teacher in the classroom: improved learning conditions for students and salaries and benefits necessary to recruit and retain certificated and classified staff in Sac City.

The district stated they recognized how challenging teacher vacancies are on students.

We know starting the school year with a teacher assigned to every classroom is vital for all students and have heard from many families how disruptive it is when this does not happen, read a statement from Sacramento City Unified.

Other school districts are also addressing the shortage. San Juan Unified told The Sacramento Bee they are working to credential teachers who had emergency permits this year. And 40 student teachers will be graduating with their credentials and can apply to fill vacancies next year.

We have been proactive in keeping vacancy numbers low through our teacher residency program, said San Juan Unified spokeswoman Raj Rai. We currently have 14 staff members that went through the teacher residency program that we will be hiring in teaching positions for next school year.
Teachers everywhere often use their own money to buy classroom supplies, but a proposed bill could help change that in North Carolina.

Costs for supplies each year can sometimes exceed $500, according to Governor Roy Cooper. At a time when teachers are asking for higher pay, this bill aims to help alleviate some of the financial struggles teachers face.

The School Supplies Act of 2023, introduced this week, would allot over $82 million dollars to the Department of Public Instruction every year. If passed, it would go into effect July 1.

Several state representatives from Mecklenburg County are backing the bill, including co-sponsor Rep. Terry Brown Jr. whose parents were both teachers.

We all know that teachers are struggling right now and were going through a time when we want to make sure were getting the right funding for our schools, Brown told The Charlotte Observer. This bill goes a long way to supporting our teachers and getting them the funding they need.

Lawmakers are still working on how funding would be distributed. Brown says it would likely be split by school districts rather than teachers having to seek out the funds individually.

This is a profession you go into because you have a real passion. I think its incumbent on us as legislators to make sure were supporting those who want to do this profession because our most valuable resource in North Carolina is our next generation. We have to make sure to invest in them properly, Brown said.
Twenty-one years did nothing to ease the pain in a Cumberland County courtroom Friday as a Fayetteville man was resentenced in a double slaying he committed as a teenager.

In March 2004, James Kelliher, 39, pleaded guilty to the Aug. 7, 2001 killings of Kelsea Helton and Eric Carpenter, both 19. Helton, who was four months pregnant, and Carpenter, were shot inside the young couple's Lake in the Pines apartment off Rosehill Road in a plot to rob Carpenter of drugs and money.

Lauren Robinson grieves on the stairs to Kelsea Helton and Eric Carpenter's apartment at Lake in the Pines after placing flowers at their door Aug. 9, 2001. Helton and Carpenter were killed Aug. 7, 2001.

Kelliher, 17 at the time of the murders, claimed that his codefendant Joshua Ballard planned the robbery and shot the couple. Ballard was convicted in 2004 but was granted a new trial by the Court of Appeals and acquitted in August 2008 of all charges.

Kelliher was back in a Cumberland County courtroom on Friday after the North Carolina Supreme Court found that his two consecutive sentences of life with parole  totaling 50 years before any hope of release  served as a de facto life sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court found in 2012 that sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole violated the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. In a separate ruling in an unrelated case that same day, the court ruled that offenders under 18 at the time of their crimes are eligible for parole after 40 years of incarceration.

New sentence

Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons vacated Kellihers sentences Friday for conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of first-degree murder. Then, as directed by the Supreme Court, Ammons sentenced the now-39-year-old man to two life sentences with parole to run concurrent  meaning at the same time. Kelliher was also sentenced to an additional 12 to 14 years in prison on the robbery charges, with a concurrent 25 to 39 months on the conspiracy charge.

Dependent on how the Department of Corrections applies Kellihers 21 years of prison time served, he could be eligible for parole in 16 years.

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Eric Carpenter was killed inside the Lake in the Pines Apartments Aug. 7, 2001. This is a photo from the Pine Forest High School 2000 yearbook.

At least 20 Kelliher supporters gathered in the gallery Friday to watch the proceedings. while six of Helton's and Carpenters loved ones observed from the jury box, clutching tissues and occasionally weeping when the victims names were mentioned.

This has been a long time coming, Ammons said, noting he had done extensive research on the case and asked for assistance from members of the North Carolina Judicial Fellowship program, which provides legal support to judges in the state.

Michael Fiala, Kellihers defense attorney, requested Ammons sentence his client to two concurrent sentences of life with parole, meaning Kelliher could have been eligible for release as soon as 2026, with credit for time served. He asks that the judge not sentence Kelliher on the robberies and conspiracy.

Assistant District Attorney Rob Thompson asked for Ammons to structure the sentencing so that Kelliher would have to serve at least 35 years in prison before being eligible for parole, just under the maximum 40-year sentence set by the states Supreme Court for juveniles. Ammons could do so, Thompson suggested, by sentencing Kelliher to life in prison with parole on the murder charges, then sentencing him on two counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

Kelsea Helton was killed inside the Lake in the Pines Apartments Aug. 7, 2001. This is a photo from the Pine Forest High School 2000 yearbook.

Referencing the childrens book If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff, Thompson argued that Kelliher was asking for too much after already being shown mercy on multiple occasions. Thompson noted that in exchange for Kelliher's plea in 2004, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty at trial.

This is what the defendant asked for, Thompson said. How many times do we have to hand these defendants less than half of what they got and still call it justice?

In considering how much of Kellihers life he had spent in prison, Thompson said, Ammons should also consider the life Kelliher took from his victims.

Kellihers confessed murder of three human beings took 196 combined years of life off this planet, he said.

More: Attempted-murder warrants issued for Fayetteville man in Kenbrian Street arson

7,901 days of grief

Family members of the victims were given an opportunity to speak before sentencing. Laura Meyers, Carpenters sister, first addressed Ammons.

As a mother of two children, Meyers said, she is constantly reminded of not just her own loss, but of her parents loss of their son and their grandson that Helton was carrying who would have been named Nathaniel.

There is never going to be a light at the end of the tunnel in this, she said.

Meyers said her familys only comfort had been in seeing Kelliher incarcerated

It just seems odd to me that their fate was chosen for them, and were standing here on behalf of one of the people who chose that, she said. For the last 22 years, having had a bit of appropriate justice has been helpful.

More: Fayetteville man awaiting trial in rape arrested for failure to register as a sex offender

Heltons sister, Charisa Carstens Potter, also addressed the court, saying it had been 7,901 days for the families without their loved ones.

Eric has been in an urn on his parents mantel since August 2001, she said. There is not a single aspect of our lives that has not been impacted or touched by their deaths.

Kelliher briefly spoke before his sentencing, apologizing to Helton and Carpenters families.

Theres nothing I can say that would help take the pain away, he said. To go on any further would be disrespectful. Im just completely sorry.

Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville man resentenced in 2001 double slaying
A federal judge in Tennessee temporarily blocked a law that would have restricted drag performances in front of children from going into effect.

The restraining order was issued Friday, with the judge saying the legislation was likely "vague and overly-broad" in its restriction of speech. The bill would have otherwise gone into effect on Saturday.

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed the bill in February after it passed through the state's legislature. The measure was designed to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children, as conservatives across the country argue that the shows are inappropriate for younger audiences.

Lee previously said the law would protect children from potentially being exposed to "sexualized entertainment" or "obscenity."

TENNESSEE BECOMES FIRST STATE TO BAN DRAG SHOWS ON PUBLIC PROPERTY, NEAR SCHOOLS

A federal judge in Tennessee temporarily blocked a law that would have restricted drag performances in public from going into effect.

There have been GOP-led efforts to limit drag in at least 15 states in recent months.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The Memphis, Tennessee, judge sided with Friends of George's, a Memphis-based LGBTQ+ theater group that filed a lawsuit against the state.

"At this point, the court finds that the statute is likely both vague and overly-broad," U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker said in the ruling.

JEAN-PIERRE LASHES OUT OVER TENNESSEE LAW BANNING DRAG SHOWS NEAR CHILDREN: WHAT SENSE DOES IT MAKE?'

Parker, who former President Donald Trump appointed, said the state had not justified with a compelling interest the restrictions it intended to impose.

The debate about drag shows in Tennessee has largely centered on whether drag is inherently sexually explicit.

The measure was designed to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children.

Performers and civil rights groups have criticized the proposed drag restrictions, arguing that such regulations are unconstitutional, redundant under existing obscenity laws and would lead to more harassment and violence against LGBTQ+ people.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) says its ridiculous to blame guns for the Covenant School shooting that left three children and three adults dead in Nashville earlier this week.

Ogles, whose congressional district includes the location of the school, made the remark to Fox News Laura Ingraham on Friday after stating that the government is being weaponized against the political right.

This clearly is someone who was deeply troubled, he said of the shooting suspect, identified by police as Audrey Hale. Hale was fatally shot by officers responding to the attack, bringing the total number of deaths to seven.

The idea that guns are the problem here is ridiculous. This individual had mental illness and [was] a murderer, Ogles said.

He also said that hundreds of demonstrators rushed and stormed into the Tennessee State Capitol during a protest against gun violence Thursday.

Officials reported no arrests or property damage in the demonstration, The Tennessean reported.

If you were to use J6 as the model, every one of those people should be incarcerated, Ogles said on Fox News, referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Ogles remarks came after he facedbacklash for a resurfaced 2021 holiday photo that showed his family holding firearms in front of a Christmas tree. The congressman, who offered his thoughts and prayers in the wake of this weeks shooting, has defended his family for exercising their right to bear arms.

(H/T Mediaite)

Related...
Technical issues affecting Trinity Metro TEXRail and Trinity Railway Express on Saturday morning have been resolved, and service has been restored, officials said.

Trinity Metro TEXRail and Trinity Railway Express suspended service for a while Saturday morning due to a network outage affecting dispatch systems, the transportation companys officials said in a press release.

A fiber cable that was cut near a data center in Kansas City, Missouri, is to blame for the outage, according to the release. The network outage affected the dispatch system for both railways.

Without this critical system in place, both commuter railroads have suspended service, the release said. Operations management is working diligently to resolve the issue and determine a timeline in which trains can safely resume service.

A fixed-route bus provided limited service during the outage, according to the release. Trinity Metro ENVOY staff were on site to assist customers, and impacted customers could call the Trinity Metro Customer Care line at 817-215-8600.
A third suspect has been arrested after a deadly birthday-party robbery in an East Nashville short-term rental on Jan. 8.

Keesean Campbell, 24, was jailed Monday on outstanding warrants related to the murder of Taurus Tremain Oglesby Jr., Metro Nashville Police Department said in a statement.

Oglesby Jr., 18, a former Whites Creek High School student who worked as a security officer at Gaylord Opryland Hotel, was shot and killed at party in a townhome at 738 Douglas Ave. at 1:45 a.m.

Reginald Howard, 17, was critically wounded in the violent robbery.

Detectives have been searching for Campbell since the murder.

On the day of the attack, police officers arrested two teenage suspects: Andre Johnson, 19, and Quandre Beasley, 17, were charged with homicide, attempted homicide and aggravated robbery.

Beasley was shot in the jaw and neck during the attack. At the time, he was wanted by police for escaping from the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center during a trip to the hospital.

Beasley was taken into custody shortly after that escape.

"Detectives are trying to come to grips with why Beasley was even on the streets," police officials said.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Third suspect faces charges in East Nashville birthday-party homicide
Paramedic Kevin Cornwell, 53, has been detained in Afghanistan

Three British nationals are currently being held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan, a humanitarian organisation has told the BBC.

Scott Richards from the Presidium Network named one of the men as Kevin Cornwell, 53, from Middlesbrough.

Mr Richards said Mr Cornwell and another unnamed man had been arrested in January. He confirmed a third man was also arrested on a different date.

The home secretary said the government was "in negotiations" over the men.

Speaking to Sky News, Suella Braverman said: "Anyone travelling to dangerous parts of the world should take the utmost caution. If they are going to do that they should always act on the advice of the Foreign Office travel advice.

"If there are risks to people's safety, if they're a British citizen abroad, then the UK government is going to do whatever it takes to ensure that they're safe.

"The government is in negotiations and working hard to ensure people's safety is upheld."

The Foreign Office said it was working hard to contact the men.

The Presidium Network is a UK-based non-profit organisation that provides support to communities in crisis, representing the needs of people affected by violence or poverty to international policy makers.

Mr Richards confirmed the organisation is representing Mr Cornwell, a paramedic who works for a charity, and the second unnamed man but not the third British national.

Mr Richards said while there were "no official charges as such", the two men's detention on 11 January was understood to be over a weapon in a safe in Mr Cornwell's room, which he said was stored with a licence issued by the Afghan interior ministry.

"That license is missing," he said, adding: "But we have taken several statements from witnesses who have seen the licence and affirm its existence.

"It is perfectly possible that during the search the licence was separated from the weapon and, as such, why we refer to this scenario as a probable misunderstanding."

In a statement to the BBC, Iqarus - the charity Mr Cornwell has worked with as a medic - said it had been "working tirelessly, alongside the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to secure Kevin's release".

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"These efforts are our top priority and are ongoing," it said.

The third man is understood to be Miles Routledge, 23, from Birmingham, who was evacuated from Afghanistan by British Armed Forces in August 2021.

Miles Routledge said previously he travelled to Afghanistan as he enjoys "dark" and "extreme" tourism

The former Loughborough University student has attracted attention by travelling to dangerous countries and posting about it on social media.

He previously shared that he chose Afghanistan because he enjoyed "dark" and "extreme" tourism.

Following his extraction from the country less than two years ago, he told the BBC he was "exhausted but relieved" and thanked the British Army who had been deployed to support the evacuation of UK nationals from Kabul.

Mr Richard told Sky News: "To our knowledge and awareness, we do believe they are in good health and being well treated.

"We have no reason to believe they've been subject to any negative treatment such as torture and we're told that they are as good as can be expected in such circumstances."

He added that there has been "no meaningful contact" between authorities and the two men Presidium is assisting.
KYIV (Reuters) - A top Ukrainian cleric from a church with alleged Moscow ties was sentenced to house arrest on Saturday after a hearing into whether he glorified invading Russian forces and stoked religious divisions, the church said.

Kyiv is cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on the grounds it is pro-Russian and collaborating with Moscow, a charge the church denies.

In a statement, the UOC said a Kyiv court also ordered Metropolitan Pavlo to wear an electronic bracelet. The Interfax Ukraine and Ukrinform news agencies said Pavlo had been given 60 days of house arrest.

"I haven't done anything. I believe this is a political order," Pavlo told reporters after the ruling.

Prosecutors said the house arrest and electronic bracelet were precautionary measures, with prosecutor Yevhen Zavistovskyi saying that the case against Pavlo would continue.

Russia's TASS state news agency said the court ordered Pavlo to live in a village some 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Kyiv. Pavlo said the house was not fit for inhabitation.

"There is nothing to sleep on, no heat and no light. There is no kitchen, no spoon. But it's okay, I'll endure it all," he said. Pavlo has been living in accommodation in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a 980-year old monastery complex the government says the church must leave.

TASS also said the court had denied Pavlo permission to attend church services.

Pavlo's court appearance came after he was questioned by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which presented the cleric with a series of accusations.

Sixty-one UOC clergy have had criminal cases opened against them since the start of 2022 with seven found guilty.

Pavlo, a senior UOC official, is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The church has thus far refused to leave.

The UOC has been accused of maintaining links to the pro-invasion Russian Orthodox Church, which used to be its parent church but with which the UOC says it broke ties in May 2022.

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The UOC is Ukraine's second-largest church, though most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Moscow's authority.

Moscow said last month that Ukraine was "illegally attacking" the UOC, adding this confirmed the need for its military operations in Ukraine.

Separately, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he signed decrees to impose sanctions on more than 650 individuals and companies who he said "work for Russian aggression."

Zelenskiy advisor Andriy Yermak said the list includes Russian state and local officials, "as well as enterprises engaged in the maintenance, repair or production of military equipment."

(Reporting by Max Hunder, Viacheslav Ratynskyi, Nick Starkov and David Ljunggren; Editing by David Holmes, Jonathan Oatis and Franklin Paul)
A storm system that rumbled across the South and Midwest on Friday has claimed at least 29 lives, according to reports as of Sunday afternoon.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states tore a path of destruction that leveled homes, crumbled schools and left communities reeling.

Here is a look at what we know about fatalities and damage in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Tennessee tornado damage

First Baptist Church of Selmer's north campus in Selmer, Tenn., is seen on Saturday April 1, 2023, after a severe storm hit the area the night before.

Nine residents of McNairy County died in the storms and several others were injured, officials reported. Four of the fatalities were in the same structure in the Rose Creek area, said McNairy County Mayor Larry Smith. At least 72 houses were destroyed, he said. Three storm cells hit McNairy County Friday night, taking almost exactly the same path, causing damage to 35-40% of the county, officials said Saturday.

The storm that slammed into Covington and Tipton County left one dead and 28 others injured, authorities there said Saturday. Crestview Elementary and Middle in Covington suffered significant damage. A chunk of the elementary building was pulled off, leaving the gymnasium exposed, and Tipton County Schools Superintendent John Combs said the inside of the middle was also severely damaged. Neither will hold classes on site for the rest of the school year. Covington's electrical grid was "majorly hit" with telephone poles falling across the roads, Mayor Jan Hensley said.

In Hardin County, between 15-100 homes were damaged  "some destroyed, some just damaged," according to Melvin Martin, director of Hardin's Emergency Management Agency. Three minor injuries were reported but no fatalities.

In Middle Tennessee, NWS will send crews to check on at least three suspected tornadoes that impacted six counties, meteorologist Alyssa Clements said. Those counties are: Lewis, Wayne, Maury, Rutherford, Cannon and Macon. There were reports of damaged homes and trees down throughout the area.

Two children and one adult were found dead in Memphis on Saturday, with their deaths believed to be connected to the severe storms. Memphis Police Department officers responded to a report of trees that had fallen onto several houses in Oakhaven. Officers and other first responders later located two children and an adult who were pronounced dead on the scene.

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Shelby County was mostly spared the devastation seen in other parts of the Mid-South, with limited property damage. The county did experience significant power outages. Memphis Light, Gas and Water reported 40,000 customers were impacted by outages. As of 12:55 p.m. Sunday, about 7,300 remained without power.

Arkansas tornado damage

Wynne reported four storm-related fatalities, as damage was widespread throughout this small town in Eastern Arkansas. Located about 50 miles from Memphis, Wynne saw significant damage to its high school, with a shredded roof, blown-out windows and debris scattered throughout the inside of the school and the surrounding area. Officials are still working to determine where students will finish the 2022-23 school year. Countless homes and businesses were damaged by the storm.

In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, authorities said. Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said that 2,100 homes and businesses were in the tornado's path, but that no assessment had been done on how many were damaged.

Mississippi tornado damage

A gun vault and broken debris is all that is left of the home of Chad Mills along Mississippi 15 on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Pontotoc, Miss. One fatality and four injuries were reported in Pontotoc County after severe storms, including a possible tornado, hit the area on Friday, March 31, 2023.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency confirmed Saturday one person was killed and four more were injured in Pontotoc County because of the storms. The severity of the four injuries was not immediately clear. Social media posts showed downed trees, blocked roads and damaged homes.

Damage was also reported in Lee County. Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan said while there were pockets of intense property damage, only a few injuries had been reported after the storm. The city also said telephone lines were temporarily down Saturday morning.

In DeSoto County, the hardest-hit area was Eudora in the southwestern part of the county, according to the DeSoto County Sheriff's Department. "Thankfully no injuries reported, but lots of damage & downed trees & power lines," the department said in a social media statement.

The Tennessean and Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tornado damage updates in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi
Much of Central Indiana is bracing for strong winds and possible tornados Friday night into Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS Friday evening issued a tornado watch effective until 2 a.m. for scores of Indiana counties, including those home to Greater Lafayette, Bloomington, Crawfordsville, Evansville, Indianapolis and Muncie.

Areas of Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan were also in the risk of severe weather.

A supercell forms and a wall cloud pushes north of Beardstown, Ill. Friday, March 31, 2023, towards Peoria, Ill. Tornado warnings have been issued in the surrounding counties and spotters have reported a tornado north east of Peoria, Ill.

Southwest winds are expected to reach as high as 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph, according to the watch. Tree limbs could be blown down and power outages may occur.

Residents in Central Indiana are advised to use extra caution when driving and secure outdoor objects.

National meteorologists were tracking dangerous storms moving east from Arkansas, where a "tornado emergency" had been issued mid-afternoon Friday. A "large and destructive tornado" was seen on the ground in the Little Rock area, according to USA Today.

"Significant damage has occurred in Central Arkansas," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted. "Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm. Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through."

A tornado emergency defines a severe threat to human life or catastrophic damage is imminent.

The NWS forecasted a line of severe thunderstorms to move through central Indiana Friday evening between 9 p.m. and midnight. The storms could include damaging winds to 75 mph and the possibility of brief tornadoes

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Tornado watch: Central Indiana under risk of dangerous weather
Southern Hampton County witnessed a good old fashioned train robbery Friday  but with new techniques and new loot.

Local and state police responded to locations along U.S. Highway 321 near Estill for reports of armed men robbing cargo from from a CSX Transportation train.

The train robbery suspects were still at large as of Saturday morning, according to Sheriff Anthony Russell. He said local and state police continue to investigate.

Russell said via text message around 8 p.m. Friday that no arrests have been made. It is unclear if police have any suspects.

The event was sparked by the sighting of an armed man at approximately 12:44 p.m. Friday, when the Hampton County Sheriffs Office responded to a call regarding a man with a gun standing on the railroad tracks near Steep Bottom Road and Highway 321 in Estill. Traffic on that highway was stopped between the town of Estill and the town of Scotia, said H.C. Emergency Management Division Director Susanne Peeples.

The call was made by a CSX train conductor. According to the conductor, a suspect described as an "armed gunman" was seen standing on the tracks near the train. It appears to the caller that this was an attempt to get the train to stop and possibly gain access to the cargoes

At 1:46 p.m. the HCSO posted on its Facebook page that "there is a gunman on the loose in the area near and around Canfor Southern Pine in Estill. Hwy 321 near this area and Steep Bottom Road is blocked off. Please avoid this area!"

CSX personnel and responding officers then learned that there were damages to the trains outer cargo and several catalytic converters were removed from new cars being transported on the train, according to a HCSO social media statement. While checking the train to see if anyone on board was hurt, reports said deputies spotted three male suspects jumping off of the train with cutting tools.

Law enforcement established a security perimeter and called K-9 dogs to track the suspects. The HCSO also called the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for assistance, and SLED sent its Crime Scene Unit and a search helicopter.

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SLED helicopter and SLED Crime Scene were called to assist.

H.C. Sheriff Anthony Russell told The Hampton County Guardian Friday night that the manhunt for suspects had been called off around 7:47 p.m. and the train cars were moved to a location off of Highway 321 so the SLED Crime Scene Unit can process the scene for evidence, and to clear the area and allow traffic flow to continue in the area safely.

The HCSO is also being assisted by the Hampton Police Department, Varnville Police Department, Estill Police Department, Gifford Police Department, Yemassee Police Department, Jasper County Sheriffs Office, Allendale County Sheriffs Office, S.C. Department of Natural Resources, CSX Police and the FBI field Office. H.C. Sheriff Anthony Russell would like to thank all agencies involved.

Local police believe this is an isolated incident. If anyone has any information, please call the HCSO anonymous tip line at 1-866-942-1120.

This is a developing story which will be updated as new information develops.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Armed men involved in train robbery in Hampton County town of Estill
Hundreds of students walk out on Transgender Day of Visibility in Omaha, Nebraska, on March 31, 2023. Anna Reed / AP

In early March, when Bo Belotti noticed that a post for a trans rights protest they helped organize for this weekend was shared on the right-wing news site the Daily Wire, they didnt think it was anything more than the usual right-wing panic about trans activism.

The 22-year-old and one of the organizers for Trans Radical Activist Network, or T.R.A.N., decided to keep spreading the word about Trans Day of Vengeance, which was slated for Saturday in Washington, DC  the day after hundreds of International Trans Day of Visibility protests were slated across the country.

Trans Day Of Vengeance is more action-oriented, Belotti told BuzzFeed News. The idea is that we want more than visibility, we want more than a hypothetical spot in the room. We want the seat at the table. We dont want to just see trans folks represented in media as tokens. We want trans people in their everyday lives to be able to live lives free of transphobia.

But after the pile-on by conservative commentators escalated, the organizers decided late Thursday afternoon to cancel the event, citing concerns for the safety of trans participants. Across social media, right-wing users had spent days falsely trying to connect the tragic Monday shooting in Nashville that killed six, including three children, to the weekend protest in support of trans rights.

We received a possible active shooter threat, Belotti said over text late Thursday. To protect trans life, which is our ultimate goal, we will be canceling.

The organizer noted that the threat was reported to the FBI. BuzzFeed News reached out to the agency, which said it does not comment on complaints or tips we may or may not receive from the public.

The protest, Belotti said, was organized by T.R.A.N. and two other groups, Our Rights DC and RVA Feminism, in order to protect trans people's ability to exist openly in public. Across the country, more than a dozen states  with Kentucky and West Virginia as the latest examples  have passed bills that require people to use the bathroom of the gender assigned to them at birth, ban drag performances, and even restrict access to gender-affirming medical care for minors. Altogether, the laws in many areas create a culture of hostility that limits trans peoples participation in society at large.

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However, the days ahead of the planned march saw a terrible act of violence, as well as an increase in dangerous anti-trans rhetoric in its aftermath. On Monday, a 28-year-old shooter opened fire on a Christian school in Nashville. Nashville officials said Monday that they believed the shooter was transgender , though BuzzFeed News has not confirmed further details on their gender identity.

But conservative commentators and Republican politicians quickly piled onto this narrative in an attempt to draw connections between the shooting and violence committed by the transgender community broadly.

Conservatives have also amplified false narratives about the Trans Day of Vengeance protest in an attempt to connect them to the Nashville shooter. Media Matters reported that part of what fanned the flames this week was a hoax tweet tied to a racist 4chan meme that spread across right-wing Twitter on Monday on a now-suspended troll account. The meme featured an image of a person holding a gun in front of a trans pride flag with the hashtag #transdayofvengeance.

On Tucker Carlsons show after the shooting, he posted a photo of the T.R.A.N.s protest poster as the chyron read: We are witnessing the rise of trans violence. The Fox News host also falsely claimed that the trans movement was deliberately targeting Christians.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared T.R.A.N.s Trans Day of Vengeance flier on her congressional Twitter account and claimed that antifa was behind the event.

Twitter removed her post, and then, using automated processes, it removed more than 5,000 others that used the phrase Trans Day Of Vengeance without consideration for the context in which the tweets were shared.

We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them, Ella Irwin, Twitters head of Trust and Safety, said in a tweet Wednesday. Vengeance does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.

After news of the shooting broke Monday, the Daily Wire published a second article about Trans Day of Vengeance, noting that the organizers previously held a fundraiser for firearms training and were going ahead with the protest during the same week of the Nashville shooting.

Belotti said the fundraiser was for an unrelated trans self-defense course for the Virginia chapter of the Trans Radical Action Network and would include both armed and unarmed" training.

In response to the wave of right-wing attention on the protest, T.R.A.N. released a statement about the shooting Monday expressing outrage and grief for the families of the victims.

We also reject any connection between that horrific event and ours, the statement read. Vengeance means fighting back with vehemenceIt is also a call to our allies to stand up and fight with us to bring down the forces that try to divide and subjugate us.

TDOV was created for exactly this, the statement added.

Belotti is no stranger to this kind of targeting. When the Daily Wire article on the protest first ran on March 6, the author put Belottis name and information about their life in the piece.

I am also afraid of what the right getting away with this means, Belotti said on Wednesday, in reference to the lack of accountability for the rights fearmongering. The organizer said theyve been doxxed and had trolls leak pre-transition photos of their partner. Im scared, but Im very lucky that I have a wonderful community that I call home here in Virginia and in the national network that I was able to lean on, they said.

Throughout their life, Belotti has fielded numerous threats and hateful language as they advocated for trans rights  including helping draft successful Virginia legislation to protect trans students while they were a college student.

The way that the right has leveraged the Nashville shooting to make broader false claims about violence in the trans community is an elevated and novel departure from how conservatives have usually fearmongered about trans people, advocates say.

This has fit into their existing narrative presenting trans people as dangerous criminalsand its alarming to see them turn this up to 11, Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ program director for Media Matters of America, told the Washington Post .

Drennen, who focuses on tracking anti-trans rhetoric in right-wing media, added: I didnt think it was possible to escalate from implying we are pedophiles, but we are seeing this escalate into people calling trans people violent terrorists.

Across the internet, trans activists, including Belotti, were quick to point out that neither Trans Day of Vengeance nor the protest itself have anything to do with promoting violence. Vengeance is all about fighting against these false narratives, the criminalization and eradication of trans people from public life, Belotti said.

The name of the protest comes out of a years-old meme and joke within the community: The word vengeance is used to express upset about the violence trans people face in their everyday lives, an edgy response to the frustrating limits of visibility politics.

In the United States, trans people have faced record numbers of fatal violence, with at least 38 trans people killed last year and 50 others killed in 2021, according to a tracker by the Human Rights Campaign.

Just as there is a Trans Day of Vengeance, there are dozens of other spin-offs. Theres the Trans Day of Rage and an album called Trans Day of Revenge by the punk band G.L.O.S.S. Theres even a Trans Day of Having A Nice Snack, a March fundraiser for trans mutual aid created by the host of the podcast Gender Reveal.

But long before any of this, there was the International Trans Day of Visibility, which was founded in 2009 by Rachel Crandall, a 63-year-old Michigan-based psychotherapist. Crandall created the holiday as a joyful counterpart to Trans Day of Remembrance, which began in the 1990s to memorialize people killed due to anti-trans violence.

I wanted a day that rather than focusing on the dead, focused on those of us who are alive and really gives us a chance to be proud and celebrate, Crandall told BuzzFeed News. It would be nice if one day there wasnt a need for it; however, I expect it to be around for years and years  and thats a good thing.

In the wake of the shooting, some queer events in Tennessee, such as a weekend protest on the first day of the states drag ban, have been canceled due to security concerns. Belotti said that after the Twitter barrage by right-wing accounts, T.R.A.N. organizers decided to lock their social media accounts.

We were receiving really violent threats and just absolutely heinous and untrue things, Belotti told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday. Having to watch people claim that we have blood on our hands is really upsetting, obviously.

Belotti is saddened and concerned that the organizations decided to cancel the protest as a preventive measure to keep other trans people safe, though across the country, other Trans Day of Visibility and Trans Day of Vengeance protests will continue as planned.

The goal of these articles being spread around is to get people to not come, Belotti said. It is to get people afraid We need every support we can get right now because trans folks are under the microscope of all these alt-right think tanks and legislators.
Mikhaila Friel, left, traveled around Luxembourg, Belgium, and Norway via train. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I traveled around three European countries via train, and the experience was magical.

My journey began in Luxembourg and Belgium, and I took a separate trip to Norway a few weeks later.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking to travel on a budget.

I traveled around Luxembourg, Belgium, and Norway via train, and was blown away by the experience.

Mikhaila Friel is photographed on a train from Tnsberg to Oslo in Norway. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I'm a big fan of train travel, and I often travel via train in my home country of Scotland, UK. I was always curious to see what train travel was like in other parts of Europe, and in March I got the opportunity to do so when I visited Luxembourg, Belgium, and Norway.

I spent a week in Luxembourg and Belgium for a work trip at the beginning of the month, before spending four days in Norway for a personal vacation at the end of the month.

I traveled by train in all three countries on a combined budget of $96, and was blown away by the affordable ticket prices, the quality and comfort of the trains, and the stunning scenery I witnessed on board.

All three countries offered different things, but the one thing they had in common was the impressive public transport.

Arrows showing where in Europe Mikhaila traveled to. Google Maps/Skitch

I started my travels in Luxembourg, a small country that shares borders with Belgium, France, and Germany that's known for its beautiful countryside and historic castles.

After three days in Luxembourg, I traveled via train to Brussels in Belgium, where I spent another three days. I was eager to visit Belgium, as the country is known for its stunning architecture and chocolate. While the trains there aren't free, they were affordable and just as comfortable as in Luxembourg.

At the end of March, I spent four days in Norway, a Scandinavian country that's famous for its Viking history and natural landscape, including mountains, greenery, and fjords, which are deep inlets of water between high cliffs. During my visit, I traveled via train from Tnsberg, the country's oldest city, to Oslo, the capital city.

I spent a total of $96 on my various train journeys.

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Mikhaila Friel photographed on a train from Luxembourg to Belgium. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I spent $0 on trains while traveling within Luxembourg, as public transport in the country has been completely free for residents and visitors since February 2020 as part of the government's plan to support people living on lower incomes, a spokesperson for the government's mobility department told Insider during my visit.

I spent $25 on a three-hour train from Luxembourg to Belgium, and I had to pay for the ticket since the train's destination was outside Luxembourg. While in Belgium, I spent $44 on a round trip from Brussels to Bruges, which took one hour each way.

Finally, while vacationing in Norway, I spent two days in Tnsberg before taking a train to Oslo. The journey took just over one hour and cost 293 Norwegian Krone, or around $28.

Here's what impressed me most about my European rail experiences.

In Luxembourg, I was seriously impressed that the country offers free public transport.

The interior of the train from Luxembourg to Ettelbruck. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Trains, trams, and buses are all free of charge in Luxembourg, and I made use of all of these modes of transport. I explored Luxembourg City via tram before taking a train and a bus to Clervaux in the countryside on March 6.

My original plan was to take two trains, which would take just over an hour; my first train from Luxembourg City to Ettelbruck in northern Luxembourg took around 20 minutes, and I had intended to take another train from Ettelbruck to Clervaux before finding out it was canceled. But I didn't need to worry, as there was a replacement bus service waiting outside the station as soon as I arrived.

The train seats were comfortable, the carriages were spacious and clean, and I was pleasantly surprised that the train operator had arranged a replacement bus for part of the journey instead of canceling the service completely.

When traveling from Luxembourg to Belgium, I was taken aback by the snowy scenery.

Mikhaila Friel traveling on a snowy day from Luxembourg to Belgium via train. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

On March 8, I traveled from Clervaux, Luxembourg, to Brussels, Belgium. The journey, which was operated by Belgian rail company SNCB, required one transfer at Liege-Guillemins, Belgium, and took approximately three hours in total.

The trains in Luxembourg all had luggage shelves above the seats and a trash can at the end of the carriage. There wasn't a dining car or power outlets to charge electronic devices, which didn't bother me since the journeys were so short.

I sat at a table of four with a window seat, and was most impressed with the gorgeous winter scenery during the journey. It had started snowing in Luxembourg the day before my journey, so I got to witness frosted hills, forests, rivers, and fields.

I was a little nervous to navigate the train alone in a country where I didn't speak the language, but I didn't need to be.

The board showing the stops on the train to Belgium. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I was traveling alone and I don't speak French, which is the main language spoken in Luxembourg. Therefore, I wondered if I would run into any barriers when navigating the journey. But it turned out to be incredibly easy since there were digital screens in each carriage which shared all the essential information about the journey.

A member of staff, who appeared to check my ticket about an hour into the journey, spoke to me in English, so I felt assured that I'd be able to communicate if I required assistance.

The trains I took in Belgium had two floors, which is something I haven't experienced on trains in the UK.

Mikhaila's train from Brussels to Bruges in Belgium. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

My connecting train from Liege-Guillemins to Brussels took an hour and 12 minutes, and it was incredibly enjoyable thanks to the high vantage point that came with having an upper floor. It made the snowy scenery even better, and it also meant there was plenty of space on the train. I sat at a table of four in a carriage that was less than half full, and I enjoyed the peace and quiet.

A couple of days later, I took a train from Brussels to Bruges, a nearby city, which took around an hour. This train also had two floors, plenty of tables, and comfortable seats.

I made my final train journey to Tnsberg, Norway, later in March.

Tnsberg, Norway. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

On March 22, I flew from Scotland to Tnsberg, which is thought to be the oldest city in Norway, according to the website Life in Norway. I spent two days exploring Tnsberg and the nearby Hvasser, an island village with gorgeous scenery, before taking a train to Oslo, where I spent another two days.

On the train to Oslo, I noticed some unique features that I hadn't spotted on any other trains.

The interior of the train from Tnsberg to Oslo. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The train from Tnsberg to Oslo took just over an hour and was operated by the Norwegian bus and rail operator Vy. It had many similarities to the trains in Luxembourg and Belgium, including the comfortable seats, the spacious carriages, and the luggage racks.

But there were also some features I hadn't noticed on other trains, including hooks above the seats for people to put their jackets or backpacks, and power outlets that were also above the seats.

The bathrooms on all of the trains I boarded were tiny but clean.

The toilet on the train to Oslo. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I was impressed with the cleanliness of the bathrooms on all of the European trains I boarded, especially the bathroom on the train to Oslo. They each had a toilet, a sink with hand soap, tissue, and a mirror. I could tell that each one must have been cleaned regularly, as there was never any clutter or dirt, and there always seemed to be plenty of toilet paper.

I can't wait to visit more countries in Europe via train.

Mikhaila on the train from Tnsberg to Oslo. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Overall, these train journeys were enjoyable and easy to navigate, and I can't wait to experience more rail travel in other European countries.

I'd definitely encourage anyone who's looking to explore Europe to travel via train, especially solo travelers who don't have access to a car and those who are traveling on a budget. It's fun, comfortable, and a great way to see more places without breaking the bank.

Read the original article on Insider
In a murder case that has both captivated the nation, the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, the Idaho woman accused of killing her two youngest children and her husband's ex-wife nearly three years ago, is set to begin.

Jury selection is scheduled to start Monday, in a trial that has already been postponed twice for several reasons, including testing Daybell's competency. This surreal saga has drawn widespread speculation and has even been the subject of a Netflix docuseries.

VallDaybell and her husband, Chad Daybell, have pleaded not guilty to a litany of charges including murder, conspiracy, and grand theft in the 2020 deaths of Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16.

The couple is also accused of killing Chad Daybell's previous wife, Tammy Daybell, who unexpectedly died in October 2019, about two weeks before Chad Daybell married Vallow Daybell.

Prosecutors say that Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell practiced apocalyptic and doomsday-driven religious beliefs as part of a plan to kill the kids and Tammy Daybell. Prosecutors also allege the strategy was part of a plot to steal social security funds and insurance money.

A trial date has not been set for Chad Daybell, as a judge separated his case from Vallow Daybell after new evidence was submitted regarding DNA testing. The Daybells could face life in prison or, in the case of Chad Daybell, also the death penalty, if convicted.

"This trial is definitely going to be a show for sure, and even more so if Lori (Vallow Daybell) takes the stand," said John Delatorre, a forensic and disaster psychologist in Arizona and Texas. "Im interested to see the evidence the prosecution is going to negate the delusional thinking that Lori has engaged in."

Vallow Daybell's sordid, twisted tale

Police in Idaho began investigating Vallow Daybell and her husband after JJ's grandmother and other family members said they hadn't heard from their two grandchildren in months and reported them missing in November 2019.

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Police later said the kids were last seen in Rexburg, Idaho, on Sept. 23, 2019. The couple refused to cooperate with the investigation and soon left Idaho and fled to Hawaii in December 2019. The couple also announced the children were missing and potentially in danger.

Police said that Vallow Daybell knew where the children were. Authorities would begin a search for the couple and order them to produce the children. The couple was found in Kaua'i, Hawaii, in January 2020, without the kids. The couple was extradited to Idaho.

The children's bodies were later found buried on Daybell's property in rural eastern Idaho in June 2020.

"We are filled with unfathomable sadness that these two bright stars were stolen from us and only hope that they died without pain or suffering," said a statement attributed to JJ's biological grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock, the East Idaho News reported.

Idaho mom incompetent to stand trial: Lori Vallow Daybell, accused of killing her 2 children, ruled unfit for trial

Missing Idaho children: A 'precious' boy and 'feisty' sister, are dead, police say

Prosecutors: Vallow Daybell, husband held spiritual beliefs involving 'zombies' and doomsday predictions

The couple promoted strange religious beliefs, prosecutors say. Friends also told law enforcement investigators that Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell believed people could be taken over by dark spirits.

At one point, a friend of the couple, Melanie Gibb, told investigators that Vallow Daybell referred to her children as "zombies," a term the couple allegedly used to describe people who were possessed.

Prosecutors have argued that the couple adopted apocalyptical beliefs to encourage or justify their murders.

Vallow Daybell's trial was first postponed in 2021 after she was declared incompetent to stand trial. She was committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for treatment.

About 10 months later, Vallow Daybell was ruled competent after a second trial was postponed to await results to determine if she was mentally fit for trial.

Now that the trial is set to begin, Vallow Daybell's legal team requested that the judge exclude most family members from watching portions of her trial, according to KTVB-TV.

Vallow Daybell's defense attorney Jim Archibald specifically pointed out that Kay Woodcock, JJ Vallow's grandmother, is expected to attend the trial and could be called to testify.

Archibald argues that Woodcock is "not a grandma," and doesn't fall into Idaho state code that any immediate family is considered victims of homicides, the TV station reported.

"(Grandma) is a name she gave herself," Archibald told District Court Judge Boyce about Woodcock. "Her son terminated parental rights, she's not a grandma."

But prosecutors claim Woodcock and her husband meet the state's definition of immediate family members.

Boyce has already issued an order to exclude witnesses from sitting in on others' testimony to potentially prevent problems. The judge also will issue a ruling on the immediate family matter soon.

Vallow Daybell won't face the death penalty

Vallow Daybell will not face the death penalty if she is convicted at trial, Boyce ruled last month.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Vallow Daybell and her husband, Chad Daybell.Vallow Daybell's lawyers argued that they didn't have enough time to go over the prosecution's recently submitted evidence.

The judge agreed, according to the Associated Press. The judge said Vallow Daybell has not waived her right to a speedy trial, so the proceeding could not be rescheduled to give her defense team enough time to review the new evidence.

The death penalty still applies to Chad Daybells case.

And that death penalty application may make a difference for Chad Daybell if prosecutors could strike a deal with him in exchange for a possibly lesser sentence if convicted, Delatorre, the forensic psychologist said.

A potential deal might even include Daybell testifying against his wife, Delatorre added.

"I would not be surprised if he takes the stand. I dont think Chad is as devout of a believer as Lori is," Delatorre said. "If he decides to be a witness for the prosecution, it may be from the perspective of 'How can I make this all better for me?'"

And then there's the possibility that Vallow Daybell might have to testify in her defense if her husband testifies against her, Delatorre said.

"Some jurors may have a hard time believing a mother is capable of killing her children, Delatorre said. "The first assumption is women cant do that; And the second is if she did it, it was because she was crazy.

"And those theories are not where the prosecution wants the jury to go," Delatorre concluded.

Delatorre said all it takes for the defense is for one juror to have a reasonable doubt Vallow Daybell didn't commit the crimes.

"I think it is a double edge sword to Vallow Daybell to testify," Delatorre said. "There's a lot of high-risk, high reward."

Firing line: Idaho lawmakers approve bill that could allow firing squad executions

More legal problems

Vallow Daybell also faces conspiracy to commit murder charges in Arizona in connection with the death of her previous husband Charles Vallow.

Charles Vallow was fatally shot in 2019 by Vallow Daybell's brother Alex Cox. Both Vallow Daybell and Cox claim the shooting was in self-defense.

Cox later died of what police say were from natural causes.

The Arizona case remains on hold as Vallow Daybell's fate in the Idaho trial unfolds.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, mom accused of killing her kids, begins
Former President Donald Trump and his team are projecting confidence in the wake of his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury as his third White House campaign enters uncharted territory.

Trump allies were reassured as members of Congress, potential 2024 presidential rivals and prominent Fox News hosts uniformly went on the attack against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and decried the case against Trump as a politically motivated effort to take down a top Republican.

A grand jury voted earlier Thursday to indict Trump on criminal charges for his role in organizing hush money payments made to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign.

The former president and a Trump-aligned super PAC quickly issued statements condemning the indictment and vowing he would be vindicated through his re-election to the White House in 2024.

Our Movement, and our Party  united and strong  will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, Trump said in a statement.

Trumps campaign pumped out fundraising emails within minutes of the news breaking, and the former president spent Friday morning churning out posts on Truth Social with video clips of lawmakers and Fox News hosts defending him.

The sentiment in Trumps camp is that the indictment freezes the Republican primary field, forcing other candidates to attack Bragg and the case against Trump as politically motivated.

Bragg is getting the whole political party behind Trump, including Youngkin and DeSantis, said one GOP strategist who has worked with Trumps team, referring to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), respectively.

Youngkin and DeSantis were among several potential 2024 Republican presidential candidates who on Thursday decried Trumps indictment as politically motivated.

The strategist said the governors statement in particular speaks volumes politically. DeSantis had previously taken a dig at Trump, saying he wouldnt know about making hush money payments, but on Thursday vowed to fight any extradition effort.

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Trumps team will be closely watching polls that come out in the aftermath of the indictment, but they were heartened by data released in the days before the announcement.

A Quinnipiac University poll published Wednesday found 62 percent of Americans believe the Manhattan District Attorneys case against Trump was mainly motivated by politics, compared to 32 percent who believe the case is mainly motivated by the law.

A Fox News poll conducted March 24-27 days after Trump predicted he would be arrested  and published Wednesday found 54 percent of Republican primary voters surveyed support Trump for the 2024 nomination, up from 43 percent a month ago. The next closest candidate was DeSantis, who polled at 24 percent.

Though Trump just two weeks ago predicted his arrest, on Thursday he had expressed his appreciation for the Manhattan grand jury that voted to bring charges by him.

Joe Tacopina, an attorney representing Trump in the Manhattan case, told Good Morning America that Trump was surprised by news of his indictment.

It was shock because this actually was coming to fruition, Tacopina said, adding that he wasnt sure what to expect in the coming days beyond an arraignment.

Trump is scheduled to be arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday. Tacopina said he does not expect Trump will be handcuffed, but he will appear in front of a judge and his attorneys have vowed to fight the charges.

There will likely be pandemonium in New York City when Trump appears, with media, protesters, law enforcement and onlookers descending on Manhattan for the former presidents arraignment. And the legal proceedings that follow are certain to suck any oxygen out of attempts by other Republicans to draw contrasts with Trump on policy.

Its not good for our country, most importantly, and obviously its a huge distraction for anyone who wants to talk about the economy, or federal spending, or about the border. It is a distraction, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), who is expected to decide in April on a 2024 bid of his own, said on Fox Business Network.

Hutchinson called on Trump to drop out of the race because of the indictment, but he acknowledged the former president will not do so.

Republican strategists, and even some with ties to Trumps orbit, acknowledge a conviction in Manhattan, plus ongoing investigations around his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, could be an albatross in a general election.

The same Quinnipiac poll that showed many Americans believe the Manhattan case is politically motivated found Trump losing by two percentage points to President Biden in a hypothetical 2024 rematch.

Being indicted may solidify some Trump supporters, but it wins back absolutely zero voters who left him between 2016 and 2020. None, tweeted Mike DuHaime, a veteran GOP strategist. No independent who voted for Biden thinks Trump is a martyr or victim suddenly worthy of support.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The first-ever criminal charges against a former U.S. president investigated some seedy allegations  namely, hiding payoffs to sex workers  and that's made it easier for Donald Trump, his allies and rivals alike to criticize the case as politically motivated.

But legal experts say the indictment Thursday likely provides the simplest set of allegations against Trump out of a handful of inquiries into potential wrongdoing. Prosecutors often look for the least complicated charges to bring against defendants and falsifying recordkeeping about hush-money payments could be relatively easy to explain to a jury, experts said.

Other grand juries are exploring whether Trump tried to overthrow the 2020 election in Georgia or in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Another federal inquiry is probing hundreds of classified documents found at Trumps Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hasn't detailed the charges in his case. But he appeared to focus on Trumps payments before the 2016 election to silence two women who said they had sex with him.

More: Trump's indictment is first-ever for a former president. Three more are also possible.

Republicans blasted Braggs litigious history with Trump and called the case politically motivated.

I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage, former Vice President Mike Pence told CNN on Thursday. It appears to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution that is driven by a prosecutor who literally ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president.

Yet the case is relatively straightforward, experts said. Norm Eisen, a former House counsel during the first Trump impeachment, cited five New York convictions based on fact patterns similar to the anticipated charges against Trump for alleged false bookkeeping being bumped up to a felony because of campaign finance violations.

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You could not have a more serious matter than this, Eisen said. These payments may have actually altered the outcome of the 2016 election."

Here is the latest where the case stands:

Former President Donald Trump campaigns on March 25, 2023, in Waco, Texas.

New York case one of several pending investigations against Trump

The New York indictment against Trump is one of at least four investigations against the former president, and perhaps the least sweeping implications. But legal experts said it is still important to prosecute.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating potential charges of election fraud for Trumps call 2021. The evidence includes a recorded call to state Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to find the votes to overturn the results for President Joe Biden. Trumps campaign also recruited alternate electors who submitted their names to the National Archives.

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has a two-pronged investigation. He is reviewing Trumps role in the Capitol attack, which unfolded on national television on Jan. 6. Smith is also reviewing the classified documents, pictures of which have been splashed across newspaper pages nationwide.

While potential New York charges are relatively mundane, Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and now a law professor at the University of Michigan, said the evidence for falsifying business records would be fairly straightforward based on documents and is a common charge in New York.

It certainly does not raise the level of overturning an election, but this case is comparable to other cases that get filed on a regular basis in New York against defendants for falsifying business records, McQuade said. Trump should not get a pass on this case in New York just because he also faces potential charges in Georgia and in federal court."

Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney in Alabama, called it a strange world where people talk about one set of possible criminal acts of a president being more or less important than another.

Some people think this case is not important, Vance said. I strongly disagree.

FILE - In this Monday, April 16, 2007 filer, Defense attorney Joseph Tacopina gives his closing arguments in the Melanie McGuire trial in New Brunswick, N.J. Cash-strapped Serie B club Bologna is nearing a deal on being sold to a North American group. New York lawyer Joe Tacopina is slated to become the club president, with Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo the largest investor. Tacopina and Saputo will reportedly make an initial investment of 13 million euros ($16.5 million) plus provide a 7 million euros payout to the club's previous owners. (AP Photo/Patti Sapone, Pool)

Trump expected to surrender Tuesday

Tacopina said Trump was expected in New York by Tuesday for arraignment.

"We're working out those logistics right now," Tacopina told NBC's "Today" show.

Trump was initially "shocked" when notified of the grand jury's action late Thursday but "put a notch on his belt" and vowed to challenge the criminal case, Tacopina said.

President Trump will not take a plea deal in this case, Tacopina said. Theres no crime.

Vance said the announcement of the indictment before Trumps anticipated arraignment on Tuesday created a four-day vacuum when Trump will be telling his side of the story without the actual charges being made public.

We will hear him for the next few days tell his side of the story: the judge is corrupt. The prosecutors are evil, Vance said. We should not be persuaded by any of that.

Former Vice President Mike Pence calls Trump's indictment 'an outrage' and 'political prosecution.'

Trump case sparks political charges from Haley, DeSantis, Hutchinson

Despite the apparent simplicity of the New York case, the prosecutor's background and the nature of the charges set off a political firestorm.

Justice Department prosecutors decided not to charge Trump after convicting his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen in part based on the hush money payment. Braggs predecessor as district attorney declined to press charges. And two of Braggs prosecutors quit in early 2022 when they said he voiced skepticism about the investigation.

Republicans  even Trumps rivals in the 2024 presidential campaign  called the indictment an outrage and politically motivated.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told Fox News Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was trying to take revenge.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considering a run, said the weaponization of the legal system is un-American.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another possible candidate, said Trump should have the presumption of innocence. He said Trump shouldnt be the next president, but that the voters should decide.

But Andrew Weissmann, former FBI general counsel and counsel to special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Trump, said lawmakers attacking the case as a witch hunt or weaponization of the government ring hollow.

Its an epithet, not an argument, Weissmann said.

A combination of images shows Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, left, and former President Donald Trump.

House GOP chairmen clash with Bragg over Trump case

Three Republican House chairmen  Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, on the Judiciary Committee, James Comer of Kentucky on the Oversight and Accountability Committee and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin on the Administration Committee  asked Bragg to answer questions about his inquiry, which they said appeared politically motivated.

Braggs general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, rejected the request by saying the lawmakers had no legitimate basis to ask about a pending criminal matter.

The chairmen wrote again saying they were justified in asking how a local prosecutor could alter a presidents policies by threatening criminal charges. But Braggs office told the chairmen their allegations were baseless and inflammatory. Braggs office said Trump could defend himself in court.

Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself of all processes and protections that New York States robust criminal procedure affords, Dubeck wrote Friday in reply to the chairmen.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) stands at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, on March 27, 2023. Netanyahu announced a pause to divisive judicial reforms moving through parliament, after months of street rallies that drew tens of thousands.

Trump is first former president charged but other countries routinely prosecute leaders

Trump became the first former U.S. leader to be charged criminally. Prosecutors said jurors and the American public will have to judge whether Trump was charged unfairly or singled out for crimes for which others are not punished.

But Weissmann said prosecution of a former leader isnt novel after other countries such as Argentina, France and Israel have done it.

There are all sorts of examples from around the world of legitimate, righteous cases that were brought, Weissmann said. This is not novel when you look at the global context in which we all live. By the same token we all know about show trials.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump charges hailed as 'serious' or 'outrage' during wait for details
Former President Donald Trump speaks at CPAC in March 2023. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll  one of the first conducted after former President Donald Trump was indicted Thursday for his role in paying hush money to a porn star  shows Trump surging to his largest-ever lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his likely 2024 GOP primary challenger, as Republican voters rally around the only president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

In the previous Yahoo News/YouGov survey, which was conducted less than two weeks ago, Trump (47%) led DeSantis (39%) by eight percentage points in a head-to-head matchup among registered voters who are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. As recently as February, it was DeSantis who was narrowly ahead of Trump, 45% to 41%.

But the new, post-indictment poll suddenly finds Trump lapping DeSantis by 26 percentage points  57% to 31%  in a one-on-one contest. The former president even attracts majority support (52%, up from 44% previously) when pitted against a wider, 10-candidate field of declared and potential GOP challengers, while DeSantis plummets to 21% (down from 28%).

No one else cracks double digits.

By the same token, a full 54% of Republicans and Republican leaners would now prefer Trump to be the GOPs 2024 presidential nominee rather than someone else (33%)  up from 51% Trump, 39% someone else last time.

The survey of 1,089 U.S. adults was conducted in the first 24 hours after a New York grand jury voted to indict Trump, as news about the case continued to break and sink in. For many respondents, the opinions expressed may be tentative and volatile  and some of the shifts evident in this immediate snapshot may be fleeting.

Just 34% of Americans, for instance, said they had heard a lot about Donald Trump being indicted on Thursday in Manhattan  a number that will rise in the coming days. And while the former president has reportedly been charged on more than two dozen counts, the public still doesnt know what those charges are. They are likely to be unsealed when he is arraigned Tuesday in Manhattan.

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(On Friday evening, the Associated Press reported that Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense  presumably in connection with the $130,000 paid by Trump's fixer Michael Cohen to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign, then allegedly reimbursed and logged as legal expenses by Trump while he was president.)

So even though some pro-Trump respondents may have been especially eager to register their opposition to the indictment by expressing support for Trump, its far from clear that Trumps legal woes will actually help him regain the Oval Office in 2024.

In fact, the latest Yahoo News/YouGov poll suggests the opposite may be possible. Most Americans, for instance, think Trump should not be allowed to serve a second term if he is convicted of a crime in this case (52%). Perhaps even more ominous for Trump is how few think he should be allowed to serve as president if found guilty: just 31%. Another 17% are unsure.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis makes his first trip to Iowa for a book tour stop at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in March. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

And while Trump is the clear front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination  an advantage that has only grown in the new survey  he is also under criminal investigation for at least three other alleged offenses: trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election; inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; and taking highly classified documents with him to his home in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Fla., after leaving office.

Majorities of registered voters  64%, 54% and 71%, respectively  believe Trump did each of these things.

Beyond the GOP base, Americans as a whole seem to be predictably divided over Trumps indictment. Asked whether they approve or disapprove of Donald Trump being indicted for falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star, a narrow plurality (42%) of Americans say they approve, while 39% say they disapprove and 19% say theyre not sure. A full 69% of Democrats approve; a full 66% of Republicans disapprove.

Americans are also polarized over whether the indictment is motivated more by a genuine desire to hold Trump accountable (42%) or political bias against Trump (43%), with three-quarters of Democrats saying the former (75%) and three-quarters of Republicans saying the latter (77%). Trump has characterized the indictment as political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.

Likewise, the combined number of Democrats (67%) who say theyre personally enthusiastic about (29%) or satisfied with (38%) Trumps indictment is nearly identical to the combined number of Republicans (68%) who say theyre personally dissatisfied (29%) or angry (39%).

Yet there are also signs of possible trouble ahead for Trump. Fully half of independents (50%) now believe the former president has committed a serious crime at some point in his life  twice the number (25%) who think he has never committed a serious crime. When asked if they think Donald Trump did or did not falsify business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star, less than half of Republicans (48%) are confident that he did not. Another 17% say he did  and a whopping 35% say theyre not sure.

As a result, far more Americans overall think Trump did (45%) falsify business records in this case than did not (26%). And the share who say theyre not sure whether Trump will be convicted (39%) is greater than the shares that say yes, he will be found guilty (30%) or no, he will not (31%).

That level of uncertainty  especially among Republicans  leaves Trump politically vulnerable if indictments (and possibly convictions) start to pile up. Even 14% of Republicans who support Trump in a hypothetical two-way matchup against DeSantis say Trump should not be allowed to serve again if hes convicted in the hush money case.

Meanwhile, the new survey shows no change at all in preferences for the general election, with President Biden maintaining the same two-point edge over Trump (45% to 43%) that he enjoyed in the previous Yahoo News/YouGov poll.

Even so, the indictment seems to have done little to damage Trump  at least initially. His favorable rating (45%) is now slightly higher than on the 11 previous surveys in which Yahoo News and YouGov asked a comparable question (where it ranged from 40% to 43%). Among Republicans, Trumps favorable rating has risen to 79% (up from 74% in the wake of the 2022 midterm elections). And the survey also shows slight increases in positive perceptions of the former president  and slight decreases in negative perceptions  on a series of repeat questions:

62% agree that Trump says what other politicians are afraid to say, up from 55% when the question was last asked, in December 2022.

49% agree that the only thing Donald Trump cares about is himself, down from 53% when the question was last asked in December 2022.

34% say yes when asked if Trump respects women (48% say no), up slightly from 30% in August 2020.

35% say Trump is honest and trustworthy (47% say he is not), up from 30% in August 2020.

44% say yes when asked if Trumps family is corrupt (36% say no), down from 49% in October 2022.

____________

The Yahoo News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,089 U.S. adults interviewed online from March 30 to 31, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondents most recent answer given prior to March 15, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (32% Democratic, 27% Republican). Respondents were selected from YouGovs opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 3.3%.
A necessary step for some, a "witch hunt" for others: the historic indictment of Donald Trump has further entrenched perceptions that partisanship has cleaved the United States, with the former president at the center of the storm.

The Republican billionaire's presidency -- as well as his rhetoric since losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden -- both underscored and amplified the country's political divisions, and reactions to him becoming the first US president charged with a crime have followed that playbook closely.

"The public today sees almost everything through the lens of partisanship," said Wendy Schiller, a political scientist at Brown University.

It is a perception that has not escaped politicos: the indictment is above all a "gift to the campaign managers and strategists in both major parties," giving them "an opportunity to stoke outrage," Robert Talisse, a Vanderbilt University expert on political polarization, told AFP.

Indeed, several leading Republicans, including the former president, have already launched fund-raising campaigns to fight what they have called a "political persecution."

In tweets, interviews and statements, Trump-supporting Republicans sharply denounced the indictment -- which is due to be unsealed in a New York court next week -- as "an absolute outrage" while lining up to defend Trump, who is running for president in 2024 again, as a martyr.

- 'Not my president' -

The sense of an America divided has moved well beyond politics.

In many homes, whole areas of disputation in today's United States -- over gender, abortion or guns -- have become so heated they are almost taboo.

As the indictment was announced on Thursday night, with some liberals on social media mocking the "MAGA tears" of Trump backers, a small group converged outside the former president's luxurious Florida residence to display their support and express their anger.

Several waved flags proclaiming "Biden is not my president" or "Trump won," in the latest reminder that more than two years after the billionaire lost the 2020 election, millions of Americans remain convinced that the election was "stolen" from him.

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But some experts warn against exaggerating the severity of today's political division.

From the Civil War that pitted North against South in the 1860s, to the rioting and protests over civil rights and the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, American society has survived deeper divisions.

The country "was far more intensely fractured and segregated in the 1900s and (early) 2000s than it is today. We are a more diverse and more participatory country than we have ever been," Schiller said, adding that "more voices can mean things get louder and angrier."

"But it is unrealistic to compare it to 50 years ago, when so many voices were silenced through discrimination and structural obstacles to voting," she added.

And there is one person in the country who is doing what he can to avoid fanning the flames further: Joe Biden.

The president has yet to officially launch his 2024 campaign, but knows that anything he might say could fuel the Republican billionaire's complaints of a politically "weaponized" judicial system.

As such he has remained one of the few Democrats to keep his silence, telling reporters he will not comment on the indictment.

Meanwhile Trump, as ever, appeared to feel no such restraint.

The former president himself turned to his Truth Social platform after the indictment to accuse Democrats of being "the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country."

He added: "They are not coming after me  they are coming after you. I'm just standing in their way."

cjc/bbk/des/st
Former President Trump campaigns in Waco, Texas, on March 25. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

The criminal indictment of former President Trump is unprecedented, but only as far as U.S. history goes.

Around the world, numerous former heads of government have ended up in the dock and often behind bars, in democracies young and old.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as president of Brazil on Jan. 1, about three years after he emerged from spending 20 months in prison. He was convicted of money laundering and other corrupt practices during his earlier term as president, from 2003 to 2010.

Not only was a former president prosecuted and sent to jail, but being an ex-con did not prevent him from seeking election again. (His conviction was eventually annulled by Brazils high court.)

Around the world, presidents and prime ministers are often removed from office by criminal investigations, or alleged crimes come back to haunt them after theyve left office. It is so common that it rarely raises too many eyebrows.

In South Korea, three former presidents have been convicted of corruption charges  one while in office, who was impeached, and two after leaving office  and sentenced to long prison terms. All were eventually given reduced sentences or pardoned.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu ran for election late last year even though he was on trial for corruption. His party and its coalition partners won, and he is once again prime minister after two previous tenures from 1996 to 1999 and 2009 to 2021. They are using their power to attempt to change the Israeli judiciary to minimize future accountability, a move that has triggered massive demonstrations throughout the country by angry Israelis who say they are defending democracy.

Does the relative ease with which former chief executives are prosecuted suggest that the wheels of justice and accountability are stronger in other countries? Not necessarily.

Often it is the very weakness of the system and absence of guardrails that allow easy prosecution and removal of leaders.

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Peru, with its shaky political system, might hold the world record on this front. Almost every Peruvian president in the last 38 years has been convicted of crimes while in office, faces prosecution or is fighting extradition from another country to avoid having to confront justice.

And yet one of the worlds oldest and most stable democracies, France, has also punished alleged wrongdoing at the highest levels of government.

Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France from 2007 to 2012, was repeatedly investigated for a host of corruption charges after he left office. He was convicted in 2021 of tampering with a judicial case to his benefit and sentenced to three years in prison. He denied guilt. Another case opened against the politically conservative but stylistically flamboyant former president in 2013 accused him of having accepted millions of dollars from Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi to illegally finance his 2007 campaign. Sarkozy also denied those allegations.

It seems the United States is almost unique among democracies in the way with which it treats its former presidents with kid gloves. Other democracies do not afford their leaders the same level of near-immunity that U.S. tradition does. Experts say this is due in part to a U.S. need to invest stability in the viability of its leaders.

However, never before Trump had a chief executive routinely flouted norms.

"We've been very lucky in the U.S. to rarely have presidents who have exhibited such blatant disregard for the law," said Mark Schmitt, director of the political reform program at the New America think tank in Washington.

The exception, he noted, was Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign but pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, before any indictments could be handed down.

"We're not so much 'averse to accountability' as lucky, but there may be some features of our system that might help with that, such as the nonpolitical civil service and the nominal independence of agencies such as the Federal Reserve," Schmitt said.

Trump supporters have expressed disbelief at the Manhattan grand jury decision to indict the former president, who was impeached twice while in office.

The former president's allies have maintained that indicting him is un-American. And in some ways, up until this point, it has been.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Donald Trumps legal team has confirmed that the former president will not appear in handcuffs before a Manhattan court to face charges laid by district attorney Alvin Bragg.

Prosecutors will try and get every ounce of publicity they can from this thing, the former presidents lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told CBS News on Friday. The president will not be put in handcuffs.

Although Trump will avoid the iconic imagery of being perp-walked in handcuffs, the former president will still be processed like any other individual that turns themselves in with mug shots and fingerprints taken.

The Manhattan District Attorneys office has denounced attempts by leading House Republicans who blasted the indictment as misleading and meritless.

We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference, General Counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote in a Friday letter addressed to Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), Bryan Steil (R., Wi.) and James Comer (R., Tenn.).

More from Braggs office to Comer, Steil & Jordan: As Committee Chairmen, you could use the stature of your office to denounce these attacks and urge respect for the fairness of our justice system and for the work of the impartial grand jury https://t.co/sHghlfYdud pic.twitter.com/sIoHx1JVUM  Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) March 31, 2023

As Committee Chairmen, you could use the stature of your office to denounce these attacks and urge respect for the fairness of our justice system and for the work of the impartial grand jury, Dubeck added.

Last Monday, the NYPD erected steel barricades around Manhattans Criminal Court in anticipation of the former presidents indictment. Now Trumps legal team has confirmed that the entire neighborhood will likely be locked down on the day that he surrenders to law enforcement authorities.

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I understand theyre going to be closing off blocks around the courthouse, shutting down the courthouse, Tacopina said during the interview.

Steel barricades arriving outside Manhattan Criminal Court @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/aWESUZ01fU  Robert Costa (@costareports) March 20, 2023

While the indictment remains sealed, sources familiar with the case have told the Associated Press that Trump is facing at least one felony offense stemming from the alleged hush-money payment made to Stormy Daniels, a former porn actress, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Trumps legal team has hypothesized that he may face as many as 34 legal charges, most of which stem from fraudulent business practices, although Tacopina still does not know the full extent of the legal case the former president.

We know what the subject matter is, we know the basis of the charges. We dont know the exact counts or how theyre formulated.

Donald Trump will be the first former president to be indicted in American history and is expected to be released the same day he turns himself in.

More from National Review
Former President Donald Trump raised more than $4 million in the 24 hours after news of his indictment in Manhattan became public, according to figures released by his campaign Friday.

The Trump campaign said that more than 25% of the donations came from first-time donors to the former president, "further solidifying President Trumps status as the clear frontrunner in the Republican primary."

Trump's campaign sent out more than a half-dozen fundraising solicitations over email in less than 24 hours after his indictment, and he called for donations on his Truth Social platform as well.

A campaign official also told NBC News that it received 16,000 volunteer sign-ups over the past day as well.

The former president faces about 30 charges in relation to document fraud stemming from hush money he allegedly paid to cover up years-old affairs, two sources familiar the proceedings told NBC News following news of Trumps indictment, which remains under seal until Trump appears in court for his arraignment.

Subject lines on his fundraising emails included "America needs you right now," "BREAKING: PRESIDENT TRUMP INDICTED," "RUMORED DETAILS OF MY ARREST" and "Yes, I've been indicted, BUT."

On Truth Social, Trump wrote: "If you are doing poorly, as so many of you are, do not send anything."

"If you are doing well, which was made possible through the great policies of the Trump Administration, send your contribution to donaldjtrump.com," he wrote.

Initially following the launch of his 2024 bid in November, the Trump campaign struggled to raise money; he pulled in only $9.5 million over the past six weeks of the year through the campaign and a joint fundraising committee.

Trump wasn't the only one taking advantage of the news to bring in some cash. Plenty of other Republicans and Democrats blasted out solicitations to their supporters as well.

Republicans, including potential 2024 rivals and battleground Senate candidates, have jumped to Trumps defense and criticized the indictment in its aftermath.

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A national Republican strategist said national GOP campaign groups have seen a spike in digital fundraising since Trump was indicted.

Weve seen a massive fundraising spike on the digital front as a result of this," this person said. "The base is on fire about this."

A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday found that 93% of Republicans and 72% of independent voters thought the Manhattan investigation was mainly motivated by politics rather than the law.

However, that same survey found that 53% of independent voters believe criminal charges should be disqualifying for Trump's presidential bid. Only 20% of Republicans thought that.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Reuters

Donald Trump has a tendency to rack up collateral damageand his dalliance with Stormy Daniels was no different. Somehow his very quick romp with the porn star in 2006 sullied the reputations of a whole cast of characters who werent even in the room. Here are just a few of the biggest losers:

Trumps once-loyal fixer played bagman in the Stormy Daniels affair, transferring $130,000 to her lawyer to buy her silence in 2016and he paid the price. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws, along with a host of other transgressions not related to Daniels, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Michael Cohen arrives at a Manhattan courthouse on March 15. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

The irony is today is the day Im getting my freedom back, Cohen told the judge at his sentencing, stung by fact that Trump had not returned his loyalty and had, in fact, tried to throw his fixer under the proverbial bus. But now its Cohen who gets the last laugh; he testified before the Manhattan grand jury that returned the indictment against his old boss.

Never a paragon of journalistic ethics, the supermarket tabloid saw its reputation sink further when its publisher, David Pecker, was forced to admit that he paid hush money to Daniels and another alleged Trump mistress, Karen McDougal, to silence them.

Karen McDougal poses in 1998. Reuters

As part of the catch-and-kill scheme coordinated with the Trump campaign, American Media Inc. bought the exclusive rights to the womens stories to bury them, not publish them. AMI acknowledged it broke campaign finance lawsby essentially making an unreported in-kind donationand paid a $187,500 fine.

The disclosure that the hush-money to Daniels went through a secret company created by Cohen, Essential Consultants, created a PR nightmare for several corporations that, it was revealed, also funneled money to Cohen through it. AT&T and Novartis sent him $200,000 and $400,000, respectively, even though his only function at the time was to solve problems and act as a gate-keeper for Trump.

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(Another party that funneled money$500,000to Essential Consultants was Columbus Nova, a company linked to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who was questioned by Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigators in connection with the probe of Russian election interference.)

Avenattis representation of Daniels made him a cable-news fixture, a household name, and a guy who somehow thought he could be president. But it also made him something else: a convicted felon. The more famous Avenatti got, the more his past came back to bite him.

Attorney Michael Avenatti arrives at the U.S. District Court to face embezzlement and fraud charges in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April 1, 2019. Reuters/Mike Blake

By 2020, he was charged with extorting Nike and cheating clients, including Danielswhose signature he forged to direct that her book money be sent to him. He spent Stormys cash, lied about it, was convicted and got sentenced to four years in prison on top of a 14-year sentence in connection with the fraud against his other clients.

Daniels July 2018 appearance at the Sirens strip club in Ohios capital city took an unexpected turn when she was arrested and charged with fondling undercover officers. The three misdemeanor counts were dropped within 12 hours because, it turned out, she had not broken any laws, but the fallout continued.

Two vice officers, Steve Rosser and Whitney Lancaster, were placed on modified duty and later fired after police officials determined the operation did not follow usual procedures and that one of the cops allegedly lied about why they were at Sirens that night (supposedly to look for an underage dancer named Pearl and not to target the famous adult performer whose allegations had imperiled the president).

In addition, Daniels sued the city of Columbus over her wrongful arrest, alleging it was politically motivated, and the case was settled for $450,000. Try fitting that in a G-string.

Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify Viktor Vekselbergs relationship to Columbus Nova.

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Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters/Getty

When former President Donald Trump heard that Justice Juan Merchan would be presiding over his criminal indictment in New York, he was livid.

The Judge assigned to my Witch Hunt Case, a Case that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday morning. Trump alleged that Merchan railroaded his former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, into a plea deal. He concluded that he was APPEALING! the judge selection.

But far from the type of judge who strong-arms those who come before his court, Merchan has a widespread reputation for being as calm and collected as they come.

Hes a very even-keeled guy. Hes thoughtful. He listens. Bright, kind of chill, said New York City attorney Adam S. Kaufmann, who worked alongside him at the Manhattan District Attorneys Office in the 1990s.

In court, Merchans tone is unwavering. He pauses often. He chooses how to phrase a suggestion or question carefully, so as to not seem biased. The cadence of his speech can be best described as adagiogentle and just slightly slower than your average Manhattan criminal judge.

And yet, its true that Trumps legal tactics absolutely set him off.

While presiding over the tax fraud trial of two Trump Organization companies in December, Merchan repeatedly lost his patience as Trumps corporate lawyers broke the rulesleading witnesses, reading parts of transcripts jurors werent allowed to hear, and trying to distract the jury by duping them into thinking the case was about Trump the man, not his companies.

USA-TRUMP/NEW YORK-TRIAL Judge Juan Merchan presides during the Trump Organization's criminal tax trial last year. Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

At one point during the trial, he repeatedly dragged Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. attorneys into a quiet sidebar to privately admonish them for making baseless objections to interrupt prosecutorsonly to have them defy him minutes later, forcing the judge to send the jury out of the room.

Its your responsibility to make sure this doesnt happen again, he warned them sternly.

He ultimately ordered the convicted companies to pay $1.6 million for dodging taxes, and he sentenced Weisselbergwho pleaded guiltyto five months in jail at Rikers Island.

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Trump Campaign Boasts of $4 Million in Donations After Indictment

It was driven purely by greed. Pure and simple. The entire case was driven by greed, Merchan scolded Weisselberg, a longtime Trump confidant who remained devoted to his boss for nearly 50 years.

Clearly, Merchans treatment of Weisselberg angered Trump.

In his post Friday morning, Trump spelled out the judges full namethe usual strategy he resorts to when painting a target on an enemys back. But in typical fashion, he misspelled Merchan. Critics immediately noted how Trumps actions echoed his racist tirade against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel in California back in 2016, when he deemed that Curiel would be incapable of ruling fairly simply because he was born in Mexico.

But with Merchan, Trump can expect a judge whos known by local defense lawyers and law enforcement for being down the middle, said former Manhattan prosecutor Catherine A. Christian.

He has an excellent reputation, Christian told The Daily Beast.

Merchans journeyand the people he met along the wayposition him uniquely for the tall task now before him: presiding over a historic trial in which a former American president faces serious criminal charges that could land him in prison.

Merchan was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1962, when the country was still reeling from a decade-long civil war that killed 2 percent of all Colombians, a ghoulish period of mass torture referred to as La Violencia. His family relocated to Queens, New York, when he was only 6 years old and did what many immigrants do: start from the ground up. His father washed dishes at a local restaurant to provide for the family, according to Merchans future colleagues.

Merchan later went to Baruch College, but friends told The Daily Beast the journey was a bumpy ride. They said Merchan took several breaks from his studies to be a working dad who could provide for his own young family. When he finally finished law school at Hofstra University in 1994, he joined the Manhattan District Attorneys Office at an extraordinary time.

Juan Merchan, center, as a member of the Manhattan DAs rookie class of 1994. Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast

The city was under siege with an unprecedented crime wave that had gone on for two decades. Mayor Rudy Giuliani and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton had just adopted the vicious broken windows policy of policingcracking down on every minor infraction under the theory that little crimes lead to big ones. And it was up to these young assistant district attorneys to be on the front lines of that legal assault.

Defense lawyers were used to getting turnstile justice, said David G. Liston, a member of Merchans rookie class. And we were the first or second class of ADAs who went into court and said 35 shoplifts is 35 too many. The defendant can plead guilty or go to trial.

We were punching bags, Liston continued. We would get beat up every day we went to court. Judges would yell at us. Defendants would yell at us. But we all developed thick skins. If we thought we were doing the right thing, we were willing to deal with it.

These exhausted young prosecutors would hit the bars after a long daybut not Merchan.

As rookie ADAs, most of us were single and having lots of fun. But when we were getting beers hed say, Ive got kids, Ive got to go home. Very much a family oriented guy, Liston recalled.

The onslaught of violent cases and round-the-clock prosecutions of even minor crimes flooded the courts and the jails, colleagues recalled. There were times when interpreters werent available at 2 a.m. to speak to someone involved in the caseand thats when Merchan would shine. Fellow prosecutors remember how hed translate their accounts from Spanish to English, ensuring that each persons story was heard fairly and accurately, something hed later take with him to the bench.

There was sort of a dignity about him, a humility about him. He spoke with people in a way that made them feel respected, Liston said.

After spending five years prosecuting crime, Merchan spent another five at the New York Attorney Generals Office, where he cracked down on fraudsters. In his final year there, Merchan nailed the owner of a fake GED home study course and shut down a scam modeling agency that roamed Long Island malls in search of impressionable parents whod let them take photos of their kids who aspired to be models.

It may come as some surprise to MAGA diehards, but Merchan managed to avoid New Yorks notoriously corrupt, Democrat-controlled judicial election system. Thats a system which subjects candidates to a shadowy system of politically charged interviews with local kingmakersa far cry from the agnosticism thats usually expected from would-be judges. In 2006, Merchan was actually appointed by then-Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the party-switching billionaire who was known for putting moderates on the bench.

After spending some time in Bronx family court, Merchan became one of the first judges to run the citys new mental health court, an experiment that embodied quite the opposite of broken windowsgiving those accused of crimes a chance to get treatment for drug addiction and clinical behavioral issues.

He was there back when it started, when dispositions for mental health treatment were not in vogue. He ran that courtroom. He took a risk on people, Christian said.

Every defendant who appeared before him was a gamble. Give the wrong one a second chance, and an innocent person could get hurtor worse.

Depending on your mental illness, on a bad day, things can go south. Then youre in the newspaper, Christian said.

Thats where Merchan cemented a reputation for having a stoic approach, compassionate but firm.

Bragg Tells House GOP to Back Off After Trump Indictment

Benjamin Thompson, a business lawyer in New York City, still remembers a pro-bono case where he represented a man who had a long history of arrests, constantly going in-and-out of jails and even fleeing from a halfway house. The man finally reached the end of the road when he stole a car and led cops on a chase. Merchan put him on the courts recovery program, and kept checking on him for two years.

Merchan was extremely patient and understanding. He picked the right times and right situations to be firm and stern, Thompson recalled.

When the man completed the program, Merchan held something of a graduation ceremony. Everyone in the courtroom stood up, applauded and cheered.

Judge Merchan is just one of the most wonderful people that Ive ever experienced professionally. And one of the most deserving and appropriate people to be in a position of judicial discretion and authority, Thompson said.

Merchan, who has now spent years overseeing criminal cases in Manhattan, is very familiar with Trump and his legal tactics. The way he handled the Trump Organizations refusal to turn over evidence in the run up to its tax fraud trial shows his extreme caution and desire to avoid fanfare and media attentioneven to the point of annoying the very office where he started his career. In late 2021, he held a secret, one-day contempt trial where he punished the company for failing to properly respond to the DAs subpoenas. But he didnt reveal its existence until the company lost the trial a year laterand even then, the court documents remain highly redacted.

Next week, hell finally face the real estate mogul behind the curtain, the man whos been pulling the strings.

You dont want to disappoint him. He doesnt yell. Never raises his voice. He speaks to you in a way that almost suggests you know better, you can do better, you are better, Liston said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Former US President Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York.

The development raised questions about how the indictment will impact his 2024 presidential campaign.

A presidential candidate can still run for office despite being indicted  or even convicted  of a crime.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a grand jury in New York, triggering a wave of questions about the indictment's potential implications on his 2024 presidential campaign, and whether Trump could go on to serve as president again after being formally accused of a felony crime.

A presidential candidate can, indeed, still run for office despite being indicted for a crime, according to the US Constitution.

Article II of the constitution lays out the requirements for any presidential candidate: They must be at least 35 years of age, they must have resided in the US for at least 14 years, and they must be a natural-born US citizen. The constitution does not bar presidential candidates who have been charged or convicted of crimes.

In fact, the constitution does not even disqualify presidential candidates who are incarcerated, legal experts previously told Insider. Two presidential candidates  Eugene Debs in 1920 and Lyndon LaRouche in 1992  ran for the Oval Office from behind bars, though neither of them won. Debs had been serving time in a federal prison for violating the Espionage Act, and LaRouche had been convicted of committing mail fraud and campaign fraud conspiracy.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has been investigating Trump's alleged role in a hush-money scheme during the 2016 election to silence the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who has alleged having an affair with Trump. The grand jury's decision to indict Trump makes him the first former president in US history to be indicted on a felony charge. Trump has denied the affair and any wrongdoing.

Though the constitution is clear that no criminal charges or convictions can disqualify a person from running for president, American public opinion is much more nuanced.

A Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday found that 57% of respondents believed criminal charges should disqualify Trump from office. Respondents' political leanings had an impact on their answers; 75% of Republicans believed the charges should not disqualify Trump, while 88% of Democrats believed the opposite. Of the independents polled, 55% of them believed the charges should disqualify him.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday

Former President Donald Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels have spent years battling in court. Now, they're selling duelling T-shirts.

A Manhattan grand jury voted on Thursday to indict Mr Trump in connection with a $130,000 (105,000) hush money payment to Ms Daniels.

She alleges the two had an affair in 2006. Mr Trump has acknowledged the pay-out but denied they had sex.

His campaign sent a fundraising email soon after the charges were reported.

"This Witch Hunt will BACKFIRE MASSIVELY," he said in the email. "With your support, we will write the next great chapter of American history - and 2024 will forever go down as the year we saved our Republic."

The message asked people for money, offering a T-shirt with the words "I stand with Trump" for donations of $47 (38) or more, which his campaign team claimed were "flying off shelves".

The Trump campaign says it raised more than $4m in the first 24 hours after news of the indictment broke.

But the case has brought a windfall for Ms Daniels, too.

In a tweet on Thursday after charges were announced, Ms Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - said orders for "#Teamstormy merch/authograph[s]" were "pouring in".

"Thank you to everyone for your support and love!" she wrote.

Her website features a range of merchandise, including $20 T-shirts with the words "#TEAMSTORMY", signed posters of herself posing in lingerie, and a $30 dog chew toy that looks like Mr Trump.

Her tweet was liked more than 94,000 times, while dozens of users replied with thank you messages.

The porn star has over a million followers on Twitter, as well as a Facebook fan club page with more than 2,000 members, many of them ardent critics of Mr Trump.

In a live stream on Wednesday night on OnlyFans, a subscription-based website known for its adult content, Ms Daniels defended herself from criticism that she was trying to profit off the affair, according to the Independent.

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"Everybody that has a business sells merch," she said, pointing out Mr Trump was similarly using the case to pull in funds.

"That's actually - I can't believe I'm about to say this - kind of brilliant," she said. "Why is it OK for him and it's not OK for me?"

But Ms Daniels and Mr Trump aren't the only ones cashing in.

Outside the former president's Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, on Friday, merchandise vendor Ronald Solomon told Reuters news agency that sales of Trump-themed hats and T-shirts had soared.

The money-spinning is a reminder of 1920s US President Calvin Coolidge's adage: "After all, the chief business of the American people is business."
Some prosecutors called it a zombie; other legal observers said it was a sleeper case. But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs (D) probe into Donald Trump is the first to initiate history-making criminal charges against a former president.

Among the dizzying array of ongoing criminal probes into former President Trump, he faces investigations by both federal and Georgia authorities over his role in seeking to block the transfer of power after the 2020 election. The Justice Department is also investigating the mishandling of classified records at his Florida home.

New York, however, has stepped in first.

The New York case elicits complex feelings, even among those eager to see Trump convicted. While the charges have yet to be unsealed, many perceive them to be the least serious of the accusations he faces across the various other probes.

The exact charges remain under seal until Trumps arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but they are expected to include at least one felony for his role in organizing a hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly ahead of the 2016 election.

In some ways, it makes sense that the Manhattan charges have come first, with interest in a possible case percolating in some fashion since the payments became public in 2018.

Josh Stanton, an attorney with Perry Guha who has penned analyses of the case, stressed that Bragg is not rushing in bringing the case.

New York not waiting is indicative of the fact that they are committed to respecting the rule of law, even if their case is not the one with the most severe possible sentence and also is not the one where his conduct was the most egregious, Stanton said, noting that even with a felony conviction, Trump is likely to get probation rather than jail time.

They have decided that Trump violated the law.So I dont think it makes sense for the Manhattan district attorney to wait and see if other people go first. This is from conduct from 2016 and 2017.

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But some have expressed hesitation, concerned either over whether Bragg can mount a successful prosecution in what could be a complicated case or that having a higher-profile matter mark the first-ever indictment of a president would be better optics.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) told The Hill that Bragg going first indicates this is not the political witch hunt that Trump claims, a sign that prosecutors are independently assessing the strength of the evidence of misdeeds before proceedings.

If it wasnt an independent process, then Donald Trump would be saying, Oh, this is coordinated, and this is political. So the fact that the public perception is that the first charge is not the one that is the strongest or most important case against him, to me just shows that this is an independent process thats playing out and thats what you want in any prosecution,he said.

Others noted that the details of the case  spurred by an extramarital affair Trump has denied  pale in comparison to the other potential charges that might be brought against him.

After inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, pressuring local officials to overturn the 2020 election, receiving financial kickbacks from foreign powers, and numerous other crimes during his presidency, its embarrassing and infuriating that the first indictment against Trump is about  Stormy Daniels, Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

Some fear that could help fuel Republicans narratives minimizing the case.

The GOP has largely dismissed the case as politically motivated, while some have suggested the underlying conduct doesnt merit prosecution.

Look, this is an issue about campaign finances. And its a tenuous [case]at best,former Vice President Mike Pence told CNNin a Thursday night appearance.

Even Trumps 2024 primary rivals did not seek to capitalize on the indictment, with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tweeting out her past appearance on Fox News saying, I think the country would be better off talking about things that the American public cares about.

Norm Eisen, counsel for the Democrats in Trumps first impeachment, pushed back in an interview on those critiques, stressing that the case didnt just implicate an alleged affair. He noted the timing of the hush arrangement followed the release of the Access Hollywood tape.

If these payments had not been made, and these alleged campaign finance violations had not occurred, theres no telling if the election results might have been different. So, in that regard, the issuesbeing investigated in the state of Georgia and in the federal grand jury are very important, but they did not affect the outcome. This might have, Eisen said.

Stanton also fought the idea that Trump was simply fudging some numbers.

On the one hand, we look at white collar crimes differently from violent crimes. But some white collar crimes have very serious real world impacts, he said.

The real world impact of this is it actually might have helped sway the election.This information should have been public, should have been reported.

Some have also questioned the strength of Braggs case, particularly when it comes to bringing felony charges.

The returned indictment means at least 12 of the 23 grand jurors found reasonable cause that Trump committed the charges. Prosecutors now must meet a much higher burden to secure a conviction: proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Outside legal experts suggest the indictment will focus on charges of falsifying business records, a misdemeanor under New York law. Elevating it to a felony, however, would require connecting Trumps alleged intent to defraud to a second crime.

Prosecutors could attempt to connect the base charge to the campaign finance violations to which Michael Cohen, Trumps former fixer who made the payment, pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme.

I always call this the Capone theory, the Al Capone theory. They couldnt get him on murder, extortion, racketeering, bootlegging, et cetera. They got him on tax evasion. If that crime done was enough for me to be charged, fined, convicted and sent to prison, why am I any different than Donald Trump? Cohen, who has since turned against Trump, asked on CNN on Thursday.

Eisens research indicates the district attorneys office regularly brings falsifying business records charges in white-collar cases and that prosecutors on multiple occasions connected it to state campaign finance crimes.

Theres nothing novel here, because this pattern has been prosecuted and convictions won so many times. Thats also why its not a political prosecution, because contrary to what the former president and his allies are saying, I believe that if anyone else did this, they would be prosecuted. Theres no reason that a former president should be exempted, he said.

Trumps attorney has countered that the former president didnt violate campaign finance laws, saying he used personal funds to reimburse Cohen irrespective of the election. Trumps allies have also argued that as a presidential candidate his conduct was governed by federal campaign law, something they argue is out of reach for the state prosecutor to use in bumping up to a felony.

Though some observers are elevating the other cases against Trump, those investigations have their own challenges.

Trump has filed a motion to quash the Georgia probe, something that may not undercut any ultimate criminal case, but nonetheless as a procedural move is sure to eat up court time.

And while many Democrats are eager to see Trump held to account for efforts to remain in power after the election, culminating with the rally on Jan. 6, 2021, before his supporters violently attack the Capitol.

But many of the serious charges prosecutors could mull in connection with the event would likely require demonstrating Trumps intent, a heavier burden for Justice Department lawyers.

A lot of these things require proof of willfulness, Stanton said, And thats always a challenge for prosecutors.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on November 5, 2022. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump was indicted on Thursday over a hush money settlement.

Trump is the first ex-president to be charged with a crime.

Some legal experts say his indictment could affect the other investigations he faces.

Former President Donald Trump's list of legal woes could get more complicated following his indictment by a New York grand jury on Thursday.

Trump is the first ex-president to ever be charged with a crime after an investigation into a hush-money payment made to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump is expected to voluntarily turn himself in on Tuesday in New York for his arraignment.

Although the charges have not yet been made public, ex-Manhattan prosecutors say that Trump risks felony-level state records-fraud charges that carry punishments of up to four years in prison. The chances of him going to prison, however, are slim to none.

But seveal legal experts, who are criminal defense attorneys and former prosecutors, told Insider the indictment could make other prosecutors "emboldened" to charge him in other ongoing investigations related to his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, an alleged scheme to overturn election results in Georgia, and his handling of government records.

"Alvin Bragg ripped the Band-Aid off," Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Joshua Ritter, a partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers and a former Los Angeles County prosecutor, said, referring to the Manhattan district attorney.

"He's testing what happens when a prosecutor charges a former sitting president," Ritter added. "If the political fallout from all this stays somewhat in check, I wouldn't be surprised if prosecutors in Georgia and the DOJ are more emboldened to move forward and bring charges."

In the probe into Trump's role in the Capitol insurrection, the Justice Department is already facing pressure to prosecute the former president after the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol recommended four charges be brought against Trump.

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The Justice Department is also looking into whether or not the former president mishandled government records that were retained by Trump and those close to him after he left the White House.

The Georgia probe is looking into Trump and his allies and whether or not they tried to interfere in Georgia's 2020 presidential election. A special grand jury has recommended multiple indictments, according to the jury's forewoman.

Criminal defense attorney Rachel Fiset said that although prosecutors are obligated to look at their cases without having outside investigations influence their decisions, it would be hard for prosecutors not to evaluate other pending charges when deciding to bring charges of their own.

"I do believe that the New York prosecution may push the needle toward a second prosecution in Georgia, or even for the special counsel to charge Trump," Fiset said. "A second case against the former president would no longer bear the sole burden of Trump's supporters' angry wrath and the ire of Trump himself would be shared with Alvin Bragg. Likewise, as more grand juries solidify charges against Trump, the prosecutions look less politically motivated, a perception which may help embolden prosecutors who may otherwise be hesitant to bring charges."

However, Ambrosio Rodriguez, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor for Riverside County, disagreed with the idea that the New York charges would affect other Trump investigations.

"It's not like they see Alvin Bragg getting into the pool, so they want to be in the pool as well," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez instead said that an acquittal could actually benefit Trump in his other investigations.

"That would strike fear into prosecutors whose cases are lagging behind, and perhaps lead them to seek some sort of settlement with Trump, assuming they even have enough to charge him in the first place," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Former President Donald Trump. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Trump's legal team is looking to move the New York criminal inquiry from Manhattan to Staten Island, per Bloomberg.

Trump's team has not yet made a decision, as they're looking to review the indictment next week.

Manhattan is one of the bluest jurisdictions in the country, while Staten Island leans Republican.

Former President Donald Trump's defense team is considering asking to move his criminal trial to more conservative-leaning Staten Island, fearing that the former president wouldn't be able to receive a fair trial in Manhattan, according to Bloomberg.

Trump's attorneys have not yet determined their final course of action on the matter, however, and are looking to first review the charges in the indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., an unnamed source told the news agency.

Bragg's office on Thursday indicted Trump following an investigation related to hush-money payments made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels in advance of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump, who has long decried the investigation as a "witch hunt" and attacked Bragg over the criminal inquiry, is set to be arraigned Tuesday in Manhattan.

The request in itself would have a veneer of politics, as Manhattan  or New York County  is one of the most Democratic-heavy jurisdictions in the country.

In the 2020 presidential election, now-President Joe Biden easily defeated Trump in Manhattan by a hefty 87% to 12% margin. In that contest, Biden netted more than 517,000 votes in Manhattan alone on his way to winning the state by 23 percentage points.

Staten Island, also known as Richmond County, has long been the most conservative of New York City's five boroughs. In 2020, Trump won Staten Island by a 57% to 42% margin over Biden.

Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor, told Bloomberg that any attempt to shift the location of the court proceedings would likely falter as defendants aren't enabled to seek out juries using specific barometers that would be more preferable to them.

"The only reason he would try to move venue to Staten Island is that he thinks  based on voter registration  that that's a friendlier potential jury pool for him," Rodgers told the news agency. "That's not going to fly."

Read the original article on Business Insider
This article originally appeared on Velo News

GHENT, Belgium (VN) - How does a team win the Tour of Flanders when Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar, and Mathieu van der Poel are in town?

Thats whats keeping racers and directors across the classics peloton awake at night in the final days before De Ronde.

Mathieu van der Poel won Milan-San Remo. Wout van Aert gobbled up E3 Saxo Classic and might as well take the credit for Gent-Wevelgem too. And all the rest of the time, Tadej Pogacar played wildcard joker and Jumbo-Visma acted bully boys.

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"We're in a situation that we're not used to. We're not completely blown away, but there are three riders a level above the rest. That's the case for all other teams, Soudal Quick-Step director Tom Steels said after E3 Saxo Classic.

They're not lethal but it's hard to fight up against them.

Yet after a spring of picking off scraps, teams like Quick-Step, Trek-Segafredo, and Bahrain-Victorious could totally shift the tone of the spring with victory at De Ronde.

There are definitely ways of beating them

Mohoric is one of the few riders keeping touch with Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pogacar. (Photo: Getty)

Can the Flanders shadow teams and leaders like Tom Pidcock, Matej Mohoric, Stefan Kung, Neilson Powless, Mads Pedersen, and Julian Alaphilippe turn Tour of Flanders upside down Sunday with an off-the-script victory?

If its going to happen, the consensus is that offense is the best defense in the face of a potential big three onslaught.

Chaser squads see anticipating the moves with numbers both in the break and in the pack of favorites as a must.

We have several cards, and thats good for us. We're a good team, but we're not the favorites. So we have to take advantage and anticipate, Groupama-FDJs captain Kung said. We need to get riders in front of the others and still be up there where they come from behind.

Putting numbers into the break or into key splits is nothing new. Its how classics have been raced for decade after decade.

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But now, the big three are reinventing the way classics are raced. Pogacar is committed to bending a race whichever way he wants, and Van der Poel is capable of crushing the bunch with just one of his trademark wattbombs.

Weve seen the finals start a lot earlier this year. Van der Poel, Pogacar, they have the balls to go early and aren't afraid of blowing up, we also saw the same with Pidcock in Strade Bianche, Trek Segafredo team director Stephen de Jongh told VeloNews.

Flanders could already be deep into its decisive phases far before the crucial seventh hour of monument racing Sunday.

Putting a rider into the early break gets a head-start on wild long-range raids and keeps workhorses out of the churn of a Jumbo-Visma lockdown on the leaders group.

There are definitely ways of beating them, but we've got to have as many numbers up there from early as possible, Bahrain-Victoroius rider Fred Wright told VeloNews. At E3 they were a class above everyone else. It seems having riders all over the road is the best chance.

Trek-Segafredo staffer De Jongh said anticipating the carnage could help - to an extent.

Maybe you can anticipate moves, but it all depends on the race that day, the conditions, the weather, he said.

The cobbled monuments are the most chaotic and uncontrollable of the calendar. Trying to reinvent the wheel on the day the world tunes into De Ronde is loaded with risk.

Trek Segafredo tried to put a lock on the peloton at Dwars door Vlaanderen in what might be a preview for Sundays big show.

We cant let those three change how we race, and well start from our own strength, De Jongh said of Flanders. At the end of the day, we cant control them, and we know that if things work out right, Mads [Pedersen] could beat them in a sprint.

It's not complicated, I can either follow or I can't

Everyone expects Van Aert, van der Poel and Pogacar to be at the front of the frame Sunday. (Photo: Gruber Images)

All of Flanders second tier are relying on numbers rather than one ace card.

Powless has Mikkel Honore, Kung has Valentin Madouas, Mohoric has Wright, Alaphilippe has Kasper Asgreen, and Pedersen has Jasper Stuyven.

Wielding every watt from a teams bench will be crucial if the big three hit Flanders with fireworks in their legs.

But like always, its individual strength that wins glory in Oudenaarde. And for Mohoric, Kung, Pidcock and Co., thats the problem.

These three have shown they're all in top shape and they made the race in E3. Everyone expects them to make the race on Sunday, but I want to be able to be with them in the final, Pidcock said Friday in a team conference. It's not complicated, I can either follow or I can't - I hope it's the former.

Even Mohoric, a rider notorious for winning with brainpower and racing nous, knows only his best legs and a rare stroke of luck will deliver victory against three generational talents at De Ronde.

I feel the best I ever did, so I'm confident we can get a classics podium if the stars align, Mohoric said of racing against Pogacar, Van Aert and Van der Poel at E3 Saxo Classic.

The best three guys were the best today and on the podium, but in these races things happen, crashes, accidents. Hopefully, we are on the lucky side in at least one classic and can take a win or at least the podium.

Canny tactics and strength in depth will help any hopeful outsiders Sunday.

But just like Mohoric implied - anything can happen over 273km of Flanders foulest.

For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today.
Type One Energy

With the promise of fusion on full display after a U.S. lab achieved ignition late last year, fusion companies are raising capital to bring this next-gen green energy to life.

Magnetic confinement reactors, such as tokamaks and stellarators, are the leading fusion concept, and are designed to contain super-hot plasma long enough to sustain fusion reactions.

Although tokamaks are more abundant and easier to build, the company Type One Fusion just received millions to bring its stellarator reactor to market.

Fusion reactors come in all shapes and sizes, but can mostly be separated into three groups, defined by how they contain the super-hot plasma needed to combine lighter nuclei into heavier ones.

The first is gravitational reactors (a.k.a. stars), which are impossible to recreate on Earth. The second group is inertial reactors, which essentially fire a bunch of lasers at a small pellet and contain the resulting fusion reaction by sheer inertia for only 100 trillionths of a second. This is the concept that finally achieved ignition last December. But its the third groupmagnetic reactorsthats arguably the most promising.

Magnetic confinement fusion uses superconducting magnets to contain hot plasma long enough for a fusion reaction to take place. These magnets are absolutely critical, as they keep the plasma from touching any of the other materials in the reactor, and no known material can withstand the over-100-million-degrees-Celsius temperatures required for fusion. But even this kind of fusion divides into a further two camps: tokamaks and stellarators.



While tokamaks are seen by many (including the U.S. Department of Energy) as the leading concept of commercial fusion, stellarators are a bit of an underdog. But they have a few benefits over their popular competitor. Now, stellarators are entering the commercial realm as fusion company Type One Energywhich combines expertise from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and MITreceived $29 million to bring its stellarator technology out of the lab and into reality.

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Fusion is the ultimate energy source, and its successful commercialization will be a huge leap towards achieving clean and abundant energy for everyone, Carmichael Roberts, from the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, says in a press release. Advances in stellarator science, including Type One Energys ability to execute a stellarator development project, provide the basis for a very exciting and promising path to practical fusion on the grid in the coming decades.

Stellarators can be described as cousins of tokamaks, with one key difference. Tokamakslike the upcoming ITER, for exampleuse superconducting coils and a central solenoid, while also running an electric current through the plasma itself. Stellarators, on the other hand, do away with a plasma-based current, and instead use a series of twisting superconducting magnets to control the plasma.

Because this twisting configuration is so complicated to build, there are six times more tokamak reactors than stellarators. However, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stellarators like the Wendelstein 7-X in Germany are better at containing plasma, whereas tokamaks excel at keeping plasma hot.

Although tokamaks are seen as an easier machine to construct, advanced computing has made the creation of stellarators a bit easier. The precise twisting construction of the Wendelstein 7-X was optimally designed by a supercomputer, for example. But according to the Department of Energy, the large bore wire coils needed for these machines still need to be manufactured with millimeter accuracy, which can be an extreme challenge.

The stellarator is also not the only fusion concept getting the startup treatment. Following the success of the National Ignition Facilitys fusion test in December 2022, companies have began investigating ways to turn inertial confinement fusion into a green energy revolution. Tokamaks also have more than their fair share of commercial interest.

Type One Energy says it plans to create a stellarator test bed for examining the fidelity of the companys models while working toward a working Fusion Power Plant, though the company hasnt provided a specific timeline. For now, it appears that stellarators will get a shot at bringing their strange twist on fusion power to the masses. But like so many universities, institutes, and companies working in fusion energy, Type One Energy likely has a long road ahead.

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On April Fools Day, Twitter says it will get rid of verification badges for nonpaying users, but it doesnt seem like a joke.

Journalists, celebrities and other public figures who have not paid for their badge may see the blue check on their accounts disappear after Saturday, but some verified users with large accounts on the platform say theyre not worried about losing their status  nor are they planning to leave the site once their badge vanishes.

I really dont think anything will change because Ill still use Twitter the same way, said Meecham Whitson Meriweather, who goes by @MediumSizeMeech on the platform and tweets about pop culture to his more than 48,000 followers. I think the de-verification will go extremely smoothly. It might be chaotic for the first week, maybe, but otherwise, I think itll be fine.

losing my blue check tomorrow to join the huddled masses pic.twitter.com/B2qqTno4zC  David Mack (@davidmackau) March 31, 2023

After billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter in October and made deep staffing cuts, the site has experienced glitches and, in some instances, chaotic rollouts, such as the Twitter Blue program. Twitter Blue is the paid $8 monthly premium subscription now being offered by the platform, which gives users a blue verification badge and other features, like the possibility of editing a post. Organizations will be able to pay $1,000 per month for verification badges.

Verification on Twitter was previously provided by the platform at no cost to accounts they deemed noteworthy. When paid verification was first launched last year, the service was temporarily paused after users began impersonating big-name celebrities, politicians and brands.

With the sunsetting of "legacy" verification badges scheduled for Saturday, some have wondered if the site would fall into disarray once more. Many memed the moment, lamenting (jokingly) that they would soon join the ranks of Twitters normies.

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Soon I will lose my blue tick and the last vestige of respectability on these cursed shores  Callum  Reboot (@DevRelCallum) March 31, 2023

Loved getting my blue check to lord it over all my friends and I cant wait to lose it, one person tweeted.

Another wrote: Soon I will lose my blue tick and the last vestige of respectability on these cursed shores.

Still, some verified users told NBC News that they dont expect this change to derail the platform entirely or cause an exodus.

Like weve seen with Elon, itll probably be just a lot of confusion If this does even happen. This might not even happen, said Philip Lewis, a senior editor at HuffPo with more than 316,000 followers who goes by @Phil_Lewis_.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that the platform will make an exception for some of its largest organizations and advertisers, which would be allowed to retain legacy verification badges. The 10,000 most-followed organizations and the sites top 500 advertisers would keep their badges at no cost, the Times reported. Otherwise, organizations outside of the top 10,000 will be expected to pay $1,000 per month to stay verified.

Molly Jong-Fast, who tweets about current events and politics to her more than 1 million followers and goes by @MollyJongFast, called the idea of paying a platform for verification perverse. She hypothesized that the motivation behind removing the badge is not to quell bots on the platform, as Musk previously claimed, but rather to improve Twitters profit margin.

The idea here now is that if you want the privilege of appearing or being able to interface with a site that was built on free content, from writers and artists, you need to pay the technology company, Jong-Fast said. These are the best of the brightest, and they still cant figure out how, you know, to make a media company work, which I think is pretty interesting.

Some on Twitter have already experienced de-verification  either because they created new accounts or violated Twitters community guidelines  have continued using the platform on unverified accounts. Podcaster Ira Madison III, who was previously suspended from Twitter and now tweets on an unverified account, joked about the onslaught of users who were mourning the soon-to-be loss of their verified badges.

Not these eulogies for your blue check he tweeted.

Not these eulogies for your blue check  Ira (@iramadisonthree) March 31, 2023

Those who spoke with NBC News were divided on whether they would consider paying for their verification badge.

I will not be buying Twitter Blue, Rex Chapman, who tweets about pop culture and current events to his more than 1.2 million followers and goes by @RexChapman, wrote in a direct message to NBC News.

Lewis, however, said he would consider paying to ensure his work continues to reach a wide audience. On Twitter, those who have already subscribed to Twitter Blue are frequently teased for paying for what some deem a status symbol. Lewis said he, personally, doesnt think its something to be ashamed of.

Meriweather said he thinks verified badges have already lost some of their cachet by rolling out paid verification.

It sounds so funny and elitist saying this, but when anyone can get this signifier, it really loses its value, he said.

Meriweather said hes not concerned about impersonators when he loses his blue check mark. He believes his followers know theres only one person with his voice and sense of humor. For now, hes sticking with Twitter no matter how chaotic the site becomes.

I will be going down with the ship, he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Over the years, certain counties in Alabama have bred an inordinate number of governors and other state political leaders.

The three most prominent enclaves, historically, have been Tuscaloosa, Barbour and Cullman.

In the earlier years of statehood, Tuscaloosa was the most heralded county. This trend has continued, intermittently, throughout the years. The most prominent senator in Alabama history, Richard Shelby, who retired after 36 years in the Senate calls Tuscaloosa home. Indeed, the state capital was in Tuscaloosa one time in the early years (1826-1846). Tuscaloosa has had a fairly recent governor in Robert Bentley (2011-2017).

Steve Flowers

Barbour County is called the Home of Governors and for a good reason. They have had more governors than any county in state history. This sparsely populated Black Belt county has had six governors hail from there. George C. Wallace is, of course, the most prominent Barbour County governor but they also have Chauncy Sparks, John Gill Shorter, William Jelks, Braxton Bragg Comer and Jere Beasley (Beasley served as acting governor for 32 days in 1972 after the attempted assassination of Wallace).

Barbour County and Tuscaloosa both claim Lurleen Wallace. She was born and raised in Northport in Tuscaloosa County, but married George Wallace and moved to Barbour County. This split county claim of governors also applies to legendary James Big Jim Folsom. Big Jim was born and raised in Coffee County near Elba, but he moved to Cullman as a young man. So, Cullman gets bragging rights since he lived in Cullman when he was first elected in 1946. Cullman has indeed come on strong in the past few decades. They have had two governors in recent years, Jim Folsom Jr. and Guy Hunt.

More:Who will run for Alabama governor in 2026? | INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE

Today, we have two counties emerging as hotbeds for breeding state political leaders. Coffee County is percolating with political success. More particularly the growing city of Enterprise. Our new U.S. senator, Katie Boyd Britt, was born and raised in Enterprise. She is only 40. The congressman from the 2nd District, Barry Moore, is from Enterprise although Dothan, Montgomery and Elmore County have more population in that congressional district. Moore is only 56.

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A rising popular star in the Alabama House of Representatives, Rhett Marquis, 48, is from the Boll Weevil City. Enterprise is the home of the new state senator from that southeast Alabama hub. Josh Carnley just took the seat of retiring legend, Jimmy Holley, thus keeping that seat in Coffee County. Carnley is a Coffee County farmer and insurance broker.

Enterprise has a very good mayor in William Bill Cooper. He has been in city politics for a good while. Coffee County also dominates all the judicial posts in this circuit. All three circuit judges hail from Coffee County, in Enterprise. Sonny Reagan, Jeff Kelley and Shannon Clark are all relatively young. The new district attorney, James Tarbox, is very young. Jimmy Baker, who is chancellor of the Alabama Community College System, hails from Coffee County and lives in Enterprise.

Enterprise has always laid claim to Fort Rucker, which has been the impetus of their growth, but they are emerging as a political powerhouse.

The other county that is set to be called an Alabama political spawning ground powerhouse is Marshall County. They currently have a cadre of the states most powerful and promising Alabama leaders.

The most prominent is 41-year-old Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, who may be our next governor. State Sen. Clay Scofield of Marshall County is only 42 and is majority leader of the Alabama Senate. Attorney General Steve Marshall, 57, is in his second term as attorney general. It is rare that two of the states highest-ranking officials, Ainsworth and Marshall, are both from the same county.

There are two rising stars in the Alabama House of Representatives from Marshall County. Young Wes Kitchens, an emerging leader in the House, is from Marshall. Also, the youngest member of the House of Representatives, Brock Colvin, has just been elected at the ripe old age of 26 and is catching peoples eyes on Goat Hill.

Enterprise and Marshall County are emerging as new political breeding grounds for Alabama politicians

Steve Flowers served 16 years in the Alabama Legislature. Readers can email him at steve@steveflowers.us.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Two areas emerge as breeding grounds for leaders | INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE
After a four-day trial and four hours of jury deliberation last week, two Knoxville teens were found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2021 shooting death of Stanley Freeman Jr. as he drove away from Austin-East Magnet High School.

Rashan Jordan, 16, and Deondre Davis, 18, were found guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting the 16-year-old in what prosecutors argued was a case of mistaken identity.

Jordan and Davis were 14 and 16, respectively, on Feb. 12, 2021, Freeman was killed as he was on his way to his job at McDonald's. He would have graduated last year.

Attorneys for the two teens argued the evidence didn't directly tie them to the crime and that eyewitness accounts were contradictory.

But in the end, the jury late on March 31 found each defendant guilty of first-degree murder, felony murder and aggravated child abuse. The jury consisted of five men and seven women, one of whom is Black.

The teens also were found guilty of lesser charges of felony murder and aggravated child abuse.

Sentencing for both teens will be held May 18.

Freeman's family and friends gathered in the front three rows of benches waiting for the jury to enter the room after their deliberations.

The group remained silent as the verdicts were read by the jury's spokesman.

Outside the room, hugs were quietly shared as tears were shed. Friends and family embraced one another, as well as the district attorneys, then quietly left the courthouse.

Prosecution's case

Deondre Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Stanley Freeman Jr.

Prosecutors relied heavily on DNA and cell phone evidence linking a rental car and several guns to the shooting. Just one witness placed the defendants at the site of the shooting, but he was killed in December 2022.

The 16-year-old had testified as a hostile witness during a juvenile proceeding, and a recording of that testimony was played during this week's trial.

The boy testified he was friends with Freeman, saying, "He was cool." He also knew the two defendants, he said, adding he had no issues with any of them. He said he was walking home from school that afternoon when he saw the two defendants in a Nissan.

Story continues

"I said, 'Whats up,' and kept going," the teen said, adding that he continued walking home before hearing gunshots a few minutes later and running from the area. He said he did not speak to Freeman but testified Freeman's Honda was a little behind the Nissan.

The teen said after he heard the shots, he called the younger defendant to "check on them," but the defendant answered the phone only to say he would call back later.

Under cross-examination, the witness said he did not see a gun in the defendants' car and he did not witness the shooting.

Closing arguments

Rashan Jordan, right, pictured with his, attorney Hoai Robinette, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Stanley Freeman Jr.

Closing arguments lasted just over an hour before the jury was sent to begin its deliberations in the late afternoon of March 31.

Knox County prosecutors argued the jury should look at the evidence surrounding the shooting, and that the events leading up to and after the murder prove their case. They pointed to video footage, the teens posing for photos with the weapons and DNA evidence linking them to the Nissan.

If you follow all of the circumstantial evidence, that points you in only one direction," said Knox County Assistant District Attorney General Larry Dillon. "And that direction is these two are guilty of all of these charges."

Defense attorneys' closing arguments relied heavily on what they argued was a lack of evidence to prove without a reasonable doubt the teens were in the car or had the guns the day of the crime. Attorneys told the jury that prosecutors weren't able to meet their burden of proof.

The state keeps telling you this is a circumstantial case," said defense attorney Ashlee Mathis. "But that's not evidence of what happened on February 12."

How the sentencing will happen

The suspects were tried as adults even though they were minors at the time of the shooting. The decision to try them as adults could mean decades of prison time. Neither will face the death penalty.

The two teens, as well as a third who is now 18, also are facing attempted murder charges in a shooting that targeted Johnkelian "John John" Mathis on Jan. 14, 2021. Mathis was uninjured in that incident but was killed in a shooting in early August 2021.

All three teens will be tried for the attempted murder of Mathis, with that trial set to start on Aug. 28.

Liz Kellar is a public safety reporter. Email lkellar@knoxnews.com. Twitter @LizKellar.

Silas Sloan is a growth and development reporter. Email silas.sloan@knoxnews.com. Twitter @silasloan. Instagram @knox.growth.

Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Teens found guilty of murder in Stanley Freeman Jr. shooting
Just after 9 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2020, two American businessmen walked toward a customs desk inside the airport in Manaus, Brazil, a bustling city on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.

Frank Giannuzzi and Steven Bellino were New York moneymen. Bellino, then 62, had worked as a Wall Street trader since the 1980s. Giannuzzi, then 39, was an equity trader before he launched a handful of businesses that ranged from financial service companies to an online auction platform.

With gold prices soaring in 2019, the two friends devised a plan to cash in, Bellino would later say in court papers.

Giannuzzis Brazilian wife connected them to a local gold trader. There was a meeting in Sao Paulo. One in New York.

Now, just months after they launched their venture, Bellino and Giannuzzi were striding through the Manaus airport with four canvas bags full of gold and their Brazilian partner at their side.

The Americans were set to catch a flight to New York via Miami, but a team of Brazilian federal police officers was waiting for them. The officers were acting on intelligence information that the men were carrying irregular cargo, said Ricardo Livio, a geologist with Brazils federal police.

The officers searched their bags and found the treasure: 61 gold bars, weighing 77 pounds. The value: $1.4 million, according to a police report.

There were 61 gold bars, weighing a total of 77 pounds, according to a police report. The value: $1.4 million. (Brazilian federal police)

The officers scanned the gold with a handheld device used to detect the composition of precious metals. It showed a purity level indicating that it likely came from mining rather than melted jewelry, as stated in the paperwork held by the Brazilian trader, Brubeyk Garcia Nascimento.

The authorities seized the gold, and Nascimento was arrested on charges of trafficking in illicit goods and usurping raw materials that belong to the country.

Bellino and Giannuzzi were detained and questioned but released with no charges. They told Brazilian authorities they had no reason to suspect the gold was illegal.

The incident set off an intercontinental legal battle that has dragged on for three years and entangled an eccentric Austrian businessman previously accused of gold smuggling in Brazil.

Story continues

Bellino and Giannuzzis friendship hasnt proven as enduring as the effort to reclaim the gold. A few months after the ill-fated trip to Brazil, they had a falling-out that spawned a separate lawsuit in New York.

The saga provides a window into the effort to fight the illegal gold rush in South America, where wildcat mining has ravaged the Amazon.

Steven Bellino's passport photo. (Brazil court documents)

Illicit gold is a prized commodity for drug cartels and other criminals who rely on it to launder money and conduct illegal business. Experts in the gold trade say the ease with which the New Yorkers obtained the 77 pounds of questionable gold underscores the challenges of cracking down on a trade that fuels environmental destruction and enriches international criminal groups.

They could have just as easily been a couple of guys looking to launder money with it, said David Soud, the head of research at consulting firm I.R. Consilium, who has researched the illicit gold trade in South America. This shows how much of a Wild, Wild West the gold market is in much of the world, but particularly in Brazil.

Bellino and Giannuzzi declined to comment through their lawyers.

Brazil has long been among the worlds top producers of gold. But as in other countries that the Amazon stretches into, illegal mining has skyrocketed there in recent years.

Experts say the surge in Brazil was fueled by the soaring demand for gold and the policies of former President Jair Bolsonaro. After he took office in 2019, Bolsonaro pushed for less oversight and more mining in the Amazon rainforest, resulting in a gold mining free-for-all.

Well-financed criminal groups and droves of poor laborers moved in, wreaking havoc on the land and endangering the Indigenous groups that rely upon it. The miners use toxic mercury to separate the gold, which pollutes waterways and contaminates the soil.

Illicit mining operations in the Amazon also fuel climate change through the destruction of large swaths of rainforest, which store massive amounts of carbon.

The hardest-hit tribespeople include the Yanomami in the northern Amazon along the Venezuelan border and the Munduruku in the Tapajos River region to the south.

In addition to facing famine, the Yanomami and Munduruku people have been terrorized by armed men seeking to quell resistance to the illegal mining activity.

In the case of the Yanomamis, they have been starving to death due to these invasions, said Laura Waisbich, a senior researcher at the Igarape Institute, a Brazil-based think tank.

Frank Giannuzzi's passport photo. (Brazil court documents)

The forensic examinations of the gold seized from Giannuzzi and Bellino showed that it likely came from illicit mines in the Tapajos region, which is home to the Munduruku, according to Brazilian police documents.

After the gold was confiscated, the two Americans told authorities they believed they were dealing with a reputable partner and had no reason to suspect it might be illegal. The men said the local trader had told them the proper documentation was in order and the gold could be transported without a problem, according to Brazilian court records.

He would have no interest in doing anything illegal, read a police report statement summarizing Bellinos interview.

I thought I was doing it the right way, Giannuzzi said, according to the report.

But experts said even the smallest bit of research would have revealed that gold procured in Manaus was likely to have come from illegal mining.

In Manaus, youre right in the heart of wildcat mining, said Soud, of I.R. Consilium. Either you didnt care how it was sourced or you showed a lack of discernment about where and how you were doing business.

On the day the seizure took place, Bellino and Giannuzzi first arrived at the airport at 9 a.m. to register the gold with the customs office as required by law, according to court documents.

The men noted that the gold would be transported in their personal luggage, which was highly unusual for such a large amount of gold and fanned suspicions about its origin, according to Livio, the federal police geologist.

Officers were stationed outside the customs office, with orders to stop Bellino and Giannuzzi, when the two men showed up again for their flight home roughly 12 hours later, Livio said.

The federal police already had previous intelligence information that indicated that the gold that was with the North Americans could have an irregular origin, Livio said.

For this reason, we approached them before their trip and analyzed the gold still at the airport. The preliminary results made it clear that the gold was from small-scale mining and not from the reuse of jewelry.

The four canvas bags full of gold. (Brazilian federal police)

The series of events suggests that the authorities may have already been eyeing the Brazilian trader, Nascimento.

Like Bellino and Giannuzzi, he was also a relative newcomer to the gold business.

Nascimento, now 36, told Brazilian authorities he was a mechanical engineer who had started buying and selling precious metals only 18 months earlier. He said he obtained the gold in question from an Austrian businessman named Werner Rydl.

Rydl was well known to law enforcement in both Austria and Brazil.

He was living in Brazil when Austrian authorities charged him with fraud and tax evasion in 2002. An international warrant for his arrest was issued, and Rydl was taken into custody at the airport in the city of Brasilia in 2005.

After a yearslong extradition fight, he was sent to Austria and convicted at trial in 2010.

Five years later, Rydl was detained at an airport in a remote town in western Brazil as he tried to board a plane carrying a 23-ounce gold bar worth $14,000 without any documentation.

Rydls attorney was quoted at the time saying his client is an eccentric who always traveled with the gold bar because he viewed it as a good luck charm.

In interviews with authorities at the time, Rydl said he had acquired more than 27 tons of gold since he arrived in Brazil in the early 1990s. The gold came from a variety of sources  recycled jewelry, electronics, mining  but he said he no longer had any paperwork proving its origin because it had deteriorated over time, according to a judges decision in the case.

Rydl was sentenced to two years in prison, but the punishment was converted into a fine and community service.

Reached for comment about the Americans case, Rydl said he sold the gold to Nascimento, the Brazilian gold trader, and insisted it came from jewelry he bought in Brazil from 1991 to 2010.

Asked about the forensic test that authorities say indicated it came from mining, Rydl said that was nonsense.

Jewels exist in any purity, he said.

Nascimentos gold business, meanwhile, has apparently taken off despite the criminal charges.

His company, BAMC, bought $140 million worth of gold in 2022, up from $1 million in 2019, according to a review of tax data.

Nascimentos criminal case is pending. His lawyer, Robspierre Lobo de Carvalho, disputed that the gold came from illegal mining and said the federal polices forensic analyses are totally suspect and will be contested.

Giannuzzis company, Doromet Inc., has been fighting to recover the 77 pounds of gold since it filed a lawsuit in Brazil in March 2020.

After Doromet lost an initial ruling, two of three judges on a higher court panel decided in favor of returning the gold to the American company.

The judges werent ruling on whether the gold was legal. Their decision focused largely on the question of whether Doromet was the proper owner. The judges also said that the gold had been in the possession of the government for almost a year and that there didnt seem to be a compelling reason to hold on to it for any longer.

Over the next few months, the Brazilian government conducted two additional forensic analyses on the gold. Both found that it most likely came from small-scale unlicensed mining, known as garimpo.

The gold was still set to be returned to Doromet, but then the National Mining Agency intervened by issuing its own seizure notice, effectively stating that the gold belonged to Brazil.

Doromet sued the National Mining Agency in October 2021, arguing that the gold is legal. The case is ongoing.

As its lawsuits played out in court, Doromet continued to secure additional shipments of gold from Brazil. But the relationship between Giannuzzi and Bellino deteriorated and eventually ended in October 2020, Bellino said in court papers.

He sued in New York Supreme Court in October 2021, alleging that Giannuzzi reneged on a promise to share profits if the gold business took off. The suit says the two men financed $1 million to make the initial purchase of gold from Nascimento, $750,000 of it from Bellino.

But Bellino says in the lawsuit that he got only $200,000 back on his investment while other investors got an 18% return from Giannuzzi.

Giannuzzi's lawyer, Jason Abelove, has filed court papers denying the claims.

Abelove declined to comment to NBC News, citing the ongoing lawsuit.

Bellinos lawyer, John Maggio, also declined to comment on the suit.

He said he had no specific information about the gold seized in Brazil because its outside the scope of the civil case in New York.

This case is about two friends who had a falling-out over a business deal and one pushed the other out, Maggio said.

This article was developed in partnership with the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigations Network, Reporter Brasil and Folha de Sao Paulo.

Rich Schapiro and Andrew W. Lehren reported from New York.

Hyury Potter reported from Florianopolis, Brazil. Fernanda Wenzel reported from Porto Alegre, Brazil.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The American journalist detained in Russia on spying allegations may have been attempting to report on the Wagner mercenary group and speak to employees at one of the countrys largest tank production facilities, a Russian reporter familiar with his plans told NBC News on Friday.

Evan Gershkovich, 31, understood that his assignment for The Wall Street Journal in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg could attract the attention of Russias Federal Security Service  the domestic intelligence service that succeeded the Soviet-era KGB  said Dmitry Kolezev, an independent Russian journalist.

Kolezev added that he had warned Gershkovich that agents from the spy agency would follow him, but the American knew this was par for the course for foreign journalists operating on Russian soil.

He said that he understands this very well, and he had the same kind of chase when he was traveling to Perm, Kolezev said, referring to one of Gershkovichs previous reporting trips to another Russian city.

He added that Gershkovich, who was based in the U.K. but would travel to Russia for two- to three-week assignments, had sounded pretty sure that they wouldnt touch him because he was an American journalist working for a famous newspaper.

His confidence appears to have been misplaced, because on Tuesday he was arrested in Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage in the interests of the American government, the FSB said in a statement that went on to accuse him of collecting information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.

The FSB provided no evidence or further details on when Gershkovich was detained. He was later taken to the Lefortovo court in Moscow and formally arrested. The court quickly ordered that Gershkovich be detained until May 29, according to the official Telegram channel of the capitals courts.

He denied the charges, Russias state news agency Tass reported.

Story continues

Image: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by officers from the Lefortovsky court to a bus, in Moscow on March 30, 2023. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP)

Calling the charges ridiculous, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told a news conference Thursday that the State Department had been in touch with the Journal and Gershkovichs family. She also said that the White House condemned his detention in the strongest terms.

In an editorial, the Journal accused the Russian government of taking Gershkovich hostage, calling the espionage allegation dubious on its face, and a calculated provocation to embarrass the U.S. and intimidate the foreign press still working in Russia.

NBC News has reached out to The Wall Street Journal for comment, but the newspaper has so far not provided further details about Gershkovichs assignment in Yekaterinburg.

But Kolezev said Gershkovich was interested in reporting on the activities of the Wagner Group, a private military company that has provided assistance to the Russian military during conflicts in Syria and Libya, and has recruited former prisoners as soldiers for hire in Russias war in Ukraine, promising bounties and pardons in exchange for service.

Wagner is headed by the millionaire former restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who earned the nickname Putins chef for catering state events, and its forces have engaged in brutal battles for control of the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

He also wanted to understand what people in Yekaterinburg and other Ural cities think about the war, Kolezev said of Gershkovich. He asked for contacts of local journalists, activists, politicians and officials  including pro-Putin ones.

Kolezev added that Gershkovich was thinking about taking a trip to nearby Nizhny Tagil, home to the Uralvagonzavod factory  where Russia produces tanks and other military vehicles.

He has this idea to interview some people on the streets nearby Russian military factories, Kolezev said. He wanted to know what people think about the war.

NBC News has been unable to verify whether Gershkovich followed through on any of these reporting goals.

Evan Gershkovich (Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images file)

But Kolezevs account matches those of various sources and anonymous accounts of Gershkovich's activities in Yekaterinburg proliferating on Russian social media channels.

In a post on his Telegram channel Thursday, Yaroslav Shirshikov, a publicist, said he had been interviewed by Gershkovich on a previous trip to the city a few weeks earlier.

Gershkovich, he said, was interested in Russian societys attitudes toward the Wagner Group, adding that he worked safely for several days and then flew to Moscow.

Born in the U.S. to Russian-speaking parents  his mother and father fled the Soviet Union in the 1980s  Gershkovich grew up in Princeton, in central New Jersey.

After attending Bowdoin, a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, he began his journalism career as a news assistant at The New York Times before being hired as a reporter by The Moscow Times in 2017. He worked there for three years before moving on to Agence France-Presse and then to The Wall Street Journal.

Many journalists who said they knew Gershkovich expressed their shock over his arrest, writing on social media that he is well respected in the field.

One, Leonid Ragozin, tweeted that Gershkovich is very obviously not a spy, but a very good journalist.

Matthew Bodner, a producer and reporter for NBC News, has known Evan Gershkovich since 2017 and considers him a friend.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Sarah Kinosian and Ben Blanchard

(Reuters) - The United States is trying to discourage Honduras from following through on its plan to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China, sources close to the matter say, hoping the lack of a formal agreement yet may leave the door open for a change of heart. The ongoing U.S. diplomatic pressure comes after Honduran President Xiomara Castro said on Tuesday her country would establish formal ties with China, following up on a pledge she made in her presidential campaign in 2021. Then, in 2022, her government appeared to walk back the policy. Officials and former officials from the U.S. and several Central American countries said Castro's provisional announcement contrasted with how countries in Latin America have tended to make public shifts in alliance from China to Taiwan. "We truly don't know whether it will be days or weeks or months," a U.S. government official told Reuters on background. "Is it a negotiating tactic? We don't know for sure, but we will continue to make our case." Since 2016, when Tsai Ing-wen was elected Taiwan's president, Panama, El Salvador and most recently, Nicaragua, have changed sides. All announced the switch as a fait accompli.

"I got an hour heads up, even after I had spoken to the president about it," said John Feeley, who was U.S. ambassador to Panama when it made the switch in 2017.

In another unusual turn, Honduras' ambassador to Taiwan, Harold Burgos, met with Taiwanese foreign ministry officials on Wednesday after Castro's announcement, something which Nicaragua's ambassador had declined to do during her country's switch in 2021, two diplomatic sources in Taipei said.

Reuters could not ascertain the outcome of the meeting, though Taiwan's foreign ministry said publicly it told Burgos his country should "carefully consider the matter so as not to fall into China's snare and make a flawed decision." China does not allow countries to hold diplomatic ties with both itself and Taiwan, regarding the island as its territory. Beijing regards Tsai as a separatist. For her part, she says Taiwan's people must determine their own future.

Both U.S. and Taiwanese officials say that although the announcement was not surprising given Castro's campaign stance, the tweet and its timing caught them off-guard. U.S. former and current officials are quick to argue that many countries which have made the shift have not reaped the economic benefits they were hoping for. "Countries should know that it is not money for nothing and chicks for free," Feeley said, referring to a 1980s Dire Straits hit, reiterating a point the U.S. government has continued to make that the "PRC over-promises and under-delivers." China disputes this, and the country's foreign ministry said on Thursday that former Taiwan allies like Panama, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador have seen "rapid development" in bilateral relations, bringing them "tangible benefits." If Honduras' switch to Beijing is formalized, Taiwan will have just 13 diplomatic allies, including Belize and Guatemala.

(Reporting by Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Dave Graham and Lincoln Feast.)
Britain commented on Putin's nuclear threats at the UN meeting

Russian dictator Vladimir Putins statements about deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus are simply another attempt to intimidate Kyivs partners, Kariuki said.

Read also: Putins renewed nuclear saber-rattling embarrasses Beijing, Bloomberg says

"We will strongly support the people of Ukraine and call on Russia to reduce tensions," he said.

This should start with ending this illegal and unprovoked invasion.

The diplomat also called on self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to "stop supporting Russia's reckless actions that lead to escalation."

Read also: Belarusian opposition leader reacts to Putins plans to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus

Putin announced on March 25 that he planned to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. He justified his decision by arguing that the United Kingdom would give Ukraine depleted uranium munitions.

According to the dictator, Russia has already converted 10 Belarusian aircraft for the use of tactical nuclear weapons and handed over Iskander missile systems that can carry a nuclear payload. He also said that by July 1, Belarus would complete the construction of a storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons.

Putin's statement has been criticized by many countries, and the European Union has declared that it is ready to impose sanctions in response. China also announced on March 31 that it opposed the transfer of nuclear weapons to other countries.

Read also: Putin planned to deploy nukes in Belarus before full-scale invasion of Ukraine  ISW

Meanwhile, the United States has said it sees no signs of Russian nuclear weapons being moved to Belarus.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Bloomberg) -- Russia is boosting its production of conventional and high-precision ammunition, defense secretary Sergei Shoigu said on Saturday, days after he visited munitions factories in two regions in inspect the production of artillery and missiles. Necessary measures are being taking to ramp up output, Shoigu said.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The defense chiefs comments follow the new foreign policy concept approved by Vladimir Putin on Friday that set out to confront the US and its allies as hostile, claiming an era of revolutionary changes was underway.

Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Ukraine was unlikely to expel all Russian troops from its occupied territory this year. That is a significant military task, Milley told Defense One.

Key Developments

IMF Board Approves $15.6 Billion Loan for Ukraine Amid War

Putin Signs New Russia Foreign Policy Against Hostile West

Spanish Premier Urges Xi to Reach Out to Ukraine on Peace Plan

Global Food Supply Risks Rise as Key Traders Leave Russia

(All times CET)

Ukraine Accuses Orthodox Priest of Helping Russias Cause: AP (5 p.m.)

Ukraines security service accused a leading Orthodox priest at the Kyiv-Perchersk Lavra monastery, or the Monastery of the Caves, of justifying Russias aggression, the Associated Press reported.

Pavel Lebid, abbott at the monastery, which is regarded as Ukraines most revered Orthodox site, earlier resisted an order to vacate the complex and has spoken out against President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Agents raided his residence, and prosecutors asked the court to put the priest under house arrest pending an investigation, the AP said. A hearing in Kyiv  at which the priest rejected the accusations as politically driven  was adjourned until Monday.

Story continues

Ukraine Says It Repelled Over 50 Attacks in East (5 p.m.)

Kremlin troops continue attempts to advance in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region, with the fiercest fighting taking place around Bakhmut and near Avdiivka and Maryinka, according to Kyiv-based General Staff.

Ukraines troops fended off more than 50 Russias attacks overnight, the military headquarters said in an evening statement on Saturday.

In past 24 hours Russias troops launched 2 missile strikes, 25 air-strikes and six strikes from multiple-launch rocket systems. Ukraine retaliated with eight airstrikes and five artillery and missile strikes.

Zelenskiy, Macron Discuss Defense Interaction (4 p.m.)

Ukraines president held an hour-long phone call with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, including talks on defense interaction, he said on social media.

We dwelled on further steps to implement [Ukraines] peace formula, coordinated actions for the upcoming international events, Zelenskiy said.

Zelenskiy Aide Calls Russias Presidency at UNSC Symbolic Blow (1 p.m.)

Russia, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, took over the rotating presidency of the body for the month of April. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whos under US sanctions, intends to spend part of the month in New York.

On Twitter, Andriy Yermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the rotation another symbolic blow to the rules-based system of international relations. Russia last held the post in February 2022, the month its troops invaded Ukraine.

The US, which has said it has no legal pathway to blocking Russia from the role, this week called on Russia to conduct itself professionally for the month. Moscow takes on the presidency days after detaining a US citizen, Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, on charges of spying.

Russia Ammunition Output in the Rise, Shoigu Says (10:28 a.m.)

Russia has boosted its production of conventional and high-precision ammunition many times over, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting at the headquarters of troops involved in its war in Ukraine.

Manufacturing volumes have multiplied due to the expansion of production capabilities and increased labor productivity, Shoigu said. Earlier in the week, the minister visited munitions factories in the Chelyabinsk and Kirov regions, watching artillery, tank, mortar shells of various calibers and unguided aircraft missiles rolled off the assembly lines.

Shoigu said that makes it possible to fulfill tasks in what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine. Earlier in the week, the defense ministry said the the production of certain types of products will increase by seven to eight times by year-end.

Global Food Supply Risks Rise as Key Traders Leave Russia (9 a.m.)

Russias grip on global food supply is tightening after two of the biggest international traders said they would halt grain purchases for export from the country.

Read our Q&A here.

Top US General Says Ukrainian Victory Unlikely This Year (8 a.m.)

Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview that Ukraine is unlikely to expel all Russian troops from its borders this year, calling that a very, very difficult military task.

Ukraines president has publicly stated many times that the Ukrainian objective is to kick every Russian out of Russian occupied Ukraine. And that is a significant military task, Milley told Defense One in an interview posted on Friday. Youre looking at a couple hundred thousand Russians who are still in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Im not saying it cant be done. Im just saying its a very difficult task.

Milley said US ATACMS long-range missiles were not currently in the picture for Ukraine. We have relatively few ATACMS, we do have to make sure that we maintain our own munitions inventories, as well, he said.

Ukraine Slams Wimbledons Decision to Allow Russian Players (5 a.m.)

Ukrainian government officials decried a decision by the organizers of tennis Wimbledon grand-slam tournament to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete this year, after banning them in 2022 and incurring heavy fines from the sports professional tours.

The players will be allowed to compete as neutral athletes, the All England Club said on Friday. This was an incredibly difficult decision, not taken lightly or without a great deal of consideration, club chairman Ian Hewitt said in a statement.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the move immoral in a Twitter post. Other tennis tournaments have also allowed Russian and Belarusian players to compete as neutral athletes.

US Prepares to Give $2.6 Billion in Military Aid (10:45 p.m.)

The US is planning to release a package of military assistance to Ukraine valued at $2.6 billion, according to an official who asked not to be identified in advance of an announcement likely to come on Monday.

The latest weapons package includes $2.1 billion under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, including a resupply of Nassam air defense missiles and radar. A $500 million drawdown from existing American equipment includes additional ammunition, the official said.

The planned assistance was reported earlier by Reuters.

Zelenskiy Again Urges China to Talk With Him About Peace (7:16 p.m.)

Zelenskiy reaffirmed that Kyiv seeks contacts with Chinese authorities to discuss his proposed formula for peace.

Everything must be done to involve the maximum number of countries in the victory in this war, Zelenskiy said at a joint news conference with leaders of Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Moldova. We send signals and say that we are ready to meet and talk. We are waiting for answers.

While the US and other allies have said Chinas own proposal involves a cease-fire that would freeze in place territory captured by Russia, Zelenskiy has stopped short of spurning Chinas efforts to mediate as intended to help its ally Putin.

Putin Signs New Foreign Policy Against Hostile West (3:17 p.m.)

Putin signed a 42-page policy document that argues the US is the source of fundamental risks to the security of the Russian Federation and most European states are pursuing an aggressive policy aimed at undermining Russias sovereignty.

The policy serves as a solid doctrinal basis for our further work on international affairs, Putin told a meeting of his Security Council. Russia will seek to boost ties with constructive partners and create conditions for unfriendly states to abandon their hostile policy toward our country, he said.

Russia intends to deepen relations with China and India, and to make military aid to Latin American nations facing US pressure a priority of its foreign policy, according to the document.

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Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) members to prevent Russia from abusing its UNSC presidency.

Source: Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter

Russian UNSC presidency is a slap in the face to the international community. I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency. I also remind that Russia is an outlaw on the UNSC: https://t.co/rZVC1pV0MY#BadRussianJoke #InsecurityCouncil  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 1, 2023

Details: Kuleba said that the Russian UNSC presidency at the time when it is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine is a "slap in the face" to the entire international community.

"I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency. I also remind [everyone] that Russia is an outlaw on the UNSC," Kuleba tweeted, adding two hashtags: "Bad Russian Joke" and "Insecurity Council".

Latvian Foreign Minister tweeted that Russia assuming the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council despite its war against Ukraine was "both immoral and deplorable". He stated, however, that this will not stop Ukraines allies from "working to hold war criminals in Moscow accountable".

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis mockingly greeted the Russian UNSC presidency with a joke: "Looking forward to some energetic discussions on Ukraine's proposal for the destination of your warships."

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  A Kyiv court ordered a leading priest to be put under house arrest Saturday after Ukraine's top security agency said he was suspected of justifying Russian aggression, a criminal offense. It was the latest move in a bitter dispute over a famed Orthodox monastery.

Metropolitan Pavel is the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Ukraines most revered Orthodox site. He has denied the charges and resisted the authorities' order to vacate the complex.

In a court hearing earlier in the day, the metropolitan said the claim by the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, that he condoned Russias invasion was politically driven and that he had never been on the side of aggression.

After the court's ruling, a monitoring bracelet was placed around his ankle, despite his objections that he has diabetes and should not wear it. The house arrest was to last two months.

I am accepting this, he said shortly before the bracelet was attached. Christ was crucified on the cross, so why shouldnt I accept this?

Earlier in the week, he cursed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, threatening him with damnation.

The monks in the monastery belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having links to Russia. The dispute surrounding the property, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is part of a wider religious conflict that has unfolded in parallel with the war.

The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

Many Orthodox communities in Ukraine have cut their ties with the UOC and transitioned to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which more than four years ago received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

The UOC has insisted that its loyal to Ukraine and has denounced the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian security agencies say some in the church have maintained close ties with Moscow. The agencies have raided numerous holy sites of the church and then posted photos of rubles, Russian passports, and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

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The government had ordered the monks to leave the compound by March 29. It claims they violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site, and other technical infractions. The monks rejected the claim as a pretext.

Dozens of UOC supporters gathered outside the monastery on Saturday, singing hymns in the rain. A smaller group of protesters also turned up, accusing the other side of sympathizing with Moscow.

They wash the brains of people with Russian support, and they are very dangerous for Ukraine, said Senia Kravchuk, a 38-year-old software developer from Kyiv. They sing songs in support of Russia, and thats horrible, here, in the center of Kyiv.

Third-year seminary student David, 21, disagreed. Dressed in a priests robes and with a Ukrainian flag draped round his shoulders, he insisted the Lavra priests and residents were in no way pro-Russian. The state, he said, was trying to evict hundreds of people from Lavra without a court order.

Look at me. Im in priests clothes, with a Ukrainian flag and a cross around my neck. Could you say that Im pro-Russian? said David, who declined to give his last name because of the tensions surrounding the issue. The priests are currently singing a Ukrainian hymn, and theyre being called pro-Russian. Can you believe it?

In other news Saturday, Zelenskyy condemned the U.N. Security Council for allowing Russia to assume its presidency. The councils 15 members each serve as president for a month, on a rotating basis.

Zelenskyy said Russian artillery had killed a 5-month-old boy in the town of Avdiivka on Friday, one of hundreds of artillery attacks each day, and added that Russia presiding over the Security Council "proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions.

Two civilians were reported killed in Russian shelling on Saturday, one each in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian authorities there said.

Zelenskyy also said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday about defense cooperation.

While Ukraine is preparing for a counteroffensive expected later this spring, Russian forces have kept pressing their effort to capture the city of Bakhmut. Fighting in that stronghold in Ukraine's east has dragged on for eight months.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a Saturday visit to the military headquarters overseeing the action in Ukraine that Russia's defense industries have boosted production of ammunition by several times.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said in an analysis Saturday that the Russian offensive overseen by Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian military, has fizzled.

Gerasimovs tenure has been characterized by an effort to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region, the British ministry said on Twitter. Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed.

The ministry said Russian forces have made only marginal gains in the Donbas "at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties." Russia was "largely squandering its temporary advantage in personnel from a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists Putin ordered in the fall, the U.K. analysis said. ___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
British Prince William takes a picture with Ukrainian refugees in Poland, March 23

From April 1, Ukrainian refugees with PESEL UKR status will be able to obtain a Karta pobytu  a temporary residence permit in Poland.

The possibility for Ukrainian refugees to apply for a temporary residence permit nine months after entering Poland under a simplified procedure has been canceled, thanks to the March 12 repeal of Article 38, On the assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine.

As a result, applications for residence permits submitted earlier will lose their legal basis.

Read also: Prince William meets with Ukrainian refugees in Poland

Specifically, this refers to applications submitted by Ukrainians who had been in Poland for nine months from Nov. 24, 2022 to before the date of entry into force of the January amendments to the special law.

Instead, starting from April 1, Ukrainian citizens with temporary protection in Poland (PESEL UKR holders) will officially be able to apply for temporary residence in Poland if they are engaged in active labor or economic activity in this country.

Read also: UK, Poland to build temporary housing for displaced Ukrainians

Read also: Poland expects up to a million Ukrainian refugees if Russia invades Ukraine further

This refers to Ukrainians in Poland that:

 are officially employed

 are employed in a profession requiring high qualifications (Blue Card)

 are engaged in their own entrepreneurial activity.

Applications for a residence permit must be submitted to the province (voivode) at the place of their residence in Poland.

If Ukrainian migrants have been fingerprinted when applying for PESEL UKR, they will not need to come to the provincial office in person from April 1, 2023.

Ukrainians who have not been fingerprinted will need to visit the provincial office. However, this procedure will only be carried out after temporary residence permit decision is made. For most Ukrainian refugees in Poland, this means they will be fingerprinted during the receipt of their residency permit.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine


Editors Note: This is issue 80 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from March 25-31, 2023. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission.

Ukrainian SOE Weekly is an independent weekly digest based on a compilation of the most important news related to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state-owned banks in Ukraine. This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union within the project Supporting Ukraine in rebuilding and recovery implemented by the KSE Institute. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the editorial team of the Ukrainian SOE Weekly and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Corporate governance of SOEs

Pre-trial restraint imposed on two defendants charged with being involved in stealing Hr 500 million from UMCC and Odesa Portside Plant; still no public comments from Sennychenko. On March 24, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) ordered the detention of a former adviser to the ex-head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) Dmytro Sennychenko.

Sennychenko is suspected of stealing Hr 500 million ($13.7 million) from Odesa Portside Plant (OPZ) and United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) reported.

SAPO did not name the suspect, but according to media reports, it is Yuriy Lypko. The court set bail at Hr 5.4 million ($148,000).

If the bail is paid, Lypko would have the following obligations until May 20:

appear at every request of the detective, prosecutor, or court;

notify the detective, prosecutor, and court of any changes in his place of residence and place of work;

refrain from communicating with witnesses and other suspects in the criminal proceedings;

surrender his travel passports and other documents giving the right to leave or enter Ukraine.

The ruling may be challenged in the HACCs Appeals Chamber within five days.

On the same day, the HACC ordered the detention of another defendant in the case, one of the former acting EOs of OPZ, Mykola Synytsia. Bail was set at Hr 5.9 million ($161,000).

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According to the SAPO, the prosecutor disagrees with the courts ruling on Synytsya and plans to file an appeal.

Meanwhile, based on conversations with its sources, Forbes Ukraine has identified six of the nine NABU suspects in the case:

Dmytro Sennychenko, head of the SPFU in 2019-2021;

Andrii Hmyrin, a person close to the head of the SPFU (on detectives tapes, he appears as the leader of the criminal organization). According to Ekonomichna Pravda (EP), Hmyrin is a key person in Agrogaztrading LLC, a company that supplied gas to OPZ. According to EPs 2017 investigation, Agrogaztrading was allegedly connected to former SPFU head Igor Bilous and former head of the presidential administration, Boris Lozhkin;

Mykola Synytsia, acting CEO of OPZ in 2020;

Mykola Parsentyev, acting CEO of OPZ in 2020-2021;

Oleksandr Horbunenko and Volodymyr Kolot, co-owners of Agrogaztrading.

Based on Slovo i Dilos information, Yuriy Lypko is the seventh of nine suspects in the case.

According to Forbes Ukraines sources, Hmyryn was an intermediary between the SPFU and Agrogaztrading. He also had contacts with the Presidents Office. Hmyrin was introduced to the Presidents Office by Deputy Head of the Office Oleg Tatarov, Forbes Ukraine said. According to its sources, in the office, Hmyrin found a common language with Serhiy Shefir, the first assistant to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

At the same time, there is still no public reaction from Sennychenko. Earlier, EP contacted him for comment on March 23, and he replied that he would definitely provide a comment after consulting with the legal team. He said that this would take several days, but no comment has been made since.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 80), we reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and SAPO said that they exposed a criminal group run by Sennychenko. See more about this case in Issue 80.

PrivatBanks new supervisory board elects its chair. According to SMIDA, on March 23, PrivatBanks supervisory board elected Nils Melngailis as its chair.

In Issue 69, we reported that, on Dec. 27, the Cabinet dismissed almost all independent members of PrivatBanks supervisory board and replaced them with new ones after a competitive selection.

As we also reported in Issue 69, Melngailis, one of the newly appointed independent members, has many years of experience in management positions in the banking sector. He has also served as an independent board member at several banks and as supervisory board chair at Luminor Bank AS, one of the leading banks in the Baltic region based in Estonia.

The competitive selection for independent supervisory board members for three Ukrainian state-owned banks  PrivatBank, Oschadbank, and Ukreximbank  started simultaneously on Oct. 11, 2022, with deadlines of Nov. 11, 2022.

There have not been any public updates on the selections for Oschadbank or Ukreximbank.

The Cabinets decision to approve new members of Ukrposhtas supervisory board not disclosed yet. The Cabinet of Ministers has not published its decision to approve the supervisory board of Ukrposhta by the time of this writing.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 80), we reported that the Cabinet announced that it approved five independent members and two state representatives to the supervisory board of the state postal service Ukrposhta.

According to the Cabinets release, the independent board members are Rinat Abdrasilov, Jakub Karnowski, Gary John Carroll, Olena Malynska, and Ihor Mityukov. The two state representatives are Natalia Bernatska and Kristina Prasolova. See more about new members of Ukrposhtas supervisory board in Issue 80.

The Cabinets resolution approving the corporatization of Ukroboronprom is not public yet. The Cabinet of Ministers has not yet published the resolution that it adopted on March 21 approving the corporatization of Ukroboronprom.

In SOE Weekly (Issue 80), we reported that the Cabinet said last week that it approved the conversion of the State Concern Ukroboronprom into a joint-stock company called Ukrainian Defense Industry.

The state owns 100% of the new companys shares. The charter of Ukrainian Defense Industry and the regulations governing its supervisory board were also approved. The companys authorized capital of Hr 237 million ($6.5 million) has been established through the transfer of assets from Ukroboronprom.

Neither the charter nor the board regulations that the Cabinets release referred to were publicly available at the time of this writing.

MGU fails to disclose key governance information, including who leads the company. The resignation of Huberte Bettonville, former chair of MGUs supervisory board, which we reported in SOE Weeklys Issue 78, should have come into effect.

According to Ukrainian law, such a resignation notice should be filed (at least) two weeks in advance. If Bettonville filed her notice on March 6, as media reports suggest, then her resignation should have become effective on March 20 or later.

According to the Ukrainian-language version of MGUs website, Bettonville is no longer listed as a member of the supervisory board, and Jan Chadam is listed as the board chair instead. Bettonville is also no longer listed as a board member on the English-language version of the website, but that version does not say who the chair is.

From that, we infer that Bettonvilles powers have been terminated, and chairmanship has been handed over to Chadam.

According to the law, MGU is obliged to publicly disclose a bunch of information as a joint-stock company, securities issuer, and state-owned company.

In particular, according to the National Securities and Stock Market Commissions (NSSMC) Regulation on Disclosure, MGU must disclose ongoing information, including information on any changes  such as appointments and dismissals  in the supervisory board and executive body. Such information should be disclosed via the companys website and NSSMCs information database, such as Stockmarket or SMIDA.

However, MGU did not disclose information about Bettonvilles resignation publicly: This information is absent both on the companys website and in NSSMCs information database. MGUs latest disclosures in SMIDA and the companys website date back to November 2021.

In addition, MGU has also failed to disclose information about the acting CEO replacement. According to Bettonvilles earlier interview, Oleksandr Lisnichenko was replaced by Denys Fudashkin about a month ago.

Information on the acting CEO is absent even on the Ukrainian version of MGUs website. Only the acting chief accountant, Svitlana Pysmenna, is mentioned in the management section on MGUs website. The English version of the website has no management section altogether.

According to SMIDA, the acting CEO is Valeriy Nozdrin, who had been appointed as such when MGU was established in 2017.

Free access to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities is closed during martial law. According to private aggregators, including Opendatabot and YouControl, which source their information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, MGU is run by Denys Fudashkin.

Moreover, MGU must also disclose remuneration reports of the supervisory board and the executive body, as required by regulations applicable to joint-stock companies and law applicable to SOEs.

According to the companys website, MGU published only one remuneration disclosure in 2018 to comply with the joint-stock company legislation, but it has never published one since.

According to the Law on Joint-Stock Companies, supervisory boards are responsible for monitoring timely information disclosure.

Confiscation of the aggressor states assets, nationalization, and asset seizure

The HACC confiscates assets of Russian lawmaker Babashov. On March 24, a panel of judges at the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) upheld an administrative claim by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to confiscate the assets of a Russian lawmaker based on the Law of Ukraine On Sanctions.

The ruling may be challenged in the HACCs Appeals Chamber within five days.

The courts press release did not name the Russian member of parliament, but according to Inna Bogatykh, the head of the sanctions policy department of the Ministry of Justice, this refers to Leonid Babashov, a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Yedinaya Rossiya (United Russia) political party.

Babashov supported the Russian laws on ratification of treaties of friendship, co-operation, and mutual assistance between Russia and its proxies in Russian-occupied part of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as several laws that Russia is trying to use to legalize the annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The court ruled that Babashovs real estate and land plots in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, corporate rights, and movable property, should be recovered, Bogatykh added.
A residential building destroyed by Russian army shelling in Borodyanka, Kyiv province. Hennadii Minchenko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A colleague from Kyiv, Ukraine, whom Ill call N.M., sent me brief essays her students wrote on what they would do when the war ends. As both a scholar and a novelist, I knew that these voices, which expressed a beautifully straightforward and pure yearning for the simplest things that are lost in war, needed to be heard by the world.

The essays were written in English, and N.M., who has a masters degree in English language and literature, told me she made only 2-3 corrections. The students attend the 10th and 11th grades at a Kyiv school, are 15 to 17 years old, and hail from the capital city and its suburbs. The essays were written between March 14 and March 18, 2022.

Several themes run through most of the essays. The teens yearn for peace and want to do ordinary things, such as meet family and friends, take walks, enjoy the city. Daily routines have become extraordinary after several weeks of war. All intend to stay in Ukraine. Despair is absent. The students expect the war to end with a Ukrainian victory, and theyre decidedly proud to be Ukrainian.

Their optimism is all the more remarkable in light of the essays having been written in mid-March, when anything like victory seemed remote. Many of the students have also learned an important existential lesson: Life can be cut short at any time, and its imperative to live it to the hilt.

Before the war, Ukrainian teens werent thinking about bombs or hunger. Mykola Miakshykov/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Diana captures the overall mood well:

Literally 2 weeks ago, everyone lived their quiet daily lives, but one night these lives changed forever. Russia attacked our cities and forced some people to leave their homes forever or stay in a dangerous place and live in a fear. But the horror cannot be eternal, the end will come, and it will be significant for our country. After our victory I will definitely meet all my friends and family members, I will say how much I love them. Also I will appreciate every moment spent with family and people of my heart. Also I will definitely help my country to recover what it lost, I will volunteer and after graduating from school, I will enter that faculty which will be useful for Ukraine. Now we can just hope and pray for the best.

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Like Diana, Masha yearns for the ordinary:

Today the situation in our country is very difficult, and we understand that we did not appreciate our everyday life, our meetings with friends, and even a simple walk.  After all these circumstances, your views on life have changed, you begin to appreciate what was common and boring for you. After the war, we will all be completely different people!

Dashas expectations are equally quotidian:

When I come back home the first thing that I would do is play the piano. I will play as long as I can. After this, I will water my plants.

Nastya, meanwhile, says,

Ill do everything I didnt have time to do before the war. For example, Ill go to the dentist, because it was that Thursday that I had an appointment with him for the evening. But most of all I want to come home to my peaceful and strong Ukraine.

Anyas discovered the depth of her patriotism:

Every morning I get up and thank you God Im alive.  When I heard explosions, I thought it can be my last minute. I will spend more time with my family and friends. And I will LOVE MY UKRAINE MORE THAN EVER.

So has Sofia:

We are strong, I am proud to be Ukrainian.

Growing up fast: A group of teens listening to a military medic who came to teach them first aid on Feb. 20, 2022, in Skole, Ukraine. Gaelle Girbes/Getty Images

Vlad is also feeling patriotic:

When this war is over I will be thanking our Heroes, absolutely fearless defenders, who have been protecting our country this time. Im totally proud of them. Their behavior inspires all the world and this is wonderful.  Anyway, were winning this bloodshed and building new country with freedom for our descendants.  I hope, our culture will be the best in the world and people will start respect it.

Hlibs optimism is both religious and political:

I think that the war will be over when God says, because everything depends on him. Also when the President of Russia is removed or when all the supplies run out and all the soldiers retreat. When the Russian economy will be completely destroyed and the revolution will begin. When everyone will stop being afraid of the President of Russia and will oppose him. But the war will surely be over soon. Because good always wins.

Anzhelikas expectations concern politics  and food:

I pray very much for Kyiv, because this is an incredible city that I dream of returning to! And after the war, of course, everyone will get drunk, so maybe Ill drink a couple of drops for victory. And I dream of eating sushi, this is my favorite dish, so Ill eat them all week. And of course I still want to go to university in Ukraine and live in Ukraine with my friends and relatives. And I believe that after the victory, not Ukraine will ask to join NATO, but NATO to [join] Ukraine, because our people have incredible strength! Glory to Ukraine!

Alina picks up on the theme of Ukraines strength:

These three weeks of a continuous horror changed all of us. Some people were left homeless, some people were left without relatives and a huge amount of Ukrainians lost their lives for peace. But there is at least one principal thing, which is common for all of us: Our nation became stronger. We became stronger.  Everything will be tranquil again. Everything will be Ukraine.

[Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversations newsletters to understand the world. Sign up today.]

A second Alina looks at the wars cost - and how Ukraine will move forward in its aftermath:

Sooner or later the war will stop. These events will leave an imprint in every Ukrainian.  Maybe we will bury many thousands of people, but they all did not fall in vain. We will remember everyone. Then we will renovate our houses, malls, museums.  Ukrainian will build their future in a progressive country. We will all develop and other countries will respect us. No one will ask anymore Ukraine? Where is it? Is it in Russia? Our country will join NATO and European Union. In the end no one will attack us again.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: Alexander Motyl, Rutgers University - Newark .

Read more:



Alexander Motyl 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.
A union said five workers at Apple stores in two states were fired illegally.

The Communications Workers of America union filed two Unfair Labor Practice charges.

One worker said he was told he's been fired for making a typo on his timesheet.

A union said five Apple retail workers in two states had been fired illegally and it was taking action against the company.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) filed two Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board on March 27, per a press release.

In an email statement to Insider, the union said the workers at stores in Kansas City, Missouri and Houston, Texas were "fired and have faced intimidation on the job for exercising their right to organize."

It was the first unfair labour practice charge filed by the CWA against Apple for alleged unlawful termination of workers for union organizing.

D'lite Xiong, a former Apple retail worker in Kansas City, said: "Apple management said I was fired for a typo in my timesheet that I had documented and tried to correct. Yet, it is clear the real reason I was fired was for exercising my right to organize and win a protected voice on the job."

Xiong added: "Apple then attempted to silence me by having me sign a release in order to receive my severance package. No one working at Apple should be interrogated, intimidated, or silenced for trying to organize and win our fair share."

The CWA said the iPhone maker had chosen the "low road" since some retail workers began organizing last year, with workers at several stores experiencing similar issues.

The charges, seen by Insider, alleged that management at the Memorial City store in Houston questioned some workers individually about their support of their union, "promised improved working conditions if they declined to support the union, and threatened with worsening workplace conditions if they continued to organize."

The CWA also said workers were disciplined for supporting the union, per the press release.

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"It is clear that Apple's senior management team does not respect their workers' legally protected right to organize and negotiate for better pay and working conditions," said Claude Cummings Jr., a CWA vice-president.

"Apple has chosen to continue to break the law, so we will continue to hold the company accountable because no corporation is above the law. Apple's attempt to interfere with worker organizing is only strengthening the resolve of workers to win a seat at the negotiating table," he added.

It is unlawful for any companies to retaliate against workers for union activity, according to the NLRB.

Apple didn't respond to requests for comment from Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Women of various backgrounds serving in roles across the Texas Tech community were recognized during the Phenomenal Women of Texas Tech ceremony on Monday in the Student Union Building Ballroom. The event was hosted by the office of Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

This was the third annual ceremony, which honored and awarded many women at Texas Tech including faculty members, staff and students.

"This event is hosted to commemorate Womens History Month by acknowledging phenomenal women at Texas Tech who are redefining what it means to be a woman in Texas," said Kaylee Sexton, a student and Founder of the Texas Women's Alliance who is also President of the Student Intersectional Leadership Council. "We facilitate this event with the purpose of celebrating the women who defy statistics, who are gradually chipping away at the long road to achieving gender equality, whether purposefully or not. It gives us an opportunity to let the women around us know that they are appreciated, their work is celebrated, and they are phenomenal."

The ceremony was a perfect way to close out what the department called "Women's Herstory Month" on campus by celebrating all that women do for Texas Tech, said Carol Sumner, Vice President of the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

Faculty members who were honored were:

Dr. Brandy Pina-Watson

Dr. Carmen Pereira-Muro

Dr. Julie Wilett

Dr. Leslie C. Sotomayor II

Dr. Stefanie Borst

Staff members who were honored were:

Amy Prause

Cari Moye

Dr. LaTricia Phillips

Sandra Addo

Sharon Gonzalez

Lastly, students that were honored were:

Ellie Mae Fisher

Jadyn Owens

Kinyata Cooper

Klarriza Carillo

Trinity Shipp

"We wouldn't be here without women lifting us up and not apologizing for who they are," Katie Rose Jenson, a student at Texas Tech. "It encouraged all of us, of any identity, to uplift and appreciate the women around us as well as push forward ourselves."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: University hosts Phenomenal Women of Texas Tech event
Latest figures from the Environment Agency showed a total of 301,081 sewage spills in England in 2022.

Water companies could face unlimited fines for dumping sewage under government plans due to be unveiled in the coming days.

Ministers want to lift a cap of 250,000 for penalties for firms that release sewage into rivers and the sea.

Releases of untreated waste are legal in some cases, but they also pose risks to human health and to ecosystems.

Official figures show an average of 825 sewage spills per day into England's waterways in the last year.

Latest figures from the Environment Agency (EA) showed a total of 301,081 sewage spills in 2022. This represented a 19% decrease from 2021 - but the EA put the drop largely down to drier weather, rather than the actions of water companies.

In the coming days, ministers are set to announce plans to "make polluters pay" - addressing all sources of pollution, including from plastics and chemicals used in farming.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said she would "be making sure that money from higher fines and penalties - taken from water company profits, not customers - is channelled directly back into rivers, lakes and streams where it is needed".

Currently, such money goes to the Treasury - but the plans will see money funnelled to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) instead, into a Water Restoration Fund.

Chart showing water companies discharged sewage into rivers in England for nearly 1.8m hours in 2022, with United Utilities at about 425,000 hours, South West Water 290,000, Severn 249,000, Yorkshire 232,000, Southern 147,000, Wessex 130,000, Northumbrian 108,000, Anglian 90,000, Thames 75,000 and Dyr Cymru Welsh 9,000

Companies are allowed to discharge untreated sewage into rivers in exceptional circumstances - for example, during heavy rainfall.

But they can be acting illegally if they pump sewage into water when the conditions are dry, or if they are not treating enough of the waste before releasing it.

Water UK, which represents the water industry, insisted there were "very high levels of compliance", citing government data.

"So while enforcement is vital if rules are broken, it will only ever be a tiny part of the effort to restore rivers to where they need to be," it added in a statement.

"The vast majority of improvement will come from investment - where we are bringing forward 56bn to accelerate work on storm overflows."

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The government said the volume of spillages recorded in the latest data were unacceptable.

Ms Coffey also wants the Environment Agency to be able to impose sanctions without going through the courts - although it is expected that serious cases will still go through criminal proceedings.

Responding to Friday's figures on sewage spills, Labour said the government had allowed waterways to be treated as "open sewers".

The UK needed a "strong plan" to tackle sewage, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told reporters on Saturday, adding that he was "disgusted with what's been going on".

Labour has previously announced proposals to make monitoring all sewage outlets mandatory, and to impose automatic fines for sewage dumping, if it gains power.

The Liberal Democrats went as far as to say Ms Coffey should resign over the figures - while the Green Party said water companies should face greater accountability.

Under the government announcements, the environment secretary is expect to stress that she understands the need to protect the nation's rivers, lakes, streams and coastlines.

In a statement, Ms Coffey said: "I want to make sure that regulators have the powers and tools to take tough action against companies that are breaking the rules, and to do so more quickly."

The government has said that the fund will be used to help restore wetlands, create new habitats in important nature sites, and better manage rivers. It would release further detail on the Water Restoration Fund management in due course, it said.

Charles Watson, chairman and founder of River Action, said removing the cap on fines may mean the government "has finally woken up to the huge public outrage to what's happened to our rivers".

"At the moment the penalty regimes for water companies does not provide a big enough deterrent and by uncapping fines there is now potential of real teeth," he added.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Watson questioned how the water restoration fund would be enforced. He explained that environmental protection through the EA had suffered cutbacks, which limited its ability to "monitor and bring to book polluters".
This story is being provided free as a public service. Check back for updates on this developing story.

A community is still grieving after nine soldiers died Wednesday when two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the 101st Airborne Division crashed around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Trigg County, Kentucky during a planned training flight. Nine soldiers died in the crash.

The 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles," is the only air assault division of the U.S. Army.

'He passed away while doing what he loved most'

Zachary Esparza was one of the nine soldiers who were killed Wednesday night.

Family and friends remember Esparza, 36, as a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan, an outdoorsman with a personality that lit up a room.

"Zac lived his life to the fullest while defending his country and traveling the world. He passed away while doing what he loved most, flying his aircrafts," his sister, Rebecca Esparza, posted to Facebook. "Lets celebrate the light that Zac brought into our lives and learn to live how Zac lived  to its fullest."

Dreams of being a pilot

Isaac John Gayo, 27, dreamed of being a pilot.

HIs sister, Margaritta Gayo, remembers him as her best friend, someone who motivated her and had a lot of dream.

"I just want to know answers," Gayo told The Tennessean by phone Friday. Why did this happen? I want detailed answers. I need answers. And its not just me; theres eight other soldiers. They are too young to die. Their families are in shock right now. They need all the answers.

Gayo said her brother just helped her buy a house and she just received the keys on Thursday, but with the news she's rethinking moving in.

'A true Missouri boy'

Rusten Smith, 32, is being remembered as a mentor and warrior by his family and friends in Rolla, Missouri.

Smith's aunt AJ Morris called him "a true Missouri boy who loved to hunt, fish, walk the woods, and run the rivers" on Facebook.

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Ben Smith, industrial arts teacher and head basketball coach at St. James High School where Smith played basketball for a season called him a "wonderful role model".

"He could have lived a perfectly happy and content life at home, safe on a farm, in rural Missouri. But he had a big dream. He joined the Army with two goals," Morris wrote on Facebook. "He wanted to serve his country and he wanted to fly the skies..and he did."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tributes pour in for victims of the Fort Campbell Black Hawk crash
An Iraq War veteran is pushing the military to honor the 16 casualties in U.S. Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar's 2003 ambush on the 101st Airborne Division with the Purple Heart.

Akbar, who is on death row in a military prison, cut the generators that lit Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait and tossed grenades into several tents on March 23, 2003, three days after the War in Iraq began.

Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, 27, was fatally shot in the back and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, died from 83 shrapnel wounds.

At least 14 others were severely wounded, and many couldn't return to the war.

US ARMY VETERAN RECALLS THE NIGHT 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION WAS AMBUSHED BY ONE OF ITS OWN BEFORE IRAQ INVASION

Pictures from the night of March 23, 2003, when Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar ambushed other U.S. military members, killing two and wounding 14

Retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bart Womack and Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) have been the driving forces behind the effort.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Womack recalled the attack in vivid detail during an interview with Fox News Digital.

WATCH WOMACK'S INTERVIEW: "JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, AN INCENDIARY GRENADE ROLLED INTO THE TENT"

Womack said he continues to "live it every day" and has been pushing the military to award the Purple Heart to Seifert, Stone and the 14 others who were wounded.

The Purple Heart is one of the most recognized and respected U.S. military medals that is awarded to those who were wounded or killed as a result of enemy action.

I LOST MY BROTHER AND MY FIANCE IN THE IRAQ WAR. 20 YEARS LATER, HERE'S HOW I HOPE AMERICANS WILL HONOR THEM

Womack's efforts have been supported by Rep. Bacon, a retired Air Force veteran, who wrote letters to the Army and Air Force.

But both branches of the military responded in separate Jan. 9 letters that said the 16 casualties weren't eligible for the honor because of a technicality.

"There was no evidence that the attack was inspired by a foreign terrorist organization or the Sgt. Akbar was in communication with any such entity," the Army wrote in its letter, which was shared with Fox News Digital.

THE PAINFUL DEBATE OVER IRAQ, WHICH BECAME A BLOODY QUAGMIRE, 20 YEARS LATER

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Pictures after March 23, 2003, when Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar ambushed other U.S. military members, killing two and wounding 14

"As a result of these findings, the Army cannot award the Purple Heart to service members who were killed or wounded during this tragic incident."

The Air Force's letter was nearly identical.

Both military branches left the door open, saying "If new evidence comes to light that demonstrates Sgt. Akbar was in communication with a foreign terrorist organization before the attack and was inspired or motivated by the organization, all due consideration will be made."

THE IRAQ WAR 20 YEARS LATER: DELTA FORCE OPERATORS RECALL HUNTING SADDAM HUSSEIN

"It's bulls--t," Bacon said. "These veterans were victims of an Islamic extremist who were killed and injured protecting America  I hope the Army and Air Force reconsider."

Womack penned a response letter to the military's Jan. 9 letters that she shared with Fox News Digital.

"The United States military, and America, has failed to recognize this attack as an act of terror, thereby making those killed and wounded ineligible for the Purple Heart Medal," Womack wrote.

Officials at the Pentagon didn't respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

WATCH: WOMACK MAKES ARGUMENT FOR PURPLE HEART

PRECEDENT FOR CHANGE

The Purple Heart's eligibility criteria were slightly amended in February 2015 to accommodate Army Maj. Nidal Hassan's attack on Fort Hood in 2009, which claimed the lives of 13 people and wounded more than 30 others.

Congress expanded the eligibility by redefining what should be considered an attack by a "foreign terrorist organization" for purposes of determining eligibility for the Purple Heart.

"The legislation states that an event should now be considered an attack by a foreign terrorist organization if the perpetrator of the attack was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack and the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization,'" the Department of Defense said in a press release.

Pictures from the night of March 23, 2003, when Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar ambushed other U.S. military members, killing two and wounding 14

In 2016, the victims and their families were honored with the Purple Heart.

But it took seven years and a bi-partisan effort among lawmakers to push for change and honor the victims.

Womack argued in his letter that service members have been awarded the Purple Heart under the precedence of Jihadi Ideology since the criteria was changed in 2015.

ARMY: U.S. SOLDIER ACTED OUT OF RESENTMENT IN GRENADE ATTACK

He used the example of the Airman who was stabbed in the face and neck while taking down a heavily armed gunman on a train to Paris on Aug. 21, 2015, as well as the service members who were killed and wounded in a shooting by a Saudi Military Officer at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Dec. 6, 2019.

"I require your advocacy and collaboration to have the March 23, 2003, attack recognized as a terrorist attack under the precedence of Jihadi Ideology," Womack wrote in his letter to the military.

"Also, to have the military revise their regulations to award the Purple Heart Medal for Jihadi Ideology, Jihadi Radicalized and American Jihadist inspired or motivated attacks."

Womack said, "These precedences were included in the inquiry filed by Congressman Bacon, and were completely ignored and not addressed by the military in their response."

The retired Army officer said he isn't backing down and will continue to fight for those killed and wounded on March 23, 2003.

"We're just getting started," Womack said.

Meanwhile, Akbar was found guilty of murder and premeditated murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Republicans in the U.S. Congress have responded to Donald Trump's looming Tuesday arraignment by characterizing the criminal justice system as corrupt, in accusations that parallel their earlier broadsides against the nation's elections after the former president's 2020 defeat.

Trump and his allies in the House of Representatives and Senate have used rhetoric that echoed his false claims of widespread election fraud in the build-up to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

Critics warn that the present partisan rhetoric could shake public trust in courts by undermining the institutional legitimacy of the criminal justice system.

"Trump's indictment is the culmination of 6 years of the Democrats weaponizing law enforcement to target and persecute their political enemies. Dictatorships operate like this  the US is supposed to be different," tweeted Senator Ted Cruz, a hardline Republican who voted to overturn 2020 election results.

Trump says he is innocent of the expected New York charges - which revolve around hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Details of the charges are as yet unclear.

He says the investigation and three other probes involving his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House are all politically motivated.

Most Democrats have warned against challenging the legitimacy of the institutions of government in defense of Trump, who routinely pushed up against the guard rails of democracy during his four years in the White House and was twice impeached by Congress.

"Political leaders ought to stand up for the American system of government," said Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, a member of the House Judiciary Committee who also served on the congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 attack.

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"Undercutting the system of government is a serious matter and a threat to our future," she said in an interview.

Trump has been unrestrained in his rhetoric in recent weeks, calling for protests and warning of potential "death & destruction" if he were to be charged.

He used fiery language hours before his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, in a bid to overturn his election defeat. Five people including a police officer died during or shortly after that riot and more than 140 police officers were injured. The Capitol suffered millions of dollars in damage.

FOCUS ON BRAGG

Most Republicans have trained their invective on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accusing the prosecutor of mounting a politically motivated investigation aimed at preventing Trump from being re-elected to the White House in 2024.

After Trump on March 18 announced that he expected to be arrested in days, the Republican-controlled House launched its own probe of Bragg's grand jury investigation, seeking documents and testimony. They have called Bragg's move "an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority" and said the indictment followed years of the office searching for any basis on which to bring charges.

Democrats questioned whether Congress has the authority to investigate a state-level investigation, particularly one conducted under secretive grand jury rules.

Bragg, a Democrat, on Friday warned Republican Representatives Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil, who are leading the probe, against attacking the criminal justice system.

"You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges," the Manhattan prosecutor wrote.

House Republicans continued to push back. Firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene said she planned to protest against Trump's court appearance on Tuesday, while Brian Mast went further and told CNN he would not accept the outcome of a jury trial, saying "I don't have a trust that a jury will make a fair assessment of this."

Not all Republicans were so quick to cast doubt on the courts.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson issued a statement that called for patience and underscored the legal principle that Trump, as a defendant, should be presumed innocent.

"We need to wait on the facts and for our American system of justice to work like it does for thousands of Americans every day," said Hutchinson, who is considering his own 2024 White House run.

Historians including Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer said Republican statements about Bragg and the criminal justice system follow a long-established partisan line.

"The party has invested a great deal in attacking the legitimacy of institutions, which is why Trump fit well into the party and continues to be popular," Zelizer said in an email.

Nicole Hemmer, director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, warned that Republican attacks on the U.S. criminal justice system could ultimately have dire consequences for courts and juries.

"This is the end-game of the 'deep state' rhetoric that Donald Trump has deployed since 2016 to sow those seeds of distrust in institutions of accountability," Hemmer said.

"We haven't yet seen a cataclysmic moment in this rejection of the courts. But we are starting to see the steps toward it, as we saw the steps toward Jan. 6 coming from a long way off."

(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O'Brien)